BANGKOK - The dramatic foray of a Thai princess into the countrys election, which collapsed almost as dramatically as it began over the weekend, has returned Thai politics to a familiar state of turmoil and fear. In a country that has endured more than 30 attempted coups since 1932, 12 of them successful, rumors are now circulating wildly of another. More has happened politically in the past five days than has happened in 15 years, if not 20 years, in Thailand. And this is creating a lot of confusion and everyone is scrambling to keep up with whats happening, said Thailand based political risk consultant George McLeod. Princess Ubolratana Mahidol triggered the pandemonium on Friday by registering as a prime ministerial candidate for upcoming March 24 elections - an unprecedented royal foray into frontline politics. Initially it was heralded as a political masterstroke as the popular princess was considered a far more appealing electoral prospect than incumbent military junta rule Prayuth Chan-o-cha. But the move was quickly struck down - first by her younger brother King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who called it highly inappropriate and unconstitutional hours later, and then by the Election Commission on Monday. Thai Election Commission Disqualifies Princess from PM Campaign Thailand's Election Commission Monday formally disqualified Princess Ubolratana Mahidol from running for prime minister for a party-linked to ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. "The EC today has announced the name of candidates excluding Princess Ubolratana proposed by the Thai Raksa Chart party," it said in a statement, adding "because all royal family members are above politics." The statement follows Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn move last week to crush the plans of his older Thailand's Election Commission Monday formally disqualified Princess Ubolratana Mahidol from running for prime minister for a party-linked to ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. "The EC today has announced the name of candidates excluding Princess Ubolratana proposed by the Thai Raksa Chart party," it said in a statement, adding "because all royal family members are above politics." The statement follows Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn move last week to crush the plans of his older Thai royals have long been held to embody a higher moral purity that serves to lift the country above the pettiness of political bickering. Rules preclude them from participating directly in party politics, though the princess believed she was exempt from these because she relinquished her royal title in 1972. Thailands ultra royalists are still angry over her short dalliance with Thai Raksa Chart - a party under the control of their staunch enemy, exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Leader of Thai Raksa Chart party Preecha Pholphong Leader of Thai Raksa Chart party Preecha Pholphongpanich, center, holds a picture of Princess Ubolratana at election commission of Thailand in Bangkok, Feb. 8, 2019. Leader of Thai Raksa Chart party Preecha Pholphongpanich, center, holds a picture of Princess Ubolratana at election commission of Thailand in Bangkok, Feb. 8, 2019. Thaksin and the royalists have been quarreling for most of the last two decades in a bitter feud that has fueled bloodshed and two coups, including one in 2014 that returned the country to its current state of military rule. Now concerns are growing that the already fragile process that was to see a transition back to civilian rule - albeit with many autocratic, military friendly caveats built into the system - could collapse. A political pressure group called The Association for the Protection of the Thai Constitution, has pushed the Election Commission to dissolve Thai Raksa Chart entirely. Thai Raksa Chart has reportedly hit back with a member filing a complaint that calls on the commission to disqualify current Prime Minister Prayuth for an alleged constitutional breach as well. From Coup-maker to Candidate? Thai Junta Chief Mulls Election Run Thai junta chief Prayuth Chan-ocha is known for losing his temper in public, but recently he has displayed a softer side amid speculation he may run for office in the first elections since the army seized power in 2014. The general-turned-prime minister has appeared on state television cooking a chicken curry for villagers and riding a tractor with farmers. Last month, he released one of his trademark ballads, which has been played repeatedly on the radio. "Don't let anyone destroy things like in Thai junta chief Prayuth Chan-ocha is known for losing his temper in public, but recently he has displayed a softer side amid speculation he may run for office in the first elections since the army seized power in 2014. The general-turned-prime minister has appeared on state television cooking a chicken curry for villagers and riding a tractor with farmers. Last month, he released one of his trademark ballads, which has been played repeatedly on the radio. "Don't let anyone destroy things like in Future Forward party spokesperson Pannika Wanich said that in political circles it was considered a near certainty that Thai Raksa Chart would be dissolved. But a greater worry for her was that the political turmoil would be used as a justification to call off or postpone the election. It is hard to predict Thailands political situation right now, but I would say its quite gloomy and we dont expect a coup to happen anytime soon but there is quite a chance, maybe a 30 or 40 percent, of some political accident might happen, she said. Pannika said her party was focused on cooling tensions and restoring normality but that if another coup was attempted they would do whatever they could to prevent it. We cannot accept that - three coup d'etats in 12 years. Thats too much, she said. McLeod said a series of events over the weekend, including the deployment of police, had fueled the rumors. You know at the time its a very fast situation and I personally didnt really hang my hat on there being a coup. he said. The authorities that were mobilized were police and they were mobilized for the purpose of crowd control, which is consistent with the fact that the EC (Election Commission) is in the process of dissolving the [Thai Raksa Chart] party and possibly Pheu Thai as well." Pheu Thai is the major party controlled by Thaksins red-shirt movement and observers have suggested it could also be dissolved by the commission on the grounds that it is linked to Thai Raksa Chart. Princess PM Nomination Shocks Thai Politics A political earthquake has been triggered in Thailand with the nomination of princess Ubolratana Mahidol as a prime ministerial candidate for March election, overturning a Thai tradition that the royal palace plays no public role in politics.Observers say the surprising announcement has completely upended the prospects for incumbent Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha to retain power which he seized in a military coup in 2014."The [party] board agrees that the name of Princess Ubolratana, an educated A political earthquake has been triggered in Thailand with the nomination of princess Ubolratana Mahidol as a prime ministerial candidate for March election, overturning a Thai tradition that the royal palace plays no public role in politics.Observers say the surprising announcement has completely upended the prospects for incumbent Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha to retain power which he seized in a military coup in 2014."The [party] board agrees that the name of Princess Ubolratana, an educated McLeod said it looked like Thaksin would pay a heavy price for the stunt. What we know is that Thaksin took a gamble and he lost. He took a high stakes gamble and he lost and he lost on something that was the wild card, he said. But Pavin Chachavalpongpun, associate professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University, suggested Thaksin may have got exactly what he wanted. If this would be a plot of Thaksins party to try and further politicize the monarchy then Thaksin has become successful. If this an attempt on the part of Thaksin to show there is a conflict within members of royal family, then again Thaksin has become successful, he said. Dozens of Iranian opposition activists have rallied in four European capitals since Sunday to protest the 40th anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution and to demand the ouster of the nation's Islamist rulers. Video clips verified by VOA Persian showed the Iranian opposition activists holding protests in Athens and Stockholm on Monday, and in Berlin and London on Sunday. Monday marked the 40th anniversary of the rise to power of Shi'ite Islamist rulers who ousted Iran's former monarchy. Stockholm protest, Feb. 11, 2019 | : . . pic.twitter.com/C4esBoyvl1 VOA Farsi (@VOAIran) February 11, 2019 In a video sent to VOA Persian by an Iranian resident of Sweden's capital, activists gathered in a Stockholm square chanted slogans calling for the "death" of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Athens protest, Feb. 11, 2019 | . pic.twitter.com/mRFSSXNoPA VOA Farsi (@VOAIran) February 11, 2019 Another clip sent to VOA Persian by an Iranian asylum-seeker in Athens showed protesters in front of the Greek capital's Iranian embassy, chanting, "Iran, Yes. Mullahs, No. They are terrorists, they must go." Berlin protest, Feb. 10, 2019 Images shared on social media showed Iranian opposition activists also rallying near the Brandenburg Gate in Germany's capital, Berlin. At one point, U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell greeted participants in the rally, which took place adjacent to the U.S. embassy. London protest, Feb. 10, 2019 # # # # #_ . pic.twitter.com/pW4Ik6XW9b (@IranIntl) February 10, 2019 In another video clip shared on social media, Iranian activists gathered in front of the Iranian embassy in the British capital, London, chanting for the "death" of Iran's Islamist system and its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. No major anti-government protests were reported Monday in Iran, where the nation's Islamist rulers mobilized hundreds of thousands of people in Tehran and other cities to join rallies in support of the Islamic Revolution. Iran saw frequent nationwide protests last year by smaller groups of citizens expressing anger toward local and national officials and business leaders whom they accused of mismanagement, corruption and oppression. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can download this video to view it offline. Almost half a century ago, the U.S.-backed Gen. Lon Nol led a coup in March 1970, overthrowing Cambodias King Norodom Sihanouk while the monarch visited Moscow. Sihanouk took refuge in Beijing until 1975, when brutal Khmer Rouge guerrillas leading a resistance movement against Lon Nols Khmer Republic captured Phnom Penh on April 17 and took over the country. Sihanouk initially supported the Khmer Rouge regime and was installed as head of state by the communists but resigned in 1976. He spent the rest of the regime as a de facto prisoner of the Khmer Rouge, which wreaked havoc on the country, killing or starving to death an estimated 1.7 million people from 1975 to 1979. Echoes of the Cold War Today, that sequence of events reverberates in a diplomatic face-off in Phnom Penh that echoes the Cold War even as it has gone viral in Cambodia. The online skirmish began when the U.S. Embassy posted a statement on its Facebook page, Jan. 30, saying the Khmer Rouge ignorantly depended on a superpower, an apparent reference to China. The embassy later issued comments claiming Washington was not involved in the coup led by Lon Nol that ousted Sihanouk. Instead, there is a lot of evidence showing that [the] Chinese government actively supported [the] Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979 and after that, read a post by the U.S. Embassy. In response, the Chinese Embassy posted a statement on its Facebook page, Feb. 1, mocking the idea that the coup was not related to the U.S., but the CIA. Elizabeth Becker, author of When the War was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution, said the current tit-for-tat was a distorted argument started by the Hun Sen government. The subject is too serious for these propaganda potshots, she wrote VOA Khmer in an email. Both China and the U.S. have blood on their hands. War of words Chheang Vannarith, president of the Asian Vision Institute (AVI), an independent think tank based in Phnom Penh, said the current war of words is another indication that the U.S.-China competition in Cambodia will continue to intensify. I think Cambodia has become the proxy of U.S.-China geopolitical rivalry, he said in an email. The winner writes history. It is real politics. Meas Nee, a political analyst who holds a doctorate in sociology and international social work from La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, said Cambodia should be cautious of falling into a trap if a new Cold War emerges. Those two superpowers can take advantage of a vulnerable country like Cambodia, he said, adding that Phnom Penhs closeness with Beijing makes it unlikely to take a stand. China is Cambodias largest aid donor. Although many consider the U.S. involvement to be a matter of historical record, Emily Zeeberg, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman, told VOA Khmer that there was no evidence that the United States was involved in the coup that brought Lon Nol to power. The United States has addressed its war legacy by long-standing and substantial efforts for humanitarian demining and removing unexploded ordnance (UXO), including the removal of hundreds of thousands of Chinese-made mines, which have injured and killed people for decades, she said in an email. We hope the Chinese government will acknowledge its legacy in Cambodia and make amends to all the Cambodians its policies affected, Zeeberg added. Repeated efforts to reach the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia were unsuccessful. Phay Siphan, a Cambodian government spokesman, could not be reached for comment. Cambodias Ministry of National Defense said in a statement issued last week that Cambodia had suffered from a civil war that arose from a coup supported by United States in 1970. Cambodia doesnt want to see the same history, as Cambodia has full peace, it read. Supporting the Khmer Rouge Sophal Ear, associate professor of diplomacy and world affairs at Occidental College at Los Angeles, said: It looks like the U.S. Embassy simply reminded Cambodia of who was supporting the Khmer Rouge at their height of power-1975-1979. Indeed, with the withdrawal of the U.S., the Khmer Republic collapsed, he added. China and the Khmer Rouge were brothers in arms, he said. Cambodia has always been a sideshow to the great powers. Just because some Facebook posts and statements have been made does not amount to a hill of beans. Lets not get delusional here. Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is a close ally of Beijing, has said several times that the United States backed Lon Nol to topple Sihanouk from power, leading to a bitter civil war. A staunch anti-communist, Lon Nol ruled over what was declared the Khmer Republic, presiding over the buildup of the Cambodian army from a force of 37,000 to more than 150,000. U.S. aid funded the expansion as American aircraft resumed bombing Cambodia, and ground troops entered the country in a covert war, assisted by South Vietnamese forces. On April 1, 1975, two weeks before the Khmer Rouge overran Phnom Penh, Lon Nol boarded a helicopter, escaping with his family to Thailand before settling in the U.S. He lived quietly in Hawaii, before moving to Fullerton, Calif., where he died in 1985. Sihanouk called on Cambodians to fight against the U.S.-backed Lon Nol regime to bring him back to power, but the regime that sprang up from this conflict was more brutal than Cambodian soldiers could have imagined. In an interview with VOA Khmer, Lon Rith, Nols son and the president of the Khmer Republic party, defended his father, saying, It was a collective decision to remove the king and it was not really a coup. I dont take sides with Lon Nol because he is my father. But I wanted to say it is the truth for our history, he said. He said the ouster was to protect Cambodia by getting the North Vietnamese out of Cambodia. They asked the king to return and negotiated to ask the Vietcong to leave the country, but he didnt come, he said. Superpowers involved Diep Sophal, a history lecturer who wrote The Causes of the Cambodian War in 2018, said the superpower countries were trying to not to take any responsibility, both legally and ethically. I think [American support] was a kind of psychological approach and encouragement. Becker, whose reporting from Cambodia led to her being called to testify for the prosecution at the international criminal tribunal of the Khmer Rouge for genocide, cut through the factions. Here is the truth: The U.S. did not engineer the 1970 overthrow of Prince Norodom Sihanouk. However, the U.S. did favor his overthrow and then did underwrite the government of Lon Nol throughout the 1970-1975 war. With U.S. money and military support, including the saturation bombing, the Lon Nol government fought the North Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge. China supported the Khmer Rouge during the 1970-1975 war and was the sole critical supporter throughout the 1975-1979 Democratic Kampuchea period of genocide. With Chinese money and support, Pol Pot carried out the period of murder, starvation and brutality. Cambodias telecommunication ministry has called for applicants to this years Women in Tech award. The award is granted each year to women who excelled in the development of the IT sector. Five awards will be presented this year compared with three last year: for entrepreneurship, engineering, community development, digital multimedia, and innovation. Yim Hout Healy, an award coordinator, said the ministry turned down many potential applicants last year during the pilot program due to shortages in the award categories. The overly competitive process put off candidates last year, Hout Healy added, which led the ministry to create more awards this time around. "Students can also participate in this 2019 Tech Award providing that they know which category they fit in [even] if they are college students, bloggers, or YouTubers, who create content on Facebook or on any other social media platforms," she said. Kan Channmeta, a secretary of state at the ministry, said the awards were intended to recognize the crucial roles women play in national economic and technological progress. Furthermore, this program highlights the mobilization of all players in Cambodia to achieve the goal of digital change and other strategic goals set out in the 2020 Telecommunications and Information Technology Development Policy. We encourage more women to participate in this initiative," he said in a statement. Srun Sovan, the founding CEO of the education technology company Edemy, said that she hoped the award would be a breakthrough for women in the technology sector. If we have the program that reflects women's achievement, this can help encourage other women and enable them to see more of what they can do nowadays. Sometimes, women have no model to see and thus they don't know how far they could go, she said. The former head of Cambodias main opposition party, Sam Rainsy, has warned Chinese nationals and investors in Cambodia to be sensitive to Cambodian culture and the political situation in the country. Writing on his Facebook page, the acting leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party said the large influx of Chinese immigrants to Cambodia, coinciding with a construction boom and waning relations with the West, could lead to a backlash from locals. Those Chinese must be aware of the rancor they're provoking among the local Cambodian population. They must be wary and stop abusing Cambodians and have some respect for the locals. If not, they might face a backlash from the locals when the new political developments take place in 2019, he wrote. He added that Chinese investors should return the land that has been seized from the people with the collusion with oppressive and corrupt authorities. They must close the casinos that are widespread nationwide and take their mafia and triad gangs associated with their investments and establishments in Cambodia back to China, he said. Rainsy has vowed to return to Cambodia to take on Prime Minister Hun Sen, but authorities say he will be arrested upon his return on outstanding treason allegations. The Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh could not be reached for comment. Phay Siphan, a government spokesman, dismissed Rainsys comments, saying the politician was raised to be a slave to anti-Chinese foreign powers. Meas Nee, a social commentator, said the concerns over the impact of large numbers of Chinese immigrants should be addressed by the government, not brushed aside so lightly. If we do not address the land dispute between the local and the Chinese firms properly and only resort to threats and the use of violence as in Sihanouk province as we can see previously, this causes the problem of discrimination to worsen, which makes it hard for the government to manage, he said, referring to violent clashes between protesters and security forces in Preah Sihanouk province that left one protester seriously injured with a gunshot wound. China is Cambodias strongest ally and biggest lender and donor. Trade between the two nations rose to $5.6 billion last year. Hun Sen has said he wants to see the number of Chinese tourists in Cambodia rise five-fold in the coming years. Vietnam Airlines plans to open a flight to Los Angeles from Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam airlines currently has no non-stop flights to the US, despite the large demand by tourism and visiting friends and relatives. Therefore, customers who want to fly from Vietnam to the US and vice versa need to transit at major airports in Asian cities like Hong Kong, Seoul or Tokyo. The FAA is expected to grant a Category 1 rating to Vietnam soon, giving its airlines the opportunity to fly to the US and code-share with American carriers, two anonymous US officials said on Wednesday, according to Reuters. The FAA has yet to officially comment on the matter. Some Vietnamese aviation corporations like Vietnam Airlines, Bamboo Airways or Vietjet Air have expressed the desire to fly to the US, but are barred from doing so until the country receives the Category 1 rating. In last August, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) announced that an FAA delegation visited the country, though the FAA declined to confirm or deny the news. To achieve a Category 1 rating under the FAAs International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) programme, a country must adhere to the safety standards of ICAO, the United Nations technical agency for aviation that establishes international standards and recommended practices for aircraft operations and maintenance, said the FAA in response to FlightGlobal. The FAA will make an announcement if Vietnam is assigned a rating under the IASA programme in the future. In December 2017, Vietnam Airlines executive vice-president Le Hong Ha said that the carrier was hoping to launch US services by the end of 2019. Data from the countrys civil aviation regulator shows that Vietnam had a remarkable annual passenger growth rate of 16 per cent between 2010 and 2017, with further growth forecast at 14 per cent to 2020, and 10 per cent to 2030, breaking into the top 3 in Southeast Asia. Its airlines, which also include budget carriers Vietjet and Jetstar Pacific, are major customers of Boeing Co. and Airbus SE. Vietnam Airlines is considering using Boeing 777X or Airbus A350-1000 for the more than 16-hour straight flight between Ho Chi Minh City and Los Angeles, US. In case it cannot secure these aircraft by the end of 2019, Vietnam Airlines will use A350-900 aircraft with a technical stop in Osaka, Japan. Seven months before receiving the air operator certificate and to prepare for the plan to conquer the international route to the US and Europe, Bamboo Airways also committed to ordering 20 787-9s. With the latest player (Bamboo Airways) and the opening of Van Don International Airport, Vietnam aviation market is expected to achieve positive results in 2019. Regarding the 2019 plan, Airport Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) will continue to invest in, upgrade, and renovate the airport infrastructure, especially focusing on and prioritising all resources to invest in the construction and development of strategic airports like Long Thanh. Some projects will be implemented in 2019, including the expansion of the parking spaces at high-frequency airports such as Noi Bai, Tan Son Nhat, Danang, Cam Ranh, Lien Khuong, Cat Bi, Vinh, and Phu Bai. Pak Army 16 Signal Battalion Lahore Cantt Job 2019 Latest Pakistan Army Army jobs Posts Lahore 2021 Pakistan Army 16 Signal Battalion Lahore Cantt Punjab requires the services of experienced, strong and energetic person for the position of Mess Waiter. How to Apply on Pakistan Army Job Advertisement Apply as per details in job advertisement. In some cases, you may apply online at vacancies after registering at https://www.jobz.pk online. Note: Beware of Fraudulent Recruiting Activities. If the employer asks you to pay money for any purpose including processing to shortlisting, do not pay at all and report us using our contact us form. Apply as per instuctions & dates mentioned in official job ad. Govt jobs cannot be applied online here. Error & omissions excepted. Mitsui's $100 million will help Minh Phu expand in the US Previously, in October 2018, Minh Phu released its plan to issue 75.72 million stocks worth VND757.2 billion ($32.9 million) in 2018-2019. Its charter capital was expected to reach VND2.15 trillion ($93.5 million), 1.5 times its current value. The company also released that there were four investors from the US, Japan, and South Korea interested in its shares, however, they did not disclose the names of these companies because of confidentiality issues. Increasing its capital by 1.5 times, along with building two refrigerated warehouses in Los Angeles and New York, Minh Phu will attempt to expand in the US. Minh Phu is planning to build a breaded-shrimp processing plant with the annual capacity of 40,000 tonnes on the spare land of its Minh Phu Hau Giang facility. Breaded shrimp is not subject to anti-dumping tax in the US. Therefore, the shrimp material used in this plant will be mainly imported from India, along with second-grade shrimp from Minh Phu Hau Giang and Minh Phu Ca Mau. The new plant located will help reduce shipping costs. Currently, the companys refrigerated warehouses in the US are overloaded, which raises costs for Minh Phu as importation is delayed by waiting for available warehouse space. Thus, Minh Phu is planning to construct a 10,000-pallet refrigerated warehouse in Los Angeles and another in New York, where its two main ports are located. The capital invested in these two refrigerated warehouses will be sourced from the revenue of Minh Phus wholly-owned subsidiary in America, Mseafood Corporation, and bank loans. The loans will be paid from the annual retained earnings of Mseafood. Minh Phu is the largest vertically-integrated Vietnamese shrimp processing company and exporter, with operations across the full aquaculture process from post-larvae rearing and shrimp farming to processing and sales and export. In 2018, Minh Phu recorded a net profit of VND1.03 trillion ($44.78 million), up 44 per cent against the previous year. The company forecasts higher output this year in the domestic market amid difficulties in rival markets such as India. It targets total production of 77,400 tonnes, expecting to bring in $850 million turnover for the company in 2019. The company set the target to acquire VND2.3 trillion ($100 million) in pre-tax profit this year, VND2 trillion ($86.95 million) of which will come from export activities. Back to Mitsui, it is not the first time Mitsui invests in Minh Phu. Previously, in October 2013, the company co-operated with Minh Phu to participate in the management of Minh Phu Hau Giang Limited Liability Company (MPHG, an affiliated company of Minh Phu). Accordingly, Mitsui will take a third-party allocation of new shares of MPHG, finally acquiring a 31 per cent ownership stake in MPHG. The US President and North Korean leader are due to meet in Hanoi following their landmark first summit in Singapore last June. (Photo: AFP/Saul Loeb) The US President and North Korean leader are due to meet in Hanoi from Feb 27 to 28 following their landmark first summit in Singapore last June. That meeting - the first-ever between the leaders of the US and North Korea - produced a vaguely-worded document in which Kim pledged to work towards "the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula". But progress has since stalled with the two sides disagreeing over it means and analysts say tangible progress on denuclearisation will be needed if the talks are to avoid being dismissed as "reality TV". With the high-stakes summit now two weeks away, Pyongyang has yet to provide any official confirmation of the meeting in the Vietnamese capital. "For us, the era of peace and prosperity on the peninsula has drawn closer," said Moon in his first comments since the summit was announced. The meeting was a "remarkable breakthrough in the peace process on the Korean peninsula", the South Korean president added. But he acknowledged there were "still many doubts about whether the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and peace process can be concluded successfully". The leaders of the two Koreas and the US have persisted in talks over the issue because of "strong confidence in the direction history should take", added Moon, who has taken on the role of middle man between Pyongyang and Washington, trying to bridge the gap on denuclearisation talks. Security allies Seoul and Washington have at times pursued divergent approaches toward Pyongyang, with the dovish South Korean leader pursuing engagement while the United States insists pressure must be maintained until the North denuclearises. But Moon expressed gratitude to both Trump and Kim for their "unprecedented, bold diplomatic efforts", saying they were "crossing a sea of deep mistrust". Nguyen Tri Hieu, economist and senior financial expert What is Vietnams current standing with regards to Industry 4.0 and how deep has technology penetrated into the countrys economy? The Fourth Industrial Revolution is currently the buzzword across Vietnam, even though we have yet to finalise the 3.0 growth path. We still lag behind many countries in terms of economic development. However, we should not miss out on the global megatrend and position ourselves at the forefront of industrial development. This is a new era of irreversible development across the world, as well as for Vietnam. In fact, the country has been on the 4.0 path for a few years now, particularly in the field of high-technology. However, in low-tech fields such as agriculture, textile clothing or real estate, we are behind many other countries. We must achieve the dual and parallel tasks of carrying out reforms aligning with the 3.0 growth path and initiating 4.0. The implications of disruptive technologies such as Big Data, automation or digitalisation for global development are huge, and as such many locations in the world have been applying smart city models to bring a multitude of benefits to people. Thus, it is essential for us to push up Industry 4.0, which has the capacity to transform the whole economy. To propel 4.0 development, we need to address the shortcomings by upgrading road, rail, waterway, and air infrastructure systems, and boosting production capacity and skills, as our current labour productivity is low in the ASEAN, only equal to that of Laos or Cambodia. In the finance-banking segment, several banks have begun to apply new and advanced applications, such as new version of core banking system, using QR codes or blockchain technologies, but the banking sector still mostly uses manual, low-graded and obsolete technologies that many banks purchased a decade ago. Obviously, that hinders the sectors development. In fact, we still do not have in place a fully automated and digitalised branch that could operate without physical staff, as can be seen in many other countries. Although the banking sector is ahead of other economic sectors in deploying state-of-the art technologies, several banks are still using tech from 10 or 15 years ago, so it is a must for local banks to take breakthrough steps to spur development, through building modern IT infrastructure and using artificial-intelligent applications. What are the challenges to the governments target of building a cashless society? The Vietnamese government is committed to building a cashless economy, and requires support from the banking sector through the provision of non-cash payment methods. This approach is quite timely as shifting from cash-based to non-cash payments by people and businesses will accelerate economic development. All banking applications, from connecting to payment portals to using e-wallets and using modern payment applications are necessary. In fact, many among the total 34 commercial banks use modern digital applications for payment purposes, while some other banks still apply conventional payment methods. Banks, therefore, need to accelerate efforts to fulfill the governments commitment to build a cashless economy. However, boosting peoples engagement in non-cash payment methods proves an arduous task as Vietnamese people have been using cash for years. However, it more than just a habit, as in fact, throughout our daily lives, such as taking a taxi, buying a bowl of noodles or paying for petrol, it seems there is no viable alternative to cash. It is reality when you visit a rural area and go to a small hotel, you wont get a room if you have no cash. Look at other countries, such as China, where street vendors use QR codes to charge customers and even a beggar accepts donations via an app on the smart phone. Of course, Vietnam needs to do more to achieve, but we face barriers. Banks are willing, but the limited presence of payment processing or point of sale (POS) units at public places hinders overall efforts. POS units need to be installed at more service provision points. More retailers have to be willing to accept bank card, credit card, payment via QR code and e-wallet. In light of a recent government instruction, by the end of this year, all hospitals and state-owned companies shall be required to only accept cashless payments from customers. Ultimately, to build a cashless society, people need to change their cash-using habits. This is by no means simple as at present only 30 per cent of Vietnamese people have bank accounts, while the remaining 70 per cent, particularly those in rural and remote areas, are unbanked. That is also because it is very costly for banks to open branches or transaction offices in these areas, where customer deposits are limited and lending activity is low. Banks hesitate to open branches there where costs and expenses are not compensated by the low profits of banking services and activities. Telecom giant Viettel was recently authorised by the government to open e-wallets, so people can put money on their e-wallets without opening bank accounts first. However, it is a question of great debate whether it is acceptable for people to open e-wallets at a non-bank company, and do not have any connection with banks. Besides, it is important to have more and more POSs in place to serve customers, not only at big supermarkets, hotels, and airports, but also at retail stores in cities where diverse non-cash payment methods will be accepted, such as e-wallets, QR codes, and debit and credit cards. In fact, retail stores and street vendors still mostly accept only cash. What is your assessment of the development of Fintech firms in Vietnam? Fintech firms have made a strong presence in Vietnam in recent years, but there remain many constraints keeping them from bolstering Vietnams non-cash payment drive. The two dominant payment methods in the Vietnamese society at present are cash and bank transfer. Although Fintech firms have deployed diverse payment methods, their development might be impeded by legal hurdles, such as the current regulation requiring customers to be physically present with the necessary documents to set up a bank account. Further, only banks can open current account and accept demand deposit. Fintech firms are trying to deploy various biometric solutions to verify customers without having them physically present, but this has yet to be accepted by the central bank. This explains why Fintech firms, despite their growing presence in Vietnam, still hold a modest portion of the Vietnamese non-cash payment market. In addition, as the Vietnamese peoples average income remains too low, just over $2,500 per capita in 2018, it is likely that most people, such as workers at industrial zones, spend all their money on daily essentials, leaving no surplus on their bank accounts. It can be observed at many ATMs are on the pay day when a worker withdraws all of his wage at once because his wage is barely enough to do the living in the next 30 days. And if there is no more money in his account, then it does not make sense to offer him any non-cash payment products because he will not use any way. Thus, to build a cashless economy and promote non-cash payments in society, peoples average incomes need to be raised to at least $5,000. Fintech is very appealing to foreign investors as a slew of firms have been jumping into the field in the past years. Why do you think this is so? In fact, Fintech firms have a strong presence across Asia, not only in Vietnam. Strong Fintech firms in China, Singapore, Malaysia or Indonesia have also entered Vietnam. However, in our country, their operations still remain limited despite their strong advances. One area in which they have been operating very effectively is peer-to-peer (P2P) lending. Fintech firms have applications similar to ride-hailing firms Uber or Grab, helping to bridge people having money and those who want to borrow. This business is developing robustly in Vietnam, but it is closely related to illegal shark loan activities that is reaching an alarming level in Vietnam. The abrupt growth of shark loans has raised public concern, forcing the government to take action to curb the threat. Despite increasing efforts, Fintech firms contribution to the governments target to build a cashless economy has been limited. In a nutshell, we can expect that the governments strong commitment and inclusive actions plans targeting building a cashless society could be achieved in the not-too-distant future, with active engagement by people, businesses, and other stakeholders, including Fintech firms, helping to turn Vietnam into an affluent nation. 'Yellow vest' protests began in November in rural areas and spread across the country, with riots in Paris. (Photo: AFP/Gerard Julien) Nearly a quarter believe a gun attack on the Christmas market in Strasbourg in December was ordered by the French government to deflect attention from the anti-government protests, an Ifop poll for Conspiracy Watch and the centre-left Jean Jaures Foundation found. And a further fifth continue to have doubts about the official account of the attack in which five people died, it said. "Yellow vest" activists are also much more likely to give credence to shadowy "Zionist plots" and a popular conspiracy theory that mass immigration is being organised by the elites, it found. In general, one in 10 French people thought the Strasbourg attack was part of a government plot to "distract attention and create fear" when the protests were at their height, Ifop said. People who passively support the movement, however, were much less likely to question the official line that radicalised small-time criminal Cherif Chekatt was responsible for the killings, the survey said. The "yellow vest" movement, now in its 14th week, began as a revolt against a rise in fuel prices but has since morphed into an expression of general discontent. Its leaders and supporters have been blamed for a tsunami of a fake news on social media, with journalists the target of numerous attacks and threats at gatherings and demonstrations. The amorphous movement - which has no leadership structure - has become one of the most long-running revolts in recent French history, and tends to be strongest in the countryside and provincial towns. DRIVEN BY SOCIAL MEDIA Its populist platform includes a long list of competing demands from lower taxes and increased public services to direct democracy through regular referenda. The survey found that nearly half of "yellow vest" protesters believe in a worldwide "Zionist plot" as well as the far-right "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory, which posits that elites are organising "immigration deliberately to replace Europe's native populations". Ifop said a clear majority were also convinced that the French "health ministry was working hand in glove with the pharmaceutical industry to cover up the danger of vaccines". A quarter of the general population subscribe to similar beliefs, it found, sparked by the 1998 MMR vaccine autism scare, which has been described as "perhaps the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years". The survey was carried out through an online questionnaire on a representative group of 1,506 people in the week leading up to Christmas, with a second later sample of 254 people. At the time, half of the people surveyed said they backed the yellow vest movement. Ifop said it asked participants if they had taken part in yellow vests protest or if they merely supported the movement, and was then able to hone in on each groups' opinions. Protesters where "extremely dependent" on social media and YouTube for their news, where conspiracy theories flourish, the survey also found. Nearly 59 per cent go first to Facebook newsfeeds for the headlines, it said, compared to 37 per cent of the general population which tends to get its news from traditional media. The business community looks to 2019 with great expectations Photo: Le Toan Ousmane Dione - Country director, World Bank Under the leadership of the Vietnamese government, Vietnams socioeconomic achievements have been remarkable. Over the course of 30 years, the economy has expanded at an average of nearly 7 per cent annually. As a result, per capita income has increased almost five-fold. Vietnam today has emerged as a thriving lower middle-income economy and an export powerhouse. Growth has also been inclusive, with poverty falling to just below 7 per cent, compared to more than 60 per cent in the late 1980s. But Vietnams journey to become a modern, industrial economy has only just begun, and past achievements are no guarantee for future success. Domestically, Vietnam will have to tackle rising structural headwinds, including a rapidly-aging population, slow productivity growth and weak investment, as well as an increasing environmental toll on development. Leaning against these structural headwinds at home, Vietnam will also need to navigate a changing terrain abroad where shifting global trade patterns and the digital economy are both reshaping opportunities and creating new risks. As we are moving into the next Socioeconomic Development Strategy and Development Plan cycle, it is important that we revisit Vietnams unfinished reform agenda and reinvigorate its growth potential, not only in terms of the quantity but most importantly in terms of the quality and sustainability of growth. This is essential for Vietnam to realise its aspiration of becoming a successful upper middle-income country as envisioned in the Vietnam 2035 Report. Eric Sidgwick - Country director for Vietnam Asian Development Bank While achieving high or rapid growth is an important economic, political, and social objective, the target should not come at the expense of widening income inequality, unsustainable exploitation of natural capital or unacceptable environmental costs, or be persistently beyond the level of potential growth of the economy, in rate and quality. Key reforms to strengthen the fundamental drivers of high-quality growth over the medium to long term include, but are not limited to, enhancing productivity through more efficient state investment and state-owned enterprise performance, governance, and accountability; a more competitive domestic private sector, including a more level playing-field; greater inclusiveness of financial sector development; quality climate resilient infrastructure; deepening innovations through Industry 4.0; and enhancing the states efficiency and effectiveness in its role as a regulator and facilitator rather than a producer. Beyond the progress already made, there are still huge efficiency gains to be made in these areas that would benefit the economy as a whole. These gains, together with the other reforms listed, would also enable the creation of new drivers of high-quality growth, including in areas where Vietnam is highly vulnerable, namely the adverse impacts of climate change, especially at a time when the country needs to meet an ever-increasing demand for energy. Climate change resilience, clean or renewable energy, and higher-energy efficiency offer the potential to become new sources of growth that could grow significantly over time, provided the conducive environment is created and the right polices are taken. Pereric Hogberg - Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam As the Swedish ambassador I am very impressed with what the Vietnamese government is doing when it comes to trying to promote Industry 4.0. Apart from the framework, there is a need to be innovative and let this loose. My experience, from my own country, is that it is not structures or rules from the government that creates innovation, but people. Students that are taught early to think freely and think outside the box, even questioning teachers and saying they disagree, creates innovation. In Sweden, we have been fortunate to have an enthusiastic and forgiving approach to trying new things. My advice for the Vietnamese society would be to be a bit more innovative on the individual level. Think freely, think openly, and create new ideas, as innovation does not come from the top. It comes from the bottom. Pham Thai Lai - President and CEO Siemens Vietnam Digital and smart infrastructure ranging from digital factories, power plants, smart grids, smart building or seamless mobility systems are key levers to strengthening basic infrastructure in Vietnam, and at the same time help to drive efficiency and increase productivity. Our most comprehensive Product Lifecycle Management portfolio helps VinFast to fulfil its vision of building the first car made in Vietnam in record time, whereas our efficient plants significantly contribute to mitigating carbon dioxide emissions in the country. Siemens smart grid solutions automate and stabilise the power grid and help to cope with fluctuating energy sources such as wind or solar power. The digital twin of buildings offers new dimensions to optimise energy usage and the operation of buildings. Lastly, digital railway provides new opportunities for cities and train operators to run railways that are interactive and self-managing, and at the same time provides passengers with a new level of connectivity besides convenience and comfort when travelling. Ian Eddie - VinaCapital professor of Private Equity, RMIT Vietnam Vietnam has reached a very positive point in its economic transition from a centrally-planned economy to a market-based one. The country has reformed its financial system, has strong government stability and, in terms of emerging markets, has one of the strongest currencies. Vietnam has very strong foreign investment which has now exceeded more than 100 per cent of the countrys GDP. It is in a very unique position as not many countries in the world have this. Reforms in markets and securities will be critical to achieve an emerging market status. It is important for the government to close those gaps in order to sustain future growth, maintain openness for overseas companies and workers to come, and continue supporting new business startups. The Vietnamese people are very good at establishing businesses. I think the next generation of entrepreneurs is going to look for opportunities to scale up small businesses to create sustainability, offer higher pay rates and more opportunities for workers. There are two clear challenges facing the government in the next few years. The first is sustaining strong economic growth in the face of a turbulent global economic environment, and the second is managing inequality. The government needs to retain a strong currency to ensure that the capital inflow is positive so that Vietnam has a positive trading balance, a strong currency, and does not resort to excessive borrowing of international from funds that creates financial risk. If Vietnam can do that, it will be well placed as a beneficiary, particularly if the trade war between the United States and China deepens in any way. Pierre-Jean - Malgouyres General director Archetype Group Vietnam is emerging in the region as a key player with exponential growth, ideal geographic location, and a large network of trade agreements. In the 4.0 era, Vietnam is seizing this opportunity to sustain and improve its competitive advantage. We can already witness the government incentivising key areas such as agriculture, energy, healthcare, transportation, infrastructure, and telecommunications. There are evidently challenges like with any major change in history, however, being a nation that scores highly in terms of creativity, adaptability, and competitiveness, Vietnam could potentially narrow the gap with developed countries and increase the number of value-added and hi-tech industries. These are the focus sectors where Archetype Group has a proven track record with a great deal of expertise, especially in Vietnam. Archetype has an extensive portfolio not only in traditional manufacturing sectors but also energy, infrastructure, and hi-tech industries. In the wake of Industry 4.0, when businesses are one of the core factors influencing Vietnams transition, investors are more focused on harnessing disruptive technologies to increase competitiveness, thus putting a demand on the consultant to have the same level of innovative standards. At Archetype, we employ a continuous integration of technologies into our operations, with a focus on productivity and more importantly the development of our people. Industrial production must be linked with environmental protection and responsive to climate change. We are pioneer and advocate of sustainability and green projects, which we believe will soon become the standard not only for the construction sector but also in the broader Industry 4.0 landscape. Henri-Charles - Claude Managing director ADEN Vietnam Over 20 years in Vietnam, we have really seen the boundaries expand. Nowadays, green energy is one of the most exciting frontiers more and more clients are prioritising energy efficiency and environmental impacts in their facility management strategy. The exciting thing about this moment in Vietnam is that the technology, economics, and policy are converging to make real, positive change possible and profitable. You have the technology to generate, store, and optimise solar or wind energy on-site. You have the Vietnamese government committed to energy-saving through its state plan, and you have dropping prices for companies that want to become micro-producers of their own power. For us last year, creating ADENERGY was a no-brainer: the demand and capacity for green energy is here in Vietnam, and so is the larger value of creating a meaningful transformation of cities, buildings, and the environment. Nguyen Cong Minh Bao - Director of sustainability INSEE Vietnam Construction is one of the key industries that mark development and prosperity, especially in a developing country like Vietnam. While total GDP here is normally at 6-7 per cent, the construction sector has reached a higher figure at 8-10 per cent for recent years. However, both figures move proportionally with each other. This rate is expected to remain the same for the 2019-2026 period, according to the Ministry of Construction. After the successful rebranding from Holcim to INSEE, we have inherited some advantages from strong market growth. However, the cement industry is still a very challenging competitive environment, especially in terms of the low cement price and higher raw material cost. In 2019, we believe that strong foreign investment into the Vietnamese market will remain the key driver of growth. As a joint venture company, we continue to receive strong support from Siam City Group through the decision to add an additional line in our Thi Vai Grinding Terminal and line 2 expansion study of Hon Chong Plant in the near future. These investments aim to increase our core business with additional capacity, in addition to the diversification of our products portfolio introducing Dry Mix, Mortar, and Conwood, as well as other innovative total solutions. This growth fits well with our commitment to sustainability with our green label products and brand philosophy to build for life. Laurent Levan - President and CEO URC Vietnam I am particularly proud about URCs 2018 achievements in advancing product safety and quality standards beyond industry standards. URC is continuously investing in technologies and systems to attain the highest standards in food and beverage production. In 2019, URC Vietnam will continue to promote products made in Vietnam, to reinforce our strong commitment on product safety and quality. We will continue to apply Industry 4.0 in our production, and our Hanoi plant will be the model factory of the future, applying modern technologies such as analytics and artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and robotics equipment. URC Vietnam will focus more on sustainability as part of our core strategy. URC co-ordinates with partners throughout the value chain to control the safety and quality of raw materials. In 2018, URC strengthened these efforts on an industry-wide level by joining the PPP Taskforce with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to develop a sustainable tea sector. This is part of our companys wider CSR Framework and we will continue this in 2019. URC Vietnam will continue to invest in its local human capital so as to export it to other URC markets. The competencies-based system has enabled the company to identify and develop local talents, from early career to senior executives, as well as focus on the future capabilities needed for success. Nguyen Xuan Thang - General manager Grundfos Vietnam We expect to carry strong business growth momentum into 2019 in all the sectors we operate in such as buildings, water utilities, and industry. As the market leader in water transportation and water treatment equipment and solutions, we commit to continue adding value to our customers by supplying the most energy-efficient, water-saving, environmentally-friendly solutions at a competitive cost. We also commit in developing our Vietnamese employees so that they can grow their career sustainably with the growth of the company and the growth of Vietnam. Grundfos is a global Danish company which officially established a presence in Vietnam in 2008, and found success in providing high-quality and energy-efficient water pumps and sustainable water solutions to large developers in the countrys rising market. Over the last decade, Grundfos has been providing clean water to thousands of households in Ben Tre and Ca Mau provinces in the Mekong Delta region, through its community projects using solar-powered pumps and pump stations. The company is performing well thanks to the positive economic growth of Vietnam which led to the opening of our new office for 50 staff members. Yagi Hiroshi - General director Termuro Vietnam Working in Vietnam for more than 10 years, Terumo Vietnam has been supported by the Vietnamese government, especially in Hanoi. Through the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam, we can discuss and express our ideas to Hanoi authorities. Vietnam is well-placed with a young workforce, rising middle-class, and a growing economy. I believe that investment inflows will continue with the governments efforts in the development of appropriate and long-term policies and investment decisions. The online tax system is very convenient and helps enterprises reduce administrative work. However, there are still some issues need to be improved so that Vietnam in general, and Hanoi in particular, becomes an attractive environment for foreign investors such as us. We believe that Vietnam needs to improve the legal system, in terms of regulations on international enterprises. We know that over recent years, Vietnam has made many improvements in infrastructure, but those in industrial zones like Quang Minh also need improved to ensure safety for workers. With the motto Through health equipment to make society better, despite big challenges brought by US-China trade tensions, Terumo Vietnam still hopes in 2019 to widen manufacturing scope thanks to an important groundwork of a sustainable macro-environment. Do Van Dinh - Project director, Duong River Surface Water Plant JSC We have implemented the plan of doubling capacity so that by October 2019, our treatment plant will reach 300,000 cubic metres per day and night. Then, we can supply clean water to 30 per cent of Hanois population. However, we hope that the Hanoi Peoples Committee and relevant departments and sectors will facilitate us to connect to the network of water suppliers in Hanoi with the price of over VND10,000 ($0.43) per cubic metre which was approved initially by the Hanoi Financial Department. On October 13, 2018 we inaugurated the first stage of the plant, but so far we have experienced difficulties in connecting with water suppliers in Hanoi, while the current price cannot support us in collecting our investment. We hope that when we achieve full capacity in 2021, we can supply high-quality clean water for half of Hanois population, and at a cheaper price. Fresh52 Farmers & Artisan Market welcomes seven seasonal farmers hailing from the California region and showcasing their best produce for shoppers. Farms and produce will rotate on a seasonal-basis. Pink Lady and Fuiji Apples from Fairhill Farms from Fairhill Farms Candy Strip Beets from Countryline Farms from Countryline Farms Spring Garlic and English Peas from Valdivia Family Farms from Valdivia Family Farms Navel Oranges from JJ Lone Daughter Ranch from JJ Lone Daughter Ranch Warren Pears from Frog Hollow Farms from Frog Hollow Farms Nantes Oranges from Tutti Frutti Farms from Tutti Frutti Farms Oro Blanco Grapefruit from Bernard Ranch VENDOR SPOTLIGHT: Latina Rebeldes Kitchen After more than 20 years in the Air Force, owner Nilka Karina retired and started attending culinary training, eventually starting her own food truck. After finding out her only child was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor, she put her plans on hold to take care of him. Now cancerous-free, Nilka was determined to show her son that anything is possible and she soon picked her passion back up and achieved her goals while encouraging her son to do the same. Often dubbed as a kitchen table staple, Latina Rebeldes Kitchen serves up their signature Vegas Hot Sauce, a habanero based sauce packed with flavor and spice that could be put on anything, the Thai Chili and Pineapple Sauce made with pineapple, Thai chili pepper, water, rice vinegar, garlic coriander and kosher salt and their newest debut the Mango Habanero Sauce with mango, orange, habanero, water, apple cider vinegar, garlic and kosher salt. Several countries in Africa, this year, have elections. South Africans will go to the polls on 8 May, and the countrys Bishops are calling on citizens to vote for men and women of integrity. English Africa Service Vatican City We pray that the upcoming Elections will constitute a further step both in bringing about the kind of society God desires for us and in giving us leaders, men and women of integrity who will build that society. Twenty-five years after the memorable elections of 1994, we celebrate that we have been able both to defend and to develop our democracy. We are grateful to good and honest people who have worked heroically and selflessly in the service of the nation. We are thankful also that the foundational institutions of our democracy have stood the test of time, reads the letter released to the English Africa Service of Vatican News Tuesday. We have the power to choose the direction of our country The Bishops decry corruption and the betrayal of public trust in the countrys political and corporate sector. Sadly, we have also come to see a darker side of political life. Recent Commissions of Enquiry have and are exposing individuals in both the political and corporate sectors who have tragically betrayed the public trust and placed their own self-interest ahead of the common good of the country. They add, The General Election of 8 May presents all South Africans with the opportunity to renew our vision for South Africa. We have the power to choose the direction our country will take. It is imperative that we choose wisely and courageously and not be distracted by false promises, affirm the Bishops. Tough questions that seek honesty and truth In guiding the people to vote wisely, the Bishops ask the electorate to interrogate their consciences and consider leaders who would promote the good of all especially the poor. In this context, we ask you: who do you think would eradicate corruption more effectively; provide realistic programmes to overcome unemployment and poverty? Appoint selfless public servants as leaders at the national and provincial level? Effectively reduce the level of violence tyrannising our people? Transform those attitudes and practices which underlie the violence against women and children? Respond effectively to the aspirations of our youth? Fulfil the promises they make rather than disappoint us? Protect our democracy and its institutions? The Bishops say. The Bishops further challenge South African not to vote according to personal interests, interests of race, ethnic group or social and economic class. Bahria Model Schools & Colleges Jobs 2019 For Karachi Latest Bahria Schools & Colleges Management Posts Karachi 2021 Qualified and well educated individuals for the posts of Principal, Vice Principal, Physics Lecturer, Chemistry Lecturer, Mathematics Lecturer, Botany Lecturer, Zoology Lecturer, Pak Studies Lecturer, English Lecturer, Urdu Lecturer, Islamiat Lecturer, Montessori Teacher, Primary Teacher, Secondary Teacher, PTI, Physical Training Instructor, DPE, Accountant, Accounts Assistant, Computer Lab Attendant, Science Lab Attendant, Library Assistant, Librarian, Aya, Mali, Sweeper, Naib Qasid, Chowkidar, Watchman required for Bahria Model Schools / Colleges in Karachi. How to Apply on Bahria Schools & Colleges Job Advertisement Apply as per details in job advertisement. In some cases, you may apply online at vacancies after registering at https://www.jobz.pk online. Company Address: Pakistan Navy Educational Trust HQs Commander Karachi 9 Liaquat Barracks Shahrah-e-Faisal Karachi Telephone: 021-48506740 Note: Beware of Fraudulent Recruiting Activities. If the employer asks you to pay money for any purpose including processing to shortlisting, do not pay at all and report us using our contact us form. Apply as per instuctions & dates mentioned in official job ad. Govt jobs cannot be applied online here. Error & omissions excepted. Donate Now As a public service during this pandemic, the Jewish News is providing free, unlimited access to all articles. Jewish News is a nonprofit publication that is owned by the community and relies on community support. Valdosta, GA (31601) Today Cloudy skies this morning followed by thunderstorms during the afternoon. High near 80F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. (@FahadShabbir) The US Embassy in Serbia said on Tuesday that it regularly held meetings with both the Serbian government and opposition, however, did not participate in organizing protests in the country as some media reports suggested BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th February, 2019) The US Embassy in Serbia said on Tuesday that it regularly held meetings with both the Serbian government and opposition , however, did not participate in organizing protests in the country as some media reports suggested. In early February, several Serbian tabloids published a photo of an open meeting between the Serbian protest movement's leaders and US diplomats in a lobby of one of the largest hotels in Belgrade. "Our job is to understand Serbia. Regular meetings with politicians from the authorities and the opposition and others in Serbia are a part of this job. The United States is not an organizer or sponsor of 'One in five million' protests," the embassy wrote on Twitter. The mass protests in Serbia were sparked by an attack against Borko Stefanovic, the leader of the Serbian Left opposition party, who received a powerful blow to his head in late November. Despite the fact that suspected perpetrators of the attack have been detained, protests have continued. The country's opposition has accused the authorities of allowing political violence. Protests have been held almost weekly since the first rally took place in the Serbian capital on December 8. The main slogan of rallies, "One in five million," emerged after Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that even if five million protesters took to the streets, he would not meet any of their demands. Protesters, in particular, have been calling for a proper investigation into the killing of Kosovo Serb leader Oliver Ivanovic in January, dismissal of Minister of Internal Affairs Nebojsa Stefanovic, and the change of the national television's leadership. South Sudan is ready to extend its bilateral cooperation with Russia to defense industry partnership if Moscow shows interest in the matter, the African country's Foreign Minister Nhial Deng Nhial told Sputnik on Monday ADDIS ABABA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2019) South Sudan is ready to extend its bilateral cooperation with Russia to defense industry partnership if Moscow shows interest in the matter, the African country's Foreign Minister Nhial Deng Nhial told Sputnik on Monday. "We are cooperating now only in the area of mineral extraction, but we are not against [cooperation] being [extended to] this area also if both sides express their interest," the minister said, when asked about defense industry cooperation between the two countries. The main sector of the South Sudanese economy is connected to oil production, with the revenues from hydrocarbons making up a significant part of the state budget. However, the exploration activities were previously hampered by the hostilities, including around the areas, which are rich not only in oil but also iron ore, copper, silver, gold, and other minerals. Several companies with Russian participation have been working in South Sudan. In particular, Russia's Safinat group of companies launched the construction of an oil refinery in the country, which was then frozen due to unstable situation in the region. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan following a referendum in 2011, in which majority of the voters supported the move. In 2013, a civil war erupted in the country, as South Sudan's President Salva Kiir of the Dinka tribe accused rebel leader Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer, of planning a coup. A fragile peace was reached in September after previously unsuccessful attempts to end fighting. (@ChaudhryMAli88) The government of South Sudan is confident that it will meet the deadline for the implementation of a power-sharing agreement with the country's main rebel group by mid-May, South Sudanese Foreign Minister Nhial Deng Nhial told Sputnik on Monday ADDIS ABABA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2019) The government of South Sudan is confident that it will meet the deadline for the implementation of a power-sharing agreement with the country's main rebel group by mid-May, South Sudanese Foreign Minister Nhial Deng Nhial told Sputnik on Monday. "The implementation is supposed to come to an end sometime in mid-May this year, and going by what we have achieved so far, we are fairly optimistic that we will be able to meet the deadline and implement the provisions that we need to implement before the new transitional government of unity takes office," Nhial said. He stressed that there were still a lot of tasks that needed to be accomplished before the peace deal could be fully implemented. "Yes, there is progress being made, there is progress being made in all fields. It's not easy. There are a lot of requirements, things that we need to accomplish during what we call the pre-transitional period, before the transitional period proper starts in mid-May, but we are moving steadily," Nhial said. A civil war erupted in South Sudan in 2013, just two years after the country gained independence from Sudan. South Sudanese President Salva Kiir accused then-Vice President Riek Machar and several others of planning a coup, resulting in an armed confrontation between the government and rebel forces led by Machar. A fragile peace was reached in September after several failed attempts to end the fighting. As part of the deal, Machar will return as vice president. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Moscow has received no requests from Tehran over the purchases of Russian S-400 air defense systems, Vladimir Ermakov, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control, told Sputnik MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th February, 2019) Moscow has received no requests from Tehran over the purchases of Russian S-400 air defense systems, Vladimir Ermakov, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control, told Sputnik. "This question should better be addressed to the Russian Defense Ministry. As far as we know, Iranian partners have not addressed us with the request to sell S-400 to them," the diplomat said. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Russian and Serbian activists held on Tuesday a photo exhibition dubbed "The Faces of Concentration Camps" and commemorative events at the museum of the former Nazi concentration camp in the city of Nis in southern Serbia, producer of the international center and data bank Memorial Sergey Glushchenko told Sputnik BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th February, 2019) Russian and Serbian activists held on Tuesday a photo exhibition dubbed "The Faces of Concentration Camps" and commemorative events at the museum of the former Nazi concentration camp in the city of Nis in southern Serbia , producer of the international center and data bank Memorial Sergey Glushchenko told Sputnik. Tuesday marked the 77th anniversary of the prisoner uprising at the Crveni Krst concentration camp. The photo exhibition opened as part of an international project created by the Russian Victory Museum and Moscow-based Alexander Pechersky Foundation called "Heroes of the Resistance in Concentration Camps." The Nis city authorities also took part in organizing the event. Students, military personnel and members of patriotic organizations attended the events in the museum complex. "We hold this event with the main goal of preserving the memory of people who were killed and whose will did not falter, and this is the shared goal for the Russians and the Serbs. Nowadays, there is a real threat that historical facts regarding the suffering of people who fought against Nazism will be distorted. The escape of prisoners from the Crveni Krst concentration camp is a true story and a vivid example of the adamant will of people who, under the threat of death, wanted to be free," Glushchenko said. The concentration camp near the Crveni Krst (Red Cross) train station in Nis was established by the Nazis in April 1941. Balkan Jews, Gypsies, anti-fascists, soldiers and officers of the pre-war Yugoslav army, and members of the resistance were all imprisoned at the camp. A group of 105 people escaped from the camp on February 12, 1942, and 42 of them were killed in the process. According to post-war evaluations, about 30,000 people were held in the camp in the three years it was open. About 10,000 prisoners were killed and the rest were sent to other camps. Soviet troops liberated the camp in September 1944. Inland is ready to assist Russia and the United States in possible talks on strategic stability, including on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, Foreign Minister Timo Soini said Tuesday MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th February, 2019) Finland is ready to assist Russia and the United States in possible talks on strategic stability, including on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, Foreign Minister Timo Soini said Tuesday. "We support the United States and Russia in continuing talks on strategic stability and also on the future preservation of the INF Treaty. If there is an opportunity to assist in this issue in some way, we will certainly do everything possible on [our] part," Soini said at a press conference following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. (@rukhshanmir) Representatives of Russian companies that have showed interest in investing in South Sudan's oil sector will visit the country in the near future, Nhial Deng Nhial, the foreign minister of South Sudan, told Sputnik on Monday ADDIS ABABA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2019) Representatives of Russian companies that have showed interest in investing in South Sudan 's oil sector will visit the country in the near future, Nhial Deng Nhial, the foreign minister of South Sudan , told Sputnik on Monday. "South Sudan in the nearest future will be visited by several Russian companies, which have expressed their readiness and willingness to invest in the oil sector," Nhial said. Nhial confirmed that Rosneft energy giant would be among the companies expected to visit South Sudan. Memorial services will be held at Northridge Christian Church in The Link at 2 p.m. June 25, 2021. Lt. Col. Leeder was a native of Connellsville, Pa. and had made his home in Milledgeville for the past 25 years. He was predeceased by his parents, Laird Glenn Leeder Sr. and Hazel Mae Brooks L Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic we have maintained that Gov. Chris Sununu handled the emergency superbly. That is why New Hampshire weathered the crisis well relative to most other states. It is also why the voters overwhelmingly returned the young governor to office last November. FINALLY, a fine summer, which we Minnesotans appreciate, having endured winters attempts to depress us, and just when we were about to go into therapy and talk about how emotionally unavailable our dad was, summer came along and here I am on a sunny day with relatives on a porch enjoying a When Barbra Streisand sat down with a reporter in November to promote her new album, the singer couldn't help going off-topic and ruminating o Austin Beutner has been an investment banker, first deputy mayor of Los Angeles, and publisher and chief executive of the Los Angeles Times. But none of those jobs were tougher than the position he is soon leaving after the grueling COVID-19 year: superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified Sc For full access, please log in, register your subscription or subscribe. Try for 99 a month for two months, cancel or pause anytime. Estonia has had several high-profile cases of alleged spying since the country declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. An Estonian court has found a former army officer and his father guilty of committing treason by spying for Russia. The court in Estonia's capital, Tallinn, ruled on February 11 that 38-year-old Deniss Metsavas a major with the Estonian Army and his father, 65-year-old Pjotr Volin, sold classified information to Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU, RFE/RL wrote. Read alsoEU diplomats warned of hundreds of Russian, Chinese spies in Brussels media Estonia's State Prosecutor's Office said in a statement on February 11 the court found that Metsavas passed the information for a decade and sentenced him to 15 1/2 years in prison. Volin collaborated with the GRU for approximately half as long and was sentenced to six years in prison. Metsavas served with the Estonian armed forces in various positions including a mission with NATO troops in Afghanistan. Estonia has had several high-profile cases of alleged spying since the country declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Both Estonian and Russian citizens have been accused of providing sensitive information to Moscow. Estonia is now a member of NATO and the European Union. One invader was killed in action and another one was injured, intelligence reports say. Russia's hybrid military forces in the past 24 hours mounted 12 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as wounded in action (WIA). Read also"DPR" armed forces allege they capture Ukrainian soldier in Donbas "One Ukrainian soldier was wounded in the past day. According to intelligence reports, one invader was killed and another one was wounded," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation said in an update published on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on February 12, 2019. Russian occupation forces opened fire from 82mm and 120mm mortars, grenade launchers of various types, heavy machine guns, and small arms, attacking the defenders of the villages of Hnutove, Pisky, Pavlopil, Novotoshkivske, Krymske, and Khutir Vilniy. Proscribed weapons were used in eight instances. "Since Tuesday midnight, Russian-led forces haven't attacked Ukrainian positions yet," the report said. Ukrainian diplomats are convinced that Ukrainian efforts to have a UN peacekeeping mission deployed throughout Donbas will succeed as Kremlins abuses of UN tools have no support. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on the fourth anniversary of the signing of the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements stated that the Kremlin has been showing contempt for their provisions. "By signing this document, as well as the two previous documents under the Minsk agreements [the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum], Russia made a clear commitment to a peaceful settlement in Donbas," speaker for the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine Kateryna Zelenko said at a press conference in Kyiv Tuesday, according to an UNIAN correspondent. In this regard, she noted that demanding from Russia fulfillment of their obligations under the Minsk Agreements is one of the key elements of Ukraine partners' position on resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine. "Ukraine sees no alternative to political and diplomatic instruments for resolving the conflict in Donbas. Ukraines progress in implementing the Minsk agreements is recognized by our partners," she stressed. The official added that de-escalation is possible only under the condition of implementation of priority security measures under the Minsk agreements, in particular, a cease-fire, withdrawal of heavy weapons and ensuring unhindered monitoring by OSCE observers. Read alsoPoroshenko comments on "Sajdik Plan" for Donbas "We constantly inform our partners about Russia's violations of the Minsk agreements. Ukrainian positions in Donbas are shelled daily," Zelenko said. Also, the diplomat said that during the latest cease-fire regime introduced on New Year's holidays, the invaders shelled Ukrainian positions almost 300 times, killing five Ukrainian military and wounding another 37. Russia is also blocking the process of hostage exchange, the foreign ministry spokeswoman said. "If we look directly at the question of Russia's loyalty to Minsk agreements, which will be discussed today at the UN Security Council meeting, we can say that in 2014-2018, the Kremlin showed its contempt for these provisions when fake elections were held in the occupied territory," she said. Read alsoSajdik's "Peace Plan" could legitimize DPR, LPR minister "To hide their aggressive actions, Russian forces regularly restrict freedom of movement and access of OSCE observers," she added. However, according to Ukrainian diplomats, the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission will help unblock the implementation of Minsk agreements and bring peace to Donbas. "In this regard, Ukraine continues to work with partners to launch a peacekeeping operation, the main purpose of which would be to ensure people's safety and help resolve the conflict, rather than further freezing it. For us, it is critical that the mission be deployed throughout the occupied territory, including an uncontrolled section of the border, and not include representatives of the aggressor state, but have a powerful mandate," she stressed. "We are confident that our efforts in this regard will be productive because we see that the Kremlins attempts to abuse the UN peacekeeping tools have no support," the spokeswoman said. Ukrainian diplomats hope to hear from international partners statements in support of Ukraine regarding the restoration of sovereignty over the occupied Crimea and Donbas. On February 20, the UN General Assembly will discuss the situation in the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, that's according to Kateryna Zelenko, MFA Ukraine's press secretary. I think that the international community will clearly demonstrate their attitude to the Russian position as early as February 20, when the situation in the occupied territories of Ukraine will be discussed at the UN General Assembly, Zelenko told a Kyiv press conference Tuesday, according to an UNIAN correspondent. "There, we hope to hear many statements by the UN member states in support of Ukraine," Zelenko said, adding that the discussion was initiated by the Ukrainian side. Read alsoUNGA votes for resolution calling for end to Russia's occupation, militarization of Crimea "This is actually the first time the debate on the situation in the occupied territories is put on the General Assembly's agenda. And this will be a reliable platform that will demonstrate how ready the international community is to support Ukraine," Zelenko said. "This will send an additional signal from our international partners in support of Ukraine regarding the restoration of sovereignty over the occupied territories and the cessation of aggression," the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said. The SBU has information that the Russian special services are preparing serious cyber attacks before and during the presidential elections in Ukraine. The SBU Security Service of Ukraine will start blocking websites suspected of undermining the country's national security before the presidential elections. Read alsoPutin sees Ukraine elections as "general battle for our state" Poroshenko "The SBU will take such measures in response to information warfare and cyber attacks, primarily from Russia. The SBU has recently been registering groups of online agitators who collaborate with Russian supervisors and receive monetary rewards and tasks from them to discredit the electoral process," Head of the SBU's Department of Counterintelligence Protection of State Interests in the Field of Information Oleksandr Klymchuk said during a Svoboda Slova [Freedom of Speech] panel show on Ukraine's ICTV channel. "The information available to the Security Service indicates the Russian special services will focus on hybrid aggression: cyber attacks, attacks on cyberspace and critical infrastructure facilities. And the second vector is information influence, fake news and attacks on the information space," Klymchuk said. According to him, the SBU has information that the Russian special services are preparing serious cyber attacks before and during the presidential elections in Ukraine. "They may affect not only the electronic systems of the Central Election Commission, but also attack any critical infrastructure facilities, such as transport, communications, finance and energy," Klymchuk said. He said about 2,000 fake accounts had been blocked over the last year. "About 200 websites that promoted Russian ideology were sanctioned. This year, another 100 websites have been submitted, which will also be blocked soon under a decision of the National Security and Defense Council enacted by a presidential decree," Klymchuk added. Vistra Energy Corp. has entered into an agreement to acquire Crius Energy Trust for about $328 million, the company announced in a news release Thursday. The move comes as Irving-based Vistra (NYSE: VST) seeks to expand its retail business. With the acquisition of Crius Energy, Vistra would serve 19 states and the District of Columbia in the electricity and natural gas product market for residential and small business customers. Vistra plans to fund the deal with cash on-hand, in addition to taking on Crius Energy's net debt of about $108 million. Vistra does not expect its capital allocation or deleveraging plans to change with the tuck-in. Norwalk, Connecticut-based Crius Energy's assets are expected to complement Vistra's generation fleet adding about 11.6 TWhs of load and existing municipal aggregation and large commercial and industrial portfolio in the Midwest and Northeast markets, according to the release. The transaction has already been approved by Crius Energy's board of directors. It is still subject to approval of at least two-thirds of Crius Energy's unitholders, in addition to regulatory approvals. Pending approvals, the deal is anticipated to close in the second quarter of 2019. RBC Capital Markets and Latham & Watkins are serving as financial advisor and legal advisor to Vistra. Crius Energy, which is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange, has jumped more than 36 percent in midday trading. Vistra is trading up only slightly on today's announcement and is up more than 36 percent year-over-year. The Ukrainian prisoners of war will remain in custody in the Lefortovo detention center until the end of April. The Moscow City Court has upheld a ruling on the extension of arrest for another four Ukrainian sailors, namely Yevhen Semydotsky, Andriy Oprysko, Roman Mokriak, and Serhiy Tsybizov. "To reject an appeal. Not to reverse the decision by [Moscow's] Lefortovo district court," a judge of the Moscow City Court said, according to an UNIAN correspondent in Russia. Thus, the Ukrainian prisoners of war will remain in custody in the Lefortovo detention center until the end of April. The Ukrainian military refused to testify before the court, referring to Article 17 of the Geneva Convention. Read alsoEuropean Parliament calls on Russia to immediately release Ukrainian political prisoners The court met behind closed doors at the request of the FSB investigator and the prosecutor, although the lawyers and the captive sailors insisted on an open court hearing. Journalists, Ukrainian consuls, EU diplomats were invited only for the announcement of the ruling. Ilya Novikov, Mokriak's lawyer, said there were no secret materials at the court hearing and the investigators' request violates the principle of publicity of the proceedings. UNIAN memo. On the morning of November 25, Russia blocked the passage to the Kerch Strait for the Ukrainian tugboat "Yany Kapu" and two armored naval boats "Berdyansk" and "Nikopol," which were on a scheduled re-deployment from the Black Sea port of Odesa to the Azov Sea port of Mariupol. The Ukraine Navy Command noted that the Russian side had been informed of the plans to re-deploy the vessels in advance in accordance with international standards to ensure the safety of navigation. The Russian coast guard ship "Don" rammed the Ukrainian tugboat, damaging the Ukrainian vessel. As the Ukrainian boats were heading back in the Odesa direction after being rejected passage via the Kerch Strait, Russian coast guards opened aimed fire on them. All 24 crew members on board were captured and later remanded in custody for two months, being charged with "illegal border crossing" (the sailors are facing up to six years in prison). Three crewmen were wounded in the attack. Russian-controlled "courts" in occupied Crimea ruled that all 24 detainees should be remanded in custody, after which they were transferred to the Moscow-based Lefortovo and Matrosskaya Tishina detention centers. Moscow's Lefortovo district court in the middle of January 2019, ruled to keep the Ukrainian sailors in remand until the end of April 2019. It contains descriptions of Russia's information campaigns aimed against Ukraine, carried out in 2014-2018. The Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine on Tuesday, Feb 12, presented the "White Book of Special Information Operations Against Ukraine, 2014-2018." The experts collected fake stories spun by Russian propaganda aimed at undermining Ukraines territorial integrity and discrediting the country in the international arena, according to ZN.ua. The book is structured as a set of series (narratives) with several seasons (sub-narratives) in each of them, which highlights Russian propagandists' consistency in their application in 2014-2018. Read alsoGazeta Wyborcza: Russian trolls, propagandists intensify attacks on Ukraine ahead of elections "This is not just a certain list of episodes and stories this is the concept of vision we're offering our colleagues in the educational field, in the field of journalism, and in the area of state bodies. This is a concept of how one should view the situation that unfolds in the information space," Deputy Minister of Information Policy Dmytro Zolotukhin during a Kyiv presentation on Tuesday. In the White Book, the authors showed which topics were most frequently exploited in Russia's information attacks on Ukraine, how they unfolded, and what channels were used to spread disinformation. In particular, among such conditional "series" are the following: "Pocket ISIL", "Crimes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Minsk Agreements", "Flight MH17: from Carlos to the Russian Buk","Invisible [Military] Units of Western Powers in Ukraine "," Fight for EU", "Search for Ukrainian weapons"," International Courts and Kremlin Lies","Ukraine as Failed State", and "Schizophrenia of the Occupier: Between Zoryan and Shkiryak". Read alsoRussian disinformation on Facebook targeted Ukraine well before 2016 U.S. election - WP However, the book is not a fixed version. These 'series' continue they are now in production. And we are trying to present you this model only to continue working on it," added Zolotukhin. The electronic version of the book [in Ukrainian] is published on the website of the Ministry of Information Policy. According to the research by the European Union's disinformation watchdog, "EU vs Disinformation", Ukraine tops the list of the countries, information on which is being distorted by Russian media. Most often, Russian state-owned media spread disinformation about Ukraines foreign debts, the Ukrainian army, and the country's president. Next week, Poroshenko is to sign Constitution amendments seeking full membership of Ukraine in the EU and NATO. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has pledged Ukraine will apply for European Union (EU) membership and receive a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Membership Action Plan (MAP) in 2023. Read alsoEU reiterates need for full implementation of Association Agreement with Ukraine "This is a public commitment to apply for membership in the European Union and to receive the NATO MAP in 2023," the president said at Dragon Capital's 15th Annual Ukraine Investor Conference. Poroshenko also said he would sign amendments to the Constitution in the following week, which were passed by the Verkhovna Rada to ensure Ukraine's strategic course towards full membership in the EU and NATO. "The amendments to the Constitution, which were voted last week and which give strength of the Fundamental Law to our European and Euro-Atlantic integration, show how serious our intentions are," Poroshenko said. "The Verkhovna Rada has already supported this initiative of the president, and next week I will sign the amendments to the Constitution. I hope it will be done in parliament, publicly. This will be an extremely important step in the history of our state." As UNIAN reported earlier, the EU- and NATO-related amendments to Ukraine's Constitution were passed by the country's parliament on February 7. On January 29, Poroshenko announced at a forum in Kyiv that Ukraine would apply for EU membership in 2024. The declared reason is the fourth anniversary of the signing of the Minsk agreements. A meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on the Minsk peace agreements on Donbas has been slated to be held five hours later than it was originally planned. In particular, Security Council members will start considering the issue at 22:00 Kyiv time instead of 17:00 Kyiv time on Tuesday, February 12, as earlier planned, according to the UN's press service. As UNIAN reported earlier, the UN Security Council on February 12 was initiated by Russia. The declared reason is the fourth anniversary of the signing of the Minsk agreements. The judge ruled the suspect could be bailed for UAH 115,000 (nearly $4,250). The court ruled to remand in custody for two months a Kyiv PD operative Vasyl Melnikov, who the prosecution believes was recorded on a video beating an activist during a rally outside the city's Podil district police station. According to an UNIAN correspondent, the ruling was handed down by a Pechersk district court in Kyiv on Tuesday. At the same time, the judge set a bail at UAH 115,000 (nearly $4,250). The law enforcer is being charged with abuse of power, while the allegation that it was the suspect who shouted a notorious "On the ground, Bandera!" while beating up the protester has not been backed by sufficient evidence and was therefore dismissed. Read alsoAnti-riot squad suppress, detain nearly 40 activists outside police station in Kyiv (photo, video) As UNIAN reported ealier, on February 9, Kyiv police detained and assaulted activists of the Who ordered the murder of Katya Handziuk? initiative who were rallying at the campaign event organized by presidential candidate, leader of the "Batkivshchyna" Party Yulia Timoshenko. After that, supporters of the group detained gathered outside the Podil police station and attempted to storm the building. A clash broke out between the activists and law enforcers. The police used tear gas and batons. About 40 people were detained and three investigations were launched, probing threat or violence against a law enforcement officer, seizure of public buildings and hooliganism. It was reported that as a result of the clash, three police officers were injured and later hospitalized. The lawyer of the detainees, Masi Nayyem, said that at least eight activists of the C14 organization were detained and charged with committing an act hooliganism as part of a group (part 4 Article 296 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Later all the detainees were released. Criminal proceedings were initiated into the beating of activists by police (abuse of power or official authority). A South Sudanese refugee changes money at a market in Meri refugee site, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, November 2017. UNHCR/Colin Delfosse UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is seeing a surge in refugee arrivals from South Sudan in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Over the past few days thousands of desperate people have been crossing the border to escape fighting and violence against civilians. Its estimated that 5,000 refugees have arrived in several border villages near the town of Ingbokolo, in north-east DRCs Ituri province, according to local village chiefs. There are reports that an additional 8,000 people are displaced inside South Sudan, on the outskirts of the town of Yei. People are fleeing clashes that started on January 19 between the army and one of the rebel groups, the National Salvation Front (NAS). This is in South Sudans Central Equatoria State that borders DRC and Uganda. The clashes are blocking humanitarian access to the affected areas. In DRC, those fleeing the violence arrived by foot over the weekend. Most are women, children and the elderly. They arrived exhausted, hungry and thirsty. Among them are people suffering malaria or other illnesses. Many have suffering from trauma from having witnessed violent incidents, including armed men reportedly murdering and raping civilians and looting villages. UNHCR staff in DRCs Ituri province say that desperate people are seeking shelter in churches, schools and abandoned houses, or sleeping in the open. This is a remote area and border villages have almost no infrastructure or health centres. New arrivals are surviving thanks to food that is being shared with them by local villagers. The areas in which refugees have arrived are difficult to reach, with roads and bridges badly damaged and in a state of disrepair. The Congolese authorities are encouraging people to move away from the volatile border area and move further inland, where they can get better help. UNHCR has sent additional staff to Ituri to register refugees and support their possible relocation. However, we need funds to set up shelters and provide assistance including food, water and medical services in the nearest refugee settlement, Biringi. Biringi is located further south and has an existing population of over 6,000 South Sudanese refugees. The conflict in South Sudan has created over 2.2 million refugees since 2013. UNHCR repeats its call for all parties to the conflict to take all possible action to ensure the safety of civilians and their freedom of movement, and to guarantee safe routes for civilians to leave conflict areas. For more information on this topic, please contact: | By Jena Frick Sitting in a balcony at the Maryland General Assembly, a group of middle and high school students from West Baltimore looked down on the House floor waiting to be recognized. House Speaker Michael Busch looked up at the youngsters and led the room in a round of applause congratulating the students on their accomplishments in the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) CURE Scholars Program. I feel like a VIP right now! exclaimed Lynijah Russell, a seventh-grade student at Franklin Square Elementary Middle School. Im just sitting here thinking, Wow, I cant believe Im actually here. Shakeer Franklin (right), a cohort one scholar, shakes hands with Baltimore City Del. Keith Haynes (left) after presenting his research poster at the House Office Building. Funded by the National Cancer Institute, the UMB CURE Scholars Program is a unique mentoring program aimed at reducing racial disparities in public health by introducing a pipeline toward careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) to students in West Baltimore. The program begins in sixth grade and continues through high school, college, and beyond. Lynijah was one of 36 CURE Scholars who traveled to Annapolis on Jan. 28 for Advocacy Day, giving the scholars an opportunity to learn more about their local government by shaking hands with prominent lawmakers from across the state of Maryland. The sixth-, seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-grade scholars kicked off their state capital excursion in the House Office Building, where they displayed their unique STEM research posters in the Baltimore City Delegation boardroom. Throughout the evening, state lawmakers filtered into the room to listen as the scholars presented their research. (View a photo gallery.) Im not really nervous, Lynijah stated proudly in front of her poster about how smartphones affect childhood brain development. Im excited and Im happy because usually when we present our posters its people we already know. Now that its higher-level people, Im just excited because Ive practiced a lot and I know what I want to talk about. The scholars research posters ranged in topics from Robotic Surgery to Health Disparities Related to Premature Birth. Each of the scholars exuded confidence in their presentations, looking highly professional in the programs signature white coats. (View a video below.) Meanwhile, six of the scholars from CUREs newest cohort of sixth-grade students, who will begin their research this spring, talked to the legislators about their curriculum tracks, which include anatomy, chemistry, MESA, and coding/robotics. This trip is really a two-for-one, explained Robin Saunders, EdD, MS, executive director of the CURE Scholars Program. This is a chance for the students to see how their state government works, and its also a chance for legislators to see, firsthand, the amazing work our CURE Scholars are doing and what kind of research they are studying. One of the visiting lawmakers was Del. Jon Cardin, who represents District 11. Cardin said he had heard of the CURE Scholars Program, but this was the first time he was able to meet the scholars face-to-face and he was very impressed with their research. I walked in and I had no idea it was going to be middle school and high school students, said Cardin. These are very articulate young men and women, and its clear that the mentors are teaching them life skills like getting in front of people, talking to them, showing confidence, and getting their work done. The mentors are a key part of the CURE Scholars Program. They provide guidance and support to help the young scholars achieve their academic and personal goals. Adrienne Kambouris, an MD and PhD student at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), has been a mentor to KeRon Jones, an eighth-grader in cohort 2, for over two years. Despite the heavy workload from being a full-time student, Kambouris makes her mentoring duties a priority. Being a mentor is something thats important to me, she explained. I was in class all day today. I came straight to Annapolis from school to be here with KeRon because this program is important. The CURE Scholars Program is one of the reasons Kambouris wanted to apply to UMSOM. Being from Baltimore, Kambouris sees a lot of herself in the CURE Scholars and wanted help them reach their full potential. I was these little girls, said Kambouris, indicating KeRon and her project partner, Kai-yonna Hughes, also an eighth-grader in cohort 2. I grew up in Baltimore City, so I know what its like to get an education there and I wanted to help the students understand that not only are their dreams possible, but there are people that can show you how to accomplish them. Kambouris stood by KeRon and Kai-yonna the entire evening as they presented their research poster on thyroid cancer to several Maryland lawmakers. One of the lawmakers who stopped by was Del. Keith Haynes, who represents District 44A, located in West Baltimore where KeRon and Kai-yonna attend school at Green Street Academy. I am very proud of these scholars for all theyre doing, said Haynes. Im looking forward to seeing doctors, members of Congress, and other programs and professions. Im looking forward to seeing them walk across that stage to get those professional degrees, and I hope they continue to do what theyre doing because theyre doing a great job. After presenting their research to dozens of delegates, the scholars headed across the street to the Maryland State House, where they had reserved seats in the House and Senate balconies. The scholars received a roar of applause from the House and Senate floors as UMB President Jay A. Perman, MD, and Saunders were presented with a plaque of recognition for the UMB CURE Scholars Program. For Lynijah, this was a very exciting moment as she reflected on all of her achievements and experiences gained through the CURE Scholars Program. The CURE Scholars program has changed my life, she said. If I didnt come to CURE, I wouldnt know everything that I know now, I would not be as advanced in school as I am, and I wouldnt be as influenced in society. Its not just an after-school activity, its a life program. facebook like button Tweet tweet button for twitter Published February 11, 2019 The University of Louisiana Monroe Presidential Lyceum Series hosts what promises to be a fascinating Evening with Peter Zeihan on Thursday, March 14, 2019. ULM, in partnership with President Nick J. Bruno and the Office of Student Life, annually sponsors the Lyceum Series which brings newsmakers, celebrities and forward-thinking cultural experts such as Zeihan to campus. Zeihan is a geopolitical strategist, which means he helps people understand how the world works. Zeihan combines an expert understanding of demography, economics, energy, politics, technology, and security to help clients best prepare for an uncertain future. Over the course of his career, Zeihan has worked for the U.S. State Department in Australia, the Washington, D.C., think tank community, and helped develop the analytical models for Stratfor, one of the worlds premier private intelligence companies. Zeihan founded his own firm Zeihan on Geopolitics in 2012 in order to provide a select group of clients with direct, custom analytical products. Today those clients represent a vast array of sectors including energy majors, financial institutions, business associations, agricultural interests, universities and the U.S. military. WANT TO GO? WHAT: Lyceum with Peter Zeihan, geopolitical strategist WHEN: 7 p.m., Thursday, March 14 WHERE: Cypress Hall at Bayou Pointe TICKETS: Eventbrite, https://tinyurl. com/lyceum2019 COST: Students: Free Faculty & Staff: $10 General Admission: $20 Patron Party Access: $100 Student, faculty, and staff tickets are only valid with ULM ID. Patron Party meet and greet comes with a reserved seat at the keynote address and a copy of Zeihan's book. SPONSORSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE CONTACT: Office of Student Life, 342-5287 With a keen eye toward what will drive tomorrows headlines, his irreverent approach transforms topics that are normally dense and heavy into accessible, relevant takeaways for audiences of all types. Zeihan is a critically-acclaimed author whose first two books The Accidental Superpower and The Absent Superpower have been recommended by Mitt Romney, Fareed Zakaria and Ian Bremmer. His forthcoming third title, Disunited Nations: The Scramble for Power in an Ungoverned World will be available late-2019. Zeihans schedule includes: Student Forum 4:30-5 p.m. Press conference in The Lagniappe Theater at Bayou Pointe Student Event Center. Sponsor Meet & Greet: 5-5:45 p.m. Meet and Greet with sponsors and brief comments by Zeihan at reception center next to Lagniappe Theater. Patron Party 5:50-6:30 p.m. Patron Party at Bayou Pointe Patio, hors doeuvres, photo opportunities meet Zeihan. Keynote Address 7 p.m. Zeihan delivers keynote address in Cypress Hall at Bayou Pointe. Book signing and photo opportunities after the address If you are interested in supporting the Presidential Lyceum Series, please contact the ULM Foundation at 318-342-3636. We have several sponsorship packages available: $1,000 Sponsor 4 patron party tickets but with exclusive access to the sponsor meet & greet with Peter Zeihan, a copy of Peter Zeihan's book, patron party access, and reserved seating at the keynote address. $2,000 Sponsor 6 patron party tickets but with exclusive access to the sponsor meet & greet with Peter Zeihan, a copy of Peter Zeihan's book, patron party access, and reserved seating at the keynote address. $3,000 Sponsor 8 patron party tickets but with exclusive access to the sponsor meet & greet with Peter Zeihan, a copy of Peter Zeihan's book, patron party access, and reserved seating at the keynote address. The Governments of Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland announced the launch of the Good governance and citizens engagement for justice, security, environmental protection and social cohesion in eastern Ukraine initiative. The initiative will support strengthening of the regions governance and promote social cohesion until 2022 under the United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine said in a report on its website. The conflict in eastern Ukraine, dragging into its fifth year, has had a significant impact on civilians, including over 3,300 men, women and children killed, up to 9,000 injured since 2014, 1.5 million people internally displaced and many others facing challenges of living in conflict-affected areas. This breakdown in trust can only be overcome by job creation, poverty alleviation, anti-corruption measures, law enforcement and judicial reform, and the promotion of human rights. The overall contribution of Denmark (USD 9.045 million), Sweden (USD 3 million) and Switzerland (USD 2 million) of USD 14.045 million marks the beginning of efforts to resolve these key issues in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (RPP) addresses priority needs in eastern Ukraine after armed conflict erupted in the spring of 2014. The RPP is being implemented by four United Nations agencies: UNDP, UN Women, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The Programme is supported by nine international partners: the European Union, the European Investment Bank and the governments of Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and Japan. Its total budget for 2019-2022 is over USD 50 million. NATO Member States need a permanent dialogue with Ukraine as the Ukrainian issue is of paramount importance in the context of the Allies concern over the aggressive behavior of Russia. "I think that a working breakfast, which the UK organizes for the Ukrainian defense minister, will be very helpful. My [U.S.] Secretary of Defense is looking forward to this meeting, and I think this is what all NATO defense ministers feel. It [Ukrainian issue] is one of the most important areas of concern the Allies feel about [actions of] Russia," U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison said at a press conference ahead of the meeting of NATO Defence Ministers scheduled for February 13-14, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. The ambassador reminded that the Allies strongly condemned the illegal annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and Russia's aggression in eastern Ukraine and the Sea of Azov around the Kerch Strait. "The Allies have repeatedly called on Russia to free the captured Ukrainian sailors and ships. The solution to these problems needs holding a meeting between the defense ministers [of NATO member states] and Ukraine. We want to be useful, and we hope that Russia will free the sailors. The working breakfast with the Ukrainian minister will be a positive step in the right direction," Kay Bailey Hutchison added. When a follower called her out for the show's cancellation, Rees fired back, "Not yet baby... only for Foxtel ..." Photo Credit: Foxtel cast member Victoria Rees hopes that another Australian network picks up the show after Foxtel confirmed series cancellation. During a recent post on her Instagram page, Rees revealed in the comment section that despite the show's recent cancellation, she hopes that another network picks it up.Then Rees revealed that the show could return if another network picks it up. "It may if another channel picks us up x."Earlier this month, Foxtel's executive director of television Brian Walsh officially confirmed tothat the controversial reality show will not be returning for a second season.Sydney wont happen again. Once bitten twice shy, he said.In September 2018,revealed that the show had been axed.As previously reported, the show was rejected by U.S. network Bravo for being too extreme - this was the first time a Real Housewives franchise was not immediately picked up for syndication.If you recall, the fate of the show was in question after Bravo decided not to commission the show for being "too extreme" for American viewers, in which Foxtel's head of television Brian Walsh revealed that he was concerned about the cast, hinting changes would have be made to the housewives line up."A lot of the women in this show were nasty for nastys sake and have no redeeming features," he said. "I particularly felt Lisa Oldfield and AthenaX Levendi were driving their own agendas."Brian said he would be steering changes in the second series to make sure the women were better behaved and more friendly towards each other."Ive raised my concerns with the production team from this season. I felt the bad language and behavior throughout the series did go too far," he toldLisa Oldifield's husband David hinted that the show was not returning for a second season when the couple where contestants on Ten's reality show, "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!"Particular taking a dig at Lisa's RHOS nemesis Krissy Marsh, David said: "She doesn't understand that the show is over. A couple of them we know are not dealing with the fact that whatever they were... they are not that now."Dismissing the cast as a bunch of 'fame whores', he added: "They really did have their 15 minutes of fame."The show consisted of seven ladies: Athena X Levendi, Krissy Marsh, Lisa Oldfield, Matty Samaei, Melissa Tkautz, Nicole O'Neal and Victoria Rees.While the series was not picked up by U.S. network Bravo for being "too extreme," the show found international success in New Zealand and the U.K. Ukraines judicial system this year will be significantly strengthened thanks to the launch of an independent anti-corruption court. Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman said this at a government meeting, an Ukrinform correspondent reported. "We need a fair judicial system. I believe that 2019 will be a year of taking important steps and this system will be strengthened by the creation of an independent anti-corruption court. Today we have a strong signal from the Supreme Court of Ukraine about reforms and the decisions it makes. I think we are moving in the right direction," Groysman said. According to him, the Government is clearly aware of the strong link between a fair judicial system, an inflow of investments, an increase in the number of jobs and the quality of life of citizens. "We need to move faster in terms of preparing the conditions for business and training. Therefore, education is one of the key issues for us," the prime minister added. He assured that the Government was on the side of business, understood its problems and was in constant dialogue in order to make effective decisions. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author (Good Tea), and they do not reflect in any way those of iRealHousewives.com. Full disclosure, I was setting up my new iPhone while watching this episode #multitasking, so I wasn't totally devoted to whatever the fuck was going on in Tokyo but this trip feels like it's been going on for thirty-seven years and there's only so much dark Gregg drama I can take. This was a lukewarm episode, however, seeing NeNe physically assault a cameraman in the midseason trailer did pique my interest for what's to come. Tanya is an underrated piece of Canadian bacon this franchise needs that nobody is appreciating. She gave Eva a bachelorette party which everybody shat on because she did an over the top dance at the beginning. Was she doing the most? Of course, but if she was meek and quiet everyone would call her boring, so she can't win. When she tries to be animated, she's extra and when she's quiet, she's boring. Everyone's lowkey disapproval of Tanya goes hand in hand with the group's need to crawl up NeNe's asshole. Seeing six women all poking out of NeNe's rectum is tiresome because NeNe can't give us what we need when everyone likes her. During the bachelorette party, NeNe was being a bitch. Yes, she had troubles with Gregg but has she never heard of common decency? And wouldn't she enjoy herself more if she attempted to crack a smile and have fun? It's just a thought. She was walking around with a storm cloud over her head and nobody even tried to shade her shitty behaviour. I love Tanya, but the bachelorette party was weird. The Japanese stripper was reminiscent of those weird Mexican strippers who sexually assaulted the Orange County Housewives a few seasons back. The Japanese stripper was lazy. He SAT on the couch next to Eva, just casually sitting there, and slowly took off all his clothes except his thong and socks. Did he really need to keep his socks on? Is that how they do it in Japan? He didn't really give us the energy we needed from an international stripper and he didn't even give us a body roll. Once he was done with sitting half naked next to the bride to be, he wandered out of the room, not even trying to twerk all over the other ladies, and you know Cynthia wanted some Japanese ass jiggling in her face. Following the weird stripper experience, Tanya also wanted to play some weird Japanese dress up game which would've been good at a six-year-old's birthday party but not a bachelorette party on the Real Housewives of Atlanta, but that's more of Japan's fault than it is Tanya's. Naturally, Kandi came up with the idea of the group to put pickles in their crotches and try to fuck another cast member with it to show everyone their favourite positions. Wow. Wow. Wow. Where does Kandi get these ideas from? This was to be one of the best games they've ever played, even if it does include penetration. Seeing a group of women bending each other over and putting pickles where they should never go was a welcomed surprise and when I woke up I didn't think it would be apart of my day. These ladies had five nights alone in Japan, so those pickles definitely came in handy. Literally. Following Kandi getting the group all hot and bothered, everyone went clubbing and Marlo was locked out of her room drunk, which is the most Marlo thing ever. Drunk talking to international hotel staff at 4 am is so fucking relatable. Never change, Marlotta. Nothing else really happened for most of the trip. All the girls did some Samurai class which was just boring. If these women are playing with knives I want to see them cutting each other, not playing around with them. Japan was a weird place to go and I'm not sure I liked the choice. I don't want to see my Housewives learning and being cultured abroad. No no. If I was into learning through TV I'd turn on Sesame Street, I want to see them drunk on a beach, fighting over nonsense and throwing tasty cocktails onto one another. I NEVER thought I'd say this but they need to start taking notes of Jersey and if you have to learn from any cast, it shouldn't be New Jersey. Season 11airs Sunday nights at 8pm/7c on Bravo!Please follow Sam's shady and fun celeb blog Good Tea and follow his blog on social media via Twitter ! You can also listen to Good Tea's Podcast onandPhoto Credit: Bravo Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds says a frontal approach to fighting crime is necessary in Tobago, especially in light of several seizures of drugs, arms and ammunition, and persons breaking the public health regulations. Elizabeth Williams spoke with Minister Hinds and has this report. The Prime Minister called on Opposition MPs to ask their leader "when she took" the COVID vaccine "and when she got COVID." This was his response to questions from Opposition MPs i Get deep into Peru and explore the many archeological sites around Cusco and the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Our rugged hike to Machu Picchu along the Inca trail culminates with a staggeringly beautiful view from the Sungate, high above the ruins. And thats not all. Well be back the next day, for our second visit to the site, and an exhilarating hike up Machu Picchu mountain. Considered one of our worlds top feats of land use, art and architecture, Machu Picchu was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1983. As one of the great Inca empires last strongholds during the Spanish conquest, the intricately designed and painstakingly hand built stone city deep in the tropical Peruvian Andes holds as much insight to the Incan civilization, as it does mysteries. Gov. Kevin Stitt has proposed a broad reorganization of Oklahomas executive branch of government. He wants the legal authority to hire or fire top officers in state agencies, and the Legislature seems inclined to agree. First on the agenda are five large state agencies the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, the Office of Juvenile Affairs and the departments of transportation, mental health and corrections. But Stitt has even bigger plans, direct control over some 120 state agencies. In general, we agree that governors ought to have control over the state bureaucracy. Weve seen Republicans and Democrats elected governor on promises to shake things up, only to be frustrated by their predecessors appointees on the boards and commissions that actually control agencies. That system creates a backward-looking, entrenched bureaucracy. Balking agency heads can simply ignore policy initiatives from the governors office and wait for him to go away. Thus, the governor becomes an interested observer in the operations of state government, feckless by design. Big parts of the federal government including border security, air traffic control and the FBI are due to run out of spending authority on Friday, meaning another partial shutdown is possible. The smart money is betting that Democrats in Congress and President Trump will come to some sort of resolution to lingering immigration funding and policy disputes and avoid resumption of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Alternatively, the two sides could simply agree to another short-term continuing resolution to keep all segments of the government operating at current levels while the debate continues behind the scenes and in public. But over the weekend, Acting White House Chief of Staff Mike Mulvaney told Fox News Sunday that a government shutdown is still a possibility if an immigration compromise cant be reached. That would be a horrible choice, further evidence to weary Americans that their political system is broken and unable to solve the problems facing the nation. Frankly, who would argue that such a conclusion is unwarranted? We urge Washington to get this problem resolved permanently and remove the potential for another shutdown. All are common-sense provisions. It passed out of committee last week 15-0. The nonprofit HOPE in Tulsa offers a comprehensive HIV/AIDS program that reaches more than 6,000 young people annually. It works with partners of the Tulsa Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy to coordinate the education service. Executive Director Kathy Williams said the same myths surrounding AIDS 32 years ago linger today. Kids think they can get AIDS through mosquito bites or swimming pools. Girls believe a birth control pill prevents the virus. They think only gay men get AIDS or that all LGBTQ people get the virus, further playing into a stigma. Also, HIV life-extending treatments have given a false sense of security to youth. We create an environment where they can ask any question they want, and we will answer them, Williams said. We are very direct and honest about how you get HIV and how to prevent it. Comprehensive sex education programs arent just about biology. They include healthy relationships, goal setting, negotiation skills and other decision-making abilities. OKLAHOMA CITY Waving handmade signs and chanting, hundreds of people flooded the state Capitol on Tuesday in support of legislation that would make abortion illegal in Oklahoma. Among them were the Oklahoma-based Free the States anti-abortion group, which is seeking a hearing on Senate Bill 13, crafted by Sen. Joseph Silk, R-Broken Bow. The measure would make abortion a homicide under Oklahoma law. The bill has been assigned to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, chaired by Sen. Jason Smalley, R-Stroud. Smalley, who is anti-abortion, said he had some problems with the language of the bill and that Silk has agreed to make some changes. The alterations will be taken under consideration, but if they dont meet his criteria, the bill wont get a hearing in the committee, Smalley said. Former state Rep. Dan Fisher, who made an unsuccessful run for governor on the platform of abolishing abortion, said he and others at the rally demand the committee give it (SB 13) a fair hearing. It needs to stop, said Fisher, who lives between Yukon and El Reno and pastors an Edmond church. Members of Free the States said putting regulations on abortion is not enough. The only solution, they say, is to make it illegal. The Supreme Court has ruled that Qualcomm must pay the Korean FTC $243 million (200 billion won) in damages for a suit that was filed against the chip maker in 2009. The Korean FTC had sued the San Diego-based chipmaker then for its unfair and monopolistic practices to maintain its position in the mobile chip market. In 2009, the Korean FTC had fined Qualcomm around $243 million (273 billion won). However, Qualcomm did not accept the decisions and appealed against it. In 2013, the Seoul High Court had ruled in the FTCs favor which led to Qualcomm appealing against the decision in the Korean high court. Now, the Supreme Court has ruled in FTCs favor and has ordered Qualcomm to pay at least 200 billion won. The remainder of the amount requires a reconsideration which will be done at a lower court. In its ruling, the court says that by kickback to its customers like Samsung and LG for buying a certain number of chipsets, Qualcomm effectively ensured that phone makers never took chips from other companies. The kickbacks amounted to millions of dollars every quarter between 2000-2009. Qualcomm has not made an announcement regarding the latest courts ruling, with a spokesperson of the Korean office saying that there is nothing to say at the moment. Qualcomm has been the subject of a number of lawsuits in a number of countries for its monopolistic business practices. It is for the same reason that the company is currently embroiled in a major lawsuit battle with Apple and its suppliers. The battle has led to Apple sourcing modem for iPhones from Intel and even stepping up efforts to make its own 5G modem. [Via The Investor I am confused as to why you have changed your position and are continuing with prosecuting men that truly could have not had any knowledge that this small margin of error had occurred, Tulsa defense attorney Paul Brunton said in the letter. District Attorney Mike Fisher declined the Tulsa Worlds request Monday for an interview about how he is distinguishing between noncompliant hemp and marijuana or whether he considers them one and the same. In staying mum, he cited state ethics rules regarding statements made by prosecutors. The law provides mechanisms for challenging, in court, the States decision to prosecute this matter, Fisher said. As of (Monday morning), no motions have been filed by the defense. If one is filed, we are prepared to address that in a court of law. The Brunton law firm represents the two security officers who founded a business that provides protection for hemp shipments. Defense attorneys have expressed concerns that law enforcement chose cannabis samples likely to be higher in THC content than others and that THC concentrations increased as the plant material dried out in the time before testing took place. BROKEN ARROW The Broken Arrow school board on Monday evening approved three recommendations designed to redefine the high school experience and prepare students to thrive in the real world. Board members voted unanimously in favor of the long-awaited recommendations after listening to a presentation from the districts configuration committee, which has spent years studying the future and framework of Broken Arrow High School. The committee proposed two years ago to convert the Freshman Academy into a second high school now and then build a third high school by 2031 to accommodate the districts growing student population. But community members decried the proposal, arguing that the Freshman Academy building would not be as equitable for students as the current high school building. Because theres not enough money from the 2015 bond issue to build a new school, officials took a step back and formed a second group that focused on improving academic programming and brainstorming innovative ways to better serve students. This would give the district time to flesh out academics now and not have to worry about adding another high school until the next school bond election in 2027, Superintendent Janet Dunlop said. During that hearing, a witness said he saw Jamesons Hummer go airborne and flip onto its top. Another witness reported seeing Jameson take his dog out of his vehicle after the crash and said he heard Jameson say, Oh, God! I think I killed them! Clark Brewster, one of Jamesons attorneys, said at the time that he thought District Attorney Steve Kunzweilers office tries to just regroup and add something else each time it discovers that the predicate misdemeanors used for the manslaughter case arent legally proper. Brewster argued to Otey that Oklahoma law regarding the statute of limitations should bar Kunzweiler from adding any new theories because it was obvious that the moving violation approach wasnt based on any new evidence. In a court brief on the issue, co-counsel Katie Arnold wrote that the state is merely grasping at straws for a case because it cant successfully prove that Jameson was impaired while driving or that his license was canceled. Reckless driving, another possible theory raised, cannot form the basis for a manslaughter conviction, Arnold said. Therefore, she said the statute of limitations for any new alternatives should have expired Dec. 24, 2012, three years after the crash. The U.S. Attorneys Office declined to comment due to the early state of litigation. In the court filing, the Corps cites an investigation it requested from the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture that found that more than 40,000 trees on property belonging to the Corps were killed without permission between 2014 and November 2017, when herbicide was used on the adjacent ranch. It also states that Drummond acknowledged in the investigation to hiring services to make herbicide applications to 1,000 acres of Corps property per year and was not concerned with property boundaries. Drummond said the Corps estimation of acreage was inflated. The government owns only 100 feet from the 100-year flood zone, so it is being creative and expansive, he said. The services named in the suit are Regier Flying Service LLC of Fairview and Bluestem Aerial Sprayers LLC of Cushing. The Osage County ranch is owned by Gentner Drummond and should not be confused with the Drummond Land & Cattle Co. of Pioneer Woman fame, which also is in Osage County, near Pawhuska, and shares no business or operational connection. Police deployed pepper balls after a crowd waiting for a concert at the BOK Center became agitated after the show was postponed, breaking the glass in one of the facilitys doors. Police Sgt. Brandon Smith said that after rapper Travis Scotts show was postponed, a large number of people at the BOKs southeast entrance began banging on the facilitys glass doors, breaking one of them. He said police then deployed pepper balls, dispersing the crowd. No one was struck, and no injuries were reported, he said. At 6:13 p.m., a BOK Center news advisory sent to media outlets said the sold-out show will be moved to March 26. Technical production issues were cited as the reason for the postponement. The release said all tickets purchased for the show will be honored during the new date. Scott posted this message on social media at 7:30 p.m.: Tulsa so sorry I cant perform at tonights sold-out show. We had last-minute production issues and I cant give yall an incomplete show. Rescheduled til March 26, all tix still valid. Everyone get home safe. Sheck Wes was scheduled to perform with Scott during the BOK Center show. Sutures has full bar service, and the bar repertoire includes mimosas and Bloody Marys for the breakfast crowd. We use orange sherbet in the mimosas, which is really good, Baldwin said. She said one of the managers and her husband are vegan, so expect at least one vegan dish to show up on the breakfast menu soon. Our server, Kelly, was friendly and seemed to have a knack for knowing when to check on us. While Miller handles the breakfast menu, David Swall still is the kitchen manager for the lunch and dinner menu, which long has been one of the top bar offerings in town. Ron has worked at both Sutures and our other bar, Crawpappys, said Baldwin, manager and part-owner of both bars. He said he was interested in doing the early morning, so that was perfect. Of course, David has been here forever. It should be noted that Sutures still is an old-fashioned bar, and smoking is allowed. Baldwin said the decision to add breakfast stemmed from the new alcohol laws that went into effect in October. Construction is underway on a new medical facility designed to provide short-term acute care and long-term nursing care in a resort-like setting. The Cearu Medical Resort and Long-Term Care Cottages from the Diakonos Group are a $15 million project going up in south Tulsa. The Diakonos Group, based in Edmond, operates several nursing facilities, including in Broken Arrow, Collinsville, Sapulpa and Vinita . The facility, which is licensed as a nursing home, will offer 60 beds in the four-story, short-term care tower plus two 20-bed, long-term care houses. This meets the needs of individuals that are leaving the hospital who are told they need to go to a skilled nursing facility and are not ready for a nursing home because they have in their mind what a nursing home is. This is completely different, said Scott Pilgrim, CEO of the Diakonos Group. The medical resort will feature private rooms with private baths and showers similar to a hotel room. The main tower will have a resort-style lobby with concierge service. The medical resort will be separated from the long-term facility and will have its own private dining area, spas and specialized therapies. - DP Ruto had claimed referrendum call as pushed by politicians keen to create more seats - Ruto later made a surprise about turn on the same saying he had no problem with proponents - Makau however believes Ruto's change of tune could be as a result of possible loss in 2022 Kenyan US-based vocal lawyer Makau Mutua has poured cold water on Deputy President William Ruto's race to the State House come 2022. According to Mutua, Ruto's abrupt about-turn to support referendum calls was a mere decoy so that the Official opposition leader's office could be created for him because he will lose the presidential race. READ ALSO: William Ruto questions Kenya's capability to conduct referendum and census in one year Lawyer Makau Mutua Source: Facebook READ ALSO: NASA allies launch fresh onslaught against Ruto over anti-referendum campaign during UK visit " William Ruto has seen the writing on the wall. The man sees far like a giraffe. He knows he will lose the race for President in 2022. Thats why he wants the constitution changed by referendum so that it can create the Official Leader of Opposition for him," he tweeted. The DP who had trashed calls for a plebiscite is on record saying he does not have a problem with proposals by proponents seek to reduce elective seats reduced or created. "We do not have a problem with the referendum. Those advocating for it should bring it on. We have been against these noises because some of us are busy implementing development projects we pledged to the electorate," Ruto said in Tharaka Nithi in October 2018. However, Ruto who is viewed as presumed Jubilee flagbearer has challenged those behind the referendum for whatever reasons to discuss and agree on areas that need amendments. 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. His mother sold him for 700 shillings | Tuko TV. Source: Kenya Breaking News Today - The body of Caroline Mwatha was found lying at the City Mortuary in Nairobi - This was after two suspects believed to be behind her murder provided police with clues - It is alleged Mwatha was booked at the mortuary by a private citizen under different names - The arrested suspects include owner of a clinic and a doctor working at the clinic - Police reported Mwatha had sought abortion services at the said clinic Lifeless body of Dandora-based human rights activist, Caroline Mwatha, was found on Tuesday, February 12, lying at the City Mortuary in Nairobi a week after she went missing. As families and friends of Mwatha try to come to terms with the demise of the activist, Kenyans online have expressed concern over the manner in which police have unraveled the death. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Body of missing Nairobi human rights activist Caroline Mwatha found at City Mortuary Caroline Mwatha's lifeless body was found at City Mortuary after she was reported missing for over a week. Photo: Facebook / Rine Mbeki Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Reports show missing Nairobi human rights activist died from abortion gone wrong Many have been left with several questions trying to tie the loose ends to understand how exactly the mother of two died and why it took long for her body to be taken to the mortuary. "When was the body taken there? Her family went there severally but the body was nowhere to be found, Why today? Something is not right, we won't keep quiet and see impunity prevail. Speak against young women being killed in this country. I am really mad about this news, my fellow comrade gone like that! No," lamented Lilian Awuor. She added: "Unfortunately, this is Kenya. Her killers are men in uniform and they are expected to investigate themselves and present evidence before court. The case is dead on arrival, but God in heaven will punish them." READ ALSO: Nairobi family in distress after human rights activist goes missing One Ciku Nyoxs wondered how the body found itself in the mortuary without trace of the people who took it there. "What's the procedure for receiving bodies at the City Mortuary? It can't be that bodies are just dumped there without documentation. Anyway it's sad RIP Mwatha. I feel for the kids, especially kale Kako boarding (the one in boarding). It will be such heart-breaking news to the kid," said Ciku. "What's happening in kenya? Everyone is disappearing and each time its only bodies being retrieved from mortuaries. Are there rituals being carried out? What about the children being left behind? The killers will never have peace, may the slayed blood torture them forever," added Kate Kyalo. Other Kenyans online expressed concern over the rising number of women who have been going missing only to be found dead. Photo: Facebook / TUKO.co.ke Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Missing Nairobi activist's phone traced to Buruburu, husband living in fear Other Kenyans turned to God with others praying for the lady's family to be served justice over the death of their kin. "May God arise and vindicate her and all the innocent people who have died fighting for what is right. My condolences to her family," said Nungari Millicent. "God of Nazareth, may those behind her killing never know peace, may they die like dogs," said Evelyn Mutanu Mbevi. 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 The Youngest and Jobless Master's Degree Holder in Kenya | Tuko TV Source: Tuko Newspaper Opinion Policies Editorials are longer opinion pieces that are written by a group of community members recruited across campus who address relevant issues on a local, national and international level. Editorials are research-based. The purpose of the Editorial Board is to promote discussion concerning relevant issues in the community while advising on possible solutions. Topics are chosen via relevancy and interests of the members, which are then discussed by the Editorial Board in order to reach a general consensus concerning the topic or issue. Feedback policy If you have a grievance concerning the content or argument of the Editorial Board, please contact either Opinion Editor Peyton Hamel (peyton.hamel@iowastatedaily.com) or the Editorial Board as a whole (editorialboard@iowastatedaily.com). Those wanting to respond to editorials can also submit a letter to the editor through the Iowa State Daily website or by emailing the letter to Opinion Editor Peyton Hamel (peyton.hamel@iowastatedaily.com) or Editor-in-Chief Sage Smith (sage.smith@iowastatedaily.com). Column Policy Columns are hyper-specific to opinion and are written by only columnists employed by the Iowa State Daily. Columnists are unique because they have a specific writing day and only publish on those writing days. Each column undergoes a thorough editing process ensuring the integrity of the writer, and their claim is maintained while remaining research-based and respectful. Columns may be submitted from community members. These are labelled as Guest Columns. These contain similar research-based content and need to be at least 400 words in length. The following requirements should be met: first and last name, email and relation or position to Iowa State. Emails must be tied to the submitted guest column or it will not be accepted or published. Pseudonyms are prohibited and the writer will be banned from submissions. Read our full Opinion Policies here. Updated on 10/7/2020 - This was after two suspects believed to be behind her murder provided police with clues - It is said Mwatha was booked at the mortuary by a private citizen under different names - The arrested suspects include owner of a clinic and a doctor working at the clinic - It is reported Mwatha had sought unspecified services at the said clinic Missing Dandora-based human rights activist, Caroline Mwatha, has been found dead. Mwatha's body was found on Tuesday, February 12, lying at the City Mortuary in Nairobi a week after she went missing. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Missing Nairobi activist's phone traced to Buruburu, husband living in fear Mwatha's body was found on Tuesday, February 12, lying at the City Mortuary a week after she went missing. Photo: Rine Mbeki Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Nairobi family in distress after human rights activist goes missing Reports seen by on Tuesday afternoon indicated the activist's body was found after two suspects believed to be behind her murder provided detectives investigating the case with clues. Police said investigations had shown Mwatha was at the clinic where she had sought unspecified medical services before her body was taken to the mortuary. Those arrested so far in connection with the murder include a woman said to be the owner of the clinic and a doctor who operates at the same clinic. READ ALSO: Kisii street children turn violent, block striking nurses from holding demonstration Mwatha's body was reportedly booked at the City Mortuary by a private citizen who booked it under a different name. The fresh details emerged barely hours after police dismissed reports doing rounds that her body had been found in Sagana. According to the police, they responded when members of the public called a police station after seeing the body of a woman by the roadside on Tuesday, February 12, morning. READ ALSO: 17-year-old Laikipia boy mauled to death by hyena as parents watch helplessly TUKO.co.ke earlier reported Mwatha's husband, Joseph Ochieng', who flew back to the country on Sunday, February 10, after it was confirmed she was missing, claimed he was living in fear. According to Ochieng', his wife went missing after taking their daughter to school. Her phone was then traced to Buruburu by DCI sleuths who were investigating the activist's disappearance. Mwatha, a co-founder of the Dandora Community Justice Centre and the Social Justice Centers Working Group, was reportedly following up on cases of extra judicial killing in Dandora. 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. Nandi Governor Vs Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho - On Tuko TV Source: Tuko.co.ke Major East African airlines have raised stakes in the battle for the region's skies with new domestic and long-haul routes and increased flight frequencies. Kenya Airways (KQ), Ethiopian Airlines, RwandAir and Air Tanzania have in the recent past been fueling one of the most aggressive and expensive expansion drives that have seen the national carriers venture into new routes and some uncharted territories. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Kenya Airways suspends launch of direct flights to Mogadishu Air Tanzania is also planning to fly long-haul flights to India and China using two Airbus planes and a Boeing 787 Dreamliner as from March 2019. Photo: The Exchange. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Kenya Airways daily flights to Mogadishu finally kick off State-owned Air Tanzania, which has over the years been trying to gain a foothold in the regional air transport industry since it severed links with South African Airways (SAA) in September 2006, is the latest to join the raging battle for the skies. The Tanzanian flag carrier, revived and revamped by President John Pombe Magufuli following years of turbulence with huge debts and losses, on Monday, February 11, unveiled new flights to Lusaka, Zambia, and Harare, Zimbabwe's capital. READ ALSO: Kenya Airways launches direct daily flights to Somali capital Mogadishu TUKO.co.ke understands Air Tanzania is also planning to fly long-haul flights to India and China using two Airbus planes and a Boeing 787 Dreamliner as from March 2019 in what is seen as a strategic move to counter similar ventures by KQ, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines. According to the airline's CEO Ladislaus Matindi, the international flights were expected to take off much earlier but were delayed by the process of reviving the carrier's International Air Transport Association (IATA) membership, a process that has since been concluded. READ ALSO: Kenya Airways suspends launch of direct flights to Mogadishu Elsewhere, Ethiopian Airlines, currently touted as the largest and most profitable airline on the continent, also recently announced it would be launching flights to John F Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in New York, United States. Ethiopian had most recently unveiled Africa's first ever direct flight to Russia and increased flight frequencies to Europe with the launch of flight to Manchester in the United Kingdom (UK). The Ethiopian flag carrier, wholly owned by the Government of Ethiopia, just like Air Tanzania, has also been expanding its main hub, Bole International Airport, in efforts to accommodate its ever swelling passenger volumes. Ethiopian Airlines recently unveiled Africa's first ever direct flight to Russia and also increased flight frequencies to its Europe route with the launch of flight to Manchester. Photo: CitizenTV. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Kenyans troll Kenya Airways for scaling down direct flights to New York weeks after launch One could argue Ethiopian's planned introduction of flights between Addis Ababa and New York is a move to counter KQ's launch of direct flights between Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), Kenya's largest international airport, and JFK International Airport. The Kenyan national carrier made history on October 29 when Dreamliner Boeing 787-8 landed in New York in what was the first ever direct non-stop flight between Nairobi and the US city. Additionally, KQ in January 2019 disclosed plan to introduce direct flights to Italy and Switzerland. The flag carrier returned to the Rome route with Boeing 787 Dreamliner and will now extend the journey to Geneva four times every week effective June 2019. The addition of flights to Rome and Geneva will be welcomed by both our leisure and business customers, said KQ boss Sebastian Mikosz. The airline had also launched direct daily flights between Nairobi and Somalia's capital city Mogadishu but later suspended the planned Mogadishu-Nairobi flight citing delays in getting all the crucial operational requirements. Kenya Airways (KQ) made history on October 29, 2019, when Dreamliner Boeing 787-8 safely landed in New York. Photo: Kenya Airways. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Over 7,000 travellers book KQ flight ahead of inauguration of direct flights to US Not to be left behind is RwandAir which is said to be targeting Israel's Tel Aviv route with flights from its main base at Kigali International Airport. According to the airline's boss, Yvonne Makolo, they have already inked a Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement with Israel and are just waiting to take off once everything is in set. The Rwandan flag carrier is also eyeing China and US routes as it seeks to expand its networks both regionally and internationally. Rwanda Air announced plan to introduce flights to Israel's Tel Aviv route from its main hub at Kigali International Airport and Nairobi. Photo: African Business Centre. Source: UGC 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. The Youngest and Jobless Master's Degree Holder in Kenya - On Tuko TV Source: Kenya Breaking News Today - Margaret will deputise Burkina Faso First Lady Sika Kabore who serves as chairperson - The organisation seeks to improve communication between 37 African First Ladies and find ways to respond to HIV/AIDS pandemic - The First Lady has been fast tracking several health projects in the country, for instance, Beyond Zero initiative First Lady Margaret Kenyatta was on Saturday, February, 9, unanimously elected as Vice Chair of the Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA). The elections that saw Margaret land the job were held at the AU Commission Old Buildings during a Steering Committee meeting. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Eastleigh matatu conductor praised for his honesty after returning passenger's lost phone The First Lady has been fast tracking several health projects in the country, for instance, Beyond Zero initiative . Photo: State House Kenya Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Perennial thieves of election victories are Kenyas main problem Siaya Senator James Orengo Margaret now deputises Burkina Faso First Lady Sika Kabore who serves as the organisation's chairperson. Hardly one day after her appointment, Margaret co-chaired the 22nd Ordinary General Assembly meeting alongside Kabore. READ ALSO: Kalembe Ndile, Wavinya Ndeti among poll losers awarded plum jobs in Uhuru's new appointments The meeting was held in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa on Sunday, February 10. The OAFLA General Assembly is taking place on the sidelines of the AU Heads of State and Government which is being attended by President Uhuru Kenyatta. READ ALSO: Kalonzo Musyoka wants constitutional change to give Uhuru third term in office One of the key mandates of OAFLA is to expedite interaction between 37 First Ladies from Africa and share ideas of how well to respond to HIV/IDS pandemic in Africa. It also aims at building capacity of women and female leaders in Africa. Margaret has been singled out as one of the influential First Ladies with great health initiatives for instance the Beyond Zero program. 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. The Youngest and Jobless Master's Degree Holder in Kenya | Tuko TV. Source: Tuko.co.ke Tucson, AZ (85741) Today Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High near 100F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Clear skies. Low 77F. W winds shifting to ENE at 10 to 15 mph. T&T is a signatory to the Paris Agreement on climate changeto cut the generation of petroleum-based pollutants into the atmosphere. This is of major significance to our economy since this country is indeed one of the major per capita carbon polluters in the world, yet the use of petroleum-based products for export provides the country with crucial forex. The total cost of Caribbean Airlines (CAL) severance payment is estimated to be in the vicinity of $110 million, Finance Minister Colm Imbert revealed yesterday. Imbert said CAL did not have the required finances for the severance payment and therefore the payments would be financed by the Ministry of Finance. CONSPIRACY theorists with too much time on their hands were the ones who created an issue over the arrival of 80 vials of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine that came to the country last week for use by officials at the National Security Ministry. So said Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday at the Covid-19 media conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Anns. Faced with persistent insinuations from Opposition Members in Parliament yesterday that he got a Pfizer jab from the 80 vials sent from the US, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley went on the offensive and suggested that Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar had contracted Covid-19 at some stage. In my position, you must support your minister once there is nothing immoral or wrong involved. So said executive director of water provider WASA Dr Lennox Sealy in response to comments that Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales had thrown him under the bus over the halted disconnection drive for Water and Sewerage Authority customers in arrears last week. shalender@tribune.com Washington/Beijing, Feb 11 The US sailed two guided-missile destroyers close to the disputed islands in the South China Sea on Monday to challenge Chinas excessive maritime claim, drawing the ire of Beijing which accused Washington of trying to stir up trouble. The USS Spruance and USS Preble sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Spratly Islands as part of what the US Navy calls a freedom of navigation operation, CNN reported. The move angered Beijing at a time when the US and China ton are locked in a trade war and are negotiating a deal ahead of a March 1 deadline when US tariffs on USD 200 billion worth of Chinese imports are expected to increase to 25 per cent from 10 per cent. Reacting to the US move, China accused Washington of trespassing in its territorial waters. The US is determined to stir up trouble in the South China Sea, create tension and undermine peace, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said. PTI Beijing sees red shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com Lahore, February 12 Five policemen were killed on Tuesday when militants attacked their van in northwest Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said. The incident occurred in Paroha tehsil in Dera Ismail Khan district bordering South Waziristan. The terrorists, hiding behind bushes, attacked the police van with heavy firing. Four policemen were killed in the attack and the Station Head Officer (SHO) was injured, they said. The injured SHO was rushed to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, they added. The security forces have cordoned off the entire area and a search operation has been launched to nab the terrorists. PTI shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com Blanchard (US), February 12 Sheriff's officials say five members of an East Texas family, including a 15-month-old child, have been found dead at the family's home. Polk County sheriff's officials say two men were found dead inside the house while two women and the infant girl were discovered outside the residence. Chief Deputy Byron Lyons identified the deceased as Ashley Delaney and husband Randy Horn, as well as Delaney's grandparents, Carlos and Lynda Delaney. The child's identity hasn't been released, but Lyons says a woman was found safe locked in a bedroom closet. She told investigators that she awoke about 5:30 am. Monday to a disturbance described as popping noises. She called her son, who alerted authorities about 10:30 am. Lyons says a firearm was recovered from the house about 75 miles northeast of Houston and that no suspects were being sought. However, he declined to characterise the incident as a multiple homicide and suicide. AP gspannu7@gmail.com Ashok Kaura Phagwara, February 12 A 15-year-old girl from Bihar was allegedly gang-raped by four men of Phillaur village on Monday night. Deputy Superintendent of Police, Phillaur, Amrik Singh Chahal said the victim had planned to meet her boyfriend Rajeev, a resident of Phillaur, at a deserted place. However, he conspired with three of his friends who also raped the girl. The DSP said the three accused identified as Bunty, Amit alias Chetu, and Jatinder alias Joginder, reached the place when the girl and her boyfriend were in a compromising position. Then these three also raped the minor girl, he said. The DSP said Amit, Rajeev, and Jatinder have been arrested under Section 376 of the IPC and POCSO Act today, while their fourth accomplice Bunty managed to escape. The victim has been admitted in Phillaur Civil Hospital. Medical examination of the girl was conducted, said DSP Chahal. uttara@tribuneindia.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh, February 12 Punjab's Budget Session began on a stormy note on Tuesday, as opposition SAD-BJP alliance joined farmers to protest against Amarinder Singh's government as agrarian distress deepens in the state. Amid walkouts and protests from the opposition alliance, Governor VP Singh Badnore blamed Punjabs current financial crisis on the previous Badal government. Badnore claimed financial imprudence and reckless spending by former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal's government had plunged the state in deep debt. Governments facing severe financial constraints because of financial imprudence of the previous government. They spent public money recklessly without caring for possible revenue receipts of the state. They had left the state with an outstanding liability of Rs 13,039 crore in March 2017. The state has slipped down the ladder in its ranking in per capita income from third in 2008-2009 to 10th in 2016-2017, he said, as opposition SAD-BJP alliance erupted in protest. Meanwhile, families of indebted farmers who killed themselves marched to the assembly on Tuesday to demand that the state government fulfill its election promises of debt waiver. Highlights 2:52 pm: AAP MLAs Aman Arora and Budh Ram address the press on inflated electricity bills being issued in Punjab. They said even those allowed free electricity are being issued bills. 2:09 pm: AAP demands inclusion of farmers who committed suicides in the obituary references. 2:08 pm: Mohan Singh Bains, father of Lok Insaf Party MLAs Simarjit Singh and Balwinder Singh Bains, also included in the obituary references 2:03 pm: Former CM Parkash Singh Badal present in the House. 2:02 pm: Afternoon session begins with the House paying obituary references. These include former union defence minister George Fernandes, former Akali minister Gobind Kanjla and others. 1:39 pm: Government plans a series of programmes in connection with centenary of Jallianwala massacre: Punjab govt 1:38 pm: Government will spare no effort to make Kartarpur corridor operational on the Gurpurb that falls on November 12 this year: Punjab govt 1:36 pm: The government has introduced e-registration of sale deeds: Punjab govt 1:24 pm: Till December 2018, a total of224 fluoride and arsenic affected habituation have been provided with safe drinking water through arsenic removal plants (88) and reverse osmosis plants (136): Punjab govt 1:22 pm: The state has constructed 4.99 lakh toilets at a cost of Rs 722 crore during last two years 1:21 pm: Ruling party could extend budget session by a day. Final call to be taken in the Business Advisory Committee meeting that will be held after the obituary references. 1:20 pm: The state government generated 415 lakh man-days of rural employment under MNREGA during 2017-2019. This was 38 per cent more than in the corresponding period during previous two years: Punjab govt 1:19 pm: As many as 4.58 lakh new power connections were given during last two years: Punjab govt 1:18 pm: All 14 lakh tubewells in the state continue to get free power at an expected annual subsidy of Rs 6250 crore. The government also continues to provide 200 free units of electricity to SC, BPL and BC families: Punjab govt 1:16 pm: State government has raised reservation of woman in urban local bodies from 30 per cent to 50 per cent: Punjab govt 1:14 pm: Punjab has achieved Open Defecation Free goal in all 167 urban local bodies of the state. Punjab ranked number one in north zone states under Swachh Survekshan 2018: Punjab govt 1:11 pm: Under e-governance, civic bodies are offering services such as online applications for water connections and online payment of property tax and online sanction of building plans: Punjab govt 1:12 pm: The state has established a directorate of fire services to regulate and supervise 34 offices of Fire brigades in 10 municipal corporation towns: Punjab govt 1:09 pm: The government is providing assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh for treatment of cancer. Rs 118 crore were allocated for the programme last year: Punjab Govt 1:08 pm: Punjab Government proposes a state cancer institute at the Government Medical College, Amritsar, at a cost of Ra 120 crore. The institute is likely to be completed by December 2020. 1:07 pm: The Punjab State Food Safety Laboratory has been upgraded with modern and high quality testing equipment with an expenditure of Rs 15 crore. 1:05 pm: Punjab announces health insurance scheme called Sarbat Sehaj Bima Yojna to cover 42 lakh families. 12:05 pm: Former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal joins protest. 12:04 pm: Son of a farmer who killed himself and had accused Chief Minister Amarinder Singh of not fulfilling his promise of debt waiver, reads his fathers suicide note in the assembly. He says nothing has been done to mitigate their woes even now. Sannu jhothe laare laye si sarkar ne (The government had us false promises), he says as he breaks down. 12:02 pm: Families of farmer who committed suicide because of indebtedness narrate their tale of woes. 12:01 pm: Governor ends his 55 minute speech, leaves the House. 12:00 pm: The governor said that not only the teachers the grievances of all employees of the state are receiving full attention of the government. 11:56 am: Government is seriously concerned about woes of teachers and it shall take all possible measures to redress their grievances: Guv 11:55 am: Government pursuing implementation of 'Padho Punjab Padhao Punjab'. Under the programme 70 per cent students have achieved the learning targets: Guv 11:54 am: Started pre-primary classes for children in the age group of 3-6 years in 12,921 government schools and enrolment of 1.73 lakh children. Introduced English as the medium of instruction in 2,387 schools: Guv 11:53 am: 261 secondary schools have been made Smart Schools and 2524 government primary schools have been transformed through active support of civil society 11:50 am: 28,000 residue management machines have been given to farmers. 11:49 am: Under karza Kurku khatam farm debt relief scheme notified in October 2017 as many as 5.83 lakh small and marginal farmers have been provided debt relief so far. The remaining 10.25 lakh farmers will be provided their due benefit under the scheme shortly. Government has paid Rs 1,00,235 crore in four previous crops as against Rs 77,984 crore paid to farmers during 2015-2016 and 2016-2017: Guv 11:48 am: One of the constraints faced by the government in providing quicker employment to the youth was lacking requisite skills and resultant employability: Guv 11:45 am: Government has successfully implemented GST in the state during the last two years despite repeated changes in the GAT laws enacted by the centre. Punjab was first to waive state GST on langar at Harimandar Sahib: Guv 11:40 am: Government has frozen variable electricity tariffs for industry at Rs 5 per unit States power subsidy to industries was about Ra 1,500 crore in the previous year: Guv 11:38 am: Some major business projects associated with industry that have been initiated included Hi Tech Cycle Valley at Ludhiana, a new international standard Technology University at Mohali, a new 500 acre business park at Rajpura, substantial expansion of Bathinda refinery, a food park at Ludhiana and paper mills at Ropar and Hoshiarpur, besides others: Guv 11:34 am: Government has reduced the resource gap to Rs 4,175 crore in 2017-2018 and increased the revenue receipts by 23 per cent in December 2018: Guv 11:33 am: Government is facing severe financial constraints because of financial imprudence of the previous government. They spent public money recklessly without caring for possible revenue receipts of the state. They had left the state with an outstanding liability of Rs 13039 crore in March 2017. The state has slipped down the ladder in its ranking in per capita income from third in 2008-2009 to 10th in 2016-2017: Guv 11:29 am: Government is committed to recommendations of enquiry headed by Justice Ranjit Singh. The government has set up a Special Investigation Team as recommended by the assembly: Guv 11:28 am: The government has made it clear to one and all that no one involved in any sacrilege case will be spared: Guv 11:27 am: Enforcement of anti drug abuse measures during the last two years as many as 21,049 cases registered under NDPS Act. 25,092 arrested and more than 556 kg heroin recovered. 11:24 am: Policies and programmes formulated and notified by the state are, among others: Business and Industrial Development Policy; Tourism Policy; Culture Policy; Policy for Housing and Urban Development; Teansport Policy; Mahatma Gandhi Sarnath Vikas Yojna; Agriculture Debt Relief Scheme; and Ghar Ghar Rozgar and Karobar: Guv 11:24 am: The government has started 168 outpatient opioid assisted treatment (OOAT) clinics to provide free outpatient treatment to drug addicts. 11:24 am: We wish that the central government takes a note of the looming water crises in Punjab and helps state in avoiding the same before state turns into a desert: Guv 11:24 am: State government proposes a State Water Authority to ensure better regulations and conservation of water. 11:24 am: SAD- BJP MLAs walk out of the assembly 11:14 am: The central Ground Water Board has declared nearly two third of the state as dark zone: Guv 11:13 am: Punjab does not have surplus water and is in fact threatened with a water famine in not too far a future. State ground water is fast depleting: Governor 11:10 pm: Sukhpal Singh Khaira and Master Baldev Singh not attending governors address. 11:11 pm: Government has created a specialised force within Punjab Police called Special Operations Group. The group is equipped with Sophie aged training to face situations like didayeen attacks, hostage situation and respond to armed militants with modern weapons 11:11 pm: SAD-BJP MLAs in the well of the House. 11:09 pm: Five rebel MLAs of AAPKanwar Sandhu, Jagdev Singh Kamalu, Jagtar Singh Jagga, Pirmal Singh and Nazar Singh Manshahiasitting at the back benches in the House. 11:07 pm: Governor VP Singh Badnore begins address. Says government has achieved major success in controlling crime, including busting 18 terror modules and 22 foreign networks. More than 1,400 gangsters neutralised. editorial@tribune.com Raj Sadosh Abohar, February 11 Two years after the Central Government sanctioned Rs 2 crore for the renovation of Bhatner Fort in Hanumangarh, the work is yet to see the light of day. This prompted BJP MP Nihal Chand to question the tall claims of the government. The fort, located on the old Multan-Delhi road, was abandoned after Partition. The old name of Hanumangarh was Bhatner, which means Fortress of the Bhati. Believed to be 1,700-year-old, it is considered to be one of the oldest forts of India. It is said the ancient fort situated along the Ghaggar was built in 253 by Bhupat, son of King Bhati of Jaisalmer. After losing the battle against the Sultan of Ghazni, King Bhupat took shelter in the jungle around the Ghaggar. There, he constructed a safe castle for himself, which came to be known as Bhatner. The entire fort is built of bricks, covering 52 bighas. It is in the shape of a parallelogram, with a dozen bastions on each side. Painted Grey Ware and Rang-Mahal Ware are in the wells situated along the wall. In the middle of the 13th century, Sher Shah Suri (Sher Khan), a cousin or nephew of Balban (the Sultan of Delhi), was the Governor in this part of the country. He is said to have carried out repairs of the forts of Bathinda and Bhatner. Sher Khans sculpture exists in Bhatner Fort. Sriganganagar BJP MP and former minister Nihal Chand Meghwal said he was nominated as the member of the standing committee on tourism, but only two meetings were held in the past three years. This, he said, spoke volumes of the slack approach towards promoting tourism. After a long battle by people, the Central Government agreed to sanction Rs 2 crore two years ago for the maintenance of Bhatner Fort in Hanumangarh, but no work has been started to date. The BJP MP said another ancient place Kalibangan (Hanumangarh) was a major provincial capital of the Indus Valley Civilisation. Kalibangan is distinguished by its unique fire altars and worlds earliest attested ploughed field. Only Rs 50 lakh was sanctioned after a decade-long persuasion in 2016, but no work started. In 2003, an old skeleton was reportedly stolen from the ancient place, but investigating agencies are still clueless. The MP said efforts needed to be made to develop the museum dedicated to Shaheed Bhagat Singh at Khatkar Kalan. editorial@tribune.com FEROZEPUR: Succumbing to financial crisis, a farmer belonging to this border area committed suicide by consuming poison. The deceased has been identified as Karamjit Singh (46) of Mehma village, 15 km from the district headquarters. As per information, Karamjit was under stress due to the staggering debt. Sources said he owned 2-3 acres of agriculture land while he owed Rs 20-22 lakh to commission agents and banks, which he was unable to repay. They said recently he sold a chunk of his land to pay the debt, but his situation did not improve, forcing him to take the extreme step. Rs 50-lakh relief has been sought for the kin. OC MoU for biofuel project Chandigarh: Giving a fillip to its efforts to check stubble-burning and boost the renewable energy sector, the state on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Virgo Corporation for a Rs 630-crore biofuel project. The technology will be provided by the US giant Honeywell. Virgo will use the technology to extract bio jet fuel from rice husk to set up a rapid thermal processing plant, which will provide over 150 direct and 500 indirect jobs. The project will pave the way for potential future collaborations in terms of investments, technology transfer etc between Punjab and the US, an official spokesperson said. TNS Double farm aid: MP New Delhi: Akali Dal Member of Parliament Prem Singh Chandumajra, speaking on the Budget discussion in the Lok Sabha, on Monday said financial aid to farmers should be doubled from the promised Rs 6,000 per annum to Rs 12,000 per annum and separately, the states should be asked to give matching grants. Chandumajra, MP from Anandpur Sahib, said GST on farm implements should be done away with. He asked for extension of hill-state benefits like taxation to lower hills (called kandi area) of Punjab. Chandumajra further suggested that the use of rainwater harvesting and storage has to be increased. TNS Labourer duped of Rs 10,000 Kharar: A man living near Jhungian village lost Rs 10,000 to a fraudster. He had received a call from an unknown person, who informed him that he had won an online lottery worth Rs 25 lakh.Ravinder Pondi, a labourer belonging to Bihar, said he had received the call around 9 am on February 8. The caller, who identified himself as Rana, told him that he had won the online lottery and the amount would be deposited in his bank, for which he sought Rs 10,000 to be deposited in a bank account of Kolkata with his IFSC number. TNS Drive to check drug menace launched Fatehgarh Sahib: To check the drug menace, the district administration launched a drive. NGOs, religious and social organisations besides Buddy Groups have been roped in for it. To create awareness on the issue among students, 17,894 Buddy Groups have been formed in schools, colleges and universities of the district. This was stated by Shivdular Singh Dhillon, Deputy Commissioner, while talking to mediapersons after an interaction with Buddy Groups. OC Man arrested with 10,000 tablets Sangrur: The Lehra police confiscated 10,000 habit-forming tables and arrested a person on Sunday night. We arrested Hardeep Singh from Jakhal road and confiscated 10,000 habit-forming tablets from him. We have registered a case against him and are conducting further investigations to zero in on the source, said ASI Amarjeet Kaur. TNS editorial@tribune.com Jupinderjit Singh Tribune News Service Chandigarh, February 11 The main Opposition party, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), faces a tough situation as it gets ready for the Budget session of the Vidhan Sabha that begins on Tuesday. Since the party stands divided following the rebellion by some of its MLAs led by Sukhpal Khaira, it can claim only a symbolic majority in the Assembly. AAP has 20 MLAs, of whom three have resigned from the party, while five are members of the rebel group. So technically, the party has 20 MLAs to show, but only 12 are with it. It is probably the first time that the main Opposition party faces such a situation. The Speaker is yet to take a call on the resignation of Bholath MLA Khaira, who has formed Punjabi Ekta Party, Jaito MLA Master Baldev Singh and Dakha MLA HS Phoolka. The Speaker has called Phoolka for discussing his resignation on February 20. Khaira told The Tribune that he might have to skip the session due to his preoccupation with his party. Master Baldev Singh will be in attendance, but will sit with five rebel MLAs Kanwar Sandhu, Nazar Singh Mansahia, Jagtar Singh Jagga, Pirmal Singh and Jagdev Singh Kamalu. Phoolka said he would attend the session as his membership still stands. He said he might seek an early meeting with the Speaker for acceptance of his resignation. Leader of Opposition and Dirba MLA Harpal Singh Cheema said Phoolka would be sitting at his designated seat with AAP. Cheema said the members were AAP leaders as of now. Notably, Cheema has already written to Speaker Rana KP Singh to disqualify Khaira from the Assembly after the latter formed a new party. However, Cheema has not asked for the acceptance of resignation of Phoolka and Master Baldev Singh. In the last Assembly session, the SAD-BJP combine had sought a clarification from the Speaker on whether AAP was the main Opposition party as seven MLAs had rebelled against it. The SAD-BJP has 17 MLAs. editorial@tribune.com Sanjeev Singh Bariana & Karam Prakash Tribune News Service Chandigarh/Patiala, Feb 11 The police on Monday booked 50 teachers, including 10 union leaders of the Adhyapak Sangarsh Committee for clashing with cops during a protest in Patiala on Sunday. The police said teachers were booked after they clashed with the police on Sunday, wherein 25 people, including 10 officers, were injured. A case has been filed under Sections 353, 332, 333, 148, 149, 120B and 188 IPC. The union leaders who have been booked are state co-convener of the Sanjha Adhyapak Morcha Hardeep Toderpur, Davinder Punia, Sukhwinder Chahal, Harjeet Singh, Balkar Singh, Baaj Singh Khaira, Didar Singh Mudki, Amritpal Singh Sidhu, Sukhraj Singh and Harvinder Singh. Condemning the police action, Punia said, Instead of regularising the teachers, the government has registered cases against them. We will continue our protest against injustice. Meanwhile, a section of teachers unions affiliated to the Sanjha Adhyapak Morcha has refused to meet Education Minister OP Soni on Thursday to discuss their demands. The morcha, comprising around 25 such unions, have been seeking the regularisation of over 34,000 teachers. The unions alleged that Soni had failed to keep his word during previous meetings with them in December and January. Those who refused to meet the minister are Democratic Teachers Front state unit general secretary Davinder Punia, SSA/RMSA Teachers Union (Toderpur) and Model Adarsh School Teachers Union. SSA/RMSA Teachers Association president Didar Singh Mudki said: The minister cannot deny that he has failed to keep his word. Despite appointments in December and February, even the CM has failed to give us time. But we are hopeful that he will listen to our grievances now. President of the Government Teachers UnionSukhwinder Singh Chahal said: We will meet the Education Minister and ask him about the action taken on his assurances to the teachers. The Education Department officials are forcing teachers to join on nearly one-third of the salary. Talking to The Tribune, Soni said: As far as the regularisation of 5,178 teachers recruited in 2014 was concerned, I had taken up the matter with the Cabinet. However, it is stuck in procedural rigmarole. In case of 8,886 SSA/RMSA teachers, more than 7,000 have accepted the government offer. All other genuine demands are being pursued with the sections concerned. This flag represents the fluctuations and the flexibility of gender in genderfluid people. The Pink represents femininity. The White represents the lack of gender. The Purple represents the combination of masculinity and femininity. The Black represents all genders, including third genders. The Blue represents masculinity. editorial@tribune.com Strap: Mother, co-accused in Bikaner land case, accompanies him Yash Goyal Our Correspondent Jaipur, February 11 Robert Vadra, son-in-law of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, arrived here today to appear before the Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday in connection with an alleged land deal in Rajasthans border city of Bikaner. Vadra, who landed at the Jaipur international airport early in the day, is most likely to comply with the Rajasthan HC order to appear before the ED with his mother Maureen, a partner in Skyline Hospitality Limited, here around 10 am tomorrow. This will be the fourth time that Vadra appears before the agency. On last three occasions he appeared before the ED in Delhi in connection with a money laundering probe against him for his alleged role in procuring assets abroad in an alleged illegal manner. The Tuesday's appearance before the ED in Jaipur is directed by the Rajasthan HC, which asked Vadra and his mother to cooperate with the agency after they approached it seeking directions that no coercive action is taken against them by the agency. On January 21, the Rajasthan HC has directed Vadra and his partners in Skyline Hospitality Ltd, including his mother, to appear before the ED on February 12. The single-judge Bench of Justice PS Bhati had refused to vacate the stay on the arrest and directed the government to obtain a separate order to this effect if the need for arrest arose. The ED had initiated an inquiry against the owner and partners of Skylight Hospitality Ltd in a complaint of money laundering against the company. The ED had registered a money laundering case in 2015 on the basis of FIRs filed by the state police after the local tehsildar complained regarding the purchase of land near Mahajan Field Firing Range linked with a displaced person's land in Bikaner's Kolayat in 2006-07. The land had been purchased in the name of the driver of the mediator using a cheque allegedly given by Vadra. The ED had issued summons to Vadra and his mother for the third time in November last year but none of them appeared before the ED. Instead they moved the HC, seeking a 'no coercive action' order and stay on the arrest. rchopra@tribunemail.com Lucknow, February 12 SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday claimed he was stopped by authorities at Lucknow airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad, triggering outrage by party lawmakers in the state legislature and workers outside the airport. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said he was to fly to Allahabad from Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport to attend an event at Allahabad University. The government is afraid of oath-taking ceremony of a student leader and is stopping me at the airport to prevent me from visiting Allahabad, Yadav claimed on Twitter. He posted photographs in which he was seen talking to police officers inside the airport. But airport director AK Sharma said, I have no such information. The issue rocked the Uttar Pradesh legislature. As soon as Samajwadi Party members came to know about their president being stopped at the airport, they raised the matter during Question Hour in the Assembly. The present regime is trying to kill democracy and stop our leader from visiting Allahabad, SP leader Narendra Verma said. The members also trooped into the Well, prompting Speaker Hriday Narain Dixit to adjourn proceedings for 20 minutes. It was later extended for the entire Question Hour. When the House reassembled, agitated SP members again rushed to the Well and sat on a dharna, shouting slogans against the Yogi Adityanath government. Yogi teri tanashahi nahi chalegi (Yogi governments anarchy will not be tolerated), they shouted. BSP leader Lalji Verma also supported the SP members, saying there is an anarchic government in the state which wants to suppress the voice of Opposition. Responding to the issue, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna said, I have sought a report on this incident. The SP leader had to attend a programme in Prayagraj. The district magistrate informed him not to visit Prayagraj as it could create law and order problems. Khanna said Yadav was informed about it on Monday, a day before his scheduled visit. Law and order is our top priority and we will maintain it at any cost and whatever step is needed for this, we will do... He (Yadav) should abide by law. It is his responsibility. He should not have dishonoured the DMs orders, he said. Khanna said Samajwadi Party knew only shouting and did not want the House to run. He said SP and BSP members throttled democracy by not allowing the House to function. As the matter refused to die down, the Chair adjourned the House for the day at 12.50 pm. Yogi Adityanath later told reporters that Yadavs visit could have triggered violence between rival student groups at the university. The SP chief was also said to have had planned to visit the Kumbh Mela on Tuesday. Adityanath said Yadav visited Kumbh 10 days ago and had taken a holy dip at Sangam. The Allahabad University had urged the government to stop his visit and the government acted, the Chief Minister said. The issue was also raised in the Legislative Council, leading to the adjournment of the House for 25 minutes during the pre-lunch sitting. Amid all the high drama, Yadav kept tweeting that he was prevented from boarding the aeroplane without any written orders. Currently detained at Lucknow airport, he claimed. It is clear how frightened the govt is by the oath ceremony of a student leader. The BJP knows that youth of our great country will not tolerate this injustice anymore! Yadav tweeted. SP leader Indrajeet Saroj, who accompanied Yadav at the airport, said, We have been stopped on oral orders. We are asking (airport authorities) to give in writing. Akhileshji had to attend several programmes in Allahabad. The administration did not follow protocol meant for a former CM. The issue also generated heat outside the Vidhan Bhavan. SP workers gathered outside the assembly complex in the heart of Lucknow to protest against the alleged detention. Many of them, wearing red caps, also rushed to the airport. Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar said the university administration did not permit any political programme on the campus fearing breach of peace. Due to Kumbh, there is a huge congregation in Prayagraj. The district administration had intimated the ex-CMs office and Lucknow DM about the university decision, he said. PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 12 The Supreme Court on Tuesday held former CBI interim director M Nageswar Rao guilty of contempt of court for having transferred chief investigating officer in Muzaffarpur shelter home sex abuse case in violation of its order. A bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi sentenced him till rising of the court and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on him. Please go and sit in one corner of the court. Fine be deposited in one week, ordered the Bench. Terming his conduct as blatant and brazen, the CJI said he had rarely invoked contempt power in the past 20 years. However, the man whose transfer led to the entire controversy--former chief investigating officer AK Sharma, wouldnt come back to the probe team, said the Bench. Earlier, Rao appeared before the Supreme Court and tendered an unconditional apology for having transferred chief investigating officer in Muzaffarpur shelter home sex abuse case in violation of its order. Rao appeared before a Bench headed by Chief Justice Gogoi--which had summoned him for defying the top courts order not to transfer the investigating officer without its prior permission. As Attorney General KK Venugopal, representing Rao, said it was a mistake but not a willful disobedience. As Venugopal requested the court to take a sympathetic view, the CJI asked, Why should a contemnor be defended at government expenses? To err is human, submited the Attorney General. Would heavens fall if the relieving order was passed after taking the court into confidence? the CJI asked. When Venugopal mentioned his clean career record, the CJI said, Even if we accept his apology, his career record will remain blemished as he has acted in contempt by his own admission. In his affidavit, Rao said, I unhesitatingly accept my mistake and tender my unconditional and unequivocal apology to this Honourable Court. While maintaining that he couldnt have agreed to the legal advice to relieve AK Sharma even on his promotion without the courts permission, Rao submitted, I cannot even dream of violating or circumventing the orders of the Honourable Court. Angry at mishandling of the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse cases, the Supreme Court had on Thursday transferred the trial from Bihar to a court in Delhi and also summoned former interim CBI director M Nageswara Rao for allegedly transferring an officer involved in the probe against its order. A Bench headed by Chief Justice Gogoi ordered that the cases would now be transferred from a CBI Special Court in Bihar to a POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court at Saket in two weeks. The POCSO court had to conclude the trial in six months, it ordered. Taking exception to the transfer of Sharma, probing the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex abuse cases, despite an order to the contrary, it summoned former interim CBI director M Nageswara Rao over Sharmas transfer. It asked Rao to appear before it on February 12 and directed the CBI to identify other officers involved in Sharmas transfer. Sharma was supervising the probe but on January 17 his tenure in the CBI was curtailed and he was transferred to the CRPF amid internal squabbling in the probe agency. We are going to take it veryvery seriously. You have played with the order of Supreme Court of India. God help you. Never play with the Supreme Courts order, said the CJI after the CBI counsel submitted that two officials, including Rao, were involved in the transfer. The shelter home sex abuse issue came to light in May last year following a report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) that several girls, including minor ones, were allegedly raped and sexually abused at an NGO-run shelter home in Muzaffarpur. The top court had on October 30 ordered shifting of prime accused Brajesh Thakur from Bhagalpur jail in Bihar to a high-security prison in Patiala, Punjab. It was his NGO which ran the shelter home where the horrific crime took place. sanjiv@tribunemail.com Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 11 The Supreme Court on Monday asked the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) to take a decision in three months on a representation seeking guidelines for defining minority a term which has not been defined either under the Constitution or any other law. The direction came from a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on a petition filed by Delhi BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, who was earlier asked to approach the NCM. He moved court again as the NCM did not take a decision. Now the top court has asked him to re-file his representation before the NCM, which has to take a decision on it in three months from today. NCM chairperson Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi told The Tribune, A committee was set up to examine the issue and the decision would be communicated. But the final decision would be taken by the government only. Upadhyay pointed out that the term has not been defined under the NCM Act, 1992, and the Centres notification declaring five communities Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis and Buddhists as minorities was not based on proper criteria. He has demanded that the term minority needed to be properly defined and reconsidered in the context of population of a religious community in a state, instead of nationwide demographic strength. The plea sought to emphasise that Hindus, who are a majority community as per national census figures, are a minority in several north-eastern states and in Jammu and Kashmir. Despite being in minority in Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab and Lakshdweep, Hindus were deprived of benefits available to minority communities in these states, he submitted. The SC had on November 10, 2017, declined to entertain a plea filed by Upadhyay seeking minority status for Hindus in seven states and one Union Territory and asked him to approach the National Commission for Minorities. rchopra@tribunemail.com Ahmedabad, February 12 Prime Minister Narendra Modi had rock-solid support of people ahead of the coming Lok Sabha election, BJP president Amit Shah claimed on Monday. Launching the Mera Parivar-Bhajpa Parivar voter outreach campaign from Gujarat, Shah said the general election is an important step for India to become a global superpower. I travel the country...I can see that people are standing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi like a rock and one can see the support in their eyes, Shah said addressing BJP workers. Hitting out at the Opposition, he said, The mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) is made up of only state-level leaders. It will not affect the BJPs poll prospects. Shah launched the outreach campaign by hoisting the party flag at his residence here. The BJP intends to hoist the party flag at the houses of voters under this mass outreach drive. PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 12 Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday cited an email from an Airbus executive to attribute leakages of the Rafale deal MoU to industrialist Anil Ambani and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of treason. Flashing the email, now in public domain, Gandhi said PM Modi is the middlemen of Ambani and needs to be charged under the Official Secrets Act. There is an email from the Airbus executive who says Anil Ambani visited the French defence officials and told them that an MoU was ready with an intention to sign it. What could be clearer? This is treason. The PM alone knew of the Rafale MoU and shared this defence secret with Ambani. The defence minister didnt know, the foreign secretary didnt know, HAL didnt know. The PM was under oath to protect defence secrets and he leaked those secrets. Criminal action must follow, Gandhi said in a press conference at the party headquarters. He also rejected the yet-to-be-tabled CAG report on Rafale, saying I would call the report the Chowkidar Audit General Report as it had been written by the PM for the PM. Gandhi repeated old charges of alleged corruption in the deal saying, Earlier, there was the axis of corruption and procedural inconsistencies in the Rafale deal and now theres a third one, one of treason which is the most serious. The BJP, however, rejected the charge, saying the email purportedly by an Airbus executive referred to a helicopter deal and not Rafale. Gandhi released to the media an email dated March 28, 2015 purportedly written by Airbus executive Nicolas Chamussy to three recipients with the subject line Ambani. He claimed the email showed Ambani visited then French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drians office and mentioned an MoU in preparation and the intention to sign during the PM visit (to France). Addressing a press conference, Gandhi reiterated that there will no doubt in anybodys mind that the prime minister is a corrupt man and he has helped Anil Ambani, Gandhi alleged. He read out the email at the press conference, quoting it as saying that Ambani visited the defence ministers office and told them he intends to work with AH (Airbus Helicopters) on commercial helos and then on defence. Mentioned (an) MoU in preparation and the intention to sign during the PM visit. This is literally handing over a defence secret...The prime minister has compromised national security. He has done what a spy does. He has given defence information to a person who is not supposed to have it, Gandhi alleged. Why dont you allow a JPC...you can investigate us as much as you want, he said in response to a question. With PTI inputs Hes lobbying for foreign firms: BJP New Delhi, February 12 The BJP today accused Congress chief Rahul Gandhi of working as a lobbyist for foreign firms and asserted the e-mail he cited to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Rafale fighter jet deal referred to some helicopter deal and not this particular purchase. BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, while dismissing Gandhis charges as height of shamelessness and irresponsibility, labelled him a lying machine. Prasad said aircraft manufacturer Airbus, whose internal e-mail was cited by Gandhi, was itself under a needle of suspicion in deals finalised during the previous Congress-led government. The firm, he alleged, was also linked to a corporate lobbyist, who was recently deported from the UAE and was being probed on money laundering charges. Let Rahul Gandhi explain where he got the internal e-mail of Airbus from? Who is supplying him? There cannot be a bigger thing than this that he is working as a lobbyist for foreign firms, Prasad said. Prasad said the BJP has had differences with former Prime Ministers from the Gandhi family over several murky defence deals signed during their tenure, but had never accused them of treason. He (Rahul Gandhi) has thrown muck at his own face by abusing our honest Prime Minister. We will expose his lies before the public, he said. TNS editorial@tribune.com New Delhi, February 11 A day after the Congress raised the issue, the CPM on Monday said Comptroller and Auditor General Rajiv Mehrishis Rafale deal report, to be tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, was allegedly compromised and pitched for the Supreme Court revisiting its earlier ruling over the purchase deal with France. The CAG report on Rafale suffers from conflict of interest as he (Mehrishi) was the Finance Secretary when this deal was inked. The credibility of the report is, hence, severely compromised, the CPM said. The Congress has taken a strident flagging conflict of interest with regard to Mehrishi and the report on the ground that he was part of the Rafale negotiations. In light of media reports, the CPM said the SC had not been furnished full information on the deal. Fresh reports suggest the anti-corruption clauses were allegedly waived as far as the negotiations were concerned. Rajya Sabha sees whitewash The Rajya Sabha was forced to adjourn on Monday due to ruckus created by Opposition parties over Rafale, special status to Andhra and hooch tragedy, resulting in whitewash of its proceedings for the sixth straight day. TNS amansharma@tribunemail.com Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 12 Pakistani envoy Sohail Mahmood has hoped that the historic Kartarpur corridor initiative "would be instrumental in further facilitating and fortifying people-to-people bonds". Mahmood interacted with 14th batch of Maharashtra Institute of Technology - School of Government, Pune. The delegation, including some 30 students, pursuing post-graduate degree programme in Political Leadership and Government had wide-ranging interaction with Mahmood at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. The High Commissioner highlighted Pakistan's current demographic make-up and shared an overview of the country's external environment and challenges among other issues. Mahmood also outlined the "national priorities of the new Imran Khan government, including economic turnaround, improved governance, and accelerated socio-economic development", said officials. The envoy hoped that the historic Kartarpur Initiative 'would be instrumental in further facilitating and fortifying people-to-people bonds.' "Commenting on the historical evolution of India-Pakistan relations, he stressed the importance of changing the conflictual pattern of the past to a cooperative pattern in the future. In this context, he stressed the imperatives of sustained engagement, a result-oriented dialogue process, resolution of outstanding disputes, enhanced regional cooperation, and collective endeavours for shared prosperity," said a formal statement from the High Commission. The need for more exchanges between intellectuals, academics, artists and sportsmen of the two countries was underscored with a focus on media and youths of both countries that could bridge distance in ties. "He urged the students to be the 'ambassadors of Pakistan-India peace' as they go forth in life and pursue their professional careers in diverse fields," said the statement. shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com Chennai, February 12 Camps to protect children from human traffickers have been set up for the first time at the world's biggest religious festival, the Kumbh Mela in northern India's Uttar Pradesh state. During the event, as many as 150 million people are expected to visit the festival city of Prayagraj to bathe at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna, and a mythical third river, the Saraswati, from January 15 to March 31. "In the mela, it is very easy for a child to just disappear," said Subedar Singh, a campaigner with anti-trafficking charity Pragati Gramodyog Evam Samaj Kalyan Sansthan. "Thousands of children, particularly girls between 12-15 years old, are left behind by their families to take care of the elderly, who spend up to a month here. These girls are always at risk," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Tuesday. Armed with temporary identity cards and pamphlets, Singh and a group of volunteers have helped set up seven camps to keep track of children who travel with their families to attend the eight-week festival. Religious congregations are an integral part of Indian culture but are becoming dangerous places for children and thousands are reported missing each year, child rights campaigners say. "We have consistently seen that during these events, there is a noticeable spike in the number of children reported missing," said Smita Dharmamer of Aangan Trust, a charity that works on child protection across six Indian states. "And while we say missing, the fact is that there are organised groups at work and the children are trafficked." Many families believe that because they are in a place of faith, that God will protect them, so often ignore safety checklists, anti-trafficking campaigners added. Practices to protect children that were first developed by the Aangan Trust and used in two separate religious fairs in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in 2018, have now become the template at the Kumbh Mela. At the seven booths, housed near the temporary ashrams where pilgrims stay, a database of all children visiting the event will be maintained. Each child will also be given a detailed identification card that includes the exact ashram where their family are staying. The Kumbh Mela has always had lost and found booths to help reunite lost children and the elderly with their families. But often children are unable to remember the name of the ashram where they are staying or their parent's telephone number, said police officer Neeraj Pandey, who is in-charge of the security at the Kumbh Mela. "Children are often confused when they are brought to the booths and we spend many days trying to locate their families," said Pandey. Parents at the event have often complained about adolescent girls who have gone missing, though no human trafficking cases have ever been filed to date, he added. The police have also for the first time set up a fully computerised network to track children with 14 booths spread across the enormous venue. "It seems like a small intervention, but the impact is big," said Shitla Prasad Pandey, a fourth generation priest at the Kumbh Mela. "So many sacred activities go on at this event but what can be more sacred than ensuring the safety of children." Reuters shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com Yash Goyal Jaipur, February 12 Rajasthan Government will take a decision on the ongoing Gurjars' agitation of rail-road blockade on their 5 per cent quota in the assembly on Wednesday, a minister said on Tuesday. As Gurjar agitation for reservation entered its fifth day, Congresss Khetri MLA Jitendra Singh said: "The government will take a solution to end the stalemate on Gurjars' agitation which entered 5th day and created unrest in the state". The legislator was speaking after a meeting that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot chaired at the Secretariat. He indicated that the Gehlot government will also hold a cabinet meeting at 5 pm on Tuesday. Late on Monday night, Gehlot called a high power committee to review law and order situation in the state and discuss Gurjars' demand. Chief Secretary D B Gupta, DGP Kapil Garg, DGP-Law & Order M L Lather, and a CMO's IAS officers attended the meeting. Meanwhile, over 44 trains have been diverted, six cancelled, and seven others partially cancelled on the Delhi-Mumbai via Kota and Sawaimadhopur railway stations since the protests began on Saturday. Jaipur-Agra National Highway 89 at Sikandra has also affected. The Sawaimadhopur-Dholpur highway has been closed for public. Since Monday bus operations have been suspended in Alwar, Bharatpur, Mathura and the sections of Hindon-Karauli highway. Gurjar Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti activists also held road blockades at Bundi districts Nainwa, and Asind in Bhilwara district, and NH 58 near Ajmer on Tuesday. Gurjar Aarakshan Sangharsh Samitis KS Bainsla and thousands of his supporters are holding indefinite sit-in for over one km stretch between Malrana and Meemod railway stations in Sawaimadhour district. So far no violence has been reported in the state, a police official claimed. gspannu7@gmail.com Kathmandu, February 12 Five Nepalese women rescued from a brothel in India have been reunited with their families with the help of an anti-trafficking organisation. The five women had been living in a heinous atmosphere in a brothel in Agra for 17 months. They were kept in the state protection shelter of the Government of India for 12 months for fulfilling legal procedures after they were rescued last year, according to the police. Maiti India, the NGO, helped them in reuniting with their families. Police conducted their DNA test for their safety. They were sold to the brothel in India through Nepalese brokers. After completion of their DNA test they have been handed over to their families, said the police. The DNA test was conducted to ensure that they were not taken back to the brothel by the brokers pretending as their relatives, a statement issued by Nepal Police said. PTI amansharma@tribunemail.com Prateek Chauhan Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 12 The Delhi hotel, where a fire killed 17 people on Tuesday, did not have any fire-safety measures in place, a fire officer said, adding there was no emergency exit route. "When the fire broke out, around 100 guests and 15-20 hotel employees were present in the hotel. The people who woke up were successful in saving their lives, while the rest got caught inside the inferno," said fire officer Sunil Chaudhary. Read: 17 killed as massive fire breaks out in hotel in Delhi's Karol Bagh The Delhi Police arrested the general manager and another staff member, an officer said. The hotels general manager, Rajender, and manager, Vikas, have been arrested for culpable homicide, DCP (central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa said. The hotel owner, Shardendu Goel, is absconding after the incident, he said. Randhawa said the case has been transferred to the Crime Branch. All the windows of the hotel rooms got jammed because they were not opened for long time due to centralised AC, he added. The fire brigade personnel therefore had to use ladders to break the windows to reach the hotel rooms, he added. The fire incident in which 17 people lost their lives are believed to be from one family from Kochi in Kerala who had yesterday reached Delhi to attend a marriage ceremony, according to a Delhi police senior officer. The death in the hotel fire occurred mostly due to suffocation. However, several bodies which were brought to the hospital were found to be completely burnt, said DFS officials. During the fire incident four to five people jumped from the hotel building. According to eyewitness, two persons took the help of pillows and jumped from the hotel building during which both lost their lives, he added. The hotel has four floors, including basement and has 65 rooms. The fire started from first floor of the hotel which further spread to other floors of the hotel. sanjiv@tribunemail.com Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 11 As the last Parliament session of the Narendra Modi government draws to a close, the chances of contentious Bills such as citizenship amendment and triple talaq getting through are getting dim. Opposition leaders have already warned the government against trying to clear the contentious legislations, asking it to stick to non-controversial matters. Home Minister Rajnath Singh would move the citizenship Bill in the Rajya Sabha tomorrow, provided the Opposition allows him to do so. While sources claim there will be no extension of the session that ends on Wednesday, it seems the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on another issue Rafale jet deal could be tabled on Tuesday. It would give the government an opportunity to end the growing perception on the issue, which the Congress continued to raise even during a discussion on the interim Budget today. Alleging corruption and impropriety, the Congress claimed PM Narendra Modi would have been number one accused in the Rafale deal had the Lokpal law been implemented. According to Congress leader Veerappa Moily, if anybody had to be held guilty in the deal, it is the PM and PM alone. Trinamool leader Saugata Roy said the Rafale issue exposed chinks in governments armour and proved it is no longer incorruptible. Speaking during the debate, Moily said the defence budget saw only a paltry increase in absolute terms. There is an enhanced allocation of 2 per cent from last years Budget on defence... This is a paltry increase. You know what is happening today in the defence sector. Rafale has become a household scandal. Day by day this deal is becoming murkier, he said. We find today that the government waived anti-corruption clauses in Rafale deal. With CAG report likely to be tabled in the House, the Congress upped the ante, claiming CAG Rajiv Mehrishi was ineligible to conduct the Rafale audit due to conflict of interest since he was the Finance Secretary when the deal was announced. Under Lokpal, PM would be No. 1 accused "Now it is crystal clear because if it (Lokpal) had been implemented, perhaps the present PM would have been the number one accused in (Rafale) case. That is why he is afraid." Veerappa Moily, Congress leader editorial@tribune.com Shahira Naim Tribune News Service Lucknow, February 11 It appeared to be a political spring for the Congress in the state today. The rousing reception made Congress president Rahul Gandhi to declare that the party without hesitation would fight on the front foot in every state. Thanking Lucknow for the love-filled grand reception to the two newly appointed general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia Rahul said they had been appointed to end the injustice of the current government and establish a just government. Announcing the new responsibilities of Priyanka, Scindia and the UP Congress team, Rahul said he wanted them to ensure a better performance during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls but guarantee a Congress government in the Vidhan Sabha polls. The unprecedented crowds lined the 15-km route from the Chaudhary Charan Singh airport to the UPCC headquarters, which was covered in around five hours. The entire route was decked up with posters, hoardings and slogans comparing Priyanka with her grandmother and former PM Indira Gandhi. Priyanka nahi yeh aandhi hai, doosri Indira Gandhi hai (This is not Priyanka but a storm, a second Indira Gandhi). Even the bus which had been refurbished as a rath had a poster showing Indira Gandhi with the slogan In mein tum dikhti ho (You remind us of her). On the way, the Congress entourage stopped at the Hazratganj crossing where Rahul, Priyanka and Scindia garlanded the statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and Sardar Patel. The rath, a bus with a barricaded top, had to be abandoned near Hussainganj crossing when it got stuck in the low-lying overhead wires. The leaders shifted to an SUV till Hazratganj crossing from where they returned to the rath till the UPCC headquarters. Priyanaka kept waving and accepting the welcome of the party leaders and cadres with folded hands. She was even seen interacting with some of them who had approached her for selfies, giving her security a tough time. However, those who had come to hear her had to return disappointed as she and Scindia did not address the crowd either on the way or at the UPCC headquarters. Only Rahul addressed those present. Cutouts of the Rafael jet were displayed by Rahul as well as many members of the crowd during the roadshow. A set of youngsters with alphabets painted on their stomach which together read Chowkidar chor hai accompanied the rath and fascinated Rahul enough to take their photograph on his mobile phone. After addressing the gathering, Rahul left the party HQ along with Priyanka, who has reportedly left for Jaipur to be with husband Robert Vadra. She is expected to return tomorrow and remain at the Nehru Bhawan till February 14. rchopra@tribunemail.com Prateek Chauhan & Ananya Panda Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 12 A massive fire in Delhi's Karol Bagh area on Tuesday snuffed out 17 lives, including 11 members of one family from Ernakulam district of Kerala. The deaths largely occurred due to suffocation caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, said senior doctors at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital where 13 victims were declared brought dead. A child and three women were killed in the incident. Read: Delhi hotel where blaze killed 17 didn't have fire-safety measures in place The incident, which once again flags how building bylaws are being grossly flouted in the national capital with little monitoring by the city authorities, happened at Arpit Palace Hotel at around 4.48 am in central Delhi after a fire broke out due to a short circuit on the first floor of the hotel. Inside the four-floor hotel there were a total of 120 people, including guests and staff, who were asleep while the blaze gradually spread to other floors leaving people trapped, as per the Delhi Fire Service (DFS). There was just "one emergency exit that was closed" and fire safety measures were not in place, said DFS officer Sunil Choudhary. DCP MS Randhawa said the owner of the hotel Subhendu Goyal is at large while other accused hotel's general manager Rajendra and manager Vikas have been detained for questioning. The case has been transferred to the crime branch, Randhawa told reporters. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia to next of kin of the victims of the fire tragedy after visiting the spot. A magisterial probe has been ordered into the incident and the officials of Delhi Fire Service were directed by Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain to conduct an inspection of the entire area in Karol Bagh where several buildings appeared to be of five or six-storey in clear violations of Delhi building bylaws. The hotel had an additional temporary floor while only four floors and a parking are allowed. "Gross violations of building bylaws was noticed in the area as well in the (Arpit Palace) hotel," said the minister after an inspection of the site. Serious negligence seems to have led to these many deaths with there being little ventilation in the building, with jammed windows and wooden floors in passages, said the minister, adding that people who were trapped have died due to suffocation rather than burns. Head of the Burns Department at Dr RML Hospital, Dr Yogesh Tyagi told The Tribune, "In four cases they seem to have died due to shock due to flame burns while in nine cases it seems to be asphyxia (suffocation) due to smoke." RML hospital's Dr Tejasvi said of the total, 13 who were declared brought dead, four-five bodies were charred beyond recognition. "Ideally in a closed space whenever a fire breaks out people die due to suffocation and spreading fire is the secondary cause," he said, adding though final reports will eventually confirm it. Five bodies have been handed over to families after autopsy, as per authorities. In total, 19 persons have been casualties, including two injured, while 35-40 people were rescued. They were rushed to nearby government and private hospitals. As per DCP MS Randhawa, 15 of the 17 deceased have been identified. Eleven members of a family who were killed in the incident checked into the hotel yesterday from Kerala to attend a wedding in Ghaziabad. Jain ordered the fire department to conduct an inspection of Karol Bagh and submit report in a week. Fire officials have been told to report with details daily, he said. Talking to reporters, Kejriwal said the cause of the fire and the nature of violations by the hotel are being ascertained. The cause of the fire shall be ascertained by Delhi Fire Service, stated a report submitted by District Magistrate office in Daryaganj. harinder@tribunemail.com Ravi S Singh Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 11 The Opposition on Monday tried to send a message of strengthening its unity ahead of the General Election with Congress president Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and AAP head Arvind Kejriwal among others joining Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu in a daylong hunger strike against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, the CPM and CPI skipped the event. This comes on the heels of West Bengal CM and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee recent dharna in Kolkata in protest against Modi on the CBI issue, which got fulsome support from the Opposition spectrum. Naidu's fast to press for special category status to Andhra Pradesh turned out to be a show of strength with Andhra Pradesh Bhawan the venue of the agitation assuming the look of a beehive of people. Andhraites residing here, turned up in large number, with Andhra pride versus the Centre writ large on their faces. Two special trains were reserved to bring in people from the state to the national capital for the protest. The TDP MPs and MLAs and Naidu's Cabinet colleagues accompanied him. Mualyam Singh Yadav, Sharad Yadav, and representatives of TMC, DMK, SP and BSP were among others who joined Naidu. The PM made a commitment to the people of Andhra and this PM does not fulfil that commitment Chowkidar Chor hai, said Gandhi, who joined Naidu before leaving for Lucknow. uttara@tribuneindia.com Shiv Kumar Tribune News Service Mumbai, February 12 With seat-sharing talks between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party getting stuck over four seats, the state-level leaderships of the two parties have decided to let their party high commands to seal the deal, according to sources. Negotiations between the two parties have been stuck for the past several weeks though their state-level leaders have broadly decided on how many seats to be given to their smaller allies. "Talks are stuck on Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Nandurbar and Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seats," says a Congress leader from Mumbai. According to reports, the Congress party wants to field Sujay Vikhe-Patil, son of Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, leader of the opposition in the state assembly from Ahmednagar. The party is not willing to concede Aurangabad to the NCP in return as demanded by leaders of the two parties. On the other hand, the NCP wants the Congress to swap Nandurbar or Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg for other seats. With state leaders of both parties holding firm, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress Party president Rahul Gandhi will take a final call in the matter in the next few weeks. There are also reports about the Vikhe-Patil family and the Pawar clan patching up their differences that have played out in Western Maharashtra's politics for the past several years. Both the Congress and the NCP have more or less decided on accommodating several smaller parties from their "quota" of seats, according to sources. Apart from Prakash Ambedkar's Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, there is the CPI, Hitendra Thakur's Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, farm leader Raju Shetti's Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, Samajwadi Party and the Peasants and Workers' Party. A few caste-based outfits are also angling for a seat or two from the two Congress parties, according to sources. (left to right) Jose Rosa, Professor of marketing, Gary Munkvold, Professor of the Dept. of Plant Pathology and Microbiology and Panteleimon Ekkekakis, Professor of Kinesiology listen to Paul Fulignis presentation on campus facilities. Fuligni, Associate Vice President for Facilities, spoke on critical repairs for Iowa State buildings during the Faculty Senate meeting on Jan. 22 in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union. rchopra@tribunemail.com Majid Jahangir Tribune News Service Srinagar, February 12 A soldier and a militant were killed and an elite para commando officer was injured in a gunfight that is raging in Pulwama district on Tuesday, officials said. Deceased havildar Baljeet Singh is a resident of Dinger Majra in Karnal district of Haryana. The gunfight erupted in the wee hours when joint teams of security forces launched an anti-militancy operation at Ratnipora area of Pulwama after an input about militants presence. In the gunfight, one unidentified militant has been killed so far. We also lost a soldier of 50 Rashtriya Rifles, a senior security official said. A Junior Commissioned Officer of elite 10 Para was injured in the gunfight. He had been shifted to Armys 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar, he said. Meanwhile, intense clashes were reported from the area near the gunfight site. Local youths are pelting the security forces with stones to disrupt the counter-militant operation. Mobile internet services have been snapped in the area. editorial@tribune.com Amir Karim Tantray Tribune News Service Jammu, February 11 Several inches of snowfall in the twin districts of Doda and Kishtwar have exposed the faults in the 132-KV transmission line of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC). Nine towers of the line have been severely damaged between Batote and Kishtwar and electricity hasnt been restored in these districts so far. At many places, the connectors have also been damaged. Of the nine damaged towers, one tower has been damaged between Batote and Doda and the others have been damaged between Doda and Kishtwar. For the last three days, the NHPCs men and machinery are on the job to restore the line but to no avail. I have deputed three teams to restore the line. I am hopeful that power will be restored for Doda by Tuesday evening. But for Kishtwar, it will take another 15 days, Gopi Chand Sinha, Deputy General Manager (Transmission), NHPC, told The Tribune. The 132-KV transmission line carries electricity from the northern grid towards Doda and Kishtwar districts and even a small fault on this line brings darkness in both districts. Sources told The Tribune that the NHPC had not upgraded these towers as per requirement and they get damaged whenever heavy rain or snow lashes the area. There is an immediate need to upgrade towers as per the requirement and carry out maintenance work during summer so that power is not snapped during winter, a source said. On the contrary, the power being generated in the NHPC-run 390-mega watt Dul Hasti hydroelectric power project in Kishtwar district is being transmitted to the northern grid uninterrupted. Two lines of 400-KV and 220-KV capacity, belonging to the Power Grid Corporation of India, didnt get damage in the snowfall. Our line developed a small technical snag during snowfall which was rectified within time and power was restored, said Vinul Koul, spokesperson of the corporation. There is a sense among people that every now and then, the incoming line develops faults but the outgoing line never develops any snag because the government earns more from the latter. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Srinagar, February 11 The Kashmir Economic Alliance, an amalgam of various trade bodies, on Monday flayed the state over non-clearance of snow in the interiors and inconvenience caused due to waterlogged roads. Though snow was cleared from the main roads, it is still accumulated in the interiors of rural and urban areas which has caused inconvenience to residents. Business activities have also taken a backseat especially due to waterlogging and muddy roads at several markets. It is unfortunate that after the shifting of the Durbar to Jammu, the Kashmir region has been neglected by the state, said alliance vice-chairman Aijaz Shahdhar. He said the authorities should ensure clearance of snow from the interiors and also take steps to remove waterlogging. The authorities should ensure that the snow gets cleared. As lanes in most of the interiors are narrow, at places the snow has been accumulated on the sides of the roads making it difficult for vehicles to pass. Similarly, several areas are facing waterlogging and streets have turned muddy. Unfortunately, no long-term measures have been taken to address the problem, Shahdhar said. amansharma@tribunemail.com Tribune News Service Jammu, February 12 The BSF and the Pakistan Rangers on Tuesday held a Sector Commander-level meeting along the International Border (IB) here. The meeting was held on the request of Pakistan Rangers from 1130 am to 1 pm in Suchetgarh area. The BSF delegation comprising 16 officers was led by P S Dhiman, DIG BSF Jammu Sector, and Brig Amjad Mehmud, Sector Commander, Chenab Rangers, Sialkote, led the Pakistan delegation comprising 14 officers. It was the first Sector Commander-level meeting between two border guarding forces after tension prevailed on Jammu International Border, in Jan 2019. During meeting, Commanders of both the border guarding forces, inter alia, discussed various issues, including firing on International Border, presence of suspects in border areas and other routine issues related to border management. It was decided to re-energise instant communication between field commanders, whenever required, to resolve the petty matters. The meeting was held in a cordial, positive and constructive atmosphere and both sides agreed for expeditious implementation of the decisions taken in the earlier meeting and committed to each other to maintain peace and tranquillity at International Border. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Shimla, February 11 Tempers ran high as ruling and Opposition members have locked horns over the misuse of public money on Jan Manch programmes in the state. The issue was raised during Question Hour in the Vidhan Sabha today by Congress legislator Nand Lal. He sought details of funds spent on holding of Jan Manch. Virender Kanwar, Minister for Rural Development said so far Rs 1.61 crore had been spent on 95 Jan Manch programmes till January while the expenditure details of 11 more programmes were still awaited. As Opposition members continued to grill the minister over the misuse of public money, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur provoked them by stating that the manner in which the Congress was getting perturbed, Jan Manch had been able to hit the target. He said the Congress was getting rattled seeing the success of the popular scheme. Congress legislator Jagat Singh Negi demanded that an audit of the funds being spent on Jan Manch should be held. As Congress legislator Nand Lal stood up to speak, while the CM was speaking, Thakur lost his cool and asked him to sit down. This enraged the Congress legislators, resulting in heated exchanges between the two sides. The CM and leader of the Opposition too had heated exchanges as Mukesh Agnihotri claimed that there was nothing new in Jan Manch as the Prashasan Janta Ke Dwar programme was serving the same purpose. I have attended those functions but this is something very different where people are being given relief on the spot and what is the harm if the same food is given to the public, the CM, ministers and all those who spend the day there, he replied to constant criticism by the Congress members. He added that the misuse of public money would not be allowed at any cost. Agnihotri pointed out that if Rs 1.61 crore had been spent on Jan Manch at the constituency level, then much more would be spent on these as the CM had now announced to chair them in every district. Minister Virender Kanwar said Rs 2-lakh limit had been fixed on a Jan Manch programme and, if need be, this amount could be enhanced. As per details of Jan Manch furnished by the minister, the highest amount of Rs 4.25 lakh was spent on Jan Manch held at Panjai in Seraj, the CMs constituency in Mandi district. Besides, Rs 3.05 lakh was spent at Balh in the presence of Industry Minister Bikram Singh, Rs 2.96 lakh at Narag in Pachhad in the presence of Health Minister Vipin Parmar and Rs 2.75 lakh at Dehra in the presence of Kishan Kapoor. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Dharamsala, February 11 Former minister and senior Congress leader GS Bali said the present BJP government in the state had ignored tourism and the unemployed youth in the Budget. While addressing a press conference at Kangra on Monday, Bali said tourism was a big sector in the state that provided maximum employment. In this years Budget, the government had not kept a single penny for the sector. How can a state like Himachal, ignore tourism that provides maximum employment and revenue, he said. GS Bali said in the current Budget, the state government proposed to raise a loan of Rs 5,000 during the next financial year. While the government has proposed to raise such a hefty loan, it has not proposed any measures for revenue generation. Earlier, the loans taken by the state from ADB and World Bank for tourism promotion have failed to produce desired results. The state should in fact concentrate on revenue generation, Bali said. GS Bali said the current BJP government should have made a provision of unemployment allowance for the youth in the budget. Bali said the previous Congress government had kept Rs 150 crores in its last budget for providing unemployment allowance to the youth. It was proposed that all unemployed should get an unemployment allowance of Rs 1,000 per month and physically challenged unemployed youth should get Rs 1,200 per month, he said. Bali further said lakhs of youth had applied for the unemployment allowance. However, the present BJP government abolished the scheme. Since there were about nine lakh unemployed youth with a population of nearly 70 lakh, the problem was enormous. The present government should make a Budget provision to re-implement the unemployment scheme, he demanded. Bali said it was unfortunate that there was no fixed policy in for health, employment, transport and education. The successive governments change the policies started by the previous government, due to which, all efforts made by the previous government go in vain. The persistent change in policies by the successive governments is hitting development. The state should adopt a vision document on vital sectors such as health, education, tourism and transport and successive governments should follow it so that some definite progress can be made in these fields, he said. editorial@tribune.com Pratibha Chauhan Tribune News Service Shimla, February 11 While demanding a White Paper on the status of 30 schemes announced by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur in the last Budget, Leader of the Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri on Monday accused the BJP government of pushing the state on the verge of bankruptcy by planning to raise loans worth Rs 10,000 crore in the first two years. Initiating the debate on the Budget proposals for 2019-20 presented by the Chief Minister in the Vidhan Sabha today, Agnihotri launched a blistering attack on the BJP government for its poor fiscal management. What is even more worrisome is the fact that you have tried to deliberately conceal the poor financial health of the state by not making mention of the date in the Budget, he alleged. He said the BJP which accused the Virbhadra Singh government of raising Rs 17,000-crore loans had admitted to running the government on loans worth Rs 10,000 crore in the first two years itself. Rather than exploring ways and means to generate resources, you are adopting the easiest path and virtually boasting about taking loans, he lamented. He said that if concrete fiscal measures were not taken, the state economy would collapse as debt trap had already touched Rs 50,000 crore. He said development had been the biggest casualty in the last one year. He remarked that many of the schemes announced last year had failed to take off and this years Budget makes no mention of them amounts to deceiving the people of the state. We demand a White Paper on the status of the 30 new schemes you announced in 2018-19 Budget, as the onus lies on you to ensure their implementation, he said. He said it was for the first time in the history of Himachal Pradesh that the Budget speech made no mention of the size of the Budget which had been pegged at Rs 44,387 crore. He also took a jibe at the CM for taking pride in the fact that growth rate had improved to 7.3 per cent. There is no reason to pat your back as in 2015-16 when Virbhadra Singh was the CM, the growth rate was 8.1 and it dipped due to demonetisation, he said. He said there had been a decline in the fruit and food grain production and the tourist arrivals had reduced despite tall claims of the BJP government to give a major fillip to the tourism. He regretted that most of the schemes be it in tourism, agriculture or horticulture had been reflected in the Budget speech despite the fact that they were being posed for external funding. There is also regional imbalance in your Budget proposals as maximum schemes and projects are for Mandi. You are CM of the state and not just of Mandi, he said. He accused the BJP regime of misusing the government funds by planning to launch Mera Parivaar, BJP Parivaar scheme. This amounts to misusing government machinery and funds by asking beneficiaries of Central and state government schemes to put a BJP flag atop their house, he said. Reacting to the allegations, the CM said that he had been left disappointed at the speech as the entire focus was on the last years Budget rather than the Budget he presented on February 9. I admit raising loans was your as well as our compulsion, but we are ensuring that it is spent on the most vulnerable sections who deserve it but not a word of appreciation for that, he said. It would have been far better if you had spoken on facts, he said. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Rohtak, February 11 The Congress has hit out at Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar for his statement during Sundays rally in Kalanaur that he had asked people to teach a befitting lesson to those behind the arson during the Jat agitation for reservation in February 2016. In a statement issued here today, Congress leader Shadi Lal Batra asked the CM the reason for not taking action against persons responsible for arson and violence. It is the responsibility of the CM to take action against arsonists. By asking people to punish them, Khattar is trying to push the state towards anarchy yet again, he said. Batra also criticised Khattar for reportedly asking people to take away LPG cylinders from the houses of Deputy Commissioners or MLAs if they fail to get gas connections within 48 hours. It seems that the CM has forgotten his maryada (dignity) as he is advising people to take law into their own hands, he said. People asked to apply for LPG connections The Rohtak District Food and Supplies Controller (DFSC) has asked people not having LPG connections to apply for one at their nearest gas agency. In a statement, the DFSC said the managers of the agencies had been directed to provide LPG connections to eligible residents promptly. At the Kalanaur rally, some residents had conveyed to the CM that they had not got their LPG connections. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Karnal, February 11 Taking a jibe at the entry of Priyanka Vadra Gandhi into active politics, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday compared the Congress with a blown cartridge and said the party has no scope in the country. The Congress is like a blown cartridge and the chances of its survival are less, said Khattar while replying to a query of mediapersons at the Karnal Aviation Club. During his brief stay at the club, Khattar interacted with party leaders and workers and invited them to Prime Minister Narendra Modis programme in Kurukshetra on February 12. Enthusiastic after the partys victory in the Jind byelection, the Chief Minister claimed that the BJP would again form the government at the Centre and in the state. He alleged that opposition parties were frightened due to the rising popularity of the Prime Minister. Khattar said the aim of the BJP was to serve the people, not to get power. The Chief Minister said the Prime Minister would chair the swachh shakti programme in Kurukshetra on Tuesday, in which 20,000 women from across the country would participate. He would lay the foundation stone of the Deendayal Upadhyay University of Health Sciences at Kutail village to be built on 138 acre at a cost of Rs 750 crore. Underpass on Jind-Panipat rail line inaugurated Kurukshetra: Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday laid the foundation stones of 12 projects worth Rs 90 crore in Jind district. He inaugurated an underpass on the Jind-Panipat railway line. It has been constructed at a cost of Rs 15 crore. An underbridge worth Rs 3.20 crore was opened on the Hansi Butana canal. The CM laid the stone for the development of the ancient Nag Kshetra Tirtha. A sum of Rs 2.40 crore would be spent on its beautification and introducing various amenities. Khattar also performed rituals at the ancient temple. Later, he attended a yajna at Sanskrit Pathshala being run on the Hansraj tirath premises.Khattar said the Haryana Public Service Commission would soon start the process for the recruitment of 700 college lecturers. The state was producing 750 new doctors every year and a target had been set to increase the number to 2,000 in the next few years, he added. TNS ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM With the Lok Sabha elections just a couple of months away, political histrionics have become the (dis)order of the day. The grander the scale and the stage, the better it is for the protagonists to make their presence felt. A week after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee upped the ante against the Modi government with the Kolkata sit-in, her Andhra Pradesh counterpart, N Chandrababu Naidu, observed a fast in New Delhi on Monday in protest against his ally-turned-enemy. Naidus Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had pulled out of the BJP-led NDA in March last year over the latters failure to grant special status to AP. With 16 Lok Sabha seats, the TDP had been the third largest constituent of the alliance (after the BJP and the Shiv Sena). However, the immediate provocation for the CMs Dharma Porata Deeksha (day-long protest for justice) was the PMs outburst during the Guntur rally on Sunday. Modi had admitted that Naidu was senior to him, but only in losing elections, switching loyalties and back-stabbing father-in-law NT Rama Rao. The offended CM, in turn, accused the PM of violating raj dharma by denying Andhra Pradesh special status, a promise that the Centre had made during the states bifurcation in 2014. He even raked up the 2002 Gujarat riots and quoted then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the mayhem that had rocked the state then ruled by Modi. If the PM called Naidu son Lokeshs (doting) father, the CM taunted him by referring to his wife Jashodaben, a private individual. Elections or no elections, such below-the-belt remarks not only discredit the politicians, but also undermine the constitutional posts that they occupy. By throwing restraint and decorum to the winds, these leaders are demonstrating that they can stoop to any level just to run down their rivals in the hot pursuit of power. The cacophonous barbs are likely to become sharper and more personal as the campaigning hots up in the forthcoming weeks. Sorely being missed are the statesmen who can rise above the theatrics and raise issues of public and national concern. Maj Gen GG Dwivedi (retd) Maj Gen GG Dwivedi (retd) Former Defence Attache in China Arecent Pentagon report has raised the alarm on Chinas relentless drive for global expansion, both by military and non-military means. As per Dan Taylor, a senior US defence intelligence analyst, Peoples Republic of China is rapidly building a robust and lethal force with capabilities spanning the ground, air, maritime, space and information domains, designed to enable Beijing to impose its will on the region and beyond. By undertaking counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden over the past decade and expanding its military presence in the East and South China Seas, as per Taylor, China has demonstrated its willingness to employ the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) as an instrument of national power in the execution of a historic mission in the new century. The Chinese leadership considers a well-conceived military modernisation programme essential for the country to achieve the status of a great power . The thought process of the communist leadership continues to be influenced by Chinas ancient wisdom. Chinese strategists firmly believe that their country was secure and prosperous when internally strong with a subdued neighbourhood, ensuring a peaceful periphery. Traditional Chinese thinking professed that the best way to respond to a threat was to eliminate it. This is vindicated by the fact that China used force eight times during the first three decades following the 1949 Revolution. The Chinese attribute the loss of their prime position to the weakness of the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912) and a continental mindset. Shi (strategic configuration by gaining position of advantage) is an essential facet of strategic thinking. Given the authoritarian character of the Chinese system, generational leadership change significantly impacted the nations policies, particularly during the times of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. President Xi Jinping, on assuming power, moved fast. He went on to initiate transformational reforms aimed to change the traditional strategic framework, advocating a greater Chinese role in world affairs. Xi took on the mantle of the Fifth Generation leadership in 2012. He was expected to abide by the constitutional rules adhered to by his immediate predecessors. However, he chose to play differently. While commencing his first term as the President in 2013, Xi had stated, To forge iron, you ought to be strong. Accordingly, he set about systematically to strengthen his hold on the twin levers of power the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the PLA. Xi unleashed an unbridled anti-corruption campaign which proved handy to purge political rivals. Concurrently, radical military reforms were initiated with a dual aim: to prepare the defence forces for the enlarged role and reinforce the partys hold over the PLA. To the three most important titles General Secretary of the CPC, Chairman of the Central Military Commission and the President that Xi was already holding, he added half a dozen over a short period. In a lighter vein, Xi began to be referred to as the CEO (Chairman of Everything). During the 19th Party Congress held in 2017, Xi unveiled his concept of China Dream (Zhong Guo Meng). It envisaged Chinas road to rejuvenation entering the new era, emerging as a prosperous and powerful nation and the restoration of its legacy. He outlined twin centenary objectives: China to emerge as a fully modern socialist economy by 2035 and to acquire the status of a great modern socialist country by 2049. Xis Thought for New Era Socialism with Special Chinese Characteristics stand enshrined in the party constitution. With the abolishment of the limit set on the presidential term through a constitutional amendment, the path was cleared for Xi to continue in power for life. Xi propounded the policy of striving for achievement (fanfa youwei) during the 2017 party congress, advocating a greater Chinese role to shape the new international order. This marked the abandonment of the three-decade-old strategy enunciated by Deng to conceal ones strength, never take a leadership role, and bide ones time till China completed its peaceful rise. In keeping with the changed foreign policy, Xi has initiated major strategic initiatives since 2014. There was an overdrive to expand Chinas military position in South China Sea with a rapid programme of island reclamation to ensure diminution of US influence in the region. As part of its global outreach, China is in the process of acquiring a string of naval bases in Myanmar (Kyaukpyu), Sri Lanka (Hambantota), Pakistan (Gwadar) and Djibouti to emerge as a major player in the Indo-Pacific, besides the westward expansion into Eurasia region. The path-breaking military reforms that are underway aim to transform the PLA into a modern fighting force on a par with the Western armies by the next two decades. The focus is on building a strong national defence and powerful armed forces as a security guarantee for Chinas peaceful development. Xi has combined geo-political and geo-strategic dimensions to launch Belt-Road and Maritime Silk Route initiatives across Eurasia, Africa and beyond, engaging more than 70 countries and entailing multi-trillion-dollar investment. Playing a lead role in regional groupings like the Shanghai Cooporation Organisation and BRICS, and establishing financial institutions such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank are consistent actions to further Chinas policy of resisting the West-driven international order. Xis foreign policy is unapologetically nationalist, in pursuit of its core interests sovereignty, stability, security and economic development. His new ideology seeks to promote an alternative model characterised by authoritarian capitalism. Today, the US is conflicted about its global role with Trump in relentless pursuit of the America First policy. Russia under Putin continues to be under the delusion of the Cold War symmetry. Xi has scripted a clearer strategic road map for China. He is expected to pursue aggressive diplomacy to restructure the international order, whose underlying rules will be increasingly framed by Beijing. Given Indias complex relations with China, the emerging scenario has far-reaching implications. While not in a position to effectively counter Chinas expansionist design and at the same time seriously constrained to join the regional grouping such as Quad with US, Japan and Australia, India finds itself in a catch-22 situation. Ironically, Delhi has no option but to revamp its capability to engage Beijing on equal terms. It is time India formulates a long-term policy to emerge as an important stakeholder in the Indo-Pacific. Chinas strategic shift is in sync with Xis grand design China acquiring superpower status by the middle of this century. Given the opaque system, past legacy and growing assertiveness, the communist leaderships claim about their nations rise to be peaceful has inherent contradictions. It is vital for the global polity to effectively engage with the communist leadership to avoid what US political scientist Graham Allison called the Thucydides trap. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh, February 11 A day after miscreants opened fire at Dadu Majra, the UT police arrested a 25-year-old youth, one of the suspects in the case. The Mahindra Bolero in which the suspects had come was found to have been stolen from Gurugram. Panic had gripped Dadu Majra last night after some miscreants, who had arrived in the Bolero, escaped after thrashing two persons and opening fire. The suspects left the Bolero at the spot, which was impounded by the police. The arrested youth has been identified as Amandeep Singh (25), a resident of Ludhiana. The three other suspects have been identified as Baldev, Sunny and Raju. The police said Baldev had fired the gunshots. The police said raids were on to nab the other suspects. During investigation, the police found that the suspects had affixed a fake number on the Bolero. The number turned out to be that of a scooter and the jeep was stolen from Gurugram, said a police official. The police said investigation revealed that the suspects, who hailed from Punjab, had come to purchase liquor from a vend at Dadu Majra. A few local residents, who are bouncers, were already present there. The suspects had an altercation with the local residents. The suspects thrashed two youths and were escaping from the spot when someone pulled the keys out of the Boleros ignition. The suspects then got down from the jeep and opened fire before escaping from the spot. A case under Sections 147, 148, 149, 323, 341, 336, 307 and 506 of the IPC and under Section 24, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act has been registered against the suspects on a complaint of Gurpreet Singh, who was thrashed by the suspects. Somnath Rana, whose brother Ravinder Kumar was also thrashed by the suspects, said the police had not included the names of people who were behind this attack. My brother has seen the suspects; he can identify all of them, he said. What triggered the incident The police said investigation revealed that the suspects, who hailed from Punjab, had come to purchase liquor from a vend at Dadu Majra. A few local residents, who are bouncers, were already present there. The suspects had an altercation with the residents. The suspects thrashed two youths and were escaping from the spot when someone pulled the keys out of the Boleros ignition. The suspects then got down from the jeep and opened fire before escaping from the spot. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Panchkula, February 11 Teachers of Jainendra Gurukul, Sector 1, have accused the secretary of the school of molesting them by deliberately touching their bodies with bad intention. In their complaint to the police, the teachers stated that 10 teachers of the school had accompanied students of Class IX and X to Parliament House in New Delhi on December 18, 2018. They said the secretary, VK Jain, had levelled baseless allegations against the teachers, causing irreparable harm to them. They alleged that Jain had indulged in character assassination of the teachers, who belonged to reputed families, and had termed them defaulters. They alleged that Jain had remarked that the teachers had a candlelight dinner with the school cashier. They said Jain had further stated that the school cashier had sponsored a trip to Jaipur in which teachers, along with their children, had taken part, as they were not able to pay for it. The teachers alleged that whenever they visited the secretarys office for work, he used to make them sit in his office unnecessarily. Besides, he threw pen and files at them. They alleged that whenever they passed by him, he touched them with bad intention. They added that Jain had been harassing them physically and mentally by making sexual advances. They said they had earlier lodged a complaint with the president of the Gurukul committee but in vain. The police have registered a case under Sections 354, 354A and 509 of the IPC. editorial@tribune.com Ramkrishan Upadhyay Tribune News Service Chandigarh, February 11 In a major decision, the Chandigarh Administration has decided not to allow bureaucrats to retain their houses after retirement. The Administration has also decided to reduce its discretionary quota in the allotment. Sources said the decision was taken as the UT was finding it tough to allot government houses to eligible senior IAS and IPS officers due to a shortage of houses. While the waiting list of eligible senior officers is increasing, many bureaucrats have managed to retain their houses even after retirement. At present, bureaucrats, who become chairpersons of commissions or hold similar posts, retain their houses till the completion of their tenure, which ranges from three to five years. Chandigarh has a limited number of big government houses in posh localities such as Sector 7 and 16. Senior IAS officers, after being promoted from the post of Financial Commissinor as Additional Chief Secretary, become eligible for such houses, which are spread over four to five kanals. Sources said Manoj Kumar Parida, UT Adviser, recently wrote to the chief secretaries of Punjab and Haryana over the issue. In the letter, he said many senior officers working under Punjab, Haryana and UT were retaining government houses allotted to them on the grounds of post-retirement jobs being given to them. This had led to a situation where eligible officers in the combined list were waiting for years for houses, while retired officers refused to vacate the allotted accommodation even after the permissible period. The Administration has suggested that necessary financial compensation for hiring private houses could be given by the respective governments, if needed. The Administration will also cancel the allotment in case it is found that the allottees have their own house in the tricity. The sources said at present, 16 houses of the bigger category were occupied by members of commissions such as the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Information Commission, State Election Commission, Right to Service Commission, Real Estate Regulatory Authority and the Haryana Public Service Commission. Confirming the development, Parida said the move was aimed at streamlining the allotment process so that eligible officers could get houses without waiting too long. Move to help eligible officers get houses editorial@tribune.com Naina Mishra Tribune News Service Chandigarh, February 11 Taking lessons from the previous years paper leak episode, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) introduced a series of changes in the conduct of examination from sanitisation of exam centres to handling confidential material on Monday. The communication was given to all stakeholders of examinations through a live webcast in around 20,000 schools across the country. Last year, the leakage of question paper in Delhi and other parts of the country over the social media had caused embarrassment to the CBSE and the MHRD. In 2018-19, a re-examination was conducted for economics after the paper leak. However, this year, the board has stated that no examination will be postponed at any cost. In case of an emergency, we will supply the material and exam will be conducted, whether it takes one hour or three hours. Regional officers will inform schools about the methodology. The centres are required to be sanitised on the day of the exam and no communication devices will be allowed. A lot of malpractice is happening in schools due to the local management. Hence, on the day of the exam, the entire centre should be sanitised. The unauthorised personnel, including parents, teachers and management, shall be allowed to enter the centres premises, said Anita Karwal, CBSE Chairperson, during the live telecast. Only 24 candidates in a room The board has issues guidelines to schools asking them to either prepare a seating plan for not more than 24 students in an examination hall or accommodate number of students in multiple of 24 (48, 72, ) in a hall. This year, the CBSE has framed guidelines each for centre superintendent and unfair means. It has been conveyed by the board that the principal will not be allowed to delegate powers to the centre superintendent. A deputy centre superintendent is made mandatory for all centres. Students involved in spreading false information on the social media will also be considered as an unfair mean. The board will keep a track and take an action, said CBSE spokesperson Sanyam Bhardwaj, Controller of Examinations. Carrying an old question paper and communication devices to the centre has also been included in the unfair means. Three-layered confidential material The confidential material will come in three layers a box, parcel and packet. The packing of the material will be date-wise and subject-wise and the material will be collected on the basis of the datesheet. The Centre Superintendent (CS) will collect the material from the custodian and ensure safe transportation. The board said the CS will carry confidential material in a covered vehicle and ensure safe storage in the control room. 12 days for evaluation Chandigarh: In the wake of a large number of mistakes 4,391 by the CBSE in the previous years evaluation of Class X and XII exams, the board also introduced a revamped evaluation process on Monday. The evaluation team will work under the supervision of the Chief Nodal Superintendent. The team will comprise a Head Examiner (HE), under whom, three to four assistant head examiners (AHE) (evaluation) and one assistant head examiner (coordination) will be appointed. The board has affixed 12 days for evaluation and 25 set of copies to each evaluator in a day. The evaluators will have to work for 8 hours a day. Each AHE (evaluation) will be staffed with four evaluators. Three coordinators will work for the AHE (coordination), who will be assisting the AHE (evaluation). The HE will re-evaluate two copies of each AHE (evaluation) and one copy of each evaluator. Further, the HE will also scrutinise two copies of coordinator checked by the AHE (coordination), along with three copies of each coordinator. Bell schedule introduced The board is of the opinion that students may not be allowed to carry a watch and a wall clock must rather be displayed in the examination hall. Last entry in examination centre : 10:00 am (long bell) : 10:00 am (long bell) Distribution of answer books and question papers : 10:15 am (single bell) : 10:15 am (single bell) Commencement of examination : 10:30 am (long bell) : 10:30 am (long bell) After one hour : 11:30 am (single bell) : 11:30 am (single bell) After two hours : 12:30 pm (single bell) : 12:30 pm (single bell) After two and a half hour : 1:00 pm (single bell) : 1:00 pm (single bell) Exam conclude (long bell) Sec 144 near centres The board has asked schools to take help from the local administration for regulating traffic and implementing Section 144 near centres. School principals can meet the District Magistrate, Senior Superintendent of Police of the area to seek support. They can look for problems. We have requested them to impose Section 144 so that there is no rush, traffic on the day of the exam, said Dr Sanyam Bhardwaj, Controller of Examination editorial@tribune.com New Delhi, February 11 The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) today allowed 22 companies of crisis-hit IL&FS Group to service their debt obligations. Besides, a two-member Bench headed by Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya approved appointment of former Supreme Court judge Justice DK Jain to supervise resolution process of IL&FS group. The appellate tribunal also lifted moratorium and allowed 133 IL&FS firms incorporated outside India to continue with the resolution process. We allow (companies under green categories) the Board to permit the company to service debt obligations as per schedule, the firm said. The NCLAT was hearing the government plea over IL&FS Group. Earlier this month, the Corporate Affairs Ministry submitted the debt resolution plan for IL&FS. The entire resolution process would be based on the principles enunciated in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, as per the ministry. Under the plan, the government has categorised IL&FS Group companies into green, amber and red based on their respective financial positions. Companies under the green category would be those that continue to meet their payment obligations. Amber category would be for those companies that would not be able to meet their obligations but can meet only operational payment obligations to senior secured financial creditors. PTI Moratorium lifted on firms registered abroad editorial@tribune.com Dubai, February 11 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned governments to gear up for a possible economic storm as growth undershoots expectations. The bottom-line we see an economy that is growing more slowly than we had anticipated, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde told the World Government Summit in Dubai yesterday. Last month, the IMF lowered its global economic growth forecast for this year from 3.7% to 3.5%. Lagarde cited what she called four clouds as the main factors undermining the global economy and warned that a storm might strike. The risks include trade tensions and tariff escalations, financial tightening, uncertainty related to (the) Brexit outcome and spillover impact and an accelerated slowdown of the Chinese economy, she said. Lagarde said trade tensions mainly in the shape of a tariff spat between the US and China, the worlds two biggest economies are already having a global impact. We have no idea how it is going to pan out and what we know is that it is already beginning to have an effect on trade, on confidence and on markets, she said, warning governments to avoid protectionism. She also pointed to the risks posed by rising borrowing costs within a context of heavy debt racked up by governments, firms and households. When there are too many clouds, it takes one lightning (bolt) to start the storm, she said. AFP Trade tensions key factors Terre Haute, IN (47803) Today A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High around 85F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Scattered thunderstorms developing late. Low 72F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%. A former corrections officer at SCI-Somerset who was accused in 2017 of smuggling drugs into the prison was sentenced Monday to five years of supervised probation. Irwin Stoolmacher is the President of the Stoolmacher Consulting Group, fundraising and strategic planning consulting firm that works with nonprofits agencies that serve the truly needy among us. @IsaacAvilucea on Twitter Isaac Avilucea is The Trentonians main municipal scribe. A two-time prior restraint winner and testicular cancer survivor, he relishes his reputation as the "Mean Girls" reporter that followed his 18-day stay at the now-defunct North Adams Transcript. L.A. Parker is a Trentonian columnist. Find him on Twitter @LAParker6 or email him at LAParker@Trentonian.com. Behind the Badge Police layoffs are bad for the department and bad for citizens Think global, act local. Protesters around the worldlike the folks in Albany pictured aboveare increasingly demanding that we "keep it in the ground" when it comes to fossil fuels. There are tentative signs that the powers that be in certain parts of the world are finally beginning to listen. While we've seen plenty of coal mines and other fossil fuel extraction projects run into permitting and planning issues in the past, this has usually happened because of localized impacts such as water or air quality, noise pollution or other concerns about how it might harm the local community. Something different just happened in Australia. Bianca Nogrady over at Nature reports that, for the first time ever, in that country at least, a court has rejected the opening of a coal mine specifically on the grounds that it will add to global greenhouse gas concentrations at a time when we need to be bringing them down rapidly. Nogrady quotes chief judge Brian Preston who, in his ruling, explicitly stated that the project should be refused because: The greenhouse-gas emissions (GHGs) of the coal mine and its product will increase global total concentrations of GHGs at a time when what is now urgently needed, in order to meet generally agreed climate targets, is a rapid and deep decrease in GHG emissions. This is exciting stuff. And coming on the heels of actions such as kids suing governments over climate change, it emphasizes how legal challenges may play a key role in forcing the hand of legislators and corporations alike to finally start taking the threat of climate change seriously. Whether it's the fight over Keystone XL or the push against fracking in the UK and elsewhere, activists are increasingly putting pressure on the fossil fuel industry's ability to expand and its social license to operate. Getting courts to take the very real threat of global climate change seriouslyand to link it to the fact that we must keep fossil fuels in the groundcould be an extremely strong lever to pull in speeding up the transition to a low carbon economy. Nicely done, Australia. TORONTO, ON // FEBRUARY 11, 2019 Every year, Car Show co-ordinator Gary Challice and the Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo team are tasked with determining which car club will be recognized as the featured club at the show. We look to established clubs; the organizations with a history of supporting the car club culture, explained Challice. We want to put them in the spotlight to thank them for their contributions to the community. For this years show, which takes place March 8, 9 & 10 at Torontos International Centre, the Kitchener, Ontario-based Highwaymen Car Club will enjoy the designation of being the 2019s featured club. Reacting to the news, Highwaymen Car Club spokesman Clare Pomeroy said, Were a club that is made up of a bunch of pretty low-key guys, so this honour came as a bit of a surprise. But it is one of those offers that we simply had to accept. Everybody in the club is really proud and excited to be able to show off the history of our club at Motorama. Founded in 1961 by six high school friends, the Highwaymen went from meeting in the Treasurers basement to inhabiting a former firehouse before ultimately taking ownership of a refurbished church as the club membership increased. Now boasting 30 active club members, their centrally located clubhouse features a spacious meeting area complete with a fully-equipped kitchen. On the lower level of the building is a room for tools, toolboxes and accessories. A separate, connected warehouse encompasses a wash bay, a hoist and room for up to nine of the club members vehicles. We have twice-per-month meetings, and one of those will be a dinner meeting, continued Pomeroy. But any day, you will find someone working on their car in the warehouse, with other club members lending a hand. At Motorama, the Highwaymen will display upwards of a dozen vehicles. Although the final list of automotive attendees has yet to be finalized, expected cars include a 1934 Ford pickup, a two-door 1937 Chevy, a 1966 Valiant convertible, a 1973 Cuda, a pair of classic El Caminos, a 1963 Mercury pick-up truck, a 1923 Ford four-door touring antique, a 1949 Ford panel truck, Jerry Kays 1932 Ford 5-window Coupe. Kay was a founding member of the club and served as its president for ten years. Our members own everything from antique cars to customs and hot rods. It makes it difficult to chose just a few to bring to the Motorama show, commented Pomeroy. The Highwaymen Car Club has built a strong reputation for supporting the local community, hosting the annual Canadian Graffiti Car Show, plus various rallies and cruise nights. Any funds raised by the club are donated back into the community to benefit the Childrens Wish Foundation. Although the Highwaymen will be feted as this years featured car club, they will not be alone at the show as nearly a dozen other clubs will be represented throughout the show, mostly throughout Hall 2. Among the other car clubs expected to attend are (in alphabetical order): the Barrie Mustang Cruisers, the Brampton Street Rods, the Corvettes of Durham, the Golden Horseshoe Mustang Club, the Grand National Buick Club, the Oldsmobile Car Club, the Ontario Camaro Club, the Ontario Mustang Club and the Ontario Vintage Mopars. Were very happy to welcome the Highwaymen as the featured car club at this years Motorama show, said Gary Challice. And were excited about the other clubs who are coming to the show, as well. Theres a lot of variety and excellent equipment. Were also looking forward to seeing some neat club displays. That used to be a big part of their exhibits at car shows and were encouraging them to bring component back again. ABOUT THE HIGHWAYMEN CAR CLUB: Founded in 1961, the Highwaymen Car Club is dedicated to the preservation of Street Rods, Vintage and Classic vehicles. The club is a community-based, non-profit organization that hosts car shows, rallies and cruise nights and presents the annual Canadian Graffiti Car Show. Meetings are held the first and third Wednesday of each month in the Highwaymen clubhouse at 606 Lancaster Street W, in Kitchener, Ontario. ABOUT THE MOTORAMA CUSTOM CAR & MOTORSPORTS EXPO: The fifth annual Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo takes place March 8, 9 & 10, 2019 at The International Centre, across from Torontos Pearson International Airport. The show features more than 330,000 square feet of custom cars, hot rods, racing vehicles of all kinds, tuners, displays and exhibitors. Motorama is Canadas biggest late-winter celebration of automobiles and motorsports. For information about the show, including tickets, sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities, and more, call (416) 962-7223, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit www.MotoramaShow.com. Vantage Deluxe World Travel announced it will expand its fleet of river cruise ships with a deluxe, custom-built luxury ship for Egyptian tours on the Nile River beginning in February 2020. Vantage Deluxe World Travel announced it will expand its fleet of river cruise ships with a deluxe, custom-built luxury ship for Egyptian tours on the Nile River beginning in February 2020. Once complete, the m/s Nebu will be the newest and most luxurious ship on the Nile, featuring four cabin categories and five trip itineraries. This marks Vantage's first owned vessel in Africa; its current-owned fleet includes five deluxe European ships. Reservations for the inaugural sailing season can be made now. The new ship's itineraries include five incredible journeys including: Gold of the Nile: Ancient Egyptian Wonders on the Inaugural Cruise of m/s Nebu in February 2020; Incomparable Monuments: Timeless Cruising on the Nile, a cruise-only experience; Sail with the Sun God: Nile River Summer Cruise through Egypt; a well-priced summer adventure; Luxury on the Nile: Ancient Egyptian Wonders, featuring a cruise paired with seven nights in Egypt's best hotels; Ancient Wonders: Egypt & Nile River Cruise tour, an epic journey that combines a seven-night Nile cruise with a deluxe hotel stays in Cairo. During each of the itineraries, guests are invited to walk back in time to 10,000 B.C., reveling in the fabled Pyramids of Giza and the iconic Sphinx; explore the Nubian treasures of Aswan, including the elegant Temple of Philae, set on a romantic island; and visit myriad UNESCO World Heritage Sites. As travelers are immersed in history, they'll have the chance to witness modern-day life in Egypt as the deluxe ship loops the Nile, passing fertile farms, graceful feluccas, and bustling ports. "This new ship build is a dream come true," said Henry R. Lewis, CEO, Vantage Travel. "It will offer the perfect juxtaposition of visiting one of the oldest civilizations in the world with the most modern and luxurious amenities and sailing technology. My family and I have experienced Egypt and it is unlike anywhere we've been before. I know that this new ship will exceed all expectations for our travelers who enjoy history and intrigue as well as modern-day conveniences." With just 44 cabins and a capacity of just 84 guests, the new Vantage ship will provide a luxurious and exclusive way to travel. The intimate ship size allows for greater access to the area's people and rich history via more conveniently located ports, thus less travel time once on land. The ship's cabins are larger by industry standard: standard cabins are 310 square feet each, while two Executive Suites at 400 square feet each and one Owner's Suite at approximately 600 square feet will offer the ultimate indulgence in accommodations. The ship will also feature four 210 square foot single cabins. Four adjoining rooms, also unique to this new ship, provide the ideal accommodations for friends and family traveling together. Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Travel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Travel Industry Wire Princess Cruises has announced the leadership team for its latest ship, Sky Princess, with seasoned master Captain Heikki Laakkonen to take the helm and bring the ship into services from the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy. Princess Cruises has announced the leadership team for its latest ship, Sky Princess, with seasoned master Captain Heikki Laakkonen to take the helm and bring the ship into services from the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy. Debuting in the Mediterranean in October 2019, Sky Princess will be brought into service by a team of officers with extensive maritime experience, including more than 140 years' combined service with Princess Cruises. Announcing details today, Jan Swartz, group president of Princess Cruises and Carnival Australia, said Captain Laakkonen would sail on Sky Princess' inaugural voyage on October 20, 2019 in Europe, and would remain at the helm as the 143,700-tonne ship offers a series of European cruises before sailing to the Caribbean. Captain Laakkonen will be joined at the launch by Chief Engineer Officer Fabio Braccelli, Hotel General Manager Terri Cybuliak, and Staff Captain Giovanni Cardile. Captain Michele Tuvo, Chief Engineer Officer Mladen Ratkovic, Hotel General Manager Richard Harry and Staff Captain Brian Whelan will complete the leadership team. Captain Tuvo will represent the entire leadership team during a ceremony on February 14, at the Fincantieri Monfalcone, Italy shipyard to celebrate a significant milestone in the Sky Princess new build process that will celebrate the ships' recent float-out. "We are confident the deep seagoing expertise of these officers will allow our future guests to safely enjoy all that a Princess experience offers, and their strong leadership will support our crew in our commitment to create lasting memories," Ms Swartz said. Captain Laakkonen said he was proud to be bringing Princess Cruises' newest ship into service. "Sky Princess will be a magnificent addition to Princess Cruises' fleet and I am deeply honored to have been chosen to introduce this awe-inspiring ship to our guests," Captain Laakkonen said. Sky Princess Leadership Team Captain Heikki Laakkonen - Captain Heikki Laakkonen was born in the coastal town of Kotka, Finland and began his career in the Finnish Navy in 1991. After completing military service, he studied at the Maritime College of Rauma, Finland and graduated as a Master Mariner in 1999. Captain Laakkonen joined Princess Cruises in 2001 and first served as Captain aboard Pacific Dawn in 2013. He has since commanded Pacific Pearl, Crown Princess, Island Princess, Caribbean Princess, Coral Princess, Golden Princess and Sapphire Princess. Captain Michele Tuvo - Captain Michele Tuvo hails from Levanto, Italy. After completing naval college and serving on container ships, Captain Tuvo joined Princess Cruises in 2000 as a 3rd Officer on the Sun Princess. He worked his way up through the ranks on Sea Princess, Grand Princess, Golden Princess, Dawn Princess, Sapphire Princess, Diamond Princess, Emerald Princess, Star Princess, Coral Princess and Island Princess. He served his first command onboard Star Princess. Chief Engineer Officer Fabio Braccelli - Fabio Braccelli lives in Cerri di Arcola in Northern Italy and joined Princess Cruises in 1990. In 2004, Fabio began his first contract as Chief Engineer Officer aboard Sun Princess. He has since sailed as Chief on Sapphire Princess, Caribbean Princess, Pacific Princess and Royal Princess. He has been part of the Royal Princess crew since 2013. Chief Engineer Officer Mladen Ratkovic - Mladen Ratkovic lives in Zadar, Croatia and started his career with Princess Cruises in 2003. Mladen was promoted to Chief Engineer Officer on Pacific Princess in 2014. After his time on Pacific Princess, he has also served as Chief on Ocean Princess, Star Princess and Sea Princess. Hotel General Manager Terri Cybuliak - Terri Cybuliak hails from White Rock, B.C., just south of the port of Vancouver. She joined Princess in 1998 as a Junior Assistant Purser on the original Crown Princess. Her career has progressed through the ranks, and she has traveled with Princess Cruises to all seven continents. Hotel General Manager Richard Harry - Richard Harry was born in Farnborough, England and now resides in Bristol. He joined Princess Cruises in 1988 as a Front Desk Receptionist and worked on the original Sky Princess in 1989. Richard has been part of the newbuild teams for five Princess ships. Staff Captain Giovanni Cardile - Giovanni Cardile was born in Messina in northeast Sicily. Following a family tradition of seafaring, he joined the Merchant Navy as a Deck Cadet, then after service in the Italian Navy, worked on tanker and cargo ships. Giovanni joined Princess Cruises in 2005 and advanced through the ranks to be appointed Staff Captain on Regal Princess in 2014. He has since served as Staff Captain on Regal Princess, Sea Princess, Emerald Princess and Ruby Princess. Staff Captain Brian Whelan - Brian Whelan was born and raised in Galway on the west coast of Ireland. His interest in cruise ships started with some early family cruises, including onboard the S.S Canberra. Brian started his cadetship with Princess Cruises in 2000. He has worked his way up the ranks, including working in the head office, before taking the position of Staff Captain. Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Travel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Travel Industry Wire South Africa deposited its AfCFTA instrument of ratification , as did Mauritania and Republic of Congo, with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission on the sidelines of the 32nd African Union Summit. Report on Institutional Reform : Remarks by President Kagame at a closed session. The scope of Africas political ambition requires an institution endowed with all the technical competence to deliver the results we want. The strength of our institutional reform is the constant search for solutions through dialogue and consensus. Key decisions of the 32nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union On the AfCFTA. Endorsed the recommendations of African Union Ministers of Trade on: Template on Tariff Liberalization which will be used by Member States in preparing the AfCFTA Schedules of Tariff Concessions; and the designation of Sensitive Products and Exclusion List on the basis of the following criteria: food security, national security, fiscal revenue, livelihood and industrialization. Decided that Member States wishing to enter into partnerships with third parties should inform the Assembly with assurance that those efforts will not undermine the AU vision of creating one African market. Requested the AUC, with the assistance of technical partners, to undertake an assessment of the requirements for the establishment of a future common market including steps to be taken as well as their implications and challenges, for consideration by the AU Ministers of Trade. Requested AU Ministers responsible for trade to: submit the Schedules of Tariff Concessions, and Schedules of Specific Commitments on Trade in Services in line with agreed modalities to the July 2019 and January 2020 Sessions of the Assembly, respectively, for adoption; and conclude the negotiations on Investment, Competition Policy and Intellectual Property Rights, and submit the draft legal texts to the January 2021 Session of the Assembly for adoption through the Specialised Technical Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs. On post-2020 partnership with the European Union. Assembly recalled the decision which stressed the need to ensure that Africa speaks with one voice in the various platforms of partnership with the EU, and requested the Commission to ensure cohesion between the Post-Cotonou Agreement and the Post-2020 Continent-to-Continent Partnership, so that continental priorities, as articulated in Agenda 2063 and other related instruments, are consistently reflected in both tracks. Assembly elected the Bureau of the Assembly of the Union for 2019. Chairperson: Egypt; 1st Vice-Chairperson: South Africa; 2nd Vice-Chairperson: DRC; 3rd Vice-Chairperson: Niger; Rapporteur: Rwanda Diarise: The first Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the AU and the RECs will now take place on 7-8 July 2019 in Niamey. Next years 33rd Ordinary Session of the Assembly will take place on 30 and 31 January 2020 in Addis Ababa. President Cyril Ramaphosa has handed over South Africas instrument of ratification of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on the sidelines of the 32nd Ordinary Session of Assembly of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The development came after Parliament ratified the Agreement on the establishment of the AfCFTA in December. The Agreement will come into effect once 22 member states have deposited their instruments of ratification. South Africas ratification, alongside that of Mauritania and the Republic of Congo, who also deposited their instruments of ratification during the AU Summit, brings the number of countries that have ratified (or approved ratification of) the AfCFTA Agreement to 18. The AfCFTA was launched during an Extra-ordinary Summit of the African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government in Kigali, Rwanda in March 2018. South Africa signed the agreement in July 2018 in Nouakchott, Mauritania and has now handed in the instrument of ratification, a formal approval by Parliament of the AfCFTA, to H.E Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission. We do so willingly having been mandated to do, becoming one of those African states who have now signed to become full participants of the [African Continental Free Trade Area]. We therefore deposit this instrument with great pride and joy, President Ramaphosa said. This step demonstrates South Africas binding and unwavering commitment to the implementation of the AfCFTA, which will remove trading barriers, boost intra-Africa trade and build an integrated and diversified market, with a GDP of approximately 3.3 trillion USD, a statement from the Presidency read. President Ramaphosa said the AfCFTA not only opens up a market of 1.2 billion people but also offers great opportunity for the South African economy. It creates opportunities for all of us as Africans. It opens opportunities for economic development and infrastructure progress for all the other countries on the African continent. We are very pleased that the AU has seen it correct to move the continent in this direct so that all countries can progress economically and in other ways, the President said. President Ramaphosa thanked Faki Mahamat for his leadership and all the work that has been done to bring to existence this free trade area. As South Africa we will participate with great commitment and enthusiasm, he said. The supreme organ of the African Union (AU), the Assembly, which comprises Heads of State and Government of all the 55 African countries, began its 32nd Ordinary Session on 10 February 2019 in Addis Ababa. The Assembly meeting is the culmination of the Unions statutory meetings and was preceded by the meetings of the Executive Council and the Permanent Representatives Committee. Among the responsibilities of the Assembly are to determine the AUs policies, establish its priorities, adopt its annual programme and monitor the implementation of its policies and decisions. In this regard, the Heads of State and Government received several reports including a report on the Outcome of the Leadership In Health Financing Funds High Level Meeting to be presented by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda; report on the status of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) by President Mamadou Issoufou of Niger; as well as a report on progress achieved with regard to Agenda 2063 from President Alassane Dramane Ouattara of Cote Divoire. The Chairperson of the African Union Commission Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat presented reports on the Implementation of the Institutional Reform of the AU and the Annual Report on the activities of the Union and its organs. Other reports presented during the Assembly meeting were to gauge the progress made in the implementation of flagship projects of Africas Agenda 2063. While making his opening remarks, President Kagame welcomed to the Assembly, the new leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo H.E. Felix Tshisekedi, and of Madagascar, H.E. Andry Rajoelina. President Kagame commended Guinea-Bissau, Botswana, and Zambia for signing the instrument for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) during this Summit, and encouraged those signatories who have not yet ratified to do so, at the earliest opportunity. Regarding the efforts made towards sustainable financing of the Union, President Kagame remarked that the relaunched Peace Fund now stands at $89 million dollars, with 50 Member States contributing. This demonstrates the force of our collective resolve and ability, he commented. The Summit marked the end of Rwandas chairpersonship of the Union and President Kagame handed over to President Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi of Egypt during the opening ceremony. President Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi called for the creation of more job opportunities, and encouraged investments. The Chairperson of the African Union emphasized the need to resolve the ongoing challenges in Africa, particularly terrorism and extremism. On his part, while speaking at the opening ceremony, AUC Chairperson Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat noted that the Commission is excited to build on the continental priorities under Egypt's leadership. The Chairperson noted progress in democratic practices across the continent. He stated that in all elections in Africa, the Commission has endeavoured to provide the necessary support and to ensure the best possible accompaniment to Member States engaged in often difficult electoral processes. The AUC Chairperson expressed his satisfaction with the recent Peace Agreement and peace-building efforts between the Central African Republics Government and armed groups under the umbrella of the African Union. Talking about the institutional reform of the AU, the Chairperson of the Commission noted steady progress towards financial autonomy and accountability within the Union.Reform is irreversible, he said. The Assembly was addressed by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres who remarked that the AU and UN are working together successfully across the continent, with Africa firmly in the lead, and there was a need to do more to strengthen the partnership. Mr. Guterres further stated that Africa hosts nearly a third of the worlds refugees and internally displaced persons. Despite the continents own social, economic and security challenges, Africas governments and people have kept borders, doors and hearts open to millions in need. Other leaders to address the Assembly included by Mr. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary General of the League of Arab States and the President of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian National Authority, Mr. Mahmoud Abbas. Invited guests who addressed the meeting were Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, Mr Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Mr. Gianni Infantino, FIFA President. The results of the election for the Bureau of the Assembly for 2019 were announced as follows: AU Chairperson: Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt; 1st Vice Chairperson: Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa; 2nd Vice Chairperson: Felix Tshisekedi, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; 3rd Vice Chairperson: Mahamadou Issoufou, President of the Republic of the Niger; 4th Vice Chairperson: Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda (Rapporteur). The Chairperson of the African Union for 2020 will be H.E. Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa. The Summit was held under the 2019 theme; The Year of Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons: Towards Durable Solutions to Forced displacement in Africa. Address by President Kagame at Opening of 32nd Ordinary Session of the African Union It is my honour to welcome you to the 32nd Ordinary Summit of the Assembly of the African Union. We warmly welcome to the Assembly the new leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo, His Excellency Felix Tshisekedi, and of Madagascar, His Excellency Andry Rajoelina. We congratulate you and the peoples of both your countries for these important transitions. Excellencies, I would like to take this moment to record my debt of gratitude to you for entrusting me with the privilege of leading our organisation during this eventful year. Our objective was to continue building a stronger and more capable African Union that is able to deliver on the pillars of Agenda 2063 and better represent Africas interests on the global stage. The steps forward that were achieved reflect the long-standing commitment and aspirations of Africas leaders and citizens. The Continental Free Trade Area was signed and now, less than one year later, it stands only weeks away from entry into force, thanks to the accelerating pace of ratification. We commend Guinea-Bissau, Botswana, and Zambia for signing the instrument during this Summit, and encourage those signatories who have not yet ratified to do so at the earliest opportunity. Last year, we strengthened our partnerships with other regions, both in substance and tone, and that trend will continue. The relaunched Peace Fund now stands at $89 million, with 50 Member States contributing. This demonstrates the force of our collective resolve and ability. We will continue to work with the United Nations towards a sustainable mechanism for funding African-led peace support operations. I wish on this point, Mr Secretary-General, to thank you for bringing the United Nations and the African Union into strong partnership. We commend the recent peace agreement reached among the parties in the Central African Republic, and thank the Commission and the Member States involved in supporting this process. This accord must be implemented and respected. The agenda for this Summit reflects the capacity of our Union to address an increasingly complex range of challenges and priorities. We have the specifications for the African passport, which generated so much excitement among our citizens when it was first presented more than two years ago. This is a step forward on the path to full implementation of the Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons, which was also adopted last year. Yesterday the African Union convened a ground-breaking meeting with our key partners in the field of public health. The current global context requires us to increase domestic funding for the health programmes that have made such a tremendous difference in the lives of our people over the past two decades. I thank the many Heads of State and Government who contributed to the Declaration on this topic, which is to be considered by the Assembly. The future of the global economy is digital. At this Summit, we will consider guidelines for a common African approach to digital identity management. The purpose of this initiative is to increase economic inclusivity and trust for our citizens, particularly in the context of growing regional integration. This is only the first step of what must be a consistent and comprehensive effort by the African Union, and all Member States, to prepare for the technologies that are remaking global commerce, especially artificial intelligence, robotics, data mining, and cyber security. We should not fear these changes or attempt to delay them. That would be futile and counter-productive. They are the future engines of productivity and prosperity for our youth. But in order to secure our place, we must face the world as a unified bloc and work closely with other regional organisations and the private sector to ensure that the interests and the rights of Africans in their own data are guaranteed. This urgent task is yet another reason why it was necessary to strengthen the African Unions capabilities. To fulfil our political objectives, we require an organisation that is agile, healthy, and effective. What remains is to pass the baton to the next Chairperson of the Union, none other than my friend and brother, His Excellency Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt. With our full and unqualified support, there is no doubt that he will take our Union forward decisively, to new and greater heights. Excellencies, I would be remiss if I did not particularly single out the comfort, joy, and support that I got from the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and the Commissioners working together as a team. They are world-class and did everything we needed of them. There is another team, which supported the process of reforms. Let me say, Excellencies, in Africa, we have high-quality people for any service you want, from any part of our continent. All we need to do is tap into that talent and move forward with Africas agenda. I thank you once again, Heads of State and leaders in different capacities, and look forward to even more vibrant progress with the new Chairperson. After more than 30 years on the shelves, the almighty Jeep Gladiator returned to the auto scene at the 2018 Los Angeles Auto Show. Less than a few months later, we now have one of the first custom jobs for the Gladiator courtesy of a company known for making some of the best leather products for car interiors in the market. This, ladies and gentlemen, is Katzkin Leathers interpretation of the Jeep Gladiator, and its an absolute doozy. Comprised mostly of upgrades to the trucks interior, Katzkin Leathers work on the Gladiators cabin is a visual showcase of the companys new products. The upholstery package is one of the many options that Katzkin is offering through Mopar, complementing the menu of accessories and options that are already available for Jeeps returning conqueror. Katzkins show of force on the Gladiator was on full display at the 2019 Chicago Auto Show. What Makes the Jeep Gladiator By Katzkin Special Its a dawn of a new age in the land of pickups, folks. The long-slumbering Jeep Gladiator has finally woken up with its eyes sets on segment domination. Its got an uphill climb, for sure, but with companies like Katzkin Leather on its side, the Gladiator is returning to the market with guns blazing. One of the many interesting aspects of the Jeep Gladiator is the level of customization thats available to the market. Stamping your own personality on your own Gladiator is as pretty easy, too. Mopar rolled out its lineup of accessories for the truck as soon Jeep unveiled it in Los Angeles back in November 2018. Any and every functional tool you can install in the Gladiator is available through Mopar. Off-road LED lights? Check. Winch-capable steel bumpers? No problem. Bed-mounted cross rails? Dont even worry about it. As intriguing as it is to see the Gladiator carrying all this equipment, its not immune to a little vanity touch-up, too. Thats where Katzkin comes into the picture. The company is an established partner of Mopar, as it has been for more than 15 years. Katzkin is the only custom-focused leather interior manufacturer partnered with OEMs, and our Jeep-specific programs are only getting more creative, said David Johnson, director of OEM development for Katzkin. Weve had the opportunity to work with the Mopar and the FCA Design Team to create complete customization packages for consumers that include stitching patterns, multiple color selections, nameplate logos, and unique textures that open the channels to a customers true personality and blending it directly with the vehicle its a very exciting time. That partnership was on full display at the 2019 Chicago Auto Show when Jeep rolled out a unique Sting Gray Jeep Gladiator that featured an interior thats dressed to the nines in Katzkin leather. Mind you; this isnt just your typical leather option, either. The Sting Gray Gladiator arrived in Chicago with an interior covered in Katzkins Tuscany Ink leather, a type of leather that looks about as clean and as smooth as a babys posterior. The leather itself stands out, but it pops out even more with the offset materials included in the package. Katzkins famous hex tech inserts and the Lt. Tungsten contrast stitching completes the interior leather package. The honeycomb-like insert is located in the center of the seat, just below the stitched version of Jeeps distinctive grille logo. Just by looking at the inserts, you know that it looks really comfortable. And for what its worth, I dont know who Lt. Tungsten is, but if hes as clean as the white contrast stitching that bears his name, then he must be a very tidy man. Thats the extent of Katzkins new offering for the Jeep Gladiators interior. Visually, its not something that screams for attention, especially in an auto show setting like the Chicago Auto Show. But Katzkin and Jeep and Mopar, too isnt as interested in showing off in an auto show as it is in making a statement in the Gladiators menu of options and accessories. Thats where youll find the companys leather interior option for the Gladiator alongside other useful items for the pickup like a bed storage system, a two-inch lift kit, tonneau covers, and vanity graphics on the hood and sides of the Gladiator. I understand that theres a bit of irony in offering premium leather on a pickup that was built to get dirty, but life is full of ironies. That doesnt make them less interesting. If anything, Katzkins new leather option for the Gladiator helps give the pickup a premium side that you normally dont see in a pickup that isnt afraid to splatter mud and grits all over its body. Who said the Jeep Gladiator couldnt have a premium-looking interior to complement its go-everywhere personality? Not Jeep. Not Mopar. Definitely not Katzkin. Imagine sitting in a cabin thats dressed in fancy Katzkin leather as you go out and about in a pickup thats powered by a 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine that produces 285 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque and has a pair of 4x4 systems and a maximum towing capacity of 7,600 pounds. Thats whats in store for you if you get the Jeep Gladiator, and in a matter of months spring 2019, specifically you wont have to imagine it anymore. You can go buy one and option the hell out of it through Mopar. 2020 Jeep Gladiator specifications Engine 3.6-LITER PENTASTAR V-6 Type and Description 60-degree, V-type, liquid-cooled Displacement (cu. in. / cc) 220 cu. in. (3,604 cu. cm) Bore x Stroke 3.78 x 3.27 (96 x 83) Valve System Chain-driven DOHC, 24 valves and hydraulic end-pivot roller rockers Fuel Injection Sequential, multiport, electronic, returnless Construction Aluminum deep-skirt block, aluminum alloy heads Compression Ratio 11.3:1 Power 285 HP @ 6,400 RPM Torque 260 LB-FT @ 4,400 RPM Further reading Read our full review on the 2020 Jeep Gladiator. Jeep Gladiator concept Read our full review on the 2005 Jeep Gladiator Concept. Forte: County lawmakers talking to jail inmates 'dangerous' INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - Jackson County Sheriff Darryl Forte was planning to talk to county lawmakers Monday on two issues regarding the jail, but he never got the chance. Forte said he wasn't on the agenda for the County Legislature meeting but that in the past, lawmakers have acknowledged him anyway. The elected official and jail leader advises against jailhouse testimony in his latest conversation with the news. Here's his argument in the midst of a human rights crisis that's now his main concern. Checkit: A national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said that his former party man, Senate President Bukola Saraki is a traitor and a slave master who has been deceiving his people. The statement was made yesterday during the APC presidential campaign rally, which held at the Ilorin Metropolitan Square in Kwara State. Tinubu, a former Lagos state governor said APC was there in the state, not to spite Baba Saraki(Olusola Saraki) buy to end Bukola Sarakis oligarchy in the state. Its been a long time they have been deceiving you. Bukola has been deceiving you. We are not here to fight Baba Sarakis family because Gbemisola is here and she is his daughter. But today we have come to discipline Bukola. He is a traitor. He is a slave master. This campaign is, therefore, the celebration of your freedom, it is the celebration of the falling Berlin Wall of the politics of Kwara, it is the end of the oligarchy, the end of the emperor that didnt exist until recently. The National chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole and Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, on their parts also took Tinubus stand, saying they have come to free Kwarans from Sarakis selfish grip. However, the senate president didnt wait a minute in responding to the statement by the APC chieftains. In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki said that it is very clear to APC they defeat is theirs in the coming election, therefore have resorted to hurling abuse. They know that their party will surely lose the presidential and National Assembly elections on February 16, 2019 and that is why in their desperate mood they are only hurling abuses instead of discussing issues and telling the people what they will do for them. They promised nothing concrete that will improve the standard of living of the people and provide infrastructure. They have only come to Kwara to vindicate my position that they have no good plans for Kwara State and its people. It is obvious that the APC has nothing to offer Kwarans. They represent nothing good for our people. My problem with them has always been that after we worked with our people to support them to win in 2015, they refused to work on infrastructure and other policy issues that can bring direct benefit to our people, the statement read. He senate president further revealed that his vehement refusal to allow Tinubu become President Muhammadu Buharis VP, is the only grudge he has against him (Saraki). As for Tinubu, we have never expected any good words from him. All his life, he will continue to belly ache and nurse grudges over my opposition to the Muslim-Muslim ticket idea in 2015. As far as he is concerned, I stopped him from realizing his ambition then. However, I believe my action then and now is in pursuit of national interest. Again, I supported President Buhari in 2015 because I believe he could make a positive change. I left the party when I realized he lacked the capacity and the desire to make any change. Tinubu on his own part said though he agreed with me about my assessment of the man, he would continue to support Buhari even if the man had to govern from the hospital stretcher because that is the way he (Tinubu) could become the president in 2023.So, while my position is premised on national interest, Tinubus is based on his personal interest and ambition. Now that Tinubus new speciality is to hurl insults at people like former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, focusing on me today is okay if it will help him feel good. It is surprising that a man like Tinubu will be talking about morality and corruption. This is a man whose disrepute is known both within and outside Nigeria. This is somebody who personifies everything that is wrong with the Nigerian system. Well, I am not ready to roll in the gutter with him. Unlike them, I will stay on the issues that are germane to national development and the welfare of our people. TOPEKA, KS (AP) -- Kansas declared an emergency Tuesday at its most crowded maximum-security state prison over what Gov. Laura Kelly called "serious staffing shortages" inside a lockup that's had multiple inmate disturbances over the past two years. The declaration from Interim Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz allows the El Dorado Correctional Facility to require employees to work longer shifts. Data show gun violence kills children, teens in Kansas City | The Kansas City Star Her 16-year-old son was simply late getting home, right? Rondine Taylor kept telling herself that as she drove her car through their Kansas City neighborhood, looking at every corner in hopes she'd see Jeremiah Stewart alive and laughing in the darkening summer night on June 25. Here's the newspaper attempting to blame guns for crime spike that has also claimed victims via knives and old-fashioned beat downs as well. Here's the politics and stat transcription with very little analysis beyond partisan talking points: Senate President Says Tax Relief Bill Necessary, Governor Disagrees Monday, February 11th, 2019, by Kansas News Service The Republican President of the Kansas Senate is warning Democratic Governor Laura Kelly not to veto a massive tax relief bill that could soon be on its way to her desk. More from Jim McLean of the Kansas News Service. Republicans work double duty diligently to put the Granny Kelly agenda to a full stop whilst offering more perks for their patrons in what is tantamount to big biz socialism that rarely benefits consumer plebs invariably forced to pick up the slack. Checkit: KC Fights To Save Youngsters Northeast Newscast Episode 73: Founder of Stop Trafficking Project talks about ways to help end Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking By: Elizabeth Orosco "A lot of people think that sex trafficking looks like the movie Taken," said Russ. "It was a dramatic movie, but it is not an accurate reflection of the majority of trafficking... you can't see these chains. There are more people in slavery today than at any other time in history. Kansas Lockup Complaints 'I Don't Want To Be Poor All My Life': Kansas Prison Staff Face Low Pay And Long Hours Hunter Defenbaugh loves working in prison. Five nights a week, the 19-year-old corrections officer works overnight shifts in the infirmary at El Dorado Correctional Facility 30 miles northeast of Wichita. He checks on sick inmates, gives them blankets, calls nurses for help. Defenbaugh likes the job, he says, because he likes helping people. Local Revenge Pr0n Case Cont'd Kansas City man charged with harassment, revenge porn | The Kansas City Star Jacob K. Albarelli is charged in Jackson County Circuit Court with harassment and posting revenge porn. He was arrested at his place of work in North Kansas City. KCMO Shooting Aftermath 27-year-old Kansas City man charged in connection with 2017 fatal shooting KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) - A Kansas City man has been charged in connection with a shooting from October 2017. The victim has been identified as 55-year-old Harlon K. Dunbar of Kansas City, Missouri. Dunbar was found dead in the middle of Seventh Street near Lykins Square. Police Want Conversation With This Local Dude KCPD seeks person of interest in homicide on Grand Boulevard Kansas City police are looking for a person of interest in a homicide last Tuesday.Police said they would like to talk with Timothy Fernandez, 41, in connection with a homicide the happened early in the morning Tuesday in the 1700 block of Grand Boulevard.Authorities said Fernandez should be considered armed and dangerous.Police said that anyone who sees Fernandez should call 911 immediately. Meth Town Phone Swipe Suspected Video captures suspect stealing $4,500 in phones from repair shop in Independence INDEPENDENCE, MO (KCTV) -- Police are looking for a man accused of stealing over $4,500 worth of cell phones. The theft happened at a cell phone repair store in the 3500 block of South Noland Road on Jan. 24. If you have any information about this case, contact police at 816-474-TIPS, the Independence Tips Hotline at 816-325-7777 or leads@indepmo.org. Kansas City Dumper Suspect Crackdown Quick glimpse and local resource regarding the top Greater Kansas City metro crime and policing stories today.Developing . . . Missouri auditor files motion to dismiss Clay County Commission lawsuit The Missouri State Auditor's Office announced Monday that a motion has been filed to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Clay County Commission. "Today's motion seeks to quickly bring an end to this unnecessary lawsuit. Thousands of Clay County citizens demanded accountability from their government. Across the bridge, a political fight is soon to reach a climax. Critics claim this effort by the embattled Guv body merely wanted to avoid transparency whilst supporters say that the upheaval is also politically motivated. Here's today's latest installment. Read more: Feast your eyes on Xiaomis foldable phone beauty shots, created by Dutch tech blog Lets Go Digital. Of the avalanche of foldable phones coming in 2019, its design seems like the prettiest, sharpest, and most compact. (Image credit: LetsGoDigital) While we already saw Xiaomis foldable phone in the hands of the Chinese companys president Lin Bin, these renders clearly show the phones surprisingly slim profile. The prototype device folds on two sides, top and bottom, getting into a rather compact phone size. It looks more elegant than the diptychs designs we have seen so far, like the inner flexible display of the Samsung Galaxy F and Huawei or Royoles FlexPai outward screen models. To be fair, though, we haven't see the final design of the Galaxy F. (Image credit: LetsGoDigital) And while the limited edition foldable Motorola Razr will looks like the most pocket-friendly option, effectively halving a regular candybar phone in half, the Xiaomi still looks like the best option for everyone who wants a small package that expands into a full tablet with an aspect ratio near 1:1. (Image credit: Xiaomi) In fact, the folded size seems much smaller than current phablets, like Xiaomis own Mi Mix 3 albeit a bit wider than most. (Image credit: LetsGoDigital) Talking with Lets Go Digital, Xiaomis PR team said that the flexible folding screen, is co-developed by Xiaomi and its supply chain partner. Aside from the screen, its design, folding mechanism and MIUI adaptation are developed by [Xiaomi]. We will play with it at the Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona, Spain, where Xiaomi will be introducing this beast at a February 24 event. [February 12, 2019] Hart InterCivic's Verity Voting Arrives in Tom Green County Within a week of approval for a new voting system in Tom Green County, the first unit was up and running in the election office, jump starting a full transition later this month. Commissioners voted January 29 to adopt the new Verity Voting system from long-time election partner Hart InterCivic. A streamlined transition and time-saving features made Verity the right choice for the County. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005952/en/ The new Verity Voting system from Hart InterCivic is compact, lightweight and easy for election workers to carry and set up. (Photo: Business Wire) Request a Verity Demo: 866-216-4278 "The transition to Verity should be easy, and that is something we are looking forward to," said Election Administrator Vona Hudson. "Easy to learn and easy to use are Verity's strengths. When voters realize it is touchscreen, too, that will be a very pleasant surprise." "We fell in love with Verity when we saw it being tested in Lubbock County (in 2017)," said Hudson. "Their workers were so excited about how easy it was. It's a great testimony for the product, and I got excited, too. Anythin that makes it better for our workers demands attention." "We appreciate Tom Green County's confidence in Verity's secure new technology. We've partnered with the County since 2005, and we look forward to our ongoing relationship," said Phillip Braithwaite, President and CEO of Hart InterCivic, an Austin-based company with more than 100 years of experience providing election solutions. "Verity will serve the County well for many years." Hart arranged to immediately deliver a complete set of polling place equipment to the County Election Office so that elected officials, election workers and the public can quickly begin to "test drive" the new system. "We're blessed to have the Verity unit already in our office. At least two commissioners have been in to check it out, and they like it," Hudson said, adding that one of the commissioners accompanied her staff to the Lubbock test session where he researched programming and other features. She and her staff also participated in acceptance testing in nearby Irion County, another positive experience. Hudson expects to use the new system for the County's May 4 election and anticipates saving time with updated ballot building and backup features. "The staff is eager to see it all in action. We can't wait." Verity is the most up-to-date election technology available and is designed and built in Texas. More than half of the voters in Texas cast their ballots on Hart's voting systems, and Verity is a natural next step for those ready to purchase a new system. Verity's lightweight, compact size is also a welcome feature for poll workers transporting it to Voting Centers such as Tom Green's. Hudson, who has worked in the election office since 2006, also notes Hart's extraordinary customer service. "Hart has always been responsive to our County. That it such a plus, and it really helped sell the product." Tom Green County, with about 65,000 registered voters, joins a growing number of Texas jurisdictions moving to Verity. Since the Texas Secretary of State certified the latest release of the system in late 2016, Hart has shipped more than 10,000 Verity devices across the State. Federally certified in 2015, the trustworthy and efficient system is also in use in numerous counties throughout the U.S. Braithwaite expects more Texas and national announcements in the near future. Learn more about Verity in Texas: https://www.hartintercivic.com/texas/ About Hart InterCivic, Inc. Austin-based Hart InterCivic is a full-service election solutions innovator, partnering with state and local governments to deliver secure, accurate and reliable elections. Working side-by-side with election professionals for more than 100 years, Hart is committed to helping advance democracy one election at a time. Hart's mission fuels its passionate customer focus and a continuous drive for technological innovation. The company's new Verity Voting system makes voting more straightforward, equitable and accessible-and makes managing elections more transparent, more efficient and easier. Only Hart offers a completely new, secure voting system with paper, hybrid and electronic options. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005952/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] CGN discusses the growing trends in Artificial Intelligence - using Data to Transform Industries with Crain's Chicago Business in a Roundtable Discussion CHICAGO, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CGN Global participated in a panel interview led by Crain's to share our insights on the growing trend in Artificial Intelligence (AI). CGN Manager, Ram Venkataraju and two additional industry experts identify the purpose of AI, as it stands today, its benefits, how each panelists' company used AI as a solution for a customer and future uses for AI. "Having a lot of data available from many data sources makes it that much more important to create actionable data quickly. CGN builds sustainable processes collaboratively for our customers allowing them to self-service post-deployment," said Venkataraju. Find the roundtable discussion here. About Crain's Chicago Business ChicagoBusiness.com is the news site of Crain's Chicago Business, one of more than 20 business publications owned by Crain Communications. ChicagoBusiness.com is the top source of news, analysis, and information on business in metropolitan Chicago for decision-makers in the private and public sectors. About CGN Global CGN Global is a Chicago-based firm with offices in Mexico, the UK, France, Turkey, India, and China, providing supply chain, digital, strategy and transformation consulting services to mid-sized and Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries. CGN Global has appeared on the Forbes - America's Best Management Consulting Firms list, two years in a row, highlighted for its excellence in Supply Chain. CONTACT Aashish Patel, CPSM, PMP, SME, Senior Marketing & Business Development Manager, CGN Global M: (847) 809 - 6363 Aashish.Patel@cgnglobal.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cgn-discusses-the-growing-trends-in-artificial-intelligence---using-data-to-transform-industries-with-crains-chicago-business-in-a-roundtable-discussion-300794540.html SOURCE CGN Global Nigerian talented musician, Damini Ogulu, officially known and addressed as Burma Boy has set tongues wagging after a video of him and British rapper, Stefflon Don, emerged online with the duo seen all loved up and cuddling. The now trending video has generated a mixed reaction from Nigerians while some are saying Burna boy snapped the video like an excited side chick others have been hauling him. What they are saying: https://twitter.com/skizyman/status/1095099161282863104 https://twitter.com/Nigerianscamsss/status/1095079060428984321 https://twitter.com/gowonharrison/status/1095279908954271744 [February 12, 2019] Shareholder Files Early Warning Report for Prodigy Ventures Inc. (TSXV: PGV) TORONTO, Feb. 12, 2019 /CNW/ - Prodigy Ventures Inc. (TSXV: PGV) ("Prodigy" or the "Company") today announced that the Company's Chief Executive Officer, Tom Beckerman has filed an early warning report under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com as summarized below. This press release is being disseminated as required by National Instrument 62-103, The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bids and Insider Reporting Issues in connection with the filing of an early warning report. Tom Beckerman of 82 Kilbarry Road, Toronto, Ontario M5P 1K7 owns 14,802,408 common shares in the capital of the Company (directly and through his RRSP) and 62,243,242 restricted voting shares in the capital of the Company. In addition, Mr. Beckerman controls an additional 7,788,482 common shares pursuant to a voting trust agreement entered into with certain shareholders. On February 7, 2019, 7797958 Canada Corp. (a Joint Actor (as defined in the report) with Mr. Beckerman) sold 80,000 common shares of the Company at an average price of $0.119 per share and for total consideration of $9,520 over the facilities of the TSX Venture Exchange. As a result of this disposition the percentage of common shares of the Company owned or controlled by Mr. Beckerman decreased from 83% to 82.7%. In Mr. Beckerman's most recently filed early warning report he owned or controlled 86.8% of the ommon shares and the resulting 4.1% reduction (which is the result of a combination of previous decreases of shares subject to the voting trust agreement and increases to the number of issued and outstanding common shares) has resulted in the requirement to file this report. Immediately before the transaction that triggered the requirement to file the report, Mr. Beckerman owned or controlled a total of 22,773,890 common shares and 87,292,352 restricted voting shares representing 83% of the issued and outstanding common shares and 99.1% of the issued and outstanding restricted voting shares. Immediately following the transaction that triggered the requirement to file the report, Mr. Beckerman owned or controlled a total of 22,693,890 common shares and 87,292,352 restricted voting shares representing 82.7% of the issued and outstanding common shares and 99.1% of the issued and outstanding restricted voting shares. Neither Mr. Beckerman, nor to the knowledge of Mr. Beckerman, any of the Joint Actors, have a present intention to acquire or dispose of additional securities. Such intention may change depending on various factors including, without limitation, the Company's financial position, the price levels of the common shares of the Company, conditions in the securities markets and general economic and industry conditions, the Company's business or financial condition, and other factors and conditions Mr. Beckerman and/or the Joint Actors deem appropriate, Mr. Beckerman and/or the Joint Actors may acquire or dispose of additional securities in the future but have no current plans or future intentions to do so. 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. About Prodigy Ventures Inc. Prodigy is an innovation company that has combined an enterprise technology services business - Prodigy Labs - with a Venture Builder business. The two businesses work together to create and deliver new enterprise and consumer platforms and apps using emerging technologies in mobile, video, secure ID, voice, blockchain, artificial intelligence, payments and augmented reality. Prodigy has been named as one of Canada's fastest growing technology companies in the 19th, 20th and 21st annual Deloitte Technology Fast 50 awards for demonstrating bold innovation, dedicated leadership and strong growth. Prodigy also ranked on Deloitte's Technology Fast 500, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies in North America. Prodigy has also been named to the prestigious Branham300 list for the second consecutive year. This ranking recognizes the financial performance of Canadian companies in the Information and Communications Technologies sector. SOURCE Prodigy Ventures Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] U.S. Risk Insurance Group Enters into Agreement to Be Acquired U.S. Risk Insurance Group (U.S. Risk), one of the nation's largest property and casualty program and specialty brokerage firms, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by USI Insurance Services (USI), a leading insurance brokerage and consulting firm. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2019, subject to customary conditions and regulatory requirements. Upon the close of the transaction, U.S. Risk will maintain its Dallas headquarters and continue to operate independently under the company's various existing brands, U.S. Risk, Oxford, MGB, James Hampden International, Antarah and UNIS. U.S. Risk Chief Executive Officer Randall G. Goss and his current leadership team will remain and continue to lead these businesses. Mr. Goss commented: "With the support of USI, U.S. Risk will continue to accelerate the path we have set for ourselves as a leading program manager and specialty brokerage firm both domestically and internationally. USI maintains an established track record of operating independent successful program and specialty brokerage businesses. We remain committed to the same quality of service and the growth and profitability of our carrier partners and retail agents." "We look forward to welcoming Randall and the talented professionals from U.S. Risk," stated Michael J. Sicard, USI's chairman and chief executive officer. "We are passionate about growing, investing, and building upon the tremendous program and specialty insurance platform U.S. Risk has established, and expanding together our firm's existing capabilities both nationally and internationally." Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P. served as financial advisor, and Ropes & Gray LLP served as legal counsel to U.S. Rik in this transaction. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as legal counsel to USI. About U.S. Risk Insurance Group U.S. Risk Insurance Group is a leading international specialty lines program manager and specialty brokerage firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Operating 16 domestic and international offices, it offers a broad range of products and services through its affiliate companies, which include U.S. Risk Underwriters, U.S. Risk Brokers, U.S. Risk Solutions, Oxford Insurance Brokers Ltd. (UK), James Hampden International Insurance Brokers Ltd., (UK) MGB Insurance Brokers Ltd. (UK), Antarah FZE (UAE), and UNIS A.G. (Zurich). For more information, visit www.usrisk.com. About USI Insurance Services USI Insurance Services is one of the largest insurance brokerage and consulting firms in the world, delivering property and casualty, employee benefits, personal risk and retirement solutions to large risk management clients, middle market companies, smaller firms and individuals. Headquartered in Valhalla, New York, USI connects together over 6,000 industry-leading professionals across more than 150 offices to serve clients' local, national and international needs. USI has become a premier insurance brokerage and consulting firm by leveraging the USI ONE Advantage, an interactive platform that integrates proprietary and innovative client solutions, networked local resources and enterprise-wide collaboration to deliver customized results with positive, bottom line impact. USI attracts best-in-class industry talent with a long history of deep and continuing investment in our local communities. For more information, visit www.usi.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005972/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Canada Invests in Energy Efficiency Improvements in Labrador City LABRADOR CITY, NL, Feb. 12, 2019 /CNW/ - Energy efficiency in industry strengthens competitiveness, lowers costs, maximizes profits and promotes a more sustainable environment. Promoting and rewarding energy-efficient practices are key components of Canada's approach to transitioning to a clean energy future. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Intergovernmental and Northern Affairs and Internal Trade, Yvonne Jones, on behalf of Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, today formally announced a $40,000 investment for the Iron Ore Company of Canada for a process integration study. With funding from Natural Resources Canada and facilitated by the Canadian Industry Partnership for Energy Conservation (CIPEC), the project identified measures to reduce Iron Ore's total thermal energy consumption, ultimately reducing its energy costs and improving energy performance. Through Generation Energy, Canada's national energy dialogue, Canadians expressed that they want to see Canada continuing to be a leader in the transition to a clean growth economy. Canada will continue to support innovative projects that create jobs, improve industry competitiveness, cut pollution and act on climate change. Quick Facts A process integration study is a global energy analysis that looks at how an organization uses heat, where it could recover heat and what could be the best use for that heat in a facility. CIPEC includes more than 2,300 facilities representing 20 industrial sectors and over 50 trade associations. An award-winning partnership between the Government of Canada and Canadian industry, CIPEC advances industrial energy efficiency by promoting the uptake of energy management systems, best practices and technologies. Quotes "With industry and government working together at all levels, we can create a more prosperous, competitive and sustainable Canada. Our government is committed to energy efficiency, and we are proud to work with the Iron Ore Company of Canada to advance our clean energy future." Yvonne Jones Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Intergovernmental and Northern Affairs and Internal Trade "Energy efficiency to reduce our carbon footprint is not only good for the environment but also good for business. In partnership with NRCan, Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) has been able to progress meaningful work to understand where our efficiency gaps lie in the process operation. We have started working on these identified initiatives, which will reduce IOC's impact on the environment, while improving our sustainability." Clayton Walker President & CEO, Iron Ore Company of Canada Related Information Canadian Industry Partnership for Energy Conservation (CIPEC) Follow us on Twitter: @NRCan (http://twitter.com/nrcan) SOURCE Natural Resources Canada [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Envestnet to Attend Upcoming Conferences Envestnet, Inc. (NYSE:ENV), today announced that the Company will be attending the following investor conferences: On Tuesday, February 26, 2019 the Company will be presenting at the JMP Securities Technology Conference at The Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco, CA (News - Alert) . The presentation will begin at 2:30PM PT. On Monday, March 4, 2019 the Company will be presenting at the Raymond James & Associates' 40th Annual Institutional Investors Conference at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes in Orlando, FL. The presentation will begin at 4:00PM ET. Investors and interested parties can access these presentations by visiting the Company's investor relations website at http://ir.envestnet.com/. At each conference mentioned above the Company will be hosing one-on-one and group meetings throughout the day. Analysts and portfolio managers that wish to attend the conference or would like to request a meeting should contact JMP Securities (News - Alert) or Raymond James. About Envestnet Envestnet, Inc. (NYSE:ENV) is a leading provider of intelligent systems for wealth management and financial wellness. Envestnet's unified technology empowers enterprises and advisors to more fully understand their clients and deliver actionable intelligence that drives better outcomes and improves lives. Envestnet Wealth Solutions enables enterprises and advisors to better manage client outcomes and strengthen their practices through its leading Wealth Management Operating System and advanced portfolio solutions. Envestnet Tamarac provides portfolio management, reporting, trading, rebalancing and client portal solutions for registered independent advisors (RIAs). Envestnet Data & Analytics provides intelligent solutions that enable dynamic innovation through its Envestnet | Yodlee platform. More than 3,500 enterprises and over 92,000 advisors including: 15 of the 20 largest U.S. banks, 43 of the 50 largest wealth management and brokerage firms, over 500 of the largest Registered Investment Advisors, and hundreds of Internet services companies leverage Envestnet technology and services. For more information on Envestnet, please visit www.envestnet.com and follow @ENVintel. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005950/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Avaya Announces Participation in Upcoming Investor Conferences Avaya (News - Alert) Holdings Corp. (NYSE:AVYA) today announced it will present at the following upcoming investor conferences. Jim Chirico, president and CEO, will present at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on Tuesday Feb. 26, 2019 at 4 PM PT, at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco. To join the live webcast of the Morgan Stanley Conference, listeners should access the investor page of Avaya's website https://investors.avaya.com/. Following the live webcast, a replay will be available in the event archives at the same web address for a period of one year. Pat O'Malley, senior vice president and CFO, will present at the J.P. Morgan Global Yield & Leveraged Finance Conference on Wednesday Feb. 27, 2019 at 11 AM ET at the Lowes Miami Beach Hotel. < > Mike McCarthy, vice president Investor Relations, will attend one-on-ones at both the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, on Wednesday Feb. 13 and Thursday Feb. 14, and on March 14, 2019 at the Stephens Inc. West Coast 1-on-1 Conference. Both conferences will be held at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco. For more information about these and other events, access the investor page of Avaya's website https://investors.avaya.com/. About Avaya Businesses are built on the experiences they provide, and every day millions of those experiences are built by Avaya (NYSE: AVYA). For over one hundred years, we've enabled organizations around the globe to win - by creating intelligent communications experiences for customers and employees. Avaya builds open, converged and innovative solutions to enhance and simplify communications and collaboration - in the cloud, on-premise or a hybrid of both. To grow your business, we're committed to innovation, partnership, and a relentless focus on what's next. We're the technology company you trust to help you deliver Experiences that Matter. Visit us at www.avaya.com. Source (News - Alert) : Avaya Newsroom View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005753/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP Announces Investigation on Behalf of Wirecard AG Investors Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP ("GPM") announces an investigation on behalf of Wirecard AG investors ("Wirecard" or the "Company") (OTC: WCAGY, WRCDF) concerning the Company and its officers' possible violations of federal securities laws. If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate. On January 30, 2019 the Financial Times (News - Alert) reported that a Wirecard executive was suspected of using forged contracts to complete suspicious transactions. Then on February 1, 2019, the Financial Times alleged that a law firm hired by Wirecard discovered "serious offenses of forgery and/or of falsification of accounts." On this news, shares of Wirecard fell nearly 20%, thereby injuring investors. If you purchased Wirecard stock, have information, or would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Lesley Portnoy, of GPM, 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100, Los Angeles, CA (News - Alert) 90067 at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9244, or visit our website at www.glancylaw.com. If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005936/en/ [February 12, 2019] PGT Innovations Showcases Indoor and Outdoor Living at 2019 International Builders Show PGT Innovations (NYSE: PGTI), a national leader in the premium window and door category, returns to the NAHB International Builders Show (IBS) in Las Vegas on February 19-21, 2019, to showcase its Eze-Breeze and Western Window Systems brands. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005928/en/ Vertical Four-Track (Photo: Business Wire) The company will unveil the new persona of Eze-Breeze and offer an exclusive look at products within the brand's portfolio, while the Western Window Systems brand will spotlight several new indoor and outdoor solutions. Show attendees can experience Eze-Breeze products at booth SU3747, and Western Window Systems products at three homes in IBS's Show Village, as well as three homes in the vicinity of the show. Eze-Breeze products consist of vinyl-glazed sliding panel systems that transform outdoor spaces into true indoor and outdoor living environments. The easy-to-install system combines smart design with simple operation, desirable features, and exceptional value. The transparent panels make it possible for homeowners to enjoy the view without being exposed to outdoor irritations such as bugs, dust, and pollen. If the viyl panels are pushed or distorted, Eze-Breeze returns to its original shape within minutes. Panels can also be opened or removed to allow 50 percent to 100 percent ventilation. Eze-Breeze products are available in a variety of frame colors to complement every home's style. Custom configurations allow Eze-Breeze products to work with almost any home's architecture. This year, the Vertical Four-Track's new patent-pending corner-key design will be previewed during IBS. The brand's Cabana Door product will also be highlighted at the show. Western Window Systems moving glass walls and windows found in the show homes will demonstrate how these products are being utilized to differentiate homes in a variety of architectural styles and building types. Specific products from the brand that will be featured include: Aluminum multi-slide door and windows (Boxabl Home) Series 600 multi-slide door (Tiny House 2.0) Series 7000 performance line of aluminum glass walls and windows (New American Home) Multi-slide and bi-fold energy-smart door systems (KB Home ProjeKt: Where Tomorrow Lives) "Our IBS appearance last year was all about being protected while in your home," said PGT Innovations CEO and President Jeff Jackson. "This year, we're focusing on how you can achieve an indoor and outdoor lifestyle. Eze-Breeze is our company's longest-standing product line, and homeowners have been enjoying the benefits of it for over 35 years. We're excited to be able to bring some attention to it with the introduction of a new personality that inspires fresh air thinking. Western Window Systems, the newest brand in our family, provides incredible products that inspire more connected living, and the products that will be on display at this year's show perfectly demonstrate their ongoing commitment to that lifestyle." Celebrating its 75th anniversary, the NAHB IBS is the largest annual light construction trade show in the world. The 2019 IBS will again co-locate with the National Kitchen & Bath Association's (NKBA) Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) for the sixth annual Design & Construction Week (DCW). The two shows are expected to host more than 2,000 exhibiting brands spanning over a million net square feet of exhibit space, for the largest annual gathering of the residential design and construction industry. About PGT Innovations, Inc. PGT Innovations manufactures and supplies premium windows and doors. Their highly engineered and technically advanced products can withstand some of the toughest weather conditions on earth and are revolutionizing the way people live by unifying indoor and outdoor living spaces. PGT Innovations creates value through deep customer relationships, understanding the unstated needs of the markets it serves, and a drive to develop category-defining products. PGT Innovations is also the nation's largest manufacturer of impact-resistant windows and doors, holds the leadership position in its primary market, and is part of the S&P SmallCap 400 Index. The PGT Innovations' family of brands include CGI, PGT Custom Windows and Doors, WinDoor, Western Window Systems, and CGI Commercial. The company's brands, in their respective markets, are a preferred choice of architects, builders, and homeowners throughout North America and the Caribbean. Their high-quality products are available in custom and standard sizes with massive dimensions that allow for unlimited design possibilities in residential, multi-family, and commercial projects. For additional information, visit www.pgtinnovations.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005928/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] MiTek's Enabling Technology and Equipment Helped the KB Home ProjeKt Dramatically Reduce Building Cycle Times, While Delivering Precision & Quality IBS Show Floor - MiTek (News - Alert) Industries is a sponsor and participant in the 2019 BUILDER Concept Home at Inspirada, in Henderson, NV, called KB Home ProjeKt: Where Tomorrow Lives. During the IBS show, MiTek's participation will be demonstrated at the KB Home ProjeKt for visitors to the home site. The home tour times are Feb. 19, 20, and 21, from 10AM to 1PM. The address is 3131 Biancavilla Ave., Henderson NV. Transportation to and from the home is free through a Lyft promo code: KBHP2019. (See a virtual tour of KB Home ProjeKt now at this LINK.) KB Home ProjeKt: Where Tomorrow Lives is a forward-looking concept home that breaks new ground in homebuilding through innovative partnerships, while also demonstrating the viability of a highly accelerated construction pace when moving from "dirt to dry-in." The off-site construction framing process of this KB Home ProjeKt incorporated 3D-modeled and advanced panelized framing. About MiTek and the KB Home ProjeKt MiTek's SAPPHIRE suite of 3D structural component design and manufacturing software helped shorten the traditional home framing cycle times, enabling a frictionless collaborative across all design and trade disciplines. These included ENTEKRA's engineered integration, and component manufacturing by Better Built Truss and Desert Truss, which used MiTek automated truss manufacturing equipment. MiTek's SAPPHIRE Build Portal provided a central digital repository to track and maintain version control of documents and plans. MiTek's Hardy Frame and USP Structural Connectors are featured as well in the home, and MiTek's Wrightsoft Corporation's Production Home Design Service Group created the optimized HVAC system design to optimize the home's comfort, efficiency, and indoor air quality. MiTek's SAPPHIRE structural BIM model of the home was also central to Wrightsoft's design for the highly efficient system and its layout. About the KB Home ProjeKt The KB Home ProjeKt: Where Tomorrow Lives home will be revealed in the Inspirada master-planned community in Henderson, Nevada in January 2019. Visit www.builderonline.com/kbhomeprojekt to stay up-to-date with the KB Home ProjeKt developments. For this concept home, ENTEKRA coordinated the off-site integration process, and facilitated the panelized design, truss engineering, and construction logistics of the floor, roof, and wall panel components. Truss and panel design and manufacturing were enabled by MiTek's SAPPHIRE design and process-management software solutions, which also drive MiTek's automated equipment to create the final structural components. About MiTek Industries MiTek Industries is a diversified global supplier of software, engineered products, services, and equipment to the residential, commercial, and industrial, construction sectors. MiTek Industries' passion for our associates' well-being and for our customers' success is the company's hallmark. A Berkshire Hathaway company (NYSE: brk-a, NYSE: brk-b) since 2001, the Company has operations in more than 40 countries on six continents. Learn more: www.Mii.com About Wrightsoft Founded in 1985, Wrightsoft provides Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA)-approved software that combines residential and commercial energy load calculation with design functionality in a single, proprietary program known as Right-Suite Universal. This technology allows the HVAC contractor to properly calculate energy loads, accurately design and size HVAC systems, efficiently produce parts takeoff lists and proposals, and generate all necessary professional documentation and reports. Learn more: www.Wrightsoft.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005857/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Cadence Bancorporation Announces 2019 Investor Day Cadence Bancorporation (NYSE: CADE) will host its 2019 Investor Day in New York on Thursday, May 2, 2019, featuring presentations and Q&A led by Paul B. Murphy, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cadence Bancorporation, and other members of the company's senior leadership team. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 8 a.m. EST and will conclude around noon. Due to space limitations, this event is for institutional investors and analysts by invitation only. The event will be webcast live and all interested parties may access the audio webcast and presentation slides once they are posted on the day of the event on the company's website: http://www.cadencebancororation.com. Additional details, dial-in information and an agenda will be provided at a later date. Please email any questions or inquiries to Investor Relations at vtoalson@cadencebancorporation.com. Include your full name, company name, email and daytime phone number. About Cadence Bancorporation Cadence Bancorporation (NYSE: CADE), headquartered in Houston, Texas, is a regional bank holding company with $17.6 billion in total pro forma assets for Cadence Bancorporation and State Bank and Trust Company as of December 31, 2018. Cadence operates 98 branch locations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, and provides corporations, middle-market companies, small businesses and consumers with a full range of innovative banking and financial solutions. Services and products include commercial and business banking, treasury management, specialized lending, asset-based lending, commercial real estate, SBA lending, foreign exchange, wealth management, investment and trust services, financial planning, retirement plan management, personal and business insurance, consumer banking, consumer loans, mortgages, home equity lines and loans, and credit cards. Clients have access to leading-edge online and mobile solutions, interactive teller machines, and more than 55,000 ATMs. The Cadence team of 1,800 associates is committed to exceeding customer expectations and helping their clients succeed financially. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005900/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Great American's Annuity Customers Share Their Secrets to a Great Retirement Great American Insurance Group, a leading provider of fixed and fixed-indexed annuities through its member companies, recently launched "Great Retirements," a five-part video series that explores the makings of a great retirement. The series provides a glimpse into the lives of five Great American Annuity customers, showcasing retirement experiences from modest Midwestern cities to sprawling Florida beach towns. Though each retiree's story is unique, they all share a view that their golden years are fulfilling and financially stable. Donna Carrelli, Divisional Vice President, Marketing Services, valued the opportunity to hear customers tell their retirement stories. "It's incredibly rewarding to witness our customers enjoying great retirements," said Carrelli. "We take great pride in simplifying the path to a secure financial future, and knowing that we had even a small part in making their retirement dreams a reality is the greatest feeling I've experienced in my 20 years with Great American. Thank you to our valued distribution partners who help make it possible." The video series, which is available at GAIG.com/GreatRetirements, is a follow up to Great American's successful Live Your Life Great campaign that invited customers to submit photos of what makes their lives great. Great American received over 1,100 photo submissions that featured safari rides with grandchildren, swimming with dolphins, gondola rides in Venice and exploring the Everglades by airboat, among others. Due to the campaign's overwhelming response, Great American plans to continue it later this year. About Great American Insurance Group The annuity operations of Great American Insurance Group (GAIG) offer retirement solutions through the sale of traditional fixed, fixed-indexed and variable-indexed annuities in the retail, broker-dealer, financial institutions, registered investment advisor and education markets. Annuity subsidiaries include Great American Life Insurance Company and Annuity Investors Life Insurance Company. GAIG's roots go back to 1872 with the founding of its flagship company, Great American Insurance Company. The members of GAIG are subsidiaries of American Financial Group, Inc. (AFG). AFG's common stock is listed and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AFG. AFG is a Fortune 500 Company with assets of over $60 billion. Learn more at GAIG.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005866/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Qu Continues Its Momentum in Enterprise POS Market Through $10 Million Series B Funding Round Qu (formerly Gusto POS), the company that is reimagining the role of Point of Sale (POS) technology, today announced it has raised $10 million in a Series B funding round. The funding round was led by existing investor Cota Capital, with new funding from leading restaurant-focused PE fund, NRD Capital. Bobby Cox Companies, the owners of multiple restaurant chains, also participated in this round. The company will use the funding to further accelerate its already strong momentum in bringing to industry-leading POS solutions that address the needs of fast-casual and QSR enterprise restaurants to market. "I am really excited to bring some of the best technology and restaurant industry expertise together," said Amir Hudda, CEO of Qu. "The continued support from leading Silicon Valley based fund, Cota Capital, coupled with NRD's knowledge of operational challenges being faced by enterprise-scale restaurant chains, validates our strategic vision, market opportunity and momentum." Founded on the simple principal of giving customers choice in picking from best-in-class solutions versus the legacy approach of being "all things to all people," Qu has grown into an enterprise-class POS platform that is used by leading restaurants across the U.S. to help them move faster, stay nimble, and increase profits. Qu's cloud based, API-first architecture and omni-channel ordering solutions enable centralized POS management and allow restaurateurs to deliver a seamless, uniform guest experience anytime and anywhere orders are placed. "Qu and its technology are transforming the way fast casual and quick service restaurants are able to take, process, and deliver orders," said Bobby Yazdani, Founder and Managing Partner at Cota Capitl. "Our continued investment in Qu reflects our strong belief that they possess the technology, strategic vision, and industry expertise to continue to deliver innovative POS solutions. We look forward to our ongoing successful partnership with their management team." The Series B funding will enable Qu to accelerate the development of strategic initiatives, building upon the successful launch of the industry's first integrated platform for order taking, order processing, and order delivery. Qu's newest platform features include: Omni-Channel Ordering: Qu's platform offers solutions for anytime and anywhere orders are placed, including in-store, kiosk, hand-held, drive-thru, online, and mobile. platform offers solutions for anytime and anywhere orders are placed, including in-store, kiosk, hand-held, drive-thru, online, and mobile. In-House Delivery: Qu's new delivery solution enables restaurateurs to bring delivery in-house and offers a complimentary solution to third-party delivery providers. "Qu is at the forefront of POS technology and is leading the industry in improving margins for operators - core elements of NRD's investment thesis," said Aziz Hashim, NRD Capital Managing Partner. "NRD Capital is proud to partner with Qu as they continue to revolutionize how restaurants deliver an exceptional experience to their customers while optimizing their unit-level economics and making data-driven decisions." In addition to providing funding, NRD Director and restaurant industry veteran, John Teza, has joined Qu's Board of Directors. About Qu Qu, formerly Gusto, is going beyond traditional Point of Sale (POS) technology with a singular focus on fast casual and quick service restaurant chains. Leveraging an API-first approach and a core suite of omni-channel ordering solutions, Qu delivers an enterprise-scale, cloud-based POS platform that's fast, flexible, and forward-thinking, making it easy to implement, easy to use, and easy to afford. Improved guest experience, best-in-class integrations, centralized enterprise management, and payment processor choice are some of the reasons leading restaurant chains choose Qu to help them move faster, stay nimble, and increase profits. Learn more at www.qubeyond.com or email sales@qubeyond.com. About Cota Capital Cota Capital is a San Francisco-based investment firm with a focus on private and public software companies. Cota's core belief is that entrepreneurs and companies will continue to leverage software in innovative ways to disrupt all industries across the world. Cota employs a stage-agnostic investment approach, providing the firm flexibility to invest across all stages of a company's lifecycle, from venture through public securities. For additional information, please visit www.cotacapital.com. About NRD Capital Management, LLC NRD Capital Management, LLC, founded by Aziz Hashim, is a private equity firm that invests in companies offering superior products/services and compelling unit-level economics. By infusing capital and applying operating expertise, NRD guides its investments towards strategic growth. The fund invests in small to mid-sized brands (franchise and non-franchise), both domestic and international, primarily focusing on restaurants, technologies and service/retail opportunities. Through the NRD Foundation, the firm supports non-profit and for-profit international organizations that create entrepreneurs, foster financial independence, and power academic research focused on franchise entrepreneurship. For additional information, please visit www.nrdcapital.com. About Bobby Cox (News - Alert) Companies Bobby Cox Companies, Inc., is a dynamic family restaurant operation dedicated to meeting the needs of today's consumers. Under the guidance of its founder, Bobby D. Cox, the company has grown from its humble beginnings as a single coffee shop restaurant in 1961 in Odessa, Texas, to a multi-concept restaurant operation with more than 70 locations throughout the southwestern United States. Bobby Cox Companies is the embodiment of the entrepreneurial spirit of free enterprise. The company is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, and employs over 3,500 people throughout Texas and New Mexico. For additional information, please visit http://www.bobbycox.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005859/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] RMG Acquisition Corp. Announces Closing of $200 Million Initial Public Offering RMG Acquisition Corp. (the "Company") announced today that it closed its initial public offering of 20,000,000 units. The offering was priced at $10.00 per unit, resulting in gross proceeds of $200,000,000. The units began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "RMG.U" on February 8, 2019. Each unit consists of one share of the Company's Class A common stock and one-third of one warrant, with each whole warrant enabling the holder thereof to purchase one whole share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share. Once the shares of Class A common stock and warrants begin separate trading, they are expected to be listed on the NYSE under the symbols "RMG" and "RMG.WS," respectively. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. RMG Acquisition Corp., led by James Carpenter, Robert Mancini and Philip Kassin, was formed for the purpose of entering into a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses in the diversified resources and industrial materials sectors. Deutsche Bank Securities served as the sole bookrunner for the offerig and Stifel served as the lead manager for the offering. The offering was made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the prospectus may be obtained from Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Attn: Prospectus Group, 60 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005, or by telephone at 1-800-503-4611 or by email at prospectus.CPDG@db.com and from Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, Attn: Syndicate Department, 1 South Street, 15th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202, or by telephone at (855) 300-7136, or by email syndprospectus@stifel.com. A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the " SEC (News - Alert) ") and became effective on February 4, 2019. 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 these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous conditions, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, including those set forth in the Risk Factors section of the Company's registration statement and prospectus for the offering filed with the SEC. Copies are available on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release, except as required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005849/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Sandhills Publishing To Host Dealer Forum In Scottsdale, Arizona LINCOLN, Neb., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sandhills Publishing will host more than 100 dealers, auctioneers, rental and leasing companies, and other sellers in the agriculture, construction, commercial trucking, and aviation industries at a dealer forum event on February 19th in Scottsdale, Arizona. In addition to roundtable discussions and seminars, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in one-on-one consultations focused on individual strategies and initiatives for long-term growth. Sandhills Publishingthe Nebraska-based tech company behind such brands as Machinery Trader, CraneTrader, TractorHouse, Truck Paper, AuctionTime, RentalYard, Controller, and morehas held annual and semi-annual forums attracting attendees from across the country and around the world for nearly two decades. The Scottsdale forum will kick off with one-on-one consultations. One-on-one consultations will be followed by seminars, round table discussions, and demonstrations that focus on key challenges affecting the equipment industry and businesses. Topics will include insights on the latest asset valuation technology, best practices for remarketing new and used assets at retail, wholesale, and auction, tools for streamlining shipping, financing, and other logistics, and recommendations for strategic and effective online marketing. Forums also provide dealers with networking opportunities and information about the user-friendly, industry-specific products from Sandhills. Be the first to learn about Sandhills' new specialty products and niche equipment trade websites that more effectively connect buyers and sellers, and how you can use the new products to improve your sales. "Forums are designed to provide dealers, auctioneers, and other professionals across the industries with actionable takeaways they can implement right away to see measurable returns," explains Sandhills' Chief Administration Officer Nancy Paasch. "Time and time again, we see attendees walk away not only with valuable networking experiences, but with tools and information that help them operate more efficiently and more profitably." Interested in attending? Contact Sandhills directly or get in touch with your Sandhills sales rep to register. About Sandhills Publishing Sandhills Publishing is an information processing company headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. Our products and services gather, process, and distribute information in the form of trade publications, websites, and online services that connect buyers and sellers across the trucking, agriculture, construction, heavy equipment, aviation, and technology industries. Our integrated, industry-specific approach to hosted technologies and services offers solutions that help businesses large and small operate efficiently and grow securely, cost-effectively, and successfully. Sandhills Publishingwe are the cloud. Contact Sandhills: 120 West Harvest Drive Lincoln, NE 68521 www.Sandhills.com human-resources@Sandhills.com (402) 479-2181 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sandhills-publishing-to-host-dealer-forum-in-scottsdale-arizona-300794305.html SOURCE Sandhills Publishing Company [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Canon Solutions America Offers Customers Enhanced Network Security Capabilities Through EventSentry MELVILLE, N.Y., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Canon Solutions America, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc., today announced the addition of enhanced security capabilities through EventSentry, a hybrid Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution that provides event monitoring for businesses of all sizes. This offering helps provide security and IT professionals with increased visibility into their systems, allowing their infrastructure and applications to operate securely and efficiently. Enhanced features available in EventSentry include real-time alerts, flexible dashboards, security event log normalization and correlation, and more. The benefits to Canon Solutions America customers from the EventSentry offering include: Correlate and monitor event logs and log files in real time, as well as monitor performance, disk space, services, processes, and much more on both physical and virtual (cloud) servers and workstations. Track processes, console and network logons, file access, account management events, and even policy change events for customers' compliance efforts with PCI, SOX, HIPAA, CJIS, and others. Visualize data with insightful dashboards and a powerful job and reporting feature. Reporting supports granular authentication and sophisticated log searching. "Recognizing the importance of maintaining the highest level of information security, Canon Solutions America is now working with NETIKUS.NET to provide added protection to our customers, across business segments," said Peter Kowalczuk, President, Canon Solutions America. "We place top priority on offering solutions that can deliver a high level of security to our customers to help them protect their environment. We are better equipped to do this with EventSentry." "We're pleased to be able to support Canon Solutions America and its customers through our real-time log, server, and network monitoring solution," said Ingmar Koecher, Founder, EventSentry. "As networks become more complex, it is more essential than ever for IT professionals to be able to monitor and manage their infrastructure proactively and efficiently, effectively helping their organizations succeed." About Netikus NETIKUS.NET, founded in 2002, NETIKUS.NET is a privately held software company located in Chicago, IL (US) that develops EventSentry, a reliable, flexible and affordable SIEM monitoring solution. Organizations across the globe rely on EventSentry to improve security, comply with regulations and maintain operations. NETIKUS.NET's software is used by governments and educational institutions as well as companies in various sectors including: financial, healthcare, technology and manufacturing. Committed to expanding access to security services to organizations operating on limited budget such as government entities and nonprofits, NETIKUS.NET offers competitive pricing and a free version of EventSentry. NETIKUS.NET also hosts the "SYSTEM32," a security portal and searchable event database as well as additional free software for IT professionals. NETIKUS.NET prioritizes customers above all else, going to great lengths to shape product upgrades according to customer feedback and offer award-winning customer support. About Canon Solutions America, Inc. Canon Solutions America provides industry leading enterprise, production, and large format printing solutions, supported by exceptional professional service offerings. With the technology offerings of the Canon and Oce brands, Canon Solutions America helps companies of all sizes find ways to: improve sustainability, increase efficiency, and control costs in conjunction with high volume, continuous feed, digital and traditional printing, and document management solutions. A wholly owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc., Canon Solutions America is headquartered in Melville, N.Y. and has sales and service locations across the U.S. For more information on Canon Solutions America, please visit csa.canon.com. Editorial Contact: Canon Solutions America, Inc. Website: Tara Vetro http://csa.canon.com 631-330-2681 For sales info/customer support: tvetro@csa.canon.com 1-844-443-INFO (4636) Canon Solutions America does not provide legal counsel or regulatory compliance consultancy, including without limitation, Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, GLBA, Check 21 or the USA Patriot Act. Canon products offer certain security features, yet many variables can impact the security of your devices and data. Canon does not warrant that use of its features will prevent security issues. Nothing herein should be construed as legal or regulatory advice concerning applicable laws; customers must have their own qualified counsel determine the feasibility of a solution as it relates to regulatory and statutory compliance. Neither Canon Inc., Canon U.S.A., Inc., nor Canon Solutions America, Inc. represents or warrants any third-party product or feature referenced hereunder. Canon is a registered trademark of Canon Inc. in the United States and elsewhere. Oce is a registered trademark of Oce-Technologies B.V. in the United States and elsewhere. All other referenced product names and marks are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged. 2019 Canon Solutions America, Inc. All rights reserved. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/canon-solutions-america-offers-customers-enhanced-network-security-capabilities-through-eventsentry-300794192.html SOURCE Canon Solutions America, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Infosys Inaugurates Providence Digital Innovation and Design Center BENGALURU, India, Feb. 12, 2019 /CNW/ -- Infosys (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today joined Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo to inaugurate its Digital Innovation and Design Center in Providence and announced a partnership with the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) to build and launch the Digital Economy Aspirations Lab (DEAL) to enable and develop students for the digital jobs of the future. Infosys also announced that it has already hired over 100 employees in Rhode Island toward its goal of creating 500 jobs in the state by 2022. Since Spring 2017, Infosys has hired more than 7,600 American workers as part of its ongoing commitment to accelerate the pace of digital innovation for American enterprises. The Providence Center, located at 75 Fountain Street, will help close the gap for design and human-centric skills in technology fields and enhance Infosys' ability to provide digital technologies and breakthrough innovations at the intersection of industry and design for its clients. The center offers early-career designers and design graduates unique training opportunities with in-demand digital skills including exposure to systems, platforms, strategy and organization domains to make them more employable in today's digital world. By studying everything from user-experience to how people interact with systems, these design-focused hires will be equipped to create 360-degree solutions to business challenges. Infosys' clients and industry partners will likewise benefit from increased access to top-tier designers and subject matter experts. "Critical thinking led by the practice of strategic design is key to building the world-class, human-centric solutions our clients need to accelerate their digital transformations," said Salil Parekh, Chief Executive Officer, Infosys. "We are excited to inaugurate our flagship Digital Innovation and Design Center in Providence and continue our partnership with the state of Rhode Island. The demand for talent with strategic design skills will only rise, and Infosys is training American workers in these skills, keeping them and our clients on the front lines of innovation." "Infosys is a global leader in information technology, and I'm so excited that they've chosen Rhode Island as the home of their new innovation center," said Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo. "In partnership with RISD and CCRI, Infosys will be helping train today's Rhode Islanders for tomorrow's jobs. Our state has some of the top designers in the world, and it's a testament to the strength of our workforce that Infosys is looking to tap into, and further develop, our talent." "Infosys is pleased to announce our center and our partnership with the Community College of Rhode Island. This partnership aims to enable and develop workers for the 'new collar' digital jobs of the future. Together, Infosys and CCRI will design and launch DEAL, which will serve as the principal workforce development technology center for community college and industry collaborations," said Ravi Kumar, President, Infosys. "DEAL represents the coming together of two organizations at the forefront of education and workforce development. Through education, training and exposure, these community college students will be enabled to enter and advance careers in the digital economy." "Today is an exciting day for Rhode Island," said Rhode Island Commerce Secretry Stefan Pryor. "Infosys could have selected any location for this new Design and Innovation Hub, but the company chose Providence in order to draw upon our state's deep pool of talented designers and to establish pioneering partnerships with our innovative higher ed institutions -- including RISD and CCRI. Infosys will be training the next generation of forward-thinking global design leaders and professionals right here in Rhode Island." "At Citizens Bank, we are making investments in design and digital capabilities so that we can provide a simple and frictionless experience for our customers both today and into the future," said Mary Ellen Baker, Citizens Bank, EVP and Head of Business Services. "We believe in the power of collaborative ideation and have long worked with external partners, like Infosys, to help drive innovation in support of our strategic vision. Today's inauguration of Infosys' Providence Design and Innovation Center is a great moment for the state of Rhode Island because it brings together strong partners like the Rhode Island School of Design to help drive talent development to achieve the best design thinking and design skills." The Digital Economy Aspirations Lab will be housed at Infosys' Providence Center, with plans to open more Labs at CCRI campuses and expand nationally. Infosys will form a joint task force with CCRI representatives from across the state to co-develop bridge programming to support pathways to four-year degree programs and enable community college students to pursue careers in information technology. "We are thrilled to partner with Infosys to launch the Digital Economy Aspirations Labs, or DEAL, to deliver our students meaningful learning, relevant skills, valuable work experience, and access to professional connections necessary to pursue quality careers in the digital economy," said CCRI President Meghan Hughes. "In Infosys, we have found a bold and visionary corporate partner who understands the talent community college students possess and recognizes the essential contributions community colleges must make to grow the digital economy and the middle class." Infosys previously announced a partnership with Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) to foster the continued development of top designers at Infosys and explore new ways of solving complex challenges at the intersection of design, technology and industry. Infosys' commitment to education also extends to the company's charitable foundation, Infosys Foundation USA. In Rhode Island, the Foundation has provided multiple grants for classroom technology and computer science training to teachers and schools. To date, these grants have reached 1,070 students, 29 teachers, and 14 schools across the state. The Foundation has invested in professional development (training) for teachers, hands on workshops for students, and new technology and teaching aids for classrooms, with an emphasis placed on underrepresented groups such as young women, African American, Native American, Latino, urban, rural, and autistic student groups. Infosys has been approved for incentives under Rhode Island's Qualified Jobs Incentive Act, the Rebuild Rhode Island program, and the state's First Wave Closing Fund. For more information please visit: https://www.infosys.com/american-innovation/Pages/ri.aspx About Infosys Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in 45 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With over three decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem. Visit http://www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next. Safe Harbor Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements concerning our future business opportunities and growth prospects. Such forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, and unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. In addition, please note that any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of the date of this press release. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is required by law. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/infosys-inaugurates-providence-digital-innovation-and-design-center-300794290.html SOURCE Infosys [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Argo Group CEO to Present at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Insurance Conference on Feb. 13, 2019; Audio Webcast Available Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. (NYSE: ARGO), an international underwriter of specialty insurance and reinsurance, announced today that CEO Mark E. Watson III will present at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2019 Insurance Conference, starting at 3:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, February 13, 2019. The conference is being held at the BAML Tower in New York City. Mr. Watson's presentation at the conference can be accessed via a live audio webcast on the company's investor relations Web page, which can be found by visiting www.argolimited.com and clicking on "Inestors." Shortly after the live presentation concludes, a webcast replay will be made available and can be accessed on the same Web page noted above. ABOUT ARGO GROUP INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS, LTD. Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. (NYSE: ARGO) is an international underwriter of specialty insurance and reinsurance products in the property and casualty market. Argo Group offers a full line of products and services designed to meet the unique coverage and claims handling needs of businesses in two primary segments: U.S. Operations and International Operations. Argo Group's insurance subsidiaries are A.M. Best-rated 'A' (Excellent) (third highest rating out of 16 rating classifications) with a stable outlook, and Argo Group's U.S. insurance subsidiaries are Standard and Poor's-rated 'A-' (Strong) with a positive outlook. More information on Argo Group and its subsidiaries is available at www.argolimited.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005751/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] SPINS and Green Spoon Sales Announce New Partnership to Better Connect Brands and Retailers CHICAGO, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SPINS, the industry-leading source of wellness-focused data technology, announces a new partnership with Green Spoon Sales, a natural food and beverage brokerage specializing in disruptive emerging consumer packaged goods brands. This partnership builds further connectivity for retailers and manufacturers aligned with both Green Spoon and SPINS to support their growth. "Our companies share a commitment to helping innovative natural brands succeed," said SPINS CEO, Tony Olson. "Insights and data technology are now essential tools for emerging brands to navigate the landscape and scale. We are proud to have Green Spoon join SPINS as a valued partner." Both parties are energized by the alignment of their values and missions. Clients will immediately benefit from powerful insights to identify opportunity and drive meaningful outcomesat retail. For Green Spoon, the partnership is a sign of the company's strong growth in recent years, translating to their ability to offer enhanced value to clients. "Strategic selling has always been important to Green Spoon." said Green Spoon Sales Co-Founder and CEO, Kari Pedriana, "By partnering with SPINS, we can elevate our sales process for our team and continue to bring best-in-class services to our partners." About SPINS SPINS is a passionate advocate of brands and retailers that promote healthy living. As the leading provider of retail consumer insights, analytics reporting, and consulting services for the Natural, Organic, and Specialty Products Industries, its business offerings are helping retailers in this high-growth area to connect people with the brands that they need and love. Learn more at www.spins.com. About Green Spoon Sales Green Spoon is a natural food / beverage brokerage that represents the most disruptive & emerging consumer packaged goods throughout the nation. We work with like minded brands and people that share the common desire to shake things up, to bring the most exciting and highest quality products to shelf, to offer our retail partners products that their customers are proud to purchase. We know that the only way to do this is with passion, integrity, communication and hard work. We just don't talk the talk but the Green Spoon Team is dedicated on going above and beyond for our clients and for our clients and for our retailers to get the job done. Learn more at www.greenspoonsales.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/spins-and-green-spoon-sales-announce-new-partnership-to-better-connect-brands-and-retailers-300794218.html SOURCE SPINS [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] ICBC Argentina Strikes a $63M Services Agreement with IBM to Reimagine Customer Services in Argentinian Banking Industry with AI and Cloud SAN FRANCISCO and BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ICBC Argentina, subsidiary of the largest bank in the world, with 119 branches, serving 1,000,000 households, is a key player in the modernization of financial services in Argentina. The bank is committed to continuing its digital transformation journey with a five-year US $63 million agreement with IBM (NYSE: IBM) Services. As part of the agreement, ICBC Argentina is redefining the Bank's customer experience with IBM AI and Cloud, which will allow the bank to improve response time by predicting 75% of specific system failures, understand online user behavior and preferences in its home banking platform, reduce up to 30% of client queries through online services powered by Watson, and innovating in personalized experiences by driving the convergence between physical and digital branches. "Over the last five years, ICBC Argentina has continued to grow after establishing in the country, driven by the constant improvement of our clients' experience and an accelerated innovation process that we implemented together with IBM," said Guillermo Tolosa, CIO of the bank. "Working with IBM Services allows us to focus on our business strengths and leverage IBM's experience in Artificial Intelligence, Cloud and Services with open and secure standards, to consolidate our growth and offer customers an easy, accessible and convenient experience, while at the same time complying with the needs of our highly regulated industry." Banks are faced with changing consumer behaviors and expectations, in ares such as real-time banking, mobile services and access to a more complete view of their finances. To address customers' expectations, ICBC Argentina has undertaken a plan designed to accelerate its digital transformation for more personalized banking experience. In doing so, ICBC's clients will be able to more quickly review their finances, conduct transactions and inquire about additional services without ever having to walk into a branch. "ICBC is accelerating its transformation with cutting-edge technology to take a step forward in the disruption of the banking industry in Argentina", says Roberto Alexander, Country Manager of IBM Argentina. "IBM and ICBC will continue creating innovative solutions, providing deeper insight into its clients' behaviors, enabling them to make smore informed decisions with information, and launch products and services faster." IBM will also continue managing the bank's infrastructure, which will help accelerate the bank's digital transformation plan as well as to boost innovation and improve operational efficiency through and IBM Cloud Public credits and upgraded capabilities of its IBM Mainframe z14 technology. About ICBC Argentina ICBC Argentina is a universal bank that provides financial services through 119 branches and 877 ATMs and Self-Service Terminals in 18 provinces and more than 3700 employees. It serves 1,000,000 households, 40,700 SMEs and businesses, and 1,821 corporate clients. It is one of the market leaders in pledge loans, electronic banking, leasing and foreign trade. It has more than 4,900 million dollars in assets and 2,500 million dollars in deposits, ranking among the 7 first private banks in Argentina in both rankings. Web: www.icbc.com.ar Twitter: @ICBCArgentina Instagram: @icbc.argentina Facebook: /ICBCArgentina LinkedIn: /icbc-argentina About IBM Think At Think 2019, IBM will outline new offerings, client engagements, partnerships, technology breakthroughs and developer tools that underscore how IBM and partners are changing the way the world works. For more information, visit the IBM Think 2019 Newsroom: https://newsroom.ibm.com/think . Follow the conference on Twitter at #think2019 and @ibmlive, and go to https://www.ibm.com/events/think/ for the full schedule and live streaming agenda. Media Relations Scott Cook IBM Media Relations scotty@us.ibm.com 1-720-395-2360 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/icbc-argentina-strikes-a-63m-services-agreement-with-ibm-to-reimagine-customer-services-in-argentinian-banking-industry-with-ai-and-cloud-300793874.html SOURCE IBM [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] WGS 2019: World Government Summit Proves Catalyst for Serious Global Change Global political and business decision makers, NGOs and philanthropists chose the seventh World Government Summit (WGS 2019) in Dubai to create a vision for a brighter, more sustainable future world this week. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005653/en/ Unlimited potential - Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, addresses the World Government Summit in Dubai. Should Africa become a united continent, he says it will realize it's full potential (Photo: AETOSWire) Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan spoke of a new era for investment opportunities in the country as it eeks to unshackle itself from the corruption that has marred its reputation for many years. Paul Kagame, President of a resurgent Rwanda, said Africa could realize its full potential by becoming one united continent. "Young Africans must be given a real stake in the future of their continent," he said, as he addressed a brimming plenary hall at Madinat Jumeirah. Earlier today, actor-turned-philanthropist Harrison Ford (News - Alert) said climate change was the greatest moral crisis of our time. At the start of the week, leadership expert and entrepreneur Tony Robbins announced he is collaborating with UAE leadership on a humanitarian project to feed one billion people. In a world first on Monday, Dubai's Crown Prince His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid said that cities of the future could become the world's bread basket to meet soaring global population growth. Talking to CNN's Richard Quest, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde candidly said artificial intelligence will drastically reshape the future of jobs and human intelligence, adding that even her own job will be "adjusted" in the future. And just a week after the first ever Papal visit to the Arabian Peninsula, Pope Francis addressed the summit via a live video, where he said the UAE has started a new historical chapter in a modern, tolerant world. The three-day World Government Summit 2019 runs until February 12 at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai. The landmark event convened more than 4,000 participants from 140 countries, including heads of state and governments, and top-tier representatives of 30 international organizations. * Source (News - Alert) : AETOSWire View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005653/en/ [February 12, 2019] Nassau Re Announces New Investment Strategies; Appoints Bruce Brittain and Russell Pemberton as Co-Managers of Nassau Private Credit Nassau Re today announced that it is launching new investment strategies in its asset management segment, expanding into additional specialty finance asset classes as it grows third-party assets under management. With the creation of Nassau Private Credit LLC (NPC), Nassau Re will invest directly in collateralized loan obligation (CLO) equity and related investments for third-party institutional investors. In addition, under its Nassau CorAmerica brand, Nassau Re will expand its existing real estate commercial whole loan capabilities to include floating rate debt investments. Nassau Re is also expanding its alternative investments practice to grow its private equity investing and co-investment platforms. Nassau Re announced that Bruce C. Brittain and Russell C. Pemberton are joining the company and will both serve as Managing Directors and Lead Portfolio Managers for NPC. Mr. Brittain was most recently a Co-founder and Principal of Morningside Credit Partners. Mr. Pemberton was most recently Head of CLO Syndicate and Origination at RBC Capital Markets. "Through these initiatives, we expect to accelerate the growth of our asset management segment, as we increase assets under management and broaden the Nassau Re franchise. With extensive experience as owner-operators of numerous insurance and financial services businesses, we believe we have a competitive advantage in building a unique platform over the long term," said Phillip J. Gass, Chief Executive Officer of Nassau Re. "Additionally, we are pleased to welcome Bruce and Russell, who collectively bring over 30 years of experience in structured credit markets, to lead NPC and the expansion of our CLO investment capabilities." Nassau Private Credit LLC NPC will source and invest in equity and debt tranches of CLOs for both Nassau Re affiliates and third-party institutional investors. NPC's capabilities will complement Nassau Re's existing CLO management business, Nassau Corporate Credit LLC, which is led by Alex Jackson, has closed four CLOs since its 2017 formation, and has approximately $2.1 billion in assets under management.1 Bruce Brittain has extensive securitization and structured funding experience, including over 14 years of experience in structured credit products with various roles in structuring, solutions, syndication, trading and analytics. He was most recently a Co-founder and Principal of Morningside Credit Partners, and prior to that, was a Managing Director at South Street Securities where he developed non-bank financing alternatives for CLOs, portfolios of bank loans and other credit assets. r. Brittain previously held roles at Morgan Stanley, where he was responsible for sourcing, structuring and executing solutions-based structured credit products business with institutional clients, and a number of CLO and structured credit focused roles at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. Mr. Brittain earned a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Chicago and an MBA from Columbia University. Russell Pemberton has been at the forefront of the CLO asset class for over 15 years with experience in asset selection as a CLO issuer, structuring, trading, origination and syndication. He recently joined Nassau Re from RBC Capital Markets, LLC, where he oversaw the entire new issue CLO platform. Prior to joining RBC, he held roles at RBS Securities Inc., which included Head of CLO Origination, Head of CLO Structuring and roles on the CLO secondary trading desk. Mr. Pemberton also held senior positions within several CLO departments at JPMorgan Securities Inc. and Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. He earned a BS in Analytical Finance from Wake Forest University. Additional Specialty Finance Asset Classes Through Nassau CorAmerica LLC, Nassau Re will expand its real estate related investment products to include short-term commercial floating rate mortgage bridge loans for acquisitions as well as repositioning and leasing of existing real estate assets. Nassau CorAmerica is a diversified real estate investment and asset management firm that provides clients with access to a range of investment opportunities including core, core plus, value add and structured debt and equity alternatives with an emphasis on public and private commercial real estate debt. Led by William Petak since its 2009 formation, Nassau CorAmerica has approximately $1.9 billion in assets under management.2 Additionally, Nassau Re's alternatives team will expand its capabilities to include managing alternatives for third-party institutional clients through structured offerings or separately managed accounts. Nassau Re has been an investor in alternative investments for over 30 years, and its portfolio includes investments in private equity, venture capital and mezzanine funds. The portfolio also holds direct investments in private equity and mezzanine debt. The new strategies will be managed by Paul M. Chute, Senior Group Managing Director, who has been managing the company's private placement investing since 2003 and alternative investments since 1994. About Nassau Re Nassau Re's mission is to build a franchise across the insurance value chain. Based in Hartford, CT, Nassau Re currently has combined assets of approximately $20 billion and capital of approximately $1.3 billion. Our business covers four segments: insurance, reinsurance, distribution and asset management through various affiliates including Nassau Life and Annuity Company, Constitution Life Insurance Company, Saybrus Partners, Nassau Asset Management Company, Nassau CorAmerica and Nassau Corporate Credit. Nassau Re was founded in 2015 with capital provided by Golden Gate Capital, a private investment firm with over $15 billion of committed capital. For more information, visit www.nsre.com. For more information on Nassau Corporate Credit, visit www.ncc.nsre.com. For more information on Nassau CorAmerica, visit www.coramerica.com. 1Assets under management as of February 1, 2019 equaled the sum of (i) the aggregate face amount of collateral assets owned by CLOs, (ii) the face amount of collateral assets in warehouse facilities (if any), and (iii) cash available to warehouse facilities (if any). Please note that regulatory assets under management (as reported on Nassau Corporate Credit LLC's Form ADV) may be calculated differently. 2 Assets under management as of December 31, 2018 equaled the sum of (i) invested capital, (ii) cash to be invested and (iii) accrued interest. Please note that regulatory assets under management (as reported on Nassau CorAmerica LLC's Form ADV) may be calculated differently. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005582/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Internet of Things Community (IoT Community) Announces the 3rd Annual IoT Slam Live Internet of Things Conference June 20-21, 2019, the Trilogy - Opens Call for Papers & Speakers The IoT Community (Internet of Things Community), the world's largest community of corporate executives, IoT professionals and practitioners, today announced a call for papers and speakers, for the next instalment of its in-person IoT Slam series of events - the IoT Slam Live 2019 Internet of Things conference - the trilogy, commencing June 20-21, 2019. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005544/en/ Join the IoT Community in R.T.P. North Carolina USA, for the 3rd Annual IoT Slam Live 2019 Internet of Things Conference for a compelling line up of themes, speakers, and talks at this not to be missed trilogy event. (Graphic: Business Wire) The IoT Slam Live 2019 builds on the successful prior IoT Slam events and represents an unparalleled platform for both established and emerging IoT technology providers and practitioners, corporate business leaders and executive management across all core industry sectors including healthcare, retail, financial services, consumer goods, manufacturing, and industrials, to learn from and engage with one another. The conference is also delivered in real-time via virtual broadcast, so off-site attendees can tune in live to the stream globally and interact via the internet. All conference proceedings are recorded and made available via https://iotpractitioner.com. "We are excited to announce the crown jewel in our IoT Community portfolio of events - the ninth in the series of IoT Slam conferences and the third annual IoT Slam Live event . As with prior hugely successful events, we expect to continue shaping the IoT narrative, presenting the very best IoT thought leadership from our IoT Community to speak at this not-to-be-missed-event." David Hill, Executive Director of the Internet of Things Community (IoT Community) said, "We encourage IoT practitioners with cutting-edge solutions and compelling stories to present a paper; demonstrating how their use of IoT is transforming business, culture and society." Core themes being covered at IoT Slam Live include (not limited to): End-user applications & business use-cases for IoT IIoT (Industrial IoT) and Automation Vertical industry alignment Security, privacy & trust Analytics and big data (Edge Computing) Connectivity and infrastructure Smart building, cities, and society Application AI (Artificial Intelligence) IoT Community Center of Excellence advancements (IoTCoE) Call for Papers & speakers IoT practitioners interested in presenting a session at IoT Slam Live 2019 (either in-person or virtually) have until March 15th 2019 to submit a session proposal. Visit https://live.iotslam.com/cfp/ for full details on the submission process and to submit a paper. Since its inception in 2015, the IoT Slam brand has been a no-pay-to-speak event, enabling the very best IoT minds, contributions and thought leadership to be shared among the broader IoT ecosystem. Important Dates & Milestones: March 15, 2019 - Call for papers Closes March 30, 2019 - Speakers Notified of Acceptance April 9th 2019 - Final Agenda Published (at the IoT Day Slam virtual conference) June 18-19 2019 - Pre-conference activities in R.T.P (by invitation only) June 20-21 2019 - IoT Live Slam 2019 conference commences Registration open: Executives seeking to attend the exclusive in-person event in North Carolina can register now at https://live.iotslam.com/register/ Executives who would like to participate virtually can get free access to the real-time virtual broadcast at the link above (Free pass available until June 20 2019). Corporate Membership, Collaboration and Media Opportunities IoT solution providers seeking to explore Corporate membership to the Internet of Things Community member ecosystem, event sponsorship, and / or extended collaboration opportunities should email info@iotslam.com Media and analyst organizations interested in covering the event (in-person or virtual) should email media@iotslam.com About IoT Slam Live 2019 - The trilogy IoT Slam Live 2019 is the Internet of Things Community's third annual in-person IoT Slam conference and its ninth international conference overall, covering a horizontal industry perspective, across the entire spectrum of IoT. IoT Slam Live take place June 20-21, 2019 at the Archie K. Davies Conference Center, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA. For more information, visit https://live.iotslam.com IoT Slam Live delivers the best in class IoT Strategy,Leadership, Advisory and Methodology - (SLAM) - IoT Slam. About IoT Community - (Internet of Things Community) Founded in 2015 the IoT Community is the world's first to market, longest standing, best known, most trusted name and largest CxO community of senior business leaders and IoT practitioners consisting of 23,000+ members. The function of the community is to focus on adoption and application of IoT in commercial environments, seeking to contribute applying technology or overcoming the variety of barriers, inhibitors, and technical and operational issues. For more information about IoT Community, visit http://www.iotcommunity.net (please note the dot net domain). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005544/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Tigo Launches Next Generation SMART Website with Enhanced PV System Monitoring, Design Layouts, and Alert Management Tigo, pioneer of the Smart Modular Flex MLPE platform, today unveiled the updates to its SMART Website, the company's next generation online monitoring platform. The SMART Website manages system-, string-, and module-level data for utility, commercial, and residential PV systems. System analytics track production, send alerts, and proactively suggest maintenance actions to keep systems operating at maximum efficiency. For Rapid Shutdown, Tigo's SMART website can remotely power-off each module individually, eliminating high voltage for maintenance or safety purposes. Customers can upgrade from Basic to Premium monitoring subscription on either site to enjoy maximum visibility into their systems. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005270/en/ Tigo's SMART Website system analytics track energy production, send alerts, and proactively suggest maintenance actions to keep PV systems operating at maximum efficiency. (Photo: Business Wire) The next generation updates go live today for all PV system owners worldwide with Tigo's monitoring. Customers can log in and still have the option to switch to the original website in many languages. The company has published user videos for system owners and installers. Join Tigo's Training Team for an in-depth live training webinar on Thursday February 14th at 10am PT, and learn how to navigate the new SMART Website. New features of the Tigo SMART Website include: Improved UI - Better user experience for desktop, table, and mobile logins. Better user experience for desktop, table, and mobile logins. Enhanced Overview - New summary page shows new system view, detailed charts & alerts. New summary page shows new system view, detailed charts & alerts. Simplified Navigation - More intuitive and aesthetically designed website layout. More intuitive and aesthetically designed website layout. Faster Responsiveness - Information loading for large PV sites quickened with data processing. Information loading for large PV sites quickened with data processing. Detailed Alerts - Easier onsite & remote troubleshooting steps match email/SMS alerts. Easier onsite & remote troubleshooting steps match email/SMS alerts. Convenient Configuration & Registration - Prompted setup includes more customized options. Prompted setup includes more customized options. New Guidelines - Added information & steps throughout website and system setup process. Added information & steps throughout website and system setup process. Feedback Opportunities - Suggestions from users can be provided on every webpage. "Tigo prioritized this SMART Website after receiving such positive feedback about the SMART App from our installer and partner network over the last year," says Maxym Makhota, VP of Software Engineering & Development at Tigo. "We are thrilled that Tigo's PV system owners are continuing to benefit from our proprietary online monitoring tools - now with measurable returns on their solar investments." The new Tigo SMART Website is compatible with the SMART App which was announced in 2017. Both monitoring tools show Reclaimed Energy with the appropriate Tigo equipment. The SMART App is downloadable for iOS and Android (News - Alert) through Apple's App Store or Google Play. About Tigo Tigo is a Silicon Valley company founded in 2007 by a team of experienced technologists. Combining a unique systems-level approach with expertise in semi-conductors, power electronics, and solar energy, the Tigo team developed the first-generation Smart Module Optimizer technology for the solar industry. Tigo's vision is to leverage integrated and retrofitted Flex MLPE and communications technology to drive the cost of solar electricity down. By partnering with tier 1 module and inverter manufacturers in the industry, Tigo is able to focus on its key innovation with the smartest TS4 modular platform and leverage the broader ecosystem. Tigo has operations in the USA, across Europe, Latin America, Japan, China, Australia and the Middle East. Learn more at www.tigoenergy.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005270/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] TransPerfect's GlobalLink OneLink Powers The Translation Of Discover The Palm Beaches' Award-Winning Website NEW YORK, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- TransPerfect, the world's largest provider of language services and technologies for global business, today announced the debut of Discover The Palm Beaches' 5,000-page website in Spanish, German, and Portuguese as a complement to their existing English-language site at thepalmbeaches.com. In 2017, Discover The Palm Beaches, the official tourism marketing organization for Palm Beach County, Florida, welcomed more than 86,000 people from primarily Spanish-speaking countries, 28,000 visitors from Brazil, and more than 30,000 people from Germany. These figures highlight the need for a customized language experience for Spanish-, Portuguese-, and German-speaking visitors, many of whom are highly interested in experiencing the wealth of options Palm Beach County provides as one of the world's premier travel destinations. To manage its large and complex website, Discover The Palm Beaches turned to TransPerfect's OneLink, and customized the solution by combining human translation with AI technologies aimed at maximizing the quality, efficiency, and timeliness of publishing global content. OneLink will also simplify the ongoing maintenance of thepalmbeaches.com by automatically detecting changes and routing new content through an AI-enhanced translation workflow. "In a manner that's both cost-effective and low maintenance, OneLink has improved our users' online experience by allowing us to speak to them in their native languages," said Rich Basen, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Leisure Sales, and Community Engagement at Discover The Palm Beaches. Phil Shawe, President and CEO of TransPerfect, added, "Having grown up in the Palm Beaches and being a native of th area, I'm especially proud of the work TransPerfect is doing to support Discover The Palm Beaches. We applaud their diligent effort to provide the most inclusive web experience possible for visitors from a diverse range of locales and cultures." About Discover The Palm Beaches Discover The Palm Beaches, formerly the Palm Beach County Convention and Visitors Bureau, is the official 501(c)(6) not-for-profit tourism marketing organization that promotes the collection of 39 cities and towns commonly referred to as "The Palm Beaches," which spans more than 2,300 square miles and 47 miles of pristine, golden beaches from Boca Raton to Jupiter and Tequesta. For more information about The Palm Beaches, visit www.ThePalmBeaches.com and connect on social media via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @PalmBeachesFL, YouTube at Discover The Palm Beaches, and the hashtag #ThePalmBeaches. About TransPerfect TransPerfect is the world's largest provider of language services and technology solutions for global business. From offices in over 90 cities on six continents, TransPerfect offers a full range of services in 170+ languages to clients worldwide. More than 4,000 global organizations employ TransPerfect's GlobalLink Product Suite to simplify management of multilingual content. With an unparalleled commitment to quality and client service, TransPerfect is fully ISO 9001 and ISO 17100 certified. TransPerfect has global headquarters in New York, with regional headquarters in London and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit our website at www.transperfect.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/transperfects-globallink-onelink-powers-the-translation-of-discover-the-palm-beaches-award-winning-website-300793547.html SOURCE TransPerfect [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Beyond Commerce, Inc. Signs Definitive Business Combination Agreement with PathUX, LLC. LAS VEGAS, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Beyond Commerce, Inc. (OTCQB: BYOC), (the "Company"), a planned global provider of B2B internet marketing analytics, technologies, and related services, is pleased to announce that it has signed a definitive business combination agreement with PathUX, LLC. Beyond Commerce Chairman and CEO George Pursglove commented, "PathUX provides Cloud based marketing automation software and will make a great addition to our future vision, has recurring revenues and a great team. We look forward to our future growth plans together." We expect the provisions of the agreement to be implemented in the second quarter of 2019. PathUX , co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Chrisitan Schine described the business combination with Beyond Commerce as "an outstanding opportunity to work with Beyond Commerce in their quest to build a leadership position in the global B2B internet marketing analytics, technologies and related services space. Robert Bisson, co-founder and Chief Financial Officer for PathUX stated that "he believes there are tremendous possibilities for synergies and cross-selling opportunities between our two companies." About Beyond Commerce, Inc. Las Vegas, Nevada-based Beyond Commerce, Inc. is focused on business combinations of "big data" companies in the global B2B internet marketing analytics, technologies and related services space. The Company's objective is to develop and deploy disruptive strategic software technology that will build on organic growth potential and to exploit cross-selling opportunities. Beyond Commerce plans to offer a cohesive global digital product and services platform to provide clients with a single point of contact for their big data, marketing and related sales initiatives. This press release and corresponding 8-K filing can be accessed through the SEC's website at https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1386049/000144586619000128/byoc_8k.htm A copy of the may be obtained from Beyond Commerce's OTCMKT website https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/BYOC/news. The Company also stated that they intend to keep the market updated via the continued use of press release updates as well as through the company's social media channels. The following link will take you to Twitter: @incbyoc Facebook: fb.me/incbyoc Beyond Commerce Contact: George Pursglove, CEO and Director Tel. (702) 675-8022 george.pursglove@beyondcommerceinc.com www.beyondcommerceinc.com About PathUX, LLC Headquartered in Westport Connecticut, PathUX is a premiere software developer that specializes in the development of proprietary tools providing Cloud based marketing automation and analytics for their clients. Marketers can create precise audiences to deliver more relevant messages to their customers. PathUX Contact: Chrisitan Schine, Co-Founder and CEO Robert Bisson, Co-Founder and CFO Tel. (702) 675-8022 Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which are subject to the "safe harbor" created by those sections for such statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, which are often indicated by terms such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "design," "estimate," "except," "forecast," "goal," "intend," "look forward to," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "target," "will," "would," or the negatives or other tense of such terms and other similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements and similar expressions. We use forward-looking statements relate to future events or future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels or activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/beyond-commerce-inc-signs-definitive-business-combination-agreement-with-pathux-llc-300793911.html SOURCE Beyond Commerce, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Elion Partners and Buchanan Partners Acquire a 1.6 Million Square Foot Industrial Portfolio in Washington D.C. Metro Area, Expanding Mid-Atlantic Industrial Footprint Real estate investment firms Elion Partners ("Elion") and Buchanan Partners ("Buchanan") today announced the acquisition of a 1.6 million square foot industrial portfolio, spanning 34 buildings spread across six locations in the Washington D.C. Metro area. Within this transaction, Elion and Buchanan have replicated their ongoing investment strategy, which focuses on investing in key assets at- or below- replacement cost with strong occupancy fundamentals in supply-constrained locations. The newly acquired assets are in close proximity to the Washington Dulles International Airport and service tenants primarily in the government contract sector. "Elion is thrilled to announce this latest strategic partnership with Buchanan," said Juan DeAngulo, Managing Partner and Co-founder of Elion Partners. "We look forward to adding value through hands on execution, and jointly managing this asset with Buchanan." Colin Dove, Principal with Buchanan Partners, noted that, "This investment expands our geographic footprint to strong submarkets for one-story flex and industrial product at a fraction of replacement cost in these locations. Many options will present themselves to enhance the value of these buildings and we are excited to have an innovative partner like Elion to help us achieve that goal." This announcement marks the second industrial portfolio acqusition in the Washington D.C. Metro area for Elion. In August 2017, the firm, along with Buchanan, completed a 700,000 square foot acquisition of a similar industrial product type. That acquisition included a 14-building portfolio spread across three locations just off Route 28 in the Washington D.C. Metro area, bringing the total portfolio to over 2.3 million square feet. About Elion Partners Elion Partners is a vertically integrated real estate investment firm with institutional-grade capabilities. Elion serves as both a fiduciary and an operator of real estate assets, managing over $2 billion through several closed-end funds and standalone permanent capital investment vehicles. We serve as stewards of our clients' capital with a focus on preservation for the long-term. Elion's principals invest significant capital in each fund to ensure the utmost alignment of interests with our LPs. http://elionpartners.com/ About Buchanan Partners Buchanan Partners ("Buchanan") is a leading full-service real estate development firm operating in the Washington, D.C. region. Since 1998, Buchanan has made over $1.2 billion in total investments, with over $300 million in equity capital invested with multiple investment partners including pension funds, endowments and family offices. With a portfolio spanning a broad range of building types, Buchanan is able to move with the market, whether the environment favors residential, office, industrial or raw land investments. The firm has developed over 5,000,000 square feet of commercial space and has entitled and developed property on over 2,000 acres of land in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. For more information, visit buchananpartners.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005551/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Rivetz and PeerStream Demonstrate Secure Blockchain Applications at Mobile World Congress/4YFN RICHMOND, Mass. and NEW YORK, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Rivetz, a leader in decentralized cybersecurity, today announced it will be joined by global internet solutions provider PeerStream (OTCQB: PEER), at their partner pavilion at 4YFN, the sister conference to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The companies will be demonstrating advanced mobile security for messaging and media streaming at Booth 116 in Hall 4YFN Montjuic Hall M8, from Feb. 25-28. PeerStream has been building innovative consumer apps for 20 years, with its flagship video chat product, Paltalk. Now PeerStream is introducing Backchannel, a blockchain-enabled secure live video messaging app targeting prosumer, enterprise and government use cases. Released in private beta in December 2018, Backchannel uses blockchain technology to provide the foundation for decentralized security assuring only the users control their keys and communications. Backchannel is built on PeerStream Protocol ("PSP"), which adds an additional layer of security that anonymizes and protects the user's identity along with their streamed data. The Rivetz Network and Toolkit enable companies and platforms to build hardware-level security into their offerings. The easy-to-integrate solution offers state-of-the-art protection of the user's identity and encryption keys. The technology is built on already embedded Global Platform standards. "Our organizations share a common goal in the continued development of security- and privacy-oriented solutions covering a spectrum of applications. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with the Rivetz team and leveraging their technology to extend nd complement our own," said Eric Sackowitz, PeerStream's Chief Technology Officer. "PeerStream provides a great solution for content sharing and messaging, showing how blockchain technologies can be put to work," said Steven Sprague, CEO of Rivetz. "We are pleased to provide the mobile security that puts the user in control of their identity and their privacy, assuring safe and simple operations." About Rivetz Rivetz technology and services aim to provide a safer and easier-to-use model for all users to protect their digital assets using hardware-based trusted execution technology. The device plays a critical role in automating security and enabling the controls that users need to produce high assurance data and benefit from modern services. Rivetz leverages state-of-the-art cybersecurity tools to develop a modern model for users and their devices to interact with services on the Internet. Find out more at www.rivetz.com and follow Rivetz on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Telegram. Media contact: Community@rivetz.com About PeerStream Inc. (OTCQB: PEER) PeerStream is a global internet solutions provider pioneering the real-world adoption of emerging blockchain technologies by developing software, services and applications for corporate clients and consumers. PeerStream supports clients' transition to blockchain through license of proprietary software such as PeerStream Protocol ("PSP"), a protocol for decentralized multimedia communications and live video streaming currently in development. PeerStream has a 20-year history of technology innovation and holds 26 patents. For more information, please visit: http://www.peerstream.com. To be added to the news distribution list, please visit: http://www.peerstream.com/investor-alerts/. All trademarks and product names are the property of their respective companies. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rivetz-and-peerstream-demonstrate-secure-blockchain-applications-at-mobile-world-congress4yfn-300792722.html SOURCE Rivetz [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Ellie Mae Enters into Definitive Agreement to Be Acquired by Thoma Bravo Ellie Mae (NYSE:ELLI), the leading cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Thoma Bravo, LLC, a leading private equity investment firm, in an all-cash transaction that values Ellie Mae at an aggregate equity value of approximately $3.7 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, all Ellie Mae shareholders will receive $99.00 in cash per share. The price per share represents a 47 percent premium to the 30-day average closing share price and 49 percent premium to the 60-day average closing price as of February 1, 2019. "Since the founding of Ellie Mae more than 20 years ago, our mission has been simple - to automate everything automatable for the residential mortgage industry," said Jonathan Corr, president and CEO of Ellie Mae. "As we enter this next phase of our digital mortgage journey, we are thrilled to provide immediate value to our shareholders. With the investment and support from Thoma Bravo, we will remain committed to our customers' success, innovation and growth of the Encompass Digital Lending Platform while maintaining our position as a best place to work." "Ellie Mae delivers powerful and innovative mortgage technology solutions across every channel of the residential mortgage sector, enabling lenders to originate more loans while reducing costs and driving efficiency, quality and compliance throughout the mortgage process," said Holden Spaht, a Managing Partner at Thoma Bravo. "Ellie Mae is leading the digital transformation of the residential mortgage industry and we look forward to building on the company's successes and to our partnership through this next chapter of growth." Ellie Mae's Board of Directors unanimously approved the definitive agreement and recommended that stockholders vote their shares in favor of the transaction. Ellie Mae's headquarters will remain in Pleasanton, California, with regional offices across the United States. Closing of the transaction is subject to approval by Ellie Mae stockholders and regulatory authorities and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close in the second or third quarter of 2019 and is not subject to a financial condition. The agreement includes a 35 day "go-shop" period, which permits Ellie Mae's Board and advisors to actively initiate, solicit, encourage, and potentially enter negotiations with parties that make alternative acquisition proposals. Ellie Mae will have the right to terminate the merger agreement to enter into a superior proposal subject to the terms and conditions of the merger agreement. There can be no assurance that this 35 day "go-shop" will result in a superior proposal, and Ellie Mae does not intend to disclose developments with respect to the solicitation process unless and until the Board makes a determination requiring further disclosure. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is serving as the exclusive financial advisor to Ellie Mae and Cooley LLP is serving as the legal advisor to Ellie Mae. Jefferies LLC served as financial advisor to Thoma Bravo and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to Thoma Bravo. Financing for the transaction is being provided by Jefferies Finance LLC. About Ellie Mae Ellie Mae (NYSE:ELLI) is the leading cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry. Ellie Mae's technology solutions enable lenders to originate more loans, lower origination costs, and reduce the time to close, all while ensuring the highest levels of compliance, quality and efficiency. Visit or call (877) 355-4362 to learn more. About Thoma Bravo, LLC Thoma Bravo is a leading private equity firm focused on the software and technology-enabled services sectors. With a series of funds representin more than $30 billion in capital commitments, Thoma Bravo partners with a company's management team to implement operating best practices, invest in growth initiatives and make accretive acquisitions intended to accelerate revenue and earnings, with the goal of increasing the value of the business. Representative past and present portfolio companies include industry leaders such as ABC Financial, Blue Coat (News - Alert) Systems, Deltek, Digital Insight, Frontline Education, Global Healthcare Exchange, Hyland Software, Imprivata, iPipeline, PowerPlan, Qlik, Riverbed, SailPoint, SolarWinds (News - Alert) , SonicWall, Sparta Systems,TravelClick and Veracode. The firm has offices in San Francisco and Chicago. For more information, visit thomabravo.com. Additional Information and Where to Find It In connection with the proposed Merger, Ellie Mae expects to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the " SEC (News - Alert) ") and furnish to its stockholders a proxy statement on Schedule 14A, as well as other relevant documents concerning the proposed transaction. Promptly after filing its definitive proxy statement with the SEC, Ellie Mae will mail the definitive proxy statement and a proxy card to each stockholder of Ellie Mae entitled to vote at the special meeting relating to the proposed transaction. The proxy statement will contain important information about the proposed Merger and related matters. STOCKHOLDERS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF ELLIE MAE ARE URGED TO READ THESE MATERIALS (INCLUDING ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH THE MERGER THAT ELLIE MAE WILL FILE WITH THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT ELLIE MAE AND THE TRANSACTION. This communication is not a substitute for the proxy statement or for any other document that Ellie Mae may file with the SEC and send to its stockholders in connection with the proposed Merger. The proposed Merger will be submitted to Ellie Mae's stockholders for their consideration. Before making any voting decision, stockholders of Ellie Mae are urged to read the proxy statement regarding the Merger when it becomes available and any other relevant documents filed with the SEC, as well as any amendments or supplements to those documents, because they will contain important information about the proposed Merger. Stockholders of Ellie Mae will be able to obtain a free copy of the proxy statement, as well as other filings containing information about Ellie Mae and the proposed transaction, without charge, at the SEC's website (http://www.sec.gov). Copies of the proxy statement, when available, and the filings with the SEC that will be incorporated by reference therein can also be obtained, without charge, by contacting Ellie Mae's Investor Relations at (925) 227-7079, by email at ir@elliemae.com, or by going to Ellie Mae's Investor Relations page on its website at investor.elliemae.com and clicking on the link titled "SEC Filings" to access Ellie Mae's "SEC Filings." Participants in the Solicitation Ellie Mae and certain of its directors, executive officers and employees may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in respect of the proposed Merger. Information regarding the interests of Ellie Mae's directors and executive officers and their ownership of Company Common Stock is set forth in Ellie Mae's proxy statement on Schedule 14A filed with the SEC on April 4, 2018, will be included in Ellie Mae's definitive proxy statement to be filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed Merger, and certain of its Current Reports on Form 8-K. Other information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests in the proposed Merger, by security holdings or otherwise, will be contained in the proxy statement and other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed Merger. Free copies of this document may be obtained as described in the preceding paragraph. Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This communication, and any documents to which Ellie Mae refers you in this communication, contains not only historical information, but also forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements represent Ellie Mae's current expectations or beliefs concerning future events, including but not limited to the expected completion and timing of the proposed transaction, expected benefits and costs of the proposed transaction, management plans and other information relating to the proposed transaction, strategies and objectives of Ellie Mae for future operations and other information relating to the proposed transaction. Without limiting the foregoing, the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "intends," "forecasts," "should," "estimates," "contemplate," "future," "goal," "potential," "predict," "project," "projection," "target," "seek," "may," "will," "could," "should," "would," "assuming," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. You should read any such forward-looking statements carefully, as they involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may cause actual results to differ significantly from those projected or contemplated in any such forward-looking statement. Those risks, uncertainties and assumptions include (i) the risk that the proposed transaction may not be completed in a timely manner or at all, which may adversely affect Ellie Mae's business and the price of the common stock of Ellie Mae, (ii) the failure to satisfy any of the conditions to the consummation of the proposed transaction, including the adoption of the Merger Agreement by the stockholders of Ellie Mae and the receipt of certain regulatory approvals, (iii) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance or condition that could give rise to the termination of the Merger Agreement, (iv) the effect of the announcement or pendency of the proposed transaction on Ellie Mae's business relationships, operating results and business generally, (v) risks that the proposed transaction disrupts current plans and operations and the potential difficulties in employee retention as a result of the proposed transaction, (vi) risks related to diverting management's attention from Ellie Mae's ongoing business operations, (vii) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Ellie Mae related to the Merger Agreement or the proposed transaction, (viii) unexpected costs, charges or expenses resulting from the proposed transaction, and (ix) other risks described in Ellie Mae's filings with the SEC, such as its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Annual Reports on Form 10-K. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this communication or the date of any document incorporated by reference in this document. Except as required by applicable law or regulation, Ellie Mae does not assume any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements whether as the result of new developments or otherwise. 2019 Ellie Mae, Inc. Ellie Mae, Encompass, AllRegs, Mavent, Velocify, the Ellie Mae logo and other trademarks or service marks of Ellie Mae, Inc. appearing herein are the property of Ellie Mae, Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Other company and product names may be trademarks or copyrights of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005471/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Prestage Foods Selects Cloud Logistics by E2open TMS to Increase Visibility Into Orders Cloud Logistics by E2open (Cloud Logistics), a leading innovator and provider of modern, easy-to-use transportation management systems (TMS), is pleased to announce the addition of Prestage Foods as the newest customer to join its global TMS platform. Prestage Foods, a privately held producer of pork and poultry products, recently selected the Cloud Logistics TMS to manage transportation for its fast-growing business. "We are opening a new $340 million pork processing facility and need a transportation management system to help us manage the logistics operations," said Crystal Hill, director of supply chain and logistics at Prestage Foods. "We're opening our new facility in less than a month, so we needed a TMS that we could deploy quickly. The system had to be easy to use so our carriers and our poultry logistics team could adopt it without much training. We work with dozens of carriers and add more all the time so having a TMS that carriers love to use is a key differentiator for Cloud Logistics. Finally, we required a TMS that will grow and scale with us as our needs change. We will start with a few truckloads per day but will grow to over 50 a day within the first year and double to over 100 trucks a day when a second shift is added. Whether it's managing a few truckloads a day from one shipping location or hundreds across multiple locations, the Cloud Logistics TMS is a great fit that will support our business today and into the future at a great price point." Cloud Logistics is revolutionizing transportation management by combining the best of mobile and social technology to offer a fast, easy and affordable TMS solution. Prestage Foods will leverage Cloud Logistics to simplify carrier selection, automate load tendering, streamline communications, track shipments, handle payments and invoice auditing, and provide detailed reporting. The company anticipates increasing daily shipments from its new location by approximately 1,000% in its first nine months, and then doubling that volume again in the following year. "For the senior leadersip team, the most compelling reason to partner with Cloud Logistics was to improve operational efficiencies and visibility," said Jere Null, chief operating officer at Prestage Foods. "This is a business that requires accuracy, timeliness, and cost effectiveness, in order to scale rapidly. Prestage Foods is growing fast, and Cloud Logistics will enable us to handle significant volume growth without adding additional headcount to the pork logistics team. We are also excited about the advanced reporting capabilities that will give us greater control of our operations." Mark Nix, senior vice president, transportation management and founder of Cloud Logistics, added, "We are proud to have been selected by Prestage Foods as they embark on a new wave of corporate growth. We are dedicated to ensuring the highest level of satisfaction for our TMS customers and look forward to partnering with Prestage Foods as we grow together in the future. " About Prestage Farms The Prestage Farms family of companies is a trusted supplier of quality turkey and pork. Founded in 1983 by Bill and Marsha Prestage, our family includes two different protein processing divisions: Prestage Foods of Iowa, the world's most advanced pork processing facility now in its final stages of construction, as well as our established turkey processing operation, Prestage Foods of North Carolina. Mr. and Mrs. Prestage, along with their three sons, still own and actively operate this multifaceted business. Today, Prestage Farms, along with its affiliates, is one of the leading producers of quality pork and turkey that employs more than 2,000 people company-wide, contracts with more than 450 farm families in seven states and produces more than 1.3 billion pounds of meat annually. Prestage Farms, Inc. is headquartered in Clinton, North Carolina, and has operations in Iowa, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and Oklahoma. About Cloud Logistics by E2open Cloud Logistics by E2open (Cloud Logistics) provides innovative and easy-to-use technology that powers transportation logistics solutions for the global supply chain market. Cloud Logistics' TMS offers a modern, intuitive user experience to simplify carrier selection, load tendering, communication and payment while increasing visibility and offering real-time reporting. The cloud-based tool is easy to implement and offers a rapid-deployment TMS that can go live in as little as one day. Cloud Logistics makes the complexities of order collaboration, communication and international transportation management simple and beneficial for companies of any size. The TMS includes a unique user experience, customizable alerts, social technology for business and a mobile application designed specifically for carriers. For more information about Cloud Logistics, please visit www.gocloudlogistics.com. About E2open At E2open, we're creating a more connected, intelligent supply chain. It starts with sensing and responding to real-time demand, supply and delivery constraints. Bringing together data from customers, distribution channels, suppliers, contract manufacturers and logistics partners, our collaborative and agile supply chain platform enables companies to use data in real time, with artificial intelligence and machine learning to drive smarter decisions. All this complex information is delivered in a single view that encompasses your demand, supply and logistics ecosystems. E2open is changing everything. Demand. Supply. Delivered. Visit www.e2open.com. E2open and the E2open logo are registered trademarks of E2open, LLC. All other trademarks, registered trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005285/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Oracle Accelerates Adoption of Enterprise Blockchain Worldwide REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Businesses around the world have already reaped the benefits of blockchain applications built on Oracle Blockchain Platform. Companies using Oracle's business-ready blockchain have been able to move from experimentation to production by creating new blockchain applications from scratch or adding blockchain functionality to an existing solution. To support its customers, Oracle has added new features to the platform that help users speed up the development, integration, and deployment of new blockchain applications. While blockchain can greatly streamline many existing processes surrounding supply chain, identity, cross-border payments, and fraud detection, businesses have struggled to implement blockchain networks within their existing ecosystems. Oracle Blockchain Platform addresses this challenge by streamlining the process of building and integrating blockchain applications across diverse business networks and connecting them into the relevant business processes within these ecosystems. "Oracle's continued leadership and investment in enterprise blockchain technology ensures that the platform has all of the critical capabilities organizations need to build blockchain applications to handle their most important business transactions," said Frank Xiong, group vice president, Blockchain Product Development, Oracle. "The number of customers already running blockchain applications based on Oracle's blockchain platform is testament to the strength of the technology and the value it brings to a broad range of industries." Worldwide Customers with Blockchain Apps in Use Using blockchain applications, Oracle customers are establishing new ways to increase trust in diverse ecosystems and increasing the speed, security and efficiency of a wide range of business processes. Oracle's rapidly growing list of global customers with production deployments on its enterprise-grade blockchain platform include: China Distance Education Holdings Limited (CDEL) uses blockchain to share educational records and professional certifications across many educational institutions to help employers and recruiters verify the educational credentials claimed by individuals. uses blockchain to share educational records and professional certifications across many educational institutions to help employers and recruiters verify the educational credentials claimed by individuals. Circulor uses blockchain to track conflict minerals from their origin at the mines to processing and use in electronic components to ensure ethical sourcing of raw materials. uses blockchain to track conflict minerals from their origin at the mines to processing and use in electronic components to ensure ethical sourcing of raw materials. SERES uses blockchain to bring greater trust and efficiency to electronic invoicing in franchise networks, which share ordering and fulfillment data between franchisors and franchisees. uses blockchain to bring greater trust and efficiency to electronic invoicing in franchise networks, which share ordering and fulfillment data between franchisors and franchisees. Additionally, Arab Jordan Investment Bank, CargoSmart, Certified Origins, HealthSync, ICS Financial Systems, NeuroSoft, Nigeria Customs, OriginTrail, SDK.Finance, and TradeFin have built or integrated production-ready blockchain applications on Oracle Blockchain Platform. "Oracle's blockchain solution delivers enterprise performance, security and scalability right out-of-the-box," said Doug Johnson-Poensgen, CEO and founder of Circulor. "We started with the Oracle Blockchain Platform four months ago and were able to go from zero to a production system spanning multiple organizations involved in ethical sourcing of minerals within a matter of months. Another key advantage is that we were able to integrate Oracle's blockchain platform into a hybrid blockchain network spanning multiple clouds and easily integrate with our existing systems ad applications." "Blockchain improves the trust relationship between franchisor and the franchises by including best practices and decentralized access to the transactions. Normally, merchandise acceptance processes are manual and require an operator entering the data into the system. But, for example when a franchise has economic problems, it can repudiate that delivery, saying that it never received the merchandise. They can manipulate the database and, on the other hand, also the franchisor can manipulate it," said Jose Maria Minguez Gutierrez, Transactional Services Manager of SERES. "With blockchain and its immutability and traceability of information, all these problems disappear and all parties can trust the data and the transactions." Enhances Security, Developer Productivity and DevOps Capabilities With this latest release, Oracle has added unique developer-oriented productivity enhancements and consortium-oriented identity management features, which are critical to diverse organizations conducting business transactions via a blockchain network. New DevOps capabilities make the platform easier to integrate with existing business and IT systems. Additionally, as blockchain becomes an important data store in the enterprise, the platform enables Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse customers to transparently capture blockchain transaction history and current state data for analytics and to integrate it with other data sources. New features include: Enhanced world state database to support standard SQL-based ledger queries reducing the complexity of developing chaincode using readily available programming skills, ensure smart contracts can safely rely on the query results, which are verified at transaction commit, and significantly boost performance of rich data queries. to support standard SQL-based ledger queries reducing the complexity of developing chaincode using readily available programming skills, ensure smart contracts can safely rely on the query results, which are verified at transaction commit, and significantly boost performance of rich data queries. Rich history database shadows transaction history into a relational database schema in the Autonomous Data Warehouse or other Oracle databases, which transparently enables analytics integration for interactive dashboards and reports. shadows transaction history into a relational database schema in the Autonomous Data Warehouse or other Oracle databases, which transparently enables analytics integration for interactive dashboards and reports. Enhanced REST APIs for event subscription, blockchain administration/configuration, and monitoring of network health, transaction rates, and other statistics, which simplify integration with existing enterprise IT tools. for event subscription, blockchain administration/configuration, and monitoring of network health, transaction rates, and other statistics, which simplify integration with existing enterprise IT tools. Identity federation further extends authentication capabilities to work with external identity providers to facilitate consortium blockchains with many diverse participants using their existing identity management systems. further extends authentication capabilities to work with external identity providers to facilitate consortium blockchains with many diverse participants using their existing identity management systems. Third-party certificate support for registering client organizations on the blockchain network to enable them to use existing certificates issued by trusted third parties. for registering client organizations on the blockchain network to enable them to use existing certificates issued by trusted third parties. Hyperledger Fabric 1.3 support, which adds many new features based on the evolving open source version, including chaincode development in Java, further leveraging existing enterprise skills, and support for private transactions among a subset of members, preserving privacy and business confidentiality. This demonstrates Oracle's commitment to stay current with the Hyperledger community by leveraging new releases and contributing to the open source community. About Oracle Blockchain Only Oracle provides a comprehensive blockchain offering, including business-ready Oracle Blockchain Applications Cloud and Oracle Blockchain Platform for developers who need to build or integrate their applications. Oracle's blockchain applications are built with Oracle Blockchain Platform and seamlessly connect with Oracle Supply Chain Management (SCM) Cloud, Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Cloud and other Oracle Cloud Applications. Oracle Blockchain Platform is production ready with enterprise-grade capabilities, easy to adopt, and quick to develop upon, accelerating customer's blockchain journeys and saving their costs. Additional Resources Learn More about Oracle Blockchain Explore Oracle Blockchain Platform Follow the Oracle Blockchain Blog and Oracle Cloud Platform via Blog, Facebook and Twitter About Oracle The Oracle Cloud offers a complete suite of integrated applications for Sales, Service, Marketing, Human Resources, Finance, Supply Chain and Manufacturing, plus Highly-Automated and Secure Generation 2 Infrastructure featuring the Oracle Autonomous Database. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at oracle.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/oracle-accelerates-adoption-of-enterprise-blockchain-worldwide-300793609.html SOURCE Oracle [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] RetailMeNot, Inc. Announces Three Executive Appointments AUSTIN, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- RetailMeNot, Inc. today announced that Joshua Platt has joined the company as chief product officer. Platt most recently served as vice president of product for Nordstrom.com. Prior to his four-year tenure there, Platt spent 11 years at Microsoft in various product leadership roles including director of product for the cloud and server business Azure and director of product for Microsoft.com. Platt holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Illinois and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Denver. "I have always been passionate about improving people's lives through digital products," said Platt, "so I was attracted to the role at RetailMeNot given the company's mission of saving millions of consumers money. I am excited to carry that mission forward while delivering superior customer experiences that drive business growth." RetailMeNot also announced two internal promotions: Scott Sundheim to senior vice president of North America marketing and Seth Randle to chief counsel and compliance officer. Prior to Sundheim's seven-year career at RetailMeNot, he held a variety of marketing positions at the Kellogg Company, building CPG brands including Pop-Tarts, Keebler Cookies, Cheez-It, and Nutri-Grain. Scott holds a Master of Business Administration from the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University and a Bachelor of Science in sport marketing and management from Indiana University, Bloomington. Randle will join the RetailMeNot executive team as chief counsel and compliance officer. He has previously served as vice president of legal for RetailMeNot, and currently also serves as chief IP counsel for Harland Clarke Holdings, RetailMeNot's parent company. Randle has held multiple attorney positions with law firms based in Austin, Texas, and currently sits on the governing board of directors at Make-A-Wish Central & South Texas. He holds a Juris Doctor from Vanderbilt University Law School and a Bachelor of Science in engineering fom the University of California, Berkeley. Platt, Sundheim and Randle will report into Marissa Tarleton, chief executive officer of RetailMeNot. "I am thrilled to round out the executive bench with these incredibly talented and deeply experienced individuals," said Tarleton. "With strategic focus on a strong consumer voice and the mission to drive incremental business for our partners, RetailMeNot's leadership team is well-positioned to win in 2019." About RetailMeNot, Inc. RetailMeNot, Inc. ( https://www.retailmenot.com/corp/ ) is a leading savings destination connecting consumers with retailers, restaurants and brands, both online and in-store. The company enables consumers across the globe to find hundreds of thousands of offers to save money while they shop or dine out. RetailMeNot, Inc. estimates that $4.8 billion in retailer sales were attributable to consumer transactions from paid digital offers in its marketplace in 2017, more than $560 million of which were attributable to its in-store solution. The RetailMeNot, Inc. portfolio of websites and mobile applications includes RetailMeNot.com in the United States; RetailMeNot.ca in Canada; VoucherCodes.co.uk in the United Kingdom; ma-reduc.com and Poulpeo.com in France; and GiftCardZen.com and Deals2Buy.com in North America. As wholly owned subsidiaries of Harland Clarke Holdings, RetailMeNot and Valassis , a leader in intelligent media delivery, are partnering to connect retailers and consumers through meaningful digital, mobile and print promotions both online and in store. Media Contacts: Chelsie Baugh RetailMeNot, Inc. cbaugh@rmn.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/retailmenot-inc-announces-three-executive-appointments-300793798.html SOURCE RetailMeNot, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] CSOFT Announces Life Sciences Translation and Localization Expansion BOSTON, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CSOFT International, a global leader in cross-border communications, has announced the opening of its newest corporate office in Boston's Back Bay. Projecting to at least triple its life science business within the next 5 years, CSOFT aims to enable North American pharmaceutical companies achieve greater global success through a unique application of next-gen AI-powered language translation services and solutions. "We're excited to be in Boston. The east coast, particularly Massachusetts, New Jersey, and North Carolina, is now the country's number one biotech hub for medical research and biopharma manufacturing," said CEO Shunee Yee. "As regulations and processes for clinical trials differ in each country, entering foreign markets effectively requires local knowledge and quality translations for global success," Yee commented further. Certificated in ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 13485:2016, CSOFT's dedicated life science business unit has over 15 years' of experience serving as a trusted provider in medical localization and clinical trial translations for top Biotech, Pharma, Diagnostics and Med Tech companies across all sectors throughout the healthcare industry. As a strategic move to bridge the world's top two healthcare markets, CSOFT's Boston office will also serve as a regional hub to provide effective customer services and project execution to support its US med tech and pharma customers entering China's market. Among China's 1.4 billion population, more thn 100 million people are diabetic and more than 300 million carry HBV. China is the 2nd largest Rx market in the world with 2018 alone showing healthcare expenditures totaling $800 billion USD. The NMPA's (National Medical Products Administration) recent regulatory reform on accepting foreign clinical data and removing restrictions on approval application of imported drugs creates ample opportunities for global pharmaceutical companies. CSOFT has helped top US and European pharma companies successfully deliver more than a dozen drug submission applications for CFDA reviews and approvals. "Drugs are needed in all corners of the world, and pharmaceutical companies need the language expertise to acknowledge the diversity not only in genetics but policies," said Richard Chin, Director of CSOFT's Life Science Business Unit. "Despite the major policy changes to embrace innovation and harmonization using global standards, entering a market like China is still challenging. This is why finding the right local partner with in-depth knowledge and experience with CFDA policies is the key," remarked Dr. Grace Palma, CEO of ChinaMed Device, a Boston-based regulatory and commercial advisory firm who attended CSOFT's Boston opening. About CSOFT CSOFT International is a leader in global communications services, providing turnkey solutions for companies facing the challenges of engaging customers and markets across linguistic and cultural barriers. With dual headquarters in San Francisco and Beijing, CSOFT maintains a worldwide presence across 16 different locations around the world, offering services from content creation to localization and translation in over 200 languages. With AI-powered tools, CSOFT guarantees efficient language solutions across all industry sectors. To learn more about CSOFT, please visit www.csoftintl.com Media Contacts: Nikki Andrews (U.S./Europe) +1 (617) 263-8950 nikki.andrews@csoftintl.com Tim Wang (Asia) +86 21 5036 7600 tim.wang@csoftintl.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/csoft-announces-life-sciences-translation-and-localization-expansion-300793785.html SOURCE CSOFT International [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] NexTech Launches 3D Advertising Platform for Facebook TORONTO and VANCOUVER, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - NexTech AR Solutions (the "Company" or "NexTech") (CSE: NTAR) (OTC: NEXCF) (FSE:N29) is pleased to announce it has achieved a major milestone by being able to offer eCommerce clients 3D advertising solutions on Facebook. NexTech is rapidly building out its AR-3D product offerings, including shopping, learning, video conferencing, and now ads on Facebook. With 1.5 billion people on Facebook, this new product offering is a big step forward in creating the most robust vertically integrated AR-3D offering on the market today. "NexTech is systematically building out its product offerings and ecosystem enabling AR-3D objects to be seen and experienced at multiple touch points throughout a person's daily journey, be it shopping, learning, video conferencing and now through ads on Facebook" said Evan Gappelberg, CEO of NexTech. "Having the ability to offer 3D advertising options to our AR eCommerce customers is a big deal since the majority of spend in eCommerce is on ads". A 3D ad experience allows the user to truly experience products, viewing from any angle or scale with rich true rendering. This essentially provides an out of store shopping experience, the closest you can get to the actual product before buying it. Split-testing by Sketchfab-branded 3D ads versus traditional static ads bears out just how dramatically engagement can improve, showing a 633% increase in sign-up conversions and a 376% increase in click through rates. "NexTech is the first to market for Facebook advertising with a platform that can publish from a single user interface to it, alongside the existing channels for delivery," said Reuben Tozman, COO of NexTech. "That leaves us uniquely positioned to grow alongside the largest ad platform on the planet without losing the power and fidelity of existing AR experiences." The company is continuing to develop its new business pipeline, targeting high-growth verticals such as eCommerce, Education & Training, and Live Streaming & Telepresene, with an initial focus on the global retail eCommerce market, projected to reach $4.8 trillion in 2021, according to Statistica. Recent research has shown that 40% of online shoppers would be willing to pay more for a product if they could experience it through AR, while 71% of shoppers indicated they would shop at a brand more often if it offered AR experiences. NexTech's AR platform for eCommerce provides online retailers with a frictionless 3D shopping experience that empowers shoppers to make purchasing decisions, which ultimately drives conversions and spend, and reduces returns leading to higher ROI. To see how NexTech's AR eCommerce platform works, view our demo site or contact us to learn more. About NexTech AR Solutions Corp. NexTech is bringing augmented reality (AR) to the masses by creating an AR ecosystem featuring eCommerce solutions for websites, AR learning and education tools, and AR live streaming for events. With just a few lines of embed code, the Company's patent-pending technology can integrate into existing eCommerce platforms, providing retailers with a highly scalable platform that increases customer engagement and sales. To learn more, please follow us on Twitter , YouTube , Instagram , LinkedIn , and Facebook , or visit our website: https://www.nextechar.com . On behalf of the Board of NexTech AR Solutions Corp. "Evan Gappelberg" CEO and Director The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain information contained herein may constitute "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as, "will be", "looking forward" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements regarding the Company increasing investors awareness are based on the Company's estimates and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of NexTech to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, including capital expenditures and other costs. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. NexTech will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nextech-launches-3d-advertising-platform-for-facebook-300793579.html SOURCE Nextech AR Solutions Corp. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Galaxy Next Generation Announces 3 New Resellers with Combined Experience of More than 90 Years Thereby Expanding its Growth Both Geographically and Vertically TOCCOA, Ga., Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Galaxy Next Generation, Inc. (OTCQB:GAXY) ("Galaxy"), a U.S. distributor of interactive learning technology hardware and software that create fully collaborative instructional environments is pleased to announce the signing of 3 new resellers which will Increase STEM learning for students in an ever-growing list of states. About Galaxys New Resellers: Benecom Technologies which has been a mainstay for 25 Years in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Southern Tennessee in the Network Support, Networking Equipment, and Hardware Maintenance areas, and gives Galaxy additional growth opportunities in several additional states in the South. Focus Audio Video, a family owned Indiana company with over 25 Years of experience in the technology industry and whose many products and services including Interactive whiteboards, projectors, projection screens and flat panel display which are integral to Galaxy, allows the company an entry into the Midwest. Rutland Low Voltage Systems of Georgia, now in its 5th Decade, solidifies Galaxys entrenchment in its home state helping to round out its Audio / Visual portfolio. Said Gary Lecroy, CEO of Galaxy, As I mentioned on the January 29th Press Release, e will continue to expand our presence and access to additional markets. He added, And we are doing just that. As Magen McGahee, COO/EVP of Galaxy explained regarding the sector, We would like to remind our current shareholders as well as those new to Galaxy that the Interactive Display market was nearly $10 billion just a few short years ago and is expected to be $27 billion by 2022. The Company expects to release Q2 Earnings on/before February 15, 2019. About Galaxy Next Generation, Inc. Galaxy Next Generation (OTCQB: GAXY) is a U.S. distributor of interactive learning technology hardware and software that allows the presenter and participant to engage in a fully collaborative instructional environment. Galaxy's products include Galaxy's own private-label interactive touch screen panel as well as numerous other national and international branded peripheral and communication devices. Galaxy's distribution channel consists of 22+ resellers across the U.S. who primarily sell the Company's products within the commercial and educational market. Galaxy does not control where resellers focus their resell efforts, although generally, the K-12 education market is the largest customer base for Galaxy products - comprising nearly 90% of Galaxy's sales. Visit our website at: www.galaxynext.us Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the company's current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. A more extensive listing of risks and factors that may affect the company's business prospects and cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the reports and other documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. CONTACT: Galaxy Next Generation, Inc. Investor Relations mgilbert@magellanfin.com 317-361-2392 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] JAB Proposes Partial Tender Offer to Acquire Additional Shares of Coty JAB, a global investment firm focused on long-term investing in premium brands in consumer goods and services, today announced that an affiliate will shortly commence a tender offer pursuant to which JAB Cosmetics B.V. would acquire up to 150 million additional shares of Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY) Class A common stock at a price of $11.65 per share in cash. The offer is subject to, among other things, approval of Coty's independent directors. The key terms of the offer are contained in the full text of the letter delivered to the Coty Board of Directors by JAB, which is included below: February 12, 2019 Coty Inc. 350 Fifth Avenue New York, NY Attention: Board of Directors Members of the Board of Directors: On behalf of JAB Holding Company S.a r.l. ("JAB"), we are pleased to advise you that we are commencing shortly a tender offer, pursuant to which we would acquire up to 150 million shares of Class A common stock (the "Common Stock") of Coty Inc. (the "Company") at a price per share of $11.65 in cash (the "Offer"). The Offer represents a premium of approximately 38% to the 90-day volume-weighted average share price as of yesterday, a premium of approximately 51% to the 30-day volume-weighted average share price as of yesterday, and approximately a 21% premium to yesterday's closing share price. If shareholders tender more than 150 million shares of Common Stock, we will purchase such shares on a pro rata basis. We at JAB have been investors in the Company for almost three decades and expect to remain so. We believe that the Company has the potential to address its challenges and prosper over the long-term, and that the Company's recent management changes are an important first step in addressing the Company's recent performance. We understand that not all investors may share our long-term approach and we expect that shareholders will value the opportunity to obtain a significant premium for their shares in the Offer, even taking into account the recent strong increase in the Company's share price. At the same time, we appreciate that some shareholders will want to participate in the Company's long-term potential value by retaining some or all of their shares in the Company after the Offer. It is our expectation that the members of the Board of Directors who are determined to be independent for purposes of considering our Offer, advised by independent counsel and financial advisors of their choosing, will consider our proposal in the interests of all shareholders, determine the Company's course of action in response and make a recommendation to the Company's shareholders as required by applicable law. We believe that our offer is very full and compelling, but if the independent directors do not have a similar view, we will not proceed with the Offer. The Offer is subject to certain conditions, including that the independent directors of the Company approve the Offer and recommend that the Company's shareholders accept the Offer (the "Board Approval Condition"). We, of course, would be plesed to meet with the independent directors or their advisors to provide any additional information necessary to assist the directors in their deliberations. The Offer is also subject to other customary conditions, as well as the condition that at least 50 million shares of Common Stock are validly tendered and not withdrawn (the "Minimum Tender Condition"). The Offer is not subject to a financing condition. We have sufficient financial resources to consummate the Offer, including debt commitments from BNP Paribas, HSBC Bank plc and UniCredit Bank AG for all funds required to purchase the maximum number of shares in the Offer. If all 150 million shares of Common Stock are purchased in the Offer, we would own, together with our current shareholdings, an aggregate of 450,908,041 shares of Common Stock, representing approximately 60% of the issued and outstanding shares of Common Stock. If 50 million shares of Common Stock are purchased in the Offer, which represents the number of shares of Common Stock necessary to satisfy the Minimum Tender Condition, we would own an aggregate of 350,908,041 shares of Common Stock, representing approximately 47% of the issued and outstanding shares of Common Stock. JAB believes it is in everyone's interest to complete the transaction expeditiously, which includes working with the Company to make the required regulatory filings with the relevant governmental authorities for the Offer. We do not anticipate any substantive competition issues. We are pleased to provide what we believe is an attractive opportunity to our fellow shareholders and look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Peter Harf Chairman, JAB About JAB Holding Company JAB Holding Company and JAB Consumer Fund invest in companies with premium brands, attractive growth and strong cash flow dynamics in the consumer category. Together, JAB Holding Company and JAB Consumer Fund have controlling stakes in Keurig Dr Pepper, a challenger & leader in the North American beverage market, Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE), the largest pure-play FMCG coffee company in the world, Panera Bread, a leading bakery-cafe company, Pret A Manger, a leading company in the ready-to-eat food market, Peet's Coffee & Tea, a premier specialty coffee and tea company, Caribou Coffee Company, a specialty retailer of high-quality premium coffee products, Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc., the leader in the North-American bagel category, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, a global leader in doughnuts and other premium-quality sweet treats, and in Espresso House, the largest branded coffee shop chain in Scandinavia. JAB Holding Company is also the largest shareholder in Coty Inc., a global leader in beauty, and owns a controlling stake in luxury goods company Bally as well as a minority stake in Reckitt Benckiser PLC, a global leader in health, hygiene and home products. For more information, please visit the company's website at: http://www.jabholco.com. Additional Information and Where to Find It The tender offer described in this document has not yet commenced. This announcement is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell shares of Coty. At the time the offer is commenced, an affiliate of JAB will file a Tender Offer Statement on Schedule TO with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the " SEC (News - Alert) "). Thereafter, Coty will file a Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9 with respect to the offer as required by applicable law. Coty stockholders and other investors are urged to read the tender offer materials (including an Offer to Purchase, a related Letter of Transmittal and certain other offer documents) and the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement because they will contain important information which should be read carefully before any decision is made with respect to the tender offer. The Offer to Purchase, the related Letter of Transmittal and certain other offer documents, as well as the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement, will be made available to all stockholders of Coty at no expense to them. The Tender Offer Statement and the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement will be made available for free at the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov. Free copies of these materials and certain other offering documents will be made available by the information agent for the offer. In addition to the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement, Coty files annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. You may read and copy any reports, statements or other information filed by Coty at the SEC public reference room at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the public reference room. Coty's filings with the SEC are also available to the public from commercial document-retrieval services and at the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005423/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Drive, Park, Ride: Moovit and TomTom Align With Microsoft to Introduce World's First Truly Comprehensive Multi-Modal Trip Planner Some of the world's top urban mobility leaders today unveiled the world's first comprehensive multi-modal trip planner, a solution to reduce congestion in cities around the world that will enable developers to build richer apps for consumers to get around their cities. Executives from Moovit, a leading Mobility as a Service (MaaS) provider and the world's #1 transit app, TomTom (News - Alert) , the location technology specialist, and Microsoft's Azure Maps demonstrated the solution that identifies all of the driving, parking, and public transit options, and surfaces them in a single package for map users. This will be particularly useful for suburbanites who don't know where to park their car or which transit line to take in lieu of driving into the city. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005044/en/ Drive, Park, Ride: Moovit and TomTom Align With Microsoft (News - Alert) to Introduce World's First Truly Comprehensive Multi-Modal Trip Planner (Photo: Business Wire) Flanked by Moovit Co-founder and CEO Nir Erez and TomTom Managing Director Anders Truelsen, Chris Pendleton, Head of Azure Maps unveiled the solution during his keynote at the MOVE conference at ExCel London. The solution, which is powered by Moovit's Transit APIs with driving and parking information using TomTom's APIs, shows the options for driving a car from a suburb to a parking lot near a transit station, riding transit into the city and completing the journey on transit, on foot, via car-sharing or on a scooter or bike. No other urban mobility solution offers real-time drive, park, and transit information within one trip plan. Through integration with Azure Maps, Microsoft's location intelligence platform for the Azure cloud, developers will be able to integrate multi-modal trip planning to their IoT, mobility, smart city and logistics solutions. The new APIs are in addition to the transit API integration Microsoft and Moovit announced last November. "Over the last few years cities have experienced rising urban sprawl, where residents of metropolitan areas have been pushed out towards suburban areas, often beyond the limits of public transit lines," Pendleton said. "With most jobs still residing in densely populated cities, the typical commute is becoming multimodal: requiring the suburbanite to first drive to a public transit stop and continue their commute on a train, bus, scooter or bike. The number of decisions that fall on the commuter to make are also greater than ever before - from choosing between transit options to estimating parking availability- and this solution lifts that burden from them by tacklig complete first-mile and last-mile routing." "Moovit's mission is to simplify urban mobility all around the world and we have long provided the best way for consumers to get transit directions and other urban mobility options," Erez said. "Last November we partnered with Microsoft to integrate our transit APIs to Azure to help developers build richer apps for billions of commuters. I couldn't be more pleased that our relationship with Microsoft has evolved to the point where we're adding more of our transit APIs, combined with TomTom's Routing API and Traffic API, to create full multi-modal mapping capabilities for developers on Azure Maps with precise ETAs. This will lead to commuters having the best option to plan a trip combining legs on public transit, ride-sharing, bike or scooter, and other legs by car, including finding available parking lot spaces in real-time." Moovit's leadership in multi-modal trip planning stems from more than six years of optimizing journeys for urban riders using the services of more than 7,000 transit agencies worldwide. Every day, Moovit manages more than five million trip plan requests and generates more than 40 million itinerary options for its more than 350 million users in more than 2,700 cities in 88 countries. The company's multi-modal trip plan engine is based on static, statistical, and real-time public transit data, as well as real-time shared bike, scooter and car-sharing data. "Location data has become more relevant and important than ever before and no one knows this better than TomTom. We have revolutionized the way that maps are updated by inventing a unique mapmaking platform, able to deliver a continuously up-to-date map," Truelsen said. "Our location technologies power individuals, businesses and cities to be more sustainable and get to places efficiently and safely - creating a better world" "Blending TomTom's location and parking data with Moovit's multi-modal trip planning gives Azure Maps an unprecedented view of every facet of urban mobility," Pendleton added. "No one else has provided this comprehensive level of service in one solution." ENDS About Moovit Moovit (www.moovit.com) is a leading Mobility as a Service (MaaS) provider and the world's #1 urban mobility app. Moovit simplifies your urban mobility all around the world, making getting around town via transit easier and more convenient. By combining information from public transit operators and authorities with live information from the user community, Moovit offers travelers a real-time picture, including the best route for the journey. Named Best Local App by Google (News - Alert) in 2016, finalist for Google's Build for Billions category in 2018 and one of Apple's Best Apps of 2017, Moovit launched in 2012 and now has 350 million users. Moovit amasses up to four billion anonymous data points a day to add to the world's largest repository of transit data. The data gathering is aided by Moovit's network of more than 550,000 local editors called "Mooviters." These passionate users help map and maintain local transit information in cities that would otherwise be unserved. Mooviters account for 65 percent of the hundreds of cities Moovit opens every year and make Moovit the Wikipedia of Transit. Moovit is an early pioneer of Mobility as a Service (MaaS). The company helps people change the way they consume mobility by fully integrating other forms of transport, such as local bicycle services, into its app. In 2017 Moovit launched its suite of MaaS solutions to help cities, governments and transit operators improve urban mobility in their cities. Moovit is available for free on iOS, Android and the Web in more than 2,700 cities, across 88 countries, and can be used in 44 languages. More than 100 cities and global events, including Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Olympics, have made Moovit their official transit app. Moovit Media Contact: press@moovit.com About TomTom TomTom is the leading independent location technology specialist, shaping mobility with highly accurate maps, navigation software, real-time traffic information and services. To achieve our vision of a safer world, free of congestion and emissions, we create innovative technologies that keep the world moving. By combining our extensive experience with leading business and technology partners, we power connected vehicles, smart mobility and, ultimately, autonomous driving. Headquartered in Amsterdam with offices in 30 countries, TomTom's technologies are trusted by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005044/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] The New 'Future Mobility of the Year' to Celebrate the Best Vehicles of the Future The KAIST Graduate School for Green Transportation announced the establishment of the Future Mobility of the Year (FMOTY) Awards, which will recognize concept cars that have made outstanding contributions to the future of mobility. The first awards ceremony will take place in March 2019. The Awards were created to instill a forward-looking spirit in the existing awards that have been centered around finished vehicles. The awards will be given to concept cars that debut at international motor shows in three categories-Private, Public & Commercial, and Personal. Each of these categories isolates a specific contribution to the innovative services and transportation technologies that shape the future of mobility. The awards are judged by an esteemed panel of motor journalists to ensure a fair judging process befitting for prestigious awards. The panelists will evaluate social values and innovative contributions of concept cars to fuel the next development of future cars. 15 finalists from Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Pugeot, Porsche, Renault, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo have been shortlisted among the 45 concept cars that made the initial cut in 2018. The winner will be determined and announced at the awards ceremony in late March in Seoul. Concept cars have long been excluded from existing auto awards such as "Car of the Year," as they have been viewed as strictly experimental prototypes built to showcase an automaker's new vision for a far-flung future. As the first-of-its-kind, the FMOTY Awards are expected to evolve into the most prestigious event of its kind that shines a spotlight on the best ideas and values of mind-blowing concept cars. Kyung-soo Kim, dean of KAIST Graduate School for Green Transportation said, "As the automotive industry undergoes transformation, awards that honor the efforts taken by automakers to guide the future of mobility are more relevant than ever. By selecting the best concept car, the FMOTY Awards will expand beyond present cars and bring public attention to future vehicles." Details can be found on the official website of FMOTY (www.fmoty.org), where photos of the finalists are also available for download (http://bitly.kr/JTUUp). The KAIST Graduate School for Green Transportation has been founded to produce the world's top transportation specialists who develop sustainable transport technologies and take the lead in the future car industry. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005355/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Pariveda Solutions Leverages AWS to Help Houston Food Bank Make Meals Accessible to Greater Houston Community HOUSTON, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 1 million people are food insecure, lacking reliable access to nutritious food, in southeast Texas. Through its network of over 1,500 community partners, the Houston Food Bank leads the fight against hunger by providing food assistance across its 18-county coverage area in southeast Texas. In an effort to reach even more individuals, Houston Food Bank and Pariveda Solutions are leveraging Amazon Web Services (AWS) to create a digital app that will make meals even more accessible. With the help of its community partners, from soup kitchen to meal sites to shelters, Houston Food Bank helps to feed 800,000 individuals each year. In times of disaster, such as Hurricane Harvey, the need increases, and Houston Food Bank is called upon to aid the community. In the year following Hurricane Harvey, they distributed 122 million nutritious meals (source: Houston Food Bank). Now, a little more than one year since the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, Houston Food Bank is working to leverage technology to make a greater impact, not only during a storm but also for the parents who are struggling to put meals on the table. "One in six children goes hungry in Texas, and one critical component to solving this issue is awareness of available resources," says Brian Greene, president/CEO of Houston Food Bank. "There are a great deal of services and information available, but it can often be confusing and overwhelming, and we are working on a mobile and web application, or 'app', with Pariveda Solutions leveraging AWS, designed to streamline information in a user-friendly format to help people get the assistance that they need, especially in times of disaster." Pariveda Solutions utilized their 11-week internship program, focused on making an impact to the community, o put together a mobile and web application that allows for people to more easily find access to food banks close to them. The application is a first because it integrates with the database housed on AWS and reaches new communities. "Working with Houston Food Bank gave us the opportunity to impact the Houston community at a large scale," said Allison Esenkova, Houston Vice President for Pariveda Solutions. "It provided a platform for our interns to learn the world of consulting while giving back in a way that impacts the Houston community to reduce hunger." This new application leverages the technologies of AWS. Houston Food Bank has decided to migrate their platforms to the AWS stack and this new pantry application aligns and integrates easily. This mobile application will allow for a map with pantry locations for ease of discovery, Spanish language support and push notifications that will work by geography. In addition, it will provide general information about the food bank as well as user analytics to continue to improve. "We are delighted to see Amazon Web Services technology impact the community in a positive way," said Terry Wise, Vice President of Worldwide Partner Ecosystems, Amazon Web Services, Inc. "Houston Food Bank and APN Premier Partner Pariveda Solutions leveraged AWS to create a solution that is designed have a lasting impact on the people of Houston." About Pariveda Solutions Pariveda Solutions, Inc. is an employee-owned, strategic services and information technology consulting company that grows and deploys talented people to solve the strategic and technical challenges of its clients. The company serves clients in ten major city locations including: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C. Pariveda Solutions and The Business of IT are trademarks of Pariveda Solutions, Inc., Dallas, Texas, USA. About Houston Food Bank The Houston Food Bank is a solution to both hunger and food waste. In the year following Hurricane Harvey the Food Bank distributed 122 million nutritious meals through its network of 1,500 community partners, including food pantries, soup kitchens, social service providers, and schools in southeast Texas. We distribute fresh produce, meat and nonperishables from our warehouse at 535 Portwall, where we also prepare nutritious hot meals for kids in our new state-of-the-art Keegan Kitchen. We work with grocery stores and growers to rescue food before it reaches landfills with a focus on fresh healthy food. Additional community services include nutrition education and SNAP application assistance. We feed hungry people in 18-county service area alongside our partner food banks in Montgomery County, Galveston and Brazos Valley. The Houston Food Bank, founded in 1982, is a certified member of Feeding America, the nation's food bank network, with a four-star rating from Charity Navigator. Contact information Contact for Houston Food Bank Paula Murphy, Patterson & Murphy Public Relations 832-723-6983; paula@pattersonandmurphy.com Adele Brady, Houston Food Bank 713-547-8674; abrady@houstonfoodbank.org View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pariveda-solutions-leverages-aws-to-help-houston-food-bank-make-meals-accessible-to-greater-houston-community-300793687.html SOURCE Pariveda Solutions, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Call for Entries: International Competition "beyond bauhaus - prototyping the future" BERLIN, February 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- To mark the centennial anniversary of the Bauhaus, in 2019, "Germany - Land of Ideas" is seeking visionary design concepts / Apply online by 31 March 2019, at http://www.beyondbauhaus.com The international competition "beyond bauhaus - prototyping the future" will award prizes to twenty groundbreaking design concepts that address relevant social issues and contribute to making our world a healthier, fairer, more sustainable and better place. Projects will be assessed on creative vision, sustainability and potential social impact. The competition is open to designers and creatives from across the world and seeks prototypes in the development stage as well as pioneerin projects already implemented, from all design disciplines: from basic research and materials science to product design, fashion, architecture, urban development, mobility and future technologies (for example: coding software or 3D printing processes). An international jury will select the winners, which will be presented at the official Bauhaus celebrations in Berlin, in late August 2019. This competition is supported by the German Foreign Federal Office, Lotto Stiftung Berlin and SAP SE. For further information please visit http://www.beyondbauhaus.com . About the Germany - Land of Ideas initiative "Germany - Land of Ideas" is an initiative of the German Federal Government and the Federation of German Industries (BDI). Its aim is to enhance Germany's international visibility and to engage in dialogue with other countries. http://www.land-of-ideas.com http://www.facebook.com/germany.LandOfIdeas http://www.twitter.com/Land_Of_Ideas Press contact Deutschland - Land der Ideen Stefan Volovinis Phone: +49(0)30/206459-160 presse@land-der-ideen.de [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] New RootMetrics US National Report: Mobile Carriers Focus on Speed in Major Metros As 5G Rollouts Loom BELLEVUE, Wash., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- RootMetrics by IHS Markit, the gold standard for mobile performance benchmarking, today released its 2nd Half 2018 Review of Mobile Network Performance in the US, providing the most comprehensive picture of mobile network performance across the country. In its eleventh edition, RootMetrics issued its nationwide results, including a breakdown of network performance across all 50 states and the 125 most populated metropolitan areas. Mobile networks are racing to 5G, making network reliability and speed a top priority in the country's largest metro areas to support consumers' evolving mobile activities. The RootMetrics report combines scientifically based data with real-world mobile performance insights to provide consumers with a completely independent view of each carrier's performance where they live, work and play. During the second half of 2018, RootMetrics scouters drove 230,926 miles, visited 7,922 indoor locations and conducted nearly 3.9 million scientific tests of mobile performance. All tests were conducted using unmodified, off-the-shelf phones purchased from carrier stores. RootMetrics uses random sampling techniques to ensure results offer a robust characterization of performance across six testing categories, including overall performance, reliability, speed, data performance, call performance and text performance. Metro performance summarized Metro-level testing offers consumers the most accurate picture of the mobile experience where they spend most of their time. To provide excellent mobile performance in metro testing, carriers must prioritize fast speeds and high network reliability. The report reveals that Verizon continues to lead the way at the metro level. The carrier increased from 602 awards to 667 awards out of a possible 750. This improvement can be attributed to Verizon's consistently reliable and fast network performance. Notably, Verizon registered median download speeds faster than 20 Mbps in 111 markets, which is more than any other carrir. Meanwhile, AT&T is also making metro-level performance a priority, earning the second-highest tally of awards at 349, a big improvement from the carrier's 292 wins in the first half of 2018. In addition to focusing on network speed, AT&T has made solid gains in the call, overall performance and network reliability categories. T-Mobile decreased its number of metro-level awards to 323 from 454 in the first half of 2018, but the carrier remains competitive when it comes to network speed. In fact, T-Mobile delivers top download speeds in 102 markets and records the fastest median download speed of any carrier at 57.0 Mbps in Flint, MI. Sprint's ongoing network improvements saw it make impressive speed gains in metro-level testing, increasing the number of markets in which it delivered median download speeds of at least 20 Mbps from 31 to 55. "Americans depend on their mobile devices for 24/7 connectivity, and our latest report shows the carriers are working to align with this demand," said Doug King, RootMetrics director. "Data performance has become a top priority for consumers, and it's clear the mobile carriers are listening and investing heavily to improve speed and reliability. As the wireless market focuses on making 5G a reality with the carriers expected to fully roll out next-generation LTE nationwide by 2020 we can expect to see continued emphasis on fast mobile experiences." You can find a full breakdown of mobile network performance during the second half of 2018 at the metro level here. State performance summarized Providing a top-notch mobile experience at the state-level can be difficult for the carriers, as it requires strong service from dense urban areas to smaller, rural towns. The report revealed that Verizon remains the top-performer at the state level, earning 263 RootScore Awards out of a possible 300. This is more than twice as many as its next-closest competitor, AT&T, which earned 129 awards. Notably, this marks the eleventh consecutive testing period that AT&T has finished as a strong number-two competitor in state-level testing. Sprint increased from 8 state-level awards during the first half of 2018 to 15 in the second half of the year, giving it the largest award gain among all carriers and closing the gap with T-Mobile, which earned 22 awards in the second half of 2018. You can find a full breakdown of mobile network performance during the second half of 2018 at the state level here. Performance at the national level When it comes to providing a strong mobile experience at the national level, a network needs to offer outstanding performance across all the different spaces where consumers use their smartphones. This includes major cities, towns of all sizes, highways, rural areas and every place in between. The latest RootMetrics report reveals Verizon continues to outshine the competition at the national level, winning or sharing the United States RootScore Award in every category. This is the carrier's eleventh straight overall performance award. Breaking down national-level performance from the other carriers, AT&T remains a strong competitor for Verizon. AT&T earned second place in every category but text performance, where the carrier shares the top spot with Verizon for the fourth consecutive testing period. Meanwhile, T-Mobile improved to third place for network reliability at the national level. You can find a full breakdown of mobile network performance during the second half of 2018 at the national level here. For details on the RootMetrics testing methodology, visit: http://www.rootmetrics.com/en-US/methodology . About RootMetrics RootMetrics by IHS Markit is mobile analytics that measure mobile network performance and offer insights into the consumer mobile experience. RootMetrics provides data on mobile network performance to help the networks improve and give consumers an end-to-end look at mobile performance. To ensure that RootMetrics results reflect real-world mobile usage, testing is conducted based on where, when and how consumers use their smartphones most often. IHS Markit and RootMetrics are registered trademarks of IHS Markit Ltd. and/or its affiliates. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners 2019 IHS Markit Ltd. All rights reserved. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Stephanie Epstein for RootMetrics by IHS Markit rootmetrics@shiftcomm.com +1-617-779-1800 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-rootmetrics-us-national-report-mobile-carriers-focus-on-speed-in-major-metros-as-5g-rollouts-loom-300793674.html SOURCE RootMetrics [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Sagentia: Medical Device Software Development Needs 'Risk Compass' for the Digital Age CAMBRIDGE, England, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The complex relationship between opportunity and risk in the connected world poses unprecedented challenges for medical device manufacturers, according to software specialists at product development consultancy Sagentia. Software architects regularly contend with conflicting objectives when making technology choices. Acceleration of product development is a major goal, but so is the safety and security of patients and users. Upfront software decisions have a critical bearing on both product efficacy and the likelihood of achieving regulatory approval. There is rarely an absolute right choice. Instead, software architects must consider all the available options, opportunities and repercussions, then make a pragmatic choice. Sagentia has developed a free whitepaper Medical devices: the shift from embedded to connected to help decision-makers develop a 'risk compass' to navigate this environment. One of the paper's authors, Paulo Pinheiro, Head of Electronics, Software and Systems at Sagentia, explains: "The new possibilities unlocked by connectivity and commodity software are hugely exciting. But they do come at a cost. With traditional medical devices, code is embedded and contained witin a single functional unit. It's isolated and relatively easy to protect. When devices are connected, you relinquish some of that control, and increase exposure to external threats. Software architects have to find the right balance between controlling the risks and maximising the opportunities. And it isn't easy." Issues covered by the whitepaper range from risk-based decision making and future-proofing to usability. It considers how to apply the software classifications detailed in the IEC 62304 standard for medical device software. And it looks at software security guidance from the US Food and Drug Administration and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation. "Medical device development has to keep pace with the connected world, but decisions need to be underpinned by a high level of awareness," Paulo continues. "With a solid understanding of the technology and regulatory landscape, backed by robust processes, the benefits of the connected digital world can be brought to medical devices, without compromising on patient safety." Medical devices: the shift from embedded to connected is available at https://www.sagentia.com/insight/medical-devices-the-shift-from-embedded-to-connected/. Sagentia will be at Software Design for Medical Devices Global, 11-14 February 2019. About Sagentia Sagentia is a global science, product and technology development company. Our mission is to help companies maximise the value of their investments in R&D. We partner with clients in the medical, consumer, industrial and food & beverage sectors to help them understand the technology and market landscape, decide their future strategy, solve the complex science and technology challenges and deliver commercially successful products. Sagentia employs over 150 scientists, engineers and market experts and is a Science Group company. Science Group provides independent advisory and leading-edge product development services focused on science and technology initiatives. It has ten offices globally, two UK-based dedicated R&D innovation centres and more than 350 employees. Other Science Group companies include OTM Consulting, Oakland Innovation, Leatherhead Food Research and TSG Consulting. For further information visit us at: www.sagentia.com or email info@sagentia.com www.sciencegroup.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Former president, Goodluck Jonathans aide, Reno Omokri has mocked the All Progressives Congress, APC, its leaders and president Muhammadu Buhari for the outcome of the partys presidential campaign rally in Ogun state yesterday. At Buharis campaign rally in Ogun state on Monday, angry supporters took it to another level by booing and stoning the APC leaders on stage. Reno Omokri in his reaction said the APC leaders were visited by the law of karma, because Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos, during APC campaign rally in the state, had called former president Olusegun Obasanjo, expired milk that should be dumped by Nigerians. Speaking via Twitter on Tuesday, Omokri hailed Obasanjo for having a strong head because those who called him expired milk, got their judgement in less than 48hours. But Olusegun Obasanjo has a strong head! It did not take up to 48 hours for those who were insulting him to receive the greatest insult of their lives. And just as their insults on Obj was caught on camera, their DISGRACE was caught on video, he wrote. [February 12, 2019] Wirecard Digitizes Loyalty and Incentive Programs and Enables the Uploading of Money Within Seconds - Wirecard Virtual Express enhances platform services with immediate and secure access to digital funds - New mobile-first functionality reflects upward trend in mobile wallet adoption and increases brand engagement and consumer spend - Simple and intuitive customer experience minimizes friction and offers more convenience ASCHHEIM, Germany, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Wirecard, the global innovation leader in digital financial technology, has announced the release of its Virtual Express solution for immediate and reliable delivery of digital funds including refunds, incentives, and rewards. The new functionality has been designed specifically for mobile wallets. Mobile wallet usage is gaining traction around the globe, with the main payment services seeing an upsurge in adoption in 2018. Virtual Express is available immediately to customers in the U.S. and will be rolled out to other geographies later in the year. Virtual Express is part of a suite of digital payment solutions that improve operational efficiencies for businesses while delivering added convenience for end users. The feature is especially valuable for companies that want to enhance brand engagement within loyalty and incentive programs. Virtual Express allows users to access funds directly and skip the step of card registration. This removes friction from the payment process and puts funds in consumers'hands quickly and easily. For businesses, reduced friction increases redemption and engagement. Companies that employ digital payment solutions see significant cost savings over issuing checks less than $1 compared with up to $12 per check. Digital delivery keeps consumers in the mobile ecosystem, prolonging engagement and increasing overall spend. "The key factors contributing to the ongoing digital transformation are businesses' ability to tap into consumer preferences, provide a superior customer experience, and deliver in real time," said Deirdre Ives, Regional Managing Director North America at Wirecard. "Virtual Express ticks all the boxes, and we're very excited to bring this added value and convenience to our clients and their customers. Wirecard has been leading the industry in terms of correctly anticipating consumer expectations and delivering innovative products that resonate." The Virtual Express user experience is smooth and quick. A customer simply clicks a secure link in a welcome email, accepts the terms and conditions and can then choose to shop online immediately or provision their payment to their preferred wallet to shop anywhere mobile wallets are accepted. Virtual Express, as with all of Wirecard's digital payment technologies, combines the company's core strengths including robust data collection and analytics, innovation, and global payments and banking expertise to optimize customer relationships About Wirecard: Wirecard (GER:WDI) is one of the world's fastest growing digital platforms in the area of financial commerce. We provide both business customers and consumers with a constantly expanding ecosystem of real-time value-added services built around innovative digital payments by using an integrated B2B2C approach. This ecosystem concentrates on the areas payment & risk, retail & transaction banking, loyalty & couponing, data analytics & conversion rate enhancement in all sales channels (online, mobile, ePOS). Wirecard operates regulated financial institutions in several key markets and holds issuing and acquiring licenses from all major payment and card networks. Wirecard AG is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (DAX and TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060). Visit us on www.wirecard.com, follow us on Twitter @wirecard and on Facebook @wirecardgroup. Wirecard media contact: Wirecard AG Jana Tilz Tel.: +49(0)89-4424-1363 Email: jana.tilz@wirecard.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Rakuten to Invest in Mobile Industry Innovator Altiostar Rakuten, Inc., a leading global innovation company in e-commerce, communications and fintech, and soon to be the operator of Japan's newest and most innovative mobile network, today announced a strategic investment in US-based mobile technology company, Altiostar Networks, Inc., to be completed subject to approval by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190211005851/en/ Altiostar will utilize this new round of financing to expand its virtual Radio Access Network solutions for 4G and 5G to accelerate the industry paradigm shift to web-scale cloud-native mobile networks. Rakuten is currently on track to achieve an industry first with the deployment of a fully virtualized mobile network in Japan in October 2019, including radio access, and the investment in Altiostar demonstrates Rakuten's commitment to taking a leadership role in driving RAN virtualization. To build its 5G-ready mobile network infrastructure, Rakuten is nurturing an open ecosystem by actively participating in crafting solutions through engagement with industry leaders like Intel and Qualcomm (News - Alert) , as well as ODMs and innovative Virtual RAN disruptors like Altiostar. "Our vision for Rakuten Mobile Network is to build the world's first end-to-end, fully virtualized, software-defined mobile network: A network that innovates at the Speed-of-Software and scales at te Speed-of-Cloud. Altiostar technology is key to realizing this vision within the year," said Tareq Amin, CTO of Rakuten Mobile Network. "The whole Rakuten team is looking forward to working closely with Altiostar to take a leadership role in driving RAN virtualization and to bring disruptive innovation to the mobile industry." "Open RAN architecture and virtualization are key to building software-centric networks that can scale and adapt to meet an explosion of devices and applications driving service velocity and profits," said Ashraf Dahod (News - Alert) , CEO of Altiostar Networks. "This funding is going to help us expand our technology innovation to help operators like Rakuten to push new business models and bring affordable broadband to the masses through web-scale mobile networks." In addition to the investment, Rakuten Mobile Network President Yoshihisa Yamada and Chief Technology Officer Tareq Amin will join the board of Altiostar upon completion of the transaction. About Rakuten Rakuten, Inc. (TOKYO: 4755) is a global leader in internet services that empower individuals, communities, businesses and society. Founded in Tokyo in 1997 as an online marketplace, Rakuten has expanded to offer services in e-commerce, fintech, digital content and communications to more than 1.2 billion members around the world. The Rakuten Group has over 17,000 employees, and operations in 30 countries and regions. For more information visit https://global.rakuten.com/corp/. About Altiostar Altiostar provides a 5G-ready virtualized RAN software solution that supports open interfaces and disaggregates the hardware from the software to build an open multi-vendor web-scale network. This solution supports macro and small cells, indoor and outdoor, enabling interference management, carrier aggregation and dual reception to improve the efficiency of the network and enhances the Quality of Experience for the user while providing broadband speeds. Operators can add intelligence, quickly adapt the software for different services and automate operations to rapidly scale the network. For more information visit http://www.altiostar.com or follow on Twitter (News - Alert) @altiostar. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190211005851/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 11, 2019] DigitalBerge, The #1 SEO Company in Delhi NCR, Launches its Personal Branding Services NEW DELHI, February 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- With the launch of its personal branding services, DigitalBerge, The SEO Company in Delhi NCR, has created a buzz in the Indian social media market. On the 17th of January, its founding partner Mr. Mumtaz Ali informed the media, at a press conference held in New Delhi, that in keeping with the previous track record of the company; DigitalBerge would now be providing Personal Branding services to its esteemed clients. He said that as it is the election year in India, the company has been getting a number of inquiries from various sections including politicians, industrialists, and decided on launching personal branding services. What is unique about the services provided by DigitalBerge is both in its content and approach. The company is not only promoting brands on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc. but also on conventional print and electronic mainstream media. This sets them apart from the rest of personal branding companies which only focus on the new media. The company decided on the offline personal branding platforms since in span >India the reach and authority of conventional media are phenomenal. "In personal branding, you just cannot ignore the might of traditional media," adds Satyendra Mishra, the founder partner of DigitalBerge. The company is giving customized services to its clients. The company understands the needs and requirements of individual client and comes up with a fitting package that is designed as per specific requirements of the client. Since social media has emerged as a major platform for the political parties, the platform cannot be ignored. No one can do without a decent social media base. It not only shows a leader's popularity but is also a very effective medium to communicate with its constituency. This is just the beginning of the role of social media in the Indian elections. In the time to come, more and more emphasis would be given to the social media campaigns as it is more targeted and hence, more effective. Moreover, the results achieved by the social media campaign are tangible and track-able in real time. It is therefore a very effective tool of communication with the masses. To put things in perspective, DigitalBerge is a top-rated SEO company based in New Delhi, having a wide clientele spread across USA, UK, Australia and the Middle East. The company not only excels in SEO services but is also equally competent in social media campaigns. Digitalberge, The Top Rated SEO Company in India, had earlier launched a promotional platform called Mahaachiever for the promotion of talented people across the country. The company has been growing steadily with annual growth of 200% and is likely to add new clients with its personal branding service. "We hope to break the glass ceiling with our social media branding services as this is election year and we are welcoming all the clients from all the parties as we have no political affiliation, and work with utmost secrecy and commitment," says Satyendra Mishra. Media Contact: Mumtaz Ali info@digitalberge.com +91-9958992928 Partner, Digitalberge [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 11, 2019] Growatt Donates Inverter to Indore Cancer Foundation's Rooftop Solar Plant Project INDORE, India, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Growatt, a Shenzhen, China-based manufacturer of PV inverters, announced that it donated one unit of its inverter, Growatt 20KTL3-S, to the Indore Cancer Foundation Charitable Trust (ICF), a not-for-profit charitable organization in central India, for its rooftop solar power plant project. The ICF was established in 1988, with its focus on head & neck cancers, the most common cancers among Indian male adults, promoting medical education to the public and conducting clinical researches. To reduce carbon footprint and power the facility with clean solar energy, the ICF initiated the installation of a 20kW solar power plant on the rooftop. After learning about the initiative, Growatt donated a 20kW inverter and worked with other parties to finish the project. Growatt has been committed to corporate social responsibility ever since its foundation. It applies responsible practices in the workplace and has been awarded the SA8000 certification. Growatt supports social and charitable causes through donations and has contributed to many photovoltaic projects that are aimed at poverty reduction, as well as those in schools in remote areas with limited access to the grid. The donation to ICF is another example of Growatt's commitments to the society. The plant has now been commissioned and connected to the grid. This 20kW rooftop project is expected to produce an energy output of approximately 32,000kWh annually, which will provide electricity power for the whole facility and help cut the bills. The ICF expressed their special thanks to Growatt for donating the inverter. "Growatt entered the Indian solar market in 2011. After years of growth we are now one of the top inverter brands in the rooftop solar market. With great power comes great responsibility. Growatt is committed to social responsibility and we are honored to make this donation and contribute to the rooftop solar plant of the ICF," says Frank Qiao, Growatt co-founder and sales director. "Its annual power generation will help reduce CO2 emissions equivalent to 400 to 500 trees planted. This is definitely another achievement of the ICF in their noble work they've been doing for decades." Photo- https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20190125/2357031-1 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 11, 2019] /DISREGARD RELEASE: Super Micro Computer, Inc./ We are advised by Super Micro Computer, Inc. that journalists and other readers should disregard the news release, Supermicro Scale-up Servers Deliver Affordable, Next Geeration In-Memory Computing to the Cloud, issued 05-Feb-2019 over PR Newswire. SOURCE Super Micro Computer, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 11, 2019] Goldmoney Inc. Announces Date of Third Quarter 2019 Earnings Release Goldmoney Inc. (TSX:XAU) (US:XAUMF) ("Goldmoney") (the "Company"), a precious metal focused investment company, will announce third quarter 2019 financial results before market open on Thursday, February 14. About Goldmoney Inc. Goldmoney Inc., a precious metal focused investment company, is engaged in precious metal investment, custody and storage, jewelry, coin retailing, and lending through its ownership of various operating divisions. Goldmoney oversees $1.8 billion in precious metal assets for clients around the world. The Company includes four operating divisions. Goldmoney.com (100% owned) is an online platform which provides clients with access to physical precious metal investment, custody, and storage. Mene Inc. (33% owned) crafts pure 24 karat gold and platinum jewelry that is transparently sold by gram weight. Through mene.com, customers may buy jewelry, monitor the value of their collection over time, and sell or exchange their pieces by gram weight at prevailing market prices. Schiff Gold LLC (100% owned) is a United States-based dealer in precious metals through which the Company offers the purchase and sale of physical precious metals in the form of bars, coins and wafers with direct-to-customer delivery. Lend & Borrow Trust (23% owned) is a U.K.-based online platform regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority offering auction-rate peer-to-peer lending and borrowing collateralized by precious metals. Through these businesses and other investment activities, Goldmoney gains long-term exposure to precious metals. Goldmoney Wealth Limited is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) as a Money Services Business. Goldmoney Network is a reporting entity to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), and is registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in the U.S. For more information about Goldmoney, visit goldmoney.com. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains or refers to certain forward-looking information. Forward-looking information can often be identified by forward-looking words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "plan", "intend", "estimate", "may", "potential" and "will" or similar words suggesting future outcomes, or other expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions, intentions or statements about future events or performance. All information other than information regarding historical fact, which addresses activities, events or developments that the Goldmoney Inc. (the "Company") believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, is forward-looking information. Forward-looking information does not constitute historical fact but reflects the current expectations the Company regarding future results or events based on information that is currently available. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve 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 information will not occur. Such forward-looking information in this release speak only as of the date hereof. Forward-looking information in this release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to: service times for transactions on the Goldmoney network; growth of the Company's business, expected results of operations, and the market for the Company's products and services and competitive conditions. This forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time it was made, and involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others: the Company's operating history; history of operating losses; future capital needs and uncertainty of additional financing; fluctuations in the market price of the Company's common shares; the effect of government regulation and compliance on the Company and the industry; legal and regulatory change and uncertainty; jurisdictional factors associated with international operations; foreign restrictions on the Company's operations; product development and rapid technological change; dependence on technical infrastructure; protection of intellectual property; use and storage of personal information and compliance with privacy laws; network security risks; risk of system failure or inadequacy; the Company's ability to manage rapid growth; competition; effectiveness of the Company's risk management and internal controls; use of the Company's services for improper or illegal purposes; uninsured and underinsured losses; theft & risk of physical harm to personnel; precious metal trading risks; and volatility of precious metals prices & public interest in precious metals investment; and those risks set out in the Company's most recently filed annual information form, available on SEDAR. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, except as required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190211005823/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 11, 2019] AHF: Anthem Denies Care to Florida AIDS Patients-Miami PROTEST-Tues., Feb. 12th 11:00 am One hundred HIV/AIDS advocates from across the region will come out on Tuesday, February 12th at 11:00am to protest Anthem Insurance Company's ongoing denial of insurance coverage to individuals living with HIV that are receiving care from doctors they trust at healthcare centers operated by the nonprofit, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF). The protest will take place at the offices of Simply Healthcare dba Clear Health Alliance, (9250 W. Flagler Street, Miami), a subsidiary of Anthem in South Florida, that administers the Medicaid managed healthcare plan in South Florida. WHAT: PROTEST AGAINST ANTHEM HEALTH INSURANCE 100 HIV/AIDS advocates will protest against Anthem Health Insurance and their ongoing denial to include in their network the physicians who have cared for close to 2,000 individuals living with HIV that are receiving ongoing, impactful care by those physicians at healthcare centers operated by the nonprofit, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF). WHEN: Tuesday, FEBRUARY 12, 2019 11:00 AM ET WHERE: Corporate Offices of Simply Healthcare Insurance 9250 W. Flagler St., Miami, FL Note: Anthem Health Insurance does business in South Florida as Simply Healthcare WHY: According to recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Controls (CDC), south Florida leads the nation in terms of new HIV diagnosis, and throughout the state has the largest concentration of those living with HIV. As the world's largest, nonprofit, HIV/AIDS service organization, with over 1 million patients in care, AHF has a proven record of keeping HIV patients in care and for ensuring they receive the array of sensitive services they need to stay alive. With the ongoing changes to Medicaid managed health care plans, Anthem's denial of access to the HIV physician experts to those living with HIV who are currently receiving care from doctors they know and trust with their lives at AHF, will result in disruption to the continuum of the lifesaving care that the close to 2,000 HIV+ individuals have relied on to stay alive. Following several attempts by AHF officials, as recent as last week, to reach an agreement with Anthem to ensure access to their HIV+ expert AHF doctors for close to 2,000 individuals living with HIV, Anthem has continued to deny this lifesaving access. Following President Trump's national commitment to eradicate HIV in the U.S. within 10 years, stated during his State of the Union address, Anthem's denial of HIV primary care insurance access to HIV care for patients in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, the epicenter of the HIV epidemic in the country, is counter-productive to comprehensively addressing this devastating epidemic. This action by Anthem removes patients' choice in continuing with doctors they have come to trust and will directly result in a disruption to their care. AHF has made state officials at Florida's Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA) aware of this issue, and they have continued to support Anthem's actions. "It is deplorable that Anthem has chosen to play with the lives of thousands of individuals living with HIV, and deny them the ability to continue with the doctors they trust," stated Michael Kahane, AHF Southern Bureau Chief. "We demand that Anthem and state officials stop playing politics and cushioning the pockets of Anthem executives and put the lives of HIV patients first!" Facts about HIV in Florida: (According to the Florida Department of Health) In 2016, Florida had an HIV case rate of 24.0 per 100,000 people which places the state at the third highest among states with the top 10 highest rates. Florida's case rate was higher than the US average case rate of 12.3 per 100,000 people. Miami, FL and Ft. Lauderdale, FL take the top two rankings for metropolitan statistical areas with case rates of 47.0 and 40.1 respectively. About AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1,000,000 individuals in 43 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook (News - Alert) : www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) : @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190211005819/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 11, 2019] Gadsden Growth Properties Acquires $240 Million Mixed-Use Asset in San Francisco Bay Area Gadsden Growth Properties, Inc., a privately-held real estate corporation, ("Gadsden"), which signed an agreement in November 2018 to merge with FC Global Realty Incorporated (OTC Pink: FCRE; TASE: FCRE "FC Global"), today announced that it has acquired Mission Hills Square, a mixed-use ground up development that includes 158 residential apartment units and 53,900 square feet of retail space for approximately $240 million in a combination of cash and stock. "This acquisition is indicative of our core strategy of buying strong retail and mixed-use assets in secondary markets with robust economic and socioeconomic tailwinds," stated John E. Hartman, Chief Executive Officer of Gadsden Growth Properties, Inc. "Fremont is a secondary city to both San Jose and San Francisco and is more affordable by Bay Area standards. We believe this asset significantly increases the Company's NAV and enhances the overall quality of our portfolio." Mission Hills Square is a new mixed-use development located in Fremont, California and slated for completion in October 2019. Situated in the foothills of the San Francisco Bay Area along Highway 680, Mission Hills Square will offer 158 residential apartment units above 53,900 square feet of commercial retail space. Mission Hills future commercial tenants are anticipated to include retail stores, sit-down restaurants, and casual eateries that will serve not only the residents of Mission Hills but also the populations that live in the surrounding areas, as Mission Hills Square will be an easily accessible shopping and dining destination. As a suburb of the San Francisco Bay Area,Mission Hills Square benefits from a high quality of life, and a well-educated work force boasting median incomes that exceed $100,000 within a 5-mile radius. The project is in proximity to major employers, such as Facebook (News - Alert) , Apple and other high-tech companies. In addition, demand for housing, coupled with low supply and high occupancy in the area, supports an inherent demand for both apartments and retail. About Gadsden Gadsden Growth Properties, Inc. is a Maryland corporation that was formed on August 11, 2016. Gadsden's business strategy will focus on the acquisition, development and management of property across retail, medical office and mixed-use investment segments in secondary and tertiary cities in the United States. Gadsden is a privately-held corporation and its securities do not trade on any marketplace. Additional information about Gadsden Growth Properties, Inc. may be found online at www.gadsdenreit.com. More information regarding the merger and related transactions between FC Global and Gadsden are available in the registration statement that was filed by FC Global on November 9, 2018 and thereafter amended with the latest amendment having been filed on January 30, 2019 (the "Registration Statement"). Forward-Looking Statements DISCLOSURE NOTICE: This document contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, related to Gadsden and its acquisition of the Mission Hills property. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements for purposes of federal and state securities laws. The forward looking statements in this press release include statements regarding the successful completion of the development of Mission Hills Square, the ability of Gadsden to successfully lease up the property and achieve occupancy levels that allow for the property to become profitable, and statements regarding Freemont California being a robust economic city with socioeconomic tailwinds. These forward-looking statements involve uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the financial or operating results of Gadsden and its newly acquired Mission Hills Square property, including the types of risks described in the Registration Statement. Gadsden does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained in this document as the result of new information or future events or developments. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190211005802/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 11, 2019] GWU'S DR. PATRICIA BERG TO TELL AMER ASSN. FOR ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE: NOVEL GENE GIVES "PROMISE FOR PROGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF MANY CANCERS" -- SAT., FEB 16, 3:30 pm, Wash. DC, Marriott Wardman Park--Flash Talk Stage WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- George Washington University's Dr. Patricia Berg will tell the American Association for Advancement of Science's Annual Meeting that a gene provides "Promise for Prognosis and Treatment of Many Cancers." Berg's talk, based on a 2018 article in Biomarkers in Medicine summarizing her seventeen years of research into the gene she discovered and cloned, BP1, will open the 3:30 session of talks Saturday, February 16, at the Marriott Wardman Park Flash Talk Stage. Last year in Austin, 10,000 scientists attended the annual meeting of one of the nation's most important scientific organizations. In her presentation abstract, Berg states that tests showed 80% of women with breast cancer tested positive for BP1, 70% of men with prostate cancer, 63% of acute myeloid leukemia patients, 78% with non-small cell lung cancer, and 47% with ovarian cancer. She says, last year alone, "over 40,000 U.S. women died from breast cancer; over 260,000 women were diagnosed with it." An important part of the discovery showed a disproportionate number of African-American women with breast cancer, 89%, tested positive for BP1, indicating the research could be particularly helpful to African-American patients. Dr. Berg directs a breast cancer laboratory at GWU Medical Center. She was named Fellow of AAAS in 2016. She is now developing a blood test for the gene, and is working toward a repressor. She and researchers in other nations are "continuing to explore the involvement of BP1 in still more cancers." She will be leading off the Flash Talk session on "Genetics and Biomarkers." The overall theme of the AAAS convention this year is "Science Transcending Boundaries." Berg stated, "In keeping with the them, we have found many cancers impacted already. Many more of the over 200 cancers could be involved. Our research could have quite broad significance." She said her work is motivated "as a scientist and a mother." Patricia E. Berg, Ph.D., is Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, and was a fellow at NIH for eleven years prior to her work at GWUMC for fifteen years. The abstract of her February 16 talk may be found on the conference website: https://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2019/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/24408. Dr. Berg will also speak on her research on BP1's potential impact at the 2nd World Congress on Separation Science, in Rome, Italy April, 16-17, where she is Organizing Committee Member. The Congress website is http://www.cognizancescientific.com/seperation-techniques/. It states: "Her work centers on the BP1 gene, which she cloned, and its involvement in breast cancer. Her research has been featured on network television and in the New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, AP, and Reuters among other major media. Hillary Clinton, Steny Hoyer, and congressional leaders headlined an event supporting her work." Marriott Wardman Park is 2660 Woodley Rd NW, Washington, DC 20008. To cover the meeting, contact AAAS media for credentialing, recommended in advance. Media may also register onsite: https://www.eurekalert.org/aaasnewsroom/2018/credentialing/. FOR INTERVIEWS OF DR. BERG BY PHONE OR IN-PERSON, Contact Bob Weiner, 202-306-1200, office 301-283-0821, weinerpublic@comcast.net. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gwus-dr-patricia-berg-to-tell-amer-assn-for-advancement-of-science-novel-gene-gives-promise-for-prognosis-and-treatment-of-many-cancers----sat-feb-16-330-pm-wash-dc-marriott-wardman-park--flash-talk-stage-300793413.html SOURCE Weiner Public News/Robert Weiner Associates [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 11, 2019] IOTAS Selected for Growth Exhibit at 2019 Startup Grind Global Conference IOTAS has been selected by Startup Grind, powered by Google (News - Alert) for Startups, as 1 of 10 startups in the the Growth exhibition category at the 2019 Startup Grind Global Conference held February 12th through 13th in the heart of Silicon Valley, Redwood City, Calif. The IOTAS booth will be set up in the Growth exhibit hall February 12th, showing live demos of the property management dashboard and resident app, real time in a model unit. Founder, Sce Pike, will be on the Growth panel and also giving a quickfire pitch. IOTAS will be onsite in the San Francisco area all week accepting meetings, including the following areas, VCs, Real Estate Tech, Prop Tech, IoT, media companies. Schedule a meeting. ABOUT IOTAS IOTAS is a real state tech company that provides a turn-key, smart apartment platform to help the $500B Multi-Family-Home industry increase revenue and save costs. This resident real estate focused startup enables its Telco, Broadband, and Security Partners to easily add Internet of Things (IoT) solutions that differentiate properties, saving energy and increasing revenue. IOTAS has been recognized by Fortune, Wired, Gigaom, ABC, NBC, FastCo and more as the new way of building and renovating residential real estate. With installations in over 40 cities, in over 70 buildings, IOTAS has sold over 100,000 smart devices to the residential real estate industry. IOTAS is funded by Oregon Venture Fund, 1843 Capital, Scrum Ventures, Rogue Ventures and Intel (News - Alert) . To learn more about how IOTAS is spearheading IoT in multi-family housing, visit www.iotashome.com. About Startup Grind Startup Grind is the largest independent startup community, actively educating, inspiring, and connecting 2,000,000 founders in more than 500 chapters globally. Founded in Silicon Valley, Startup Grind nurtures startup ecosystems in 125+ countries through events, media, and partnerships with organizations such as Google for Startups. To date, Startup Grind has helped millions of entrepreneurs find mentorship, connect to partners and hires, pursue funding, and reach new users. Learn more at StartupGrind.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190211005701/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 11, 2019] UniPrint.net and Process Fusion Debut Combined Healthcare Solutions at HIMSS 2019 in Orlando TORONTO, Feb. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- UniPrint.net and Process Fusion announced today that they will debut a combined healthcare document workflow solution for referral management at HIMSS 2019 in Orlando, Florida this week. The technology providers, who underwent a merger in late 2018, have worked quickly to integrate their individual healthcare solutions to bring Digital Transformation to print and fax-dependent healthcare providers worldwide. UniPrint.net is the creator of UniPrint Infinity software, and their exclusive Healthcare Printing Suite solution allows for simplified printer management for Healthcare IT providers, as well as enhanced document security through encryption and secure pull printing. Process Fusion's CP-1 document capture and workflow platform facilitates the secure delivery of inbound referral document, physical or digital from physicians to the appropriate scheduling workflow in a unified digital format. CP-1 uses machine learning to elimiate repetitive data entry and can reduce the need for printing and faxing documents. Both solutions aim to give time back to the physician offices, the hospitals and especially patients. While the UniPrint and CP-1 platforms support both physical and digital input and output, the ultimate goal for many healthcare organizations is to be 100% digital, and in the process eliminate the need for paper and fax. Two new CP-1 features will be unveiled at HIMSS 2019: The SecureSend feature powered by UniPrint Infinity's Universal Print Driver technology, and Scheduling Assist - the 24/7 Advanced Booking Assistant powered by SimplifiMed. The SecureSend feature of CP-1 allows automatic data capture of information from the referring physicians into the hospital EHR system without the need for OCR or complex data capture software. The data is captured and delivered securely to the hospital when the physician's office simply "prints" the referral document using a Universal Print Driver. The SecureSend technology is simple to deploy without the need for user training. "Our customers are excited about the simplicity of the CP-1 SecureSend feature. Some customers are telling us that it has the potential to eliminate faxing all together," says Daniel Cheng, CMO of UniPrint.net. The new CP-1 Scheduling Assist solution also aims to give time back to physicians, hospitals, and patients using an intelligent SMS bot to communicate scheduling information directly to the patient; there is no need for patients or staff to wait on the phone for confirmation. This feature also decreases patient no-shows and is able to proactively fill canceled spots. Want to see these solutions at work? Visit UniPrint and Process Fusion at the HIMSS 2019 Solutions Expo February 12 14. They are exhibiting in 2 locations The Ontario Pavilion (booth #1721) and with Citrix Ready (booth #527). Media Contact: Kate Bradford Phone: 416-503-9800 Email: kate.bradford@uniprint.net View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/uniprintnet-and-process-fusion-debut-combined-healthcare-solutions-at-himss-2019-in-orlando-300793322.html SOURCE UniPrint.net [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] UltiSat to Provide Airborne SATCOM-On-The-Move Services to Support AISR Programs GAITHERSBURG, Md., Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UltiSat, Inc., a Speedcast Company, was awarded a multi-year, multi-million dollar subcontract in support of Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) to provide Airborne SATCOM-on-the-move solution design, selection and systems integration for Airborne ISR programs onboard a King Air 350ER aircraft. This airborne system kit will support delivery of Multi-INT sensor payload information through near real-time satellite communications. UltiSat was and continues to be a critical, trusted partner in the aircraft integration and overall aircraft Systems Acceptance Testing efforts, stated Bill Leonard, Sr. Program Director at SNC. Our Mobility team made a commitment several years ago to increase our focus on supporting Airborne ISR programs and missions where our technology-agnostic COTM solutions and systems integration capabilities are the best in the industry. We are exceptionaly proud that our subject matter experts and unique solution for the King Air 350ER won the confidence of SNC and their customers as the best value for their important missions, said Garr Stephenson, UltiSat Executive Vice President of ISR & Mobility Solutions. About UltiSat: UltiSat Inc., a Speedcast Company, is a global leader in the provision of mission-critical, managed network solutions and high-touch professional services. Our products and services incorporate Fixed Satellite Service (FSS), Mobile Satellite Service (MSS), wireless and terrestrial technologies. We support a wide array of customer applications including treaty compliance monitoring, broadband connectivity for Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR), logistics management, maritime and tactical converged networks, and Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (AISR). UltiSat solutions are offered to end users in some of the most remote and harsh locations in over 135 countries on 7 continents around the globe. With customer networks that vary from a few sites to hundreds of locations, UltiSat's technical expertise and technology-agnostic approach ensures that our customers get the best-fit/best-value solutions. UltiSat customers include U.S. and foreign government agencies, government contractors, and Inter-Governmental Organizations (IGOs). For more information, please visit www.ultisat.com . Media Contact: Laura Moreno-Davis Director of Marketing 240.813.7578 lmoreno-davis@ultisat.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Q. R. Payne Mega Corporation's CEO Looks to Inspire a Legacy Q. R. Payne Mega Corporation's CEO aims to establish a legacy by sharing his journey. Q. R. Payne Mega Corp. is a privately-held corporation operating out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Holding control of multiple companies in multiple industries Q. R. Payne Mega Corp. joined the "Business Enterprise" officially earlier this year. Q. R. Payne Mega Corp. is a management corporation led by Chairman and CEO Quron Payne. The corporation is composed of what seems to be a plethora of companies, but to name a few there is KEYS The Brand, All Hours Company, and Quad Seasons Outdoor Care. We asked Quron about the legacy of which he wished to establish for Q. R. Payne Mega Corp. and he responded, "We simply wish to inspire excellence." How does a management corporation "inspire excellence" we thought, but then we burrowed into the background of its founder, Quron Payne. Qurn Payne is an African-American Milwaukee native who left home at the age of 17 to enlist into the United States Marine Corps. Growing up impoverished like many African-Americans in Milwaukee; Quron saw the military as an opportunity. "Why the Military?" we asked; "I knew I needed self-discipline, and honor in my life; and what better way is there to get that," said Quron. Using the military to provide honor and direction, Quron showed us his courage and commitment to "better" at a young age. But how does that tie in to business, and where did his confidence come from? We asked Quron what made him so certain when fathoming Q. R. Payne Mega Corp. that he could manage all the moving parts and he said, "The Marine Corps trained me to manage moving parts, being a Sergeant (an enlisted rank) in charge of crucial pieces is no easy task. So I knew I could handle it, even before the corporation's planning stages." After active-duty Quron used his reserve time to widen his experience in business, business marketing, and entrepreneurship. He became the Assistant Manager of a marketing firm that represented Fortune 500 clients back in 2016. "The skills I learned in the military, and those learned as an Assistant Manager provided a solid foundation; and I think showing others you can achieve whatever if you stay focused, plan, and work hard, inspires excellence," said Quron. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005030/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] OXIS Energy Attracts Investment for the World's First Li-S Cell Manufacturing Plant OXFORD, England, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- OXIS Energy Ltd UK ("OXIS") has signed a contract with CODEMGE PARTICIPACOES SA, a public company incorporated in the city of Belo Horizonte in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil to establish the world's first digital manufacturing plant for the mass production of OXIS' lithium sulfur cells. OXIS Energy Brazil Holdings will manage the plant. CODEMGE's US$60m investment will go towards the building of the plant in Belo Horizonte with Phase 1 having a cell capacity of 2 million cells per annum. Collaborating with Siemens Digital Factory, among others, the aim is to design a plant that will produce around 5m cells by the mid 2020s. OXIS expects to complete Phase 1 in 2022. The OXIS Li-S cells will be developed, designed and produced to meet the demands of three sectors - aviation, defence and electric vehicles such as buses, trucks and light commercial vehicles, reflecting the clients currently in partnership with OXIS. Huw Hampson-Jons, CEO OXIS Energy said, "The decision made by CODEMGE to invest alongside OXIS to develop and build the first ever Lithium Sulfur cell technology manufacturing plant is of great significance to the widespread adoption of pure electric vehicles for worldwide consumption. It also displays the foresight of the State Government of Minas Gerais in moving away from its dependency on North American or Asian cell manufacturing capabilities. Brazil will emerge as being a major future supplier of re-chargeable lithium batteries, whilst at the same time exploiting its natural mineral reserves of lithium in the state of Minas Gerais." According to Marco Antonio Castello Branco, CEO of CODEMGE, "This collaboration with OXIS Energy illustrates the diversification of the Minas Gerais industrial structure. Its entry into the high technology sector will increase its scientific and business relationships with the UK. The lithium sulfur cell plant represents a strategic downstream integration of CODEMGE's engagement in lithium mining and chemicals production." This round of funding is in addition to the 6.3 million investment from the Brazilian private equity fund Aerotec completed in 2018. Editor's Notes: OXIS Energy Ltd is involved in the design, development and now the move towards commercial production of Lithium Sulfur cells for battery systems. With 39 patent families, OXIS has been granted 175 patents with 94 pending. OXIS Energy Brazil Holdings In early 2018, OXIS Energy UK Ltd established a legal entity in Brazil, known as OXIS Energy Brazil Holdings. The company is owned 80% by OXIS Energy UK Ltd and 20% by the Aerotec Fund Brazil. OXIS has already appointed a General Manager for Brazil, with further employment of personnel expected in the near term. http://www.oxisenergy.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Netsmart and American Well Partner to Address the Opioid Crisis at HIMSS19 OVERLAND PARK, Kan. and BOSTON, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Netsmart, a provider of electronic health records (EHRs), solutions and services to more than 25,000 behavioral health, social services and post-acute organizations and American Well, a leading U.S. telehealth platform, today debuted a new approach to addressing the growing opioid crisis in the United States, as part of the Interoperability Showcase at the 2019 HIMSS Conference Feb. 11-14 in Orlando, Florida. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), roughly 11.4 million people misuse prescription opioids and an estimated 130 people die each day from opioid-related drug overdosesincluding prescription medications, heroin and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. The total economic burden of prescription opioid misuse is $78.6 billion per year, as estimated by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This crisis impacts not just individuals, but also families and communities. In response to this growing crisis, HHS developed a five-point strategy to combat opioid addiction. One of the five strategy points is centered on improving access to prevention, treatment and recovery support services. In 2017, the CDC announced that the rates of drug overdose deaths in rural areas had surpassed rates in urban areas. To help combat opioid addiction in rural communities, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) gave priority to 2018 Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant Program applicants who were using innovative projects to address the opioid crisis in rural areas. "Opioid addiction has immeasurable impacts on those who are fighting the disease, as well as their loved ones," said Ido Schoenberg, MD, Chairman and CEO at American Well. "Telehealth has begun to play a significant role in expanding access to the treatment and prevention of opioid addictionboth in rural and urban areas. We're excited we have partnered with Netsmart to show how technology can help assist with this critical need." "Our partnership with American Well provides access to real-time quality care across multiple provider specialties related to behavioral health, addictions, social services and post-acute.Many of these services are now being offered virtually and the combination of the Netsmart and American Well networks brings the largest provider reach across the nation," said Mike Valentine, CEO of Netsmart. "As payment models continue to shift to value-based care, connecting these scarce resources is key to providing integrated care." Last year, Netsmart and American Well came together to announce a technology partnership to connect their respective networks, creating a community of providers to bring healthcare directly to the consumer virtually. The goal was to not only significantly improve health outcomes but lower costs by empowering providers to deliver care in the lowest acuity setting possible. Building on this partnership, Netsmart has now integrated American Well's telehealth solution into its EHR platform. Through this integration, specialists can now conduct remote addiction therapy visits with individuals. This integrated workflow enables the delivery of real-time access to an addiction specialist that otherwise would not be accessible. One Netsmart client has taken a unique approach to ensure individuals battling opioid addictions have access to treatment in the community. A virtual visit is conducted within a mobile crisis van leveraging technology from Netsmart and American Well. The provider in the mobile crisis van initiates the telehealth visit which connects the individual to their provider for medication-assisted treatment (MAT) services. To learn more, stop by the Interoperability Showcase at HIMSS 2019booth #9100-10. During the showcase, American Well and Netsmart will demonstrate a live workflow for substance use treatment. You can also visit American Well's main booth #4031, or Netsmart at booth #1413. About Netsmart Netsmart designs, builds and delivers electronic health records (EHRs), solutions and services that are powerful, intuitive and easy-to-use. Our platform provides accurate, up-to-date information that is easily accessible to care team members in behavioral health, care at home, senior living and social services. We make the complex simple and personalized, so our clients can concentrate on what they do best: provide services and treatment that support whole-person care. By leveraging the powerful Netsmart network, care providers can seamlessly and securely integrate information across communities, collaborate on the most effective treatments and improve outcomes for those in their care. Our streamlined systems and personalized workflows put relevant information at the fingertips of users when and where they need it. For 50 years, Netsmart has been committed to providing a common platform to integrate care. SIMPLE. PERSONAL. POWERFUL. Our more than 1,700 associates work hand-in-hand with our 600,000+ users in more than 25,000 organizations across the U.S. to develop and deploy technology that automates and coordinates everything from clinical to financial to administrative. Learn more about how Netsmart is changing the face of healthcare today. Visit www.ntst.com, call 1-800-472-5509, follow us on our CareThreads Blog, LinkedIn and Twitter, like us on Facebook or visit us on YouTube. Netsmart is pleased to support the EveryDayMatters Foundation, which was established for behavioral health, care at home, senior living and social services organizations to learn from each other and share their causes and stories. About American Well American Well is a leading telehealth platform in the United States and globally, connecting and enabling providers, insurers, patients, and innovators to deliver greater access to more affordable, higher quality care. American Well believes that digital care delivery will transform healthcare. The Company offers a single, comprehensive platform to support all telehealth needs from urgent to acute and post-acute care, as well as chronic care management and healthy living. With over a decade of experience, American Well powers telehealth solutions for over 130 health systems comprised of 2,000 hospitals and 55 health plan partners with over 7,000 employers, covering over 150 million lives. For more information, please visit AmericanWell.com. American Well, Amwell, Virtual First and The Exchange are registered trademarks or trademarks of American Well Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. Media Contact: Netsmart Vince Koehler vkoehler@ntst.com 913.272.2235 American Well Catherine Anderson catherine.anderson@americanwell.com Innsena Communications Amwell@Innsena.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/netsmart-and-american-well-partner-to-address-the-opioid-crisis-at-himss19-300793040.html SOURCE American Well [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Loadsmart's Automated Freight Brokerage System Awarded Company of the Year by Frost & Sullivan Loadsmart stands out for its ability to offer an all-in instant price for shippers before hiring the carrier SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 12, 2019 /CNW/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the US automated on-demand freight brokerage market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Loadsmart, Inc. with the 2018 United States Company of the Year Award. Loadsmart's use of machine learning in its automated freight brokerage platform to enable instant pricing and booking is proving to be a game changer in the market. Its solution has attracted dozens of Fortune 500 companies such as Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA), Anheuser-Busch, and Albertsons/Safeway, which has translated to a year-on-year revenue growth of 350 percent in 2018. "Loadsmart has pioneered truckload instant pricing/booking for all ~900,000 U.S. lanes, helping shippers access live rates via their own system with an easy-to-implement application program interface (API), staying ahead of the competition with its tech-first approach. Indeed, it has disrupted the market by presenting an all-in price to shippers before hiring the carrier," said Silpa Paul, Industry Analyst. "Its algorithms ensure that the network carriers are loaded at optimum capacity in order to minimize empty miles. This model results in low marginal costs of moving additional loads." Loadsmart's API enables third-party TMS providers to offer their customers instant pricing and booking without having to leave their respective platforms. By sending instantly bookable rates via API, Loadsmart is the first to facilitate server-to-server truckload bookings with no human interaction for every lane of every customer.The quotes are based on AI technology that take into account lane characteristics, pickup urgency, cargo weight, miles, estimated time of loading, type of commodity and hundreds of other data points. Loadsmart has attracted several Fortune 500 shippers, as well as small-medium-large carriers. Significantly, its technology integration with major TMS platforms provides shippers, such as DTNA, a pre-spot market solution for loads. With its pre-spot solution, shippers can choose between semi-automated and fully-automated pricing & booking, where Loadsmart's instantly bookable rates are inserted directly into the static routing guide. This results in prices that are more in line with market conditions and a significant reduction in both the time and resources required to cover a given load. "Loadsmart's business model has inspired confidence in investors, and has helped it accrue more than $34.7 million in funding from three rounds since its inception," noted Paul. "Overall, its collaborations with marquee companies like Maersk and focus on integrating advanced technologies in the solutions have future-proofed its products and positioned it for continued growth with an aggressive product distribution model." Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents a Company of the Year award to the organization that demonstrates excellence in terms of growth strategy and implementation in its field. The award recognizes a high degree of innovation with products and technologies, and the resulting leadership in terms of customer value and market penetration. Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry. About Loadsmart, Inc. Loadsmart is a technology company that specializes in full truckload shipping. Loadsmart is leveraging data and machine learning to build artificial intelligence processes into the complex freight brokerage cycle, allowing shippers to book a truckload in seconds and providing instant and targeted loads to carriers. Loadsmart is headquartered in New York and has offices in Chicago. https://blog.loadsmart.com/ About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Contact us: Start the discussion . Contact: Bianca Torres P: 1.210.477.8418 E: bianca.torres@frost.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/loadsmarts-automated-freight-brokerage-system-awarded-company-of-the-year-by-frost--sullivan-300793548.html SOURCE Frost & Sullivan [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Dickinson Fleet Services Increases Market Share in Chicago Dickinson Fleet Services ("Dickinson" or "DFS") is pleased to announce the acquisition of Highway Express Trailer Repair Company, continuing Dickinson's rapid growth trajectory and further solidifying DFS as the leader in the dynamic Chicagoland and broader Illinois markets. Highway Express marks the sixth acquisition in the last 10 months for DFS alongside its majority shareholder, Ridgemont Equity Partners. "We are excited to have this opportunity to expand our semi-trailer repair service division. The addition of Highway Express widens our footprint and increases our ability to provide high quality semi-trailer repair services at the lowest possible cost nationwide," said Ted Coltrain and Mike Dickinson, Executive Officers, in a joint statement on behalf of DFS. Highway Express Trailer Repair Company has developed a strong reputation for providing exceptional semi-trailer repair service for over 13 years. The 21,000 square foot shop facility will provide Dickinson Fleet Services with its third shop facility in the Chicago market. The shop facility as well as additional mobile repair capacity will better equip DFS to provide semi-trailer repair in the Chicago area with added resources. "Dickinson has become a leader in the industry by offering unmatched scale, innovation and the same commitment to best-in-class customer service as Highway Express. Joining Dickinson Fleet Services will allow Highway Express to expand its semi-trailer repair service and offer additional mobile repair capabilities to the Chicago market," sai Marian Piecek, Owner, Highway Express Trailer Repair Company. Marian will be joining Dickinson Fleet Service as Regional Service Manager and be heading up the semi-trailer repair service in the Chicago region. Dickinson Fleet Services is actively seeking acquisition opportunities to significantly broaden its service offerings and geographic reach, while also allowing its team members the ability to experience incredible career growth opportunities. DFS remains focused on its core values of Safety, Innovation and Maintenance Excellence. About Dickinson Fleet Services Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, Dickinson Fleet Services has grown to become one of the largest independent fleet maintenance and management companies in the country. DFS is the leading provider of on-site mobile maintenance and repair services nationwide, offering mobile on-site maintenance and repair services for light, medium and heavy-duty trucks and trailers with over 450 mobile units operating nationwide. DFS services fleet customers with 21 maintenance facilities each offering select services from accident repair, paint, refurbishment and dedicated technician services, combined with an in-house CARES CALL center providing 24/7 repair assistance. DFS has made significant investments in training and technology, including WebWrench (maintenance tracking and scheduling through proprietary technology) and TRAIT (real-time reporting and dynamic preventative maintenance inspections processed through a proprietary field service application) and is the only fleet services company in the nation to provide both fleet maintenance and management to its customers nationwide. www.dickinsonfleet.com About Ridgemont Equity Partners Ridgemont Equity Partners is a Charlotte-based middle market buyout and growth equity investor. Since 1993, the principals of Ridgemont have invested approximately $4.4 billion. The firm focuses on equity investments up to $250 million in industries in which it has deep expertise, including business and industrial services, energy, healthcare, and technology and telecommunications. www.ridgemontep.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005053/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] CoreLogic Reports U.S. Overall Delinquency and Foreclosure Rates Are Lowest for November Since at Least 2000 CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX), a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today released its monthly Loan Performance Insights Report. The report shows that, nationally, 4.1 percent of mortgages were in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure) in November 2018, representing a 1.1 percentage point decline in the overall delinquency rate compared with November 2017, when it was 5.2 percent. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005183/en/ CoreLogic Chief Economist Dr. Frank Nothaft (Photo: Business Wire) As of November 2018, the foreclosure inventory rate - which measures the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process - was 0.4 percent, down 0.2 percentage points from November 2017. The November 2018 foreclosure inventory rate was the lowest for any month since at least January 2000. Measuring early-stage delinquency rates is important for analyzing the health of the mortgage market. To monitor mortgage performance comprehensively, CoreLogic examines all stages of delinquency, as well as transition rates, which indicate the percentage of mortgages moving from one stage of delinquency to the next. The rate for early-stage delinquencies - defined as 30 to 59 days past due - was 2 percent in November 2018, down from 2.2 percent in November 2017. The share of mortgages that were 60 to 89 days past due in November 2018 was 0.7 percent, down from 0.9 percent in November 2017. The serious delinquency rate - defined as 90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure - was 1.5 percent in November 2018, down from 2 percent in November 2017. November 2018 marked the lowest serious delinquency rate for the month since 2006 when it was also 1.5 percent. It ties with August, September and October 2018 as the lowest for any month since March 2007 when it was also 1.5 percent. Since early-stage delinquencies ca be volatile, CoreLogic also analyzes transition rates. The share of mortgages that transitioned from current to 30 days past due was 0.9 percent in November 2018, down from 1 percent in November 2017. By comparison, in January 2007, just before the start of the financial crisis, the current-to-30-day transition rate was 1.2 percent, while it peaked in November 2008 at 2 percent. "Solid income growth, a record amount of home equity and an absence of high-risk loan products put the U.S. homeowner on solid ground," said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. "All of this has helped push delinquency and foreclosure rates to the lowest levels in almost two decades, and will provide a cushion if the housing market should turn down." The nation's overall delinquency rate has fallen on a year-over-year basis for the past 11 consecutive months. However, loan vulnerability in several metropolitan areas in North Carolina are still struggling from Hurricane Florence. In November 2018, seven metropolitan areas logged an increase in their serious delinquency rates, with the largest gains occurring in the Wilmington and New Bern metropolitan areas. "On a national basis, we continue to see strong loan performance," said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "Areas that were impacted by hurricanes or wildfires in 2018 are now seeing relatively large annual gains in the share of mortgages moving into 30-day delinquency. As with previous disasters, this is to be expected and we will see the impacts dissipate over time." The next CoreLogic Loan Performance Insights Report will be released on March 12, 2019, featuring data for December 2018. For ongoing housing trends and data, visit the CoreLogic Insights Blog: www.corelogic.com/insights. Methodology The data in this report represents foreclosure and delinquency activity reported through November 2018. The data in this report accounts for only first liens against a property and does not include secondary liens. The delinquency, transition and foreclosure rates are measured only against homes that have an outstanding mortgage. Homes without mortgage liens are not typically subject to foreclosure and are, therefore, excluded from the analysis. Approximately one-third of homes nationally are owned outright and do not have a mortgage. CoreLogic has approximately 85 percent coverage of U.S. foreclosure data. Source (News - Alert) : CoreLogic The data provided is for use only by the primary recipient or the primary recipient's publication or broadcast. This data may not be re-sold, republished or licensed to any other source, including publications and sources owned by the primary recipient's parent company without prior written permission from CoreLogic. Any CoreLogic data used for publication or broadcast, in whole or in part, must be sourced as coming from CoreLogic, a data and analytics company. For use with broadcast or web content, the citation must directly accompany first reference of the data. If the data is illustrated with maps, charts, graphs or other visual elements, the CoreLogic logo must be included on screen or website. For questions, analysis or interpretation of the data, contact Alyson Austin at newsmedia@corelogic.com or Allyse Sanchez at corelogic@ink-co.com. Data provided may not be modified without the prior written permission of CoreLogic. Do not use the data in any unlawful manner. This data is compiled from public records, contributory databases and proprietary analytics, and its accuracy is dependent upon these sources. About CoreLogic CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX) is a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider. The company's combined data from public, contributory and proprietary sources includes over 4.5 billion records spanning more than 50 years, providing detailed coverage of property, mortgages and other encumbrances, consumer credit, tenancy, location, hazard risk and related performance information. The markets CoreLogic serves include real estate and mortgage finance, insurance, capital markets, and the public sector. CoreLogic delivers value to clients through unique data, analytics, workflow technology, advisory and managed services. Clients rely on CoreLogic to help identify and manage growth opportunities, improve performance and mitigate risk. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., CoreLogic operates in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com. CORELOGIC and the CoreLogic logo are trademarks of CoreLogic, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005183/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 12, 2019] Buck highlights key global talent with raft of promotions NEW YORK, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Buck, an integrated HR and benefits consulting, administration, and technology services firm, today announced the promotion of several key executives in the US, UK, and Canada into principal levels of the organization. These promotions highlight an important component of Buck's social contract with its employees, illustrating the company's commitment to its people by recognizing individual accomplishments and rewarding significant contributions to both clients and the business. In the US, eight senior members of the team have been promoted across the business: Sharon Chernitsky , Principal Wealth, focuses on defined benefits plans; , Principal Wealth, focuses on defined benefits plans; Nancy Gaffney , Principal Health, serves as the health leader for Buck's Pittsburgh and Cleveland offices, specializing in underwriting, vendor management, and client retention; , Principal Health, serves as the health leader for and offices, specializing in underwriting, vendor management, and client retention; Nicole May , Principal Health, leads partnership strategies to ensure best-in-class deliverables and engagement; , Principal Health, leads partnership strategies to ensure best-in-class deliverables and engagement; David Harwood , Principal Wealth, specializes in actuarial and administration services and leverages expertise in accounting standards and multiemployer pension plans; , Principal Wealth, specializes in actuarial and administration services and leverages expertise in accounting standards and multiemployer pension plans; Jamie Scott , Principal Health, advises clients on benefit strategy, financial analysis, and vendor management; , Principal Health, advises clients on benefit strategy, financial analysis, and vendor management; Cressie Spaldi , Principal Health, leads the healthcare audit practice; , Principal Health, leads the healthcare audit practice; Will Whittle , Principal Engagement, focuses on total rewards portals and other HR tools; , Principal Engagement, focuses on total rewards portals and other HR tools; Julie Ziegler , Principaland Chief Marketing Officer, champions Buck's global market presence. Carmel Cahill , Principal and Associate General Counsel, serves as lead lawyer for the UK business; , Principal and Associate General Counsel, serves as lead lawyer for the UK business; Susanne Coogan , Principal and Head of HR, supports the UK business with its ongoing commitment to staff engagement and satisfaction; , Principal and Head of HR, supports the UK business with its ongoing commitment to staff engagement and satisfaction; Ben Cumming , Principal Global Consulting and Strategy, advises multinational companies on their pension and benefit programs; , Principal Global Consulting and Strategy, advises multinational companies on their pension and benefit programs; Mark Williams , Principal Retirement Consulting, heads the London retirement team and leads the UK corporate pensions consulting service; , Principal Retirement Consulting, heads the retirement team and leads the UK corporate pensions consulting service; Mike Young , Principal and Chief Compliance Officer, leads UK compliance efforts. In Canada, seven senior leaders have advanced: Daniel Bougie , Principal Administration, leads the Canadian Defined Benefit Administration business; , Principal Administration, leads the Canadian Defined Benefit Administration business; Chris Bray , Principal Administration, leads the Defined Contribution Administration business in Canada ; , Principal Administration, leads the Defined Contribution Administration business in ; Luiza Console , Principal Administration, focuses on outsourcing service delivery; , Principal Administration, focuses on outsourcing service delivery; Jennifer Dunk , Principal Administration, leads the Health and Welfare Administration business in Canada ; , Principal Administration, leads the Health and Welfare Administration business in ; Anne-Marie Hinger , Principal Administration, leads the Canadian outsourcing operation; , Principal Administration, leads the Canadian outsourcing operation; Allen Minuskin , Principal and Associate General Counsel, serves as lead counsel for Canada ; Principal and Associate General Counsel, serves as lead counsel for ; Lizann Reitmeier , Principal Health, leads the health practice in Canada . "At Buck, our people are our greatest asset, and I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate these outstanding leaders for their many accomplishments, and for their efforts moving our business forward," said Jack Freker, CEO of Buck. "We are delighted to build a world-class team of professionals by cultivating talent from within our organization. Our social contract is something we want all employees to have an awareness of and participate in, because when we work together, we can do incredible things." About Buck Buck is an integrated HR and benefits consulting, administration and technology services provider. Headquartered in New York City, with global operations, Buck is focused on helping its clients realise the best organisational performance for their business while driving positive health, wealth, and career outcomes for their people. For additional information, visit www.buck.com. Media contacts: Lumina Communications Hollie Smith / Michael Gallo 646-741-8359 / 212-239-8594 buck@luminapr.com Rostrum Max Daniels / Taneesha Pawar +44 (0)20 7440 8670 buck@rostrum.agency View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/buck-highlights-key-global-talent-with-raft-of-promotions-300793616.html SOURCE Buck [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 11, 2019] BookDoc grows explosively with 700% growth year over year KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- About 85% - 90% of startups failed in the first and second year. This is a hard and bleak truth. BookDoc, a medtech startup, has not only celebrated its third year anniversary but has been growing by leaps and bounds with 700% growth, year over year and continue to spread its wings in regional expansion. The company is present in 5 countries and 20 cities. "BookDoc started as a business-to-consumer (b2c) player, backed by a versatile team and encouraged by its highly accelerated growth, it is now ventured into both business-to-business (b2b) and business-to-government (b2g). Most start-ups failed because they ran out of cash. We recognized discipline is vital in financial management, also with the recent signing of a multi-million million contract with a government agency for 5 years has not only turned our cash flow positive but also paved a visible path for future sustainability and profitability," said founder and CEO of BookDoc, Dato' Chevy Beh. "BookDoc is serving diversified customer segments such as insurance companies (e.g. AXA, Sunlife, Prudential, RHB Insurance), over 20 corporate clients which include Fortune 500 companies with 300,000 employees collectively subscribing to BookDoc's services. We are thrilled that there are another 3-5 big and highly significant deals in the pipeline within the next 12 months and the recent government contact which will operationalize in august 2019 will bring i additional two million active users to our platform. We are also excited and humbled by the opportunities to work with various government agencies," said Dato' Chevy Beh. BookDoc is backed by a diverse group of investors from entrepreneurs to seasoned healthcare and insurance professionals, banker, regulators as well as ICT professionals. Its strategic investors include the Royal Family of Brunei, The King of Gaming, Dr Stanley Ho's family of Macau/Hong Kong, the billionaire Hamami family of Indonesia and Groupon founders of Asia Pacific. It has been awarded by Frost & Sullivan as the most innovative e-mobile healthcare company in Southeast Asia for 3 consecutive year, 2016 to 2018. BookDoc, with presence in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia, is an online platform that operates across the healthcare continuum connecting patients to healthcare professionals anytime and anywhere, while incentivising all to stay active. It has established an integrated online ecosystem for local and overseas health travellers. The ecosystem allows users to search and book healthcare professionals anytime and anywhere, and integrates seamlessly with navigation (Google Map, Waze), transport (Grab, Uber, AirAsia), accommodation (Agoda and Airbnb) and recommended restaurants & attractions (TripAdvisor) for a hassle-free and enjoyable experience to healthcare appointments. In addition, through BookDoc Activ, its rewards users for maintaining high level of activity by partnering major retailers and service providers that offer users discounts for achieving reward tiers based on activity level. BookDoc have recently partnered with Special Olympics Asia to monitor its athletes in this region. "We hope that through this partnership, athletes with intellectual disabilities will be able to perform at their best with more advanced monitoring and intervention programs," said Dato' Chevy Beh. The BookDoc app can be downloaded for free from the App Store or Google Play Store. BookDoc currently has more than 80 partner merchants including Zalora, Fave (formerly known as Groupon), ShopBack, MCL Cinema Chain in Hong Kong, V Hotel in Singapore, Uniqlo, Coffee Bean, Ajisen Ramen in Hong Kong, OldTown White Coffee, Petron, Digi, and Secret Recipe. BookDoc users get to redeem rewards on a monthly basis if they achieve an average-daily-step threshold. For more information, please contact: Ms Nurul Ain Tel: 1300-88-2362 Email: ain@bookdoc.com SOURCE BookDoc [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Senator Dino Melaye has asked that Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state be called to order before he sets the state on fire. According to Melaye, whose problems with the governor heightened after be decamped from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, governor Bello is using personnel from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS and Mobile police to harass members of the PDP. Speaking via Twitter on Tuesday, the federal lawmaker was reacting to the arrest of PDP chieftain in Kogi state, Oladele John Nihi. The lawmaker warned that if Nihi isnt released from police custody, they(PDP) will be forced to take to the streets. In his words: Yahaya Bello must be call to order b4 he set Kogi on fire. Using Oc SARS and Mopol to arrest and harass PDP members will be vehemently resisted. This madness must stop. Oladele John Nihi must be released immediately or we will take over the streets of Lokoja. Sen Dino Melaye. [February 12, 2019] AACN Announces 2019 Election Results for Board of Directors and Nominating Committee The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is pleased to announce the results of its 2019 election to fill seats on the AACN Board of Directors and Nominating Committee. With votes cast by nearly two-thirds of all member deans from the nation's nursing schools with baccalaureate and higher degree programs, those selected to serve as AACN's top leaders include Board Members Susan Bakewell-Sachs (chair-elect) from Oregon Health & Science University; Lin Zhan (treasurer) from the University of Memphis; Jean Giddens from Virginia Commonwealth University; Judith Karshmer from the Arizona State University; Julie Sanford from James Madison University; and Terri Weaver from the University of Illinois at Chicago. New members of AACN's Nominating Committee include Steven Cavanagh from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Jeannette Andrews from the University of South Carolina. "The key to AACN's effectiveness as a champion for excellence and innovation in academic nursing has always been our engaged and loyal members," said AACN Board Chair Ann Cary, PhD, MPH, RN, FNAP, FAAN. "On behalf of the association, I am pleased to welcome these new and returning leaders to the Board and Nominating Committee, and I applaud their strong commitment to advancing the goals and mission of AACN." Those elected to the AACN Board of Directors and Nominating Committee will begin their terms of service following the business meeting at AACN's Deans Annual Meeting on March 25, 2019. New and re-elected Board members include: Susan Bakewell-Sachs, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean and vice president for nursing affairs at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) School of Nursing, was elected as Chair-Elect and will serve as Board Chair from 2020-2022. Prior to assuming her current role at OHSU in 2013, Dr. Bakewell-Sachs served as nursing faculty at the University of Pennsylvania; program director, professor and dean at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) School of Nursing, Health & Exercise Science; and Interim Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at TCNJ. As a strong nurse advocate, she was the director of the RWJF New Jersey Nursing Initiative, chair of the New Jersey Association of Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Programs, member of the March of Dimes National Nursing Advisory Council, and on the steering committee of the Oregon Action Coalition. In support of AACN's mission, Dr. Bakewell-Sachs has served on the Governance Task Force, as chair of the Program Committee and the CNL Steering Committee, member of the Government Affairs Committee, and state grassroots liaison for New Jersey and Oregon, among other key roles. Lin Zhan, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean and professor of the Loewenberg College of Nursing at the University of Memphis, was elected to serve a two-year term as Board Treasurer. An award-winning nurse educator who has taught students from the BSN to the PhD level, Dr. Zhan's research focuses on quality of life for older adults and ethnic minorities. With over 100 publications including five edited books, her scholarly work extends to serving as a reviewer for the refereed journals Nursing Education, Nursing Research, Advanced Nursing Sciences, Nursing Reports, and on the editorial board for the Journal of Gerontological Nursing and the Journal of Aging and Medicine. A recipient of many top honors, Dr. Zhan is a Wharton Executive Fellow and a Fellow of American Academy of Nursing. For AACN, she has served as Board Memberat-large, on the Program Committee as the chair of the Faculty Development Conference and the Executive Development Series, as a reviewer of the AACN-Johnson & Johnson Minority Faculty Scholarship, and as a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Jean Giddens, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean of the School of Nursing at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), was elected to serve a two-year term as Board member at-large. Prior to her appointment at VCU in 2013, Dr. Giddens held several leadership positions at the University of New Mexico School of Nursing, including executive dean from 2010-2013, as well as teaching roles at Mesa State College, University of Texas-El Paso, and Eastern New Mexico University. In addition to currently serving as president for the Virginia Association of Colleges of Nursing, she is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Professional Nursing, Nurse Educator and the Journal of Nursing Education. For AACN, Dr. Giddens has served on the Vision for Nursing Education Task Force, Nominating Committee, and on the Program Planning Committees for the Master's Conference, Executive Development Series, and Faculty Development Conference. She currently serves on the AACN Essentials Revision Task Force as chair of the Baccalaureate Essentials Workgroup. Judith Karshmer, PhD, PMHCNS-BC, FAAN, dean and professor at the Arizona State University (ASU) College of Nursing and Health Innovation, was elected to serve a two-year term as Board member at-large. Prior to her appointment at ASU in 2018, she served as professor, dean, and dean emerita at the University of San Francisco from 2006-2018. Her previous academic appointments included roles at the University of South Florida and New Mexico State University. Dr. Karshmer's leadership in the community and on behalf of the profession includes serving as commissioner on the San Francisco Department of Public Health, board chair for the Laguna Honda (News - Alert) Hospital & Rehabilitation Center, president of the California Association of Colleges of Nursing, and president of the Jesuit Conference of Nursing Programs. At AACN, she has served on the AACN-AONE Academic-Practice Partnerships Task Force and as a member of the Competency-Based Education for Doctoral Prepared APRNs National Task Force. Her extensive service to the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education includes board chair, treasurer, and board member. Julie Sanford, DNS, RN, FAAN, professor and director of the School of Nursing at James Madison University (JMU), was elected to serve a two-year term as Board member at-large. Prior to arriving at JMU in 2011, her career in nursing education included leadership and teaching roles at the University of South Alabama, University of Southern Mississippi, and Spring Hill College. Her leadership within the profession extends to serving as vice chair of the Virginia Association of Colleges of Nursing, executive director of the Caregivers Community Network, and member of the Virginia Action Coalition's Education Progression sub-committee. For AACN, she has served on the Nominating and Government Affairs Committees, as chair of the Baccalaureate Education Conference Planning Committee, as a state grassroots liaison, as a CCNE team leader, as a member of the CCNE Report Review Committee, and as a mentor in the New Dean Mentoring program. She is a graduate of the AACN-Wharton Executive Leadership Program. Terri E. Weaver, PhD, RN, FAAN, ATSF, dean of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing, was re-elected to serve a two-year term as an AACN Board member at-large. Prior to her current academic appointment in 2010, Dr. Weaver was the Ellen and Robert Kapito Professor in Nursing Science and served for eight years as the Chair of the Biobehavioral Health Sciences Division at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. She has earned national recognition for her research, serving on the executive committee of the World Federation of Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine Societies and has had several board appointments, including the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, American Board of Sleep Medicine, American Sleep Medicine Foundation, American Academy of Nursing, Sleep Research Society, American Lung Association, and American Thoracic Society. For AACN, Dr. Weaver has served on the Nominating Committee, the Hot Topics Conference Planning Committee, and as a mentor in the New Deans Mentoring Program. Continuing members of the AACN Board of Directors include Chair Ann Cary from the University of Missouri Kansas City; Secretary Jean Leuner from Auburn University Montgomery; Lepaine Sharp (News - Alert) -McHenry from Oklahoma Baptist University; Christie Shelton from Jacksonville State University; and Kristen Swanson from Seattle University. The newly elected members to AACN's Nominating Committee include: Jeannette Andrews, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean and Helen Gurley Wolford professor of nursing for the University of South Carolina (UofSC) College of Nursing, was elected to serve a two-year term on the Nominating Committee. Prior to her appointment at UofSC in 2013, she held a variety of academic nursing leader roles at the Medical University of South Carolina (including associate dean for research, director of the Center for Community Health Partnerships, senior research scientist and associate professor) and at the Medical College of Georgia (including department chair, associate professor, assistant professor, and instructor). Active in the American Nurses Association, the South Carolina Nurses Association, and Sigma Theta Tau International, Dr. Andrews has been an engaged AACN member since 2013 who has served as a State Grassroots Liaison and as a mentor in the New Deans Mentoring Program. Stephen Cavanagh, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean and professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Nursing, was elected to serve a two-year term on the Nominating Committee. Prior to his current appointment as dean in 2011, his work at Wayne State University in Detroit, included serving as CEO and board chair for the school's Nursing Practice Corporation, associate dean, and assistant dean. Earlier in his career he worked as professor and department head for several schools in England, including the Birmingham and Solihull College of Nursing and Midwifery, Nene College, University of Wolverhampton, and North East Surrey College of Technology. Dr. Cavanagh serves on the AACN Finance Committee and has served as president of the Massachusetts Association of Colleges of Nursing and board member for the Clean Slate Opioid Addiction Research Program. Other Nominating Committee members include Janet Krejci from Marquette University, Lillia Loriz from the University of North Florida, and Juliann Sebastian from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is the voice for academic nursing representing more than 820 member schools of nursing at public and private institutions nationwide. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is the national voice for baccalaureate and graduate nursing education. AACN works to establish quality standards for nursing education; assists schools in implementing those standards; influences the nursing profession to improve health care; and promotes public support for professional nursing education, research, and practice. Learn more at www.aacnnursing.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005319/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] ICSA president Patrick Kent has said that the Government should re-open the Irish embassy in Tehran. Iran is a hugely influential country in the Middle East with a population of over 80 million people. Ireland needs to keep a line of dialogue open with Iran, not least because it could be a potentially important market for meat exports, he said. Ireland must be careful not to fall out of step with our EU partners in terms of its relationship with Iran, according to ICSA president Patrick Kent. While Donald Trump has an adversarial relationship with Iran, we need to be guided by our partners in the EU who are currently working on a Special Purpose Vehicle for non-dollar trade with Iran. The EU position is that EU members should be able to trade with Iran, particularly in relation to food. It was a particularly unfortunate knee-jerk decision during the worst period of the economic collapse to close our embassies in the Vatican and Tehran. The savings are so small as to be irrelevant, but a committed member state of the European Union which is utterly dependent on exports needs to broaden its world view," he said. Mr Kent said that Ireland was looking all over the world for export destinations, some of which are very far behind Iran in terms of GDP per capita and overall ability to pay a viable price for Irish products. "While it is clear that trade with Iran is beset by difficulties in terms of banking restrictions and American driven sanctions, it is time to recognise that the EU is moving on towards better relations and we need to get on board with that policy," he said. Andrew "Andy" J. Martin, 78, of Gastonia, NC formerly of Fairmont, passed away peacefully in the presence of his family on Tuesday, June 15, 2021. He was born on May 14, 1943 in Fairmont son of the late John and Mary Coughlin Martin. He is survived by his children: Vickie Lynn (John Raymond) WATERVLIET Councilman Charles Patricelli launched his campaign Tuesday to be the citys next mayor. Taking on the responsibility of mayor if elected will be challenging. It will require some difficult decisions but only thinking of one and only one objective, what is best for Watervliet as a whole, Patricelli said. The city Democratic Committee endorsed Patricelli as its mayoral candidate last week giving him an advantage in the municipality, which is overwhelmingly Democratic. The unknown factor is whether three-term incumbent Democratic Mayor Michael Manning will run for a fourth term. Manning was unavailable for comment. Close associates of the mayor said they were waiting to hear if he would run again. Even Patricelli said he hasnt heard about Mannings plans. If the two Democrats seek voters support it would be akin to the partys 2007 primary, when Manning, a first-term councilman, defeated then incumbent-Mayor Robert Carlson, who had served four terms. Winning the June 25 Democratic primary in the city would be considered tantamount to locking up the November general election. Patricelli said it didnt matter what Manning decides, saying there was an opportunity to get residents more involved in city government. The mayor and councilman have often fought over contracts, appointments and other issues on the City Council. At one point, they were the only two members of the three-member body with one council seat empty. The residents of Watervliet want more input and more of a say in whats going on in the city, said Patricelli, who is a retired executive director of the Watervliet Housing Authority. Patricelli said the city needs to emphasize economic development opportunities, continue to control spending and seek to expand shared services with other communities. I feel we have made great progress in improving our finances, maintaining a close eye on our expenditures while at the same time trying not to reduce services and keeping Watervliet something we all can be proud to call home, Patricelli said. The city is rebounding from financial difficulties that led to the City Council raising taxes 16 percent to correct the structurally unbalanced budgets running from 2014-16. The city is waiting to hear from the state Financial Restructuring Board for Local Governments about its recommendations for overhauling city operations and providing financial assistance. ALBANY If just 1 percent of the value of investments at the Harriman Campus made its way to Albany, it would go far to ease the city's financial crunch, Mayor Kathy Sheehan told a panel of state legislators Monday. Sheehan suggested a type of payment-in-lieu-of-taxes plan through the state Public Lands Law for the uptown campus to a joint legislative hearing for Local Government Officials/General Government committees. Such an agreement could bring in $12.5 million to address the structural deficit the city faces year after year, she estimated. We have cut to the bone, and any additional cuts will have adverse effects on the level of service our residents, businesses, and visitors have come to expect, Sheehan testified. Cuts should not relieve New York state of its responsibility to its capital city cuts should benefit the taxpayers who already bear an unfair and inequitable burden compared to other large cities throughout upstate New York. None of Albanys state representatives were present for the hearing. Mayors from cities across the state, including Buffalo, Syracuse and New York City, gathered before lawmakers to make their case for more state support as part of the annual Tin Cup Day. Albany officials have often pointed to the inequity in state aid among other upstate cities and the unique burden on the state's capital city as reasons it should get more funds. In 2017, a state-ordered report completed by The PFM Group was released, providing options to cut costs and wean Albany off additional state aid. One suggestion was bringing available land at Harriman Campus back on the city tax rolls. Yet commercial development at the campus hasnt happened, and this year Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the Wadsworth Lab a tax-exempt, state entity would be moving there. Harriman Campus continues to be developed, Sheehan said. It was suggested 30 acres would be open to development and become taxable, and it hasnt. We believe that there could be a PILOT attached directly to the Harriman Campus of $12.5 million. A state Office of General Services spokesperson said there are no current plans to make space on the campus available for commercial development. The report also suggested establishing voluntary payments from big tax-exempt institutions, but not all entities have upheld their promises, including Fuller Road Management Corp., an economic development arm of SUNY Polytechnic Institute, which promised $500,000 annually to Albany beginning in 2015 and extending through 2017. The quasi-government agency still owes $1 million. Other recommendations to cut city of Albany expenses include raising taxes, cutting police and fire department staff, upgrading streetlights and consolidating 911 dispatch and public records with Albany County. Representatives from the citys police and fire unions both bristled at the notion of cutting staff in their departments. That proposal in and of itself is absolutely unacceptable. We are bare-bones minimum now, said Greg McGee, vice president of the citys police officers union. Both unions support the citys pursuit of permanent funding from the state. Last year, the firefighters union lobbied the state for Capital City Funding. I think $12.5 million is substantially less than what we should be entitled to, McGee said. The amount of state-owned property in city of Albany, we have to handle those services. That PFM Group report was used as the basis for the state Assemblys budget adjustments only giving the city $9.8 million last year. At the time, lawmakers had to contend with a $4.4 billion deficit. Albany was eventually provided $12 million, but the city is now again at the mercy of last-minute budget adjustments to secure the $12.5 million it needs to close its 2019 budget gap. The PFM report is just part of the unjust way that the city of Albany is treated. No other city is treated this way, Sheehan said. When we come up with cost saving initiatives, those savings are going to pay for our workforce or should go to our taxpayers who are overtaxed compared to the surrounding communities and compared to other cities. NISKAYUNA Eugenie Mukeshimana remembers growing up in a community that watched out for her as a child. That was before the killing began. "It was impossible for us to imagine that the same people who came to your birthday, who might have named you, who were there for everything for your family, would turn around and say. 'You're different from us, you are of a different ethnic group, we have to kill you, we have to kill your kids, we have to kill your grandma,'" Mukeshimana told students at Niskayuna High School during a special assembly Monday morning. When the Rwandan genocide started in April 1994, Mukeshimana, a member of the Tutsi ethnic minority, was eight months pregnant. In the violence that tore the country apart over the next three months and left up to a million people dead, she lost her husband, father and sister as well as aunts, uncles and friends. Mukeshimana immigrated to Albany nearly two decades ago to get a degree in social work at the College of St. Rose, and now lives in New Jersey. She has shared her story before many audiences, including at the United Nations. She said she began speaking out when she realized that not everyone was aware of the genocide. She wanted to tell the next generation about where intolerance can lead. During Mukeshimana's 55-minute talk, the auditorium grew silent when she began to describe her experience. The violence began with propaganda that convinced members of the Hutu majority including her neighbors and even friends that she was different. She remembered walking home from high school and being called a "cockroach" by armed soldiers on the street. "If you call a human being a cockroach, what are you really saying? You are calling for their extermination," Mukeshimana said. "Which means if you start getting rid of the roaches, you're not going to leave any baby roaches or grandma roaches you're just going to take care of the problem. That's why it's very important to think about the words you use to describe another human being." Words turned to violence when the April 6, 1994, assassination of Rwanda's president a leader of the "Hutu Power" movement was blamed on Tutsis. Mukeshimana's family bribed three sets of armed men before fleeing their home. They were kicked out of their neighbors' house, where they sought refuge, and then separated. Mukeshimana hid for days under a bed in a stranger's home until neighborhood vigilantes found her. Her hosts convinced them that Mukeshimana was their half-Hutu, half-Tutsi relative. They took her to the house of a government official. All alone, Mukeshimana gave birth to her first daughter in an open-roofed outhouse. They were discovered and taken to the killing fields, but she saved herself and her newborn by lying that she would give information about the government in exchange for two bullets instead of dying more painfully by machete. She ended up cooking for one of the men in his home; she believes she was spared simply because he was rarely home. Mukeshimana remains grateful to those who risked their lives to save hers. "I would want to remind you that you are always better off doing the right thing and dealing with the backlash and unpopular reaction to that," she told the students Monday. "You didn't do that because it makes you feel good; you do it because it's an investment. At some point in your kids' life or your friends' life, you hope there are enough people who are taking actions like that, so they will be there for you." Niskayuna High School Assistant Principal Eva Jones said the school invites a speaker to a special assembly every year to broaden perspectives. "By understanding people's different life experiences we can develop a greater appreciation for valuing each other," Jones said. Niskayuna High School senior Tess McGrinder met Mukeshimana at a youth leadership conference in Washington, D.C., and suggested at a student forum that the school invite her to speak. "When I came home from this conference, I said 'I'm a different person, I see the world totally differently,'" McGrinder said. "I realized words are so potent. Words are what started the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide. It's people saying those people are less than human, it's dehumanizing words that eventually cause people to be violent and grows into something much bigger." McGrinder said she's trying to take initiatives, like organizing a student talk series to raise awareness about current catastrophes like the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar and the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. "If we have more of a global perspective, we can't let things happen, and just sit back and be comfortable in our safety," she said. "We have to be aware and speak up for those who aren't able to." Spokesman of the Atiku Campaign Organisation, Segun Sowunmi, has said it will be practically impossible for the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar to win the February 16th election, if they do not do serious campaign. This was stated in a leaked audio, which shared via Twitter by the spokesperson of the Buhari Campaign Organization, Festus Keyamo, on Tuesday. According to Keyamo, the conversation took place earlier in February, even though one can not immediately tell if this is true or not. Sowunmi in the leaked audio said that: Except for rigging, its practically impossible for Atiku to make the number again. Therefore, we are now back on campaign. We cannot abandon our campaign. Reacting to the leaked audio, the Buhari campaign organization spokesperson tweeted thus: Its all over!!! Segun Sowunmi, Atikus spokesperson, in a leaked audio early February, throws in the towel. I expected this long ago, but its better late than never. See tweet and listen to audio below Albany New Yorks high school graduation rate is slowly increasing, thanks in part to the creation of new pathways that allow students to earn a degree beyond the traditional regimen of Regents exams. Now, though, the state Board of Regents wants to drill down and learn precisely which alternate programs are working and, just as importantly, where they are in place and where they should be put in place. Do, for instance, more guidance counselors or a robust music and arts program help keep kids in school? And are career and technical programs spread evenly across the state? Those were some of the questions that arose during Mondays state Board of Regents meeting after state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia reviewed the most recent data regarding 2018 high school graduation rates. Overall, 80.4 percent of the 2014 cohort that is the freshman class for that year graduated four years later. While up less than a percent from the prior year, its risen 9 percent over a decade. A big part of the increase is due to the alternate pathways, such as career and technical programs or special dispensations that can be given to students with disabilities who might not normally pass the Regents exams needed for a degree. The state Education Department tracks various demographics on who is graduating, with statistics on white or African-American rates. But Regents members want to be able to link the variety of alternate programs to graduation rates in various schools. What needs to happen to get that number to zero? Regent Nan Mead said, referring to the dropout rate. If we had that information in black and white we could make the case (for supporting specific programs) added Regent Lester Young. Elia said they have detailed statistics on students including dropouts in the states Big Five districts (New York City, Yonkers, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo) but they are still working on details for other schools. Dropout rates for a given high school are one of the measures that schools are rated on under the new guidelines for the federal Every Student Succeeds Act for school accountability. As well as graduation rates, factors such as English, math and science test scores are used, as well as rates of improvement. Also looked at are attendance rates and the progress made by sub-groups such as English language learners. Rather than getting letter grades, schools and districts can fall into a number of categories. Those with high ratings are in Good Standing, while schools that arent doing so well are in Targeted Support or Comprehensive Support and Improvement status. Elia said the lack of letter grades is intentional and helps avoid a stigma for poor performing schools. The Regents did not want a single grade for any single school. That has been extremely detrimental, she said. Its one dimensional. The trouble is, explaining these ratings, which are complex, can be difficult, which is a fact not lost on the Regents. Its challenging to discuss this with parents in plain English Mead said. rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU ALBANY Families who lost loved ones in the Schoharie limo crash know little more about what happened on what several called the worst day of their lives after the National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report Monday. A father who lost his daughter in the Oct. 6 crash and preferred not to be named said the report was "very vague" and only said "what we already know." He's had three meetings with State Police since his daughter's death, but said the information he received was "redundant" and "limited." Meanwhile, he has been frustrated by conflict between the Schoharie District Attorney Susan Mallery and the NTSB that stymied the federal agency's investigation and was only resolved by a judge in January. "It's been four months and they haven't really looked at the limo yet," he said. "We kind of wish they would just work together. We're supposed to be on the same team here. I think that's very depressing, to watch this go on it's almost like it's childish. I'm upset about it and I would like to see it move forward in a civil way." His lawyer has given notice to the state as well as Saratoga and Schoharie counties that he is planning to sue them, but will wait to file the lawsuit until after the final NTSB investigation is complete. Almost all of the victims' families are in the process of suing the state; some are filing actions against Prestige Limo Company and its owner, Shahed Hussain as well. Most contacted by the Times Union said they were advised by their attorneys not to speak to the press while their cases are pending. "We know the lawyers and everybody are on standby because of this. We want to get this moving along," the grieving father said. Moving forward, he's supportive of laws introduced in the state Legislature to increase stretch limo safety. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called for an outright ban on the vehicles. "Safety and justice is the ultimate goal here," he said. "I could sleep easier at night" if significant changes are made. Mary Ashton, whose son Michael Ukaj was killed and who hasn't filed a lawsuit yet, said that although she lives in Maine, State Police have been trying to keep her updated by calling at least once a month. "Nobody really knows anything," Ashton said. "We were warned in the beginning it would take a very long time, and to be honest with you, I would rather they take their time and find out what happened than jump the gun and come up with something that is inaccurate. "My son's gone nothing's going to bring him back, whether they solve the case in six months or six years," she said. "I want them to get as many facts as they can, and if that's going to take them a while, it's going to take them a while. I want to know who, what, where, why and how." Ashton said State Police sent her a copy of the NTSB's three-paragraph preliminary report by email on Monday, but Ashton said she had to stop reading it because she became too emotional. "I do want to know what's going on, but it opens the wound up again if I start looking at something. I have to make sure I'm emotionally capable at the time when I look at things," Ashton said. "Everything every single thing that I see, hear, do, say reminds me about Michael. It's so hard. I don't know how these mothers who lost more than one child could deal with it, because I'm having a wicked hard time." Ashton said she's been in touch with other grieving families on Facebook. "Everybody's struggling and having a hard time," Ashton said. "It's not just us." ALBANY Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is scheduled to meet with President Donald J. Trump at the White House on Tuesday afternoon to discuss a 2017 change in federal tax law that the governor contends has been devastating to New York and other "Democratic states." Last week, Cuomo had announced New York is facing an unexpected $2.3 billion shortfall the most significant in eight years that he attributed in large part to the federal rollback of the state and local tax deduction, known as SALT. Cuomo's administration contends that the $10,000 cap on federal tax deductions of state and local taxes has adversely affected about 1.7 million of New York's 9 million taxpayers, and that it's one reason so many people are moving to other states. "I requested the meeting," Cuomo said during a press conference on Monday. "To me, there is no more vital, long-term issue for the state, from a financial point of view, than SALT. ... It has created a preferential tax structure in Republican states." The governor said that New York sends "the most money to Washington" than any other state; it's one of 10 states, he said, that collectively send a combined $95 billion more to the federal government than they get back. "Forty states get more than they give," Cuomo added. READ CHRIS BRAGG'S 2016 LOOK AT TRUMP AND THE CUOMOS The change in federal tax law "has redistributed wealth in this nation from Democratic states, from so-called blue states to red states," Cuomo said. "This is literally taking from the richer states and transferring to the states with less income." Trump acknowledged last week the tax law has had "severe" implications for New York and other blue states, but he said that New Yorkers, especially upstate residents, have "been treated very badly" by their state government. The president has, on more than one occasion, recommended upstate New York residents consider leaving. Last July, New York, Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey filed a federal lawsuit in Manhattan that seeks a court order overturning the $10,000 tax cap. The states have argued the cap "deliberately seeks to compel certain states to reduce their public spending." The multi-state coalition cast the measure as an "unconstitutional assault on the states' sovereign choices." The Justice Department is defending the U.S. Treasury and Internal Revenue Service in the lawsuit, which is pending. Trump's administration has moved to dismiss the lawsuit, contending the states lack standing to file their action and accusing them of "revisionist history" in their analysis of Congress' constitutional right to set tax laws. Washington Congressional negotiators reached agreement Monday night to prevent a government shutdown and finance construction of new barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, overcoming a late-stage hang-up over immigration enforcement issues that had threatened to scuttle the talks. Republicans were desperate to avoid another bruising shutdown. They tentatively agreed to far less money for President Donald Trump's border wall than the White House's $5.7 billion wish list, settling for a figure of nearly $1.4 billion, according to congressional aides. That means 55 miles of new fencing constructed through existing designs such as metal slats instead of a concrete wall but far less than the 215 miles the White House demanded in December. The fencing would be built in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. "We reached an agreement in principle," said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., appearing with a bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers who concurred. "Our staffs are just working out the details," said House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y. Details won't be officially released until Tuesday, but the pact came in time to alleviate any threat of a second partial government shutdown this weekend. Aides revealed the details under condition of anonymity because the agreement is tentative. The agreement also includes increases for new technologies such as advanced screening at border entry point, humanitarian aid sought by Democrats, and additional customs officers. This weekend, Shelby pulled the plug on the talks over Democratic demands to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities, frustrating some of his fellow negotiators, but Democrats yielded ground on that issue in a fresh round of talks on Monday. Asked if Trump would back the deal, Shelby said: "We believe from our dealings with them and the latitude they've given us, they will support it. We certainly hope so." The border debate got most of the attention, but it's just part of a major spending measure to fund a bevy of Cabinet departments. A collapse of the negotiations would have imperiled another upcoming round of budget talks that are required to prevent steep spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic agencies. Trump traveled to El Paso, Texas, for a campaign-style rally Monday night focused on immigration and border issues. He has been adamant that Congress approve money for a wall along the Mexican border, though he no longer repeats his 2016 mantra that Mexico will pay for it. Democrats carried more leverage into the talks after besting Trump on the 35-day shutdown but showed flexibility in hopes on winning Trump's signature. After yielding on border barriers, Democrats focused on reducing funding for detention beds to curb what they see as unnecessarily harsh enforcement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The agreement yielded curbed funding, overall, for ICE detention beds, which Democrats promised would mean the agency would hold fewer detainees than the current average of 49,000 detainees held each day. Democrats claimed the number of beds would be ratcheted down to 40,520. But a proposal to cap at 16,500 the number of detainees caught in areas away from the border a limit Democrats say was aimed at preventing overreach by the agency ran into its own Republican wall. Democrats dropped the demand in the Monday round of talks, and the mood in the Capitol improved markedly. Trump met Monday afternoon with top advisers in the Oval Office to discuss the negotiations. He softened his rhetoric on the wall but ratcheted it up when alluding to the detention beds issue. "We can call it anything. We'll call it barriers, we'll call it whatever they want," Trump said. "But now it turns out not only don't they want to give us money for a wall, they don't want to give us the space to detain murderers, criminals, drug dealers, human smugglers." The recent shutdown left more than 800,000 government workers without paychecks, forced postponement of the State of the Union address and sent Trump's poll numbers tumbling. As support in his own party began to splinter, Trump surrendered after the shutdown hit 35 days, agreeing to the current temporary reopening without getting money for the wall. The president's supporters have suggested that Trump could use executive powers to divert money from the federal budget for wall construction, though he could face challenges in Congress or the courts. The negotiations hit a rough patch Sunday amid a dispute over curbing ICE, the federal agency that Republicans see as an emblem of tough immigration policies and Democrats accuse of often going too far. According to ICE figures, 66 percent of the nearly 159,000 immigrants it reported detaining last year were previously convicted of crimes. Reflecting the two administration's differing priorities, in 2016 under President Barack Obama, around 110,000 immigrants were detained and 86 percent had criminal records. Few convictions that immigrants detained last year had on their records were for violent crimes. The most common were for driving while intoxicated, drugs, previous immigration convictions and traffic offenses. Trump has repeatedly pointed to El Paso to make his case that a border wall is necessary, claiming barriers turned the city from one of the nation's most dangerous to one of its safest. But that's not true. El Paso had a murder rate of less than half the national average in 2005, a year before the most recent expansion of its border fence. That's despite being just across the border from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, a city plagued by drug violence. TROY The previous dismissal of three rounds of indictments in a double homicide case means evidence considered important more than two years ago, when four men were charged in the killings of two roommates, has no role in the upcoming March 18 murder trial of the lone remaining defendant. The prosecution and defense agreed Monday in Rensselaer County Supreme Court that suppression hearings concerning cell phone records and search warrants issued in 2016 in Virginia didnt have to take place. The evidence doesnt fit the case for alleged murder of a man in 2016 in his Troy apartment. Luis Alfredo Monge Guevara faces murder charges for allegedly killing Jaiver Gomez Bartolon on Oct. 17, 2016, in the apartment he shared with Cristian Gonzalez Hernandez at 1 East Glen Ave. in Troy. Guevara will be on trial for two counts of second-degree murder and one count each of first-degree burglary, second-degree burglary and fourth-degree conspiracy in Bartolon's killing. Rensselaer County State Supreme Court Justice Andrew Ceresia previously dismissed three rounds of indictments after former District Attorney Joel E. Abeloves office failed to present corroborating evidence to support the accomplice testimony heard by different grand juries. The rulings were cited by Assistant District Attorney Andrew Botts as he told Ceresia that the suppression hearing was not required. Jay Hernandez, the attorney defending Guevara, agreed. It was the latest development in a case that will be 29 months old when Guevara goes to trial in March. The prosecution of the case began under Abelove, and has been inherited by current District Attorney Mary Pat Donnelly. While Guevara will be tried for allegedly killing Bartolon, no one is currently charged with slaying Hernandez in Brunswick. Abeloves office was unable to make charges stick against any of the four defendants. Four men were initially indicted for the homicides of Bartolon and Cristian Gonzalez Hernandez: Guevara as well as Cresencio "Chucho" Salazar, Salomon Najera Hernandez and Magdaleno Perez Calixto. Guevara is the only defendant set to go to trial after the other three saw their indictments dismissed, and in two instances reached plea deals. After the deaths, Guevara, Hernandez and Calixto fled to Virginia where they were arrested and questioned before being sent back to Troy. Salazar was arrested in New York City. The attorneys said evidence from a search warrant for the deceased roommates Troy apartment would not be contested. The four defendants and the two deceased victims are undocumented Mexican nationals. Salomon Najera Hernandez pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary Jan. 31. (None of the men with the surname Hernandez are related.) Calixto pleaded guilty in December 2017 to first-degree burglary and second-degree kidnapping, according to court records. Ceresia is scheduled to sentence Calixto to eight years in prison on March 31, and Hernandez to five years on April 2. They are being held in the Rensselaer County Jail. Abelove did not seek to reindict Salazar, who was handed over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation. Authorities say he was the ringleader in the killings and burglary of East Glen Avenue. ALBANY Three dozen Assemblymembers signed a letter urging Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to scale back U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) arrests in New York state courthouses and elsewhere. A recent report by advocacy organization The Immigrant Defense Project revealed that ICE courthouse arrests in New York have increased 1,700 percent since 2016. The Times Union reported two weeks ago that at least 18 incidents took place in the Capital Region last year. The Feb. 5 letter signed by Assemblywomen Patricia Fahy (D - Albany) and Michaelle Solages (D - Elmont) along with 34 others cited ICE's policy implemented in January 2018 that directed ICE agents to generally avoid arrests in or near courthouses with non-criminal proceedings. "Since then, it is clear that your agency has chosen to abandon that policy. ICE agents' pattern of aggressive, fear-inducing actions and behavior illustrate this growing issue," the letter read. More for you News Immigrants in or near Capital Region courts increasingly... The politicians urged ICE to add courthouses to the "sensitive locations" list where arrests are prohibited. The list includes hospitals, schools, places of worship and public demonstrations. Solages introduced a bill in the Assembly this legislative session that would outlaw arrests of people in court proceedings in state courthouses without a valid warrant. Manhattan Democrat Brad Hoylman sponsored a similar bill in the state Senate. "ICE's actions in New York state are beyond troubling they underscore an aggressive immigration policy that is aimed towards deporting as many people as possible, no matter their individual merits or background," said Solages. "The presence of ICE agents in New York courthouses should worry every New Yorker, as this coordinated behavior intends to disrupt our immigrant communities' relationship with the courts and civil life more broadly. " The letter also mentioned the recent arrest of Kinimo Ngoran, a Capital City Rescue Mission chef who was picked up during a routine ICE check-in. His detention in Batavia, near Buffalo, has drawn outcry from the community. Apple County Sheriff Craig Apple put out a plea to President Donald Trump on social media to contact Apple and take action on Ngoran's situation. "His [Ngoran's] detainment highlights an arbitrary pattern of arrests made by ICE agents with little regard for individual circumstance or due process rights, illustrating a coordinated policy to deport first and ask questions later," said Fahy. "These types of actions only serve to sow discord and distrust between our immigrant communities in New York and local law enforcement." ALBANY Despite opposition from election officials, the Albany County Board of Elections is headed for the South End of Albany. In a split along party lines, county legislators voted 28-10 on Monday to relocate the Board of Elections to the former state Department of Motor Vehicles building on South Pearl Street a relocation that drew bipartisan protest from the board's two commissioners. Legislator Robert Beston, D-Watervliet, was absent. The Board of Elections currently is off Central Avenue on North Russell Road in Albany, a location county officials say costs taxpayers nearly $350,000 annually to rent. The county-owned building at 260 S. Pearl St. recently was vacated by the DMV, presenting the opportunity for the county to save money with a move. The county currently pays $27,846 a month to rent space at 32 N. Russell Road for the Board of Elections. It includes 75 parking spaces in the lease, county officials said. Democrats spoke in favor of the move, pointing to the savings the county taxpayers will see and the chance that elections offices in low-income, majority-minority neighborhood could mean voter accessibility. "We have an opportunity to move the Board of Elections to a building that we own, that is vacant, in a neighborhood that could use some business there, new energy, new employees," said Bethlehem Legislator Joanne Cunningham. "We have an opportunity to do that, right now, right at our fingertips. I do not understand why we wouldn't grab that." The 10 Republican legislators voted against the move, suggesting the process was being rushed, other options should be explored and the long-term perspective should be considered. "What are the needs going to be with a whole new election system that we are dealing with?" said Loudonville Republican Peter Crouse. "And what happens if a year from now we find out we need another 10,000 square feet of space and we don't have it. It doesn't make sense." The move was opposed by both election commissioners and the plan sparked controversy after Republican election Commissioner Rachel Bledi said the building wasn't helpful for the Board of Elections and described the area a "bad, dangerous neighborhood." Bledi and the Democrats' election commissioner, Matt Clyne, formally objected to the move in January in a memo to legislators calling the idea "ill-advised" and suggesting the decision is being made without considering the "operational requirements of the Board." However, CT Male Associates in Colonie says the South Pearl Street building would accommodate the elections office. Rich Campagnola, principal architect of CT Male, said in looking at "usable square footage, rather than total square footage, the difference between the two buildings is minimal, with only 1,666-square-feet less of space usable square footage at the former DMV site. Because the South Pearl site isn't broken up like North Russell, Campagnola said the Board of Elections office can be laid out "much more efficiently" at 260 S. Pearl. The South End location also has about 100 parking spaces, as compared to the guaranteed 75 spaces at North Russell Road, an accessible toilet for the public, higher ceiling heights and fire sprinklers. Latham Republican Paul Burgdorf said legislators should listen to the election commissioners who know best what the Board of Elections needs. "We have now ceded a responsibility that we've entrusted the two election commissioners to an engineering firm from Latham," he said. "CT Male is now running the Board of Elections. They're going to tell you where the offices should be, who gets a private office, whether there are conference rooms for opening absentee ballots." Albany Democrat Sam Fein bristled at the notion that an engineering firm wouldn't best understand building layout. "I trust them more than anyone else on space layout and what makes sense from that perspective," said Fein, who represents parts of the South End. "I think this a real opportunity to increase voter turnout." The aim is to move before this year's general election in November. New York, Feb 12 (IBNS): Though attacks were down last year, a new United Nations report to the Security Council on Monday shows that ISIL is still a global threat, despite evolving into a covert terrorism network, with countries continuing to face challenges from the growing scourge of violent extremism. Despite the more concealed or locally embedded activities of ISIL cells, its central leadership retains an influence and maintains an intent to generate internationally-directed attacks and thereby still plays an important role in advancing the groups objectives, explained Vladimir Voronkov, who heads the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT). This is exacerbated by the challenge of foreign terrorist fighters who either are leaving conflict zones, or those who are returning or who are about to be released from prison. In this context, radicalization in prison settings, is seen as a particular challenge in Europe and Iraq, Under-Secretary-General Voronkov added. He said that so-called frustrated travelers were adding to the complexity of the threat, namely fighters whod failed to reach main battlegrounds, but been diverted instead elsewhere, either by ISIL commanders or of their own volition. The report notes that the centre of gravity of the organization, known in the Arab world as Daesh, remains in Iraq and Syria, with up to 18,000 remaining in the ranks, including some 3,000 foreign fighters. In terms of ISILs financial strength, the report notes that despite some loss of revenue due to territorial setbacks, ISIL could sustain its operations through accessible reserves, in cash or investment in businesses, ranging between $50 and $300 million. ISIL cells are also reported to generate revenue through criminal activities, explained Mr. Voronkov. The document, the eighth report on ISIL which proclaimed its so-called caliphate across northern Syria and Iraq in 2014 - was prepared on behalf of the UN Secretary-General by the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team of the 1267/1989/2253 ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, in close collaboration with the UNOCT and other UN entities and international organisations. After being driven from its city strongholds of Mosul and Raqqa, intense fighting in recent months has left Daesh defending a small enclave against US-backed fighters in eastern Syria, close to the Iraqi border. According to news reports, around 600 terrorist fighters continue to battle with coalition forces, which have labelled this the final battle to crush ISIL. Challenges faced by Member States The UN analysis shows that Member States continue to face tremendous challenges across the world in tackling the threats posed by ISIL, with the threat level continuing to expand. This is especially true in North, West and East Africa as well as in Central Asia. Training camps have been identified in Afghanistan, and in South-East Asia, where women and youth are increasingly mobilized for terrorist operations across the region. The head of CTED, Michele Coninsx, highlighted three of those major challenges faced by Member States: The destructive legacy left in Syria and Iraq, most noticeable in the high number of families who remain internally-displaced due to the destruction of homes and infrastructure overall: She noted that reconstruction will take many years and will require significant resources, as will restoring and reconciling communities after so many years of conflict. The growth in the number of terrorist suspects and offenders in custody: The risk posed by such prisoners is difficult to assess and manage. ISILs ability to exploit new technologies and find innovative ways to finance itself and find new recruits: Ms. Coninsx noted for example the risks linked to anonymous technologies like blockchain and cryptocurrencies, and other internet-based ways of avoiding detection. The UNs support to Member States For several years, various parts of the UN have supported Member States in the fields of prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration (PRR) of former fighters; international judicial cooperation; countering terrorist financing; border management and law enforcement; countering terrorist narratives and engaging communities to prevent violent extremism. Specifically, explained CTEDs Executive Director Coninsx, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UNOCT are leading a joint project to provide tailored capacity-building assistance to prison staff. In the Lake Chad Basin, she said CTED and UNODC are working to provide Member States with technical expertise to develop comprehensive strategies to prosecute, rehabilitate and reintegrate persons associated with the Boko Haram extremist group. Other initiatives include the development of a practical guide for requesting electronic evidence across borders, and the deployment of a specialized consultant to support Iraq in its efforts to develop a holistic and comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy. The Secretary-General has stressed that despite recent successes against ISIL / Daesh and its affiliates, the threat posed by returning and relocating fighters, as well as from individuals inspired by them, remains high and has a global reach, stressed Mr. Voronkov. I would therefore emphasize, the recent ISIL losses should not lead to complacency at any level, he concluded. UNICEF/Sparks Schoharie New details from the National Transportation Safety Board appear to indicate that the driver in the deadly Oct. 6 limousine crash in Schoharie swerved out of the way of a car stopped at the bottom of a long hill on Route 30 before careening into the parking lot of the Apple Barrel Country Store and Cafe. That description, included in a preliminary report made public by the NTSB on Monday, matches a Times Union report published in November that revealed the account of a witness whose car was stopped at the bottom of Route 30 just seconds before the crash occurred. The witness, who had another passenger in the car, told investigators that as they were at the stop sign at the intersection with Route 30A, the stretch 2001 Ford Excursion sped down the hill behind them and swerved out of the way and flew through the intersection. Sal Ferlazzo, an Albany attorney who is representing the family of crash victim Amanda Rivenburg, said he has interviewed the same witness as part of the civil lawsuit he has filed against Prestige Limousine of Wilton, which owned the Excursion. Ferlazzo said the witness at the stop sign, whom he did not identify, was terrified when the limo came speeding down the hill. But the limo driver, Scott Lisinicchia, steered the car to the left, Ferlazzo said. The move spared the occupants of the stopped car from becoming two more victims of the tragedy. "It did swerve," Ferlazzo said of the Excursion. "I thought perhaps the driver had had a stroke or heart attack, but they made a maneuver. At least he was in some control. It's shocking that they just didn't plow into them." All 17 passengers aboard, as well as Lisinicchia, died after the Excursion hit a Toyota Highlander in the parking lot at the Apple Barrel and then drove into a ravine where it collided with an embankment. Authorities have said all the deaths aboard the limo were caused by blunt-force trauma. Two bystanders, Brian Hough and his father-in-law James Schnurr, were also killed in the store's parking lot. They had stopped on their way to a wedding with other family members and were walking across the lot when the limo struck their Toyota Highlander. "The limousine's impact with the SUV caused the SUV to subsequently strike and kill two of the approaching pedestrians," the NTSB report states. The operator of the limousine company, Nauman Hussain, has been charged with one count of criminally negligent homicide; he had pleaded not guilty. The company is owned by his father, Shahed Hussain, who has been in Pakistan since before the crash. Although Shahed Hussain is not facing any criminal charges, he is named as a defendant in the civil lawsuit along with his son Nauman. Although the NTSB report does not mention anything about the potential cause of the crash, court filings in the criminal case indicate that potential brake failure is a major focus of the investigation being handled by State Police. According to the Times Union's report from November, the same witness who was stopped at the intersection had told investigators they had passed by the limo further up the hill while they were driving down Route 30. The limo, which had been hired to take a group of friends and family members from Amsterdam to Cooperstown, had pulled over on the shoulder of the road, the witness said, and was slowly rolling forward with its reverse lights on and backup sensor beeping. It's unclear why the driver might have pulled over, or if he was attempting to put the car in reverse. That section of Route 30 between the intersection with Route 7 and Route 30A is about two miles long and is steep at times. The posted speed limit is 55 mph; it is easy to gain speed quickly. State Police have not released any of the details of their investigation of the case, which is being done in coordination with the Schoharie County District Attorney's office. The NTSB says more details will be made public in a factual report that will be issued later. The final report will also include a probable cause assessment and safety recommendations. An executive was having difficulty with her assistant, so she decided to confront her. "Nancy," she began, "you don't seem to be into your work. The letters you type are full of errors, rarely do you get to work on time, and why don't you ever answer the phone?" "The answer to the last part is easy," the assistant responded. "I quit answering the phone because nine times out of 10, it's for you!" Now there is an employee who is probably not going to get very far. Whether you are starting out in your career or just want to improve, you need to earn the trust of your bosses and co-workers. No matter how much workplaces have changed over the years, there are still some basic guidelines to follow that will help you stand out. These are some of the most important lessons I can offer. Arrive on time consistently. Yes, sometimes the traffic is bad or mass transit runs late. Train yourself to arrive at work within a specific window so people don't have to guess when you're coming in or whether you're coming in at all. Dress appropriately. Take note of how your co-workers dress, and follow their lead. You don't want to be too formal, but sloppy clothes and poor personal hygiene can mark you as unserious or unprofessional. Introduce yourself effectively. Practice a quick introduction no more than 30 seconds so you can make a good first impression on the people you meet. Remember to look people in the eye and give them a nice, warm handshake. Remember names. Make an effort to keep people's names in your mind. You'll impress them and show that you're paying attention. The best way is to repeat their names a few times when you first meet to lock the name in your head, or write it down at your first opportunity. Stay organized. If you're scrambling to find things on your desk or are always late for meetings, you'll look scatter-brained and undependable. Set up a system for tracking information and managing your time so you're always on top of things. Use email professionally. Keep in mind that your email at work belongs to your employer, not to you. Write every email as if it might be read aloud in court. You don't want a flippant remark or a bad joke coming back to haunt you. Share the credit generously. Collaborate with your co-workers as much as possible, and let your boss and other people know they've helped you. No one wants to work with someone who hogs all the accolades, but people are happy to cooperate with a co-worker who's generous with the credit for a job well done. Talk to your boss. Make time to check in with your manager when you don't have a problem to report or a question to ask. Don't monopolize their time, but make contact to offer a suggestion about a project or ask for feedback. Let the boss know you are interested and eager. Volunteer. Don't wait for your manager to ask you about joining a committee or task force. Jump at the opportunity to be in contact with colleagues outside your department and build your image throughout the organization. Go above and beyond. If you really want to impress people, accept responsibility that others might have backed away from or didn't want. Never pass up an opportunity to show your willingness to learn and work hard. There will always be a place for the person who says, "I'll take care of it" and then does, in fact, take care of it. Don't give up. Stick with your projects and get them finished, preferably on time. Show your managers that they can rely on you to keep your commitments. Network. Get to know the most talented people in your organization regardless of their titles. Don't ask them for help rather, offer to help them when you can. This builds positive relationships and earns you a reputation as someone who puts the organization's objectives first. Keep learning. I'm an advocate for lifelong learning, and I strongly encourage people to keep their brains fresh by learning both on and off the job. Be curious. Delve into subjects that will make you a more valuable employee. Someone once asked Michelangelo at age 88 when he was going to retire. He answered, "Whenever I stop learning." These are habits you will use for life, no matter what job or title you hold. Good workplace etiquette will never go out of style. Mackay's Moral: Put your best foot forward to get a leg up in business. harveymackay.com MackayMitchell Envelope Co., 2100 Elm St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414. featured ART Upper Merion just one of many schools participating in MCCC's art exhibition Upper Merion just one of many schools participating in MCCC's art exhibit NORRISTOWN Police seek suspect in fatal shooting Detectives name suspect in Jan. 23 homicide, home invasion robbery on Cherry Street Henry Diaz-Ayala, reportedly injured during crime, is considered armed and dangerous Image Credit: Former Mizoram CM Lalthanhawla with a Imphal, Feb 12 (IBNS): A curfew has been imposed in the Manipur capital after sporadic violence erupted today during a state-wide bandh called by civic society groups against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, media reports said. The proposed amendment would mean relaxed citizenship eligibility for non-Muslims from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha last month, could not be tabled in the Upper House today. Curfew has been imposed in Imphal area, in the twin districts of Imphal (East) and Imphal (West) and the agitation continues, said Manipur director general of police LM Khaute, according to Hindustan Times. Mobile internet services have been suspended in the state. We are making all efforts to ensure peace prevails, Khaute said. A 36-hour shutdown called by Peoples Alliance Manipur, which was to end on Tuesday evening, has been extended by 24 hours because the bill was not tabled in Parliament today. In Mizoram, civil society groups under the umbrella of NGO coordination committee, observed a black day. Former chief minister Lalthanhawla and other protesters carried black flags and posters reading "Hello Independent Republic of Mizoram". The bill is not in the interests of the people of Northeast, the former CM said. What is Citizenship Bill? The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 is aimed to grant Indian citizenship to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. About 30 lakh people had submitted their claims for inclusion of their names in the final NRC during the claims and objections submission process ended on December 31 last. Image Credit: Former Mizoram CM Lalthanhawla with a "Hello Independent Republic of Mizoram" poster . Source: Twitter Thomasville, GA (31792) Today Cloudy skies this morning followed by thunderstorms during the afternoon. High around 80F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. remaining of SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM! 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. New Delhi, Feb 12 (IBNS): India and Maldives on Tuesday exchanged diplomatic notes for implementation of the Visa Facilitation Agreement which was signed during the state visit of President Ibrahim Solih to India on Dec 17 last year. This exchange of diplomatic notes follows signature of the agreement by the President of India after the Union Cabinet had given its approval. The agreement will be effective from March 11 after all formalities including information being provided to all immigration offices, border points and customs authorities have been completed. This agreement provides a very liberal visa regime for Maldivian nationals to visit India for tourism, business, education & medical purposes. It also makes it easier for Indians to travel to Maldives for business purposes. This agreement will facilitate greater people to people contacts which was one of the decisions taken during the high level meeting between Prime Minister of India and the President of the Republic of Maldives. This truck registered to Laurel Fuel Company of Rockwood is not licensed to do business in Maryland, according to the Maryland Comptroller's Office. Its driver was cited in Garrett County Feb. 6 for allegedly trying to sell untaxed motor fuel. Hava Lin is a freshman Business Administration-Management and Marketing major at Lander University. She plans to become an online business owner in the future. Lins column is part of Lander Universitys Achieving the Promise project, which is generously funded by SC Humanities whose mission is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. This subscription will allow current subscribers of The Tillamook Headlight Herald to access all of our online Subscriber-Only content, including the E Editions area. NOTE: To claim your access to the site, you will need to enter the Last Name and First Name that is tied to your subscription in this format: SMITH, JOHN If you need help with exactly how your specific name needs be entered, please call us at 1-(503) 842-7535 or email admin@countrymedia.net. Tifton, GA (31794) Today Scattered thunderstorms during the morning becoming more widespread this afternoon. High 79F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. The following companies are subsidiares of Centene: Absolute Total Care Inc., AcariaHealth Inc., AcariaHealth Pharmacy #11, AcariaHealth Pharmacy #12, AcariaHealth Pharmacy #13, AcariaHealth Pharmacy #14, AcariaHealth Pharmacy Inc., AcariaHealth Solutions Inc., Access Medical Acquisition Inc., Access Medical Group of Florida City Inc., Access Medical Group of Hialeah Inc., Access Medical Group of Lakeland LLC, Access Medical Group of Miami Inc., Access Medical Group of North Miami Beach Inc., Access Medical Group of Opa-Locka Inc., Access Medical Group of Perrine Inc., Access Medical Group of Tampa II Inc., Access Medical Group of Tampa III Inc., Access Medical Group of Tampa Inc., Access Medical Group of Westchester Inc., Agate Resources Inc., Ambetter of Magnolia Inc., Ambetter of North Carolina Inc., Ambetter of Peach State Inc., Arch Personalized Medicine Initiative LLC, Arkansas Health & Wellness Health Plan Inc., Arkansas Total Care Holding Company LLC, Arkansas Total Care Inc., B2B Gestion Integra S.L.U., B2B Lab S.L., B2B Salud S.L.U., Bankers Reserve Life Insurance Company of Wisconsin, Bridgeway Health Solutions LLC, Bridgeway Health Solutions of Arizona Inc., Buckeye Community Health Plan Inc., Buckeye Health Plan Community Solutions Inc., CBHSP Arizona Inc., CCTX Holdings LLC, CMC Hanley LLC, CMC Real Estate Company LLC, CT Poprad, Calibrate Acquisition Company, California Health and Wellness Plan, Cantina Laredo Clayton LP, Cardium Health Services, Carolina Complete Health Holding Company Partnership, Carolina Complete Health Inc., Casenet LLC, Casenet S.R.O., CeltiCare Health Plan Holdings LLC, CeltiCare Health Plan of Massachusetts Inc., Celtic Group Inc., Celtic Insurance Company, Cenpatico Behavioral Health LLC, Cenpatico Behavioral Health of Arizona LLC, Cenpatico of Arizona Inc., Centene Center I LLC, Centene Center II LLC, Centene Center III LLC, Centene Center LLC, Centene Company of New York LLC, Centene Company of Texas LP, Centene Europe Finance Company Limited, Centene Health Plan Holdings Inc., Centene International Ventures LLC, Centene Management Company LLC, Centene Venture Company Alabama Health Plan Inc., Centene Venture Company Florida Inc., Centene Venture Company Illinois Inc., Centene Venture Company Indiana Inc., Centene Venture Company Kansas Inc., Centene Venture Company Michigan Inc., Centene Venture Company Tennessee Inc., Centurion Correctional Healthcare of New Mexico LLC, Centurion Detention Health Services LLC, Centurion LLC, Centurion of Arizona LLC, Centurion of Delaware LLC, Centurion of Florida LLC, Centurion of Kansas LLC, Centurion of Minnesota LLC, Centurion of Mississippi LLC, Centurion of New Hampshire LLC, Centurion of Pennsylvania LLC, Centurion of Tennessee LLC, Centurion of Vermont LLC, Centurion of West Virginia LLC, Centurion of Wyoming LLC, Comfort Hospice of Missouri LLC, Comfort Hospice of Texas LLC, ComfortBrook Hospice LLC, Community Medical Group, Community Medical Holdings Corporation, Coordinated Care Corporation, Coordinated Care of Washington Inc., Country Style Health Care LLC, DR Magnet, District Community Care Inc., Elche-Crevillente Salud, Envolve - New York Inc., Envolve Benefits Options Inc., Envolve Captive Insurance Company Inc., Envolve Dental IPA of New York Inc., Envolve Dental Inc., Envolve Dental of Florida Inc., Envolve Dental of Texas Inc., Envolve Health, Envolve Holdings Inc., Envolve Inc., Envolve Optical Inc., Envolve PeopleCare Inc., Envolve Pharmacy IPA LLC, Envolve Pharmacy Solutions Inc., Envolve Total Vision Inc., Envolve Vision Benefits Inc., Envolve Vision IPA of New York Inc., Envolve Vision Inc., Envolve Vision of Florida Inc., Envolve Vision of Texas Inc., FH Assurance Company, Family Nurse Care II LLC, Family Nurse Care LLC, Family Nurse Care of Ohio LLC, Fidelis Care, Forensic Health Services LLC, Foundation Care LLC, GPT Acquisition LLC, Grace Hospice of Austin LLC, Grace Hospice of Grand Rapids LLC, Grace Hospice of Illinois LLC, Grace Hospice of Indiana LLC, Grace Hospice of San Antonio LLC, Grace Hospice of Virginia LLC, Grace Hospice of Wisconsin LLC, Granite State Health Plan Inc., Hallmark Life Insurance Company, Health Care Enterprises LLC, Health Net Access Inc., Health Net Community Solutions Inc., Health Net Community Solutions of Arizona Inc., Health Net Federal Services LLC, Health Net Health Plan of Oregon Inc., Health Net Inc., Health Net LLC, Health Net Life Insurance Company, Health Net Life Reinsurance Company, Health Net Pharmaceutical Services, Health Net Preferred Providers LLC, Health Net Services Inc., Health Net Veterans LLC, Health Net of Arizona Administrative Services Inc., Health Net of Arizona Inc., Health Net of California Inc., Health Net of California Real Estate Holdings Inc., Health Net of Pennsylvania LLC, Health Plan Real Estate Holdings Inc., HealthSmart Benefit Solutions Inc., HealthSmart Benefits Management LLC, HealthSmart Care Management Solutions LP, HealthSmart Information Systems Inc., HealthSmart Preferred Care II LP, HealthSmart Preferred Network II Inc., HealthSmart Primary Care Clinics LP, HealthSmart Rx Solutions Inc., Healthy Louisiana Holdings LLC, Healthy Missouri Holdings Inc., Healthy Washington Holdings Inc., Heritage Home Hospice LLC, Home State Health Plan Inc., HomeScripts.com LLC, Hospice DME Company LLC, Hospital Povisa S.A., Hudson Acquisition LLC, IAH of Florida LLC, IlliniCare Health Plan Inc., Illinois Health Practice Alliance LLC, Infraestructuras y Servicios de Alzira S. L., Integrated Care Network of Florida LLC, Integrated Mental Health Management LLC, Integrated Mental Health Services, Integrated Pharmacy Systems Inc., Interpreta Holdings Inc., Interpreta Inc., Iowa Total Care Inc., Kentucky Spirit Health Plan Inc., LBB Industries Inc., LSM Holdco Inc., LifeShare Management Group LLC, LiveHealthier Inc., Louisiana Healthcare Connections Inc. , MH Services International (UK) Limited, MH Services International Holdings (UK) Limited, MHM, MHM Correctional Services LLC, MHM Health Professionals LLC, MHM Maryland Inc., MHM Ohio Inc., MHM Services Inc., MHM Services of California LLC, MHM Solutions LLC, MHN Global Services Inc., MHN Government Services LLC, MHN Government Services-Guam Inc., MHN Government Services-International Inc., MHN Government Services-Puerto Rico Inc., MHN Services LLC, MHS Consulting International Inc., MHS Travel & Charter Inc., MR Poprad, MR Zilina, Magnolia Health Plan Inc., Managed Health Network, Managed Health Network LLC, Managed Health Services Insurance Corporation, Mauli Ola Health and Wellness Inc., Medicina Nove Zamky, Michigan Complete Health, National Pharmacy Services Inc., Nebraska Total Care Inc., Network Providers LLC, New York Quality Healthcare Corporation, Next Door Neighbors Inc., Next Door Neighbors LLC., North Florida Health Services Inc., Novasys Health Inc., OB Care, OB Klinika, Operose Health (Group) Ltd., Operose Health (Group) UK Ltd., Operose Health Ltd., Parker LP LLC, Peach State Health Plan Inc., Pennsylvania Health Care Plan Inc., Pennsylvania Health and Wellness Inc., Phoenix Home Health Care LLC, Pinnacle Home Care LLC, Pinnacle Senior Care of Illinois LLC, Pinnacle Senior Care of Indiana LLC, Pinnacle Senior Care of Kalamazoo LLC, Pinnacle Senior Care of Missouri LLC, Pinnacle Senior Care of Wisconsin LLC, PrimeroSalud S.L., Pro Diagnostic Group A.S. , Pro Magnet, Pro Magnet CZ, Pro RTG, Progress Medical A.S., QCA Healthplan Inc., QualMed Inc., QualMed Plans for Health of Pennsylvania Inc., QualMed Plans for Health of Western Pennsylvania Inc., Qualchoice Life and Health Insurance Company, R&C Healthcare LLC, RMED LLC, RX Direct Inc., Rapid Respiratory Services LLC, Ribera Salud II, Ribera Salud Proyectos S.L., Ribera Salud S.A., Ribera Salud Tecnologias S.L.U., Ribera Slaud Infraestructuras S.L.U., Ribera-Quilpro UTE, Salus Administrative Services Inc., Salus IPA LLC, Seniorcorps Peninsula LLC, SilverSummit Healthplan Inc., Social Health Bridge LLC, Social Health Bridge Trust, Specialty Therapeutic Care GP LLC, Specialty Therapeutic Care Holdings, Specialty Therapeutic Care LP, Sunflower State Health Plan Inc., Sunshine Health Community Solutions Inc., Sunshine Health Holding LLC, Sunshine State Health Plan Inc., Superior HealthPlan Community Solutions Inc., Superior HealthPlan Inc., The Practice Properties Limited, Torrejon Salud S.A., Torrevieja Salud S.L.U., Torrevieja Salud UTE, Traditional Home Health Services LLC, Trillium Community Health Plan Inc., U.S. Medical Management Holdings Inc., U.S. Medical Management LLC, USMM Accountable Care Network LLC, USMM Accountable Care Partners LLC, USMM Accountable Care Solutions LLC, WellCare Health Plans, Wellington Merger Sub I LLC, Wellington Merger Sub II LLC, Western Sky Community Care Inc., and nirvanaHealth LLC. Morgan Stanley, a financial holding company, provides various financial products and services to corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The company operates through Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments. The Institutional Securities segment offers capital raising and financial advisory services, including services related to the underwriting of debt, equity, and other securities, as well as advice on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, real estate, and project finance. This segment also provides sales and trading services, such as sales, financing, prime brokerage, and market-making services in equity and fixed income products consisting of foreign exchange and commodities; corporate and commercial real estate loans, which provides secured lending facilities and financing for sales and trading customers, as well as asset-backed and mortgage lending; and wealth management services, investment, and research services. The Wealth Management segment offers various financial services and solutions covering brokerage and investment advisory services; financial and wealth planning services; stock plan administration services; annuity and insurance products; securities-based lending, residential real estate loans, and other lending products; and banking and retirement plan services to individual investors and small to medium-sized businesses and institutions. The Investment Management segment provides various investment strategies and products comprising equity, fixed income, liquidity, and alternative/other products to benefit/defined contribution plans, foundations, endowments, government entities, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, and third-party fund sponsors and corporations through institutional and intermediary channels. The company was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in New York, New York. Read More Over 250 free-to-use cash machines are disappearing across the UK every month, leaving shoppers and businesses struggling to access cash, new figures have showed. A total of nearly 3,000 cashpoints were lost in the second half of last year, with more than half of them, or just over 1,500, being free-to-use ATMs, according to research by consumer group Which?. Even some 102 so-called protected machines vanished - those cash points which are more than 1km (0.6 miles) away from the next nearest free ATM or are located in particularly deprived parts of the country where access to cash is vital. 'Alarming rate' of closures: Nearly 3,000 cashpoints disappeared in the last six months of 2018 ATMs closures add to bank branches also closing at an alarming rate, with 3,300 UK branches having closed their doors since 2015. Which? said the double blow of cashpoint and bank closures was leaving communities struggling to access the cash they rely on and called for 'urgent regulatory action' to manage these changes. The closure of cash points has accelerated over the last year. This is partly due to the rise popularity of cashless payments, which is making cash less necessary, as well as to changes in the way the UKs cash machine network is funded. Concerns about ATM closures were heightened last year when banks announced they would slash the fees they paid to cash machine operators for each withdrawal. But last month Link, the country's largest operator of cash machines, said it will hike the fees it pays to operators of ATMs in a bid to stop more closures. Link said a new super premium will be paid by banks to ATM operators in some places where cash machines are situated in remote and less well-off parts of the country. ATM operators will receive enhanced premiums of up to 2.75 each time someone withdraws cash from an eligible machine under the changes. Around 1,000 cash machines will initially be eligible and the enhanced premiums will vary in size depending on how well a particular ATM is used. Currently, Link pays operators of free-to-use cash machines a 30p subsidy for every withdrawal made, so that could go up as much as nine-fold in some cases. Jenni Allen, managing director, Which? Money, said: We have serious concerns that the alarming rate of cashpoint and bank branch closures risks leaving people facing an uphill battle to access the cash they rely on. Cash is also a vital backup as fallible digital payments grow in popularity - so the Government must appoint a regulator to oversee these changes and ensure no-one is excluded and left struggling to go about their daily lives. Which? said cash was a vital backup as fallible digital payments grow in popularity A Link spokesman said they agreed with Which? that free access to cash was vital for consumers and added: As payment habits continue to change and more customers shop online or use contactless cards, the UK needs to work out how to maintain cash access, including from ATMs and also from other outlets such as the Post Office and from retailers' tills. Link's financial inclusion programme is key to ensuring that the UK's cash infrastructure continues to deliver free access to cash for consumers regardless of the marked decline in cash usage. A spokesman for the Payment Systems Regulator said they were holding Link to account for its commitment to preserve the spread of free-to-use cashpoints in all parts of the country. We're satisfied so far with the way Link has responded to our specific direction we gave it in October 2018, but we'll be continuing to check on the effectiveness of its measures in ensuring widespread free access to cash, the spokesman added. Barclays shareholder Richard Buxton said it was not the right time to downsize the investment bank A long-standing Barclays shareholder has blasted US activist investor Edward Bramson's plans to trim back the business's investment bank. Bramson, who is chief executive of New York investment company Sherborne, last week confirmed that he is forcing the bank to hold a shareholder ballot at its annual meeting in May on his plan to become a non-executive director. Fund manager Richard Buxton, who has invested more than 3 per cent of his Merian UK Alpha Fund in Barclays, told the Financial News website: 'We have a holding in Sherborne, so Bramson does communicate with us and has come in to see us. 'But we don't agree with what he's trying to do. The idea that this is the right moment to significantly downsize the investment bank is wrong. 'We also think it's wrong [to think] that if you were to do so, you would magically release vast amounts of capital to shareholders.' He also called for an overhaul of Barclays' culture to ensure all staff act with integrity in the wake of a scandal which saw boss Jes Staley fined 642,000 for wrongly trying to unmask a whistleblower. Barclays declined to comment. Deals are clearly on the agenda for Smith & Nephew, according to JP Morgan Cazenove, which recently had a sit-down with the top brass of the FTSE 100 med-tech giant. But a 2.3billion dart for US surgical instruments group Nuvasive looks unlikely, the investment bank reckons, addressing reports the two companies had held talks. However, analyst David Adlington and the team at JPMC think S&N still may be winding up to something quite ambitious on the takeover front. Merger talk: JP Morgan Cazenove believes medical equipment firm Smith & Nephew is looking to make a major takeover In a note to clients, they said: 'Management clearly believe that, historically, the company has been too conservative on mergers and acquisitions and are planning to be more active going forward.' S&N's share price down 3 per cent, or 45.5p, at 1469.5p looked to be pre-empting a buying spree of some description. Elsewhere, Royal Dutch Shell is one of the top picks in the oil and gas sector for Barclays Capital. Barclays pointed out that investors can expect a 6 per cent dividend yield (far better than keeping cash in a bank or building society), while the Anglo-Dutch giant has also pledged to buy back a slug of its own shares. Up 0.7 per cent, or 17p, at 2427p, Shell has seen its shares pick up real traction in the run-up to, and the aftermath, of its full-year results. Stock Watch - Stride Gaming Shares in Stride Gaming were in demand after the owner of Kitty Bingo effectively put itself up for sale. The price of 111p after it climbed 7.3 per cent, or 7.5p yesterday values the business at around 83million. Floated in May 2015 at 132p, it raced to more than 3 before hitting reverse gear when it incurred fines for compliance failures. With around 11 per cent of the 2.8billion-a-year online bingo market, the company should attract attention from the industrys big wheels. Both it and BP (up 0.06 per cent, or 0.3p, at 544.3p) benefited from the upturn in the value of a barrel of oil. In all, oil stocks have advanced around 19 per cent in the year to date, Barclays pointed out. The FTSE 100 began the week on the front foot as it advanced 0.8 per cent, or 57.93 points, to 7129.11 amid optimism that delegations from Washington and Beijing may be able to break the China-US trade impasse when they meet later this week. Traders seemed unflustered by a dump of economic data, which showed the UK grew by an anaemic 0.2 per cent in the last quarter of 2018. The construction sector, meanwhile, was at its lowest ebb since 2012. Topping the blue-chip leaderboard was Tui, up 4.9 per cent, or 44.8p, at 958.2p, with bargain-hunters entering the fray after last week's profit warning which had wiped around a fifth from the value of the international travel company. You have to feel for those who bought into Tui in May last year when the stock was changing hands for more than 17. Ahead of the banks' reporting season, Morgan Stanley took a look at the sector, revising two of its calls. It has upgraded Lloyds (up 1.5 per cent, or 0.84p, at 57.72p) to 'overweight' from 'equal weight', while pushing Royal Bank of Scotland (off 0.5 per cent, or 1.3p, at 237.8p) in the opposite direction. Barratt Developments (up 2 per cent, or 11.2p, at 574.2p) and Bovis Homes (up 0.05 per cent, or 0.5p, at 1028.5p) held up well after Liberum downgraded its calls on the two builders to 'hold' from 'buy'. The recent sector-wide bounce discounted the prospect of a hard Brexit, the broker said. Tobacco giant Imperial Brands was up 1.5 per cent, or 39p, at 2576.5p after it announced chairman Mark Williamson was stepping down. It said his departure was due to the introduction of a UK corporate governance code which says chairmen should serve for a maximum of nine years. The 61-year-old, who is also an independent director at National Grid, is to stay in post until his replacement is chosen. There was some pep in the step of investors in Futura Medical as the shares rose a further 16.8 per cent, or 3.12p, to 21.75p. Futura has developed a gel that acts quicker than Viagra and has fewer side-effects than the little blue pills. Selfridges will shell out 17.4million on business rates for its flagship shop in Oxford Street this year up 6.48million since 2017. The upmarket department store is one of 8,000 properties in London's West End braced for a 45million hike to their combined rates bill for 2019/20. Burberry's store on New Bond Street will suffer one of the biggest increases, with its bill soaring from 935,770 to 2.6million, according to property consultant Altus Group. Selfridges is one of 8,000 properties in London's West End braced for a 45million hike to their combined rates bill for 2019/20 Meanwhile, the rates contribution for Debenhams' Oxford Street shop will hit 5.4million a 60 per cent rise under the revaluation. The department store group is scrambling with lenders to secure a lifeline and stave off collapse. Bosses have blamed rising costs, including business rates, for contributing to its troubles. The Mail has been campaigning for a major overhaul of business rates and a level playing field between traditional bricks and mortar retailers and online firms such as Amazon. Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and House of Fraser are all shutting shops in a battle to stay afloat. Bosses at some of Britain's biggest firms face a shareholder outcry for topping up their salaries through pension payments. The likes of Lloyds and Burberry are in the firing line for paying their chief executives hundreds of thousands of pounds each year in retirement contributions. The payments are done through special schemes not open to ordinary staff, who must settle for a much lower rate of support than the top brass. The likes of Lloyds and Burberry are in the firing line for paying their chief executives hundreds of thousands of pounds each year in retirement contributions And instead of having to lock their savings away for years in a retirement scheme, bosses just get given a lump cash sum on top of their annual salary. The Investment Association which represents big City shareholders is targeting the practice and has already written to the worst culprits, urging them to treat senior management in the same way as shop floor workers. Huge pension payments are likely to come under heavy scrutiny in this year's round of annual general meetings, and could lead to investor rebellions at some of the UK's biggest names. In the letter to some of the largest listed firms, the IA's corporate governance chief Andrew Ninian said: 'Pension contribution rates should be aligned with those available to the workforce. 'The pension contributions for current executive directors should be reduced over time to equal the rate received by the majority of the workforce.' Sacha Sadan, head of corporate governance at 1 trillion fund firm Legal & General Investment Management, said that from next year they will start to vote against sky-high pension payments. Among the worst culprits is Lloyds, where chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio gets a pension contribution of 565,000, equal to 46 per cent of his 1.2million annual salary. In total, he earned 6.4million in 2017 when pension contributions, base pay, bonuses and benefits were all taken into account. By contrast, staff in the company-wide pension scheme get contributions equal to 13 per cent of their annual wage at most and this is handed out only if they personally put in 5 per cent. As is normal in a defined contribution scheme, this money is all invested into the market and locked away until the employee retires. Lloyds used to have a more lucrative scheme but this is now closed. Horta-Osorio and the other bosses, however, get their pension contributions as a lump cash sum each year. Critics said because of this the payments are more like a hidden salary top-up rather than a true pension scheme. Labour MP Wes Streeting, a member of the Treasury select committee, said: 'It does rather look like one rule for the top and another rule for the rest. 'If high-paid executives think they can escape tough questions on pay by ploughing money through pensions, they will be in for a surprise.' Other FTSE 100 bosses who get ultra-lucrative payouts include Albert Manifold, of building firm CRH. He received 593,000, or 47 per cent of his annual salary. Bill Winters, head of Standard Chartered Bank, got 460,000 or 40 per cent, and Rakesh Kapoor, the departing head of consumer goods titan Reckitt Benckiser, got 281,000, or 30 per cent. Reckitt's staff scheme, meanwhile, pays a maximum of 10 per cent. Marco Gobbetti, chief executive of Burberry, was handed 245,000 or 30 per cent. The luxury fashion brand is notorious for also giving senior executives a generous cash allowance to spend on whatever they like. In Gobbetti's case this was 60,000 in 2017/18, part of a total payout of 6.3million. Labour MP John Mann, another Treasury committee member, said: 'These huge pension payments are shameful and suggest that bosses are topping up their already massive salaries through the back door. 'It is completely unacceptable for any chief executive to get much better retirement pay than their ordinary workers.' I attempted to pay for goods at my local supermarket, but my Sainsbury's credit card was declined. I contacted the bank for an explanation and it seems that, when updating its records, it started using my old address, from where we had moved six years earlier. I was told I'd need a security code to unlock my card. When I received the code, I called to make sure my details were correct and was told it was now OK to use the card. But it was declined again, and I was told the card would need to be unlocked once more. Embarrassing: One reader was left red-faced after their card was declined at the supermarket till through no fault of their own It has been very embarrassing, as the card was refused in front of other customers. I have sent two letters of complaint, but have only received an email with a reference number, saying it will be looked into in due course. D. P., Huddersfield, West Yorks. It seems your credit card statement was, for some reason, sent to an old address. This was returned as undelivered, which led to a block being put on the account. So, when you tried to make a purchase, the payment was declined. When you phoned, your address was corrected, but the block was not removed, which led to more purchases being declined. Sainsbury's Bank tells me the issue has now been resolved. By way of further apology, you have accepted 100 compensation. You have YOUR say Every week, Money Mail receives hundreds of your letters and emails about our stories. Here are some from our article about how slow broadband can cut up to 20 per cent off the value of your home... If you live in a village with lovely views, can you really complain about broadband? I get a fast 78 megabits per second (Mbps) but, then again, I look out of my window and see rows of houses, rather than lush fields. M. I., Sheffield, South Yorks. One of the readers in the article pays 28 a month for his slow broadband. I pay 17 a month, including line rental, and get 14.5 Mbps. If he's paying 28 just for internet, he is being conned. P. F., by email. When house-hunting, our initial checks were: floorplan, crime rate and utility provision, including internet speed. We ruled out entire areas if the broadband was slow with no upgrades planned. S. T., London. The firm that owns our phone wires is refusing to upgrade a cabinet near us. Houses across town get 200 Mbps, while we get just 2 Mbps. It makes no sense. F. P., Norfolk. We are at our wits' end with our broadband: 0.3 Mbps at worst and 1.5 Mbps at best. We've had 14 engineers round to assess the situation since last October. C. L., Kentchurch, Hereford. I love downloading TV. I'd always check speeds if I moved, as I'd never want to live somewhere with slow broadband. L. T., Luton. I booked a holiday to Sri Lanka with RSD Travel in December 2017, paying the deposit and travel insurance. Unfortunately, in March, I was taken into hospital when a cyst burst beneath my kneecap, rendering me motionless. After leaving hospital, the doctor advised against flying, so we had to cancel the holiday. I rang RSD Travel and, eventually, received a claim form to retrieve the 753.20 we had paid. I sent this to its insurer, HanseMerkur, in Bingley, Yorkshire. I heard nothing, so I phoned and was put through to Germany where the insurer is based but was told to call back. A later call confirmed that it had not received my claim, so I had to send it all again, which cost me 45 in registered post. I have been trying for months to get my money, to no avail. A. S., Lancashire. You have had a thoroughly unsatisfactory experience with this insurer. It includes getting a response to your email entirely in German. The least a company should do is to ensure it interacts in its customers' language. At Money Mail, we highlight the importance of buying travel insurance from the outset, in case you have to cancel a holiday. However, having done the right thing, you have been embroiled in this firm's incompetence. HanseMerkur did try to contact you, but wrote to your old address, rather than the new one you had put on your claim form. You even made it easy by crossing out your old address on the booking literature and writing 'I have moved', with the correct address next to this. The firm sent this letter to the wrong address on August 2. It asked for your full bank details, including the international account number, so that it could make the payment. I have now forwarded this to you and the firm has written to you at your correct address. It promises that, when it receives your details, the payment will be made. RSD Travel says it has amended your address on its system and had advised HanseMerkur to do the same. RSD adds that it 'deeply regrets any unsatisfactory experience you have undergone'. *** I wanted to return a jacket I bought from Amazon, as it was too short. The retailer gave me a return address in China. But the Post Office said it would cost 47.80 postage and advised me not to use the address, as they'd had a poor experience of it. They advised me to refer back to Amazon. I was given another address in Middlesex and sent the item on September 13 for 4.45. It was signed for at 8:25am the next day. Yet, after 16 phone calls and numerous emails to Amazon, I still have not had a refund. T. B., Merseyside. What concerns me most is that a Post Office employee recognised the dodgy address and warned you against sending the item. Yet Amazon still has the company and the address on its website. I asked it for an explanation. Amazon says it has 'thoroughly reviewed this case' and is happy for the seller to remain on its site. It has now issued your refund and given you a 50 gift card. In its response to me, it referred to its A-to-Z Guarantee for third-party sellers, but did not explain why you were forced to contact me after not being refunded. EDF Energy is the second major supplier to announce a hike to its standard variable tariff just a week after the new price cap was revealed. EDF - one of the 'Big Six' - is introducing a 117 price rise, which matches the rise in the price cap exactly. The previous SVT price was 1,136 but is now 1,254, a 10.3 per cent leap, affecting 1.8million customers. It supplies more than three million households and businesses with energy, making it one of the biggest suppliers in the country. EDF is the second of the Big Six energy suppliers to raise its prices after the price cap change E.On was the first of the major suppliers to announce that it was upping its prices earlier this week in response to the hike in the price cap. It is thought that a number of other suppliers will follow suit and raise their prices in line with the cap. Last week, Ofgem, the energy regulator, announced that customers on standard variable tariffs will see the price cap increase by 117, or 10.3 per cent, to 1,254 per year. Those on pre-payment plans will also see the cap increase by 106 to 1,242 per year. Victoria Arrington at Energy Helpline said: 'Just a week after the announced change to the price cap, EDF is the second of the Big Six to raise its variable tariff. 'Both suppliers have raised their variable tariff by 117, or 10 per cent - exactly the same amount as the price cap will go up on 1 April this year. Price change: EDF supplies over 5 million households and businesses around the UK 'An average variable tariff bill from EDF will now cost 1,254 per year over 100 per month.' 'This is likely only the beginning of a tsunami of price rises that will sweep across the Big Six. 'The first price cap cut into profits, and now suppliers are hoping to make some of this back by raising their prices. 'The price cap still does offer some protection to consumers, but you can do so much more to potentially lower your bills. 'The best way to save money on your energy bill is to compare and switch suppliers regularly. 'Energy is the easiest big bill to switch, as it takes only a few minutes and some basic information to calculate your potential savings. Consumers must vote with their feet and switch to show suppliers they expect a good deal for their custom.' The price cap was introduced to protect households who never switch their supplier but due to rising wholesale energy costs the caps have shifted significantly higher. It is due to be reviewed every six months, with the next review set to take place this October. In the meantime, energy customers are being encouraged to switch their energy supplier before the price cap comes into effect, to make sure they are getting the best deal possible. Research by Ofgem, and other consumer groups, has suggested that switching bills could save consumers up to 200 a year but millions of households still stay on the same tariff. Richard Neudegg, head of regulation at comparison website uSwitch, said: 'People could be forgiven for feeling that they've been completely and utterly conned by the Government's energy price cap. 'We are in a ridiculous situation where standard plans are likely to be in higher in April than before the cap was introduced. 'With bills set to soar by an average of 117 for 11 million homes, Britain needs to brace itself for a billion pound price hike. 'With the cheapest deal available today 286 less than the new cap, households on default energy tariffs have a very clear choice: carry on paying unnecessarily high prices that can frequently change at the mercy of a spreadsheet, or beat the price cap and cut your bills by switching to a fixed deal.' Ludhiana, Feb 12 (PTI) A man was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the alleged gangrape of a 21-year-old woman in the nearby Issewal village, police said. The police also identified four other accused in the case. Tarun Rattan, Superintendent of Police (SP), Ludhiana Rural Police, said the arrested accused was identified as Sadiq Ali (24), a resident of Rap village in Nawanshahr district. Four other accused were identified as Jagroop Singh from Jaspal Bangar, Ajay Kumar from Uttar Pradesh, Saif Ali from Tibba and Surmo from Khanpur, he said, adding that another accused, yet to be identified, was a relative of Surmo. All the accused were in the age group of 20 to 28 years, the SP said. Several police teams were pressed into service to nab the remaining accused, he said. Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) activists took out a candle march at the Fountain Chowk on Tuesday to voice their anger against the incident. Former Punjab minister Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, who led the march, sought the early arrest of the remaining culprits. The victim was allegedly raped by 10 men near Issewal village on the banks of the Sidwan canal, about 15 km from here, on Saturday night. The woman was allegedly dragged out of the car, in which she was travelling with one of her friends, by the accused. The woman was travelling with a man from Ludhiana to Issewal village, when their car was stopped at Jagraon by the accused, who were following them on three motorcycles, the police said. PTI CORR CHS RC Jammu, Feb 12 (PTI) BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav Tuesday said that there is a possibility of holding assembly elections with Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir. "We have to reach out to people through our workers ... and win the forthcoming Parliament polls. There is possibility of holding polls to J&K legislative assembly at that time (LS polls)," Madhav said while addressing a function here. Madhav and the party's national vice-president and J&K in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna kick started the BJP's 'Mera Parivar, Bhajpa Parivar' campaign in the state by hoisting party flags at different places across the state. Madhav said "We have to ensure victory of the BJP, so that it forms the government in Jammu and Kahsmir again...We have got 25 seats in previous (assembly) elections and in coming polls we should win more, particularly in Jammu region, where we have blessing of the people". He said the people of Jammu gave BJP two parliament seats. "We have expressed thankfulness to the people and will go back to them to seek their blessings in forthcoming elections for voting in favour of BJP." "We have got the blessings in 2014 and 2015 elections, and we expect that people will bless us in the same way in 2019 polls. BJP can only protect the rights of Jammu region. We have to give this assurance to the people of this region", he said. He said Kashmir centric parties PDP and NC are trying to fight elections jointly with the Congress, which calls itself as a national party. "Congress too has indicated that they are ready for the coalition in Jammu, and they know that nobody in Jammu have takers for them if they do not go for the coalition", he said, claiming Congress has accepted its defeat before the elections. The BJP leader said the massive response to the Prime Minister's February 3 rally has indicted that people of Jammu region are with Narendra Modi. "We had won Parliament seat of Ladakh in last elections. We have also formed hill council. We could not fulfill the demand of Ladakh when we were in coalition government in J&K , but under governor's rule we have fulfilled their demand by granting them separate Ladakh division with a separate university. Now there is all out efforts to ensure the speedy development of the Ladakh region", he said. In a major decision, the Jammu and Kashmir administration Friday created a separate division for Ladakh, which was part of the Kashmir division till now. "We will appeal to the people of the state to tell us what why type of government they want in J&k", he said, adding the party will incorporate their suggestion in its manifesto. Madhav hoisted the party flag at the residence of former Dy CM Kavinder Gupta. BJP national Khanna hoisting the party flag at the residence of JMC Mayor Chander Mohan Gupta. Khanna, while speaking on the occasion, said that under the Mera Parivar, Bhajpa Parivar campaign, Bharatiya Janata Party, has visioned to reach up to the grassroots level of every region across the nation. Under the programme the party flag carrying its poll symbol lotus will be hoisted and the stickers will be pasted on houses of all the party leaders, workers as well as the party supporters. It is the symbolic expression that the BJP is not just a political party, but a closely knit family that is bounded by the feelings of emotions while sacrificing own pleasures for the sake of one greater family, our motherland, Khanna said. PTI AB RCJ New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) There are over 1000 guest houses in Paharganj and Karol Bagh areas of the city and most of them were carrying out commercial activities under the garb of hotels, not allowed under the rules, claimed representatives of hospitality industry. A massive fire at 'Hotel Arpit Palace' in the wee hours of Tuesday claimed 17 lives in Karolbagh bringing the role of owners of these guest houses and concerned agencies under scanner regarding implementation of existing rules for them. There are around 800 guest houses in Paharganj and about 250 in Karolbagh that are covered under the Saray Act but run as hotels, claimed Arun Gupta, president of Delhi Hotel Mahsangh. "No commercial activity is allowed at these so called hotels, let alone restaurants or bars," he said. Gupta alleged that the process of issuing licence to these guest houses was at "fault" since as many as five agencies were involved in it. "They first have to take a fire department's no objection certificate. Permission is also granted by the local police, excise department of Delhi government, licensing department of police and the municipal corporations," Gupta said. Delhi Hotel and Restaurant Owner Association president Sandip Khandelwal said the guest houses ran in the name and style of hotels by offering three star facilities. "Around 90 per cent of these hotels are guest houses that assume name of hotel as per their requirements," he said. He claimed that owner of the Hotel Arpit Palace was out of the country for some family function. The hotel was to be auctioned against some bank loan in December last year but it apparently did not happen, he said. The ground floor of the Arpit Palace was being used as a restro-bar in the name and style of "Crossroads Restro & Bar". Khandelwal claimed the licence was taken for running the restro-bar at the hotel. PTI VIT RCJ New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) Despite possessing the fire department's no-objection certificate (NOC), the untrained staff at the Arpit hotel in central Delhi could not use the equipment to douse a fire that killed 17 persons on Tuesday, a senior fire officer said. "There was wooden cladding all over the stairs and the corridors' wall, which led the fire to spread all over the hotel premises. The fire had started on the first floor and people got stuck on the corridor. The passage was so narrow that when they started running, a stampede occurred," Chief Fire Officer Atul Garg said. "All the casualties were reported from the third and fourth floors as the exit got stuck. We pulled the bodies from those two floors," he added. The hotel had the fire-fighting equipment, but the untrained staff could not operate them, Garg said. "There was only one emergency exit which was locked. The windows were automatic and had a push-button system. The staff could not open the windows as they were not aware of this function and the fire-fighters had to break open the glass," Deputy Fire Officer Sunil Chaudhary said. At around 7 am, the last body was pulled out of the hotel, he added. Those who survived the tragedy said the switches in the hotel rooms were not functioning properly and when the fire broke out, they found it difficult to locate the stairs as there was not sufficient light. There was a restaurant at the basement of the hotel, violating rules, a fire officer said. PTI NIT RC Hyderabad, Feb 12 (PTI) Alleging that the NDA government has failed to live up to the expectations generated by BJP before the 2014 general elections, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee Tuesday asked the partymen in the state to gear up for coming Lok Sabha polls to ensure the party's victory. TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy, who held a teleconference with the party cadre, said they should work for the victory of Congress to make party Chief Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister. The TPCC has been holding meetings of various party committees since the last couple of days to prepare the party machinery for the electoral battle. The party is also accepting applications from leaders who aspire to contest the polls. Congress leader in the legislature M Bhatti Vikramarka had yesterday indicated that the candidates for the Lok Sabha elections are likely to be finalised by the end of February. Congress had contested the December seven Assembly elections in alliance with the TDP, CPI and the Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS). However, Congress managed to win only 19 among the total 119 seats. PTI SJR APR APR APR Farmers stage protests demanding support pride for jowar Hyderabad, Feb 12 (PTI) Farmers in large numbers at Nizamabad in Telangana staged protests Tuesday, demanding support price for red jowar and turmeric crops. They also raised slogans against the government and sought support price of Rs 3,500 per quintal to jowar and Rs 15,000 to turmeric. They alleged that they are not able to meet their expenses with the prices they were presently getting for their produce. PTI SJR APR APR APR Srinagar, Feb 12 (PTI) Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone Tuesday said the erosion of Jammu and Kashmir's special status is responsible for the growing alienation and mistrust towards New Delhi. "It is a matter of promises made decades ago. It is a part of a set of special provisions offered to the people of the state in order to be part of India. People ignorant of history pass it off as concessions to the state," Lone said in a statement. He said tinkering with the constitutional provision will have serious consequences, adding that Article 35-A is not just a matter of legality but of trust between New Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir. He said fiddling with Articles of trust like 35A intensifies the challenges faced by the state. "The state is facing challenges from forces who are not satisfied with the current level of distinctiveness and are rather disappointed by the gradual erosion of the special status and believe in a separate identity," he added. Lone said the Article 35-A and Article 370 are provisions of the Indian Constitution and those questioning them are challenging the Constitution. "Article 35A is not the only provision in the Constitution which has been inserted by the presidential order issued under Article 370," he said. The Supreme Court has upheld the powers of the President to insert provisions in the Constitution for application to J&K, he added. Lone said those who challenge Article 35A are only helping in strengthening those forces who have no faith in the Constitution. "Like Article 370, there are special provisions like Articles 371, 371A, 371B, 371C, providing for special provisions for Northeast and other states," he added. Article 35-A, which was incorporated in the Constitution by a 1954 Presidential Order, accords special rights and privileges to the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir and bars people from outside the state from acquiring any immovable property in the state. PTI MIJ IJT Jammu, Feb 12 (PTI) A waiter at a banquet hall in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district was shot at as a group of alleged drunk guests opened fire after a fight over food, officials said Tuesday. The incident happened at a party in a banquet hall in Logate Morh area on Monday night when some guests, who were apparently drunk, fought over food and fired three-four rounds in which the waiter was injured, police said. The man was taken to a nearby hospital and is said to be out of danger, they added. The accused fled the spot after the incident, police said. A case has been registered and a hunt is on to nab them, they said. PTI AB MAZ SOM SOM Karna assembly speaker compares himself to rape survivor Bengaluru, Feb 12 (PTI): Karnataka assembly speaker Ramesh Kumar Tuesday compared himself to a rape survivor having to undergo repeated questioning as he referred to repeated charges against him being part of the controversial audio tapes, over which government has constituted an SIT. The speaker made the intervention during the discussions in the assembly over the Special Investigation Team probe into an audio clip showing BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa in a purported conversation to lure a JD(S) MLA in his alleged attempt to topple the Congress-JDS government. The Speaker, pointing to repeated reference to charges against him, said his "situation was like that of a rape victim, as they too are supposedly questioned about the incident repeatedly." Kumaraswamy on Monday had announced a comprehensive SIT probe into the audio clip. He had accepted an "advice" by an emotional Speaker to constitute SIT to probe the episode to "establish the truth" as his name has also been dragged with the charge that he had been "booked" for Rs 50 crore. The stand-off between the government and opposition continued in the assembly Tuesday over an SIT probe into the audio clip. Kumaraswamy on Monday had announced a comprehensive SIT probe into the audio clip. He had accepted an "advice" by an emotional Speaker to constitute the Special Investigation Team to probe the episode to "establish the truth" as his name has also been dragged with the charge that he had been "booked" for Rs 50 crore. The Speaker called for a meeting of floor leaders on Wednesday to resolve the issue, as the BJP stuck to its strong opposition to the SIT, saying it could be used for "political vengeance." He decided to convene the meeting at the end of the day long discussion on the issue for the second consecutive day in the Assembly, with both the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition and opposition BJP refusing to budge from their positions. "Let's discuss and try to find a solution," the Speaker announced as he adjourned the assembly proceedings to Wednesday morning. The Speaker's decision came after Yeddyurappa, the leader of the opposition, pointed out that no effort was made by the Chair to seek the opinion of the opposition before deciding on the investigation agency to inquire into the case. "SIT is being imposed upon us forcefully," he said. Yeddyurappa expressed apprehensions about the SIT as it comes under the Chief Minister and said he was firm on his stand to quit politics if it was proved he was present during conversations between the persons in the audio on a "Rs 50 crore offer to book" the Speaker, as alleged by Kumaraswamy. Accusing the Chief Minister of hatching a conspiracy against him by "twisting facts", he said Kumaraswamy has released the audio partially, to save his seat. The BJP has objected to the SIT and insisted on constituting a House committee or a judicial probe. They also saId that the probe cannot be conducted by an agency that is under the Chief Minister as he too was a party in the case. The political war over charges of horse-trading had escalated in Karnataka on Friday with Kumaraswamy releasing the audio clip. As the House met for the day, opposition members requested the Chair to reconsider the decision to hand over the probe to the SIT. Several BJP members, including Yeddyurappa, demanded a probe by house committee or judicial inquiry into the matter. Kumaraswamy had said that during the purported conversation that there was a mention about a "Rs 50 crore offer to book" the Speaker to give a ruling in favour of MLAs who might resign to help the BJP bring down his government. Former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar allegedthat Kumaraswamy was behind the audio conversation as he was the one who sent Sharan Gouda, son of the MLA Naganagouda, who was being lured and he also heard the conversation between the two individuals via a conference call. "So the CM is the offender, he is the first accused in the case," he said. Another senior BJP member Madhu Swamy, questioning the constitution of the SIT, said the probe report can only be submitted to court by the SIT and not to the government or the Chair. Kumaraswamy expressed surprise about being called 'A1' by BJP in the case and said that since the leader of the opposition and other members have called him accused, "at least to punish me, a comprehensive inquiry has to happen." Hitting out at BJP for suspecting political vengeance on the part of the government and its officials, he asked "did I direct Yeddyurappa and others in the way they did.? Claiming to enjoy the complete confidence of Congress and JD(S) MLAs, Kumaraswamy spoke of the need to amend the anti-defection law and said if an elected MLA resigns, he should not be allowed to contest elections for five years. "Such a permanent change has to be brought in," he said. Stating that he was also ready for a discussion on the alleged 2014 video CD about the cash for vote allegedly involving him, which was raised by the BJP, the chief minister said he would abide by the Speaker's advice on constituting an SIT to probe the audio clip. The political slugfest broke out as Kumaraswamy on Friday claimed there were two audio clips of recorded telephonic conversation between Yeddyurappa and Sharan Gouda. PTI KSU RA APR APR APR New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) The Centre cannot grant fund for welfare measures of lawyers, Union Law minister said Tuesday at a meeting with the members of the Bar Council of India (BCI) and state Bar Associations here. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad called representatives of the bar and lawyers to discuss the demands for welfare measures, subsequent to a countrywide protest march of lawyers on Tuesday in which around 35,000 lawyers participated. At the meeting with 21 delegates from the legal fraternity, Prasad said housing of lawyers, which was one of the demands, was a state's subject and hence the Centre cannot do anything for it, according to a statement by BCI. BCI has said in the statement that Prasad expressed inability of the government to grant any funds at the moment for welfare of lawyers. But he assured to talk with the Delhi Development Authority on the issue of housing for lawyers, the statement said. However, Prasad said he will constitute a committee of some lawyers and officials in order to find out the ways and means for some welfare measures for advocates. Around 35000 lawyers held a massive "Protest Rally" in all state capitals throughout the country on Tuesday to press for their demands which include allocation of Rs 5,000 crore for the welfare of advocates and litigants. After the meeting with the minister, the delegates decided to meet on March 2 to discuss the future course of action. The demands put forth by the lawyers include that all the bar associations of the country should have chambers, adequate building, sitting facilities with well-equipped libraries, e-libraries, internet facilities, and separate toilet facilities for lady advocates. "In about 80 per cent of the court complexes, there are no proper facilities for the lawyers or the litigants," BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra had earlier said. "Budgetary allocation of Rs 5000 crores for lawyers and litigants welfare in the Union Annual Budget in order to provide insurance cover of up to Rs 20 lakh for lawyers and their families (dependants), stipend for needy new entrants at the Bar up to five years of their practice (minimum Rs 10,000 per month) and financial protection to lawyers and their dependants in case of untimely death or incapacitation by reason of disease, accident etc," said a statement by the BCI. The BCI further demanded that the budgetary fund would be managed by the state bar councils and the ratio to be distributed to different state bar councils shall be decided by the apex bar body. It also demanded that the government should frame schemes to acquire lands at cheaper rates for housing of lawyers and necessary changes in the legal services authority act so that functions under the act could be discharged by the lawyers and not by the judges or judicial officers only. BCI Chairman Mishra had earlier said that if the demands were not met even after the protest, they would appeal to the lawyers not to vote for the BJP. "The lawyers' bodies are meant to save the democracy and the independence of judiciary and all other institutions...No central government has ever given a thought to the welfare of the lawyers as if we are not citizens of the country," Mishra said. PTI URD HMP RCJ New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the defence put by former CBI interim director M Nageswara Rao and legal advisor S Bhasuram to escape punishment for contempt of court saying their apology was not unconditional "though it was stated to be so" and they have willfully disobeyed its orders. "The apology tendered, though stated to be unconditional, is not so. There is a submission/contention that the actions were not willful, with which contention, we are in total disagreement," a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said in its order. The bench also comprising justices L Nageswara Rao and Sanjiv Khanna said it was exercising its power under Article 129 of the Constitution for commission of contempt of court by sentencing them "till the rising of the Court" It also imposed "a fine of Rs one lakh each on Rao, the then In-Charge Director, CBI and now Additional Director, CBI and Bhasuram S, Additional Legal Advisor and In-Charge Director of Prosecution, CBI to be deposited within a week". The apex court noted that Rao was fully aware of its order that A K Sharma, joint director CBI, who was heading the team probing the Muzaffarpur shelter home cases cannot be transferred without the permission of the top court. The bench said it did not understand nor can appreciate and comprehend how Rao without satisfying himself that the court had been taken into confidence, approve of the draft order relieving Sharma from the CBI and giving additional charge to G K Goswami. It noted that the charge against them is that they violated October 31, 2018 and November 28, 2018 orders restraining any change in the team investigating the Muzaffarpur shelter home case. Despite explicit directions of the court that Sharma, Joint Director, CBI will continue to remain the head of the investigating team, he had been transferred out of the CBI and posted as the Additional Director General, Central Reserve Police Force, the court said. "In addition to the aforesaid two orders of this court, there is an earlier order dated September 18, 2018, to the same effect, when this court was considering the order dated August 29, 2018 passed by the High Court of Patna, requiring a fresh team of investigators to be constituted by the then Special Director of CBI," the apex court noted. It said that in pursuance to its February 7 order, Rao and Bhasuram filed their respective affidavits and have apologised and admitted the commission of a mistake. "In the same breath, they have denied willful disobedience of the orders of this court. Notwithstanding the apology tendered as some kind of defence has been put up, this court has no option but to consider the merits of the defence put up, namely, that there has been no willful disobedience of the directions of this court," the order said. The bench, which examined their affidavits and notes furnished to it, said all the documents go to show that on January 18, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) had conveyed that the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet had approved the curtailment of tenure of Sharma with immediate effect, and that the Ministry of Home Affairs had conveyed its approval for his appointment to the post of Additional Director General, CRPF. "Accordingly, a draft relieving order oF Sharma, Joint Director, CBI with effect from the afternoon of January 18 was submitted for approval of the Director, CBI M Nageshwar Rao, the then In-Charge Director, CBI (now Additional Director, CBI) considered the aforesaid note," it noted. The aforesaid note signed by Rao, dated January 18, would fully show that he was aware of the orders of this court with regard to the continuance of Sharma as the head of the investigating team, it said. The court noted that Bhasuram expressed an opinion that as the posting of Sharma was to a higher post and, therefore, a promotion, there may not be any legal impediment to relieve the officer. "We do not agree, as the orders of this court regarding the continuance of A K Sharma were clear and categorical. That apart, Bhasuram in his note had suggested that the process of relieving the officer may be brought to the notice of the Supreme Court by way of an affidavit indicating the facts and circumstances under which the officer was relieved and seek an approval from the Supreme Court. "We do not understand how when the file was pending at the stage of approval of the relieving order by Rao, Bhasuram could have bona fide given the opinion that the officer was relieved, namely, how Bhasuram could have used the past-tense to a pending action under consideration," the court said. The bench noted the argument advanced by Attorney General K K Venugopal who called upon the court to administer justice by tempering the same with mercy. His arguments also centred around the legal advice of Bhasuram which he termed to be an error of judgment. "It is the contention of Attorney General that as the action of Rao, the then in-charge Director, CBI was on the basis of a legal opinion, there has not been any willful disobedience of the orders of this court,"the bench noted. However, the court said, "For the reasons elucidated earlier in detail, we cannot agree with what the Attorney General has suggested. "In our considered view, the present is a case where contempt has been committed, both by Rao and Bhasuram...," the order said. PTI SJK PKS RKS RT (Eds: Adds more details from the order, hearing) New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) The Supreme Court Tuesday awarded day-long courtroom detention to former acting CBI director M Nageswara Rao and another official for "brazen" contempt of its orders, and strongly rebuked them when they tried to leave before the rising of the court. It had directed them to remain seated till the rising of the court and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each for transferring out an officer who was probing the Bihar shelter homes sexual assault cases. Sparing contemnors Rao and CBI's legal advisor S Bhasuram the jail term, the apex court held them guilty for "wilfully disobeying" its orders by transferring CBI Joint Director A K Sharma, as additional director general of CRPF on January 18. "In our considered view, it is a case where contempt has been committed by both the then acting CBI Director, M N Rao, and the director prosecution (of the agency)" said a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi. Pensive looking Rao and Bhasuram, who on Monday had already tendered unconditional and unqualified apologies for their roles in the transfer of Sharma, were in for a shock as the bench expressed its mind on their culpability at the outset. Holding them guilty of contempt of court, the bench, also comprising justices L N Rao and Sanjiv Khanna, said, "We could not have done anything else". It said: "We have heard Rao and Bhasuram for commission of contempt of court and we impose one lakh fine and sentence them till the rising of the court. "Go to one corner of the court and sit down till the rising of this court." Both remained in the CJI's courtroom till 4 pm, the normal working hours of the judicial side of the apex court. They also remained seated during the lunch session. The bench did not allow Attorney General K K Venugopal's request that the two officers be allowed to leave even at 3.40 pm -- 20 minutes ahead of time. The top court responded furiously to Venugopal's seeking the permission. "What's this? Do you want us to sentence him till the rising of the court tomorrow? Go and sit where you were," the CJI Before passing the order in the pre-lunch session, the bench told Rao and Bhasuram they have been held guilty of contempt of court and it was not accepting their unconditional and unqualified apologies. At the outset, the Attorney General, appearing for CBI and its officer, referred to the noting on the file related to the transfer of Sharma and said that it was a case of "error of judgement" on Rao's part as he had acted on the "incorrect legal advise". "It is not wilful. Facts are little muddled... Rao has put himself to the mercy of this court," Venugopal said and sought leniency from the bench. "Let us see the sequence of events. From the note of the Acting (CBI) Director, this much is obvious that he knew that there was an order of the Supreme Court (against the transfer of the CBI officer). He also seeks the opinion of the legal advisor," the bench said. Later, Rao approved the relieving order of the CBI officer without "satisfying" himself whether the sanction of the court has been secured or not and "if this is not the contempt then what is contempt," the bench said, adding "the axe falls on the Supreme Court orders". "He is the Acting Director of the CBI...Would the heavens have fallen if the relieving orders were passed after taking the Supreme Court into confidence," the furious CJI remarked. The CJI told the Attorney General "Let us be very clear that I don't think any of us have as judges had the opportunity to invoke the jurisdiction of the contempt". "We are and I can say I have not invoked the contempt powers and punished anyone. Speaking for myself I can say I have not invoked contempt power in the last 20 years. However, the dignity and majesty of the court has to be maintained," the CJI said. "But this is brazen", the CJI said, adding that he was of the "firm view" that "the majesty of judiciary" has to be maintained. At this moment, the Attorney General said "To err is human, to forgive is divine." The bench said that the officers have committed the contempt and asked, "Why should a contemnor be defended at government expenses?" Dealing with Rao's approval to the transfer Sharma, the bench made clear at the outset that Rao can be held guilty of contempt as he did not bother to check while signing the relieving order of Sharma. Not only that Rao did not even seek "post facto" approval of the apex court to the decision for two weeks," it said. It also gave option to Rao and Bhasuram to say something as the sentence for them could be 30 days in jail. "Do you have to say something" the bench asked them. Venugopal repeatedly requested the court to look into other options as per the law and sought leniency for them. Rejecting the defence of the two officers, the bench said though they have tendered an unconditional and unqualified apology, "we don't agree with the contentions raised by them". The bench said that Rao was aware of the apex court direction that the CBI officer probing the shelter home sexual assault cases cannot be transferred without its consent. However, his "attitude is 'I have done what I thought was required'," the bench said. "This is a blatant contempt of court. If this is not contempt of court then what is," asked the bench. The court had on February 7 come down heavily on the CBI for transferring Sharma out of the agency in violation of the court's order. It had also taken note of the violation of two earlier orders and issued contempt notice to Rao. PTI SJK RKS SA New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) Former CBI interim director M Nageswara Rao and the probe agency's legal advisor S Bhasuram left the courtroom after serving their day-long sentence for contempt. The apex court held them guilty of contempt for wilfully disobeying its order by transferring CBI Joint Director A K Sharma, who was probing the Bihar shelter home sexual assault cases, as additional director general of CRPF on January 17. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi did not allow the second attempt of Attorney General K K Venugopal at 3:40 pm that the contemnor officers be allowed to leave. "Go to one corner of the court and sit down till the rising of this court," the court had said in the forenoon. The top court responded furiously to the second attempt by Venugopal seeking permission for Rao to leave. "What's this? Do you want us to sentence him till the rising of the court tomorrow? Go and sit where you were," the CJI said. PTI SJK RKS LLP SA (Eds: Adding walkout by SAD, more details) Chandigarh, Feb 12 (PTI) Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore Tuesday said the state government was "seriously concerned" about the grievances of its employees including teachers, assuring their issues will soon be "addressed effectively". Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) members staged a walkout over separate issues soon after the Governor's address began. The SAD members spoke against the government over farmers' suicides and "non-fulfilment" of poll promises. The LIP members objected to the Governor reading out the speech in English and demanded that he speak in Punjabi. The Governor expressed the state government's commitment to take to its logical conclusion the probe into the desecration of religious texts in 2015, saying nobody involved in it will be spared. In his address on the opening day of the Budget Session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Badnore said the government has taken and shall continue to take all possible steps to fulfil its commitments despite severe financial constraints. "My government had made a solemn pledge to the people of Punjab that state's 'kisan and naujawan' (farmers and youths) would gradually be brought out of the distress they faced during last many years," he said in the customary address which reflects the point of view of the government of the day. "The multifarious challenges, which my government had to face, were innumerable and, as a result, it is taking longer than expected to remedy the situation," he added. He blamed the previous SAD-BJP government for their financial imprudence, leading the state to face "severe financial constraints", saying the erstwhile regime spent public money "recklessly". Badnore said the government was "seriously concerned" about woes of the teachers. "It shall take all possible measures to redress their grievances. In fact, not only the teachers, the grievances of all employees of the state are receiving full attention of my government and these shall soon be addressed effectively as the government does not want its dynamic workforce to suffer any disadvantage or handicap in any manner," Badnore said. The Amarinder Singh government has been under fire for repeated protests by contractual teachers for regularisation of their jobs. Government employees' federations have also been criticizing the state government for not clearing the pending dearness allowance and arrears. Amid opposition targeting the Congress government for not implementing complete farm debt waiver, Badnore noted that farmers' welfare remained the government's undeterred priority. "My government notified farm debt relief scheme and it is being implemented with 5.83 lakh small and marginal farmers being provided loan relief to the tune of Rs 4,736 crore," he said. He said the government is convinced that the farmers' income can be doubled by helping them in "subsidiary occupations" like dairy farming and poultry. The Governor further said the government was committed to pursue the recommendations of Justice Ranjit Singh Commission which probed sacrilege and police firing incidents to the "logical conclusion". "The government has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) as recommended by the august House in its earlier session and it is expected to complete its task soon," said Badnore. The Governor apprised the members of the various programmes launched by the government to mark the historic 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, while welcoming the historic laying of the foundation stone for a corridor to Kartarpur Sahib (in Pakistan) on November 26, 2018. The state government shall spare no effort to make this corridor operational by the coming Maha Gurpurab on November 12, 2019, he asserted. The water crisis faced by the state found a special mention in the Governor's address and he said the Centre should take a realistic view of the problem to prevent the state turning into a desert. Though the central authorities had declared Punjab as a water starved state, its water crisis and the fact that it does not have surplus water is not fully appreciated, he said. "Punjab does not have surplus water and is in fact threatened with a water famine in not too far a future," the Governor said. PTI CHS VSD CK New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) The government Tuesday said protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Northeast were happening due to certain "misplaced apprehensions" about the proposed legislation, that has been passed by Lok Sabha and awaits approval of the Upper House of Parliament. Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said in Lok Sabha that political leaders from Northeastern states, including some chief ministers, have met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on various issues related to the region, including the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and its provisions have been clarified to them. "The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was passed by the Lok Sabha in the Winter Session of the Parliament. There are reports of some protests due to certain misplaced apprehensions about the Bill," he said in a written reply to a question. Rijiju said the Centre has also apprised representatives of the Northeastern states about the steps taken to preserve the cultural, social and linguistic identity and heritage of people region. A high level committee to examine effectiveness of actions taken since 1985 to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord has already been constituted, he said. The government has also introduced a bill for amendment to Article 280 and the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India for improving financial resources and administrative powers of Autonomous District Councils of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura to fulfil longstanding aspirations of tribal people of these states, he said. The Citizenship Amendment Bill allows according Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after seven years of residence in India instead of 12 years, which is the norm currently, even if they do not possess any document. PTI ACB ACB TIR TIR New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) A parliamentary panel expressed concern on Tuesday over forest degradation in the country, especially in the north-eastern states, and urged the Environment Ministry to take stringent steps to curb the illegal felling of trees. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests, in its 324th report on "Status of Forests in India" tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, said no action plan was prepared by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for controlling the illegal cutting of trees in forests. The panel relied on the India State of Forest Report, 2017, according to which the total forest and tree cover in India was 80.20 million hectares, which was 24.39 per cent of the geographical area of the country. However, the report said, there was a reduction of 0.34 million hectares of moderately dense forests, which indicated forest degradation. "The committee is concerned about the decline in the forest cover in the north-eastern states, which is 65.34 per cent of its geographical area, in comparison to the national forest cover of 21.54 per cent. The committee recommends that the concerned state governments and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change must look into the factors responsible for the decline in the forest cover and take all necessary steps to ensure that the trend of decline in forest cover in these states is arrested at the earliest," the report said. The panel report noted that there was a decrease of forest cover to the extent of 630 sq.km in the north-eastern region, which was attributed to shifting cultivation and other development activities in the region. "On one hand, the government is spending crores of rupees for environmental protection, while on the other hand, illegal cutting of trees and transportation of wood have been plaguing our forests in a big way. "The committee is of the view that the Ministry of Environment must take due cognizance of the illegal felling of trees in different parts of the country and in coordination with the concerned states and Union territory administrations, prepare an action plan for tackling this menace," it said. The ministry should impress upon all the forest management authorities concerned to take necessary action and utilise the constitutional provisions to restrict this illegal practice, it added. It also sought that the report on illegal cutting of construction timber in a forest near the border area of Nepal in Shravasti district of Uttar Pradesh be shared with the committee by the UP forest department at the earliest. The committee also said an insufficient budget allocation to the National Afforestation Programme (NAP) was hampering achieving the annual targeted area of afforestation during the last few years, which had already declined gradually over the last four years. "The committee, therefore, recommends that the MoEF must ensure that adequate allocation is made for the National Afforestation Programme and the targets under the programme are achieved. "Further, the concerned state governments should also provide their share of the changed funding pattern to make the NAP a success," it said. Quoting a ministry official, the panel report said according to the government, India should have 33 per cent forests but it presently had only 24-25 per cent forests and the rate of growth was not fast enough for forests in the country to reach the target immediately. The committee recommended that the ministry should judiciously manage the forests in the country, if required, through necessary policy interventions. "Environment and development are supplementary and complementary as the two sustain each other. The need, therefore, is to strike a fine balance between the two and to pay due attention to both, within a sustainable development framework," it said. PTI AG RC New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) BJP president Amit Shah Tuesday kicked off his party's ambitious "Mera parivar, Bhajapa parivar" campaign by hoisting its flag at his residence in Gujarat as it seeks to cover over five crore houses under the drive ahead of the announcement of the schedule of Lok Sabha polls. The exercise will last till March 2 and the saffron party aims to plant its flag at five crore homes of its workers and sympathisers across the country. "This BJP flag is a symbol of development, belief and nationalism, and shows how appeasement, casteism and family rule is ending in the Modi era," Shah said, launching the campaign. A large number of party leaders and workers joined the campaign and shared pictures on social media platforms. BJP sources have described the drive as a part of its mass mobilisation campaign for Lok Sabha elections, expected to be held in April-May, claiming it may touch up to 20 crore people if a house has on an average four residents. Among other measures, the party has been reaching out to beneficiaries of different government schemes, like Jan Dhan bank accounts, building of toilets, Mudra loans and LPG connection scheme, to mobilise people in its support. Party sources said they have already verified details of over 9.5 crore new members out of the 11 crore it had claimed to enrolled during its membership drive following its victory in 2014. "The BJP had received over 17 crore votes in 2014. Now we have details of of 9.5 crore members in our record. There are 35 crore beneficiaries of Jan Dhan bank accounts, seven crore under Mudra and over six crore under Ujjwala scheme to give free LPG connection to the poor," a leader said. He added the party has targeted different groups for mobilisation ahead of the polls. PTI KR KR ABH ABH (Eds: Adds details, merges related stories) Jaipur, Feb 12 (PTI) Robert Vadra, Congress president Rahul Gandhis brother-in-law, and his mother Maureen Tuesday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate here in connection with a probe into an alleged land scam in Rajasthan's Bikaner district. AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra dropped them off at the EDs zonal office, taking time off from her four-day Uttar Pradesh trip in a show of solidarity with her husband. On Facebook, Vadra accused the Narendra Modi government of being vindictive ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. This was Vadras first appearance before the ED in Jaipur in connection with charges of money laundering through land deals made by a company linked to him. Vadra was asked by the Rajasthan High Court to cooperate with the agency. His Jaipur appearance follows soon after he faced ED questioning for three days in Delhi on charges of money laundering, allegedly through property purchased in London. Vadra is also facing charges of irregular land deals in Haryanas Gurugram district. Vadra and his mother reached the ED's zonal office at Bhawani Singh Road, amid tight security arrangements. Maureen Vadra was allowed to go after some time. Vadra was permitted to leave around 1.30 pm for an hour-long lunch break. Near the ED office, some Congress workers shouted slogans in support of Priyanka Gandhi, and also repeated the slogan given by her brother Rahul Gandhi, calling Modi a thief. Chowkidar chor hai, they shouted. Several hoardings were put up nearby showing pictures of Priyanka Gandhi and her husband Robert Vadra, and saying the people wanted Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to come to power. Jan Jan ki hai yehi pukar, Rahul ji-Priyanka ji abki baar, the banners said. Rajasthan Congress vice president Archana Sharma, however, claimed she was not aware of such posters. "The party has not put up any such hoardings," she said. Before the questioning started, Vadra accused the government of harassing his elderly mother by putting her through it. As I always have adhered to rules and overall being a disciplined person, I have the ability to sustain any amount of hours of questioning and having nothing to hide, I will answer every question with respect and dignity. This too shall pass and will make me stronger, he said. "So here we are my 75-year-old mother and me in Jaipur to depose in front of the Enforcement Directorate. Not understanding the lows of this vindictive government to be harassing a senior citizen, who the world knows has lost her daughter in a car crash, her ailing son to diabetes, and her husband as well," he posted. In the Bikaner case, the agency had summoned Vadra thrice but he failed to appear before it. The Rajasthan High Court asked him and his mother to cooperate with the agency after they approached it, seeking directions that no coercive action is taken against them by the ED. The ED had registered a case in connection with the deal in 2015, taking cognisance of a clutch of FIRs and chargesheets filed by the Rajasthan police after the Bikaner tehsildar complained about alleged forgery in land allotment. It is understood that the agency wanted to question him about the operations of Skylight Hospitality Private Limited, allegedly linked to him, which purchased land in the area. It also wanted to confront Vadra with the statements of those said to be linked to him. PTI SDA ABH ASH ASH Lucknow, Feb 12 (PTI) Samajwadi Party legislators Tuesday sat on dharna outside the Raj Bhawan after staging a noisy protest in the UP legislature, agitated over party chief Akhilesh Yadav being denied permission to fly out of the state capital to Allahabad. The SP legislators relented when Governor Ram Naik sent them a message that he would meet their delegation Wednesday. Earlier, they raised the matter vociferously in both the state Assembly and the Council and shouted anti-government slogans, prompting the chair to adjourn the proceedings. Then, they reached the Raj Bhawan to register their protest against "undemocratic behaviour" of the BJP government and sat on the dharna. Yadav was stopped from taking a special flight to Allahabad on ground that law and order would be vitiated there. "We strongly condemn this dictatorial attitude of the Yogi Adityanath government. SP workers will not tolerate such action. Not only us, people of the state will give a befitting reply in the Lok Sabha elections," SP MLC Rajpal Kashyap said. Another SP MLC Sunil Yadav Sajan claimed, "We had to reach here as the governor is oblivious to the jungle raj of Yogi Adityanath government. He should be aware of what is going on in the state and intervene." PTI ABN SMI AAR New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) The NIA has registered seven terror-related cases in Punjab which were aimed at reviving the Khalistan-linked terrorism in the state, the Lok Sabha was informed Tuesday. Union minister of state for home Hansraj Ahir said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered five cases related to murder and two cases related to attempt to murder in Punjab during 2016-17. "The objective of which was to destabilise the law and order situation in Punjab and to revive Khalistan linked terrorism in the state," he said, replying a written question. Ahir said in order to avert terror incidents in the country, there is a close and effective coordination mechanism between intelligence and security agencies at the Centre and the state level. PTI ACB ACB SOM SOM New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) A massive fire engulfed a hotel in central Delhi's congested Karol Bagh area in the early hours of Tuesday, killing 17 people,including two people who jumped off the building in a desperate bid to save themselves, officials said. The deceased included three Myanmar nationals and an IRS officer, Suresh Kumar (52). Two staffers of hotel Arpit Palace also died. Kumar and the hotel cook, Tara Chand, jumped off the building in a desperate bid to escape but died. A 33-year-old Myanmar national, Chan Chan, also jumped off the over 25-year-old structure but survived with a fracture in her leg. Prime facie, the cause of the fire was suspected to be a short-circuit, the police and fire officials said. According to hospital authorities at least four others were injured. However, the police said only one other person was injured. The police said that out of 17 people killed, 15 have been identified. Autopsy was conducted on five bodies which were handed over to their families. Initially, the fire officials said a child had died in the blaze but later the police said it was the body of an adult male victim which had charred and shrunk beyond recognition. According to a statement issued by the Kerala government, three of the deceased belonged to the state and three others were from Tamil Nadu. The police said one victim belonged to Gujarat. In a late evening development, the police arrested hotel's general manager Rajender and manager Vikas on the charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. "A case has been registered against the two and the hotel owner who is absconding since the incident," DCP (Central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa told reporters. According to the fire department, they received a call at around 4.35 am about the incident following which 24 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. It took nearly four hours for them to douse the fire that had swept through all the floors of the five-storey building which had a terrace kitchen in violation of rules. Flames resurfaced by noon, but were later doused. Dilip Trivedi (58), a resident of Ahmedabad who came to Delhi for a business deal, had a miraculous escape. "At around 4 am, I heard cries of people shouting for help. When I opened my door, I saw very dense smoke in the corridor area. Then I took my bag and rushed downstairs," said Trivedi who was occupying a room on the first floor of the hotel. Bhupendra Rajput, an eyewitness who helped in rescue operation, said, "We were inside my room at a hotel nearby the incident happened. People were shouting for help and we immediately rushed to the spot." Different agencies pointed out several violations on the part of the hotel's management, including closure of the emergency exit gates at the time of fire, which trapped the victims inside the establishment. The hotel was first granted a licence in October 2005 and was renewed every year. The last renewal was done on May 25, 2018 and was valid till March 31, said an official of North Delhi Municipal Corporation. "The stamped happened as the stairs were narrow. We pulled them out and helped clear the way for other," Rajput said. The roads were blocked near the spot due to which the fire tenders took time to reach there. The first tender that reached the spot did not have adequate water. If that fire tender had enough water, it would have taken less time to control it, Rajput added. Several politicians, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Union Tourism Minister K J Alphons, DPCC chief Sheila Dikshit and state BJP president Manoj Tiwari, visited the spot to take the stock of the situation. According to Alphons, the emergency exit of the hotel was "too narrow" and also locked. The Delhi government ordered a magisterial probe into the incident and announced Rs 5 lakh for the next of those killed in the fire. Following the incident, the AAP government also cancelled an event that was to be held on Tuesday to mark the fourth anniversary of the Aam Aadmi Party dispensation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the loss of lives. "Deeply saddened by the loss of lives due to a fire at Karol Bagh in Delhi. I convey my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives," he tweeted. The hotel had a canopy on its terrace with chairs and tables laid out, indicating that there was an open restaurant operating there, fire officials said, adding that there was wooden panelling in the rooms that could have helped the fire spread. It was a nightmare without end, said Somshekhar, who had come to Delhi from Kerala with his family to attend a wedding Ghaziabad and was staying in the hotel. He lost three members of his family. They were residents of Ernakulam district in Kerala and were getting ready to go to Haridwar when the fire started. "Ten of us were rescued by police and fire teams. We had booked four rooms in the hotel. We were all ready early morning to go to Haridwar when suddenly there was a power cut. They switched on the generator and there was a heavy smoke," he said. His sister Jayashree alerted them to the smoke and rushed out to check what was happening, he said. She was later found dead. "The entire pathway was full of smoke. My mother and brother were along with my sister at the time. I immediately came to the room and opened the room for fresh air and we managed to escape. We were at the second floor of the hotel," he said. PTI AMP NIT MG VIT PLB KND TDS BUN PR AAR Jammu, Feb 12 (PTI) The BSF and the Pakistan Rangers Tuesday held a flag meeting along the International Border (IB) here and vowed to maintain peace and tranquillity along the IB. On the request of the Pakistan Rangers, the sector commander-level meeting was held on the IB in Suchetgarh area of Jammu, a BSF spokesman said. The BSF delegation comprising 16 officers was led by P S Dhiman, DIG BSF, Jammu Sector. Brig Amjad Mehmud, Sector Commander Chenab Rangers, Sialkot, Punjab, led the Pakistani delegation comprising 14 officers. It was the first sector commander-level meeting between the two border guarding forces after tension prevailed along the IB in Jammu last month. During the meeting, commanders of both the forces, inter alia, discussed various issues, including cross-border firing, presence of suspects in border areas and other routine issues related to border management, the spokesperson said. It was decided to re-energize instant communication between field commanders, whenever required, to resolve petty matters, he said. The meeting was held in a cordial, positive and constructive atmosphere, and both sides agreed to expeditiously implement the decisions taken in the earlier meeting and reiterated their commitment to maintain peace and tranquillity. Incidents of cross-border firing or ceasefire violations saw a surge in 2018 and continued unabated this year, with 219 such cases reported up to January 31, meaning an average of seven incidents per day. PTI AB IJT New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) These are the top stories from the northern region at 9.30 pm DELHI DEL67 DL-4TH LD FIRE New Delhi: A massive fire swept through a four-floor hotel in central Delhi's Karol Bagh in the early hours of Tuesday, killing at least 17 guests, including two people who jumped off the building in a desperate bid to save themselves, officials said. LUCKNOW DEL73 UP-LDALL AKHILESH Lucknow: Samajwadi Party workers clashed with police in several parts of Uttar Pradesh Tuesday after the state government clipped the wings of their president Akhilesh Yadav, preventing him from flying to Allahabad on the grounds of law and order. JAIPUR DEL68 RJ-ED-2ND LD-VADRA Jaipur: Robert Vadra, Congress president Rahul Gandhis brother-in-law, and his mother Maureen Tuesday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate here in connection with a probe into an alleged land scam in Rajasthan's Bikaner district. JAIPUR DEL108 RJ-ED-VADRA-QUESTIONING Jaipur: Robert Vadra, Congress president Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law, has been called again for questioning by the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday, following a day-long session Tuesday. KURUKSHETRA DEL55 HR-PM-CORRUPTION Kurukshetra (Har): Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday his government will speed up the campaign to rid the country of the corrupt, claiming that only such people had a problem with him while the honest trusted the 'chowkidar' JAIPUR DEL49 RJ-GUJJAR AGITATION Jaipur: The Gujjar community agitation for five per cent reservation in jobs and education entered its fifth day on Tuesday, with protesters blocking Chaksu town, about 40 km from here on National Highway 52, police said. JAIPUR DEL91 RJ-MIG27-CRASH Jaipur: A MIG-27 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed Tuesday in Eta village in Pokaran tehsil of Rajasthan's Jaisalmer district, a defence official said CHANDIGARH DES10 PB-SESSION-ADDRESS Chandigarh: Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore Tuesday said the state government was "seriously concerned" about the grievances of its employees, including teachers, and their issues will soon be "addressed effectively". DEHRADUN DES16 UKD-HOOCH-ASSEMBLY Dehradun: The hooch tragedy rocked the Uttarakhand Assembly for a second day on Tuesday, with the Congress staging a walkout over the government's "insensitivity" even as the speaker announced that an in-house panel will be set up to probe the incident. ALLAHABAD DES15 UP-KUMBH-SHAHI SNAN Allahabad: The three 'shahi snan' held during the ongoing Kumbh this year accounted for more than 50 per cent of the total pilgrims and visitors to the Sangam city, according to the Mela administration. DEHRADUN DES17 UKD-RAWAT-CAMPAIGN Dehradun: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat Tuesday unfurled the BJP flag at his private residence in Defence Colony here, signalling the launch of the party's 'Mera Parivar BJP Parivar' campaign in the state. SHIMLA DES14 HP-WINTER VACATION-KULLU Shimla: Winter vacation in schools of Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district has been extended by four days following the Meteorological Department's (Met) weather warning for heavy rain and snowfall, officials said Tuesday. MATHURA DES18 UP-GUV-VOTERS Mathura: In a bid to encourage maximum voter turnout in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik has said he will felicitate the Returning Officer and the elected MP of the constituency with the highest poll percentage. JAMMU DEL95 JK-HIGHWAY Banihal/Jammu: The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, the only all weather road linking the Kashmir Valley with the rest of the country, was reopened for one-way traffic on Tuesday after remaining closed for a week due to heavy snowfall and incessant rains in the region, officials said. SRINAGAR DEL82 LSQ-JK-BORDER-BSF New Delhi: The number of ceasefire violations or crossborder firings in Jammu and Kashmir more than doubled in 2018 compared to the previous year, while the casualties the BSF suffered in terms of death of its jawans in these incidents increased by three times, the government informed Parliament Tuesday. SRINAGAR DEL13 JK-LD ENCOUNTER Srinagar: A militant and an army jawan were killed while another soldier was injured in an encounter in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir Tuesday, police sources said. PTI ASH ASH Aizawl, Feb 12 (PTI) The Mizoram cabinet voiced strong opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill Tuesday, and said it would work to defeat the contentious legislation in the Rajya Sabha. The cabinet meeting, chaired by chief minister Zoramthanga, said that the government and the people of Mizoram vehemently oppose the bill, said an official statement here. Mizoram is ruled by Mizo National Front (MNF), a BJP ally in the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA). The state cabinet on December 18 last had expressed its objection to the bill which promises to provide Indian citizenship to religious minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India, instead of 12 years, which is the norm currently, even if they do not possess any document. Meanwhile, members of civil organisations and student bodies staged protests in capital Aizawl and other towns across Mizoram amid information that the proposed bill has been listed for deliberations in the Upper House Tuesday. NGO Coordination Committee, an umbrella organisation of civil societies and student bodies, had called for observing a 'Black Day' over the bill Tuesday and asked the people to organise protest rallies across the state. The chief minister has met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and expressed in strong terms that Mizoram opposes the bill, the statement said. Zoramthanga had also made the stance of Mizoram clear in the meeting of political parties of the north-east recently at Guwahati over the contentious issue. The Mizoram cabinet vowed to continue its opposition to the bill and work for its defeat in the Parliament, the statement said. At a protest rally in the capital, NGO Coordination Committee Chairman Vanlalruata said, "Government of India, please retrospect those days of your struggle for freedom. You didn't like oppression, suppression neither we. You fight till you are free, we will also do as you do, we only repeat what you did. Please remember we are Mizo by blood and Indian by laws." President of Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) or Mizo students federation L Ramdinliana Renthlei said if the Citizenship Bill is passed by the Parliament, "the Mizo youths would have no choice but to declare freedom". The civil societies felt that the proposed bill would endanger the very existence of the Mizos, as the passage of the legislation would grant citizenship to around a lakh of the Buddhist Chakma populace who are mainly immigrants from Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan). PTI HCV SNS IND IND Kolkata, Feb 12 (PTI) Condemning the incident of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav being stopped at Lucknow airport, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday said it happened because of "arrogant attitude of so-called BJP leaders". "I've already spoken to @yadavakhilesh. We all condemn the arrogant attitude of the so-called #BJP leaders who didn't allow Akhilesh to address the students. Even @jigneshmevani80 was not allowed," Banerjee wrote on her Twitter handle. "Where is the democracy in our country? And they are giving lessons to everybody!" she added. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister was stopped by authorities at Lucknow airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad, triggering outrage by opposition parties in the state and elsewhere in the country. Yadav said he was to fly to Allahabad from Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport to attend an event at Allahabad University. In a separate incident on Monday, Mevani's college cancelled its annual day function after the institution's trustees got protest calls against the Dalit leader being the chief guest. PTI SCH KK SOM SOM (Eds: Changing word in para 11, beginning "The indigenous people..") Imphal, Feb 12 (PTI) Authorities in Manipur have imposed prohibitory orders in Imphal East and Imphal West districts for an indefinite period in view of the continued protests against the Citizenship Bill which is likely to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The capital city of Imphal falls under both Imphal East and Imphal West districts. The prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC in the two districts were imposed last night, officials said. Mobile internet services have also been suspended indefinitely. Security has been strengthened in the residences of MLAs and ministers, including that of Chief Minister N Biren Singh, the officials said. While roads were deserted in both the districts, police personnel were seen informing people through loud speakers about imposition of the prohibitory orders and asking them to stay indoors. Security forces have also set up barricades on major roads. Markets, schools, colleges and offices were closed, the officials said. The controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is likely to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha later in the day. The bill, being vehemently opposed in the Northeast even by parties that are allies of the BJP, was passed in Lok Sabha on January 8 and the Centre had said it will try to get the Rajya Sabha nod in this Budget session. The bill seeks to provide citizenship to religious minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India, instead of 12 years, which is the norm currently, even if they do not possess any document. The indigenous people of the region are apprehending that if the bill is enacted, it will endanger their livelihood and identity. Meanwhile, the 36-hour shutdown called to protest the bill is continuing in Jiribam district, affecting normal life since 5 am on Monday. The shutdown was called by the Peoples' Alliance Manipur (PAM), a conglomerate of several organisations. PTI COR NN SOM Ahmedabad, Feb 12 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rock-solid support of people ahead of the coming Lok Sabha election, BJP president Amit Shah claimed on Monday. Launching the 'Mera Parivar-Bhajpa Parivar' voter outreach campaign from Gujarat, Shah said the general election is an important step for India to become a global superpower. "I travel the country... I can see that people are standing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi like a rock and one can see the support in their eyes," Shah said addressing BJP workers. Hitting out at the Opposition, he said, "The 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) is made up of only state-level leaders. It will not affect BJP's poll prospects." Shah launched the outreach campaign by hoisting the party flag at his residence here. The BJP intends to hoist the party flag at the houses of voters under this mass outreach drive. PTI KA PJT PD VT GK ABH ABH Washington, Feb 13 (AFP) The British Broadcasting Corporation has asked the White House for a review of security arrangements after a BBC cameraman was assaulted at a Donald Trump rally. BBC cameraman Ron Skeans was attacked by a Trump supporter yelling anti-media slogans during the US president's rally in El Paso, Texas, late Monday. Skeans was unhurt and the man, who was wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, was restrained by a blogger for the pro-Trump outlet Frontline America and removed from the media riser. Paul Danahar, the BBC's Americas bureau editor, said in a tweet Tuesday that he had asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders for a "full review of security arrangements after last night's attack." "Access into the media area was unsupervised," Danahar said. "No one in law enforcement intervened before, during or after the attack." Danahar dismissed a statement from the "Trump for President" campaign, which expressed appreciation for "the swift action from venue security and law enforcement officers." "There was no swift action to prevent or interrupt the attack by any security agency," he said. The White House Correspondents' Association condemned the attack. "We are relieved that, this time, no one was seriously hurt," said WHCA president Olivier Knox. "The president of the United States should make absolutely clear to his supporters that violence against reporters is unacceptable." BBC Washington correspondent Gary O'Donoghue, who was covering the El Paso event, said his cameraman was pushed and shoved by the unidentified assailant "after the president repeatedly goaded the crowd over supposed media bias." He said the man attempted to smash the BBC camera. "Happily, Ron is fine," O'Donoghue said. Trump paused his remarks following the commotion in the crowd and -- pointing at the media -- asked "You alright? Everything OK?" He resumed his attacks on the press later in the speech, referring to the "totally dishonest media." Trump frequently denounces the media as the "enemy of the people" and condemns critical reports about his administration as "fake news." New York Times publisher AG Sulzberger urged Trump during an interview last month to tone down what he called his "potentially dangerous" rhetoric towards the press. AFP RAX RAX Warsaw, Feb 13 (AFP) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said the United States would do everything in its power to stop Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe as he joined Poland in warning of risks. Pompeo Tuesday signalled no compromise in US opposition to the pipeline on the same day that Germany, the lead negotiator on the project, was seeking to lower the temperature on the row through a visit by a US energy official to Berlin. Pompeo said that the pipeline from Russia, on which construction began last year, "funnels money" to Russia in a way that ultimately hurts Europe. "So while there is certainly a commercial aspect to that kind of transaction, there is an enormous security risk that is attached to it," he told a joint news conference with Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz. "I think President Trump has been very clear that America is going to do what it can within its power to see that European security is foremost when it comes to energy decisions," he said, when asked if the United States would consider sanctions. The pipeline will double the capacity of an existing link between Russia and Germany and has divided the European Union, with France supporting the project but the Baltic states and Poland wary due to their history with Moscow. "We share the view that the Nord Stream 2 project does not serve Europe's energy security, we consider it a failed project, even harmful to energy security on the continent," Czaputowicz said. Pompeo is visiting Warsaw for a two-day conference on the Middle East, which Poland agreed to organise with the United States. While saluting relations with Warsaw, Pompeo prodded gently on democracy under the ruling Law and Justice party. The government has introduced a string of controversial judicial reforms that the European Union has warned threaten the rule of law. "In many different eras, the Polish people have fought for independence and liberty. Today I urge Poland to stay the course -- the course of freedom and democracy -- that was hard won during both the 1980s and 1990s," Pompeo said. Pompeo is on a tour of Central and Eastern Europe during which he hopes to counter inroads made by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has used energy as a key pressure point. Ukraine is especially concerned as Nord Stream II and the planned Turkstream connection would eliminate Russian energy's need to cross its territory -- potentially exposing the war-torn country to further military incursions by Moscow. Pompeo's trip came as the US deputy energy secretary, Dan Brouillette, was in Germany for a conference on liquid natural gas -- an area of common ground between the allies in reducing dependence on Russian supplies.AFP RAX RAX New York, Feb 12 (AFP) Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, alias "El Chapo," was found guilty Tuesday by a New York jury after a three month drug trafficking trial and six days of deliberation. The verdict could result in life behind bars for the 61-year-old former head of the Sinaloa cartel, who was accused of smuggling 155 tons of cocaine and other drugs into the United States over a 25-year-period. AFP NSA NSA Index-Journal Careers PART-TIME POSITION available in our packaging area. Job responsibilities include putting inserts into the newspaper. Must have a positive attitude and be a team player. Applicants must be able to: lift up to 20-lbs; stand for long periods of time; be available to work Sunday thru Friday, late evening to early morning hours; pass drug screen. Seoul, Feb 12 (AFP) Vietnam's foreign minister arrived in North Korea on Tuesday, Pyongyang's state media said, ahead of a second scheduled summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. With the high-stakes meeting now two weeks away, Pyongyang has yet to provide any official confirmation of the meeting in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. "A delegation of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry led by Pham Binh Minh, deputy prime minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, arrived here on Tuesday," the official KCNA news agency said, without expanding. Trump announced last week that Hanoi will be the host for a second summit with the North Korean leader on February 27-28, following their landmark first meeting in Singapore last year. That summit produced a vaguely-worded document in which Kim pledged to work towards denuclearisation -- with no hard timelines agreed. Vietnam's Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said on Monday he "will pay an official visit to DPRK from February 12 to 14" at the invitation of his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong Ho. No further details were provided for the visit, but ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said last week Vietnam is "willing to make positive contributions... for a successful US-North Korea summit". AFP NSA Brussels, Feb 12 (AFP) NATO is planning for "more Russian missiles" after the collapse of a landmark Cold War arms treaty, but will not deploy new nuclear warheads in Europe, the alliance's chief said Tuesday. Fears are growing of a new arms race in Europe after Washington started the process of exiting the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty claiming that Russia violated the pact with a new missile system. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would beef up its defences but insisted this did not mean "mirroring" any Russian build-up of missiles. The fate of the INF treaty, signed by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1987 to ban ground-launched mid-range missiles, will be high on the agenda as NATO defence ministers meet in Brussels on Wednesday. Western capitals want Russia to return to compliance with the treaty by abandoning its new 9M729 missile system. "We are both urging Russia to come back in compliance but at the same time we are planning for a world without the INF treaty and with more Russian missiles," Stoltenberg said. "We don't have to mirror what Russia does but we need to make sure we have effective deterrence and defence." The former Norwegian prime minister refused to speculate on what measures NATO might take, but insisted "we do not intend to deploy new ground-based nuclear missiles in Europe." Stoltenberg repeated warnings that the new Russian missiles made nuclear conflict more likely because they are mobile, hard to detect, and give little warning time. US Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison said the Pentagon has already started looking at how best to defend against the new missiles. "America felt it was time for us to have a defence and not be left without a defence with Russia having missiles that were in violation," she said. "What is going to happen going forward? First of all, the defence we would be working on is conventional, not nuclear." The INF treaty banned ground-launched missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres (310 to 3,400 miles), ending a dangerous build-up of warheads on mainland Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the US pullout by saying Moscow would also leave the treaty, and his defence minister announced plans for new missiles -- prompting US President Donald Trump to vow to outspend Moscow. While pointing the finger at each other, both Washington and the Kremlin have voiced concern that the bilateral INF treaty does nothing to constrain China, whose rapidly growing military relies on medium-range missiles as a core part of its defence strategy. The INF is seen as a cornerstone of the global arms control architecture and its disintegration has raised fears for the future of another US-Russia agreement, New START, which will expire in 2021. AFP NSA Kabul, Feb 12 (AP) The Taliban on Tuesday announced a 14-member negotiating team ahead of talks this month with US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who has been meeting with the insurgents to try to end America's longest war. Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai will head the Taliban team, which includes five former inmates of the US prison at Guantanamo Bay who were released in 2014 in exchange for US Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured by the Taliban in 2009 after wandering off his base. The team also includes Anas Haqqani, the jailed younger brother of the leader of the Haqqani network, a powerful Taliban faction. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Haqqani, currently held in Kabul, "should be released to start work on the negotiating team." Mujahid said Tuesday that Haqqani "was a student at the time of his arrest and was not involved in any activity for which he should be arrested." The Taliban have demanded Haqqani's release since talks began last year. By naming him to the negotiating team, the Haqqani network might be indicating that his release is a precondition for their participation. The network has not been openly involved in talks with the US envoy, except to send three representatives to a meeting in the United Arab Emirates in December. That meeting reportedly touched on the issue of prisoners, including Anas Haqqani and two professors from the American University in Kabul _ Kevin King, an American, and Timothy Weeks, an Australian _ who are believed to be held by the Haqqani network. The two professors were abducted in 2016 from Kabul. A video released more than a year ago indicated King was in poor health. The Taliban have so far refused to meet with the US-backed government in Kabul, instead holding meetings in Moscow earlier this month with prominent Afghan figures, including former President Hamid Karzai. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has complained bitterly about being sidelined, and it's not clear that his government would be willing to release Haqqani without being granted a larger role in the process. The US envoy met Monday with NATO and European Union officials in Brussels, and tweeted that he was "encouraged by their strong endorsement on the progress we've made on a peace process." He said the sides are aiming to reach a peace deal "worthy of the sacrifices made over decades of war," and not a withdrawal agreement. This was Khalilzad's first stop on a three-week mission that will also take him to Germany, Turkey, Qatar, Afghanistan and Pakistan. US President Donald Trump has indicated his frustration with the war in Afghanistan and has said he wanted to bring U.S. troops home. There were earlier reports that the US would withdraw half of its roughly 14,000 soldiers by the summer. Another 8,000 NATO and allied troops are also in Afghanistan. The US and NATO troops are mostly advising and training, although when requested they assist Afghan forces in battles with the Taliban, who carry out near-daily assaults on Afghan soldiers and police. More than 17 years after their ouster, the Taliban control, influence or hold sway over nearly half the country. (AP) SMJ SMJ Islamabad, Feb 12 (PTI) Pakistan's former army chief Gen Raheel Sharif, who is heading a Saudi Arabia-led Islamic military coalition, on Tuesday called on Prime Minister Imran Khan and exchanged views on regional peace and stability besides discussing matters of mutual interest. Saudi Arabia acquired the services of Gen. Raheel, who retired in November 2016, as head of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) in 2017. The IMCTC was cobbled together in December 2015 to combat terrorism . Sharif, who is considered to be close to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, is leading a delegation of IMCTC - the 41-nation military coalition - to Pakistan. During the meeting, Khan and Sharif "exchanged views on regional peace and stability besides discussing matters of mutual interest", state-run Radio Pakistan reported. Sharif, who arrived in Islamabad Sunday ahead of the Saudi crown prince's maiden two-day trip starting February 16, has been busy meeting political and military bigwigs since then. He has met Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa. Sharif apprised Qureshi of the measures that are being taken by the coalition in order to combat terrorism, said a statement by the Foreign Office. The foreign minister "lauded the efforts of the coalition force to establish peace and stability in the region". The two also talked about the importance of regional peace and stability and other matters of mutual interest. A press release issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media arm of the army, said "matters of mutual interest including regional peace and stability" were discussed during Gen Sharifs meeting with Gen Bajwa. The former army chief has said the basic objective of IMCTC was to fight against the menace of terrorism until its eradication. The Saudi government had surprised many countries by announcing that it had forged a coalition for coordinating and supporting military operations against terrorism in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan. Iran, Saudi Arabia's arch rival for influence in the Arab world, was absent from the states named as participants, as proxy conflicts between the two regional powers rage from Syria to Yemen. In December last year, Gen. Raheel dismissed the notion that the military coalition was aimed against any particular country, nation or sect without any mentions. PTI ZH ZH New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) Following are the top foreign stories at 1700 hours: FGN16 US-LAWMAKERS-2NDLD WALL Republicans, Democrats reach agreement to avert another govt shutdown over wall funding Washington: Democrats and Republicans have struck a deal in principle to fund the US government and avert another crippling government shutdown while denying President Donald Trump much of the USD 5.7 billion he demanded to build a controversial wall along the US-Mexico border. FGN9 UN-FORCE FEEDING-INDIANS Force-feeding of immigrant detainees, including Indians, may violate UN convention: OHCHR United Nations: Amid concerns over the force-feeding of immigrant detainees, including Indians, at a processing centre in the US, the UN human rights office said forcible feeding of prisoners on hunger strike is "inhuman" and "unacceptable" and may amount to torture in violation of a UN convention. FGN5 NASA-INDIA-STUDY India, China leading global greening effort: NASA study Washington: India and China are leading the global greening effort, which is quite contrary to the general perception worldwide, a latest NASA study said Monday, observing that the world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago. FGN12 US-AFGHAN-LD TALKS US wants to ensure Afghanistan is not used as safe heaven for terrorists: Shanahan tells Prez Ghani Washington: The US wants to ensure that Afghanistan is never used as a safe haven for terrorists, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has told President Ashraf Ghani during his surprise visit to the war-torn country to push for peace talks with the Taliban. FGN13 PAK-SAUDI-DEAL Pak likely to sign over $ 10 bn investment deal with S Arabia during Prince Salman's visit Islamabad: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are likely to sign over USD 10 billion investment agreements, including a multibillion dollar oil refinery in Gwadar, during the upcoming visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. FGN10 UN-INDIA-PEACEKEEPERS Under-resourced UN peacekeepers undermine their credibility: India United Nations: India, which is among the largest troop contributors to the UN peacekeeping, has called for adequate resources for the peacekeepers, asserting that "under-resourced" Blue Helmets cannot accomplish their mandated tasks. FGN14 AFGHAN-LD MOJADDEDI Afghan mujahideen fighter turned president dies: family Kabul: An Afghan mujahideen commander who fought the Soviets and rose to become the country's first president after the Red Army retreated has died aged 93, his family said Tuesday. (AFP) FGN11 US-LAWMAKER-LD APOLOGY Muslim US lawmaker apologises for remarks which triggered anti-Semitism row Washington: Illhan Abdullahi Omar, one of the first two Muslim women in the US Congress, has "unequivocally" apologised for her remarks which sparked an anti-Semitism row and drew condemnation including from President Donald Trump who termed it a "terrible statement". FGN2 US-PRIYANKA-IMPACT Priyanka's entry into politics would help Cong reduce resource, funding gaps with BJP Washington: It may not be clear as yet how Priyanka Gandhi Vadra joining Congress would impact its electoral fortunes, but it would help the party reduce its funding and resource gaps with the ruling BJP, an influential American foreign policy magazine has said. PTI PMS PMS New York, Feb 12 (PTI) Indian-origin US Senator Kamala Harris, who officially kicked off her 2020 presidential campaign, has directly confronted critics who questioned her black heritage, saying she was not going to spend her time trying to educate them about who black people are. Harris, 54, became the first Indian American and the second black woman to serve in the US Senate when she took office in 2017. In an interview on Monday with New York-based The Breakfast Club radio, the show's hosts asked the California Democrat to address a series of derogatory memes circulating on social media, questioning her black heritage, her record of incarcerating minorities as a prosecutor and her decision to marry a white man. One of the hosts cited a meme that said Harris is "not African-American" because her parents were immigrants born in India and Jamaica and she spent her high school years in Canada. "So I was born in Oakland, and raised in the US except for the years that I was in high school in Montreal, Canada," the CNN quoted Harris as saying. "And look, this is the same thing they did to Barack (Obama). This is not new to us and so I think that we know what they are trying to do. "They are trying to do what has been happening over the last two years, which is powerful voices trying to sow hate and division, and so we need to recognise when we are being played," she said. When one of the hosts followed up by asking Harris how she responds to people who question "the legitimacy of your blackness", she said "I think they don't understand who black people are". "I am not going to spend my time trying to educate people about who black people are... I am black, and I am proud of being black... I was born black. I will die black, and I am not going to make excuses for anybody because they don't understand," the California senator said. Harris was born in Oakland, California, to a Tamil Indian mother and a Jamaican father in 1964. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, was a breast cancer scientist who immigrated to the US from Madras (now Chennai). Her father, Donald Harris, was a professor of economics at Stanford University and emigrated from Jamaica in 1961. Harris, a former California state attorney general, also said that she makes no apologies for pursuing violent criminals to keep communities safe, but added that she wished she could have done more to affect change. About the criminal justice system, she said it is deeply flawed but she would not make apologies for pursuing violent criminals. "Let's not buy into the myth that black folks don't want law enforcement. We do," Harris said. "We don't want excessive force. We don't want racial profiling -- but certainly if somebody robs, burglarises my house, I'm going to call the police," the CNN reported. When asked about the criticism she faced on social media for marrying a white man, the Senator said, "Look, I love my husband, and he happened to be the one that I chose to marry, because I love him - and that was that moment in time, and that's it," "And he loves me," the report said. She also expressed her support for legalising marijuana, saying she has smoked -- a joint, to be specific, adding with a laugh, "I did inhale." PTI SMJ AKJ SMJ SMJ Lahore, Feb 12 (PTI) Five policemen were killed on Tuesday when militants attacked their van in northwest Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said. The incident occurred in Paroha tehsil in Dera Ismail Khan district, bordering South Waziristan. The terrorists, hiding behind bushes, attacked the police van with heavy firing. Four policemen were killed in the attack and the Station Head Officer (SHO) was injured, they said. The injured SHO was rushed to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, they added. The security forces have cordoned off the entire area and a search operation has been launched to nab the terrorists. PTI CORR SMJ SMJ Mumbai, Feb 12 (PTI) Renowned filmmaker Anand Patwardhan has said his National Award-winning documentary "Ram Ke Naam", based on the Babri Masjid demolition, has been age restricted on YouTube. The director said the video sharing website is "catering to Hindutva goons who want to kill all secular content." The 1992 documentary explores the campaign waged by the Hindu-nationalist Vishva Hindu Parishad to build a Ram temple at the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, as well as the communal violence that it triggered. The film had received a 'U' certificate from the Central Bureau of Film Certification and was shown at prime time on Doordarshan after the High Court ordered its telecast in 1996. Patwardhan said he is baffled how the film has now been termed for "adults" only, 28 years after its release. In a Facebook post, the director wrote Sunday, "YouTube is at it again, catering to Hindutva goons who want to kill all secular content. Latest is they have put an 'age restriction' on my film 'Ram Ke Naam' which has a 'U' certificate from CBFC." The filmmaker said the video sharing website has previously done this to "Jai Bhim Comrade", which also had a 'U' certificate, questioning if "YouTube is even worse than our CBFC?" Patwardhan said the website is "Hindutva embedded" and called the move "disgusting". "Now if you are a child over 14 and under 18 you are allowed to do hazardous labour but you are not allowed to see 'Ram Ke Naam'! The temporary good news is that if you are over 18 you can watch it on my (anandverite) youtube channel. That is, till they think up a new ruse to restrict it further," he wrote. Patwardhan had written to YouTube regarding the move, to which the video-sharing website replied that "Ram Ke Naam" was flagged for review, upon which, they "determined that it may not be suitable for all viewers and it has been placed behind an age restriction." "After further review, we've determined that while your video does not violate our Community Guidelines, it may not be appropriate for a general audience. We have therefore age-restricted your video," Patwardhan shared YouTube's response below his post. PTI JUR RDS RDS (Eds: Disclaimer: The following press release comes to you under an arrangement with Business Wire India. PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.) State-of-the-art manufacturing facility planned in Tirupati, aligns with Make in India Initiative Tirupathi, Andhra Pradesh, India Business Wire India Exatron Servers Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd, an organization focused on manufacturing best-in-class Servers & Storage products in India, announced that it is setting up a state-of-the-art manufacturing and assembly plant at the Industrial Park Electronic MFG Cluster - II, Tirupati, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India. The facility spreading across more than two lakh square feet area, will be the assembling and manufacturing center for some of the High-end Servers and Storage Products. The server market in India is poised to grow by 29% & 15% in the next 4 years in terms of value and volume respectively (Source IDC APeJ Server market forecast). This explosive growth is believed to be the ripple effect of large-scale digital transformation initiatives at enterprise and government levels viz Smart cities, e-Governance, Digitization of citizen services (e-Pragati in AP) and more. Exatron plans to invest INR 360 Crores over the next five years to scale the companys operations in Tirupati and also has plans to expand its presence across the country. Exatron will commence construction of the facility by early March 2019 and it is expected that the manufacturing unit would be ready for commercial shipments within the next 9 months. This initiative is aligned with Make in India initiative and promises to create local employment opportunities for up to 900+ employees in the next five years. Shri Nara Lokesh, Honorable IT Minister, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, said, We are happy to have Exatron set-up a full-scale facility of global standards, here in Tirupati. We share the common vision of being ready for tomorrows technology needs. This will take us a step closer to higher technology adoption at an enterprise and government level, in the state and in the country. Sharing his thoughts, Principal Secretary IT E&C Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, Shri K. Vijayanand said, Exatron is going to be a great contribution towards Make in India & Made in Andhra Pradesh being more successful. This industry is very promising and is going to contribute a lot to the locality, at an individual level and to the nation, at an enterprise level. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Suryanarayanan B, CEO - Exatron said, We are excited to announce this endeavor in order to meet the rapidly growing needs of the Data center and Cloud market in India. With the advent of lower mobile data costs and increasing awareness, there is a surge in demand for servers amongst the Indian enterprises. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Government of Andhra Pradesh for supporting us in making this a reality. Ms. Debjani Ghosh, President - NASSCOM, said, On this special occasion, Id like to congratulate Exatron Servers Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd. Greenfield project in server manufacturing will contribute to the overall Make in India initiative. This will add to the overall technology development of the state and generate employment opportunities. All the very best for the road ahead. Mr. Anwar Shirpurwala, CEO - MAIT, said, I am very happy to learn that Exatron is setting up a new manufacturing plant in Tirupati for servers and storage products, thus fulfilling indigenous capability in India instead of just imports. As MAIT, our endeavour is to support and encourage new companies like Exatron to invest into the country by setting up greenfield projects. We will continue to support such companies that promotes the Make in India initiative. Exatron has been using Intel server technology in their products and their plans to scale manufacturing servers highlights the immense potential the server market in India has, coupled with the vast talent pool available with strong capabilities in design and R&D. Intel congratulates them on the inauguration of their manufacturing facility and hopes that this will go a long way in further strengthening the local ecosystem, said Prakash Mallya, Vice President and Managing Director, Sales & Marketing Group, Intel India. About Exatron Servers Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd: Exatron Servers Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd manufactures best-in-class Servers & Storage products in India and is the process of setting up a state-of-the-art manufacturing and assembly plant at the Industrial Park Electronic MFG Cluster - II, Tirupati, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India. The company will commence construction of the facility by early March 2019 and it is expected that, the manufacturing unit would be ready for commercial shipments within the next 9 months. Website: www.exatron.in To View the Image Click on the Link Below: (L-R) Tom Sebastian (Director Supply Chain Management and Customer Support), KalyanMuppaneni (Director of Exatron & Founder and CEO of Pi Data Centers), B. Suryanarayanan (CEO- Exatron) & Venkata Rama Krishna (Director of Factory Operations, Exatron) PWR PWR (Eds: Disclaimer: The following press release comes to you under an arrangement with Business Wire India. PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.) To take over the role of Managing Director (M.D.) from April 1, 2019 Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Business Wire India The VIP Industries Ltd board today approved appointment of Mr. SudipGhose as the Companys new Managing Director with effect from April 1, 2019. Mr. Ghose is currently the CEO of VIP Industries Ltd. Mr. Dilip Piramal is the Chairman of the Company. Ms. Radhika Piramal is the Vice Chairperson of the Company. Announcing the appointment, VIP industries Ltd Vice Chairperson, Ms. Radhika Piramal said: During the last few years, Sudip has been instrumental in driving the growth for the company. He has successfully built brands like Skybags, Aristocrat and steered the company on the path of sustainable growth. Sudip joined the organization as head of marketing in 2013 and in the last 6 years has made invaluable contribution in various capacities including sales and marketing. I am confident that under his leadership, the company will continue to grow. Mr. Ghose, was also appointed as an Additional Director of the Company with effect from Feb 08, 2019, will work as CEO till March 31, 2019, Consequently Mr. Ghose shall assume charge of Managing Director from April 1, 2019. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Sudip Ghose, has worked with Samsonite South Asia Pvt. Ltd, Onida, Whirlpool India, Reliance and Bausch & Lomb. He has over two decades of experience in Sales and marketing with expertise in strategic planning, integrated brand marketing, consumer behavior and insights. He is 46 years old and is an Executive Management Graduate from NarseeMonjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai, and has attended Clarion College of Communications for his Post Graduate Diploma studies. About VIP Industries Established in 1971, VIP Industries Ltd. is Asia's No. 1 luggage manufacturer. Its four factories produce nearly five million pieces a year, making it the second largest producer of luggage in the world. The state-of-the-art VIP Design Lab at Nasik has to be credit several international patents and design registrations. Since inception, the company has kept in step with the changing need and taste of the discerning and quality conscious traveler. VIP Industries already has a global footprint with its products available not just across India but also all over Middle East, the UK, USA, Germany, Spain, Italy and select African and South East Asian countries. The company offers its products primarily under the brands of VIP, Carlton, Skybags, Caprese, Alfa and Aristocrat. PWR PWR (Eds: Disclaimer: The following press release comes to you under an arrangement with Business Wire India. PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.) To focus on the financial empowerment of women Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Business Wire India Svasti Microfinance Private Limited (Svasti) has raised a total of Rs. 34 Crores capital from Nordic Microfinance Initiative (NMI), Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla, and other investors. Early investors in Svasti include The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Bamboo Capital Partners (previously Bamboo Finance), venture capitalist Sajid Fazalbhoy, investment banker and angel investor Rajiv Dadlani, and a few other individual investors. In 2015, Svasti raised funds from leading businessman and philanthropist Adar Poonawalla, who has subsequently invested in a follow-on round in 2017 and in the current round as well. Apart from expanding its branch network, Svasti will use the capital raised to expand and increase its MSME loan portfolio and provide other financial services, such as consumer finance and insurance, in partnership with other leading institutions. A portion of the funds raised in the current round would be used for providing exits to some of Svastis early investors, subject to regulatory approvals. Svasti was co-founded by Arunkumar Padmanabhan and Narayanan Subramaniam in late 2010 with the objective of bringing their extensive experience in banking, finance and technology development into the consumer finance sector to expand access to finance to all sections of society and bring about positive change in society. Svasti today services around 141,000 customers across 38 branches spread over 4 states, aggregating a loan portfolio of around Rs. 255 Crores. Over the years, Svastis portfolio quality has been among the best in the industry. Svasti expects to close the current financial year with total portfolio of Rs. 350 Crores and is gearing up to double this to Rs. 700 Crores by March 2020. To finance these growth plans, Svasti also plans to raise additional capital of Rs. 100 Crores in the next 12 months. Commenting on the transaction, Svastis Co-Founder Narayanan says: Over the years, we have built best-in-class processes backed by proprietary technology, built entirely in-house. This gives us significant operational efficiencies, controls, and data analytics capabilities as we scale up. Svastis Co-Founder Arunkumar added: The fact that we have attracted gold standard investors like NMI and Adar Poonawalla, is a testament to our vision and mission to fulfill the right to finance and help transform the lives of 10 million women by 2030. Over the next couple of years, Svasti will be a diversified financial services provider to the millions of uncounted low and middle income households across India, and be known for our deep relationships with our customers. Arthur Sletteberg, Managing Director of NMI, commenting on the transaction says: We are very impressed with the platform that Svasti has laid so far, by building a high-quality portfolio over the years that has shown great resilience even through black swan events like demonetization as a result of its strong processes, backed up by smart technology and a strong team. We are confident that Svasti will be able to build further on this strong foundation to successfully expand and scale its business. We also like that Svasti is very serious about being a responsible lender and puts the customers interests and customer protection at the front and center of its strategy, which aligns very well with NMIs social mission. About Svasti Svasti is an RBI licensed NBFC-MFI with headquarters in Mumbai. Svastis vision is to fulfill the right to finance of women with a host of financial services and knowledge, that will help transform their lives. You can read more about Svasti at https://www.svasti.in About The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Founded in 1999, The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation is dedicated to transforming the lives of children living in urban poverty through improving their education, health, and family economic stability. Read more about The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation at www.msdf.org About Bamboo Capital Partners Bamboo Capital Partners is a commercial private equity firm making investments that matter. It finds game-changing businesses then applies a mix of geographical and sector expertise to deliver financial and social returns. Read more about Bamboo Capital Partners at http://www.bamboocp.com/ About Nordic Microfinance Initiative (NMI) NMI invests in microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Asia and Africa, strictly focusing on double bottom line investments, where both financial and social goals are met. NMI is a public-private partnership, owned by the Norwegian and Danish governmental funds for developing countries (Norfund and IFU) and large private sector institutions. Through 10 years of operation, NMI has managed funds of approximately 200 million USD and currently launches a new major fund. Presently, NMI holds 24 investments. NMIs headquarter is in Oslo, Norway, with offices in New Delhi, Copenhagen, Denmark and Nairobi, Kenya. Read more about NMI at https://nmimicro.no/en/home About Adar Poonawalla Adar Poonawalla is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Executive Director of Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced. In 2016, he was listed by GQ magazine as one of the 50 most influential young Indians and was awarded Philanthropist of the year. In 2016, he launched www.adarpcleancity.com, a citywide initiative where he committed and spent 20 million dollars to clean up the city of Pune using hundreds of trucks, Glutton machines and bins across the city under his personal management and dedicated team. In 2018, received the CNBC Asias award for Corporate Social Responsibility of the year. Read more about Mr. Adar Poonawalla at http://www.adarpoonawalla.com/ PWR PWR (Eds: Disclaimer: The following press release comes to you under an arrangement with NewsVoir. PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.) Featured by New York Times as CB Insights 50 Startups that may be the next Unicorns Bangalore, Karnataka, India(NewsVoir) Razorpay, Indias first converged payments solution company, added yet another feather in their illustrious cap. In a list published by CB Insights, a firm that tracks startups globally, Razorpay has been listed in the top 50 private companies in the world that is on the path to a $1 billion valuation. Razorpay is one amongst the 5 Indian companies that made it to this prestigious list. Over the last 4 years, Razorpay has achieved significant milestones and accolades for their technologically superior product suite, customer service and a great work culture. They have also witnessed tremendous growth, both, in terms of market share and mindspace with customers and industry peers. Caught with immense joy, CEO & Co-founder, Harshil Mathur said, The last four years have been such an exciting journey for us. From developing new solutions and constantly redefining industry benchmarks in product innovation to witnessing how it is benefiting businesses in the cash-rich traditional sector, its been such a satisfying experience. Therefore, to be able to continue to power the financial ecosystem for disruptive companies, this recognition by CB Insights and New York Times is a delight and encouragement for us. CB Insights is a technology market intelligence platform that analyzes millions of data points on venture capital, start-ups, patents and partnerships, with an aim to help one see tomorrow's opportunities, today'. They have analyzed a variety of data to arrive at the list of 50 private companies. Razorpay has been charting an exponential growth since inception. The company currently powers digital payments for more than 200,000 small & large businesses; over 60% of businesses use more than one product. They have clocked in a healthy growth rate of 15-20% month-on-month and are geared up to increase their merchant count to 3,00,000 by 2019. In December 2018, the Company announced the launch of three new financial products and an exclusive community for Indian start-ups to thrive. Razorpay X (Business Banking), Razorpay Capital and Razorpay Flash Checkout along with The X Club are the new additions to the existing Razorpay 2.0 product suite of payment gateway, subscriptions, disbursements, B2B collections, payment links and GST enabled invoices. The converged payments solution company expects a 5x growth in its revenue by the end of the next fiscal year. About Razorpay Software Private Limited Razorpay, Indias first Converged Payments Solution company, helps Indian businesses with comprehensive and innovative solutions built over robust technology to address the entire length and breadth of the payment journey for any business. Established in 2014, the company provides tech payment solutions to over 2,00,000 businesses. Founded by alumni of IIT Roorkee, Shashank Kumar &Harshil Mathur, Razorpay is the second Indian company to be a part of Silicon Valleys largest tech accelerator, Y Combinator. Marquee investors such as Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, YCombinator and MasterCard have invested a total of $31.5 million through Series A & Series B funding. Around 33 angel investors including Snapdeal, InMobi&Freecharge founders, Visas Global Head of Strategy, Flipkart ex-CPO Punit Soni and internet entrepreneurs & investors Justin Kan and Tikhon Bernstam have invested in Razorpays mission to simplify payments. Known to be a developer oriented payment gateway, Razorpay focuses on essentials such as 24x7 support, one-line integration code and superior checkout experiences. Image: Harshil Mathur, Co-founder & CEO of Razorpay PWR PWR People with income up to Rs 9.5 L can escape tax liability:FM New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) Stressing that tax concessions have been provided with a view to help poor and middle class people living on a tight budget, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said that now individuals earning up to Rs 9.5 lakh can escape liability by taking advantage of saving schemes. Replying to the debate on the Finance Bill in Lok Sabha, the Minister said he did not propose any change in the tax rate but only provided few rebates which will boost spending and help the economy. The Finance Bill, which contains tax proposals, was passed by the Lok Sabha with voice vote, completing the budgetary process in the lower house. In a swipe at the Congress, the Minister said that unlike the previous UPA dispensation, the present Modi government in the interim budget did not reduce levies of SUVs which are used by rich persons. In the Finance Bill 2019, the Minister proposed to raise tax rebate for people having annual income up to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 2,500 to Rs 12,500, which will effectively ensure that they don't have to pay any tax. In the Bill, standard deduction has also been raised from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000,besides a host of tax benefits to home buyers. The concessions proposed in the Finance Bill, Goyal said, are aimed at helping "poor and middle class people living on tight budget...This is interim budget. We have not brought any tax proposal...we will bring them in July," he said. The next government, which will be formed after the upcoming general elections, will come out with full budget in July. The next government will also come up with a Finance Bill containing the tax proposals for 2019-20. The Minister said that if the Congress and other opposition parties had objections on the government giving rebate to middle class tax payers and announcing income scheme for farmers, they should write in their election manifesto their intention to reduce tax exemption limit and withdrawing the farmer income scheme after coming into power. Goyal was responding to the issues raised by certain members as to why the government announced concessions in the interim budget, ahead of the general elections. Elaborating on his tax proposals, Goyal said that the decision to raise the rebate for people having annual income of Rs 5 lakhs was to provide greater certainty about tax liability as salary payments to them is subject to Tax Deduction at Source (TDS). The Minister said as per the calculations done by the officials, an individual having income of Rs 9 to Rs 9.5 lakh can escape income tax liability by taking advantage of the host of tax savings schemes under the Income Tax Act. The proposal, Goyal added was welcomed within and outside the house and will provide requisite impetus to savings and boost economic growth. He said that the Modi government during the last four- and-a-half years tried to benefit every section of society and tax payers. As a result, he said, the tax base in the country increased, the tax collection had doubled in the last five years and India has become the fastest growing major economy in the world. Higher collections, he said, has enabled the government to earmark more resources for the socially and economically deprived sections of the society. The Minister said that the proposal to raise standard deduction from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 and hiking TDS limit on interest income from Rs 10,000 to Rs 40,000 will provide relief to senior citizens. The housing sector, he added, will too get a a boost on account of the proposals including interest subvention, allowing capital gains tax exemption on purchase of two flats from proceeds of sale of a house and hiking rebate on repayment of home loans. The government, he added, was working to ensure house for every citizen when India celebrates 75th year of Independence. The government policies have helped in keeping the property prices under check, he said, adding the non- performing assets (NPAs) too has remained low in the sector, probably because "housewives insist that the home loans are repaid in time." On the fiscal deficit numbers, the Minister said that as a chartered accountant he could have made some adjustments to keep the fiscal deficit to the targeted level of 3.3 per cent of the GDP for 2018-19, but did not indulge in window dressing and instead prepared the budget honestly. As per the budget document the fiscal deficit during 2018-19 is expected to go up to 3.4 per cent of the GDP as against the target of 3.3 per cent. PTI BKS CS RT RT Washington, Feb 12 (AFP) US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would consider extending the deadline for a trade deal with China beyond March 1. "If we're close to a deal ... I could see myself letting that slide for a little while," Trump said at the White House. The comments came as the third round of trade negotiations were set to resume in Beijing to avert more than doubling tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports. AFP NSA New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) Launching a scathing attack on Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Union minister Arun Jaitley Tuesday accused the party of peddling "lies" on the Rafale deal to save a "sinking dynasty" and manufacturing a new falsehood every day. Jaitley, in a Facebook post, rejected allegations of conflict of interest of CAG Rajiv Mehrishi saying he never dealt with any file or paper relating to the fighter jet deal during his tenure in the Finance Ministry in 2014-15. "How many more lies will be peddled to sustain a sinking dynast? India, certainly deserves better," Jaitley said in a Facebook post titled 'How Many Lies Need to be Peddled to Sustain a Sinking Dynasty?'. Stating that the contagion effect of falsehood is fairly large, Jaitley said the lies spread by the Congress have spread to other colleagues in the "Mahajhootbandhan". "In relation to the Rafale deal where thousands of crores of public money has been saved, a new falsehood is manufactured on a daily basis. The latest is in relation to the present CAG and his participation in the decision making process of Rafale," Jaitley said. In 2014-15, present CAG Mehrishi was Economic Affairs Secretary in the Finance Ministry, and being the senior most bureaucrat was also designated as the Finance Secretary. "I say this without fear of contradiction that no file or paper relating to the Rafale transaction ever reached him nor was he in any way, directly or indirectly, associated with the decision making on defence purchases. Expenditure to be incurred on purchases by various departments of the Government needs the approval of Secretary (Expenditure)," he said. Asking as to why then a lie in relation to the CAG having a non-existent conflict of interest is being raised, Jaitley said "the dynast knows that his 500 crore vs 1600 crore kindergarten argument was a fictional story. No one would ever buy it because facts don't support it. Even before the contents of CAG report are known, a Peshbandi attack on the institution of the CAG is launched," Jaitley said. Without naming Gandhi, Jaitley said "the dynast" and his friends have in the past even attacked the Supreme Court when it rejected the writ petition on Rafale. He said the entire pricing argument of the Congress was factually wrong and the procedure argument that there was no Defence Acquisition Council, no CCS, no Contract Negotiation Committee was a blatant lie. "The Rs 30,000 crore favour to a private company is non-existent. The use of sliced document by a newspaper is unprecedented in the history. The use of an incomplete document is certainly not in consonance with the spirit of free speech. "The no integrity pact argument is belied by the fact that even in earlier purchases through inter-governmental agreement with Russia and the United States, such pacts were not there. Now without a shred of evidence, a fictional conflict of interest of the CAG is invented," he said. Jaitley said truth is both precious and sacrosanct and in mature democracies those who deliberately rely on falsehood are banished from public life. "In modern world dynasties inherently have their limitations. Aspirational societies abhor kingdoms. They insist on accountability and performance. But the grand old party of Indian politics has sadly become a captive of a dynasty. Many of its senior leaders lack the courage and moral authority to advise the dynasts to change course. "This trend started in early 1970s; climaxed during the Emergency and has continued ever since. The 'slave' mentality of senior leaders convinces them that they must only sing the song scripted by the dynast. A contrarian opinion will cost them their political career. When the dynast speaks lies, they all join the chorus," Jaitley said. PTI JD MR MR New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) The government has offered to sell 100 per cent stake in debt-laden Air India's subsidiary Air India Air Transport Services Ltd (AIATSL). Restarting the divestment process for the ailing national carrier, the preliminary information memorandum for disinvestment of AIATSL, the ground handling arm, was issued on Tuesday. The government would offload 98 per cent stake through strategic sale and the remaining 2 per cent would be offered to the employees of AIATSL. AIATSL posted a net profit of Rs 711 crore in 2017-18, higher than Rs 334 crore recorded in the same period a year ago, as per the memorandum. As on January 1, 2019, AIATSL had 1,372 permanent and 11,790 contract employees. Around 42 per cent of the permanent employees of the subsidiary would be retiring in the next five years, as per the memorandum. AIATSL has been providing services to 46 airlines, including Emirates, GoAir, Qatar Airways and Lufthansa, as on January 1. The government's efforts for strategic stake sale of Air India failed to take off last year. Air India Assets Holding Limited (AIAHL) has given 'in-principle' approval for the strategic sale of AIATSL by way of transfer of management control and sale of 100 per cent equity share capital of AIATSL. AIAHL is a special purpose vehicle owned by the government. "We are very bullish about this whole opportunity and were infact one of the first companies to send in an unsolicited EOI in 2017, when this initiative was being discussed. However, the PIM published today prima facie seems inadequate in terms of information contained within. "We will have lot of queries specially concerning tenure, rights, contracts, national carrier flight handling rights, employees etc. We will table our list of queries in the next few days. We are though concerned that the outcome of the recently concluded AAI Ground Handling tenders could have a negative impact on this opportunity," Murali Ramachandran, CEO - India, Celebi Aviation said. PTI DSP IAS RAM BAL Patnaik to lay foundation stone of Subarnarekha port tomorrow Bhubaneswar, Feb 12 (PTI) Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will lay the foundation stone of the much awaited Subarnerekha port in Balasore district on Wednesday, Chief Secretary A P Padhi said. The Subarnarekha port project is being developed by Chennai-based Creative Port Private Ltd (CPPL) which will own 49 per cent stake and Tata Steel with 51 per cent stake. "We have already handed over 692 acre of land to the port developer and remaining 150 acre of land under the ownership of some private persons and the government, will be given soon," Padhi said adding that the developers will start construction work as soon as they get 27 acre required for the approach road to the proposed port site. Tata Steel Managing Director T V Narendran said: "We will soon start construction work for the project and the chief minister will lay foundation stone tomorrow." The proposed port is expected to be built in 4-5 years. Narendran said the Subarnarekha project will be beneficial for the steel plants in Jharkhand, West Bengal and northen parts of Odisha. "The proposed port at Subarnarekha will be helpful for our Jamshedpur steel plant," Narendran said adding that all the ports located in the state are useful for Tata Steel. "While Dhamra Port is suitable for our Kalinga Nagar plant, Paradip Port will be good for our Angul plant," Narendran said adding that the company would invest around Rs 3,000 crore in the project. The construction of Subarnarekha port project is expected to be smooth as it has already got clearance from the Defence Ministry. The Chennai-based CPPL had proposed construction of an all-weather deep-draft commercial port at Subarnarekha river. CPPL had signed an MoU with the Odisha government on December 18, 2006 to develop the project. Later, the revenue sharing agreement was inked between the two sides on January 11, 2008. According to the revenue-sharing agreement signed originally, the port would have an initial capacity of 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), which is to be raised to 40 MTPA over 10 years. Odisha already has three operational ports at Paradip, Dhamra and Gopalpur. PTI AAM JM JM An opinion piece in the International New York Times criticising Pakistan's powerful army was censored by its local publisher Tuesday, replaced by a blank space in a country where it can be dangerous to reprimand the military. The article by Manzoor Pashteen, the leader of a movement which calls for an end what it says are enforced disappearances and extra-judicial murders of ethnic Pashtuns by security officials, was widely available online, however. It was headlined "The Military Says Pashtuns Are Traitors. We Just Want Our Rights". In it, the former veterinary student detailed how the impoverished northwest, along the Afghan border, has been "desolated" in Pakistan's long fight with militancy. He described his group, the Pashtun Protection Movement (PTM), as "peaceful". "We held numerous sit-ins and protests and continued to hope that Pakistan's leaders would try to address our concerns. Instead, they responded with intimidation and violence," he wrote. "After every major protest, police arrests and charges PTM activists and supporters with rioting, treason or terrorism," he continued. He also accused the security establishment of ensuring that "almost nothing is reported about our movement in the mainstream Pakistani newspapers and television networks". The piece was "removed for print by our publishing alliance in Pakistan. The New York Times and its editorial staff had no role in its removal," a note at the bottom of the empty-single column on the front page said. The New York Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP. The paper is printed in Pakistan by the local English-language Express Tribune, which regularly censors NY Times articles, including a 2017 piece on an anti-gay crackdown in Chechnya and a piece from 2016 entitled "Sex Talk for Muslim Women". The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a report last year that the army had "quietly but effectively, set restrictions on reporting" in Pakistani media. Last week, the country's top court warned the military and intelligence agencies to stop manipulating the media. The PTM has rattled the military since it burst onto the scene early last year, unleashing festering anger over the alleged abuses against Pashtuns, who account for roughly 15 percent of Pakistan's population. The movement remains peaceful, but has been notable for its direct verbal attacks on the armed forces in a country where such criticism is largely seen as a red line. The military warned PTM last year that its patience is wearing thin. "We realise their grief, their hardships, but (they) should not cross those lines, where the state has to use its force to control the situation," spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said in December. Last week, over a dozen PTM protestors were detained including prominent rights activist Gulalai Ismail. She was released a day later, but several others remain in detention. Less than a month ago, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal attended a rally of political parties opposed to the BJP, organised by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. On Wednesday, Banerjee will be in Delhi to attend the AAP's mega rally, Tanashahi Hatao, Desh BachaoRemove Dictatorship, Save the Country. What would the optics indicate? Of late, Kejriwal has confined himself to Delhi politics. He considers it a place where he stands a better chance of winning, than, say, Haryana, where elections will be held later this year. He projects the image of a big leader with the interests of Delhi residents at heart. It is another matter that the residents of the national capital are uniquely placed to keep their eyes on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Delhi chief minister concurrently. What they see will determine the outcome of the next round of elections, for India and Delhi. What will a mega rally achieve? The AAP, while it has earned ardent admirers all over the country for their enthusiasm and brazenness in taking on the establishment, has never really made an electoral dent at the national level. The party started off on sound footing in Punjabtheir best bet after Delhi. But, last heard, many senior leaders had quit. The Brigade Parade rally at Kolkata gave Kejriwal his first big opportunity to share the stage with leaders of established political parties across the country. The mega rally at Jantar Mantar will give Kejriwal yet another opportunity to make common cause with non-BJP parties. The Congress is not likely to attend the rally. Delhi Congress president Sheila Dixit had said she was against any partnership with AAP at the local level. This sentiment has been shared by Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh as well. The presence of other parties will signal that AAP is not dependent on the Congress, but is a part of a larger group of parties opposed to PM Narendra Modi. With the SP-BSP alliance keeping Congress out of their arrangement for the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress and the BJP seem to be at two opposite poles, while those rallying against 'dictatorship'whether in Kolkata or Delhihave chosen to throw their collective weight in the poll arena. For Kejriwal, hosting a rally at the national capital, and being seen in the company of the likes of Chandrababu Naidu and Mamata Banerjee, will ensure that AAP does not become part of history, whatever the electoral outcome. The rally will also give him an opportunity to talk about his party's work in the capital city; pats on his back by other leaders will be a good launchpad for his party's campaign. Renu Raj earned laurels for Kerala when she topped the civil service exams with a second rank in 2015, in her first attempt. The IAS officer yet again made her home state proud by taking an uncompromising stand in the face of organised adversity. Renu Raj, the sub-collector of Devikulam which includes the Munnar area, was in the news last week when she squared up to local leaders during a clean-up drive against encroachments and illegal construction. Local leaders, led by a CPI(M) MLA, blocked a team of officials from the revenue department that was dispatched to stop the construction of an industrial centre on the banks of the Muthirapuzha river. The building had lacked the necessary authorisation. The legislator, S. Rajendran, intimidated the revenue officials and showered abuses on the sub-collector. Renu Raj refused to buck under pressure and submitted a report before the Kerala High Court. Support came in from many quarters for the IAS officer. Even her boss, revenue minister E. Chandrasekharan, came out in her defence. And eventually, Rajendran was forced to express regret at his outburst as his party colleagues refused to stand by him. Doctor-turned-IAS officer But the incident has only made the young IAS officer stronger. I have no notion of changing the society overnight, Renu Raj had said in an interview earlier. I can guarantee you one thing. Nobody will have to approach me for a second time if they have a genuine demand." Renu Raj gave a shot at the civil services after completing the MBBS in the Kottayam Medical College. She is the daughter of V.N. Latha and Rajakumaran Nair, a retired DTO in the KSRTC. Renu Raj's parents always wanted her to be a doctor, but they were thrilled when she raised the bar and became a civil servant in 2015. Had she remained a doctor, she could have helped only those patients who came to her. As an IAS officer, she can help lakhs of people, Renu Raj's father had told the media back in 2015. Renu Raj was a high school student when she asked her father to take her to meet an IAS officer. Rajakumaran Nair took her along to visit then Kottayam collector Mini Antony. The officer was amused by the curiosity of the girl who wanted to know more about the service. She talked to her at length, cleared her doubts and energised her with a comment that she could also be an IAS officer. Despite having a medical degree, Renu Raj chose Malayalam as her optional subject for the civil service exam. She counts O.V. Vijayan, Sugathakumari and O.N.V. Kurup as her favourite authors. She also idolises danseuse Padma Subramaniam. Renu Raj has also trained in classical dance and scored prizes at school-level competitions. She still practises dance to keep her fit and to relax. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said his government will speed up the campaign to rid the country of the corrupt, claiming that only such people had a problem with him while the honest trusted the 'chowkidar'. Modi sought people's support in the campaign while addressing a gathering here at the "Swachh Shakti 2019", an event to recognise the leadership role played by rural women in the Swachh Bharat Mission towards achieving a clean and open defecation free (ODF) country by October 2 this year. The PM also inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for six projects, including the National Cancer Institute in Jhajjar, Shri Krishna Ayush university in Kurukshetra and ESIC Medical College and Hospital at Faridabad from here. "In 2014, you gave your votes for an honest and transparent government. Middlemen and those who snatched the rights of the poor have been eradicated from the system," Modi told the gathering. "Every honest person in the country trusts this 'chowkidar' (watchman), but those who are corrupt, have a problem with Modi," he said. Modi said some people in Haryana are worried over the ongoing investigations by probe agencies against them. "Even in Haryana, you are witnessing how some people are worried because of probe by investigating agencies," he said without naming anyone. There are investigations against former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Congress president Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra for alleged irregularities in land deals in the state. The Prime Minister also mocked the opposition's proposed grand alliance as "maha-milawat", saying all the faces in this are indulging in threatening and abusing Modi. "All the faces of this 'maha-milawat' are indulging in competition of threatening and abusing investigating agencies, court and Modi," he said while assuring that "this 'chowkidar' will neither be threatened or browbeaten with their threats and abuses, will neither stop nor bow down". "Our 'safai' campaign to rid this country of the corrupt and the dirt is going to be further speeded up. For this campaign, your blessings should continue," the PM said. The 'Swachh Shakti 2019' event partaken by Modi was attended by over 15,000 woman sarpanchs and women across the country and the state associated with the 'Swachhta' campaign. Referring to 'Battles ofPanipat Museum', the foundation stone for which was laid by him, Modi, in a veiled attack on the Nehru-Gandhi family, said, "Some people think that country's history started from 1947 and that too with a single family and this has cut the country from the roots of history." On his flagship programme of constructing toilets across the country, he said there had been people who had mocked him for speaking about it from the ramparts of the Red Fort. "At that time those who were in power earlier mocked me, criticised me, called me names, and asked what kind of PM I am for having spoken about toilet from the Red Fort, but those were people who had no concern for the problem and pain of women of the country," Modi said. He, however, said that he will continue with his efforts, adding "the taunts of those born with gold spoon do not affect me". Modi said 10 crore toilets have been constructed in the last over four years, as he called upon people to ensure they are used so that there is no open defecation. The PM said a large number of women in rural areas were working hard to ensure cleanliness and credited them for being on the forefront of the Swachhta campaign. Modi also hailed the efforts of authorities concerned in ensuring cleanliness in the ongoing Kumbh Mela, a mega event which has been visited by crores of people from India and abroad, in Uttar Pradesh's Allahabad. He said that 5.5 lakh villages in 600 cities have turned ODF, adding that the Swachata campaign is not only helping women get rid of embarrassment and pain but also turning out to be a mode of employment generation. As per estimates, almost 45 lakh people got employment opportunities under this campaign, he said. Reminding the promise of Swachh Bharat by October 2, 2019, he said, "I want to remind you that on October 2 this year, on Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary, we have promised Swachh Bharat by that day. There will be an important role of women in fulfilling this promise". What works against him are the below average dialogues and a sloppy script The Field Coordinator Imvepi, Omugo, Ofua(Arua District) leads IRCs response in the Arua District and is responsiblefor supporting and coordinating timely and high-quality program implementation,with a specific focus in ensuring effective functionality of all the supportfunctions of the program. The Field Coordinator supports the operations andprogram teams in the field site, ensuring that the Deputy Director ofOperations is kept abreast of issues regarding adherence to agreed work plansand reporting schedules as well as full compliance to IRCs policies in theareas of Finance, HR, Supply Chain, Security, ICT. The Field Coordinator willensure that IRC Arua is effectively represented in all coordination events, aswell as oversee day to day management of Staff Safety and Security during allphases of field operations. The Field Coordinator works in close coordinationwith the Program Managers to ensure that operational and program strategies areimplemented in the field site. Methow Headwaters protection to be voted on in U.S. Senate Brenda Darlene (Burnett, Witt, Bollmer) Curtin, 52, of Cincinnati, Ohio passed away June 21, 2021. She was born November 13, 1968, in Cincinnati, Ohio to the late Gladys (Jones) Napier and the late Wilburn Burnett. Brenda was preceded in death by a daughter, Jennifer Witt and sisters Alta Ru While trying to bolster support for their weak-government-is-the-best-government contention, Republicans are fond of quoting Ronald Reagans famous dictum: The nine most terrifying words in the English language are Im from the government, and Im here to help you. The Gippers assertion, which conservatives repeat with the same reverence that Christians quote the Bible, begs the question: Terrifying for whom? President Franklin Roosevelt and liberal Democrats in the House and Senate began our nations Social Security program in 1935, despite bitter opposition from conservatives in both parties. Guaranteeing senior citizens an income would make the United States into a socialist nation, they wailed. Today, even the most fervent senior citizen Trump supporters would threaten to beat up any politician who tried to abolish Social Security. Reagans government-is-bad philosophy was certainly evident when he opposed the creation of Medicare in the early 1960s. Ronnie condemned Medicare as socialized medicine and predicted, We are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our childrens children what it once was like in America when men were free. To the best of my knowledge, Reagan never publicly acknowledged that American freedom and Medicare peacefully co-exist. Reagan was also a bitter opponent of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Gipper thought that any offer of help from the government was terrifying. Black Americans as well as those white Americans who possessed functioning consciences werent terrified when these measures passed Congress and were signed into law. In fact, they were ecstatic. I was reminded last week of the beneficial role government can play when area resident Richard Webb visited my book shop. His late father, Augustus Webb, worked in a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp located in the Shawnee National Forest in deep southern Illinois. Webb loaned me a plethora of material about his fathers camp. Born on a farm in McLeansboro, Illinois, Augustus Webb borrowed $600 in 1927 to start his own garage. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, however, the garage failed. Out of work and with a family to support, Webb welcomed the opportunity to join the CCC. Webbs CCC salary put food on the table for Richard Webb, who was a child at the time. Men in the CCC put in a 40-hour work week at the camps where they were assigned. They received the princely sum of $30 per month, $25 of which was sent home to help support their families. Housing, food, clothing and medical care were provided for the men at their camps, which were run by U.S. Army Reserve officers. To the best of my knowledge, not a single CCC man was terrified by this offer of help from the government. Approximately three million men served in the CCC during its existence from 1933 to 1942. They signed up for six-month terms and could rejoin for a two-year maximum period of service They planted trees, built roads and airplane landing strips, placed rocks along river and stream shores to prevent erosion and a host of other conservation activities. Pere Marquette State Park in Grafton was built by the CCC. When you next visit its beautiful lodge or hike its trails, think of those long-ago young men whose hard work created this park. Richard Webbs father served at Camp Simpson, where the men cleared away dying trees and built observation towers. The men assigned to watch from these towers kept their eyes peeled for forest fires. The observation towers were so well constructed, Webb told me, that several of them still stand today. Indeed, he showed me a photo of himself standing on the platform of one such tower. An offer of help from the government is terrifying? Well, I can think of at least one time when Republicans didnt regard government help as the least bit scary. Millionaires and billionaires didnt run for cover when Trump and his GOP Congress passed that tax bill that made them even richer. John J. Dunphys latest book, Unsung Heroes of the Dachau Trials, includes interviews with veterans of the U.S. Army 7708 War Crimes Group, who apprehended and prosecuted Nazi war criminals after World War II. PITTSFIELD The Pike County Board has approved setting a fee schedule for businesses applying for food licensing but still has to consider the fee amounts. Pike County Health Department approached the board about establishing fees to help cover growing costs for licensing evaluations. Jane Johnson, director of environmental health for the health department, said the department is responsible for ensuring that food safety guidelines are followed when issuing a license to sell food. The health department routinely inspects businesses to make sure they are continuing to follow all laws and safety procedures. The initial inspection and all subsequent inspections cost the department. The new fees will help balance out those costs, Johnson said. The health departments budgets have been dwindling with changes at the state level and with grant programs, Johnson said. The department receives annual evaluations and has minimum guidelines it must meet, and the cost of meeting those standards and funding its programs increases each year, with only minimal increases in state funding, she said. There is more stress on the budgets, Johnson said. We want to exceed minimum standards, but we cant provide funding for all programs. Pike County Board of Health developed a fee schedule based on similar schedules used by other counties; it will bring that schedule to the county board on Feb. 25 for approval. Each business requesting a food license will have an initial fee and an annual fee, Johnson said. The fees will be based on the type of business, including some pro-rating for seasonal businesses. While there was some concern about the impact of the cost to local businesses, the proposed fees are not enormous, but just enough to help counter the cost of the inspections, Johnson said. Weve tried to look at the surrounding areas for some guidance, she said. Were not a big as Morgan or Adams counties, so we tried to hit the middle of the road. Pike County Board Chairman Andy Borrowman said that, while the board approved some amendments to the ordinance that regulates fees on Jan. 23, it has not yet approved a fee schedule. The schedule approved by the board of health has to be approved by the county board before it can take effect. If approved, the fee schedule would go into effect Jan. 1, which is when the health department begins issuing licenses for the year. We want to defray some of the costs imposed on the health department, Borrowman said. This will also give them the power to collect those fees and enforce the ordinance. Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1233, or on Twitter @JCNews_samantha. JERSEYVILLE The following felony charges were recently filed by the Jersey County States Attorneys Office: Heinz R. Dziurowitz, 39, of the 200 block of Adams, Jerseyville, was charged Jan. 25 with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. According to court records on Dec. 10 he was found to be in possession of less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $5,000. Here's what you need to know about today's special election On camera, Amy Elizabeth Fleming's face was twisted into a mask of anguish. "I just hope Yo is not feeling as alone as I do sometimes," Fleming told News 3 Las Vegas in 1986, her voice thick with emotion. Makeup did little to cover the dark circles under her eyes. Fleming was experiencing a parent's worst nightmare. Her 3-year-old son, Francillon Pierre, whom she lovingly referred to as "Yo-Yo" or "Yo," was still missing after vanishing without a trace from a swap meet in North Las Vegas on Aug. 2, 1986. Exhaustive searches of the area had turned up no clues to the boy's whereabouts and investigators were stumped. But rather than accept the worst, Fleming and her then-boyfriend Lee Luster continued to hold on to the hope that Francillon was alive. "If anybody knows anything about where he is, or if he is safe, I want them to just tell me that," Fleming pleaded at the time. "I will be able to go through the proper channels to get him back. I'll do anything that is necessary." More than 30 years later, in what officials are calling "an extraordinary development in an extraordinary case," Fleming, now 60, has been arrested and charged with murder. The swap-meet story was a "diversion," authorities said Monday at a news conference in Las Vegas. Fleming's young son never went missing on that Saturday morning in 1986 because he was likely already dead. "Although we are saddened that we could not bring you today good news that we found Pierre alive and well, we are fortunate that we can bring some closure to those affected by this 32-year-old cold case," North Las Vegas Police Department Chief Pamela Ojeda said at the news conference. The case was reopened in 2017 after authorities learned that someone had attempted to commit identity theft by applying for a birth certificate using the child's name, said Detective Steven Wiese of the North Las Vegas Police Department, who is leading the current investigation. After a year and a half of reviewing the case, new witnesses and information came to light, including jail letters between Fleming and Luster. Fleming was charged on Dec. 13, 2018, and she was arrested on Jan. 29 in Florida, where she and Luster moved a year after Francillon's reported disappearance. Fleming is currently en route to Las Vegas, police said. Luster has not been charged and there was no attorney named in court records for Fleming. "I'd like to tell you right now that we have a smoking gun," Wiese said. "We'd love to have the body of Francillon, or DNA evidence that proves something. That's not what this case is. This is a case of a lot of little things, that put together, gives us the knowledge that Amy Fleming was involved in the homicide of her child." It began with a family trip to the local swap meet. Francillon, who was not Luster's biological son, was born in Haiti in October 1982 to Fleming and her then-husband, Jean Pierre. After about four years of marriage, the couple divorced in the summer of 1985 and Fleming was granted custody, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by The Washington Post. At around 11:30 a.m. on that day in August 1986, Fleming told police and she and Luster had stopped at a refreshment stand to buy food, the affidavit said. Francillon, she said, was less than 10 feet away at the time. After paying for the food, Luster wandered to a nearby store to buy a bicycle for Francillon, leaving Fleming at the stand "putting mustard, etc, on the food" and chatting with the waitress, the affidavit said. All the while, Fleming said she kept a watchful eye on her son, only taking her eyes off him when she made trips to carry drinks and food from the stand to a table. The last time she saw Francillon, Fleming said, he was walking toward the table. But when she returned with the last of the food moments later, her son was nowhere to be seen. Fleming's harrowing account of her missing child instantly sparked an intense search and soon captivated the community. "Dozens of officers and hundreds of volunteers worked tirelessly in an attempt to find Pierre," Ojeda said on Monday. But even as they searched for Francillon, sifting through "hundreds of leads and tips," investigators initially assigned to the case had their suspicions about Fleming, Ojeda said. Her story had a glaring hole - a majority of witnesses at the swap meet said they never saw the child there. Neighbors told police that before he went missing, Francillon hadn't been seen with the couple in weeks. "We believe that they were at the swap meet as a diversion to say that he went missing," Wiese said on Monday. "He had been deceased at the time." Shortly after the disappearance, Fleming and Luster accused Francillon's biological father of being involved, claiming that a clairvoyant had told them that the boy was safe and with "someone close in his bloodline," the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Pierre was cleared by police, according to the Review-Journal. Further digging revealed that Fleming and Luster had been arrested on child abuse charges in December 1985 after a babysitter reported seeing "25-30 welts" on Francillon's back, according to the affidavit. In interviews with child services, who investigated the abuse allegations, Fleming continued to change her story. First, she said she whipped her son for wetting the bed at the babysitter's house, but then later accused Luster of hitting the child to punish him for "starting a small fire in the bathroom of their home," the affidavit said. The couple was held in custody until April 1986, when they posted bail. A month later, even though the abuse case had yet to be resolved, Francillon was returned to Fleming, the affidavit said. When he reportedly vanished in August of that year, the case was still ongoing. Fleming and Luster took polygraph tests in the days after Francillon was reported missing, and both failed when questioned about their knowledge of the boy's disappearance and current whereabouts, according to the affidavit. "I believe that they both obviously knew something about this child and I believe that he wasn't at the swap meet," retired North Las Vegas Police Department Lt. Bob King said Monday. "I knew in my heart of hearts, the child was not there." King, who led the initial investigation, said Francillon's case was one that he "always felt uncomfortable about" because he "could not resolve it successfully." Despite finding that Fleming and Luster had lied numerous times during the investigation, "there was not enough evidence at that time to prove or disprove their involvement," Ojeda said. In December 1986, the pair were charged with obstructing a public officer and served several months in jail after being found guilty, Ojeda said. During that time they exchanged multiple letters, which were scrutinized by the detectives who reopened the case. "What happened was totally unintentional, I'm sorry, you know that," Fleming wrote in one letter that was torn into bits and had to be pieced back together. The contents of another letter from Fleming to Luster appeared to take on a more desperate tone. "Just as you couldn't stand to send me to prison, I cannot stand to see you hate me, that hurts more than any prison, can you still love me, forgive me for falling short?" she wrote. "I live in fear of hurting you - I am afraid of you because you are truly the one person that can hurt me, you're the only one I have left to care about. My family is not there, Yo . . . is not there, I cannot face my friends for fear they will be implicated." On March 10, 1987, witnesses visiting the Stewart and Mojave Correctional Center, now known as the Las Vegas Detention Center, told police that they overheard a conversation between Luster and an unknown woman in which he accused Fleming of killing her son. "He was talking very loudly throwing his hand around a lot and banging on the table, talking to the girl visiting him," according to a witness statement included in the affidavit. "At one point he got very excited, stood up and yelled, 'Amy killed the baby.' And threw his head down on the table." Another witness reported hearing Luster "crying" and repeatedly saying, "Amy killed him." According to the affidavit, police later contacted the woman who visited Luster and she told them that she remembered him saying, "Amy was responsible." Fleming and Luster also pleaded guilty to the child abuse charge in 1987 and were sentenced to probation, police said. Shortly after being released, the pair moved to Florida and the case went cold until 2017, when the identity theft attempt sparked a second look. During Monday's news conference, authorities declined to comment on whether Luster would be charged, citing an ongoing investigation. Police are still working to determine how Francillon died and where his body is located. "I would hope that Ms. Fleming would tell us that," Wiese said. --- Video Embed Code Video: Amy Elizabeth Fleming was arrested and charged for the 1986 murder of her 3-year-old son on Jan. 29, officials said.(Drea Cornejo/The Washington Post) Embed code: ST. LOUIS (AP) A St. Louis County grand jury has returned a 17-count indictment against a man suspected of killing a woman and sexually assaulting two others inside a suburban St. Louis religious supply store. The indictment filed Wednesday mirrors charges prosecutors filed in November against Thomas Bruce of Imperial, Missouri. They include one count of first-degree murder, three counts of sodomy or attempted sodomy, three counts of kidnapping, eight counts of armed criminal action and one count each of burglary and tampering with evidence. Bruce, 53, is jailed without bond. The attack occurred Nov. 19 at the Catholic Supply store near Ballwin. Prosecutors said Bruce, a onetime minister armed with a gun, forced the three women who were in the store into a back room, where he demanded they perform sexual acts on him. When Jamie Schmidt, a 53-year-old customer, refused, authorities said she was shot in the head. The indictment said Bruce sexually assaulted the other two women before fleeing. He was arrested two days later. A phone message left Monday with Bruces attorney, public defender Brice Donnelly, was not immediately returned. A spokeswoman for prosecutor Wesley Bell said Monday that the indictment eliminates the need to prove the worthiness of the case at a preliminary hearing. Bruce has an arraignment scheduled for Feb. 20. Bell, a death penalty opponent who took office in January, has said he will seek life in prison without parole if Bruce is convicted. A spokesman for Schmidts family said the family agrees with the decision. Bruce, who claimed to be a Navy veteran on his LinkedIn page, operated a nonprofit church in southeast Missouri from 2003 to 2007. He had no criminal record at the time of his arrest, but the arrest led to charges in another assault . A 77-year-old woman was attacked in September at her home near Hillsboro, about 40 miles south of St. Louis. Police interviewed neighbors but had no strong leads until the woman saw Bruces photo on television after his arrest in the religious store assault. Investigators said she instantly recognized him as her attacker. Jefferson County prosecuting attorney Trisha Stefanski alleges Bruce forced his way into the womans home, grabbed her in a sexual manner and demanded that she perform a sexual act. The suspect fled after the womans phone rang and she said her husband was on his way home. EDWARDSVILLE Whether its a taco truck, donuts-on-the-go or a mobile version of your favorite brick-and-mortar restaurant, Edwardsville wants to ensure the vehicles meet the citys fire safety standards. During its Public Safety Committee meeting Monday, Fire Chief Rick Welle asked the committee to approve an ordinance amending Chapter 46, Article IV of the citys ordinances to establish fire safety guidelines for food trucks operating in Edwardsville. Welle said that while Madison County Health Department approved food trucks for general use in the county, Edwardsville had no ordinance language to provide basic fire safety regulations for food trucks operating within the city or within the fire departments jurisdiction. These guidelines establish minimum standards for fire safety to protect both the customers and food truck operators, whether used for dispensing pre-packaged food items or food prepared on-site with mobile cooking equipment, Welle said. Separate ordinances will regulate fees, use, and areas of operation. Welle told the committee he looked at four to five other cities food truck regulations as guides, including St. Louis and Chicago. Some were stricter while others were more lenient, he said. Among the points of the ordinance are: All mobile food trucks operating with the city limits or within the fire protection districts area will be subject to announced or unannounced inspections by the fire department Mobile food trucks cannot operate within 10 feet of any structure, including park shelters No seating may be provided inside the truck for patrons Food trucks cannot block fire department access roads, fire lanes, fire hydrants or other fire department vehicles Food truck employees must have an approved way to contact emergency services Aldermen William Krause and S. J. Morrison voted to move it to the Administrative and Community Services Committee for first reading on Thursday. Alderman Chris Farrar was absent. Reach Charles Bolinger at (618) 656-4700, ext. 31 There are so many signs to be annoyed about in Toronto on any given day. The city is littered with crass commercial signs and ones that dont make any sense at all is parking allowed here or not? So its depressing that a Swansea neighbourhood church, which posts messages encouraging kindness and interfaith understanding, should feel compelled to file a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission over, of all things, a sign. It started when Archer Mobile Signs, which rented the sign to Windermere United Church, refused to post messages encouraging people to wish their Muslim neighbours a Happy Ramadan and celebrate diversity during Pride Week. Things escalated, as they tend to do, and the sign disappeared last summer. It was replaced with a temporary one thats held down with sandbags so the wind doesnt take it away and the community is now raising money to put up a permanent one. And the church is waiting for a human rights hearing. Combined, thats a lot of effort that shouldnt be required. If the owner of Archer signs feels the need to censor message of love, tolerance and inclusion, hes in the wrong business. We need more, not fewer, messages like that. I am a 63-year-old white lesbian who was active in feminist, LGBTQ+, and disabled rights movements when I lived in Toronto from 1979-89. I participated in Pride marches from the early days. I supported and attended events protesting racism. I support the non-confidence vote in the Toronto Pride committee. I think the Toronto police should not march in the Pride parade this year. The Toronto LGBTQ+ community tried for years to get the police to take seriously their claim that a serial killer was targeting the gay community. The police investigated in 2012, when Bruce McArthur had killed three South Asian men, and decided there was no serial killer. They reopened the investigation only after McArthur killed Andrew Kinsman, an employed white man, and even then only because Kinsmans employed white friends kept looking for him and put public pressure on the police. Opposing view: Should Toronto police be allowed to walk in the Pride Parade? Yes Have your say I have nothing against employed white people; Im one myself. Kinsmans friends deserve much praise for their caring and persistence. They undoubtedly saved many more lives. I mourn all of McArthurs victims, though. Why didnt the Toronto police listen for so many years? McArthur kept killing as long as he targeted only brown and/or homeless gay men. This is exactly the kind of issue Black Lives Matter was pointing to in 2016 when it demanded uniformed police not participate in Pride marches. Many people of colour do not see the police as friends or allies. The Toronto police forces shoddy work in the McArthur case gives ample evidence for their view. Inviting the police back this year is a slap in the face of the friends and families of all of McArthurs victims, especially the brown and homeless ones. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. Police forces across Canada have a long and shameful history of ignoring serial killers who target marginalized people. When I visited B.C. in 1980, Vancouver Rape Relief was trying to convince the police that a serial killer was targeting sex workers in the city. Robert Pickton was arrested more than twenty years later, in 2002. The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is investigating hundreds, if not thousands, of cases going back at least to the 1960s. Indigenous groups, particularly the Native Womens Association of Canada not to mention the womens friends and family members tried for decades to get police forces to take the disappearances and murders seriously. The National Inquiry may tell us what went wrong, but it still will not solve their murders. Serial killers know that they are more likely to get away with their crimes if they target people society rejects people of colour, Indigenous people, women, homeless or drug-addicted people, sex workers, and so on. Why dont police forces seem to know this? Rosie DiManno quoted Paul King, a gay activist of the old guard, who thinks Pride Toronto has fall[en] victim to internecine wrangling along other demographic lines. King sees the controversy as a division between older activists and younger ones who dont know history: I say to the younger generation, get your own battleground, dont take mine. THE BIG DEBATE: For more opposing view columns from Toronto Star contributors, click here. What other demographic lines is King referring to? Toronto police ignored the serial murders of gay men for nearly a decade, despite continued pressure from the LGBTQ+ community. Yet somehow this isnt our battleground? Are South Asian, Middle Eastern, and homeless gay men not part of our movement? Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... The non-confidence motion in the Pride executive is not an example of divide and conquer or burning bridges, as some critics have implied. Pride Day grew out of protests against the bathhouse raids by the Toronto police in 1981. More than 30 years later, the Toronto police did not listen when LGBTQ+ activists said a serial killer was among us. They neither served nor protected us. This is not the time to invite them to march with us. Former U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman considered Rabbi Eckstein not just a close friend, but a partner in advocating for Israel and her people. In this note of condolence, Lieberman recalls all that the Rabbi did, saying, I cannot think of anyone I have ever known who did more good for more people than Yechiel Eckstein: I am shocked and saddened by the passing of Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein. The world has lost one of its truly great religious leaders and I, like so many others, have lost a dear friend. One of the most important changes that I have experienced during my lifetime is the reuniting of Christians and Jews. One of the people who was most responsible for that transformation was Yechiel Eckstein. He had a vision of a shared interfaith future based on a shared interfaith past that began with Gods creation. When Yechiel first came to visit me more than 25 years ago to tell me about the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, I was immediately impressed by him and his plans for the organization. I offered to help him in any way I could, and that was one of the best decisions I ever made. I cannot think of anyone I have ever known who did more good for more people than Yechiel Eckstein. The Jewish people and the Jewish state of Israel have never had a better friend and supporter than Yechiel Eckstein. He was, like Moses our Teacher, a man of God. My wife Hadassah and I offer our condolences to the family of Yechiel Eckstein and pray that they will be comforted along with the mourners of Israel and Jerusalem who lived to see the State of Israel re-established and its Capital of Jerusalem restored and reunited thanks in such great measure to Yechiel Eckstein. A new report has warned that even if global warming is held at 1.5, we will still lose a third of the glaciers in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya (HKH) region. What does that mean for rivers that flow down these mountains, and the people who depend on them? The HKH region is home to the tallest mountains on Earth, and also to the source of rivers that sustain close to 2 billion people. These rivers supply agriculture with water and with sediments that fertilise soils in valleys and the floodplain. Some of these rivers are hugely culturally significant. The Ganges (or Ganga), for instance, which flows for more than 2,525km from the western Himalayas into the Bay of Bengal, is personified in Hinduism as the goddess Ganga. When it rains, it pours literally Before we get to the effect of melting glaciers on Himalayan rivers, we need to understand where they get their water. For much of Himalayas, rain falls mostly during the monsoon active between June and September. The monsoon brings heavy rain and often causes devastating floods, such as in northern India in 2013, which forced the evacuation of more than 110,000 people. But the summer monsoon is not the only culprit for devastating floods. Landslides can dam the river, and when this dam bursts it can cause dramatic, unpredictable flooding. Some of those events have been linked to folk stories of floods in many cultures around the world. In the Himalayas, a study tracking the 1,000-year history of large floods showed that heavy rainfall and landslide-dam burst are the main causes. When they melt, glaciers can also create natural dams, which can then burst and send floods down the valley. In this way, the newly forecast melting poses an acute threat. The potential problem is worsened still further by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes prediction that the frequency of extreme rainfall events will also increase. Come hell or high water What will happen to Himalayan rivers when the taps are turned to high in this way? To answer this, we need to look into the past. For tens of thousands of years, rivers have polished rocks and laid down sediments in the lower valleys of the mountain range. These sediments and rocks tell us the story of how the river behaves when the tap opens or closes. Some experts propose that intense rain tends to trigger landslides, choking the river with sediments which are then dumped in the valleys. Others suggest that the supply of sediments to the river generally doesnt change much even in extreme rainfall events, and that the main effect of the extra flow is that the river erodes further into its bed. The most recent work supports the latter theory. It found that 25,000-35,000 years ago, when the monsoon was much weaker than today, sediments were filling up Himalayan valleys. But more recently (3,000-6,000 years ago), rock surfaces were exposed during a period of strong monsoon, illustrating how the river carved into its bed in response to higher rainfall. So what does the past tell us about the future of Himalayan rivers? More frequent extreme rainfall events mean more floods, of course. But a stronger monsoon also means rivers will cut deeper into their beds, instead of fertilising Himalayan valleys and the Indo-Gangetic plain with sediments. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... What about glaciers melting? For as long as there are glaciers, this will increase the amount of meltwater in the rivers each spring (until 2060, according the report, after which there wont be any meltwater to talk about). So this too will contribute to rivers carving into their beds instead of distributing sediments. It will also increase the risk of flooding from outburst of glacial lake dams. So what is at stake? The melting glaciers? No. Given thousands or millions of years, it seems likely that they will one day return. But on a more meaningful human timescale, what is really at stake is us our own survival. Global warming is reducing our resources, and making life more perilous along the way. The rivers of the Himalayas are just one more example. Anthony Dosseto is an associate professor at the University of Wollongong. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Disclosure information is available on the original site. Read the original article Read more about: MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsins new Democratic governor is having road signs that declared the state open for business turned into detour signs, drawing criticism from Republicans who say its an apt metaphor for where his policies will take the state. Republican former Gov. Scott Walker had the 23 open for business placards installed in 2011 at the states borders, where they had hung on Wisconsin Welcomes You signs. Walker used the motto after his 2010 win to send a message that his policies would entice job creators to the state. He placed the phrase on welcome signs at Wisconsins borders, in the same spot the states governors traditionally have put their name. Gov. Tony Evers is following the practice of the previous governors in putting his name on the signs. The old signs will be cut in half with no material wasted, wrote James Langdon, of Evers Department of Administration, on Feb. 1. Each open for business sign will be made into two detour sign and direction plaques, he said. The move has generated criticism from Republican lawmakers who say taking down open for business signs send the wrong message. State Rep. John Macco wrote to Evers administration asking if he could have one of the discarded signs. I wanted to hang one in my office, said Macco, a Republican from Green Bay, on Tuesday. I just think it would be cool to have because its sort of what I stand for. But Macco was told he couldnt have one because they were all being turned into detour signs. Ironically that is exactly the result his policies may produce, Macco wrote in a column this week. Another Republican, state Sen. Dan Feyen, of Fond du Lac, wrote to Evers administration last month asking for the signs when he learned they had been removed. Feyen said he would be happy to display them in his offices in Madison and Fond du Lac to let the business community know that Wisconsin is still open for business. Wisconsin is open for business under our administration and I believe Gov. Walker believed under his administration, Evers told reporters Tuesday. Having the sign reflect what it used to reflect in the past is where we wanted to be. Its not a controversy from my vantage point. ___ Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sbauerAP WASHINGTON - Democrat Elizabeth Warren has met with Native American women, calling for action on issues important to their community such as the rising problem of missing and murdered indigenous women. Warrens meeting on Tuesday comes amid lingering tensions over her past claims to Native American identity as she seeks the Democratic presidential nomination. President Donald Trump continues to hit Warren on the issue, mocking her with a racial slur and recently tweeting about the TRAIL in what some viewed as a reference to Native American genocide. Warren was introduced Tuesday by New Mexico Democratic Rep. Deb Haaland, one of two Native Americans serving in Congress, who called the Massachusetts senator a great friend to Indian Country. Haaland and Warren said theyre working together on new legislation addressing Native American issues. STANFORD, Calif. - A college professor avoided talking directly about her accusation that Virginias lieutenant governor sexually assaulted her, but she talked in detail about her research and thoughts on the growing number of women reporting abuse. One thing that I notice with sexual violence is that there are many people who would like to glance away from this, Vanessa Tyson told a Stanford University symposium. Its one of the ugliest parts of humanity. Trust me. Tyson, appearing Tuesday night as one of two panelists at the event called Betrayal and Courage in the Age of #MeToo, was making her first public appearance since she accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of assaulting her in 2004. Tyson is a political science professor at Southern Californias Scripps College who is spending a year at Stanford as a research fellow. Fairfax said he recalled the encounter, which he said was consensual, and denied assaulting or coercing Tyson. Perhaps we have to reshape how we understand consent and how we teach it to society as a whole, Tyson said during her talk, which also included her experience with students who were sexually assaulted confiding in her, and the difficulty victims have when institutions dont appear to take their claims seriously. Speaking as a professor at a womens college, sometimes you have to lead by example, Tyson said. No matter how hard it is. A college professor appeared in public on Tuesday but did not talk directly about her accusation that Virginia's lieutenant governor sexually assaulted her in 2004. Vanessa Tyson took part in a Stanford University symposium on sexual violence. (The Associated Press) Tyson left the event without talking to reporters. During the question-and-answer session, symposium organizers refused to read written submissions from the audience referencing Tysons accusation. The audience had been admonished earlier not to bring up the matter at the request of Tyson and her lawyers. Camera crews greeted audience members arriving at the reception and symposium at Stanfords Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, a usually quiet location tucked high on a hill about a mile from the main campus. The 100 audience members crammed in the main room greeted Tyson with a standing ovation. Dozens more watched a video feed in a nearby room. She told the audience she was deeply disturbed by attempts to discredit victims credibility. Tyson recounted how she and Stanford colleagues watched on television as Christine Blasey Ford testified in Washington, D.C., during Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaughs confirmation hearing. As she shook, we shook with her, she said. As she told her story, we felt the pain she so visibly demonstrated. Tyson is now represented by the same legal team that represented Blasey Ford. When we hear someone elses story, theres a beauty in it knowing you arent alone, she said. Dont be afraid to see survivors for who they are. The beautiful parts, the ugly parts. All of them. They didnt deserve what happened to them. Tyson was joined on stage by fellow centre researcher Jennifer Freyd for the talk moderated by law school professor Paul Brest to discuss the underlying dynamics of sexual violence and institutional betrayal according to symposium literature. Tyson is an associate professor of political science at Scripps College about 30 miles (50 kilometres) east of Los Angeles. She is spending the year at Stanford in part researching the political discourse surrounding sexual assault, according the centres website. Tysons accusation became public last week after a friend shared a private Facebook message Tyson sent that named no names, but alluded to the possibility of Fairfax becoming governor if the current Gov. Ralph Northam was forced to resign because of a racism scandal. That message was posted on a conservative political website that follows Virginia politics. The Associated Press typically does not identify those who say they were sexually assaulted. Tyson identified herself in a statement last week. In the statement, Tyson said Fairfax held her head down and forced her to perform oral sex in his hotel room at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. Tyson has not otherwise commented publicly and hasnt responded to multiple requests for comment from The Associated Press. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Later in the week, a second woman issued a statement accusing Fairfax of raping her 19 years ago while they were students at Duke University. Meredith Watson also publicly identified herself. Fairfax has emphatically denied both accusations and called for authorities to investigate the womens claims. ___ This version corrects the quote in the 2nd paragraph, with sexual violence is that there are many people who would ... , not about sexual violence is that a lot of people would ... WASHINGTON - A top U.S. commander said Tuesday that he has not seen any effort by North Korea to curtail its nuclear weapons program since President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un met for nuclear talks last year. Army Gen. Robert Abrams testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee ahead of Trumps second meeting with Kim later this month in Hanoi, Vietnam. The U.S. hopes North Korea will give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for an end to punishing international sanctions. Abrams called the second meeting a positive sign of continued dialogue, but added, We have not observed activity thats consistent with a full-court press on denuclearization. He said there has been a reduction in tensions along the Korean Demilitarized Zone the buffer zone between North and South Korea and cited he Norths decision to stop missile tests and other provocative actions, but said, Little to no verifiable change has occurred in North Koreas military capabilities. Abrams noted it has been some 440 days since North Korea conducted a missile test or a nuclear weapons explosion. But he said North Koreas existing capabilities, along with its continued development of advanced conventional systems, remain unchecked. The only observable change has been a reduction in the attention and bellicosity the regime layers onto its military activities. Since the end of 2017, Pyongyang has reduced its hostile rhetoric and halted media coverage of Kim Jong Uns attending capstone events such as large-scale, live-fire training or special operations raids on mock-up alliance targets, Abrams said. It is, however, too soon to conclude that a lower profile is indicative of lesser risk, Abrams said. He advised the committee to maintain a force in the region to deter any possible aggression by North Korea against the United States, South Korea or regional allies. There are about 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. NEW YORK - The Latest on the verdict for Joaquin El Chapo Guzmans U.S. trial (all times local): 1:50 p.m. A defence attorney for Joaquin El Chapo Guzman says the notorious drug lords conviction will be appealed. Jeffrey Lichtman said outside a Brooklyn courthouse Tuesday that the defence fought like complete savages at the U.S. drug-trafficking trial and will continue to fight for Guzman. Federal court marshals whisked Guzman out of the courtroom immediately after the judge read the guilty verdict. U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue says he expects Guzman to get a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Guzmans wife left the courthouse without speaking to reporters. ___ 1:30 p.m. U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue says the conviction of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman is a day of reckoning, and theres more to come. Donoghue says Tuesday outside a federal courthouse in Brooklyn he expects Guzman to get a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. He calls it a sentence from which there is no escape and no return. A defence lawyer says Guzmans conviction is devastating. But Jeffrey Lichtman adds he can proudly say the defence left it all on the battlefield. Jurors convicted Guzman on all 10 counts in an international drug distribution trial that lasted more than three months. ___ 1 p.m. Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman stared at the jury straight-faced as the judge read the guilty verdict. Guzman leaned back in his chair Tuesday to catch the eye of his wife, who gave him a subtle thumbs-up, when the jury was discharged from a federal courthouse in Brooklyn. A defence lawyer says Guzmans conviction is devastating. But Jeffrey Lichtman added he can proudly say the defence left it all on the battlefield. U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan lauded the jurys meticulous attention to detail. Cogan says it made him very proud to be an American. The verdict reached on the sixth day of jury deliberations could put 61-year-old Guzman behind bars for the rest of his life in a high-security U.S. prison selected to thwart another one of the escapes that embarrassed his native country. ___ 12:45 p.m. The notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman has been found guilty on all counts in an international drug distribution trial in New York. Jurors convicted him on all 10 counts that are likely to put him behind bars for the rest of his life. He is set to be sentenced on June 25. The 61-year-old Guzman broke out of Mexican prisons twice before he was finally recaptured and extradited to the U.S. in 2017. Federal prosecutors put on more than 50 witnesses over three months detailing how Guzmans Sinaloa cartel amassed billions of dollars importing tons of cocaine, heroin, meth and marijuana into the U.S. ___ 12:30 p.m. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... The notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman has been convicted of drug-trafficking charges at a trial in New York. The verdict reached on the sixth day of jury deliberations could put the 61-year-old behind bars for the rest of his life in a high-security U.S. prison selected to thwart another one of the escapes that embarrassed his native country. Guzman broke out of Mexican prisons twice before he was finally recaptured and extradited to the U.S. in 2017. Federal prosecutors put on more than 50 witnesses over three months detailing how Guzmans Sinaloa cartel amassed billions of dollars importing tons of cocaine, heroin, meth and marijuana into the U.S. Witnesses detailed assassinations and political payoffs, and how drugs were smuggled using tanker trucks, rail cars and even shipments of canned peppers. ___ 12:20 p.m. Federal prosecutors say a jury has reached a verdict in the U.S. trial of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. The verdict came on the sixth day of the jurys deliberations. The trial testimony lasted nearly three months and the jurors have been tasked with deciding on 10 separate counts. Federal prosecutors say Guzmans Sinaloa cartel amassed billions of dollars importing tons of cocaine, heroin and marijuana into the U.S. The defence has accused prosecution co-operators of making him a scapegoat for their own crimes. ____ 10:10 a.m. Jurors at the U.S. trial of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman are in their sixth day of deliberations. They returned Tuesday to grapple with the complicated case at a federal courthouse in Brooklyn. The trial testimony lasted nearly three months and the jurors have been tasked with deciding on 10 separate counts. The evidence included testimony from 14 co-operators. Many described Guzmans willingness to use violence against enemies of a cartel that prosecutors say smuggled at least 200 tons (181 metric tons) of cocaine into the U.S. over two decades. The defence has accused prosecution co-operators of making him a scapegoat for their own crimes. SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Latest on California Gov. Gavin Newsoms State of the State address (all times local): 5:50 p.m. California Gov. Gavin Newsoms office says he is fully committed to building a high-speed rail line between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Thats despite his comments Tuesday that there isnt a path right now for the project. He said during his State of the State speech that hes refocusing on finishing a segment of rail in the Central Valley thats already under construction. Newsom says hell complete the environmental reviews for the full line. Thats a stipulation of federal dollars the state has already received. Newsom said the project would cost too much and take too long. But his spokesman Nathan Click said hes not walking away from it. __ 11:50 a.m. Gov. Gavin Newsom is creating a new commission on homelessness and housing to address one of Californias most difficult problems. The Democratic governor said in his first State of the State speech Tuesday that its a moral issue that has also become a public health crisis. He cited mental illness, drug abuse and recent disease outbreaks and has proposed spending $600 million for homelessness care.. Newsom appointed Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg to head his Commission on Homelessness & Supportive Housing. Steinberg previously was leader of the state Senate. Newsoms administration recently sued Huntington Beach for failing to reach housing goals and says hell meet with other city leaders next week. He says he wont preside over neglect and denial, and says cities must provide their fair share of affordable housing. ___ 11:35 a.m. California Gov. Gavin Newsom says hell have a plan within 60 days for dealing with the recent bankruptcy filing by Pacific Gas & Electric after years of devastating wildfires. Newsom said in his first State of the State address Tuesday that he has convened a team of the nations best bankruptcy lawyers and financial experts from the energy sector. They will work with his administration to develop what he called a comprehensive strategy. Hes promising to ensure that safe, affordable power will continue to flow. He says hell seek justice for wildfire victims, fairness for the utilitys employees, and protection for ratepayers. Newsom says the state wont waver on its ambitious clean energy goals, but must also address the pressure that climate change is putting on utilities. ___ Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... 11:20 a.m. California Gov. Gavin Newsom says hes ending the states effort to build a high-speed rail line between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Newsom said Tuesday in his State of the State address it would cost too much and take too long to build the line long championed by his predecessor, Jerry Brown. Latest estimates pin the cost at $77 billion and completion in 2033. Newsom says he wants to continue construction of the high-speed link from Merced to Bakersfield in Californias Central Valley. He says building the line could bring economic transformation to the agricultural region. And he says abandoning that portion of the project would require the state to return $3.5 billion in federal dollars. Newsom also is replacing Browns head of the board that oversee the project and is pledging to hold the projects contractors more accountable for cost overruns. __ 12:01 a.m. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is preparing to deliver his first State of the State address a day after declaring he wouldnt participate in the Trump administrations political theatre over border security. The Democratic governor is likely to ratchet up his rhetoric against President Donald Trump in Tuesdays address, a month into Newsoms governorship. He said Monday hell withdraw most of Californias 360 National Guard troops on the Mexico border in a rebuke to Trump. Newsom has also sparred with the president on health care and wildfire preparedness. The State of the State will also give Newsom a chance to outline his vision for California. Hes already laid out ambitious goals on housing, juvenile justice and the environment. WASHINGTON - Sen. Sherrod Brown, a potential 2020 Democratic presidential contender, shrugged off arguments from liberals on Tuesday that signing onto the climate change plan known as the Green New Deal is essential to winning over the partys base. I dont need to co-sponsor every bill that others think they need to co-sponsor to show my progressive politics, the Ohio Democrat told reporters at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. I want to get something done for people now. Of the declared and potential Democratic presidential candidates in the Senate, Brown is the only one who hasnt signed onto the Green New Deal, which was released last week. Browns decision to keep his name off of the Green New Deal and single-payer health care, two popular litmus tests for those who want the Democratic Party to embrace sweeping progressive ideas in 2020, gives him a unique lane in the presidential primary should he decide to formally join the campaign. He told reporters Tuesday that he supports aggressively addressing climate change, though he has yet to settle on the specifics of his own agenda. He also said he views expanding Medicare to Americans age 50 and older as a more workable step than moving directly to single-payer health care. A half-dozen of Browns potential rivals for the Democratic nomination have signed onto the Green New Deal, the so-called Medicare for All single-payer plan, or both. President Donald Trump seized on the sweeping climate proposal Monday night during a rally in El Paso, Texas, seeking to portray Democrats as too extreme in their calls for drastically cutting U.S. carbon emissions to fight global warming. Democrats themselves are debating how ambitious they should be in their policy proposals. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts spoke of the need for big, structural change when she launched her presidential campaign over the weekend. But in a recent interview with The Associated Press, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, another possible Democratic presidential candidate, questioned the feasibility of proposals such as the Green New Deal. For his part, Brown is touring early voting states and told reporters he doesnt plan to make a final decision on whether to launch a presidential campaign until March. He declined on Tuesday to criticize any of his possible opponents in the primary, saying that nobody worries me, although some face a more uphill climb than others. JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. - A purse containing a prom invitation, photos and other items from 1950s America will be returned to its now 82-year-old owner after workers found it while demolishing part of an Indiana high school. Martha Everett lost the black stitched purse more than six decades ago. Workers found it in January behind science classroom cabinets in the old Jeffersonville High School, where Everett was a senior in 1955. Greater Clark County Schools spokeswoman Erin Bojorquez says the district was able to track Everett thanks to the power of social media after one of her relatives saw a Facebook post about the purse . The district plans to mail the purse to Everetts home in Florida. The News and Tribune reports that its contents included a wallet, a letter inviting her to the prom, lipstick, photos and Juicy Fruit gum wrappers. Denver teachers and district leaders were trying to end a strike over pay Tuesday with the help of a federal negotiator. The teachers are following the lead of educators across the country by donning red amid strikes and protests for better pay and working conditions. All schools remained open and staffed by administrators, substitutes and teachers not participating in the strike. At the start of the talks, superintendent Susana Cordova acknowledged that students were not getting the kind of instruction they normally would and said she was committed to reaching a deal to end the strike. Lead union negotiator Rob Gould interrupted to tell her, You cant do the job without us. The negotiations began with discussions over changing Denvers pay system to more closely resemble other districts that allow teachers to advance in pay based on experience, education and training. Both sides met publicly and in private to discuss proposals. The talks are scheduled to last until 8 p.m. Preliminary reports from the school district indicate 58 per cent of teachers did not report to work on Tuesday, slightly more than on the first day of the strike Monday. The walkout came about a year after West Virginia teachers launched the national Red4Ed movement with a nine-day strike in which they won 5 per cent pay raises. Most recently, Los Angeles teachers held a six-day strike last month. There are 71,000 students in district-run schools. Another 21,000 are enrolled in charter schools unaffected by the strike. Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association, told a crowd of picketing teachers outside the state capitol on Monday that theirs was the latest in a national movement to provide just compensation to educators. You are unique here in Denver because here you are saying, Can I just know what Im being paid? she said. Let me tell you: You are going to change this. The dispute is over the school districts incentive-based pay system. The district gives bonuses ranging from $1,500 to $3,000 a year to teachers who work in schools with students from low-income families, in schools that are designated high priority or in positions that are considered hard to staff, such as special education or speech language pathology. The union is pushing to lower or eliminate some of those bonuses to free up more money that would be added to overall teacher pay. The district sees the disputed bonuses as key to boosting the academic performance of poor and minority students. Kimberly Beckeman, a ceramics and sculpture teacher at South High School, said she cried when the union announced teachers would go ahead and strike after 15 months of negotiations. She said she did not want to leave her students, but it was time to act. Its whats right. Its not ideal. I dont want to be out here, she said on a picket line outside the school Monday. Teachers say the reliance on bonuses leads to high turnover, which they say hurts students, and that spending money on smaller class sizes and adding support staff, like counsellors, is the best way to help disadvantaged students. The district has proposed raising starting teacher pay from $43,255 to $45,500 a year. Thats $300 a year less than the unions proposal, which would add $50 million a year to teacher base pay, according to union officials. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... ___ Associated Press writers P. Solomon Banda and James Anderson in Denver contributed to this report. A site plan submitted by Massflora. The light gray area represents the planting rows, to be ringed by a security fence. The dark gray box is the proposed 7,000-square-foot processing center. Williamstown Panels to Review Proposed Pot Planter WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. As the town waits for the opening of its first marijuana business since the commonwealth voted to legalize recreational use of the drug, another venture is beginning the permitting process. Ryan Wimpee, the attorney for Colorado-based Euflora Cannabis Dispensaries, has applied for permission to start an outdoor cannabis farm on 20 acres at 295 Blair Road, a property known as River Rock Farm and owned by Eric Reinhard. The proposal will make its first stop before a town committee on Thursday when the Conservation Commission hears a request for determination of applicability. According to the completed permit available on the town's website, Wimpee, doing business as Massflora LLC, needs to take the proposal before the Con Comm because the property is bisected by the Green River and part of the planned development occurs on land adjacent to land that falls under the commission's jurisdiction. While the Con Comm will address issues like erosion control and may permit the project without requiring a more onerous and expensive Notice of Intent procedure, Thursday's 7 p.m. hearing is a precursor to a Feb. 21 appearance before the Zoning Board of Appeals. In 2017, town meeting approved zoning for commercial marijuana operations, requiring a special permit for any such business in the Village Beautiful. While any similarly-sized development whether to grow pot or potatoes might require a stop before the Con Comm, the special permit application is specific to the nature of Massflora's planned operation. It is the Zoning Board that will consider items like the impacts of "5+/- acre" security fence that would surround the cultivation field, a 7,000-square-foot processing building and any smells associated with the cultivation of cannabis. It is the ZBA that is charged with deciding whether the planned development "would not be substantially more detrimental to the neighborhood." The security fence's visual impact on abutters and how to mitigate it would be a matter for the ZBA, as would scent, an issue that has been a topic of conversation in the cannabis industry. According to the website of Dinafem, an international cannabis seed bank based in Spain, there are methods to mitigate smells. "One of cannabis's most distinct characteristics is its scent," dinafem.org reads in part. "While this can be a source of pleasure for growers, it can also become a problem if they need to conceal the presence of their plants. "To prevent the smell of weed there are different methods available, for both indoor and outdoor crops, ranging from home remedies, like planting other aromatic species in the area, to installing carbon filters in ventilation systems to clean the air and avert suspicion." Massflora addresses the odor issue in its application. "All vegetative growth will be done indoors," the application reads in part. "The vegetative stage of cannabis does not produce any odor. Odor is produced from the cannabis plant in the final 4-5 weeks of its life cycle. Harvests will be done on days that are not windy to avoid the odor that may be produced during the harvesting process. All plants that have been harvested will immediately be stored in an enclosed receptacle and transported indoors, where all air will be filtered through a HEPA system as well as charcoal filters." Scent and its impact on abutters is less of an issue for indoor growing facilities like that being developed like Silver Therapeutics, which poised to open a recreational pot shop in the Colonial Plaza on Main Street (Route 2). That facility, under development in Orange, will supply Silver's medical marijuana business, the majority of which must be "vertically integrated," by law. For the "adult use" or recreational pot, Silver Therapeutics principal Joshua Silver will be procuring product from existing licensed growers, and he agreed Tuesday that a local cultivator like the one proposed by Massflora could be convenient. "I think it would be awesome, especially for folks of Williamstown, to have outdoor cultivated product that is cultivated in town," Silver said. "I'd be happy to talk to them. "We've talked to just about every cultivator who will take our phone call. I haven't reached out to the new group in Williamstown, but we only became aware of it when we received the notice about the [special permit] hearing." As for the timetable for the Main Street dispensary, Silver said Tuesday that his business is waiting on final approval from the commonwealth's Cannabis Control Commission. "We've completed our buildout," Silver said in a telephone interview. "We have all of the infrastructure our employees, our point-of-sale, bookkeeping, all that stuff is in place and ready to go. "The only thing we're missing is the go-ahead from the CCC." Silver said an on-site post-provisional license inspection by the CCC is scheduled for Feb. 22. If that is successful, Silver would have to be placed on the agenda for the CCC board for a final licensure hearing. After that, there is one more round of inspections by the CCC before a license is issued. "It tends to be two to four weeks between each step," Silver said. In the meantime, he has identified, trained and licensed employees who have agreed to leave their current jobs and start working at Silver Therapeutics once the shop is operational. "The people who came to us, the people we on-boarded are people who have been waiting a long time for legalization, and there's a lot of them out there," Silver said. "When we first met with them, we explained the uncertainty with respect to timing, and they all got it. But it's something they've been looking forward to and wanted to be a part of." The regulatory timetable outlined by Silver which remains outside the business's control could put Silver Therapeutics on course to receive final licensure in mid-April, just in time for the April 20 "holiday" embraced by marijuana enthusiasts. "That would be great," Silver said with a laugh. "I hadn't considered that. "I'd love for it to be March 20, but that might be a little aggressive." ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The death of a Mexican grey wolf and injuries to another prompted environmentalists on Tuesday to call on New Mexico lawmakers to ban trapping on public land. Defenders of Wildlife said four wolves have been caught in traps in New Mexico over the last two months. The wolf that died was a female member of the Prieto Pack that roams northern portions of the Gila National Forest. Another member of the pack that was also trapped remains in captivity after having its leg amputated. The two other wolves that were caught were released into the wild. More than 40 wolves have been caught in traps in the Southwest since 2002, according to the group. This is having a significant impact on the recovery of the species. Every wolf lost to trapping is unnecessary and unacceptable, Bryan Bird, the groups Southwest program director, said. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not immediately return a message seeking comment. The wolf management team this week is conducting an annual survey to determine how many of the predators are roaming parts of New Mexico and Arizona. The federal government has struggled over two decades to reintroduce the species to its historic range, being hampered along the way by everything from legal challenges to poaching, politics and concerns over genetic diversity. Ranchers have pushed back against the reintroduction effort, pointing to around 100 livestock kills in just the last year. Meanwhile, environmentalists have warned that wolves could return to the brink of extinction if more captive-bred animals arent released into the wild. The trapping cases come as debate heats up in the New Mexico Legislature over a proposal that would ban the practice on public lands. While licensed trapping of other furbearing animals is legal, some Democrats argue its inhumane. Critics say a ban would not stop the sort of illegal trapping that usually spurs outrage and that it would leave ranchers without a needed tool for defending cattle from predators. Currently, trappers must get a license from the state, mark their traps with an identifying number and follow rules about where they can place their traps. Environmentalists who have been tracking the wolf program pointed to neighbouring Arizona and Colorado, where trapping has been banned on public lands. They say the New Mexico legislation is long overdue and could prevent non-target species like wolves from being injured or killed. PHOENIX - Retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who became a prominent gun-control advocate after his wife and former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in a failed assassination attempt, announced Tuesday he will run to finish John McCains last term in the U.S. Senate. If he wins the Democratic nomination, Kelly would take on Republican Martha McSally in what is expected to be one of the most closely contested Senate races of the 2020 election. Kelly described himself as an independent-minded centrist who will take a scientists data-driven approach to solving problems such as climate change, wage stagnation and health care affordability. You see a lot of partisanship in Washington and a lot of polarization, and to some extent weve created that, Kelly told The Associated Press. Its going to take people who are more independent to fix it. Arizonans value independence. If Kelly is nominated the race would pit the Navy veteran and astronaut against McSally, a trailblazing Air Force pilot, in the contest to replace McCain, a legendary Navy flyer who was famously shot down and held captive in North Vietnam. McSally is a former Republican congresswoman who was appointed to McCains seat after she narrowly lost to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema last November in the race for outgoing Republican Jeff Flakes seat. McSally leaned heavily on her record as the first woman to fly a combat mission, but she was hurt by her embrace of President Donald Trump. Kelly decried politicians who ignore data and facts and in some cases dont even believe in science, but did not take on Trump directly, saying hes not going to focus on the presidency or the White House. The 2020 election will decide who finishes the last two years of McCains term. The winner would have to run again for a full six-year term in 2022. Democrats are eagerly watching the Arizona contest, having already defeated McSally. The party is also gauging whether Arizona could be competitive at the presidential level in 2020 after Trump won by 4 percentage points in 2016. Kelly has never held elected office. He flew combat missions during the first Gulf War and was a Navy test pilot before becoming an astronaut along with his twin brother, Scott Kelly. He flew four space missions over 10 years and commanded the Space Shuttle Endeavor in 2011. Kelly and Giffords have pushed Congress to enact gun control measures with little success. They shifted their focus to state legislatures in recent years, helping to strengthen background checks and domestic violence protections. Giffords was severely wounded in a mass shooting on Jan. 8, 2011. The shooting at a Giffords meet-and-greet event in Tucson left six dead and 13 injured. Giffords played a prominent role in the four-minute video Tuesday launching Kellys campaign. I thought then that I had the risky job, Kelly says to Giffords. Turned out, you were the one that had the risky job. Kelly told the AP Giffords, who has been a rising Democratic star before the shooting, will join him frequently during campaign appearances. Republican Gov. Doug Ducey appointed McSally to the vacant Senate seat after his temporary appointee, former Sen. Jon Kyl, resigned after a few months in office. Arizona has been a longstanding Republican stronghold, but a growing Latino population and frustration among women with Trump have helped Democrats make inroads. U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego of Phoenix is also considering a Senate run that would likely position him to Kellys left politically. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Ive made no secret of the fact that Im looking seriously at running for the U.S. Senate in 2020, and that hasnt changed, Gallego said on Twitter following Kellys announcement. Ill be making a final decision and announcement soon. Former Attorney General Grant Woods, a lifelong Republican who became a Democrat and a fierce critic of Trump, said last week he will not run for the seat. McCain, a legendary and beloved Arizona politician, died last year from an aggressive form of brain cancer after more than three decades in the Senate. ATLANTA - Grammy-nominated rapper 21 Savage was released on bond Tuesday after spending more than a week in federal immigration custody, his lawyers said. The rapper, whose given name is Sheyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was arrested during a targeted immigration operation early on Feb. 3. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said at the time that the British citizen had overstayed his visa and had a felony conviction. In a statement, lawyers Charles Kuck, Dina LaPolt and Alex Spiro said theyve been speaking with ICE since his arrest to clarify his actual legal standing, his eligibility for bond, and provide evidence of his extraordinary contributions to his community and society. They said they received notification in the previous 24 hours, in the wake of the Grammy Awards at which he was scheduled to attend and perform, that he was granted an expedited hearing. Abraham-Joseph was nominated for two awards at the Grammys, including record of the year for Rockstar alongside Post Malone. His second solo album I Am I Was, released in December, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. After his arrest, ICE said Abraham-Joseph entered the U.S. legally in July 2005, when he was 12, but has remained in the country illegally since his visa expired in July 2006. He was convicted on felony drug charges in October 2014 in Fulton County, Georgia, ICE said. He was placed in deportation proceedings in federal immigration court. Abraham-Josephs lawyers disputed that. They said last week that Abraham-Joseph came to the U.S. when he was 7 and remained in the country until June 2005, when he went to visit the United Kingdom for a month. He returned on a valid visa on July 22, 2005, they said. Mr. Abraham-Joseph has been continuously physically present in the United States for almost 20 years, except for a brief visit abroad, his lawyers said. Unfortunately, in 2006 Mr. Abraham-Joseph lost his legal status through no fault of his own. The attorneys also said ICE was incorrect that Abraham-Joseph has a felony conviction on his record. Fulton County prosecutors said they could not provide information on that case because it is sealed. Abraham-Josephs lawyers said he asked them to send a message to his supporters. (H)e says that while he wasnt present at the Grammy Awards, he was there in spirit and is grateful for the support from around the world and is more than ever, ready to be with his loved ones and continue making music that brings people together, they said. He added that he will not forget this ordeal or any of the other fathers, sons, family members, and faceless people, he was locked up with or that remain unjustly incarcerated across the country. And he asks for your hearts and minds to be with them. IRVINE, Calif. - Minoo Sharifan came to the United States from Iran in the 1970s for graduate school, and like many others, wound up settling in America, starting a career and raising her family while a revolution upended her homeland and fractured relations with the U.S. The two countries remain bitter adversaries. In his State of the Union address last week, President Donald Trump said Iran does bad, bad things and threatens genocide against the Jewish people; Irans foreign minister countered that the U.S. has backed dictators, butchers and extremists. Its against that tense backdrop that Sharifan and others from her generation seek to build a connection to their Iranian heritage and culture among their American children and grandchildren. Now 67, Sharifan oversees the Persian collection and programming for a library in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, that hosts a weekly story time for Iranian-American children that she began six years ago. At a recent gathering, a dozen young children sat cross-legged on the floor, listening to a parent volunteer read the Farsi-language version of the storybook about Elmer the patchwork elephant. One girl performed a Persian dance for the group, and the children twirled scarves and sang in Farsi. For younger kids to see kids their age coming to the library and speak Farsi, its a good feeling for them and it makes me happy, Sharifan said. For us coming from another country, (a) sense of belonging to the group is very important. The 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran overthrew the shah, a close U.S. ally, and installed Shiite clerics in power and a government headed by the anti-American Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Tens of thousands of Iranians fled to the United States. Today, there are nearly a half-million people in the U.S. with Iranian ancestry. More than 40 per cent live in California, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The biggest community is in Los Angeles, which has led some to adopt the nickname Tehrangeles. Beyond Southern California, other significant populations live in the New York and Washington metropolitan areas, and in Florida and Texas. Many who came to the United States after the revolution thought they would someday return to Iran but decided to stay amid icy relations between the countries. Many were upper-class and highly educated in Iran and pursued careers as doctors, entrepreneurs and professionals in America. In recent years, Iranian-Americans also have taken on a more visible role in politics, winning seats for state office in California, Florida and elsewhere. In Beverly Hills, which has a sizable Iranian-American community, Iran-born engineer and entrepreneur Jimmy Delshad served as mayor. That doesnt mean the road has been easy. Many Iranian immigrants recall being taunted as children after Americans at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran were taken hostage and held for 444 days. Today, many are separated from their relatives overseas by the Trump administrations travel ban, which has made some Americans of Iranian heritage feel their standing is in question despite their citizenship status and longstanding ties to the U.S. In economic terms, it has been a pretty successful community, however, we have been dogged by 40 years of bad relations between the United States and Iran, said Persis Karim, chair of San Francisco State Universitys Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies. People feel like their place in the U.S. has kind of continuously been under question, or not completely at ease, because of this bigger relationship between these two countries. After the revolution, many Iranian immigrants sought to distance themselves from the upheaval in their homeland by calling themselves Persian. The second generation, Karim said, has identified more often as Iranian-American to show pride in their heritage and their U.S. citizenship. But these newer generations have grappled with the sense that no matter how American they become, they are perceived as different by American society, said Neda Maghbouleh, a sociology professor at University of Toronto, Mississauga, who was born and raised in the United States and wrote a book about Iranian-Americans experiences. The kind of exilic identity that first generation Iranian-Americans have had has been something that has not necessarily translated to second generation use, she said. Theyre products of an environment that has been incredibly hostile to the Middle East more broadly, to Iran more specifically. The second generation has in many ways seen itself as a racial minority, she said. The Iranian-American community is itself diverse and includes Jews, Muslims, Zoroastrians and others with diverse views and a shared tie to Iranian culture. Many are quick to distinguish between the governments of Tehran and Washington and the people of both countries, who they see as mutually friendly. And many see a common need to expose the new generation to Iranian culture. In the Southern California city of Irvine, an Iranian community organization offers weekend language and dance classes. At the library, families bring their children to mark key moments throughout the year, such as the springtime Persian New Year celebration Nowruz. In Berkeley, just outside San Francisco, a preschool has grown to include a private elementary school program that immerses children in Farsi, Arabic and Hebrew. Yalda Modabber, executive director of Golestan Education, said she started the preschool more than a decade ago when she wanted to teach Farsi to her first child. She recently expanded to elementary school grades at the urging of parents who wanted their children to continue the instruction. Aliah Najmabadi, 40, has sent her two older sons to the Berkeley preschool. Born in the U.S., Najmabadi said her Iranian father came to the country to study in the early 1970s and met her mother, a South Dakotan of Norwegian descent. While she grew up speaking English, Najmabadi said she was surrounded by the Persian culture and language when her fathers family came over from Iran in the years after the revolution, and she wanted to learn more. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... She went on to study Farsi, but said she still struggles to understand everything her Iranian grandmother says. Now, her 8-year-old son helps translate, she said, and her father who sometimes questioned her desire to learn the language has been moved emotionally. Once my son started speaking fluently, he was floored. His heart melted, Najmabadi said of her father. As people get older in the community, I think it is really important for my kids to know the language. ___ This version corrects the spelling of the sociology professors last name, Maghbouleh not Magbouleh. CORINTH, N.Y. - Police have lodged a manslaughter charge against an upstate New York man who shot and killed his wife while cleaning his gun at their home. Eric Rosenbrock pleaded not guilty during his arraignment Monday. His attorney, Kurt Mausert, says Rosenbrock has been released without bail to his family, including his in-laws, who fully support him. Police say 35-year-old Rosenbrock was performing maintenance on his legally owned handgun when he shot 34-year-old Ashley Rosenbrock at their home in Corinth, along the southern edge of the Adirondack Park. She was pronounced dead at Saratoga Hospital. Mausert says the shooting was an accident. Prosecutors say in the complaint that Eric Rosenbrock disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his actions may cause a persons death. COLUMBUS, Ohio - A hearing was planned Tuesday for an Ohio inmate accused in a 2017 knife attack on four other prisoners handcuffed and unable to defend themselves and in a stabbing attack the following year on a guard who is still recovering from his injuries. Inmate Greg Reinke was already serving a life sentence for aggravated murder for a fatal 2004 shooting in Cleveland when the knife attacks happened. Reinke, 38, has pleaded not guilty to the attacks, both of which happened at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. A pretrial hearing was scheduled for Tuesday morning in Scioto County Common Pleas Court. Thats in the Ohio River city of Portsmouth. A video obtained by The Associated Press of the 2017 attack pictures Reinke repeatedly stabbing the four other prisoners. Reinke, seated at an adjoining table, somehow slipped out of his own handcuffs then used a homemade 7-inch (18-centimetre) shank in the assault. In 2018, Reinke and another inmate, Casey Pigge, stabbed corrections officer Matthew Mathias 32 times near the Lucasville infirmary, according to an indictment charging both men. Mathias spent weeks in the hospital and is still recovering, according to the union representing Ohio guards. Pigge was previously convicted of three separate killings, including strangling a fellow inmate on a medical transport bus. He has also pleaded not guilty in the attack on the guard. After the second attack, Reinke and Pigge were both transferred to the Ohio State Penitentiary, the states supermax prison in Youngstown. In a phone call from prison on Jan. 30, Reinke told the AP that guards beat him to a pulp after he arrived at the supermax, allegedly breaking his eye socket and fracturing his skull. Reinke also alleged ongoing mistreatment by prison staff of him and Pigge, which he attributed to their actions. The staff are stealing from us, you know theyre damaging our property, theyre writing fake tickets, Reinke said. Its everything. Its like were on a whole different planet than everybody else. He said they feel like its their duty to exact revenge on me. Prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said there was no evidence that officers harassed or assaulted either inmate. Because of the serious, violent offences these inmates are accused of committing, additional security protocols have been established for both the safety of the inmates and staff anytime these inmates are out of their cells, she said in a statement. Smith said those protocols, in place continuously since Reinke and Pigge arrived, include daily cell searches looking for any sign of contraband or weapons. Both inmates are limited on what property they can possess, but they are permitted hygiene items and writing materials, she said. A spokeswoman for the union representing prison guards did not return repeated requests for comment. In January, Reinke said he had been told he would be required starting the following week to wear a band like a taser connected to a controller that could shock him. Smith confirmed that the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has begun using controlled electronic devices. She said the specific policy is not a public record, but that the department has stated, In no circumstance are CEDs to be used for punishment or the convenience of staff. Reinkes attorney, Matthew Loesch, said he was not aware of his clients allegations about being beaten and that he had been impressed by the professionalism of prison staff when he visited his client. Thats not to say it didnt happen, Im just not aware of it, he said. If someones being subject to abuse, anybodys going to want to do what they can to make that stop. Scioto County prosecutors initially declined to prosecute Reinke for the attack on the four inmates, arguing he was already serving life for the Cleveland killing. Last year, newly elected Scioto County prosecutor Shane Tieman changed course and charged Reinke with both prison attacks. Reinke speculated that the decision reflected a double standard within the prison system. Its like them people at the table aint even human to em, like dont even matter as much as that guard, he said. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Responding to allegations by one of the inmates stabbed during the 2017 attack that the assault was a set-up by guards, Reinke said he received a care package of new t-shirts, envelopes and other items after it happened. They didnt really set it up, but they surely condoned it, he said. Tieman said he found no evidence of a set-up. No guards involved in the incident were disciplined. NEW YORK - U.S. stocks gained in early trading Tuesday after U.S. lawmakers reached a deal to avoid another partial government shutdown and as the U.S. and China engage in another round of trade talks. The agreement on border security involves far less money for a wall than the White House wants and its not clear whether President Donald Trump will support the deal. Still, the move alleviates some uncertainty for the market ahead of talks that economists and analysts hope will end a damaging trade war between the worlds biggest economies. Both nations are trying to reach a deal before March 1. Thats when additional tariffs will kick in, escalating the conflict and further hurting companies and consumers with higher prices on materials and products. Elsewhere, companies are wrapping up an earnings season thats featured solid profit growth for the final three months of 2018, but caution about conditions going forward. Analysts are now predicting a contraction in profits for the current quarter, according to FactSet. Brewer Molson Coors fell as lower volume reduced revenue and profit. Under Armour rose after stronger sales helped it beat forecasts. KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 245.6 points, or 1 per cent, to 25,298 as of 9:50 a.m. The S&P 500 index rose 0.9 per cent and The Nasdaq composite rose 1 per cent. FAULTY TAP: Molson Coors plunged as lower sales volume sunk revenue and profit during the fourth quarter, while the brewer also said it has to restate some past results. The maker of Molson and Coors brands said tax accounting errors in 2016 and 2017 are prompting the restatements. The stock fell 7.2 per cent. MORE FOUNDATION: German conglomerate JAB Holdings hopes to take a majority stake in Coty Inc., which makes CoverGirl, Max Factor and Hugo boss brand cosmetics. JAB is offering to buy up existing stock from shareholders at $11.65 per share, marking a 20 per cent premium from its closing price on Monday. The goal is to eventually own 60 per cent of the companys stock. Cotys CEO, Camillo Pane, recently resigned from the company, which faces supply chain and revenue issues. The stock rose 14.6 per cent. OVERSEAS: Markets in Europe and Asia are also broadly higher. Fears of a global slowdown still linger as the US and China head into trade talks. Britain, Europe broadly and China have all reported slower economic growth. NEW YORK - The top federal housing official in New York is temporarily moving into public housing to get an up-close look at the citys troubled system. Lynne Patton, the New York-New Jersey regional administrator for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, plans to spend the next four weeks living in four different New York City Housing Authority buildings. Posts on Pattons official Facebook page on show her moving into the Patterson Houses in the Bronx on Monday, sharing pizza with her hosts there and taking part in an aerobics class. The citys housing authority, by far the nations largest with 400,000 residents, has long been plagued by problems including rodents, mould and heat and hot water outages. Authority chairwoman Shola Olatoye resigned last year after an investigation found that lead paint inspection reports had been falsified for years. Patton said in a news release she will stay at the Patterson Houses until Friday, then spend Monday through Friday at three different Housing Authority properties during the following three weeks. Patton will spend weekends at the apartment she shares with her boyfriend in Trump Tower, the Manhattan high-rise developed by her boss, Republican President Donald Trump. The sad reality is that every time I visit a NYCHA property, the trash is picked up on time, the elevators are all operational, the lobbies are sparkling clean, Patton said, using the acronym for the citys housing authority. So if my presence albeit temporarily can bring immediate repairs to 4 different properties and expose the fact that NYCHA is fully capable of regular upkeep, then it is a step in the right direction. Pattons move comes less than two weeks after HUD Secretary Ben Carson and New York Citys Democratic mayor, Bill de Blasio, announced a deal that averts a federal takeover of the housing authority. Under the agreement, HUD will appoint a federal monitor to oversee the authority but will stop short of taking over full control through receivership. De Blasio has blamed the authoritys woes largely on lack of funding from the federal and state governments as well as previous mayoral administrations. But Patton cited gross mismanagement and a longstanding culture of deception and cutting corners with respect to day-to-day operations in a Facebook post. Patton, an event planner best known for her work on the wedding of Trumps son Eric, was widely criticized as unqualified when the president appointed her to the HUD job. WASHINGTON - The undisputed grand prize at stake for President Donald Trump in the border security talks was money for his proposed wall with Mexico. He flat out got much less than he demanded. But to clinch the deal that congressional leaders hope to approve this week and that theyre prodding Trump to sign or risk a new government shutdown Democrats gave ground, too. Especially in their bid to fetter the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agencys ability to detain unauthorized immigrants. Its the kind of accord that, for now, has elicited few bellows of triumph by either side. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Tuesday called it a pretty good deal that Trump should sign. Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., the lead House negotiator, said, When you have a bipartisan process, you split the win. A look at the deals key provisions: BUILD THE WALL? NOT SO MUCH Democrats went head-to-head with Trump over his campaign mantra, which riles each partys core voters to near frenzies. Score this one for Democrats. Trump shut the government down for a record 35 days, starting before Christmas, when Democrats refused to give him $5.7 billion to build more than 200 miles of boundary wall. He even thumbed his nose at a bipartisan Senate bill last year that would have provided $1.6 billion for border barriers. He ended up with just under $1.4 billion plus a shutdown that hurt millions of people and inflicted political damage on the GOP. WHAT $1.4 BILLION CAN BUY Thats enough money for 55 miles of new construction. But the deal would limit the design to techniques already in use by existing border barriers, like vertical steel slats. Democrats say the language precludes a solid, unbroken wall. Democrats won a prohibition against barriers in and near a butterfly centre in Texas, but not in all the stretches along the border they sought to protect, said a Democratic aide who described still-evolving details on condition of anonymity. Republicans note that early in the shutdown, Nancy Pelosi now House speaker said Democrats would provide nothing for the immoral wall. Though Democrats clearly had leverage in the talks, no one thought theyd get by without providing some money for barriers. Still, Trump is looking for other money in the federal budget to shift to wall building. Depending on what he does, stay tuned for clamourous votes in Congress and lawsuits. ICE, CURBED NOT SHACKLED For many Democrats, Customs and Immigration Enforcement, or ICE, symbolizes what they consider Trumps punitive policies and enforcement of immigration laws. Some of their most liberal and visible partisans, like New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, want to abolish it. As a tradeoff for money for barriers and to soothe their progressive wing, Democrats demanded curbs on ICEs ability to detain immigrants. They got less than they wanted. They completely abandoned their push to limit ICE to holding a daily average of 16,500 undocumented immigrants caught inside the U.S. They said that cap would have forced ICE to go after immigrants with criminal records, not those with minor immigration violations. In addition, bargainers agreed to give ICE enough money to house 40,520 detainees by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. The agency currently holds around 49,000. So while the deal would put that figure on a downward arc, it provides enough money for a daily average this year exceeding 45,000 detainees. Thats thousands above last years level. And ICE has access to other budget funds to potentially hold more than 50,000 detainees. Thats not good, given that ICE is an agency that needs to be reined in, said Kerri Talbot, a top official at The Immigration Hub, which favours easing immigration restrictions. A GOP summary of the accord said ICE was given more than enough flexibility for future surges in illegal immigration. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... HUMANITARIAN HELP As final pieces of the deal fall into place, Democrats say they expect hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade often shabby immigrant holding facilities. They say there will be additional money for alternatives to detention, like ankle bracelets and officials who monitor immigrants released until court hearings. This would be a relatively modest win for Democrats. SHUTDOWN AVERTED? Probably, and that would be a huge relief for the GOP. Polls showed the public blamed Trump and congressional Republicans more than Democrats for the shutdown that ended Jan. 25, and GOP distaste for another one is palpable. Even so, its hard to be certain with Trump. Asked how certain he was that thered be no renewed shutdown this weekend, McConnell told a reporter, I sure hope not. A TEST FOR CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS McConnell and Pelosi will have a lot on the line this week. For Pelosi, D-Calif., who reclaimed the speakers gavel last month, steering the deal through the House will test her ability to command what could be an unwieldy 235 Democrats. Some of the most liberal may rebel against the bills money for barriers and less than stringent controls on ICE. Shell need to minimize Democratic defections and will likely need GOP support for the 218 votes necessary for passage. McConnell should have a less difficult time in the more pragmatic Senate. His toughest task may be persuading Trump to not abruptly turn against the legislation a habit Trump has displayed before. ___ AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro and reporter Andrew Taylor contributed. LAS VEGAS - The Latest on the arrest of a 60-year-old Florida woman accused of killing her 3-year-old son and reporting the boy missing while living in the Las Vegas area in 1986 (all times local): 5:45 p.m. Police in Nevada say piecing together torn-up jailhouse letters yielded a possible confession that led to the arrest of a Florida woman on a murder warrant in the 1986 disappearance of her 3-year-old son now presumed dead. North Las Vegas Police Chief Pamela Ojeda said Monday the discovery came after detectives reopened the case in 2017 and tried unsuccessfully to trace the origin of a fraudulent birth certificate application in the name of the missing boy, Francillon Pierre. A police affidavit says that in one letter, the boys mother, Amy Elizabeth Fleming, told her then-fiance that what happened was totally unintentional and she was sorry. Fleming is now 60. She was arrested Jan. 29 in Boca Raton, Florida, and is being transferred in custody to Nevada to face a murder charge. The childs body hasnt been found. ____ 10:30 a.m. Authorities say the mother of a 3-year-old who disappeared more than 30 years ago in the Las Vegas area has been arrested in Florida on a warrant charging her with killing the boy. Police in North Las Vegas said Monday that 60-year-old Amy Elizabeth Fleming was being transferred from Palm Beach, Florida, to Nevada to face a murder charge in Francillon Pierres death in 1986. The childs body hasnt been found, but police say they recently obtained new witness accounts implicating Fleming in his death. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Fleming and her fiance, Lee Luster, had told police that the boy wandered away at a Saturday afternoon swap meet. North Las Vegas police Officer Eric Leavitt says the couple married and moved to Boca Raton the following year. State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier congratulates Kathrine Wilson of Mount Greylock Regional High School at the VFW's Voice of Democracy awards. VFW Commander Arnold Perras welcomes guests at the scholarship presentation at the American Legion. Hannah Berkel of Pittsfield High School received a $500 scholarship Kailey Sultaire, a Taconic High School student, received a $1,150 scholarship and said no single vote is insignificant. Kathrine Wilson, of Mount Greylock Regional High School in Williamstown, said she saw firsthand the uniqueness of America and the importance of voting. PreviousNext Three Students Receive VFW Scholarships State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier with VFW Commander Arnold Perras and scholarship winners Hannah Berkel, left, Kailey Sultaire and Kathrine Wilson. PITTSFIELD, Mass. Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 448 recognized three Berkshire County high school students who composed essays on the importance of voting. Dozens attended the award ceremony Monday held at the American Legion building banquet hall where a combined $2,950 in scholarships were given out to Hannah Berkel, Kailey Sultaire, and Kathrine Wilson. "We are very proud of you and we placed high-qualifying standards on the recipients of these awards because we believe the winners will have high visibility in the community and will serve as role models," Arnold Perras, commander of VFW Post 448 said. "All of you are a credit to your school and your community you should be very proud of your accomplishments." The Voice of Democracy has been a VFW scholarship program since 1947 and each year nearly 50,000 high school students compete for more than $2.3 million in scholarships. Students write and record an audio essay to be considered by VFW judges. This year's theme was "Why My Vote Matters." Perras said the amount each student received is based on the size of the different VFW posts. Before hearing the three speeches, state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier said that although who you vote for is private, the fact that you voted is not and elected officials, lobbyists, and other groups use this information. She said typically young people do not vote as much as the elderly and older adults so politicians have in the past catered to the wants of these groups, however, now that younger people are taking to the polls in higher numbers, things are changing. "Younger people are voting at a greater rate than ever and young people want access to higher education, they want it to be affordable, and they don't want to be buried in debt," she said. "They care about the environment and they see it as an emergency." Before turning the podium over to the students, Farley-Bouvier said she was inspired by the essays. "Your words have obviously touched many people the way that you put your thoughts together and your message that you wanted to gift to the rest of us means a great deal," she said. Sultaire, a Taconic High School student, received a $1,150 scholarship and said no single vote is insignificant and it is dangerous to have such an idea run rampant through society. "We can't allow the idea of us being an insignificant number at the polling station permeate through our society," she said. "If that idea that my vote doesn't matter spreads throughout the country, our voting numbers are going to drop and only a select group of people will have control." Wilson, of Mount Greylock Regional High School in Williamstown, was awarded $1,300. Wilson said she was born in another country with restrictive voting and that as an expatriate saw firsthand the uniqueness of America and the importance of voting. "As Americans, we all have the right to register to vote equally," she said. "The rich man's vote counts just as much as the poorest church mouse and that, ladies and gentleman of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, is democracy at work." Berkel of Pittsfield High School received a $500 scholarship and said she is not yet of age to vote and is often disappointed when her peers reach the age of 18 and decide they do not want to vote. "It is extremely important that the younger generation vote. They need to think about their future along with their children's future," she said. "They need to think about how their voice matters ... if there is something they care about they must make their voice heard and the best way for them to do it is to cast a vote." Farley-Bouvier said there is currently a bill that she supports that would allow communities to chose if they would allow high school students to vote at local elections. "Students could vote for who is on the school committee. It's a no-brainer: They are making decisions that affect your lives," she said. "If students get used to voting early then we believe they will continue the habit." SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Latest on Californias withdrawal of National Guard troops from the border (all times local): 2:45 p.m. California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he had wanted to withdraw all of the states National Guard troops from the Mexico border but will keep some in place after consulting with guard officials. Newsom said Monday he is seeking the withdrawal because California troops have been operating cameras and doing other surveillance work that can inadvertently aid in immigration enforcement. Former Gov. Jerry Brown agreed to deploy troops last year at the request of the Trump administration. Brown said the troops couldnt engage in immigration activities. Newsom wants to rewrite the states agreement with the federal government to deploy 100 troops instead of the roughly 360 that are there. He says Guard officials convinced him there is good work being done to combat drug trafficking. The governor wants to reassign 250 troops to other drug-related activities as well as wildfire prevention. The Trump administration hasnt commented. ___ 12 a.m. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is withdrawing several hundred National Guard troops from the nations southern border and changing their mission. The Democrat plans to rescind on Monday an earlier authorization for the troops to aid the Trump administration. That agreement was made by former California Gov. Jerry Brown. Newsom will allow roughly 100 troops to continue working with the federal government specifically focused on combating transnational drug and gun smuggling. Newsoms decision follows a move by New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to withdraw that states troops from the border mission. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Newsoms office says California has about 360 National Guard soldiers deployed on the U.S. Mexico border. Newsom spokesman Nathan Click says 110 troops will be redeployed to wildfire preparation and 150 will work on the states counterdrug task force program. That change requires approval from the U.S. Department of Defence. COLUMBUS, Ohio - A Maine man who is accused of being married to three different women in three different states is behind bars in Ohio. A warrant was issued when 43-year-old Michael Middleton missed a court appearance Thursday in New Hampshire. A day later, he was arrested in Ohio. The Franklin County Sheriffs Department tweeted that the Cupid of Chaos was awaiting extradition. Charges were brought in New Hampshire because Middleton married a woman there while also being married to women in Alabama and Georgia. The New Hampshire wife said Middleton made her feel like he cared about her but eventually scammed her out of $20,000. Investigators say there could be more wives. Middleton was held Monday evening in the Franklin County Corrections Center. It was not known if he had attorney. SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday hes withdrawing most of the states National Guard troops on the Mexico border because he wont participate in the Trump administrations absurd theatrics on border security. Still, he acknowledged some troops were doing good work fighting drug crime and said he plans to allow 100 of the roughly 360 state troops now deployed to keep working with the federal government. Im trying to acknowledge there are some legitimate concerns but Im not going to play into the hype and the politics, he told reporters before signing an executive order changing the troops mission. Former Gov. Jerry Brown agreed in April to deploy up to 400 troops to the border in response to a request from the Trump administration made to four border states. Brown made it clear then that California troops couldnt aid in immigration enforcement, but Newsom said theres been a grey area in their duties. Maj. Gen. David Baldwin of the California National Guard said the troops have not participated in immigration detention but some are conducting camera surveillance that could inadvertently aid in immigration enforcement. Newsoms rebuke of Republican President Donald Trumps administration came on the eve of Newsoms first state of the state address as governor of the nations most populous state and frequent foil to Washington. In announcing his decision to withdraw troops, the governor ratcheted up his rhetoric against the president. This whole thing is the theatre of the absurd and California has had enough, he said. The Trump administration hasnt commented. Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence held a meeting Monday on border security with sheriffs from around the country. Sheriff Donny Youngblood of Californias Kern County was in attendance, according to the White House. The drawdown of Californias troops will begin immediately but may not be completed until March 31, when the states current agreement with the federal government is set to end. Newsom has reassigned about 110 of the troops to beef up Californias fire preparation efforts ahead of the next wildfire season and to expand the guards counterdrug task force program. The expansion requires approval from the U.S. Department of Defence. Newsom made clear during his campaign that he did not support the use of California Guard troops at the border. He took action about a month into his governorship because he wanted to responsibly review the issue, he said. He initially wanted to pull all of Californias troops back but said he was convinced by Guard officials that good work is being done related to combating drug trafficking. If the Trump administration does not agree to Newsoms new terms well bring the rest back, he said. Newsoms move came on the heels of a decision by New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, also a Democrat, to pull back her states troops from the border. Newsoms Monday order said the increase in Central American migrants crossing the border is the result of a desire to escape violence and repression fueled in part by the activities of transnational crime organizations. The California Guards resources are best spent tackling those activities, he argued. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Texas and Arizona still have troops on the border. The 360 troops are a fraction of the roughly 14,000 that have been deployed throughout California for various operations since 2016, according to Newsoms office. EL PASO, Texas - President Donald Trump charged ahead with his pledge to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, skimming over the details of lawmakers tentative deal that would give him far less than hes been demanding and declaring hes setting the stage to deliver on his signature campaign promise. In the first dueling rallies of the 2020 campaign season, Trumps Finish the Wall rally in El Paso went head-to-head Monday night against counterprogramming by Beto ORourke, a former Democratic congressman and potential Trump rival in 2020, who argued that walls cause more problems than they solve. The rallies across the street from each other served as a preview of the heated yearslong fight over the direction of the country. And they made clear that Trumps long-promised border wall is sure to play an outsized role in the presidential race, as both sides use it to try to rally their supporters and highlight their contrasting approaches. Standing in a packed stadium under a giant American flag and banners saying FINISH THE WALL, Trump insisted that large portions of the project are already under construction and vowed to fulfil his 2016 campaign promise regardless of what happens in Congress. Walls work, said Trump, whose rally was repeatedly interrupted by protesters. Walls save lives. ORourke, meanwhile, held a countermarch with dozens of local civic, human rights and Hispanic groups in his hometown, followed by a protest rally attended by thousands on a baseball field within shouting distance from the arena where Trump spoke. With the eyes of the country upon us, all of us together are going to make our stand here in one of the safest cities in America, ORourke said. Safe not because of walls but in spite of walls. More than a half-hour in his rally, Trump had scarcely mentioned immigration, offering just a passing suggestion that those chanting Build the Wall switch to Finish the Wall. Instead, he mocked ORourke, insisting the Texan has very little going for himself except hes got a great first name and deriding his crowd size, even though both men drew thousands. That may be the end of his presidential bid, Trump quipped, adding: Youre supposed to win in order to run. There was a brief scuffle on a media riser away from the stage at Trumps rally, when a man began shoving members of the news media and was restrained. There were no apparent injuries. The rallies began moments after negotiators on Capitol Hill announced that lawmakers had reached an agreement in principle to fund the government ahead of a midnight Friday deadline to avoid another shutdown. Republicans tentatively agreed to far less money for Trumps border wall than the White Houses $5.7 billion wish list, settling for a figure of nearly $1.4 billion, according to congressional aides. The funding measure is through the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Three people familiar with Congress tentative border security deal have told The Associated Press that the accord would provide $1.375 billion to build 55 miles (90 kilometres) of new border barriers well below the $5.7 billion that Trump demanded to build over 200 miles (320 kilometres) of wall along the Mexican boundary. The money will be for vertical steel slats called bollards, not a solid wall. The talks had cratered over the weekend because of Democratic demands to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities, but lawmakers apparently broke through that impasse Monday evening. Now they will need the support of Trump, who must sign the legislation. But Trump appeared oblivious to the deal, saying that hed been informed by aides that negotiators had made some progress but that he had declined to be fully briefed because he wanted to go on stage. I had a choice. I couldve stayed out there and listened, or I could have come out to the people of El Paso, and Texas, I chose you, Trump said. So we probably have some good news. But who knows? Trump, who has been threatening to declare a national emergency to bypass Congress, added, Just so you know, were building the wall anyway. The countermarch began at a high school about a mile from the baseball field in the shadow of Trumps rally, its participants streaming past part of the border and the towering metal slats lining it. Marchers waved handmade signs reading Fire the Liar, Hate Is Not What Makes America Great and Make Tacos, Not Walls. They chanted No wall! and Beto! Beto! Beto! Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Many marchers, and those in the crowd at the ballpark, carried flags reading Beto for President 2020 or black-and-white Beto for Senate yard signs from his closer-than-expected November race against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz that had been modified slightly to read Beto for President. The Democrat said the event wasnt only about him or Trump but meant to tell the true story of life in El Paso. It is going to be the people of the border, ORourke told the crowd before beginning the march, who will write the next chapter in the history of this great country. Ensuring that our laws and our language and our leaders match our values. Trump has insisted that large portions of the border wall are already underway. But the work focuses almost entirely on replacing existing barriers. Work on the first extension 14 miles (23 kilometres) in Texas Rio Grande Valley starts this month. The other 83 miles (134 kilometres) that his administration has awarded contracts for are replacement projects. Trump has repeatedly pointed to El Paso to make his case that a border wall is necessary, claiming that barriers turned the city from one of the nations most dangerous to one of its safest. You know where it made a difference is right here in El Paso, he said Monday, adding: Theyre full of crap when they claim it hasnt made a big difference. But thats not true. El Paso had a murder rate of less than half the national average in 2005, a year before the most recent expansion of its border fence. Thats despite being just across the border from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, a city plagued by drug violence. The FBIs Uniform Crime Report shows that El Pasos annual number of reported violent crimes dropped from nearly 5,000 in 1995 to around 2,700 in 2016. But that corresponded with similar declines in violent crime nationwide and included periods when the citys crime rates increased year over year, despite new fencing and walls. The Trump campaign released a video showing El Paso residents saying the wall helped reduce crime. But many in the city have bristled at the prospect of becoming a border wall poster child. Trump advisers have long insisted that, fulfilled or not, the wall is a winning issue for the president, who has already sought to rewrite the Build the Wall chants that were a staple of his 2016 campaign to Finish the Wall. An AP-NORC poll conducted during last months shutdown found that more Americans oppose a wall than support it. But nearly 8 in 10 Republicans are in favour, with only about 1 in 10 opposed. Democrats, meanwhile, are adamant that Trumps insistence on a wall helps them and point to their 2018 midterm election gains in the House as proof that voters want to block Trumps agenda. ___ Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Zeke Miller and Kevin Freking in Washington and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report. SPRINGERVILLE, Ariz. - Authorities say four more wild horses have been found dead in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in eastern Arizona. Forest officials said Monday that the latest dead horses were discovered last Thursday inside the Heber Wild Horse Territory. They say that brings the number of deceased wild horses found since October to 16 in the forests Black Mesa Ranger District. Of that total, authorities say 10 horses had evidence of gunshot wounds. Five were severely decomposed and their causes of death remain undetermined while one other horse died of blunt-force trauma typically associated with a motor vehicle collision. Forest Service officials say theyre working with the Navajo and Coconino county sheriffs offices on the investigation into the deaths of the wild horses and bring any potential perpetrators to justice. BAGHDAD - The top Pentagon official assured Iraqi leaders Tuesday that the U.S. will stick to its limited military role in Iraq, a message aimed at recent talk by some Iraqi politicians of forcing a U.S. troop withdrawal. Pat Shanahan, the acting secretary of defence, said that in talks with Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, he stressed U.S. respect for Iraqi sovereignty, an issue that has become a hot-button topic among Iraqis since President Donald Trump suggested using Iraq as a base for monitoring neighbouring Iran and for potential attacks against remaining elements of the Islamic State group in Syria. I wanted to make clear to him (Abdul-Mahdi) that we recognize our role, Shanahan told reporters later after he flew to Brussels, Belgium. We understand that were there by invitation, and that we jointly share the resources and that we clearly recognize their sovereignty. Shanahan said he did not raise the possibility of moving additional U.S. troops into Iraq to offset the coming withdrawal of American forces from Syria. The U.S. has about 5,200 troops in Iraq as trainers and advisers to Iraqi security forces in their battle against insurgent elements of the Islamic State group that once controlled large swaths of Iraqi territory. He said they discussed how we can generate more capacity and capability in the Iraqi security forces. Shanahan, who had not previously been to Iraq and is on the second leg of his first international trip as the acting Pentagon chief, said he was mindful of Iraqi parliamentary proposals to restrict the number of U.S. forces in Iraq. He said he also emphasized to Abdul-Madhi the role security plays in Iraqs economic future. We really talked about that economic security, Shanahan said. Trump upset Iraqis by saying earlier this month that U.S. forces should use their Iraqi positions to keep an eye on neighbouring Iran. That is not the stated U.S. mission in Iraq, and Iraqi officials have said Trumps proposal would violate the Iraqi constitution. Trump also has angered Iraqi politicians by arguing that he would keep U.S. troops in Iraq and use the country as a base from which to strike extremists in Syria if necessary, after the 2,000 troops now in Syria depart in coming weeks. Curbing foreign influence has become a prominent topic in Iraq after parliamentary elections last year in which Shiite politicians backed by Iran made significant gains. Meanwhile, Shiite militias that fought alongside U.S.-backed Iraqi government troops against IS in recent years, gained outsized influence along the way. U.S. forces withdrew from Iraq in 2011, but they returned in 2014 at the invitation of the government to help battle the Islamic State group after it seized vast areas in the north and west of the country, including Iraqs second largest city, Mosul. A U.S.-led coalition provided crucial air support as Iraqi forces regrouped and drove IS out in a costly three-year campaign. Now, after defeating IS militants in their last urban bastions, Iraqi politicians and militia leaders are increasingly speaking out against the continued presence of U.S. forces. Some Iraqi lawmakers are working on a draft bill calling for the withdrawal of the more than 5,000 U.S. troops from the country. This political tension formed the backdrop to Shanahans visit. He took over as the acting Pentagon chief after Jim Mattis resigned as defence secretary in December. Its unclear whether Trump will nominate Shanahan for Senate confirmation. On Monday, Shanahan was in Afghanistan, where he met with U.S. troops and President Ashraf Ghani amid a U.S. push for peace talks with the Taliban. Trump has indicated he would like to get U.S. troops out of Afghanistan after 18 years of war, but Shanahan said he has no orders for a troop drawdown. Although Afghanistan is Americas longest war, fighting in Iraq has taken a heavier toll on American lives. President Barack Obama pulled troops out of Iraq in December 2011 but sent them back in smaller numbers in 2014 after the Islamic State group swept across the border from Syria and took control of much of western and northern Iraq. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Since the height of its self-proclaimed caliphate that included a third of both Iraq and Syria, IS-held territory has now shrunk to a sliver of territory in eastern Syria where remaining Islamic State militants are fighting back. Trump has not publicly called for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, although he often calls the 2003 invasion a colossal mistake and has said the U.S. should have taken Iraqs oil as compensation for getting rid of Saddam. JERUSALEM - The traditional brightly embroidered dress of Palestinian women known as the thobe was not the type of garment one would expect to become a pop political symbol. Now its gaining prominence as a softer expression of Palestinian nationalism, competing even with the classic keffiyeh the headscarf donned by young stone-throwing Palestinian men protesting Israels occupation. The robe, adorned with elaborate hand-stitched embroidery, requires months of grueling labour. Some thobes fetch thousands of dollars. The traditional textiles call to mind a bygone era of Palestinian peasant women sewing on a break from the fields. Last month, Rashida Tlaib proudly wore her mothers thobe to her historic swearing-in as the first female Palestinian American member of Congress, inspiring masses of women around the world, especially in the Palestinian territories, to tweet photos of themselves in their ancestral robes. The historic thobe conjures an ideal of pure and untouched Palestine, before the occupation, said Rachel Dedman, curator of a recent exhibit at the Palestinian Museum focused on the evolution of Palestinian embroidery. Its more explicitly tied to history and heritage than politics. Thats what makes it a brilliant symbol. The Palestinian thobe traces its history to the early 19th century, when embroidery was confined to the villages. Richly decorated dresses marked milestones in womens lives: onset of puberty, marriage, motherhood. The designs varied from village to village special three-dimensional stitching for the upper class of Bethlehem, big pockets for the nomadic Bedouin women, orange branch motifs for the orchard-famous city of Jaffa, said Maha Saca, director of the Palestinian Heritage Center in Bethlehem. Thobe patterns also expressed womens different social positions: red for brides, blue for widows, blue with multi-colored stitches for widows considering remarriage. While Arab women across the region have worn hand-made dresses for centuries, the thobe has taken on a distinctly Palestinian character, particularly since the establishment of Israel in 1948. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians either fled or were expelled from their homes during the war surrounding Israels creation. Many took only their dresses with them into the diaspora, Saca added. The war, which Palestinians call their nakba, or catastrophe, transformed the thobe. Suddenly, in the face of dispossession and cultural appropriation by Israelis, embroidery became an urgent task, Dedman said. The dress was taken up and politicized. Over decades of conflict that has claimed thousands of lives on both sides, Palestinian nationalism has taken on many forms. In the early days of Israels establishment, it was associated with calls for Israels destruction and deadly attacks. Armed struggle later gave way to calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem lands captured by Israel in 1967. Peace talks have been interrupted by spasms of violence, and for the past decade, a deep freeze in negotiations. Today, the internationally recognized autonomy government of the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, continues to seek a two-state solution with Israel. The Hamas militant group, which seized the Gaza Strip in 2007, still seeks Israels destruction, while many Palestinians, particularly the younger generation, now talk of a single binational state with Israel in which they would enjoy full equal rights. Along the way, the thobe has grown in popularity and evolved, with dress designs reflecting historys many dramas. During the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in the 1980s, the thobe bloomed with guns, doves and flowers. When Israeli soldiers confiscated Palestinian flags at protests, women wove forbidden national maps and colours into their dresses, according to the Palestinian museum exhibit. Now, Palestinian women of all social classes wear thobes to assert national pride at weddings and special occasions. Its a way of defending our national identity, Saca said. The care, toil, and skill that go into making a thobe prevent the garment from becoming everyday streetwear or protest-wear. But cheaper, mass-produced versions of the dress have sprouted up. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... A woman typically has one thobe to wear on occasions throughout her life its very expensive and impractical, said Maysoun Abed, director of a thobe exhibit in the West Bank city of Al-Bireh, near Ramallah. But demand for the thobe still runs high as a way of expressing patriotism. Although the robe shares potent patriotic subtext and roots in peasant life with the black-and-white checkered kaffiyeh made famous by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat the thobe is infused with nostalgic, almost mythical associations. Embroidery evokes the timeless connection of Palestinians to the land, Dedman said. Its a soft image, referencing a deep past with which people have positive associations. Young Palestinian women, especially those in the diaspora, are adapting the ancestral dresses to modern tastes and trends. Girls are asking for shorter and less embroidered versions, said Rajaa Ghazawneh, a thobe designer in the West Bank town of al-Bireh. Natalie Tahhan, a designer based in east Jerusalem, produces capes from digital prints that replicate traditional embroidery stitches, connecting tradition with what is new and stylish. Tlaibs now-viral Palestinian thobe, which the Michigan Democrat called an unapologetic display of the fabric of the people in this country and said it evoked memories of her mothers West Bank village, rekindled enthusiasm worldwide about the dress. Rashida has become a model for Palestinian women everywhere a strong woman proud of her national identity who can reach high, said Saca. Tahhan agreed, saying that Tlaibs thobe spread a beautiful picture of Palestine, when usually the media only show the wars. For Palestinian women born abroad, and refugees barred from visiting their ancestral homes in what is now Israel, thobes are a tangible connection to the land and a way of keeping their culture alive. These dresses are our link between the past and future, Saca said. ___ Associated Press writer Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report. CAIRO - Hundreds of demonstrators are gathering in different Sudanese cities, protesting against autocratic President Omar al-Bashir. Tuesdays demonstrations were called by the Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella of independent professional unions. Video footage shows demonstrators gathering at intersections chanting just fall, and calling for a peoples revolution. The current wave of protests began Dec. 19, initially over surging prices and a failing economy, but quickly shifted to calls for an end to al-Bashirs three-decade rule. Al-Bashir, who seized power in a military coup, insists that only elections, which he intends to run in, could bring change. Activists say at least 57 people have been killed in the protests. The governments latest tally stands at 30 killed, but figures have not been updated in days. BRATISLAVA, Slovakia - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday invoked the 30th anniversary of the demise of communism to implore countries in Central and Eastern Europe to resist Chinese and Russian influence. Speaking in the Slovak capital of Bratislava, Pompeo said China and Russia pose twin threats to the democratic and free-market gains made since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. He said the post-communist countries are particularly vulnerable to Chinese and Russian predatory investment and political meddling. To combat the threat, he said, the United States is committed to boosting its engagement in the region, through defenceco-operation agreements and exchange programs. He said because of its history and geography, Slovakia has a special appreciation for the aggressive role Russia continues to play in the region, particularly in Ukraine. But, he said, Russia is not the only nation that seeks to erode sovereignty and freedom in Europe. Pompeo said he had raised with Slovak officials the need to guard against Chinas economic and other efforts to create dependence and manipulate your political system. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in the Slovak capital Bratislava on Tuesday, warning countries in Central and Eastern Europe to resist Chinese and Russian influence. (The Associated Press) Pompeo is in Slovakia on the second leg of a five-nation European tour that began in Hungary and will take him to Poland, Belgium and Iceland. He renewed a warning he delivered on Monday in Budapest that the United States may be forced to scale back certain operations in Europe and elsewhere if countries continue to do business with Chinese telecommunications company Huawei. He said the U.S. had strong concerns about Huaweis motives in Europe, especially in NATO and European Union member states, as well as its business practices. Were fine with companies competing, but they have got to do so in a way thats fair and open and transparent, and they cant do so with anything other than an economic motive, he said. Pompeo said nations would have to consider choosing between Huawei and the United States. The warning was broad but pointedly delivered first in Hungary, a NATO ally and European Union member, where Huawei is a major player. The U.S. has been warning countries about the risks of Chinese telecom technology as governments choose providers for the rollout of 5G wireless internet, which will enable faster download speeds but also greater connectivity among devices. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... China has said the U.S. is just trying to suppress a rising competitor. Pompeo said he hoped to reverse what he called a decade of U.S. disengagement in Central and Eastern Europe that created a vacuum Russia and China have exploited. Over the course of the past 10 years, he said, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leaders have become much more aggressive in the region and made inroads. I want to make sure that the Slovakian people understand that America is engaged, were back, he said earlier at a ceremony at Slovakias Gate of Freedom, a memorial on the banks of the Morava River at the Slovakian border with Austria that commemorates the 400 people killed at the borders of the former Czechoslovakia while attempting to escape the Iron Curtain between 1945 and 1989. SKOPJE, Macedonia - Macedonia on Tuesday officially renamed itself North Macedonia, honouring an agreement to end a decades-old dispute with neighbouring Greece and secure its entry into NATO. A government press release said that as of Tuesday, the country is officially called the Republic of North Macedonia. Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov said the move followed a final exchange of diplomatic notes with Greece. May today be the beginning of a long friendship between Greece and North Macedonia, he said in a tweet. We cant change our past, but we can and we will shape our future of friendship, partnership and co-operation. The name change finally resolves a dispute with Greece dating back to Macedonias declaration of independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. Athens had long argued that its small, landlocked neighbours name implied claims on the northern Greek province of Macedonia, and on ancient Greek cultural heritage. The breakthrough in the dispute came last summer, when the prime ministers of Macedonia and Greece, Zoran Zaev and Alexis Tsipras, agreed to a compromise under which Greece also lifted its objections to Macedonia joining NATO and the European Union. Macedonias deputy foreign minister, Andrej Zernovski, told the local TV Telma that authorities will change, within three days, road signs at border crossings, airports and customs to conform with the countrys new name. Within four months, he said, the Interior Ministry will start issuing new car license plates with the abbreviation NMK, while new passports will be issued at the end of this year. Earlier Tuesday, Macedonia raised a NATO flag at its main government building, as members of the alliance continued to ratify the countrys accession agreement. Speaking at a ceremony in the capital of Skopje, Zaev said Macedonia had achieved a historic goal in being accepted into NATO. All of NATOs 29 current members must ratify the accession. Slovenia on Tuesday became the second country to do so after Greece, which lifted its objections to Macedonias NATO membership last week. For the first time ever, the 10x10 Upstreet Arts Festival will feature ice sculptures. Artists Peter Vacchina and Robert Markey will create three ice sculptures throughout downtown. 10x10 Upstreet Arts Festival Celebrates Eighth Anniversary PITTSFIELD, Mass. The City of Pittsfield's Upstreet Cultural District presents the eighth annual 10x10 Upstreet Arts Festival, featuring an array of music, art, theater, dance, film, play, fireworks and more from Feb. 14-24. Organized by the City of Pittsfield's Office of Cultural Development and Barrington Stage Company, the festival features 62 events in 14 different venues, highlighting dozens of artists, actors, musicians, playwrights and performers. The 10X10 festival kicks off on Thursday, Feb. 14 with these events: the opening reception for the 10 Spot Photography exhibit at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, featuring regional photographers; 10x10 Intersection Panels, a collaborative exhibit between the Berkshire Historical Society and the Berkshire Athenaeum; and the first preview night of Barrington Stage's 10X10 New Play Festival. "I am so proud to know that the city of Pittsfield is home to the 10x10 Upstreet Arts Festival," Mayor Linda Tyer said. "Now in its eighth year, the festival's lineup has something for everyone, so be sure to come out and enjoy all that it has to offer. When you;re out, be sure to check out the amazing ice sculptures throughout downtown. I can't think of a better way to enjoy the winter season." The 10 Spot Photography Show at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts is an invitational show featuring photographers from the Berkshires and beyond. The 2019 10 Spot artists include: Melissa Bissell, Lucie Castaldo, Denise Chandler, Susan Geller, Colleen Quinn, Emma Rothenberg-Ware, Susan Sabino, Carrie Wright and students from Miss Halls Photography Class. The exhibit runs through March 1 and will be the First Fridays Artswalk feature for March as well. For the first time ever, the 10x10 Upstreet Arts Festival will feature ice sculptures. Artists Peter Vacchina and Robert Markey will create three ice sculptures throughout downtown. The Berkshire Museum will host a heart sculpture, Palace Park hosts a sculpture featuring the 10x10 logo and the Hotel on North and Dory and Ginger will host a dancer sculpture. The artists will be creating these works of art on Wednesday, Feb. 13, and Thursday, Feb. 14. Berkshire United Way's early childhood coalition, Pittsfield Promise is once again partnering with the 10x10 Festival to present 10X The Fun at the Common and the Zion Lutheran Church for two hours leading up to the fireworks. The free, community-wide 10 Minutes of Fireworks, sponsored by Greylock Federal Credit Union, returns to the Common on First Street on Saturday, Feb. 23, at 6 p.m. (dusk). Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival joins the 10x10 Upstreet Arts Festival once again this year with a Pillow Pop-Up featuring the Hartford-based all-styles dance collective 860 MVMNT. The group brings the raw, intense energy of street dance to the stage on Feb. 15 at 6 p.m. This family-friendly, free performance at the Boys & Girls Club of the Berkshires ends with a post-performance open cypher and dance party. "The 10x10 Upstreet Arts Festival is a great example of collaboration between art and cultural organizations from Pittsfield and beyond," stated Jen Glockner, the director of cultural development for the City of Pittsfield. "Each year continues to bring new and exciting partners, increasing the breadth of the Festival." The Berkshire Museum will be hopping throughout the 10x10 Festival with daily 10 Days of Play events featuring several community collaborations. The always popular Berkshire Art Association Real Art Party will take place at the Berkshire Museum, as will WordXWord's 10x10 Odd Couples. Berkshire Theatre Group's Colonial Theatre will host two performances of its BTG PLAYS! 2018-2019 Touring Show Showtime with Shakespeare: A Magic Tree House Adventure. And the Berkshire Athenaeum and the Berkshire Historical Society are joining forces once again for 10x10 Intersection Panels, a photography exhibit exploring Pittsfields neighborhoods. Other returning highlights of the festival include: Barrington Stage Company's popular 10x10 New Play Festival, featuring 10 new 10-minute plays; Dance Ten, a performance showcase of ten community dance groups and schools from throughout the Berkshires and Berkshire Running Center's 1- to 10-mile group runs. This year there are a variety of family-friendly free or low-cost daytime activities, perfect for a week when many schools are on vacation. They include daily adventure play at the Berkshire Museum, including a free community night and community collaborations, performances at the Colonial Theatre, a dance workshop and performance with Jacob's Pillow at the Boys and Girls Club, the 10x The Fun family event followed by a winter fireworks extravaganza at the Common and the Dance Ten performance showcase. For a day-by-day calendar and more information, visit the website. ROME - Italys populist government is calling for elections soon in Venezuela but is stopping short of joining its European Union allies in recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president. Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi, addressing lawmakers Tuesday, said his government wants new presidential elections as soon as possible in Venezuela. Moavero said the 2018 election was invalidated in their correctness, fairness and legality, leaving Nicolas Maduro without democratic legitimacy as president. Moavero said free, transparent and credible elections are needed. Italys allies have pressed Rome to recognize Guaido as Venezuelas interim leader until elections can be held. A delegation representing Guaido lobbied Italys government and Vatican officials this week in Rome. Italys senior governing party, the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, has been strongly sympathetic to Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez. MOSCOWDozens of polar bears have laid siege to a small military settlement deep in the Russian Arctic, leaving residents afraid to send their children to school or even open their front doors. The settlement, Belushya Guba, on a finger of land stretching into the Arctic Ocean, has declared a state of emergency as the bears have attacked people, broken into homes, menaced schools and feasted at a local dump. Scenes caught on video of polar bears that had come ashore, grunting and strolling through the 2,000-person settlement, suggested a dramatic symbol of climate change. But though the receding Arctic ice has been forcing more bears off their preferred terrain, it was unclear if the latest invasion was caused by the warming seas, Russian scientists said. While ecologists have for years warned of the risk to polar bears, the ones roaming Belushya Guba have been safe from at least one threat. Conservation authorities turned down a request from the settlement to shoot the bears, which are protected in Russia as an endangered species. Russia allows limited hunting by far northern Indigenous groups. But the hunting is barred on the Russian island chain of Novaya Zemlya, which includes Belushya Guba, a restricted military zone with several small settlements adjacent to bases but no native inhabitants. Read More: 2018 was 4th warmest, but next 5 years could break records Something has changed: Three bear species found in same northern Manitoba spot That has left 52 bears free to cluster around Belushya Guba, according to a statement from the Arkhangelsk regional government, which oversees the archipelago. Since the bears started arriving in December, people have taken to staying at home, lest they meet a toothy surprise outside. There were instances of aggression from the wild animals, attacks on people and breaking into living and working quarters, the statement said. People are scared; they are afraid to leave their homes, daily routines are disrupted, and parents worry about sending their children to school. The settlement put up additional fencing around schools and arranged for children to be driven to and from class. An absence of sea ice around the southern portion of the Novaya Zemlya island chain this year has most likely forced more bears than usual onto shore, Ilya N. Mordvintsev, a professor at the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution and a leading Russian expert on polar bears, said in a telephone interview. But Mordvintsev, who planned to leave Tuesday for Belushya Guba to more closely study the bears, said more data was needed to determine whether climate change played a role. The sea ice shifts often and is affected by a range of factors. The bears prefer ice but also use islands and shorelines to move about the Arctic. Polar bears migrate seasonally along the coastlines of Novaya Zemlya, he said, with the timing of their movements and concentrations dependent on sea ice conditions. The migration is not a new phenomenon, he said. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... And neither are ill-advised human actions that can lure the bears. Along their migration route, the animals encountered the open dump at Belushya Guba, where the military apparently had disregarded strict rules on garbage disposal imposed on oil and mining companies and others working in the Russian far north. Such restrictions are intended to prevent just the sort of encounters that are now terrorizing the settlement. The bear is a curious animal, and it will smell the human food, Mordvintsev said. This is an anthropogenic problem. Read more about: The conservative Australian government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison faced a historic defeat in the lower house of parliament on Tuesday after the opposition Labor Party forced through amendments that would allow doctors far more sway in bringing over asylum seekers stranded in offshore camps. Thousands of asylum seekers have been held offshore on Nauru and Papua New Guineas Manus Island since 2013, under conditions harshly criticized by human rights groups. About 1,000 remain on both islands, according to government estimates, as resettlement efforts and medical evacuations have dragged on. Many of the remaining asylum seekers have attempted to commit suicide or have suffered severe psychological distress, human rights groups say. The bill would allow the asylum seekers to enter Australia for medical reasons with doctors recommendation. The hard-line policy directed at those arriving by sea was meant to deter human traffickers from bringing in migrants. But as news of the grim conditions at the camps has spread, Australias international image has been damaged, despite a history of accepting refugees and asylum seekers who go through legal channels. Tuesdays vote still needs to be passed by the upper house of parliament but is expected to be approved. For the Morrison government, the defeat could be a sign of worse to come, with elections scheduled for May. The conservative Liberal Party lost its narrow majority in the lower house of parliament last October. Despite the governments most recent defeat, Morrison rejected calls on Tuesday for elections to be moved to an earlier date. For Morrison, the vote is also a personal defeat. Shortly after the camps were reopened in 2013, the then-immigration minister helped expand them, for which Australia subsequently rejected responsibility. As the framework that has so far been the underlying principle of the offshore camps began to fall apart on Tuesday, Morrison lashed out at the opposition Labor Party for the bills damaging impact. Australias governing Liberal Party on Tuesday voiced concerns that the transfers could encourage smugglers to embark on the boat journey to Australia more frequently in the coming months. But the opposition maintains that further amendments to the bill, including the possibility for the government to reject transfers, would be sufficient deterrence. The current bill also only applies to asylum seekers already on the islands, not to possible future arrivals. If the amended bill is approved by the upper house of the Australian parliament, the law could take effect within days and allow hundreds of remaining asylum seekers to be transferred. Under the new legislation, a medical referral from two doctors would be sufficient to initiate a transfer to Australia, except if the home affairs minister intervenes with security concerns. Previously, the responsibility for those transfers lay with Australian public servants, spurring strong criticism from doctors and medical associations, who argued that far too few individuals in urgent need of treatment were granted help. Doctors would now be able to make such an assessment not only if a patients life was at risk but also if they felt as though their patients were not receiving adequate treatment in Nauru or Manus Island. Human rights groups hope that proving the despair of many asylum seekers left on the islands should be relatively easy. Criticism of camp conditions has come from the U.N.s special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, who branded them inhuman. In a report late last year, Doctors Without Borders warned that about 30 percent of its patients on Nauru had attempted suicide. Officials and human rights groups were especially worried about children on the islands, some of whom were suffering from a severe trauma called resignation syndrome, in which they had lost the will to live. As international pressure on the Australian government to release children from the islands mounted, officials finally allowed all of them to be evacuated or resettled. The Australian government has celebrated the resettlements as a success, but Freya Dinshaw, a senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Center, warned that there remains an urgent medical crisis on Nauru and Manus for adult asylum seekers. In an interview last week, she cited the deaths of two people on Manus and Nauru last year because they did not receive appropriate medical treatment, joining 10 others who died before them. Despite continuous need for psychological counseling, the work of doctors on the ground has become more difficult in recent months. Nauru asked Doctors Without Borders to leave the island nation within 24 hours in October. Since then, it has launched an effort to provide psychological support to patients remotely. Under the new law, the organizations Australia-registered doctors may be able to initiate medical transfers of asylum seekers from Nauru or Manus Island without being physically present there. One of the individuals held there for years is the Iranian Kurdish journalist Behrouz Boochani, who was recently awarded Australias biggest literature award, the Victorian Prize for Literature, worth more than $70,000. Boochani was not allowed into Australia to attend the award ceremony in Melbourne last month. In his award-winning book No Friend But the Mountains, Boochani described life in the now-closed Manus Island offshore camp. Like other asylum seekers, Boochani still remains involuntarily on Manus Island, as he is neither able to enter Australia nor go back to his home country, Iran, where he fears prosecution over his journalistic work. Tuesdays vote could finally allow him to leave the island for Australia. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Its a historical moment for all of the refugees on Manus and Nauru, Boochani wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, after the governmental defeat. Great to see the Australian parliament finally vote for humanity. CARACAS, Venezuela - The Latest on Venezuelas political crisis (all times local): 7:55 p.m. The United States and Russia have drafted rival U.N. resolutions on Venezuela, reflecting the Trump administrations support for opposition leader Juan Guaido and Moscows backing for President Nicolas Maduro. The U.S. draft resolution, seen by AP on Tuesday, expresses deep concern that the presidential elections of May 20, 2018 were neither free nor fair and calls for the immediate start of a political process leading to free, fair and credible presidential elections, with international electoral observation. The Russian draft criticizes attempts to intervene in Venezuelan domestic affairs, expresses concern over the threats to use force against the country, and calls for a peaceful resolution of the stalemate. Neither draft resolution has been circulated to the U.N. Security Council. If they are, it is highly likely that both would be defeated with the U.S. and Russia using their vetoes if necessary. Russias U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters late Tuesday that the U.S. draft is completely unbalanced and we thought that it was timely and appropriate to support the territorial integrity, unity, sovereignty of Venezuela. He said the Venezuelans should solve the issue peacefully, with no even hint of military intervention. ___ 3:05 p.m. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza says he told U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the government of Nicolas Maduro wants deepening co-operation with U.N. agencies in areas impacted by the international assault by the United States. But he insists there isnt a humanitarian crisis and wouldnt say whether he asked the U.N. for food or medicine. Arreaza told a news conference at U.N. headquarters in New York Tuesday that he has asked the U.N. and the world to promote the lifting of U.S. sanctions that have frozen Venezuelan assets. He warned that sanctions have already led to immense suffering and if it goes further Donald Trump ... would have blood on his hands. Arreaza said Maduro wants to avoid a U.S. coup or intervention because it would only lead to an even worse situation, and it would be a situation akin to what happened in Vietnam. As for the opposition led by Juan Guaido, he said, This is an opposition which is betting on civil war, on violence and on a coup detat. He said the Maduro government is waiting for the opposition to deign to sit down with us, and while the government has no preconditions, he indicated it must decolonize and cut ties with the United States. Arreaza came to the press conference from a three-hour meeting of countries in the 120-member Nonaligned Movement. He said there was a lot of solidarity with Maduros government and non-interference in a countrys affairs, singling out Caribbean and southern Africa regional groups and Iran. ___ Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... 1 p.m. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has set a deadline to bring humanitarian aid into the country over objections of President Nicolas Maduro. Guaido said Tuesday that hes mobilizing caravans of Venezuelans to get the emergency food and medicine across the border in Colombia. He set the date as Feb. 23, a month after he declared his constitutional right to take presidential powers. He also announced a second collection point for the aid across the border in Brazil. Maduro has refused the assistance, saying its part of a Trump administration coup aimed at exploiting Venezuelas vast oil resources. Speaking before masses of supporters, the opposition leader restated his appeal to Venezuelas military, which so far has remained loyal to Maduro. ___ 11:50 a.m. Venezuelas opposition has called its supporters into the streets across the country in a campaign to break the militarys support of President Nicolas Maduro, who refuses to let emergency food and medicine from the United States across the border. Maduro also is rallying supporters to demonstrations following more than a month of pressure led by opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido, who has proclaimed himself the countrys legitimate president. The struggle now centres on emergency food and medicine from the United States warehoused on the Colombian border town of Cucuta. Guaido vows to deliver it to Venezuelans who need it, but Maduro remains firmly in power and has the backing of the military, which has been blocking the aid he snubs as part of an effort to topple him. RIO DE JANEIRO - A Brazilian Supreme Court justice is suspending two criminal proceedings against the countrys leader. Mondays ruling by Justice Luiz Fux puts a hold on charges of slander and incitation to rape against President Jair Bolsonaro. Brazils constitution says that serving presidents cant be prosecuted for cases unrelated to their presidency. Both cases go back to 2014, when Bolsonaro told a congresswoman she did not deserve to be raped because she was ugly and not his type. Left-leaning Congresswoman Maria do Rosario had called him a rapist during heated arguments in 2003 and 2014. During the presidential campaign, Bolsonaro was also charged with racism and discrimination for a 2017 speech in Rio de Janeiro, but a court panel dropped the accusations. CUCUTA, Colombia - Nearly three weeks after the Trump administration backed an all-out effort to force out President Nicolas Maduro, the embattled socialist leader is holding strong and defying predictions of an imminent demise. Dozens of nations have recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidos claim to the presidency and the U.S. has tightened sanctions aimed at cutting off billions of dollars in oil revenue. But anti-Maduro street protests have come and gone, and large-scale military defections have failed to materialize. With the U.S. seen as considering military action only as a last resort, Guaido is trying to regain momentum with an effort this week to move U.S. emergency food and medicine into Venezuela despite Maduros pledge to block it. Such an operation could provoke a dangerous confrontation at the border or fizzle out and leave Maduro even stronger. With so much at stake, Guaido is under increasing pressure to soon unseat Maduro, analysts say. He is running against the clock, said Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez, a Venezuela expert at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management. Expectations are running very high not just among Venezuelans but international allies that this is a crisis that can be resolved quickly. Despite having the worlds largest oil reserves, Venezuela is suffering soaring levels of malnutrition, disease and violence after 20 years of socialist rule launched by the late President Hugo Chavez. Critics accuse Maduro, a former bus driver and Chavezs hand-picked successor, of unfairly winning an election last year for a second six-year term by banning his popular rivals from running and jailing others. The 35-year-old Guaido was a virtually unknown lawmaker until last month, when he took the helm of the opposition-controlled National Assembly. He has rallied masses of Venezuelans into street demonstrations that have left at least 40 dead since he declared himself interim president on Jan. 23. Guaido has so far avoided arrest, but the general comptroller announced Monday it was opening an investigation into Guaidos assets in a new escalation of the confrontation between the government and the National Assembly. Guaido has won backing from nearly 50 countries worldwide, including the United States, which has pledged an initial $20 million in support and has already shipped emergency food and medicine to the Colombian border city of Cucuta, where it sits in a warehouse. Maduro has refused all economic assistance, denying there is an economic crisis in Venezuela and contending the aid is part of a coup being orchestrated by the White House to topple him. Maduro has made a show of overseeing military operations played on state TV almost daily. Hes jogged with troops in formation, mounted an amphibious tank and railed against what he says is an impending U.S. invasion that he has likened to a Latin American Vietnam. On Monday, Venezuela socialist party chief, Diosdado Cabello, spoke at a rally in Venezuelas border city of Urena, across from Cucuta, crowding the streets with Maduro loyalists wearing the red shirts of the socialist party and waving flags. Addressing the crowd, Cabello asserted Venezuelans tell him not to give in to pressure from the United States, saying they are willing to endure whatever they must to maintain freedom from imperialist rule. He said the U.S. supplies were sent in a showy display aimed at justifying a coup. Its not help and its not humanitarian, he said to cheers from roughly 1,000 Maduro supporters, including civilians and soldiers. Romulo Jaimes, a 62-year-old resident of Urena, said the socialist gathering wasnt what it appeared to be. He said more than 30 buses were parked outside the event, used to haul in Cabellos cheering crowd. In reality it was a flop, he said. Most of the people from this city didnt attend the rally. The U.S. humanitarian aid is being stored in a warehouse across a river from the socialist rally, a situation that also puts Maduro in a tight situation, said Eric Farnsworth of the Council of the Americas and Americas Society, a Washington-based think-tank . If you let it in, youre bowing to Guaido and the international community, he said. If you dont youre seen as a tyrant. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... President Donald Trump has said all options are on the table regarding Maduros ouster, but Farnsworth called any U.S. military deployment highly unlikely as such a move would make the U.S. responsible for supplying food long term and rebuilding the gutted country. U.S. sanctions imposed on the state oil company PDVSA in late January and meant to pressure Maduro from office have yet to bite. In the capital, Caracas, residents pulling up to gas stations can still fill up their cars, despite fears that sanctions would create shortages. Opposition leaders have been vague about how they plan to get the aid in. Last week, Lester Toledo, Guaidos representative in the aid mission, suggested it could be moved by masses of people converging on the border to carry the food and medical supplies across. On Monday, Guaido posted a video on Twitter showing himself and his wife making phone calls urging people to join a volunteer force by registering on a website and calling on them to return to the streets in protest Tuesday. Were working hard, he said in one call. Not only to bring in the aid, but also to end the tyranny of Maduro. Gaby Arellano, an opposition leader who is among those leading the aid mission, said the strategy was to conduct defiance politics, which she said consists of setting an agenda that forces Maduros hand, though she provided no details. We are politically defining the steps and they are responding to what we put forth, Arellano said. We want and are working for this to be as peaceful, least traumatizing and as quick as possible. Amaliexiz Mendoza, who lives in Cucuta with her 3-year-old daughter among the citys large Venezuelan exile community, said she would walk a thousand times to carry humanitarian aid to her countrymen. Her grandmother, an aunt and young cousins still live in Venezuela and often go hungry, and her grandmother cant get the blood pressure medication she needs. Its not right for a child to go to bed hungry, Mendoza said, tearing up as she spoke of Maduros denial that a crisis exists. He doesnt lack anything but our families do. ___ Associated Press writer Christine Armario reported this story in Cucuta, Colombia, and AP writer Scott Smith reported from Caracas, Venezuela. AP writers Fabiola Sanchez and Jorge Rueda in Caracas contributed to this report. SANTIAGO, Chile - A Catholic movement says former Chilean bishop Francisco Cox has returned to the country to face accusations of sex abuse after spending 17 years in Germany. The Schoenstatt Movement said in a statement that the 85-year-old Cox arrived Sunday and was taken to a residence outside the capital, where his diabetes will be tended to. Cox also suffers from prostate cancer and senile dementia. Local Schoenstatt superior Fernando Baeza said in Mondays statement that the group will co-operate with authorities and guarantees Cox will be available to the justice system. Cox resigned his bishops post in 1997 amid rumours of his closeness to young people, though he had not been charged at the time. He moved to Germany in 2002 and was expelled from the Catholic Church this past October. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria - Baba Inuwa was pleased to move back to his vegetable farm in Nigerias northeast, encouraged by the militarys offensive against Boko Haram, the countrys homegrown Islamic extremist rebels and by President Muhammadu Buharis claim that the insurgency had been crushed. We thought all was over and Boko Haram can never return, Inuwa said. He joined thousands of others in leaving displacement camps to return to their homes. But then last month the extremists rolled into Inuwas hometown, Baga, firing into the air, hoisting flags and claiming it as their own. Suddenly residents were on the move again, fleeing with little more than the clothes on their backs. On a punishing two-day march through the arid Sahel, some pregnant women miscarried and other elderly people died. Nigerias government now acknowledges an extremist resurgence, this time by a Boko Haram offshoot, the Islamic State West Africa Province, the IS groups largest presence outside the Middle East, estimated to have more than 3,000 fighters. Their near-daily attacks have many traumatized Nigerians questioning whether they can vote for Buhari as he seeks a second term. Others question how the elections can be held in the troubled northeast region. The National Assembly has approved a record $147 million for election security but some polling workers in remote areas have rejected their posts in fear of being attacked. The opposition objects that voting will be held in government-controlled camps, which in liberated communities are the safest locations. Buhari, a former military dictator, returned to power in 2015 with an election victory in which he promised to tackle insecurity, corruption and the economy in Africas most populous country with 190 million people. While he still has support in most states of his native north, enthusiasm has dimmed as it becomes clear that the decade-old extremist insurgency killing more than 27,000, abducting hundreds of schoolgirls, displacing millions is far from over. Up against Atiku Abubakar, a fellow northern Muslim and former vice-president, Buhari could end up like former President Goodluck Jonathan, who lost in 2015 after his failure to stop extremism. At first, Nigerias military appeared to deliver on Buharis inaugural vow to eliminate Boko Haram, pushing fighters out of many communities. Residents were urged to return home. But late last year the Islamic State-linked extremists roared back, attacking military bases, resupplying and causing a rare government admission of dozens of soldier deaths. Shaken, officials said the extremists had begun using drones, indicating links with ISIS fighters fleeing collapsing strongholds in Syria and Iraq. ISIS now has a strong foothold in West Africa, with Nigeria in the forefront of the battle, Information Minister Lai Mohammed declared last week. The fighters are more worrying than Boko Haram and at least triple its size, the U.S. Africa Command chief has said. Some 59,000 people have fled attacks since November, the U.N. migration agency says. The now-deserted border town of Rann was hit twice last month, with humanitarian centres vandalized or burned. Aid workers fled. Five hid in a septic tank and survived. As many as 39 attacks were recorded in Borno and Yobe states last month, the U.N. refugee agency says. In early January the extremists captured Baga, near shrinking Lake Chad. They overran the nearby military camp and announced that people who wished to stay in peace could do so. Many residents, remembering past attacks, didnt buy it. We felt all was not well, Inuwa, the farmer, told The Associated Press. He now shelters again in Maiduguri, Borno states capital, which already hosts more than 1 million displaced people. The extremists still hold Baga, he said, citing residents who went back to retrieve their valuables. Fighters searched them at the edge of town before allowing them to enter. Inuwa said he was not impressed with the presidents performance on security but might support him anyway: Id rather vote for him so that he can build upon the foundation he has already laid. Another Baga resident, Abba Mustapha, said the extremists arrival met little resistance, reflecting concerns about government support for troops. We were running for our dear lives and the soldiers who were armed to protect us were even ahead of us fleeing, he told AP. Now Mustapha is back in Maiduguri, seeking aid and finding little. Frustration is high. The spike in arrivals was so sudden that some people last month slept on the streets, finding no space in camps. Falmata Modu said she was happy she grabbed her voter card when she fled Baga. She voted for Buhari in 2015. Not this time. I still cannot overcome the pain of running with some of my grandchildren who were crying for water and asking why we were in the bush, she said. It is sad that I could not answer. ___ Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Anna reported from Johannesburg. Associated Press writer Carley Petesch in Dakar, Senegal contributed. ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa ABUJA, NIGERIAMuhammadu Buhari won the presidency in a historic election in Nigeria four years ago by promising to crush two scourges that had plagued the nation for years: endemic corruption and a war with Daesh. Back then, Buhari, a former military general, rode a wave of voter desire to impose greater accountability on the government, end a brutal war with extremist group Boko Haram and bring back the hundreds of female students taken as captives. Now, as Buhari is in the final throes of a bruising re-election campaign, he stands accused of falling short on all fronts. Critics say Buhari has used his anti-graft mantra to crush adversaries. And Boko Haram is gaining ground, launching sophisticated attacks on weary, underequipped soldiers. Out of 60 contenders, Buharis leading opponent is Atiku Abubakar, a candidate with little military experience and a past so checkered with corruption allegations that the United States refused for years to grant him a visa. As voters prepare to go to the polls this weekend for what appears to be a tight election in Africas most populous country, the electorate has increasingly lost hope that the government will ever be free of graft. Instead, voters are fixated on mounting violence in pockets of the nation and everyday issues like having reliable electricity. Read more: U.S. concerned at reported Nigerian election intimidation Nigeria denies judges suspension influenced by election Nigerian president says hes alive, not an impostor Corruption was there before, and it continues. But what of security? What of employment? And food? said Debbie Okochi, who on a recent afternoon was selling electronics at a market in Lagos, where the streets were lined with cardboard cutouts of candidates. Everything has become worse. Both leading candidates are slinging accusations at one another while travelling the country for last-minute rallies. The European Union is sending observers. Buhari, 76, a former military strongman, first took power in Nigeria in 1983 after a military coup. He launched a war on corruption by jailing political actors without trial and committing widespread human rights abuses. For his political comeback, he assured voters he was a reformed democratic leader. He entered the presidency in 2015 buoyed by the fact that his victory marked the nations first peaceful passing of power from one party to another. Corrupt officials braced for what was known then as the Buhari effect, a wide-scale crackdown on graft. A former defence minister was so worried he fled the country. Buhari quickly empowered a team to investigate illicit money flows and make high-profile busts of former government officials, seizing properties and uncovering millions of dollars in cash hidden inside apartment walls. But Buhari has backed off some prosecutions in exchange for political support and overlooked some wrongdoing. It was only after pressure mounted on his policy during the campaign season that officials brought charges against one of his top appointees for stealing money intended for Boko Haram victims, a case uncovered in 2017. Among Buharis critics, Sen. Shehu Sani, a member of Buharis party, said that the presidency uses insecticides to fight corruption among those outside his circle, but only deodorant on his allies. Last week, Buhari suspended the nations chief justice, claiming he was holding millions in undeclared bank accounts, in violation of an ethics code. The removal from office of a judge who would rule on any issues were the election contested was so swift that it prompted statements of concern from the United States, Britain, the European Union and others. Abubakar jumped on the issue, calling the act dictatorial and anti-democratic. In an ominous sign, the governor of Kaduna proclaimed afterward that any foreign actor who intervened in Nigerias affairs would return home in body bags. Buharis campaign has rejected accusations that any of his moves against corruption, including his suspension of the justice, have political undertones. Abubakar, 72, a former vice president, has been notably quiet on the issue of fighting graft, even downplaying the need to clean up the government. His opponents say that is because of corruption allegations against him. A U.S. Senate subcommittee in 2010 held up Abubakar as a prime example of overseas corruption for funnelling tens of millions of dollars worth of Nigerian oil revenues into foreign shell accounts. The dealings of Abubakar and one of his wives were contained in a report, Keeping Foreign Corruption Out of the United States, to show that tougher laws were needed to keep foreign officials from using U.S. banks to bring suspect money into the country. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... He was also was a key figure in the 2009 bribery trial of a U.S. congressman. Prosecutors said Abubakar, then Nigerias vice president, was the intended recipient of a freezer full of cash that former Rep. William Jefferson believed would help secure telecommunications contracts to benefit his family. Boladele Adekoya, an adviser to Abubakar, called any corruption allegations baseless and pointed out that Abubakar has never been charged with a graft-related crime. When Abubakar made a bid for the presidency in 2007, election officials purposefully left his name off the ballot because he was facing a corruption investigation. He challenged the decision, restoring his name but taking third place in the vote. He rejected the election as not credible. Last month, Abubakar was granted a visa to travel to Washington, where he hobnobbed on Capitol Hill. His press team blasted photos of the trip on social media, apparently a signal to voters that he had been absolved by the Americans. Abubakars campaign has sought to shift the national conversation away from corruption and onto the economy. The tactic has targeted voters who seem to have given up that anyone will ever beat back graft. They now believe the country is so corrupt that it is nearly impossible to really conquer it, said Alwan Hassan, national field director for the All Progressives Youth Forum, which supports Buhari. Meanwhile, outside the countrys most populous cities, security has become a major worry and will likely affect whether tens of thousands of people are able to cast votes. Conflicts have flared between livestock herders and farmers competing for land. Gangs have launched attacks from enclaves in vast forests. Separatists in the south have resisted heavy-handed responses from the military. But nowhere is the situation more grave than in the nations northeast, where Boko Haram and a splinter group loyal to the Islamic State have ramped up attacks, despite Buharis claim that he defeated the group. The extremists have carried out more complicated missions against military installations and posted online a gruesome video of an attack on soldiers. Multiple attacks on the city of Rann have emptied it, sending 30,000 people fleeing for their lives. Thousands have run across the border into Cameroon, according to Doctors Without Borders, where they have no water, shelter or food. The United Nations estimates a total of 60,000 people have been displaced since November. Yomi Akinola, who drives a taxi in Lagos, said the campaign season usually brings an air of excitement and optimism. But he had little faith in either leading candidate. Now, he said, we just look at them. No one cares. Read more about: NEW YORKThe morning after the election of Donald Trump, Kirsten Gillibrand woke up and began crying. Bawling, she corrected herself. After spending the next two months deeply depressed, the junior senator from New York experienced what she called the most inspiring day of her political life: the womens march. And almost two years to the day after that, Gillibrand sat in a Manhattan wine bar, holding a glass of pinot noir, and described why she believes the country and the Democratic Party need an unabashedly feminist campaign for president and why she thinks she is the candidate to run it. You understand, this is my space, Gillibrand said in an interview. I dont know if my party will get as far as I will go on a lot of these issues. But I believe in them so strongly. At a moment when women are ascendant in Democratic politics and polls show a record gender gap between the parties, Gillibrand and her advisers see an opportunity to ride a wave of womens political energy right into the White House. While multiple women are serious contenders for president for the first time in American history, Gillibrand is the only one who is making running as a woman, for women, the central theme of her candidacy. Whether her campaign is successful or not, Gillibrands approach will test how much views have changed on issues like discrimination, sexual harassment and female leadership, after two years of an administration that has embroiled the country in an emotional debate over gender bias. Gillibrand says advocating for women has been the cause of her political life, from her days as a young lawyer raising money for womens charities. But she is choosing the mantle of feminist crusader at a time when other core Democratic issues are more problematic for her. Read more: In Texas, Trump backs wall while ORourke rallies opponents With clock ticking on another potential U.S. government shutdown, Trump blames Democrats Under Trump, EPA inspections fall to a ten-year low As a House member from upstate New York earlier in her political career, she held far more conservative positions on gun control and immigration. Her years as a corporate lawyer, taking clients that included a big tobacco company, and her past as a voracious fundraiser from Wall Street donors complicate her ability to attack greed and inequality in big business. And by using her gender to find a toehold in the Democratic electorate, Gillibrand risks pigeonholing herself in a race where voters may be seeking a broader populist message. There may well be a risk, Gillibrand said, in what she calls her women plus campaign platform. But it is who I am. I think the country would be so much stronger if women had greater voices. Still, Gillibrand is unwavering. Calling out sexism and sexual misconduct in all corners including her outspoken critiques of former president Bill Clinton and former Sen. Al Franken is a political calling card that she feels distinguishes her. Her first words on national television describing her rationale for running were that she is a young mom. Her first big speech as a candidate took place at a womens march in Des Moines, Iowa. Her first fundraising event was hosted by a womens group in the Bay Area. And her first question from the press about her likability she derided as sexist. Of Trumps 2017 tweet that Gillibrand would come to my office begging for campaign contributions, she called the president misogynistic, saying in the interview, I mean, he essentially called me a prostitute! There is no real precedent for Gillibrands strategy. As a candidate, Hillary Clinton struggled to talk about her gender and essentially tried to copy the approach of the male presidential candidates who had preceded her, said Jennifer Palmieri, Clintons former communications director. I had no idea what it looked like to do it differently. Sen. Gillibrand is doing it differently, said Palmieri, who has discussed Gillibrands presidential ambitions with her. She knows the risk involved with being so plain-spoken and forward-leaning as a woman candidate and doesnt care. There is also the math: Women are expected to make up a clear majority of voters in a Democratic primary nearly 60 per cent, according to Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster who specializes in female voting behaviour. For years, Gillibrand has fundraised for women seeking office through her Off the Sidelines political action committee, helping her develop a national network of female donors and a robust list of supporters. In 2013, she delivered a speech laying out her economic plan aimed at promoting women in the workforce that included proposals for equal pay, paid leave, affordable child care, universal pre-K and raising the minimum wage. In the Senate, some of her biggest fights have been around securing greater protections for women facing sexual assault cases in the military, on college campuses and on Capitol Hill. Gillibrand has also shown a willingness to buck powerful men in her own party. In 2017, she made headlines by saying Bill Clintons sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky should have prompted him to resign, angering the Clintons, who had championed her early in her career. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Gillibrand is also still navigating the fallout from another controversial choice within her own party: her decision in late 2017 to become the first Democratic senator to call for the resignation of Franken, following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. Despite the backlash she has faced from some Democratic quarters, Gillibrand said she saved the party from itself, arguing that standing by Franken would have cost Democrats congressional seats in the mid-terms. And she said Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat, would not have won his special election in Alabama if Franken had not stepped aside and provided the party with a clear message against the Republican, Roy Moore, a state jurist accused of sexually assaulting teenage girls. God bless him if he wanted to sue every woman who made an allegation against him, she said of Franken. But just imagine this last election how many women came out to vote and ran for office, and young women. Would they have felt that nobody had their back? Her advisers argue that the incident shows Gillibrand as a fighter unafraid to take on powerful men and that the intense energy of women in the Democratic Party will outweigh the concerns. Her campaign distributed a memo as she entered the race saying that 58 per cent of Democratic presidential primary voters in 2016 were women, and that female candidates won nearly two-thirds of open House Democratic primaries in 2018. Looking at 2018, there was something in the water she will tap into because its authentic to her, said Glen Caplin, a top adviser to Gillibrand. It is a strategy neither Sen. Elizabeth Warren nor Sen. Kamala Harris have embraced in their presidential platforms. During her campaign rollout last month, Harris focused heavily on her connections with the black community and her career as a prosecutor. Warren has centred her argument around class, rather than gender, making her personal story of economic struggle the centrepiece of her pitch to voters. Ultimately, thats why I decided to run, Gillibrand said. Because I was concerned maybe the rest of the team doesnt focus on these issues. Maybe the rest of the team doesnt get where they need to go. And while Gillibrand denounced questions of likability as sexist, Warren explicitly demurred from such labels in an interview last month. Gillibrands bluntness worries some Democrats in early voting states, who fear a repeat of the kind of sexism they believe sank Hillary Clintons campaign in 2016. Linda Smoley, who hosted Clinton at her Sioux City, Iowa, home in 2015 and attended Gillibrands first house party in Iowa in January, said she was so distressed after Trump was elected that she got antidepressants from her doctor and then accidentally drove her car into her house. Gillibrand had reached out moments earlier about appearing at Smoleys local womens group, Siouxland Progressive Women. But after the trauma of 2016, Smoley at first voiced reservations about selecting another female nominee. My only concern is that she is a woman, Smoley said, and I fear that in this misogynistic society in which we live, I think it will be hard for a woman because there are so many middle-aged and older white men who dont want to cede power. But moments later, she was reconsidering, gingerly. But maybe we have turned, she said. Maybe this time, if she can convince those white women Trump voters how we as Democrats could make lives better, maybe she could get some of that vote that Hillary lost. Read more about: A little more than a half dozen union members and Chief Timothy Sorrell discussed the issue for more than an hour with the Board of Selectmen. Lanesborough Looks to Temporarily Close Police Station LANESBOROUGH, Mass. The condition of the police station is forcing the town to find temporary accommodations for its police force. The town's insurance company issued a report recommending the current station be vacated by employees because of the condition of the building. Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association inspected the building in October and cited a number of concerns and ruled that the building is unsafe. "Renovation cease-and-desist until proof of all licenses and permits are produced and the project, the plans and the building are inspected by a third-party building inspector, DLS inspector and health inspector," the report reads. "If renovations continue without being reviewed by these inspectors, I will also make a recommendation to the MIIA account representative and manager to review the project and liability and move this build to a builder's risk until completed and building occupancy is restored," reads the recommendations in the report recently submitted to the town. "As the risk manager, I do not feel it is safe for the employees to continue occupancy under these conditions." The report cited the following concerns: lack of licenses and permits for work being done, the safety of the employees, life safety codes, fire code, emergency exits, the quality of the working conditions, electrical code violations, electrical loan concerns, construction code concerns, construction material substitution to cut costs, covering suctional issues without addressing or securing them, mold infestation, rodent infestation, and ADA compliance. The station has been routinely cited for being in poor condition. Selectman Robert Ericson, a retired engineer, took on a project to renovate the century-old building by himself. But work has been slow going and of the planned five phases of renovation, only the first two phases are close to completion. The Lanesborough Police Officers Association MassCop, Local 390, has pushed on multiple occasions to move the project along and has been asking to start the process of building a new station. On more than one occasion, has pushed on multiple occasions to move the project along and has been asking to start the process of building a new station. On more than one occasion, the union has taken its concerns with the structure to the Board of Selectmen. Now with the MIIA report on hand, the Selectmen feel the liability of keeping officers in the building is too much. "I don't think we should put anybody back in that building," Selectman Henry Sayers said at Monday's meeting. For about an hour on Monday, the Selectmen, town manager, union representatives, and police chief discussed possible options. In the end, the board asked that Police Chief Timothy Sorrell and Town Manager Kelli Robbins get prices on various options. A commercial storefront across the street could be available and Realtor Barbara Hassan suggested the former Vacation Village property is another possibility. Sorrell also said the section that is mostly renovated could be enough space to function temporarily while a contractor finishes the rest if power could be provided to that former garage space. Sorrell added that the communications system would have to be moved to a new location as well and he'd need to get costs on that. If none of those are feasible, Sayers suggested laying off the entire department until a long-term solution is in place. Sayers is particularly concerned that the town would have additional liability with multiple written opinions -- from the chief, union, and insurance company -- saying the building is unsafe. "It might come to letting state police cover us until we can find a home," he said. The officers didn't take that comment lightly. The union has been pressing for improved working conditions for years and the union's Jon Bishop said laying off the force would seem retaliatory. He sees such threats as being unfair labor practice. "Any more engagement, we are going to have to go down a different path," Bishop said, adding that the MIIA report is "validation" to what the union has been saying all along. Board of Selectmen Chairman John Goerlach disagreed with Sayer, saying laying the officers off is "not an option." But, he said there is urgency in finding a solution. The Selectmen hope to have prices for a temporary location by Feb. 25 in order to move quickly on moving the officers out of the unfinished building. But there isn't a consensus as to what the long-term solution will be. Sorrell suggested bringing in a contractor to look at the building and give a comprehensive opinion. He said Ericson's project does a lot for the inside but there are significant issues outside of that scope. He worries what else will be needed. "I think we need somebody to probe in there and see what we are getting into," he said. Sorrell also asked for permission to start an ad hoc committee to start a feasibility stage, which would likely be needed to receive any type of grant or low-interest loans from the federal government for the construction. "We're throwing good money after bad if we keep working on that place up there," Sorrell said. Robbins said the town could get a low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for $1.4 million for 40 years that would result in the town paying $36,000 a year, and that the portion paid by taxpayers would be $814 overall, split among all of the taxpayers. With the town already owning property on Prospect Street, Robbins believes a new station could be built at half that cost. "You won't even see it in your tax rate," she said. The union always had the position of pursuing a new building and that hasn't changed. But the union hasn't been able to come up with any short-term solutions. The officers and Sorrell rejected an idea to have the officers work out of the basement at Town Hall, citing a lack of privacy and safe storage of evidence and records. "There doesn't appear to be a lot of good solutions at this juncture," Bishop said. Goerlach said he couldn't think of any buildings available that could immediately serve as a temporary police station. Money also remains an issue. Robbins said some $22,000 has already been spent on the work already done and she is waiting to see what the state's Green Communities program can provide. Town meeting approved $13,000 for the project but Robbins said if Green Communities doesn't reimburse as much, then that money is already gone. The Selectmen would either need to dip into the $40,000 in stabilization or hold a special town meeting for the funds. "We shouldn't be waiting for green energy. We should just move forward to get this accomplished," Goerlach responded. The Green Communities money had always been the eyed source for the project since Ericson first pitched the work in 2014. But that grant program would only pay for weatherization aspects and the project went beyond what would qualify for reimbursement. Sorrell had supported the project at the time thinking it would improve the working conditions at a low cost. But now, he believes the project has gone on too long and uncovered too many other problems. "I was trying to be a team player and save the town money and I am regretting it now," Sorrell said. Lanesborough Police Station... by on Scribd SACRAMENTO, CALIF.Gavin Newsoms decision to reassign National Guard troops from the Mexico border is likely just the beginning of a more aggressive stance by California and its new activist governor against U.S. President Donald Trumps policies. In his first month in office, Newsom has taken a more antagonistic approach to the Trump administration than former Gov. Jerry Brown, who was more reserved in discussing the president and left the Legislature to take the lead in denouncing Trump, who is highly unpopular in this deep blue state. Jerry Brown relished being seen as the adult in the room and finding opportunities to show that California really wasnt this lefty bastion, said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at the University of California, San Diego. I dont think Gavin Newsom has that first instinct. The governor held little back this week, dismissing Trumps border policies. Its comedy, folks, he said. You know it. I dont know what the right adjective is without coming off as hyperbolic. The whole thing is ridiculous. Newsom is likely to find a partner in state Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who has filed more than four dozen lawsuits against the federal government, challenging attempts to limit access to birth control, curb immigration and roll back environmental protections. Read more: In Texas, Trump backs wall while ORourke rallies opponents With clock ticking on another potential U.S. government shutdown, Trump blames Democrats Under Trump, EPA inspections fall to a ten-year low Somewhere between volleys of caustic tweets and court fights, there is a growing belief in Sacramento and beyond that Newsom and Becerra together could take the Democratic resistance to a new level. And in doing so, they could elevate Californias standing in the national debate while also raising their own profiles. They are going to be extremely effective working together, said Darry Sragow, a longtime Democratic strategist who publishes the California Target Book, which tracks legislative and congressional races. I would expect they would not be holding their punches in taking on the administration when they think that is the right thing to do. Newsom held a news conference at the state Capitol on Monday and blasted what Trump has described as a crisis at the border as a political stunt. He signed an executive order in front of reporters to withdraw and reassign roughly 360 National Guard troops Brown sent to the border at Trumps request last year. Under Browns terms, the troops were not allowed to enforce immigration law. The governor, who said he disagreed with Browns decision, has frequently cited an overall reduction in illegal border crossings compared with previous decades as evidence that Trump is manufacturing a crisis to score points with conservative voters. In another rebuke of Trumps policies, the governors budget calls for the expansion of Medi-Cal to immigrants without legal status under age 26, and $25 million (U.S.) for non-profit to provide shelter to migrant families at the border. California has gone to court against the Trump administration 45 times, bringing the state close to the number of lawsuits filed by Republican attorneys general in Texas against the Obama administration. Becerras lawsuits have targeted federal actions on immigration, health care, the environment, the U.S. census, education and the internet. Last week, Becerra warned in a nationally televised address that he is prepared to sue the Trump administration again if the president declares a national emergency to fund a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border while cutting federal funds to fire-damaged communities in California. We are ready to reject this foolish proposal in court the moment it touches the ground, Becerra said. He delivered the message as part of the Democratic Partys Spanish-language response to Trumps State of the Union speech. The idea of declaring a nonexistent state of emergency on the border, in order to justify robbing funds that belong to the victims of fires, floods, hurricanes and droughts, to pay for the wall is not only immoral, it is illegal, Becerra said. Becerras address was seen by some as another sign that California is leading the discussion among Democrats at the national level. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... The attorney generals selection by party leaders to respond to the president is a testament to the fact that for national Democrats, California is not merely the heart of the resistance, but the vanguard of the offensive, said Chris Lehane, a Democratic political strategist who worked in the Clinton White House. The attorney general said this week that his office will continue to assert itself in challenging Trump administration policies. Becerra filed an amicus brief last week in support of a lawsuit to prevent the potential deportation of hundreds of thousands of people who hold temporary protected status. And last month, he led a group of attorneys general in securing a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administrations attempt to deny women access to cost-free birth control guaranteed under the Affordable Care Act. A spokeswoman for Becerra said the attorney generals office has been in touch with Newsoms team on a daily basis. Newsom has proposed increasing the state Department of Justices budget by $38 million in the next fiscal year and adding more than 200 positions. Though Becerra was initially appointed attorney general by Brown, some say his aggressive legal posture against Trump has been closer to the hard line adopted by Newsom. Sragow said he expects Becerra and Newsom to be in lockstep on immigration, wildfires and other critical issues. California didnt get to be the fifth-largest economy in the world by standing idly by, Becerra said in a statement. We will work with Governor Newsom to use every tool at our disposal, including the courts, to protect our people and keep our state forward-leaning. Newsoms decision to reassign the California National Guard troops was criticized by Republicans, including former gubernatorial candidate and Assemblyman Travis Allen, now making a bid for Republican State Party chairman, who said in a social media post that the governor is abandoning Border Patrol and leaving California borders undefended. Some in California have also warned that the states efforts to poke the administration in the eye could backfire, affecting residents. Two days after Newsoms Jan.7 inaugural address, in which he took a swipe at the federal government for separating children from their parents at the border, Trump threatened to cut federal disaster funding for California fire victims. The day after Becerras speech, Trump indicated that talks with state officials were going well. Robin Swanson, a Democratic political strategist, said Newsom is effectively using the bully pulpit to attack the president. Thats where Donald Trump keeps score in news hits and quotes and tweets, Swanson said. Playing starring roles as Trump antagonists only offers a political benefit to Newsom and Becerra, both on the national level and in a state that favoured Democrat Hillary Clinton by more than 4 million votes in the 2016 presidential election, she said. I think its smart move by both of them if they do have aspirations because they need to be known beyond the border of California, Swanson said. Frankly, any time Donald Trump utters their names, it raises their profiles. Read more about: York Region police are appealing for witnesses to step forward as they continue to investigate a fatal collision in Richmond Hill last week. Police responded to a two-vehicle collision on Feb. 7 at 5:30 p.m., at 88 East Beaver Creek Rd., near Sims Cres., between Highway 404 and Leslie St. A 91-year-old female passenger from one of the vehicles suffered life-threatening injuries and she was transported to a hospital. Investigators were advised Monday that she died. Motorists driving on East Beaver Creek at the time, or anyone who may have dashcam footage of the collision, are asked to contact the Major Collision Investigation Unit at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 7704. Emerald Bensadoun is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star's radio room in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @twerk_vonnegut Read more about: The weather suddenly changed in early December 2017, when Toronto police investigators obtained a judges permission to covertly enter serial killer Bruce McArthurs apartment and the patterns of the self-employed landscaper naturally shifted. Police had been surveilling McArthur for months, as a suspect in the death of Toronto man Andrew Kinsman. Detectives had established when he came and went from this Thorncliffe Park apartment, travelling to jobs around the city, often leaving at 9 a.m. and not returning until after dark. Snow and cold temperatures changed everything at a crucial time in their probe. It made it very difficult to predict anything that he was going to do, Det. David Dickinson, a lead investigator on the McArthur investigation, said in an interview Monday. Nonetheless, police went ahead with a surreptitious entry on December 7, 2017, copying a USB drive, and 45 per cent of an old desktop computer hard drive before they realized McArthur was on his way back and had to pull out, after only about an hour. They didnt know it yet, but they had what they needed. We got aggressive, and got in there, and thank goodness we did, Dickinson said. Read more: How six Toronto lives were fractured by serial killer Bruce McArthur A timeline of the Toronto police investigation into Bruce McArthur and the Gay Village serial killings Serial killer Bruce McArthur given concurrent life sentences, can apply for parole after 25 years As heard in court last week, during sentencing submissions after McArthur, 67, pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder, it was through that search that Toronto police found key evidence: photos of deceased men within the killers digital files. Dickinson noted the photos had been deleted and were cached, meaning they could have been wiped by the computer at any time. Its possible that, had police gone in a week later, we may never have found them, he said. Discovered on Jan. 17, 2018 after more than a month of police sifting through roughly 100,000 images the photos were sufficient grounds to arrest McArthur, which theyd planned to do within a few days, after obtaining the required search warrants. In the meantime, police put McArthur under round-the-clock surveillance with the caveat that he wasnt to be alone with anyone. It was only 24 hours later when they had to intervene, after watching McArthur enter his apartment with a man now known only as John a gay recent immigrant, like many of McArthurs victims. Police would later find that McArthur had kept a folder of photos of each of his eight victims, before and after death, and had created a ninth for John. Ontario Superior Court judge John McMahon said in his sentencing decision last week that he had no hesitation in concluding that if it were not for the police intervention ... John would have been the ninth victim of Mr. McArthur. Dickinson said the decision to arrest McArthur once he was seen with John was immediate. What followed were a very stressful few minutes before the arrest, including an agonizing wait for the only functioning elevator to McArthurs 19th-floor unit. We knocked on his door with the intent that, should he not answer it, we were going through regardless, Dickinson said. McArthur, he said, did answer the door and was surprised. McArthur was sentenced Friday to life in prison, with no chance of parole for 25 years, when he is 91. Court heard how a break in the case came when police were investigating Kinsman, McArthurs final victim, who went missing in June 2017. Police found a note on Kinsmans calendar on the day he went missing, saying Bruce, then used surveillance camera footage to zero in on a 2004 red Dodge Caravan. Cross-referencing the vehicle make and model with owners named Bruce, Dickinson narrowed in on McArthur, while sifting through the records at his dining room table. Quick to give credit to officers on the Project Prism team, Dickinson said there were times when investigators got lucky, including during their search for McArthurs red van. After they identified McArthur as the owner of the van, and found it in Bowmanville at a residence connected to McArthur, it soon went missing for about two weeks. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... It turned out McArthur had junked the van, or brought it to a wrecking yard, something Dickinson said he initially thought was suspicious, but may have just been because the van was breaking down. A natural next step in the investigation was to canvass wrecking yards, and Det.-Const. Josh McKenzie and Det.-Const. Patrick Platte soon located the van at a Courtice wrecking yard. Unlike most wrecking yards, which quickly destroy cars, the van was mostly intact because the yard often salvages parts. We got lucky that it was 90 per cent intact. Finding the vehicle was a big day, Dickinson said. McArthur was the only one of five van owners named Bruce to have had a recent encounter with police: in 2016, a man reported that McArthur attempted to strangle him, which resulted in McArthur being arrested but released with no charges. Professional misconduct charges have since been laid against Toronto police Sgt. Paul Gauthier, who is alleged to have conducted a negligent investigation, including taking only a written statement from the victim when policy required it be taken on video. In a letter written by Gauthier and obtained by the Star last week, he denies his investigation was negligent. Shortly after McMahons decision came down Friday, Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders faced pointed questions about the investigation at a news conference at police headquarters including whether mistakes had been made in not identifying McArthur as a killer sooner. Court heard confirmation last week that McArthur was interviewed as a witness in 2013 during Project Houston, an investigation into the killers first three victims: Skandaraj Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi and Majeed Kayhan. According to an agreed statement of facts, McArthur confirmed he knew Navaratnam through a friend, and that hed employed Kayhan and had a sexual relationship with him. An analysis of Faizis belongings, meanwhile, showed he knew McArthur. Saunders told reporters last week that he was committed to transparency around prior investigations, but said I can tell you from what I know, things were done properly. Toronto police officers defended the investigation that led to Bruce McArthurs arrest. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years on Friday after pleading guilty to killing eight men with ties to the citys gay village. In an interview Monday, Toronto police Insp. Hank Idsinga, also a lead investigator in the case, said it wasnt uncommon to interview somebody who knew all three of those men. Very small, close, tight-knit community everybody knew everybody, he said. Former Ontario Court of Appeal judge Gloria Epstein is currently reviewing how Toronto police investigate missing persons cases, and has asked that her mandate be expanded to allow for her to examine how the force handled the probe of McArthur. Some within Torontos LGBTQ community and beyond argue more should be done, and that there should be a public inquiry into why McArthur wasnt caught sooner. Saunders said he is committed to transparency and that the service will co-operate with any review, no matter which form it takes. Asked if he could understand how McArthur went undetected for years, Idsinga said the killer is much like he presented last week, shuffling through the courtroom and sitting in the prisoners box. Hes not intimidating by any stretch of the imagination, hes soft-spoken and he just blended right in. Hid in plain sight, Idsinga said. With the court phase of the McArthur case completed, Dickinson said an opportunity has arisen to make a change, and pursue an interest he had early on in his career and one that was key the McArthur probe. He will soon be moving to the K9 unit. It was those dogs who found the remains of those eight men, and it was those dogs who ultimately assisted us with bringing closure to the families and at least be able to return the remains, which was something I wasnt sure wed ever be able to do. In October 2015, back when Donald Trump was still a primary candidate, the Stars Washington correspondent Daniel Dale went to one of his rallies in Richmond, Va. Many were still dismissing Trump as the fringe flavour of the month, he recalls. But Dale, a former city hall reporter who covered Toronto mayor Rob Ford, could recognize something in the crowds deep devotion. They loved him already, he told an audience of over a hundred members of the business community at a Toronto Region Board of Trade discussion Monday with Vivian Salama, White House reporter for the Wall Street Journal, that was moderated by the editor of the Toronto Star, Irene Gentle. I was like, Ive seen these people before. He noted that Torontos late mayor did not foment racial, ethnic, religious strife to help himself politically the way that Trump does, and the craziness of Trumps presidency has far exceeded the story of Fords addiction problem and temper problem. But Dale, who has become Trumps unofficial fact-checker-in-chief with his diligent logging of false claims, honed his skills during Fords 2014 campaign. Read more: Analysis | Daniel Dale: Trump makes 86 false claims in a week, 20 to the New York Times Six questions for reporter Daniel Dale about covering Donald Trump After heaping insults upon Democrats, Trump calls for unity in State of the Union We institutionally at the Star got used to this idea that its not bias to point out that one candidate, one politician, is much more dishonest than the others, he told the crowd. Its not a departure from objectivity to say that a lies a lie. Dale and Salama were introduced by John Boynton, the president and CEO of Torstar and the publisher of the Toronto Star, who joked that Trumps false claims, over 4,300 since he took office according to Dales count, had probably gone up since the attendees dug into their lunches. The pair of reporters have had a front-row seat for the chaos of the Trump presidency. But Salama has direct access, getting into the room with him as part of the travelling press pool. She talked about how strange it is to be inside the bubble, when the cameras are on and Trump is telling reporters that they are fake news. Then the camera light goes off and ...Do you guys want some coffee? she told the crowd to laughs. Hes just a human like the rest of us. Salama, who used to work in Baghdad as the Associated Press bureau chief, said she jokes to friends that she went from one hostile environment to another. But she called Trump a genius when it comes to media, whos generally happy as long as hes in the news. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... The ongoing investigation into Russian meddling into the 2016 election rattles him, though, she added. Obviously thats something that gets under his skin. That kind of access is something Dale lacks, working for a Canadian publication. But thats not always a bad thing. People compliment me by saying youre not an access journalist. I would love to have access, he said. But not having it is liberating because you dont have to manage relationships. This president is known for changing his mind, he added, so I think some of the advantages of having the right sources are limited because the president is Donald Trump. The wide-ranging discussion touched on everything from trade negotiations Salama said Canadians are known as pretty vicious negotiators when it comes to trade to the importance of the media getting it right. Both reporters said its key to own up to mistakes when they happen, especially in such a hostile climate. Something that distinguishes us from, for example, Donald Trump, Dale said. They closed by looking ahead to the 2020 election, with Trumps first rally Monday evening in El Paso Texas. Asked about the presidents chances of being re-elected, Dale cautioned against an overreliance on polling, which is something he said contributed to the surprise at Trumps 2016 election. You have to take it seriously, he said of the possibility of four more years of Trump. Im not writing him off. Read more about: Toronto police have released photos of a man who appear to be targeting women in a series of knifepoint robberies at ATMs. Officers responded to a call for a robbery near Victoria Park and Van Horne Aves. on Feb. 1 at about 7:20 p.m. Police said a woman was depositing money at an ATM when a man approached her from behind, held a knife to her neck and demanded money. The man removed the money from the machine and fled, police said. On Feb. 5 at 6 p.m., police responded to a call for a robbery at the same location. Police said in this case as well, the man approached a woman from behind, held a knife to her neck and made a demand for cash. Once the victim complied, he ran to a waiting vehicle and fled in an unknown direction, police said. In a press release Tuesday, police said investigators believe the man is responsible for three other similar robberies at ATMs in the area bounded by Victoria Park Ave., Markham Rd., Ellesmere Rd. and Sheppard Ave. E. The suspect is described as six-foot with a medium build and a light complexion. He was wearing a black hooded jacket, a black hooded sweater with the hood up, a balaclava, black pants and black running shoes. Toronto police Const. David Hopkinson said the suspect appears to be using similar methods during the robberies. He waits until someone comes into the ATM, robs them and flees, he said. Hopkinson added the man may be connected to other robberies and is believed to be violent, armed and dangerous. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Toronto police are requesting the publics assistance in a kidnapping investigation in North York. A man was robbed at around 9:35 p.m. Friday near Yonge St. and Sheppard Ave. E. after getting into a black four-door sedan the man believed belonged to a ride-share car he ordered, police said in a news release. There were three men inside the sedan, police said, all of whom demanded the victim turn over his property once he was locked inside the vehicle. The suspects robbed the man of a Canada Goose jacket, an iPhone 10, a wallet and $600-$800 in cash. The three suspects then dropped off the man in a nearby area. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-3200. If Amazon is rethinking New York City as a second headquarters, the retail giant knows Toronto will welcome the tens of thousands of jobs with open arms, Mayor John Tory said Tuesday. After speaking at a Pinterest Canada event, Tory was asked about a Washington Post report citing two sources saying Amazon is rethinking New York as co-host for its so-called HQ2 amid political and community opposition to a new campus built with $2.8 billion (U.S.) in government incentives. Ill just say Ive communicated with the people of Amazon that were still here, they know that, Tory said, adding local officials are in continuous discussions with Amazon officials about putting more jobs in Toronto, whether as part of the new headquarters or some other initiative. My message to them has continuously been wed be delighted to have any aspect of Amazons operations here including part of their head office. Toronto in November learned it had lost its bid to host Amazons second headquarters to a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., and the New York borough of Queens. Amazon had pitted North American cities against each other in an unprecedented competition to woo the booming company and its promise of up to 50,000 new jobs and $5 billion in local investment. Toronto was the only non-U.S. site to crack the 20-city short list. But the Amazon deal is facing staunch opposition from some Democrats on New York city council and the state senate, who say too much was handed to one of the worlds richest companies. The Washington Post on Friday quoted insiders as saying the opposition, including activists worried about famously high housing costs squeezing low-income earners even harder, has Amazon reconsidering New York and exploring alternatives. Michael Gianaris, the No. 2 lawmaker in the Democrat-controlled senate, said Monday that the reports wont make him reconsider his opposition. New York is bigger than Amazon, he said. We dont have to do what they want, especially if its the wrong thing. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio countered that his city expects tax revenues to drop $1 billion this year, and it needs the economic boost of 25,000 to 40,000 new Amazon jobs over 10 to 15 years. Observers say its possible Amazon is feigning cold feet to try to get more incentives. Torontos bid was unusual in that details were made public and no special incentives were offered. The city highlighted its growing pool of talented tech workers, cultural diversity and immigrant-friendly policies, regional university network, government health care and cosmopolitan lifestyle. Toronto Global, a federal agency that co-ordinated the Amazon bid, said Tuesday it recently updated the bid book with new census figures, is using it to pitch south-central Ontario to other international employers, and remains open to discuss the growth of Amazon throughout the region. BMO Capital Markets recently reported that Toronto now has North Americas fourth largest tech sector and the fastest growing, outpacing Silicon Valley and Amazons Seattle home base. Some of Torontos growth has come from Amazon, which in December announced 600 new jobs over five years, expanding a downtown footprint that already includes about 800 Amazonians in Canadas biggest city. In the unlikely event the online behemoth looks north as part of a HQ2 rethink, its likely the same protests seen in New York potentially negative effects on a housing situation many already call an affordability crisis, and aging city infrastructure strained by rapid growth will arise here. But Tory, a former Rogers chief executive, says he will keep pitching international companies on setting up shop in Toronto or expanding existing operations here. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Thats why we see some of these global companies growing so fast here, the mayor said of the citys attractiveness to international employers. Its not so much because the Canadian business itself is growing but its because theyre performing global functions from here because we have smart people here, and a way of life that the people find very attractive so (companies) can bring people from all over the world. With files from Associated Press David Rider is the Stars City Hall bureau chief and a reporter covering Toronto politics. Follow him on Twitter: @dmrider Read more about: REGINASaskatchewans attorney general says he has no doubt the provinces constitutional challenge of Ottawas imposition of a carbon tax will end up in the Supreme Court of Canada. Don Morgan notes both the province and Canada have the right to appeal a ruling from the Saskatchewan Appeal Court, which is to hear two days of arguments starting Wednesday. Morgan said the provincial government will urge Ottawa to hold off on imposing the levy while the issue is before the courts, but will not seek an injunction to stop it. The federal carbon tax is set to take effect in Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Ontario and Manitoba in April. We think its the right thing to do, he said Tuesday of the constitutional challenge. We think the proper position for our province to take is not to have a carbon tax that singles out our province. Read more: Saskatchewan, Ottawa carbon tax case monumental for Constitution, expert says Trudeau says he and Saskatchewan premier talking despite carbon tax differences Trudeaus carbon tax takes effect in industrial heartland The Saskatchewan Party government argues a federally imposed carbon tax is unconstitutional because it will not apply evenly across all of the provinces. Ottawa says it has the authority under the Constitution to put a price on pollution because climate change is a national concern. Its a national concern, but I just dont agree that this is the right method do it legally, said Morgan. We think a right thing to do would be to sit down and work with all other provinces and develop good alternatives to reduce carbon emissions. Ottawas minimum price starts at $20 per tonne and rises $10 annually until 2022. Saskatchewan NDP Opposition Leader Ryan Meili accused the province of walking away from discussions with Ottawa when it should have been hammering out a better deal. This case is going to take many years, and for those many years well be stuck with the Trudeau plan instead of having worked out something that works for Saskatchewan. Meili said the NDP supports putting a price on pollution and the biggest polluters need to pay the most. Sixteen groups, including the governments of Ontario, New Brunswick and British Columbia, are intervening in its constitutional challenge. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... The press secretary for Catherine McKenna, federal minister of environment and climate change, applauded the wide number of people represented by interveners ranging from industry groups to environmentalists to Indigenous organizations. Sabrina Kim also said in a statement Tuesday that a carbon levy in Saskatchewan would mean a family of four would receive a rebate of $609 this year. This is a practical, affordable approach that is proven to work, and will put more money back in peoples pockets, Kim said. OTTAWAThe shadow of a new Cold War hung heavy Tuesday as the commander of North Americas early-warning system urged Canada and the U.S. to get on with upgrading the continents ageing defences in the face of growing threats from Russia and others. Russia figured prominently as Gen. Terrence OShaughnessy, the U.S. commander of the North American Aerospace Defence Command, or NORAD, warned a defence conference that Canada and the U.S. are at risk in ways we havent been in decades. The Russian military has been developing new nuclear-armed cruise missiles that are difficult to detect and intercept and hypersonic missiles whose special threat is their extreme speed compared with older weapons. Russia has also been sending bombers to buzz North American airspace in the Arctic, resumed fighter-jet patrols in the area after a 30-year hiatus and deployed cruise missiles on naval vessels in its northern waters, OShaughnessy said. We havent seen this sort of systematic and methodical increase in threats since the height of the Cold War, he said. We must acknowledge the reality that our adversaries currently hold our citizens, our way of life and national interests at risk. The Canadian and American militaries have been quietly contemplating the future of Norad as new technology threatens to make the missile-warning system, which includes a chain of 1980s-era radars in Canadas Arctic, obsolete. Read more: U.S., Canadian fighter planes scramble to escort Russian jets Canadian officials look for answers as Trump unveils missile-defence plan Trump says U.S. will develop space-based missile defence Yet any progress has been muted, as officials on both sides of the border repeatedly reference the need for study and evaluation that will feed into future discussions whose dates still havent been set. OShaughnessy acknowledged the need for study to ensure Canada and the U.S., which have worked through NORAD to defend against nuclear-missile attacks since the 1950s, build the right system to defend against 21st-century threats. But he warned against falling into what he described as the paralysis-by-analysis trap while our competitors are putting us at risk with credible threat. Were clear-eyed at NORAD right now, he added, and we say that the defence of our nation is both urgent and important and as such we need to get after it and we need to get after it together. OShaughnessys remarks came less than a month after the U.S. Department of Defense released a long-awaited review of the threats posed by Russian, Chinese, North Korean and Iranian missiles and the ways to counter them. Both U.S. President Donald Trump and the Pentagon report put a heavy emphasis on space-based sensors and defences to detect, track and stop missile attacks against the U.S. and its allies from anywhere in the world. Trump also warned that allies will have to pay their share for the new capabilities, which some analysts have questioned will ever become a reality given their potentially high cost, widespread concerns about the weaponization of space, and the unproven technology. The report revealed without offering any details that NORAD is pursuing a three-phase plan to improve the defence against cruise missiles for the United States and Canada. One of the questions facing any upgrade to NORAD will be whether Canada finally agrees to participate in a missile-defence shield program, which involves intercepting incoming attacks, after famously opting out of one such program in 2005. OShaughnessy did not mention missile defence in his address. The Liberals have left the door open to eventually joining such a program as part of a modernized NORAD, while the Conservatives have openly called for Canada to join now. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Government officials have acknowledged that Canada could end up paying billions to upgrade or replace northern radars, money that isnt now accounted for in the Trudeau governments multibillion-dollar defence policy. While OShaughnessy is responsible for NORAD, he also said that Canada and the U.S. need to better defend shared infrastructure such as power grids while finding ways to make it too dangerous for anyone to contemplate an attack on North America. Rather than simply responding to advancements of doctrine and technology, he said, we must drive ahead of those strategies and create dilemmas to make it too costly for any nation to contemplate an attack on our nations. Read more about: MONTREALA sophisticated money laundering ring with international tentacles was behind hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions until it was dismantled this week, federal authorities said Tuesday. The RCMP told a news conference its probe dubbed Collector uncovered a network with cells in Montreal and Toronto that collected and laundered money primarily from Montreal criminal groups. We believe with the amounts we saw being transited through the network we just dismantled, this network was occupying a primary place in the money laundering world in Montreal, Sgt. Francois-Olivier Myette said. Police did not look further into organized criminal groups that allegedly used the groups services there were at least six but investigators have no doubt they played a big role in cleaning dirty money. These cells might have different links to different organized crime groups, but it wasnt the main focus (of our investigation), Myette said. We were really focusing on the money laundering aspect of it, although it was necessary to find drugs to demonstrate the money was derived from sales of narcotics and proceeds of crime. Supt. Martine Fontaine said the network used connections in Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, the United States and China to launder money before returning it to drug-exporting countries, such as Colombia and Mexico. She called the investigation one of the most important of its kind in Canada, noting it was one of the rare money laundering probes that has led to gangsterism charges. It is by depriving criminal groups of their money laundering networks that we will shake the very structure of organized crime, she said. On Monday more than 300 officers from the RCMP and other forces, aided by the Canada Revenue Agency, took part in raids in Ontario and Quebec. They seized drugs, cash and bank accounts and restrained real estate with a total estimated value of $32.8 million. Myette explained the two-year investigation was triggered in 2016 by a tip from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration. He said investigators observed hundreds of clandestine exchanges of bags filled with between $250,000 to $500,000. The money was often stuffed in bags or suitcases and transactions took place in parking lots and other locations. Documents and other evidence suggests hundreds of millions of dollars were allegedly laundered through the group without ever leaving the country. The group used what is known as an informal value transfer system. So taking money in one jurisdiction and then retrieving money in another jurisdiction without actual transfers, Myette explained. The network offered up a money transfer service to drug-exporting countries. Seventeen people face charges including conspiracy, possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking, gangsterism and laundering proceeds of crime. The networks alleged leaders, Nader Gramian-Nik, 56, of Vaughan, Ont., and Mohamad Jaber, 51, of Laval, Que., were among those arrested. Three suspects were still being sought late Tuesday, but none are believed to be in Canada. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Read more about: HALIFAXSophia Wedderburn has never had a teacher that looked like her. Wedderburn, a 17-year-old Citadel High School student, says a lack of Black educators is an aspect of her school career shes become desensitized to. Ive gone through all of my years, Ive never had a Black teacher, I think. In elementary school, there were times I was the only Black student, or I was one of two, and it just started to become normal, she said. Which is a big problem in itself, where we need to be more reflected. Wedderburn was one of four panellists discussing navigating the educational system while Black at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax on Monday night. Speaking to dozens of students, faculty and community members at the event, she said more emphasis needs to be placed on education about African Canadian history. Read more: Black History should be required learning in school curriculum, B.C. mom says Demeaned, overworked and all called George: How Black train porters transformed Canada Send me someone else. Officer recalls racism as York police celebrate Black History Month Were taught through such a Eurocentric perspective in all of our classes, and a lot of westernized culture, where slave owners are depicted as being these great contributors in history, she said. She noted that her school offers an African Canadian studies class a very good contrast to what weve been taught through junior high and elementary school. Its a class that I think should be mandatory, because it puts Afrocentric learning at the same importance as Eurocentric learning, which I think is very important in the curriculum, said Wedderburn. DeRico Symonds, the panels moderator and the schools Black Student Support Coordinator, noted that African Canadian history is often othered in terms of history classes within the education system. Theres normal history, and then theres African Canadian history, he said. But its actually a part of just history in general. The panel Being Black in the Education System focused on a number of different topics, including a lack of Black educators, poor performance among Black students, and systemic issues within the school system. According to a 2017 UN report that describes the socioeconomic state of Black Nova Scotian communities as deplorable, African Canadians have disproportionately low grades, high suspension rates, and are more likely to get expelled. Panellist Lindell Smith, city councillor for Halifax Peninsula North, said change within the system needs to come from the top. The changes that I feel need to happen have to come from not within the community, but within the government. The government is putting supports there but not looking at sustainability, he said. We need ministers, we need MLAs, we need representations who are looking at this and are monitoring all these reports and recommendations that have been put forward for years recommendations for our learners that have not been followed through. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Smith said there is little he can do as a councillor as schools are regulated through the province. Fellow panellist Chanae Parsons said these educational challenges follow African Canadians as they continue life after school. When you think of the incarceration rates, when you think of the suspension rates, when you think of the unemployment rates, it all filters back down into education, said Parsons, the co-ordinator of youth initiatives and projects at the Delmore Buddy Daye Learning Institute. Without a good education, how are we able to excel as people? Thinking back on her own education, Parsons said navigating the school system can also be challenging for Black students who are excelling as well. I was doing really well. I had really good grades, I was participating in a lot of extracurricular activities, and I was basically looked at as acting white, said Parsons, thinking back to her own school career. In our communities, often, being smart is not seen as a good thing. So I was told I was acting white for being smart. Rex Charlton, whos originally from the Bahamas, said that hes felt embraced by the community during his time as a student at Mount Saint Vincent University. He noted that schools should make an effort to include activities and events that focus on African Canadian history to make their Black students feel welcome. Black History Month on campus, you see how they give us the shortest month of the year, but its OK, he joked, though he added that he would like to see the schools Black Student Support Group aim to promote events and activities throughout the year. Different stuff that can go on around campus just to keep that awareness and adrenalin alive, said Charlton. More stuff that can happen, not just for Black History Month, but more throughout the year. Read more about: Have the stores filled up yet with gauzy T-shirts in spring colours? Its so hard to see through all this snow. When visibility resumes, it will be time, again, to check your clothing labels. The decision taken this week by the European Commission to launch an investigation into what it calls evidence of serious and systemic violations of core human rights and labour rights in Cambodia caused barely a ripple in this part of the world. And yet even the threat of suspension of preferential trade access to the EU the penalty Cambodia will pay if found to be deficient in upholding such core principles as the right to freedom of assembly should reawaken interest in our own trade relations with Cambodia. In 2002, Canada imported $20.9 million worth of goods from the country, the vast majority of which were clothing imports. By 2017, the last full year for which numbers are available, that figure had rocketed to $1.3 billion. Again, apparel accounts for almost all imports. Jeans. Ts. Knitwear. Footwear. You may not be aware, but you should be. Cambodia was granted preferential access to the EU market under the Everything But Arms trade scheme, established in the fall of 2012 to foster sustainable social, economic and environmental development in least-developed countries as defined by the UN. The trade arrangement grants duty-free and quota-free access for all goods, with the exception of arms and ammunition. In the case of the EU, 99 per cent of exported goods were eligible, so the economic appeal is clear. But at what cost? As the EUs high representative for foreign affairs states, Cambodia is witnessing a deterioration of democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law. Last July, prime minister and former Khmer Rouge commander Hun Sen was re-elected in what was roundly condemned as a mockery of democracy. The leader of the opposition party, Kem Sokha, had been arrested on charges of treason and the countrys Supreme Court had ordered the dissolution of the Cambodia National Rescue Party. Read more: Cambodia's 'sham' election inspires boycott against Hun Sen Cambodia makes first arrest on citizen accused of insulting monarchy Former opposition party leader out on bail in Cambodia Global Affairs Canada issued a note that it was troubled by the course of events, and that Hun Sen and his Cambodian Peoples Party retained power only after a campaign widely recognized to have been marred by voter intimidation and manipulation of the polls. Canada called on the Cambodian government to allow basic civil rights for the people of Cambodia, reinstate freedom of expression and political participation and release opposition leader Kem Sokha, who has been in jail for almost 11 months without bail. But wheres the stick? Sokha was released last September and has yet to go on trial, with the government referring to his ongoing house arrest as court supervision. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... The dilemma here is clear: how to advance the rights of the people on the ground in Cambodia without economically punishing them by withdrawing preferential trade access? Canada granted similar access to Everything But Arms under its Market Access Initiative, which was designed to encourage foreign development through trade, exclusive of certain supply-managed dairy products. It worked, as the export numbers attest. The garment industry is by far Cambodias largest employer, with more than 700,000 workers. Industry representatives have been voicing their concerns for months that the EU might make good on its threat to formally launch a review that could result in the suspension of trade advantages. The review launched Monday does not mean the immediate removal of trade preferences. What it does do is trigger a six-month period of what the European Commission calls intensive monitoring and engagement. That engagement will examine human rights and labour rights, including the rights of political participation, and the freedoms of assembly, expression and association. A final decision will be taken in 12 months. So thats the stick. Wheres ours? Last month I lamented that the federal government has yet to name the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise, which is meant to have a fresh mandate expanding beyond the extractive sector to include the garment industry. Unlike its predecessor, the ombud was supposed to be vested with real powers. Yet we trail other advanced economies, as we do with legislation prohibiting the importation of goods produced by forced or child labour. (Bill C-423, which aims to address the issue, was introduced in December.) The Trudeau era was not meant to play like this. Labour protections and human rights for all were promised as part of Canadas renewed and refreshed place in the world. At least in the case of Cambodia, that has not happened. Not by a long shot. Read more about: Canadas former attorney general has resigned from Justin Trudeaus cabinet amid a report she was pressured by the prime ministers office to intervene in a legal case involving SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. Jody Wilson-Raybould announced her resignation Tuesday, after days of saying she couldnt comment on work she did as the governments chief lawyer. She was moved from the justice ministry to veterans affairs last month. The statement doesnt offer a reason for her departure. Wilson-Raybould has retained former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Thomas Cromwell to advise on what she is able to say in public. Wilson-Raybould said she ran for office with the goal of implementing a positive and progressive vision of change and a different way of doing politics. My resignation as a Minister of the Crown in no way changes my commitment to seeing that fundamental change achieved, she wrote. A report last week by the Globe and Mail newspaper about pressure on Wilson-Raybould to seek an out-of-court settlement for the Montreal-based engineering and construction giant has dominated political debate in Canada ever since. Trudeau told reporters Tuesday that Wilson-Raybould had never raised any concerns when the two spoke about the issue. Separately on Monday, Trudeau said he told the Vancouver lawmaker that any decision to direct prosecutors in the case was hers alone. The government of Canada did its job and to the clear public standards expected of it, Trudeau said at a press conference in Winnipeg. If anyone felt differently, they had a clear obligation to raise that with me. No one, including Jody, did that. Frankly, I am both surprised and disappointed by her decision to step down, Trudeau said. SNC-Lavalin has long lobbied for a negotiated settlement in the case, which dates back to 2012 and has cost the company at least $5 billion in lost revenue, chief executive officer Neil Bruce said in December. The new justice minister David Lametti has signalled he may still ultimately intervene in the case of the Montreal engineering and construction giant. The companys shares rose 0.8 per cent Tuesday to $34.28, and are down 29 per cent since late last month after SNC issued two separate profit warnings unrelated to the Wilson-Raybould matter. Her resignation adds to political damage for the governing Liberal Party heading into the campaign for an October election, coming the day after the parliamentary ethics watchdog opened an investigation into the matter. The opposition Conservative and New Democratic parties have said any interference from Trudeaus staff would be improper and Trudeaus explanations lack detail. The House of Commons justice committee is set to meet on Wednesday to decide whether to investigate the issue as well, though members of Trudeaus Liberal Party can assemble a majority votes to block that inquiry. Wilson-Raybould will stay on as an member of parliament, but was silent on whether shed stay in the Liberal caucus or sit as an independent. After being moved last month from the justice file, she published a statement that didnt mention SNC-Lavalin but said it is a pillar of our democracy that our system of justice be free from even the perception of political interference. Wilson-Raybould, who is of Aboriginal descent, also highlighted dire social and economic realities that Indigenous peoples continue to face. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Read more about: Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. is closing its cabin crew base in Toronto as part of a business review, potentially affecting 120 workers in the Canadian city. The Hong Kong-based airline is talking with the union to explore options for the employees, including opportunities in other locations, it said Tuesday in an emailed response to a report in the South China Morning Post. The company currently doesnt have plans to close other bases outside Hong Kong, it said. Cathay Pacific is in the final year of a transformation program that started in 2017 after fierce competition from Chinese airlines and low-cost carriers led to losses in two consecutive years. The Hong Kong-based company is seeking to reduce HK$4 billion ($678.4 million) in expenses after cutting 600 jobs at its main office and added more seats on some of its aircraft. Last year, Cathay Pacific offered a voluntary early retirement package to employees in Japan and completed a comprehensive review of its regional structure including Northeast Asia. It plans to recruit more than 1,000 cabin crew in Hong Kong this year, the company said. The airline is offering flights to more destinations and improved in-flight meal services in efforts to lure customers. Aurora Cannabis Inc. says its net revenues surged to $54.2 million in its fiscal second quarter as the producers sales accounted for 20 per cent of all marijuana sold across Canada since the drug was legalized in October. The Canadian consumer market provides an extremely good opportunity for us. Consumer response to the legalization of cannabis has been strong, Cameron Battley, chief corporate officer, said in a conference call after markets closed. Net revenues for the three months ended Dec. 31 increased from $11.7 million in the second quarter of 2017. The increase was driven by $21.6 million in consumer sales in Canada and $26 million in Canadian and international medical marijuana sales. It produced 7,822 kilograms of marijuana and sold 6,999 kilograms. However, this is only the beginning, and we anticipate strong continued growth as more products come available to the market, he told analysts. Revenues grew 83 per cent from the first quarter and thats on top of an average of 44 per cent growth quarter-over-quarter over the previous six quarters. Delivering strong quarters is getting to be a habit at Aurora, he said. Auroras average net selling price for dried cannabis was $6.23 per gram and $10 per gram for cannabis extracts. The cash cost to produce dried cannabis increased to $1.92 per gram from $1.45 in the first quarter, primarily due to the ramp up of its Aurora Sky facility to full production. It said the companys Edmonton facility will soon reach full production capacity and a recent harvest completed at the facility exceeded targeted yields. Aurora said it is operating at an annualized production rate of about 120,000 kilograms, based on Health Canada approved planted rooms, and expects to reach in excess of 150,000 kilograms by March 31. Aurora CEO Terry Booth said some have been overly optimistic about the ability to provide enough cannabis to meet demand in Canada and avoid shortages. Its going to take some time to iron out all the bugs. We are going to have to see a better retail infrastructure in provinces across the country in order to see the level of sales that I think everybody is anticipating, but its going to take some a couple of more quarters. The Edmonton-based company says that the loss attributable to common shareholders equalled $237.7 million or 25 cents per diluted share, compared with a profit of $7.7 million or two cents per share a year earlier. The loss was mainly attributable to about $190 million in mark-to-market adjustments from its derivative investments. It was expected to lose $62.05 million or six cents per share on $51.84 million of revenues, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters Eikon. Aurora criticized the federal governments decision to impose a 10 per cent excise tax on cannabis sales, including for medical cannabis patients. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Aurora disagrees with this practice, and were not collecting tax from our medical patients but rather are absorbing the cost despite the slight negative effects on our revenues, said Battley. Companies in this story: (TSX:ACB) Update: Many school close for the day as roads get slick Staff reports Watertown Public Opinion PIERRE South Dakotas Highway Patrol will hold a recruiting seminar for women Wednesday, Feb. 13, in Watertown. The event is scheduled from 9-11 a.m. at Lake Area Technical Institute. This is the fifth year for the seminars, which are designed to provide more information to women who are interested in joining the Highway Patrol. Currently the Highway Patrol has 14 female troopers. Each seminar lasts two hours. Female troopers will be available to discuss topics such as the application process, training, what its like to be a state trooper and the challenges that come with the position. Seminars also will be held later this month in Aberdeen, Pierre, Rapid City and Sioux Falls. Applications are now being accepted for the Patrols next hiring period. Deadline to apply is Feb. 28. For more information on the Highway Patrol, click onto: https://dps.sd.gov/safety-enforcement/highway-patrol. The Highway Patrol is part of the South Dakota Department of Public Safety. Dan Crisler Public Opinion Staff Writer With a light February agenda, the Watertown Board of Education was recognized Monday for its five members service to the Watertown School District and community. The recognition came a week before the state formally recognizes all school boards in the state during the annual South Dakota School Board Recognition Week celebration. Each of the five members in Board President Stuart Stein, Scott Hardie, Tammy Rieber, Stephanie Lenards and Tom Linngren were individually recognized and thanked by a student from each of the five public elementary schools. This group is responsible for setting the vision of and goals for the district. They strive to provide quality education for our students, Supt. Dr. Jeff Danielsen said. The school board also hires quality educators, adopts policies and evaluates progress while always keeping the best interests of our students in mind. As elected leaders, school board members serve as the link between the school and community members. They work tirelessly for our students, staff and community. No last date set With four snow days under the Watertown School Districts belt, most students are assured of being in school after the original end date of May 23. How long is a question that has yet to be answered. Broaching the topic near the end of the board meeting, Danielsen said the school calendar has given the district leeway to make up missed school days to Friday, May 31. But with the ongoing winter weather allowing the possibility for more missed days, Danielsen said an official new last day of school has not yet been determined. No public or official pronouncement will probably be made because weve got a heck of a lot of winter left, Danielsen said. Steichen recognized For the first time in more than 20 years, the Watertown School District will need to look for a new transportation director to coordinate how to get kids to and from school in a safe manner. The board approved longtime Transportation Director Tim Steichens retirement request Monday effective at the end of the school year. Steichens request was approved along with retirement requests from elementary art teacher Deb Eisenbeisz, Lincoln Elementary School Reading Recovery teacher Robbin Gerberding, Watertown Intermediate School teacher Blair Titze and Lake Area Technical Institute Food Service Director Cindy Ward. With Steichen sitting in the audience at Mondays meeting, Linngren took the opportunity to thank him. I always hesitate when we approve retirements to single out particular individuals. I do think its appropriate in this case, especially with the winter weve had, to make special note of Tims retirement, Linngren said. That transportation department is pretty important. Steichen began his career with the Brookings School District in 1976. He has been with the Watertown School District since 1989 and has been the districts transportation director since 1997. Arrow Education Foundation makes donation The success of the Arrow Education Foundations CHAIRity campaign resulted in a second $70,000 donation to the school district Monday night. With another payment scheduled for next year pending the sale of naming rights to the remaining chairs, which number less than 300, in the Civic Arenas upper level, AEF Board of Directors President Karla Christensen and AEF coordinator Dan Albertsen presented the check to the school board. The donated funds will help reimburse the school district for the Civic Arena upgrades as well as provide more monetary grants to the districts students and teachers. Naming rights can be purchased for $144 per chair, or $1,000 for seven chairs. A $1,000 or more donation will get the donor, or donors, a place on a Civic Arena wall of fame set to be installed this summer. The board also approved an expected third and final change order for the recently completed locker room renovations adjacent to the Civic Arena. The change order resulted in a $6,155 expense to the school district for electrical work. With the change order, locker room renovations will finish with a price tag of $1,602,218, down from the original contract amount of $1.613 million. Staff reports Watertown Public Opinion Lost luggage, apparently, is like the weather: everyone complains about it, but nobody does anything. Like many frequent travelers, Ive learned never to check luggage unless its completely unavoidable. There are two primary reasons for this. One is the lack of flexibility when flights are delayed or canceled. Being nimble by carrying on all your luggage gives you far more options to quickly change flights and connecting cities. This greatly increases your chances of getting to your destination sooner. Having checked luggage when things go wrong with flights (and they often do) can severely limit options and needlessly delay arriving at your destination. The second is the concern that your luggage may not show up at your destination when you do. This can cause a plethora of problems that are just best avoided. I much prefer to prevent having to choose between showing up in my jeans to deliver a keynote speech or spending $1,000 in a panic to replace dress clothes. For those reasons Ive become a light and efficient traveler who can fit everything I need into carryon baggage for even a two-week trip. This means I always carry on two items, the largest roller board that legally qualifies and an efficiently designed backpack. This certainly qualifies me as an overhead bin hog and further necessitates my being one of the first people on the plane in order to stow my bags ahead of all the other overhead bin hogs. Being first to board a plane isnt that difficult; it simply requires having a credit card issued by the airline. Of course, not all travelers are compulsive/obsessive road warriors. Sometimes you just want or need to check your luggage. What do you do if your luggage shows up damaged at baggage claim or doesnt show up at all? Surprisingly, what most travelers do is nothing. To be specific, 87 percent of travelers dont even file a claim when their luggage has been damaged, delayed, or lost, according to a survey of more than 2,000 travelers done by AirHelp. Even though under the Montreal Convention (which has been ratified by 120 countries) and U.S. federal law, passengers may be entitled to claim between $1,525 and $3,500 in compensation from the airline at fault, over $6 billion in compensation is left unclaimed by travelers every year. AirHelps survey results show three main reasons why passengers did not file a claim for compensation due to luggage issues: they did not think they would be entitled to compensation (41 percent), they were not aware of their rights (31 percent), and they did not know how to file a claim (29 percent). Clearly travelers are leaving money owed to them in the hands of the airlines. According to AirHelp CEO Henrik Zillmer, Our survey shows that travelers have a lot to learn when it comes to their rights, and that airlines and policymakers have much work to do, in order to better serve travelers. If your luggage is delayed, lost or damaged, you must file a claim, either online or, preferably, before leaving the airport. This requires completing a Property Irregularity Report (PIR) claim for misplaced luggage, including the case number of your bags. The more detailed the claim, the better off you will be. This means including an itemized list of the contents and each items value. I recommend creating this list on your phone, including photographs, before you begin your trip. Filing a claim does not guarantee youll receive compensation, but with enough supporting data and pictures, you very well may. However, failing to file guarantees youll get nothing. Its just as futile as complaining about the weather. Rick Kahler is president of Kahler Financial Group of Rapid City. Toto the missing sea-going stray dog now in Soi Dogs care, ready for adoption After many a long walk on the tough surface of the roads through the heat and rain of Phuket, Toto, the dog who never gave up looking for his owner, eventually found in himself in Rawai, miles from where his journey began. Following weeks of roaming, he is now in the care of Soi Dog Foundation and ready to find a new home. Pets By Soi Dog Foundation Tuesday 12 February 2019, 11:56AM Toto was transported to Soi Dog Foundation on February 7 and they have confirmed he is ready for adoption. Though he was not injured, Totos nails were completely worn out because of the distances he had run on the hard surface of the road, desperately searching for his family. According to eye-witnesses, Toto repeatedly jumped on tour boats that were tied up to the pier every day and even jumped into the water, intent on following one of the boats in the hope of finding his owner. Toto, a 3 year old male dog, was abandoned in November 2018 when his owner returned to France and chose to leave his loyal, loving dog behind with somebody who couldnt take care of him properly or protect him from being abused by neighbours. The journey of this poor dog started that day. Somehow he escaped from the situation he was put in but nobody knows how he ended up at Chalong Pier, where he was found in December, or how much he had been through. According to eye-witnesses, Toto repeatedly jumped on tour boats that were tied up to the pier every day and even jumped into the water, intent on following one of the boats in the hope of finding his owner. Sadly, he didnt realise he had been abandoned by the one he was looking for the whole time. Later that month, he was reported to have disappeared from Chalong Pier. Fortunately for Toto, a kind man from Finland noticed him after he was seen following some tourists from Soi Saiyuan 4 to Soi Saiyuan 10 in Rawai. Though he was not injured, Totos nails were completely worn out because of the distances he had run on the hard surface of the road, desperately searching for his family. The man took Toto to rest at his house before sending him to Soi Dogs mobile clinic which was in Rawai at the time. Toto needed sterilizing and vaccinating. The vets in the clinic gave him a full health check and tick control treatment and declared him fit and healthy. Toto had no tattoo on his ear but was wearing a black collar with a pink rubber band to identify him. He is incredibly friendly and craves affection and security. Everything about him says he is yearning for a loving home said his rescuer. Sadly, I cannot adopt him as I am leaving for Europe soon but I will make sure he does not end up back on the streets, even if we fail to find a new home for him by that time. If you ever wanted a loving dog who would walk through fire for you, Toto is that dog. Toto was transported to Soi Dog Foundation on February 7 and they have confirmed he is ready for adoption. This beautiful dog deserves a home. He has been searching and searching and, clearly, the owner he was looking for doesnt deserve him. A great lesson here, dont take dogs in if you cant take them with you when you go. So many foreigners here take a dog thinking they are helping the dog but it is actually for selfish gain because when they leave the country, they think they can just leave the dog with someone else. There are so many cases like this. Its better to leave the dog on the street than to take them home for a short time only to abandon them, said John Higgs, a Board Member of Soi Dog Foundation. Toto is waiting at Soi Dog Foundation for a second chance to become somebodys best friend. His only wish now is to have a caring family who can give him a place to call his own and a home where he really belongs. Guns drawn as tempers flare in Nui Beach land dispute PHUKET: Karon Police will seek arrest warrants to be issued tomorrow (Feb 13) for two men who threatened their rivals at gunpoint over land dispute on the dirt road that leads to Nui Beach. violencepoliceland By The Phuket News Tuesday 12 February 2019, 08:14PM Two men brandishing guns in the confrontation were caught on dashcam video. Screengrab: Spotlight Thailand Col Prasan Harngotha Chief Karon Police confirmed to The Phuket News today (Feb 12) that his officers will seek arrest warrants to be issued for Paitoon Silapawisut and another man who police have so far identified only as Mr Man over the confrontation, which occurred on Jan 28. Arrest warrants are to be sought for charges of carrying a firearm in public, having a firearm without a permit to carry, and joint attack on a person/s (affray), Col Prasan said. We will check whether these men have permits for their guns, but I believe they dont have any, he added. We will apply to the Phuket Provincial Court for the arrest warrants tomorrow (Feb 13), Col Prasan confirmed. Col Prasan explained that the violent confrontation, which occurred at 5:30pm on Jan 28, is just the latest in an ongoing dispute over land near Nui Beach. They had previously argued about a sala at the entrance to Nui Beach on their land, Col Prasan said. At this stage we have yet to learn all the details about which land is being claimed by who. It is complicated, but we will take action of these (violent and gun) crimes. We need to question the suspects and the victims further, he added. The latest clash between the two warring parties was caught on dashcam video, and came to light after the video was shared on the Thai-language Facebook page Spotlight Thailand. (Click here.) Karon Police posted their public response to the sharing of the video on their Facebook page yesterday. (Click here.) Police explained that one man, Thawatchai Nakthong, was accused of setting fire to a sala alongside the road to Nui Beach. The sala belonged to Sulaiman Boonteang. Sulaiman arrived at scene with two friends: Suwa Pengurai and Dusit Salaiphet. The three men approached Thawatchai, but then another vehicle turned up, out of which four men exited and a fight ensued. Among the four men who got out of the car were Paitoon and Mr Man, as well as Phacharapon Jareudet and another man who police did not identify. Paitoon and Mr Man were carrying guns, police noted. In the ensuing attack, Mr Suwa and Mr Dusit were repeatedly kicked and punched, and at least one of them struck on the head with a handgun. Mr Sulaiman was not injured in the attack, police reported. After the fight the four suspects fled the scene in the car they had arrived in. Col Prasan Harngotha told The Phuket News today (Feb 12), We received a formal complaint of the attack at 10pm on Jan 28. Now we know which suspects used the firearms and the other two suspects who were not carrying guns, he said, though declining to reveal the names of the two remaining unnamed suspects. However, he added, that Mr Suwa and Mr Dusit have had their injuries documented by doctors and filed the medical reports with police. Asked why the delay in taking action to follow up on the incident, Col Prasan said, We needed time to collect information enough for arrest warrants. La separacion entre estos dos cantantes urbanos ya se sabia, pero se afirma que la Bichota y el reggaetonero boricua no tiene una relacion The humanitarian aid that is being stockpiled in the Colombian border city of Cucuta will begin entering Venezuela in the coming days, the head of the opposition-controlled Parliament, Juan Guaido, said on Sunday. The aid is ... at the collection centers and we expect that in the coming days well have the first entry into Venezuela, said the interim president, who is recognized as the countrys legitimate leader by dozens of nations around the world, to reporters after attending Sunday Mass in Caracas. In addition to the aid collection activities in Cucuta, in kind humanitarian aid of various sorts has begun to be collected at two other sites - one in Brazil and another on an as-yet-unspecified Caribbean island. It is forecast that the medicine and food being collected in Cucuta will enter Venezuela via the Tienditas bridge, a modern structure that links the two nations. However, members of the Bolivarian National Guard - the GNB, Venezuelas militarized police - have blocked the bridge using three large truck trailers, thus preventing vehicles from crossing from Colombia Guaido said that elected Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro refuses to acknowledge the crisis that they created. In that regard, he emphasized that Venezuelans must work very hard ... so that the usurpation (of power by Maduro) ends and simultaneously attend to the emergency. Therefore, he said that blocking the entry of humanitarian aid makes the Maduro government into almost a genocidal regime because theyre murdering by action and by omission. Once again, he sent a message to the military and expressed his doubts about whether anyone today wants to sacrifice themselves to adhere to the call by a person (Maduro) who has lost his bearings and who has no international support. Guaido also emphasized that it is very clear that civility ... without doubt will support the entry of the humanitarian aid. Also on Sunday, Guaido said that his wifes grandmother was intimidated by collectives, as the armed civilian paramilitary organizations that support Maduros Chavista government are known. On (Saturday), in Tovar, where my daughter Mirandas great-grandmother lives, Fabianas grandmother, several collectives were ordered to go to (her) house, Guaido told reporters in Caracas at the close of the Sunday Mass. Meanwhile, Maduro launched a series of military exercises that will last until next Friday, taking advantage of the occasion to shout Get out! to his US counterpart - Donald Trump - claiming that Washington intends to intervene militarily or otherwise in Venezuela. Let Donald Trump not threaten us. Get out of Venezuela, Donald Trump. Out with your threats, here there is an armed force and here there is a people to defend their honor, dignity and the decorum of a homeland that has been fighting for more than 200 years, Maduro said at an event with the military in the state of Miranda, near Caracas. In his remarks, which were broadcast on state-run VTV television, Maduro announced that he will approve the investments needed for Venezuela to have a complete anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense and make the US empire ... pay dearly should it have the temerity to touch the sacred soil of ... Venezuela. Also on Sunday, more than 30 Venezuelan physicians crossed into Colombia and then traveled to the Tienditas international bridge, where they demonstrated to call for the entry of humanitarian aid into their country, stating that it can save many lives. The doctors, wearing their white coats, stationed themselves at the border crossing, where they displayed a gigantic Venezuelan flag and began calling for the entry of the aid that is being collected in Cucuta, Colombia, just across the bridge from Venezuela, as well as in Brazil and in the Caribbean. They said that they work in the cities of San Antonio and Urena in Tachira state, and most of them had crossed into Colombia over the Simon Bolivar bridge and then headed to Tienditas in taxis, buses and by other means. Meanwhile, the 16 countries of the Southern Africa Development Community expressed their solidarity with the Venezuelan people and with Maduro, whom they called the democratically elected president, condemning attempts by foreign leaders to interfere in Venezuelas affairs. They also urged the international community to respect the result of the May 2018 election, which Maduro won handily, largely because he banned opposition figures from taking part. In Addis Ababa, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for dialogue between the Venezuelan government and opposition. Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello on Sunday said that he does not know where the humanitarian aid his administration sent to Venezuela currently is, but the islands secretary of state, Luis Rivera Marin, said that it had arrived in the South American country. Rossello told reporters at a session of the governing PNP party that for security reasons he did not know the location of the aircraft that took off from San Juan with the aid last Thursday. The important thing is that theres a commitment to Venezuela. I dont have any information. The information about this (aid) could not be divulged for security reasons. But our commitment is were going to redirect all that aid to arrive in Venezuela and get to its president, Juan Guaido. I dont know where it is, he said. When questioned about whether Rivera Marin made a mistake when he said that the plane carrying the aid had arrived in Venezuela, Rossello answered that the important thing is the islands interest in the South American country. In Venezuela, however, thousands of citizens on Sunday signed up on a specially created Web page to be volunteers who will distribute food and medicine to their fellow citizens - if and when it arrives from abroad. The move comes after Guaido announced the establishment of a Web page to organize the ranks of volunteers who want to participate in distributing the humanitarian aid, although for the moment that aid is being blocked by the Maduro government and the countrys military. This subscription will allow curernt subscribers of The News Guard to access all of our online Subscriber-Only content, including the E Editions area. NOTE: To claim your access to the site, you will need to enter the Last Name and First Name that is tied to your subscription in this format: SMITH, JOHN If you need help with exactly how your specific name needs be entered, please call us at 1-541-994-2178 or email admin@countrymedia.net. 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JAMES FLEET INVESTMENTS TWO LIMITED, 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, THE PROSPECT COMPANY, TIC EUROPEAN REAL ESTATE LP LLC, TLA HOLDINGS II LLC, TLA HOLDINGS III LLC, TLA HOLDINGS LLC, TRANSMOUNTAIN LAND & LIVESTOCK COMPANY, VIRIDIAN MIRACLE MILE LLC, Versant Health, WFP 1000 HOLDING COMPANY GP LLC, WHITE OAK ROYALTY COMPANY, and ZAO MASTER D. 1+ days ago | June 22nd, 6:10 AM Gold is Dead? Should You Opt for Gold (Over Crypto) in Your Portfolio? When meme coins surged earlier this year (remember Dogecoin mania?) it might've been easy to dump everything you owned stocks, bonds, gold for crypto. Then digital currencies took a nosedive again. Young retail investors might deem actual coins including precious metals all but dead. But you might not want to Silangit International Airport in North Sumatra is to be expanded to become almost five times its current size of the total area. As reported by kompas.com, PT Angkasa Pura II president director Muhammad Awaluddin said on Monday that tourism around Lake Toba increased after the airport was revitalized in 2017, which allowed direct flights from Jakarta. The airport needs to have a capacity for 1 million passengers per year, Awaluddin said. It is the main access for tourists traveling to Lake Toba, which has been named one of the 'New Bali' destinations. Read also: Silangit airport welcomes first international flight from Singapore The airports runway is also to be expanded, from 2,400 by 30 meters in size to 2,650 by 45 m, to accommodate larger aircraft such as the Boeing 737-800 NG. In addition, the airport's parking facilities are to be expanded to 8,231 square m, while a 2,250-sq-m cargo warehouse is to be built. The airport has recorded a continuous increase in passenger numbers since 2017, up to 425,476 people last year. The expansion is intended to double the airport's current capacity for 500,000 passengers per year. (wng) An Air New Zealand plane on its way to Shanghai was forced to return to Auckland after several hours in the air on Saturday because paperwork for the flight included a reference to Taiwan, Stuff reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The problem related to documentation from New Zealands Civil Aviation Authority which was included as part of Air New Zealands application to allow the aircraft to land in China, the report said. Officials in Beijing had warned the airline to remove any references which suggested Taiwan was a state, however the issue was not resolved, according to the report. During a press conference in Beijing Monday, Chinas foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying blamed the flights temporary deployment hiccup as the reason it was not authorized to land in China, citing news reports she read online. Air New Zealand did not immediately respond to a Stuffs request for comment. Read also: Visitors to New Zealand must sign Tiaki Promise to protect environment Some airlines, including American Airlines Group Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc., United Continental Holdings Inc., Hawaiian Holdings Inc., Qantas Airways Ltd., Air France-KLM and Deutsche Lufthansa AG cooperated with Chinas wishes on reference to Taiwan before last years deadline. China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since the nationalist Kuomintang government fled to Taiwan after the civil war defeat in the 1940s. Chinas Communist Party regards the island as its territory to be taken by force if necessary. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tue, February 12, 2019 16:06 863 ab327006fac3d4a4e8af45a51b2981be 2 SE Asia #Malaysia,#France,lawyer,probe,submarine,purchase Free A French lawyer probing a controversial submarine deal linked to Malaysia's ousted leader Najib Razak was Tuesday set to meet officials to aid investigations into the scandal. William Bourdon, who represents local human rights group Suaram over the French submarine deal, was deported from Malaysia on his last visit in 2011 when Najib's scandal-mired regime was still in power. But after a historic change of government last year, he returned to the country to help a new investigation into the case. Malaysia purchased two French-made Scorpene submarines for $1.2 billion in 2002 while Najib was defence minister. The French submarine maker Naval Group -- then called DCNS -- is alleged to have paid more than 114 million euros ($128 million) in kickbacks to a shell company linked to Abdul Razak Baginda, a close Najib associate who brokered the deal. Razak Baginda's Mongolian mistress Altantuya Shaariibuu, who was said to have demanded a cut for translating during negotiations, was shot dead and her body blown up with military-grade plastic explosives near Kuala Lumpur in 2006. The case sank off the radar after a Malaysian court in 2008 cleared Razak Baginda of abetting the murder, sparking allegations of a huge cover-up to protect Najib. Bourdon was set to meet with Malaysian Attorney-General Tommy Thomas on Tuesday to discuss the case, and anti-corruption officials. "This is a complex case, you can imagine that they will like from us to update (them about) the proceedings in France," he told a press conference. "Of course we will answer the questions as far as we can." A French investigation was launched in 2010 after complaints from Suaram, and has already led to four French executives involved in the deal and Razak Baginda being charged. They all deny wrongdoing. Najib was questioned by anti-graft officials over the case in November after Malaysia's new government took office and reopened investigations into the submarine deal. The former premier, who is also embroiled in a separate scandal over the alleged looting of state fund 1MDB, denies any wrongdoing. Najib's long-ruling coalition was voted out of power in May in large part due to the 1MDB scandal. The ex-leader has been arrested over the controversy and is due to stand trial. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 13 2019 With just weeks until the March 29 deadline to leave the European Union, Britain could not be faulted for trying to compensate for the less pleasing side effects of its divorce, by bolstering its alliances in other regions including with Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia. The British economy grew at its slowest pace in six years in 2018, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Monday, as fears grow that Britain could crash out of the EU without a deal and businesses are left on edge with no firm arrangements in place. Last year, gross domestic product growth stood at 1.4 percent, down from 1.8 percent in 2017, while growth was only 0.2 percent in the last three months of 2018, the ONS said in a statement quoted by AFP. The bleak official figures came as the British government seeks to win more time to secure EU concessi... Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Nurni Sulaiman (The Jakarta Post) Yala, Thailand Wed, February 13 2019 Farida is a batik enthusiast. So strong is her fondness for batik that the resident of Yala in southern Thailand, visited the Indonesia Pavilion and bought batik every day during the sixth edition of the annual Melayu Day @Yala. The Malay cultural festival, which ran from Feb. 8 to 10, featured participants from Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. The Indonesia Pavilion showcased products and crafts from small and medium enterprises (SMEs), several universities, the Binjai administration of North Sumatra province and handcrafts from Dharma Wanita, an organization that groups the wives of Indonesian consular employees in Songkhla, Thailand. I love batik and I have a collection, including some [textiles] from Indonesia. I like the motifs and designs of Indonesian batik, said Farida. Since the ... Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Maksum Nur Fauzan (The Jakarta Post) Surakarta, Central Java Wed, February 13 2019 Reel repository: A collection of cassette tapes at the Lokananta Museum. These days, one might think that the music industry has been fully digitalized, but there are some small circles that are more interested in the old-school sounds of audio cassette tapes. This analog recording format first appeared in 1963 and the youngsters of today might deem them outdated, or they may not even know what they are. Nevertheless, cassettes exist to this day. Indonesias oldest recording company, the legendary Lokananta, for example, recently produced 6,200 cassettes of indie bands within two weeks. The strong brand of Lokananta has won the trust of todays indie bands. The company has been the hallmark of cassette production since 1971, when it released the debut album for Waldjinah, a maestro of keroncong (Portuguese-influenced pop music), titled Entit.... Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Badung Wed, February 13 2019 Suspects on display: Two men accused of drug smuggling, Asabi Bahri (front left) and Abdul Rahman Asman (back), are escorted by officials during a press conference in Denpasar, Bali, on Tuesday. Bahri, an American, was allegedly caught with 45 grams of marijuana while Asman, a Tanzanian, allegedly hid 1.1 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine inside his stomach.(JP/Zul Trio Anggono) Customs and excise officers at Bali airport have arrested a Tanzanian man, Abdul Rahman Asman, 42, for allegedly attempting to smuggle drugs onto the resort island by swallowing more than 1.1 kilograms of sabu-sabu (crystal methamphetamine) in capsules, Asman arrived on Qatar Airways QR 962 from Doha on Jan. 30. He was arrested after acting suspiciously when passing through customs. Officers searched his belongings and found nothing. After the inspection, customs officers d... Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Wed, February 13 2019 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have little choice but to sit down together to minimize the impacts of their nose-diving bilateral relations. If the leaders fail to set aside their egos and political ambitions, the two nations, and even their neighbors, would have to endure the political, economic and security effects of their endless quarrels. Both nations are on the brink of one of their worst disputes since they agreed to resume diplomatic relations in 1965. Moon, a former human rights lawyer, made it clear he was not satisfied with the 2015 comfort women agreement reached between Prime Minister Abe and then-president Park Geun-hye. Moon explained he had no intention to review the agreement, but insisted that Japan should do more. On Monday, South Korean Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang said in an interview that the abdic... Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 12, 2019 15:58 863 ab327006fac3d4a4e8af45a51b296e2a 1 City children,health,Nutrition,West-Jakarta Free Some 10 percent of toddlers in West Jakarta suffer from health problems, most of which are related to nutrition, the municipality has announced. West Jakarta assistant of administration and public welfare Yunus Burhan said that the administration had taken actions to address the issue. Three of the most common health problems are stunting, being underweight and obesity. These are the problems were facing right now, he said as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com on Tuesday. There are about 110,000 toddlers in the municipality, 10 percent of whom have health problems, Yunus said. But not all of the health issues are related to nutrition. Some of them suffer from congenital diseases like lung and heart diseases, he added. West Jakarta Health Agency head Weningtyas Purnomo Rini said the agency had attempted to prevent the problems at an early stage. We have to check the parents to find out whether they carry diseases that they might hand down to their children, she said. (vla) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Kharishar Kahfi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 12, 2019 11:49 863 ab327006fac3d4a4e8af45a51b28ab56 1 National volcanic-activity,volcanic-eruption,Sinabung,Mount-Karangetang,merapi,Krakatau,Anak-Krakatau,Mount-Agung,natural-disaster,BNPB Free The eruption of little-known volcano Mount Karangetang in Siau Island, North Sulawesi, has added to the list of active volcanoes that have recently awakened in the archipelago, home to more than 230 million people. Indonesia has more than 120 volcanoes, 20 of which have been considered to be the most active, according to the latest data from the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG). The most active volcanoes are placed into three alert levels by local authorities: level II of Waspada (Caution), level III of Siaga (Alert) and level IV of Awas (Danger) the highest on the alert level. Here are five of the most active volcanoes that have rumbled recently: Mount Karangetang Mount Karangetang in Siau Island, North Sulawesi, located roughly 146 kilometers from the provincial capital of Manado, has been erupting since November last year. Its activity has only increased since then, prompting the PVMBG to declare an Alert status in December. As of Sunday, local observation posts said that volcanic activity had been fluctuating, with a number of volcanic earthquakes occurring in the last several days. Officials also observed a flow of lava from one of the craters. A flow of lava from one of the craters of Mount Karangetang in Siau Island, North Sulawesi. (National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB)/File) The situation prompted local residents to leave their homes and take shelter at a safe location. As of Sunday, at least 216 residents have taken refuge while around 499 have been isolated in their homes in Batubulan village near the mountain. Authorities have been working to reach the isolated residents through the sea, as all land roads were already blocked due to the eruption. Mount Agung The latest eruption from the volcano, located in Karangasem regency, Bali, occurred on Dec. 30. Since then, it has erupted several times, with the latest occurring on Friday. During the latest eruption, local observation posts reported lava spewing from the crater. The PVMBG said the volcano had been placed under Alert status, while the danger zone was still within a radius of 4 kilometers from the peak. Sungguh memesona gunungnya! Di balik erupsi Gunung Agung pada November 2017 lalu meninggalkan kenangan yang amat indah. Deretan gunung-gunung menambah pesona dan eksotisme bagi penikmat alam semesta. pic.twitter.com/n1bfHqPcik Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (@Sutopo_PN) June 30, 2018 In 2017, the volcano erupted multiple times, causing a tourism slowdown that saw around 1 million fewer tourists visiting the island. Authorities estimated Rp 11 trillion (US$783 million) in losses for tourism-related businesses. The eruption also urged authorities to temporary close Ngurah Rai International Airport as well as cancel inward and outward flights. Since then, the government has been wooing tourists to return to Bali by declaring the volcano safe for tourists as long as they stay outside the 4-km danger zone from the peak. BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho has been an avid supporter of volcano-related tourism. Mount Anak Krakatau Mount Anak Krakatau, which had been on Alert level since Dec. 27, erupted on Dec. 22 last year. The eruption was a contributing factor of a tsunami hitting Banten and Lampung on the same day. The tsunami, reaching as high as 3 meters according to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), was caused by an abnormal tidal wave surge due to a full moon and an underwater landslide following the eruption of Anak Krakatau Volcano. According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), at least 426 people died, and 23 others were lost during the disaster. The latest eruption also shrunk the volcano to almost a third its original height, from 338 m to 110 m. Save whats left: Police personnel help residents collect pieces of a collapsed house at Carita Beach in Pandeglang, Banten, on Wednesday. The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) reported that the tsunami, which was triggered by eruptions from Anak Krakatau, left 430 people dead, 1,495 injured, 159 missing and 21,991 displaced. (The Jakarta Post/Dhoni Setiawan ) The PVMBG concluded on Dec. 30 that the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau had stopped based on data from satellite imagery and weather observations. This, however, did not rule out the possibility of the volcano in the Sunda Strait erupting anew in the near future. On Monday, the PVMBG said it had not recorded eruptions from the volcano from Feb. 4 to 11. Mount Sinabung Mount Sinabung observation post officer Arief Cahyo Purnomo said in December that the volcanos activity had decreased over the last few months. The office has not recorded eruptions since June 2018. The volcano first erupted in August 2010 for the first time in hundreds of years. The local authority, however, maintained its status at Danger, the highest of the official four-level warning system. The 2,400-meter volcano is still under 24-hour supervision. In a recent turn of events, the mountain showed some good news. According to a report from PVMBG on Monday, no eruption occurred on Mount Sinabung between Feb. 4 and 10. The mountains crater, however, was seen of spewing thin white smoke that reached 400 meters from its peak. Authorities also recorded dozens of earthquakes, including a volcanic one, occurring within the week. Mount Sinabung in Karo Regency, North Sumatra spews volcanic ashes in a series of eruptions on Feb. 19, 2018. (JP/Apriadi Gunawan) Mount Merapi Mount Merapi in Central Java has yet to show any significant increase in its volcanic activities since one of its largest eruption in 2010. At that time, more than 350 people were killed while 350,000 others were displaced. Most of the victims lived on the volcanos slopes. Dust has settled: A student wears a mask to protect her from volcanic ash in Yogyakarta during the eruption of Mount Merapi in 2010. (JP/Boy T Harjanto) The volcano, one of the worlds most active, is located at the point where four regencies meet: the Central Java regencies of Magelang, Boyolali and Klaten, and Sleman regency in Yogyakarta. Mt. Merapi's warning status on Monday, was still Caution the second of the four-tiered national volcano alert system that has been in place since May 2018. Despite the relatively low alert status, local observation posts have seen heightened volcanic activity in mid-January, as Mount Merapi spewed incandescent lava from its crater. Local residents stayed on guard due to the heightened activity by increasing the frequency of their independently organized patrols tasked to remind other people to stay out the danger zone of 3-kilometer radius from the crater. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Amir Havasi and Kay Amin Serjoie (Agence France-Presse) Tehran, Iran Tue, February 12, 2019 09:39 863 ab327006fac3d4a4e8af45a51b27eb98 2 World #Iran,#anniversary,Iran,celebration,anniversary,revolution Free Iran's president on Monday insisted "enemy" plots against the country would fail as vast crowds marked 40 years since the Islamic revolution at a time of heightened tensions with the United States. "The presence of people today on the streets all over Islamic Iran... means that the enemy will never reach its evil objectives," a defiant President Hassan Rouhani told those thronging Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square, decrying a "conspiracy" involving Washington. Chador-clad women, militia members in camouflage fatigues and ordinary citizens marched through the capital in freezing rain to commemorate the day in February 1979 that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ended millennia of royal rule. The routes leading up to the square were packed with people as loudspeakers blared revolutionary anthems and slogans. Life-size replicas of Iranian-made cruise and ballistic missiles stood in a statement of defiance after the US last year reimposed sanctions following its withdrawal from a deal on Tehran's nuclear programme. Rouhani lambasted calls from the United States and Europe for a fresh agreement to curb Iran's missile programme. "We have not, and will not, request permission from anyone for increasing our defensive power and for building all kinds of... missiles," he told the crowd. Speaking from a flower-festooned stage overlooking the square, the president warned that Iran was now far stronger than when it faced off against Saddam Hussein's Iraq in a devastating 1980-1988 war. "Today the whole world should know that the Islamic Republic of Iran is considerably more powerful than the days of the war," Rouhani said. Seemingly reaching out to his political critics within the country, the president added: "The more we allow different ideas, beliefs and (political) factions the stronger our system will be." A pre-prepared resolution was read out ahead of his speech that proclaimed "unquestioning obedience to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei" and called US President Donald Trump an "idiot". In a tweet written on the anniversary that he also sent out in Farsi, Trump said the revolution had been a complete failure. "40 years of corruption. 40 years of repression. 40 years of terror. The regime in Iran has produced only #40YearsofFailure," he wrote. "The long-suffering Iranian people deserve a much brighter future," the American president added. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran that this year could be the last time it celebrates the anniversary if it attacks his country. "If this regime makes the awful mistake of trying to destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa, it will not succeed," he said. "However, this would be the last anniversary of the revolution that they celebrate." The events Monday were the culmination of official celebrations called the "10 Day Dawn" that marks the period between February 1, 1979 and February 11 when Shiite cleric Khomeini retuned from exile and ousted the shah's last government. The state has played up this year's anniversary as 40 is symbolic of maturity in the Islamic tradition and the age at which Prophet Mohammed received revelations from God. But despite the official festivities today's Islamic republic faces acute economic challenges as it struggles with a mix of domestic hardships and US sanctions. 'Support the revolution' State television offered blanket coverage of the commemorations, showing marches in cities ranging from Abadan in southwestern Iran to Mashhad in the northeast. Banners held by marchers or hung along the streets bore slogans including "Death to America", "Death to Israel", "we will trample on America", "forty yeas of challenge, forty years of US defeats". A number of Israeli and American flags were set on fire by the crowds. An anchor on state television warned of hostile foreign media trying to downsize the participation of Iranians in the march but expressed confidence that "they would be confounded by the unprecedented level of attendance". Those who took to the streets were bullish despite the economic problems in the country, made worse by Washington's punitive measures. Former public servant Saaghi insisted that it remained paramount for Iranians to stick by the revolution. "We are here to support the revolution," the 57-year-old pensioner, who refused to give his first name, told AFP at the event in Tehran. He compared the US sanctions and economic hardships to "riding a bicycle when someone puts a stick in the wheels" but pointed to advances in other fields as more than making up for them. "On the revolution's 40th anniversary we are at the top for scientific achievements like nanotechnology or accurate missiles," he said. Cleric Hossein Firouzi told AFP Iran's revolution had achieved everything it set out to in terms of military power, political identity and scientific achievements. "Iran has changed from a backwards nation to a world power," said the 50-year-old. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Karina M. Tehusijarana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 12 2019 As public attention has focused on the increasingly heated presidential election campaign, it is easy to forget tens of thousands of candidates vying for seats at national and local legislatures. Nearly 8,000 candidates are running for 575 seats at the House of Representatives and tens of thousands are running for 19,817 seats at provincial, regency or city-level legislative councils (DPRD). The simultaneous nature of this years elections mean the legislative elections have been overshadowed by the hubbub surrounding the presidential race. But even voters who actively seek information have little to go by. The Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) found that 25.5 percent or 2,049 of the registered House candidates, opted not to disclose their personal information to the public through the General Elections Commission (KPU) website. Many... Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Lara Robertson (The Jakarta Post) Bantar Gebang, Bekasi Tue, February 12 2019 The Bantar Gebang waste landfill. (AFP/Goh Chai Hin) One woman is trying to make a difference for the children who live in the middle of Southeast Asias biggest landfill, Bantar Gebang in Bekasi, West Java, just two hours outside Jakarta. Resa Boenard moved with her family from West Sumatra to Bantar Gebang when she was 6 years old, a few years before 1989, when the area was turned into a landfill. Bantar Gebang was a beautiful expanse of rice fields 24 years ago, said Resa. It was beautiful around my house. The reason my parents originally bought this land is because [they] wanted me to experience living near rice fields. Today, Bantar Gebang is home to the thousands of tons of trash that Jakarta produces daily and to around 6,000 families who spend their days scouring the stinking piles of trash to find anythin... Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Panca Nugraha (The Jakarta Post) Mataram Tue, February 12, 2019 12:32 863 ab327006fac3d4a4e8af45a51b28c4c1 1 National legislative-seats,general-elections,DPRD,Central-Lombok,West-Nusa-Tenggara Free A legislative candidate in Central Lombok regency, West Nusa Tenggara, has acquired nationwide fame, not because of his proposed programs, but because of his unique name: Bobot Maksimum, which translates to Maximum Weight. Bobot, 24, is from Kawo village in Pujut district in Central Lombok. He said his unique name made him a viral sensation on social media. I made an outdoor banner for my campaign and I did some social media campaigning as well. People share it because they think my name is unique, Bobot told The Jakarta Post on Monday. Bobot is actually not a large person. He said he weighed 56 kilograms and was 168 centimeters tall. Many thought his name was not his real name but Bobot said it was the name he was given at birth and that all his documents had that name. Tau Gak ka? Kalo Bobot Maksimum itu nama seseorang, yang uniknya lagi seseorang tersebut terbilang kurus perawakannya Itu merupakan kenunikan dari Caleg DPRD Partai NasDem Lombok Tengah Dapil Pujut-Praya Timur Jadi jangan minder ya yang Berbobot Maksimum#BobotMaksimum pic.twitter.com/PldBj5Rbbh Partai NasDem (@NasDem) January 11, 2019 The young man said his programs would improve the welfare of people in his electoral district. Bobot said his parents gave him the name because he was born underweight. When I was born, I almost died. I had this illness; my stomach was bulging but I was thin, he said. His parents planned on naming him Aryandika Putra Sentosa but changed it to Bobot Maksimum to wish him good health. He said the name made him an awkward child at school because many people asked him about his name. However later, he was grateful for his name because he said it made him famous as a legislative candidate from the NasDem Party. He said his younger sister and brother also had unique names. His sister is named Lulus Ujian Dari, or Passing the Test. He said his parents named her that because the family had just recovered from hardship when she was born. His younger brothers name is Bibit Milinium or Millennium Seed. He was born when our economic condition was better. When he was born in 2005, there was this childrens TV program called Panji Manusia Milenium. It inspired my father to name my brother Bibit Milinium, said Bobot, who runs a grocery store in his village. (evi) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 12, 2019 10:27 863 ab327006fac3d4a4e8af45a51b28628b 4 Business Jokowi,avtur,price,pertamina,meeting Free After lowering fuel prices for land transportation, President Joko Jokowi Widodo will likely call on state-owned oil and gas holding company Pertamina to lower the price of aviation turbine fuel (avtur), which has been blamed for the high operational costs of airlines. I just heard from Pak [tycoon] Chairul Tanjung about avtur sold at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, which is monopolized by Pertamina, said Jokowi when speaking at an event to celebrate the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) in Jakarta on Monday. During the event, the President heard the complaints from tourism players about the low-occupation rate of hotels in a number of regions, which they said was because of the high prices of airplane tickets. At the event, PHRI chairman Hariyadi Sukamdani complained to Jokowi that the price increase of airplane tickets of up to 40 percent had discouraged people from holidaying in other regions. The high prices of airplane tickets has reduced demand for travel. Hotel occupancy has declined by between 20 and 40 percent, Hariyadi added as quoted by kompas.com. Jokowi promised to discuss the issue with Pertamina. I will summon the Pertamina president director, Jokowi said, adding that the monopoly was the cause of the high avtur price. Jokowi said he would give two options to Pertamina lower the price or allow other companies to sell avtur. The President said allowing other companies to sell avtur would help lower prices and encourage efficiency. He said the avtur price in Indonesia was 30 percent higher than in neighboring countries, therefore the high price of avtur should be addressed to improve the competitiveness of the countrys airlines and tourist industry. It has impacted airline ticket prices because avtur contributes to 40 percent of [airline operational] cost, he added. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Washington, United States Tue, February 12, 2019 08:14 863 ab327006fac3d4a4e8af45a51b278d34 2 World #USA,#Iran,Donald-Trump,Iran,anniversary,failure,repression Free Iran's Islamic revolution four decades ago has been a complete failure for the country, President Donald Trump said Monday. In a tweet written on the anniversary of the upheaval that was also sent out in Farsi, Trump said: "40 years of corruption. 40 years of repression. 40 years of terror. The regime in Iran has produced only #40YearsofFailure. "The long-suffering Iranian people deserve a much brighter future," he added. Earlier, Trump's chief foreign policy advisor John Bolton issued a similar statement, tweeting that "it's been 40 yrs of failure. Now it's up to the Iranian regime to change its behavior, & ultimately up to the Iranian people to determine the direction of their country." Bolton said Washington would support "the will of the Iranian people, & stand behind them to ensure their voices are heard." Bolton, a leading hawk in the Trump administration's attempt to weaken Iranian influence, was tweeting as a huge crowd in Tehran gathered to celebrate the 1979 revolution, in which Muslim leader Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini ended the centuries-old rule of the royal dynasty. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told Iranians they should resist a "conspiracy" involving Washington. The Trump administration has pushed hard to weaken Iran and what it says is Tehran's "destabilizing" influence. The two countries have not had diplomatic relations since 1980, and Trump has pulled the United States from an international agreement meant to reward Iran for giving up nuclear weapon ambitions. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 12, 2019 17:31 863 ab327006fac3d4a4e8af45a51b29ac09 1 World #Prabowo,Prabowo-Sandiaga,Prabowo-Subianto,2019-change-president,2019-presidential-election,2019-elections,#2019PresidentialElection,2019-Ganti-Presiden,#2019changepresident,#2019-elections,Foreign-Affairs-Ministry,#ForeignMinistry,UN,#UN Free The Foreign Ministry has denied that a man who voiced his support for presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York, the United States, is a government official. In its official clarification issued on Tuesday, the ministry, through the Permanent Mission of Indonesia in New York, said the man in the viral video was neither a diplomat nor a representative of the Indonesian government. The person was a chaperone of an Indonesia-based youth group, which at that time was in New York for a debate competition, the ministry said in a written statement. It also said that the competition was not organized by the UN but by the non-governmental organization World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA), which is independent of the UN. The ministry later called on all parties, particularly Indonesians, to respect rules and ethics at the UN premises. On Monday, a video went viral of a man, later identified by the permanent mission as Tantan Taufiq Lubis, in what appears to be the UN General Assembly hall holding a flyer of Prabowo and running mate Sandiaga Uno and voicing his support for the pair ahead of Aprils election. "From the headquarters of the UN, I would like to convey my support to Prabowo and Sandiaga to become Indonesia's [next] president and vice president for the 2019 to 2024 period," Tantan said in the video. Dari Markas Besar PBB Di New York Dukung Prabowo-Sandi No.2 Mari Kita Wujudkan 2019 Ganti Presiden.#UstSlametMaarifKorbanRezim pic.twitter.com/RNdjF5I19I DEWO.PB (@putrabanten80) February 11, 2019 Insya Allah [God willing], we have the power to realize Indonesiaganti presiden'. Indonesia, Prabowo is the president, he continued, referring to the social media hashtag #Indonesiagantipresiden, which translates to Indonesia change president. (ipa) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 12, 2019 14:25 863 ab327006fac3d4a4e8af45a51b29359d 4 Business halal-certificate,food-and-beverage,drugs,state-revenue Free The government expects to raise Rp 22.5 trillion (US$1.6 billion) in revenue from the halal certification law, which becomes effective this year, an official has said. Law No. 30/2014 requires producers to obtain halal certification beginning Oct. 17, 2019 for a variety of products, particularly food and beverages and medicines. The certification is to be implemented in stages, says Halal Certification Agency (BPJPH) head Sukoso. Halal certification for food and beverage products will be implemented over the five years from 2019 to 2024, while [the certification] for drugs will be implemented over the seven years from 2019 to 2026, he said on Monday in Jakarta as quoted by kontan.co.id. The estimated state revenue of Rp 22.5 trillion was calculated according to the number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large companies operating in the country. Statistics Indonesia (BPS) records show 58.97 million SMEs operating in the country. Sukoso said the BPJPH aimed to issue 100,000 halal certificates and recruiting up to 5,000 halal certification auditors by 2020. The agency and related ministries had prepared a draft government regulation to support Law No. 30/2014, he said, and that all relevant ministers had signed the draft regulation, which was also to serve as the legal basis for the agency's operations. After a meeting on halal certification last week, Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin said that all relevant ministers had expressed their support for the draft halal regulation. Lukman said that the draft government regulation maintained the Indonesian Ulemas Councils (MUI) three functions of issuing fatwas, approving auditors and authorizing halal inspection institutes (LPH). (bbn) TheJakartaPost Please Update your browser Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below. Just click on the icons to get to the download page. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 12 2019 To improve traffic obedience in the capital, the Jakarta administration in collaboration with the National Police and Indonesian Military is holding a traffic operation named 2019 Lintas Jaya, which will run for the rest of the year starting Monday. Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has asked residents to maintain order on city roads by following all the rules, including paying attention to speed limits. Motor vehicles are used to transport people from one point to another, but if they travel too fast, they could also transport ones life from the living world to the afterlife, the governor told reporters on Monday after the operations opening ceremony held at the National Monument in Central Jakarta. He stressed that the operation was key to creating a traffic-friendly Jakarta, a city that recorded some 30,000 accidents a year, with most victims being mo... Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 12, 2019 10:42 863 ab327006fac3d4a4e8af45a51b286bdd 1 World Canberra,Australia,Australian-National-University,University-of-Canberra,hijab,discrimination,Islam Free Two universities in Canberra said in a joint statement on Monday that they were shocked and appalled at the alleged harassment of two hijab-wearing Indonesian students in the Australian capital. The University of Canberra and the Australian National University where the two students are pursuing masters degrees expressed concern about the reported assault, saying that they were providing support for the victims. The University of Canberra and The Australian National University are deeply concerned and saddened by reports two of their students were victims of an assault. Our first priority is the wellbeing of our students, and we are providing direct care and support to those affected, the two universities said in a joint press statement received by The Jakarta Post on Monday. We are all shocked and appalled that this has happened in Canberra, a city where incidents are very rare, they said. The statement further said that the universities had been working closely with each other, as well as with local stakeholders including the police, city administration, student representative groups and community organizations to make the campuses and Canberra a safe environment for living and studying. Local police are currently investigating the alleged assault against the two Indonesian Muslim students near Canberra city center. The female students, identified only as AY and MT, were strolling around the city center on a Thursday afternoon when two strangers started yelling at them. The strangers an Australian woman and her male friend reportedly pointed fingers at them while slurring loud comments about the students hijabs. Why do you wear all black? Why are you even still alive? It isnt fair to us, recounted Welhelmus Poek, chairman of the Indonesian Students Association in Australia (PPIA) Canberra branch, in describing what had been reported to him by one of the students last week. The female harasser then reportedly attacked AY, causing her to stumble and suffer a minor injury to her knee. While the authorities have yet to determine the motive behind the harassment, there is a suspicion that it may be race related. In response to the issue, the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra has sent a diplomatic notice to Australias Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, urging it to investigate the case properly. On Monday, the PPIA met with the dean of the University of Canberra, where AY is a student, to call on the university to support the victim. Welhelmus said that both the dean and the university had promised their full support for the alleged victim in terms of academic and nonacademic issues. For instance, they are ready to provide legal advice; they even showed their readiness to meet any request for their presence at a trial [should one occur], he said. The university will also provide an individual to accompany the victim if the victim continues to feel uncomfortable in public spaces. For me, such support is good, Welhelmus said. Representatives of the student group previously met with officials from the Australian National University, MTs university, which had expressed regret over the incident. A 25-year-old Indonesian student at Australian National University, Vita Rosiana Dewi, was surprised by the incident, saying that she had never experienced any discrimination during her stay in Canberra as a result of her hijab. Canberra is a safe and convenient place to live and study. However, it is indeed a very quiet place, Vira told the Post. There are quite a lot of drunk and uneducated people [walking around] at night. That is what makes me scared. This article was originally published in The Jakarta Post's print edition on Feb. 12, 2019, with the title "Universities assist abused RI students". The committee convened for an eight-hour meeting at noon yesterday but failed to finalise its long-awaited statement on the reform bill. THE PARLIAMENTS Constitutional Law Committee will continue its deliberations on the social, health care and regional government reform bill at 9am on Tuesday, according to Iltalehti and Helsingin Sanomat . The statement could prove decisive for whether the long-discussed, massive reform can be carried out before the end of the current electoral term, as the committee is to comment on whether further amendments are necessary to guarantee the constitutional compliance of the bill. The Parliaments Social Affairs and Health Committee will also discuss the statement before the bill can be put up to a vote in the Finnish Parliament. The Constitutional Law Committee did, however, clear one of the major hurdles in the process by agreeing to disburse 15 million euros in additional funding to amend the act on the autonomy of Aland Islands. The issue was problematic for the social, health care and regional government reform as the reform was deemed to undermine the autonomy of the region consisting of over 6,500 islands. Weve now taken a big leap towards the care and regional government reform. Itll cost us 15 million euros a year, but everything has its price, said Matti Torvinen (BR). Aleksi Teivainen HT Source: Uusi Suomi Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 12, 2019 17:06 863 ab327006fac3d4a4e8af45a51b2992b7 4 Business Arak-Bali,legalization,Bali-Governor-Wayan-Koster,bali Free The Bali administration is set to legalize traditional Balinese arak (liquor made from tuak, a sweet drink from coconut palm flower) with the hope that it will serve as a new trademark of Indonesias main tourist destination, said Bali Governor Wayan Koster. How is it that we are allowed to import liquor, but arak is prohibited? What is the logic behind such legislation? I think those who drafted it made a mistake. Therefore, we will legalize arak, Kosterin said during a hearing with the Bali Legislative Council in Denpasar on Monday. The Bali administration has sent a letter to the Industry Ministry to demand the revision of a presidential decree (Perpres) that has not legalized the distribution of arak Bali, Koster said, adding that if the proposal was rejected, he would issue a gubernatorial regulation. However, before legalizing the liquor, the Bali administration will supervise its production, he said. Arak producers can be found across the island, but mostly in Karangasem and Bulengleng regencies. Koster added that without a facility from the government, arak producers had already managed to manufacture good quality liquor by using traditional refineries. If we help them with the technology, they could produce even higher quality arak, Koster said as quoted by bali.tribunnews.com. Nyoman Parta, a member of the Bali Legislative Councils Commission IV overseeing industrial affairs, supported Kosters plan to legalize Balinese arak because it would help boost the local economy. He said the government needed to supervise the manufacturing process of arak for better quality products. If the alcohol content is too high, we can help lower it. If there are issues with hygiene, we will train arak producers to pay attention to such matters, and if their packing is not so attractive, we can help improve the design, he added. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 12, 2019 17:13 863 ab327006fac3d4a4e8af45a51b2997f5 1 National AMAN,Jokowi,Prabowo-Subianto,indigenous-people,indigenous-people-bill,indigenous-people-rights Free The Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) will reconsider its political stance in this years presidential election amid uncertainties surrounding the indigenous peoples bill. Best-known for winning the historic 2012 Constitutional Court ruling that contributed to the recognition of customary forests, AMAN has declared through its 2018 year-end report that it will not back any candidate ahead of the 2019 presidential election in April. According to AMAN secretary general Rukka Sombolinggi, the legal uncertainties regarding the bill had led it to take its stance, even after numerous meetings with government officials and legislators. The legal uncertainties, she said, meant progress was very sluggish. Of the 9.3 million hectares of customary forests claimed by indigenous people, the government has only acknowledged 28,000 ha, up from the 20,000 ha in March last year. There is no strong reason for choosing Jokowi since six out of the nine development programs he has promised have not yet materialized. There is no reason to choose Prabowo either since he has never brought up indigenous peoples issues, Rukka said, referring to incumbent Joko Jokowi Widodo and his challenger Prabowo Subianto. She hoped that both candidates would commit to empowering indigenous people without exploiting the issue for political advantage. AMANs recent declaration contrasts with its endorsement of Jokowi in the 2014 presidential election, when he promised to include the bill in his nine key development programs, Nawacita. The bill was first initiated under the administration of then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, after receiving a draft proposal from AMAN amid the criminalization of indigenous people involved in land disputes. The bill had been knocked back and forth between legislative bodies until last March, when Jokowi signed a presidential letter to begin a discourse among related ministries. Lawmaker Arif Wibowo said legislators had already finished processing the bill and were waiting for further responses from the ministries. [It took time because] there were other bills that required discussion, such as the election bill [passed into law in 2017], said Arif, who is also the deputy chairman of House Commission II overseeing domestic governance, regional autonomy, the state apparatus and agrarian affairs. He expressed the hope that the bills deliberation would possibly be finished after the election and before the end of the current House term in eight months. Meanwhile, Bambang Supriyanto, the director general of the Social Forestry and Environmental Partnership, dismissed claims that the government had been slow on the issue. He maintained that the government had granted autonomy to 34 indigenous communities for customary forests, including 21 forests in Jambi and four forests in West Sumatra. He added that around 369,000 ha would be processed by the end of 2019 on top of the current 28,000 ha. We dont need to wait for the bill [to be passed into law] since we have already used other laws like the 1999 Law on forestry [] The importance of this bill is to have a legal basis for indigenous people. The current point of discussion is how this bill will consolidate other related laws, Bambang said. Apart from the bill, the 2009 Environment Protection and Management Law and the 1999 Forestry law stipulates similar rights for indigenous people to exploit forest areas as customary law communities that have inhabited their locations for generations. (mai) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Stefanno Reinard Sulaiman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sun, February 17, 2019 19:29 857 ab327006fac3d4a4e8af45a51b278357 2 Business Presidential-Debate,Jokowi-Maruf,Prabowo-Sandiaga,energy,renewable-energy,green-energy,election Free In less than a week, President Joko Jokowi Widodo and Prabowo Subianto will once again face each other in the second-round presidential debate. Organized by the General Election Commission (KPU) on Feb. 17, the event will see both candidates explain to the public their views and plans on energy, food, natural resources, the environment and infrastructure. What is the candidates vision and plans on the energy sector? The following are some of the issues The Jakarta Post has observed since last year during their limited encounters. What do the candidates say about the energy sector? From two events that were held in November 2018 at the Indonesia Energy Economic Forum (IEEF) and more recently this month at a discussion held by global environmental watchdog Greenpeace, the push for renewable energy was the highlight of both candidates, who believe it can be a solution to the countrys declining dependence on oil production and other fossil-based resources. The term import has a negative meaning to the country because high imports have led to a trade deficit. The energy sector has been one of the contributors to imports as almost half of the national oil demand is still imported due to lack of large oil discoveries. Engineers working on solar panel. (Shutterstock/File) Addressing this issue, Prabowos camp wants a relatively radical change or instant and concrete action if he is elected, whilst the incumbent wants a gradual transition from dirty to clean energy. Prabowo has a mega project to boost the use of bioenergy from ethanol and it will be done in a massive and concrete movement, Ramson Siagian, a campaigner for Prabowo, said during the Greenpeace seminar. One of his mega plans is to revise several power plant contracts in the current governments 35 gigawatts project. The revision will include shifting from coal-fired power plants to renewable energy-based power plants. This is a concrete move to overhaul existing energy policies, he said. The Prabowo camps vision and mission is to turn Indonesia into a super power in bioenergy by utilizing 88 million hectares of damaged forests for bioethanol materials, such as sugar palm, and then to convert the use of fossil fuel to gas and other renewable energy for power generation for state electricity firm PLN. Under the Indonesia Triumphant strategy, the retired army general and his running mate, former Jakarta deputy governor Sandiaga Uno, also plan to develop the downstream industry for coal. We are also ready for several coal downstreaming projects, namely Biocoal, Biochar and Syngas, all of which will be carried out at a massive scale. We will utilize unused forests, he said. Offshore wind farm. (Shutterstock/File) The Prabowo camps focus on renewable energy rather than fossil energy is made in the backdrop of a decreasing trend in both supply and demand, according to a presentation by Sudirman Said, a Prabowo supporter. We have been warned [by former energy minister Subroto] that our countrys fossil energy depletion wont be followed with the development of renewable energy [] We have all the perfect plans [for renewable energy], but they are hampered by derivative policies, such as on tariffs, he said. Coincidentally, Prabowos brother, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, owns diversified Arsari Group, which that primarily focuses on renewable energy, including the production of bioethanol, according to the International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD). On the other side, the Jokowi camps focus on energy issues was mostly represented by Arif Budimanta, vice chairman of the National Economic and Industry Committee (KEIN), who concurred that renewable energy was the future energy source for Indonesia but can only be successfully implemented gradually. Currently, coal has the lowest cost [of production] and doesnt need to be imported. But when the peoples economy has become better, then the utilization of coal [for energy] could be decreased, he said. The Jokowi-Maruf Amin camp has outlined three missions related to the energy sector, namely pushing for the use of renewable energy, efficiently using fossil-fuel energy by increasing its production and creating more value-added and developing a local renewable energy facility. Useful heat: Fishermen use a solar power cooling system in Maratua, Berau and East Kalimantan. (JP/Syafrizaldi) Giving the example of efficient use of fossil energy, Arif said Jokowi would continue perfecting the policy to mix palm oil (CPO) derivatives, Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) and diesel fuel, aiming to reduce oil imports. We acknowledge the urgency to revamp the governance of the palm oil industry, which has been criticized for its environmental impact. However, we have to remember it will have a greater [environmental impact] if we develop bioenergy from sugar palm. How much land will be used? It is better to improve what we already have, he said, criticizing Ramsons statement. Likely questions in the debate The local chapter of United Kingdom-based extractive industry watchdog Publish What You Pay (PWYP) recently shared its suggestions for topics to be discussed in the upcoming presidential debate, comprising two main ideas: energy security and managing resources. First and foremost, PWYP questions the candidates on how they will be consistent between planning and implementing as it noted failures in the past year, such as coal production that has in at least the last four years exceeded the initial plan stipulated in the National Medium-Term Development Plan (RJPMN) 2015-2019 The next challenge is how the next government could address the issue of energy depletion, which will lead to higher prices, as the country still depends a lot on fossil fuels, which is expected to run out in less than 50 years. Both camps also have to come up with a clear plan or strategy to fill the gap and lack of infrastructure, especially oil refineries and facilities to process gas resources that will run out after 2061, or later than oil and coal reserves. Environmentally friendly -- The Dieng geothermal power plant (pictured) in Central Java becomes one of main sources of renewable energy in Indonesia. (Tempo/Aris Andrianto) PWYP noted the importance of infrastructure as the government has delayed finishing the Regasification Floating Storage Unit (RFSU) to process liquefied natural gas (LNG) for six years. Lastly, on the topic of energy security, PWYP questions the candidates on the energy dilemma of prioritizing environment goals or depending on dirty energy because of economic factors. On how energy management should best be done, PWYP suggested seven topics that should be asked to the candidates, namely: transparency of permit issuance, control of coal production, fiscal dependency on extractive industry, downstreaming efforts, corruption in the sector, decentralization of natural resources, and the environmental and social impacts of the extractive industry. What experts expect from the debate Alin Halimatussadiah, head of the Institute for Economic and Social Research (LPEM FEB-UI), said from her observation of Thursdays discussion, both candidates understand the importance of clean energy. However, she believes that politically speaking, the environment has yet to become a populist issue as majority of Indonesian people have yet to be aware about the urgency of it. Unluckily, I dont know whether the environment will be discussed or not. But we need to further discuss it to make it an urgent issue, then they [both candidates] will talk about it, she told The Post. Two employees of state-owned electricity firm PLN walk at a power plant complex. (Kontan/Cheppy A. Muchlis) Furthermore, Alin criticized how both candidates failed prior to the debate to present clear instruments or tools to address the problems that slowed the progress of renewable energy. For example, do they want to implement fiscal incentives such as carbon pricing or taxing? Because we know that a transition needs to give one sector more incentives while other is reduced, she added. The sector she wants to see receive more support is renewable energy and the one to be reduced is dirty energy, such a coal and fossil fuel, which is still subsidized. Fabby Tumiwa, the executive director for local energy watchdog Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), agreed with Alins statement, saying that both candidates were locked in populist issue, such as cheap energy. The current political reality dictates both candidates to promise cheap energy to the people. However, we know the reality is energy isnt cheap, so the candidates should able to elaborate on how to achieve that without causing a fiscal burden, he said. Fabby, who has been an avid critic on renewable energy, further said both candidates should be able to also answer about the environmental impact of their upcoming energy policies to the public. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Karina M. Tehusijarana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 12, 2019 09:34 863 ab327006fac3d4a4e8af45a51b27e4a7 1 Politics 2019-elections,2019-legislative-election,PKPI,KPU,Perludem Free As public attention has focused on the increasingly heated presidential election campaign, it is easy to forget tens of thousands of candidates vying for seats at national and local legislatures. Nearly 8,000 candidates are running for 575 seats at the House of Representatives and tens of thousands are running for 19,817 seats at provincial, regency or city-level legislative councils (DPRD). The simultaneous nature of this year's elections mean the legislative elections have been overshadowed by the hubbub surrounding the presidential race. But even voters who actively seek information have little to go by. The Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) found that 25.5% or 2,049 of the registered House candidates, opted not to disclose their personal information to the public through the General Elections Commission (KPU) website. "Many of the legislative candidates' profiles, visions and missions, as we as their programs are not available on the KPU's official website," Perludem executive director Titi Anggraini said recently. "This hurts the spirit of freedom of information for the public and the transparency of the 2019 general elections." She added that Perludem recommended voters only pick candidates that had made their profiles accessible. "What can we expect from a candidate that does not want to publish their resume?" she said. However, the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI), one of the parties that Perludem found to have the highest number of candidates with unavailable information, said it was merely a technical error. "Our party's policy is to give as much detailed information as possible and communicate our backgrounds to as many people as possible," PKPI secretary-general Verry Surya Hendrawan, whose own data was marked as unavailable on the website, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday. "We will evaluate the problem and try to rectify it." But even candidates who have made their information public have listed very broad or vague goals and programs, most only saying that they wanted to help their parties to victory or "bring prosperity to Indonesia." Some candidates, however, have sought to be more explicit and detailed about what they wanted to achieve if voted into office, particularly nonincumbents and those running for the first time. Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) candidate Dedek Prayudi, for example, listed his motivation as "helping Indonesia take advantage of the demographic bonus that will peak in 2035." A former demographics and population researcher, Dedek also aimed to get into House Commission IX, which oversees health care and employment. As newcomers, we must be very intense. I went to several areas in my electoral districts, the most remote ones. I went there and they were surprisingly excited that a fresh legislative candidate came to meet them, he said recently. Golkar Party legislative candidate Christina Aryani, who is running in the second Jakarta electoral district, also said there was not enough substantive information about many legislative candidates. To rectify this, Christina created a fold-out business card that displayed her social media profiles (Facebook and Instagram), the four issues she is focused on (women's rights, migrant worker protection, the Indonesian diaspora and the young generation) as well as a brief resume. "So far the response has been positive," she told the Post on Monday. Titi said that besides the individual candidates, parties also should be better at communicating what programs they would work toward if they won in the election. "This is one of the weakest points in the legislative elections," she said. "In the future, there should be a debate for party representatives, not only presidential candidates. Meanwhile, activists from NGOs have tried to remedy the lack of data by providing more information, such as which candidates have graft convictions on their records. Perludem also encouraged voters to take a closer look at women, disabled and indigenous candidates, while the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) has its own coterie of "AMAN envoys" who have a single clear mission of creating legislation to recognize indigenous peoples. "We have 157 candidates from 16 parties in both national and local legislative elections," AMAN secretary-general Rukka Somboliggi told the Post on Sunday. "Despite the lack of spotlight on the legislative races, we are focused on getting our candidates elected, so that whoever the president is, indigenous peoples will be recognized and protected." Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 12, 2019 07:31 863 ab327006fac3d4a4e8af45a51b2770a6 1 City violence,murder,domestic-abuse,children Free Hary Kurniawan, 25, said he was under the influence of alcohol when beating his 2-year-old stepdaughter to death in the subdistrict of Sukamaju Baru in Depok, West Java. I was under the influence of alcohol and was troubled by the thoughts of my familys economic circumstances, he told Depok Police on Monday, as quoted by kompas.com. Hary said he had slammed the baby, but never thought she would die. The incident on Friday was reported by a neighbor, who said he witnessed the suspect slamming the baby while the mother, Eni, 18, was at work. Hary and Eni each had a daughter from their previous marriages. Harry claimed Eni did not show the same amount of love to his biological daughter. My wife treats my 3-year-old daughter differently, he claimed. Hary faces charges under Article 338 of the Criminal Code on murder and, if found guilty, faces up to 20 years' imprisonment. Depok Police deputy chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Arya Perdana said Hary and Eni had had a quarrel some days before the incident took place. (fac) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 12, 2019 08:43 863 ab327006fac3d4a4e8af45a51b27a1fb 1 City Python,West-Jakarta,tree,Fire-and-Rescue-Agency Free Five West Jakarta Fire and Rescue Agency workers were deployed on Monday to remove a 6-meter python from a tree near residential areas in Kalideres West Jakarta. Agency head Rompis Romlih said the agency was notified by residents who feared the presence of the reptile. It turned out the snake was quite big. It was 6 to 7 meters long, he said as quoted by kompas.com. The snake is suspected to have been carried by flood waters from its habitat. Rompis said the snake would be returned to its habitat only if it was possible. The problem is, in Jakarta it is hard to find snake habitat, he said. Dozens of other pythons have been spotted in Greater Jakarta over the past month, including at Citra 5 housing complex in Kalideres on Jan. 29. (fac) For the past week, footage of a young man destroying the motorbike he was has gone viral. People talk about it endlessly, online and offline, discussing rage as an expression of aggression. Aggression is defined as hostile or violent behavior or attitudes toward others; a readiness to attack or confront. Three types of aggression are reactive-expressive (physical and verbal), reactive-inexpressive (hostility) and proactive-relational (directed toward human relationships). Aggressive behavior is a reactionary and impulsive behavior in an angry and violent way that often results in violating social boundaries. Not only directed to others, but aggressive behavior can also be directed toward oneself, known as self-harm behavior. Aggressive behavior is related to three factors, called the biopsychosocial factors. The biological factors include brain structure and functioning, chemical nature (hormones and neurotransmitter) and substance use. The amygdala is the part of the human brain that regulates perception and reaction related to aggression and fear. However, the control of aggressive behavior is located on the prefrontal cortex, through the orbitofrontal circuit. A dysfunctional, hyperactive amygdala and low activity in the orbitofrontal cortex may increase the propensity for aggressive behavior. Aggressive behavior may be seen among individuals with mental disorders such as dementia, addiction, psychosis or personality disorders. Another biological factor related to aggressive behavior is chemical in nature and works on the human brain. Higher levels of testosterone, a primary male hormone, could increase the tendency for aggression. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that regulates various psychological processes. If available in low levels, it might increase aggressive behavior. Substance use, for example, alcohol, may facilitate aggression by disrupting executive functions that inhibit behavioral tendencies. An individual could also exhibit aggressive behavior when they have low blood sugar levels, which means that people who are hungry tend to be aggressive. There are various theories to explain the psychological factors of aggression. One of the most popular is the frustration-aggression hypothesis by John Dollard and his fellows. They hypothesized that frustration is a necessary condition for aggressive behavior. Frustration is an emotional response related to anger, irritation and annoyance when there are obstacles to our needs or achieving a goal. Anger is characterized by antagonism toward someone or something that you feel will or has already deliberately harmed you. As an emotion, anger is not a choice. However, the way we express this feeling of anger is. When anger is expressed with more negativity by being ready for a fight all the time, we call this hostility. Read also: Motorcyclist throws tantrum after being ticketed Aggression can also be explained through the angle of psychodynamic as proposed by Freud. He described the process of the mind as flows of psychological energy (libido) in an organically complex brain. Freud argues that human behavior is motivated by sexual and instinctive drives known as libido. According to his theory, human behavior, including aggressive behavior, is produced by the interaction of the id, ego and superego. The id consists of all the inherited components of personality present at birth. The ego is the realistic part that mediates between the two instincts and the superego incorporates the values and morals of society. Aggression is a part of everyone, but not everyone behaves aggressively. Socially learned behavior is known to be the most significant social cause of aggression. Bandura in 1977 proposed a social learning theory where new behaviors can be acquired by observing and imitating others. The more a child is exposed to an aggressive environment, the higher the chance that he could be desensitized and grow up not realizing what is appropriate and what is wrong. He would continue to exhibit aggressive behavior and wrongly shape assumptions about social reality. Therefore, an appropriate environment, including family, mass media and society which are the learning resource for children is important. Deindividuation is another social factor related to aggression. It is a concept of the loss of self-awareness in groups. People tend to behave differently in a crowd than they would normally when they are on their own. In most cases, it leads to aggressive behavior, such as an outbreak of a riot. People who are normally very calm and docile surprisingly show greater signs of aggressiveness as part of a mob in such instances. In addition to the observation of behavior, people also learn through vicarious reinforcement that are rewards and punishments. When punishment is given regularly to a specific behavior, the behavior will desist. Conversely, it will persist when a reward is given. Rewards by society apply as a type of social reinforcement that is a strong cause of aggressive behavior based on cultural rules. In many cultures, boys are expected to show their strength and capacity through aggressive behavior. For example, a boy who wins a gang fight is cheered by his peers. Consequently, he will get involved in other gang fights to receive such appreciation. Therefore, the aggressiveness that comes with a reward will tend to be exhibited more often. Managing aggression Uncontrolled aggression may lead to distress and disability of an individual. They may have problems with people around their life. Children, for example, show aggressive outbursts such as temper tantrums or even hurting their siblings and peers to express their frustration, their anger. Adolescents may show aggression by vandalism or in extreme cases, by purse snatching and robbery, while adults express their emotion by beating others. Many cases of aggression were reported in the media with various settings, for example, domestic violence, gang fights, murder and road rage, like the incident that went viral last week. In the case of road rage, one of the efforts to ensure the safety of road users is to enact policies for psychological tests during the drivers license exam. In Indonesia, this rule was officially established last year, but the implementation is still limited (required in Riau and Banten, not yet in Jakarta). In Germany, a medical-psychological assessment (MPA) is also required to revoke or reissue a drivers license; the rule has been in place since 1955. A study conducted in 2012 proved the effectiveness of the method, with 92 percent of drink-drivers assessed not reoffending within three years. However, the MPA consists of a medical examination, psychological performance test and psychological interview, which is different from our 24-question psychological test. Therefore, in term of effectivity, our system may not be as effective as the MPA, but it is a good start to ensure the safety of road users. Read also: Mean streets: Five worst road rage incidents in Jakarta As individuals, we all have the responsibility to manage our aggression and control aggressive behavior. First, identify the factors. Start by talking to someone about experiences that trigger the aggressive response. The approach will be different depending on the biopsychosocial factors of aggression. If it is due to a biological factor, seek professional help for treatment and try other therapeutic strategies. The doctor, in some cases, may prescribe medication as a form of treatment. When aggression is triggered by psychological factors, a doctor may recommend psychotherapy, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or a psychodynamic approach. Psychotherapies can help develop a coping mechanism and work through negative feelings. As part of the community, we have the responsibility to modify the social environment in order to have adaptive learning that is harmless for everyone. Decrease the exposure to violence at home, the community and through mass media. Adults, especially parents, should help their children learn to say no to others and how to settle differences with words instead of resorting to physical aggression. Also, try to praise children when they succeed in controlling their aggressive impulses. Aggression is a complex condition and needs to be addressed thoroughly. Improving biological conditions will provide a better outcome if it is accompanied by an increase in a person's psychological capacity to deal with frustration. To be able to do that, an individual will need a safe and comfortable environment as a model of a world filled with peace and harmony. Therefore, managing aggression, which is part of our instincts as living things, is our shared responsibility. (kes) *** Gina Anindyajati is a general adult psychiatrist. Her time is well spent between the Cipto Mangunkusumo National General Hospital and Angsamerah. Her scope of work is closely related to community psychiatry, psychosocial rehabilitation and trauma. Besides delivering mental health services for patients, Gina is also working with stakeholders from the government and consumer organizations. During her leisure time, she loves to ease her mind by watching a good television series or go for a long walk. Over the weekend, from Los Angeles to London, the showbiz A-list strutted their stuff on red carpets for the Grammys and Britain's Bafta film awards. Halfway between in New York, the style glitterati lined catwalks to preview the trends for next autumn and winter. The short answer? Lots of bright color and lots of sex appeal. Here are some highlights from the latest shows at New York Fashion Week, which culminates Wednesday with a presentation from Marc Jacobs: Read also: Tom Ford opens New York Fashion Week, where stars are scarce Prabal Gurung looks home to Nepal Gurung, who now has 10 years in the business behind him, looked home for inspiration to Nepal, where he recently spent some time. The result was a joyful, bright ready-to-wear collection -- a theme he had introduced last season after several years of more sober designs. He played with sari draping, especially in ikat and mandala-inspired prints. No monochromatics or tone-on-tone ensembles here: purple or mustard yellow and turquoise, red and pink -- women should use their imagination in Gurung's world. The designer said in his notes that he hoped to create a "multi-faceted, colorful and optimistic place where integrity, purpose, levity and love are our most celebrated virtues." Longchamp: Leather and short skirts As more and more American designers flee New York for London, Paris or Milan, foreign fashion houses are flocking to the Big Apple to take advantage of the style vacuum. Case in point: venerable French label Longchamp, which is looking to develop its stateside presence and staged its second New York show at the weekend. Models walks the runway for the Longchamp Fall/Winter 2019 show during New York Fashion Week on February 9, 2019 in New York City. (AFP/Angela Weiss) The brand -- which is known for leather goods, handbags and riding gear -- has opened new stores in New York and along the US West Coast. "It's very important for us to be here," the company's vice president for retail, Olivier Cassegrain, told AFP, explaining that in Paris, the company had a hard time cracking into the jam-packed schedule of heavyweight houses. For next autumn, designer Sophie Delafontaine kept it classy but sexy -- embracing pleated short skirts, black studded leather and lots of looks in black and white. Glamor from Christian Siriano Even if foreign labels are rising in New York, some homegrown designers still generate buzz. Christian Siriano is one of them. From his beginnings as a winner on TV reality show "Project Runway", the 33-year-old has quickly become one of the go-to names in Hollywood. Just ask actresses Debra Messing (Will and Grace), Mariska Hargitay (Law and Order: SVU), Danielle Brooks (Orange Is The New Black) and Christina Hendricks (Mad Men), who were all in the front row. Siriano is also known as a champion of diversity -- on the runway and in his designs. When no one would dress actress Leslie Jones for the Ghostbusters premiere, he stepped up. After a long wait to reach the show at Top of the Rock -- on the 67th floor of Rockefeller Center -- Siriano worked his magic, unveiling a series of evening gowns in silver, black, white and deep blue. Curvy model Ashley Graham closed the show in a transparent silvery confection, as the audience cheered. Read also: First transgender designer shows at New York Fashion Week 'Bill of rights' for models? Federico Pignatelli -- the owner of Industry Model Group and Pier59 Studios, where many fashion shoots take place in New York -- wants to make sure the rights of the many models working at Fashion Week are protected. He's calling for the signing of a models' "bill of rights", which would require agencies and other industry professionals to sign clear contracts with fair and regular pay. For non-US citizens, the contract would stipulate that their visa status not be used as a weapon. Such contracts would put models "in a position of strength, where they are paid regularly and it empowers them," he said, adding that it could also reduce possibilities for sexual harassment in the industry. But Pignatelli launched his initiative without the backing of power players like the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and he readily admits that so far, he hasn't had many takers. "They like the status quo cause it is profitable to them," he said. "But it is unfair and damaging to the models." Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 12, 2019 08:35 863 ab327006fac3d4a4e8af45a51b279bfc 1 Editorial #2019PresidentialElection,#2019GeneralElections,2019-presidential-election,2019-elections,diaspora,Indonesian-diaspora,Foreign-Ministry,voting-day Free The 2.05 million Indonesian voters who live in at least 41 countries on five continents should make thorough preparations for the April 17 presidential and legislative elections. They should not allow themselves to become preoccupied solely with the choice between the incumbent, President Joko Jokowi Widodo, and his rival Prabowo Subianto in their rematch. Eligible voters outside Indonesia need to pay equal attention to the legislative election, despite retaining great distrust of political parties and politicians, as their interests are at stake. As required by Law No. 7/2017 on simultaneous legislative and presidential general elections, overseas voters are included in the Jakarta II electoral district encompassing Central Jakarta and South Jakarta. This electoral district is a lucrative one comprising two mayoralties and over 2 million overseas voters. This is why the 14 parties running in the legislative election have put up some of their most influential and promising candidates to fight for the seven House of Representatives seats from the Jakarta II electoral district. The Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) has assigned its outspoken and very young politician Tsamara Amany to top the list. The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has entrusted its former president Hidayat Nur Wahid, and the United Indonesia Party (Perindo) has Liliana Tanaja running for a seat. She is the wife of Hary Tanoesoedibjo, a media mogul and founder of the new party. Choosing the right seven candidates will be crucial, because at least theoretically they represent their constituents in the House. As indicated by a survey by the Indonesian Diaspora Network-United (IDN-United), most overseas voters either do not know or do not know enough about the candidates who will compete in the April elections. The findings released last week confirm the position of Indonesian voters in general, who are much more excited about the presidential election. Indifference is common regarding the legislative councils, at national, provincial, regency or city levels. The Regional Representative Council (DPD) is even less well understood, as its role is limited to that of giving advice to the House and merely raising recommendations. Overseas voters have repeatedly urged the government and the House to form a special electoral district for them to ensure better representation. This would mean the elected lawmakers would have a more specific responsibility to channel the aspirations of the diaspora. Diaspora voters have particular interests, such as dual citizenship, legal protection abroad, consular assistance, reform of the Citizenship Law and facilities for Indonesian diaspora members. If such a special electoral district could come into being, it should be followed up by the establishment of a special commission on diaspora affairs. Despite its shortcomings, this year the voters still can expect the seven elected legislators to channel their aspirations on their special interests and aspirations. This is a realistic option for the time being. Though our political system is far from perfect, we urge fellow Indonesians in the diaspora to use their constitutional rights to vote in the April 17 legislative and presidential elections, for the sake of the countrys and their own future. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Y. Nindito Adisuryo (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 12, 2019 13:27 863 ab327006fac3d4a4e8af45a51b28f20c 3 Opinion greenhouse-gas,fuel,environment,#environment,Euro-4,energy,pertamina,energy-and-mineral-resources-ministry Free Following the international climate conference in Poland last December, we are urgently required to re-evaluate Indonesias climate pledges. One of our commitments was to adopt the Euro 4, a cleaner type of fuel essential to our efforts to enable every Indonesian to enjoy clean and healthy air. We have many reasons to accelerate the adoption of Euro 4, based on a 2017 regulation of the Forestry and Environment Ministry, which stipulates cleaner standards on exhaust gas emissions for new vehicles. First, as a cleaner fuel-standard policy which defines fuels sulphur emission under 50 ppm, Euro 4 results in cleaner emissions than its predecessor, Euro 2. Second, our big cities have recorded air quality exceeding World Health Organization (WHO)s standard of 25 micrograms per cubic meter of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Even the two 2018 Asian Games host cities Jakarta and Palembang recorded very unhealthy 38 and 55 micrograms per cubic meter, respectively, according to the National Air Quality Monitoring. Third, while we often consider ourselves leaders in ASEAN, Indonesia, Laos and Myanmar are the only countries in ASEAN which have not yet adopted Euro 4, according to the Indonesian Motor Vehicles Industrial Association (GAIKINDO). Indonesias Euro 4 policy might meet some critical challenges. The first regards the quality of our fuel, as measured by the research octane number (RON). The higher the figure, the better quality of the fuel and the lower the emission. Currently, our refineries are likely capable for fuel specification of RON91, while Euro 4 comprises RON 92, RON 95 and RON 98 according to the regulation of the Forestry and Environment Ministry. Second, the dilemma of greater fuel imports will be daunting to our national energy trade balance. According to the Directorate General of Oil and Gas, the demand for Euro 4-class fuel amounts to 180,000 kiloliters annually. Therefore, combined with incapacity of our oil refineries, more imports of Euro 4, even by 100 percent, would be necessary to meet the needs. Third, older vehicles with specifications of Euro 2 and lower standards might need technical adjustments. This will result in national market and economic distortion where most cars throughout Indonesia still use Euro 2. Nevertheless it is still urgent to support and speed up the Euro 4 policy through several measures. First, policymakers must synergize the gradual attempts towards this end. The Euro 4 policy has already received supported through a 2018 decree of the Oil and Gas Director General on the national distribution of RON98 gasoline. The decree has obliged all fuel-business enterprises to buy and sell Euro 4-class fuel products. Distribution should be mainly concentrated in specified urban areas where there are less older vehicles. Moreover, Pertaminas role as the national energy company remains pivotal in supporting the cleaner fuel transition to Euro 4. In its future business blueprint, Pertamina has plotted a number of its refineries for the production of Euro 4, such as the Cilacap and Dumai refineries, respectively in Central Java and Riau provinces. However, it has to develop more such refineries if we are to secure energy sovereignty. In addition, Euro 4-class fuel price in Indonesia is the most affordable one compared to other countries. While fuel subsidies do not apply to Euro 4, Pertamax Turbo gasoline (RON 98) per liter can be purchased at Rp 12,250 ($86 US cents). In Singapore RON 98 is sold at S$2.70 ($1.99), 1.15 pound sterling in the United Kingdom and 1.87 euro ($2.13) in Italy, reportedly the worlds most expensive. Consequently, the affordable price increases Pertaminas strategic role in providing Euro 4 to meet the countrys needs. As a state-owned enterprise with a global brand, this is an opportunity for Pertamina to expand its business coverage in transition to Euro 4. While Pertamina increases production capacity for Euro 4, in the near future it could be exporting Euro 4 products. These will result in greater business development and more significant revenue for Pertamina as well as for the government. Furthermore, car manufacturers in Indonesia have announced their readiness towards adapting to Euro 4, such as Toyota, Daihatsu, Suzuki and Mitsubishi. They also believe Euro 4 will become the bridge to develop more environmentally-friendly cars while increasing sales. Moreover, vehicles produced in the recent years can use Euro 2 for standard performance and Euro 4 for their best performance. Besides, the domestic automobile market will also become more competitive, because imported European and American cars will have complied with Euro 4. While Euro 4 in Indonesia encounters some mountainous challenges, it is an excellent way to create a cleaner and more sustainable life for Indonesians as well as to increase the added-value of our national energy industry and demonstrate our leadership in climate change mitigation. *** The writer is a cooperation analyst at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry. The above views are personal. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Open Knowledge Finland, an advocacy group promoting the creation of a fair and open digital society, on Monday announced it has launched a tool called Vaalivahti, allowing Facebook users to find out who is trying to influence them and why certain, possibly tailor-made, ads are shown to them. FINNISH FACEBOOK USERS now have an opportunity to find out how ads on the social media platform try to affect their voting behaviour. The users of the tool will simultaneously help to build an open archive for voters and journalists to examine campaign ads on social media. If election-related communications do not stand the light of day, they should not be part of Finnish politics. Because social media platforms have refused to help in this regard, citizens must work together, comments Aleksi Knuutila, the project manager of Vaalivahti. Concerns about the effects of social media on election results have increased in the wake of the latest presidential elections in the United States and the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom. The lack of transparency in digital campaigning makes it impossible to hold accountable people who distribute negative or erroneous information on social media, according to Open Knowledge Finland. Voters, meanwhile, may not realise that the ads shown to them have been tailored to their activity and interests. Open Knowledge Finland on Monday revealed that the first test users of the tool have added more than 200 campaign ads to the open archive. The tool can be installed for free at Vaalivahti.fi, where people can also explore the entire archive and see how campaigning looks from outside their own social media bubble. The Vaalivahti tool is based on a program called Who Targets Me, an ad tracker developed in the United Kingdom. The Finnish parliamentary elections will be held on Sunday, 14 April 2019. Aleksi Teivainen HT 3 1 of 3 Submitted courtesy of Bill Tucker Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Submitted courtesy of Bill Tucker Show More Show Less 3 of 3 A crowd gathers at the Student Veterans of America table Tuesday afternoon in SIUEs Morris University Center during the Fresh Check Day Program, which offered the university an opportunity to check in on the mental health and wellness of its students. The Student Veterans of America is a campus organization designed to assist veterans in such areas as obtaining priority university parking and tuition assistance. The Intelligencer Both the Morrill Act and Homestead Acts were of great important to poor people. These government actions provided people chances for prosperity that could only be found in America. Predictably millions of people came from other countries to avail themselves of these opportunities. Lincoln also established the United States Department of Agriculture, which still remains responsible for developing and executing federal government policy on farming, forestry and food. Lincoln also was a founding leader of the Republican Party. Historians tell us that Lincoln preserved what George Washington built. We now celebrate the lives of each on Presidents Day, one of our national holidays. Lincoln became a martyr to the cause of national unity when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 4, 1865, just days after the end of the bloodiest war this country has experienced. How history would have been different if he had lived we can never know. He had encouraged a policy of leniency for the defeated South as he said let them up easy. NORWALK Members of Brien McMahon High Schools STEAM Travelers Club will embark on a trip to Europe in April and are raising money to make sure no one gets left behind. The group plans two days in Amsterdam, one day in Brussels and four days in Paris. Diana White, an art history teacher leading the trip, set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for the 13 student travelers and said some of the money would provide scholarships to deserving students who might not be able to afford the trip otherwise. Donors can give by visiting https://www.gofundme.com/going-global-in-europe. The expedition includes a walking tour of Amsterdam with a visit to the Anne Frank House, a tour of the European Union buildings in Brussels and a guided tour of the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees, Notre Dame and the Louvre. Many of Whites students havent traveled outside of the U.S. She remembers not being able to attend international school trips in high school and college because of financial barriers. This would be a life-changing trip for my students, she said. We dont want a trip like this to only be available to those students who are financially able. To fulfill that hope, shes set a goal of raising $10,000 before the students depart April 13. The tour costs more than $3,000 per student. The donations would offer five $1,000 scholarships and would cover costs for food, round-trip transportation to the airport, excursions and a post-trip community service project. In February 2018, club members visited Peru and raised money to donate classroom materials and filtration straws to a rural school students that didnt have access to clean drinking water. If White raises more than $10,000, the additional money would lower the cost of the trip for the entire group. We dont learn very much about Europe aside from world history in ninth grade where its just a general history of Europe, said Victoria Wood, a junior. Its a great way to learn outside the classroom and to explore the word. Students use a platform called We Share to create their own individualized learning plans for the trip. Some might focus on culture while others prefer engineering or art history. Theyre each going for their own reasons and thats why I think its awesome because theyre guiding their own learning experience, White said. There are still many financial hurdles to overcome before the trip, she said, and the GoFundMe page is far from meeting the $10,000 goal. I want to study abroad one day so this will give me a good opportunity to see how that is, said junior Sukhmani Kalia. Other trips planned in the school district include a trip to South Africa through the Norwalk STEM Travelers, a club led by Caitlin Engle of Norwalk High School. The club is recruiting students for its trip in April 2020, a tour that runs 11 days. Students traveling can participate as part of the new Interdisciplinary Global Engagement Pathway at Norwalk High School. Students can earn a certificate of Global Engagement from the state of Connecticut by meeting specific course requirements. There are 11 spots left for that trip. tatiana.flowers@thehour.com As the storm continues on Tuesday night, first responders and officials continue to ask people to stay off the roads until the storm passes and crews have cleared the snow. Below is the most updated information about traffic and motor vehicle crashes related to the storm. Information comes from the Connecticut Department of Transportation, Connecticut State Police, and local fire and police departments. This story will be updated throughout the day. UPDATE: 9:20 P.M. Bradley International Airport remains open. Clean-up operations are underway. About 25 percent of arriving and departing flights were canceled by airline partners Tuesday primarily impacting the afternoon and evening flights, the airport said. As the storm continues to be addressed into the morning Wednesday, the airport said there may be some residual impact to some airlines flight schedules. UPDATE: 8:30 P.M. SCHOOL DELAYS New Fairfield Public School will be on a 2-hour delay Wednesday. Notre Dame High School in Fairfield will be on a 2-hour delay Wednesday. Western Connecticut State University will open at 10 a.m. Wednesday. UPDATE: 8:20 P.M. MONROE: Residents are advised to stay off the roads so the highway department can clear them and make the morning commute more manageable, police said. We are fortunate that we dont have any major accidents or road closures, the department said as of 6:30 p.m. UPDATE: 7:10 P.M. SCHOOL DELAY Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said Danbury Public Schools will be on a 2-hour delay Wednesday. UPDATE: 5:25 P.M. TRAFFIC NORWALK: A one-car crash on I-95 south between Exit 15 and Exit 14 has the left lane closed. Reported at 5:13 p.m. UPDATE: 5:10 P.M. TRAFFIC WESTPORT: A one-car crash on I-95 north between Exit 16 and Exit 17 has the left lane closed. It was reported at 5:10 p.m. UPDATE: 5:05 P.M. Bradley International Airport is open and clean-up operations are ongoing. Some airlines have adjusted their schedules for the evening. An estimated 25 percent of Tuesdays flights have been canceled. There have been a small number of delays. Passengers scheduled to travel are encouraged to check with their airline about the status of their flight ahead of time. Real-time flight status updates can be found at www.flybdl.org. UPDATE: 4:35 P.M. TRAFFIC STRATFORD: Two-car crash on I-95 north between Exit 32 and Exit 33. Left lane is closed. Reported at 4:29 p.m. STRATFORD: Two-car crash on I-95 north between Exit 30 and Exit 31. Left lane is closed. Reported at 4:26 p.m. UPDATE: 4:20 P.M. EAST HAMPTON: Officials took the uncharacteristic step of cancelling tonights Town Council meeting. But Town Manager Michael Maniscalco said with the forecast calling for heavy icing, he and Council Vice-Chairman Mark Philhower decided to err on the side of caution and cancel the meeting. When the meeting was canceled, Maniscalco said the town decided to plow the road today and tonight in any case to ensure the public is safe. And even though the council meeting has been cancelled, Town Hall and the town offices will remain open until 6:30 p.m. today. CROMWELL: The Cromwell Belden Public Library is closing at 4 p.m. rather the usual 8 p.m. Other than that, Town Manager Anthony J. Salvatore said things are proceeding on a regular course. Its snowing, and we are responding appropriately, he said. Just after 3 p.m., as it began sleeting, Middletown Mayor Daniel T. Drew said in advance of the storm the city had imposed a parking ban. Beyond that, Were handling this the way we handle any other storm, Drew said. UPDATE: 4:15 P.M. TRAFFIC NEW HAVEN: Two-car crash on I-95 south between Exit 51 and Exit 48. Left lane is closed. Reported at 4:13 p.m. DARIEN: A truck is jackknifed on I-95 south between Exit 11 and Exit 10. Left and center lanes closed. Reported at 4:04 p.m. UPDATE: 3:05 P.M. FAIRFIELD: As of 2:30 p.m., town police responded to six collisions and three calls for help because of the weather. STAMFORD: Just before 3 p.m., Sgt. Simon Blanc said 14 accidents have been reported in Stamford since the snow began falling on Tuesday morning. None of the accidents resulted in serious injury, he said. Three accidents on Vine Road, Hamilton Avenue and Westover Road were caused by vehicles running into utility poles. UPDATE: 3 P.M. TRAFFIC BRIDGEPORT: A two-car crash on I-95 north between exit 27 and exit 27A. Left lane is closed. Reported at 2:48 p.m. NEW HAVEN: Two-car collision on I-95 south between exit 51 and exit 48. Left and right lanes closed. Reported at 2:42 p.m. MILFORD: One-car crash on I-95 north between exit 39B and Exit 40. Left lane is closed. Reported at 2:40 p.m. NEW HAVEN: Crash involving a tractor trailer and two vehicles on I-95 north between Exit 47 and exit 48. left lane is closed. reported at 2:29 p.m. UPDATE: 2:55 P.M. GREENWICH: Greenwich Town Hall will close for all business at 4 p.m. Evening meetings, including the Board of Estimate and Taxations Budget Committee and the towns Shellfish Commission, are cancelled. Just over the Connecticut line in New York, the Westchester County Airport is seeing delays on nearly every line. The full list of updates can be found here. UPDATE: 2:50 P.M. NORWALK: Mayor Harry Rilling has declared a snow emergency starting at 2 p.m. Tuesday. In order to allow the Public Works Department to efficiently plow the streets , please move your vehicles off the streets that are marked as snow emergency route, a statement from the mayors office said. Vehicles that remain parked on streets marked as snow emergency routes may be ticketed and towed. The statement urged drivers to limit travel during the storm and to ensure vehicles are free of snow and ice before driving. The City Clerk declared the Norwalk Common Council meeting planned for 7:30 p.m. to be on Wednesday at 8 p.m. instead. UPDATE: 2:38 P.M. DANBURY: Danbury City Hall is closing at 3 p.m. due to the weather. UPDATE: 2:26 P.M. FAIRFIELD: A two-car collision reported on I-95 south between exit 24 and Exit 23. The right lane is closed. Reported at 2:20 p.m. UPDATE: 2:07 PM DARIEN - Truck Accident (Tractor Trailer Vs 2 Veh) on I-95 Northbound between Exits 10 and 11. The left and center lanes are closed. Reported Tuesday, February 12 at 1:48 pm. UPDATE: 1:59 PM Oxford First Selectman George Temple said Route 34 in Oxford is closed to traffic. There was an incident with a tractor trailer. He could not estimate how long it would be before it would re-open. All the roads are very, very slippery," Temple said. We are doing our best, but they are forecasting things are going to get worse with the ice. I would recommend people avoid Quaker Farms Road because of all the hills. He said he was closing Town Hall early because of deteriorating road conditions. In Derby, Ed Armeno, who heads the Public Works Department, said his 14 pieces of equipment have been out clearing and sanding roads since 10 a.m. "We should be able to handle whatever is thrown at us," Armeno said. "We've been on top of it." He urged drivers particularly on the hilly sections to "slow down and use extra caution." UPDATE: 1:56 PM From Alisa D. Sisic, Connecticut Airport Authority: Bradley International Airport is open. We're continuing to closely monitor the weather conditions, and our snow removal operations are ongoing. The majority of this morning's flights were on schedule. However, some of our airline partners have proactively adjusted their schedules for the afternoon and this evening. In total, approximately 20% of today's flights are cancelled. Passengers who are scheduled to travel are advised to check with their airline regarding the status of their individual itineraries. Real time flight status updates are available on our website, www.flybdl.org. For flight status at Westchester County Airport, near Greenwich, click here UPDATE: 1:52 PM Ansonia Police Lt. Patrick Lynch said some roads are snow covered and slippery. As of 1:45 p.m., he said two accidents were reported. We've been lucky. They were minor accidents, Lynch said. We got a couple of calls of cars being stuck. Public Works has been doing their job keeping up with the snow. UPDATE: 1:39 PM Danbury DPW director Antonio Iadarola said there are about 46 plow vehicles out on Danburys roads Tuesday. When it comes to snow removal and ice control, Iadarola said, drivers prioritize hills, intersections and roads with major traffic. The goal is to tackle those first before working our way into neighborhoods, said Iadarola The roads are pretty sick. Right now, its transitioning from snow to freezing rain, and eventually itll become all rain, so theyre getting greasy. There are cars having issues here and there, but the good thing is that not a lot of cars have been out. Theres been considerably less traffic, which has allowed us to do our jobs efficiently. UPDATE: 1:20 PM We finally have some relief from that flurry of accidents. UPDATE: 12:56 PM Greenwich Town Emergency Management Director Dan Warzoha has said that while it is snowing in the backountry on Tuesday afternoon, there was sleet in other parts of town and it all comes together for hazardous driving conditions. He said people should stay off the roads if possible and if they are driving, they should drive very carefully. Numerous accidents have been reported in Greenwich, he said. There have been no reports of any significant injuries. Its been a busy day for police and fire and EMS, Warzoha said. Its definitely a bad travel day. Were fortunate that the schools are not in session. Town work crews from the Department of Public Works are out plowing and clearing roads. So far no parking restrictions have been issued for Greenwich. UPDATE: 12:47 PM From Newtown police: Police are currently responding to multiple car accidents and disabled vehicles at various locations in town. The roads are extremely slick, Queen Street and Route 34 in Oxford are both currently closed as of right now due to accidents. UPDATE: 12:45 AM From Jon Barbagallo, Norfolk PIO: I'm betting School superintendents are breathing a sigh of relief right now that they made the right call last night. Roads are snow covered here in the northwest corner and getting worse by the minute. UPDATE: 12:37 PM From State Police: Route 34 in Oxford is closed due to slippery conditions and vehicles sliding off the road. Expect delays. UPDATE: 12:25 PM GREENWICH - Motor Vehicle Accident (1 Vehicle) on I-95 Southbound between Exits 4 and 3. The right and center lanes are closed. UPDATE: 12:20 PM BRIDGEPORT - Motor Vehicle Accident (1 Vehicle) on RT8 Southbound between Exits 5 and 3. The right and center lanes are closed. UPDATE: 12:12 PM The Town of Cheshire will have a parking ban in effect until 7 AM Wednesday. UPDATE: 11:48 AM SAFETY ALERT: Don't crowd the plow! Keep back 300 feet from snow plows. UPDATE: 11:41 AM WALLINGFORD - Motor Vehicle Accident (Overturned Motor Vehicle) on I-91 Southbound between Exits 14 and 13. Two right lanes are closed. UPDATE: 11:39 AM STAMFORD - Motor Vehicle Accident (2 Vehicle) on I-95 Southbound between Exits 10 and 9. The right lane is closed. UPDATE: 11:25 AM From Fairfeild police: Units currently on scene of multiple motor vehicle accidents I-95 Northbound AND Southbound in the area of Exit 22. Use caution on the roads as snow continues to fall. UPDATE: 11:22 AM FAIRFIELD - Truck Accident (Tractor Trailer Vs 1 Veh) on I-95 Southbound between Exits 22 and 21. The center lane is closed. Reported Tuesday, February 12 at 11:20 am. UPDATE: 11:19 AM Multi-vehicle accident on NB Route 8 in Bridgeport near Exit 8. Right lane closed. First responders reporting injuries. UPDATE: 11:13 AM From Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks: Due to the inclement weather in the region, flight schedules may be disrupted today. If you are scheduled to travel, please contact your airline to confirm the status of your flight and whether or not your flight might be delayed or canceled. Safe travels! UPDATE: 11:07 AM FAIRFIELD - Motor Vehicle Accident (1 Vehicle) on I-95 Northbound between Exits 25 and 26. The left lane is closed. UPDATE: 10:58 AM Snow continues to pile up on state and local roads. UPDATE: 10:29 AM Middletown has issued a municipal parking ban as of noon Tuesday due to the storm forecast. Motorists should remove their vehicles from city streets, as violators will be towed. Off-street parking is available at municipal lots: Melilli Plaza, Broad Street/Kidcity, Broad Street/Russell Library Arcade upper level, Kings Avenue lot, Green Street lot, Hubbard LL baseball field lot, Grand Street annex lot (Main Street) and the Grand Street Health Center lot. Owners of towed vehicles will face tickets and towing charges, which must be paid before vehicles can be reclaimed. To reclaim your vehicle, call (860) 638-4000. UPDATE: 9:22 AM Light snow is starting to accumulate along the I-95 corridor in southwest Connecticut. So far, its not causing any problems because the roads have been treated and the snow is light. Check out the traffic cams here UPDATE: 8:35 AM From the Fairfield Fire Department: Light snow starting to fall in Fairfield. UPDATE: 8:20 AM Snow has entered southwest Fairfield County. The NWS says the snow took longer than anticipated to reach the ground because the air is so dry. UPDATE: 8:05 AM The Torrington Police Department has issued a citywide parking ban. The parking ban will be in effect Tuesday from 11 a.m. until 6 am Friday. No parking on any city street or municipal parking lot during this time. This will allow the city plows to properly maintain the roadways and municipal parking lots. We thank everyone for your cooperation. UPDATE: 7:51 AM From Danbury PD: Level 1 Snow Emergency issued for Danbury starting at 6 a.m. on February 12, 2019! Be safe everyone! For details, click here UPDATE: 7:10 AM Radar from Windy.com shows snow has moved into northern New Jersey, eastern Long Island. UPDATE: 6:35 AM No snow falling yet. But we do have this: WEST HAVEN - I-95 Southbound is congested between Exits 43 and 42 (1.5 miles) because of Motor Vehicle Accident (2 Vehicle) between Exits 43 and 42. The right and center lanes are closed. Kendra Baker, Amanda Cuda, Michael Mayko, Ethan Fry, Ben Lambert, Kenneth Borsuk contributed to this story. STAMFORD A contingent of Stamford representatives from across the political spectrum are voicing their displeasure with a proposal to add tolls to the states highways. They introduced a resolution Monday night opposing a toll system; it will be discussed Feb. 21 at the citys transportation committee. Rep. Steven Kolenberg, a Republican, is one of the co-sponsors on the bill. He said he has joined members of the grassroots group No Tolls CT in the past to protest the idea of adding gantries to Connecticut highways to collect tolls on drivers. The resolution was co-sponsored by Republican representatives J.R. McMullen, Dennis Mahoney and Bradley Michelson, and Democrats John Zelinsky, Jeffrey Stella, Denis Patterson and Ines Saftic. State Sen. Alexandra Bergstein, D-36, recently submitted a bill in Hartford to allow for the return of electronic tolls in the state. Bergsteins proposed bill would install tolls on the main highways and set per-mile fees for cars and trucks that are comparable to surrounding states. It would require that the money be deposited in the states Special Transportation Fund and in a proposed infrastructure bank. At a meeting in Stamford last month, Bergstein said, (Interstate) 95 is actually our biggest asset in the state and we havent capitalized on it. If and when ... we install electronic tolls, we can start to bring in revenue from other sources, from out-of-state drivers, from people who are willing to pay, who actually want to pay to get to their destinations faster. Her idea is to use funding from the tolls to improve train infrastructure, including a 30-30-30 plan, which seeks to decrease the travel time between Stamford and New York City to 30 minutes, while also decreasing commuter time to 30 minutes from Stamford to New Haven, and from New Haven to Hartford. Bergstein, a Democrat and Greenwich resident, represents the 36th Senate District, which includes Greenwich and parts of Stamford and New Canaan. She has argued that funds raised through a toll system could be used to repair crumbling infrastructure throughout the state. The end goal: faster commute times and less time stuck in traffic. But opponents arent so sure tolls are the path to achieving that goal. Kolenberg, for example, isnt confident the money accrued from the system would be spent wisely on transportation. This is just going to wind up hurting regular folks who are going to work, the Republican said. Kolenberg added that tolls would send more drivers onto Stamford streets, having a negative impact on local travel. Many of his concerns have been brought up by protestors in meetings recently hosted by Bergstein. But for Stella, a Democrat who represents Stamfords West Side, the toll issue has little to do with party affiliation. His district is overwhelmingly Democrat, and he said his constituents are very much opposed to tolls. This is not a Democrat issue. This is not a Republican issue. This is a Stamford issue and a Connecticut issue, he said. Everyone is concerned about tolls. It puts a financial burden on people. He said a toll system could deter people from traveling into Stamford to go shopping or to eat at one of the citys many restaurants. Originally from New York, Stella remembers paying $300 in tolls every month for a mere 10-mile commute. When you talk about tolls, it scares me, he said. It could start at a small price, but where are we in 10 years? ignacio.laguarda@stamfordadvocate.com Weed Smoker Stumbles Across Overweight Tiger in Abandoned Houston Garage An anonymous tipster first thought it was a hallucination when they stumbled across an overweight tiger in the abandoned Houston house garage where they had gone to smoke marijuana. When authorities went to investigate, the 350-pound tiger was all too real, trapped inside a rinky-dink cage in the unlocked garage, police said. The garage was secured with a screwdriver and a nylon strap, according to police, reported KPRC. The tiger was found by three Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care officerspictured standing outside the cage with the tiger insideafter they had entered the premises after police obtained a search warrant. A pretty small cage inside basically a garage in a house that didnt look like it was in the best shape. So it was important that we get it out of that situation, Lara Cottingham, with the city of Houston, said, according to KRPC. The tiger was tranquilized before being taken to the shelter. But the tiger is going to need a bigger cage. Our shelter is not designed to house big cats, Cottingham told Chron.com She said the shelter had contacted a wildlife refuge that can take in the tiger on Feb. 12. We will keep it at our shelter for the night, safely secured from our other animals, said Cottingham. Nearby Houston zoo is home to two Malayan tigers, but wont be taking the new-found female tiger. UPDATE: Police said a man was smoking pot when he found a caged female tiger in an abandoned house. He said he thought he was hallucinating at first, but then decided to call authorities. Gepostet von KPRC2 / Click2Houston am Montag, 11. Februar 2019 A statement from the Zoo, via KRPC, said, The Houston Zoo is aware of the tiger found in southeast Houston today, Feb. 11; however, the Houston Zoo is not involved in this case, and is not receiving the tiger, as incorrectly reported. Fewer than 3,500 tigers of all tiger subspecies remain in the wild today, according to the Tiger Conservation Campaign. Malayan tigers surviving on the Malay Peninsula are critically endangered with an estimated population of 300 remaining in the wild. Tiger found abandoned at vacant home. The tiger was given water and was said to be doing okay Gepostet von ABC13-Marla Carter am Montag, 11. Februar 2019 Pablo Briagas, who lives on the street where the tiger was found, said, I have my kids here, he told the Houston Chronicle. Its dangerous for them to have (a tiger down the street). Even if they had it as a pet, thats dangerous. They need to have that at the zoo. More Tigers in U.S. Backyards Than in The Wild Although the home was abandoned, according to local reports several packages of meat were found with the 350-pound animal. Police werent sure what to make of it when they had a call from someone who admitted to smoking cannabis, but said they saw a tiger. A concerned citizen called 311. They were trying to get into this house to smoke marijuana, said Sgt. Jason Alderete, of HPDs Major Offenders, Livestock Animal Cruelty Unit, reported KTRK. We questioned them as to whether they were under the effects of the drugs or they actually saw a tiger. Finding a forever home for a tiger is hard, Heidi Krahn, executive director of the Center for Animal Research & Education told KTRK. I tried to explain to people its a lot like having a child. If you have a child, you have insurance but these guys dont have insurance, she said. Keeping a tiger as a pet is never a good idea, she said. They are basically a loaded gun pointed at anyone that encounters them, she said. They can be extremely dangerous. According to the World Wildlife Fund, the number of backyard tigers in the United States is greater than the total remaining wild tiger population (estimated at 3,500). The WWF estimates the number of tigers in the United States is 5,000. Only six percent of the US captive tiger population resides in zoos and other facilities accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, said a WWF report in 2014. The rest are found in other private hands. Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May is seen outside Downing Street in London on Feb. 12, 2019. (Toby Melville/Reuters) UKs May Tells Lawmakers: Hold Your Nerve on Brexit Deal LONDONPrime Minister Theresa May told lawmakers Feb. 12 to hold their nerve over Brexit and give her more time to negotiate a deal acceptable to both the European Union and the British parliament. The United Kingdom is on course to leave the European Union on March 29 without a deal unless May can convince the bloc to amend the divorce deal she agreed last year and get it approved by British lawmakers. The talks are at a crucial stage, May told parliament. We now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this House requires and deliver Brexit on time. The leader of the opposition Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn accused her of running down the clock with sham negotiations to pressure parliament into backing her deal. British lawmakers rejected Mays withdrawal deal last month, with the major sticking point being the Irish backstopan insurance policy to prevent the return of a hard border between British province Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland. Critics say the policy could leave Britain subject to EU rules for years or even indefinitely after leaving the bloc. The EU says the backstop is vital to avoiding the return of border controls in Ireland and has refused to reopen the Brexit divorce deal, though May insists she can get legally binding changes to replace the most contentious parts of the backstop. By getting the changes we need to the backstop; by protecting and enhancing workers rights and environmental protections; and by enhancing the role of parliament in the next phase of negotiations I believe we can reach a deal that this House can support, May said. By Kylie MacLellan & William James U.S. Border Patrol agents rescued a Honduran family from drowning in the Rio Grande river as they attempted to cross into the United States on Feb. 8, 2019. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) U.S. Border Patrol Rescues Honduran Family From Drowning U.S. Border Patrol agents rescued five Hondurans from drowning as they attempted to cross the Rio Grande border river from Mexico into the United States last Friday morning, Feb. 8. The family consisted of three adults and two children, ages 1 and 3. The adults were struggling against the current as they attempted to cross the river, and one woman was nearly swept away while carrying a child, U.S. Customs Border Protection (CBP) said in a press release. Border agents in boats along the river rescued the family, who were offered medical treatment and transported to the Eagle Pass South Station for processing. Crossing the Rio Grande River is both dangerous and illegal. The dedication and quick response of our agents prevented a tragedy, said Del Rio Sector acting Chief Patrol Agent Matthew J. Hudak in the press release. We encourage all migrants to utilize the ports of entry to make a proper entry into the United States. The Honduran family was not the only family to attempt the crossing. Late Sunday evening, a Salvadoran family was rescued by U.S. border agents from the Rio Grande river before they were returned south of the border. Local reports said the family, including two babies and two minors, unsuccessfully attempted to swim across the river into the United States. Many migrants are seeking passage into the United States by crossing the Rio Grande river. There are 2,000 Central American migrants waiting to process paperwork at a temporary migrant shelter on the Mexican side of the border. Eagle Pass #USBP Boat Patrol agents rescue Honduran family of 5 from Rio Grande. Read more here: https://t.co/RAjPqlMB4u pic.twitter.com/Jdh7sBnMkw CBP South Texas (@CBPSouthTexas) February 8, 2019 Resources Stretched Thin U.S. Border Patrol said on Friday that its resources were being stretched thin by larger and larger groups of Central American families left by smugglers in remote locations along the U.S.-Mexico border. Agents have encountered almost 60 large groups of over 100 people so far this fiscal year, which started in October 2018. Thats compared to 13 large groups from the previous year. Until recently, most people caught crossing the border illegally were men from Mexico, but now Central American families and unaccompanied minors make up about 60 percent of those apprehended, data from the CBP shows. In recent years, the number of families and unaccompanied children heading to the United States has increased. Last Thursday in Tucson, Arizona, 325 Central Americans surrendered to U.S. Border Patrol agents. The group, nearly half of which were minors, told officials that buses and trucks dropped them off throughout the night on the Mexican side of the border. Once they were all ready, they crossed together into the United States to await authorities. Many of the migrants who may seek passage with smugglers in their journey through Mexico cross the border and turn themselves into U.S. authorities to seek asylum in the United States, a drawn-out court process that can take months or years to resolve. Facilities built decades ago are struggling to cope with the influx of migrant families, many with young children, who are often in need of medical care. Large bus loads of individuals are being bussed up to the border and we dont have any infrastructure in that area, the official said on a call with reporters. Reuters contributed to this report. Trump Rallies in El Paso in Renewed Push for Border Wall EL PASO, TexasIn a big push for a physical barrier along the U.S.Mexico border, President Donald Trump headed to El Paso, Texas, to make the case that walls work. It was a signature campaign-style rallyhis first since the November midterm electionsbut the Promises Made, Promises Kept banners had given way to Finish the Wall. The Feb. 11 rally at the El Paso County Coliseum started moments after negotiators in Washington reached an agreement, in principle, to fund the government ahead of a Feb. 15 deadline to avoid another partial federal shutdown. In the deal, Republicans would be settling for significantly less money for the border wallalmost $1.4 billion, as opposed to the $5.7 billion Trump wanted, according to congressional aides. The funding measure is through the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. We havent broken it yet, but were talking seriously, said Senate appropriations committee chairman Sen. Richard Shelby (RAla.) earlier. Were trying to discuss seriously some obstacles to an agreement. Trump said that he was told of the possible breakthrough as he arrived in El Paso. As I was walking up to the stage they said that progress is being made We are doing whatever we have to do. The wall is being built, Trump told the crowd. The rally was the seventh time Trump held an event in Texas and his first in El Paso since announcing his candidacy. According to Rasmussen Reports, which carries out a daily tracking poll, Trumps approval rating hit 52 percent on Feb. 11, the highest level since shortly after his inauguration. The stadium was filled to its 8,000-plus capacity and about 69,000 people signed up online for the rally. The venue is situated less than 1,000 feet from the border wall in El Paso. Several protesters were quickly escorted out of the stadium during the first half of Trumps speech. Trump said the number of illegal immigrants crossing into America is so great that the government has nowhere to hold them. He blamed the laws for bringing aliens into the court system and creating a backlog, Right now we have almost 900,000 cases. How many judges do we have to hire? The president also hit back at critics who called the existence of a physical wall immoral. Safety is the birthright of every American which is why we must finish the wall. Walls are not immoral as what was said, human trafficking is immoral. Drug trafficking is immoral, child smuggling is immoral Open borders are dangerous and immoral. Trump said El Paso is a prime example of the success of border fencing, with the crime rate going down after the fence was erected. Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, sits right across the border and has high levels of violence. Its one of the most dangerous cities in the world, Trump said. Yet thanks to a powerful border wall in El Paso Texas, its one of Americas safest cities now. Youre talking a few feet away, Trump said. Last year Juarez had 1,200 murders. El Paso, right next door, had 23 murders. Walls work. We want to stop drugs, we want to stop criminals from coming in. Walls save lives. Trump described illegal immigration as a heartbreaking human tragedy. The debate over the border wall escalated as the partial government shutdown that started days before Christmas last year broke records for being the longest in U.S. history. In January, Trump unveiled a new slogan: Build a wall and crime will fall, describing it as the new theme for the Republican Party for the next two years until the wall is completed. In fiscal year 2018, almost 400,000 aliens were apprehended by Border Patrol after crossing the Southwest border illegally. Trumps determination to secure funding for the border wall and the refusal by Democrats led to the first partial government shutdown. Currently, around 654 miles of barrier exist along the almost-2,000 miles of U.S.Mexico border. Trump also has the backing from most law enforcement experts. National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd told reporters on Jan. 3 that anywhere that you look where we have built walls, they have worked. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) one of the speakers before Trump, also insisted that walls are effective. We saw in El Paso where there was high traffic of illegal crossings, we built a wall and the crossings plummeted, he said. Cruz also called on the Democrats to let go of hate and anger to reach over the aisle and make America safe. Stop sitting there as you did in the State of the Union, he said. To the Democrats in Washington, the path forward is not open borders and socialism. Donald Trump Jr. also spoke, saying that the Democrats are too focused on their own interests. The left would rather see America fail than see Trump succeed at the helm, he said. Theyre fighting more for illegal aliens than they are for American people, because they need the votes. They need you to be dependent on them. During his speech that lasted around 90 minutes, Trump hit the usual points, including the strong economy, low unemployment, and progress with North Korea. But the case for a border wall was the focal point. The president also criticized a bill proposal by the Democrats last weekend that would place a cap on the number of illegal aliens ICE officers can detain. I will never sign a bill that forces the mass release of violent criminals into our country, he said. Following in the steps of his State of the Union Speech last week, Trump called for unity in Congress. He stressed that he welcomes legal immigrants who support American values, especially those who come in through merit. Both parties should come together to finally create a safe and lawful system of immigration, he said. The American people have waited long enough. A man is escorted off the media riser after knocking down some cameras and chanting "media sucks," during a rally held by President Donald Trump at the El Paso County Coliseum in El Paso, Texas, on Feb. 11, 2019. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Trump Condemns Violence After Man Shoves Media at Rally The White House issued a statement condemning violence after a man knocked down several video cameras and a cameraman in the press section during a campaign-style rally in El Paso, Texas, on Feb. 11. President Trump condemns all acts of violence against any individual or group of peopleincluding members of the press, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement on Feb. 12. We ask that anyone attending an event do so in a peaceful and respectful manner. During the rally, Trump stopped his speech to make sure reporters were unscathed after the man shoved members of the press and verbally abused the media before he was escorted out of the El Paso County Coliseum. The man reportedly ran down a flight of stairs and onto the press riser to get to cameras that were recording Trumps speech. Some equipment was knocked over during the scuffle. BBCs Ron Skeans told BBC that he felt a very hard shove from behind. I didnt know what was going on. He said the man nearly knocked over his camera twice before he was restrained by conservative talk radio host Ben Bergquam. Bergquam, who also runs a website called Frontline America, told The Epoch Times that the man was yelling about fake news and seemed off. There was something that didnt seem quite right. There was something off in his eyes, he said. As soon as I grabbed him, there was no fight. Although the man was wearing a red MAGA hat, Bergquam noted it was possible that he was somebody on the left posing as a Trump supporter, but there was no way to know. During the rally, there were at least five other protests. Bergquam also lamented on the medias coverage of the scuffle, BBCs in particular. You cant help but notice that they intentionally omitted the fact that another Trump supporter and fellow journalists were up there to restrain the guy, he said, speaking of himself. They proved it themselves just by their reporting on the situation. Bergquam was asked if he thought Trumps comments against fake news created the situation. No. I think the medias lack of journalistic integrity created a situation where people dont trust them anymore. And President Trump is just articulating what many others feel, he said. Amid the tussle, Trump paused his speech, and once the man was escorted away, asked if the reporters were okay, checking with a thumbs-up. Are you alright? Everything OK? Please? Trump said. He received a thumbs-up in return and continued his speech. The focal point of Trumps speech was his push for a physical barrier along the U.S.Mexico border. He said the number of illegal immigrants crossing into America is so great that the government has nowhere to hold them. He blamed the laws for bringing aliens into the court system and creating a backlog, Right now, we have almost 900,000 cases. How many judges do we have to hire? The rally was the seventh event Trump has held in Texas and his first in El Paso since announcing his candidacy. The stadium was filled to its 8,000-plus capacity, and about 69,000 people signed up online for the rally. The venue is less than 1,000 feet from the border wall in El Paso. With reporting by Charlotte Cuthbertson. This article has been updated to add the statement from the White House. President Donald Trump talks to reporters during a meeting of his cabinet in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington on Feb. 12, 2019. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Trump Calls on Rep. Ilhan Omar to Resign Over Comments About Isreal President Donald Trump called for the resignation of new Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar after she made controversial comments about Israel that some have described as anti-Semitic. Anti-Semitism has no place in the United States Congress, Trump told reporters on Feb. 11. Its terrible what she said and I think she should either resign from Congress or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he said. President Trump on Rep. @IlhanMN: Her lame apology, and thats what it was, it was lame, and she didnt mean a word of it was just not appropriate. I think she should resign from Congress. pic.twitter.com/6rbPUDdFuz CSPAN (@cspan) February 12, 2019 What the president was referring to were comments Omar made in which she implied that a prominent pro-Israel lobby group paid off lawmakers for their support of Israel. In a tweet on Sunday, Omar wrote the song lyric, Its all about the Benjamins, baby, and she later suggested that money from AIPAC, or the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, drove American politicians to support Israel. Her suggestions were condemned by both Democrats and Republicans, saying they play into anti-Semitic stereotypes. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House leaders issued a joint statement, saying the use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israels supporters are deeply offensive. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, stated that its shocking to hear a Member of Congress invoke the anti-Semitic trope of Jewish money.' Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) described her comments as deeply disappointing and disturbing, Fox reported. Omar issued an apology, saying she never meant to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole, adding that we have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me for my identity, according to reports. However, she insisted on talking about the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics. It prompted Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) to issue a statement that it was a sorry not sorry apology. Trump described her apology as lame. Her lame apology, and thats what it was, it was lame, and she didnt mean a word of it was just not appropriate. I think she should resign from Congress, he told reporters on Feb. 11. At a minimum she shouldnt be on committees. Or certainly that committee, he added. Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 12, 2019 On Feb. 12, former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke publicly backed Omar. Duke responded to the backlash, stating: So, let us get this straight. It is Anti-Semitism to point out that the most powerful political moneybags in American politics are Zionists who put another nations interest (Israels) over that of America? Omar was made aware of his comment on Twitter by a journalist. A tweet by a supporter in response read, maybe dont insinuate black Muslims have the support of the KKK? Omar responded with no words but used one emoji, of a woman holding a hand to her forehead in seeming disbelief that someone had pointed out Dukes support for her sentiment. U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer (C), a member of the U.S. trade delegation to China, arrives at a hotel in Beijing on Feb. 12, 2019. (Jason Lee/Reuters) Top US Officials Arrive in China for Trade Talks as Deadline Looms BEIJING Top U.S. officials arrived in the Chinese capital on Feb. 12 ahead of high-level trade talks as the worlds two largest economies attempt to hammer out a deal ahead of a March 1 deadline and avoid another escalation of tariffs. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are scheduled to hold talks on Thursday and Friday with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, top economic adviser to Chinese leader Xi Jinping. If the two sides cannot reach a deal by March 1, U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports are scheduled to increase to 25 percent from 10 percent. China will likely respond by raising tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S goods that it announced last year in retaliation. Were looking forward to several important days of talks, Mnuchin told reporters after arriving at a Beijing hotel. Lighthizer, who arrived at the hotel earlier in the day, did not answer reporters questions. Washington is expected to keep pressing Beijing on long-standing demands that it make sweeping structural reforms to protect American companies intellectual property, end policies aimed at forcing the transfer of technology to Chinese companies, and curb industrial subsidies. Talks kicked off in Beijing with discussions among deputy-level officials on Monday before minister-level meetings later in the week. A round of talks at the end of January ended with some progress reportedbut no deal and U.S. declarations that much more work was needed. President Donald Trump said last week he did not plan to meet with Xi before the March 1 deadline, dampening hopes that a trade pact could be reached quickly. However, White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway said on Monday a meeting was still possible soon, telling Fox News Channel that Trump wants a deal with China, but it must be fair to Americans, and American workers and American interests. By Ben Blanchard Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) (R) announce the Green New Deal outside the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 7, 2019. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images) The Red Roots of the Green New Deal: Part 2 This article is Part 2 of a two-part series on the Green New Deal. Also see Green New Deal Could Plunge the World Into War: Part 1. Calls for a Green New Deal are rapidly building on the U.S. left. Promoted by openly socialist congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the proposal calls for mass wealth redistribution, a federal jobs program, socialized health care, guaranteed minimum incomes, and the elimination of all fossil fuels from the U.S. economy by 2030, all in the name of fighting climate change. In reality the Green New Deal is a deeply socialist plan formulated and promoted by bona fide communist groups. The Green New Deal, which only a few years ago would have been labelled as crackpot utopianism, is heralded on the left as a serious program for addressing environmental issues and social inequalities. So far, more than 45 leftist Democrats in Congress have endorsed the project, including likely 2020 presidential candidates Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and declared presidential candidates Sens. Kamala Harris (D.-Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Former presidential candidate Al Gore has called the Green New Deal part of the answer to global inequality. So far House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has balked at Ocasio-Cortezs call for a Congressional Select Committee on the Green New Dealbut the idea still has momentum. Christy Goldfuss, who was the managing director of the Council on Environmental Quality under President Barack Obama and now leads the energy and environmental team at the Democratic Partys think tank the Center for American Progress, told the New Yorker that she had noticed the Green New Deals influence on senior Democrats. People are asking how are we going to address climate change at scale, not whats our building-block approach, Goldfuss said. For me, that is a huge, huge shift, and it would not have happened if the Green New Deal had not come along. The Green New Deal, which has come to define the progressive cause in Washington, according to the New Yorker, has existed in several forms for years. The proposal echoes a United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report from October 2008, when UNEPs Executive Director Achim Steiner unveiled the Global Green New Deal initiative, which aimed at transforming the worlds economy and combating climate change through creating jobs in green industries. The Green Party USA has also promoted a Green New Deal, which includes massive defense cuts, for several years. Significantly, the Manhattan-based Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (RLS) has discussed the concept since at least 2013. A Green New Deal is concerned with a just transition to a more sustainable economy, with improved provision of public services, and with strict regulation of polluters and financial speculators. While there is much promise in this approach, it contains unresolved contradictions and has been blocked by hostile forces. Moreover, it is unclear whether this agenda is adequate to the challenge posed by climate change, stated the introduction to an RLS report. Building green socialism may be the only way to emerge from this time of crisis with a society that treads lightly on the earth while enabling a full range of human flourishing. The RLS is the American affiliate of the Berlin-based Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, a wholly owned affiliate of German political party Die Linke (The Left)a direct descendant of the former Stalinist East German Communist Party. The RLS works closely with the United States largest Marxist organization, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), and the pro-China Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), as well as the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), all of which are fully behind the Green New Deal. Whos Behind the Green New Deal? The current Green New Deal exists in its most authoritative form as an 11-page Google Doc, according to the New Yorker: The document was written over a single December 2018 weekend by the staff of the freshman representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and three like-minded progressive groups: the Sunrise Movement, a grassroots climate organization; the Justice Democrats, which recruits and supports progressive candidates; and an upstart policy shop called the New Consensus. All three of these groups are spin-offs of a New York City-based revolutionary training organization called Momentum. According to Momentums website: We see two dominant traditions of organizing in the United States: structure-based organizing and mass protest. In the structure-based tradition, developed by Saul Alinsky and others, organizers start with one-on-one relationships to develop leadership and build a base that can advocate for the needs of particular constituencies. Structure-based organizations, such as community organizations and labor unions, make instrumental demands, using the bases leverage over policymakers to win concrete reforms for their members. By contrast, in the mass protest tradition, autonomous groups of individuals create polarizing moments that inspire thousands of unaffiliated people to take to the streets around symbolic, popular social issues. The Momentum model fuses the strengths of the structure-based organizing and mass protest to seed a new tradition of organizing in the United States. Momentum synthesizes the lessons of various 20th century movements, including the Color Revolutions of Eastern Europe and the Arab Spring in North Africa. Momentum boasts of training activists from groups doing some of the most important movement-building in the United States, including Black Lives Matter, Dream Defenders, BYP100, United We Dream, Showing Up For Racial Justice, 350.org, National Peoples Action, PICO, and more. All of these groups are front groups or close affiliates of the FRSO. The Sunrise Movement, with established groups in several major cities, is the main cheerleader for the Green New Deal. Sunrise has heavily recruited activists from the DSA- and FRSO-affiliated groups, such as the Pennsylvania Student Power Network. For instance, Stephen OHanlon is a former member of the Pennsylvania Student Power Network and founder and national field director of the Sunrise Movement. The Sunrise Movement is openly endorsed by the DSA and several FRSO-affiliated groups, including Bay Area-based Green For All, which was founded by one-time Maoist and former Obama administration green jobs czar Van Jones. The Justice Democrats, then co-run by Ocasio-Cortez (before she decided to run for Congress and join the DSA), backed dozens of far-left Democrats in the last election cycle, electing seven of them. Over 40 percent of their 78 endorsed candidates were either DSA members or endorsees. Several more were from the FRSO or CPUSA orbits. The Justice Democrats also partnered closely with Brand New Congress, which is governed largely by DSA members. New Consensus provides the theoretical backbone for the Green New Deal. According to E&E News: A policy group is being formed to support an energized progressive movement thats taken Capitol Hill by storm under the leadership of Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). Its called the New Consensus. The 501c(3) nonprofit is in the process of being formed to provide a policy platform that will underpin the ambitiousand increasingly politically popularGreen New Deal aimed at weaning the United States off fossil fuels, boosting renewables and clean energy jobs, and building a smart grid. Front and center will be Rhiana Gunn-Wright, a 29-year-old Yale graduate and Rhodes scholar who will serve as the groups policy director working to flesh out details of the plan. Gunn-Wright was a policy team intern for former first lady Michelle Obama. In 2018, she served as policy director for the far-left Abdul El-Sayed in his unsuccessful gubernatorial run in Michigan. Gunn-Wright put together a uniquely comprehensive suite of policy proposals, including a commitment to establishing a $15 minimum wage; tuition-free college for Michiganders with family income under $150,000; aggressive criminal justice reform; and the most detailed state-level single-payer health care plan ever, according to The Intercept. El-Sayeds Deputy Campaign Manager Claire Sandberg traveled to Germany in September 2018 with DSA member and RLS staffer Winnie Wong. The pair held a meeting in the German Bundestag with members of the crypto-communist organization Die Linke. Sandberg was also a founder of another short-lived Momentum spinoff, We Will Replace You, which aimed to target centrist Democrats not on board with the far-lefts agenda. One of her fellow co-founders, Waleed Shahid, was a Momentum leader, spokesman for the Justice Democrats, and served as policy director on Cynthia Nixons DSA-endorsed campaign for governor of New York. FRSO General Secretary Sendolo Diaminah served as an official adviser to We Will Replace You. The Green New Deal is a thoroughly socialist program conceived of and promoted by communists. The DSA, FRSO, and CPUSA are all behind the Green New Deal. Even the Stalinist League of Revolutionaries for a New America, which supports North Korea, Iran, and the Russian annexation of part of the Ukraine, has backed the plan. Its not surprising that communists are behind the Green New Deal. What is shocking is how many Democrats are willing to run with it. Some are even saying it will feature heavily in their 2020 campaign. Trevor Loudon is an author, filmmaker, and public speaker from New Zealand. For more than 30 years, he has researched radical left, Marxist, and terrorist movements and their covert influence on mainstream politics. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Dr. Edward Feser, professor of philosophy, Pasadena City College, speaks at the Heritage Foundation in Washington on Feb. 11 2019. (Lynn Lin/Epoch Times) Socialism Ruins the Traditional Family Structure, Warns Expert WASHINGTONThe economic problems brought by socialism are widely known, but the danger the ideology poses to the institution of the familythe very foundation of societyis more fundamental, says an expert. Despite this, the rhetoric and politics of socialism have seen a revival in the United States since the 2008 financial crisis, according to Edward Feser, a professor of philosophy at Pasadena City College in California. In the wake of the Reagan and Thatcher revolutions, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the liberalization of the Chinese economy, many observers judged at the beginning of the 21st century that socialism was dead, he said at a Heritage Foundation event on Feb. 11. But if so, then like the zombies that have been all the rage in pop culture for the past few years, it is a corpse that walks. Socialism and the family are incompatible, according to Feser. Socialism has a tendency to undermine the traditional family, and this breakdown has, in turn, led to a greater need for state assistancehence leading society further in a socialist direction in recent decades, he said. The family is the fundamental unit of society, and traditionally, the states role was to assist and safeguard the family. Now liberalism replaced this conception with the idea of the individual as the fundamental social unit, he said. Liberalism has come to regard the basic premises of feminism and of the sexual revolution as matters of justice. It is, in this view, unjust if men and women are not equally represented in the workforce outside the home and in various career fields. The logical outcome of these liberal premises is that the government will have to claim for itself greater powers, and intervene in the private economy so as to ensure that justice. Such tendencies have given way to socialism, he said. In addition, when the traditional family structure breaks down, some people, especially single mothers and children, find themselves without sufficient private means of assistance and thus depend on greater governmental support. Besides these material factors, there are spiritual or moral factors that lead in the direction of socialism as well. Human beings are by nature social animals, Feser said, and individuals are incomplete without a family. People long to be part of something bigger than themselves. When the family is not there to fulfill this need, they will look for a substitute, he said. This can make the idea of a socialist society attractive, especially to young people. Socialists push for plans such as a universal basic income, single-payer health care, state-backed education for all, and heavy taxes on inheritance. So the idea is that all basic material needs will thereby be provided by the state rather than by the father or even the father and mother together, he said. The state becomes the de facto breadwinner for all. President Donald Trump slammed the encroachment of socialism into America in his recent State of the Union address on Feb. 5. Trump, a fiery critic of socialism and communism, made the remarks as he spoke about the economic collapse in Venezuela, one of the latest examples of socialisms failure. His remarks also came in response to growing support for far-left socialist ideas among Democrats, such as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, that would enable massive government expansion into the health care and energy sectors. America was founded on liberty and independencenot government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free, and we will stay free, Trump said. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country. Epoch Times staff member Ivan Pentchoukov contributed to this report. A Husky props herself on a fence to greet her approaching owner at Sehmel Homestead Park in Gig Harbor on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, during a break in a snowstorm that continues to blanket the Northwest. (AP photo/ The News Tribune, Drew Perine) Snow Slams Northwest Again and Even Hawaii Gets Some SEATTLE Schools closed across Washington state and the Legislature canceled all hearings Monday with winter snowstorms pummeling the Northwest again as a larger weather system wreaked havoc in the region and even brought snow to Hawaii. Seattles metro area had already been hit by three snow storms this month and the National Weather Service reports that Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has received 20.2 inches (51 centimeters) of snow so far in February, the snowiest month in more than 50 years. The storm that hit Seattle Sunday dumped up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) of snow. More than 6 inches (15 centimeters) of snow fell on Monday with rain and snow expected Tuesday as a lingering jet stream drives cold arctic air into the normally temperate region, and was part of a larger cycle that has also driven snow as far away as Hawaii. In the state capital of Olympia, lawmakers cancelled meetings and the University of Washington in Seattle and Washington State University in Pullman called off classes. And as far away as Northern California, Humboldt County beaches that have not had snow in more than 15 years received a dusting and blizzard conditions caused whiteouts on mountain roads. In Seattle, the snows effects were amplified by a prolonged stretch of cold temperatures. Youve got storm after storm sliding down the sweet spot to produce low-level snow, said Kirby Cook, a meteorologist at Seattles National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration office. He described weather systems pulling cold air from Canada and combining it with moist air pulled east from the Pacific Ocean. When snow does fall in the area, normally enough warm air is drawn from over the Pacific to melt it soon after it falls, but the steady stream of cold air has kept normally-mild western Washington colder than normal and let the snow build up. Its really rare for us to maintain this pattern, Cook said. Joe Zagrodnik, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington, said the larger system at work namely the position of a cold jet stream was also driving warm temperatures in Alaska and unusual weather in Hawaii. With a north-south ridge of high pressure situated off the coast of Washington and Canada, Zagrodnik said, cold air being drawn southward inland is being replaced by warm air moving north offshore, driving temperatures up in parts of Alaska even as Seattle freezes. And a chunk of cold, low-pressure air separated from the main flow is also drifting further west. Known as a Kona Low, the system caused unusual snow on the island of Maui. Hawaii officials said the blanket of snow at Polipoli Spring State Recreation Area is likely the first for any state park. Polipoli is at 6,200 feet (1,900 meters) and is possibly the lowest elevation snow ever recorded in the state. When Lance Endos friend camping at a state park on Maui texted him early Sunday that there was snow he jumped in his truck and drove more than hour to see it. I just wanted to go play in the snow, Endo said. Endo headed back down from the park on the slopes of Haleakala, where the weather service says there were snow drifts of about 4 feet (1.21 meters), to bring his two children up to the park. Endo said he wanted his kids to see something thats very unusual in Hawaii. In Washington, Zagrodnik said, Februarys total already sets the month as the snowiest single month in the state since November of 1985, and the snowiest February on record. Figures for the state are usually taken from the nearby airport, despite a seven-year gap at the site in the 1990s. The cold snap stands out as an anomaly amid a trend of winters in Washington state becoming more mild since as early as 1900, driven by global warming, said assistant Washington state climatologist Karin Bumbaco. Not every decade is warmer than the previous, said Bumbaco, noting that some mid-century years had produced snow records, but overall winters have been trending distinctly warmer. Elsewhere around the U.S., the Midwest braced for more ice storms. Authorities say a northeastern Indiana man and his two daughters died after his car slid off a snow-covered rural road and into a river. In the Northeast, a winter storm is expected to dump up to 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow in the high elevations. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency for the state that goes into effect at midnight. New York City is expected to get 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) of snow on Tuesday before it all changes over to sleet and rain. Schools across the region are closing or delaying start times because of the weather. Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto, right, shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the ministry in Budapest, Hungary, on Feb. 11, 2019. (Zsolt Szigetvary/MTI via AP) Pompeo Warns of Risks to US Cooperation Over Huawei BUDAPEST, HungaryU.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Feb. 11 that America might be forced to scale back certain operations in Europe and elsewhere if countries continue to do business with Chinese telecommunications company Huawei. Pompeo made the comments in Budapest on the first leg of a five-nation European tour during which he said he would raise American concerns about China and Russias growing influence in Central Europe. He said he also would discuss concerns about the rule of law, democracy, and human rights in the region, particularly in Hungary, where nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been criticized for his increasingly authoritarian rule. On Huawei, which is a major player in Hungary, Pompeo said he would make the case to Orban and other officials that doing business with the company comes with significant risks for information security and privacy that could imperil cooperation with the United States. U.S. officials are deeply troubled by Huaweis expansion in Europe, especially in NATO members including Hungary, where they believe it poses significant threats. They are a sovereign nation. They get to make their own decisions with respect to these things, Pompeo told reporters at an impromptu news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Budapest. What is imperative is that we share with them the things we know about the risks that Huaweis presence in their networks presentactual risks to their people, to the loss of privacy protections for their own people, to the risk that China will use this in a way that is not in the best interest of Hungary. We have an obligation to share this with them, and we will do so, Pompeo said. But second, we have seen this all around the world. It also makes it more difficult for America to be present. That is, if that equipment is co-located where we have important American systems, it makes it more difficult for us to partner alongside them. We want to make sure we identify [to] them the opportunities and the risks with using that equipment. And then they will get to make their decisions. The United States has repeatedly accused China of using technology to pilfer trade secrets. China recently has said that it is totally unreasonable to make some of these accusations and the United States is just trying to suppress a rising competitor. Pompeo will take the same message to his next stop, Slovakia, on Feb. 12, before heading to Poland, where he will participate in a conference on the future of the Middle East, which is expected to focus on Iran. He will wrap up the tour with brief stops in Belgium and Iceland. Vacuum in Central Europe Ahead of his visits to Budapest and Bratislava, U.S. officials said Pompeo hoped to reverse what they called a decade of U.S. disengagement in Central Europe that created a vacuum Russia and China have exploited. Over the course of the past 10 years, the officials said, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leaders have become much more aggressive in the region and made inroads. President Donald Trumps administration has made a point of reaching out to Orban, who shares Trumps strong stance on limiting migration. Orban has adopted increasingly authoritarian measures, including cracking down on the opposition, labor unions, independent media, and academia. The administration of Trumps predecessor, President Barack Obama, had largely steered clear of Orban, who won a third consecutive term last year in a campaign based on anti-immigration policies and whose policies have been met with street protests and deepening concern within the EU. Pompeo put the blame for much of the backsliding on a lack of U.S. engagement. I think for a long time we shunned them in a way that drove them to fill the vacuum with folks who didnt share our values, he said. The Russians and the Chinese ended up getting more influence here, they do not remotely share the American ideals that we care so deeply about. So many of the concerns that are voiced are things that have happened in the absence of America being engaged, so I think its centrally important that were here, he said. Well certainly make the case about the things that we see that we wish were different here. Civic Groups Pompeo was given a list of concerns in a meeting with Hungarian civic leaders. Some of their groups have been targeted by legislation making their work more difficult, like a tax on funds received from abroad and possible jail time for those convicted of aiding asylum seekers. Three groups that took part said they believed Pompeo would bring them to Orban. The meeting and the openness to the opinion of the civic groups again demonstrated that the American leadership is committed to the defense of the values of the rule of law and the role of civil society, the groups said in a statement. Last month, Orban said he wanted anti-immigration forces to become a majority in all European Union institutions, including its Parliament and the EUs executive Commission, and predicted that there would soon be two civilizations in Europeone that builds its future on a mixed Islamic and Christian coexistence and another in Central Europe that would be only Christian. Orbans government has been targeted for criticism, including from the United States, for forcing a Budapest-based university founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros to move most of its programs to Vienna. Orbans fiery rhetoric against migrants and refusal to join a new European Union public prosecutors office that focuses on fraud and corruption have also raised concerns. By Matthew Lee. Associated Press writer Pablo Gorondi contributed to this report. Over 700 Victims Allegedly Abused by Southern Baptist Leaders, Volunteers: Report Almost 400 Southern Baptist church leaders and workers over the past 20 years have faced allegations of sexual abuse from more than 700 victimsa joint investigation by two Texas newspapers revealed. Results of a six-month investigation conducted by The Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News and published on Feb. 10, found the majority of the 380 clergy accused of sexual misconduct have been convicted or taken plea deals. But it also revealed a number of them had continued to work in the ministry with no punishment. Of those alleged victims, some were as young as three years old. The allegations from both males and femalesinclude claims of molestation, repeated rape, being photographed naked, and being exposed to pornography. The cases were spread throughout the United States, but most reportedly occurred in Texas. The newspapers found that since 1998, at least 10 churches have employed ministers, church volunteers, and employees who had faced sexual misconduct charges; some were even registered sex offenders. In total, about 35 pastors, employees, and volunteers were still employed, even after having been the target of allegations. Of the total accused, 220 were successfully prosecuted and were either convicted or took plea deals; some cases are pending. Meanwhile, 100 of those who were convicted are still held in prisons, according to state and federal records. The report from the newspapers has sparked calls for authorities to open the same type of probe of the Southern Baptist community as the numerous ongoing investigations into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in the United States. I do expect there will be more interest from prosecutors, in Southern Baptists, Marci Hamilton, the chief executive of anti-abuse nonprofit organization CHILD USA, told the Washington Post. I also think its going to create added pressure in the Southern states for statute of limitation reform. The United States is facing a renewed, growing reckoning as nearly two dozen local, state, or federal investigations, either criminal or civil, have been launched into the Roman Catholic Church over child sexual abuse allegations. Over half of the 187 Roman Catholic dioceses across the country have also started investigating these claims or have announced plans to do so. Laura Ahearn, a New York attorney in private practice who has represented clergy abuse victims, told The Epoch Times previously that she was deeply disturbed by cover-up tactics she witnessed. There were priests that were stationed here (in the United States) and after they were accused of molesting children here, they were sent to another country by the church. They would send the priest to so-called treatment and often those priests would just re-offend and molest more children, she said. Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear suggested Feb. 11 that the 700 victims were just the tip of the iceberg. What can easily be lost in the size of these numbers, which are grievously large, is the tragic fact that they cannot be the whole story, he said in a blog post. If you have been victimized by a church leader (or anyone else for that matter) and the Houston Chronicle story rekindled fear and doubt about how you could receive care, please hear us: we are profoundly sorry, he said. We, the church, have failed you, but we do not want you to forgo care or counsel. Several past presidents and prominent Southern Baptist Convention leaders have been accused by victims of concealing or mishandling abuse complaints within their churches or seminaries, the newspapers reported. In 2008, a victim implored SBC leaders to track sexual predators, act against congregations that harbored or concealed abusers, and establish sexual abuse prevention policies such as those adopted by other faiths, including the Roman Catholic Church. But the SBC Executive Committee rejected the proposals. The committees interim president, August Boto, who drafted that rejection document, expressed sorrow on Feb. 10 about the newspapers findings. It would be sorrow if it were 200 or 600 [cases]. Sorrow. What were talking about is criminal. The fact that criminal activity occurs in a church context is always the basis of grief. But its going to happen. And that statement (he drafted in 2008) does not mean that we must be resigned to it, he told the newspapers. Greear, who was elected as the SBCs president last June, said the abuses described in the news report are pure evil. In recent years, several abuse survivors and their supporters have campaigned on the issue of sexual abuse within the SBC community. Activists remain skeptical as to whether an SBC Executive Committee study created last July will recommend sufficiently tough anti-abuse measures. The Associated Press contributed to this report. People's Democratic Party (PDP) supporters arrive at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos where the official opposition PDP party holds a rally, on Feb. 12, 2019. (Luis Tato/AFP/Getty Images) Nigerias General Election Raises Hopes, Fears as Security Challenges Persist LAGOS, NigeriaFour years ago, President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria rode to power on a wave of optimism, becoming the first opposition candidate to defeat an incumbent president in the political history of the country. Buhari promised to tackle the countrys myriad challenges, most prominent of which were security, corruption, and other developmental deficits. His party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), described then-President Goodluck Jonathan as clueless in tackling the Boko Haram terrorist crisis that ravaged Nigerias northeast. Let me make you this promise today, Buhari wrote on Twitter in January 2015. We will protect your children. We will protect your wealth. We will make this country work again. As security and economic problems persist four years later, the same disillusionment and concerns about the state of the nation are shared by many Nigerians as the country goes to the polls to elect its president. Nigerias presidential and National Assembly elections will be held Feb. 16, while the governorship and State Assembly elections are scheduled for March 2. About 84 million registered voters and 91 political parties are expected to participate in the election that will determine the fate of Nigeria for the next four years. Boko Haram War Even though the federal government claimed it had defeated Boko Haraman Islamic terrorist group that seeks to overthrow the governmentkillings continue unabated. Many communities still reel under the onslaught of the terrorists. Girls and women have been abducted, while many villagers say they have lost confidence in the ability of the state to protect them. From north to south Nigeria, there are many issues that have the electorate concerned. Chief among them is the volatile security situation, said Okechukwu Nwanguma, the national president of the Network on Police Reform (NOPRIN). Nwanguma said it was unfortunate that the war against Boko Haram had only recorded minor victories despite funds dedicated to tackling it. The failure by the military authorities to adequately equip its soldiers fighting insurgency has led to unacceptably high casualty figures on the path of troops, he said. There are reports of disgruntled and demoralized soldiers complaining of being sent on a suicide mission and some even deserting the war; there are also reports that some of the soldiers are joining the terrorists. Farmer and Herder Clashes The inter-communal clashes that have rocked the country over the last four years and left many dead have become a focal point of discourse during the electoral campaigns. Buharis main contender, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has capitalized on his rivals failure to avert the killings, promising to address the problem. In December 2018, Amnesty International released a report titled, Harvest of Death: Three Years of Bloody Clashes Between Farmers and Herders, in which it estimated that 3,641 deaths had occurred as a result of the conflict over access to land and grazing. The Nigerian authorities failure to investigate communal clashes and bring perpetrators to justice has fueled a bloody escalation in the conflict between farmers and herders across the country, the Amnesty International report stated. In some cases, security forces had prior warning of an imminent raid but did nothing to stop or prevent the killings, looting and burning of homes. Lamenting the problem, Chief Edward Ujege, the president general of Mdzough U Tiv, one of the largest tribal groups in Benue state, told The Epoch Times that those who perpetrated the attacks had yet to be arrested or prosecuted. Ujege said the crisis had led to a drop in food productivity, as Benues citizens, who are predominantly farmers, have quit their farms for the fear of being killed by herdsmen. As a community leader, I grieve over the loss of lives of my people who died during the attacks. The crisis has also paralyzed education as parents fear to send their children to school, he said. The Benue state government enacted the anti-grazing law and establishment of ranches to curb constant herdsmen killings but has not enjoyed the support of the federal government to make this work. Chidi Odinkalu, former president of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), also expressed concerns about the killings, while also criticizing the government for not effectively tackling security issues and getting justice for the victims. I cant see any legacy this government will bequeath to the next one. First, it took the president several months to constitute his cabinet. In terms of security, the government has shown a lack of empathy [and] imagination in solving the conflicts, he said. The president has also failed in terms of communicating with the masses about its plans for them. Alleged Graft and Rights Violations Buharis campaign promises focused on fighting corruption in his second term and jailing corrupt leaders. The president was hailed for implementing the Treasury Single Account system, which plugged leaks in the countrys finances. But while some progress has been made in fighting corruption, Buharis critics and opposition have picked holes in his efforts, alleging lopsidedness in the war against graft. He has also come under intense criticism for constitutional abuse and illegal detention of citizens. Recently, members of the PDP protested Buharis decision to suspend the chief justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, who is accused of breaching asset-declaration laws. The United States and the UK separately issued statements on the development, noting it may affect the credibility of the election. We note widespread Nigerian criticism that this decision is unconstitutional and that it undermines the independence of the judicial branch, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. Presidents Health Another issue that has shaped the campaign is the presidents health. The PDP has vigorously campaigned against Buhari, citing his health condition as a reason why Nigerians should consider voting for Abubakar. The president has cumulatively spent several months in the UK for an undisclosed ailment, handing over governance to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in his absence. But the director of strategic communications for Buharis campaign, Festus Keyamo, has dismissed the allegation that the president is not fit to rule Nigeria. For those who see PMB [President Muhammadu Buhari] on roof tops of buses campaigning around the country and who still question his fitness for elections, we need to first carry out a psychiatric evaluation on them to determine whether they have the mental capacity to even be part of our political discourse, he wrote on Twitter. Adeniyi Akintola, a political activist and lawyer, blamed the past government for most of the problems the country faces. Akintola said the president inherited too many problems, which made it overwhelming to fix the country within four years. Akintola called for patience, adding that Nigerias problems require a lot of time and effort owing to damage done during the long years of military rule. Fair and Peaceful Elections To ensure a free and fair election and to avoid violence, Nwanguma urged the government to look at the security threat assessment carried out in October 2018 by the CLEEN Foundation NGO, which indicated that 12 states in Nigeria have a high probability of electoral violence. The United States has also made a similar appeal to stakeholders, urging all parties to ensure that the elections proceed in a way that is free, fair, transparent, and peacefulleading to a credible result. Newborn Baby Rescued From Storm Drain in South Africa After Being Dumped A newborn baby girl was rescued from a storm drain by emergency workers in South Africa after a grueling four-hour operation. Authorities said they were called when residents heard a baby crying from deep within a concrete storm drain in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), on the eastern coast of South Africa, on Feb. 11, The Associated Press reported. The little girl had been dumped in Newlands East, Durban, according to South Africas EWN Eyewitness News, and was airlifted to a hospital where she remains in stable condition. Infant Dumped Down Drain Rescuers believe the newborn girl was washed 10 to 15 feet down the drain after being dumped, according to ABC. Rescue Care Paramedics, one of the groups that helped to extricate the infant said it is unclear why the baby was thrown into the storm drain and that police were investigating. KMZ Emergency Medical Services spokesman Robert McKenzie told Eyewitness News, Its good news for the ending of this rescue today. We would like to congratulate the rescue personnel and paramedics who worked together to rescue this little girl today. The community was very helpful and supportive, which we are also grateful for. The rescued infant is thought to be between one and three days old, according to Fox News. Dramatic Rescue After arriving at the scene, emergency responders located the pipe the baby was in, Fox News reported, before digging deep into the opening. Crews secured the walls of the opening by placing vertical supports along the walls and what appeared to be hydraulic braces, according to a Rescue Care photo published by Eyewitness News. Witnesses cited by Fox News reportedly observed residents bringing pieces of wood they had ripped from kitchen cabinets in order to support the hole and prevent the sides from caving in. Rescuers used a chisel and hammer to break into the pipe and rescue the infant. Video from the scene shows the emotional moment that the baby was unearthed from the drain as onlookers cheered. The baby girl who was rescued from a stormwater pipe this morning, is doing we. Doctors at Chief Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital say shes been treated for mild hypothermia & will be transferred to another facility shortly. #NewlandsEastBabyRescue @ECR_Newswatch pic.twitter.com/NsqLdf6YcF Bernadette Wicks (Wolhuter) (@bern_wicks) February 11, 2019 South African media reported the girl was being treated for mild hypothermia at Durbans Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital and is expected to be transferred to a different facility. Baby Rescue During Suicide Standoff Intense footage of officers rescuing a baby from a car during a standoff with a suicidal armed man has been released by Arkansas police. Little Rock Police Department released the dashcam footage on Dec. 28, showing the tense moments as they talked down a suicidal father and rescued his 1-year-old baby from the passenger seat. Farris Deloney, 43, had fired shots following an argument with the mother and had driven off with their daughter, sparking a police pursuit that culminated in the standoff on Dec. 19. Deloney was charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, and two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, according to KATV. The video shows a female officer climbing into the passenger seat mid-standoff, as officers tell Deloney, Dont do it! The officer emerges a few seconds later with the baby dressed in pink. According to Little Rock Police, the 13-minute video has been trimmed for time constraints. The total time elapsed is not clear, but at one edit point, just before Deloney emerges, the direction of the clouds jumps by around 60 degrees, suggesting a significant length of time. Local reports said that the incident lasted two hours in totalfrom the time the shots were fired in the parking lot to Deloneys arrest. The standoff lasted one hour, according to Arkansas Online. In the video, the officers can be heard pleading with the man not to take his life, encouraging him to think of his daughter, who they call Olivia, and how she will need her father. Eventually, Deloney gives in, backing out of the car and slowly walking backward toward the officers under their instruction with his hands in the air. Through de-escalation tactics and negotiation with the subject, officers were able to remove the child from the vehicle safely and take the subject into custody, said a Little Rock Police statement. The subject was later transported to an area hospital for a medical evaluation, the statement said. The Epoch Times reporter Simon Veazey and The Associated Press contributed to this report. A mountain lion was shot dead in the Napa area of California after it killed two sheep, prompting criticism from some. (Audubon Canyon Ranch) Mountain Lion Shot Dead by Landowners After Killing Sheep A mountain lion was shot dead in California after killing two sheep on successive nights and trying to snag a third. The animal was just 20 feet from the front door of the home of Alejandra Calderon, who lives in the Napa area with her husband and three young children. Hitting back at people criticizing her husband for shooting the beast, she told The Press Democrat: As a parent, I hope that they understand how scared we were in the moment. It was a scary experience. The lion Calderon shot was trapped the week before and fitted with an electronic collar as part of an Audubon Canyon Research Project, and its death was the third time in the two-and-a-half-year program that one of the cats in the study has been killed after preying on livestock. Quinton Martins, a South African biologist and big cat expert, claimed that the landowners are to blame, believing they have to keep the domestic livestock properly enclosed. There isnt anybody who can give me a single good reason about how the killing of that cat does anything good, Martins said. State Fish and Wildlife Law Enforcement Lt. Jim Jones said that the Calderon family reached out several times to the agency and that officers investigated the killing. He said the family did not need a permit to kill the mountain lion if their livestock was in imminent danger. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife said that mountain lions became a specially protected species in 1990 with the passage of Proposition 117, making hunting them illegal in California. Mountain lions may be killed only 1) if a depredation permit is issued to take a specific lion killing livestock or pets; 2) to preserve public safety; or 3) to protect listed bighorn sheep, it stated. UPDATE, **PLEASE SHARE**: We greatly regret to report that P15 (called Jupiter), a 13-month old male mountain lion, was Gepostet von Audubon Canyon Ranch am Samstag, 9. Februar 2019 In a post on the Ranchs Facebook page, the group added, We are deeply saddened by the loss of (another) one our study animals and also the unnecessary trauma on the landowners unsecured animals. We, as a community, need to understand that ALL PREDATORS will kill unprotected pets or livestock. It is 100% our responsibility to take care of our pets and livestock before conflict occurs. Killing the wild predator is not an effective or reasonable long-term strategy for properly managing pets or livestock, it said. The mountain lion that was shot had been trapped after killing a goat belonging to a nearby resident, Patricia Damery. Ive got grandchildren6- and 8-year-old grandsons, Damery, 70, told the Press Democrat. I walk the trails every day. I was afraid. Read the full story here. https://t.co/SFqVuuWqOp The Press Democrat (@NorthBayNews) February 12, 2019 After calling Martins, who came to trap the lion, she said she was convinced that she was to blame for the goat being killed. Honestly, it changed my feeling about the whole process, she said. He did what lions do. He killed game, and it was my fault for having that goat out, but also he was such a beautiful lion. It was about being in the beauty of nature there. Referring to the trap and tag, the Audubon group said on Facebook on Feb. 5: In another win for wildlife, last night a very caring and involved landowner chose to call our Living with Lions team to capture and collar a mountain lion who killed her goat. Another WIN for wildlife In another win for wildlife, last night a very caring and involved landowner chose to call our Living with Lions team to capture and collar a mountain lion who killed her goat. The team headed into the Napa hills, set up a trap and well after midnight were able to secure P15, a young male approximately 13 months old and just recently dispersed from his mom. This landowner joins two others in the past month who did the right thing when faced with a pet livestock loss: they recognized that killing the lion via a depredation permit would do no good and that by opting to GPS-track these lions, our entire North Bay community will be able to learn so much more about coexisting with wildlife. Grateful for her decision, we suggested she give P15 a name. She chose JUPITER! If you have a livestock/wildlife conflict, please contact us right away. **THANK YOU** to our community for supporting this project in so many ways. Gepostet von Audubon Canyon Ranch am Dienstag, 5. Februar 2019 This landowner joins two others in the past month who did the right thing when faced with a pet livestock loss: they recognized that killing the lion via a depredation permit would do no good and that by opting to GPS-track these lions, our entire North Bay community will be able to learn so much more about coexisting with wildlife, it added. Calderon, though, told the Press Democrat that she and her husband killed the lion because it kept killing their sheep, despite their best efforts to prevent it. Just before being shot, it was also close to their house. Of course, I totally understand people being upset, whoever was tracking these animals. But that was not our intention to just do it for the heck, she said. We would never do anything like that. We did it for safety. From NTD News Michigan Worker Dies After Falling Into Vat of Hot Sulphuric Acid A worker has died after falling into a vat of sulphuric acid at a pipe supply factory in Michigan. The 54-year-old man from South Lyon was identified as Daniel Hill by local media, affectionately known as Moose to his friends. Police are investigating the incident at Michigan Seamless Tube plant, which occurred on Feb. 9 when Hill fell into a vat of sulphuric acid at a temperature of around 160 degrees. He was found by a co-worker fully submerged, reported Hometown Life. It is unclear how long he was submerged before co-coworkers were able to pull him out and and rush him to the hospital, where he died of burns a few hours later. According to Michigan Seamless Tubes website, the company creates boiler tubes, mechanical tubes and pipes. A statement from Michigan Seamless Tube, via ClickonDetroit, said, A valued Michigan Seamless Tube employee was involved in a serious industrial accident on Saturday afternoon. The employee was taken to the University of Michigan Hospital at Ann Arbor. He did not survive his injuries and passed away at the hospital. The company is conducting a comprehensive investigation of the accident and is cooperating with the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration, continued the statement. We dont believe there was any foul play or criminal matter to investigate, South Lyon Police Chief Chris Sovik told WWJ News Radio. Sovik told Hometown Life he was not aware of any previous chemical vat accidents at the business, but did note that a machine accident there resulted in the death of an employee several years ago. The accident is not a criminal investigation, he said. So sad. The man that fell into a tank of 160 degree sulfuric acid at Michigan Seamless Tube, died from his injuries. @WWJ950 @FOX2News pic.twitter.com/HuD0TxNNF8 Charlie Langton (@charlielangton) February 11, 2019 Hills obituary described him as a loving husband, a wonderful father, and the best grandfather to his grandchildren, which he called his little angels.' Daniel was very generous to everyone he met and a very dedicated, hard worker. He served in the Army in the motor pool and was proud of his service. He loved fishing and boating during his free time and had a passion for animals, especially dogs. Daniel was affectionately known as Moose and will be missed by all who knew him. Dangerous Acids When chemical like sulphuric or hydraulic acid hits the skin, it kills off the tissue in a way similar to a burn from a heat source. Acid is such a dangerous substance that its become a go-to weapon for London gang members in recent years. The UK has one of the highest rates of acid attacks in the world, driven in part by gangs who are trying to build fearsome reputations while avoiding the legal penalty of being caught with a knife. Acid attacks have long been common in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East and are on the rise in some developing nations. But the recent trend in the UK appears unique among developed countries. In June 2017, a woman died from sepsis after being burned with sulfuric acid during a robbery gone wrong. Dr. Simon Harding, an expert on gangs, said stop-and-search methods of law enforcement may help reduce attacks by those who casually carry acid as an alternative to a knife for protection. But those carrying out acid attacks are often a certain type of individual who is motivated by something very powerfulusually some form of revenge, said Harding, who is an associate professor in criminology at the University of West London. The new proposals would be little deterrent to those people, he said. This undated booking photo provided by the Colorado Springs Police Department shows Krystal Jean Lee Kenney, 32, who pleaded guilty on Feb. 8, 2019, to a charge that she tampered with evidence connected to the high-profile disappearance of Colorado mother Kelsey Berreth. (Colorado Springs Police Department via AP) Kelsey Berreth Case: Idaho Nurse Was Afraid Patrick Frazee Would Kill Her If She Didnt Help Him An Idaho nurse who was charged with tampering with evidence in the case of missing and presumed dead Colorado mother Kelsey Berreth pleaded guilty and said that she helped Patrick Frazee, Berreths fiance because she was afraid he was going to kill her. Frazee was arrested in late 2018 and charged with killing Berreth and trying to hire at least one person to carry out the murder. Krystal Lee Kenney, the Idaho nurse, was charged after authorities tracked Berreths phone to the state. Michelle Stein, Kenneys friend, said that Frazee practically forced the nurse to help him try to cover up Berreths death. Krystal was very, very scared, Stein told CBS. Krystals a very levelheaded, kind, fun-loving, happy-go-lucky person. Shes a tough cowgirl. But she was absolutely scared and extremely upset. She did tell me that she has never seen that kind of evil in anybody. Stein said that Kenney confided in her about her role in covering up Berreths death, explaining that she had known Frazee for 15 years and that the pair previously dated. Three days after Berreth vanished from Woodland Park on Thanksgiving, her cellphone pinged in Gooding, Idaho, about an hour from Kenneys house. Two text messages were also sent from the phone: one to Berreths workplace, saying she would be away from work for another week, and one to Frazee, the contents of which havent been disclosed publicly. In her guilty plea, Kenney didnt mention being afraid of Frazee but said that she did have Berreths phone and when she obtained it, she knew that Frazee had murdered Berreth on Thanksgiving. I learned that Patrick Frazee had committed murder on Nov. 22, Kenney said in a Colorado courtroom on Feb. 8, reported the Denver Post. I had no right or authority to remove the cellphone. She did not explain how she knew Frazee had committed the murder and court documents pertaining to the matter have been sealed. District Attorney Dan May said that Kenney wont be sentenced until after Frazees trial or the trials of any additional suspects in the case and that she must testify against Frazee and any other suspects as part of her plea agreement, a process that could take up to two years. Kenney was barred from speaking to media outlets as part of the guilty plea. She faces up to 18 months in prison, or up to 3 years in prison if a judge finds aggravating circumstances. Frazees preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 19. Kenneys best friend reportedly informed her bosses, Joe and Patty Rockstahl, in October 2018 that Kenney, her best friend, told her that a man had asked her to kill the mother of his child, the couple told KMVT before the sentencing. The couple asked the employee to have Kenney talk to them but she never did. They werent able to alert authorities in time but they did speak to the FBI after Berreths disappearance. Stein, Kenneys friend, said that her friend has very good reasoning for whatever it is she may or may not have done. I cant really comment completely, but fear, and legitimate fear, she told CBS. The reporter responded, That if she didnt comply with Patrick, he might kill her? Stein replied, Yes, thats what I believe. From NTD News Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould speaks during a news conference in Ottawa, on June 30, 2016. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press) Jody Wilson Raybould Resigns From Cabinet OTTAWAVeterans Affairs Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould is quitting the federal cabinet. In a letter published on her website, the former justice minister says she has hired former Supreme Court judge Thomas Cromwell to tell her what she can say about her dealings with the prime minister on the SNC-Lavalin affair. With a heavy heart I have submitted my letter of resignation to the Prime Minister as a member of Cabinet https://t.co/Ejjh8smwYO Jody Wilson-Raybould (@Puglaas) February 12, 2019 Wilson-Rayboulds letter does not say exactly why shes quitting. The Globe and Mail newspaper reported last week that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or his staff pressured her to arrange a deal with the Montreal company that would have let it avoid a criminal prosecution on allegations of corruption and bribery in relation to its efforts to win government contracts in Libya. Since then, Trudeau has denied he did any such thing. On Feb. 11, he said in Vancouver that hed told Wilson-Raybould that any decision on the subject was hers alone. Italy Presses France to Extradite Former Leftist Militant PARISItaly has formally asked France to extradite a former leftist militant believed to have been active during the countrys so-called Years of Lead, the French ministry of justice said. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini last month urged French President Emmanuel Macron to extradite leftist guerrillas who have been hiding in France for decades to avoid serving prison sentences in Italy. Hundreds of people were murdered in bombings, assassinations, and street warfare by rival far-right and far-left militant factions during the Years of Lead, a period of social and political turmoil from the late 1960s to early 1980s. As of today, talks between the French and Italian Justice ministries are being held over 15 cases, a spokesman for Frances justice ministry said late on Feb. 11, adding that Italy had sent an official extradition request concerning one militant last week. The spokesman said he was expecting a second request in the coming days and that a meeting would take place Feb. 13 to discuss Italys demands, but that no decision was expected then. There are nine Italian leftist fugitives living in France, according to Romes la Repubblica newspaper, including three convicted for playing a role in the 1978 kidnapping of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro. The request by Salvini, leader of the League party, to Macron last month came after the return of communist militant Cesare Battisti to Italy from Bolivia to serve a life sentence for his involvement in four murders in the late 1970s. Battisti escaped prison in 1981 and spent more than 15 years in France before fleeing to South America. Former French President Francois Mitterrand established what came to be known as the Mitterrand doctrine in the mid-1980s, a policy that shielded the militants from extradition because Mitterrand said the Italian justice system was stacked against them. The doctrine was abandoned in the early 2000s. By Emmanuel Jarry U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conduct a targeted enforcement operation aimed at immigration fugitives, re-entrants, and at-large criminal aliens in Atlanta on Feb. 9, 2017. (Bryan Cox/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via Getty Images) ICE: Democratic Party Efforts to Restrict Beds Will Lead to Release of Criminal Illegal Immigrants ICE Deputy Director Matthew Albence blasted efforts by congressional Democrats to restrict the number of beds the agency is allowed to use for detaining illegal aliens before deportation, in a briefing call with reporters Monday afternoon. Albences warning comes as border wall negotiations on Capitol Hill crumbled over the weekend on the matter of ICE detention bed funding. President Donald Trump has signaled to White House negotiators and Capitol Hill Republicans in recent days he is willing to accept a $2 billion figure in border wall funding, two sources close to the process tell The Daily Caller. (RELATED: Raid Leads To More Than 100 ICE Arrests In New York) Democrats, however, have made any acceptance of this figure contingent on an agreement to limit funding for ICE detention beds. A cap on ICE detention beds will force the Trump administration to prioritize deportation for criminals and people who pose real security threats, not law-abiding immigrants who are contributing to our country, congressional negotiator Lucille Roybal-Allard said in a Sunday statement. Albence stressed that the effort will be extremely damaging for the public safety of this country and that the policy in effect means ICE is being asked to ignore the very laws that Congress has already passed. The ICE deputy director continued that any cap on bed space for the agency would require them to tell state and local law enforcement agencies requesting removal to just release criminal illegal aliens back into their communities after their sentences have finished. Albence sought to dispel suggestions from some Democratic lawmakers that ICE could instead use ankle monitors saying ankle monitors are woefully ineffective at removing individuals from the U.S., noting the high absconding rate. An administration source involved in the negotiations process expressed outrage at the demand to the Caller earlier Monday, noting that the Democratic lawmakers are essentially risking another government shutdown or a national emergency declaration to secure status for people in the country illegally. Illegals over Americans, the source said to the Caller. So let me get this right, Dem congress OK with as many jail beds as can fill for non violent & minority American Citizens but wants to limit the beds available for violent illegal immigrant offenders?@JacksonLeeTX18 @SpeakerPelosi @LindseyGrahamSC @SenTedCruz @realDonaldTrump Ken (@kwm9999) February 11, 2019 A human foot washed ashore in Vancouver, Canada in September 2018, the Coroner's Service said in February 2019. The 15th since 2007, it was inside a Nike shoe. (British Columbia Coroner's Service) Human Foot, 15th Since 2007, Washes Up on Beach Inside Nike Shoe The 15th human foot since 2007 washed up on a beach in British Columbia, Canada, prompting officials to ask for the publics help in identifying it. The foot washed ashore in West Vancouver in September 2018 but was just revealed by the B.C. Coroners Service as officials asked for assistance, reported the Vancouver Sun. In the intervening months, testing was done in the hopes of identifying the foot but investigators were only able to determine that its a mans foot without matching it to any of the DNA profiles on file for missing persons. The foot is believed to be from a man, under 50 years of age, based on its bone structure, and was discovered inside a light grey Nike Free RN shoe with a size of 9.5 and manufactured sometime in the first four months of 2017. Anyone with information can call West Vancouver Police at 604-925-7300 or contact the B.C. Coroners Service at 1-877-660-5077 or BCCS.SIU@gov.bc.ca. 15th Foot The feet started washing up in Vancouver in August 2007, according to the service. Five other feet washed ashore that year and the next, all of which were connected to people that went missing in either 2004 or 2006. While just one foot washed ashore in the next several years, two were found in 2011 and another was discovered in 2012. Starting in February 2016, five additional feet washed ashore, including the latest one. Ten of these feet have been matched to missing persons, while five remain unidentified, the service stated. Authorities said that there is no deep mystery and that the feet come apart from the rest of the body during the decomposition process. Coroner Barb McLintock told the Global News about the phenomenon that its not from strange serial killers cutting off victims feet or from funny little aliens. Which some people do think. Sad but true, she said. A lot of this is simply the quelling of the public imagination, to say No, this is unfortunate and theyre all very sad cases. Theories about the feet have circulated widely, including one that has some of the feet coming from the men who were aboard a plane that crashed off Quadra Island, reported the Toronto Star in 2008. Another thinks the coastline is being used as a dump for cartels while a third theory has a serial killer cutting off feet. The Star reported that more than 20 men in the area have gone missing and their disappearances have never been accounted for despite pleas from their families. Human Foot Inside Boot Linked to Missing Man A human foot found washed up on an island in Washington belonged to a man that had been reported missing since 2016, police said in a statement. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner identified the foot that was inside a boot as belonging to Antonio Neill, who is now presumed dead. Neill was 22 years old at the time of his disappearance. The foot, which appeared to have been in the water for a long time before washing up on shore, was discovered on New Years Day by beachgoers who were walking along Jetty Island, reported KOMO News. The island is located 30 miles north of Seattle. Neill was reported missing on Dec. 12, 2016. At the time he was described as homeless, with a history of depression. His 2000 Volkswagen Jetta was found a short time after he disappeared, according to the news station. The examiner offices said it has yet to determine the cause and manner of death. Neills mother, Jenny Neill, said she suspects foul play. I think he was murdered and disposed of, she told KOMO News. She told Q13 Fox that she needs the public help to bring justice to her son. Antonio does not deserve to have no answers and neither does his family, she told the news station. Detectives are still investigating the case and are conducting searches of the area where the remains were found. From NTD News How King Arthur Became One of the Most Pervasive Legends of All Time King Arthur is one of, if not the, most legendary icons of medieval Britain. His popularity has lasted centuries, mostly thanks to the numerous incarnations of his story that pop up time and time again. Indeed, his is one of the most enduring stories of all time. Though his tale is rooted in the fifth and sixth centuries, it has continued to captivate audiences to this very day. There is just something about the sword in the stone, the Knights of the Round Table, Lancelot, and the wizard Merlin that has kept us coming back to the various legends of King Arthur for such a long time. In the last 15 years alone, there have been Hollywood movies, computer games, and other creative re-tellings. With Bangor Universitys new Center for Arthurian Studies just launched in 2017, and Joe Cornishs The Kid Who Would Be King just released, there is no doubt that both the scholarly search for Arthur and the impact of his legends on modern culture are continuing to flourish. Arthurs life story is one that has become almost a standard for knightly heroes to aspire to. He is seen as brave, noble, kindeverything that some might say is missing from our modern world. The Epic Hero Few might know that Arthur is a hero whose ancestry goes back to the Brittonic inhabitants of early medieval Wales before the arrival of the Saxons, and not just the kingly figure that appears in later romances. In fact, the Arthur of legend was neither a king nor the owner of a round table, at least not in the way we use these terms today. Records about Arthurs life are few and far between. He emerges in the sixth century in the work of the Welsh monk Gildas, where Arthurs victory at Mount Badon is celebrated, but he is not named. It is only in the ninth century Historia Brittonum, composed by another monk, Nennius, that Arthur is named as a dux bellorum, a military commander, and his 12 battles are listed. Much time passed between these early records and the 12th centurys full-blown accounts of Arthurs reign, in the work of Geoffrey of Monmouth and the French Chretien de Troyes, the writers who truly made Arthur the legendary king we now know, and he took on a variety of roles. In the Welsh stories, Arthur remains a warrior, often a foil for other heroes path to greatness. But in the early French romances, he provided a yardstick for courtly behavior, as epic battles do not form the backbone of these later stories written on the continent. Geoffrey of Monmouth brought back the leadership and determination of an Arthur who becomes not only a king (on whom 12th-century Anglo-Norman kings could model themselves) but also a conqueroragain reflecting a desire for greatness beyond national boundaries. Thus the image of the courtly king, a leader in both war and times of peace, was born. A Modern Legend However, Arthur was always connected to the realities of those countries, and the times and peoples for whom he was reinvented. The Arthurian revival of the late 19th century, for example, helped put him back on the international cultural map by removing the historical aura and emphasizing the values he stood fora far cry from the medieval attempts to utilize him as a national figure from whom medieval kings could derive their right to rule. This paved the way to the fantasy worlds created, most famously, by T.H. White in The Once and Future King, published in 1958. All of these interpretations were about more than just revealing the secrets of one of the most intriguing men of all time. In this confusing and sometimes frightening world, audiences seek reassurance in the models of the past. They want a standard of moral integrity and visionary leadership that is inspirational and transformational in equal measure, one that they cannot find in the world around them but will discover in the stories of King Arthur. Is our modern appetite for fantasy a reflection of our need to reinvent the past, and bring hope into our present? Moral integrity, loyalty to ones friends and kin, abiding by the law, and defending the weak form the cornerstone of how Arthurian fellowship has been defined through the centuries. They offer the reassurance that doing the morally right thing is valuable, even if it may bring about temporary defeat. In the end, virtues and values prevail, and it is these enduring features of the legends that have kept them alive in the hearts and minds of so many through the centuries. Raluca Radulescu is a professor of medieval literature and director of the Center for Arthurian Studies at Bangor University in the UK. This article was originally published on The Conversation. CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer addresses a press conference after a meeting with the Christian Democratics Union (CDU) leader (unseen) on January 29, 2019 in Berlin about the agenda and priorities of their parties. (John Macdougall/AFP/Getty Images) Germanys New Conservative Leader Distances Herself From Merkels Migration Legacy BERLINThe new leader of Germanys ruling Christian Democrats, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, unveiled plans for a tightening of immigration rules, part of a move to distance the party under her leadership from her mentor and predecessor, Chancellor Angela Merkel. Some of the proposals, including plans for intelligent spot checks at German borders for as long as the European Unions external borders are not secured, could strain ties with her Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners. But officials hope the plans, announced after two days of internal party discussions to which Merkel was not invited, will show the party has moved on from the Chancellors signature decision to let in over a million refugees in 2015. What happened in September 2015 and after was a humanitarian exception, she told her CDU party. We must make sure nothing like it ever happens again, that we have learned our lessons. Both coalition parties are gearing up for four European and regional elections this year which could determine the fate of the loveless marriage they sealed after both seriously underperformed expectations at last years election, leaving theirs the only possible alliance in a fragmented parliament. Like the CDU, the SPD has been trying to rebuild support, pushing for more generous unemployment benefits and pensionsappealing to some of its core voters, but anathema to the CDUs pro-business wing. The CDUs also proposes to make it possible to expel asylum seekers if they commit a crime carrying a prison term of more than 90 days, after which they would be prevented from re-entering. Despite the tensions, the SPDs dire position in polls has led many to assume the coalition will last its course. I expect that the grand coalition will carrying on governing until 2021, said Christian Lindner, leader of the pro-business Free Democrats in an interview with Reuters. That is not what I would like but it is what I expect. Kramp-Karrenbauers election as CDU leader put her in pole position to become Germanys next chancellor and she is trying to put her own stamp on the party. Merkel has said she will not seek re-election after this parliamentary term, ending in 2021. By Andreas Rinke L - An engraving by C. Burt featuring George Washington, the 1st President of the United States. R - a fragment of a rare letter written by George Washington that has come for auction, according to The Raab Collection, a dealer in historical documents. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images; The Raab Collection) George Washington Letter on God and the Constitution Revealed A unique letter written by George Washington that makes reference to God and the Constitution is up for sale after spending decades in a private collection. The remarkable piece of correspondence is expected to fetch in excess of $100,000. The Raab Collection, a dealer in historical documents, called the artifact in a news release on Feb. 11, a remarkable original letter signed by George Washington praising the providence of God for the ratification of the Constitution, the founding moment in American democracy. Raab is not aware of any other letter of Washington casting divine influence on the passage of the Constitution having reached the market, the release states. Americas first President makes a remarkable statement in the letter, according to Nathan Raab, President of the Raab Collection, with Washington writing that his victory in battle and his stewardship over the Convention that led to our Constitution came with the guiding influence of a higher power. This letter has been in a private collection for decades and is valued at $140,000, writes the Raab Collection. A Challenge to the Constitution Washington signed the letter Sept. 7, 1788. He addressed it to Richard Peters, speaker of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, and a former member of the Continental Congress. In the document, Washington praises God for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, which had been drafted in Philadelphia a year earlier. The Constitution was signed by 39 of the 55 delegates to the convention on Sept. 17, 1787. Washingtons letter was written at a time when the Constitution faced a stiff challenge. Representatives of some states even wanted to hold a second convention to possibly rewrite it, according to a note on the Raab Collection website. This second convention movement was a real threat, the Raab Collection noted. Several states were attempting to organize them. Only Pennsylvania succeeded. They were also strong in Virginia and Massachusetts. Nothing ever came of them but it was not a given and Pennsylvanias early September meeting gave Washington reason to be concerned. In his letter to Peters, Washington expressed hope that divine providence would see proponents of the Constitution withstand the challenge. It would seem from the public Gazettes that the Minority in your State are preparing for another attack of thenowadopted Government; how formidable it may be; I know not, Washington wrote. But that Providence which has hitherto smiled on the honest endeavors of the well-meaning part of the People of this Country will not, I trust, withdraw its support from them at this crisis. The Raab Collection news release notes that Washingtons use of the term Providence signifies Divine Providence, citing Mount Vernon, George Washingtons home. The release adds that Mount Vernon has indicated his theological beliefs as follows: It is clear that he believed in a Creator God of some manner, and seemingly one that was also active in the universe. This God had three main traits; he was wise, inscrutable, and irresistible. Washington referred to this God by many names, but most often by the name of Providence. What Else Is In the Letter? Washington dedicates most of the letter to a discussion of his experiences and tribulations in agriculture. The letter reads, in part, I was sorry to hear from the above letter that the crops of wheat in the lower parts of your state were indifferent. The cause assigned for it, aided by the uncommonly wet spring, produced the same effect with us. Is it to the difference of climateour continental situationthat added changes in the temperature of the airor to the different modes of cultivating the land, that the wheat in this country, more than in England, is so apt to be injured by the winter? I do not know what cause to attribute it, but my plants of scarcity have not answered (fully) my expectationsprobably from improper management; for the leaves never having never grown to the size I have been taught to expect, have not, I presume, been often enough pulled. The letter concludes with a profound statement of conviction that Americas founding was guided by a divine hand. The auther then signs off with a cordial, With best respects to Mrs. Peters & yourself, in which Mrs. Washington joins me, I am, dear Sir, your most overt. Humble servant. G. Washington. Washington was sworn in as President on April 30, 1789, less than a year after penning the missive. Newly elected congresswoman Ilhan Omar, speaks to a group of supporters at University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn., in a Nov. 2, 2018 file photo. (KEREM YUCEL/AFP/Getty Images) Former KKK Leader Publicly Supports Democrat Ilhan Omar Over Anti-Semitic Tweets The former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke, publicly backed Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) over comments she made that were overwhelmingly condemned as anti-Semitic. Omar theorized that lawmakers support Israel because they are being paid to do so; when questioned, she claimed that AIPAC, or the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, was behind a scheme to exchange funding for politicians in return for supporting Israel. Duke responded to the backlash against Omar, stating: So, let us get this straight. It is Anti-Semitism to point out that the most powerful political moneybags in American politics are Zionists who put another nations interest (Israels) over that of America? Duke continued in another missive. Every [Jew] knows that Zionist money rules American politics, he said. Its a disgrace that not one white Christian man in Congress [will] stand up to them! Omar did not disavow Dukes support. She was made aware of it by a journalist, who was sent a tweet by a supporter, who said, maybe dont insinuate black Muslims have the support of the KKK? Omar responded with no words but used one emoji, of a woman holding a hand to her forehead in seeming disbelief that someone had pointed out Dukes support for her sentiment. Omar, who has increasingly voiced anti-Israel sentiment along with conspiracy theories about Jews, lacks evidence and she apologized for her missives under pressure from Democratic Party leaders. In her apology, Omar still aimed disdain at the AIPAC, prompting some people to question how serious of an apology it was. At the same time, I reaffirm the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA, or the fossil fuel industry, Omar said. Listening and learning, but standing strong ???????? pic.twitter.com/7TSroSf8h1 Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 11, 2019 Just hours later, she resent a tweet thread created by a progressive activist that tried to further the theory about powerful Jews using money to influence politicians. Ady Barkan said that he was working as a campaign staffer for Victoria Wells Wulsin in the 2006 Democratic primary in an Ohio congressional district. Barkan claimed that the Cincinnati branch of the AIPAC told Wulsin that it would like the candidate to take public positions on an Iran sanctions bill and another issue, something I cant recall, perhaps the continuing arms sales to Israel. We were desperate for cash and so we put online a statement about how Vic supported a two-state peace agreement and AIPACs two pet issues of the cycle. It was definitely about the Benjamins. Never would have done it otherwise, Barkan said. Money is the lubricant that makes the whole machine run. @IlhanMN is right to point this out, he wrote. (they sent a local Dem volunteer emissary) and about diligence (they paid attention to us before anyone else and were happy to donate to both us and the pro-Likud incumbent). But money is the lubricant that makes the whole machine run. @IlhanMN is right to point this out. Ady Barkan???????? (@AdyBarkan) February 11, 2019 According to federal election records, Wulsins campaign raised more than $225,000 from groups and hundreds of thousands more from individuals, which would make the $5,000 in question a small percentage of her fundraising. The AIPAC was not listed as a donor, and many people said amid the backlash to both Omar and Barkans comments that the group does not donate money, only asking lawmakers to support Israel. Besides condemning Hamas, a terrorist group who controls the West Bank, Wulsin did not appear to take a public stance regarding any issues linked to Israel. Barkan then continued pushing the theory that Omar had just apologized for, claiming AIPAC is a central pillar of the occupation, and smearing Republican donor Sheldon Adelson, a Jew. From NTD News Amy Elizabeth Fleming of Dania, Florida has been charged for the 1986 death of her 3-year-old son Francillon Pierre, said North Las Vegas police on Feb. 11. (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) Florida Mom Arrested in 3-Year-Old Sons 1986 Nevada Death LAS VEGASA woman who moved to Florida from the Las Vegas area a year after her 3-year-old mysteriously vanished more than 30 years ago has been arrested on a warrant charging her with killing the boy, authorities said Feb. 11. Amy Elizabeth Fleming of Dania, Florida, was being transferred to Nevada from jail in Palm Beach County following her Jan. 29 arrest on a murder charge in Francillon Pierres death in August 1986. The child has not been found, but North Las Vegas police Officer Eric Leavitt said investigators recently obtained new witness accounts saying Fleming killed him. Leavitt declined to specify how authorities believe the child died. Fleming, who was 28 at the time and is now 60, and her then-fiance Lee Luster told police that the boy, nicknamed Yo-Yo, wandered away from them at a Saturday afternoon swap meet. .@NLVPD have scheduled a news conference to discuss a possible arrest https://t.co/7blaEH7h8y Las Vegas RJ (@reviewjournal) February 11, 2019 The parents have always been persons of interest in the case, Leavitt said. At this point, evidence points to (Fleming), but the investigation is ongoing. Luster, now 62, has not been charged with a crime. Investigators questioned Fleming and Luster after the boy was reported missing, and Leavitt said they told police that Pierres father, who lived in Haiti, may have abducted the boy. Felming and Luster tried to sell Pierres toys in a garage sale a month after his disappearance, reported Orlando Sentinel. They were trying to raise money to move to Seattle. The sale was cancelled after a newspaper reported about it a day after of its being held. Leavitt said the father was cleared as a suspect in 1986. Police are now trying to locate him in Haiti, the North Las Vegas police spokesman added. Fleming and Luster married and moved to South Florida in 1987, Leavitt said, and had no recent criminal record. Fleming worked at a marketing firm in Boca Raton where she was arrested by a fugitive apprehension team led by U.S. marshals. The boy was officially considered a missing person, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children featured him in 2011 in an age-progressed portrait showing what he might look like at age 29. Detective King, one of the original detectives on the disappearance of 3-year-old Francillon Pierre, speaks on getting closure on this case more than 3 decades later. @8NewsNow #8NN pic.twitter.com/e39BZNpS4g Darlene Melendez (@DarleneMelendez) February 11, 2019 Torn Letters Key to 1986 Killing of Boy Police in Nevada say piecing together torn-up jailhouse letters yielded a possible confession that led to the arrest of a Florida woman on a murder warrant in the 1986 disappearance of her 3-year-old son now presumed dead. North Las Vegas Police Chief Pamela Ojeda said Monday the discovery came after detectives reopened the case in 2017 and tried unsuccessfully to trace the origin of a fraudulent birth certificate application in the name of the missing boy, Francillon Pierre. A police affidavit says that in one letter, the boys mother, Amy Elizabeth Fleming, told her then-fiance that what happened was totally unintentional and she was sorry. Francillon Pierre was 3-year-old when he was reported #MISSING from the Broad Acres Swap-Meet in North Las Vegas, #Nevada in 1986. His mother is now facing murder charges related to his death. https://t.co/PCJvdi3Dey Mark A. Palmer (@Jessicaslawnow) February 11, 2019 2 Arrested After Baby Found With Broken Bones WINDER, Ga.Officials say a baby was brought to a Georgia hospital with broken bones and that two people have been arrested. Barrow County Sheriffs Capt. Cory Almond said in a Monday statement that 20-year-old Jarrett McCloud and 22-year-old Megan Richmond were arrested on charges of aggravated battery and first-degree child cruelty. McCloud was also charged with reckless conduct. Authorities say investigators were called to Northeast Georgia Medical Center on Wednesday and found that the infant was being abused. They also found that the child had numerous broken bones along with other injuries. News outlets report that Almond did not disclose the babys condition or the childs relationship to the suspects. Almond says an investigation is ongoing. Its unclear if the accused have lawyers who could comment. Famous Chinese Actor Caught Up in Academic Fraud Scandal The years first public case of academic fraud in China happened this past week when Zhai Tianlin, a famous Chinese actor, was exposed by sleuthing netizens on Feb. 7. Zhai, who turns 32 on Feb. 15, has been described as a star student in Chinese media reports. He received a doctorate degree from the Beijing Film Academy in June 2018, after previously receiving his bachelors and masters degrees there. On Jan. 31, Zhai had posted an admission notice from Peking University, considered one of the top-rated universities in China. The notice, dated Dec. 28, 2018, said Zhai was accepted to become a postdoctoral researcher at the universitys Guanghua School of Management. Xinhua, Global Times, and other state-run media have praised Zhai as a handsome, smart, and hard-working actor. Zhai performed at the annual New Years Gala put on by state broadcaster CCTV this year, a lucrative opportunity for Chinese entertainers. But his studious reputation was called into question with a Feb. 7 post on Sina Weibo, a social media platform similar to Twitter. The account name, PITD Yazhou Nuedai Boshi Zuzhi claimed in a long-winded post that Zhais academic articles cannot be found onlinewhich violates a general academic requirement for graduate and doctorate students to publish at least two articles before they graduate, each at least 3,000 words. The Paper reported Feb. 11 that an articlethough not an academic oneauthored by Zhai was uncovered, but soon deleted after the Weibo post went viral. It was dated from August 2018 and contained roughly 2800 words, 1646 of which were the same as an article written by Huang Lihua, a professor at Huashan College, that was published in 2006. When a netizen asked Zhai on social media why his doctoral articles cannot be found on CNKI, an online database nearly all Chinese graduate and doctorate degree students, scholars, and professors use to publish their articles, he responded, Whats CNKI? This revealed that he did not know about this website. Netizens then challenged whether he had actually studied beyond undergraduate level. After the online debacle escalated, Zhais studio published a statement on Feb. 8 that Zhais articles will be uploaded to CNKI before the end of June 2019 by the Beijing Film Academy. But netizens were incredulous and suspected that Zhai had committed academic fraud. Answering the doubts, Beijing Film Academy claimed on Feb. 11 through a report by Beijing Youth Daily, a state-run newspaper, that the university had set up an investigating team on Zhais studying records, adding that the school did not tolerate any academic misconduct. That same day, the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University published a statement saying it would make a decision on Zhais postdoctoral position based on the results of the Beijing Film Academys investigation. Academic fraud has been a problem for decades. Taobao, a popular online retailer, has more than a hundred writers selling the service of writing academic articles for clients. There also Chinese websites that sell forged college diplomas. Many academic fraud cases have happened before. The most prominent one was in April 2017, when Springer, a Berlin-based publishing company, announced that it would retract 107 articles that were published in Tumor Biology, a journal on cancer research, between 2012 and 2016. Torgny Stigbrand, editor-in-chief of the journal, wrote on Springers website: After a thorough investigation we have strong reason to believe that the peer review process was compromised. Most of the authors of the removed articles were from China, some from top-ranked universities such as Peking University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Fudan University, and China Medical University. Extremely Rare Black Leopard Captured on Camera in Kenya The black leopard, also known as the black panther, was photographed in Kenya, which marks the first recorded sighting in 100 years. Wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas captured photos of the animal and posted them on his website. Since childhood I have been fascinated by stories of black panthers. For me, no animal is shrouded in more mystery, no animal more elusive, and no animal more beautiful, he wrote. It is the first time a sighting of the stunning creature has been confirmed since 1909. Gepostet von LADbible am Dienstag, 12. Februar 2019 According to National Geographic, the extremely rare animal has melanism, where the body produces too much pigment. It noted that its the first time a black leopard has been seen in Africa in 100 years, and most sightings of the creature occur in Asia. The San Diego Zoo in January confirmed that the photos are the first scientific documentation of the animal. Almost everyone has a story about seeing one, its such a mythical thing, Nick Pilfold, the San Diego Zoo Globals Institute for Conservation Research, told National Geographic. He added: Even when you talk to the older guys that were guides in Kenya many years ago, back when hunting was legal [in the 1950s and 60s], there was a known thing that you didnt hunt black leopards. If you saw them, you didnt take it. Meanwhile, the area where the animal was captured is the only known spot in all of Africa to have black leopard, Pilford said, USA Today reported. Burrard-Lucas said he used a Camtraptions Camera Trap and set it on a path that the leopard appeared to be using. The mythical creature has been SPOTTED! Gepostet von Daily Mail am Dienstag, 12. Februar 2019 The next day I eagerly checked the cameras but had no images of leopards, Burrard-Lucas wrote on his website. I was disheartened and suddenly felt the enormity of what I was trying to achieve. Surely I was not going to be lucky enough to actually photograph a melanistic African leopard?! He let the cameras out for several more nights. He saw no black leopards until checking his last camera. As I scrolled through the images on the back of the camera, I paused and peered at the photograph [at top of page] in incomprehensiona pair of eyes surrounded by inky darkness a black leopard! he said. I couldnt believe it and it took a few days before it sank in that I had achieved my dream. Over the next several days, he captured more photos of the black leopard. As far as I know, these are the first high-quality camera trap photographs of a wild melanistic leopard ever taken in Africa, Burrard-Lucas said. I can still scarcely believe that this projectwhich started out as a speculative recce triphas paid such spectacular dividends! More Details Pilford said most recorded sightings of black leopards have been spotted in Asian forests. Melanism occurs in about 11 percent of leopards globally. However, despite African leopards having the largest remaining range out of any of the subspecies, there has only been one confirmed case of melanism prior to these images, he told the Daily Mail. The #blackleopard, known as a #blackpanther in Africa and Asia, is a secretive and elusive creature, one in which wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas dreamed of capturing in high-quality photographs https://t.co/zHyFJyHDiL pic.twitter.com/n8TGjbFeRD RoseToCreate (@RoseToCreate) February 12, 2019 In addition to confirming black panthers in Africa, our observations are unique because Laikipia is a semi-arid shrubland, and previous melanistic observations come from more shaded habitats in tropical forests, which is in keeping with the understanding that melanism is an adaptation to camouflage against dark backgrounds. Valerie Reyes, 24, of Rochelle, N.Y., was found dead in Greenwich, Conn., on Feb. 5, 2019, police officials confirmed on Feb. 7, 2019. (Valerie Reyes/Facebook) Ex-Boyfriend Arrested in Connection to Woman Found Dead in Suitcase A former boyfriend of Valerie Reyes, the New York woman found dead inside of a suitcase discovered off the side of a road in Connecticut, was arrested in connection to her death. Javier de Silva was arrested on Feb. 12, a week after the suitcase was found in Greenwich. Law enforcement sources told the Greenwich Time that de Silva is an ex-boyfriend of Reyes. Greenwich police Capt. Robert Berry said in a statement that detectives arrested a suspect in New York who had illegally used Reyes ATM card. The arrested individual is also believed to be involved in the death of Valerie. Additional information on the suspect and charges will be released by the New Rochelle Police Department, he said late Tuesday morning. Greenwich officials said that authorities examined multiple crime scenes, conducted numerous interviews, analyzed social media posts, and watched hundreds of hours of surveillance footage in the investigation. The New Rochelle Police Department confirmed the arrest, reported WABC. Law enforcement sources told the outlet that DeSilva, who was arrested in the borough of Queens on Monday night, made admissions in the death, including telling officers that it occurred in New Rochelle. According to Reyes mother, her daughter became paranoid and spoke to her about her fears on Jan. 28, the night before she vanished. Police were continuing to work to identify the body of an adult woman found dead on the side of the Glenville Road, as they issued another request for any information on the case from the public. Gepostet von Greenwich Time am Mittwoch, 6. Februar 2019 She was very scared, very frightened, Sanchez told the Rockland/Westchester Journal News. She didnt mention anything or no one specific. She just said, Im scared. Im paranoid, mommy. Im getting anxiety attacks. She was having a hard time talking. According to the New York Police Department, Reyes suffered from depression and anxiety. Sanchez said that she tried to pinpoint the source of her daughters anxiety but failed. I asked about her ex-boyfriend. And she said, No, Sanchez said. Reyes and her ex broke up on Jan. 24. Reyes did tell her mother what turned out to be true: Im afraid someone is going to murder me. After she vanished, her family hired a private investigator to look for her. The investigator found surveillance footage that showed Reyes at an ATM in the Manhattan at 2 a.m. on Jan. 30. Sanchez said the family isnt sure why she traveled to the city and it now appears that the card was actually used by Silva. #MissingPerson Have you seen VALERIE REYES? 5 3, black hair, brown eyes, 1/2 sleeve tattoo on left arm. Last seen wearing a green coat, black jeans, and black shoes. Suffers from anxiety and depression. pic.twitter.com/vxvXi40fiV NYPD Midtown North (@NYPDMTN) January 31, 2019 Hey everyone my cousin Valerie Reyes has been missing for two days. Her last known location was at Gouverneur medical center in the city. Please keep an eye out for her. As well as a retweet to spread the word. Thank you! pic.twitter.com/DQz8kkLW6v jorge reyes (@Jrys96) January 31, 2019 According to the Hartford Courant, a man who identified himself as Reyes boyfriend wrote before she was found dead that people should contact him if they had any information about her disappearance. It wasnt clear if it was Silva. My girlfriend Valerie is now officially reported as a missing person nationwide by the authorities. Please contact me if there is ANY kind of information, the man wrote in a tweet that was not linked by the outlet. Autopsy results are pending in the case while a funeral for her has been scheduled for Wednesday, with a viewing on Tuesday. A GoFundMe fundraiser for Reyes has raised nearly $30,000, prompting a thank you from her grateful mother. I could never thank you all enough for your compassion, love and genuine support, Norma Sanchez wrote in an update on the fundraiser page. Im beyond grateful for every single of you whom with love, donated. I feel your heartfelt condolences. Losing a child is every parents worst nightmare!! From NTD News Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin Guzman Loera (el Chapo Guzman), is escorted by Marines as he is presented to the press in Mexico City on Feb. 22, 2014. (Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images) El Chapo Guzman Convicted on All Counts, Faces Life in Prison Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, once the most powerful drug lord in the world, was convicted in federal court in New York City on all counts on Feb. 11. A Brooklyn jury found Guzman, former head of the notorious Sinaloa cartel, guilty of operating a continuing criminal enterprise, use of firearms, and various charges of conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine, heroin, and marijuana, The Associated Press reported. He faces up to life in prison, and his sentencing date is June 25. Guzman, 61, previously broke out of two Mexican prisons before he was captured and extradited to the United States. In the trial, which lasted several months, prosecutors used more than 50 witnesses to detail Guzmans involvement in making billions of dollars distributing drugs in the United States. According to the New York Post, which dedicated reporters to cover his trial, 14 former associates were called to testify against him. Guzman spoke in the courtroom only once during the trial, saying he wouldnt testify in his own defense, NBC News reported. Senor judge, me and my attorneys have spoken about this, Guzman stated. And I will reserve. After he was convicted, the drug lord waved to his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, a former beauty queen, CNN reported. Guzman smiled and waved, and she touched her hand to her chest. During the verdict, Guzman, whose nickname El Chapo means shorty, appeared emotionless, according to reports. Guzmans lawyers say he was set up as a fall guy by Ismael El Mayo Zambada, a powerful drug lord from Sinaloa who remains at large. In a statement after the verdict, lawyers for Guzman said they were obviously disappointed but respectful of the jurys decision. We were faced with extraordinary and unprecedented obstacles in defending Joaquin, including his detention in solitary confinement, the statement said, Reuters reported. Mexico has been mired for 12 years in a deadly military-led war against drug gangs. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was elected last year after promising change, and to negotiate peace and amnesty for non-violent drug dealers, traffickers, and farmers. The most detailed evidence against Guzman came from more than a dozen former associates who struck deals to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors. Through them, jurors heard how the Sinaloa Cartel gained power amid the shifting allegiances of the Mexican drug trade in the 1990s, eventually coming to control almost the entire Pacific coast of Mexico. They heard how Guzman made a name for himself in the 1980s as El Rapido, the speedy one, by building cross-border tunnels that allowed him to move cocaine from Mexico into the United States faster than anyone else. Convicted on all Counts He was convicted on all 10 charges: engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise; international cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana manufacture, and distribution conspiracy; two counts of cocaine importation conspiracy; four counts of international distribution of cocaine; use of firearms; and conspiracy to launder narcotics proceeds. Reuters contributed to this report. Earths Oldest Rock Discovered on the Moon 4 Billion Years After It Landed, Study Says The content is not available due to expiration. 22-year-old Christopher Solis was arrested after he allegedly driving under the influence of drugs and striking 9 pedestrians at Fullerton, California on February 10. (Fullerton Police Department) Drugged Driver Ran Over 9 Pedestrians in Southern California Before Getting Arrested Nine people were injured after a drugged driver plowed into a crowd in downtown Fullerton after the midnight on Feb. 10, according to the Fullerton Police Department (FPD). The suspect, 22-year-old Christopher Solis, who was driving under influence of drugs when the incident happened, has been taken into custody for felony DUI causing great bodily injury, FPD said in a statement. FPD arrests male driver for felony DUI drugs after he strikes 9 pedestrians with his truck in Downtown Fullerton. pic.twitter.com/LA1Vhqkk0k FullertonPD PIO (@FPDPIO) February 10, 2019 The statement also indicates that officers received calls around 1:48 a.m. reporting that a red Toyota Tacoma struck several pedestrians in the area of 100 W. Santa Fe Ave. By the time officers arrived at the scene, they realized that the suspected vehicle had driven up onto the sidewalk, striking 9 pedestrians before hitting a tree and coming to rest. The vehicle was described as having serious front end damage with airbags deployed and smoke coming out of it. There were also people trapped under the car as it came to a standstill. A graphic video taken by a witness at the scene who was helping those injured shows that at least one victim was stuck under the suspects pickup truck while several others attempted to free the victim by lifting the truck. Chaos and panic caught on camera as witnesses rush to save those pinned beneath the suspects truck. Police says 22yr old Christopher Solis was high when he mowed down 10 people in Fullerton. Hear from witnesses tonight at 11pm @ABC7 Video: Sohrab Gill pic.twitter.com/hcTe5TH2Na Leanne Suter (@abc7leanne) February 11, 2019 With help from a group of Good Samaritans, the first responders managed to rescue the injured. Police said a total of 10 victims, aged from 18 to 49, were taken to local trauma centers with injuries ranging from moderate to life-threatening. In addition, three other vehicles at the scene of the crime were damaged by the truck that Solis had been driving. Police said that hundreds of people were scattered throughout the area at the time of the crash, as bars and restaurants had just closed. ABC 7 reported that the incident had been initiated by an altercation when a group surrounded the truck and demanded the driver get out. Weve heard that there was an altercation or disturbance, Fullerton Lt. Jon Radus told the Orange County Register on Feb. 11. Radus said the incident is still under investigation. Another witness told ABC 7 that the DUI suspected driver tried to get away, hit the car in front of his truck, then panicked and tried to flee in his vehicle. The authorities are urging people with information about this incident to contact the Fullerton Police Traffic Bureau at (714)738-5313. The Toyota Tacoma that plowed through a crowd in downtown #Fullerton and hit 10 people is about to be towed from the scene. Well have a live update on the investigation at 10am on @ABC7 and https://t.co/IWeiGo8tHh. pic.twitter.com/Wg8Nnx7bYz Chelsea Edwards (@abc7chelsea) February 10, 2019 Another car-related incident in the Los Angeles area last weekend led to the closing of a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) police station after a vehicle crashed into the lobby. The incident happened around 4:45 a.m. on Feb. 10 at the LAPDs Harbor Division station in San Pedro. Surveillance cameras captured a woman driving a white sedan, maneuvering around barriers only to come crashing through the glass doors and pulling up in the lobby. The woman then backs out, nearly knocking over an officer who had to dodge out of her way as she opened her car door. Police said the lobby was closed at the time and no one inside was injured. The driver and her infant passenger were also unharmed. The woman was later taken into custody. Officers are trying to learn what her intentions were to determine what if any charges need to be filed. A temporary mobile substation has been established since the incident to ensure that operations at the Harbor Division continue as normal. Court Sides With Trump in Dispute Over Border Wall Construction An appeals court sided with President Donald Trumps administration, upholding a decision by a lower court that the administration has the authority to waive some laws to expedite border wall construction projects. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued the ruling (pdf) on Feb. 11. Two of the three judges supported the previous decision, noting that the Department of Homeland Security has authority under the Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to construct portions of a border barrier to replace 14 miles of fencing near San Diego. Another portion that was in question was a 3-mile strip near Calexico, also in California. The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security has long had the authority to install physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the United States border,' wrote Judge Margaret McKeown, who was nominated by former president Bill Clinton. The Secretary also ha[s] the authority to waive all legal requirements that, in the Secretarys sole discretion are necessary to ensure expeditious construction of those barriers and roads. She later added that the Secretary has the authority to install any barriers or roads on or near the border to deter illegal crossings in areas of high illegal entry into the United States. Data indicates that the San Diego and Calexico areas are indeed areas of high illegal entry, with some 31,000 illegal aliens began apprehended in the San Diego Border Patrol Sector in the 2016 fiscal year alone. Agents also seized over 9,100 pounds of marijuana and 1,317 pounds of cocaine. Environmental groups and the states new attorney general, Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, filed the suit against the administration. The groups claimed that the two areas were not areas of high illegal entry. They didnt dispute the numbers but said they werent comparatively high when measured against other sectors. The law, however, does not distinguish evidence of high illegal entry by way of comparison, McKeown wrote. The third judge said that she dissented only because she felt that the law restricted the appeals court from hearing such cases and that it should have been reviewed by the Supreme Court. The groups tried to get the nations highest court to hear the case but the Supreme Court declined in December 2018. Responding to the ruling, Becerra told the San Francisco Chronicle: We are disappointed with the ruling, but pleased that the court recognized the Trump Administration does not have unlimited power and that the administrations authority to build a barrier along our border is subject to judicial review. The Department of Justice also responded. Congress has given the executive branch significant authority to build physical barriers on our border, a spokesman said. Today the court has affirmed that authority, and that is a victory for the Trump administration, for the rule of law, and above all, for our border security. The decision came as Trump traveled to El Paso, a border city, on Monday to garner support for the wall. Trump told the crowd that regardless of what Congressional negotiators came up with, the wall is being built. The president also hit back at critics who called the existence of a physical wall immoral. Safety is the birthright of every American which is why we must finish the wall. Walls are not immoral as what was said, human trafficking is immoral. Drug trafficking is immoral, child smuggling is immoral Open borders are dangerous and immoral. From NTD News Forms for Census 2010 are displayed in Washington on April 1, 2010. The census is conducted every 10 years. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) Citizenship Question Stays on Census, Federal Judge Rules A federal judge has rejected an activist groups request to prevent the Trump administration from asking 2020 Census respondents if they are U.S. citizens. In recent decades, Democrats and Republicans have fought bitterly over how the decennial, constitutionally mandated head count is carried out. The Obama administration tried to wrest control over the census from the U.S. Department of Commerce but backed down. At the time, then-Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) called the move a naked political power grab. The Clinton administration wanted to use statistical modeling or sampling to produce census figures, but that move was ruled unconstitutional in 1999 by the Supreme Court. The Republicans of the day said Democrats were trying to inflate the count in their big-city strongholds to manipulate the congressional apportionment process to benefit their side. The legal victory for the Trump administration came Feb. 8, when Judge Dabney Friedrich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia threw out an application for a preliminary injunction filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center. The group argued that the government should have conducted a privacy impact assessment (PIA) before adding the citizenship question. The court disagreed. The U.S. Census Bureau did not violate the law when it decided to collect citizenship data before conducting, reviewing, or releasing a PIA addressing that decision, Friedrich wrote in her ruling. The Electronic Privacy Information Center vowed to move forward with its lawsuit, despite the setback. The lawsuit is one of about a half-dozen challenging the Trump administrations plans for next years census. In New York, a federal judge ordered the citizenship question be taken out of the census. That case is expected to be heard by the Supreme Court. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is expected to testify before Congress in March about how he decided to include the question. Ross said the Department of Justice asked for the question to be added, but Democrats say emails showed he discussed the issue with White House officials before that. The Commerce Department, which houses the Census Bureau, announced the inclusion of a citizenship question in the upcoming census last year. One of the reasons given for adding the question, which until the 1950s was a staple of the census, was to help identify possible violations of the Voting Rights Act. More recently, the question has been included in the smaller, more detailed study, the Census Bureaus annual American Community Survey, which is sent to about 3.5 million households annually. Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, has applauded the addition of the citizenship question. The public has a right to expect that the government will do everything in its power to get as accurate a picture as possible of the American body politic, he said. But last year, Democratic politicians vehemently denounced putting the question in the census, accusing the Trump administration of having sinister ulterior motives. Chair of the Democratic National Committee Tom Perez said the move was a craven attack on our democracy and a transparent attempt to intimidate immigrant communities. The census is not supposed to be a political tool for Donald Trump to push his agenda and disempower Latinos and other people of color. Perez said restoring the citizenship question stokes fear that makes immigrant communities invisible. In reality, they are guaranteeing an inaccurate count that lays the groundwork for sustained racial gerrymandering and jeopardizes critical resources for communities across the country. Timothy Olson, associate director for field operations at the U.S. Census Bureau, said he hopes the legal dispute is resolved soon because his agency faces a hard deadline in June for finalizing the questions that will be printed on the questionnaires. We will conduct the census with or without the citizenship question, Olson said, according to the Albuquerque Journal. My job, and all of my peers job, is to make sure the census is as accurate as possible. Were just waiting for a final decision to go to print. If the decision is delayed, that presents new challenges for us. Were hopeful that firm direction will be provided, so we know which version to print. Olson said more than $675 billion in federal funding is at stake. That money is allocated to states, counties, cities, and Indian tribes each year, according to census findings. Chinese leader President Xi Jinping (R) and Philippines' President Rodrigo Duterte waves to members of the media after inspecting the honor guard during a welcoming ceremony at the Malacanang Palace in Manila on Nov. 20, 2018. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images) Chinese Students Tantrum in Philippines Metro Station Evokes Anti-China Sentiment A Chinese international student who was arrested after throwing a tantrum inside a metro rail transit station in the Philippines has added fuel to existing anti-China sentiment in the Southeast Asian country. On Feb. 9, a first-year Bachelor of Fashion student at the SoFA Design Institute named Zhang Jiale was stopped by a Filipino police officer at the turnstile of a station in Mandaluyong, a city in the greater Manila area, because she was carrying a cup of taho, according to local media. Taho is a Filipino soft tofu snack. Zhang, 23, was told by the officer to finish the taho before proceeding because of a no-liquids policy on the trains. The woman didnt comply and began arguing with the officer. Eventually, she hurled the liquid at him, and was arrested. According to a local newspaper, the Manila Standard, the officer filed a complaint against Zhang on Feb. 10, charging her with direct assault, disobedience to an agent or a person in authority, and unjust vexation. If found guilty, she faces four months to four years in prison; Zhang also faces the possibility of being deported, according to a Feb. 12 article by digital newspaper The Philippine Star, which cited the Philippines Bureau of Immigration. Zhangs actions were caught on camera, and the video quickly spread on social media. According to a Feb. 11 article by Singapore-based English-language daily The Strait Times, some Filipinos on Facebook and Twitter called her actions arrogant and disrespectful, while others have said her behavior was a manifestation of how many mainland Chinese view the Philippinesas a subservient vassal state. Philippines Vice President Leni Robredo, while speaking on her weekly radio show on Feb. 10, said that Zhangs behavior was disrespectful toward the officer, and also to the country, according to Filipino media ABS-CBN. Robredo also said that Zhangs behavior was a wake-up call about the heavy presence of mainland Chinese in the country. According to ABS-CBN, the Senate of the Philippines began an investigation in November last year into the increase in illegal foreign workers in the country, especially Chinese nationals. The relationship between China and the Philippines has been rocky at times due to territorial disputes in the South China Sea, as islands and reefs in the region are claimed not only by the two countries, but also by Brunei, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia. In November last year, when Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited the Philippines, local protests were organized at multiple locations, including the Chinese embassy in Manila and the Chinese consulate in Makati City, with protestors opposing Chinese investment with signs that read No to Chinas debt trap. Concerns about Chinas threat to the Philippines national security came up in January, when two Chinese shipbuilders, one of them state-owned, expressed interests in taking over the shipyard business at Subic Bay, after its operatorSouth Koreas Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippinesfiled for bankruptcy protection, according to local media. Former Philippines Navy chief Alexander Pama warned about the possible Chinese takeover. The ownership of Hanjin shipyard in Subic Bay will give the owners unlimited access to one of our most strategic geographic Naval and Maritime asset, Pama said, according to a Jan. 13 report by Philippines news site Politiko. I urge our patriotic business community and the government not to allow Hanjin Shipyard to fall into the wrong hands, he added. The Catalan and Spanish flags on Palau de la Generalitat, seat of the government of Catalonia, in Barcelona, Spain, on Oct. 3, 2018. (Anna Llado/Special to The Epoch Times) Catalan Separatist Leaders Go on Trial Over Independence Bid MADRID/BARCELONATwelve Catalan politicians go on trial on Tuesday for their role in Catalonias failed 2017 independence bid, putting the spotlight back on Spains biggest political crisis in decades which could make it flare once again. To the dismay of much of the rest of Spain, Catalonia defied a judicial ban by carrying out a referendum and subsequently unilaterally declaring independence in October 2017. There was shock at home and abroad when police used batons and rubber bullets on protesters on the day of the vote. Some of the Catalan separatist leaders were later arrested or fled the country. The start on Tuesday of the trial will refocus attention on the regions push for secession which so rattles Spains political and cultural identity. The trial will decide if Catalan nationalist leaders stay in jail. The public prosecutor is seeking prison terms of up to 25 years on charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds. At stake are Spains stability, the future of Catalonias independence movement as well as the regions and the central governments image abroad. Its the most important trial we have had in democracy, Supreme Court president Carlos Lesmes told reporters on Feb. 1, referring to the return to democracy in Spain after dictator Francisco Francos death in 1975. Raul Romeva, one of nine defendants jailed without bail since late 2017 facing the charge of rebellion, has made clear his view that it should end only with an acquittal. A (prison) sentence would weigh forever on history and on Spains future, Romeva told Reuters in an interview conducted by email from jail. At the time of his arrest, Romeva was foreign minister in Catalonias regional government and a member of the European Parliament. Fellow defendants include veteran Catalan politicians Oriol Junqueras and Carme Forcadell. Notably absent from the list is former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who is in self-imposed exile in Belgium and thus cannot be tried in Spain. The dozens fate has been a rallying cry for separatists ever since 2017, said Federico Santi, analyst at political risk consultancy Eurasia, adding that he expected, like other observers, that the trial will re-ignite tensions. Pro-Catalan independence protests had quieted down over the past months but separatist groups have called a series of protests in Catalonia and in Madrid to coincide with the trial. Their supporters say they are political prisoners, while Madrid accuses them of breaking the law. Among the many witnesses will be Mariano Rajoy, who was Spanish prime minister at the time of the independence vote and its aftermath. RIFT Lluis Orriols, a political science professor at Universidad Carlos III in Madrid, thinks the trial will reinvigorate the separatist debate ahead of end-May local and regional elections. The Catalan question is activating a nationalistic and identitarian confrontation not only in Catalonia but also in all of Spain, Orriols said. The trial starts as the Socialist government, which controls less than a quarter of seats in parliament, faces a key vote on the 2019 budget on Wednesday. A failure to approve the budget proposal could prompt a snap parliamentary election this year. Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez relies on smaller parties, and in particular Catalan nationalists, to get the budget adopted. These have said they would block the bill, citing their dissatisfaction with Sanchezs policy towards the region, despite his efforts for dialogue.. On the other hand, Spains right-wing parties accuse Sanchez of being too soft with Catalan separatists. On Sunday, thousands gathered in Madrid to protest Sanchez Catalan policies. In Catalonia, support for the twelve is not unanimous. The population is largely split in two between those who favor remaining part of Spain and those wanting to secede. After imposing direct rule on Catalonia in October 2017, Madrid called fresh regional elections that December in a bid to curb the independence movement. But the move backfired and the secessionists retained a slim majority in the Catalan assembly. The last time a trial for rebellion was held in Spain was in 1982 after a failed military coup attempt. Its leader, found guilty of rebellion by a military court, was sentenced to 30 years of prison. The front page of the August 16, 2018 edition of the Boston Globe newspaper reads "Journalists are Not the Enemy." (Tim Bradbury/Getty Images) Bloomingdales Pulls Fake News Shirt After Complaint From Reporters Bloomingdales apologized and said it was pulling a shirt that said fake news from its stores after a complaint by two reporters, a change cheered by a number of other journalists. Allison Kaden, a Pix11 reporter, was shopping at a store when she saw a yellow shirt on a mannequin that had the words emblazoned across the chest. She snapped a picture and took to Twitter to complain. Hey @Bloomingdales, this isnt funny or fashionable. It further delegitimizes hard-working journalists who bring REAL news to their communties [sic], Kaden wrote on Feb. 10. What the [expletive] is this? Keith Olbermann, an ESPN analyst, added. Bloomingdales wrote back the next day to say that it was working to remove the shirt and any others from its stores. Hey @Bloomingdales, this isnt funny or fashionable. It further delegitimizes hard working journalists who bring REAL news to their communties. pic.twitter.com/NedoHMAZfs Allison Kaden (@akadennews) February 10, 2019 Thank you for bringing this to our attention and we apologize for any offense we may have caused. We take this feedback very seriously and are working quickly to remove this t-shirt. Again, thank you for taking the time to alert us. Bloomingdales (@Bloomingdales) February 11, 2019 Thank you for bringing this to our attention and we apologize for any offense we may have caused. We take this feedback very seriously and are working quickly to remove this t-shirt. Again, thank you for taking the time to alert us. For some reporters, though, just removing the shirt wasnt enough. Pamela Wood, a reporter with the Baltimore Sun, lambasted the store, claiming that the shirt did serious damage. Apologizing for any offense we may have caused is not a sincere apology. This is not about journalists hurt feelings. This is about damage done to our democracy when your brand joins in perpetuating and celebrating the idea of fake news. Please try again, she wrote. A number of other reporters cheered the removal of the shirt. Katie Rogers of the New York Times said Kadens complaint was a public service calling the shirt [expletive] hideous. Hi, @bloomingdales. Apologizing for any offense we may have caused is not a sincere apology. This is not about journalists hurt feelings. This is about damage done to our democracy when your brand joins in perpetuating and celebrating the idea of fake news. Please try again. Pamela Wood (@pwoodreporter) February 11, 2019 David Clinch of Storyful, which chooses and distributes videos to news outlets around the world, added: Ick. What a bad taste. Not funny at all. Kim Bellware, a reporter for City Bureau, said that Kadens role as a journalist was irrelevant and that she was just a customer complaining about a shirt. It wasnt this larger, coordinated effort among a band of reporters, she argued. Other Twitter users slammed reporters for taking the time to complain about t-shirts when the industry is under heavy pressure amid rampant bias against President Donald Trump. You can tell journalists are very concerned at the erosion of our First Amendment when they band together to get a T-Shirt banned, wrote Stephen Miller, a Fox News commentator. You can tell journalists are very concerned at the erosion of our First Amendment when they band together to get a T-Shirt banned. https://t.co/akafK8Phnj Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) February 12, 2019 This response is actually more discouraging than the fact that someone earnestly complained about the shirt to begin with, added another user about Bloomingdales apology. Thanks for telling me never to shop at you [sic] stores. This shirt is not hate speech it is freedom of speech and expression. You just oppressed the rights of millions for 1 tweet, added another. From NTD News Bill Cosbys Spokesman Says the Comedian Thinks Prison Is an Amazing Experience Despite the circumstances, Bill Cosby said his time in prison is an amazing experience, his press spokesman Andrew Wyatt said in a TV interview. Wait, really? Yeah, he used the term amazing experience, Wyatt said. Wyatts interview with WCAU in Philadelphia provides new details of Cosbys time behind bars at SCI Phoenix, the prison outside Philadelphia. Cosby was sentenced in September to three to 10 years in prison for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home in 2004. The case came after dozens of women came forward with accusations that Cosby had drugged and assaulted them in similar incidents over his lengthy career atop the comedy world. Cosby was moved to the prisons general population two weeks ago and is now in a single cell without a cellmate, said Amy Worden, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. He was previously being held in a single cell in a unit adjacent to the infirmary. Bill Cosbys wife Camille has not yet visited him in prison, and thats just how Cosby prefers it, Wyatt said. Right now Im his only visitor outside of his attorneys, and thats the way he wants it, Wyatt said. She has not visited him. He does not want her to visit him. Instead, Cosby prefers to speak to his wife by phone, three times a day for three minutes each, Wyatt confirmed. The prison, 30 miles outside of Philadelphia, is about a 30- to 45-minute drive from Montgomery County, where Cosby has a home. Hes Mentally Strong In the NBC10 interview, Wyatt said Cosby has lost weight while behind bars. He wakes up at 3:30 in the morning to exercise in his cell, and also has avoided eating bread or dessert in prison, Wyatt said. And he hasnt drank any coffee since hes been in there. Now the funny part about it (is) Mrs. Cosbys been trying to stop him from drinking coffee for 55 years and it took this to stop him from drinking coffee, Wyatt said. Hes mentally strong. Hes just a strong man, Wyatt added. Wyatt told CNN last week that Cosby is living largely separated from other inmates, except that he has helpers who guide him around because of his vision problems. He does not eat in the area with other residents, he does not have a cellmate, and he does not exercise with other residents, Wyatt said last week. The general population cells where Cosby is being held are arrayed in two stories around a central day room, where inmates can talk, watch TV or play cards, Worden said. Like all other general population inmates, Cosby must be accounted for in his cell seven times a day. By Eric Levenson The-CNN-Wire & 2019 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved. Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (R) walks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping (L) as they arrive to a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Jan. 7, 2015. (Andy Wong-Pool/Getty Images) Beijing Censors Social Media for Comments Critical of Venezuelas Maduro Regime Beijings support for the Venezuelan regime under Nicolas Maduro has extended to censoring Chinese netizens social media posts that are critical of him. On Jan. 29, Zhao Weidong from northern Chinas Shaanxi Province was called in by local police and slapped with an administrative fine of 500 yuan ($74) for retweeting a post by U.S.-based Twitter account @brother_chui, according to a Feb. 11 report by Radio Free Asia (RFA). How did Venezuela go from being the richest democracy in the world to a totalitarian socialist state? the original tweet stated on Jan. 20. Zhao retweeted the post from his Twitter account, @ctm10001. Twitter is blocked inside China but many Chinese people use software such as VPNs to bypass Chinas firewall. Maduros government has strong ties with China, evident in comments made by Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuelas vice president, while attending a Chinese New Year reception hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Caracas in January. Venezuela has all the oil China needs, he said. @brother_chuis tweet targeted Maduros policies, mentioning that after taking power, Maduro revised the constitution, locked up dissidents, clamped down on media, and imported Chinas mass surveillance systems. For example, in November last year, Reuters reported that Chinese tech giant ZTE was the chief architect behind Venezuelas recent roll-out of its smart-card ID program, which transmits information about cardholders onto government servers. The ID is linked to many government social programs that Venezuelans rely on. Human rights groups have criticized the ID card system for its sweeping monitoring capabilities. The local police determined Zhaos retweet as false information, according to a copy of the police document seen by RFA. Wu Bin, a Chinese online free speech activist who also goes by the nickname of Xiucai Jianghu, told RFA that he had to delete his tweet about Zhaos fine, after he himself was visited by Chinas state security police. Its ridiculous; now you dont just get fined for criticizing our own [government], you can get fined for criticizing a foreign country, too, Wu told RFA. He added that there is no freedom of expression in this country, nor any sense of safety. A Twitter user with the surname Wang told RFA that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been censoring news of developments in Venezuela after opposition leader Juan Guaido began to receive international recognition as the interim president of the South American country. Wangs tweet explained that the CCP did not want the opposition movement to influence Chinese people into starting a political movement. He Jiangbing, a Chinese economist and social media commentator, similarly told RFA, They are still trying to prevent another color revolution, referring to political movements in Eastern Europe in the 1980s and 1990s that overthrew authoritarian regimes. Beijing had similar reactions when the Jasmine Revolution, a popular uprising in Tunisia against corruption and political repression under former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, broke out between December 2010 and January 2011. The Chinese regime censored the word jasmine on the internet and banned sales of the flower at several markets in Beijing. Since November last year, Chinese authorities have been targeting Twitter users in China. Dissidents in multiple Chinese municipalities and provinces, including Beijing, Shandong, and Guangdong, all recently saw their Twitter accounts forcibly closed by Chinese authorities. Chinas human rights lawyer and dissident Chen Yunke and dissident Ye Jinghuan saw their Twitter accounts hacked by Chinese authorities, whom fabricated unlawful content to incriminate them. Former Catalan separatist leaders attend their trial at the Supreme Court in Madrid on Feb. 12, 2019. (Emilio Naranjo/AFP/Getty Images) As Catalan Leaders Go On Trial, Spain Faces a Reckoning Twelve Catalan leaders have gone on trial in Spain over their role in a 2017 independence bid that ended in violence and arrests. They face jail terms of up to 25 years on charges of rebellion, sedition, disobedience, and misuse of public funds after Catalonia carried out a referendum and then declared independence from the rest of Spain in October 2017. On the day of the vote, Spanish police employed what have since been widely viewed as heavy-handed tacticsusing rubber bullets and batons on protesters. Some Catalonian politicians fled to other countries in Europe, including former leader Carles Puigdemont, who went to Belgium. Now, supporters of the 12 say they are political prisoners. The government says they are on trial because they have broken laws banning a Spanish region from declaring independence. Key to the trial is proving that there was a violent uprising against the government. Prosecutors are expected to claim that Catalan leaders were aware that violent conflicts would occur when they held the independence vote. Jordi Pina, a lawyer for the defense, told the Times of London that holding the referendum was not illegal in itself. Our strategy will be to prove that the accused did not commit any crime as holding a referendum and declaring independence are not in the Spanish criminal code, he said. Rights group the International Commission of Jurists warned that the broadly defined charges against the 12 could contravene their human rights. Vague, broadly defined offences of sedition or rebellion risk violation of the principle of legality, as well as arbitrary and disproportionate interference with human rights, said Roisin Pillay in a statement. In a highly sensitive and politicized case such as that of the Catalonian referendum, they would set a dangerous precedent for the targeting of peaceful independence movements and political dissent, not only in Spain but internationally, she added. The case puts Spains democracy under an international spotlight, as Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is also facing political turmoil. On Feb. 13 lawmakers, including some from Catalonia, will vote on his new budget. If it is rejected, Sanchez could be forced to hold a snap election. To remain in office, Sanchez needs the support of the Catalonian politicians. But they maintain that they will not back the budget unless the prime minister reviews the possibility of another independence referendum. But Spains budget minister Maria Jesus Montero said the government would not cede to any blackmail from the Catalonian lawmakers, according to The New York Times. Lawmakers Reach Deal to Secure Border Wall Funding, Avoid Second Shutdown Congressional negotiators reached an agreement to prevent a government shutdown and finance construction of new barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, overcoming a late-stage hang-up over immigration enforcement issues that had threatened to scuttle the talks. Republicans tentatively agreed Monday night, Feb. 11, to less money for President Donald Trumps border wall than the White Houses $5.7 billion wish list, settling for a figure of nearly $1.4 billion, according to congressional aides. The funding measure is through the fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30. Its not clear whether Trump will support the deal, although GOP negotiators said they were hopeful. The agreement means 55 miles of new fencingconstructed through existing designs such as metal slats instead of a concrete wallbut less than the 215 miles the White House demanded in December. The fencing would be built in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. It closely mirrors Trumps original budget request from last winter. Our staffs are just working out the details, said House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y. She said the huge measurewhich combines seven spending bills into onewould be publicly released as early as Tuesday afternoon. Congress needs to reach an agreement by Saturday, Feb. 16, that has enough funding to go toward the construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall in order to win President Donald Trumps signature and avoid another looming partial government shutdown. After prolonged gridlock over the issue that already resulted in the longest government shutdown in American history of 35 days over the holiday period, the committee members announced their commitment to ensuring that the government is funded but said that the details would not be officially released until Tuesday. The agreement also includes increases for new technologies such as advanced screening at border entry points, humanitarian aid, and additional customs officers. The agreement indicates that Democrats in the negotiations have backtracked on a Feb. 10 demand to limit funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention beds. In a statement on Feb. 10, congressional negotiator Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) had said, A cap on ICE detention beds will force the Trump administration to prioritize deportation for criminals and people who pose real security threats, not law-abiding immigrants who are contributing to our country. The Border Committee Democrats are behaving, all of a sudden, irrationally. Not only are they unwilling to give dollars for the obviously needed Wall (they overrode recommendations of Border Patrol experts), but they dont even want to take muderers into custody! Whats going on? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 10, 2019 But this was met with outrage from ICE. The departments deputy director, Matthew Albence, said that the proposal by congressional Democrats would restrict the number of beds the agency is allowed to use for detaining illegal aliens before deportation. Democrats want to limit the number of illegal immigrant detention beds. By that logic, we should limit the number of hospital beds to prevent people from getting sick. To Socialists, rationing is an effective policy. https://t.co/msli3aylQf Joshua Heard (@joshuatheard) February 12, 2019 Albence stressed that, in effect, the policy would mean ICE is being asked to ignore the very laws that Congress has already passed and that those illegal aliens would go back to being released into the community after their sentencing had finished. That would be extremely damaging for the public safety of this country, Albence said. Currently, the agency holds a daily average of 49,000 detainees. The Democrat proposal, which they dropped in the Monday round of talks, would have capped the number of detainees at 16,500. A congressional aide told The Hill that the agreement included detention beds for 40,520 detainees, while Trump was requesting 52,000. Trump said of the Democrat proposal on Feb. 11 after a meeting with top advisers in the Oval Office, Now it turns out not only dont they want to give us money for a wall, they dont want to give us the space to detain murderers, criminals, drug dealers, human smugglers. According to ICE figures, 66 percent of the nearly 159,000 illegal aliens detained last year had criminal records. In 2016 under President Barack Obama, around 110,000 illegal aliens were detained and 86 percent had criminal records. The most common criminal convictions among illegal aliens were from driving while intoxicated, drugs, previous immigration convictions, and traffic offenses. Some had convictions for violent crimes. 35,000 Join Trump for Border Speech in El Paso Meanwhile, Trump traveled to El Paso, Texas, for a campaign-style rally Monday night focused on immigration and border issues. According to Trump, the El Paso County Coliseum was filled to the brim with the help of the local fire department, while a crowd of tens of thousands watched outside in the overflow area. It was 45 degrees outside and this was the overflow crowd. #ElPaso @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/FipvNxp8di Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) February 12, 2019 Trump made remarks from North Korea to the Green New Deal proposal, and from abortion to his health care reforms with the passing of the Right to Try bill. Trump said of his State of the Union address last week, I asked lawmakers in both parties to cross the island, join together for the common good, for all Americans. Theres so much to celebrate in our country. The economy, the military, so many things weve done scientifically. The world is trying to copy what weve done, theyre not going to be able to do it not anymore. They were catching up fast, now theyre going in the wrong direction. Unfortunately, many of the Democrats in Congress responded to my call for bipartisan cooperation by instead choosing radical resistance, its the radical left but maybe it will change. It all has to do with 2020 and the election, but I really dont like their policy of taking away your car, of taking away your airplane flights, of lets hop a train to California, of youre not allowed to own cows anymore a lot of problems, he continued. We are fighting for all Americans, from all backgrounds, of every age, race, religion, birthplace, color & creed. Our agenda is NOT a partisan agenda it is the mainstream, common sense agenda of the American People. Thank you El Paso, Texas I love you! https://t.co/4Lz4PUwKzV Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2019 On border security, Trump said to a crowd chanting Build that wall, Slashing ICE detention is the first step of many for the far left, I call them the radical left. Were never going to abolish ICE. I will never sign a bill that forces the mass release of violent criminals into our country. Additional reporting by The Associated Press and Reuters 6 Animals Being Eaten to Extinction in China In Chinas Guangdong Province, there is a popular saying that people there will eat anything with four legs except a table, anything that flies except a plane, and anything in the water except a boat. Here are six animals that are now teetering on the edge of extinction due to a seemingly insatiable demand for them coming largely from China. 1. Tigers It is an open secret that Guangdongs underground markets sell tiger meat. In 2007, three live tigers were saved by the authorities after they were able to stop a truck that was smuggling tigers into the province. Three years later, in another instance of smuggling, police discovered tiger bones and fur in the back of a vehicle. Tiger Feasts are allegedly popular among corrupt government officials and elite businessmen who see dining on tiger meat as a way to display their wealth to other Chinese elite, and impress their connections and clients. Professional butchers are hired to slaughter the animal for the diners delectation, and then package any remains for sale on the black market. After revelers watch the killing, they indulge in delicacies such as tiger steak and ginger-infused tiger penis soup. Tiger bone wine is served as an elite indulgence in China. Other tiger parts are also used in traditional Chinese medicine. For example, traditional Chinese doctors prescribe tiger eyeballs, bones, and other body parts to treat illnesses ranging from impotence to poor eyesight. In 2009, what is thought to be the last wild Indochinese tiger in China was killed and eaten. The man responsible was sentenced to 12 years in jail. 2. Chinese Giant Salamander This animal is the largest amphibian on the planet, growing up to nearly 6.5 feet in length and weighing up to 110 pounds. Like other exotic animals, it is considered a delicacy in China and prized for its medicinal properties. Chinese Giant salamander populations have declined by 80 percent over the last three generations. In 2011, there were reports that 2.6 million salamanders were farmed in Shaanxi province alone, in comparison to the 50,000 wild population for the whole country. Farming has also caused viruses to spread to the wild population, polluting the rivers. 3. American Turtles As the supply of Chinese turtles dwindle, American varieties have become a hot commodity. In 2017, 170 turtles were discovered hidden in mens socks in a cardboard box headed to China from the United States. The case marks a new and distressing trend. The Chinese have already driven their own species to near extinction, and now they are raiding ours, Paul Gibbons, chief operating officer of the Behler Chelonian Center, a turtle conservancy in California, told the Los Angeles Times in 2017. Common American varieties such as box turtles, mud turtles, and spotted turtles are in particularly high demand on the Chinese black market because their red and gold markings symbolize good fortune and, when eaten, are thought to be a source of sexual prowess. The turtles are also thought to provide a cure for various illnesses. Wild turtle and tortoise populations are crashing around the world, James Liu, a veterinarian at the center and an expert on illegal reptile trafficking, told the outlet. And reasons for that include ultra-rich folks in China who these days collect, farm, and show off turtles at events the size of auto trade shows. These turtle extravaganzas, he said, feature dancers, 100-foot-tall video screens, and long banquet tables serving turtle soup and chopped turtle meat fried, sauteed and smothered in sauce spiced with rare herbs. Chinas golden coin turtles have been selling for up to $5,000 each since poachers claimed that medicinal extracts from the species could cure cancer. 4. Sturgeon This fish has survived two, possibly three major events that wiped out a large portion of Earths life, with fossil records dating back 200 million years to the Triassic era. Yet most species of sturgeon are now endangered, and have found the biggest challenge to their survival in modern day China. In particular, the Beluga sturgeon swim at the brink of extinction. It takes 20 years to reach maturity, and harvesting Beluga caviar necessitates killing the fish. Caviar is considered a delicacy, and its extravagant pricing has not dissuaded Chinas wealthy. The China Sturgeon Association projects that the country will consume 100 tonnes of caviar every year by 2020a third of the worlds total. 5. Yellow-Breasted Bunting Also referred to as rice birds, the yellow-breasted bunting is critically endangered, having suffered a catastrophic decline of up to 95 per cent over the last two to three decades. The nutritional value of the songbird has an almost mythical status in China. Every day, up to 100,000 might be delivered to restaurants when in season. The yellow-breasted bunting is often caught in the north of China, Fu Wing-kan, assistant manager of the Hong Kong Bird Watching Societys China Programme, told the South China Morning Post. The birds are killed, plucked, frozen and then transported by road or rail to the south to be sold as a delicacy. Parts of the bird are often served in soup to help flush out toxins from the body. At Qingping market, a veteran snake-seller comments, Even if people know an animal is endangered, they will eat it if they have a disease that cannot be cured with other types of medicine. For many animals, the emergence of China as a wealthy consumer may very well mark the beginning of the end. All eight species of pangolin are endangered, and their numbers are being decimated after more than one million were illegally trafficked in 2018, earning them the title of the worlds most trafficked animal. According to China Dialogue, a chef from Shenzhena city in Guangdong Provinceprovided a description on how to butcher a pangolin: it would first be hung on a rope after being stunned with a blow to the head. Then, its throat would be slit with a sharp knife to allow the blood to drain. It would have its scales removed like plucking feathers from a chicken. Next, the carcass would be placed in heated water to remove the fine hairs, before finally, it would be gutted, cleaned, and cooked. The chef added that the meat can be braised, stewed, or steamed in clear soup. There is an unfounded belief in East Asia that consuming pangolin scales can cure cancer and asthma, as well as stimulate lactation. Real Traditional Chinese Medicine Traditional Chinese medicine encompasses many different practices, including acupuncture, herbal medicine, tai chi, and qi gong (practices which encompass smooth movements, meditation, and mental focus). It is based on the ancient philosophy of Taoism and has a history of over 2,500 years. Chinese medicine balances the bodys innate life forces of yin and yang, with the objective of restoring the bodys natural state of health by achieving harmony between the human body and nature. According to principles of traditional Chinese medicine, the health of ones body is related to ones mind. Taoism preaches the virtues of compassion, frugality, and humility. They are connected to Jing (essence), Qi (vital life), and Shen (soul), which are the substances necessary for maintaining life. Modern day traditional Chinese medicine has far departed from its founding Taoist principles, its practice reduced to a shell of what it once was without compassion and harmony as its guide. According to multiple reports, Randy Horn shot dead his wife Ashley Horn, 27, and their 15-month-old daughter Ranly before turning the gun on himself, in Blachard, Texas, on Feb. 11, 2019. (Facebook) 15-Month-Old Among Five Victims of Mass Shooting in Texas Home A 15-month-old child is among the five victims of a mass shooting in a rural Texas home on Feb. 11, sheriffs officials said. Police and rescue workers responded to a call at 10:30 a.m. local time about multiple victims of an assault at a residence in Blanchard, about 70 miles northeast of Houston, the Polk County Sheriffs Office said. Sheriff Kenneth Hammack said officers arriving at the scene found multiple victims of apparent gunshot wounds. This is a horrible, horrific scene, Hammack said, adding this is a horrible, horrific crime. The victims include the elderly couple who owned the home, Lynda Delaney 72, and Carlos Delaney, 74. The other three victims are Ashley Delaney, 27, her husband, Randy Horn, 54, and their 15-month-old daughter Ranly, Daily Mail reported. Sole Survivor Deputies discovered one survivor at the house, identified by the police as Ashley Horns mother. The person who was found inside the house was not harmed; they were locked in a back bedroom, said Byron Lyons, chief deputy of the sheriffs office, according to NBC. She is being interviewed. She is not a suspect at this time. The woman told investigators that she awoke about 5:30 a.m. Monday to a disturbance, according to The Associated Press, described as popping noises. She called her son, who alerted authorities about 10:30 a.m, according to the report. Lyons said a firearm had been recovered at the scene. He would not say whether Mondays shooting was a murder-suicide but said authorities are not looking for a suspect. Sheriff Hammack said the investigation continues, and the public was not believed to be in any danger. This is something were not used to, Hammack said at the press conference, adding, but we very well know were not immune to it. We want the public to be reassured that were working the case, he said, and at this point, we dont see any dangers that may be there for the public, he said. Blood on the Floor Misty Robinson, who according to the Daily Mail was Ashleys longtime friend, reportedly said she had witnessed Randy Horn become aggressive after a night of drinking. I hung out with them both but I didnt know him that well, she told the news outlet. He got drunk when I hung out with them once and kept wanting to fight someone in the bar. Just hours before he allegedly shot and killed members of his own family, Randy Horn had reportedly been out at a bar to play poker. The Daily Mail reported that he posted a photo of the bar floor splattered with blood. And this is why I cant be out in the bars at night blood on the floor! the caption said. On the same day, Horn wrote a Facebook post containing a chilling message. Its time to pay up for all the bad decisions you made in life, he wrote. Never bet your life on someone because you never know. It is unclear who Horn was referring to in the message. Just Breaks My Heart Robinson called the Delaney family the most giving, deserving family I know.' They would give you the shirts off their backs, she told the Daily Mail. It just breaks my heart, Robinson said of the mass shooting. It wasnt long ago that Lynda and Ashley came over with Ranley and to know that little precious girl is gone too, she told the Daily Mail.She didnt even get to really start her life. Robinson told the news outlet that she had heard rumors that Ashley Horn was thinking of leaving her husband. Robinson told the Daily Mail she hopes Horn rots in hell for what he allegedly did. Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Although Whitaker is nearing the end of his tenure as head of the Department of Justice the president has nominated former Attorney General William Barr to fill the top spot, and he is likely to be confirmed Democrats questioned Whitakers qualifications for the job, the circumstances of his appointment and his ability to run the department correctly. All are legitimate concerns, but it seems a little late to be raising them. Whitaker had been chief of staff to the attorney general for about a year when the president forced Attorney General Jeff Session out of office. Although there is an established line of succession to become acting attorney general when the top spot is left vacant, the president named Whitaker to be acting chief. Democrats in the House then in the minority cried foul. They said they were worried that as acting attorney general, Whitaker would interfere in the ongoing investigation by former Attorney General Robert Mueller into connections between the presidents campaign and Russia. On Friday, in his opening remarks, Whitaker said he had not tried to block or end the Mueller probe, and there is no evidence he has. Thats not the answer the Democrats on the committee wanted to hear and so they kept pressing Whitaker to respond differently, but he refused. The Charlotte Observer objected, and it spelled out why in a Sept. 19, 1916, editorial. A Klan robe would be grotesque, it said, and would condone racist actions that are little understood by people other than our own and never will be. The erection of a statue of the class proposed would impose upon the people of this and succeeding generations the duty of perpetual explanation and defense, a duty that might become irksome with the passing of the years and that might in the end be repudiated, the Observer said. A better idea, the paper said, was to depict McAfee in his Confederate soldier uniform. That would prove an adornment of unquestioned acceptance. By memorializing him as a Confederate officer for all ages there would be none to give his name other than acclaim. The (Montgomery) Advertiser called the Observers position ridiculous and argued McAfee should be remembered for his prominence in the KKK. The New York Times, its odd to say today, agreed. No one who is now alive, it almost goes without saying, truly can know what death is like. What will we find on the other side? Many insist there will be only oblivion. Others are confident that they will step into paradise. Still others fear eternal punishment. Whatever may lie beyond the threshold, however, we surely commit a great wrong when, having the chance to do otherwise, we force a person who knows he is about to die to face that great opaqueness alone. To deny that person his chosen spiritual counselor at such a moment is the ultimate cruel triumph of our current wave of secularization. The authorities are in effect saying, What difference does it make whos with you at the end? Youll be dead soon, and none of this will matter to you. No matter how outrageous the crime, Alabama should not be taking sides in the greatest metaphysical question before us. What can the courts majority say in response? That the security of the death chamber is inviolate? That the petition was filed too late? Such propositions as these cannot be taken seriously when the state is about to impose the technology of death. No matter how heinous the crime and Rays was despicable a civilized culture must provide those last moments of comfort for the troubled soul. February 18,1930 - February 9, 2019 Joel Thomas Murray Sr. went to be with his Lord on Saturday, February 9, 2019 with his loving family at his bedside. He was born on February 18, 1930 in Bryan, TX to Edwin Ross and Bettie Murray. Joel was a lifelong resident of Brazos County. Until his retirement, Joel was the owner of a sheet metal and air conditioning business with his son called Joel T. Murray Inc. Precision was the hallmark of everything he did. His Christian values also carried over to the workplace. In recent years, he has worked a wildlife management project on his property. Joel kept his priorities in order; at the center of his life was his complete faith in God. He was a longtime member and former usher of Central Baptist Church. Next in importance was his wife Billye, his son Tommy and granddaughter Macey, as well as many extended family members. Joel was often known to write uplifting notes with scriptures chosen to help with the particular struggles a family member or friend was facing. He was one of the patriarchs of the annual family reunion, where he enjoyed his favorite chicken and dumplings. Joel usually has a good story to tell. Cooke graduated from Rice University and the famed Julliard School. She attended the Music Academy of the West, the Aspen Music Festival, the Ravinia Festivals Steans Music Institute, the Wolf Trap Foundation, the Marlboro Music Festival, the Metropolitan Operas Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, and Seattle Opera and Central City Operas Young Artist Training Programs. In addition to the Santa Fe Opera, Cooke has performed with New Yorks Metropolitan Opera, Opera National de Bordeaux, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, Houston Grand Opera, English National Opera, Dallas Opera, Santa Fe Opera and The Israeli Opera. She has performed the world premieres of numerous operas and has performed or will perform with orchestras in Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Nashville, St. Louis, the National Symphony, Sioux City and a domestic tour with the Cleveland Orchestra. Among her albums is If You Love for Beauty with clarinetist Yehuda Gilad and the orchestra of the Colburn School of Music at the University of Southern California. Cooke is the daughter of Brett and Olga Cooke of College Station. Olga Cooke said she had talked with her daughter after the Grammys and she is thrilled, not only about winning the Grammy, but excited for Mason Bates, the composer. It costs an average of about $65 per day to house an inmate at McLennan County Jail, compared to an average of about $200 per day for inmates with mental health needs, Armstrong said. We have teams that work with inmates with therapy, talk therapy and exercises, and I do see a lot of requests for help, because medication is not going to do all of it, said Deborah Santanna, a psychiatric nurse practitioner at the jail. They do have to learn how to cope with the anger and have simple things of distraction in the moment they feel they are getting angry. Mental health officials and jail administrators said mental illnesses can be hard to diagnose but have become a key concern for the care of people in custody. Armstrong said years ago, there was little education about mental illness and the beset approaches to treating unruly inmates. You never know when something minor may escalate to something much worse when you have to factor in things with mental health, Sheriff Parnell McNamara said. It is a real concern to us to be able to provide safety, not only to our citizens, but for our inmates and try to get them proper help, medical or psychological help. Its very important to recognize what the issues are so we can address them for the safety of everyone. Having joined the Navy at age 30, Church was older than most of his shipmates. They would confide in him, share their insecurities about living up to the expectations of deployment, and he would respond with advice. I would try to get them to think beyond their situation, to get it out of their mind as much as possible, Church said. I think they were just having a hard time coping with everything. I was at a different stage in my life, and I guess you might say I was the level-headed older sailor giving advice and mentoring, although what I said you may not want to repeat. Upon his return to the United States, Church continued to struggle finding a job in his field. The Dallas Morning News turned him down for an internship, so he worked as a picture framer to help put Karen through nursing school, he said. A desire to leave the big city brought the couple to Waco, where Church secured a graduate degree in journalism from Baylor University, then signed on to teach media writing and to serve as an adjunct lecturer. When he is not fulfilling his teaching obligations, he is traipsing off to small towns. Expenses include meals and fuel for a gas-guzzling Jeep. Some projects require multiple trips. Production includes his DSLR camera equipment, a laptop computer and his expertise. This year our dine and drink business locations throughout the Gorge have suffered with closures. You can help support your favorites by purchasing take out and gift cards. Many of these business will offer curb-side delivery and some will deliver to your home. Lets keep the Gorge going strong! Are you a current print subscriber to Columbia Gorge News? If so, you qualify for free access to all content on columbiagorgenews.com. Simply verify with your subscriber id to receive free access. Your subscriber id may be found on your bill or mailing label. Melanie joined The Daily Times in the early 90s and has served as the Life section editor since 1993. A William Blount and UT alum, Melanie is generally the early arriver who turns on the lights in the newsroom. Follow Melanie Tucker 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. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Click the image to the left and log in to get your exclusive reader perks. JEFFERSON - Patricia VanHoesen, 88, passed away on Saturday, June 19, 2021, at Robinson Terrace in Stamford. Born on Feb. 7, 1933, in Oneonta, Patricia was the daughter of the late Maurice and Loretta (Kelly) Nichols. She was married to the love of her life, Richard E. VanHoesen of 68 year o This is the temporary subscription pass for users returning from the Vision Data subscription process. Your subscription will be updated within 24 hours, after your information is verified. Please click the button below to get your pass. In St. Helens, timber is a valuable commodity for the city and the sale of the city-owned timber plots bring in cash to sustain and boost community and economic development. Read more This subscription will allow current subscribers of The St. Helens Chronicle to access all of our online Subscriber-Only content, including the E Editions area. NOTE: To claim your access to the site, you will need to enter the Last Name and First Name that is tied to your subscription in this format: SMITH, JOHN If you need help with exactly how your specific name needs be entered, please call us at 1-503-397-0116. 2019 Kia Forte Review by Larry Nutson - It's E15 Approved Learn More: 2019 Kia Forte Complete IIHS Safety Report 2019 Kia Forte Refined Value By Larry Nutson Senior Editor and Bureau Chief Chicago Bureau The Auto Channel For a solo road trip across Michigans lower peninsula from my Chicago home to Detroit I didnt need anything more than room for myself and a small piece of luggage. Low fuel consumption would be nice to have along with some creature comforts and, in case winter raised its nasty head, a vehicle with decent bad weather behavior. I was on my way to the media previews at the 2019 North American International Auto Show and the 2019 Kia Forte would be getting me there. The Forte is Kias entry in the compact sedan market and it has been updated for 2019. Yes, people do still buy sedans and there is a business case for keeping them in an auto makers portfolio. The highly competitive compact car segment requires that you keep a product current or it will fall by the wayside. For 2019 the Forte is entirely new. This next-gen Forte is longer and wider while at the same time a bit taller. Styling cues from Kias Stinger fastback sport sedan have found there way onto the Forte. Theres a longer hood and shorter rear deck. It gets its own version of the tiger nose grille from the Stinger along with a similar headlight design. In the rear, new taillights and a new bumper facia incorporates turn signal and reverse lights. The 5-passenger interior layout is clean and very user friendly. In the redesign Kia pulled the cowl back by five inches. On the inside the dash sits low. The center-stack of controls is topped by an 8-inch touchscreen display with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. We still like tactile controls, and the Forte has audio volume and tuning knobs as well as HVAC controls. Steering wheel mounted audio and phone buttons help to keep you from being distracted. Ingress and egress is quite good and theres good outward visibility. The drivers seat provided good, comfortable support on my road trip. The increased length of the Forte makes for more rear legroom and additional cargo in the trunk. With 15.3 cu.ft., cargo room is among the largest in the segment. Four trim levels are available FE, LXS, S and EX. All are powered by a 2.0-liter four-cylinder rated at 147 horsepower. There is a new IVT - Intelligent Vehicle Transmission, a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT) for improved performance and reduced fuel consumption. A six-speed manual is standard on the FE. EPA test-cycle fuel economy ratings for the top three trims with the IVT are 34 mpg combined, thats 2.9 gallons per 100 miles, with 30 city mpg and 40 highway mpg. On my road trip I managed in the range of 35 to 36 mpg at highway speeds in the 70+ mph range. This respectable fuel economy along with the 14 gallon fuel tank made for no refueling stops along the way. The 2.0-L engine delivers modest performance with adequate, acceleration, highway merging as well as passing, although heavy acceleration yields a bit of engine growl. Ride and handling is what I would call mainstream; its fine for this vehicle, not objectionable, and handles typical urban driving nicely. Pavement road joints are soaked up fairly well. Brakes do the job, being smooth and linear. Steering effort is well suited for all the turning and maneuvering in big city traffic. Specifically, I drove the top-line EX trim that has a base price of $21,990. This car was a special Launch Edition model, adding $3,210. Features in this special package included Navigation, 320-watt Harman Kardon 8-speaker premium audio, power sunroof, and some ADAS-equipment including forward collision avoidance with pedestrian protection, reverse park distance warning, smart cruise control, LED headlights with high beam assist, plus a rear spoiler as well as some interior features. All Forte trims are equipped with forward collision-avoidance with assist, lane keeping assist, driver attention warning, forward collision warning and lane departure warning. Forte pricing start at $17,790 for the FE trim with manual. With all the ADAS equipment thats standard, as well as the additional optional ADAS, the new Forte makes for a very excellent choice for the daily commuter as well as the new, young driver in the family. On my drive, all this equipment worked very satisfactorily, as it should. I remarked that the lane keep assist did a very good job of holding the driving lane along the highway and not drifting back and forth between the lane markings. More information and specifications can be found at www.kia.com. Noteworthy is Kias basic warranty that provides 5 years/60,000 miles of coverage. Kia has been ranked by JD Power as the highest ranked mass market brand in initial quality for four years in a row, helping to point out that a Kia is very desirable car to own. The Forte has a lot of standard features and delivers on high value in the compact sedan segment. Its a great choice for a first-time car buyer and especially for that new teen driver. 2019 Larry Nutson, the Chicago Car Guy The Most In-Depth Independent Kia Vehicle Shopper's Research - Anywhere! El Paso: The assault on a BBC cameraman during a speech by US President Donald Trump has earned the rebuke of Britain's Foreign Secretary. Washington correspondent Gary O'Donoghue, who is blind, said his colleague Ron Skeans had been filming a rally in El Paso, Texas, when the incident happened. Describing what unfolded, he said a supporter of Trump got on to the reporters' platform, and pushed the camera into his colleague, before continuing to push Skeans. A classic New York pie from Johns of Bleecker Street. Photo: Konstantin Sergeyev Pizza is simple: cheese, sauce, bread. But pizza history is an endlessly complicated saga of feuding families, mob ties, and brutal behind-the-scenes deals. New wrinkles in the Great American Pizza Story arent uncommon, but it nevertheless shook the pizza world to its core when, last week, a Chicago researcher named Peter Regas detailed new evidence that he says fundamentally changes the story of how pizza first arrived in New York which is to say of how pizza first arrived in America. Everything in pizza lore is disputed by someone, but the most commonly accepted story is that Americas first pizzeria was Lombardis, established by Gennaro Lombardi at 53 Spring Street in 1905. What Regas proposes is that this address was home to a pizzeria, but it didnt originally belong to Lombardi, and that a new, long-forgotten figure named Filippo Milone was likely the man who opened New Yorks first pizzerias, including Lombardis and Johns of Bleecker Street. We have evidence that two of the places he opened, and worked in, Regas says, were described as two of the most authentic. Its no overstatement to say that the news is the most controversial thing to happen to pizza since the invention of the Hawaiian pie: It changes everything we know about New York City pizza history, says Adam Kuban, a pizza scholar and maker who started the hugely popular blog Slice, of the startling revelations. All these tales weve told and I would say Im one of the more guilty people of spreading the fake news of pizza history, if this is true. Regas believes that Milone emigrated from Italy in 1892, and opened a grocery store at 53 Spring Street around five years later. He believes it may have been a pizzeria as early as 1898. What is very intriguing about some of his information that we have, and its tantalizing, Regas says, is that he probably was a pizza maker in Naples before he came here. Regas knows for certain that, in 1901, the shop was owned by someone named Giovanni Santillo, and Regas believes Milone was something of a mercenary pizza evangelist, who would spread the gospel of pizza through one business before moving on and opening another. I think of him as the sort of original pizza consultant, Regas explains. This research may rewrite pizza history, and Regas intends to publish a book on it. According to his naturalization papers, Lombardi arrived in New York in 1904. Pizza, Regas says, was definitely being served at the Spring Street shop in 1905: He found an Italian newspaper ad for a business called Antica Pizzeria Napoletana at that address. The specialty, according to the ad, was pizze imbottite, or stuffed pizza. Santillo was out by 1908. Its the same year that Regas is highly confident this famous photo of Lombardi was taken. At this point, it appears the Spring Street shop was passed around as frequently as a bottle of grappa: Starting in 1908 or 1909, it was run by another man, named Francesco DErrico, who is named as the owner in New Yorks 1910 business directory. All I could find was this DErrico and I thought, Ive got to find out who he is, Regas says. By 1917 or 1918, DErrico sold the pizzeria back to Lombardi, who apparently then decided he was tired of playing musical pizza chairs and stayed put. Meanwhile, according to Regas, Milone was opening other pizzerias in New York around this same time, and thats what makes him such a crucial figure. The store that eventually became Lombardis may have been Milones first pizza business, but he was the person who worked the hardest to expand pizzas reach. Regas contends that, in 1915, Milone opened Pizzeria Port Alba, which was eventually taken over by John Sasso (a relative of Milones by marriage) and rechristened as Johns. Milone also opened a since-shuttered Red Hook establishment named Pops, as well as three other pizzerias. Regas believe Milones story has been lost because he likely had no children to carry on his legacy, and that today hes buried in an unmarked grave in Calvary Cemetery. Nevertheless, it was Milone, Regas argues, who did more than anyone else for the invention of pizza in New York even if nobody has heard his name before. He was the one who was different in the longevity, and the persistence of his establishments. He had three survive for multiple decades. Regas adds, I do think Milone had the potential to change things in a big way, at least initially. On February 23, Regas will present his research at Chicagos U.S. Pizza Museum. Related Labor will oppose the Morrison governments $5 billion flagship fund to help drought-proof struggling farms, describing the measure as a "slush fund" that would rob regional communities of vital infrastructure. A future Shorten government would pay for the drought measures through economic reforms such as negative gearing changes. But the move has opened Labor up to government counter-claims it is "playing politics" over the record-breaking natural disaster. Labor will oppose the federal government's $5 billion drought resilience fund because it uses money meant for infrastructure projects. The Labor caucus on Monday night resolved to vote against the Future Drought Fund, which Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced in October soon after taking the top job. The Greens also hold serious concerns over the bill, and Senator David Leyonhjelm opposes it. Mr Morrison has identified the drought gripping most of Australia as the nations "most urgent and pressing need". In a speech to the National Press club on Monday he acknowledged that climate change was "a factor" in extreme weather events, but has previously dismissed suggestions that the governments pro-coal stance contributed to the recent Tasmanian bushfires. Some of the 170-plus guns stolen during an "extremely well organised" burglary in 2017 have been found, police have confirmed for the first time. WAtoday can reveal several of the guns stolen from Barry and Sons Firearms in Beckenham in March 2017 have been recovered within WA, and also outside the state. Some of the guns that were stolen. Credit:WA Police Police have not revealed the exact number of guns found and where exactly they were located. But WAtoday understands some of the guns were found in as many as three states besides WA. South-east Queenslands economy could be $58 billion bigger if the federal government committed money, not words to support its three-year bid for a City Deal, deputy premier Jackie Trad said on Tuesday. On Tuesday, Ms Trad released Transforming SEQ, which is the City Deal proposition the Queensland government and its south-east Queensland mayors take to Canberra on Wednesday. South east Queensland plans to leverage off growth at airports in Brisbane, Gold and Sunshine coasts and Toowoomba. Credit:Photo: Fairfax That contains KPMG modelling that shows the south-east Queensland economy could get a $58 billion boost with a small productivity increase. The report says this is a 0.25 per cent increase in annual multi-factor productivity growth across the south-east Queensland regional economy. The distraught owners of a rare bird stolen from a Perth bird and fish centre have offered a 'generous' reward for its safe return. A thief or group of thieves broke into the Bird and Fish Place in Wattle Grove some time on Monday evening and stole Conchita, a blue and gold macaw. Conchita the stolen macaw can say her own name, 'scratchy scratch', 'yum yum' and laughs. Credit:Bird and Fish Place The robbery was interrupted and the staff found several items abandoned at the scene on Tuesday morning including a distinctive hat with the Hogs Breath Cafe hog face logo (scroll down to view the items found). The business is family owned. The store's staff are devastated at the theft and are concerned for Conchita's health and have called on the public to help them locate her. Aged care inspectors recorded an "astronomical" increase in assaults, missing residents and malnutrition last year when they changed their approach from "tick and flick" reporting and actually observed what was happening in the facilities they visited, an inquiry has heard. Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association policy manager Paul Versteege told the royal commission into aged care on Tuesday that non-compliance in residential aged care facilities surged in 2017-18, not because of a string of incidents but because the government inspection agency shifted its modus operandi. The incidence of reportable assaults in aged care facilities increased by 32 per cent in the year to 2017-18. Credit:Virginia Star In that year reportable assaults jumped from 2853 to 3773, missing residents from 1108 to 1450 and the number of facilities whose accreditation was revoked, which used to be unheard of, jumped from four to 12. "You have to ask yourself, what's the cause of the quite astronomical increases that are shown?" Mr Versteege said. "In my view ... the reason for this is the Aged Care Quality Agency started to do things differently." Canberra's long serving chief health officer Paul Kelly has quit, the latest in a string of executive resignations within ACT's public health system. Dr Kelly quit in January after accepting a new job with the federal health department as the chief medical advisor for Health Products Regulation Group. Chief health officer Dr Paul Kelly has resigned from ACT Health. Credit:Rohan Thomson He will remain in his current role until March. Director general of ACT Health Directorate Michael De'Ath sent a department wide email on Friday announcing the departure. I am going to weep. Dashi the whippet is coming to Dickson Library for a program designed to support kids who struggle with reading. The not-for-profit group Story Dogs brings trained companion dogs for children aged seven to 12 to read to. Four weekly sessions in a row are recommended. Dickson Library. Friday, 5-6pm. Bookings essential, register at Eventbrite . Prepare to celebrate Chinese New Year in Canberra this February. Credit:Reuters Wrap up your Lunar New Year celebrations at the local lantern festival. Colourful lanterns are set to light up the sky from the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. Snacks are available for purchase or you can bring your own tasty little feast. Beijing Garden, Lennox Gardens, Yarralumla. Saturday, 6.15-8.30pm. More information at acfs.org.au. Free. CANBERRA SHOW The Royal Canberra Show. In sideshow alley on the Extreme ride, Tracey Warrington of Latham on the ride with her 10 year old son Jake, at right. Credit:Graham Tidy The show is back. Get amped for fireworks, a freestyle motocross daredevil display, showbags, cups of hot chips and all the rides you might remember from your pukey youth: the hurricane, cha cha, and the gravitron. As always, the Royal Canberra Show will also be exhibiting more prize-winning home-grown vegetables than you can poke a stick at. Exhibition Park, Mitchell. Friday-Saturday, 8.30am-10pm and Sunday, 8.30am-6.30pm. Tickets via rncas.iwannaticket.com.au. $10-16. In North Dakota, a state that officials say regularly faces 5.6 million attempted cyberattacks a month, IT centralization has long been viewed as a means to bolster security.Now, legislation newly passed in the state Senate would create a unified approach to cybersecurity, giving lawmakers a road map to more centralized enforcement. Senate Bill 2110 , introduced in January, passed unanimously last week and now goes to the House for consideration.The new legislation would empower the Information Technology Department (ITD) to define cybersecurity statewide. In so doing, it would create a single strategic framework for public entities, allowing each to approach cybersecurity from a unified posture, said Sean Wiese, the states chief information security officer.The new bill comes amidst a push by the state's executive branch to expand IT investment and standardize its approach. The ITD requested the bill shortly after Gov. Doug Burgum, a former Microsoft executive, filed his 2019-21 fiscal budget proposal , asking for a boost in IT funding as well as a unified cybersecurity strategy.Burgum asked for an investment of $16.4 million to assist with centralization, as well as $174 million in overall funding to pay for 24 IT projects that focus on improved public safety and government functionality. Burgum has also suggested that 145 employees from 17 different cabinet agencies be realigned into one shared IT organization , to better address the states security risks.If enacted, the new legislation would give ITD the power to oversee and advise on cybersecurity matters for all of the states 400 public entities, including state agencies, school districts, institutions for higher education, cities and counties. Additionally, the ITD would assist both the executive and judicial branches with cybersecurity as needed, while also consulting with the attorney general.Currently many of the states entities manage their own cybersecurity independently, a fact often viewed as a potential liability. The new bill would put everybody on the same page, making sure all entities march to the beat of the same drum, from a strategic perspective, Wiese said.In many ways, this push toward unity mirrors national trends. In recent years, states have moved toward greater centralizing of IT and cybersecurity , partially as a means of protecting against the growing prevalence of online attacks. In North Dakota, where centralization has long been a priority, threats from cyberattacks are growing daily, according to Burgums budget proposal.The state may be attractive to attackers for a number of reasons, including its strong military presence, its high level of petroleum production, or its involvement with precision agriculture, all systems that have the potential for exploitation, according to officials.SB 2110 has already gone through a variety of changes and adjustments, said Wiese. During the last month, the bill was reviewed by the Senate Political Subdivisions Committee, and was subsequently amended to shift language from one of regulation to oversight and advisement. During this process, supporters of the bill voiced concerns about cyberattacks , while some critics noted a need to define separation of powers within the legislation."We've had a lot of iterations of this bill," the CISO said, adding that the legislation has gone through numerous revisions based on input from a variety of groups. Weve reached out to a lot of parties that would be affected by this your local governments, your schools, your legislative and judicial branch, he said. "It's gone through the ringer.As part of its push for the legislation, the ITD has also made substantial efforts to impress the importance of cybersecurity upon lawmakers. As an example, the state CIO Shawn Riley recently held a two-day hacking demonstration , giving legislators and the public a chance to learn about the dangers posed by malicious cyberactors.Lawmakers have so far been generally supportive, and officials seem to largely recognize the benefits of many of the new proposals, Wiese said. "We're getting hardly any kickback.Ultimately, Wiese said, a common cybersecurity strategy under a single authority would give the state a means by which to identify security gaps while assessing and measuring the effectiveness of current policies. "If you can set up a common strategy ... you can identify holistically where the gaps are and where we can grow," he said.The long-term goal the new bill lays the groundwork for is enhanced operational security statewide, said Wiese. That goal will take time to achieve, but this new legislation sets the stage for it, he added. A new class of worker should be created to cover gig economy employers Deliveroo has argued as part of a plea for a national shake up of workplace legislation. The food delivery platform made a submission on Tuesday to the Victorian government's inquiry into on-demand work calling for a "Future Work Act" to allow it and other platforms to offer riders benefits without employment in what has been described as a "third way". Deliveroo's country manager Levi Aron. Credit:Justin McManus However experts and unions criticised Deliveroo's legislative push claiming it was merely "throwing workers a bone". Deliveroo's submission compares the proposed legislation to the Fair Work Act saying an equivalent was needed for "modern" ways of working. Singer Katy Perry has apologised after shoes in her fashion line, Katy Perry Collections, drew outrage for resembling blackface. It is the latest brand to pull offensive designs during February, when Black History Month is observed. Katy Perry Collections has removed the product from sale. The shoes, which featured large red lips, a wide triangular nose and blue eyes, were released last summer and came in nine different colourways, including black. When photos of the black shoes began circulating on social media, they prompted an immediate backlash. A joint statement from Perry and her partner Global Brands Group said the shoes were part of a collection "envisioned as a nod to modern art and surrealism." Work on the $3 billion NorthConnex project in Sydney's north over the next six months will be "critical" to how late the tunnel linking the M1 and M2 motorways is in opening to motorists, toll road king Transurban says. The nine kilometre road tunnel was originally due to open by December this year but it was recently revealed that construction was running about six months late after contractors Lendlease and French partner Bouygues tunnelled deeper to avoid property acquisitions. While tunnelling is now complete, Transurban chief executive Scott Charlton said finishing works such as paving and installation of electrical equipment over the next six months would determine when the ribbon was finally cut on NorthConnex. NorthConnex will link the M1 and M2 motorways in Sydney's north. Credit:Brook Mitchell "Whether it is three months, six months or nine months late, we are covered," he said. Mitcham Swan Plumbing has purchased a 967 sq m building at 36 Thornton Crescent for $1.9 million in a deal negotiated by Camerons Al Armstrong and Nic Sal. LEASES Moorabbin Coffee connoisseur Degani has leased a large office/warehouse at 47 Levanswell Road to use as a new training facility for staff. The property has partitioned offices, open plan areas, a boardroom, reception area, roller door amenities and kitchenette. Degani will pay $50,000 per annum. They may also provide roasting facilities and have an on-site cafe to service the local community, CVAs John Nockles said. West Melbourne A financial planning and mortgage broking firm has leased Suite 1, Level 2 at 55 Walsh Street. Anthony Carbone and Ryan Milivojac of CVA said the recently refurbished three-level building has five office suites of which four are now leased. The latest suite was taken on a 3+2+2 year lease term for $97,800 per annum. A financial planning and mortgage broking firm has leased Suite 1, Level 2 at 55 Walsh Street in West Melbourne. Credit:CVA Healesville The family-owned natural fibres business Creswick Natural Fibres will expand its retail offering with a shop at 213 Maroondah Highway. The 278 sq m space in Healesvilles main street was leased for five years at rent around $100,000 per annum. Gray Johnsons Matt Hoath said the landlord has started a refurbishment which will enable Creswick to open shortly. Melbourne A refurbished floor at ANMF House at 540 Elizabeth Street has leased for $213,800 per annum plus GST and outgoings. The lease of the 658 sq m office on level 1 was handled by Sutherland Farrellys Paul Farrelly. Melbourne Landlord Clement Lees Riverlea group has signed fashion brand Furla Australia to a 202.30 sq m office, part of level 10 at 379 Collins Street. Furla will pay $520 net per sq m on a five year term in a deal negotiated by JLLs Alexandra Harper. Box Hill South A shop in the heart of the busy Middleborough Road, No.189, has leased to Annes Pantry Cafe and Bakery. Gorman Commercials Dean Alexander negotiated the deal at a rate of $45,000 per annum net on a five year lease. Annes Pantry has four other eastern suburbs cafes and bakeries. Dandenong Camerons Al Armstrong and David Johnson have leased a 1768 sq m property at 68-70 Rodeo Drive to Bates Concrete Construction who will pay $150,000 per annum on a six year term. Malvern East Skincare business the Base Collective has taken a lease over a boutique retail space at 356-358 Wattletree Road in Melbournes inner eastern suburbs. Teska Carsons Fergus Evans, who brokered the deal, said Base Collective took a long-term lease for the 30 sq m space. The tenant was attracted to the huge front window and signage rights, he said. Craigieburn Dean Alexander of Gorman Commercial has leased Shop 21 at 10 Craigieburn Road. The 100 sq m premises within an older section of Craigieburn Plaza leased for $35,000 per annum net on a five year lease. The property was leased to a Middle Eastern crockery store. Melbourne The organisers behind Melbournes all night festival, White Night, have leased a 221 sq m office on Level 3 at 415 Bourke Street. JLLs Alexandra Harper negotiated the one year deal. The festival is in its sixth year. The landlord is the Sagaria Group. MOVERS Macquarie Group has played down the risks to its business in China from the mounting trade tensions between the world's two biggest economies, as it eyes the opportunities created by Asia's rising middle class and a global infrastructure splurge. After regional heads of Macquarie briefed investors on Tuesday, Ben Way, chief executive of Macquarie Group Asia, signalled the bank remained focused on long-term growth potential of China, alongside Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and India. Ben Way, chief executive of Macquarie Group Asia. Credit:Louie Douvis Like everyone in the market, were watching the constantly changing geopolitical trends, and clearly there is heightening tension geopolitically in terms of the trade wars, Mr Way said. I dont think, personally, for what we do, thats really affecting our business at this time. So I think thats more a geopolitical issue between two sovereign nations than a business issue. Jennifer Gaubert, a New Orleans lawyer and radio host whose drunken sexual encounter with a cab driver in 2012 ultimately landed her a pair of criminal convictions, saw her law license suspended for a year and a day Monday. The Louisiana Supreme Court handed the punishment to Gaubert, 38, nearly seven years after she got into a cab following a night of drinking at Galatoires restaurant on Bourbon Street for a ride home to Lakeview. She proceeded to crawl over the seat and engage cabbie Hervey Farrell in a sexual foray. Farrell recorded the latter part of the encounter on his cellphone. The video shows Gaubert lifting her skirt while trying to entice the cabbie to engage in sex. Farrell rebuffs Gauberts slurring advances before she exits the cab. She whipped out my penis and was trying to give me oral sex and I said no, Farrell told a 911 dispatcher. 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 Farrell quickly filed a civil claim against Gaubert, whose show on WGSO Radio, Law Out Loud, ended shortly after the cab ride. Nearly a year later, Gaubert told police that Farrell was extorting her, threatening to release the video. Gaubert maintained that the sexual encounter was consensual. Then she became the target of criminal allegations. In 2014, she was convicted in Municipal Court on a simple battery count from the encounter. She then faced a felony charge accusing her of filing a false police report. Criminal District Court Judge Arthur Hunter found her guilty instead of misdemeanor criminal mischief and handed her a suspended one-day jail sentence. On Monday, the Supreme Court found that Gaubert violated duties owed to the legal profession, causing substantial actual injury to the public and to Mr. Farrell, who spent more than a day in jail based on Gauberts false claims. In 2015, the city quietly coughed up $40,000 to settle a federal civil rights suit that Farrell had filed over his August 2013 arrest on voyeurism and extortion counts. Films from French-speaking cultures around the world, including South Louisiana, will receive a rare American screening during the 22nd annual New Orleans French Film Festival, Friday through Feb. 21 at the Prytania Theatre. Its a golden opportunity for cinema fans to binge-watch contemporary French films representing Francophone nations as diverse as Haiti, Canada, Belgium and Switzerland. Foreign-language films typically dont receive wide theatrical distribution in the United States. Granted, youve got streaming services that are hungry for content, but even they shy away from foreign-language films," said festival co-programmer John Desplas. Festival passes and single tickets are available at neworleansfilmsociety.org. This years highlights include Custody (Jusqu'a la garde), a drama thats nominated for 10 Cesar Awards (Frances Academy Awards equivalent); the new film from 88-year-old French New Wave pioneer Jean-Luc Godard, The Image Book; and the world premiere of On va continuer! (We Will Continue), a documentary about the Grammy-winning Cajun band Lost Bayou Ramblers. Theres no better place for On va continuer! to have its world premiere, said Lizzie Guitreau, production chief at Worklight Pictures in New Orleans. The Lost Bayou Ramblers have a big audience in New Orleans and Lafayette. And to show the film here first feels great because all the people here who supported us through the making of the film can see it on their home turf. Guitreau and On va continuer! director Bruno Doria helped finance On va continuer through a Kickstarter campaign and a $30,000 French Culture Film Grant from #CreateLouisiana. A great example of local filmmakers tackling a local subject, On va continuer! brings French Louisiana to the French Film Festival. Everyone who put effort into this movie is a Louisiana resident, Guitreau said. Every day of filming with the exception of two days in New York for the Grammy Awards happened here. Its a 100-percent Louisiana movie. And the Lost Bayou Ramblers you cant get more Louisiana than that. Theyre living the real deal. On va continuer! expresses the significance Cajun-French culture has for Ramblers co-founders Louis and Andre Michot through words, music and celebratory images. Its such a unique culture, Guitreau said. It really feels kind of magical. Hopefully, the documentary gives a taste of it. In addition to new films from 12 countries, the French Film Festival is screening restorations of Jean Cocteaus 1946 classic, Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bete) and the once-banned 1966 drama The Nun (La Religieuse). This year's event also features the largest number of directors in attendance in the festivals history. Meeting the directors always adds a lot to the screenings, Desplas said. We hope well have more of that in coming years. Four prescreening musical performances will be staged in collaboration with Krewe du Kanaval, the krewe recently founded by Preservation Halls Ben Jaffe and Arcade Fires Win Butler and Regine Chassagne. Music helps make the screenings even more of a special occasion, Desplas said. Screenings Gaspard at the Wedding (Gaspard va au marriage): Friday, 7:30 p.m. Title character Gaspard grew up in a family that kept tigers, monkeys and bears. After years of avoiding his family, Gaspard attends his fathers wedding with Laura, a woman hes just met. Director Antony Cordier will attend. Claires Camera (La camera de Claire): Saturday and Monday, noon. Veteran French actress Isabelle Huppert stars as a music teacher at the Cannes Film Festival who possesses a camera that may be magical. Out of Chaos: An Artists Journey in Haiti (Sorti du chaos: un voyage dartiste en Haiti): Saturday, 1:45 p.m. In Port-au-Prince, transmedia artist and director Pascal Giacomini collaborates with Vodou practitioners and artists to construct large metal sculptures made from materials gathered from the streets. Giacomini will attend. A Faithful Man (LHomme Fidele): Saturday, 4 p.m. Nine years after Marianne (Laetitia Casta) leaves journalist Abel (Louis Garrel) to marry his best friend, the former couple reunites following Mariannes husbands death. My Son (Mon garcon): Sunday, 5:45 p.m. After a mans constant travel for work sabotages his marriage, his son disappears during a school camping trip. Wild (Sauvage): Saturday, 7:45 p.m. Felix Maritaud plays Leo, a young male prostitute in Strausbourg. Existing in a world of drugs and fleeting encounters though he does, Leo longs for meaningful connection. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU8dwjRsO4g) Yellow is Forbidden: Sunday and Wednesday, noon Veteran documentarian Pietra Brettkelly depicts Chinese designer Pei Guos drive, artistry, meticulousness and emergence on the international scene. The Nun (La Religieuse): Sunday, 2:15 p.m. and Tuesday, noon This once-banned drama stars Anna Karina as a young woman forced to become a nun. Based on 18th-century novel by Denis Diderot. 1999: Sunday, 5 p.m. In the late 1990s, a rash of suicides rock a small town in French-speaking Canada. Afterward, collective grief is internalized and children learn to express their desire to live. Director Samara Grace Chadwick will attend. On va continuer! (We Will Continue): Sunday, 7:45 p.m. and Tuesday, 6 p.m. This 50-minute documentary about the Cajun band Lost Bayou Ramblers covers the bands origins, dedication to Cajun-French culture and the making of the Grammy-winning Kalenda. Director Bruno Doria will attend the screening, and the Lost Bayou Ramblers will perform. Short film program: Monday, 5:45 p.m. Fauve: In this Oscar-nominated film set in a surface mine, two boys plunge into a power game. Upset Body (Corps Contrarie): An independent young woman who believes she is in control of her life meets unexpected challenges. The Ties That Bind (Ce qui nous tient): In the Normandy countryside, 15-year-old Alex returns home from boarding school to his grieving family. The Competition (Le Concours): Monday, 7:15 p.m. Director Claire Simon documents the monthslong process for admission to Frances most selective film school. Simon will participate in a Q&A following the screening. Custody (Jusqu'a la garde): Tuesday, 8 p.m., and Thursday, Feb. 21 at noon The divorced Miriam and Antoine both seek sole custody of their son, Julien. The film has received 10 Cesar Award nominations. Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bete): Sunday and Wednesday, Feb. 20, 10 a.m. Jean Cocteaus 1946 adaptation of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumonts fairy tale about a young woman who captures the heart of a magical beast. A Sense of Place (La sens de sa place): Wednesday, Feb. 20, 6 p.m. A linguist, restaurant owner and student express what the American dream means to them. Featuring music by New Orleans musician Sarah McCoy. Director Bruno Moynie will attend. Sorry Angel (Plaire, aimer et courir vite): Wednesday, Feb. 20, 7:45 p.m. Unpredictable director Christophe Honore (Love Songs) returns with a personal, emotional romance set in the gay community of early 1990s France. The Image Book (Le livre dimage): Thursday, Feb. 21, 5:30 p.m. French New Wave pioneer Jean-Luc Godard assembles a cinema collage of manipulated fragments and clips from great films. Nonfiction (Doubles Vies): Thursday, Feb. 21, 7:45 p.m. Juliette Binoche and Guillaume Canet reunite with director Olivier Assayas (Personal Shopper) for a tale of sex, lies and literature. Set in the Parisian publishing world, the film follows the fallout created by a novelist who recklessly blurs fact and fiction. In recent years, many law enforcement agencies have begun requiring officers to wear body cameras on duty, a policy aimed at bringing transparency to the important work of protecting the public. The Advocate sues State Police over refusal to release body-cam footage of NOPD officer stop The Advocate filed a lawsuit Friday against Louisiana State Police over the agency's refusal to release a troopers body camera footage from a But how transparent is a body camera when the public cant view the footage in a controversial incident involving two officers from separate agencies? Such stonewalling flies in the face of common sense, and its especially grievous coming from the Louisiana State Police, an institution thats supposed to set the gold standard of public accountability. Skeptics can be forgiven for assuming that in a case where a law enforcement officer might be further embarrassed, the folks in blue are simply trying to shield one of their own. At issue is a speeding ticket issued by State Trooper Jared Taylor to New Orleans Police Department Sgt. Chantelle Davis last November. According to State Police documents, Davis, who was off-duty, was going 83 mph in a 60 mph zone when Taylor pulled her over on the West Bank Expressway in Jefferson Parish. According to LSPs account, Davis was dismissive, arrogant and disrespectful during the stop, tapping away on her cellphone as she exited her vehicle. She immediately had an attitude, tried to control the stop, volunteered that she was NOPD, challenged (Taylor) on where he told her to stand, shooed him disrespectfully and ordered him to write the ticket so she could go, an LSP officer wrote in an email about the incident. Although she was off-duty at the time, Davis was still obligated to observe the NOPDs rules governing moral conduct. LSP records show that the ticket was voided after the incident was handled with Commander Nick Gernon of the NOPD, who supervises Davis. Now, NOPDs Public Integrity Bureau is investigating how Davis handled the traffic stop and also whether Gernon properly handled LSPs complaint about Davis. Last December, before the traffic stop gained public attention, Davis was promoted to sergeant, gaining praise from department leaders at the time. This is a matter of obvious public interest, especially since Davis, after being accused of inappropriate behavior when caught speeding, got out of a pricey ticket that most of us would have had to pay. Thats why The Advocate has sued the State Police in an effort to secure the release of the body camera video from the traffic stop involving Davis. We believe this is a record that should be available to the public, and we hope that the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge, where we filed our suit last week, agrees. In the court of opinion, we suspect, the verdict is already in. State Police officials claim releasing the video would violate Davis privacy, but she should have no reasonable expectations of privacy regarding an incident on a public roadway. If Davis acted appropriately, she should have nothing to hide. Body cameras, which are supposed to be the publics eye on police conduct, cant advance accountability when citizens are left in the dark. Citing low enrollment, The Church Academy, which opened in 1981, will close its Baton Rouge school campus at the end of the current school year in May, the schools principal announced Tuesday morning via email. In an effort to be good stewards of Gods resources, we have decided to finish out the 2018-2019 school year with excellence, but we will not reopen in August 2019, said Principal Blaine Thompson in the email. The private Christian school, which was known as The Christian Life Academy before 2016 when it changed names and owners, pointed to a lack of participation support as the main reason for calling it quits. Plenty of changes for private Christian school in BR: new management, name, textbooks A 36-year-old private Christian school in Baton Rouge is under new management, has a new name, is shifting its accreditation and is using over The schools enrollment is half what it was when it was Christian Life, falling from almost 500 students in 2016 to about 250 students in 2018. The closure will impact only the 55-acre campus at 2037 Quail Drive. It will not affect The Church Academy's original campus in St. Amant, which has also seen its enrollment drop substantially, nor its small satellite campus in Lafayette, where enrollment has grown slightly. The Baton Rouge school has scheduled an informational meeting in its church, at the same address, for 6:30 p.m. Friday. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Mark Stermer, senior pastor the St. Amant-based The Church, which oversees the three schools, said he plans to share more information with the church congregation in Baton Rouge on Sunday. We do have a plan for the facility thats going to be great for the community, Stermer said. In its email Tuesday, the school said Luria Young, interim executive vice president and provost at Southern University, will be helping Church Academy teachers and staff find other jobs and preparing academic packages. Attempts to reach Young on Tuesday were unsuccessful. +2 First NBC collapse, new law shake up how Louisiana's private school choice program is funded A fast-growing, publicly financed tuition assistance program for Louisiana private schools hit a big snag this year with the demise of its big The Church Academy of Baton Rouge, in contract to Christian Lifes management, avidly embraced public support for private schools, specifically a program where donors got generous tax rebates for underwriting part of a private schools tuition. In year one under its new owners, it had 38 students participating in the Tuition Donation Rebate program, but that dropped to 20 in year two. That decline coincided with new legislation, which Stermer protested at the Legislature, that shifted the program from a rebate to a tax credit and changed who could receive those credits. Editor's note: This story was changed on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, to correctly reflect the number of schools overseen by The Church based in St. Amant. (TNS) A new bill introduced in the Illinois General Assembly would allow inmates nearing their release online access to search for jobs.State Sen. Chuck Weaver, R-Peoria, introduced Senate Bill 156 on Jan. 29; on Feb. 6 the bill was referred to the State Government Committee.SB 156 would allow each committed person in an Illinois Department of Corrections "institution or facility to access specific and approved job search and career building websites within a specified period before the person's release from the Department of Corrections institution or facility and to access only those job search and career building websites," the bill says That would happen after a rule or best practices protocol is adopted to allow this to occur, the bill says."These computers will be limited to job sites for searching and application. The technology exists so that there are not people getting on inappropriate sites while still in a re-entry facility," Weaver said.The idea for the bill came from a person who was at the Peoria re-entry facility. The Kewanee Life Skills Center also recently graduated its second class of welders."With today's technology many employers are requiring people to begin the job application process online, and without an ability to get online from the facilities where these men live, there's no possibility of getting employment," Weaver said."I've had a really good response on this bill that people are positive about what we're trying to accomplish and understand the need to get these men that are coming out of prison jobs."Weaver further said he has received "numerous positive calls. I have not had any calls where anyone has a negative concern on it."Lindsey Hess, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Corrections, said in an emailed response to SB 156 that the bill is under review by the IDOC.Weaver did say he knows that IDOC "is already working towards accomplishing this and we want to be sure there is nothing that legislatively slows this down."Jennifer Vollen-Katz, executive director at the John Howard Association, said her organization, a prison watchdog group, will support and advocate for SB 156."We think it's fantastic. It's really important for people that are incarcerated to lay the foundation for life after release once they're after prison so to allow people to search for a job while they're in prison will help to that end," she said.When asked the impact on a person coming out of prison, if this bill were to pass, with a job in hand, Vollen-Katz said "it would make a huge difference.""I think it will make a big difference in terms of putting structure around release ... they need a place to live and a way to earn money that's legal so if someone knows they have a job to go to that would provide an enormous amount of relief as they would know they'd be able to afford housing."Weaver said 45 percent of every prisoner released in Illinois will be back in prison in three years. Citing another statistic, Weaver said it costs $37,000 per inmate when factoring in the cost of prison facilities, salary of employees at those institutions and pensions."To have that person sitting in a prison costing us $37,000 rather than working in a job like welding and they're paying taxes and the fact that when they are working, and not going back to prison, there is not a victim that suffers, our society is ahead," he said. A Baton Rouge lawyer who pleaded guilty in federal court in 2017 to forwarding videos of boys engaging in sexual acts with donkeys was suspended Monday for a year and a day by the state Supreme Court. The high court made Christopher G. Young's suspension retroactive to Sept. 28, when it suspended him on an interim basis. Young must apply to the court to resume practicing law once he has served the suspension. Baton Rouge lawyer who transmitted obscene videos suspended by Louisiana high court A Baton Rouge lawyer and former state liquor lobbyist who pleaded guilty last year in federal court to forwarding videos of boys engaging in s He is the brother of former Jefferson Parish President John Young. Christopher Young, a former state liquor lobbyist, is currently serving a two-year suspension that U.S. District Judge John deGravelles imposed last April. The judge also fined him $5,000. Young pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge that accused him of transmitting obscene images to friends, family and clients in 2013 and 2015. He testified in the case that he forwarded the videos as a "crude joke." He also said he didn't believe the people in the videos were minors. Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission Acadiana business leaders with ties to El Paso, Texas, have mixed opinions on what the president is saying about the border city. President Donald Trump held his first campaign rally for the 2020 presidential election Monday in El Paso where he echoed a comment he made during last weeks State of the Union address about the citys decrease in violent crime being the result of a border fence constructed in 2008. Lafayette car dealer Bob Giles has spent a lot of time in El Paso over the past few months because he is building a new Volvo dealership in the city. What Giles has witnessed doesn't match what the president described. Theres no crisis there. Its very safe, Giles said. There has been a drop in crime because of other measures taken in El Paso, not because of a wall. Like Giles, El Paso residents and the citys sheriff were quick to dispute the presidents claims. Violent crime in El Paso peaked in 1993 and tapered off years before the border fence was constructed, according to FBI crime data from 1985 to 2014. The stats show there was actually a slight uptick in violent crime in during the fences 2008 construction and in the years that followed. What I see is a city on the move, Giles said. Theres a lot of roadway construction going on, expansion of existing roadways, business and residential construction going on. I find it to be an extremely clean city with a beautiful view of mountains and desert. Si Brown, president and CEO of Bruce Foods, which has its headquarters in Lafayette, has visited the companys food processing facility in El Paso several times per year since its construction in 1980. Weve been satisfied with the safety in El Paso, Brown said. I think its actually gotten better, particularly recently. They have good government at the city level and a good law enforcement program thats kept pace with the times. Mary Lobdell, a Lafayette speech language pathologist, spent time in El Paso in 2011 and 2012 while teaching classes at the University of Texas at El Paso. I always felt very safe there, Lobdell said. I always had my daughter with me, who was a teenager at the time, and safety just wasnt a problem. Lobdells daily commute took her along the border for several miles, and she crossed into Mexico many times during her time working for the university. Lobdell said she never showed documentation to cross into Mexico or back into the United States. Instead, she watched as highly employable people around her struggled to gain citizenship and as families tried to connect with loved ones across the border. The immigration system is just not working, Lobdell said. It doesnt work for people who just want to come visit their grandchildren, and it doesnt work for people who want to become citizens. Lobdell, who voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, doesnt see a need replace the existing border fence in El Paso with an 18- to 30-foot wall. It seems archaic, Lobdell said. It seems excessively expensive for the good it will do compared to other options that might be equally expensive but maybe more effective. Brown and Giles see things a little differently. Although Brown believes the border fence has made the facility and city safer overall, Bruce Foods has experienced break-ins at the El Paso facility in recent years. Brown, who voted for Trump in 2016, said he fully supports the presidents plan to construct a wall along the American-Mexican border. It will make the plant safer and allow us to grow our business in El Paso, Brown said. This wall is a vital ingredient for the safety of our employees and the safety of their families and the continuation of our business. Giles, who also voted for Trump, expects to open his El Paso dealership later this year. Although he doesnt agree with the presidents rhetoric about whats happening in the border city, Giles wants the border wall funded and constructed. I think this is part of the solution to the immigration issue, Giles said. I think it has merit at some parts of the border, and I think in the case of El Paso, it does make a difference. Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email please call (208) 542-6777 for help. After November's catastrophic Camp Fire in Butte County, technological support for business owners was of much less immediate concern than survivors' need for food, water, shelter but it has since become a key focus for public and private sector groups.The deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history claimed some 85 lives , blackened 153,000 acres, destroyed 18,800 structures and caused billions of dollars in damage.Less quantifiable was the effect on business in the area. Linda Zorn of Butte-Glenn Community College District knew it was bad. She leads the Butte County Economic and Workforce Development (EWD) team in meeting business needs in the region.With the goal of helping local businesses resume or maintain operations after the fire, Zorn contacted Stewart Knox , executive director of California's nonprofit Employment Training Panel (ETP). Established in 1982 and funded by an employer tax, the ETP has for 30 years been the states premier program supporting job creation and retention through training.Knox, in turn, saw a way for the private sector to help with the business recovery project.All I did was make the connection with Salesforce for help, Knox said. They really stepped up and have assisted the county and the community college in setting up a system of tracking, etc.Knoxs contact at Salesforce was Senior Account Executive Jeff Vargas , with whom Knox had worked previously on contracts for ETP. Vargas was among those who brought the need to the attention of his companys philanthropic arm, Salesforce.org Zorn picked up the narrative: Butte College took the lead in working with Salesforce (a Customer Relationship Management software) to provide 50 pro bono licenses in addition to hours of technical support to get us up and running. Through the efforts of Butte College EWD, these licenses were donated for a 24-month term.The Salesforce CRM is an important component for the communication among the members of the Butte County Business Recovery Task Force, Zorn added.In a statement to, Salesforce said: In the face of the devastation leveled by the Camp Fire, Salesforce employees stepped up in many ways and tapped into their Volunteer Time Off (VTO), including lending their pro bono skills or rolling up their sleeves in local shelters.The Camp Fire Multi-Agency Business Recovery task force is leveraging Salesforce Sales Cloud to serve as the central CRM to track communication with the businesses owners and the coordination of available services, the company statement said. Thanks to the flexibility of the platform, each business' unique needs can be captured, and service providers are able to access the information on any device, anywhere, which is critical given the limited infrastructure available in the wake of the tragedy.In addition to Vargas, the Salesforce team for this project included Solutions Engineering Director Benjamin Ault and Lead Solution Engineer Mike Livingston I just called my guys Ben and Mike and ran it by them, Vargas said, and immediately we all knew we just needed to assist. The team met with the task force at the project start to better understand the scope of the project.Zorn said Ault and Livingston "spent a significant amount of time onsite with this group and lending their pro bono configuration services.Said Vargas: I just knew a lot of people had their lives turned upside-down, and being with a company like Salesforce gave me the opportunity and resources to help those that were affected. Samsung has pretty much confirmed that its foldable phone will take the stage alongside the Galaxy S10 at its Unpacked Event. Just recently, the company tweeted a 15-second teaser video that notably features a date and says, "The future unfolds." It also uploaded one on YouTube that's 27 seconds long, but it doesn't really reveal anything more than the one posted on Twitter. Samsung's First Foldable Phone The device in question goes by a lot of names. At times, it's known as the Galaxy X, and in other cases, it's called the Galaxy F, which might stand for Galaxy Flex or Galaxy Fold. Going by the aforementioned clip, it appears that Samsung is now getting ready to officially unveil it on "02.20.19." For those who don't know, Samsung is scheduled to hold its Unpacked Event on Feb. 20, where it's going to take the wraps off the highly anticipated Galaxy S10. It's also worth noting that a live stream of the show will be up on the company's website. Notable Rumors Not much is known about the Galaxy X or Galaxy F, but on an interesting note, there has been a report that says a prototype of the phone breaks when folded all the way. Sure, Samsung did show it off onstage once in November 2018 at the Samsung Developers Conference, but it was way too dark to see anything else besides the UI and folding mechanism. On the other hand, the Galaxy S10 is arguably the company's worst-kept secret. That's because the rumor mill has been up and about in churning out one report after another regarding the smartphone. For starters, live images of it have made the rounds online, and this came at the same time as the first leak of the Galaxy Buds, the successor of the Gear IconX, which showcased the long-rumored reverse-charging feature. The under-display fingerprint reader also appeared then, and before that, the punch-hole design was more or less confirmed in leaked press renders. To boil things down, the Galaxy S10 is almost as good as official already. All that's left is for Samsung to unveil it. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Most users tend to overlook Gmail's right-click menu, as it has very limited options. However, Google is finally upgrading this function. The Mountain View company just announced on Monday that it'll add more options to the old right-click function in Gmail. Now, users can do more than just archive, mark as unread, and delete an email using the right-click menu. The New Right-Click Menu Google announced the much-awaited overhaul in a post published in G Suite Updates. According to the company, the expanded right-click options will now include functions such as sorting out mails via the move and label tool, opening mails in multiple windows, snoozing conversations, and email searching for when a user needs to find emails with similar sender or subject. The update will also bring the reply and forward options to Gmail's right-click menu. Basically, almost all the handy features will be just one click away. The initial roll out starts on Feb. 11 for G Suite users on Rapid Release domains. All other users should see the upgraded right-click options starting Feb. 22. However, note that it might still take a little longer for others, one to three days after the scheduled rollout to be specific. Material Theme Also Coming To Gmail For Mobile In late January, Google also announced that its Material Theme will soon roll out to iOS and Android users "in the coming weeks." This is after the company launched the same Material Theme in other G Suite products such as the Gmail for web, Google Photos, Calendar, and Docs. "We've already updated the web experiences for Gmail, Drive, Calendar, and most recently Google Docs and Sites. In the coming weeks, you'll see the new mobile design in Gmail on Android and iOS, with more G Suite mobile apps to follow later this year," Gmail product manager Nikolus Ray said in a post. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A rural-urban divide Discomfort over new taxes Less access, fewer opportunities Cable vs. satellite WHY IT MATTERS HOW IT WOULD WORK New taxes: Streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu E-books or audio books downloaded from Amazon and Audible Music purchased from Spotify and iTunes Video games Digital photos, newspapers and magazines Eliminated taxes: Franchise fees of 5 percent on cable TV revenue Franchise fees of 3 percent on landline phones Sales taxes of at least 7 percent on landline phones, cellphones and broadband equipment (TNS) Possibly coming soon to a screen near you: a tax on Netflix and just about everything else you download or stream.Georgia lawmakers, coaxed by dozens of lobbyists swarming the state Capitol, are pushing for a tax on digital video, books, music and video games.That means youd pay more for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Kindle e-books, iTunes music, Spotify and Internet phone services.Legislators and Internet providers see it as a giant pool of untapped cash that could be used to subsidize construction of Internet lines in economically depressed rural parts of the state.Those who are already connected would pay the price: Theyd bear the cost of the 4 percent tax, but its benefits would go toward rural residents who lack high-speed access to online products.Georgia is the latest state to consider a far-reaching tax on Internet services, a virtual gold mine for governments trying to raise money to prop up rural areas that have steadily lost businesses and residents to Atlanta and other cities. Only a handful of other states have imposed this kind of tax so far, but similar proposals have been introduced in legislatures across the country.Both Gov. Brian Kemp and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan have expressed reservations about the idea.The proposal pits current customers against communication companies such as AT&T, who stand to profit because the digital tax would replace existing, higher taxes on cable TV, phones and broadband equipment.About 66 percent of Georgians oppose the idea of taxing Internet, TV and phone services to raise money for rural Internet, according to a statewide poll conducted last month forWe in the city have been taxed enough, said Beverly Barnes, an Atlanta retiree who was questioned for the poll. I look at my cable and cellphone bill, and I see we have enough fees. Most people move to the country because its cheaper out there. Let them pay for that.But state Rep. Jay Powell , the chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee, said customers have avoided paying sales taxes on digital products, creating inequities between old and new technologies. For example, a book purchased at a store is subject to sales taxes, but a downloaded e-book is tax-free.He said those who have high-speed access should pay a tax to support Georgians who lack high-speed Internet, which has become a necessity for business, education and health care.We are all part of the same state, and we help each other, said Powell, a Republican from Camilla. If Atlanta benefits, then the rest of Georgia benefits. If the rural section of Georgia benefits, then Atlanta benefits. Were all in it together.Nearly 60 lobbyists for cable, TV and cellphone companies are making an argument that its only fair that every service be taxed equally. Currently, various taxes and fees cover cable TV and phones but not satellite TV and Internet video.The resistance comes from legislators who oppose new taxes, consumers who would pay the tax and Dish TV, which doesnt stand to benefit from government funding of rural Internet since it already provides satellite-based online access to those areas. Before a similar digital tax proposal failed last year , Dish TV ran TV ads urging viewers to Stop the Georgia TV tax!Legislation for the tax proposal hasnt been introduced yet in Georgia, but a bill is coming from a group of influential rural House lawmakers who have made Internet access a priority . They say the state government needs to spread around some of metro Atlantas economic prosperity. Other lawmakers are uncomfortable with the idea of a tax increase.For a Netflix customer with a $12.99 monthly plan, a 4 percent tax would cost 52 cents per month, or $6.24 per year.Rural Georgians such as Twalla Whitlock, who subscribes to satellite Internet service, said they need faster, more affordable Internet options.Its expensive, said Whitlock, a Brooks County resident who works in social services and responded to the AJC poll. If they had more towers out here, it would be cheaper. In a lot of areas, they have limited service.The tax, combined with the repeal of existing taxes and fees, would generate $48 million in 2021 and reach $310 million by 2024, according to state estimates. Revenue would be split between state and local governments. The state portion would go into the general treasury, meaning theres no guarantee it would go to help increase Internet access in rural Georgia. The state cant dedicate funding without changing the state Constitution.Without state funding, Internet companies say it doesnt make financial sense for them to expand into less populated areas, where access is spread among fewer customers. State legislators want to subsidize Internet companies costs to expand into regions that lack broadband service.About 638,000 households 16 percent of the state lack access to Internet with speeds of at least 25 megabits per second, according to a University of Georgia study.Internet speeds in the 25 Mbps range are important to work from home, study online, download files and stream high-definition video, according to the Federal Communications Commission. State Sen. Steve Gooch said he wants to find money for rural Internet expansion, but hes not convinced a digital services tax is the way to do it. He said funding could come from an existing fund for landline telephone expansion, and he opposes taxing satellite dishes because they dont use public rights of way.We should exhaust all options and review our existing tax framework for Internet, telephone, broadband and satellite services before making any decisions, said Gooch, a Republican from Dahlonega. State Rep. Viola Davis , a DeKalb County taxpayer advocate before she was elected last year, said shes skeptical of the proposal.I get real uncomfortable when they want to tax an area and then redistribute that money to another area, said Davis, a Democrat from Stone Mountain. If you do the tax, the tax will be on primarily the urban homeowners and users of Internet.Similar technologies should be taxed evenly, but its often unpopular when elected officials try to put a tax on services such as Netflix that have so far escaped the governments reach, said John Buhl, a spokesman for the Tax Foundation , a Washington-based think tank. States including Hawaii, Pennsylvania and Washington tax streaming services.People think of Netflix, and they like Netflix, and they say, Why are you trying to tax my Netflix? Buhl said. Things that were goods in the past are now services in the digital era, and states need to deal with that. Otherwise, their tax base will get smaller quickly.Georgia already imposed sales taxes on products sold online , which went into effect Jan. 1. But electronic goods remain untaxed.Cable companies support broadening the tax base among all TV and Internet customers not just those that have cable and are already paying government franchise fees Georgia Cable Association lobbyist Stephen Loftin said.Clearly, when youve got some services that pay a tax and others dont, theres an equity situation that needs to be addressed, particularly when the services are indistinguishable to the consumer, Loftin said. The only difference is the technology used to deliver it.The Georgia Cable Associations members include Charter Communications, Comcast and Cox Communications, the cable and broadband Internet subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, which also owns the AJC. Cox provides cable, Internet and phone services in Middle Georgia, primarily in the Macon and Warner Robins area.AT&T is the largest force of the telecommunications industry at the Georgia Capitol, with the biggest service area and the most lobbyists 23 according to state ethics commission records.It wants any tax on Internet services to also eliminate sales taxes on broadband equipment, saving money for telecom companies. A House council of rural legislators included the elimination of broadband equipment taxes in its recommendations The states first step to spurring broadband deployment should be eliminating government-imposed economic and procedural hurdles that stifle private capital investment, AT&T spokeswoman Ann Elsas said. Once that has occurred, the state can assess the need for any additional steps like supplementing federal efforts to help enhance broadband deployment in hard-to-reach, high-cost areas.Netflix didnt respond to requests for comment. Comcast referred questions to the Georgia Cable Association.Dish, the satellite TV and Internet provider, characterized the tax as a handout for big cable. Dish spokeswoman Karen Modlin said the company is the only statewide provider of video and broadband, without having to use local infrastructure.We hope that the Legislature will recognize that innovation can be achieved without saddling satellite customers with new and unwarranted taxes, Modlin said.Charlie Hayslett, the former owner of an Atlanta-based public relations firm who is writing a book about the divide between metro and rural parts of Georgia, said the tax plan for rural broadband could be an expensive waste of money.While Internet service is important for rural Georgia, he questions whether a government subsidy would solve the areas connectivity problems.Im all for helping rural Georgia, Hayslett said, but Im also tired of being asked to sit in gridlocked traffic while the General Assembly uses my tax money to buy a pig in a poke for South Georgia.More than 600,000 rural Georgia households lack access to high-speed Internet, limiting opportunities for business growth, education and health care. State legislators are considering a tax on streaming video, music downloads and e-books to raise money to subsidize Internet construction in unconnected parts of the state.A proposed 4 percent tax on all digital, phone and TV services would replace a variety of existing sales taxes and franchise fees currently charged on cable TV revenues and phone subscriptions. The communication services tax would cover streaming video and other Internet downloads that currently arent taxable. Canadian Space Agency's David Saint-Jacques who is currently stationed at the International Space Station spoke about the health issues that astronauts face in space. In a space-to-Earth connection, Saint-Jacques participated in the official opening of Health in Space: Daring to Explore, a recently inaugurated permanent exhibition at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, he discussed the physical and mental toll of staying in low-orbit for as much as six months to the human body and mind. Man Vs. Outer Space Space is a hostile environment for humans. Astronauts venturing out of Earth will encounter hazards such as radiation and lack of gravity. In addition, the long periods of isolation and confinement that comes with long-haul space travel might cause behavioral issues. While the ISS floats about 400 kilometers above the surface of the Earth, the astronauts are still exposed to the same health hazards. "The problem you develop here is that everything is a little bit the same every day," stated astronaut Saint-Jacques during a livestream broadcast on Thursday, Feb.7 via Psychology Today. "It can be depressing sometimes if you're not careful." Saint-Jacques flew to the ISS as a member of Expedition 58 in December. Onboard the orbital outpost, he will conduct a series of scientific experiments and robotic tasks as well as test new technologies. Last week, he also helped repair a leaky toilet, that spouted about 9.5 liters of water, in the ISS. He and NASA's Anne McClain installed a new toilet while the others quickly soaked the spilled water with towels. Moreover, the physical and mental health toll of space will increase as astronauts venture further from Earth. "The nature of weightlessness, ionizing radiation, and psychological isolation need to be better understood in order to make spaceflight safer for astronauts of the future when we venture off to the Moon, to Mars, and beyond," explained former astronaut Robert Thirsk, who also attended the event to promote the exhibition. "As humans venture further into the solar system in the coming decades, the risks of space travel will multiply." Health In Space The Health in Space: Daring to Explore exhibition demonstrates the science that goes into protecting astronauts onboard the ISS from the health hazards of staying in low-orbit. Visitors will get to see objects from into space, hear stories from former and current astronauts, and other activities. A traveling component of the exhibition will also bring space across Canada until 2020. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Astronomers have discovered an unusual species of asteroid looping through the orbit of Venus with significantly shorter days of revolution around the sun. A Unique Specimen The state-of-the-art Zwicky Transient Facility), an astronomical survey camera at the Palomar Observatory in California, detected the asteroid on Jan. 4. The asteroid called 2019 AQ3 recorded an orbital period of 165 days. In comparison, Venus has 225 days and Mercury has 88. The 2019 AQ3 also has a bigger size that is atypical to other species of an asteroid, measuring approximately 1.6 kilometers across. "We have found an extraordinary object whose orbit barely strays beyond Venus' orbit-that's a big deal," said Quanzhi Ye, a Ph.D. scholar at IPAC, the science and data center for astrophysics and planetary sciences at California Institute of Technology. Ye said that 2019 AQ3 is a "very rare species" of the asteroid, but it is also likely that there could be other similar ones that are yet to be discovered. Tracking The Cosmos 2019 AQ3 orbits in a strange direction as it travels above and below the solar system's orbital plane. Only 19 out of all the asteroids that enter the solar system stay in the Earth's orbit. These asteroids, which are called Atira, Apohele, and Interior-Earth Objects, do not necessarily present a current threat to the planet. However, the scientists said probability may change in the future is the orbits are disturbed by Venus or Mercury. ZTF has been helpful in tracking transient events like asteroids, supernovae, and black holes. Since March 2018, the survey camera has detected more than 1,100 transient events or space objects that either occur or move quickly. "ZTF is surveying the whole northern sky every three nights," said Shri Kulkarni, principal investigator of the ZTF. "It's already discovering a few supernovae a night, and we expect that rate to go up." The ZTF is capable of surveying a vast field of the universe and can image objects up to approximately 230 times the size of a full moon in a single exposure. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Forward-looking: What makes AI particularly useful is the fact that it can recognize patterns in data that humans could never identify. Before the technology makes it into the doctor's office, however, researchers will need to get a better understanding of why AI makes the decisions it does and how it trains itself. Researchers from the US and China have developed a deep learning system that could one day help doctors diagnose medical ailments. As outlined in a paper published on Monday in Nature Medicine (via The New York Times), the AI was more than 90 percent accurate at diagnosing asthma in patients. By comparison, human physicians in the study were 80 to 94 percent accurate in their diagnosis. Elsewhere, the software was able to accurately diagnose gastrointestinal disease 87 percent of the time versus physicians accuracy of 82 percent to 90 percent. The study was led by Dr. Kang Zhang, chief of ophthalmic genetics at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Zhang and his colleagues trained their system using electronic medical records of nearly 600,000 patients at the Guangzhou Women and Childrens Medical Center in southern China. Gathering health care data from China to train deep learning systems is much easier than doing so in the US. Dr. George Shih, associate professor of clinical radiology at Weill Cornell Medical Center, said youd have to collect from multiple locations in the US to get the same amount of data. The equipment is never the same. You have to make sure the data is anonymized. Even if you get permission, it is a massive amount of work. Itll be a while still before AI is advising your doctor. Ben Shickel, a researcher at the University of Florida who specializes in the use of deep learning for health care, noted that medicine is a slow-moving field. No one is just going to deploy one of these techniques without rigorous testing that shows exactly what is going on. Lead image courtesy Panchenko Vladimir via Shutterstock. Second photo via metamorworks via Shutterstock. Why it matters: Google is ramping up plans to develop a mobile system on a chip (SoC) to compete with Apple's A-series processors. As evidenced by a hiring blitz in India, the company is serious about bringing "gChips" to market in future Pixel devices. Google has been rumored to be interested in internal chip development which would give the company the ability to integrate their own SoCs into Pixel devices and directly compete with Apple's "A" line of self-made processors. A new report today doubles down on Google's in-house hardware plans, detailing how the tech giant is aggressively hiring engineers in India to assist with the development process. Bengaluru, India, know colloquially as the "Silicon Valley" of India, is a major hub for the chip manufacturing industry. According to Reuters, the team leading Google's quest for its own SoC, dubbed "gChips", has hired at least 20 employees there over the past several months. Google has managed to poach engineers from major chipmakers Qualcomm, Nvidia, and even Intel to fill positions. Current job postings include SoC RTL Lead, SoC Design & Methodology Lead, and ASIC Design Engineer. This progression hardly comes as a surprise as Google's SoC development plans haven't exactly been a well-kept secret. In 2017, they hired Manu Gulati from Apple. Gulati had spearheaded Apple's SoC development division for eight years, and he currently serves as Google's lead SoC architect. Later that year, Google unveiled its first ever SoC, the Pixel Visual Core, built into every Pixel 2. The core worked alongside the Snapdragon 835 SoC and was purpose-built to "expand the reach" of HDR+. A subsequent version of this same core powers the "Night Mode" feature in the Pixel 3's camera. In addition to developing their own SoC, the company is also investing in chips for enterprise and cloud server applications. These chips, which will likely contain Tensor Processing Units, will enable Google to rent compute capability to third-parties in order to facilitate machine learning and AI training. Second image courtesy William Potter via Shutterstock Decode Your Future with an Online Computer Science Degree from Drexel Drexel University's online computer science programs are designed to prepare you for work on the cutting edge of technology. The curriculum is designed for students with any level of experience or previous knowledge. Choose the program thats right for you. Learn More. To say I'm typically not a fan of CES would be an understatement, but this year was very different. A combination of better logistics and fewer people at the show (likely tied to the government shutdown and China drama), coupled with some truly earth-shattering content, made CES a must-attend event this year. One of the things that jumped out at me -- given that the show took place while the controversy heated up over that damn silly wall President Trump wants to build -- is that IBM announced a compelling fix. It's a fix that actually could improve the U.S. government overall. In addition, I had an interesting chat with Frank Shaw at Microsoft on big takeaways from the show, and I think he offered the best one: that this show not only showcased the death of the tech market, but that its death would be a good thing. That should wake up a few folks. I'll cover all that this week and close with my product of the week: the HP Spectre Folio laptop. Although it was a product of the week last year, it made such a huge difference for me at this show that I'm bringing it up again. CES 2019's Fix for the Clash Over Trump's Wall Overshadowing CES this year was the government shutdown, which not only prevented a lot of government speakers from attending the show, but also raised the specter of many of us running into a nightmare when we headed home (due to a potential TSA strike). The standoff was on my mind when I met with Ranit Aharonov, IBM's manager of debating technologies, and Noam Slonim, IBM's senior technical staff member of debating technologies. I was looking forward to the meeting, because I once trained to be a debater when I was thinking of becoming a lawyer. Sadly, my school's debate program was killed due to lack of budget. What IBM's Project Debater does is use a new form of artificial intelligence -- kind of a blend of machine learning and deep learning -- to capture the best arguments on a subject. It does this by training the system with humans (which seems more like machine learning) but it doesn't use data scientists as an interface (which is more like deep learning). The machine trains itself by observing submissions of arguments on a topic from real people, as well as the results of real people comparing two arguments on the same side and choosing which is better. For instance, let's say we were debating whether the world was flat. People would submit arguments on both sides and get back arguments on the side they supported and then pick the best ones. They would compare arguments on the same side in order to minimize bias. The system then would trains itself, utilizing its access to a deep repository of true facts, in order to determine the best arguments on a topic. Now apply this to a debate on the wall. Both sides would go through this process, which would result in the system producing the strongest true arguments from each side (eliminating the false facts from both). A third party viewing the results then could determine which side presented the strongest best argument. Now think about this in the context of a political debate. Individuals with access to this system either would be able to present the best arguments supporting their positions, or realize that their positions were untenable, possibly leading them to make some changes before taking the stage. At least with respect to political debates, those who took advantage of this system arguably would be unbeatable, because they would have the strongest argument and be on the right side. (Even if they chose to be on the wrong side, they likely would still win against opponents who didn't have access to this system.) This approach could be built into a social media system like Facebook. It could be used as a mechanism to resolve a dispute in a timely way, taking the place of annoying strings of pointless arguments. (It might be possible to mine Facebook's existing threads to build a model for this type of application.) Just think -- this could make Facebook part of the solution, offsetting its current position as a huge part of the problem. From a personal standpoint, it might provide answers to critical questions like which argument is strongest when someone wants to convince a spouse or parents to buy something, or to persuade opponents in a dispute that their position is wrong. IBM's Project Debater has the potential to change the very nature of discussion, and make social networks like Facebook relevant again. The Death of the Tech Market I had an interesting off-the-cuff chat with Frank Shaw at Microsoft's technical showcase. He indicated his big takeaway from CES was that the tech market was dead. Sounds bad, right? But I not only agreed with him, but also welcomed it as a sign of maturity for the technology industry. You see, one of the historic problems with tech companies is that they tend to think they are the center of the universe and know everything about their clients' businesses. This historically has been a huge problem with companies that operate like Microsoft once did. They'd come in and tell others how to run their businesses. Years ago, I got a panicked call from a CIO whose CEO had met with Bill Gates. Apparently Bill had convinced this banking CEO that he needed to rip out his mainframes, which experienced relatively infrequent downtime, with Windows NT Servers, which were known to crash daily. He wanted me to talk the CEO out of doing it, because it would have killed the company, which I did. Microsoft wasn't alone. With few exceptions, tech companies would come into an account with their mouths rather than their ears open, and provide solid-sounding advice that actually was brain-dead-stupid, leading to disastrous results. With the rise of the huge Linux and open source initiatives, the industry began to grok that if firms wanted to survive, they had to listen, and do what their clients wanted done. While this thinking forms the basis of Microsoft's current customer engagement strategy, it is hardly alone. Much of the work I saw from most of the major companies that supply tech to clients appears focused on this same pivot, and that means the tech market has been subsumed into other markets. It now is a critical part of automotive, aerospace, farming, manufacturing, government, enterprise and others. The reason that this is good is that we're getting far better results. Microsoft showcased its work with a variety of retailers like Kroger in creating higher-yield stores. It is interesting to note that some newer firms (I won't mention names, but one sounds like Oogle) don't yet get this. Speaking of Alphabet, as I write this, I just got a call that the firm has been hit with a massive sexual harassment lawsuit, indicating it is about to have a Harvey Weinstein moment. Wrapping Up Next week I'll share my reactions to some of the wild and interesting products I saw at CES, including a hearing aid that can be used as a fitness tracker, a solar-powered smartwatch with weeks of battery life, and a machine that makes super-clean water out of solar energy and air. Overall, I saw some incredibly interesting progress at the show (including the world's first fourth-generation 20 qubit quantum computer). Rather than being a must-miss show, CES turned out to be a critical show to attend this year. It could be even better if I could just convince Las Vegas and CES to implement some of this wonderful technology to improve transport. It is still way to hard to get around the event. I was tempted to make the Ose sex toy, which is designed for women, my product of the week. After it received an innovation award, CES revoked it, saying it didn't fit any of its product categories, and banned its display at the show. In the past, CES has featured various male-oriented sex tech products, so this seemed like blatant sexism to me. The company, Lora DiCarlo, developed the gadget in collaboration with Oregon State University. Its CEO, Lora Haddock, lives near me. This kind of blatant sexism just pisses me off and put a cloud over the show. However, the reason I went with the HP Spectre Folio is that at every CES, I've carried a backpack during the show to make sure I have everything I need. HP Spectre Folio My backpack weighs in, with laptop, at around 35 pounds, and lugging the thing around the show pretty much wipes me out. It is basically 12 to 14 hours of running between meetings, briefings and keynotes, and waiting in lines. (I literally tore off both soles of my feet one year, and that was impressively painful.) This year all I carried was the 3.2-pound HP Spectre Folio. I've been unwilling to just carry a laptop in the past, because they are hard to hold, the Amazon Kindle reader on the PC sucks, and I run out of battery before I run out of work. Well, the leather-wrapped Folio is easy to hold, and it has all-day battery life. I discovered that Amazon fixed its reader (I read when I have downtime between meetings), and the result was that I didn't feel like I'd been ridden hard and put away wet this year. This thing may not be a sex toy, but it is still amazing, and it just became my favorite show-going PC because I never want to have to lug my massive backpack around ever again. Oh, and it has built-in WAN wireless, which helped when I was at events where the WiFi sucked (and there were several). Because the HP Spectre Folio made CES livable for me this year, it is my product of the week. (I just wish it came in black.) The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECT News Network. Rob Enderle has been an ECT News Network columnist since 2003. His areas of interest include AI, autonomous driving, drones, personal technology, emerging technology, regulation, litigation, M&E, and technology in politics. He has an MBA in human resources, marketing and computer science. He is also a certified management accountant. Enderle currently is president and principal analyst of the Enderle Group, a consultancy that serves the technology industry. He formerly served as a senior research fellow at Giga Information Group and Forrester. Email Rob. A Brand's Guide to Digital Shelf Analytics | eBook What can you do to improve your digital commerce game? The first rule of the digital shelf is to make sure your products can be found. Some might say its mission impossible. Unless, of course, you use digital shelf analytics (DSA). Get the eBook Today! President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order aimed at boosting artificial intelligence research and development in the United States. The order sets up the American AI Initiative, which instructs federal agencies to move projects involving artificial intelligence to the top of their priority lists. No funding is proposed in the order, but the initiative directs federal agencies to focus on five areas: Federal agencies are being asked to prioritize AI projects. Some agencies, like the Department of Defense and DARPA already have started doing that. Federal computing resources will be made available to AI researchers outside of government. Federal agencies, such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Transportation, and the Food and Drug Administration, are being asked to create standards for AI systems. Federal agencies are being asked to create fellowships and apprenticeships to help workers affected by AI and to train AI researchers and experts. The administration pledges to collaborate on AI development in a way that is consistent with American "values and interests." Show Me the Money The administration's approach to AI contrasts with those of other countries, which have been earmarking funds for their AI initiatives. Canada has a five-year US$94 million plan for investment in AI. The European Union plans to spend $1.69 billion on AI by the end of 2020. France has announced a $1.69 billion initiative to make the country a global leader in AI research and training. South Korea has a multiyear $1.95 billion plan, which includes establishing six AI-focused graduate schools by 2022, and training 5,000 AI specialists. Meanwhile, China already has created a $2.1 billion technology park in Beijing, and has a road map to grow its AI industry to $147 billion by 2030. Silicon Valley Strong "Without dedicated funding -- which I'm not suggesting is necessary -- this feels like a largely symbolic gesture, a way of saying 'Hey, other governments are doing this, and we're cutting-edge too,'" said Julian Sanchez, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a public policy think tank in Washington, D.C. "But other governments are doing this because other countries don't have Silicon Valley," he told TechNewsWorld. "There's no real reason to think that critical advancements in this sphere are likely to come from the federal government, given that the private sector is already clearly working hard on moving the ball forward," Sanchez pointed out. "So I'd question the idea that we need to 'catch up' to other countries that are pouring government money into AI research," he added. There's an irony to the executive order, noted Sanchez. "One key to the United States' track record of pioneering computing advancements has been our openness to immigrants -- gathering the brightest minds from around the world," he explained. "This administration's rhetoric tends to focus on illegal immigrants, but it hasn't to date shown much real commitment to making legal immigration easier," Sanchez continued, "which is one of the first things you'd do if you wanted to spur technological innovation." Gaps in AI Ecosystem The executive order aims to address two deficiencies in the current AI ecosystem -- a manpower shortage and a slowdown in investment, observed Jack Vernon, an industry analyst with ABI Research, a technology advisory company headquartered in Oyster Bay, New York. "The U.S. needs to grow the size of the AI-capable workforce. There is currently a shortage of data scientists, meaning that the cost of researching and developing commercial AI systems is on the high side," he told TechNewsWorld. "If the executive order can create more resources to train and enable people to enter the profession, then the U.S. will be able to address its skills gap in this area, as it is clearly holding companies back," Vernon said. On the investment side, China passed the United States in investments in startups in 2017, $4.9 billion to $4.4 billion, he noted. "The current administration might have felt particularly disappointed to fall behind China in 2017, given the large cut in corporation tax that same year. The corporation tax was granted based on the logic that it would allow companies to increase investment and stay competitive," Vernon explained. "The plan touches on the key areas in which the U.S. needs to improve, but has little substance in terms of practically addressing them," he continued. "Without tax incentives or direct subsidies -- neither of which are included in this executive order -- it is difficult to see how the federal government could encourage further investment from corporations," Vernon added, "particularly as many of these companies already seem to be doubling down on AI." An Aspirational Plan The effectiveness of the White House's plan will depend on follow-through, said Jason Furman, an economic policy professor at the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "The administration's 'American AI Initiative' includes all of the right elements. The critical test will be to see if they follow through in a vigorous manner," said Furman, who was chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers and helped craft an artificial intelligence report in 2016. "The plan is aspirational with no details and is not self-executing," Furman told TechNewsWorld, "but if executed well, it will help propel America forward on this critical technology." The AAII is largely aspirational at this point, Scott Pink, special counsel in the Silicon Valley law offices of O'Melveny & Myers, also said. "A key to its success will be the level of funding and support the government provides to private industry," he told TechNewsWorld. "Also, the development of standards is likely to engender considerable debate. They need to be specific enough to be useful in AI development, but flexible enough to allow for innovation," Pink noted. "That will be a difficult balance to maintain." China's Gains The executive order is a positive step forward, said Daniel Castro, director of the Center for Data Innovation, a research and public policy organization in Washington, D.C. "It is clear the administration has been paying attention to this issue and the threat posed by China," he told TechNewsWorld. The United States has an early lead in AI, but other countries have been investing heavily to catch up, Castro said. "Without a clear plan, the U.S. lead will diminish over time, and make many industries less competitive." The Center for Data Innovation is preparing a quantitative report on AI, he said. "I don't have final details to share yet, but we do see U.S. dominance in this space declining relative to China." In the past, the United States has managed to stay ahead of other countries with a minimum of government investment, observed Phoenix, Arizona-based Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research, a high-tech research and advisory firm. "But you've got to wonder," he told TechNewsWorld. "Would it be better for the U.S. government to fund some of that research, especially when you have countries like China funneling billions into these areas? "If we're going to maintain our leadership as an economic powerhouse, we have to be a leader in technology," McGregor said. "If we lose that, we're no longer going to be an economic leader." John P. Mello Jr. has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy, e-commerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and consumer electronics. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Phoenix, Megapixel.Net and Government Security News. Email John. Seminole, FL (33772) Today Mostly cloudy this morning with thunderstorms developing this afternoon. High 86F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Mostly cloudy with scattered thunderstorms mainly during the evening. Low 74F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. (TNS) Lawmakers of both parties, advocates and business and tech industry lobbies all say this session of Congress may be the best chance in years to pass meaningful data privacy legislation.That still might not be giving it the greatest odds.There is widespread consensus that California lawmakers passage last year of a data privacy law, paired with a similar measure enacted by the European Union, has strongly motivated members of Congress to create a federal privacy protection regime. And the fall from grace of some of Silicon Valleys biggest firms after scandals including the misuse of social media during the 2016 election has given advocates and lawmakers cover to take on tech giants.Under Californias law, which takes effect next year, web users can demand that a business tell them what personal information it is collecting about them and whether it is selling or sharing it, and if so to whom. Consumers can also demand that a company delete their information. The law will allow people to sue companies whose negligence leads to breaches of personal data.While some companies pushed for the bill, others whose business model relies on collecting and selling user data would like to see a federal law scale it back. Many businesses also want to avoid having to deal with a patchwork of state laws as well as the EUs regulations, which include obtaining peoples informed and unambiguous consent for processing personal data, and requiring data collectors to report breaches.Privacy advocates, meanwhile, are eager to seize the moment and pass a strong bill at the federal level, setting a minimum nationwide standard that would match or exceed Californias.But even with the desire across the board to come to agreement, a number of sticking points including how to deal with state laws like Californias threaten to derail any effort. And when it comes to Congress, the safe bet is always on inaction.Still, lawmakers working on the project as well as lobbyists and advocates see a real opportunity.I think that its one of the bipartisan, bicameral issues that can land on the presidents desk and should land on the presidents desk, said Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee. I think we can do it, and we need to do it. Its an imperative.Wicker is working with fellow Republican Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas and Democratic Sens. Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut to draft bipartisan legislation on the Senate side of the Capitol. By all accounts, the group is making substantive progress.The path is less defined in the House, though Democrats are expected to pass something. Palo Alto Rep. Anna Eshoo, a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said she is working on draft legislation with a fellow Bay Area Democrat, Rep. Zoe Lofgren of San Jose, who is on the Judiciary Committee. Leading members of both panels are also expected to have a key role in crafting a bill.Skeptics have reason to be pessimistic, beyond Congress perpetual difficulty in passing almost any legislation. Several years ago, as breaches of personal data became more common, Congress considered passing a bill requiring consumers and authorities to be notified of such events, as dozens of states were doing independently. In the end the effort failed, and every state passed its own law.Several state attorneys general at a recent privacy conference in Washington predicted that the same thing could happen in the data privacy arena, with Californias new law ultimately serving as a model for other states. Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan is among those who doubt that federal lawmakers can agree on a unified approach.Until they do, you will have states act on this issue, Donovan said. I dont think youre going to see state (attorneys general) abdicate their responsibility to address their consumer protection responsibilities.Some experts, however, see more momentum for privacy legislation in Congress because of the issues existential nature to many companies. The handling of users data is essential to the fabric of most companies, from the way their websites are designed to the way a business model works. Complying with different state laws would be virtually impossible for companies that operate online, the industry fears, bringing them to the table for action.Democrats and privacy advocates, though, want to ensure that the end result isnt weakening states abilities to enact strong regulations.Ive been involved in this over the 20 years when I was attorney general of Connecticut, Blumenthal said. When I did a bill on toy safety, the toy industry opposed it in our Legislature, then they opposed it in the court. Eventually, they lost, he said.Then they got religion, Blumenthal continued. Thats what typically happens. An industry faces a patchwork of different state laws and goes to Congress to try to preempt them with a weaker measure. Weve seen this movie before.There are several approaches being circulated in Washington for a federal privacy law. Privacy advocates want more responsibilities placed on companies than on consumers. That means banning some practices, including using data to discriminate against users, and giving people the right to sue over misuse. Consumers should own their data in most cases, advocates argue, which would include the right to delete it, change it or take it back.Proposals from groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Information Technology Industry Council would require companies to be more transparent about how they use data and collect consumers consent. The groups also argue that some uses of data may not require consent or disclosure, depending on the circumstances.One of the major sticking points will be how to treat state laws. Republicans and industry representatives are pushing for anything Congress passes to override such measures. Democrats and privacy advocates say thats acceptable only if the federal law is as strong as Californias.I dont think that weakening a strong law should be the pathway in Congress, Eshoo said at the recent privacy conference.Her district includes several of the biggest companies in the tech industry. She said Californias law should be the model for Congress.Theres a saying: As California goes, so goes the nation, Eshoo said. Congress work should not be to chip away at what California did in its consumer protection law, but rather have it be instructive to us. And I think if we come up with something thats strong, then we can avoid a 50-state patchwork of laws.Veterans of the California fight say they are not going to wait on Washington. Jim Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media, an advocacy group that seeks to help families navigate media and technology, called Californias privacy law a landmark bill that could be replicated in Congress.He said lawmakers working on the issue are serious and that he has advised many of them. But he still doubts that anything can pass these days, much less strong legislation.The question is, can Washington overcome its dysfunctionality? Steyer said. We are skeptical as to whether or not Congress can get its act together, and our bottom-line position is if there is federal privacy legislation, it has to be stronger than the California privacy law.If its not, he said, then advocates will have no trouble focusing on the state level. The entire tech industry is not going to agree with this, and some of the companies will spend hundreds of millions of dollars trying to water down the legislation, like Facebook and Google, maybe, Steyer said.San Francisco housing developer Alastair Mactaggart, who spearheaded a ballot effort that spurred the California bill, visited Washington last week to meet with key senators including Blumenthal, privacy hawks like Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, and Trump administration officials. He said repeated missteps by the tech industry, like the recent revelation that Facebook had created an app to collect personal data and was paying people, including teenagers, to use it, couldnt offer a better wind at my back.The models there: California leads, the others follow, Mactaggart said.With Congress tendency toward inertia, it will be easy for either side of the debate to pull support if a bill becomes worse in its eyes than the status quo. Still, supporters of action hope that even debating and advancing ultimately unsuccessful legislation could amount to progress.Wyden, who helped organize opposition to online anti-piracy bills that failed in 2012, isnt ready to predict this will be the Congress that unites behind privacy legislation. But hes not giving up hope, either.I dont think the country is there yet on a tough privacy bill, Wyden said. But I sure think its coming.2019 the San Francisco Chronicle. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Switzerland, UK Agree On Post-Brexit Trade Relationship by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels 12 February 2019 The UK and Switzerland have signed a trade continuity agreement that will serve as a basis for their trading relationship after Brexit. The agreement was signed in Bern on February 11, 2019. The Swiss Federal Council explained that the agreement ensures the continuation of the economic and commercial rights and obligations currently arising from the agreements between Switzerland and the EU. The new agreement replicates the majority of the Swiss-EU trade agreements that currently govern relations between Switzerland and the UK, namely: the 1972 Free Trade Agreement, the Agreement on Public Procurement, the Agreement on the Fight against Fraud, part of the Agreement on Mutual Recognition in Relation to Conformity Assessment, and part of the 1999 Agreement on Agriculture. However, some agreements between Switzerland and the EU are based on the harmonization or recognition of the equivalence of rules between the two parties and cannot be replicated in their entirety at this stage. The UK Government said the agreement simplifies trade and will allow businesses to continue trading freely, without any additional tariffs, after Brexit. It also provides for the ongoing elimination of duties on the vast majority of goods traded between the UK and Switzerland. According to the UK Government, trading on these preferential terms, rather than on World Trade Organization terms, will deliver significant savings and help to safeguard British jobs. An additional agreement was signed between Switzerland, the UK, and Liechtenstein to extend the relevant provisions of the trade agreements to the territory of Liechtenstein under the Swiss-Liechtenstein Customs Union. The agreement between Switzerland and the UK will come into force as soon as the Swiss-EU agreements cease to apply to relations between Switzerland and the UK. Swiss Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin said the agreement "ensures continuity in our trade relations after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union and lays the foundations for our future relations." The agreement was welcomed by Anne-Marie de Weck, President of the British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce. She said: "It is imperative for our members, both British and Swiss businesses, that trade continues. Switzerland is the UK's seventh largest export market, third largest non-EU market, eighth largest foreign direct investor, and tenth top destination for UK outward direct investment. It is paramount that the British and Swiss governments have secured the continuation of a huge trading relationship with this agreement." Ireland To Allow Firms To Postpone Accounting For Import VAT by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London 12 February 2019 Ireland's Finance Minister, Paschal Donohoe, on February 6, 2018, confirmed that the Government proposes to introduce a system of postponed accounting for VAT should there by a no-deal Brexit. This means that VAT-registered businesses importing goods from the UK will be able to account for import VAT on their VAT return, rather than having to pay import VAT on or soon after the time that the goods arrive at the Irish border. The measure is intended to alleviate the cash-flow impact on businesses as a result of the UK leaving the EU and the consequent requirement that businesses should pay VAT at the point of import, rather than at the time they file their bimonthly VAT returns. Donohoe said: "I believe this in an important measure and will go some way towards alleviating the cash flow impact on business as a result of the UK withdrawing from the EU." The Government said that while the introduction of the scheme will be provided to all traders for a period, to alleviate the immediate cash flow issues arising from Brexit, continued qualification for postponed accounting will depend on Revenue authorization from a later date to be agreed. LONDON (AP) When mysterious operatives lured two cybersecurity researchers to meetings at luxury hotels over the past two months, it was an apparent bid to discredit their research about an Israeli company that makes smartphone hacking technology used by some governments to spy on their citizens. The Associated Press has now learned of similar undercover efforts targeting at least four other individuals who have raised questions about the use of the Israeli firms spyware. The four others targeted by operatives include three lawyers involved in related lawsuits in Israel and Cyprus alleging that the company, the NSO Group, sold its spyware to governments with questionable human rights records. The fourth is a London-based journalist who has covered the litigation. Two of them the journalist and a Cyprus-based lawyer were secretly recorded meeting the undercover operatives; footage of them was broadcast on Israeli television just as the AP was preparing to publish this story. All six of the people who were targeted said they believe the operatives were part of a coordinated effort to discredit them. "There's somebody who's really interested in sabotaging the case," said one of the targets, Mazen Masri, who teaches at City University, London and is advising the plaintiffs' attorney in the case in Israel. Masri said the operatives were "looking for dirt and irrelevant information about people involved." The details of these covert efforts offer a glimpse into the sometimes shadowy world of private investigators, which includes some operatives who go beyond gathering information and instead act as provocateurs. The targets told the AP that the covert agents tried to goad them into making racist and anti-Israel remarks or revealing sensitive information about their work in connection with the lawsuits. NSO has previously said it has nothing to do with the undercover efforts "either directly or indirectly." It did not return repeated messages asking about the new targets identified by the AP. American private equity firm Francisco Partners, which owns NSO, did not return a message from the AP seeking comment. The undercover operatives' activities might never have been made public had it not been for two researchers who work at Citizen Lab, an internet watchdog group that is based out of the University of Toronto's Munk School. In December, one of the researchers, John Scott-Railton, realized that a colleague had been tricked into meeting an operative at a Toronto hotel, then questioned about his work on NSO. When a second operative calling himself Michel Lambert approached Scott-Railton to arrange a similar meeting at the Peninsula Hotel in New York, Scott-Railton devised a sting operation, inviting AP journalists to interrupt the lunch and videotape the encounter. The story drew wide attention in Israel. Within days, Israeli investigative television show Uvda and The New York Times identified Lambert as Aharon Almog-Assouline, a former Israeli security official living in the plush Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Hasharon. By then, Scott-Railton and the AP had determined the undercover efforts went well beyond Citizen Lab. Within hours of the story's publication, Masri wrote to the AP to say that he and Alaa Mahajna, who is pursuing the lawsuit against NSO in Israel, had spent weeks parrying offers from two wealthy-sounding executives who had contacted them with lucrative offers of work and insistent requests to meet in London. "We were on our guard and did not take the bait," Masri wrote. Masri's revelation prompted a flurry of messages to others tied to litigation involving NSO. Masri and Scott-Railton say they discovered that Christiana Markou, a lawyer representing plaintiffs in a related lawsuit against NSO-affiliated companies in Cyprus, had been flown to London for a strange meeting with someone who claimed to be a Hong Kong-based investor. Around the same time, Masri found out that a journalist who had written about NSO was also invited to a London hotel twice and questioned about his reporting. "Things are getting more interesting," Masri wrote as the episodes emerged. In this image from video, a man who identified himself as Michel Lambert, a director at the Paris-based agricultural technology firm CPW-Consulting, reacts during an interview at a restaurant in New York on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019. Days after this video was broadcast, the Israeli investigative television show Uvda and The New York Times reported that Lambert was Aharon Almog-Assouline, a former Israeli security official living in the tony Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Hasharon. (AP Photo/Joseph Frederick)AP ___ Like Almog-Assouline, the undercover operative the AP exposed in New York, the covert agents who pursued the lawyers made a string of operational errors. The attempt to ensnare Alaa Mahajna, the lead lawyer in the Israeli suit, was a case in point. On Nov. 26 he heard from a man who said his name was Marwan Al Haj and described himself as a partner at a Swedish wealth management firm called Lyndon Partners. Al Haj offered Mahajna an intriguing proposition. Al Haj said one of his clients, an ultra-rich individual with family ties to the Middle East, needed legal assistance recovering family land seized by Jewish settlers following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. "I believe you may be a good fit for this challenging task," Al Haj wrote. The request made sense. As a human rights lawyer based in Jerusalem, Mahajna has defended Palestinian activists and others at the receiving end of the Israeli government's ire. But Mahajna became suspicious as he tried to learn more about the case. Al Haj was cagey about his client and seemed unwilling to provide any paperwork, Mahajna told the AP. "Not even the basic stuff," Mahajna said. "Usually people flood you with documents and stories." Mahajna said he was unsettled when Al Haj suddenly offered him an all-expenses-paid trip to London; no one had even asked him whether the case had any hope of success. "At some point it was abundantly clear that this is not a bona fide approach," Mahajna said. Ten days later, Masri, the legal adviser in the Israeli lawsuit, received an email offering him a place on the advisory board of a Zurich-based company called APOL Consulting. Masri became skeptical after he checked out the company's website. Consulting firms typically trade on their employees' intelligence and skill, so Masri expected the company's site to prominently display the names, headshots and qualifications of its staff. "Here there wasn't even a name of one human," he said. When Masri turned down the position on APOL's board, the representative who'd contacted him a man who called himself Cristian Ortega pressed Masri to see him in London anyway. "I would consider it a privilege to have a chance to meet you in person for a friendly chat," Ortega said in a Jan. 7 email. "No strings attached of course." Masri said that by then he and Mahajna had come to believe that Ortega and Al Haj were fictions and that their companies were imaginary. But they didn't yet know how widespread the covert operations were. ___ The undercover agents got a little further with Christiana Markou, the lawyer who is pursuing the Cypriot case against NSO-affiliated entities. Her lawsuit, like Mahajna's, draws heavily on reports by Citizen Lab that found that NSO spyware had been used to break into the phones of the Mexican activists and journalists who are the plaintiffs in both cases. Markou told the AP she was approached over email Dec. 21 by a man who presented himself as Olivier Duffet, a partner at Hong Kong-based ENE Investments. Duffet was ostensibly interested in inviting Markou a leading data protection and privacy lawyer in Cyprus to give a lecture at a conference. Markou said she proposed discussing the lecture over Skype, but he insisted on an in-person meeting in London, eventually flying her out, putting her up in a fancy hotel and chatting for a little more than an hour. Most of the discussion revolved around the proposed lecture but then Duffet suddenly pivoted to the NSO case, asking her whether she felt the lawsuit was winnable and who was funding it. Markou said she "gave either incorrect answers or expressly refused to answer" because she found his questions suspicious. Yet another target, Eyad Hamid, a London-based journalist who wrote a story about NSO, said he was also invited to a London hotel on two separate occasions to discuss his coverage of the Israeli company. The purported company used in the operation targeting him was Mertens-Giraud Partners Management, which was described as a Brussels-based wealth management firm. Neither MGP nor any of the other companies truly existed. The AP's searches of the Orbis database of some 300 million companies, local corporate registries and trademark repositories turned up no trace of a Swiss firm called APOL, a Swedish company called Lyndon partners, a Belgian company called Mertens-Giraud or a Hong Kong-based firm named ENE Investments. Local phone books didn't carry listings for a Zurich-based man named Cristian Ortega, a Hong Kong-based man named Olivier Duffet or anyone in Sweden bearing the name Marwan Al Haj. There was no hint of APOL when the AP visited its supposed office not far from Zurich's central train station; tenants said they'd never heard of the company. It was the same story in Hong Kong; a management representative at the Central Building, where ENE Investments was supposedly located, said he didn't know anything about the company. An AP journalist wasn't able to speak to anyone at Mertens-Giraud's alleged office on Brussels' Rue des Poissoniers; the entire building was boarded up for renovations. At the modern office block in downtown Stockholm where Lyndon Partners claimed to have its headquarters, service manager Elias Broberger said he could find no trace of the wealth management firm. "It says they are located here," Broberger said as he examined Lyndon Partners' professional-looking website. "But we don't have them in any of our systems: not the booking system; not the member system. We don't bill them; they don't bill us. "I can't find them." ___ Who hired the undercover agents remains unclear, but their operational and digital fingerprints suggest they are linked. The six operatives all began approaching their targets around the same time with individually tailored pitches. Their bogus websites followed the same patterns; all of them were hosted on Namecheap and many were bought at auction from GoDaddy and used the Israeli web design platform Wix. The formatting of the websites was similar; in at least two instances MGP and Lyndon Partners it was identical. Even the operatives' email signatures were the same consisting of three neatly packed, colorful lines consisting of a phone number, web address and email. The operatives' LinkedIn pages were similar, too, featuring men in sunglasses shot from a distance, facing away from the camera, or at unusual angles a tactic sometimes used to frustrate facial recognition algorithms. Despite the indications that the undercover agents are all linked, there is no conclusive evidence who they might work for. An Israeli television channel, Channel 12, broadcast a report on Saturday claiming that an Israeli private investigation firm, Black Cube, had been investigating issues around the lawsuits against NSO. The TV channel showed secretly shot footage of the Cypriot lawyer, Markou, and the London journalist, Hamid, which matched the pair's description of their encounters with undercover agents. The TV segment was critical of the lawyers suing NSO, and quoted company cofounder Shalev Hulio accusing Markou and her colleagues of pursuing the lawsuits as a "PR exercise." NSO has previously denied hiring Black Cube, and Black Cube in a letter sent last month to the AP said it was not involved in the effort to ensnare researchers at Citizen Lab. "Black Cube had nothing to do with these alleged events," the letter said, adding that no one acting on the company's behalf did either. Black Cube does have a possible tie to Almog-Assouline, the man who held the hotel meeting about NSO in New York. During a long-running Canadian legal battle between two private equity firms Catalyst Capital and West Face Capital one man caught up in the litigation said he recognized Almog-Assouline because he'd been approached by the same operative under a different identity several years ago. "I recognized the individual, down to the accent and the anecdotes," said the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. In court filings, Black Cube has acknowledged dispatching agents to meet with "various individuals" involved in the private equity firms' feud. But it's unclear if other investigations firms might also have done work connected to the two companies' legal battle. Black Cube did not respond to repeated questions about whether it had ever employed Almog-Assouline. The firm previously drew international opprobrium for its unrelated work protecting the reputation of disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. Almog-Assouline himself denied working for Black Cube when two AP reporters confronted him in New York last month. He has refused to answer any questions since. When an AP reporter rang the door at his penthouse in Ramat Hasharon a week ago, a woman who identified herself as his wife said he wasnt home. When the reporter followed up with a phone call to Almog-Assouline, he said: I have no interest in speaking to you. NEW YORK (AP) Mexicos most notorious drug lord, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, was convicted Tuesday of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation after a three-month trial packed with Hollywood-style tales of grisly killings, political payoffs, cocaine hidden in jalapeno cans, jewel-encrusted guns and a naked escape with his mistress through a tunnel. Guzman faced a drumbeat of drug-trafficking and conspiracy convictions that could put the 61-year-old escape artist behind bars for decades in a maximum-security U.S. prison selected to thwart another one of the breakouts that embarrassed his native country. New York jurors whose identities were kept secret reached a verdict after deliberating six days in the expansive case, sorting through what authorities called an "avalanche" of evidence gathered since the late 1980s that Guzman and his murderous Sinaloa drug cartel made billions in profits by smuggling tons of cocaine, heroin, meth and marijuana into the U.S. Evidence showed drugs poured into the U.S. through secret tunnels or hidden in tanker trucks, concealed in the undercarriage of passenger cars and packed in rail cars passing through legitimate points of entry suggesting that a border wall wouldn't be much of a worry. The prosecution's case against Guzman, a roughly 5-foot figure whose nickname translates to "Shorty," included the testimony of several turncoats and other witnesses. Among them were Guzman's former Sinaloa lieutenants, a computer encryption expert and a Colombian cocaine supplier who underwent extreme plastic surgery to disguise his appearance. One Sinaloa insider described Mexican workers getting contact highs while packing cocaine into thousands of jalapeno cans shipments that totaled 25 to 30 tons of cocaine worth $500 million each year. Another testified how Guzman sometimes acted as his own sicario, or hitman, punishing a Sinaloan who dared to work for another cartel by kidnapping him, beating and shooting him and having his men bury the victim while he was still alive, gasping for air. The defense case lasted just half an hour. Guzman's lawyers did not deny his crimes as much as argue he was a fall guy for government witnesses who were more evil than he was. Defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman urged the jury in closing arguments not to believe government witnesses who "lie, steal, cheat, deal drugs and kill people." Deliberations were complicated by the trial's vast scope. Jurors were tasked with making 53 decisions about whether prosecutors have proven different elements of the case. The trial cast a harsh glare on the corruption that allowed the cartel to flourish. Colombian trafficker Alex Cifuentes caused a stir by testifying that former Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto took a $100 million bribe from Guzman. Pena Nieto denied it, but the allegation fit a theme: politicians, army commanders, police and prosecutors, all on the take. The tension at times was cut by some of the trial's sideshows, such as the sight of Guzman and his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, showing up in matching burgundy velvet blazers in a gesture of solidarity. Another day, a Chapo-size actor who played the kingpin in the TV series "Narcos: Mexico" came to watch, telling reporters that seeing the defendant flash him a smile was "surreal." While the trial was dominated by Guzman's persona as a near-mythical outlaw who carried a diamond-encrusted handgun and stayed one step ahead of the law, the jury never heard from Guzman himself, except when he told the judge he wouldn't testify. But his sing-songy voice filled the courtroom, thanks to recordings of intercepted phone calls. "Amigo!" he said to a cartel distributor in Chicago. "Here at your service." One of the trial's most memorable tales came from girlfriend Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, who testified she was in bed in a safe house with an on-the-run Guzman in 2014 when Mexican marines started breaking down his door. She said Guzman led her to a trap door beneath a bathtub that opened up to a tunnel that allowed them to escape. Asked what he was wearing, she replied: "He was naked. He took off running. He left us behind." The defendant had previously escaped from jail by hiding in a laundry bin in 2001. He then got an escort from crooked police officers into Mexico City before retreating to one of his many mountainside hideaways. In 2014, he pulled off another jail break, escaping through a mile-long lighted tunnel on a motorcycle on rails. Even when Guzman was recaptured in 2016 before his extradition to the United States, he was plotting another escape, prosecutor Andrea Goldbarg said in closing arguments. Why? Because he is guilty and he never wanted to be in a position where he would have to answer for his crimes, she told the jury. He wanted to avoid sitting right there. In front of you. Orchard Park, N.Y. A Buffalo-area woman is headed to court after her daughters were kicked out of school because their vaccinations were not up to date. Marina Williams and her two daughters, ages 13 and 15, moved from West Seneca to Orchard Park in October. The Orchard Park Central School District denied her application for a religious exemption from vaccinations, according to WIVB in Buffalo. Williams is now challenging the decision in state court. She told WIVB she is not part of the anti-vaccine movement, but refuses to give her children vaccines. She said her religion forbids putting any foreign substances into the body, including alcohol, drugs and vaccines, according to WIVB. "The Orchard Park school system is asking me to go against everything that I believe in and my faith," Williams said, according to the station. "I've never had a vaccine before. My mother, my sister, my aunt haven't either. To me, that was just a given. I've never had to defend it before." Williams' attorney, Frank Housh, said the children are not a health risk. "These children don't have to be vaccinated if they have a legitimate religious reason not to do that," he said, according to WIVB. "The law says they have to be educated. They are refusing to do that." Williams is also appealing to the state commissioner of education, but those appeals can take months or even years, Housh said, according to WIVB. Williams' daughters have been out of school for two months and she said they are falling behind. The West Seneca School District previously granted a religious exemption from vaccines when the family lived there. Court documents state the Orchard Park district did not make any alternative educational arrangements for Williams' children and also threatened to call the police and child protection officials. A school district has no duty more important than protecting the health, safety, and welfare of its students and staff, the districts lawyers said in a statement, according to WIVB. Ensuring the immunization requirements under New York State law have been met is critical to carrying out this duty. Because this matter is now before the court, it would be inappropriate to comment any further at this time Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-282-8598 South Burlington, Vt. A man wanted in connection with the killing of a Vermont woman may have traveled through Upstate New York. The U.S. Marshals Service is looking for Leroy Headley after he allegedly murdered his longtime partner in Vermont. The woman was the mother of his two children. The victim was found shot to death in May in the residence she shared with Headley in South Burlington, Vermont. Headley is also wanted for sexual assault on a minor and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, marshals said. Authorities said Headley may have traveled through Upstate New York after the murder, according to WBNG in Binghamton. He is originally from Jamaica and has ties there, elsewhere in the U.S. and in Canada. "ARMED AND DANGEROUS" The @USMarshalsGov says this man wanted in a Vermont murder could have traveled through Upstate New York and is asking for tips from the public. https://t.co/EvmiLgYKzf pic.twitter.com/qSbq0y9fYb WBNG 12 News (@WBNG12News) February 11, 2019 Officials have not said what part of Upstate New York Headley may have traveled in, according to WNBF in Binghamton. Authorities said he should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone who sees Headley should contact law enforcement immediately. It's possible Headley is living under an assumed name. He also may have shaved his head or changed his appearance in some other way, marshals said. A $5,000 reward has been offered for information leading to his arrest, WNBF said. Anyone with information can contact the marshals at 1-877-926-8332 or by email at usms.wanted@usdoj.gov. Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-282-8598 Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh asked New York lawmakers Monday for $12 million to help the city extend its water intake pipe on Skaneateles Lake and help avoid contamination from toxic algae blooms. Walsh made the request while testifying at a hearing of the joint Legislative Fiscal Committees in Albany about state aid for municipalities in the proposed 2019 state budget. The mayor said the city needs to extend its water intake pipe deeper and further into Skaneateles Lake, the source of Syracuses drinking water, to avoid new threats from harmful algae blooms that first emerged in 2017 and returned last summer. State health officials in 2017 detected algae toxins in both of Syracuses water intake pipes in Skaneateles Lake, at 25 feet and 45 feet below the lakes surface a depth previously considered safe. The toxins were not found in tap water from Skaneateles Lake that serves Syracuse and some of its suburbs. Walsh told state lawmakers on Monday that he doesnt want to risk having the problem reoccur in the future. Syracuse does not filter the 40 million gallons a day of drinking water it draws from the lake. We need this extension because if we have a water quality violation, the city has the potential to lose its filtration waiver and could be required to build a $100 million treatment plant, Walsh told lawmakers. Since 1992, state and federal officials have granted Syracuse a waiver from health laws requiring cities and towns to filter their drinking water. Syracuse was one of the seven largest cities in the United States granted a waiver after the city demonstrated the purity of Skaneateles Lake water and took steps to protect the watershed. A spokesman for Walsh said the $12 million in state aid would cover the cost of the pipeline extension. Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751 (TNS) Veterans will be the latest group of patients to have their health records in their pockets with a joint announcement from Apple Inc. and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Monday.The government agency and the Silicon Valley tech giant jointly announced that the Health app included with every iPhone will soon be able to sync with certain types of medical records that, up to this point, have only been available through My HealtheVet, the VAs online Web portal. Starting this summer , veterans will be able to direct their iPhones to automatically populate with information on allergies, health conditions, immunizations, lab results, medications, procedures and vital signs. Those are the same seven data types already available to a growing number of patients who get their care from certain health institutions that have already signed up with the program. In San Diego County, the two main participants are UC San Diego Health and Scripps Health Kevin Lynch, Apples vice president of technology, said in a telephone interview Monday that the VA has adopted Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, the same communications protocol that Apple has used to enable encrypted health records synchronization with other private and public health systems and individual doctors' offices.Putting health records onto a patients iPhone, Lynch added, will allow aggregation of medical information across participating institutions. So, for example, if a veteran was referred outside the VA system for certain specialty care, they could see a more holistic view of care provided, prescriptions written and results received.For veterans, we think that its going to be very empowering, Lynch said.Data collected directly from a patient, say from a heart monitor on their Apple Watch, can also be integrated with health record information. In June, Apple released a special interface called an application program interface or API for health records, providing a way for iPhone owners to grant access to specific types of health care information without handing over every scrap of personal health data that resides on their smartphone.Already, Lynch noted, developers outside Apple have begun building useful apps. A new entry called One Drop, for example, helps patients manage diabetes, tailoring its approach to the specific information it finds in a patients health records. One Drop , Lynch said, is proof that much is possible when patients have their own health-care data directly in their possession and are able to decide what gets shared and with whom.By combining data from things like your condition in your lab results with data we can see about you like your activity level and your heart rate, you get a more-complete picture of how your healths doing, and we think thats going to be super helpful for people to really understand the state of their health and take action on it, Lynch said.The VA is the largest health-care organization in the nation with more than 1,200 facilities in total providing health care to more than 9 million Americans. It was unclear Monday exactly how the new iPhone health records system will be rolled out. Neither the San Diego VA nor the main headquarters in Washington, D.C., were able to provide additional information Monday afternoon.Given the steady drumbeat of health-care privacy breaches that have occurred in recent years, many veterans may wonder whether or not they can trust Apples latest offering?Georgia Weidman, a well-known security consultant and founder of Bulb Security , and author of the book Penetration Testing , said by email Monday that she has been quite impressed with Apples ability to encrypt and secure data on the phones it manufactures.Given Apples public and ongoing commitment to privacy and security and the holistic manner in which they go about providing a trusted platform in iOS, I would think Apples health records on iPhone is likely the most secure way in which veterans can access their VA health records, Weidman said.Bulb, she noted, is often hired to try and hack into mobile information systems. So far, she said, Apples encrypted system running on iPhones has not been an easy target.Apple is consistently difficult to compromise, she said.Doctors progress notes, documentation of health-care encounters that serve as the backbone of treatment, are not yet on Apples syncing list. Lynch said that these notes, which have become increasingly accessible to San Diego patients , are not yet transferred automatically because their format is not yet standardized.We dont have mature standards yet for getting that data from health-care institutions. There is work in the industry happening on that but, right now, we are not bringing those notes in, Lynch said. New York voters approve of giving up to $3 billion in government incentives to lure Amazon and 25,000 jobs to a new East Coast headquarters in New York City, according to a poll made public Tuesday. About 56 percent of state voters support granting Amazon tax breaks in return for building half of its East Coast headquarters in Long Island City, Queens, the Siena College poll found. About 36 percent of registered voters oppose offering substantial incentives to Amazon, one of the worlds richest companies. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has pushed for swift approval of the deal because it would provide $27 billion in tax revenue and create jobs that will pay an average of more than $150,000 per year. Cuomo called the agreement probably the greatest economic transaction in 50 years in this state. But some Democratic state senators and activists in New York City have spoken out against the deal, warning it will raise housing costs and displace residents. Opponents point to the lack of affordable housing in Seattle, where Amazon experienced explosive growth at its national headquarters. The Washington Post quoted sources Friday as saying Amazon could exit the deal because of the opposition in New York City and from state lawmakers in Albany. But the new Siena poll found stronger support for the Amazon tax breaks in New York City and its suburbs than in Upstate New York. Even as Amazon is said to be reexamining the deal with New York to locate in Queens, by 20 points New York voters approve of the deal, said Don Levy, director of the Siena College Research Institute. Upstate New York voters are evenly divided over the deal, Levy said, but in New York City voters approve of the deal by 23 percentage points. The poll asked 778 registered voters in New York their opinions during telephone interviews between Feb. 4 and Feb. 7, 2019. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points. A group of the Upstate New York lawmakers on Monday asked Amazon to consider building the headquarters in the Syracuse-Rochester region if the deal in New York City collapses. State Sen. Bob Antonacci, R-Onondaga, wrote a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, suggesting the company could make a social statement about economic inequality by moving to Syracuse. Syracuse ranks No. 1 in concentrated poverty for African Americans and Hispanics in the nation, Antonacci wrote in a Jan. 31 letter to Bezos. Therefore, a decision to locate in Central New York would make a powerful statement as well as be transformational in helping to reduce poverty and lead to widespread change for New York state. Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751 WASHINGTON (AP) Freshman Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar has unequivocally apologized for tweets suggesting that members of Congress support Israel because they are being paid to do so, which drew bipartisan criticism and a rebuke from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Minnesota Democrat said she had no intention of offending anyone, including Jewish Americans. "We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me about my identity," Omar tweeted. "This is why I unequivocally apologize." Listening and learning, but standing strong pic.twitter.com/7TSroSf8h1 Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 11, 2019 The statement on Monday was the latest reckoning among Democrats of intense differences in their ranks over the U.S.-Israeli relationship, highlighted by criticism from Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. They are the first Muslim women to serve in Congress. Pelosi and other Democrats, including leaders and chairmen, laid down a marker making clear that Omar had overstepped. In a pair of tweets over the weekend, Omar criticized the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. "It's all about the Benjamins baby," she wrote, invoking slang about $100 bills. Asked on Twitter who she thought was paying members of Congress to support Israel, Omar responded, "AIPAC!" That sparked Pelosi's first public rebuke of a freshman lawmaker who had helped flip the House from Republican control and is part of a record number of women in Congress. "Congresswoman Omar's use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel's supporters is deeply offensive," Pelosi said in a statement issued by her office and signed by other Democratic leaders after a bipartisan backlash against the Minnesota Democrat. "We condemn these remarks, and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments." It also was a stark exposure of an increasingly tense split among Democrats over U.S.-Israeli policy ahead of the 2020 elections. None of the Democratic presidential hopefuls weighed in publicly as their party's House leaders chastised Omar. Omar's fellow freshmen felt the strain. Some, such as Jewish Reps. Elaine Luria of Virginia and Max Rose of New York, explicitly denounced her remarks. Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., said: "Anti-Semitism or xenophobia is never acceptable. I'm glad Rep. Omar has apologized." Senior Democrats dealt the new lawmaker a swift schooling. "There is an expectation of leaders particularly those with a demonstrated commitment to the cause of justice and equality that they would be extremely careful not to tread into the waters of anti-Semitism or any other form of prejudice or hate," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York said in a statement. "Rep. Omar failed that test of leadership with these comments." Republicans called on Democrats to strip Omar of her seat on the House Foreign Relations Committee, but Chairman Eliot Engel stopped just short of that. He said in a statement that he expects his committee members to discuss policies on merits. And though he did not name Omar, he left little doubt that his statement was a response to her tweets. "It's shocking to hear a Member of Congress invoke the anti-Semitic trope of 'Jewish money,'" Engel said. Asked on Air Force One en route to El Paso, Texas, about the controversy, President Donald Trump said the freshman congresswoman "should be ashamed of herself" for the tweets. "I think it was a terrible statement, and I don't think her apology was adequate," he said. Asked what she should have said, Trump replied: "She knows what to say." AIPAC is a nonprofit organization that works to influence U.S. policy toward Israel. While it is barred from directly donating to candidates, it encourages its more than 100,000 members to do so and to be politically active. One way the organization has made a mark on Congress is through expense-paid junkets to Israel, which are paid for by an affiliated nonprofit that does not have to disclose its donors. The popular weeklong excursions for members of Congress, their families and some senior staff can cost upward of $12,000 per person and are intended to "educate political leaders and influencers about the importance of the U.S. - Israel relationship through firsthand experiences." The nonprofit responded Sunday night: "We are proud that we are engaged in the democratic process to strengthen the US-Israel relationship. Our bipartisan efforts are reflective of American values and interests. We will not be deterred in any way by ill-informed and illegitimate attacks on this important work." Omar supports a movement known as BDS, for "boycott, divestment and sanctions" aimed at Israel. And it's not the first time she's fought accusations of anti-Semitism. She insists her rejection of the Israeli government refers to its stance toward Palestinians and is not directed at Jewish people. Omar has expressed regret for tweeting in 2012: "Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel." She said the statement came in the context of Israel's treatment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. "It's now apparent to me that I spent lots of energy putting my 2012 tweet in context and little energy in disavowing the anti-Semitic trope I unknowingly used, which is unfortunate and offensive," she tweeted last month. The controversy over Omar's remarks stretched beyond Capitol Hill to the crowded Democratic presidential race. Less than a week earlier, all but one high-profile Democratic senator eyeing the White House in 2020 voted against a Middle East policy measure that included a provision cracking down on BDS activism against the Israeli government. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar supported the Middle East bill, while her potential presidential rivals Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sherrod Brown of Ohio all opposed it. Several of those Democrats had raised concerns that the bill's bid to rein in anti-Israel boycott efforts risked violating the constitutional rights of activists, although all the senators are opposed to the Palestinian-led push itself. Among the yellow notes of support posted on Omars office nameplate on Capitol Hill on Monday was one that read, Mazel Tov. William Fitzpatrick is the Onondaga County DIstrict Attorney. By William Fitzpatrick | Special to Syracuse.com In the early 1990s, six people a day were being fatally butchered in New York City by gunfire, domestic violence, stabbings, sexual assaults and myriad other ways indicative of the evil that exists in our world. Another 600 innocent people were being slaughtered in other parts of the state. Last year, continuing the most remarkable reduction of violent crime this country has ever seen, New York City had less than a person a day murdered. Upstate has seen fluctuations of violent crime but the overall state trend is undeniable. Today, New York is the safest large state in the Union. We trail only Idaho and South Dakota overall, making us the third safest state in the country. We have also reduced our prison population in New York by 25 percent in the last decade and a half. In fact, New York is ranked 42nd out of 50 states in our incarceration rate. Obviously, when confronted with these stats, the state Legislatures only predictable reaction could be a clarion call for reform. Thats right: Lets reform success! Let me be clear: Neither I nor my colleagues in law enforcement across the state are against reform. In fact, we have embraced it. But any well-intended effort at criminal justice reform must also consider the harmful impact to citizens who are victims of crime. And most crime victims live in poor urban neighborhoods, not in suburban homes with alarm systems and fences or in high rises with doormen. Today, the Legislature wants to reform the cash bail system, the discovery process and the speedy trial provisions of our Criminal Procedure Law. A defendant arrested on a drug charge who has multiple school threats on his computer, or someone who burglarizes your home with you in it, will now be released on bail, as will most defendants charged with violent crime. A guy who rapes his girlfriends daughter can now depose that precious child in a sickening interview process or, even better, demand that the court allow him to visit her dwelling. Witnesses, already terrified by the defendants gang cohorts, will have his or her name, address and phone number fully and immediately provided to the defendant under some perverted sense of due process. These are just some of the proposals contained in this legislation. Simply put, it undermines public safety. These completely misguided reforms are nothing more than the beginning of the end of our status as a safe state. It is well documented that witness interference and witness intimidation are the biggest challenges we face in the criminal justice system today. The irony is that a Legislature that was so adamantly opposed to the death penalty is now seeking to impose that penalty on the very witnesses we count on to bring perpetrators to justice. This is not hyperbole, it is fact. I will invite any legislator who supports these dangerous proposals to join me at the funeral of the first witness assassinated because prosecutors were forced to reveal his or her name and home address in some asinine effort to advance reform. The criminal justice system, or as I prefer to call it, the victim justice system, can always use improvement. In Onondaga County, we bring defendants to trial faster than any large county; we do not seek nominal cash bail; we have numerous diversionary courts; and we have an open file discovery process. I urge our local state legislators to please sit down with me and discuss the pitfalls of these reform proposals before they, with the best of intentions but oblivious to the consequences, trample the rights of those most deserving of our compassion and protection, the innocent victims of violent crime. Sandy Creek, N.Y. -- Sandy Creek High School principal Emily Wemmer, who caused a stir when she commented on social media about a "conservative, MAGA hat-wearing culture in her district and the treatment of girls and women, has been replaced as principal. Sandy Creek Superintendent Kyle Faulkner said Tuesday that the Board of Education has appointed retired high school principal Maureen Shiel as interim principal. Faulkner declined to comment on Wemmers status with the Oswego County school district or whether she could return as principal, saying it was a personnel matter. The districts website still listed Wemmer, complete with her picture, as principal on Tuesday. Wemmer caused an uproar among some parents last month with comments she made on Facebook. In one comment, she complained about how women and girls were treated in the district. Other parents came to her defense, saying she was speaking up for her students. This is a VERY traditional, conservative district, Wemmer wrote in one post. "I have learned myself that men feel totally entitled to manhandle women whenever. Girls are also expected to be passive. If I dont teach my girls anything else I hope that it is that they can live independently and choose if they want to be in a relationship or not. The mama bear comes out in me when I hear reports of abuse like I heard today. In another post, she said fathers of students will often try to intimidate me physically. Even some male students will try the intimidation BS, she said, adding, "Ive been asked if Im a lesbian or married as if those are the only possibilities for a woman. In another post, Wemmer wrote its hard when youre fighting against an intrenched [sic] conservative, MAGA hat-wearing culture. MAGA is short for President Donald Trumps campaign slogan Make America Great Again. He and his supporters often wear hats with the slogan at his rallies. Wemmer also wrote, I am also responsible for the boys, and need to be their advocate. I need to figure out ways to teach them whats appropriate before it becomes a legal issue.... She later apologized in a statement posted on the districts web site, saying her comments were misinterpreted as being disparaging and disrespectful to the Sandy Creek community. She said she was just trying to empower her female students. Wemmer also said the comments were private, but that her account had been hacked and the comments became public. Faulkner said the Board of Education voted Thursday night to appoint Shiel interim principal. He confirmed the appointment Tuesday. Shiel served as the schools principal from January 1996 until she retired in October 2016. Wemmer, who was an English teacher in the Albion Central School District in Orleans County, was appointed high school principal by the Sandy Creek Board of Education in May 2017 and started the job in July of that year. Wemmer previously has not responded to inquiries from Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard seeking comment. Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148 SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Student leaders at Syracuse University are criticizing campus and city police for their response to an attack over the weekend that left several students with minor injuries. The Student Association, the undergraduate student governing body, said the universitys Department of Public Safety and the Syracuse Police Department did not take seriously the victims allegations that the attack was racially motivated. One of the four assailants, who were white, called a black student a n*****," the victims said in a statement provided to Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. Three people targeted in the attack were students of color, the students said. This morning, the Syracuse Police issued a statement saying the attack does not appear to be motivated by race: "At this point in the investigation, after speaking with victims and witnesses, it does not appear that this incident was motivated by race. Police did not immediately respond to a request to elaborate on how police determined the attack was not racially motivated. Caitlin Joyles Easy, a witness to the attack who put out the victims statement, today told Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard today that she cannot understand how the police would not consider it a racially motivated attack. I am not sure as to why Syracuse Police and DPS are so hesitant to call this a racially motivated event, she said in an email. Based on the account of the victims and all witnesses who were present (including myself), we believe that this was a hateful assault. There was no prior conversation or altercation with the suspects prior to the first interaction that they all had when the white suspect walked up to the first victim, called him a racial slur, and then punched him in his face," she said. The attack occurred early Saturday on the 800 block of Ackerman Avenue. Police responded to the home around 12:41 a.m. and found three male victims who told police they had been attacked by an unknown white man and an unknown white woman, said Syracuse Police spokesman Sgt. Matthew Malinowski Three male victims told police they had been struck in the head with a handgun by the woman, Malinowski said. All three victims suffered minor injuries. A police statement said the students declined medical treatment, though the victims statement said they went to the hospital for bruises, contusions and concussions. Police have not announced any arrests in the case. Statements from SUs public safety department and Syracuse police have not mentioned the alleged racial slur. The police departments did not report the race of the victims. In a statement Monday addressing the assault, DPS Chief Bobby Maldonado said acts of violence and intolerance of any kind, including those based on race, contradicts our values and will not be tolerated. The statement did not make clear why the chief brought up racist violence, and his office did not respond to a request to elaborate on charges, which some students were making, that the attack was racially motivated. DPS has a policy of not identifying the race of a suspect when it alerts the campus to crimes. Its a measure to prevent racial profiling, officials have said. After the attack, statements on behalf of the victims circulated on students social media that criticized the lack of information released by the university. An initial release from the university mentioned only the woman with a gun, for example, though the victims allege there were three men and a woman in the group. The DPS statement on Saturday described the suspect as a woman in her early 20s with brown shoulder-length hair. She was wearing a gray jacket and dark pants. No further suspect description was provided, the statement reads. On Monday night, the Student Association took up the issue. This crime was clearly racially motivated which cannot be ignored by the University, the association wrote in a statement posted to Facebook. ...Students of color on campus should have the same right to feel safe and heard on this campus, and we implore the University to reframe their language in future situations. The account of the assault is as follows, according to the Caitlin Joyles Easys statement: Students were gathered at a birthday party around 12:40 a.m at a home on Ackerman Avenue. About 10 students were downstairs when they heard noises coming from the porch. Three students went to investigate when they encountered one woman and one man. One of the assailants, a white man, was trying to enter the home and called the victim the racial slur and punched him. The white, female suspect then began hitting the victim in the head with a silver metal pistol. A second victim went to help the first and was also hit in the back of his head with the pistol. The victim asked the suspect to stop and she threatened to shoot him, according to the statement. A third victim exited the home and was also hit on the cheek by the gun-wielding woman. The statement goes on to encourage students to be aware of their surroundings. She said the victims of the attack are not willing to speak to reporters, saying they are not in a place to speak about their assault. The city police department, which is leading the investigation into the assault, has recently been criticized for the way it handles crimes in which racial slurs are allegedly used. In an article by Buzzfeed News about hate crimes nationally, the online newsite reported two instances of racist language were used during crimes in Syracuse that were not ultimately investigated as a hate crimes. Hate crimes are crimes where victims are targeted due to their race, culture, sexual orientation or other characteristic. Buzzfeed reported that it asked Syracuse police about three incidents for the story published December 2018. It detailed two, including one in which a nightclub bartender was told, Ill stab you, n***** by a man who refused to leave. In another, a grocery store clerk was threatened with a knife by a customer who allegedly said, You are Arabic and you kill people, I am going to kill you,. Police spokesman Sgt. Richard Helterline told Buzzfeed there was not enough information in those cases to prosecute the case as a hate crime. Though the language is clearly inappropriate, there does not appear to be probable cause to say that the victims were solely targeted due to being a protected class, Helterline said. Police are asking anyone with information about the attack to call the department at (315)442-5222. ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- A Madison County man admitted in federal court Monday that he tried to convince a 12-year-old girl to send him nude photographs. Steven Hathaway, 42, of DeRuyter, pleaded guilty to attempted receipt of child pornography, a charge that carries five to 20 years in state prison and a $250,000 fine, U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy Jr. announced in a news release. U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa accepted Hathaways plea and will sentence him on May 20. Prosecutors say Hathaway placed an ad in a Craigslists casual encounters section targeting the Ithaca area last February. The ad, called Young Woman Needed, asked anyone who was interested to reply with the word sugar." State police suspected the poster was interested in children, not adults. And so, posing as a 12-year-old girl named Madi, a trooper contacted Hathaway -- the man police say was behind the ad. Hathaway spent several weeks trying to coax the person he thought was a child to send him nude photographs, investigators have said. He even bought an iPhone for the girl and dropped it off near her Western New York home so she could send him naughty photos, prosecutors have said. "Hathaway engaged in sexually explicit conversations during which he asked for nude photographs and requested that the child meet in person to engage in sexual activity, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Rossi, who prosecuted the case. Hathaway instructed Madi to download Kik, an app that allows users to send messages anonymously, investigators have said. The conversation then moved to Kik where investigators say Hathaway wrote graphic messages and tried to get Madi to act sexually. After a month of conversations, he drove more than 60 miles from his Madison County home to meet Madi at a Burger King in Seneca Falls, investigators said. He brought a Beanie Baby and an unopened box of condoms with him, court records show. But when Hathaway arrived March 23 at the Burger King, he discovered the person he had been messaging was an undercover investigator -- not a child, prosecutors said. State police and Homeland Security investigators arrested Hathaway at the scene. The Post-Standard is dropping the comic strip Non Sequitur after the artists Sunday strip took a hidden profane shot at President Trump. Sundays strip, a takeoff on Leonardo da Vincis drawings, contained a hard-to-read message suggesting the president Go f--- yourself. The artist, Wiley Miller, teased his readers about the message in a tweet Sunday: Some of my sharp-eyed readers have spotted a little Easter egg from Leonardo Bear-Vinci. Can you find it? A reader called the wisecrack to The Post-Standards attention. Said Trish LaMonte, vice president of content for The Post-Standard and Syracuse.com: Mr. Miller made a juvenile and vulgar decision that does not meet our standards for the syndicated content we pay to have in the newspaper and is offensive to our readers, regardless of their political affiliations. The comic strip runs daily in The Post-Standard. Itll take more than a week to get the strip out of the newspaper because the comics pages are produced in advance. The strip will still be there next Sunday. (Readers: If theres a strip youd like us to use in its place, make a recommendation in the comments below this story.) In a statement quoted in the Dallas Morning News, Miller said it was a mistake. Miller said he drew the strip about eight weeks ago and didnt plan to keep the vulgar sentiment, the Dallas newspaper said. "I now remember that I was particularly aggravated that day about something the president had done or said, and so I lashed out in a rather sophomoric manner as instant therapy," he said, according to the Morning News. "It was NOT intended for public consumption, and I meant to white it out before submitting it, but forgot to. Had I intended to make a statement to be understood by the readers, I would have done so in a more subtle, sophisticated manner." He didnt explain why, if he didnt intend to publish the remark, he called it out to his Twitter following Sunday. The crude reference eventually was scrubbed in the version of the strip published at GoComics. As the commonwealth reels from the implications that its governor and attorney general once wore blackface, local government leaders in Marion tried to bring a bit of healing to their community Monday evening. As part of the town councils annual Black History Month recognition, William Fields and Diane Hayes of the Mount Pleasant Preservation Society Museum spoke. The South Main Street museum is the site of the former Mount Pleasant Methodist Church, which was originally built in 1914 by the hands of black brick masons and tradesmen on land donated to former slaves to be used to build a place of worship and education. The museum strives to highlight the contributions of local African-Americans in the community and world. Fields, who was born in Greevers Clinic in Chilhowie in the 1950s, told the council that he experienced segregation in his youth. He recalled visiting the tea room in Marion that featured one door for whites and another for blacks and porthole through which they could talk. In this same letter, he reminisces about the early days of their courtship. One evening, after he had returned from a church service, he tells her, I thought of our first meeting and of how my admiration of your virtues and goodness gradually ripened into a deep and devoted attachment. I remember with what pleasure I met you the second time, on my return from Richmond in February, with what eagerness I watched your every word and action. What joy did I fancy that you was not totally indifferent to my suit, and with what happiness did I remark that you did not refuse to listen at a future day, to a tale of heart history that I had to unfold. And, there, too, as a pledge of your esteem, I brought away with me your cherished image that I now have, not only on a plate of glass, but indelibly engraved upon the most sacred tablets of my heart of hearts. Then passed in review my third visit and the events of that pleasant visitour fishing excursion, pleasant stroll along the banks of your lovely native stream, and my anxiety to tell you my tale of love, but could not muster sufficient courage. Then, our ride to town and the unmerciful manner in which you teased me. Do you remember? And, then my utter failure in making a love speech. Oh, I never will forget my confusion and mortification on that awful evening. I thought you would despise me for being so unmanly. But, it was only my great love for you that made me timid as a maiden. Then, in imagination, I approached the happy blissful Sabbath day. Dont you remember it, sweet one? The day of alarm that I went to Wytheville? We were sitting on the sofa in the parloryour dear hand was in mine and those dear sweet eyes were bent on the floor. Will I ever forget the joy of that moment? Never. Dont you remember how I lingered, forgetting that time was flying, until you reminded me that it was nearly night. Missouri utility Ameren will soon be able to proceed with installation of electric vehicle charging stations along area highway corridors a goal the St. Louis-based utility has eyed since 2016, when it first pitched a plan to see if charging stations along Interstate 70 would help boost adoption of electric vehicles in surrounding counties.But broader, newer aspirations from the company will have to wait, after Missouri regulators ruled this week that Ameren could move forward with about $4 million of fast-charging station projects but would not be able to pursue the remainder of $18 million in proposed incentives that highlighted its Charge Ahead program for electric vehicles, announced last year The regulatory decision touches on key questions about the emerging frontier of electric vehicle charging technology: To what extent do monopolized utilities, such as Ameren, belong in an industry where independent competition exists? And if Ameren does throw its weight behind efforts to help serve or accelerate the shift to electric vehicles, should it be able to have ratepayers cover its investment, despite the competitive and not siloed landscape of the charging station industry?For years now, the Missouri Public Service Commission has been weighing those quandaries as the states utilities try to figure out how they fit into the evolving picture of electric vehicle, or EV, charging. It has been a dizzying sequence, at times, tracking the PSCs interpretation and re-evaluation of its role as a regulator of the technology.In early 2017, for instance, Ameren backed off its initial proposal to launch a pilot project for charging station installations along the I-70 corridor, after the commission determined that it should not regulate charging stations, thanks, in part, to charging services provided by competitive companies, such as ChargePoint.We should only be regulating where theres natural monopolies, not where there is competition, then- PSC Chairman Daniel Hall said in April 2017 . And there is very clearly competition.The PSC also voiced skepticism about whether EV charging stations legally qualified as electric plants that it was authorized to regulate. Its decision not to oversee the arena would not have prohibited Amerens involvement in the industry but would not have assured the company of recovering related costs by passing charges through to its customer base making it a riskier investment than usual.An appeals court, though, said in August that the PSC erred when it held that (Kansas City Power and Lights) electric vehicle charging stations did not fall within the statutory definition of electric plant, wrote Judge Alok Ahuja from the Western District Court of Appeals. The ruling asked to reverse that aspect of the PSCs position and remand the case to the Commission for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.The move was seen by some as a court-ordered blessing for the PSC to help pave the way for greater utility investment in EV charging stations.But last weeks proceedings show that there is still some uncertainty about how Missouri should move forward with the technology. PSC commissioners voted 4-1 on an order to grant partial approval to the proposed investments in Amerens Charge Ahead program introduced last February, when the utility resurrected its plans for EV charging.I think that this is going to be a good step in the right direction as we look to build out EV infrastructure across the state, said PSC Chairman Ryan Silvey, adding that the charging corridor targeted by Ameren was the only aspect of the companys plan worth advancing at this time.Though it did not grant Amerens other requests to incentivize electrification of commercial vehicles, including forklifts, and install about 1,200 plugs for charging, Hall said the PSC approval closely mirrored what Ameren had sought with its first charging station proposal.What we have approved here is really similar to the program that Ameren brought to us originally, said Hall, who now serves as a PSC commissioner. They emphasized the corridor originally. When they came back a second time, they had a whole host of other programs but this is what they told us before was the most important thing to do, and I agree.But Scott Rupp, the lone dissenting commissioner, felt that the commission did not go far enough, fast enough.Were going to have a pilot program, so were going to have to wait several years to find out and analyze the results to in my opinion to find out that we shouldve just had a more robust program in the Ameren service territory, said Rupp. So I cant support this based off of I dont think its strong enough, I dont think its viable enough, I think there should be the non-corridor programs included.Rupps stance was echoed by some electric vehicle proponents and environmental activists, such as the Sierra Club.It was a mix of good and bad news. It couldve gone a lot farther, said Andy Knott, a representative for the Sierra Clubs Beyond Coal campaign in Missouri. They rejected a significant part of this proposal that wouldve incentivized putting charging stations at apartment buildings and businesses.He believes that strong utility involvement is necessary to help drive the electrification of the transportation sector a shift with enormous potential to reduce carbon emissions.Those in the private sector, including Ameren, said that they were encouraged by the PSCs overall sentiment on electric vehicles, even if the utility did not get what it sought.We did achieve some really constructive outcomes. ... I dont know that its completely back to the drawing board, said Steve Wills, Amerens director of rates and analysis, who touted the corridor plans as the biggest win for advancing EVs regionally.The second biggest win in it is the commissions recognition of EV benefits for our customers, he added. They want to try to accelerate those benefits.Independent charging station operators, including ChargePoint, echoed that optimism. Rather than seeing utilities as competitors in the space, the California company which has 60,000 public charging locations in the U.S., and 1,400 in Missouri sees them as allies.Theres no doubt that utilities have a critical role to play in EV charging infrastructure, said David Schatz, ChargePoints director of public policy.He thinks the latest dialogue from the PSC signals that they feel similarly.I think its clear that the commissioners see the value of EV charging as a part of the grid of the future, said David Schatz, ChargePoints director of public policy. That is definitely an encouraging sign. Do you already have a paid subscription to any of the SWNewsMedia newspapers? If so, you can Activate your Premium online account by clicking here. Activation will allow you to view unlimited online articles each month. To activate your Premium online account, the email address and phone number provided with your paid newspaper subscription needs to match the information you use in setting up your online user account. If you are having trouble or want to confirm what email address and phone number is listed on your subscription account, please call 952-345-6682 or email circulation@swpub.com and we'll be happy to assist. Katharine is a 62 meter motor yacht built at CRN. She was built as Numptia for Mario Sbarro, owner of the Sbarro pizza chain. Interior The yacht is designed by Studio Scanu. She can accommodate 12 guests in 6 cabins. She has a crew of 16. Specifications She is powered by 2 Caterpillar engines. Which bring her a maximum speed of 17 knots. Her cruise speed is 14 knots. She has a range of 5,000nm. Owner The yachts owner is Lee Anderson. Katharine is named after Lee and Pennys daughter Katharina. Lee and Penny used to own a 52 meter Trinity yacht. It was also named Katharina and is now known as Keri Lee. For long the family owned a 42-meter yacht named Penny Mae. It was named after Penny Anderson. It was sold and is now named TCB. Message to Other Media Material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without consent. Copyright by SuperYachtFan. Yacht Charter The boat is not available for yacht charter. And the yacht is not listed for sale. Our yacht owners database has more info about yachts, the value of yachts, yacht owners, their source of wealth, and net worth. The Principal of Tahatai Coast School in Papamoa has been in an urgent talks with Ministry of Education officials, after an unacceptable level of mould was discovered in the administration block. The block has been vacated and relocated to the school library. Principal Matt Skilton says theyre working with the Ministry to determine whether remedial work can be done on the building or whether it needs to be demolished for a rebuild. We have had some concerns for a while, there was some remedial work done for black mould in 2008. The history for this building is a long one, and its a shame that we are now in 2019 when we are finally dealing with it properly. We want people in a safe environment. Matt says some staff have been affected by it, had health issues and he was one of them. Lung infections, irritable coughs, flu like symptoms, poor sleep were some of the issues, says Matt. The Ministrys project management team have been very supportive. The main issue for us is the disruption to the school and for how long. Sometimes these processes can be really drawn out. This school has gone through a history of leaky building and has gone through a lot, so we want a new era without these problems. Matt has written to parents saying moving the administration function to the library is over concerns about air quality in the building. The library is located next to the admin block and will operate as the school reception until further notice, says Matt. The library resources are going to be relocated to provide continued access to books for our students. We are also going to be setting up a new and exciting mobile system aimed at providing easier access to books in classrooms. The reason for having to vacate the admin block is due to unacceptable levels of mould being detected throughout the administration building. As safety is our primary concern we have vacated the entire building until this can be remedied. Students and their learning remain the priority and will be unaffected. Tradies are being warned to avoid fly tools in their vehicles following a crash in the Waikato recently. Police attended a crash on Osborne and Kay roads in Hamilton on Thursday, where the driver of the van was both lucky and unlucky. The driver of this van is unlucky in the sense that he was minding his own business when a vehicle has cross the centre line towards him, says a post on the Waikato Police Facebook page. But on the other hand very lucky with the result. We are not looking to discuss blame here but the cops in attendance noted the 'lucky' side of it which is worth sharing. The driver of the Toyota Hiace has slammed on his brakes (prior to collision) resulting in all his tools coming flying forwards, towards his head and his passengers'. A piece of wood has flown at the windscreen at such force that it has smashed out the windscreen. You can imagine what could have happened! If you are a tradie or own a company this may be an opportunity to consider any improvements that you can make (incase of an emergency). May stop anything nasty happening. Researchers have whittled down a massive 8 million tweets, to a more manageable 1.3 million to look at how te reo Maori is being used in the genre. The team from the University of Waikato have focused on 77 Maori loanwords (te reo Maori words used in an English context) and used them as training data for their machine-learning model. Machine learning allows data scientists to provide a computer with a large data set, and teach it to make predictions based on that data. Computing and Mathematical Sciences student David Trye spent the summer working on the project, with supervisors Dr Andreea Calude and Dr Felipe Bravo Marquez. The initial 8-million tweets contained a fair bit of distracting data noise. David says the irrelevant tweets were those not used in a New Zealand English context, or were otherwise unrelated. For example, Kiwi is the name of a song by Harry Styles, so people will tweet things like listening to Kiwi. And Moana can turn up as a Disney princess rather than the sea. Dr Calude and David manually coded about four thousands tweets, than David and Dr Bravo Marquez trained a machine learning model, to weed out the irrelevant ones. Afterwards, they used another machine learning technique invented by Google called Word2Vec to automatically extract the meaning of words according to their context. Dr Bravo Marques says the technique was invented a few years ago. But it was a huge revolution in the area of computational linguistics, or the use of computers to process human language. It was the first algorithm to do it in an efficient way. Theyve done the technical bit, now its the fun part theyre going to ask some questions of the data. David is planning to grow the project into a dissertation, alos bring in Dr Te Taka Keegan and Dr Nicholas Vanderschantz to work with the project. He says it will be interesting to see who the users are. If they are mainly te reo speakers, and if not, why they use the words. Is it because they want to practise and maintain their te reo or is it because its such a distinctive part of the New Zealand identity? Their analysis involves locating the other words that are associated with the Maori loanwoards. Dr Calude says it will give them a different kind of idea about how the words are being used. In a dictionary, you tend to have what the word means, abstractly out of context, or with a synonym or two. But here you have more of a network of related words, which may not have the same meaning but seem to occur in the same contexts. With whakapapa you have obvious words but also words like maunga, so its not the meaning of the word, but its like the baggage of the word that comes with it. Dr Calude has been involved in research on Maori loanwords in newspapers as part of a Marsden funded project. She has already noticed a difference with Twitter use during the manual coding phase. By comparison, the words are more integrated. Theres more language mixing: full sections of Maori and full phrases in English together. So, its more like code switching, which is what bilinguals do. We might be looking at almost a different phenomenon of how Maori is used in Twitter. The theory around the project has been around for quite a while, but combining it with machine learning means they have created a remarkably vast and accurate corpus of words to analyse. The researches want to make it possible for others to do the same, so theyre providing the knowledge on open-source platform Github: https://waikato.github.io/kiwiwords/. Theyre adding to the website as they Bay of Plenty We are looking for STMS' for permanent full-time roles. To be chosen as one of the successful candidates, you will have... View or Apply on GoodWork.co.nz (TNS) Months after after the Northern California town of Paradise was destroyed by the Camp Fire, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo students traveled there to learn what community members value most about their rural town.The trip was part of an ongoing project to reimagine how Paradise can rebuild after much of it was lost.Cal Poly architecture students in design studios taught by Cal Poly faculty members Stacey White and Kent Macdonald are developing a plan and zoning map for a completely rebuilt community.The 36 students, with input from community members, will determine where residential, commercial and public uses could be located and create detailed designs for new buildings that serve the needs of Paradise, like a town hall and a courthouse, according to a Cal Poly news release.At the end of the two-quarter course in June, fire survivors will be able to view a virtual-reality walk-through of the rebuilt town. The entire effort is intended to bring survivors hope.They are perpetually optimistic to what is possible, White said of the third-year architecture students.Montana State University is also working on the project by designing a residential development for 100 families, and Chico States College of Engineering, Computer Science and Construction Management students and faculty are researching topics like water quality and environmental issues, as well as the failure of the towns emergency notification system.When you go to a community like Paradise, all (residents) hear every day is, It cant be done. Its not possible. All they hear is no. A group of 22-year-olds say, What if the answer was "yes" and it looked like this? You cant help but be inspired, White said in a phone interview with theStudents researched the town, learning about the nature of the area, history of planning and the history of disaster recovery and resiliency. Then, they developed initial assumptions about what might best serve the community. Those assumptions were then shared with community members, who provided feedback, White said.In past courses, she said her students have worked on projects in underserved communities, including in Fresno or Bakersfield, for example.This is different in that the other communities have been dying slowly from neglect and this was annihilated from a single catastrophic event, White said.While design plans in other projects werent built to reality, communities have leveraged the plans in different ways.Its really to generate excitement for the potential of the place. Many of these have been less preferable places to live or forgotten in some way. It doesnt have to be that way, White said. Students all fall in love with the potential, and its rewarding for everyone.After a long bus ride north in January, students met with the communities of Chico and Paradise, Chico State faculty and students, Paradise High School teachers and students, and members of the Camp Fire Long-Term Recovery Working group. They gained deeper insight into the communities by staying with residents of the area, White said.Its so heartwarming, seeing that there are people out there who want to get involved and use their particular tools to help, said Charles Brooks, a 14-year Paradise resident who lost his home in the fire and is the founder of Rebuild Paradise, an organization meant to assist with job creation and provide support to businesses and residents in Butte County.While there, students saw first-hand the devastation left by the November fire that killed 85 people and displaced more than 20,000.It was a very sobering experience, architecture student Foster Westover said in a news release from Cal Poly. Everything was black, and then youd see a chimney or a childs bed frame. The experience of seeing that up close it was eye-opening.The students will return to the area on Feb. 21 and 22 to provide updates to community members and will visit again in April. Each student has been paired with a professional firm that offers mentoring and peer-review of the designs.If I can go back to Paradise High School and give one of those students hope that this is a town they could go back to, that would be enough for me, architecture student Sophia Smith said in the news release.2019 The Tribune (San Luis Obispo, Calif.)Visit The Tribune (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) at www.sanluisobispo.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Junior doctors are on another two-day strike but DHBs say they are well prepared and confident of progress in resolving the dispute. An estimated 1700 doctors are off the wards from 8am until early Thursday in their row with their employers over proposed changes to sections of employment contract dealing with rosters. The strike is the doctors' third 48-hour industrial action within a month, and yesterday the union, the Resident Doctors' Association, gave notice of a fourth strike at the end of the month. A woman whose teenage daughter's surgery has been postponed because of the action is desperately hoping district health boards and junior doctors settle their dispute soon. The Canterbury mother, who RNZ is calling Joan, said her teenager had painful benign bone tumours in two parts of her body. She said her daughter was originally given a date of 17 January for her surgery and the delays had left her in agony. "It comes with night pain so what you find yourself doing is that you're up most of the night in the pain and then you're sleeping most of the day when you can manage that pain better." Some senior doctors have demanded the junior doctors' union and the district health boards settle the row - both for the sake of patients and exhausted senior doctors who are filling in. In a letter sent last Wednesday, senior doctors at Palmerston North Hospital wrote to their DHB saying the protracted nature of the dispute had led them to have serious concerns about fatigue among senior doctors. They say they are also worried about "the resultant increasing difficulty in covering the acute hospital duties normally performed by RMOs [resident medical officers, or junior doctors]". DHB spokesperson Peter Bramley says he was not aware of the letter, and there were daily planning meetings to ensure safe services can be provided. DHBs are well prepared to deliver emergency care and support those who are acutely unwell, he said. "DHBs are hugely appreciative of the way that senior doctors over the last two strike periods - and they will again today and tomorrow - step up and support safe care. "They'll pick up either additional duties or they'll step into the role of the RMO." There were proposals on the table for mediation on Friday and the DHB was confident the bargaining teams would make progress, he says. "We're confident we can make progress because we've already found a way through this with the other union representing junior doctors." Junior doctors have acknowledged everyone is under pressure because of ongoing strike action, but David Munro, an advocate with the Resident Doctors' Association, says their determination is as strong as ever. "Clearly in negotiations that puts the pressure on the parties. I think we will be working very, very hard to try and find a solution when we meet this coming Friday." Today's strike is taking place across all district health boards except Nelson and West Coast. The union lifted the strike notice in the Nelson region due to the bush fires. Following the close of a $2.4-million seed extension funding round in December, the San Francisco-based Camino is poised to further develop its software that guides citizens through the permitting process.Chief Strategy Officer Nate Levine said the lead investor was 8VC, followed by Storm Ventures, GovTech Fund, iNovia, Fathom Capital and Sway Ventures. They brought Caminos total fundraising in 2018 to about $5.9 million, counting the initial seed round that brought in $3.5 million from the same investors.Were looking to expand the team pretty aggressively over this year, probably doubling in size from where we are currently, and thats largely so we can take on the number of partnership opportunities we have to work on a fairly large permit system, Levine said.Camino sells two products: the Permit Guide, which is an informational resource for anyone trying to get a government permit for business, construction or anything else; and a workflow system that connects the guide to a governments actual permitting or licensing process. In Levines own words, its like TurboTax for permits.Levine said Caminos Permit Guide offers more sophisticated intelligence and thorough information than any analogs hes seen, but if the companys investors saw promise in permitting software, they werent the only ones. Civic-tech startup CityLife tried to develop an app to fast-track consumer permits last year. Gov tech regulars like Tyler Technologies CentralSquare Technologies and Accela offer permitting solutions already, although Caminos works alongside these instead of replacing them.Around the same time Levine was launching Camino although it was called Persista at the time Cristian Robiou was working on a similar product in Miami, at a company called Clarity Value. In 2018 Camino hired Robiou, who brought his East Coast clients with him to Camino and is now the companys business development lead.Robiou said he started talking to Levine in earnest in August 2017 and saw their work's potential at the intersection of land-use regulations and economic development.The easiest way for a city to either encourage business growth or good practices is to be able to play around with (land rights and regulations). The problem is, given the state of the industry, that conversation happens very rarely, and when it does happen, it happens very slowly. The side effect is, because the state and federal government dont have a lot of power to intervene at a city level, theres a blockade to who gets a say, he said. Second, it creates a shadow industry of people who are either permit runners or permit expediters or government-relations advisers, who tend to be lobbyists but are called different things because they dont want to register as lobbyists. We want to address those problems.Caminos products have been available for about 10 months now, and in an email, Levine offered two examples of use cases: In Santa Clarita, Calif., users have used the guide 1,186 times since August 2018, which suggests dozens of hours of staff time not spent addressing questions over the phone; and in San Rafael, Camino deployed a customized online cannabis-permitting system in less than three weeks. Levine said Santa Clarita reported a "significant reduction in the volume of calls" related to residential construction projects, and the average at-the-counter conversation decreased from 30 minutes to 10. He said San Rafael estimated Caminos system saved at least 60 hours of staff time in the first month, and many citizens were able to complete the entire application process from home.Besides improving the user experience, Levine said, Camino is working on a way to open its platform and offer developer APIs for users to pull data and build their own applications.Our model has been to partner with agencies to design and build the systems. Everything weve done up to this point has been in partnership with a group of innovative cities that weve worked with, and itll be the same idea going forward. We recently were selected as part of the [Startup in Residence] program, he said. Rather than being another silo in government, we actually become a system that enables innovation, growth, new ideas, and talks well to other systems. We want to expose to agencies where the bottlenecks are in their process, where people are getting stuck, where things are slower, maybe even in comparison to other agencies. Stillwater, OK (74074) Today Windy with a mix of clouds and sun. Hot. High near 100F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies. Gusty winds during the evening. Low 79F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Bowing to necessity and Chinese pressure the North Korean economy is increasingly becoming one of privately run enterprises flourishing (because they are more efficient and provide better goods and services) while state-run operations rarely improve. This leaves the government with a growing number of inefficient state-owned companies that mainly lose money. It gets worse because the employees of the dying state-owned enterprises are angry (and literally cold and hungry) while those in privately owned firms are quite obviously much better off and also more troublesome (in other ways) for the government. Keeping a communist police state going requires that enough people can be policed (kept under control). With more and more state-owned firms being quietly and illegally (via bribing the state-appointed management) taken over by more efficient donju (entrepreneurs) the government is losing control of the economy and the people who depend on it for survival. This explains why government officials are more willing to risk imprisonment or execution to accept bribes. They are learning from the donju and selling what they have for as much as they can get. Often the bribes consist of illegal drugs; usually meth (methamphetamine) or the more expensive opium, heroin and exotic designer drugs. This helps the nervous and inept state officials deal with the stress of not having a clue but making the most of it. The official government line is that the affluence of life in South Korea is not authentically Korean but rather the malign influence of American consumer culture. However, most North Koreans are aware that their leaders (and their families) have lifestyles similar to what is found in South Korea and that South Korean is much admired and emulated throughout East Asia and the world. Yet the North Korean government propaganda continues to stress how life in North Korea is superior and that those caught emulating South Korea (watching South Korean videos, wearing South Korea styles of clothing or haircuts or, worst of all using a South Korean smartphone will be sent to prison (actually labor camps for reeducation.) Those who survive the labor camps usually come away determined, more than ever, to get out of North Korea, or die trying. The North Korean government will help you with that last bit while many North Korean officials will, for a large enough bribe, help you avoid the die trying option. Some of the bad news the government seeks to suppress keeps spreading anyway. This is particularly true of what is going on in the northeast border region (Ryanggang and North Hamgyong Provinces). A year ago North Korea officially closed its troubled (by tunnel collapses and radiation leaks) nuclear test site in the northeast at Kilju (North Hamgyong Province). This province is largely rural and undeveloped, one reason for putting the nuclear test site there. But before the Kilju site was officially shut down (with foreign reporters, but not any foreign nuclear experts, present) the government carried out a quiet effort to move anything of value, including some items that were not really portable (structures). What foreign observers may have missed is the extent of the poverty in the province, which was actually worse in neighboring Ryanggang Province. In both of these provinces, the military garrison (which guards the border as well as backing up local police if there is widespread unrest) is suffering more and more each year as food, fuel and other supplies (like cold weather clothing) are reduced. Troops are increasingly turning to looting and their commanders are only concerned if their subordinates are caught (which isnt often). Fortunately, the troops cannot travel far and must walk on these looting expeditions. This limits how far they can go and how much they can carry back to base. The worst part of being stationed in these two provinces is that there is so little to steal. Not Enough Koreans Both Koreas are now faced with declining birthrates and the inability to reverse the problem. South Korea had this problem first, but for different reasons. In the north, the birthrate has been below the replacement rate for over decades and continues to decline because of extreme poverty. The situation is much worse in South Korea where, by 2010, it had the lowest birth rate (1.15 children per woman, on average) in the world and held that dubious achievement for two years in a row. This is because of growing affluence over the last half-century. South Korea is now one of the wealthiest nations on the planet. At the current birth rate, the South Korean population is expected to stop growing in the 2020s, after reaching about 52 million (about twice the population of the north). If the birth rate stays under 2.1, the population will then begin to shrink. In North Korea, the birth rate is 1.9 and falling because of increasing poverty, famine and a feeling that North Korea is no place to bring up a child. For example, life expectancy in the north has declined from 72.7 years in the early 1990s, to 69 now. That's ten years less than in South Korea. Northerners are not only living shorter lives, they are literally shorter. A study of teenagers in the north and south revealed that the northerners are 8 percent shorter, and weigh nearly 20 percent less. It's not as bad with older adults, because they were not born during the famine (which began after Cold War Russian subsidies ended in the early 1990s). By 2012 there was a very visible shortage of recruits for the North Korean armed forces. A lower birth rate in the 1990s, because of the famine (that killed five percent of the population back then) has reduced the number of 18 year old recruits for the army and security forces. So fewer exemptions are being allowed, and more 17 years olds are being taken. That escalated to pressuring 16 year olds to volunteer. Now the government is after 15 year olds. North Korean men serve at least six years (and usually ten) in the military, keeping them out of trouble for that time in their lives (18-24) when they are most likely to act out revolutionary fantasies. The military is really a large prison system. While the troops are trained to use weapons, they get little ammunition for training, and the weapons are locked up most of the time. Young North Koreans increasingly know how poor they are and in greater and greater detail. The soldiers born during the great famine of the 1990s are well-aware that they are physically much smaller than their South Korean counterparts. They also know that the average South Korean lives ten years longer and lives a much more pleasant life. All the more reason to limit the time North Korean troops can handle their weapons, especially when they have ammunition (which is actually very infrequently.) Not Enough Of Anything In the north, there is an additional problem. People are no longer following the rules, especially the ones that mandate (via your internal passport) where you can live and work. If this sounds like medieval serfdom it is and is a much hated feature of communist states. The government is introducing a new biometric (digital fingerprints and memory chip to store info) ID card which, in theory, makes it easier for police to catch rural serfs illegally moving to urban areas. In reality, it provides new opportunities for police to collect bribes. The exodus from the rural areas also means hardships for those left behind as there are fewer people to make the rural economy work at all. Even government employees suffer. Teachers, for example, have less work because there are fewer students and a growing number of school buildings are being abandoned and teachers are illegally neglecting their duties to work in the growing market economy. Parents have to bribe teachers to teach. Or pay to send the kids to private schools or tutoring services. Both of these are staffed by former state school teachers who were attracted by better paying jobs that put more emphasis on teaching than indoctrination. Public opinion in North Korea (collected at great risk because of every more vigilant and oppressive secret police) is not good, but it is not a direct threat to the police state rule either. The majority of North Koreans are more concerned with their own problems, which often revolve around getting enough to eat. The only government actions that attract any attention from most North Koreans are those that improve the supply of necessities (food, fuel and shelter). While more and more North Koreans seek to participate in the donju (entrepreneur) economy most cannot and have to find other ways to survive. That tends to occupy all the attention of those living on the edge of survival. For the West and South Korea, there is one opportunity in all this. If more food and fuel can be shown as directly linked to denuclearization than the majority of North Koreans would support it. But that option is not seen as realistic because all North Koreans tend to believe the Kims and their associates do whatever they want and North Koreans have to make the most of that or be punished (labor camp or execution). The government does demonstrate some concern about the welfare of soldiers because most of them are also suffering from shortages of food and fuel and soldiers have access to weapons. Yet, the soldiers are rarely allowed to handle weapons and ammunition. For one thing ammo is expensive by North Korean standards and the average soldier rarely gets to fire his assault rifle or pistol. Troops who do get to fire their weapons regularly are the ones who are well fed and taken care of. On The Bright Side The sanctions have had the most impact on the majority of North Koreans who have neither money nor power. The sanctions have put a lot of North Koreans out of work. Since the 1990s the social safety net of state-supplied food in emergencies has disappeared. Lose your job and cannot find another one and you are in big trouble. This is why there so many abandoned children are seen moving about in packs, or more and more prostitution and criminal activity (burglary, robbery and assault). The impact of this often gets to neighboring countries, like the hundred or so North Korean fishing boats that drift ashore in Japan each year. Most are empty but some have people in them and most of those are dead. The few survivors on these boats explain that desperate times compel more people to take their boats out further or in bad weather to catch enough to survive. The North Korean police guard the coastal waters between the north and south but the Sea of Japan is too wide for fishing boats to get across deliberately. Those forced to make the crossing because of engine failure, navigation problems or running out of fuel rarely survive the trip. On the west coast (opposite China) there is another problem; the government sells fishing licenses to Chinese fishermen who are allowed to get most of the available catch leaving North Korea fishermen with little or nothing. The North Korean government needs the hard currency and is less concerned about their own fishermen starving. The need for hard currency remains, despite the sanctions making that a lot more difficult. This may have had something to do with North Korean willingness to halt ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons tests. Both of these are very expensive and the government has to build a new underground nuclear testing site and the previous literally collapsed, sending a noticeable (but not fatal) amount of radioactivity into China. Chinese leaders were not pleased so no more nuke tests until a new test site can be built. There may be some disagreement with China about putting the new test site near the Chinese border. The thousands of scientists, engineers and techs working on the missiles and nukes have not been idle. There is much to be done with making the warheads smaller and more reliable when delivered by ballistic missile. North Korean ballistic missile tech also needs a lot of work. But without testing a lot of development work is wasted as more dead ends are pursued because there is no testing to determine what works and what doesnt. Meanwhile, this talented workforce has to be paid for. These folks, and their families, need adequate food, fuel and accommodations, plus the occasional luxury as an incentive to keep at it. But the longer there is no testing the less effective the missile and nukes effort becomes. For North Korea the reduction of tensions with South Korea, and the recent mutual reduction in troops stationed at the DMZ has allowed North Korea to transfer those troops to construction and other non-combat (but economically useful) tasks. North Korea still has most of their army deployed near (not on) the DMZ and most of those troops grow less combat ready each year. The temptation (and urgent need) to use these troops for economic, not military activities, means troops spend more time on non-military tasks. The troops dont mind because those commercial jobs usually mean more food and other goodies. North Korean military leaders are aware of the shift in military superiority in favor of South Korea and that there is not much they can do about it given the economic conditions in North Korea. The only solution is to develop a convincing nuclear threat because the North Korean conventional forces are becoming an embarrassment. The North Korean military has become a slave labor pool, with most North Korean men forced to serve for ten years as contract and temp labor for commercial enterprises while pretending to be soldiers. Where North Korea Excels Among the many problems, North Korea suffers from corruption and is one of the worst corrupt countries in the world. But even that has a silver lining since North Korea has become less corrupt since current leader Kim Jong Un took control in 2011. North Korea is still among the ten most corrupt nations in the world but back in 2012 it was one of the three most corrupt. Currently, North Korea ranks 176th out of 180 nations compared with 171 in 2016). South Korea did much better, ranking 45th in 2018 and 51st in 2017. Corruption in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index is measured on a 1 (most corrupt) to 100 (not corrupt) scale. The most corrupt nations (usually North Korea/14, Yemen/14, Syria/13, South Sudan/13 and Somalia/10) have a rating of under 15 while of the least corrupt (New Zealand and Denmark) are over 85. The current North Korean score is 14 (versus 17 in 2017) while South Korea was 57 and 54. This is compared to 63 (61) for Taiwan, 40 (40) for India, 29 (29) for Russia, 33 (35) for Vietnam, 85 (84) for Singapore, 72 (73) for Japan, 38 (37) for Indonesia, 38 (38) for Sri Lanka, 31 (33) for the Maldives, 36 (34) for the Philippines, 33 (32) for Pakistan, 26 (28) for Bangladesh, 28 (30) for Iran, 16 (15) for Afghanistan, 29 (30) for Burma, 70 (71) for the UAE (United Arab Emirates), 62 (64) for Israel, 72 (75) for the United States, 27 (27) for Nigeria, 43 (43) for South Africa, 18 (18) for Iraq, 41 (40) for Turkey, 49 (49) for Saudi Arabia and 28 (28) for Lebanon,. A lower corruption score is common with nations in economic trouble and problems dealing with reality and crime in general. North Koreas corruption score has improved since 2012, when it was eight but that has not lifted out of the bottom of the list. South Korea has not changed much since 2012, when it was 56. South Korea is doing it right and North Korea is not and more North Koreans are becoming aware of this. February 10, 2019: South Korea agreed to pay the United States $924 million a year to help support the American forces deployed in South Korea or offshore (naval forces) and ready to quickly move to South Korea in wartime. The U.S. wanted $1.5 billion a year and South Korea agreed to have these agreements last only one year rather than the usual five so that negotiations could continue. The new annual payment is eight percent higher than the previous payments. February 6, 2019: The leaders of the U.S. and North Korea have agreed to meet again, in Vietnam on February 27 and 28. As expected North Korea has not made much progress in getting rid of its nuclear weapons and the official propaganda line inside North Korea is that the nuclear weapons will never be given up. Since lifting of the sanctions depends on successful denuclearization it is unclear what is being achieved by these negotiations. February 5, 2019: Commercial satellite photos and reports from North Korea confirm that North Korea is continuing work on its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles program. Satellite photos show North Korea ballistic missiles being dispersed to more separate bases, to make it more difficult to put them out of action in wartime. Much of the nuclear weapons work is conducted underground and new facilities for this were apparently established in Chagang Province (on the Chinese border). In 2018 the government declared more of the province restricted military areas. Chagang is already the site of some secret facilities, including underground record storage facilities (like Iron Mountain in the United States) as well as escape tunnels to China for senior officials in case of emergency. Border security has been increased in the province and it is believed that a new underground nuclear testing facility is being prepared, just in case. Chagang would be an ideal place to hide all manner of secrets, like a nuclear weapons program that would be continued after a treaty denuclearized all of Korea. Truck traffic into Chagang province over the last year indicates a lot more special shipments were sent in. While the province has a lot of mining and lumbering activities those operations are supported by certain kinds of truck traffic. Over the last year, much of the truck traffic indicated special use like underground nuclear weapons research and production. Military satellites could confirm such indications and apparently did so. January 31, 2019: The North Korean leader was seen using a new Maybach S600 armored limousine while traveling around his capital. Maybach is the German answer to the Rolls Royce luxury cars and Kim Jong was seen traveling around in an armored Rolls back in October 2018. Kim is often captured on video using his luxury cars because many of his public events include foreign journalists. The current Phantom model costs about half a million dollars and armored Maybachs cost over a million dollars each. Luxury car imports are one of the items banned by the current sanctions. That said it is not too difficult to smuggle such cars into North Korea. Someone from China could order one from the manufacturer and then drive it to North Korea and return to China by other means. For Kim showing off his luxury rides sends a message, which was probably no accident. January 30, 2019: A UN North Korea sanctions monitoring group accused China of violating the sanctions by tolerating Chinese fishermen buying fishing licenses to operate in lucrative North Korea waters. The Chinese paid about $7,000 a month per boat. South Korea was also criticized for illegally bringing in several hundred tons of petroleum to operate a new liaison office at Kaesong. North Korea is limited to 520,000 tons of imported petroleum products a year and all of that has been coming from China (which normally shipped four times as much a year). China is believed to be exceeding the quota by 20 percent or more via its oil pipeline to North Korea. Illegal imports can be estimated by monitoring retail fuel prices in North Korea. You can easily see if the smugglers are successful by monitoring the prices of petroleum products and consumer goods in the free markets. Fuel prices are now back to where they were before the stricter sanctions were imposed in early 2017. Pakistan appears to have come out ahead in its long battle with Internet social media, especially Facebook and Twitter. These were the last media in Pakistan where reports of military violence (including kidnapping and murder) of critics could be reported. Now, Twitter and Facebook have agreed to accept government control over who can post what with regard to the Pakistani military. The Pakistanis did this by weaponizing blasphemy laws to deliberately take on critics outside Pakistan reporting criminal activity in Pakistan. The military, which now basically controls the government (without a coup), had the government make thousands of complaints to social media outlets demanding that hateful messages be deleted. As bad as that is most Pakistanis recognize that the blasphemy laws are no longer about religion but have been turned into a legal method of using mob violence and murder to silence or kill anyone who is seen as opposed to the Pakistani military or local Islamic terror groups. Any politicians or senior officials who back blasphemy law reform are fair game for death threats and even assassination. Efforts to repeal these laws, or at least limit their misuse, are violently resisted by Islamic political parties and the military. It was the military that created these laws back when it decided to turn Islamic terrorism into a secret weapon for use against its enemies. The military still uses false blasphemy charges as an excuse to silence (often fatally) media and political opponents. This sort of thing has gotten worse as the Pakistani military is put under more pressure to cease supporting Islamic terrorism. The military campaign against hostile media appears to have won, despite holdouts among the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court. This effort has been underway for over a decade and went into high gear back 2012 when Islamic political parties in Pakistan forced the government to block over 20,000 websites, including YouTube, for displaying material considered critical of Islam. Also, the pro-Islamic parties organized dozens of demonstrations to protest, often violently, an American film accused of being anti-Islam. These demonstrations were part of an effort by the Islamic parties to establish themselves as censors for all Pakistanis. The 2012 crackdown began earlier in that year when the government blocked national access to Twitter for most of the day, apparently because of blasphemous (to some Moslems) activity on Twitter. Every day, if not every hour, there was something on Twitter that Islamic conservatives would consider blasphemous. What the Pakistani government particularly disliked about Twitter was that it was a speedy conduit of reports on bad behavior by the Pakistani officials. Shutting Twitter down for a sustained period would be enormously unpopular inside Pakistan and thats why the threat evaporated. Yet, the Islamic politicians kept at it and in mid-2017 a senior Facebook executive met with the Pakistani Interior Ministry to discuss Pakistan demands that Facebook monitor and censor Facebook posts that Pakistani law considers blasphemous against Islam, especially if the message was posted by one of the 33 million Pakistani Facebook users. In 2017 a Pakistani Facebook user had been sentenced to death for such a post and that prompted Facebook to meet with Pakistani officials and help sustain the illusion that the Internet could be censored. That served the goals of the Pakistani military, who were after individual critics not everyone who uses Facebook and Twitter. After all the Pakistani officers make enough to be comfortably middle class and the younger members of these families are big fans of the Internet. But individuals who criticize the Pakistani military via the Internet do not have a lot of fans among military families. Meanwhile, false charges of blasphemy continue to be used simply to persecute non-Moslems as well as Moslems who criticize the military, government or an Islamic terrorist group that is protected by the military. An example of this Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian falsely accused of blasphemy. Several Pakistani courts found her not-guilty but Islamic radicals saw that as secular courts meddling in a religious matter and continued to call for her death. Moslems in Western nations threatened violence if Asia Bibi was granted asylum. Until early 2019 the Pakistani government refused to let Asia Bibi leave the country but finally relented and Asia Bibi and her husband quietly left Pakistan in late January and arrived in Canada. The U.S. was also in the process of passing a special law granting Asia Bibi asylum. In October 2018 the Pakistani Supreme Court acquitted Asia Bibi of blasphemy. She was accused in 2009, sentenced to death in 2010 and been appealing ever since. The woman was trying to find a country that would give her and her family asylum because it is common for those accused of blasphemy to be murdered by Islamic radicals. Britain turned down the asylum request because of fears British Moslems would become violent over the issue. The Pakistani blasphemy laws are usually only used by Moslems against non-Moslems and when they are used against Moslems it is usually for revenge or political reasons. The laws are unpopular with the majority of Pakistanis. But the minority who do support the laws, are willing to use lethal force to keep the laws on the books. These blasphemy laws were enacted in the 1970s at the behest of the military. The opposition to repealing these laws is violent and fearless. In 2011 the Punjab province governor Salman Taseer was shot dead by one of his own bodyguards because Taseer had openly opposed the blasphemy laws and especially their use against Asia Bibi. While no one had ever been executed because of these laws, many are accused and jailed each year, and often condemned to death (and later reprieved). But over 30 of those accused have been murdered by Islamic fanatics, who are a large, and violent, minority of the population. The Islamic radical political parties called on followers to kill Asia Bibi (who remains jailed for her own safety until she fled to Canada) and anyone who supports her (including the Supreme Court judges). The army ordered mass media to ignore all the street violence and report that there was no reaction of the court ruling. Internet media told another story with dozens of photos and videos showing the escalating violence and death threats. The Pakistani prime minister went along with the army decision to try and make this a media non-event. The protesters were told by the government that Asia Bibi would not be allowed to leave the country until another legal move was made to get the Supreme Court decision reversed. That effort failed and growing diplomatic pressure eventually persuaded the government to quietly allow Asia Bibi and her husband to leave the country. What happened here was the exception as the lynch mobs usually get to the victim first. The British and French governments are voicing their complaints about the activities of Russian private military companies (PMCs) in Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. In an utter display of hypocrisy, London and Paris are not as critical when their own PMCs, also known as mercenaries, are caught engaged in all sorts of skullduggery in various countries around the world. Michael Ancram, the 13th Marquess of Lothian and a Conservative Party member of the House of Lords, recently requested the British government's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to provide him with details about the Russian military and mercenary presence in Africa, particularly in Zimbabwe. Ancram has a personal vested interest in the matter as the chairman of the consulting firm, Middle East Consultants International (MECI), which employs several former officials of the FCO and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). It is noteworthy that in light of Ancrams angst about Russian mercenary forces being active in Africa that he is the descendant of Henry Kerr, the 9th Marquess of Lothian, who was active as a knight in the late 1880s of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, which, among other things, was active as a mercenary force to assist the Greek war of independence. Ancram is also the past chairman of the shadowy group Le Cercle, which was established by French prime minister Antoine Pinay and French intelligence agent Jean Violet in the 1952 as Cercle Pinay. The group, which has included government and intelligence agency officials from 25 Western countries, meets twice a year in Washington, DC and is believed to receive its funding from the Central Intelligence Agency. In past years, members of Le Cercle have not been reticent to support the use of mercenaries, especially in former French, British, Spanish, and Portuguese colonies in Africa. However, these same intelligence "circles," as exemplified by Ancram, now complain about the presence of Russian private military forces in Africa. It is very interesting that Ancram, a former official of Le Cercle, with its French and British founding links, is complaining about Russian private military companies in Africa. Stung by the past exploits of mercenary companies, the Western military-intelligence complex came up with the term "private military companies" to mask the true nature of these corporate brigands. The PMC term stands as a stark example of "newspeak" employed by the CIA and their friends in Britain and France. Mercenary firms even have their own Washington, DC-based lobbying organization, the International Stability Operations Association, which, among other tasks, is keen to inform journalists that the use of the term "mercenary" for their member firms is pejorative in nature. Their Washington lobbyists can contend whatever they wish, but disdain for mercenaries has a historical precedent that goes back to the time of Renaissance diplomat and writer Niccolo Machiavelli, who opined that mercenaries were disunited, undisciplined, ambitious, and faithless. At issue presently for London and Paris, as well as for the increasingly powerful clique of neo-conservatives in the Donald Trump administration, is the reported presence of the Wagner Group, a Russian PMC that is no different from dozens of internationally-active British, French, and American PMCs. Wagner Group is reportedly engaged in military and logistics operations in Syria, the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Yemen, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela. The Trump administration neocons, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, are silent on the activities of the Abu Dhabi-based PMC, Reflex Responses (R2), in countries ranging from Libya, Yemen, Colombia, Malta, Somaliland, and Somalia. The silence is because R2 is run, on behalf of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates, by the founder of the infamous Blackwater mercenary firm, Erik Prince. Trumps Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, happens to be Princes sister. Prince and Blackwater were cited for several human rights violations in US-occupied Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in Pakistan. Western mercenaries, in general, have sordid records similar to that of Prince. For example, the British-Irish mercenary, Colonel Thomas Michael ("Mad Mike") Hoare, fought in the Belgian mercenary-led and CIA-supported Katanga rebellion in Congo in the 1960s. In an interview, Hoare said of his exploits in Congo, killing communists is like killing vermin, killing African nationalists is as if one is killing an animal. I don't like either one or the other. My men and I have killed between 5,000 to 10,000 Congo rebels in the 20 months that I have spent in the Congo. But that's not enough. There are 20 million Congolese, you know, and I assume that about half of them at one time or another were rebels whilst I was down here. In 1981, Hoare made another mercenary appearance. He and a group of white South Africans, Rhodesians, Belgians, and American veterans of the Vietnam War, disguised as an English rugby club, flew into Seychelles to stage a coup against President France-Albert Rene. The attempt failed and Hoare and his mercenaries were found guilty of treason by the Seychelles government. France had its own version of Mad Mike Hoare. He was Colonel Robert Bob Denard, also known as Gilbert Bourgeaud and Said Mustapha Mahdjoub. He fought alongside Hoares men in the Katanga secession rebellion in the 1960s in Congo. There was hardly a civil war or insurrection that did not see Denards participation: Rhodesia, Yemen, Iran, Gabon, Guinea, Benin, Mozambique, Angola, and Comoros. In 1978, Denard helped former Comorian President Ahmed Abdallah oust President Ali Soilih in a coup. Abdallah named Denard as the commander of his 500-man presidential guard. Denard converted to Islam. In 1989, Denard was believed to have ordered the assassination of Abdallah. At a later trial in Paris in 2006, a former chief of the French General Directorate for External Security (DGSE) testified that, "When special services are unable to undertake certain kinds of undercover operation, they use parallel structures. This was the case of Bob Denard. Every coup and attempted coup involving Denard had the blessing of top Gaullist French government officials, including Monsieur Afrique Jacques Foccart and Charles Pasqua. Although Denard was never a French Foreign Legionnaire, he served with several active and former legionnaires during his mercenary career. By their very nature, the French Foreign Legion is composed of mercenaries. The same holds true for the Spanish Legion, the Gurkha Brigade of the British Army, the Gurkha Contingent of the Singapore Police Force, the Gurkha Reserve Unit of the Royal Armed Forces of Brunei, and the Swiss Guard of the Vatican City State. The British and French were not alone in the mercenary business. In 1981, American and Canadian mercenaries, many of them white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and members of the Ku Klux Klan, planned an invasion of the Caribbean island nation of Dominica to return former prime minister Patrick John to power in a coup. The operation was interdicted by US federal authorities in New Orleans. The planned operation was dubbed the Bayou of Pigs, a reference to the 1961 CIA-run Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiled mercenaries living in south Florida. The commander of the former Royal Jordanian Army, called the Arab Legion, was British Lieutenant-General Sir John Bagot Glubb, known in Jordan as Glubb Pasha. Glubb remained in charge of the Jordanian army until 1956, subsequently returning to England. Unreconstructed British colonialists are entitled to their own delusions, but Glubb was a mercenary in service to the British crown and seconded to service under Jordanian Kings Abdullah I and Hussein. Another British officer, Colonel David Smiley, was seconded to the Sultan of Muscat and Oman in 1958, where the British officer commanded the Oman Legion until 1961. Smiley, like Glubb, was a glorified mercenary. Today, the groaning, hair pulling, and gnashing of the teeth in London, Paris, and Washington about Russian PMCs in Africa and elsewhere ignore the ignoble pasts of British, French, and American mercenaries. Those who live in glass houses should learn not to throw stones. Description GIS - 12 February, 2019: Mauritius will be hosting for the first time the International Gita Mahotsav from 13 to 16 February 2019, with the underlying principle of spreading the message of peace and harmony across the world.The four-day celebrations, which commemorate the birth of the Bhagwat Gita , the sacred scripture containing invaluable advice of Lord Krishna, was announced by the Prime Minister during his recent visit to India as Chief Guest for the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) in Varanasi. Mauritius will be hosting for the first time the International Gita Mahotsav from 13 to 16 February 2019, with the underlying principle of spreading the message of peace and harmony across the world.The four-day celebrations, which commemorate the birth of the, the sacred scripture containing invaluable advice of Lord Krishna, was announced by the Prime Minister during his recent visit to India as Chief Guest for the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) in Varanasi. The Minister of Arts and Culture, Mr Prithvirajsing Roopun, made this declaration yesterday at a press conference in Port Louis in the presence of the Secretary to Governor, Haryana, Mr Vijay Singh Dahiya, IAS, and other personalities. In this context, Minister Roopun spoke of a series of activities to be organised by the Kurukshetra Development Board, Haryana in collaboration with the Ministry of Arts and Culture, the Office of the President, the Indian High Commission in Mauritius and other socio-cultural associations. They are namely: Gita Sadbhavana Yatra, Gita Yagya and Gita Poojan, inauguration of exhibition and craft bazzar, and Gita seminars, amongst others. Moreover, Minister Roopun observed that the International Gita Mahotsav, hosted for the first time outside India, is a matter of great pride and honour for Mauritius. The celebrations, he pointed out, will provide an opportunity to seekers to purity themselves and adopt the way of knowledge, action and devotion as preached by the Bhagwat Gita for liberation of the soul. He further dwelt on the message of the Bhagwat Gita which according to him, is a milestone in the philosophical history of the world. Traditionally it is believed that the message of Gita was delivered by Lord Krishna and since then, 5156 years have elapsed, he added. Minister Roopun made an appeal to the population to participate actively in the celebrations which will also witness cultural shows and spiritual events. For his part, the Secretary to Governor, Haryana, Mr Vijay Singh Dahiya, IAS, emphasised on the importance of the Bhagavad Gita which according to him remains the ultimate guide to humanity through the philosophy of Karma, that is, selfless work. As regards to Mauritius hosting the Gita Mahotsav, he underpinned that there can be no better partner country given that India and Mauritius share the same liberal values of democracy and culture, as well as the same values of tolerance, brotherhood and inclusiveness. About the Gita Mahotsav The Gita Mahotsav is celebrated annually to commemorate the birth of the Bhagwat Gita , the sacred scripture containing invaluable advice of Lord Krishna that he proffered some 5000 years ago to Arjuna, the third Pandava in the battlefield of Kurukshetra on the first day of the famous 18-day battle in the Mahabharata. The principle of the festival is to spread the message of peace and harmony across the world . Libya is in a state of anarchic turmoil, with various groups fighting each other for control of the country, and as the Wall Street Journal reported last September, Islamic State is staging a resurgence in chaotic Libya, claiming more than a dozen attacks in the North African country this year and threatening to disrupt the flow of oil from one of the worlds most significant suppliers. To such mainstream media outlets as the Wall Street Journal the fact that oil supplies are being disrupted is much more important than the savage IS attacks that result in slaughter of so many innocent people who are only foreigners, anyway. The UN Security Council said it deplored the Islamic States heinous and cowardly terrorist attack in Tripoli on 25 December 2018 and expressed deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to the Libyan people and Government of National Accord, and wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured. It is laudable that the Security Council should express such sentiments, but if Libya was not fractured by a six-year civil war, there would be no need for sympathy from anyone. The cause of the catastrophe in Libya in Libya was the seven month US-NATO blitzkrieg from March to October 2011 in which thousands of bombs and rockets rained down on that unfortunate land which was governed by President Muammar Ghaddafi whom the West was determined to overthrow by assisting a rebel movement. In Ghaddafis Libya, as detailed by the World Health Organisation the government provided comprehensive health care including promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative services to all citizens free of charge through primary health care units, health centres and district hospitals. Life expectancy was 75 years (as against 66 in India; 71 in Egypt; 59 in South Africa), and the CIA World Factbook noted that there was a literacy rate of 94.2% which was higher than in Malaysia, Mexico and Saudi Arabia. Ghaddafi was far from being a saint. He dealt with his enemies in the most brutal fashion and was guilty of numerous offences against humanity. But so were (and are) many others like that around the world whose countries are not subject to US sanctions or seven months of strikes by US-NATO planes and missiles. The US-NATO blitz was successful, and Gaddafi was overthrown and captured by rebel forces, whereupon, as reported, the increasingly desperate and terrified 69-year-old Gaddafi was thrown on to the front of a white car bonnet, his blood-soaked head locked between the knees of a militiaman He slipped off the bonnet, his ravaged body unable to cope with the constant battering. Then, as can be seen in a particularly horrible video, he was beaten mercilessly, sodomised with a bayonet, and murdered. When she was informed of this, the news caused the United States Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, to giggle and announce with a laugh that We came. We saw. He died. Trump is the worst president in US history, but at least we have been spared the global ascendancy of a person who cackles with mirth when being told that someone had been murdered. In any event, Libya was reduced to chaos amid the Clinton cackles, just as is happening in Venezuela at the moment. Its leader, Maduro, is not unlike Gaddafi in many ways, being ruthless and arrogant, and there is no doubt the country has suffered under his regime but it has suffered a great deal more because of vicious sanctions imposed by Washington, just as happened in Libya. The United Nations Human Rights Council is not regarded favourably by Washingtons sanctioneers, simply because it points out the negative side of sanctions, in that it is always ordinary people who suffer and especially the poor, the deprived, the sick, the lame, all those whom Trump says he loves. At a Prayer Breakfast in the White House on 7 February he declared that America is a nation that believes in redemption and that religious faith transforms lives, heals communities and lifts up the forgotten, which, as with almost everything he says, was a load of hypocritical garbage. These US sanctions have caused untold suffering. As Al Jazeera reported on 8 February, a hospital has said 14 children have died this week following an outbreak of amoebiasis, a form of dysentery transmitted by contaminated food or water. Dozens of other children infected by the disease cannot receive adequate treatment due to a lack of medical supplies. And on it goes, just as it did in Libya and pre-invasion Iraq which had suffered similarly evil sanctions for so many years. The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has urged everyone involved in the Venezuela crisis to lower tensions and begin speaking to each other, but there was no possibility that anyone would listen to him, least of all those intent on the overthrow of Maduro. The UN Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures as affecting human rights, Idriss Jazairy (an admirable and highly intelligent person), stated on 31 January that coercion by the US (without naming it) is a violation of all norms of international law. He said flatly that Sanctions which can lead to starvation and medical shortages are not the answer to the crisis in Venezuela precipitating an economic and humanitarian crisis . . . is not a foundation for the peaceful settlement of disputes. But Washington doesnt want a peaceful settlement of disputes, least of all, at the moment, in Venezuela. It wants to ensure that there is suffering, in order that Maduro can be overthrown by those whom it has deprived of the basic necessities of life. Further, it wants its own man to be at the Top. So enter Mr Juan Guaido, a minor politician in Venezuelas parliament. According to the Wall Street Journal on 25 January, The night before Juan Guaido declared himself interim president of Venezuela, the opposition leader received a phone call from Vice President Mike Pence. Mr Pence pledged that the US would back Mr. Guaido if he seized the reins of government from Nicolas Maduro by invoking a clause in the South American countrys constitution, a senior administration official said. As the New York Times noted on 8 February, Mr. Trump said the oil sanctions were meant to punish Mr. Maduro for human rights violations and force him to cede power to Juan Guaido, the opposition leader whom the United States has recognized as the rightful Venezuelan president. The entire revolution has been engineered from Washington, but at least, this time, they havent gone in with rockets and bombs. There is no doubt that Washington will win, and that Maduro will leave in one way or another. And my advice to him is : dont wait too long before you give up and get out. Otherwise, Maduro, baby, Theyll Come. Theyll See. And Youll Die. Photo: Flickr GOP lawmakers had the perfect right to try to sway voters on those initiatives last year before the election. But their only official position now should be: The voters have spoken. Instead, theyve been busily trying to undo with legislation what they couldnt stop at the ballot box. Almost two-thirds of Missourians voted in November to hike the states minimum wage from the previous $7.85 an hour to $12 over four years. It was a strong statement from voters that, while they were willing to maintain Republican control of government, they reject the partys stubborn refusal to raise wages for the most vulnerable workers. That shouldve been the end of it. But the proposed Senate measure, which could get a committee vote Thursday, would weave loopholes into the new law. It would mandate that workers under 18 get paid just 85 percent of the minimum wage. And it would freeze the base pay of waiters and other tipped workers, currently set at half of whatever the minimum wage is, so that it doesnt continue to rise as the minimum wage rises. Make no mistake. If the municipal government of the city of St. Louis was financially healthy, and the rest of St. Louis County was failing, we would not be having a conversation about the region being Better Together. This conversation is about a city bailout and wealth redistribution. Nothing more; nothing less. However, its being packaged and marketed as a fragmentation issue. Yes, there needs to be significant change to move us forward as a region. But lets not blame our issues on the entire region as the cause for our lackluster performance among other comparable cities. The region doesnt need a major change; the city of St. Louis needs a major change. On Jan. 5, St. Louis Treasurer Tishaura Jones tweeted in part, Were a recession away from bankruptcy. St. Louis is already more than $1.6 billion in debt, according to the nonprofit government finance watchdog Truth in Accounting. St. Louis can barely deliver basic services to its residents with the revenue and expenses it has today, let alone ever repay its debt. The administration and drug companies argue that makers of biologics need time to profit from their creations before biosimilars sweep in, unburdened by the cost of researching and developing the drugs. Otherwise, they contend, the brand-name drug companies would have little incentive to invest in developing new medicines. They note that a 2015 law authorizing presidents to negotiate trade deals requires American officials to push other countries toward U.S.-level protections for intellectual property such as biologic drugs. (The same law, somewhat contradictorily, directs U.S. negotiators to "promote access to medicines.") Supporters also note that existing U.S. law gives makers of biologics 12 years' protection. So the new pact wouldn't change the status quo in the United States, though it would force Mexico to expand biologics' monopoly from five years and Canada from eight years. In fact, supporters of the biologics monopoly argue that the pact might cut prices in the United States because drug companies would no longer face pressure to charge Americans more to compensate for lower prices in Canada and Mexico. But critics say that expanding biologics' monopoly in a trade treaty would prevent the United States from ever scaling back the duration to, say, the seven years the Obama administration once proposed. JEFFERSON CITY The Cole County Circuit Court has issued a subpoena to U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley so that a Democrat running for attorney general can question the senator about his adherence to the states Sunshine Law. Elad Gross, a St. Louis attorney and Democratic candidate for attorney general in 2020, said in a news release Tuesday morning that the Cole County Circuit Court issued the subpoena at his request. Gross wants to depose Hawley and force him to turn over documents. The subpoena, Gross said, is intended to force Hawley to answer questions under oath about his involvement in violating Missouris public records law during his time as the states attorney general. Kelli Ford, a spokeswoman for Hawleys U.S. Senate office, called the subpoena a political stunt. She said Hawley would seek to quash the subpoena. Its unfortunate that Democrat operatives continue to misuse our courts of law for political purposes, she said in an email. Its a frivolous request. He isnt party to the lawsuit. Special prosecutors and the Illinois attorney general's office want the state Supreme Court to order a resentencing for Jason Van Dyke, which, if granted, could result in a much harsher prison term for the former Chicago police officer convicted of killing Laquan McDonald.Their petition, filed Monday, does not explicitly target the length of the 6-year sentence, which many activists criticized as lenient. But Kane County State's Attorney Joseph McMahon, appointed to handle the Van Dyke case, and Attorney General Kwame Raoul argue that Judge Vincent Gaughan sentenced Van Dyke under improper legal guidelines, and that a significantly longer sentence would be justifiable under state law."I recognize that a trial judge's discretion in sentencing is to be given great deference," Raoul said at a news conference Monday. "However, it is in the interest of justice that we do all within our power to make sure that such exercise in discretion be applied consistent with the mandates of law, no matter who the defendant and no matter who the victim."Van Dyke's attorneys said the prosecutors' motivations were plainly political."This case has come to represent all the wrongs, perceived wrongs, of the Chicago Police Department, and it's fallen upon Jason Van Dyke as a person," attorney Jennifer Blagg said. "So what he represents politically is why this is happening."While the sentence initially prompted the defense to back off from promises to appeal Van Dyke's conviction, Blagg said the prosecutors' petition forced their hand, and a notice of appeal was filed Friday."Jason and his family very much want to put this behind them," she said. "He has expressed that he doesn't want a new trial, he doesn't want to go through that again. He's not happy with being convicted, obviously, but the toll this has taken on his family is unbelievable."Van Dyke, 40, was convicted last year of one count of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery in the 2014 on-duty shooting of McDonald.Gaughan sentenced Van Dyke only on the second-degree murder conviction, ruling that it was the more serious offense and that the aggravated battery counts should "merge" into it for purposes of sentencing."Is it more serious for Laquan McDonald to be shot by a firearm or is it more serious for Laquan McDonald to be murdered by a firearm?" Gaughan said from the bench before sentencing Van Dyke last month. "Common sense comes to an easy answer on that in this specific case."But the prosecutors' petition argues that Illinois law actually makes aggravated battery with a firearm the more serious offense, and therefore the state Supreme Court should order Gaughan to resentence the ex-patrol officer on those convictions instead.The court should also direct Gaughan to determine which of the 16 gunshot wounds caused "severe bodily injury" and sentence him to consecutive prison terms for those counts, they state.Prosecutors have argued that at least two of the wounds caused that kind of injury, which, the petition contends, would mean Van Dyke would face a minimum sentence of 18 years: six years for each of those two wounds, plus six more years for the other 14 counts.An aggravated battery with a firearm conviction carries a sentence of six to 30 years in prison. The range for second-degree murder is four to 20 years, but a judge can impose probation instead.If the state Supreme Court chooses to consider the petition, there are a few potential outcomes, said longtime criminal defense attorney Mark Lyon."They will either have to say, 'Judge Gaughan, you have to resentence this person,' or they have to say (they) were wrong in the case where they said second-degree murder was always less serious than aggravated battery with a firearm," Lyon said, referring to a previous ruling.The court could order Gaughan to resentence Van Dyke on the aggravated battery but not make him rule on which of the 16 shots caused "severe bodily injury," Lyon said. That would open the door for Gaughan to impose a prison term the same as the previous sentence, or slightly shorter.But even in that scenario, Van Dyke would serve slightly more prison time. Inmates convicted of aggravated battery with a firearm must serve at least 85 percent of their sentences, compared with the 50 percent required by a second-degree murder conviction.Van Dyke's attorneys plan to file an objection to the prosecutors' motion. The Supreme Court is not obliged to accept the prosecutors' petition at all and there is no specific time it must decide.After the attorney general's office last month announced that it was conducting a "review" of the sentence, Van Dyke's trial attorney, Daniel Herbert, also called the decision politically motivated _ an allegation that Raoul said Monday was "nonsense.""I'm not going to opine on my opinion on the length of the sentence. What I will opine on is whether or not the law should be followed, and I believe the law should be followed," he said.McMahon, who had initially requested a term of 18 to 20 years in prison, said after the sentencing that he accepted the judge's decision.On Monday, he said he is still satisfied with the sentence, but after considering the legal basis of Gaughan's ruling, he thinks the legal challenge is appropriate."As we have had an opportunity to step back and kind of evaluate both the law and how the sentence was imposed, we have the benefit of some time and counsel in working with the attorney general's office," he said. "I think the bigger message in this case is to make sure that the sentence that is imposed is a sentence that is lawful."Van Dyke shot McDonald in October 2014 as the 17-year-old walked away from police on a Southwest Side street while holding a knife. Police dashboard-camera video of the shooting _ ordered released by a judge more than a year later _ sparked weeks of chaos and political upheaval, exacerbating the already fraught relationship between Chicago police and minority communities.Van Dyke's is the first Chicago police officer in half a century to be convicted of murder for an on-duty incident. The top official at Tofurky told the Post-Dispatch in December that the law could force them to stop distributing in the state. Missouri has been at the forefront of a national effort by beef and farm groups to put laws on the books to make it illegal to label their plant- or lab-based products with words associated with meat. Lawmakers in states including Mississippi and Arkansas have introduced legislation this year mirroring Missouris law. The push comes as the Plant Based Foods Association reports that sales of the products jumped 20 percent in the past year to more than $3.3 billion. Rep. Jeff Knight, R-Lebanon, who sponsored the legislation, said he hopes the law helps farmers, who have financed marketing and advertising efforts through a self-imposed checkoff system. Knight was not sure Tuesday what the settlement entailed. A spokesman for Attorney General Eric Schmitt declined to comment. We have nothing to add at this time, said Chris Nuelle. The passage of Proposition B means the wage will reach $12 per hour in 2023. The maneuver by Cunningham, however, would set the rate for workers under 18 at 85 percent of the minimum wage. For tipped workers, such as restaurant servers, the wage would be frozen at $4.30 per hour and would not rise as the minimum goes up in each of the next five years. The pending move drew the ire of Richard von Glahn, policy director for Missouri Jobs with Justice, which backed the referendum. Prior to the overwhelming passage of Proposition B, a minimum wage worker working full time earned just $314 a week, nowhere near enough to raise a family, he said. Missouri voters knew that wasnt enough and voted overwhelmingly to raise the minimum wage for our states low-wage workers. It is out of touch for any legislator to work to overturn the will of the voters, and they must go explain to the people in their district how they would live on $314 a week and why the voters were wrong to try to change that. Von Glahn said that by his calculations, Cunninghams home county had 2,231 workers who would benefit from Proposition B, representing 31.4 percent of the countys workforce. Better Together, whose plan to consolidate St. Louis and St. Louis County has sparked fast and fierce debate in the region, has refiled its statewide petition to merge area governments. The organizations campaign, Unite STL, on Monday resubmitted a petition and state constitutional amendment language to the Missouri secretary of state, after pulling the measure on Friday. The changes in Mondays amendment, said Better Together attorney Chris Pieper, all clarify technical and legal language: One states that the merged government cant seize municipalities bank accounts. One clarifies that the new municipal districts which would replace St. Louis County municipalities could still borrow money for some purposes, such as building parks. And another says that St. Louis still has to pay its debts, even if the city earnings tax slowly disappears. The withdrawal on Friday and resubmission on Monday represents a two-week delay in the process for Better Together. But Pieper said the secretary of state and other Missouri offices have already started work on the petition, and might be able to make up some of that time. The initiative, if passed by Missouri voters, would combine under one metro city the police departments, court systems, roadways, regional planning and zoning, and economic development arms of the city, county and the 88 county municipalities. County municipalities would become new political subdivisions, called municipal districts, with power over some services, such as parks and trash collection, but with otherwise severely restricted authority. On Friday, Better Together sent a letter to the secretary of states office withdrawing its petition from consideration, but resubmitted it late Monday. The new amendment included dozens of changes, many of just one word or two. Attorney Chris Pieper said the additions were an effort to prevent debate and lawsuits after the amendments passage, but didnt change the substance of the proposal. Theyre trying to get it right, Pieper said of Better Together. These are changes intended to prevent arguments 20 years from now. One area Blunt targeted: $881 million in Department of Defense appropriations for high-intensity drug corridors. Pentagon officials very likely already have in mind what they would like to do with that $881 million, but if the president was looking for $881 million that he controls, he can look at what they wanted to do with it and decide if barriers would be of more important use," Blunt said. Said McConnell: I think he ought to feel free to use whatever tools he can legally use to enhance his efforts to secure the border so I am not troubled by that." Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democrats leader in the Senate, said Trump will have to determine if he wants to try to move it around, whether he wants to take back (money from) Coast Guard or FEMA or something like that. He cant raise the caps on spending, Schumer said. And, he said, Trump needs congressional authority to do it something that was not a problem when Trumps party controlled the House. But now Democrats do. Durbin said that the issue could be headed for a real test in court as to whether they have the authority, without congressional approval, to move money from one appropriated purpose to another. If it was on planet Mars, it would be life, but the fact that it's here on a mothers belly and not classified as life is astonishing to me, he said. One supporter said death is measured by the end of a persons heartbeat, so life should be measured by the beats beginning. Dr. Erin King, executive director of the Hope Clinic for Women in Illinois, called the proposal an extreme and dangerous measure that comes close to banning all abortion in Missouri. The obstetrician gynecologist explained the change would ban abortion before most women even realize theyre pregnant. If House Bill 126 were enacted, it would no longer matter what this patient wanted, her life circumstances or what could be best for her medically, King said. Rep. Sarah Unsicker, D-Shrewsbury, noted the legislation's cost estimate, which indicates that Missouri could lose more than $7 billion in Medicaid funding because of a potential conflict with federally mandated abortion requirements in cases of rape, incest and when the procedure is needed to save mothers' lives. Schroer said both Republicans and Democrats have criticized fiscal analyses conducted by taxpayer-paid, nonpartisan legislative staff. UPDATED at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday with additional detail St. Louis police arrested four people Monday night who ran from a car that was stolen at gunpoint from an 81-year-old woman. Police said the woman was carjacked about 2:40 p.m. in the 4200 block of Minnesota Avenue. The woman was not injured. The address is in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of St. Louis. The woman told police she was getting out of her car when a man approached and demanded her keys. She refused, and the man pulled a gun. She activated her victim's alarm, and the man grabbed the keys from her hand. He drove off in her car. About 9 p.m. Monday, police spotted the car traveling on Broadway near Interstate 55. They tried to stop it, but the car sped away. Police say they stopped it near Mott Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, and four people ran from the car. Police chased them and arrested them. No details were available Tuesday on the age of the suspects. UPDATED at 8:40 a.m. Tuesday ST. LOUIS A man and a woman were found shot to death inside a vehicle Monday night. Neither victim had been identified by Tuesday morning. St. Louis police say they have no suspects. Police went to the 4600 block of North Market Street at about 9 p.m. Monday. Someone had reported a suspicious auto there. Homicide detectives are investigating. The scene is in the Greater Ville neighborhood. Police on Monday night had said both victims were male, but the department's brief summary Tuesday said one was male and one was female. ST. LOUIS A man from Jefferson County pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges and admitted participating in a carjacking and a home invasion that turned fatal for one of the robbers, prosecutors said. Paris-John Earnest Devine, 26, pleaded guilty to carjacking and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, along with a a methamphetamine conspiracy charge. His sentencing was set for May. Devine admitted robbing a pizza delivery driver who was trying to buy marijuana on Sept. 28, 2017, in St. Louis, prosecutors said. Devine demanded the man's 2013 Kia Forte at gunpoint, they said. Devine and others would use that stolen car two weeks later, when Kathleen Marie Hydar told them that she knew of a trailer where they could steal large amounts of meth, cash and guns, prosecutors said. Since being seriously injured, the lawsuit alleges, Schuenke has undergone over one-hundred surgeries and other rehabilitative measures in an effort to recover from her injuries in the hope that she could return to her employment as a firefighter/paramedic. Instead of supporting such a laudable effort, Defendants have ridiculed it and denied Schuenke the benefit of her bargain. It was three years ago when I first met Schuenke and wrote about her. That was long after her injury, when she was hailed as a hero and the subject of multiple fundraisers across St. Louis. Then the fire district fired her, not long after she first alleged discrimination. The district ignored its own policy to clearly provide for any firefighter injured in the line of duty. Schuenke filed suit over her improper firing and won. The state Court of Appeals affirmed that court order. When I wrote about Schuenkes case, the district and Petruska were haggling over details of an administrative hearing in which a hearing officer was supposed to determine what the payout to the firefighter would be. The West Virginia Democratic Party (WVDP) is calling on a Republican delegate to resign over what it referred to as "hate-filled remarks and actions" regarding the LGBT community."First of all, Delegate [Eric] Porterfield needs to resign," WVDP Chairwoman Belinda Biafore said in a statement shared on Facebook last Friday. "West Virginia has no room for someone who expresses such hate. Let alone room for him to hold a public office where he is supposed to represent the people of West Virginia. His hate-filled remarks and actions speak volumes and so does the Republican Party's silence.""The Republican majority's leadership needs to condemn these actions," the statement continued. "Their silence is complicit and the people of West Virginia deserve better."Porterfield used the slur "f----t" during a committee meeting last Wednesday as lawmakers discussed a proposed amendment related to anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people, according to The West Virginia Gazette Mail. For the times we can't be in air conditioning 24/7, there are thankfully many low-cost, energy-efficient ways to cool off during summer heat t In addition to being printed on the outside of the scooter, riders see that same message three separate times in the app, Falzone said. He accused Lime of violating its operating agreement with Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which requires the company to inform riders how to safely and legally operate their scooters. "I'm worried about people around the country who are riding these things and not understanding whether they're supposed to be riding them on the street or on the sidewalk," he said. "You rely on the company to know the local rules." Falzone said his client is seeking compensatory damages that cover potential disabilities, mental anguish, hospital expenses, as well as long-term medical care and loss of income. Before she was injured, Falzone said, Jordan was an outgoing woman with an independent personality, with lots of friends and a love of hip-hop. After high school, he said, she decided she wanted work in construction. Despite her toughness, he said, she's always had a special connection with children, whether they were her four siblings or neighbors. In recent years, Falzone said, Jordan took a job in security at Broward General Medical Center, the same hospital where her mother works. The job allowed the two women to say close to one another, he said. Car dealer Jim Smail in Greensburg, Pa., voted for Donald Trump in 2016 because he wanted a businessman in the White House. President Trump's trade wars have changed his mind. "I've learned my lesson,'' says the president of Smail Auto Group, which sells U.S.- and foreign-made vehicles. "I thought that's what we needed and I got what I didn't expect, that's for sure.'' The next chapter in Trump's effort to rewrite U.S. trade policy may be delivered later this week, and it could be the most disruptive. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is set to conclude by Feb. 17 an investigation examining the national-security risk of auto imports. He'll formally submit the report to the president and offer recommendations on what actions to take. Trump will have 90 days to decide what to do next. He could also further delay his decision to give countries more time to negotiate with the U.S. The president has already publicly threatened to impose tariffs of as much as 25 percent on automobiles and parts. The move is particularly focused on fixing what he says is an unfair trading relationship with the European Union. Trump last year used the same arcane trade law Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to justify tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. YOKOHAMA, Japan Nissan Motor Co. said it had booked around $84 million in charges related to under-reported compensation for ousted chairman Carlos Ghosn, and slashed its annual profit outlook on weaker global sales. Ghosn, arrested and detained in Tokyo since Nov. 19, has been indicted in Japan on charges of under-reporting his salary at Nissan over 2010-2018. He has denied the deferred pay was illegal or required disclosure. Nissan said on Tuesday that it had recognized around 9 billion yen ($84 million) in additional expenses linked to payments to Ghosn. The statement was part of Nissan's quarterly results announcement, its first since Ghosn's November arrest on allegations of financial misconduct. The scandal at Nissan comes at a time when the automaker, together with its domestic rivals including Toyota Motor Corp., is struggling with sluggish sales and falling profit in North America, a key market. Their margins have been squeezed as they resorted to steep discounts to drive up demand in a competitive U.S. market where sales have plateaued near record highs. The Japanese automaker cut its full-year profit forecast to 450 billion yen from 540 billion yen previously on persistent weakness in global sales. Union officials told Reuters they were skeptical. We will never settle for just transition language as a solution to the job losses that will surely come from some of the policies in the resolution, said Yvette Pena OSullivan, executive director of the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), whose members work in construction and other industries. Phil Smith, a spokesman for the United Mine Workers (UMWA), which represents workers in the coal industry, echoed the concerns. Weve heard words like just transition before, but what does that really mean? Our members are worried about putting food on the table, he said. LIUNA and UMWA said they were not contacted for input on the resolution before it was released. Sean McGarvey, president of the North Americas Building Trades Unions, representing construction workers across all sectors including energy, said his staff had been contacted by Markeys office about the Green New Deal, but said his members are skeptical of green job promises. In 2017, about two weeks after the East Bay Times won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the deadly Ghost Ship fire in Oakland, the paper announced one round in a series of layoffs that left Digital First's three Bay Area newspapers with less than half the employees they had in 2011. Last year, after the Denver Post laid off nearly a third of its staff, its editorial board published blistering criticism of the paper's owners and reporters traveled across the country to protest outside Alden's Manhattan offices. James Angel, associate professor of finance in the Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, said other investment firms have used a similar strategy to monetize industries in decline. "Alden is doing what I would call a pure liquidation strategy which is, 'no new investment and sell off what you can while you can,'" he said. In June, Digital First announced it was closing the longtime downtown home of the Pottstown Mercury, outside Philadelphia, and gave employees a choice: They could work out of the newspaper's printing plant, a 45-minute drive away, or work from home. Veteran municipal reporter Evan Brandt one of four reporters left at the paper chose to work out of his attic. The paper's old office is on the market for $500,000. A number of staffers working for embattled Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax have stepped down days after a second woman accused him of sexual assault, a spokeswoman for his office confirmed.Meanwhile, the second accuser, Meredith Watson, called for public hearings before the General Assembly and said she would be willing to testify.Those who have resigned include Fairfax's policy director, Adele McClure, and his scheduling director, Julia Billingsley, said spokeswoman Lauren Burke, who remains on.Two employees of his We Rise Together political action committee, Dave Mills and Courtney McCargo, have also resigned.News of the resignations was first reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Monday.Gov. Ralph Northam's press secretary, Alena Yarmosky, said she was not aware of any resignations from state agencies as a result of the scandal surrounding the governor and Attorney General Mark Herring, who both acknowledged wearing blackface while in college.Fairfax continues to face intense scrutiny this week about remaining in office after Watson accused Fairfax of raping her in 2000 while they were students at Duke University.Vanessa Tyson, a professor at Scripps College in Claremont, Calif., has also leveled assault allegations against Fairfax, describing a forceful act at his hotel room at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.Fairfax has strongly denied both allegations, and said he deserves due process.Calls for Fairfax's resignation grew wider late last week after Watson's account was released through her lawyer. One Democratic delegate, Patrick Hope, said he planned to file articles of impeachment come Monday if Fairfax hadn't stepped down.Hope walked back his plans after speaking with Democratic colleagues over the weekend.In a statement Monday evening, Watson's attorney, Nancy Erika Smith, said Virginia should hold public hearings so Fairfax cannot "assault the character of his victims in secret."Smith said Watson and Tyson "will produce witnesses and documents to show their honesty and good character." Boeing Co. delivered 46 aircraft in January, two more than a year earlier, as the world's biggest planemaker gears up for another year of record sales amid booming demand from the airline industry. The company's shares rose as much as 1.5 percent to $409.90. Investors and analysts keep a close watch on the number of planes Boeing turns over to airlines and leasing firms for cues on the company's revenue and cash flow. European rival Airbus SE delivered 39 aircraft in January, up from 27 planes a year earlier. Boeing won 43 net orders last month, beating Airbus, which did not report any wins and had 13 cancellations dominated by the superjumbo A380 aircraft. Of those orders, 18 were for 787 Dreamliner jets, as Boeing ramps up production rate for its wide-body aircraft to 14 per month from 12 in 2018. "There continues to be some pent-up demand (for the 787)," Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu wrote in a note. "The order (for the longest version of the 787 jets the 787-10) is notable given it is the first since June 2017 when Singapore ordered 19 of the variant." But the amount of anticipated sales tax revenue is far lower one estimate puts it at more than $1 million a year lower over 23 years than each side thought after concerned citizen Gregory Pace, 62, pointed out St. Louis-based planning firm PGAV mistakenly characterized University City as a point of sale city that can keep more sales tax revenue from St. Louis Countys sales tax pool. University City is a pool city that pays into the pool and receives back a portion of revenue from a complicated formula based on population. Rose briefed the City Council on the projects status Monday night, weeks after it was supposed to have received a vote that many expected would have given a final green light to the plan. Rose acknowledged the concerned resident prompted an investigation into PGAVs analysis and the city concluded last week it had erroneously assumed more future tax revenue would be available. We think in this instance PGAV made a very bad mistake, Rose said. But they believed they had contacted the appropriate institutions to verify their analysis. Thats all buybacks are: a way of returning cash to investors. Sanders and Schumer refer to them as corporate self-indulgence, but they actually impose discipline on management. If it sits around in the firm, cash has a tendency to burn a hole in managers pockets, says Mark Leary, associate professor of finance at Washington Universitys Olin Business School. From a shareholder value perspective, you should return excess cash to shareholders. Those shareholders typically reinvest the cash in other companies including younger firms that are, in fact, making capital investments and hiring workers. If a company has no attractive projects, its better to return that cash to shareholders than to expand its operations just for the sake of expanding, says Stan Veuger, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute. Shareholders typically reinvest the money their portfolio throws off. A buyback ban would make our capital markets less efficient while doing nothing to create jobs or raise workers wages. The version proposed by Schumer and Sanders also would discriminate against certain industries. The working group for the 2030 Agenda at Council of EU level had its first 2019 meeting in Brussels, under the coordination of Romania's representatives and being presided by Csilla Lorincz, head of office at the Department for Sustainable Development, who presented the work schedule and the priorities for the next months to the representatives of the member states. "Romania has the opportunity of coordinating the first meeting after the publication of the Reflection Paper on Sustainable Development Goals of the European Commission. The representative of the Department for Sustainable Development has the mission of aggregating the opinions of all member states, in order to build the standpoint of the Council of EU regarding the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Thus, the guidelines to underlie an European Strategy will be drafted during the Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU. The next meetings of the working groups in the upcoming months will be for preparing the European Union's position for the UN High-level Political Forum for Sustainable Development. Moreover, the group will work on strengthening the institutional relations with the other working groups within the Council of the EU," reads a release of the Government sent to AGERPRES. The same source mentioned that, besides other partnerships, the involvement of the young will be among the main topics to be promoted at the European level by the Department for Sustainable Development, in this context, at the first meeting of the working group this year being also invited representatives of the European Youth Forum. "Seven meetings will be held during the time when Romania is holding the presidency of the Council of the EU, to be presided by Csilla Lorincz, which meeting will bring Europe closer to a sustainable future," reads the release. Moreover, the delegation of the Department for Sustainable Development participated on Thursday in an event organised by the Sustainable Development Observatory, a body of the European Economic and Social Committee. "There, state counsellor Laszlo Borbely presented the National Strategy for Sustainable Development of Romania for 2030 to the representatives of the European civil society. Among the speakers were also Peter Schmidt, the president of the Sustainable Development Observatory, and also coordinators of the sustainable development strategies of the EU member states," specifies the same source. The working group for the Agenda 2030 was established in 2017 to coordinate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals at EU level. President Klaus Iohannis Saturday through Sunday will attend as guest of honour the 55th edition of the Munich Security Conference, informs on Tuesday a release by the Presidential Administration sent to AGERPRES. Read also: HealthMin Pintea proposes bill that clearly states the competences of aesthetic doctors According to the source, the president of Romania will open, as High Representative of the state holding the presidency of the Council of the EU, the series of debates, alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the latter as High Representative of the state at the helm of the African Union. This edition's agenda comprises current topics on the management of the security challenges, the transatlantic relationship included, NATO priorities, the future of the European project and the cooperation between the European Union and NATO. AGERPRES . Romania's Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar underscored the importance of developing a network of specialists in the area of intellectual property of each EU member state, within a specialist meeting organized in Bucharest in the context of Romania holding the Presidency at the Council of the European Union. The meeting was organised by the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights. "Within the speech delivered, the Prosecutor General commended the importance of the Observatory activities for endorsing and financing, in the member states, the authorities combating counterfeiting and piracy, in accordance with the principles of good knowledge of the contribution that intellectual property rights bring to the economic growth of each member state, and of the threats and damages caused by the infringement of intellectual property rights. Moreover, he underscored the importance of developing networks of specialists in the area of each member state, at the level of intellectual property offices and also among judges, prosecutors and police officers," a press release of the Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice (PICCJ) sent to AGERPRES on Tuesday informs. The meeting was also attended by experts of all the EU member states, representatives of the European Commission, as well as observers within some European institutions and international organisations - Europol, the World Intellectual Property Organisation. The strategic commitment of Bosnia and Herzegovina to join the European Union, proved through the accession request dating back three years ago, "should be translated" in tangible results, including in the areas of the rule of law, freedom of speech and anti-radicalism fight, Minister-delegate for European Affairs George Ciamba stated on Tuesday in the European Parliament. Ciamba spoke in the European Parliament in the opening of the plenary sitting dedicated to the 2018 report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) regarding Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Minister-delegate delivered a speech in the context in which Romania is holding the Presidency of the EU Council. Minister Ciamba highlighted that, after the elections which took place in this country in 2018, "the Council expects Bosnia and Herzegovina to get involved constructively in what means the formation of the government, at all levels, in the interest of all the citizens, so that the country can go on the European path." Ciamba pointed out that, Bosnia and Herzegovina's accession request to the EU of 2016, "represents a strategic commitment to move forward to the EU, but it should be translated in tangible results, on the field.: "These results cannot be achieved without functional institutions," he stated. The Minister-delegate talked about the approval some reforms oriented toward the EU, but also about "the concerns that a lot of time has been lost on rhetoric and pre-electoral campaign." "This aspect significantly slowed-down the pace of the reforms. A number of high-priority areas remain uncovered. More efforts are needed in terms of inclusive social-economic reforms and in terms of the rule of law reforms, including the fight against corruption and organised crime, public administration, the fight against radicalism and terrorism, as well as the improvement of collaboration at all the government levels," Ciamba stated. Furthermore, Ciamba also talked about the concerns related to the lack of progress in the area of free speech and media freedom. "We expect Bosnia and Herzegovina to address this situation," the official stated. Moreover, when referring to the ethnic component of the soil of the ex-Yugoslav country, Ciamba also talked about the "non-discrimination and equality" principles. Minister of National Defence Gabriel Les on Wednesday and Thursday is set to participate in the meeting of the defence ministers from NATO member states, to take place at the headquarters of the North-Atlantic Treaty Organisation in Brussels, the Ministry of National Defence (MApN) informed in a release on Tuesday. In the two days of the meeting the high officials will discuss topical issues regarding the implementation of the decisions adopted at the latest allied Summit in July 2018 and also at the subsequent ministerial meeting of October 2018. "The event is divided into five formal meetings, with an emphasis on the current stage of implementation of the strengthened deterrence and defence posture, as well as aspects related to the reconfirmation of the allied unity and solidarity, through a substantial contribution to the fair distribution of responsibilities, participation in the allied missions and operations and cooperation at NATO-EU level. Moreover, the allied ministers will also discuss on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty," specifies the MApN release. On the sidelines of the meeting, the Romanian official will have a series of bilateral meetings with his counterparts from the NATO member states, UK and Canada, as well as from other partner states, such as Georgia and Ukraine. Chants, signs and marchers Lead-up to the strike Educators at Denver's 160 public schools initiated the city's first teachers strike in 25 years Monday morning after Gov. Jared Polis declined to intervene in their compensation dispute and 11th-hour contract talks with district leaders fell apart over the weekend.The strike follows 15 months of negotiations over teacher wages."We felt like we had to use the last tool in our tool chest to get them to listen," Rob Gould, lead negotiator for the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, said at a morning news conference outside South High School. "...We think it's important that DPS sees and knows and understands what it's like not to have teachers in the classroom."DPS Superintendent Susana Cordova announced at a late-morning news conference that the district and union will resume bargaining at 10 a.m. Tuesday."It's a problem for our kids not to have their teachers in class," she said, "so I want to get this done now. I'm very happy that we will be back at the table. We were ready to negotaite yesterday."Just before noon Monday, district officials announced that 2,631 of Denver's 4,725 public school teachers had joined the walkout, or about 56 percent. That's up from a morning estimate of about 2,100 teachers.That also included 507 teachers at the district's high-poverty schools, or about 44 percent of those educators.The district still has not said how many students were absent Monday.Denver Public Schools officials announced Sunday evening -- and confirmed Monday morning -- that all of the district's schools will remain open Monday, meaning administrators believed they would have enough substitute teachers and personnel from the district's central office in place.DPS preschool classes, however, will be canceled beginning Monday and for the duration of the strike because the district doesn't have sufficient licensed support staff. This will affect 4,714 students.Ahead of Monday's strike, the district hired 300 new substitute teachers in addition to its 1,200-person active roster of subs, while 1,400 employees from the central office were told they will be required to help fill in the gaps at schools.Across Denver, teachers and their supporters gathered outside schools, marching with hand-crafted signs as they demanded better wages from the district. Not surprisingly, the city's larger high schools drew bigger crowds than some of the smaller middle and elementary schools.Kimberly Beckeman, a ceramics teacher at South High School, was among the throng of teachers picketing outside that school early Monday morning."I hope my students see me out here standing up for what's right," she said.Beckerman said she's considered leaving the district for better pay and wants her students to have quality teachers.Emma Hoeschler, 17, is a junior at South High who came out to picket with her teachers."I think our teachers are such great influences on our lives," she said. "They deserve to be paid fairly."Hoeschler said South High students are planning a walkout at 8:30 a.m. in support of their teachersThe crowd outside South High even included a canine protester: a dog named Ollie wrapped in a sign that said, "Hey DPS, throw us a BONE."The dog's owner, Ryan Marini, has worked for DPS for 17 years, and said his wife, also an educator, left the Denver district for the Cherry Creek School District."I've seen so many good teachers leave," Marini said. "That's why I'm here."At East High School, just off Colfax Avenue, a large crowd of teachers paced the sidewalk, with one using a bullhorn to lead chants of "Hey, hey DPS, time to clean this filthy mess."Aimee Baker, a teacher at East High, said she's been with the district for 12 years, and, each year since 2014, it's felt like the teachers were getting closer to a strike."We're just asking for a predictable, fair living wage," she said.At William (Bill) Roberts Elementary School on the east side of Denver, a crowd of about 20 people marched outside the school carrying signs with slogans such as "I only got into teaching for the $$$$! -- Said NO teacher EVER."The teachers outside Bill Roberts Elementary chanted about their push for increased base pay: "We're all about that base, about that base -- no bonus!"An even smaller crowd was assembling outside Denver Discovery School, where about nine teachers gathered with signs, and one brought breakfast for the rest. One of their signs read: "We work hard for the money, so you better pay us NOW!"Melea Mayen, a Denver Discovery teacher, said she walked out of her classroom last year when she was teaching in North Carolina."Even though I get paid more here, the cost of living is triple what it was there," she said.The Denver Classroom Teachers Association last month voted to authorize a strike after its negotiations with DPS failed to secure a new contract governing educator compensation through the district's 20-year-old ProComp system. At the time, the two sides were about $8 million apart in their respective compensation proposals.Once the union authorized a strike, DPS officials formally asked Polis to intervene, a move that delayed any strike until the state government weighed its options. The governor ultimately declined to step in -- something that could have further delayed a strike by up to 180 days.Once Polis made his decision last week, union officials declared they'd strike on Monday, setting the stage for a final burst of bargaining. Representatives of DPS and the teachers met on Friday night and much of Saturday afternoon, but, in the end, the union walked out, setting the stage for Denver's first teacher strike in 25 years.Saturday's 11th-hour session grew increasingly contentious as union representatives rejected the latest DPS proposal, which would cut central office jobs and increase incentives to teachers working in high-poverty schools -- the latter being a sticking point with the union.The latest offer from DPS included:-- Eliminating 150 positions in the district's central office over the next two years, freeing up $20 million-- Putting $22 million in new funds into teachers' base salaries next year, and a total of $55 million over the next three years-- Increasing teachers' base salaries by nearly 11 percent next year-- Eliminating performance bonuses for central administration staff-- Increasing annual incentives for teachers working in high-poverty schools to $3,000 from $2,500"Teachers were stunned when DPS proposed hiking incentives instead of putting that new money into base pay where it could make the entire district more competitive," Henry Roman, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, said in a statement.The district countered that its latest proposal would result in a nearly 11 percent increase in teachers' salaries next year."Obviously, I'm incredibly disappointed," DPS Superintendent Susana Cordova said when the union ended negotiations Saturday. "We are ready, willing and able to continue working. It's not even 8 p.m. We have all day tomorrow."Cordova and her team made themselves available to continue bargaining on Sunday, but the union did not accept their invitation. Union officials said they won't come back to the negotiating table until Tuesday at the earliest.This is a developing story and will be updated throughout the day. Check back for updates. F16 aircraft of the Romanian Army are to take part in missions of the Police Air Service (SLPA) starting in March, under a national command, informs the Minister of Defence, Gabriel Les. He specified in a post on Facebook that the F16 aircraft will also be able to participate in international missions, as soon as the Romanian squadron receives the NATO certification. "The 53 F16 squadron has been evaluated at national level for participation in SLPA missions, beginning this March, under national command. The aircraft will also participate in SLPA missions under NATO command, as soon as the squadron goes through all the certification steps specific to NATO," wrote Les. He underscored that "all the F16 multi-role aircraft are operational and ready to participate in missions," while specifying that "there are no F16 Fighting Falcon aircraft in the 53 squadron to be dismembered for spare parts." 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There is so much touting of the right to vote, especially at election time, that it would be easy to think it was the be-all-and-end-all of liberty. But that diminishes liberty almost to a triviality. The vote is only input to a collective process that determines who will exercise some of your liberties on your behalf. Its the most visible part of liberty but, sadly, thats because the vote is a handle attached to you that others can grip in order to wield your liberty for their own purposes. If the TV voices who righteously exhort you to vote were for real, you would hear them between election cycles saying, Inform yourself so youll be able to vote meaningfully when the time comes. It they were truly concerned with liberty, they would be saying, Dont vote unless youve informed yourself or youll dilute the power of those who have. Of course, their please vote message is just the cherry on top of the political ads they sell, and the soap-and-soda-pop ads they sell before, during and after news segments just a revenue tactic. Your digital subscription allows you to view any content, comment on any issue and submit your own news to our newsroom. Digital subscriptions do not include home delivery of the Tracy Press. To receive the paper at home, sign up for Premium Membership. The Diffusion Discourse, founded by three local faith leaders, has organized a special event coming March 9-10 dealing with the question of science and faith. According to The Diffusion Discourse website, the main goal is to gather those of different beliefs together to spread knowledge and light through healthy dialogue in the community. The three founding members, all from Mooresville churches, are Carissa Abraham, director of faith formation and engagement ministries at St. Mark's Lutheran, Bryan Cerrone, director of youth ministries at First Presbyterian and BJ Dillard, student minister at First Baptist. We all try to keep current and this (question) kept coming up, said Abraham. The youth are hearing that science is for the mature and faith is for the immature, noted Cerrone, and the trio wants to provide a way to have those healthy conversations in the community. Dillard noted how fast the science world is changing. Parents dont know where to being this conversation and may not be able to solve lots of problems, but they can begin to have those conversations by attending and learning, he said. The Club is like an extended family, Atkins said. I commend you and congratulate you. Not only was Saragoni one of the Club builders, but she is also the Division 7 director and thus will be serving as the newly chartered clubs director. I am thrilled to be your district director, she said. We all have an innate desire to serve. I am proud to serve with you. Iredell County Exchange, we are going to have an awesome time. Our flag is going to fly at district. Lisa Familio, executive director of Iredell County Partnership for Young Children, welcomed the club as well. I am new to the area, but not to Smart Start, Familio said as she told the story of she and her husband turning to Smart Start for help and support with one of their children. The mission of Smart Start is to ensure that all children in Iredell County enter kindergarten healthy and ready to succeed. Familio also thanked the club members for their support. Its humbling to see the support from the community to get us into this newly renovated building, she said. In fact, some of the newly chartered members helped to renovate the building and thus she welcomed the club to meet there. Countries & Areas Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe Two St. Paul, Nebraska, residents who are father and daughter have waived their preliminary hearings on incest charges. Travis Fieldgrove, 39, waived his hearing Jan. 31. Samantha Kershner, 21, waived her hearing on Tuesday. Those hearings had been scheduled for Friday. Fieldgrove will be arraigned at 9 a.m. Feb. 19 in Hall County District Court. Kershners arraignment will be at 9 a.m. March 5. Both are charged with incest, a felony. Judge Alfred Corey set Fieldgroves bail at $100,000. Judge Arthur Wetzel set Kershners bail at $5,000. It was originally $20,000. Grand Island police said they believe that the pair began an intimate relationship in September, despite evidence that Fieldgrove is Kershners father. Both agreed to provide DNA to authorities for a paternity test. Fieldgrove later claimed in a Facebook comment that the test revealed Kershner was not his daughter. However, an affidavit says test results that came back Jan. 14 showed the probability that Fieldgrove is Kershners father is 99.999 percent. Authorities also received a DNA swab from Kershners mother. IRONWOOD, Mich., Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Keweenaw Land Association, Limited (OTC US: KEWL) today announced that Claudio Nicoletta has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer effective February 11, 2019. Mr. Nicoletta comes to Keweenaw from Boston Scientific Corporation, a publicly traded medical device manufacturer where he spent the last six years as a Finance Director Global Operations, in the American Medical Systems Business Unit. Mr. Nicoletta previously worked for United Health Group, Medtronic, Tennant Company and Steelcase, Inc. (each public companies). Mr. Nicoletta received his bachelors degree at the University of Windsor and an MBA from Lake Superior State University. He is a Certified Management Accountant. "We are pleased to welcome Claudio to Keweenaw," said Keweenaw Chairman Jamie Mai. "Claudio brings impressive financial, strategic and operational experience. He has an outstanding track record of managing financial and business operations within public companies, and we look forward to leveraging his expertise and experience." About Keweenaw Land Association, Limited: Keweenaw is a forest products and land management company located in Ironwood, Michigan. Keweenaw has land holdings exceeding 180,000 surface acres and 400,000 acres of mineral rights, located predominantly in the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan and northern Wisconsin. Additional information is available on the Company's website at www.keweenaw.com. Forward-Looking Statements: This letter contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties and should not be relied upon as predictions of future events or promises of a given course of action. A number of factors such as changing economic conditions, price fluctuations, land use, environmental and other governmental regulations, and risk of loss from natural disasters, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. As with any investment, past performance is not a guarantee of future results. The Company is currently not subject to the filing requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The Company is categorized as "not current" under the OTC Pink Sheets. Erdman said the bill also makes sense. If the valuation goes up a million dollars in a county or district and X amount of property tax are collected, the mill levy must come down so they cant collect more than before. From one year to the next, the same amount of property taxes will need to be collected by adjusting the mill levy. Under LB 103, local governments would be able to raise their levy, but only after a public hearing and a recorded vote. The proposed bill was quickly advanced out of committee for a debate before the entire legislature. Even with tax reduction measures, Erdman still thinks the state spends too much for the revenue it takes in. Hes been appointed to the Appropriations Committee, chaired by Sen. John Stinner of Gering. Weve had some discussions about cutting spending because thats what we need to do, Erdman said. The state Revenue Forecasting Board will meet later this month and my indication is the forecast will be lower and the revenue will be down. Erdman added that for the last few years in his district, the agricultural economy has been in a recession. Last year, it slipped into a depression. People find that hard to believe, but thats the way it is when youre dependent on agriculture. Submit Your News We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Gering Police arrested a 23-year-old Bayard woman on Sunday after she allegedly shoplifted from a Gering store and was found to be in possession of drugs after police searched her vehicle. Star Trevino has been charged with charges of possession of a controlled substance, a Class IV felony, theft by shoplifting, a Class II misdemeanor, and possession of marijuana, an infraction, She was arraigned Monday in Scotts Bluff County Court and is being held on a $16,000 bond. According to an arrest affidavit, Gering Police responded at about 1:08 p.m. on Saturday to the Pony Express Mart after it was reported a woman was in the store, allegedly shoplifting. When police arrived, they were advised the woman had left. An officer left the store to locate the vehicle, which had been stopped on Five Rocks Road, just north of M Street, by a Scotts Bluff National Monument officer. A Gering officer made contact with woman who matched the description given by store employees and was a passenger in the vehicle. The officer reported in the affidavit that he could smell the odor of marijuana and the woman and the driver were asked to step out of the vehicle. What emerging issues will challenge crop and livestock producers in the High Plains? What research is going on at University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and land-grant universities in response? What are the lessons from that research? A public meeting in Sidney on Feb. 21 will address these questions and related topics. Dryland Production in the High Plains is the theme. This meeting will include the annual meeting of the advisory committee for the UNL High Plains Ag Lab (HPAL) north of Sidney. The HPAL advisory committee meeting will take place after lunch, and the morning agenda will be full of topics of broad interest to agriculture, with speakers from three states. At the meeting, speakers will share updates on research going on at HPAL and updates on emerging issues of concern to agriculture in the High Plains. In addition to UNL researchers, this year the event will also feature speakers from the Nebraska Wheat Board, Colorado State University, and Kansas State University, according to Cody Creech, Dryland Cropping Systems Specialist at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center and faculty supervisor at the High Plains Ag Lab. Ogden jazz icon Joe McQueen may be gone, but his memory and legacy live on. One physical reminder of his life, McQueen's lifelong home at 3158 Grant Ave., has now become available for sale. The house received extensive remodeling, but as investor Richard Casperson has said, "Joe's energy is K ylie Jenner slammed suggestions that anything had happened to her dog Norman after the reality star introduced a brand new pet to her Instagram followers. The reality stars newest puppy Wesley made a debut on her Instagram Stories over the weekend, when she shared a string of video clips of the adorable dog running around her home. She explained to followers that the adopted pooch is probably a Chihuahua, Daschund mix, and said that she just cant get over him. The 21-year-old beauty entrepreneur has since posted more sweet videos of the tiny pet cuddled up with a companion, but one of her Twitter followers seemed more concerned by the absence of Jenners Italian greyhound Norman. New pet: Jenner introduced Wesley to her Instagram followers / Instagram: Kylie Jenner @KylieJenner I want to know what happened to Norman and I want to know now, the fan wrote. Jenner quickly cleared up any confusion as to her pets whereabouts, replying: What makes u think anything happened to my Norman? She went on to explain that although her dogs may no longer make regular appearances in her social media posts, they are still part of [her] life. I dont post my dogs as much but that doesnt mean they arent very much a part of my life still, she said. Jenner has owned Norman since 2014, and last year unveiled a special custom-built dog mansion on Instagram, complete with heating, air conditioning and a tiny white picket fence. Along with the latest addition to the Jenner menagerie, the reality star is thought to own seven other dogs (including Norman and another greyhound, Bambi), as well as a bunny and a chicken. Leadsom shoots down Labours Brexit plan over customs union Commons leader Andrea Leadsom has insisted there is no chance Theresa May will accept Labours plan for Brexit, despite speculation she was softening her stance on being in a customs union. Mrs May will update MPs today on the latest Brexit talks but Mrs Leadsom said the Prime Minister had been clear leaving the EU would involve exiting the single market and customs union. Mrs May has brought forward her statement by a day to give MPs more time to "digest the content", according to Downing Street, ahead of a series of expected Commons votes on Thursday. Elsewhere Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay was said to have held constructive talks on Monday night with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels. Horse racing back on tomorrow It had been stopped last Thursday after three horses from one trainers yard tested positive for the virus. Three further cases were then confirmed before the British Horseracing Authority said tests on hundreds of horses over the weekend had come back negative. Announcing the resumption of racing, the BHA said it would maintain strict biosecurity controls. Agreement thrashed out for new US wall Congressional negotiators have reached an agreement to prevent a US government shutdown and finance building new barriers along the US-Mexico border. Republicans were desperate to avoid another bruising shutdown, so tentatively agreed to a deal for 55 miles of new fencing at the Rio Grande in Texas made of metal slats rather than a concrete wall. That was far less than the 215 miles of barrier the White House demanded in December. Negotiators say they are hopeful Donald Trump would agree to back the deal. Motorists lose up to 1,680 a year due to traffic jams Transport data firm Inrix calculated that the average road user in London lost up to 1,680 due to jams, while those in Edinburgh, Manchester and Leicester list more than 1,110. London and Edinburgh are the country's slowest cities with an average speed for journeys into the central business district of just 7mph in peak time. The research also found that London is the sixth most gridlocked city in the world when population is taken into account. And the greatest radio programme ever is Desert Island Discs has been named the greatest radio programme of all time in a new poll. The Radio 4 programme, in which castaway guests share the soundtrack of their lives, beat shows such as The Archers and Round The Horne to top the Radio Times list. It was picked by a panel of industry experts including Cerys Matthews, Justin Webb, Adrian Chiles, Caroline Wyatt and Sara Cox. Desert Island Discs has been broadcast since 1942. On this day 1554: Lady Jane Grey, Queen of England for nine days, was executed on Tower Green by her cousin and rival claimant to the throne, Mary. 1688: The Glorious Revolution ended. James II fled to France and Prince William of Orange and Princess Mary were declared King and Queen of England. 1809: Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States, was born in Kentucky. 1809: Charles Darwin, naturalist and author, was born in Shrewsbury. His work On The Origin Of Species (1859) formulated his theory of evolution and natural selection. 1898: Henry Lindfield of Brighton became the first British motorist to be killed in a car crash - a result of a steering failure. R etired astronaut Mark Kelly has announced he will run to finish John McCain's last term in the US Senate. If he wins the Democratic nomination, Mr Kelly would take on Republican Martha McSally in what is expected to be one of the most closely contested Senate races of the 2020 elections. Mr Kelly has billed himself as an independent-minded centrist who will take a data-driven approach to solving problems such as climate change, wage stagnation and health care affordability. The 2020 election will decide who finishes the last two years of Mr McCain's term, with the winner having to run again for a full six-year term in 2022. So, if 54-year-old Mr Kelly is nominated, what can Arizonans expect to see from him? Gun control He became a prominent advocate of gun control after his wife, former US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was caught up in a mass shooting in January 2011. Ms Giffords was severely wounded at a meet-and-greet event in Tucson. Six people were killed and she was one of 13 injured. The pair have since pushed Congress to enact gun control measures - but with little success. They shifted their focus to state legislatures in recent years, helping to strengthen background checks and domestic violence protections. Joint campaigning with his wife Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly pictured in 2016 / AFP/Getty Images Ms Giffords played a prominent role in the four-minute video launching Mr Kelly's campaign. "I thought then that I had the risky job," Mr Kelly said to Ms Giffords. Turned out, you were the one that had the risky job." Mr Kelly said Ms Giffords, who had been a rising Democratic star before the shooting, will join him frequently during campaign appearances. Independent thinking Mr Kelly, who flew four space missions over 10 years and commanded the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 2011, said: "You see a lot of partisanship in Washington and a lot of polarisation, and to some extent we've created that. "It's going to take people who are more independent to fix it. "Arizonans value independence." TODO: define component type apester More experienced opponent Mr Kelly has never held elected office. If nominated, he will oppose Ms McSally, a former Congresswoman and trailblazing Air Force pilot. She was appointed to Mr McCain's seat after narrowly losing to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in November last year for the other Arizona seat. This had been vacated by outgoing Republican Jeff Flake. Ms McSally leaned heavily on her record as the first woman to fly a combat mission, but she was hurt by her embrace of president Donald Trump. Impact on Democrats Democrats are eagerly watching the Arizona contest, having already defeated Ms McSally. The party is also gauging whether Arizona could be competitive at presidential level in 2020. Mr Trump won the state in the 2016 presidential elections. T he White House has condemned violence against the press after a BBC cameraman was attacked at a rally where Donald Trump was accused of whipping up the crowd into an anti-media "frenzy". Veteran camerman Ron Skeans was confronted by a lout in a Make America Great Again hat during a Finish The Wall rally in El Paso, Texas, on Monday night when the incredibly violent attack occurred. In the video, the camera can be seen focusing on Mr Trumps speech when suddenly the lens is pushed down and jostled by an assailant. After the incident, BBC Washington news editor Eleanor Montague posted online: "Just attended my first Donald Trump rally where my colleague BBC cameraman Ron Skeans was attacked by a Trump supporter. "The crowd had been whipped up into a frenzy against the media by Trump and other speakers all night." White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said on Tuesday that the president "condemns all acts of violence against any individual or group of people - including members of the press." Donald Trump's, whose poll numbers were sent tumbling during the government shutdown, at a rally in El Paso on Monday / Getty Images She added: "We ask that anyone attending an event do so in a peaceful and respectful manner. "For questions around security at Trump campaign events please contact the campaign directly. The White House Correspondents' Association also condemned the attack, with president Olivier Knox saying the group is relieved that "this time, no one was seriously hurt." Ron Skeans was attacked during a Finish The Wall rally in El Paso, Texas / AFP/Getty Images Knox said the president should make clear to his supporters that violence against reporters is unacceptable. Trump tweeted about the rally on Tuesday, but did not mention the attack on Mr Skeans, instead saying it was a beautiful evening. BBC Americas Bureau Chief Paul Danahar wrote to Ms Sanders after the attack, asking for a full review of security arrangements. He added: Access into the media area was unsupervised. No one in law enforcement intervened before, during or after the attack. North America editor Jon Sopel, who works closely with Mr Skeans, wrote a blog for BBC News about the incident in which he said he wasnt shocked by the incident and called Ron the kindest, politest, most decent, patriotic man you could wish to meet. He added: The idea that someone would attack Ron is frankly preposterous. He's the wrong guy. But of course it wasn't Ron that was being attacked. To the drunken lout in the red Make America Great Again hat at the Trump rally, who bravely attacked him from behind while he was looking through the 12lbs (5kg) of camera on his tripod and couldn't see him, that didn't matter. Ron wasn't Ron. Ron was the media. And the media are fair game, aren't they? President Donald Trump's second year in office - in pictures 1 /25 President Donald Trump's second year in office - in pictures Donald Trump in the Oval Office AFP/Getty Images March 2018 Stormy Daniels, an adult film star and director whose real name is Stephanie Clifford is interviewed by Anderson Cooper of CBS News' 60 Minutes programme CBS News/60 Minutes March 20 Donald Trump meets with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office of the White House AFP/Getty Images June 09 German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks to U.S. President Donald Trump during the second day of the G7 meeting in Charlevoix city of La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada Reuters June 12 Donald Trump meets with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un at the start of their historic US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore AFP/Getty Images June 12 A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the U.S.-Mexico border in McAllen, Texas Getty Images June 21 U.S. first lady Melania Trump walks from her airplane to her motorcade wearing a Zara design jacket with the phrase "I Really Don't Care. Do U?" on the back Reuters July 13 Demonstrators gather in Trafalgar Square, London during a 'Stop Trump' march as part of the protests against the visit of US President Donald Trump to the UK PA July 13 Donald Trump and Britain's Queen Elizabeth II inspect a Guard of Honour, formed of the Coldstream Guards at Windsor Castle AP July 13 Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa meet at Chequers Reuters July 14 Trumps visit to Britain - Baby blimp July 14 Reuters July 16 Donald Trump meets with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, Reuters August 29 Cindy McCain, wife of US Senator John McCain, touches the casket during a memorial service at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix Reuters October 4 Protestors rally against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill Getty Images October 6 Protesters rally against the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, outside of the Supreme Court, Getty Images October 02 Jamal Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 Reuters October 11 Donald Trump meets with rapper Kanye West (R) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC AFP/Getty Images October 11 Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian posed for a photograph together at the White House Donald Trump/Twitter October 23 President Donald Trump speaking about developments regarding the killing of Jamal Khashoggi EPA October 27 Donald Trump speaks to the media at Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base AP October 30 Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump put down stones from the White House and flowers at a memorial outside for those killed at the Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue AP November 07 CNN correspondent Jim Acosta does a stand up before the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington AP November 07 A White House staff member reaches for the microphone held by CNN's Jim Acosta as he questions U.S. President Donald Trump during a news conference following Tuesday's midterm U.S. congressional elections Reuters November 07 Donald Trump looks on as a White House aide takes away a microphone from CNN journalist Jim Acosta during a news conference in the East Room of the White House AP December 11 Michael Cohen arrive at federal court for sentencing with his children, Samantha and Jake, and wife Laura Shusterman AP Mr Sopel said there was no security at the rally and that a Trump-supporting blogger had stopped the attack, with law enforcement slow to get involved. He described Trumps attacks on the fake news media and said it creates a violent atmosphere, with some reporters having been spat at. He continued: President Trump interrupted his speech and checked that Ron was OK. But there was no condemnation. No statement that this was unacceptable. The Trump campaign issued a two-line statement on the incident, but equally did not condemn what happened. What conclusion should we draw from that? What message does it send to people who feel hostile towards the media? The attack came less than two weeks after The New York Times published A.G. Sulzberger told Trump his anti-press rhetoric was not just divisive, it was potentially dangerous. Last October, a Trump fan was arrested after sending bombs to high-profile opponents of the president and media outlets Mr Trump had spoken out against. E mbattled Venezuela president Nicolas Maduro has claimed the Trump administration is an "extremist group" that is ruled by the Ku Klux Klan. In an interview with the BBC, Mr Maduro branded Donald Trump's government a gang of extremists as he accused the White House of warmongering. "They are warmongering in order to take over Venezuela," he said. Mr Maduro also called for the world to wake up" to the "aggression against his country. Donald Trump pictured on Tuesday / Carlos Barria/Reuters In the interview, he said he hoped "this extremist group in the White House is defeated by powerful world-wide public opinion". Speaking in Caracas, he said: "It's a political war, of the United States empire, of the interests of the extreme right that today is governing, of the Ku Klux Klan, that rules the White House, to take over Venezuela." Thousands of people opposing the government of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro march in Caracas on Tuesday / EPA Asked if Donald Trump is a white supremacist, Mr Maduro said: He is, publicly and openly. He has encouraged fascist tendencies, the neo-fascists and the neo-Nazis in the United States, in Europe and in Latin America. Its an extremist grouping that hates the world. They hate us and belittle us because they only believe in their own interests and in the interests of the United States. He added: In this battle we are fighting for Venezuela, I am telling you its a battle that goes further than our country. I call upon the people of the world to wake up, open your eyes to see it is an aggression against a peaceful country. Protesters returned to the streets on Tuesday, three weeks after opposition leader Juan Guaido invoked a constitutional provision to assume the presidency. F uming Travis Scott fans attempted to break down the doors of an arena before police retaliated with pepper spray projectiles after the rapper postponed a show. Excited fans arrived at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, ahead of Scotts AstroWorld show on Monday night. But the crowds quickly descended into chaos after it emerged the sold out show had been postponed until March 26. Some fans attempted to rush the doors, with footage showing some broken windows, before police were forced to disperse the crowd with pepper spray. Fans were left fuming after Travis Scott cancelled the Tulsa show of his AstroWorld tour / Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for The Recording Academy The rapper, who is dating Kylie Jenner, said last minute production issues were to blame for the cancellation. Will Brown, a student at Rogers State University, travelled 45 minutes to get to the show, but said he had met many fans who had travelled over ten hours. He said: People were throwing drinks and food or anything they could find at the doors of the venue. Eventually one of the doors cracked which was also very crazy, but one kid was able to open one of the door by simply pulling it open. The show was postponed just half an hour before the BOK Center doors were due to open / Twitter/@NAsfari Once he had opened the door, everyone rushed the door, and thats when a cop met him at the door and told him to back away. No one began to back off so the cop was forced to mace everyone in the vicinity. I got there two-and-a-half hours early just to get a good spot in line, and everything was perfectly calm and fine until the signs said the show was postponed, that was when everything started popping off. Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott at The Grammy Awards 2019 1 /14 Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott at The Grammy Awards 2019 Invision/AP Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Getty Images Reuters Getty Images Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner attend the 2019 Grammy Awards AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images for The Recording Academy Getty Images The mob mentality there was very negative, people were very very unhappy. The postponement came the night after the Grammys, which Scott and Jenner attended. Nabil Asfari also queued for two hours, and said the cancellation was announced just 30 minutes before doors were due to open. He said people went hysterical and one fan was even threatened with arrest after causing more chaos. Nabil added: I had to back off to the side as people threw more bottles and stuff onto the doors, one of them cracking one of the doors. Shortly after, one guy was able to open the front door and police stormed to him before he could get in and pepper sprayed whoever was in the front, including him. This is where every single person just cleared the whole area. Sergeant Jeremy Noland from Tulsa Police Department confirmed to Channel 8 News that police had used pepper balls. A dangerous wild animal making itself comfortable in an urban house might sound like a drug-induced hallucination. But it was no illusion for a marijuana smoker in Houston, Texas, when he discovered a real tiger in an abandoned property. The man, whose name has not been released, at first thought he was seeing things when he spotted the creature in the garage of the house. But he called police who, after establishing he was of clear mind, went to the property yesterday and found the female tiger in a cage secured with a screwdriver and a nylon strap. The animal, reportedly weighing around 1,000lb, was well-fed but thirsty. She was tranquilised and has now been moved to a specialist shelter. Video footage posted on Twitter shows the sleeping animal being lifted in the cage on to the back of a trailer.Police Sergeant Jason Alderete told local media that the terrified caller had assured us it was not the effect of the drugs that made him believe he was seeing a tiger, adding: At first we thought it was a prank or that he was high. Lara Cottingham, a spokeswoman for Houstons animal control agency, said of the tiger: Shes pretty large, so she doesnt look underfed. She was thirsty. She didnt look particularly threatening but they did tranquilise her right before they transported her. It is a beautiful animal and we want it to live a happy, healthy life. Living in a cage is not optimal circumstances for anyone involved. Resident Arturo Jimenez said: Its kinda scary. In Houston, that is not normal. S eventeen people have been killed in a fire at a hotel in New Delhi, police say. Firefighters battled the blaze at the Arpit Palace Hotel, in Karol Bagh, a popular tourist hub in India's capital city. At least four people were injured and have been taken to local hospitals. It is not known how badly hurt they are. Shocking images show the roof of the hotel completely ablaze as bright orange flames rip through and thick black smoke billows into the air. Local media reported that people had to jump from windows as the fire took hold. The blaze has been put out but the cause is being investigated. Onlookers stand on the rooftop of a building as they look at a hotel where a fire broke out in New Delhi, India / REUTERS "We have to check the stability of the structure, check every room," deputy police commissioner Mandeep Singh Randhawa said Twenty-five fire engines were called to the blaze, which engulfed all but the ground floor of the five-story hotel, according to fire officer Vijay Paul. Mr Paul said about 40 people were rescued from the hotel. Among those rescued was Sivanand Chand, 43, a hotel guest who was jolted awake around 4am struggling to breathe. "When I got out of my room, I could hear 'help, help!' from adjoining rooms," he said, adding that he opened the window and saw flames rising fast. "In 15 minutes, the whole room was black." The rescue took about 30 minutes because fire engine ladders could not initially reach Mr Chand's floor, he added. V ideo footage shows the moment a BBC cameraman was attacked by a Trump supporter at a rally. The BBC crew were attending the presidents Finish the Wall" rally in El Paso, Texas on Monday night when the incredibly violent attack occurred. In the video, the camera can be seen focusing on Mr Trumps speech when suddenly the camera is pushed down and jostled with. Seconds later, a man in a Make America Great Again cap can be seen shouting as he is restrained by security. Washington correspondent Gary ODonoghue said that a supporter of Mr Trump got on to the reporters platform and pushed the camera into cameraman Ron Skeans , before continuing to push him. Mr O Donoghue told the Today programme: It was an incredibly violent attack. Fortunately our cameraman is fine, he is made of stern stuff. US President Donald Trump arrives for a rally in El Paso, Texas / AFP/Getty Images This is a constant feature of these rallies a goading of the crowds against the media. I have been spat at before, they hurl abuse at American colleagues in particular. Eleanor Montague who shared the video on Twitter said the crowd had been whipped up into a frenzy against the media by Trump and other speakers all night. Last October, a Trump fan was arrested after sending bombs to high-profile opponents of the president and media outlets Mr Trump had spoken out against. Cesar Sayoc, 56, from Aventura, Florida was arrested by federal authorities in connection with a spate of bombs that targeted CNN and politicians including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. N otorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been found guilty of drug-trafficking at a trial in New York. Jurors convicted Guzman, 61, on all 10 counts. The verdict could mean life in jail. The Mexican was accused of being behind the Sinaloa drug cartel, which authorities said smuggled tonnes of cocaine, heroin, meth and marijuana into the US. Guzman broke out of Mexican prisons twice before he was finally recaptured and extradited to the US. in 2017. He is due to be sentenced on June 25. Guzman, is escorted by marines as he is presented to the press in Mexico City in 2014 / AFP/Getty Images Federal prosecutors put on more than 50 witnesses over three months detailing how Guzman's cartel amassed billions of dollars importing drugs into the US. The trial offered the public an unprecedented look at the inner workings of the Sinaloa cartel, named for the state in northwestern Mexico where Guzman was born in a poor mountain village. Witnesses detailed assassinations and political payoffs, and how drugs were smuggled using tanker trucks, railway carriages and even shipments of canned peppers. Evidence showed drugs poured into the US through secret tunnels or hidden in tanker trucks and railway carriages passing through legitimate points of entry. Members of Homeland Security Service patrol outside the US Federal Courthouse / AFP/Getty Images Guzman is known for two dramatic escapes he made from Mexican prisons and the "Robin Hood" image he cultivated among Sinaloa's poor. Key associates testifed against Guzman, whose nicknames translates to "Shorty". Among them were his former Sinaloa lieutenants, a computer encryption expert and a Colombian cocaine supplier who underwent extreme plastic surgery to disguise his appearance. One of the trial's most memorable tales came from girlfriend Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, who testified she was in bed in a safe house with an on-the-run Guzman in 2014 when Mexican marines started breaking down his door. She said Guzman led her to a trap door beneath a bathtub that opened up to a tunnel that allowed them to escape. Asked what he was wearing, she replied: "He was naked. He took off running. He left us behind." The defendant had previously escaped from jail by hiding in a laundry bin in 2001. He then got an escort from crooked police officers into Mexico City before retreating to one of his many mountainside hideaways. In 2014, he pulled off another jail break, escaping through a mile-long lighted tunnel on a motorcycle on rails. Even when Guzman was recaptured in 2016 before his extradition to the United States, he was plotting another escape, prosecutor Andrea Goldbarg said in closing arguments. S everal prominent French journalists were facing a criminal investigation today after a malicious pack of men who bullied high-profile women online was exposed. Paris prosecutors have began examining complaints of cyber-bullying against the contributors to a private Facebook group called League of LOL (Laugh Out Loud). Made up mostly of men in their thirties including a number working for Left-wing newspaper Liberation, the group ridiculed women journalists for years, sometimes using pornographic memes to attack them. Those targeted included TV presenter Florence Porcel, 35, who received a call from a League member posing as an executive offering her a non-existent job. When the recording was made public, I cried of shame for days, said Ms Porcel. The founder of the group, journalist Vincent Glad, was suspended by Liberation yesterday after an investigation by its own fact-checking unit exposed its existence. The revelations also led to the suspension of the newspapers online editor and his opposite number at music and culture magazine Les Inrockuptibles. The scandal is being described as the French medias #MeToo moment, after the campaign to bring prominent men guilty of sexual abuse to justice. Anti-discrimination group SOS Racism has filed a criminal complaint for sexist, homophobic and racist harassment. The group said in a statement that the pack of malicious young adults regularly joked about rape and torture, while harassing women including prominent TV presenters and feminist activists. A spokesman for Paris prosecutors today confirmed they had received the complaint from SOS Racism and that enquiries are ongoing. Mr Glad, 35, has apologised, saying his behaviour was not funny at all when it was done in a pack. He said he was horrified to now see my Tweets from 2013 when I joked about rape culture. Im ashamed. A baby girl with her umbilical cord still attached was found lying in the middle of a road in frosty conditions, police in the US have said. The newborn was found on a rural road in California by a newspaper delivery man on Monday morning, Madera County Sheriffs Office said. The infant was found on the centre line of a roadway, with her umbilical cord still attached and the newspaper carrier said he bundled the baby into his vehicle to keep her warm, before calling the police. Police are searching for a woman who allegedly left the child, described an a Hispanic woman possibly in her early 20s. The baby was only wearing a one-flannel pyjama set, according to police, and was wrapped in a blanket. In a press conference, Madera County Undersheriff Tyson Pogue said: Its very fortunate the child was discovered by the newspaper delivery person before she was seriously injured, or even possibly killed. Mr Pogue said a witness told officers he had seen a woman with an infant who asked him to take the baby, minutes before the baby was found. He said: He was approached by a female driving a white, smaller SUV. This female got out of her car, asked the man if he could help her and asked him to take her child. The man directed her to the fire station and the Valley Children's Hospital down the street and suggested she take the baby there." F orecasters have warned a freezing cold snap and windy weather could return to Britain following a mild respite this week. Wet and windy weather is set to arrive from the west with the chance of colder conditions next week, according to the Met Office. And there could be further snowfall in the UK, mainly on the hills. The colder snap is expected to hit the UK next week following a fairly mild week with temperatures reaching double figures in parts. The Met Office warned that there could be snow, mainly on the hills / PA In London and the south east this week, temperatures are expected to reach a maximum of 10 or 11C. Richard Miles from the Met Office told the Standard: Its dry and cloudy with some sunny spells. However today there will be patches of fog and some possible frost overnight." Tomorrow there will be some patchy fog but it will be a mild and sunny day, mild for this time of year. The Met Office warned that there could be some frost overnight / PA Its mild everywhere with overnight temperatures reaching 6/7C. Elsewhere, the northwest will be hit by some rain with heavier showers predicted in western Scotland. The cold spell will come just weeks after the UK was hit by snow. M usa spends two hours each day sifting through piles of smouldering rubbish on a Freetown landfill site before he goes to school. Like scores of other children at the Bomeh dump site in Sierra Leones capital, the 15-year-old scavenges for discarded plastics, rubber and metals that he can sell to provide an income for his family. On a good day he can earn the equivalent of 20p for retrieving a huge sackful of recyclable plastic bottles plucked from the mounds of rotting rubbish. It is enough to buy some bread or fruit for him and his family. Ousman, 12, carries a bamboo stick twice his size to poke through the debris while crouched over a trench of rubbish looking for copper to resell. Bomeh is home to about 300 people who live in shacks around the perimeter, where toddlers play with discarded waste and fires spontaneously break out under the debris. The smell is unbearable, and the senses are overwhelmed by the combined stench of burning plastic and decaying organic matter under an oppressive heat. The Evening Standard visited Bomeh dump with British charity Street Child and its founder patron Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York. She was there to launch the Schools For Tomorrow pledge to build or upgrade 1,000 rural schools over five years. The charity is also running the Count Me In appeal to provide school resources and improve standards and access. Public donations up to 2 million will be matched by the Government until February 21. The plights of Musa and Ousman immediately attract the duchesss attention as they stand shyly on the fringes hunting through the rubbish piles. Musa avoids eye contact, and later admits to feeling ashamed for scavenging to live. He said: I attend a school but things are difficult. I come here first to find metals. I do not want to do this. I would like to be a lawyer when I am older but I have no choice right now. I go to school because I do not want to do this any more, but I must come here every morning. It is hard and I am tired. The duchess took him to one side to praise his courage and he smiled when she told him: You really can be a lawyer. Out of three million children in the West African nation, more than 230,000 do not attend school regularly. Some 88 per cent of those without access to education live in traditional rural communities largely cut off from schooling. Street Child, which is backed by the Evening Standard, has helped to improve more than 200 community schools. The new campaign has an ambitious target of 1,000 by 2024. Street Childs staff rebuild classrooms, install toilets and water wells, fund formal teacher training and offer family business training for parents. The UK charity works hand-in-hand with Street Child of Sierra Leone, an NGO set up in the Nineties by local residents to help children displaced during the civil war. "I would like to be a lawyer when I am older but I have no choice right now. I must come here every morning" Raising money to make repairs, provide books and general maintenance is a constant struggle, according to Street Child of Sierra Leones deputy director for rural education, Justin Sesay. He said: The classrooms are congested. There are now more than double the children attending this school compared to when we took over. An open sewer runs nearby and the school floods every year during the rainy season. The duchess said Sierra Leone had changed dramatically since her first visit in 2002 at the end of the civil war. The young people are so excited about learning now and they are so courageous, they really want to make a difference for their futures, she said. The one thing we can all give another is an ounce of hope. I am proud to be with an organisation I know will continue to deliver that grain of hope. It is challenging, but I am happy Sarjoh, 13, head boy at a school supported by Street Child, dreams of being a scientist. He is one of six siblings born to cattle farmers in a northern village, and walks four miles to school and back each day. Sarjoh beams with pride when interrogated by the Duchess of York about his education at The Norwich Hope Academy. He tells her: It is challenging to walk so far every day, but I am very happy. I love school and it makes me feel special that the duchess said she would think of me when she goes home. That makes me very happy. Another pupil, Adama, nine, loves to read and write, and her ambition is to one day become president of the country. She said: I love my teacher. I like to learn maths and English. I want to work very hard and stay in school. R ichard Madeley was accused of going full Alan Partridge this morning as he interviewed a naked Brexit protester. Cambridge University economist Dr Victoria Bateman was invited to appear on Good Morning Britain, with Madeley standing in for usual host Piers Morgan. And viewers were left in stiches as they drew comparisons between him and Steve Coogans beloved comedy character. As he introduced Dr Bateman he warned viewers to "gird their loins" before later joking the production team didnt know where to put her mic. At one point he described a pro-Remain message written across her body. You cant read it because weve had to pixilate it, he said. Across this part - which we probably could show - it says Brexit, and above your right breast it says leave, and above your left breast it says 'Britain', and over both breasts it says naked. Its beautifully written it capitals - who wrote it? One Twitter user wrote: "Richard Madeley interviewing a naked female lecturer on @GMB. Cancel the Alan Partridge comeback, this is all we need." Another added: "Just when you think Richard Madeley can't get any more Partridge..." In her interview, Dr Bateman told presenters Madeley and Kate Garraway: "As an economist Im used to using words and equations to make an argument. Naked Brexit campaigner says she is not an exhibitionist "In the run up to referendum I must have penned thousands of words on why Brexit would be bad for Britain. Im effected much more by visuals than words alone. The power of film, TV, fashion. B eaming Meghan Markle stunned onlookers in an all-white ensemble as she arrived with Prince Harry at the Natural History Museum for a gala show. Meghan, 37, and Harry, 34, were at the world famous museum for a performance of Australian play The Wider Earth. Radiant Meghan, who is due to give birth in April, was wearing a Calvin Klein dress and a 895 coat by Amanda Wakeley for the evening's events. She held hands with Harry as she entered the museum where she was greeted with flowers given by 12-year-old Sage Saunders. Meghan and Harry at the Natural History Museum 1 /9 Meghan and Harry at the Natural History Museum The Duchess of Sussex arrives at the Natural History Museum in London PA Meghan received a bouquet from Sage, 12 PA Meghan and Harry were at the world famous museum for a performance of Australian play The Wider Earth PA Meghan wore a Calvin Klein dress and coat by Amanda Wakeley PA Beaming Meghan is due to give birth in April REUTERS Tonight's visit was in support of the Queen's Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and the production's official charitable partner, The Queen's Commonwealth Canopy (QCC). REUTERS Meghan smiles with a bouquet of flowers as she arrives at the museum Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive at the Natural History Museum PA The play the royals will watch is called The Wider Earth - a story about 22-year-old Charles Darwin's expedition around the world on HMS Beagle REUTERS The couple smiled as a robotic tortoise puppet handed them their tickets for The Wider Earth. Meghan and Harry were then shown round a pop up Darwin exhibition by producer Trish Wadley and met children from Urbanwise London, a charity that offers outdoor learning for local children. Meghan laughed as a relative of one of the children showed her a photo on her phone, zooming in on the image to get a closer look. Meghan Markle arrives to see the play at the Natural History Museum / PA Their visit was in support of the Queen's Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and the production's official charitable partner, The Queen's Commonwealth Canopy (QCC). The Wider Earth is a story about 22-year-old Charles Darwin's expedition around the world on HMS Beagle. The production is presented by Trish Wadley Productions, Dead Puppet Society and Glass Half Full Productions. The royal visit is the first outing for the duchess since her father Thomas Markle Sr revealed the contents of a letter in which she accused him of breaking her heart 'into a million pieces' by giving interviews about her. Actor George Clooney leapt to the defence of the Duchess today, saying she is being pursued and vilified by the media in the way Prince Harrys mother Diana once was. The Duchess was handed a bouquet of flowers upon her arrival / PA The Hollywood star is a friend of Harry and Meghan and he and his human rights lawyer wife Amal attended the royal wedding in May last year. Clooney, 57, said history was repeating itself in the case of Meghan and Diana, warning "we've seen how that ends". Harry and Meghan are expecting their first child in April / PA Clooney, who was speaking at an event in Los Angeles, said: "I do want to say, I just saw this piece. "They're just chasing Meghan Markle everywhere, she's been pursued and vilified. "She's a woman who is seven months pregnant and she is being pursued and vilified and chased in the same way that Diana was, and it's history repeating itself. The royals enjoyed a night at the museum together / REUTERS And we've seen how that ends. "I can't tell you how frustrating it is to see that. "You're taking a letter from a daughter to a father and broadcasting it everywhere. "She's getting a raw deal there, it's irresponsible. "I'm sort of surprised by that." Former Suits actress Meghan is estranged from her father after a string of high-profile incidents since she became engaged to Harry. Days before his daughter was due to marry into the royal family, Mr Markle allegedly staged paparazzi photos of himself. He has previously said his relationship with his daughter has broken down and has made public appeals for her to get in touch with him, including an appearance on Good Morning Britain. A naked Brexit protester stripped off for a live interview on Good Morning Britain and reiterated her calls to take on Jacob Rees-Mogg in a debate. Cambridge University economic fellow Dr Victoria Bateman, otherwise known as the naked economist, appeared on ITV this morning with just the words Brexit leaves Britain naked written across her chest. She made headlines last week when she stunned BBC Radio 4's John Humphrys by taking off her clothes during an interview. She told presenters Kate Garraway and Richard Madeley: "As an economist Im used to using words and equations to make an argument. "In the run up to referendum I must have penned thousands of words on why Brexit would be bad for Britain. Im effected much more by visuals than words alone. The power of film, TV, fashion. "I thought I would condense down all those thousands of words into a simple, single message that Brexit leaves Britain naked." She was joined by Henry Newman, Director of Open Europe, who called the stunt "embarrassing and said: I dont think its actually advancing the argument. But Dr Bateman said: I am a woman comfortable in my own body, in control of my body, who is happy to use my body in order to deliver an important message about the most important issue facing Britain in a whole generation, to raise concerns about this entire Brexit project. Why as a woman should I only be able to use my body for sex and babies, why shouldnt I also use my body to deliver an important message. She added: The key message that I have to deliver is that Brexit is the emperors new clothes, that what high profile Brexiteers promised Brexit voters is just not possible to deliver. The British economy faces many, many problems right now, shortage of housing, problems with the NHS, wages stagnating, too many people up and down the country using food banks but the European Union is not the cause of those problems so how is it going to help us. How is Brexit going to help us solve those problems that are at the heart of our daily struggles up and down the country? T heresa May would win a working majority if a general election were held today but the Tories would only gain four seats, a new poll has found. YouGov modelling for The Times, which correctly predicted a hung parliament, suggests that Jeremy Corbyns Labour would lose 12 seats and the Tories would gain four. If the polling were correct, it would take the Tories to 321 seats just enough for a working majority. The Commons has 650 seats but Sinn Feins seven MPs never take up their seats and the Speaker is not counted. Labour would drop from 262 seats to 250, according to the poll. The Lib Dems would take four seats reaching 16 and the SNP would increase their number of seats by four to 39. Ukip, again, would win nothing, according to the poll. Mrs May has previously told her MPs that she will not lead her party into another election but while she has struggled to get enough support for her deal in the Commons, speculation over a snap vote has been rife. TODO: define component type apester A working majority would increase Mrs Mays power but Parliament is still likely to be unstable as she could be thwarted by small numbers of MPs on either wing of her party when trying to push through her Brexit policies. It comes as Downing Street said Mrs May will make a Commons statement on the latest developments in the Brexit negotiations on Tuesday afternoon to give MPs more time to "digest the content" ahead of a series of expected Commons votes on Thursday. Polling suggests Theresa May could win working majority in a general election / AP Elsewhere Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay was said to have held "constructive" talks on Monday night with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels despite his remarks that the EU would not reopen the withdrawal agreement. The pair agreed to further meetings in the coming days, while their teams will continue to work to find a way forward. Mrs May has told her MPs to hold our nerve to force the EU to renegotiate and urged them to give her more time to get an updates deal at a crucial stage in talks, rather than taking control themselves, according to Sky News. She talked up hope of a breakthrough and insisted she believed she can reach a deal that the House can support. Michel Barnier, right, with Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel / EPA The EU has repeatedly ruled out changes to the divorce deal but there is hope it could change the non-binding political declaration on the UKs future relationship with the bloc. Many MPs want there to be a time limit on the controversial backstop which is included in the deal to avoid a hard border between the UK and Ireland. On Tuesday, cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom dismissed the prospect of Mrs May softening her stance on a customs union. Labour has asked for a customs union and said it will back a deal that includes one. The Commons Leader insisted she would stay in the Cabinet to help Mrs May deliver Brexit and denied that the PM was softening her stance over a customs union in a letter to Mr Corbyn. Brexit: Leave and Remain supporters gather in London on 29 January 1 /25 Brexit: Leave and Remain supporters gather in London on 29 January Pro-EU and pro-Brexit protestors discuss the vote and ongoing political processes as they demonstrate near to the Houses of Parliament Getty Images A man holds a 'Stop Brexit' sign aboard a campaign bus travelling down Whitehall in Westminster, London PA Pro-Brexit demonstrators chant slogans outside the Houses of Parliament Reuters Anti-Brexit demonstrators protest outside the Houses of Parliament Reuters A leave supporter vapes electronic cigarette in front of a group of remain supporters AP Pro-Brexit protestors dressed as suffragettes demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament Getty Images An anti-brexit supporter holds banners in London AP Pro and anti Brexit protestors discuss the vote and ongoing political processes as they demonstrate near to the Houses of Parliament Getty Images Pro-Brexit and anti-Brexit protesters hold banners in London AP A campaigner dressed as Charlie Chaplin walks by the Houses of Parliament PA A leave supporter holds banners at the parliament gates AP Pro-Brexit, left and anti-Brexit protesters hold banners in London AP Pro-Brexit demonstrators protest outside the Houses of Parliament Reuters A leave supporter holds banners in front of remain supporters during demonstrations in London AP Police officers stand near Pro-Brexit and Anti-Brexit posters outside the Houses of Parliament, in Westminster, London Reuters Leave supporters hold placards in front of remain supporters during demonstrations in London, AP A pro-Brexit protestor sets fire to a roll of toilet paper decorated with the EU flag as she demonstrates near the Houses of Parliament Getty Images A pro-Brexit protestor sets fire to a roll of toilet paper decorated with the EU flag as she demonstrates near the Houses of Parliament Getty Images Leave supporters hold placards as they take part in demonstrations near the parliament in Londo AP Leave and remain supporters hold placards as they take part in demonstrations near the parliament in London AP Pro-Brexit activists hold placards and wave flags as they demonstrate opposite the Houses of Parliament in London AFP/Getty Images A remain supporter, left and a leave supporter, center, discuss during demonstrations in London AP Pro-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster Getty Images v Reuters Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate on a double decker bus outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster Getty Images Mrs May's reply sparked concern among Conservative Brexiteers that the Prime Minister could concede too much ground to Labour in an attempt to win cross-party backing for a deal with Brussels. Mrs Leadsom said: "I think she's making quite clear that what Corbyn is demanding is actually not as good as what the Prime Minister's deal is offering. "So he wants a customs union and he is unclear as to whether that means he also wants an independent trade policy. "He's unclear as to whether he also wants to stop free movement, and of course the EU's view would be, 'well, if you're in the customs union then you have free movement and you abide by the common external tariff'. Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom / PA "I think there's no doubt that what the Prime Minister is offering is better than what Corbyn is demanding, which simply begs the question, if they like it, why don't they vote for it?" Mrs Leadsom said there was "no chance" Mrs May would adopt Mr Corbyn's "view of the world", adding: "The Prime Minister has been absolutely clear we're leaving the EU, we're leaving the customs union, we're leaving the single market. "We're taking back control, we won't be paying money over, free movement will end, and we will have our own independent free trade policy, so I definitely don't see the Prime Minister agreeing to Corbyn's world view." The Brexiteer frontbencher refused to say what the cut-off date would be for the necessary legislation to get through the Commons to allow the UK to leave the EU as planned on March 29. She said it was possible to pass bills "quite quickly" with "goodwill" from the Commons and Lords, but added: "It's just not possible to say how quickly it could be done, but obviously it depends on the way in which there is adequate debate on the meaningful vote and that's what the Prime Minister is determined to do. J eremy Corbyn has been sent a super-sized message by campaigners who say he must resist Brexit. A blank billboard installed in his Islington North constituency by activists on Tuesday morning was covered in spray-painted slogans demanding the Labour leader back a second referendum. The stunt was organised by For our Futures Sake - a group of young Labour members who back the Peoples Vote campaign - and guerrilla campaign group Led by Donkeys. A For our Futures Sake spokesman said: Instead of staying silent on Brexit, young Labour members and Islington North constituents are writing what they want Jeremy Corbyn to say that he supports the majority of his members in backing a Peoples Vote. A blank billboard was installed in Mr Corbyn's Islington North constituency / For Our Future's Sake Messages emblazoned on the billboard near Mr Corbyns home include young people support a Peoples Vote, power to the people, our futures and Labour for Peoples Vote. Campaigner Kira Lewis, 18, said: Jeremy was rightly elected off of the back of the support of young people across the country, who believed in his vision of a new type of politics. Messages now cover a billboard put up in Mr Corbyn's constituency / Kira Lewis "We very nearly propelled him to Downing Street last year, believing that he would genuinely listen to our concerns. "However, the reality is that because of Brexit, young people are gravely concerned." TODO: define component type apester She added: There simply is no Brexit that doesn't limit the life opportunities of the young - and this billboard shows Mr Corbyn that young people's support is not unconditional. "We believed in him because we believed he would offer us a brighter future. That isn't possible outside of the European Union" Rosie McKenna, 24, an activist with For Future's Sake, said: "As someone who voted for Jeremy Corbyn, I'm sad he's not doing what he said he would do, which is give power to the grass roots and the party members." Lucy Holland, 22, has been campaigning for a People's Vote since last summer and decided to come down after hearing about the stunt on Monday. She said: "It's really important to get this message across and we really need Jeremy Corbyn to say more on Brexit. "I think Jeremy Corbyn understands that he needs young people to be heard for him to enable his party to do more for the country." For our Future's Sake and Led By Donkeys who have been putting up billboards of politicians tweets in the last month - also announced that they will be collaborating together on political stunts in the future. T HERESA MAY was today accused of seeking to run down the clock on Brexit to blackmail MPs into backing her plans at the eleventh hour. Jeremy Corbyn hit out after the Prime Minister rejected Britain staying in the customs union with the European Union. In a statement to the Commons, the Prime Minister pleaded for more time from MPs to try to reach a deal with Brussels over the Northern Ireland border backstop. But Labour leader Mr Corbyn responded: It appears the Prime Minister has just one real tactic, run down the clock hoping members of this House are blackmailed into supporting a deeply flawed deal. Shes playing for time and playing with peoples jobs, our economic security and the future of our industries. TODO: define component type apester But Mrs May defended her stance and also reached out to Labour backbenchers to back her proposals. Everyone in this House knows that the vote for Brexit was not just about changing our relationship with the EU, but changing how things work at home, especially for those in communities who feel they have been left behind. She dismissed the idea of staying in the customs union, but the text of her speech said the not a customs union. She added: I would gently point out that the House of Commons has already voted against this. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt earlier warned EU leaders to compromise on Brexit to secure friendly relations and protect peace in Northern Ireland. Before travelling to France and Poland for talks with ministers, Mr Hunt raised the threats of a no-deal departure or Brexit paralysis if the EU and Britain were unable to strike a deal. Jeremy Corbyn in the Commons on Tuesday / PA Brussels was steadfastly refusing to budge on the backstop for the Northern Ireland border but Brexiteers and the Democratic Unionist Party were adamant that it must be axed or changed, or they will not back the withdrawal agreement. Seeking to prise open the deadlocked talks, Mr Hunt stated: No one who grew up with bombs every week in Northern Ireland but also in Harrods, Hyde Park and throughout the UK could ever countenance taking a risk with peace, and nor will we. But the best way to secure that peace is to do a Brexit deal that secures friendly relations between the UK and its neighbours. And that means sensible compromise on allsides. Mr Hunt issued his plea as: Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom told Brexiteers they should not be purist as she stopped short of demanding that any new legal guarantees on the backstop be included in a reopened withdrawal agreement. Fears grew at Westminster over the dangers of Theresa May plunging the country, possibly accidentally, into a no-deal departure. Business anger at the Governments handling of Brexit grew, with some exporters starting to fly goods abroad rather than ship them, given uncertainties over future tariff rules after Brexit Day. Ministers prepared to jettison plans, if parliamentary time runs out, to get Brexit Bills on fisheries, immigration and trade passed into law before March 29. The Maltese finance minister Edward Scicluna accused the Government of threatening to explode a political atomic bomb across the EU with a no deal. Ms Leadsom refused to rule out the meaningful vote on Mrs Mays Brexit plans being held in late March, which fuelled suspicions that the Prime Minister was seeking to run down the clock to pile pressure on MPs and the EU to back her proposals. But the Commons Leader risked angering hardline Tory Eurosceptics by refusing to insist that changes are made to the withdrawal agreement on the backstop, with Brussels expected instead to only offer a codicil or addendum on it. The point is to ensure that the UK cannot be held in a backstop permanently, she told BBC Radio 4s Today programme. How its achieved is not something to be purist about. With Mrs May appealing to ministers and MPs to hold their nerve rather than move against her to give Parliament control over the Brexit process, Ms Leadsom added: What the Prime Minister wants is a bit more time to be able to undertake what are now pretty crucial but delicate negotiations with the EU. Former Tory party leader Iain Duncan Smith warned the Government to adopt the Malthouse Compromise, which would scrap the current backstop and have a transition period of up to three years. J eremy Hunt today warned European Union leaders to compromise on Brexit to secure friendly relations between Britain and its neighbours and protect peace in Northern Ireland. Before travelling to France and Poland for talks with ministers, the Foreign Secretary raised the threats of a no-deal departure or Brexit paralysis if the EU and Britain were unable to strike a deal. Brussels was steadfastly refusing to budge on the backstop for the Northern Ireland border but Brexiteers and the Democratic Unionist Party were adamant that it must be axed or changed, or they will not back the withdrawal agreement. Seeking to prise open the deadlocked talks, Mr Hunt stated: No one who grew up with bombs every week in Northern Ireland but also in Harrods, Hyde Park and throughout the UK could ever countenance taking a risk with peace, and nor will we. TODO: define component type apester But the best way to secure that peace is to do a Brexit deal that secures friendly relations between the UK and its neighbours. And that means sensible compromise on all sides. Mr Hunt issued his plea as: Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom told Brexiteers they should not be purist as she stopped short of demanding that any new legal guarantees on the backstop be included in a reopened withdrawal agreement. Fears grew at Westminster over the dangers of Theresa May plunging the country, possibly accidentally, into a no-deal departure. Ministers prepared to jettison plans, if parliamentary time runs out, to get Brexit Bills on fisheries, immigration and trade passed into law before March 29. Business anger at the Governments handling of Brexit grew, with some exporters starting to fly goods abroad rather than ship them, given uncertainties over future tariff rules after Brexit Day. The Maltese finance minister Edward Scicluna accused the Government of threatening to explode a political atomic bomb across the EU with a no deal. Ms Leadsom refused to rule out the meaningful vote on Mrs Mays Brexit plans being held in late March, which fuelled suspicions that the Prime Minister was seeking to run down the clock to pile pressure on MPs and the EU to back her proposals. Countdown to Brexit: 45 days until Britain leaves the EU But the Commons Leader risked angering hardline Tory Eurosceptics by refusing to insist that changes are made to the withdrawal agreement on the backstop, with Brussels expected instead to only offer a codicil or addendum on it. The point is to ensure that the UK cannot be held in a backstop permanently, she told BBC Radio 4s Today programme. How its achieved is not something to be purist about. With Mrs May appealing to ministers and MPs to hold their nerve rather than move against her to give Parliament control over the Brexit process, Ms Leadsom added: What the Prime Minister wants is a bit more time to be able to undertake what are now pretty crucial but delicate negotiations with the EU. Prime Minister Theresa May / AFP/Getty Images The Prime Minister was making a statement to the Commons today but former Tory party leader Iain Duncan Smith warned the Government to adopt the Malthouse Compromise, which would scrap the current backstop and have a transition period of up to three years. Otherwise I cant see how the Government will achieve their withdrawal agreement, he added. MPs were mulling whether to attempt to force the Governments hand on Brexit with various amendments but it was not clear if any of them would command a majority at this stage. Ministers who have threatened to resign rather than back no deal were understood to be prepared to give Mrs May until the end of this month to strike a deal. But doubts remained over whether they would actually have the courage to see through their threats to resign. Brexit: Leave and Remain supporters gather in London on 29 January 1 /25 Brexit: Leave and Remain supporters gather in London on 29 January Pro-EU and pro-Brexit protestors discuss the vote and ongoing political processes as they demonstrate near to the Houses of Parliament Getty Images A man holds a 'Stop Brexit' sign aboard a campaign bus travelling down Whitehall in Westminster, London PA Pro-Brexit demonstrators chant slogans outside the Houses of Parliament Reuters Anti-Brexit demonstrators protest outside the Houses of Parliament Reuters A leave supporter vapes electronic cigarette in front of a group of remain supporters AP Pro-Brexit protestors dressed as suffragettes demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament Getty Images An anti-brexit supporter holds banners in London AP Pro and anti Brexit protestors discuss the vote and ongoing political processes as they demonstrate near to the Houses of Parliament Getty Images Pro-Brexit and anti-Brexit protesters hold banners in London AP A campaigner dressed as Charlie Chaplin walks by the Houses of Parliament PA A leave supporter holds banners at the parliament gates AP Pro-Brexit, left and anti-Brexit protesters hold banners in London AP Pro-Brexit demonstrators protest outside the Houses of Parliament Reuters A leave supporter holds banners in front of remain supporters during demonstrations in London AP Police officers stand near Pro-Brexit and Anti-Brexit posters outside the Houses of Parliament, in Westminster, London Reuters Leave supporters hold placards in front of remain supporters during demonstrations in London, AP A pro-Brexit protestor sets fire to a roll of toilet paper decorated with the EU flag as she demonstrates near the Houses of Parliament Getty Images A pro-Brexit protestor sets fire to a roll of toilet paper decorated with the EU flag as she demonstrates near the Houses of Parliament Getty Images Leave supporters hold placards as they take part in demonstrations near the parliament in Londo AP Leave and remain supporters hold placards as they take part in demonstrations near the parliament in London AP Pro-Brexit activists hold placards and wave flags as they demonstrate opposite the Houses of Parliament in London AFP/Getty Images A remain supporter, left and a leave supporter, center, discuss during demonstrations in London AP Pro-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster Getty Images v Reuters Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate on a double decker bus outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster Getty Images There was anger among backbench MPs at Mrs Mays tactics. Anyone who believes Theresa May is doing anything other than running down the clock is completely naive, tweeted Labour MP Owen Smith, who added: The plan is totally transparent: bounce MPs into agreeing her Deal at the very last minute. N ew plans to deal with Britains growing adult social care crisis have been hit by Brexit, a minister admitted today. Caroline Dinenage said a long-awaited green paper on social care was ready to be published but had not yet been released as Brexit was taking centre stage. As Britains population ages, hundreds of thousands of elderly people face daily struggles due to a lack of support, according to campaigners. Age UK stated that it had taken more than 700 days since the Government promised a green paper on social care to deal with the issue. Care minister Ms Dinenage told Sky News: Its coming, its ready. Of course, there have been a few other little political things that have cropped up in the meantime, which have taken very much centre stage. But we are very keen that the adult social care document gets published very shortly. TODO: define component type apester Pressed on whether she meant Brexit when she referred to little things, she added: I do. Health chiefs are warning that proposed post-Brexit immigration rules could hit EU workers in social care in the UK, who number more than 100,000, if the Government presses ahead with a proposed 30,000 salary threshold for skilled migrants to come to work here. Countdown to Brexit: 45 days until Britain leaves the EU Ms Dinenage urged people to voice their concerns about the limit, stressing: The salary threshold is being consulted on at the moment... people should definitely get involved in that consultation. She stressed that there was a settlement scheme to encourage EU workers to stay in Britain, adding that there were 8,500 more citizens from EU countries working here in social care than before the 2016 Brexit referendum. Brexit: Leave and Remain supporters gather in London on 29 January 1 /25 Brexit: Leave and Remain supporters gather in London on 29 January Pro-EU and pro-Brexit protestors discuss the vote and ongoing political processes as they demonstrate near to the Houses of Parliament Getty Images A man holds a 'Stop Brexit' sign aboard a campaign bus travelling down Whitehall in Westminster, London PA Pro-Brexit demonstrators chant slogans outside the Houses of Parliament Reuters Anti-Brexit demonstrators protest outside the Houses of Parliament Reuters A leave supporter vapes electronic cigarette in front of a group of remain supporters AP Pro-Brexit protestors dressed as suffragettes demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament Getty Images An anti-brexit supporter holds banners in London AP Pro and anti Brexit protestors discuss the vote and ongoing political processes as they demonstrate near to the Houses of Parliament Getty Images Pro-Brexit and anti-Brexit protesters hold banners in London AP A campaigner dressed as Charlie Chaplin walks by the Houses of Parliament PA A leave supporter holds banners at the parliament gates AP Pro-Brexit, left and anti-Brexit protesters hold banners in London AP Pro-Brexit demonstrators protest outside the Houses of Parliament Reuters A leave supporter holds banners in front of remain supporters during demonstrations in London AP Police officers stand near Pro-Brexit and Anti-Brexit posters outside the Houses of Parliament, in Westminster, London Reuters Leave supporters hold placards in front of remain supporters during demonstrations in London, AP A pro-Brexit protestor sets fire to a roll of toilet paper decorated with the EU flag as she demonstrates near the Houses of Parliament Getty Images A pro-Brexit protestor sets fire to a roll of toilet paper decorated with the EU flag as she demonstrates near the Houses of Parliament Getty Images Leave supporters hold placards as they take part in demonstrations near the parliament in Londo AP Leave and remain supporters hold placards as they take part in demonstrations near the parliament in London AP Pro-Brexit activists hold placards and wave flags as they demonstrate opposite the Houses of Parliament in London AFP/Getty Images A remain supporter, left and a leave supporter, center, discuss during demonstrations in London AP Pro-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster Getty Images v Reuters Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate on a double decker bus outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster Getty Images The Government has launched a recruitment campaign to try to fill 110,000 vacancies in the social care workforce. R ush hour commuters faced major delays this morning after a power failure sparked disruption into one of London's busiest stations. South Western Railway passengers reported being trapped on trains up to three hours on Tuesday following an electrical supply problem between Clapham Junction and Waterloo station. The rail firm said power on the line had been recharged at around 11.30am. But passengers have been warned of disruption until 4pm with trains running to and from Waterloo expected to be delayed, cancelled or revised. Those trying to get to Waterloo have hit out, claiming they have been waiting a large amount of time to move on the tracks. David Lucas-Smith said his 45-minute-long journey took three hours today. He tweeted: Over three hours on my 45 minutes trip to Waterloo but what a relief to hear that the cause is an electrical issue rather than something more horrible. Credit to the driver and guard who have been very professional. Jack Courtez wrote: Been stuck under a tunnel between Woking and Waterloo for approximately 2.5 hours now. And Mik Thompson wrote: Nearly three hours stuck on the train outside Waterloo. Wonderful stuff.said: " South Western Rail said: "The specialist has completed their tasks and the recharge has been completed. Those trapped trains are expected to be on the move imminently." T he London Fire Brigade today launched a recruitment drive for 300 cadets to help keep young people away from crime. A 1.1 million cash injection from City Hall will create 15 new cadet units and take the number of cadets to 500 more than double the current total. The placements are for 11 to 17-year-olds who will learn basic fire safety, first aid and firefighting skills. They will also have the opportunity to obtain a BTEC qualification. The Mayors Office said the recruitment drive was part of Sadiq Khans efforts to keep young people off the streets and away from crime, and would also help develop the firefighters of tomorrow as many former cadets have gone on to work for the fire service. The LFB hopes the drive will boost the diversity of the cadet force and the service. Dany Cotton, London Fire Brigade Commissioner, said the cadets would challenge stereotypes, pointing out that more than half of recruits are young women. The commissioner, who has previously called for an end to the use of the word fireman, said the drive will break down barriers further and hopefully lead to more women becoming interested in the fire service. L ondons biggest hospital trust was today praised for making substantial improvement as it began to emerge from special measures after a four-year battle. Barts Health, which runs five hospitals serving 2.6 million people in east London, was said by the Care Quality Commission to have transformed its patient care. NHS Improvement removed it from special measures for quality, but the trust, which is expected to post an 84.7 million deficit in 2018-19, remains in financial special measures. Today the trust was rated as good for the effectiveness and caring aspects of its care and in terms of leadership, but overall it remained at requires improvement. Professor Ted Baker, the CQCs chief inspector of hospitals, said the trust had made real, consistent progress. He added: While the overall rating remains requires improvement, there has been substantial improvement in the quality of services. However, there remain concerns about inadequate maternity services at Newham hospital and the poor performance against the four-hour target in the trusts three A&Es. T wo men have been left with facial injuries after they had a corrosive substance thrown at them during a street brawl. Emergency services rushed to Argyle Square, near King's Cross station, on Tuesday afternoon after the attack. Police said those involved had all fled the scene, but the victims were found injured nearby. Pictures from the scene showed ambulances, a fire engine and a police presence on nearby Crestfield Street. A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said: Police were called at 13:33hrs on Tuesday, 12 February to reports of an altercation between two groups of males on Argyle Square, Bloomsbury. All parties had left the location before officers arrived at the scene. Two men were later found nearby with facial injuries reported to have been caused by a corrosive substance. They have been taken to a nearby hospital; we await an update on their condition. No arrests have been made. Enquiries continue. A worker from Kings Cross Inn Hotel said Crestfield Street was closed and there was a heavy police presence outside. He said he believed there was a fight between two groups of teenage boys and "then someone had acid thrown on them". A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: "We were called at 1:51pm today (12 February) to reports of an incident on Crestfield Street, Bloomsbury. "We sent an ambulance crew and our hazardous area response team (HART) to the scene. F ive members of an East Texas family, including a 15-month-old child, have been found shot dead at their home. Polk County sheriffs officials said on Monday that the family members, including a husband and wife, were fatally shot and that two men were found dead inside the house while two women and the infant girl were discovered outside. Chief Deputy Byron Lyons identified the adults as Ashley Delaney, her husband Randy Horn, and Delaney's in-laws, Carlos and Lynda Delaney. The child's identity wasn't immediately released. Local media reported that Mr Horn shot his family members before turning the gun on himself. Mr Lyons says a woman, identified as Ashley's mother, was found safe and locked in a bedroom closet. She told investigators that she woke up at around 5.30am on Monday to a disturbance which she described as popping noises. Emergency responders received a call for help around 10.30am and said it was not a hostile situation when police arrived. Mr Lyons told reporters: This is a horrible, horrific scene. A horrible crime. What I would ask is that the community will pray. This is something that we are not used to. He added that firearm was recovered from the house about 75 miles northeast of Houston and that no suspects are being sought, but he declined to characterise the shootings as homicides and a suicide. At this point were not going to say what were working is an apparent murder-suicide, because we really want the medical examiners office to look at all the evidence that has been gathered to able to make a determination, Mr Lyons added. I dont want to be premature about by calling it one thing and then have to retract it. P olice have detained a man on suspicion of arson after a huge inferno ripped through a mental health facility. The 43-year-old was held as firefighters tackled the "severe" blaze which broke out at the George Bryan Medical Centre, near the Sir Robert Peel Community Hospital in Tamworth, on Monday night. Dramatic images showed flames and smoke billowing from the building's roof, part of which appeared to have fallen in. Staffordshire Police said a suspect, from Tamworth, had been detained and appealed for information from witnesses. Firefighters work at the scene of a fire at George Bryan Centre at the Sir Robert Peel Hospital in Tamworth / AFP/Getty Images A spokesman from Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) earlier said there had been reports of one of the patients absconding during the commotion caused by the blaze. A police spokesman told the BBC the patient had been found soon afterwards. Christopher Pincher, the Conservative MP for Tamworth, said he was "very concerned" by the fire. A firefighter at the scene of a severe fire at the George Bryan Centre at Sir Robert Peel Hospital in Mile Oak / PA "I very much hope that there are no injuries and wish all the best to our local fire crews, Police and emergency services," he wrote on Twitter. SFRS said it was first called to reports of fire at the hospital at 8.52pm. Some 10 crews from Staffordshire, West Midlands and Warwickshire fire services were deployed as fire took hold at the facility, prompting the evacuation of nearly a dozen occupants and staff. A spokesman from SFRS said that there was "quite a lot of the building involved" in the blaze. A firefighter tackling a blaze in Tamworth / PA "We're trying to sacrifice part of the building and let that burn to prevent it from spreading to the rest of the hospital," he added. Staffordshire Police said they were called to the incident at 9.15pm. There are no reported casualties. The force said 11 occupants and staff were evacuated from the centre and were being transferred to other local medical centres. The George Bryan Centre shares a site with the Sir Robert Peel Community Hospital in the Mile Oak area of Tamworth, although the two buildings are not connected. T wo men have been stabbed within seconds of each other in separate attacks in the same part of east London. Police were called to a fight in Whaddington Street, Stratford, at 1.40pm on Tuesday. Officers found a man in his early 20s who had been stabbed in the back. He was taken to hospital on an air ambulance which had landed in the playground of nearby Colegrave Primary School. An air ambulance landed at Colegrave Primary School / @John_Gudgin/Twitter One minute later, at 1.41pm, officers were called to a separate fight in Cruikshank Road, just over half a mile away. A man, believed to be in his late teens, was found with stab wounds to his leg and buttocks. He was also taken to hospital. Their injuries are not life-threatening. A Mayfair sommelier and his wife repeatedly filmed their former next-door neighbours in a three-month stalking campaign after a bitter row over noise and intense cooking smells, a court was told. Christoph and Sylvia Hons fell out with their neighbours in Twickenham, Scott Lawrence and Jessica Parker, after complaining about late-night parties, noise from DIY, and the couple exercising their dogs on their side of the property, it was said. When Mr Lawrence and his wife Ms Parker moved house to escape the feud, Mr and Mrs Hons were accused of filming them from cafes, as they went out jogging and in a string of public run-ins between January and April last year. Giving evidence at Kingston crown court, Mr Hons, 50, a senior restaurant sommelier at Park Chinois, told the jury that his career makes him particularly sensitive to taste and smell. It was very intense, foul meat rotten meat. I am quite sensitive on taste and smell, it is a big part of my job, he told the court. Mr Hons said he told his neighbours: Your home is full of this bad smell, in the curtains, in your clothes, all over the place. He said the dispute started in late 2015, when he claimed he and his wife endured late-night parties next door and music through the walls up until 2am or 3am. I complained, but I found them quite aggressive, so reported the noise to their landlord, Mr Hons told the court. The parties stopped, but then they started throwing things at the walls and there was loud banging of doors up to midnight. There was also six weeks of continuous drilling. You could feel the vibration through the wall. Mr Hons accused neighbour Jessica Parker of subjecting him and his wife to excessive noise / Tony Palmer The jury was told Mr Lawrence and Ms Parker moved about half a mile away, but they claimed the animosity continued. Ms Parker described one incident in which Mrs Hons allegedly revved her moped at them repeatedly as they walked their dogs. We had been exercising our dogs and Mrs Hons went back home to get her moped and drove it at us for half an hour, while filming, she said. My heart was pounding ... We had been subjected to aggression, but when someone is bullying you, do you just scuttle off? In footage of the incident, Mr Lawrence is heard shouting: You and your husband are freaks. We know you have eight or nine cameras. He added: Call the police, you voyeuristic p****s. You two have done nothing but harass me for the last six months while Im walking my dogs. Mrs Hons, 45, an architectural technician, claims Ms Parker had been enjoying the confrontation and was smiling, and had also told her dog to get her. Mr Hons denied laughing and abusing his neighbours and making obscene gestures, and insisted he was fearful of Mr Lawrence. The court was told both couples used their mobile phones and Go Pro cameras to film each other during the feud, which led to police harassment warnings being issued to the Honses and Mr Lawrence. A killer who strangled his estranged wife when she planned to start a new life without him has left his family engulfed in sorrow and unable to move on, his daughter said. Branded an arrogant, egotistical, chauvinistic and controlling bully, he throttled Karen and then set fire to her body to try to destroy the evidence. The Old Bailey was told his wife, a job centre worker, had confided in friends that she had met someone special after years of insults, threats, and violence from Peter, who would regularly have affairs. She had stopped wearing her wedding ring and got a series of tattoos to celebrate her new-found freedom when she was killed on August 2 last year. Her eldest daughter, Imogen, 22, told the court that the murder blew our world apart. When they told us our mothers body had been found inside the house, time stood still frozen. People talked but nothing made sense, she said. We are young, we do not want to be engulfed in sorrow, we still have our lives to live. When we remember mum, we want to remember her funny capers, her laughter not that tragic day. The court heard Peters three daughters have moved back to the fire-damaged family home, but they have been blocked from renovating by their father, even though he is behind bars. Judge Richard Marks QC, the Common Serjeant of London, said this was a further example of Peters wicked and cruel behaviour. What a twisted mentality you must have, to want and be seeking to insist that your children, now having to fend for themselves, should have to continue to live in such terrible surroundings, he said. The court heard Peter married his wife in 1994 and by 2010 she had filed for divorce on the grounds of his adultery. However, they stayed together for their children and remarried in 2012. T he father of six-year-old Alesha MacPhail sold cannabis to the teenager accused of killing her, a court has heard. Robert MacPhail, 26, told the High Court in Glasgow he had done deals with the 16-year-old. The schoolgirl was found dead in woodland in July last year on the Isle of Bute. She had been spending a summer break with her father and grandparents in the house they shared. The accused, who cannot be named because of his age, denies taking her from her bed before raping and murdering her on July 2 last year. Forensic officers on Ardbeg Road on the Isle of Bute after officers found the body of Alesha MacPhail / Jane Barlow/PA Alesha's father identified him in the courtroom and told the jury: "I used to sell him cannabis." Mr MacPhail, who is unemployed, said he had last sold him the drug a few months before Alesha's murder. He said he stopped after the teenager's mother told his partner, Toni McLachlan, to stop. The court heard the deals usually took place at a bus shelter across from his mother's house, where he then lived along with Ms McLachlan, 18. The pair were in bed on the morning of July 2 when Alesha's grandparents came in to say she was missing. All four began hunting around the house and outside for the schoolgirl. Alesha MacPhail's father, Robert MacPhail, arrives at Glasgow High Court on Tuesday / Jeff Mitchell/Getty Images Mr MacPhail said he had put his daughter to bed the night before with a Peppa Pig DVD. "I told her I would see her in the morning and that was the last time I saw her," he said. Mr MacPhail said his relationship with Alesha's mother Georgina Lochrane in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, had broken down months after she was born. He said he saw his daughter every second weekend and during the holidays. Mr MacPhail said his daughter "loved" spending time on his home island, going to the beach and playing at the park. Georgina Lochrane, mother of Alesha MacPhail, arrives at Glasgow High Court on Tuesday / Jeff Mitchell/Getty Images Asked about Alesha's relationship with Ms McLachlan, he said it was "great". "They both loved each other to bits," he said. The 16-year-old accused of Alesha's murder has lodged a special defence blaming Ms McLachlan for her death. He also denies attempting to defeat the ends of justice by disposing of clothing and a knife. Alesha's grandfather Calum MacPhail, 49, described the desperate search after they realised she was not in her bed. Alesha MacPhail's funeral in July last year / Lesley Martin/PA He said: "We searched under all the beds, in all the wardrobes to see if she had crawled away somewhere. "There was no sign of her anywhere. I threw some clothes on and went outside." After driving around, looking for Alesha at the park and the putting green, he later saw police had cordoned off an area and was told to go to Rothesay police station with the rest of the family. Visibly distressed, he said: "We were all put into a room and about five minutes later a police officer came in and said: 'We found her but she's passed."' Alesha's grandmother Angela King, 47, had made a call to the police at 6.23am, about 10 minutes after realising she was not in her bed. In the call played to the jury, she continued to check cupboards as she told the handler: "We've looked all through the house and she's nowhere to be seen." Her partner had earlier told the court that the key to the lock on the front door of the top-floor flat was often left in the door during the day to allow family members to come and go. He said: "In Rothesay a lot of people leave their door unlocked." Ms King said the key was still in the door when she went to bed in the early hours of July 2. She said: "The key was in the lock and I'd forgotten to take the key back out of the door." The trial continues. R apper Professor Green has been forced to cancel a UK tour after he fractured his neck during a seizure. The 35-year-old documentary maker and musician suffered a seizure which led to a fall, he wrote on Instagram. He said he was extremely lucky following the fall, and said he fractured vertebrae in his neck. In telling fans about his injuries, Green also thanked the NHS, who he described as heroes amongst men and women. The rapper shared three selfies showing him wearing a head brace and strapped to a body board. ""I had seizure this morning which resulted in a fall while I was packing for tour," he wrote, before promising fans: "I'll be back in the winter with a bigger tour." "I've had two further seizures and am lucky I didn't break my neck. Really f****** lucky. Thanks for baring with me," he continued. "Most importantly thank you to our NHS, heroes amongst men (and women)," he concluded. The rapper, real name Stephen Manderson, had been set to kick off his UK tour in Cardiff tonight, with future gigs scheduled for Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester. Fans rushed to send the star their best wishes on social media. "I hope Professor Green is okay and recovers quick," one wrote. "Gutted about the news @professorgreen rest up get well soon and look forward to seeing you on the next tour," another wrote. "Sending @professorgreen love. Hope he gets back on his feet soon," another fan added. O nce upon a time, boys club operated as a noun; now it functions more like a slur. In these new times times of #MeToo and a pantomime villain of a pussy-grabbing President the term conjures a sense of exclusivity and purchased privilege. It suggests status quo, not forward motion; it calls to mind a subtext of misogyny like a stag do, but in suits. Times up on alpha culture. But change leaves a power vacuum. And while all-male networks recede into the shadows, shamefaced, the fairer sexs versions are becoming a potent movement. In the past couple of years, as women have fought for a new standing politically, socially, professionally a lattice of female networks has been spreading through cities and cyberspace, symbolic of progress, with female-driven agendas to set and the power to unsettle the old guard. In the past year the AllBright has become a cornerstone of the capitals high-flying, female business community. The UKs first women-only members club was founded by businesswoman Debbie Wosskow and Anna Jones in March last year and currently resides in a four-storey Georgian townhouse in Rathbone Place, Fitzrovia, furnished with monochrome sofas and French-style bistro tables, and hosting meeting rooms, a bar, a salon and a small gym. Annual membership costs 1,150 (750 if youre under 30). The AllBright has recently announced it will open a second London space in Maddox Street, Mayfair, in spring, and a site in West Hollywood in the summer. Upcoming events at the original club include a Galentines party and a talk about fertility. Physical spaces are a necessity for female founders in the UK today, explain Wosskow and Jones. During our research, 32 per cent of female founders or aspiring female founders told us they need a place to work to launch or grow their business. Of those, 27 per cent described themselves as nomads they currently use co-working spaces or coffee shops; 33 per cent said they needed a more professional environment to conduct business or meet clients; and 19 per cent said its impossible to get anything done in their current environment there are too many dis-tractions or competing demands, which means they simply cant focus. Moreover, the clubs allow women to find role models. Theres still a dramatic con-fidence gap between men and women in the workplace, most notably amongst those in their mid-twenties and thirties. This idea that female networks can make women feel more confident and powerful, is also one of the cor-nerstones of retail guru Mary Portass book Work Like a Woman. The book was the thinking womans stocking filler for Christmas 2018. Meanwhile, in the US, there is The Wing tagline: Your throne away from home which started out as a co-working space for women in New Yorks Flatiron district, located, neatly, on Ladies Mile. It now has three clubs in New York, one in Washington DC, one in San Fran-cisco and one in LA with others coming to Chicago, Boston, Toronto, Seattle and London later this year. Audrey Gelman of The Wing / Getty Images for Glamour Its younger than the AllBright, and its crowd more creative: the branding is millennial pink, and the clubhouses are bedecked with neon slogan lights (personal space) and colour co-ordinated bookshelves (catnip for Instagram The Wing has almost 340,000 followers). Its SoHo outpost in Lower Manhattan has a lactation room and a Little Wing for members children; the DC clubhouse has a dedicated meditation room. The Wing was co-founded by Lauren Kassan and Audrey Gelman, an alumna of Hillary Clintons presidential campaign, who in another life had a recurring cameo in childhood friend Lena Dunhams Girls. In late 2017 it raised $32 million to pursue its growth; its investors include WeWork. It now has more than 5,000 members including Dunham and Glossier founder Emily Weiss. Annual membership costs more than 2,000 a year. "Branches of The Wing have spaces for members children and dedicated rooms for meditation." Granted, with such restrictive membership fees, both could be accused of creating a room of ones own only for a certain demographic of fairly privileged feminists. Wosskow and Jones emphasise that the AllBright runs a 10-week, free digital programme designed to equip women with practical business skills: Applicants simply need access to a computer and wi-fi. The Wing has an in-house historian obviously called Alexis Coe, who produces an (excellent) podcast series called No Mans Land, spotlighting forgotten and misunderstood women in history. Its free and accessible to anyone with a smartphone and a set of headphones. The Wings philanthropic arm works with womens charities including Black Girls Code, The Legal Aid Society and Womens Prison Association. Nonetheless, cyber networks are a more democratic space and theyre popping up everywhere. Take any industry in the capital be it a law firm, an ad agency or a bank and youll find a driven group of eloquent, impassioned female agitators communicating via a newsletter or a guerrilla WhatsApp group. Some industries will need them more than others, but if a womens network is a space that enables women to be honest about their challenges and share advice, then what industry wouldnt benefit from that? says Ella Horne, one of the three founding members of The Flip [Female Leadership in Publishing], a new newsletter for women that spotlights industry leaders and directs subscribers to interesting events. Opening up access to the advice of brilliant women is one way to create positive change, she adds. Horne, who works in marketing at publishing house Transworld, started The Flip last month with Sophie Christopher and Helena Gonda, who work at Penguin Random House and Transworld respectively. The trio would have been quietly pleased if their passion project reached 2,000 people by the end of the year its already got more than 3,000 subscribers. Advertising women have Bloom UK, whose last event in November took place in a marketing agency in Brick Lane, and included panels on pay, privilege and parental leave, and a keynote speech from high-profile, barnstorming campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez. The Second Source is journalisms answer a network established by female journalists in the turbulent wake of #MeToo, which provides mentorship for female journalists navigating an industry still fuelled on testerone. The Coven Girl Gang, set up by Sapphire Bates, is part network, part- business incubator, pitched at fledgling female entrepreneurs. It now has almost 17,000 members on Instagram. Membership which starts at a democratic 13 a month grants you access to online workshops teaching skills including branding and marketing, and there are downloadable business plans and a business book club. The Instagram account deals in snappy memes (Mean Girls) and inspirational quotes. Bates thinks of it as a sisterhood. Debbie Wosskow and Anna Jones of AllBright / Natalie Williams Similarly, powerhouse beauty entrepreneur Sharmadean Reid launched Future Girl Corp in 2016, with a mission to support the next generation of future female CEOs and business leaders. It hosts panels and workshops on how to write a business plan and how to get your idea in the public eye. Even Bumble, the feminist dating app that was launched in December 2014 as a retort to the misogyny of Tinder, now goes beyond swiping. It has started a business networking platform (Bumble Biz) and has launched a fund for female movie-makers, The Female Film Force, which in August awarded 20,000 to five projects the films were screened at a showcase in London last month. Expanding into business networking was alway part of our overall vision, explains Bumbles founder, Whitney Wolfe Herd. Misogyny and an im-balance in gender dynamics existed well beyond dating, but dating is where we felt we could have the strongest impact at launch. Once our brand, mission and message began gaining traction in the dating space we expanded into friendship and networking within two years. Were building a digital world with women in mind and thats never been done before. A lexandria Ocasio-Cortezs Green New Deal has been hailed as radical by some, while others have suggested it has not gone far enough. The youngest ever woman to serve in the US Congress, 29-year-old Ocasio-Cortez took office in the House of Representatives January after she was elected in November 2018. And she has been making waves ever since. Who is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? The Democratic congresswoman from New York City, often nicknamed AOC, is known for her activism throughout her political career. As she started her campaign for congress, Ocasio-Cortez was working in a restaurant and often went straight out campaigning after shifts. She was recognised for running a grassroots campaign funded by a huge number of independent, small donations. Since being elected to the House of Representatives, Ocasio-Cortez has made headlines for pushing for healthcare for all and suggesting a 70 per cent tax on the very highest earners in society to fund a new environmental scheme. What is the Green New Deal? AOCs Green New Deal is an environmental proposal that pledges to fight climate change. Critics have described the radical plan as a socialist manifesto due to the tax levies that have been proposed to fund it. Ultimately, the aims of the Green New Deal are to protect the environment and fight inequality by taking under-represented communities into account while battling climate change. Rather than a piece of legislation, the Green New Deal is a framework for future policy to be modelled on. What does the Green New Deal say about climate change? AOCs proposal recognises that enormous infrastructure changes are needed to save the environment. And the federal government must take responsibility for making these changes. When it was rolled out, the congresswoman said: Climate change and our environmental changes are one of the biggest existential threats to our way of life not just as a nation but as a world. How will the Green New Deal combat air pollution? The proposal calls for a move towards zero-emission energy sources, with the aim of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. The top of a skyscraper with panoramic views of Manhattans iconic skyline was a fitting setting for one of New Yorks foremost purveyors of affluent Downtown cool, Proenza Schouler, to stage its latest show. What appeared on the catwalk was no less cosmopolitan as its designers, Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough, presented a capsule wardrobe fit for modern working women from Manhattan to Mayfair. Crisp white wool suits and animal print power dresses spoke of a woman in control of both her sense of style and her 9-to-5 agenda. Skirts featured razor pleats, boots were finished with a sharp silver heel and shirting came city slick. The model casting added weight to the suggestion that this show was as much about the clothes as it was the woman who wears them, as a roster of alt It-girls from Brit Lara Mullen to New Yorker Binx Walton were enlisted alongside a more established breed of model including 37-year-old Saskia de Brauw. Proenza Schouler AW19 show / SplashNews.com People. Fashion. Power. Delivered weekly. Email Sign up Sign up I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice {{message}} {{permutiveUid}} {{message}} Following a brief hiatus from the New York Fashion Week schedule, which saw Proenza Schouler return to home soil after a year on the Paris calendar last season, the label has been intent on reaffirming its foundations. As a result, common themes of this collection were also integral to the brands DNA, from generously-proportioned handbags designed for everyday life to the lashings of leather which adorned everything from trousers to sheath dresses. Proenza Schouler's AW19 collection featured lashings of leather / SplashNews.com It's a known fact that the Duchess of Sussex loves fashion. From her timeless tonal outfits to killer handbag collection and trendy cow print heels, it's clear she's got some serious sartorial prowess. Meghan takes great interest in the brands she wears, from high end designers, notably Givenchy, who designed the 37-year-old's royal wedding dress, to championing up and coming designers from London, Canada and beyond. Prior to her royal life, the Suits actress was a regular at New York Fashion Week, sitting front row at various shows - from newcomers to household names. Meghan Markle attends the Tracy Reese fashion show in 2013 / Getty Images People. Fashion. Power. Delivered weekly. Email Sign up Sign up I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice {{message}} {{permutiveUid}} {{message}} Her FROW debut was in September 2013 when she attended Herve Leger spring/summer 2014 show in a simple black two-set with matching smokey eye. Meghan Markle poses backstage at the Herve Leger By Max Azria fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion in 2013 / Getty Images By the end of 2014 Meghan had also attended Tory Burch, Peter Som, Tracy Reese and Marchesa, the label that belongs to Harvey Weinstein's ex-wife, Georgina Chapman. As for what did Meghan chose to wear to fashion week? The former-actress steered clear of OTT outfits and mostly stuck to timeless black ensembles. However, she did sometimes mix things up with her outerwear, from a edgy studded leather jacket to a faux fur coat. Meghan Markle attends Wes Gordon runway show during MADE Fashion Week in 2015 / Getty Images The last fashion show she was seen at was in 2015, when she supported friend Misha Nonoo's eponymous brand. The American-based designer was responsible for the much talked about 'Husband Shirt' that Meghan wore for her first appearance with Prince Harry to the Invictus Games in 2017. Megan Markle attends the Misha Nonoo fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in 2015 / Getty Images A consultation mounted by a public broadcaster is a Trojan horse. Those who send it cantering into battle know whats inside it and the likely effect. In the case of the latest one on whether the BBC can continue to fund licence-fee exemption for over-75s from 2020, everyone knows that it cannot. So as the deliberation period ends this week, the real purpose has been to shape the terms of retreat. Neither, for all the solemn scolding of Gordon Brown, will the Government restore the old level of subsidy and if it did it still would not be the solution. It is doubtful that the former Labour Prime Minister and Chancellor would accede to the demand if he were in power now, because the terms of debate about how to sustain a public service broadcaster have changed, as have the arguments about demographic fairness well beyond the BBC. Decades of transfers to the elderly have left the young at the raw end of what wonks call inter-generational accounting when it comes to largesse from the state. Hard maths will determine where this case ends up because the value of the concession has risen so starkly since the Labour government in 2001 introduced it and will continue to do so as the population ages. The external economic study commissioned by the BBC shows that if it were to be continued after 2020, the number of those exempt from the licence fee would cost the BBC 745 million, or 18 per cent of its current expenditure and more than the whole amount spent on all radio output in 2017-18. By 2029-30, we estimate that the annual concession cost will rise to 1.06 billion, says the projection. But this is in the realm of science fiction, so something else will happen instead. You can certainly argue with the scale of this transfer of liabilities in 2015 by the Government (I did at the time). But no Chancellor now would take back responsibility for the concession in anything like full measure. In part, because the promised end of austerity will mean major cash injections for housing and public services and plugging gaping holes in council budgets. Any relief for the BBC will be minor and probably in the area of supporting the World Service, for sound reason, given the staggering amounts of disinformation doing the rounds. Anne McElvoy So the consultation looks a lot like softening up older viewers for a decision which will mean a good chunk of them will be adversely affected from next year. It always sounds heartless to remove concessions which people have come to accept but this is the price of politicians promising free stuff when they will no longer be in office to stump up for it. It is too hard and especially unfair to means-test according to levels of pension tax relief because, as Age UK points out, two-fifths of those eligible for this do not claim it and that hits many, including the neediest or most isolated. My guess is we will end up with a compromise, in which the qualifying age for a free licence rises and the value of the subsidy falls, to reduce the cost. More sweeping changes will, however, be necessary to allow a national broadcaster to withstand challenges from US-based competition and changes in viewing habits, whichever behemoth of the Netflix, Disney or Amazon variety is in the ascendancy. This disruption is not an idle threat you and I were probably watching one of them on the commute. If the BBC is to sustain a role of national champion in broadcasting, it cannot simply be at the mercy of the push-me-pull-you of giveaways and takebacks of a levy that is funding three-quarters of its work. You can see the reality in the Darwinian struggle to prevent its brilliant natural history programme makers decamping to Netflix in the wake of Sir David Attenborough. Privately, many senior insiders at the Beeb feel the greatest living Englishmans latest paean of praise to Netflix Its over 200 million people, its urgent, its instantaneous. And it stays there for months came across as a tad ungrateful. This is the price of politicians promising free stuff when they will no longer be in office to stump up for it Looked at pragmatically, if a figure as old-school BBC as Attenborough openly talks this way about its main rival, its time to wake up from the dream that the corporation is immune from external shocks. Technology will reshape how broadcasting is run and funded far more ruthlessly than decades of political argument about how big or small the BBC should be. The new race to head Radio 4, for example, needs to figure out fast how a station struggling to replenish audiences relates to the BBC Sounds app, which is sort-of an iPlayer and sort of a podcaster, and thus risks satisfying neither brief. When it comes to television, where the financial stakes are far higher, I doubt that the BBC can retain impact and high standards unless it is prepared to charge for streaming potentially lucrative services bringing in new revenue in the UK (as it is starting to do in the US). A future-proof charter is more likely to end up constructed around a core BBC of news, current affairs and a selected offering of other shows, available for a subsidised, reasonable licence fee but topped up by putting a market price on more of its wares. A hopeful scheme would see pan-European broadcasters sharing content (though there is only so much of Spiral and Scandi-noir that will attract audiences at scale). But it probably will need bolder remedies and the odd thing is that the answer has been hidden in plain sight. The BBCs best chance of preserving its status, advantage and quality is to deploy its content more effectively. Cross-subsidising parts of broadcasting the market alone will never support. Television, as Sir David might reverently observe through his binoculars, is in the midst of an evolutionary leap. Loved, respected and worth preserving, the BBC cannot escape it but it can start to figure out how to win in the new world. Its far wiser to be on the side of the adaptive species than left behind at the emptying watering hole. H igh-profile investors including Crispin Odey took a battering on Tuesday as financial trading firm Plus500s shares slumped as much as 40% on a shock profit warning. Odey, whose fund is the biggest holder in the Israeli-based firm with a 7.5% stake, was the biggest casualty as the stock tumbled 628p to 1000p at one point. Other major investors, including BlackRock and Invesco, also nursed wounds as Plus said profits would be materially below expectations this year. But Plus is also the one of the most-shorted stocks in the FTSE, with 10% of its stock on loan, so hedge funds including Sessa Capital and Rubric Capital Management were counting their winnings. Plus is the UKs biggest provider of trading in contracts for difference, which allow punters to take leveraged bets on stocks, indices and currencies. But CFDs have been subject to a major crackdown by regulators since last August, hitting the major providers and slowing customer growth. Plus has grown customer numbers since the end of 2018 and almost doubled underlying profits to $506 million (392 million) last year, aided by factors such as the cryptocurrency boom. Alongside its commission revenues it also won $172 million from its customers, compared with a $102 million loss in 2017, as clients called the market collapse wrong at the end of last year. It is expecting the European crackdown to dent revenues, but maintaining its marketing spend, some $125 million last year, will deal the severe blow to profits. The City slashed consensus profit forecasts down by almost $100 million to $263 million this year. S hares in bookmakers galloped ahead on Tuesday as investors breathed a sigh of relief that racing will recommence after an outbreak of equine flu. The British Horseracing Authority last night announced a risk-managed return with health security measures in place to the sport tomorrow. The update came after meetings were called off last week when a number of horses tested positive for equine influenza. The City took a punt on investing again today, driving shares in FTSE 100 firms Paddy Power Betfair and Ladbrokes-owner GVC up 43.6p to 6408p and 6.25p to 661.25p respectively. Also on the FTSE 100, Barclays edged up 0.92p to 157.6p. Bloomberg reported that the bank, which has come under pressure from activist investor Ed Bramson calling for a shake-up of the board, may unveil plans to pay out more money to shareholders. Returning surplus capital could be part of a cohesive strategy to improve returns, said Shore Capitals analyst Gary Greenwood. Jefferies Joseph Dickerson added: Investors should look forward to hearing managements aspirations around capital return. The bank will report earnings on February 21. Elsewhere on the blue-chip index, the Square Mile was digesting another announcement made after the market closed yesterday evening. British Airways-owner IAG said it will cap ownership of its shares by non-Europeans at the present 47.5% level to maintain its status as a European-owned airline. UK shareholders will not face new restrictions on their holdings, and they will not be treated as non-EU shareholders. The move comes ahead of Britains looming departure from the trading bloc. Carriers no longer majority-owned by EU nationals after Brexit face the threat of losing their right to fly within the area beause of share ownership rules. Under EU regulations, IAGs airlines must be majority owned and controlled by EU shareholders. Shares in IAG fell 9.8p to 653.8p. Overall the FTSE 100 had decent gains and rose 25.02 points to 7154.13. Stockbroker AJ Bell pointed to banks and mining and tobacco firms also helping to drive up the index. The more UK-focused FTSE 250 was up 32.19 points at 18,863.97. Elsewhere today, shares in logistics firm Wincanton gained 3.06p to 240.06p. The business revealed it has won a five-year contract with HMRC. Wincanton will work with the Government to check inbound shipments into the UK, and provide storage and distribution services. Small-cap spotlight AIM-listed Firestone Diamonds sparkled on Tuesday after it announced it unearthed a 70-carat white diamond in its Liqhobong mine in Lesotho. P aul Stephany, a fund manager formerly with Newton, was fined 32,000 last week by the Financial Conduct Authority for misconduct and kicked out of the asset management group for doing what most people would have thought was part of his job. Before then he had been a good performer, was highly regarded and was running four funds worth almost 2 billion. His case related to the London float of holidays firm On the Beach, on which Numis Securities was the bookrunner. This was in 2015. It has taken most of this time for the FCA to assemble its case. Being a bookrunner is a marketing process in which Numis discusses the appetite for the chosen share, in this case OTB, and its potential valuation with the market. Then it agrees on a price range, say 120p to 150p, and tries to find buyers near the top of the range, though usually supply and demand will be at a lower price. The shares are then struck at the highest price which more than covers the issue and a few days later they become listed. Stephany was one of those who was approached by Numis to discuss and then to buy the shares. He decided the issue was overpriced. He sent an email to 14 other fund managers to see what their reaction was. He thought the share price should be at the low end of the range and he wondered whether those contacted might feel the same. I thought this was what fund managers do. Brokers try to sell them shares at a high price and fund managers push back, hoping to get them lower. It does not always work but it is part and parcel of the ritual and it helps the fund if it works because the clients who are in the fund get the shares that much cheaper. The individual fund manager does not benefit, just his fund. That is certainly how the market used to work. Now, however, it is different. Now investors are not allowed to discuss new issues, or IPOs, with competitors, because to do so, apparently, could lead to the perception of collusion. Instead fund managers have to keep their own counsel and decide only for themselves what price they offer. Otherwise they might all decide to lowball a bid and the bookrunner would be very put out. Deciding on the merits of a share issue is not to my mind collusion, where there is a formal intent for several parties to set a price. Collusion is also difficult to prove. But not for the authorities. To them, Stephany was bang to rights. But it still does not make sense in the wider context. IPOs have had a chequered history in recent times. With bookrunners like Goldman Sachs, shares were allocated to hedge funds rather than mainstream fund managers. These hedge funds simply took a turn, selling their shares within days. Institutions, if they were gullible, bought the shares, and they tended to be gullible because they did not have other people to bounce their ideas against, but had to rely on what the bookrunner wanted them to know. Then the price would often tank, leaving the institution with heavy losses. But this apparently is OK: the Competition and Markets Authority among others said the market was working well, which it was for the bookrunner. The result is fund managers are much more chary of IPOs, and there is a dearth of them, not because the companies are bad necessarily, but because the shares are often overpriced. Some would say this is hardly good regulation. The other thought is the role of active fund management. It is going through a torrid time, largely because so many people are switching to tracker funds. Active funds have to differentiate themselves to stand out from the crowd, but the FCAs rules and the compliance burden instead seem to make everyone the same, and mediocre. There is very little the fund manager can do to differentiate by the time he or she has met the strictures on shares, the needs of the client and the burden of compliance. To take a punt is not worth it because the FCA and compliance will demand to know why the share was selected, even if it does well. Only the liquid and boring tend to meet the criteria of acceptability. Listed for $2.325 million by Sharon Kinney and Margi Vorder Bruegge of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, 369 North St. in mid-country Greenwich offers a blend of local history, impeccable renovations and close convenience to schools and so much more. The current owner grew up in Greenwich and attended the towns exceptional local public schools. She returned to Greenwich in 1997 as an adult and new mother. As first-time home buyers from New York City, with a baby on the way, we were looking for a house that would accommodate a growing family, she recalled. I loved the convenient mid-country location, large private yard, high ceilings especially in the master bedroom [having] the kitchen at the heart of the home, with great flow to the other spaces. It was nice to return to Greenwich. During their more than 20 years here since, the owners updated the entire home. That included finishing the interiors of an in-process two-story addition. We added the new front hall, created the step-down living room, added two bedrooms and a bath on the second floor, and added a dormered office and second-floor laundry, she explained via email. We also reconfigured the master bed and bath to have two large walk-in closets with built-ins, and completely remodeled the bathroom. We also did a full renovation of the kitchen, replaced the antique windows, rebuilt the den, added all-new white oak floors to the second floor, refinished all existing flooring, and tiled the basement floor, she added. Most recently, we added new quartz countertops, sinks and faucets to the master bath, new backsplash, dishwasher, and faucets to the kitchen. [We] replaced the back deck with Azec decking and new railings, repaved the driveway, and added additional Belgian block. [We] replaced the wood fence on the property line, updated interior and exterior light fixtures, and freshly painted the house inside and out. We wanted to make sure the house was completely ready for its new owners. When it came time to renovate the kitchen, the seller said they sought to create a timeless look, with modern appliances. They chose a Viking six-burner cooktop and double wall ovens from Bosch. They added a 36-inch Sub-Zero refrigerator, a Shaws Fireclay farmhouse-style sink by Rohl, black granite counters, and brushed stainless-steel faucets and hardware. The kitchen is spacious enough for a big kitchen table that can easily accommodate eight people, the owner pointed out. Though the list of improvements is long, the homes turn-of-the-century character still comes through. The seller discovered that the property was acquired in 1899 by William H. Bridge, a family name known throughout Greenwich and beyond. By 1902, the colonial farmhouse made its debut on the property, and up until 1990, it remained in the Bridge family. Details Address: 369 North St., Greenwich Price: $2.325 million Number of Rooms: 10 Features: Located on 1.24 acres in mid-country Greenwich, this five-bedroom Victorian farmhouse - once part of the Bridge family estate - debuted in 1902 and has been lovingly appended, restored and updated in the years since. The house has 4,293 square feet of living space, with a detached four-car garage. Schools: North Street School, Central Middle School, Greenwich High See More Collapse We have the original blueprints for the house that we will pass along to the next owners, the seller vowed. During one of our renovation projects, we found a journal/diary/notebook belonging to William Bridge, hidden behind the plaster wall. The journal detailed everyday life in the early 1900s, with dated entries about the weather, crops and visits with neighbors. We gave the find to the Bridge family at Sam Bridge Nursery. Over the years, the homeowners and their children enjoyed everyday life here, too, as well as some special occasions. The flow of the house makes it great for hosting a big group anything from dinner parties for 18, using the dining room and kitchen table, to cookouts for 80 [in] the huge backyard, she recalled. Among the five bedrooms is the master suite, which the seller described as a relaxing sanctuary. The view of the backyard is so peaceful and private, she explained. In the summer, you hardly catch a glimpse of any neighbors homes. The sunset views to the west, out the French doors, are spectacular. In the fall, the maple tree glows red. One of the perks of this mid-country location was its proximity to local public and private schools. Mid-country Greenwich attracts families from all over the world, the seller noted. The proximity to New York City, downtown Greenwich, and many fabulous local schools is ideal, while the minimum lot size of 1 acre can give a sense of rural tranquility. Listing agents: Margaret Margi Vorder Bruegge and Sharon Kinney, Douglas Elliman Real Estate; (203) 912-8311 Margis cell; (917) 273-1001 Sharons cell; margaret.vorder bruegge@elliman.com; sharon. kinney@elliman.com The following are recent arrests released by the Bridgeport Police Department on Feb. 12, 2019. Feb. 8 A 23-year-old Austin Avenue women was charged with risk of injury to a child, reckless endangerment, breach of peace and criminal mischief. A 47-year-old Stillwater Avenue woman was charged with assault and disorderly conduct. A 77-year-old Stillwater Avenue man was charged with assault and disorderly conduct. a 32-year-old Clinton Avenue man was charged with criminal trespassing, unlawful restraint, assault, disorderly conduct, strangulation and interfering with an emergency call. Feb. 9 A 29-year-old Queens man was charged with carrying a pistol without a permit and resisting arrest. Feb. 10 A 24-year-old Bronx man was charged with forgery, attempt to commit crime and resisting arrest. A 47-year-old Stephen Street woman was charged with risk of injury to a child, assault, disorderly conduct and carrying a dangerous weapon. A 46-year-old Flint rock Road man was charged with criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and threatening. A 22-year-old Greenwich man was charged with operating a vehicle under the influence and larceny. A 28-year-old Norwalk man was charged with burglary, assault, disorderly conduct and robbery. As of January 2019, Hearst Connecticut Media does not include names in online police blotters. STAMFORD A police investigation into a complaint of a home burglary Monday night ended up with the recovery of several stolen credit cards and the fast arrest of a New York man and woman less than two hours later. Sgt. Sean McGowan said a city man returning to his home from work reported a burglary there Monday at 9:46 p.m. The man said he had been receiving notices from his credit card companies during the day warning him some suspicious purchases had been attempted on his credit cards. When the man got home he saw that a window had been jimmied open and found his front door unlocked, which he clearly remembered locking when he left for work earlier in the day. Entering his home at 9:30 p.m., he quickly saw that his computer, iPhone and a second wallet holding his credit cards were missing. Officers quickly went over to Burlington Coat Factory where an attempt had been made to use one of the stolen credit cards and they obtained a description of a suspicious bald black man with a bicycle and carrying a bag heading east on Broad Street. The description was radioed out to units on the street. A few minutes later three officers, Alex Molina, John OMeara and Mark Zaramba, found a man fitting the description with a woman pushing a bicycle just before 11:30 p.m. The two were searched and the stolen cards recovered, McGowan said. Cleon Marable, 51, of Mount Vernon, was charged with third-degree burglary, third-degree larceny and multiple counts of credit card theft, identity theft, sixth-degree larceny and conspiracy to commit theft of a credit card. Camille alexander, 33, also from Mount Vernon, was charged with sixth-degree larceny and multiple counts of credit card theft and conspiracy to commit credit card theft. jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com STAMFORD A city police officer on Monday afternoon made an unusual stop when he pulled a man over while he was driving while smoking a marijuana joint. The stop resulted in the man, Luis Burgos-Gonzalez, 58, of Soundview Court, being charged with illegal operation of a motor vehicle while impaired by marijuana. The charge is seldom used because of the difficulty police officers have proving impairment by marijuana in court. The police departments Traffic Unit Sgt. Andrew Gallagher said he would be surprised if anyone had been charged with driving while stoned in Stamford in all of 2018. This impairment charge came when Officer Stephane Smarth was pulling out of a parking lot on West Main Street Monday afternoon when he saw a man driving a blue BMW SUV drive by smoking what appeared to be a cigarette. He pulled in behind the SUV and seconds later traffic stopped for a traffic light. When the light turned green, other cars pulled forward, but the SUV stayed put. Smarth, who in April will be celebrating his second year with the department, pulled around to the right of the SUV to see what was going on and saw the driver, Burgos-Gonzalez, looking around inside his car, engaged in activities not related to driving, McGowan said. The officer activated his lights and siren to get the drivers attention and then stopped the SUV a little further up the street. The officer smelled a strong odor of burnt marijuana coming from the vehicle and Burgos admitted to Smarth that he had just smoked marijuana before being pulled over and threw the roach out the window as he was being pulled over, McGowan said. McGowan said about 19 grams of marijuana was found in the BMW and Burgos-Gonzalez submitted to a urine test. Gallagher said it takes a lot to support a marijuana conviction. Unlike alcohol, marijuana can stay in your body for an extended period of time such as two or three weeks. Alcohol, however, is expelled from the body in a matter of hours. As a result, a lawyer can argue that the marijuana found in a urinalyses test had been in the body for weeks before. And, Gallagher added, just being under the influence of marijuana or alcohol is not enough to make an operating-under-the-influence charge stick, because police also have to prove the driver was impaired. jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com Venture capitalist Aileen Lee, the founder of Cowboy Ventures and more recently a founding member of All Raise, in 2013 coined the term unicorn to describe companies that are valued at at least $1 billion. At the time, Lee identified 39 companies, including now usual suspects Instagram, YouTube, Hulu, Airbnb, Uber, Twitter and LinkedIn. Lee dubbed Facebook a super unicorn because it was worth more than $100 billion in 2013. In 2017, there were 71 new unicorns and in 2018 there were 112. As of the beginning of 2019, CB Insights found that 315 companies from across the world could claim membership to the club. In the recent study, CB Insights noted that of the categories that had the most unicorns, internet software and services came out on top with 24 percent of unicorns, ecommerce second with 13 percent of unicorns and then fintech with 10 percent of unicorns. Some of the businesses that are currently on the list include 23andMe, shoe manufacturer AllBirds, Buzzfeed, DoorDash, HR solutions platform Gusto, Squarespace and Warby Parker. Related: 20 Facts About the World's Billion-Dollar Startups CB Insights conducted an analysis for The New York Times identifying which businesses on the rise are on track to a potentially $1 billion or more valuation. So whos next? Millennial beauty brand Glossier, wedding planning platform Zola and Faire, which connects retailers and wholesale merchandise, were highlighted, as were businesses such as Checkr, a background check platform for startups, Benchling, which makes data management software geared to scientists, and Earnin, a company that aims to help employees track their earnings. According to the analysis, the path to unicorn status is a global one, with CB Insights noting that five businesses in India, four in China and three in Latin America could achieve $1 billion valuations. Related: Could These Companies Be the Next $1 Billion Unicorns? Retired? Here Are 17 No-Cost Ways to Make Money on the Side. The Essential Element of Modern Organizations that Ensures Productivity and Creativity Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Congressional negotiators reached agreement to prevent a government shutdown and finance construction of new barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, overcoming a late-stage hang-up over immigration enforcement issues that had threatened to scuttle the talks. Republicans were desperate to avoid another bruising shutdown. They tentatively agreed Monday night to far less money for President Donald Trump's border wall than the White House's $5.7 billion wish list, settling for a figure of nearly $1.4 billion, according to congressional aides. The funding measure is through the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The agreement means 55 miles of new fencing constructed through existing designs such as metal slats instead of a concrete wall but far less than the 215 miles the White House demanded in December. The fencing would be built in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. "With the government being shut down, the specter of another shutdown this close, what brought us back together I thought tonight was we didn't want that to happen" again, said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala. Regarding the spending deal, Trump said Tuesday that he's not happy about it. He said, "It's not doing the trick" and he's "adding things to it." Regarding another shutdown, he said he doesn't think there will be one, but if there is, it's the Democrats' fault. "I would hope that there wont be a shutdown," he said. Details will officially be released Tuesday. The pact came in time to alleviate the threat of a second partial government shutdown this weekend. Aides revealed the details under condition of anonymity because the agreement is tentative. "Our staffs are just working out the details," said House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y. The pact also includes increases for new technologies such as advanced screening at border entry points, humanitarian aid sought by Democrats, and additional customs officers. This weekend, Shelby pulled the plug on the talks over Democratic demands to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities, frustrating some of his fellow negotiators, but Democrats yielded ground on that issue in a fresh round of talks Monday. Asked if Trump would back the deal, Shelby said: "We believe from our dealings with them and the latitude they've given us, they will support it. We certainly hope so." Trump traveled to El Paso, Texas, for a campaign-style rally Monday night focused on immigration and border issues. He has been adamant that Congress approve money for a wall along the Mexican border, though he no longer repeats his 2016 mantra that Mexico will pay for it, and he took to the stage as lawmakers back in Washington were announcing their breakthrough. "They said that progress is being made with this committee," Trump told his audience, referring to the congressional bargainers. "Just so you know, we're building the wall anyway." Democrats carried more leverage into the talks after besting Trump on the 35-day shutdown but showed flexibility in hopes on winning Trump's signature. After yielding on border barriers, Democrats focused on reducing funding for detention beds to curb what they see as unnecessarily harsh enforcement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The agreement yielded curbed funding, overall, for ICE detention beds, which Democrats promised would mean the agency would hold fewer detainees than the roughly 49,000 detainees held on Feb. 10, the most recent date for which figures were available. Democrats claimed the number of beds would be ratcheted down to 40,520. But a proposal to cap at 16,500 the number of detainees caught in areas away from the border a limit Democrats say was aimed at preventing overreach by the agency ran into its own Republican wall. Democrats dropped the demand in the Monday round of talks, and the mood in the Capitol improved markedly. Trump met Monday afternoon with top advisers in the Oval Office to discuss the negotiations. He softened his rhetoric on the wall but ratcheted it up when alluding to the detention beds issue. "We can call it anything. We'll call it barriers, we'll call it whatever they want," Trump said. "But now it turns out not only don't they want to give us money for a wall, they don't want to give us the space to detain murderers, criminals, drug dealers, human smugglers." The recent shutdown left more than 800,000 government workers without paychecks, forced postponement of the State of the Union address and sent Trump's poll numbers tumbling. As support in his own party began to splinter, Trump surrendered after the shutdown hit 35 days, agreeing to the current temporary reopening without getting money for the wall. The president's supporters have suggested that Trump could use executive powers to divert money from the federal budget for wall construction, though he could face challenges in Congress or the courts. The negotiations hit a rough patch Sunday amid a dispute over curbing ICE, the federal agency that Republicans see as an emblem of tough immigration policies and Democrats accuse of often going too far. According to ICE figures, 66 percent of the nearly 159,000 immigrants it reported detaining last year were previously convicted of crimes. Reflecting the two administration's differing priorities, in 2016 under President Barack Obama, around 110,000 immigrants were detained and 86 percent had criminal records. Few convictions that immigrants detained last year had on their records were for violent crimes. The most common were for driving while intoxicated, drugs, previous immigration convictions and traffic offenses. The border debate got most of the attention, but it's just part of a major spending measure to fund a bevy of Cabinet departments. A collapse of the negotiations would have imperiled another upcoming round of budget talks that are required to prevent steep spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic agencies. ___ Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey and Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Jill Colvin in El Paso, Texas, contributed to this report. The clamor for the resignation of Virginia's top two politicians seemed to die down Monday, with some black community leaders forgiving Gov. Ralph Northam over the blackface furor and calling for a fair hearing for Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax on the sexual assault allegations against him. Over the past several days, practically the entire Democratic establishment rose up to demand fellow Democrats Northam and Fairfax immediately step down. But the tone changed markedly after the weekend. A Democratic state lawmaker who had threatened to begin impeachment proceedings against Fairfax, Virginia's highest-ranking black politician, set the idea aside after running into resistance. At the same time, several black clergy and civic leaders made clear they are willing to give both Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring a second chance, while urging due process for Fairfax. Herring, like Northam, has admitted putting on blackface in the 1980s. As the scandals engulfing Virginia's top three elected Democrats developed, it became increasingly clear that it could look bad for the party if Fairfax were summarily pushed out and the two white men managed to stay in power. "The sort of irony that makes your head spin is that Herring and Northam are in trouble for behavior related to Virginia's racial past. And yet it may be the only African-American statewide officeholder who, at the end of the day, gets in trouble," Quentin Kidd, a political science professor at Virginia's Christopher Newport University. "This may get worse and more uncomfortable before it gets better if it does get better." If Northam stepped down, Fairfax would become the second African-American governor in Virginia history. If all three Democrats resigned, a Republican could become governor: GOP House Speaker Kirk Cox is next in the line of succession. Late last week, amid widespread calls for Fairfax's resignation, Democratic Del. Patrick Hope, who is white, announced plans to introduce articles of impeachment against the lieutenant governor on Monday. But Hope relented, citing both reaction from colleagues and online accusations he is a racist. Hours later, a group of eight black clergy and community leaders said during a news conference that they forgive Northam and want to give him a second chance. Former Richmond City Councilman Henry "Chuck" Richardson called Northam a "good and decent man" who has stood with African-Americans on important issues. Separately, a set of black leaders listed steps they said Northam and Herring should take to redeem themselves during their remaining three years in office, including removing Confederate statues and raising more money for Virginia's historically black colleges. "In our opinion, it is not enough for you to simply apologize," the black leaders said in a letter. The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus did not withdraw its earlier call for Northam to resign. But its chairman, Del. Lamont Bagby, signaled willingness to work with the governor on issues of importance to black lawmakers. "My caucus, I can tell you, they're fired up to get this stuff done," Bagby said. A recent poll found a majority of black Virginians support Northam remaining in office, with Virginians overall split about evenly on the question of whether he should step down. The poll was conducted last Wednesday through Friday by The Washington Post and George Mason University. Of the three politicians under fire, Herring appeared to be in the least danger of being forced out. Black leaders have said they felt he earnestly apologized. However, in a sign of the difficulties Fairfax will face in staying on the job, four of his staff members have resigned. In interviews published Monday, Fairfax repeated denials of sexual assault allegations by Meredith Watson and Vanessa Tyson. The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they are victims of sexual crimes, but both women have come forward. Fairfax said he has never sexually assaulted anyone and deserves a chance to defend himself. "Everyone deserves to be heard. ... Even when faced with those allegations, I am still standing up for everyone's right to be heard," he told The Washington Post. Watson has said Fairfax raped her while they were students at Duke University in 2000. Tyson, a California college professor, has accused Fairfax of forcing her to perform oral sex on him at a Boston hotel in 2004. In an interview broadcast Monday, Northam provided a fuller explanation of his handling of the crisis, set off Feb. 1 by the discovery of a photo on his 1984 medical school yearbook page of someone in blackface standing next to another person in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe. Northam initially said he was in the photo, then denied it a day later, while admitting he wore blackface to a dance contest that same year. Northam, 59, told "CBS This Morning" that he mistakenly took responsibility for the picture because had never seen the image before. Northam, who worked as a pediatric neurologist before entering politics when he was nearly 50, said: "When you're in a state of shock like I was, we don't always think as clearly as we should." ___ Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia. Contributing to this report were AP National Writer Errin Haines Whack in Richmond and Associated Press reporters Denise Lavoie in Richmond; David McFadden in Baltimore; and Julie Pace and Michael Biesecker in Washington. A grand jury in the U.S. Eastern District of Arkansas has indicted 54 people in an investigation related to a white supremacist group, according to court documents. The indictment document includes a variety of 32 charges. Not all 54 are being indicted on all 32 charges listed in the document. The charges include attempted murder in aid of racketeering, kidnapping in aid of racketeering, narcotics conspiracy and others. At least nine people were accused of being members of the New Aryan Empire, according to the indictment. Members of the New Aryan Empire "engaged in, among other things, narcotics trafficking, witness intimidation and retaliation, acts involving murder, kidnapping, and aggravated assault," according to the indictment. The New Aryan Empire was formed in 1990 by a group of inmates being held at the Pope County Detention Center in Russellville, according to the indictment. The white supremacist group spread across the region both inside and outside prisons. About 5,000 people are counted as members. The group has a strict initiation process and code, according to the indictment. Members are not permitted to fraternize with people who aren't white, or who are homosexual, and are also barred from talking with law enforcement or "snitching" on fellow members. 3 1 of 3 Facebook / Contributed Photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 CSMH / Contributed photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3 To mark the 30th anniversary of Paul Simons Graceland album a few years ago, Londons Camden Jazz Cafe commissioned the London African Gospel Choir to perform the album in its entirety for one night only. Tickets sold out so five more nights were added and they all sold out as well. On Thursday, Feb. 21, the Crystal Kassi-founded and -directed choir will perform the album in New Haven at the College Street Music Hall. Lanzarote (Spain), January 26, 2019 (SPS) - The Saharawi Community in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, organized a demonstration in front of the Sub-Commission of the Spanish government to protest the repatriation of Sahrawi young activist Hussein Ould Bashir upon his arrival on the island and handing him over by the Spanish authorities to the Moroccan police, which was pursuing him to arrest him on the background of his position in support of self-determination and independence of the Saharawi people. The Saharawi community, the Sahrawi people's friends and civil society organizations in Lanzarote denounced the action, expressing their deep disapproval of the Spanish government's complicity with the Moroccan occupier and its unlimited support in international forums at the expense of an unarmed people fighting for the right to exist on their homeland. The demonstrators held the Spanish government responsible for what may be inflicted on the young Sahrawi of assault and ill-treatment and for his physical and moral integrity, as long as the Spanish state remains responsible, both morally and legally, for violations and injustices committed by the Moroccan occupation authorities against the Saharawi people in Western Sahara. (SPS) 062/SPS/TRA HELSINKI The Chang'e-4 lander and rover entered sleep mode Monday (Feb. 11) in preparation for a second lunar nighttime on the far side of the moon. The solar-powered spacecraft, which landed in the eastern section of the Von Karman crater on Jan. 3, powered down at 6 a.m. Eastern Monday, according to a release from the China Lunar Exploration Program in preparation for sunset around 24 hours later. Lunar nights last roughly two Earth weeks. The Yutu-2 rover has accumulated 120 meters of driving on the lunar surface, surpassing the 114 meters of roving managed by the 2013 Chang'e-3 mission rover Yutu ("Jade Rabbit") before it became immobilized in its second lunar daytime. Yutu-2 has been upgraded for improved reliability to address the issue with the first Yutu rover. The new rover has a design life of three months, after which a joint Netherlands-China low frequency radio astronomy instrument (NCLE) aboard the Queqiao ("Magpie Bridge") Chang'e-4 relay satellite will begin operations. Queqiao launched in May 2018 to Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 2, but NCLE, as a precaution against interference with the communications relay function of the satellite, has not yet been deployed. If still functional, the Yutu-2 will continue to operate and rove after NCLE is switched on. Yutu-2 resumed activities on Jan. 29 after a first lunar night on the surface, before entering a precautionary standby mode while the sun was high over the landing site between Feb. 4 and Feb. 8. The rover's science payloads the Lunar Penetrating Radar, Visible and Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer, Advanced Small Analyzer for Neutrals, and Panoramic Camera were reported to be operating nominally and with good data transmission. Image of the Change-4 lander taken by Yutu-2, released Feb. 4, 2019. (Image credit: China Lunar Exploration Program/China National Space Administration) The Yutu-2 rover and lander will resume science and exploration activities on Feb. 28 and March 1, respectively, according to the release, with the rover needing to unfold solar panels and dissipate heat. The previous lunar night saw the Chang'e-4 lander record a temperature low of -190 degrees Celsius (-310 Fahrenheit), with measurements made possible by a Russian-developed radioisotope thermoelectric generator which also acts as a prototype for future deep-space exploration. Official updates on the progress of the mission had been sparse during the second lunar day of operations, though some new images and footage were released ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday, which ran from Feb. 4 to Feb. 10. The NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter passed 330 kilometers east of the landing site on Jan. 30, returning an oblique image of the Von Karman crater and the Chang'e-4 lander, before later also isolating the rover within the image. Change-4 lander (near tip of left arrow) and rover (right arrow) among craters on the floor of Von Karman crater in a 1,700-meter-wide image. (Image credit: NASA/Arizona State University) A more vertical view of the spacecraft and landing site was likely imaged in a following orbit using LRO's LAMP instrument. That view could be released, along with any significant findings on how lunar dust is ejected upwards during a spacecraft's landing, during the 56th session of the Scientific and Technology Subcommittee meeting of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, which opened Monday in Vienna, Austria, and runs to Feb. 22. The far side of the moon, with Earth visible in the distance. (Image credit: Wei Mingchuan/Harbin Institute of Technology) Another component of the Chang'e-4 mission, the 45-kilogram Longjiang-2 microsatellite launched with Queqiao and operating in an elliptical lunar orbit, last week returned new images from a student-developed camera. One image downloaded and released by amateur radio enthusiasts featured the full disc of the far side of the moon, and the more distant Earth in the same shot. In late January, a maneuver was carried out to reduce the perilune of the satellite, which is expected to result in Longjiang-2 impacting the moon around August to remove any threat to future missions, according to a source close to the project. This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry. Georgetown, SC (29440) Today Sunny to partly cloudy. High 81F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms overnight. Low 67F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. South Bend Tribune report South Bend Tribune SOUTH BEND Notre Dame football player Javon McKinley was charged Monday with three misdemeanors, including two counts of battery, after reportedly punching two University of Notre Dame Security Police officers. McKinley, a 20-year-old junior and a wide receiver on the football team, was arrested early Sunday by campus police. On Monday, he was charged with two A misdemeanor counts of battery resulting in bodily injury and one C misdemeanor count of illegal consumption of alcohol. McKinley arrived on campus in an Uber just before 4 a.m. Sunday, according to a probable cause affidavit. McKinley was reportedly unresponsive in the back of the vehicle and Notre Dame personnel attempted to help wake him and take him to his residence hall. After finally waking the student, Notre Dame officers Adis Ibrekic and Laurie Steffen began to help McKinley to his residence hall, but he reportedly stopped walking and refused to continue. The two officers said they could smell alcohol on his breath and believed that in his condition he required assistance. The officers reportedly told McKinley they wanted to get him out of the cold, but he tensed up and tried to leave in the opposite direction of his dorm, according to court documents. The officers said they identified themselves to McKinley as campus police, but were unable to gain control of him. In their efforts to restrain McKinley, he reportedly punched both officers, according to court documents. McKinley was eventually restrained with the assistance of Notre Dame firefighters who also responded. He was transported to the St. Joseph County Jail. The result of a breathalyzer administered at the jail was consistent with the consumption of alcohol, according to court documents. McKinley was released from jail Monday and has a court date scheduled for Feb. 28. The 6-foot-2, 219-pound McKinley has played in 10 games in his three seasons with the Irish. The Corona (Calif.) Centennial product played in four games in 2018. Staff reports South Bend Tribune Not so long ago, Americans thought of threats to our nation in terms of armies marching across borders, nuclear weapons in the hands of our enemies, missiles aimed at our homeland and 9/11-style terrorist attacks. These are all serious dangers and we have to be ready to respond to them. But many experts today believe that cyberattacks are now the most urgent threat to our national security. The cyber world is new to many of us older folks. Understanding it requires learning a new vocabulary, with talk about the internet, information security, logging into bank accounts or email inboxes, cyberinfrastructure and cyber targets, 5G networks, spear-phishing, spyware and many other terms. As the cyber world has exploded in scope and importance, cyber threats to the well-being of our people are multiplying each year in frequency and severity. The threats come from multiple directions. Some perpetrators are criminals, hackers and malicious pranksters. Some are organizations. Others are hostile countries, including Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Each day our adversaries become more sophisticated, making it hard to keep our defenses up. Our dependence on the internet is a necessity and a challenge. We rely on it for communication, banking, shopping, information storage, and a multitude of other daily tasks. It is convenient, adds immeasurable value to our economy and hugely increases the information available to us. But the very connectedness it creates makes us more vulnerable to attacks. Penetrating our networks is not hard but tracking and attributing the attacks is hard. Bad actors, who can use a multitude of techniques to achieve their many goals, often avoid identification and capture. They use the internet and social media to spread political chaos, mischief, and disrupt elections and services. Some are trying to steal money or force companies to pay them to stop denial-of-service attacks. Cyberattacks may cost the U.S. economy more than $100 billion a year, according to estimates. Terrorists use the internet to promote propaganda and recruit members. And there is always the real threat of cyberattacks that could disrupt our economic system or cripple our electrical or communication grids. For a long time, we have known about these threats, and we have tried for years to figure out how to respond. Congress has passed laws, and presidents have wrestled with the issue and issued about 20 executive orders on cybersecurity. We have developed penalties most recently, new sanctions imposed in December on Russian intelligence operatives for their role in attempting to interfere in U.S. elections in 2016. Our government has created a large bureaucracy of offices and agencies to address the cyber-issues. Congress has held hearings, questioned officials and demanded action from the Defense Department, the National Security Agency and other governmental organizations. Much good work has been done. But we learn every day about new attacks and additional ways our accounts and data are vulnerable. We have done a lot right, but we have much more to do. We have to develop stronger ways to deter these cyberattacks, and step up our pace for developing both offensive and defensive cyber tools. We need to share information better and integrate our responses in the public and private sectors. We have to offer companies liability protection and address the enormous privacy issues that arise with creating and storing massive amounts of data. We need to train a workforce with the science and technology skills to create and deploy better cyber tools. We need a lead agency in the U.S. government with the primary mission of cybersecurity. But we cant rely on a government alone. All of us including policymakers, the military establishment, law enforcement, and leaders in the private sector must try to understand who the adversaries are, where they are, how they work, what their capabilities and intentions are and what we can do about it all. The experts are right that this is the No. 1 threat to our economy, our privacy and our national security. And as the Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said, nearly all of our information networks and systems will be at risk for years to come. We will not be able to declare victory soon and move on. We are in for the long haul. Jeff Parrott South Bend Tribune SOUTH BEND The citys common council, after hearing heavy opposition from landlords, is taking a slower approach on the administrations proposal to start proactively inspecting rental housing rather than relying only on complaints. Landlords attended and spoke out against the bill at a Feb. 6 meeting of the councils Health and Public Safety Committee to discuss the initiative. Speaking for the Greater South Bend-Mishawaka Association of Realtors, Chief Executive Officer Myron Larimer said the group believes the effort is well-intended and acknowledged there are a lot of problems with a lot of rental properties in South Bend. But Larimer said requiring all rentals to be inspected would be overwhelming and would unfairly waste resources the citys and landlords even though most landlords maintain safe housing. We think the need is really to focus on the problem properties immediately, he said. And where will the funds come from to make the program succeed? Our concern is that at some point, it will be looked at as the fines and the fees associated with the program, which brings in the question of whether or not there will be subjective enforcement. The council had been scheduled to consider a bill creating the new system at Monday nights regular meeting but sponsoring council member Tim Scott, D-1st, decided to pull it from the agenda and continue it to the council's Feb. 25 meeting. We want to make sure we go through all the comments and suggestions from the landlords who came and spoke, Scott said. We need to vet their concerns and make sure this will work for tenants, landlords and the city. Something this important we dont want to rush. Suzanna Fritzberg, Mayor Pete Buttigiegs deputy chief of staff and policy director, said the administration wants to implement the program to address lead poisoning, improve code enforcement processes, and increase access to safe and affordable housing. She stressed that only existing housing health and safety laws and regulations would be better enforced, and noted similar programs exist in many major cities, including the Indiana college towns of West Lafayette and Bloomington. At the committee meeting, as an example of what city inspectors typically find at problem rentals, city Code Enforcement Director Tracy Skibins showed council members photos of a rental home in which the tenant initially complained of no heat. An inspector arrived to find the home at 45 degrees. While there, the inspector found the ceiling caving in from water damage, ceiling tiles falling, a water heater that was rusted out and leaking, a burst pipe that had flooded the basement, and an uncovered electrical outlet and fuse box. Had we not been invited to this home in the first place, we would have never seen these concerns, Skibins said. This is what we want to try to prevent. Cosmetic issues are not something were going to be concerned about. Were looking for minimum health and safety standards. The program would begin with a four-month phase-in period to give landlords time to make repairs and voluntarily schedule inspections, either by code staff or state-licensed inspectors. Properties whose owners voluntarily schedule and pass inspection would be exempted from future inspections for five years. Properties built within the past 10 years, those that are annually inspected for federal subsidies, and those that have undergone a real estate inspection within the last three years also would be eligible for exemptions. Inspections would start in Census Tract 6, a triangular-shaped area on the citys near northwest side bounded by Lincoln Way to the south, Portage Avenue to the north and Diamond Avenue to the northwest, where poverty rates are highest and children have recorded the highest blood lead levels. Next would come census tracts with the highest percentages of rentals. The city would give landlords a hard copy of a checklist of things to be inspected, and post it on the citys website, Skibins said. While calling the initiatives intent commendable, council member John Voorde, D-at large, expressed some skepticism about the logistics. Youve got 16,000 rentals and youre going to do 3,200 a year, with three inspectors, and the ones that are found in noncompliance will have to have a reinspection, he told Skibins. Can this really be done effectively? If the numbers themselves appear to be cumbersome or not manageable at least at this point, to me, Im still not convinced that a complaint-driven program wont work well enough. But Skibins said tenants often dont report problems because they fear eviction, in a city with the nations 18th-highest eviction rate among 309 cities with populations over 100,000. If we were able to depend on people to have the courage and not have fear for reaching out to us, then yes I dont think wed be in the situation were in right now, she said. But honestly from my heart I dont think thats whats happening. South Bend Tribune Report South Bend Tribune St. Joseph County police today released the identity of the woman who died Monday afternoon in a crash on Ash Road in eastern St. Joseph County. The victim is Kassidy E. Hockert, 18, of Granger. The crash happened shortly after 2 p.m. Monday on Ash Road, between Douglas and Edison roads, in Penn Township. The vehicle Hockert was driving crashed into a tree. She was alone in the vehicle. Jack Walton Tribune Correspondent The night before she embarked on her current American tour, Emily Burgess had one final engagement in her native Canada. Burgess and her band, the Emburys, are based in Peterborough, Ontario, and she was nominated for Best New Artist at this years Maple Blues Awards. She learned of the nomination in October and had planned to attend the ceremony, but the events of the day ended up being a bigger deal than she originally imagined. At one oclock in the afternoon, the Toronto Blues Society called me, saying, Could you fill in a spot? Theres someone who cant make it, Burgess says by phone from Syracuse, N.Y. Im two hours from Toronto in Peterborough, so it was a mad rush to get there to set up and perform at the show, too. She was too busy to prepare an acceptance speech. It turned out that she should have had one handy, because she won. Fresh off her new accolade, Burgess brings her band to the Midway Tavern in Mishawaka on Sunday. Everyone says this, but I didnt actually expect to win it, Burgess says. I thought I might plan out a little speech on the way there, but then once I got that phone call, performing was the only thing on my mind. The 31-year-old sings and plays guitar in a style thats rooted in swinging blues, but expands to folk and pop-rock as well. Her Emburys are usually comprised of bassist-drummer brothers Rico and Marcus Browne, although for this tour, bassist Ryan Weber is subbing in for Rico. Burgess credits legendary guitarist Hollywood Fats as a prime inspiration for her sound. He made only one full album as a leader prior to his death from a drug overdose in 1986, but Hollywood Fats served as a template for Burgess. He was just perfect. He had the perfect sound, the perfect phrasing, she says. His album is such a benchmark. You never hear him play a cliche. Hes just so captivating. Burgess wanted to emulate even the make and model of Hollywood Fats guitar, although she had to settle for the next best thing: a Gibson 339 instead of her heros Gibson 335. The 339 is a little bit smaller and it costs about a thousand dollars less. Ive had it for about six years now. Its the only guitar I play and its become special to me, she says. Honestly, though, if I had gotten some other guitar, then it probably would have become the special one. At her live gigs, Burgess plays many of her own songs as well as covers both classic (Chuck Berrys Brown Eyed Handsome Man) and unexpected (TLCs Waterfalls.) In 2017, she recorded her first album, Are We in Love? There are plenty of bluesy moments, but the tracks often veer into rock territory and can bring to mind anyone from Ani DiFranco to The Breeders. Burgess also didnt stint on the overdubs. I didnt feel the need to do the album just as a trio because were a trio. I wanted to go ahead and layer it up, she says. Make it as great as it can possibly be, and afterwards you can figure out how to play it live in concert. Roy Chapman, 73, of Nancy, passed away Tuesday, June 22, 2021 at his residence. Arrangements are pending and will be announced later by Morris & Hislope Funeral Home. Condolences may be expressed to the family at: www.morrisandhislope.com Horn said a conviction in a case like this also carries a deeper meaning. "There does need to be a conviction of somebody like Chapo Guzman, both for the symbolism and the pure factor of justice being served," Horn, who is now in private practice, said in an interview before the verdict. Jeffrey Lichtman, centre, a defence attorney for Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, arrives at federal court in New York. Credit:AP "It does show that ... for somebody at his level, justice will be done, it will be served. It's an incredibly powerful victory for DOJ, for law enforcement." The prosecution's case against Guzman, a roughly 1.5 metre figure whose nickname translates to "Shorty," included the testimony of several turncoats and other witnesses. Among them were Guzman's former Sinaloa lieutenants, a computer encryption expert and a Colombian cocaine supplier who underwent extreme plastic surgery to disguise his appearance. One Sinaloa insider described Mexican workers getting contact highs while packing cocaine into thousands of jalapeno cans - shipments that totaled 25 to 30 tons of cocaine worth $500 million each year. Another testified how Guzman sometimes acted as his own sicario, or hitman. The tension at times was cut by some of the trial's sideshows, such as the sight of Guzman and his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, showing up in matching burgundy velvet blazers in a gesture of solidarity. Another day, a Chapo-size actor who played the kingpin in the TV series "Narcos: Mexico" came to watch, telling reporters that seeing the defendant flash him a smile was "surreal." While the trial was dominated by Guzman's persona as a near-mythical outlaw who carried a diamond-encrusted handgun and stayed one step ahead of the law, the jury never heard from Guzman himself, except when he told the judge he wouldn't testify. El Chapo's girlfriend Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez. But his sing-songy voice filled the courtroom, thanks to recordings of intercepted phone calls. "Amigo!" he said to a cartel distributor in Chicago. "Here at your service." One of the trial's most memorable tales came from girlfriend Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, who testified she was in bed in a safe house with an on-the-run Guzman in 2014 when Mexican marines started breaking down his door. She said Guzman led her to a trap door beneath a bathtub that opened up to a tunnel that allowed them to escape. Asked what he was wearing, she replied: "He was naked. He took off running. He left us behind." Prosecutors have been unsparing in depicting Guzman as a purveyor of brutality and horror spanning borders. But defence lawyers have insisted that he has been made a scapegoat. Guzman's lawyers asked the jury to dismiss the testimony of the government's cooperating witnesses, describing them as liars out to save themselves by seeking the best possible deals with authorities. For Guzman, a conviction in a US courtroom that guarantees life in prison cuts to the heart of his underworld myth, which only grew while he was a notorious fugitive. The jail cell shower area where drug lord El Chapo slipped into a tunnel to escape from the Mexican Altiplano maximum security prison in 2015. Credit:AP Federal prosecutors have described Guzman's rise in the 1980s as being fuelled by his skill at funnelling cocaine into the US and then getting proceeds back to Colombian cartels. Guzman continued expanding his empire, prosecutors said, even after he was taken into custody in Guatemala in 1993 and placed in a maximum-security prison in Mexico. His 2001 escape from that prison - infamously said to involve him slipping away in a laundry hamper - began what would be more than a decade evading capture. Those years were filled with financial successes, violence and efforts to corrupt Mexican government officials, prosecutors wrote in court filings. They also said Guzman and his associates obtained drugs and supplies from other countries and sent cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines and marijuana into the US. A forensics worker climbs up a ladder to the exit of the tunnel used by Guzman to escape from the Altiplano maximum security prison. Credit:AP Guzman was arrested again in 2014, and he escaped into the tunnel the following year. In 2016, he was arrested once more, and spent a year in custody before his extradition. The drug trade was a gold mine for Guzman, enabling him to "exponentially increase his profits to staggering levels," prosecutors wrote in one court filing. But a key part of that, prosecutors continued, was "thousands of acts of violence" - including murder, torture and kidnappings - committed by assassins who he aimed at possible witnesses or people who sought to help law enforcement. Loading Prosecutors say Guzman carried out some of the violence personally. During closing arguments in the trial, Assistant US Attorney Andrea Goldbarg said Guzman once cursed and shot two men, both of whom were already badly beaten, for working with a rival cartel. He then ordered their bodies thrown into a bonfire, Goldbarg said. Court papers unsealed on Friday, after closing arguments had concluded, included allegations that Guzman raped girls as young as 13. An attorney representing Guzman said he denied the allegations. Guzman allegedly referred to the girls as "vitamins" who brought him "life," according to NPR. While Guzman had sought to shield his communications from authorities, he also wiretapped people around him - including his family, mistresses and other associates - which Goldfarb said ultimately helped law enforcement officials. Dubai: Hundreds of thousands of Iranians have marched and some burnt US and Israeli flags to mark the revolution's 40th anniversary, as Tehran showed off ballistic missiles in defiance of US efforts to curb its military power. Soldiers, students, clerics and black-clad women holding small children thronged streets across Iran, many with portraits of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Shiite cleric who toppled the Shah in an Islamic uprising that still haunts the West. Iranians fill the street leading to the Azadi Tower during celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of the Islamic revolution in Tehran on February 11. Credit:Bloomberg On February 11, 1979, Iran's army declared its neutrality, paving the way for the fall of US-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. State television showed crowds carrying Iranian flags in cold rainy weather, shouting "Death to Israel, Death to America" - trademark chants of the revolution. London: British Prime Minister Theresa May has asked for yet more time to seek changes to her Brexit divorce deal, leading to accusations she is recklessly running down the clock in order to blackmail Parliament into voting for it. The talks are at a crucial stage, we now all need to hold our nerve, May told the House of Commons on Tuesday. British Prime Minister Theresa May gives a statement about progress on Brexit negotiations to UK Parliament. Credit:PA She did not set a time for a new vote on the deal, though if there is no progress by the end of February, MPs would get a chance for a vote that they could use to seize control of the process and potentially delay Brexit. We must agree [on] a deal that this House can support and that is what I am working to achieve, May said, rejecting calls to postpone the Brexit March 29 deadline. Beijing: Controversial political donor Huang Xiangmo, who had his Australian permanent residency visa stripped from him, has described Australia as a "giant baby" with "simple folk customs" but beautiful scenery. Mr Huang has been accused in Australia of being a lobbyist for Beijing, but in an interview with the nationalist Chinese tabloid Global Times, he describes himself as a Hong Kong businessman. Huang Xiangmo. Credit:Ryan Stuart He said the visa cancellation was "quite unexpected" and had "a huge impact on me and my family" because he is unable to see his granddaughter who is an Australian citizen. But Mr Huang says he is "very pleased" the major political parties have chosen not to return his political donations, as he requested last week, because it shows "they have enough confidence in the legitimacy of these donations". It looked like much any other innocuous panel discussion with a politics wonk on Sky News, one which might have been overlooked. But when Erin Watson-Lynn, who was until last month a director for a foreign relations research centre in Melbourne, appeared last Friday on Politics HQ with Nicholas Reece, sensitive Liberal antennae were twitching like rabbit noses. Curtin MP Julie Bishop maintains it is her intention to recontest her seat at the next election. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Ms Watson-Lynn has been touted as Curtin MP Julie Bishop's preferred replacement when or if the former foreign minister retires from Federal Parliament. A television appearance where a parliamentary aspirant discusses her recent trip to Jordan and Lebanon to inspect refugee camps on the Syrian border with former Liberal candidate Deirdre Willmott can only be seen through the prism of a future preselection contest. Victims should not be used as "political pawns", warned Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath as she responded to claims a woman raped by notorious sex offender Robert John Fardon was advised she could be jailed if she broke a court suppression order. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court decided to allow Fardon to leave his supervised accommodation, where he had lived for the past five years. A seven-day non-publication order was made so authorities could find Fardon a new home without media or community scrutiny. Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath questioned about text message to a rape survivor. Credit:AAP During question time in Parliament, Shadow Attorney-General David Janetzki said a staffer of Ms D'Ath texted rape victim Sharon Tomlinson with a warning. The Liberal National Party has unleashed on booted member Jason Costigan, detailing five separate harassment complaints and labelling him as "lazy". Mr Costigan was expelled from the party following allegations of "disgusting behaviour" towards an 18-year-old, which he strenuously denied, and was missing in action as Parliament resumed for the first sitting of 2019. Member for Whitsunday Jason Costigan, pictured with LNP leader Deb Frecklington, has been suspended from the party. Credit:Facebook Under the protection of parliamentary privilege, manager of opposition business Jarrod Bleijie did not hold back in his scathing assessment of his former colleague, who is now an independent. Mr Bleijie also revealed details of new allegations made to the LNP. NSW Labor has vowed to shut a backdoor in the planning system that allows developers to take rezoning applications rejected by a council to the state government, but developers warn this will potentially expose the process to corruption. Opposition leader Michael Daley on Tuesday seized on growing concerns about overdevelopment and said a Labor government would stop developers from bypassing councils, which should have the final say on how a suburb looks. NSW Labor Leader Michael Daley speaks to the media at Milperra in Sydney. Credit:AAP Developers, since 2012, have been able to take rejected rezoning applications - usually to build large scale apartment blocks - to the government for approval. "Right now the law will say [the limit is] a two storey house [on this block], the developer will put an application in for 12 storey units, the council will say no, the developer will run off to the minister and he or his delegate says yes," Mr Daley said. The government is preparing to ramp up its attack on Labor by announcing "contingency measures" to discourage boat arrivals, with one option being the reopening of the detention centre on Christmas Island. Mr Shorten dismissed the government claims and declared Labor would uphold national security but still treat people humanely. Loading "The government tells us that this bill is a constitutional crisis. The fact of the matter is this bill is about providing treatment to sick people," he told Parliament. "We can have strong borders while still fulfilling our duty of care to the people in our care. "This bill and our amendments are about Australia's character. It's about how we treat sick people in our care." The final vote, shortly after 6pm on Thursday, delivered a stunning victory for Labor, the Greens and crossbench MPs to enforce new rules to give doctors more say over the transfer of refugees from Manus Island and Nauru for treatment in Australia. The bill will go to a vote in the Senate on Wednesday, where the government does not appear to have the numbers to stop the new scheme becoming law. Labor made a strategic move to avoid turning the bill into a test of confidence in the government, withdrawing part of the medical transfer scheme that required funding to pay for medical experts to review transfers. Prime Minister Scott Morrison before losing the vote on Tuesday night. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The move cut short a furious debate over whether the vote in the lower house could be seen as a vote on a money bill and was therefore a vote of no confidence in the government itself. Constitutional expert Anne Twomey, a professor of law at the University of Sydney, said the Labor decision to cut the cost of the medical panel changed the implications of the loss in Parliament. "Now that it is no longer a money bill, and given that the government did not declare it to be an issue of confidence, the government can continue governing," she said. "If the lower house has really lost confidence in the government, it could always move a no confidence motion, but so far it has not done so." Professor Twomey said one parallel with the government's loss in the House was the fall of the Fadden government in 1941, when the budget was amended to reduce it by the nominal sum of one pound. Another parallel was the fall of Prime Minister Stanley Bruce in 1929, when he went to an election after introducing an industrial relations bill and lost a key vote by 35 to 34. Mr Shorten proved the governments vulnerability by gaining support from five independent and one Greens MP to gain 75 votes on the floor of the House of Representatives to pass the new rules for refugee medical transfers. Loading In a surprise legal twist just hours before the vote, the government cited legal advice from the Solicitor-General to argue the bill would incur additional expenses by creating a panel of medical experts to rule on refugee transfers. This launched an argument over section 53 of the constitution, which states the Senate may not amend any proposed law so as to increase any proposed charge or burden on the people, and led Labor to remove the cost of the medical panel to side-step the threat. Section 53 is "non-justiciable" and therefore a court will not decide if a law is valid, meaning the government cannot challenge the medical transfer bill in the High Court. Labor had all of its 69 members as well as support from Greens MP Adam Bandt and independents Julia Banks, Cathy McGowan, Kerryn Phelps, Rebekha Sharkie and Andrew Wilkie. Loading "I know how much the people who are sick on Manus Island and Nauru are suffering and Parliament is saying enough is enough,"Dr Phelps said after the vote. This bloc of 75 was enough to pass the bill over the 73 government votes and another vote from Queensland independent Bob Katter. Mr Shorten secured the votes after giving ground on his initial proposal to the crossbench. In the form passed by the lower house, the bill says the Immigration Minister must make decisions on each transfer within 72 hours unless the refugees should be rejected on security grounds. The security grounds have also been clarified. In the first version of its position, Labor suggested the minister could reject transfers if the refugee had a substantial criminal record under a provision of the Migration Act that covers any crimes subject to prison terms of more than one year. The later version of the Labor proposal applies the same section of the Migration Act but adds the condition that the minister must reasonably believe the person would expose the Australian community to a serious risk of criminal conduct. This change is intended to protect refugees who need medical help but might have been convicted of minor offences or perhaps crimes of freedom of expression in their home countries. When Labor's Barney Cooney, who died on Saturday aged 84, left the Senate he was a loss not just to the Senate but to the Parliament. Colleagues of all persuasions come and go but rarely ones like Barney. If you want an example of what a decent, hard working, committed parliamentarian looks like, you couldn't do better than him. Senator Barney Cooney photographed in 1997. Credit:Michael Rayner Despite plenty of heated debates, it would be surprising if anyone could find one where he was personally nasty or sneering. Labor always called on him in a tight spot. He could speak on anything and sound as though it was second nature and thus got the call for any urgent filibuster. When they had something tricky to sell or defend, Barney got the call. The later version of the Labor proposal applies the same section of the Migration Act but adds the condition that the minister must reasonably believe the person would expose the Australian community to a serious risk of criminal conduct. This change is intended to protect refugees who need medical help but might have been convicted of minor offences or perhaps crimes of freedom of expression in their home countries. Greens MP Adam Bandt and independent MP Kerryn Phelps negotiate during Question Time. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Labor is understood to be comfortable with the latest version of its amendments after the negotiations with the Greens and the crossbench, believing the terms give security agencies enough leeway to stop transfer that might present a security risk. The decision to give the minister 72 hours to make an assessment on character grounds is seen as a "solid" outcome for Labor. Earlier, Labor was warned against amending a crossbench bill to allow refugee medical transfers from Manus Island and Nauru amid signs the Senate could drag out debate on any changes until the election. The Morrison government is prepared to use delaying tactics in the Senate to slow or halt the passage of the divisive bill, turning this into a key factor for crossbench MPs in their negotiations with Labor on Tuesday. Dr Phelps said the bill needed to be passed swiftly to allow medical treatment for asylum seekers. I dont want to see the politics get in the way of a good solution here, Dr Phelps said. What weve been seeing is a lot of discussion about the politics. And what we need to bring this back to is that this is about the lives of real human beings. We have a detention system that is inhumane, its cruel, it lacks accountability and its enormously expensive. Loading Dr Phelps and other crossbench MPs are negotiating the wording of any amendments ahead of a vote in the House of Representatives on Tuesday afternoon on the bill passed by the Senate last December. The bill would become law without another vote if it is approved by the House on Tuesday. If amended, however, it would have to go back to the Senate for approval. While an alliance of Labor, the Greens and independent Senators could secure a majority in the upper house to force the medical transfer bill through, the Greens are concerned about any delaying tactics from the government. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, the governments leader in the upper house, signalled a hard-line approach to the bill if it goes back to the Senate. We are doing whatever it takes to prevent this bill from becoming law and you will of course see how these processes are going to evolve over the next 24 to 48 hours, he said. I know as is always the case in this place many people have made judgements about what they apparently know will happen, all I will say is watch this space. The government is unequivocally committed to protecting our borders. As we did before Christmas we will do everything we can to stop Bill Shorten from undermining our national security and our strong border protection arrangements. The Labor caucus agreed on Monday night to authorise negotiations on the crossbench bill to widen the definition of security in the bill to allow refugees to be rejected if they have a criminal history, to give the Immigration Minister more than 24 hours to decide transfers and to limit the rules to about 1,000 individuals currently on Nauru and Manus Island. The bill is expected to come to a vote in the House after matters of public importance are debated after Question Time. The supporters of the bill will not need an absolute majority that is, 76 of the 150 members of the lower house to win the debate. Labor has 69 members and is negotiating support for its changes from Greens MP Adam Bandt and independents Julia Banks, Cathy McGowan, Rebekha Sharkie and Andrew Wilkie as well as Dr Phelps. If it is not decided on Tuesday, the crossbench may need to suspend standing orders on another day a move that would require 76 votes and may be impossible. The Greens are concerned about Senate delays and about the way the amendments give the Immigration Minister more discretion, which could force applications for medical transfers to go through the courts as they are today. Barnaby Joyce has defended his actions as water minister following criticism from the royal commission into the Murray Darling Basin Authority, which found he "ignored the law". The New England MP said the "politically-charged" royal commission report was unsurprising. Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "Its ridiculous to say that Im some sort of malevolent tyrant that ignores the laws of our nation," he said. "For so many of these decisions, Im at arms length the MDBA makes them. The people who say that [I broke the law] are ignorant of the actual process." Most complaints about Canberra's jail relate to concerns about the time prisoners get to spend outside, the ACT Ombudsman has revealed. Ombudsman Michael Manthorpe received 17 complaints about the Alexander Maconochie Centre in the last three months of 2018, compared with 11 in the previous quarter. The Alexander Maconochie Centre. Credit:Jay Cronan His report, tabled in the ACT Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, said more than half of the complaints raised concerns about what "was considered to be an excessive number of lock ins within the jail and access to outside time". "The office has raised these matters with ACT Correctional Services both directly and via other relevant oversight agencies, including the ACT Inspector of Correctional Services. We will continue to liaise closely with ACT Correctional Services on these matters," Mr Manthorpe wrote. Daniel Andrews and his ministers had also vowed to cut travel times between regional centres and Melbourne, introducing a degree of bipartisanship into the debate, but it is worth asking what such measures can actually hope to achieve. In its October State Orange Book , the Grattan Institute think tank dismissed the idea that states might "make economic water flow uphill", and pointed out that city-centred growth is a global phenomenon . There is reason to believe that if people can get to jobs in Melbourne, they will commute from the regions. Credit:Craig Abraham Before Victoria's recent election, then opposition leader Matthew Guy was also talking about trying to decentralise population growth, through changes to the tax regime and improved regional rail links . While the ambition of rejuvenating our state's regions was laudable, the consensus was that these proposals lacked detail and, in the end, it was the Andrews government's commitments on infrastructure that convinced voters. For a nation that sets such great store by individual responsibility and initiative, it was a jarringly statist moment when the Morrison government proposed visas for migrants that would compel them to live within designated areas . Under such a plan, new arrivals would live in a most un-Australian way, being prevented from gravitating to the coast, where the economic and cultural action is centred. The premise for so many proposals to redistribute population growth across Australia is that capital cities are being "choked" by human arrivals, with Melbourne adding an average of 350 people a day. There can be no question that this has had a negative effect on quality of life in many areas of the metropolis, but it remains unclear at what point these costs might start to outweigh the benefits people derive from urban and suburban living. Yet despite poor and irregular services, we are already seeing population booms in satellite towns as far from the capital as Wonthaggi and even Bendigo, so there is reason to believe that if people can get to jobs in Melbourne, they will commute from the regions, as they do in Britain. This, in turn, would lead to growth in demand for schools, health and community services and shops, creating more local employment. The Andrews government has shown it is prepared to be ambitious when it comes to suburban rail projects. It now needs to demonstrate that it can extend this ambition to cover the whole state, while bearing in mind in the Grattan Institute's words that "governments owe obligations to people, not places". The alternative waiting until demand for improved rail services becomes acute and then reacting, as was the case when past governments confronted population growth in such places as Geelong and the corridor from Epping to Mernda is a recipe for second-rate planning and increased public frustration. A mother was feeding her two-week-old baby when gunshots were fired into her home in Melbourne's north, narrowly missing her head. Authorities were called to the property at Mill Park after two shots were fired into the home around 4.30am on Monday, February 4. The husband and wife, both 28, were home with the infant, 15 days old, at the time of the shooting. None of them were injured. Detective Acting Sergeant Phil Crawford said the woman was shaken after the incident. The question of whether Woolloongabbas derelict Broadway Hotel can be fully restored has been discussed at a meeting of state, council and private engineers, as the debate over who is responsible for its restoration continues. At Tuesdays city planning committee meeting at City Hall, a petition was discussed that requested council compulsorily acquire the fire-ravaged heritage hotel and restore it for community use. The derelict Broadway Hotel after the September fire. Credit:Jesse Harrison The Broadway has been sitting derelict since 2010, with several fires since then damaging its infrastructure. The petition of more than 400 signatures had come before the committee last week but was not voted on, leading to it being discussed again this week. A Gold Coast man has been charged with repeatedly sexually abusing a girl for more than six years. The 54-year-old man has been accused of abusing the girl from 2013, when she was six years old, until she was 13 at Mudgeeraba. He has been charged with six counts of indecent treatment of a child under 12 after the Gold Coast Child Protection and Investigation Unit opened the case on Friday. The investigation was sparked by investigators receiving information about the alleged offences and led to the man's arrest on Monday. The Biggera Waters man was due to face Southport Magistrates Court on Tuesday. A charity cafe that was kicked out of a Brisbane City Council-owned historical building has cost ratepayers nearly $18,000 in rent, councillors have been told. The Uniting Hands Foundation Australia won a contract in 2016 to take over the renovated Engine Room in Teneriffe, a nearly 100-year-old building once used for industry in the area. The Engine Room historic building during council's $1.2 million restoration in 2016. Credit:Lisa Maree Williams But last week the council announced the small not-for-profit UHFA, which ran a cafe out of the building, had been evicted from the premises after failing to pay rent. Council had spent $1.2 million to restore the building in 2016, after initially saying the cost to ratepayers would be $500,000. Electric scooter company Lime needs to step up to the plate and make sure it is providing enough helmets for riders on Brisbane streets, lord mayor Graham Quirk says. Under questioning from the Labor opposition in councils Tuesday meeting about the councils potential liability for injuries on Limes popular scooters, Cr Quirk said the regulation of helmet use and speed were state government issues. Scooter injuries are reported to Mater Hospital at an average of one a day. Credit:Albert Perez/AAP However, he said Lime needed to work harder to encourage scooter users to wear helmets, with about one person a day presenting at the Mater Hospital for scooter injuries. We are continuing to bring Lime scooters to account, its fair to say that, as their responsibilities as an operator, Cr Quirk said. Special police force to tackle pillaging A conference held at the Sydney Harbour Trust agreed it was desirable to establish a wharf police force to combat pillaging. It was estimated that losses in Australia through cargo pillaging amount annually to 300 000, and in 1920 goods to the value of 181,000 were stated to have been stolen on the waterfront in Sydney. To combat this, the Government of New South Wales intimated its willingness to set aside a sum of money to work with shipping interests and other concerned parties. Premier endorses White Australia policy The Premier of Victoria, Mr Lawson, arrived safely in London and spoke about how his brief stay in Bombay had strengthened his belief in the White Australia policy. Australia, he said, ought to be kept white at any cost. The best way to do so is by encouraging the migration of British people. He added that he had observed the enormous difficulties that Indian administration was for the British Government who were facing the problems with energy, firmness, and determination. Japanese protest at US immigration law Council workers clean up the street outside the Hilton Hotel after the explosion on February 13, 1978. Credit:Alan Gilbert Purcell; Stevens/Fairfax Media First published in The Sydney Morning Herald on February 13, 1978 Two people were killed early this morning when an explosion rocked the Hilton Hotel in George Street, Sydney. The hotel is the venue for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting. Seven people were injured, some seriously. Friends have paid tribute to Joel White, who died after he came into contact with overhead powerlines while working on a Sydney factory roof on Monday afternoon. The 24-year-old was working on the roof of a Moorebank factory with four others about 2pm when he was electrocuted. Joel White died in a workplace incident on a factory roof. Credit:Facebook One of the other men was taken to hospital with serious burns to his lower legs, and three others were treated at the scene. However, by the time paramedics were able to reach Mr White, there was nothing they could do. Police are investigating an incident where two Indonesian students allege they were attacked at the Canberra Centre last week, possibly due to the head-scarves they were wearing. The two female master's students were walking to the bus stop closest to Target on the ground floor of the shopping centre, when they were approached by two people. The incident happened at the Canberra Centre on Thursday, February 7. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong According to Welhelmus Poek, president of the Indonesian Students Association in Canberra, a woman made comments like "why do you dress all in black? Why are you still alive?" and "it isn't fair to us". While the two women ignored the comments, they say one of them was then punched in the side of the head, hurting her ear. They were assisted by some passersby. Two important sites in the history of Canberra have been formally recognised and given protected status. The Redhill Campsite in Griffith was a public park lived in by Aboriginal people in the decades before the war was the city was being built. Australian Catholic University campus dean, Associate Professor Patrick McArdle, with the mural in the listed building. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong It became known as the "last campsite of the Ngunnawal people" as European settlemement encroached on ancient Aboriginal land. And as transient workers came and went in the construction of Canberra, it was also an important place of meeting and accommodation. Attempted mediation by human rights advocates has failed to convince Canberra prisoner Isa Islam to break his long-running hunger strike. Islam, now in the 66th day of his hunger strike, remains in Canberra hospital in a much weakened physical state. After 66 days, the stand-off continues between Canberra's detainee hunger striker and the ACT government Credit:File image Islam is serving multiple sentences for violent offences, including the stabbing of a man at the Ainslie shops and a vicious assault which put another prisoner in hospital for a month. Islam is now eligible for parole. He began his hunger strike on December 9 and on January 10 was transferred to Canberra Hospital. Canberrans got a hot, dusty reminder of the drought conditions gripping the region on Tuesday in what was otherwise expected to be a milder week. With the mercury already at 27 degrees by noon and a dust storm downing power lines across the city, Canberrans couldn't even seek relief in Lake Burley Griffin while it remained closed to swimming due to a blue-green algae outbreak. Wild winds dramatically reduced visibility in Canberra on Tuesday, blanketing Anzac Parade in dust. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong National Capital Authority Lake Burley Griffin manager Peter Beutel pointed to a combination of extremely hot weather and low flow from the Molonglo River has brought on the latest closure. "The Molonglo River is quite ugly [currently], it's got high number of blue-green algae," Mr Beutel said. Canberras legal fraternity is in mourning after the death of former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Jeffrey Miles. Justice Miles, who died on Monday night aged 83, was appointed to head the territorys highest court in 1985, and remained in the role until his retirement in 2002. Following his retirement, he continued his work in the law, as an acting judge in the Supreme Courts of both NSW and the ACT. Former Chief Justice of the ACT Supreme Court Jeffrey Miles. Credit:Rohan Thomson During his time at ACT chief justice, he presided over several high profile cases, as well as negotiating the territorys transition to self-government. Gaia Hypothesis. Various artists. Belconnen Arts Centre, 118 Emu Bank, Belconnen. Until March 17. Tuesday-Sunday 10am to 4pm. Anna Madeleine, Pranatamangsa AR 2018 in Gaia Hypothesis at Belconnen Arts Centre. The so-called "Gaia hypothesis" essentially argues that living organisms interact with the broader inorganic environment to create a complex, self-regulating system that enables life on earth to continue. It was advanced by the English chemist James Lovelock and the American microbiologist Lynn Margulis in the early 1970s, but popularised mainly by Lovelock, who coined the name Gaia the Greek goddess for the earth after the name was suggested to him by the novelist William Golding. The idea of the world as a self-regulating entity was hardly new, with an important precedent in the thinking of Alexander von Humboldt a couple of centuries earlier and the Russian-Soviet scientists, including Piotr Kropotkin, Vladimir Vernadsky and Vladimir Kostitzin, having earlier arrived at related concepts. In the dim distant past, politicians got themselves elected by showing us a Vision of Australias future that was brighter and more alluring than their opponents. These days the pollies prefer a more negative approach, pointing to the daunting problems we face and warning that, in such uncertain times, switching to the other guy would be far too risky. Illustration: Simon Letch Credit: Weve gone from Im much better than him to if you think Im bad, hed be worse. Maybe they simply lack any vision of the future beyond advancing their own careers. Management-types tell us we should conduct SWOT analysis considering our strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. But weve become mesmerised by the threats and incapable of seeing the opportunities. Such a pessimistic mindset is crippling us when we could be going from strength to strength. The nation's biggest banks are scrambling to contact up to 100,000 customers who may have been caught up in a major data breach at property valuation firm, LandMark White. The breach, which LandMark White first revealed late on Friday, could include property valuations and personal contact information of home owners, residents, and property agents, including first and last names, residential addresses and contact numbers. There has been a data breach at a property valuation business. Credit:Rob Homer LandMark White is one of the biggest valuation firms used by banks and other lenders across the country for services such as assessing mortgage applications. On Tuesday night Commonwealth Bank of Australia and ANZ Bank revealed they had suspended LandMark White from their panels of valuers while National Australia Bank said it was still assessing the impact on its customers. Westpac did not respond by deadline. 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! Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced his support for legislation to repeal New Yorks ban on surrogacy contracts. Touting the Child-Parent Security Act, Cuomo told the New York Post that the states antiquated laws discriminate against couples, same-sex and otherwise, who are dealing with fertility issues. The legislation provides a path for them to start families, he said, arming them with legally-enforceable contractual rights. The issue is complex, however, with far-reaching legal, moral and practical implications for the adults involved and deeply personal consequences for the children. It's not surprising, therefore, that an otherwise unlikely coalition of feminist groups and religious organizations have joined forces to oppose surrogacy in several states and foreign jurisdictions. In 1992, New York barred both traditional and gestational surrogacy agreements, the latter covering a procedure whereby an embryo, created by in vitro fertilization, is implanted in the uterus of a woman who has contracted to carry and give birth to the child. Unlike traditional surrogacy, therefore, there is no genetic relationship between the woman and the child. New York and several other states acted in response to Matter of Baby M, a gut-wrenching New Jersey case that graphically illustrated the perils of surrogacy agreements. In February 1985, William Stern entered into a surrogacy contract with Mary Beth Whitehead. She agreed to be artificially inseminated with his sperm, carry the child to term, and then deliver it to him and his wife, Elizabeth, who was reluctant to become pregnant because of a medical condition. Stern agreed to pay her $10,000 for these services. Anguish at birth After several artificial inseminations over a period of months, Whitehead became pregnant and, on March 27, 1986, gave birth to the child known as Baby M. She broke into tears almost immediately, feeling that she had bonded with the child during pregnancy, believing that the baby looked like her other daughter, and expressing serious doubts about whether she could really surrender the infant to the Sterns. Nevertheless, despite these heartbreaking impulses, she kept her promise and delivered the baby to the Sterns home three days later. According to the New Jersey Supreme Court, Whitehead became deeply disturbed, disconsolate, and stricken with unbearable sadness that very evening. She could not eat, sleep, or concentrate on anything other than her need for her baby. The next day, she went to the Sterns home and pleaded with them to have her child for just one week, after which she promised to return her. William and Elizabeth Stern feared she was suicidal and so, taking her at her word, gave her the baby. She reneged on her promise, however, prompting Stern to file suit seeking enforcement of the surrogacy contract. Whitehead and her husband, Richard, thereupon fled to Florida, staying in about 20 hotels, motels and homes over the next three months to avoid having to surrender the child. Florida police finally located their whereabouts and forcibly removed the child from them. Historic battle An historic court battle ensued, culminating in a 1988 decision by New Jerseys highest court striking down the surrogacy contract as against the public policy of the state and potentially degrading to women. Believing nonetheless that William Stern would be the better custodian, the court awarded him custody and directed that Whitehead be given visitation rights. With the Baby M case firmly in mind, the Child-Parent Security Act would only permit enforcement of gestational surrogacy contracts. Still, it doesnt follow that a surrogate would be measurably less affected by having to surrender a child she had carried for nine months merely because she has no genetic relationship to the baby. Moreover, the prospect of making a lot of money as much as $50,000 in states where such arrangements are legal for what is essentially a nine-month rental of ones womb, will be especially alluring to women desperately in need of funds to provide for themselves and, perhaps, other children of theirs. This makes women who are poor and overwhelmed by their situations in life especially vulnerable to exploitation by wealthy couples desiring a child. A 2018 documentary, Big Fertility, exposes this predation by well-heeled profiteers in the surrogacy business. More fundamentally, gestational surrogacy arrangements, however well-intended, tread upon human dignity by treating children as products to be sold in the marketplace rather than human beings longing by nature for maternal love. And, of course, couples with fertility issues aren't really entitled to a baby merely because they happen to want one. New Yorks ban on surrogacy contracts was soundly enacted to obviate problems made evident by Matter of Baby M. Those problems arent going to go away merely because a surrogacy is gestational rather than traditional. The Child-Parent Security Act should be rejected. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. A grand jury has indicted two men accused of killing a Mariners Harbor resident, whose remains were discovered last week in the woods behind a Greenridge townhouse complex. Prosecutors announced the filing of a certificate of indictment Monday during conferences in Criminal Court for Troy Williams, 33, and Steven Mazzelli, 27, stemming from the death of Mandel Harvey, 50, last summer. The certificate moves the case to state Supreme Court, St. George, where the defendants will be arraigned in the near future. A date hasnt been set. The indictment itself hasn't been filed, so specific charges haven't been made public, although both defendants were originally accused of second-degree murder. Michael Cirigliano, Williams lawyer, said Tuesday his client didnt kill Harvey. Based on our investigation, Mr. Williams was not present during the time of the homicide, said Cirigliano. Theres a witness that puts him in Manhattan at the time of the homicide, and the D.A.s office is aware of it." Were looking forward to trial, Cirigliano added. Mr. Williams was not at the homicide and will be exonerated. Mazzellis lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment, nor could a spokesman for the district attorneys office. Besides murder, Williams was initially charged with second-degree robbery and Mazzelli was accused of first-degree robbery for allegedly attacking Harvey with a bat sometime between July 15 and July 31 of 2018, inside their Emily Lane residence, according to a criminal complaint and a law enforcement source. The duo forcibly stole undisclosed property during the fatal attack, the complaint said. Both defendants are being held without bail. Acting on a tip, authorities discovered Harveys remains last Wednesday in a shallow grave in the woodland near Ilyssa Way and Arthur Kill Road, police and the source said. The site is behind the Aspen Knolls complex. At the defendants arraignment Friday in Criminal Court, Assistant District Attorney Darren Albanese said the pair left the body in a home for a period of time before burying it in the woods. An autopsy revealed the victim died of blunt force trauma to the head, said the city medical examiners office. Williams, meanwhile, is separately charged with grand larceny for allegedly stealing a vehicle and two debit cards from the people he was living with, Albanese said. On Feb. 2, Williams was caught on surveillance video swiping a Nissan Maxima from in front of a home on Hett Avenue, said another criminal complaint. Mazzelli and Williams are convicted felons who served prison sentences for attempted burglary and attempted robbery, respectively, according to online records of the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. In 2005, Harvey was charged in the execution-style killing of Dennis Canty, 42, who was found with a single gunshot wound to the head inside 160 Park Hill Ave. in Clifton, according to Advance records. Harvey later pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a weapon on the first day of his trial and was sentenced to seven years in prison. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Staten Island woman claims she was impaired when she allegedly went on a post-Christmas package-swiping spree in several North Shore neighborhoods, police said. Carol Torre, 48, told authorities she was high when she stole packages from multiple homes in Port Richmond and Westerleigh from Dec. 29, 2018, through Jan. 5, 2019, according to allegations in the criminal complaint. I remember taking things but I dont remember the exact locations and times because I was so high, Torre told police, said the complaint. Cops said Torre was caught on surveillance video taking the boxes from two homes on Dickie Avenue and one on Livermore Avenue in Westerleigh on Dec. 29. On Jan. 5, the suspect allegedly took a package from the front steps of a Post Avenue home in Port Richmond, said the court papers. The items in the boxes included jewelry, makeup, clothing, MP3 sound music player and skincare products, police said. Torre, of Vreeland Street in Port Richmond, was arrested last week and charged with petit larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, criminal trespass and trespass. She was arraigned Wednesday and bail was set at $3,000 bond/cash, according to online state court records. Torres attorney could not immediately be reached. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A child clinging to life. A neighborhood under siege. Business owners on edge. Police officers who protect what Staten Islanders cherish most were praised Monday by NYPD brass at the Cop of the Month" awards ceremony, co-sponsored by the Police Department and the Staten Island Advance and held quarterly at the newspapers offices in Grasmere. A mix of veteran and rookie cops were credited with ending two alleged crime sprees and saving a childs life. This is my favorite thing to do, to come here and honor cops, said NYPD Assistant Chief Kenneth Corey, borough commander of Staten Island. And to have their stories told, because I dont think enough people see it and appreciate it." The awards are handed out quarterly in front of spouses, parents and children of officers whose actions resonated with their superiors, and made an impact on the communities they serve. OCTOBER An alleged burglary pattern was put to an end in October when officers chased and detained a suspect who, according to police, went down fighting. Salvatore Pulice, 35, was indicted Nov. 2 in state Supreme Court in St. George for charges that include burglary, criminal possession of stolen property and assaulting an officer, according to court records. The following officers were recognized for the arrest: Sgt. William Gavigan and police officers Lee Wittek, Stephanie Mazza, Aldo Yubini and Christopher McKenna. Officers working the daylight shift Oct. 4 converged on Midland Beach for a report of a burglary on Capodanno Boulevard, which gave way to a foot pursuit. The suspect was apprehended attempting to jump over a fence wile fleeing from cops, police said. According to police, the defendant threw kicks and punches at three arresting officers, leaving two of them with lacerations and bruises to their hands and shoulders. NOVEMBER Businesses across the borough were targeted in 2018 by burglars who smashed their way through glass doors to gain entry, police said. Based on law enforcement intelligence, investigators followed a vehicle from Tompkinsville to Kekes Pizza at 7423 Amboy Road in Oakwood. Police said two men exited the car and smashed the front entrance with a tire iron, then drove away. Minutes later, the men allegedly returned for the money and were taken in to custody by police. The following officers were honored for the arrest: Sgt. Richard Guerrieri and police officers Nicholas Podaras, David Kosinski, Ricardo Cuenca, Michael McCabe, Mirel Hoxha and Jason Leung. DECEMBER 120th Precinct Commander Isa Abbassi said he couldnt bear to watch the body-worn camera footage of two officers responding to an unsettling call of a child unable to breathe inside a New Brighton home. Im told our officers performance was exemplary, said Abbassi, a father himself. If I were there, Id hope I would have reacted the same way they did, but I dont know that I would have. According to those who have watched the footage of the Dec. 4 incident, officers Iryna Timofeeva and Michael Drozd relied on their CPR training under dire circumstances to revive the 7-year-old girl. Officers then blocked streets on the North Shore as the patient was rushed to Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton. She was treated for a severe asthma attack and expected to make a full recovery. The officers initially were recognized at a press conference in December outside the 120th Precinct stationhouse, in St. George. Timofeeva recalled thinking of her own child as she raced to the scene, telling reporters: Whenever its kids, you always feel as if its your kid." STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- In an effort to tackle segregation in New York Citys public schools, a panel comprised of educators, advocates, students and parents is calling on the city to develop diversity plans in nine districts, including Staten Islands District 31. The School Diversity Advisory Group released its Making the Grade: The Path to Real Integration and Equity For NYC Public School Students on Tuesday. The group was established in June 2017 as part of the Department of Education (DOE) plan -- Equity and Excellence for All: Diversity in New York City Public Schools. The advisory panel has been tasked with evaluating the DOEs approach to diversity in the citys schools, and making recommendations on citywide policy and practice to the mayor and schools chancellor. We recognize that not all of New York Citys schools can be racially and economically integrated immediately, which is why most of our recommendations apply to every school in the city, whether or not they are likely to become integrated soon, the group said in the report. However, because not all schools can be integrated quickly does not mean that some shouldnt be. Thats why a recommendation in the report is focused on nine districts (including District 31) that the panel thinks can be integrated sooner than other districts in the city. The panel said the districts -- Districts 1, 2, 3, 13, 15, 22, 27, 28 and 31 -- have sufficient demographic and socioeconomic diversity to develop integration and diversity plans. ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS The panel said the 118-page reports recommendations will increase equity, will be based on research-supported approaches, will seek to understand unintended consequences and will be based on what the DOE can implement in the short- or long-term. Recommendations from the group included calling for a more equitable admissions process, for elementary and middle schools to reflect their districts demographics, and for high schools to reflect their boroughs demographics. To hold schools accountable, the panel suggests creating a chief integration officer and adding diversity and integration metrics to existing school quality reports. The panel also used results of town halls held in all five boroughs to develop recommendations. During Staten Islands town hall last May, participants shared concerns that a school can appear integrated from the outside in terms of demographics. However, honors or other special programs can segregate students of different demographics within the school. The panel recommended that the DOE require districts to analyze such programming, which includes controlled choice, screens, gifted and talented and other admissions policies and programs. Were here today because we believe in expanding opportunity, not shrinking opportunity for the 1.1 million students in the New York City Department of Education, said city Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza, during a Tuesday event in which the group shared the report. Carranza said he looks forward to hearing from and having conversations with communities about the recommendations in the report. But, more importantly, I look forward to working with Mayor de Blasio in making the recommendations in the report truly the topic of conversation as we move forward, said Carranza. I look forward to this work ahead, and in the coming weeks Ill have a lot more -- this isnt a surprise -- but Ill have a lot more to say about the specific recommendations and how we move forward together. INEQUITY ON STATEN ISLAND DOE school profile data reveals inequities between North Shore and South Shore schools. North Shore schools are ethnically and racially more diverse, but have historically lower reading and math scores and lower attendance rates than those on the South Shore. North Shore schools often have fewer enrichment opportunities, and a greater concentration of school families fall below federal poverty guidelines, based on their eligibility to receive free school lunch. The citys specialized high schools have faced recent backlash after admissions offers to black and Hispanic students remained low last year. Some schools, like Staten Island Technical High School, have developed outreach programs to underrepresented middle schools. The high school offered admission to just two black students and five Hispanic students to the fall 2018 freshmen class. The panel said gifted and talented programs -- which offer admission to students based on the score on an admissions test -- further segregate students because there are no guidelines to promote integration. Staten Island has seven elementary schools with gifted and talented programs in place for the 2019-2020 school year. These are: PS 3, Pleasant Plains; PS 8, Great Kills; PS 42, Eltingville; PS 45, West Brighton; PS 50, Oakwood; PS 53, Bay Terrace; and PS 60, Graniteville. The advisory group is continuing to meet to explore further recommendations and continue its analysis and research of public schools. It is expected to release a second report with additional recommendations on school screens, gifted and talented programs and school resources by the end of this school year. FOLLOW ANNALISE KNUDSON ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER. Page Content This is the second in a three-part series of articles on employee handbook updates. This article explores federal and state workplace compliance trends. The first article reviews changes to California law, and the third part will focus on global handbook policies. By now, many businesses have updated their employee handbooks to reflect 2018 changes and new laws that took effect Jan. 1. But keeping policies and practices up-to-date is a continuous process. Here are some key issues that employers should monitor in 2019 that may prompt additional revisions to the handbook. Employers should keep a close eye on administrative actions by various agencies, such as the Department of Labor (DOL), National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Agencies "often take the lead in pushing the administration's agenda [by rulemaking] when doing so through legislation proves difficult," noted Lucas Asper, an attorney with Ogletree Deakins in Greenville, S.C. But "more activity on the state and local levels will almost certainly have the biggest impact in 2019." Employers should expect to see more state family-leave requirements, state and local sick-leave laws, accommodations laws, policies arising out of the #MeToo movement and continued marijuana legalization, said Fanny Ferdman, an attorney with BakerHostetler in New York City. "All of these will continue to impact policies and procedures as 2019 unfolds." Federal Law The DOL is expected to soon propose a new overtime rule that will raise the salary threshold for the Fair Labor Standards Act's white-collar exemptions from overtime pay. President Barack Obama's administration sought to more than double the $23,660 annual salary threshold to $47,476, but that rule was blocked. It seems likely that the federal minimum salary for exempt employees will increase, but the amount will be substantially lower than what the Obama administration approved, noted Margaret Grover, an attorney with Wendel Rosen in Oakland, Calif. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta has testified to Congress that the salary level below which overtime must be paid should be near $33,000. Some states have a higher salary threshold and may not be affected by a new rate. For example, California employers with 25 or fewer employees must pay exempt workers at least $45,760, and employers with at least 26 employees must pay exempt workers $49,920 or more. [SHRM members-only toolkit: Calculating Overtime Pay in the United States] At the federal level, employers should also review recent NLRB guidance and decisions. If an employer made substantial revisions to align its policies with memorandums and case decisions from the Obama administration's NLRB, there may be opportunities to revisit some of those policies based on guidance from and case decisions under President Donald Trump's board, Asper said. If employers have not already done so, they should look at the NLRB general counsel's 2018 guidance on employee handbooks, which rolled back prior guidance on a number of policies, said Tracy Billows, an attorney with Seyfarth Shaw in Chicago. So far in 2019, the NLRB has issued a decision limiting the definition of what constitutes "protected, concerted activity" and another broadening the standard for who is considered an independent contractor under the National Labor Relations Act. However, employers should be aware that the pendulum could swing back if a new president is elected in 2020, Asper noted. State and Local Updates The proliferation of paid-sick-leave, paid-family-leave and paid-parental-leave laws will continue to challenge employers to determine the best compliance approach, Billows said, noting that employers should also look for pregnancy leave and accommodation laws at the state level. While some leave laws don't require specific policies or handbook languageso long as the employer is complyingothers have very specific requirements. "This is a constantly moving target right now, so there is no better time than the present to get your handbook up-to-date," Asper said. More state and local laws that address sexual-harassment prevention, pay equity and marijuana legalization for both recreational and medicinal use are also expected, Ferdman noted. Although federal and state laws conflict on marijuana's legal status, employers in states where marijuana use is permitted should review and update their drug and alcohol policies, said Amy Traub, an attorney with BakerHostetler in New York City. Employers in states where cannabis use is legal may still prohibit use in the workplace, but they should generally: Distinguish between the use of marijuana for medical purposes and recreational purposes. Outline the disciplinary process to be followed if an employee possesses or uses marijuana while at work. Explain how and to what extent they will accommodate an employee who is medically permitted to use marijuana. Some states that allow medicinal use provide employment protections for registered users, others do not. 'Cultural Forces' On both the federal and state levels, "cultural forces" are at least as significant as legal changes in prompting employers to revisit their policies, noted Gina Roccanova, an attorney with Meyers Nave in Oakland, Calif. Some large employers, for example, have ended their practice of requiring employees to sign arbitration agreementsnot because of any changes in the law but due to pressure from employees and the public. "Employees are also demanding greater transparency from their employers," she said. Yes. I will do my part to conserve household energy usage, even if I'm uncomfortable in my home. No. It is too hot to conserve household energy usage. I already conserve, even before ERCOT requested it. Maybe, depending on the reason ERCOT provides and whether or not I am home during that time. Vote View Results MU scientists use smartphones to improve dismal rating of nation's civil infrastructure In the United States, aging civil infrastructure systems are deteriorating on a massive scale. A recent report by the American Society of Civil Engineers gave these systems a D+ rating nationwide on an A - F scale. Now scientists at the University of Missouri have developed smartphone-based technologies that can monitor civil infrastructure systems such as crumbing roads and aging bridges, potentially saving millions of lives. Based on estimations, researchers say the failure of civil infrastructure systems, such as roads and bridges, could cause a 1 percent reduction in the U.S. GDP. In 2017, that number was $200 billion. The challenges of the aging civil infrastructure systems suggest the need for developing innovative monitoring solutions. By using various sensors on smartphones such as a gyroscope, an accelerometer to measure speed, and camera, or tiny external sensors such as an infrared sensor, scientists can determine the specific makeup and deterioration of a road's surface in real-time. However, scientists won't be collecting all of the data. Once the sensor is plugged into a smartphone, any person will be able to effortlessly transmit the data wirelessly to a database while riding on a road. Researchers hope the large amount of data collected by crowdsourcing this technology will allow for better informed decisions about the health of roads and bridges. "Many of the existing methods to monitor our civil infrastructure systems have technical issues and are not user-centered," said Amir Alavi, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering in the MU College of Engineering, with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Biomedical, Biological and Chemical Engineering. "People are looking for smart, cost effective, scalable and user-centered approaches. With current advances in technology, people can help monitor or detect problems using their own devices, and smartphone technology allows us to do that with civil infrastructure." Alavi partnered with Bill Buttlar, the Glen Barton Chair of Flexible Pavement Technology, to develop this innovative solution to monitor roads and bridges. "Assessing roads, bridges and airfields with affordable sensors, such as those found in smartphones, really works," Buttlar said. "With a smartphone, we can stitch together many inexpensive measurements to accurately assess things like the roughness or deterioration of a road surface. In a recent project sponsored by the Missouri Department of Transportation, we also showed that it can accurately assess the condition of airport runways and taxiways." The study, "An overview of smartphone technology for citizen-centered, real-time and scalable civil infrastructure monitoring," was published in Future Generation Computer Systems. Funding for this study was provided by the Missouri Department of Transportation. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agencies. ### This story has been published on: 2019-02-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Ludington, MI (49431) Today Thunderstorms. High near 70F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch.. Tonight Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Low 66F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Rainfall may reach one inch. You are now listening to the sounds of the New Generation. A podcast created for those who desire a new way of gaining information rather than reading a traditional newspaper. In our show we will discuss everything from sports, pop culture, politics, and local news. To stay up to date on our latest episodes every week be sure to follow us on your favorite podcast service. And dont worry, we keep it short. These pigs had a taste of freedom after a truck carrying them to an abattoir overturned allowing them to break free and munch on the grass. The porkers were loaded into the lorry while travelling along the highway in Sison town, Surigao del Norte, the Philippines on January 30. After going around the corner on wet roads, the vehicle overturned - spilling the pigs out all over the road. They were filmed by passing motorists happily munching on the lush green grass. Ruben Al Ecleo said: ''It could have been their lucky day. They didn't look like they were in a hurry to get back inside the truck.'' No one was hurt during the incident although it caused heavy traffic queues on the narrow mountain road. This is the dramatic moment a toddler in southwest Thailand was rescued after plunging off the top of a hospital roof, only to be being saved when her dress snagged on the building sign. The little girl was with her father while he received treatment at the Paholpolpayuhasena Hospital in Kanchanaburi, but she wandered off from their ward and wound up on the roof. The girl pushed through a fire escape door and climbed the stairs before running onto the roof of the seven-storey building, where she began chasing a small gecko. The Burmese youngster, who has not been named, said she was following the lizard when she somehow climbed over the side of the building and dropped below. Miraculously, her loose-fitting red dress became caught on the first letter of the Thai alphabet tortao on a sign showing the name of the building. A guest called the hospital staff after he heard a child screaming outside the window. Six nurses then rushed to the roof and were shocked to find the girl hanging in midair, clinging to the letter for dear life. One brave nurse took a risk and climbed down to grab the girls hand while other officers held onto her body as a bystander in the room below also leaned out of the balcony to help. The girl was eventually carried away from the scene and was in shock from the incident. The father of the youngster said that he was being treated in a patient room located on the seventh floor. His daughter was childishly running around the floor before he found that she disappeared. 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 Occurred on February 2, 2019 / Forestport, New York, USA Info from Licensor: "This event was held in Forestport, New York between Feb 1-3 2019. The Model T snowmobile club was hosted by the Trackside Blazers snowmobile club of Forestport. This was our 20th annual meet of the Model T club. There were 21 model T snowmobiles present from New England and a couple from the midwest. You will see various styles of model T's including a handful of perfectly built to the specs of 1920. also there is a couple of original snowmobiles from the era. The original Snowmobile was the brainchild of Virgil White of Ossipee NH. A once Ford auto dealer back in 1909. The attachments were sold as a kit that could be added or removed to create a functional vehicle in deep snow and also a auto to be used in spring and summer. Our club president and owner of NH Snocar has complete cars, kits and needed parts for anyone interested in pursuing this unique and surprisingly fun hobby. These machines are fun to build and a blast to drive. The model T needed no introduction and replacement parts are very easy to obtain. There are model T clubs all over the world. Seek one out and I hope you enjoy these vehicles as much as we do." BRATISLAVA, Slovakia Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday invoked the 30th anniversary of the demise of communism to implore countries in Central and Eastern Europe to resist Chinese and Russian influence. Speaking in the Slovak capital of Bratislava, Pompeo said China and Russia pose twin threats to the democratic and free-market gains made since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. He said the post-communist countries are particularly vulnerable to Chinese and Russian predatory investment and political meddling. To combat the threat, he said, the United States is committed to boosting its engagement in the region, through defense cooperation agreements and exchange programs. He said because of its history and geography, Slovakia has a special appreciation for the aggressive role Russia continues to play in the region, particularly in Ukraine. But, he said, Russia is not the only nation that seeks to erode sovereignty and freedom in Europe. Pompeo said he had raised with Slovak officials the need to guard against Chinas economic and other efforts to create dependence and manipulate your political system. Pompeo is in Slovakia on the second leg of a five-nation European tour that began in Hungary and will take him to Poland, Belgium and Iceland. He renewed a warning he delivered on Monday in Budapest that the United States may be forced to scale back certain operations in Europe and elsewhere if countries continue to do business with Chinese telecommunications company Huawei. He said the U.S. had strong concerns about Huaweis motives in Europe, especially in NATO and European Union member states, as well as its business practices. Were fine with companies competing, but they have got to do so in a way thats fair and open and transparent, and they cant do so with anything other than an economic motive, he said. Pompeo said nations would have to consider choosing between Huawei and the United States. The warning was broad but pointedly delivered first in Hungary, a NATO ally and European Union member, where Huawei is a major player. The U.S. has been warning countries about the risks of Chinese telecom technology as governments choose providers for the rollout of 5G wireless internet, which will enable faster download speeds but also greater connectivity among devices. China has said the U.S. is just trying to suppress a rising competitor. Pompeo said he hoped to reverse what he called a decade of U.S. disengagement in Central and Eastern Europe that created a vacuum Russia and China have exploited. Over the course of the past 10 years, he said, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leaders have become much more aggressive in the region and made inroads. I want to make sure that the Slovakian people understand that America is engaged, were back, he said earlier at a ceremony at Slovakias Gate of Freedom, a memorial on the banks of the Morava River at the Slovakian border with Austria that commemorates the 400 people killed at the borders of the former Czechoslovakia while attempting to escape the Iron Curtain between 1945 and 1989. Matthew Lee is an Associated Press writer. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria Baba Inuwa was pleased to move back to his vegetable farm in Nigerias northeast, encouraged by the militarys offensive against Boko Haram, the countrys homegrown Islamic extremist rebels, and by President Muhammadu Buharis claim that the insurgency had been crushed. We thought all was over and Boko Haram can never return, Inuwa said. He joined thousands of others in leaving displacement camps to return to their homes. But then last month the extremists rolled into Inuwas hometown, Baga, firing into the air, hoisting flags and claiming it as their own. Suddenly residents were on the move again, fleeing with little more than the clothes on their backs. On a punishing two-day march through the arid Sahel, some pregnant women miscarried and other elderly people died. Nigerias government now acknowledges an extremist resurgence, this time by a Boko Haram offshoot, the Islamic State West Africa Province, the Islamic State groups largest presence outside the Middle East, estimated to have more than 3,000 fighters. Their near-daily attacks have many traumatized Nigerians questioning whether they can vote for Buhari as he seeks a second term. Others question how the elections can be held in the troubled northeast region. The National Assembly has approved a record $147 million for election security but some polling workers in remote areas have rejected their posts in fear of being attacked. The opposition objects that voting will be held in government-controlled camps, which in liberated communities are the safest locations. Buhari, a former military dictator, returned to power in 2015 with an election victory in which he promised to tackle insecurity, corruption and the economy in Africas most populous country with 190 million people. While he still has support in most states of his native north, enthusiasm has dimmed as it becomes clear that the decade-old extremist insurgency killing more than 27,000, abducting hundreds of schoolgirls, displacing millions is far from over. Up against Atiku Abubakar, a fellow northern Muslim and former vice president, Buhari could end up like former President Goodluck Jonathan, who lost in 2015 after his failure to stop extremism. At first, Nigerias military appeared to deliver on Buharis inaugural vow to eliminate Boko Haram, pushing fighters out of many communities. Residents were urged to return home. But late last year the Islamic State-linked extremists roared back, attacking military bases, resupplying and causing a rare government admission of dozens of soldier deaths. Shaken, officials said the extremists had begun using drones, indicating links with ISIS fighters fleeing collapsing strongholds in Syria and Iraq. ISIS now has a strong foothold in West Africa, with Nigeria in the forefront of the battle, Information Minister Lai Mohammed declared last week. The fighters are more worrying than Boko Haram and at least triple its size, the U.S. Africa Command chief has said. Some 59,000 people have fled attacks since November, the U.N. migration agency says. now-deserted border town of Rann was hit twice last month. As many as 39 attacks were recorded in Borno and Yobe states last month, the U.N. refugee agency says. Haruna Umar and Cara Anna are Associated Press writers. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Harrison Ford offered an emphatic plea on Tuesday for protecting the worlds oceans, calling out President Trump and others who deny or denigrate science. The 76-year-old actor, best known for his roles in Star Wars and Indiana Jones, stressed the importance of acknowledging the effects of climate change on the world in a speech on the closing day of the World Government Summit in Dubai. Though never saying Trumps name, he clearly targeted the American president within the opening moments of his remarks. Around the world, elements of leadership including in my own country to preserve their state and the status quo, deny or denigrate science, Ford said. They are on the wrong side of history. There was no immediate reaction overnight from the White House. Trump repeatedly has criticized the idea of climate change, despite it being supported by the vast majority of peer-reviewed studies, science organizations and scientists. Just Monday, Trump tweeted that Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, announced her presidential run talking proudly of fighting global warming while standing in a virtual blizzard of snow, ice and freezing temperatures. Bad timing, the president wrote. Trump often conflates cold spells and other incidents of weather with climate, which is long-term. Ford has long supported conservation efforts. Before coming out on stage, his Emirati hosts played a video of him narrating a piece for Conservation International on the importance of protecting the ocean called Nature is Speaking. One way or another, every living thing here needs me, Ford growls in the video. Im the source. Im what they crawled out of. In his address, Ford called on governments and officials to rely on sound science to shape their policy. We are faced (with), what I believe, is the greatest moral crisis of our time, Ford said. That those least responsible for natures destruction will suffer the greatest consequences. He added: We need nature now more than ever because nature doesnt need people, people need nature. Jon Gambrell is an Associated Press writer. BAGHDAD Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, arrived in Baghdad Tuesday for an unannounced visit with Iraqi leaders to discuss U.S. troop presence in the country and the fight against the remains of the Islamic State. Shanahans trip coincides with plans for a U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria and questions about whether some of those troops could instead be based in Iraq, which would be used as a base for operations in Syria. His quest was complicated or, perhaps, made necessary by an interview President Trump gave this month suggesting U.S. troops could be sent to Iraq to keep an eye on neighboring Iran, a fellow Shiite state. Since then, Iraqi politicians, many sympathetic to the Iranians, have been up in arms, saying that a foreign government has no right to use Iraqi territory to attack a neighboring state. The Pentagon, in a statement that seemed aimed at calming the concerns over Trumps comments on Iran, said that Shanahan and Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mehdi had reaffirmed the growing bilateral security relationship between their countries and noted that the partnership is based on defeating ISIS, using an alternative name for the Islamic State. There are still around 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, many of them special operations forces fighting Islamic State militants alongside Syrian Kurdish soldiers. They have drastically cut into the Islamic States territory, save one or two pockets of militants in the far east of Syria. But Trump has ordered the troops to leave the fighting to other players, including the Syrian army, the Russians who are fighting with them, and the Turks. Military leaders have resisted the order, both because they say that the Islamic State still poses a threat and that a retreat now would mean abandoning the Syrian Kurds, whom the U.S. has in many cases armed, trained and fought alongside. Turkey regards the Syrian Kurds, the Syrian Democratic Forces, as the military arm of the PKK, an outlawed Kurdish terrorist group, in Ankaras eyes. The Turks have made little effort to conceal their intent to drive them far from the Turkish border and possibly out of Syria entirely. As he left Washington, Shanahan did not say whether he would ask Iraq to host some of the special operations troops now fighting in Syria. However, there has been discussion about that possibility in military circles both in Baghdad and Washington. From there, theoretically, they could help finish off the Islamic State and give support to the Syrian Kurdish troops. There are currently about 5,200 U.S. troops in Iraq, engaged primarily in training the Iraqi military and sometimes helping Iraqi troops by providing reconnaissance and air support in their fight against Islamic State fighters in Iraq. Although there has been a drastic drop in the number of Islamic State attacks in Iraq, there are still at least one or two every day. Among several competing ideas for the U.S. forces coming to Iraq from Syria, commanders seem to favor leaving several hundred special operations forces near the Syrian border so they can have easy access to Syria. But things were complicated by Trumps statement that he wanted to keep U.S. forces in Iraq to keep an eye on Iran. Alissa J. Rubin is a New York Times writer. A Lufthansa passenger who utilized a travel-savvy practice known as hidden city booking has found himself the target of a lawsuit. The practice involves booking a flight to one destination in order to actually disembark at one of the connecting cities. It goes something like this: Say you're in San Francisco and you want to get to Houston, but it's cheaper to fly to Atlanta connecting through Houston. So you book the cheaper flight, and after you land in Houston you never board the connecting flight. Instead, you've just saved yourself some money, but have likely run afoul of the airline's terms of service. RELATED: Southwest Airlines jet welcomed in Honolulu [PHOTOS] As TravelPulse details, Lufthansa believes the unnamed man, who was supposed to be flying from Seattle to Oslo, intentionally aborted the trip in Frankfurt in 2016. He reportedly later booked a new trip back to Seattle from Frankfurt. Lufthansa is now seeking 2,112 (roughly $2,385) in damages. The case was dismissed by a judge in Berlin, but Lufthansa's spokesperson told CNN that the company is working on an appeal. RELATED: United Airlines making it easier to upgrade? There are multiple reasons why airlines and other travel sites abhor the practice. For starters, it costs them money and prevents them from being able to accurately predict how many people will actually show up for any given flight. But it's also bad from a customer service standpoint. Fliers who are actually trying to fly the route that makes up someone else's abandoned hidden city leg won't be able to book a ticket despite the empty seat. Some airlines and travel companies, like United Airlines, include such language in their contracts of carriage that essentially prohibits such practices. In fact, in 2014 United teamed with Orbitz to sue the then-22-year-old founder of Skiplagged, a site that promotes cheap airfare using this method, for "unfair competition" and "deceptive behavior." The case, however, was dismissed by the Northern District Court of Illinois over jurisdictional issues. Orbitz ultimately settled and United did not pursue an appeal. Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira. Roughly a generation ago, seemingly every adventure story and quite a few psycho-dramas had that moment, a climax of blaring orchestral horns accompanied by a discordant clash of cymbals when the protagonist, possibly accompanied by a dog or horse with an antagonist in hot pursuit, fell or stumbled or jumped unwittingly into quicksand. The slow sinking struggle into an apparently bottomless pit of sticky oatmeal-like substance--the breathless audience whispering in unison "Don't struggle! You'll sink faster!"--provided crucial minutes of suspenseful bookends to lucrative commercial breaks. And yet, adult life proved less interesting. "I always thought that quicksand was gonna be a much bigger problem than it turned out to be," famously quipped comedian John Mulaney in his show "New in Town (2012)." And now it's as if quicksand never existed. It rarely if ever makes even a cameo in modern adventure stories. So what happened? How did quicksand fall off the list of plot-twist mechanisms ready at hand for script writers? We may never know. Perhaps it was just a more innocent age when nature's threats were quaint and limited to a few square yards of hidden danger instead of the global-scale catastrophes we're all now painfully fretting over. Quicksand is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the things that used to occupy our minds and news cycles that have since faded from mass-public worry. Of course, some things keep their place in our common understanding of the dangers we face: earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanic eruption, asteroid strikes, hurricanes, bigfoot, UFOs and so forth remain popular in our cultural understanding of the things that might kill or just frighten us. Check out the gallery above for our list of the things we used to worry about but that no longer register in our daily news cycle. Jake Ellison can be reached at jakeellisonjournalism@gmail.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/Jake_News. Police said an at-risk Alameda man has been found after he went missing Monday afternoon in Berkeley and police asked for help finding him. As of 5:26 p.m., Joe Spears, 27, had been located. Police said an alert passerby spotted Spears and he has been reunited with his family. Spears had been last seen Monday afternoon near Malcolm X Elementary School in Berkeley. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Stanford University officials said a graduate engineering student was found dead Monday in the college's Paul G. Allen Building. Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies were sent to the university at about 10 a.m. for an investigation into the death of a man, sheriff's spokesman Deputy Michael Low said. Sheriff's officials are referring other questions to the Santa Clara County medical examiner's office, which was not releasing the name of the person Monday night. University public safety officials said no threat exists for anyone in the school community. Jennifer Widom, Frederick Emmons Terman dean of the School of Engineering, said, "I know I speak for all of us here at Stanford in offering our sympathies to the individual's family, loved ones, fellow students and friends." Widom said and investigation into the student's death is underway. She said the county medical examiner is getting in touch with the student's family and until that is done the student's name won't be released. A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Monday upheld the authority of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to override environmental laws when building border walls. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said "the plain language" of a 1996 immigration law entitles the department's secretary to waive environmental laws to install barriers and roads along the border. A three-panel of the court ruled in lawsuits filed by the state of California and several environmental groups to challenge the current construction of prototype walls and 14 miles of replacement fencing in San Diego County and three miles at Calexico in Imperial County. In 2017, former Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke waived 37 federal laws for the San Diego County projects and 27 for the Calexico project. The projects are under way with funding previously approved by Congress. Center for Biological Diversity attorney Brian Segee said the group is weighing its options for a possible further appeal. A homeless man suspected of raping a woman in the unincorporated area of San Martin was arraigned in Santa Clara County Superior Court Monday. Sharwian Bobian was charged with rape, in addition to a littering charge, and will remain in custody with bail set at $250,000, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office. Bobian was arrested Friday morning in the area of Yerba Buena Road and U.S. Highway 101 in San Jose after being seen by an officer in the area. The case was then transferred to the sheriff's office. A woman who had been assisting him by providing food and supplies at his makeshift shelter in the 14000 block of Llagas Avenue reported the alleged rape to law enforcement in January. Charges were not immediately filed in the case and Bobian was released, sparking controversy. His next court date is scheduled for Wednesday in Morgan Hill. A San Francisco Superior Court judge on Monday said he would allow the names of 14 abortion rights workers who were allegedly secretly recorded in 2015 by two anti-abortion activists to be kept private in court filings. The activists, David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, face 15 felony counts each for filming conversations with the workers during annual meetings of the National Abortion Federation in San Francisco and Baltimore in 2014 and 2015. State prosecutors filed the charges and have alleged the recordings were done in secret in an attempt to prove that Planned Parenthood was illegally selling fetal tissue. Daleiden and Merritt pleaded not guilty in the case. Judge Christopher Hite ruled that the names of those recorded should be redacted in court filings after Deputy Attorney General Johnette Jauron argued that if made public, the workers' safety could be put in jeopardy. Victims of wage theft in Santa Clara County asked the Board of Supervisors Monday to properly enforce existing laws designed to protect workers and their labor rights. The board will decide Tuesday whether to increase funding for the new Office of Labor Standards Enforcement, established last year, and broaden its purview. In advance of the meeting, caretakers, restaurant workers and labor activists gathered to ask that these protections be inclusive of all industries and individuals that are often targets of wage theft. This includes women and people of color, those that are undocumented, and many who do not have the language proficiency to advocate for themselves, said Derecka Mehrens, executive director of Working Partnerships USA. She and others pushed for expanded funding, especially for those who have been successful in filing claims against their employers, but have not received their settlements. Police arrested an Antioch man who crashed a stolen pickup truck into a home while fleeing officers Sunday night, police said. An officer first spotted the suspect about 11:30 p.m. driving a Ford F-250 truck with license plates that didn't match the vehicle, police said. According to police, the officer tried to pull the vehicle over, but the driver took off, leading police on a chase. The driver, identified as Mark Dickinson, 53, eventually lost control of the truck and crashed into the home on Golden Bear Drive, police said. Residents in the home were not injured. While officers were trying to take Dickinson into custody, he resisted and a police dog assisted, Antioch police said. The vehicle was stolen out of Concord, according to police. The incident remains under investigation. Fire crews are on the scene of a 1-alarm fire at a warehouse in Antioch early Tuesday morning, according to fire officials. The blaze that has consumed a warehouse was first reported around 12:30 a.m. in the 1500 block of Walnut Avenue, according to Contra Costa County Fire Protection District Captain Tracie Dutter. Other buildings, including trailers and outbuildings on the property, were also threatened, but Dutter said the fire had been knocked down to just the warehouse as of 1:15 a.m. There are no initial reports of injuries. According to Dutter, there are no hydrants near the scene, so fire crews had to call for water tenders to battle the blaze. No further information is immediately available. At least one person has died and another has been injured following a pair of shootings in Oakland on Monday, according to police. The homicide occurred around 9 p.m. in the 600 block of Clara Street, police said. The victim wasn't identified. Earlier in the day, a separate shooting was reported around 12:30 p.m. in the 3400 block of Foothill Boulevard, police said. A person suffering from at least one gunshot wound was transported to a hospital. The severity of their injuries wasn't provided. No further information is immediately available. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. ANTIOCH (BCN) Police arrested an Antioch man who crashed a stolen pickup truck into a home while fleeing officers Sunday night, police said. An officer first spotted the suspect about 11:30 p.m. driving a Ford F-250 truck with license plates that didn't match the vehicle, police said. According to police, the officer tried to pull the vehicle over, but the driver took off, leading police on a chase. The driver, identified as Mark Dickinson, 53, eventually lost control of the truck and crashed into the home on Golden Bear Drive, police said. Residents in the home were not injured. While officers were trying to take Dickinson into custody, he resisted and a police dog assisted, Antioch police said. The vehicle was stolen out of Concord, according to police. The incident remains under investigation. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. A strike planned this week by San Mateo County employees has been averted by a tentative agreement between the county and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union. About 1,700 county employees with the union's Local 829 were planning a two-day strike on Wednesday and Thursday to protest health care cuts and what they say are unfair wages. Details of the agreement were not released. Earlier this month, the county offered a 9 percent cost of living adjustment over three years, as well as additional increases for classifications substantially behind market-rate pay and/or experiencing worker recruitment and retention issues. A ratification vote on the agreement is set for later this week, union officials said. The union's employees had voted 97 percent in favor of the two-day action after negotiations between the union and the county reached an impasse, the union said earlier this month. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Chinedu Valentine Okobi, the 36-year-old son of Nigerian immigrants, was unarmed when he was stopped by a San Mateo County sheriff's deputy in Millbrae on Oct. 3. Okobi, who grew up in San Francisco, had been walking in the 1300 block of El Camino Real at about 1 p.m. that day. The interaction between Okobi and the deputy quickly turned violent and as more deputies arrived, at least one deployed a Taser stun gun. Okobi died from his injuries. Aside from that, everything about what happened to Okobi is disputed. San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe hired an independent expert to assist with his investigation into the case and committed to publicly releasing videos related to it once the investigation is complete. Okobi's death was the third of four involving law enforcement and a Taser in San Mateo County in 2018. The previous two were in Redwood City and Daly City, and the fourth occurred in December, also in Redwood City. All four involved people with mental health issues. The county Board of Supervisors has called a public hearing on Tasers, scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday at the Hall of Justice at 400 County Center in Redwood City. BART's new Early Bird Express bus service worked for some riders but failed others during Monday's launch of buses to cover the later weekday start for trains on the transit system to accommodate an extensive seismic retrofit of the Transbay Tube. The transit agency said it is working to fix problems on the new bus service, which fills the gap created by trains starting at 5 a.m. instead of 4 a.m. for the next three and a half years. There are now 15 new bus lines between 3:50 a.m. and 5:30 a.m., serving 21 BART stations and the Transbay Temporary Terminal in San Francisco. On Tuesday, the first two buses will leave at 4:15 a.m. instead, with a third leaving at 4:30 a.m. since most of the ridership was concentrated in the first half-hour, BART spokeswoman Anna Duckworth said. Another wet storm is expected to impact the Bay Area and Northern California by Tuesday night, according to the National Weather Service. The storm, which is expected to hit the region starting Tuesday night and continuing into Wednesday, is expected to drop at least an inch of rain in the Bay Area and between 4-6 inches in the coastal mountain ranges, meteorologists said. The North Bay hills are expected to get 2-3 inches or rain, the South Bay 1-1.5 inch and the Monterey Bay area 1-2 inches. According to the weather service, the heaviest rains may dump 1/3-inch of rain in the coastal hills, and the storm will head from north to south. The rain will taper to showers on Wednesday. Two people killed Saturday in a wrong-way crash on state Highway 1 in Pacifica have been identified by the San Mateo County coroner's office. Tulio de Giovanni Lima Viana, 23, of Daly City, and Megan Alyssa Cota, 23, of San Francisco, were passengers in a Toyota Prius headed south in northbound lanes of the freeway, authorities said. The two were killed when the Prius collided head-on with a Chevrolet Silverado on Highway 1 near Clarendon Road, according to the California Highway Patrol. A man believed to be Viana's brother was driving the Prius, CHP officials said. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition. Two people in the Silverado were hospitalized with injuries not considered life-threatening. A 70-year-old woman died after she crashed her vehicle into a pole Saturday morning in San Francisco's Visitacion Valley neighborhood, police said Monday. Officers received a report regarding the solo vehicle crash around 7:20 a.m. in the 2100 block of Bayshore Boulevard. The victim was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, but she died a short while later, according to police. Further information on the case, including whether the medical examiner's office has identified the victim, was not immediately available. The Solano County coroner's office has identified a driver who died after a collision Friday night as Jorge Macaraeg Lindayen, 70, of Vallejo. The collision was reported around 8:15 p.m. on Sonoma Boulevard north of Lewis Brown Drive, police Lt. Michael Nichelini said. Lindayen was driving a 2000 Saturn SL1 north on Sonoma Boulevard when he crossed the center median into the path of a 1999 Dodge Durango in the southbound lane of Sonoma Boulevard, Nichelini said. Lindayen was taken to a hospital where he died a short time later, and the 41-year-old Vallejo woman who was driving the Dodge suffered minor injuries and complained of pain, according to Nichelini. A transient who died after being detained by police last week at the Concord Homeless Shelter has been identified by the Contra Costa County coroner's office. Steven Hankins, 50, was yelling and being violent when police were called at 4 p.m. Friday to the shelter at 2047 Arnold Industrial Way, authorities said. As he was being detained, police said Hankins was still behaving erratically and eventually showed signs of medical distress. Paramedics arrived but Hankins was declared dead at the scene. A cause of death has not been released. A transient fatally hit by a car last week in the Pacheco area of unincorporated Contra Costa County was identified as David Sueda, 61, according to the county coroner's office. Investigators believe Sueda was hit at 7:53 a.m. Wednesday when he walked into the roadway in the path of a southbound Nissan Cube in the area of Aspen and Brown drives. The driver did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, authorities said. Emergency crews found Sueda unresponsive and he was pronounced dead at the scene just before 8:05 a.m. A 34-year-old man was killed Sunday morning when he was struck by a vehicle in a hit-and-run on eastbound Interstate Highway 80 in Vacaville, California Highway Patrol officials said Monday. The vehicle that struck the man left the scene of the collision that occurred around 5:10 a.m. west of Weber Road, according to the CHP. The vehicle and the male pedestrian were in the No. 3 lane of eastbound Highway 80. There are no descriptions of the vehicle from witnesses, CHP Officer David Harvey said. According to the Solano County coroner's office, the man's name isn't yet being released because his next of kin have not been notified of the death. Three people were taken to a hospital Monday morning after a fire at a Santa Clara home, fire officials said. Firefighters were called at 6:24 a.m. to the 2300 block of Silveria Court and found heavy flames coming from a two-story house, according to fire officials. Crews attacked the fire inside the home and extinguished it. It had spread to both the first and second floors, according to the Santa Clara Fire Department. Three people were taken to the hospital to be evaluated for injuries that are not considered life-threatening. A strike planned this week by San Mateo County employees has been averted by a tentative agreement between the county and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union. About 1,700 county employees with the union's Local 829 were planning a two-day strike on Wednesday and Thursday to protest health care cuts and what they say are unfair wages. Details of the agreement were not released. Earlier this month, the county offered a 9 percent cost of living adjustment over three years, as well as additional increases for classifications substantially behind market-rate pay and/or experiencing worker recruitment and retention issues. A ratification vote on the agreement is set for later this week, union officials said. Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, announced Monday he introduced a statewide bill last week aimed at protecting sex workers from being arrested when they report serious and violent crimes. According to Wiener, Senate Bill 233 ensures that sex workers who witnessed or are victims of crimes like sexual assault, human trafficking, stalking, robbery, assault, kidnapping, threats, blackmail, extortion or burglary won't be criminalized. Additionally, the bill would prohibit the possession of condoms from being used as probable cause to arrest someone for sex work. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. SAN JOSE (BCN) Mineta San Jose International Airport served over 14.3 million passengers in 2018, breaking its record and marking an almost 15 percent increase from the previous year. The airport set its previous record of 14.2 million passengers in August 2001, and it has now seen six years of steady growth. Airport officials credit new domestic and international routes for its spike in passengers. "SJC travelers will be surprised and delighted with new service upgrades in 2019, to include nonstop flights to the places where they want to go," John Aitken, director of aviation, said in a news release. Travelers later this year will be able to access facial recognition for expedited travel, lounge expansions and new food and drink options, including Shake Shack, Chick-fil-A and The Great American Bagel. New routes this year will include nonstop domestic flights to El Paso, Seattle, Long Beach, Nashville, Raleigh and Hawaii. The airport is the second largest in the Bay Area, after San Francisco International Airport, and intends to continue its growth as the city plans an expansion of its overall transit infrastructure beginning with Diridon Station. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Victims of wage theft in Santa Clara County asked the Board of Supervisors Monday to properly enforce existing laws designed to protect workers and their labor rights. The board will decide Tuesday whether to increase funding for the new Office of Labor Standards Enforcement, established last year, and broaden its purview. In advance of the meeting, caretakers, restaurant workers and labor activists gathered to ask that these protections be inclusive of all industries and individuals that are often targets of wage theft. This includes women and people of color, those that are undocumented, and many who do not have the language proficiency to advocate for themselves, said Derecka Mehrens, executive director of Working Partnerships USA. She and others pushed for expanded funding, especially for those who have been successful in filing claims against their employers, but have not received their settlements. Restaurant worker Magaly Mata said she worked around the clock at a San Jose restaurant between 2015 and 2016, then won a case against her employer when they refused to pay her. Still, she said, she hasn't received "one cent" of the $22,500 settlement. "I know I'm not the only one, I know there are many workers in other industries that are going through the same thing," she said. Wage theft can include not paying overtime, only paying in tips, forcing work "off the clock" and not paying fairly for work invested, Jenny Higgins-Bradanini, president of the Women's March Bay Area, said. She said many also face retaliation, sexual harassment and human trafficking, and the county has the ability to obstruct "modern day slavery" by deciding to expand their scope of enforcement on Tuesday. "Tomorrow's vote will not begin an immediate halt to these crimes committed by employers ... but this is a critical step in moving justice forward to the protection of our bodies and our labor," Higgins-Bradanini said. Mehrens said the county has approved "community-based enforcement," a model that will empower workers to speak out about mistreatment by pairing the public sector with community-based organizations. It is partnering with Working Partnerships USA and using the construction industry as a pilot for this model. "Although we have many good laws on the books, laws on the books aren't self-enforcing," said Ben Field, executive officer for the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, describing "rampant problems" with labor law violations. Supervisor Cindy Chavez has thrown her support behind a larger budget and said it will help grant victims their full settlements, protect workers in multiple industries and effectively double the office's impact. The board will meet at 9:30 a.m. in their chambers at 70 West Hedding St. in San Jose. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) A San Francisco Superior Court judge on Monday said he would allow the names of 14 abortion rights workers who were allegedly secretly recorded in 2015 by two anti-abortion activists to be kept private in court filings. The activists, David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, face 15 felony counts each for filming conversations with the workers during annual meetings of the National Abortion Federation in San Francisco and Baltimore in 2014 and 2015. State prosecutors filed the charges and have alleged the recordings were done in secret in an attempt to prove that Planned Parenthood was illegally selling fetal tissue. Daleiden and Merritt pleaded not guilty in the case. Judge Christopher Hite ruled that the names of those recorded should be redacted in court filings after Deputy Attorney General Johnette Jauron argued that if made public, the workers' safety could be put in jeopardy. Hite did not make a decision on two other motions, one to keep the recorded videos private when shown in court and another on whether Planned Parenthood can join the lawsuit against Merritt and Daleiden. Outside of court, Daleiden's attorney Brent Ferreira said, "This case is just a mess. It's not a case. It's a political vendetta." Regarding Jauron's claim about the workers' safety being in jeopardy, Peter Breen, also Daleiden's attorney, called the claim "disingenuous." "These folks are already public... You can go and Google these folks, if you knew their names. You'd see them talking to the New York Times, you'd see them talking to the Washington Post, going out and being proud on social media; so that's not the issue here," he said. Regarding the motion to keep the recorded videos under seal, Merritt's attorney Horatio Mihet said, "The only reason why the attorney general is wanting to have these videos sealed and kept from the public eye is because the videos themselves provide damning evidence that these conversations, these allegedly confidential conversations, were in fact not confidential. "That being the case, the attorney general has no choice but to try to convict our clients based on secret evidence. And that's what we're talking about here; is an attorney general who is trying to use the power of the state of California to hold a secret trial based on secret evidence and to send American citizens to jail for evidence that no one else can see. That is unconscionable and not something that can happen in a free country," he said. In 2017, in a separate civil lawsuit in federal court filed by the National Abortion Federation against Daleiden and The Center for Medical Progress on claims of violation of a confidentiality contract, racketeering, fraud, trespass and invasion of privacy, U.S. District Judge William Orrick found Daleiden, the center and his attorneys, Ferreira and Steve Cooley, in contempt of court for posting the videos to a website. Orrick ordered them to pay a $137,000 penalty. Since the criminal charges were first filed, Planned Parenthood officials have maintained that the organization did not engage in unlawful activity. A preliminary hearing for the case against Daleiden and Merritt has been set for April 22. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. San Jose firefighters are trying to rescue someone from Coyote Creek late Tuesday morning, a fire captain said. As of shortly before noon, crews were trying to rescue a Spanish-speaking man who is on a log in the creek near Gassmann Drive, San Jose Fire Capt. Mitch Matlow said. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Fire crews are on the scene of a 1-alarm fire at a warehouse in Antioch early Tuesday morning, according to fire officials. The blaze that has consumed a warehouse was first reported around 12:30 a.m. in the 1500 block of Walnut Avenue, according to Contra Costa County Fire Protection District Captain Tracie Dutter. Other buildings, including trailers and outbuildings on the property, were also threatened, but Dutter said the fire had been knocked down to just the warehouse as of 1:15 a.m. There are no initial reports of injuries. According to Dutter, there are no hydrants near the scene, so fire crews had to call for water tenders to battle the blaze. No further information is immediately available. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. REDWOOD CITY (BCN) Representatives of Axon, the company that manufacturers Taser stun guns, defended the safety of the devices at a special meeting called by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors on Monday to investigate the use of electronic control weapons in the wake of three deaths last year. Axon representatives argued that the devices were the safest intermediate force option, causing less serious injuries than pepper spray, dogs or batons, and had never conclusively lead to a fatal electrocution, an assertion that drew jeers and laughter from the audience in the packed chambers in Redwood City. When asked by Supervisor David Pine about the extensive warnings that are distributed with Tasers, including that for certain vulnerable people Tasers "may cause or contribute to sudden death," Axon attorney Michael Brave minimized the importance of the warnings. "It's just like ladders and acetaminophen, if you read all of the warnings you'll never use any of those things," Brave told the supervisors. Pine called for the hearing in December as an investigation into the death of Chinedu Okobi during an arrest in Millbrae by San Mateo County sheriff's deputies drew increasing scrutiny. Okobi's was the third Taser-related death in the county last year, following Warren Ragudo in Daly City in January and Ramzi Saad in Redwood City in August. A Taser was also used on a fourth person who died in the county in 2018, Kyle Hart, but Redwood City police officers shot him after Tasing him in December. Sheriff's officials said that Okobi was running in and out of traffic in Millbrae on Oct. 3 and assaulted a deputy who approached him. Okobi's sister, Ebele Okobi, publicly accused the sheriff's office of lying after she viewed video of the encounter. The video has not been made public, but District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe has committed to releasing it once his investigation is complete. At the end of the hearing, Ebele Okobi thanked the supervisors for holding the meeting, which in addition to Axon featured presentations by sheriff's officials, civil rights leaders, and a medical researcher from the University of California at San Francisco. "It's a first step in bringing accountability," Ebele Okobi said. The Okobi family's attorney, civil rights attorney John Burris, in October called for a moratorium on Tasers in the county. Representatives from the sheriff's office, including Sheriff Carlos Bolanos, touted the department's crisis intervention training as well as its psychiatric emergency response team, a program started in 2015 that pairs a sheriff's detective with a technician from the county Behavioral Health and Recovery Services. The psychiatric response team is the first program like it in the greater Bay Area, Detective Michael Tabak said, and between May and December last year it made 98 new referrals to mental health services and reconnected 352 people to services. Bolanos argued against any kind of moratorium, saying that deputies may use firearms more frequently if they do not have access to Tasers. Asked how his deputies are trained in addressing the medical implications, including that multiple deployments could increase the chances of cardiac arrest, Bolanos said that deputies observe the suspect and how they're reacting to Taser applications. But, he acknowledged, "You really don't know when you're in the midst of that situation how many times you or someone may be activating the Taser." Dr. Zian Tseng, who researches sudden cardiac death at UCSF, said that his studies of Taser use do not suggest that the introduction of Tasers reduces firearm use or officer injuries, despite the results of some narrower studies cited by Axon. And, he said, there is a proven risk that Taser use can stop someone's heart when deployed directly to the chest. Axon now warns officers not to deploy Tasers to the chest. "These are rare events," Tseng said. "There is a low absolute risk for sudden death but it is not non-lethal." Despite Taser's specific warnings of higher medical risks when someone is intoxicated or suffering from excited delirium, Axon litigation counsel Amy Nguyen argued that Tasers are recommended for people experiencing "mind-body disconnect." Nguyen said that some research shows that there are fewer serious injuries from Tasers than deployments of pepper spray, batons and police dogs. But Alan Schlosser, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, said that San Mateo County shows that the devices aren't as safe as the company says. "Three people have been killed in this county in the last year," Schlosser said. "I doubt that three people have been killed by pepper spray. I doubt three people have been killed by batons." Ebele Okobi, following the meeting, called Axon arrogant and callous in a Facebook post. "Apart from the human cost their product inflicts on communities, Axon US clearly intend to also foist onto tax payers in those same communities the financial cost of wrongful death and similar suits related to the weapons they make," she wrote. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Monday upheld the authority of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to override environmental laws when building border walls. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said "the plain language" of a 1996 immigration law entitles the department's secretary to waive environmental laws to install barriers and roads along the border. A three-panel of the court ruled in lawsuits filed by the state of California and several environmental groups to challenge the current construction of prototype walls and 14 miles of replacement fencing in San Diego County and three miles at Calexico in Imperial County. In 2017, former Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke waived 37 federal laws for the San Diego County projects and 27 for the Calexico project. The projects are under way with funding previously approved by Congress. Center for Biological Diversity attorney Brian Segee said the group is weighing its options for a possible further appeal. Segee alleged that President Donald Trump "has swept aside fundamental public safety and environmental laws to build walls that won't work." The office of state Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement, "We are disappointed with the ruling, but pleased that the court recognized the Trump Administration does not have unlimited power and that the administration's authority to build a barrier along our border is subject to judicial review." A two-judge appeals court majority said that while the 1996 law bars the courts from reviewing the waivers themselves, the courts do have the authority to review plans and decisions to build barriers. Circuit Judge Consuelo Callahan said in a dissent that while she agreed the administration had the right to waive environmental laws, she believes that only the U.S. Supreme Court had the jurisdiction to review such lawsuits. U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Steven Stafford said, "Congress has given the executive branch significant authority to build physical barriers on our border. "Today the court has affirmed that authority, and that is a victory for the Trump Administration, for the rule of law, and above all, for our border security," Stafford said. The appeals upheld a similar ruling in favor of the government by U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel of San Diego. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. All fireworks are illegal in Long Beach, and the City Council recently approved two different measures to increase penalties for people who use them. SANTA BARBARA In a major victory for coastal advocates, a Santa Barbara judge refused to approve a controversial deal that would have allowed access to Hollister Ranchs coastline only to landowners, their guests, visitors with guides, and those who could boat or paddle in from two miles away. The settlement agreement, struck between the ranch and coastal officials behind closed doors, sparked public outrage last year after the Los Angeles Times published the terms of the deal. The outcry became a flash point in the mounting pressure on state officials to ensure that Californias beaches are open to everyone not just to those fortunate enough to own oceanfront property. Hundreds of people have since lambasted the deal, calling on officials to fight harder against the ranch to open some of Californias most coveted beaches and surf breaks still behind private gates after decades of legal battles and stalemates. The backlash culminated in a coalition of advocates challenging the deal in a court intervention stepping in, they said, to speak up for the public where the state had faltered. Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Colleen Sterne, in her ruling Friday, agreed that the publics interest was not fully represented, acknowledging the substantial opposition on behalf of the absent but affected public interest. Plaintiffs (Hollister Ranch) have not met their burden to show that the Class Settlement is fair and reasonable, she said. The motion for final approval of the Class Settlement will therefore be denied without prejudice. Sterne, in her careful ruling, also did not outright reject the settlement. Citing the unusual situation with the public intervention, she instead established a legal path forward for advocates to make the case that the deal should be thrown out completely. Next steps include suing the state for failing to include a public process prior to making this deal with Hollister. The coalition, the Gaviota Coastal Trail Alliance, celebrated the ruling this weekend and said it was a step forward in an almost 40-year battle that has pitted beachgoers against ranch owners, who have long contended that unfettered access would undo years of careful work to protect the land. Hollister threw everything that they could at the last hearing, and they did not prevail, Susan Jordan of the California Coastal Protection Network said. Now we can move forward and restate all the ways that we think this settlement is a bad deal for the public and frankly, illegal. Beth Collins, one of the attorneys representing Hollister Ranch, declined to comment on the ruling, deferring to the judicial process while the litigation is ongoing. During her arguments in a packed courtroom last month, Collins made the case for closing this legal battle, and questioned whether the advocates could represent the general public more than state agencies like the California Coastal Commission and State Coastal Conservancy. This has been a long, expensive, contentious and hard-fought litigation, Collins said. The opinion of one special interest group simply cannot undermine final approval. In a statement, Coastal Conservancy Executive Director Sam Schuchat said: We appreciate the Judges thoughtful approach in this case. Throughout this process, the Conservancy has sought the best outcome for the people of California, both in terms of public access and balancing the risks and costs of continued litigation. If, through this ruling, the court believes the outcome of the case could be more favorable to the public, we are happy to pursue that. Whatever the outcome of the lawsuit, he added, the Conservancy and the Commission are committed to working to develop broader public access to Hollister Ranch. With the settlement back in limbo, there are now two separate but high-profile efforts under way to open Hollisters coastline to the general public. The state, in response to the public backlash, has in recent months teamed up its agencies to follow through on a broader access program to the ranchs 8.5 miles of coastline. Fighting for access on both fronts, advocates say, is not only strategic but also a matter of principle. In court, the battle centers on a decades-old dispute over a rugged road that the YMCA had offered in 1982 as a public access way as a condition of approval for a recreation center. Ranch owners successfully sued in 1982 to halt the YMCAs construction and obtained the property as the result of a settlement. Attorneys since have argued that the proposed access way should be canceled because the YMCA never had the authority to grant it to the state. In the deal last year, officials agreed to give up any claim to this public route. In return, the public was granted a roughly three-quarter-mile section of beach, accessible only by ocean via surfboard, paddleboard, kayak or soft-bottom boat. The beach is about two miles from Gaviota State Park beach. Landowners also agreed to expand the Hollister Ranch Managed Access Program. This includes inviting disabled veterans and other underserved groups on guided trips, and providing at least 24 opportunities a year for K-12 groups of at least 20 students to learn about tide pools and marine ecosystems. These programs would have been funded by Coastal Conservancy money, according to the settlement terms. Critics said this was an insult to the original intent of public access and further hampered the states ability to fight for more access in the future. The public backlash over this deal was fierce. Hundreds of beachgoers emailed the state, worried that coastal officials were giving up the access fight at Hollister in favor of landowners. Officials in response had said that after so many years of dispute, the deal at least would have provided the first opening of any public access at the ranch. The route itself also involves walking through a drainage tunnel that opens into a steep and sudden drop, depending on the amount of sand. Making this trail safe for the general public, officials said, would be challenging and costly. Jamee Jordan Patterson, deputy state attorney general representing the Coastal Commission and Conservancy, said that they did not drop the ball on fighting for access. Public access is their job. Theyre not pushovers, Patterson said in a packed courtroom last month. Do we want more access out there? Yes Is this the right way to get it? My clients dont think so. There are other avenues that could be pursued. Some at Hollister have also expressed their desire to end this specific court battle, acknowledging that other efforts are now under way to establish access to the ranchs coastline that they hope will balance environmental protection, property rights and public access. Dozens of owners and ranch supporters, in detailed emails and public testimonies, have pleaded their case to the commission. They point to the temporary access they already grant to scientists, academics, historical societies, environmental groups and schoolchildren, and question how someone unfamiliar with the rugged terrain could safely navigate the steep canyons, unpaved roads and high tides without cell service. Public anger over the settlement pushed officials last year to dig through old records and uncover other ways to obtain access at the ranch. Their latest strategy now relies on updating a ranch-wide access program that the state had adopted in 1982 after a complicated legislative history that had faded from institutional memory. The program includes a walking trail and bicycle lane that would run parallel to the ranchs main private road. To minimize the number of cars, a van would operate from nearby Gaviota State Park to six Hollister beaches, where there would be picnic areas and bathrooms. The Coastal Commission, along with the Coastal Conservancy, the State Lands Commission and State Parks, are now working quickly to update the plan. Rosanna Xia is a Los Angeles Times writer. The fatal shooting of a young mountain lion in Northern California that was part of a research project has set off angry criticism and left a family defending its actions. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports Tuesday the mountain lion was trapped last week and fitted with an electronic collar as part of an Audubon Canyon Ranch research project. But the mountain lion only had a few more days to live. Alejandra Calderon says her husband killed the cougar Saturday as it preyed on their sheep. Calderon told the Press Democrat the animal had already hunted their livestock on previous nights. She said she also feared for the safety of their three young children, as the attacks had taken place "about 20 feet from their front door." ALSO: A US trophy hunter pays $110,000 to kill a rare mountain goat in Pakistan "Of course, I totally understand people being upset, whoever was tracking these animals. But that was not our intention to just do it for the heck," Calderon told the Press Democrat. "We would never do anything like that. We did it for safety." The newspaper reports the family has received hateful social media comments and "gawkers" have parked on their road to record video. This isn't the first high-profile mountain lion death in Wine Country lately. Last July, a mountain lion that killed a goat in Kenwood was put down with permission from the state. Residents who have livestock killed by a cougar can apply for a Department of Fish and Wildlife permit to hunt the animal. MORE: Famous mountain lion cub that survived North Bay fires killed with Fish and Wildlife permit Fish and Wildlife classifies pumas as a "specially protected species"; because their population in the state is stable, hunting is permissible with a permit. Biologist Quinton Martins, who runs the Audubon Canyon Ranch research program, says that owners should keep domestic animals enclosed and secured, especially at night. Landowners are encouraged to contact the program if they are having a conflict with mountain lions. They can reached at 707-721-6560 or by emailing quinton.martins@egret.org. The Associated Press contributed to this report. SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) California Gov. Gavin Newsom is preparing to deliver his first State of the State address a day after declaring he wouldn't participate in the Trump administration's "political theater" over border security. The Democratic governor is likely to ratchet up his rhetoric against President Donald Trump in Tuesday's address, a month into Newsom's governorship. "We've been sucked into this vortex of the absurd," Newsom told reporters Monday. "I want to get out of it that's what I was elected to do." His address will offer yet another opportunity for Newsom to outline his vision for California, a state dominated by Democrats, and contrast it with stalemates in Washington. Newsom, 51, has sparred repeatedly with Trump and excerpts of his speech indicate he'll rebut pieces of the State of the Union address delivered by Trump. "Last week, we heard (Trump) stand up at the State of the Union and offer a vision of an America fundamentally at odds with California values," the excerpts read. "He described a country where inequality didn't seem to be a problem, where climate change doesn't exist, and where the greatest threat we face comes from families at the border, seeking asylum from violence-stricken countries." Newsom announced Monday he'll withdraw most of California's 360 National Guard troops working with the federal government at the Mexico border. Former California Gov. Jerry Brown agreed to deploy troops at the Trump administration's request last year, although he said they couldn't participate in immigration enforcement. Newsom, though, said there's been a "gray area" in the troops duties that may have allowed some to inadvertently participate in immigration activities, although a Guard official said the state's troops have not helped detain anyone. Newsom disputed Trump's claim there is a crisis on the border and any need for National Guard troops was eliminated when Trump chose earlier this month to add 3,750 more U.S. troops at the border. "I don't know what the right adjective is without coming off as hyperbolic; the whole thing is ridiculous," Newsom said. Newsom does want to leave 100 California troops working with the federal government to focus on combating transnational drug and gun smuggling. But his speech will surely go beyond immigration to other disagreements with the White House as well as his own ambitious policy goals for the state. He's also fought with Trump on money for wildfire prevention efforts and the ban on transgender Americans in the U.S. military. One of his first policy announcements was to reinstate the individual mandate that people buy health insurance, which Republicans in Congress have eliminated. Newsom has laid out his vision for California twice already, in his inaugural address and through his first crack at the state budget. He spent his first month in office traveling to different parts of the state promoting his ideas on housing, juvenile justice and the environment. "This is our answer to the White House: No more division, xenophobia or nativism," the excerpts say. "We're more united than ever, and we're not going back." - 13 - . . "" : 8 1946 - , -, , , , , , - . 1995 ., 22 , , . . II . , . , -, 1971 ., 99% , . : , (- !) , , , , , ! . , 1325 , 60 . , 1944 . . , , . , , : , ? . 27 30 ? , . ? . , ? , , . : 1. III, . 26 , 25- . , , . 30: , , . 205, 11.09.1943 . . (. 2): . , . 2. 9.IX.1944 . (. 8 1944 .), 10 . , N 11 -, 12 ? , ? - , ? (. .. . 197 9.09.1944 .). 6, 7 8 . .. 192. - . , (9.09.1944 .) 13 25- . , , . 47 . 3. . 47 45 46 . 4. 9.09.1944 . . . , . , . 47 , : ( ) , . 47 ; , 9.09.1944 . 26- . , , , , 1945 . . 47 . , 26- ; , , .. . 46 , ; , . 30 . 5. , ", , ". , . , 17 1944 . " ". 6. 15 1945 . 26- . - , . 30 . ", , . 7. . 131 , , , . 26- , , . ? . , . 26- ! 8. 84- 26- - . ". : , . " . , , ". , ", "? . . " ". -, 1983 ., " . 2 1946 . : . , . , " 2 9: . 2 " , 2 "; . 9 ", . . 3 ". . . , " , , : ." " ("), - (), (). , , 3 . ". 9. 15 1946 . 96- 26- , . , , .. ". " , ". , 9 1944 . II. ". 8 1946 . , . 10. 26- " ", II . , . - . . , , II, " . , , . , , . : . During Gov. Gavin Newsom's first State of the State speech Tuesday, he surprised listeners by announcing he would put the quest for high-speed rail connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles championed by his predecessor far on the back burner. Instead, Newsom offered a consolation prize: high-speed rail between Bakersfield and Merced. "Let's level about the high-speed rail," Newsom said. "Let's be real, the current project as planned would cost too much and, respectfully, take too long. Right now, there simply isn't a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to L.A. I wish there were." ALSO: Gavin Newsom rebuts Trump in 1st State of State Recent estimates assessed former Gov. Jerry Brown's plan would be cost about $77 billion and be completed in 2033. Newsom then pivoted to his alternate proposal, to instead connect the two Central Valley cities, 160 miles apart. "Critics are going to say that's a train to nowhere, but I think that's wrong and that's offensive," said the governor. He laid out a vague vision of the Central Valley's future that included more than just agriculture, citing the need for more investment in the region. CALIF. POLITICS: Kamala Harris says she's smoked pot and inhaled "Merced, Fresno, Bakersfield and communities in between are more dynamic than people realize. The valley may be known around the world for agriculture but there's another story ready to be told." "Abandoning the high-speed rail entirely means we will have wasted billions and billions of dollars with nothing but broken promises... and lawsuits to show for it," Newsom added, explaining he wouldn't want to send the $3.5 billion in federal money the project has been granted back to the Trump administration. But the governor's announcement made at least one Republican happy. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., tweeted, "The train to nowhere is finally stopped. This is the right move by @GavinNewsom... I look forward to working w/ Governor Newsom and federal officials in the coming weeks to best mitigate what has already been wasted on high-speed rail due to the previous Administration." LATEST: California governor pledges PG&E plan in 60 days Newsom alluded to a future where the Central Valley high-speed rail system would be connected to greater California, but didn't offer details. "Let's get something done once and for all," he said. By afternoon, however, Newsom's office said that he is fully committed to building a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco, despite his comments during his State of the State speech. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Read Alix Martichoux's latest stories and send her news tips at amartichoux@sfchronicle.com. Start receiving breaking news emails on wildfires, civil emergencies, riots, national breaking news, Amber Alerts, weather emergencies, and other critical events with the SFGATE breaking news email. Click here to make sure you get the news. A supporter of President Donald Trump attacked a BBC camera operator during a presidential rally in El Paso, Texas, on Monday night, the broadcaster said. BBC cameraman Ron Skeans was violently pushed and shoved by a member of the crowd while covering a President Trump rally in Texas last night, a BBC spokesman said in an email Tuesday. Trump was in El Paso to increase support for his proposed wall on the U.S. border with Mexico, in his most significant rally since his funding demands for the project temporarily shut down the government. The president was talking about a decline in attacks on African, Hispanic and Asian-Americans when the cameraman was pushed. A 36-second clip from Skeanss camera before, during and after the shove was widely circulated on social media Tuesday. It shows a protester in a red Make America Great Again cap, who has not been publicly identified, shouting at members of the media as he is restrained by someone who appears to be part of the events security team. As the man struggles, the crowds chant shifts from U.S.A. to Let him go. Gary ODonoghue, the BBC Washington correspondent who covered the El Paso rally Monday, said the supporter had tried to smash the camera before security escorted him out of the venue. The BBC condemned the attack. It is clearly unacceptable for any of our staff to be attacked for doing their job, the statement Tuesday said. The president could see what was happening and checked that all was OK, the statement added. Since the beginning of his presidency, Trump has had a strained relationship with the news media. He has repeatedly called journalists the enemy of the people, and he used the term Fake News on Twitter at least 174 times last year alone. In August, experts from the United Nations and a human rights body condemned the presidents attacks on the news media and warned that they could incite violence against journalists. His attacks are strategic, designed to undermine confidence in reporting and raise doubts about verifiable facts, David Kaye, the U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of expression, and Edison Lanza, who holds the same position at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, said in a statement. We are especially concerned that these attacks increase the risk of journalists being targeted with violence, they said. During an interview last month, the publisher of The New York Times, A.G. Sulzberger, asked Trump about potentially dangerous rhetoric against journalists. In his response, Trump took credit for popularizing the term fake news but said he was not responsible for how it was used by other governments. Skeans told the BBC that he didnt know what was going on when he was violently shoved Monday, but that he was now fine. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. WASHINGTON President Trump declared Tuesday that he was not happy about the bipartisan border security compromise negotiated by congressional leaders, but gave no indication whether he would sign or veto it before another government shutdown hits at midnight Friday. In his first comments since learning details of the deal, Trump said he would have to study it more before deciding what to do. The compromise includes just $1.375 billion for new fencing along the border, far short of the $5.7 billion he demanded for a wall and less even than the deal that he rejected in December, triggering a 35-day partial government shutdown. He said he was using other methods to build the wall and played down the chances of having to close government doors again. I dont think youre going to see a shutdown, he said. The measure, brokered by senior members of both parties from both chambers of Congress on Monday night, will be taken up as early as Wednesday by the House, which is controlled by Democrats, followed by the Senate, which is run by Republicans. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, spoke with Trump by telephone Tuesday and urged him to accept the compromise. I hope hell sign it, McConnell told reporters afterward. I think he got a pretty good deal. Trump told reporters that he was still thinking about declaring a national emergency to bypass Congress and finance wall construction on his own authority, a move that McConnell has warned him against and that would almost surely be challenged in court. But Trump seemed to be setting the stage for eventually swallowing the compromise and avoiding an emergency declaration by emphasizing that he was already building the wall and was moving things around in the budget from far less important areas to finance it even without Congress. Right now, were building a lot of wall, he said. In fact, no new walls have been built or financed by Congress based on the prototypes that the Trump administration unveiled in 2017. Projects to replace or repair about 40 miles of existing barriers have been started or completed since 2017. Peter Baker and Glenn Thrush are New York Times writers. WASHINGTON Democrats new congressional Enemy No. 1, thanks to his opposition to the partys effort to expand voting rights for everyone: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Its a new role for the Kentucky Republican. While Democrats blast away at President Trump, and Republicans try to demonize House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, McConnell was mostly left alone in partisan ads and tweets. The public just didnt know him well enough. RICHMOND, Va. After days of calling for resignations or impeachment, Virginia Democratic political and community leaders had second thoughts Monday as they confronted the racially combustible scandals that have engulfed the partys top three elected officials. A state lawmaker who had threatened to begin impeachment proceedings against Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax over sexual assault allegations set the idea aside. And a group of black clergy and community leaders asked for a pause in the widespread calls for Fairfax, Gov. Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring to resign. Northam and Herring are under fire for wearing blackface in the 1980s. Over the weekend, nearly the entire Democratic establishment rose up to demand the resignation of Fairfax Virginias highest-ranking black politician after a second accuser came forward. But the momentum slowed Monday as it became clear that it could be problematic if Fairfax were pushed out and the two white men managed to stay in power. If Fairfax were removed without a fair hearing on the sexual assault allegations, wed be opening ourselves up to allegations of racism, said Carol Pretlow, a political science professor at historically black Norfolk State University. There are some people in the community, particularly the younger people who I teach, who automatically say once a black person gets in office, then the effort is Lets see what we can do to discredit him, Pretlow said. If Northam stepped down, Fairfax would become the second African American governor in Virginia history. But if all three Democrats resigned, a Republican could become governor: GOP House Speaker Kirk Cox is next in the line of succession. Late last week, amid widespread calls for Fairfaxs resignation, Democratic state Delegate Patrick Hope announced plans to start impeachment proceedings on Monday. But Hope relented, tweeting that he got an enormous amount of sincere and thoughtful feedback from colleagues after circulating a draft of his impeachment bill, and additional conversations ... need to take place before anything is filed. Hours later, the group of black clergy and community leaders called for a moratorium on demands that the three men step down. The Rev. Rodney Hunter, co-director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy and pastor of a Methodist church in Richmond, said Northam and Herring are different people than they were when they wore blackface more than three decades ago. And he said Fairfax deserves due process over the sexual assault allegations. In interviews published Monday, Fairfax reiterated his denials of the allegations by Meredith Watson and Vanessa Tyson, who have offered to testify against him. The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault, but both women have come forward voluntarily. Fairfax said he has never sexually assaulted anyone and deserves due process. Everyone deserves to be heard. ... Even when faced with those allegations, I am still standing up for everyones right to be heard, he told the Washington Post. Watson alleges Fairfax raped her while they were students at Duke University in 2000. Tyson, a Scripps College professor and visiting fellow at Stanford University, has accused Fairfax of forcing her to perform oral sex on him at a Boston hotel in 2004. Alan Suderman and Ben Finley are Associated Press writers. After three years of serving up massive breakfast burritos and fried faux chicken and waffles, popular vegan restaurant Hella Vegan Eats announced the staff is planning its last service at its Oakland location. "We have been asked to leave our space and are currently looking for a new location. The process of displacement has deeply affected our mental and emotional wellbeing therefore we are having great difficulty securing a new space moving forward," read an announcement across the restaurant's social media platforms. RESTAURANT CLOSURES: East Bay seafood restaurant closing after 89 years Those who have eaten at Hella Vegan Eats know it's not a typical restaurant location. The operation has been acting as a long-term pop-up out of Classic Cars West, a vintage car dealership. The owner of Classic Cars West, Michael Sarcona, told SFGATE he has asked Hella Vegan Eats to leave several months ago "because of a multitude of major differences between the owners, staff and myself." Sarcona says he's hired a new chef and they will continue serving vegan food, debuting a new menu starting March 1. Hella Vegan Eats will feed customers at Classic Cars West on 26th street between Broadway and Telegraph for the last time on Feb. 28. But it appears there's good fortune to come for the establishment. "Our biggest accomplishment as a business over the years as been our ability to offer employment to queer, trans, POC and to build community around mutual aid and inclusion," the restaurant said in a message to its supporters. "We are reaching out to our community for support to help us rebuild a secure spot and to support our employees during a period of unemployment." ALSO: Stanford Shopping Center considers tearing down Macy's for luxury shops The community answered their call, surpassing a $10,000 fundraising goal in just a few days. Hella Vegan Eats says it will use the money to pay employees during this transition and help establish a new location elsewhere in Oakland. Hella Vegan Eats and Classic Cars West were closed Monday when SFGATE first reached out for comment. Editor's note: This story was updated Monday night to include comment from Michael Sarcona, owner of Classic Cars West, who reached out to the reporter via email. Read Alix Martichoux's latest stories and send her news tips at amartichoux@sfchronicle.com. Start receiving breaking news emails on wildfires, civil emergencies, riots, national breaking news, Amber Alerts, weather emergencies, and other critical events with the SFGATE breaking news email. Click here to make sure you get the news. This article, Boeing 747: Queen of the Skies for 50 years, originally appeared on CNET.com. The Queen of the Skies. The jumbo jet. The whale. All are nicknames for the Boeing 747, the most famous jet airliner ever to ply the sky. Fifty years ago today in Everett, Washington, the first 747 took off on its first flight. Bigger than any other commercial airplane at the time, it was an equally big gamble for Boeing that went on to pay off immensely, not just for Boeing but also airlines and passengers. Though its numbers are dwindling fast, today you can still catch a glimpse of its easily recognizable profile at airports around the world. But as history-making as the plane has been, Boeing's win all came out of a loss. Lose one, win one The idea for a giant airliner came in 1965 after Boeing lost a competition to build a large military transport for the US Air Force (the winning bid from Lockheed would become the C5A Galaxy). With encouragement from Pan Am, which wanted larger aircraft for its many overseas routes, Boeing adopted its military plans to carry people instead of troops and equipment. Design work began (see the gallery above for the different design concepts) and in 1966, Pan Am ordered 25 aircraft. The 747 was born. Even with the blessing of the then-powerful Pan Am, Boeing faced a daunting task in making the 747 a reality. At the time, it was also designing a supersonic transport called the 2707 to compete with the Anglo/French Concorde. Building one completely new airliner was risky enough, but designing two at the same time -- one that would be the biggest ever and another that would be the fastest ever -- was a bet on the company's survival. At the time when commercial supersonic hopes were high, some even thought that the 2707 would eventually relegate the 747 to hauling freight. Joe Sutter, a Boeing veteran who'd worked on all of the company's previous commercial jets, became lead engineer (later called "the father of the 747," Sutter died in 2016). His team faced a number of challenges, from finding a suitable engine (one didn't exist at the time) to keeping the aircraft's weight down. Even before it could start building the 747 there was a critical hurdle: Boeing had no factory large enough to do the job. Construction on the Everett site began later in 1966 and proceeded rapidly despite being an immense job on its own. Time was so short that the company finished the factory even as it was building the airplane's first mockup on the floor. Flight into history After a development and construction period of just 29 months, the first 747 rolled out of the factory on Sept. 30, 1968. Four months later on a soggy Pacific Northwest day that first jumbo, called "The City of Everett," took off from a newly built runway next to the factory. Then, after almost a year of more testing, the first passenger flight came on Jan. 30, 1970, between New York and London on Pan Am. Boeing would cancel the 2707 project the next year after the US Congress cut funding for supersonic development. By that time, though, the 747 was well on its way to being a hit. Though its introduction initially caused problems for airports -- baggage systems were overwhelmed, taxiways were too narrow, and some ground equipment couldn't reach the passenger doors -- they were eventually solved. Besides, passengers and airlines loved the spacious aircraft. Even today with the larger Airbus A380 flying around the world, there are still few better rides than the privacy of the upper deck or the serene calm of the premium class nose section. British Airways still operates a large fleet of 747s. Kent German/CNET Beyond being just a more comfortable aircraft, the 747 changed air travel forever. Its ability to carry hundreds of people made air travel cheaper and mass tourism possible, it bore the Space Shuttle on its back and its cargo version brought us the age of speedy air freight. By the end of 2018, Boeing has built more than 1,500 747s of all types. (For an excellent look back at the 747 by a British Airways pilot who flew it, read this New York Times story by Mark Vanhoenacker.) Sadly, though, airlines are gradually sending their 747 fleets to a sunny retirement in aviation boneyards in the American Southwest. The aircraft is gone from US airlines completely -- United Airlines flew its last 747 in November, 2017, and Delta Airlines followed the next month. Outside the US, you can still fly classic 747-400s with British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Thai Airways, KLM, Qantas and Lufthansa. You'll see them disappear, though, over the next few years. Lufthansa, Air China and Korean Air are keeping the dream alive for longer with the newest version of the family, the 747-8 Intercontinental, but Boeing doesn't expect additional airline customers for the type. So buy your tickets now for a ride. Boeing is still building freighter models of the 747-8, so if you're a package you'll have more time. Happy anniversary, 747. The Boeing 787 is great and all, but I'll miss your upper deck. NASA turns 60: The space agency has taken humanity farther than anyone else, and it has plans to go further. CNET Magazine: Check out a sample of the stories in CNET's newsstand edition. Burning Man is not a festival, its organizers say, but the proliferating posts from the playa by Instagram influencers advertising products and showing off luxury amenities might suggest otherwise. It's the topic of a new post from Burning Man nonprofit CEO Marian Goodell on the Burning Man blog. In it, Goodell details an academic symposium she attended in November in Switzerland, during which she listened to a presenter share dozens of reviews from participants at the annual Black Rock event. One particular review, from a 70-year-old artist, stuck with her. This man was disenchanted by those he called discriminatory "gatekeepers," who only sought to include "hot girls" and other young people as part of their camps and art cars. "That just broke my heart," Goodell wrote. "How did we get here? Who thinks saying this is okay on or off the playa? This isn't Burning Man." RELATED: These photographers want you to see what Burning Man 2018 was really like Last year, Goodell goes on to explain, she commissioned her communications team to put together a report compiling "examples of commodification and exploitation of Black Rock City and Burning Man culture." She had been prepared for unsavory results; her team had observed trends suggesting commercialism was indeed imbuing the culture of Burning Man. But it "stunned" her when the report came back 55 pages long. One catalyst of the culture change she identifies in the post is the "increase of participants (both new and experienced) who don't seem invested in co-creating Black Rock City, and are attending as consumers." The practice of convenient consumerism, she explains, is discordant with the pillars of Burning Man. Luxury camps and all-inclusive packages obfuscate the event's whole point of self-reliance. Posting #sponcon (sponsored content on social media) from the desert contradicts the decommodification principle. But still, every year, the richest and most influential show up in increasing numbers. RELATED: Burning Man has been ruined. But it was doomed from the beginning. There are Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who hire people to build them air-conditioned yurts. There are private companies hiring cooks and assistants known as "Sherpas." There's a history of planes dropping off the wealthiest event-goers, right in the desert. Famously, in 2017, Google employees FedExed themselves lobster right to the playa. This is not what Goodell wants for Burning Man. "Black Rock City requires significant investments of time, energy, and resourcefulness," she writes. "Part of what makes Burning Man unique and powerful is that everyone has to work hard to be there. Planning, securing a ticket, packing, building, organizing, contributing, and engaging are part of the journey everyone should experience." Read the post in full here. This year's Burning Man takes place from Aug. 25 to Sept. 2. Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira. The USS Hornet sunk off the coast of the Solomon Islands on Oct. 26, 1943, after a ferocious, days-long battle with Japanese forces. In January, almost eight decades later, a research vessel funded by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen, discovered the ship at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. The Hornet the seventh U.S. navy vessel so named played an essential role in the Doolittle Raid of 1942, the first airborne attack of Japanese homeland targets, as well as the Battle of Midway, which historians consider a turning point in the Pacific front of World War II. The ship set sail from the former Alameda Naval Air Station ahead of the Doolittle Raid. Allen's Research Vessel Petrel discovered the Hornet in late January, about 17,500 feet below the surface of the South Pacific Ocean. Photographs in the above gallery show the vessel largely decomposed after decades underwater. "We had Hornet on our list of WWII warships that we wanted to locate because of its place in history as an aircraft carrier that saw many pivotal moments in naval battles," said Robert Kraft, director of subsea operations for Vulcan, in a statement. "Paul Allen was particularly interested in historically significant and capital ships, so this mission and discovery honor his legacy." Allen died in October 2018 after a decades-long battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma. He was 65. The Hornet sunk during the Battle of Santa Cruz Island, following relentless fire from Japanese aircraft. Of a crew of nearly 2,200, 111 sailors were lost. The 10-person Petrel crew was able to locate the Hornet by analyzing data from archival deck logs and action reports recorded after the Santa Cruz battle. The Petrel's autonomous underwater vehicle discovered the Hornet on its first dive mission. "With the loss of Hornet and serious damage to Enterprise, the Battle of Santa Cruz was a Japanese victory, but at an extremely high cost," said Rear Admiral (Ret.) Samuel Cox, director of Naval History and Heritage Command, in a statement. "About half the Japanese aircraft engaged were shot down by greatly improved U.S. Navy anti-aircraft defenses. "As a result, the Japanese carriers did not engage again in battle for almost another two years." Read Michelle Robertson's latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com. Start receiving breaking news emails on wildfires, civil emergencies, riots, national breaking news, Amber Alerts, weather emergencies, and other critical events with the SFGATE breaking news email. Click here to make sure you get the news. A former employee at a San Francisco fire station is speaking out after the station was forced to say goodbye to their beloved pet cat Edna on Monday after a complaint was filed about the cat's presence at the station. Despite launching a social media campaign in the hopes of keeping Edna, employees at Station 49 on Evans Avenue in Bayshore said goodbye to Edna in a series of Instagram posts. "Leaving Sta49," an Instagram post from the account "fire_cat_edna" wrote. "She does have somewhere to go now but it just sucks to uproot a once feral cat from her home of 5yrs and one that she could come and go as she pleased but chose to stay with unlimited 24/7 loving from 200+ amazing EMS members." In a statement, the San Francisco Fire Department said that "public health and safety concerns counseled removal of the cat from the premises." "To clarify what has been reported in the media, the workplace in question is not a Fire Station," the statement reads. "This facility is the Department's Ambulance Deployment Facility. Within this facility is Department Logistics, where medical supplies, equipment and pharmaceuticals used by ambulance staff to provide crucial lifesaving emergency health care are housed." However, Irene Ybarra, the paramedic in charge of EMS logistics at Station 49 until June 2017, told SFGATE that she did not find the SFFD statement to be accurate. RELATED: Hella Vegan Eats says it's being forced to leave Oakland location "When I was at Station 49 I developed the medical supply in such a way that Edna was not able to get into the clean room," Ybarra said. "The items are usually boxed up, and it's not something [Edna] is usually in the habit of getting on top of. She had her own specific spot, a box with blanket in it. Edna has never been a issue." In an email to SFGATE on Saturday, employees said that after the complaint was filed, they were told they had until Monday to "get rid of" the cat before animal control was called. In response, employees launched a social media campaign dubbed #EdnaStays in the hopes that Edna would be able to remain at Station 49. Despite an outpour of public support, Edna left Station 49 on Monday as planned. "All this over an 'anonymous' complaint that was made with malicious intent," the fire_cat_edna Instagram page wrote. ORIGINAL STORY: SF fire station says they're being asked to get rid of their beloved cat. But they want her to stay Edna was taken in by the staff at Station 49 four years ago by Ybarra and another staffer after Edna repeatedly visited the station as a feral cat. "My partner and I were the ones who started feeding her because she was coming around so often," Ybarra said. In their statement, San Francisco Fire Department wrote, "We are happy to report that a member of the Ambulance Deployment Facility has volunteered to adopt the cat as a pet at home, where she will be well cared for." Ybarra said that Edna does not have a permanent home yet. "Nobody adopted Edna, the person who took her home today has two dogs and two cats at home already so this is not the ideal situation," she said. "She is still working to try to figure out [where Edna will go]." Ybarra, who now lives in Washington state, said the original plan was for her to adopt Edna after retiring in 2017. "I was going to bring her to Pacific Northwest when I retired, " she said. "Ideally I would still like to be the one who adopts her, but that's going to be a couple of more months." Instagram users responded to fire_cat_edna's Monday posts announcing Edna's departure with outrage. "Whoever reported this I hope karma hits them slooowwwwly over time," one comment read. "Another reason why I like animals better than humans," read another. ALSO: Woman sues Lime after a scooter accident left her daughter in a vegetative state On Twitter, several tweets with the hashtag #EdnaStays racked up hundreds of retweets over the weekend. "It's a Shakespearean tragedy," one Twitter user wrote. "Firemen find cat. Firemen keep cat. Firemen love cat. Cat loves Firemen. Landlord says cat has to go. Firemen say noooooooo." The SFFD said it remains a "staunch supporter and advocate for providing emotional support to its members." As a result, the department is organizing a "pet adoption day specifically for First Responders" with San Francisco Animal Care and Control, the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), and Muttville, a non-profit rescue service. "The department touts its stress unit, but it's half of what they say it is at best," Ybarra said. "People have called the stress unit, only for them to say 'we're busy, can't get out there.' So what are we going to do then?" Ybarra talked to several former colleagues, and while many of them are heartbroken, she said this ordeal has brought them much closer to one another. "It's a huge morale buster," she said. "And the only upswing to it is it's brought so many people closer together to actually voice that we're going to miss her, we rely on her." SFGATE staff writer Dianne de Guzman contributed to this article. Eric Ting is an SFGATE staff writer. Email him at eting@sfchronicle.com and follow him on Twitter Start receiving breaking news emails on wildfires, civil emergencies, riots, national breaking news, Amber Alerts, weather emergencies, and other critical events with the SFGATE breaking news email. Click here to make sure you get the news. When Jane Seabrooks daughter was 4 days old, in 1999, Seabrook and her then-husband, Mark Green, decided it was time for their infants first outing. So they did what any other young Mission District family would do: They headed to the neighborhood bar. Of course, the couple also owned the neighborhood bar: the Lone Palm, the dark lounge on 22nd and Guerrero known then and now for its Art Deco interiors, white tablecloths and stiff, well-made drinks. Seabrook and Green had bought and refurbished the place in 1991, as a sort of accessory business to the nursery/tropical plant dealership, the Palm Broker, that Green already ran across the street. Mark imports towering palms from So. Cal., sells them here for $1,000 to $4,000 each and does a brisk biz, wrote Herb Caen in The Chronicle on Oct. 10, 1991, noting the bars opening. Green planted one queen palm on the sidewalk outside the bar its there to this day and the pair decided to call the place the Lone Palm. It was (and is) a cozy spot: charmingly laid back, but not too divey, great for a date or a casual after-work drink with friends. For a year or two there, after Seabrook and the bars former co-owner Nancy Myers both had their daughters within a week of each other, it was also a great baby bar. Seven days a week, it was either my baby or her baby in there with us while we worked, and then we started doing it where (customers) could bring their babies on Fridays, recalls Seabrook. But then word got out and it got a little too popular and we had to shut it down. The whole bar was strollers and Baby Bjorns. A lot of mothers wanted a drink. Jessica Christian / The Chronicle Twenty years later, her infant is a college student. Seabrook and Green split up, and she bought out his share of the bar. The area has changed, as well: There are condos where the Palm Broker once stood; the Michelin-starred restaurant Aster is now the jewel of what was formerly a working-class neighborhood. But inside the Lone Palm, it might as well be the 90s or even the 40s. Past the awning with its neon sign, through the black curtain, youll find a safe haven from the real world and a veritable playground for anachronists. About a dozen tables are draped with white tablecloths and illuminated by votives. Perpendicular to the front wall of glass tile theres a wall with a kitschy, likely century-old Egyptian carving once a water feature, and a holdover from the previous bar, the 90-plus-year-old Mirage. Its one thing Seabrook and Green promised their predecessor theyd keep. The cumulative effect lands somewhere between Morocco 1942 and Miami 1975. Either way its enough to make a nonsmoker want to light up, preferably with an ornate silver cigarette holder. On a recent rainy Sunday just past 9 p.m., two couples on dates lean toward each other across those white tablecloths, speaking in hushed tones while Hitchcocks Dial M for Murder plays silently on the small TV. At the bar, top-lit in neon pink and turquoise, seven patrons nurse beers (there are six on tap) or martinis (at $10, nearly double the size of your standard S.F. martini), cutting their booze with salt thanks to small glass dishes of the bars complimentary snack mix (the house-made savory-sweet concoction that earned an entire review to itself from SF Weekly last year). Talking Heads are on the speakers, until a mariachi player steps through the door, guitar in hand, and the bartender nods, wordlessly shutting off the music so the musician can perform. Jessica Christian / The Chronicle Jessica Christian / The Chronicle Its important to me to keep it as a space thats kind of a magical refuge, an escape from everything outside, says Seabrook, who has lived in Mill Valley for the past decade but still commutes to the bar five or six days a week. Weve resisted going high-tech. For years, we had this classic old cash register that really told us nothing about inventory or sales, but I was so committed to it. Finally, just a few years ago, she had to acknowledge that it was time for the business to get a computer. The bars clientele are, accordingly, the type of people who appreciate a spot thats a little quirky and one thats barely changed in 30 years. On a typical weeknight, Tinder dates and regulars from the neighborhood mingle with local artists, musicians and post-shift bartenders and servers from Beretta, Lolo and other Valencia Street hot spots all of whom are quick to name the spot as a favorite. Some of the bars clientele are also celebrities. Writer Daniel Handler, perhaps better known as childrens author Lemony Snicket, is a longtime fan; the bar has a long-standing relationship with the literary festival LitCrawl. The hip-hop supergroup Deltron 3030 chose the spot for shooting a music video, for Do You Remember, in 2014, as did the show MythBusters, in 2008, for an episode on the phenomenon of beer goggles. Mad Men actress Christina Hendricks has been in a few times with her husband, says Seabrook, while John Waters sightings are not uncommon. (Once asked by a fellow customer if he was, in fact, John Waters, the filmmaker is said to have responded No, Im Steve Buscemi.) Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. But its the non-famous patrons who make up the fabric of the place. Scott Seiwald, whos lived down the street and been a Lone Palm regular for the past 15 years, says its a tight-knit community. Were a protective group, says the San Francisco native, who can be found drinking a Cazadores Tequila most happy hours. Weve all walked people home, or called cabs, if theres someone by themselves whos had too much to drink. And most of the time theres just the one person behind the bar, so you help them, too: plunge the toilet, mop the bathroom, clear the tables. Everyone pitches in. Seiwald loves the Lone Palm as much for what it doesnt have as what it does: If you put in a pool table or a pinball machine, it would take away from the ambience, he says definitively. Or a cocktail menu? I get peeved when someone even puts a color movie on the TV. We should just be on a loop with Casablanca. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle Staying stuck in the 1940s might make for good vibes, of course, but the economic realities of running an older bar in San Francisco in 2019 still apply to the Lone Palm. Seabrook says her rent increases every year. She reluctantly raises prices on drinks when she needs to, but what pains her more is that she used to pride herself on paying employees well above minimum wage, and thats gotten harder over the years. More Information To order: Martini ($10, or $8 during happy hour) Where: The Lone Palm, 3394 22nd St., S.F. 415-648-0109 When: 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily See More Collapse Still, shes optimistic that the bars ability to hold on through the boom of the past half-decade bodes well for the future. A few years back people were saying Oh, there wont be singly owned bars anymore. Its all going to be these groups of high-tech guys, she says. But I dont think that ever came to fruition. Who wants every bar to be owned by little chains? Dont you want to have any unique character? On this particular Sunday night, the mariachi player has finished his song to a polite round of applause. He does a lap around the small bar, collecting tips from a few people in a paper bag, thanking each customer profusely. And then he nods again at the bartender and the bartender nods back and turns the music on. A smiling couple stand to put on their coats, pay their tab, and head out together into the real world, into the rainy streets of San Francisco in 2019. Its tough to tell, a week or so before Valentines Day, whether this was a first date or a fifth. But Id bet money theyll be back. Because anachronistic interior design fans aside, theres one group whose loyalty to the place never wavers: Folks whove had especially successful dates at the Lone Palm wind up partial to the bar for life. We had a couple (recently) that said, Oh, we flew in from Boston to celebrate because we met here 18 years ago, says Seabrook. Theres some kind of magic in that room. Emma Silvers is a San Francisco freelance writer. Twitter: @emmaruthless Email: food@sfchronicle.com SACRAMENTO Plans for a high-speed train between San Francisco and Los Angeles face an uncertain future after Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday that he would focus on building only the Central Valley segment of the rail line. Newsom, in his first State of the State address, also said he would push for just a single tunnel under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, rather than the twin tunnels that former Gov. Jerry Brown proposed to ship water to Central Valley farms and Southern California. The changes amounted to a significant break by Newsom on two of Browns legacy projects, both of which have come under financial and regulatory challenges. We face hard decisions that are coming due, Newsom said during a speech that served as a reality check on the more soaring rhetoric he offered during his inauguration last month. The choices we make will shape our future, and the future of quite literally millions, for decades to come. A bullet train that would speed people between San Francisco and Los Angeles nearly as fast as they could travel by plane was first conceived under former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. But Brown enthusiastically endorsed it throughout his second two-term stint as governor, even as it missed construction deadlines and costs soared. Newsom poured cold water on the prospect it would ever be completed as his predecessors envisioned, though he didnt completely abandon the idea. There simply isnt a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to L.A., Newsom told a joint session of the Legislature. I wish there were. He said the current project would cost too much and, respectfully, take too long. But a link between Merced and Bakersfield, he added, could serve as a revitalizing force for the Central Valley, a region Newsom has promised not to neglect. I know that some critics are going to say, Well, thats a train to nowhere. But I think thats wrong and I think thats offensive, Newsom said. Its about economic transformation. Its about unlocking the enormous potential of the valley. California voters approved a $10 billion bond in 2008, largely for the construction of the San Francisco-to-Los Angeles bullet train. The state finally broke ground in 2015 on a 119-mile segment between Madera and Bakersfield, but the train has lost popularity and become a growing political target as it blows through deadlines and budgets. A revised business plan adopted last year pushed back the completion of the project by an additional four years, to 2033, and estimated a final cost of $77 billion, more than double the original price tag. Central Valley Republicans, who have been among the most vociferous critics of high-speed rail, celebrated what they interpreted as the impending death of the project. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield said in a statement that high-speed rail is finally arriving at its deserved destination extinction. McCarthy, a close ally of President Trump, is an obstacle to securing further federal funding that the state would need to finish construction of the train line to San Francisco and Los Angeles. He said he looked forward to working with Newsom and federal officials to best mitigate what has already been wasted on high-speed rail due to the previous administration. But Democratic legislators, many of them from the Bay Area and Los Angeles County, said they supported Newsoms plan as a first step to eventual completion of the entire line. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount (Los Angeles County), said it would be problematic if the bullet train did not ultimately link the states two biggest urban areas. Im optimistic that we want to see this move forward, but in a way that is responsible and respects what we told the voters we would do, said Senate President Toni Atkins, D-San Diego. Newsom promised to continue the environmental work needed for the Bay Area and Los Angeles sections of high-speed rail and to push for more federal and private funding. He also said he would appoint a new chair of the High-Speed Rail Authority, his economic development director Lenny Mendonca, and bring more transparency to the project by posting spending online. But lets get something done, once and for all, he said. After previously toying with the idea, Newsom also committed Tuesday to a preference for one delta tunnel, rather than the twin tunnels that Brown wanted to build to ensure more reliable water delivery to farmers and Southern California. Newsom said he would appoint a new chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board, Joaquin Esquivel, whose first task would be to reach an agreement on the water project. It has drawn strong opposition from farmers and environmentalists in the northern part of the state, who worry that too much of their water will be sent south and that diverting water from the delta will harm its overall health. We have got to get past these old binaries, like farmers versus environmentalists, or north versus south, Newsom said. Our approach cant be either-or. It has to be yes-and. Conveyance and efficiency. Alexei Koseff is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff Upcoming political events in the Bay Area. THURSDAY Ben Rosenfield: San Franciscos controller discusses city finances. Free. 6:30 p.m. Mannys, 3092 16th St., San Francisco. More information is here. FRIDAY I Am Not Your Negro: A movie that envisions the book James Baldwin never finished, a radical narration about race in America as read by Samuel L. Jackson. Sponsored by San Francisco Party for Socialism and Liberation. $3-$10 donation. 7 p.m., 2969 Mission St., San Francisco. More information is here. SATURDAY Venezuela study group: Study and discussion on the history of Venezuelas Bolivarian Revolution and the facts about the current crisis. Following the study group, outreach team will put up posters for March 9 Hands Off Venezuela march and rally in San Francisco. Sponsored by ANSWER coalition. 11 a.m., 2969 Mission St., San Francisco. More information is here. SUNDAY Indivisible S.F.: General meeting, open to previous attendees and first-timers. 1 p.m., the Womens Building, 3543 18th St., San Francisco. More information is here. MONDAY Bicycle politics: A discussion on the politics of bike infrastructure and how to build a people-protected mobility movement, with Matt Brezina, co-founder of People Protected Bike Lanes. Sponsored by the Bay City Beacon. $5 for nonmembers. 6 p.m., SF LGBT Center, 1800 Market St., San Francisco More information is here. FEB. 21 Gloria Steinem: Feminist leader in conversation with Favianna Rodriguez, moderated by Lauren Schiller. $20. 7 p.m., Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St., San Francisco. More information is here. FEB. 23 State Sen. Scott Wiener: San Francisco legislator holds a town hall meeting in the Richmond District. Noon, Richmond Recreation Center, 251 18th Ave., San Francisco. More information is here. Black History Month discussion: San Francisco workers organizing against racist and sexist harassment on their jobs speak out, including Brenda Barros, SEIU 2021 chapter president; representatives of Erase Racism and Strength in Numbers, a worker-led Water Department group; and plumber Amy Gray-Schlink, with the Freedom Socialist Party. 1 p.m. lunch, 2:30 p.m. program. Door donation $3-$5, lunch donation $10. New Valencia Hall, 747 Polk St., San Francisco. More information is here. Housing and transportation: State Sen. Nancy Skinner and Assembly members Buffy Wicks and Rob Bonta discuss their legislative priorities for housing and transportation. Sponsored by East Bay for Everyone. Free. Noon, 2044 Franklin St., Oakland. More information is here. FEB. 25 New Cold War: A discussion of the new conflicts between the United States and Russia, with Russia scholar Stephen Cohen and Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of the Nation magazine. Benefit for KPFA-FM. $12. First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley. More information is here. Political cartoons: Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Mark Fiore talks about his career and the state of political criticism. Sponsored by Peninsula Libraries Comic Arts Fest. Free. 7 p.m., Menlo Park main library, 800 Alma St. More information is here. FEB. 26 Urban Shield: Alameda County Board of Supervisors will consider resteering homeland security money that has helped pay for law enforcement training exercise Urban Shield. 10 a.m. County Administration Building, 1221 Oak St., fifth floor, Oakland. More information is here. FEB. 27 LGBTQ future: Panel discussion on history and future of LGBTQ movement. Panelists include Kate Kendell, former executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights; Christine Sun, legal and policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California; and Angelic Williams, founder of MyUmbrella app. Free. 6 p.m., SF LGBT Center, 1800 Market St., San Francisco. More information is here. MARCH 2 Young women and politics: Political leadership conference for young women, including skill-building workshops, plenaries on policy topics, roundtable lunch discussions with elected women, and keynote addresses from prominent female political leaders. Sponsored by IGNITE National. $20 for educators, $15 for college students, $10 for high school students. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at Kaiser, 3600 Broadway, Oakland. More information is here. MARCH 6 Podcast Club: Like a book club, only with podcasts. The Ballot, a group for women who want to make a political change, will release a mix of political, fun, satirical and intellectually stimulating podcasts in advance for discussion. Free. 7 p.m., Mannys, 3092 Mission St., San Francisco. More information is here. MARCH 9 Venezuela rally: March and rally against the Trump administrations campaign against the Maduro government in Venezuela. Sponsored by the ANSWER coalition. Noon, Civic Center Plaza, San Francisco. More information is here. MARCH 13 Andrew McCabe: Former FBI deputy director speaks at the Commonwealth Club. $30 for nonmembers, $10 for students. Noon, 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. More information is here. New citizen voting: Democracy Action volunteers will register new citizens to vote following swearing-in ceremonies. Two sessions, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. More information is here. MARCH 18 John Lanchester, Michael Lewis: Lanchester, author of The Wall, and Lewis, author of The Fifth Risk, in conversation at the Commonwealth Club. 6:30 p.m. $30 for nonmembers, $10 for students. 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. More information is here. MARCH 28 Indigenous resistance: Nick Estes, author of Our History is the Future, traces iIndigenous resistance from the days of the Indian Wars through the campaign for indigenous rights at the United Nations. Benefit for KPFA-FM. $12. 7:30 p.m., Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St., Berkeley. More information is here. APRIL 11 Valerie Jarrett: Former adviser to President Barack Obama discusses her book Finding My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward, in a Commonwealth Club event. $35 for nommembers, $10 for students. Noon, Marines Memorial Theater, 609 Sutter St., San Francisco. More information is here. To list an event, email Politics Editor Trapper Byrne at tbyrne@sfchronicle.com Teacher strikes and walkouts across the nation, from West Virginia to Oakland, declare America has a problem that transcends a red-state-blue-state divide. Public school educators are demanding living wages, and these strikes are only the first symptom of justified frustration. A full-scale public education system shutdown and litigation over compensation may be on the horizon. If education, the pillar of democracy, crumbles, so does society. The solution, however, is not renewed pressure on school districts to magically free up funds and reach temporary compromise. Rather, it is time the federal government pay its fair share into the nations education system. American public schools are almost entirely funded by local and state taxes; the federal government contributes less than 8 percent of the overall education budget annually. The issue is not about raising taxes but rather re-prioritizing our spending. Of the $1 trillion a year in federal discretionary spending, over half is spent on the military while less than $70 billion is allocated to education. A society that spends more on defense is not one likely to endure. The average K-12 teacher in America makes around $50,000 per year, a figure that has declined over the past 20 years. Yet the expectation society places on teachers has only grown. We ask our teachers to shape our young into our future hope to polish them for over a decade until they can then be passed off to colleges and universities, where they are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars; and after that to industry and government with lifetime value into the millions of dollars to our nations economy. They are like diamond miners paid paltry wages for doing all the heavy labor in uncovering these shiny gems, only to have others reap all the profits. Teachers deserve pay commensurate with the value of service they provide. They deserve a salary that enables them to live in the communities in which they teach. Figuring out how and how-much to pay public-school teachers a deserved wage has always been one of Americas Gordian knots. Yet the solution need not be as complicated as the ill-conceived partisan rhetoric about pay-for-performance programs or increasing vouchers and privatization of education. What America needs is federal-level commitment to public K-12 educators through re-prioritization of national values. Reducing military spending and increasing education spending just makes good economic sense, if not virtuous sense studies have calculated $1 spent on childhood education yields a $6 payback to society. It is often said that schools are the backbone of a nation. And if this is the case, then teachers are the nerve cells, receiving, processing and transmitting information into all facets of current and future society through our children. Demanding that our federal government raise educators to the same status as other public servants ought to be a cultural imperative, as everything in society ultimately falls on the shoulders of teachers. Ralph Waldo Emerson summed it up this way, We shall one day learn to supersede politics by education. What we call our root-and-branch reforms of slavery, war, gambling, intemperance, is only medicating the symptoms. We must begin higher up, namely, in education. Chirag Asaravala is a freelance writer. He lives in the East Bay. I rarely find myself in agreement with Willie Brown. However, his Feb. 10 column (Dems big 2020 problem: Trumps good at elections) was right on the money. If the Democrats did not know by now that they do not have a viable candidate for 2020, they better listen. Brown is correct. So far there is no Democrat that can beat Trump. It certainly explains the hatred we see leveled at President Trump on a daily basis. Instinctively, many liberals are coming to the conclusion that they will have to put up with Trump for another four years. Too bad. I had to put up with Barack Obama for eight years; now its their turn. Raymond Moreno, San Francisco Valentine gift Once again Gov. Gavin Newsom will celebrate the spirit of Valentines Day in grand style. In the preview of his State of the State address, Newsom says he will pull California National Guard troops from the border. This is our answer to the White House: no more division, xenophobia or nativism. On Feb. 11, 2004, Mayor Newsom was responsible for the first same-sex marriage licenses being issued, and on the 12th he officiated at the marriage between Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin. Hopefully, there will be many more bold and righteous moves from the new governor. Karen Cliffe, San Francisco Redeploy them Thank you, Gov. Gavin Newsom, for deciding to withdraw our states National Guard troops from the U.S.-Mexico border. Using them there for a nonexistent crisis a so-called caravan of migrants trying to illegally enter our country is a waste of taxpayer money. In addition to readying our states National Guard for real emergencies like wildfires, might I suggest a deployment of some troops around the White House, where a certain stable genius is threatening to destroy our democracy? Now thats a real national emergency. Gloria Curazon, Daly City 28th Amendment Regarding Big test for state gun laws (Editorial, Feb. 10): I propose as the 28th Amendment: A well regulated Highway System, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and drive vehicles, shall not be infringed. Then we can eliminate all DMV licensing, thus saving the long waits. Anybody would be able to own and drive any type of vehicle anywhere they want. No more regulation of the automobile industry, so we can all drive powerful, gas-guzzling, polluting vehicles. No more seat belts to wrestle with, and no more airbag recalls. All courtesy of the newly formed NVA (National Vehicle Association). Robert Plantz, Santa Rosa Wheres the beef? Regarding Meatless burger battle (Business Report, Feb. 10): As a vegetarian for the past half-century, Im baffled by the ever-escalating fight to create the vegetable protein knockoff that perfectly mimics the real thing. I believe I might have a solution. If you must indulge in the delectable pleasure of the perfect burger, there is a product for you. Its already on the market, safe, relatively cheap and widely available. It is called meat. If youre headed in the other direction and are a vegetarian or are merely veggie-curious, theres likewise a product available to you. It is called everything else. Tom Ruppel, Dixon Respect for vets Under the category How times have changed: Today, political candidates list their military service near the top of their resumes. In my day, candidates wouldnt have dreamed of listing Vietnam veteran. Today, veterans have the admiration and respect they deserve, which those of us who served in Vietnam should have received but didnt. Ken Kashiwahara, Millbrae Flawed estimate Referencing Researchers estimate universal health care at $17 billion year, Business, Feb. 9: I call B.S.! Of course we cant afford to get to universal health care if we only expand the existing system and leave the insatiable private insurance, pharma and hospital corporations intact. How about the many studies of actual single-payer universal health care which have concluded over and over that single-payer saves money while providing excellent care and including everyone? Margaret Copi, Oakland Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced his intention to withdraw most of Californias National Guard troops from the U.S.-Mexico border. President Trump requested the deployment of Californias troops and those of other border states last year, and then-Gov. Jerry Brown approved the deployment of about 400 troops in April for the purpose of combatting transnational crime. Newsom, who intends to explain his reasoning more thoroughly in Tuesdays State of the State address, no longer believes Browns reasoning applies. The border emergency is a manufactured crisis, Newsom intends to say in his prepared remarks. And California will not be part of this political theater. Newsom intends to reassign 110 troop personnel to support the states fire prevention efforts, 100 into conducting intelligence operations against drug cartels, and 150 into another statewide task force to counter drug smuggling. Newsom is absolutely correct that theres no border crisis. In fact, the number of border crossings has plummeted, and the overall rate of apprehensions for immigrants crossing the border is as low as its been since the early 1970s. As for the much-ballyhooed migrant caravans, those overwhelmingly consist of men, women, and children fleeing gang and drug-related violence in Central America. They are not undocumented immigrants: By seeking asylum at our border, they are exercising rights that are legal both in this country and globally. The nations political context has shifted since Brown approved the troop deployment, as well. Voters issued a strong rebuke to Trumps policies, including his anti-immigration agenda, in the 2018 midterm elections. Despite the widespread damage of the government shutdown, hes also failed to persuade Congress to approve border wall funding. Last week, Michelle Lujan Grisham, New Mexicos Democratic governor, ordered most of her states National Guard troops to leave the border rejecting what she called the presidents charade of border fearmongering. Californians overwhelmingly oppose Trumps immigration policies, especially the border wall. Convincing them of the greater danger of fires and drug smuggling wont be a hard sell. As Newsom prepares to deliver his first State of the State, he can rest assured that this dramatic action against the Trump administration will be met with public support. This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters. Andrew Harnik / Associated Press Much depends on the precarious negotiations to avert another federal funding lapse. The livelihood of hundreds of thousands of federal workers still recovering from President Trumps senseless shutdown is on the line. So is the credibility of the Democratic opposition. Trumps attempt to force Congress into spending billions on his border wall, which precipitated the longest federal shutdown on record, was a gross overreach that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats rightly resisted. Now Democrats must also resist the temptation to overplay their hand. Tax revenue up for some, down for others President Trumps proposed border wall, which ran into a barrier in Congress and triggered a government shutdown, cleared one legal hurdle Monday when a federal appeals court rejected environmental objections by the state of California and advocacy groups to the construction of prototype walls and the replacement and strengthening of some border fences in San Diego and Imperial counties. The Department of Homeland Security had legal authority to waive dozens of environmental laws in 2017 when it authorized building the model concrete barriers and replacing 28 miles of fencing in San Diego County and 3 miles at the border near Calexico, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The court cited an immigration law signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996 that allowed Homeland Security to install additional physical barriers and roads near the border and override any laws that would interfere with expeditious construction. The court did not address Trumps demand for $5.7 billion for a wall at the Mexico border, the rejection of which by congressional Democrats led the president and Republican leaders to shut down many government operations for 35 days. A short-term federal funding bill expires Friday, and there has been no agreement yet on the wall or other security measures. But the ruling was notable for its source, a court that Trump has called hostile and disgraceful for its decisions against him on other issues of immigration and presidential power. And an earlier ruling in the case, which the appeals court upheld, was issued by U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel of San Diego, whom Trump has described as biased because of his Mexican ancestry. In lawsuits challenging the Southern California projects, state Attorney General Xavier Becerra and environmental groups argued that the 1996 laws authorization of additional physical barriers did not apply to replacements of existing barriers, such as the fencing in the two counties. But the court said the construction in San Diego County was designed to replace fencing built in the 1990s with a more effective barrier, and the new fencing in Calexico would replace a 14-foot barrier with one that was 18 to 25 feet high. Those qualify as additional physical barriers, the court said, and even if they did not, they were covered by the 1996 law. To suggest that Congress would authorize [Homeland Security] to build new border barriers but (impliedly) prohibit the maintenance, repair, and replacement of existing ones makes no practical sense, Judge M. Margaret McKeown said in the lead opinion. She also said the projects were in areas of high illegal entry, another requirement of the 1996 law, as the areas ranked in the top 35 percent of border sectors in the number of undocumented immigrants apprehended there. Judge John Owens joined McKeowns opinion. Judge Consuelo Callahan, in a separate opinion, said the court should have dismissed the appeal because the law, in her view, allowed only a direct appeal to the Supreme Court. Becerras office took some solace from the court majoritys willingness to consider its arguments. We are disappointed with the ruling, but pleased that the court recognized the Trump administration does not have unlimited power and that the administrations authority to build a barrier along our border is subject to judicial review, the office said. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko A man who authorities said poured bleach and hydrogen peroxide on food in at least one Safeway store in Sunnyvale and several grocery stores in Southern California has been arrested in Santa Clara County. David Lohr, 48, faces food tampering charges in Santa Clara County for allegedly pouring hydrogen peroxide onto the heating tray of a rotisserie chicken display in a Safeway in Sunnyvale on Jan. 26. Surveillance video of the grocery store appeared to show Lohr pouring bleach on cartons of eggs in the same store, deputies said. Authorities have not determined whether the tainted foods were sold to customers or how many grocery stores he went into. But they are urging anyone who felt sick after shopping in a Sunnyvale Safeway store on Jan. 26 to call the sheriffs office at 408-808-4500. Lohr had a federal felony warrant issued by the FBI office in Los Angeles for tampering with and attempting to tamper with consumer products in several grocery stores across Southern California, according to federal authorities. In addition to the federal warrant, Lohr faces similar charges in Orange County and Arizona, FBI officials said. A transient, Lohr has a Florida drivers license and investigators believe he used public transportation to move from place to place. Santa Clara County sheriffs deputies arrested Lohr last Wednesday after receiving reports that he had been spreading salt and hydrogen peroxide on a Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority bus on Wednesday morning. According to court documents, on Dec. 14, surveillance video appears to show Lohr picking up a container of bleach in a grocery store in Manhattan Beach (Los Angeles County), walking to the liquor aisle and pouring bleach into the refrigerated section of beer. Lohr set the bleach bottle between two packs of beer and walked out of the store without buying anything, authorities said. At a Kroger in Redondo Beach, a woman noticed the odor of bleach coming from a bag of ice that her child had picked up on Dec. 16, according to court documents. When an employee took the bag of ice that the child had been holding against his chest, the employee and the childs mother noticed his shirt had changed colors from black to brown, as if it had been stained by bleach, investigators said. Investigators reviewed a surveillance video from that day and saw Lohr enter the store, pick up a bottle of bleach and walk to the aisle containing bags of ice, according to court documents. On Dec. 17, another Los Angeles grocery store had to dispose of nearly 40 bags of ice after they had been contaminated by bleach, a federal complaint said. On surveillance video the same day, Lohr appears to dump bleach into a freezer containing bags of ice, investigators said. Ashley McBride is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ashley.mcbride@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ashleynmcb SendFriend, a blockchain-powered remittance service, raised $1.7M in total funding. Backers included MIT Media Lab, Barclays, the Mastercard Foundation, Ripple, Techstars, Mahindra Finance, 2020 Ventures, and 8 Decimal Capital. The company intends to use the funds to build out the team, focus on community engagement, and marketing efforts. Led by David Lighton, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, SendFriend provides a blockchain technology platform for Overseas Filipino Workers to reduce the cost of remittance payments. Through a partnership with blockchain company Ripple, the company leverages xRapid to create a seamless money transfer experience. XRP is used as a liquidity vehicle for cross-border payments, enabling SendFriend to circumvent the corresponding banking system and convert USD to XRP to PHP in a matter of seconds. The company, accepted into the Barclays Accelerator Program, Powered by Techstars, to further build out its customer-first solution, plans to launch in New Jersey but will soon be available to OFWs in other states via desktop and mobile. FinSMEs 12/02/2019 The defendant in a high-profile Vallejo kidnapping once dismissed as a hoax by police who were accused of bungling the case may have the chance to cross-examine the victims this week in Solano County. The courtroom drama expected to begin Wednesday comes as the latest twist in the case against Matthew Muller, who recently fired his public defender and has insisted on acting as his own attorney at his preliminary hearing. The victims, Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn, were subpoenaed by the Solano County district attorneys office to testify at the hearing, meaning Muller, 41, may cross-examine them on the witness stand. Denise and Aaron are being really courageous, Quinns attorney, Dan Russo, said in an interview Monday. This is not about revenge. Their commitment is about keeping a lunatic off the street. Hes a very dangerous man, and theyre willing to sacrifice themselves to make sure he never victimizes anyone again. The ordeal began when Muller crept into Quinns Mare Island home in 2015, drugged and bound the couple and vanished with Huskins. When the young woman turned up alive in Southern California two days later, Vallejo police without explanation dismissed the episode as a hoax. Muller was later captured, and police found evidence including multiple letters to The Chronicle linking him to the abduction. He pleaded guilty to kidnapping in federal court in 2017, but now faces state charges. Evan Sernoffsky / The Chronicle This weeks hearing isnt the first time 33-year-old Huskins and Quinn, 34, have prepared for a courtroom face-off with their accused assailant. Muller threatened to represent himself during a previously scheduled hearing in September just days before the couples wedding. At the last minute, though, he accepted the services of a public defender, pushing back the hearing until after Huskins and Quinn were married, so his attorney could catch up on the case. The attorney, Stephanie Grogan Jones, has since been appointed to a Solano County judgeship by former Gov. Jerry Brown. Muller then fired his new public defender. The public defenders office did not return calls requesting comment. Muller, a Harvard-educated, disbarred immigration lawyer and onetime Marine, was sentenced to 40 years in prison in his federal case. He was not charged with any crimes against Quinn in federal court. But he later filed a motion to have the federal sentence vacated after being charged in Solano County with two counts of rape as well as kidnapping for ransom, first-degree robbery, false imprisonment and burglary. Vicki Behringer / Special to The Chronicle In a videoconference jailhouse interview with The Chronicle in October, Muller indicated he planned on pursuing a long-shot insanity defense and described experiencing delusions from severe bipolar disorder that he said had laid waste to his life. Although Muller says he is mentally ill, a Solano County judge found him competent to act as his own attorney. Doing so, though, is almost always a bad idea, according to a legal expert even for someone with a law degree from Harvard. Its a very bad idea, and the judge will be concerned to make sure hes not being abusive, said Santa Clara County defense attorney and legal analyst Steve Clark. It could also impact his mental health defense. Hes essentially making himself an exhibit in his own case. Muller also has a constitutional right to confront his accusers setting up the rare circumstance in which a kidnapper and accused rapist may cross-examine his victims. By positioning himself so he can cross-examine Denise and Aaron, hes found yet another way to torture his victims, said Huskins attorney, Doug Rappaport. The attack began in the early hours of March 23, 2015, when Muller broke into Quinns Mare Island home while the couple slept. Wearing all black and armed with a water pistol disguised as a firearm, he tied the couple up, drugged them and vanished with Huskins, officials said. Quinn regained consciousness hours later and called police, describing the extraordinary details of the crime, which included the abductor setting up a camera to monitor him and demanding two payments of $8,500. But rather than follow the leads Quinn described, investigators began looking at him as a suspect, according to court papers. While Muller took Huskins to his parents South Lake Tahoe vacation home, shackled her to a bed with a bicycle lock and raped her twice, Vallejo detectives grilled Quinn at police headquarters and ignored leads that may have led them to Muller, attorneys representing the couple in their civil case said. And as searchers and cadaver dogs scoured the marshland around Mare Island, The Chronicle received a proof of life message from the kidnapper an audio recording of Huskins recounting the days news and personal details only she would know. Two days after the abduction, which made national headlines, Muller drove Huskins to one of her parents homes in Huntington Beach (Orange County), released her and disappeared. At the time, Vallejo police Lt. Kenny Park described the incident as an orchestrated event and called a news conference to say there was no evidence to support the claims this was a stranger abduction or an abduction at all. From the outset, police compared the case to the movie Gone Girl in which the title character fakes her own kidnapping, the couples attorney said. In the days that followed Huskins release, The Chronicle began receiving letters from the purported kidnapper later identified in an FBI affidavit as Muller insisting that the ordeal was real. Muller was arrested in June after a similar home invasion in Dublin in which he left his cell phone at the crime scene. Investigators traced the phone to Muller and located evidence at the South Lake Tahoe home linking him to Huskins abduction. He is also a suspect in three similar home invasions in Mountain View and Palo Alto. Police later privately apologized to Huskins and Quinn, and the city of Vallejo last year settled a defamation lawsuit filed by the couple for $2.5 million. The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce has named Rodney Fong as its new president and CEO. Fong, the longtime president of Fong Real Estate Co. and a member of the San Francisco Planning Commission for nearly a decade, is the third person to helm the chamber in three years. Predecessor Tallia Hart, who spent more than a dozen years leading chambers of commerce in San Rafael and Irvine, resigned abruptly in October. Im hopeful that we can grow the chamber expand its role not just for small business or big business but a combination of both, Fong said after giving remarks to chamber members in a hotel ballroom. Its this symbiotic relationship that makes our city tick. Fong, a fourth-generation San Franciscan whose great-grandmother was born here in 1898, said decades working in City Hall has helped him build trust among city leaders and employers. He previously served as president and a board member of the Port Commission and was the longtime owner and operator of the Wax Museum at Fishermans Wharf now operating under the Madame Tussauds name. Mayor London Breed addressed a crowd of hundreds of chamber members at the groups annual breakfast meeting on Tuesday before announcing Fongs hiring. She called Fong a friend who has one of the most thankless jobs in San Francisco: commissioner of the Planning Department. No one appreciates the countless hours and everybody complains, Breed said. She added: I know that Rodneys going to do some amazing things for this city. The leadership void created by Harts departure extended beyond the top job: Jim Lazarus, vice president of public policy who was often known as the face of the chamber, left in January after 13 years to take over as state director for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. At least two other vice presidents have left the business association since 2017. John Gingrich, the newly appointed chairman of the chambers board, said Fongs experience in the Planning Department gives him a unique appreciation for the different groups and constituencies trying to build in San Francisco. Being able to navigate the different groups to align on the path forward is important, said Gingrich, who recently left Accenture for data science startup Humu. I think he will bring that experience to the chamber, and well benefit from it. The Chamber of Commerce has said its the only group in San Francisco that represents businesses of every size and industry, advocating on their behalf. It has long defended the interests of old-line corporations likes Wells Fargo and PG&E, but with stalwarts like Chevron, Bechtel and McKesson disappearing from downtown, the chamber has sought to add homegrown tech companies as members. The breakfast meeting blended the old and the new with the chambers choice of speakers. Michael Pugliese, an economist with Wells Fargo, gave a slideshow presentation on the government shutdown, while Katrina Lake, CEO of online apparel retailer Stitch Fix and the youngest woman ever to take a company public, addressed the politics of being a female tech leader. Interactive Vaccine Tracker: Latest developments Detailed information about the coronavirus vaccines as it becomes available. The chamber also shared the results of its annual poll, a barometer of peoples attitudes on a range of city issues including housing and public transportation. In her remarks, Breed addressed the issue that has ranked No. 1 for the last four years: homelessness. While we have work to do, what we are doing is actually working. Since July, when I took office, we have been able to get almost a thousand people off the streets in San Francisco, Breed said, prompting thunderous applause. Last fall, the chamber led the opposition campaign against Proposition C, a ballot measure that will raise hundreds of millions of dollars from big businesses to spend on homeless services and housing. The measure won by a wide margin, though it faces possible legal challenges. Fong said he plans to work closely with the city to tackle its homelessness problem. Street life affects residents whether youre the employer or the employee, Fong said. Melia Russell is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: melia.russell@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meliarobin San Francisco is one step closer to spending its $185 million windfall. In a special meeting Monday, the Budget and Finance Committee unanimously passed a spending plan that the supervisors spent months assembling behind closed doors, and finally cobbled together during a 3-hour period of public comment last week. The plan will head to the Board of Supervisors for a vote Tuesday, then to Mayor London Breed to be signed. After a tremendous amount of work, we were able to settle on a compromise that Im happy to say is unanimously cosponsored by the supervisors, said Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer, chair of the committee. The windfall comes from excess revenue in a county education fund. While the total amount is $415 million, the City Charter requires that more than half the money go to a rainy-day fund, the Municipal Transportation Agency, public libraries, tree maintenance, public schools, and child care and youth services. That left the mayor and the supervisors with $185 million to spend. While the mayor wanted to funnel all the money into homelessness and housing, the supervisors plan divided the money among homeless services, housing, energy independence and teacher salaries. The supervisors plan also pulled an extra $52 million from the rainy-day part of the total windfall to create the Teacher and Early Care Educator Unappropriated Emergency Reserve Fund for teacher and early child care worker salaries through 2021. The citys rainy-day reserves are usually saved for extreme, unexpected spending needs, such as a recession. Trisha Thadani Right to counsel: San Francisco may require that all juveniles have legal representation either in person, by phone or video conference when being interrogated by police, and also allow their parents or guardians access to them in custody, according to an ordinance passed Monday by the Board of Supervisors Rules Committee. The ordinance, sponsored by Supervisor Hillary Ronen, would expand on a state law that took effect last year, which requires those 15 and younger to consult with legal counsel when law enforcement takes them into custody. Ronens ordinance would push that age up to 17. The legislation was inspired by a 2018 incident at Balboa High School when a gun was fired inside the school. No one was seriously injured, but a number of students were detained and questioned by police without a parent present. It also comes as states and cities around the country rethink the way minors are questioned by police. The ordinance co-sponsored by Supervisors Vallie Brown, Aaron Peskin, Shamann Walton and Gordon Mar unanimously passed the committee. It will now move to the full Board of Supervisors for a vote. Trisha Thadani Email: cityinsider@sfchronicle.com, tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfcityinsider, @TrishaThadani The ride-hail company Lyft which recently got into the bicycle business said Monday its donating $700,000 to help transit-hungry East Oakland get free car rides and bike-lending stations. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf called the move by John Zimmer, Lyfts co-founder, absolutely an incredible gift one that East Oakland deserves, to make up for systematic neglect that this part of Oakland has seen for generations. The flat grid that stretches from Lake Merritt to the San Leandro border stands as an example of how the city often fails to serve its poorest residents. East Oaklands two BART stations are far apart, and traffic clogs its main boulevards. Bike-rental docks end at the southern border of Fruitvale. Drivers are forced to negotiate a maze of potholes. The donation is seen by some as a benefit for the company as well as for East Oakland. Not only could it help transform a forgotten area of the city, but it can also add shine to Lyft, which now operates a large Bay Area bike-rental program. The $700,000 will be split among Oakland nonprofits, including TransForm, which focuses on transportation policy, and Scraper Bikes, whose founders build two-wheelers with big colorful wheels resembling the muscle cars that tool around East Oakland. Among the programs the money is expected to help fund are new parklets to beautify sidewalks, a bike-lending library, subsidized AC Transit passes, discount bike and scooter rentals and the free car rides. Michael Short / Special to The Chronicle Schaaf announced the plan Monday in the courtyard of the East Oakland branch library on 81st Avenue, where blocks of working-class, single-family homes line a district of warehouses and truck stops. She and Zimmer, who said little at the event, had decked out the yard with chic electric bicycles, electric scooters and the Scraper bikes. Such seemingly incremental efforts could be transformative, particularly in neighborhoods where people depend on cars or unreliable city buses, said Clarrissa Cabansagan, new mobility policy director for TransForm. Out here its much less transit-rich than a city like San Francisco, she said. An uneven transportation system has deep social consequences. It limits where people can work, makes it difficult to go grocery shopping and prevents kids from getting to school on time. In Oakland, the lack of transit connections has segregated the hills above Interstate 580 from the poorer flatlands below, while also separating the area north of Lake Merritt from the southern neighborhoods. Mobility is not just about getting around, Schaaf said. Its about social and economic mobility. Tyrone Baybe Champ Stevenson Jr., who invented Scraper Bikes with his cousin, Avery Pittman, echoed those sentiments. Living in deep East Oakland, we see, too often, potholes, Stevenson said. We see, too often, homeless people sleeping in cars. We see, too often, illegal dumping. Me, as a child, I had to navigate around all of that to get to school. Not everybody sees a partnership with Lyft as the answer. City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan was skeptical, noting that ride-hail companies add to congestion and compete with mass transit for riders. Schaaf deflected those concerns. When youre in partnership with a company, youre in a better position to talk to them about modifying their less beneficial behaviors, she said. This is an opportunity for us to really create together what equitable mobility looks like. And I do believe this CEO generally cares about that issue. Officials are slowly making changes to spread transit infrastructure more evenly throughout the city, though it wont be easy. Oaklands Department of Transportation is preparing to release a comprehensive bike plan to connect routes from the more gentrified hills to the citys outskirts, and a bus rapid transit route will start running through East Oakland in December. In the meantime, city leaders are leaning on smaller forms of mobility to fill in the gaps. Bikes are getting a new cachet, Cabansagan said, even though the dearth of protected bike lanes forces many people to ride on the sidewalk. Oakland residents have also embraced e-scooters, a new high-tech craze that city officials saw as a social equalizer last year the City Council enacted a policy that required each scooter company to drop half its fleet in low-income communities of concern. To Stevenson, the scooters and the expanded bicycle networks are heartening. Ultimately, he wants to see the roads repaved and the sidewalks cleared of debris. These potholes will be fixed, he declared in the library courtyard, over a wave of applause. Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan Two people killed in a weekend crash involving a Toyota Prius going the wrong way on Highway 1 in Pacifica were identified Tuesday as a friend and family member of the driver, authorities said. Tulio de Giovanni Lima Viana, 23, of Daly City, was identified as the drivers brother and victim ejected from the passenger side of the Prius, said Officer Bert Diaz, a California Highway Patrol spokesman. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators believe Lima Viana was not wearing a seat belt when the crash occurred, Diaz said. Megan Cota, 23, of San Francisco, was identified as the other passenger killed in the crash. She was friends with the brothers, Diaz said. The collision occurred just before 4:20 a.m. Saturday on Highway 1 near Clarendon Road, where the driver of the Prius was going southbound in the northbound lanes. The car collided with a Chevrolet Silverado traveling northbound on Highway 1, Diaz said. Two male occupants of the Chevy pickup truck were transported to the hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, and they were released from the hospital Monday, Diaz said. The driver of the Prius has not been identified and remains in critical condition. Hes been in and out of surgeries, Diaz said. We havent been able to get a statement from him its due to the extent of the injuries. The driver, who is expected to survive, and his brother are originally from Brazil. Both had been living with family in the Bay Area for two years, Diaz said. Its unclear whether drugs or alcohol were a factor in the crash. The drivers toxicology results have not come back yet. The collision remains under investigation and could lead to criminal charges for the driver, Diaz said. When it comes to wrong-way driving ... its usually 70 percent of the time a result of drugs, alcohol, medication (or) some sort of impairment, Diaz said. Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani Jason Miller / Getty Images MESA, Ariz. For the second year in a row, the As are reuniting with left-hander Brett Anderson, even if this time it isnt because executive vice president Billy Beane ran into him at a gym. Oakland, which has a thin rotation, has continued talks with Anderson and Edwin Jackson, who also started for the As last year, and The Chronicle has learned that Anderson has agreed to a one-year major-league deal with the team. He is scheduled to have a physical Tuesday and if he passes hell be in camp Wednesday. This is the second time a Googler said that SEOs, webmasters, publishers should be paying more attention to image search and video search. John Mueller said it a couple weeks ago and now Gary Illyes said it last Friday. Gary said it twice in his AMA on Reddit: (1) "Google Images and Video search is often overlooked, but they have massive potential." (2) "We simply know that media search is way too ignored for what it's capable doing for publishers so we're throwing more engineers at it as well as more outreach." How can you make images or videos or GIFs that are unique that solve problems for searchers? So if you are not focusing a bit more on your images, videos or maybe even GIFs, you might want to start thinking about it. Forum discussion at Reddit. Milk Chocolate It's impossible to speak of milk chocolate in broad strokesits quality and character span a maddeningly vast spectrum. For many folks, traumatic experiences with poor-quality milk chocolate have been enough to convince them to go dark or bust. But there's so much more to discover in the realm of milk chocolate; when done well, the addition of dairy fat brings out a whole new range of flavor. It's an expression of cocoa that's mellow, soft, and nutty, able to furnish desserts with a sweet richness and creamy consistency distinct from dark chocolate. Those characteristics make milk chocolate ideal for recipes that are otherwise low on sugar and fat (think chocolate-covered pretzels or whipped ganache), as well as those with a strong salty or bitter element, such as peanut butter, burnt sugar, or coffee. As much as I love splurging on high-end milk chocolate couverture from brands like Valrhona, I'm hard-pressed to justify spending that kind of money unless it's for tempering. For a low-key batch of chocolate chip cookies, in a pinch, I'm willing to turn to the offerings of well-stocked supermarkets and specialty stores. With a little forethought, though, I'm happier to wait on a shipment of milk chocolate that I've purchased online, where bulk buying power helps drive the cost down. These eight milk chocolates are available nationwide and/or online, and are my favorites for baking at homethough they're but a small sampling of what's available in any given market. Divine At 26%, Divine Milk Chocolate is the sweetest option on my list, but not obnoxiously soa great choice for folks who have fond recollections of hanging off a shopping cart in the checkout aisle, begging for a chocolate bar. Thanks to the addition of powdered cream along with milk, this chocolate has a dairy-forward flavor and a richness reminiscent of a truffle. I can always count on my local Kroger to keep it in stock, but I've seen it in wine shops and fancier groceries as well. Use it for a burst of sweetness in low- to no-sugar recipes, like cream scones and ganache, or just smear some inside a fresh baguette along with a sprinkling of sea salt for a midnight snack. Divine Chocolate Milk Chocolate Bars (Pack of 10) Buy on Amazon Callebaut In culinary school, Callebaut's 33.6% was my gateway to milk chocolate, which I had once scoffed at with all the sanctimony of a newly minted food snob. ("Milk chocolate? Oh. My word, haven't touched the stuff since I was five!") Mercifully, I got over myself and learned to appreciate what different types of chocolate have to offer in flavor, melting point, and richness, and the versatility of this milk chocolate is a great jumping-off point if you're still warming up to the idea. It's easy to find in large, shrink-wrapped chunks at supermarkets like Whole Foods and The Fresh Market, and it can also be ordered as callets (drops) in bulk online; the latter is simply a convenient, no-chop incarnation that's formulated the exact same way. Callebaut is easy to temper (a skill you can master with Kenji's excellent guide), so it's a tasty yet affordable option for any of the classic candy bars in my cookbook, such as homemade Reese's Cups and Crunch bars. But its sweet, nutty notes are just as welcome in bold and bitter desserts, like these double-chocolate cookies. Callebaut Milk Chocolate Callets Buy on Amazon Lake Champlain I can reliably find Lake Champlain's 38% milk chocolate in the candy aisle of my local supermarket, but it turns up in all types of specialty stores as well. Though it's not terribly distinctive, it's that middle-of-the-road quality that makes it an easy choice for desserts ranging from hazelnut cookies to all types of sauces and ganache. Lake Champlain 38% Milk Chocolate Bars (12 Pack) Buy on Amazon Jelina I first picked up this fair-trade milk chocolate at an organic supermarket in Brooklyn, so it wasn't until I spotted it at a wine shop in Kentucky that I realized it wasn't a local specialty. At 36% cocoa solids, Jelina's Au Lait milk chocolate has a rich mouthfeel and balanced sweetness, with a profile that's a little brighter than the mellow earthiness that characterizes most milk chocolates. I dig it in fruitier applications, like chocolate cherry muffins or orange chocolate cookies, but its creaminess is well suited to leaner scenarios, such as homemade digestive biscuits or chocolate-covered pretzels. Jelina's Milk Chocolate Bar (8-Pack) Buy on Amazon Whole Foods There was a time when a supermarket's house brand was the least likely source for good chocolate, but Whole Foods' 39% milk chocolate isn't joking around. It's earthy, rich, and darker than I expected given the percentage, a profile that works nicely to balance its sweetness. Give it a shot alongside something a little darkersay, as part of a blend for chopped chocolate chip cookiesor sandwich it between some graham crackers to tame the sweetness of toasted marshmallows in your next batch of s'mores. For folks who don't live near a Whole Foods (e.g., me), it's available online as well. Theo Theo's a Seattle-based, fair-trade, bean-to-bar chocolate company that sources most of its cocoa (and vanilla, too) from the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Befitting that heritage, its 45% milk chocolate bar has a strong cocoa profile that veers toward the darker side of milk chocolate with its nutty toffee notes. For those whose primary objection to milk chocolate is textural, this option has a cleaner mouthfeel than more dairy-forward brands; it's still creamy, to be sure, but not as tongue-coating as milk chocolate can often be. Try it as part of a blend for chocolate chip skillet cookies, as a chunky mix-in for banana bread, or in any recipe that would benefit from a hit of chocolate flavor without the bracing bitterness of dark. Theo 45% Milk Chocolate Bars (12-Pack) Buy on Amazon Endangered Species Endangered Species is a fair-trade chocolate company that sources its beans from West Africa, and each of its chocolate bars comes with its own animal mascotnone more worthy of attention than the humble sea otter. This 48% milk chocolate is among the darkest around, and strong enough to make milk chocolate skeptics rethink their stance. While it's darker than any other milk chocolate on this list, its overall flavor profile is somehow more traditional, what I imagine other milk chocolates strive to bebuttery, rich, and nutty, with a backbone of pure cocoa. It's sweet enough to take the place of dried fruit in oatmeal cookies, but bold enough to stand on its own in truffles or a whipped-ganache frosting. Look for it in the snack or candy aisle of supermarkets like Kroger and Whole Foods, as well as slightly fancier groceries and specialty shops. Endangered Species 48% Milk Chocolate Bars (Pack of 12) Buy on Amazon Remember that the milk chocolate selection can vary from store to store and even state to state, so be on the lookout for unique offerings at your local supermarket. For baking, aim for milk chocolates that list a cacao content of at least 20%; if you can't spot that information on the packaging, it's a solid indication of a brand scooting by with the FDA minimum of 10%, making it too sweet and mild to lend much chocolate flavor to baked goods. Also, steer clear of any brand that lists palm oil or added fats other than cocoa butter on its label, as these will affect its behavior in recipes designed around pure milk chocolate. As you explore, keep in mind that few milk chocolates can be a one-size-fits-all ingredient for every recipea bar that's too sweet to enjoy on its own may be perfect for an unsweetened ganache frosting or a bitter chocolate cookie, while one that's too lean for tempering may be spot-on in a richer cookie. As you taste your way through new varieties, try to imagine how the specific qualities of a given brand can be used as a counterpoint in desserts that are salty, bitter, bold, or otherwise in need of the creamy sweetness of milk chocolate. Pegasus Resources, LLC, a Fort Worth, Texas-based mineral and royalty company, secured an additional $300m equity commitment. EnCap Investments L.P. (EnCap) made the investment, bringing its total commitment to $600m. The company, which received an initial commitment of $300m from EnCap in November 2017, is now focused on the acquisition and management of mineral and royalty properties in the core of the Delaware and Midland Basins. Led by Chief Executive Officer George M. Young Jr., President and Chief Operating Officer Will O. Rodgers, and Chief Financial Officer Lynn Frank, Pegasus Resources is a mineral and royalty company focused on the acquisition and management of properties primarily located in the Permian Basin. Since 2017, the company has assembled a team representing decades of experience in land, geology, and engineering, and has expanded its accounting and finance capabilities to manage its portfolio of producing properties. This team allows Pegasus to develop broad basin studies, understand the unique geology and well economics in specific areas of interest, and properly manage its assets. Additionally, the company continues its partnership with Tilden Capital, LLC, which has a long track record of sourcing and closing mineral and royalty acquisitions across various basins, and specifically the Permian Basin. FinSMEs 12/02/2019 Thank you for reading! You have reached your 30-day limit of free access to SentinelSource.com, The Keene Sentinels website. If you would like to read two more articles for free at this time, please register for an account by clicking the sign up button below. We hope you find The Sentinels coverage of the Monadnock Region valuable. We rely on our subscribers to bring you strong local journalism and hope you will consider supporting our work by taking advantage of this special subscription offer here. Charles H. Woods of London, KY, passed peacefully June 18, 2021, at Baptist Hospital in Lexington after a courageous battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife, Charlene; his daughter Lindsay Reedy (Aaron); and grandchildren, Tanner, Arden, and Nolan. He also leaves behind his nephew, Cr Posted Tuesday, February 12, 2019 11:54 am This list is a sampling of crime in Sedalia and the surrounding area. Information is taken from official police reports, which do not necessarily contain statements from all parties involved in each case. Sedalia Police Department Feb. 5 11:27 p.m.: Brayan Castro Izaguirre, 18, of the 1200 block of South Missouri Avenue, was arrested on charges of minor in possession of alcohol and operators license required near the intersection of West 14th Street and South Moniteau Avenue. Officers observed a vehicle driving without its lights on. A traffic stop was conducted and during the investigation, it was found the driver did not have a drivers license and was in possession of alcohol. He was booked and released at the Pettis County Jail and issued a municipal court summons. Feb. 6 2:25 a.m.: Igor I. Sarioglo, 32, of La Monte, was arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated, driving with a revoked license and leaving the scene of an accident near the intersection of West Seventh Street and South Warren Avenue. Officers responded to a business in the 1700 block of West Broadway Boulevard in reference to a possible intoxicated subject. Prior to the officers arrival, the suspect left in his vehicle, collided with a road sign and abandoned the vehicle nearby. The suspect was later located and arrested. Arrests Feb. 8 5:33 p.m.: Fredrick T. Curry Jr., 38, of the 1200 block of South Grand Avenue, was arrested on charges of possession of synthetic narcotic, Schedule II narcotic to be kept in original container and possession of drug paraphernalia near the intersection of West 11th Street and South Harrison Avenue. While on patrol, an officer made contact with a male subject walking through the alley who said he was walking to a residence to visit a friend. The mans name was given to dispatch, who reported he had two active warrants. During a search, a small baggie of methamphetamine was found along with pills and drug paraphernalia on his person. 10:01 p.m.: Mary A. Hale, 28, of the 500 block of South Park Avenue, was arrested on charges of third-degree felony domestic assault and fourth-degree domestic assault at her residence. Officers responded to the area for a domestic disturbance. The investigation revealed Hale assaulted two female relatives. A Pettis County failure to appear warrant was also served. Feb. 9 2:09 a.m.: Rafael Getsemani Barragan Tapia, 18, of the 4200 block of West Main Street, was issued a municipal court summons for possession of marijuana near the intersection of South Beacon Avenue and West Fourth Street. An officer observed a vehicle sitting in the middle of Beacon Avenue. The officer made contact with the driver and smelled the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle. The vehicle was searched and a plastic bag containing marijuana was found. 5:05 a.m.: Christopher Eugene Bartlett, 43, of the 300 block of East Cooper Street, was arrested on charges of third-degree felony domestic assault and armed criminal action in the 1200 block of South Limit Avenue. Officers responded to a business in reference to a domestic assault. The victim stated she was tased by Bartlett, who is known to her, in the neck. After the investigation, Bartlett was arrested. 7:35 a.m.: Andrew LaMonte Marsh, 27, of the 300 block of East Cooper Street, was arrested on charges of second-degree felony assault and third-degree kidnapping in the 1200 block of South Limit Avenue. Officers responded to the 300 block of West Seventh Street for a reported assault. The assault was found to have happened at a business in the 1200 block of South Limit Avenue. Contact was made with the suspect, who was found to have active arrest warrants, two from Pettis County and one from the City of Sedalia. 3:34 p.m.: Joseph F. Jones, 63, of the 2700 block of South Grand Avenue, was arrested on a charge of driving with a revoked license in the 2800 block of West Broadway Boulevard. 10:11 p.m.: Glenn T.D. Grant, 34, of the 1800 block of South Barrett Avenue, was arrested on a charge of misdemeanor possession of marijuana near the intersection of South State Fair Boulevard and West Broadway Boulevard. A vehicle was stopped for speeding. A search revealed the driver had marijuana in his shoe. 11:53 p.m.: Cynthia Rose Wilson, 19, of the 28000 block of McGee Road, was arrested on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana near the intersection of West Seventh Street and South Moniteau Avenue. Officers conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle with expired registration. The passenger was found in possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. More marijuana was found in the vehicle in the immediate area of the passenger. She was booked and released from the Pettis County Jail and issued a municipal court summons. Feb. 10 1:35 a.m.: Gregory T. Clancy, 30, of Warrensburg, was issued a municipal court summons for destruction of non-city property in the 500 block of South Ohio Avenue. Officers responded to a business in reference to a disturbance. During the investigation it was discovered that the subject kicked a pane of glass in an interior door, breaking the glass. Estimated value was $250. 7:56 p.m.: Abone R. Madden, 31, of Knob Noster, was arrested on a charge of driving with a revoked license near the intersection of West Main Street and South Limit Avenue. Officers stopped a vehicle for a speeding violation. The investigation revealed the driver had a revoked license and an active warrant out of Johnson County. Feb. 11 3:56 a.m.: Dustin Arnold, 21, of the 600 block of West 16th Street, was issued a municipal court summons near the intersection of South Limit Avenue and Heck Avenue for possession of marijuana. A traffic stop was conducted and during an investigation at the scene, the driver was found in possession of marijuana. Incidents Feb. 8 9:39 p.m.: A 2000 Chevrolet Suburban was reported stolen from a residence in the 600 block of East 11th Street in the past two hours. It had been parked behind the residence with the keys in the vehicle. It is valued at approximately $300. Pettis County Sheriffs Office Incidents Feb. 10 11:15 a.m.: Deputies took a report of an assault in the Pettis County Jail. A charge of third-degree assault has been submitted to the Pettis County Prosecuting Attorneys office. Missouri State Highway Patrol Arrests Feb. 10 7:43 a.m.: Phillip Q. Starks, 29, of Centralia, was arrested in Johnson County on charges of driving while intoxicated and failure to drive in a single lane. 2:24 p.m.: Sean A. Smith, 28, of Kansas City, was arrested in Johnson County on charges of felony possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), felony receiving stolen property, felony unlawful possession of a firearm, misdemeanor possession of marijuana and unlawful use of drug paraphernalia. Troopers also served three felony warrants from Johnson County and one felony warrant from Jackson County. Mojo Mortgages, a Manchester, UK-based online mortgage broker, secured 7m in Series A funding. Backers included NVM Private Equity, Maven Capital Partners and other investors. The company, which had already raised 800k in an earlier seed round, intends to use the funds to continue its growth and innovation efforts. Launched one year ago by industry entrepreneurs Richard Hayes and Nick Sherratt, Mojo provides customers with algorithm-powered mortgage recommendations from more than 90 lenders and offers free advice on their best option in 15 minutes before handling the entire application on their behalf. The companys recommendations give customers more certainty around eligibility and ensures they get the cheapest deal now and in the future. Mojo will continue to build upon its suite of APIs enhancing its online mortgage journey and automated decisioning to enable an end-to-end experience for its customers and strategic partners. FinSMEs 12/02/2019 On February 12, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged two former high-ranking executives of an Indiana-based plastics manufacturer with concealing from potential buyers of the manufacturer the fact that the company's core business model was a sham. According to the SEC's complaint, Lucent Polymers, Inc. premised its business model on its ability to transform "garbage to gold" - that is, to use low-grade, non-prime feedstock to develop high-quality plastics. The company's near-magic "garbage to gold" process, the SEC alleges, was a huge commercial success. However, the complaint alleges that Lucent's business model was a fraud. The complaint alleges that the company routinely lied to its customers and falsified its certifications of test data to show that its products complied with customer specifications, including on important aspects such as fire-retardant measures, when in fact the products did not meet customer specifications. According to the complaint, Kevin R. Kuhnash, Lucent's CEO and Jason P. Jimerson, Lucent's COO, hid Lucent's fraudulent practices and made misrepresentations in the sale of Lucent to Citadel Plastics Holdings, LLC, an Illinois-based plastics manufacturer. The complaint further alleges that, after the sale to Citadel, Kuhnash and Jimerson continued to conceal the fraud in order to secure future escrow payments under the deal and to help secure Citadel's eventual sale, when they would receive additional payments. In March 2015, Citadel's stock was sold to a publicly-traded company. Between the 2013 and 2015 stock sales, Kuhnash received more than $1.3 million, and Jimerson received more than $600,000, according to the complaint. The SEC's complaint, filed in federal court in southern Indiana, charges Kuhnash and Jimerson with fraud in violation of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and seeks permanent injunctions, disgorgement plus interest, civil monetary penalties, and officer-and-director bars. In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana today announced related criminal charges against Kuhnash and Jimerson. The SEC's investigation was conducted by Jake Schmidt, Emily Rothblatt, and Trevor Schumacher of the Chicago Regional Office, and was supervised by Jeffrey A. Shank. The litigation will be led by Timothy Leiman. InReach Ventures, a London, UK-based AI-powered venture capital firm, held the first closing of a new 53m fund targeted at European early stage technology companies. This first close surpassed the original fund target of 50m. Founded by Roberto Bonanzinga, former General Partner at Balderton Capital/Benchmark Europe, Ben Smith, former UK Engineering Director at Yammer (Microsoft) and CTO at various technology startups, and John Mesrie, former General Counsel at Balderton Capital/Benchmark Europe, InReach Ventures leverages Artificial Intelligence powered software to discover, evaluate and support investments in the most promising early stage startups in Europe. Like the tech disruptors it is looking to finance, the firm has a strong technology background having invested over 3m in the development of its own proprietary technology over the last three years, Over the half of the team members are software engineers. Its proprietary software-based approach generates and evaluates deal-flow more efficiently than traditional venture firms. Through the software stack, the team is positioned to discover and analyse thousands of new opportunities each month. The final target of this approach is not to automate the actual decision making process for investing but to use technology to make this process far more scalable, efficient and informed. Launched in 2015, the firm has already invested in eight startups from across Europe, including: Oberlo (Lithuania) subsequently acquired by Shopify, Soldo (Italy/UK), Tutorful (UK), Shapr3D (Hungary), Traitly (Sweden) and Loots (Germany). FinSMEs 12/02/2019 Cabify, a Madrid, Spain-based mobile ride hailing company part of the Maxi Mobility holding company, received a $70M loan. Backers included IDB Invest and Blue like an Orange Sustainable Capital. The financing will allow Cabify to strengthen its presence in countries where it operates across the region promoting social and environmental benefits, gender equality, and financial inclusion of drivers. Founded in 2011 in Madrid, Cabify is mobile ride hailing company that soon spread to Latin America. Today, it is present in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Spain, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Portugal and Uruguay, has more than 1,000 direct employees and offer self-employment opportunities to hundreds of thousands of driver partners. The companys digital model allows the traceability of operations and transactions by reducing friction through technology and generating a business environment that is subject to taxes and strict compliance with regulatory and legal frameworks. In addition to increasing access to transport to people in Latin American cities, the company aims to: reduce carbon emissions through the reduction of the average age of its fleet of vehicles; increase of the number of women among drivers; and improve the employment conditions of drivers including help in obtaining social benefits. Specifically, the expected development outcome of this transaction supports five Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 3, Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages; SDG 5, Gender Equality; SDG 9, Industry, innovation and infrastructure; SDG 8, Decent work and economic growth; and SDG 11, Sustainable cities and communities. The loan, carried out by Blue like an Orange Sustainable Capital together with IDB Invest, is part of a framework agreement of co-financing between both institutions to catalyze private debt capital in companies in Latin America and the Caribbean and marks their second co-financing transaction announced in as many weeks. FinSMEs 12/02/2019 Longtime initiative promoter Tim Eyman is showing an increasingly short fuse, lashing out in a series of emails at a fellow Republican, State Sen. Hans Zeiger. Zeiger is "playing patty cake with liberals" and seeking to get "crumbs" from the Democrats, Eyman charged in the first of three attacks on Zeiger. "Turncoat Republicans made a calculation the crumbs they might get from the Democrats are worth more than the backlash they'll get from the people who supported their campaigns and their party," Eyman wrote. Usually, Eyman goes after Democrats, having once labeled Gov. Jay Inslee a "lying whore" and charging that Attorney General Bob Ferguson has driven him to a bankruptcy filing. RELATED: Connelly: Will latest Tim Eyman initiative gut Sound Transit 'like a pig?' Zeiger's sin? He was one of three Republicans voting to advance out of committee a bill to abolish the largely meaningless "advisory" votes on the ballot. Created by a 2007 Eyman initiative, voters are asked to express an opinion on measures passed by the Legislature. The multiple votes are non-binding and cost money to put on the ballot. "We call them push polls because they are intended to influence public opinion," said Andrew Villeneuve, a longtime Eyman critic who heads the Northwest Progressive Institute. Zeiger was joined by fellow Republican Sens. Barbara Bailey and Brad Hawkins, but has borne the brunt of three Eyman email blasts. "Zeiger thinks that you won't care that he sold you out or you won't find out," Eyman wrote. Eyman has done this once before, excoriating King County Council member Kathy Lambert when she voted for taxes to preserve Metro bus service. Eyman was not able to generate any backlash against Lambert. He's not likely to damage Zeiger, a youthful and popular voice in the GOP Senate caucus. Eyman and allies face a $2.2 million civil suit be AG Ferguson over alleged kickbacks, diversion of initiative donations to private use, and taking donations to one campaign and putting them in another. Ferguson has relentlessly sought Eyman's financial records, and the recent bankruptcy filing has given Eyman no legal protection. Eyman is hoping for a comeback with another $30 car tabs initiative, but his nonstop emails and money appeals bear signs of desperation Thanks to our green spaces and access to healthy food and fitness options, Seattle is the second-most healthy city in the United States. When cities don't provide such spaces, it can be hard to live a healthy lifestyle, WalletHub states in its recent study of healthy and unhealthy cities. So, the financial analysis website examined 42 indicators of good health across 174 of the country's most populated cities. OceanaGoldhas announced the discovery of high grade gold and silver mineralization at its WKP prospect in New Zealand.The drill results support the high grade results reported in 2018 and will enable the company to define a maiden resource later in the year.OceanaGold President and CEO, Mike Wilkes says the company is very excited about the potential at the site with drilling continuing to yield high-grade intercepts across multiple veins.Over 2019 the company expects to invest between $8 and $10 million to drill the target.Shares in OceanaGoldclosed 0.92 per cent lower to $4.30. One concern is that, regardless of what Trump said in the State of the Union address, the president might crack at the summit, making concessions to Kim just to make the North Korean leader happy and keep the negotiations going. That would be bad. Its also unlikely. There is an additional concern that Trump might offer less damaging concessions like agreeing to a peace treaty or a unilateral reduction of U.S. forces on the Korean peninsula. As my colleague, Bruce Klingner, one of the foremost experts on North Korea, has pointed out: North Korea wants a door prize before seriously negotiating. My advice to President Trump: Dont do it. The biggest mistake the U.S. could make is falling back into the failed strategy of giving Kim something for nothing. It is especially important that the United States keep the U.S.-South Korea conventional alliance strong and resilient. Washington and Seoul are negotiating cost-sharing for U.S. forces in South Korea. Its important that both sides work for a good result. Signs are right now that this is what is going to happen. In the end, there is only one way to tell if the negotiations with Kim are going anywhere, and thats if his regime agrees to a complete and verifiable accounting of all its nuclear assets. For some of us, they carry the bright blue of our grandfather's eyes. For others they result in the characteristic cleft chin or the familial tendency toward color blindness. But in some families, the genetic mutations handed down from generation to generation aren't as benign. And for one family in particular, the mutation results in early-onset Alzheimer's disease. "We heard about a family in Girardota a number of years ago," said UC Santa Barbara neuroscientist Kenneth S. Kosik, who studies Alzheimer's disease and other tau protein pathologies and works closely with research partners in Colombia, where this family is located. The subject of a new paper published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia, the family was discovered over the course of Kosik's work in the Medellin region. While studying the genetics of a different, roughly 6,000-member family in the Colombian province of Antioquia with a now well-documented history of early-onset Alzheimer's disease due to a mutation in the PSEN1 (presenilin) gene, the researchers came across this other, smaller family presenting the same symptoms. "We analyzed their genes for mutations," said Kosik, UC Santa Barbara's Harriman Professor of Neuroscience and co-director of the campus's Neuroscience Research Institute. "And, remarkably, we found another mutation in the very same gene. And they are unrelated to the first family." Though located on the same gene as the first family's, genetic analysis revealed that this genetic mutation was in a different location, ruling out the possibility that this smaller group of people was a subset of the larger family. "Having it arise twice in two families that are in pretty close proximity is a little surprising," Kosik said. "But improbable things happen." Though the two Colombian families live down the road from each other today, further genetic investigation revealed that their mutations originated on two separate continents, in two different populations. By sequencing their genomes, the researchers were able to follow the mutations backward, complementing their genetic work with an examination of historical and demographic records. advertisement Using identity-by-descent analysis, the first, larger family's mutation was traced back to the Spanish Empire, and is thought to have been brought to South America by a single founder who might have been a conquistador during the colonization of Colombia in the early 16th century. The second, smaller family's PSEN1 mutation, meanwhile, has been traced to Africa. "We pinned it down pretty clearly to show that in the region around the mutation the sequences around there were of African origin," Kosik said. These findings were further bolstered by Colombia's history: In the 16th century, West Africans were imported into the country as enslaved people, and, like the conquistadores of the same era, mixed and mingled with the local population. In fact, the concentration of Afro-Colombians led to the modern-day establishment of the department of Choco, an enclave on the western coast of the country inhabited predominantly by descendants of the enslaved Africans. Such genetic mutations are not uncommon, Kosik said. "All of us carry different mutations," he explained. Often, these errors in our code don't survive. They don't beat the odds to become part of the next generation, or they die with their last, childless carriers; in some cases they make it impossible to reproduce. But in Colombia, through millennia of population dynamics -- the violence and introduced diseases brought on by conquest, the ebb and flow of populations, the mingling and also the isolation -- this PSEN1 mutation persisted. "It was never selected against," Kosik said. While we think of 40 as a 'young' age to have genetic early-onset Alzheimer's, it's late enough in a person's life for them to have passed on their genes to the next generation before it manifests. And the idea of a genetic component to this condition wouldn't come until the 20th century. advertisement A Double-edged Sword When a genetic link to the first Colombian family's early onset form of Alzheimer's was established in 1997, it provided a valuable opportunity. With the family's consent, the research collaboration led by Kosik and neuroscientist Francisco J. Lopera of the Grupo de Neurosciencias de Antioquia at the Universidad de Antioquia, was able to document the progression of symptoms from its earliest stages and later, with additional investigators, to conduct clinical trials for a drug with potential to arrest the disease. "If you really understand what are the first things that change, what might be the effects that trigger these changes, you might find a way to interfere with that pathway," said lead author Juliana Acosta-Uribe, a graduate student researcher in the Kosik Group who joined the team as she was completing her medical training at Universidad de Antioquia. This second family could provide insight into, among other things, whether or not the progression of genetic early-onset Alzheimer's is similar for all people with a PSEN1 mutation or if it is family-specific, she said. For carriers of PSEN1 mutations, this knowledge could be something of a double-edged sword. An explanation for the condition that strikes with frightening regularity members of their family as soon as they reach their fourth decade could ease the uncertainty and point to a potential cure. But it also could impart to these families the dilemma that may force them to choose between having children with a significant chance of inheriting a gene mutation that all but guarantees dementia at age 50, or selecting against the mutation by electing not to have children. "These families are traditionally large families, where you can have eight, 10, 13 kids," Acosta-Uribe said. "The patients we're seeing now, they have already had their own children. So it's their kids that are now really understanding what's happening and asking questions." "We're now very actively discussing these questions of disclosure," Kosik said of a separate, but no less significant research endeavor. "We're really very involved in finding out which people want to know if they have this mutation, and what they would do differently if they knew or didn't know." Research on this study was also conducted by Laura Ramirez Aguilar (lead author), Margarita M. Giraldo, Sonia Moreno, Ana Baena, Rosario Costumal, David Aguillon, Lucia Madrigal, Amanda Saldarriaga, Alexander Navarro, Gloria P. Garcia and Daniel C. Aguirre-Acevedo of Universidad de Antioquia. Ethan Geier and Jennifer S. Yokoyama of UC San Francisco; Nicholas Cochran and Richard M. Myers of HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology; and Yakeel Quiroz of Harvard Medical School also contributed research to this study Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Imperial College London and the University of Tokyo have demonstrated that physical coordination is more beneficial in larger groups. The researchers used robotic interfaces to test coordination in groups of two, three and four partners, and found that performance was improving with every additional group member. The researchers believe the findings can clarify how a group of people can work together, for example to move and maneuver a large table together. This may also lead to improving the outcomes of physical rehabilitation by training patients in groups. Scientists from Imperial College London, CNRS in France and ATR in Japan previously revealed the haptic communication in pairs in a task similar to partner dancing, and showed how performance at a physical task is improved and learned better when practicing with a partner, see https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/177982/robots-help-people-improve-physical-tasks/. The new study, published today in eLife, extends this finding to trios and quartets by clarifying haptic communication in groups critical to society. Dr Atsushi Takagi, lead author of the study who resides at the Institute of Innovative Research at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), said: "We were shocked by how well and fast partners learned to coordinate as a group through touch. Imagine trying to move a banquet table at a crowded wedding venue. With verbal communication, it's immensely challenging to coordinate with others to ensure the table doesn't bump against something, and the more people there are, the longer it takes to reach verbal consensus. With touch, coordination emerges in a matter of seconds, and the time taken to reach consensus is the same, irrespective of group size." Professor Etienne Burdet of Imperial College, the senior author of this study, added: "We expected that the performance would deteriorate with the noisy force of each additional group member. However the performance improved with each group member, as each individual connects to a virtual collective hand which is the average of all partners' hands, so that the noise decreases with the number of partners." The researchers found that the key to physical coordination was the ability to infer the group's goal through touch. The same coordination mechanism was used in a previous study by Takagi and colleagues to design a "human-like" robot partner that coordinated with a human partner. In the new study, the researchers conducted computer simulations of the task to test what information was shared within the group through touch. Takagi believes that a deeper understanding of the coordination mechanism will yield an algorithm for a group of robots to carry out physical tasks together. The research was carried out in partnership with Imperial College London in the UK, and the University of Tokyo in Japan. A team of scientists led by researchers at the University of Georgia Center for Food Safety in Griffin has developed a machine-learning approach that could lead to quicker identification of the animal source of certain Salmonella outbreaks. In the research, published in the January 2019 issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Xiangyu Deng and his colleagues used more than a thousand genomes to predict the animal sources, especially livestock, of Salmonella Typhimurium. Deng, an assistant professor of food microbiology at the center, and Shaokang Zhang, a postdoctoral associate with the center, led the project, which also included experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Minnesota Department of Health and the Translational Genomics Research Institute. According to the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System, close to 3,000 outbreaks of foodborne illness were reported in the U.S. from 2009 to 2015. Of those, 900 -- or 30 percent -- were caused by different serotypes of Salmonella, including Typhimurium, Deng said. "We had at least three outbreaks of Typhimuirum, or its close variant, in 2018. These outbreaks were linked to chicken, chicken salad and dried coconut," he said. "There are more than 2,600 serotypes of Salmonella, and Typhimurium is just one of them, but since the 1960s, about a quarter of Salmonella isolates linked to outbreaks reported to U.S. national surveillance are Typhimurium." The researchers trained the "machine," an algorithm called Random Forest, with more than 1,300 S. Typhimurium genomes with known sources. After the training, the "machine" learned how to predict certain animal sources of S. Typhimurium genomes. advertisement For this study, the scientists used Salmonella Typhimurium genomes from three major surveillance and monitoring programs: the CDC's PulseNet network; the FDA's GenomeTrakr database of sources in the United States, Europe, South America, Asia and Africa; and retail meat isolates from the FDA arm of the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System. "With so many genomes, machine learning is a natural choice to deal with all these data. We used this big collection of Typhimurium genomes as the training set to build the classifier," said Deng who was awarded the UGA Creative Research Medal in 2017 for his work in this area. "The classifier predicts the source of the Typhimurium isolate by interrogating thousands of genetic features of its genome." Overall, the system predicted the animal source of the S. Typhimurium with 83 percent accuracy. The classifier performed best in predicting poultry and swine sources, followed by bovine and wild bird sources. The machine also detects whether its prediction is precise or imprecise. When the prediction was precise, the machine was accurate about 92 percent of the time, Deng said. "We retrospectively analyzed eight of the major zoonotic outbreaks that occurred in the U.S. from 1998 to 2013," he said. "The classifier attributed seven of them to the correct livestock source." Deng says the tool has limitations; it cannot predict seafood as a source and it has difficulty predicting Salmonella strains that "jump around among different animals." advertisement "I'd call this approach a proof of concept. It will get better as more genomes from various sources become available," he said. In tweets about the study, Frank Yiannas, deputy director of the FDA, called the machine learning of whole genome sequences project "a new era of smarter food safety and epidemiology." To the average person, the success of this project means strains of Salmonella Typhimurium could be traced back to the source faster. Identifying what causes a foodborne illness outbreak is key to stopping it and preventing further illnesses. "Using our method, investigators can better link cases of the same outbreak and better match isolates from food or food processing environments to isolates from sick people," he said. "This will give investigators more confidence to implicate a specific source that is behind the outbreak." The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet. One consequence of that trend is the thawing of permafrost, a layer of earth that has remained frozen for thousands of years in some areas. This frozen soil and vegetation currently holds more than twice the carbon found in the atmosphere. As permafrost across northern Alaska, Canada, Siberia and other high-latitude regions thaws, microbes in the soil consume organic materials, releasing carbon dioxide or methane, an even more potent greenhouse gas, into lakes and the atmosphere. But a warmer, wetter climate may also cause more carbon from plants on land to move into lakes. Greater flow of carbon from plants and soils into Arctic lakes stimulates greater greenhouse gas emissions from bodies of water. And in a largely unstudied region with millions of lakes, it's still a mystery as to how much carbon moves from the land into lakes, and ultimately into the atmosphere. New research by the University of Washington and U.S. Geological Survey suggests many lakes pose little threat to global carbon levels, at least for now. In the Arctic's flat, arid regions dotted with thousands of lakes -- a landscape that makes up about a quarter of the entire Arctic region -- many lakes are functioning like self-contained units, not releasing much carbon dioxide. "We found that not all high-latitude lakes are big chimneys of carbon to the atmosphere, and that lakes in the region are not actively processing much permafrost or plant carbon from land," said lead author Matthew Bogard, a postdoctoral researcher in the UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. "Documenting the heterogeneous nature of northern lakes, as we have done here, will better define the role of Arctic lakes in the global carbon cycle." The research will publish online Feb. 11 in the journal Nature Geoscience. advertisement The researchers visited 20 lakes several times over the course of a year in the Yukon Flats region of northeast Alaska: a vast, dry landscape speckled with thousands of lakes and home to the Yukon River, North America's last largest undammed river. Their goal was to track the flow of carbon through the food web and test the water chemistry in each lake for signs of carbon from permafrost across a region that hasn't been studied before in this way. Nearly all of the related research has taken place in a handful of isolated areas in the Arctic that don't necessarily represent the characteristics of lakes in the region, the researchers said. "The problem that we overcame in this study is getting to some logistically very difficult places in order to get a better picture of what's happening across the Arctic, which literally has millions of lakes," said senior author David Butman, assistant professor in the UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. "These findings show the need to better understand the diversity of the ecosystems in this region." During each of the fieldwork trips, the research team flew by floatplane from Fairbanks, Alaska, to a remote location in the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, an area teeming each summer with migratory ducks and other waterfowl. Their accommodations were modest: an old hunting cabin now maintained by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for field research provided a safe place to sleep, cook, charge equipment and filter water after long days in the field. Black bears and moose are common in this area, evidenced by large spikes on the cabin's doors and windows to keep animals out. Each day the researchers flew from lake to lake, collecting water samples while kneeling on the plane's pontoons and dropping probes into the water to measure temperature, dissolved oxygen and other lake characteristics. On a good day, two researchers and a pilot could hit eight different lakes, sometimes having to leave one person behind for part of the day if the lakes were too shallow to take off with a fully weighted plane. In their analyses, the researchers found that nearly every lake they tested showed no sign of ancient carbon from permafrost, and much less production of carbon dioxide than expected. Lakes emit carbon dioxide when it enters from outside sources in the landscape, such as rivers and groundwater. Also, bacteria and animals produce it while digesting their food, and carbon dioxide can build up if they generate it faster than plants and algae can suck it up during photosynthesis. But here, the research team saw evidence that many of the lakes were more balanced in production and uptake of carbon dioxide than lakes in other regions. Consequently, the lakes were a smaller source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than is observed in other parts of the world. "The implications are that not all lakes are hot spots for releasing carbon from land," Butman said. "But we don't yet know how these particular landscapes will change in a warmer climate, since this is the first time they've been studied." As the climate warms, large wildfires are expected to sweep across the Yukon Flats, potentially delivering an enormous load of land carbon to the lakes in this landscape that could stimulate more carbon dioxide emissions. The research team's current and future work will help benchmark what's happening now to better understand future changes. Fears around leaving infectious diseases untreated and poorly enforced antibiotic supply controls could hamper efforts to reduce the use of antibiotics in low to middle income countries, according to a new study from the University of Warwick. Published in the journal Trials and led by Dr Marco J Haenssgen, Assistant Professor in Global Sustainable Development, the study demonstrates that contextual factors, such as local health policies, influence the results of clinical trials of medical interventions. The landmark study is one of the most detailed qualitative analyses of the context of clinical trials in antimicrobial resistance ever conducted. It calls for the routine collection of social data alongside clinical trials to help tailor the local appropriateness of clinical interventions and help researchers interpret their findings. By better recording these contextual influences, the researchers argue that interdisciplinary research collaborations between the social and medical sciences can help tackle global challenges such as drug resistance more effectively. The study analyses clinical trials in Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam with a total of 4,446 participants, that aimed to test the effectiveness of a five-minute finger-prick blood test to reduce antibiotic prescriptions for fever patients in primary healthcare. The test measured C-reactive protein levels in the participants' blood, helping healthcare workers such as nurses and doctors to decide whether the cause of the febrile illness was likely to be bacterial, in which case an antibiotic could be prescribed. The research by Dr Haenssgen's team complemented these trials and identified differences in adherence to the results of the test in patients and clinicians, both across and within the sites -- in some clinics, physicians prescribed antibiotics despite a negative test result in as much as 71% of cases. They then determined the reasons for the disparities through the analysis of nearly one million words of qualitative material from 130 interview and group discussion participants across the three countries. They found that if antibiotics were over-abundant or if healthcare workers were worried about deadly infectious diseases they were less likely to follow the guidance provided by the biomarker test. Similarly, if long and dangerous journeys prevented patients from follow-up visits to primary health centres or if they struggled to understand the purpose of the test, then patients may be more likely to ignore the results and buy antibiotics without prescriptions from local grocery stores and pharmacies -- making the intervention seemingly less effective. The study further argues that such clinical trials could also exclude different parts of the relevant target population, as some people struggle with accessing healthcare and others might not consume antibiotics for fevers but, for instance, open wounds and other conditions for which the biomarker test is not currently being used. Diagnostic biomarker tests are one of the main strategies to tackle drug resistant infections, which the World Health Organization named one of the "ten threats to global health in 2019." As the World Bank warns that drug resistance could push 24 million people into poverty by 2030 and threatens the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, Nesta (a charity) is running the Longitude Prize challenge of 10m for the development of effective diagnostic solutions to help end the crisis. Lead author Dr Marco Haenssgen said: "An example of how context affected clinical adherence relates to the strong antibiotic policies and the ways to manage patients without antibiotics in Thailand. Some doctors had a surprising oversupply of antibiotics to the extent that they almost felt they needed to prescribe to get rid of the surplus medicine. This was of course not the only way in which clinician adherence varied, but it shows how the same AMR intervention might or might not work, and how we need to tailor our interventions specifically for each country -- one size doesn't fit all contexts! "For researchers, more contextual data from clinical trials means that we will be able to carry out meta-analyses to identify which contextual factor (e.g. poverty, complementary health policy) matters for the successful operation of a new intervention. That would then inform a design toolkit for clinicians that can guide them in identifying appropriate interventions, or advocating for changes in policy. "The opportunity that presented itself to us in this research is rare -- social-medical research across three low- and middle-income countries does not just require a lot of coordination and patience, but also an open-minded research team. We were fortunate to have all in place, which enabled us to inform the tools and techniques being used to fight the superbug crisis, and to advance interdisciplinary research methodologies more broadly. This wasn't easy, but when we consider the emerging challenges to planetary health and sustainable development, interdisciplinary collaboration is the way to go." MIT engineers have devised a new, noninvasive way to measure the stiffness of living cells using acoustic waves. Their technique allows them to monitor single cells over several generations and investigate how stiffness changes as cells go through the cell division cycle. This approach could also be used to study other biological phenomena such as programmed cell death or metastasis, the researchers say. "Noninvasive monitoring of single-cell mechanical properties could be useful for studying many different types of cellular processes," says Scott Manalis, the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor in the MIT departments of Biological Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, a member of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and the senior author of the study. It could also be useful for analyzing how patients' tumor cells respond to certain drugs, potentially helping doctors choose the best drugs for individual patients, the researchers say. Joon Ho Kang, an MIT graduate student, is the first author of the paper, which appears in the Feb. 11 issue of Nature Methods. Other authors include postdocs Teemu Miettinen and Georgios Katsikis, graduate student Lynna Chen, visiting scholar Selim Olcum, and professor of chemical engineering Patrick Doyle. A unique measurement The new measurement technique makes use of a technology that Manalis' lab previously developed to measure the mass of cells. This device, known as the suspended microchannel resonator (SMR), can measure the mass of cells as they flow through a tiny fluid-filled cantilever that vibrates inside a vacuum cavity. As cells flow through the channel, their mass slightly alters the cantilever's vibration frequency, and the mass of the cell can be calculated from that change in frequency. advertisement In the new study, the researchers discovered that they could also measure changes in stiffness to the cell -- specifically, a cell structure called the cortex that lies just below the cell membrane. The cortex, which helps to determine the shape of a cell, is composed mainly of actin filaments. Contraction and relaxation of these filaments often occurs during processes such as cell division, metastasis, and programmed cell death, leading to changes in the stiffness of the cortex. Over the past couple of years, Manalis and his students realized that the vibration of the cantilever also creates an acoustic wave that can be used to measure the stiffness of the particle or cell flowing through the device. As a particle flows through the channel, it interacts with the acoustic waves, changing the overall energy balance. This alters the vibration of the cantilever, by an amount that varies depending on stiffness of the cell or particle. This allows the researchers to calculate the stiffness of the cell by measuring how much the vibration changes. The researchers confirmed that their technique is accurate by measuring hydrogel particles of known stiffnesses, created in Doyle's lab, and measuring them as they flowed through the device. The acoustic waves used to generate these measurements disturb the cell by only about 15 nanometers, much less than the displacement produced by most existing techniques for measuring mechanical properties. Cell division The MIT team showed that they could use this technique to measure stiffness of a single cell repeatedly for over 20 hours as they flowed back and forth through the SMR device. During this time, they were able to monitor stiffness through two or more cell division cycles. They found that as cells enter mitosis, stiffness decreases, which the researchers believe is due to the swelling that occurs when the cells prepare to divide. By imaging the cells, they confirmed that the cell cortex becomes thinner as the cell swells. advertisement The researchers also found that cell stiffness dynamically changes just before it divides. Actin accumulates at the equatorial region, making the cell stiffer, while the polar regions become more relaxed as actins are temporarily depleted. "We can use our way of measuring stiffness to look at the dynamics of actin in a label-free, noninvasive way," Kang says. The researchers plan to start using this technique to measure the stiffness of even smaller particles, such as viruses, and to explore whether that measurement might be correlated with a virus's infectivity. "Measuring stiffness of submicron particles with meaningful throughput is currently not possible with existing approaches," Manalis says. Such a capability could help researchers who are working on developing weakened viruses that could be tested as possible vaccines. This kind of measurement could also be used to help characterize tiny particles such as those used for drug delivery. Another possible application is combining the stiffness measurement with the mass and growth rate measurements that Manalis' lab has been developing as a possible predictor of how individual cancer patients will respond to particular drugs. "When it comes to assays for precision medicine, measuring multiple functional properties from the same cell could help to make tests more predictive," Manalis says. The research was funded by the Koch Institute Support Grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology, the NCI Cancer Systems Biology Consortium, and the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies through the U.S. Army Research Office. A field survey conducted by a team of marine scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has uncovered toxic bacteria living on the surfaces of microplastics, which are pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimetres in size, collected from the coastal areas of Singapore. These bacteria are capable of causing coral bleaching, and triggering wound infections in humans. The NUS team also discovered a diversity of bacteria, including useful organisms -- such as those that can degrade marine pollutants like hydrocarbons -- in the plastic waste. Dr Sandric Leong, research lead and Senior Research Fellow at the NUS Tropical Marine Science Institute (TMSI), said, "Microplastics form a large proportion of plastic pollution in marine environments. Marine organisms may consume bits of microplastics unintentionally, and this could lead to the accumulation and subsequent transfer of marine pathogens in the food chain. Hence, understanding the distribution of microplastics and identifying the organisms attached to them are crucial steps in managing the plastic pollution on a national and global scale." This study is the first to examine the bacterial community on microplastics found in tropical coastal regions. The results were first published in the journal Science of the Total Environment on 17 November 2018. Small plastics, big problem There are currently more than 150 million tons of plastics in the ocean. Microplastics, in particular, pose an evident problem as many marine organisms, such as shrimps, mussels and fish, often mistake these tiny plastics for food. advertisement Compared to microplastics on land, microplastics in aquatic ecosystems take a much longer time to degrade due to the presence of salt and a lower temperature in the ocean. As a result, they present a habitable environment for marine biota to colonise. Yet, despite their prevalence, the distribution of microplastics along the coasts of tropical regions is not well studied. Dr Leong and Ms Emily Curren, a PhD student from TMSI and the Department of Biological Sciences at the NUS Faculty of Science, embarked on a six-month study to examine the bacterial communities on microplastics collected from coastal regions of Singapore. Diverse bacterial communities living on microplastics Between April and July 2018, the research team collected and examined 275 pieces of microplastics from three beaches along the coastline of Singapore, namely Lazarus Island, Sembawang Beach, and Changi Beach. By using high-throughput sequencing techniques, the team discovered more than 400 different types of bacteria across all the microplastics collected. Species of the bacteria Erythrobacter, which is capable of degrading plastic, and bacteria species Pseudomonas veronii, which have been used to clean up oil spills, were found. "Given the predicted increase in plastic waste contamination in oceans, the discovery of such bacteria provides important nature-friendly alternatives for the mitigation of plastic pollution and toxic pollutants such as hydrocarbons," said Ms Curren. In contrast, the bacteria Photobacterium rosenbergii, often associated with coral bleaching and disease, was also identified. The proliferation and accumulation of this bacterium could be detrimental to the coral reefs in Singapore as the southern strait is characterised by multiple coral communities with great biodiversity that are under conservation. The research team also uncovered species of marine Vibrio, a major cause of wound infections in humans, and species of Arcobacter, known to cause gastroenteritis in humans. "As the microplastics we studied were collected from locations easily accessible to the public and in areas widely used for recreation, the identification of potentially pathogenic bacteria would be important in preventing the spread of diseases," elaborated Ms Curren. Future studies to identify bacteria sources This study demonstrates that microplastics are a rich habitat that is home to many types of bacteria, including toxic ones. The NUS research team will conduct further studies to examine the origin of the bacteria species transported by the microplastics. This will allow the identification of non-native species that threaten the existing biodiversity, and provide insights on managing the urgent issue of marine plastic pollution. The DOJ said Tuesday that a Hawaii-based businessman admitted bribing officials from Micronesia. Frank James Lyon, 43, pleaded guilty on January 22 to conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA and to commit federal program fraud. The DOJ also charged a Micronesian official for his role in the bribe scheme. Master Halbert, 44, a citizen of Micronesia, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in Hawaii with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and was arrested Monday in Honolulu. The complaint against Halbert was filed January 24 and unsealed Monday. Halbert was a government official in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) Department of Transportation, Communications and Infrastructure. He administered FSMs aviation programs, including the management of its airports, the DOJ said. The DOJ said that between 2006 and 2016, Lyons Hawaii-based engineering and consulting company bribed FSM officials, including Halbert, to obtain and retain contracts with the FSM government valued at nearly $8 million. Lyon and his co-conspirators paid around $440,000 in bribes for the contracts. Some of the bribes were paid in cash in Hawaii, in FSM, and other locations, the DOJ said. Lyon also arranged for a vehicle to be purchased in Hawaii and shipped to FSM for Halberts personal use. Lyon is scheduled to be sentenced on May 13. ____ Harry Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. SEabrook - P. Kent Culbert, Sr., 76, of Seabrook, died June 20, 2021 at Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport. He was born in Beverly, May 27, 1945 a son of the late Warren and Hazel (Fanning) Culbert. Kent graduated from Hamilton Wenham Regional High School and went on to vocational school. H Chandigarh, February 12: Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday led the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in remembering several eminent personalities from different walks of life who had passed since the last session of the Assembly. The House, after the Governors address on the first day of the 7th Session of the 15th Vidhan Sabha, paid tributes to former Union Defence Minister George Fernandes, ex-Punjab Ministers Dalip Singh Pandhi and Gobind Singh Kanjhla, freedom fighter Chanan Singh besides martyrs Constable Mukhtiyar Singh, Gunner Lekh Raj and Lance Naik Sukhchain Singh. Remembering several eminent personalities from different walks of life Speaker Rana Kanwarpal Singh proposed that tributes be paid to all those who had passed away since the previous session. After the obituary references to the eminent personalities, he passed a resolution for conveying the condolences of the House to their respective families. A two-minute silence was observed as a mark of respect to the departed souls. The Speaker also acceded to the request of Adampur MLA Pawan Kumar Tinu to pay tributes to Vir Chakra awardee Capt. Harbhajan Singh. Likewise, the Speaker also conceded the request of MLA Guru Harsahai, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi to include the names of two Assistant Advocates General namely Sandeep Singh Mann and Atinder Pal Singh also in the list of obituary references, who died recently in a fatal road accident on Ferozepur-Moga road. Chandigarh, February 12: Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore on Tuesday declared the state governments commitment to pursue the sacrilege cases and the false cases registered during the previous regime, and take them to their logical conclusion the investigations, while maintaining its policy of zero political vendetta or intolerance against anyone, irrespective of political affiliations or ideologies. Kicking off the third Budget Session of the 15th Vidhan Sabha with a powerful narrative of the Captain Amarinder Singh led governments achievements across the board, the Governor asserted that action against those who registered false cases during the previous regime was continuing as per the recommendations of the Commission of Enquiry headed by Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and it shall be taken to its logical conclusion. The government believed in fair and equitable treatment to all and has ensured that no false cases, as done in the previous regime, were registered against anyone, he said. Likewise, said Badnore, the government was committed to pursuing the recommendations of the Commission of Enquiry headed by Justice Ranjit Singh, who probed the cases of sacrilege in the State in the year 2015-16, and these will be taken to their logical conclusion, allowing the law to take its full course. The government, he pointed out, had set up an SIT, as recommended by the House in its earlier session, and the same was expected to complete its task soon. The Governor apprised the members of the various programmes launched by the government to mark the historic 550th Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji, while welcoming the historic laying of the foundation stone of a corridor to Sri Kartarpur Sahib (in Pakistan) on 26th November, 2018. Vidhan Sabha The state government shall spare no effort to make this corridor operational by the coming Maha Gurpurab on 12th November 2019, he announced. Badnore also gave details of the programmes planned by his government to commemorate the Centenary of the tragic Jallianwala Bagh massacre, which falls on 13th April, 2019, and the celebration of the 150th Birth Anniversary of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. Underscoring the progress of the programmes and policies of his government for the welfare of the common masses, the Governor said their success had been vindicated in the recent elections to Gram Panchayats, Block Samitis and Zila Parishads. These elections were peaceful, widely participative and keenly contested and had helped to strengthen the faith of Punjabs people in democracy at grassroots in the State, he observed, congratulating the people and hoping that the newly elected members of Gram Panchayats, Block Samitis and Zila Parishads would discharge their responsibilities with utmost diligence and integrity. In his concluding remarks, the Governor also placed on record his deep appreciation for all members for maintaining the high traditions of democratic functioning in the country. While dissent was the proverbial touchstone of vibrant democratic functioning, it was imperative that this must be exercised with dignity and in a civil and non-personal manner, he stressed, expressing the confidence that the members would discuss and debate all issues of public concern and contribute towards evolving schemes and programmes that would take our State to greater heights of socio-economic development. Earlier, listing maintenance of law & order and peace in the state as his governments top priority, the Governor said that by streamlining the systems and re-orienting the policies and programmes, it was moving fast to meet the aspirations of the people of Punjab. Respecting the promises made to the people, the government had taken and shall continue to take all possible steps to fulfill its commitments despite severe financial constraints, he said, recalling that it had actually inherited an empty treasury with an overload of pending bills for payment. Captain Amrinder Singh Though the multifarious challenges were causing the government to take longer than expected to remedy the situation, it nevertheless remained committed to find ways and means to mitigate the difficulties being faced by the common man (Aam Aadmi) in the State, he added. Citing the tremendous success achieved by the government in neutralizing the groups of gangsters operating in the state, Badnore disclosed that 1414 gangsters/ members of various criminal groups had been arrested or neutralized, including 10 category-A gangsters. 19 terrorist modules had been busted, and 101 terrorists and 22 foreign handlers arrested, he said, adding that the culprits of the Nirankari Bhawan attack were also being brought to book to provide justice to the victims. The Governor took particular note of the remarkable resilience and courage shown by the government, aided by the civil society, in handling the crisis triggered by the Dussehra train mishap in Amritsar. The water crisis faced by the state found special mention in the Governors address and he expressed the desire that the central government takes a realistic view of the problem to prevent the state turning into a desert. Though the central authorities had declared Punjab as a water starved state, its water crisis and the fact that it does not have surplus waters is not fully appreciated, he lamented. Citing the state governments efforts to tackle the crisis, the informed the House that it had entered an MoU with Mekorot, the national water agency of Israel, for comprehensive planning for water management in Punjab. He also listed various schemes and projects being implemented by the state government for water conservation and regulation, in addition to the launch of Integrated Programme to address water-logging in south-west districts of Punjab and the proposal to complete the residual works of Kandi Canal Stage-II project by the end of 2019-2020. Sri Kartarpur Sahib The state government, said the Governor, had also succeeded in resolving the vexatious and long-pending inter-state issues in construction of Shahpur Kandi Dam Project and signed an agreement with the Government of Jammu & Kashmir on 9th September 2018. He also spoke about the governments proposal to set up a State Water Authority to ensure better regulation and conservation of water, fully protecting the rights of consumers namely the farmers, industries, commercial establishments and, of course, rural and urban households. Hailing transparency in governance as another hallmark of the government, the Governor said it had ensured non-interference in the day-to-day working of the civil and police administration, and had also taken the fullest possible steps to set right the framework, i.e. the policies and programmes of each sector, to ensure governance through fair and proper systems. The Governor spoke in detail about the various policies and programmes initiated by his government to put the states administration back on the path of achieving defined goals and targets. These included the Business and Industrial Development Policy, Tourism Policy, Culture Policy, Policy for Housing and Urban Development, Transport Policy, Mahatma Gandhi Sarbat Vikas Yojana, Agriculture Debt Relief Scheme, and Ghar Ghar Rozgar and Karobar. Reiterating the governments commitment to eliminate drugs from Punjab, the Governor listed out the various measures being taken to further its three-pronged strategy, i.e. EDP Enforcement, De-addiction and Prevention, besides ensuring zero patronage to drug smugglers and peddlers. In fact, most, if not all, drug smugglers and peddlers have either left the State or have been put behind the bars, he said, adding that the supply of drugs had been contained effectively with 25092 persons arrested in 21049 cases registered under NDPS Act. More than 556 kg of heroine had been recovered. Nirankari Bhawan attack Referring to the governments efforts to revive the states economy, which had declined due to financial imprudence of the previous government, which had spent public money recklessly without caring for possible revenue receipts of the State, the Governor said the resource gap had been reduced to Rs. 4175 crore in 2017-18 and revenue receipts increased by 23% in December 2018. The state government had brought down State's fiscal deficit to GSDP of 2.65 percent in 2017-18 as against 12.34 percent in 2016-17. As a result of the State's liberal and rational Industrial and Business Development Policy, 2017 and consequent revival of industries, State's industrial power consumption has gone up by about 13 percent. The number of MSME units in the State has almost doubled from 10911 to 21081 during the last two years (till December 2018), Badnore disclosed. The Governor gave details of the revival of the various industrial products that had become dormant and stopped production after 2007, and the many new projects that had been initiated in the improved investment climate since his government notified the new industrial policy and froze variable electricity tariff for the industry at Rs 5 per unit. The real estate sector, which had been in the doldrums, had also shown signs of revival, he added. During the last two years, the State Department of Investment Promotion has signed 298 MOUs with different investors, envisaging an investment of Rs. 51,339 crore. These projects once operational are expected to generate one-lakh jobs in the State, said the Governor. Various MoUs for establishment of start-up hubs, successful implementation of GST were other achievements listed by the Governor, who said the government would continue to pursue simplification of GST with the Government of India to make it more trade and business friendly. On the progress of Mission Ghar Ghar Rozgaar and Karobaar, the Governor revealed that more than 5 lakh youth had been facilitated by his government for employment till December 2018. The Government has now reoriented its job programme to ensure that State's unemployed youth are skilled through the Punjab State Skill Development Mission and prepared for the jobs so as to ensure their speedier absorption in some gainful employment, he added. GST Underscoring the governments undeterred commitment to farmers welfare, the Governor hailed the success of the Farm Debt Relief Scheme, under which 5.83 lakh small and marginal farmers had been provided debt relief of Rs. 4736 crore so far. The remaining of the targeted 10.25 lakh small and marginal farmers will be provided their due benefit under the scheme shortly, he added. Badnore also spoke about the successful hassle-free procurement of wheat and paddy during the last two years, in which period the state government had paid Rs. 1,00,235 crore in four previous crops as against Rs. 77,984 crore paid to the farmers in the four corresponding crops during the years 2015-16 and 2016-17, which was 28.5% more than the amount paid during the last two years. Badnore reiterated his governments commitment to give free, quality uninterrupted power to the farmers. All 14-lakh tube-wells in the State continue to get free power at an expected annual subsidy of Rs6250 crore, he said, adding that the government also continues to provide 200 free units of electricity to SC, BPL and BC households, and the condition of annual consumption of 3000 units had also been removed. The Governor underlined his governments efforts towards crop diversification and enhancement in income of farmers by increasing the area under cotton, maize oilseeds and pulses. However, the success of crop diversification is dependent upon assured procurement of these crops at Minimum Support Prices by the Central Government, he noted, expressing concern at the lack of response from the Centre on this count. To boost farmers income, the government was contemplating a comprehensive programme to assist the farmers in dairy development and other subsidiary occupations with assured marketing arrangements, he said, adding that the programme would be pursued with greater vigour in hitherto neglected Border and Kandi areas. Farm Debt Relief Scheme The crop residue management plans and programmes launched by his government were underlined by the Governor, who also spoke about the revamp of the PDS under the new regime. The government was also working on broad-based reforms in the marketing and credit cooperatives in the state, with strong focus on export of products by Apex Cooperatives. Taking cognisance of the problems being faced in management and operations of Gaushalas set up during the last few years, he disclosed that a new scheme to make them self-sustaining would be launched shortly, along with immediate financial assistance towards their operational costs. Focus on improvement in rural infrastructure, including repair and upgradation of the dilapidated village link roads, schemes to upgrade quality and infrastructure of education in schools, along with efforts to establish 15 degree colleges along with various specialised universities were also highlighted by the Governor. The state government, he said, was seriously concerned about woes of teachers and it shall take all possible measures to redress their grievances. In fact, not only the teachers, the grievances of all employees of the State are receiving full attention of my Government and these shall soon be addressed effectively as the Government does not want its dynamic work force to suffer any disadvantage or handicap in any manner, he said. Taking note of the health concerns of State's population, the state government was striving to provide affordable healthcare to its citizens, said the Governor, referring to the establishment of wellness clinics and expansion of the health insurance cover for the people. Swachh Bharat Mission He further spoke about the Mission Tandarust Punjab, launched by the government against sub-standard and adulterated milk, milk products and other food items. The Governor gave a birds eye view to the members of the House of the various other schemes and initiatives of his government, including facilitating of Real Estate investment, greater thrust on e-governance for quick and effective delivery of civic services, new Directorate of Fire Services, initiation of Urban Environment Improvement Programme, Smart Cities, Smart Village campaign, streamlining of display of advertisements in urban areas, Mahatma Gandhi Sarbat Vikas Yojana (MGSVY), providing clean drinking water supply and sanitation to rural areas, with successful implementation of Swachh Bharat- Grameen Mission and achieving Open Defecation Free (ODF) status for all villages of the State with the construction of 4.99 lakh toilets at a cost of Rs. 722 crore by individual beneficiaries during the last two years. Successful implementation of various central government schemes and generation of 415 lakh man-days of rural employment under MNREGA, were also highlighted by the Governor, along with comprehensive programme to develop and maintain highways, establishment of Punjab Social Security Fund, enhanced grants under Aashirwad Scheme, implementation of Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS), state-wide roll-out of POSHAN Abhiyaan, restoration of reservation to SC employees in various groups for filling up vacancies by promotion. John Hoagley, plant manager for Transystems in Sidney, is in his loader preparing to put beets in the back of a Transystems truck (photo by Jordan Hall). Transystems was founded in 1942 by John S. Rice and continues to be a family-owned operation that specializes in bulk commodities distribution. The company operates in the Midwest and Western United States and has a significant presence in the MonDak region, especially as it relates to the transportation of sugar beets between pile grounds and beet processing plants. As a major hauler of the agricultural commodity, few others have their finger on the pulse of the beet industry quite like Transystems. The Roundup recently spoke with Transystems Sidney plant manager, John Hoagley. Hoagley, who has been the plant manager for 15 years, explained the role that Transystems plays in local beet production. "We do construction products, we work on the freeway hauling road aggregate and more, but 90 percent of our business is hauling beets," Hoagley explained. He continued, "We haul from the pile grounds to the factory. The farmers are themselves responsible for hauling it from the farms to the pile grounds and then we haul from the pile grounds to the factory. We run 13 trucks out of Sidney to do that." Hoagley explained that just a few days were left of beet work until the next crusade, but Transystems will be busy preparing for the next year's haul. "We have about four and a half days left of hauling for the factory. After that, we start getting all of our equipment back into working order because we have a lot to go through. When we haul 130 thousand pounds in our trailer, that's a lot of weight and a lot of maintenance." Hoagley was optimistic for the future. He said, "I'm getting excited because everything that I'm hearing is that farmers are going through with a purchase on the factory and will take it over like a co-op type thing. We'll continue to haul for the farmers and the outlook looks good." Hoagley explained the benefits of a possible farmer buy-out, "They'll not have to worry about the factory getting sold and they'll have more control over what happens with the crop." The last year was a good year for the beet industry, according to the plant manager, who reported, "The sugar market is at the top of the charts compared to everything else. The sugar content is good and the purity levels are climbing back up. The factory is very pleased with what's happening right now in regards to that." When asked if there were any legislative changes on the government level that would have an adverse effect on beet production, Hoagley said he wasn't aware of anything that was on the horizon that could stifle the industry. In fact, he anticipated Transystems growing. Beets being loaded at the Savage beet dump "I hire approximately 52 drivers and 10 loader operators, just from our site here," Hoagley said, "The sugar factory has a huge amount of people that help to run the plant. Hiring should be good." Transystems, which operates in North Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Oregon, has a booming business and the Sidney plant is just one part of their overall business. Hoagley explained, "Those offices in the other locations are all hustling just like we are. Other locations, like in the Red River Valley or in Idaho are a lot larger than we are. Sidney is like a satellite location for Transystems, but this is where Transystems started." For the first time, Sidney Sugars installed temperature probes in some of their beet piles to improve monitoring. Sidney Sugars agriculturalist James Johnson spent 10 days at American Crystal headquarters in Moorhead, MN where the equipment was built, learning how to install and utilize it to maximize benefits. Monitors are a common practice for Crystal, but new to the Sidney Sugars area. PVC pipe is put in the beet pile, then the equipment is placed inside. One pile in Savage, two in Fairview, and two in the factory yard received three monitors per pile. While physical checks are still necessary, the equipment also allows the agriculturalists to monitor heat in the piles on their computers and phones, and determine where ventilation may be needed. Johnson is really pleased with how the monitors functioned during this campaign saying they gave really good information. Agricultural manager Duane Peters praised both Johnson and Kathryn Cayko for their excellent job monitoring the piles this year. They did an excellent job, including working some weekends to ensure maximum storage. This was definitely a really good year, he said. Scott and Anita Reidle Buxbaum both grew up on farms north of Fairview and have continued the farming tradition their whole lives, welcoming children and grand children along the way. Their son Brian, his wife Trish and their four children live on, and farm grandma and grandpa Frances and Eddie Buxbaum's place, farming 950 acres with 450 in sugarbeets. Daughter Kayla, her husband Blaine Watts and their two children live just mile down the road and farm with Scott and Anita. The men, women and kids all help each other out as needed. Buxbaums farm 1160 acres with 550 in sugarbeets and the remainder in spring wheat. The land is all flood irrigated at this time but pivots are planned for the future, with the cost share programs making them more affordable. One of the biggest challenges Buxbaums see is finding good labor. However, they have found willing young men each year since 2002 through the Communicating for Agriculture Exchange program. Most of those workers have come from Brazil and the Ukraine and are here only from mid March until early December on a J1 visa. The majority are in their early to mid 20s and are supposed to have some sort of farming experience as well as some English although that varies from person to person. The program tries to match their experience with the type of operation they are being sent to so Buxbaums get those with crop experience whereas a livestock operation would have someone with that type of background. "The lady who does the J1 program is a great gal to work with," Anita said. "She understands our needs and those of the workers." She was a J1 trainee herself when she first came to the U.S., went back to Sweden and then immigrated and went to work for the program. The trainees are usually able to buddy up with other workers in the area from their home country so that helps them socialize and deal with homesickness. The trainees gain valuable experience here and then go home either to their family farm or are able to find employment with that experience on their resume. Some have even gone to work for companies like Syngenta in their home country. "It's really neat to watch the kids. They show up not really knowing anything and they just grow up before your eyes. In six months, they're driving trucks and tractors and welding," Scott said. Scott and Anita will employ two trainees this year while Brian will have one, with the three sharing housing. Buxbaums had a really good beet crop in 2018 averaging 34 tons and 17.99 sugar. "Mother nature blessed us last summer," Scott said. Springtail has become more of a challenge but they are working on solutions for that. They didn't have much trouble with cercospora last year and Scott credits the cooperation between the EARC, Sidney Sugars and agronomists for changing the compounds from one year to the next, allowing for control without developing resistance by the disease. Scott recently took on a new role as president of the Montana Dakota Beet Growers Association, replacing Kjeld Jonsson who is now the president of the Big Sky Co-op Board. "I'm excited for the future," Scott said. "It looks like the possible purchase of the factory is going to be a really good move for the area." Buxbaums love to farm with Scott stating, "The best thing about farming is when you harvest a crop, knowing that every decision you made and all the hard work you did, from planting to harvest, is the reason the crop is there." For almost 50 years, Betaseed has been providing top quality sugarbeet seed to area growers. With four research facilities in the U.S. including one in Idaho and three in the Minnesota and North Dakota areas, seed breeders test for various genetic traits with the main goal to develop germ plasm to suit each growing region. Breeders will start with ten varieties and will be lucky to end up with one that is viable in the ten year process it takes to develop new seed. "It's quite an investment," stated Steve Skaalure, district sales manager for Betaseed. Betaseed sells four or five varieties in this area each season. "The seed does really well," Skaalure said. "It runs neck and neck with Crystal seed in tonnage and sugar. They both do well in the Sidney market and it's fun to see that research. Sidney Sugars growing area is very, very good," he said. "It's one of the best in the U.S. It's nice to be a part of that business." Skaalure will be in Tangent, OR in late February with a group of about 30 people from different areas in the U.S. Agriculturalist James Johnson and grower Kyle Cayko will be part of the group touring the processing plant there. "It's a remarkable process that not everyone gets to see. It gives them a good idea of what goes into the box of seed that they pick up in the spring," Skaalure said. Terry Cayko has been a Betaseed sales rep for almost 15 years and Shawn Conradsen started with the company a year and a half ago. Cayko said his favorite part of the job his going out and talking to the growers in his Culbertson, Fairview and Buford areas. He sells approximately five varieties, all of which have their own specific fit for sugar, tonnage and disease resistance. He's excited about the introduction of one new variety this season, which will be limited to just 2000 units, with each unit covering just 1.7 to 2 acres. The seed contains resistance to rhizoctonia which is a big concern. ACH Seeds has enjoyed success in the sugarbeet industry due to constant research, developing varieties with excellent tonnage and sugar content as well as Yield Strength Rhizomania Tolerance, Fusarium, Aphanomyces, Rhizoctonia and Cercospora tolerance along with nematode resistance in select varieties. Crystal Beet Seed produced for the US markets is grown in Oregon and Washington, and processed in Oregon or Minnesota, depending on the market area. Along with their own proprietary testing, strip trials are also conducted locally with ACH Seeds Independent Sales Agent Jeff Bieber always having one on his farm and at in least one other growing area, in order to evaluate performance under various conditions. Sidney Sugars and EARC have also had Crystal Beet Seed in their strip trials. Beiber said that ACH showed its most success last year with ACH strip trial information mirroring that of EARC and Sidney Sugars. "That was really neat to see," he said. He praised Duane Peters and the ag staff at Sidney Sugars saying that they were very good to work with, allowing a small sampling of a newer variety not yet approved for commercial use to be grown alongside an older variety. "It was really beneficial to have that side by side comparison for the growers," he said. Results come during the main flow of harvest when Sidney Sugars allows for specific truckloads of beets to be sampled for sugar content and tonnage. "They rely on that data also," Beiber explained. Selling never stops for Bieber, who markets to the entire Sidney Sugars growing area. Grower meetings take place in the fields at the strip trials and in area towns about Thanksgiving time. "There are well educated growers in our area and they know what they want," Bieber said. It seems early to sell in November but Bieber explained that the process involved in getting the seed ready to plant takes time. The seed needs to be sized, cleaned, primed and treated before a very smooth coating and the signature green color is applied. The smooth coating results in the seed being like a BB, allowing it to go through the planter very easily. Each year, Bieber and Dave Braaten, ACH Seeds National Product Manager, host a couple of individuals on a trip to see the process. This year grower Dana Berwick will make the trip in February. When a new variety of beet seed comes out, growers ask questions like how the beets look after it's defoliated, are they out of the ground or level? This provides a snapshot of what the beets look like at harvest, with the stand easier to harvest and with less mud. ACH Seeds conducts its National Bounty Award program every year recognizing sugarbeet operations with the highest combined sugar production utilizing Crystal Beet Seed. In the Sidney Sugars growing area, one sugar beet operation is recognized from each of the five districts, each receiving a jacket and a plaque. The SSI sugarbeet operation with the highest combined total of RST and RSA is then chosen as the regional winner from those five districts and receives a trip for two to American Sugarbeet Growers Association (ASGA) annual meeting. The SSI regional representative goes on to compete for national recognition out of 8 participants from the various production regions in North America. The national recipient receives a customized UTV. Dell and Kim Nollmeyer were SSI Regional representatives in 2017 travelling to Washington, DC for ASGA, while Zach Huber is the 2018 SSI regional recipient, recently traveling to the ASGA annual meeting in Scottsdale, AZ. Zach is a young farmer from the Pleasant View growing area. "It's great to see a young farmer receive the award," Bieber commented, "He manages and grows a great crop! The first weeks of the legislature were filled with many clean-up bills, often passing with between 70 and 100 percent support. Now the House Floor debates are getting more spirited and the decisions to vote yea or nay are a little more difficult to make on complicated issues. I passed my first legislation out of the House, 83-16. HB 50 dealt with commodity dealers and warehouses. This week I presented it to the Senate Agriculture Committee. One highlight of my week was introducing HB 405, the Catch and Keep Montanas Treasure Act, along with a bipartisan group of nine cosponsoring legislators from across Montana. This legislation was crafted through the input of community leaders and is aimed at helping rural Montana with recruitment and retention of skilled workers to promote economic growth. The Catch and Keep program will offer grants, matched by local and private capital, along with tax credits for skilled workers willing to make a 5 year commitment to live and work in a rural Montana community. It is similar to a Kansas program that has seen success. The Kansas program has provided an estimated return to their economy of roughly $6 for every $1 invested in grants. Details are available at: https://leg.mt.gov/bills/2019/billpdf/LC1034.pdf. Another high point was having Fairview High School Senior Allyson Young at the Capitol to work as a Page. She did a great job of helping out in the House of Representatives and I was glad to recommend her for the opportunity! I also introduced HB 389 to remove the over-height permit and fee for local agriculture producers using state roads without an overpass or overhang on them. Our Business and Labor Committee that I serve on, heard HB 261 that sought to expand permits for beer and wine sales to amateur youth sports. Our committee voted the legislation down on a bipartisan 10-9 vote. I voted against the legislation because my priority is to support policy that makes our communities stronger and more wholesome. Given our state already has a substance abuse problem, I didnt think having alcohol served at amateur youth sporting events sent the right message to our youth. The Conservative Solutions Caucus within the Montana Republican Party has also been in the news lately. Ive enjoyed working with this group of 25-30 other lawmakers since Ive been in Helena because they are a refreshing group of problem-solvers, who shun the sound bite culture, nay saying, and hyper-partisanship that has been hurting our state and country. Our focus is on crafting conservative legislation that puts the needs of our constituents first and also has a good chance of being signed into law by the governor. The group is filled with leaders carrying legislation as diverse as the State Pay Plan, K-12 education funding, school safety, expanding opportunities for career technical education, consistent and reliable infrastructure funding and work force development. The approach I have taken to the legislature is to work with people from across the political spectrum, Republicans, Democrats, and everyone in between, on policies that have merit and will benefit Richland County. I have also been working towards common sense solutions, cutting burdensome regulations and limiting the growth of government. The draft law, called the Digital Economy National Program, requires Russias ISPs to ensure that it can operate in the event of foreign powers acting to isolate the country online. The Digital Economy National Program legislation requires the local internet, known as the Runet, to pass through exchange points managed by Russias telecommunications regulator Roskomnazor. This will simultaneously protect Russia in the event of cyber war but will also filtering internet traffic to the country. The idea of cutting Russia off from the broader internet was first proposed in 2014. At that time the Security Council of Russia warned of the risks of relying on other countries to provide essential parts of the countrys internet infrastructure. Without knowing how it will impact on Russian citizens, businesses and government agencies, the test will separate Runet from the wider internet for a short period of time at some point before 1 April. Russian legislators have given tentative approval to the draft legislation which passed its first reading in the lower house of parliament on Tuesday by 334 votes to 47. Many legislators from minority parties criticised it. One of the authors dismissed all criticism, citing the scale of the potential threat from Washington. Alexei at work at the AMRC ANOTHER multi-talented engineer based in Rotherham is going for TV talent glory in the new series of the Great British Sewing Bee. Alexei Winter works at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centres Machining Group, developing new and efficient ways to make aluminium, steel and titanium components. The 36-year-olds passion for creating mens tailoring has secured him a spot among the ten contestants on series five of the BBC2 sewing show, which starts tonight (Tuesday). He is the second AMRC employee to take part in a TV contest in 12 months, after engineering researcher Dr Rahul Mandal won the Great British Bake Off last year. Alexei, who lives in Leeds with wife Beth, started sewing two years ago and uses his engineering skills to pay close attention to small details on garments. Having had MS for more than ten years affecting the right side of his body, he learned to sew using his left hand. Alexei is also a keen performer, having trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama after finishing his aerospace engineering degree. The Great British Sewing Bee will last eight weeks, with three challenges per episode and a final on April 2. After Del. Joe Lindsey, D-Norfolk, a member of the black caucus opposed to the bill, called for a recess to allow further negotiation, the House returned to approve the tax package by a 95-4 vote. In return for their support, House Appropriations Chairman Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, promised to work with the Northam administration to speed refunds of higher taxes that many Virginians will pay this year because of federal tax reforms. He also agreed to look for ways to fund priorities in predominantly minority, low-income communities, such as more money for Richmond and other school districts with high concentrations of at-risk students living in poverty. The dialogue has been fruitful, Lindsey said after the bills passage. Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne said the state already has received more than 681,000 returns but has been unable to process them. The legislation, as originally devised by Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment, R-James City, and adopted by both money committees last week, would have returned about $420 million in refunds to taxpayers in mid-October, weeks before legislative elections. Embattled Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam will attend a social justice event at Virginia Union University next week. The governor, who has resisted calls to resign since a racist photo was discovered on his medical school yearbook page Feb. 1, will attend the Faith, Identity & Social Justice discussion at the historically black university next week. VUU said in a news release that Northams attendance is part of the governors apology tour in the aftermath of the blackface scandal. It is important to bring the community together to begin to develop a plan to reach healing and reconciliation, the university said in the release. Northam has made just one public appearance since the Feb. 2 news conference in which he said he did not appear in a photo on his page in his 1984 medical school yearbook that featured one person in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. Northam had apologized on Feb. 1 for appearing in the picture before backtracking a day later and saying the photo is not of him, while admitting to wearing blackface on a different occasion. The governor and first lady attended the funeral of Virginia State Police trooper Lucas Dowell on Saturday in Smyth County. Were having people drive without licenses and driving without insurance, and that poses a risk to our citizens, said Stanley, a criminal defense lawyer. Stanley said those people then rack up more fines and more debt, and they become buried in court fines that are difficult to pay off. As Republicans across the country gradually start embracing criminal justice reform, Stanley was hoping this bill could even get support from the more law and order lawmakers. The Senate passed the bill with bipartisan support on a 36-4 vote. Governor Ralph Northam vocalized support for ending the practice during his State of the Commonwealth address last month when he talked about making progress on criminal justice reform. When we take away peoples drivers licenses, we make it harder for them to get to work, and thus make it even more difficult for them to pay their court costs, Northam said during his speech. Stanley expressed frustration after the House subcommittee meeting over Gilbert and Bells grip on the fate of Virginias criminal justice legislation. The Virginia House of Delegates on Tuesday presented Bob Goodlatte with a framed copy of the joint resolution honoring his record-setting 26 years representing the 6th Congressional District. After being undefeated in 13 general elections and three primaries, Goodlatte decided not to seek re-election last year. His former aide, Ben Cline, won the seat in November and was sworn in to Congress last month. Cline served 16 years in the House of Delegates representing the Rockbridge County area. The resolution ends: WHEREAS, Bob Goodlatte was the epitome of a servant-leader, who represented the Commonwealth with the utmost integrity and dedication, engendering the respect of his constituents and colleagues and the loyalty of his staff; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend the Honorable Robert W. Goodlatte on the occasion of his retirement from the United States House of Representatives. Hopes reversal came after a tense phone call Sunday night with his Democratic colleagues, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the call. Other lawmakers raised concerns that Hope had announced his plan Friday without consulting them first. Some Democrats had already said publicly that they felt it would be inappropriate to begin an impeachment process based solely on allegations that Fairfax has adamantly denied. I believe it was well-intended, Del. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico, the chairman of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, said of Hopes effort. But we need to explore other avenues to getting that investigation. Several lawmakers have raised questions about how a General Assembly probe would work procedurally and legally. The legislature is not set up as an investigative body, and its not clear if lawmakers would have the ability to compel testimony and evidence about events that didnt happen in Virginia. Fairfaxs office had voiced skepticism about a legislative investigation. A Fairfax spokeswoman said the lieutenant governor believes that an inherently political process is not the most likely path for learning the truth. Officers kicked down the door of his Rocky Mount home. They dragged him outside, stuffed him into a police car and drove him to jail. Over and over again. Henry Lee Law remembers talking to his dad, Amos, with heavy metal bars between them. He remembers saving every dollar he made to visit him in the state penitentiary in Richmond. And he remembers the kids at school who would tease him and his siblings about his dads job. Jail time was an unfortunate downside to his fathers illegal moonshine business. Its a dangerous job, Henry Law said, but if you can get by with it, you get a big roll of money that you cant make out here on regular jobs. And when you got away with it, that was a rush. That was a good feeling. Moonshine became the Law family business and Amos found himself at the top. He had a dozen men working for him bringing in supplies, making liquor and shipping it as far north as New York City. And he stayed at the top until he died Sunday at 83. In Franklin County, known as the Moonshine Capital of the World, just saying the name Amos Law can get you pretty far in the moonshine business, Henry said. Amos was a local legend. Talking about the loss is difficult. He would rather expend his limited energy on other topics. I lived an unbelievably wonderful life, and had my son not died it would have been a perfect, he said. Through hospice, Dudley said he was able to review all that was wonderful. He has remained in his Blacksburg home, and the hospice team has taught Larkin Dudley how to care for her husband. She jokes that shell return to school after he dies for a nursing degree in which she specializes in catheters. Larkin Dudley is her husbands primary caregiver. He realizes that many days turn messy with sickness. Very few people are around when Im throwing up all over the place and it needs cleaned up, he said. There have got to be days that she looks at me and says, What have I signed up for? But she does unbelievable things every day. It was important to him that Larkin continue her life outside of his care and that she go to her book and bridge clubs and church activities. A hospice volunteer comes during the week, and nurses aide Cindy Powell comes twice a week. They time their visits for when Larkin will be out. The Dudleys continue to enjoy each others company knowing that it, too, will soon end. If the amount of funding both the developers and town are willing to contribute falls short of what is needed to build the structure as envisioned today, the deck will have to shrink. With less parking, the density on the rest of the project would have to be reconsidered. Cowan said that could mean fewer new businesses downtown and less tax revenue for the locality. To have the density and urban character that everybody wants, you need a deck, Cowan said. Weve been working through that and its a challenge, for sure. We think were close to an end game on that. Both Cowan and Hager-Smith declined to disclose specific costs of the parking deck, but the developers have said in the past the entire development is expected to cost more than $100 million. The project now finds itself taking a step back for two reasons: The design changes since 1901 Groups departure and the fact that town code requires the elected council to take action within six months of approval by the planning commission. Blacksburg Town Council is expected to vote Tuesday to re-refer the project back to the commission. Pleas for leniency and praise for Purpera from friends, family and patients ran 37 pages. If it hadnt been for Dr. Purpera taking the time to listen to me and actually doing the ultrasound on my legs to find the root of my leg problems. I dont know what Id done if I could no longer do some of my favorite activities, wrote patient Bobbie Kurz. But the jury, which heard evidence gathered by the Drug Enforcement Administration, found Purpera responsible for false entries on forms required by his primary drug distributor, Henry Schein Inc. Purpera had come up on the DEAs radar as a large medication purchaser. He obtained more oxycodone pills from wholesale distributors than any other doctor in the Roanoke and New River valleys in 2015 and was the regions second-leading purchaser of oxycodone in 2016 through late summer, the government has said. When called to account for its use, he couldnt, prosecutors said. U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Dillon told Purpera that, although there is evidence some of the illegally obtained drugs went to his wife, others are unaccounted for. The pair of black handcuffs in which Purpera left court were applied by a deputy U.S. marshal after Dillon cut off further protestations by Purperas attorney, who claimed he had given Purpera bad legal advice about the Las Vegas trip. Tulum drug bust sees four in jail Tulum, Q.R. Four people were arrested after the search of home was made by the Attorney General of the State of Quintana Roo. The search of the home was made with support from the Navy of Mexico and members of the municipal police while officials looked for illegal narcotics. Police report finding drugs including marijuana, crack and cocaine along with drug paraphernalia. After their search, the house, located on Mercurio Street, was sealed by the Attorney General of the State for crimes against health. The Attorney General says that arrested are Marco N, Jaime N, Fredy N and Carlos N. All four, along with the drugs, were placed at the disposal of the public prosecutor. Embattled Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam will attend a social justice event at Virginia Union University next week. The governor, who has resisted calls to resign since a racist photo was discovered on his medical school yearbook page Feb. 1, will attend the Faith, Identity & Social Justice discussion at the historically black university next week. In a news release, VUU said Northams attendance is part of the governors apology tour in the aftermath of the blackface scandal. It is important to bring the community together to begin to develop a plan to reach healing and reconciliation, the university said in the release. Northam has made just one public appearance since the Feb. 2 news conference in which he said he did not appear in a photo on his page in his 1984 medical school yearbook that featured one person in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. Northam had apologized on Feb. 1 for appearing in the picture before backtracking a day later and saying the photo is not of him, while admitting to wearing blackface on a different occasion. The governor and first lady attended the funeral of Virginia State Police trooper Lucas B. Dowell in Smyth County on Saturday. The Republican Party of Virginia says Democrats who have called on Gov. Ralph Northam to resign should donate political money hes given to them to a national slavery museum or a charity chosen by former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, the nations first elected African-American governor. A news release from the GOP called on the Democratic Party of Virginia, the state House and Senate Democratic caucuses, Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-10th, and state Senate Minority Leader Dick Saslaw, D-Fairfax, to donate the tainted funds. Northam and his PACs The Way Ahead and Stronger Together have given more than $2 million to the Democratic Party of Virginia alone. Wilder, who was elected in 1989, previously pushed for a national slavery museum but plans for it did not materialize. It is incredibly hypocritical to call for Governor Northams resignation, while spending his donations, state GOP Chairman Jack Wilson said in a statement. Nearly all major Democratic elected officials in Virginia including the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus and U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine have called for Northams resignation after a scandal that started with the discovery of a racist photo on Northams page in his 1984 medical school yearbook. At McCormicks barbershop in Richmonds Jackson Ward, Orrie Gaines and Maurice Carter waited for cuts on Friday while debating Gov. Ralph Northams next move. There was no question among the men that the photo in Northams medical school yearbook stuck a finger in the unhealed scar that is Virginias history with racism. But a week after the photo surfaced and sparked swift calls for his resignation from lawmakers across the country, the two men, like many others in the region, remain split on whether the embattled governor should quit. He needs to own up to what he did or did not do, said Gaines, 34, a decadelong Richmond resident who criticized the governor for being vague and inconsistent. I dont think he has to resign. He can ask people for forgiveness, but first people need the truth. Two seats away, Carter shook his head. Hes racist, said Carter, 35, who was born and raised in Richmond. I just think its been under a cover. You see a photo like that, and you know. The now-infamous photo on Northams 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook page features one person dressed in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan robe, both of them holding a beer. A 29-year-old King George County man was killed Tuesday morning in a three-vehicle crash on Interstate 95 in Hanover County. Virginia State Police said Brendon J. Cook died in the crash on I-95 at mile marker 86, and a second man suffered serious injuries. State police responded to the scene about 5:40 a.m. Cook was driving a 2003 Ford Mustang south on the interstate when he struck the rear of a 2014 Honda Accord, police said. A 1994 Ford Ranger then struck Cooks Mustang, and that collision forced the Ranger onto its side, police said. A southbound 2016 Volvo tractor-trailer then struck the Mustang and the Ranger, forcing the Volvo into a concrete barrier. A 20-year-old Fredericksburg man who was driving the Ranger was taken to VCU Medical Center with serious injuries. No other injuries were reported. The customer surrendered the cash but then followed a vehicle occupied by Johnson and some co-defendants. During a chase, at least 20 shots were fired and some of them struck the customers car. Johnson denied he robbed the customer or fired a shot, but an appellate court who heard his appeal said the evidence was sufficient to convict him of the charges. The judge who tried Johnson at the circuit court level and sentenced him to serve 23 years in prison noted that Johnson had an abominable juvenile record that included brandishing firearms and carrying guns to school. Because Johnsons crime occurred before parole was abolished in Virginia in 1995, he didnt serve his entire 23-year term. He was released on parole on Aug. 21, 2006, after serving nearly 12 years, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections. But Johnson violated his probation, and in June 2009, he was sent back to prison to serve several more years of time the court originally suspended in the attempted murder case. He was released to supervision on Nov. 15, 2013, the Corrections Department said. A Chesterfield County school bus aide has been charged with assaulting a 12-year-old male student during a bus ride home from the Grafton School, a private school for students with behavioral health and intellectual disabilities. John T. Wescott, 48, of the 5500 block of Mulberry Drive, was arrested Monday and charged with strangulation, felony child abuse and misdemeanor assault in connection with the Thursday incident, police said. An investigation indicates that Wescott choked the student, police said. The alleged assault occurred after Wescott intervened in a disruptive type of activity aboard the bus that centered on the student he is accused of assaulting, said Chesterfield police Lt. Brad Conner. Mr. Wescott did not feel [the activity] going on on the bus was appropriate, Conner said. However, there was no illegal activity occurring on the bus with the students. Conner said the 12-year-old boy was treated for injuries at a local hospital and released. Wescott was being held without bond pending a hearing Tuesday in Chesterfield Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court. Fonseca Rich, flavorful stews filled with beef, chicken and pork simmered in large pots while warm, lightly charred corn tortillas rested nearby, fresh off the grill. Refreshing aguas frescas gurgled in drink machines, and along one wall, rustic wooden crates held green tomatillas, red tomatoes, purple onions, dried peppers in all shapes and hues even the dried flowers of a Jamaica plant, a type of hibiscus. The well-stocked pantry is a charming decorative touch, except that the ingredients on display are not only real but also used daily at Abuelitas, the third and newest restaurant from the husband-and-wife team of Everardo Fonseca and Karina Benavides. If you want to understand the collective heart of a people, look no further than their food. One step inside Abuelitas, which opened in October at 6400 Midlothian Turnpike, and you might as well have been invited to the homes of Fonseca and Benavides themselves or their mothers or grandmothers. Sitting in a corner booth as the traffic outside on Midlothian Turnpike sped by, Fonseca and Benavides explained recently that their mission with Abuelitas was simple: Make the food that they grew up with, the big flavors coaxed from simple ingredients that turn into complex flavors, thus allowing their true Mexican identity to shine. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved two nominees to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals with a proven record of fighting to strip Ohioans of their rights: Eric Murphy and Chad Readler. Both of their records are too extreme for Ohio, and I will keep fighting against giving these judges a lifetime appointment. As the Judiciary Committee considered these nominees last week, I had the opportunity to speak with civil rights hero and Ohioan, Jim Obergefell. Because of Jims landmark 2015 case, marriage equality is now the law of the land all over the country. But if it were up to Eric Murphy, Mr. Obergefell would have lost that case. Murphy argued against marriage equality in Mr. Obergefells case, as the State Solicitor of Ohio. Murphy actually argued that marriage equality would be disruptive to our democracy. In addition to arguing against marriage equality, Murphy defended Ohios voter purge that unfairly stripped innocent Ohioans of their voter registrations. And he worked to restrict access to contraceptives for women, filing a brief in the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby case seeking to deny women access to health care under the Affordable Care Act, as well as representing employers in other similar cases. Chad Readler also has a clear record of trying to take away the rights of Ohioans. As Chair of the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools, Chad Readler pushed to eliminate reforms to hold Ohio charter schools accountable. He even proposed eliminating the state constitutional provision that guarantees Ohio students a quality public education. Readler also worked to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that protects Ohioans from abuses by banks and payday lenders, and has worked to strip Ohioans of their voting rights. But perhaps worst of all is his work on health care that threatens the coverage of millions of Americans with preexisting conditions including more than 5 million Ohioans under age 65. Last summer, Readler did what three career attorneys with the Department of Justice refused to do he filed a brief making outlandish arguments challenging the law protecting Americans with preexisting conditions. And he was nominated for this judgeship the very next day. This unprecedented move earned him rebukes from across the legal community. Three career attorneys withdrew from the case and one went as far as to resign altogether in objection to the Department of Justices unprecedented actions. One Republican Senator called Readlers arguments in the brief as far-fetched as hed ever seen. Most voting rights and womens rights cases will not end up at the Supreme Court. Neither will most criminal cases or consumer protection matters. Instead, many of these cases from Ohio will be decided by judges on the Sixth Circuit. Eric Murphy and Chad Readler have spent their careers working to strip Ohioans of their rights, and the stakes are too high to put them on the bench for life. MANSFIELD -- A renowned historic preservation consultant would like to build a $4 million downtown apartment building on the front lawn of the Richland County Administration Building. The building proposed by Steve McQuillin & Associates would be an exterior replica of the 1871 county courthouse that was razed 50 years ago to provide lawn space for the current county building. A proposed public/private partnership could provide space for 27 apartments and 2,300 additional feet of retail, office and/or meeting space, McQuillin said. McQuillin, joined by Jennifer Gerberick Kime, CEO of Downtown Mansfield, Inc., pitched the idea to Richland County commissioners on Tuesday morning. He said his proposed building would be smaller than the old courthouse, but maintain the same proportional lines. "Richland County has the potential to be (a) trend-setter and achieve renown in the national architectural and preservation community if it could realize the magnificent vision that once graced the city's downtown and make this new building a vibrant and active centerpiece to the community," McQuillin said in his written proposal. The trio of elected Republican officials -- Tony Vero, Marilyn John and Darrell Banks -- listened to the proposal and then assigned themselves homework before determining how to respond. John will discuss the proposal with the county prosecutor's office to determine if such a public/private partnership is legally possible and how/if it could be arranged. One possibility discussed is the creation of an organization like the Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) in Shelby, which mixes public and private officials. McQuillin discussed possible financial support or subsidies with which the county could assist, including tax abatements, low-interest loans, etc. Vero will meet with representatives from the Mansfield Rising group, three of whom were in attendance Tuesday, to discuss how to pay for a feasibility study to determine the demand for the kind of downtown housing such a site would offer. "There has been kind of a clamoring in downtown Mansfield for some high-end apartment living," Vero told the Richland Source, agreeing with fellow commissioners that more than anecdotal evidence needs to be seen of the need before commissioners become involved in the project. Banks seemed to be the most reluctant of the commissioners. "I will not say I am a 'no,' but I am a long way from a 'yes.' There are a lot of questions that need to be answered," Banks said. McQuillin, a historic preservation consultant based in Hayesville, has more than 40 years of experience in the field. He was joined by Kime in approaching commissioners with the initial idea in May 2018. After initial discussions, McQuillin scaled down his proposal in size and cost. Kime said the project could be a game-changer in terms of development, telling Richland Source she could not remember the last new housing development in the downtown. "I am all for renovating upper floors (of existing) buildings, but this is exciting, too," she said. "Steve has been working on this project for about 18 months. He is passionate about courthouses, historic preservation and development." The project would construct a new building at the southeast corner of Park Avenue East and Diamond Street, on the front lawn of the current county administration building. It would be on the site of the historic 1871 county courthouse that recalls the lost landmark's exterior, including its clock tower. Franklin Street would be widened to provide space for about 30 cars, plus nearby parking lots could be leased for additional space. The ground floor would have apartments, retail and offices. The upper floors would be dramatic loft-type apartments, ranging from one to three-bedroom units. "The primary goal in this project is to create vibrant new housing by utilizing the latest type of low-cost residential construction that permits buildings of five stories built from simple wood-frame construction, provided they have fire-resistant exteriors and are fully sprinklered," McQuillen wrote in his proposal. "This new code seems well suited to the historic form of the Richland County Courthouse, with its tall ceilings and grand windows," he said. These apartments would have windows facing onto the city's Central Park and feature views in all directions. A central court with lobby and dramatic glass elevator would serve the apartments, with a theatre and lounge on the upper floors. The clocktower would be detailed, with four commercial clock-faces, plus spaces and open-air balconies. "The apartments would be convenient, attractively laid out, spacious, prestigious and would become a sought-after place to live, as shown by downtown revitalization in other Ohio cities," McQuillin wrote in his proposal. "Importantly, this could become a catalyst for encouraging residential growth in downtown Mansfield and could reasonably be expected to encourage private investment in nearby buildings around the square and in Brickyards Commons, a few blocks from here. "In a larger role, this building could play a pivotal role in re-imaging Mansfield as a vibrant, progressive and historic community, one of the state's leading mid-size cities and the heart of North Central Ohio." In his proposal, McQuillin cited the following advantages of the plan: highly visible. innovative, may gain national attention. potential funding from state sources and federal sources. efficient, adaptable plan mixes retail, offices, apartments, hotel suites. creates construction jobs, boosts tax revenues. base of downtown residents stimulates additional projects, the conversion of upper floors of historic buildings into similar loft apartments. nucleus for a larger events center. "That space has the potential to become the focal point not only of downtown but of greater Richland County if the plan to reconstruct its form and create a vibrant new facility is realized," McQuillin wrote. "Downtown Mansfield is experiencing growth and a retail renaissance of its historic downtown, but it needs to have downtown living as part of the mix in order to realize its true potential. "The stumbling block is achieving an initial mass of residents who create the sense that downtown living is a viable option. This building could fulfill that goal, as it solves at once two major impediments to downtown housing, accessibility and parking. "Not every building would need to fully address these issues, but realization of this project could jump-start projects, such as the May and Hancock and Dow buildings. Central Park could be rebuilt as a single peaceful and naturally beautiful entity." The project carries an estimated price tag of $3.95 million with an additional $500,000 estimated for contingencies. Apartments in the project would range from $790 per month for a ground floor, smaller one bedroom unit to $1,490 per month for a 1,200 square-foot, three-bedroom facility. Sandstone trim would be used judiciously to give a fine exterior appearance, McQuillin said, adding architectural fiberglass would be used for the cornices and the central tower, which would be fully framed in steel. "The principle on this project is that, while the higher quality exterior and the tower are not necessary for this type of construction, they enable the building to achieve a sense of grandeur and history without undue higher cost, because the higher rents generated can help subsidize the extra cost," McQullin's proposal outlined. CRESTWOOD, Kentucky Kentucky State Police have identified two Mansfield people as the victims of a Monday afternoon shooting in Oldham County, Kentucky. Authorities identified 24-year-old Ty'rell Pounds and 20-year-old Skylar Williams, both of Mansfield, as the victims of a shooting that occurred after a vehicular pursuit. Pounds was identified by Ohio State University Mansfield as the suspect in the alleged kidnapping of Williams from campus that took place just before noon. According to a press release, at approximately 3:24 p.m. on Feb. 11, Kentucky State Police Post 5 dispatch was contacted by Gallatin County dispatch in reference to a 911 call from a witness, stating a distressed female was observed at a gas station that was forced into a vehicle by a male. The 911 caller said the female was asking for help and that the vehicle then sped off traveling towards Interstate 71 southbound. Troopers from Post 5 were dispatched to attempt to locate the vehicle, which was described as a dark colored Dodge Caravan with a Quebec registration plate. After a lengthy pursuit - including a failed traffic stop and the unsuccessful use of stop sticks - Kentucky troopers were joined by the Oldham County Police Department and the Oldham County Sheriff's Office. Units from these agencies positioned themselves at the Pee Wee Valley exit ramp. Pounds, the driver of the vehicle, crossed Highway 329 in Oldham County attempting to re-enter the interstate. Due to public safety concerns, the primary Kentucky State Police unit performed a legal intervention stop to prevent Pounds' vehicle from re-entering the highway. The vehicle came to a rest on the ramp, and a trooper, unidentified as of Tuesday evening, attempted to apprehend the subject. Authorities stated that while attempting to apprehend the suspect, the trooper heard a gunshot coming from within the vehicle which he perceived as an immediate and deadly threat to himself and the female passenger, Williams. The trooper drew his service weapon and fired, at which time the suspect (Pounds) was struck, resulting in his death at the scene. During this event, the female passenger (Williams) was struck by at least one round of gunfire. Williams was transported by Oldham County EMS to the University of Louisville Hospital, where she was pronounced dead by the Jefferson County Coroner. The investigation is being led by the Kentucky State PolCritical Incident Response Team. Kentucky State Police was assisted by the Oldham County Police Department, Oldham County Sheriffs Office, Oldham County EMS and the Gallatin County Sheriffs Office. The Ohio State University President Michael Drake issued a statement on Tuesday evening addressing the death of Williams. "Our Ohio State community suffered a tragic loss with the death of Mansfield student Skylar Williams," Drake said. "This senseless and shocking incident has left our campus shaken. We join Mansfield Dean Norman Jones in expressing our condolences and deepest sympathies. Our thoughts and prayers are with Skylars family." Additional counseling and consultation services have been made available to members of the university community in need of support on the Mansfield campus. Mansfield students can utilize the Student Assistance Program and support services are also available to students, faculty and staff across the university. Law enforcement continues to investigate all circumstances surrounding this incident. Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Ohio State Highway Patrol at 419-756-2222. On Monday afternoon, The Ohio State University at Mansfield posted a notice on its website that Williams was forced into a car at gunpoint while standing in a parking lot on campus at approximately 11:45 a.m. According to a Mansfield Police report filed on Monday at 1:56 p.m., Pounds' roommate reported Pounds and Williams were at his Wood Street apartment. The roommate stated Williams wasn't hurt, but she was crying. The roommate noted Pounds had a gun and was very serious. He took his keys and his phone and allegedly stole his vehicle. The roommate said he knew Pounds was going through custody issues with Williams and the two left before the roommate could get dressed. The roommate went to a friend's house to call police but they were already there when he arrived. According to Pounds' Facebook page, he graduated from North Central State College in April 2018. He was a Mansfield Senior alumnus. Williams' Facebook page said she attended Mansfield Senior and Madison. She was studying physical therapy at OSU-Mansfield. GALION -- David Connell and his family have made a unique decision. The Connells are leaving behind a home, David's stable career at Therm-O-Disc in Mansfield, family and friends to serve an international mission. This faith-based mission aims to change lives in the Dominican Republic. "The Connell family is doing this because of their unwavering faith that God can change lives, families and communities, especially among least-reached groups of people," said Christine Gfrer, a colleague of Connell's at Therm-O-Disc. "He and his family will be a part of developing native leaders and helping guide their strategy as they convert their vision into reality, multiplying its impact. "The lives of the Connell family will drastically change when they relocate in a few months, but that is nothing compared to the impact they will make on the communities they are helping. To say they are an inspiration is an understatement." We asked Connell, Director of Business Development & Marketing at Therm-O-Disc, through Emerson Commercial & Residential Solutions, a number of questions about the mission. His responses are below. RICHLAND SOURCE: Can you introduce us to your family? DAVID CONNELL: I am 47 years old and live in Galion. I work at Therm-O-Disc in Mansfield as the Director of Business Development & Marketing. Even though my wife, Stephanie, and I both went to Ohio State, we actually first met at Therm-O-Disc back in 1997. We now have three children, Melina, Celia and Will and they attend Lexington schools. RS: What is Stephanie's background? DC: My wife grew up in Ontario and received a Journalism degree at Ohio State and then a Teaching certification at Ashland. She worked as a high school English teacher in Columbus until we had children. Several years ago, she began working again at our church in the missions ministry. RS: How will this impact your careers? DC: The decision to move our family to another country certainly changes our career plans. Stephanie has ended her employment in order to make preparations. I too will end my employment at Therm-O-Disc to pursue this new venture. We have made a four-year commitment and are not sure how things will go after that. Will we need to stay? Will we move to a different country to continue the mission? Will we return to the US and try to find employment again? I have thought a lot about that last question a 50-plus-year-old trying to find a new job is neither easy nor a sure thing. RS: What type of educational transition will your children have to make? DC: Our kids are 18, 15, and 13 years old. Their safety and their future were without a doubt the biggest considerations with which we wrestled. How would living in a Third World-culture with different languages and education standards impact the trajectory of their lives? Certainly it would. Do we teach them? Do we trust the local schools? At the same time, we also recognized learning a second language and getting cross-culture experience would likely enrich their lives in ways we couldnt measure. They all excel at school now getting very good grades so we feel confident they will adapt and be able to come back to college in the U.S. when they are ready to do so. RS: Do all members of the family know Spanish? DC: My wife took Spanish in high school and college, and all of our kids have been taking Spanish classes in school as well. Im probably the weakest of them all, but Duolingo has been a huge help! We will all go to a customized language school once we move to the Dominican, which will definitely accelerate our integration. RS: When do you plan to leave and return? DC: We will go to month-long training in North Carolina in March. After that, timing to get to the Dominican Republic will depend on when our house sells, visas come through, customs clearances, etc. ... but we expect no later than June. Our return will depend on where things stand in 2023. Will we need to stay? Will we move to a different country to continue the mission? Will we return to the U.S. and try to find employment again? It is unknown right now, but we will assess everything then. RS: Where will you be living specifically in the Dominican Republic? DC: The Dominican Republic is on the east side of the island with Haiti on the west. We will live on the south side of the country, just north of Santo Domingo. Originally we intended to live in the poor rural village we have visited for several years, but there isnt much housing there and nothing became available. We are currently working with local friends to help us secure a place to rent a little closer to town. RS: What triggered your decision to embark on this mission? DC: That is a long story, but I would say this On Feb. 3, 2012, my wife experienced a severe traumatic event that led to our world being shaken as it challenged us to the core physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Sleepless nights and fear-filled days became a reality. At times our experiences were very dark in nature, and we cried out to God, to Jesus for help; asking for protection, for relief, for healing. And then there were long stretches of silence, when we did not understand what he was doing and questioned not only his goodness, but even his existence. And yet, along the way there were also times when God did show up in amazing ways, supernatural ways that we were able to hold onto, which gave us encouragement and hope to keep going during the difficult times. It was a battle I never would have imagined. Coming through it, God broke us. We began to realize that we really didnt have much control in life, and then we wondered, what was our lives all about anyways. We reached the point of saying, OK God, whatever you want us to do we will do, wherever you want us to go we will go. Once we came to that point, God began opening new doors. We had been sponsoring a child in the Dominican Republic for multiple years through the organization Partners in Christ, and they asked if sponsors wanted to go visit their child. We thought it would be good for our kids to get exposure to a Third-World culture and decided to go. Two things impacted us so heavily on that trip. One, Stephanie experience rest and peace like she hadnt experienced in nearly two years. And two, we fell in love with the wonderful people the village. So the following year, we went again and have done so every year since. During these trips, we saw the issues and needs there: the chronic poverty, the broken families, the need for education, the dreams struggling to be realized, the darkness of voodoo, etc. As our love for the people began to align with our willingness to actually serve them, God began opening doors for us to go do it. Then we had to make a big decision will we actually do it? RS: Do you have a list of goals or tangible results you expect to accomplish while living there? DC: Once we decided we will go, God opened more doors with other organizations that engaged us with the entire region across the Caribbean and all of Latin America. So we now have a Dominican plan and a Regional plan all focused around a common vision. Ultimately, we believe a truth-filled walk with Jesus and the development of skills for leaders and individuals can transform lives, families, and communities that produce goodness in a society. Dominican Goals: Provide an English education to children and adults (very important in helping them get higher paying jobs). Provide leadership training to local leaders. Build relationships with US and global organizations who can help meet specific strategic program needs. Regional Goals: Develop a team of missionaries located in strategic countries / areas across the region. Have team members develop and equip local leaders to help them fulfill their vision when it aligns with ours. Build relationships with US and global organizations who can help meet specific strategic program needs. RS: Whose idea was this and what was the reaction of the rest of the family when moving to the Dominican Republic was proposed? DC: Once we knew that we knew that we knew that God was in this and was in fact driving it, my wife and I wrestled with all the many variables and potential outcomes. We obtained counsel and input from many people and prayed fervently. Ultimately, with both trembling and excitement we decided lets do this! RS: What special skills do you or your family members have you hope to utilize on this trip? DC: My wife will utilize her skills and experience as an English teacher to teach English. I will utilize my job skills and experience in strategy development and global team management to lead missionaries across the region, drive strategic initiatives, and continually measure results. RS: Anything more you would like to explain or detail that we didn't ask you about specifically? DC: Not sure how you could weave this into it, but we do not get paid anything for this and have to raise all of our own finances for living expenses, work/ministry expenses, travel expenses, everything and we would welcome any financial support to meet our on-going budget needs. Contributions would be tax deductible and can be made on our webpage (www.converge.org/give/209737) or checks can be mailed payable to: Converge, 2002 S. Arlington Heights Rd., Arlington Heights, Illinois 60005, Reference: Connell 209737. RS: We certainly want to wish you good luck on your trip! Christine Gfrer: The employees of Therm-O-Disc are amazed by Daves story. The former head of Uzbekistan's powerful security service is under criminal investigation, according to people familiar with the matter. The reported case against Ikhtiyor Abdullaev follows the February 11 announcement by Uzbekistan's president that Abdullaev had resigned as head of the State Security Service for health reasons. Abdullaev's abrupt departure from office, and the reported probe against him, were the latest in an ongoing purge of top Uzbek officials. A statement by President Shavkat Mirziyoev's office said Abdullaev, 52, had stepped down after undergoing two spinal surgeries. Three people close to the government told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service that a criminal investigation was opened into Abdullaev on February 8 on bribery and abuse-of-office charges. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity. There was no official confirmation about the investigation from law enforcement agencies. The Prosecutor-General's Office told RFE/RL "we have no information about this matter." Since assuming the presidency following Karimov's death in 2016, Mirziyoev has been gradually moving to fire or remove large numbers of government officials. Abdullaev was appointed as head of the State Security Service in January 2018 after Mirziyoev fired Rustam Inoyatov, the long-serving security chief who, under late President Islam Karimov, had turned the service into a powerful and feared agency. The Prosecutor-General's Office has been a focus of particular intrigue. Prior to becoming head of the State Security Service, Abdullaev served as prosecutor-general. In 2017, Mirziyoev excoriated the Prosecutor-General's Office, calling officials there "the biggest thieves." Then-Prosecutor-General Rashidjon Qodirov was fired in February 2018 and later arrested. Last month, court officials told RFE/RL that Qodiriov's corruption trial had begun in a Tashkent court. Hundreds of employees of the Finance Ministry have also been dismissed, after Mirziyoev called out the ministry for corruption. Defense Minister Abdusalom Azizov was appointed to replace Abdullaev and Bakhodir Kurbanov, previously commander of the Tashkent military district and head of the Tashkent police department, was appointed defense minister, the president's statement said. With reporting by RFE/RL's Uzbek Service The Pentagon's lead intelligence agency has warned that Russia and China are building technologies that will soon threaten U.S. dominance in space. The Defense Intelligence Agency issued the warning in a report published on February 11. The agency, the Defense Department's in-house intelligence operation, warned that lasers that could damage U.S. satellites were of particular concern. The agency said both Moscow and Beijing have developed space-based surveillance and reconnaissance technologies. Both countries "are developing a variety of means to exploit perceived U.S. reliance on space-based systems and challenge the U.S. position in space," the report said. Russian doctrine "involves employing ground, air, and space-based systems to target an adversary's satellites, with attacks ranging from temporary jamming or sensor blinding to destruction of enemy spacecraft and supporting infrastructure," it said. The report said China was second to the United States in terms of the number of operational satellites deployed, followed by Russia, which it said had more than 140 in various orbits. Iran and North Korea have also demonstrated jamming capabilities in space, the agency said. Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has arrived in Baghdad to consult with U.S. military commanders and Iraqi officials on the future U.S. troop presence in Iraq following withdrawal from neighboring Syria. Shanahan flew in from Afghanistan on February 12 for a previously unannounced visit, after President Donald Trump caused anger in Baghdad earlier this month when he said that it was important to keep a U.S. military presence in Iraq so that Washington can keep a close eye on Iran. Iraqi President Barham Salih later said that the countrys constitution forbade the use of Iraq as a base to threaten the interests or security of neighboring states. The United States has about 5,200 troops in Iraq to train and advise its security forces. "We are in Iraq at the invitation of the government and our interests are to build Iraqi security capability," Shanahan told reporters traveling with him. "I want to hear firsthand from them about concerns, the political dynamics that they are facing." "Based on that we will obviously factor that into our planning," he added. In December, Trump surprised international allies by announcing he intended to withdraw all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, where they have been helping a Syrian Arab and Kurdish alliance fighting against Islamic State and other militant groups. Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP KYIV -- A court in Kyiv is expected to consider a request from Ukrainian prosecutors to detain a high-ranking regional official suspected of organizing the killing of anticorruption activist Kateryna Handzyuk last year. A spokesperson for Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko said that Vladyslav Manher, head of the regional council in the southern region of Kherson, will have to appear before a judge on February 12 to face a detention order. Handzyuk, a 33-year-old civic activist and adviser to the mayor of the Black Sea port city of Kherson, died in November -- three months after she was severely injured in an acid attack. The killing sparked shock in Ukraine, with activists accusing the authorities of failing to complete the investigation or identify the mastermind. Lutsenko announced on February 11 that Manher had been notified of the accusation against him. He said that the prosecution had obtained enough testimony from witnesses about Manher's role in Handzyuk's death, adding that the attackers had received "no less than $4,000." According to a document posted by Lutsenko on Facebook, Manher felt "personal enmity" toward Handzyuk because of her efforts to reveal "illegal deforestation" in the region. Manher's lawyer, Dmitro Ilchenko, said that "no evidence" had been presented against his client. Manher insisted he did not know Handzyuk personally and that he had no ties to her, telling a television station that he was "not going to go anywhere and will fully cooperate with the investigation." A guilty verdict could send the 48-year-old to prison for life. Five suspects, including a police officer, were detained last year on suspicion of involvement in the attack on Handzyuk. Two of them have been placed in pretrial detention, and the three others are under house arrest. Handzyuk's death came amid a wave of attacks against Ukraine's civic activists, with human rights activists claiming law enforcement agencies failed to thoroughly investigate the cases and might even be complicit in some of the attacks. The United States and the European Union have called the attacks unacceptable and urged the authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice. With reporting by AFP Kazakhstan continues to come to terms with the tragedy that struck on February 4, when five children from a single family died while their parents were away working night shifts. The five sisters, aged 1 to 13, were asleep when the fire quickly engulfed their small, dilapidated, one-story home, which lacked modern heating or smoke detectors. The children succumbed to the flames just moments after firefighters arrived on the scene in Astanas Saryark district, authorities say. But their fate has given new life to nationwide protests being held by Kazakh mothers who accuse the government of failing to do enough to support large families. The women activists, who in recent weeks have been staging rallies across the county to shed light on the lack of social and financial support provided to "hero mothers" by the state, have been pointing to the circumstances behind the fire as further evidence that more needs to be done. The working-class family couldnt afford childcare and had to work odd hours to provide for themselves, neighbors say. This, the protesters point out, forced the girls parents to leave the children on their own that night. The grief-stricken parents havent spoken publicly, but neighbors told media that the family had repeatedly asked city authorities for state-funded housing. Resource-rich Kazakhstan continues its Soviet-era social-benefits system, including public housing for families that raise many children. Astana authorities, however, insist the family never applied for it. Deadline To Respond Kazakh authorities have said that they will respond by February 15 to the appeals being made by hundreds of mothers involved in the protests for social justice. The mothers demands include guaranteed public housing for families with many children, discounted spaces in childcare facilities, and increased child benefits. In Kazakhstan, many families wait for years to receive apartments, with authorities saying there are simply not enough homes to distribute to the tens of thousands of people eligible for public housing. The latest protest rallies took place on February 11, when hundreds of women gathered in the cities of Aqtobe and Karaganda to remind the government of what they described as the plight of the impoverished in a "rich country." Similar gatherings were reported in Astana, Almaty, Shymkent, and other cities over the weekend. Some protesters said they came from small towns and remote villages to meet with authorities in the provincial capitals. According to one Shymkent protester, Elmira Ashribekova, "There are many other mothers who were not able to attend the meetings because they couldnt afford to pay the transport fare." Kunsulu Iskakova, who attended the rally in Astana, said that Kazakhstan -- with revenues from vast natural resources -- can easily afford to help its citizens. "The countrys riches belong to all of its 18 million people....Why should we live in poverty?" the mother of six said. "We ask the government to raise the monthly benefits so it covers our essential expenses," said an Aqtobe protester, Gulnar Tokabaeva, who came from the village of Zharotkel, some 200 kilometers from the provincial capital. "Instead of state medals for mothers with many children, we want adequate benefits," she said. Accident Waiting To Happen Although the mothers protests gathered momentum after the Astana fire tragedy, the initial gatherings and complaints began in 2018, when some women returned their state medals to authorities in protest. In Kazakhstan, a woman who raises at least four kids -- including adopted children -- is considered a mother with a large number of children. Women who raise at least seven children are awarded the gold medal, the Altyn Alka, while those with six get silver, the Kymis Alka. The so-called Hero Mothers -- the medal holders -- are also entitled to a lifetime benefit of about $40 a month. There are also tax breaks, certain discounts, and monthly child benefits. Some protesters in Astana said that a tragic incident like the one in Astana can happen again anywhere, as many families live in similar makeshift homes heated with wood-burning stoves. For them, the Astana tragedy was an accident waiting to happen, and will happen again if authorities dont take steps to help. Amid widespread public criticism and calls to resign, Social Affairs Minister Madina Abylkasymova said that her ministry has learned lessons from the tragedy. Abylkasymova told reporters on February 12 that a working group has been set up to address the public-housing issue for large families and to "collect requests and proposals" from the mothers staging the protests. Written by Farangis Najibullah with reporting by RFE/RLs Kazakh Service and Current Time KABUL -- The Taliban has announced a 14-member negotiating team ahead of peace talks later this month with the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan. The team announced in a statement on February 12 is headed by Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, a leading negotiator of the militant group. The list also includes Anas Haqqani, the jailed brother of the leader of the Haqqani network, a powerful Taliban faction. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Haqqani, who is being held in Kabul, "should be released to start work on the negotiating team." However, Afghanistan's main spy agency, the National Directorate of Intelligence, said that no decision had been made yet regarding his release. The announcement comes as talks to end the country's 17-year war involving U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban representatives in Qatar appear to be gaining momentum. U.S. and Taliban negotiators were scheduled to meet again in the Qatari capital, Doha, on February 25, weeks after Khalilzad said a framework peace agreement had been reached with the militants. With reporting by AP DUSHANBE -- Tajik authorities have issued an arrest warrant in absentia for prominent journalist Khairullo Mirsaidov, whose 12-year prison sentence was changed to a fine and community service in August 2018 in a case widely seen as politically motivated. Mirsaidov's lawyer, Bakhtiyor Nasrulloev, told RFE/RL on February 11 that his client was officially added to the wanted list last week. According to Nasrulloev, Mirsaidov informed Tajik authorities in October that he planned to travel to Georgia for medical treatment because his health had deteriorated after over a year in jail. However, the lawyer said, a court ruled that he could not leave Tajikistan because his sentence required that he perform community service and pay the state 20 percent of the salary he receives in Tajikistan. Mirsaidov left Tajikistan for Georgia despite the court ban, and in January he was sentenced to eight months in prison for parole violation after an in-absentia trial. That sentence came into force last week. Mirsaidov told RFE/RL via electronic correspondence on February 11 that he did not plan to return to Tajikistan to serve the new sentence, and called the latest court ruling "illegal and unfair." "Those who ordered this move have a single goal -- to put me behind bars," Mirsaidov wrote. Mirsaidov's December 2017 arrest on financial charges brought condemnation from domestic and international groups including Reporters Without Borders, the National Association of Independent Mass Media in Tajikistan, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International. He was sentenced in July 2018 to 12 years in prison after being found guilty of embezzling and misusing state funds and of making false reports to police. Mirsaidov said the charges were filed in retaliation for his critical reporting about government corruption. His arrest came shortly after he had published an open letter accusing senior officials of corruption in the northern Sughd Province. In August, Mirsaidov's 12 year prison term was replaced by a fine and community service amid public outcry. Mirsaidov is an independent journalist and a former correspondent of Asia-Plus and Germany's Deutsche Welle radio. He also used to lead the Tajik team for KVN, a stand-up comedy competition that originated among university students in the Soviet Union and is still popular in many former Soviet republics. WASHINGTON -- The son of the Iran's last monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, asserted that Iranian society is close to a "flash point" like it was before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and that the government in Tehran is near collapse. Reza Pahlavi, the exiled former crown prince of Iran, said in an interview with RFE/RL's Radio Farda that he thinks "we are really close to the fall of the [Iranian] regime." He added that the current situation in Iran is similar to how it was in 1979 when his father left Iran amid violent turmoil and went into exile. That upheaval ended centuries of monarchy in Iran and led to the formation of the Islamic Republic of Iran with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini at its head. "The atmosphere [in Iran] seems to be close to a flash point," he said at his home outside of Washington, D.C. Pahlavi's comments came as Iran on February 11 celebrated the 40th anniversary of the establishment of an Islamic government in Iran. "Let us not forget that the majority of Iranians within the present-day generation were not even born during the 1979 revolution," Pahlavi said. "If you really listen to them, their common demand, from any political inclination, is that we must be rescued. What are you [the political forces] doing for us?" In a message to young Iranians on the anniversary, Pahlavi called for "civil disobedience" and an "all-out reconstruction" of Iran. "After toppling the Islamic Republic of Iran, it is time to reconstruct Iran and its national identity," he added. Pahlavi was critical of many Western countries for not being bolder in their policies toward Tehran. "It is obvious that the policy, especially that of Europes, continues to be, 'Lets not pressure the Islamic republic for the sake of our economic gain,'" he said. "Lets look at what that has yielded for Europe: You have had a government in Iran that destabilized the region through its different proxies from Syria to Lebanon to Hizballah, etc., and the outcome of this religious radicalism has been the situation in Syria...and the wave of refugees that poured into Europe." Pahlavi, 58, said that he often tells foreign leaders that the best policy for them is to "support and empower the Iranian people" and to maintain a dialogue with "the secular, democratic opposition" that he believes "represents the majority of Iranians." Trained as a pilot in the Iranian Air Force, Pahlavi, who came to the United States in 1978, has been one of the foremost critics of Iran's Islamic government in recent decades. Pahlavi's name has been in the news often since late 2017 as some groups in Iran have called for a return of the monarchy during large nationwide demonstrations against political corruption and poor economic conditions. The United States' top diplomat has denied allegations that President Donald Trump's administration is trying to cover up the killing of Saudi reporter Jamal Khashoggi. Mike Pompeo made the comments on February 11 while responding to reporters' questions during a visit to Hungary. The allegations, leveled by Democratic and Republican lawmakers, focus on the Trump administration's failure to send a report to Congress determining who was responsible for his death Last year, nearly two dozen Senate Republicans and Democrats called for an investigation into Khashoggi's death and whether Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman was responsible. The investigation was requested under a law known as the Global Magnitsky Act. The act required the president to send the Senate Foreign Relations Committee a report by February 8 on the responsibility of Bin Salman. In a letter to the top Democrat on the Senate committee, Bob Menendez, Pompeo said Trump had called for a prompt investigation into Khashoggis death. A columnist for The Washington Post who had been critical of the royal family, Khashoggi was killed in October after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to get a document he needed for his upcoming marriage. "America is not covering up for a murder," Pompeo said. Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, where Khashoggi lived, accused the administration of a cover-up. "America should never descend to this level of moral bankruptcy. Congress will not relent in its efforts to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for this heinous crime," Kaine said in a statement. Based on reporting by AP Macedonia's government says the country is now officially renamed the Republic of North Macedonia, under a landmark agreement to normalize relations with Greece that also allows Macedonia to enter NATO. "We inform you that conditions to put into effect...amendments of the constitution of the Republic North Macedonia have been met," a government statement said on February 12. Four amendments to the constitution -- among them one changing the name -- were passed by the country's parliament on January 11. These have now been published in the official gazette, confirming the name change, the government said. Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov said the move followed a final exchange of diplomatic notes with Greece. "May today be the beginning of a long friendship between Greece and North Macedonia," he said in a tweet. "We can't change our past, but we can and we will shape our future of friendship, partnership and cooperation." As of February 13, a Macedonian official said, the new name will be incorporated on official road signs -- starting with one on the border with Greece. The official spoke on customary condition of anonymity. The name change resolves a dispute with neighboring Greece that has gone back decades. Greece's objections to Skopjes use of the name Macedonia since the country's independence in 1991 complicated bids by the small Western Balkan nation to join the European Union and NATO. Athens asserted that the use of the name Macedonia suggests Skopje has territorial claims to Greece's northern region of Macedonia. Negotiations between Greece and Macedonia were protracted and difficult. Nationalist groups in both countries opposed the deal, with many saying it gave up too much to the other side. However, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Macedonian counterpart, Zoran Zaev, were able to push through their accord last year as part of efforts to normalize relations. Dimitrov on February 6 signed a NATO accession agreement, a key step toward Skopje's becoming the military alliance's 30th member. On February 8, the Greek parliament approved the agreement between Macedonia and NATO. With reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa, and balkaninsight.com Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev has dismissed long-serving Interior Minister Qalmukhanbet Qasymov, who has faced criticism for years over the use of force by police, but handed him two potentially influential positions in his administration. In tweets on February 12, Nazarbaev's press service said that Qasymov's former deputy, Erlan Turghumbaev, has been appointed as interior minister while Qasymov has become a presidential aide and the secretary of Nazarbaev's Security Council. Appointed in April 2011, Qasymov was the longest-serving interior minister in Kazakhstan since it gained independence in the Soviet breakup in 1991. The authoritarian Nazarbaev has been in power since before the Soviet Union collapsed. Qasymov and his ministry were condemned after police opened fire at protesting oil workers in the southwestern city of Zhanaozen, killing at least 16 people, in December 2011. Amid criticism at the time, Qasymov shocked many Kazakhs by saying in a televised statement that police would fire on those who "incite disorder" in the future. Rights activists had repeatedly called for his resignation, saying that the police stepped up the disproportionate use of force and violence in frequent dispersals of demonstrations in the Central Asian country. Criticism spiked in July 2018 in the wake of an attack in which two men fatally stabbed Olympic-medal-winning figure skater Denis Ten in the center of Almaty, the country's biggest city, in broad daylight. The post of Security Council secretary keeps Qasymov close to Nazarbaev, who became advisory body's chairman for life in July. At the same, the council's status was changed from consultative to constitutional, increasing its authority. Many in Kazakhstan saw the move as a sign that Nazarbaev, 78, is seeking to ensure that he will maintain his grip on power if he steps down as president. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Russia continues to develop and deploy 9M729 cruise-missile systems in breach of a key Cold War-era nuclear arms control agreement. Stoltenberg made the comments on February 12, two days after a German newspaper reported that Russia had deployed the missile at more locations than previously thought. The NATO chief also said that the alliance will discuss this week "what steps NATO should take to adapt to a world with more Russian missiles." Any steps we take will be coordinated, measured, and defensive, Stoltenberg added, insisting that the alliance doesnt intend to deploy new ground-based nuclear missiles in Europe. On February 2, the United States announced that it will withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, after Washington and NATO repeatedly accused Moscow of violating the accord by developing the 9M729 cruise missile, also known as the SSC-8. Russia, which denies the accusation, said it was also withdrawing from the INF Treaty, which banned both countries from developing, producing, and deploying ground-launched cruise or ballistic missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. Speaking at a news conference ahead of a two-day NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels starting on February 13, Stoltenberg urged Moscow to seize the "last opportunity to return to compliance with the INF Treaty. He said that Moscow continues to develop and deploy several battalions of the SSC-8 missile, despite the efforts of the United States and other NATO allies over many years to encourage Russia to return to compliance. Citing an unidentified Western intelligence source, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAZ) reported on February 10 that 9M729 battalions were stationed in Mozdok in Russia's North Caucasus region of North Ossetia and in Shuya, close to Moscow. Thats in addition to a training battalion stationed at the rocket-testing development site in Kapustin Yar in southern Russia and one in Kamyshlov, east of Yekaterinburg, the paper said. Each of Russias four 9M729 battalions has four launchers on wheels, each of which has four missiles -- meaning that Russia now has at least 64 such missiles, according to FAZ. NATO ministers were also set to discuss in Brussels NATOs missions and operations in Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Iraq. In Afghanistan, the situation remains difficult, but we also see efforts for peace, Stoltenberg said, as talks to end the country's 17-year war involving U.S. and Taliban representatives in Qatar appear to be gaining momentum. On Kosovo, Stoltenberg said the ministers will review the level of our support for the Kosovo Security Force [KSF] after the change of its mandate. Kosovar lawmakers in December voted to convert its 2,500-member KSF into a national army with some 5,000 personnel and more substantial weaponry, despite fierce opposition from Kosovos ethnic Serbs, Serbia, and its ally Russia. Stoltenberg also said that the defense minister of North Macedonia, Radmila Shekerinska, will take a seat at NATOs table for the first time as an official invitee in all of the ministerial sessions. Skopje signed a protocol earlier this month that could see the former Yugoslav republic become the military alliance's 30th member if the move is ratified by all current NATO members. Azat Miftakhov, a mathematics student at Moscow State University who says he was tortured while being detained on suspicion of being a bomb maker, has been remanded in pretrial custody on hooliganism charges. A Moscow court on February 12 ruled that Miftakhov must remain in pretrial detention until March 7. Miftakhovs lawyer, Svetlana Sidorkina, says he is now charged with involvement in an arson attack on the office of the ruling United Russia party in Moscow in January 2018. The 25-year-old Miftakhov was initially arrested on February 1 on allegations that he was involved in the making of an improvised explosive device found in January in the town of Balashikha near Moscow. He was released on February 7 but rearrested immediately. Two days earlier, the Public Monitoring Commission, a human rights group, said Miftakhov had torture marks on his body, which he said were the results of investigators unsuccessfully attempting to force him to confess to the bomb-making charges. Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS A Moscow court on February 12 upheld the extension of the pretrial detention of four of 24 Ukrainian sailors detained by Russian forces along with their three naval vessels in November near the Kerch Strait, which links the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Last month, the Lefortovo court in Moscow extended the pretrial detention of the sailors, who are charged with illegal border crossing, until April 24 and April 26. On February 7, the court rejected the appeals lodged by four of the sailors against the extension of their pretrial detentions. The appeals of the other 16 Ukrainian sailors from the group will be assessed in the coming days. Russia has held the Ukrainian sailors since its forces fired on, boarded, and seized their vessels near the Kerch Strait on November 25. Moscow claims the Ukrainian vessels illegally entered Russian territorial waters near Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Russia occupied and took over in 2014. The sailors face up to six years in prison if convicted. The United States and other Western countries have called for the Ukrainian sailors' release, calling their detainment illegal. Russia moved swiftly to seize control over Crimea after Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was pushed from power in Kyiv by the pro-European Maidan protest movement in February 2014. Putin's government sent troops without insignia to the peninsula, seized key buildings, took control of the regional legislature, and staged a referendum denounced as illegitimate by at least 100 countries. Russia also fomented unrest and backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, where more than 10,300 people have been killed in the ensuing conflict since April 2014. The International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled in November 2016 that the fighting in eastern Ukraine is "an international armed conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation." With reporting by TASS and Interfax U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is on a tour of Central Europe, warned on February 12 that Russian President Vladimir Putin poses a threat to democracies worldwide. Pompeo was speaking in Slovakia's capital, Bratislava, his latest stop aimed at curbing Russian and Chinese influence in the region. "Vladimir Putin is intent on undermining democracies throughout the world, make no mistake about it. We should be very candid about that," Pompeo told journalism students. He later cautioned about the "the need to guard against China's economic and other efforts to create dependence and manipulate your political system." Pompeo, the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Slovakia in 14 years, told President Andrej Kiska: "It's been too long since America has been deeply engaged here." He also met with former political prisoners at a memorial to the so-called Gate of Freedom on the border with Austria, where 400 people were killed from 1945 to 1989 as they tried to reach the West through the Iron Curtain. "Where barbed wire and armed guards stood, today people, goods, and information cross freely," Pompeo said. "The United States has stood with the people of Slovakia as a friend, as a partner...for the past 30 years, and we will continue to stand with you in the decades to come. "On behalf of the United States I'm proud to stand in union with the people of Slovakia and Europe in recommitting to a future that is more prosperous, more secure and, most of all, great," he said. Kiska, a staunch liberal, called Washington an "important partner and ally." Slovakia's experience under Soviet domination gives it "a special appreciation for the aggressive role Russia continues to play in the region," Pompeo later said at a news conference with Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak. "We see this now very clearly in Ukraine, where Russias illegal annexation continues and its war in the east is at almost the five-year mark." Pompeo is in Slovakia on the second leg of his European tour that began in Hungary, and will take him to Poland, Belgium, and Iceland. During his visit to Budapest on February 11, Pompeo met with Hungary's right-wing populist prime minister, Viktor Orban, to stress the importance of promoting democracy and the rule of law. Washington sees those issues as key to countering Russian and Chinese moves to sow discord in the European Union and NATO. At a joint news conference with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjart, Pompeo raised concerns over ties between Hungary and Russia, and Budapest's contract with Chinese company Huawei to develop the country's fifth-generation mobile network. "We must not let [Russian President Vladimir] Putin drive wedges between friends in NATO," Pompeo told a joint news conference. He pointed to Central Europe's reliance on Russian energy, particularly in Hungary. Szijjarto welcomed Pompeo's calls for closer ties, but also brushed off the criticism on relations with Russia and China. "There is an enormous hypocrisy and political correctness in the European political arena," he said. On February 12 in Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry called U.S. warning against using Huawei equipment "groundless," as the Chinese telecom giant faces espionage fears in a growing number of countries. With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticized the refusal of a court in Russia's Chechnya region to admit the last defense motion in the trial of leading human rights activist Oyub Titiyev, who has been behind bars for more than 13 months on drug charges described as "bogus" by rights groups and activists. Tanya Lokshina, HRW's associate director for Europe and Central Asia, said in a February 12 statement that the Shali City Court rejected the defense motion "just as [it] has declined all other defense motions" since the start of the "farcical trial" last summer. Titiyev, the head of the prominent Russian human rights group Memorial's office in Chechnya, has been detained since January 2018, when police said they found some 180 grams of marijuana in his car. He and his colleagues contend that the drugs were planted and have described the case as part of an effort to push Memorial out of Chechnya -- which has been ruled for years by Kremlin-backed strongman Ramzan Kadyrov -- and other parts of Russia's North Caucasus. "One more hearing remains in this farcical trial," Lokshina said in the statement, adding, "Then the court will hear final arguments and Oyubs final statement, which he has been writing and rewriting for a month now. Then, we will hear the verdict." The United States, several European Union member states, and the Council of Europes human rights commissioner have condemned Titiyevs arrest and voiced concern about the case. Natalya Estemirova, Titiyev's predecessor as head of the Memorial office in Chechnya, was abducted near her home in the Chechen capital, Grozny, in July 2009 and shot dead. Nobody has been convicted of her killing. In August, Kadyrov threatened to ban human rights activists from Chechnya once Titiyev's trial is over. Five Pakistani police officers have been killed after unidentified gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials say. Local police told RFE/RL that four police officers died during the February 12 ambush in the Dera Ismail Khan district. A fifth officer later died of his wounds in hospital. Two other policemen were injured in the attack, which was claimed by a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban. The attackers managed to flee the scene and the security forces have launched a search operation. With reporting by Reuters Moscow's Lefortovo District Court on February 12 ruled to extend the pretrial detention of Karina Tsurkan, an executive with energy holding company Inter RAO charged with spying, until at least mid-April, Russian media reported. The hearing was held behind closed doors as Tsurkan's case is classified. Tsurkan's lawyer, Ivan Pavlov, told Russian media that his client maintains she is innocent. Tsurkan was arrested in June by Russias main security agency, the FSB, and charged with spying for an unnamed foreign country. Tsurkans profile on the Inter RAO website identified her as the head of the company's trading division. At the time of her arrest, the Kommersant newspaper said Tsurkan oversaw electricity trades in parts of Eastern Europe, including Moldova. The paper also cited unnamed sources as saying Tsurkan had links to a businessman tied to Romanian intelligence. Interfax, meanwhile, suggested that a raid on the offices of a deputy Russian energy minister may be linked to Tsurkans arrest. Tsurkans profile on the company website said she was a graduate of a Moldovan university, and in 2010-11 worked in the companys division overseeing Moldova, Ukraine, and Romania. Based on reporting by Interfax, TASS, and Kommersant MINSK -- The editor of Belarus's largest independent news site, who is on trial on accusations that her publication has illegally obtained information from a state-run news agency, told the court she is innocent. A court in the capital, Minsk, on February 12 began preliminary hearings in the case against Maryna Zolatava, editor in chief of the website Tut.by. Dozens of people who came to the trial greeted Zolatava with applauds and supporting chants as she entered the courtroom. All of the courtroom's 170 seats were filled. As the hearing started, Zolatava rejected all the charges. "I have not committed any of the crimes I'm charged with," Zolatava said. The case has raised concerns by right advocates, who have warned about growing press restrictions under President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's government. In August, police officers searched Tut.by's Minsk offices, along with that of another outlet, BelaPan. Several reporters and employees, including Zolatava, were detained. The Belarusian Investigative Committee later alleged that computers from within the Tut.by and BelaPan offices used an account and password other than their own to access the paid subscriber section of BelTA, the state-run news agency. A third outlet, Belarusskaya Nauka, was also targeted. "The crime inflicted considerable damage" on BelTA, "leading to the illegal procurement and use of information protected from unauthorized access, as well as to the erosion of the enterprises business reputation," the committee charged. In all, 15 people faced charges. However, all except for Zolatava had charges dropped after paying administrative fines and damages. Zolatava, meanwhile, was hit with new charges of "official inaction," a charge comparable to negligence. She has denied the allegations. Independent Belarusian media have faced severe restrictions for years under Lukashenka's authoritarian government. In June, lawmakers passed controversial amendments to the country's media laws, which media advocates warned would likely to lead to further censorship of the press. A month later, a journalist was sentenced to four years of restricted movement and forced labor after being convicted of assaulting two police officers. The reporter, Dzmitry Halko, said the case against him was retribution for his critical stance against Lukashenka. Other Belarusian journalists and bloggers have been harassed and detained, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. With reporting by RFE/RL's Belarus Service Vietnamese democracy advocate and blogger Phan Kim Khanh, who is serving a six-year jail sentence for spreading propaganda against the state will submit a complaint to his local court after officials there failed to respond to an appeal he previously filed, his mother said Sunday. The 25-year-old student was arrested in March 2017 for abusing rights to freedom and democracy to do harm to the states interests and those of organizations and individuals and was sentenced to six years in jail and four years of probation. Police investigators in the northern city of Thai Nguyen say Truong violated Article 331 of the countrys 2015 Penal Code by creating video clips and Facebook posts accusing civil service workers and state organizations in the judiciary both in Thai Nguyen and in Vietnams capital Hanoi of wrongdoing. Khanh, who has maintained his innocence, submitted an earlier appeal to the court, but officials did not respond, his mother Do Thi Lam told RFAs Vietnamese Service, after visiting him on Sunday at Ba Sao Prison in northern Vietnams Ha Nam province. On Jan. 29, Khanh told his sister that after Tet, he would send his petition to the Thai Nguyen Peoples Court, because he did not plead guilty and becuase he had sent an appeal to the court, but got no answer, Do said, referring to Vietnams New Year holiday which fell on Feb. 5 this year. He asked us whether we had received a notice 15 days after the appeal trial request, but we hadnt received anything, she said. Khanh told the family that he would send a petition. RFA called the Thai Nguyen Peoples Court for comment, but no one answered. Other family members and fellow activists visited Khanh the same day and reported that he was in good health and spirits, according to an update on the online Vietnamese Political Prisoner Database by The 88 Project, a group that supports and encourages freedom of expression in Vietnam. Poisoned prison soup? Tran Hoang Phuc, another student and prisoner of conscience serving time, told his mother, Huynh Thi Ut, that he has not been eating soup provided by prison officials because he fears poisoning, the woman told RFA after a visit to see her son at the An Phuoc Detention Center on Monday. Phuc, 24, was convicted with two others in a one-day trial at the Hanoi Peoples Court in late January 2018 under Article 88 of Vietnams Penal Code for producing and distributing videos criticizing the countrys ruling Communist Party and its leaders. He was sentenced to six years in prison and four years of probation. During the recent visit, he told me that he has not eaten any soup provided by the prison for a month because he suspects that it may have been poisoned, she said. He said liquid is the easiest way to poison the soup, so he wont eat it, she added. He only eats food sent by the family. Phucs family also provided him with medication on Jan. 5 to treat his hepatitis C, she said. Following that visit, Phucs family reported that he was in good health and spirits, though he informed his mother that he had been harassed by other prisoners since his first instance court hearing in late January, according to an update on the Vietnamese Political Prisoner Database. After Phuc had been charged, authorities transferred him to a cell with 14 criminal prisoners and drug addicts, the brief said. Forced to incriminate friends Meanwhile, a family member of jailed of Vietnamese democracy activist and Facebook blogger Huynh Truong Ca told RFA that Ca informed his relatives during a visit around the end of January that police forced him to say things during the investigation process. Ca, who is in his late 40s, was tried on defamation charges in southern Vietnams Dong Thap Province at the end of 2018, and sentenced to five years and six months in prison for criticizing the countrys communist government in a series of online postings, according to state media and other sources. Police from Saigon came to force him say things told him to say things about his friends in Saigon, said the family member who requested anonymity out of safety concerns. They even threatened him, the relative said. But Ca told them that they were not allowed to talk to him that way, and he said he did not say things that they wanted him to say. Cas family worries that the blogger will not survive in prison because he is suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney stones, the person said. A member of the Hien Phap Group, a network of activists calling for rights to freedom of speech and assembly guaranteed by Vietnams constitution, Ca was arrested in September 2018 after calling on social media for public protests, sources said. Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Turkey has called on China to close its network of political re-education camps in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), in a rare condemnation from the Muslim world of the East Asian nations persecution of ethnic Turkic Uyghurs and other Muslims that has increasingly drawn international attention. In a statement issued Saturday, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said rights violations in the XUAR have worsened, particularly since April 2017, when authorities began to detain Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities accused of harboring strong religious views and politically incorrect ideas in re-education camps throughout the region. Aksoy said that the international community is increasingly aware of the scale of the camp system, where an estimated 1.1 million people have been held and subjected to what he called torture and political brainwashing, while those spared from the camps are under heavy pressure. The reintroduction of internment camps and the policy of systematic assimilation against the Uighur Turks carried out by the authorities of China is a great shame for humanity, the spokesman said, adding that Turkey had expressed its concerns on the tragedy in the Xinjiang region to Chinese authorities at all levels. On this occasion, we invite the Chinese authorities to respect the fundamental human rights of Uighur Turks and to close the internment camps, he said. Aksoy also called on the international community and the Secretary General of the United Nations to take effective measures in order to bring to an end this human tragedy in Xinjiang. Turkey has been largely silent on the situation in the XUAR, despite being home to one of the worlds largest Uyghur exile communities, and Aksoy acknowledged in his statement that Turkish citizens of Uyghur ethnicity are unable to communicate with their relatives back home, while thousands of children have been removed from their detained parents there, further impacting families. The foreign ministry spokesman also said Turkey had learned of the death in prison of prominent Uyghur musician Abdurehim Heyit, who had served two years of an eight-year jail sentence for one of his songs. This tragedy has further reinforced the reaction of the Turkish public opinion towards serious human rights violations committed in the Xinjiang region, he said. We expect this legitimate response to be taken into account by the Chinese authorities. It is unclear what, beyond the possible death of Heyit, prodded Turkey to engage China on its re-education camps. The country, whose president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has presented himself as a protector of Islam, will host nationwide local elections on March 31. While Erdogan spoke out against Chinas crackdown on Uyghurs following ethnic violence in the XUAR in 2009, ruffling feathers in Beijing, ties between the two countries improved after the Turkish president faced a failed coup in 2016 and criticism from the West. Though Beijing initially denied the existence of re-education camps, Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the XUAR, told Chinas official Xinhua news agency in October 2018 that the facilities are an effective tool to protect the country from terrorism and provide vocational training for Uyghurs. Chinas embassy in Ankara responded to Saturdays statement by echoing Zakirs claims, and noting that Turkey faces similar threats of terrorism. It also called Aksoys remarks completely against the truth. On Sunday, Chinese state media published a video online that purportedly shows Heyit alive, and in which the musician claims he is in the process of being investigated for allegedly violating the national laws. The subject of the video goes on to say that he is in good health and have never been abused, although experts have said his body language and choice of words suggest he is being held under duress. International pressure Uyghur exiles praised Turkey for speaking out against Chinas treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslims in the XUAR, but questioned why it had waited so long to do so. Dolkun Isa, president of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress, said he hoped Turkeys statement would set a standard for other Muslim nations to hold China to account for its policies in the XUAR. It is a positive development for Turkey to break its silence and condemn Chinas crimes against humanity that is taking place in East Turkestan, he said, using a name preferred by many Uyghurs to refer to their historic homeland. I hope this will be a new beginning for other Turkic and Muslim countries to express their serious concerns over the mass incarceration of [more than a million] Uyghur Turkic Muslims. Isa said that Chinas rapid response to Turkeys claims about Heyits death in prison highlights Chinas anxiety over Turkey and other Muslim countries raising the Uyghur issue around the world. He said it suggests China is highly susceptible to political pressure to close the camps coming from Turkey and other nations. Nury Turkel, chairman of the Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project exile group, also said he believes Turkeys statement had rattled Beijing and shows that international pressure can have an effect on Chinas policies. Despite Chinas desperate efforts trying to restructure its narrative to produce a positive spin, its quick response to long overdue Turkish criticism on the ongoing horrific situation in East Turkestan shows that international pressure works in the effort to shut down the modern day internment camps, he said. Referring to the video published by state media that claims to show Heyit, Turkel suggested that any statement by the Chinese government should be taken with a grain of salt. We hope this video is authentic, so that we know Mr. Heyit is still alive, he said. That said, the burden of proof is on the Chinese government to show that this video is authentic and the information it made public is factual. Reported and translated by Alim Seytoff for RFAs Uyghur Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. People watch rescuers remove the bodies of six jade scavengers who died when a cliff collapsed at a jade mine near Spot village of Sate Mu village tract in Hpakant township, northern Myanmar's Kachin state, Feb. 10, 2019. Six jade scavengers died when a 150-foot cliff wall collapsed midday Sunday at a jade mine in Hpakant township of northern Myanmars Kachin state, a mining area where hundreds of lives have been lost in recent years, a municipal official said. Six of nine jade scavengers died when the cliff collapsed, township administrator Kyaw Swa Aung told RFAs Myanmar Service. Its in an area between two old jade mining sites." The bodies of those killed were recovered in the evening and sent to Hpakant Township Hospital, he said. The victims were identified as residents from Hsenni in northern Shan state, Hopin township in southern Shan state, and Thabeikkyin of Mandalay region, he said. They all came to the mine near Spot village of Hpakants Sate Mu village tract to search for pieces of the precious stone left over from company mining operations, Kyaw Swa Aung said. On Feb. 4, two jade scavengers were killed after a slag head of mining waste collapsed in Hmawsi Hsar village of Hpakant's Lonekin village tract. At least 10 people have been killed this year by collapses and landslides at mining sites, according to Hpakant townships records. Hpakant, which lies about 400 miles (640 kilometers) north of Myanmars capital Naypyidaw, is the center of the countrys jade mining industry and produces some of the highest-quality jade in the world. Much of the gem is exported or smuggled to neighboring China, where demand for the precious stone is high. Migrant workers from various parts of Myanmar descend on Hpakant throughout the year, but especially during the rainy season from May through October when landslides are most likely to occur, to search for jade remnants in the small mountains of slag cast off from mining. Chinese and Myanmar mine operators usually allow the practice after their excavators have combed through the sites for large stones, though dozens are injured or killed each year in landslides or during confrontations security guards who work for the mine companies. Calls for reform A string of deadly mining-waste landslides that have occurred in recent years in Hpakant have prompted calls for reform. In November 2015, at least 115 scavenging miners died in Hpakant township when two 200-foot-high (60-meter-high) piles of dirt buried some 70 makeshift huts at the site. Scores more were left missing. In 2016, the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) government stopped the extension of mining permits at existing gem blocks and suspended the licensing of new blocks in an effort to clean up the mining industry. The passage of a Gemstone Law in December 2018, however, will do little to reform the multibillion-dollar jade sector rife with companies linked to Myanmars military and ethnic armed groups which are involved in illegal activities and human rights and environmental harms, London-based international anti-corruption NGO Global Witness said in a statement issued after the laws passage. The new law is a key step in the process of restarting the flawed gemstone permit process after a two-year moratorium, it said. Paul Donowitz, the organizations campaign leader for Myanmar, noted that the law was developed separately from a gemstone policy in its final stages and ignored recommendations of an environmental management plan commissioned by the Ministry for Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation. Without strong criteria companies with histories of illegal activities and irresponsible mining practices will be able to obtain new licenses, the statement said. Reported by Kyaw Tun Naing for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Nandar Chann. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Authorities in China have been targeting Twitter users who post or retweet articles or comments critical of the Nicolas Maduro regime in Venezuela, RFA has learned. Zhao Weidong, a Twitter user from the northern province of Shaanxi, was called in for questioning by police in the provincial capital Xi'an and fined after he forwarded a post to social media critical of the country's beleaguered authoritarian government. He was issued with an administrative fine of 500 yuan on Jan. 29 for retweeting "false information," according to a copy of the fine notification seen by RFA. Zhao, who tweets as "Zhao Su" @ctm10001, retweeted a Jan. 20 tweet from the U.S.-based account @brother_chui that asked "How did Venezuela go from being the richest democracy in the world to a totalitarian socialist state?" "Well, we have [Chinese president Xi Jinping] to thank for that, for exporting the evils of communism to the whole world!" the tweet said. It said that since Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro had taken power, he had revised the constitution, brought in media controls, locked up dissidents and massacred protesters, as well as "importing ... Chinese surveillance systems." Repeated attempts to contact Zhao for comment were unsuccessful on . Online free speech activist Wu Bin, known by his internet nickname Xiucai Jianghu, said he had also been approached by Chinese state security police over a tweet he sent about Zhao's fine. "The state security police told me to delete the tweet, so I deleted it," said Wu, who spent 13 days in administrative detention in December over his last critical tweet. "It's ridiculous; now you don't just get fined for criticizing our own [government], you can get fined for criticizing a foreign country, too." "Our relationship with Venezuela is too cozy by far, to the extent that they have to dig the knife in on behalf of our so-called friend," Wu said. "There is no freedom of expression in this country, nor any sense of safety." A Twitter user surnamed Wang said the ruling Chinese Communist Party doesn't want the Venezuelan opposition movement to influence its own people, and has been censoring news of developments in the country since the international recognition of Venezuela's self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido. "The incident involving Zhao Su from Xi'an ... shows that the Chinese Communist regime's so-called self-confidence is actually non-existant," Wang said. "They are in a state of high alert because of the changes in the political situation in Venezuela." "That's how ridiculous things get in an authoritarian state," he said. Preventing 'another color revolution' Economist and social media commentator He Jiangbing said the authorities don't want discussion of the negative aspects of socialist regimes like China's. "They are still trying to prevent another color revolution," He told RFA. "That's because Venezuela and China are very similar, and China is already halfway along the road that Venezuela took to ruin." "It's very natural that they would fear this," he said. Political commentator Chen Pokong said Beijing is likely also worried about how U.S. President Donald Trump's support for the Venezuelan opposition could affect bilateral ties. "The United States is no longer sitting on the sidelines, as far as Venezuela is concerned," Chen wrote in a commentary on RFA's Mandarin Service. "Active U.S. involvement can be seen as a sharp about-face in the policies of the Trump administration, namely, a return to interventionism," he said. "The political support offered to the opposition and the economic assistance to the Venezuelan people didn't rule out necessary military intervention." "In his State of the Union address, Trump attacked at great length the disasters brought down on Venezuela by socialism, showing that he no longer ignores the challenges that different political and ideological systems pose." "This change in attitude is bound to apply to China, too," Chen wrote. Since last year, China's "stability maintenance" regime has been targeting critics of the ruling party and the administration of President Xi Jinping on Twitter, deleting a large number of accounts, rights activists say. Yaqiu Wang, China researcher at the New York-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW) wrote in a recent report that Beijing has been targeting its citizens on the platform, which is blocked in China without the use of circumvention tools. "Authorities have detained or summoned dozens or more Twitter users, forcing them to delete sensitive tweets or close their accounts," Wang wrote. "In some cases, authorities appear to have hacked accounts themselves." State security police now appear to be targeting even those users with relatively few followers, with concerns expressed in interrogations and "chats" over the content of tweets, even though the content is visible only to Chinese users who have access to the right tools to circumvent censorship by the ruling Chinese Communist Party's cyberspace administration, Wang said. Reported by Ng Yik-tung and Tam Siu-yin for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. An Air New Zealand flight has been denied permission to land in Shanghai after the Chinese authorities discovered a reference to Taiwan in its documentation, supposedly an indication of the country's support for independence for the democratic island. "Multiple sources say paperwork for the Air NZ flight 289, which returned to Auckland after several hours in the air included reference to Taiwan which China took to be an acknowledgement that the island was independent," New Zealand's Stuff.co.nz news website reported. While the People's Republic of China's ruling Communist Party has refused diplomatic ties with any country that recognizes Taiwan, this is the first time that another country's flag carrying airline has been sent home in mid-air over the issue. According to passenger Eric Hundman, Air NZ hadn't disclosed a detailed explanation for the flight's turnaround. "The aircraft operating your flight did not have regulatory approval to land in China and was required to return to Auckland," the airline said in a screenshot of a text message sent to passengers posted to Hundman's Twitter account. Chen Weijian, the New Zealand-based editor-in-chief of the political magazine Beijing Spring, said the emerging reports appeared to contradict an earlier statement from New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, who said the plane's forced U-turn had nothing to do with politics. Chen said the incident is likely an escalation from earlier objections from Beijing to international airlines that listed Taiwan as a separate destination, rather than as a city within China. China last year issued a number of complaints about companies' use of the word "Taiwan," especially where its usage implied a territory that is distinct and separate from its own. In , Beijing's Civil Aviation Administration requested that foreign airlines take "Taiwan," "Hong Kong" and "Macau" out of their lists of countries, or standalone destinations. However, Hong Kong and Macau are former colonies that have returned to Chinese rule, while Taiwan has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. The requests were rejected at the time by the U.S. government as "Orwellian nonsense." "I think the main problem here is that Taiwan was given an independent listing," Chen said. "I think that [Ardern] was, quite frankly, just trying to play down the incident ... They wanted to deal with the matter privately, by accepting China's demand that Taiwan not be given separate status as an independent country or region." Long-term influence campaign He said the New Zealand government had been the target of a long-term influence campaign by the Chinese Communist Party. "Communist Party infiltration in New Zealand is actually very serious," Chen said. "New Zealand has typically followed Australia's lead in the past, but now they are distancing themselves from Australia and cozying up to China." Yang Sen-hong, president of the Taiwan Association for China Human Rights, said Beijing has no right to make such claims about the island, which it has never governed. "Taiwan has never been a part of [the People's Republic of] China," Yang told RFA. "This insistence that people list Taiwan as part of Chinese territory is a lie." "They try it on and then when it doesn't work, they fly into a rage," he said. "That's not how an major country should behave. I think that if they carry on like this, it's going to cause more and more of a backlash among other countries." He said Taiwan needs to stick to its point of view. "We need to keep on hitting back strongly whenever the Chinese Communist Party does such things," Yang said. Last month, Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen rejected calls from Chinese President Xi Jinping for the democratic island to "unify" with the People's Republic, saying its people have no wish to give up their sovereignty. In a Jan. 2 "Letter to our Taiwan compatriots," Xi swapped the Chinese Communist Party's previous insistence on the idea that Taiwan is part of a divided "One China" for a new theme: "unification." "It has been a historical and unavoidable duty of the Chinese Communist Party, Chinese government and the Chinese people to resolve the matter of Taiwan and unify the motherland ever since 1949," Xi said in the statement. But he made scant reference to public opinion among the 23 million inhabitants of Taiwan, which his party has never ruled, and warned: "We make no promise to renounce the use of military force, and reserve the right to take all necessary measures to deal with hostile foreign forces and a tiny minority of separatists and their splittist activities." Xi urged Taiwan to work towards "unification" under the "one country, two systems" model that was promised to Hong Kong after its 1997 handover to China, rather than the direct imposition of Communist Party rule. However, that city's autonomy has been eroded in recent years by a series of high-profile interventions from Beijing, according to U.S. and U.K. officials, Hong Kong's Bar Association, and international rights groups. Taiwan rejects 'one country, two systems' Tsai Ing-wen responded by asserting the right of Taiwan's 23 million inhabitants to decide their own fate. "I want to reiterate that Taiwan absolutely will not accept 'one country, two systems,'" Tsai said. "The vast majority of public opinion in Taiwan is also resolutely opposed to 'one country, two systems.'" Beijing has never accepted the status of Taiwan as a sovereign power, although the Republic of China government established by the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) fled to the island in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's communists. Officially, Taiwan is still known as the Republic of China, which controls the four islands of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu. Beijing has refused diplomatic ties with any country that also recognizes the Republic of China, and actively encourages Taiwan's partners to switch recognition. Instead, China insists that Taiwan is a breakaway province of the People's Republic of China, and refuses to engage in government-to-government talks, while Tsai has called on Beijing to handle negotiations on an equal basis. Taiwan was ruled as a Japanese colony in the 50 years prior to the end of World War II, but was handed back to the 1911 Republic of China under the nationalist Kuomintang government as part of Tokyo's post-war reparation deal. When the Kuomintang regime fled to Taiwan in 1947 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's communist troops, the Republic of China government ceased to control most of China, though it continues to be the official name of the Taiwan government. The island began a transition to democracy following the death of Chiang's son, President Chiang Ching-kuo, in , starting with direct elections to the legislature in the early 1990s and culminating in the first direct election of a president, Lee Teng-hui, in 1996. Recent opinion polls indicate that there is broad political support for continued self-rule in Taiwan, where the majority of voters identify as Taiwanese rather than Chinese. In September, the state-backed Global Times newspaper hit out at Apple over its listing of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China as separate entities, claiming that the democratic island of Taiwan is "an inalienable part" of China's territory. Hong Kong and Taiwan were listed "on par" with China on a slide showing markets for the new iPhone XS, the Global Times newspaper, sister paper to ruling Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily, said. China has also complained about a similar listing for the island on the website of furniture giant Ikea. Reported by Ng Yik-tung and Sing Man for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Hsia Hsia-hwa for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Malaysian leader Anwar Ibrahim said Southeast Asian nations have to defend their territory amid Beijings aggressive moves to expand shoals into artificial islands and build military facilities in the South China Sea. Anwar, who is widely expected to take over eventually from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, made his statement during an open forum near the U.S. capital on Sunday, the same day that Washington drew Beijings ire for sending two warships near the disputed Spratly Islands. On the South China Sea, we have taken a position that we will defend our territory, Anwar, 71, said in reply to a question that followed his speech at the International Institute of Islamic Thought, a nonprofit based in Herndon, Virginia, in the suburbs of Washington. The best option is to work with other small countries in ASEAN to defend our security position, particularly because we cannot expect the United States given the situation now to be more positive with regard to the region, Anwar said, referring to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Shortly after the American navy sailed the guided-missile destroyers USS Spruance and USS Preble within 12 nautical miles of the Spratlys on Sunday night, China accused the United States of trespassing in its territorial waters, warning that it had deployed missiles capable of targeting medium and large ships. The U.S. action violated the Chinese laws and international laws, infringed Chinas sovereignty, damaged regional peace, security, and order, Lu Kang, the spokesman for Chinas Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Beijing. China will take necessary actions to protect state sovereignty. Chinas warning came as officials from the two nations were in Beijing for a new round of trade talks scheduled for this week. The U.S. Navy said the destroyers sailed as part of freedom of navigation operation. In January, the destroyer USS McCampbell also sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Paracel Islands. Cmdr. Clay Doss, a spokesman for the U.S. 7th Fleet, was quoted by CNN as saying that Sundays operation was carried out to challenge excessive maritime claims and preserve access to the waterways as governed by international law. The Spratly Islands, a chain of potentially mineral-rich islands and atolls in the South China Sea, are claimed in whole or in part by China, Taiwan and the Southeast Asian countries of Brunei, the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia. It is considered a flashpoint in the region. The claimants have agreed to desist from any actions that would complicate the matter, although China has been expanding and militarizing islands it occupies. Beijing claims nearly the whole of the South China Sea, insisting that it has indisputable sovereignty over the region. Keep negotiating with China, Anwar says During his remarks in Virginia on Sunday, Anwar also defended the Mahathir governments decision last month to keep negotiating with Beijing over controversial China-backed projects. With China, we have to continue to engage because its a very strong neighbor, powerful neighbor but strong economy, he said. For our survival, we need investments, trade with the Chinese. However, Anwar said, Malaysia must renegotiate contracts when the economy does not allow us to go through these huge mega projects because of exorbitant price increase. If we fail, we cancel because the country can ill afford, he said, underscoring the governments right to junk agreements that were signed under questionable or dubious circumstances. Anwar did not specifically mention the controversial U.S. $20 billion East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), a 688-km (430-mile) railway project to connect the western and eastern coasts of the Malaysian peninsula. In January, Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the Malaysian Cabinet had decided to adopt a statement from Mahathir that Kuala Lumpur would still keep negotiating the ECRL deal with Beijing. ECRL, the centerpiece of Chinas infrastructure push in Malaysia, was to be financed in large part by the Export-Import Bank of China. The project is a Malaysian component of Chinas massive One Belt, One Road (OBOR) international infrastructure expansion program. In my experience in the government in the past, we would always say we will honor all our commitments, but when we have reasons, compelling case that the agreement signed is dubious, or through bribery, et cetera, then we can always question, Anwar said. After he returned to power as a result of a stunning electoral triumph last May, Mahathir has issued statements implying that several China-backed projects approved by his predecessor, Najib Razak, would be placed on the back burner. Anwar, a twice-jailed 70-year-old former deputy prime minister, received a royal full-pardon after the stunning triumph in May last years election triumph of the Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope), an upstart coalition of political parties that he led together with Mahathir. During the open forum, Anwar also defended Mahathirs decision in October last year to free 11 ethnic Uyghur Muslims, allowing them to leave for Turkey. Mahathir, defying Beijings request that they be repatriated, said the refugees had not broken laws in his country. This engagement with the Chinese should not bar us from raising questions or issues which affect not only the interest of the country but justice for any community, Anwar said. Anwar made the statement a day after Turkey denounced Beijing's controversial mass re-education camps in China's western region of Xinjiang, calling them a great shame for humanity. Turkey, in a strongly-worded statement issued by its foreign ministry spokesman, said thousands had been subjected to torture and brainwashing in the Chinese camps. Chinese state-run media has strongly refuted some of Turkeys claims, saying they violated the facts. Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. The European Union launched a procedure Monday that could lead to the temporary suspension of Cambodias preferential access to the blocs market, citing a deterioration in the Southeast Asian nations labor and human rights record over the past 18 months. The long-anticipated move by Brussels came as Cambodias exiled opposition leader called on investors from China, an increasingly important source of economic and political support for Hun Sen as its estrangement from Western partners deepens, to rethink aggressive policies that have made them unpopular in the Southeast Asian country. The European Commission (EC), which coordinates trade policy for the EU, said in a statement that the decision will be published on Tuesday in the EU Official Journal, kicking off a six-month period of intensive monitoring and engagement to determine whether Cambodian exports should continue to enjoy tax-free entry into the European market under the Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme. At the end of the monitoring period, the EUCambodias largest trading partnerwill take three months to produce a report based on its findings, and 12 months from Tuesday, the EC will conclude the procedure with a final decision on whether or not to withdraw trade preferences, as well as the scope and duration of the withdrawal. Any withdrawal would come into effect after a total of 18 months. The EC noted that the procedure does not entail an immediate removal of tariff preferences, which it called an option of last resort, and that it aims to improve the situation for the people on the ground in Cambodia. High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Vice President of the EC Federica Mogherini said that Cambodia had experienced a deterioration of democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law over the past 18 months, since Prime Minister Hun Sens government arrested opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) President Kem Sokha in September 2017 for alleged acts of treason. Cambodias Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP two months later amid a larger crackdown on political parties, NGOs and independent media, paving the way for the ruling Cambodia Peoples Party (CPP) to win all 125 seats in parliament in a sweep of the countrys July 2018 general election, which was widely seen as unfree and unfair. Mogherini said Cambodias government had taken a number of positive steps since EU Foreign Affairs Ministers made clear in February last year how seriously the EU viewed the developments, but that without more conclusive action from the government, the situation on the ground calls Cambodia's participation in the EBA scheme into question. As the European Union, we are committed to a partnership with Cambodia that delivers for the Cambodian people, she said, adding that the EUs support for democracy and human rights in the country is at the heart of this partnership. EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom said in Mondays statement that the clock is now officially ticking and we need to see real action soon. When we say that the EU's trade policy is based on values, these are not just empty words, Malmstrom said. Our engagement with the situation in Cambodia has led us to conclude that there are severe deficiencies when it comes to human rights and labor rights in Cambodia that the government needs to tackle if it wants to keep its country's privileged access to our market. The EC said that a fact-finding mission the EU sent to Cambodia in July last year and subsequent high-level bilateral meetings had found evidence of serious and systematic violations of core human rights and labor rights in Cambodia, with a particular emphasis on the rights to political participation, as well as the freedoms of assembly, expression and association. It said the findings add to longstanding EU concerns about the lack of workers rights and disputes linked to economic land concessions in the country. Response to decision Government spokesperson Phay Siphan on Monday rejected the conclusions of the EUs fact-finding mission, but said Cambodia had already prepared for the decision to launch the temporary withdrawal procedure. Cambodia is already grown, and we are not a young nation, like a child who has to be raised [to survive], he said, adding that the government does not plan to take any reciprocal measures against the EU. CNRP Vice President Mu Sochua, who is living in self-imposed exile following the dissolution of her party, told RFAs Khmer Service Monday that she was concerned over the action by the EU, which accounted for nearly half of Cambodias exports last year and props up the Southeast Asian nations key garment industry. She blamed Hun Sens government for creating the environment in Cambodia that led to the EUs decision. Conditions have been set that unless we respect human rights and democracy, we wont receive [preferential] trade, but Hun Sens regime cares nothing about that, she said. But we Khmer citizens do care about it, since it affects the health of our economy and the daily lives of our people. This is a huge issue, and we believe that the Hun Sen regime must be held responsible in the presence of the Cambodian public. The European Chamber of Commerce (EuroCham) on Monday also expressed regret over the EUs decision, warning of negative consequences on current and future business between the European Union and Cambodia, as well as on development initiatives funded by the EU over the last two decades it said had helped to improve the socio-economic status of millions of Cambodians. We are very concerned that this investigation will send wrong signals about the prospects of the market to potential manufacturing investors during 2019, and that a possible withdrawal in 2020 will have a terrible impact on the employment of hundreds of thousandsoften womenand many more of their dependents, EuroCham Cambodia chairman Arnaud Darc said. China investment Meanwhile, acting CNRP President Sam Rainsy issued a warning Monday in a Facebook post to Chinese investors in Cambodia who he said should be aware of the rancor they are provoking among the local population, particularly in the provinces of Preah Sihanouk and Koh Kong, where, in some places, Cambodians are outnumbered by newly arrived Chinese. Touted Chinese investments often in reality mean land seizures without compensation to make way for civil and military infrastructure projects massive deforestation and other forms of environmental destruction and increases in crime, violence and other social ills, he said. Sam Rainsy, who has said he plans to return to Cambodia from self-imposed exile before March to lead demonstrations against the government, warned investors that the political situation in Cambodia is about to become more and more tense, and that the Hun Sen regime itself is in danger. In their own interests, these investors and Chinese nationals must re-examine their activities and plans, and correct the wrongs they have inflicted on the Cambodian population, he wrote. In a foreign country where they have alienated the whole population, it would be wise for them to be less invasive, less arrogant, and more respectful of the local population, which is liable to explode in anger at any time. Phay Siphan on Monday called Sam Rainsys statement an act of intimidation against foreign investors and part of a bid to destroy the nation. Waning influence Western influence in Cambodia is on the decline amid criticism of Hun Sen and the CPP over rollbacks on democracy in the lead up to and aftermath of last years ballot. In addition to the EUs moves to drop its preferential trade scheme for Cambodia, the U.S. has since announced visa bans on individuals seen as limiting democracy in the country, as part of a series of measures aimed at pressuring Hun Sen to reverse course. Hun Sen has repeatedly stressed that his country does not need foreign governments to recognize the legitimacy of Cambodias elections, saying acceptance by Cambodians is sufficient. He has also said that he will continue to welcome aid from China, which is currently Cambodias largest international aid provider and typically offers funding without many of the prerequisites that the U.S. and EU place on donations, such as improvements to human rights and rule of law. Trade volume between Cambodia and China was valued at U.S. $5.8 billion in 2017, up 22 percent from U.S. $4.76 billion dollars a year earlier, while China is currently Cambodias largest investor, and has poured U.S. $12.6 billion into the Southeast Asian nation from 1994 to 2017. Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. Thai authorities have deported eight Cambodian Muslims who were part of a group of 18 arrested after they were initially suspected of training to join separatist insurgents in Thailands mainly Muslim southern border region, diplomats said on Monday. An official at the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said in an interview with RFAs Khmer Service that the embassy had received notice from the Thai government about only 11 Cambodian Muslims in the group. She said they were guilty violating immigration laws, not for aiding separatist causes. [The 11] are merely accused of overstaying their visas in Thailand, said the official. A couple of them [didnt even have] passports. The eight that were older than 18 have already been released, she said. After [the] authorities found that they had not committed any serious offenses, they had to pay a fine and were deported, said the official. As for the three minors, Thai law requires them to stay under youth center guidance for a short period, around one month from the date of arrest, she said. The official explained that the guidance they would receive involved education aimed at preventing future violations of immigration law. When asked about the other seven Cambodian Muslims that were part of the 18 reportedly arrested in late January, she said that the embassy had no knowledge of them. Senior Minister Osman Hassan told local media that the eight who were deported arrived through Poipet border checkpoint on Sunday, and that they would be sent to their individual homes on Monday. RFA tried to contact the senior minister several times but were unable to speak with him. Meanwhile, Am Sam Ath, an official from the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) welcomed the release of the eight Cambodian Muslims. The representative of the local rights group urged Cambodian citizens, especially those of the Muslim faith, to be cautious about traveling to Thailands southern provinces. He said travel to the region by Muslims was controversial due to ongoing conflicts with a separatist group, referring to the National Revolutionary Front (BRN), which has battled the Thai military for at least 15 years, demanding direct negotiations with Thailands junta in peace talks. Since 2015, hardcore BRN leaders have stayed away from Malaysia-brokered talks between Bangkok and an umbrella body representing various rebel organizations in peace negotiations. Nearly 7,000 people have died since the insurgency flared up again in 2004. Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translation by RFAs Khmer Service. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email please call (208) 542-6777 for help. We get it. You don't want to see the ads. We'd just ask you to understand that those ads help us pay the bills and our reporters. Please, consider white-listing the Standard Journal in your ad-blocker or, even better, purchase a subscription so that you can help support quality local journalism. This Page Is Under Construction - Coming Soon! Why am I seeing this 'Under Construction' page? Lebanon, IN (46052) Today Clouds and some sun this morning with more clouds for this afternoon. High 84F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Cloudy with occasional showers overnight. Thunder possible. Low near 70F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%. TORRINGTON The sudden closure of the Kelley Transit Co. over the weekend could mean a decrease in services for residents in the northwest corner those who rely on a van service to get to the grocery store, medical appointments or classes at Northwest Connecticut Community College. An express bus route provided by the transit company for round trip rides to Waterbury may also be affected. John F. Nason, a managing member of the transit company, doing business as Nason Partners LLC, wrote a letter to the state transportation department on Feb. 7. I regret to inform you that Nason Partners LLC will be suspended (sic) service as of Feb. 8... I want to thank you and your staff for the many years we have worked together it has been a pleasure, Nason wrote. Kevin Nursick, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said in an email, CTTransit is operating (Kelleys) commuter routes for the time being. An employee who answered the phone at the Northwestern Connecticut Transit District, who asked not to be named, said the district has stepped in to provide the Candystriper mini-bus service between Torrington and Winsted. Efforts to reach an executive of the family-owned transit company on Monday were not successful. Neither of the companys two business phone numbers are in service, and the company website has been taken down. The transit company traces back to 1860, with the founding of the E.J. Kelley Coal Co. . Information from an online train forum notes that the family was involved in the building of the original Naugatuck Railroad in 1848-49. A post on the forum states that the family business evolved into trucking and transit operations. Those who rely on the Candystriper service to travel to the Sullivan Senior Center may find gaps in the service, said Joel Sekorsky, director, Services for the Elderly. They are not yet concerned, he said. The immediate impact will play itself out. I hope its a seamless transition (to a new transit provider), Sekorsky added. (Members) are certainly concerned. They rely on the service for out of town appointments, said Winsted Senior Center Director Jennifer Kelley. Kelley also said its too soon to know the full impact of the closing of the transit service. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2011 to reorganize its business, according to previous reporting by The Register Citizen. Further, a complaint to the Better Business Bureau in June about problems with product/services, was answered by the company, the document shows. The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction, the bureau wrote. Information from the Secretary of the States site on business filings shows that Kelley merged three companies, The E.J. Kelley Co. , the E.J. Kelley Coal Co. and TKTC Inc., in 2008, and named it the Kelley Transit Co. . A separate entity, the Kelley Realty Co. , was dissolved on Dec. 27, the records show. The business filing shows that Joan T. Kelley was the secretary and director of merged company, Edward C. Kelley was vice president and director. Their address is listed as Irving Avenue in Torrington. Josephine Murphy, of Litchfield, no street address given, was also a director. Information on how the state Transportation Department would address the issue of the Kelley Transit contract was not available late Monday. Harwinton, Litchfield, Thomaston and Torrington residents can review and provide feedback on prospective locations and plans for the Naugatuck River Greenway Trail during a series of upcoming public meetings. Project partners and community leaders will be on hand for the meetings, which will be held on Feb. 28 at Thomaston Town Hall, March 6 at the Harwinton Town Hall, and March 7 at the Litchfield Community Center. All meetings will begin at 5:30 p.m., with an informal opportunity to view maps and talk to project staff. A formal presentation will begin at 6 p.m. and will be followed by a question and answer period and a review of specific comments with residents. The public outreach follows more than one year of studying potential Naugatuck River Greenway Trail routing options between Torrington and Thomaston. The purpose of the NRG Torrington to Thomaston Comprehensive Routing Study, being conducted by BSC Group of Glastonbury, CT is to inventory potential routes and rank them with stakeholder and public input with the goal of selecting a final preferred route with broad consensus. BSC will also provide phasing recommendations and preliminary construction cost estimates of the preferred route to help municipalities plan for future construction and prepare for potential funding opportunities. The Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments (NVCOG), in partnership with the Northwest Hills Council of Governments (NHCOG), received a Transit Oriented Development and Smart Growth grant from the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management (OPM) to conduct the study. The NVCOG and NHCOG are overseeing the project. The project area spans approximately 11 miles of the Naugatuck Valley from Bogue Road in Torrington to a section of trail under design adjacent to the Water Pollution Control facility on Old Waterbury Road in Thomaston. During the past year, BSC and project partners inventoried all potential trail routes along with points of interest and environmental constraints along the way, and documented property ownership and stakeholder preferences and concerns. This information has been used to narrow down prospective routes to those that are most feasible. Now, public input is being solicited to help determine what route should ultimately be built when funding is secured. Stakeholders have been involved throughout the project including chief elected officials and staff from the municipalities of Torrington, Litchfield, Harwinton and Thomaston along with representatives from the US Army Corps of Engineers, NVCOG, NHCOG, the Naugatuck River Greenway Steering Committee, The Railroad Museum of New England, and several property owners along the route. The NRG corridor has been officially designated as a greenway by the CT Greenways Council and the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). The entire greenway trail is identified as a trail of statewide significance in the Connecticut Recreational Trails Plan, and was designated as one of 101 Americas Great Outdoors projects in 2011 by the U. S. Department of the Interior. An Economic Impact Study conducted by NVCOG in 2017 estimated that there would be substantial economic, health and community benefits of constructing the trail. The overall planned NRG trail route will follow the river for 44 miles, bringing it through parts of Torrington, Litchfield, Harwinton, Thomaston, Watertown, Waterbury, Naugatuck, Beacon Falls, Seymour, Ansonia and Derby. To date, trail sections have been constructed in Torrington, Watertown, Naugatuck, Beacon Falls, Seymour, Ansonia and Derby. We really want to hear what the public envisions for the NRG Trail, said Bill Paille, Transportation Engineer at BSC Group. We want to be sure that the preferred route meets each communitys long term needs and that the investments made are well-spent and provide the most benefit to residents. More information can be found at http://nvcogct.org/content/nrg-thomaston-torrington-routing-study Mary Sue Hesselberg, 86, of Beckley, WV, passed away Friday, June 18, 2021. Services will be 11:00 a.m. Friday, June 25, 2021, in the Calfee Funeral Home Chapel. Friends may visit with the family from 10:00 a.m. until service time. Burial will follow in the Donel C. Kinnard Memorial State Ve February 12, 2019 10:55 IST The government is hoping to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday while it is expected to table the CAG in Parliament. Watch all the action in both houses LIVE here. Source: February 12, 2019 17:23 IST Photograph: Atul Yadav/PTI Photo A day after making her debut in Uttar Pradesh's political arena as Congress's general secretary, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday got down to business, holding strategy sessions to script her party's victory in the upcoming parliamentary polls. Returning to the state capital after a short visit to Jaipur, where her husband Robert Vadra and his mother Maureen appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a probe into an alleged land scam in Rajasthan's border town of Bikaner, Gandhi got cracking at the UP Congress headquarters. The party office in Lucknow buzzed with activity as enthusiastic Congress workers gathered outside the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee building, even before she returned from an overnight stay in Jaipur. Immediately after reached the party office, she was closeted with senior leaders and office bearers of Lucknow, Mohanlalganj, Prayagraj, Ambedkar Nagar, Sitapur, Kaushambi, Fatehpur, Bahraich, Phulpur and Ayodhya Lok Sabha constituencies to galvanise the party's preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Priyanka Gandhi is slated to continue this exercise on Wednesday and Thursday with leaders of other constituencies which she has been asked to take care of in eastern Uttar Pradesh by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, party sources said. In an adjoining room, the newly appointed Congress general secretary in-charge of western UP, Jyotiraditya Scinda, held deliberations with leaders from the constituencies he has been asked to groom. Scindia too will hold strategy sessions over the next two days to ensure victory of candidates of the Congress, which has decided to go alone in all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state, they said. Priyanka Gandhi and Scindia, along with Rahul Gandhi, had held a grand roadshow here on Monday, raising hopes of a turnaround in the party's fortunes. Virtually launching the party's Lok Sabha poll campaign, Rahul Gandhi asserted that it was the time to uproot the Bharatiya Janata Party and form government in the state. Asserting that the party would 'play on front foot', Rahul Gandhi on Monday said, "Till a Congress ideology government is installed here (UP), we will not rest, and ensure justice for farmers, the youth and the poor." "Their (Priyanka and Scindia) aim is definitely the Lok Sabha elections, but it is also to bring a Congress government here," he had said, adding, 'the Congress began its journey from Uttar Pradesh and it cannot remain weak in the state... the Congress has to improve its performance in UP in the LS polls and from government in the next assembly elections'. Giving a sense what her entry means to the party workers in UP where the Congress has been struggling electorally for years, posters showed Priyanka Gandhi in 'Durga Mata' (a Hindu Goddess) avatar riding a lion. 'Maa Durga ka roop behen Priyankaji (Sister Priyankaji is Maa Durga's incarnation),' said one poster, while some others highlighted her resemblance to Indira Gandhi, her grandmother. Priyanka Gandhi's entry into active politics has been at a time when the party is not only witnessing one of the most difficult times electorally but has also been sidelined by prospective allies for 'mahagatbandhan', with the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party totally ignoring it while forming their alliance. "An alliance is also in the contest here and I have clearly said that I respect Mayawati ji and Akhilesh Yadav ji...but the Congress will fight with all its might for its ideology to change Uttar Pradesh," Rahul Gandhi had said. The Congress had fared miserably during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections by winning just two of 80 seats in the state. The eastern UP, Priyanka Gandhi's area of responsibility, has Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency Varanasi. The region is also seen as a stronghold of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. On the day of her political debut in UP, Priyanka Gandhi also joined Twitter and garnered a massive response with tens of thousands following her on the social media platform within hours. A day before her maiden visit to Uttar Pradesh as Congress general secretary, Priyanka Gandhi had said that together with the people of the state she hopes to start a 'new kind of politics' in which everyone will be a stakeholder. Source: Last updated on: February 12, 2019 23:31 IST A massive fire engulfed a hotel in central Delhi's congested Karol Bagh area in the early hours of Tuesday, killing 17 people, including two people who jumped off the building in a desperate bid to save themselves, officials said. IMAGE: A view of charred remains on the rooftop of Karol Bagh's Hotel Arpit Palace where a massive fire broke out, in New Delhi. Photograph: Shahbaz Khan/PTI Photo The deceased included three Myanmar nationals and an Indian Revenue Service officer, Suresh Kumar, 52. Two staffers of hotel Arpit Palace also died. Kumar and the hotel cook, Tara Chand, jumped off the building in a desperate bid to escape but died. A 33-year-old Myanmar national, Chan Chan, also jumped off the over 25-year-old structure but survived with a fracture in her leg. WATCH: Massive fire breaks out at Arpit Hotel Prime facie, the cause of the fire was suspected to be a short-circuit, the police and fire officials said. According to hospital authorities at least four others were injured. However, the police said only one other person was injured. The police said that out of 17 people killed, 15 have been identified. Autopsy was conducted on five bodies which were handed over to their families. Initially, the fire officials said a child had died in the blaze but later the police said it was the body of an adult male victim which had charred and shrunk beyond recognition. IMAGE: A massive fire broke out at Hotel Arpit Palace in Delhi's Karol Bagh. Photograph: ANI According to a statement issued by the Kerala government, three of the deceased belonged to the state and three others were from Tamil Nadu. The police said one victim belonged to Gujarat. In a late evening development, the police arrested hotel's general manager Rajender and manager Vikas on the charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. "A case has been registered against the two and the hotel owner who is absconding since the incident," DCP (Central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa told reporters. WATCH: People died due to suffocation, says Delhi HM Satyendar Jain According to the fire department, they received a call at around 4.35 am about the incident following which 24 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. It took nearly four hours for them to douse the fire that had swept through all the floors of the five-storey building which had a terrace kitchen in violation of rules. Flames resurfaced by noon, but were later doused. Dilip Trivedi, 58, a resident of Ahmedabad who came to Delhi for a business deal, had a miraculous escape. "At around 4 am, I heard cries of people shouting for help. When I opened my door, I saw very dense smoke in the corridor area. Then I took my bag and rushed downstairs," said Trivedi who was occupying a room on the first floor of the hotel. IMAGE: A massive fire breaks out in Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh area in New Delhi on Tuesday. Photograph: Shahbaz Khan/PTI Photo Bhupendra Rajput, an eyewitness who helped in rescue operation, said, "We were inside my room at a hotel nearby the incident happened. People were shouting for help and we immediately rushed to the spot." Different agencies pointed out several violations on the part of the hotel's management, including closure of the emergency exit gates at the time of fire, which trapped the victims inside the establishment. The hotel was first granted a licence in October 2005 and was renewed every year. The last renewal was done on May 25, 2018 and was valid till March 31, said an official of North Delhi Municipal Corporation. IMAGE: According to eyewitnesses, most deaths were caused due to suffocation. Photograph: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters "The stamped happened as the stairs were narrow. We pulled them out and helped clear the way for other," Rajput said. The roads were blocked near the spot due to which the fire tenders took time to reach there. The first tender that reached the spot did not have adequate water. If that fire tender had enough water, it would have taken less time to control it, Rajput added. Several politicians, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Union Tourism Minister K J Alphons, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sheila Dikshit and state Bharatiya Janata Party president Manoj Tiwari, visited the spot to take the stock of the situation. IMAGE: A fireman looks out of a window of the hotel where a fire broke out in New Delhi. Photograph: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters According to Alphons, the emergency exit of the hotel was 'too narrow' and also locked. The Delhi government ordered a magisterial probe into the incident and announced Rs 5 lakh for the next of those killed in the fire. IMAGE: NDRF and police officials investigate after a massive fire broke out at Karol Bagh's Arpit Palace hotel. Photograph: Shahbaz Khan/PTI Photo Following the incident, the Aam Aadmi Party government also cancelled an event that was to be held on Tuesday to mark the fourth anniversary of the AAP dispensation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the loss of lives. 'Deeply saddened by the loss of lives due to a fire at Karol Bagh in Delhi. I convey my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives,' he tweeted. WATCH: Fire occurred due to ducting which spread to hotel rooms: Balan Mani, VP, Delhi Hotel Association The hotel had a canopy on its terrace with chairs and tables laid out, indicating that there was an open restaurant operating there, fire officials said, adding that there was wooden panelling in the rooms that could have helped the fire spread. It was a nightmare without end, said Somshekhar, who had come to Delhi from Kerala with his family to attend a wedding Ghaziabad and was staying in the hotel. He lost three members of his family. IMAGE: Survivors leave with their belongings from Karol Baghs Hotel Arpit Palace. Photograph: PTI Photo They were residents of Ernakulam district in Kerala and were getting ready to go to Haridwar when the fire started. "Ten of us were rescued by police and fire teams. We had booked four rooms in the hotel. We were all ready early morning to go to Haridwar when suddenly there was a power cut. They switched on the generator and there was a heavy smoke," he said. IMAGE: A woman cries as she cannot find her relative who was staying in the hotel where the fire broke out. Photograph: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters His sister Jayashree alerted them to the smoke and rushed out to check what was happening, he said. She was later found dead. IMAGE: Family members of the victims who died during Hotel Arpit Palace fire accident, wait outside the mortuary at RML hospital in New Delhi. Photograph: Ravi Choudhary/PTI Photo "The entire pathway was full of smoke. My mother and brother were along with my sister at the time. "I immediately came to the room and opened the room for fresh air and we managed to escape. We were at the second floor of the hotel," he said. February 12, 2019 08:29 IST Nelson Mandela, the hero of South Africas struggle to end apartheid and establish democracy, is being honoured in a new visitor attraction on Londons South Bank. Mandela: The Official Exhibition traces the story of the 20th centurys most iconic freedom fighter and political leader through previously unseen film clips and photographs. It includes artefacts such as one of his hand-printed batik shirts and the ceremonial headdress awarded to Mandela upon his release from prison in 1990. The exhibition is designed to tour the world: after closing in London in June it will go to Paris. Heres a glimpse of what you can expect at the exhibit. A man walks past a graphic of the silhouette of former-South African President Nelson Mandela at a press preview of "Mandela: The Official Exhibition" at 26 Leake Street in London, England. Opened on February 8, the exhibition tells the story of Mandela's life from childhood, through apartheid and prison, and onto his leadership of South Africa. All photographs: Leon Neal/Getty Images A three-piece suit worn by Nelson Mandela for the opening of Parliament in Cape Town on February 9 1996 is seen among photographs and exhibits. A Patek Philippe wristwatch formally owned by Nelson Mandela is seen at a press preview of "Mandela: The Official Exhibition". A sample ballot paper from the 1994 general election in South Africa is featured at the exhibition. A box of "Free Nelson Mandela" badges. A selection of public signs from the apartheid era are in a display case at the installation. An election campaign poster reading "Mandela for President" is seen among exhibits. Mandela: The Official Exhibition has been created with the help and support of the family of Madiba, as he is often referred to. A handwritten letter from Nelson Mandela to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Speaking about the exhibit, Mandela's grandson Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela said, "I can say without the slightest doubt that Madiba would have given his stamp of approval to staging this exhibition in London." Nelson Mandela's United Nations card, from a 2002 visit. After a worldwide tour, the exhibition will be permanently installed in Mvezo, Nelson Mandelas birthplace. The ceremonial leopard-skin headdress, awarded to Nelson Mandela by King Xolilzwe Sigcawu of the Zhosa people. Mandela: The Official Exhibition runs from February 8 to June 2. Last updated on: February 12, 2019 23:01 IST Samajwadi Party workers clashed with police in several parts of Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday after the state government clipped the wings of their president Akhilesh Yadav, preventing him from flying to Allahabad on the grounds of law and order. Photograph: @yadavakhilesh/Twitter Protests broke out in Allahabad, Jaunpur, Jhansi, Kannauj, Balrampur, Jalaun, Azamgarh and Gorakhpur, among other places, where SP supporters smashed windscreens of vehicles and clashed with the police. Roads were blocked in Gorakhpur. Yadav said he was stopped by authorities at the Lucknow airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad, triggering outrage by party lawmakers in the state legislature and workers outside the airport. The issue rocked the Rajya Sabha as SP and other opposition parties protested over the incident, disrupting the proceedings of the House. The matter also caused an uproar in both Houses of the Uttar Pradesh legislature. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told reporters that Yadav's visit could have triggered violence between rival student groups at the university. "The Allahabad University had urged the government to stop his visit and the government acted," he said. As soon as Samajwadi members came to know that Yadav was stopped at the airport, they raised the matter during the Question Hour in the assembly. "The present regime is trying to kill democracy and stop our leader from visiting Allahabad," party leader Narendra Verma alleged. The members also trooped into the Well of the House, prompting Speaker Hriday Narain Dixit to adjourn proceedings for 20 minutes. It was later extended for the entire Question Hour and then for the day. Bahujan Samaj Party leader Lalji Verma also supported the SP members, saying, "There is an anarchic government in the state which wants to suppress the voice of opposition." Responding to the issue, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna said, "The district magistrate informed him (Yadav) not to visit Prayagraj as it could create law and order problems." He alleged SP and BSP members 'throttled democracy by not allowing the House to function'. Amid all this high drama, Yadav kept tweeting that he was 'prevented from boarding the airplane without any written orders'. "Currently detained at Lucknow airport," he claimed. 'It is clear how frightened the government is by the oath ceremony of a student leader. The BJP knows that youth of our great country will not tolerate this injustice anymore!' Yadav tweeted. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said he was to fly to Allahabad from Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport to attend an event at Allahabad University. He posted photographs on his official Twitter handle in which he was seen talking to police officers inside the airport. The issue also generated heat outside the Vidhan Bhavan. Agitated SP workers gathered outside the assembly complex in the heart of Lucknow to protest. Many of them, wearing red caps, also rushed to the airport. IMAGE: Police baton charge Samajwadi Party workers who were blocking a road during a protest over the party chief Akhilesh Yadav's detention, in Allahabad. Photograph: PTI Photo Agitated SP legislators also sat on dharna outside Raj Bhawan against the 'undemocratic behaviour' of the Bharatiya Janata Party government after staging a noisy protest in the UP legislature. They relented when Governor Ram Naik sent a message to them that he would meet their delegation on Wednesday. SP leaders said party MP Dharmendra Yadav was injured in Allahabad in cane charge by the police. Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar said the university administration did not permit any political programme on the campus fearing breach of peace. "Due to Kumbh, there is a huge congregation in Prayagraj. The district administration had intimated the ex-CM's office and Lucknow DM about the university decision," he said. IMAGE: Protests broke out in Allahabad, Jaunpur, Jhansi, Kannauj, Balrampur, Jalaun and Gorakhpur. Photograph: PTI Photo Addressing a hurriedly convened press conference, Yadav alleged that the Centre was 'involved' in stopping him at the airport here and preventing him from flying to Allahabad. "I think the government at the Centre is also involved in stopping me. State police cannot enter airport as its security is in Centre's hand," he claimed. He described Adityanath's comments that his visit could have triggered violence as 'a cover to hide nervousness' and said that stopping him showed how 'scared' the government is. IMAGE: An injured Samajwadi Party worker lying on the road after a police action the party workers who were blocking a road during a protest over the party chief Akhilesh Yadav's detention, in Allahabad. Photograph: PTI Photo In a statement earlier, he said the BJP has lost Uttar Pradesh, 'but more than an election, they have lost the faith that the youth of this country reposed in them'. Extending support to Yadav, BSP chief Mayawati said the incident was extremely condemnable and asked whether the ruling BJP was afraid of their alliance because of which it is 'resorting to anti-democratic methods'. She described the episode as 'an example of total dictatorship of BJP government'. "This is very unfortunate and this undemocratic step will be fought at all levels," she said. "Are the BJP governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh so afraid of BSP-SP alliance that they are resorting to anti-democratic methods to curb our political activities," she asked. The SP and the BSP recently forged an alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Source: Last updated on: February 13, 2019 00:11 IST Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of 'treason' and violating the Official Secrets Act by acting as Anil Ambani's 'middleman' in the Rafale jet contract, citing an email to claim the businessman was aware of the deal days before India and France finalised it. IMAGE: Congress President Rahul Gandhi addressing media at a press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday. Photograph: ANI The Bharatiya Janata Party, however, rejected the charge, saying the email purportedly by an Airbus executive referred to a helicopter deal and not Rafale. Reliance Defence, in a statement, also refuted Gandhi's allegation saying the 'proposed MoU' mentioned in the email referred to its cooperation with Airbus Helicopter. At a press conference, Gandhi released to the media the email dated March 28, 2015, purportedly written by Airbus executive Nicolas Chamussy to three recipients with the subject line 'Ambani'. He claimed the email showed Ambani visited then French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian's office and mentioned an 'MoU in preparation and the intention to sign during the PM visit (to France)'. WATCH: 'CAG report is worthless and I would term it as Chowkidar Auditor General Report' The Congress president asked how Ambani knew about the deal and mentioned it in the French defence minister's office when even then foreign secretary S Jaishankar and then defence minister Manohar Parrikar had no information on it. "This is a breach of the Official Secrets Act. The prime minister who is the only other person who knows about the deal has informed Anil Ambani about the deal. The Prime Minister is acting as Anil Ambani's middleman," Gandhi alleged and called for a criminal investigation into the matter. According to Gandhi, it was earlier an issue of corruption, of procedural inconsistencies but was now a matter related to the Official Secrets Act which he said was 'much more serious'. "This is now treason, nothing less. Mr Narendra Modi is doing what spies do. He is informing somebody of defence matters, he is under oath to protect these secrets. "He has now given this secret to Mr Anil Ambani who knows that the biggest defence deal in the world is going to him 10 days before the deal...this itself is criminal, this itself will put the prime minister in jail," the Congress chief said. Rebutting Gandhi's allegations, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said his party had serious differences with former prime ministers, who came from the Gandhi family, over several 'murky' defence deals signed during their term but had never accused them of treason. IMAGE: Gandhi shows a copy of an e-mail at a press conference. Photograph: ANI "He (Rahul Gandhi) has thrown muck at his own face by abusing our honest prime minister... We will expose his lies before the public," he said. Addressing the press conference, Gandhi also slammed the yet to be tabled Comptroller and Auditor General report on the Rafale deal, and dubbed it 'Chowkidar Auditor General' report. "That CAG report is a worthless report. I would term it as a 'Chowkidar Auditor General Report'. It is Narendra Modi's report, written for the Chowkidar, on behalf of the Chowkidar, for the Chowkidar, by the Chowkidar," he said. He reiterated that there will no doubt in anybody's mind that the prime minister is a 'corrupt man' and he has helped Anil Ambani. Gandhi read out the email at the press conference, quoting it as saying that Ambani visited the defence minister's office and 'told them he intends to work with AH (Airbus Helicopters) on commercial helos and then on defence. Mentioned (an) MoU in preparation and the intention to sign during the PM visit'. "This is an e-mail written by an executive of Airbus where he is clearly stating that Mr Anil Ambani met the Defence Minister of France and told them ten days before the Rafale deal was signed that he was going to get it. Now the Prime Minister of India needs to explain this to people," the Congress chief said. "Why don't you (the government) allow a JPC...you can investigate us as much as you want," he said in response to a question. Asked if the Congress party will file a first information report on the issue of alleged violation of the Official Secrets Act, Gandhi said there are now three axes to the issues -- corruption, procedural and the Official Secrets Act. "So, all these three are going to be investigated," he said without elaborating on the future course of action. On another question that BJP is alleging that the Congress does not respect institutions like the CAG, Gandhi said: "No, We don't say, we don't respect the CAG. "We say that there is so much evidence in Rafale now including this email when Mr Anil Ambani is negotiating on behalf of Mr Narendra Modi. That this stuff needs to be taken in to account in the CAG report and it is obviously not being taken into account." "And we are also saying that the gentleman (Comptroller and Auditor General Rajiv Mehrishi), who is making the CAG report, is part of this decision. So, he cannot possibly give a proper report. We are not questioning the institution of the CAG," Gandhi said.. Source: February 12, 2019 18:45 IST India has signed a contract with a United States firm for 72,400 assault rifles at a cost of around Rs 700 crore, defence ministry officials said on Tuesday. IMAGE: The Sig Sauer Assault Rifles are used by the US forces as well as several other European countries. Photograph: Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters The rifles, being used by US forces as well as several other European countries, are being bought under the fast-track procurement procedure. India has signed the contract for Sig Sauer Assault Rifles with the US under fast track procurement and as part of the agreement, India will get around 72,400 7.62mm rifles from US firm SiG Sauer in one year from this day, the officials said. These new assault rifles will come at a cost of around Rs 700 crore, they said. The Indian Armed Forces are currently equipped with 5.56x45 mm INSAS Rifle. There is an urgent requirement of replacing the in-service 5.56X45 mm INSAS Rifle with a 7.62X51mm Assault Rifle which is compact, robust, modern in technology and simple to maintain in field conditions, the officials said. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had earlier this month approved the procurement of the Sig Sauer rifles, which will be used by troops deployed along the nearly 3,600-km border with China. In October, 2017, the army began the process to acquire around 7 lakh rifles, 44,000 light machine guns and nearly 44,600 carbines. Around 18 months ago, the army had rejected an assault rifle built by the state-run Rifle Factory, Ishapore, after the guns miserably failed the firing tests. Following this, the army started scouting for rifles from the global market. February 12, 2019 10:14 IST 'Priyanka Gandhi play is not only about winning allies and lifting spirits; it's also about cash' IMAGE: All India Congress Committee general secretary of Uttar Pradesh east Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during the Congress general secretaries meet in New Delhi. Photograph: Arun Sharma/PTI Photo It may not be clear as yet how Priyanka Gandhi Vadra joining Congress would impact its electoral fortunes, but it would help the party reduce its funding and resource gaps with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, an influential American foreign policy magazine has said. The Congress Party's newest campaigner may not actually contest elections, but she will likely narrow a funding gap in a country where winning votes costs serious money, Milan Vaishnav from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace wrote in his latest article for the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine. Congress president Rahul Gandhi last month made his sister party's general secretary in-charge of crucial eastern Uttar Pradesh having 40 seats in the Lok Sabha. She made her maiden road show Monday in Lucknow along with her brother. Her formal entry into politics, Vaishnav said, has imparted the much-needed enthusiasm to the party, which lost power in 2014 amid a historic victory of the BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Headed into the 2019 general election, the Congress starts from a position of weakness, he said, adding "reports suggest that Congress state units have been starved of funds from the party high command due to the fiscal crunch. "Priyanka Gandhi's entry into active politics comes at a time when the Congress needs all the help it can get. The party has seen few victories since a disastrous 2014 general election performance, and Gandhi provides a much needed morale boost to the Congress rank-and-file," wrote Vaishnav, co-author of a recent book Costs of Democracy: Political Finance in India. "Just last month, the Congress was unceremoniously excluded from a pivotal opposition alliance in Uttar Pradesh, India's most electorally consequential state. With Priyanka Gandhi heading the Congress party's campaign in eastern Uttar Pradesh -- home to the parliamentary seats of her mother, brother, and Prime Minister Modi of the ruling BJP -- the party may gain new leverage with fellow opposition forces," he said in his write-up. "But the Priyanka Gandhi play is not only about winning allies and lifting spirits; it's also about cash. The party is short of it, and Gandhi substitutes for the political finance that the Congress desperately needs," he said. Stating that "Vadra, unlike Modi, is just a campaigner; there is no indication that she will contest elections herself", he said, "In 2014, the Congress faced three insurmountable deficits - of leadership, ideology, and resources." "There is no short-term fix for the first two, but the third problem just got a little easier, he said, arguing that she would help her party meet the resource crunch and would "partially offset her party's lackluster coffers." "Lacking a sizable advertising budget, the Congress can ensure wall-to-wall television coverage of any event in which Gandhi even remotely figures... in a country where dynastic politicians are often revered as deities," said Viashnav. Vaishnav notes that the Priyanka Gandhi buzz will also challenge the BJP's dominance on social media. In less than 24 hours after joining Twitter, she had more than 13,000 followers. Elaborating upon the role of social media in modern electoral arena, he said Modi had already mastered the social media game, using Twitter and Facebook to circumvent traditional media gatekeepers and communicate directly with his online followers even before 2014. "Five years ago, Rahul Gandhi did not even have a Twitter account to his name," he said. While the Congress has invested heavily in upping its social media presence, it still lags far behind. (Modi currently has 45.4 million Twitter followers to Rahul Gandhi's 8.45 million.) But the same fascination with Gandhi that will suck in traditional media outlets is also likely to catch eyeballs online, Vaishnav said. Will the Priyanka-Gandhi-as-political-finance strategy tip the scales? The arrival of a new Gandhi family member on the political scene will not fix the organisational infirmities that ail the party overnight. But those things that money (or, in this case, Gandhi) can buy have never guaranteed victory: They earn you a seat at the table, concluded the Foreign Policy columnist. February 12, 2019 11:04 IST Personal differences between the two alliance partners, Congress insiders say, are owing to Kumaraswamy's style of functioning. He, unlike his father, is suspected to have a soft corner for the BJP, reports Bibhu Ranjan Mishra. IMAGE: Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy talks with former chief minister Siddaramaiah and other leaders in the House during the first day of the Budget Session of Assembly, at Vidhan Soudha in Bengaluru. Photograph: Shailendra Bhojak/PTI Photo The Bharatiya Janata Party's 'Operation Lotus', which is about enticing MLAs to desert the ruling alliance, has had its knock-on effect. It has succeeded in souring the relations between the partners of the ruling coalition -- the Janata Dal-Secular and the Congress -- and this became evident when a visibly upset chief minister, H D Kumaraswamy, threatened to resign, alleging that the grand old party was not doing enough to stop its legislators from 'crossing the alliance line'. Even H D Deve Gowda, the chief ministers father, says he cannot keep quiet anymore. A few Congress MLAs went public, saying the chief minister was not doing enough to stop legislators from walking over to the BJP side. It's only after Kumaraswamy's intervention that three dissenting Congress MLAs surfaced, junking their hobnobbing with the BJP brass. Relations deteriorated when a few Congress MLAs asked for Siddaramaiah as chief minister. C Puttarangashetty, a Congress leader who is a minister, went to the extent of saying Siddaramaiah was his chief minister. Many junior Congressmen also expressed similar views. All this is happening when the Lok Sabha elections are days away. The JD-S is leaving no stone unturned to display its displeasure with the Congress. According to certain sections, the party may have started giving some sort of signals to the BJP that political equations in the state can change sooner than expected. Kumaraswamys elder brother, H D Revanna, who is also a senior minister in his cabinet, is learnt to have met state BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa a couple of days ago though the meeting has been described as a courtesy call. Despite all these, political analysts are not yet willing to buy the argument that the coalition government is on its way to collapse soon, at least not until there's clarity on who will form the next government at the Centre. "All these will not have much effect on the stability of the government, primarily because both the parties know very well that if the alliance collapses, they will not come back to power again," said Muzaffar Assadi, professor of political science at the University of Mysore. The second reason, he says, is that there is ideological compatibility between the two parties, meaning whatever differences are coming out are personal ones, which can be resolved. The third and the most important factor is both these parties have a common enemy, which is the BJP. Personal differences, Congress insiders say, are owing to Kumaraswamy's style of functioning. He, unlike his father, is suspected to have a soft corner for the BJP. There have been instances where transfers of officials are happening at the behest of the chief minister, without keeping the ally in the loop. In the case of the BJP, there are two adversities. Unlike the previous Lok Saba election, there is clearly not a 'Modi wave' in play, at least in Karnataka; and being bereft of power since 2013, the morale of party workers is low. As far as Yeddyurappa is concerned, says Assadi, "He is losing credibility and control of the party owing to his inability to carry out the 'coup' in the opposition camp". One thing is quite clear, multiple sources in the Congress say. There has been a clear message from party president Rahul Gandhi and it has been communicated to the state leaders: "Dont destabilise the government before the Lok Sabha elections." Source: February 12, 2019 16:29 IST Chhattisgarh Police have cleared Delhi University professor Nandini Sundar, Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Archana Prasad and four others of the charges of murdering a tribal in Sukma district in 2016, for lack of "concrete evidence", an officer said on Tuesday. Police also gave clean chit to activist Vineet Tiwari, Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sanjay Parate, and Manju Kavasi and Mangla Ram Karma, Sukma superintendent of police Jitendra Shukla said. The tribal, identified as Shamnath Baghel, was allegedly killed by naxals with sharp weapons on the night of November 4, 2016 in Nama village under Tongpal police station limits. As per the complaint lodged by Shamnath's wife Bimla, the ultras had accused her husband of disobeying Sundar and five others who are their "well-wishers", a police officer said. The complainant had claimed that Sundar and others had visited Nama village and asked Shamnath to support the naxal cause, the officer said. Based on Bimla's complaint, a case was registered against Maoists, Sundar, Prasad and four others under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 302 (punishment for murder), 450 (house trespass in order to commit offence) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of IPC and the Arms Act, he said. Sundar and others were never arrested. Shukla said a special team led by Sukma Additional Superintendent of Police Shalabh Kumar Sinha was constituted to investigate the murder. "During the investigation, no concrete evidences were found against Sundar and five others. As per the villagers' statements and eye-witnesses, these six were not present at the spot at the time of murder. Hence, because of lack of evidence, we have taken back the charges against them," the SP said. Police are yet to file chargesheet in the case and may file it later this week, he said. Shukla said Sundar and five others are being given a "clean chit", as no evidences were found against them during a probe. "Efforts are on to trace the naxals involved in the incident. The chargesheet in the case will be filed in the court this week," he said. The then BJP government had drawn flak from activists and educationists, after the murder case was registered against Sundar and others. Rights activists had alleged that the then Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) SRP Kalluri was trying to falsely implicate them in various cases. The murder case was later handed over to state Crime Investigation Department. Sundar has welcomed the development. "We are happy that all charges have been dropped. This was a vindictive case that was filed immediately after SPOs (special police officers) were chargehsheeted in Tadmetla incident. An incident in which SRP Kalluri (IPS officer) had also been involved," Sundar said. In Tadmetla area in Bastar, houses of locals were allegedly set ablaze during an anti-Naxal operation in 2011 by police personnel. "We hope that all the other people who are in jail in Chhattisgarh and elsewhere on false charges will also be released soon," she added. February 12, 2019 11:03 IST 'With Taliban rule in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the unemployed jihadis will certainly turn their gaze to India and Kashmir.' 'Despite this imminent danger to national security, defence preparedness does not find a mention in the ongoing electoral campaign,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd). IMAGE: Taliban jihadis in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. Photograph: Parwiz/Reuters As the election season heats up in India, the nation's attention is fixated on internal issues like the economy, jobs etc. All this, while a perfect storm is brewing up in our extended neighbourhood. I am referring to the ongoing talks between the United States and the Afghan Taliban with Pakistan playing the role of facilitator. All indications are that the US would like to end its deployment in Afghanistan and virtually hand over Afghanistan to the Taliban in lieu of an assurance that the Taliban will not permit Al Qaeda-like international terror groups to be based in that country. This would fit perfectly into Donald John Trump's re-election campaign. What better plank than 'Getting the boys home' and ending the longest war fought by the US. Where does that leave India which has spent billions of dollars on Afghan reconstruction? High and dry! In this scenario, with Taliban rule in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the unemployed jihadis nurtured there will certainly turn their gaze to India and Kashmir. Despite this imminent danger to national security, defence preparedness and the repercussions of the Afghan situation on India do not find a mention in the ongoing electoral campaign. As a military historian this does not surprise me. At crucial moments in Indian history, we failed to gauge the threat and did not bury our petty internal quarrels. Jaichand Rathore thought of aligning with Mohammed Ghori rather than compromise with Prithviraj Chauhan to present a united front. At Panipat in 1761, many local rulers failed to join the Marathas and a national cause, thus facilitating Afghan Shah Abdali's victory. Exactly a decade ago, on February 19, 2009, in these very columns I had warned of the dangers of the likely Taliban takeover of Pakistan. We were lucky that Pakistan realised the danger and launched a major operation, Zarb-e-Azb, against the terrorist groups. After the December 16, 2016, attack on the Pakistan army public school in Peshawar in which Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan terrorists killed 132 school children, a national consensus emerged in Pakistan against all terrorist groups. Learning from that experience, Pakistan is likely to be wary of the Taliban turning its gaze towards itself. As an answer to that, what better option than to turn these hordes to Indian Kashmir for a renewed jihad! This will kill the proverbial two birds with one stone. It will keep Pakistan safe from the Taliban threat and also fuel more violence in Kashmir and the rest of India as a part of jihad. Military historians are aware of the lure of the call of jihad. In 1831, Syed Ahmed fought the first Wahabbi jihad at Balakote against the Sikhs. Contemporary British authorities have noted that Syed Ahmed attracted Muslims even from southern Kerala to his cause. The current phase of Kashmir violence has a direct link to the mujahideen's victory in Afghanistan in the early 1990s. The Taliban will surely portray the potential American withdrawal from Afghanistan as a victory. Like the 1990s, this will be a shot in the arm for terrorists in the Kashmir valley as well as elsewhere in India. Currently, Pakistan is under pressure from a two front war situation and therefore circumspect in stoking the fires in Kashmir. But once a Pakistan-friendly Taliban takes over in Afghanistan, it will be emboldened to concentrate its attention on Kashmir. As the Americans withdraw from its Afghan quagmire India will face the brunt. The only country that stands to lose besides India is Iran. Given the Taliban's past, the Shia Hazaras in Afghanistan's western province will face heat. Russia may feel uneasy, but may well work out a deal with the Taliban that it is no longer aligned with the Americans. China may deal with the Taliban in the short term, but will be wary of the Taliban's links to its Muslim rebels in Xinjiang province. We may even see Indian and Chinese interests coinciding in Afghanistan. Whichever way the international equations may develop, India must be prepared for a blowback in Kashmir and the rest of India. February 12, 2019 10:31 IST 'Once the prime minister and the chief ministers of Maharashtra and Haryana pushed for this in 2014 and 2015, we have been trapped in a cycle of violence that gives India a bad name around the world,' says Aakar Patel. Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com So far Pakistan has had three constitutions. All three have one thing in common, and it is the dislike of interest and the modern banking system. The history of this is not particularly Islamic alone. The Old Testament book of Leviticus specifically says that interest should not be charged on loans. Jesus was very angry with money changers and money lenders and threw them out of the temple in Jerusalem. Article 28 of Pakistan's 1956 constitution says that Riba (which is the Arabic word for interest) should be eradicated as early as possible. This feature was carried in all later constitutions, including those written in the terms of president Ayub Khan in the 1960s, prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the 1970s and then modified under president Zia-ul Haq in the 1980s and president Pervez Musharraf in the 2000s. In 1991, the Shariah appellate bench of Pakistan's supreme court decided that interest charged by banks in Pakistan was illegal. In 1999, the court decided it had to implement the order. Of course, interest is at the root of the modern banking system and Pakistan's economy would totally collapse if the order had been passed. But the idea that interest is something wrong that god does not want runs strong in that society. Pakistan was then under the rule of a dictator, Musharraf, and he was able to get the court to back off at that time. But the sentiment remains. In 2015, another bill was prepared to do the same thing. As long as it remains in the constitution, there will always be an attempt by someone to implement it. India has the only non-majoritarian constitution in South Asia, meaning it does not privilege the rights of any one religion or its followers. Article 48 of our Constitution says 'The State shall endeavour to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and shall, in particular, take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter, of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle.' There are two things to note here: First, the assumption that this is a scientific and economic endeavour and not a religious one. Second, that it is all milch cattle, including buffalo. Draught cattle means those that are used to pull ploughs. The wording may be scientific and economic, but, of course, this is a religious act. It has trapped India just like Article 28 has trapped Pakistan. On February 5 it was reported that three Muslim men in Madhya Pradesh had been arrested and booked under the National Security Act for alleged cow slaughter. The NSA allows for preventive detention, meaning that the individuals can be kept in jail without any crime being committed and only on the suspicion that they will in future commit a crime. They can be jailed in this fashion without trial for one year. Some Congress leaders were upset by this and asked if there was any difference between their party and the BJP. When Rahul Gandhi was asked about this he avoided a direct response and said that the Congress would remove RSS people from positions of power. On February 8, it was again reported from Madhya Pradesh that two men, one Hindu and one Muslim, had been arrested and jailed under the NSA, not for cattle slaughter but for its illegal transportation. A few things should be understood here. First, that the Congress does not have full control over its administration and it will be difficult to do what Rahul Gandhi is saying he will do. The change in government will not have the full effect some of us thought it would. The laws exist and the sentiment exists and the officers will act. The fact that they are invoking extreme laws for relatively minor offences is incidental. Once the prime minister and the chief ministers of Maharashtra and Haryana pushed for this in 2014 and 2015, we have been trapped in a cycle of violence that gives India a bad name around the world. It will be difficult to get out of this and we should all worry because we come across on this subject as unhinged and fanatical. Most Indians including judges do not take the scientific and economic reading of Article 48. It is a religious reading and therefore prone to provoke religious sentiment and rioting and therefore worthy of the NSA. We cannot use the argument that the scientific and economic principles have outlived themselves or that farmers themselves are suffering, as we are seeing with recent reports of stray cattle. Our judges have held that even old cows are economically productive because they give dung. Just like in Pakistan, we will have to live with this element of extremism forever. For us it is the sword of vigilantism and state tyranny on the weak, while Pakistan's sacred cow is the ban on bank interest. Aakar Patel -- winner of the 2018 Prem Bhatia Award for Political Reporting -- is Executive Director, Amnesty International India. The views expressed here are his own. February 12, 2019 15:56 IST US, the largest market for Indian shrimp exporters, is peeved over the use of banned antibiotics. Barely a month after bringing shrimp under the purview of the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cracked down on Indian shrimp shipments for use of banned antibiotics. The US is the largest market for Indian shrimp exporters and account for about 32 per cent of total seafood exports from the country. Last month (in January), the FDA refused 26 shrimp entry lines for reasons related to banned antibiotics. "All 26 were of shrimps shipped from India. These (26) entry lines represented 14.9 per cent of the 175 total seafood entry lines refused in January 2019, said the Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA), a US-based body of shrimp fishermen and processors. Notably, the number of rejections in the first month of the calendar year is a tad less than the 27 Indian shipments rejected by the FDA in 2017 and 2018 put together. It is also equal to the total number of shrimp entry lines refused for reasons related to banned antibiotics in all of 2006. The 26 shrimp entry lines refused last month is roughly half of the total shrimp entry lines refused for reasons related to banned antibiotics in all of 2018. "They represent the highest total number of shrimp entry lines refused for reasons related to banned antibiotics since August 2016, when the FDA refused 35 shrimp entry lines for antibiotics, of which 24 were from India, the SSA added. In 2017 and 2018, Indian shrimp accounted for one out of every five entry lines of shrimp refused for banned antibiotics (27 out of 108). The rejections may be due to the unpreparednesss of Indian exporters to send the shrimp consignments to the US after the implementation of SIMP since January 1, 2019, that comes with a detailed documentation process. "The US FDA may have refused the entry of shipments due to the SIMP under the pretext of use of banned antibiotics, said an Indian exporter. SIMP mandates stringent data requirements to trace the entire supply chain of seafood from the point of harvest to the point of entry into the US. Shrimp sourced from India accounts for more than one out of every three pounds of shrimp imported into the US. Photograph: PTI Photo February 12, 2019 16:56 IST The circular says even a days delay in servicing loans would be now taken as a default. And once in default, for loans above Rs 2,000 crore, the banks will have to arrive at a resolution within 180 days, else lenders will have to file an application under the IBC within 15 days. The stringent Reserve Bank of India circular that was issued on February 12 last year and which imposed tough loan conditions on lenders has hit hard infrastructure and power companies. The circular prohibited loan restructuring and asked banks to declare a company a non-performing asset (NPA) even if there was a days delay in loan repayment. Though bankers said the circular helped them to rein in erring promoters, chief executive officers are waiting for the Supreme Court, which is slated to hear petitions filed against the circular, to give them a reprieve. Several companies including Anil Ambanis Reliance Communications filed for bankruptcy protection, citing the February 12 circular, which mandated that 100 per cent of lenders must agree to loan restructuring in a company. The circular said banks must make 100 per cent provision if they agree to any loan recast. In most cases, there is no consensus among lenders on loan restructuring. This has led to many companies becoming NPAs. "Companies in the infrastructure sector are specially hit because dues from the government are late in coming. "The RBI circular tends to punish the companies which are awaiting dues from the government, said the chief financial officer (CFO) of a large company. On February 1 this year, RCom said lack of 100 per cent approvals and consensus, as mandated by the RBIs circular on all important issues, among over 40 lenders, Indian and foreign, led to the company filing for bankruptcy for its loans of Rs 45,000 crore. The company did not pay any dues to banks since June 2017 after it entered a standstill agreement with them. The power producer association moved the Supreme Court against the circular. Most power projects were hit due to reasons such as non-availability of coal and a proper power purchase agreement. In October last year, the Supreme Court cleared a plan by three Gujarat based power producers -- Adani Power, Tata Power and Essar Power to re-negotiate their power purchase agreements (PPAs) after lenders including the State Bank of India submitted that these projects have become unviable due to a change in the Indonesia coal export regulations. During the hearing, Indian lenders, who have filed debt recovery suits under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code against 977 companies in the past two years, have said the three Gujarat-based loss-making power projects - Coastal Gujarat Power in Mundra, Adani Power Mundra and Essar Power - should be revived with some efforts by all stakeholders and not become insolvent. The RBI must dilute the circular. Already thousands of jobs are gone as companies have shut down due to lack of funds, said the CFO of another power company. Bankers, on the other hand, said the February 12 circular has brought in a lot of discipline among borrowers and lenders. According to Rajnish Kumar, chairman of State Bank of India, the countrys largest lender, the insolvency and bankruptcy law, along with the circular, has made sure erring promoters now come to the table to negotiate. The government wanted the RBI to provide some relaxation in the circular, at least for the power companies. Some banks also requested the RBI to relax the norms fearing further pile up in bad debt. Gross NPAs of public sector banks stood at Rs 8.45 trillion at the end of March 2018. By September, they fell to Rs 8.26 trillion and 10.8 per cent of advances for the system as a whole. It is a very good circular, and no major dilution is needed. It set a clear cut boundary line, and gave full freedom to banks, said V G Kannan, CEO of the Indian Banks Association (IBA). Prakash Agarwal, director and head of financial institutions at India Ratings and Research, said: Because of the circular, a loan has now assumed the character of a capital market, where due dates are sacrosanct. "This discipline will help the market in the long run, while all the technical difficulties should be sorted out as we move along. What did the circular say? On February 12, 2018, the RBI released a notification which would change the banking landscape in India and alter the way borrowers and lenders behaved. Resolution of Stressed Assets Revised Framework, now better known as the February 12 circular of the central bank, said even a days delay in servicing loans would be now taken as a default. And once in default, for loans above Rs 2,000 crore, the banks will have to arrive at a resolution within 180 days. If a resolution plan is not arrived at within the stipulated time, lenders will have to file an application under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code within 15 days. In short, the business would be up for sale if the company doesnt pay on time. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters February 12, 2019 13:03 IST With telecom disruptor Reliance Jio not raising tariffs, incumbents Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are focusing on the minimum monthly recharge and higher first recharge offers to ensure they retain only loyal and revenue-incremental subscribers, reports Romita Majumdar. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters Incumbent telecom services providers are turning gatekeepers to keep out low-revenue subscribers after they witnessed some growth in the average revenue per user (ARPU) through minimum monthly recharge plans. With telecom disruptor Reliance Jio not raising tariffs, incumbents Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are focusing on the minimum monthly recharge and higher first recharge offers to ensure they retain only loyal and revenue-incremental subscribers. During the December quarter earnings call, Vodafone Idea's management said that instead of having multiple offers across 22 circles for new SIM cards, they had created a common acquisition plan at Rs 76. This means that the existing customers get a better deal than the new ones. Bharti Airtel introduced a similar plan last month at the exact same price point across some circles. Sources said both Idea and Vodafone India had launched the Rs 76 first recharge plans before their merger last year, but this was the first time the management discussed it. Analysts see the development as a move to ensure a greater subscriber identity module (SIM) consolidation as users are forced to spend a bulk amount on at least one SIM card. If a new Vodafone Idea customer wants to get a similar deal, they must buy a SIM card at Rs 76. "It creates better loyalty with the existing base and stops the population of low-quality acquisitions and, therefore, higher churn. "So we are kind of arresting the high-growth, high-churn model to bring it down to a better base management, as also a better management of the cost of acquisitions," said Balesh Sharma, CEO, Vodafone Idea. Both Airtel and Vodafone reported a slight jump in their ARPU in the December quarter after almost two years of constant decline since Reliance Jio's entry. The ARPU growth, while facilitated by monthly minimum recharge plans, resulted in an exodus of almost 83.6 million low-end subscribers from the two incumbents combined. While Jio witnessed a slight dip in ARPU, the telco added 28 million subscribers. "The company (VIL) indicated that subscriber churn on SIM consolidation and minimum recharge will continue in Q4FY19 also. "However, it indicated that the exited customers had extremely low ARPU (high single digit). "Therefore, residual ARPU would be higher," noted Bhupendra Tiwary, analyst, ICICI Securities. While analysts have cheered Vodafone Idea's robust 4G subscriber addition, there have still been concerns about the growth of its 4G base, which is slower than rivals. Over the past two months, the two incumbents have introduced almost similar plans at comparable price points as they inch the market towards gradual tariff hike. Airtel has introduced this plan even as the management (and analysts) has given up the hope of organic tariff growth until Jio decides to raise tariffs. "We believe that we are only about 750 million to 800 million unique mobile customers in India and a small proportion of these customers contributed the bulk of the industry revenues. "And this is where our focus will be, serving high-quality customers. "Hence, from last quarter, we launched minimum ARPU plans to ensure that every customer who stays on the network gives us a minimum commitment," said Nilanjan Roy, global CFO, Bharti Airtel, during the Q3 earnings call. Airtel declined to comment on queries regarding the strategy behind the higher first recharge plans. Jio has continued to keep its ARPU in Rs 130-135 range over the past few quarters due to high traction across the Rs 99 and Rs 149 plans. In December, both Vodafone Idea and Airtel made changes to their flagship Rs 399 plan while increasing prices of 28-day validity plan. The higher validity of Rs 399 recharge plan narrows the price gap with Jio. The incumbents are, however, trying to expand the penetration of 4G in their subscriber base as they take their 4G network to the hinterland of India. Source: February 12, 2019 18:26 IST "We are concerned about the data localisation law and the new e-commerce regulations...they do not fully take into account the needs of all stakeholders, including American and other foreign companies," acting principal deputy assistant secretary of the US, Thomas Vajda said. Ilustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com Washington has expressed concerns over the new policy measures on data localisation and restricting e-commerce play by foreign companies, exhorting New Delhi to consult all key stakeholders before making any such move. It is in everybody's interest to have an open and transparent business environment, the acting principal deputy assistant secretary of the US, Thomas Vajda, told reporters in Mumbai on Tuesday. "We are concerned about the data localisation law and the new e-commerce regulations...they do not fully take into account the needs of all stakeholders, including American and other foreign companies," the visiting diplomat said. "It is in India's interest when it undertakes these new policies to reach out to all stakeholders and think very carefully about the impact on the overall business environment," he said. The comments come amid a slew of regulations, especially in the financial sector, which are require data localisation, which has been criticised as contrary to the spirit of globalisation and the evolution in technology where everything is going on to the cloud. Richest Indian Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries having interests in telecommunications and commerce, has strongly pitched for data localisation. The Modi government, facing national elections soon, has also put restrictions on e-commerce firms like Amazon and Flipkart on the goods that they sell on the platform to ensure that the sellers are not owned by them, which along with an 'angel tax' has impacted the flourishing start-up ecosystem. The new FDI rules in the e-commerce space have been flayed as to placate the electorally powerful petty traders. The new rules came within months of the US retail giant Walmart picking up a controlling 77 per cent in the largest homegrown ecommerce major Flipkart for $16 billion, making it the single largest FDI ever into the country. Vajda said it is "important" to have a sound enabling environment for both "foreign direct investment and foreign commercial activity" and added Washington is willing to work with New Delhi on matters like these. The US has created a USD 60-billion fund which will take equity interests, offer technological assistance and also extend political risk insurance to firms in the Indo-Pacific region, Vajda said. Making clear that the US will not match China for every dollar spent in the strategically important region, Vajda said Beijing's investments or other assistance has to keep up with standards as laid out by the Asian Development Bank or the World Bank. Pointing out to "predatory and coercive" play by Beijing, he cited a project in Sri Lanka which was not commercially feasible and will eventually "erode" the island nation's sovereignty. He said the US has tied up with India, Japan and Australia for developing the Indo-Pacific region. Peaceful resolution of disputes, freedom of navigation, open and transparent business environment and strong governing institutions are the important aspects which the partnership is vying for, Vajda said, adding the idea is to push private sector-led growth in the region. Vajda said he was in the financial capital to speak with Indian and American companies about the strategy and see how they can tap into the opportunities that will be created. Vajda declined to comment on H1-B visa row and talent management issues faced by Indian companies in the US, pointing out that this is not in his remit. On the sanctions against Iran, he said a few countries, including India, were allowed to time by the US to reduce their oil imports and two of them have gone to zero already, making it clear that others will also have to emulate the same. February 12, 2019 08:45 IST Three key instruments that can help you meet your financial goals while also allowing you to enjoy tax deductions are ELSS, term cover and health cover, says Sanjay Kumar Singh. Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com As your office asks you to submit proof of the investments you have made to enjoy tax benefits in this financial year. Three key instruments that can help you meet your financial goals, while also allowing you to enjoy tax deductions (and regarding which we have received the maximum number of queries from readers) are equity-linked saving schemes (ELSS), term cover and health cover. With so many mutual fund houses and insurance companies hawking their products, making the right choice can be difficult. In this article, we focus on some of the key criteria you should employ when selecting these products. ELSS funds Tax deduction on ELSS is available under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. The fundamental advantage ELSS offers is that since it is an equity-oriented product, it has the potential to deliver higher returns over longer time periods than fixed income instruments that also offer tax benefit. It also has a shorter lock-in of three years compared to other products. If you leave the money invested even after the lock-in gets over, ELSS can prove a good vehicle for long-term wealth creation. The 10-year average compounded annual return of this category is 17.63%. But with 42 ELSS funds available, making the right choice can be difficult. One way to narrow the field is to select from funds that have at least a 7 to 10 year track record. "Look at calendar year returns over the long term," says P V K Mohan, head-equity, Principal Mutual Fund. "Go for a fund that has consistently beaten its benchmark over the past seven years, or done so a higher number of times," Mohan adds. Rolling returns (which most financial advisors go by) are another good way to select quality funds (please see table below: Top funds by rolling returns). "Avoid the mistake of selecting a fund that has been last year's best performer, or has done well in the recent past," says Deepesh Raghaw, founder, PersonalFinancePlan.in, a Sebi-registered investment advisor. He prefers funds that have a lower turnover ratio (where the fund manager churns the portfolios less). ELSS funds could be large- or multi-cap oriented. If you already have a high percentage of large-cap funds in your portfolio, go for an ELSS fund that is multi-cap oriented, or vice-versa," adds Mohan. Health insurance You get get tax deduction under Section 80D on the premium paid on health insurance for yourself, your spouse, dependent children and parents. The deduction is limited to Rs 25,000 a year on the premium paid for self and family. If you are a senior citizen (more than 60 years of age), you can claim a deduction of up to Rs 50,000. "A person can also claim the deduction of Rs 25,000 if s/he pays the premium for her/his parents whose age is not more than 60 years," says Archit Gupta, founder & CEO, ClearTax. "If her/his parents are senior citizens then s/he can claim Rs 50,000 under Section 80D. Thus, one can claim a tax deduction of Rs 50,000 on the premium paid for self, spouse, dependent children and parents who are not more than 60 years old," adds Gupta. "The tax deduction can go up to Rs 75,000 if the premium paid includes the amount paid for senior citizen parents." How much health insurance cover you buy should depend on the number of members in your family. "If you are a 25-year-old bachelor, you may buy a sum insured of Rs 3 lakh for yourself. On the other hand, someone who is 35 and has both dependent children and parents may need to buy a higher sum insured of, say, Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh," says Arvind Laddha, deputy chief executive officer, JLT Independent Insurance Brokers. "Senior citizens (husband and wife) may buy a cover of Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, going up to Rs 10 lakh," Laddha adds. During the past few years, the cost of health cover for senior citizens has gone through the roof, so affordability has become an issue for them. Those living in metros need to get a higher coverage than those living in tier-II or III cities. If there is a family history of cardiac ailments, cancer, etc, such people too need to buy a higher sum insured. Buy according to your need and not just by the amount of tax deduction you get. When selecting a policy, try to avoid those that come with restrictions. The most important is room rent cap. If the cap on room rent is one per cent of sum insured, make sure you buy sufficient cover so that you can get a single room (if that is what you would like) in the type of hospital you would like to go to. "Policy buyers should also try to avoid policies that have a cap on the treatment of specific diseases and co-payment requirements. Prefer a policy with a lower waiting period," adds Laddha. Make sure that the hospitals you are likely to go to are included in the list of the insurer's network of hospitals. Brokers like Secure Now offer ratings of health plans which you may consult. Term insurance The premium for your term cover also allows you to get tax deduction under Section 80C. Go by the following rule when deciding how much insurance you need: your family's net worth plus life sum insured should be adequate to take care of financial goals, square off liabilities, and meet expenses. It should be enough so that the family's lifestyle does not get compromised in case something happens to the breadwinner. "A wise move is to buy a term insurance policy at an early age, when premiums are low, that provides coverage for a longer duration," says Mahavir Chopra, director-health, life and strategic initiatives, Coverfox.com. Laddha suggests going with a strong and credible brand. "Insurance is a long-term, 20-30 year contract. Going with a strong brand will ensure that the insurer will still be around when the need arises," he says. To ensure that you get a good premium rate, Chopra suggests comparing quotes online and then selecting a cover that fulfils the criteria you are looking for. Some of the riders you may consider including in the base policy are waiver of premium, accidental death, accidental disability and critical illness. HDFC LTAF: HDFC Long Term Adv Fund(G) PTSF: Principal Tax Savings Fund Aditya Birla STFG: Aditya Birla SL Tax Plan(G) Aditya Birla STR96: Aditya Birla SL Tax Relief '96(ELSS U/S 80C of IT ACT)(G) Invesco ITPG: Invesco India Tax Plan(G) IDFC TAFRG: IDFC Tax Advt(ELSS) Fund-Reg(G) DSP TSFRG: DSP Tax Saver Fund-Reg(G) Axis LTEFG: Axis Long Term Equity Fund(G) Note: Of the 42 ELSS funds, we selected top 20 by Sharpe ratio (a measure of risk-adjusted return). From them, we selected the top seven by rolling returns. Rolling returns were calculated for 3-year returns at one month periodicity over a five-year period. We got 43 data points (not 60, due to market closure and other issues). The data in the third column shows the percentage of times a fund beat its benchmark. Source: Ace Mutual Fund February 12, 2019 10:53 IST The decision to scrap the plan for landless workers and focus only on small and marginal farmers was made as there was no proper method to find out who qualify as landless labourers. Photograph: Reuters The Narendra Modi government had intended the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) -- its latest flagship scheme -- as a minimum income guarantee programme for all farm sector workers, whether they hold land or not. The plan was scrapped as the Centre realised it will be difficult to identify landless farmers. Officials involved with 2019-20 interim Budget told Business Standard that discussions on an income or price support scheme for an ailing agricultural sector started around August 2018. Initially, the discussion was held among central government departments, including the Prime Ministers Office, finance ministry and Niti Aayog. Then, discussions widened to include agricultural experts, economists and other stakeholders. The decision to scrap the plan for landless workers and focus only on small and marginal farmers was made as there was no proper method to find out who qualify as landless labourers, an official said. The discussions centred around whether it will be for all and if everyone will be included to make it a sector-specific minimum income guarantee programme, or will it be for small and marginal farmers, the official said. As reported earlier, various models were discussed, including income support scheme and price support scheme. The official said a price support scheme, on the lines of Bhawantar of the Madhya Pradesh government, gained backers in the government. The Centre was even considering a retrospective price support scheme, wherein farmers would be paid the difference between the minimum support price and the market price for a produce, not only for the current season, but also for a few past seasons. This plan was also deemed unworkable. Finally, on February 1, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal announced an income support scheme, wherein small and marginal farmers will be provided an additional Rs 6,000 per annum. A small or marginal farmer family is defined as a family comprising husband, wife, and minor children, who collectively own cultivable land up to 2 hectare, according to the land records. The interim Budget allocated Rs 75,000 crore for the scheme for 2019-20. Further, Rs 20,000 crore has been allocated in the revised estimates of 2018-19. An unidentified University of Georgia fraternity has been suspended after a video of unidentified members using racial slurs went viral, according to a statement issued by the Student Government Association on March 22. While the name of the fraternity has not yet been confirmed, the members are widely suspected to be in Tau Kappa Epsilon. Four finalists will be publicly addressing University of Georgia students, faculty and staff over the next two weeks as part of the interview process to replace former UGA provost Pamela Whitten, the importance of a university provost may not be immediately obvious. What exactly does the provost do, and why should you care about this decision? Shreya Tailor, a senior public heath major and a member of the executive board for Camp Kesem at the University of Georgia from Johns Creek, Georgia, helps clean up after the second annual Vermonster Challenge outside of Ben and Jerrys on Tuesday, September 25, 2018, in Athens, Georgia. The second annual Vermonster challenge, hosted by the University of Georgias Camp Kesem, boasted 19 teams of four to five people competing to eat an ice-cream sundae bucket the fastest. Camp Kesem is a nationwide organization that helps children that have a parent who has cancer. (Photo/Miranda Daniel, mirandadanielphoto@gmail.com) The re-zoning requests drew questions from citizens on the amount of affordable housing in Athens, which has become an increasingly important issue, affecting lower-income communities and communities of color. Citizens also raised concerns about crime in East Athens, especially due to recent strings of murder and armed robbery. Beaumont High School recognizes its Top 10 graduating seniors of the Class of 2021. They will celebrate their accolades at their in-person commencement on June 4. While the final grades have not all been compiled and grade point averages could shift slightly these were the class standing Porterville Military Academy Principal Doug Imhels (left) is joined by two cadets and the creators of the STEMPilot flight simulator during a demonstration MOnday, Feb. 11 at PMA. Traverse City, MI (49684) Today Rain and scattered thunderstorms for the afternoon. High near 75F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%.. Tonight Variably cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. Low 66F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Theres a strong argument to be made that the Springfield XD is a cult classic sort of pistol. The people who like it love it. Everyone else wants to know if they can get vaccinated so they dont catch one by accident. But thats not going to stop us from talking about them. (After all, we once reviewed a Hi-Point pistol and a Surgeon rifle in the same issue.) We believe that part of the joy of buying a new gun is its aftermarket options. Just when your family thought you were done spending money, the Pandoras Box of upgrades and accessories is only a couple of clicks away. Unfortunately, this is one area where XD owners, particularly those who hold pre-XD(M) legacy models, get left almost entirely in the dust. Almost. Here we showcase the offerings of two companies in particular who havent forgotten about the XD tribe. We took a bone stock, early gen XD 45 and did just about everything we could to it to bring it up-to-par with todays tricked out plastic pistols. SWITCHES AND BUTTONS: Powder River Precision Powder River Precision has been in the XD game for a while, and their replacement fire control parts reflect a level of refinement that comes with time. We used three key components from them: their Ultimate Match trigger kit, extended mag release and extended grip safety. Their Ultimate Match trigger is a full overhaul for your XD trigger, including springs, sear and trigger shoe. The trigger itself has an over-travel stop built into the back of it. The folks at Powder River claim that this method of over-travel control avoids stresses on the trigger bar. It does create an instant, hard stop almost immediately after the break. The whole package is advertised to produce a short, crisp trigger that breaks between 3.5 and 4 pounds. Our experience, while positive, did not mirror that exactly. Our Lyman digital gauge clocked the trigger break at just shy of 5 pounds, putting it squarely in the realm of an enhanced duty trigger. And if you do want to shoot competition with this trigger, it is USPSA Production Division legal. The break on this trigger took a little getting used to for is. Many aftermarket striker triggers are built with a loose first stage that hits a hard wall before an audible, tree-branch-snapping break. The Powder River XD trigger feels more like a 3-gun AR trigger. There are no defined stages, just a gradually increasing pressure that builds, builds, builds and then releases just as the trigger hits its over-travel stop. The reset is about an eighth of an inch, with a distinct click when you get there. The Powder River extended magazine release is CNC machined out of steel and textured with a bullseye type pattern. It is available in two lengths .100 inches and .150 inches. We selected the smaller of the two, more convenient than the OEM button but not big enough that we ever hit it by accident. Their grip safety takes one of the most hotly contested parts of the XD and, if nothing else, gives it a nice facelift and some enhanced functionality. It, too, is machined from steel and features a deeply swept top and a prominent humped bottom with tactile ridges. It gives the distinct impression of being modeled off of an Ed Brown 1911 grip safety which, if youre going to have a grip safety, thats one of the nicer ones to cue off of. Compared to the OEM grip safety, the Powder River unit registers positively in the palm when you close your hand around the pistol and snaps spritely back into place when you release it. All in all, the trifecta of parts we selected from Powder River made all of the XDs controls smoother and more responsive to shooter input. THE HOOD, AND WHATS UNDER IT: Robar Industries The Robar name should be no stranger to veteran RECOIL readers. Theyve taken on a number of unconventional projects for us in the past, and continue to prove their versatility and consistency with their work on our test bed XD 45. For Glocks, M&Ps SIG 320s and even CZ P10s, the stable of grip-shapers and slide-cutters seems to be ever expanding. Notably absent from social media are the droves of machinists, sanders, and stipplers showing off their Springfield XD enhancement suites. Alas, youd be hard pressed to find snaps, grams or posts of this Croatian-born ugly duckling with a windowed slide, fluted gold nitride barrel or dimpled grips. Were not saying Robar is the only shop that will do these things on an XD, but it seems to be a small club. Robar started with their signature grip texturing, and what they call a high grip modification a pair of undercuts to the trigger guard and top of the back strap respectively to allow the gun to sit deeper in the hand. Then they added a complete re-finish job. The barrel, accent parts and internals are all coated in their signature NP3. For the uninitiated, NP3 is an electroless nickel base that is enhanced through the addition of PTFE (Teflon). When applied to the working parts of a firearm, there are two advantages: first, NP3 imparts a dry lubricity to metal surfaces. This does not replace the need for lubrication, but it will enhance the effects of weapon lube while also being less hindered by particulate debris like sand or lint. The other benefit is ease of cleaning. The after photos you see here were taken after approximately 500 rounds through this gun. The only thing we used to clean it before taking the pictures was a dry paper towel and the bottom edge of the t-shirt we were wearing. The slide was coated with Robars newest finish offering, known as ArmorLube. Opposed to NP3s nickel base, ArmorLube is carbon-based and offers a natural graphitic lubricity and extremely low coefficient of friction less than 0.08 this, according to a presser on Robars website. It can be applied in thinner layers than even NP3 while still providing the same enhanced reliability and ease of maintenance in a matte black finish. Springfield Armorys XD family of pistols, to include the XD Mod 2, XD(M), XD-S and XD-E, provide someniche optionsin the striker fired pistol market options like thumb safeties, grip safeties, and grip zones. But theyre not illegitimate or wholly unworthy guns. They, like their 9mm and .40 caliber counterparts from Germany, Austria or Czech Republic, deserve a shot at refinement or enhancement. While those opportunities may not be quite as easy to find, they do exist. Hopefully this gives you a jumping off point to explore some options to make your XD truly your own. , We're sorry, this article is not currently available After Donald Trump torched their firewall two years ago, Democrats started sifting through the ashes of the Clinton campaign for answers in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Now a voice is calling out of that Midwest wilderness with a plan to return the party to the White House. With his gravelly delivery and his progressive retail politics, Sherrod Brown declares a gospel of liberal economic populism. In early voting states, the Ohio senator has been spreading his message about the dignity of work. "I want to continue to learn about the dignity of work whether you swipe a card, whether you punch a clock, whether you work for tips, whether you work on salary, whether you're taking care of kids, Brown recently told MSNBCs Chris Hayes. "It's the best way to govern, fighting for the dignity of work, and it's the best way to win elections. The tour has taken Brown from Iowa to New Hampshire, with future stops planned in Nevada and South Carolina. The progressive politician will decide in those states whether to run for president. At least publicly, Brown is undecided. He told reporters in Manchester, Its pretty much a 50-50. Liberal strategists have run the numbers, though, and they are confident the way back to the Oval Office is wide open. Conveniently for Brown, it runs through the Midwest. All a Democrat has to do is take back the former blue wall states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, and they win, said Matt Bennett, a presidential campaign veteran, Clinton administration aide, and senior vice president of the centrist Third Way think tank. There is no way a Hillary state is going to decide Trump has been great, so lets go with him, Bennett told RealClearPolitics. So you can put the Clinton states in the bank; get those three others back and youre president. Politicos like Nate Silver agree. The editor of the FiveThirtyEight blog called the track that Bennett described the path of least resistance for Democrats to retake the White House. Brown has cut a familiar figure since coming to Congress in 1993. Capitol Hill reporters know the former congressman and three-term senator by his unkempt hair, the union-made suits he wears, and the progressive talking points he delivers in a blunt blue-collar cadence. Brown only became a national figure after winning decisively last November in a state where Democrats had two years earlier lost disastrously. Clinton collapsed in the heartland, losing Ohio to Trump by more than eight percentage points. Brown not only kept his Senate seat in 2018, he won by nearly seven points with a working-class platform on trade, tax policy, and health care. If the rest of the Midwest is anything like Ohio, goes the conventional wisdom, then that progressive good news can carry Democrats in 2020. But the message will take a messenger who can actually talk to Rust Belt workers, warned Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley. We cant just have people from the coasts with this progressive message. It has to be something baked into the middle of the country too, said Whaley, who formed an outside group last December to urge Brown to run for president. Progressives all have the same positions, Whaley asserted during an interview with RealClearPolitics. But the distinction, she explained, is that Brown talks in a different way and to different people than those other candidates can reach. She imagines a conversation that is a lot more about wages, a lot more about work than about social programs in some Scandinavian country. I think its important that our candidate for president is able to talk to the entire country. This is a race for who is going to be the communicator-in-chief. Whaley doesnt mention other progressives by name -- superstars such as Sens. Bernie Sanders, who made democratic socialism politically palatable, and Elizabeth Warren, who officially launched her presidential campaign last Saturday. But those two threaten to jostle Brown out of the progressive lane before the primaries begin a year from now. I put my record up against anybody for fighting for workers, Brown told reporters on Saturday when asked if there was room for another progressive populist in the growing Democratic field. Ive been a progressive populist my whole career, he continued, Ive fought for the dignity of work. Its who I am. Labor has been Browns political bread and butter. Hes regularly railed against free trade agreements, pushed for tariffs on foreign steel, and condemned the Chinese for manipulating their currency. Brown made a career out of these issues while Trump was still telling celebrities, Youre fired on prime-time television. This makes Brown somewhat unique among his better-known brethren. He is addressing a crisis of opportunity, Bennet said. It has become too hard in places like Ohio to secure a middle-class life through work, even for people who desperately want to. Thats a very different problem to solve than corporate greed leading to inequality or failure of government to provide, the strategist continued, comparing the Ohio senator to Warren, who has made attacks against Wall Street her M.O., and Sanders, who first popularized Medicare for All. Supporters seem certain Brown is well equipped to win back Middle America for Democrats during a general election. Whether primary voters are willing to accept a Rust Belt savior remains to be seen. Looking at the potential 2020 field from the outside, venture capitalist and conservative author J.D. Vance told RCP that Brown is one of the candidates who scares me the most. Vance, who briefly flirted with running for Senate in the Buckeye State, believes Brown has the potential to become a Midwestern juggernaut in a general election. He just has to get there first. Because of Browns blue-collar-friendly policies, Vance expects he could win the support of labor and, in the process, provide a national barometer of the political strength of unions. But there might not be much muscle left to flex. As Vance notes, membership in private-sector unions has fallen to just 6.4 percent nationally. And Vance wondered whether the party would ever again accept any candidate who cares more about jobs than transgender bathrooms. The Ohio Republican believes that the loudest voices on the left come from coastal progressives, activists who place a premium on social issues over the economic concerns of their fellow citizens in fly-over country. I dont think that most coastal Democrats care enough or have enough empathy for whats going on in the heartland to turn it into a font of Democratic votes, Vance said. Like the rest of the Democrats currently lining up to run for president, Sen. Sherrod Brown thinks climate change represents a serious threat. Unlike the rest of that field, the Ohio progressive refuses to endorse the Green New Deal. I dont need to co-sponsor every bill that others think they need to co-sponsor to show my progressive politics, Brown told reporters at a breakfast Tuesday sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. I want to get something done for people now. Thanks to a precocious freshman in the House and a provocative majority leader in the Senate, Brown might not have a choice. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been pushing the climate change legislation almost as long as she has been snapping Instagram photos from Capitol Hill. The social media-savvy millennial forced the issue last week when she unveiled a series of proposals intended to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Senators with presidential ambitions rushed to describe the plan from the New York Democrat in glowing superlatives. Sen. Kamala Harris of California co-sponsored the resolution, praising it as a "bold plan" to address an "existential threat to our nation, then fired off an email to fund-raise off of the issue. "Doing nothing is not an option right now because our planet really is in peril," a similarly impressed Sen. Cory Booker told voters in Iowa. According to the New Jersey Democrat, the Green New Deal is a bold idea. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar also endorsed the Green New Deal. Both launched their presidential campaigns over the weekend. Sherrod Brown didnt joint them. If he seeks the presidency and is elected, he told reporters, he would bring the United States back into the Paris Climate Agreement that President Trump walked away from and he said the U.S. should aggressively address climate change. All the same, he wont join his potential presidential competitors in endorsing a far-ranging set of goals price tag unknown designed to eliminate fossil fuel emissions in a decade. There will be all kinds of bills sponsored by individual presidential candidates, Brown said in an oblique reference to Ocasio-Cortezs legislation. Im not going to take a position on every bill thats coming out. Such reluctance might stem in part from the fact that the 66-year-old Brown comes from the manufacturing Midwest where industry often views environmental protections as costly regulation. It could also reflect a strategic calculation. The rollout of the Green New Deal was less than flawless. When 29-year-old Ocasio-Cortez unveiled her measure Thursday, nearly 70 House Democrats and 11 Senate Democrats rushed to sign on as co-sponsors. A FAQ sheet distributed by the congresswomans office, however, differed substantially from the underlying legislative proposal. According to the explainer, the Green New Deal calls for fully rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, restoring our natural ecosystems, dramatically expanding renewable power generation, overhauling our entire transportation system, upgrading all our buildings, jumpstarting US clean manufacturing, transforming US agriculture, and putting our nation's people to work doing what they do best: making the impossible possible. Ocasio-Cortezs staff posted the FAQ sheet online and passed it along to numerous reporters. Less than 48 hours later, her office pulled the document and scrubbed it from her official website. An early draft of a FAQ that was clearly unfinished and that doesnt represent the GND resolution got published to the website by mistake, Saikat Chakrabarti, Ocasio-Cortezs chief of staff, wrote on Twitter on Saturday. Mistakes happen when doing time launches like this coordinating multiple groups and collaborators. By then, though, critics had already had a field day. They skewered proposals included in the document such as eliminating nuclear power and providing income even to those unwilling to work. That last sentiment seems especially out of step with Browns recent Dignity of Work tour. And after visiting both Iowa and New Hampshire, the senator returned to D.C. where he again declined to endorse the Green New Deal. Brown might not be able to hold out for much longer. According to the Washington Posts Bob Costa, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may force a vote on the Green New Deal to rattle Democrats. An aide close to the Kentucky Republican told RealClearPolitics such a move is certainly possible. If McConnell brings the legislation up for a vote, Brown will have to come down on it one way or the other. In journalism, there is no worse crime than plagiarism. But when accused, even top writers are not always forthcoming with apologies or acknowledgments of wrong-doing. Recently, Jill Abramson, the former executive editor of the New York Times and a senior lecturer at Harvard, was accused of plagiarizing in her new book, Merchants of Truth. Not only does she not properly credit some authors, but she appears to lift certain passages word-for-word from others. So far, her defense has been that she unintentionally failed to credit all authors. In an interview with CNNs Brian Stelter, she didnt apologize for what appear to be verbatim quotations. According to Abramson, if properly credited in a footnote 300 pages later, thats not plagiarism. The history of high-profile plagiarism cases includes many unapologetic responses on the part of the accused, as well as some expressing remorse. Heres a sampler: Doris Kearns Goodwin Goodwin, a respected presidential historian, published her second book, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, in 1987. Fifteen years later, Goodwin faced accusations of plagiarizing from other Kennedy books. She did not admit to this and called it rather a mistake in technique. Id like to believe that I will never make it again, according to the Guardian. Goodwin went on to write a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, No Ordinary Time, and recently published Leadership in Turbulent Times. Stephen E. Ambrose Ambrose, a prolific and popular American historian, was accused of plagiarism in 2002. According to Forbes, he admitted to and apologized for copying some phrases and a few sentences in a number of his books. In one case, a check of his book Upton and the Army found at least 11 cases of inadequate credit. Alex Haley The celebrated American author faced plagiarism charges for his much-praised 1976 book, Roots: The Saga of an American Family. In 1978 Haley settled a lawsuit, acknowledging that Roots included numerous passages from an earlier novel by Harold Courlander, The African. According to the New York Times, Haley denied that he had knowingly made any factual errors. Melania Trump Perhaps no one has been accused of more brazen plagiarism than the first lady. Passages from Melania Trumps speech at the Republican National Convention in 2016 were almost identical to Michelle Obamas speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2008. While not admitting to the accusation, the Trump campaign issued a statement that Melania Trumps team of writers took notes on her lifes inspirations, and in some instances included fragments [of others words] that reflected her own thinking. Joe Biden While not well remembered, former vice president Joe Biden was condemned as a plagiarist in 1988, leading the Delaware senator to give up his presidential run. Not only did Biden lift phrases from the speeches of British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock, but more egregiously he also borrowed biographical details about Kinnock that werent true of himself. The accusations didnt stop there: According to Slate, soon after he was accused of plagiarizing Robert Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey. When heckled at a campaign event, Biden defended himself by saying, I think I probably have a much higher IQ than you do. Biden added that he went to law school on a full academic scholarship. This too, is false. Fareed Zakaria Zakaria, the host of CNNs Fareed Zakaria GPS and a columnist for the Washington Post, acknowledged in 2012 that he plagiarized portions of another writers piece on gun control. Zakaria published a formal apology, saying that his piece bore close similarities to paragraphs in Jill Lepores essay in the April 23rd issue of The New Yorker. He called this a serious lapse and one that is entirely my fault. And, according to the Washington Post, Zakaria faced further accusations of more widespread plagiarism in 2014 though neither the Post nor CNN considered the examples cited by the website Our Bad Media to be serious journalistic offenses. Rand Paul In 2013, reports surfaced that the Kentucky senator had plagiarized the work of others in his speeches. MSNBC initially accused Paul of borrowing words from a Wikipedia page for the film Gattaca, according to a Washington Post report. BuzzFeed found similarities between a Paul speech on immigration and lines from the movie Stand and Deliver. Politico reported that Pauls 2013 response to President Obamas State of the Union Address precisely echoed a 2011 report by the Associated Press. When asked to comment on the Gattaca accusation, Paul said, Nothing I said was not given attribution to where it came from. The rest of its making a mountain out of a molehill from people, I think, basically who are political enemies and have an axe to grind. John Walsh Walsh, a veteran of the Iraq War who was briefly an appointed senator from Montana, had his masters degree from the Army War College rescinded after an examination indicated he lifted a substantial part of his thesis on American Middle East policy from other authors without attribution, reported the New York Times. After his degree was taken away, Walsh said, Though I disagree with the findings made by the War College, I accept its decision with great humility and respect for the U.S. military. He also gave up his bid to win election to a full Senate term. Kaavya Viswanathan While just a sophomore at Harvard, Viswanathan was accused of plagiarizing from several sources, including two books by Megan F. McCafferty. According to the Harvard Crimson, Viswanathan lifted word-for-word passages for her 2006 young adult novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life, from McCaffertys Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings. Viswanathan appears to never have acknowledged this accusation. When the Crimson reached out to her, she said, No comment. I have no idea what you are talking about. Her publisher, however, had a different response. Little, Brown recalled all copies of Opal Mehta and canceled a planned second book and its $500,000 contract with the young author. Jayson Blair In what the New York Times described as a low-point in its long history, former Times reporter Blair committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud while covering significant news events in recent months, according to the newspapers internal investigation. His fraud included making up whole scenes depicted in his stories and taking work from other news sources. In a statement, Blair mentioned personal problems, the Times said. Addressing students at Duke University in 2016, Blair explained that he had undiagnosed bipolar disorder, and was getting over drug and alcohol addiction, at the time. Thomas Schelling (EconLib) Proof that cognitive biases are real means several of the assumptions underpinning traditional deterrence theory are wrong. Academics like Thomas Schelling, who led U.S. thinking on nuclear deterrence in the 1950s and 1960s and who was a contemporary of Abraham Wald, simply applied a standard hypothesis from economics at the time: that people knew how to behave in their own best interests.[12] People might make mistakes, went the theory, but theyd soon learn how to correct their behaviour because they would benefit from doing so. Only in the 1970s, with the so-called third wave of deterrence theory, was psychology understood in enough detail to begin to grasp how people make systematic errors.[13] Kremlinology, the study of key figures in the Soviet system and how they behave and interact, became a key part of the Wests approach to nuclear deterrence. People, not weapons, became the central focus of Western defence. The science of cognitive bias has advanced considerably since then. We now know people consistently behave in ways that go against their best interests in almost every field.[14] Indeed, in the last decade many governments have set up so-called nudge units, playing on these behavioural quirks to achieve policy goals, from increasing pension contributions to enforcing traffic laws.[15] In military matters, even though the stakes are usually much higher, cognitive errors are still rife. Indeed, history is packed with examples of wars that might have been deterred were it not for strong cognitive biases affecting decision makers. Consider Argentina in 1982, which might not have invaded the Falkland Islands if it had a less distorted view of the United Kingdoms resolve and capacity to respond. Or consider France in 1870, where military groupthink tipped Napoleon III into a disastrous war with Prussia. And Europe in the summer of 1914 was a cauldron of cognitive biases, as countriesAustria-Hungary, Serbia, Russia, Germany, France, and Britainmade a succession of poor judgments about the deterrence posture of rivals, rivals who, in turn, provided misleading signals themselves, ultimately leading to a catastrophe that spread around the world.[16] According to one study, the weaker power initiates conflict in some 33% of observations, suggesting military might fails to deter as much as a third of the time.[17] Perhaps the attackers suffered from restraint biasthe tendency for people and groups to underestimate how easily they succumb to temptation? Perhaps groupthink infected the highest levels of combatants government and armed forces? Perhaps the parties to conflict missed important signals from an enemy because confirmation bias meant they were not looking for them? Whatever the reason, chances are cognitive biases were involved. These tragic examples of conventional wars contrast with a much better record in nuclear matters where deterrence has, so far, been entirely successful. Nuclear conflict has been deterred for more than seven decades, partly because cognitive bias has been almost entirely squeezed out of it. This suggests the calculus governing our nuclear deterrent, and the strategic weapons of those who may oppose us, is as protected from human shortcomings as it can be, thus keeping the world safe. We still need to watch for normalcy bias, though. No nuclear weapons have been used in war since 1945, but it is folly to presume that will always be the case. Although cognitive biases can make deterrence difficult, they also offer opportunities, especially when we confront lower-order threats. Consider the ambiguity effect. People tend to avoid actions when they cannot easily assess the probability of different outcomes. Uncertainty about the number of mines in a minefield, for example, will keep people away, even if they suspect there are few actually present. This suggests deterrence can be more effective if we present a range of punishments rather than a fixed response. Or consider the anchoring effect. The first piece of information people learn about something will often have a disproportionately strong impact on how they think about it. Anchoring may be one reason early efforts to implant false ideas in Hitlers mind about an amphibious landing near Calais delayed his response to the Normandy landings for so long.[18] This illustration suggests successful deterrence postures are established earlier rather than later. Even when a cognitive bias would normally work against deterrence, such as when an over-confident clique of planners confirms its own bad assumptions, there are still opportunities. If the group shares the same sources of information, it tells us where deterrence messages are likely to have the greatest impact. For example, during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the U.S. military was able to exploit Saddam Husseins reliance on certain news outlets.[19] Considering cognitive biases allows us the opportunity to think about how deterrence can face down modern threats. This leads to some interesting propositions. First, tailor deterrence messages to specific audiences. Cognitive biases affect individuals in unique wayseven if we presume there is only one way to be rational, there are many ways to be irrational...and human. Credible warnings should not be generic; they should be tailored to each individual target. So, each potential adversary needs its own bespoke deterrence message. This also means actively challenging the mirror-imaging assumption that supposes what would deter you will also deter the adversary. Second, biases provide a particularly effective means to embed some forms of deterrence. Through the framing effect, people tend to exclude certain options if the issue is described, or framed, in a certain way; and the normalcy effect helps to lock decisions in place, preventing them from being revisited. Together, these effects have helped the Geneva Conventions maintain strong norms about wartime behaviour, and they are vital now in enforcing international agreements against the use of chemical weapons. We cannot only say these munitions are illegal; we need to show, forcefully, that their use will never be tolerated. As we extend norms for competition into space and cyber, the leverage of cognitive biases might help establish deterrence. Third, leveraging biases means deterrence must remain proportionate, but cannot be marginal. Proportionate responses are not only just, they are also practical since they are more likely to maintain popular support in a democracy, which in turn makes them more credible. No democracy would countenance a nuclear response to a minor cyber-attack, so such a threat would not be credible and would not deter. But a deterrent threat should not be too finely calibrated to the benefit it is seeking to deter either because cognitive biasesincluding optimism bias and groupthinkcreate too much room for error. Deterrence must be sufficiently robust to blast away any margin for wishful thinking by an opportunistic adversary. Witness the present deterrence posture of the U.S. on the Korean peninsula and how it communicates clearly to Pyongyang that any use of nuclear weapons would lead to a swift end of the regime. Meaningfully Deterring Russia? (EuroMaidan Press) Fourth, reciprocity suggests an adversary will look to use cognitive bias to undermine our own deterrence strategies. They may encourage us to misread their actions or doubt our own responses. They may attempt to sow confusion through misinformation that suggests some actions are beyond deterrence. Or they may exploit our optimism bias, playing on our hopes that a permanent incursion is only temporary. Recent Russian information campaigns around Crimea have sought exactly this.[20] The West should be wary of how biases allow for such mischief. Finally, the awareness of biases reinforces the need for deterrence threats to be carried through when they have failed to deter. Schellings theoretical work already explains why rivals need to know we are serious if future deterrence is to be credible.[21] Our new understanding of cognitive bias suggests the issue is even more important than Schelling thought. Credibility is a combination of the anchoring effect and the normalcy effect; adversaries must be guided to assume we will always follow through while being forced to contemplate the cost of breaching future threats. In short, we must never bluff. Many of these strategies are already in use. Schelling, if he were still alive, would be impressed by how refined his early ideas are adapted to the world as our understanding of human behaviour has improved. We are using nuclear deterrence strategies against rogue states as well as superpower rivals. We are deterring terrorist groups and lone wolf individuals through highly-developed messaging and sophisticated online armies.[22] And we are deterring attacks in cyber and space with threats designed for optimum effect against the most likely transgressors. Despite the earlier example of criminality, deterrence is working every day. We may not see it because, like most people, we only notice the cases where deterrence failslike War Department personnel misled by the concentration of bullet holes in the wings and fuselage until a certain Columbia academic put them right. Deterrence works, invisibly and silently. Its success is a myriad of events that never happened, so we can never study them. If we think deterrence is mostly failing, we are probably suffering from survivorship bias. Cognitive biases have enormous implications for deterrence. Our new understanding of biases means deterrence is now stronger than it ever was during the Cold War, and far better than when Abraham Wald advised the War Department how best to protect their bombers. The Director of National Intelligence warned in his annual Worldwide Threat Assessment last month that China and Russia are more aligned than at any point since the mid-1950s and are expected to further deepen their relationship in 2019. In response, prominent analysts have suggested that the United States should pursue yet another reset of its Russia policy to woo Moscow away from Beijing. Overlooking Russian President Vladimir Putins litany of offenses will not drive a wedge between Moscow and Beijing. Worse, it would undermine core U.S. interests and invite more aggression from Moscow. Instead of a misguided Russian reset redux, the U.S. should reinforce and expand its alliances in Europe and Asia and build greater combined military capacity to deter aggression by our great power rivals. China and Russia are revisionist and authoritarian powers that seek to dismantle a U.S.-led international order that has benefited Americans and people around the world. Putin has long railed against this order, calling it pernicious and unacceptable. Shared opposition to this order represents a central aspect of how Beijing and Moscow understand their interestsincentivizing both governments to subordinate differences and work together. Indeed, despite a fraught bilateral history, a shared border, and numerous disputes, Russia and China ultimately loathe the U.S.-led world order more than they distrust one another. The two countries actions demonstrate their closeness. In September, China and Russia conducted a massive joint military exercise, the largest Russia had held in several decades. China has also purchased advanced weapon systems from Russia, including high-end fighter aircraft and the formidable S-400 anti-aircraft system. Last year, Chinese leader Xi Jinping heralded a new era of rapid development in the bilateral relationship with Russia. Such deepening cooperation presents a serious threat to the United States. The U.S. National Defense Strategy identified China and Russia as the principal threats and the leading priorities for the Department of Defense (DoD). The independent and bipartisan 2018 National Defense Strategy Commission (NDSC) concurred, noting that the United States might struggle to win an armed conflict against China or Russia individually, let alone together. In a recent publication, Harvards Graham Allison and Dimitri Simes of the Center for the National Interest propose that the U.S. break up the China-Russia coalition. They argue the U.S. should revise substantially U.S. strategic objectives vis-a-vis Moscow to persuade Russia to sit on the U.S. side of the balance of power seesaw. What Allison and Simes seem to have in mind is greater tolerance for Putins aggression against his neighbors and violation of treaties. They write, When the U.S. seeks to punish Mr. Putin for his unacceptable behaviorno matter its intentionsit has the predictable consequence of pushing Russia into an unnatural alliance with China. To avoid those consequences, what unacceptable behavior by Mr. Putin do Allison and Simes propose that the U.S. accept? Shall Washington ignore Russias violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty? The invasion and occupation of Georgia? Of Ukraine? The annexation of Crimea? The continued meddling in Americas elections? Should the U.S. stop providing weapons to Ukraine so Kyiv can defend its country? Should the U.S. and EU lift the sanctions they imposed to hold Putin accountable? As the 20th century painfully demonstrated, when an authoritarian aggressor invades and occupies other countries in Europe, it threatens core U.S. interests. Moscows actions in Ukraine and Georgia represent a dangerous challenge to the U.S.-led international order that has resulted in decades of relative great power peace. Dividing Moscow from Beijing would be desirable, but not at the cost associated with the approach Allison and Simes propose. Moreover, another reset policy toward Russia will not work. Putins dismissive responses in recent years to U.S. olive branches put the burden of proof squarely on those who suggest a more conciliatory approach toward Moscow will not invite more aggression. To date, Putins actions indicate he views the United Statesnot Chinaas the primary obstacle to his core objectives. If so, a U.S. charm campaign cannot split Moscow from Beijing. A wiser strategy is to build up the political and military power of our alliances to deter aggression from our great power rivals. In Europe, that means continuing progress related to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military readiness achieved over the last few years. It means continuing to press our allies to invest more in their defense capabilities. It also means repairing the damage from some of President Trumps statements suggesting that the U.S. might ignore its collective defense commitments if our allies do not invest sufficiently in defense. The National Defense Strategy calls for the U.S. to be strategically predictable, but operationally unpredictable. We agree. However, President Trumps comments about NATO have created strategic uncertainty, leaving allies and adversaries to wonder how the U.S. would respond if NATO is tested. In Asia, building political and military and power means reinforcing alliances with our treaty allies while looking to further build relationships with key countries like India. It also means more joint exercises and maritime patrols with our allies in the Indo-Pacific and an increased naval presence. China has pursued an all-of-government strategy to undermine our alliances one-by-one but has often overplayed its hand, pursuing a strategy that is almost neo-colonial. For example, in December 2017, when Sri Lanka struggled to pay its debt to Chinese firms, Beijing took advantage of the situation to coerce the Sri Lankan agreement to a 99-year lease on a strategic port. Countries around the Indo-Pacific took note, and this provides an opening for the United States. Many countries in Asia welcome a robust American diplomatic and military presence in the region that provides an alternative and deterrent to Beijings bullying. The U.S. would be wise to highlight the often stark contrast between the two approaches. America seeks prosperous, stable, and sovereign partners. Beijing often seems to want dependent strategic vassals. Here at home, building our political and military power means continuing efforts to reverse the erosion of U.S. military superiority. It means ensuring that DoD receives timely, predictable, and sufficient funding. It means catalyzing and securing our national security innovation and industrial base that equips our troops. It also means continuing the National Defense Strategys focus on increasing the lethality of our force and increasing the Pentagons capability to deter and defeat great power adversaries. If we fail to take these steps, we may encounter concurrent aggression from Russia and China. For instance, if hostilities were to erupt between the U.S. and China in the South China Sea, Putin may opportunistically initiate aggression in the Baltics, believing the U.S. and its allies would have insufficient combat power to respond effectively to both crises. Likewise, Beijing might exploit an ongoing conflict in the Baltics to move against Taiwan. The perception that the U.S. and our allies may lack sufficient capacity to confront simultaneous aggression encourages the nightmare scenario we seek to avoid. President Putin and President Xi understand the importance of partners and military strength; the U.S. should too. Bradley Bowman is senior director for the Center on Military and Political Power with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Follow him on Twitter at @Brad_L_Bowman. Andrew Gabel is a research analyst at FDD. Follow him on Twitter at @Andrew_B_Gabel. Among the many questions raised by the massive modernisation and expansion of Chinas Navy in the last few years is its future role in the Indian Ocean. Will the Indian Ocean become a Chinese lake? China has gone from essentially zero presence in the Indian Ocean around a decade ago to a fairly sizeable fleet averaging perhaps four to five surface vessels (plus submarine deployments), although this number fluctuates during crossovers between transiting vessels. China now operates a naval base in Djibouti and no doubt has plans for additional bases in the region. The geographical fact of (a potentially hostile) India, sitting in the middle of the Indian Ocean would make this an extraordinary challenge for China. This expansion, together with the growth of Chinas economic and political influence in the region, has led many to assume that China intends to displace the U.S. Navy as the predominant navy in the Indian Ocean. The worry is that the U.S. Fifth Fleet will one day sail for home from the Persian Gulf, just as the Royal Navy did in the early 1970s, leaving China to step into U.S. shoes. That scenario understandably makes a lot of people nervous, most of all New Delhi, which has its own aspirations in the Indian Ocean. But how realistic is this, and are there other more realistic scenarios? What would be required for China to achieve sea control across the Indian Ocean in order to protect Chinas energy supplies carried from the Persian Gulf and West Africa to China? The geographical fact of (a potentially hostile) India, sitting in the middle of the Indian Ocean would make this an extraordinary challenge for China. It is not sufficient to protect only parts of these trade routes, they must be protected in their entirety. Putting aside the (real) question of whether it would make sense to try to blockade China in the Indian Ocean, it also seems hardly realistic for China to protect the entirety of its Indian Ocean sea lines of communication (SLOCs). So, if sea control is not a realistic goal in the foreseeable future, then what are some other realistic missions for China in the region? The experience of the Soviet Navy during the Cold War might provide some clues. Indeed, there are a number of strategic similarities between China and Russia in the Indian Ocean. Both are major Eurasian continental powers, but they are both effectively cut off from direct access to the Indian Ocean, which severely constrains their regional presence. Their navies can only reach the Indian Ocean after long voyages requiring them to transit maritime choke points of entry into the ocean where they can be relatively easily observed, tracked, and interdicted. In the Indian Ocean, they are at a severe disadvantage, with only limited access to logistical maintenance support, likely in a small number of ports far apart. Resident Indian Ocean powers have corresponding strategic advantages. Despite these disadvantages, the Soviets built a large naval presence in the Indian Ocean of up to 22 vessels at its height (a large proportion of them for logistical support). But the Soviet Navys missions were very different from those of the U.S. Navy. Instead, the Soviet presence in the Indian Ocean reflected its own imperatives, which included countering U.S. nuclear missile submarines, interdicting the movement of U.S. forces into the region, protecting the Soviet fishing fleet, reinforcing Soviet regional influence, and potentially (at least in part) threatening U.S. energy supplies. The Soviet fleet had limited SLOC protection capabilities, while its sea-denial capabilities were highly localised. Beijing has its own set of strategic imperatives in the Indian Ocean region which would be expected to shape the nature of its presence. These not only include the security of SLOCs but, importantly, the protection of growing numbers of Chinese nationals and assets. Chinas growing interest in the region suggests that the Chinese navy could be quite busy. Chinas naval presence has evolved to reflect several of these imperatives. For a decade it has been focused on anti-piracy operations and goodwill visits. Chinas base at Djibouti is now used to support a broad range of tasks including peacekeeping operations and support for evacuation operations involving Chinese nationals. This will likely increasingly grow to include the protection of Chinese economic interests on land and at sea. These missions will shape Chinas naval presence. We should, for example, expect to see the regular or even permanent deployment of Landing Platform Docks (LPDs) to the Indian Ocean, which would be useful for many tasks ranging from disaster relief to evacuations to hostage interventions. In time, well likely see occasional visits from Chinese aircraft carriers, although their role will likely be flag waving for the foreseeable future. Chinas capabilities may evolve to include limited contingency and sea-denial capabilities, particularly in the northwest Indian Ocean, giving it more options to respond to local contingencies. But any bid to achieve broad naval predominance to protect Chinas SLOCs and potentially control the maritime trade of its competitors would be a major undertaking requiring many years of sustained naval expansion and the development of multiple local military partnerships. Dr. David Brewster is with the National Security College at the Australian National University, where he specialises in South Asian and Indian Ocean strategic affairs. He is also a Distinguished Research Fellow with the Australia India Institute. His previous career was as a corporate lawyer working on complex cross-border transactions and he practiced for almost two decades in the United States, England, France and Australia. This article appeared originally at Lowy Institute's the interpreter. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. John Gates, an administrator in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia, has been named as Purdue Universitys vice provost for diversity and inclusion. Gates also will serve as clinical professor in the Krannert School of Management. His appointment will be effective April 1, said Jay Akridge, Purdue provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and diversity. Dr. Gates brings an impressive record of leadership excellence to his new position, Akridge said. He will lead a strong team at Purdue that is focused on enhancing the experience and success of all Boilermakers, and on supporting a climate of respect and inclusion across our campus. Gates had served as the inaugural associate dean responsible for diversity, inclusion and engagement strategy in the University of Virginias School of Engineering and Applied Science. He provided leadership in the recruitment and retention of faculty and graduate students from underrepresented minorities and guidance for diversity in curriculum development and programming. Im humbled and honored to be joining Purdue University with its longstanding commitment to excellence, Gates said. I believe that diversity is excellence expressing itself through the intersections of perspectives and lived experiences. I look forward to working with the faculty, staff and students in this shared endeavor. Prior to his appointment at UVA, Gates launched and led his own consulting firm, Criticality Management Consulting, where he advised corporate clients on a range of workforce issues. He also was associate dean for administration and finance at Harvard College, Harvard University, where he was responsible for budget, human resource management, strategic planning, communications and diversity. In addition, Gates was the special assistant to the president and provost at the University of Vermont, where he focused on strategic initiatives, change management and diversity. He held a series of positions with increasing responsibility at New York University, culminating with his role as executive director of global operations. A native of Gary, Indiana, Gates received a bachelors degree from Morehouse College, a masters degree from New York University and a Ph.D. from the University of London. Akridge acknowledged the work of the search advisory committee, chaired by Michael T. Harris, the Robert B. and Virginia V. Covalt Professor of Chemical Engineering, which led to this successful outcome. Media contact: Jim Bush, 765-494-2077, jsbush@purdue.edu Source: Jay Akridge, akridge@purdue.edu WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Indianas warming climate will change Hoosier demands for heating and cooling energy, and energy sources will shift further away from coal, according to the next report from the Indiana Climate Change Impacts Assessment team. The IN CCIA team, based at Purdue University, will share projections for Indiana energy demand and shifts in energy sources when it releases Climate Change and Indianas Energy Sector during a community briefing at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19, at the University Library Room, UL 1116, at Indiana UniversityPurdue University Indianapolis. The event is open to the public. As of 2017, about 75 percent of Indianas electricity is generated by coal and only 5 percent comes from renewable sources, such as wind power. The reports authors predict a significant shift by mid-century toward natural gas and renewable sources. The pace of this transition will depend on energy prices and potential energy policies. Even modest policies, models show, can have a significant impact on renewable energy adoption and carbon emissions. The report focuses on residential and commercial use of energy since those sectors are the most sensitive to climate change. Research has shown climate has little effect on industrial or transportation energy consumption. Our need for energy to transport ourselves or to manufacture things may not depend on climate, but the demands for heating and cooling our homes and businesses are going to change, said Jeff Dukes, director of the Purdue Climate Change Research Center. While Hoosiers can expect to run their furnaces less in the winter, theyll be more reliant on air conditioning in the summers to deal with longer hot periods and more instances of extreme heat. Purdue and IUPUI researchers contributed to the report. The lead author is Leigh Raymond, Purdue professor of political science. The Indiana Climate Change Impacts Assessment (IN CCIA) has compiled the latest scientific research into a series of easily understandable reports about climate change impacts in ten topic areas: climate, health, forest ecosystems, aquatic ecosystems, urban green infrastructure, tourism and recreation, agriculture, water resources, energy and infrastructure. The reports that have been previously released are available on the IN CCIA website at http://indianaclimate.org/. For more information about the IN CCIA, go to the website or follow on social media at @PurdueCCRC, #ClimateChange, #INCCIA. Writer: Brian Wallheimer, 765-532-0233, bwallhei@purdue.edu Source: Jeff Dukes, 765-496-3662, jsdukes@purdue.edu Agricultural Communications: 765-494-8415; Maureen Manier, Department Head, mmanier@purdue.edu Agriculture News Page PubWest members assembled last week at the historic La Fonda on the Plaza hotel in Santa Fe, N.M., for the trade association's annual conference. Running from Feb. 7-9, PubWest programming revolved around three aspects of strategic change in the publishing industry: Culture, Content, Commerce. Dynamic keynotes, panels, and networking events kept the energy and turnout steady all the way through the final session. Attendance was up, said PubWest executive director Kent Watson, counting about 175 attendees. We had one of our best conferences. The most discussed speech was by Open Markets Institute senior fellow Lina Khan who anchored PubWests Commerce track with a rousing keynote. The legal scholar described a monopoly crisis in the United States that arose after a fundamental shift in antitrust enforcement in the 1980s. More than any other firm, Amazon depicts how a company can come to monopolize all sorts of markets without triggering scrutiny under our anti-monopoly laws, Khan said, detailing the online retailers sheer dominance of the publishing marketplace. Amazon is seller of books, a publisher of books, a printer of books, and dominant in both the e-reader and e-book markets. It is both a third party marketplace and a merchant of its own private labels, creating a huge conflict of interest, she said. Khan's keynote earned a sustained standing ovation from attendees, sparking ongoing conversations throughout the conference. American Booksellers Association (ABA) CEO Oren Teicher singled out the session as an indispensable discussion about Amazons extraordinarily negative effect on bookselling. All of us in the book business have the opportunity and responsibility to begin to educate ourselves, our customers, and the folks we deal with both in and out of our businesses, about Amazons impact on the overall U.S. economy, he said. The Culture track encouraged diversity in all corners of the industry. Samm Saxby, an author, editor, and bookseller at Portland's Green Bean Books, won the years Jack W. Swanson Scholarshipan annual initiative to bring more young publishing professionals to PubWest, free of charge. I would not trade this experience for anything, said Saxby, pledging to support the new diversity committee that launched at the 2019 conference. Im thinking about all the people in my community that dont know about PubWest. Im already trying to think about who needs to be on the diversity committee, she said. The Content track at PubWest was packed with creative advice for attendees. The Editorial: Examining Style and Tone session shared resources publishers can access to make sure they are respectful and accurate when creating content about other cultures. Don Gorman, publisher at Canadas Rocky Mountain Books, urged attendees to use Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing By and About Indigenous Peoples by Gregory Younging PhD and Indigenous Rights by Chelsea Vowel. Overcup Press co-founder Rachel Bell explained how the indie publisher creates works with translators to create a style guide for multilingual bookskeeping language usage consistent throughout a title. When working on a book that involved indigenous communities, Bell reached out to a tribe for crucial advice about usage. If you are writing about Native American history or culture, most of the tribes have a marketing resource and a library resource within the tribe, she said. They really want you to reach out and are more than willing to help. Alfred A. Knopf associate art director Chip Kidd delivered a keynote address that explored his creative design process behind book covers for authors like Scott Kelly, Haruki Murakami, and Bret Easton Ellis. You dont need to be able to draw to do this, said Kidd while sharing multiple cover iterations he made for Murakamis Men Without Women story collection. You want people to focus on the idea, not the drawing. If you only had the type, you would get one kind of idea in your head. If you only had the image, you would get one kind of idea in your head. But put them together, and it makes a third concept. On the final day of the conference, ABA CEO Teicher celebrated a real generational shift as a new cohort of publishing professionals join PubWest and other trade associations around the country. The increasing number of younger owners/operator booksellers in our business is overwhelming, said Teicher. For us, that represents a really optimistic reason to feel good about the future. Journalist and author Luis Alberto Urrea received the 2019 Jack D. Rittenhouse Award, an annual honor recognizing an important contribution to the Western community of the book. Urrea recalled how the University of Arizona Press published Wandering Time, his personal favorite book out of his 17 published works of fiction and nonfiction. Theres stuff that you need to do more humbly. Just out of sheer love, he said. And small presses allow you to do that. Verso Books, an independent publisher of works on radical politics, is launching Verso Fiction, a new imprint focused on translated fiction that will release its first two titles in the fall of 2019. In September, Verso Fiction will publish Will and Testament, a novel by Norwegian author Vigdis Hjorth, and In October the house will publish Kitchen Curse, a collection of short stories by Indonesian writer Eka Kurniawan. Verso Books marketing manager Anne Rumberger said Version Fiction will release two to four works of fiction a year with an overwhelming focus on translated literature, though not exclusively." Rumberger said that Verso has always published fiction, but not with any regularity over recent years. The Verso Fiction imprint, she said, will focus our fiction publishing, reaffirm our commitment to publishing international voices and stories with unconventional styles. Verso books are distributed in North America by Penguin Random House Publisher Services. Versos acquiring fiction editors are Andrew Hsiao, who is also Versos publisher, and a senior editor, and Cian McCourt. Hsiao, Rumberger said, will focus more of his time on acquiring fiction. She said there will be no new staff hires for the new imprint Kurniawan is the author of the novels Man Tiger (Verso; 2015), Beauty is a Wound (New Directions; 2015), and Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash (New Directions; 2017). Hjorth is the author of more than a dozen novels and Will and Testament is the story of a family drama over the settling of a fathers will. In the past Verso has published such acclaimed international authors as John Berger, Georges Perec, Tariq Ali and Jenny Hval. Rumberger said that sales of translated fiction are growing and noted that we hope to be a part of the increased appetite for translated literature, and were proud to bring these books to an English-reading audience. Correction: An earlier version of this story used the wrong cover image for Will and Testament. On February 10, as part of this year's SCBWI winter conference in New York City, an authoritative panel of agents and editors explained what they are seeing in childrens book publishing: more narrative and fun nonfiction, more heavily illustrated middle grade books, and young adult novels with strong voices. They are seeing more graphic novelsand more flexibility by publishers about what format those books take. They are also seeing more creative marketing, such as subscription boxes or partnerships with video game companies. And slowly, they are seeing more diversity. Moderator Lin Oliver, executive director of SCBWI, asked the panelists to describe and discuss the current creative atmosphere. Tanusri Prasanna, agent at Foundry Literary + Media, sees interest in biographies of forgotten women from the past, illustrated middle grade, strong nonfiction, fantasy, and picture books that teach children how to be better human beings. Rachel Ekstrom, agent at Folio Literary Management, has noticed more interest for nonfiction that is not didactic or boring, at both YA and middle grade levels. She also is seeing more adult writers interested in writing for children, and vice versa. Alexander Slater, agent at Trident Media Group, commented on a huge rise in graphic novels. There are absolutely no rules to them right now... publishers are giving creators the reins. He said he has reached out to illustrators to see if they have graphic novel ideas. Mekisha Telfer, associate editor at Roaring Brook Press, is likewise seeing interest in graphic novels. She is also seeing more novels of all kinds about the LBGTQ community. Maria Barbo, senior editor at HarperCollins Childrens Books, sees a broadening of what publishers are looking for overall, as marketers think about creating a book for every reader. She has a soft spot for books that use humor to help give kids the tools to navigate their world. Kate Egan, editorial director at KCP Loft, is seeking only YA. She believes that getting to know your reader is most vital for YA authors and illustrators, understanding what they want but do not have yet. Next, Lin Oliver asked about the progress of diversity in childrens books. All agreed things are evolving, but problems remain. There is definitely still work to do for decades to come, Telfer said. Childrens books still largely represent white American children. Publishers are seeking more authors and illustrators from diverse backgrounds and are receptive to more non-European folklore-inspired projects, Ekstrom said. The real problem, Prasanna said, is that the gatekeeperspublishers, editors, agents and other employees who decide which books are acquired and how they are marketedneed far more diversity in their ranks. Asked about marketing trends in childrens book publishing, Slater said he recently was approached by two big video game companies interested in turning some of his clients books into video games. Ekstrom said, Im seeing more creativity in how to get books out there. She said bookstores and libraries are still key, including a crop of new independent bookstores. Also, subscription box programs are increasing. You get a box... theres some sort of fee. Every month a box is shipped to you. It is filled with books that are hand-selected around the theme, and sometimes there are other gifts that are tied into the book, she said. If your book is chosen for one of the boxes, It can really drive a nice chunk of sales and awareness. Slater got a big laugh when he said, I always tell my clients that we need to think of marketing ideas that cost the publisher nothing. What about quieter booksdo they still have a place in the market? Egan said that getting acquisitions teams to buy them is a thrill and that it hurts when such books are turned away. Of course, everyone wants a bestseller, Egan said, but at the end of the day its understood that not everyone can be a bestseller, and I try to make a point of not dismissing the quiet books, because sometimes they are the sleeper hits. Prasanna urged authors to skip trying to write to a trend. Write what you are bursting to write. Similarly, panelists urged authors and illustrators to devote most of their time in writing or drawing wonderful books and less time prematurely trying to make themselves into a brand. A brand is something that comes organically from you as an artist. Its your voice that will shine through, Slater said. Barbo agreed: If its forced, the audience will know. Ekstrom, who was formerly a publicist, said, There is too much emphasis on branding too early. If youre not published yet, you need to get that book done first. Oliver asked the panelists about whether writers should try to write to what will sell or stick with what really excites them. To figure out the difference, Barbo said, craft a 25-word, 30-second elevator pitch. If you can explain it in a sentence, and that sentence excites you, and it excites strangers, then you have a great idea on your hands. Egan reminded the audience to hang out with kids, saying, Ultimately we are making the books for them. For authors who have been published and want to continue being successful, the panelists urged them to expand their network of contacts and support other authors, which can be reciprocal. In addition, Ekstrom said, Think about how you can reach the people who already like your book and how you can spark word of mouth. And what about aspiring authors and illustrators? Read plenty of childrens booksrecent onesto get a feel for whats out there, the speakers urged. Slater said it gets boring to received queries that use only older books as comparisons. Prasanna urged writers to hone their craft, and get the work as polished as you can. She said some authors spend more time creating dazzling query letters than focusing on the quality of their manuscripts. In addition, she said, you must read within the genre, to keep abreast of whats new, but dont lose your originality. Egan urged new writers to actually read childrens writing to get a feel of what is interesting and important to them. Ekstrom said authors and illustrators need to develop thick skin, to get really comfortable with feedback, and get comfortable with no, not quite, close but no cigar. Barbo added, Manage expectations. Set your own definition of what success is. The SCBWI summer conference will be held August 912 in Los Angeles. BookExpo has announced that its Childrens Book & Author Breakfast will be co-hosted by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush, daughters of former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush. The two will be on hand to promote the picture book edition of their 2017 memoir, Sisters First, which will be released in October. Joining the Bushes at the breakfast will be Academy Award-winner Lupita Nyong'o (Black Panther; 12 Years a Slave) who will discuss her debut childrens book, Sulwe, which follows a girl in Kenya, initially self-conscious about the color of her skin, who learns to love who she is. Tomi Adeyemi, author of bestselling YA fantasy novel Children of Blood and Bone, will talk about the second title in her Legacy of Orisha trilogy, Children of Virtue and Vengeance. Also on stage will be Eoin Colfer, who will discuss his upcoming spin-off novel from his popular Artemis Fowl series, The Fowl Twins. Additionally, Da Chen, bestselling author of Brothers and Colours of the Mountain, will preview his forthcoming work, Girl Under a Red Moon, which tells the story of his older sister and their childhood growing up together during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The breakfast is set to take place Friday, May 31 from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on the main stage at New York Citys Javits Center. Jennifer Martin, event director of BookExpo, pointed to the diversity in this years lineup as particularly timely. With an array of unique perspectives and works across multiple genres, this years speakers are sure to offer a morning of exciting and meaningful conversation, as all of their works examine a variety of traditionally underserved populations, Martin said in a statement. Internationally renowned French author-illustrator and prolific artist Tomi Ungerer, who created books in French, English, and German, and was known for his playful humor as well as sharp satire, died at his home in west Cork, Ireland on February 8. He was 87. Jean-Thomas Tomi Ungerer was born the youngest of four children on November 28, 1931 in Strasbourg, France, to mother Alice and father Theodor, who was an artist, engineer, and a maker of astronomical clocks. Ungerers father died when Tomi was three, and shortly thereafter, left with heavy Depression debts, Alice Ungerer moved with her children to the home of her parents in Logelbach, close to the Alsatian city of Colmar. In a 1974 interview for Atlantic Monthly, Ungerer told journalist Selma G. Lanes that he had a childhood filled with artistic influences and that he was a voracious reader from an early age. My sisters taught me to draw, my brother taught me to think, and my mother taught me to use my imagination, he said. In 1940, when the region of Alsace was occupied by the Germans during WWII, Ungerers life changed dramatically. French language and culture were banned, and Nazi ideals were forcibly taught in the schools. Ungerer said in interviews, including with the New York Times Magazine (1981) and Riverbank Review (1998), that this wartime experience had a profound impact on his worldview. He was forced to live a double life of being pro-Nazi at school and anti-Nazi at home. He told Lanes for the New York Times Magazine: There was plenty to see and remember, and my taste for the macabre certainly finds its roots here. He gave an account of these early years in the memoir Tomi: A Childhood Under the Nazis, which was originally published in French and German and contained cartoons, photos, drawings, school assignments and other items saved from his boyhood journal. Growing up I witnessed all the ugly facets of war, he wrote. That and the death of my father when I was 3 1/2 years old marked my childhood. By the age of fourteen my outlook on the world was clearly defined by a loathing and abhorrence of violence, prejudice, injustice and fanaticism of any kind. After the war, the transition back to French language and culture was difficult in Alsace and contributed to Ungerers becoming less interested in school. Ungerer failed his Baccalaureate (high school graduation) exam and by 1952 set off to travel the world, beginning by hitchhiking to the North Cape in Norway and then to Lapland. He joined the French Camel Corps in Algeria but was soon discharged due to illness. In 1953 he began studies at the Municipal School for Decorative Arts in Strasbourg, but wrote on his website that he was kindly asked to leave after one year. He continued to travel in the 1950s, getting around via hitchhiking and securing gigs on cargo vessels. He never stopped drawing throughout his travels and flexed more of his creative muscles by taking on stints as an advertising artist and window dresser whenever he was home in France. The early 1950s is also when Ungerer became more intrigued by the United States. In 1956 he emigrated to New York City with what he has said was $60 in his pocket and a trunk full of drawings and manuscripts. Once in New York, Ungerer found work as a graphic artist, quickly building a solid reputation and doing advertising campaigns and illustrations for such publications as Esquire, Life, Harpers Bazaar, and the New York Times. In his free time he was creating books of his own. In 1957 he brought one such project to legendary childrens book editor Ursula Nordstrom at Harper and Row. Nordstrom published Ungerers first picture book, The Mellops Go Flying, starring a family of French pigs, that same year. Straight out of the gate, his debut work earned a 1959 Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators and was designated an ALA Notable. Between 1958 and 1966, Ungerer was going full bore creatively, publishing four additional picture books about the Mellops and introducing such popular childrens works as Crictor (Harper, 1958), starring a friendly boa constrictor; The Three Robbers (Atheneum, 1963), in which three violent robbers are disarmed in every way when they come across a young orphan named Tiffany; and Moon Man (Harper, 1966) the tale of Jean, the man in the moon, coming to Earth to make friends. Books that he illustrated for other childrens authors include Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown (Harper, 1964). On his website, Ungerer shared the following reflection about elements of his childrens titles. I think it is crucial to show children that no matter what ones flaws are, there is always a way to survive and win by being different and making the best out of what one has. I want to show children that everyone is different but equally unique. In addition to childrens books, Ungerer also produced books for adults that featured his text and illustrations, including Horrible: An Account of the Sad Achievements of Progress (Atheneum, 1960) and Inside Marriage (Grove Press, 1960). He illustrated adult books by other authors as well, including The Brave Coward by Art Buchwald (Harper, 1957). Alongside his publishing career, Ungerer continued with other graphic design projects and, in the 1960s, produced a series of activist posters championing the American civil rights movement and protesting the Vietnam War. He created additional controversy in the late 1960s for erotic drawings published in adult titles like Fornicon (Grove Press, 1969), which drew the ire of childrens librarians and booksellers, among others. As a result, many of his picture books were left to go out of print in the U.S. In 2008, art publisher Phaidon Press began reissuing many of his childrens titles, launching with The Three Robbers; Emile: The Helpful Octopus is being published by Phaidon this month. Two early marriages had ended in divorce for Ungerer and in 1971 he married Yvonne Wright. Fed up with the librarian kerfuffle, city life, and the U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam, the couple moved from New York to an isolated peninsula in Nova Scotia where they operated a farm for five years before moving to Europe. Ungerer chronicled their time in Canada in the book for adults Far Out Isnt Far Enough (Grove Press, 1984), which was also the title of a 2012 documentary about his life and work. In 1976, Ungerer and his wife, with whom he would have three children (he also has a daughter from his second marriage), moved permanently to Ireland. In a 2008 interview with PW about the Phaidon reissues of his picture books, Ungerer reflected on the trajectory of his career in the States, saying, I have been heavily criticized. This idea of the ideal world for the ideal child has nothing to do with reality. As for how the U.S. market might react to the return of his books, he offered, I have no idea what to expect. I came to America with $60 in my pocket. Within the first year I had my first book published. Where else in the world could this happen? Despite any bumps in America, Ungerers books thrived around the world and he published more than 140 books in all. He received the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration in 1998, and in 2007, the Tomi Ungerer Museum-International Centre for Illustration opened its doors in Strasbourg as part of the Musees de la Ville de Strasbourg. Ungerer initially donated a significant amount of his work to the Musees back in 1975 and gave them another 4,500 drawings and a collection of antique toys in 1991. Today, according to the Tomi Ungerer Museums website, its collection contains 11,000 of Ungerers drawings, and 6,500 toys from his personal collection. In a tribute from his publisher Phaidon Press, Meagan Bennett, Phaidons art director for childrens books, who worked with Ungerer in the last decade of his life, shared these words: He had the presence of a benevolent geniusa combination of boundless charm, wit, mischief, warmth, and humility. Conversations with him were packed with humor and wisdom, often in the form of aphorisms. Unsurprisingly, he was a brilliant storyteller; a talent to which the world of childrens publishing owes so much. And Phaidons childrens projects editor Maya Gartner, who worked closely with Ungerer and had visited with him in Ireland, recalled, He was cheeky, mischievous, joking all the time and so naughty. He never spoke down to children and would love to include words theyd have to look up. I remember him telling me how he refused to delete the word blunderbuss from The Three Robbers when his original editor asked him to. He was so proud of that word. Author and former editor Fran Manushkin was part of the Ungerer team in her days at Harper & Row, and she shared some recollections of the author-illustrator. I worked with Tomi, assisting his editor Ursula Nordstrom on No Kiss for Mother and on I Am Papa Snap and These Are My Favorite No Such Stories. I remember that Miss Nordstrom asked Tomi to change the title of No Kiss for Mother, feeling that no mother would want to buy this book. He refused. Otherwise, he was a pleasure to work with. A few years ago, Tomi was in New York City for a talk and autographing at the Phaidon store. I asked for an autograph and told him Id worked with him in 1973 and he said he remembered me. I was startled, but his daughter added that Tomi had a great memory. Phyllis Hoffman, a former colleague of Manushkins at Harper & Row, added a humorous memory about working with Ungerer. I actually worked for Ferd Monjo, who was the assistant director of the juvenile department, Hoffman said. I was Ferds assistant on Zeraldas Ogre. One of my very, very important jobs was to check the black-line drawings. In those days, almost nothing was in full coloryou had black-line drawing and then color separations. I had to check every page very carefully because Tomi loved to put erections on the men or even the boys in the pictures, she said with a laugh. It was his prank; he thought he was being hilarious. But that was a really top priority, checking the black-line drawings for erections on the ogre and any other male characters. Author and childrens book expert Anita Silvey offered her thoughts on Ungerers place in the childrens literature arena. I came into publishing in 1970 and became the assistant editor of the Horn Book in 1971, and at that time Tomi was very much thought of as the co-equal genius with Sendak in the picture book format, she recalled. As a young critic I looked at these books and every one of them seemed original and exciting and different. All of them have that subversive spirit, but in each book, he pushed boundaries. There was not a typical Tomi Ungerer book; theres such a range. She uses Ungerers picture books for her History of Childrens Book Publishing course at Simmons University, and, as one example, points to Crictor as the perfect model for that blend of art and text that makes a picture book great. Book after book he just got to the essence of what a picture book could do. This article has been updated. "The user experience behind nature conservation is lagging behind new digital norms, making it particularly challenging to attract new supporters" said Julio Corredor, CEO of Zooterra Zooterra, a leading innovator in wildlife and habitat conservation consumer engagement, today announced the signing of a strategic partnership with Wildlife Works, the world's leading REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) program development and management company, with the goal of democratizing engagement around nature conservation. Starting March 4th, users on Zooterras patent-pending platform will be able to buy digital collectibles, called terras, each linked to one hectare of the Kasigau Wildlife Corridor, a 200,000 hectare (500,000 acre) area of dryland forest in southeastern Kenya protected by Wildlife Works. Three different conservation projects from the Kasigau Wildlife Corridor will be supported with each terra purchase on the Zooterra platform: aerial surveillance, wildlife water pans, and efficient agricultural techniques. For over 20 years, Wildlife Works has worked with the local community in the Kasigau Wildlife Corridor region to establish long-terms jobs and community programs that replace unsustainable sources of income such as poaching and illegal tree harvesting. In an area where wildlife and human survival were at odds, Wildlife Works has created a market-driven solution to wildlife conservation on the ground. With the purchase of the terra collectibles, Zooterra users are given a new and personalized way to positively impact the habitat and wildlife conservation of this region. The partnership represents the beginning of a new approach to nature conservation engagement. Of the $390 billion donated each year to charities in the US, only $9 billion goes to environmental causes and one major reason is lack of transparency and engagement. According to Zooterra market research, 82% of charity donors do not know where their money is going. Donors get frustrated by their inability to track the impact of their donation and select the specific location, project, or wildlife they would like to support. The user experience behind nature conservation is lagging behind new digital norms, making it particularly challenging to attract new supporters. That is precisely where Zooterra comes in with its user-centric approach. People should not have to sacrifice transparency and ease-of-use to reap the benefits of supporting nature conservation. We are fortunate to partner with Wildlife Work, an organization with a rich history of innovation and tangible results in conservation said Julio Corredor, CEO of Zooterra. We are running out of time to preserve biodiversity around the world, and getting more people involved has never been more important. Over the years, we have pioneered innovative approaches to conservation models that show the incredible value and potential of nature. We are excited to partner with Zooterra to engage the broader community in nature conservation using the latest trends in digital, satellite imaging, and digital collectibles, said Mike Korchinsky, Founder & CEO of Wildlife Works. The first set of collectibles from the partnership will be available on March 4. To learn more about Zooterra and get early access to the platform, visit http://www.zooterra.com. About Zooterra: Zooterra is a patent-pending platform to engage in wildlife and habitat conservation in a direct, transparent and fun way using digital collectibles and satellite imaging technology. Zooterra personalizes the nature conservation experience by more directly connecting consumers to natural areas and wildlife. This breaks the degrees of separation between people and nature and creates the opportunity for more meaningful engagement and to generate more funding for conservation. Zooterras mission is to democratize engagement and action around habitat and wildlife conservation. Learn more at http://www.zooterra.com About Wildlife Works: Wildlife Works is the world's leading REDD project development and management company with a unique approach to applying innovative market-based solutions to biodiversity conservation and helping local landowners in the developing world monetize their forest and biodiversity assets. Wildlife Works is actively developing a portfolio of REDD projects with an aim to protect five million hectares of native forest, mitigating 25 million tons of CO2 emissions per year, and creating thousands of sustainable jobs in rural communities. Learn more at http://www.wildlifeworks.com I am beyond thrilled to be named editor-in-chief for WorkingNation, Schindelheim said. In its short history, WorkingNation has established itself as an imperative source of original journalism tackling important workforce and employment issues that are woefully under-covered across the country." WorkingNation is increasing its commitment to original journalism on changing workforce and employment demands with the promotion of its first-ever editor-in-chief, Ramona Schindelheim. Schindelheim, who was previously executive producer and senior business correspondent for WorkingNation, will oversee WorkingNations growing team of journalists and all original written content published on WorkingNation.com. Founded by philanthropist and venture capitalist Art Bilger three years ago, WorkingNation produces a wide range of original written and video documentary journalism dedicated to exposing hard truths about a looming unemployment crisis in the United States and bringing the country together to create and amplify solutions for a changing economy. I am beyond thrilled to be named editor-in-chief for WorkingNation, Schindelheim said. In its short history, WorkingNation has established itself as an imperative source of original journalism tackling important workforce and employment issues that are woefully under-covered across the country. I cant wait to get started in this new role." Ramona has proven to be a most invaluable member of the WorkingNation team. She is the perfect person to lead our newsroom as editor-in-chief as we expand our coverage of these important issues and challenges facing the U.S. workforce, said WorkingNations Chief Content and Programming Officer Joan Lynch. Dating back to my time working with her at ABC News, she has consistently shown to be a leading voice on financial and economic issues. As editor-in-chief, Schindelheim will also be closely involved with WorkingNations continuing commitment to hosting and producing live town hall events that tackle important workforce challenges and solutions around the country. On February 26, WorkingNation and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania will co-host a town hall addressing the growing demand for data analytics skills in all fields. Closing the Data Analytics Skills Gap will focus on how educators and businesses are working together to set curriculums to fill that need, with LinkedIn Co-Founder Allen Blue delivering the keynote address. Because of its growing recognition as a valuable voice on the issue of the future of work, WorkingNation also has been asked to create and moderate panels at several major conferences. In March, at SxSW EDU in Austin, Lynch will moderate a panel on how data analytics is changing sports, from performance to safety to fan experience. Schindelheim will moderate a panel on the challenges and opportunities of an aging workforce. Joining her on that panel with be WorkingNation President Jane Oates. WorkingNation has been named a strategic partner at the ASU+GSV 10 X Summit being held in San Diego April 8 through April 10. The team again will host and moderate a panel on skilling older workers in a changing workplace. WorkingNation will also host panels on the critical role storytelling plays in elevating the issue of the increasing skills gap to the level of a national discussion and on The Last Mile, an exciting program which teaches soon-to-be-released prison inmates in-demand coding skills and helps place them in jobs after their release. The Last Mile will be moderated by WorkingNation Executive Producer of Video Content Melissa Panzer. In late April, WorkingNation will participate in two panels at the Milken Global Conference 2019, one on the aging workforce and one on the role of workforce development agencies in helping prepare jobseekers with the most needed skills in jobs of the future. WorkingNation team members have appeared on several Milken panels over the past few years. Schindelheim has previously worked for CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, and ABC News as a financial journalist, producer, and senior manager. While serving as Executive Producer for CNBC, she oversaw the content and production of three daily business news shows, produced numerous documentaries, and launched the talk show Conversations with Michael Eisner. Her signature live programming took shows like Power Lunch to dozens of cities around the country, examining the economic conditions and speaking with Fortune 500 CEOs headquartered in the area. Schindelheim led ABC Newss economic and market coverage through such important events as 9/11, the Enron scandal, and the housing market collapse. She also served as an on-air contributor for various ABC News Shows and a business correspondent for ABC News One. At the Wall Street Journal, Schindelheim Executive Produced and wrote the newspapers first digital documentaries, which included one-on-one interviews with prominent financial leaders and policymakers. Ramona Schindelheim has won numerous awards, including two EMMYS, two Peabodys, two duPonts, a Gracie, and two Golden Mics for investigative journalism. ABOUT WORKINGNATION Founded by philanthropist and venture capitalist Art Bilger, WorkingNation exists to expose hard truths about the looming unemployment crisis and bring the country together to create new jobs for a changing economy. Bilger serves as CEO of WorkingNation and has assembled a team of talented journalists and media and non-profit executives to carry out the mission. WorkingNations efforts include a series of original programming from award winning directors and producers as well as other forms of interactive multimedia outreach to everyday Americans. For more information, visit WorkingNation.com. MEDIA CONTACT: Erik Borg erik(at)theleadpr.com 212.584-7829 Winners of this year's People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service will be presented with their awards at a ceremony in Las Vegas on February 22. Voting was conducted from January 17 through February 8, with the highest number of votes deciding the winners in 12 industry categories. More than 76,000 votes were cast this year. Winners of the 2019 People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service, a worldwide public vote, were announced today. Voting was conducted from January 17 through February 8, with the highest number of votes deciding the winners in 12 industry categories. More than 76,000 votes were cast this year. All organizations honored in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories of this years Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service were eligible to be included in voting for the peoples choice awards. The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, now in their 13th year, are the worlds top honors for customer service, contact center, business development, and sales professionals. More than 2,700 nominations from organizations of all sizes, in virtually every industry, in 45 nations were evaluated in this years competition. Finalists were determined by the average scores of more than 150 professionals worldwide in seven specialized judging committees and were announced last month. This years peoples choice winners, who will each receive the coveted crystal Peoples Choice Stevie Award, are: Computer Hardware: Dell Technologies | APJ Consumer - Premium Tech Support Computer Services: Linode Consumer Products/Services: Birevim Distribution & Transportation: DHL Express Bangladesh Financial Services: ReSource Pro Healthcare & Pharma: TSI Healthcare Other Industries: CubeSmart Public Services & Education: Curriculum Associates Retail: Qurate Retail Group Software < 100 Employees: Bonfire Software 100+ Employees: Periscope Data Telecommunications: Comcast Nicknamed the Stevie for the Greek word crowned, the awards will be presented to winners at the 13th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service awards banquet on Friday, February 22 at Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tickets for the event are now on sale. More than 600 executives from around the world are expected to attend. The presentations will be broadcast live via Livestream. About the Stevie Awards Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com. Sponsors of the 13th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include Sales Partnerships, Inc. and ValueSelling Associates, Inc. The success of this program across the state of Pennsylvania, and the country, validates its design, which is to raise awareness about manufacturing career opportunities for our students. says Jack Pfunder, President & CEO of Manufacturers Resource Center. The third annual Whats So Cool About Manufacturing? Student Video Contest has a total of 35 schools participating this year from Berks and Schuylkill Counties. The Berks Schuylkill Contest is the largest in the state. Every school district in these counties are participating in this innovative community career awareness program. Continued support from local sponsors and manufacturers make this contest possible for the students, allowing them to gain this valuable experience. There are 15 regional contests scheduled in Pennsylvania for the 2018-2019 school year. The contest format also has been adopted by groups in 11 additional states as well as recognition and support from Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf. Presented by Manufacturers Resource Center (MRC), the Student Video Contest: Whats So Cool About Manufacturing? (WSCM) gives students in Berks and Schuylkill Counties the opportunity to network with local manufacturers as well as gain new perspectives, record their experiences and present them in an educational and cool way through documentary video production. The program was created to generate excitement that draws students towards considering manufacturing career paths to create a 21st century workforce. The contests are supported regionally by their sponsors and partners. The success of this program across the state of Pennsylvania, and the country, validates its design, which is to raise awareness about manufacturing career opportunities for our students. says Jack Pfunder, President & CEO of Manufacturers Resource Center. Partnering with Manufacturers Resource Center for the project is eMediaWorks, Berks Business-Education Coalition and Sahl Communications, Inc. Educational media resources, GoPro Camera kits, professional media training from PBS39, materials, and project costs were funded and made possible by the following: Platinum Sponsor; Berks Business-Education Coalition and Berks County Workforce Development Board. Gold Sponsor; Bearing & Drive Solutions, BB&T, Berks County Industrial Development Authority, Fromm Electric, Hydro, Meridian Bank, and ViWinco, Inc. Silver Sponsors; Aerotek, Anderson Group, API, Appeeling Fruit, Inc., Berks Packing Company, Inc., Brentwood Industries, Inc., DeLux Dental Laboratory, Electro-Space Fabricators, Inc., ESPI, First Energy Corp, John F. Martin & Sons, LLC, Kings Real Estate Development & Management Company, RADIUS, Reading Area Community College, RER Energy Group, RETTEW, Riverview Bank, RKL LLP, Packaging Corporation of America, R. M. Palmer Company, Sweet Street Desserts, The Rose Corporation, Quadrant EPP USA, Inc., and World Electronics. Bronze Sponsors; Berks Career and Technology Center, Berks County Community Foundation, Berks County Intermediate Unit, Cambridge Lee Industries, LLC, Mail Shark, Misco Products Corporation, Reading Muhlenberg Career & Technology Center, Schuylkill Technology Center and Sterman Masser, Inc. Media Sponsors; BCTV, Lamar, and Reading Eagle. Online public Voting for the third annual Whats So Cool About Manufacturing? Student Videos will be available February 27 to March 1, 2019, on the Whats So Cool website, http://www.whatssocool.org. For more information regarding the Whats So Cool About Manufacturing? Video Contest please visit http://www.whatssocool.org Facebook and Twitter About Whats So Cool About Manufacturing?: Developed by Manufacturers Resource Center (MRC), the WSCM program is a video based educational tool that increases awareness of career paths in manufacturing. MRC developed this innovative career awareness program which at its core is "peer marketing" (kids telling kids what's so cool about manufacturing jobs). The contest is showcased on the What's So Cool Website, https://www.whatssocool.org and shared nationally through the Manufacturing Institute and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership platforms. The contest is expanding across the Commonwealth and the country. Inside Pennsylvania there will be 15 regions conducting contests this year. This contest gives students the opportunity to connect with local manufacturers, document their experiences and present them in an educational and cool way. The contest was created to generate excitement that draws students towards manufacturing career paths and STEM education. About Manufacturers Resource Center: For nearly 30 years, Manufacturers Resource Center (MRC) has helped small and mid-sized manufacturers become more competitive, adopt lean and agile processes, strategically grow their companies and invest more effectively in their existing human capital. MRC is a nonprofit organization partially funded by the U.S. Department of Commerces NIST-MEP program, as well as the State of Pennsylvanias Department of Community and Economic Development. MRC is dedicated to creating jobs and economic opportunity in eastern Pennsylvanias Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, and Schuylkill counties. By practicing primary care the way it should be, Vera is solving a key problem: the sick care approach to healthcare. Vera Whole Health has appointed Kevin Wang, M.D., as its new Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Wang will use the last 16 plus years of his experience to support the expansion of Veras advanced primary care model through direct-to-employer on-site clinics. Dr. Wang will lead Veras Quality and Provider teams, designing models of care for targeted populations that improve health outcomes and drive down total cost of care. His experience will enable Vera to perform at the cutting edge of therapeutic, diagnostic and process innovation. Dr. Wang has a depth of experience in healthcare transformation, said Ryan Schmid, president and CEO of Vera. His vision for the future of health care is ambitious and creative and aligns beautifully with where we aspire to be as a provider. We are delighted to have Dr. Wang help chart our course. In selecting Dr. Wang as its CMO, Vera leadership looked for a proven top-level executive who is both credibly independent and clinically accomplished. Dr. Wangs credentials demonstrate the ability to maintain a highly responsible corporate culture of medical and scientific rigor and ethical behavior. He has served in leadership positions with DaVita Medical Group, Evolent Health, and Huron Consulting Group. By practicing primary care the way it should be, Vera is solving a key problem: the sick care approach to healthcare, said Dr. Wang. Well continue to improve upon our already high levels of satisfaction, well bring more innovation to our clinical model of care, and well aspire to execute these improvements flawlessly. Dr. Wangs training was in the New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System an affiliate of the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He holds a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) from New York Medical College. About Vera Whole Health Vera Whole Health is creating a health revolution with a whole health approach to primary care and behavior change. Vera is the first on-site clinic provider in the United States to earn a Certificate of Validation by the Care Innovations Validation Institute for sound population health cost outcomes. With a growing presence in eight states, Vera providers guide patients toward optimum social, psychological and physical health. Learn more at VeraWholeHealth.com. MEDIA CONTACT: Kelliann Amico | Amico Public Relations | Kelliann (at) amicopr (dot) com | (503) 705-6203 (call/text) USOSM President & CEO Richard Hall says company is excited about new partnership near Houston, Texas. The surgeons of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Associates, Southwest have developed a well-earned reputation for clinical excellence and exceptional patient care. We are honored that they are our first partner practice in the Houston area, and we look forward to future growth in this important market. U.S. Oral Surgery Management (USOSM), a specialty management services company serving premier oral and maxillofacial surgeons, has formed a new partnership with Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Associates, Southwest PLLC. The practice has two locations near Houston, Texas: 3501 Town Center Boulevard South, Sugar Land, Texas; and 5819 South Highway 6, Suite 350, Missouri City, Texas. The surgeons of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Associates, Southwest have developed a well-earned reputation for clinical excellence and exceptional patient care. We are honored that they are our first partner practice in the Houston area, and we look forward to future growth in this important market, says Richard Hall, USOSM president and CEO. Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Associates, Southwest has three oral and maxillofacial surgeons who manage a wide variety of oral health problems relating to the mouth, teeth and face. They practice a full scope of oral and maxillofacial surgery with particular expertise in dental implants, teeth extractions, oral pathology and corrective jaw surgery. We look forward to working with U.S. Oral Surgery Management. Our success is dependent on our patients. Providing them with the best care and service possible is our number one priority. USOSM will help us continue to do that by managing the business side of the practice while we focus on our patients, says William V. Jordan III, DDS, of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Associates, Southwest. U.S. Oral Surgery Management collaborates with premier oral and maxillofacial surgeons to offer a partnership solution for continued and accelerated practice success as the healthcare landscape becomes more competitive and the regulatory complexities increase. Serving as an extension of the clinical mission of its surgeon partners, USOSM preserves clinical autonomy and keeps the focus on patient care and exceptional patient outcomes. USOSM provides operational, marketing and administrative support services, reinvests resources, and applies best practices to improve clinical and financial performance and produce steadier, more profitable growth for all. Americas Role in Armageddon: A Biblical View of Current Events and the Coming Tribulation: a potent invitation to repent and draw near, is the creation of published author Thomas G. Reed, a telecommunications engineer turned theological thinker. Reed writes, Are you aware that the current events shaping our world reflect apocalyptic biblical predictions? Its clear that the end of time is near. This book is a wake-up call for Christians and American patriots who can no longer afford to shrug and hope for the best. The strong foundation of Judeo-Christian values that built our great country has crumbled to the ground in the face of humanism and liberal progressivism. Americas demise parallels the demise of mankind as a whole. How have we reached this state of crisis? We explore the death grip that humanism has on America, and the ultimate fate of all the worlds citizens. We examine both the source of sin and the path toward holiness, including death to the old self and resurrection of the new. It is essential to heed the warnings found in Gods Wordwarnings which become increasingly relevant as the Great Tribulation draws near. With a detailed evaluation of the Scriptures, we identify the timeline of the Tribulation, Rapture, return of Jesus Christ, and the thousand-year Millennium. Realizing that the Rapture will not take place prior to the Tribulation, we must accept the Tribulation when it begins and recognize its ramificationsor risk being deceived by Satan and the Antichrist. Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Thomas G. Reeds new book is a powerful warning drawn from a thorough study of Scripture and its prophesies. Reed pinpoints the current era in the timeline of the Tribulation, Rapture, Second Coming of Christ, and the Millennium, and equips faithful Christians with the knowledge and encouragement to withstand the imminent cataclysmic events with unshaken faith in their eternal rewards. View a synopsis of Americas Role in Armageddon: A Biblical View of Current Events and the Coming Tribulation on YouTube. Consumers can purchase Americas Role in Armageddon: A Biblical View of Current Events and the Coming Tribulation at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or inquiries about Americas Role in Armageddon: A Biblical View of Current Events and the Coming Tribulation, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919. We reformatted the Italian Wine Ambassador course with the aim of providing students with important storytelling tools about Italian wine culture which, ultimately, will enable them to talk about Italian wines in their own markets with deep knowledge and passion. Stevie Kim, VIA Founder Applications are now being accepted for the Vinitaly International Academy (VIA) Italian Wine Ambassador certification course in Chengdu scheduled to begin on March 16. This five-day intensive program which trains professionals on Italian wine culture to the highest level, will return to Chengdu after the 2018 edition in which 8 candidates were successfully certified as Italian Wine Ambassadors. Known as Chinas leisure city, Chengdu is a major hub for the beverage industry since it is home to the International Wine and Spirits Show, an important expo which takes place from March 17 to 20 at the Shangri-La Hotel and attracts premium brands in the sector. Vinitaly will also be present with a dedicated Vinitaly China area to showcase Italian wine labels. It is therefore a timely opportunity for wine professionals in Asia to sign up for the Italian Wine Ambassador course and avail of additional business and networking opportunities offered by the trade event. This year, the Italian Wine Ambassador course in Chengdu will offer an even more engaging learning and tasting experience, as the program has been recently reformatted from the point of view of both theory lectures and tastings. In Chengdu, VIA Faculty Sarah Heller MW and Henry Davar will deliver standardized lectures covering each Italian regions iconic wines, native grapes, history and food culture. In addition, the lecturers will teach warm-up sessions that will allow students to focus on important issues surrounding Italian wines and their production. Vinitaly International Academy Founder Stevie Kim comments on the rationale behind the enhancement of the lecture series: We reformatted the course with the aim of also providing students with important storytelling tools about Italian wine culture. On top of getting to know the wines through our numerous tastings, with the Italian Wine Ambassador course our intention is to give students the added value of storytelling, which, ultimately, will enable them to talk about Italian wines in their own markets with deep knowledge and passion. The tasting component of the course is another feature that has been improved to help students in foreign markets explore more fully the depth andbreadth of Italian wine styles. In addition to guided tastings led by VIA Faculty members, candidates will take part in self-guided tasting sessions named tasting labs where they will sample additional labels. To improve communication skills and get to know each other, candidates will also work in groups to prepare a video presentation on a topic related to Italian native grapes. Another revamp of the course involves the final assessment which features a written exam (both multiple choice and open-ended questions) as well as a practicum (blind tasting). In addition to a comprehensive learning experience, the Italian Wine Ambassador course fosters connections between international professionals who take the course and the Italian wine industry at large, thanks also to the Vinitaly International Academy reformatted infrastructure. During the summer of 2018, Italian vine genetics academic Prof. Attilio Scienza became the scientific director of VIA and was joined also by representatives of four major Italian trade associations (Federvini, Federdoc, Vignaioli Indipendenti FIVI, and Unione Italiana Vini) that formed VIAs Institutional Advisory Board. Additional regional and private consortiums, trade networks, and regional bodies have also joined, becoming VIA Supporters and contributing to VIAs educational activities such as courses and tasting seminars. This cohesive infrastructure contributes to fulfil VIAs mission of acting as the conduit between the Italian wine sector and wine professionals operating in markets all over the world. To date, the VIA community counts 450 specialists who went through the program since 2014. Among these, 170 have been certified as Italian Wine Ambassadors and Experts globally. In Asia, VIA has 39 are Ambassadors and Experts based in mainland China, 12 in Hong Kong, 2 in Singapore, 3 in Taiwan, 2 in Japan, and 4 in South Korea. Asia-based wine specialists interested in advancing their careers by entering the VIA community have time until March 1 2019 to enrol in the Chengdu course. Informal enquiries can be addressed by emailing viachina@vinitalytour.com. About: The grand Vinitaly 2019 will be held from April 7th to the 10th. Every year, Vinitaly counts more than 4,000 exhibitors on a 100,000+ square meter area and 130,000 visitors from over 140 different countries with more than 30,000 top international buyers. The premier event to Vinitaly, OperaWine Finest Italian Wines: 100 Great Producers, which will be held on the 6th of April, one day prior to Vinitaly will unite international wine professionals in the heart of Verona, offering them the unique opportunity to discover and taste the wines of the 100 Best Italian Producers, as selected by Wine Spectator. Since 1998 Vinitaly International travels to several countries such as Russia, China, USA and Hong Kong thanks to its strategic arm abroad, Vinitaly International. In February 2014 Vinitaly International launched an educational project, the Vinitaly International Academy (VIA) with the aim of divulging and broadcasting the excellence and diversity of Italian wine around the globe. VIA this year launched the seventh edition of its Certification Course and today counts 157 Italian Wine Ambassadors and 13 Italian Wine Experts. Rob Reynolds, Executive Director and cofounder of TEL Library As a regionally accredited college with such a positive history of helping non-traditional students receive credit and earn degrees for their coursework, Excelsior College is an ideal partner in our effort to deliver affordable college learning to everyone in the U.S. TEL Library, a non-profit educational organization based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma has announced an agreement with Excelsior College, a regionally accredited, not-for-profit online college based in Albany, New York, to provide transcripted college credit for TEL courses. Excelsior College enrolls approximately 36,000 students in a variety of undergraduate and graduate degree programs. We are excited to announce this partnership with Excelsior College, said Rob Reynolds, Executive Director of TEL. As a regionally accredited college with such a positive history of helping non-traditional students receive credit and earn degrees for their coursework, Excelsior College is an ideal partner in our effort to deliver affordable college learning to everyone in the U.S. As part of the relationship, Excelsior College conducts a comprehensive review of TEL courses, instructors, and testing processes. As courses are approved, they become eligible to receive transcripted credit from Excelsior via the colleges One Transcript service. Students completing TEL courses with a passing grade may request a course transcript directly from Excelsior College. Excelsior is a regionally accredited college that makes it easy for students nationwide to earn and transfer course credit, Reynolds said. "Our agreement with them is an important milestone in our journey to deliver affordable college education to everyone in the U.S. ABOUT TEL LIBRARY TEL Library is a non-profit organization committed to facilitating equitable access to high-quality, affordable learning in the U.S. TEL offers its library of general education courses to high schools, colleges and universities, and homeschool parents and organizations. As part of its mission to support affordable life-learning, TEL also maintains a free reference library and offers low-cost certificate courses. For more information, please visit http://www.tellibrary.org. ABOUT EXCELSIOR COLLEGE Excelsior College (excelsior.edu) is a regionally accredited, nonprofit online college focused on helping adults complete their degrees and advance their careers. The college contributes to the development of a diverse, educated, and career-ready society by valuing lifelong learning with an emphasis on serving individuals historically underrepresented in higher education. Founded in 1971, Excelsior meets students where they are academically and geographically removing obstacles to the educational goals of adults pursuing continuing education and degree completion. Our pillars include innovation, flexibility, academic excellence, and integrity. Learn more at excelsior.edu. SundWASH parallel pump systems scale-as-needed SundWash systems can save operators hundreds-of-thousands of gallons of water in a single day, which more than pays for the system in the first year of operation. Sundyne, a global leader in the design and manufacture of pumps and compressors, today announced the SundWASH high pressure wash-down systems for the food & beverage industries. These newly-designed systems will be on display at the International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) in Atlanta on February 12-14, in booth Number 8372. SundWASH high-pressure wash-down packages are specifically designed for facilities that process chicken, beef & pork, and beer & wine. In North America, there are more than 800 food & beverage processing facilities that require high pressure wash-down capabilities for cleaning & sanitation, odor control, dust suppression, deboning & scale removal, and for a wide range of other processing applications. Most processing plants utilize a central, high-pressure cleaning system that allows multiple operators to clean at the same time. For wash-down applications, high pressure is the key to efficiency, because the ability to boost pressure on demand enables operators to get the job done with less water and fewer chemicals, which saves money. SundWASH systems are comprehensive, turnkey packages that are available in single or dual pump configurations. They include motors, motor starters, a Pre-Programed Logic Controller (PLC), flow meters, flow & recirculation control valves, temperature switches, and piping that is available in carbon steel or stainless steel. The modular layout makes it easy to add wash-down packages in parallel to accommodate plant growth. Water demands at food & beverage plants can change drastically during an 8 hour shift. Single pumps cannot meet this demand but SundWASH parallel pump systems scale-as-needed without compromising on performance. Boosting pressure increases efficiency, which enables operators to get the job done with less water and fewer chemicals. SundWash high pressure systems can save operators hundreds-of-thousands of gallons of water in a single day, which more than pays for the system in the first year of operation. SundWASH systems feature a small footprint. The Sunflo pumps powering these systems feature a cartridge assembly that can be easily swapped out in place, in a matter of minutes, without having to disconnect the pump from pipe connections. No additional alignments are necessary, which renders repair time to less than 60 minutes. Ease of maintenance is the key differentiator for SundWASH systems, said Colin Guppy, Sundyne Chemical and Industrial Business Unit Leader. The ability for one person, with one wrench to repair the pump in less than one hour offers a huge advantage over competitive pumps that have to be disconnected from piping, removed via crane and sent to a repair shop, where they need to be realigned and re-balanced which increases labor costs and lowers plant efficiency. The industrial grade Sunflo pumps powering the SundWASH systems feature field-proven high-pressure impeller technology that is optimized to deliver high head. Each member of the Sunflo family is optimized to provide a range of flow rates (from 4 GPM to 500 GPM), and head (from 100 feet to 5,200 feet). Recent enhancements to the Sunflo line of pumps include: new seal housings; a new labyrinth gearbox seal; splined impellers; new sleeves & O-rings; and improved bearings that improve performance and help the pumps resist upset conditions. Each of these enhancements help to ensure that high-pressure water is always available with continuous, stable flow. To learn more about SundWASH systems, visit Sundyne at IPPE in Atlanta, February 12-14, in booth Number 8372. Additional information is also available online at: http://www.sundyne.com. About Sundyne: Headquartered in Arvada, Colorado, Sundyne is a leading manufacturer of highly reliable and efficient centrifugal pumps and compressors for use in oil and gas production, refining, chemical, petro-chemical, power generation and water processing industries. Sundyne is the world leader in delivering low-flow, high-head integrally geared centrifugal pumps and compressors; as well as safe and efficient sealless magnetic drive pumps. Sundyne pumps and compressors meet stringent API and ISO standards. To learn more about the Sundyne family of precision engineered pumps and compressors, please visit http://www.sundyne.com. Sundyne is owned and operated by Accudyne Industries. About Accudyne Industries: Accudyne Industries is a global provider of precision-engineered flow control and compressor systems responsible for powering the worlds most economically vital industries. These process-critical machines deliver unflagging performance in incredibly demanding environments, giving confidence to the mission of their customers. Today, Accudyne is powered by more than 2,800 employees at 13 manufacturing facilities. For more information, visit http://www.accudyneindustries.com. Were excited to keep things fresh at our fifth Symposium with a new venue, new learning opportunities, and hopefully a lot of new faces to add to our global network. - COL (RET) Stu Bradin, GSF President and CEO The fifth annual Global SOF Symposium - US will bring together the Special Operations Forces (SOF) focused community in a collaborative and educational environment. This fifth iteration offers exciting new opportunities, including professional development workshops, business growth education, and a convenient new venue. March 5th is the Symposiums first Professional Development Day; there will be five concurrent sessions featuring a broad range of topics to appeal to all attendees. All of these sessions are free with a full Symposium registration, but participants may also purchase a single-day pass as well. The only full-day session is the SOF for Life Transition Seminar, hosted by the COMMIT Foundation. COMMIT is a non-profit helping America's top tier servicemembers and veterans find personal and professional purpose after military service. This session is specifically targeted toward Active Duty Military who are separating from service or have separated from service within two years. There are also four half-day sessions. Norwich University is hosting two: one is focused on the changing cybersecurity workforce while the other is an overview of the Project Management Professional (PMP) Test--a valuable certification in the civilian workforce. PROMOTE, a non-profit that develops innovative national security leaders and organizations that leverage inclusive cultures and cognitive diversity, is hosting a session focused on inclusive leadership and mentorship. The final session is a DoD Acquisition Primer taught by Mr. Chris Paddock, an Instructor at the Defense Acquisition University. Another exciting addition to this years Symposium is a special Strategy for Success session on the evening of March 7th. This session, which is free to all Symposium attendees, starts with a one-hour seminar from Josh Tolley of Purple Monkey Garage--an organization that helps businesses reach their full potential. The seminar will be followed by rum-tasting with Kavana Rum and music from Blackbird Anthem. All of the Symposium events will take place at The Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay for the first time in its five years. Conveniently located near the Tampas international airport, this waterfront venue provides ample opportunity to conduct business, build relationships, and learn--all while enjoying Floridas beautiful spring season. The event host is the Global Special Operations Forces (SOF) Foundation, the only professional association for the international SOF community. This three-day Symposium is the Foundations flagship event and will also feature high-level speakers, networking opportunities, and two different expo spaces for industry participation. Dont miss this rare opportunity to join the global SOF community in Tampa, Fl., from March 5-7 2019. Register today at http://bit.ly/19GS-Register. The Global Special Operations Forces (SOF) Foundation (GSF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that aims to build and grow an international network of military, government, commercial, and educational stakeholders in order to advance SOF capabilities and partnerships to confront global and networked threats. Rabbi Steve Blane of Sim Shalom Online Synagogue We welcome all Jews at Sim Shalom! Two new Jews by Choice joined the Jewish community on February 3rd at a conversion ceremony overseen by Sim Shalom's Rabbi Steve Blane and an online Bet Din. Online conversion is a controversial topic in that some Jews tend to disparage the virtual process. However, even some mainstream denominations are now at times providing virtual conversions. Whatever the reason people seek conversion with Sim Shalom they all have a sincere desire to become Jewish. Rabbi Steve Blane of online synagogue Sim Shalom, was approached by many people seeking conversion before developing his fascinating conversion program several years ago. Like all of Sim Shalom's services and programs, the conversion course serves those who travel frequently or do not live near a brick and mortar synagogue while some have not found a good fit with a local Rabbi. What separates Sim Shaloms Conversion study is the fact that one is not required to abide by the tenants of a particular denomination. They broadly study the entirety of Judaism. As part of the program, students study at their own pace, meet with Rabbi Blane online, write a paper and complete coursework. It is a rigorous and serious course of study. Rabbi Blane insists it is perhaps the best course of study, in that students are required to attend services of different Jewish denominations in order to discover which branch of Judaism is most resonant for them. Rabbi Blane and those who serve on the Bet Din (three Rabbis) are honored to usher them through the process. Sadly, the traditional Jewish world often eschews these potential new Jews by Choice. A sad example of the lack of respect among denominations is the fact that Mikvot (ritual baths), which are a part of the conversion process, do not welcome potential converts who are not pursuing conversion under the auspices of mainstream rabbis. Increasingly the conversion students who study with Sim Shalom are turned away as not "real" Jews and the Rabbis who support them are at times not even considered acceptable. This despite the fact that hundreds of non-mainstream ordained rabbis are skillful, knowledgable and in fact serve the greater Jewish community. Given that most Mikvot are often at least partially funded by liberal Jewish charities and institutions, Rabbi Blane wonders if those funders understand the exclusion that occurs. He notes, "We are proud of the work we are doing to help those who seek Judaism and we welcome them- no ifs ands or buts. Mikvot should not restrict anyone seeking to become Jewish. This is a modern Jewish tragedy and we should as a community insist upon access for all. To date Sim Shalom has converted many Jews who by necessity must immerse in the ocean or lakes or ponds. It can be a bit chilling, but the results are always heartwarming. We welcome all Jews at Sim Shalom! About Rabbi Blane and Sim Shalom: Sim Shalom is an interactive online Jewish Universalist synagogue which is liberal in thought and traditional in liturgy. Created in 2009 by Rabbi Steven Blane on Manhattan's Upper West Side, Sim Shalom offers a means of connecting the unconnected. Rabbi Blane leads accessible and short Shabbat services every Friday night using a virtual interface and additionally Sim Shalom provides online education programs, Jazz concerts, conversion and life-cycle ceremonies along with weeknight services at 7:00PM EST led by Rabbis and students of this online community. Rabbi Blane is also the founder and director of the Jewish Spiritual Leader's Institute, http://www.jsli.net, the online professional rabbinical program and the Union of Jewish Universalist Communities http://www.ujuc.org. Sim Shalom, a non profit 501 (3) tax-exempt organization, nurtures a Jewish connection through its mission of innovative services, creative education and dynamic outreach to the global community. For more information visit http://www.simshalom.com or call 201-338-0165. CU President Dr. Michael V. Carter, PGU President Randy Christopher along with CU and PGU administrators come together to mark this new transition. Our faculty are currently working with the professors at PGU to develop the curriculum, support services and learning environment that is the legacy of PGU. Phillips Graduate University has partnered with Campbellsville University in South Central Kentucky to continue the legacy of PGU with new classes beginning May 1. Operations will continue at the Chatsworth location for Phillips at 19900 Plummer Street. CUs Board of Trustees approved a resolution, Feb 5, establishing The Phillips Graduate Institute. Students will be able to pursue their education at Phillips Graduate Institute, as it will remain an accredited entity under the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)*. Students will participate in a program which allows them to achieve their Marriage and Family Therapy license under the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. Randy Christopher, provost for Phillips, said, Its a bright new beginning for the school and an association we can all feel good about. Campbellsville will preserve the values and mission of the current institution and Phillips will always be dedicated to serving the diverse social, economic, gender and ethnic groups that make up Los Angeles County and beyond. Christopher said Campbellsville University will be working with PGUs faculty and staff to steward the graduate school into the future as Phillips Graduate Institute of Campbellsville University. Christopher agreed, Indeed, the decision by Campbellsville to have PGU incorporate the schools former name, Phillips Graduate Institute, is a nod to the solid academics and warm community for which Phillips has always been known. We are excited about our counseling programs, said Shelly Stee, chair of the MFT program. The same faculty will be teaching the same courses at the same location. It is like just starting a new term. Campbellsville University was founded in 1906 and now has an enrollment of more than 13,000 students. Phillips Graduate Institute was founded in 1971. Dr. H. Keith Spears, vice president for communication and assistant to the president at Campbellsville University, said, Campbellsville University is looking forward to starting our program at the same location where PGU has created so many servant leaders in PGUs almost five decades of service to southern California." Our faculty are currently working with the professors at PGU to develop the curriculum, support services and learning environment that is the legacy of PGU. Spears said that in its new role with Phillips, Campbellsville University brings financial stability, administrative expertise and, most of all, a continued commitment to helping others. Along with more than 90 academic fields of study, Campbellsville is also known nationwide for its social programs serving the diverse needs of local communities and the world. Its exciting, PGI graduate Sarah Kelley, MA, MFT 01, said. The Campbellsville plan, coupled with Phillips mission, is a match truly made in heaven. *Campbellsville University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award certificates, associate, bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097, or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the status of Campbellsville University. For more information, contact the Admissions Office at (818) 386-5660 or info@pgu.edu. Modern dental techniques have rendered dentistry nearly pain-free. Yet dental fears and phobias remain exceptionally common. In some cases, patients will put off even critical dental work due to their fears. For those who are afraid of the dentist, sedation dentistry can be a life-changing solution. In February 2019, Savannah Dental Solutions is pleased to offer a complimentary sedation dentistry consultation to anyone who feels that this solution might help. Simply call the office at (912) 354-1366 and mention this offer. Dental sedation falls into three basic types: Nitrous Oxide The mildest form of dental sedation is nitrous oxide, sometimes known as laughing gas. The patient inhales a carefully balanced mix of nitrogen and oxygen through a mask over the nose. Nitrous oxide induces deep relaxation and a sense of well-being, but the patient remains awake and responsive. The effects wear off in just a few minutes when the mask is removed, making this an excellent option for patients who afraid of sedation. This is the only form of sedation that allows the patient to drive home after the procedure. Oral Sedation Oral sedation uses medication in pill form to induce moderate sedation. The patient can respond to instructions from the dentist, but will feel drowsy and may even fall asleep. Depending on exactly which medication and dosage are selected, the patient will likely feel groggy for the rest of the day. It is important to bring someone to the appointment to drive you home. IV Sedation IV sedation is the deepest form of dental sedation available in the dentists office. Patients tend to be very groggy and loopy, and often fall asleep in the chair. It is easy to rouse patients from IV sedation, but it is common to feel somewhat out of it for the next 24 hours. Patients must bring someone to drive them home and remain with them throughout the night. Those who are interested in learning more are encouraged to call (912) 354-1366 and mention this offer to schedule a free sedation dentistry consultation. About Savannah Dental Solutions Married dentists Chad and Alexandra Schnabel welcome new patients to Savannah Dental Solutions. From caring childrens dentistry to high-tech cosmetic procedures and even full-mouth reconstruction, they blend the latest technology with traditional customer-oriented values. Those who are ready to start their journey to better oral health can call today at (912) 354-1366 or visit the website at http://savannahdentalsolutions.com. Savannah Dental Solutions is located at 9A Medical Arts Center, Savannah, GA 31405. Rhinoplasty is one of the most popular cosmetic surgery procedures in the United States. - Cosmetic Town Senior Editor Cosmetic Town, a leading online plastic surgery and information community based in Los Angeles, is spotlighting the cosmetic surgery known as rhinoplasty in the month of February. The senior editor of Cosmetic Town says the month-long series will feature news articles, interviews with doctors, videos about the surgery and celebrity rhinoplasty news. According to the senior editor, Rhinoplasty is one of the most popular cosmetic surgery procedures in the United States. Patients visit doctors to make a desired change in the shape, size or appearance of their nose as well as improve the functionality of the nose to make it easier to breathe. In addition, they often hope to make a change in the look of their nose so it will be more in balance with the rest of their facial features. The senior editor pointed out that the Cosmetic Town staff got a jump on the rhinoplasty spotlight at the start of the year by publishing a list of the Best Cosmetic Doctors for Rhinoplasty in Miami. Our research team used an intelligent algorithm that was focused on cosmetic surgery in order to make the list. The doctors on the list were chosen based on the overall satisfaction of patients with their services, their continuing efforts to educate their patients about plastic surgery and the number of articles they have written on a regular basis to share with their peers. When asked for further details about the spotlight on rhinoplasty, the senior editor shared the website plans to cover any and all rhinoplasty techniques through a variety of content. We will publish a new news article each week in February that is related to rhinoplasty. The first one has been published and it is a look at the best celebrity rhinoplasty nose jobs. In addition, we will release videos, interviews with doctors and even hold a Reddit AMA with a Los Angeles doctor that specializes in performing rhinoplasty that gives patients the shape of the nose they desire. The senior editor said the focus on rhinoplasty is the first in a series of cosmetic surgery spotlights on the website this year. He said spotlighting different cosmetic surgery procedures on a monthly basis lets us dig deeper into some of the most popular procedures currently being performed in the United States and around the world. We appreciate having the opportunity to look closer at various cosmetic procedures and provide in-depth information that helps create patients with the knowledge they need before undergoing cosmetic surgery. About Cosmetic Town Cosmetic Town is an online cosmetic medicine publication whose mission is to share knowledge, inspire people and improve lives though cosmetic medicine. The website features doctors who were endorsed and highly recommended by their peers. Its reliable and streamlined database allows users to easily access the cosmetic surgery information they need with just a click of a button. We are proud to support businesses on the cutting edge of their respective industries Republic Business Credit leapt into the technology forward experiential marketing realm by partnering with an award winning millennial founder that has achieved tremendous success partnering with Fortune 500 companies. The company combines creativity and excellence into a unique experiential based design. Republic was referred in by a regional investment bank that sought a technology savvy factoring partner for its client. The creative marketing company was founded a few years ago with the mission of combining their design talents with a new vision for their clients customer. The company transforms a traditional marketing campaign into an unforgettable experience. Republic provided a $3.0 million selective invoice factoring facility that supported their growing working capital requirements. The company only factored their larger and slower paying customers that are traditionally viewed as their best customers, but caused the business cash-flow challenges due to the slower invoice payment terms. Republic was willing to extend eligibility to 120 days on several customers to create availability and further help ramp their sales goals in 2019. Millennial owned entrepreneurs are demonstrating success outside of the typical Silicon Valley darlings you read about in the Wall Street Journal, says Robert Meyers, President of Republic. As a millennial owner that partnered up with a Gen Xer in Stewart Chesters, we are proud to support businesses on the cutting edge of their respective industries regardless of the generational stigma thrust upon them. Republic Business Credit supports banks, investment banks, private equity, accountants, lawyers and consultants across the United States to create value, strengthen relationships and provide complementary services to entrepreneurial businesses. Republic is proud to support entrepreneurs across all ages, backgrounds and experience levels to realize their dreams. ---Boilerplate--- Republic Business Credit provides flexible working capital solutions to help rapidly growing businesses, start-ups, and companies in turnaround or recoverable distressed situations. Winner of the Emerging Growth Company of the Year award from the Louisiana Chapter of the Association of Corporate Growth, and the FactoringClubs Best Factoring Company Award for 2018, the Republic Business Credit team has the expertise necessary to meet the nuanced financial needs of companies across a wide variety of industries. It provides receivables finance, factoring and asset-based facilities, including ABL, receivables purchase lines of credit, inventory, equipment and purchase order lines. Since its founding in 2011, Republic Business Credit has provided over $3.5 billion in fast, flexible working capital. UC Won announced today that it has secured leases on existing geothermal production wells in Northern Nevada to begin testing to deploy RenewGeo technology. RenewGeo (renewgeo.com) is the branding for the proprietary process called Solar Augmented Geothermal Energy where solar heat is stored in the ground to create 24 / 7 sustainable geothermal produced electrical power. Mark Hauenstein, managing partner at UC Won, said, Today ends a two-year search for suitable wells to use for testing. One of the advantages for RenewGeo technology is to re-purpose existing geothermal wells that are not commercially viable or abandoned oil / gas fields for solar charged geothermal power production. From energy in the sky to power reserves in the ground, this technology expands where we site geothermal and is a disruptive energy innovation. According to Steve DeOreo, geothermal geologist working on the project, Although the site was originally developed and has potential for conventional geothermal, the configuration of the existing wells is suitable for the RenewGeo technology. Testing is expected to start during the second quarter of 2019 pending final funding arrangements. UC Won is a Nevada Corporation, founded in 2012 to create and manage a portfolio of intellectual properties focused on energy related technologies that are aligned with long term sustainable environmental goals. Geothermally produced electricity is among the few methods that provides a continuous and reliable source of clean, carbon free power. RenewGeo is the only known technology that has the potential to take solar heat to create power from large scale, in-ground thermal storage. Proceed Innovative is an internet marketing agency and certified Google Partner that provides businesses across the U.S. with expert search engine marketing (SEM) services including search engine optimization (SEO) and web design. They recently relocated to a new bigger office in Schaumburg, IL and are hosting a ribbon cutting event on February 13, 2019 to celebrate the move. In the last years, Proceed Innovative has grown their client base with new local and nationwide clients in different industries. They have also expanded their client base within the industries they have been serving with new franchises in the disaster restoration and home health care industries. As their client base has grown, so has their team which caused them to outgrow their previous office space. The new office is in the corporate center in Schaumburg, IL, which is a convenient drive from OHare and the city of Chicago. The new space has more room to accommodate their growing staff and a bigger conference room to host meetings with their clients. According to Jasmine Panayotov, Managing Partner at Proceed Innovative, The best part of our production meetings is sharing clients success stories and monthly revenue numbers that are direct results of our work and what our clients share with us. According to her, everyone likes to be a winner and its her job to get them there. Proceed Innovatives ribbon cutting event will take place on February 13, 2019 at their new office space at 1515 Woodfield Rd, Suite 103, Schaumburg, IL, 60173. This event is sponsored by the Schaumburg Business Association (SBA) and will be attended by Procced Innovatives clients and business partners. About Proceed Innovative For over a decade Proceed Innovative, a Chicago Internet marketing agency, has helped clients implement successful search engine marketing programs. Using cost effective methods customized to the business. Proceed Innovative delivers measurable marketing results for all clients. Their strategic website consulting team is established in the Search Engine Marketing industry. Proceed Innovatives experienced team of professionals creates customized integrated Internet marketing solutions that help clients accomplish their objectives and meet their ROI goals. Proceed Innovative has a proven track record of success and experience to match the Internet marketing objectives and budget of any client. Visit https://www.proceedinnovative.com or call Proceed Innovative at (800) 933-2402 for more information. Restaurant Depot, the nations premier cash and carry food wholesaler is set to open its latest store in Milford MA, this coming Wednesday, Feb 13th, 2019. On the site of what was an undeveloped tract of land, Restaurant Depot has built a brand-new state-of-the-art facility. Across America, Restaurant Depot has brought a solution for business owners that struggle with food and supply costs. On average, customers can save 15% on their purchases by picking up at one of their warehouses. In addition, Restaurant Depot has been lauded for its ability to create jobs in the local community. Local restaurant and bar owners have been looking forward to the arrival. Everything at Restaurant Depot can be inspected to ensure quality, before it is purchased. There is no minimum purchase required, meaning customers can buy exactly the amount they need without worrying about waste. We are so excited to join the community here in Milford says branch manager Wellington Urena. Our new 62,000 square foot location has created 38 jobs and we are ready to help local businesses see how much they can save when they shop with us, Urena added. In addition to food and beverages, the store also includes a comprehensive selection of restaurant equipment and supplies including a full line of packaging solutions. The new Milford store features RDs industry-leading one-stop shopping which simplifies the process of buying food, equipment and supplies. Whether you buy a few bakery supplies or enough food and tableware to cater a party for 5,000, shopping at Restaurant Depot can save you time and money. And at Restaurant Depot, members have the option to purchase many items by the piece or by the case, saving on the unit costs accordingly. Since Restaurant Depot is a cash and carry, there are no minimum order requirements, no delivery fees and the price you see on the shelf tag is the price you pay. Plus, RD proudly offers an Always Fresh! guarantee. Restaurant Depot is open 7 days a week- Wholesale Only. Membership is free and open to all businesses and nonprofit organizations. For more information please visit their website at http://www.restaurantdepot.com NOTE: High-res images and interviews with store personnel are available by contacting Fran Moreira by calling 718-559-4201 or via email at fmoreira(at)jetrord(dot)com. Chad Nichols, Western Region President, North American Title Company North American Title Co. (NATC) has named Chad Nichols president of its western region, following the sale of the company to States Title, Inc. in January. He will oversee operations for 40 branch offices in the western regions premier real estate markets. Chads energy and enthusiasm for every aspect of this business has brought him not only success in growing market share but also in creating loyal and motivated teams, said NATC President Dia Demmon. More importantly, in the decade we have worked together in the western region, I have been impressed by his creative problem-solving skills, his passion for associate development, and his ability to successfully create and implement revenue building strategies. Nichols brings two decades of experience in the industry, most recently serving as National Sales Manager for NATC. Launching his title industry career in 1999, he was quickly promoted to a sales manager position for a national title company. He later served in various positions for two additional title companies, including county manager and senior vice president, before joining NATC in 2009. As a leader, I am committed every day to championing the success not only of our organization, but of each individual who contributes daily to the valuable work we do for our customers, Nichols said. It is truly an honor to be a leader in a company that is destined to transform the consumer experience and at the same time, is committed to creating the most collaborative and associate-focused environment in the title insurance industry. Nichols received his Bachelor of Science in business administration from the University of San Francisco with honors and his Master of Business Administration from the University of California Haas School of Business. He is located at North American Titles western region headquarters at 1855 Gateway Boulevard, Suite 600, Concord, CA 94520, telephone number (925) 295-0533. About North American Title With close to 1,000 associates and a network of branches from coast to coast, North American Title Company (NATC) is among the largest real estate settlement service providers in the United States. Through its relationship with an expanding affiliate network, NATC provides or is able to coordinate real estate settlement services in all 50 states. With more than 100 offices across the country, NATC offers a depth and breadth of local expertise and knowledge in many of the premier real estate markets. NATCs parent company is States Title Holding Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded by Max Simkoff and backed by a significant financial investment from Lennar and leading venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, States Title uses cutting-edge technology to deliver a modern title and escrow platform. Highest online rated window brand Throughout 2018, Milgard continued to be the industry leader in our program with the highest NRS score outperforming competitors for the third year in a row, said Selin Varol, Research Manager at MetrixLab. Milgard Windows & Doors was named the highest online rated window and patio door brand for the third straight year, demonstrating their continuing commitment to manufacturing quality products and delivering great customer experiences. Knowing the positive impact our products have on a customers home is very valuable, said Jeremiah Noneman, senior marketing director at Milgard. Hearing from homeowners helps us to continue offering an exceptional customer experience and innovating new products that can help make their home beautiful and more comfortable. Brand ratings are conducted by MetrixLabs net reputation scoring system. A Net Reputation Score (NRS) is determined by looking at the online content posted by real customers. Millions of blogs, review sites and social media comments are evaluated to derive the score which is measured on a 200 point scale. Positive and negative engagement on product attributes and overall customer experience factors into calculating the digital health of a brand. Throughout 2018, Milgard continued to be the industry leader in our program with the highest NRS score outperforming competitors for the third year in a row, said Selin Varol, Research Manager at MetrixLab. They sustained their strong online presence with an increase in positive talk about their brand. In addition to other review websites, over 40,000 homeowners have shared their feedback on milgard.com directly. Customers can review a product and talk about the beauty and comfort, comment on the purchase and installation process with their Milgard Certified Dealer, or share the details on a recent service visit. Read Milgard window reviews here: https://www.milgard.com/learn/why-milgard/customer-reviews About Milgard Windows & Doors Milgard Windows & Doors, a Masco company based in Tacoma, Washington, offers a full line of vinyl, wood, fiberglass and aluminum windows and patio doors for builders, dealers and homeowners, backed by a Full Lifetime Warranty, including parts and labor. The company has been recognized as Builders Choice for vinyl and fiberglass windows in the Western United States, in a yearly survey sponsored by Hanley-Wood Inc., publishers of BUILDER Magazine. Milgard is the highest online rated window and patio door brand, as measured by the 2018 NRS consumer sentiment study conducted by MetrixLab and commissioned by Masco. Milgard has approximately 3,800 dealer locations nationwide. For more information, visit milgard.com or call 1.800.MILGARD. About Masco Corporation Masco Corporation (NYSE: MAS), parent company of Milgard Windows & Doors, is a global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of branded home improvement and building products. Our portfolio of industry-leading brands includes Behr paint; Delta and Hansgrohe faucets, bath and shower fixtures; KraftMaid and Merillat cabinets; Milgard windows and doors; Kichler decorative and outdoor lighting; and Hot Spring spas. We leverage our powerful brands across product categories, sales channels and geographies to create value for our customers and shareholders. For more information about Masco Corporation, visit Masco.com. About MetrixLab MetrixLab provides consumer insights that drive smarter business decisions. As a truly digital global research agency, we pioneer new technologies and integrate multiple data sources to push the boundaries of research. Our expertise, passion and solutions enable our clients to succeed at product innovation, brand engagement and customer value in over 90 countries. MetrixLab is part of the Macromill Group. http://www.metrixlab.com # # # Given Michigan Ross prestige and commitment to innovation, this partnership is incredibly exciting for us, said John Katzman, founder and CEO of Noodle Partners. The University of Michigan Ross School of Business announced today its partnership with online program manager Noodle Partners to develop its new Part-time MBA: Online. Set to welcome its inaugural cohort in Fall 2019, the new program makes Michigan Ross the highest-ranked business school in the U.S. to offer its MBA in an online format, as the school continues to define the future of business education. The Online MBA will deliver the same renowned Ross educational experience in a convenient and flexible format to accommodate working professionals. It also is being designed - and the technology built by Noodle Partners - to meet the needs of todays students who are doing business in an increasingly digital environment. Technology is not only changing the way we communicate, collaborate, and otherwise do our jobs, but it is creating entirely new careers and companies, said Scott DeRue, the Edward J. Frey Dean of Business at Michigan Ross. As online education becomes a core competency for all business schools, we are excited to launch the Ross Online MBA. This new offering will prepare graduates for success in the fast-paced and ever-changing world of business. Michigan Ross is a long-time innovator in business school education and real-world learning experiences. The school pioneered action-based learning more than a quarter century ago, and emphasizes experiential learning programs throughout its curriculum, including in the new Online MBA. To help translate the on-campus Ross experience to a digital format, the school is working with Noodle Partners to create a highly collaborative space within the online platform for students to communicate, network, and work together on live cases and real-world business projects. Given Michigan Ross prestige and commitment to innovation, this partnership is incredibly exciting for us, said John Katzman, founder and CEO of Noodle Partners. Were responding to the needs of todays online MBA students more networking, more flexibility while replicating the value of a traditional on-campus experience. Michigan Ross choose Noodle Partners based on its network of sophisticated technology and services providers. Noodle Partners is the fastest-growing online program manager and collaborates with top educational institutions to launch online and hybrid programs. For more information, please visit: https://michiganross.umich.edu/programs/online-mba. About Michigan Ross The Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan is a vibrant and distinctive learning community grounded in the principle that business can be an extraordinary vehicle for positive change in today's dynamic global economy. The Ross School of Business' mission is to develop leaders who make a positive difference in the world. Through thought and action, members of the Ross community drive change and innovation that improves business and society. Ross is consistently ranked among the world's leading business schools. Academic degree programs include the BBA, MBA, Part-time MBA (Evening, Online, and Weekend formats), Executive MBA, Global MBA, Master of Accounting, Master of Supply Chain Management, Master of Management, and PhD. In addition, the school delivers open-enrollment and custom executive education programs targeting general management, leadership development, and strategic human resource management. About Noodle Partners Founded by a team of education and technology veterans, Noodle Partners creates innovative online and hybrid programs while improving traditional classroom models. Noodle Partners has the capability to work with universities on every aspect of building a certificate or degree program that they choosemarketing, student recruitment, enrollment, curriculum design, student engagement, support services, graduate placement, and alumni engagementand provides a high level of fit and finish. For more information, visit noodle-partners.com or follow us on Twitter @Noodle_Partners or LinkedIn. Media Contacts Michigan Ross Bridget Vis visb(at)umich(dot)edu 734-764-3022 Noodle Partners Alyssa Miller alyssa(at)ammediaworks(dot)com 973-615-1292 McDonald Family Dentistry in Morgan Hill, CA is excited to announce that, following the 2018 retirement of Dr. Lawrence McDonald, the practice is now owned by his son, Dr. Andrew McDonald. Thirty-eight years ago, Dr. Lawrence McDonald first opened the doors of McDonald Family Dentistry to care for the dental needs of the people of Morgan Hill and the surrounding community. Today his son, Dr. Andrew McDonald, carries on the tradition of providing quality and compassionate care to the growing community of Morgan Hill. The team also consists of two gentle and highly skilled hygienists, Sara and Angela, who have both been with the practice for over 25 years. Meet the Business Owner Dr. Andrew McDonald grew up in Morgan Hill. He earned his dental degree in 2013 from the prestigious University of the Pacific School of Dentistry in San Francisco. Dr. McDonald gained experience at several dental offices throughout the Bay Area with the goal of opening a practice of his own. He joined McDonald Family Dentistry in 2017, and then took ownership when his father retired in 2018. His goal is simple: to maintain the culture of conservative and compassionate dental care that his father championed throughout his career. Dr. Andrew McDonald and his wife Sarah are overjoyed to be able to raise their daughter Lucy in the beautiful South Valley. About McDonald Family Dentistry McDonald Family Dentistry provides a full line of general, restorative, pediatric, and cosmetic dental services for families in Morgan Hill, Gilroy, San Martin, and Santa Clara County. The practice also provides a Spanish speaking staff and has available evening hours for commuters. To learn more or schedule an appointment, call 408-779-9335, stop by the office at 17705 Hale Avenue, Suite A1, Morgan Hill, CA 95037, or visit the website at https://www.dentistofmorganhill.com/. Lone Star Analysis Logo The companys founders and their insights about intellectual property strategy have shaped our corporate philosophy and culture and laid the groundwork for new ideas. Lone Star Analysis, a trusted provider of advisory services and internationally recognized for leading-edge predictive and prescriptive analytics solutions, has announced plans to increase patent filings in 2019, starting with digital twin technology. Our first filing of the year describes an innovative approach to digital twins, or virtual models of processes, products or services, said Steve Roemerman, CEO, Lone Star Analysis. We believe this is an important change in digital twin technology. It will lower the cost of deployment and provide new capabilities in predictive and prescriptive analytics. While the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will not publish the patent application for a few months, Lone Star has already started rolling out the digital twin approach in customer trials. Several additional patents will follow. The company describes it as a two-pronged effort, focusing on both tactical and strategic patents. The filings will follow up on prior intellectual property and present new and original approaches to problems in artificial intelligence and analytics. We have several provisional and utility filings working through our internal process right now, said Eric Haney, chief technology officer, Lone Star Analysis. The companys founders and their insights about intellectual property strategy have shaped our corporate philosophy and culture and laid the groundwork for new ideas. Directly and through related entities, Lone Star currently manages about 60 patents awarded and pending. Its plan for 2019 is to accelerate the pace of filings and bring the total to about 70. To learn more about Lone Star, visit: https://lone-star.com/. About Lone Star Analysis Lone Star Analysis is a Dallas-based predictive and prescriptive analytics specialist enabling customers to make smarter decisions faster by leveraging data and insights to provide foresight and enhance the decision-making of its customers. Lone Stars TruNavigator and AnalyticsOSTM software programs provide transparent, auditable and explainable solutions for clients. Additionally, Lone Star applies the right combination of data, people and processes to get results with its 15 years of experience and more than 800 subject matter experts, across several industries, including aerospace, defense, energy, logistics, manufacturing and transportation. For more information on Lone Star, visit http://www.Lone-Star.com. Logistyx Technologies The products we offer jointly with Logistyx now give our valued customers access to carriers and services that will support any parcel shipping strategy they wish to utilize. Logistyx Technologies (http://www.logistyx.com), the leader in Transportation Management for parcels, today announced that its partnership with JDA Software, Inc. to offer a fully integrated parcel shipping solution for JDA Warehouse Management customers which reaches its one-year milestone this month has yielded a wealth of business benefits for customers and is poised to deliver even greater returns as the partnership moves into its second year. In the partnerships inaugural year, Logistyx and JDA collaborated to validate Logistyxs integration with JDAs Parcel Handler Interface (PHI), optimizing the workflow between JDA Warehouse Management and Logistyx for high-volume, enterprise shipping environments. The Logistyx/PHI solution automates the entire JDA parcel shipping process from real-time order entry, carrier rating and routing, through pack verification, weighing, consolidation, labeling and manifesting. JDAs customers gain key parcel shipping functionality from the parcel management solution, including: Seamless integration with JDA Warehouse Management as a high-performance black-box solution with support for fully automated manifesting and in-line parcel labeling Advanced fulfillment capabilities that support all major shipping transactions such as high-speed rating, time-in-transit, shipment hold and release, label print and reprint, manifest close-out and others, as well as address verification, party screening, ACE filing, labeling, export documentation and instant tracking Access to more than 4,500 global freight and parcel carrier services, including low cost regional and local operators Industry-leading carrier compatibility, ensuring the customer has complete and unimpeded access to the entire carrier service suite via any version of JDA Warehouse Management The first year of the Logistyx/JDA partnership reached numerous achievements for customers, including: More than 30 high-volume distribution centers are now leveraging the joint solution and many other customers have begun to implement it Makita, MasterLock, and other globally recognized companies use the joint solution to automate and accelerate their entire JDA parcel shipping process With the Logistyx/JDA PHI solution, customers can use 100 percent of the carrier product suites and stay compatible with carrier changes; customers, for example, can substantially cut time and costs when upgrading the FedEx Ship Manager Server (FSMS) in just minutes, a process that often takes days or even weeks Over the past year, many customers have adopted our joint solution with great success, said Steve Simmerman, Senior Director of Global Alliances & Partners at JDA. JDA Warehouse Management users that have a large parcel freight spend have been able to utilize the Logistyx/ JDA PHI solution to better manage their parcel shipping activities, while employing a much more diverse and blended carrier strategy. With e-commerce growing exponentially around the globe, the Logistyx/JDA PHI platform empowers our customers to utilize the full complement of carriers and services available in the industry throughout their supply chain network, while at the same time improving and accelerating delivery times and reducing parcel freight spend. Concurring with Simmerman, Matthew Butler, JDAs Director of Industry Strategy added, As a leading innovator in the supply chain software space, JDA always strives to introduce products and services that revolutionize the industry. Aligning with Logistyx Technologies is just another example of how JDA has worked tirelessly to bring best-of-breed solutions to our customers. The products we offer jointly with Logistyx now give our valued customers access to carriers and services that will support any parcel shipping strategy they wish to utilize. As the Logistyx/JDA partnership advances to its second year, JDA Warehouse Management customers can expect to gain even more business advantages. Among the next generation parcel management solutions Logistyx plans to launch is TME 3, its new revolutionary true single global enterprise parcel engine. About Logistyx Technologies: Logistyx Technologies is the leader in Transportation Management for parcel shipping, providing an unmatched global multi-carrier network, predictive analytics and full visibility into customer deliveries. Its software boosts parcel shipping efficiencies and other business KPIs for many of the worlds top brands, manufacturers, retailers and logistics providers. Headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, Logistyx Technologies also has U.S. offices in New York, Philadelphia, San Diego and St. Louis, and international offices in Canada, the Netherlands, the UK and Singapore. For more information, visit http://www.Logistyx.com. AxisPointe's hands-on booth provides builders with innovative solutions to managing risk both on the job and in the office. More than any prior year, I see the focus is in bringing quality and simplicity to the forefront of production home building. Next weeks International Builders Show Feb. 19-21 is expected to draw over 60,000 construction professionals to what is promising to be the most widely attended trade show in more than 10 years. Each year thousands of contractors, builders and design professionals descend onto the crowded show floor to get first looks at the latest products. From structural hardware to flashings for windows to unique plumbing fixtures, attendees will have more than 1,500 booths to visit during the 3-day event. More than any prior year, I see the focus is in bringing quality and simplicity to the forefront of production home building, said Stan Luhr, CEO and a frequent speaker at national builder shows. The big national companies attract a lot of attention due to the sheer size of their booths, but this year pay attention to the smaller booths where true innovation is on display. Luhrs Company, AxisPointe, is one of those smaller companies almost lost in the morass of multi-million dollar displays from national companies touting the latest bathtub color. This year, he says, builders need to focus more on HOW to build, rather than the selection of faucets and fencing. AxisPointes booth (SU1800) provides builders with tools to do more, with less, and do it more efficiently. Unlike traditional software, AxisPointe's InSite Mobile can be up and running in as little as 5 minutes, and at a fraction of the cost of other products. We will be sharing with builders the need to be more organized, whether you are a one-man show or manage hundreds of homes, Luhr said. We have technology tools that will make you a better, more organized and professional builderno matter your size. AxisPointes enterprise software is different than project management software or punch list devices. Built specifically to help builders manage their operations, AxisPointe relies on checkpoints to enforce rules a builder wants followed. These checkpoints help young employees understand the need for delivering quality, and minimizing the risks and defects commonly associated with construction. Since inception, Luhrs checkpoints have been answered nearly 100 million times and a lot has been learned in the process, such as how complex components must be broken down into manageable process steps to ensure consistency. AxisPointes software includes InSite Mobile, an award-winning mobile app that helps field users track construction and answer specific quality checkpoints to ensure quality. If something is amiss, a simple click refers the action item to the specific trade contractor responsible for correcting the mistake, in real time. This year AxisPointe will demonstrate its new InSite Funding Dashboard and field verification system, another industry first and one that Luhr says will disrupt the 50-year-old inefficient bank draw methods. InSite Funding builds upon our insurance-approved software to slash days off the cycle time and get both the builder and the lender on the same platform to instantly share data in real time, Luhr said. InSite Funding integrates information from the jobsite in real time to verify the percentage of completion, using GPS-enabled photos and checkpoints to track the job progress. Builders rely on the software every day to help them manage their jobs more efficiently, while automatically sharing important information needed to verify the bank draw request. The result is elimination of paperwork, increased job visibility, significant cost savings, and reduced cycle times from several days to just minutes, according to Luhr. Gone are the days where a small builder must apply for his money, wait 10 or 20 days and go through the very annoying inspection process, Luhr said. He added that AxisPointes GPS technologies have been used and approved by the nations largest builder insurance companies to verify quality and compliance, so it makes sense to leverage the same technology for the financial lending market. At the banking side, loan officers need only view one online dashboard to see the status of every account, every required document and loan activity. When a draw has been approved by AxisPointes experienced staff, the loan officer can review any information on one screen and approve the bank draw in minutes. InSite Funding operates seamlessly with InSite Mobile in the field to capture valuable data and photos of the construction process, often a requirement of the insurance company also concerned about project risk. It just makes so much sense to integrate the insurance needs with that of the lender, since they are in need of nearly the same information, Luhr said. He added, The builder uses one platform for controlling internal risk, quality, job safety, and nowbank draws, a win-win for everyone involved. Trade professionals interested in attending the IBS Show in Las Vegas Feb. 19-21 can get a free pass from AxisPointe, for a limited time. Visit AxisPointes website at http://www.axispointe.com for more information. About AxisPointe Since 2002 AxisPointe has provided home builders and contractors with technology solutions to eliminate construction risk and improve efficiency. AxisPointes HomeProfile document management solution has been employed on thousands of homes by leading builders. Contractor and Builder support services include risk management services, quality assurance and job schedule management, project quality assurance and control systems, project document storage and archiving, customer service management, work order ticket assignment, insurance certificate management, Wrap-Up administration and post-warranty claims support. AxisPointes InSite Mobile app empowers builders to eliminate defects and document the construction quality to avoid claims. AxisPointe SaaS services are completely hosted, eliminating storage and backup overhead for builders of all sizes. When evaluating language programs, youll regularly find Rocket Languages as a first-place finisher - including their world-class Korean lessons. TopConsumerReviews.com recently gave a best-in-class 5 star rating to Rocket Languages, a leader among programs offering lessons in the Korean language. What kind of students look for Korean lessons? With over 70 million native speakers around the globe, and the increasing popularity of K-Pop music and K-Drama on TV, its easy to see why the language is interesting to businesspeople and culture fans alike. Finding a place to learn Korean, however, isnt as easy as signing up for a class at the local community college or checking out a book at the library. Because Korean isnt as popular as Spanish, Chinese, and French, some students have a hard time signing up for instruction. For this reason, Korean lessons that can be accessed at home or via mobile device are an excellent option, allowing eager students to learn at their own pace and schedule. When evaluating language programs, youll regularly find Rocket Languages as a first-place finisher - including their world-class Korean lessons, affirmed Brian Dolezal of TopConsumerReviews.com, LLC. Targeting students looking to move into an intermediate level of fluency, Rocket Korean includes interactive audio lessons, language and culture modules, and more than 2,000 voice recognition phrases that allow learners to compare their spoken Korean with that of a native speaker. For people who need to be able to read and write Korean, Rocket Languages is one of the only programs that offers extensive help, from actual writing lessons to providing transcripts of the audio lessons. Theres no risk to try Rockets Korean lessons: a free trial lesson and a 60-day money back guarantee make this program accessible to every prospective student. For all of these reasons, Rocket Languages earns a top ranking among providers of Korean lessons in 2019. To find out more about Rocket Languages and other providers of Korean lessons, including reviews and comparison rankings, please visit the Korean lessons category of TopConsumerReviews.com at https://www.topconsumerreviews.com/korean-lessons/. About Rocket Languages Rocket Languages is a recognized leader in online language learning, with over 1,200,000 registered users of Rocket Languages products. Formed in early 2004 by Jason Oxenham and Mark Ling, Rocket Languages began with Rocket Spanish Premium and expanded to include more than a dozen language programs designed for effective, natural learning. About TopConsumerReviews.com TopConsumerReviews.com, LLC is a leading provider of reviews and rankings for thousands of consumer products and services. From Korean Lessons to Luggage Stores and Travel Insurance, TopConsumerReviews.com delivers in-depth product evaluations in order to make purchasing decisions easier. Karin E. Burkhard, MD, a child and adolescent psychiatrist who is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, has completed her new book The Borderline Child: Mindfulness in Action. Dr. Burkhard draws upon exhaustive review of research literature and 30 years of experience in the field to create a detailed, dimensional map of the perilous territory of this disorder as it emerges in children. Dr. Burkhard provides an insightful, practical guide for adults dealing with this condition in their children and patients: Borderline Personality Disorder is a serious illness that has historically been wrongfully stigmatized in the medical community. It is in fact a very treatable condition, with increasingly positive results when identified early and addressed appropriately. Thankfully, current developments in the fields of Psychiatry and Psychology have enhanced the understanding and treatment of the Borderline Syndrome in adults and adolescents. In recent years it has become evident that Borderline Personality Disorder is one of the most misunderstood, misdiagnosed and mistreated conditions in children. Until now, there has been little information available to direct the understanding and management of this disorder as it presents in young children. Early recognition and treatment are critical to positive outcome. Mindfulness in action empowers parents with a clearer understanding of the disorder and how to help their child. It will behoove professionals reading these chapters to see the Borderline Child from the parent perspective and use this dimensional map in formulating a comprehensive treatment plan. Published by New York City-based Page Publishing, Karin E. Burkhard, MDs engaging account assures an informed plan of action in addressing borderline-afflicted children. Readers who wish to experience this work can purchase The Borderline Child at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble. About Page Publishing: Page Publishing is a traditional New York based full-service publishing house that handles all of the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not bogged down with complicated business issues like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes and the like. Its roster of authors can leave behind these tedious, complex and time-consuming issues, and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com. Andrew Dennis, the Inventor and Founder of GigaCrete Inc, is excited to announce that the GigaCrete Building System has passed all formal, rigorous tests at Blackwater Testing lab (Florida) that are required to apply for and to achieve Floridas Miami-Dade Countys Notice of Acceptance (NOA). With impressive strength and durability, GigaCrete performed beyond test standards. Now, formal application for the Miami-Dade County Notice of Acceptance is underway. GigaCrete houses have survived multiple hurricanes in St. Thomas, Haiti and the Bahamas with sustained winds of 180mph and gusts over 235mph with no damage or water intrusion, Andrew Dennis states that securing the Miami Dade approval will be a significant achievement, which adds additional credibility to an already impressive list of sustainable advantages. Indeed, the published test results alone are a significant milestone for the company. The GigaCrete complete steel framed building system offers a true thermally broken design. The exterior finish StuccoMax is waterproof, impact resistant and contains no silica (a bigger issue today with the new EPA rulings). Each homes interior is finished with PlasterMax, which boasts an impressive 8,500+ psi, with no silica and no source to support mold or mildew. Dennis went on to say our homes are fire resistant, water resistant and can be built in any environment from hurricane coastal markets to seismic and fire prone areas. The GigaCrete building system is on display at this years International Builders Show in Las Vegas on February 19th to the 21st in booth #SU778. Denniss vision for a smarter, healthier and more sustainable home has prompted the company, in the spirit of supporting our veterans, to donate its materials for use in building up to a 500 square foot ADU/Small home. The first person/company to order a GigaCrete home at the show will have the home donated in their name. Visit http://www.GigaCrete.com to learn more or visit us at IBS 2019. The response to this collaboration has been overwhelmingly positive as industry partners realize the value in coming together to move the industry forward. The 2019 edition of the International LiDAR Mapping Forum wrapped up Wednesday, January 30th in Denver, CO having attracted 1,682 professionals from all 50 U.S. states and 33 countries. Attendees represented a wide range of industries including surveying and mapping, utilities, civil infrastructure, construction, mining and aggregates, and precision agriculture. Of those in attendance, 53% were attending the event for the first time. ILMF ran from January 28-30 at the Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center. The International LiDAR Mapping Forum (ILMF) 2019 took place as part of the inaugural edition of Geo Week along with the MAPPS Winter Conference and the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) Annual Conference. Last year, ILMF and the ASPRS Annual Conference took place together for the first time while the MAPPS Winter Conference took place separately. The co-located events maintained their unique technical programs but shared a single combined exhibit hall. By uniting all three events for the first time, geospatial professionals gained access to more geospatial solutions, technical education, and networking opportunities than ever before. The inaugural edition of Geo Week successfully brought geospatial professionals with commercial, academic, and advocacy interests together in a cohesive, vendor-neutral event for the first time, says Lisa Murray, Group Director, Diversified Communications. The response to this collaboration has been overwhelmingly positive as industry partners realize the value in coming together to move the industry forward. ILMF featured four keynotes, two plenaries, two dozen product previews, nearly 50 technical breakout presentations, and several networking events. Keynote topics ranged from lidar for smart cities, reality capture in autonomous technologies, using lidar for Maya archaeology, and disruptive technology to reality capture. Breakout presentations focused on application-specific use-cases of lidar and emerging remote sensing technologies. In 2018 the co-location of ILMF and the ASPRS Annual Conference brought two industry events together for collaboration among geospatial professionals which the community has been asking for for years, Karen Schuckman, Managing Director for ASPRS comments. The launch of Geo Week and addition of MAPPS in 2019 is the next step in the evolution toward a cohesive event for the entire geospatial community. The sold-out exhibit hall was packed with 104 exhibiting companies showcasing best-in-class geospatial technology solutions. Among the exhibitors were 21 organizations exhibiting at ILMF for the first time. Products and services on display covered a wide spectrum of the geospatial industry including mapping and surveying equipment and sensors, airborne data acquisition, unmanned aerial systems, mapping software, and more. Included in the exhibit hall was a University Pavilion featuring innovations from universities not yet in market. I heard nothing but accolades from MAPPS members participating in Geo Week. Our member firms are excited as we continue being Better Together in Washington D.C. for Geo Week 2020, says Brian Raber, President of MAPPS. The 2020 edition of ILMF will be held March 23-25, 2020, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, again taking place as part of Geo Week along with ASPRS and MAPPS. The event will be organized by Diversified Communications under the leadership of Ms. Murray. For a comprehensive look Diversified Communications portfolio of technology media publications and events please visit https://www.divcom.com/industries/#industries-served+industry:technology About International LiDAR Mapping Forum International LiDAR Mapping Forum (ILMF) is a technical conference & exhibition focused on airborne, terrestrial and underwater LiDAR as well as emerging remote-sensing and data collection tools and technology used for applications including Asset Management; Civil Infrastructure; Coastal Zone Mapping; Emergency Services & Disaster Response; Land and Natural Resource Management; and Urban Modeling. ILMF is part of a network of events and media for the global geospatial market organized by Diversified Communications, a leading organizer of conferences, trade shows and online media with 15 years in the geospatial arena, including Commercial UAV Expo Americas, Commercial UAV Europe, Commercial UAV News, International LiDAR Mapping Forum, SPAR 3D Expo & Conference, SPAR3D.com, AEC Next Technology & Expo and AEC Next News. For more information, visit http://www.lidarmap.org. About Diversified Communications Diversified Communications is a leading international media company with a portfolio of face-to-face exhibitions and conferences, online communities and digital and print publications. As producers of these market-leading products Diversified Communications connects, educates and strengthens business communities in over 14 industries including: food and beverage, healthcare, natural and organic, business management and technology. Established in 1949 and headquartered in Portland, Maine, USA with divisions and offices around the world, Diversified Communications remains a privately held, third generation, family-owned business. For more information, visit http://www.divcom.com. About American Society for Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing (ASPRS) Founded in 1934, the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) is a scientific association serving professional members around the world. Our mission is to advance knowledge and improve understanding of mapping sciences to promote the responsible applications of photogrammetry, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and supporting technologies. Learn more at http://www.asprs.org. About Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors (MAPPS) MAPPS is the only national non-profit association of industry-leading private geospatial firms focused on creating policy and thought leadership benefiting the entire profession. Regular Members are engaged in consulting, surveying, photogrammetry, LiDAR, satellite, drone and airborne remote sensing, aerial photography, hydrography, GPS, and GIS data collection, conversion and analytical services. Associate Members produce innovative technologies, sensors, software solutions, and commercial data products. MAPPS advocacy and political action at the federal and state level are crucial to creating legislation, policies, and programs having positive impacts on the geospatial community and society. Learn more at http://www.mapps.org. Emporia, KS (66801) Today Mostly cloudy. Gusty winds in the morning. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 97F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph.. Tonight Variable clouds with a slight chance of thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 74F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 30%. The Institute for Commercialization of Florida Technology (the Institute), a not-for-profit organization focused on innovation and entrepreneurship across the state, is pleased to announce that its Board of Directors has selected Florida Funders to manage the investment-related affairs of the organization. Florida Funders will oversee the Institutes portfolio of 60+ life science and technology companies that have received funding through both the Institutes loan and investment programs, and will focus on attracting new management and capital to Floridas most promising innovation startups. Since 2011, the Institute has had an overall economic impact across the state of Florida of $1.4 billion. Florida Funders invests in early-stage innovation companies, utilizing a hybrid approach to investing that combines a venture capital fund and a crowd-funding platform. The firm is headquartered in Tampa with a footprint throughout Florida. Florida Funders is led by an experienced team of serial entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and experienced angel investors with a proven track record of successful exits and a shared passion for growing the next generation of Florida tech companies. The Institutes portfolio dovetails with their existing offerings and expands Florida Funders portfolio size to over 80 companies, bringing the total dollar amount of assets under management to $50 million. Florida Funders will be evaluating new opportunities on behalf of the Institute with the goal of increasing portfolio returns and re-deploying capital into qualified Florida companies. The Institute is pleased to begin this new phase of growth and support of Floridas innovation economy in partnership with Florida Funders, who has been very active in seed and early-stage investing throughout the state, said Renee Finley, Institute Board Chair. We believe we share a common vision for Floridas future and are confident that the Florida Funders team will add great value to the Institutes portfolio by bringing additional management talent and capital to bear, and look forward to a long and mutually-beneficial partnership. Florida Funders mission complements that of the Institute and we are honored to have been selected to support the growth of the existing portfolio, and begin to invest new dollars into great Florida startups, said Tom Wallace, Managing Partner for Florida Funders. Through our partnership with the Institute, were able to provide additional value to the growing start-ups through our strong leadership, years of investment experience, and partnerships with key organizations across Florida. The added portfolios will create immense growth for Florida Funders and the state of Florida. About the Institute for Commercialization of Florida Technology Formed by the Florida Legislature in 2007, the Institute for Commercialization of Florida Technology supports and funds innovation companies that create clean jobs in new industries that are driving the global economy. The Institute provides company building services, and seed funding through the Florida Technology Seed Capital Fund, to promising Florida startups that are developing products that improve and save lives, and help companies improve their bottom line. The Institutes economic impact between 2011 and 2018 was $1.4 billion, with an annual return on investment of 31 times to the State of Florida. About Florida Funders Florida Funders is a hybrid of a venture capital fund and crowd-funding platform that invests in early-stage technology companies in Florida. The firm is led by an experienced team of serial entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and experienced angel investors with proven track record of successful exits and a shared passion for growing the next generation of Florida tech companies. Learn more at http://www.floridafunders.com. Blockchain has emerged as a need of the hour for an area that desperately needs digitization and automation in order to keep pace with vigorously expanding industries. The application of blockchain in areas like supply chain has linked the flow of goods and money, bringing cryptocurrency out of its previous role of being simply a form of investment. This pertinent modification heightens efficiency, automation, and liquidity in payment networks. The team of experts at California-based software development company, HashCash Consultants, has left no stone unturned to tap into this potential of blockchain in the finance sector. To this effect, the company is amping the implementation of its cutting-edge product, HC Commerce, this year having a queue of tie-ups with major corporate houses to show for it. HC Commerce by HashCash Consultants: HC Commerce is an in-demand alternative to card associations that are currently required for online and POS payment systems. It provides financial institutions access to an end-to-end acquisition system with auditability, instant settlement, and global connectivity. The HC Commerce products comprise of two major modules: i. HC PAY HC Pay is a leading customizable blockchain wallet for banks that enable peer-to-peer intra-bank payments independent of conventional middlemen such as card associations and payment gateways. It effectively reduces the time taken for settling transactions, lowers transaction cost all in a highly secure ecosystem. HC PAY uses HC Payment Processing Platform that runs on HC NET, the in-house blockchain network by HashCash Consultants. It has QR code-enabled one-click payments option and eliminates POS terminal and other hardware-related costs. The details of transactions on this platform are protected using encryption and blockchain immutability. ii. HC Payment Processor: The blockchain payment processor by HashCash Consultants attracts merchants since it eliminates intermediary fees, and facilitates instant authorization, capture, and settlement. Its benefits include drastically reducing cost and time per transaction owing to a network connected to banking partners, and ease to onboard and access multiple banking partners onto the network. The HC Payment Processor permits merchants and customers access to customized apps for conducting hassle-free transactions that are bereft of fraud. Merchants can reduce chargeback, monitor daily activities through a Merchant Account Interface, and settle in multiple currencies. Customers can avail the Customer Wallet that syncs with the payment network for better user experience. Blockchain payment processors streamline payment procedure, improving efficiency and automation: Although individual payment processing systems are not non-existent in supply chains, they are mostly disjointed. Therefore, transactional operations occurring on these outdated systems are not seamless and smooth-flowing, causing backlogs for the businesses using them. Filling out orders becomes time-consuming (often taking months) and cumbersome. Blockchain has emerged as a need of the hour for an area that desperately needs digitization and automation in order to keep pace with vigorously expanding industries, comments Raj Chowdhury, MD of HashCash Consultants. As more companies adopt cryptocurrency and blockchain, the flow of data and information becomes better organized, secure, and tamper-proof. Transactions are validated by smart contracts (automated programmes), and the distributed blockchain ledger is updated in real-time enabling more transparent traceability of goods as well as the money flowing in the network. A blockchain payment processor is comparatively cost effective as well since the payment processors that are in place now are segregated and expensive to set up. A decentralized payment platform makes participating in a payment system more affordable for individual companies by putting in place a unified solution for every party involved in a supply chain. The list of items that can be purchased using cryptocurrency is on the rise, but even now paying via crypto mainly pertains to areas that require transactions of very large volumes. This basically means that the primary customer base for such payment options is big enterprises. However, this could be steadily changing, with smaller businesses turning to user-friendly and adaptable blockchain payment processors such as HC Commerce as well. About HashCash Consultants: HashCash Consultants started as a Blockchain Consulting Company in California. Today, HashCash products enable enterprises to move assets and settle payments across borders in real-time using HashCash Blockchain network, HC NET. Financial Institutions use HC NET for Retail Remittances, Corporate Payments, Trade Finance, and Payment Processing. HashCash also runs the US-based cryptocurrency exchange, PayBito and the leading Cryptocurrency payment processor, BillBitcoins. HashCash offers cryptocurrency exchange and payment processor white label solutions, comprehensive ICO services and customized use case design and development. HashCash propels advancement in the field of blockchain through the Blockchain1o1 program and its investment arm Satoshi Angels. At Engel & Volkers Honolulu, clients will receive professional guidance and a wealth of resources to track down the perfect property. Haute Residence welcomes acclaimed real estate company Engel & Volkers Honolulu to its invitation-only real estate network. As a Haute Residence partner, Engel & Volkers Honolulu exclusively represent the high-end real estate market in Oahu. When searching for the ideal luxury property on Oahu, you need the help of a talented high-end real estate company. At Engel & Volkers Honolulu, clients will receive professional guidance and a wealth of resources to track down the perfect property. From beachfront homes to quiet lots away from the outside world, their skilled team of real estate associates has an array of exclusive listings for you and your family to review. With more than 40 years of experience, the global company has the expertise to help both homebuyers and sellers. They utilize the latest technology in the industry to narrow home searches for clients. About Haute Residence: Designed as a partnership-driven luxury real estate portal, Haute Residence connects its affluent readers with top real estate professionals, while offering the latest in real estate news, showcasing the worlds most extraordinary residences on the market and sharing expert advice from its knowledgeable and experienced real estate partners. The invitation-only luxury real estate network, which partners with just one agent in every market, unites a distinguished collective of leading real estate agents and brokers and highlights the most extravagant properties in leading markets around the globe for affluent buyers, sellers, and real estate enthusiasts. HauteResidence.com has grown to be the number one news source for million-dollar listings, high-end residential developments, celebrity real estate, and more. Access all of this information and more by visiting: http://www.hauteresidence.com Kate Kalmykov, an Immigration & Compliance shareholder the New Jersey office of global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, has been recognized as one of NJBIZs 2019 Best 50 Women in Business. According to NJBIZs website, the award honors women business leaders that are prominent in their companies and industries, as well as their communities. The honorees are front-runners shaping the cultural and economic future of New Jersey. To be named one of NJBIZs Best 50 Women in Business is a superb and well-deserved recognition for Kate, said Philip R. Sellinger and David Jay, co-managing shareholders of the firms New Jersey office. She takes an innovative and inclusive approach in the business immigration field, in the local community, and at Greenberg Traurig. Her dedication to her team and her clients, as well as her commitment to the practice of immigration law is undeniable. Kalmykov focuses her practice on business immigration and compliance. She represents clients in a wide-range of employment based immigrant and non-immigrant visa matters including students, trainees, professionals, managers and executives, artists and entertainers, treaty investors and traders, persons of extraordinary ability, and immigrant investors. Kalmykov is frequently recognized for her legal achievements and has been listed in the Chambers USA Guide, The Legal 500 United States, Super Lawyers magazine, and the New Jersey Law Journal, among others. Most recently, she was selected as a 2018 Immigration Trailblazer by the National Law Journal. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the Asian American Bar Association, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. About Greenberg Traurigs Womens Initiative: Greenberg Traurig is committed to its women lawyers success, which includes a firmwide womens affinity group encompassing recruiting, retention, and business development. The firm regularly collaborates with like-minded organizations to address these issues on a broader scale in a variety of industries and communities. Greenberg Traurig also takes thoughtful action to address issues such as maintaining a healthy work-life balance, breaking the glass ceiling, mentoring, creating and maintaining healthy lifestyles, and giving back to the community. About Greenberg Traurig New Jersey: Established in 2002, Greenberg Traurigs New Jersey office has grown to approximately 75 attorneys practicing in the areas of Complex Commercial and Class Action Litigation, Hatch-Waxman Litigation, Corporate, Restructuring & Bankruptcy, Construction Law, Franchise & Distribution, Immigration & Compliance, Intellectual Property & Technology, Labor & Employment, Real Estate, Tax, and Private Wealth Services. As a significant contributor to the firm's international platform, the New Jersey office includes a team of nationally recognized attorneys who provide legal advice to international, national and local business and technology clients. The team offers clients both the dedication and responsiveness of a local firm with the combined know-how and geographic reach of a global law firm. About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has more than 2,000 attorneys in 39 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 20 on the Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law. The 2018 acquisition of PeopleFluent by Learning Technologies Group, the parent company of gomo, creates an expanded authoring and hosting suite, including the rebranding of KZO Innovations as the new gomo video," said Danielle Draewell, research analyst at Training Industry, Inc. gomo, a leader in multi-device eLearning, has ranked on Training Industrys list of 2019 Top Authoring Tools Companies. The honor recognizes gomo for its breadth, quality, and innovation of eLearning authoring tool features and capabilities. The eighth annual Training Industry list of the worlds best authoring tool providers is designed to help organizations in their search for the right training partners. Training Industry is a learning industry resource that provides information, insights, and resources needed to more effectively manage the business of learning. This honor highlights gomos strength in equipping learning professionals and teams worldwide with cloud-based architecture that makes collaboration easy and content delivery instantaneous, said Gavin Beddow, gomos Managing Director. Were delighted to be recognized by Training Industry and remain committed to providing the most innovative eLearning suite on the market. gomo authoring creates responsive and adaptive HTML5 content that looks perfect on all devices and any orientation. The gomo learning suite combines eLearning authoring, video, hosting and analytics to allow companies to create, host, update, distribute and track dynamic multi-device eLearning anywhere. gomos strength as an authoring tool and learning suite provider have made us a natural choice for leading organizations including LOreal, Nike, Jaguar Land Rover, Shell and many more, Beddow said. Training Industrys Top Authoring Tools Companies List was based on the following criteria: Leadership and innovation of authoring tool Breadth and quality of authoring tool features and capabilities Company size and growth potential Quality and number of clients Awards, recognition and competitive differentiation gomo Learning stands out among other companies in this sector and warrants a place on the Training Industry Top 20 Authoring Tools List due to its extensive reporting and assessment capabilities, content capabilities, and broad industry reach, said Ken Taylor, president of Training Industry, Inc. The organizations on the Top 20 List are leaders that are developing innovative and engaging authoring tools in the learning technologies market. The Training Industry Top 20 Authoring Tools List is comprised of companies that provide leading features and capabilities to the corporate learning professional, said Danielle Draewell, research analyst at Training Industry, Inc. The 2018 acquisition of PeopleFluent by Learning Technologies Group, the parent company of gomo, creates an expanded authoring and hosting suite, including the rebranding of KZO Innovations as the new gomo video. The full list of Training Industrys Top 20 Authoring Tools Companies can be found here. For more on how authoring tools like gomo can help global organizations with their learning programs, download the ebook 5 Ways to Make Your Learning Program Work For You. Shoppers interested in products or services get turned away or bail when a site is slow loading or check-out is lengthy, said Zobrist. At Mobiecom, we're spreading the word that with more customers shopping via a mobile, losing customers will worsen if retailers don't have an easy to use site. Teresa Zobrist, CEO of Zobrist Consulting Group, a Premier IBM Business Partner specializing in e-commerce, will address IBMs Think 2019 Conference this week about Mobiecom, Zobrists single page application (SPA) built on IBM Headless Commerce that serves as the fastest storefront to capture the burgeoning mobile market. The transition to headless commerce is occurring because IBM WebSphere Commerce V9 provides a new architecture to take brands to the next level of customer experience. Many companies are not prepared to go headless and free up their storefront. Zobrist Consulting, with 17 years of experience in e-commerce, created Mobiecom precisely to go headless and specifically for IBM. Zobrist and Dele Popoola, Business Development Manager of Zobrist Consulting Group, will explain Mobiecom on Wednesday, February 13, 2019 at 3:30pmPT at Think 2019 in San Francisco, California at the Westin St. Francis, Mezzanine Level, in the Georgian Room. Zobrist Consulting has introduced Mobiecom, a high performance mobile-first e-commerce storefront for IBM Digital Commerce. Mobiecom turns window shoppers into customers as it removes barriers that can prevent consumers from viewing shopping sites, buying products and checking out, therefore improving conversion rate with enhanced performance and simplified checkout, especially for mobile shoppers. On Mobiecom, an average page load is 2-3 seconds without CDN (Content Delivery Network). Too often, online shoppers interested in products or services get turned away or discouraged and bail when a retailer's site is slow loading, hard to navigate, and the check-out is too complex and lengthy, said Zobrist. As the developers of Mobiecom, we want to spread the word that with more and more customers beginning to shop online via their mobile phone, losing customers will continue to get worse if retailers don't have an easy to use, responsive website. Mobiecom addresses these challenges by providing a superior user experience, lightning-fast loading times, and a responsive design so mobile shoppers can easily navigate and quickly checkout of e-commerce websites. Mobiecom is a cloud offering running on IBM Cloud and AWS (Amazon Web Services) and can support any version of IBM Commerce. To learn more about it, please visit here: http://mobiecom.tech First and foremost, on our mind is the migration to WCS V8 or V9 by April 2020, said Zobrist. If you are open to cloud and want to leverage the new features such as cognitive search, chat-bots, and the cognitive promotion engine, then you need to be on V9. V9 will have the longest shelf life as it will include a single code base with the IDC (SaaS) version of WCS. Our presentation will discuss this in detail. In the context of WebSphere Commerce, Zobrist encourages companies to think about taking advantage of Microservices to enable commerce on new channels and devices, separating front-end from back-end for faster time-to-market. The commerce everywhere concept will allow IBM to be where the customers are. Social media channels such as Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest are the new selling platforms. To register for Think 2019, please visit https://www.ibm.com/events/think/register/ Press interested in attending, please call Frank Tortorici at (908) 875-8908. About Zobrist Consulting Group, Inc. Zobrist is an IBM Websphere Commerce Technology Partner with 15+ years of providing industry leading IBM ecommerce platforms & consulting services. Its seasoned team has been in eCommerce from the onset, applying expertise to overcome the toughest challenges in the technology industry. Daine Bailey Morton Honored As Community Champion I hope my legacy is one of selfless service that helps to create positive change in the community. Just like my mother taught me, I pass on to my daughters that no matter how big or small, everyone can make a difference by being involved in their communities, says Morton. The Warehouse Arts District Association (WADA) is excited to announce that our general counsel and executive director, Diane Bailey Morton, is the Community Champion honoree in the annual Top Corporate Counsel Awards by the Tampa Bay Business Journal which recognizes an accomplished group of seasoned professionals and rising stars in the legal field. The Community Champion Award honors an outstanding attorney who dedicates time and talents to serving the less fortunate, preserving the environment, saving the arts, and other causes that make our world a better place. A long-time fixture in the Tampa Bay arts community, Morton has always valued the importance of donating her time and money to the arts. She has served as a Board Member for the St. Petersburg Opera Company, American Stage Theatre Company, the City of St. Petersburgs International Relations Commission, USF Alumni Association, Palladium Theater, and Great Explorations Childrens Museum. As Executive Director for WADA, Morton has been instrumental in securing financial donations and increasing membership to spearhead important growth initiatives for the Warehouse Arts District and their art projects. The nonprofit purchased 3 acres of property and is revitalizing abandoned warehouses into Art studios, education classrooms, dance studio, and a gallery. In her current role with the Warehouse Arts District, she is using her expertise to help revitalize the south St. Petersburg areas of Midtown and The Deuces to create an arts destination dedicated not only to supporting local artists but to revitalizing a neglected part of St. Petersburg with a history steeped in African American culture. She began her career as an assistant state attorney, prosecuting some of the toughest legal cases in the area - those that involved crimes against young children- before opening labor and employment trial practice in St. Petersburg. In private practice for 17 years, she specialized in labor and employment and served as general counsel to the Tampa Police Union, Tampa Firefighters Union, and Southwest Police Benevolent Association. She worked to ensure that first responders were treated fairly and had a voice in their local communities. I hope my legacy is one of selfless service that helps to create positive change in the community. Just like my mother taught me, I pass on to my daughters that no matter how big or small, everyone can make a difference by being involved in their communities, says Morton. Morton chose to lead the Warehouse Arts District because it spoke to what she is passionate about - creating opportunity for people who need it, giving back to a community she loves, and paying it forward through volunteerism and philanthropy. Both her professional career and civic accomplishments have made her an invaluable member of the community, putting others that she comes into contact with at the forefront of her life. Full list of 2019 Top Corporate Counsel, https://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/news/2019/02/04/here-are-the-2019top-corporate-counsel-honorees.html About the Warehouse Arts District Association The Warehouse Arts District Association (WADA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit arts organization dedicated to building and sustaining a vibrant arts community within and around the Warehouse Arts District in downtown St. Petersburg. Spanning from 1st Avenue North to 10th Avenue South and 16th Street to 31st Street, the Warehouse Arts District includes the Deuces Live Main Street and is comprised of a thriving community of over 300 businesses that support both the artistic outreach of the organization and the community revitalization. WADA employs a broad spectrum of tools, including marketing, advocacy, community stimulation, and educational programming to support the success of artists and community. The Education Center will serve all citizens, particularly those in the Midtown area, with accessible health, wellness, and art classes. For more information, please visit, warehouseartsdistrictstpete.com. About the ArtsXchange The ArtsXchange, a project of the Warehouse Arts District Association, is an artistic enclave with over 50,000 square feet of warehouse space that is being renovated into affordable working studios, galleries, classrooms, and performance space. ArtsXchange tenants are from all mediums with most spaces doubling as galleries open to the public on the Second Saturday of every month and a focus on providing arts education to underserved populations. For more info please visit, warehouseartsdistrictstpete.org/ArtsXchange. WADA Instagram Page: @warehouseartssp WADA Facebook Page: @WarehouseArtsDistrictStPete Medicare is confusing for many people, says Anthony P. Solazzo, CEO of e-TeleQuote Insurance. What we try to do at every step is advocate for consumers and provide a concierge-like experience for selecting a Medicare plan. easyMedicare.com, an affiliate of e-TeleQuote Insurance, Inc., recently launched new television advertisements informing the public of potential Medicare plan options. The one and two minute spots mention plans with no deductibles, no copays, and $0 premiums, as well as plans offering benefits like vision, dental, prescription drugs, and hearing aids. In addition to informing consumers of Medicare plan options, easyMedicare.com is offering a free copy of Making Sense of Medicare: The Medicare Basics Guide for individuals who view the spots. Making Sense of Medicare covers topics such as the Medicare parts (A, B, C, and D), Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplement plans, common questions, and resources. All of easyMedicare.coms resources and services are provided at no cost to consumers, from the guide to personal phone consultations with the companys licensed insurance agents. Medicare is confusing for many people, says Anthony P. Solazzo, CEO of e-TeleQuote Insurance. What we try to do at every step is advocate for consumers and provide a concierge-like experience for selecting a Medicare plan. If needed, our agents will spend hours on the phone with an individual to answer all their questions and thoroughly explain a plan. The easyMedicare.com spots air on more than 50 stations across the United States. Medicare Made Easy: The Medicare Basics Guide is also available at https://easymedicare.com/medicare-basics-guide. About e-TeleQuote and easyMedicare.com e-TeleQuote Insurance, Inc., the owner and operator of easyMedicare.com, is an independent digital insurance agency providing individuals the ability to purchase Medicare insurance from the comfort of their homes. The company diligently researches available plan options from multiple insurance carriers, helping people choose a plan that best suits their needs. e-TeleQuote provides personal consultation through experienced licensed insurance agents who suggest plan coverage options based on an individuals particular needs. The company has proudly served tens of thousands of people across the United States. Kimble Applications continues to expand rapidly, welcoming new customers from a range of dynamic and award-winning services organizations across software, consulting and IT sectors. Many of Kimbles new customers have been recognized in their fields. Among these is environmental services organization SYSTEMIQ, which aims to change economic systems to stop the degradation of natural resources. SYSTEMIQs senior adviser Dr. David Nabarro was one of two recipients of the 2018 World Food Prize, the most prominent global award honoring breakthrough achievements to alleviate hunger and promote global food security. IT and services business Big River Technologies Inc., based in Gananoque, Ontario, was selected by CIO magazine as one of ten most agile consulting businesses. Cloud-enabled customer communications management specialist Smart Communications was named as a disruptive innovator and was listed among the 20 hottest technology companies last year. Smart Communications VP Global Solutions Consulting & Professional Services Dave Hotchner said the business was poised to go live after a speedy implementation. He commented: I am extremely pleased with everyone I have met at Kimble from the sales team to the customer success team. Everyone is smart, attentive and passionate about doing the right thing. The reason that we chose Kimble is that previously we had limited visibility into our Professional Services metrics until a few weeks after month-end. We are a fast-growing software company and need real-time visibility into our Professional Services business and metrics. Other new customers in the US include services providers to the finance and healthcare sectors. InsPro Technologies, a preferred vendor in insurance policy administration which serves some of the countrys leading carriers, including five of the Top Ten insurers on the Fortune 500, headquartered in Eddystone, Pennsylvania. Registry Partners, headquartered in Burlington, North Carolina, provides data abstraction, registry management, and registry consulting services to hospitals and medical practices. Kimble PSA is also currently being adopted by business and digital transformation specialist Rainmaker Solutions, Shearwater Group Plc company Xcina Consulting which provides digital, operational and regulatory solutions and services, both based in London, and HR service delivery solution Neocase, which is based in Colombes, France. Kimble continues to build on its success in the world of management consulting - in 2018 it was selected by three of the largest 50 consulting organizations in the world by revenue. New customers in the sector include Chartwell Consulting, which helps manufacturing and support services businesses to deliver performance improvements, both headquartered in London; and Caveo Learning, a consulting firm providing learning strategies and solutions to Fortune 1000, not-for-profits, and other leading organizations, is based in Schaumburg, Illinois Kimble CEO Sean Hoban said: Its very exciting to see Kimble being adopted by so many dynamic services organizations and we look forward to working with these businesses to deliver great value. We are all about customer success and that is what lies behind our high retention rates and fast growth." Kimble got off to a strong start in 2019 when it was named on the Fastest Growing Products of 2019 list from G2 Crowd. The equivalent of The Peoples Choice Awards for tech companies, G2 Crowds Best Software Awards rank the best software companies and products worldwide. With over 45,000 software companies on G2, Kimbles recognition as #35 on the prestigious Fastest Growing Products of 2019 list is an exceptional achievement and one that can only be earned through the endorsement of its users. About Kimble Applications Kimble Applications helps professional service businesses by improving business performance, increasing visibility, and providing enhanced company collaboration. Kimble is dedicated to the production of unique management solutions delivered through a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. The members of the Kimble management team are recognized professional services experts, having founded, managed, and grown several successful IT and management consulting organizations. They have experienced first-hand the business problems which result from the lack of adequate software available to manage professional services. The team has harnessed the best practice and unique intellectual property gained in their careers, along with detailed design input from a range of experts from leading firms across the globe. Dr. Palladino Dr. Palladino is a board certified plastic surgeon with an excellent online reputation thanks to his amazing results and exemplary background and training. Dr. Humberto Palladino, M.D, aesthetic surgeon of South Florida has joined the esteemed Haute Beauty network. The Haute Beauty Network, well known for their exclusivity, and luxurious lifestyle publication is privileged to present Dr. Palladino as a leading plastic surgeon and our newest addition to the Haute Living partnership. Haute Beauty offers a prominent collective of leading doctors. The invitation-only exclusive publication maintains elite as ever, with only two doctors in every market. This partnership allows Haute Beauty to connect its affluent readers with industry-leading aesthetic surgeons located in their area. About Dr. Humberto Palladino: Dr. Palladino is known as the MagicSurgeon, his amazing results and precise techniques have earned him the enchanted title amongst his patients and colleagues. Dr. Palladino is a board certified plastic surgeon with an excellent online reputation thanks to his amazing results and exemplary background and training. Dr. Palladino went through extensive training at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic, he is committed to using his expertise and delivering the highest quality care. Dr. Palladino uses social media to educate the public on his plastic surgery techniques. Social Media exposure has made Dr. Palladino a well-known surgeon domestically and internationally. He is actively putting videos out on his YouTube channel that focus on the patients' experience before and post-surgery. He uses social media as a tool to educate the public and take out the taboo stigma out of plastic surgery. His popularity has flourished over the past two years, shortly after his relocation to South Florida, one of the busiest epicenters for plastic surgery. MagicSurgeon is an elite plastic surgery practice respected by the national and international plastic surgery societies. Patients from all over the world come to South Florida for some "magic" in the hands of one of the most talented plastic surgeons in South Florida. Palladino continues to actively research the newest techniques available. Having written multiple papers and book chapters, he is always on top of the latest advances in his field. Dr. Palladino currently serves the South Florida area including but not limited to Miami, Boca Raton, and Palm Beach areas. WEST BEND The West Bend Public Library will offer a special creative arts workshop, Get Creative at your Library for adults 55+ beginning on March 4, at 5 p.m. The workshop will be offered for four weeks, and participants will be working with a different art style each week. Participants, led by artist Margie Kohlhaas, will work with watercolors, pottery, printmaking and string art. Participants are able to sign up for only one or two classes that interests them OR try all four! There is limited space, please register early so that supplies can be ordered. The event is free and participants can contact the West Bend Public Library to register, or for questions about the workshop schedule at 515-887-6411 or follow us on our Facebook page. We are excited to offer this free program to the older adults in our community, said Lisa Riesenberg, Library Director. We encourage those interested in these workshops to invite a friend to join them. We also hope everyone enjoys working their creative muscles in a fun group setting. Lisa continued, Through this grant, we are working with the Stinson Prairie Arts Council. They have contracted with the artist to teach the classes. Artist, Margie Kohlhaas, is a Graphic Design Specialist with over 25 years in the Graphics Industry. She currently works as a Print Design Specialist for a software company. She has travelled extensively and viewed many art exhibitions and taught many classes as well. In 2018, the West Bend Public Library was one of 19 libraries in the state chosen to participate in the Iowa Arts Learning in Libraries Initiative (ALLI) program. The ALLI program, a partnership between the State Library of Iowa and the Iowa Arts Council, was made possible through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and addi- tional funding from the Iowa Arts Council. The goal of ALLI is to partner local arts organizations with rural public libraries to engage older adults with participatory, skill-based arts programs that meet creative, cognitive, and social needs. Im excited to see the programs that our librarians and arts organizations dream up for their older community members, said Alysia Peich, Continuing Education consultant for the State Library of Iowa. Iowa librarians excel at offering valuable programs and services to their communities, and the programs made possible by ALLI will be built on the fantastic work already being done by librarians across the state. The State Library of Iowa strengthens Iowa libraries and information access for Iowans. www.StateLibraryofIowa.org The Iowa Arts Council empowers Iowa to build and sustain culturally vibrant communities by cultivating creativity, learning and participation in the arts. iowaculture.gov/arts Doxim has been the leader in the fintech space for many years and we are confident that the capabilities of the Doxims Customer Engagement Platform and the team expertise will be highly beneficial for our clients. --Scott Biel, Senior Vice President & Partner, MCI Doxim (http://www.doxim.com), the leading customer communications and engagement technology provider serving financial and regulated markets, acquires Market Connections, Inc. (MCI), a customer communications and campaign management technology provider to wealth management and other financial services organizations. With this acquisition, Doxim expands its footprint in the wealth management space, welcoming several industrys top organizations as its valued clients and onboarding MCIs team, who have decades of expertise in serving the complex communications needs of the mutual fund dealers, brokerages, and other financial institutions. MCI is a trusted provider of business-critical communications processing and delivery for a wide range of top tier financial institutions, including Fortune 500 organizations. Over its 25-year history of innovation and excellent client service, MCI has developed a broad range of solutions for its clients, including the multichannel delivery of high-volume documents such as statements, confirms, tax and other documents, as well as personalized engagement products and subscription-based marketing communications offerings in digital and print formats. By acquiring MCI, Doxim extends its market reach in the North American wealth management and banking space and enriches its omnichannel campaign management capabilities. Doxim continues investing into its SaaS Customer Engagement Platform while supporting the evolving needs of its clients across North America. We look forward to our future growth as a part of Doxim. Doxim has been the leader in the fintech space for many years and we are confident that the capabilities of the Doxims Customer Engagement Platform and the team expertise will be highly beneficial for our clients, said Scott Biel, MCIs Senior Vice President and Partner. With Doxims strong focus on modernizing customer communications and customer engagement technology for their clients, both MCIs clients and staff will benefit from the new shared expertise, capabilities, and SaaS solutions available from one larger and stronger trusted vendor." Doxims mission is to transform customer experience, and every strategic technology investment and acquisition we make contributes to this long-term goal. We stay focused on the key markets that we serve and on the needs of our clients and choose our growth strategies and partners wisely to sustain this focus as we have done in the past, said Chris Rasmussen, CEO of Doxim. MCIs philosophy in focusing on customers is very closely aligned with ours, and we look forward to this new partnership with MCIs staff and clients. About Doxim Doxim is the customer communications and engagement technology leader serving financial and regulated markets, providing omnichannel document solutions and transforming experiences to strengthen engagement throughout the entire lifecycle. The Doxim Customer Engagement Platform helps clients communicate reliably and effectively, improve cross-sell and upsell opportunities, and drive increased loyalty and wallet share through personalized communications. The platform addresses key digitization, operational efficiency, and customer experience challenges through our suite of plug-and-play, integrated, SaaS software and document technology solutions. Learn more at http://www.doxim.com. About Market Connections With over two decades of experience, Market Connections specializes in customer communications solutions for the financial services and real-estate industries that deliver an optimal client experience. From communication strategies to comprehensive multi-channel delivery services, we help financial services organizations and individual professionals throughout Canada and the United States to engage existing and prospective customers, deliver regulatory investor communications and build brand loyalty. Learn more at http://www.marketconnections.com. Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS), in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), is hosting its sixth annual conference from March 28 to 30, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and has announced a star keynote lineup of leading women in cybersecurity. The nonprofit organization is excited to feature cybersecurity experts Dr. Dawn Beyer, Senior Fellow at Lockheed Martin; Dr. Lorrie Faith Cranor, Director of CyLab at Carnegie Mellon University; Patricia Denno, Vice President of Global Intelligence Operations at Fidelity; Wendy Nather, Head of Advisory CISOs, Duo Security at Cisco; and Michele Schochet, Director of Security at Facebook. Studies place the number of unfilled cybersecurity positions in the U.S. between 300,000 and 500,000. Experts predict the global shortage of cybersecurity positions will grow to 3.5 million by 2021, according to Cybersecurity Ventures. At the same time, the average number of women in the cybersecurity workforce is between 11 and 20 percent. WiCyS is working to significantly increase that ratio through strategic partnerships, industry studies, recruiting, mentoring, training and advocacy. The WiCyS conference is unique in its focus on recruiting, retaining, inspiring and advancing women in cybersecurity careers as well as its inclusiveness of students and educators, industry, government, the military and research organizations. The brainchild of Dr. Ambareen Siraj, director of the Cybersecurity Education Research and Outreach Center at Tennessee Tech University, WiCyS originated as a conference in 2013 through a National Science Foundation grant, and recently transitioned into a 3,800-member nonprofit organization by the same name. With roughly 1,200 registrants, this years conference features more than 60 technical presentations, hands-on workshops, Birds of a Feather sessions (on topics related to cybersecurity), lightning talks, panel discussions and over 25 student research project poster sessions. The sessions are organized into four tracks: Todays Technology and Challenges, Looking Ahead, Best Practices and Career Development. The conference is sponsored by major corporations, universities, research labs, nonprofit associations and government agencies such as Bank of America, Bloomberg, Cisco, CMU, CSSIA, CyberSN, CyberWatch West, Facebook, Fidelity Investments, Georgia Tech University, Google, IBM, Lockheed Martin, McAfee, Microsoft, National Cyber League, Palo Alto Networks, PayPal, Raytheon, Rochester Institute of Technology, Salesforce, SANS Institute, the Security Industry Association, Symantec, University of Texas Dallas, VISA, Walmart and founding institution, Tennessee Tech University. Sponsorships are instrumental in supporting scholarships for over 500 students to attend the conference. WiCyS also provides a job board, career fair and networking and mentoring opportunities in its quest to continually work toward fulfilling its mission. Journalists are invited to attend and should email info(at)wicys(dot)org to request a complimentary pass. For more information, visit http://www.wicys.org. About Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) is the premier organization with national reach dedicated to bringing together women in cybersecurity from academia, research and industry for knowledge sharing, experience, networking and mentoring. Established in 2013 by Dr. Ambareen Siraj from Tennessee Tech University through a National Science Foundation grant, WiCyS is a nonprofit organization offering many membership, sponsorship and collaboration benefits. The organizations founding partners are Cisco, Facebook and Palo Alto Networks. WiCyS strategic partners include Facebook, Fidelity Investments, IBM, Lockheed Martin, SANS Institute, the Security Industry Association, PayPal and Target. The WiCyS Conference is an excellent opportunity for companies to connect with women candidates to recruit them into cybersecurity jobs. Criminal Background Records Ultimately with every legislative conversation regarding Ban-the-Box laws, or any law related to employment screening, business owners and HR professionals should take notice. Colorado has renewed efforts in passing Ban-the-Box legislation, just as Nebraska continues to debate the merit of their own laws, creating yet another reminder for hiring managers to work with a well-qualified third-party pre-employment background screening agency in order to remain fully compliant with existing and potential law. Adam Almeida, President and CEO of CriminalBackgroundRecords.com opines: As every a Ban-the-Box law is passed or widely considered companies and organizations should be reminded to ensure their pre-employment screening policies remain fully compliant. In the halls of the Colorado legislation the enthusiasm for a new Ban-the-Box law has reached fevered pitch and pundits are confident of its passage. Representative Leslie Herod, D-Denver, has put forth a bill, HB19-1025, that would ban the question of criminal background history from employment applications. From the Denver Post, January 29, 2019: This bill does not require anyone to give anyone a job, Herod said. It just allows them to have a face-to-face conversation. Herods bill would prohibit most employers across Colorado from including questions about criminal history on initial job applications. The bill makes exceptions for jobs like teachers and bankers because state law says certain convictions are disqualifying. (1) Adam Almeida, President and CEO of CriminalBackgroundRecords.com, states: This new effort in Colorado is different from past bills insomuch it doesnt deny employers the opportunity to ask about criminal history during the interview process and, importantly, applicants cannot sue a business for violation of legal protocol. Ban-the-Box laws tend to vary from state to state. A best practice remains for employers to work with a well-qualified third-party pre-employment background screening agency in order to remain compliant with law. The potential new law in Colorado highlights the need and urgency to act right away. In Nebraska there are concerns over their version of Ban-the-Box legislation, LB429. From JournalStar.com (Feb 04, 19): Erin Ebler-Rolf, an attorney testifying on behalf of the Lincoln Independent Business Association, said that with the bill, there was no difference between full-time, part-time and seasonal employees. And smaller businesses would fall under the bill even though they have more than 15 employees only at certain times. The bill might also force employers to waste their time by interviewing applicants who should not be legitimately considered for a specific job because of their criminal background record. (2) Almeida concludes: Ultimately with every legislative conversation regarding Ban-the-Box laws, or any law related to employment screening, business owners and HR professionals should take note and ensure their policies are fully compliant by working with a third-party pre-employment background screening agency. CriminalBackgroundRecords.com is a third-party employment screening agency with highly trained operators well versed in the needs and requirements of companies and organizations large and small utilizing public records, such as criminal background records, as part of a hiring process. Notes: (1) denverpost.com/2019/01/29/colorado-bill-ban-criminal-history-questions-job-applications/ (2) journalstar.com/legislature/some-businesses-oppose-bill-that-would-prevent-asking-about-criminal/article_0731b348-056f-5775-84db-4376b7069d18.html Benefits HQ gives advisors of any size their own client platform independent of insurer technology, which we believe is key to enhancing the role of advisors in todays market. Collage Technologies Inc. (Collage), developer of leading HR, payroll, and benefits management software, has launched a white-labeled benefits administration platform for advisors and their clients. Pairing leading benefits technology with ease-of-use, the Benefits HQ platform significantly improves plan management by eliminating paper forms and automating complex administrative tasks. All this while controlling program costs and equipping advisors with tools to deliver more value and grow their business. The launch of Benefits HQ comes at a time of significant technological investment and adoption in the Canadian benefits market, signaling that advisors need to equip themselves with technology to win in an evolving marketplace. With Benefits HQ, advisors of all sizes can secure a competitive advantage by delivering a fully digital experience to their clients that consolidates enrollment for benefits, pensions, and alternative benefits and wellness products. Benefits HQ is a powerful innovation for Canadian advisors, says Collage CEO Elijah Moore. We have seen firsthand how it helps advisors grow their business faster by offering the digital convenience clients expect. Just as important is that now, advisors of any size can have their own client platform independent of insurer technology, which we believe is key to enhancing the role of advisors in todays market. The advisor-branded Benefits HQ platform makes benefits enrollment easier, more efficient, and more accurate than traditional benefits management. Its intelligent, rule-based system eliminates the cost and pain of late enrollments and automates complex processes, such as NEM applications, post-employment conversion of benefits, and taxable benefits management. Importantly, the platform shifts the majority of the plan sponsor experience from insurer properties to the advisors own branded platform, which stays constant even as clients switch between insurance providers. In addition to online enrollments and plan management, advisors using Benefits HQ get access to a curated ecosystem of technology providers and voluntary products to help them control and fulfill client demand at scale. Collage has shown that they understand the client-advisor relationship and are invested in enhancing it, says Vern Fischer of Fischer Financial Services. For the first time, we can offer an advisor-centric platform that not only solves the needs of our clients, but gives us the flexibility to design custom plans and be more innovative. Were excited to partner with Collage and offer Benefits HQ across our book of business. Collage has developed a tool that is easy to use, solves core administration problems, and provides great customer support, says Caroline Kugelmass, President of Excel Benefit Consulting. From a client perspective, it provides an excellent experience and offers a great solution to the benefits burden small-to-medium business owners face. As an independent advisor, were thrilled to offer Benefits HQ as an option to make our clients lives easier. Launched in 2016, Collages mission is to apply its technical strength and vision to make benefits a simpler and better experience for Canadians through leading benefits, payroll, and HR software solutions. In launching Benefits HQ alongside their flagship HRIS platform, Collage aims to fulfill their mission and enhance the value advisors bring to Canadian employers. About Collage Technologies Inc. Collage Technologies Inc. is a software technology company that builds market-leading benefits, payroll, and HR software solutions for Canadian benefits advisors and their clients. Collage is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario with a second office in Montreal, Quebec. To see a demo of Benefits HQ or learn about our advisor partner program, visit http://www.collage.co/benefits-hq This year, you really must focus on doing the things that result in a WIN. Our free e-book covers exactly that. Quarter One of 2019 is in full swing, and business owners and marketers all over the world are asking themselves the same question; how do I get more leads from my website this year? Which means essentially, how do I make my website generate more revenue this year? Clear Imaging's latest product release addresses that very point. Candace Leary, Clear Imagings Marketing Director stated, It doesnt matter how many posts youre making on Facebook or Instagram if it is not part of a precise plan to generate more leads, sales and increase revenue. She continued, At the end of the day, all internet advertising and marketing efforts have to, in some way, clearly contribute to revenue generation. There are numerous exciting, emerging technologies which will require you to experiment with before you start seeing positive results. When considering how much time business owners have to spend on sales and admin, it is hard to imagine anyone has the time to experiment, test and roll the dice with your marketing efforts. To help combat this, Clear Imaging has created a new internet marketing guide: 5 things you need to set up in 2019 to increase revenue. In 2019, you really must focus on doing the things that result in a WIN. Our free e-book covers exactly that. No one has the time for guess work. In this free guide we look at 5 things which are empirical marketing strategies, that will help you improve your bottom line if you apply them properly. Ms Leary explained. Clear Imaging is offering the 5 things you need to set up in 2019 to increase revenue as a free e-book to all business owners. In addition to this free service, they also provide a wide variety of paid services such as Custom Web Design, Advanced SEO, Social Media and more. Monica Eaton-Cardone, an entrepreneur and IT executive, advocates for women to participate in entrepreneurial activities to open their own doors in proving what they can do. Instead of waiting for employers to recognize their worth or for equal-opportunity programs to help them get ahead, women can open their own doors by taking entrepreneurial initiative and proving what they can do. A recent study of business-school venture competitions found only about 1 in 5 participants were women; yet among the winning teams, over half had a female founder and 1 in 3 had a female CEO.(1) Monica Eaton-Cardonean entrepreneur and IT executive specializing in risk management and fraud preventionsays the results prove that women with the drive and confidence to compete have greater potential for success. She maintains that entrepreneurship can be more effective than corporate initiatives in promoting the advancement of women in business, STEM and other traditionally male fields. According to AACSB International, women account for at least 40% of business school enrollment: 44.3% in undergraduate programs, 40.5% MBA, 48.2% specialized masters, and 41.3% doctoral.(2) Yet a study by Girls With Impact found that only 22% of participants in college venture competitions were female.(1) Though women were outnumbered nearly 4 to 1, they were well represented among the winners: 51% of the top-ranking teams had a female founder and 32% had a female CEO.(1) These findings show that when women are willing to take on the risks and challenges of entrepreneurship, theyre capable of outperforming their male peers and creating their own path to success, said Eaton-Cardone, who serves as Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Global Risk Technologies and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Chargebacks911. Instead of waiting for employers to recognize their worth or for equal-opportunity programs to help them get ahead, women can open their own doors by taking entrepreneurial initiative and proving what they can do. Eaton-Cardone believes its important to encourage girls participation in these types of entrepreneurial activities and competitions at an early age, so theyll have the confidence to take their place alongside men when they get older. The Girls With Impact study found that female participation in college-level entrepreneurship classes was only about 18%; and for classes with more of a real-world focus than a theory-based one, their enrollment dropped as low as 5%.(1) To help boost girls interest and enthusiasm in this area, Eaton-Cardone sees great promise in programs like one recently hosted by the Entrepreneurship and Small Business Institute at California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI). On February 2, the Institute invited teams of middle school girls to compete in a STEM Innovation Challenge, in which they had three hours to develop a prototype to support United Nations sustainable development goals. The girls were paired with female mentors studying in STEM fields at CSUCI, and their final creations were judged by women professionals in STEM careers.(3) Eaton-Cardone notes that this type of initiative has many positive takeaways. In addition to stimulating creativity, encouraging interest in entrepreneurship and STEM, and connecting girls to female mentors and role models, it also allows them to earn public recognition based on their own ideas and merits. In honor of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on February 11, she urges employers and educators to work together to establish programs that will nurture girls interest and confidence in STEM and entrepreneurial ventures. By promoting innovation and risk-taking, programs like this can help create a whole new generation of female entrepreneurs and STEM specialistswhich will bring tremendous benefits to businesses, the economy and society as a whole, she concluded. Monica Eaton-Cardone frequently discusses entrepreneurship and opportunities for women in STEM at industry conferences and events. She has been a featured panelist at TRUSTECH, the IATA World Financial Symposium and TRANSACT, and is also available for interviews, panelist opportunities and future speaking engagements. For more information, visit http://monicaec.com. About Monica Eaton-Cardone: An acclaimed entrepreneur, speaker and author, Monica Eaton-Cardone is widely recognized as a thought leader in the FinTech industry and a champion of women in technology. She established her entrepreneurial credentials upon selling her first business at the age of 19. When a subsequent eCommerce venture was plagued by revenue-leeching chargebacks and fraud, Eaton-Cardone rose to the challenge by developing a robust solution that combined human insight and agile technology. Today, her innovations are used by thousands of companies worldwide, cementing her reputation as one of the payment industrys foremost experts in risk management, chargeback mitigation and fraud prevention. As CIO of Global Risk Technologies and COO of Chargebacks911, Eaton-Cardone leverages her global platform to educate merchants on best practices in fraud prevention and to spotlight the competitive and economic advantages women can bring to the technology workforce. Her nonprofit organization, Get Paid for Grades, invests in students to inspire a new generation of innovators. Get to know Eaton-Cardone at http://monicaec.com. 1. Girls With Impact. The Power of Next Generation Women; November 26, 2018. 2. AACSB International. 2018 Business School Data Guide; October 26, 2018. 3. Staff Reporter. CSUCI Entrepreneurship Institute Gets New Chief; VC Star (USA Today); January 10, 2019. Cape, the leading cloud platform for drone telepresence and data management, and the Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD), today announced early results from its Drone as a First Response (DFR) program, part of the San Diego Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Pilot Program (IPP). Since the programs launch in October 2018, drones equipped with the Cape Aerial Telepresence platform have conducted more than 282 flights, accounting for more than 75 hours of flight time without incident, and have contributed to 20 arrests. In partnership with Cape, CVPD is the first agency in the U.S. to pioneer the Drone as a First Responder model, integrating drones into daily emergency response operations. Opting to use Cape-enabled drones proactively in emergency situations versus traditional reactive response and support efforts, CVPD is unlocking the full potential of drones as a true first responder. In the first four months of the deployment, the drones have proven to increase situational awareness, increase the safety of officers and surrounding community, and to better inform decisions and manage resources through real-time aerial data. The Chula Vista Police Department is at the forefront of utilizing drones to enhance the science of policing, said Chris Rittler, CEO of Cape. As more agencies begin to adopt drone technology, Chula Vista will undoubtedly be the agency that others from across the country look to and replicate for emergency response and support. Were proud to be a part of this initiative and to support one of the most innovative police forces in the United States. Since launching the DFR program, the program is already having a significant impact on operations and resource management. Real-time aerial visibility is critical when informing decisions, and in an emergency situation, is vital to the safety of our officers and citizens, said Roxana Kennedy, Chula Vista Chief of Police. Were looking forward to continuing our work with Cape, and expanding the DFR program to use drones to improve safety and efficiency, and reduce crime in Chula Vista. These early results are already proving the impact of the Drone as a First Responder model, and its an honor to be a part of shaping the future of drone integration in the United States. As part of the program, Cape-enabled drones are dispatched to high-priority calls such as crimes in progress, fires, traffic incidents, and reports of dangerous subjects, in close proximity of the CVPD headquarters, which is one of the heaviest call sectors in the City of Chula Vista. After being launched, the drones on-board camera live streams HD video to the teleoperator in the command center, who can maneuver the drone and the camera remotely in real-time in order to gain the exact visibility needed, and communicate with the units in the field to give them information and tactical intelligence about what they are responding to. With the drone typically arriving on scene well before responding ground units, the command center can better identify and dispatch needed resources to the scene. Responding officers can also view the live stream en route to the scene on their mobile devices, giving them full visibility of the situation to which they are responding. Today, the drones serve as active responders for upwards of 10 hours per day, four days a week, with plans to increase over time. Among the many examples to date, the CVPD received a dispatch call describing the location of a suspect wanted for assault with a deadly weapon. Using the Cape-enabled drone, the CVPD was able to quickly locate the suspect, and communicate and coordinate with responding officers, while maintaining constant visual contact with the subject via aerial telepresence. Officers were able to safely arrest the suspect, who was charged with assault with a deadly weapon. The launch of the program closely followed Capes release of national survey data, showing that U.S. consumers are ready to embrace drones as a public safety tool. With 71% of todays consumers saying they support law enforcements use of drones in their community, and 62% explicitly saying they would feel safer if their local first responders used drones to protect their communities. Capes partnership with CVPD is the latest example of its work helping companies across industries use drones as a tool for improving safety, increasing operational efficiency, and enabling innovation. Furthering its reputation as one of the leaders in the drone software space, Cape is one of the first and only companies in the U.S. to be awarded precedent-setting waivers under both Section 333 and Part 107 regulations, and has performed more than 100,000 flights in the U.S., Middle East, Mexico, and Australia. About Cape Cape unlocks the full potential of commercial drones, giving companies all of the benefits with none of the traditional hassle. Every day, Cape users log in to the Cape Aerial Telepresence platform, connect to physical drones around the world, and safely conduct flights with remote visibility to capture live, high-resolution video. The only cloud-based system for drone telepresence and data management, Cape provides secure, real-time visualization that increases productivity and operational efficiency and improves safety. Since its founding in 2014, Cape has been a leader in software for drone usability, and the trusted drone software solution for a wide range of use cases, from construction and public safety to oil & gas and agriculture. More than 100,000 Cape-enabled drone flights have been completed to date. For more information about Cape, please visit http://www.cape.com. Censis Technologies Announces New Consulting Service Line The new consulting service line is an extension of the CensiServe portfolio and will offer hospitals expert consulting on operational efficiency. Censis Technologies, the leader in surgical asset management, announced today the launch of Lean Consulting services in partnership with Operational Performance Solutions, Inc. (OPS), a leading provider of process improvement services. This new service line is an extension of the CensiServe portfolio and will offer hospitals expert consulting on the sterile processing department (SPD) operational efficiency. The ultimate goal of Lean is continuous improvement through a relentless focus on eliminating waste, and Lean Consulting engagements led by OPS have resulted in sustainable improvements that reduced traveling staff costs by more than $30,000 per month. We are extremely excited to launch our Lean Consulting services, said Censis CEO, Randy Smith. Having worked with three of the last five HPN (Healthcare Purchasing News) SPDs of the Year, we know this will positively impact hospitals by improving quality and reducing costs. It will be a great addition to the rest of our CensiServe offerings. CensiServe is a Censis service offering that is comprised of certified consultants with extensive backgrounds in the SPD and OR. Backed with research-based, proven knowledge, CensiServe offerings help facilities optimize their teams and processes through clinical assessments, on-site training, and software utilization recommendations. Clients interested in learning more about Lean Consulting can reach out directly to their Censis client managers or visit the Censis website at http://www.censis.com. About Censis Technologies Censis Technologies, based in Franklin, Tennessee, is the leader in surgical instrument and asset management software. Censis offers a range of solutions, including CensiTrac, which is a highly advanced, web-based software system focused on maximizing OR throughput and regulatory compliance. Censis Technologies software is deployed in over 1000 hospitals in the United States, Canada, and Australia. For more information, visit http://www.censis.com. ADHD Lullaby uses a patent pending method of recording music based upon principles from neuroscience to specifically help children with ADHD fall asleep easier and stay asleep through the night. I hope this album helps other parents and children who are struggling to find an answer to the sleep problems that come as a side effect to some of the ADHD medications kids take today. Arizona law enforcement officer Bryan Wisda will release his first music album ADHD Lullaby on Friday, February 15th, 2019. Using neuroscience, the patent-pending music methodology is designed specifically to help ADHD children fall asleep. Pre-release tracks are available for purchase and streaming starting February 15th on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and other digital music services, including the single Cales Lullaby, which had more than 1,000 listeners in its first week on Spotify. The complete 15-track album is priced at $10 for digital copies and $17 for compact disc; it is available for purchase and download worldwide and at adhdlullaby.com. Wisda, a Maricopa County Sheriffs Deputy who was shot while on duty in 2016, learned to play guitar during his recovery. While practicing, Wisda discovered playing nonrhythmic music served as a calming lullaby for his ten-year-old ADHD son to help him get to sleep at night. Over the past year, Wisda researched neuroscience, music therapy, binaural beats, and other sound soothing techniques to incorporate into songs for his sons nighttime routine. The visible benefits inspired Wisda to seek a patent for his music, create his own label Zezz Music Limited, and produce a full album of lullabies. During my recovery my wife forced me to do something other than play video games this got to me to take up the guitar. I had no idea learning the guitar would have such a positive impact on my sons life and for our family. He used to struggle significantly to get to sleep at night. I hope this album helps other parents and children who are struggling to find an answer to the sleep problems that come as a side effect to some of the ADHD medications kids take today, stated Wisda. An estimated 6.4 million American children are diagnosed with ADHD according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a number that has been increasing steadily since 2003. A significant side effect of modern ADHD medications is trouble falling asleep at night. For more information or to purchase the CD visit adhdlullaby.com. About ADHD Lullaby: ADHD Lullaby is a unique album recorded using a patent pending method based on principles from neuroscience to help children with ADHD fall asleep faster and stay asleep. The album is under exclusive license to Zezz Music Ltd. For more information follow ADHD Lullaby on iTunes, Spotify, and Soundcloud, or visit adhdlullaby.com. Poppy MacDonald of USA Facts will deliver the 2019 commencement address at Scripps College Given the current climate of alternative facts and fake news, a nonpartisan, data-driven organization like USAFacts is more relevant than ever." Poppy MacDonald, president of USA Facts, will deliver the address at 89th commencement exercises on Saturday, May 18, 2019. USAFacts is a nonprofit, nonpartisan civic initiative that aims to make government numbers more available, accessible, and understandable to Americans. Prior to joining USAFacts in 2018, MacDonald was the president and chief operating officer of Politico USA, a political journalism company; National Journals publisher, president, and chief revenue officer; Politico Pros executive director of business development, overseeing the launch of Politicos first paid subscription model; and a partner at Gallup, Inc., where she launched the World Poll and led the healthcare practice. MacDonald began her career serving members of Congress representing her Pacific Northwest hometown on both the Senate and House sides of Capitol Hill, and currently resides in Seattle with her husband and two children. A first-generation college student, MacDonald majored in history while at Scripps. She studied off campus during her junior year, spending the fall semester in Nepal trekking the Himalayas and the spring and summer interning in Washington, D.C., at The McLaughlin Group, the weekly radio roundtable of analysis and opinion. MacDonald stands out as one of very few women to occupy a high-profile national media position. How she navigates the current political sphere is one of many topics that attracted the commencement committee to her as a potential speaker. Given the current climate of alternative facts and fake news, a nonpartisan, data-driven organization like USAFacts is more relevant than ever, wrote members of the student commencement speaker committee, which oversaw the commencement speaker selection process that began in fall 2017. While on campus, MacDonald will also be meeting with students for talks and workshops. Im looking forward to hearing directly from students on the selection committee about what they hope to hear, said MacDonald. Im most excited to have time to connect with the faculty and students in a setting that still feels like home. Scripps College was founded in 1926 by Ellen Browning Scripps, a pioneering philanthropist and influential figure in the worlds of education, publishing, and womens rights. Today, Scripps is a nationally top-ranked liberal arts college and womens college with approximately 980 students, and is a member of The Claremont Colleges in Southern California. The mission of Scripps College is to educate women to develop their intellects and talents through active participation in a community of scholars, so that as graduates they may contribute to society through public and private lives of leadership, service, integrity, and creativity. Get 25% off of the regular $65 annual All Access rate. With this subscription you will get: Digital access to ElPasoInc.com and archives (value $45) Print subscription home or business delivered (value $65) Book of Lists (annual rate only, value $50) El Paso Inc. Magazine (value $20) El Paso Kids Inc. Special sections - OR - Get 15% off of the regular $45 annual Digital-only rate. With this subscription you will get: Complete digital access to ElPasoInc.com. Every day DocLink help organizations of all sizes embark on their digital transformation journey by providing the essential toolset that connects people, processes and data for competitive advantage. Altec, a leader in enterprise document management and process automation solutions, will be exhibiting and presenting as a Gold sponsor at Sage Summit this week, February 13-15, in San Diego, CA. Altec has experienced significant successes with Sage in recent months, including: Was named by Sage as its top Independent Software Vendor (ISV) revenue performer in the U.S. for the second consecutive fiscal year. Was awarded Sages highest ISV Rockstar status for strong integration to Sage Enterprise Management. At Sage Summit At Sage Summit, Altec will be exhibiting and showcasing DocLink at its booth #10. Additionally, Scott Hall, Sales Director for Altec will be presenting, One Solution for AP Automation AND Beyond with DocLink on Thursday at 3:30pm. Hall states, Every day DocLink help organizations of all sizes embark on their digital transformation journey by providing the essential toolset that connects people, processes and data for competitive advantage. Connecting business data with the right people at the right time, whether it originates inside or outside the Sage ERP, delivers tangible business impacts including faster approval cycles, no more missed deadlines, and reduced human errors. About DocLink As the only Sage-endorsed document management solution, DocLink enables companies to digitally transform their operation, improving productivity and ultimately saving companies significant time and money. By eliminating paper, DocLinks document management capabilities fully utilize and enhance any Sage solution, enabling documents to be created, processed and approved by anyone on any device. DocLink allows users to streamline any business process in any department accounts payable, accounts receivable, human resources, legal, and across the entire enterprise providing improved visibility and control to the entire document lifecycle. About Altec Altec is a leading provider of integrated document management and process automation solutions. Its flagship product, DocLink, helps companies connect people, processes and data providing them with the ability to store, search, retrieve and send any document securely. DocLink effectively eliminates the need for paper while automating processes that improve organizational efficiency and reduce costs associated with human errors. With thousands of customers globally, Altec also enjoys strong, collaborative partnerships with ERP solution providers such as Microsoft, Sage, Acumatica, AmTech, Key2Act, Epicor, and SAP B1 to provide the most comprehensive enterprise solution. Learn more at http://www.altec-inc.com. Yvonne B. Maher, MD Yvonne entered the world of medicine at a time when it was rare to find female cardiologists. But because of the outstanding care provided by physicians like Yvonne, what had once been an all-male profession is now nearly one-third female. Allegheny Health Network (AHN) is establishing an endowed professorship to honor the groundbreaking medical career of one of Allegheny General Hospitals (AGH) first female cardiologists, a physician equally known for the level of care and compassion she showed for her patients throughout a 25-year career in medicine. Officials from AHNs Cardiovascular Institute will announce the Yvonne B. Maher Professorship in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention on Wednesday, February 13 at the first annual Yvonne B. Maher Memorial Lecture on Heart Disease in Women. The noon presentation at AGHs Magovern Auditorium will feature noted outcome research scientist Leslee J. Shaw, PhD, from Weill Cornell Medicine and the Dalio Institute for Cardiovascular Imaging at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. She will discuss pathophysiology, gender differences, and management options for women at risk for cardiovascular disease the number one cause death in America, killing more women every year than all forms of cancer combined. From being the first woman to graduate from Georgetown University with a bachelors of science degree in biology to being one of the first female interventional cardiologists at AGH, Yvonne left an indelible mark everywhere she went, said Srinivas Murali, MD, Co-Chairman, AHN Cardiovascular Institute and Director, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at AHN. We were fortunate to have the opportunity to work alongside her, and we know her patients were grateful to have been cared for by her. The establishment of this professorship in Yvonnes name is a fitting way to permanently honor her legacy and impact at AGH. Indu Poornima, MD, a cardiologist and director of AHNs Womens Heart Center, was a colleague of Dr. Mahers for several years. Yvonne entered the world of medicine at a time when it was rare to find female cardiologists, Dr. Poornima noted. But because of the outstanding care provided by physicians like Yvonne, what had once been an all-male profession is now nearly one-third female. We are proud to follow in her footsteps and continue her mission of being fully devoted to providing the best possible care for each and every patient. After completing medical school and her internal medicine training at Georgetown, Dr. Maher moved to Pittsburgh in 1979 with her husband, Thomas D. Maher, Jr., who came to AGH to train in cardiothoracic surgery and later served on the staff at AGH. Yvonne Maher practiced internal medicine before completing AGHs cardiology training program from 1986-89, when she moved into interventional cardiology. She spent the next quarter-century treating patients at AGH and St. Francis Medical Center. She retired from clinical practice in 2014 and passed away two years later. To have this honor for Yvonne means so much to our family and, hopefully, to her patients, too, said Thomas Maher, who raised five children with his wife, including three who are pursuing careers in medicine. Caring is the word that really comes to mind about Yvonne. She was a great study of the human condition, and she really understood human nature and what her patients needed, and she cared for them in all senses of the word for the whole patient. In establishing the professorship, AHN aims to continue to work toward transforming care delivery in western Pennsylvania and minimizing the significant burden of cardiovascular disease while honoring the work and impact of Dr. Maher. Endowed professorships empower AHN to attract and retain leading physicians and support their work as clinicians, teachers, and researchers in perpetuity, said Allie Quick, Chief Philanthropy Officer, AHN. It is an honor to recognize Dr. Mahers enduring legacy with this named professorship in the Cardiovascular Institute at Allegheny Health Network. We are grateful to the many donors who have made possible this tribute to such a remarkable woman. ### About the Allegheny Health Network Allegheny Health Network (AHN.org), a Highmark Health company, is an integrated healthcare delivery system serving the greater Western Pennsylvania region. The Network is composed of eight hospitals, including Allegheny General Hospital, its flagship academic medical center in Pittsburgh, Allegheny Valley Hospital in Natrona Heights, Canonsburg Hospital in Canonsburg, Forbes Hospital in Monroeville, Jefferson Hospital in Jefferson Hills, Saint Vincent Hospital in Erie, West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh and Westfield Memorial Hospital in Westfield, NY. The Network provides patients with access to a complete spectrum of advanced medical services, including nationally recognized programs for primary and emergency care, cardiovascular disease, cancer care, orthopedic surgery, neurology and neurosurgery, womens health, diabetes and more. It also is home to a comprehensive research institute; Health + Wellness Pavilions; an employed physician organization, home and community based health services and a group purchasing organization. The Network employs approximately 20,000 people, has more than 2,800 physicians on its medical staff and serves as a clinical campus for Drexel University College of Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine, and the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. Mladen Mirkovic, Phoenix, Arizona sign shop owner and winner of the Discover Roland/Explore Africa contest, poses with one of his two Roland wide-format inkjet printers. Entrants had to schedule a personal product demonstration with an authorized Roland DG dealer and then write a short description of what they learned about the Roland inkjet device. Based on a review of entries from around the world, Mirkovic was the clear winner. The dream trip of a lifetime is now a reality for a former Bosnian war refugee and current Arizona sign shop owner Mladen Mirkovic. Roland DG today announced that Mirkovic is the winner of the Grand Prize in Roland DG Corporations Discover Roland/Explore Africa Contest an all-expenses paid, luxury African sightseeing safari for two. To participate in the global contest, Eli Keersmaekers, Roland DG president of global sales and marketing said, entrants had to schedule a personal product demonstration with an authorized Roland DG dealer and then write a short description of what they learned about the Roland inkjet device. Based on a review of entries from around the world, Mirkovic was the clear winner. Mirkovic, who has purchased two Roland printers previously for his successful Phoenix sign shop, was researching his next equipment purchase on the Roland DGA web site when he learned about the contest and decided to enter. A demonstration of a VersaUV LEJ-640 UV hybrid/flatbed printer from local Roland dealer Toryon Technologies inspired Mirkovic to write his winning entry, which read as follows: I discovered the Roland VersaUV LEJ-640 hybrid printer, a machine that will open the door to new opportunities and discoveries. This printer will allow me print directly to substrates, eliminating additional labor as well as the cost of vinyl media and application tape. I also discovered new ways to profit and save. Roland will always help me discover new ventures for my sign business. Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mirkovics family was forced to flee the war in 1992, eventually emigrating to Phoenix. Following school, a passion for advertising and printing led him to purchase a plotter and open his own sign shop, Custom Graphix Signworks, LLC. Initially, he focused on vehicle graphics but was eager to do more. The purchase of a Roland VersaCAMM SP540V printer/cutter opened the door to producing banners, window graphics, decals, and magnetic signs. Two years later, he needed to add a SOLJET PRO III XJ-740 printer to keep up with production. Hard work and a flair for design resulted in a highly profitable business, allowing his entire family to quit their fulltime jobs and join him in running the operation. Mirkovic, now 37, remembers watching National Geographic as a child with his father and dreaming of taking his dad on an African safari one day. My dad was always there for me, bringing us to the USA so we could start a normal life, enjoy the freedom and endless possibilities. He is my true hero! That dream is now a reality. The 11-day tour includes stays at three South African parks known for their wide variety of wildlife. According to Mandy Francis-Pope, tour coordinator at Venture To Africa, Mirkovic and his father will have an excellent opportunity to observe hundreds of birds and exotic animals during day and nighttime game drives with a ranger and tracker, while enjoying stays in luxury accommodations. Theres a good chance theyll get to see the Big 5 lions, leopards, African elephants, Cape buffalo and both black and white rhinos in their natural habitat, said Francis-Pope. We want to thank all those who entered for making the contest a success, Keersmaekers said, and for helping Roland DG maintain worldwide leadership in the sign industry for over 30 years. To learn more about the complete line of Roland products, visit https://www.rolanddga.com. About Roland DG Corporation Roland DG Corporation is the world's leading provider of digital printing solutions. The company's inkjet printers, printer/cutters and cutting machines are widely used to create a broad range of promotional items including banners, signs, vehicle graphics, stickers and labels, and to provide customization services for apparel and personal items like smartphone cases. Recently, Roland DG has embarked on a promising new retail frontier by capitalizing on individuals' increasing desire to create their own, uniquely designed and decorated items. The companys COTO business division has developed proprietary design and print management software which enables customers to design their own gifts, apparel and treasured mementos for an unforgettable creative experience. For more information on Roland DG Corporation, visit https://www.rolanddg.com/en. About Roland DGA Corporation Roland DGA Corporation serves North and South America as the marketing, sales, distribution and service arm for Roland DG Corporation. Founded in 1981 and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Roland DG of Hamamatsu, Japan is a worldwide leader in wide-format inkjet printers for the sign, apparel, textile, personalization and vehicle graphics markets; engravers for awards, giftware and ADA signage; photo impact printers for direct part marking; and 3D printers and CNC milling machines for the dental CAD/CAM, rapid prototyping, part manufacturing and medical industries. For more information on Roland DGA Corporation, visit https://www.rolanddga.com. EXPERT OBSERVER Markets in Regional NSW continue to head in the opposite direction to Sydney. While the Sydney market is showing increasing signs of decline (generally speaking there are exceptions), the cities and towns of Regional NSW are delivering growth markets right across the state. This is particularly evident in the price data. Hotspottings location-by-location analysis has revealed 150 Regional NSW locations where median prices have grown 5% or more in the past year, of which 65 locations have increased more than 10%. In addition to the 150 places with 5%-plus price growth, there are another 67 locations with annual price growth between 1% and 5%. The growth has been led by seven locations with growth of 20% or more: Crestwood (up 26%) Evans Head (up 23%), Kiama (up 22%), Catalina (up 21%), Berry (up 20%), Soldiers Point (up 23%) and the Shoal Bay unit market (up 31%). The Newcastle region has been particularly strong on price growth in the past year. The LGAs of Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Port Stephens all have multiple suburbs with solid to strong median price growth. The Central Coast is another standout, with 13 suburbs with median price growth above 5%, including Ettalong Beach (up 17%), Kincumber (up 10%) and Wamberai (up 13%). In terms of locations with rising demand, as measured by quarterly sales activity, our Summer survey has found 53 Regional NSW locations with markets trending upwards. This is slightly below the average of the past two years and is down on the 70 rising markets identified in the Spring 2018 sales survey. The Queanbeyan-Palerang LGA just outside Canberra is the leading precinct, with five locations with rising demand. Leading locations include Crestwood and Queanbeyan East, where quarterly sales activity has been trending steadily upwards over the past 1-2 years. Crestwoods median house price has risen 26% in the past 12 months. The Newcastle region continues to stand out, although Newcastle itself is past the peak in terms of sales activity. There are only two Newcastle suburbs with rising demand but many with plateau markets. The previous strong demand is still delivering significant price growth and a number of suburbs (including Hamilton, Hamilton South, Mayfield, Wallsend and North Lambton) have risen more than 10% in the past year. Outside Newcastle in neighbouring LGAs, Lake Macquarie and Maitland both have four suburbs with rising demand, while nearby Port Stephens has two. Out in the Hunter Region, Singleton, Muswellbrook and Scone all have increasing buyer activity. Muswellbrooks quarterly sales have been 41, 52, 57, 74, 60 and 78 in the past 18 months and its median house price has risen 8% to $305,000 in the past year. Tamworth is one of the emerging markets. It now has four suburbs with rising demand, including North Tamworth where quarterly sales have been 17, 30, 34, 39, 34, 41 and 45 with its median house price up 11.5% to $430,000 in the past 12 months. There are towns with growth markets right across Regional NSW, including Casino, Kyogle, Cooma, Griffith, Parkes, Gunnedah, Cowra, Glen Innes, Inverell, Gloucester, Lithgow, Mudgee, Tuncurry and Broken Hill. Some significant markets have passed their peaks in terms of sales activity, but still have strong prices. They include the Central Coast, Newcastle, Wollongong, the towns of the Wingecarribee LGA and the Tweed region near the Queensland border. In the Tweed area, prices have risen strongly in the past 12 months in Bogangar (11%), Casuarina (19%) and Kingscliff (14%). Terry Ryder is the founder of hotspotting.com.au, [email protected], twitter.com/hotspotting GUEST OBSERVATION One of the most important lessons to come out of last weeks banking royal commission is one of the least likely to grab attention, certainly not in the way the resignation of NAB chair Ken Henry did. Its that, in the view of Royal Commissioner Kenneth Hayne, when all is said and done the complex patchwork of rules that regulate financial institutions can be boiled down to six simple requirements: obey the law do not mislead or deceive act fairly provide services that are fit for purpose deliver services with reasonable care and skill, and when acting for another, act in their best interests Yet, under our current law, these six principles are expressed in different terms in multiple pieces of legislation that run to thousands of pages and even more regulations, at both state and federal levels. The labyrinth is arguably unnavigable for even sophisticated parties with access to good legal advice. It wholly fails as a way of communicating the law to ordinary people, the businesses and citizens who are bank customers. It also provides an endless supply of stall and evade opportunities for wrongdoers who can clog up the courts with technical and strategic debates over how to interpret the labyrinth. Legislative porridge Even the best-intentioned plaintiff or prosecutor can end up pleading every possible permutation of the law to try and cover all bases. The inevitable result is to delay the proceeding and increase legal expenses, in the words of a recent Federal Court judgement. Take the core prohibition of misleading or deceptive conduct. Research conducted at Melbourne Law School finds the same prohibition in slightly different forms, with different requirements, different defences, and different remedies and penalties in more than 30 pieces of state and federal legislation. The result has been described by another Federal Court judge as a legislative porridge. For many Australians it makes the use of the courts to resolve financial disputes with banks and insurance companies simply not possible. As a result, we have developed a parallel soft law, that doesnt work badly. The Banking Code of Practice sets out what banks should do and the Financial Complaints Authority resolves disputes. The Authoritys guiding principle is as simple as could be that its decision be fair in all the circumstances. Australian Financial Complaints Authority Operational Guidelines. It raises the question of why the law needs to be so complex when the alternative to it doesnt need to be. Simplification has to start somewhere Hayne wants to simplify the law, but he says the overall task is wider. It will require examination of how the existing law fits together and identification of the policies given effect by the laws various provisions. Only once this detailed work is done can decisions be made about how those policies can be given better and simpler legislative effect. Our Australian Research Council Discovery project on Rationalising the Law of Misleading Conduct is undertaking precisely this task for the rules about misleading conduct, trying to track how the various laws and regulations overlap and interact with the ancient, evolving and equally complex general laws governing contracts, torts and equitable principles. This initial mapping task requires sustained and expert attention, so much that it might seem beyond governments usual attention-spans. But, faced with the enormity of the task, Commissioner Hayne doesnt engage in a counsel of despair. Instead, he picks two easier steps that could be done quickly in order to make a real difference. First, get rid of exceptions, carve-outs and qualifications. An example he uses is the special treatment given to grandfathered commissions, but carve-outs are everywhere. Reducing their number and their area of operation is itself a large step towards simplification. Not only that, it leaves less room for gaming the system by forcing events or transactions into exceptional boxes not intended to contain them. We should be clear about what is at stake. The rule of law demands that like cases must be treated alike. It follows that exceptions need to be strongly justified. And they havent been. Instead, exceptions and carve-outs reflect the lobbying of powerful industry groups concerned to preserve their own self-interest. And in some cases a failure on the part of the drafters to understand how the regime as a whole fits together and works. The second step is to draw explicit connections in the legislation between the particular rules that are made and the fundamental principles to which they are intended to give effect. Drawing that connection will have three consequences. It will explain to the regulated community (and the regulator) why the rule is there and, at the same time, reinforce the importance of the relevant fundamental norm of conduct. Not only that, drawing this explicit connection will put beyond doubt the purpose that the relevant rule is intended to achieve. But a serious concern remains: how to do it without complicating the law further. It might be time to take the leap and go back to basics: to reduce the legislation to the core principles and leave the detailed explanation of how they work in practice to soft law guidelines. On how this might look, see our contribution Statutory interpretation and the critical role of soft law guidelines in developing a coherent law of remedies in Australia in R Levy et al (eds) New Directions for Law in Australia: Essays in Contemporary Law Reform. Elise Bant is Professor of Law, University of Melbourne Jeannie Marie Paterson is Professor, University of Melbourne This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The gloom around the around Gladstone land market could be showing signs of lifting, with an uptick in sales volume and limited new supply giving opportunity for existing stock to be absorbed offering positive signs, according to Ray White. Ray Whites Head of Research Vanessa Rader said there has been much-needed downward momentum regarding the advancement of new development of vacant land over the last five years. This slow addition of stock has been welcomed by the local market with the need to absorb these existing high stock levels, Ms Rader said. The Gladstone LGA has a further 1,520ha of broadacre land suitable for land subdivision which could yield over 8,000 new lots. Data collected by Ray White Commercial shows there are currently over 400 lots registered and available for sale, with a further 300 completed, but yet to be registered. This high volume of available stock coupled with the slow sales rate has taken a toll on the median values achieved for both vacant land, and house and land packages in the region. Click here to enlarge: Ray White Commercial Gladstone Director Andrew Allen said vacant land sales and limited lot approvals and lot registrations in the past 12 months have offered much-needed positivity to the market. It's encouraging to see lot registrations and lot approvals are down on five and 10-year averages, giving the market time to continue to recover, Mr Allen said. Click here to enlarge: Positivity really lies in the vacant land sales, where we saw a total of 148 over the past 12 months, showing an increase of 55.79 per cent. The slowdown in approvals and registrations is key to not further flood the market with stock, also encouraging is the median lot size has again rebounded to 861sq m. This reversion back to larger lots is more in line with local demand which is in the 800-1,000sq m size range. With the bulk of lots currently on the market in the sub 600sq m size range, were seeing more buyers investigating the idea of purchasing two lots side by side, to amalgamate into a larger land parcel. This changing trend could attribute to the increase in vacant land sales in the 2017/2018 period. These are the first signs of improvement for many years for the region. Click here to enlarge: Click here to enlarge: *Ray White Between the Lines Commercial Research Gladstone LGA Vacant Land Report January 2019. An example of a recent vacant land sale in Gladstone is 5 Stewart Street, West Gladstone (pictured above). The 450 sqm block sold for $62,500 in November 2018. It previously sold for near triple that amount, $170,000, in 2010. Another West Gladstone land sale took place in November, 5 Murray Street (pictured above). The vacant 1,397 sqm block sold for $67,000 Last sold in 2017 for $54,890 it is a fully fenced block. Cycas Hospitality has positioned itself for its next stage of growth with the appointment of Matt Luscombe as its first Chief Executive Officer. Luscombe is set to join the business in March, based from Cycass head office in Amsterdam, where he will become the hotel management companys first CEO since [] New Delhi/Mumbai, Feb 13 : Budget passenger carrier IndiGo on Tuesday said that it is "adjusting" some flight operations to deal with expected weather related disruptions in the coming days. However, industry insiders say that the airline has cancelled about 30 flights on Tuesday and over 30 flights on Monday. According to industry sources, the airline had cancelled around 50 flights during the last weekend due to shortage of pilots which, but IndiGo said that was due to a hailstorm that lashed the national capital and surrounding areas. "IndiGo is slightly adjusting its flight schedule in the coming days by approximately 30 flights per day," the airline said in a statement on Tuesday. "This is in order to stabilize the network and operations impacted due to various ongoing Notams (Notice to Airmen) and predicted bad weather in the coming days." According to the airline, in order to avoid inconvenience, these adjustments are being made in advance. "They are being accommodated close to their original flight schedule. These adjustments amount to 1 to 2 per cent of the originally planned number of flights," the statement said. At present, IndiGo, with its fleet of over 200 aircraft, offers over 1,300 daily flights and connects 52 domestic and 16 international destinations. New Delhi, Feb 13 (IANS) Than Myint from Myanmar suddenly woke up at around 4.30 a.m on Tuesday in her hotel room, struggling to breathe. With her sleepy eyes, all she could see was smoke. Sensing something was wrong, she woke her room partner Khi Khi Chod and both rushed out of their third floor room to see an adjacent room was already ablaze and the passage clogged with smoke. Myint called out to her fellow travellers two rooms away. But she was too late. Mya Htwe and Hla May failed to open the door, having suffocated to death. Htwe and May were among those 17 who lost their lives in the major fire that broke out during the early hours at a five storey hotel in Delhi's Karol Bagh. They were a group of eight Buddhist women who landed in India on February 7 on a religious pilgrimage. The group reached the Hotel Arpit Palace on Monday evening and were supposed to leave around 7 a.m. on Tuesday Myint, along with her three co-travellers, had come to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, to identify the bodies of Htwe and May. "We didn't knew where to go and whom to meet. Even our guide (a Myanmarese man living in Bodh Gaya) died in the fire. Language also became a problem. We haven't eaten anything and went to two more hospitals before coming here," Khi told IANS. Recalling the horror of the moment, they said that while they battled to breathe, visibility inside the hotel was another issue. "We didn't knew what to do, we were clueless. Our brains were not working that moment. And then we couldn't even see anything clearly. We rushed down to second floor and tried to jump out of the window," Khi said. Myint recollected that they called out for help from a window that was open. Some of the neighbours came up with ladders but those were not high enough to reach them. "One of our group members couldn't wait long and attempted to get out by clinging to a rope. But she fell and has injured herself badly... her back bone is broken as we have been told," Myint said. Fearing for their lives, Khi mentioned that the four others were were also on the verge of attempting to jump but meanwhile the firefighters had come to the spot and rescued them. Myint said that they no longer feel staying in India anymore. "We didn't knew each other but what happened is tragic, painful and horrific. We lost everything, from clothes to money. We have got in touch with the embassy which has requested us to return. Let's see what we do," she added. The hospital authorities and police said that body of two of Myanmarese women will be sent back after the embassy issues a letter to the police. (Somrita Ghosh can be contacted at somrita.g@ians.in) Addis Ababa, Feb 13 : Nations must work together more closely to eliminate unsafe foods which cause ill health and death, cost developing countries nearly $100 billion dollars a year and hamper sustainable development, global leaders said, according to a United Nations statement on Tuesday. "There is no food security without food safety," UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva told the opening session of the First International Food Safety Conference in Addis Ababa. "Safeguarding our food is a shared responsibility. We must all play our part. We must work together to scale up food safety in national and international political agendas," da Silva said at the event organised by the African Union, FAO, the UN World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins or chemicals causes more than 600 million people to fall ill and 420,000 to die worldwide every year, according to the UN. "Unsafe food is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths every year, but has not received the political attention it deserves," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. "Ensuring people have access to safe food takes sustained investment in stronger regulations, laboratories, surveillance and monitoring. In our globalised world, food safety is everyone's issue," he added. Illness linked to unsafe food put strain on healthcare systems and damage economies, trade and tourism. The impact of unsafe food costs low- and middle-income economies around $95 billion in lost productivity each year, said the statement issued by FAO. A central theme of the Addis Ababa conference is that food safety systems need to keep pace with the way food is produced and consumed, according to the statement. Information technologies, shared information, training and education play a key role in making food safe and in facing current challenges posed by climate change, the globalisation of food production, the growing global population and urbanization, said the statement. Conference participants agreed that food safety must be a paramount goal at every stage of the food chain, from production to harvest, processing, storage, distribution, preparation and consumption, the statement said. "Without safe foods, it is not possible to achieve food security," African Union Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat told the conference. WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo highlighted the key role played by trade in eradicating poverty. "Trade is an important force to lift people out of poverty... when we reconvene in Geneva in April we will consider these issues in more depth," Azevedo said. A follow-up event, the International Forum on Food Safety and Trade, which will focus on interlinkages between food safety and trade, is due to be hosted by WTO in Geneva on April 23-24. Around 130 countries are taking part in the two-day conference in Addis Ababa, including agriculture, health, and trade ministers. Leading scientific experts and representatives from partner agencies, consumer, food producer and civil society organisations and the private sector are also taking part. Shillong, Feb 12 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to move the Supreme Court seeking permission to quiz Saradha Group Chairman Sudipta Sen and his close aide Debjani Mukherjee in connection with the chit fund case. The premier probe agency, which is questioning Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in the Saradha and Rose Valley chit fund scams in Meghalaya's capital Shillong, will further examine Kumar for another three to four days more. Tuesday was the fourth consecutive day that Kumar was questioned by the CBI. "We are likely to seek the Supreme Court permission to question Sen and Mukherjee in Shillong," a CBI official told IANS on condition of anonymity. "If granted permission, we will make Sen and Mukherjee confront Kumar on the chit fund scams," the official added. Former Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh, who arrived in Kolkata on Tuesday after being questioned by the CBI in Shillong, said that he has lodged an "official complaint" against the top cop for allegedly influencing the ongoing probe. "I have lodged a written complaint with the CBI against Kumar today (Tuesday) morning. During our face to face interrogation on February 10, certain Kolkata Police officers were named. But Kumar called up some of those officers after leaving the CBI office that night," Ghosh said. "When I had sought justice in 2013, Kumar had not cared for me. I felt bad to see that an IPS officer like him has to face hours of questioning like this. Had he played an active role at that time, he would not have to face the CBI interrogation in Shillong now," Ghosh said. Ghosh had earlier implicated former Union Minister Mukul Roy, who has quit the Trinamool Congress to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and 12 others in the Saradha chit fund case. Kumar arrived in Shillong on Friday evening from Kolkata via Guwahati after the Supreme Court directed him to join the CBI probe at a "neutral place" in Shillong. He was accompanied by three senior state police officers -- Additional Police Commissioner Javed Shamim, Special Task Force chief Murlidhar Sharma and CID chief Praveen Kumar Tripathi. Kolkata, Feb 12 : An investigation has been ordered into circulation of a portion of the first day's question paper of Bengali first language of the secondary (Madhaymik) examination, conducted by the West Bengal board, on the social media on Tuesday, an official said. The examination, however, has not been cancelled. "Our Deputy Secretary received a message on Whatsapp with an image of the first page of the day's question paper at 1.43 p.m. Following this, we lodged an FIR with the Bidhannagar cyber crime department of police," West Bengal Board of Secondary Examination (WBBSE) president Kalyanmoy Ganguly told a press meet. The source of the image is yet to be traced, he said. On the shortcoming in the system, Ganguly said: "This is not lack of vigilance, but a habit of not to stay away from mobile phones. I will strictly ensure that no one carries cellphone to the examination venue." Ganguly said when the incident occurred students were inside the examination hall. "They won't be benefited in any manner from the incident. Thus there is no question of the examination being cancelled. The culprit will be not be spared and students should focus on the next examination and should not worry," he said. New Delhi, Feb 12 : The Central government on Tuesday invited "Expression of Interest" for strategic divestment of national flag carrier's ground handling subsidiary Air India Air Transport Services Ltd (AIATSL). To facilitate the divestment, Air India has entered into a share purchase agreement with a special purpose vehicle (SPV) -- Air India Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL) -- which has been created to transfer a substantial portion of national carrier's debt, earmarked assets and land banks. As per the Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) released on Tuesday, AIAHL plans to sell at least 98 per cent stake in the company through strategic sale and offer up to 2 per cent to employees of AIATSL, as per the terms of an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan). "AIAHL has given 'in-principle' approval for the strategic sale of AIATSL by way of transfer of management control and sale of 100 per cent equity share capital of AIATSL by AIAHL, out of which at least 98 per cent shall be through strategic sale...," the PIM document said. The subsidiary was incorporated in June 2003 to undertake ground handling and other activities on behalf of the airline. In February 2013, Air India formally transferred the ground handling business of itself and its client airlines as well as cargo warehousing business and cargo handling to AIATSL. Currently, the company provides services at 76 airports. Apart from handling the flights of Air India and its subsidiary companies, it also provides ground handling services to 37 foreign and 4 domestic airlines. It had made a net profit of Rs 71.1 crore during 2017-18 (provisional) and Rs 33.4 crore in 2016-17. The company had earned a revenue of Rs 668 crore during 2017-18 (provisional) and Rs 624.5 crore in 2016-17. In November last year, an inter-ministerial panel, Air India Specific Alternate Mechanism, decided to divest the government's stake in AIATSL. The amount raised from the divestment of AIATSL would be used to retire some of the accumulated debt of Air India. The inter-ministerial panel has decided to revive the national passenger carrier through sale of land and other assets and to offload its debt to the SPV already incorporated. Prior to the current move, the government had offered to sell 76 per cent stake in Air India. However, the state-owned carrier group, which has accumulated losses of around Rs 55,000 crore, failed to attract any bidder. According to Murali Ramachandran, CEO - India, Celebi Aviation: "We are very bullish about this whole opportunity and were in fact one of the first companies to send in an unsolicited EOI in 2017 when this initiative was being discussed. However, the PIM published today (Tuesday) prima facie seems inadequate in terms of information contained within. "We will have lots of queries specially concerning tenure, rights, contracts, national carrier flight handling rights, employees etc. We will table our list of queries in the next few days. We are though concerned that the outcome of the recently concluded AAI Ground Handling tenders could have a negative impact on this opportunity." Kolkata, Feb 12 : In a fresh standoff with West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee government, the BJP has written to the Kolkata police seeking permission to hold a demonstration at the same spot where the Chief Minister sat on a protest against the centre recently, defying a ban her own government had imposed on such agitations there. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sent a letter followed by an email to the Kolkata police seeking permission to hold a "Save Democracy" sit-in at Metro Y Channel demanding "restoration of democracy" in the state. "We have sought permission to hold the three-day sit-in on Metro Y Channel from February 21-23. We have promised not to use loudspeakers or mikes as there is a bar on their use because of the ongoing Madhyamik (Secondary) examination (being conducted by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education)," said state BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu. About two years after coming to power, the Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government banned protests at Metro Y Channel arguing that the protests in the city hub badly disrupt traffic. "We know about the ban. But Mamata Banerjee herself defied the ban by holing the sit-in. So, as a political party, we should also be given the same opportunity. We would also like to hold a sit-in there," said Basu. Police, on the other hand, said they were yet to receive any application for permission to hold the sit-in from the BJP. "Once we receive it, we will take a decision," said an officer at the city police headquarters Lalbazar. Banerjee had held a 45-hour sit-in at the Metro Y Channel from 9 pm on February 1 following an ugly face-off between the city police and the Central Bureau of Investigation, when the latter tried to quiz police commissioner Rajeev Kumar in connection with the Ponzi scheme scam. With the saffron party making West Bengal - where they have been traditionally weak - a focus state, the political temperatures have been soaring in Bengal. The BJP, which emerged as the main challenger to Trinamool in recent polls, is making a determined bid to increase its tally of seats from the state that sends 42 representatives to the lower House of parliament. It had secured only two Lok Sabha seats in Bengal in 2014. New Delhi, Feb 12 : At least 17 people were killed when a major fire engulfed a five-storey hotel in the heart of the Indian capital before dawn on Tuesday, leaving some survivors in critical condition and others dazed and shaken. The dead included at least two women from Myanmar and a child who could not escape the leaping flames and the thick smoke in Hotel Arpit Palace in the commercial-cum-residential district of Karol Bagh, officials said. Two employees of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, an IRS official, and three members of a family from Kerala's Kochi were also killed in the second worst fire incident in the capital since the 1997 Uphaar cinema tragedy in south Delhi that killed 59 people. The death toll in the tragedy at Karol Bagh was the same as in the fire at a firecracker factory in Bawana in outer Delhi last year. Police registered a case against the owner of the hotel Subhendu Goyal, who is absconding. He has been charged under sections including culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The general manager and another employee of the hotel have been arrested by the Delhi Police and the case transferred to the Crime Branch. The fire erupted shortly after 4 a.m. Three people jumped from the blazing structure as emergency doors were shut during the night, trapping them inside. Some guests who had left the premises before the fire said the tragedy could have been averted had the hotel management taken their complaints about something burning seriously. Witnesses also complained that the fire tenders reached the spot late. Fire service officials, however, blamed the hotel management for the delay in informing them. "And even the hydraulic ladders of the fire tenders failed to open, resulting in delay in rescuing the people who were trapped inside the hotel," a witness said. The witness alleged that a woman was screaming from the top of the hotel to save her child but to no avail. Some 35 people were rescued from the hotel as around two dozen fire tenders joined the battle against the flames, Deputy Commissioner of Police Mandeep Randhawa told IANS. He said while some of them were in critical condition, many others had minor to major burn injuries. While some dozen people escaped the building themselves after the fire broke out, most of them were trapped till the fire tenders arrived. These people, as well as the including the bodies, were pulled out by fire officers. By noon, the fire had been put out and firefighters had searched all the rooms and toilets to ensure no one was left trapped. The injured were taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Lady Hardinge Hospital and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. Officials said there were around 55 people, including staff, in the 40-room hotel. Some of the guests were foreigners. Most victims died of suffocation, G.C. Mishra of Delhi Fire Service said, adding that the toll could go up as some of the injured were critical. The hotel had a basement, a ground floor and four floors. Most of the damage was reported between the second and fourth floors and the basement and the ground floor were not majorly affected. It was not clear in which part of the hotel the fire broke out. Mishra said prima facie the blaze appeared to have been caused by short circuit. According to police officer Randhawa, while the hotel had got a no-objection certificate for fire safety in December 2017 (valid for three years) for the restaurant and guest house, the cafeteria on the ground floor and the bar were running illegally. Union Tourism Minister K. J. Alphons said the emergency exits were "very narrow and not built according to specifications". "And they were closed at night. According to information we have, those gates are closed at night and a guard sits outside. But we don't know if the guard was there or not," he told reporters. Dazed survivors, who escaped only with the clothes they were in, complained that fire-fighting equipment was not readily available in the hotel and that wooden panels helped the flames to spread rapidly. "There was no proper fire exit plan," one man added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the deaths. "Deeply saddened by the loss of lives due to a fire at Karol Bagh. I convey my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives. May the injured recover soon," he tweeted. The Delhi government ordered a magisterial probe. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said an inquiry will be launched to find out whether the owner had a valid licence to run the hotel and the bar. He also announced Rs 5 lakh compensation for families of the deceased. Those died have been identified as Jayshree P.C., P.C. Vidyasagar, Aravinth Sukumaran, Nand Kumar, EVS Chalpati Rao, Pranav Kumar Bhaskar, P Nalini Amma, Rubia Jusafbhai, Htumula Sein, Daw-Hla-May, Shankarnarayan Sheshdhari, Santosh Mahadev, Suresh Kumar, Tarachand and Mya-Mya-Htwe. The official said that two bodies have not been identified yet though the family of Lal Chand Thakur, a hotel employee killed in the blaze, said one of them was his. New York, Feb 12 : Indian jewels sparkled at popular designer Bibhu Mohapatra's show at the New York Fashion Week (NYFW) ramp. Narayan Jewellers by Ketan and Jatin Chokshi unveiled their new jewellery line at the fashion extravaganza in a show organised in association with Forevermark. Over 40 jewellery pieces in 18 karat white and rose gold were curated specifically for creations by Mohaptra, who celebrated his tenth anniversary collection by getting his clients to bring his gowns to life. Mohaptra's Fall Winter 2019 collection was inspired by his trip to Mount Stewart, UK. New Delhi, Feb 12 : The Committee of Creditors (CoC) for Bhushan Power and Steel has issued a Letter of Intent (LoI) to Sajjan Jindal-owned JSW Steel, thereby declaring it a winning bidder for the bankrupt power company, sources said. The development comes after the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) last week turned down Tata Steel's plea to consider its bid as the "most legitimate". People in knowledge of the developments said that JSW Steel has accepted the bid and the resolution professional would now approach the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for final approval on Wednesday and the procedure could conclude next month. As per the protocol, NCLT will now have to give the stamp of approval for JSW Steel to acquire Bhushan Power and Steel. JSW Steel's revised bid of Rs 19,300 crore for Bhushan Power and Steel made it the top suitor ahead of Rs 19,000-crore bid by Liberty House UK and Tata Steel's bid of nearly Rs 17,000 crore. The bankrupt company owes Rs 47,000 crore to the financial creditors. For JSW, acquisition of Bhushan Power would allow it to retain the numero uno position in the Indian market for a long time to come with targeted capacity of 40 million tonnes by 2030. Bhushan Power and Steel was one of the 12 biggest defaulters identified by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for insolvency proceedings in June 2017. Punjab National Bank (PNB) had dragged the bankrupt steelmaker for resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). New Delhi: Fire fighters and NDRF personnel outside Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh where a major fire broke out killing seventeen people, including a child and injuring three others in New Delhi on Feb 12, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi: Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh where a major fire broke out killing seventeen people, including a child and injuring three others in New Delhi on Feb 12, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi: A massive fire breaks out at Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh killing seventeen people, including a child and injuring three others in New Delhi on Feb 12, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS) There was an oppressive silence outside the mortuary at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital where the family of Lal Chand Thakur, one of the 17 killed in the Delhi hotel fire, were waiting patiently to take his body home. They had been there for over seven hours but police and hospital authorities had not given the permission. "It is going to be a long night for us," his nephew Balwinder Singh Thakur told IANS. Of the 13 bodies kept at the hospital, 11 had been identified. The body of Thakur, who worked as a supervisor at the five-storey hotel, was among the other two. All the families who had come to claim bodies of their kin had gone by then. Only Thakur's family was waiting for the body to be handed over to them. "We are waiting for the police and the hospital authorities to give permission to take back the body. But it doesn't seem to happen any soon. Even we are struggling to identify the body," said Balwinder Singh. Thakur had been working at the Hotel Arpit Palace for the past 25 years. A resident of Paharganj, he lived with his wife and son in a joint family. It was his son Himangshu Thakur, who came to know of the fire first and informed the family, save his mother. "It was around 8.30 a.m. when he gave me the news. Ever since, all the family members were out looking for him at every possible hospital," Thakur's nephew said. From BL Kapoor to Safdarjung Hospital, Ganga Ram to Lady Hardinge Medical College, the family saw all the bodies in an attempt to identify Thakur's charred body. "We came here at around 12 p.m, but couldn't identify the body. It is badly burnt. The left arm and right leg are badly burnt; even the belly and portions of heart were all black," Balwinder Singh said. While the son kept roaming around in other hospitals struggling to identify his father, other relatives again assembled at RML around 3 p.m. The police and hospital authorities asked for evidence to claim the body. While Thakur's nephew showed some photographs, his sister-in-law tried to remember marks on the body, which could be used for identification. "Police say a DNA test might be needed for identifying the body. But it is a long procedure. We have been again asked to come tomorrow morning. How can we leave him here and go," Balwinder Singh said. While Thakur's wife remains unaware of her husband's demise, the family members said it was more painful to see others going back while they wait. "There were so many people when we came. They all have left with bodies. We are clueless what to do," said Himangshu who came back to RML from the Ganga Ram Hospital. (Somrita Ghosh can be contacted at somrita.g@ians.in) Jaipur, Feb 12 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is investigating a web of controversial land transactions in Bikaner allegedly involving Robert Vadra's companies, on Tuesday questioned him for over eight hours about his relations with some land dealers. Robert Vadra and his mother, Maureen, who was also questioned on Tuesday, have been asked to appear again before the agency on Wednesday morning, according to an agency source. Robert and Maureen Vadra on Tuesday morning appeared before the ED officials in Jaipur around 10.40 a.m and left the agency's office at 8.30 p.m. They were questioned under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Robert and Maureen, were accompanied to the ED office here by his wife Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who rushed from Lucknow to be with the family. Later in the day, she returned to Lucknow where she did a road show on Monday. The ED source said that Vadra was given a set of questions about how he knew Mahesh Nagar, an authorised representative of Skylight Hospitality LLP, owned by Robert Vadra and his 75-year-old mother. Nagar is the person who links Vadra's company with Ashok Kumar, who was named in the chargesheet filed by the Rajasthan Police in the case. In December 2017, the ED had arrested Ashok Kumar, a close associate of Nagar, and another person, Jaiprakash Bagarwa. The ED had searched the premises of both Kumar and Nagar in April 2017. According to ED officials, Nagar was the authorised representative in four cases of land purchase in Bikaner. Kumar, the agency alleged, had purchased land in the same area, using the "power of attorney" of others. The ED has been probing the alleged irregularities in the purchase of land in Kolayat area of the border town of Bikaner in Rajasthan, which was meant for those displaced due to the Army's field firing range. According to the ED officials, Skylight Hospitality had purchased 69.55 hectares of land for Rs 72 lakh and then sold it to Allegeny Finlease for Rs 5.15 crore, thus making a profit of Rs 4.43 crore. The agency registered a criminal case under the Money Laundering Act in 2015, taking cognizance of the case filed by the Rajasthan police after forgery allegations. The agency had earlier issued notices to Skylight Hospitality but had not mentioned Robert Vadra's name or any company linked to him in its FIR. According to the ED, during investigation it had surfaced that Allegeny Finlease as a company was "not involved" in any "real business activities" and many of its shareholders were found to be dummy or non-existent. The government had cancelled the mutation (transfer of land) of 374.44 hectares of land after allotments were found to have been allegedly made in the names of "illegal private persons". Revenue officials had said in the complaint that government land in 34 villages of Bikaner, which was meant to be used for expanding the Army's firing range, was "grabbed" by the land mafia by preparing "forged and fabricated documents" in connivance with government officials. The ED suspects that a huge amount of money was laundered in this case by people buying land at cheaper rates through forged documents. New Delhi, Feb 12 : The Committee of Creditors (CoC) for Bhushan Power and Steel has issued a Letter of Intent (LoI) to Sajjan Jindal owned JSW Steel, thereby declaring it a winning bidder for the bankrupt power company, sources said. The development comes after the National Company Law Apellate Tribunal (NCLAT) last week turned down Tata Steel's plea to consider its bid as the "most legitimate". People with knowledge of the developments said that JSW Steel has accepted the bid and the resolution professional would now approach the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for the final approval on Wednesday and the procedure might conclude next month. As per the protocol, NCLT will now have to give the stamp of approval for JSW Steel to acquire Bhushan Power and Steel. JSW Steel's revised bid of Rs 19,300 crore for Bhushan Power and Steel made it the top suitor ahead of Rs 19,000 crore bid by Liberty House UK and Tata Steel's bid of nearly Rs 17,000 crore. The bankrupt company owes Rs 47,000 crore to the financial creditors. For JSW, acquisition of Bhushan Power would allow it to retain the numero uno position in the Indian market for a long time to come with targeted capacity of 40 million tonnes by 2030. Bhushan Power and Steel was one of the 12 biggest defaulters identified by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for insolvency proceedings in June 2017. Punjab National Bank (PNB) had dragged the bankrupt steelmaker for resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). Vanuatu turns the Corner LETS USE THIS AS A SPRINGBOARD FOR THE FUTURE New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visit the site where a child and 16 others, including a woman was killed in a major fire that engulfed several storeys of a central Delhi hotel on Feb. 12, 2019.(Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News Nine people died and three injured in a major fire that broke out in Karol Bagh's Arpit Palace Hotel on Feb 12, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi: Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh where a major fire broke out killing seventeen people, including a child and injuring three others in New Delhi on Feb 12, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi, Feb 12 : Two Myanmarese women were among the 17 people who died in the fire that broke out in a Delhi hotel, officials said on Tuesday. "Two Myanmar nationals, Mya-mya Htwe, 45, and Dawhla-May, 67, died in the incident," Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central, Mandeep Randhwa, told IANS. Another Myanmarese woman, identified as Chain-Maya-Nyan, 28, received major spinal injuries after she jumped out of the window of her third floor room and has been admitted into the Lady Hardinge Hospital, he added. Saumya Shrestha of Nepal has also been admitted to a hospital after he was also rescued by fire officials. Randhawa said that the foreign nationals had booked rooms in the hotel three to four days ago. At least 17 people, including a child, died after a major fire broke out in the five-storyed hotel in Karol Bagh area of central Delhi. According to the police, the fire broke out around 4 a.m. on Tuesday. The report of fire was made at 4.30 a.m. following which 25 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. New Delhi, Feb 12 : With an aim to address air quality issues at the national scale, Bloomberg Philanthropies and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) joined hands on Tuesday to provide technical assistance to the Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry in implementing the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP). "In this partnership, we are trying to do some of these things which have been listed in the NCAP, both at the national and state level, to help address and mitigate air pollution," Sumit Sharma, Director, Earth Science and Climate Change, at TERI told IANS. At the national level, he said, TERI will be developing an "emission inventory database" and a "knowledge park" for the whole country. On the state level, the Institute will work on dealing with air pollution in Gujarat's Surat and Bihar's Patna to identify sources of pollution. "As of now, there is no database of emission of air pollution. Hence, we have decided to develop a database and hand it over to the Ministry for the tracking of emissions over the next few decades," Sharma said. TERI and Bloomberg will also develop a "knowledge network". "This means two things: one, an online repository of different types of material which is there on the internet on air quality issues in India and second, it will give you a network of sectoral experts which deal with air quality issues," he said adding that under the project, they will frequently convene meetings of these experts to come up with a solution to air pollution. The project to work with the Ministry was announced at a session on 'Cleaning the Air in India and its Cities' during the ongoing World Sustainable Development Summit organized by TERI at the India Habitat Centre. The initiative will work in tandem with the recently-launched NCAP, the first overarching strategic national policy framework on air quality in India. Launched last month, the program outlines a five-year action plan with the goal of reducing particulate matter by 20-30 per cent by 2024, keeping 2017 as the base level. At the state level, Sharma said TERI, after identifying sources of air pollution in Surat and Patna, will draft an air quality management plan for control of pollution in these cities. "The motive behind selecting Surat and Patna was actually to demonstrate that if it works in two cities then it can be easily replicated in other cities too," he said. Asked why these two particular cities were chosen, Sharma explained: "We wanted to choose cities which had high air pollution. Also, we wanted one of them to be near Indo-Gangetic plains and the other one which is affected by industrial pollution. Patna is a typical city, with Indo-Gangetic plain, biomass burning and Surat is a city with industrial pollution." At the event, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Secretary C.K. Mishra said: "We are delighted to be working with Bloomberg Philanthropies, TERI and other partners on the National Clean Air Programme. Air pollution is a difficult and multi-dimensional challenge and we need to work together across government, multiple stakeholders and citizens to address this." Feb 12 : Facing widespread criticism over a hooch tragedy that left over 100 people dead in the state and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, the Uttarakhand government on Tuesday announced a house committee would probe the incident and it would also enact a stringent law against spurious liquor. As the opposition members created ruckus in the Assembly, Speaker Prem Chand Agarwal said a house committee would be set up to probe the entire incident. Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said the government would bring a bill to curb spurious liquor. Rawat has told Excise Minister Prakash Pant to immediately start working on the bill that would effectively curb the thriving racket of illicit liquor in backward areas, especially those on the border with Uttar Pradesh. He also said that the government would try its best to bring the bill in the current session of the state assembly itself. Under the provisions, those found guilty of involvement in the spurious liquor racket can face lifelong imprisonment and hefty fines, Pant said. A special surveillance cell in the Excise Department would also be set up to keep a tab on any nefarious activity related to the sale and purchase of spurious liquor materials. Besides, the government has also set up a special investigating team (SIT) under the Inspector General of Police, Garhwal, Ajay Rautela to probe the incident. For the last two days, the opposition parties in the state are demanding the resignation of the Rawat government saying it has totally failed in the state in the wake of the spurious liquor tragedy in Haridwar district as well as Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. While 36 people died in Uttarakhand, 70 died in Saharanpur in what is considered to be the worst-such incident in the region in many decades. Beijing, Feb 12 (IANS) China on Tuesday said it was not aware of Beijing's reported plans to sell its first and only aircraft carrier to its ally Pakistan. A Pakistani media report cited a Chinese state media report as saying that Beijing had decided to sell its only aircraft carrier Liaoning to Islamabad. IANS, however, could not find any such report in the Chinese media. China's state-run Global Times also said that its reporter was unable to locate the story. Asked about the report, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said: "I have not seen the report you mentioned... But China has always followed principles regarding exports of its naval ships to other countries." The Pakistani newspaper report failed to explain why China would sell its only in service aircraft Liaoning, bought unfinished from Ukraine, when it is yet to commission the one it has indigenously produced. Also, China plans to have four nuclear-powered aircraft carriers which will take more than a decade to finish. In fact, the Global Times said in a report that the government has not revealed any plan to sell the aircraft carrier to Pakistan. It also said that its reporter could not find the Chinese media report regarding the sale cited by the Pakistani newspaper. "It is a groundless allegation and complete falsehood," Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and commentator, told the Times. "As China's first-ever aircraft carrier, Liaoning acts as both training vessel and combat warship... There is a zero possibility of reselling it and China does not have spare carriers to sell to Pakistan," Song said. (Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at sharmagaurav71@gmail.com) Jaipur, Feb 12 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is said to have made a tight case of money laundering against Robert Vadra, brother-in-law of Congress President Rahul Gandhi who is being probed in a land deal in Bikaner in Rajasthan. According to the ED, which is investigating a web of controversial land transactions in Bikaner allegedly involving Vadra's company Skylight Hospitality LLP, is believed to have collected documents pertaining to the purchase and sale of land in the border town. ED officials claim that Vadra had started creating a land bank near power sub-stations in Bikaner from June 2009, almost a year before the then Congress-led UPA government announced the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (NSM) Policy under which huge subsidies (nearly 40 percent) were offered for setting up grid-tied solar power plants. After the Centre's announcement, Vadra's land value located near power sub-stations skyrocketed. And the land bought by the state government had practically no takers because most of it was not close enough for easy grid connections. An ED official said Vadra's Skylight Hospitality bought this plot in Kolayat in March 2010. And two years later, in May 2012, it sold off 29.36 hectares of land in Kolayat for nearly Rs 2 crore to a French joint venture without adding any value to it. He said the ED has zeroed on Mahesh Nagar, an authorised representative of Skylight Hospitality owned by Vadra and his 75-year-old mother Maureen Vadra. Nagar is the person who links Vadra's company with the person named Ashok Kumar who was named in the chargesheet filed by the Rajasthan Police in the case. In December 2017, the ED had arrested Ashok Kumar, a close associate of Nagar, and another person, Jaiprakash Bagarwa. The ED had searched the premises of both Kumar and Nagar in April 2017. According to ED officials, Nagar was the authorised representative in four cases of land purchase in Bikaner. Kumar, the agency alleged, had purchased land in the same area, using the "power of attorney" of others. The ED has been probing the alleged scam in the purchase of land in Kolayat area in the border town of Bikaner in Rajasthan which was meant for those displaced due to the Army's field firing range. According to the ED officials, Skylight Hospitality had purchased 69.55 hectares of land for Rs 72 lakh and then sold it to Allegeny Finlease for Rs 5.15 crore, earning a profit of Rs 4.43 crore. The agency registered a criminal case under the Money Laundering Act in 2015, taking cognizance of the case filed by the Rajasthan Police after forgery allegations. The agency had earlier issued notices to Skylight Hospitality but had not mentioned Vadra's name or any company linked to him in its FIR. According to the ED, during investigation it found that Allegeny Finlease as a company was "not involved" in any "real business activities" and many of its shareholders were found to be dummy or non-existent. The government had cancelled the mutation (transfer of land) of 374.44 hectares of land after allotments were found to have been allegedly made in the names of "illegal private persons". Revenue officials had said in the complaint that government land in 34 villages of Bikaner that was meant to be used for expanding the Army's firing range was "grabbed" by the land mafia by preparing "forged and fabricated documents" in connivance with government officials. ED suspects that a huge amount of money was laundered in this case by people buying land at cheaper rates through forged documents. The ED is also probing the loan which the Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd gave to a company that bought land owned by Skylight Hospitality at seven times higher than the acquisition cost. New Delhi, Feb 12 : India on Tuesday signed an agreement with US-based defence firm Sig Sauer for procuring 72,400 assault rifles, at a total cost of Rs 647 crore, through the fast track mode. The 7.62x51 mm Sig Sauer rifles would replace the 5.56x45 mm Insas rifles being used by the Indian defence forces. The time frame for the supply of the whole consignment is 12 months from the signing of contract, officials said. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), headed by the Defence Minister, had accorded the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for the rifles on January 16 last year. Looking for a rifle that would be "compact, robust, modern in technology and simple to maintain in field conditions", the Army had rejected the assault rifle made by the state-run Ishapore Rifle Factory after they badly failed in the firing tests. Of the new rifles, the Army would get the bulk of 66,400, while the Navy will get 2,000 and the Air Force 4,000. Imphal, Feb 12 : Defying curfew, hundreds of women vendors on Tuesday continued their sit-in protest here demanding withdrawal of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016. This forced the authorities to partially block internet service in the state. Besides, a group of young men also protested naked in front of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office near the Manipur University. In a bid to rein in the worsening situation, the District Magistrate of Imphal West ordered to ban circulation of images and reports of the movement via internet. The police had to fire teargas shells and mock bombs to disperse people and prevent them from coming out of their houses to join the sit-in protest. Many of the protesters also burned effigies of the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister, while women took out torchlight marches in various many parts of the state. Meanwhile, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, who is camping in Delhi, appealed to the people to remain calm as everything possible is being done to halt passage of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu calls on President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi, on Feb 12, 2019. (Photo: IANS/RB) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu calls on President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi, on Feb 12, 2019. (Photo: IANS/RB) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi, Feb 12 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday sought the intervention of President Ram Nath Kovind to ensure justice to the state through a resolution of the state's post-bifurcation issues. A delegation led by Naidu met the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan and submitted a memorandum urging him to direct the central government to adhere to the constitutional provisions and implement all commitments made to residuary state of Andhra Pradesh following the bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh in 2014. The President was informed that the NDA government had not implemented any of the assurances given by then Prime Minister in Parliament on February 20, 2014. These included Special Category Status to the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh. The memorandum also brought to the notice of the President the non-fulfilment of provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. The inconsistencies in the Reorganisation Act and the actions of the Indian government caused injustice to Andhra Pradesh, it said. Though provisional estimates indicate that it would require about Rs 1.09 lakh crore to construct Greenfield capital city Amaravati, the Centre had so far released only Rs 1,500 crore. The 17-page memorandum explained in detail the assurances and commitment made both in Parliament and in the Reorganisation Act and how the Centre failed to implement them. These include creation of a railway zone, a steel factory, bridging revenue deficit, funds for backward districts, construction of the Polavaram project and a petrochemical corridor. Naidu, who on Monday undertook a fast in the national capital on the same issues, led the delegation comprising leaders of various groups fighting for special category status and other demands. Later, Naidu told the media that Prime Minister Narendra Modi lacked leadership qualities and he did not want the country to progress. The TDP chief said since the President was only a constitutional head, the final decision had to be taken by the central government. He said the state would also approach the court for justice and finally will take the issue to the people's court. New Delhi: Film Federation of India President Firdausul Hasan addresses a press conference in New Delhi on Feb 12, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi: Film Federation of India President Firdausul Hasan addresses a press conference in New Delhi on Feb 12, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi: Film Federation of India President Firdausul Hasan addresses a press conference in New Delhi on Feb 12, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi, Feb 12 : Members of the Film Federation of India (FFI) here on Tuesday urged the government to pay attention to issues ailing the film industry and sought creation of "special courts" for the industry. "we want the government to tackle the problem of piracy by creating special courts where our pleas can be considered seriously," FII Secretary-General Supran Sen said. Many a times when we approached police with complaints about issues like piracy, they ignored us, he said and added a special court would certainly help resolve the issue. Hailing the government decision of reduce the goods and services tax (GST) on cinema tickets, the FFI said issues like piracy and restoration of single screens should also be looked into. "The government decision of including an anti-camcording provision in the Cinematography Act to control piracy will need serious implementation," FFI's Vice-President Ramesh Tekwani told IANS. Announcement is fine but people should be stopped from recording films by asking them to deposit their phones before entering theatres, he said. "One single phone can shoot the entire film. People also know different ways to record the film," Tekwani said. FFI members Sakshi Mehra and G.D. Mehta said "restricted access due to lack of shows and unrestricted ticket prices" were increasing the piracy of films in India. According to FFI President Firdausul Hasan, piracy of Indian films has crossed borders. "In Bangladesh, people watch our films, but they are not getting released there. This is piracy. Being a part of the FFI, we can just raise our voice, it's the government who has to do the real job," he said. "To maintain better relations, we are creating an Indo-Bangla federation. Without the the government's help, we won't be able to do it. The government's co-operation is very important," Hasan said. The FFI asked the government to stop "looking at the Indian film industry as sin industry". On the issue of animal welfare board, Hasan said, "Animal welfare board is in Haryana. It takes a lot of time to take approval from them. It would be helpful if at least two members from the film fraternity are incorporated in the board." New Delhi, Feb 12 : The Centre on Tuesday said a proposal of the Gujarat government to deploy four Marine Indian Reserve Battalions is under consideration to protect the 1,640 km of coastal areas of the state bordering Pakistan. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of States for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said the Gujarat government had submitted the proposal. His response came to a question raised by Devusinh Jesingbhai Chauhan, a Bharatiya Janata Party member from Gujarat's Kheda constituency. By Me Forum , Feb . 11, 2019 Despite battling accusations of anti-Semitism, Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn) is due to speak this month at a fundraising event alongside a senior charity official who has published social media posts praising the killing of Jews. Islamic Relief USA is hosting a fundraising dinner for aid to Yemen on February 23. Rep. Ilhan Omar is due to speak alongside senior Islamic Relief USA official Yousef Abdallah, who was widely criticized in 2017 after the Middle East Forum found he had expressed violently anti-Semitic ideas on his social media accounts. 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 London, Feb 12 : British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday urged lawmakers to stand firm as Brexit negotiations with the European Union ostensibly enter the final stages with the government's ambitious plan to secure last-minute legal changes to the withdrawal agreement. Speaking in the House of Commons, May said she had a "mandate" to seek changes to the backstop as MPs had voted for it. "We now need some time to complete that process", she added. With negotiations over possible changes to the Irish border backstop at a key stage, Parliament needed to hold its nerve, the Prime Minister said, adding that a Brexit motion to be debated on Thursday would reiterate those intentions, the Guardian reported. If no agreement is reached by February 26, then MPs will get more non-binding votes on Brexit options the following day. The final vote on whether the UK leaves the EU on March 29 with a deal would be pushed back into March. Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn accused May of "recklessly running down the clock" in an effort to "blackmail" MPs into backing her deal and asked when MPs would get a final, "meaningful" vote. "We were promised a meaningful vote on a deal in December, it didn't happen. We were told to prepare for a further meaningful vote this week after the Prime Minister again promised to secure significant and legally binding changes to the backstop and that hasn't happened. "Now the Prime Minister comes before the House with more excuses and more delays," he said. May's comments followed last week talks in Brussels where she sought legally binding changes to the backstop, as outlined in an amendment to a Brexit motion passed in the Commons at the end of last month. But European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker had maintained the EU's position that they will not reopen the withdrawal agreement. Despite that, May signalled no changes to her plans, just an extended deadline. "So our work continues," she said. One of the core pillars of the withdrawal bill is the so-called Irish backstop. This is a safeguard to ensure that after Brexit there is no return to a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. But the terms and conditions of the measure were rejected by hardline Tory MPs, who felt it could keep the UK tied to the EU indefinitely, and the Democratic Unionist Party, a Northern Irish group propping up May's government, who said its constituents were opposed to any possibility that the UK territory could be subject to EU regulations while the rest of the UK was not. May herself backed the amendment to seek "alternative arrangements" to the backstop. The last-ditch attempt to secure tangible legal changes to the document has raised fears among remain supporters and some opposition parties that a no-deal Brexit could become more likely. New Delhi: Fire fighters and NDRF personnel outside Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh where a major fire broke out killing seventeen people, including a child and injuring three others in New Delhi on Feb 12, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visit the site where a child and 16 others, including a woman was killed in a major fire that engulfed several storeys of a central Delhi hotel on Feb. 12, 2019.(Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi: Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh where a major fire broke out killing seventeen people, including a child and injuring three others in New Delhi on Feb 12, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi: Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh where a major fire broke out killing seventeen people, including a child and injuring three others in New Delhi on Feb 12, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi: A massive fire breaks out at Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh killing seventeen people, including a child and injuring three others in New Delhi on Feb 12, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News Panchkula : , Feb 12 (IANS) An officer from the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), who hailed from Panchkula town in Haryana, Suresh Kumar, was among the 17 people who died in the fire that engulfed a five-storey hotel in Delhi's Karol Bagh area before dawn on Tuesday. Kumar, aged around 45 years, is survived by his wife Monika and a college-going son who is studies in Bengaluru, his neighbours in Sector 21 of Panchkula town, adjoining Chandigarh, said. Kumar was posted as Assistant Commissioner in the GST (Goods and Services Tax) wing of the Revenue Department in Delhi. The police said in Delhi that Kumar was one of the persons who jumped from the five-storey hotel building in Delhi's Karol Bagh area to escape the fire but succumbed to injuries sustained from the fall. Kumar, who sustained head injuries following the jump from the fourth floor of the building, was rushed to a nearby hospital in Delhi where he died. "Kumar's wife is in a state of shock. His son was flying from Bengaluru to New Delhi to collect the body and bring it to Panchkula for the last rites," a neighbour said. "He (Kumar) was posted in Delhi for the last nearly three years. He used to come to Panchkula on Friday evening and leave on Monday. We saw him last on Sunday," a neighbour said. At least 17 people were killed when a major fire engulfed a five-storey hotel in the heart of the national capital before dawn on Tuesday, leaving some survivors in critical condition and others dazed and shaken. The dead included at least two women and a child who could not escape the leaping flames and thick smoke in Hotel Arpit Palace in the commercial-cum-residential district of Karol Bagh. Three persons jumped from the blazing structure before two dozen fire tenders joined the battle against the flames. New Delhi, Feb 12 : Ravi Kapoor, convicted in the 2009 IT executive Jigisha Ghosh murder case and facing trial for the murder of TV journalist Soumya Viswanathan, on Tuesday told the Delhi High Court that he is suffering from HIV and other ailments and needs three months' parole for treatment. Kapoor also said he wanted to take care of his old and ailing parents and re-establish his family ties. The Delhi Police, however, opposed Kapoor's plea saying if he is released on short parole, he will flee. Advocate Jamal Akhtar, appearing for the Delhi Police, told Justice Mukta Gupta that Kapoor is a hardened criminal and a threat to the society. He also said Kapoor's conduct in jail wasn't good and has been punished 41 times by the jail authorities. Kapoor was diagnosed with HIV in tests conducted at Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in August 2010. His said his life is at risk due to the ailment, he is unable to get proper medical care. Kapoor claimed he has been in the judicial custody since March 24, 2009. The petition apprised the court that there is only a general ward and no special ward at the Tihar Jail for proper treatment. Kapoor could not hear due to bleeding from his right ear, it added. He also challenged a November 12, 2018 Delhi government order that rejected his request for parole. The next date of hearing is April 2. Jigisha, 28, an operations manager with Hewitt Associates Pvt Ltd, was killed on March 18, 2009 after being abducted from outside her home in south Delhi's Vasant Vihar. Her body was recovered two days later from Surajkund in Haryana. Police arrested Kapoor and his two associates for the crime. Kapoor and his gang had also killed a taxi driver Nadeem and fled with his car and valuables on January 7, 2009. He and his associates were convicted in both the cases in August 2016. He is still facing trial in the Soumya Vishwanathan murder case. The TV journalist was shot dead in her car while returning from work in the wee hours of September 30, 2008. Beijing, Feb 12 (IANS) China on Tuesday said it was not aware of Beijing's reported plans to sell its first and only aircraft carrier to its ally Pakistan. A Pakistani media report cited a Chinese state media report as saying that Beijing had decided to sell its only aircraft carrier Liaoning to Islamabad. IANS, however, could not find any such report in the Chinese media. China's state-run Global Times also said that its reporter was unable to locate the story. Asked about the report, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said: "I have not seen the report you mentioned... But China has always followed principles regarding exports of its naval ships to other countries." The Pakistani newspaper report failed to explain why China would sell its only in "service aircraft Liaoning, bought unfinished from Ukraine, when it is yet to commission the one it has indigenously produced". Also, China plans to have four nuclear-powered aircraft carriers which will take more than a decade to finish. In fact, the Global Times said in a report that the government has not revealed any plan to sell the aircraft carrier to Pakistan. It also said that its reporter could not find the Chinese media report regarding the sale cited by the Pakistani newspaper. "It is a groundless allegation and complete falsehood," Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and commentator, told the Times. "As China's first-ever aircraft carrier, Liaoning acts as both training vessel and combat warship... There is a zero possibility of reselling it and China does not have spare carriers to sell to Pakistan," Song said. (Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at sharmagaurav71@gmail.com) New Delhi, Feb 12 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday referred to a seven-judge Constitution bench the question whether Aligarh Muslim University was a minority institution as it would take a relook at 1967 Azeez Basha case that had held that AMU was not a minority institution as it was set up by an Act of Parliament. The bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice Sanjiv Khanna referred the matter to the seven-judge Constitution bench as senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan appearing for the AMU told it that the judgement in the Azeez Basha case was bad in law and needed a relook. The larger bench would decide on the parameters for granting the minority status to an educational institution, what a minority institution is, how it is established and how it would run. The larger bench will also decide whether a university, distinct from a college, can be treated as a minority institution. The Constitution bench will also discuss the TMA Pai judgement on a minority institution. In 1981 the question of minority institution was referred to a seven-judge bench, which in turn referred it to an 11-judge bench but the question continues to hang fire. The seven-judge bench would also look into the amendment to Minority Educational Institutions. Senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan told the court that Central legislation making AMU a university was just a technicality and this could not denude the AMU of its minority character. The AMU argued that it was established by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan - long before Parliament passed the law making it a university. Having said this, Dhavan said the matter needs to be sent to a larger bench instead of being heard by the current bench. Agreeing that the matter be referred to the seven-judge bench, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal suggested that they would frame the questions to be addressed by the larger bench. However, CJI Gogoi declined the request, saying that the questions have already been framed in the earlier judgement. The current issue arose in the wake of an Allahabad High Court verdict holding that AMU being a Central university was not a minority institution. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had moved the top court challenging the High Court verdict, but later the Modi government withdrew the UPA government's appeal which had asserted the minority status of the AMU. Tokyo, Feb 12 : Nissan Motor has booked 9.2 billion yen ($83.24 million) in charges related to under-reported compensation to the company's ousted Chairman Carlos Ghosn, the current President and CEO of the Japanese automobile manufacturer said on Tuesday. Ghosn is currently in prison charged with underreporting his income for eight years. Nissan President and CEO Hiroto Saikawa, speaking at a press conference where he presented the company's financial results for the last nine months of 2018, said the figures involving Ghosn were a conservative estimate, according to Efe news. The carmaker also cut its full-year profit forecast as sales weakened. Nissan decided to take into account these alleged payments accorded with Ghosn despite still not having settled the amount, which could vary, depending on the results of the investigations of the public prosecutor's office and the authorities to determine the exact sum, according to the the firm's Chief Financial Officer Hiroshi Karube. Ghosn has been in prison in Tokyo since November 19 after Nissan accused him of not declaring a part of his income between 2011 and 2018. The 64-year-old is also accused of having violated a Japanese business regulation by using Nissan to cover a series of personal financial losses during the 2008 crisis and of making allegedly unjustified payments to a Saudi businessman. Nissan replaced Ghosn with Saikawa as President. Renault soon followed suit, replacing him with Jean-Dominique Senard as President. Senard is scheduled to visit Tokyo this week to meet Saikawa, who on Tuesday reiterated his willingness to work with the French executive. Saikawa said that he hoped to discuss and revise the existing Renault-Nissan and Mitsubishi alliance. He said first he wanted to create trust and good communications between their operational teams, while also underlining the need to avoid granting excessive power to the leader of the alliance. On being asked about his responsibility in the alleged irregularities by Ghosn, whom he worked with for a decade, Saikawa said he and other executives felt responsible for not having discovered it or not having stopped it. The CEO of the Japanese company said they had to secure the future of their firm and the need to focus on managing the current situation and chart Nissan's course. Manama, Feb 12 : India's young paddlers completed their winning spree in the Bahrain Junior and Cadet Open on a high note, adding eight more medals to their kitty, including two gold, three silver and three bronze medals, late on Monday night here. The medal rush for India started with world no. 4 in the U-15 bracket, Payas Jain, steamrolling past his opponents to clinch the cadet boys individual category crown. In the finals, he tamed Simon Belik of the Czech Republic 3-1 to bag the gold medal. In the cadet girls' category, five young Indian paddlers powered their way into the quarterfinals, but only two of them eventually made it to the last four stage. Anargya Manjunath and Yashaswini Ghorpade then registered easy 3-0 wins over Malamatenia Papadimitriou of Greece and Hana Goda of Egypt, to make the final clash an all-Indian affair. Karnataka's Anargya proved to be the girl in form, beating Yashaswini 3-1 to clinch the gold. Suhana Saini and Swastika Ghosh fought valiantly in the mini-cadet girls' and junior girls' category, respectively, but could only salvage a bronze medal each for their efforts. Suhana (U-15) went down to World No. 42 Hana Goda of Egypt in the semi-finals to take the third spot. Swastika Ghosh too couldn't put it past eventual winner Kristina Kazantseva of Russia and had to be content with a bronze too. In the doubles section, the duos of Anargya Manjunath-Suhana Saini and Manushree Patil- Swastika Ghosh made it to the semi-finals in the junior girls' category. But the former pair's journey was cut short by Kristina Kazantsev-Olga Vishniakova, the eventual winners from Russia. The pair of Swastika and Manushree seemed to be on course for a grand victory, getting off to a flying start. But the Russian girls bounced back from a two-game deficit to register a remarkable 3-2 win, giving the Indian pair only the silver. In the junior boys' doubles, Payas Jain and Deepit Patil also suffered the same fate as they went down to the Russian pair of Artem Tikhonov and Lev Katsman in the final to settle for a silver medal. The Indian contingent had earlier clinched four medals in the team events. New Delhi, Feb 12 : There may be a Grand Alliance at the national level even before the Lok Sabha elections between parties like the Congress, TMC, AAP and TDP, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said here on Tuesday. He also said that other secular parties would join the alliance after the elections because of some state-level differences at present. Naidu, who was here for staging a protest against the Modi government for not giving special category status to Andhra Pradesh, told a group of editors that national interests will make the parties come together. "Why not," he shot back when asked whether Congress and AAP would go together in the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi. "There is a secular compulsion for the parties to tie up with each other to defeat the BJP," he said, suggesting that final tie-ups would materialise after the election. Naidu gave the example of the Left parties not having a pre-poll alliance with the Congress but going for post-poll adjustments in the past. To a question whether the anti-BJP parties would get their numbers to form the government given the fact some of them would be fighting against each other in some states, he countered: "Where is the BJP going to get the numbers?" In the south, where he said the BJP had done injustice to all the states, the party was not going to get any seat. Also, it would be losing heavily in the states where it had done extremely well in the last elections. "Where is it going to make up for these numbers," he said. Asked about the BJP's campaign that the opposition had no PM material compared to Modi, Naidu retorted: "Anyone other than Modi will perform better." To a question about the possibility of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik taking the side of the non-BJP opposition, he said he would decide that later. Naidu met President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday and gave him a memorandum complaining about the Centre's non implementation of the special category status to Andhra Pradesh. On Wednesday, the chief minister would join a "Save Democracy" protest being staged by his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal here. Guwahati, Feb 12 : Music maestro Bhupen Hazarika's brother, Samar Hazarika, on Tuesday appealed to everyone not to create any controversy over Bharat Ratna to the legend. A vernacular newspaper in Assam on Monday reported that the legend's son has declined to accept the country's highest civilian honour to his father due to the ongoing situation in Assam regarding the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. "We have observed that there is a controversy in the media over the issue of Bharat Ratna to Late Bhupen Hazarika. We would like to point out that the statement sent by Bhupenda's son Tej Hazarika to the media does not have any mention of declining the honour. So any controversy in this regard is unwanted," said Samar Hazarika, who is also an acclaimed artiste of Assam. Tej Hazarika, in his statement to media on Monday, expressed his unhappiness over the recent events in Assam, particularly the Central government's move to push the Citizenship Bill, but said there is no question of declining as he is yet to receive an invitation to receive the honour. "The decision to confer Bharat Ratna upon Bhupen Hazarika has elated our family. He has successfully taken the culture of Assam to the world-stage. The government of India has honoured him with Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and with awards such as Dada Saheb Phalke. He was also awarded with Sangeet Natak Academy Award," said Samar Hazarika. "Bhupen da deserves the honour. We all, including Bhupen Hazarika, would have been happier if the honour was conferred upon him when he was alive. Tej had not consulted us on this, but I think Tej should accept the honour," said Bhupen Hazarika's sister and prominent artiste Sudakshina Sarma on Tuesday. The BJP-led Central government on January 25 announced the highest civilian award in the country, Bharat Ratna, for Bhupen Hazarika, former President Pranab Mukherjee and social activist Nanaji Deshmukh. New Delhi, Feb 12 : Under pressure due to serious competition from from foreign competitors at home and abroad , the Indian cashew industry has sought government intervention to create a "level playing field" and revision of the minimum import price (MIP)." On the eve of the Kaju India 2019, a global cashew buyer-seller meet beginning here on Wednesday, which will kick off celebrations to mark 100 years of Indian cashew exports, the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India Chairman R.K. Bhoodes said on Tuesday in view of issues being faced by the sector, the CEPCI has urged the government to revise the MIP for cashew kernels and allied products, as well as provide support to exporters. "The surge in import of low quality finished and semi-finished cashew kernels using loops in the policy and also unfair methods is a serious threat to the cashew processors," he said. These imports must be restricted for the survival of the industry, he added. The situation has compelled cashew producers to seek import duty hike on broken and whole cashew to 70 per cent from 45 per cent to bring it on par with the tariff for other category of nuts, he added. According to Bhoodes, India is the world's largest producer, processor and consumer of cashew. While 70 per cent of the produce is consumed in India, the rest is exported. India processes 17 lakh tonnes of raw cashew nuts per annum. Of this, around 9 lakh tonnes are imported mainly from African countries. The CEPCI has also urged upward revision of MIP for cashew, which was set in 2013 at a much lower level than current market prices. "The lack of modernisation and high wages are making Indian exports uncompetitive as the cost of processing is lower in other exporting countries," he said. To deal with competition from Vietnam, Brazil and Africa, Indian producers are asking for export support. "We have asked the government to raise the support level of 5 per cent under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) to 10 per cent," Bhoodes said. New Delhi, Feb 12 : Reliance Defence said the "proposed MoU" cited by Congress President Rahul Gandhi on the Rafale deal on Tuesday was a reference to its cooperation with Airbus Helicopter and had "no connection" with the Rafale deal. At a press conference, Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "treason" and violating the Official Secrets Act by leaking information on the Rafale jet contract, citing an email to claim a private business entity was aware of the deal days before India and France signed it. "Purported email being referred by the Congress Party is regarding the discussion between Airbus and Reliance Defence regarding Civil & Defence Helicopter Programmes under 'Make in India'," a Reliance Defence statement said. "The discussion on proposed MoU was clearly with reference to cooperation between Airbus Helicopter and Reliance. It had no connection whatsoever with Government to Government Agreement between France and India for 36 Rafale aircraft," the statement said. It is in public domain that Airbus Helicopter has partnered with Mahindra for the Military Helicopter Programme, the spokesperson added. Referring to the fact that the MoU for Rafale aircraft was signed between France and India on January 25, 2016 and not in April 2015, the company said: "From the above, it is evident that the facts are being deliberately twisted and reality being ignored." Colombo, Feb 12 : The Sri Lankan Fisheries Ministry will soon introduce a GPS tracking system and a special identity card for all fishermen across the island country to prevent human and drug smuggling via the sea, a government official has said. Fisheries Director General Prasanna Geeganage said on Monday that drug trafficking, smuggling of illegal migrants and other illegal activities were being carried out under the guise of fishing and steps would soon be taken to tackle this issue, Xinhua news agency reported. Following the introduction of the GPS tracking system and the identity card, all fishermen who set out to sea will be required to prove their identity by scanning their fingerprints. The new steps were being taken following repeated requests by Sri Lankan fishermen, Geeganage said. The Sri Lankan government recently said the island country had become a transit point for major drug cartels as a consequence of the prolonged illicit activities of the Tamil Tiger rebels who were defeated by government troops in 2009 following a 30-year civil conflict. Islamabad, Feb 12 : Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman will travel this weekend to Pakistan where he is expected to announce multi-billion dollar investments to help the Kingdom's traditional ally tide over financial crisis amid declining foreign exchange reserves. An official in the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, requesting anonymity, told Efe news on Tuesday that the Crown Prince will arrive in Islamabad on Saturday afternoon, accompanied by a 630-member delegation. He will leave the country on Sunday night. The Prince will meet Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and the two sides will sign economic agreements worth $20 billion, according to the official, who did not elaborate in which sectors or projects the investments will be made. However, Prime Minister's Adviser on Commerce and Investment Razak Dawood told reporters on Monday that the two countries will sign agreements on oil, renewable energy and mining. "It is very likely that an agreement for $3 billion oil facility on deferred payments will also be signed during the visit," Dawood said. Pakistan is facing an economic crisis with a budget deficit that has escalated to 6.6 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, a trade deficit and a shortage of foreign currencies. It is in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a loan of up to $12 billion. In October last year, Saudi Arabia promised to give Pakistan a $3 billion loan for a year as well as oil on deferred payment. The United Arab Emirates also announced in December that it would deposit $3 billion in Pakistan's central bank. Mohammad Bin Salman also known as MBS comes to Pakistan as his global image has taken a hit after the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Istanbul. The journalist visited the consulate to collect some documents needed to marry his girlfriend. Turkish authorities alleged that a team of 15 Saudi agents, who travelled to Istanbul, strangled the journalist and dismembered his body before boarding a flight back to Riyadh. After initially refuting the accusations, Saudi Arabia admitted that Khashoggi was killed at its Embassy but continues to deny the involvement of the royal family. Several people linked to the case have been arrested. However, none of this seems to weigh on the Crown Prince's upcoming visit to Pakistan, whose Foreign Ministry appreciated the commitment of the Saudi government to initiate indictment proceedings against those responsible for Khashoggi's murder. Mumbai, Feb 12 : Actress Priyanka Chopra has praised actress Rebel Wilson and said that it is amazing to see a woman in Hollywood, star in a movie of her dreams. Priyanka on Tuesday took to Twitter where she shared a photograph of herself along with the cast of "Isn't It Romantic" and her husband Nick Jonas. "Happiness and love all around. So proud of you Rebel Wilson. It's so amazing to see a woman in Hollywood literally make and star in a movie of her dreams. 'Isn't It Romantic'," she captioned the image. "Isn't It Romantic" tells the story of a New York architect Natalie (Wilson) who works hard to get noticed at her job, but is more likely to be asked to deliver coffee and bagels than to design. Priyanka essays the role of a yoga ambassador. "Isn't It Romantic" will release on all Netflix territories outside of the US and Canada -- where it will open in theatres. The romantic-comedy, also featuring Wilson, Liam Hemsworth and Adam Devine, will premiere on February 28 in India. New Delhi, Feb 12 : India on Tuesday signed the much-awaited contract for the purchase of 72,400 new assualt rifles for the armed forces, government sources said. US firm Sig Sauer will supply these 7.62x51 mm guns which are urgently required to replace the INSAS 5.56x45 mm rifles, the mainstay of Indian infantry troops. The purchase is being made under the Fast Track Procurement (FTP) route because of the urgency in getting the guns. Though Indian Army alone requires around 8.16 lakh rifles, only restricted numbers can be procured under FTP. The replacement for INSAS rifles had been pending for many years. INSAS, short form for Indian Small Arms Systems, are produced by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB). There were many complaints about the INSAS rifles by the troops. Out of 72,400 assault rifles, Indian Army will get 66,400 while 2000 will be given to the Navy and another 4,000 are meant for the Indian Air Force. All the rifles are expected to be delivered within a year. The new rifles are said to be compact, robust, modern in technology and simple to maintain in field conditions. Feb 12 (IANS) China on Tuesday rejected a report that its ambitious Belt and Road project was "facing a push back" by countries in India's neighbourhood like Pakistan and Nepal. It also sought to play down the reported cancellation of Chinese-funded dam and hydropower projects by Pakistan and Nepal, respectively. A report in an Indian newspaper cited India's Foreign Affairs Ministry's study that due to Beijing's "unacceptable conditions", its trillion-dollar Belt and Road programme was "facing a push back" from Islamabad and Kathmandu that have pulled the plug on Chinese-funded projects. Beijing's ally Pakistan scrapped Diamer-Bhasha dam, while Nepal junked the 750-MW West Seti hydropower project. "The information about the above-mentioned project reported by the media is false," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying. "The dam project was not included in the Belt and Road initiative and the hydropower plant in Nepal is still in negotiation. "As to the blacklisting of China Harbour Engineering company is also false," Hua said, referring to the reported charges against the firm for bribing government officials in Bangladesh. In 2018, Islamabad slashed the budget for a major railway project under the Beijing-funded China-Pakistan Economic Project (CPEC), citing its inability to repay the Chinese loans. India opposes the multi-billion CPEC as its planned routes cut through the disputed Kashmir held by Pakistan. China has spent over $60 billion in Pakistan under the CPEC, the lynchpin to its Belt and Road. "All the projects are the outcome of equal negotiation and difficulties encountered by certain projects do not change the fact that the Belt and Road cooperation has played a positive role in promoting economic development," Hua said. "And we also follow the market principles and established international rules... we will never impose our will on others and there are no so-called unacceptable conditions." China aims to connect Asia, Europe and Africa through a vast network of highways, sea lanes and ports under the Belt and Road project. It plans to spend about a trillion dollar in over 65 countries under the project, which many, including India, see as Beijing's geostrategic design. However, China says the project is purely economic in nature. India also worries China doling out loans to the countries in its neighbourhood could push them into a debt trap. (Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at sharmagaurav71@gmail.com) Lucknow, Feb 12 : Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on the second day of her Uttar Pradesh visit met party workers from various constituencies falling under eastern UP and took feedback from them about the ground situation, a senior party leader said on Tuesday. Having cut short her visit on Monday soon after the road show, to fly to Jaipur to be with her husband Robert Vadra, being questioned about a land deal by the Enforcement Directorate, Priyanka arrived in the state capital shortly after noon and drove straight to the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) office, where she had lunch with select party leaders and met party workers. Sources say Priyanka Gandhi was closeted with a small team of UPCC office during her stay in Lucknow after which she met party leaders from various districts. Aware that the party's organisational structure was weak and not geared to take on the BJP cadre, she is learnt to be focussed on the "goodwill" that the grand old party still enjoys in many pockets. "To start with she met many party workers who have been slogging it on the ground in very tough and challenging conditions over the past three decades," a senior party leader told IANS, adding the morale of party workers was very high and that they hoped they would be battle-ready very soon. On Monday, she had, along with brother and Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia, led a successful road show in the state capital. New Delhi, Feb 12 : Citing rising unemployment, the widening social and communal rift and curbs on freedom of speech, a score of opposition leaders on Tuesday appealed to the youth to vote out the BJP government in the upcoming general elections "to save the country". At a youth rally organised by Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal here, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Patidar leader Hardik Patel and Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav, among others slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for its divisive politics and failing to generate employment. Some of them demanded that the age bar on contesting Assembly and Parliamentary elections be lowered. Farmers and labourers in the country are distressed due to lower remuneration and the youth due to unemployment but the government is busy in publicity, said Ahmed Patel. "The BJP government is hiding the unemployment report and manipulating the statistics. We heard the unemployment rate is the highest in the past 40-45 years. "For Modi, (jobs in) Ola, Uber, and (selling) pakoras is employment. Labourers, farmers are distressed. Young people are committing suicide due to unemployment. However, the government only knows 'eating, meeting, sitting and advertising'," he said. Yechury said the country wanted a policy and vision and not a leader. Noting that there are enough resources in the country, he said there was inequality due to "loot", and this can be stopped by the youth in the country. Accusing the BJP of trying to divide the society on communal lines and destroy the Constitution, Sharad Yadav said: "They are unleashing terror in the name of cow. They are trying to subvert the Constitution. They want to keep caste system alive. The youth has to make efforts to save the country." Appealing to the youth to protect Muslims and Dalits in the country from the brunt of divisive politics, he urged people not to cast votes on the basis of caste and religion. Hardik Patel said he was a Hindu but not a RSS Hindu, and he came from the Gujarat of Sardar Valabhbhai Patel, the first Home Minister of India. "The youth is demanding answers from the government over the work it has done in past five years. We need to save the country from the BJP," he said. He said he wanted to contest the Gujarat elections but he could not since he was not 25 and demanded a law in this regard. At this, Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh said that his party will support any such legislation. In a dig at Modi, he said: "He has been told that he is the most eligible Prime Minister as of yet. He does not want to talk about employment." Majid Memon of the Nationalist Congress Party, Ghanshyam Tiwari of the Samajwadi Party, Danish Ali of the Janata Dal (Secular), and Jayant Chaudhary of the RLD were also among those who addressed the youth rally. All the leaders also remembered former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, the father of RLD chief Ajit Singh, for his contribution to India's development. Ankara, Feb 12 : Turkey on Tuesday ordered the detention of 1,112 people over suspected links to the network of US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused of orchestrating an attempted coup in 2016, the media reported. Warrants were issued for those with suspected links to the network of Gulen, CNN reported citing a Ministry of Interior source. According to the report, the raids covered 75 cities across Turkey. State news agency Anadolu said that 641 suspects had been arrested so far as the police continue their nationwide operation. Some were also accused of having an active role in the 2010 cheating scandal involving an exam police officers must take to become police inspectors. At least 45 people who are suspected of obtaining the questions prior to taking the exam allegedly hold office in Ankara, the report said. Ankara accuses the US-based Gulen and his network of orchestrating the coup bid in July 2016, in which 250 people were killed, and has been pushing for his extradition. The attempted coup, undertaken by a faction of the military, saw tanks roll into the country's two largest cities of Ankara and Istanbul. Bombs struck the Parliament building in the capital and a helicopter stolen by rogue pilots was shot down by an F-16 jet. In 2017, nearly 500 people accused of plotting to overthrow the Turkish government appeared in a mass trial. Anadolu reported at the time that Gulen was one of seven people who had been formally charged in absentia. Gulen, who lives in exile in Pennsylvania, has denied involvement in the plot. Madrid, Feb 12 : Twelve Catalan separatist leaders arrived at the Supreme Court here on Tuesday to stand trial over their alleged roles in the regional independence crisis that pitched Spain into its worst political turmoil for four decades. If convicted, some could face up to 25 years in prison, the BBC reported. The Catalonia crisis is considered the most serious to hit Spain since the era of fascist dictator Francisco Franco, who died in 1975. The defendants face serious charges after having held an illegal regional referendum on October 1, 2017, that led them to trigger a bid to secede unilaterally from the rest of Spain, acts that went against the country's Constitution as well as numerous court rulings. Spanish authorities declared the vote illegal that time and the national government imposed direct rule. The trial, dubbed the "most important since Spain's return to democracy" following Franco's death, is expected to last three months. Nine of the defendants, including former Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras, former Speaker of the Catalan Parliament Carme Forcadell and two influential grassroots activists - Jordi Cuixart and Jordi SA nchez - are accused of rebellion, which carries a prison sentence of up to 25 years. Other charges include sedition and the misuse of public funds. They have spent months in pre-trial detention and arrived at the court on Tuesday morning under guard. The remaining three had been free on bail. Junqueras' superior - former President of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont - fled abroad and remains in exile. Proceedings will focus on the then Catalan government's decision to hold the referendum despite repeated warnings that it would violate the Constitution. Junqueras's lawyer, Andreu Van den Eynde, told the court that prosecutors were trying to criminalise displays of freedom of expression and argued that the defendants had "the right to defend" the idea of self-determination, according to the Guardian. Van den Eynde, representing former Catalan Foreign Minister RaAl Romeva, said his clients' right to freedom of expression had been violated. According to the Catalan government, about 2.3 million of Catalonia's 5.3 million registered voters took part in the referendum and about 90 per cent backed independence. The vote was largely boycotted by unionist Catalans. On October 27, the Spanish government of the then Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy won senate backing to sack Puigdemont and his Cabinet and assume direct control of Catalonia. The President of the Supreme Court, Carlos Lesmes, described the proceedings as "the most important trial that we've held since democracy (returned)". But Catalan President Quim Torra said that no crime had been committed by the defendants. By Coral Davenport 4 February 2019 WASHINGTON (The New York Times) President Trump on Monday announced he would nominate David Bernhardt, a former oil lobbyist and current deputy chief of the Interior Department, to succeed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who resigned amid allegations of ethical missteps.In a message on Twitter, Mr. Trump wrote, David has done a fantastic job from the day he arrived, and we look forward to having his nomination officially confirmed!While Mr. Zinke had been the public face of some of the largest rollbacks of public-land protections in the nations history, Mr. Bernhardt was the one quietly pulling the levers to carry them out, opening millions of acres of land and water to oil, gas and coal companies. He is described by allies and opponents alike as having played a crucial role in advancing what Mr. Trump has described as an energy dominance agenda for the country.Bernhardt has really been running the show, directing the policy shop in a very strong way, said Mark Squillace, an expert on environmental law at the University of Colorado Law School.Echoing a frequent critique of Mr. Bernhardt, Mr. Squillace emphasized that the former energy lobbyist and lawyer, if confirmed by the Senate, would have broad authority to shape rules that affect his former clients. Thats my concern with Bernhardt, his ties to industry, Mr. Squillace said. Republicans and the oil industry cheered the appointment. Its a brilliant move, said Representative Rob Bishop of Utah, the ranking Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee, whom Mr. Trump had also considered for the job. No one is more experienced, and I look forward to working with him. []As Mr. Bernhardt prepares to take the helm, he is well aware that he will face accusations of conflicts of interest. The issue came up repeatedly in his 2017 Senate confirmation hearing for the deputy job. He told senators that he would assiduously avoid potential conflicts of interest. If I get a whiff of something coming my way that involves a client or a former client for my firm, Im going to make that item run straight to the ethics office, he said. And when it gets there, theyll make whatever decision theyre going to make. And that will be it for me. []Environmentalists see him as a threat. David Bernhardt is the most dangerous man in America for endangered species and public lands, said Noah Greenwald, the endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity, an advocacy group, adding that he has been dismantling basic protections for lands that belong to all of us and the vulnerable species, like the sage grouse, that depend on them.This year, Mr. Bernhardt oversaw the revision of a program to protect tens of millions of acres of habitat of the imperiled sage grouse, a puffy-chested, chickenlike bird that roams over 10 oil-rich Western states. His proposal to change that plan, made public in December, would strip protections from about nine million acres of the sage grouse habitat, a move that would open more land to oil and gas drilling than any other single policy action by the Trump administration.Mr. Bernhardt has also helped shepherd policies such as loosening the standards of the Endangered Species Act, speeding the path to opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to new oil and gas drilling, and reducing the boundaries of national monuments to open the land to mining and drilling. [more] Mumbai, Feb 12 : The global wholesales of the Tata Motors Group including Jaguar Land Rover declined 12 per cent in January 2019, on a year-on-year basis, the company said on Tuesday. The group sold 1,00,572 units of vehicles last month, Tata Motors said in a statement. Global wholesales of all Tata Motors' commercial vehicles and Tata Daewoo range in January 2019 were at 40,886 numbers, lower 9 per cent over the corresponding month last year, it said. "Global wholesales of all passenger vehicles in January 2019 were at 59,686 numbers, lower 15%, compared to January 2018," the statement said. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) recorded global wholesales of 41,676 units, which included 12,904 Jaguar vehicles and 28,772 Land Rovers. The JLR numbers for January 2019 includes CJLR volumes of 2,712 units. CJLR is a joint venture between JLR and Chery Automobiles and is an unconsolidated subsidiary for JLR. New Delhi, Feb 12 : "Go and sit in the corner," Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi told former acting CBI Director M. Nageswara Rao, after holding him guilty of contempt of the Supreme Court on Tuesday. A bench headed by the Chief Justice was in no mood to listen to Rao's explanations on the issue of transferring out Additional Director A.K. Sharma, who was probing the Bihar shelter home horror, without the court's permission. Rao and CBI's in-charge of prosecution S. Bhasuran were held guilty of contempt of court for disobeying its order to not transfer out Sharma. They were also fined Rs 1 lakh each. Refusing to accept the unconditional apology tendered by Rao on Monday, the bench, also comprising Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, directed the CBI officer to sit in the courtroom for the remaining working hours of the day. "The dignity of the court must be maintained, but this is brazen," Chief Justice Gogoi said. Panaji, Feb 12 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national President Amit Shah's "real" mission during his Goa visit on Saturday was to take away files related to the Rafale deal from Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's bedroom, Goa Congress spokesperson Jitendra Deshprabhu alleged on Tuesday. He also claimed that some of the documents related to the Rafale deal, which were leaked to the media over the last few days, could have been part of Rafale files which were stashed at Parrikar's private residence. "The Congress alleges that (Shah's) Goa visit was to collect the files at Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's home... The files were taken away. Once the files are taken away, they (Shah and the BJP) can be at peace and they can then sack Manohar Parrikar, who can no longer blackmail the top leadership now," Deshprabhu alleged at a press conference organised at the opposition party's state headquarters. He said a leaked audio tape, purportedly containing a journalist's conversation with Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, had already confirmed that the former Defence Minister did keep files related to the Rafale deal in his bedroom. The controversial tape, in which Rane is heard telling a yet-unnamed journalist that Parrikar during a recent cabinet meeting had said that Rafale files were stashed in his bedroom, had created a stir in Parliament in January. Deshprabhu now alleges that Shah visited the state to collect the same clutch of files and had an unscheduled 45 minutes with Parrikar at the latter's private residence, before eventually addressing a party booth workers' meeting near Panaji. He also alleged that some of the documents which were leaked to the media over the last few days came from the former Defence Minister's residence. "It is possible that a few documents have slipped from there. Because N. Ram (of The Hindu) is quoting documents. Documents are also being sourced from other places. Where are they coming from? Amit Shah's job was to clear files from Parrikar's bedroom so that their scam is not exposed," he added. Chennai, Feb 12 : DMDK Deputy General Secretary L.K. Sudhish said here on Tuesday the party will finalise electoral alliance by the end of this month. Speaking to reporters, Sudhish said the DMDK is in talks with many political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party. Party founder A. Vijayakant will announce the final decision soon. The DMDK was part of the National Democratic Alliance during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections where it drew blank. In 2016 Assembly elections too, it failed to win any seat despite joining a multiparty alliance. Aizawl/Agartala, Feb 12 : Massive demonstrations and protest rallies were held in Mizoram and Tripura on Tuesday to protest against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. In Mizo National Front (MNF)-ruled Mizoram, the powerful Mizoram NGO Coordination Committee (MNCC) held spirited demonstrations in Aizawl and seven other district headquarters to protest against the controversial Bill. Protest rallies were also held in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Tripura over the same issue. According to the police officials of the two mountainous states, no untoward incidents were reported from any of these two northeastern states. Displaying placards and shouting slogans, the protesters demonstrated in support of their demands till late Tuesday afternoon in all the eight district headquarters of Mizoram, including the capital city Aizawl. Led by influential Young Mizo Association, the MNCC, a conglomerate of major civil societies, student and youth bodies, continued their agitation in protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8. MNCC Chairman Vanlalruata said that despite the protest from almost all political parties and NGOs in the entire northeastern region and other parts of the country, the Union government is keen to pass the bill even in the Rajya Sabha. He urged the people to come forward in large numbers in protest against the bill, which according to MNCC supremo is against the interests of indigenous people of the North-East. The MNCC, which has more than four lakh members in Mizoram (the Christian-dominated state has a total population of around 11 lakh) had also boycotted the Republic Day celebration over the same issue. Special mass prayers are held in many Churches in Mizoram since Saturday for the defeat of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the upper House of Parliament. Ruling MNF in the state also has been demanding of the Centre to withdraw the bill. Amid strong opposition by various political parties, including the Congress, Left and the Trinamool Congress, on January 8 the Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill but it is yet to approved by the Rajya Sabha. Protest rallies, spearheaded by newly-formed Movement Against Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (MACAB), were also held in some tribal-dominated areas of Tripura on Tuesday. The MACAB is a conglomerate of several NGOs and four tribal-based parties, including Tripura's oldest tribal party Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT). The Congress is also backing the MACAB. "Today's (Tuesday) main protest rally is being held in Jampuijala (in Sepahijala district)...," INPT general secretary Jagadhish Debbarma told the media. The MACAB and other tribal-based parties, including Tripura BJP's ally IPFT (Indigenous People's Front of Tripura), have also been agitating against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill since January 8. Major political parties, NGOs and civil society groups are strongly opposing the Bill. Once a law, it will have a detrimental effect on the ethnic communities, they feel. New Delhi, Feb 12 : The Congress on Tuesday staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha after the government rejected its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Rafale fighter jet deal and accused the opposition party of "misleading" people on the issue. Raising the demand during Zero Hour, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that if the Prime Minister has nothing to hide, he should come forth and constitute a JPC for a detailed inquiry into the deal. "The Prime Minister does not have the courage. You constitute a JPC, we will prove the misdeeds in the deal," he said. The senior Congress leader also demanded a discussion on the issue to which Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said that it had been debated in the House. Accusing the government of leaking the CAG report on defence, Kharge said that it was tabled in the Rajya Sabha but not in the Lok Sabha. His charge was rejected by the Speaker, who said the reports were indeed tabled before the Lok Sabha -- an apparent reference to Minister of State P. Radhakrishnan tabling CAG reports, including one on the defence services. Responding to Kharge's charges, Home Minister Rajnath Singh accused the Congress of misleading people by repeatedly raking up the Rafale fighter jet deal issue. "The issue has been discussed in detail in the House and the Supreme Court has also put the matter to rest. The Congress has been raking it up every now and then. But the truth will remain," he said. "Politics is not done by misleading people. A person should have the guts to speak the truth," Singh added. After Singh's statement, Kharge rose from his seat and left the House saying the government was not heeding his party's demands. Canberra, Feb 12 : The Australian government on Tuesday lost a major vote on a bill to help evacuate critically ill refugees from offshore processing centres to get treatment in the country, in a major blow to Prime Minister Scott Morrison's minority government's highly controversial immigration policy. The ruling Liberal National coalition was firmly opposed to the legislation, which it said would endanger national security, but it passed Australia's lower house by a vote of 75 to 74. Morrison had said that the bill would "take control from the government" and "unleash a world of woe". The opposition Labour Party and a group of independent MPs supported the legislation. It is the first time an Australian government has lost a substantive vote in the House of Representatives since 1929, the Parliament's website stated. Under the legislation, asylum seekers detained on Australia's controversial offshore detention centres can more easily be evacuated to the mainland for medical assistance if they become critically ill, the BBC reported. Since 2013, Australia has sent asylum seekers arriving by boat to detention centres on Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Critics say it has harmed the welfare of detainees, including children. Doctors have long warned of inadequate medical facilities on the islands, while the UN has previously described the camp conditions as "inhumane". "There is no form of this bill that does not weaken our border protection," Morrison said, adding that it could help criminals and terrorists enter the country. Australia has long defended its offshore detention policy by arguing that it stops deaths at sea and disrupts the trade of people smuggling. The bill is expected to sail through the Senate later this week where it will become law. The legislation seeks to provide more power to medical professionals in deciding whether to transfer detained refugees in need of medical attention to Australia. It also permits the Home Affairs minister to reject transfers on national security grounds or in the case of patients with substantial criminal records deemed to pose a risk to the Australian community. The minister will have up to 72 hours to decide whether to agree or reject the transfer after it is approved. If it is refused, the decision would be referred to the eight-member Independent Health Advice Panel. The Prime Minister's government had tried to gather last-minute support against the bill by presenting the argument of Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue, who considered it to be unconstitutional. In 2012, Australia resumed its policy of detaining undocumented immigrants in third countries. Under the widely criticised government migration policy, asylum seekers trying to enter Australia by sea are blocked from entering the country and sent to offshore processing centres. The conditions under which these migrants are held have been repeatedly denounced by international organisations, including the UN. New Delhi, Feb 12 : A Delhi court on Tuesday allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to quiz corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar for two more days in a money laundering case. Special Judge Bharat Parashar extended Talwar's ED custody after the probe agency told him that he is required to be confronted with two people in connection with the case. Talwar was presented before the court on expiry of his ED custody. Talwar was deported from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on January 30. He was presented before a court on January 31 which sent him to seven days ED custody. The ED said Rs 200 crore was allegedly received in one of the bank accounts of a company of Talwar in Singapore and that he is being probed for his suspected role in the irregular seat sharing on Air India's profitable routes with some international airlines. Talwar had fled to Dubai after the Indian agencies started probing his role in concealing the income of over Rs 1,000 crore as well as facilitating aviation contracts during the UPA regime. He is accused of brokering aviation sector deals, getting government approval for foreign companies, and securing favours for clients due to his ties with UPA functionaries. New Delhi, Feb 12 : The Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) and the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) were involved in the November 2018 grenade attack at a weekly congregation of the Nirankari sect in Punjab's Amritsar district, Parliament was told on Tuesday Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir told the Lok Sabha, in a written reply, that the Punjab Police has arrested two persons in the case so far and filed a case against three other persons residing abroad. "Open dated warrants of arrest have been procured in their cases," Ahir told Communist Party of India-Marxist's Anirudhan Sampath. Two masked men came on a motorcycle to the Nirankari congregation at Adliwal village on the outskirts of Amritsar on November 18, 2018. Forcing their way in by brandishing a pistol, they lobbed a grenade into the prayer hall killing three people and injuring 20. Ahir also said that in order to avert terror incidents in the country, there was a close and effective coordination mechanism between intelligence and security agencies at the Centre and the state level. "A Multi Agency Centre has been strengthened and re-organised to enable it to function on a 24x7 basis for real time collation and sharing of intelligence with other intelligence agencies and state governments." With a view to enhance the capacity of state forces, the Central agencies have been conducting training programmes for the states' forces to collect, collate, analyse and disseminate intelligence from a counter-terrorism perspective and investigate terror cases, Ahir added. New Delhi, Feb 12 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday opposed bail plea of British national Christian Michel, the middleman accused in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case. The CBI told Special Judge Arvind Kumar Kumar that charge-sheet in the case has already been filed against the accused persons including Michel and the court has already started proceedings against them. Michel has sought bail, saying he has been in custody since December 4, 2018, and as per Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the probe was supposed to be completed by February 3. But, the charge-sheet was not filed against him within the stipulated 60-day period, so he should be released on bail, Michel's defence counsel told the court. However, the CBI said that that the provisions of Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure are not applicable in the instant matter. On its part, the ED said that rather than filing various prosecution complaints in piecemeal, the agency is in the process of filing a detailed and comprehensive prosecution complaint. The court has listed the Michel's bail plea for further hearing on February 13. However, the court allowed Michel to meet his lawyer Rosemary Patrizi on condition that she will meet Michel as a general visitor, as per the jail manual of Tihar Jail. Michel was extradited to India on December 4 from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He is one of the three middlemen being investigated by the CBI and the ED in the VVIP chopper deal. The Directorate arrested him on December 22, 2018. In January 2018, the ED had lodged a request with the UAE authorities seeking extradition of Michel. Both the ED and the CBI had filed charge-sheets in the bribery cases in Indian courts and non-bailable warrants had been issued against the accused. In its charge-sheet, the CBI had named former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi alias Julie, then IAF Vice Chief J.S. Gujral and advocate Gautam Khaitan as the four Indians involved in the scam. Others named in the charge-sheet included Giuseppe Orsi, the former chief of Italian defence and aerospace major Finmeccanica, and Bruno Spagnolini, former CEO of AgustaWestland, apart from middlemen Michel, Haschke and Gerosa. By The Times Editorial Board 6 February 2019 (Los Angeles Times) Its not quite six weeks into 2019, and its already looking like it will be another banner year for measles in the United States. An outbreak in the Pacific Northwest that began in late January continues to spread, with more than 50 cases now being reported. Meanwhile, Texas health officials on Tuesday confirmed five cases of measles in the Houston area four of them in children under 2. And health officials in New York are still dealing with an outbreak of measles from late 2018 among orthodox Jews who apparently brought the virus back from Israel.The global measles picture is even gloomier. A large and ongoing measles outbreak in the Philippines has killed at least 50 people, and may have spread to Australia. Nearly 12,000 measles cases have been reported in the Ukraine in the first month of 2019. And more than 28,000 cases have been reported in Madagascar since 2018. New cases are popping up all the time. For example, last week authorities in Manchester, England, urged residents to get vaccinated after a local case of measles was confirmed.All in all, in just the last few years there has been a 30% increase in measles worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.How has this disease that was once considered all but eliminated in the U.S. and other developed nations, surged back to life? According to international health officials, the same anti-vaccination fear-mongering that has been at work in the U.S is contributing to a decline in vaccination rates, and measles outbreaks around the world.About 85% of children worldwide have received at least one of the two recommended courses of the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccination, which is high but still below the ideal 95% rate that scientists say is necessary to stop outbreaks from spreading. And that percentage has stalled over recent years, and in some places has actually declined. Not surprisingly, some of the declines have been in in poor countries with limited access to health care. Economic hardship and political unrest have certainly contributed to the incidence of infectious disease in some places. The breakdown of Venezuelas health care system, for example, drove a major 2018 outbreak in that country, which has spread to other parts of South America.But developed countries with strong health care systems have become measles hot spots as well. Last year, France and Italy, had huge measles outbreaks that the World Health Organization says was driven not by lack of access to immunizations, but by a lack in trust in their efficacy. This distrust, called vaccine hesitancy, is such a threat to public health that it is on the World Health Organizations list of top 10 global health concerns for 2019.This distrust of vaccinations which is all too common in the United States as well is easily spread over social media, where a debate rages about whether the medicines themselves are dangerous. One persistent but entirely groundless fear is that vaccines cause autism. Theres no data to back up that assertion, and there is scientific evidence quite a lot of it showing that vaccinations save lives. But the narrative is durable particularly because the threat of measles which has been virtually absent for a generation is to many people more distant than autism.Domestically, measles is breaking out in states Washington, Oregon, and Texas that allow parents to opt out of vaccinations for their kids on the basis of their personal beliefs. California used to be one of those states until a serious outbreak at Disneyland in 2014 woke lawmakers to the fact that the personal belief exemption had been allowing childhood immunization rates to decline to dangerous levels. With measles so easily transmittable, populations with low vaccinations rates can be at risk from an outbreak half a world away.In some places, it is understandable why people are skeptical of what theyre told. The lack of confidence in measles vaccinations plummeted in the Philippines in recent years after the maker of a government-sanctioned vaccination for dengue fever admitted it would not protect some children and perhaps even make them sicker.Around the world, too many people seem to believe that vaccinations dont really matter any more. Loose vaccination rules contribute to that sense. But those attitudes must change. Parents need to understand that vaccines save lives. Prayagraj, Feb 12 : Hundreds of Samajwadi Party (SP) workers took to the streets here on Tuesday shortly after party chief Akhilesh Yadav was prevented from boarding a flight to attend an event organised by the students union at the Allahabad University. As soon as the news spread that the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister had been prevented by the Yogi Adityanath government from flying in from Lucknow to Prayagraj earlier in the day citing law and order problems, the workers, wearing red party caps, took to the streets and raised anti-Modi and anti-Yogi slogans. The protesters were led by Budayun MP Dharmendra Yadav, Phulpur MP Nagendra Patel and Gorakhpur MP Praveen Nishad. Heavy security deployment has been made in Prayagraj, specially near the High Court premises where the protests are taking place. Rapid Action Force (RAF) has also been put on duty, a district official told IANS. There were also reports of the police using force against the agitators. Windows of parked vehicles broke due to stone pelting. Similar protests broke out in many other places including Budayun, Sambhal, Mainpuri and Etah. After failing to board the flight, Akhilesh Yadav told the media at the party office in Lucknow that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had deliberately precipitated the crisis out of fear that he would further expose the state and the Central governments. "I had informed the university about my programme in December last year. A letter was sent to the district administration on February 2 as I did not want any inconvenience during the ongoing Kumbh. But I was not informed about the problems that the government is now citing," he said. In response, Adityanath lashed out at his predecessor, saying that the SP has a history of anarchy and the decision was taken by the district administration based on the threat assessment of violence. Kabul, Feb 12 : The Afghan Taliban on Tuesday announced a 14-member team of negotiators, comprising some new faces including a jailed leader of the Haqqani Network, to continue peace talks with the US. In a statement, the Taliban said "talks with the American sides (will) continue" and given "the importance of the issue", its chief Hibatullah Akhundzada asked his deputy Mullah Baradar to appoint a new team of negotiators, Efe news reported. Sher Muhammad Abbas Stanekzai, who was the head of Taliban's political office in Qatar and has overseen a series of meetings with the US Special Envoy for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, will continue to lead the negotiations, the report said. Among the new appointees was Anas Haqqani, a son of Haqqani Network founder Jalaluddin Haqqani, who died years ago due to unknown illness although his death was reported only last year. The senior Haqqani was believed to have masterminded some of the deadliest attacks targeting US and Afghan security forces and their interests in the last 17 years of war. The Haqqani Network has pledged allegiance to the Taliban and is known to be coordinating its militant activities with the group. Anas, a lesser-known figure in the Network now headed by his older brother Sirajuddin, was arrested in 2014 and remains in prison. He was accused of directing the militant group's propaganda on social media and playing a crucial role in strategic decision-making and fundraising. The Taliban on Tuesday renewed its demand for Anas' release to enable him be part of the team for talks. "Anas Haqqani has been appointed a member of the negotiating team, but is still in prison. As he was a student (when he was arrested) and did not do any activity to lead to his imprisonment, therefore he should be released to start his new role as member of negotiating team," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Efe. Four former Guantanamo Bay inmates also figure in the list. Previously, a 10-member Taliban team was handling the negotiations with the US for ending the Afghan conflict. The new team was formed a day after acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan and denied that he had received orders from President Donald Trump to reduce its US military presence in the war-torn country. The pull-out of foreign troops from Afghanistan is one of the Taliban's key demands in peace negotiations. The two sides have held several rounds of talks in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar amid opposition by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's government, which insists on having a central role in the peace talks. The Taliban has refused to engage with the government in Kabul. Kolkata, Feb 12 : Five workers were untraceable even after 24 hours of the massive fire at a factory outlet in West Bengal's Sodepur town in North 24 Parganas district, officials said on Tuesday. The government has assured stringent action against the owner for flouting rules. "The fire is now under control and a team is being formed to trace the five missing workers. Once the team is inside, they will try to locate the missing people," West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra said at the spot. He said with the help of 25 fire tenders, the remaining pocket fire and smoke is being gradually arrested. Mitra assured they are ready with all required equipment for the rescue. Also, the "government will provide full assistance to the injured and support to the family members of the deceased". The factory outlet of the chair-making unit had explosive materials inside, and still lacked proper fire security measures, the workers and relatives alleged. "This time, we will strictly look into the matter to see why there was no provision of fire exit and other required measures. The step will be taken by filing an FIR against the responsible people," Mitra added. New Delhi, Feb 12 : A Minister informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) and International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), a terror group deemed by the Centre, were involved in the November 2018 grenade attack in Punjab's Amritsar district Citing a written document, Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said the Punjab Police has arrested two persons so far. He said three other persons, residing abroad, have also been accused in the attack that took place on November 18, 2018, in which three people were killed and over 20 injured when two motorcycle-borne men threw a grenade on a religious congregation on the outskirts of Amritsar. "Open dated warrants of arrest have been procured in their cases," Ahir said. In order to avert terror incidents in the country, the Minister said that there was a close and effective coordination mechanism between intelligence and security agencies at the Centre and the state level. "A Multi Agency Centre (MAC) has been strengthened and re-organised to enable it to function on a 24x7 basis for real time collation and sharing of intelligence with other intelligence agencies and state governments." With a view to enhance the capacity of state forces, the Central agencies have been conducting training programmes for the states' forces to collect, collate, analyse and disseminate intelligence from a counter-terrorism perspective and investigate terror cases, Ahir said. Chandigarh, Feb 12 : The Budget session of the Punjab Assembly began on Tuesday amid protests by the opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP against rising farmers' suicides and blamed the ruling Congress government of not doing enough. The SAD lawmakers staged a walkout shortly after the Assembly commenced. They also protested against Governor V.P. Singh Badnore, who in his opening speech, said that Punjab's current financial crisis was due to the policies of the previous SAD-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance state government (2007-2017). He accused the alliance of reckless spending which pushed Punjab further into a debt trap. Later in the day, SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal marched with the families of farmers, who had committed suicide in the last two years, towards the residence of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. The protesters were, however, stopped by the Chandigarh Police. New Delhi, Feb 12 : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday accused the Congress of misleading people by raking up the Rafale fighter jet deal issue repeatedly. The Minister's remarks during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, prompted the Congress to criticise the government and stage a walkout from the House. "The issue has been discussed in detail in the House and the Supreme Court has also put the matter to rest. The Congress has been raking up the issue every now and then. But the truth will remain true," he said. Politics is not done by by misleading the people. A person should have the guts to speak the truth, Singh added. To this, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge reiterated his party's demand to constitute a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the deal. "The Prime Minister does not have the courage to constitute a JPC. You constitute a JPC, we will prove the misdeeds," he said. Kharge had earlier said that if the Prime Minister has nothing to hide, then he should come forth and announce the JPC probe for a detailed inquiry into the matter. Yavatmal (Maharashtra), Feb 12 (IANS) Immense curiosity has arisen after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plans were made known to address a pre-election rally on February 16 in the small village of Pandharkawada in Yavatmal district, one of the poorest in Vidarbha. Twenty-five years ago, this was from where the tragic story of farmers' suicides was first brought to the global stage. Yavatmal district is considered the place where farmer suicides have been the highest. It is here that local engineer-turned-farmers leader Kishore Tiwari set the proverbial cat among the pigeons by demanding that Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari replace Modi if the party was to survive the 2019 elections. He also said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah should be replaced. It is from this very Pandharkawada village that Modi had in March 2014 promised to implement a 2006 report by eminent scientist M.S. Swaminathan on improving the lot of farmers if the BJP was elected to power at the Centre. On March 20, 2014, Modi had organised a special, high-profile "Kisanon ke Saath, Chai Pe Charcha' with the farmers of Vidarbha, including from Pandharkawada. It was at that meeting Modi suddenly pulled out the long-forgotten M.S. Swaminathan Commission Report and promised to implement it - if voted to power - something that later proved to be easier said than done, Tiwari recalled. Tiwari, who is the Chairman of the Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavalamban Mission (VNSSM) with ministerial status, had categorically demanded that the BJP "get rid of both Modi and Shah" for their "anti-farmer and anti-people policies". As the entire direction of national political debate changed, Shah was forced to make a statement in Mumbai stating "there would be no leadership change". A week later, Tiwari dropped another bombshell by writing to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on the same issue. Significantly, Tiwari, Gadkari and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis are all stalwarts from the Vidarbha region of eastern Maharashtra, and coincidentally, the RSS is headquartered in Nagpur, the state's second capital. All this was crowned by appreciation from none other than UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi. Party sources reveal that Tiwari's suggestions on Gadkari were reportedly "received positively" both in the BJP, RSS and other sections of the saffron parivar. When asked, Tiwari sought to downplay the issue, saying: "The PM's visit to Pandharkawada is indeed a very welcome development and has raised the aspirations of the local farmers, tribals and women's organisations, all reeling under huge debts. "Sentiment is running high that the PM may announce a package to provide relief even to the tribals and women's groups and his visit may spur the farmers' aid to be released on priority before the elections," Tiwari told IANS. "No, there are no attempts to gag me. I am merely highlighting the private opinions of many in the BJP," Tiwari claimed to a direct query on whether he encountered problems after his December assertions. A BJP source said this time, five years later after becoming the Prime Minister, Modi was expected to "provide a convincing account" of what exactly the NDA government has done for the farmers and the future plans for the still-distressed farmlands across the country. With a population of around 40,000 tribals-farmers, Pandharkawada has another distinction. It was the first tribal village in the country selected under the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's historic Integrated Tribal Development Plan of 1976. Modi will become only the second Prime Minister to visit Pandharkawada. Manmohan Singh come calling in 2006 when he spent two full days in Vidarbha. Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had received a delegation of Pandharkavada's farmers in 2009 in Nagpur. Then a young leader, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited the place in 2008, besides Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar and many other dignitaries. Vowing to make "an everlasting, vote-catching impression" in the suicide-sullied soil of Vidarbha and rest of India, the BJP is chalking out massive plans to get farmers from adjoining districts like Wardha, Chandrapur, Nanded and even neighbouring Telangana, which ranks high on farmland suicides. (Quaid Najmi can be reached at q.najmi@ians.in) San Francisco, Feb 12 : Revamping Gmail, Google has added options like easy label adding, moving, muting and snooze emails to the right-click context menu of its emailing platform. The options would enable users to reply to or forward an email directly from a message while opening multiple emails in multiple new windows, Google wrote in a G Suite blog post on Monday. The previous right-click menu only gave the users three options to choose from -- archive, mark as unread, or delete. The new additions come with options to search for all emails from the same sender or with the same subjects at once. The feature -- which will be "On" by default -- is being made available to users on all G Suite editions, the post said. Google has already started rolling out the update to G Suite users with Rapid Release domains. For the other users, the feature's scheduled release is on February 22. Lucknow, Feb 12 : Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was on Tuesday prevented from taking a flight to attend an event organised by the Students Union at Allahabad University, triggering a political storm. Yadav had to take a private plane here but was told by a senior district official that the Samajwadi Party leader did not have the permission to do so. A fuming Akhilesh Yadav, who returned home after arguing with the airport officials for about two hours, said the Uttar Pradesh government was so scared of him that they stopped him from going to Allahabad University. Calling it "remote control politics of two-and-a-half men", Yadav alleged that he was detained at the airport on the premise that his presence at the Allahabad University could lead to law and order issues. The 45-year-old leader said that the ruling BJP, by committing such acts, had not only lost the upcoming Lok Sabha elections but also earned the ire of the youth. The development triggered a war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party. As the news spread, scores of Samajwadi Party workers and leaders rushed to the airport and raised anti-government slogans. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati denounced the action against Yadav. She wondered if the central and state BJP governments were so afraid of the BSP-SP alliance that they were resorting to such "anti-democratic methods". The 63-year-old Dalit leader accused the BJP governments of trying to "curb our political activities". "This is very unfortunate and undemocratic. It will be fought at all levels." The state government dismissed the allegations and said the university authorities had on February 2 asked Yadav not to visit as the university disapproved of "political participation in campus events". Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the decision was taken by the district administration based on the threat assessment of violence. "SP has a history of lawlessness and his visit could have created problems. There was a fear of student groups creating law and order problem," he said. After staying put at the airport for more than two hours, the former Chief Minister left for his residence in a huff. New Delhi, Feb 12 : Reliance Jio topped in terms of 4G availability among the telecom service providers with 98.8 per cent availability during the second half of 2018, an Ookla report said on Tuesday. Jio was followed by Airtel with 90 per cent availability, said the report titled, "Analyzing India's 4G Availability: Including a Look at the 15 Largest Cities". "At country-level, Jio shows an impressive 98.8 per cent 4G availability. That means that a Jio customer has access to LTE service at 98.8 per cent of surveyed locations. Airtel is second at 90.0 per cent, followed by Vodafone (84.6 per cent) and Idea (82.8 per cent)," it said. Vodafone and Idea merged last August, but the brands continue to operate independently. "If that (Vodafone Idea operations) were to change, we'd expect to see better general availability for all customers as the two brands' coverage areas are complementary," the report noted. In terms of speed, Airtel turned out to be the fastest mobile operator in India during the period under review, regardless of whether a customer was on LTE or not, said the Ookla report. The ranking of the other operators does not change based on LTE use with Vodafone taking second fastest, Jio third and Idea fourth. Airtel's speed score for 4G LTE was 11.23, that of Vodafone was 9.13, as per the report. Jio registered a score of 7.11, while that of Idea was 7.02. "Until 5G is rolled out, LTE is the fastest connection type available to consumers. India shows us, however, that 4G availability does not automatically equate to fastest service. To compare which of India's largest mobile operators is fastest, we have used Speed Score, a combined measure of download and upload speed that incorporates several tiers of performance," the report added. Total marginal effect of Standardised Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) on conflict for the 20102012 period. Graphic: Abel, et al., 2019 / Global Environmental Change 23 January 2019 (UEA) Research involving a University of East Anglia (UEA) academic has established a link between climate change, conflict, and migration for the first time. In recent decades climatic conditions have been blamed for creating political unrest, civil war, and subsequently, waves of migration, but scientific evidence for this is limited. One major example is the ongoing conflict in Syria, which began in 2011. Many coastal Mediterranean countries in Europe have also seen the arrival of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict in Africa. Researchers from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria, including Dr Raya Muttarak, also of UEAs School of International Development, sought to find out whether there is a causal link between climate change and migration, and the nature of it. They found that in specific circumstances, the climate conditions do lead to increased migration, but indirectly, through causing conflict. The findings, published in the journal Global Environmental Change, suggest that climate change played a significant role in migration and asylum seeking in the period 20112015, with more severe droughts linked to exacerbating conflict. Dr Muttarak, a senior lecturer in geography and international development at UEA, said: The question of how climatic conditions can contribute to political unrest and civil war has drawn attention from both the scientific community and the media. We contribute to the debate on climate-induced migration by providing new scientific evidence. The effect of climate on conflict occurrence is particularly relevant for countries in Western Asia in the period 20102012, when many were undergoing political transformation during the so-called Arab Spring uprisings. This suggests that the impact of climate on conflict and asylum seeking flows is limited to specific time periods and contexts. The political uprisings of the Arab Spring occurred in countries including Tunisia, Libya and Yemen, and Syria, where the conflict led to an ongoing civil war. In Syria particularly, long-running droughts and water shortages caused by climate change resulted in repeated crop failures, with rural families eventually moving to urban areas. This in turn led to overcrowding, unemployment and political unrest, and then civil war. Similar patterns were also found in sub-Saharan Africa in the same time period. Asylum seeking flows by world region, 20062010 and 20112015. Graphic: Abel, et al., 2019 / Global Environmental Change Co-author Jesus Crespo Cuaresma, of IIASA and Vienna University of Economics and Business, said: Climate change will not cause conflict and subsequent asylum-seeking flows everywhere. But in a context of poor governance and a medium level of democracy, severe climate conditions can create conflict over scarce resources. The researchers, who also include Guy Abel (IIASA and Shanghai University) and Michael Brottrager (Johannes Kepler University Linz), say that concerns relating to climate change-induced conflict leading to migration should be considered in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At present the link between climate change and migration is not explicit, and they are not treated as interrelated. Further research is needed to more fully understand migration flows. Asylum seekers are more likely to be influenced by conflict than usual migrants, so the researchers used data from asylum applications from 157 countries from 2006-2015 to study the patterns. This data was obtained from the United Nations High Commissions for Human Rights (UNHCR). As a measure of climate conditions in the asylum seekers original countries, the team used the Standardised Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), which measures droughts, compared to normal conditions, through identifying the onset and end of droughts, and their intensity, based on precipitation, evaporation, transpiration, and climatic conditions such as temperature. To assess conflict, the team used data on battle-related deaths from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP). These datasets were fed into the researchers modelling framework, along with various socioeconomic and geographic datasets. These included the distance between country of origin and destination, population sizes, migrant networks, the political status of the countries, and ethnic and religious groups. New study establishes link between climate change, conflict, and migration Conceptual model of climate, conflict, and migration. Graphic: Abel, et al., 2019 / Global Environmental Change ABSTRACT: Despite the lack of robust empirical evidence, a growing number of media reports attempt to link climate change to the ongoing violent conflicts in Syria and other parts of the world, as well as to the migration crisis in Europe. Exploiting bilateral data on asylum seeking applications for 157 countries over the period 20062015, we assess the determinants of refugee flows using a gravity model which accounts for endogenous selection in order to examine the causal link between climate, conflict and forced migration. Our results indicate that climatic conditions, by affecting drought severity and the likelihood of armed conflict, played a significant role as an explanatory factor for asylum seeking in the period 20112015. The effect of climate on conflict occurrence is particularly relevant for countries in Western Asia in the period 20102012 during when many countries were undergoing political transformation. This finding suggests that the impact of climate on conflict and asylum seeking flows is limited to specific time period and contexts. CONCLUSIONS: [] Our results indicate that there is no empirical evidence backing the existence of a robust link between climatic shocks, conflict and asylum seeking for the full period 20062015. The estimates of our model support these causal linkages only for the period 20102012, where global refugee flow dynamics were dominated by asylum seekers originating from Syria and countries affected by the Arab spring, as well as flows related to war episodes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Excluding these regions from the analysis provides further statistical evidence, that the link between climate shocks, conflict and subsequent migration flows might rather be interpreted as a local phenomenon and therefore very specific to these regions. Indeed, our study shows that an increase in drought episodes can drive outmigration through exacerbating conflict in a country with some level of democracy. This is confirmed by the finding that climate contributes to conflict only in a specific period of 20102012 and specifically to certain countries, particularly those in Western Asia and Northern Africa experiencing the Arab Spring. Climate change thus will not generate asylum seeking everywhere but likely in a country undergoing political transformation where conflict represents a form of population discontent towards inefficient response of the government to climate impacts. Climate, conflict and forced migration Bhopal, Feb 12 : Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia, three prominent leaders from Madhya Pradesh, may field their spouses in the upcoming general elections. The speculation is that Chouhan, who recently lost his chief ministership to Kamal Nath, may field his wife Sadhna Singh from the Vidisha Lok Sabha constituency after Sushma Swaraj, the incumbent from that seat, refused to contest the election. BJP sources said that Sadhna Singh is being prepared to contest from Vidisha, Chouhan's stronghold, where her chances of winning are said to be strong. The party wants to use the former chief minister's clout in the state to get votes for some other seat. Singh has had some experience of electoral politics while participating in political meetings and campaigning for her husband for the Budhni assembly constituency. The probability of Scindia's wife Priyadarshini Raje Scindia getting fielded from Guna too is getting strong, especially after the Congress passed a proposal for her candidature. Priyadarshini Raje's political activities are set to intensify between February 18 and 24 when she's expected to attend several women conclaves. Manish Rajput, the head of Jyotiraditya Scindia's election campaign committee, said that the ultimate decision whether she will be contesting or not rests with the Scindias. "But one thing is for certain. Only the candidate, who has the support of the Scindias would win from Guna. That is because the Scindias have always considered the people of Guna as part of their own family and have done whatever they could for their betterment," he said. Talk is also rife of Digvijaya Singh's wife Amrita Singh contesting from Rajgarh, her husband's turf, where the Congress had won five assembly seats in the previous elections. Expectedly, it is seen as a safe seat for the party in the coming elections. Dallas, Feb 12 (IANS) With the aim of helping small and mid-sized companies become more inventive, global design software major major Dassault Systemes has launched 3DExperience.Works, a new portfolio of industry-aware applications on its 3DExperience platform. Introduced here at SOLIDWORKS World 2019 on Monday, Dassault Systemes' annual conference dedicated to the 3D design and engineering community, 3DExperience.Works essentially combines social collaboration with design, simulation and manufacturing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) capabilities in a single digital environment. SOLIDWORKS is a solid modelling computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) computer programme that runs on Microsoft. "Small and mid-sized firms worldwide need digital solutions to grow but have long been challenged to find ones that are right for their size. By introducing 3DExperience.Works, we bring the platform effect to them," Bernard Charles, Vice Chairman and CEO, Dassault Systemes, told reporters here. "The 3DExperience platform is set to become the benchmark for business operations in this category of firms through well integrated offerings spanning manufacturing and management that are affordable and easy to implement," he added. The 3DExperience.Works was unveiled by Dassault Systemes following the acquisition of IQMS, whose manufacturing ERP portfolio of software applications for mid-market manufacturers has since been rebranded as DELMIAWORKS. Dassault Systemes said that 3DExperience.Works connects data and streamlines processes from concept to delivery by providing dashboard templates, managed services, access to industry-focused communities and user groups, and applications specific to a variety of job roles. The event also saw the unveiling of SOLIDWORKS xShape which is the 3D subdivision modelling tool on the 3DExperience platform, and is used for creating designs that require organic shapes with smooth transitions. (Krishna SinhaChaudhury is attending the event at the invitation of Dassault SystAmes. She can be contacted at krishna.s@ians.in) Jaipur, Feb 12 : Ahead of deposing in front of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday, Congress President Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra wrote an emotional Facebook post expressing his firm belief in God which will help him tide over tough times ahead. Vadra, along with his 75-year-old mother, Maureen Vadra, was in Jaipur to depose in front of the Enforcement Directorate. "Not understanding the lows of this vindictive government to be harassing a senior citizen," Vadra said, describing how his mother had lost her daughter in a car crash, her ailing son to diabetes, and her husband as well. "Three deaths and all I did was to ask her to spend time with me in my office, so I could look after her and we both could grieve on our losses," the 50-year-old businessman said, adding that now his mother was paying the price of "spending time in my office" by "being accused, maligned and called to be interrogated". Vadra was earlier interrogated for three days in the ED headquarters in Delhi for over 24 hours in a separate money laundering case on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. "If there was any issue or any illegality, which was found by the government, why did it take them four years and eight months to call me a month before campaigning begins for the general elections," said the husband of Priyanka Gandhi, who was launched as the Congress General secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh east just days back. "Do they think people in India do not view it as an election gimmick?!" said Vadra, whose wife accompanied him to the Jaipur ED office earlier in the day before leaving for Uttar Pradesh to meet party workers, after a roadshow in Lucknow on Monday. Vadra said: "I always have adhered to rules and overall being a disciplined person, I have the ability to sustain any amount of hours of questioning and having nothing to hide, I will answer every question with respect n dignity. "This too shall pass and will make me stronger." He ended his post with: "What goes around comes around. God is with us." Lucknow, Feb 12 : Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday accused the state government of preventing him from taking a flight to Prayagraj where he was to attend the oath-taking ceremony of the Students Union at Allahabad University. Yadav had to take a private plane but was stopped by a senior district official who reportedly said that the Samajwadi Party leader did not have permission to take the flight. Akhilesh Yadav said the Uttar Pradesh government was so scared of him that they stopped him from attending the event. As the news spread, scores of his party workers and leaders rushed to the airport. Manila, Feb 12 : At least 70 people, mostly children under four years of age, have been confirmed dead due to measles outbreak in the Philippines and the authorities are blaming vaccine hesitancy for the health crisis. The deaths occurred since the beginning of the year but the Health Department in a statement on Monday said the outbreak intensified last week and over 4,300 people were taken ill with symptoms of measles - a very contagious disease transmitted through air, Efe news reported. The authorities put five regions on alert, although the highest number of affected people were reported from Manila and its suburbs. An intensive vaccination programme was launched for children in the National Capital Region to prevent further proliferation of the disease which infects respiratory system of its victim and can result in severe diarrhoea, pneumonia, blindness and even death. "Regions with high reported cases are NCR (1,296 cases and 18 deaths) Calabarzon (1,086 cases and 25 deaths), Central Luzon (481 cases with 3 deaths), Western Visayas (212 cases and 4 deaths) and Northern Mindanao (189 cases and 2 deaths)," the Health Department said. The outbreak of the disease was being attributed to the lack of vaccination among children in recent years. Around 2.5 million Filipino children under the age of five didn't receive the necessary immunization shots. Many Philippine parents refused to vaccinate their children due to the scandal surrounding Dangvaxia, an anti-dengue vaccine which was used in the country between 2014 and 2017, until its manufacturer, the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur, admitted that it carried adverse effects and the vaccinated people who contracted dengue for the first time suffered more severe effects. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III appealed to the public to repose their trust and confidence in immunization programmes. New Delhi, Feb 12 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday held former acting Director of CBI M. Nageswara Rao guilty of contempt of court and sentenced him along with the agency's legal advisor till the rising of the court. A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice Sanjiv Khanna also fined them Rs 1 lakh each. Chief Justice Gogoi said that in his last 20 years as a judge he had not compromised on the dignity and honour of the court. Rao and the CBI's legal advisor earned the wrath of the court for relieving former Additional Director A.K. Sharma from the CBI without taking the prior nod of the top court. Holding Rao guilty of contempt of court, the judges noted that on January 18, 2019, when Sharma was relieved, Rao was aware of the court's two orders and had asked the concerned people to approach the court. However, on the same day, he signed a draft order sent by DoPT relieving Sharma from the CBI without satisfying whether the top court had been taken into confidence. Sharma, who was heading the investigating team probing the Muzaffarpur shelter home horror, had said that he could not be shunted out as the CBI needed to take the court's permission. New Delhi, Feb 12 : President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday unveiled a life-size portrait of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the Central Hall of Parliament. Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and H.D. Devegowda and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran L. K. Advani were present at the unveiling. Image Source: IANS News New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind along with Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad unveils the portrait ofFormer Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the Central Hall of Parliament on Feb. 12, 2019. (Photo: IANS/RB) Speaking on the occasion, President Kovind said that Vajpayee will always be remembered for his decisive leadership during challenging situations including the 1998 nuclear test and the Kargil War. "He contributed a lot in establishing India as a peaceful but strong and powerful country," he said. Modi said there was equal power in the former leader's speeches as well as in his silence. "His communication skills were unparalleled and he had a great sense of humour," he said. Recalling Vajpayee's long political career, Modi said he spent a large amount of time in the opposition but despite that, he continued raising issues of public interest and never deviated from his ideology. "Now, he will be forever in Parliament's Central Hall, inspiring and blessing us." Azad said Vajpayee will always be remembered for his speeches. "Vajpayee ji will be remembered because there was criticism in his words for the opposition but in his heart there was no anger," he said. Renowned artist Krishn Kanhai of Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, prepared the portrait of Vajpayee, who served as Prime Minister three times between 1996 and 2004. The decision in this regard was taken unanimously on December 18 at a meeting of the parliament's portrait committee chaired by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. Vajpayee was the first Prime Minister from outside the Congress to serve a full five-year term between 1998 and 2004. He is also a recipient of India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, which was conferred on him in 2015. He died last August at the age of 93 after prolonged illness. New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS) The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is finalising plans for allocating 5 Mhz of 4G spectrum to BSNL shortly on 2100 Mhz band. Ahead of allocations, the department has asked the PSU to submit a plan of action on 4G service roll-out preparedness including equipment procurement and the means to fund the network upgrade. "We will allot BSNL some (5 Mhz) spectrum for 4G service and for that we have asked the company to submit a report of their 4G preparedness and how they plan to procure equipment for that. We also want to know the source of their funding for the capex arising out of the 4G network expansion so that the funds allocated through the spectrum could be best utilized," a senior DoT official said. The official added that the allocation of spectrum to BSNL has an opportunity cost as, had that been auctioned to private telcos, the government could have earned revenues. "But we have to support the PSUs. At the same time we will monitor their planning and equipment and pre launch preparedness as well," the official said. The official also said that while both BSNL and MTNL would be allocated the 4G spectrum simultaneously, these queries have been sent to BSNL only and not to MTNL. As per BSNL Board proposal, the cost of this spectrum is in the range of Rs 11,000 crore. In 2017, BSNL had sent a board proposal seeking 5MHz spectrum in the 2100 MHz band, which it wanted to partly fund by offering additional equity to the government. The acquisition of additional spectrum in the 2100 MHz band is almost life saving for BSNL for all-India rollout of 4G services through the Long Term Evolution route to match competition. BSNL and MTNL's 4G spectrum allocation through the equity route and government funding has faced opposition from the Finance Ministry and Niti Aayog who see no return on this investment. The DoT monitoring and demand for an action plan report are aimed at ensuring that the funds are fully optimised to ensure revenue returns to the government. Another source said the government may follow the IIM report while allocating 4G spectrum to BSNL. The report had proposed that 5 Mhz of spectrum in 2100 MHz band as 4G spectrum should be allocated to BSNL immediately but only for a limited 5-year period. This may require around Rs 1,875 crore of license fee payment for 5 years. This can be financed by either equity injection from the government or by borrowing the same with guarantee from the government, given the financial condition of BSNL. The report suggested that the government should pose conditions on BSNL while allocating the spectrum that BSNL should get into aggressive tower sharing and leasing agreements with other telecom service providers to reduce the expenditure of rolling out 4G services by BSNL. Instead of Rs 11,000 crore asked for by BSNL to roll out 4G services, BSNL might be asked to re-examine the proposed capital expenditure with tower-sharing and managed-services model. The total cost as per BSNL estimates would be Rs 9,600 crore. BSNL expects to pay half of this amount through equity route (by issuing additional shares to the government) if allowed, and the rest through revenue generated from business. Mumbai, Feb 12 : Actor Varun Dhawan says he learnt a lot from the film "My Name Is Khan", which has clocked nine years since its release. Varun started his journey in Bollywood as an assistant director to Karan Johar on "My Name Is Khan" in 2010. Two years later, he made his acting debut with "Student of the Year", helmed by the filmmaker. The "Badlapur" star tweeted a photograph from the sets of "My Name Is Khan" and wrote: "Nine years of 'My Name Is Khan', a film I learnt so much on. It practically changed my life." Karan shared a still from the Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol-starrer and captioned: "Nine years of 'My Name Is Khan'... I feel so blessed to have been able to tell this story... thank you for creating it Shibani... and thank you SRK for living the role of Rizwan so beautifully and brilliantly." He added: "Thank you Kajol for your eyes... your silences and more." The film revolves around a character named Rizvan Khan, who embarks on a journey to meet the US president and attempts to change people's perception about his religion. New Delhi, Feb 12 : The Lok Sabha was adjourned for 15 minutes on Tuesday, after the Congress disrupted the session over its demands for a JPC on the Rafale jet deal, prompting Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to slam them for "dropping their levels to a new low". Within half an hour after the House met on the day, the Congress members trooped to the Speaker's podium demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the defence deal. Mahajan requested them to maintain decorum as she wanted to get on with the Question Hour. When they did not relent, Mahajan made a clean brest with: "You are not being a responsible Opposition. Have you forgotten your own days in power?" "This House is for debate and discussion and what you are doing is actually misusing the opportunity given to the members... This is a new low even for you," Mahajan said adjourning the House till 11.45 a.m. By Paulina Glass 5 February 2019 (Defense One) The Pentagons latest climate-change report was so bad that it didnt even meet legal requirements, say House lawmakers who on Wednesday ordered the military to redo the document by 1 April 2019.The report lacks key deliverables, according to the 25 January 2019 letter from House Armed Services Chairman Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., and Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif. released last week.The Pentagons 2019 climate report opens with the line: The effects of a changing climate are a national security issue with potential impacts to Department of Defense missions, operational plans, and installations.But the report goes downhill from there, said David Titley, the Navy meteorologist-turned-Penn State professor.The highlight of the report was the first sentence of the opening paragraph where it did clearly state that climate change was one of the risks the DOD needs to be concerned about, Titley said. Thats about as good as I can say.The report, Report on Effects of a Changing Climate to the Department of Defense, released four weeks late on 16 January 2019, was required by the Langevin Amendment, part of the 2018 Defense Authorization Act.Spearheaded by Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., the bill ordered the Pentagon to list the top 10 military installations most vulnerable to climate change, mitigations needed to maintain resiliency, and the potential effects on DOD missions.Titley, a former Oceanographer of the Navy who now teaches Pennsylvania State University, said he would have awarded DOD between a C- and a D+. If you assign a 1,500-word essay, sometimes students will just put down 1,500 words. It doesnt mean they answered the question, he said.Langevin and Smith, who serve on the House Armed Services Committee, blasted the report soon after its release.It is unacceptable that the Department has ignored the clear instructions provided by law, and it is unacceptable that our service members and readiness will suffer as a result, Langevin said in a statement.John Conger, a former DOD deputy comptroller who now directs the Center for Climate and Security, said the assignment was clear, and had been written to help DOD address the issues climate change presented.I think Congress was looking for specific analysis that would help them prioritize resources and then try and look at where to direct investments and resilience, Conger said. This report is less helpful in doing that than they intended it to be.In the report, which DOD said cost $329,000 to produce, Pentagon officials looked at whether 79 bases were currently experiencing or might in the future experience five natural phenomena: recurrent flooding, drought, desertification, wildfires, and thawing permafrost. It also described efforts to mitigate threats, listing studies commissioned on wildfire risk in 2014 in sensors that determine subsurface ice levels at northern bases.But critics said the report left out a lot of required elements. For example, it mentions Tyndall Air Force Base, which was decimated by Hurricane Michael in 2018, but does not evaluate its climate risk. The 79 bases include no overseas bases, nor any that belong to the Marine Corps. Most striking to Conger was the absence of the list of the top 10 most vulnerable installations, a list specifically requested in the amendment.Even if they thought it would be too difficult to do, they dont explain why they didnt answer the question, he said. There are gaps. [more] United Nations, Feb 12 (IANS) Several member states of the United Nations have called for plans to ensure the safety and security of peacekeeping personnel. ) 8 February 2019 (BBC) Huge chunks of ice have broken off the Tasman Glacier, New Zealands largest. They have filled up at least a quarter of the meltwater lake at the foot of the glacier in the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, reports say. The lake started to form in the 1970s as the glacier rapidly retreated a phenomenon thought to have been largely caused by global warming. One guide says the chunks resemble huge skyscrapers lying on their side in the water.Weve got skyscraper-size icebergs floating around on the lake, Glacier Kayaking owner Charlie Hobbs told Radio New Zealand.Another two local guides were alerted to the event early on Wednesday morning. DENVER, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Wurk, the first and leading Human Capital Management company for the cannabis industry, is pleased to announce the raise of $11 million in a funding round led by returning investors Poseidon Asset Management and Arcadian Fund. Existing investors Altitude, Salveo Capital, Phyto Partners and The Arcview Group also participated in the round. Wurk plans to utilize the capital to enhance the client experience while expanding its cannabis HCM platform, including the launch of managed services. This will provide its growing customer base with dedicated human resource, payroll and tax experts. The company will also implement a robust analytics engine to provide highly sought-after data for the cannabis industry, allowing employers to increase operating efficiencies by benchmarking themselves against industry best practices. "Our technology ecosystem allows cannabis companies to recruit, retain and optimize the efficiency of their rapidly growing workforces," said Keegan Peterson, Founder and CEO of Wurk. "Multiple new states came online in 2018, and with a number of markets planning to implement a regulated cannabis program this year, the industry needs these critical business applications in place to support it at scale." "After participating in Wurk's previous two funding rounds, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to invest in the company yet again," said Emily Paxhia, Managing Partner at Poseidon Asset Management. "As investors focused on the cannabis space, we regularly see the HR, accounting, and tax challenges that startups in the industry face on a frequent basis. Wurk's solution helps ease that massive compliance burden and creates a huge investment opportunity in doing so." Wurk helps cannabis companies manage payroll, human resources, timekeeping, scheduling and tax compliance, and minimizes compliance risks in the ever-changing cannabis regulatory environment. The company uses its expertise and trusted partnerships to provide guidance on 280E tax law, accounting and banking. Its platform is designed to scale nationally with the growth of the industry, while incorporating the local laws and regulations unique to individual states. About Wurk Wurk exists to help underserved businesses fortify, comply, and thrive in the face of uncertain regulatory environments. Designed specifically for the cannabis industry, our platform and managed services, allows employers to protect and streamline their operations, while providing an environment where people are a priority every step of the way. The intuitive solution automates the most complicated and risk-prone processes associated with Human Resources. For more information visit enjoywurk.com. SOURCE Wurk Related Links http://enjoywurk.com LONDON, February 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Cancer Immunotherapy Market Forecast 2019-2029 Monoclonal Antibodies, Cytokines & Immunomodulators, Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors, Cell Therapy, Oncolytic Virus Immunotherapy, Lung Cancer, Breast Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Melanoma, Prostate Cancer, Head & Neck Cancer, Hospitals, Cancer Research Centres, Clinics (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/523989/Visiongain_Logo.jpg ) The world cancer immunotherapy market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.4% in the second half of the forecast period. The market reached $63bn in 2018, dominated by the monoclonal antibody segment which held 66% share of the market. How this report will benefit you Read on to discover how you can exploit the future business opportunities emerging in this sector. In this brand new 194-page report you will receive 110 tables and 93 figures- all unavailable elsewhere. The 194-page report provides clear detailed insight into the global cancer-treating drugs market. Discover the key drivers and challenges affecting the market. By ordering and reading our brand-new report today you stay better informed and ready to act. Report Scope Global cancer immunotherapy market forecasts from 2019-2029 This report also breaks down the revenue forecast for the global cancer immunotherapy market by Technology: Monoclonal Antibodies Cytokines & immunomodulators Others (Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors, Cell Therapy, Oncolytic Virus Immunotherapy) Each submarket is further broken down by region: North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and ROW. This report also breaks down the revenue forecast for the global cancer immunotherapy market by Application: Lung Cancer Breast Cancer Colorectal cancer Melanoma Cancer Prostate Cancer Head & Neck Cancer, Others (Renal Cell Carcinoma, Cervical, Gastric, Lymphoma) Each submarket is further broken down by region: North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and ROW. This report also breaks down the revenue forecast for the world cancer immunotherapy market by End-User: Hospitals Cancer Research Centers Clinics Each submarket is further broken down by region: North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and ROW. This report provides individual revenue forecasts to 2029 for these regional and national markets: North America: US, Canada, Mexico South America: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Rest of South America Europe: The UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Rest of Europe Asia-Pacific: China, Japan, India, Australia, Thailand, Rest of Asia-Pacific Rest of World: Middle East, Africa, Other Countries Each regional market is further broken down by technology, application and end-user. This report discusses trends in the industry and assesses drivers and restraints, as well as opportunities and threats. It also includes porters' five force analysis; threat of new entrants, power of suppliers, power of buyers, rivalry among competitors and threat of substituents. Our study discusses the selected leading companies that are the major players in the cancer immunotherapy market: Adaxic Inc AstraZeneca Bayer Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) Eli Lilly and Co. Medtronic Plc Merck & Co., Inc. (Merck) Novartis Pfizer Roche The report provides overviews of the companies, financial information, product portfolio, pipeline products and recent developments. Visiongain's study is intended for anyone requiring commercial analyses for the global cancer Immunotherapy market. You find data, trends and predictions. Buy our report today Global Cancer Immunotherapy Market Forecast 2019-2029: Monoclonal Antibodies, Cytokines & Immunomodulators, Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors, Cell Therapy, Oncolytic Virus Immunotherapy, Lung Cancer, Breast Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Melanoma, Prostate Cancer, Head & Neck Cancer, Hospitals, Cancer Research Centers, Clinics. To request a report overview of this report please contact Sara Peerun at [email protected] or refer to our website: https://www.visiongain.com/report/global-cancer-immunotherapy-market-forecast-2019-2029/ Did you know that we also offer a report add-on service? Email [email protected] to discuss any customized research needs you may have. Abbott Laboratories Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc Admune Therapeutics Aduro Biotech Advaxis Inc. Alcon Amgen Astrazeneca UK Bayer AG Baylis Medical BioInvent International BioNTech AG. Biothera Bristol-Mayers Squibb cCAM Biotherapeutics Ltd. Celgene Dendreon Dragonfly Eli Lilly Endocyte, Inc F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd Flexus Biosciences, Inc. Genentech (Roche) Genomic Health, Inc. GlaxoSmithKline Incyte IOmet Pharma Ltd Janssen Biotech, Inc. Medtronic Merck & Co., Inc. Merck Sharp & Dohme Limited Moderna Therapeutics NextCure Novartis AG Novartis Pharms Corp Palobiofarma Pfizer, Inc. Qiagen N.V. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc Sandoz Sellas Teva Pharmaceuticals Limited Valeant Pharmaceuticals international List of Organizations Mentioned in the Report American Association of Cancer Research American Cancer Society American Institute for Cancer Research Association of American Cancer Institutes Canadian Cancer society Cancer Research Institute CDC China Center for Food and Drug International Exchange (CCFDIE) Chinese American Hematologist and Oncologist Network (CAHON) European Commission FDA Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center National Cancer Institute Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Seattle Children's Hospital The German Cancer Research Center University of Chicago University of Washington Medical Center WHO To see a report overview please e-mail Sara Peerun on [email protected] SOURCE Visiongain Retailers everywhere are looking to intelligently manage their physical footprint, one of their costliest -- and riskiest -- investments. With the Virtual Visions Smartstore Platform, the company is empowering retailers to reimagine their stores with a smarter physical footprint -- whatever the size -- and with potentially limitless inventory available via the Cloud. How the Virtual Visions Smartstore Platform works Virtual Visions smart displays and inventory management system completely transforms brick-and-mortar stores from cost centers to profit makers. One of the biggest barriers standing between retailers realizing profits faster is the ability to identify the most sought-after merchandise. Too often stores are dedicating valuable retail space to less popular items. Meanwhile, customers are leaving empty handed not being able to find the items they want to buy. Virtual Visions Smartstore Platform delivers: Advanced software-driven smart displays to enhance the in-store experience . Virtual Visions helps merchants deliver a customized in-store experience using digital displays with self-service capabilities for customers to easily access products saved to their wish lists on social media, merchandise information, pricing matching and the ability to research items at nearby stores or online. . Virtual Visions helps merchants deliver a customized in-store experience using digital displays with self-service capabilities for customers to easily access products saved to their wish lists on social media, merchandise information, pricing matching and the ability to research items at nearby stores or online. New levels of intelligence built in to improve operations. Virtual Visions can quickly integrate with any inventory or CRM system to ensure that merchants are never out of stock. The next-generation or break through intelligence built into the system helps shoppers find the product they want to buy in the right size and color. Virtual Visions can quickly integrate with any inventory or CRM system to ensure that merchants are never out of stock. The next-generation or break through intelligence built into the system helps shoppers find the product they want to buy in the right size and color. Seamless inventory tracking. RFID is used for inventory tracking and in-store product search to improve the in-store shopping experience while allowing merchants to stock best sellers. Virtual Visions Founder Almaz Nanjappa is an inventor and Silicon Valley veteran with a track-record of launching technology solutions for multi-billion dollar brands. Prior to Virtual Visions, Nanjappa founded Momentus that was later acquired by Softvision, a Cognizant company. Co-Founder Alex Grange is a digital media and signage expert serving more than 1,000 European merchants. Virtual Visions Chairman Amir Sarhangi recently sold his startup Jibe Mobile to Google. Together, CEO Mo Malek, Nanjappa, Grange and Sarhangi have assembled a team of leading B2B enterprise industry veterans in commerce, design, manufacturing and analytics from leading companies including eBay, Adobe, Google, Barnes & Noble, Toyota, Siemens, Bio-Rad and Continental Automotive. "In conversations with some one of the most forward-looking retailers today, we've discovered the need for physical stores to perform as intelligently as the world's leading e-commerce platforms," said Almaz Nanjappa, founder of Virtual Visions. "Many companies talk speculatively about the store of the future. At Virtual Visions, we are creating that store for our customers today." "A smartstore needs to provide customers with smart and elegant ways to discover what its right for them and make their choices easily available whether the items are inside the store, at another location nearby, or shippable to their homes," said Mo Malek, CEO. "But physical retailers have another opportunity: to more deeply engage the consumer in a way that is not achievable offline. The Virtual Visions platform kempowers retailers to customize and right-size the physical experience." Company Also Launches Innovation Lab As part of launching the intelligent digital displays, today marks the opening of the Silicon Valley Retail Innovation Lab in Hayward, Calif. The 10,000-square-foot facility provides retailers, quick serve restaurants (QSRs), and luxury brands a platform to redesign customer experiences transforming their storefronts to be more interactive and profitable with smartstore prototypes. About Virtual Visions Since 2016, Virtual Visions has provided retailers, quick-serve restaurants and luxury brands with elegantly designed smart displays and a combination of break through hardware and software solutions that transforms physical locations into profit centers. Leading-edge smart displays enable customers to virtually navigate endless aisles of merchandise, while stores are able to optimize operations and creating a new retail economy. Virtual Visions is currently in use at more than 100 stores worldwide. Virtual Visions lab and center of innovation are located in Hayward, Calif. To learn more about how Virtual Visions, please visit www.virtualvisions.com SOURCE Virtual Visions Related Links https://www.virtualvisions.com CHICAGO, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- VillageMD, a leading national provider of primary care, will be honored as an Innovation Award recipient, presented by athenahealth, Inc., at the 2019 HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition (HIMSS19). Clive Fields, MD, co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of VillageMD, will accept the award on behalf of the organization and will be available to answer questions at athenahealth's booth (#1501) at 11 am EST, Thursday, Feb. 14. VillageMD was nominated due to its pioneering Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) care program implemented by Village Family Practice, a primary care practice in Houston with more than 50 physicians, part of the VillageMD managed care network. "We are honored to be recognized as a leader in the healthcare landscape, and with nearly 16 million Americans diagnosed with COPD, we understand the need is great," said Tim Barry, co-founder and CEO of VillageMD. "By having all team members - primary care physicians (PCP), a clinical support nurse, a care manager, a social worker if needed, and a clinical pharmacist- follow a shared plan of care, we have helped providers make significant improvements in patient health." VillageMD's program educates patients on medication adherence and simplifies and increases awareness of the signs of a serious exacerbation, which in turn, reduces ED visits or hospitalizations and reduces costs. As a result of this program, currently, 55% of COPD visits follow the approved workflow, showing that the model is effective and scalable. And initial results over 12 months indicate a 30%-40% lower hospitalization rate across the cohort enrolled in this program. In addition, this new approach is now being rolled out to over 50 primary care providers in its eight Houston locations, as well as to its at-home care program. "At athenahealth, we are constantly striving to celebrate those who are disrupting and transforming healthcare," said Jessica Sweeney-Platt, executive director, Enterprise Strategy, athenahealth. "We know there is real opportunity to share tangible, effective innovations that have the ability to be replicated at other organizations, regardless of scope, size, or location. This year at HIMSS, we're excited to present our Innovation Awards to organizations like VillageMD that are driving meaningful change in care delivery and outcomes across the country." athenahealth is a network-enabled, results-oriented services company that offers medical record, revenue cycle, patient engagement, care coordination, and population health services for hospital and ambulatory clients. The company's vision is to build a national health information backbone to help make healthcare work as it should. To learn more about the Innovation Awards, please visit athenahealth's website. About VillageMD VillageMD is a leading provider of health care for organizations moving toward a primary care-led, high-value clinical model. The VillageMD solution provides the tools, technology, operations, and staffing support needed for physicians to drive the highest quality clinical results across a population. VillageMD works with physician groups, independent practice associations, and health systems to improve quality, deliver a first-rate patient experience, and lower costs in the communities they serve. It has grown to include more than 2,500 physicians across eight markets, and is responsible for approximately 500,000 lives and $2.8 billion in healthcare spending. www.villageMD.com SOURCE VillageMD Related Links http://www.villageMD.com PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Skoll Foundation Board of Directors today announced the appointment of a new CEO: former Ambassador to South Africa Donald H. Gips. With a diverse career spanning public service, business, politics, finance, and technology, Gips brings a depth and breadth of experience to both sustain and elevate the Skoll Foundation's work supporting social entrepreneurship to create lasting global social impact. "Don Gips is an exceptional leader who will bring global insight, proven relationshipbuilding capacity, diverse professional experiences, and impeccable character to the Skoll Foundation," said Jeff Skoll, founder and chairman of the Skoll Foundation. "Don has been trusted and tested at the highest levels of the public and private sectors. From his early days as one of the architects of AmeriCorps to his current work across the African continent, Don's focus has evolved but his passion for service has never wavered. I am confident that Don will lead the Skoll Foundation forward in important new ways." Gips comes to the Skoll Foundation from the Washington, D.C.based Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG) where he leads the firm's Africa Practice. At ASG, he consults with companies, entrepreneurs, and foundations investing across Africa and other emerging markets in efforts ranging from renewable energy and digital technologies to gender parity and food security. Previously, he served as Director of Presidential Personnel in the Obama White House, where he directed the Obama Administration's effort to vet and select 3,000plus political appointments from a pool of over 400,000 applicants. Gips' leadership ushered in the most diverse administration in U.S. history. After that, he served as U.S. Ambassador to South Africa where he managed more than 1,000 staff and a budget over $600 million across multiple government agencies. One of Gips's earliest professional experiences was helping design and create a $650 million startup government corporation to promote community service. This eventually became the AmeriCorps program, still operational today. He also served the Clinton Administration as Chief Domestic Policy Advisor to Vice President Al Gore and Chief of the International Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission. Early in Gips's career, he was the recipient of a Rockefeller Fellowship, awarded to recognize leadership potential. He developed a clean water project with Sarvodaya, a leading social enterprise, and managed a refugee camp in Sri Lanka. Gips has extensive experience in business and finance having served as Group Vice President of Global Corporate Development for Level 3 Communications and Management Consultant to Fortune 500 companies at McKinsey & Company. He sits on a number of boards, including: Zayo Group, a fiber and internet infrastructure service provider that has grown from startup to publicly listed leader; Liquid Telecommunication, a PanAfrican provider of fiber and telecommunications services led by Strive Masiyiwa, one of Africa's preeminent entrepreneurs and philanthropists; and the President's Council on International Affairs at Yale University. Gips received an MBA from the Yale School of Management where he was honored as a Donaldson Fellow and received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University, graduating Magna Cum Laude with honors. He is married to Elizabeth (Liz) Berry Gips. Liz leads education programs for Village Health Works, an organization dedicated to bringing health care and development to rural Burundi. Currently she is leading the establishment of the Kigutu International Academy, a transformative secondary school that will produce a new generation of entrepreneurial leaders for Burundi. Liz and Don have three grown sons: Sam, Peter and Ben Gips. "I am deeply humbled to join the Skoll Foundation team at this critical juncture of the organization's growth, and at a time when the complexity of the world's most pressing problems demands innovative, sustainable solutions," said Gips. "This is a full circle return to where my career began: exploring how unconventional approaches can unlock societal potential and solve problems. I welcome the challenge to build upon this organization's incredible legacy and accelerate progress toward a more sustainable, peaceful, and prosperous world." Leadership of the Skoll Foundation will transition from interim president Richard Fahey to Don Gips effective April 9, 2019 where Gips will attend and participate in the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, the premier international platform for advancing entrepreneurial solutions to the world's most pressing problems. "On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, we want to thank Richard Fahey for his interim leadership while we completed this search," said Skoll. To date, the Skoll Foundation has invested approximately $512 million worldwide, including the Skoll Award to 128 social entrepreneurs and 106 organizations on five continents. About the Skoll Foundation Jeff Skoll created the Skoll Foundation in 1999 to pursue his vision of a sustainable world of peace and prosperity. Our mission is to drive truly transformative changeequilibrium changeby investing in, connecting, and celebrating social entrepreneurs and the innovators who help them solve the world's most pressing problems. Social entrepreneurs are society's change agents, creators of innovations that disrupt the status quo and transform our world for the better. By identifying the people and programs already bringing positive change around the world, we empower them to extend their reach, deepen their impact, and fundamentally improve society. Learn more at www.skoll.org Contact: Deb Greenspan +1 202 481 8751 [email protected] SOURCE The Skoll Foundation Related Links http://www.skoll.org CHICAGO, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Technomic released its foodservice forecast and sizing for 2019, including data parceled out by industry segment. The company has been producing these forward-looking predictions for about 50 years. Twice a year, Technomic breaks down these complex numbers into an easily digestible chart to allow for a high-level review of where the industry stands and where it is projected to go in the year ahead. This release, combined with Technomic's recently implemented predictive capabilities, showcase the most informed suggestions and indicators for the future developments in the industry. "Now, more than ever, foodservice players need to understand the segment trends in the industry," explains Joe Pawlak, managing principal at Technomic. "Reviewing our data on a formal basis semiannually allows us to home in on the most accurate forecasts as changing market conditions present themselves and provide our partners with the most up-to-date projections available." Technomic's recent State of the Industry presentation provides some color to the numbers. Key themes include: Economy is still solid but is not necessarily translating into strong industry sales Consumer connection through experience and beating expectations is critical Off-premise and delivery are changing the calculus across all segments Technomic releases this market-sizing and forecast resource semiannually, always covering all major foodservice segments. Currently, this information is available to members of Technomic's Foodservice Planning Program in the form of a one-page wallchart. Reach out to the contacts below for more information. Contacts: Press inquiries and report details: Joe Pawlak, (312) 506-3940, [email protected] Purchasing details: Patrick Noone, (312) 506-3852, [email protected] About Technomic Technomic, Inc., a Winsight company, was founded as a management consulting firm in 1966. Since then, Technomic's services have grown to encompass cloud-based B2B research tools, consumer and menu trend tracking, as well as other leading strategic research and analytic capabilities, to prioritize and size business opportunities. Our clients include food manufacturers and distributors, restaurants, retailers and multiple other business verticals aligned with the food industry that are looking to make informed decisions to support their business growth. Visit Technomic at www.technomic.com. SOURCE Technomic Related Links http://www.technomic.com NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Pharma insider Mark Taylor today published "Warrior CEO", a unique pictorial chronicle of the life and times of Milan Panic and his ICN team as they trail blazed markets around the world to build a top fifty drug company around their prized antiviral discovery ribavirin. A biochemist by training, the one-time Yugoslav freedom fighter and bicycle champ Panic led ICN from a speculative penny stock in the go-go '60s to one of the "top 50" pharmaceutical companies in the world. Along the way, Panic acquired 75 companies and raised over $5 billion using a dazzling mix of creative financing and deal making across multiple continents, currencies, and markets. Critics and regulators routinely challenged his tactics, called him a rogue, even tried to unseat him in proxy fights. Yet Panic managed to persevere and lead ICN to extraordinary growth and profits by the time of his retirement. Warrior CEO provides a historical, first-hand visual lookback into 4 decades of the Panic era before ICN became Valeant. "Milan's story begins at the dawning of the global pharmaceutical industry," said Canadian drug entrepreneur Jonathan Goodman, whose father Morris worked with Panic in the early days before founding the generic powerhouse Pharmascience Inc. "Taylor does a brilliant job of capturing the trials and tribulations of CEO Panic's quest to build a company around a single scientific discovery," he added. "I've had the good fortune of knowing Milan fifty years and have been inspired by his enormous body of work after starting with nothing more than a vision for nucleic acids and a few scientists," said the author Mark Taylor. "The book is a tribute not only to his accomplishments but also to the hard work and devotion of thousands of ICN colleagues who helped him propel a start-up that defied the odds to reach the ultimate goala life-saving drug," added Taylor. About The Author Based in Laguna Hills, CA., Mark Taylor served as ICN's executive vice president from 2000 to 2002. He is the co-founder and CEO of Hallux Inc., a drug development company working on a novel antifungal form and route for treating onychomycosis. Marks' pharma experience spans three decades and includes executive roles at SPI Pharma, Viratek, Obagi Medical and Watson Labs. In 2003 to 2008, he was a "best on the street" institutional analyst covering as many as 25 specialty pharmaceutical and medical device companies at a time. He and his wife Gina live in Newport Coast, CA. For more information please visit www.warriorceobook.com OR "Warrior CEO" currently available on Amazon.com SOURCE Mark Taylor Prominent among early discoveries in British Columbia's Omineca region were the nearby Lustdust/Stardust property (Sun Metals Corp. TSXV: SUNM) covering a large, coherent integrated porphyry-skarn, epithermal system; the Kwanika property (Serengeti Resources Inc./POSCO Daewoo TSXV: SIR) a promising advanced stage copper-gold project; the Lorraine property (Lorraine Copper Corp. TSXV: LLC) host to a large copper/gold NI 43-101 compliant resource. The tenures are located between the Kemess North project being developed by Centerra Gold Inc.'s (TSX: CG) subsidiary Aurico Metals and Centerra Gold's current mining operation the Mt Milligan mine. On November 14, 2018, Sun Metals Corp. announced the intersection of 100 meters grading 4.99% Copper equivalent and with 3.03 grams per tonne (g/t) Gold, 2.51% Copper and 52.5 g/t Silver on the Stardust Property owned by Lorraine Copper Corp. and optioned by Sun Metals. On December 20, 2018, Sun Metals announced the completion of a non-brokered private placement of CAD$5,162,500 with the intention to use the proceeds to continue its exploration of the Stardust Property. As a part of this private placement, Teck Resources Limited (NYSE: TECK.B) invested a total of CAD$3,500,000 for a 13.8% equity stake in Sun Metals. More recently, and on February 4, 2019, Sun Metals announced an arrangement agreement with Lorraine Copper Corp. providing for the indirect merger of the companies. On January 19, 2019, Centerra Gold Inc. announced that the Mount Milligan Mine (located 110 km from Mineral Mountain) produced 194,993 ounces of Gold and 47.1 million pounds of Copper during the calendar year of 2018, and gave guidance for 155,000 175,000 ounces of Gold and 65 million 75 million pounds of Copper for the calendar year 2019. Centerra Gold has calculated that the Mount Milligan Mine has proven and probable reserves of 5.8 million ounces of Gold and 2.1 billion pounds of Copper and has estimated Mount Milligan to have a 22 year mine life. The Honourable Bill Bennett, Surge director and three-time former BC Energy & Mines Minister comments "The Omineca Region of the Province has already generated several promising projects, and our approximate 200 km2 land package is strategically situated to exploit the high copper-gold values of the region. BC is a mining-friendly jurisdiction with reasonable processes, good infrastructure and potential First Nation partners." About Surge's Mineral Mountain Property Surge Exploration's Omineca Group of 9 claim blocks (see map) lie in the Omineca Mining Division of north-central British Columbia, approximately 150 km north of Fort St. James. The claims are not subject to any royalty terms, back-in rights, payments or any other agreements and encumbrances. Management plans to prepare and announce a plan and budget for an exploration program to be carried out once the field season starts in mid-2019. Ontario Cobalt Property Update: During the late fall of 2018, Surge completed a total of 4,272 m / 14,016 ft. of diamond drilling in 33 holes on both the Glencore-Bucke and Teledyne Cobalt Properties: 2,559 m / 8,396 ft. were completed in 24 drill holes on the Glencore Bucke Property, and 1,713 m / 5,620 ft. in 9 drill holes on the Teledyne Cobalt Property. On the Glencore-Bucke Property, drill holes GB18-22 to GB18-30 tested the Northwest and Main Zones with the intent of intersecting mineralized zones along strike and vertically above and below previous intersections reported in the 2017 drilling program completed by LiCo Energy Metals. Highlights from diamond drill holes GB18-22 to GB18-30 include: GB1 8-26 0.29 % Co over 0.25 m from 79.25 to 79.50 m . GB18-27 0.47 % Co, 33.1 ppm Ag, 0.82% Cu over 2.33 m from 94.42 to 96.75 m , including 1.3% Co, 65.8 ppm Ag, 0.97% Cu over 0.83 m from 94.42 to 95.25 m . GB18-29 1.28% Cu over 3.75 m from 61.75 to 65.50 m , including 0.24% Co, 0.43% Cu from 63.00 to 63.40 m . GB18-30 0.70 % Co over 0.50 m from 40.00 to 40.50 m . The results for diamond drill holes GB18-23 to GB18-30 are summarized below in Tables 1 and 2. There were no significant results for drill hole GB18-22. Table 1: Summary of Diamond Drill Results DDH From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Co (ppm) Ag (ppm) Cu (ppm) Zn (ppm) Pb (ppm) GB18-23 50.8 51.15 0.35 669 4.6 13300 257 56 GB18-24 44 46 2.00 50 12.6 1000 15450 10750 57.9 58.3 0.40 205 31.2 9200 262 65 GB18-25 24.4 24.6 0.20 607 7.1 13000 31 22 35.3 35.6 0.30 140 121 12600 67 2 51.7 52.72 1.02 418 33 7320 194 543 65.35 67.2 1.85 134 14 756 37489 11373 76 76.5 0.50 151 27.7 11200 1250 2090 82.8 83.5 0.70 208 89.3 18400 1340 364 GB18-26 79.25 79.5 0.25 2890 18.1 859 70 180 GB18-27 94.42 96.75 2.33 4701 33.1 8156 582 2105 incl. 94.42 95.25 0.83 13000 65.8 9720 192 5000 GB18-28 58 59.25 1.25 343 14.3 5068 470 672 71.5 72 0.50 80 13.4 1110 12100 13600 GB18-29 60.5 69 8.50 318 13.2 7065 6070 4197 incl. 61.75 65.5 3.75 572 14.9 12758 292 119 incl. 63 63.4 0.40 2430 10.9 4300 68 144 GB18-30 40 40.5 0.50 7030 0.7 20 43 6 44.5 45 0.50 1940 1.1 74 43 9 Note: Intervals reported in Table 1 represent core lengths and not true widths. Table 2: Drill hole Collar Information DDH Easting Northing Azimuth Dip GB18-22 604444.10 5252142.96 270 -45 GB18-23 604483.40 5252145.01 270 -45 GB18-24 604484.05 5252132.50 270 -45 GB18-25 604495.03 5252132.90 270 -45 GB18-26 604516.25 5252134.03 270 -45 GB18-27 604507.06 5252121.08 270 -45 GB18-28 604536.62 5252109.64 270 -60 GB18-29 604538.06 5252097.52 270 -60 GB18-30 604531.85 5252070.18 270 -45 QA/QC Program Surge Exploration Inc. has implemented a quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) program for both the Glencore-Bucke and Teledyne Property drill programs. Diamond drill cores were logged, and where marked for sampling, split in half, with one half placed in a labelled sample bag, and the remaining half placed back into the core tray and stored in a secured compound. A blank and a standard were inserted in the assay sampling sequence at every 26th and 27th place respectively. All samples were shipped to Activation Laboratories in Ancaster, Ontario. Each sample was coarsely crushed and a 250 g aliquot is then pulverized and made ready for analysis. A 0.25g portion of the pulverised material is digested with a near total digestion (4 acid) and then analyzed using an ICP. QC for the digestion is 14% for each batch, 5 method reagent blanks, 10 inhouse controls, 10 samples duplicates, and 8 certified reference materials. An additional 13% QC is performed as part of the instrumental analysis to ensure quality in the areas of instrumental drift. If over limits for Cu, Pb, Zn, and Co are encountered, a sodium peroxide fusion, acid dissolution followed by ICPOES is completed. Where Ag over limits, a fouracid digestion is completed followed by ICPOES. Qualified Person The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Joerg Kleinboeck, P.Geo., an independent consulting geologist and a qualified person as defined in NI 43-101. About Surge Exploration Inc. https://surgeexploration.com/ The Company is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company which has been active in the resource sector in British Columbia and elsewhere in Canada. The Company has an exploration office in Santiago, Chile to review mineral exploration opportunities in Chile and elsewhere in South America. Atacama Cobalto Project (Cobalt): The Atacama Cobalto Project is located in the Atacama Province in northern Chile, 15 km northwest of the town of Copiapo, where mining is the largest economic activity, and the mining industry is one of the region's major employers. The Atacama Cobalto Project consists of 1,059 hectares and is located only 3 km East of the Cerro Iman Mine. To date, CAP Mineria has drilled over 20,250 m on the Atacama Coblato Project. The area of interest hosts several other mining companies and is situated near the mylonitic corridor that is part of the Atacama Fault System that hosts many of the IOCG deposits in northern Chile. The Atacama Cobalto Project corresponds to a "cobalt anomalous IOCG" associated with the geographic area. The Atacama Cobalto Project benefits from access to excellent infrastructure, including port access, energy supply, and access through the Pan American Highway. Ontario Cobalt Properties (Cobalt): The Company has an option to earn an undivided 60% interest in the Glencore Bucke Property and the Teledyne Cobalt Property, located in Cobalt, Ontario Canada. Incahuasi Lithium Project (Lithium Brine): The property is located on the northernmost section of the Incahuasi salar, 75 km southeast from both the town of Tilomonte, Chile and the Salar de Atacama, where mining is the largest economic activity, and the mining industry is one of the region's major employers. The Incahuasi salar is located on the national border between Chile and Argentina at an elevation of 3,260 m. The Incahuasi Lithium Project consists of 10 mineral exploration concessions totalling 2,300 hectares. Bordering this property, in Argentina, is a 9,843 hectare lithium exploration property held by Advantage Lithium (TSXV: AALOTCQB: AVLIF). The option on this project is subject to TSX-V approval. Mineral Mountain Property (Gold, Copper) British Columbia As announced on November 28, 2018, Surge has acquired a 100% interest in 9 claim blocks comprising 19,665 hectares (197 sq km) in the Omineca region of north-central British Columbia, approximately 150 km north of Fort St. James. The claims are not subject to any royalty terms, back-in rights, payments or any other agreements and encumbrances. The region is host to numerous operating mines, good infrastructure including experienced exploration and supporting services. Hedge Hog Property, (Gold, Copper) British Columbia The Company has an option to earn an undivided 60% interest seven mineral tenure covering 2,418 hectares (5,972 acres) located approximately 80 km northeast of the town of Quesnel, BC and 20 km north of the historic gold mining towns of Wells and Barkerville. On Behalf of the Board of Directors "Tim Fernback" Tim Fernback President & CEO Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forwardlooking statements which include, but are not limited to, comments that involve future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Except for statements of historical facts, comments that address resource potential, upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt and security of mineral property titles, availability of funds, and others are forwardlooking. Forwardlooking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. General business conditions are factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forwardlooking statements. Contact: [email protected] +1-778-945-2656 SOURCE Surge Exploration Inc. TORONTO, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc. ("Supreme Cannabis" or the "Company") (TSX: FIRE) (OTCQX: SPRWF) (FRA: 53S1), announced the release of its financial and operating results for the three and six months ended December 31, 2018. Q2 2019 Financial and Operational Highlights Q2 2019 revenue for the Company was $7.72 million , a 359% increase from Q2 2018 ( $1.68 million ) and a 50% increase from Q1 2019 ( $5.14 million ). , a 359% increase from Q2 2018 ( ) and a 50% increase from Q1 2019 ( ). Q2 2019 net comprehensive loss for the Company was $1.55 million , compared to a net loss of $2.03 million in Q2 2018 and a net loss of $5.39 million in Q1 2019. , compared to a net loss of in Q2 2018 and a net loss of in Q1 2019. During the quarter, Supreme Cannabis strengthened its balance sheet by raising $100 million of gross proceeds through a bought deal offering of 6% unsecured convertible debentures due 2021 and led by GMP Securities L.P. and BMO Capital Markets. of gross proceeds through a bought deal offering of 6% unsecured convertible debentures due 2021 and led by GMP Securities L.P. and BMO Capital Markets. Supreme Cannabis made its first shipments of 7ACRES branded High-End Cannabis to six of Canada's provincially regulated adult-use channels. provincially regulated adult-use channels. The Company contracted Medipharm Labs Co. to facilitate the launch of the Company's cannabis oil products line. Supreme Cannabis and Khalifa Kush Enterprises announced an international partnership agreement to develop and launch premium cannabis products for the Canadian and international markets excluding the United States . . The Company's wholly-owned subsidiary and multi-award winning brand, 7ACRES, was named Brand of the Year at the 2018 Canadian Cannabis Awards. Subsequent to Q2 2019 The Company's 7ACRES facility received Health Canada approval for approximately 30,000 square feet of additional production space in January 2018 . . Supreme Cannabis graduated to the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") from the TSX Venture Exchange on February 4, 2019. 7ACRES entered into a supply agreement with the New Brunswick Liquor Corporation and has been registered as a supplier in the province of Saskatchewan , expanding distribution into eight provinces. "We're pleased with our second quarter results, which show meaningful revenue growth quarter-over-quarter and continues to reflect our strong operational execution," said Navdeep Dhaliwal, CEO of Supreme Cannabis. "Since Supreme received its license over two years ago, we have been one of the fastest scaling Licensed Producer's in Canada, demonstrated by one of the strongest first years of revenue in the sector." "During the second quarter we made our first shipments of 7ACRES-branded product to adult-use markets in six provinces. The consumer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Cannabis enthusiasts are vocal about their passion for high-quality cannabis. We believe 7ACRES has quickly established itself as Canada's only premier cannabis producer at scale. With construction on the flowering room at 7ACRES scheduled to be completed by the end of March, we're looking forward to increasing our production capacity to help meet consumer demand and drive further revenue growth throughout the year. This quarter validated many aspects of our consumer driven market thesis and demonstrates the strength of our intellectual property around scaled cultivation." We Grow Better. Supreme Cannabis' 2019 second quarter MD&A and consolidated financial statements for the quarter ended December 31, 2018, along with all previous public filings of The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc. may be found on SEDAR at www.SEDAR.com. About Supreme Cannabis The Supreme Cannabis Company (TSX: FIRE) (OTCQX: SPRWF) (FRA: 53S1) is a Canadian publicly traded company committed to providing premium brands and products that proudly reflect its consumers, people and uniquely innovative culture. The Company's portfolio includes its wholly-owned subsidiary and multi-award-winning brand, 7ACRES. 7ACRES is a federally licensed producer of cannabis operating inside a 440,000-square-foot facility in Kincardine, Ontario. 7ACRES is dedicated to providing consumers with a premium-quality product that recognizes its customers are informed, discerning and value a brand and culture that aligns with their principles. 7ACRES brand success has been reflected in its "Brand of the Year" award at the 2018 Canadian Cannabis Awards, "Best Licensed Producer Branding" award at the 2018 AdCann Advertising Awards and in provincial supply agreements where 7ACRES' product is consistently listed in the highest brand category available to recreational consumers. The Company's growing portfolio also includes an equity investment and long-term global distribution partnership with Lesotho-based Medigrow for the exporting of medical-grade cannabis oil. The Supreme Cannabis Company has been a leading innovator in the sector including the design of growing facilities and development of operational excellence metrics. We are confident that together with our flagship brand, proprietary technology and products, truly unique culture, and industry-leading team, we will deliver our shareholders consistent long-term value creation. Stay Connected: For more information, please visit The Supreme Cannabis Company and 7ACRES websites. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Forward-Looking Information Certain statements made in this press release may constitute forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. These statements may relate to anticipated events or results and include, but are not limited to, the launch of the Company's cannabis oil products line, the launch of premium cannabis products for the Canadian and international markets excluding the United States with Khalifa Kush Enterprises, the anticipated completion of construction on the flowering rooms and the resulting increases in our production capacity and revenue and other statements that are not historical facts. Particularly, information regarding our expectations of future results, targets, performance achievements, prospects or opportunities is forward-looking information. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "believe", "estimate", "plan", "could", "should", "would", "outlook", "forecast", "anticipate", "foresee", "continue" or the negative of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology. Forward-looking statements are current as of the date they are made and are based on applicable estimates and assumptions made by us at the relevant time in light of our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that we believe are appropriate and reasonable in the circumstances. However, we do not undertake to update any such forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities laws in Canada. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. Many factors could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements or future events or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's Annual Information Form dated October 2, 2018 ("AIF"). A copy of the AIF and the Company's other publicly filed documents can be accessed under the Company's profile on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval ("SEDAR") at www.sedar.com. The Company cautions that the list of risk factors and uncertainties described in the AIF is not exhaustive and other factors could also adversely affect its results. Readers are urged to consider the risks, uncertainties and assumptions carefully in evaluating the forward-looking information and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such information. SOURCE The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc. By Taran Volckhausen 7 February 2019 (Mongabay) Colombias environmentalists have declared an ecological disaster after the countrys second most important river, the Cauca, was reduced to less than 10 percent of normal flow after the countrys largest hydroelectric dam project Hidroituango took emergency measures earlier this week.Medellin energy company EPM took emergency measures to close the second of two floodgates on Tuesday to fill the Hidroituango dam reservoir. The dam was supposed to start producing power in 2018, but it has been plagued by disasters after a machine room collapsed in April of last year, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes .Isabel Zuleta, an activist for environmental organization Rios Vivos that works with communities alongside the Cauca, released a video filmed beside the once powerful river that now more closely resembles a slow-moving creek, denouncing EPM for what she described as the greatest environmental crime that has ever happened in Colombia.Environmental activists, politicians and journalists have taken to social media to share photos and videos sent from the frontline defenders and local communities around the river. Fishing communities who depend on the river for their main source of income as well as food security have denounced the mega-project for threatening their livelihoods.They took away the little that we had, they took away our peace and brought us worries. The majority of the fisherman are without work, we dont have anything we can do, fisherman Jairo Taborda said in an interview with local media Caracol television .Environmental licensing authority ANLA announced that it had not been informed about the emergency operation until hours before engineers closed the engine room tunnel that had provisionally discharged water after the original discharge tunnels were blocked last year. ANLA has already opened sanctions against EPM for failing to protect the ecological basin located below the dam. TOTOWA, N.J., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Superyacht Storytellers, the boutique publisher of custom coffee table books for superyacht owners and industry companies, has partnered with Tahiti Private Expeditions, which customizes dive services, logistics, and itineraries throughout French Polynesia and the Pacific. Tahiti Private Expeditions is making clients aware of the writing, design, and printing expertise offered by Superyacht Storytellers, so that they can capture their extraordinary vacations in a new, and personalized, way. With Tahiti Private Expeditions, Superyacht Storytellers will ensure that yacht owners' remarkable vacations are preserved in a way completely tailored to their tastes; photo courtesy of Rodolphe Holler. Tahiti Private Expeditions tailors private-yacht cruises throughout French Polynesia; photo courtesy of Rodolphe Holler. Tahiti Private Expeditions, owned by Rodolphe and Christelle Holler, has extensive, intimate knowledge of the best cruising and diving destinations from Tahiti to Bora Bora and beyond. It's the leader in providing VIP services, and has worked with more than 60 yachts. Tahiti Private Expeditions is known for its discretion and personalized attention. Besides providing an experienced dive guide/expedition leader, it also provides, when requested, professional custom video services featuring the clients' adventures throughout their cruise. Superyacht Storytellers brings a long-lasting added value to its suite of personalized offerings. Superyacht Storytellers is skilled in two essential arts of storytelling: the written word, and the artistic impact. It creates personalized, limited-edition, exquisite books that can be shared with friends, family, and colleagues. Superyacht shipyards and design studios tap the company to create books, too. Whatever the situation, Superyacht Storytellers lets people share their experiences again and againcompletely tailored to their tastes, just like superyachts. The idea of collaborating arose last autumn when Diane M. Byrne, co-owner and copywriting director of Superyacht Storytellers, ran into Christelle Holler at the Monaco Yacht Show. "The clients who turn to Tahiti Private Expeditions for its cruising recommendations and diving expertise are truly passionate about enjoying extraordinary experiences," Byrne said. "What could be better than capturing those experiences in a full-color, superb-quality, hardcover book that they can share with friends and family?" Christelle Holler said, "We're pleased to offer Superyacht Storytellers' services to clients who may have a special interest, such as celebrating a special event. In such a case, we will give the company's contact details to the client, so that they can discuss details directly." Tahiti Private Expeditions will additionally provide photos of the destination to augment the book. "We're looking forward to working with the Tahiti Private Expeditions team, and are glad they appreciate our ability to offer the unexpected," Beth Smith, co-owner of Superyacht Storytellers and its design director, said. Contacts Diane M. Byrne, Superyacht Storytellers, [email protected] Beth Smith, Superyacht Storytellers, [email protected] 973.826.7566 www.superyachtstorytellers.com SOURCE Superyacht Storytellers Related Links http://www.superyachtstorytellers.com ADDISON, Ill., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SunSource, a value-added distributor of fluid power and fluid process technologies, today announced the retirement of United Distribution Group, Inc. President & CEO, Darrell H. Cole, effective February 15, 2019. Mr. Cole has served a long 43-year career with United, going all the way back to 1976 when he joined at the genesis of the company. During his tenure with the organization, Darrell has seen it grow from a single location in rural southwestern Virginia, with just a handful of team members, to a nation-wide entity today with over 60 locations and 700 plus team members. United has consistently been named one of the Top 25 industrial distributors in the United States. "It has been an honor and a privilege to be associated with the employees of The United Distribution Group, United Central Industrial Supply Co., GHX Industrial, and McCarty Equipment Co. as the organization grew and prospered," said Mr. Cole. "As I begin the next chapter of life, I look forward to seeing the company continue to grow and prosper through its affiliation with the SunSource group of companies. At the same time, I look forward to spending more time with family and traveling." "It has been an honor to work with Darrell through the transition period of joining forces with United Distribution Group," remarked David Sacher, CEO of SunSource. "He has built a great leadership team and has provided the support to ensure that the transition will be successful for all associates, supplier-partners and customers. We are all thankful." About SunSource Headquartered in Addison, Illinois, SunSource is a value-added distributor of fluid power and fluid process technologies in the U.S. and Canada. As a technically-focused distributor, SunSource serves as an extension of its customers' design and engineering teams and its suppliers' sales forces, delivering innovative solutions that lower total costs and streamline supply chains. The company operates through four highly focused strategic business units that provide tailored solutions for the unique needs of its customers. For more information, visit www.sun-source.com. Contact: Chuck Freeman 630-317-2706 SOURCE SunSource Related Links http://www.sun-source.com Designed by CityPASS, the company that has specialized in bundling discounted admission to the most iconic attractions in North America for more than 20 years, the original Southern California CityPASS program debuted in 2003. It quickly became an attractive option for budget-savvy families planning theme park getaways to the Golden State. Now, evolving technology allows CityPASS to offer its Southern California customers the most customizable travel experience possible. Upon visiting the Southern California page of the CityPASS website, travelers select the parks and tickets they want to include. Their tailor-made, direct-to-the-turnstile tickets are then delivered via email and can be saved to a mobile device or printed out for added convenience. "We're thrilled to be partnering with Southern California's most famous theme parks to offer a simple solution for creating the perfect vacationall while saving time and money," said Megan Allen, CityPASS president and CEO. "Planning a family trip can be stressful. We set out to design an easy, one-stop shopping experience that greatly reduces that pressure and bundles all your admission tickets into one convenient deliverable." Southern California CityPASS prices and savings vary, depending on the number of parks and types of tickets chosen. For more information, visit citypass.com/southern-california. About CityPASS: For more than 20 years, CityPASS tickets have been premier products for travelers who want to visit a destination's top attractions while enjoying significant savings. CityPASS tickets, which have a 97 percent customer recommendation rating, are currently available in 14 North American destinations: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Southern California, Tampa Bay and Toronto. For more information, visit CityPASS.com. Link to Dropbox containing Southern California CityPASS images: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jdxwo3h8ejscxd4/AAB02Lw5RNbcaEC3SMf4qtd_a?dl=0 Prices, savings and programs vary depending on selected tickets. CityPASS is a registered trademark of City Pass, Inc., and the exclusive property of City Pass, Inc. SOURCE CityPASS Related Links http://CityPASS.com CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sodoma Law, a full-service law firm based in Charlotte, is entering its 11th year and continues an upward trajectory with support from its colleagues, community and clients. In 2018, the firm's attorneys earned several awards, contributed their expert insights on topical issues to regional and national media, and gave support to their communities via the Sodoma Law Foundation. Founded by Managing Principal Nicole Sodoma in 2008 as a family law firm, in 2018 Sodoma Law continued its "whole life" approach to meeting its clients' needs and in supporting the law community in Charlotte and beyond. In 2018, the " Sodoma Way " approach included adding mediation and litigation consulting capabilities while growing the firm's business, estate planning, bankruptcy and employment law practice areas as well. To accommodate its growth, near the close of 2018, the firm announced its planned restoration in 2019 of 217 Graham St, a landmark building left untouched for close to 70 years. This is the third property restored by Sodoma Law in partnership with Doma Vida Capital, following the Walter Brem House in 2013 and the G.G. Galloway House in 2014. "As we enter 2019, on the heels of an extraordinary year, I am delighted to announce that Sodoma Law family law attorney, Board Certified Specialist in Family Law (NC) and certified Family and Divorce Mediator (NC and SC) Patra Sinner has been named a Principal," said Nicole Sodoma, Managing Principal, Sodoma Law. "Patra's leadership along with her contributions to the overall success and strategic plan of the firm has been outstanding. Her efforts have positively impacted not only operations and culture but also the professional and personal development of the firm's staff and attorneys. I am honored to practice alongside her and look forward to continuing our exciting journey together." In 2018, six of the firm's attorneys were recognized with awards including Icons & Phenoms (Mecklenburg Times), Leaders in the Law (North Carolina Lawyers Weekly), multiple awards from Super Lawyers, Legal Elite (Business North Carolina), and for the first time, Best Lawyers in America. Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review, designed to capture the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area. Sodoma Law provided insights to media on a multitude of timely themes over the last year. Topics such as sexual harassment in the #MeToo era featured in INC , financial implications of the Harvey Weinstein scandal on Associated Press and The Washington Post and why prenups aren't just for the rich and famous on Business Insider were highlighted at the national level. Closer to home, Carolina Parent sought Sodoma Law's insight on explaining the new tax code to families, local news channel Fox 46 discussed Domestic Violence and WBTV explored how to talk to your kids about divorce. Since its inception in 2014, the Sodoma Law Foundation , the charitable arm of Sodoma Law , has steadily increased its role in providing support to businesses and nonprofits in the region and throughout the state. As in years past, in 2018 the Foundation continued to contribute leadership, talent, assets and monetary donations to over 21 organizations and events across North Carolina and South Carolina, with a particular focus on those that support the well-being of children and families the keystone of the firm's core values. In 2019, the Sodoma Law Foundation and the team at Sodoma Law will continue to be involved with North Carolina and South Carolina-based causes, including Safe Alliance and the Charlotte Rescue Mission. About Sodoma Law, P.C. Sodoma Law, P.C. is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, with four additional locations in Charlotte; in Monroe, Union County; and in Rock Hill, York County, South Carolina. The firm's areas of practice include Family Law , Adoption , Surrogacy , Employment Law , Mediation , Business Litigation , Estate Planning , and Business Law . Like Sodoma Law on Facebook , follow them on Twitter ( @SodomaLaw ), and follow Managing Principal Nicole Sodoma ( @NSodoma ). Contact: Ariane Wolff, Warner Communications 978-729-3542 or [email protected] SOURCE Sodoma Law, P.C. BOULDER, Colo., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SkyRun Vacation Rentals is the new host of ColoradoRentals.com, with their 650 SkyRun Colorado Properties listed and available for booking. This comes after a strategic move by the company's CEO, Barry Cox, and his decision to purchase the rights to the popularly named URL. Cox discusses his purchase decision - "I saw the opportunity to increase exposure for our Colorado properties, while keeping the URL within the Colorado family - it was one of the easiest decisions I've made since starting SkyRun, and one that I am confident will bring exceptional exposure and support our, already phenomenal, booking rates." Colorado is one of the fastest growing vacation destinations in America, with annual growth in tourism rates as well as investment in vacation rental properties. As host to ColoradoRentals.com, SkyRun, which also continues to be accessible through SkyRun.com, will capitalize on online search terms for Colorado vacation rentals, as well as brand association with those terms. "It's important for us to provide industry leading technology and marketing for all of our destinations and properties..." Cox continues, "...Launching ColoradoRentals.com in addition to our successful SkyRun.com not only supports that but also sets us apart from larger, corporately structured, competition." Gaining the rights to ColoradoRentals.com was a celebratory milestone for SkyRun which was founded and headquartered in Colorado and voted as a Best of Summit winner three years running. Now home to 11 of the company's destinations and 650 properties, Colorado has become SkyRun's breeding ground for growth and success. SkyRun has already achieved bookings through the additional site, adding to an incredibly successful winter season. With 24 destinations in total and 1,000 properties across North America, SkyRun now looks to acquiring state based URL's as additional landing sites for all of their destinations. About SkyRun: Since 2004, SkyRun Vacation Rentals (www.SkyRun.com) has provided new and better ways for multi-home owners to get the most out of their investment properties and for our guests to get the most out of their vacation experiences. SkyRun is headquartered in Boulder, CO and each SkyRun Destination is locally owned and operated. Contact Abigail Glaessner ([email protected]) for more information. SOURCE SkyRun Vacation Rentals Related Links http://www.skyrun.com LONDON, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The following documents (the "Documents") are available for viewing: Prospectus Supplement dated 8 February 2019 Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS.A) (NYSE: RDS.B) unaudited consolidated interim financial statements for the twelve month period ended 31 December 2018 The Documents must be read in conjunction with the Information Memorandum dated 3 August 2018, as supplemented by the first supplement dated 19 September 2018 and the second supplement dated 1 November 2018, relating to the Programme. The Information Memorandum constitutes a base prospectus for the purposes of Article 5.4 of Directive 2003/71/EC as amended or superseded. Full information on Shell International Finance B.V. and Royal Dutch Shell plc is only available on the basis of the Information Memorandum. The Documents are available for viewing at the 'Financial Publications' section of Shell's website. To view the Documents, please paste the following URLs into the address bar of your browser. Royal Dutch Shell plc unaudited consolidated interim financial statements for the twelve month period ended 31 December 2018 https://www.shell.com/investors/financial-reporting/quarterly-results/quarterly-results-2018/q4-2018/_jcr_content/par/toptasks_1119141760.stream/1548859801485/664f405fb440fd09b20702d5b71e027f279b466c966d2a43f900a4c5cfd7c23c/q4-2018-qra-document.pdf Prospectus Supplement dated 8 February 2019 https://www.shell.com/investors/financial-reporting/debt-information/euro-medium-term-note-programme.html Other content available on Shell's website and the content of any other website accessible from hyperlinks on Shell's website is not incorporated into, and does not forms part of, this announcement. The Documents have also been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/nsm. DISCLAIMER INTENDED ADDRESSEES Please note that the information contained in the Information Memorandum may be addressed to and/or targeted at persons who are residents of particular countries (specified in the Information Memorandum) only and is not intended for use and should not be relied upon by any person outside these countries and/or to whom the offer contained in the Information Memorandum is not addressed. Prior to relying on the information contained in the Information Memorandum, you must ascertain from the Information Memorandum whether or not you are part of the intended addressees of the information contained therein. This publication does not constitute an offering of the securities described in the Information Memorandum for sale in the United States. This is not for distribution 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 "Securities Act") or under any relevant securities laws of any state of the United States and are subject to U.S. tax law requirements. Subject to certain exceptions, the securities may not be offered or sold within the United States or to or for the account or benefit of U.S. persons, as such terms are defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act. There will be no public offering of the securities in the United States. Your right to access this service is conditional upon complying with the above requirement. Enquiries: Shell Media Relations International, UK, European Press: +44(0)207-934-5550 Shell Investor Relations Europe: +31(0)70-377-3996 SOURCE Shell International Finance B.V. and Royal Dutch Shell plc ROSEVILLE, Calif., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Always Best Care Senior Services, one of the leading senior care franchise systems in the United States, announced today that it has opened its newest franchise in Ballwin, Missouri a suburb of St. Louis. Always Best Care Senior Services of Ballwin marks the company's second location in the state of Missouri. The new agency is owned and operated by first-time franchisee Christina Smith, who brings nearly 20 years experience in sales and leadership development training to the company. "Christina exemplifies everything that we're looking for when searching for entrepreneurs to help us expand into new territories," said Jake Brown, President and CEO of Always Best Care. "It's a pleasure to welcome her and her husband to the Always Best Care family and we believe her business experience combined with passion for senior care services will help make her first location a tremendous success." A St. Louis resident, Smith recognized the need for senior care in the growing metropolitan area and will look to build relationships with those in her community quickly. A majority of immediate efforts will be focused on educating the local community about the importance of providing the best care possible to seniors in need. "I searched for a franchise that I felt would provide us with the needed support from the very beginning and that led me to Always Best Care," said Smith. "I'm very passionate about this industry having spent four years caring for my mother during her senior years. I believe in listening to your heart when making an investment and my heart was telling me this was the best decision for our family. We're excited to get started." Located in Chesterfield Valley off of Chesterfield Airport Road, Always Best Care Senior Services of Ballwin services several communities including St. Louis, Chesterfield, Ballwin, Ellisville, Manchester, Wildwood, Glencoe, Melrose and many others. Always Best Care is one of the nation's leading providers of non-medical in-home care, assisted living placement services and skilled home health care, and is the only senior services franchise system that combines the three to create three separate revenue streams for its franchisees. The company delivers its services through an international network of more than 200 independently owned and operated franchise territories throughout the United States and Canada. By working with case managers, social workers, discharge planners, doctors, and families, Always Best Care franchise owners provide affordable, comprehensive solutions that can be specifically matched to meet a client's particular physical or social needs. The hallmark services of Always Best Care include non-medical in-home care and assisted living finder and referral services, with skilled home health care now being phased in throughout the country. For additional information on services available through Always Best Care Senior Services of Ballwin, or for a free evaluation, please call 314-433-3300, email [email protected] and visit www.alwaysbestcarelovesseniors.com. About Always Best Care Founded in 1996, Always Best Care Senior Services is based on the belief that having the right people for the right level of care means peace of mind for the client and family. Always Best Care assists seniors with a wide range of illnesses and personal needs, and currently provides more than 4 million hours of care every year. Franchise opportunities are available to individuals interested in leveraging the company's clear strategy and proven track record for delivering affordable, dependable service to seniors in their local areas. Always Best Care also offers an exclusive program called Always in Touch, a telephone reassurance program that provides a daily phone call to seniors and disabled adults who are living alone and have limited contact with the outside world. Always in Touch is the only absolutely free national telephone reassurance program of its kind anywhere in the USA and Canada. For more information on Always in Touch, or to request an application, visit www.Always-In-Touch.com. CONTACT: Chelsea Bear Fish Consulting 954-893-9150 [email protected] SOURCE Always Best Care Related Links http://www.alwaysbestcarelovesseniors.com CAMBRIDGE, England, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The complex relationship between opportunity and risk in the connected world poses unprecedented challenges for medical device manufacturers, according to software specialists at product development consultancy Sagentia. Software architects regularly contend with conflicting objectives when making technology choices. Acceleration of product development is a major goal, but so is the safety and security of patients and users. Upfront software decisions have a critical bearing on both product efficacy and the likelihood of achieving regulatory approval. There is rarely an absolute right choice. Instead, software architects must consider all the available options, opportunities and repercussions, then make a pragmatic choice. Sagentia has developed a free whitepaper Medical devices: the shift from embedded to connected to help decision-makers develop a 'risk compass' to navigate this environment. One of the paper's authors, Paulo Pinheiro, Head of Electronics, Software and Systems at Sagentia, explains: "The new possibilities unlocked by connectivity and commodity software are hugely exciting. But they do come at a cost. With traditional medical devices, code is embedded and contained within a single functional unit. It's isolated and relatively easy to protect. When devices are connected, you relinquish some of that control, and increase exposure to external threats. Software architects have to find the right balance between controlling the risks and maximising the opportunities. And it isn't easy." Issues covered by the whitepaper range from risk-based decision making and future-proofing to usability. It considers how to apply the software classifications detailed in the IEC 62304 standard for medical device software. And it looks at software security guidance from the US Food and Drug Administration and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation. "Medical device development has to keep pace with the connected world, but decisions need to be underpinned by a high level of awareness," Paulo continues. "With a solid understanding of the technology and regulatory landscape, backed by robust processes, the benefits of the connected digital world can be brought to medical devices, without compromising on patient safety." Medical devices: the shift from embedded to connected is available at https://www.sagentia.com/insight/medical-devices-the-shift-from-embedded-to-connected/. Sagentia will be at Software Design for Medical Devices Global, 11-14 February 2019. About Sagentia Sagentia is a global science, product and technology development company. Our mission is to help companies maximise the value of their investments in R&D. We partner with clients in the medical, consumer, industrial and food & beverage sectors to help them understand the technology and market landscape, decide their future strategy, solve the complex science and technology challenges and deliver commercially successful products. Sagentia employs over 150 scientists, engineers and market experts and is a Science Group company. Science Group provides independent advisory and leading-edge product development services focused on science and technology initiatives. It has ten offices globally, two UK-based dedicated R&D innovation centres and more than 350 employees. Other Science Group companies include OTM Consulting, Oakland Innovation, Leatherhead Food Research and TSG Consulting. For further information visit us at: www.sagentia.com or email [email protected] www.sciencegroup.com SOURCE Sagentia Related Links https://www.sagentia.com/ In order to make this idea tangible, Bank of America worked with a well-known marketing agency, Octagon, in hopes to build a Rube Goldberg experience. Octagon reached out to Britten, a creative production company in Traverse City, Michigan, to help bring this concept to life in just one month. The president, Paul Britten, was more than willing to accept this challenge as his background is in architecture. "It took a lot of study on Rube Goldberg and his thinking. We created storyboards of each and every element in the process. Then created three-dimensional models until we were confident that the scale of each component was going to work," said Paul. The first trigger of the domino effect was to swipe an oversized Bank of America credit card that caused the machine to activate and go through a series of 10 different steps, until it opened up a gift box at the end with a RED gift inside. The Rube Goldberg was designed to look like old-fashioned toys, built out of plywood, and cut using a MultiCam CNC router. The Rube Goldberg Experience was on display for four days in Bryant Park, and raised thousands of dollars for project RED. The entire machine was delivered in-person, assembled, tested, and staffed by Britten's creative team. "We've been in business since 1985, originating as a sign company, but today we are really architects of special projects. We help agencies and other creative people bring their creative ideas to life. We only had a month to pull off this project, from the very first phone call until opening day. The kids were thrilled, there is nothing more fun than seeing their smiling faces," said Paul. Britten is one of the few creative companies that has the resources and manpower to oversee every step of a project like this including the initial concept, site survey, design, production, and final installation. Contact Britten today to learn more at www.britteninc.com or check out the Rube Goldberg video here. About Britten: Since 1985, Britten has not only fabricated amazing event activations, but offers a wide range of products and services such as large format print, building wraps, truss systems, mesh fencing, stage graphics, point-of-purchase displays, tents, building wraps, SEG frames, three-dimensional foam sculptures, custom shipping containers, national installation, and more. Contact Information: Grace Schroeder (231) 346-8799 [email protected] SOURCE Britten, Inc. Related Links http://www.britteninc.com Although daytime workers are often sleep-deprived, night and graveyard shift workers often suffer from a malady called "Shift Work Disorder." In addition to increased health risks, such as heart disease and obesity, people who work during the night are frequently tired and are at greater risk of developing sleep disorders. Shift Work Disorder is a serious problem in many industries. Approximately 30 percent of all American workers are getting less than six hours of sleep but that number shoots up to 44 percent for night-shift employees. "We can help anyone who wants a wake-up call. Reon Revive is an easy and effective way to energize your day or night. Just tear, pour and go," said Daniel Scott, co-founder of Reon. Reon Revive, which is now available on Amazon, is an energy-boosting supplement powder shot that contains 80 mg of caffeine and 50 percent of your B12 RDA. Reon recommends taking two-to-three sachets throughout the day to stay energized and states that these supplements are not only perfect for that 2 p.m. boost people often need, but also for that extra revitalizing kick before, during, and after exercise. Reon Revive is sugar free, gluten free, vegan friendly and certified by Informed Sport for use by professional athletes. For more information about Reon Revive, visit tryreon.com and follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Please direct inquiries to: Andrew Polin, 561-544-0719 [email protected] SOURCE Reon Revive Related Links http://www.tryreon.com By Nicole Acevedo 5 February 2019 (NBC News) Nearly a million and half people in Puerto Rico face deep cuts in food assistance, or losing it completely, if the federal government doesnt provide funding for the Nutrition Assistance Program, which is expected to run out of money on the island next month.According to an analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy institute, 1.3 million people would experience average benefit cuts of more than a third if Congress does not approve a block grant for the Nutrition Assistance Program, or NAP, which is the U.S. territorys version of SNAP or food stamps. About 100,00 people would lose their benefits altogether.Unlike SNAP benefits in the 50 states, Puerto Ricos NAP is a block grant that cannot be adjusted once it is approved, even during times of disaster or increased need.Even though Congress provided $1.27 billion to the program in response to Hurricane Maria, that money is expected to run out in March.In November, Puerto Ricos governor, Ricardo Rossello, asked Congress for $600 million in disaster NAP funding to keep the program running for another six months.The House approved the governors request in January.Shortly after, the Trump administration publicly opposed the Houses attempt to fund the islands nutrition assistance program, calling it excessive and unnecessary.If the NAP assistance is cut by a third, a poor family of four currently receiving the maximum benefit of $649 a month would instead get $410. Puerto Ricos poverty rate is three times higher than the national average.Policymakers can avert this March cliff by providing the needed funding in the disaster legislation they may consider this month in response to Hurricane Michael, wrote Javier Balmaceda, the reports author and a senior policy adviser at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. [more] Random42 are at the forefront of innovative technologies for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry and this new release emphasises their desire to share this innovation and unique storytelling capability with a wider audience. The company consists of scientists, artists, animators and programmers who collaborate to effortlessly intertwine the worlds of science, art and technology, producing some of the most impactful scientific stories, imagery and interactive experiences. Ben Ramsbottom, Random42 Medical Director and CEO commented on the new release: "We are excited to launch our first truly educational virtual reality experience that is publicly available. We hope that this will go beyond our normal client base so that schools and universities as well as the greater scientific community can gain value from our work." The new educational experience Intercellular can be viewed on the Random42 YouTube channel or website, or for the full immersive VR experience download the Random42 Virtual Reality App and use a VR viewer with your phone. Leo Chilcott, Random42's Production Director, said: "Intercellular was one of the more challenging VR projects the team have worked on. Transitioning from one 3D environment to the next is a delicate process in VR, making sure the leaps are not disorientating or jarring for the viewer. I think the team's hard work really paid off, I especially enjoy moving from the cellular to molecular level, watching the cell split open revealing another world inside." How to view the experience: For the best immersive experience download the app and use a VR viewer with your phone. If you don't have a VR viewer, such as a Google Cardboard, Random42 can send you one for free. About Random42: Random42 Scientific Communication is a leading scientific communication studio specializing in medical animation and education, scientific virtual reality, interactive and visually engaging solutions for global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. In their 26-year history they have worked with 24 out of the top 25 pharma companies and won over 175 industry awards, a clear industry leader. Social: www.facebook.com/Random42/ www.twitter.com/random42science https://www.linkedin.com/company/random42-medical-animation/ www.instagram.com/random42scientific/ www.youtube.com/user/Random42Medical Contact: For further information please contact - Random42 Scientific Communication A - 51 Great Marlborough Street, London, W1F 7JT E - [email protected] T - +44-(0)-20-7734-6001 W - www.random42.com SOURCE Random42 CHICAGO, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- United Benefit Advisors (UBA), the nation's leading independent employee benefits advisory organization, welcomes Andres O'Neil & Lowe Insurance Agency to our community of Partners. Andres O'Neil & Lowe has a nearly century-long reputation for excellence in risk management, claim advocacy, service, and creative solutions. Founded in 1923, Andres O'Neil & Lowe is recognized as a leader in the independent agency system throughout Ohio. With locations in Bryan, Wauseon, and Archbold, Andres O'Neil & Lowe represents many of the most respected commercial and personal lines insurance providers. The firm proudly offers customized levels of support that meets their clients' needs and budgetfrom training to complete benefits administration. They support employee recruitment and retention efforts while keeping healthcare costs in check and streamlining the entire benefits process. Clients rely on and trust Andres O'Neil and Lowe's Employee Benefit Specialists to help navigate the ever-changing world of employee benefits. From insurance enrollments to Affordable Care Act compliance and everything in between, the Andres O'Neil & Lowe team is always ready to offer expertise and a helping hand. Known for being thorough, reliable, and professional in all that they do, they take a holistic, focused approach using situational analysis to assess the needs and risks of a clients' plan and then employ the tools and plan design necessary to obtain the desired outcomes. Andres O'Neil & Lowe is lauded for their commitment to service for customers, the community, and each other. "We deeply appreciate Andres O'Neil & Lowe's community focus and responsiveness. With community and collaboration at the heart of UBA's mission, we believe a firm so committed to philanthropy, employment opportunities, and helping other local businesses succeed is one that will bring a like-minded approach to our Partner community. That kind of mindset benefits everyone," said UBA President Peter Weber, M.S., CAE. Beth Pool, Managing Partner of Andres O'Neil & Lowe said, "We look forward to sharing best practices we employ to obtain and retain new clients. We're also excited to actively utilize and participate within the UBA Health Plan Survey." About Andres O'Neil & Lowe Andres O'Neil & Lowe Insurance Agency combines years of experience with leading-edge products to provide exceptional service and value to our customers. Headquartered in Bryan, Ohio, we think globally but act locally, with personal services designed specifically for each individual client. Andres O'Neil & Lowe Insurance Agency shares information and resources with national networks of brokers to ensure we can meet your every need and find answers to your questions quickly and efficiently. To learn more about Andres O'Neil & Lowe, visit www.andresoneilandlowe.com. About United Benefit Advisors United Benefit Advisors(UBA) is the nation's leading independent employee benefits advisory organization with more than 200 offices throughout the United States, Canada, England, and Ireland. Employers, advisors and industry-related organizations interested in obtaining powerful results from the shared wisdom of our Partners should visit www.UBAbenefits.com. Media Contact Bill Olson SVP Operations 312.416.3673 [email protected] SOURCE United Benefit Advisors Related Links http://www.UBAbenefits.com SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG) will report fourth-quarter and full-year 2018 earnings on February 28, 2019, before the market opens. PG&E Corporation will not be hosting an associated conference call for members of the financial community. About PG&E Corporation PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG) is a holding company headquartered in San Francisco. It is the parent company of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, an energy company that serves 16 million Californians across a 70,000-square-mile service area in Northern and Central California. Each of PG&E Corporation and the Utility is a separate entity, with distinct creditors and claimants, and is subject to separate laws, rules and regulations. For more information, visit http://www.pgecorp.com. SOURCE PG&E Corporation Related Links http://www.pgecorp.com ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Transportation Research Institute today released its annual list highlighting the most congested bottlenecks for trucks in America, and five Pennsylvania locations made the top 100. The 2019 Top Truck Bottleneck List assesses the level of truck-oriented congestion at 300 locations on the national highway system. The analysis, based on truck GPS data from nearly 1 million heavy duty trucks uses several customized software applications and analysis methods, along with terabytes of data from trucking operations to produce a congestion impact ranking for each location. ATRI's truck GPS data is used to support the U.S. DOT's freight mobility initiatives. The locations detailed in this latest ATRI list represent the top 100 congested locations. "The Keystone State depends on trucking to deliver the goods everything from the food we eat to the clothes we wear and the fuel we put in our cars," said Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association President & CEO Kevin Stewart. "Unfortunately, growing congestion impacts our ability to meet the demands of Pennsylvania's citizens. Using ATRI's bottleneck analysis, we can target infrastructure investment to those areas most affected by congestion." The five bottlenecks in Pennsylvania are: No. 38 Philadelphia: I-76 at I-676 No. 62 Harrisburg: I-81 at I-83 No. 63 Philadelphia, PA : I-476 at I-95 : I-476 at I-95 No. 77 Philadelphia, PA : I-76 at I-476 : I-76 at I-476 No. 92 Harrisburg, PA : RT 581 at I-83 "ATRI's research shows us where the worst pain points are but they are far from the only ones. This report should be a wakeup call for elected leaders at all levels of government that we must act quickly to address our increasingly congested highway system," ATA President and CEO Chris Spear said. "Without meaningful investment in our nation's infrastructure, carriers will continue to endure billions of dollars in congestion-related costs which results in a self-inflicted drag on our economy." For access to the full report, including detailed information on each of the 100 top congested locations, please visit ATRI's website at TruckingResearch.org. ATRI is the trucking industry's 501(c)(3) not-for-profit research organization. It is engaged in critical research relating to freight transportation's essential role in maintaining a safe, secure and efficient transportation system. SOURCE American Transportation Research Institute Related Links http://TruckingResearch.org With the help of its community partners, from soup kitchen to meal sites to shelters, Houston Food Bank helps to feed 800,000 individuals each year. In times of disaster, such as Hurricane Harvey, the need increases, and Houston Food Bank is called upon to aid the community. In the year following Hurricane Harvey, they distributed 122 million nutritious meals (source: Houston Food Bank). Now, a little more than one year since the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, Houston Food Bank is working to leverage technology to make a greater impact, not only during a storm but also for the parents who are struggling to put meals on the table. "One in six children goes hungry in Texas, and one critical component to solving this issue is awareness of available resources," says Brian Greene, president/CEO of Houston Food Bank. "There are a great deal of services and information available, but it can often be confusing and overwhelming, and we are working on a mobile and web application, or 'app', with Pariveda Solutions leveraging AWS, designed to streamline information in a user-friendly format to help people get the assistance that they need, especially in times of disaster." Pariveda Solutions utilized their 11-week internship program, focused on making an impact to the community, to put together a mobile and web application that allows for people to more easily find access to food banks close to them. The application is a first because it integrates with the database housed on AWS and reaches new communities. "Working with Houston Food Bank gave us the opportunity to impact the Houston community at a large scale," said Allison Esenkova, Houston Vice President for Pariveda Solutions. "It provided a platform for our interns to learn the world of consulting while giving back in a way that impacts the Houston community to reduce hunger." This new application leverages the technologies of AWS. Houston Food Bank has decided to migrate their platforms to the AWS stack and this new pantry application aligns and integrates easily. This mobile application will allow for a map with pantry locations for ease of discovery, Spanish language support and push notifications that will work by geography. In addition, it will provide general information about the food bank as well as user analytics to continue to improve. "We are delighted to see Amazon Web Services technology impact the community in a positive way," said Terry Wise, Vice President of Worldwide Partner Ecosystems, Amazon Web Services, Inc. "Houston Food Bank and APN Premier Partner Pariveda Solutions leveraged AWS to create a solution that is designed have a lasting impact on the people of Houston." About Pariveda Solutions Pariveda Solutions, Inc. is an employee-owned, strategic services and information technology consulting company that grows and deploys talented people to solve the strategic and technical challenges of its clients. The company serves clients in ten major city locations including: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C. Pariveda Solutions and The Business of IT are trademarks of Pariveda Solutions, Inc., Dallas, Texas, USA. About Houston Food Bank The Houston Food Bank is a solution to both hunger and food waste. In the year following Hurricane Harvey the Food Bank distributed 122 million nutritious meals through its network of 1,500 community partners, including food pantries, soup kitchens, social service providers, and schools in southeast Texas. We distribute fresh produce, meat and nonperishables from our warehouse at 535 Portwall, where we also prepare nutritious hot meals for kids in our new state-of-the-art Keegan Kitchen. We work with grocery stores and growers to rescue food before it reaches landfills with a focus on fresh healthy food. Additional community services include nutrition education and SNAP application assistance. We feed hungry people in 18-county service area alongside our partner food banks in Montgomery County, Galveston and Brazos Valley. The Houston Food Bank, founded in 1982, is a certified member of Feeding America, the nation's food bank network, with a four-star rating from Charity Navigator. Contact information Contact for Houston Food Bank Paula Murphy, Patterson & Murphy Public Relations 832-723-6983; [email protected] Adele Brady, Houston Food Bank 713-547-8674; [email protected] SOURCE Pariveda Solutions, Inc. Related Links http://www.parivedasolutions.com ATLANTA, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Just months after opening its Atlanta office, Odgers Berndtson has hired Catherine Bass Black, its fourth Atlanta-based search professional. Ms. Black, who was previously the Head of Talent Acquisition and Director of Community Affairs at Bass Pro Shops, joins the firm as a Principal supporting the Industrial, Consumer, Board, and Leadership Practices. "Catherine is a very accomplished recruiter and a consummate team player," said Steve Potter, CEO of Odgers Berndtson U.S. "She was a crucial part of the in-house talent management and corporate affairs functions at Bass Pro Shops, and we think she'll have a similarly big impact at Odgers. We're excited to have her." Before her tenure at Bass Pro Shops, Ms. Black was a Senior Associate at another global executive search firm as a member of their Industrial and Technology practices. Ms. Black has also held executive-level positions in resource development for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta and United Way of Greater Atlanta. She has an MBA from Emory University Goizueta Business School and a BA from Sewanee: The University of the South, where she graduated cum laude. An avid community participant, she was the recipient of Springfield Business Journal 40 under 40 Award in 2018 and Atlanta's Power 30 Under 30 Award in 2009. "I've worked with Catherine earlier in her career," said Mats-Ola Bydell, Head of Odgers Berndtson's Atlanta office, "and I'm delighted to be reunited with such a formidable and professional colleague." About Odgers Berndtson For more than 50 years, Odgers Berndtson has delivered executive search, leadership assessment, and development strategies to the world's biggest and best organizations. Odgers Berndtson's 250+ partners cover more than 50 sectors and operate out of 59 offices in 29 countries. The U.S. wing of the firm launched in 2011 and is one of the fastest growing search firms in the Americas. Odgers Berndtson currently has U.S. offices in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington DC. CONTACT Odgers Berndtson Soh Won Cha, 646-493-9187 [email protected] SOURCE Odgers Berndtson Related Links https://www.odgersberndtson.com 12000 N. 132nd is located in Surprise, Arizona, which is 24 miles northwest of Phoenix and is the second fastest-growing municipality in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. The state-of-the-art warehouse/industrial building was built in 2013. The asset was acquired as one of 24 total assets by Northstar in a portfolio acquisition totaling $224.3 million in 2015, for a total portfolio size of 5,900,061 square feet of industrial, retail and office properties in 13 states. "We are pleased with the sale of this property it is a Class A industrial asset in a strong location, and represents a good value" says Brian Watson, Chairman & CEO of Northstar. "This transaction represents Northstar's strength: taking a vacant asset, putting it into productivity, and creating jobs and opportunity for the local community." "This unsolicited sale speaks to the market as well as the product type," said Cary Wicker, Director of Asset Management at Northstar Commercial Partners. "JLL found the buyer (a Canadian REIT) and did a nice job executing on the transaction." Anthony Lydon, Bill Honsaker and Marc Hertzberg of Jones Lang LaSalle acted as the Seller's exclusive sale and lease listing brokers. Watson concluded, "I am pleased that we finalized this sale, and look forward to growing our presence in Arizona and other States throughout the country". Northstar specializes in buying vacant, distressed and value-add assets throughout the United States, in order to help stabilize properties, and create jobs and opportunities for thousands of people. Since Watson founded the company in 2000, Northstar has closed more than 138 deals, and currently has 47 retail, office, industrial/warehouse, medical, senior care, data centers, and day care facilities in 15 states under its investment, development, and management. The portfolio exceeds $1.32 billion of market value. To learn more about Northstar Commercial Partners, please visit www.northstarcp.com. Media contact: Nick Pennebaker [email protected] 303.893.9500 SOURCE Northstar Commercial Partners Related Links http://www.northstarcp.com VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Weekend Unlimited Inc. ("Weekend" or the "Company") (CSE: POT) (FSE: 0OS1) (OTCMKTS: WKULF) is pleased to announce that Northern Lights Supply in Nisku, Alberta has received its initial shipment from AGLC allowing it to set a grand opening date for February 23rd. "Having received the store's initial order, we are currently stocking the shelves and conducting our final staff training and systems checks in order to hold our grand opening next week, on February 23rd," said Northern Lights Supply President Derek Shields. Highlights include: Northern Lights Supply will open with approximately $200,000 worth of inventory worth of inventory Weekly shipments are anticipated from AGLC to replenish stock and serve customers reliably 15 Northern Lights Supply staff have been hired and trained Community cannabis education and training seminars for local business organizations and the hospitality industry approved by AGLC to proceed "Derek and his team have done a tremendous amount of work to reach this point and they have done so expediently. We are thrilled for the opening next week," said Mr. Paul Chu, Weekend Unlimited President and CEO. "The extent to which his team has worked productively with AGLC to emphasize the importance of cannabis education and outreach programs from Northern Lights Supply as it enters this new market is of paramount importance to our long-term plans as active members of the community," added Mr. Chu. Weekend has previously announced an arms-length agreement to acquire 49% of Northern Lights Supply. Northern Lights Supply houses 6500 sqft. of retail space and is located adjacent to the Edmonton International Airport, along Alberta's busiest corridor, serving the cities of Leduc and Beaumont. About Weekend Unlimited Inc. Weekend Unlimited is capitalizing on its vast industry relationships to establish a lifestyle brand featuring premium products and delivering life's highest moments. The company aggregates and scales small to medium brands, primarily in the categories of flower, extracts and edibles. Weekend Unlimited brands have best of class operations, distribution and strong revenue trajectories, making them ideal candidates for the deployment of capital and expertise through access to technologies, infrastructure and centralized systems. Learn more at www.weekendunlimited.com. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward Looking Statements Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding future financial position, business strategy, use of proceeds, corporate vision, proposed acquisitions, partnerships, joint-ventures and strategic alliances and co-operations, budgets, cost and plans and objectives of or involving the Company. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions and dependence upon regulatory approvals. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by securities laws. For further information, please contact: Mr. Paul Chu, President and CEO Telephone: +1(236)317-2812 Toll free 1(888) 556-9656 E-mail: [email protected] SOURCE Weekend Unlimited Inc. New Website Hopes to Spark Revolutionary Religious Conversation NEW YORK, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Shift the Script presents the controversial new website More Than Murtadd The More Than Murtadd website sheds light on fundamental causes of why Ex-Muslims suffer. Crucial steps in helping all Ex-Muslims fight for safety and freedom to choose On Tuesday, February 12th, 2019, an independent non-partisan movement responsible for Shift the Script launched the new website More Than Murtadd . More Than Murtadd is described as an earnest cultural dialogue involving ex-Muslims. Shift The Script aims to cement an evolutionary conversation between people of faiths and none. Shift The Script reminds Muslims and Non-Muslims that they also play a primary part in the success of More than Murtadd, and have an active role in sustaining and advancing the effectiveness of this controversial and global conversation. More than Murtadd aims to reveal the key causes of why Ex-Muslims suffer, and gather all people together to engage in open and honest dialogue, based on common ground. "A majority of Sunni Muslims have been deceived by a minority of Sunni Muslims for more than 1000 years regarding the Sunnah of Sunni Islam and the Qur'an having had no credibility or authority for more than 1000 years, and all this can be proven in an investigation unveiling a unique combination of 3 fundamental facts to the global public through More than Murtadd. Governments will understand the intentions responsible for selective teaching based on the most important oral tradition of Sunni Islam." --a spokesperson for Shift The Script More Than Murtadd acts as the twelfth stepping stone in a series of stepping stones, bridges and wordsmiths of connectivity presented on Shift The Script's social media accounts . Each stepping stone poses a thought or a question to gradually open humanity to a place whereby every person can realise and acknowledge themselves as a vital part of effective conversations. Shift The Script believes these stepping stones will create change and heal broken families, by engaging the minds and hearts of all people. More Than Murtadd proves how the global public is connected to Islam. According to Islamic law, a Murtadd is an apostate from Islam, automatically marked for banishment and the death penalty, if they do not repent. The Ex-Muslim movement started gaining notoriety with the creation of the Central Council of Ex-Muslims in Germany on January 21, 2007. That was followed by expansion of the Council to branches in Britain and Scandinavia, and by 2013 grassroots followings in America and Canada were established. The Councils continue to be made up of people who have given up Islam. The movement has seen an increase in participation in the last ten years and serves as a shelter for many fugitives from Islam, fleeing their homeland after renouncing Islam. More Than Murtadd is the next step for the ex-Muslim movement . While fighting for the rights of all ex-Muslims to be safe and outspoken, it asks all people from all walks of life as ex-Muslim, Muslim, and non-Muslim, to see and realise what you need to know but have been denied, inviting everyone to demonstrate how we are all connected. You can read More Than Murtadd in its entirety, by clicking on the link below... More than Murtadd Follow Shift The Script on Facebook , Instagram, and Twitter (@dearexmuslim). ABOUT (shiftthescript.org) Shift The Script is a groundbreaking movement creating evolutionary conversations, and aims to encourage dialogue and reconciliation between estranged Muslim and ex-Muslim family members. Within our own family and friend networks, we see the evidence of a growing number of practicing Muslims wanting to stay in connection with their ex-Muslim friends and family, despite incredible social pressures. Our hope is to demonstrate that the desire for connection is widespread and to help families begin to take the first small steps toward reconnection and mutual understanding. Please help us. Write your own anonymous letter. Read the ones here, share them, and encourage others to write as well. SOURCE Shift the Script Related Links http://shiftthescript.org For this year's Fun Day, New Way closed shop and went outside for some fresh air. While taking a well-deserved break from creating frictionless motion with our Porous Media Technology, employees used their engineering and problem-solving skills for a different challenge: building bikes for local charities! "We've been having an employee offsite 'fun day' for several years now with several team building events throughout the day," explains Nick Hacket, president of New Way Air Bearings. "This year, Shawn Garrison, our VP of Finance, suggested we add in an event that benefited our local community." One of the team building exercises involved splitting up into groups and putting together four kid's bicycles. Each team was given a box with all the parts inside. Groups were timed to see who could build their bikes the fastest. But teams weren't just rated on speed, they also had to produce a quality product, i.e. the bikes had to work. After each team finished, the bikes were tested for rideability. New Way employees built 24 bikes that were donated to local businesses that ran toy drives in December during the holiday season. Deja Vu Salon in Media, PA organized a toy drive that benefitted City Team Chester , which provides support for individuals and families in Chester, PA who are struggling with poverty, homelessness, and addiction. in organized a toy drive that benefitted , which provides support for individuals and families in who are struggling with poverty, homelessness, and addiction. The 8th Annual Chester County Toy Run , organized by Wide World Chester in West Chester, PA , received 8 bicycles, which went to the Chester County Youth & Family Services. , organized by in , received 8 bicycles, which went to the Chester County Youth & Family Services. The owner of sakkstyles.com , Kenyah Harbin , held a giveaway for local children. Children were nominated and their names were drawn from a hat to receive one of the bicycles. The annual Fun Day is yet another way New Way works to build supportive and collaborative relationships-- from within the organization and out into the local community. "Part of our mission as a company is to be a community partner, and this is one small way that we are able to give back a little," says Hackett. Combined with the annual Manufacturing Alliance of Chester and Delaware Counties networking event and their participation in the What's So Cool About Manufacturing? contest, New Way really puts being Philadelphia-based and community focused front and center. New Way Air Bearings, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is the world's leading independent designer and manufacturer of modular air bearing products and the recognized provider of porous media air bearing solutions, sold in over 30 countries worldwide. New Way has been recognized for multiple years on Inc. Magazine's list of the 5,000 fastest-growing, private companies in America, and as a Deloitte Fast 50 Technology company for the Philadelphia, PA, USA Region and is a past recipient of The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce's Technological Excellence of the Year Award. New Way is located in Aston, PA. Learn more at www.newwayairbearings.com. CONTACT: Richard Hesse, Technical Sales Manager, [email protected] , 610-364-3465 SOURCE New Way Air Bearings Related Links https://www.newwayairbearings.com After covering education for the past 20 years, I thought nothing would surprise me any more. Then along came the Feb. 6 San Diego County Board of Education meeting. With depressing regularity, education leaders continue to circumvent whats best for students and create impossible barriers for schools that show promise. The renewal process for the School of Universal Learning (SOUL) Charter School is the latest example. Rather than asking for a five-year renewal, in January SOUL requested from the San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE) a three-year extension to its previously granted two-year authorization. This was based on what SOUL leaders thought was agreed upon previously in discussions with the county. However, they were blind-sided when SDCOE staff came back in February with an offer of only two years and conditional approval at that. This resolution ultimately passed. To add insult to injury, one of the conditions is that SOUL must remain at its current location, at the Solana Beach Boys & Girls Club, for the 2019-2020 school year. Facilities are a major hurdle for charter schools, not made easier by resistant school districts that erect barriers to access facilities. Because SOUL is located within the boundaries of the San Dieguito Union High School District, SOUL submitted a formal request last fall to SDUHSD for facilities, as is its right under Proposition 39. An Intent to Enroll list of 109 in-district students, many of whom are already enrolled at SOUL, was provided by SOUL to SDUHSD for the 2019-2020 school year for grades 7-11. SOUL projects 165 students for next school year (109 from within San Dieguito boundaries and 56 from outside the districts boundaries), and says its current location cannot easily accommodate such a large number. School districts are only required to grant the request if enrollment numbers of district students into the charter school meet a certain level. After contacting families on the Intent to Enroll list, SDUHSD came up with a projected enrollment of 76.8 students from within the district, just below the 80 needed. So the request was denied. SOUL Executive Director Marisa Fogelman disputed the districts number, saying in a Dec. 27, 2018 letter to SDUHSD Supt. Robert Haley, SOUL disagrees with the methods by which the district arrived at its counter-projection. Numerous legal references were provided to support the charter schools claims, including this one: The district should be advised that courts are growing intolerant of intentional efforts by school districts to avoid compliance with Proposition 39 using artificial lowball counter-projections. SDUHSD responded to Fogelmans Dec. 27 letter with a second denial. San Dieguitos Feb. 1 letter read in part, SOUL Charter School does not have an authorized charter beyond June 30, 2019, therefore we are unable to offer Proposition 39 facilities at this time. I asked Haley why the district went to the trouble of calling so many parents on the Intent to Enroll list in November if the district followed up with a later letter saying it couldnt offer facilities because the charter had not yet been renewed. After all, the charter hadnt been renewed in November either. We received the request for facilities under Prop. 39 prior to November 1 as required, but at that time we had no way of knowing when or if SOUL would receive a new charter or an extension, Haley wrote in an email. Therefore, to meet the statutory deadlines, we did our analysis. Our next deadline was to respond by Feb. 1, he said, but as of that date SOUL had yet to garner either an extension or renewal saying to offer space before renewal would be premature. SDUHSDs letter did state that SOUL could contact the district for further consideration if the schools charter is renewed. Now that SOUL has been conditionally approved for two years, I asked Haley if that changes his response. We will see if they pursue a request and answer accordingly, he said. Any facility occupied by the charter school would be paid rent at fair market value. Kid are learning The facilities condition also would appear to prohibit SOUL from seeking other venues that might be more suited to support a large enrollment in an optimal educational environment. Confusingly, SDCOEs Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Michael Simonson said at the Feb. county board meeting that it was not necessary for the school to remain at its present location but must be at a single location. Although the language in the resolution is quite specific, that SOUL must remain at the Boys & Girls Club for the 2019-2020 school year this is not necessarily the case? Noting that flexibility exists for deadlines and locations, Music Watson, SDCOEs chief communications officer, said, If SOUL finds a different location that is fiscally and instructionally viable, we would work with them. Of SOULs current enrollment of 96 students, 63 reside within SDUHSD boundaries about 66 percent. Other students come from Carlsbad, La Jolla, La Mesa, Mira Mesa, San Marcos, Poway, Escondido, Rancho Santa Fe and Oceanside. SDCOE board members had the option of modifying the resolution presented to them, including eliminating the site restriction, but chose not to. SDCOE board member Rick Shea, representing District 5 which encompasses the San Dieguito district and the coastal communities from Del Mar north and inland to Fallbrook, had nothing to say during the presentation. Paulette Donnellon, who is currently board president, said SOUL has visions of being one of the best charter schools in the state. The kids, she said, are learning and looking forward to going to school each Monday. She said three years make more sense than two years. But when fellow board member Mark Powell made a motion for a three-year extension and Donnellon asked for a second, she couldnt get one. After that, a motion to accept staffs recommendation, two years with conditional approval, passed unanimously even after SOUL leaders made it clear they would not accept conditional approval. Before the vote, speakers implored the county board not to support the two-year resolution. Tom Nichols from the Charter School Management Corporation said the two-year extension doesnt provide the certainty families need. Wendy Kaveney, SOULs director of operations, told the board that the two-year extension doesnt set us up for success. SOULs Fogelman said she has spent two decades designing a program like SOUL. Ive sacrificed everything to prove to you we could do it, she said. We did our part. Weve explained why this [the two-year extension] cant work for our families. She said the programs SOUL offers and the achievements the school has accomplished in 14 months are sound, thorough and descriptive. You have the opportunity to do the right thing which is to grant SOUL a three-year extension, she said, to no avail. Approved for two years Miles Durfee, California Charter Schools Associations interim senior vice president for Regional Advocacy, said in 2016 that there is no such option as conditional approval. He explained the difference between conditional approval and approval with conditions, saying the terms are used interchangeably but are not interchangeable. Conditional approval means youre not approved and it means the school cant move forward in any fashion as if it were approved, Durfee said. Approval with conditions, however, is different, he said, and means the school can move forward with the process. About the Feb. 2019 SDCOE action, Durfee said, [O]ur position is that the action the board took last night was to extend the term of the schools petition for two years. CCSA leaders seemed to be striking a positive note and sidestepping completely the conditional approval issue.We are happy that SOUL Charter School was approved for another two years, said CCSAs Regional Manager Michelle Anderson. We look forward to continuing to build a positive and collaborative relationship with the county in the coming years so that more students can be served by quality schools of choice like SOUL, she said. Later, Haley said in an email, I think there is a need for parental choice in our community, but the question is how can that be provided consistent with the law, best practices and in a fiscally responsible manner. Onerous conditions Its difficult to believe county leaders who say they want the school to succeed. If this is about serving kids, why put onerous conditions on the school and present a resolution thats counter to the schools success? Is it fiscal responsibility as administrators claim or actions designed to preserve power, control and ego, as cynics might claim? This particular school is offering something unique and of value, and there is still hope that SOUL, San Dieguito and SDCOE can find a path to success thats mutually beneficial for all parties. SOUL, said CCSAs Durfee back in 2016, aims to offer San Dieguito students an educational option in a district where not every students needs are being met in the traditional way. Its a great story of leaders who have a great passion, he said. When SOUL was first approved by the county for two years in 2017, Donnellon said to SOUL founders, I think what youre doing with SOUL is amazing. Powell repeatedly asked fellow board members, Why not give them a chance? Powell criticized what he called overwhelming government codes that make it difficult for charter schools to form. He said if the school is not good, parents will take their kids out, adding that charters work when we let the parents decide. SOUL was founded upon principles of honesty and integrity, and we are deeply committed to putting students first, always, said Fogelman in a written statement. Unfortunately, our education system has found itself entrenched in bureaucracy and politics, and as a result, decisions get made that arent always in the best interest of kids. Given the multitude of successes weve experienced (including our WASC accreditation) in the past two years, we expected to get a three-year extension, as we had discussed with county staff. Nevertheless, weve shown what were capable of achieving in a short time frame. We now have two additional years to continuing pioneering a new model of education. Im quite sure that every revolutionary act has been met with opposition. Just as we instill in our students, we see obstacles as opportunities to obtain grit and resilience, to show the strength of character to persevere. Fogelman called the support behind SOUL incredible and said, Its been a long time coming, and were not going anywhere. Enrollment is now being accepted for grades 7-11 at SOUL, a tuition-free public school. [soulcharterschool.org] Opinion columnist and Sr. Education Writer Marsha Sutton can be reached at suttonmarsha@gmail.com SIDEBAR: Disputing the numbers At the Jan. 9 San Diego County Board of Education meeting when the School of Universal Learning (SOUL) Charter School presented its petition for renewal, there was lengthy discussion about SOULs request for facilities under Proposition 39. Proposition 39 gives charter schools the right to ask their host districts in which they are located (in this case, the San Dieguito Union High School District), for facilities, at fair market rent, if a certain number of in-district students will be enrolled. SOUL provided the district with a list of students living within SDUHSD boundaries whose families had signed an Intent to Enroll form for 2019-2020. San Dieguito denied the request, claiming it came up short and could only verify 76.8 students of the required 80. Attempts to verify the names were made primarily by phone calls to the families on the list. But many were critical of the methods the district used to calculate its numbers. California Charter Schools Associations Michelle Anderson told the county board in Jan. that the district used scare tactics and bogus calculations to not allow them to have the necessary enrollment to qualify for a site. SOUL Executive Director Marisa Fogelman addressed this issue in a Dec. 27 letter to SDUHSD Supt. Robert Haley. In it she wrote, SOUL was informed by parents who spoke with district staff that district staff asked them harassing, inappropriate and redundant questions not intended to simply verify meaningful interest in SOUL, but rather to scare parents into denying meaningful interest. Fogelman said SOUL received complaints from parents that they either never received a call from the district, that they received a call but werent home and were unable to call anyone back to verify an intent to enroll, or that they were asked the same question numerous times, were asked if they were ready to unenroll their child from the district, and/or were ready to enroll at SOUL right now. CCSAs Anderson said in a statement that students cannot be disenrolled from a district school for showing interest in attending a charter school.In an email statement, Anderson wrote, SDUHSD illegally harassed parents that signed Intent to Enroll forms for SOUL Charter and then deliberately and illegally reduced the schools projected average daily attendance (ADA) to below 80 students with the apparent intent to deprive its in-district students of the educational facilities to which they are legally entitled. In an interview after the Jan. 9 county board meeting, Haley disagreed with Andersons charges, saying, Our people are very polite when they make the phone calls. They dont intimidate anybody, and thats a gross mischaracterization being made by this outside charter person. About the comment that the district was prompting parents to say they would not enroll at SOUL, Haley said, That wouldnt be accurate. Theyre pretty careful about following very basic questions. He said they were just asking if the parent intends to enroll their child at SOUL. Were just doing our due diligence, he said. Testimonials After public comment at the Jan. 9 meeting, county board member Mark Powell asked Fogelman to clarify Andersons comments about the district using scare tactics. Some of the feedback we received is that they [parents] felt intimidated by the phone calls made to them, Fogelman said. She said they were asked if they were ready to disenroll their child from the district. In addition, we received reports that there were several interested families that never received a phone call, she added. SOUL parent Julie Anderson received a call in November 2018 from the district and said the first question was, Is your child currently enrolled next year for SOUL? Anderson said she was perplexed because it was not possible to enroll at the time for 2019-2020. She said she was then asked to confirm that her child was not enrolled at SOUL for next year. She replied that technically thats true but she intends to enroll her daughter for the coming year when the time comes. Anderson said the response was, Oh, then thats a no. And I had to say no, its not a no. Its physically impossible right now, isnt it? I understand their concern that they call, she said, but added that it felt like badgering. They asked me the question and I didnt answer it the way they wanted me to. She said some of her friends on the Intent to Enroll list told her that after the districts call they felt space for their child at a San Dieguito school would no longer be available if they expressed interest in SOUL. Another friend said she was contacted by the district and was told they were calling to confirm that the parent was transferring their child to SOUL. Her friend said she hadnt decided yet and to keep the child enrolled in the district for now. They made it sound like they had to make a choice, Anderson said. My friends are terrified of the district. Three other friends said they were never even contacted. Anderson, who lives in south Carlsbad in the San Dieguito district, called the district back to confirm her intention to enroll her daughter again next year at SOUL because I wanted to make sure Im in the yes pile. Haley response Another SOUL parent, Patti Riley, was contacted by the district but wasnt available. She called back four times and left messages but never heard back from the district. She and her husband finally wrote a letter to Haley to confirm that they intend to re-enroll their daughter at SOUL next year. Haley responded to say that all currently enrolled families forms were counted as a yes. Riley, president of SOULs Parent Teacher Organization, said her friend got a call from someone at the district office who asked if she had ever taken a tour or visited the school. When her friend said no, she felt the district discounted her because she had not yet visited the school, even though she had signed the form expressing meaningful interest in SOUL. Its just not on peoples radar in November, said Riley, who resides in Carmel Valley. Haley disputed that the district registered a no if a parent did not call the district back. Its the opposite, he said. If they were currently enrolled at SOUL, and we knew they were currently enrolled, regardless of whether they called us back or not, we assumed they would be returning. Our role is to come up with whether they can reasonably enroll 80 in-district students for next year, Haley said in Jan. It is a disgrace to see a major project for the people of Vanuatu end up this way: MP Francois Chani. Credit: Kizzy Kalsakau CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- PHYSICIANS PREMIER EMERGENCY ROOM announced a recent life-saving event owed fundamentally to the patient going to the closest Emergency Room. On November 7, 2018 Mary Cadena arrived at Physicians Premier ER in Bastrop, Texas at 9:00pm. She traveled 18 miles to the ER from Elgin, Texas. At 9:20pm, Mary spontaneously delivered a five-week preterm baby boy. Mary suffered significant post-partum hemorrhaging and required critical care in order to survive. Her scheduled delivery location was in Austin, about an hour's drive from Elgin through Austin traffic or 25 miles. Physicians Premier ER Bastrop, which opened its doors September 2018, provided Mary with vital resuscitation and the medications necessary to save her life. Additionally, its medical care partners, PHI Helicopter Service, were able to deliver additional blood products via private car to the ER facility as helicopters were grounded due to weather. Once stabilized a few hours later, Mary was transported via a maternal transport team and her 6 lb. baby boy via a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit transport team to Seton Medical Center in Austin, Texas. Treating ER Physician, Dr. Joe Aldrich, confirmed, "We don't normally deliver babies in the ER; however, Mary made the right choice and did not second guess her situation. We are glad she was able to get to us as quickly as she did. Both Mary and her son were released a few days later and are doing well." Physicians Premier ER facilities treat hundreds of patients each year, such as Mary, who have Medicare, Medicaid, or Tricare without any compensation. Unfortunately, many patients with these types of insurance completely avoid closer and safer freestanding emergency centers like Physicians Premier because these ERs are not currently recognized by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Physicians Premier ER fully supports the Emergency Room Improvement Act (S. 3531) introduced to Congress in October 2018, which would recognize Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare beneficiary treatment to freestanding emergency medical centers (FEMCs) such as Physicians Premier ER. There are more than 500 Freestanding Emergency Medical Centers across the United States and most were established after 2010. FEMCs offer high-quality emergency medical care to patients in fully licensed facilities. Just as hospital-based ERs operate 24/7 and have emergency-trained physicians on-site at all times, so do FEMCs. About Physicians Premier Emergency Rooms As Freestanding Emergency Medical Centers, Physicians Premier ER offers patients a modern emergency room experience from the moment they walk through the doors, to paying the bill. Differences include being seen by a board-certified ER Physician, virtually no wait, fast on-site lab, x-ray, and CT Scan results, a singular bill for all services provided, locations closer to home, a relaxing environment, and swift referral to area hospitals if necessary. Texans have the right to choose their emergency care provider and to determine if they feel their health is threatened by a medical emergency. Physicians Premier ER accepts all private insurance and cash payments. Bookmark mdpremier.com to find your nearest ER or call (361) 986-0911. Texas locations include: Corpus Christi, Portland, Calallen, City Base in San Antonio, New Braunfels, Bulverde, Bryan-College Station, Round Rock, Central Austin, Bastrop, and Clear Lake, Houston; with two new locations opening 2019 in San Antonio. SOURCE Physicians Premier Emergency Rooms Related Links https://mdpremier.com WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA will discuss the status of its Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity in a media briefing at 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST) Wednesday, Feb. 13, from the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. The briefing will air live on NASA Television, the agency's website and YouTube. The briefing will follow NASA's last planned attempts to communicate with Opportunity late Tuesday evening. The solar-powered rover last communicated with Earth June 10, 2018, as a planet-wide dust storm was blanketing the Red Planet. Briefing participants will include: NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine Thomas Zurbuchen , associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate , associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate Lori Glaze , acting director of NASA's Planetary Science Division , acting director of NASA's Planetary Science Division Michael Watkins , JPL director , JPL director Steve Squyres , MER principal investigator at Cornell University , MER principal investigator at John Callas , MER project manager , MER project manager Matt Golombek , MER project scientist , MER project scientist Abigail Fraeman , MER deputy project scientist , MER deputy project scientist Jennifer Trosper , Mars 2020 project systems engineer Media who would like to attend the briefing must make arrangements in advance with Elena Mejia of JPL Media Relations at [email protected] or 818-354-5011. Valid media credentials are required, and non-U.S. citizens must bring a valid passport. To participate by phone, media should RVSP to Mejia with their name and affiliation by 1 p.m. EST (10 a.m. PST) Wednesday, Feb. 13. The public can ask questions on social media using the hashtag #askNASA or by leaving a comment in the chat section on YouTube. A recording of the briefing will be available shortly after its conclusion at: http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl NASA's twin robot geologists, Spirit and Opportunity, landed on the Mars in 2004 in search of answers about the history of water on the planet. Spirit concluded its mission in 2010. JPL manages Spirit and Opportunity for NASA. For more information about the Mars Exploration Rover program, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer SOURCE NASA Related Links http://www.nasa.gov TORONTO, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Medi-Green, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Beleave (CSE: BE) (OTCQX: BLEVF) ("Beleave" or the "Company") is excited to invite the community to the grand opening event of its new clinic in London, Ontario this Friday, February 15, 2019. "We are very excited to expand our Medi-Green family into the London region and continue to provide a comforting and encouraging environment for patients seeking medical cannabis as a form of treatment," said Ashleigh Koeslag, Operations Manager. During the event, staff from Medi-Green will be present to answer questions and share information about cannabis and the clinic's services with attendees. "Every Medi-Green is there to help individuals learn about cannabis and understand their options in a professional and safe space with an open-door policy," said Keely Yuzpe, London Clinic Manager. "Not only are we here to help match questions with answers, but we're excited to become an active part of the community. By supporting causes that are important to London residents, and getting involved with local business initiatives, we feel we're well on our way and can't wait to meet our neighbours." About the Grand Opening: Location: 211 Dundas Street, London, Ontario 211 Dundas Street, Date: February 15, 2018 February 15, 2018 Time: 5 p.m. 8 p.m. Eastern Time 5 p.m. Come early! Don't miss out on the door prizes and giveaways Light refreshments will be served Background Information About Medi-Green: Assists in the education and access of safe medical cannabis through consultation, education and ongoing support Walks you through the entire process from the initial application to aftercare Connects you with a doctor who specializes in medical cannabis treatment Patient Service Representatives are available to discuss your needs to assist with strain selections Pairs you with the right licensed producer to ensure you have the product quality, diversity and price point that fits your needs Helps you place your first order with your producer Assists you in choosing, purchasing and learning how to use cannabis equipment ABOUT BELEAVE INC. Beleave is a vertically-integrated, ISO certified, Canadian cannabis company headquartered in Oakville, Ontario, that cultivates high-quality cannabis flower, oil and extracts. Beleave is fully-licenced to cultivate and sell medical and recreational cannabis and cannabis oil. Beleave is leading the way through research partnerships with universities to develop pharma-grade extracts and derivatives. Beleave is developing new product lines, including cannabis-infused powder and sugar products for 2019 as the recreational market is expected to allow for food and beverage-based cannabis products. Beleave has developed a network of medical cannabis clinics in Ontario and Quebec under the Medi-Green banner. Through its majority ownership of Procannmed S.A.S., Beleave is fully licensed to cultivate, produce, and extract medical cannabis in Colombia to capitalize on exports and the expanding Latin American market. In a strategic initiative to penetrate the European medical market, the Company has partnered with Canymed GmbH to supply the German market with medical cannabis. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law ("forward-looking statements"). The use of any of the words "plan", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur are intended to identify forward-looking information. These statements are only predictions. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking information addresses future events and conditions, by its very nature it involves inherent risks and uncertainties. This information speaks only as of the date of this news release. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks including various risk factors discussed in the Company's disclosure documents, which can be found under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com. SOURCE Beleave Inc. DETROIT, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Stratview Research announces the launch of a new market research report on Opportunities and Gaps in the Global Lung Cancer Prognosis Market By Treatment Algorithm in Different Regions, By Therapeutics, By Diagnostics, By Surgery, By Connected Health, By Nutritional Supplement and by Region (North America, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Rest of the World): 2019-2025. For the first time in market, one report in the healthcare industry exclusively touches upon the demands, gaps and opportunities of the global lung cancer market while covering Lung Cancer Diagnostics, Lung Cancer Therapeutics, Lung Cancer Nutritional supplement, Lung Cancer Surgery and Lung Cancer Connected Health Market. The management of Lung cancer varies with region, by decision makers, by site of treatment, by type of lung cancer, by age, by decision making process, by cost of therapy at each stage and by various other parameters. Why Lung Cancer? Because WHO and other health agencies consider it to be the number One killer across the world. The Burning Questions This Report Will Answer: Over 1.5 million people worldwide die from lung cancer per year; why does the disease still has an extremely poor prognosis with all the modern technology? What are the options available for accurate prediction of lung cancer? Which market is more lucrative: pharma, diagnostics or surgery? Which technologies are available currently and how will the future technologies disrupt the market? What is the future of the top 10 best-selling drugs in this segment, will they stay or fade away? Among the class of drugs, will Angiogenesis Inhibitors take a dip in sales by 2025 or will it overtake the sales of drugs in the class Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors? What is the market for BRAF / MEK Inhibitors? Will the differential cost of therapeutics across regions impact the drug sales in North America versus APAC? Lung Cancer Prognosis Market: Research Highlights If we consider the lung cancer management market from the stakeholder's perspective, then drugs approved for 'Small Cell Lung Cancer' will not be applicable for 'Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer'. In the Small-Scale Lung Cancer Therapeutics, immunotherapy drugs will play a major role in the next 7 years and may grow at a CAGR of 7.4% globally, however the same class of drugs might grow at a CAGR of 10.6% in the Non-Small-Scale Lung Cancer Therapeutics Market in the same time period. The market had a potential of US$ 17.1 billion alone in 2018 and is likely to grow at a CAGR of 8.3% globally till 2025. In the lung cancer diagnostics segment, Thermofischer, Roche, Biomerieux are few of the market leaders but are they going to get tougher competitions from the newbies such as Astraeus Technologies, Zebra Medical, Deton, Oncocyte and many more that are entering the specialized diagnostics market. It might be interesting to consider that while 50% of the oncologists decide (decision makers) the type of tests and the frequency of repeat tests, shared decision-making process is equally high among the Lung Cancer Management Market. The opportunity is huge, NSCLC cases accounts for 85% of the recorded lung cancer incidence worldwide, > 60% require diagnosis, medicine for maintenance, pain and other side effects. Register Here and Ask for a Free Sample of the Report Considering the complications and limitations in lung cancer surgery (not all patients are eligible), still the market is expected to grow steadily at a CAGR of 6.3%, during the forecast period (2019-2025). The demand for NSCLC surgery is high, thus the market size of 99%. In some cases, surgery is not recommended, when the tumor is found in proximity with the heart, the esophagus the food pipe, the wind pipe and major blood vessels. The demand for NSCLC surgery is expected to grow rapidly with a CAGR of 6.3% over the course of next seven years. The study on the lung cancer management market by Stratview also states that Lobectomy (sub segment under Lung Cancer Surgery) results in lowest recurrence rate and higher survival rate as compared to other surgery type. Hence, it is the highly referred type of surgery procedure for NSCLC cases. One of the companies, Auris is most promising in this segment and has a brighter future ahead. This segment also foresees competition from Chinese companies such as IFLYTEK who are strong contenders in the global market. Among the different segments of global lung cancer management market, connected health or Apps for Lung cancer maintenance or management are few. However, the segment is promising, as researchers believe that App based software can help in treatment adherence, keeping track of medical records (insurance companies, medical centers). Developed markets such as the USA, the UK, Germany, France, Japan, China and Australia are the near-term opportunities for the connected health segment. Lung cancer patients need nutritional supplements throughout their treatment phase followed by recovery and maintenance phase. The study also looks at the aspects of sales and marketing, buying patterns of end users which can help companies such as Abbott, Danone, Nestle, B Braun and more gauge the market and look at the changing preferences of the market in regions such as Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. Finally, the report on lung cancer prognosis also focuses on the regional aspects and gives the reader the flexibility to consider between the global market or regions. It is imperative to look at this market as connected, as out of the prevalent cases of lung cancer, are potential candidates of diagnosis and of the diagnosed pool a higher percentage will require medication or surgery, there will be few drop outs and few gaps, more or less all the above will need apps or Healthcare IT products to monitor drug adherence, doctor access, and above all long term nutritional supplement. Hence, readers may consider these inter-linked markets under the lung cancer management market and consider the opportunities that exist in each segment from 2019 to 2025. Research Methodology Our reports offer high-quality insights and are the outcome of detailed research methodology comprising extensive secondary research, rigorous primary interviews with industry stakeholders and validation and triangulation with Stratview Research's internal database and statistical tools. More than 1,000 authenticated secondary sources, such as company annual reports, fact book, press release, journals, investor presentation, white papers, patents, and articles have been leveraged to gather the data. About 20 detailed primary interviews with the market players across the value chain in all four regions and industry experts have been executed to obtain both the qualitative and quantitative insights. 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 into 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, New product launches, etc. Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities Emerging trends Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players Key success factors Future outlook Stratview Research has number of high value market reports in the global healthcare industry. Please refer to the following link to browse through our reports: Click Here for Other Reports from Stratview Research in the Healthcare Industry Our related premium market report in the healthcare industry: Opportunities & Gaps in the In Vitro Diagnostic Testing Market By Product (Instruments, Reagents), By Technology (Immunoassay, Clinical Chemistry, Molecular Diagnostics, Hematology, and Urinalysis, Microbiology), By Application (Diabetes, Infectious diseases, Oncology, Cardiology, Nephrology, and Other Diseases) By Type of Demand for Sample (Urine, Hair, and Oral), By Testing Facility (Hospital Laboratories, Independent Clinical Laboratories and Others), by Region (North America, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Rest of the World). Opportunities & Gaps in the Sepsis Diagnosis Market By Technology (Microbiology, Molecular Diagnostic, Immunoassay, and Biomarkers), By Type of Testing (Blood Culture Media, and Instruments), By Mode of Testing (Automated, Semi-Automated), By Site of Testing (Laboratory Based, Patient Bed Side (POC)), By Type of Sepsis (Pathogen) (Bacterial, Fungal), By Testing Facility (Hospitals, Clinics, and Others), By Region (North America, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Rest of the World). 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: [email protected] Direct: +1-313-307-4176 SOURCE Stratview Research LONG BEACH, Calif., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- LD Products, the leading aftermarket provider of printer cartridges in the U.S., is proudly celebrating its twentieth anniversary. CEO Aaron Leon founded the ink and toner business in 1999, building his online cartridge store in between classes while an undergraduate at USC. The company steadily made a name for itself as the demand for affordable cartridges grew, and has gone on to ship millions of printer cartridges annually to homes and offices nationwide. Known for selling reputable compatible printer cartridges at competitive prices, years of investing in a quality product and their customers has led to the company's continued success. "It's unbelievable that twenty years have already gone by. Printer cartridge technology and our customers' printing habits have changed so much in that time! I'd like to thank all of our customers for continuing to make us your preferred printing choice, many of which have been with us since the very beginning," says Leon. "Over the years, we've established ourselves as experts in the industry and sharing that expertise daily with our customers has been a true joy." Today, LD Products employs over 200 ink and toner experts stretching across three states and offers more than 9,000 types of printer cartridges. In 2018, the company launched the LD Gold Line, a new-build toner cartridge line for reseller dealers, and it plans to open a third fulfillment center in Texas later this year. About LD Products Since 1999, LD Products has enjoyed great success as a high quality and cost-effective alternative to printer brand consumables. The company also boasts a large selection of office supplies, with discount prices on the most trusted names in the industry. SOURCE LD Products Related Links https://www.ldproducts.com SEOUL, Republic of Korea, Feb.12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- LASEROPTEK Co., Ltd., a developer and manufacturer of world class laser devices for aesthetic and medical dermatology applications, is pleased to announce its PicoLO picosecond Nd:YAG laser recently received U.S. Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance for use in Dermatology and General and Plastic Surgery. PicoLO, LASEROPTEK's FDA 510(k) cleared Nd:YAG True Picosecond Pulse Laser Delivers Highly Stable Pulse Duration, Energy Output and Laser Induced Optical Breakdown (LIOB) all in a compact system. For more information visit www.laseroptek.com LASEROPTEK PicoLO Hand Pieces (Zoom, Fractional, Collimated, 585nm Dye & 650nm dye). For more information visit www.laseroptek.com PicoLO generates high peak power and consistent picosecond pulse duration producing the strongest photomechanical forces within the skin to quickly and effectively breakdown and fragment pigments such as those found in tattoos. In addition, PicoLO incorporates LASEROPTEK's patented Diffractive Optical Element (DOE) fractional technology consistently creating Laser-induced Optical Breakdown (LIOB) in the dermis even at low power. This efficient combination of photomechanical effect and LIOB gives PicoLO a significant point of difference with picosecond lasers on the market and delivers numerous advantages to both patients and providers. "Exceptionally stable energy output and picosecond pulse duration are key technological developments integrated into PicoLO further distancing it from the competition. High stability in both laser output and pulse duration is central to delivering consistently efficacious treatment outcomes while simultaneously minimizing patient discomfort," according to C.J. Lee, CEO of LASEROPTEK. "Shortly after receiving 510(k) clearance for our LOTUS IIITM, multi-pulsed Er:YAG laser at the end of 2018, the PicoLO clearance will significantly increase LaserOptek sales in the U.S. market. Both LOTUS III and PicoLO are well received in multiple international markets and we are now in the process of establishing an exclusive, full-service dealer network in North America. I encourage anyone who sells, services and provides clinical education to the aesthetic and medical dermatology and plastic surgery markets to contact us as soon as possible," added Mr. Lee. "PicoLO's technology-rich DNA in combination with LASEROPTEK's world class technical and clinical support will garner the attention of dealers, physicians and patients." To learn more about PicoLO, LOTUS III and the entire suite of LASEROPTEK aesthetic and medical dermatology laser systems, please visit www.laseroptek.com. PicoLO and LOTUS III will make their post 510(k) clearance North American debut at the 2019 American Academy of Dermatology Conference (AAD) to be held March 1st thru 5th in Washington, D.C., U.S.A (Booth # 2461) and at the 2019 American Society for Laser Medicine & Surgery (ASLMS) meeting held March 27th thru 31st in Denver, Colorado, U.S.A (Booth # 101). About LASEROPTEK Co., Ltd. LASEROPTEK is a global technology-driven device company in aesthetic and medical lasers. Founded in 2000 and with its in-house R&D capabilities, LASEROPTEK introduces safe, stable and high-quality laser systems bringing advanced laser technology and clinical efficacy together. Media Contact: Ms. Helena Lee, Marketing Director [email protected] +82-31-8023-5150 SOURCE LASEROPTEK Co., Ltd. Related Links http://www.laseroptek.com TULSA, Okla., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Landmark Recovery, a growing provider of premiere substance abuse treatment centers, is announcing plans to celebrate the grand opening of their new intensive outpatient (IOP) facility in Tulsa on Feb. 26, from 4-7pm located at 1805 E. 15th St. Tulsa, OK 74104. Including Tulsa, Landmark Recovery has three intensive outpatient facilities and two inpatient facilities located in Oklahoma and Kentucky, with plans to expand through the South and Midwest in 2019. "As we grow, our desire is to help families get the medical care they need for themselves and their loved ones struggling with addiction," said Matt Boyle, COO at Landmark Recovery. "We know that Tulsa has seen increasingly high overdose and incarceration rates and there's a need for recovery facilities like ours." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 769 overdose deaths in Oklahoma in 2017. In Tulsa alone, co-occurring substance use and mental disorders are left undertreated, leading to a shorter average lifespan for Tulsa residents. In addition, the CDC reported that 600 to 800 people are waitlisted for inpatient treatment services every day. "The need is there and we are doing what we can to step in and help," Boyle added. "We believe that opening an outpatient facility in Tulsa will bring hope to the community and help individuals and families get the education and support needed to maintain sobriety." Landmark Recovery of Tulsa is currently open and offering intensive outpatient services to help patients restore hope, function, and purpose to their lives. Patients work with licensed clinicians in a variety of treatment options. Sessions include individual and group therapy covering topics such as, crisis intervention, relapse prevention, trauma-focused psychoeducation and case management. "When we opened our first property in Louisville, Kentucky, we saw the immediate impact of quality programming and cutting-edge treatments. Our goal is to provide substance abuse treatment that empowers people so they can transform their lives," said Boyle. About Landmark Recovery Landmark Recovery, founded in 2016, offers individualized treatment, including detox, inpatient drug and alcohol rehab , intensive outpatient, and alumni programming to address addiction. Landmark has locations in Louisville, Lexington, Oklahoma City, and Tulsa. If you or a loved one need help with recovery, call 888-448-0302 or visit, www.landmarkrecovery.com. CONTACT: Jessica Goble [email protected] 480-745-4357 SOURCE Landmark Recovery Related Links http://www.landmarkrecovery.com HOLLY SPRINGS, N.C., Feb. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Kym Mitchell is recognized by Continental Who's Who in the field of Technology as a Senior IT, Systems and Enterprise Solutions Executive currently serving as the President at KKAS Corporation. Modern and innovative, KKAS Corporation is a fully promoted business with custom branded apparel, promotional products, and marketing services. An expert at transitional periods, Ms. Mitchell specializes in starting up new operations, building new teams, and leading performance turnarounds. While delivering a superior user experience and maximum functionality, Ms. Mitchell is well versed in deploying disruptive solutions such as robotics, mobile technologies and virtual device laboratories to keep modern organizations on the cutting-edge. With 21 years of experience, Ms. Mitchell is adept at leveraging technology to improve performance and cut costs. As VP of Process Automation Center of Excellence and VP of Quality Assurance Engineering at Fidelity Investments, she has directed a wide array of programs that strengthened functionality, scalability, reliability, user friendliness and accessibility of broad range of internal and customer-facing systems. Continuing her academic pursuits, Ms. Mitchell is currently completing a BS in Computer Science at Southern New Hampshire University. Previously, Ms. Mitchell studied Liberal Arts at Louisiana State University and was a Pre-Medical student at the University of Minnesota. In an effort to further advance her career, Ms. Mitchell maintains a membership with International Association of Women (IAW). In regards to her certifications, Ms. Mitchell is certified as a Six Sigma Green Belt from Villanova University, and she has received a Scrum Master Certification from the Scrum Master Alliance. As a testament to her career, Ms. Mitchell has been honored with "Fidelity's Act as One Team Award". Sophisticated and worldly, Ms. Mitchell can read, write, and speak conversationally in Korean. SOURCE Continental Who's Who Related Links http://www.continentalwhoswho.com MIDDLEBROOK, Va., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Jaymie Scotto & Associates (JSA) , the preeminent provider of Public Relations, Marketing and Event Planning services for the tech and telecom industries, and founder and host of the C-Level networking event series the Telecom Exchange (TEX) , announces its upcoming TEX Dallas 'Pop-Up' event, taking place on March 13 at the Aloft Dallas Downtown. New for 2019, the Pop-Up event features a CEO Roundtable panel discussion, with active collaboration from the executives in attendance, immediately followed by an intimate cocktail reception and one-on-one networking opportunities. This year's TEX Dallas CEO Roundtable is "Pushing 5G to the Edge: The New World of Interconnectivity," and will be moderated by Kurtis Friesen , Senior Director, North American Markets for DatacenterDynamics . Esteemed panelists include Dave Crowley , Chief Technical Advisor of Microsoft ; Phill Lawson-Shanks , Chief Development Officer of Aligned Energy ; and Vinay Nagpal , President of InterGlobix . "The Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) region is a hot and growing market for telecom, with considerable data center demand and a diversified workforce with strong growth in the technology sector, making it a prime location for our debut of the TEX 'Pop Up,'" states Jaymie Scotto Cutaia , CEO and Founder of JSA. "We're honored to welcome our CEO Roundtable participants as the industry remains abuzz with the onset of 5G connectivity. We are witnessing 5G initiatives across the multi-layered telecom ecosystem, especially as talks move to applying AI models and big data analytics that rely on enhanced connectivity. We look forward to greeting both our new and returning thought leaders to our first TEX event of 2019." In addition to the TEX Dallas Pop-Up, TEX events for 2019 include JSA's flagship TEX, held in the New York metro area for its ninth consecutive year, at the W Hoboken on May 14-15; TEX Toronto , the first TEX to debut in Canada on October 2-3, further amplifying JSA's dedication to serving the Canadian tech and telecom marketplace; and Los Angeles for its third year on November 11-12 at the Kimpton Palomar Hotel in Beverly Hills. To secure your company's executive participation with a TEX 2019 sponsorship, visit www.TheTelecomExchange.com . Speaking opportunities for C-level attendees are also available pending Board approval. For more information, including Roundtable topics, please email [email protected]. About JSA Celebrating more than 14 years of success, Jaymie Scotto & Associates (JSA) is the preeminent provider of Public Relations, Marketing and Event Planning services to the tech and telecom industries. Awarded 'Most Outstanding Telecoms PR Agency' by LiveWire for two years in a row, our success is attributed to our skilled JSA team, innovative tools, and established media and industry relationships, allowing us to deliver the finest outreach and brand awareness services available with measurable return on investment. Our clients enjoy 'insider access' to the top journalists, bloggers, analysts and thought leaders shaping tech and telecom as well as critical networking opportunities, including JSA's own industry networking event series, the Telecom Exchange (TEX). We also feature client and marketplace news via JSA WalkOuts (3D-like interactive video), JSA TV (our video newsroom on YouTube), JSA Radio (our podcast channel on iHeartRadio), Virtual CEO Roundtables (our monthly panel discussions with top industry thought leaders), Telecom News & Trends (our newsletter to 26K+ subscribers) and Tech and Telecom News Now (our industry blog with 156K+ readers). To learn more about how JSA can elevate your brand, visit www.jsa.net . Join the conversation: Follow JSA on LinkedIn and Twitter . For media inquiries, please contact: Jaymie Scotto & Associates (JSA) +1 866.695.3629 [email protected] SOURCE Jaymie Scotto & Associates (JSA) Related Links http://www.jsa.net A veteran of the footwear industry, Caplan first joined Genesco, Johnston & Murphy's parent company, in 1982. He took on numerous roles within the corporation, ultimately serving as president of the Laredo/Code West Boot Company. Following a 10-year stint outside of the Company, the majority of the time with Stride Rite Corporation where he led the Stride Rite Children's Group and its Keds brand, Caplan rejoined Genesco in 2002 as president of Johnston & Murphy and chief executive officer of Genesco's Branded Group. During his 16-year tenure, Caplan was instrumental in the brand's transformation from a heritage dress shoe brand into a true lifestyle brand. "It has been an honor and a privilege to be part of the remarkable growth and success of Johnston & Murphy. I have long admired the company's dedication to the highest standard of craftsmanship and have the utmost confidence in Danny and the rest of the leadership team's ability to carry Johnston & Murphy's legacy into the future," said Caplan. "Jon's strategic vision, industry expertise and personal warmth made him an effective and unique leader. He led with humility and never missed the opportunity to teach or offer support at all levels of our organization. We thank him for all he has done for our team and for establishing J&M as a viable and growing business. We wish him the very best in the next chapter of his life," added Ewoldsen. Bob Dennis, Genesco chairman, president and chief executive officer, said, "I share Jon's enthusiasm about the tremendous potential in the Johnston & Murphy business and his confidence in the ability of Danny and his team to continue the positive momentum Johnston & Murphy has enjoyed in recent years. We thank Jon for his 26 years with the Company and celebrate his lasting legacy at Johnston & Murphy and Genesco." About Johnston & Murphy A division of Nashville-based Genesco Inc., Johnston & Murphy is an iconic American brand with a rich heritage that inspires its design aesthetic. Johnston & Murphy offers modern interpretations of classic styles to men and women who appreciate beautiful and functional products made with premium materials, great craftsmanship and enduring quality. Founded in 1850 and headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, Johnston & Murphy products are available in more than 2,000 global retail and wholesale locations and at johnstonmurphy.com. About Genesco Inc. Genesco Inc., a Nashville-based specialty retailer, sells footwear and accessories in more than 1,500 retail stores throughout the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Germany, principally under the names Journeys, Journeys Kidz, Shi by Journeys, Schuh, Schuh Kids, Little Burgundy, Johnston & Murphy, and on internet websites www.journeys.com , www.journeyskidz.com , www.journeys.ca , www.shibyjourneys.com , www.schuh.co.uk , www.littleburgundyshoes.com , www.johnstonmurphy.com , www.trask.com , and www.dockersshoes.com . In addition, Genesco sells wholesale footwear under its Johnston & Murphy brand, the Trask brand, the licensed Dockers brand, and other brands. For more information on Genesco and its operating divisions, please visit www.genesco.com . SOURCE Genesco Inc. Related Links http://www.genesco.com SILICON VALLEY, Calif., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Jointer.io, a next generation commercial real estate platform, announced today the closing of a $2.5 million USD in seed funding round from various private angel investors throughout Silicon Valley and a global startup competition. The company is a growing leader in artificial intelligence, tokenization and blockchain-based technology innovation for the commercial real estate industry. Jointer issues debt tokens to borrow money from the public to help property owners instantly unlock their equity at zero costs. Investors that lend money to Jointer receive up to 20% ROI per year based on Commercial Real Estate index performance with zero specific property exposure. The funding will provide Jointer with opportunities for substantial growth as it actively moves from a "alpha" to "beta" stage. The company has offices in Tel Aviv, Israel, Silicon Valley California, and Asia and is growing its brand exposure within the blockchain space and further improving the automation of the technology. The funding round includes a $1 million prize from the Grand Finale of the Global Startup Competition FinTech, held in mid-April 2018. Jointer received the top prize, beating out more than 4,000 startups from 196 different countries. The competition is managed by Edge196, an organization with a mission of empowering startups from around the globe. The organization offers a unique platform for competition and brings together top minds and investors to help startups grow into "unicorns." "We thank our angel investors for this recent funding and are confident in our ability lead the tokenization industry, grow the team, and improve our technology," said Jude Regev, CEO and Founder of Jointer. "There are significant barriers to tokenizing commercial real estate, such as costs, regulations, escrow, trustees, and the need for liquidity. We offer a free solution with end-to-end tokenization that allows property owners to instantly unlock equity for free while we manage the regulatory, liquidity, and marketing issues. Our team continues to build revolutionary technology upgrades and further automate our platform as we are poised to disrupt the commercial real estate investing market." "The CEO is an experienced entrepreneur with a very ambitious and exciting vision who is attracting very accomplished people to the project. It is in an area of finance (real estate) that lends itself, in my view, to blockchain and tokenization," David Weild, Father of the JOBS Act. About Jointer: Jointer is a startup company established in 2017 based in Silicon Valley, CA and Tel Aviv, Israel. A leader in commercial real estate blockchain solutions, Jointer is developing a free end-to-end tokenization platform to provide clients with liquidity for their equity. The company's platform helps property owners access their equity by issuing debt tokens to borrow money from the public. For more information, visit www.jointer.io. MEDIA CONTACT: Megan Brilley, Interdependence PR for Jointer [email protected] 949.777.2486 SOURCE Jointer Related Links http://www.jointer.io SUGAR LAND, Texas, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) is pleased to be presenting a complimentary webinar on the project spending outlook in the Middle East. The webinar will take place Wednesday, February 13, at 9 a.m. CST (10 a.m. EST). Industrial Info is tracking more than $483 billion in projects set to kick off in the Middle East in 2019 and 2020. Join Shaheen Chohan, Industrial Info's vice president of Global Analytics, and Chris Paschall, vice president of research for the Refining Industry , as they discuss and share insights about the planned capital maintenance project outlook across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. They also will discuss the trends and drivers shaping the Middle East's energy infrastructure investment outlook. Stronger crude prices, increasing supply/demand constraints in the gas markets, and the push toward lower-carbon power generation are helping to stimulate project activity after a number of years of muted growth. Among the topics that will be discussed at the upcoming webinar are: The size of the planned capital and maintenance project market over the next 24 months Identification of which GCC markets are showing the biggest spending potential An assessment of the key industries and sectors driving future project activity A review of regional power demand growth and the fuel types that are expected to see investments moving forward Industries covered include: Join us Wednesday, February 13, for this live webinar presentation. Make sure to RSVP today! Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn . For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to [email protected] or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com . Contact: Brian Ford (713) 980-9393 SOURCE Industrial Info Resources, Inc. Related Links http://www.industrialinfo.com ATLANTA, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Jackson Healthcare, a family of highly-specialized healthcare staffing, search and technology companies, today launched LoveLifts Village, a new environment designed to provide professional coworking and dedicated office space for non-profit organizations. LoveLifts Village is the latest extension of Jackson Healthcare's LoveLifts community impact program, which is built on four pillars: business mobilization, associate volunteerism, purpose partnerships and corporate giving. This new environment fits squarely within the company's purpose partnerships focus, serving as a multiplier to support the efforts and good works of the not-for-profit world. "The vision behind LoveLifts Village is to create an environment that fosters a sense of community for area non-profit organizations in search of flexible, affordable office and coworking space in a professional work setting," explains Shane Jackson, president of Jackson Healthcare. "In this environment, they can continue to advance their missions of serving others in a space that enables them to collaborate, share ideas and best practices, and grow in community with other like-minded organizations." LoveLifts Village is located on the campus of Jackson Healthcare's Alpharetta, Georgia headquarters, and officially welcomes its first non-profits this month. To learn more about LoveLifts Village, including how to qualify and apply, click here. About Jackson Healthcare Jackson Healthcare, the third-largest U.S. healthcare staffing firm by revenue, is a family of highly-specialized healthcare staffing, search and technology companies. With a mission to improve the delivery of patient care and the lives of everyone it touches, it helps over 1,300 healthcare facilities serve more than seven million patients annually. Backed by more than 1,400 associates and with over $1 billion in annual revenue, Jackson Healthcare is recognized as an employer of choice, having appeared on Fortune's Best Workplaces in Health Care and Biopharma and Best Workplaces for Millennials, as well as a best place to work by the Atlanta Business Chronicle since 2005. Learn more at www.jacksonhealthcare.com. SOURCE Jackson Healthcare Related Links http://www.jacksonhealthcare.com SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Invitae Corporation (NYSE: NVTA), a leading genetics company, today announced the addition of non-invasive prenatal screening (NIPS) to the company's comprehensive women's health genetic testing services, providing patients with easier access to affordable genetic testing in early pregnancy. In combination with the expanded carrier screening (ECS), Invitae now offers integrated testing using the two most common prenatal genetic tests, with in-depth follow-up testing available for patients who need it. The company made the announcement in conjunction with the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) meeting in Las Vegas. "NIPS is an important advance in prenatal screening. Historically, access to NIPS has been restricted to high-risk patients, but established criteria are imperfect predictors. With affordable NIPS now available, all women can benefit from having this information early in pregnancy," said Robert Nussbaum, M.D., chief medical officer of Invitae. "Previously, non-invasive genetic screening in pregnancy was only available through measurement of maternal serum biomarkers and fetal ultrasound measurements. Now a single blood test can provide a better, more sensitive and more specific screen for the most common chromosomal imbalances." NIPS, sometimes called non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), analyzes small fragments of fetal DNA present in the mother's bloodstream during pregnancy. NIPS is used to screen pregnancies for chromosomal abnormalities as early as 10 weeks gestation and is also the earliest test that can predict the sex of the baby, if desired. In combination with carrier screening, these screens provide detailed genetic health information without the need for invasive procedures such as chorionic villus sampling (CVS) or amniocentesis. If a patient's NIPS results show an elevated risk of a chromosomal imbalance condition, the company's follow-up prenatal diagnostic testing can provide a definitive result. Invitae's advanced NIPS quickly analyzes cell-free DNA to assess whether a pregnancy (singleton or twin) is at increased risk for the three most common chromosomal disorders, including Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome), Trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome) and Trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome). Microdeletion and sex chromosome analysis can be added at no additional charge. The company will begin accepting orders for NIPS testing next week. Invitae is combining its new NIPS offering with the Invitae Carrier Screen in one specimen collection kit. Invitae's comprehensive carrier screen uses advanced sequencing to identify changes in 301 genes linked to serious genetic disorders, including cystic fibrosis (CF), spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and many other life-threatening disorders. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists recommend offering carrier screening to all patients of reproductive age, including pregnant patients at any level of risk. NIPS is the latest addition to Invitae's women's health test menu, which delivers medically actionable insights for women through all stages of their lives. From proactive testing to assess genetic risk factors for cancer and cardiovascular disease, to prenatal testing before and during pregnancy, to diagnostic testing for women with breast, ovarian and other cancers, Invitae provides comprehensive, clinical-grade genetic information to guide women's health decisions. About Invitae Invitae Corporation (NYSE: NVTA) is a leading genetics company, whose mission is to bring comprehensive genetic information into mainstream medicine to improve healthcare for billions of people. Invitae's goal is to aggregate the world's genetic tests into a single service with higher quality, faster turnaround time, and lower prices. For more information, visit the company's website at invitae.com. Safe Harbor Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements relating to the benefits and features of the company's NIPS, expanded carrier screen and other testing; and when the company will begin accepting orders for NIPS testing. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the company's history of losses; the company's ability to compete; the company's failure to manage growth effectively; the company's need to scale its infrastructure in advance of demand for its tests and to increase demand for its tests; the company's ability to use rapidly changing genetic data to interpret test results accurately and consistently; security breaches, loss of data and other disruptions; laws and regulations applicable to the company's business; and the other risks set forth in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risks set forth in the company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2018. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and Invitae Corporation disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. Contact: Laura D'Angelo [email protected] (628) 213-3283 SOURCE Invitae Corporation Related Links http://invitae.com TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- InvestRes, a Trustwork affiliated company, is pleased to announce that Erin McKenney has been named 2019 Top Corporate Counsel of the year Honoree by the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Ms. McKenney has practiced law in Tampa since 2006, with prior experience working as a prosecutor and in private practice before working as in-house counsel with InvestRes. She has served as the Director of Legal and Risk Management with the company for over two years. Erin McKenney, named 2019 Top Corporate Counsel of the Year Honoree by the Tampa Bay Business Journal Beyond being an Elder at Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church, Erin supports the local community by serving as Chair of the Board of Directors for Tampa Connection and is on the Advisory Board for First Tee of Tampa Bay. Past roles include finance chair for the Tampa Urban Young Life and committee member for Junior League of Tampa Bay. "Erin is a transformative force within InvestRes and Trustwork Nation. She combines solid business sense with practical legal knowledge," said Rachel Ridley, Managing Director. "It is rewarding to see the market recognize her for her leadership and skill." Since 2014, the Top Corporate Counsel Awards program recognizes in-house counsel who are leaders in their company, organization, or industry, exhibit high ethical standards, and possess exemplary professional skills. To qualify, honorees must have at least one year of service at his/her current workplace for each category, or 20-plus years of service to be considered for the Lifetime Achievement Award. Honorees must also work in the seven-county Tampa Bay region. The selection process includes independent research and peer nominations. About InvestRes: Founded in 2010, InvestRes maintains $1.6B+ in assets under management and has acquired over 17,000 apartment homes throughout Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Colorado. InvestRes is a vertically integrated company, handling acquisitions, property management, construction management, debt placement, and portfolio management in-house. InvestRes aims to provide premier service to investors and owners of residential real estate. InvestRes is part of Trustwork Nation -- all persons, businesses, and initiatives united in ethos and committed to empower people to rise up and live abundantly. About Trustwork: Trustwork is a Seattle-based technology company founded by Peter Rex, with a mission to empower workers and business builders. Trustwork's platform offers easy-to-use tools that get workers into an online ecosystem where they can build brands, access better financial services, and find opportunity to grow their businesses. Media Contact: Julie Halsey [email protected] 713-557-0050 https://investres.com/ SOURCE InvestRes Related Links https://investres.com/ POTOMAC, Md., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Potomac community welcomes the International School of Music to their neighborhood with open arms! The grand opening of ISM's new Potomac Location at Cabin John Mall was a huge hit and over 300 people attended the event, joining the support of Rockville Chamber of Commerce, and Montgomery County Council Member Andrew M. Friedson, who gave a warm welcome speech. International School of Music opens new location in Potomac. Ribbon cutting With Montgomery County Council Member Andrew Friedson and the Rockville Chamber of Commerce. Festivities included activities for the whole family: live music, refreshments, school tours of the new custom-designed 5,300 square foot Potomac facility, lesson demos, face-painting, strolling magician and special on-site promotions. "Our mission is to build a school that responds to the community's needs," said Ms. Stanic. The Grand Opening Celebration's festivities included activities for the whole family: live music, refreshments, school tours, lesson demos, face-painting, strolling magician and special on-site promotions: one year of music lessons ($2,6000 value), digital piano and guitar. Families also had the opportunity to explore the new custom-designed 5,300 square foot Potomac facility that houses thirty state-of-the-art soundproofed private music studios, an early childhood music room, a spacious waiting room and plenty of free parking. ISM's growth reflects the passion of its president, Inja Stanic. "We are thrilled to be opening our new location in Potomac, just as we are about to celebrate ISM's 15 year anniversary," she said. "Our mission is to build a school that responds to the community's needs and to make the world a better place by growing a generation of musically educated, loving, caring individuals, who will pass on their knowledge to future generations," says President Stanic. The International School of Music, voted best for music instruction by Washington Families, offers one of the finest music programs to the greater DC community. Founded in 2004, ISM's mission is to create extraordinary musical experiences that enrich lives and empower youth to become more confident, creative and empathetic human beings. ISM offers music lessons in all instruments and voice to over 1,500 students of all ages, levels and abilities, in addition to its Early Childhood Music classes, chamber ensembles and Adult music program. With locations in Bethesda and Potomac, ISM is renowned for its world-class faculty of professional musicians who facilitate a unique combination of high quality music education and performance opportunities that shape and inspire young, well-versed musicians. www.ismw.org For the video footage of the International School of Music, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJHd0eZzUjk SOURCE International School of Music Related Links http://www.ismw.org KIRKLAND, Wash., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- INRIX, Inc., the world leader in mobility analytics and connected car services, today published the 2018 Global Traffic Scorecard that identified and ranked congestion and mobility trends in more than 200 cities, across 38 countries. Americans lost an average of 97 hours a year due to congestion, costing them nearly $87 billion in 2018, an average of $1,348 per driver. In the U.S., the 2018 Global Traffic Scorecard analyzed congestion and the severity of it in the top 60 urban areas. Boston (164 hours lost due to congestion) and Washington D.C. (155 hours) ranked as the most congested two cities in the U.S., over 15 hours per year more than the next most congested cities, Chicago (138 hours) and Seattle (138 hours). While famous for its congestion, Los Angeles' (ranked fifth in impact; 128 hours lost in 2018) constant gridlock does not have the severity as the other top-ranked cities due to its sprawling geography and massive road network. Boston drivers lost up to $2,291 per year due to congestion, followed by Washington D.C. ($2,161), Seattle ($1,932), Chicago ($1,920) and New York City ($1,859). Wichita, Kan., had the lowest cost of congestion among the U.S. cities studied at $304 per driver. New York City was also one of the country's most congested metros, with the 'last mile' taking drivers seven minutes. In contrast, Los Angeles (four minutes) has employment across a wider geographic area, preventing severe downtown congestion experienced in more centralized cities. "Congestion costs Americans billions of dollars each year. It will continue to have serious consequences for national and local economies, businesses and citizens in the years to come," said Trevor Reed, transportation analyst at INRIX. "If we're to avoid traffic congestion becoming a further drain on our economy, we must invest in intelligent transportation systems to tackle our mobility challenges." Table 1: 10 Most Congested Urban Areas in the U.S. 2018 Impact Rank (2017) Urban Area Hours Lost in Congestion (Rank 2018) Year Over Year Change Intercity Last Mile-Travel Time (minutes) Intercity Last-Mile Speed (MPH) Cost of Congestion (per driver) Cost of Congestion (per city) 1 (1) Boston, MA 164 (1) -10% 6 11 $2,291 $4.1B 2 (2) Washington, DC 155 (2) -3% 5 11 $2,161 $4.6B 3 (5) Chicago, IL 138 (4) 4% 5 12 $1,920 $6.2B 4 (3) New York City, NY 133 (5) -4% 7 9 $1,859 $9.5B 5 (4) Los Angeles, CA 128 (6) 0% 4 14 $1,788 $9.3B 6 (6) Seattle, WA 138 (3) 0% 6 10 $1,932 $2.9B 7 (11) Pittsburgh, PA 127 (7) 5% 5 13 $1,776 $1.2B 8 (7) San Francisco, CA 116 (9) -5% 6 10 $1,624 $3.4B 9 (10) Philadelphia, PA 112 (10) 0% 6 10 $1,568 $3.3B 10 (8) Portland, OR 116 (8) -9% 5 13 $1,625 $1.4B The Most Congested Corridors in the U.S. For the fourth year in a row, the Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95) in New York City tops the INRIX list of worst corridors, with drivers wasting a total of 114 hours per year at peak hours in congestion. The list of corridors is dominated by the Top 5 most congested cities in the U.S., accounting for nine of the 10 worst. Surprisingly, Washington D.C., number two in the most congested cities ranking, does not have any corridors that appear on the list. Despite extreme levels of congestion, traffic is diffusely across the region and concentrated to a high degree on major arterials. Table 2: 10 Most Congested U.S. Roads in 2018 Rank City Road Name From To Daily Delay (minutes) Yearly Delay (hours) 1 New York City Cross Bronx Expressway Bruckner Expressway Trans Manhattan Expressway 29 114 2 Chicago I-94|I-90 Stevenson Expressway I-294 26 102 3 Chicago I-290 (Eisenhower Expressway) I-94 I-294 23 93 4 Los Angeles I-10 I-405 I-110 19 74 5 Pittsburgh I-376 I-79 Pennsylvania Turnpike 18 72 6 Philadelphia I-76 I-476 I-676 13 53 7 Boston I-93 Massachusetts Ave. Connector Braintree 13 53 8 New York City I-278 Brooklyn Queens Expressway Long Island Expressway Manhattan Bridge 13 51 9 Los Angeles I-5 Hollywood I-110 13 50 10 New York City I-87 Major Deegan Expressway Robert F. Kennedy Bridge Cross Bronx Expressway 12 49 How U.S. Cities Compare to Top Cities Worldwide At the global level, Moscow topped the list of the world's most gridlocked cities (210 hours lost due to congestion) when weighting for population, followed by Istanbul, Bogota, Mexico City and Sao Paulo. The dominance of Latin American cities should not be a surprise due to their rapid urbanization, high levels of informal settlements, unforgiving topographies and financial volatility. Boston was the only U.S. representative in the top 10 most congested cities in the world. Table 3: 10 Most Congested Cities in the World in 2018 2018 Impact Rank (2017) Urban Area Country Region Hours Lost in Congestion (Rank 2018) Year Over Year Change 1 (1) Moscow Russia Europe 210 (10 ) -12% 2 (3) Istanbul Turkey Europe 157 (32 ) 6% 3 (2) Bogota Colombia South America 272 (1 ) -5% 4 (4) Mexico City Mexico South America 218 (9 ) 3% 5 (5) Sao Paulo Brazil South America 154 (39 ) -1% 6 (6) London United Kingdom Europe 227 (6 ) 1% 7 (8) Rio de Janeiro Brazil South America 199 (13 ) 15% 8 (7) Boston, MA United States North America 164 (25 ) -6% 9 (9) Saint Petersburg Russia Europe 200 (12 ) -5% 10 (13) Rome Italy Europe 254 (2 ) 16% Good data is the first step in tackling congestion. Applying big data to create intelligent transportation systems is key to solving urban mobility problems. INRIX data and analytics on traffic, parking and population movement help city planners and engineers make data-based decisions to prioritize spending in order to maximize benefits and reduce costs now and for the future. The key findings of the INRIX 2018 Global Traffic Scorecard provide a quantifiable benchmark for governments and cities across the world to measure progress to improve urban mobility and track the impact of spending on smart city initiatives. Please visit www.inrix.com/scorecard for: Full 2018 Global Traffic Scorecard report, including rankings for the U.S., U.K. and Germany Global infographic Interactive webpage with data and information for more than 200 cities and 38 countries Complete methodology Notes to Editors: Data Sources INRIX analyzed 500 Terabytes of data from 300 million different sources covering over 5 million miles of road. The data used in the 2018 Global Traffic Scorecard is the congested or uncongested status of every segment of road for every minute of the day, as used by millions of drivers around the world that rely on INRIX-based traffic services. Research Methodology The INRIX 2018 Global Traffic Scorecard is not directly comparable to the 2017 Global Traffic Scorecard due to different metrics and criteria of analysis. The 2017 Global Traffic Scorecard measured time spent in congestion for the median commuter whereas the 2018 Global Traffic Scorecard not only analyzes time lost, but also the severity of congestion. The 2018 INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard calculates time lost in congestion by employing peak, off-peak and free flow data. Peak corresponds to the absolute worst portion of the morning and afternoon commute. Off-peak is the low point between the peak periods. An economic analysis was performed to estimate the total cost to the average driver in a city, and a total cost to the city population. Worst corridors are limited to those that have the highest traffic volume and are ranked by the average hours of delay per driver in 2018. Additional metrics are available online and in the full report. About INRIX INRIX is the global leader in connected car services and transportation analytics. Leveraging big data and the cloud, INRIX delivers comprehensive services and solutions to help move people, cities and businesses forward. Our partners are automakers, governments, mobile operators, developers, advertisers, as well as companies large and small. Learn more at INRIX.com. SOURCE INRIX Related Links http://www.inrix.com IDB Invest and Blue like an Orange Sustainable Capital announced this week their structured financing to Cabify, a ride hailing company that provides mobility solutions to its users, with the closing of a $70 million loan to support an innovative digital business model that is transforming the urban transport sector. The financing will allow Cabify to reinforce its 'smart cities agenda', reducing mobility costs and improving the lives of citizens. https://bluelikeanorangecapital.com/press-releases/ (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/820766/Blue_like_an_Orange_Logo.jpg ) (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/820767/IDB_Invest_Logo.jpg ) Cabify is an important actor to assist economic groups who might otherwise have difficulty finding jobs, and bringing them into the Latin American formal economy. Its digital model allows the traceability of operations and transactions by reducing friction through technology and generating a business environment that is subject to taxes and strict compliance with regulatory and legal frameworks. Cabify, IDB Invest and Blue like an Orange believe that this transaction can have significant positive social impact, in addition to the employment generation benefits described above. For instance, indicators will be traced related to road safety and CO2 emissions, and a specific effort on female drivers and providing women with safe access to transportation have been adopted. Safety is a major issue in Latin America, with a special impact on women, who suffer harassment and other forms of intimidation when using various forms of transport. Cabify provides a safe complement to other transportation options especially relevant for women. In addition to increasing access to affordable, reliable and safe transport to people in Latin American cities, the company aims to reduce carbon emissions through the reduction of the average age of the fleet of vehicles the company operates with; increase of the number of women among Cabify's drivers; and improve the employment conditions of drivers including help in obtaining social benefits. Specifically, the expected development outcome of this transaction supports five Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 3, Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages; SDG 5, Gender Equality; SDG 9, Industry, innovation and infrastructure; SDG 8, Decent work and economic growth; and SDG 11, Sustainable cities and communities. Cabify has incorporated the SDGs and 2030 Agenda into its business objectives, and adheres to the United Nations Global Compact. The investment, carried out by Blue like an Orange Sustainable Capital together with IDB Invest, is part of a framework agreement of co-financing between both institutions to catalyze private debt capital in companies in Latin America and the Caribbean and marks their second co-financing transaction announced in as many weeks. More info about IDB Invest, Blue like an Orange Sustainable Capital and Cabify on our website. https://bluelikeanorangecapital.com/press-releases/ SOURCE Blue like an Orange Sustainable Capital ALBANY, New York, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the report published by Transparency Market Research, the global hearing aids market is anticipated to rise at 4.5% CAGR during the forecast tenure from 2016 to 2024. By rising at this rate, the valuation of the market is expected to reach US$7 bn by the end of 2024. In 2015, the valuation of the market was US$4.7 bn. The adult hearing segment is expected to capture a large market share over the forecast period. The segment held roughly 95% of the total market share in 2015, and this trend is expected to continue over the coming years. Geography-wise, Europe is expected to remain a lucrative regional market for hearing aids. This could be attribute dot people's awareness and high purchasing power. Get PDF Brochure for Research Insights at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=4952 Changing Lifestyles to Promote Growth According to World Health Organization (WHO), about 466 million people around the world (i.e. 5% of the global population) have a hearing loss that is disabled, a significant percentage of which are children. The dynamic lifestyle changes and the rising demand for hearing aids will boost the international market sales of these products. Introduction and implementation of new and innovative auditory products, such as digital waterproof hearing aids, will promote the growth of the auditory aid market in the forecast period. Some other key factors impacting this market are advances in technology, the growing number of the global geriatric population leading to surge in hearing aids usage and growing trend of customized implants. Request a Sample of Report at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=4952 Online Distribution Channel to Emerge Key Market Trend The internet penetration supports the development of websites for e-commerce that sell listening aids to end-users. There is growing demand for these products from online websites fuelling the global hearing aid market. Online distribution will raise suppliers ' revenue and reduce the waiting time in hospitals and clinics for patients. A major factor hindering the growth of this market is the high cost of hearing aid systems. The technology is very dependent, which makes them highly costly, from USD 1000 to USD 6000 per device. This is mainly at the cost of the services of a highly trained audiologist because of significant investments in research and development for improving hearing aids. Therefore, the growth of this market is one of the primary problems. Request For Discount On This Report - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=4952 The global hearing aids market is projected to see a healthy growth in the forthcoming years, according to analysts at Transparency Market Research (TMR). The vendor landscape of the hearing aids market is largely oligopolistic in nature, with six players holding nearly 98% of the total market share. The market is privy to entry of new players, on account of high rivalry among existing vendors. Moreover, steep initial investment required deters new vendors from entering this market space. Vendors in the global hearing aids market are expected to focus on the core research and development in order to provide improved product quality to consumers. Manufacturers are seen focusing on smaller sized devices, in order to have a better user experience. Several technological innovations, such as use of lithium ion batteries are expected to be adopted by vendors to offer improved product to consumers. Browse Press Release - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/hearing-aid-market.htm The leading players in the global hearing aids market are Sonova Holding AG, the William Demant Holding Group, Widex A/S, GN ReSound, and Siemens Healthcare. This review is based on TMR's report titled, "Hearing Aids Market (Product Type - Hearing Aids (Behind the Ear (BTE), Receiver in the Ear (RITE), In the Ear (ITE), Canal Hearing Aids (ITC), (CIC), & (IIC)), Bone Anchored Hearing Aids (BAHA); End-user (Pediatric, Adult)) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 2024." Popular Research Reports by TMR: Hearing Implant Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/hearing-implant-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/hearing-implant-market.html Pediatric Hearing Aids Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pediatric-hearing-aids-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pediatric-hearing-aids-market.html Hearing Loss Technology Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/hearing-loss-technology-market.html About Us Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The company's exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. TMR's data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports. Contact Mr. Rohit Bhisey Transparency Market Research State Tower, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany NY - 12207 United States Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Research Blog: https://theglobalhealthnews.com/ SOURCE Transparency Market Research David Anderson, LMHC, CDP, has been hired as the first director of "Hazelden Betty Ford in Bellevue," an outpatient addiction treatment center for adults and provider of "screening, brief intervention and referral-to-treatment" (SBIRT) services for teens. Adult services will include daily group-therapy sessions, opioid-specific support groups, individual counseling, family support and resources, mental health services, and prescriptions for patients engaged in medication-assisted treatment. "We are excited to have David at the helm of our newest facility, which will immediately be an integral part of our national system of care, most prominently complementing our two Oregon facilities," said Heidi Wallace, executive director for Hazelden Betty Ford's Northwest operations. "David's depth and breadth of service in Washington state will be invaluable to Hazelden Betty Ford as we look to help as many individuals and families as possible in the Seattle area." Anderson has a master's degree in marital and family therapy from Seattle Pacific University and has been helping youth and adults in Washington overcome addiction, depression, trauma and other mental health conditions for almost 35 years. Most recently, he spent 16 years at EvergreenHealth Monroe (formerly Valley General Hospital) as manager and then director of its Recovery Center. Prior to that, he worked at Cigna Behavioral Health and Compass Health. "Quality treatment services are essential to combating the devastation of the opioid overdose epidemic and broader addiction crisis," said Anderson, who will have a staff of seven. "Hazelden Betty Ford's expansion in the Pacific Northwest couldn't come soon enough, and I am proud to lead our team in bringing a message of healing and hope to Bellevue and beyond." The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, will now have 17 sites across the country, including two in the Portland area. It also has extensive education, prevention, research, advocacy and publishing resources. In Bellevue, the nonprofit leader expects to begin accepting patients in April, with a ribbon-cutting event open to the public in early May. Hazelden Betty Ford is already engaging with stakeholders throughout the Seattle-area business, healthcare and recovery communities. Vice President of Community Relations and Public Affairs William C. Moyers, a best-selling author and nationally renowned speaker, will present at the Pierce County Opioid Summit at Pacific Lutheran University on Feb. 22. Among other topics, he will share about Hazelden Betty Ford's innovative framework for treating opioid addiction. Its Comprehensive Opioid Response with the Twelve Steps, or COR-12 , framework combines the use of medications, evidence-based clinical therapies and peer support to help people suffering from opioid use disorder not only stabilize but begin to transform their lives and get established in long-term recovery. Anderson and Wallace will be at the event as well. The new outpatient center in Bellevue will be part of the Overlake Medical Pavilion (1231 116th Ave NE), which is next door to Overlake Medical Center, a 349-bed nonprofit hospital, and has a diverse population of 1.8 million people living within 15 miles of it. The Pavilion is easily accessible via public transportation, including a nearby light rail stop currently under construction. About the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is a force of healing and hope for individuals, families and communities affected by addiction to alcohol and other drugs. As the nation's leading nonprofit provider of comprehensive inpatient and outpatient treatment for adults and youth, the Foundation has 17 locations nationwide and collaborates with an expansive network throughout health care. With a legacy that began in 1949 and includes the 1982 founding of the Betty Ford Center, the Foundation today also encompasses a graduate school of addiction studies, a publishing division, an addiction research center, recovery advocacy and thought leadership, professional and medical education programs, school-based prevention resources and a specialized program for children who grow up in families with addiction. Learn more at www.HazeldenBettyFord.org and on Twitter @hazldnbettyford. SOURCE Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Related Links http://www.hazeldenbettyford.org (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/819448/I_Want_My_Business_Back_Logo.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/819450/GO_GABA_I_Want_My_Business_Back.jpg ) Mr Del Valle began developing the GO GABA soft drink in 2008. GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid) is said to help sharpen the mind, providing clarity and focus. Initial commercialization in Mexico and select European countries enabled him to commission further research and attract start-up investment. In 2017, after working for a couple of years on a revamp of the product and branding, Mr. Del Valle entered an agreement with one of the biggest global companies in the industry. The founder of GO GABA wants to raise his voice and invite the public in general and other entrepreneurs to share their own experiences. Mr Del Valle stated: "I am convinced that there are many people experiencing similar issues while following their dreams. People that never managed to accomplish their dream, or lost it somewhere along the way for different reasons. With this initiative, I want to present my business story and hear what others have to say.", says Mr Del Valle. Everyone is invited to share their ideas, advice, experiences and opinions on social media and on http://www.iwantmybusinessback.com. About GO GABA GO GABA is a functional soft drink, enriched with natural ingredients that are said to help sharpen the mind, achieving greater focus and mental clarity. GO GABA is a small enterprise with a team of 5 people that has been recognized by the Mexican Institute of Entrepreneurship as a High Impact Innovative Enterprise and by Google to be part of their HiPo program (High Potential). GO GABA was a winner in the Binational Mexico-France contest organized by the Mexican French Council for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The functional soft drink was sold in Mexico and exported to The Netherlands. It was sampled successfully in France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and the UK. About "I Want My Business Back" "I Want My Business Back" is an initiative launched by Mexican entrepreneur and GO GABA founder Jose Antonio Del Valle in order stimulate debate for entrepreneurs on how to grow new businesses and bounce back from any potential unsuccessful ventures. Contact: Felipe Lopez Moyao, Phone: +521-5554530440, [email protected] SOURCE GO GABA / I Want My Business Back MILL VALLEY, Calif., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Glassdoor , one of the world's largest job and recruiting sites, today announced Christian Sutherland-Wong, Glassdoor Chief Operating Officer (COO), has been promoted to Glassdoor President. In his new role as President & COO, Sutherland-Wong will assume greater operational leadership of Glassdoor's monetization, marketing and administrative functions. Sutherland-Wong will retain his current responsibilities driving revenue and overseeing global business strategy and operations. "Christian is an exceptional leader with a proven track record for delivering significant results and value to Glassdoor," said Glassdoor CEO and co-founder Robert Hohman. "In his various roles at Glassdoor, Christian has generated the respect of his colleagues through his strong vision and dedication to promoting a great employee experience. As we accelerate our plans to scale and expand into new markets around the world, we are pleased to expand Christian's leadership role to help us successfully tackle our next phase of growth." "Everyone deserves to have a job and company they love. I am thrilled and honored by the opportunity to continue to drive Glassdoor's growth and support Glassdoor's mission," said Sutherland-Wong. "Over the past decade, Glassdoor has redefined the recruiting industry, and I look forward to furthering the company's commitment to innovation and quality in support of both job seekers and employers." Prior to serving as Glassdoor COO, Sutherland-Wong was Glassdoor's Senior Vice President & General Manager of Monetization, overseeing development and operations functions across the business. Earlier in his career, he held operations and product management roles at LinkedIn and previously worked as a consultant at Bain & Company. He holds a bachelor's degree in actuarial science from the University of New South Wales and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Learn more about Glassdoor and our open jobs . About Glassdoor Glassdoor combines all the latest jobs with millions of reviews and insights to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. The company is on a mission to help people everywhere find a job and company they love. In pursuit of the mission, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for more than 830,000 companies located in more than 190 countries. For more information, visit glassdoor.com. Glassdoor is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc. SOURCE Glassdoor Related Links http://www.glassdoor.com Hornet was best known for its part in the fateful Doolittle Raid that was launched in April of 1942, which was the first air-borne attack of Japanese homeland targets including Tokyo. Led by U.S. Army Lt. Col. James Doolittle, all the 16 B-25 planes that were launched from Hornet were unable to land at their designated airstrip in China, but the raid provided a boost to American morale and put Japan on alert about our covert air capabilities. In June, Hornet was one of three American carriers that surprised and sunk four Japanese carriers at Midway, turning the tide of war in the Pacific. The ship was sunk during the exceptionally vicious Battle of Santa Cruz Island that started on October 25, 1943. Hornet proved an especially determined ship over the next 24 hours. Enduring a relentless, coordinated attack by Japanese dive-bombers and torpedo planes, her crew was ultimately forced to abandon ship due to damage and resulting fires. She then defied American efforts to scuttle her with 16 torpedoes and 369 rounds of 5" shells. When Japanese forces approached shortly thereafter and fired four torpedoes from two Japanese destroyers late in the evening on October 26, Hornet finally succumbed and slipped beneath the surface. She lost 111 sailors from her crew of nearly 2,200. "With the loss of Hornet and serious damage to Enterprise, the Battle of Santa Cruz was a Japanese victory, but at an extremely high cost," said Rear Admiral (Ret.) Samuel Cox, director of Naval History and Heritage Command. "About half the Japanese aircraft engaged were shot down by greatly improved U.S. Navy anti-aircraft defenses. As a result, the Japanese carriers did not engage again in battle for almost another two years." The discovery of Hornet was made during R/V Petrel's first mission of 2019 after relocating from the Philippine Sea to the Solomon Islands to spend winter months in this arena. Operating out of Guadalcanal, the area is rich in history and prominence in terms of naval engagements. "We had Hornet on our list of WWII warships that we wanted to locate because of its place in history as an aircraft carrier that saw many pivotal moments in naval battles," said Robert Kraft, director of subsea operations for Vulcan. "Paul Allen was particularly interested in historically significant and capital ships, so this mission and discovery honor his legacy." The 10-person expedition team on the 250-foot R/V Petrel was able to locate Hornet's position by piecing together data from national and naval archives that included official deck logs and action reports from other ships engaged in the battle. Positions and sightings from nine other U.S. warships in the area were plotted on a chart to generate the starting point for the search grid. In the case of Hornet, she was discovered on the first dive mission of Petrel's autonomous underwater vehicle and confirmed by video footage from the remotely operated vehicle, both pieces of equipment rated to dive down to 6,000 meters. For more information, contact: [email protected] The following link provides visual assets, materials and video interviews, including: Interview footage with Director of the Naval History and Heritage Command, Sam Cox B-roll of the R/V Petrel in its search operations Video footage of USS Hornet wreckage wreckage Photos of USS Hornet wreckage To learn more about USS Hornet (CV8), we recommend the following links: Naval History and Heritage Command's USS Hornet Page: https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/h/hornet-vii.html Naval History and Heritage Command narrative of Doolittle Raid: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-004/h-004-4.html About Paul G. Allen The late Paul G. Allen, Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist, had a passion for exploring the frontiers of technology and human knowledge. His team continues his work to save endangered species; combat climate change; improve ocean health; share art, history and film; develop new technology; tackle epidemics; research how the human brain works; and build sustainable communities. Paul was deeply committed to honoring our past and the lessons it provides to our future. He created public spaces including the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Collection, MoPOP and the Living Computer Museum + Lab where people can learn and interact with historic, cultural and musical heritage. Honoring his father's service in World War II, Paul was especially interested in collecting and protecting the artifacts that speak to the heroism and service of that day. His Research Vessel Petrel provides a platform to perform research exploration and search for historic artifacts that have been lost at sea. To learn more, visit http://rvpetrel.paulallen.com SOURCE Paul G. Allens Vulcan Inc. Related Links http://paulallen.com BOCA RATON, Fla., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Peroxfarma, a European pharmaceutical company and a pioneer in joint-care supplements, is bringing its Epaplus "Arthicare" supplements to the American consumer. Millions of people living in America suffer from joint pain. Arthritis, one of the most common causes for joint pain, affects 21 percent of the adult population, and more than one-third of adults reported having joint pain in the past 30 days. "Joint pain and arthritis are major health problems in the United States and throughout the world. It is affecting more and more young people, and it will be a major problem for aging baby boomers. We have years of experience developing nutritional supplements that address joint-pain ailments," said Joan Xiol Foret, the CEO of Peroxfarma, which is headquartered in Barcelona, Spain. "We developed the Epaplus supplements to help people with joint-pain conditions," he said, adding that each supplement addresses different aspects and severity of joint pain. "Our supplements include Collagen, Magnesium, Vitamins, Hyaluronic acid and Silicon, all of which are needed to maintain healthy and flexible joints." Peroxfarma, the company behind the Epaplus nutritional line, has years of experience as one of Europe's leading pharmaceutical companies and is known as an innovative leader in joint-care supplements. "Our goal from day one has been to improve people's lives," he said, adding that the company developed the Epaplus nutritional supplement line with the health needs of people in mind. Peroxfarma's other nutritional supplements include Epaplus Sleepcare, Epaplus Skincare, Epaplus Vigorcare, Epaplus Immucare, Epaplus Digestcare, and Epaplus Vitalcare. All Peroxfarma supplements are sugar- and lactose-free with no dyes or preservatives. "We created Epaplus supplements to provide an extra dose of health to people," Foret said. "Every day, we pursue new formulas and combinations of active ingredients to help people live their lives to their fullest potential." For more information, check out Peroxfarma's website at peroxfarma.com/en. Please direct inquiries to: Andrew Polin, 561-544-0719 [email protected] SOURCE Peroxfarma Related Links http://peroxfarma.com/en DUBLIN, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Europe CGM Market, Users, Reimbursement Policy, Continuous Glucose Monitoring Components (Glucose Sensor, Transmitter), Diabetes (Type1 & 2) Population, & Forecast" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Europe CGM Market is expected to surpass US$ 800 Million by the end of the year 2024 Good healthcare infrastructure, rising healthcare expenditure and awareness of patients regarding CGM technology in Europe will further accelerate the market of Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) device. Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) device are comparatively new innovation in diabetes management. The conventional technique that permits users for one time check of glucose levels, but the CGM systems manage, monitor and inform the user if the glucose level nears current levels. The CGM system measures glucose from the tissues as compared to manual testing of blood by a finger-stick glucose meter assists in identifying glucose levels for a longer span of time. Generally, people who suffer from diabetes develop poor habits over the years which gradually seem hard to break. Using CGM systems that assist to control the desired glucose level by well awareness and understanding of food intake and blood glucose trends after eating specific foods. Germany & France CGM Market will remain a dominant force in the European Region According to this market research report, Germany & France is expected to be a dominant force in Europe Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) market. The adoption of CGM device is comparatively faster in Sweden compared to other European region. As per many diabetes experts, CGM is the compatible device for effective diabetes management for people having severe complications (hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia) in the day to day life. European Countries Reimbursement Policies on CGM Device This report provides complete assessment of CGM reimbursement for specific countries that include: United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden, Switzerland and Netherlands. Many countries provide CGM reimbursement to pediatric, gestational diabetes and type 1 diabetes patients only. It is anticipated that continuous glucose monitoring systems will be widely accessible to all diabetes patients whether it type 1 or type 2. This latest study Europe CGM Market, Users, Reimbursement Policy, Continuous Glucose Monitoring Components (Glucose Sensor, Transmitter) Market, Diabetes (Type1 & 2) Population, & Forecast provides a detailed and comprehensive insight of the Europe CGM Market. This report studies the Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) market from 3 view points: CGM Market CGM Users CGM Reimbursements Policy The scope of the Report: CGM Market & Forecast: We have defined the CGM market of 6 countries. Market data from 2010 to 2017 and Forecast from 2018 to 2024 CGM Users & Forecast: We have defined CGM number of Users of 6 countries. Market data from 2010 to 2017 and Forecast from 2018 to 2024 Reimbursement Policy: Report provides Reimbursement Policy on CGM for 6 countries individually along with global CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) reimbursement model Diabetes Population: Report covers 6 Countries Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Population Numbers and Forecast Growth Factors for CGM: This topic studies the factor which is helping the CGM industry to grow. Challenges for CGM: This industry shows the problems being faced by the CGM technology Key Topics Covered: 1. Executive Summary 2. Europe - CGM User (2010 - 2024) 3. Europe - CGM Market & Forecast (2010 - 2024) 4. By Components - CGM Market (2010 - 2024) 4.1 Glucose Sensor Market & Forecast 4.2 CGM Transmitter Market & Forecast 5. Market Share - By Countries 6. Reimbursement Model - Europe CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) 7. Abbott Freestyle Libre vs CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) 8. United Kingdom - Diabetes Population (2010 - 2024) 8.1 Total Diabetes Population 8.1.1 Type 1 Diabetes Population 8.1.2 Type 2 Diabetes Population 9. United Kingdom - CGM Market & Forecast 9.1 United Kingdom - CGM Market by Components 9.1.1 Glucose Sensor Market & Forecast 9.1.2 CGM Transmitter Market & Forecast 10. United Kingdom - CGM User (2010 - 2024) 11. CGM Reimbursement in United Kingdom 12. Germany - Diabetes Population (2010 - 2024) 12.1 Total Diabetes Population 12.1.1 Type 1 Diabetes Population 12.1.2 Type 2 Diabetes Population 13. Germany - CGM Market & Forecast 13.1 Germany - CGM Market by Components 13.1.1 Glucose Sensor Market & Forecast 13.1.2 CGM Transmitter Market & Forecast 14. Germany - CGM User (2010 - 2024) 15. CGM Reimbursement in Germany 16. Netherlands - Diabetes Population (2010 - 2024) 16.1 Total Diabetes Population 16.1.1 Type 1 Diabetes Population 16.1.2 Type 2 Diabetes Population 17. Netherlands - CGM Market & Forecast 17.1 Netherlands - CGM Market by Components 17.1.1 Glucose Sensor Market & Forecast 17.1.2 CGM Transmitter Market & Forecast 18. Netherlands - CGM User (2010 - 2024) 19. CGM Reimbursement in Netherlands 20. Sweden - Diabetes Population (2010 - 2024) 20.1 Total Diabetes Population & Forecast 20.1.1 Type 1 Diabetes Population 20.1.2 Type 2 Diabetes Population 21. Sweden - CGM Market & Forecast 21.1 Sweden - CGM Market by Components 21.1.1 Glucose Sensor Market & Forecast 21.1.2 CGM Transmitter Market & Forecast 22. Sweden - CGM User (2010 - 2024) 23. CGM Reimbursement in Sweden 24. France - Diabetes Population (2010 - 2024) 24.1 Diabetes Population 24.1.1 Type 1 Diabetes Population 24.1.2 Type 2 Diabetes Population 25. France - CGM Market & Forecast 25.1 France - CGM Market by Components 25.1.1 Glucose Sensor Market & Forecast 25.1.2 CGM Transmitter Market & Forecast 26. France - CGM User (2010 - 2024) 27. CGM Reimbursement in France 28. Switzerland - Diabetes Population (2010 - 2024) 28.1 Total Diabetes Population 28.1.1 Type 1 Diabetes Population 28.1.2 Type 2 Diabetes Population 29. Switzerland - CGM Market & Forecast 29.1 Switzerland - CGM Market by Components 29.1.1 Glucose Sensor Market & Forecast 29.1.2 CGM Transmitter Market & Forecast 30. Switzerland - CGM User (2010 - 2024) 31. CGM Reimbursement in Switzerland 32. Growth Drivers 32.1 Continuous Positive Cost Effective Analysis by Several Countries 32.2 CGM Technology Convenient for both Patients & Physicians 33. Challenges 33.1 Controversy regarding Clinical Benefits For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/dxqx4v/europe_cgm_market?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 NEW YORK, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- EHE Health hosted its first 2019 Benefits Consultant Forum Wednesday night, February 6, 2019 at the Top of the Rock at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. As an open discussion for benefit consultants and health care media, the forum hosted a dialogue regarding: A review of the epidemiologic and health benefits literature on the pan-enterprises value of evidence-based preventive health programs for large employers. A new paradigm of employee engagement how EHE has applied best practices in the consumer economy to engage previously un-engaged employees. The emerging role of precision medicine to improve preventive health. "We designed this forum to partner with the consulting community when they are tasked with providing actionable solutions to address the growing health and performance demands of their clients," said Tom Maraday, Chief Development Officer at EHE Health. "Our goal, as the preeminent provider of health preventive services in America, is to improve our data-driven approach with a practical insertion into the large employer ecosystem." Consultants were able to hear first-hand from experts: David Levy , MD, CEO, EHE Health : provided a pan-enterprise measurement framework for the value of preventive health. , MD, CEO, : provided a pan-enterprise measurement framework for the value of preventive health. Joy Altimare , Chief Engagement and Brand Officer , EHE Health: showed how health care programs can engage the un-engageable through a personalized, consistent and branded experience; resulting in significantly increased program participation. , Chief Engagement and , EHE Health: showed how health care programs can engage the un-engageable through a personalized, consistent and branded experience; resulting in significantly increased program participation. Elissa Levin , Senior Director Clinical Affairs and Policy, Helix: along with Dr. Levy, led a robust discussion centred around the lifetime benefit of genomic sequencing - the next leap in precision medicine and its impact on individual and population health. "We decided to include Helix, the California based leader in the human genome industry, because of their industry leading science, unique and transformational business model, and superior approach to privacy," remarked Dr. Levy. "As the leader in preventive health, we are dedicated to providing relevant advocacy to large employers in the responsible application of the fruits of genomic medicine to their employees." Jaclyn London, MS, RD, from Good Housekeeping, "At this first colloquium, EHE addressed the most pressing issues facing large employers the validation of enterprise value for evidence-based preventive health services, engaging employees around their preventive health needs in new and exciting ways and providing advocacy in the next wave of medical innovation in precision medicine. " The EHE conversation continues at www.ehe.health. For more information about this press release, please contact Vanessa Rissetto, Director of Communications + Events, [email protected] ABOUT EHE: EHE is a nationwide provider of managed services for preventive health serving large employers and their employees for over 100 years. EHE's vision of health, productivity and longevity delivers transformation value for employer clients and their employees by providing evidence-based preventive health care through their own clinics and contracted preventive health network. SOURCE EHE Health Related Links http://www.ehe.health Innovative solution allows highly accurate scaling of survey segments to marketing-sized audiences using offline, people-based data DALLAS, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Dynata, a global leader in first-party data and data services, now enables brands to directly expand their first-party research data into targetable audiences through a strategic alliance with TruSignal, Inc., a leading predictive scoring and people-based marketing business. The joint solution allows brands to drive more precisely targeted and efficient marketing campaigns, reaching more people who are more likely to convert. Through this alliance, brands can use selected segments from survey responses they have collected through Dynata as high-quality seed data to power audience expansion. Dynata actively maintains more than 2,700 profile attributes as part of its high-quality, global panel data covering millions of opted-in consumers. TruSignal utilizes these seed data segments to train its AI-powered predictive scoring engine to identify highly-accurate lookalike audiences at scale. Powered by TruSignal's TruAudience Platform, 247 million U.S. adults are scored based on cross-validated, people-based offline data spanning sixteen categories and covering 99 percent of U.S. adults. The alliance enables brands to expand their reach to new consumer, business-to-business, and niche audiences with great accuracy and efficiency. Audiences identified by the solution are addressable across all digital channels and devices, including email, display, video, mobile and addressable television. "With this combined solution, brands can now create a seamless connection from consumer research to marketing activation," said Laura Lewellyn, VP Data Strategy and Partnerships at Dynata. "This innovative collaboration will drive better campaign outcomes by converting high quality research data directly into addressable audiences at scale with the accuracy of offline data attributes and the speed and immediacy of digital technology." "We're excited to join forces with Dynata," said David Dowhan, CEO and founder at TruSignal. "With our TruAudience Platform and the unique combination of Dynata's insights based on customer-collected survey data and TruSignal's AI and offline, people-based data, we're creating custom, scalable audiences to drive more accurate and efficient targeting decisions for marketers." About Dynata Dynata is one of the world's leading providers of first-party data contributed by consumers and business professionals. With a reach that encompasses 60+ million people globally and an extensive library of individual profile attributes collected through surveys, Dynata is the cornerstone for precise, trustworthy quality data. The company has built innovative data services and solutions around its core first-party data offering to bring the voice of the customer to the entire marketing spectrum, from market research to marketing and advertising. Dynata serves nearly 6,000 market research agencies, media and advertising agencies, consulting and investment firms, and healthcare and corporate customers in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. For more information, go to www.dynata.com. About TruSignal, Inc. TruSignal, Inc. is an innovative leader in people-based marketing technology for Fortune 500 brands, agencies and platforms. TruSignal uses predictive scoring, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), to make big data actionable for one-to-one addressable marketing. TruSignal delivers incredible results by pinpointing the best people to target at scale and optimizing the bid price for every impression. This is all accomplished through the TruAudience Platform, which combines a robust deterministic identity graph, a massive third-party data set, an advanced AI engine with multiple machine learning algorithms, extensive people-based, omnichannel ID matching technology and a robust set of integration APIs that fuel partner platforms with powerful insights, custom lookalike audiences, audience expansion and bid price optimization solutions that are easy, accurate, scalable and fast. SOURCE Dynata Related Links http://www.dynata.com WILMINGTON, Del., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The I Could Do Great Things Foundation, founded in 2009 by Stuart M. Grant and Suzanne B. Grant, is pleased to announce the fourth annual Beau Biden Memorial Scholarship in memory of the late Beau Biden. This scholarship, in the amount of $10,000, will be given to a Delaware high school senior who plans to continue his or her education at a university of his or her choice, and who embodies the virtues of Beau. Beau Biden was a selfless man who exhibited qualities of leadership, community, civility, respect, and a strong moral compass. The announcement and application are available on the I Could Do Great Things Foundation website. The I Could Do Great Things Foundation was created with the belief that there are lots of young people who could do Great Things if only they had the financial wherewithal to fund those ideas. The Beau Biden Memorial Scholarship seeks to support a student pursuing college who reflects the qualities of our dear friend Beau. In the last three years, 15 Delaware students have received scholarships totaling more than $50,000. Applications are due by March 31, 2019 and interviews will be held for the finalists in April. The selection team will consist of members from the Biden family and a winner will be announced in late April. Applications can be sent by mail to PO Box 4406, Greenville, Delaware 19807 or emailed to [email protected]. About I Could Do Great Things Foundation: Stuart M. Grant and Suzanne B. Grant formed the I Could Do Great Things Foundation in 2009 with the belief that there are lots of people who could do Great Things if only they had the financial wherewithal to fund those ideas. The I Could Do Great Things Foundation helps to supply that, recognizing the Great Things that people are already doing as well as reward outstanding achievement and potential. The I Could Do Great Things Foundation provides funding covering a range of social initiatives related to education and projects that strengthen communities in Delaware where the couple are primarily based. For More Information: I Could Do Great Things Foundation PO Box 4406, Greenville, Delaware 19807 [email protected] SOURCE I Could Do Great Things Foundation Related Links http://icoulddogreatthings.org NEW YORK, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Since education is a powerful instrument that sets the foundation for sustained economic growth, schools and universities never stop to be at risk of cyber attacks. Educational institutions, which were taken aback by security breaches, experienced considerable financial and reputational losses. Therefore, the recent global award nominations have pointed out the importance of cybersecurity awareness in the education industry. The EdTech Awards recognizes outstanding contributors like Education Framework in transforming education through technology including security and privacy solutions for the academic world. Info Security Products Guide has recently notified that in 2019 Global Excellence Awards, Info Security Products Guide's "Startup of the Year Founded in 2018" category includes Education Cybersecurity startup EdGuards among other cybersecurity startups of more common areas such as endpoint protection or security analytics. Another category Security Training and Educational Programs recognizes four startups such as a Gold winner Proofpoint for their security education platforms. Global Excellence Awards also included a special nomination for Cybersecurity products in the education sector, where EdGuards Grader became a Gold winner. EdGuards aims to minimize security risks and bring security to every department at educational institutions. In the company's short history, EdGuards has released an annual data breach report and a research paper on cybersecurity in the sphere of education. The Company has a bronze award for A Brief History of Higher Education Insecurity report that is available on the official site. The awards acknowledge companies for having groundbreaking cybersecurity product helping set the bar higher for others in all areas of security and technologies. About Info Security PG's Global Excellence Awards Info Security Products Guide sponsors the Global Excellence Awards and plays a vital role in keeping end-users informed of the choices they can make when it comes to protecting their digital resources and assets. About EdGuards EdGuards is a pioneer company making a breakthrough in the cybersecurity of Education industry with services and solutions that keep high-risk business applications such as campus solutions, HR, and Financial systems safe from threats and data breaches. EdGuards supports and develops the EG News project intended to keep professionals updated on the latest news about Education Cybersecurity and Technology. Contact: Amy Lynn +1 646 783 3545 [email protected] SOURCE EdGuards Related Links https://edguards.com Swarthmore, PA (19081) Today Partly cloudy skies. High around 80F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Clear skies with a few passing clouds. Low 57F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and ISTANBUL, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CUJO AI , an award-winning network security and intelligence company that provides AI-driven protection, privacy and device management solutions, and AirTies , the most widely deployed provider of managed in-home Wi-Fi solutions to global service providers, today announced an alliance to provide cybersecurity and Smart Wi-Fi software solutions for network operators around the world. Specifically, the two companies will integrate their leading software solutions, making it easier to incorporate Wi-Fi management and enhanced cybersecurity on broadband gateways and in the cloud. Initially, cybersecurity analytics from the CUJO AI Platform will be incorporated into AirTies' Remote Manager , a cloud-based optimization suite that provides service providers with real-time visibility and historical performance analysis to manage the consumer Wi-Fi experience. The two companies will unify their gateway software agents that can be deployed as a firmware upgrade to new and existing broadband gateways, and they will collaborate on joint business opportunities with service providers. "The dramatic rise in Internet-of-things devices requires new thinking about home Wi-Fi architecture and the security of those devices and home networks," said Philippe Alcaras, CEO of AirTies. "CUJO AI is a clear market leader in this area, and we look forward to partnering to combine advanced Wi-Fi management and cybersecurity into a unified software solution. Our combined efforts will make it easier for operators to deploy gateway software and cloud-based management that will enable operators to proactively enhance and protect their subscribers' home networks." "Creating a unique environment for each smart homeowner is imperative to ensure good retention rates and keep customer churn at the minimum," said Einaras von Gravrock, CEO of CUJO AI. "Together with AirTies, we will be able to offer a uniquely developed AI driven security solution which was built to help Network Operators to reduce costs, save time, decrease customer churn, and improve brand loyalty. CUJO AI and AirTies technology complement each other. AirTies provides unparalleled coverage around the house. It helps to amplify the CUJO AI solutions that identify and protect all devices at home. Combined, our strengths help network operators reduce costs, save time, decrease customer churn, and improve brand loyalty." CUJO AI privately and securely analyzes network and device activity in order to detect abnormal threat behaviors as they emerge. CUJO AI provides personalized broadband for network operators through advanced device identification, AI security, content controls. Recently, the company has announced that it covers the connected experiences for 240M devices and 16M homes worldwide. Earlier this month the company also announced it is providing its cybersecurity solutions to both Comcast and Charter . AirTies' Smart Wi-Fi software is designed to help operators upgrade in-home Wi-Fi performance and coverage, proactively fix and monitor Wi-Fi issues, and improve overall customer satisfaction. AirTies Remote Manager maximizes responsiveness and performance by leveraging both cloud-based and localized network intelligence. AirTies also recently announced plans to acquire Technicolor's in-home Wi-Fi Management software business, a.k.a. Wireless Doctor, and related personnel and intellectual property, subject to customary closing conditions. AirTies technologies have been deployed by more than 50 service providers across 4 different continents. Additional information about CUJO AI is at www.cujo.com . Additional information about AirTies is at www.AirTies.com . About CUJO AI: CUJO AI is the leading artificial intelligence company providing network operators AI-driven solutions, including AI security, advanced device identification, advanced parental controls, and more. CUJO AI Platform creates an intuitive end-user facing application for LAN and wireless (mobile and public Wi-Fi), powered by machine learning and real-time data. Each solution can be implemented as a white-label offering. CUJO AI is recognized as a Technology Pioneer 2018 by the World Economic Forum. In 2018, it was listed as a "Vendor to Watch" and a "Cool Vendor in IoT security" by Gartner. The company has won the Security Solution of the Year award at the 2018 Glotel Awards. CUJO AI employs a staff of 150 professionals. More information about CUJO AI can be found at cujo.com About AirTies: Founded in 2004, AirTies is the most widely deployed provider of managed in-home Wi-Fi solutions to operators around the globe. AirTies delivers service providers with Smart Wi-Fi software, apps, a cloud-based performance optimization platform, Mesh extenders and set-top boxes. With an installed base of over 25 million homes, AirTies customers include: AT&T, Singtel, Sky and many others. More information is available at www.AirTies.com . PR contact for CUJO AI Eve Masiulyte, [email protected] ; +1 323-284-7216 PR Contact for AirTies: Jeremy Pemble, JLM Partners for AirTies, [email protected] ; +1 206-930-7998 SOURCE CUJO AI Related Links http://www.cujo.com JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Community Point Bank (CPB) in Russellville, MO was seeking a valued partner to help them keep up with ever evolving technology and better serve their customers. Vice President Diane Ott stated, "We have done business with CSPI for many years utilizing their Aurora Item Processing software and trust the relationship we have built with them. The demo presented really caught our attention and we were excited to embark on a new venture with them. We are a small bank with a great desire to serve our customers and the Aurora Online Banking software presented innovative features our current provider did not offer. The price is always a selling point! CSPI sealed the deal when they announced their Aurora Online Banking platform would integrate with Jack Henry's jXchange." CPB implemented CSPI's Aurora Online Banking the fall of 2018. "Our customers were thankful we were able to import their bill payment information and adopted the new features quickly; one of their favorites is utilizing P2P payments. We have increased the number of customers that have opted in for e-Statements due to the ease of use with a single sign on. Paul and Taylor from CSPI's support team were so helpful before, during and after the conversion. They explained everything and helped us all the way! The JHA support staff was also great to work with in creating the conversion files." According to Ott, "Aurora Online Banking integration with jXchange was seamless. We have received great service and quick turn-around. Most importantly, our customers have had a great experience!" Aurora Online Banking Key Features Hosted/highly secure solution fully branded to the financial institution Personal Financial Management Integrated with Aurora Mobile and Voice Banking Consumer Services account info, transfers, loan payments, stop payments, alerts, secure messaging, order checks, user defined preferences, item and image statements with deposit detail Bill Payment pay anyone, least-cost routing, same day payments, payment aggregation, payment management dashboard pay anyone, least-cost routing, same day payments, payment aggregation, payment management dashboard Commercial Services- ACH origination, FTPS tax payment, wire transfer, payroll, and secure file upload User defined dashboard & preferences Configurable password and multi-factor authentication support Simplified customer support via user alias feature Financial calculators Aurora Online Banking Options Website design and hosting Call or Email to schedule a demo of Aurora Online Banking with our Product Specialist. Follow us: LinkedIn Facebook Call Us 800.933.4873 Email Us [email protected] SOURCE Computer Service Professionals, Inc. Related Links http://www.cspiinc.com WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Crowd Machine and the Vital Voices Global Partnership launched its Women in Application Development initiative today, which is International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The initiative brings together women from nine developing countries to learn how to develop applications using Crowd Machine's free, online learning platform, Crowd Academy. Crowd Machine enables anyone to create applications even if they do not know how to code. The joint initiative speeds up the democratization of developing 'apps,' which can then be deployed for a number of uses, from starting up new businesses to improving efficiencies in existing companies or interfacing with IoT (internet of things) devices, AI robotics and blockchain. "We're delighted to partner with Vital Voices to ensure women in these developing countries learn 21st Century skills that can be immediately deployed to earn income," said Craig Sproule, CEO Crowd Machine. "This is democracy in action." According to the "Measuring the Information Society 2018 Report," released by the International Telecommunication Union, computer users in developing countries have fewer information and communications technology (ICT) skills than those in developed countries. The findings indicate there is less potential for creating apps in these developing countries. "We know that women entrepreneurs are critical partners if we want to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, from eliminating poverty, to boosting women's empowerment, to providing increased access to information technology," said Alyse Nelson, President and CEO, Vital Voices. "If we want to achieve these global goals to bring about the world we want to see by 2030, we need new, innovative solutions to today's challenges. Equipping women with technological skills like this is crucial to paving the way for these new solutions." Meg Jones, VP Community Crowd Machine concurred: "Apps solve problems. Women understand problems that cut across communities and miss-out on IT-based solutions such as selling online. The more women become application engineers, the more problems we will solve." The Women in App Development initiative takes participants through the seven-level training that leads to certification as a Crowd Machine Developer. The Vital Voices Global Partnership identifies and invests in high potential women business leaders of SMEs in order to take their business vision to scale and to elevate women's leadership and entrepreneurship globally. About Vital Voices Vital Voices Global Partnership identifies, provides training for and invests in creative and fearless women leaders making change in their communities and around the world. Guided by the belief that women are essential to progress in their communities, Vital Voices searches the world for women leaders with daring vision, who we then partner with to make that vision a reality through grants, skill-building, network expansion, mentorship and guidance to accelerate local change on a global scale. For more than 20 years, Vital Voices has partnered with women leaders from more than 180 countries and territories who advance economic opportunity, increase political and public leadership, and promote human rights to participate in programs in strategic planning, business, advocacy and communications to build critical skills needed for creating transformational change at scale. Through its global platform, women leaders expand their connections and visibility, accelerating shared progress for all. Visit www.vitalvoices.org to learn more or follow Vital Voices on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. About Crowd Machine Crowd Machine is the company behind a zero-code app building and hosting platform that allows anyone to bring apps to market faster, easier and less expensive than any other on the market. By automating the app lifecycle and creating a viable hosting solution, Crowd Machine helps people build apps even if they do not know how to code. SOURCE Crowd Machine Related Links https://www.vitalvoices.org/ VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb.12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CROP INFRASTRUCTURE CORP. (CSE: CROP) (OTC: CRXPF) (Frankfurt: 2FR) announced today it has received confirmation that its San Bernardino retail cannabis business application has now advanced to stage four of the application review process. As previously announced on July 5th 2018, CROP agreed to finance the purchase of real estate upon the granting of a California dispensary license. The proposed dispensaries will operate under the brand "Emerald Heights". CROP and its partners will attend a special mayor and city council meeting to make a three minute presentation followed by a question and answer session. Subject to a successful outcome, Emerald Heights will be licensed to open its San Bernardino retail location on the city's busiest intersection next to the fairgrounds which has ample parking for customers. CROP CEO, Michael Yorke, stated: "CROP has high expectations for Emerald Heights at this location. The team has done its market and location research very well and are now in the final phase of the application process in San Bernardino. We believe the community will enjoy the opportunity to share an elevated adult retail experience that the Emerald Heights brand will provide." About CROP Crop is publicly listed on the CSE and trades under the symbol "CROP". CROP is focused on cannabis branding and real estate assets. CROP's portfolio of projects includes cultivation properties in California, two in Washington State, a 1,000-acre Nevada Cannabis farm, 1,865 acres of CBD farms, extraction in Nevada and joint ventures on West Hollywood and San Bernardino dispensary apps with international focuses in Jamaica and Italy. CROP has developed a portfolio of assets including Canna Drink, a cannabis infused functional beverage line, US and Italian distribution rights to over 55 cannabis topical products and a portfolio of 16 Cannabis brands. CROP's infrastructure has over 150,000 sq ft of built canopy and over 2,900 acres of real estate. Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts, but rather on current expectations and projections about future events and are therefore subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. In addition, marijuana remains a Schedule I drug under the United States Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Although Congress has prohibited the US Justice Department from spending federal funds to interfere with the implementation of state medical marijuana laws, this prohibition must be renewed each year to remain in effect. These statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "may", "should", "could", "intend", "estimate", "plan", "anticipate", "expect", "believe" or "continue", or the negative thereof or similar variations. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements regarding the expected returns from the California Project; the technological effects of California Project; the intention to expand its portfolio; and execute on its business plan. Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding the regulatory and legal framework regarding the cannabis industry in general among all levels of government and zoning; risks associated with applicable securities laws and stock exchange rules relating to the cannabis industry; risks associated with maintaining its interests in its various assets; the ability of the Company to finance operations and execute its business plan and other factors beyond the control of the Company. Such forward-looking statements should therefore be construed in light of such factors, and the Company is not under any obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. The CSE has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this press release. Company Contact Michael Yorke CEO and Director E-mail: [email protected] Phone: +1(604)-484-4206 Website: www.cropcorp.com SOURCE Crop Infrastructure Corp. Related Links http://www.cropcorp.com DALLAS, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The acclaimed guide to courtroom preparation and trial strategy co-authored by Winston & Strawn Dallas Managing Partner Tom Melsheimer and Texas Judge Craig Smith that spent more than a year as the University of North Texas Press' best-selling book, has consistently ranked among the publisher's top-selling titles since its release in October 2017. Almost immediately upon its release, "On the Jury Trial: Principles and Practice for Effective Advocacy," vaulted to the top of UNT Press' best-sellers list, holding that distinction from September 2017 through August 2018. According to UNT Press, the book remains solidly among the top 10 best-selling titles in its catalog through the beginning of 2019. Described as the "senior law partner's memo to associates on how to really try a case," "On the Jury Trial" also represents a literal investment in the next generation of trial lawyers. Mr. Melsheimer and Judge Smith have donated all profits from the sale of the book to the UNT Dallas College of Law, the only public law school in Dallas. The pledge has grown in significance with the continued strong combined physical and digital sales of the book. "We are at a point where the number of jury trials is diminishing. As a result, too few lawyers are getting the experience they need to be effective advocates for their clients when they do end up before a jury," said Mr. Melsheimer. "It is through the sharing of knowledge and experience that we can help prevent the loss of these important skills." The book has earned praise from preeminent trial lawyers across the country as an invaluable resource. Providing advice, examples, and commentary, "On the Jury Trial" offers an insider's view into high-level trial preparation and strategy, focusing on jury selection, witness preparation, jury research, effective opening statements, and more. Nationally renowned for his trial skills, Mr. Melsheimer has tried cases for more than 30 years. He has been honored as a Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Texas chapters of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) as well as the Dallas Bar Association. Judge Smith was an accomplished trial lawyer for more than 25 years before his election to the 192nd District Court in Dallas County in 2006. Winston & Strawn LLP is an international law firm with 16 offices located throughout North America, Asia, and Europe. More information about the firm is available at www.winston.com. Media Contact: Rhonda Reddick 214-559-4630 [email protected] SOURCE Winston & Strawn LLP Related Links http://www.winston.com "Operational performance at our mines steadily improved as the year progressed, with increased production as well as reduced costs quarter-over-quarter," said Darren Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone. "We ended 2018 strong and are well positioned for a solid 2019." Q4 2018 HIGHLIGHTS Capstone achieved 2018 guidance from continuing operations with consolidated production of 155.2 million pounds of copper and C1 cash cost 1 of $1.83 per pound payable produced. with consolidated production of 155.2 million pounds of copper and C1 cash cost of per pound payable produced. Q4 2018 copper production from continuing operations of 42.3 million pounds and C1 cash cost1 of $1.70 per payable pound produced. Q4 was the third consecutive quarterly performance improvement in 2018. Operating cash flow before changes in working capital 1 of $19.1 million . A reduction in net debt during Q4 2018 of $20.2 million and a $15.0 million repayment on the Revolving Credit Facility ("RCF") for a total of $55.0 million in RCF repayments during 2018. Q4 2018 operating cash flow before changes in working capital 1 was impacted by lower sales volumes in Q4 2018 than Q3 2018. A reduction in net debt during Q4 2018 of and a repayment on the Revolving Credit Facility ("RCF") for a total of in RCF repayments during 2018. Q4 2018 operating cash flow before changes in working capital was impacted by lower sales volumes in Q4 2018 than Q3 2018. Adjusted net income from continuing operations 1 of $7.9 million ( $0.02 per share) and net loss from continuing operations of $15.2 million ( ($0.04) per share). Net loss included non-recurring restructuring charges and non-cash deferred tax asset write-downs. Refer to the Alternative Performance Measures section in the Management's Discussion & Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2018 for details. and net loss from continuing operations of ( per share). Net loss included non-recurring restructuring charges and non-cash deferred tax asset write-downs. Refer to the Alternative Performance Measures section in the Management's Discussion & Analysis for the year ended for details. Cozamin reserves increased by ~90% and targeting 30% increase in production by end of 2020. Positive technical report with strong economics released for Santo Domingo and strategic process launched: NPV (after-tax) of $1.0 billion and IRR of 22%. and IRR of 22%. Robust, permitted copper-iron oxide-gold project; shovel-ready by early-2020. Strategic process launched to optimize the ownership structure to align with Capstone's financing capabilities and maximize the value of the project for Capstone's shareholders. Minto mine placed on temporary care and maintenance to preserve value while the Company continues to run a strategic sale process. OPERATIONAL OVERVIEW Q4 2018 Q4 2017 2018 2017 Copper Production (million pounds) Pinto Valley 33.0 35.6 119.0 126.4 Cozamin 9.3 9.4 36.2 36.9 Total from continuing operations 42.3 45.0 155.2 163.3 C1 Cash Cost1 ($/lb) Produced Pinto Valley 1.97 1.79 2.16 1.95 Cozamin 0.75 1.04 0.75 1.16 Consolidated from continuing operations 1.70 1.63 1.83 1.77 Consolidated copper production from continuing operations of 155.2 million pounds and C1 cash cost1 of $1.83 per pound produced for 2018 was in line with guidance. Pinto Valley Mine Pinto Valley's Q4 2018 production increased from the third quarter on planned higher throughput. Throughput improved due to increased stabilization of operations and reliability improvements in the crushing and milling circuits. Average grade of 0.34% during the quarter was in accordance with the mine plan. Cozamin Mine Cozamin's Q4 2018 copper production increased from the third quarter on higher throughput of 3,030 tonnes per day. Production from the San Rafael zinc zone ramped up to planned levels during Q3 2018, resulting in the highest quarterly zinc production in Q4 2018. Zinc production in 2018 totaled 15 million pounds. FINANCIAL OVERVIEW Please refer to the Company's financial statements, related notes and accompanying Management's Discussion and Analysis for a full review of its forth quarter and full year 2018 financial and operational results. This can be accessed by clicking on this link: Q4-2018 MD&A and Financial Statements. Q4 2018 Q4 2017 2018 2017 2016 Revenue from continuing operations2 ($ millions) 98.0 126.5 415.9 430.4 374.6 Net (loss) income from continuing operations ($ millions) (15.2) 37.4 7.4 44.6 (223.9) Adjusted net income (loss) from continuing operations1 ($ millions) 7.9 11.2 31.5 (3.3) (0.5) Net income (loss) ($ millions) (39.0) 29.5 (23.6) 55.1 (197.4) Adjusted EBITDA1 from continuing operations ($ millions) 31.2 38.7 126.5 94.9 89.4 Cash flow from operating activities2 ($ millions) 54.2 44.8 131.1 112.5 125.3 Operating cash flow before changes in working capital1, 2 ($ millions) 19.1 38.2 100.4 129.7 156.9 Total assets ($ millions) 1,336.1 1,400.5 1,336.1 1,400.5 1,395.0 Net debt1 ($ millions) 150.1 158.7 150.1 158.7 198.6 2 In accordance with IFRS 5, Minto's results are excluded from revenue but included within cash flow amounts in both the current and comparative period. OUTLOOK - 2019 PRODUCTION, COST AND CAPITAL GUIDANCE In 2019, Capstone expects to produce between 145 million and 160 million pounds of copper at a C1 cash cost1 of between $1.80 and $2.00 per pound payable copper produced. 2019 Guidance Pinto Valley Cozamin Santo Domingo Total Production and Cost Copper production (million pounds) 115 125 30 35 - 145 - 160 C1 Cash Cost1,2 $2.10 - $2.25 $0.90 - $1.05 - $1.80 - $2.00 Capital Expenditure ($ millions, rounded) Sustaining 26.5 29.0 - 55.5 Capitalized Stripping3 13.5 - - 13.5 Expansionary 6.0 4.0 10.54 20.5 Total Capital Expenditure 46.0 33.0 10.5 89.5 Exploration ($ millions, rounded) Brownfield5 - 6.0 - 6.0 Greenfield6 - - - 6.0 Total Exploration - 6.0 - 12.0 2 Per pound of payable copper produced, net of by-product credits and treatment and selling costs. 3 Capitalized stripping is included as an operating cost in the PV3 PFS; however, under IFRS accounting guidelines, stripping costs are capitalized when certain criteria are met. 4 On a 100% basis, the total is approximately $15 million; ownership is 70% Capstone and 30% KORES. 5 Brownfield exploration is capitalized. 6 Greenfield exploration is expensed. CONFERENCE CALL AND WEBCAST DETAILS Capstone will hold a conference call and webcast on Wednesday, February 13, 2019 at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time (8:30 a.m. Pacific time) to discuss these results; call-in details and information on associated slides are provided below. This release is not suitable on a standalone basis for readers unfamiliar with Capstone and should be read in conjunction with Capstone's consolidated financial statements and management's discussion and analysis ("MD&A") for the quarter ended December 31, 2018, which are available on Capstone's website at https://capstonemining.com/investors/financial-reporting/default.aspx and on SEDAR, all of which have been reviewed and approved by Capstone's Board of Directors. An updated corporate presentation will also be available at https://capstonemining.com/investors/events-and-presentations/default.aspx. Date: Wednesday, February 13, 2019 Time: 11:30 am Eastern Time (8:30 am Pacific Time) Dial in: North America: 1-888-390-0546, International: +416-764-8688 Webcast: https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/1877147/BCD1389992682067485D8D0C5727099E Replay: North America: 1-888-390-0541, International: +416-764-8677 Replay Passcode: 521712# The conference call replay will be available until Wednesday, February 20, 2019. The conference call audio file will be available on Capstone's website within 48 hours of the call at https://capstonemining.com/investors/events-and-presentations/default.aspx. ABOUT CAPSTONE MINING CORP. Capstone Mining Corp. is a Canadian base metals mining company, focused on copper. We are committed to the responsible development of our assets and the environments in which we operate. Our two producing mines are the Pinto Valley copper mine located in Arizona, US and the Cozamin polymetallic mine in Zacatecas State, Mexico. In addition, Capstone has the large scale 70% owned copper-iron Santo Domingo development project in Region III, Chile in partnership with Korea Resources Corporation, the Minto copper mine in Yukon, Canada currently on care and maintenance, as well as a portfolio of exploration properties. Capstone's strategy is to focus on the optimization of operations and assets in politically stable, mining-friendly regions, centred in the Americas. Our headquarters are in Vancouver, Canada and we are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Further information is available at www.capstonemining.com. CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This document may contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this document and the Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect our expectations or beliefs regarding future events. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the estimation of mineral resources and mineral reserves, the realization of mineral reserve estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production and capital expenditures, the success of our mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses and title disputes. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words and phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology. In this document certain forward-looking statements are identified by words including "guidance" and "expects". By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, amongst others, risks related to inherent hazards associated with mining operations and closure of mining projects, future prices of copper and other metals, compliance with financial covenants, surety bonding, our ability to raise capital, Capstone's ability to acquire properties for growth, counterparty risks associated with sales of our metals, use of financial derivative instruments and associated counterparty risks, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, changes in general economic conditions, accuracy of mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates, operating in foreign jurisdictions with risk of changes to governmental regulation, compliance with governmental regulations, compliance with environmental laws and regulations, reliance on approvals, licences and permits from governmental authorities, impact of climatic conditions on our operations, aboriginal title claims and rights to consultation and accommodation, land reclamation and mine closure obligations, uncertainties and risks related to the potential development of the Santo Domingo Project, increased operating and capital costs, challenges to title to our mineral properties, maintaining ongoing social license to operate, dependence on key management personnel, potential conflicts of interest involving our directors and officers, corruption and bribery, limitations inherent in our insurance coverage, labour relations, increasing energy prices, competition in the mining industry, risks associated with joint venture partners, our ability to integrate new acquisitions into our operations, cybersecurity threats, legal proceedings, and other risks of the mining industry as well as those factors detailed from time to time in the Company's interim and annual financial statements and MD&A of those statements, all of which are filed and available for review under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those described in our forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause our results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that our forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as our actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. NATIONAL INSTRUMENT 43-101 COMPLIANCE Unless otherwise indicated, Capstone has prepared the technical information in this news release ("Technical Information") based on information contained in the technical reports, news releases and MD&A's (collectively the "Disclosure Documents") available under Capstone Mining Corp.'s company profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Each Disclosure Document was prepared by, or under the supervision of, a qualified person (a "Qualified Person") as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101"). Readers are encouraged to review the full text of the Disclosure Documents which qualifies the Technical Information. Readers are advised that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The Disclosure Documents are each intended to be read as a whole, and sections should not be read or relied upon out of context. The Technical Information is subject to the assumptions and qualifications contained in the Disclosure Documents. The technical information in this news release ("Technical Information") was prepared by, or under the supervision of, a qualified person (a "Qualified Person") as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101"). The disclosure of Technical Information and information related to mineral exploration activities contained in this news release have been reviewed and approved by Brad Mercer, P. Geol., Senior Vice President, Operation and Exploration. ALTERNATIVE PERFORMANCE MEASURES The items marked with a "1" are alternative performance measures and readers should refer to Alternative Performance Measures in the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the quarter ended December 31, 2018 as filed on SEDAR and as available on the Company's website. CAUTIONARY NOTE TO UNITED STATES INVESTORS This news release contains disclosure that has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of Canadian securities laws, which differ from the requirements of US securities laws. Without limiting the foregoing, this news release may refer to technical reports that use the terms "indicated" and "inferred" resources. US investors are cautioned that, while such terms are recognized and required by Canadian securities laws, the SEC does not recognize them. Under US standards, mineralization may not be classified as a "reserve" unless the determination has been made that the mineralization could be economically and legally produced or extracted at the time the reserve determination is made. US investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of indicated resources will ever be converted into reserves. US investors should also understand that "inferred resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and as to whether they can be mined legally or economically. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of "inferred resources" will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Therefore, US investors are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of inferred resources exist, or that they can be mined legally or economically. Accordingly, information concerning descriptions of mineralization and resources contained in this news release may not be comparable to information made public by US companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements of the SEC. 1 This is an alternative performance measure; please see "Alternative Performance Measures" at the end of this release. SOURCE Capstone Mining Corp. Related Links www.capstonemining.com "We are excited to work with the exceptional team at Canon Solutions America in offering Barracuda's innovative computer-based training solution, PhishLine, to organizations they serve," said Ezra Hookano, VP of Channels at Barracuda. "As threats increase and become more sophisticated, security awareness training is a key element in securing people, brand, and businesses. PhishLine can help prevent email fraud, data loss, and brand damage by training and testing employees to recognize highly targeted phishing attacks." PhishLine helps employees recognize the subtle clues that an email is not from whom it says it's from. It uses a two-pronged approach to meet this end. First, computer-based training gives users a baseline understanding of the latest techniques attackers are using. Second, PhishLine embeds learning into business processes, by launching customized simulations that test and reinforce good user behavior. A large library of curated content means faster time to value, while rich reporting and analytics provide visibility. The benefits to Canon Solutions America customers from the Barracuda PhishLine offering include: Turning employees into frontline defenders of workplace security by reducing social engineering vulnerability. Choice of hundreds of email templates, landing pages and domains. Phishline Concierge Service, available for expert campaign design, operation and results reporting. "Canon Solutions America is eager to have customers take advantage of the Barracuda PhishLine relationship," said Peter Kowalczuk, president of Canon Solutions America. "We want our customers to feel empowered, and the Barracuda PhishLine offering encourages a more proactive mindset to security. Organizations of all sizes will have access to easy to use simulation and training that will transform employees from potential victims into the first line of defense against sophisticated phishing attacks." About Barracuda At Barracuda we strive to make the world a safer place. We believe every business deserves access to cloud-enabled, enterprise-grade security solutions that are easy to buy, deploy, and use. We help protect email, networks, data and applications with innovative solutions that grow and adapt with our customers' journey. More than 150,000 organizations worldwide trust Barracuda to protect them in ways they may not even know they are at risk so they can focus on taking their business to the next level. For more information, visit barracuda.com. Barracuda Networks, Barracuda, and the Barracuda Networks logo are registered trademarks of Barracuda Networks, Inc. in the US and other countries. About Canon Solutions America, Inc. Canon Solutions America provides industry leading enterprise, production, and large format printing solutions, supported by exceptional professional service offerings. With the technology offerings of the Canon and Oce brands, Canon Solutions America helps companies of all sizes find ways to: improve sustainability, increase efficiency, and control costs in conjunction with high volume, continuous feed, digital and traditional printing, and document management solutions. A wholly owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc., Canon Solutions America is headquartered in Melville, N.Y. and has sales and service locations across the U.S. For more information on Canon Solutions America, please visit csa.canon.com. Editorial Contact: Canon Solutions America, Inc. Website: Tara Vetro http://csa.canon.com 631-330-2681 For sales info/customer support: [email protected] 1-844-443-INFO (4636) Canon is a registered trademark of Canon Inc. in the United States and elsewhere. Oce is a registered trademark of Oce-Technologies B.V. in the United States and elsewhere. All other referenced product names and marks are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged. Canon Solutions America does not provide legal counsel or regulatory compliance consultancy, including without limitation, regarding Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, GLBA, Check 21 or the USA Patriot Act. Each customer must have its own qualified counsel determine the advisability of a particular solution as it relates to regulatory and statutory compliance. Nothing herein should be construed as legal or regulatory advice concerning applicable laws. Neither Canon Inc., nor Canon U.S.A., Inc. nor Canon Solutions represents or warrants any third party product or feature referenced hereunder. 2019 Canon Solutions America, Inc. All rights reserved. SOURCE Canon Solutions America, Inc. Related Links https://csa.canon.com BAKERSFIELD, Calif., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Confie announced today that California Insurance Specialists (CIS) has acquired the Wm K Lyons Insurance Agency, a family-owned mainstay in the Bakersfield community since 1947. The integration of these two companies will enable customers to access the most competitively priced personal, small business, and commercial lines of insurance products. The two agencies will retain their current identities with no changes in management. "California Insurance Specialists and Wm K Lyons Insurance Agency are well-established brands that represent a combined 118 years of experience including 90 years in the Bakersfield area," said Confie Chief Executive Officer Cesar Soriano. "We're excited to combine together these two distinguished agencies to better serve residents and businesses throughout the state." Both agencies will offer a full menu of products and services from which to shop and compare, allowing customers to create tailor-made policies to suit their needs. The Wm K Lyons Insurance Agency has a strong history in Bakersfield. With a presence in the community for more than 65 years, it is known for its commitment to supporting families, local businesses, and nonprofits. In celebration of their new partnership, CIS and Wm K Lyons are offering a one-time, 10% cash rebate for any new brokered business. About Confie Established in 2008, Confie is a leading national insurance distribution company primarily focused on personal lines and small commercial insurance. The experienced Confie management team continues to build Confie's portfolio of regional personal lines brokerages. Today, Confie has nearly 800 retail locations. The company has leading market positions in California, Arizona, Texas, Tennessee, Florida, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Nevada, Illinois, Alabama, Kansas, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Missouri, Louisiana, Indiana, and New Mexico and expects to continue its expansion in other states. Confie is a portfolio company of ABRY Partners. For more information about Confie, please visit www.confie.com. SOURCE Confie Related Links http://www.confie.com DIA Report Details Threats to Americas Space-Based World (Source: US Department of Defense; issued Feb 11, 2019) WASHINGTON --- Space enables the modern world, and the United States needs to maintain its progress in this critical domain if it hopes to lead in the future.Security in SpaceThats the conclusion of the Defense Intelligence Agencys report titled Challenges to Security in Space, released today.DIA officials spoke to reporters at the Pentagon this morning about the threats facing American dominance in space.The unclassified report details the space and counterspace threats that pose a significant challenge the United States and its allies. It concentrates on the capabilities under development in China and Russia, but it doesnt ignore the space threat posed by North Korea and Iran.Space-based capabilities are key to all aspects of life in the United States. Spaces role in commercial and civilian applications is growing, and it is absolutely vital to employing the U.S. military, DIA officials noted.Space-based capabilities are becoming more affordable and are technologically easier to build and deploy, and China and Russia are taking full advantage of this to eat into U.S. space dominance, officials said.Russia and China have active counterspace programs. Both countries have developed robust and capable space services, and these capabilities provide their militaries with the ability to command and control their forces worldwide, and with enhanced situational awareness enabling them to monitor, track and target U.S. and allied forces, a senior DIA official said, speaking to reporters on background.Both countries have established their own global positioning system satellite networks.Chinese and Russian doctrine indicate that they view space as important to modern warfare and view counterspace capabilities as a means to reduce U.S. and allied effectiveness, the senior official said. China views space superiority as part of the ability to control the information sphere and that is a key component of modern warfare. Russia sees space as a warfighting domain, and winning the battle in orbit will be decisive in future warfare, the official said.China and Russia have developed counterspace capabilities, including ground-based missiles aimed at satellites, jamming of signals to or from satellites, ground-based directed energy weapons, kinetic-kill vehicles, space-based counters and more. Both China and Russia reorganized their militaries in 2015, emphasizing the importance of space operations, the official said. China established a strategic support force to integrate its space, cyberspace and electronic capabilities.Iran and North Korea have demonstrated satellite jamming and maintain independent space launching capabilities.The United States has the most operational satellites, followed by China and then Russia. This United States lead is a challenge to Russia and China, and DIA officials said they expect they will continue to develop counters to American capabilities.One threat is a result of the successes in space. As the number of satellites grows, so does the threats posed by space debris, the official said. That makes tracking satellites and discriminating satellites from threats and nonthreats and predicting and preventing collisions more challenging.The report is aimed at education; the public needs to understand all that space brings to the United States, its allies and the world at large, said a senior Defense Department official, speaking on background.When Americans think of space, they think of NASA and space exploration, but they do not necessarily think of all that space brings to their daily lives, the DOD official said. The application on a hand-held device that gives directions, calls rideshare car or locates a lost package is enabled by the GPS constellation operated by the U.S. Air Force.Space is fundamental to U.S. prosperity, the Pentagon official said. The United States harnesses the benefits of space for communications, financial transactions, public safety, weather, agriculture, navigation and more. Additionally, there is a wave of exciting commercial technologies and investments in space that are expanding the potential opportunities, the benefits we can all enjoy.Space has had a profound impact on the military, the official added, allowing American service members to anticipate threats, respond to crises and to project power globally with fewer troops deployed and less collateral damage.(ends) DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] today announced an agreement with Royal Air Maroc to use a suite of Boeing AnalytX-powered crew solutions to bring greater efficiency to the airline's planning and operations. The airline will be the first in Africa to use the advanced solutions, which include Crew Pairing, Crew Rostering and Crew Tracking with options to add modules in the future. "We are excited to bring the most advanced data analytics capabilities to support Morocco's flag carrier," said Ihssane Mounir, senior vice president of Commercial Sales & Marketing for The Boeing Company. "Our Crew Optimization solutions were created to help our customers optimize staffing across their entire fleet." Crew Pairing helps airlines create optimized work duties, improving staffing efficiency and overall safety, while minimizing costs. Crew Rostering allows airlines to build rosters that respect crew members' preferences and constraints. Crew Tracking helps airlines detect, resolve and follow-up on changes to crew planning. The Boeing AnalytX-powered Crew Optimization products are provided through Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen. Operating as one of Boeing's three business units, Global Services is headquartered in the Dallas area. For more information, visit www.boeing.com/services. Contacts At MRO Middle East Stephanie Bass Boeing Communications Mobile +1 314-651-7376 [email protected] Jen Wollman Boeing Communications Mobile +1 703-517-9035 [email protected] SOURCE Boeing LONDON, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Avon Products, Inc. (NYSE: AVP) ("the Company"), a globally recognised leader in direct selling of beauty products, has appointed Kay Nemoto as Senior Vice President Chief Strategy and HR Officer. In this new role Kay will lead the change management and cultural overhaul underpinning Avon's transformation. Kay - a seasoned turnaround specialist - has already been playing an integral role in Avon's transformation while on secondment from Avon's strategic partners Cerberus Operations & Advisory Company (COAC). She's been heavily involved in building the strategy and plans to 'Open Up' Avon to growth, has sound knowledge of all areas of the business and a passion for the business model particularly the power and potential of Avon's Beauty Entrepreneurs worldwide. Kay's new role will be focused on enabling Avon to be simpler and leaner, to drive accountability and to accelerate execution of Avon's turnaround through its people. She will lead the cultural change management needed to underpin Avon's transformation, building an organisation that is effective and high performing. Kay will join Avon's Executive Committee and report to CEO Jan Zijderveld. He said: "I'm delighted to be securing talent of Kay's calibre to power our transformation. She has high personal accountability and drive, and a deep understanding of the role that culture plays in delivering our strategy to Open Up Avon. What's more, she is obsessive about putting the needs of our millions of Beauty Entrepreneurs at the forefront of decisions and actions. I'm excited to see what she can do in this new role as we open up Avon to future growth." As Operating Executive at COAC, Kay has successfully led teams supporting turnarounds at multiple companies, always working closely with the management and HR teams. She brings over 23 years of experience in consultancy and advisory roles including with Ernst & Young and AlixPartners. Kay said: "This is an amazing opportunity to be part of the team that drives Avon's transformation and opens up value and growth. Since working with Avon I've been astounded by the power of the iconic brand, the potential of the business model and the fantastic opportunity we have to leverage Avon's associates across the world to deliver change and future success. We'll continue to inject and leverage talent and will prioritise implementation of culture and change management to deliver growth through making our Representatives successful. When she succeeds, we succeed." About Avon Products Inc. For 130 years Avon has stood for women: providing innovative, quality beauty products which are primarily sold to women, through women. Millions of independent sales Representatives across the world sell iconic Avon brands such as Avon Color and ANEW through their social networks, building their own beauty businesses on a full- or part-time basis. Avon supports women's empowerment, entrepreneurship and well-being and has donated over $1billion to women's causes through Avon and the Avon Foundation. Learn more about Avon and its products at www.avonworldwide.com. #Stand4Her Forward-Looking Statements This material contains "forward-looking statements" that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements relating to management changes and Avon's transformation. Because forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties, actual future results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the possibility of business disruption, competitive uncertainties, and general economic and business conditions in Avon's markets as well as the other risks detailed in Avon's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Avon undertakes no obligation to update any statements in this material after it is posted to the Investor Relations section of our website. SOURCE Avon Products, Inc. Related Links http://www.avonworldwide.com VANCOUVER, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. (ASM: TSX/NYSE American, GV6: FSE, "Avino" or "the Company") is pleased to provide the following 2018 year end summary and outlook for 2019 for the Avino and San Gonzalo Mines and the Bralorne Gold Mine. AVINO AND SAN GONZALO MINES 2018 Production Highlights Silver equivalent production - 2,863,753 oz* Silver production 1,286,382 oz Gold production 8,092 oz Copper production 4,819,022 lbs *AgEq was calculated using metals prices of $15.71 oz Ag, $1,270 oz Au and $2.96 lb Cu. *In 2018, we also produced 43,586 silver equivalent ounces from our low grade zinc concentrate. "Operationally, 2018 was a year in which we successfully achieved our goal of completing Mill Circuit 4, owing much to the Mexican Operations team and their dedication to the project. Additionally, we completed drill programs on several areas of the Avino property, which successfully outlined longer term targets that warrant further investigation and drilling." stated David Wolfin, President and CEO. "The Company announced an updated mineral resource estimate in 2018 that increased the measured and indicated resources by 225% at the Avino property. At the Bralorne Gold Mine in British Columbia, we embarked on an exciting and comprehensive exploration drilling program, made possible by way of a Flow-Through share offering in April. Coupled with these achievements, we also endured a year that saw significantly lower metal prices that in turn forced us to implement cost reduction initiatives, which remain in place. A prudent approach to our financial health is vital to the Company's continued success. Although we have seen a move upward in both gold and silver prices, we continue to remain cost conscious." 2018 Operational Highlights Mill Circuit 4 was completed on time and within budget, and turned over for its initial test in February 2018 , and was able to achieve its rated capacity of 1,000 tpd within the first week after being commissioned in May; , and was able to achieve its rated capacity of 1,000 tpd within the first week after being commissioned in May; During the start-up, testing and commissioning phase, feed for Mill Circuit 4 has come from the Avino historic above ground stockpiles. Mill Circuit 4 will transition to processing newly-mined material from San Luis once underground development is complete; once underground development is complete; Results from the 19-hole drill program on the Chirumbo, Guadelupe and San Juventino areas were released and showed grade continuity and further extension of the main Avino vein to the northeast, and also demonstrated additional mineralization between the current areas at Elena Tolosa and the San Gonzalo mine; Results from 11 holes drilled from the Avino Open Pit Mine Area from surface into the footwall and hanging wall to the main Avino vein, showed a range of gold, silver and copper grades at different widths; and Update Mineral Resource estimate at the Avino Property, with a 225% increase in tonnage in the measured and indicated mineral resource categories. During the third quarter of 2018, the Company implemented cost reduction measures, and continues to work to keep production costs and cash costs competitive. These cost reduction initiatives called for a reduction in capital, operating, and administrative costs in Mexico and British Columbia, as well as the corporate offices in Vancouver. In November, an amendment to the existing Samsung concentrate sales agreement was mutually agreed. The revised repayment arrangement with Samsung ensures a steady long-term contract for the sale of the Company's concentrates, freeing up capital which will allow Avino to further advance and expand its projects over the next 12 months. In December, the Company announced drill results from the Avino Open Pit Mine area in Mexico. The results from the Avino Open Pit Mine area comprised eleven short diamond drill holes, with the assays showing a promising range of gold, silver, and copper grades at different widths, which warrant further investigation. AVINO AND SAN GONZALO MINES 2019 Outlook Capital expenditures at Avino and San Gonzalo are expected to total US$5.0 - $6.0 million, and will include the construction of a tailings thickener, as well as an expansion to the Tailings Storage Facility ("TSF"), which is currently being studied. The Company is currently evaluating a number of metallurgical projects to help improve recovery rates as we continue to focus on optimizing output and production. We have completed a bench-scale testwork program with favourable results, with the goal of this testwork being an improvement in margins and on overall payables. Underground development at the San Luis area of the Avino Mine will continue. Currently, there are no planned capital expenditures associated with the San Gonzalo Mine, as the Company plans to wind that operation down in 2019. Included in the capital expenditures total above, are sustaining capital expenditures which include: Further underground development at the Elena Tolosa area of the Avino Mine; Upgrades to existing mining infrastructure at the Avino Mine; Upgrades to the existing TSF, including reinforcement by way of buttressing; and Replacement of existing mining equipment. It is expected that sustaining capital expenditures for 2019 will be US$4.0 - $4.5 million. BRALORNE GOLD MINE 2018 Highlights A CAD $6.0 million Flow Through share offering was announced in April for exploration expenditures at Bralorne; Flow Through share offering was announced in April for exploration expenditures at Bralorne; As a result, the Company commenced the most comprehensive exploration program in the mine's 100-year history; and Program included a total of 24,000 metres of drilling, structural modelling and geological mapping, airborne and ground geophysics surveys, and geochemical sampling. In December, the Company announced drilling results from holes targeting the 27 Vein extension. These holes confirmed the vein continuity up dip from the area of historic production. The initial assays were favourable, with the best of the three assays intercepting 29.5 g/t gold over 0.88 metres true width. 2019 Outlook Capital expenditures expected at Bralorne will be approximately US$5.0 - $6.0 million, using the remaining $3.0 - 3.5 million in Flow-through funds, as well as approximately US$2.0 - $2.5 million of non-Flow-Through eligible expenditures to fund water treatment, ongoing environmental monitoring and camp overhead. In 2018, the focus of the drill program was to increase resources in known veins and structures. In 2019, the objective is to make new discoveries in underexplored areas that share similar geological structural attributes as those around the Bralorne, Pioneer and King Mines. New conceptual insights have opened up the validity of the large block of land north-east of the Peter Vein as a host area for veins. The drill will be working in this area until mid-year. The current targeting will focus on incorporating new information to update lithological models in an area referred to as the North East Block. The drilling campaign calls for 24,000 metres in total. To date, 9,187 metres have been drilled at an average production rate of 62.5 metres per day. The daily amount of metres drilled has been increasing and averaged 101 metres per day in January. The digitization of historic data which includes 13,000 scans is nearing completion. The historic data is being catalogued for ease of reference, and will be incorporated into our Leap FrogTM modelling software. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Avino expects to release the 2018 year-end financial results in late February 2019, and will hold a conference call to discuss the results. Details of the call, including times and contact numbers, will be announced closer to the release date. Qualified Person(s) Peter Latta, P.Eng, MBA, Senior Technical Advisor, Avino and Jasman Yee P.Eng, Avino director, both of whom are qualified persons within the context of National Instrument 43-101 have reviewed and approved the technical data in this news release. Avino's Bralorne Gold Mine project is under the supervision of Fred Sveinson, B.A., B.Sc., P.Eng, Senior Mining Advisor, who is a qualified person within the context of National Instrument 43-101, and Mr. Garth Kirkham, P. Geo., Principal of Kirkham Geosystems Ltd., who is an "independent qualified person", as defined by Section 1.5 of NI 43-101. Both have reviewed and approved the technical data in this news release. About Avino Avino is a silver and gold producer with a diversified pipeline of gold, silver and base metals properties in Mexico and Canada employing approximately 500 people. Avino produces from its wholly owned Avino and San Gonzalo Mines near Durango, Mexico, and is currently exploring and drilling at the Bralorne Gold Mine in British Columbia, Canada. The Company's gold and silver production remains unhedged. The Company's mission and strategy is to create shareholder value through its focus on profitable organic growth at the historic Avino Property near Durango, Mexico, and the strategic acquisition of mineral exploration and mining properties. We are committed to managing all business activities in an environmentally responsible and cost-effective manner, while contributing to the well-being of the communities in which we operate. On Behalf of the Board "David Wolfin" ________________________________ David Wolfin President & CEO Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. Safe Harbor Statement - This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (together, the "forward looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but are not limited to, the Company's ability to meet its production guidance, expectations of All-In Sustaining Cash Cost ("AISC"), information on the updated mineral resource estimate for the Company's Avino Property located near Durango in west-central Mexico (the "Property") with an effective date of February 21, 2018, and amended on December 19, 2018, prepared for the Company, and reference to Measured, Indicated, Inferred Resources referred to in this press release. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and the dates of technical reports, as applicable. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the future circumstances, outcomes or results anticipated in or implied by such forward-looking statements will occur or that plans, intentions or expectations upon which the forward-looking statements are based will occur. While we have based these forward-looking statements on our expectations about future events as at the date that such statements were prepared, the statements are not a guarantee that such future events will occur and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors which could cause events or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that the Company's Property does not have the amount of the mineral resources indicated in the updated report or that such mineral resources may be economically extracted. Such factors and assumptions include, among others, the effects of general economic conditions, the price of gold, silver and copper, changing foreign exchange rates and actions by government authorities, uncertainties associated with legal proceedings and negotiations and misjudgments in the course of preparing forward-looking information. In addition, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Known risk factors include risks associated with project development; the need for additional financing; operational risks associated with mining and mineral processing; fluctuations in metal prices; title matters; uncertainties and risks related to carrying on business in foreign countries; environmental liability claims and insurance; reliance on key personnel; the potential for conflicts of interest among certain of our officers, directors or promoters with certain other projects; the absence of dividends; currency fluctuations; competition; dilution; the volatility of the our common share price and volume; tax consequences to U.S. investors; and other risks and uncertainties. Although we have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. We are under no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable securities laws. Cautionary Note Regarding Non-GAAP Measures This news release includes certain terms or performance measures commonly used in the mining industry that are not defined under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"), including silver equivalent ounces (AgEq oz) of production. Non-GAAP measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS and, therefore, they may not be comparable to similar measures reported by other companies. We believe that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, certain investors use this information to evaluate our performance. The data presented is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Readers should also refer to our management's discussion and analysis available under our corporate profile at www.sedar.com or on our website at www.avino.com. SOURCE Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. Related Links www.avino.com PRINCETON, N.J., Feb. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ReGenTree, LLC (the Company), a joint venture between GtreeBNT and RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, announced today that it has executed an agreement with Ora, Inc., located in Andover, Massachusetts, for the initiation of ARISE-3 to study the Company's new drug RGN-259 for the treatment of dry eye syndrome. ARISE-3 is a randomized, double masked, placebo controlled phase 3 clinical trial which is based entirely on the results of the company's previous clinical trials, ARISE-1 and ARISE-2. "A total of 700 patients will be enrolled into the trial and the Company expects the treatment will be completed in the first half of 2020," stated officials at the Company. About ReGenTree , LLC ReGenTree is a U.S. joint venture company owned by GtreeBNT Co., Ltd, and RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. specifically to develop RGN-259 in both the USA and Canada for ophthalmic indications. ReGenTree licensed the rights to RGN-259 from RegeneRx in 2015. Thus far, ReGenTree has completed two Phase 3 studies in the U.S. for dry eye which are ARISE-1 (Phase 2b/3) and ARISE-2 (Phase 3). In addition to dry eye, the company is currently conducting a Phase 3 study for neurotrophic keratopathy (NK), an orphan indication in ophthalmology. For additional information about ReGenTree, please visit www.regentreellc.com. About Ora, Inc. Ora is a full-service ophthalmic CRO and product development firm with offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan. Over the past 40 years, Ora has proudly helped clients earn 46 product approvals. Ora supports a wide array of organizations, from start-ups to global pharmaceutical and device companies, to efficiently bring new products from concept to market. Ora's pre-clinical and clinical models, unique methodologies and global regulatory strategies have been refined and proven across thousands of global projects. For more information, please visit www.oraclinical.com Forward-Looking Statements Any statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements made under the provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that any current or future clinical trials will result in approved products or future value. There can also be no assurance that the Company will apply for an NDA in the future or that if the Company applies for an NDA, that it will be accepted by the FDA and/or that the product candidate will be approved for marketing in the U.S. Any forward-looking statements in this press release represent the Company's views only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update this information as a result of future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. SOURCE ReGenTree, LLC Related Links http://www.regentreellc.com/ NAPLES, Fla., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Alzheimer's Germ Quest, Inc., has become a member of the national coalition Accelerate Cure/Treatments for Alzheimer's Disease, announces Leslie Norins, MD, PhD, CEO of Alzheimer's Germ Quest. Familiarly known as ACT-AD, the coalition is a group of more than 50 national organizations, chaired by the Alliance for Aging Research . The coalition's mission is making the acceleration of Alzheimer's disease therapies a top national priority. Dr. Norins says that ACT-AD's scope is congruent with Alzheimer's Germ Quest's own mission; encourage faster and deeper scientific investigation of the many clues that infectious agents may be the triggers of Alzheimer's disease. "Already we have benefitted from ACT-AD's national perspective and its regular communications," Dr. Norins says. He says thorough studies of already-detected bacteria and viruses in the brain have been hampered by a lack of research grants; the major funders of Alzheimer's research so far have allocated only paltry monies to these subjects. If an infectious agent is proven to be the villain, Dr. Norins says the logical next step will be to test the anti-Alzheimer's effectiveness of the many antibacterial or anti-viral medications already approved by FDA. Or, if necessary, develop a new therapeutic compound. It is also possible a vaccine could be created to prevent Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's Germ Quest, Inc. is a public benefit corporation headquartered in Naples, Florida. It is the sponsor of the "$1 Million Challenge Award" for the scientist who provides by 2020 persuasive proof that an infectious agent causes Alzheimer's disease. The company is self-funded, and does not solicit or accept outside donations or grants. SOURCE Alzheimer's Germ Quest, Inc. Related Links http://www.alzgerm.org BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Affinity Federal Credit Union has officially launched its Great Savings Challenge. Running throughout 2019, the campaign aims to improve its members' financial well-being by encouraging them to set savings goals and make well-informed financial decisions. As the median savings account balance for those 35 and under is just $1,5801, Affinity is mobilizing to address the need for Americans to build their savings. Participating members will fill out a pledge to identify their savings goals. These members are also automatically eligible for a monthly sweepstakes by: Making a Savings Challenge appointment with an Affinity representative (5 entries) Opening any new Club Account (1 entry per account) Setting up an automatic transfer or direct deposit into a new Club Account (1 entry per account) One lucky member will be selected to win $1,000 each month throughout the entry period (Jan. 28 June 30, 2019). "I am concerned that Americans have more debt than savings. It means that many would not be able to cover their monthly expenses, such as their car payment, mortgage, day care or rent, if an emergency occurred," says Jacqui Kearns, chief brand officer at Affinity Federal Credit Union. "The Great Savings Challenge is designed to break that trend and the paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle. Beyond encouraging a traditional savings account, Affinity will help our members save on costly credit card rates and fees other organizations put on their customers' backs. My team and I find it equally important to offer free financial advice and reward healthy savings practices. It only takes a few dollars a day to get started at any income and any age. All are welcome here at Affinity!" Members can join the Great Savings Challenge by filling out the pledge form at their local branch. For any questions about the Great Savings Challenge and how to participate, please contact Giuseppina Araujo at 908.860.3856. For additional information about Affinity Federal Credit Union, or to speak with an executive from the company, contact Anjelica Sena of Stern Strategy Group at [email protected] or (908) 325-3873. About Affinity Federal Credit Union: With more than 20 branches across the tri-state area, Affinity is the largest credit union headquartered in the state of New Jersey, proudly ranking in the top 2% of all credit unions in terms of asset size2. It is a member-owned, not-for-profit, full-service financial institution federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). For more information, visit affinityfcu.com. 1Source: SmartAsset.com 2Source: CUDATA.com SOURCE Affinity Federal Credit Union SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Plug and Play Insurtech welcomes AF Group as its 74th partner. AF Group is a leader in innovative insurance solutions and has a proven track record of leveraging technology in core functions like claims mitigation and Care Analytics. Startups accepted into Plug and Play's platform will have the opportunity to pilot their technology with AF Group and other partners in the program. "Plug and Play's extensive Insurtech and affiliated vertical assets will enable AF Group to solve meaningful business challenges faced by our enterprise," said Abel Travis, Vice President of Underwriting & Product Innovation at AF Group. "Overall, our goal is to drive business growth in alignment with our innovation strategy through meaningful engagement and reach Silicon Valley insurtechs connected to the Plug and Play ecosystem." "There have been incredible advancements in the technologies that startups are leveraging today and these have only just begun to penetrate the insurance market," says Saeed Amidi, Founder and CEO of Plug and Play. "We are extremely excited to enter a partnership with a proven innovator like AF Group, an organization that shares our belief in the future of insurance." Plug and Play Insurtech is an innovation platform bringing together corporations, startups, and investors to improve the insurance industry. Since inception in May 2016, they have provided a vast innovation platform for more than 70 corporate partners and have made more than 40 investments in insurtech startups. Plug and Play Insurtech has recently expanded internationally to Beijing, Munich, New York, Singapore, and Tokyo. About AF Group AF Group (Lansing, Mich.) and its subsidiaries are a premier provider of innovative insurance solutions. Insurance policies may be issued by any of the following companies within AF Group: Accident Fund Insurance Company of America, Accident Fund National Insurance Company, Accident Fund General Insurance Company, United Wisconsin Insurance Company, Third Coast Insurance Company or CompWest Insurance Company. About Plug and Play Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we have built accelerator programs, corporate innovation services and an in-house VC to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in over 20 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 10,000 startups and 280 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. We provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and host more than 700 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over $7 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Lending Club and PayPal. For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com. Contact: Allison Romero, 1-408-524-1457, [email protected] SOURCE Plug and Play Related Links http://plugandplaytechcenter.com SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Achronix Semiconductor Corporation, a leader in FPGA-based data accelerator devices and high-performance eFPGA IP, today announced the launch of its Partner Program for EDA tools, software, and IP vendors with solutions and services directly applicable to Achronix's versatile Speedster FPGAs, Speedchip chiplet technology, and Speedcore eFPGA custom IP-block technology. This program connects Achronix's partners with the company's rapidly growing customer base and provides partners with better access to developers who are creating designs based on Achronix's technologies, or considering the use of Achronix's programmable silicon and IP technologies. The Partner Program's main objectives are to better serve Achronix's customers and to maximize joint opportunities with member companies in the program. Achronix Partners have the ability to promote their company and proven solutions on their own, individual partner pages located on the Achronix.com website. "Through the Achronix Partner Program, we have committed to giving customers easy access to a broad, growing, and robust ecosystem of EDA and IP partners, who can provide products and services that will speed the design of systems based on Achronix's programmable logic devices and IP," said Steve Mensor, vice president of marketing at Achronix. "We are committed to supporting our customers and partners by providing them with better and easier ways to find and connect with each other. The Achronix Partner Program gathers critical third-party information that designers need in one convenient location, making it quick and easy to find exactly the right products and services." Achronix's ecosystem partners, a global ecosystem of independent qualified vendors, help system designers to rapidly create system-level designs for Achronix FPGAs, chiplets, and eFPGA IP by offering tools, software, and third-party IP that augment Achronix's own ACE design tools and IP products. These partners offer proven products and expert design support for Achronix-specific, FPGA-based development to shorten design cycles for complex electronic systems and thus accelerate time to market. For additional information on the Achronix Partner Program, please visit: www.achronix.com/achronix-partners/. About Achronix Semiconductor Corporation Achronix Semiconductor Corporation is a privately held, fabless semiconductor corporation based in Santa Clara, California and offers high-performance FPGA and embedded FPGA (eFPGA) solutions. Achronix's history is one of pushing the boundaries in the high-performance FPGA market. Achronix offerings include programmable FPGA fabrics, discrete high-performance and high-density FPGAs with hardwired system-level blocks, datacenter and HPC hardware accelerator boards, and best-in-class EDA software supporting all Achronix products. The company has sales offices and representatives in the United States, Europe, and China, and has a research and design office in Bangalore, India. Follow Achronix Website: www.achronix.com The Achronix Blog: https://www.achronix.com/blogs/ Twitter: @AchronixInc LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/57668/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/achronix/ Contacts Alok Sanghavi Achronix Semiconductor Corporation 408-889-4142 [email protected] Achronix and Speedster are registered trademarks, and Speedcore and Speedchip are trademarks of Achronix Semiconductor Corporation. All other brands, product names and marks are the property of their respective owners. SOURCE Achronix Related Links https://www.achronix.com/ CORNISH, Maine, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SpatialTEQ Inc., publisher of North America's most advanced cloud-based business mapping software, Www.MapBusinessOnline.com, offers an affordable solution for customer visualizations against an accurate business map as a key business mapping feature. Detailed user-base application analysis shows that over 70% of customers use the web-based mapping tool for customer visualization purposes. Customer Visualization Describing the Top Three Cities for Growth Potential A Simple Customer Visualization of Imported Customer Symbolized and Color Coded In 2018 Map Business Online continued an unprecedented rate of growth for the eighth year in a row. Also, in 2018 the Map Business Online feature set was expanded to include access to business listings for market analysis and lead generation; a natural enhancement to customer visualizations. Customer Visualizations and Market Potential Customer visualizations in a business mapping tool are typically derived from imported address-based or latitude/longitude-based locations. These customer location spreadsheets are imported onto a business map and represented by points or symbols. Customer visualizations describe where business activity is occurring and may include textual labels and are often set against a backdrop of demographic data depicted as color-shaded ZIP code or county map layers. Customer visualizations provide business map users with new perspectives on their current business activity, suggesting more efficient operations; future sales potential by area; and exposing business intelligence for strategic planning. Map Business Online business listings are now available as an additional layer for marketing and sales analysis. Business listings enhance market analysis by suggesting new business targets by industry segment and geography. Based on successful sales and marketing strategies in existing coverage areas, business listings can point to potential markets outside of established sales theaters. Customer Visualizations Applied Map Business Online customers leverage customer visualizations for a variety of business analysis including: Sales territory management and customer allocation by region driving sales accountability The development of new market potential based on business success and demographic profiles Reduced travel costs through more efficient optimized routing solutions Thorough competitor business analysis Strategic analysis based on sales trends, operational realities, and new market potential The selection of business listings for business analysis and lead generation Tracking the location of marketing, sales, and operational field assets About Map Business Online From the creators of BusinessMAP, www.MapBusinessOnline.com has been providing sales & marketing professionals with affordable and intuitive web-based business mapping software, for Mac and PC users, since 2010. Design, edit, and share maps that reflect your business . Create and manage sales territories that drive accountability into your sales force. Replace discontinued Microsoft MapPoint with MapBusinessOnline. Access optimized multi-stop routes to drive down travel costs. No other mapping software solves so many problems for such a limited investment. Contact: Geoffrey Ives [email protected] (800) 425-9035, (207) 939-6866 SOURCE SpatialTEQ Inc. OKLAHOMA CITY, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Many people long to experience an intimate relationship with God but have difficulty doing so. Sharon Quinn, who attended Catholic schools and nearly became a nun, now knows why. She says, "Too many people seek God from a judgmental place, as a sinner who needs to be forgiven. But the truth is we are mighty fine just the way we are and that is as uniquely embodied aspects of God." Book Cover Sharon Quinn Quinn is the author of the new book Tango with the Divine: SELFGnosis101 Spirit R&RBring Your Life into the Light! (Window to the World Publishing). She defines SELFGnosis as genuinely knowing yourself and having intimacy with God. She says, "It's a step-by-step process I created that you can find nowhere else. It can heal people's emotional, mental, or spiritual pain. It's kind of like a 12-step program but on a higher awareness level that's proving to be far more effective. People who go through the SELFGnosis process reconnect with their higher selves, live life more fully, have more clarity, enjoy healthier relationships, improve communication skills, and personally experience the daily intimacy of God walking with them in their daily shoes." Quinn began developing the program 40 years ago after nearly dying in an accident in which she was pinned between her van and a wall. Miraculously, she suffered no broken bones or trauma to any major organ. Still, physicians said she should have died. Quinn can address such questions as: Are physical laws secondary to God's laws? How can people solve problems by talking to their higher selves? Does God communicate through symbols or words? Is there a purpose larger than our life? Is death the end of our existence? Why does she say that enlightenment is true health? Praise for Tango with the Divine "Tango with the Divine allows you to see with clarity your next step in true authentic spiritualitydance on!" Will Gable, Sensei Hikari Aikido About the Author Sharon Quinn is an Essene minister and the best-selling author of The Big IF in Life: Discover the Biggest Purpose Ever Guiding Youa spiritual warm-up and companion book to Preface to Your Eternity: Unearth Your Sacred Knowing. She is the founder of Window to the World, a company devoted to helping people achieve educational excellence and optimal spiritual health and well-being. She's a workshop leader, inspirational speaker and weekly radio talk show co-host. She lives in the American heartland. Contact: Sharon Quinn, (405) 495-8128; [email protected]; https://www.sharonquinn.net SOURCE Sharon Quinn Related Links https://www.sharonquinn.net 'Trial by Flag' for New F-35A Pilots (Source: US Air Force; issued Feb 08, 2019) F-35A pilots huddle on the flight line after a mission during Red Flag 19-1, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. This is wing's second Red Flag with the F-35A, which the USAF ways brings game-changing stealth, lethality and interoperability to the modern battlefield. (USAF photo) NELLIS AFB, Nev. --- The desert screams by below. The clouds scream by above. Both stretch on into the horizon. Its deceptively calm in the cockpit. Theres a constant, seemingly discordant stream of chatter coming through his helmet. The digital screens in front of him, along with images projected onto his visor, provide enough information to save lives and take a few as well. In the sky ahead are more than 60 advanced enemy aircraft, flown by some of the best fighter pilots in the world. They are hunting looking to kill him and his wingmen. He just graduated pilot training. Welcome to Red Flag. I havent been flying that long. There are things that stand out in my career. My first solo flight, my first F-35 flight and my first Red Flag mission. I dont think Ill ever forget those things, said 1st Lt. Landon Moores, a new F-35A Lightning II pilot with the 388th Fighter Wings 4th Fighter Squadron. Moores is one of a handful of young F-35A pilots who recently graduated their initial training and are currently deployed here as part of Red-Flag 19-1. Now they are being battle-tested. Going from F-35 training a little over a month ago to a large force exercise with dozens of aircraft in the sky is pretty crazy, Moores said. For the initial part of the first mission, I was just kind of sitting there listening. I was nervous. I was excited. Then the training kicked in. Red Flag is the Air Forces premier combat training exercise where units from across the Department of Defense join with allied nations in a blue force to combat a red force in a variety of challenging scenarios over three weeks. For us, the biggest difference between this Red Flag and our first with the F-35A two years ago is that we have a lot of pilots on their first assignment, said Lt. Col. Yosef Morris, 4th FS commander. Putting them alongside more experienced wingmen is what Red Flag was designed for. What combat training looks like has changed dramatically over the years, Morris said. When I was a young pilot in the F-16, I had a couple of responsibilities in the cockpit. One, dont lose sight of my flight lead. Two, keep track of a bunch of green blips on a small screen in front of me, and correlate the blips to what someone is telling me on the radio, Morris said. Now, were flying miles apart and interpreting and sharing information the jets gather, building a threat and target picture. Were asking way more of young wingmen, but were able to do that because of their training and the capabilities of the jet. Captain James Rosenau flew the A-10 in four previous Red Flags, but hes brand new to the F-35. He graduated the transition course in December 2018. I loved the A-10 and its mission. Its like a flying tank. Like Chewbacca with chainsaw arms. A very raw flying experience, Rosenau said. Obviously the F-35 is completely different. Its more like a precision tool. After seeing the F-35 go up against the near-peer threats replicated here at Nellis, Im a big believer. The two aircraft are similar in one way. They do very specific things other aircraft arent asked to do. In the A-10, I liked being the guy who was called upon to directly support troops on the ground. To bring that fight to the enemy, Rosenau said. Now I like being the guy who can support legacy fighters when they may be struggling to get into a target area because of the threat level. We have more freedom to operate. We have this big radar that can sniff out threats. We can gather all of that and pass it along or potentially take out those threats ourselves. The threat level is high at Red Flag. From the skill and size of the aggressor forces in the air to the complexity and diversity of the surface to air threats, there is a real sense of the fog and friction of war. The adversary force also uses space and cyber warfare to take out or limit technology that modern warfighters rely on. Cutting through the clutter is a strength of the F-35A. One of the jets greatest assets is to see things that others cant, take all the information its gathering from the sensors and present them to the pilot, Moores said. One of our biggest jobs is learning how to process and prioritize that. For the more experienced pilots it seems like it is second nature. If we dont, its not like were getting killed (in the F-35), but we could be doing more killing. The pilots say seeing the F-35As capabilities being put to use as part of a larger force has been invaluable. When we mission plan with other units, its not always about kicking down the door, said Rosenau It may be about looking at what the enemy is presenting and thinking skinny. With the F-35, we can think through a mission and choose how we want to attack it to make everyone more survivable. -ends- LOS ANGELES, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ServiceTitan, the world's leading all-in-one, cloud-based software for residential home service businesses, has opened an office in Armenia. The tech company was founded by Armenians who emigrated to the United States with their families as children. "Our roots are in Armenia and it's really important for us to not only have a presence here, but to invest in the community," said Vahe Kuzoyan, president and co-founder of ServiceTitan. "Our intention is to contribute to the education of the labor force and provide opportunities so the best talent doesn't have to leave the country." ServiceTitan was founded by Kuzoyan and Ara Mahdessian in 2012 when they discovered there were few software options to recommend to their fathersboth of whom were tradesmen. ServiceTitan now has more than 600 employees in two of the largest American metropolitan areas, Los Angeles and Atlanta, and more than 2,500 client businesses throughout the USA and Canada. Kuzoyan hopes to create an environment and culture that is an extension of ServiceTitan's U.S. operation, which provides competitive compensation and several benefits and perks to employees, with a dedication to helping people find long-lasting careers. One goal is to help develop the Armenian tech workforce so the country doesn't suffer from a shortage of talent. "Initially it's going to be an engineering office with a handful of senior employees, primarily for extending our team, which is working on product development," Kuzoyan said. "If that's successful, I can see our employee numbers growing exponentially. It depends on how effectively and fast we can scale." Kuzoyan and Mahdessian want to cultivate world class engineers and be known as a company where excellence is expected. "We want everyone from university students to senior engineers to know that if they come and work for us they can become world class," Mahdessian said. "It's not going to be a place where you'll be bored in a few years and then want to leave for a better opportunity." 2018 was a notable year for ServiceTitan. In March, the company announced it had secured $62 million in Series C funding, and in November ServiceTitan secured $165 million in Series D funding. It also has been named one of the best places to work by Inc. and the Los Angeles Business Journal and placed on Deloitte's Technology Fast 500, the Forbes Cloud 100 list of the world's best private cloud computing companies and the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. In 2017, Forbes recognized ServiceTitan as one of the Next Billion-Dollar Startups. For more information about ServiceTitan jobs available in Armenia, visit https://staff.am/en/company/servicetitan . About ServiceTitan ServiceTitan is a mobile, cloud-based software platform that helps home services companies streamline operations, improve customer service, and increase sales. ServiceTitan's end-to-end solution for the multi-billion dollar residential home services industry includes CRM, intelligent dispatch, custom reporting, marketing automation, a mobile solution for field techs, and accounting integrations with Sage Intacct and QuickBooks. ServiceTitan brings a fully operational modern SaaS infrastructure to an industry traditionally underserved by software. ServiceTitan is the preferred software for the world's most successful plumbing, HVAC, and electrical companies. For more information about ServiceTitan, visit https://servicetitan.com/ . Media Contact: Heather Ripley Ripley PR 865-977-1973 [email protected] SOURCE ServiceTitan Related Links http://www.servicetitan.com DES MOINES, Iowa, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The risk farmers face when they enter large grain bins cannot be overstated. Within seconds, flowing grain can bury a worker who enters the bin to remove clumped or rotting grain while machinery is still running. To help reduce and prevent these all-too-common accidents, Nationwide has launched its sixth annual Nominate Your Fire Department Contest in recognition of Grain Bin Safety Week. The goal is to prevent injuries by promoting safe bin-entry procedures, such as maintaining quality grain, testing bin atmosphere for toxic gases and wearing proper safety equipment. This year, Grain Bin Safety Week runs from Feb. 17-23 and has been officially recognized by the following states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wisconsin. "The work that farmers do can often be dangerous," said Brad Liggett, president of Nationwide Agribusiness, the No. 1 farm insurer. "Along with our partners in Grain Bin Safety Week, we're dedicated to helping first responders save lives on farms across the country. That's why we will continue to make the rescue tubes and training available as long as these dangers exist." Since 2014, Nationwide has awarded grain bin rescue tubes and training to 77 fire departments in 24 states. Nominations for this year's Nominate Your Fire Department Contest are open until April 30. According to researchers at Purdue University, more than 900 cases of grain engulfment have been reported with a fatality rate of 62 percent in the past 50 years. In 2010, at least 26 U.S. workers were killed in grain engulfment accidents the highest number on record. Injuries & Fatalities: The Startling Facts Suffocation from engulfment is a leading cause of death in grain bin accidents. It takes only seconds to be completely engulfed in flowing grain or overcome by oxygen-deficient atmospheres. 24 documented grain entrapments resulted in 14 deaths (58% fatality rate) in 2015. 38 documented grain entrapments resulted in 18 deaths in 2014 the highest recorded since 2010. In 2010, at least 26 U.S. workers were killed in grain engulfments the highest fatalities on record. Source: 2015 Summary of U.S. Agricultural Confined Space-Related Injuries and Fatalities To help prevent further deaths and injuries, Nationwide collaborates each year with the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety (NECAS) to provide safety training. The director of NECAS travels to training locations with a state-of-the-art grain entrapment simulator and rescue tube. The comprehensive training sessions include classroom education and a rescue simulation with the entrapment tool, which is loaded onto a 20-foot trailer and able to hold about 100 bushels of grain. Grain Bin Safety Week and the Nominate Your Fire Department Contents are supported by Nationwide and the following partners: For more information about the program, purpose or nomination process, visit www.grainbinsafetyweek.com or watch this video. About Nationwide Nationwide, a Fortune 100 company based in Columbus, Ohio, is one of the largest and strongest diversified insurance and financial services organizations in the United States. Nationwide is rated A+ by both A.M. Best and Standard & Poors. An industry leader in driving customer-focused innovation, Nationwide provides a full range of insurance and financial services products including auto, business, homeowners, farm and life insurance; public and private sector retirement plans, annuities and mutual funds; excess & surplus, specialty and surety; pet, motorcycle and boat insurance. For more information, visit www.nationwide.com. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Nationwide, Nationwide is on your side and the Nationwide N and Eagle are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. 2019. Contact: David Gilligan (614)677-7305 [email protected] SOURCE Nationwide Related Links http://www.nationwide.com DUBLIN, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Agricultural Adjuvants Market by Function, by Chemical Group, by Formulation, by Application, by Crop Type, by Geography - Global Market Size, Share, Development, Growth, and Demand Forecast, 2013-2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Agricultural adjuvants market is projected to reach $3,778.9 million by 2023, the market growth is driven by the increasing demand for agricultural adjuvants to improve pesticide efficacy and, thereby, crop yield. On the basis of function, the agricultural adjuvants market is categorized into activator and utility adjuvants. Activator adjuvants held a larger market share in 2017, accounting for more than 65.0% in terms of the sales volume. This can be attributed to the advantages offered by these adjuvants, such as higher mobility and reduced surface tension and rainfastness. Moreover, certain activator adjuvants can perform functions of utility adjuvants. Based on chemical group, the agricultural adjuvants market is categorized into alkoxylates, organosilicones, sulfonates, and others. In 2017, alkoxylates accounted for more than 50.0% market share in terms of volume. Alkoxylates are generally non-ionic in nature and, therefore, preferred for use in pesticide formulations for the treatment of broadleaf weeds. Owing to their non-ionic nature and growing application, the demand for these adjuvants is expected to increase during the forecast period. The agricultural adjuvants market is also classified into built-in and tank-mix formulations. Of the two, built-in formulations accounted for more than 80.0% volume share in the market in 2017. Globally, agrochemical applicators and farmers prefer built-in formulations over tank-mix formulations due to their advantages, such as low cost, ease of application, and negligible chances of improper mixing. Agricultural adjuvants find major application in insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, and others. In terms of volume, herbicides accounted for the largest share in the agricultural adjuvants market in 2017. Herbicides have wide application in cereals and broadleaf crops. Moreover, they are compatible with a wide range of adjuvants and help increase the crop yield. On the basis of crop type, the agricultural adjuvants market is classified into cereals and grains, oilseeds and pulses, fruits and vegetables, and others. In 2017, cereals and grains held the largest market share in terms of volume, accounting for nearly 45.0%. With shrinking arable land and increasing population, there is an increased pressure to maximize crop yield from existing farmlands and agricultural installations. This increasing demand for food grains is expected to drive the market growth during the forecast period. Globally, the agricultural adjuvants market is expected to witness the fastest growth in APAC, with 6.2% CAGR during the forecast period. This growth can be majorly attributed to the presence of emerging economies, such as India and China, in the region. Additionally, the growing penetration of adjuvants and the introduction of novel, low-cost products are expected to drive the growth of the APAC agricultural adjuvants market in the near future. Key Topics Covered: Chapter 1. Research Background Chapter 2. Research Methodology Chapter 3. Executive Summary Chapter 4. Research Background 4.1 Definition of Market Segments 4.1.1 By Function 4.1.1.1 Activator adjuvants 4.1.1.1.1 Surfactants 4.1.1.1.1.1 Non-ionic 4.1.1.1.1.2 Ionic 4.1.1.1.1.3 Amphoteric 4.1.1.1.2 Oil-based adjuvants 4.1.1.1.3 Vegetable oil 4.1.1.1.4 Petroleum oil 4.1.1.2 Utility adjuvants 4.1.1.2.1 Compatibility agents 4.1.1.2.2 Buffers/acidifiers 4.1.1.2.3 Anti-foaming agents 4.1.1.2.4 Water conditioners 4.1.1.2.5 Drift control agents 4.1.1.2.6 Others 4.1.2 By Chemical Group 4.1.2.1 Alkoxylates 4.1.2.2 Sulfonates 4.1.2.3 Organosilicones 4.1.2.4 Others 4.1.3 By Formulation 4.1.3.1 Built-in 4.1.3.2 Tank-mix 4.1.4 By Application 4.1.4.1 Insecticides 4.1.4.2 Fungicides 4.1.4.3 Herbicides 4.1.4.4 Others 4.1.5 By Crop Type 4.1.5.1 Cereals and grains 4.1.5.2 Oilseeds and pulses 4.1.5.3 Fruits and vegetables 4.1.5.4 Others 4.2 Value Chain Analysis 4.3 Market Dynamics 4.3.1 Trends 4.3.2 Shift in preference from chemically synthesized adjuvants to environment-friendly agricultural adjuvants 4.3.3 Drivers 4.3.4 Population growth and increasing food demand 4.3.5 Increasing demand for agrochemicals to improve yield and productivity 4.3.6 Increasing investments in the agricultural sector 4.3.7 Impact analysis of drivers on market forecast 4.3.8 Restraints 4.3.9 Stringent regulations on the manufacturing of agricultural adjuvants 4.3.10 Impact analysis of restraints on market forecast 4.3.11 Opportunities 4.3.12 Increasing demand for agricultural adjuvants in emerging economies Chapter 5. Global Market Size and Forecast 5.1 By Function 5.1.1 Activator Adjuvants by Type 5.1.1.1 Surfactants by type 5.1.1.2 Oil-based adjuvants by type 5.1.2 Utility Adjuvants by Type 5.2 By Chemical Group 5.3 By Formulation 5.4 By Application 5.5 By Crop Type 5.6 By Region Chapter 6. North America Market Size and Forecast Chapter 7. Europe Market Size and Forecast Chapter 8. APAC Market Size and Forecast Chapter 9. LATAM Market Size and Forecast Chapter 10. MEA Market Size and Forecast Chapter 11. Competitive Landscape 11.1 Market Share Analysis of Key Players 11.2 Competitive Benchmarking of Key Players 11.3 Global Strategic Developments of Key Players Chapter 12. Company Profiles Akzo Nobel N.V. Brandt Consolidated Inc. Wilbur-Ellis Holdings Inc. Stepan Company Solvay S.A. DowDuPont Inc. Evonik Industries AG Huntsman Corporation BASF SE Croda International Plc Clariant AG Helena Agri-Enterprises LLC For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/f93s6c/global?w=5 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: 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 THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- National Engineers Week 2019 in North America is fast approaching and Digi-Key Electronics, a global electronic components distributor, is holding its 5th annual celebration of the event which was created by the National Society of Professional Engineers. The theme of 2019 is "Engineers: Invent Amazing" and Digi-Key is offering tools, resources, and insight to help engineers continue to invent the latest and greatest through their products and designs. Engineers visiting digikey.com can win prizes to enable their new and improved designs. InstaLab Kit In continuation of activities held annually by Digi-Key, the company will feature a link to a daily word jumble on the homepage of its website beginning Monday, February 18. Each day, 25 participants who answer correctly will be chosen at random to receive one of five prizes from B&K Precision, FLIR, Fluke, Pomona, or TE Connectivity. In addition, participants who submit a correct answer for the daily puzzles will be automatically entered for the drawing of the grand prize of a Digi-Key InstaLab Kit sponsored by KEMET, for a total of up to five entries. The InstaLab contains everything you need to measure, observe, design, and make your electronics ideas a reality. Also, in their ongoing support of STEM in schools, Digi-Key will be spending the entire week working with local schools in a community outreach effort. Engineering employees and special guests will be visiting with the local grade school, middle school, and high school to talk about the value of engineering and technology as well as help students with hands-on projects, including programming with MicroPython. Digi-Key would like to give a special thanks to 3M, Cirrus Logic, Fluke, Hakko, Littelfuse, LulzBot, Pomona, Pulse Electronics, VersaSense, and Weller for their support of the company's community outreach activities. "National Engineers Week gives Digi-Key an opportunity to highlight the innovation and advancement of electronics and technology by our customers and employees, both in small and grand ways," said Randall Restle, VP, Applications Engineering. "We also want to bring engineering to life for students and educators to enable their creativity and help them realize their potential to invent amazing things and create engineering opportunities for many, many years to come." To participate in the online contest, visit the Digi-Key website starting on February 18th and click on the Engineers Week banner. About Digi-Key Electronics Digi-Key Electronics, headquartered in Thief River Falls, Minn., USA, is an authorized global, full-service distributor of electronic components, offering more than 8.4 million products, with over 1.6 million in stock and available for immediate shipment, from over 750 quality name-brand manufacturers. Digi-Key also offers a wide variety of online resources such as EDA and design tools, datasheets, reference designs, instructional articles and videos, multimedia libraries, and much more. Technical support is available 24/7 via email, phone and webchat. Additional information and access to Digi-Key's broad product offering can be found by visiting www.digikey.com. Editorial Contact for Digi-Key Electronics Kayla Krosschell PR & Marketing Communications Specialist 1.800.338.4105 x1098 [email protected] [email protected] SOURCE Digi-Key Electronics Related Links http://www.digikey.com In making the announcement, DataPath's president and CEO, Sherin Kamal, said, "Chris is a highly accomplished sales executive leader with more than 25 years' experience in the United Kingdom and Australia. He has an outstanding track record of achievement in a wide range of markets and industry sectors including: financial services, information technology, mining, infrastructure, defense, national security, the diplomatic corps, and local, state and federal governments. DataPath is committed to these markets with its advanced SATCOM and wireless tactical solutions." Lowe comes to DataPath after service as a senior executive at Telstra where he served as the Director, Federal Government. He led major billion dollar governmental Digital and ICT (Information and Communications Technology) transformation programs for Australia's Department of Human Services and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Before joining Telstra, Chris was employed by Aussat (now Optus), and GEC Marconi where he worked on European NATO projects before immigrating to Australia to take up an engineering role with NASA. Lowe is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He has been an active committee member and Deputy Chair of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) in Canberra and an ICT technologies industry expert and ministerial advisor to government. He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and an alumnus of the Macquarie Graduate School of Management and the Australian Graduate School of Management. In addition, he holds a Masters of Business Administration and a Graduate Diploma in Business Marketing having previously qualified as an Electronics Engineer in the United Kingdom. About DataPath Inc. DataPath excels in advanced and secure communications solutions tailored to the unique requirements of defense, aerospace, broadcast, government, and critical infrastructure clients. Our solutions include a wide range of field communications and information technology products, including satellite communication systems, network management software, and cybersecurity services. All of our offerings are backed by 24x7 customer care and global field support. At DataPath we are committed to helping our clients achieve mission success. For more information, visit www.datapath.com. Contact: DataPath, Inc. Scott Wood 404-819-5075 [email protected] SOURCE DataPath, Inc. Related Links http://www.datapath.com While global seed companies are adapting their products to combat the impact of climate change and address nutrition needs, only one -- Thailand's East-West Seed -- has a smallholder-centric approach and customer base made up almost entirely of smallholders. Privately-held East-West Seed leads the way in reaching this market in Asia, but increasingly in Africa too. It's followed by Switzerland's Syngenta AG and Germany's Bayer AG. The Access to Seeds Index 2019 -- Global Seed Companies, published by the Amsterdam-based Access to Seeds Foundation, evaluates 13 leading global seed companies to highlight where the industry can do more to raise smallholder farmer productivity, improve nutrition and mitigate the effects of climate change through the development and dissemination of quality seed. The research shows that sales by the 13 global seed companies only reached around 47 million of the world's 500 million smallholder farmers in 2017, and most of the investment went to South and Southeast Asia. In these regions, global companies invest heavily in local seed business activities: 12 in breeding and 12 in production. But such activities are rare in Western and Central Africa, with only two companies investing in local breeding and one in production. "Although the industry is making advances in developing more nutritious and climate-resilient varieties, it's clear that more needs to be done," said Ido Verhagen, executive director of the Access to Seeds Index. "Material changes won't be possible without reaching a greater percentage of smallholder farmers, who account for the lion's share of global food production." Shaping business models around the needs of smallholder farmers can be profitable, as shown by East-West Seed, which tops the index thanks to a strong performance across all areas assessed. Its customer base comprises 98% smallholders. Syngenta and Bayer come second and third respectively. Reaching more smallholder farmers and investing in other geographies are critical for tackling rising malnourishment[1] - those suffering from hunger rose from 784 million in 2014 to nearly 821 million in 2017, partly due to a lack of access to nutritious food. Yet, only six of the 13 global seed companies state nutritional value as a priority; that's up from four in 2016, but progress is slow. The importance of improved varieties of seed offering better nutritional value and supporting crop diversity was echoed in a recent EAT-Lancet Commission[2] report. Such diversification involves supplying more crops and varieties, including legumes and local crops. Twelve of the 13 companies emphasized yields and higher climate/weather tolerance when breeding, which alongside training and weather-based crop insurance enables them support farmers adapting to the changing environment. Eight companies now integrate sustainability strategies at corporate level, compared to three in 2016. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/820197/Access_to_Seeds_Index_2019_Infographic.jpg [1] United Nations: The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018 [2] Food in the Anthropocene: the EATLancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems SOURCE Access to Seeds Foundation Daily Mail February 12, 2019 A Russian satellite designed to monitor the atmosphere for high-energy cosmic rays has detected mysterious explosions of light miles above Earths surface, Russian scientists say. While numerous examples of unusual space weather phenomena have been spotted in the upper atmosphere before, the team operating the Lomonosov satellite say what theyve found may be something entirely new. Despite the occurrence of several powerful bursts, Russian scientists say there were no signs of storms in the area, according to Sputnik. The satellite, named after scientist Mikhail Lomonosov, launched in 2016 and is integrated with the Kanopus-B spacecraft. Its goal is to study high-energy cosmic rays, including gamma rays, magnetospheric particles, and transient light phenomena in the upper atmosphere. And, the scientists now say its spotted something odd. With the help of the telescope, we have obtained even more important results than we expected, Mikhail Panasyuk, Director of the Research Institute of Nuclear Physics at Moscow State University, told Sputnik. A d v e r t i s e m e n t It looks like we have encountered new physical phenomena. We do not yet know their physical nature. Read more This article was posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2019 at 7:42 am Print this page. Infowars.com Videos: Comment on this article Theyre full of crap Steve Watson Prison Planet.com February 12, 2019 President Trump drew thousands to a huge rally in El Paso Monday night, serving them up with several memorable moments, chief among them being a dig at so called fact-checkers. As Trump spoke on the subject of the infamous you can keep your doctor promise of Obamacare, he called out fact-checkers, citing it as one example of media dishonesty. Where are the fact-checkers? Some of the most dishonest people in media are the so-called fact-checkersThat didnt turn out to be what he said. Trump declared to rapturous applause: Earlier in the day Trump had tweeted that the fact-checkers have become fake news. Fact checkers have become Fake News. @JesseBWatters So True! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 11, 2019 Turning to the subject of border control, Trump urged that those who contradicted his claim that a border barrier in El Paso has reduced crime are full of crap. A d v e r t i s e m e n t Ive been hearing a lot of things, Oh, the wall didnt make that much of a difference. Do you know where it made a big difference? Right here in El Paso, Trump exclaimed: When that wall went up, its a whole different ball game. Trump noted adding that theyre full of crap when they say it hasnt made a big difference. I heard the same thing from the fake news, Trump continued, urging They said oh, crime actually stayed the same. Didnt stay the same. Went way down. These people, you know youd think theyd want to get to the bottom of a problem and solve a problem. Not try and pull the wool over everybodys eyes, Trump continued. So for those few people that are out there on television, saying oh, it didnt make too much of a difference. It made a tremendous people from El Paso, am I right? the President appealed to the boisterous crowd. Thanks to a powerful border wall in El Paso, Texas, its one of Americas safest cities now, Trump concluded. In other highlights from the rally, Trump slammed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over her ludicrous Green New Deal, which even leading Democrats have expressed disdain for. The President called Cortezs proposal a massive government takeover that would destroy the incredible economic gains made under his presidency. Sounds like a high school term paper that got a low mark, Trump added, noting that the proposal suggested shutting down air travel for those who do not comply. How do we get to Europe on a train? Trump sarcastically asked. The President also mocked Democrat Beto ORourke, who was holding a rally on a much smaller scale close by. Trump declared that Beto has got very little going for himself, except hes got a great first name. Trump also brought up Virginia Governor Ralph Northams recent extreme stance on abortion, along with the blackface scandal that quickly followed. I like him, Trump said. Keeps us out of the papers. Id like to find a few more guys like this one. He almost moonwalked! Trump yelled. Continuing to poke Democrats, Trump turned to the Russia hoax, noting that They have been investigating the Russia hoax for two years. Think of it. They have interviewed over 200 people. They have studied hundreds of thousands of documents and pages. And [Senator Richard Burr] just announced that they found no collusion between Donald Trump and Russia. The fact is that the real collusion was between Hillary and the Democrats and the other side with Russia. Thats where the collusion is, Trump urged, adding Thats where the collusion is. there is also collusion between the Democrats and the fake news right here. Elsewhere, the President promoted his own approval ratings, suggesting that the media refuses to acknowledge what we have done and how well we are doing it. I dont think Ive had a good story in years. I dont get good press I used to get great press until I decided to run for office, he continued, further noting that recent polls put his approval at 52% despite this. Detractors repeatedly attempted to interrupt Trump throughout the rally, prompting raucous boos from the crowd and the President to ask Where do these people come from? Where do they come from? They go back home to mommy. They get punished when they get home. This article was posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2019 at 9:28 am Print this page. Infowars.com Videos: Comment on this article RT February 12, 2019 President Donald Trump has compelled federal agencies to step up research and development of artificial intelligence (AI) with a new order, calling the US lead in AI of paramount importance to Americas national security. A new executive order signed by Trump on Monday warns the US government against falling behind its strategic competitors in the race for AI supremacy. The order says that continued American leadership in the high-tech sector is of paramount importance to maintaining the economic and national security of the US and it is the Trump administration policy to sustain and enhance it. The freshly-signed document outlines five principles to guide the US federal agencies as they embark on implementing the ambitious plan. One is to train current and future generations of American workers with the skills to develop and apply AI technologies as well as to nurture public trust in AI. The latter has been a burning issue for years, since many people are inclined to take the rise of AI with a grain of salt, or may even fear a robot uprising, something that only a few years ago could have been dismissed as pure science fiction. However, with AlphaStar, a creation of Alphabet-owned DeepMind Al, which can beat humans in StarCraft and boasts an Al algorithm that discovered a previously unknown human species, the AI takeover has been perceived by some as uncontrolled and hostile, since robots are bound to leave many of us jobless with their far superior skills. Alarm over a looming machine takeover has been sounded by Alibabas Jack Ma, who has warned that the race for AI dominance could stir up a third world war. The sentiment was echoed by Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who said that an AI revolution is a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization. US agencies must now come up with an action plan within 120 days of the executive orders publication, that would prioritize US preeminence in AI technologies. A d v e r t i s e m e n t The plan shall protect the United States advantage in AI and AI technology critical to United States economic and national security interests against strategic competitors and adversarial nations, and may even be classified in full or in part, the document says. The order comes as the US dominance in AI is at risk of slipping away amid Chinese advances. A recent poll conducted by PwC showed that some 25 percent of Chinese top executives surveyed employed AI in their companies, while only five percent of American executives did the same. Billionaire George Soros has recently called the use of such technologies by the Chinese government a mortal danger to open societies, urging the US to apply more pressure to Chinese tech, which it has been currently doing by accusing Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE of spying and by also mulling a ban on their telecommunications equipment in the US. While fears of a robot uprising might seem a bit premature, some frightening incidents have already taken place from Amazon voice assistant Alexa laughing creepily and sending users recordings to other people, to a warehouse robot spraying its human colleagues with bear repellant. This article was posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2019 at 7:04 am Print this page. Infowars.com Videos: Chris Menahan Information Liberation February 12, 2019 Iowa Democrats are going to allow registered Democrat voters to phone it in From CBS 2 Iowa: Iowa Democratic leaders Monday announced a new option for registered party members to take part in Caucus night. The plan calls for a virtual caucus that will take place over several nights leading up to the precinct caucuses that will be accessible by phone and by smartphone app. The goal is to make sure that every Democrat in Iowa, regardless of physical condition, weather, job schedule or personal reasons, has a way to help select the partys nominee for President of the United States. They forgot to include whether youre lazy, drunk, high or know nothing about politics. The virtual caucus will essentially serve as an additional county in each congressional district in Iowa, and will represent 10% of each districts representation at the state convention. Users of the virtual caucus will be able to select their top 5 preferences for President, choose whether they want to put forth their name as a possible delegate, and submit platform proposals to be adopted by the party. The Iowa Democratic Party has always sought ways to improve our caucus process, and today, we are setting the stage for the 2020 Iowa caucuses to be the most accessible, transparent, and successful caucuses in our partys history, said Iowa Democratic Party Chair Troy Price. Starting almost immediately after the 2016 cycle, this party took a holistic look at how we can make the Iowa caucuses more accessible and transparent. These proposals are the result of thousands of hours of conversation and years of hard work. Sounds like this was worked on by some very low IQ individuals. The traditional caucus format will continue largely in tact, but those who sign up for the virtual caucus will not be allowed to participate in the precinct format to prevent any double voting. Party leaders said during a conference call that they are still working out details on the plan to ensure a secure system. The Democratic Party cant secure an email server, but no doubt theyll have zero problems with online voting. The Democrats want the scam system they set up in California to go national. Everyone must be automatically registered to vote when they get a drivers license and allowed to vote from home with their phone. If theyre too stupid to remember to vote after Google and Twitter and Uber and Lyft and a zillion other tech companies send them push alerts, a Democrat activist can get their details handed to them and go to their home to badger them to phone their vote in. This is what were told is the pinnacle of democracy. This article was posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2019 at 6:51 am Print this page. Infowars.com Videos: Comment on this article Michael Snyder Economic Collapse February 12, 2019 Scientists are telling us that we have entered the sixth major extinction in the history of our planet. A brand new survey of 73 scientific reports that was just released has come to the conclusion that the total number of insects on the globe is falling by 2.5 percent per year. If we stay on this current pace, the survey warns that there might not be any insects at all by the year 2119. And since insects are absolutely critical to the worldwide food chain, that has extremely ominous implications for all of us. I write a lot about the inevitable collapse of our economic systems, but it could definitely be argued that our environment is already in a very advanced stage of collapse. According to this new research, insects are going extinct at a rate that is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles The worlds insects are hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a catastrophic collapse of natures ecosystems, according to the first global scientific review. More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered, the analysis found. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. The total mass of insects is falling by a precipitous 2.5% a year, according to the best data available, suggesting they could vanish within a century. Perhaps the entire world will come together and will stop destroying the planet and we can reverse this trend before it is too late. Unfortunately, you and I both know that this is extremely unlikely to happen. And if it doesnt happen, the researchers that conducted this scientific review insist that the consequences will be catastrophic to say the least The researchers set out their conclusions in unusually forceful terms for a peer-reviewed scientific paper: The [insect] trends confirm that the sixth major extinction event is profoundly impacting [on] life forms on our planet. Unless we change our ways of producing food, insects as a whole will go down the path of extinction in a few decades, they write. The repercussions this will have for the planets ecosystems are catastrophic to say the least. The clock is ticking, and time is running out for our planet. Assuming that we could somehow keep the global insect decline from accelerating even more, we probably only have about 100 years before they are all gone Chillingly, the total mass of insects is falling by 2.5 percent annually, the reviews authors said. If the decline continues at this rate, insects could be wiped off the face of the Earth within a century. It is very rapid. In 10 years you will have a quarter less, in 50 years only half left and in 100 years you will have none,study co-author Francisco Sanchez-Bayo, an environmental biologist at the University of Sydney, Australia, told The Guardian. So what would a planet without insects look like? Well, according to Francisco Sanchez-Bayo of the University of Sydney, millions upon millions of birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish would starve to death One of the biggest impacts of insect loss is on the many birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish that eat insects. If this food source is taken away, all these animals starve to death, he said. Such cascading effects have already been seen in Puerto Rico, where a recent study revealed a 98% fall in ground insects over 35 years. And without bees and other pollinators, humans would be in a world of hurt. You may have heard that Albert Einstein once said the following If the bee disappeared off the face of the Earth, man would only have four years left to live. With that statement in mind, I would like for you to consider what this new study discovered about the decline of bee colonies in the United States The study suggested that bee species in the UK, Denmark, and North America have taken major hits bumblebees, honey bees, and wild bee species are all declining. In the US, the number of honey-bee colonies dropped from 6 million in 1947 to 2.5 million just six decades later. We arent there yet, but a food chain cataclysm is literally right around the corner. So why is all of this happening? Modern methods of agriculture, urbanization and pesticides are some of the factors being blamed, but the truth is that scientists dont actually know exactly why insects are dying off so quickly. And none of those factors directly impact our oceans, and yet scientists have discovered that phytoplankton is declining at an exponential rate. As a result of that decline, seabird populations have been plummeting at a pace that is extremely alarming. The following comes from Chris Martenson Fewer phytoplankton means less thiamine being produced. That means less thiamine is available to pass up the food chain. Next thing you know, theres a 70% decline in seabird populations. This is something Ive noticed directly and commented on during my annual pilgrimages to the northern Maine coast over the past 30 years, where seagulls used to be extremely common and are now practically gone. Seagulls! Next thing you know, some other major food chain will be wiped out and well get oceans full of jellyfish instead of actual fish. A global collapse is not something that is coming in the distant future. A global collapse is here, and it is happening right in front of our eyes. Our environment is literally dying all around us, and without our environment we cannot survive. If humanity cannot solve this crisis, and we all know that they cannot, then an extremely apocalyptic future awaits for all of us. This article was posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2019 at 6:43 am Print this page. Infowars.com Videos: Comment on this article Sputnik February 12, 2019 The Hungarian-born billionaire activist has been waging an ideological war with conservative Eurosceptic forces in countries such as Hungary, Poland, and Italy, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on his Open Society Foundations NGO across Europe and the United States. George Soros has written an op-ed for MarketWatch, a finance and investing news site, warning that anti-European forces may enjoy an advantage at the upcoming European Parliament elections in May. Urging a sleeping pro-European majority not to sleepwalk into oblivion, Soros made an eyebrow-raising argument by suggesting that if they dont, the European Union will go the way of the Soviet Union in 1991. One can still make a case for preserving the EU in order to radically reinvent it. But that would require a change of heart in the EU, Soros stressed. The current leadership is reminiscent of the politburo when the Soviet Union collapsed continuing to issue ukazes [orders] as if they were still relevant, he added. The upcoming European parliamentary elections are set to become an inflection point for the European project, the billionaire argued. According to Soros, anti-EU forces enjoy an advantage thanks to an outdated party system, the practical impossibility of changing the EU treaty, and a lack of legal tools for disciplining member states that violate the principles on which the European Union was founded.Soros marked particular concern with Germanys Alternative fur Deutschland, a right-wing Eurosceptic, anti-mass immigration party which he derided as extremist. At the same time, Soros praised the German Greens, calling them the only consistently pro-European party in the country, and one that, like the AfD, has also been rising in popularity. Odd Logic Soros odd analogy comparing the EU to the old Soviet Union was the main source of criticism on social media. Not only did the billionaire actively finance liberal pro-democracy forces in Soviet bloc nations such as Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but users found it odd that he would compare the EU to a country which US President Ronald Reagan once called an Evil Empire. George I think most would agree that the USSR disappearing wasnt the worst thing, one user wrote. Ummm like the USSR was a good thing? another quipped. I am probably reading too much into this, butdoes Mr. Soros sound sort of disappointed that the Soviet Union folded? a third chimed in. George Soros stated that the EU must wake up or face disappearing like the USSR.. George I think most would agree that the USSR disappearing wasnt the worst thing. Chris Watson (@ChrisWatson1985) February 12, 2019 "Billionaire financier George Soros warns EU will vanish like the USSR unless its people 'wake up before it's too late'" Ummm like the USSR was a good thing ? Marty (@MartyMcLxmxn) February 12, 2019 @ScottAdamsSays I am probably reading too much into this, butdoes Mr. Soros sound sort of disappointed that the Soviet Union folded?https://t.co/0I3LLmkTPc John Shade Vick (@johnshadevick) February 11, 2019 Even Soros supporters said they were peeved by the unhelpful analogy with the Soviet Union. Fascinating & succinct analysis. My only peeve is the unhelpful analogy with the Soviet Union. IMHO the EU and the SU are so diametrically opposed in all aspects apart from sharing the word Union. Even if the EU were to collapse, it would be for completely different reasons. Mohammed Zakaria Almalki AKA AZ Malcolmson (@AZM_1967) February 11, 2019 Others took on some of the billionaires other arguments, including his proposal that Brussels be given more power to force EU members to comply with bloc rule, or called his op-ed propaganda at its finest. What @georgesoros doesn't seem to understand is that giving apparatchiks in Brussels "sufficient capacity to enforce member states compliance" is all it would take to turn the EU into a Soviet Union 2.0. That's just too dangerous. #eurohttps://t.co/ZoExiw5hTy LunaticTrader (@lunatictrader1) February 12, 2019 An article written by MR. NEW WORLD ORDER himselfGEORGE (schwartz) SOROS. Here is propaganda at its finest. https://t.co/6LCFgwucuS The News Blues Ntwrk (@newzblues) February 12, 2019 This article was posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2019 at 7:07 am Print this page. Infowars.com Videos: Comment on this article American Mirror February 12, 2019 Residents of Sunland Park, New Mexico are taking a stand on the border, literally. Hundreds of Trump supporters linked arms along an open stretch of the border this weekend to bring attention to the fact that there isnt a wall here, protestor Anthony Aguero told Reuters. Members of the human wall donned Make America Great Again hats and clothes and carried American flags as they chanted for the president to make good on his campaign promise to build a wall! KINT reports. Media coverage of the event was scant, despite the close proximity to El Paso, Texas, where Trump plans to host a rally for border security today. Aside from drawing attention to the needed wall, protestors said their presence sends a strong message to drug smugglers and human traffickers that they will have to find somewhere else to carry out their crimes, Aguero said. The show of force came on the same day several New Mexico Democrats toured the border town, though theres no indication they stopped to discuss concerns with constituents calling for a wall. A d v e r t i s e m e n t Instead, Congresswomen Xochitl Torres Small, Deb Haaland and others met with illegal immigration advocates and visited a migrant shelter struggling to house the increasing numbers flooding across the ineffective border, KRQE reports. Torres Small pointed to the symptoms of the bigger problem. Were still seeing overcrowding in the holding cells which were never meant to hold families or children, she said. Haaland also avoided wall talk. What I did learn when speaking with federal agents is that we could use more technology, use more immigration judges, she said. Torres Small previously said shes in favor of carefully placed border barriers where it makes the most sense, the Albuquerque Journal reports. This article was posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2019 at 7:57 am Print this page. Infowars.com Videos: Progressives furious that the cover didnt feature a black person Paul Joseph Watson PrisonPlanet.com February 12, 2019 Leftists on Twitter were outraged after Esquire magazine published a profile piece on the life of an American teenager. The reason for their fury? The teen is male and white. Entitled The Life of an American Boy at 17, the article explores the mundane perks and difficulties of growing up for a teenager in West Bend, Wisconsin, along with the impact of toxic masculinity and MeToo. Esquire's latest cover features a male White teenager from Middle America. The choice has readers debating representation. https://t.co/YwsVvxwbe7 Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) February 12, 2019 However, the piece prompted an immediate backlash from progressives who tried to outdo each other in expressing their revulsion at a white person being given such a platform. Ominously, were told this is only part 1 of a new series, tweeted the Daily Beasts Will Sommer, who said he was totally baffled by the article. Ominously, we're told this is only "part 1 of a new series." Will Sommer (@willsommer) February 11, 2019 Because you know what we dont discuss nearly enough? The white male experience, said Atlantic writer Jemele Hill. Because you know what we dont discuss nearly enough? The white male experience. ??????? pic.twitter.com/HTbq4wK1TJ Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) February 12, 2019 Choosing to read this instead of that Esquire cover, tweeted the Boston Globes Meredith Goldstein, linking to an Out magazine feature showing only black people. Indeed, the entire issue of Out magazine featured women and non-binary femmes only. Only women and non-binary femmes wrote, styled, photographed and were featured in its pages, tweeted Janet Mock. Its the first time in @outmagazines 27 years that it has dedicated an entire issue to women and non-binary femmes. Only women and non-binary femmes wrote, styled, photographed and were featured in its pages. Janet Mock (@janetmock) February 12, 2019 So apparently, having an entire magazine that eliminates an entire gender represents diversity and inclusivity, but having a single story about a white person is offensive. Hanna Ines Flint was upset that the American version of Esquire didnt mimic the UK version by having a black person on the cover (because again, only by having zero white people is true diversity accomplished). Zara Rahim, former head of communications for Hillary Clinton, was upset that the cover featured a white boy and not a black teen who looked like Trayvon Martin. Imagine this same American Boy headline with someone who looked like Trayvon talking about what its like to have your mother sit you down to tell you how to stay alive in your own city during Black History Month. Just imagine. Shame on you, @esquire. pic.twitter.com/aIlhGzmGph Zara Rahim (@zara915) February 12, 2019 I get what Esquire was going for here but ooooooooooooh boy talk about failing to read the room, complained Tyler McCall. I get what Esquire was going for here but ooooooooooooh boy talk about failing to read the room pic.twitter.com/OUzy3GJdI1 Tyler McCall (@eiffeltyler) February 12, 2019 The backlash came despite Esquire Editor in Chief Jay Felden explaining that the profile is part of a series than will also feature non-white people. We decided to follow that model but to enlarge it into a series on growing up nowwhite, black, LGBTQ, femalethat will continue to appear in coming issues, wrote Felden. Ok, but think about the profile you chose to start with, snarked feminist activist Abigail Collazo in response, adding that she was happy about the article showcasing young white boys of privilege needing to relearn about masculinity but was unimpressed by it appearing during Black History Month. The Editor explains the cover: Twenty-six years later, we decided to follow that model but to enlarge it into a series on growing up nowwhite, black, LGBTQ, femalethat will continue to appear in coming issues. Ok, but think about the profile you chose to start with. Abigail Collazo (@LeftStandingUp) February 12, 2019 The bottom line is this; Anyone who gets upset at a magazine cover because of the skin color of the person who is featured is a racist. Its okay to be white. SUBSCRIBE on YouTube: Follow on Twitter: Follow @PrisonPlanet Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71 ********************* Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. This article was posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2019 at 11:55 am Print this page. Infowars.com Videos: Comment on this article Sputnik February 12, 2019 Canadian psychology professor and author Jordan Peterson has describes himself as a classic British liberal and voices concerns about advocates of social justice taking worthwhile values to a dangerous extreme. His opponents from the left, meanwhile, accuse him of preaching misogyny and defending a patriarchal social order. A grassroots movement has pounced on Canadian psychology professor Jordan Peterson, one of the most controversial public thinkers who is openly challenging modern feminist views, ahead of his New Zealand book tour. In the lead-up to Jordan Petersons visit to New Zealand we have a duty to condemn his sexist, queerphobic, racist and deeply reactionary views, said Iris Krzyzosiak of Auckland Peace Action, an activist group that advocates social justice and campaigns against war and oppression. Jordan Peterson, 56, is coming to the country on 18 February to speak about his new self-help book 12 Rules for Life. An Antidote to Chaos. Auckland Peace Action warned in a statement on Monday that this book promotes a reactionary, misogynistic view of the world utterly in opposition to New Zealand values. While we as a country have many problems, we can be justly proud of our values of gender equality, egalitarianism and social inclusivity, said Krzyzosiak. Jordan Peterson is actively trying to undermine these values. This is distinctly unhelpful. The statement was met with criticism on social media, with some commenters saying that those protesting against Peterson have no idea of the matter. Id love to have some conversations with some people who go and protest things like a person giving a talk. It just seems so silly to me. What is the goal of the protesters? I just dont understand that mentality, wrote a Redditor. Saw JP in the flesh tonight. Protesters were outside, protesting, errrr, something. Mostly students. My guess is most of them have no clue of the reality of what they were protesting against, said another one. Seems like Iris Krzyzosiak is repeating the hollow echo chamber of woke feminists who haven't bother reading anything past spurious claims made by those who want men to act like women.https://t.co/9t4peoQtM1 alec winness (@AlecWinness) February 12, 2019 Peterson, who has been dubbed the most influential public intellectual in the Western world right now by the New York Times, rose to international prominence in recent years over his critique of modern feminism and gender-neutral language. In November, Margot Wallstrom, the foreign minister of Sweden, which has been pursuing a feminist foreign policy, accused Peterson of misogyny and told him to crawl back under your rock. Peterson hit back by saying that the minister had little idea of what she was talking about. I would suggest that someone in [Wallstroms] position with authority and reputation be somewhat more careful about branding and casually insulting people she knows absolutely nothing about, he said. This article was posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2019 at 7:11 am Print this page. Infowars.com Videos: Ban offshore oil drilling I am thrilled to see Rep. Frank Pallone introduce a bill in the House that would block new oil drilling in the Atlantic and the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Jersey Shore beaches feel like a birthright. When the Trump administration renewed federal plans to open the Atlantic to offshore drilling for the first time in decades, I was appalled. People shouldnt have to worry about possible oil in the water or tar balls on the beach. Pollution at the shore shouldnt become the status quo again. Quite simply, when companies drill, they spill. And when oil spills, it spreads. New Jerseyans must rally against offshore drilling anywhere in the United States. Congress should support Pallones bill to ensure the shore is never soiled with oil. Lukas Illion Oakland Warning labels needed for medical marijuana Marijuana has never been approved for medical use by the Federal Drug Administration. There is much research over the last 60 years showing the potential harmful effects of marijuana. Police in Puerto Rico said Monday a Ventnor woman shot Jan. 31 in San Juan was in an apartment in the Condado section of the capital with a group of people, not on the beach during the course of a robbery, as they had initially been led to believe. Angelis Molina, a Ventnor resident who was working as a waitress in Atlantic City, had gone to San Juan, Puerto Rico, for the first time to celebrate her 20th birthday Jan. 21 with a friend. After deciding to extend her stay, she was shot in the face Jan. 31. She is recovering from her most recent surgery, which removed one of her eyes, said Michelle Molina, her mother. The bullet, her mother said, entered her daughters mouth and exited her cheek. Once Angelis Molina is able to provide testimony, police said, they will be able to narrow their ongoing investigation. The Police Bureau continues gathering information and, as soon as the woman can provide her testimony, the authorities will have an even broader picture of the circumstances regarding the incident, said Henry Escalera, commissioner of the Puerto Rico Police Bureau. TRENTON A state appeals court on Tuesday rejected a challenge to New Jerseys bear hunt brought by animal protection organizations, ruling that New Jersey followed appropriate guidelines in expanding the hunt in 2015. The League of Humane Voters of New Jersey and the Animal Protection League of New Jersey, along with several individuals, had sued to stop the implementation of the 2015 amendments that added a second annual hunt in October to the existing hunt in December; increased the number of hunting permits; and allowed bow hunting. The hunt was reintroduced in New Jersey in 2003 to control the growing bear population, after a nearly three-decade hiatus. It has been held annually since 2010 and has faced ongoing legal challenges. In the latest, the plaintiffs argued that the 2015 guidelines didnt comply with legal precedent and that the state inflated the number of complaints about bears to justify its actions. They also contended the state didnt give enough consideration to non-lethal means of controlling the population such as fertility control and relocation. In a 26-page opinion, the three-judge panel rejected those arguments and wrote that the state relied on scientific research when it developed the guidelines. ATLANTIC CITY A man was struck and killed by a car Sunday while walking in the westbound lanes of Albany Avenue near the Shell gas station, police said Monday. At 6:50 p.m., officers responded to a report of a motor vehicle collision involving a pedestrian, Sgt. Kevin Fair said in a news release. The pedestrian, whose name was not released pending notification of next of kin, was walking in the left lane when he was struck by a Honda sedan, Fair said. The pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene, he said. Honda driver Juan Restrepo, 38, of Hyattsville, Maryland, immediately stopped his vehicle, causing a second collision with two additional vehicles, Fair said. +3 Two people killed in A.C. crash identified ATLANTIC CITY The two people who died in a two-car accident Sunday Have been identified. A Ford van driven by Joel Scott, 40, of Ventnor, crashed into the rear of Restrepos vehicle, and an Infiniti sedan driven by Raina Roche, 20, of Margate, crashed into the rear of Scotts van, Fair said. Restrepo was transported to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, City Campus, to be treated for minor injuries, Fair said. The other drivers were evaluated at the scene and released, he said. The Atlantic City Fire Department and Atlantic County Prosecutors Office assisted at the scene. The road was closed for about two hours. The collision is being investigated by Officer Eric Knuttel. Anyone with information about the incident can call 609-347-5744 or text anonymously to tip411 (847411). Begin the text with ACPD. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. That was strange to me, to have flowers that were out and I could pick in November, she said. It expands your horizons. Youre exposed to different things. But, Tatum said, sometimes there was tension because of her race. There was some times when Id say I encountered some racism, but you deal with it and keep moving, she said. There were times that there were tensions because there were people coming from different areas. People that lived in the barracks that told me they had never seen any black people before. She said other service members came from places that didnt have African Americans at the time. I was a curiosity or I was a caricature depending on what they had seen on TV and their socialization, she said. So there were a lot of times where I set the standard for the next African American they would meet. Like Johnson, Tatum said she ran into racism both inside and outside the military. You always have to be cognizant of where you live, Tatum said. We do live in America, and thats par for the course. Going to other places, people wanted to touch my hair; they wanted to touch my skin because they didnt see anyone who looked like me. ADVERTISEMENT The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday reacted to the violence that rocked the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign rally held in Ogun State on Monday. Mr Osinbajo said any member of the APC working against the success of the party in the forthcoming general elections is like a bad cutlass with one (sharp) edge. Mr Osinbajo stated this during a town hall meeting held at the palace of the traditional ruler of Ago Iwoye, Abdulrazak Adenugba, in the course of his campaign tour to the state. A campaign rally organised by the APC for President Muhammadu Buhari in the state on Monday turned violent when thugs hurled stones and sachet water in the direction of seated dignitaries. Security operatives scurried frantically to prevent Mr Buhari from being hit. Governor Ibikunle Amosun, an ally of President Buhari, has been having a running battle with the party chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, over who flies the partys governorship flag in the forthcoming polls. The crisis got worse after Mr Amosuns favourite to be his successor lost out in the politics of the APC primaries. The governor blamed Mr Oshiomhole, ex-Lagos governor Bola Tinubu and ex-Ogun governor, Segun Osoba, for his ordeal. He then vowed to work against Dapo Abiodun, who is now the APC governorship candidate for next years election and has the backing of Messrs Tinubu and Osoba. Since then, the Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee has dissolved the Ogun executives of the APC and announced a caretaker committee headed by Yemi Sanusi. Ayobami Olubori was announced as secretary and Tunde Oladunjoye publicity secretary of the committee. An enraged APC leadership after Mondays violence has vowed to punish the governor, whom it believes sponsored the thugs. Osinbajos analogy Mr Osinbajo, who was also at the rally on Monday, said despite the incident, the electorate should vote massively for the party and its candidates. The official said the APC, is the only party that has the capacity to improve the lives of the people. Vote for APC alone in all the elective offices because we dont know of those who are meddling or promoting another party. Anyone caught in such an act can be described as bad cutlasses. Mr Osinbajo also said, Vote for APC alone in all the elective offices, remember that a cutlass should have only one sharp edge. Anything short of that makes such cutlass a bad one. You need to vote for APC because even the most hardened enemy of President Muhammadu Buhari knows that he is not a thief nor is he corrupt. And secondly, you have to vote for us because of the many things that we have in stock for you. Those things include The Npower scheme which presently has a capacity of 500,000 which will be increased to 1.5 million when we win the coming election. Another is the Tradermoni and market money scheme which is targeted at empowering market traders. Whenever you pay back, the money given to you, another will be given to you. Another is employment for the youth which is very important among others, he said. ADVERTISEMENT Motorists and commuters in Onitsha and its environs on Tuesday expressed dismay over the stoppage of operations by petroleum marketers in Anambra, saying it had caused them suffering. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that many filling stations were shut as early as 7 a.m. in compliance with a directive by the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) in the South-east. Some of the filling stations visited include Total and Oando along New Market road, J.I. Ejison and NNPC Mega station along Awka road and Seaman by Borromew roundabout, Onitsha. The development affected transportation fare as passengers who usually pay N100 from Main Market, Onitsha, to Nkpor paid N200 while the fare from Onitsha to Nnewi increased from N200 to N400. Chukwuebuka Odo, a driver, said the fuel he was still using was the one he purchased on Monday. We didnt get information about their intention to close operations. Once the fuel I have in my vehicles gets exhausted, I will have to resort to black market and increase my price, Mr Odo said. A civil servant, Joy Udeakpe, said the development came to her as a shock as she was unprepared for the hike in the transportation price. I have been standing here for the past one hour now and they keep telling me N500 to Awka from Onitsha which I used to pay N300, she said. Also speaking, a trader, Uche Okafor, said those closing filling stations at every slightest provocation are wicked. Their leaders should be patriotic and consider the plights of many Nigerians before closing filling stations or embarking on a strike, he said, urging the state government to intervene. NAN came across a text message which was circulated notifying the public on the intended closure and the need not to panic. The text message read: Good evening. Anambrarians should not panic over the closure of filling stations tomorrow morning as there is a leadership crisis in Enugu IPMAN. Cletus Obi-Okafor, the Chairman of Petrol Dealers Association of Nigeria (PEDAN) in the state, confirmed the shutdown, saying the action complied with the order of national leadership of IPMAN. Mr Obi-Okafor said the total shutdown would persist until there was counter-directive to members. We were directed to close our outlets over a crisis at our Enugu Depot office, the compliance will be total until we get further directive, he said. (NAN) ADVERTISEMENT A member of the House of Representatives, Abdul-Raheem Olawuyi, on Tuesday commended the judgment of the Court of Appeal which upheld the nomination of AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq as the All Progressives Congress(APC) governorship candidate in Kwara. Mr Olawuyi, representing Ekiti/Irepodun/Isin/Oke-Ero Federal Constituency of Kwara, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday that the judgment further instilled in him the belief in the rule of law. According to him, the ruling would also deepen democracy in the state. He said what the Balogun-Fulani APC factional executives in the state did by holding on to the party after they were expelled for anti-party activities was an aberration and an attempt to subvert due process. The federal lawmaker said the coast was now clear for the party to reclaim power which was taken to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by the defectors. The governor of the state, Abdulfatah Ahmed, took our mandate to the PDP and they planted an impostor to destabilise our party, but now we can heave a sigh of relief, he said. Also lauding the court judgment, Saheed Popoola, a member of the Kwara House of Assembly representing Ojomu Balogun Constituency, described the Balogun-Fulani executive as fake. The lawmaker said he had always known that the executives would not stand the test of time, adding that their victory at the Ilorin High Court was temporary. Popoola, the only APC member in the state House of Assembly, said the judgment signalled the end of godfatherism and politics of brigandage in the state. He said the APC in the state would defeat the PDP in the forthcoming elections at all levels, adding that the acceptance by the people of the state was unprecedented. Olabode Towoju, a chieftain of the party in Oke-ero Local Government Area, said the judgment was commendable, adding that it would boost the morale of party faithful in the state. He, however, called on the party s loyalists not to relent in their efforts until the party emerged victorious in the elections scheduled for Saturday and March 2. NAN reports that the Ishola Balogun-Fulani executives loyal to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, were expelled from the party in the state following the defection of Mr Saraki to the PDP in 2018. Mr Balogun-Fulani had gone to seek redress at the State High Court in Ilorin and was reinstated. But the Court of Appeal on Tuesday in Abuja nullified the judgment of the lower court and reaffirmed Bashir Bolarinwa as the authentic chairman of the APC in the state. The court also upheld the candidature of Mr AbdulRazaq. The court said the nomination of Mr AbdulRazaq by the partys National Working Committee was in order. The leadership of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, has expelled former minister, Jerry Gana, and suspended its presidential candidate, Donald Duke, for alleged anti-party activities. Another chieftain of the party, Dipo Sonibare, was also suspended for similar allegations. The party also restated its support and endorsement of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, blaming it on its inability to produce a clear presidential candidate for Saturdays election. It also said it was looking beyond the presidential election and how it could ensure victory for its candidates for the National Assembly and Houses of Assembly seats across the nation. The party has been embroiled in a battle of survival after the National Executive Committee of the party threw its weight behind Mr Buhari, following its inability to resolve the contention between claimants to the partys presidential ticket, Messrs Duke and Gana. The issues further broke the party into factions shortly after its national chairman, Olu Falae, resigned his position, with a declaration that he was not in support of the endorsement of Mr Buhari. Tunde Adeniran, a former education minister, has since taken over as Acting National Chairman, but is currently facing another faction that has rejected his leadership. The Acting Deputy National Chairman(South) of the party, Olu Agunloye, confirmed the disciplinary actions on the party chieftains on Tuesday. He however, would not give details on the reasons for the action of the partys leadership, saying that it would certainly border on issues revolving around recent controversies on the presidential election. Speaking earlier to journalists in Akure on Tuesday, Mr Agunloye, said only the Tunde Adeniran leadership is recognised by the constitution of the party and no other faction could assume the partys leadership. He also noted that the factionalisation of the party arising from the endorsement of presidential candidates should not overshadow the main objectives of the party to offer a third alternative to Nigerians during the elections. Mr Agunloye tried to defuse the tensions created by the divisions in the party, saying despite the factions, the party still ha other elections to focus on other than the presidential election. We are looking beyond the presidential election, he said. The emphasis is not all about endorsing one candidate or the other candidate, it is also not about why the SDP is not able to produce a clear presidential candidate. We are also working on those who are contesting elections for the Senate, for the House of Representatives and the Houses of Assembly. Mr Agunloye further clarified that he was part of the executive committee that endorsed the President Buhari, following the legal tussles that marred its ambition to field a candidate for Saturdays election. He said efforts to resolve the crisis of who would hold the ticket for the party failed to yield results. He added that the issue of endorsements should not be allowed to further deepen the crisis and pull the party down. If you are accusing those who endorse Buhari of anti-party activities, those who endorse Atiku are also involved in anti-party activities, Mr Agunloye added. ADVERTISEMENT Offences The partys director of media and publicity, Yemi Akinbode, told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr Gana was expelled from the party for setting up a parallel National Executive Committee (NEC) without the adequate constitutional procedure. former Minister of Information, Jerry Gana He said Mr Duke never wanted to be president as he never raised a campaign even in his own state. You have been aware of the story between Mr Gana and Mr Duke. We have been in and out of court up till now we are still at the Supreme Court because of the disagreement on the outcome of the primaries, he said. And of course, before that time the party leadership had sat down with all the aspirants where they obtained affidavits and swore that they were going to accept the outcome of the primaries. But it was surprising after the victory of Donald Duke, and later Prof Gana decided to take the party to court. So that was number one. After the judgment of the lower (Abuja) High Court, Duke proceeded to appeal court and of course, it was becoming very tough for the party in view of the timing to the election. And we invited the two of them to a meeting and begged and persuaded them that after the judgment of the Supreme Court that none of them should proceed for further litigation, but we were shocked when Prof Gana came with another summons to the Supreme Court and the election is five days ahead. They have arrested the growth of the party they found themselves; especially Mr Gana turned himself into a tool in the hands of the opposition especially the PDP to destroy the party and we know he has no intention for the party. Yesterday, he went ahead to set up a parallel NEC which its totally illegal and unconstitutional. He has no legal standing because there are procedures for setting up NEC. On Mr Duke, he said: Well Donald Duke is not yet expelled. He is still on suspension and he knows what he did. He never wanted to be president; he did not even raise a campaign not even in his own state in Cross River, and he was talking about being the president. But Mr Duke still has an opportunity of coming back if he wants to, he said. The American ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington, has dismissed claims by the Buhari 2019 Presidential Campaign Council that his country was subtly supporting the opposition as the general elections approach. The director, strategic communications of the team, Festus Keyamo, on Monday, lampooned Mr Symington and other Western diplomats saying their recent statements on the elections showed they were tactically supporting the opposition, seeking to unseat President Muhammadu Buhari. Mr Keyamo specifically accused Mr Symington of interfering in the 2019 electoral processes. The impression he (Mr Symington) creates by constantly harping on suspected government interference with the electoral process is that President Buhari cannot win without tipping the results. He seems to be saying that only a PDP victory will be evidence of a fair election, an infuriated Mr Keyamo said. Instead of encouraging free and fair elections, these judgmental statements and threats only cast an unnecessary pall over the elections and the nation, he added. Western nations have in the past few weeks called on relevant stakeholders in the Nigerian polity to work together to ensure free and credible polls. We are impartial The U.S. Embassy via its website on Tuesday said the US government is not taking sides in Nigerias electoral process. The statement said the U.S. government supports the work of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). It urged Nigerian citizens to be wary of fake news and rumours that are operating in overdrive. It said the 2019 general election is as important to foreign diplomats as much as it is important to Nigerians. The U.S. government also called on every Nigerian, and the security forces to peacefully support the democratic process in accordance with the Nigerian law. The United States Embassy in Nigeria wishes to reiterate unequivocally that we are not taking sides in Nigerias election. We do not support any party or candidate. We support a level playing field and the democratic process. That is the bedrock principle of our Governments advocacy on democratic elections. In the final run-up to the Feb. 16 vote, fake news, and rumors are operating in overdrive. But it must be repeated: we are not taking sides. It recalled its support to the Nigerian government in the past. The United States is Nigerias long-term and enduring friend. We provide more than $1 billion in assistance and help save more than two million lives of Nigerians each year through our health and humanitarian assistance. This will not change. We are Nigerias good partner, and this will continue after this democratic election no matter who wins. This election is Nigerias, but it is also important for Nigerias neighbors and for the world. Nigeria has long played a great leadership role in the region and beyond as a force for democratic stability. The credible electoral results of 2015 empowered Nigeria to play that role. The United States looks forward to a similar result this week. It also added that the United States welcomed the signing of peace accords by the candidates for president and other offices. Now is the time to grow that peace by ensuring all get the message and put it into action so that both the voting and the aftermath are peaceful and fully respect the democratic process, it said. ADVERTISEMENT The Arewa Consultative Forum, northern Nigerias foremost socio-cultural group, on Tuesday formally endorsed the reelection bid of President Muhammadu Buhari, saying he deserves a second term to consolidate on his achievements. Mr Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is being challenged by dozens of candidates in the presidential election holding on Saturday. The Northern Elders Forum earlier last week endorsed the candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, for the election. But announcing its stand on Tuesday in Kaduna, the ACF said its endorsement was because of the contributions of Mr Buharis government to the economic and infrastructural development of the nation. The acting chairman of the national executive committee of the forum, Musa Kwande, disclosed the decision in a statement made available to journalists shortly after a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the forum presided over by the chairman of the group, Adamu Fika. Mr Kwande said the forum evaluated the political situation in the country and its attendant consequences for the continued peace, unity and progress of our dear country Nigeria. He said the ACF took special note that the major political parties have nominated prominent northerners for the February 16 presidential election. He said the forum decided to back Mr Buhari after carefully studying the antecedents of the major presidential candidates, the manifestoes and policy documents of their parties, alongside the need for social, political and economic stability in the country. The ACF said, Certain attributes such as clarity of thought, unity of purpose, content of character and morality of the candidates, their leadership qualities, performance and general acceptability of the candidates contesting for not only the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria but also for other elective offices should guide voters in making their choices. The decision on who to elect should not be based on any form of inducements, mob hysteria, intimidation or false promises, but by calm and deliberate consideration of the candidates qualities of leadership, performance and moral standing in their public and private lives. Other considerations such as the capacity to tackle security challenges, fight corruption, and boost the economy by way of diversification away from over-dependence on oil, and infrastructural development in order to promote growth. The integrity of the candidate to raise the image of Nigeria in the comity of nations is equally important in the election. The ACF notes the strides taken by the Buhari administration to improve and reposition the nation economically. A few examples are the multi-billion dollar Mambilla hydropower project, the exploration of oil in Gongola Basin of the Benue Trough, the Baro inland port, the North East Development Commission, the ongoing rail line projects nationwide and other critical infrastructural development projects. Upon the contributions of the incumbent government to the economic and infrastructural development of the nation, and the governments achievements in combating insurgency and other insecurity problems bedeviling the country, ACF believes that President Muhammadu Buhari deserves a second term to consolidate on his achievements, he said. The forum called on politicians, their supporters and the electorate to avoid all forms of violence before, during and after the elections. This is because violence is never a solution to any grievances. It not only destroys our democratic process but also lives and property. Democracy is a contest of ideas and reasons. Also, ACF urges the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to live up its promise and assurances for credible, free and fair elections. ACF equally calls on the Police and other security agencies involved in providing security to the election process to remain neutral and professional in their conduct. ADVERTISEMENT The Department of State Security Services (SSS) on Tuesday explained why it arrested the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign director, media and publicity, in Kaduna, Ben Bako. According to the security agency, Mr Bako was arrested for making inciting statements at a campaign rally in southern Kaduna. The statement signed by AI Koya, state director, SSS, said Mr Bakos comment if left unchecked was capable of leading to a complete breakdown of law and order in the state and beyond. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the PDP official was arrested on Saturday in Kaduna before he was taken to Abuja. Mr Bako is still in the custody of the DSS. The statement reads: On the 9th February 2019, this service invited Mr Ben Bako to shed more light on his inciting statement and call for violence in the state. Earlier on the 7th February 2019, Bako had addressed a rally at Kafanchan, Jemaa local government area of Kaduna state. During the rally, Bako was recorded, calling his followers to kill anybody that votes for any party other than the PDP. The video has already gone viral through social media. Bako, a former commissioner for information in this state and a leader in his own right, made this call along with other inviting (inciting) statements at Kafanchan, deliberately with the intention to cause violence in the state. This development, if left unchecked, could lead to complete breakdown of law and order in this state and beyond. Consequently, Bako is under investigation by the service and would be charged to court as soon as the investigation is completed. Other people with similar tendencies are also being investigated and would equally face the same fate if found culpable. Meanwhile, the PDP through its campaigns deputy director, Danjuma Sarki has condemned the arrest. Background PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported how Mr Bako was caught on video inciting violence against those who betray his party. Mr Bako asked his supporters to deal with those who betray him and his party. Mr Bako, the immediate past information commissioner in Kaduna State told crowd at a campaign rally to deal with whoever votes against the interest of PDP. Mr Bako made the threat while speaking in Hausa at a rally in Kafanchan, Southern Kaduna on Thursday. Mr Bakos inciting comments came despite the various calls for a violence-free election. His comments came days after the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, made a controversial statement against foreign intervention in Nigerias elections. Mr Bako is a member of the PDP whose candidate, Isa Ashiru, seeks to replace Mr El-Rufai of the APC as the Kaduna governor. ADVERTISEMENT The governorship and state assembly elections will hold on March 2, two weeks after the presidential and National Assembly elections which hold on February 16. Lubbock, TX (79409) Today Abundant sunshine. Hot. High around 100F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph.. Tonight A few clouds. Low around 75F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. ADVERTISEMENT The Supreme Court has struck out an appeal brought by members of the All Progressives Congress challenging a decision of the Rivers State high court which nullified the congresses held by members of the APC in the state. The decision means it is all settled that the APC will not field any candidate in Rivers State in the forthcoming general elections, except for the presidential polls. The apex court made the decision after agreeing with factional members of the party that the contending issue was a pre-election matter which ought to have been brought earlier than the date it was filed. The court gave the decision in a motion filed at the apex court, questioning the validity of the request which resulted in the Court of Appeals decision in February. In a ruling on Tuesday, the apex court agreed with the submission of the applicant, who questioned the Court of Appeal decision on the basis of the fact that the appeal was decided later than the constitutionally approved time for a pre-election matter. Following a decision of the Court of Appeal which ordered parties to suspend execution of the October 2018 High Court decision, which nullified the congress held by members of the party in the state, a faction of the party led by Magnus Abe approached the apex court to challenge the Appeal Courts decision. In an objection, the other faction objected to the request brought by the faction led by Magnus Abe on the grounds that the records of the Appeal were not certified. The court, however, agreed with the Magnus Abes faction and ruled that the motion brought by the faction was meritorious. The court, however, added that its reasons will be given at another date to be communicated to parties. The court has also adjourned to give further decisions on other appeals before the apex court. With this latest decision, the ruling nullifying the Congresses held by APC members in Rivers State remains valid. Details later ADVERTISEMENT One staff of Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State, who was yet to be identified, was on Monday evening shot, while two others were said to have been kidnapped by gunmen along Iwo-Osogbo road. The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Folashade Odoro, confirmed the incident, saying that the police were combing the area to apprehend the culprits and rescue those who were kidnapped. Yes, two persons were kidnapped, but our men are already in the bush trying to rescue the victims and apprehend the abductors, Ms Odoro said. Earlier, an eyewitness, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the victims were accosted while returning from work by the suspected kidnappers. According to the eyewitness, one person, who managed to escape from the scene was shot severally in the process and presently in a critical situation at an undisclosed hospital within the axis. Late last year, some Methodist Church members, including a priest were kidnapped in the same area. It was alleged that about N3 million was paid as ransom before they could regain their freedom. (NAN) ADVERTISEMENT The Police Service Commission (PSC) said it would deploy 400 of its personnel to the 36 States of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to monitor the conduct of policemen during the Saturday elections. A statement by the commissions Head, Press and Public Relations, Ikechukwu Ani in Abuja, said monitors would leave for their various states on Wednesday. Mr Ani said the monitors would be armed with the commissions guidelines for the conduct of officers on electoral duty and the officers conduct during the elections. The spokesman added that the commission had also procured dedicated telephone lines for all the states. The numbers are: Abia, 07087971417, Adamawa, 08083283429, Anambra 09060242915, Akwa Ibom, 08023313250, Bauchi, 08155618915, Bayelsa; 09072933330, Benue 07064477489, Bornu, 07010717323, Cross Rivers, 08037002162, Delta 08173918368.Ebonyi, 08107984407, Edo, 07088882376, Ekiti, 08023609059, Enugu state, 08053399365, Gombe,08112210442, Imo, 08033326666, Jigawa, 09025788444 and Kaduna state, 08178246464. Others are: Kano state, 07085479495, Katsina state, 08025056517, Kebbi, 08076791608, Kogi; 08090976725, Kwara,08054970152; Lagos, 08023081301, Nasarawa state, 08169464872,Niger; 08068166910; Ogun; 08065265651,Ondo state, 08072981057, Osun; 08035954253, Oyo; 08023677969,Plateau; 09052929150, Rivers; 08021001313; Sokoto; 08034984841,Taraba; 08099352527; Yobe; 08036124586,Zamfara; 08096720807, and FCT; 07037002990. He said the lines would be used by the electorate and other citizens to complain or commend the conduct of the police during the elections. Mr Ani said the electorate can also follow the commission on its twitter handle; police service c2 for updates on the conduct of policemen during the elections. He said the National Coordinator for the exercise and Chairman of the commission, Musiliu Smith, said the policemen on electoral duties have a responsibility to maintain peace at the various centres. He said the chairman had directed all officers on duty to be at alert, approachable, professional and ensure fairness and firmness. (NAN) ADVERTISEMENT For allegedly stealing a neighbours chewing gum, a seven-year-old girl was allegedly injured with a red-hot knife by her 25-year-old aunt, Loveth Ozoihu. Mrs Ozoihu, who was arraigned in an Ikeja Chief Magistrates Court on Tuesday, however, denied the offence. The defendant, who is facing a charge of assault, occasioning harm, was granted a bail sum of N200, 000 by the judge, Olufunke Sule-Amzat. Mrs Sule-Amzat ordered the defendant to provide two responsible sureties as part of the bail conditions. She said that the sureties must be gainfully employed and show evidence of tax payments to the Lagos State Government; and adjourned the case until March 7, for trial. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mrs Ozoihu reportedly beat her niece to a pulp, then burnt her with a red-hot knife from a cooking gas fire. The defendant, according to the Police Prosecutor, Benson Emuerhi, told the court that the defendant committed the offence on February 2, at her residence. The defendant was, however, arrested by the police at Alakuko Division, following a tip-off from a neighbour, one Nmasi Okwudili, that they should rescue the victim, who was being abused by her aunt, Mr Emuerhi said. He explained that the defendant beat the victim and used a red-hot knife to burn her buttocks for allegedly stealing her neighbours chewing gum. Mr Emuerhi said that the defendant had earlier used a wire to beat the victim for taking fish from her soup and eating without her knowledge. The offence, he said, contravened Section 173 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015. NAN reports that the section prescribes a two-year prison term for offenders. (NAN) Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) says it has deployed no fewer than 60,000 personnel across the country for Saturdays presidential election. Deputy Commandant-General (DCG), Operations, of the corps, Kelechi Madu, disclosed this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja. He said the personnel were deployed to the states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Mr Madu said the corps, in synergy with other security agencies, was fully prepared to provide security for citizens and ensure that the countrys critical national infrastructure was safeguarded. The Police, security-based Non-Governmental Organisations and the National Security Advisers Office had organised meetings and trainings to ensure that our men are fully prepared and ready to go. All logistics and incentives have been made available to personnel of the corps to ensure that they are well catered for throughout the election period, he said. Mr Madu added that some specialised personnel of the corps had been deployed to monitor and secure strategic areas in the FCT. We have the counter-terrorism and SWAT Unit that will be posted to the entry and exit points of the FCT. Those deployed to such areas will be armed for better operation, he said. He said the operatives had been instructed not to fire arms on anyone no matter the provocation from either voters or politicians. We are civil defenders, defending the defenceless and will have no reason to intentionally hurt any Nigerian. If we get intelligence information on people with fire arms, we will inform the appropriate security agencies in charge. Personnel should avoid accidental discharge as any personnel found guilty will be dismissed from the corps and prosecuted. We have warned commandants in States to caution their subordinates to avoid being partisan, Mr Madu said. He charged politicians not to heat up violence as election ought to be free and fair and Nigerians should be allowed to vote for who they so desired. He advised parents to ensure that their children stayed far away from violence, warning that anyone caught would not be pardoned. According to him, the future of youths are in the hands of political leaders and as such, Nigerians should choose carefully. (NAN) ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has set up a task force to monitor persons who intend to fund vote buying in the coming elections. This move comes barely 24 hours after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) inaugurated an inter-agency campaign finance monitoring group to track the source of funding and expenditure of all the candidates and political parties. An official of the commission who asked not to be named because he is not authorised to speak told PREMIUM TIMES that the team will track ill-gotten and stolen wealth that is likely to be used to buy votes in the election. He said some politicians are plotting to use the Lebanese communities in Nigeria to smuggle in money through our porous borders to cause confusion and buy votes. He said the commission has shut down all other operations to enable its officials to focus on tracking money. He said the EFCC is exploring all possibilities, locking down all avenues that such money can come from. As far as the EFCC is concerned, the era of money politics is gone. We want to ensure a free and fair election that is in line with world best practice, he said. Spokesman Evasive When contacted, the EFCC spokesperson, Tony Orilade, neither confirmed nor denied the issue. He, however, explained that the commission has warned against vote buying and measures have been put in place to ensure that those who have such plans fail. The measures put in place is not for us to tell you. Politicians have been warned not to induce voters because that is money laundering. Anyone who violates this law will have the EFCC to contend with. We are not saying they shouldnt come to vote; we are saying, dont induce anyone with money to vote for you, he said. He also said the EFCC is working on dissuading violence to ensure that the elections are free and fair. The presidential and national assembly election is scheduled to hold on February 16 while governorship and state assembly elections will take place on March 2. ADVERTISEMENT The president of the Court of Appeal, Zainab Bulkachuwa, on Tuesday urged election petition tribunal judges not to grant long adjournments or entertain undue technicalities that would cause delay in dispensation of petitions. She gave the advice in her opening remark at the 2019 training organised for election petition tribunal judges in Abuja. Mrs Bulkachuwa said the judges must discharge their duties within the law and in accordance with their oath of office. The Nigerian Judiciary is now in the limelight and is on trial. Let us as judicial officers discharge the responsibility reposed on us both individually and collectively by dispensing justice in accordance with the law, she said. We should serve justice without fear or favour, affection or ill-will within the dictates of our conscience and oath of office. I need not remind you that each tribunal member will be closely monitored by the office and I will not hesitate to descend on any judge found wanting in the discharge of his or her duties. I do not need to remind you that the task ahead of you is enormous and I implore you to exhibit professionalism and due diligence in the discharge of your duties. Be in control of your courts. Do not allow yourselves to be steered around by emotions, fear or sentiment. By the end of this conference, your lordships will be deployed to various states of the federation for your primary assignment. Our country by its nature is diverse, I enjoin you to take time off adjudication to avail yourselves of the peculiarities inherent in the states you are deployed to serve. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the training was organised in conjunction with the International Foundation for Electoral System (IFES). (NAN) The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has said decisions taken by President Muhammadu Buhari and the reforms introduced by the commission has saved Nigeria pilgrims over N83 billion during Hajj operations in 2017 . This was revealed by the Head of Public Affairs at NAHCON, Fatima Usara, during an interactive session with journalists at the commissions head office Abuja on Tuesday. Mrs Usara said the decision by Mr Buhari to abolish the practice of dollar concession alone saved Nigeria N75 billion in 2017. The practice in the past was for presidents to give concessionary exchange rates for pilgrims going to Hajj. For instance, while the official exchange rate of $1 to the naira was N190 in 2016, President Goodluck Jonathan had earlier granted a concession which reduced the exchange rate to N160 for $1, the government therefore, subsidised each dollar with N30. Mrs Usara said Mr Buhari abolished the practice and also granted NAHCON approval to fix a flat BTA for all pilgrims. Because of the concession, and because there were three types of Hajj seats at then, which were minimum, medium and maximum, often differentiated by BTA, one person will pay for say 200 persons and then connived with a financial institution to collect the subsidised BTA and then give the pilgrims pittance. It therefore, became an illegal business venture for some people, she said. She also said the management of NAHCON led by Abdullahi Mohammed came into office at about the same time with Mr Buhari in 2015 and one of the first decisions he took after meeting with the NAHCON chairman was to abolish the practice of federal governments sponsorship of a delegation to hajj annually. She said decision alone saved the government N1.6 billion annually. Also, she said NAHCON in 2017 decided to abolish the use of middle men in securing accommodation for Nigerian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia. Instead, she said the commission deals directly with home owners which saved the country over $14 million. In the same vein, the NAHCON spokesperson said another reform introduced in 2017 regarding Hadaya (sacrificial animal) has saves pilgrims N1.6 billion. She said the reform sees the introduction of Jaiz Bank to work in conjunction with Islamic Development Bank to collect monies meant for the purchase of sacrificial animals from the pilgrims and issue them coupons. Upon payment a coupon is given to the pilgrim and his phone number is collected and he will receive an alert on when the Hadaya will be carried out and when it is done, she said. She said the commission decided to introduce the new measure because pilgrims had been shortchanged in the past whereby some people posing as agents receive payments for the Hadaya but would eventually fail to carry it out. Carrying out the Hadaya sacrifice is one of the most important component of Tammatu Hajj, the type of Hajj in which pilgrims combine Hajj and Umrah and which most Nigerian pilgrims undertake. Mrs Usara said if not for the new scheme Nigerian pilgrims would have been defrauded of N1.6 billion. Mrs Usara said NAHCON in 2016 refunded N1.5 billion to pilgrims for services poorly rendered to them, adding due to improved services in 2017 the figure refunded to pilgrims came down to N527 million. Future projections ADVERTISEMENT Mrs Usara said as the commission continues preparation for Hajj 2019 it is already fully utilising the Hajj development levy collected by upgrading Hajj departure centres in some states across the country. She also said the commission intends to kick start the Hajj saving scheme introduced earlier in 2018, while a Hajj training institute meant to train Hajj managers, intending pilgrims and the general public. She also said NAHCON is heading towards self-funding to reduce the burden on government. The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday said he would fulfill all his electoral promises to Nigerians, if elected. He gave the assurance in Lagos while speaking at the partys presidential rally. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki; Mr Abubakars running-mate, Peter Obi; the PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, were some of the prominent personalities at the rally. Former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose; former Ogun governor, Gbenga Daniel; a senator, Ben-Bruce, and a former presidential spokesman, Doyin Okupe were also at the rally. Mr Abubakar and his entourage were welcome to the state by a former Deputy-National Chairman of PDP, Olabode George and the partys governorship candidate, Jimi Agbaje and a mammoth crowd of party faithful. Mr Abubakar said he would not renege on his promise to restructure the country to fast track development. The PDP candidate said he would fulfil his promise to revamp the economy and create jobs. He said the spate of killings and other security challenges in the country was disturbing, promising to tackle the problem head-on. Mr Abubakar urged Nigerians to reject the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying the party had failed the people in all its electoral promises. When I say I am going to do something, I am going to do it; I am not like APC that will promise something but will not fulfill them. I promised Nigerians that I am going to restructure the country, I am going to do it. I promised Nigerians I am going to create jobs, I have been creating jobs and I will create more jobs for you. The APC promised to create jobs, but we have been losing jobs, we have the largest unemployment case in our history. APC said they were going to improve security; we had security challenges only in the North East; today, we have insecurity in the North West, North Central, they have failed Nigerians. They said they were going to revamp the economy, today, we are the headquarters of poverty in the world. I promise you, I am going to reverse all these when I am elected, he said. Mr Abubakar said Lagos residents deserved a better deal than they were currently getting from the APC government. The PDP said the problem of traffic and other problems were surmountable with the ideal government in place. ADVERTISEMENT He said he could vouch for the credibility, passion and capacity of Agbaje to move the state forward. Mr Abubakar urged Nigerians and Lagos residents to vote PDP from top to bottom for good governance. In his speech, Mr Obi said the PDP was the best bet for the progress of the country and the well-being of citizens. He urged all Nigerians to cast their votes for the party on Feb. 16 and March 2 for a better Nigeria . Speaking, Mr Saraki said a vote for Mr Abubakar was a vote for a better and a prosperous Nigeria. He said the PDP candidate had the capacity to revamp the economy and hence, create massive jobs for citizens. Mr Saraki claimed the APC government had brought sufferings to the country, urging Lagos residents to reject the ruling party at the polls. When you vote for Atiku Abubakar, you vote for a better economy, when you vote for a better economy, you vote for jobs, and when you vote for jobs for the youth, you vote for prosperity and a better Nigeria. I urge Nigerians, particularly Lagos residents, to end the sufferings in the country by rejecting the APC and voting for Atiku, he said. Mr Agbaje, in his speech, said the PDP and Mr Abubakar had solutions to all the problems bedevilling the country. He said it was time Lagos freed itself from what he called the political hegemony of people with vested interests, and embrace a government that truly cares. He said if elected, he would deliver service and provide the real governance that residents deserved. (NAN) ADVERTISEMENT The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), has advised Nigerians to take precautions against the prevailing dust hazy weather conditions across the country. NiMet gave the warning in a statement by Zakariyau Abdulrasheed, General Manager, Network Services, for the Director of Weather Forecasting Services, on Tuesday in Abuja. Mr Abdulrasheed said a considerable amount of dust had been released into the atmosphere over the source region in southern Chad and Niger Republic. He said strong North-easterly winds of about 20 kilometres at the surface and 40 kilometres at about 900m above had been observed over the region. He said this was responsible for the lifting and southward propagation of dust into the country. According to him, some stations over the northern parts of the country are already in hazy conditions with visibility as low as 200m, especially over north-eastern cities. A fresh dust plume is expected to propagate into the country in the next 24 hours and this will further deteriorate horizontal visibilities across the country. Combined with the dust already in suspension for the past two days, further deterioration in horizontal visibilities to values below 1000m is expected especially over the northern parts of the country. Southward transportation of the dust is anticipated to further deteriorate the horizontal visibility over the central states and the southern cities in dust haze condition with visibility ranging from 1500 5000m. Some cities over these regions are expected to be in visibility less than 1000m, he said. Mr Abdulrasheed said the expected state of the atmosphere in the coming days would likely disrupt flight operations. He added that cancellation and delay of flights at some airports across the country were anticipated, especially over the northern cities. He also advised road users to exercise caution and avoid speeding especially during early morning period when horizontal visibility is impaired by fog, mist or dust haze. Due to increased concentration of dust, people allergic to dust are advised to take necessary precautions, reduce their exposure to dust and take their medications to alleviate its effect on their health. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency will continue to monitor the weather and keep the public updated by providing reliable daily weather forecast, he said. (NAN) "The grant we provide not only covers teacher training, but also includes classroom kits like single-solar wafers so that students can understand how clean solar energy works and what a valuable role it can play in their lives, Stephan said. We are very proud of that work, and its a primary benefit of these projects." ADVERTISEMENT Ben Murray-Bruce, a senator backing Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, has appealed to Nigerians to rise above partisan politics and remain brothers and sisters born from the same womb, no matter who wins the countrys presidential election this Saturday. Mr Abubakar is the main challenger of the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who is running for a second term in office. No matter who wins this Saturday, we must still remain brothers and sisters born from the womb of one mother Nigeria, Mr Murray-Bruce, who represents Bayelsa East District, tweeted on Sunday using his Twitter handle @benmurraybruce. We will never become enemies because of elections or politicians. Nigeria existed before these political parties and Nigeria will survive and thrive after them. Mr Murray-Bruce, a PDP senator, has been a critic of Mr Buhari and the ruling APC. His tweet, therefore, came as a surprise to some of his followers on the social media site. All these from Ben Bruce? Theres something fishy, said a Twitter user by name Aykeens (@aykeens). This was Ben Bruce. This is not Ben Bruce, said another Twitter user, Ayekooto (@DeeOneAyekooto). Honestly, Im shocked but its okay well listen to him on this, said Corgito Ergo Sum (@Moshood006). At last, someone shows he has common sense for the first time. Kudos! said Suleiman Farusi (@SMFarusi). ADVERTISEMENT The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has again called on ministers to inaugurate the boards of federal parastatals already constituted by the federal government. NLC Chairman, Ayuba Wabba, reiterated the call at the 12th National Delegates Conference of the Congress held in Abuja recently. He said the Congress will rigorously pursue its stand on the inauguration of the boards. Mr Wabba was more particular about the board of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) which was constituted by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in October 2017 in his capacity as Acting President. Since 2017, Chris Ngige, the minister of Labour and Employment, has refused to inaugurate the 11-member board thus rendering the agency powerless. The membership of the board includes a former General Secretary of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG), Frank Kokori as Chairman; Deputy President of the NLC, Peter Adeyemi; Treasurer of Congress, Khaleel Ibrahim; Larry Etta and Timothy Olawale as representatives of Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA). Others are representative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the managing director and three executive directors of NSITF and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ibikun Odusote, who represents the ministry on the board. However, when contacted in January, Mr Ngige said the failure of labour representatives to show up for screening was delaying the inauguration, a statement Mr Wabba described as falsehood. At the congress, Mr Wabba described the continued delay as a violation of the law. The non-constitution of these institutions is not only a violation of the Act establishing the body but a denial of critical roles of partners in the management of those boards, he said No reason on earth is good enough for this unhealthy development and therefore, out of this conference, we will take a concrete resolution on what to do, he said Mr Wabba mentioned the agencies to include the National Social Insurance Trust Fund, Michael Imodu Labour Institute, Board of Pencom and the Nigeria Labour Advisory and National Labour Advisory Council. He said the minister when contacted on January 7 gave the excuse of non-availability of labour representatives for screening. The information is not true, because if the representatives were communicated, they will be available for screening, he said, reinforcing his earlier stand. Mr Wabba speaking on behalf of the union demanded immediate inauguration of the board. ADVERTISEMENT Barely four days to the Presidential and National Assembly elections, two containers housing Smart Card Readers were on Tuesday gutted by fire at INEC headquarters in Awka, Anambra. The incident comes two days after the INEC office in Plateau State was destroyed by fire. Other facilities of the commission, including in Abia, have also been damaged by fire weeks before the general election. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that officials of the Anambra Fire Service were still battling with the fire as at the time of filing its report. Combined personnel of the Police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Department of State Security (DSS) were on ground to ensure safety. Confirming the fire, Nkwachukwu Orji, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Anambra, said he was yet to ascertain the extent of the damage. Mr Orji said the sensitive materials affected were smart card readers meant for the general elections. I dont have the details of how the fire started; all I know is that there was a fire incident involving the containers that house some of our sensitive materials. We have to do an assessment before we can ascertain the extent of damage, we have been storing equipment in that facility since 2011, he said. NAN reports that this incident is the second in the South-east as INEC office in Isiala Ngwa, Abia was penultimate week set ablaze by unidentified persons. (NAN) ADVERTISEMENT The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court has ordered that the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, be remanded in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) custody. Mr Lawal is facing charges of corruption. He was indicted for allegedly using his companies to get contracts worth millions of naira without executing the contracts. He was removed from office after he was indicted by a Senate committee which investigated the management of money meant to assist persons displaced by Boko Haram. Since his removal in 2017 by President Muhammadu Buhari, many Nigerians have called for his prosecution. Mr Lawal has since his exit been a major campaigner for Mr Buharis re-election in his home Adamawa State. The judge on Tuesday, Jude Okeke, gave the remand order following an appeal by Mr Lawals counsel to grant him bail. During the court session, the counsel to the first defendant, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Akin Olujimi, had filed an application that his client be granted bail. But the prosecution counsel, Muhammed Abubakar, argued that the court should not grant the bail application. In prior to this, Mr Okeke adjourned the matter to Wednesday to rule on the bail application. The EFCC, on Tuesday, arraigned Mr Lawal before the court on a 10 count charge, bordering on alleged conspiracy and fraud. They filed the charges against him and Hamidu David, Suleiman Abubakar and two companies Rholavision engineering Ltd and Josmon Technologies Ltd. Mr Lawal and his accomplice all pleaded not guilty to all the charges when read to them. ADVERTISEMENT The campaign council of President Muhammadu Buhari has said the comment made by Mr Buhari in Zamfara State was a joke. The opposition had condemned the presidents comments as an incitement. Mr Buhari, while concluding his remarks in Hausa at a campaign rally in Gusau, Zamfara State on Sunday, said he was happy that the nation had two rainy seasons that enabled farmers to make good yield. He then prayed for another fruitful rainy season. What I actually want is for everyone to feed well and as for those who want to continue with their fitna, (they) can go ahead. The word fitna in Hausa literally mean crisis and because Zamfara state is experiencing insecurity as a result of the activities of bandits who daily kill and kidnap citizens of the state, many interpret his comments as a call to continued violence. The candidate of the major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, speaking in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Monday, said the comments by Mr Buhari was unpresidential. In a statement on Tuesday, the spokesperson of the Buhari campaign organisation, Festus Keyamo, said typical of the Atiku campaign, they have continued in their favourite pastime of peddling falsehood, scaremongering and misinformation. Mr Keyamo said the comment by Mr Abubakar accusing the president of promoting violence was false. The Hausa word the President used in Zamfara, which has been taken out of context, is fitna. Incidentally all our Hausa language scholars have said the word means different things: it means distress, trial, affliction or temptation. It can also be used to describe rebellion or uprising. In this case, President Buhari was actually weighing in on the joke told very often of recent in the North that due to the rice boom, farmers have embarked on pilgrimage and the marrying of more wives. So, what the President meant was actually a joke deliberately taken out of context: he simply told the crowd to ensure they eat very well because of the rice boom before they can contemplate giving in to those temptations, Mr Keyamo said. The campaign spokesperson said even in some private meetings with the campaign team, Mr Buhari has always commented on this joke. Sadly, out of desperation, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has decided to peddle falsehood. We urge Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to realize that it is God Almighty that gives power and takes power. He should not use his palpable desperation to return to power (in order to sell Nigeria to his friends and to make them rich) to set this nation ablaze by outright falsehood, Mr Keyamo said. The Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has given insights into why he thinks President Muhammadu Buhari is having a political row with former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Mr Obasanjo supported the election of Mr Buhari in 2015. However, they fell apart over some political differences and have been attacking each other publicly. Mr El-Rufai, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES in an exclusive interview in his office in Kaduna, also spoke about why Nigerians should not vote for the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. He also gave hints the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, may face more troubles if the anti-graft agencies beam their searchlight on his submissions to the Code of Conduct Bureau. Below is the first part of the interview: Q: The presidential election is just about a week away, looking at the permutations compared to the last election and all the things that are happening, do you think your party stands a chance? A: Of course, not only stand a chance, I think our party is going to win this election. I say this on the basis of the track record of performance of the federal government and the various state governments of the APC under very difficult circumstances. People are quick to point out that APC could have done better in this area or that area but they forget the alternative scenario where the country could have been had PDP under Jonathan continued. This is the basis for comparison. In addition we are scientific, we conduct polls very regularly both at the state level here in Kaduna and at the national level so we know our position, we know where we are strong and where we are weak and we are reasonably confident that we are going to win the election. President Muhammadu Buhari will be reelected and I am confident about that. It is not a question of standing a chance, I am quite confident that we will win the election. Q: But there are claims by some Nigerian, and there are many of them out there who believe that you havent actually delivered on your electoral promises to the Nigerian. People cite unemployment, poor infrastructure and people even still talk about corruption still thriving as much as when you came. Why should Nigerians reelect your party again? A: I think some Nigerians think that decades of neglect of infrastructure can be resolved in four years, which is not fair. Some are pushing the narrative that systemic corruption can be eliminated in four years; that is not possible. To say that the levels of corruption and impunity that was visible during the Jonathan administration is still existing in Nigeria is not being fair. At least people are now being afraid of insisting on being paid before they offer government services and so on. There is still corruption in Nigeria, no doubt about it; there will be corruption not only in Nigeria but many other societies to some degree, but has it reduced? Has the impunity come down? I think it has and the Transparency International has recognised that when you look at our ranking in the Transparency International index. With regards to infrastructure, as I said, there has been years of neglect. There has been a build up in infrastructure deficit which this government in very difficult circumstances, without resources, with a quarter of the resources which previous government were getting is trying hard, borrowing from China and everywhere to build infrastructure. Electricity generation has increased, the number of kilometres of rail has increased, and we are reviving the narrow gauge system to contract it out to an operator from South Africa that will be used mostly for freight of petroleum products which will take burden off our roads. So I think a lot has been done in very difficult circumstances. Are we where we should be? No! I think we still have a long way to go but if you do an alternative scenario and say if Jonathan had won the 2015 election where will the country be in terms of corruption today? Just look at what they were doing and how they were doing it and then project and give him four years. Where will the country be in terms of infrastructure? Where will the country be in terms of diversification of the economy? Agriculture is booming, farmers are making money. Here in Kaduna state our economy has moved to rural areas. 82% of our pilgrims are not from the urban areas as was the case in 2015 when we came in but from the rural areas which means farmers are making money and they are getting rich and the economy is moving to rural areas and rural-urban migration has reduced. So I dont think its fair to say that the government has not fulfilled its promises. I think the government has made an attempt to fulfill its promises under very difficult circumstances at the federal level. Here at the state level, its the same struggle we have made promises to revamp human capital, to revamp infrastructure and so on, but we are limited not by our ambitions or vision or capacity but financial resources because of what is going on. We came into office in very difficult circumstances, the opportunity we had to use our windfall from the sale of oil, when oil peaked up to $140 per barrel was frittered away by the previous government and we inherited not only a near empty treasury, not savings account but huge debt level, yet this government had to borrow even more just to keep certain things going. Q: What do you make of the state of Abuja, the capital, today in terms of infrastructure, in terms of maintenance and all of that? A: It is not my practice to comment on the performance of my successors. I was Minister of Abuja (FCT), I have left, I do not make comments. Q: I am asking because some people belief that nothing has happened since 12 years ago when you ran the city? A: I dont believe that nothing has happened. I went to NTA a couple of nights ago for an interview and I got lost because express roads have been built around that area that I was not aware of, so it is not quite correct to say that nothing has happened. But having said that, as I said I am reluctant to comment. I was head of BPE, I never comment on what happens in BPE, I ran the FCT for four years, I have had my time, I never comment on my successors performance or gaps because as a matter of principle I think once you do a job and you should let others do their own job and if they need to talk to you and get advice privately is a different matter but I never comment publicly on FCT or BPE and when I leave Kaduna state I will never comment on any activity of the governor of Kaduna state, thats a principle that I have adopted in my public service. Q: You are an advocate of the rule of law, now your government. Your party stands accused of serial disobedience of court orders A: Which court orders? Q: The one on Dasuki for instance, because several courts have ruled that he should be released on bail. El-Zakzaky, Onnoghen. ADVERTISEMENT A: I am not in a position to respond because I dont have all the details. The Dasuki case, it is only what I read in the papers. Honestly, I did not discuss it with anyone and I dont know the details. I dont understand why the court will order the release of Dasuki and he is not released unless there is an appeal against that order; and I do not see any problem with the federal government going to the court of appeal and saying this court has given an order and I want a stay, I am appealing the order. But, I dont know, I am not familiar with the facts to comment on that. On ElZakzaky, I want to say the Elzakzaky is not being unlawfully held. He is in Kaduna, he is on our custody as Kaduna state government, we brought him here and he is on trial. He has been remanded to prison custody by the high court of Kaduna state. So, he is being properly held. There is no subsisting court order to release Elzakzaky anywhere in Nigeria today. He is undergoing trial, a series of offences that are not bail-able, thats why he is in custody. We have the option of taking him to prison, we decided that it is safer and better and because he may need continuous medical attention so it may be better to have him in DSS custody. He is in DSS custody but on the order of court. So there is no violation of any rule of law regarding El-Zakzaky. Now on Onnoghen, I am not aware of any order of court that the federal government has violated because I am familiar with that one even though its a federal matter but I am not aware of any order. Onnoghen was properly charged before the Code of Conduct Tribunal. It was the proper court to charge him for the violation of the code of conduct. Onnoghen himself in a case, Ahmed Vs Ahmed, gave a ruling saying that the Code of Conduct Tribunal is the only tribunal recognised by the constitution to try offences relating to the violation of code of conduct for public officials, that is what he is charged for. There may be other charges regarding money laundering but that is a separate matter Q: So those ones are coming up? A: If you look at the payments into his accounts, there are legitimate basis to also charge him for money laundering. That is not before the Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct is only concerned about asset declaration and the code of conduct for public officers and its the proper court. Onnoghen himself knows that because he was part of a panel that gave a judgment in a case from Kano on this same subject. He is properly charged before the Code of Conduct but what happens? Instead of coming out and defending himself in court; federal high court, Industrial Court were issuing orders. You cannot order a court of the same level to do or not to do something because the Code of Conduct Tribunal, the Industrial Court and the federal high court are all courts of coordinate jurisdiction. They are all at the same level, so they cant order each other and they knew that their orders were in vain. Saraki tried that when he was before the Code of Conduct Tribunal and it didnt go anywhere. The second thing that happened was when the Code of Conduct Tribunal said no, you cannot order me because we are courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction, something was filed in the Court of Appeal. I dont know, appealing against what? But the court of appeal has finally said we cannot stay criminal proceedings. This is clear in section 306 of the Administration of Criminal and Justice Act, you cannot in a criminal trial say stop under any circumstance, thats the law in Nigeria and it is in plain English. So, the trial is supposed to go but he still has not appeared in court. So I dont know which court order that the federal government has violated in this instance. Q: So you are suggesting that there may be more trouble for the suspended Chief Justice? A: I am not saying anything. I am just saying that based on what I have read which Justice Onnoghen has admitted there are two issues; he has admitted that there are some assets or bank accounts that he had not declared, he said he has forgotten, so that is for the Code of Conduct Tribunal. If you also look at the details of his admission, he has admitted to bank accounts in which payments of $10,000 five times in a day was being done in order to evade the transactional levels for banks to report to financial intelligence unit. There are grounds to think this is a case for money laundering, that is what I am saying. If any public officer, if any of us does that EFCC can ask him question about money laundering. So I am not suggesting there is any more trouble for the Chief Justice, I am just saying that based on what I have read and my limited knowledge of law there are enough grounds to ask questions along those lines. Q: To charge him? A: I dont know about charge, but ask questions along those lines. Because the statements he wrote before the Code of Conduct Tribunal did not go to the issue of payments into his bank accounts. It only related to the fact that bank accounts existed that were not declared. Q: Cant he be forgiven? A: He can be forgiven but it is not for me to forgive. But even if he is forgiven, the question to ask is, can he then remain a judge? Can he now judge others that engage in such violations? This is the issue. This for me is the reason why I felt very strongly that Justice Onnoghen should step aside. I must add here that I am one of his admirers and advocates. I admire him for one thing, he was one of the three judges that gave a dissenting judgment in favour of President Buhari in 2007 along with Oguntade and Aloma Mukhtar. And when his nomination as Chief Justice was delayed, I am one of those that advocated that whats going on? This man should be nominated Chief Justice and he knows that. But I didnt know some of these things that are coming out I would not have supported it. I will not. Q: Like people say he has also been hobnobbing with the opposition. Did you also hear that? A. Look these kinds of stories will always be there okay, I dont know about hobnobbing with opposition because I dont have any evidence or fact to support. I dont know about hobnobbing with the opposition and I dont care about that, once you are a public officer you will be accused about these things and it is up to whoever accuses to prove it. As a matter of principle, anyone that does not declare his assets properly should not have been sworn in in the first place. I remember the case of President Umaru Yaradua because the night before he was sworn in, Justice Kutigi, of blessed memory, who was the Chief Justice at the time sent a message that he will not appear at Eagle Square unless he sees evidence that Yaradua has declared his asset. We were running helter skelter 2am-3am that night to get President Yaraduas asset declared because Justice Kutigi said the constitution is clear, I will not go there; I will not swear anyone in unless I see evidence that he has filed his asset with the code of conduct bureau. I dont have to see the asset declaration, but the Code of Conduct bureau must give me evidence that he has filed. Now in the case of Justice Onnoghen, he had two asset declarations made on the same day, one for 2014 and one for 2016. So he ought not to have even been sworn in as Chief Justice if there was a systemic diligence but the mistake has been made, he has been there, but the lease we expect is that once you get there, the right thing should be done. Justice should be upheld. Q: The opposition believes and is supported by the presidents wife that the president is not in charge; that there is indeed a cabal that is governing the country. You are very close to the president and this is what a lot of people worry about. Will you say this president is in charge? A: (Laughter) Of course he is in charge. Of course he is in charge. Let me say three things, first, every leader at the level of president, at the level of governor has a cabal, okay. What is cabal? A cabal is three or four people that are the inner circle of any leadership/government in every parlance, everywhere you go. There are people that exercise more influence than others even if they are on the same official level, this is normal. The question is whether the cabal is for good or for bad. Secondly, you should also understand that in any leadership situation, there are contending cabals; there are groups that are always trying to exercise influence. Sometimes the rivalry between these two groups can be so vicious that it can be worse than even the opposition. That is possible and we know that there are circles of influence in the villa that dont get along, that happens and thats what may be happening in this case. But thirdly, to answer your question is the president in charge, yes, the president signs off on everything. Nobody makes decisions for the president, I know that I am close to him. I go to him and I know he is in charge. Now does he rely on people to write to him, to make recommendations to him? Yes, every leader does, but who has the final say, its the president and I have no doubt in my mind that he is in charge. We all have different leadership styles. I served under two presidents. I worked for one year, very short, with General Abdulsalami Abubakar. His style of running the country was completely different from that of Obasanjo. Obasanjo style is also completely different from that of President Buhari. Every leaders has his style, there are some that are micro managers like Obasanjo. Obasanjo likes to know the details; he will call me at 3am to ask me about a memo I will be presenting to the council in a few day because he has just read the memo and there are some details about a street in Abuja that he wanted explanation about. Thats Obasanjo, he reads a lot, and he was a micro manager. He was a control freak. He wanted to know everything, he wanted to control everything. Thats one style. General Abdulsalami was a little bit laissez faire. He appointed you to a position, he left you to do your job. He hardly ever interfered unless there is a report to him that you are doing something wrong. President Buhari is very much like that. His belief is that once he appoints you to a position, once you go through the vetting of being qualified for the position, he allows you to do your job. Whereas Obasanjos maxim is trust but verify, President Buharis maxim is more like I trust you absolutely. Once you pass screening and gets to a position he trust you to do the right thing because he is like that. In any position you give him, he will try to do the right thing 100% of the time and he beliefs that others are like that, of course others are not like that. Some will let him down, some will live up to expectation, but to reduce his leadership style to say that he is not in charge is being most unfair. Q: You know the wife started it? A: I will not comment on what a wife says about her husband because I have wives and they make fair comment about me right or wrong but I am just saying that I have interacted with the man now nearly getting to 10 years and I think I have a fair understanding of how he operates and I dont think people are being fair to him. Q: You mentioned Obasanjo so that naturally brings the question. You were very close to him while you were in office, perhaps even now. And you are now close to Buhari, how come you are not able to reconcile the two men? A: (Laughter) Look, the relationship between President Buhari and Obasanjo predates me. They were in the Supreme Military council together in 75. He was his Petroleum minister 76-78. It is very presumptuous for anyone to say that he knows what is between the two of them and can reconcile them. So, its not up to me to reconcile anyone, I am not even sure there is anything to reconcile. I know both very well, I worked very closely with President Obasanjo. I was one of his favourite ministers, I must admit. We quarreled a lot. Even now we quarrel once in a while. I dont even know now whether we are quarrelling or we are on good terms. Thats the relationship we have with President Obasanjo, we both enjoy it. We quarrel, we make up, we quarrel, and we make up. He understands me to some degree and I understand him, I know what makes him tick and our relation was a working relationship and he got the best out of me and I got the best out of him. The same thing with President Buhari, but I think that the issue between the two of them is best known between the two of them. So, it is very difficult for anyone to reconcile and they are not likely to open up to you and tell you what the issue is. What I can say based on my knowledge of the two is that the problem between them may have to do with what Obasanjo expects vs what Buhari is willing to do. So, unless if the two of them open up as to what the issues are, you will not be able to even Q: You know Obasanjo very well, what do you think are likely to be his expectations? A: You are asking me to speculate, I dont do that, I will not do that to someone who was my boss and leader but I can give you a generic framework and I have given. That I think the problem is a disconnect between expectations and what is possible within the framework of the principle of public governance that President Buhari believs in, that is all I can say. Q: Now you are in APC, and the man who gave you your first federal job as chief executive is on the other side, the PDP, which is Atiku. In your book, you remained grateful to him for that opportunity, now you are here, he is on the other side, how does that make you feel? A: I feel nothing. Because first of all, in the course of human interaction, you can have principle differences with anyone. As long as these difference do no degenerate into being disagreeable I think it is fine. Secondly, the fact that Atiku played a role in getting me to head BPE does not mean that I am permanently enslaved to him. I am an adult, I am responsible for my actions and I can decide when to disagree with Atiku. I can decide that something is below my life principle and I will not do it. Thirdly, we were engaged in public service, we still are. The overriding principle in public service is public interest. Wherever this conflict with anyone, I will always go on the side of public interest. Q: Was there any such experience while you headed the BPE and he was the chairman of the National Council on Privatization? A: There were a couple and I outlined them in my book. Q: Do you want to remind our readers? A: I will rather you get your readers to buy my book so that I can make a little money. No No No! In brief let me tell you, as far as privatization transactions were concerned, Atiku never once called me and said this company to A or B. He mentioned one company to me when we were selling National Oil, he mentioned Mike Adenugu and clearly said he the request came from the Awujale of Ijebuland, that I should look at it. This is normal in government, people make request of you and you say I will look at it and you do what is possible. So I will not count that against him, Awujale of Ijebuland is very close to me, he is like a father and I know that to be true, Atiku did not lie in that instance. I will not say that during my time in BPE, that Atiku tried to influence the sale of any enterprise to anyone directly. I will say that for the record; while I was there, after I left other things happened but you have to ask those that came after me. Where I had problems with Atiku was in procurement, when contracts are involved. He was willing to destroy my reputation if his friends did not get contracts that he wanted them to get, this was the problem I had with him and two examples were detailed in my book. Q: Like Obasanjo said, he is perhaps a changed man? You think Nigerians should not trust him with the Presidency of the country? Both Obasanjo and the PDP believe he has changed? A: Obasanjo is entitled to his opinion, but I dont believe people change much after the age of 18. Thats my opinion and I want to assure you, I will not vote for Atiku. Thats all I can say. I mean, every Nigerian is free to make his choice whether to believe Obasanjo and trust Atiku or not. I will not vote for him. I think I can make that statement very clearly on my own account. Q: But some people are planning to vote for him, can you say why they should not vote for him? A: They shouldnt because he has no track record of transparency and accountability. They shouldnt because he does not understand the burdens of public service. They shouldnt because he thinks private interest and public interest are one and the same. They shouldnt because he does not care about peoples reputation, he can destroy you unless he gets what he wants. This is my experience with him. That is my decision. It is up to Nigerians to decide. There are Nigerians like Peter Obi who think private interest and public interest are one and the same. If you think that way you can go ahead and do it. If a person comes out and says I am going to enrich my friends, there is nothing wrong with enriching my friends and you want to vote for him go ahead, but just be sure you are one of his friends. For me these are the decisions that we all take individually. There is no collective, we all have different standards of morality and perception of public interest vs private interest. My own standards may be higher than that of others, other peoples standard may be lower, but I will not even ask my wife whether she is going to vote for Atiku or not because it is her right to decide who to vote for. I have said very clearly I am not going to vote for him and these are my reasons. (To be continued). The Federal High Court, Calabar, on Monday ordered for the removal of Owan Enoh as the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Cross River State. Mr Enohs name should be substituted with that of Usani Usani, the Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, the court declared. Mr Enoh, who is a serving senator from the state, has been engaged in a protracted battle with Mr Usani over the control of the APC in the state and also who, between the two of them, should fly the partys flag in the March 2 governorship election. Mr Enohs faction is backed by the APC national leadership. The court judgement delivered by Justice Simon Amobeda directed the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC to submit Mr Usanis name immediately to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the partys authentic governorship candidate. The court also directed the NWC to accept the names of candidates for the Senate, House of Representatives, and the state assembly from Mr Usanis faction and forward same to INEC. The development has thrown the APC members and supporters in Cross River into confusion, because it is just four days to the National Assembly elections, while the governorship and the state assembly elections is 18 days from today. An Abuja high court had in December last year delivered a similar judgment, affirming Godwin John, a member of Mr Usanis faction, as the authentic chairman of the APC in Cross River State. Ekpenyong Cobham, who leads Mr Usani campaign organisation, told PREMIUM TIMES, Tuesday, the federal high court judgment was a declaratory judgment affirming the judgment of the Abuja high court. Mr Cobham said Mr Usani and the APC is prepared for the elections. Owan Enoh is functioning with a hired crowd, he said. We are in control of the original APC structures in every polling unit in the state. We have been very much on the ground, we have been campaigning and networking. Whatever Owan Enoh and his group are doing is not sustainable because it is not supported by the law, Mr Cobham said. The APC campaign council in the state, in its reaction to the development, said the latest court judgement was of no effect. Mr Enoh, they said, remains the APC governorship candidate in Cross River. We dont have anything to do about it because their action is a nullity; it cannot change what INEC has already done, Maurice Effiwat, the head of the APC campaign council in the state, told PREMIUM TIMES, Tuesday. The judgment was procured. Our spirit is not dampened, we saw it coming, he added. Mr Effiwat said the APC in the state had filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal, Abuja, against the Abuja high court judgment. When a case is in the Court of Appeal, do you go to a lower court to file a similar case? Is that not an abuse of court processes? he said. He said the judgement of the federal high court, Calabar, was the same in content with that of the Abuja high court. It is the national leadership of a party that organises primaries. It is not an APC thing, it is applicable to other parties as well, Mr Effiwat said. ADVERTISEMENT He said it was the national leadership of the APC that conducted the primaries that produced Mr Enoh as the party governorship candidate. We are going to appeal the (federal high court) judgement, Mr Effiwat said. Usani is a minister, is he not supposed to resign one month to the election? Ask the DG of his campaign if he has resigned, he added. As a journalist, you are very free to call the minister and ask him that question, Mr Cobham, the head of Mr Usanis campaign, responded when the PREMIUM TIMES reporter called him back on phone. He (the minister) would be obliged to answer that question. British Prime Minister, Theresa May, on Tuesday told lawmakers to hold their nerve over Brexit and give her more time to negotiate a deal acceptable to both the EU and the countrys parliament. The United Kingdom is on course to leave the EU on March 29 without a deal unless May can convince the bloc to amend the divorce deal she agreed in 2018 and get it approved by British lawmakers. The talks are at a crucial stage, Mrs May told parliament. We now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this House requires and deliver Brexit on time. The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, accused her of running down the clock with sham negotiations to pressure parliament into backing her deal. British lawmakers rejected Mays withdrawal deal in January, with the major sticking point being the Irish backstop an insurance policy to prevent the return of a hard border between British province Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland. Critics say the policy could leave Britain subject to EU rules for years or even indefinitely after leaving the bloc. The EU says the backstop is vital to avoiding the return of border controls in Ireland and has refused to reopen the Brexit divorce deal, although May insists she can get legally binding changes to replace the most contentious parts of the backstop. By getting the changes we need to the backstop; by protecting and enhancing workers rights and environmental protections, also by enhancing the role of parliament in the next phase of negotiations I believe we can reach a deal that this House can support, Mrs May said. The EUs Brexit Negotiator, Michel Barnier said on Monday the bloc would agree to tweak the political declaration on EU-UK ties after Brexit that forms part of the package. Also to reflect a plan for a closer future relationship that could remove the need for the backstop. Its clear from our side that we are not going to reopen the withdrawal agreement but we will continue our discussion in the coming days, Mr Barnier said. Mrs May is pursuing three options in talks with Brussels: negotiating a way for Britain to leave the backstop without needing EU agreement, agreeing a time limit to the backstop, or finding an alternative arrangement that replaces it altogether. Parliament is to hold a debate on Brexit on February 14 but with just 45 days until Britain leaves the bloc it is not expected to change the course of the exit process, and no date has been set for another vote to approve or reject Mays deal. Mrs May said if she had not yet reached a deal in Brussels, she would deliver another progress report on Feb. 26 and provide another chance for parliament to express its opinion on her approach the following day. She said she was prepared to speed up other parts of the ratification process of the Brexit deal if time gets too tight to pass legislation before exit day a move some interpreted as a sign she was willing to keep negotiating until the last moment. Opponents of Brexit argue Mrs May is deliberately delaying so lawmakers will be faced with the option of backing her agreement or leaving without a deal, a disorderly exit that businesses fear will cause widespread damage to the economy and jobs. It appears the prime minister has just one real tactic: to run down the clock hoping Members of this House are blackmailed into supporting a deeply flawed deal, Corbyn told parliament. This is an irresponsible act. She is playing for time and playing with peoples jobs, our economic security and the future of our industry. ADVERTISEMENT May, who delayed a vote on the deal in December when it was obvious parliament, would reject it, responded to Corbyn by saying that she was not responsible for the delay, instead blaming parliaments failure to back it. I wanted to have this sorted before Christmas, I brought a deal back. Its not me whos trying to run down the clock, May said, drawing hoots and jeers from opposing lawmakers. (Reuters/NAN) ADVERTISEMENT Ugandan authorities on Tuesday quarantined 13 people, who picked up a body of suspected Ebola death in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as hemorrhagic fever tests are carried out. The Ministry of Health and World Health Organisation (WHO) in a joint statement disclosed this in Kampala. The statement said that the 13 relatives traveled to DRCs Bunia hospital to repatriate the body of the deceased 46 year old male for burial in the eastern district of Tororo. Their details have been collected and these individuals are currently separated from the rest of the community, said the joint statement. The statement said the deceased was first admitted in Bunia hospital in November 2018 after complaining of chest pain and cough, sometimes with blood. His condition deteriorated last week and died on Friday. The dead man has been living and working in the DRC for the last eight years. He developed Ebola-like symptoms and died on Friday, said the joint statement. His death certificate from the hospital indicates the cause of death to be cardiac failure and pulmonary tuberculosis. the statement said. The ministry of health has dispatched a burial team that will later today conduct a safe and dignified burial, according to the statement. The statement said there is no confirmed Ebola case present in Uganda. Active case search continues in all communities, health facilities and on formal and informal border crossing in all districts especially in the high-risk areas, said the statement. Uganda is on an Ebola alert as parts of neighbouring eastern DRC are facing an outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever. The highly contagious Ebola virus causes a range of symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalised pain or malaise and in many cases internal and external bleeding, according to WHO. Mortality rates of Ebola fever, according to the global health body, are extremely high, with the human case fatality rate ranging from 50 per cent to 89 per cent, depending on viral subtype. (Xinhua/NAN) ADVERTISEMENT Osang Abang, a scriptwriter with M-Net, died in a road accident on Thursday night. The 30-year-old University of Calabar graduate was buried on Monday. His friend, Uba Franklin, who broke the news on Facebook, described the deceased as A consummate professional who has left a big void in the Screenwriting industry. Recalling their last moments, Mr Franklin, who is also a screenwriter, wrote, Last month we were locked up for two weeks by Mnet in a hotel in Ikeja with 12 other brilliant writers. He was a General leading his officers to war as we birthed a new project for Mnet. Now he is being buried, another car accident casualty in the famous Benin road. Its really paining me this loss of another brilliant writer. But this is about Osang, let me hold my peace. Mourning his death, Iretiola Doyle, an actress, wrote, All you ever see are the actors but in truth, it takes a small village to put up any type of production; for one the size and scale of #AmTinsel it takes 2. Osang Abang was one of the names at the top left-hand corner of many scripts, not just for this particular show, but several other major Mnet productions. I met him only once or twice but he was one of oursit takes a sad, sudden incident like this to bring it home. Multichoice, a digital satellite television platform and owners of Africa Magic, also expressed shock at Osangs death. Before his death, Mr Abang was co-writing content for Tinsel, a popular Nigerian soap opera. He was also the head writer of the African Magic series, BattleGround. Other projects he worked on are Forbidden, Hush, Hustle, Jemeji, E.V.E, and Ajoche. The bill, which passed both the House and Senate last week, requires a general district court to hold a hearing within 48 hours of a petition being filed to test a blood sample. If the court finds probable cause to believe someone like McClain was exposed to a transmitted disease, the judge can order the person whose bodily fluids were involved to provide a blood sample or submit to testing. One of the worlds largest port operators has sued a Chinese state enterprise in Hong Kong over infringement of its exclusive port agreement with a strategically located African nation, in the citys first court case involving Chinas Belt and Road Initiative. FactWire (www.FactWire.org) has obtained a legal filing by United Arab Emirates DP World (FRA: 3DW) at the Hong Kong High Court against China Merchants Port Holdings Company Ltd (HKEX 0144), accusing it of causing the Djibouti government to revoke the firms exclusive right to run the countrys ports. Hong Kong-based China Merchants Port Holdings, a subsidiary of state enterprise China Merchants Group, deals mainly in the construction of ports, marine container logistics and operating container terminals. It has actively participated in large-scale port infrastructure projects in multiple countries under Chinas ambitious Belt and Road Initiative in recent years. China Merchants Port Holdings controls the controversial 1,150-hectare Port of Hambantota, which Sri Lanka handed over to China on a 99-year lease. Its inroads into Djibouti, located strategically between the Arabian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, has for years been at the centre of legal disputes between the African nation and the UAE state enterprise. In the writ of summons filed to the Hong Kong court in August last year, DP World accused the company for causing the Djibouti government to nationalise the Doraleh Container Terminal, despite the 30-year concession agreement that allowed DP World to exclusively run the terminal. DP World, which operates 78 ports in 42 countries including Terminal 3 in Kwai Chung, Hong Kong, said under its agreement with the Djibouti government, it would have full and exclusive right to establish, develop, and operate the Doraleh site. The concession agreement also said Djiboutian authorities cannot grant concessions for any other port capable of handling ocean-going vessels or free zone facilities within the country for the duration of the agreement. The concession agreement took effect in February 2004 for a period of 30 years with the option for two 10-year renewals. Joint-venture company Doraleh Container Terminal S.A. (DCT) was created to develop and operate the terminal. The Djibouti government held 66.66 per cent of DCTs shares under state enterprise Port Autonome International de Djibouti (PAID), while DP World held 33.34 percent through its subsidiary Dubai (International) Djibouti FZE (DID). Despite being a minority shareholder, DP World had the right to appoint most board members of DCT, thereby retaining control of the companys operations and management. Two years later, both parties signed a 2006 Concession Agreement in which DID relinquished their role in the development of the Doraleh Container Terminal. However, DIDs exclusivity right over other port and free zone projects remained in full force. Economic Hindrance Doraleh Container Terminal commenced operations on February 2009 but the Djibouti government began expressing dissatisfaction with its agreement with DP World. It said the concession agreement gave a foreign company the opportunity to oppose the fundamental interests of the Republic of Djibouti by hindering its economic and social development process. Three years later in 2012, China Merchants Port Holdings began negotiating a partnership with Djiboutian authorities over the development of ports and free-trade zone projects in the nation. In July that year, they signed a strategic partnership agreement. ADVERTISEMENT The Chinese firm is a direct competitor of DP World and was actively looking to invest in ports to strengthen its position in East Africa. Djiboutian authorities sold 23.5 percent of its shares in DCT to China Merchants Port Holdings, effectively allowing the Chinese firm to hold 15.67 percent of the shares, contradicting the concession agreement, the legal filing said. With China Merchants Port Holdings acquiring an indirect shareholding in DCT, Djibouti was bypassing its contractual obligations and implementing its partnership with the Chinese firm, the filing said. In 2014, China Merchants Port Holdings and Djibouti decided to build Doraleh Multipurpose Port next to the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army Support Base in Djibouti. Chinese firms China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Ltd and China State Construction Engineering Corporation began construction on the multipurpose port in the same year. Operations at this port began in mid-2017, also in contradiction of the agreement between Djibouti and DP World, the UAE firm said. At the multipurpose ports launching ceremony, the Djibouti government signed a deal with China Merchants Port Holdings to build a new Doraleh International Container Terminal, to be located between the Doraleh Container Terminal and the multipurpose port. New Shekou According to the official Belt and Road Initiative website, the then Executive Director and Vice Chairman of China Merchants Port Holdings Hu Jianhua suggested plans to build a new port to Djibouti president Ismail Omar Guelleh in 2013. Hus proposal was to build a new Shekou, part of the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone, complete with a new port, a free trade area and to transform an old port terminal into a business and residential centre. The website said China Merchants Port Holdings invited Guelleh and other Djibouti stakeholders to inspect the thriving Shekou port. It said by learning about the history of Shekou, Djibouti will decide to cooperate with China Merchants. According to DP Worlds legal filing, Djibouti attempted to revoke DP Worlds exclusive agreement by using allegations of corruption, while it developed its partnership with China Merchants Port Holdings on various projects. In 2012, Djibouti sued Abdourahman Boreh, a former presidential confidante who was involved in the negotiation and execution of the agreement between DP World and Djibouti, for corruption at the High Court of England and Wales. The case was thrown out. Djibouti again sued Boreh in 2017 at the London Court of International Arbitration for bribery and those charges were again dismissed. The court found no corruption was involved. Nevertheless, Djiboutian authorities seized control of the Doraleh Container Terminal on February 22, 2018 and transferred concession staff and assets to Societe de Gestion du Terminal (SGTD), a public company created to manage the terminal. SGTD, whose sole shareholder is the State of Djibouti, has successfully taken over the operations of the Doraleh container terminal, the Djibouti government had said in a press release, which highlighted the unfairness of its concession agreement with DP World. The implementation of this concession agreement was severely prejudicial to the fundamental interests of the Republic of Djibouti, to the development of the country and to the control of its most strategic infrastructure asset. DP World in February last year sued Djibouti at the London Court of International Arbitration over the takeover of the terminal. Seven months later, the court ruled in favour of DP World and stated that its agreement with Djiboutian authorities is still valid and binding. DP World, China Merchants Port Holdings and Djiboutian authorities did not respond to FactWires questions. Strategic placement An International Monetary Fund report said Djiboutis external public debt to GDP ratio has already reached 85 percent. At the end of 2016, 32 percent of this debt was owed by the central government. Sixty-eight percent consisted of government-guaranteed debt of public enterprises, 77 percent of which was owed to Chinas EximBank, which is directly under Chinas State Council. In other words, the debt that Djibouti owes China is about 44 percent of its GDP. Located on the Horn of Africa, Djiboutis strategic location by the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, which acts as a gateway between the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea and the adjacent Suez Canal, makes it a desirable location for foreign military bases. Chinas first overseas military base was set up there in 2017. The US established their base in Djibouti following the attacks on Sept 11, 2001. It is also home to French and Japanese military bases. Read More Here: https://www.factwire.org/single-post/2019/02/10/Legal-battle-for-control-of-Djibouti-ports-comes-to-Hong-Kong (https://bit.ly/2E2ecns) Video: https://www.facebook.com/factwireworld/videos/2306575722708744/ (https://bit.ly/2S0TjwR) PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 14:26:09 Press Information Future Market Insights Future Market Insights U.S. Office 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 Email: abhishek.b@futuremarketinsights.com FMI Blog: https://www.fmiblog.com/ Web: https://www.fu Abhishek Bhudholiya Manager +1-347-918-3531 email https://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 715 Words Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: abhishek.b@futuremarketinsights.comFMI Blog: https://www.fmiblog.com/Web: https://www.fuManager+1-347-918-3531 Synoptophore is a specialized diagnosis and correction device utilized in the treatment of strabismus or squint in the eyes. Squint or strabismus usually develops because of the imbalance of the muscle which controls the movement of the eye. Resulting in the imbalance of the eye alignment and developed condition of eye turning out (diverge) or eye turning in (converge). Sometimes, it also develops in hypertropia and hypotropia conditions. A standard Synoptophore consists of two cylindrical shaped tubes consisting of mirrored angle bends. Lenses of optimum magnification is utilized in the eye piece of Synoptophore. Picture slides are placed in the slide carrier at tube end of the Synoptophore device. The stimulation of eyes is performed simultaneously and alternately by automatic flashing unit in Synoptophore, the provision for manual stimulation is also provided as standard. Synoptophore utilizes orthotic methods for correcting the imbalance of the eye, the primary advantage related to Synoptophore as it involves non-surgical management of imbalance of the eye.Synoptophore Market: Drivers and RestraintsSynoptophore are the primary choice in various eye imbalance disorders such as squint, due to their advantage over other invasive procedures. According to American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, it is estimated that strabismus affects nearly 4% of the U.S. population. Increasing prevalence of strabismus and squint in minors and adult population coupled with increasing incidence of stroke in adult population is expected to be the primary driving factors for Synoptophore market. Increasing awareness for noninvasive procedures and ease of treatment in noninvasive procedure is anticipated to propel the growth of the Synoptophore market. Rising healthcare standards in the developing countries and modern healthcare facilities in the developed countries is anticipated to drive the market for Synoptophore. Increasing shift of focus from surgical procedure to non-surgical procedures in ophthalmic care is anticipated to offer lucrative growth opportunities for the Synoptophore market. However, high maintenance cost of the instrument coupled with low awareness of noninvasive techniques in underdeveloped countries may restrain the growth rate of the Synoptophore market.Request Sample Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-7531 Synoptophore Market: SegmentationBased on technology type, the Synoptophore market is segmented into:Automatic SynoptophoreManual SynoptophoreBased on End User, the Synoptophore market is segmented into:HospitalsClinicsTrauma CenterEmergency DepartmentSynoptophore Market: OverviewThe Synoptophore market has observed a steady growth globally due to increasing demand for noninvasive procedures coupled with technological advancement in ophthalmic care. The market for Synoptophore is highly segregated with presence of local manufacturers in the market. The additional advantage of Synoptophore in various eye defects such as cyclophoria, abnormal objective angle and retina correspondence is expected to offer new growth opportunities for the Synoptophore market. Therapeutic uses of Synoptophore for eccentric fixation and suppression is expected to bring lucrative growth opportunities for the Synoptophore market. The key players in Synoptophore market are primarily focused on offering cost effective product and offering latest technological advancement. The growing prevalence of eye defects in pediatric population in anticipated to act as a primary driving factor for Synoptophore market.Synoptophore Market: Region-Wise OverviewThe global Synoptophore market is segmented into the following regions - North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific Excluding China & Japan, China, Japan and the Middle East & Africa. North America is the dominant regional market for Synoptophore due to increasing number of eye defects in the region. In North America, the U.S. is the dominating market due to segregation of Synoptophore manufacturers in the region coupled with increasing investment in healthcare technologies. Europe is anticipated to be the second dominating regional market for Synoptophore due to increasing awareness about technological advancement in ophthalmic healthcare technologies with increasing number of local manufactures form the region. APAC is a fast-growing regional market for Synoptophore due to increasing demand for eye care instruments and rising prevalence of strabismus and ocular mortality coupled with rising number of pediatric in the countries like India and China. Growth in the Latin America and the Middle East and Africa is increasing slowly due to steadily increasing healthcare spending.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-7531 Synoptophore Market: Key ParticipantsExamples of some of the key participants in the Synoptophore market are Haag-Streit UK Ltd., OCULUS Optikgerate GmbH and TAKAGI SEIKO CO.LTD , among others. Pillow Pack Packaging Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012 2016 and Opportunity Assessment; 2017 2027 fmi PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 11:23:31 Pillow Pack Packaging is generally used to pack smaller and lighter items, particularly in the food and pharma industry. The packaging pop into a shape which in turn resembles a miniature cardboard pillow, with inter locking features. These three different types of seals from top, bottom and center, helps in keeping the product protected and fresh for a long time. Its shape offers cost effectiveness and ease of portability, which has led many prominent food brands to adopt pillow pack packaging. Pillow pack packaging comes in all sizes, but is ideal for snacks and other light-weight food items that are bought by the end users on a daily basis.Thus, the global pillow pack packaging market is expected to continue expanding with a decent CAGR throughout the forecast period.Request to Sample of Report @Pillow Pack PackagingMarket: Drivers & RestraintsThe major factors boosting the growth of Pillow Pack Packaging Market is rising disposable income which has led to increase in consumer power, and has directed the modern consumerism, which includes product packaging aesthetics. As pillow pack packaging is a sure attention getter in the marketplace due to its novel appearance. Apart from this, the customization pillow pack packaging offers as per the packaging and handling needs is also an added advantage for various companies to adopt pillow pack packaging for small volume packs. Further, as the manufacturing process of pillow pack packaging is very less time consuming, adoption by manufacturers is significantly high. Also, as pillow packs are reasonably priced, many startups are preferring them over other conventional packaging. Further as it allows more branding area or printing surface area, brand can be easily seen. Its characteristic light weight is another feature which enables companies to lower logistic and freight cost significantly. Thus cost effectiveness is another prime driver for adoption of pillow pack packaging over the forecast period.Request Report for Table of Contents @Pillow Pack Packaging Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, Pillow Pack Packaging market has been categorized into seven key regions including North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, APEJ, Japan, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Asia Pacific Exc. Japan has been a global leader in Pillow Pack Packaging market, due to high demand for consumer goods, particularly in food, pharma or retail. The aesthetic look and safety features has led many North American and Western Europe based players to switch packaging of their normal products towards pillow pack pouches. Now a days, one can find applications of pillow pack packaging almost every area, and products carrying these packets can be seen in every super market store in North America. In Western Europe, many pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products have adopted pillow pack packaging, thus, fuelling more demand for such packaging and related packaging machines. Latin America is another prominent consumer market with a vast population who is specific about packaging aesthetics, thus pushing food product manufacturers in the region to adopt pillow pack packaging for their small products. Middle East and Africa on the contrary lags significantly behind in term of pillow pack packaging consumption, particularly because of less conscious population regarding packaging looks and hot environment condition. Japan is a prominent market for pillow pack packaging generating high demand, particularly from food and beverage segment.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 @ Fact.MR has announced the addition of the India Pipeline Thermal Insulation Materials Market Forecast, Trend Analysis & Competition Tracking - Global Market insights 2018 to 2028"report to their offering. India Pipeline Thermal Insulation Materials PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 11:26:07 Press Information FactMR Pune Abhishek Budholiya Marketing Manager 353-1-4434-232 email https://www.factmr.com/ # 405 Words PuneMarketing Manager353-1-4434-232 The scope of study under the India pipeline thermal insulation materials market includes analysis of the market for insulation materials endorsed for pipeline thermal insulation for systems characterized by service temperature of above 100 C in various end-use industries, such as chemical & petrochemical, oil & gas, food processing, power generation and others. The India pipeline thermal insulation materials market is expected to expand at a value CAGR of 7.9% over the forecast period.India Pipeline Thermal Insulation Materials Market Analysis, by RegionThe India pipeline thermal insulation materials market is segmented into four segments. From a regional perspective, western region is projected to lead the India pipeline thermal insulation materials market, in terms of both production and consumption. The north and south India pipeline thermal insulation materials market is expected to follow the western region in terms of pipeline thermal insulation materials consumption.Request Sample Report @ www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=1410 Key Players Dominating the India Pipeline Thermal Insulation Materials MarketThe report highlights some of the leading companies operating in the India pipeline thermal insulation materials market, such as Murugappa Morgan Thermal Ceramics Limited, U.P. Twiga Fiberglass Limited, NGP Industries Limited, Dhanbad Rockwool Insulation Pvt. Ltd., Lloyd Insulations (India) Ltd., Rockwool India Pvt. Ltd., Rockwool International A/S, HIL Limited and Aspen Aerogels, Inc., among others.Factors Influencing India Pipeline Thermal Insulation Materials Markets GrowthThe India pipeline thermal insulation materials market is expected to register significant growth in the near future, primarily due to the rapid industrial growth being driven by favourable government policies and initiatives, such as Make in India initiative, and attractive foreign direct investment (FDI) policies. Moreover, the rapidly growing chemical and petrochemicals industry is set to create lucrative growth opportunities in the India pipeline thermal insulation materials market over the forecast period. The pipeline thermal insulation materials market in the country is highly fragmented with a number of small scale manufacturers and is characterized by the intense rivalry among companies. Intense competition exerts price pressure in the pipeline thermal insulation materials market. This price pressure might put extra pressure on the companies to reduce their product cost and thus, may hamper the revenue stream of the companies operating in the pipeline thermal insulation materials. As a result, small-sized refractory manufacturers in the country may go bankrupt or cease to exist. This may translate into restricted growth of the pipeline thermal insulation materials market in the country. PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 21:02:18 Press Information QY Reports The Work Lab,FC Road, Pune, MH, India Jones John Sales Manager +91-9764607607 email https://www.qyreports.com # 444 Words The Work Lab,FC Road, Pune, MH, IndiaSales Manager+91-9764607607 QY Report has released a new report on the global virtual data room software market. This research report highlights current market scenarios to clearly understand the market. Focus on a few key questions facing a diverse stakeholder in the virtual data room software market. Analysts in this study report used primary and secondary research methods. It also highlights recent trends, progress, advertising and branding strategies.Virtual Data Room is a section that contains data on several factors that affect the progress of the software market. This research report provides a bird's-eye view of current trends as well as historical trends in the global virtual data room software market. Other market segments and sub-segments have been elaborated to clearly understand the market. Several industry-based technologies have been listed to increase sales in the virtual data room software segment.Key Player Included in Report:iDeals Solutions Group, Citrix Systems, SecureDocs, Safelink Data Rooms, ShareVault, CapLinked, dotloop, DataCore Software, EthosData, FTAPI Software, idrShareGet Sample Copy of Report:Apart from this, the research report offers the vital key segmentation of the market that merges on the development rate and market of Virtual Data Room Software market. The key drivers, opportunities, difficulties and the forthcoming trends of the market is well explained to the viewers for their better understanding. Similarly, its key products, end users, applications and technological details are emphasized in this report. It also examines the growth status in the regions like North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. The major difficulties that can hinder the growth of the market is also mentioned in the report.The report also uses feedbacks given by industry experts to support the present and new players in enclosing effective business policies in the upcoming years. The report has been accumulated by taking the aid of info graphics, charts and tables to present the historical data and appraised figures of the 2017.Get Discount on this Report @:A 360 degree synopsis of the competitive scenario of the Virtual Data Room Software market is presented in this report. It has an enormous data allied to the recent product and technological developments in the markets. It has a comprehensive analysis of the impact of these advancements on the markets future growth, wide-ranging analysis of these expansions on the markets future growth. The research report examines the Virtual Data Room Software market in a detailed manner by explaining the key facets of the market that are predictable to have a countable influence on its developmental predictions over the forecast period.For More Queries @: Fact.MR has announced the addition of the Sodium Chlorate Market Forecast, Trend Analysis & Competition Tracking - Global Market insights 2018 to 2028"report to their offering. Sodium Chlorate PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 11:22:21 Press Information FactMR Pune Abhishek Budholiya Marketing Manager 353-1-4434-232 email https://www.factmr.com/ # 467 Words PuneMarketing Manager353-1-4434-232 The report on the sodium chlorate market offers a detailed analysis of the market in various regions along with key-insights. The report also focuses on important factors influencing the growth of the sodium chlorate market.Some of these factors include new developments, regulations across regions, on-going research and development activities, and use of new technologies in the sodium chlorate market by manufacturers.Sodium Chlorate Market StructureThe sodium chlorate market has been segmented into application, form, end-use industry, and region. These key segments are further bifurcated into the sub-segments providing better insights of the sodium chlorate market.Request Sample Report @ www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2357 Competitive Landscape of Sodium Chlorate MarketThe report on the sodium chlorate market offers detailed profiles of the leading companies in the market. The report also provides a dashboard view of major players along with the SWOT analysis. Market share, key developments, business strategies, and product portfolio of the key players are also offered in the report on sodium chlorate market.Companies operating in the sodium chlorate market are focusing on new product launches, and mergers and acquisitions in order to expand globally. For instance, Arkema has acquired Afinitica, adhesives manufacturer in Spain. Arkema, through the acquisition, plans to stronghold its position in the adhesives market.AkzoNobel has completed the acquisition of Colourland Paints Sdn Bhd. The company plans to accelerate its development and build a strong position in Malaysia.Kemira has increased the price of all coagulant products across all the segments in the EMEA region. High freight rate and shortage of raw materials due to tight supply situation are some of the reasons for price increase in the region.Key Insights - Sodium Chlorate MarketApplications in Pulp & Paper Manufacturing Remains Traditional Growth AvenueDespite the rise in digitalization that has reduced the use of paper, the paper and pulp industry is still witnessing steady growth due to increasing use of packaging paper and tissue paper. Tissue papers including facial wipes, baby wipes, and toilet papers are used on a large scale in restaurants, offices, and households. This is driving the demand for pulp, which is further driving demand for sodium chlorate used in producing chlorine dioxide.Although chlorine dioxides use as a bleaching agent in the pulp industry has come under the scanner of growing regulations, demand has remained steady. However, to ensure compliance, end-users have started using substitutes such as hydrogen peroxide and ozone in pulp bleaching. These factors are likely to stymie demand for sodium chlorate in the future.Sensing the evolutions in end-user demand and broader focus on environmental conservation, sodium chlorate manufacturers are focusing on introducing simple, efficient, and cost-effective process for generating chlorine dioxide using sodium chlorate.Request/View Toc@ www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2357 PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 14:22:47 Press Information Future Market Insights Future Market Insights U.S. Office 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 Email: abhishek.b@futuremarketinsights.com FMI Blog: https://www.fmiblog.com/ Web: https://www.fu Abhishek Bhudholiya Manager +1-347-918-3531 email https://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 808 Words Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: abhishek.b@futuremarketinsights.comFMI Blog: https://www.fmiblog.com/Web: https://www.fuManager+1-347-918-3531 Microwave ablation devices are the advance medical devices which are used to treat different type of cancer which can also be treated by radiofrequency (RF) ablation devices. Microwave ablation devices are the ultimate option for minimally invasive surgery of soft tissue such as liver, kidney, and lung. The basic components of microwave devices include a generator, power distribution system and antennas. Majority of the component of microwave ablation device is the same as the component of RF ablation device. But microwave ablation device has several benefits over the RF ablation devices. Some of the microwave ablation devices are also compatible with the CT scanner and ultrasound scanner, which provide the option for image-guided surgery. The guided surgery with CT scanner or ultrasound scanner enables the surgeon to identify the ablation target more easily though it allows the appropriate probe placement. This image guide surgery of microwave ablation device has also improved the success rate of the surgery. During the surgery, the needle like antenna is inserted into the tumor. The tip of the antenna emits the electromagnetic radiation, which results the frictional tissue heating and causing the cell death by coagulation necrosis. Majority of the microwave ablation devices available in the market uses 915 MHz generator while few of microwave ablation devices uses 2450 MHz generator.Microwave Ablation Devices Market: Drivers and RestraintsIncreasing incidences of benign and malignant tumor of lung, liver, bone and kidney throughout the globe is the primary factor driving the growth of the microwave ablation devices market. Moreover, the rising number of tumor ablation procedure with the help of image-guided device will also propel the growth of microwave ablation devices market. Additionally, change in the lifestyle of people and unhealthy eating habit along with consumption of alcohol and tobacco is also fueling the number of cancer cases which will ultimately upsurge the growth of microwave ablation devices market. Increasing demand for minimally invasive procedures and technological advancement is also responsible for the robust growth of microwave ablation devices market throughout the forecast period. The high-cost device associated with high risk during microwave ablation procedure may also impact the sale of microwave ablation devices over the next decade. Also, the high preference of surgeon towards RF ablation device over the microwave ablation device may deter the growth of this market.Request Sample Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-7511 Microwave Ablation Devices Market: SegmentationTentatively, the global microwave ablation devices market can be segmented on the basis of component type, application, and end user, and geography.Based on component type, the global Microwave Ablation Devices market is segmented as:GeneratorPower Distribution SystemAccessoriesBased on application, the global Microwave Ablation Devices market is segmented as:OncologyCardiovascularUrologyOrthopedicOthersBased on end user, the global Microwave Ablation Devices market is segmented as:HospitalsAmbulatory Surgical CentersResearch LaboratoriesMicrowave Ablation Devices Market: OverviewMicrowave ablation devices market is expected to show significant growth over the forecast period due to rising incidence of cancer throughout the globe. According to the National Cancer Institute, around 1,685,210 new cases of cancer were diagnosed in the U.S. in 2016. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) data, in 2012, 30-50% of deaths are caused due to cancer can be prevented if the treatment is taken at the early stages. By component type, accessories segment is expected to dominate the microwave ablation device market by revenue due to rising number of tumor ablation procedure. By application, the oncology segment is expected the gain majority of share for microwave ablation devices market by revenue which is then followed by cardiovascular. Among all end users, the hospital segment is expected to dominate the microwave ablation device market whereas ambulatory surgical centers segment is projected to grow at a faster rate.Microwave Ablation Devices Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the global microwave ablation devices market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, CIS and Russia, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and the Middle East and Africa (MEA). North America is expected to gain maximum market share for microwave ablation devices market in term of revenue owing to increased incidences of cancer. After North America, microwave ablation devices market is followed by Western Europe and Japan due high health infrastructure in these regions. Asia-Pacific excluding Japan region is expected to grow at a faster rate than other regions for microwave ablation devices market due to rising geriatric population in India and China. Middle East and Africa and Latin America for microwave ablation devices market is expected show delayed growth due to lack of availability of skilled healthcare professionals in this region.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-7511 Microwave Ablation Devices Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players operating in the global Microwave Ablation Devices Market are Medtronic plc, AngioDynamics Inc, Johnson & Johnson Services Inc., MedWaves Inc, and Terumo Corporation. PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 14:24:07 Press Information Future Market Insights Future Market Insights U.S. Office 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 Email: abhishek.b@futuremarketinsights.com FMI Blog: https://www.fmiblog.com/ Web: https://www.fu Abhishek Bhudholiya Manager +1-347-918-3531 email https://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 740 Words Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: abhishek.b@futuremarketinsights.comFMI Blog: https://www.fmiblog.com/Web: https://www.fuManager+1-347-918-3531 Microplate washers are used to remove reagents from sample wells such that they can be prepared for the next process. The microplate washer dispenses wash solution into the sample wells. This is done through a series of cycles of buffer dispense and aspiration. Microplate washer follows a series of cycles to ensure that any unbound liquid is thoroughly removed and other bound substances are left within the microplate wells. The microplate washer then removes the wash solution through suction.The microplate washer is composed of a microplate work station that includes a priming tray, reservoir kit, pump module and aspiration head used for dispensing the wash solution. These microplate washers are available as automates and manual microplate washers. The manual microplate washers are designed such that they can be completely controlled by its operator, from filling the reservoir to aspiration. For the manual type of microplate the lab technician or researcher prepares a script for the timing of the activities such as dispensing, waiting, shaking and aspiration. Once the script is prepared the microplate is inserted into the microplate washer for processing. The automatic microplate washer is designed such that it can profile the microplates automatically thereby reducing human errors. The automatic microplate washers can read and interpret the size of the microplate. Some microplate washers require hardware attachments for different types of microplates. Automatic and manual microplate washers are available in two configurations, i.e., plate and strip. The plate type of microplate washer cleanses the whole microplate in a single process, while the strip type of microplate washer cleanses the microplate strip by strip.Request Sample Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-7517 Microplate washers can be used for a number of applications including cell cultures, protein assays, western blots and beads, Enzym-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), as well as for DNA purification processes. The microplate washers available in the market are compatible with microplates up to 384 wells. Up to 5 wash solutions or buffers can be dispensed or attached to the microplate washer and can dispense a range of volumes from 10 microliters to 3 milliliters.Microplate Washer Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe microplate washers market is expected to witness significant growth in the near future owing to increase in number of drug discovery research centers and clinical diagnostics, and high throughput screening application. Other factors that are expected to drive the growth of the market are increased research funding in the biotech & pharmaceutical industry along with the increasing number of service providers through private labs.Microplate Washer Market: SegmentationOn the basis of product type, the microplate washer market can be segmented as:Automated Microplate WashersManual Microplate WashersOn the basis of configuration, the microplate washer market can be segmented as:Plate ConfigurationStrip ConfigurationOn the basis of the end users, the microplate washer market can be segmented as:AcademicsHospitalsPrivate labsResearch InstitutesBiotechnology IndustryPharmaceutical IndustryMicroplate Washer Market: OverviewThe global microplate washer market is expected to gain significant growth rate over the forecast period. The demand for microplate washers is expected to gain traction over the forecast period due to increasing research in the biotechnology & pharmaceutical industries. The increasing number of private labs for research & similar services is also adding to the increased demand for the product worldwide.Microplate Washer Market: Regional OutlookIn terms of geography, the global microplate washer market is segmented into North America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Asia- Pacific excluding China & Japan (APECJ), China, Japan, Middle-East & Africa and Latin America. North America is expected to be the dominant regional market for microplate washers due to the rise in per capita expenditure on healthcare and technological advancement. Germany, France, and the U.K. are expected to the key contributing courtiers in the Western Europe market for microplate washers. The Asia Pacific excluding China and Japan microplate washer market is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period due to availability of low-cost products in the region. China is expected to be one of the major revenue contributing countries in the global microplate washer market due to the availability of cost-effective microplate washers increased healthcare funding in the region.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-7517 Microplate Washer Market: Key ParticipantsExample of some key participants in the global microplate washer market are BioTek Instruments, Molecular Devices LLC, BD Biosciences, Bio-Rad, Calbiotech, Inc, Hudson Robotics, Inc, Tecan Trading AG, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Titertek-Berthold, among others. Personal accident insurance, also known as personal injury insurance, is designed to pay out compensation if you suffer from a serious injury or death as the result of an accident. It can protect you and your family against loss of income, and help them with bills and other expenses. Life Accident Insurance Market PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 21:04:51 Press Information QYReports QYReports Jones John (Sales Manager) The Work Lab, FC Road, Pune, MH, India +91-9764607607 sales@qyreports.com www.qyreports.com Jones John Sales Manager +91-9764607607 email http://www.qyreports.com # 502 Words QYReportsJones John(Sales Manager)The Work Lab,FC Road, Pune, MH, India+91-9764607607sales@qyreports.comwww.qyreports.comSales Manager+91-9764607607 This statistical surveying report presents a comprehensive study of the global market for Life Accident Insurance by assessing the growth drivers and restraining factors at length. This detailed study of important factors assists the market participants in understanding the issues they will be facing while functioning in this market over a long period of time.Get Sample Copy of this Report@: https://www.qyreports.com/request-sample?report-id=106448 Some of the Key Players of this Market Includes:Allianz, Assicurazioni Generali, China Life Insurance, MetLife, PingAn, AXA, Sumitomo Life Insurance, Aegon, Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance, CPIC, Aviva, Munich Re Group, Zurich Financial Services, Nippon Life Insurance, Gerber Life Insurance, AIG.Different sales strategies have been elaborated to get a clear idea for getting global clients rapidly. It helps various industry experts, policymakers, business owners as well as various c level people to make informed decisions in the businesses. It includes the massive data relating to the technological advancements, trending products or services observed in the market. The major key pillars of businesses such as Life Accident Insurance are explained in a concise manner and effectively for fueling the progress of the market.Get Special Discount on this Premium Report@: https://www.qyreports.com/ask-for-discount?report-id=106448 Different attributes are considered while scrutinizing this report such as production, revenue, and capacity. The notable feature of this report is, it covers trending factors which are influencing the market shares. The report provides significant information about the prominent companies such as financial overview, specification and recent developments. Finally, the research sheds light on possible strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities that can affect the progress of global Life Accident Insurance market.Market segment by Type, the product can be split intoPersonal Injury ClaimsRoad Traffic AccidentsWork AccidentsOtherMarket segment by Application, split intoPersonalEnterpriseTo know more about Report Visit @: https://qyreports.com/enquiry-before-buying?report-id=106448 Objective of Life Accident Insurance Market Study:- To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 05 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the Global Life Accident Insurance Market .- To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth.- To analyze the Life Accident Insurance Market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc.- To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW).- To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective- To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by technologies, by applications and sub-segments.- To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market- To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the Global Life Accident Insurance Market. PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 12:15:29 The New York Auto Insurance Brokerage Firm Recently Posted a New Article that Takes an Honest Look at Driving in The Big AppleNEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / The founders of NewYorkMotorInsurance.com , a New York auto insurance brokerage firm, are pleased to announce that they have just posted a new article to their website that answers a common question: Is New York City The Worst City for Driving in America?To read the new article in its entirety, please check out https://www.newyorkmotorinsurance.com/blog/new-york-worst-city-to-drive/ As the article notes, New York definitely has a bad reputation when it comes to driving. While many people might believe this to be true, the team from New York Motor Insurance, a company that helps drivers save on their New York car insurance costs, wanted to take a closer look at the data behind this claim.From accident data and insurance information to traffic congestion, travel times and more, there are a number of factors that can accurately determine if a city is ''bad'' for driving.With these facts in mind, the founders of New York Motor Insurance researched a number of facts about driving in New York City. As they found out, New York State didn't make the Top 3 for the lowest percentage of drivers with insurance, the number of DUI arrests per 1,000 drivers and the fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.''In fact, you've got to drop all the way to number 46 on the list of worst drivers before you find the State of New York, which has a 90.6% insured rate, 2.43 DUI arrests per 1000 drivers, and 0.83 deaths per 100 million miles traveled,'' the article notes.As the article concludes, while New Yorkers have the reputation of being angry drivers who are quick to use their horn, in reality, they have probably waited a long time to travel a short distance, so they can get frustrated quite easily.''Despite all of this, New York is one of the safer places to drive but even locals will warn you to avoid driving in the city as much as possible,'' the article notes.About New York Motor Insurance:New York Motor Insurance is an auto insurance brokerage firm located in the Soho neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. In business since 2010, New York Motor Insurance has helped millions of New Yorkers save on their auto insurance costs. Please visit https://www.newyorkmotorinsurance.com today for a free insurance quote to see how much drivers can save.New York Motor Insurance154 Grand St.New York, NY 10013Contact:Drew Mackdrew@ newyorkmotorinsurance.com (347) 960-6520SOURCE: New York Motor Insurance To create an independent commission, lawmakers would have to amend the Constitution by voting on it twice with an election in between and holding a voter referendum. The first General Assembly vote would have to take place this year for the commission to become a reality in 2021, when new lines are drawn based on new Census data. PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 07:33:33 Press Information Future Market Insights Contact Us Future Market Insights 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com Vaibhav SEO 3479183531 email https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ # 667 Words Contact UsFuture Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO3479183531 Sprayers are devices that used to apply pesticides, insecticides on plants to control pastes and diseases. Sprayers are also use to apply herbicides to control weeds and micronutrients to promote growth of plants. The sprayers breaks the chemical solution into fine droplets and distribute the insecticides uniformly over the plant. A good sprayer should produce steady stream of liquid in desired droplet size so that plants to be treat get covered uniformly. The sprayer should convey adequate pressure so that sprayer should reach all foliage over the plant. The sprayer are operated manually as well as by power.A sample of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1366 Crop Sprayers Market: Drivers & RestraintsFood drives the world. In addition to clean water, acquire sufficient food is major concern for majority of peoples in the world which makes the agriculture one of the biggest and important industry in the world. Agricultural productivity is not only the prime factor for countries economy but also for the health and security of its population. So importance of agricultural in countries economy is major driving factor for crop sprayer market.Population explosion, increasing incomes, declined natural sources and changing climate conditions affected food prices to rise and agricultural productivity once again become a major concern. Strategies to increase food productivity imparts the use of technology in agriculture. Such strategies will helps to drive crop sprayers market.Green revolution have changed the concept of traditional farming. Extensive efforts to modify farming methods assisted to increase the food production in Asia Pacific and Latin America. There are some regions in Middle East and Africa where many effort were taken to apply the green revolution approaches but failed. So there is need to help the farmers to use farming equipment in farming. Farmers in undeveloped countries does not have disposable income to use modern techniques in farming. So there is need of government initiatives to assist the farmers.Crop Sprayers Market: Market SegmentationCrop sprayers market can be segmented on the basis of Capacity of SprayersUltra Low Volume Sprayers (less than 5liters/hectare)Low Volume Sprayers(5 to 400 liters/hectare)Manually OperatedKnapsack SprayersRocker SprayersPedal Operated SprayersStirrup SprayersPower Driven SprayersKnapsack Power SprayersHigh Volume Sprayers(More than 400 liters/ hectare)Self-Propelled SprayersMounted SprayersTrailed SprayersCrop Sprayers Market: Regional-OutlookThe global Crop Sprayers market has been divided into seven key geographical regions which includes, North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. Asia Pacific will be dominating market for Crop Sprayers. Countries like India, China, and Indonesia are major agricultural promoting countries in Asia Pacific. There will be demand for Low volume sprayers in India as there is farming in small plots. Farming land in India is bisected. China and Indonesia will demand High volume sprayers. Asia Pacific is followed by North America. North America is major producer of wheat, corn and soybean. Latin America is also the lucrative market for crop sprayers market. Green revolution have lead the Latin America as prime agriculture region. Brazil and Mexico will be important countries for Crop sprayers market. Western Europe also contributes for Crop sprayers market. Germany and Netherlands. Netherlands is one of the prominent producer of vegetables and flowers. Eastern Europe also important market for Crop Sprayers. Middle East and Africa is lags behind in Agriculture. But countries like Israel, South Africa, and Nigeria have proved the development in Agriculture. So there is opportunity to expand the crop sprayers market in this region.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1366 Crop Sprayers Market: Key playersSome of the identified players in the global Crop Sprayers market are,Chafer Machinery GroupHousehamJohn Rhodes AS limitedBoston Crop SprayersCleveland crop sprayers limitedAvison SprayersS & K sprayersFoggers India Pvt ltd.ASPEE IndiaCrystal Crop Protection Pvt LtdTaizhou Sunny Agricultural Machinery Co., Ltd.,Zhejiang Ousen Machinery Co., Ltd. Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Gasoline Turbochargers Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2016-2026" report to their offering. Gasoline Turbochargers Market PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 06:50:11 Gasoline Turbochargers is expected to unlock the potential of market due to cutting-edge technologies in turbocharger market. Which enables spur new opportunities to market players involved in turbochargers business. Gasoline Turbocharger is a device which increases internal combustion of engines efficiency and power out -put by forcing extra air in to the combustion chamber. The performance of an engine can be enhanced by addition of turbocharger. It enables compress the air and more oxygen flows in to the combustion chamber. According to fuel the power output of an engine increases. Turbochargers can shape the characteristics of engine and it effects engines economy, emission characteristics. Gasoline Turbochargers used for synergy effects, and it is mostly used in commercial vehicle sector.The fuel economy can be increased with turbochargers by maintains a specific torque and power density. Whilst maintaining the vehicles performance. The turbo charging standard technology used to boost the engines. However, waste gate controlled turbines have standard for gasoline turbochargers. The technological advancements and innovations in the gasoline turbochargers creates new opportunities for the companies which are striving in Gasoline Turbochargers industry across the globe. Global Gasoline Turbochargers market is expected to exhibit a significant CAGR as well as annual growth over the forecast period.Request to Sample of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1554 Gasoline Turbochargers Market: Drivers and restraintsGlobal Gasoline Turbochargers market can be influenced by following factors, Gasoline Turbochargers gaining importance across the globe due to increasing trend of emission reduction along with increased engine economy. Increased awareness among the people regarding the innovative technologies which enables drive the global gasoline turbochargers market. Growing disposable income of consumers in advanced countries is expected to boost the Gasoline Turbochargers Market. This, in turn, would lead to increase in demand for gasoline turbo charger. The high quality of turbocharges offeres at affordable price is major roadblock for market.Gasoline Turbochargers Market: SegmentationGlobal Gasoline Turbochargers Market can be segmented as following typesBy Vehicle TypePassenger CarLow Commercial Vehicle (LCV)High Commercial Vehicle (HCV)By TechnologyVariable Geometry Turbo Chargers (VGT/VNT)Waste Gate Turbo ChargersTwin Turbo ChargersGasoline Turbochargers Market: OverviewGlobal Gasoline Turbochargers market is rapidly evolving across the globe due to increased awareness among automobile industry as well as people. Which enables change the trend towards advanced and novel technologies in Gasoline Turbochargers market. Technological advancements in the Gasoline Turbochargers market enables make significant changes in the market. The global Gasoline Turbochargers market expected to account for significant CAGR and witnessed for lucrative market over the forecast period.Gasoline Turbochargers Market: Region-Wise OutlookGlobal market is segmented into seven key regions: Those are North America, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Asia pacific excluding japan, Japan, Middle East and Africa.North America region is accounted for majority of the market share due to increased awareness among the people towards the innovative technologies followed by Europe and Asia. Asia-Pacific region, which includes the greater China, India, Japan, Korea are fastest growing economies across the globe. Japan and China is leading in automobile industry, which enables offers majority of market share in Asia-Pacific region. However, Gasoline Turbochargers market in Asia-Pacific region becoming matured. Asia-Pacific region market is considered to rapidly evolving infrastructure, is witnessed for create robust opportunities for Gasoline Turbochargers market.Request Report for TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1554 Gasoline Turbochargers Market: Key playersSome of the key players are Honeywell International, Inc., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Turbo Energy Private Limited, Ningbo Weifu Tianli Turbocharging Technology Co., Ltd., Bosch Mahle Turbo Systems, Eaton Corporation Plc, Continental AG, Borg Warner Turbo Systems. PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 13:21:33 ATLANTA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / Findit, Inc., a Nevada corporation trading on the OTC PINK: FDIT, owns and operates the website Findit.com , prepares to launch newly revised Native App in Android and IOS through Google Play Store and Apple App Store.The App will be available in the near future with newly revised features for members and visitors to benefit from. The revised app will provide anyone who wants to download the App the option of joining Findit or not joining but being able to view the content that is being posted by Findit members.Raymond Firth, "There is growing concern among people using social networking platforms that their personal, private information is not safe with these platforms. This fear is very real in light of recent disclosures that this data was sold to, or shared with third parties. Findit is a safe alternative that allows people to view content without having to create an account. It is only necessary to create an account when someone wants to post their own Right Now messages, or like and comment on Right Now posts from other members. We believe that this makes Findit a much more valuable platform that enables members to reach a wider audience beyond only those who are followers." Findit currently has the App available in both IOS and Android that allows members to post to the Findit App that then pushes those posts to the website Findit. From the website, all content currently can be crawled and indexed in Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines, because signing in is not required. This is a very large advantage to members that are looking to increase their organic indexing in search engines. The other popular feature that is enabled on Findit is the sharing capabilities from each post to other extremely popular social networking sites that include but are not limited to Facebook, Twitter, LinkeIN, Pinterest and Google. The New App launch will provide members privacy sharing options that allows members to select if they want their posts to be: public, only to their followers or to the followers and people following them or to be private. By adding this feature in the New App launch we can provide members on Snapchat (SNAP), Facebook (FB), Instagram (FB) and Twitter settings that exist on those sites to Findit members.Below are posts that have been done from the new native app in Android beta test mode. The images below link to the live feed on the Findit website. These posts have been and can be shared to other social networking sites and indexed in search engines.Clark St. Amant stated, "By adding privacy settings, Findit will be able to attract multiple generations of online users looking to take advantage of the multiple settings Findit is building out to appeal to most, if not everyone, that wants to participate on social but want more controls over the content they are posting. Moreover, Findit will be able to attract those looking for an alternative site due to data being sold or given away to third parties on these other social networking sites." Findit Native App Features Allow Posts to Include:Pictures - Each post can include unlimited pictures. Each picture can be titled for indexing purposes in Findit search and Google as well as other search engines that index images. When the title feature is used from the App, Google will use the title to index the picture accordingly in search results.Video - 2 types of videos can be included in posts. The options include a video from Youtube, where the Findit member will paste the link/url into the post. The other video option is a 10 second video shot from the member's device. At the time of the first roll-out, you will not be able to include both types of video in one post, but this may be added later.Link - Each post done through the Findit App can include a link for members to drive traffic to an outside website.Privacy Settings - Members will be able to set posts to certain settings to either have the post available to everyone, including Google to crawl along with other search engines for indexing in search results in addition to Findit. Members can also select to share posts to Followers or Followers and Following members.Scheduling - Posts can be scheduled out or be posted immediately.Possible Features In First Phase:- Location setting to designate in the post where the post was done from.- API to share from the App directly to other social networking sites that could include, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterests and others.Anyone who downloads the App will also be able to view posts that are done through www.findit.com . These posts currently can include Audio files, and pull in News Releases that were submitted through Findit's News and Press Release social networking distribution service. The website also provides sharing to other social networking sites now.With the inclusion of the sharing from Findit to other very popular social sites and the openness of the content posted to Findit, the reach of each post on Findit goes beyond your friends and followers if you want it to. This is an efficient way to widen your audience as an influencer, business, church, politician, artist, celebrity, athlete and individual.Giving search engines the ability to crawl the content posted and allowing anyone member or non member to view content and have the option to share the content they view is a unique feature that Findit offers when compared to certain other social networking sites.Findit currently shows ads on www.findit.com and will be looking to show ads in the App as a revenue stream. Findit will also make available Findit Vanity URLs to all members on Findit. A Vanity URL is a unique URL for a member on Findit that is an extension of Findit.com . Some members on Findit currently own multiple Vanity URLs. Vanity URLs are currently available online at for $7.95 annually. People can reserve their Vanity URLs now. Vanity URLs, when searched in Findit, do index higher in search results in Findit and Google along with other search engines can crawl them. Findit also offers paid for press release distribution through Findit.Below Is Information On Current Users To The Sites ListedFacebookAs of 9:46 a.m. E.S.T. on February 8th, 2019 - Source Yahoo FinanceWorldwide, there are over 2.32 billion monthly active users (MAU) as of December 31, 2018. This is a 9 percent increase in Facebook MAUs year over year. This is compared to 2.27 billion MAUs for Q3 2018. (Source: Facebook 1/30/19) Facebook is simply too big to ignore as an o On the basis of geography, the global ELISA POT Assay Kits market is segmented into eight key regions, namely North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Asia Pacific excluding China, and Japan, China, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. ELISA POT Assay Kits Market PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 13:07:44 Press Information Future Market Insights Future Market Insights U.S. Office 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Web: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com Umesh SEO Manager 3479183531 email https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ # 684 Words Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO Manager3479183531 Proton dependent oligopeptide transporter (POT) proteins is a family of proteins that is also known as the peptide transport (PTR) protein family. These are made up of energy-dependent transporter proteins that are commonly found in bacteria and humans. These POT proteins are nitrate permease and have the ability to transport histidine and peptides. ELISA stands for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. These assays are plate based and are used for quantification and detection of a number of substances including peptides, proteins, antibodies and hormones. The ELISA POT assay kits are ELISA based assay kits used to quantify and identify POT proteins and its ligands. Some of the human proteins used in the ELISA POT assay kits include SLC15A1, SLC15A2, SLC15A4 and others. The use of ELISA POT assay kits have a number of applications and can be potentially used for design and delivery of drugs. The ELISA POT assay kits can also be used for pharmacokinetic studies as well.ELISA POT Assay Kits Market: Drivers and RestraintsIncrease in research and development of drugs in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industry is one of the major factor driving the growth of the market significantly. Currently trend in the research using ELISA POT assay kits is to study the interaction of proteins in different species. Increasing research funding and investment by pharmaceutical companies for research also are expected to support the growth of the ELISA POT assay kits market. However, complexity of the proteins and the interaction mechanism have restricted the growth of the ELISA POT Assay Kits market.Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8024 ELISA POT Assay Kits Market: SegmentationThe global ELISA POT Assay Kits market is segmented by protein type, end user and region:Based on protein type, the global ELISA POT Assay Kits market is segmented into:SLC15A1 ELISA POT Assay KitsSLC15A2 ELISA POT Assay KitsSLC15A4 ELISA POT Assay KitsOther ELISA POT Assay KitsBased on end user, the global ELISA POT Assay Kits market is segmented into:Pharmaceutical & Biotech CompaniesIndependent research labsAcademic & Research InstitutionsELISA POT Assay Kits Market: OverviewELISA POT Assay Kits market is anticipated to grow with a significant growth rate over the forecast period 2018-2028. ELISA POT Assay Kits are generally in research and development for designing drugs and in drug delivery studies. ELISA POT Assay Kits generally are available with the different type of POT proteins including SLC15A1, SLC15A2, SLC15A4 and others. These form of ELISA POT Assay Kits are also available for different species proteins. Based on the end user, ELISA POT Assay Kits market is segmented into pharmaceutical and biotech companies, independent research labs and academic & research institutes.ELISA POT Assay Kits Market: Regional OutlookOn the basis of geography, the global ELISA POT Assay Kits market is segmented into eight key regions, namely North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Asia Pacific excluding China, and Japan, China, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. The ELISA POT Assay Kits market in North America is expected to hold maximum market share in the global ELISA POT Assay Kits market owing to the flourishing pharmaceutical industry in the region. ELISA POT Assay Kits market in Asia Pacific is anticipated to grow at a rapid pace with the maximum CAGR over the forecast period due to strong and evolving government support towards the benefit of the pharmaceutical industry in the region. However, the ELISA POT Assay Kits market in low middle-income countries like Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa is anticipated to show a slow growth over the forecast period due to restricted research budget and funding.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-8024 ELISA POT Assay Kits Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in the global ELISA POT Assay Kits market are MyBioSource.com , Bio-Equip, antibodies-online, Aviva Systems Biology, Biorbyt, GenWay Biotech, Inc., and others. The ELISA POT assay kits market is fragmented market with a number of players in China and U.S. dominating the global ELISA POT assay kits market. PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 09:20:07 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / Doubleview Capital Corp. ("Doubleview") (TSX-V: DBV, FRANKFURT: 1D4, OTC: DBLVF) is pleased to announce that an 88 km airborne VTEMTM geophysical field survey has been completed at its Red Spring copper-silver-zinc-gold property located north of Smithers, British Columbia.MuchoCobre Resources Ltd. ("MuchoCobre") holds an option to acquire a 60% interest in the Red Spring property and has contracted Geotech Airborne Geophysical Surveys ("Geotech") of Aurora, Ontario to complete a detailed helicopter-borne Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetic (VTEM) and Aeromagnetic geophysical survey of the property. The physical 88 km line survey has been completed and data will be processed by Geotech technical team. The joint geological team of Doubleview and MuchoCobre will conduct geological interpretations.The geophysical information will supplement the existing database and guide further exploration, including drilling. Doubleview has been granted a multi-year area-based permit to establish a temporary camp and 20 diamond drill sites.Doubleview's Red Spring property, located 120 km north of Smithers, British Columbia, is a "red bed" type copper-silver-zinc-gold deposit hosted by carbonate-rich horizons interbedded in mixed sedimentary and volcanic strata. Since 2012 Doubleview has conducted a series of geological and geochemical surveys of the property and has outlined 1800 metres by 850 metres mineralization target area of copper, silver, zinc and gold, where historic shallow drill holes intersected strong copper and silver values, including 0.54% copper and 0.61 oz/t silver over 136 feet.Qualified PersonErik A. Ostensoe, P. Geo., a consulting geologist and Doubleview's Qualified Person with respect to the Hat Project as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release. He is not independent of Doubleview as he is a shareholder, holds a small NSR interest in the Hat Project and co-vendor of the Red Spring Property.About Doubleview Capital Corp.Doubleview Capital Corp., a mineral resource exploration and development company, is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and is publicly traded on the TSX-Venture Exchange [TSX-V: DBV], [OTCBB: DBLVF], [GER: A1W038], [Frankfurt: 1D4]. Doubleview identifies, acquires and finances precious and base metal exploration projects in North America, particularly in British Columbia. Doubleview's flagship the Hat Gold-Copper Property has an Option Agreement with Hudbay Minerals Inc. who is carrying out exploration to further the project towards a feasibility study and to earn a cumulative interest of 65%.On behalf of the Board of Directors,Farshad Shirvani, President & Chief Executive OfficerFor further information please contact:Doubleview Capital Corp.409 Granville St., Suite #880Vancouver, BC V6C 1T2Farshad Shirvani, President & CEOT: (604) 678-9587E: corporate@ doubleview.ca Forward-Looking StatementsInformation 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. Doubleview 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 Doubleview's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to Doubleview's limited operating history and the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Doubleview undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.SOURCE: Doubleview Capital Corp. Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor Market PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 13:23:38 Press Information Future Market Insights Future Market Insights U.S. Office 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Web: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com Umesh SEO Manager 3479183531 email https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ # 595 Words Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO Manager3479183531 Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor function as tumor suppressor proteins by inhibiting the enzyme cyclin-dependent kinase. The enzyme cyclin-dependent kinase controls cell cycle progression, transcription, mRNA processing, and differentiation. Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor arrest cell cycle at the G1 phase leading to mitosis. Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors are employed in the treatment of cancers by preventing over proliferation of cancer cells. Cyclin-dependent kinase are very active in most cancers which is rational to the use of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor as anti-cancer agents.Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe growing demand generated due to increasing incidence of cancers owing to increasing exposure to risk factors such as carcinogens, sedentary lifestyles, substance abuse, pollution and others is driving a large market. According to the national cancer institute, prostate cancer accounted for 164,690 new cases in 2018 accounting for 9.5 % of all new cancer cases. The American Cancer Societys estimates that about 63,340 new cases of kidney cancer are likely to occur in the United States in 2018. The estimates for bladder cancer are about 81,190 new cases likely to occur in the United States in 2018. The growing geriatric population provides a strong impulse for the growth of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor market. The number of people aged 60 years or older is expected to rise from 900 million to 2 billion between 2015 and 2050, representing a growth from 12% to 22% of the total global population, according to recent World Health Organization report. Thus a large cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor market is well evident even to an untrained eye.Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8708 A strong developmental pipeline is another driver of the market. There are more than 10 cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors under clinical trials of which Trilaciclib shows great promise.However the constraints such as high cost of treatment, and nascent stage of technology owing to poor understanding of cell cycle is hampering the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor market. The poor selectivity of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor is another hindrance to their adoption.Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor Market: SegmentationTo gain a birds eye view of the global cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor market, the report is segmented on the spectrum, valve type, and region.Based on the spectrum, the global cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor market can be segmented as,Broad CDK inhibitorsSpecific CDK inhibitorsMultiple target inhibitorsBased on the formulation, the global Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor market can be segmented as,InhaledTabletLiquidInjectableCyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor Market: Regional Wise OutlookThe global cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor market can be classified into the following region: North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan, Middle East and Africa. North America, led by the U.S., is expected to drive the largest market share owing to the large incidence of cancer, attractive reimbursement large healthcare expenditure, and large per capita income.The Asia Pacific cyclin-dependent kinase Inhibitor market excluding Japan is projected to expand and dominate the scene in the near future, owing to the growing healthcare.China and India are anticipated to account for the major share of the Asia Pacific cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor market growth. Germany, France and the U.K., are projected to be the largest drivers of the Europe cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor market. The Middle East and Africa cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor market is anticipated to be dominated by the gulf economies of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and Qatar.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-8708 Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor Market: Market ParticipantsSome of the major vendors operating in the global cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor market are Eli Lilly and Company, Pfizer Inc., Novartis, Astex Pharmaceuticals, Merck KGaA, R&D Systems, Inc. and others. Cup Carrier Packaging Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012 2016 and Opportunity Assessment; 2017 2027 fmi PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 11:26:28 To meet the need of the busy lifestyle, big cities around the world have relied on the innovation of cup carrier disposable packaging products. Cup carrier packaging is a significant part of the foodservice industry catering to its consumers across the continents. It has a wide application for serving beverages such as tea, coffee, soft drinks to consumers all around the world. Cup carriers are used to carry and consume the beverages conveniently irrespective of it being hot or cold. Cup carriers have eased on the go consumption of beverages. Cup carriers have allowed people to consume beverages while driving, watching a movie and other days to day activities.Request to Sample of Report @Cup Carrier Packaging Market: Market DynamicsCup carrier packaging market is a significant part of the beverage packaging market. Beverage packaging industry is estimated to be over US$ 100 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4% over the forecast period. With the expansion of beverage industry, the application of the cup carrier in foodservice activities is set to increase while influencing the cup carrier packaging market. The presence of large number of tea and coffee consumers is expected to fuel the demand for cup carrier packaging market over the forecast period. The increasing number of working professionals especially in APEJ region has increased on the go consumption of beverages which may boost the cup carrier packaging market over the forecast period. New designs and innovations in packaging industry have insured further growth in the cup carrier packaging market by using eco-friendly material for manufacturing of cup carrier. Cup carrier manufactured from eco-friendly or recyclable material is a sustainable form of packaging which is 100% compostable. On the backdrop of an upsurge in beverage packaging industry and convenience offered, the cup carrier packaging market is expected to move witness expansion.Request Report for Table of Contents @Cup Carrier Packaging Market- Key Players:Some major players in the cup carrier packaging market are Southern Champion Tray Co, Cellulopack, The Brenmar Company, The Paper Cup Company. Pty Ltd., 3M Company, P4CK Limited, Active Difference Ltd, Hangzhou Longquan Industrial Co., Ltd, The VaioPak Group, Colpac Ltd, E-Package Creation & Solution Manufacturing Corp., Shenzhen CyGedin Printing & Packaging Co., Ltd., Qingyuan Best Strong Import & Export Co., Ltd. The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to categories such as market segments, geographies, type of product and applications.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 @ PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 11:29:16 Press Information Persistence Market Research CONTACT: Persistence Market Research 305 Broadway 7th Floor, New York City, NY 10007, United States, USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353 Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com Web: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com yogesh Seggar Team Lead 8009610353 email http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com # 673 Words CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.comTeam Lead8009610353 With the advancing electronics and semiconductors industry, the demand for cold plasma (CP) has been on the rise. While the demand for applications such as coating and finishing, surface treatment, adhesion, and etching, associated with printed circuit boards (PCBs) is soaring, the market for cold plasma is also expected to benefit from a slew of applications arising in other end use industries. Moreover, increasing applications in food safety will also push the market for cold plasma further, over the next few years. As depicted in a recent research report published by Persistence Market Research (PMR), the US$ 1.4 Bn global cold plasma market is presumed to observe stellar growth over an eight-year projection period. Between 2018 and 2026, the cold plasma market will possibly expand at a CAGR of 16.3%, as indicated by PMRs global cold plasma market report.The potential applications of cold plasma technology traverse a wide range, including the extension of product shelf-life and environmental sustainability. Such applications have been attracting the scientific community towards cold plasma research, over the years. The CP technique has already been proven to be an economic and environment-friendly technology in the textile industry. Textile companies are increasingly adopting cold plasma technique in an effort to deliver improved textile finishing.Request Sample Report@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/17053 Cold Plasma Technology Soon to Transform Wound Treatment SpaceWhile cold plasma applications in sterilization and disinfection are currently accounting for maximum revenue in the cold plasma market, rapidly emerging applications in wound healing and adhesion will reportedly create lucrative opportunities for stakeholders.Coldplasmatech GmbH, a German company, is looking forward to introduce a novel CP technology that could potentially revolutionize the wound care treatment platform, especially in emergency rooms in hospitals. The CP technology involves a patch of cold plasma made of silicone (as a part of the wound dressing), which can be used in treatment of chronic wound infections with the help of UV radiations and ions. This technology is presumed to provide a high-tech, efficient alternative to antibiotics, considering its ability to accelerate the wound healing process. If the trials based on the application of the cold plasma technology in faster wound healing deliver convincing and viable results, industry experts predict that the CP technology could become a widespread method for treatment of chronic wounds and infection, in near future.Cold Plasma Technology to Win Preference over Conventional Processing TechnologiesAmong all end use industries generating demand for cold plasma, electronics and semiconductors are foreseen to reign supreme. Whereas, rising demand for cold plasma is expected to uplift the prospects for cold plasma in food processing and packaging, and plastics and polymers industries.Advanced cold plasma technology is being widely used in the in-package decontamination of fresh foods. Shelf-life extension will also remain a key objective of fresh food industry participants, using cold plasma as a unit technology. With successful trials of the regulation of contaminants mediated by cold plasma, the applications of cold plasma in agriculture sector are expected to surge in near future. Additionally, research shows that it is possible to degrade the chemical residues of pesticides to relatively lesser toxic and safer structures, by using cold plasma. It also offers an excellent alternative to conventional fertilizers and pesticides.Request Report TOC@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/17053 As far as the processed and packaged food industry is concerned, cold plasma has been proven to hold immense potential as a safe and eco-friendly alternative to traditionally used chemical processes. Moreover, it is considered as a novel non-thermal technology for processing of foods, especially fruits and vegetables, and poultry and meat prominently attributed to the non-thermal nature, versatile design, and economic pricing of cold plasma. Research findings also confirm that cold plasma treatment poses no or minimal impact on a products chemical, physical, sensory, and nutritional attributes. However, it still remains to be seen whether cold plasma processing will completely replace the traditionally used processing technologies, as the research outcome is still in the pipeline and demands more extensive research in order to reach its potential. PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 10:58:41 Calcium gluconate is a mineral supplement which is prepared by the neutralization of gluconic acid with lime or calcium carbonate. It is listed as one of the essential medicines on WHOs list of essential medicine. Calcium gluconate is used to treat conditions arising from calcium deficiencies such as hypocalcaemia tetany, hypocalcemia related to hyperparathyroidism and hypocalcaemia due to rapid growth or pregnancy. Apart from being an active ingredient in medicines, calcium gluconate finds its application in various food products as a nutrient supplement. It is a used as a source of calcium, in a variety of food & beverage products, such as; milk, soft drinks, juices, bottled waters, dairy products, soy products, baked goods, and confectionery.Calcium Gluconate Market: Drivers & RestraintsGlobal calcium gluconate market is expected to grow owing to increasing demand from end-use industries such as pharmaceuticaland food & beverages. Sunrise industries like the nutraceutical industry has also largely impacted the global calcium gluconate market, as it finds itself as major ingredient in multiple calcium based health supplements. Increase in the demand for health supplements from the health conscious consumers has largely driven this market globally. More than 75% of Americans are calcium deficient, and more than one in 10 Americans either has, or is at risk of developing, osteoporosis or other bone diseases. This fact is also acting as a driver for the global calcium gluconate market in that region. The segment is anticipated to witness above average growth on account of increasing use of health supplements in developed countries for over the last few years and trend is likely to continue over the forecast period.Request Report Sample @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1275 Excessive intake of calcium gluconate may lead to various side effects such as nausea, constipationand stomachupset. Rapid intravenous injections of calcium gluconate may cause hypercalcaemia, which can result in vasodilation, cardiac arrhythmias, decreased blood pressure, and bradycardia. This has proven to be a major restraint for this market.Calcium Gluconate Market:SegmentationThe global calcium gluconate market can be broadly segmented on the basis of end use, application, and form available. On the basis of end use, the market can be further segmented into; bulking agent, emulsifier, and thickening agent. On the basis of application, the global calcium gluconate market can be bifurcated into pharmaceuticals, food & beverages, and nutraceuticals. Commercially, calcium gluconate is available in three major form, i.e. gum, liquid, and powder.Calcium Gluconate Market:Region Wise OutlookGeographically, the calcium gluconatemarket is segmented into seven regions which are ; North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Japan.Asia Pacific region is anticipated to witness high growth on account of increasing demand from end-use industries. In addition, increased government spending on infrastructure development is likely fuel market growth over the next six years.Request For TOC@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1275 Calcium Gluconate Market: Key PlayersSome of the major global key players in this segments are; Aaron Industries, Inc. American Biorganics, Inc, AKZO Nobel Chemicals Inc, Alfa Aesar, Coyne Chemical , Glucona America, Inc, PMP Fermentation Products, Inc, Noah Technologies Corporation, Westco Chemicals Inc, Mallinckrodt Inc., Spectrum Bulk Chemicals. These companies are developing market strategies such as mergers and acquisitions, Joint Venture, New product development and Expansion to increase their market share in Global Functional Beverages Market. Apart from these big firms, there are multiple new entrants in the market. PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 12:30:24 Visitors to the Boss North SEO Website Can Receive the SEO Website Analysis at No Cost By Clicking on the Facebook Messenger BotMONTREAL, QC / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / The founders of Boss North SEO, a Montreal SEO company, are pleased to announce that they are now offering a free SEO website analysis to visitors to their website. The complimentary analysis is available through Boss North SEO's BossBot Facebook messenger bot.To learn more about Boss North SEO and the search engine optimization service that they offer throughout Montreal, Quebec, please visit https://bossnorthseo.com/montreal-search-engine-optimization/ As a company spokesperson noted, the founders of Boss North SEO know that while many businesses have websites, they may not be attracting as many customers as they would like through organic search. This inspired them to offer a free SEO website analysis through the user-friendly BossBot. Visitors to the site can simply click on the ''Free Website Analysis'' button on the site.After receiving the complimentary SEO website analysis, online business owners are more than welcome to reach out to the friendly and experienced team from Boss North SEO for assistance.''Our team of SEO specialists work with small businesses that want more search traffic to their businesses, and are ready to propel their websites to the top of Google for keywords that get anywhere from hundreds to thousands of searches per month,'' the spokesperson noted, adding that from Laval to Longueuil and the surrounding area, the team at Boss North SEO is proud to be Montreal's trusted SEO company for local businesses looking to climb to the top of the search engine rankings.For company owners who are unsure how or why search engine optimization is so important, the team from Boss North SEO is ready and able to help. They understand how nearly every business would like to see an increase in customers, and they are able to help propel their clients' website rankings into the top results on Google.''Our team can deliver results, with over 10 years of experience in the digital marketing space using SEO to rank our own businesses online as well as those of our clients,'' the spokesperson noted.About Boss North SEO:Boss North SEO is a digital marketing agency based in Montreal, Quebec. Since 2016 they have been working with local businesses small and large to build their businesses online. They offer a range of specialized services including SEO, web design, social media marketing, and Facebook messenger bots among others. For more information, please visit https://bossnorthseo.com/ Contact:Bob Nelsonbob@ bossnorthseo.com 1-514-700-2065SOURCE: Boss North SEO Its a broad thing that students have to look at, said Kevin Kempton, Game Changing Development program element manager at Langley. They have to look at mass, they have to look at power. Crop selection was a really fun part of the proposals that we got. Not just crop selections, but some of them had proposed aquaponics and insects, earthworms and algae reactors, and a lot of really interesting things. PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 16:33:20 PRINCE GEORGE, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / Barker Minerals Ltd. ("BML" on TSX/V) Barker Minerals Ltd. is dedicated to the business of mineral exploration and has been pursuing various strategies to create value for shareholders. Barker's management appreciates the ongoing support, patience and understanding of loyal shareholders and associates. Management continues to work diligently within its means to advance the business of Barker Minerals and its 100% owned stable of mineral properties with excellent access and infrastructure.Prospect Generator ActivityIn 2018, Barker continued business development through discussions with potential global partners, developed and cultivated important contacts with the mining and investment communities as well as with individual investors.Barker continues entertaining possible partnerships with entities such as mentioned in the BM-18-241 news release. To date, no agreements have been reached, although discussions are ongoing. Should discussions advance to the Letter of Intent stage, (LOI) it will be reported at that time. Barker continues to search out potential partners and invites interested companies to contact it to cultivate a creative deal or partnership on one, or more, of its high potential projects in the world class Cariboo Gold district.Over the past two decades, Barker has systematically and methodically gathered geological, geochemical and geophysical information over target areas on multiple projects. Through this extensive ongoing grassroots program and initial exploratory drilling, Barker has successfully advanced numerous projects through the exploration stage to the important drill testing stage where partners are now being sought to earn interest in project areas.Projects now at the exploration drill stage with recommended 43-101 budgets include: the Simlock, Kangaroo, Ace and Mag Gold projects; the Cariboo Zinc/Lead/Silver project and the highly potential Frank Creek Kuroko style copper/zinc/lead/silver/gold VMS project. The Company's Tasse Diamond potential project has accessible targets identified on logging access roads where significant diamond indicator minerals have been identified and reported in previous programs.Summaries will be forthcoming in subsequent news releases of the above-mentioned projects as the Company moves to create heightened awareness of the potential of the district and its wide variety of mineral deposit types. With the building interest over the recent past in the Cariboo district, it is anticipated that as partnerships and deals are completed, Barker will be looking forward to the future development of this mineral rich region. Barker anticipates the advancement by partners of their projects, other companies exploring and operating in the district and independent academic studies and follow up of successful geological and airborne geophysical surveys completed by Provincial, British Columbia Geological Survey (BCGS) and Federal Government Geological Survey of Canada (GSC).Cariboo District ActivityAs Barker continues to push forward, it is important to take note of the recent results of our neighbors and peers: Barkerville Gold Mines, and Spanish Mountain Gold. Both are actively increasing the amount of gold on their properties through extensive drilling programs. Details on the progress of these projects can be viewed on their prospective websites or SEDAR. Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd. owns "one of the most well-endowed land packages in British Columbia" with their multi-million ounce gold Cariboo Gold Project mineral tenures covering +2,000 square kilometres along a strike length of 67 kilometres.Barker Minerals shares a common boundary with a number of adjacent projects such as Kangaroo, Rollie, Keithly, Weaver and Simlock Gold project areas. It is believed the trends through Barkerville Gold's properties extends through to Barker's project areas. This conclusion is supported by Barker's work to date and through Government and independent expert studies. The Barkerville gold trends extending south into Barker's projects is further supported by the fact Barker was previously approached a couple of years ago, by Barkerville Gold, to consider selling approximately 80% of Barker's project areas. Terms and conditions could not be agreed upon at the time and no discussions have occurred between the two companies since then.Barker is pleased to see Barkerville Gold increasing ounces through drilling, generating near-term cash flow, training local work force, and feeding the QR mill that can be accessed by an all-season road which is fueling economic activity and creating awareness of the local area.Spanish Mountain Gold Ltd., is also in the process of revising the economics of their flagship multi-million ounce gold project. The activities at Spanish Mountain are also very helpful in globally highlighting the opportunities in the Cariboo mining district. Barker's Black Bear project also shares a common boundary with Spanish Mountain.Barker is finding that recently there is more of a global audience paying attention to the progress of the developments in the historic Cariboo Gold District.FairSharesThere have been recent encouraging developments through efforts of the FairShares movement to create awareness of the fraud and illegal activities carried on in the Canadian marketplace. Please visit Fair Shares website http://fairshares.ca/ to learn more about their petition: "Canadian retail investors are being defrauded."Barker agrees with the petition which highlights aspects of High-Frequency Trading and Failures to Deliver (FTD), also known as Naked Shorting.Please take the time to sign the petition and pass it on to others who are concerned about creating a transparent trading and settlement system in the marketplace.Barker is grateful to see increased discussion of this controversial, illegal, extremely important, harmful and fraudulent activity. The timing for dealing with this is long past overdue. Barker management is engaging with organizers of FairShares to highlight issues of irregular trading and settlement patterns indicative of "settlement failures" or "delayed settlements".In fact, Barker encourages the use of the Pro Long System (PLS) by other companies for collection and compilation of trading and settlement data for early detection of irregular trading and settlement patterns indicative of failures. Barker has been down this road before with formal complaints made to IIROC and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) as advised Research Report Insights PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 17:39:13 Press Information Research Report Insights Research Report Insights 42 joseph street, Portcarling P0B 1J0, Muskoka, Ontario T: +1-631-721-4201 Vikas Bahurupi Manager 6317214201 email https://www.researchreportinsights.com # 492 Words Research Report Insights42 joseph street,Portcarling P0B 1J0,Muskoka, OntarioT: +1-631-721-4201Manager6317214201 ASEAN Automotive Aftermarket includes the replacement, repair and maintenance of various auto parts and accessories. Most common auto parts that are replaced and repaired in the aftermarket includes tyres, batteries, spark plugs, lighting, filters, starters and alternators, exhaust components, collision body, and wear and tear parts. Moreover the increasing demand for aesthetics, infotainment and comfort features in cars, also play a major role in the aftermarket for accessories. The aftermarket also includes various services like general automotive repairs and automotive transmission and others.ASEAN automotive aftermarket was valued at US$ 17,802.7 Mn by 2015 end and is expected to create an incremental $ opportunity of US$ 29.038.3 Mn expanding at a CAGR of 9.6% over the forecast periodIncrease in the average age of vehicle and rising demand for aesthetics, infotainment and comfort features in cars along with the rising vehicle parc in the ASEAN region is expected to drive the growth for ASEAN automotive aftermarket.Report For Report Sample with Table of Contents@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/sample/110114756/ASEAN-Automotive-After-Market With the better quality of materials used for manufacturing and technological advancements, the average age of vehicle is increased. The increase in the age calls for the replacement and maintenance of parts as auto parts and accessories have a limited lifespan. As a result, the aftermarket replacement and repair is gaining traction. The countries like Philippines and Singapore have shown substantial increase in the vehicle parc thus driving the ASEAN automotive aftermarket. The demand for customization by end users in relation to aesthetics, infotainment and comfort has increased. As a result, the OEMs have included various options to accessorize. These accessories could be easily replaced and customized as per demand in the aftermarket. Various accessories include floor mats, liners, fancy dashboards, gauges, headlights etc.Passenger cars segment is expected to hold the major market share in the ASEAN automotive aftermarket and is anticipated to grow at a faster rateOn the basis of vehicle type the ASEAN automotive aftermarket is segmented into passenger cars and commercial vehicles. Passenger cars accounted for 69% of the total market value in 2015 and is expected to grow at a significant CAGR due to the increase in vehicle production and rising disposable income.Request For Report Discount@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/discount/110114756/ASEAN-Automotive-After-Market On the basis of country, the ASEAN automotive aftermarket is segmented into Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and rest of ASEAN. Malaysia accounted for 23.1% of the total market share and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 12.1% over the forecast period. High growth in the region is mainly attributed to the increase in vehicle production and sales in the region.Leading market players dominating the ASEAN automotive aftermarketSome of the leading players identified across the ASEAN automotive aftermarket are: Denso Corporation, Hella KGaA Hueck & Co., Continental AG, Delphi Automotive PLC, ACDelco, Faurecia SA, Magneti Marelli SpA, Robert Bosch GmbH, Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd., Bridgestone Corporation.Report Analysis@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/rd/110114756/ASEAN-Automotive-After-Market Cellulose Fiber Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012 2016 and Opportunity Assessment; 2017 2027 fmi PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 11:22:30 As there is a growing demand for environmental friendly, body adjustable and bio-degradable clothing and fabrics from the textile industry, there is a healthy growth in global cellulose fiber industry. Cellulose is a natural type of fiber available in abundance across the globe. Cellulose is regarded as one of the most important raw material used in various industries. Cellulose fiber is the outcome of a number of processes that are carried out on wood pulp obtained from bark, leaf, and wood of plants. This wood pulp undergoes through various chemical processes to produce cellulose fiber. Cotton fiber, flax fiber, rayon or viscose are some of the common cellulose fiber. Some of the major applications of cellulose fiber is in textile, fabrics and in filtration.Global Cellulose Fiber Market: Drivers and restrainsDue to increase in global warming, it is seen that there is significant change in preference of manufacturers and customers in regards to buying, production and selling of fiber across the globe. The demand for biodegradable cellulose fiber has increased over the years. Various government organizations and NGOs have put regulations over fiber production which is impacting the growth of biodegradable cellulose fiber market. Some other factors which drive the global cellulose fiber market are rapid growth of urbanization, rising disposable income and growth in population. On the other hand, cost of cellulose fiber has been a major restraining factor for the growth of global cellulose fiber market. Prices of raw material required for manufacturing of cellulose fiber are dynamic in nature and changes continuously thus curbing their use in large scale industries. Also, skilled people and advanced machinery are required in the production of cellulose fiber. Above factors have emerged as restraining factors, hampering the growth of global cellulose fiber market.Request to Sample of Report @Global Cellulose Fiber Market: Regional overviewGeographically, the global cellulose fiber market is segmented into seven regions, namely Latin America, North America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and the Middle East and Africa (MEA). Cellulose fiber market depends highly on initial capital as well as skilled people that are required for manufacturing of cellulose fiber. North America is constantly involved in the research and development process for the up-gradation of cellulose fiber. Thus North America is expected to have a healthy growth rate over the forecast period. Asia-Pacific bags a significant share of global cellulose fiber market over the forecast period of 2017-2027, owing to a blistering rise in the textile industry in developing economies like China and India. Europe and Latin America are expected to show a moderate growth in the Global cellulose market as raw materials required for the manufacturing of cellulose fiber are available in ample quantity. Middle-East and Africa shall show an average growth rate in global cellulose fiber market as the market for cellulose products has not yet firmly established in the region. Overall, the global cellulose fiber market is expected to show a healthy CAGR for the forecast period of 2017-2027.Request Report for Table of Contents @Global Cellulose Fiber Market: Key PlayersSome of the prominent players which operate in global cellulose fiber market are Sappi group, Birla Cellulose, Tembec Inc., The Lenzing Group, Thai Rayon Public Co. Ltd., Tangshan Sanyou Group Xingda Chemical Fibre Co. Ltd., Fulida Group Holding Co., LTD., Manasi Aoyang Technology Co. Ltd.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.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 @ The Antimycotics 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, macroeconomic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. Antimycotics Market PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-12 13:15:47 Press Information Future Market Insights Future Market Insights U.S. Office 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Web: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com Umesh SEO Manager 3479183531 email https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ # 655 Words Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO Manager3479183531 It is observed that over the past two decades the incidence of fungal infections has grown drastically. The cases are more frequent in cancer patients, patients with AIDS, and transplant recipients. Antimycotics are compounds that constrain the growth of fungi to facilitate the isolation of bacterial pathogens. Antimycotics are also used for determining the effectiveness of a given antimycotic against a fungal pathogen. Antimycotics focus on both topical and systemic fungal infections. Systemic antimycotics are generally used for the treatment of tinea capitis, onychomycosis, superficial and systemic candidiasis, and treatment of invasive fungal infections. Whereas, topical antimycotics are used for the treatment of superficial mycoses. Some of the fungal infections treated with antimycotic are ringworm, fungal nail infection, vaginal thrush, and others. There are also chances of the development of certain serious fungal infections deep inside the body tissues which are need to be treated in the hospitals.Antimycotics Market: Drivers and RestraintsIncreasing prevalence of an infectious disease is driving the growth of the global antimycotics market. The growing footprint of manufacturers in the Asia Pacific region coupled with the growing economic burden for fungal infections is expected to drive the demand for fungal infection treatment, thereby boosts the growth of the global antimycotics market. Furthermore, developed infrastructure and increasing funding for clinical trials are further expected to drive the growth of the global antimycotics market. However, the unhealthy lifestyle and low awareness are the factors expected to hamper the antimycotics market growth.Antimycotics Market: SegmentationThe global antimycotics market is segmented by formulation types, end users and region:Based on formulation types, the global antimycotics market is segmented into:Systemic AntimycoticsOral AntimycoticsIntravenous AntimycoticsIntra-vaginal AntimycoticsTopical AntimycoticsRequest Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8063 Based on End User, the global antimycotics market is segmented into:HospitalsDiagnostic Laboratories and CentersAcademic and Research InstitutesAntimycotics Market: OverviewThe global antimycotics market is expected to grow at a moderate growth rate over the forecast period due to the significant investments to introduce new products to capitalize on the opportunities in the untapped market. Based on formulation type, the global antimycotics market is segmented into systemic and topical formulation types. Amongst them, the systemic formulation type is expected to gain more market share in the global antimycotics market over the forecast period 2028-2028. Based on the end user, the global antimycotics market is segmented into hospitals, diagnostic laboratories and centers, and academic and research institutes.Antimycotics Market: Regional OutlookOn the basis of geography, the global antimycotics market is segmented into eight key regions, namely North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding China and Japan, China, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to hold maximum market share in the global antimycotics market due to the growing cases of fungal infections along with increased set up of diagnostic laboratories in the region as compared to other regions. Europe is projected to hold the second highest market share in the global antimycotics market. Asia Pacific region in the antimycotics market is expected to grow at the fastest rate with the maximum growth rate over the forecast period. This is majorly due to a strong foothold of domestic players manufacturing antimycotics. However, the antimycotics market in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Africa is projected to show a slow growth over the forecast period.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-8063 Antimycotics Market: Key PlayersExamples of some of the key players in the global antimycotics market are Merck KGaA, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Pfizer Inc., Novartis AG, Sanofi S.A., AstraZeneca plc, and others. Acquisition, mergers, and strategic collaborations play a vital role in the growth of antimycotics market. The established players are majorly focusing on the introduction of new products to strengthen their product portfolio in order to expand their clientele and grab maximum share in the antimycotics market. In a post late last night about the tentative agreement between congressional Republicans and Democrats on border security, I discussed some of President Trumps options if/when the deal becomes final. However, I omitted one option. Ed Morrissey notes that Trump might redirect money from DHS to build more border barriers, which might not require an emergency declaration. Nancy Cook and Eliana Johnson discuss this option in an article for Politico. They write: The White House is firming up plans to redirect unspent federal dollars as a way of funding President Donald Trumps border wall without taking the dramatic step of invoking a national emergency. Done by executive order, this plan would allow the White House to shift money from different budgetary accounts without congressional approval, circumventing Democrats who refuse to give Trump anything like the $5.7 billion he has demanded. Nor would it require a controversial emergency declaration. The idea, being pushed by acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, is to shift money from two Army Corps of Engineers flood control projects in Northern California, as well as from disaster relief funds intended for California and Puerto Rico. In addition, the plan will tap unspent Department of Defense funds for military construction, like family housing or infrastructure for military bases. The problem, as Cook and Johnson say, is that this approach, like declaring an emergency, would also be vulnerable to court challenge. Senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller reportedly has argued that it might be even more vulnerable to court challenges than a national emergency declaration. . The moving-funds-around option would entail spending money allocated by Congress to some parts of the country e.g. California in different parts of the country e.g. Texas. It would shortchange victims of disasters in California and Puerto Rico. As described by Cook and Johnson, it would also shortchange military families. Thus, this approach is hardly without legal and political difficulties. Add it to the list of the presidents not-so-good options. WorldJewishDaily.com notes that after rendering her so-called apology yesterday, Omar struck one more time. Omars motto is Oops! I did it again. Has anyone noticed? WJD noticed in an unsigned piece with the headline Hours After Apology, Ilhan Omar Praises AIPAC Conspiracy Theory. WJD observes: Hours after issuing an apology for an anti-Semitic comment on Twitter, Rep. Ilhan Omar praised a Twitter thread that included a conspiracy theory about AIPAC. The tweet, by Ady Barkan, described how a particular candidate took $5,000 from AIPAC in a clear quid pro quo: you vote for our legislation, we give you the money. Barkan, who was working for the candidate at the time, then says: It was definitely about the Benjamins. Never would have done it otherwise. AIPACs power is also about great organizing. He adds that Rep. Omar is right to point out the connection between money and politics and explains that rich Jews like Sheldon Adelson are part of the problem. AIPAC is a central pillar of the occupation. Without Congressional support, the Likud/anti-Palestine/pro-occupation project would be radically undermined. AIPAC is the anchor of that support, and its money and Sheldon Adelsons money are indispensable to the work. He also makes the astonishing claim that Omar and anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour are allies of Jews. We have a growing anti-semitism problem in America. @IlhanMN is not part of it. @lindasrsour is not part of it. They are allies of mine and of Jews across this country who are fighting for peace, racial justice, immigrants rights, and the defeat of fascism. When AIPAC and its army try to silence criticism of the immoral, illegal, inhumane occupation by screaming about anti-semitism and claiming that nobody may ever talk about how the Israel lobby uses money to build power, dont fall for their bullshit. They are doing terrible things in the name of Jews and of Israel, and it behooves the American Jewish community to resist them, resist their agenda, stand up for Free Speech, and stand up for justice. To this, Rep. Omar replies @AdyBarkan your courage cant be matched. I am often in tears thinking about how you wont be with us in this fight and how I am going to miss your presence and courage. In solidarity my friend, in solidarity Yesterday, Rep. Omar unequivocally apologized for her antisemitic tweet suggesting that AIPAC (and Jews) control the political system with their influence and money, but it seems she doesnt understand her own words. Now that the anti-Semitism of Minnesota Fifth District Rep. Ilhan Omar, let us pause to consider what we have learned. Writing in the Jewish Press, David Israel assesses Omars so-called apology: She opened with, Anti-Semitism is real, and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes. Or, Im just a poor girl from Somalia who doesnt know much about the historic evil of Jew hatred. Thank you, enlightened liberal folks, especially the Jews among you, for showing me the light. Seriously? A Muslim woman living in one of the top three most radical Islamic communities in the US does not know about Jew hatred? Please respect our intelligence, Congresswoman. Omar persisted: My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole. We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me for my identity. This is why I unequivocally apologize. Then she used all of the faux integrity with which she hoped those two paragraphs endowed her to deliver the real punch: At the same time, I reaffirm the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the fossil fuel industry. In other words, AIPAC is the real problemThey did not say one blessed word about the fact that AIPAC is a legitimate part of American politics, like any other lobbying group, from the ACLU to #MeToo. Today is of course the anniversary of the birth of Americas greatest president, Abraham Lincoln. As a politician and as president, Lincoln was a profound student of the Constitution and constitutional history. Perhaps most important, Lincoln was Americas indispensable teacher of the moral ground of political freedom at the exact moment when the country was on the threshold of abandoning what he called its ancient faith that all men are created equal. In 1858 Lincoln attained national prominence in the Republican Party as the result of the contest for the Senate seat held by Stephen Douglas. It was Lincolns losing campaign against Douglas that made him a figure of sufficient prominence that he could be the partys 1860 presidential nominee. At the convention of the Illinois Republican Party in June, Lincoln was the unanimous choice to run against Douglas. After declaring him their candidate late on the afternoon of June 16, the entire convention returned that evening to hear Lincoln speak. Accepting the conventions nomination, Lincoln gave one of the most incendiary speeches in American history. Lincoln electrified the convention, asserting that the institution of slavery had made the United States a house divided against itself. Slavery would either be extirpated or become lawful nationwide, Lincoln predicted, provocatively quoting scriptural authority to the effect that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Demonstrating how it changed the course of history, Harry Jaffa calls it [t]he speech that changed the world. On July 9 Douglas responded in a campaign speech to a raucous throng from the balcony of the Tremont House hotel in Chicago. Lincoln was in the audience when Douglas prepared to speak and invited Lincoln to sit on the balcony. In his speech Douglas sounded the themes of the momentous campaign that Lincoln and Douglas waged that summer and fall for Douglass Senate seat. Douglas paid tribute to Lincoln as a kind, amiable, and intelligent gentleman, a good citizen and an honorable opponent, but expressed his disagreement with Lincolns June 16 speech to the Illinois Republican convention that had named him its candidate for Douglass seat. According to Douglas, Lincolns assertion that the nation could not exist half slave and half free was inconsistent with the diversity in domestic institutions that was the great safeguard of our liberties. Then as now, diversity was a shibboleth hiding an evil institution that could not be defended on its own terms. Douglas responded to Lincolns condemnation of the Supreme Courts Dred Scott decision a condemnation that was the centerpiece of Lincolns convention speech. I am free to say to you, Douglas said, that in my opinion this government of ours is founded on the white basis. It was made by the white man, for the benefit of the white man, to be administered by white men, in such manner as they should determine. Lincoln invited Douglass audience to return the next evening for his reply to Douglass speech. Lincolns speech of July 10 concludes with an explanation of the meaning of the American creed with incomparable eloquence and insight, in words that remain as relevant now as then. We are now a mighty nation, we are thirtyor about thirty millions of people, and we own and inhabit about one-fifteenth part of the dry land of the whole earth. We run our memory back over the pages of history for about eighty-two years and we discover that we were then a very small people in point of numbers, vastly inferior to what we are now, with a vastly less extent of country,with vastly less of everything we deem desirable among men,we look upon the change as exceedingly advantageous to us and to our posterity, and we fix upon something that happened away back, as in some way or other being connected with this rise of prosperity. We find a race of men living in that day whom we claim as our fathers and grandfathers; they were iron men, they fought for the principle that they were contending for; and we understood that by what they then did it has followed that the degree of prosperity that we now enjoy has come to us. We hold this annual celebration to remind ourselves of all the good done in this process of time of how it was done and who did it, and how we are historically connected with it; and we go from these [Independence Day] meetings in better humor with ourselveswe feel more attached the one to the other, and more firmly bound to the country we inhabit. In every way we are better men in the age, and race, and country in which we live for these celebrations. But after we have done all this we have not yet reached the whole. There is something else connected with it. We have besides these mendescended by blood from our ancestorsamong us perhaps half our people who are not descendants at all of these men, they are men who have come from EuropeGerman, Irish, French and Scandinavianmen that have come from Europe themselves, or whose ancestors have come hither and settled here, finding themselves our equals in all things. If they look back through this history to trace their connection with those days by blood, they find they have none, they cannot carry themselves back into that glorious epoch and make themselves feel that they are part of us, but when they look through that old Declaration of Independence they find that those old men say that We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and then they feel that that moral sentiment taught in that day evidences their relation to those men, that it is the father of all moral principle in them, and that they have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote that Declaration [loud and long continued applause], and so they are. That is the electric cord in that Declaration that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together, that will link those patriotic hearts as long as the love of freedom exists in the minds of men throughout the world. [Applause.] Now, sirs, for the purpose of squaring things with this idea of dont care if slavery is voted up or voted down [Douglass popular sovereignty position on the extension of slavery to the territories], for sustaining the Dred Scott decision [A voiceHit him again], for holding that the Declaration of Independence did not mean anything at all, we have Judge Douglas giving his exposition of what the Declaration of Independence means, and we have him saying that the people of America are equal to the people of England. According to his construction, you Germans are not connected with it. Now I ask you in all soberness, if all these things, if indulged in, if ratified, if confirmed and endorsed, if taught to our children, and repeated to them, do not tend to rub out the sentiment of liberty in the country, and to transform this Government into a government of some other form. Those arguments that are made, that the inferior race are to be treated with as much allowance as they are capable of enjoying; that as much is to be done for them as their condition will allow. What are these arguments? They are the arguments that kings have made for enslaving the people in all ages of the world. You will find that all the arguments in favor of king-craft were of this class; they always bestrode the necks of the people, not that they wanted to do it, but because the people were better off for being ridden. That is their argument, and this argument of the Judge [Douglas] is the same old serpent that says you work and I eat, you toil and I will enjoy the fruits of it. Turn in whatever way you willwhether it come from the mouth of a King, an excuse for enslaving the people of his country, or from the mouth of men of one race as a reason for enslaving the men of another race, it is all the same old serpent, and I hold if that course of argumentation that is made for the purpose of convincing the public mind that we should not care about this, should be granted, it does not stop with the negro. I should like to know if taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are equal upon principle and making exceptions to it where will it stop. If one man says it does not mean a negro, why not another say it does not mean some other man? If that declaration is not the truth, let us get the Statute book, in which we find it and tear it out! Who is so bold as to do it! [Voicesme no one, &c.] If it is not true let us tear it out! [cries of no, no,] let us stick to it then [cheers], let us stand firmly by it then. [Applause.] Thank you, Mr. Lincoln: Let us stick to it then, let us stand firmly by it then. (First posted on Lincolns birthday 2005.) One of my favorite Lincoln speeches is one that tends to be overlookedhis eulogy to Henry Clay in the Illinois State Legislature in 1852. This provides the best evidence that had Clay lived another decade, Lincoln would likely have supported him to be president in 1856 or 1860. In any case, Lincoln calls Clay his beau ideal of a statesman, and gives a compact teaching about the essence of statesmanship: It is probably true he owed his pre-eminence to no one quality, but to a fortunate combination of several. He was surpassingly eloquent; but many eloquent men fail utterly; and they are not, as a class, generally successful. His judgment was excellent; but many men of good judgment, live and die unnoticed. His will was indomitable; but this quality often secures to its owner nothing better than a character for useless obstinacy. These then were Mr. Clays leading qualities. No one of them is very uncommon; but all taken together are rarely combined in a single individual; and this is probably the reason why such men as Henry Clay are so rare in the world. . . All his efforts were made for practical effect. He never spoke merely to be heard. He never delivered a Fourth of July oration, or an eulogy on an occasion like this. As a politician or statesman, no one was so habitually careful to avoid all sectional ground. Whatever he did, he did for the whole country. In the construction of his measures he ever carefully surveyed every part of the field, and duly weighed every conflicting interest. Feeling as he did, and as the truth surely is, that the worlds best hope depended on the continued Union of these States, he was ever jealous of, and watchful for, whatever might have the slightest tendency to separate them. . . He loved his country partly because it was his own country, but mostly because it was a free country; and he burned with a zeal for its advancement, prosperity and glory, because he saw in such, the advancement, prosperity and glory, of human liberty, human right and human nature. He desired the prosperity of his countrymen partly because they were his countrymen, but chiefly to show to the world that freemen could be prosperous. . . That his views and measures were always the wisest, needs not to be affirmed; nor should it be, on this occasion, where somany, thinking differently, join in doing honor to his memory.A free people, in times of peace and quietwhen pressed by no common dangernaturally divide into parties. At such times the man who is of neither party, is notcannot be, of any consequence. Mr. Clay, therefore, was of a party. Taking a prominent part, as he did, in all the great political questions of his country for the last half century, the wisdom of his course on many, is doubted and denied by a large portion of his countrymen. . . The beginning of this passage explains why political excellence is so rare, and the last sentence testifies to the essential partisanship of political life, and why it cannot be divorced from any understanding of leadership, the popular if hollowed-out term popular in our day in place of statesmanship. And this passage describing Clay also explains the central crisis of the 1850s that was the dominant fact of Lincolns subsequent statecraft: He ever was on principle and in feeling, opposed to slavery. The very earliest, and one of the latest public efforts of his life, separated by a period of more than fifty years;- were both made in favor of gradual emancipation of the slaves in Kentucky. He did not perceive, that on a question of human right, the negroes were to be excepted from the human race. And yet Mr. Clay was the owner of slaves. Cast into life where slavery was already widely spread and deeply seated, he did not perceive, as I think no wise man has perceived, how it could be at once eradicated, without producing a greater evil, even to the cause of human liberty itself. His feeling and his judgment, therefore, ever led him to oppose both extremes of opinion on the subject. Those who would shiver into fragments the Union of these States; tear to tatters its now venerated constitution; and even burn the last copy of the Bible, rather than slavery should continue a single hour, together with all their more halting sympathisers, have received, and are receiving their just execration; and the name, and opinions, and influence of Mr. Clay, are fully, and, as I trust, effectually and enduringly, arrayed against them. In any case, herewith a few WIP-style memes to mark the day: And finally . . . a birthday observance much superior to that other one she did: Commentary Student Journalism: More needed than ever Stanley said a federal court seems to agree. The U.S. District Court in Charlottesville has issued a preliminary injunction blocking the DMV from suspending five western Virginia drivers licenses. In doing so, Judge Norman Moon said he found it likely that the five would succeed in their argument that Virginias practice violated their rights of due process under law. @PottstownNews on Twitter Evan Brandt has been a staff reporter for The Mercury for more than 20 years. He covers municipal, school district, political, state government, federal government and environmental news. Montco SAAC's first Corks & Forks was a huge success last year, raising money to support the nonprofit's many programs. @montcocourtnews on Twitter Carl Hessler Jr. is a multi-media reporter who writes about crime and justice from the Montgomery County Courthouse for 21st Century Media Newspapers Greater Philadelphia area publications. Follow Carl on Twitter: @MontcoCourtNews (For the policy nerds among us, the bill would have asked the State Corporation Commission to evaluate natural gas capacity contracts contracts for space on natural gas pipelines to make sure any costs passed on to rate payers were fair. The SCC was to have looked at options available at the time the contract was signed. Some of the support of the measure grew from opposition to Dominions proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, though Ware says he supports pipelines. He said he wants to make sure that Dominion doesnt pass on costs from the pipeline venture, which will run through Virginia, connecting Appalachian gas fields with the Carolinas, when those costs dont directly affect the supply of gas to Dominions power plants.) Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email circulation@postregister.com for help creating one. The commission said that if the Reedville fleet catches more than 51,000 metric tons in the Bay its current quota it could still decide Virginia is out of compliance. But it noted that the Bay catch since 2012 has been below that level Virginias noncompliance is strictly that it hasnt enacted the commissions cap into state law. Writings on the Wall Over the last week, I have reviewed case law and various aspects of the FOIA process of the Guam Sunshine Law. Under this law, citizens have t Read more Before he moved to Guam, Vasili Mladinov was a seven-time national skydiving champion in Russia. Now a resident of Guam for 20 years and a tandem skydive instructor for Skydive Guam Inc., Mladinov marked his 26,000th jump on Saturday, the Guam Visitors Bureau stated in a press release. Mlandinov has been skydiving for close to 50 years and has broken world records in formation skydiving, according to the visitors bureau. On Guam, Mladinov has paired with many tourists in tandem skydives. For Mladinov's 26,000th jump, he was paired with GVB spokesman Josh Tyquiengco. Both jumped at 14,000 feet as a unique way for Skydive Guam to renew its commitment to GVB's Hafa Adai Pledge. Skydive Guam first signed the pledge in 2012 to help educate its staff on Guam's culture and historic sites, and preserve and protect Guam's natural beauty by helping to keep Guam clean, GVB stated. Ricky Woodall, general manager of Skydive Guam, noted the importance of incorporating the Hafa Adai Pledge commitments into the company's daily business operations, according to the visitors bureau. The Hafa Adai Pledge celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, and is a key program in GVB's campaign to get the local community to help welcome tourists. More than 820 private businesses, government agencies, nonprofit organizations and local school children have taken the pledge, representing more than 36,500 individuals locally and abroad. Columbia/Myrtle Beach Managing Editor Andy Shain runs The Post and Courier's newsrooms based in Columbia and Myrtle Beach. He was editor of Free Times and has been a reporter and editor for newspapers in Charlotte, Columbia and Myrtle Beach. Gov. Northam would be wise to sign the bipartisan agreement, even if it means he does not achieve the full extent of his wish list. He is, at the moment, a governor in title only and holds little bargaining power as a clings to the office after admitting this month to darkening his face during a 1980s dance competition to portray Michael Jackson. Jamie Lovegrove is a political reporter covering the South Carolina Statehouse, congressional delegation and campaigns. He previously covered Texas politics in Washington for The Dallas Morning News and in Austin for the Texas Tribune. Editorials represent the institutional view of the newspaper. They are written and edited by the editorial staff, which operates separately from the news department. Editorial writers are not involved in newsroom operations. 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. Michael Majchrowicz is a reporter covering crime and public safety. He previously wrote about courts for the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton, Massachusetts. A Hoosier native, he graduated from Indiana University with a degree in journalism. Angie Jackson covers crime and breaking news for The Post and Courier. She previously covered the same beat for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive.com in Michigan. When shes not reporting, Angie enjoys teaching yoga and exploring the outdoors. Paul Bowers is an education reporter and father of three living in North Charleston. He previously worked at the Charleston City Paper, where he was twice named South Carolina Journalist of the Year in the weekly category. Charleston, SC (29403) Today Sunny to partly cloudy. High 82F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 70F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Get the SC business stories that matter. Our newsletter catches you up with all the business stories that are shaping Charleston and South Carolina every Monday and Thursday at noon. Get ahead with us - it's free. 940 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Advertising Donald Trump, the man who normalized and elevated white supremacists after one of them killed an innocent woman in Charlottesville, the man who just mocked the Trail of Tears (i.e., genocide of Native American people), told White House pool reporters that he thinks Rep. Ilhan Omar should resign over her seemingly unintentional anti-Semitic comment. Regarding Rep. Ilhan Omars comments, Trump said, I think she should either resign from congress or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Here is Rep. Omars full apology: Listening and learning, but standing strong pic.twitter.com/7TSroSf8h1 Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 11, 2019 Advertising Trump said her comments are deep seeded in her heart and called her apology lame, according to a White House pool report sent to PoliticusUSA. What would Trump know about apologies? He has never made a sincere one that I can recall. He doesnt apologize, he blames, doubles down, strikes out, harms the wounded, and cries foul when called out on his own behavior and choices. The one time Trump managed to say the right thing, after being pressured by aides, was after the uproar over his comments blaming both sides for the murder by a white supremacist during the deadly Charlottesville rally. That took a lot of pressure, and even then, he reportedly regretted it. Trump called his condemnation of white supremacists the biggest fking mistake he had ever made, according to an excerpt from Bob Woodwards new book. Trump has not only been given one more chance, but so many chances that it has become painful to witness the ongoing ignoring of his daily racist, hurtful, bigoted, divisive comments. What about all of the hate Trump has stirred up against Jewish people? He is not held accountable for this by the media. Hate crimes against Jewish Americans rose by more than a third in 2017, according to the FBI. And hate crimes increased by 17% in 2017. Trumps false fear-mongering about the caravan motivated the shooter of the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue, where a gunman killed 11 worshipers. The anti-Semitic right wing conspiracy that George Soros was funding the caravan pointed the finger at Jewish people. Protesters held an anti-Trump rally during his unwanted visit to Pittsburgh after the massacre at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue, during which one group of protesters chanted, President hate, leave our state, while others yelled, Words have meaning. Pittsburgh Jewish leaders asked Trump to denounce white nationalism. They pointed out, in a letter signed by 43,000 members of the public,For the past three years your words and your policies have emboldened a growing white nationalist movement. In the Jewish tradition, when you enter a house of mourning the tradition is you do not speak, you listen, said Tammy Hepps, member of the Bend the Arc steering committee. I pray that he listens to what we have to say and anyone else has to say who is mourning. Trump supporters smeared the Pittsburgh No Antisemitism, No White Supremacy, No Trump protest. Donald Trump Jr liked the tweet smearing the protesters, people who were deep in grief. That would be an example of a lame apology, except that Trump never apologized for his rhetoric. Trump called the protests make believe and fake. Trump is no one to judge, because he has not once shown that he has a value or principle about cruel comments. Ironically, his wife Melania claims bullying to be her First Lady issue, but she has not managed to either recognize or rein in her husbands daily bullying from the biggest bully pulpit in the world. And actually, Ilhans apology seemed sincere, because of her approach and willingness to hear and believe the voices of those who experience anti-Semitism. She didnt call them snowflakes and tell them to get over it, or pretend that they were at fault and attacking her over nothing. She didnt play the victim. Journalist and historian David M. Perry wrote an opinion column for CNN pointing out that he had not been called a kike until the election of Donald Trump, She clearly meant it as a comment on the power of lobbyists, but it inadvertently invoked long-standing tropes of wealthy Jewish cabals exerting influence. The ensuing political firestorm revealed just how hard it is to maintain solidarity in the face of the oppressive forces that want to divide and conquer. The solution is this: Listen. Believe people when they reach out to you in good faith. Ignore bad-faith hypocrites. Apologize if necessary. Then we can move forward together. Ignore bad faith hypocrites. That advice cant be stressed enough, as Republicans continue to weaponize issues of racism and bigotry and sexual assault for their own political ends, while enabling it and justifying it when their own do it. The Democratic House leaders demanded that Omar apologize for the anti-Semitic comments, and she did. Is that enough? Only the victims of negative myths can determine when an apology is sincere, but the marks of it are a willingness to listen, a lack of defensiveness, a lack of self-protective ego that clouds the issue. Donald Trump is not on the list of people whose character and actions give them credence or moral authority on hate speech. Donald Trumps speech, and his Republican and sometimes liberal enablers (those who refuse to stand up to it and just want to be nice), is a festering toxic volcano of hate, poised to erupt at any moment. And guess who wont take an ounce of responsibility for it. 403 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Advertising (Reuters) Retired U.S. astronaut Mark Kelly, married to former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was wounded in a 2011 mass shooting, said on Tuesday he was challenging Republican Martha McSally for John McCains former U.S. Senate seat. Giffords stepped down from Congress after sustaining a serious head injury in the attack but has emerged as one of the leading voices of the U.S. gun-control movement. In a 4-1/2 minute video, Kelly sits on a sofa next to Giffords discussing his mothers history as a police officer as well as the attack on his wife. I thought that I had the risky job. It turned out that you were the one who had the risky job, said Kelly, a former U.S. Navy combat pilot and space shuttle commander. Advertising McSally, a former U.S. Air Force combat pilot, was appointed last year to the seat held by the late McCain. A special election will be held in 2020 to determine who will serve the last two years of the term. McSally narrowly lost a campaign for the states other Senate seat to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in November. Sinema won the seat formerly held by Republican Jeff Flake, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump who did not seek re-election. Kelly said problems he wanted to take on include climate change, the rising cost of healthcare and increasing economic inequality. Weve seen this retreat from science and data and facts and if we dont take these issues seriously, we cant solve these problems, he said in the video. (Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Nick Zieminski, Jeffrey Benkoe and Dan Grebler) 836 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Advertising The man who appears to be in charge of the Republican Party, Sean Hannity, has issued a new warning to Republicans in Congress. After the details of a border security funding compromise was leaked late last night the Fox News personality said: On this new, so-called compromise, Im getting details. $1.3 billion? Thats not a not even a wall, a barrier? Im going to tell this tonight and we will get back into this tomorrow. Any Republican that supports this garbage compromise, you will have to explain. Look at this crowd. Look at the country. Look at CBS News, even they say 72 percent of the American people want the heroin to stop, the cartels to stop, the gang members to stop, and those that wish us ill. Advertising In his comments Hannity was referring to the agreement reached by a bipartisan conference committee last night that would provide funding for border security. The bill reportedly would allocate $1.375 billion for physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, but no money for a wall. Rep. @NitaLowey on the agreement in principle to avert a government shutdown that would include $1.375 billion for physical barriers: This is not a wall. This is a barrier. These are fences. https://t.co/6HQlTl2l32 pic.twitter.com/tBGZJ2H9pK New Day (@NewDay) February 12, 2019 On CNN this morning, Alisyn Camerota laughed off the idea that Trump would stand up to Hannity on the issue of border security, calling it crazy talk. During a panel discussion about the bipartisan compromise CNNs John Berman said he thought that Trump will just sign off on the new deal and ignore the angry rants of Fox News personalities. The CNN host said: The president does have an option, which is to stand up to Sean Hannity. That is always available to him. He doesnt have to do what Sean Hannity says here. He could say, Were getting this barrier, its better for the 800,000 federal workers if they get paid. Stop your crazy talk! Camerota said immediately, laughing. I know, I know its crazy talk, Berman admitted. CNN White House correspondent Jeff Zeleny then said that lawmakers should be nervous if Trump takes a long time to announce his decision on whether to sign the compromise bill because that means hes spent a lot of time watching Fox News angry reaction to it. Also appearing on CNN, committee chair Nita Lowey said she thought the congressional negotiators had come up with a good deal. This is a compromise. No one got everything they wanted, but it does secure the border, it does represent our values, Rep. @NitaLowey, one of four lead bipartisan negotiators who say they reached an agreement in principle to avert a shutdown. This is a compromise. No one got everything they wanted, but it does secure the border, it does represent our values, Rep. @NitaLowey, one of four lead bipartisan negotiators who say they reached an agreement in principle to avert a shutdown. https://t.co/6HQlTl2l32 pic.twitter.com/yFUmlL5RHF New Day (@NewDay) February 12, 2019 Today is an important day in the Trump presidency, and for the country. We will find out if Trump will follow reason, and avert another shutdown. The other alternative is for him to give in to Sean Hannitys raving, and refuse to sign the garbage compromise that Hannity hates. CLICK HERE to watch the CNN video. 1.6k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Advertising A raging Trump supporter wearing a Make America Great Again hat attacked a cameraman from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) during the presidents rally in El Paso last night. The cameraman, Ron Skeans, was recording video of President Donald Trump speaking about immigration when he was knocked off balance by a man in the crowd, who can be seen moments later being restrained by another man wearing a red MAGA hat. Gary ODonoghue, the Washington correspondent for the broadcaster, described the attack on his cameraman as incredibly violent. ODonoghue shared footage of the shameful moment on Twitter: Advertising This is the shameful moment when my cameraman Ron Skeans was attacked by @realdDonaldTrump supporter in El Paso after the President repeatedly goaded the crowd over supposed media bias. Happily Ron is fine This is the shameful moment when my cameraman Ron Skeans was attacked by @realdDonaldTrump supporter in El Paso after the President repeatedly goaded the crowd over supposed media bias. Happily Ron is fine #TrumpElPaso pic.twitter.com/F3pv04fRBg Gary O'Donoghue (@BBCBlindGazza) February 12, 2019 The alleged assailant screams f*ck the media as hes pulled away from Skeans, and the crowd begins to chant let him go as they become aware of the disturbance. Skeans later told the BBC that the man, who has not been identified, shoved him hard from his blind side, and the cameraman was not sure what had happened at first. BBC Washington editor Eleanor Montague, who was at the event with Skeans, tweeted out footage of the incident, which she blamed on the presidents hostile rhetoric. The crowd had been whipped up into a frenzy against the media by Trump and other speakers all night, Montague tweeted. Just attended my first @realDonaldTrump rally where my colleague BBC cameraman Rob Skeans was attacked by a Trump supporter. The crowd had been whipped up into a frenzy against the media by Trump and other speakers all night She later tweeted: To all those who asked after the cameraman Ron is fine . Thanks for asking. To all those who asked after the cameraman Ron is fine . Thanks for asking # pic.twitter.com/JB7Tq21DX6 Eleanor Montague (@EleanorMontague) February 12, 2019 The president could see the incident and checked with us that all was okay, the BBC said in a statement. It is clearly unacceptable for any of our staff to be attacked for doing their job. Although this was Trumps first rally of 2019, he is sadly continuing his attacks on the media that have led to violent incidents in the past. Journalists have died because of Trumps violent rhetoric, and he must stop before more people get killed. 6k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Advertising While much of the focus of Trumps ties to Russia zero in on the 2016 presidential campaign, counterterrorism expert Malcolm Nance said on Monday that the president was central to a Russian intelligence operation years before he became a presidential candidate. In an interview with Chris Matthews, Nance said the Russian operation that ultimately helped Trump become president started in 2012 when the now-president made contact with Konstantin Rykov, the head of Russias TV 1. This operation has a longer timeline, Nance said, calling a possible quid pro quo with Russia over sanctions just one component of a very broad-based intelligence operation. Video: Advertising Nance said: This operation has a longer timeline. We saw that in 2012 Donald Trump had already made contact with Konstantin Rykov, the head of Russias TV 1. 2013, they established the internet research agency two months before the Miss Universe pageant. 2014 they invade Crimea and Trump is effusive in his praise of Vladimir Putin. 2015, Russia starts hacking the DNC. This particular component with Konstantin Kilimnik is just a guarantor that they are going to get in and have those sanctions raised if this can be proven. So this is just one component of a very broad-based intelligence operation. Despite what Trump says, collusion with Russia is in Muellers sights While Trump has been bragging in recent days about GOP Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burrs statement last week that his committee has no evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, new reporting indicates that its still very much in Muellers sights. According to The New York Times, Comments by one of Mr. Muellers lead prosecutors, disclosed in a transcript of a closed-door hearing, suggest that the special counsel continues to pursue at least one theory: that starting while Russia was taking steps to bolster Mr. Trumps candidacy, people in his orbit were discussing deals to end a dispute over Russias incursions into Ukraine and possibly give Moscow relief from economic sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies. But ultimately, as Malcolm Nance said, the campaign portion of Trumps relationship with Russia appears to be just the beginning of what was a long-term intelligence operation to put Trump in the White House, where he would do the Kremlins bidding. The longer Trump remains in the White House, the more it looks like he has been living up to his end of the bargain for years. Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook and Twitter 4.4k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Advertising Robert Mueller is investigating Trump and his campaign for engaging in a criminal conspiracy with Russia that involved a quid pro quo deal on lifting Russian sanctions. The New York Times reported: Comments by one of Mr. Muellers lead prosecutors, disclosed in a transcript of a closed-door hearing, suggest that the special counsel continues to pursue at least one theory: that starting while Russia was taking steps to bolster Mr. Trumps candidacy, people in his orbit were discussing deals to end a dispute over Russias incursions into Ukraine and possibly give Moscow relief from economic sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies. .. Yet Mr. Weissmanns cryptic comments suggest that the special counsels investigation which Mr. Trump has sought to dismiss as a witch hunt and which the acting attorney general, Matthew G. Whitaker, has said will wrap up soon is still pursuing the central question of whether there was some kind of deal between Russia and the Trump campaign. Advertising Muellers working theory is that Trump cut a deal with Russia to help his campaign Robert Mueller is investigating a conspiracy. The idea is that the Trump campaign promised to drop sanctions if the Russians helped him win the election. Mueller isnt on a witch hunt. The special counsel is investigating a criminal conspiracy and a crime against the American people. Mueller is investigating more than crimes committed by members of the Trump campaign. The campaign appears to be under investigation as a criminal enterprise. Robert Mueller has a working theory based on the evidence, which suggests that the Trump campaign wasnt corrupted. It was a conspiracy to steal the presidency. Advertising By Amanda Becker MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (Reuters) U.S. Senator Cory Booker made the nations complicated history with race relations and racial disparities a focal point at events in the key state of Iowa during his first 2020 presidential campaign swing over the weekend. Booker, 49, a former Democratic mayor of Newark, New Jersey, frequently discussed incarceration and employment disparities, while also telling his parents story of trying to buy a house in an unintegrated New Jersey suburb in the late 1960s with the help of a volunteer civil rights lawyer. Bookers focus was an overture to the coalition of young, diverse voters that twice elected former Democratic President Barack Obama, while also differentiating his style from that of the first black U.S. president, who rarely discussed race during his campaign. Advertising Bookers emphasis on his personal and mayoral past, as well as his work as a senator on criminal justice issues, may also set him apart in a crowded field of Democratic candidates aiming to take on Republican President Donald Trump in what could be a historic election. There are already five Democratic candidates vying to be the countrys first woman president, including U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, a former top prosecutor in the city of San Francisco and the state of California, who would also be the first black woman. Right here in Iowa, people meeting in barns white folk and black folk built the greatest infrastructure project this country has ever seen: the Underground Railroad, Booker told a packed crowd at a brewery in Marshalltown, Iowa, on Saturday, referring to a network of safe houses used to assist black Americans fleeing slavery states to free states ahead of and during the U.S. Civil War in the 1860s. In Iowa, which hosts the first presidential party-nominating contest, African-Americans make up just 3.8 percent of the population, according to government statistics. But black voters are a crucial Democratic bloc in states like South Carolina, which also hosts an early nominating contest. Bookers trip to Iowa occurred as prominent Democratic officials in Virginia faced calls to resign because of past racist photos and sexual assault allegations. Booker was set to campaign in South Carolina on Sunday. At a roundtable in Waterloo, Iowa, on Friday, two-thirds of the panelists that Bookers campaign assembled were African-American community leaders. A subsequent forum at the African American Museum of Iowa in Cedar Rapids included Iowa City Council member Mazahir Salih, a Sudanese refugee. Diane Lemker, 64, attended the Marshalltown brewery event and plans to participate in next years Democratic nominating caucuses for the first time. She liked Bookers message of unity and inclusivity. Obama won the caucus in Iowa in 2008 and thats what set him off people couldnt believe that a primarily white state would launch his candidacy and it did, Lemker told Reuters. Andrew Turner, a Democratic activist and strategist in Iowa who managed successful Des Moines City Council and state auditor races, said he thought Booker hit the right notes on his first trip to the state. He really got the rising leaders in the party, Turner said of Bookers campaign roundtables. They crushed this. (Reporting by Amanda Becker; Editing by Robeert Birsel and Peter Cooney) According to another criminal complaint, the officer saw a male and a female walking through the aisles of the store, eating fried chicken from the deli. The two also put items in the females purse and grabbed a two-liter bottle of soda before starting to walk out the store. Getty Images Auditioning On a Budget: How to Plan Audition Tours Without Breaking the Bank The package PHP USPS API Zip Code is one of the few PHP packages that was considered notable recently because it does something that is worth paying attention.The basic purpose is: Get the zip code of a given location with USPS APIHere follows in more detail what it does:This class can Get the zip code of a given location with USPS API.It can send a HTTP request to the USPS API Web server to request the zip code for a given physical address in the United States.The class can parse the response and return the zip code that was found for that address.Notable PHP packages can be often considered innovative. If this package is also innovative, it can be nominated to the PHP Innovation Award and the author may win prizes and recognition for sharing innovative packages.If you also developed your own notable or innovative packages consider sharing them, so you can also earn more visibility for your package. Its not too early to start thinking about spring break. The annual rite for sun worshipers, which runs to mid-April, isnt just a stampede toward warmer weather. Many ski resorts experience peak demand, too. If youre traveling somewhere in the coming weeks, youll need to start planning now and to keep a few strategies in mind, experts say. Research by Crimson Hexagon, a Boston company that measures online consumer behavior, suggests that spring breakers will be flocking to the usual places. Internationally, the favored destinations include Aruba, Jamaica, and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. In this country, places with warmer weather such as Tampa, Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Savannah, Ga. also rank highly. Las Vegas and Atlantic City made the list. "Dont wait until the last minute," advises Molly Fergus, general manager for TripSavvy, a travel advice site. "Spring break season is one of the busiest travel times of the year, which means flights will fill up, hotels will sell out, and prices will be high in the most popular destinations. This is not the time to try to plan a last-minute trip, especially if you have your heart set on a specific place." Planning a vacation now ensures that you have more choices, which is something youll need if your first choice for spring break is sold out. "It makes sense to plan well," says Kurt Stahura, the dean of the College of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Niagara University. "If you dont want to be bothered by the noise and loud music that might very well accompany college students traveling in groups, it would certainly be best to research family-oriented destinations that are less likely to have spring breakers, or those that have vast areas where you know youll be able to find a secluded spot to enjoy the sun, read a book, or enjoy a meal." What are the "hot" spring break destinations? The vacation rental site HomeAway shared its list with me. Its top cities for 2019 include Breckenridge, Colo.; Kissimmee, Fla.; Park City, Utah; Scottsdale, Ariz.; and Lahaina, Hawaii. As is so often the case, there are rewards for contrarians. Consider a destination that may have fallen out of favor this year because of negative publicity, and you might find fewer visitors and lower prices. "Travelers shouldnt be adverse to or overlook destinations that may have experienced hurricanes or been impacted by severe weather in the past," says Larry Magor, the managing director of the new Isla Bella Beach Resort, on Knights Key in Florida, scheduled to open March 10. Many hotels in Florida and other places affected by last falls hurricanes are eager to prove that their destination is back and that they are open for business. Resorts are offering rates, packages, and promotions that are competitively priced. As someone who lived in a touristy destination for years, and survived several hurricanes, I can vouch for that. Hotels, restaurants, and attractions are often among the first enterprises to make repairs and open up for business after a storm hits. Travel experts I spoke with about spring break 2019 say avoiding potential traps is as important as ever. For example, if you insist on particular arrival and departure dates, you can end up overpaying for airfare. "Be flexible," says Daniel Marmontello, a senior product manager at CheapCaribbean, a travel site that specializes in Caribbean vacations. "Look for departures a day before or after your desired dates. Airfare pricing can vary by departure date, and savings can be found by being flexible." Marmontello also suggests taking a few minutes to search for alternate nearby airports when you cant find the flight you want. Better yet, "avoid flying if at all possible," says Sami Cone, a parenting blogger from Nashville who often writes about vacation planning. "Its expensive and can add up to a lot of delays and hassle." She advises driving to a nearby destination for spring break, which costs less and saves time. Her other spring break advice: Book backward. Instead of making travel reservations and then looking for theme park or other attraction discounts, check for discount packages first and then book your stay around those dates. Although the savings can be substantial, dont expect a theme park to give away rooms and tickets during busy times. How about other spring break travel problems? I pulled up spring break cases from last year and found nothing out of the ordinary. Along with the usual misunderstandings which often involved loud college kids disturbing the peace I counted several problems with airline ticket refunds, unclean vacation rentals, and bookings made through online travel agencies. In other words, spring break travel problems are not that different from the problems youre likely to encounter year-round. Elliott is a consumer advocate, journalist, and co-founder of the advocacy group Travelers United. Contact him at elliott.org. After more than two years of heated controversy surrounding the fate of the abandoned St. Laurentius Church in Philadelphias Fishtown neighborhood, a court decision may finally bring the saga closer to a resolution. On Tuesday, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled that a small but contentious Fishtown neighborhood group called the Faithful Laurentians did not have legal standing to appeal a zoning decision that allows a developer to convert the former Catholic church into 23 apartments. After Philadelphia developer Leo Voloshin obtained zoning variances from the city in 2016, the Faithful Laurentians appealed to the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, and again to the Commonwealth Court, arguing that the variance should not have been issued. In its Tuesday decision, a panel of three judges ruled, among other decisions, that the Faithful Laurentians did not qualify as an aggrieved party in the case because current and former members of the group failed to identify themselves as such at a 2016 hearing in front of Philadelphias Zoning Board of Adjustment. At the boards hearing on Nov. 1, 2016, not a single person who testified identified themselves as a member of the Faithful Laurentians or stated that they were appearing on its behalf, Judge Ellen Ceisler wrote in the opinion. With the Faithful Laurentians appeal now rejected, many Fishtown residents are hopeful that Voloshins plan to redevelop the church, at Berks and Memphis Streets, into apartments can become closer to a reality. While the case was winding its way through the legal system, the Fishtown developers plans were paused. All the while, the church sat empty. Still, there is no guarantee that the Faithful Laurentians will not appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court or that legislation introduced by City Council President Darrell Clarke to push the development forward will pass. Clarke in January drafted legislation that would rezone the parcel to accommodate Voloshins apartment plan. A committee hearing on that bill is scheduled at the end of the month. Since the Archdiocese of Philadelphia moved to close and deconsecrate St. Laurentius Church in 2014, the controversy surrounding the Faithful Laurentians group has engaged neighborhood residents and onlookers almost as much as the fate of the church itself. The group represented legally by lawyer Hal Schirmer has a now-defunct website and an unknown number of members. Schirmer has repeatedly declined to provide details about the size of the group, alleging that members could be identified and subject to harassment by neighbors who support Voloshins project. In many ways, the Faithful Laurentians and a separate faction of Fishtown residents want the same thing: to protect the more than century-old property from the wrecking ball. How exactly it should be saved and reused, however, is where the harmony falls apart. If Voloshin and a subset of Fishtown residents were to have it their way, the exterior of the building the citys first Polish Catholic Church would be restored, and its interior would be converted into the apartments. (No parking is included in Voloshins plan.) The Faithful Laurentians, in contrast, have maintained that more should be done to preserve the church interior and its murals. Schirmer said last month that the group believes the apartment plan would disrupt those interiors. Yet despite both groups shared goal, St. Laurentius has been hanging in the balance for several years. Since the archdiocese closed the property, it has sat abandoned and surrounded by scaffolding. The church including its soaring copper spires is listed on the citys historic register, meaning that it cannot be significantly altered or demolished without approval from the Historical Commission. The debate over St. Laurentius took on new urgency last month, when five or six stones fell from the churchs exterior facade. The nearby St. Laurentius Catholic School was closed for several days, and the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections ordered an engineers report and a 3D imaging study to inform its decision on the condition of the property and next steps. L&I spokesperson Karen Guss said at the time that the agency would order partial or full demolition of the property if necessary to protect public safety. On Tuesday, she said L&I was still waiting on the engineers report. If development at the site proceeds, Guss said, the agency would work with the developer to make sure that [construction] is done in a safe, thoughtful way with all required inspections and engineering reports and safety measures in place. Schirmer said his clients have yet to decide whether to appeal the Commonwealth Courts decision but called it one of the dumbest decisions Ive ever seen. He cited a 2018 Commonwealth Court decision that ruled that the Faithful Laurentians exist as evidence the court ignored [its own] prior findings. A potential appeal by the Faithful Laurentians could be disrupted, however, by Clarkes legislation, introduced last month by Councilman William K. Greenlee. After the stones fell from the church, Clarkes office drafted the rezoning bill. Jane Roh, Clarkes spokesperson, said in a January email that Clarkes office believes there is little community support for this obstructionist lawsuit. Roh said Tuesday that the Commonwealth Courts decision means that we can proceed with rezoning and the developer can get the appropriate permits. Voloshin said he is waiting to see whether the group appeals the decision. In the meantime, he said, we are adamantly pursuing the remapping that Councilman Clarke put forward." Last month, Voloshin expressed concern that remediating the building could possibly be too expensive now because of the deterioration that has happened due to the weather. Nearly 2 years ago he estimated that structural restorations would cost nearly $1 million. I think the reality is that were going to try to make something work, Voloshin said Tuesday. Were interested in preserving the building right now it just depends on how that report comes out. Earlier this year, community members expressed continued support for Voloshins proposal with a petition asking the Faithful Laurentians to cease their lawsuit. The organizer of the petition said last month that it had received several hundred signatures. In a statement, A.J. Thomson, a neighbor who supported Voloshins apartment proposal, said Tuesday that if the Faithful Laurenitans are as faithful to the St. Laurentius legacy and the school as they profess to be, they will stop their nonsensical, spiteful actions immediately. Thomson continued: "If their actions claim our historical church and our school, because of the delay solely caused by their selfish, misguided acts that may have rendered St Laurentius beyond repair, their shame in Fishtown will echo for generations. After living in the Philadelphia suburbs for almost three decades, Terri Currier was ready for a change. She found it in a rented Kensington loft, a converted candy factory with 16-foot-high ceilings, huge windows, and an open floor plan. It was a blank canvas to create a cozy space to share with her 15-year-old cat, Wally, and 68 paintings and other works of art. I wanted to create a space that was big enough to be like a comfy art gallery, said Currier, 58, who moved in 2017. The building has this familial vibe, with wide hallways, floors left in their unmitigated state they are shiny and have holes so it had an authenticity and a warmth that made me feel it was a happy place. Her goal was to create a casual space that invited creativity. The main living area has four sofas you can never have too many sofas, she insisted with Danish tables and a Hans Wegner shell chair, sitting among art that fills every wall. Curriers love of art, mostly oil paintings, began in 2002 when a friend took her to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts student art show and sale. His advice was simple: Stand in front of a painting, and if you can feel it in your body, its meant to be with you. Seventeen years later, she is an avid collector, drawn especially to portraits. Some of her favorites include a Maya Angelou oil painting by Anna Rose Soevik, a copy of the Mark Shaw photograph of John and Jackie Kennedy that graced the cover of Life Magazine in 1959 which Currier bought from the gallery that dealt with Shaws estate and self-portraits from PAFA students. Two large bedrooms get direct sunlight from oversized windows, both sharing a hall bathroom with a soaking tub inside a large shower. To expand storage space, Curriers fiance, Rob Schumann, helped her install shoe racks and shelves, and to accommodate her long evening gowns, she put a tension rod through a beam high up in the closets ceiling to hang them. I have a ladder to climb up because you dont get your evening gowns down every day, she joked. The kitchen features a deep sink with an industrial-looking faucet. A platter by the iconic Swedish fabric designer Josef Frank sits on the butcher-block countertops that Currier refinished. The building itself is believed to date to the early 1900s. Sometime around 1950 it became a candy factory, said John Cunningham of the Birdnest Group, who began developing the building in 2016. I walked through it the first time and knew it had great bones and that there was a lot of potential, he said. An old piece of candy-making machinery sits in the hallway, nearby a unique large silver barn door. Currier compares her Kensington neighborhood to middle age you wear your wrinkles proudly and have brought all these experiences in, she said. Though she is mindful of Kensingtons issues with drugs and crime, she feels safe among the neighbors she has come to know well. At first I was concerned, but I spoke with people on the street, and more people spoke with me here in the first two weeks than in 27 years of living in the suburbs, she said. The neighborhood welcomed me and had a heartfelt feeling. Knowing your neighbors is the best thing to feel safe. Currier enjoys cooking when her sons, Will, 25, and Ben, 23, and her fiance visit. Set to marry in September 2019, the couple met in an elevator; he asked her out before it reached his floor. Though she enjoys the zen space for writing and personal meditation, I love when we have a lot of people hanging out here, she said. Even though this is a two-bedroom place, at the holidays, people passed through, sleeping on couches and in beds. You can feel solitude and companionship at the same time. A retired private-practice lawyer, Currier is taking the lessons she learned in decorating to launch a new business helping people curate their own spaces. Its really challenging to set up a loft, she said. But you dont have to do fancy things. Sometimes you just have to let the space tell you where your favorite things want to be. Is your house a Haven? Nominate your home by email (and send some digital photographs) at properties@phillynews.com According to a complaint filed in April 2018, Steaks of Virginia partners -- Tassos Paphites, Christakis Achilleos and William Dragas -- claimed that Steak n Shake, a subsidiary of San Antonio-based Biglari Holdings Inc., agreed to let the franchisee set its own prices for menu items in its franchise disclosure documents. But when it came to a request to increase prices, the company did not allow it, breaking those franchising and development agreements, according to the complaint. RICHMOND, Va. - Black lawmakers threatened to scuttle the General Assembly's budget deal Monday, and staffers resigned from the lieutenant governor's office as Virginia's political scandals began affecting the operation of government. The executive branch seemed frozen in a state of suspended calamity, with its three leaders holding onto office despite widespread calls for resignation and no clear mechanism for moving them out. An effort to consider impeaching Democratic Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax over sexual assault allegations went nowhere as lawmakers pointed out that he denies the charges and that there is no obvious way to commission an investigation. Gov. Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring, both Democrats, are under fire for racist incidents from their past, but they have not been accused of crimes that would rise to the level of impeachment. Because Virginia is the only state to prohibit a governor from serving consecutive terms, Northam won't have to answer to voters again. It's up to each man to decide his own political fate, and none is budging. Four staffers working for Fairfax quit on Friday, leaving him with a skeleton crew. Two were from his government office - policy director Adele McClure and scheduler Julia Billingsly - and they were joined by the two employees of his We Rise Together political action committee, David Mills and Courtney McCargo. Mills, a former executive director of the Democratic Party of Virginia, is married to state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, the vice chairwoman of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, which has called on Fairfax to step down. He confirmed his decision to quit but would not elaborate. McClure, Billingsly and McCargo did not return messages Monday. "The lieutenant governor's office is a tiny office," said Lawrence Roberts, chief of staff for Fairfax. "The governor's office has 100,000 state employees. The lieutenant governor has four. So half his staff remains, and his two most senior people remain." Roberts said the incessant pace of the past two weeks is taking a toll on employees. "The pressure of constant incoming press, political (matters) and calls - our phones ring every five seconds, and just trying to clear your voicemail is impossible," he said. The staffers left for individual reasons not related to Fairfax's performance or abilities, he said. They were were valuable but could be replaced "if we have the time and space to make intelligent decisions," he said. The departures were first reported by Richmond Times Dispatch. Fairfax has been accused by two women of sexual assaults in 2000 and 2004, and he strongly denies both allegations. He has called for an investigation, but he otherwise continued with his usual duties Monday of presiding over the Senate. "Due process is at the heart of our constitutional democracy in order to get to the truth and be true to what we are as Americans. . . . Everyone deserves to be heard," Fairfax said Sunday night in a telephone interview with The Washington Post. "Even when faced with those allegations, I am still standing up for everyone's right to be heard. But I'm also standing up for due process." Fairfax sounded upbeat and relaxed during the interview. Asked whether he was going to resign, he said flatly, "No." He spent the weekend in Northern Virginia with his family. He and his wife went to services at Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria on Sunday morning, where he said the couple were well received. Meanwhile, the law firm where Fairfax has been a partner since September, Morrison & Foerster, has hired an outside firm to conduct its own investigation into the allegations against Fairfax, and Fairfax has taken a paid leave of absence while it is pending, the firm said. An attempt by Del. Patrick Hope, D-Arlington, to introduce articles of impeachment against Fairfax was shut down by House Democrats after an emotional conference call Sunday night, in which they debated the proper procedure and viability of such a plan, given that the alleged assault - which Fairfax describes as consensual sexual conduct - did not take place during his tenure as lieutenant governor, according to people on the call. The situation has created another uncomfortable dynamic for Democrats as they ponder whether to force out Fairfax, a black rising star in the party, while white men accused of racism stay in office. The allegations against Fairfax inspired BET co-founder Robert Johnson to step in with a proposal for how to settle the dispute. He is offering to spend up to $150,000 to hire a law firm jointly selected by Fairfax and his two accusers - Meredith Watson and Vanessa Tyson - to undertake an impartial investigation into the sexual assault allegations. He would like the parties to choose a firm with a black attorney to lead the probe, results of which would be made public. "If I can play a minor role in getting at the truth wherever the truth lies," Johnson said, "then this will benefit the African-American community and it will benefit the parties involved because they have said they want the truth and nothing but the truth." Tyson's representatives said no to Bob Johnson's offer, and Watson's lawyers sent a statement saying she wants the General Assembly to hold public hearings. "Meredith Watson asks the Virginia legislature to hold hearings, regardless of what they are called, and to reject a secret and delayed proceeding," lawyer Nancy Erika Smith said. "Both victims of his sexual assault have agreed to testify, and they will produce witnesses and documents to show their honesty and good character." Democrats who had struggled over the weekend with the impeachment question spent most of Monday huddling over the state budget. A deal hammered out last week by Republican leaders of the House and Senate, brokered by Northam's office and endorsed by top Democrats had seemed to solve an impasse that was preventing Virginia from processing tax returns filed by residents. But members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus who studied the deal said recent events put it in a new light. Northam said in interviews Saturday and Sunday that he wants to stay in office to use the rest of his term to seek racial reconciliation and equity. He has been ignoring calls from nearly every state and national Democrat to resign over a photo on his 1984 medical school yearbook page that shows one person in blackface and another in KKK robes. Northam initially took responsibility for the photo. But the next day, he said it wasn't him, although he admitted to darkening his face for a dance contest later that same year. Several days later, Herring admitted to darkening his face for a college party in 1980, when he was 19. Members of the Black Caucus, who have called on Northam to step down, said the first test of the governor's rhetoric is the spending plan - the biggest legislation they face this year. And, they said, it doesn't measure up. Where Northam had initially proposed increasing the amount of Earned Income Tax Credit returned to low-income working families, the compromise deal eliminates that idea. The budget proposals tied to the package are stingier in many categories that affect low-income and minority communities - with cuts in school funding for at-risk students, for instance, and bigger cuts in school districts with large numbers of minority students than majority white districts. "Equity looks like taking a long and hard look at policies that we are passing and how it impacts all Virginians. Equity does not look like the deal before us," Del. Marcia Price, D-Newport News, said in a floor speech when the tax bill came up for a vote. "And there will be space for reconciliation talks, maybe even some kumbaya moments. . . . (But) right now, our first step that we can take towards true racial and economic equity is to vote no on this bill." All 16 members of the Black Caucus voted against the tax bill, joined by a handful of other Democrats to deprive it of the 80 votes needed to go into immediate effect. Without that support - a procedural move to allow an emergency clause - the measure would not become law until July and would delay tax refunds for millions of Virginians. Faced with the rebellion, which seemed to catch Democratic leaders off guard, the House went into recess multiple times. Members of the Black Caucus met with Republican leadership - including Speaker Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights - and eventually swung around and supported the House version of the bill. But they said they did so only after securing verbal commitments to pursue funding in the state budget for areas that affect low-income and minority populations. That could happen either through amendments to the budget bill, the tax bill or in budget negotiations between the two chambers. "It's really, really in negotiations right now," one Black Caucus member said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations. "Now that they know what the priorities are, it's the budget staff now that has to make it work." "We had a good conversation about where our funding priorities are and a good, healthy conversation about where we can find common ground and what we can agree on," Del. Jeffrey Bourne, D-Richmond, said. "A lot of focus is oftentimes on where we disagree, but we wanted to keep our conversation on those areas where we agree and where everybody agrees we need more investment." The Washington Posts Fenit Nirappil, Jenna Portnoy and Patricia Sullivan contributed to this report. A supporter of President Donald Trump wearing a Make America Great Again hat attacked a BBC cameraman during a campaign rally in El Paso, Texas ,Monday night. Ron Skeans, a cameraman for the BBC, was filming Trumps speech when the supporter gave him a very hard shove from behind, causing him to lose control of his camera and nearly fall off the media platform. According to the BBC, the attack came after Trump heavily criticized the media during his speech. The unidentified Trump supporter was ultimately removed by security while shouting expletives about the media. As the man was led away by security, some in the crowd were heard cheering, Let him go. I didnt know what was going on, Skeans told the BBC. BBC Washington correspondent Gary ODonoghue shared the video of the shameful moment from Skeans camera on Twitter early Tuesday morning, noting that his colleague was not harmed and that the protester attempted to destroy the camera. This is a constant feature of these rallies a goading of the crowds against the media, ODonoghue said during an appearance on BBC Radio, adding that he had been spat at during previous Trump rallies. BBC producer Eleanor Montague, who was also present during the incident, said the Trump supporter attacked other news crews during the presidents speech, but that Skeans got the brunt of it. The president could see the incident and checked with us that all was OK, a spokeswoman for the BBC said in a statement. It is clearly unacceptable for any of our staff to be attacked for doing their job. The White House Correspondents Association condemned the attack in a statement Tuesday afternoon, calling on Trump to make absolutely clear to his supporters that violence against reporters is unacceptable. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Despite repeated warnings from journalists and media experts, Trump has continued to label media outlets fake news and call reporters who cover his administration the enemy of the people. After pipe bombs were mailed to CNNs headquarters and prominent critics in October, the president partly blamed the media, citing its endless hostility towards him and his administration. WASHINGTON Neomi Rao, President Donald Trump's nominee to replace Brett Kavanaugh on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, apologized Monday for her controversial writings from college about date-rape victims, which had come under scrutiny from at least one GOP senator. In a letter Monday to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Rao condemned "sexual assault in all forms" as "abhorrent" and stressed that she "particularly regret[s] the insensitivity demonstrated in my remarks on rape and sexual assault." She said that in college, she was sheltered, and that her perspective on the issue evolved as she grew more mature and became a mother to two children. No woman or man should be subject to sexual violence, regardless of the clothes they wear or how much alcohol they consumed. Non-consensual sexual activity is never appropriate or excusable, Rao wrote to the committee. Victims should not be blamed for the terrible things that have happened to them. As a society we should create an environment where survivors feel empowered and comfortable coming forward. She added, "I am sorry for anything in my college writings to the contrary." Rao faced criticism from senators during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week for some of her early writings, particularly on sexual assault, from her time as an undergraduate student at Yale University. For instance, Rao wrote in a 1994 column that "It has always seemed self-evident to me that even if I drank a lot, I would still be responsible for my actions. A man who rapes a drunk girl should be prosecuted. At the same time, a good way to avoid a potential date rape is to stay reasonably sober." Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, a new Republican member of the Judiciary Committee, who recently disclosed that she had been raped in college, told Rao that her writings "do give me pause" and that she was concerned about the message Rao's columns send to young women. At the time, Ernst said she was undecided on whether to support Rao's confirmation. Still, Ernst said in an interview Monday evening that she met privately with Rao last Thursday, where the nominee again explained her early writings as the work of someone who lacked the perspective she has now. The columns were not "very nuanced," Ernst said. "I would say, just sitting down with her one-on-one and just her expressing herself, the way she did and her thoughts, I feel a lot better about where I am now," Ernst said. "I haven't made that firm commitment yet [on her nomination], but I'm just glad to know where she stands, and it allayed a lot of fears." Rao, who serves as the White Houses regulatory czar, has been nominated for the vacancy on the D.C. Circuit, considered the second-most-powerful court in the nation and one that has often served as a pipeline for future Supreme Court justices. President Donald Trump hasn't decided if he'll support the bipartisan congressional agreement on border security that's contingent on him accepting less wall construction money than he's been demanding as a way to avert another government shutdown, an administration official said. The White House is waiting to review the full language of the deal, the official said Tuesday. The tentative pact reached Monday night provides $1.375 billion for 55 new miles of border fencing in Texas's Rio Grande Valley area, according to congressional aides who spoke on condition of anonymity. That's far short of the $5.7 billion Trump wants for a wall. But the agreement also rejects limits Democrats sought on detentions of immigrants apprehended in the U.S. It still has to be written into legislation, pass both chambers of Congress and get Trump's approval before Friday night to avoid a partial government shutdown. The agreement was announced less than an hour before Trump took the stage in the border city of El Paso, Texas, at a political rally to rev up supporters. Trump told his audience that he'd heard a deal was reached but didn't know the details. He gave no indication whether he'd sign the legislation once it reaches his desk, though he again touted the need for a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. "Just so you know, we're building the wall anyway," he said. "We're setting the table, we're doing whatever we have to do. The wall's being built." The agreement on the remaining seven spending bills would keep government agencies open through the end of the fiscal year, including the Department of Homeland Security that oversees border protection. It was a rare feat of bipartisan compromise that only 24 hours earlier had seemed out of reach. But the drawn-out struggle is sure to be revived in the next budget battle and continue into the 2020 campaigns for the White House and Congress. Aides said Democrats dropped their demand for a cap on detention beds for immigrants detained within the U.S. Instead, the deal would set an average daily cap at 45,274 beds -- less than the 49,057 now detained, two aides said. Democrats believe that will drop the number detained to 40,520 by Sept. 30. But the aides said Trump would retain authority to expand the number of beds by transferring money from other security accounts. Trump could boost the number of beds as high as 58,500 with that authority -- enough to respond to a surge in illegal immigration and arrests, one aide said. When asked whether Trump will support the deal, Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby said, "We think so, we hope so." He said the White House had given Republican negotiators wide latitude to reach a deal. Also participating in Monday's meetings were Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas. "If the four of us couldn't get it together, Congress never could," said Leahy, the Senate Appropriations panel's top Democrat. Trump remains a wild card. The president has in the past reversed course without warning, as he did last December in rejecting a previous spending accord and triggering a 35-day shutdown. Some of the president's allies who helped convince him to hold out for wall funding last year panned the committee's negotiation almost as soon as the details were made public. Two leaders of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, Jim Jordan of Ohio and Mark Meadows of North Carolina, called it a bad deal but stopped short of urging Trump to reject it. "This conference agreement is hardly a serious attempt to secure our border or stop the flow of illegal immigration," Meadows said. "It kicks the can down the road yet again, failing to address the critical priorities outlined by Border Patrol Chiefs." Treasury futures fell to the day's low after the deal was announced in Washington as investors switched their attention to risky assets. S&P 500 Index futures extended gains, rising as much as 0.4 percent to a session high. A key sticking point had been funding for detention beds for immigration enforcement, which Democrats wanted to limit as a way to in effect force Immigration and Customs Enforcement to put less of a priority on undocumented immigrants without criminal backgrounds. One aide said the 55 new miles of border barrier would be double the amount of new miles provided in fiscal 2018 and nearly three times as much as would have been available if current funds had been extended through September. The Border Patrol could use any design in current use, including steel slats, but not a purely concrete wall some of Trump's supporters have cheered. Lowey, the House Appropriations chairwoman, said congressional staff will put together the details of the agreement. Votes would need to be taken before Friday night, when funding expires for the government agencies. "I hope by Wednesday we'll have a finished product," Lowey said. "Some people may think it's a great deal, some people may have done it differently, but we did it together and I really think it's a good product." House Democrats opened the talks with an offer of no new money for border barriers, while Senate Democrats had offered $1.6 billion in funds before the shutdown began. Trump has been demanding a wall since the 2016 presidential campaign. The recent shutdown, the nation's longest, ended when he signed a three-week spending bill on Jan. 25 and both parties agreed to create a 17-member committee to negotiate a solution. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has said she would accept whatever accord the group came up with, and Lowey said she had signed off on the deal. If Trump doesn't go along, however, some GOP senators say they're unlikely to support it, although Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., hasn't ruled out bringing it to a vote. Trump has threatened another shutdown if a new spending bill doesn't fund "a new physical barrier, or wall" along the border. The president has a history of tearing up bipartisan agreements, including a potential one last year that would have provided $25 billion in wall money in exchange for protection from deportation for young undocumented immigrants. The president has said he may declare an emergency and use money from other parts of the budget to fund a wall. Such a move would likely be challenged in court, and Pelosi could force votes in Congress on whether to disapprove the emergency declaration. McConnell, who has urged Trump to avoid declaring an emergency, has sought to protect his senators from a vote on it. Republicans have described the new barrier funded by the bill as a "wall," while Democrats prefer the term "fence." The semantic distinction could allow both sides to claim victory, with Republicans arguing they met Trump's campaign promise of a southern border wall, and Democrats saying there is no money for a wall. The deal would allow a number of departments to continue operating, including Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, Justice, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development. The Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency would also be funded. If the agreement is enacted, it could set a more positive tone for the newly divided Congress that took office during the shutdown in January. Congress will need to raise the nation's debt ceiling later this year, and decide what to do about $126 billion in automatic cuts to defense and non-defense discretionary funding caps set for 2020. Trump also will ask Democrats approve a revised North American Free Trade Agreement, and the president and Democrats say they want to develop an infrastructure plan. --With assistance from Blombergs Justin Sink and Margaret Talev. WASHINGTON Congressional negotiators reached agreement Monday night to prevent a government shutdown and finance construction of new barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, overcoming a late-stage hang-up over immigration enforcement issues that had threatened to scuttle the talks. Republicans were desperate to avoid another bruising shutdown. They tentatively agreed to far less money for President Donald Trump's border wall than the White House's $5.7 billion wish list, settling for a figure of nearly $1.4 billion, according to congressional aides. The funding measure is through the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The agreement means 55 miles of new fencing constructed through existing designs such as metal slats instead of a concrete wall but far less than the 215 miles the White House demanded in December. The fencing would be built in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. "With the government being shut down, the specter of another shutdown this close, what brought us back together I thought tonight was we didn't want that to happen" again, said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala. Details won't be officially released until Tuesday, but the pact came in time to alleviate any threat of a second partial government shutdown this weekend. Aides revealed the details under condition of anonymity because the agreement is tentative. "Our staffs are just working out the details," said House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y. The pact also includes increases for new technologies such as advanced screening at border entry point, humanitarian aid sought by Democrats, and additional customs officers. This weekend, Shelby pulled the plug on the talks over Democratic demands to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities, frustrating some of his fellow negotiators, but Democrats yielded ground on that issue in a fresh round of talks on Monday. Asked if Trump would back the deal, Shelby said: "We believe from our dealings with them and the latitude they've given us, they will support it. We certainly hope so." Trump traveled to El Paso, Texas, for a campaign-style rally Monday night focused on immigration and border issues. He has been adamant that Congress approve money for a wall along the Mexican border, though he no longer repeats his 2016 mantra that Mexico will pay for it, and he took to the stage as lawmakers back in Washington were announcing their breakthrough. "They said that progress is being made with this committee," Trump told his audience, referring to the congressional bargainers. "Just so you know, we're building the wall anyway." The agreement got bad reviews from some of Trump's conservative allies. "While the President was giving a great speech in El Paso, Congress was putting together a bad deal on immigration," Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote on Twitter. Democrats carried more leverage into the talks after besting Trump on the 35-day shutdown but showed flexibility in hopes on winning Trump's signature. After yielding on border barriers, Democrats focused on reducing funding for detention beds to curb what they see as unnecessarily harsh enforcement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The agreement yielded curbed funding, overall, for ICE detention beds, which Democrats promised would mean the agency would hold fewer detainees than the roughly 49,000 detainees held on Feb. 10, the most recent date for which figures were available. Democrats claimed the number of beds would be ratcheted down to 40,520. But a proposal to cap at 16,500 the number of detainees caught in areas away from the border a limit Democrats say was aimed at preventing overreach by the agency ran into its own Republican wall. Democrats dropped the demand in the Monday round of talks, and the mood in the Capitol improved markedly. Trump met Monday afternoon with top advisers in the Oval Office to discuss the negotiations. He softened his rhetoric on the wall but ratcheted it up when alluding to the detention beds issue. "We can call it anything. We'll call it barriers, we'll call it whatever they want," Trump said. "But now it turns out not only don't they want to give us money for a wall, they don't want to give us the space to detain murderers, criminals, drug dealers, human smugglers." The recent shutdown left more than 800,000 government workers without paychecks, forced postponement of the State of the Union address and hurt Trump's poll numbers. As support in his own party began to splinter, Trump surrendered after the shutdown hit 35 days, agreeing to the current temporary reopening without getting money for the wall. The president's supporters have suggested that Trump could use executive powers to divert money from the federal budget for wall construction, though he could face challenges in Congress or the courts. The negotiations hit a rough patch Sunday amid a dispute over curbing ICE, the federal agency that Republicans see as an emblem of tough immigration policies and Democrats accuse of often going too far. According to ICE figures, 66 percent of the nearly 159,000 immigrants it reported detaining last year were previously convicted of crimes. Reflecting the two administration's differing priorities, in 2016 under President Barack Obama, around 110,000 immigrants were detained and 86 percent had criminal records. Few convictions that immigrants detained last year had on their records were for violent crimes. The most common were for driving while intoxicated, drugs, previous immigration convictions and traffic offenses. The border debate got most of the attention, but it's just part of a major spending measure to fund a bevy of Cabinet departments. A collapse of the negotiations would have imperiled another upcoming round of budget talks that are required to prevent steep spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic agencies. Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey and Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Jill Colvin in El Paso, Texas, contributed to this report. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is pushing for a debate on the substance of her "Green New Deal" resolution after her staff distributed an erroneous fact sheet regarding the proposal, leading to confusion over a plan supported by many of the Democratic Party's leading candidates for president. Ocasio-Cortez's staff posted online and sent to reporters a list of "frequently asked questions" about the Green New Deal. Those pages included language and policies not included in the resolution itself, such as providing economics security to those "unwilling to work" and ruling out nuclear power as part of the solution to the climate crisis. More than 70 House Democrats and 12 Senate Democrats have backed Ocasio-Cortez in unveiling the Green New Deal resolution calling for a massive jobs program to stave off climate change, aiming for an enormous investment in "clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources" over the next 10 years. Declared presidential candidates Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., have pledged their support for the resolution text of the Green New Deal, as has expected candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. None of the lawmakers or candidates signed off on the FAQ, which was prepared by Ocasio-Cortez's staff to explain the separate Green New Deal resolution but was accidentally released prematurely with unfinished language. "An early draft of a FAQ that was clearly unfinished and that doesn't represent the GND resolution got published to the website by mistake," Saikat Chakrabarti, Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff, tweeted Saturday, two days after the document's release. "Mistakes happen when doing time launches like this coordinating multiple groups and collaborators." The muddled messaging around the Green New Deal marks an initial stumble for a lawmaker whose profile has risen steadily since she her primary win over former Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., a pillar of the party establishment who at the time of his loss was the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. And the incident underscores both the power and peril of the first-term lawmaker's pull within the party, which is bolstered by her tremendous reach on social media and name recognition. Ocasio-Cortez has captivated and energized the party's left, pushing Democrats - including those who've previously been more centrist - to align with her proposals and cosponsor the legislation. The broad participation of presidential candidates suggests her policy clout has helped bring previously marginal policy ideas squarely into the party's mainstream, though certainly other figures within the party and changing public attitudes play a role. But that power also magnifies her missteps, with ramifications for the party as a whole. A typical first-term lawmaker's first major proposal would be unlikely to get broad notice, and it would be unlikely to win over major presidential contenders unless it was closely supervised by party leadership who'd worked for years on effectively presenting such resolutions. Retracting the erroneous document has not stopped opponents of the party's candidates from trying to tie the contenders to proposals they did not approve, leaving them to repeatedly explain themselves and attempt to clarify what they do and don't support. One House Democrat, speaking on the condition of anonymity to speak about internal discussions, said he and other liberal members have privately vented frustration over the publication of the FAQ page. More than a dozen media outlets, particularly in the conservative media, reported on policies in the FAQ page that the co-signers of the Green New Deal resolution have not agreed to support. CNBC reported that the Green New Deal would offer "economic security" for those "unwilling to work" in its headline, while columnists at Bloomberg News and The Washington Post have criticized the plan based on policies outlined in the FAQ sheet. Climate activists have tried rallying Democrats to the concept of a Green New Deal to decarbonize the U.S. economy while broadly expanding the government's role in improving the economy and bolstering the social safety net. The plan calls for a 10-year "national mobilization" requiring new electrical and power grids, retrofitting "all existing buildings" in the United States and high-speed rail and public transit. The Green New Deal resolution calls for the federal government to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions with a "fair and just transition" for all communities and workers, including by creating millions of high-wage jobs, health care and housing for all, a sustainable environment, and enormous infrastructure investments. The proposal would making sweeping changes and expand the government's reach into the economy, and it almost certainly would require tax increases or large-scale deficit spending. The proposal could not pass the current Congress, where Republicans control the Senate, and would be vetoed by President Donald Trump, but it's an effort to galvanize the left and move the Democratic party toward a commitment to stronger, broader and more direct action to address climate change. The FAQ sheet went further than the resolution in some places, making choices that the resolution avoids. The FAQ sheet, for instance, says the Green New Deal would "not include creating new nuclear plants," while the resolution does not address that question. At a news conference unveiling the plan, Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., the resolution's Senate co-sponsor, told E&E News: "The resolution is silent on any individual technology which can move us toward a solution of this problem . . . that is not part of the resolution." The FAQ page also stated that the United States should guarantee "economic security for all who are unable or unwilling to work." The official resolution calls on economic security for all Americans. In the fall, the top scientific body studying climate change found that the world had to take "unprecedented" steps to reduce carbon levels, with the globe on pace to warm by 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) over preindustrial levels. Scientists called the report a "deafening, piercing smoke alarm going off in the kitchen." Stronger natural disasters, including wildfires, have devastated Western U.S. communities, while hurricanes have leveled Atlantic Coast cities and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. Internationally, the melting of Himalayan glaciers because of climate change threatens hundreds of millions of people in Asia while coral reefs that support some of the most productive U.S. fisheries are at risk of being destroyed. The Trump administration has not proposed a comprehensive agenda for addressing climate change. It has dismantled some initiatives supported by the past administration to check the growth of greenhouse gases, and Trump has repeatedly questioned the scientific consensus that global warming is occurring, driven by human activity and poses a threat to human health and well-being. Trump tweeted criticism of the Green New Deal over the weekend while erroneously suggesting snow in February in Minnesota during the presidential candidacy announcement of Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., diminished the case for combating climate change. On Twitter, Ocasio-Cortez said people should stop paying attention to the FAQ document, which was later taken down from the congresswoman's website. "Point is, the real one is our submitted resolution," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, with a link to the resolution itself. She added: "When I talk about the GND, this is what I'm referring to - nothing else." All but one Democratic senator running for president endorsed the Green New Deal resolution, though none had seen the FAQ that circulated on launch day. A few were asked about the FAQ this weekend. After one stop in Iowa, asked what he might say to a farmer who was seeing reports that the resolution would stop him from raising cows or using gasoline, Booker said the "narrative" was not something he'd get tangled up in. "I've endorsed the framework and the resolution, but I don't endorse doing things that are going to hurt the independent family farmer," Booker said. "If anything, I want to let people know that we can have a green future that no way is contrary to a strong economy, but actually creates a stronger economy." The confusion was compounded by Robert Hockett, a Cornell University professor who acted as an outside adviser to Ocasio-Cortez on the Green New Deal. Hockett told Fox News' Tucker Carlson that the document calling for help to those unwilling to work had been "doctored" and produced by someone other than Ocasio-Cortez. That was not true, as Hockett thought Carlson was referring to a parody of the Green New Deal circulated by right-wing activists on Twitter. Republicans have begun to conflate support for the Green New Deal - either the resolution or the concept - as support for the most extreme elements on the FAQ. In a news blast attacking Klobuchar, the RNC said "Midwest dairy farmers won't love the 'war on cows' in the Green New Deal, a plan she endorsed." Chakrabarti, the congresswoman's chief of staff, wrote on Twitter about the "unwilling to work" provision in the FAQ: "We were essentially thinking about pensions and retirement security. E.g. economic security for a coal miner who has given 40 years of their life to building the energy infra of this country, but who may be not be willing to switch this late in his career." In an interview, Chakrabarti also stressed that the key was to focus on the larger plan to prevent climate change that poses an existential threat to millions of people around the world. The major thing here is we have now over 70 House Democrats and every major presidential candidate now on board calling for a gigantic transformation of our economy, Chakrabarti said. People are trying to take the focus away from the big picture to these little typos. Poor Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. The Democratic New York senator, now a 2020 White House hopeful, entered the race practically glowing with the current zeitgeist of todays Democratic Party, the angry women who marched in the millions after President Trump was inaugurated in 2017 and converted that energy into a Democratic House majority last November. But Gillibrand has struggled to gain traction in the ever-growing, just-list-who-isnt-running field of Democratic candidates. Some of that might be rooted in concern over how the upstate New Yorker morphed from a pro-gun centrist into an avatar of the Trump Resistance, and thats a valid question. But thats not exactly how the journalists following the 2020 race framed any doubts over Gillibrands viability over the weekend. Instead, they presented voters with #FriedChickenGate. The political trope about the candidate awkwardly gobbling down ethnic food is as old as pastrami itself, probably dating back to the penny press ripping John Adams for the way he gnawed on a fried possum. OK, I made that up, but Im not making up how reporters parlayed any serious coverage of how a President Gillibrand might get us out of the giant mess thats been created at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue into an analysis of what happened when she met African-American leaders at a joint called Kikis Chicken and Waffles in the critical early-primary state of South Carolina. The fact that Gillibrand started eating her chicken with a knife and fork, but then switched to her fingers after noting that all her companions were using their hands, wasnt portrayed as the natural awkwardness that every sentient human being has felt at some social gathering where messy could-be finger food like greasy chicken or slathered barbecued ribs is on the table. No, the moment was a Grand Metaphor for a candidate who was contrived, who changed her stance on the Fried Chicken Question just like shed changed her position on amnesty for undocumented immigrants. It was Sunday afternoon and I was trying to wrap my mind around the True Meaning of Gillibrands fried-chicken foray and I had on ABC World News on the background (only because I was too lazy to change the channel after the 76ers) and I heard a 30-second story that was basically and, yes, Im grossly paraphrasing here Accused staff abuser Sen. Amy Klobuchar announced today that shes running for president in a raging blizzard, The End. That was the moment I asked myself ... My fellow journalists, are we really going to do this again? By this I mean the shallow political journalism that hung over the 2016 presidential election like the misty fog of an unseasonably warm and gray winter day, that created a vacuum that was filled first by actual fake news back when that term actually meant something and finally by the orange gloaming that currently corrupts the Oval Office. The kind of journalism that gave unlimited TV coverage to one candidates entertaining Nuremberg-style rallies or even his plane just sitting in a tarmac while news executives screamed about the ratings just like the orgasmic Faye Dunaway in that scene in Network. And the kind of journalism that equated what should have been a minor one-week mini-scandal over an email server with what should have been the story of the millennium, the American Experiment giving way to neo-fascism. After the shock of President Trumps November 8, 2016, victory, many leaders in the news business promised a major examination of what went wrong but from Day One there seemed to be confusion over what was actually meant by wrong. The publisher of the New York Times, which sits atop the American news pyramid, issued a much-discussed quasi-apology that seemed largely a mea culpa for ignoring Trump voters (thus, 774*-and-counting reports from tobacco-spit-stained diners in southern Ohio); remarkably the Paper of Record has never apologized for a) the day shortly before the election when it treated an ultimately inconsequential thing about those damned emails like the Second Coming of Watergate or b) the story also right before the election that falsely claimed the FBI had uncovered no Trump-Russia ties (when it actually had). Generally, there were vague promises in line with the medias post-Trump Democracy Dies in Darkness pronouncements that campaign coverage would be more serious and less hijack-able by trivia once the 2020 race got underway. But that moment has now arrived, and it looks like the same people are covering this presidential election with the same tired bag of tricks. The most egregious case, in my opinion, has been the coverage of Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who wasnt just the first Democrat to announce for 2020 but so far has been the boldest when it comes to both diagnosing how American got into this jam and prescribing actual solutions. Warren has charged head-on into the loaded-yet-critical issue of income inequality with proposals like a wealth tax on multi-millionaires and billionaires and legislation that would force big corporations to be held accountable. But is she, you know, likable? That was the bizarre question that hung over the first days of the Warren campaign (inspired, presumably, by the notion that 2016 voters rejected a qualified woman because they didnt like her and you cant change the voters not matter how misogynistic they are, so you should kowtow to them by changing your candidate) only to be supplanted by the endless controversy over her apparently minor-level DNA of Native American heritage. It lingers even after the Boston Globe showed this wasnt something she benefited from. And a very minor incremental development one more document from a time where we already know she was writing Native American on documents gave political journalists the green light they apparently wanted to make sure the Indian thing overshadowed her official announcement. The Washington Post even headlined its story, Warren set to announce candidacy amid lingering questions about her identity, as if she were some amnesiac wandering around outside Fenway Park. I guess the conversation about Warrens wealth tax and accountability for big corporations will have to wait until someone stands up in a courtroom and identifies her. Meanwhile, as noted above, Klobuchars iconoclastic in-a-blizzard presidential announcement was overshadowed by the choices of political headline writers, at least by several reports that journalists raced to file that chronicled the Minnesota senators alleged mistreatment bordering on abuse of her staff. That, in my opinion, is a legitimate issue, because it does seem to offer some (negative) insights into her leadership style yet its impossible not to wonder if an alleged Boss From Hell who happens to be male would be covered in the same way. What if I told you about a senator who was accused by an ex-staffer of being an egomaniacal autocrat who was determined to manage his staff through fear, who allegedly yelled at a 23-year-old staffer reminding that senator about scheduling to get the f- out of my car? It wasnt Klobuchar but former vice president and Delaware senator Joe Biden, who hasnt decided if hes running but leads in the polls. And yet I havent seen anyone investigating what kind of boss Biden is. Which prompts a big question looming over the general awfulness of the 2020 election media coverage: How much of it is pure misogyny a problem in a race with not one but several high-profile female candidates who seem to be getting unequal treatment, where the tough male boss becomes abusive in a womans high heels, or a candidates mistaken over-valuation of her Native American heritage is more embarrassing than a man who exaggerated or made up bone spurs to avoid Vietnam. The Times (which I just excoriated) had a decent piece this week tackling this problem, and its a real one. But modern political journalism has been really shallow when just men were involved (just substitute John Kerrys Philly Swiss cheesesteak for Gillibrands fried chicken), and I think a lot of the problem is that after not knowing how to cover a norm-busting president like Trump, the Democratic primary race is familiar turf that allows journalists to fall back on familiar tropes, no matter how tired. Theres still nearly a year before the Iowa caucuses plenty of time for political scribes and their newsroom bosses to change their ways, and theres no shortage of good ideas. Jay Rosen, the New York University professor and media critic, has argued the answer isnt exactly more issues coverage, which has become such an eat-your-broccoli chore that its usually done poorly. Instead, Rosen has called for newsrooms to canvass their communities to develop a citizens agenda of what voters actually want to know about the candidates and then deploy their resources accordingly. Thats a great idea. Its a lot easier to focus on what we know journalists shouldnt be doing horse race reporting and polls, turning one-day stories into one-year scandals, and of course the chicken thing than what we should be doing. But I think its critical to remember that good coverage is more than just where do the candidates stand on climate change (which is still important, though) but also telling readers what would this woman or man be like as president. Because we need to do better than Tweety McTweetface. Ill offer a quick example: A recent piece by Paul Waldman in the Washington Post that proved you can write about Warren and Klobuchar in a meaningful way, without the distractions that led most of the weekend coverage. Instead, Waldman drilled deep into their fundamental visions of America that were different in important ways with Warren seeing the American Experiment as deeply off course and in need of radical repair, while the more centrist Klobuchar suggesting the only real problem is broken politics. By the end of the piece, I had some new insights and thoughts about their candidacies, and what I want to hear over these fraught 21 months that lie ahead. We should demand that kind of vision and a lack of fluff from every article thats written about the 2020 presidential race and send back the fried chicken. * Not the real number it just feels that way. Growing up, I remember how disconnected home and school seemed to be when it came to discussions about race. My parents, both Trinidadian immigrants, often talked about race to help me and my siblings understand what school rarely acknowledged in the 1990s and early 2000s: that racially stressful moments occurred frequently, and had significant impact. But we often didnt feel comfortable bringing up these issues at school, where our concerns were often met with silence, denial, or even in some cases discipline. Parents and educators often have different methods for engaging the social reality of racism in America. But imagine if home and school partnered to encourage open discussion. Reimagining in-the-moment interactions that we experience across social differences also holds profound potential for reimagining cross-racial interactions in society at-large. School can be a starting point to help heal social divides. Kids need to develop a sense of competence and confidence in both navigating racially stressful situations and in interpreting the realities of the world that confronts them. In a 2014 article for the National Association of Independent Schools magazine, Ali Michael and Eleonora Bartoli describe how silence on race throughout our childhoods, intended to teach us that race shouldnt matter, instead inaccurately teaches that race doesnt have an impact in peoples lives. These talks can be hard work, and they take practice but theyre achievable. Here are five ways parents and educators can support kids in developing racial literacy: the ability to read, recast, and resolve racially stressful encounters in ways that promote healing rather than silence, hurt, and harm. Be vulnerable. Engage kids in a more dynamic dialogue by allowing them to see that racial encounters can be difficult for you to navigate as well. Resist avoidance or denial of your own emotional response; instead, model by sharing your own experiences. Allow kids to ask what comes naturally. Dont yield to the pressure of carrying all of the wisdom we are told that age and experience provides. Instead, be honest when you feel hurt, confused, or stressed. Practice stress management. Racial stress is a product of in-the-moment encounters or conflict. Often unacknowledged, such stress creates mental and bodily responses, that when accumulated over time, results in negative health effects. Talk about racial stress when conflicts arise to minimize the impact. Develop awareness. Develop cultural and historical awareness across lines of difference. Seek out opportunities in your own neighborhood or take advantage of our proximity to the rich resources in Philadelphia, such as the African American and American Jewish History museums. Have a Both/And perspective. Binaries can promote and prolong conflict by suggesting a right and wrong, where social realities actually prove to be more complex. To do justice to those realities, we should adopt a both/and perspective. For instance, in the history classroom, we discuss human nature as not only stemming from the individual or community, but instead as a messy combination of both. Another way to think about it is the reality that someone can exist as both a son and brother, or as a daughter and sister. Be kind to yourself. Allow yourself to make mistakes and learn how to reflect on your own experience and social impact. Making space to engage directly (attending events) or indirectly (listening to podcasts/reading) with heritage communities is great practice. Beware of making your goal the elimination of implicit bias or racism. Instead, imagine these challenges as realities to manage rather than problems for you to solve. Silence only suppresses the natural curiosity children have around what makes race such a complex societal issue. We need these conversations to shape a tomorrow that is driven by meaningful, inclusive dialogue and relationships. Brendon Jobs is the director of diversity and inclusion at the Haverford School, where he teaches Modern World History and Modern Black Lives in the Upper School. Jobs also teaches history methods at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (GSE) in the Independent School Residency Program. Last week, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania William McSwain filed a lawsuit against Safehouse, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit intent on opening the nations first overdose prevention site, commonly called a supervised injection site. In the news conference, McSwain challenged the large body of research that shows overdose prevention sites save lives without increasing crime or drug use. But whether overdose prevention sites save lives is not the crux of his case. According to the lawsuit, an overdose prevention site violates a section of the Controlled Substances Act commonly known as the crack-house statute which makes it illegal to maintain premises knowingly and intentionally for the purpose of unlawfully manufacturing, storing, distributing, or using a controlled substance. Because people will be using heroin and fentanyl in the site, McSwain argues, an overdose prevention site is essentially a crack house. (Its worth noting that multiple legal scholars argue that the crack-house statute was never intended to apply to public health interventions, though now its up to the courts to decide.) In his announcement, McSwain said: It is the [Justice] Departments job to promote and enforce the rule of law, not to look the other way. In a recent interview with WHYY, he called overdose prevention sites in-your-face illegal activity. That is curious, since the Justice Department has been looking the other way of another in-your-face illegal activity: state marijuana legalization. Both heroin and marijuana are classified by the Food and Drug Administration as Schedule I drugs no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse" so its hard to see how an overdose prevention site fits the definition of the crack-house statute yet a marijuana dispensary does not. And yet, 33 states have legalized medical marijuana and 10 states legalized recreational marijuana. McSwain noted in his remarks when announcing the lawsuit that Gov. Tom Wolf does not support overdose prevention sites. But recall that during Wolfs first term, Pennsylvania legalized medical marijuana, and shortly after his reelection, he opened the door for recreational legalization. Thats a good thing. States began legalizing medical marijuana in the 1990s. Congress prohibited the Justice Department from standing in the way of medical marijuana. The logic is clear sometimes the law is too slow to respond to the health needs of our society. In those instances, it is more problematic to enforce than to overlook. Things became more complicated in 2012, when both Colorado and Washington state legalized recreational marijuana, something McSwain might classify as in-your-face illegal activity. President Barack Obamas Justice Department instructed federal prosecutors and law enforcement to look the other way on marijuana legalization, unless states do egregious things, such as selling marijuana to little kids. But in 2018, then-Attorney General Jeff good people dont smoke marijuana Sessions threw the status quo out the window and said that marijuana prohibition is just like any other federal law. No anti-marijuana zealot federal prosecutor decided to shut down dispensaries since. But, if McSwain scores a victory against overdose prevention sites, other War on Drug prosecutors might find the courage to go after dispensaries they will also be armed with precedent. The marijuana movement and lobby has not always been allied with users of other drugs. In fact, many such advocates have leveraged the stigma of other drugs to normalize marijuana and separate it from hard drugs. Take, for example, the push against the notion that marijuana is a gateway drug that will lead to the use of other, harder drugs. While harm-reduction advocates work to ensure safer use of any drugs, marijuana advocates have been framing substances other than marijuana in terms that stigmatize people who use them. Another example: As a rhetorical device, the National Cannabis Industry Association often hypes the stigma around heroin to make its case for marijuana. In testimony to Congress, the associations director said: "It makes no sense that federal law classifies cannabis as a Schedule I substance alongside dangerous drugs like heroin. So much for drug-use solidarity and a comprehensive critique of federal drug policy. Marijuana legalization has proven successful despite federal prohibition. States that have legalized medical marijuana have expanded choice for patients suffering from pain, nausea, epilepsy, PTSD, and gastrointestinal diseases. According to the Drug Policy Alliance, states that legalized recreational marijuana have seen a dramatic reduction of marijuana-related arrests, which disproportionately impact people of color, and have even seen a reduction in overdose deaths. If given the chance, overdose prevention sites will prove successful, too. And the people in addiction who are dying in Philadelphia at a rate of three people every day need them. They also need the support of a movement that managed to bypass federal law once before to achieve its goals. The fight for marijuana dispensaries and the fight for overdose prevention sites is the same fight against prohibition, and for safer drug use for everyone. Whenever I go to another city, I always look for a museum about that citys history. I visit these museums because I am a city planner and an architect with a strong interest in the history of cities. The few European cities Ive visited have always had wonderful city history museums with models, historic maps, artifacts related to different periods and people, and computer or video displays that trace the citys history and allow you to explore its form at different points in time. Philadelphia is the most historic city in the United States and it deserves to have an outstanding museum of its history. Last summer I visited Chicago and discovered that when the city built a new main library, it converted the former library a distinctive historic building with wonderful glass domes into the Chicago Cultural Center, a place for exhibits, performances, and offices of many cultural organizations. I thought of this last week when I learned that the Philadelphia History Museum has closed for good. Established by a 1938 ordinance, the museum is mandated by the city charter to serve as a repository of things made in, owned by, and associated with the city. The museum is currently in talks that would see the massive collection transferred to the stewardship of Drexel University, where officials envision the collection being scattered throughout the city at the homes of residents, businesses, neighborhood schools, libraries, and even shopping malls. There would be no history museum as a stand-alone structure. I think this would be a missed opportunity. The perfect place for such a museum is the former Family Court Building on Logan Square. The building is in public ownership, is currently vacant, and has wonderful and ornate rooms on the first floor that are historically protected and deserve to be open to the public. Although there are plans for the building to become a boutique hotel, the project has been delayed since the contract was awarded to Peebles Corp. in 2014. A far more appropriate use for this wonderful historic building would be a center for history and culture. The building would provide ample space for a larger display of the Philadelphia History Museums collection. While that might be the central feature and public attraction, it would probably not be enough to fill the entire building. The upper floors are simply office space and would be suitable for nonprofit organizations, or perhaps even public agencies whose mission is preserving and interpreting the history and cultural life of the city. The Association for Public Art, the Preservation Alliance, and Partners for Sacred Spaces, for example, would be appropriate tenants and are all renting space in private office buildings now. So would cultural organizations, such as the Cultural Alliance and even the Mayors Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy. The center could be a place where the wonderful films on the history of Philadelphia made by Sam Katzs organization, History Making Productions, could be shown with special exhibits drawn from the museums collection linked to the films. The Free Library could move its collection of books on the history of Philadelphia into the building, and perhaps even its archives of historic maps and photographs, thereby providing space for expansion of other functions in the main library building. Perhaps there could even be a film showing the evolution of Philadelphia from when it was home to Native Americans to today, like that great film of Manhattan island that shows it going from forest to the city New York is now. Such a center would be a wonderful additional attraction for visitors along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway as well as a great resource for residents of the city. It would not preclude digitizing the collection or lending pieces to other places as a means of promoting interest in the museum. But it would be far more interesting to be able to actually see, smell, and even touch the objects that have contributed to the history and culture of the city than to simply view them on my computer screen. Is this a crazy idea? Yes. Is it too ambitious? Definitely. Would it be expensive? Probably. But is it still worth exploring? I think so. Philadelphia deserves a great museum of the history of the city and the former Family Court Building would be the perfect place. Having such a facility managed by a great institution such as Drexel University would be a great gift. Lets make it happen. John Andrew Gallery was formerly executive director of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia. He is the author of Philadelphia Architecture, A Guide to the City, now in its 4th edition. A priest at a Catholic parish in Collingswood, Camden County, abruptly announced his retirement this week and revealed that he had asked to be removed from ministry due to an accusation of sexual abuse one that a diocesan review board deemed to be credible more than 15 years ago. The Rev. John D. Bohrers decision to resign as administrator of St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish appears to have been prompted by the Camden Dioceses plan to release a list this year of all its priests who have ever been credibly accused of abuse. But questions remained as to how Bohrer, 74, had retained his post for years after his accusers claims were substantiated in a diocese that has a zero-tolerance policy for clergy misconduct. Diocesan spokesperson Michael Walsh said Tuesday that Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan, who took the helm of the Camden Diocese in 2013, was unaware until recently of the details of the claims against Bohrer, which first emerged in 2002 and prompted his removal at the time. They were rediscovered last year when the diocese began preparing its list of credibly accused priests, Walsh said. Bishops across the nation have released similar lists in recent months as a new wave of the clergy sex-abuse crisis roils the Catholic Church, but most priests named on such rolls are either long dead or were removed from ministry years ago. Bohrers case appears to be a rare instance in which the compiling of such a list led to the discovery of an accused cleric still in active ministry. This accusation came to light during an independent review of personnel files, Walsh said. In keeping with the dioceses own zero-tolerance policy, Father Bohrer resigned his position and was removed from ministry. Bohrer could not be reached for comment Tuesday. The allegation against him dates to 2002, the height of the original U.S. clergy sex-abuse crisis. That year, a 35-year-old man informed the diocese that Bohrer had abused him in the mid-1980s while the priest was assigned to St. Pius X in Cherry Hill. Walsh, in a statement, said that church leaders at the time suspended Bohrer immediately, referred the claim against him to law enforcement, and conducted their own investigation. The dioceses civilian review board determined the accusers claim to be credible and its findings were submitted to the Vatican. Officials in Rome, however, ultimately concluded that the claim did not warrant Bohrers permanent removal from the priesthood the most severe punishment the Vatican can issue, and one handed down in only a quarter of cases involving accused priests, according to Vatican data from 2004 to 2014. The same year Bohrer was accused, Catholic bishops across the United States had vowed to never again allow any credibly accused priest return to active ministry. And yet, then-Camden Bishop Joseph Galante, a chief proponent of that policy, lifted Bohrers suspension after the Vaticans ruling and assigned him to new posts first as a nursing-home chaplain in 2008 and then, in 2010, as vicar to Holy Saviour parish in Haddon Township. The next year, Bohrer was named administrator of St. Teresa of Calcutta, a parish formed after the merger of Holy Saviour with the neighboring St. Johns. A parochial school associated with the parish, Good Shepherd Regional, enrolls about 200 students. The diocese said Monday that no accusations were lodged against Bohrer after his return to ministry. Asked Tuesday to explain Galantes decision to put Bohrer back in charge of a parish, Walsh said: I dont know the answer to that question. There are no members of [Galantes] administration remaining in the current administration of the diocese. Bohrers retirement comes as the Catholic Church faces a new wave of scandal kicked off last year by the ouster of top American Cardinal Theodore McCarrick over reports of his own sexual misconduct and a scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report that uncovered a decades-long history of abuse and cover-up implicating hundreds of clergy and affecting thousands of victims in six of the states eight Catholic dioceses. In response, dozens of law enforcement officials nationwide, including New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal, have vowed new examinations of the churchs handling of abuse cases. Like Sullivan, bishops in New Jerseys four other dioceses have pledged to release lists of all credibly accused clerics this year. The Camden Diocese has not set a date for the release of its list. As a diocese, we continue to pray for all victims and survivors of sexual abuse and for their healing, Walsh said. The Philadelphia city commissioners have postponed a vote scheduled for Wednesday on acquiring a new voting-machine system, delaying a process that has drawn criticism for its speed and lack of transparency. The commissioners were awaiting a confidential committees evaluation of bids to supply new systems which are required but had not received a final recommendation by late Tuesday, resulting in the delay. The selection committee made its recommendations to the Procurement Department for additional negotiations of price and other terms, the commissioners said in a statement Tuesday night. The citys selection process has come under fire, with city and state officials joining activists in raising concerns about transparency and speed. City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart had asked the commissioners to delay the vote to receive more public input. And on Monday, state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale held a news conference to express his concerns about ethics and the selection timeline. Now, I understand the need to move quickly, but I dont think there was a full accounting of this process, he said, adding that the citys request for proposals appeared written to favor one vendor. The commissioners say they are simply following Gov. Tom Wolfs directive that counties quickly upgrade their voting machines to safer systems that produce a paper trail. As for transparency, they say they are adhering to the citys procurement process, which requires the confidential committee to make a recommendation to them. It is not an ideal situation for us to be in. It is a very sped-up timeline, but it is a timeline that is the result of what the governor has asked each county in Pennsylvania to do, said Lisa Deeley, who chairs the commissioners. Last year, Wolfs Department of State ordered voting systems to leave a paper trail. County election officials across the state, while broadly agreeing with the idea of upgrading their systems, have said they need more money and time. Philadelphia election officials said that they were preparing to upgrade machines after the 2020 election, but that Wolfs directive forced them to scramble to find funding and accelerate a selection process that would have included more public input. Deeley has said the cost of the machines could be as high as $50 million to $60 million, though that includes up-front and operating costs over multiple years. Its unclear what the new systems will cost because they vary depending on the type chosen and the bids are secret. The city has $22 million in city funding and an additional $1.7 million in federal and state funding. The city put out a request for proposals in November and received six bids. Since then, following the citys best value procurement process, the competing systems have been undergoing review by a selection committee whose makeup is confidential. That committee, which includes representatives from the commissioners, City Council, the mayors office, the citys Office of Innovation and Technology, and the office of the citys chief diversity and inclusion officer, must score the systems and provide recommendations to the commissioners. In a letter last week to the three commissioners and others, Rhynhart called for public demonstrations of new voting machines, an additional hearing that includes a ballot-security expert, and the rationale behind the choice of voting system to be made public. Its being done without public input, and this gets into how government should interact with the public. And I think it should be more transparent than how its been going on, Rhynhart said. Before the delay was announced, she had called for the commissioners to wait up to a month to take more feedback before making their decision. DePasquale raised similar concerns about the timeline Monday but said he was also worried about undue influence from election vendors. While he said there is no evidence of Philadelphia election officials acting improperly, companies have lobbied Luzerne County and others, leading him to believe Philadelphia would be a target as well. It is hard for me to imagine that you would attempt to lobby Luzerne County and have zero interest in lobbying the City of Philadelphia, he said. DePasquale and Rhynhart each raised concerns that the city had slanted its request for proposals toward one vendor. Language about having a ballot with all names fitting on one page, as well as the size of the machines, suggests it was written in a way that favors a digital system, and thats not the only type of system, Rhynhart said. Nick Custodio, deputy commissioner, said those elements were included in the request because of accessibility concerns and Philadelphias large candidate pool. DePasquale asked election officials in each county to report gifts they may have received from vendors, including any meals or trips on a vendors dime. The commissioners said they had nothing of that type to report. The only trips taken, such as by Commissioner Al Schmidt in 2013 to a vendors headquarters, were paid for out of pocket or reimbursed by the city, they wrote to DePasquales office. About 25 activists held a noontime rally Tuesday at City Hall and plan to attend Wednesdays meeting of the city commissioners. Folks in Ridley Township are fired up. They dont want to lose their neighborhood Barnabys to an evangelical church. On social media, a chorus of opposition rose over the news that the popular watering hole was to be sold to New Destiny Christian Center, a grassroots worship community that now meets elsewhere in the township. The township zoning officer on Monday denied a request for a required change in occupancy, a move that could scuttle the sale, but that decision could be appealed. On local Facebook groups, heated debates broke out, with some folks questioning whether another place of worship would benefit a township that has at least eight Christian churches for its 30,000 residents. Rumors, many untrue, further stoked outrage. Some said they worried that congregants would go door-to-door proselytizing, or that New Destiny which focuses in part on helping people who have fallen on hard times, according to its website would bus in struggling outsiders, or that local property taxes would go up with the loss of a taxpaying restaurant. A Change.org petition titled Stop the Sale of Barnabys to Non-Tax Paying Entity" was shared on Facebook and quickly received thousands of signatures. Others asked how a church replacing a bar could be a bad thing for a community. Over the years, the MacDade Boulevard bar-restaurant, one of four Barnabys locations in Delaware and Chester Counties, has become a local hangout known for happy hour deals, pub fare, and DJd events. Im a little upset because thats the only bar where me and my friends hang out, said Krista Finnegan, 35. In Ridley, she said, there arent a lot of places that cater to 30-year-olds and are safe. The employees at Barnabys have become like family, and make it a point to get to know customers and watch out for them, said Finnegan, a state-employed case manager who said she lives five minutes from the bar. But that isnt the only reason she said she opposes the sale. I dont think the location right there is a good location" for a church, Finnegan said. The 32,000-square-foot building is on Ridleys main strip next to a shopping plaza with a Family Dollar store, a karate studio, and a tanning salon. And she is among those who worry about the townships losing the tax revenue of the bar to a church. Rob Beiseigel, 36, one of the first to share the news on a town Facebook group, said the same. I think a lot of people are worried about it being tax-exempt, Beiseigel said. And the location doesnt lend itself to a church, as its in a shopping center, he said. Ridley Township Manager Ed Pisani said he was shocked when his phone started blowing up with friends and colleagues texting him about the outrage online. Few people were calling his office with questions, he said, but they were up in arms on Facebook. As the anger intensified, Scott MacNeil, 47, said he was struck by the way some users were discussing New Destiny. Its kind of funny, MacNeil said. People are calling it a cult, and three-quarters of people in the community dont know anything about the church." MacNeil said he has never been to a New Destiny service, but has heard that the church has done a lot of good in the community." He said he believes that if a Catholic or Methodist church were moving in, it wouldnt trigger such backlash. He said he thinks some are opposed because New Destiny is a nondenominational church with a racially diverse congregation. I think it comes down to race, he said, "but people will never admit it. The pastors at New Destiny did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but posted a statement on their website following a reporters calls. As Pastors of New Destiny Christian Center, we are writing to express our excitement about the opportunity before us," read the statement, which was signed by Pastors David and Teresa Verdecchio. After eight years of leasing a building here in Ridley Township, God has answered our prayers for a permanent home just a short drive from our current location on Bullens Lane, and we are currently under agreement to purchase a building. ... As a nondenominational Christian church, we look forward to the opportunity to continue spreading the love of Jesus everywhere we go." David Verdecchio told the Delaware County Daily Times, It is just a simple purchase of a building. We are a Christian church," and declined to comment further. Board of Commissioners President Robert J. Willert said in a statement that the certificate of occupancy request was denied because the area is zoned as a commercial district and does not have enough parking for a place of worship under the zoning ordinance. If New Destiny appeals, a hearing will be held. The owners of Barnabys did not return multiple requests for comment on the possible sale. Bought in 1988 by William Daley and Ralph LaMarra, the property is valued at more than $600,000, records show. BALTIMORE (AP) The veteran police leader from New Orleans chosen to reform Baltimore's troubled force while reducing one of the country's highest violent crime rates was on the job Monday in what could be the toughest job in American policing. Baltimore's City Council will officially decide on Michael Harrison's nomination next month. But he took the reins Monday as acting commissioner, saying he's relocated to Maryland's biggest city and is eager to help transform a demoralized department distrusted by many of the people it is tasked with protecting. The 49-year-old has spent his entire 28-year law enforcement career with the New Orleans Police Department. He now faces a formidable to-do list in Baltimore, which led all big U.S. cities in violent crime statistics in 2017 and has been mired in scandal, plagued by mismanagement, and recurrently paralyzed by leadership instability. He's the fourth police leader during the administration of Mayor Catherine Pugh, who took office in December 2016. Harrison pledged he will not tread cautiously on rooting out wrongdoing and misconduct by police colleagues. Last month, the U.S. judge enforcing a federal oversight program requiring sweeping police reforms in Baltimore said the city's force appeared to have a "culture of timidity" in confronting corruption within its ranks. There will be no tolerance for corruption, said Harrison. I will make strong, certain and swift decisions when those things are brought to my attention. Harrison also stressed that he's eager to advocate for Baltimore's police officers and ensure they get the resources they need to be successful. Harrison, who spent roughly a decade in police internal affairs in New Orleans, said its essential to beef up that critical division in Baltimore so it can investigate any allegations of lawbreaking or professional misconduct by officers. "We want to make sure that we have a very robust, competent, efficient and effective internal affairs division that can function the way it's supposed to function," he said. As part of a charm offensive, Harrison will attend nine community meetings across Baltimore in the next two weeks. He says he's eager to engage with city residents and start helping to repair broken relationships between law enforcers and citizens. "It will always be about relationships. It is the one way that together we will make Baltimore a great police department," said Harrison, who's also an ordained preacher with a reputation for being approachable and willing to listen to others' viewpoints. An internal shake-up appears imminent as Harrison seeks people to serve as leaders under his command. On Monday, he said he an organizational assessment will help him "build the appropriate team so that we can be successful." Harrison helped New Orleans formerly scandal-plagued force implement ongoing consent decree reforms after becoming superintendent there in 2014. He took that job in the second year of New Orleans federal consent decree process. A 2011 report by the U.S. Justice Department depicted a department in which officers often used deadly force without justification, repeatedly made unconstitutional arrests, and engaged in racial profiling. Rafael Goyaneche, head of the independent Metropolitan Crime Commission, a watchdog organization in New Orleans, recently said reforms accelerated under Harrison to the point where New Orleans is now approaching full compliance with the consent decree. On Monday, Harrison said it took about "five years for us to be at what we would call 'substantial compliance' in most areas" under the decree in New Orleans. Last year, Harrison helped drive down New Orleans' homicide rate to its lowest level since 1971. Rapes, burglaries and shootings also declined. Harrison arrives in crime-weary Baltimore amid high expectations. "I truly believe, and certainly he does, that he's up for the challenge," Pugh said. One of Harrison's first closed-door meetings in Baltimore was with the city's top prosecutor. He said they planned to discuss her office's recently announced policy to stop prosecuting marijuana possession cases, regardless of the fact that possession of more than 10 grams of pot remains illegal in Maryland. WASHINGTON (AP) The Trump administration pushed back Monday against allegations that it was trying to cover up the killing of Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi when it failed to send Congress a report determining who was responsible for his death. "America is not covering up for a murder," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters at the U.S. Embassy in Budapest. Late last year, 22 bipartisan members of the Senate called for an investigation into Khashoggi's Oct. 2 death and specifically whether Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was responsible. The investigation was requested under provisions of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. The act required the president to report back by Feb. 8 to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on whether the crown prince was responsible. In a Feb. 8 letter to Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the ranking Democrat on the committee, Pompeo said President Donald Trump had called for a prompt and open investigation into the death of Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post who had been critical of the royal family. In the letter, obtained by the Associated Press, Pompeo wrote that in multiple meetings with Saudi officials and in numerous public statements, he had emphasized the importance of a thorough, transparent and timely investigation, including accountability for those responsible for the killing. Pompeo also noted that the United States sanctioned 17 Saudi individuals for their involvement in the killing, but the letter did not assess whether the crown prince was responsible. This amounts to the Trump administration aiding in the cover-up of a murder, said Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, where Khashoggi lived. America should never descend to this level of moral bankruptcy. Congress will not relent in its efforts to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for this heinous crime. "The Trump administration has blatantly turned a blind eye to this crime, and is now refusing to provide a required report about who is responsible for his murder, despite the fact that the CIA concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally ordered Khashoggi's killing," Kaine said in a statement Sunday. Pompeo defended the administrations response to the death of Khashoggi, who entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get a document he needed for his forthcoming marriage and was never seen again. "America has taken more action in response to the tragic murder of Jamal Khashoggi and will continue to take more action, continue our investigation," Pompeo told reporters in the Hungarian capital. "We are working diligently on that. The president has been very clear couldn't be more clear as we get additional information, we will continue to hold all of those responsible accountable." A senior administration official told the AP that the State Department regularly updates Congress on the status of the case and that the U.S. government will continue to work to hold accountable those responsible for the death. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss the issue and spoke only on condition of anonymity. Some Democrats and Republicans, however, maintain the sanctions, including a ban on travel to the United States, are insufficient. Lawmakers, including Menendez and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), introduced legislation Friday that would prohibit certain arms sales to Saudi Arabia in response to the killing of Khashoggi and the Saudis role in Yemen. Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) told CNNs State of the Union on Sunday that by law, when the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee asks the president to make a finding as to a human rights violation overseas, the president has to respond. Thats what the law says. So he doesnt have an option here. Murphy said lawmakers could go to court to try to make the president comply, or they can move forward with their own list of sanctions. "Congress doesn't have to wait for the president to fulfill his duty," Murphy said. "We can just make a determination ourselves." Late last week, Saudi Arabias minister of state for foreign affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, told reporters in Washington that people should await the results of the trial of the suspects as well as the end of an ongoing investigation before drawing any conclusions about the case. He insisted the crown prince had no role in the slaying that it was a rogue operation with no official backing. AP diplomatic writer Matthew Lee in Budapest contributed to this article. Can you be anti-Israel without being anti-Semitic, or are the two so tightly entwined as to be inseparable? The question arises after Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar said support for Israel in Congress is bought and paid for. It was not Omars first anti-Israel comment, and she did apologize after being tarred as an anti-Semite on social media. But is being anti-Israel actually synonymous with being anti-Semitic? They are the same, says Steve Feldman, executive director of the Zionist Organization of Americas Philadelphia district. A ferocious defender of Israel, Feldman says of Omar: I believe she is anti-Jewish. I differ with Feldman, because I cant read Omars mind. I find charges of anti-Semitism and racism to be so serious that they require indisputable proof. Omar knows shes having a bad week when she is scolded by Nancy Pelosi, hears a demand she resign from President Donald Trump, and wins support from Holocaust denier and ex-KKK leader David Duke. The reaction of the Anti-Defamation Leagues regional director, Nancy Baron-Baer, is more nuanced than Feldmans. Anti-Israel and anti-Semitism can be separable, she says, but they often become one and the same. She gives this example: When a U.N. committee lumps Israel together with other countries for human-rights abuses including North Korea, China, Iran, and Cuba that is anti-Israel. If it condemns only one country, and that country is the only Jewish state, thats a problem, she says. And its a problem that happens regularly. Words matter, and we expect our politicians will condemn bigotry when they see it, Baron-Baer says. Omar gets bipartisan grief from two Philly-area colleagues in Congress. First District U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Bucks County Republican, says Omar should be stripped of her committee assignments, as was Republican Steve King over accusations of racism. Silence is acquiescence, Fitzpatrick tells me. Second District U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, a Philadelphia Democrat, believes, as do I, that one can criticize the Israeli government without necessarily being anti-Semitic. Just like one can criticize the U.S. government without necessarily being anti-American. In November, when Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill was fired by CNN for comments that were taken to be anti-Israel, I stood up for him. I found Hills comments to be anti-Israel, but not anti-Semitic. I fought on social media with Jews and others who disagreed. As for Omar, I had been proud of her story elected to Congress after coming to the U.S. as a child from Somalia, a hellhole wracked by civil war. That is an amazing tribute to America. As Barack Obama once said: Where else would this story be possible? Then Omar started shooting off her mouth, pouring venom on Israel, with some of it spilling onto the shoes of American Jews. Pushing the vile trope of Jewish cash thats evil. Linking Jews to money control hearkens back to the Nazi era and previously was used to persecute Jews, says Naomi Adler, CEO and president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. Omars most recent attack was similar to comments she has made before, criticizing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, an effective pro-Israel lobby. Feldman says Omar is anti-Jewish to single out AIPAC when there are also Arab lobbies and Islamic lobbies. That seems to be the fault line, echoing the point made by Baron-Baer: If Israel is singled out for criticism, it will look like a people, not a nation, is being targeted. Thats where Omar went, and got burned. Bet some folks are conflicted over this. On one hand, a top government official traveling the state to meet real people to hear their thoughts on proposed public policy is refreshing. So, in this case, a listening/fact-finding tour on whether Pennsylvania should legalize recreational marijuana, just begun by Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, seems an example of at least an attempt at grassroots democracy. On the other hand, wait, what? Taxpayers pony up (by Fettermans estimate) $20,000 to $25,000 for a multi-month trek through all 67 counties with maybe 80 events (bigger counties get more than one visit) so people can cheer for pot or rant on reefer madness? And this border-to-border jaw fest is sponsored by an administration thats never pushed legalization or even talked about grass, except when asked, and is headed up by its number two, who reportedly wants to run for U.S. Senate in 2022? Not to mention this comes during aggressive ongoing administration efforts to battle opioid addiction, which, depending on ones view of gateway drugs, might seem a tad counterproductive. A bit eyebrow-raising, no? Plus, doesnt independent polling tell us what Pennsylvanians think about grass? Heck, back in 2017, a Franklin and Marshall College poll showed most state voters, 59 percent, agreed cannabis should be legal. Anybody think that number dropped? Last October, a national Pew Research survey found pro-pot support at 62 percent. So, when the swing-state swing shows we like weed, then what? Think the odds that our conservative Republican legislature is ready to seriously consider legalization get any better than slim and none, mostly none? Yet here we go. Multiple public events in Central Pennsylvania this week, more in Southwestern Pennsylvania next week, and on and on, up to six or seven a week, until mid-June. This isnt a tour. Its an endurance test. Does it have any value? Meri Long is a University of Pittsburgh political science lecturer who researches and writes about what frames public support for various public policies. Any time a politician wants to hear from the voters, wants to let people give their thoughts, that seems a positive thing to me, she says. Town hall-type meetings do provide another avenue for democracy, she adds, So, ideally, its a good thing. OK, theres that. And even Senate GOP Leader Jake Corman of Centre County, who labels legalization reckless and irresponsible, has no problem with Fettermans road show. I havent been critical of the tour. Historically, lieutenant governors dont have much to do. If he wants to go to 67 counties, God bless him, says Corman. But listening tours dont form public policy, he adds, and, to me, this is an enormous public policy decision, akin to legalizing gambling," which took years. Still, theres something to be said for Fettermans effort. Theres the fact, as Gov. Tom Wolf notes, neighboring states are pushing for legalization and the tax revenue it would bring. Forbes reports that in addition to 10 states where marijuanas legal (33, including Pennsylvania, allow medical marijuana), nine more states, including New York and New Jersey, could legalize as soon as this year. Also, state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale projects legal grass, if regulated and taxed, means $580 million a year in new state revenue. And Fetterman pushes the tour as one with no agenda other than to see where Pennsylvania is on the issue, to generate thought and conversation, to get more than random yes/no answers from a poll. He says when it comes to politics and policy, interaction often is reduced to social media burns or Facebook likes, adding, I think we should have a 67-county conversation about every major policy. Finally, Fetterman favors legalization (doesnt use, tried it 20 years ago, says, Its just not for me) but is open-minded. He wants the tour to make people feel respected and free to voice their opinion, whatever it might be. Im not going to debate people. Were going to demand civility, no booing. And at the end of each session, well have a show of hands, for and against. He adds, If all this falls short, it falls short. But it wont be for lack of effort. As for me, I think too few elected officials connect with the public. I think such connection (on any issue) is vital to public service. I think anything that helps people feel theyre part of the government they pay for can lead to better government. Plus, Fettermans calling and inviting lawmakers of both parties to events in their area. I hope they attend. Maybe they can meet some constituents. Nearly a dozen Jesuit priests who in past decades worked in Philadelphia at St. Josephs Preparatory School or St. Josephs University were named by the religious order Monday on a newly released list of clerics who at some point were credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor. The list was released by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus, an order whose priests served in parts of Pennsylvania, Baltimore, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. Most of the abuse dates back decades, and in only two of the cases were priests accused of committing the abuse while in Philadelphia. None of those named are still in active ministry, though the information released shows that some priests remained in ministry years after the abuse took place. The Jesuits said their policies for removing priests from ministry improved after the greater Catholic Church reformed its reporting rules in 2002. We know better now," the release said. "Our awareness of the nature and effect of abuse of minors has changed dramatically over the years. ... We recognize now our failures of the past in this regard, and we are deeply sorry. The Jesuits said they decided to name the priests given recent revelations about sexual abuse of minors and ongoing calls for dioceses and orders to release names. (The release this past summer of a grand jury report covering past abuse allegations in six of Pennsylvanias eight Catholic dioceses has sparked similar investigations in more than a dozen states.) Priests who are members of religious orders, which also include the Benedictines, Augustinians, and Franciscans, make up roughly one-third of priests in the United States. They operate largely independently from the dioceses in which they serve. St. Josephs University acknowledged in a statement Monday that six of the priests on the list had ties to the university at various points from the 1930s to the 1990s, but that the school does not currently have any records reflecting reports of sexual misconduct on our campus involving these individuals. Three are deceased and three were removed from ministry, the school noted. As a Jesuit university founded with the educational mission of developing and caring for the whole person, St. Josephs is deeply saddened to learn of this and other reported sexual abuse by priests and religious officials around the world, the school said in its statement. We continue our firm commitment to addressing and stopping any reported abuse on our own campus, and our community stands in prayerful solidarity with survivors and their families. St. Josephs Prep, which is not affiliated with the university other than sharing a name and being a Jesuit school, declined to comment and referred all questions to the Jesuits. Among those named was Philadelphia native Stephen M. Garrity, who was assigned to the Prep off and on from 1964 to 1980. Allegations against him came to light in 2013, when the Jesuits informed the Philadelphia District Attorneys Office that they had received a credible allegation that he had inappropriate physical contact with a student at the Prep in the 1970s. The District Attorneys Office did not take criminal action, noting that the statute of limitations had expired, but the Jesuits continued their investigation. A graduate of St. Josephs Prep, Garrity joined the Jesuits in 1957 and had a number of posts over his career, including teaching there from 1964 to 1967 and then 1971 to 1979. He also was school chaplain from 1975 to 1978. He has not been in active ministry since 2007. He was removed as pastor of Holy Cross parish in Durham, N.C., that year for sexual misconduct with adults. At the time the allegations were reported, he lived in a monitored community with other Jesuits. Garrity died in 2014. Other priests credibly accused of abuse who had assignments in Philadelphia named by the order: William J. Walsh, who worked at St. Josephs Prep from 1949 to 1951 and then at St. Josephs University from 1986 to 1991, faced accusations of sexual abuse in Philadelphia, as well as in Maryland, Washington, and Wernersville, Pa. He was removed from ministry in 1996 and is living in a restricted environment. H. Cornell Bradley, who worked at St. Josephs University from 1994 to 1999. Bradley was accused of abuse in Ocean City, Md., and Washington. He was removed from ministry in 2006 and left the Jesuits in 2007. Michael L. Barber, who worked at St. Josephs University from 1988 to 1994. He pleaded guilty to a charge of harassment by offensive touching that occurred in Strathmere, N.J., and was removed from ministry in 1994. He is living in a restricted environment. Neil P. McLaughlin worked at St. Josephs Prep in 1953 and 1954. He was accused of sexual abuse in Dunmore, Pa., and Scranton, as well as Woodstock, Md. and Georgia, Massachusetts, and New York. McLaughlin was removed from ministry in 2007 and is living in a restricted environment. Louis A. Bonacci was accused of unwanted touching under and over a victims clothes in the 1970s and 1980s in Columbia, Md. Bonacci was assigned to St. Josephs Prep from 1968 to 1970, was removed from ministry in 2011 and left the Jesuits in 2014. Garrett D. Orr was assigned to St. Josephs Prep from 1984 to 1989. He pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual offense in the fourth degree stemming from multiple allegations of abuse in North Bethesda, Md. He was removed from ministry in 2005 and left the Jesuits in 2008. John H. Duggan worked at St. Agnes Hospital from 1972 to 1978. He was accused of sexual abuse in Scranton, and likely abuse in Towson, Md., and other locations in Pennsylvania. Duggan died in 2004. Jeff Burton, accused of unwanted touching in 1982 in North Carolina, was assigned to Stockton University and Atlantic Cape Community College from 1989 to 2006. He was also a priest at the Church of the Assumption in Galloway Township and at St. James in Ventnor, N.J., from 1998 to 2002. Burton was removed from ministry in 2007 and died in 2011. Allegations that the order found were reasonable but could not be fully investigated, in some cases because the priest had died once the allegations surfaced: John F.X. Bellwoar, assigned to St. Josephs University from 1938 to 1940. He is accused of abuse in the 1950s and 1960s in Maryland and Washington. Bellwoar died in 1993. Thomas E. Pyne, who was accused of sexual abuse in Washington during the 1960s. He worked at St. Josephs Prep from 1953 to 1956, left the Jesuits in 1968, and died in 1999. Martin J. Casey, who worked at St. Josephs University from 1944 to 1947, at St. Josephs Preparatory School from 1954 to 1958, and at Old St. Josephs Church from 1964 to 1971. He was accused of a single allegation of sexual abuse around 1959 in Washington. Casey died in 2006. The Jesuits encouraged anyone who believes they were abused by a Jesuit or employee of the province to call the Victim Assistance Coordinator at 443-370-6357, email at MARadvocacy@jesuits.org, or write to the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus, 8600 LaSalle Rd., Suite 620, Towson, Md. 21286. Last month, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia launched a compensation fund program that would, in the words of Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, begin to acknowledge the "evil done to scores, if not hundreds, of victims who were abused as children by Catholic clergy. The fund, and others like it statewide, were established in part as a preemptive measure in the wake of an unsuccessful but hotly contested legislative proposal to change the statute of limitations and let victims sue for decades-old abuse. Church officials and some advocates have hailed the new efforts to acknowledge and compensate victims. Yet an entire class of victims is being shut out of Philadelphias program because their assailants belonged to independent Catholic religious orders, even in cases where the abuse occurred at diocesan parishes or schools. Nearly a fourth of the abuse claims submitted so far to the archdiocese have been rejected because they allege abuse by members of religious orders, such as the Franciscans, Augustinians, or Jesuits. One woman who filed such a claim this fall said it was the first time she ever told anyone about the Spiritan order priest she said repeatedly pulled her from her first-grade class in the 1950s to grope her at Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament school in the citys Fairmount section. When she was told she was ineligible for compensation, she said, "I felt like I was being violated all over again. The Philadelphia Archdiocese was the first diocese statewide to launch its compensation fund, formally known as the Independent Reconciliation and Reparations Program (IRRP), and already has fielded 42 applications. The other dioceses are expected to have their funds up and running early next year. (Matt Haverstick, the lawyer representing the dioceses of Harrisburg and Greensburg, said Thursday that the those two dioceses intend to include" victims of order priests when they launch their compensation programs.) Philadelphias program is open to any person who was a child victim of sexual abuse by a priest or deacon within its jurisdiction, which beyond the city includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties. Claims can be submitted through Sept. 30, 2019. The archdiocese sent information packets about the fund to more than 340 people who were known or believed to have been victimized by archdiocesan clergy or staff over the past decades. It did not notify alleged victims of members of religious orders who for years staffed archdiocesan schools and celebrated Masses and sacraments in its churches. If those victims register as potential claimants on the website set up for the program, they are told they cannot participate, according to Camille Biros, one of the funds administrators. Of the 42 claims submitted thus far, nine have been turned away for that reason. In an interview this month, Biros said the rationale behind the eligibility rule is that although religious order priests may have worked in diocesan facilities, they were not ordained by or within a diocese and do not fall under the administrative umbrella of the rules and regulations that apply to most parish priests. Its a very difficult thing to explain to a potential claimant why their claim cant be considered, Biros added. She said claims involving religious order priests are forwarded to the superiors of that particular order just as allegations against priests of other dioceses are forwarded to their bishop. When asked why the program does not accept claims from victims of religious-order priests, Philadelphia Archdiocese spokesperson Ken Gavin said the compensation fund program is independently run and, as such, I cannot speak on its behalf. Its not a situation unique to the church in this region or state. As of 2014, about 30 percent of the 38,809 priests in the United States were members of religious orders, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. And about 20 percent of all Catholic clergy sex abuse allegations nationwide in the past five years have involved religious order priests, according to audit information from the conference. Religious order priests often focus on specific areas of spirituality, like education, or nursing and are governed by their own superiors and rules. They have their own proper law, their own institutions, their own statutes that would determine who can be a member, said the Rev. Robert J. Kaslyn, a Jesuit priest and professor of canon law at Catholic University of America in Washington. If a priest acts inappropriately, the one under whom he is exercising his priesthood is responsible." Because the orders are typically smaller than dioceses, so too is their budget for compensating victims, Kaslyn said. There have been exceptions. In 2014, 88 sexual abuse victims of a Franciscan friar who served in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese received an $8 million settlement, funded in part by that diocese. There is a joint responsibility in such cases," said Richard Serbin, a plaintiffs attorney who has handled dozens of sex abuse cases, including for victims of the friar in the Altoona-Johnstown case. Its like two employers employing someone to do a task. They both share the responsibility. Serbin called church-led compensation funds inadequate, in part for that reason. He supports creating a two-year window in the states statute of limitations that could pave the way for lawsuits by any accuser against any alleged abuser. Under current law, victims of child sexual abuse have until age 30 to file such legal claims; victims and advocates say it can take decades for victims to come forward. A claim denied The woman from Fairmount said it took her 60 years to tell anyone about the abuse she said she endured in the first grade. The first person she told was Biros, the compensation fund administrator. Ive carried that pain now for so many years, said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous. "Im a grandmother, Im a mother, Im an aunt, and Ive always been very protective of the little people in my life because of what my experience was. This was my opportunity to help that little girl inside me. She was 6 years old in 1958, she said, when the Rev. John R. Marx, who taught Latin to the altar boys at the school, would pull her from her classroom. He would carry me up and down the aisles with his hand in my panties, his fingers in my panties, she said. She said Marx, who died in 1995, abused her more than 200 times over two years. Her parents were separated and Marx provided counseling, food, and gifts to her mother, she said. The abuse ended in 1960 when she and her mother moved in with her grandmother and she changed schools. It caused her decades of anxiety and trust issues, she said. She hoped the compensation fund could pay for some long-overdue therapy. But weeks after her conversation with Biros, she received a letter saying her claim would not be considered because Marx was a member of the Spiritans. Unfortunately, after review of the information you provided, we have determined that you do not meet the eligibility criteria," the letter said. She was crushed. I couldnt believe that I finally got up the courage to come forth and then to get that letter," she said. "I didnt understand it. The orders spokesman, the Rev. Jeff Duaime, said it had not received allegations against Marx. He said the order, based in Bethel Park, Pa., gives victims therapeutic support but not monetary compensation. The Philadelphia-area accuser said she has not approached the order. Her lawyer, Jordan Merson, said the situation shows why the statute of limitations needs to be changed. Unless the order decides to do right by her, which theres no indication they are, she has no options for recourse, he said. Merson said he has had more than a dozen other clients' claims rejected by similar funds set up in New York because the accused priests belonged to religious orders. He said hes also had cases denied in which the accusations involve lay employees, including one sexual education counselor. It is clear that this program, the IRRP, does not provide a global resolution to this problem," he said. It provides a potential mode of recourse to a small percentage of victims of child sex abuse. Sometimes orders do compensate victims. Stephen Jimenez, who was abused as a boy in Brooklyn and has become an advocate for survivors of clergy sex abuse in New York, was awarded $75,000 by the Xaverian Brothers for abuse he endured in elementary school. The Brooklyn Diocese fund doesnt accept claims against religious order priests. Its kind of passing the buck. I dont know how else to say it, Jimenez said. Its all about money and its all about limiting their damages. Staff writer Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this article. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced Tuesday he has signed an executive order that sets the first statewide plan to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. The goal is to reduce overall energy consumption by 3 percent per year, ultimately by 21 percent by 2025 compared with 2017 levels. The executive order directs the state to replace 25 percent of its passenger car fleet with battery and plug-in electric hybrid cars by the same year, and buy enough renewable energy to offset 40 percent of the states electric use. In the absence of leadership from the federal government, states and cities are stepping up and doing their part to reduce emissions, Wolf said in a statement. Today I am proud to declare the commonwealths intention to address climate change, the most critical environmental threat facing the world. Earlier Tuesday, researchers released an analysis showing emissions of carbon dioxide spiked in the United States last year, marking the first increase in three years, even though a record number of coal-fired power plants had been retired. The Rhodium Group, an independent research firm, released a report saying carbon emissions rose 3.4 percent in 2018. The group derived the figure from preliminary emission estimates reported to the U.S. Energy Information Administration in the first three quarters of last year, as well as other data. The surprising rise suggests the U.S. would need to step up carbon reduction even faster if it has any hope of meeting Paris Agreement goals. The U.S. target has been a 26 to 28 percent reduction of 2005 levels in all greenhouse-gas emissions by 2025. Carbon dioxide amounts to about three-quarters of greenhouse gases produced. President Donald Trump vowed to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, but its a lengthy process. The earliest possible time frame to formally exit is late 2020. The U.S. appeared on track to make its second-largest annual gain in emissions since 1996. It saw an increase of 3.6 percent in 2010 as the recession was winding down and industry was gearing back up. Transportation remained the largest source of emissions. But buildings and industry posted big gains, possibly due to colder weather at the start of 2018 compared with 2017. Yet overall, the first three months of 2018 were still warmer than the average for the quarter in the previous 20 years. The report notes the increase shows a lack of limited progress made in developing decarbonization strategies" for buildings and industry. Indeed, emissions from residential and commercial buildings that use oil, diesel, and natural gas increased by 10 percent, the biggest jump since 2004. This development marks a significant turnaround in a long trend. Carbon emissions from fossil-fuel combustion peaked in 2007 at 6 million tons. Then, the recession struck and the U.S. increased its use of natural gas, wind, and solar energy. Use of coal-fired plants declined. Between 2007 and 2015 emissions fell by 12.1 percent, or about 1.6 percent on average each year. Since 2016, the pace of emissions declines has slowed. To achieve reductions in Pennsylvania, Wolf said, his new GreenGov Council will coordinate with state agencies to reduce energy use and improve energy efficiency in state buildings. Wolfs plan drew mixed reaction from environmental groups. PennFuture applauded it as "an historic step forward that puts Pennsylvanias aspirations in line with what was negotiated under the Paris Agreement and sends a strong message to Pennsylvanians, the Trump administration, and the rest of the United States that Pennsylvania is committed to tackling climate change and setting a new path for how the Commonwealth produces and consumes energy, said the groups president and CEO, Jacquelyn Bonomo. Joanne Kilgour, director of the Pennsylvania chapter of the Sierra Club, also praised the plan. But Food & Water Watch says the plan is too timid. Pennsylvania can do so much more to combat the climate crisis by moving our state to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035 while creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in a Green New Deal program," said state director Sam Bernhardt. Governor Wolf, the people of Pennsylvania, and future generations deserve a much more aggressive approach to combating the existential crisis of our time. Wolf, who will be sworn into his second term this month, has to work with a Republican-controlled legislature and a House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee led by conservative Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R., Butler). And Pennsylvania is still a major coal- and natural gas-producing state. Meanwhile, Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey has already set his state on a path to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a market-driven program to reduce carbon emissions composed of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. New Jersey has a Democratic-dominated legislature. Lincoln, NE (68508) Today Overcast. A stray severe thunderstorm is possible. High 92F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Variable clouds with thunderstorms, especially during the evening. A few storms may be severe. Low around 70F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. A discerning thief broke into a Chester County bookstore over the weekend and made off with some rare and valuable books, authorities said. Among the items stolen was a Franklin Press limited edition of To Kill a Mockingbird, valued at $150, said Fred Dannaway, assistant manager at Baldwins Book Barn. The thief took at least 20 books from a case in the front of the store on Lenape Road in East Bradford Township, Dannaway said. It was apparent they knew what they wanted," he said. Oddly, he added, the burglar didnt touch any money in the register and left behind some expensive books displayed on a center counter. The thief struck with precision, likely under cover of darkness. When Dannaway arrived to open the rare book store on Sunday morning, he found the front door window shattered and the inside lock unlatched. Store employees, along with West Chester police, are working to determine all that was stolen. Dannaway said the store doesnt have a catalog of its inventory, which includes more than 200,000 used and rare books, as well as art and antiques. In the 17 years he has worked at the store, Dannaway said, it had never been burglarized, although people have tried to shoplift. The five-story barn and storefront used to have a motion-activated security system, but it has been turned off for a while because the stores cats were regularly setting it off, Dannaway said. Now, the owners have plans to bolster security, he said. Built in 1822 as a milking house, the barn became home to a collection of rare books and collectibles in 1946, when Lilla and William Baldwin moved their store there from Wilmington. For a time, it included a country store museum. The book barn has been featured on C-SPAN and Good Morning America, and in other national media. Philadelphia City Councilman William K. Greenlee announced Monday that he will not seek a fourth full term on City Council, opening a second vacancy on the 17-member board. Ive been weighing one way or another, and figured this was the right time to call it quits, Greenlee, a Democrat, said in a brief interview. You have to be all in for a citywide election. I couldnt see myself raising the money I needed to raise and going to three or four events a night. When Greenlee, 65, the majority deputy whip, leaves his seat at the end of the year, he will have 40 years of service with Council 26 as a staffer to Councilman David Cohen and 14 as a councilman. His announcement comes three weeks after Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown said she would not seek another term. That leaves two of the seven at-large seats up for grabs in a year when dozens of candidates are expected to run. As of Monday, 23 people had registered political action committees with the Board of Ethics for at-large seats. More names are likely to emerge next week, when prospective candidates can start circulating petitions; to run for an at-large seat, candidates must have 1,000 signatures. Having some new ideas, new blood, is good, Greenlee said. He will likely have some say in choosing some of those new voices. Greenlee said he plans to remain Democratic leader of the 15th Ward in Fairmount. Greenlees announcement comes on the heels of a crushing legislative defeat. His Council colleagues last week killed a proposal he sponsored that would have forced pharmaceutical companies to register with the city and track their gifts to doctors. Greenlee intended for the bill to address in part the citys opioid epidemic. In an uncharacteristic move, Greenlee took to social media Thursday to try to shame the members who voted against the bill. Asked if that vote was a final straw in his decision to bow out, Greenlee said, It certainly didnt make me reconsider. Greenlee grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from St. Josephs Preparatory School and Temple University. He worked on Cohens campaign for Council right out of college and joined his office in City Hall. When Cohen died in 2005, Greenlee won his seat in a special election. He then was elected three times to a full term. Greenlee has been one of Councils more progressive voices, championing paid sick leave, wage equity, and wage theft laws among those he backed. On Monday, he said the paid sick leave legislation, which requires employers with at least 10 employees to offer the benefit, is the one of which he is proudest. Its something that affected a lot of people in a positive way, he said. Council President Darrell L. Clarke said, Bills decades of service to this city are marked by his unparalleled work ethic, his devotion to lifting up the so-called little people, and his commitment to the integrity of this body. Elaine Sonnenberg and Shawn Whitelock November 17, 2018, in Wayne Hello there From the moment on a 2016 November Monday that Shawn saw Elaine in the Trader Joes dairy section, he had to talk to her. The woman practically glowed. Shawn strategically took the second aisle his best guess at the path she would take next and soon: Voila! Have you tried any good seafood? he asked, heart racing, as they stood before the frozen fish and bivalves. Elaine had been looking at the chocolates on the shelf above the freezer, but, wanting this unexpected conversation to continue, she thought fast to a recent supper at a friends place. The scallops are good. Scallops in his cart, they introduced themselves and quickly discovered a common love of teaching and music. Elaine, who then lived in Wayne, is a classical musician an organist who plays and teaches music to young people as associate director of music at St. Davids Episcopal Church. Shawn, who lived in his hometown of Malvern, teaches eighth-grade history at Great Valley Middle School. Both were intrigued. She gave him her number. He called the following evening, and they made plans to meet two days later at Starbucks. We sat down and talked for a good two hours, Elaine said. Theyve been together ever since. Shawn, 44, is just so kind and genuine, and family is as important to him as it is to her, said Elaine, who is originally from Holgate, Ohio, and is 36. He is also hardworking. Hes also student council adviser at Great Valley, and a lot of the kids I work with at church, in the youth choir that I direct, have had him as a teacher. They always say hes such a great teacher. Shawn remains transfixed by Elaines elegant beauty and is bowled over by her talent. Her choirs sound amazing, and her musical talent as an organist is really special, he said. All of her family are very close, and Elaines personality is just very open, friendly, and warm. Within a year, they began talking about marriage. The engagement In March 2018, Elaine knew a custom ring was in the making, and Shawn pointedly hinted that the April Phillies game where Elaines choir would be singing the national anthem was the perfect time and place. Easter weekend, as they prepared for the holiday, he casually suggested lunch at Panera Bread in the Gateway Shopping Center. Elaine thought it was a great idea. I need to go there anyway I have to stop at Trader Joes, she said. Shawn was delighted: Elaine had unknowingly played right into his plan. As soon as they were through the doors, Shawn began to reminisce. I can remember walking in here and seeing you standing right over there in the first aisle, he said. They went to Aisle Two so Elaine could pick up her Uncle Bills favorite chocolates, still stationed just above the frozen seafood. Remember? Shawn asked. This is where we met. He handed his phone to another customer could she take their picture? She snapped the shot and handed the phone back. Its great! Shawn said. Could you take another one? With that, he knelt. Are you proposing right now? asked the lady with his phone. Will you marry me? Shawn asked Elaine. She said yes, the cellphone photographer cheered, and soon everyone in that aisle and beyond was congratulating them. The front-end crew rang their cash register bells. Someone brought them flowers, and someone else brought cake which happened to be one of the days free samples. It was so them The couple wed in a music-filled afternoon at St. Davids Church that began with a full procession of the three church choirs adult, youth, and childrens. As Shawns mother, Rosemary, was seated, the handbell choirs played. Elaines Indiana University music professor, Marilyn Keiser, played the organ. The traditional Episcopalian ceremony was lead by St. Davids rector, the Rev. Frank Allen. The brides Uncle Marv read the prayers. The service was followed by a full recessional with choir and acolytes. Everyone from church was invited to a high tea put on for the couple by St. Davids parishioners. About 300 guests enjoyed tea, scones, and tea sandwiches. An evening reception for 100 was held at the Desmond Hotel in Malvern. The couple did their own choreography for their first dance, to L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole. En route to that second reception, the bridal partys trolley stopped at Trader Joes so the couple could get their picture taken with a bag of scallops. Awestruck The couple wed in the churchs main chapel but saw each other for the first time at St. Davids 300-year-old smaller church, on the same grounds. Elaine, her sister Darla, and her mom, Jan, got ready there while Shawn waited in the parking lot with his best man for the signal that she was ready to see him. When it was time, their photographer asked him to turn his back toward the room Elaine would be coming from. I heard her walking across the old church, and he told me to turn around, Shawn said. For months, I had heard Elaine talk about her dress. To see her in it for the first time, it was such an emotional moment. She was so beautiful. Including her time at an Indiana wedding chapel, Elaine estimates shes played the organ for about 1,000 weddings. I have played for all the weddings at St. Davids except my own. Ive heard everyone else say the vows from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, Elaine said. It was really powerful to say them to somebody I really love and care about. The budget crunch A bargain: Elaines mom made five velvet and satin shawls for the bride and bridesmaids, plus the flower girls dress and cape. I told my mom she should open up a business, Elaine said. The splurge: The couple took to heart the advice of friends and family who said photography was the last place to try to save money. Tom Fuller did an incredible job, they said. Honeymooning The couple, who live in Malvern, spent five days relaxing on the beach in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. This summer, theyll spend nine days hiking in the Swiss Alps. Behind the scenes Officiant: The Rev. W. Frank Allen, St. Davids Episcopal Church, Wayne. Ceremony Venue: St. Davids Episcopal Church, Wayne. Reception venues: St. Davids Episcopal Church; the Desmond Hotel, Malvern. Food: St. Davids parishioners; the Desmond Hotel; the Masters Baker, West Chester. Ceremony Music: Marilyn Keiser, organist, professor emeritus, Indiana University, director of music, Trinity Episcopal Church, Bloomington, Ind.; Clair Rozier, conductor, director of music, St. Davids Episcopal Church, Wayne; St. Davids Adult Choir; St. Davids Youth Choir; St. Davids Childrens Choir; St. Davids Handbell Choirs Reception music: Mark Shepperd Productions, King of Prussia. Photography: Tom Fuller, Fuller Photography, Philadelphia. Videography: Geoff Chamberlain, St. Davids Episcopal Church. Flowers: Jill Bonn, St. Davids Episcopal Church; Petals Florist, King of Prussia. Dress: Plaza by Pronovias, purchased at Bijou Bridal, Ardmore. Hair/Makeup: Studio H Color & Design Group, Heather Heyman and Zary Pardakhti, stylists, Paoli. Grooms attire: Varani Formal Wear, Malvern. Planner: Judy Krischker, St. Davids Episcopal Church, Wayne. Transportation: Philadelphia Trolley Works, Philadelphia. In the last year, more than 1.5 million U.S. students have joined the ranks of those using nicotine products, a trend fueled largely by e-cigarettes such as Juul. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new data on Monday, stating that in 2018 about 4.9 million middle and high school students used some type of tobacco product in the 30 days before they were surveyed. In the last few years, there has been a dramatic surge in the use of vaping products by U.S. teens. In 2011, there was almost no vaping. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been working to limit use of the products by restricting sales of flavored e-cigarettes to underage smokers and curtailing sales in convenience stores and online. The signs that were seeing are not encouraging, Scott Gottlieb, FDA commissioner, said in a statement Monday. No child should be using any tobacco or nicotine-containing product. Gottlieb pointed to a study that used 2013 to 2016 data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study, which found that compared with nonusers, youths who use e-cigarettes are more likely to transition to conventional cigarettes. Part of e-cigarettes allure is the idea that they are safer than conventional cigarettes. A smokeless tobacco device made by Philip Morris but not available in the United States might have similar appeal. But a recent study in Australia found that those increasingly popular devices are just as toxic to human lung cells as regular cigarettes, and that vaping products are harmful, too. The heat-not-burn devices use a solid form of tobacco to produce a vapor that contains nicotine and other chemicals. They have been called a hybrid of e-cigarettes, which use a liquid, and traditional combustible tobacco products. The study looked at Philip Morris Internationals IQOS, which is available in 41 countries. The findings were recently published in ERJ Open Research. The FDA is reviewing Philip Morris application to claim that IQOS is a safer alternative to cigarettes. In January, U.S. health experts recommended that the company not be allowed to make that claim, Reuters reported. Researchers tested the effects of the three types of smoking materials on epithelial cells and smooth muscle cells found in airways. Damage to these cells can lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and pneumonia, and may increase the risk of asthma, researchers said. They found the smoke from traditional cigarettes and the heated tobacco vapor were highly toxic at lower and higher concentrations. The vapor from e-cigarettes was mainly toxic at higher concentrations. It took us nearly five decades to understand the damaging effects of cigarette smoke, and we dont yet know the long-term impact of using e-cigarettes, said Pawan Sharma, lead researcher at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. These devices that heat solid tobacco are relatively new, and it will be decades before we will fully understand their effects on human health. Researchers also said both e-cigarettes and IQOS could be considered a gateway for nicotine addiction for those who have not previously smoked, rather than a substitute product that current smokers can use to reduce the harmful health effects of cigarettes. Philip Morris said the research lacks important scientific information that could affect the conclusions. The authors conclusion that both IQOS and e-cigarettes are as toxic as cigarettes is not in line with current available evidence and goes against the growing consensus from public health authorities in numerous countries, said Corey Henry, Philip Morris International spokesperson. According to the World Health Organization, tobacco products kill more than 7 million people a year. When Kenya Harris was diagnosed with breast cancer, she took some comfort in knowing she would be treated at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where she had worked for 13 years as an anesthesiology technician. Her treatment team, she said this week, was the best. But the 48-year-old woman from Upper Darby is now suing Penn for firing her when she asked based on her oncologists advice to extend her nine-month medical leave for 27 more days. A Penn Medicine spokesperson said the health system cannot comment on pending litigation. However, the letter terminating Harris said granting the extension would pose an undue hardship for the anesthesia department a contention that she said was never previously raised. Her lawsuit, filed Monday in federal district court in Philadelphia, says her firing not only violates state and federal laws protecting the disabled, but also is at odds with Penns reputation as a leading breast cancer treatment center. This employer proves itself to be unworthy of such esteem by its vile treatment of its own employee (and patient) in the midst of battling cancer, says the complaint, filed by attorney Jason Pearlman. In July 2017, Harris said in an interview, she felt a lump in her breast. A mammogram and biopsy at Penn quickly led to her first surgery a lumpectomy and a check of her armpit lymph nodes. The cancer had spread to the nodes, requiring more aggressive treatment. She underwent a mastectomy in September 2017 and was scheduled for 16 weeks of once-a-week chemotherapy, followed by six weeks of daily radiation. Initially, she was approved under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act for a four-month leave, through Nov. 1, 2017. She requested and received an extension of the leave through April 15, 2018, with support from her two Penn cancer specialists. Chemotherapy, oncologist Kevin Fox certified, could cause nausea, vomiting, fevers, low blood counts, risk of infection, and severe fatigue. Chemotherapy caused all that and worse, Harris recalled in the interview. But it was the radiation that led her and her doctors to request that her leave be extended by 27 days, to May 14, 2018. After six weeks of radiation, I was burned really bad, she said. The skin was really tight. I had a few open wounds. It hurt." The health systems Office of Disability Management replied that per Penns policies, her department supervisor and others would engage in an interactive process ... to determine if there is a reasonable accommodation that can be provided without imposing an undue hardship," according to the lawsuit. Instead, the complaint says, Harris had two unpleasant phone exchanges with a personnel department representative who twice hung up on her. Then the April 18 termination letter arrived. Harris said she was shocked, partly because no one had ever suggested her job was in jeopardy, and partly because many of her coworkers had been kind during her treatment. At holiday time, they brought my kids and me gift cards, she said. One anesthesiologist personally sent a card and a check. Her lawsuit seeks a judgment against HUP and the Penn health system, as well as financial compensation for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Although Harris said she is now healed and has no evidence of cancer, she is not in good financial shape. After exhausting her disability and unemployment benefits which paid a fraction of what she earned at HUP she fell behind on rent and had to move with her two children into her mothers house in Upper Darby. Harris is now working part-time as a classroom aide in a local school. Ive applied all the way to California for anesthesiology technician jobs, but there isnt much demand, she said. Her job at HUP has been filled, the lawsuit says. The new hire began on May 14, 2018, the same day Ms. Harris would have returned to work had her request been granted. During a March noreaster last year that hurled heavy snow and high winds at the Philadelphia area, a humongous oak tree crashed onto our house in Bala Cynwyd, destroying much of the top two floors. My husband was at work, and my children were at school. I was home working in a part of the house that went unscathed, and as always, our dog was with me. In another stroke of luck, the tree fell during the day. Had it happened at night, my children would have been asleep in two of the bedrooms that were destroyed. We bunked with friends while looking for an apartment to rent and starting to deal with insurance and rebuilding. Nearly all my life, I have battled major depression and anxiety. For the first few days after the storm, I alternated between weeping on the floor and rational thought. But I never despaired; I actually felt called to action and handled our circumstances competently. Theres a persistent belief that you must feel depressed if you have something to feel depressed about. That can be true. I was hardly jubilant to have an enormous tree slice through our home. But I wasnt hiding under the bedcovers all day. In less than a week, I had found a big enough apartment for all five of us and our dog. I had rented furniture. I retrieved plants, throw pillows, and blankets that escaped damage to make our new space feel as much like home as possible. Friends rallied around us, providing clothing, books, and meals -- and I was wise enough to accept all of this help, rather than hide behind a fear of burdening others. I did not break down. I functioned well. With the unflagging assistance of my husband, I got our family back on track as quickly as possible. I have often felt far worse, far more depressed and anxious, for no apparent reason. I have even felt suicidal and been hospitalized, the reasons for my suffering hidden in the deepest recesses of my mind and/or chemistry. This is despite more than 20 years of therapy, multiple rounds of antidepressants and antianxiety medications, and even a yearlong pursuit of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). During TMS, magnets are applied to the scalp over the parts of the brain associated with emotion, in the hopes that activating those receptors will jolt a person back to life. All of these protocols have worked -- until they no longer did. Each time a treatment failed, I was back to the starting line. This is where I find myself now, just as the outward crisis has passed and we are very close to moving back into our house. I have felt more depressed and anxious recently than I have in a while. Its like being back in college and graduate school when I would push and push and push to get through finals. Then, inevitably, I would crash, exhausted, sick, and often depressed, just when the pressure was finally off. I am not alone. An actual phenomenon exists called the Let-Down Effect, also known as the Let-Down Syndrome or Post-Stress Illness, which describes exactly what I am talking about: peoples ability to get through a particularly stressful period, only to fall apart once it is over. A Taiwanese study revealed that more people visit emergency rooms for peptic ulcers on weekends and holidays than during the workweek. In another study, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University found that periods of relaxation after stressful interludes were associated with more migraine attacks than were the stressful periods themselves. Psychologist Marc Schoen, assistant clinical professor at UCLAs Geffen School of Medicine, specializes in boosting performance and decision-making under pressure. Schoen has written a book about post-stress illness, When Relaxation Is Hazardous to Your Health, and why we manage to stay healthy during stressful periods only to break down later. The goal of cortisol and many of the other adrenal hormones is to mobilize us under times of pressure or fear, Schoen said. They have adaptive functions. For us to survive as a species, we really had to mobilize rather than just curl up in a corner. The problem is now when its all done, and the mind says, Well, OK, back in there, then what happens is these hormones from cortisol to adrenal hormones as well as sugar levels start leveling off and the effect is you start to feel like youre going through withdrawal. And that feels depressing. In addition, during post-stress illness experiences, having been in a chronic state of inflammation and stress, the immune system begins to down regulate so any virus weve been exposed to has an open door to come in, Schoen said. That is why it is not uncommon for people to get sick on the back side of particularly stressful periods. Schoen recommends preventing the let-down effect by practicing meditation, breathing techniques, and exercise but not when the symptoms of downturn have already begun. In that case, Schoen says people should do short bouts of exercise, such as climbing stairs several times a day, and pursue activities that keep the brain in a state of alertness, such as playing games with time constraints and/or working on a stimulating project. After about three days of this, you should be out of the post-stress illness danger zone. You want to go from 80 mph to 60 mph to 40 mph, and so on, Schoen said. So while the next phase for me may be a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (the first antidepressants ever developed), or possibly electroconvulsive therapy to address my depression and anxiety, I am also going to look into meditation and possibly just the simple breathing techniques Schoen has developed. In fact, I can already feel myself starting to rev back up as we prepare to move into our house that is nearly finished. I am calling movers, organizing the contents of our apartment, digging through belongings that were put in storage. I am starting to feel less depressed as I engage in these activities, but also wary that the let-down effect may follow this surge of energy accompanying our imminent move. So I have been thinking a lot about the techniques Schoen recommends, and have been increasing the frequency and length of my early-morning runs. Im not very good at meditation, though now might be the time to try. And since researching and writing this piece, I now know it is crucial that I try to decrease my adrenaline slowly to stave off a deeper and more destabilizing dip into the let-down effect. First lady Martha Washington wrote in her journals about using whiskey to preserve the taste of cherries into the long winter. This week, local craft spirits company Art in the Age released its own version of that spirit, whiskey infused with cherries in the barrels. Art in the Ages Cherry Bounce was made from rye whiskey stored in oak with cherries and apple brandy, and it also has warm flavors from baking spices like vanilla bean and black cardamom. Only 200 bottles were made; it sells for $49.99 online at artintheage.com, or at the tasting room at 116 N. Third St. Rye whiskey was purposefully chosen and distilled for its composition. Good rye often shares stone-fruit flavor notes but brings along a bit of spice as well. The use of rye was to ensure the base spirit became a crucial (and historically accurate) part to the overall cordial. said Steven Grasse, founder of Quaker City Mercantile, the spirits-focused branding firm that created AITA as its creative partner. The liqueur can be used in cocktails or sipped neat or on the rocks. Art in the Age is hosting a launch event Feb. 19 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Museum of the American Revolution and the Powel House. At George Washington Drank Here: a presidential history crawl, attendees will learn about life in Philadelphia during the revolution, then go to Art in the Age for Presidents Day-inspired cocktails. A Collingswood family has turned part of their heritage into a hobby: Making chocolate bars sourced from Ecuador. 1892 Chocolate was founded by graphic designer Jose Alban, who splits his time between Collingswood and Ecuador, and his sister Paula Alban Barone of Collingswood, as well as their parents and two other siblings who live in Ecuador. Named for the era when Ecuador was widely recognized as a major producer of cacao, the chocolate is made with single-origin organic cacao from Ecuador and comes in eight flavors, including mango, coffee bean, sea salt and hot chili. The chocolate is rich and not too sweet. The mango and goldenberry flavors have a subtle earthiness; others have a more savory taste. The company began about five years ago, Alban said, but recently started expanding sales to Pennsylvania and New York and working with wineries on pairings. Three years ago, the family took over ownership of the Collingswood shop Candy Jar. In addition to the company website, the bars can now be found there and at other local specialty stores, including Green Aisle locations. Allison Steele 1892 Cacao Arriba Ecuador bars, $6.99 at 1892chocolate.com or the Candy Jar by 1892, 721 Haddon Ave., Collingswood; www.thecandyjarby1892.com. PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) A college student from Pennsylvania has been charged with what police call the unprovoked stabbing of a homeless woman in downtown Providence, R.I. Police say 22-year-old Conor Noll, of Blandon, Pa., was arraigned Monday on a felony assault charge. He's a student at Johnson and Wales University. The 59-year-old woman was stabbed in the wrist and arm about 2 a.m. Jan. 2 as she slept in a pedestrian walkway. The suspect was placed at the scene through surveillance video. Noll told police it was him in the video, but he didn't stab the woman. Noll didn't enter a plea. He was released on $10,000 personal recognizance and referred to the public defender's office. A listed phone number for him couldn't be found. The university has suspended him. Verizon Communications Inc. had a deal that many consumers couldnt pass up: a free voice-activated Amazon Echo smart speaker and a one-year Amazon Prime membership subscription with a $79-a-month two-year contract for gigabit internet, television, and phone. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is now saying that consumers couldnt get the Echo and Prime, and then faced a potential $350 termination fee for breaking the two-year contract, in a lawsuit filed on Monday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. Shapiro clams that Verizon violated consumer protection laws. Though the suit was filed in Philadelphia, the marketing campaign and potential v iolations took place statewide, the Attorney Generals Office said. The office did not specify the number of complaints. Shapiro asks in the suit that Verizon stop the marketing campaign and pay unspecified restitution and penalties. Verizon spokesperson Richard Young said Monday that we are frankly surprised by todays lawsuit. Weve been engaged in a productive dialogue with the Attorney Generals Office. We had a few technical issues with this promotion, but we have worked hard to address all the issues we know about. Lawsuit or no lawsuit, we will do right by our customers. According to the suit, the on us marketing campaign began Nov. 18, 2018 But because of delays in receiving the Echo or Prime membership, consumers who sought to cancel the FIOS package faced termination fees. The problem appeared to be that a hyperlink that was supposed to give Verizon customers access to the free Echo or Prime membership did not work. Consumers who called Verizon to inquire about their inability to claim their items were placed on hold, were transferred to multiple Verizon representatives, were told someone from Verizon would call them back, did not receive a call back, and were forced to call Verizon again and go through the same cycle, the suit says. A marketing flier for the campaign filed with the suit pitched the $79-a-month price +Amazon Prime & Echo. Verizon has been battling for market share for fast internet services. Steve Foley (231) 439-9397 HORTON BAY Years ago, Frank Leist was spotted by another older auctioneer based in Evart who asked for his help. He saw me working a ring and told me to ask my wife to see if I could help him with an auction, Leist said. After that first wagon he told me to set up and sell the next one. Later he told me I had conception of value and I could be a good auctioneer. Thats how it all got started. A career that spanned five decades selling primarily livestock, estates, farm dispersals and real estate was recognized on Feb. 1 in Mount Pleasant as Leist, 63, was inducted into the Michigan Auctioneer Associations Hall of Fame. Leist, the lone member of the 2019 Hall of Fame class, was inducted during the annual Michigan Auctioneer Associations annual conference and presidents ball. Its pretty humbling, Leist said. It was humbling that my other peers and the other Hall of Famers felt I was deserving of the honor. Current Michigan Auctioneer Association Hall of Fame members vote each year on whether to induct nominated members into the honorable fraternity, and Leists career was recognized as worthy of induction following his many years in the industry, high standard of professionalism, business integrity and contributions to the industry and auctioneer association. I think it validates his career among his peers, said Leists son, Wade. In our area, I think hes been a leader for a long time and I think the public has recognized it, but when you get that recognition from your peers and certainly from those people that have been there before him, I think it just puts his career into perspective. Wade Leist along with dozens of other family and close friends attended Franks Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which celebrated his more than 40 years in the business. Ive been involved in auctions for many years, but I didnt start auctioneering until the 80s, and Ive been doing it ever since, Leist said. A 1984 graduate of the Reich World Wide College of Auctioneering, Leist promptly went to work building a successful auction business on the grounds of integrity and honesty. Its always been his dedication to integrity and professionalism, Wade Leist said. Probably to a fault hes always been honest to each and every one of our clients. He always puts their needs first and has always done whats best for them, even sometimes at the determent to himself. His career over the years has seen him sell hundreds of auctions, dozens of farms and countless estates, including some totaling more than $1 million. Leist said he knew early in life he wanted to be an auctioneer, and as early as grade school he shared his talents on the school bus by auctioning off his sisters lunch, a stunt that earned the dismay of his mother, Ruth. His first auction netted a meager $100 commission, and Leist and his wife, Janet, invested that money into their fledgling business by purchasing office equipment. Soon thereafter, commissions became larger with each auction, but Leists investment into his career remained as he invested not only in auction equipment, but into his own education by earning designations in the auction industry such as AARE (Accredited Auctioneer of Real Estate) and CAI (Certified Auctioneers Institute), as well as becoming a broker of real estate. Theres a lot of different things you can be involved with, Leist said. Theres a lot of different things to sell and being able to achieve a successful sale is the best deal of the whole thing. Though hes conducted auctions in virtually every niche of the industry, Leists real passion has always been a livestock auctioneer. After graduating high school in 1973, he learned about livestock auctions by hauling cattle to the Gaylord stockyard. In 1979, Leist and his father, Frank Sr., began hauling cattle to the Marion stockyards where Leist would soon begin working as their auctioneer. He quickly and steadily became one of the busiest livestock auctioneers in the state, selling weekly at markets in Marion, Clare and Alpena. During that time, Leist was recognized by the Livestock Marketing Association as their Region 1 champion auctioneer from 1996-99. In 2000, Leist stopped working at the Marion stockyards and began managing the stockyard in Gaylord. Two years later, he and Janet purchased the stockyard and renamed it Northern Michigan Livestock. He continued to sell for his close friends, Bud Gernaat in Clare and Gene Hanson in Alpena, until both men passed away. Both of those markets at the time were the chief competition to Leists own market, and his strong relationship to their owners is a testament to his character and loyalty. Leist continues to call bids and manage Northern Michigan Livestock during weekly livestock auctions on Wednesdays. Its the customers, Leist said. You have some loyal ones that follow you around to different sales and thats pretty neat. Ive been doing this a long time and theres a wide diversity of different people you get to come and know. Leists two oldest sons, Ed and Wade, are both active in the auction industry as well. His cousin, Jerry Schmoldt, along with Ed and Wade all currently manage dozens of auctions each year as Leist Auctioneers. The company continues to grow and adapt within the industry to feature traditional live auctions, as well as online and simulcast auctions. At some point Ill slow down at something, but if someone calls about an auction Ill probably be there, Leist said. Besides auctioneering, Leist and his wife stay plenty busy by managing a large cattle farm in the Boyne City area. With the farm, he doesnt have a lot of spare time, Wade Leist said. He does enjoy his (six) grandkids quite a lot and they get to spend a lot of time with their grandparents. I know he thoroughly enjoys that. I know hes pretty active in the Walloon Lake Community Church as well, but that farm is pretty near and dear to him, Wade Leist added. He and his dad (Frank Sr.) were pretty active partners there until he passed in 2005, and dad has put a lot of his priority into that farm. Its been a good source of pride for him. Leist said it was his father who made it work at the farm so he could work at auctions, but there has been several people that have helped make it possible for the farm to continue to run. None more so than my friend, Howard Boyer, Leist said. I traveled twice to Harrisburg recently to Citizen Lobby with MarchOnHarrisburg, a nonpartisan, anti-corruption, pro-democracy organization. Id been aware that the Electoral Integrity Project in 2016 ranked Pennsylvania the fifth most corrupt state in the country and that Pennsylvania is one of only nine states with no limitations on what kinds of gifts lobbyists can give our legislators. After these meetings, I was encouraged that we can end our states corruption and dysfunction by lobbying directly with our state legislators. I met with seven representatives, including my representative, Rep. Mary Isaacson (D-175th District). During the meetings, we focused on a reform bill that would ban bribery by placing common sense limitations on what lobbyists can gift our legislators. Id never met with an elected official, so I was initially intimidated speaking about the details of the bills. But by the end of the second days meetings, I felt empowered to speak from the heart as a concerned Pennsylvanian. I invite and encourage my fellow Pennsylvanians to join me and other MarchOnHarrisburg volunteers to lobby our state legislators at the Capitol and in their district offices through April and march with us (yes, march!) from Philadelphia to Harrisburg from April 27 - May 5 to demand a vote on our bills so we can have a real democracy. The issue of corruption can be tackled one meeting and one mile at a time. MURIELLE McCARTHY, Philadelphia MarchOnHarrisburg Volunteer More American workers - 533,000 - were involved in strikes or work stoppages last year than at any point since 1986, according to Labor Department data released Friday. The driving force behind this remarkable development: educators who are finally fed up with years of cutbacks and government indifference to public education. The two largest labor actions of 2018 were statewide teacher strikes in Arizona (involving 81,000 teachers and staff) and Oklahoma. "Statewide major work stoppages in educational services also occurred in West Virginia, Kentucky, Colorado, and North Carolina," the Labor Department noted. In 2019, teachers will continue standing up for public education. Last month, 33,000 educators in Los Angeles picketed, and thousands of parents and students rallied in support. On Monday, Denver teachers went on strike for the first time in 25 years. The Los Angeles teachers succeeded in winning a new contract that, in addition to a 6 percent pay increase, brings reductions in class size; more nurses, counselors and librarians; and less standardized testing. The contract also includes a mayoral and district endorsement of a state school funding measure called Schools and Communities First; a district call for a moratorium on charters; a reduction of searches that criminalize students; and an immigrant defense fund. The Los Angeles teachers strike, the first in 30 years, was one of the most stirring events I've witnessed in my long experience with public education. I grew up attending public schools in suburban Washington in the 1970s and 1980s, then joined Teach for America in its first year, 1990, and moved to Los Angeles. I taught for 22 years in South Los Angeles and helped start an organization with parents and students called Coalition for Educational Justice. In 2014, I was elected president of United Teachers Los Angeles, or UTLA. I was proud to lead the organization that is finally setting Los Angeles schools on a better pathway after years of battling forces arrayed against public education in California, as they are across much of the country. California is the fifth-largest economy in the world, yet in measures of states' per-pupil spending, Education Week ranked California 46th in the nation for 2017, and the California Budget and Policy Center pegged it at 41st in 2015-2016. California also permits the unregulated growth of privately run charter schools, undermining neighborhood public schools. The over 98 percent participation in the strike by Los Angeles teachers, and strong support from parents, reinforced three basic premises: People will fight for reinvestment in public neighborhood schools and against privatization. Unions and parents will work together for the benefit of students. And strikes work. Another teacher strike may come soon in Oakland, California, and mass teacher protests are planned in the state capitals of Maryland and Texas. These labor actions are essentially demands for reinvestment after decades of deliberate underfunding of public schools. In the 1990s and 2000s, pushed by conservative think tanks and the corporatization of the Democratic Party, a bipartisan consensus seemed to emerge in Congress and many statehouses. The emphasis regarding public neighborhood schools shifted from providing adequate funding to de facto privatization through vouchers and the charter industry. Federal efforts stalled in fully funding Title I (a 1965 provision directing federal help for schools and school districts with a high percentage of students from low-income families) and the 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Many states also cut education spending. Privately run schools with less accountability would now receive public money, further draining public schools of already scarce resources. Because of ideology and economic philosophy, the current Republican Party leadership will not lead on reinvestment in neighborhood public schools. For the Democratic Party, it is time for leaders to choose a side. Several potential Democratic presidential candidates expressed support for the Los Angeles teachers strike, but few offered ways to adequately fund public schools. The preliminary budget of California's new governor, Gavin Newsom, D, increased spending for K-12 and community college by $2.8 billion, for a total of $80.7 billion, but that is not enough after years of austerity in a state with more than 6 million public-school students. Parents and students supported the teachers in the Los Angeles strike because they wanted to win on matters such as class size. But they also supported the strike because it articulated some basic truths: Students aren't getting what they need. In the richest country in the world, the issue is not a lack of money but a lack of political will. If neither political party is capable of leading on reinvestment, teachers and parents and students will continue taking to the streets to defend the essential civic institution of public education. -- Alex Caputo-Pearl is president of United Teachers Los Angeles. I feel like I have a scarlet letter on my chest! That was a common feeling among us as we walked in to the first listening session hosted last month by Bishop Ronald Gainer of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg. However, that feeling dissipated as the voices of the parishioners in attendance voices filled with hope, support and love for us and all victims echoed throughout the church. Our scarlet letter was no longer a symbol of shame but rather a powerful symbol of assurance. Out of our large family of nine children (eight girls and one boy), five of us sisters were sexually abused by the Rev. Augustine Giella when he was assigned to St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church in Dauphin County in the 1980s. Had the Harrisburg Diocese acted on a complaint, Giellas abuse could have been stopped. (He was permitted to retire from ministry voluntarily, was arrested on pornography and child sexual abuse charges in 1992 and died while awaiting trial.) Listening sessions started last month and will continue this month throughout the Diocese of Harrisburg. [The next one will be 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Saint Leo the Great Parish, 2427 Marietta Ave. near Lancaster.] Initially intended as a forum for the bishop to hear feedback and answer questions, the listening sessions for us and many victims as well as parishioners have become refuges for healing and empowerment. While some church members still refuse to acknowledge the darkness behind the pulpit and choose to use their voices simply to win the bishops favor, we also have witnessed victims standing up and speaking out for the first time. We also heard parishioners enraged and full of disgust pleading for transparency and truth from the church. Some spoke out with questions and concerns, while others offered ideas and solutions. It was clear to us that the majority of Catholic parishioners in attendance were there because they love their church. This is their community, their family; and it is broken. But they arent giving up. They have been beaten down many times and continue to pick themselves back up, but this time something feels different. The parishioners strong and faithful voices bravely speaking out in support of victims and demanding truth at these listening sessions made us once again assured of our purpose. It has been almost six months since a Pennsylvania grand jury report outlined the widespread sexual abuse of children us included and the systematic cover-up of that abuse by senior church officials in Pennsylvania and at the Vatican. The report sent shockwaves around world. But why? Were the two previous grand jury reports covering the dioceses of Philadelphia and Altoona-Johnstown showing the magnitude and scope of these criminal and grotesque violations against children by their faithful leaders not enough for people to stand up and demand change? What about movies such as Spotlight? Maybe the abuse and cover-up were just too much to comprehend or maybe, by acknowledging their existence, we then had to acknowledge that all this happened. But the shock is wearing off and the world can no longer deny the truth on the contrary, the world is demanding it. What exactly does the truth look like? For many, the truth will hurt. But are those the ones we should be helping and protecting? For victims, the truth is justice; it is an opportunity for their voices to be heard so that the perpetrators and those who covered up their crimes are held accountable. The truth is public safety; by giving victims an opportunity to be heard, perpetrators will be identified so that fewer children will fall victim to them. The truth is healing. And the truth is always the right thing to seek. Your presence at these listening sessions matters. -- Get help: Office of Attorney Generals Clergy Abuse Hotline: 888-538-8541. 24-hour sexual assault hotline: 717-392-7273 Report child abuse to ChildLine: 800-932-0313. In these times of extreme rhetoric and deep political divisions, consider the words of President Lincoln, whose birthday we celebrate today: Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be. Abraham Lincolns contemporaries attacked him in editorials, speeches, journals, diaries, and private letters. Even without Twitter and social media, they criticized his upbringing, his lack of formal education, and even his appearance. Harpers Weekly told readers: He is not a brilliant orator; he is not a great leader. An Ohio Congressman agreed: Lincoln is universally an admitted failure, has no will, no courage, no executive capacity . . . . A New Yorker wrote Lincoln was a barbarian, Scythian, yahoo, or gorilla. After a Cabinet meeting, Lincolns own Attorney General wrote in his diary: I greatly fear he has not the power to command. Union commanding general George McClellan called him a coward, an idiot, and the original gorilla. McClellan once slighted Lincoln who was waiting in the generals house: McClellan ignored the President and went to bed, leaving him in the parlor. Lincoln shouldered the blame as McClellans and other generals failures mounted and Republicans turned on him. Michigan Republican Senator Zachariah Chandler said he was timid, vacillating and inefficient. Maine Republican William Fessenden called Lincoln weak as water. Abolitionist Wendell Phillips lamented: Abraham Lincoln sits today a more unlimited despot than the world knows this side of China. Fellow abolitionist Elizabeth Cady Stanton called him Dishonest Abe and opposed his renomination. Republican Senator Charles Sumner also opposed the Presidents renomination: There is a strong feeling among those who have seen Mr. Lincoln, in the way of business, that he lacks practical talent for his important place. Some Northern newspapers actually called for Lincolns assassination. In the days after the assassination, William Lloyd Garrison Jr. called his murder providential. Nonetheless, Lincoln was gracious in dealing with his critics: Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends? He would add: Let us speak no more of these things. He also met with detractors, asking: Why does he not come and have a talk with me? Meetings were important to Lincoln. No matter how busy he was, he found time to meet, often using stories to make points: They say I tell a great many stories. I reckon I do; but I have learned from long experience that plain people, take them as they run, are more easily influenced through the medium of a broad and humorous illustration than in any other way. While contemporary criticisms of Lincoln have long been forgotten, his words havent, like the conclusion of his Gettysburg Address: . . . government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." Likewise, his second Inaugural Address (with future assassin John Wilkes Booth in attendance): With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nations wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations. Despite the attacks on him, Abraham Lincoln always remained focused on the good of the county: America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. Hopefully, we can do the same in the face of our critics. -- State Sen. Mike Folmer, a Republican, represents the 48th Senate District, which includes parts of Dauphin, Lebanon and York counties. He writes from Harrisburg. Continuing the rollout of his groundbreaking PAsmart initiative, Gov. Tom Wolf announced $9.6 million in PAsmart advancing grants to enhance science and technology education in schools statewide. Combined with PAsmart targeted grants announced last month, the Wolf administration has awarded nearly $20 million this year to bolster STEM and computer science (CS) in schools, according to a news release sent out Monday. Workers in all types of jobs increasingly need to use computers and technology, Wolf said. In order to meet that demand, I launched PAsmart last year to expand science and technology education. These grants will help our schools and communities to expand STEM and computer science education. That will strengthen our workforce, so businesses can grow, and workers have good jobs that can support a family. Over the next decade, seven in 10 new jobs in Pennsylvania will require workers to use computers and new technologies. Projects funded by the PAsmart advancing grants include CS/STEM camps and after-school programs; support for diversity and inclusion on esports teams in high-need areas; STEM programming for preK-2 students and classrooms; and a mobile fabrication lab where students gain hands-on experience in coding and robotics. Other projects will develop CS/STEM internships, teacher training programs to increase the number of instructors in CS/STEM, and a Pathways to College program for high school students in the states rural northern tier region, the release said. Wolf previously announced a $442,000 grant to the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation to expand its computer science/STEM lending libraries in western Pennsylvania, Over the past three years, Pennsylvania has established a strong and innovative culture for computer science and STEM learning across the commonwealth, Secretary of Education Pedro A. Rivera said. The advancing grants build on the commitment of the Wolf administration to ensuring that students are college, career, and community ready with they graduate. PAsmart advancing grant recipients include: Allegheny Intermediate Unit 3 - $478,420 Allegheny Intermediate Unit Math & Science Collaborative - $399,379 Berks County Intermediate Unit - $494,368 Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania - $237,654 Bucks County Intermediate Unit #22 - $412,656 Bucks County Intermediate Unit #22 (with partner IUs) - $484,689 California University of Pennsylvania - $172,115 Central Susquehanna IU - $500,000 Cranberry Area School District - $361,600 East Allegheny School District - $286,929 Emerald Foundation/Lancaster-Lebanon IU - $499,877 Hopewell Area School District - $500,000 Mansfield University of PA - $277,307 Mercyhurst University - $500,000 Northeastern Educational IU 19 - $500,000 PA SEED Ecosystem - $390,675 Penn State New Kensington/ABC CREATE - $328,944 Pennsylvania Highlands Community College - $498,495 Pittsburgh Penguins Foundations - $442,323 Private Industry Council of Westmoreland/Fayette, Inc. - $443,078 School District of Philadelphia - $500,000 South Fayette Township School District - $499,613 Spring Cove School District - $500,000 United Way of Mercer County - $327,000 Last month, the Wolf Administration awarded $8.7 million in PAsmart grants to expand computer science classes and teacher training at 765 schools across the commonwealth . The survivor of a shooting in State College has undergone eight surgeries so far and still faces a long road ahead for recovery. A GoFundMe.com page that was started to raise money for the medical expenses of Nicole Abrino reports that she is awake and responsive and thanks everyone for their support. Abrino was shot in the chest in the Jan. 24 shooting spree that left four people, including the accused gunman, dead. According to the post, Abrino is still in the hospital and has undergone eight surgeries and procedures with the possibility of more to come. The next step is spinal rehabilitation physical therapy, but she is still a long way from that. She is in a lot of pain, but hopes to regain full mobility, according to the post. The goal of the fundraiser has increased to $20,000 to help cover not only the medical expenses, but also her extended hospital stay, missed work and handicap-accessible additions that will have to be placed in her home. The page has raised more than $12,000 so far. The shooting started at P.J. Harrigans Bar & Grill in the Ramada Inn on South Atherton Street around 10:14 p.m. Thursday, State College Police Chief John Gardner said at the time. Investigators say 21-year-old Jordan Witmer shot and wounded Abrino and shot and killed 62-year-old Dean Beachy, of Millersburg, Ohio, and his 19-year-old son, Steven. The Beachys were killed when they intervened in an argument between Witmer and his ex-girlfriend, Abrino, according to a report from KDKA-TV Pittsburgh. As police searched for Witmer, they got a call for a crash at the intersection of Waupelani Drive and Tussey Lane, where they found his vehicle. Police say Witmer fled the crash and broke into a home on Tussey Lane by shooting through a sliding glass door, then fatally shot homeowner George McCormick, 82. McCormicks wife, Joann, 80, was in the home but was unharmed. Police said Witmer did not know the McCormicks, and Gardner believes he randomly chose the house after crashing his vehicle. Witmer was found dead in the home of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. PennDOT announced they are reducing speed limits on several major roads across central Pa., starting at 6 p.m. Monday. PennDOT advises that motorists avoid unnecessary travel. However, the speed limit is now reduced to 45 mph on the following roads: Interstate 81 in Franklin, Cumberland, Dauphin and Lebanon counties Interstate 78 in Lebanon County Interstate 83 in York, Cumberland and Dauphin counties Interstate 283 in Dauphin County PA 283 in Dauphin and Lancaster counties US 22/322 in Dauphin County and Perry counties PA 581 in Cumberland County US 11 in Franklin and Cumberland counties US 15 in Adams, York and Cumberland counties US 11/15 in Cumberland and Perry County counties US 30 in York and Lancaster Counties US 222 in Lancaster County, from US 30 to Berks County line PennDOT also placed several travel restrictions in place for Tuesday morning, including bans on commercial vehicles and empty tractor trailers. Marijuana reform advocates dominated the opening night of Lt. Gov. John Fettermans statewide listening tour on whether Pennsylvania should join the ranks of states that are legalizing marijuana for adult use. Even with snow falling throughout the region Monday night, dozens of people packed the Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg on North Front Street to talk about legalizing marijuana. There were some opponents who voiced their opinions, to be sure. But the public comments on this opening night ranged about four-to-one in favor of a broad legalization of pot for recreational use. Arguments in support of the change generally revolved around two major issues: The states existing medical marijuana program is out-of-reach for many patients who could benefit, either because the regulated product is too costly, or because the list of conditions approved for medical marijuana use are too limited. The long history of marijuana as a battle front in the war on drugs has checkered too many residents criminal histories with career-stunting drug charges over what supporters say is little more than a lifestyle choice. Some were like Darryll Hickey, a 36-year-old Middletown resident who complained that he believes his job options have been limited because of a plea deal he took for possession of drug paraphernalia after a marijuana-related arrest several years ago. The worst thing Ive ever seen to come out of smoking cannabis is the penalties from the (criminal justice) system, Hickey said. Its time to end this. Or Jay Heycock, a 52-year-old from the Mechanicsburg area, said marijuana saved him from an addiction to painkillers prescribed by his doctors. Without marijuana, I wouldnt have been able to stop... Its actually much better pain relief. Its a much better solution. And marijuana never killed anyone. Opiates have killed thousands of people, Heycock said. It was not clear if Heycock was a participant in the states medical marijuana program. Some supporters had very specific asks of any proposal to legalize marijuana for adult use. Brandon Flood of the Greater Harrisburg Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said his organization believes any Pennsylvania legalization bill must include a pathway for folks that have been prosecuted in the past to get their records purged of any small-scale marijuana crimes. Others argued any legalization bill should include provisions permitting residents to cultivate a limited number of plants in their residences. I know... many medical patients that are still suffering because they can not afford it. They need to be able to grow it in their home, said Adrienne Leasa of Hummelstown. Some supporters spoke to what they see as the misconceptions about marijuana users. Sarah Latch, a 23-year-old recent honors grad of Shippensburg University who now lives in Harrisburg, estimated that she works with 10 other people who are recreational marijuana smokers. Its not because theyre dumb, lazy and dont care, Latch said. Its because its genuinely a better alternative than the use of alcohol or opioids.... I believe that so many people in Pennsylvania can find a safer and better way of living through cannabis than through alcohol or through opioids. To be able to have a legal and regulated access to it would make the difference in the lives of so many people, Latch said. Much of the opposition heard Monday night seemed to center on arguments that Pennsylvania, specifically, is not ready to add marijuana to the list of regulated vices. Camp Hill resident Marianna Horowitz argued that changing the law would lead to more marijuana usage among younger kids. She stated that Pennsylvanias treatment network simply isnt built to deal with the problems that could arise from that. We dont have the tools in place to protect our kids," Horowitz said. Stanley Beaver, a Harrisburg resident who was a retired workplace safety expert, said he has responded to fatal workplace accidents were marijuana intoxication was at fault. If people were responsible with it, its great, Beaver said. But theyre not. He said he would oppose any broader legalization of marijuana until there was much better testing available to be able to measure the high, like the blood-alcohol content tests can currently do for drinkers. But the naysayers were badly outnumbered by the supporters on this night. Retired Lutheran pastor Russell Mueller, also of Harrisburg, argued that regulated marijuana sales will reduce Pennsylvanians exposure to drug dealers who want to groom customers "of even more addictive, deadly and profitable drugs. Lets sell it (marijuana) in a controlled manner as we do cigarettes and alcohol, protecting our people, Mueller said. Lets not spend our limited tax dollars on an enforcement that has been a failure. This plant belongs to the people, and its belonged to the people all along and it needs to come back, Leesa said. Mondays was the first of what has been billed as an every-county listening tour led by Fetterman through this winter and spring. Gov. Tom Wolf and Fetterman announced the tour last month as a way to begin exploring whether Pennsylvania should consider following New Jersey and New Yorks lead in pursuing legalizing marijuana. Fetterman, who has been vocal in his personal support for legalization in the past, steered clear of any attempt to steer the dialogue Monday night. My views arent important tonight, he said at one point as one speaker sought to engage him on the issue. But he did seem to make a point of capturing on video a show of hands from the crowd that was overwhelmingly in favor of legalization. We got a clear shot of that? Fetterman asked his videographer. Because I want everyone in Pennsylvania to see, we did Dauphin County, and this was the audience. Any legalization bill will likely face an uphill battle in the state legislature, however, where leaders of the Republican majorities in the state House and Senate have declared their opposition. Fetterman plans to visit all 67 counties over a three-month period to gather input on the idea. He also welcomes people to submit their comments through a webpage form that was launched earlier Monday. At the end of the tour, Fetterman said last week, the findings will be presented to Wolf and ultimately it would be his decision what we do with it moving forward. More hearings Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is slated to lead two more discussions on legalization of marijuana in the midstate this week. Tonight: Fetterman is slated to travel to Newport on Tuesday to host a conversation at the Newport Public Library, 316 N. 4th St., from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday: Its on to Mechanicsburg where he will be at the American Legion Post 109, 224 W. Main St., from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Five juveniles suspected in the fatal shooting of Carlisle native Kyle Yorlets outside of his Tennessee home have been linked to a number of vehicle thefts in the Nashville area. That is according to the Tennessean, which reported that the group of five juveniles, is believed to have played a part in at least five vehicle thefts. The paper cited Nashville police, who described the thefts and murder of Yorlets as a greatly concerning combination of minors, stolen vehicles and guns. Police have said that the juveniles were attempting to steal Yorlets vehicle when he was shot Thursday afternoon as he stood outside of his home. Police said they believe Yorlets was shot after he refused to surrender the keys to his vehicle. After the shooting, Yorlets was able to get inside, where his housemates found him about 3 p.m. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died. Authorities have revealed the names of three of the five juveniles suspected in the shooting because they are charged with homicide and are over the age of 13. They are Roniyah McKnight, 14, Diamond Lewis, 15 and Decorrius Wright, 16, police said. A 12-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy also were charged. Police said the juveniles were in a Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck that had been reported stolen from Kentucky, and they were in an alley behind Yorlets home when they first saw him. The juveniles took Yorlets wallet before demanding that he give them the keys to his vehicle, police said. 16 Memorial service for Kyle Yorlets Since his death, many of Yorlets loved ones have shared their memories of him and spoken about his musical talents. That includes his mother, Deb Yorlets of Dickinson Township. "Everyone who met him was amazed and loved him, she said. Its just so senseless what has happened. Yorlets was a member of the Nashville-based band Carverton, and his bandmates also offered a statement on Yorlets death. We are heartbroken, they said. Locally, funeral services have been arranged, with viewings scheduled from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday at the Ewing Brothers Funeral Home, which is located at 630 S. Hanover St. in Carlisle. Visitors also are welcome at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Carlisle Evangelical Free Church until the beginning of an 11 a.m. funeral service. The church is located at 290 Petersburg Road in Carlisle. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg on Tuesday rolled out a program that will pay out millions of dollars to victims of clergy sex abuse - but disclosed no specific dollar amount for the fund, or details on the size of individual amounts that will go to victims. The dioceses so-called Survivor Compensation Program will be administered by Commonwealth Mediation & Conciliation, Inc. and will be effective immediately for three months. Private settlements to individual victims will be determined by the fund administrator. The diocese said it has set aside a substantial amount of money in the millions to fund the compensation program. Within 14 days of the close of the claims period, the fund administrators will notify all claimants as to their eligibility. Settlement offers to the claimants will be made on or before June 28. Harrisburg joins five other dioceses across the state and the Philadelphia Archdiocese in establishing a compensation fund for victims. The dioceses rolled out the programs in the wake of a scathing grand jury report released in August 2018 detailing the horrific and widespread sexual abuse of thousands of minors over seven decades by hundreds of priests in six Catholic dioceses, including Harrisburg. Nearly identical patterns of abuse were previously found several years ago in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia by a local grand jury investigation. While the Diocese of Harrisburg has contracted Commonwealth Mediation & Conciliation, the other dioceses have hired veteran compensation fund coordinator Ken Feinberg to design and operate their programs. Feinberg and associate Camille Biros have handled victims compensation funds across five New York dioceses in recent years. Harrisburg Bishop Ronald Gainer The Harrisburg compensation program will include settlements for abuse by diocesan priests, deacons and seminarians, as well as clergy from other dioceses and religious order priests who had faculties in the Diocese of Harrisburg at the time of the abuse. Historically, payouts from compensation funds have generally been far less than court settlements. For example, some jury verdicts in other, similar sexual abuse cases have resulted in awards for victims in the tens of millions of dollars. Cash awards from compensation funds have paid considerably less. To participate in the program, a claimant must have previously identified themselves to the diocese on or before Feb. 11. The claims period will run for 90 days, from Feb. 12 through May 13. Victims and survivors who come forward after the Feb. 11 deadline will be considered for future participation in the program. Participation in the Survivor Compensation Program does not disqualify survivors from receiving additional counseling through the Victim Assistance Coordinator and Catholic Charities. In a press release, the diocese stated that funding for the Survivor Compensation Program will come in the form of a loan from the Priests Retirement Fund, other existing diocesan assets and hopefully from insurance proceeds. Money that is collected in the parishes and for the Diocesan Annual Campaign (formerly known as the Bishops Lenten Appeal) will not go towards the funding of the program. In the written statement, Bishop Ronald W. Gainer said the program represented another step forward in the dioceses efforts to show our support to survivors of clergy child sexual abuse. While we understand that financial compensation will not repair or erase the heartache and damage done by the abuse these survivors have suffered, we hope and pray this support can help to improve their lives," Gainer said. "These settlements will serve as further recognition that the Church acknowledges these terrible abuses did occur and we hope that this Program will help advance survivors on their path towards healing. As I have spoken with survivors and parishioners during our listening sessions on this subject, one consistent message was delivered and is that many survivors want a chance to sit down and tell their story. The Survivor Compensation Program we have established will allow survivors, if they so choose, to sit down with our Program Administrators and discuss the abuses that took place. We believe these discussions are an important part of this process and we hope they will aid in the healing process by providing the survivors an opportunity to be heard and a chance to know we believe them." Victims advocate and attorney Marci Hamilton applauded the Harrisburg compensation program, noting that it comes on the heels of a legislative overhaul of child sex crime laws in New York. Many survivors are in need and as we learned in New York, these settlements can be a good avenue for the victim who cannot or does not want to face the rigors of a lawsuit, said Hamilton, a University of Pennsylvania law professor and CEO of CHILD USA. It is also a another positive sign that Pennsylvania bishops are following NY Cardinal Dolans example, who in the end supported the Child Victims Act as the right thing for all child sex abuse victims. The New York Child Victims Act will be signed into law Thursday. Hamilton cautioned that compensation funds cannot be the last word for Pennsylvanias victims. Window legislation is still necessary, she said. The Catholic victims deserve a choice between the fund and a lawsuit, and the vast majority of victims have nothing to do with the Church. Shaun Dougherty, who as a child was molested by a priest from the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese, echoed Hamiltons sentiment that the fund should not signal the end of efforts to reform Pennsylvanias statute of limitations. The effort to reform the statute of limitations should definitely continue to move forward, he said. Im not necessarily opposed to a compensation fund as long as it is meant truly to compensate and help the victim maintain a relatively good quality of life and its not just a cost-saving measure for the church. Are the administrators of the funds compensating the victims of Pennsylvania more or less than the administrators are being compensated themselves? The Survivor Compensation Program will be administered independently from the diocese by Paul Finn of Commonwealth Mediation & Conciliation. Finn and his firm have led similar programs for the Archdiocese of Boston, the dioceses of Fall River (MA), Providence (RI), Springfield (MA) and Jackson (MS). The firm also oversaw the fund for the Big Dig Tunnel Collapse (Boston, MA). Information on the Survivor Compensation Program is available at: Eligibility for the program include: Persons alleging childhood sexual abuse. Childhood sexual abuse means sexual molestation or sexual exploitation of a child (a person under the age of 18) and other behavior by which an adult uses a child as an object of sexual gratification, including attempted behavior. The allegation is against a priest, deacon, or seminarian of the diocese; or the allegation is against a priest or deacon from another diocese who had faculties in the diocese at the time of the abuse; or the allegation is against a priest or brother from a religious order who had faculties in the diocese at the time of the abuse. The person has previously identified themselves as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse to the diocese on or before Feb. 11. Claimants not eligible include: The Democrat who lost last November to incumbent U.S. Rep. Thomas A. Marino will be his party's nominee to fill the 12th District vacancy created by the congressman's unexpected resignation. Marc Friedenberg The state party Tuesday announced Marc Friedenberg, an assistant teaching professor at Penn State, would be its candidate. Marino beat him 150,558 to 75,822, last November. Republicans hold a large registration edge in the district that stretches from Perry County to the New York State. Because Friedenberg was the only Democrat to apply, the party committees in the 15 counties recommended him instead of gathering for a nominating convention. The state executive committee then voted to officially nominate him as the party's candidate. Republicans have yet to name their candidate to be on the ballot for the special election to be held in conjunction with the May 21 primary. Three Republicans, state Reps Jeffrey Wheeland of Lycoming County and Fred Keller of Snyder County along with Bradford County Commissioner Douglas McLinko, have announced they are candidates. Friedenberg is a Penn State and Columbia Law School graduate. The State College resident, who is married with two young daughters, is a Philadelphia native. READ MORE: A 'serious health issue' prompted Thomas Marino's resignation from Congress: spokesman Marino resigned unexpectedly Jan. 23 just weeks into his fifth term citing a "serious health" issue. The Williamsport area lawmaker revealed he underwent emergency surgery to clear blockages in his remaining kidney and that was followed the next day by exploratory surgery. The three-time cancer survivor lost half of his left kidney in 1999 and the rest of it in 2009. In 2012 he underwent surgery to remove 60 percent of his right kidney. At times Monday, it was difficult to tell who was on trial for the June 2016 murder of Daniel DJ Harris in the Haines-Stackfield American Legion post in Carlisle. The official defendant is Robert Rocky Anderson Jr. Senior Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Metzger is seeking a first-degree murder conviction and death sentence for the 41-year-old Carlisle man. She claims he walked into the legion and shot Harris eight times amid a violent personal feud. Yet during the fifth day of testimony in the trial defense attorney Heidi Eakin introduced a new suspect to the jury. Her candidate, Khalil Williams of Philadelphia, is awaiting trial for a murder in his hometown. Three months after Harris slaying, Williams was caught with the handgun used in the legion homicide, Eakin noted. She also put the Carlisle police on trial, grilling one of the lead investigators, Jeffrey Kurtz, about why officers still dont consider Williams to be a suspect in the Harris killing. But first, Metzger, with Kuttzs assistance, had the jurors listen to several hours of conversations recorded via wiretaps on Andersons phone. The jury followed those conversations with written transcripts, but for spectators in the courtroom the recordings were largely unintelligible, except for the frequent profanity. On one recording, however, Anderson could be heard yelling at his girlfriend, saying she lied to police and told them she was with him the night Harris was shot. You destroyed my whole (expletive) alibi, Anderson could be heard saying on the tape. Eakin attacked the quality of the police investigation as soon as she got the chance to cross-examine Kurtz. Noting that a grand jury was used in the investigation that led to Andersons arrest, Eakin asked Kurtz if such juries are usually employed in cases that are weak for the prosecution. We would typically use it for a case where we were getting little cooperation, Kurtz replied. One person called before the grand jury, Paul Laney, was only asked to give his name and then dismissed, Kurtz said. He said the idea was to give the impression that Laney had testified before the panel and trigger possibly incriminating conversations on the phone taps. Did you always believe (the killer) was Rocky? Eakin continued. We did consider other suspects, Kurtz said. Eakin then asked him to discuss the Philly boys who come to Carlisle to sell drugs. Khalil Williams was among that crowd, he said. Williams was arrested by Philadelphia police in after the gun used to kill Harris was found in a silver Pontiac Grand Am he was driving during a traffic stop in September 2016. Yet, Eakin asked, the man who had the murder weapon was not a suspect? That is correct, Kurtz answered. He said he believes investigators developed more solid evidence to tie Anderson to Harris slaying. Eakin countered that police have no DNA or fingerprints tying Anderson to the murder, and no witnesses in the legion identified Anderson as the shooter. Nor, she said, were police able to verify Williams alibi that he was at a birthday party in Philadelphia when Harris was killed. She asked Kurtz if investigators had tried to determine if a car like the one Williams was driving when the murder weapon was seized was in Carlisle on the night of the murder. The answer was, no. Eakin flashed a photo on the courtroom screen of a silver car that she said was a Pontiac Grand Prix. That photo was taken by a borough surveillance camera at Hanover and High streets in Carlisle at 10:13 p.m. on June 10, 2016, little more than two hours before Harris was gunned down at the legion a few blocks away. Another video Eakin showed had been presented earlier by the prosecution. It shows a man running across the street about a block from the legion right after the slaying. Eakin ran that video for a longer time than Metzger had, however. The expanded version shows another man walking briskly in the same area a few minutes after the running man was filmed. Who is that? Eakin asked as the walking man appeared on the screen. I dont know, Kurtz said. Under Eakins questioning, Kurtz said Harris was a drug dealer, but that he had no knowledge of Harris having disputes with the Philly boys who frequented Carlisle. There are a lot of really bad people coming to town? Eakin asked. I would say the vast majority of Carlisle does not know what occurs, Kurtz said. He said police also heard unverified rumors that Harris was a snitch who was giving testimony before a federal grand jury. The day ended with a dispute that occurred after the jury departed. Metzger urged President Judge Edward E. Guido to permit her to present the grand jury testimony of one witness, Michael Evans, instead of calling him to testify in person. Evans is afraid to testify because he has received threats, she said. Guido said Evans is going to testify in person so he can be cross-examined by Eakin. When Metzger continued her argument, the judge said, 11 oclock tomorrow well have a hearing, and adjourned for the day. Dauphin County officials issued an alert Monday about another jury duty scam. They said callers have been telling residents they could be subject to arrest for failing to appear for jury duty, but can make the problem go away by paying a fine by phone. Authentic jury duty notifications, and failure to appear notices, are delivered by mail, county officials said. Court officials would never ask for payments over the phone, they said, nor would they ask for Social Security numbers. In some cases, the bogus calls have been manipulated to appear that they originated with the court administration. Anyone receiving such calls can contact the court administrators office at 717-780-6630. Virginia Houck was 97 years old, bedridden and under constant nursing care. Her son, Roger Hock, 59, would visit from Seattle and relieve the nurses while he stayed at his mothers Palmer Township home. Their bodies were both found in the basement after the house was destroyed by fire Jan. 4, investigators announced Monday in a press conference led by Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli. The fire, they say, was arson; the deaths were homicides. Roger Houck was found tied up at his feet and died of homicidal violence, county Coroner Zachary Lysek told reporters. Virginia, he said, had binding around her head and died of burns and smoke inhalation. Mystery still surrounds the case and authorities said they did not want to release too much information for fear of hindering the investigation. Morganelli said police have identified and spoken with a person of interest. A motive is yet to be determined, and no charges have been filed. The investigation was slowed by the extensive fire damage to the house and bodies -- Roger Houck was identified through dental records, Virginia by a medical implant, Lysek said. The home itself at 2901 Stephens St. was essentially reduced to ash, authorities said. An exact source of the fire is unclear, though authorities Monday said the pattern suggests an accelerant was used. Reports of explosions at the time were likely Virginia Houck's oxygen tanks inside. Also unknown is why Virginia Houck's car was found two blocks away. Police brought in the arson K-9 from Bethlehem to search the car for accelerants. Palmer Township police are also looking for clues from the day before the fire. They ask that anyone with information about an event there -- they were not any more specific -- between 1 and 3 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 3, come forward to either the department or the DAs office. Morganelli said the alleged homicides and fire were a targeted effort and commended investigators for their work under difficult circumstances. He said the case is likely to go to a grand jury when more is known. Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveNovakLVL and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. President Abraham Lincoln was born on Feb. 12, 1809, in a log cabin in Kentucky. Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States. He saw the country through the Civil War and abolished slavery. His Gettysburg Address was delivered on Nov. 19, 1863. He was shot on April 14, 1865, by John Wilkes Booth during a performance of Our American Cousin at Fords Theatre in Washington, D.C. At 10:15, Booth slipped into the Lincolns private box above the stage and fired his .44-caliber single-shot derringer into the back of Lincoln's head. Booth broke his leg escaping but he managed to leave the theater and escape from Washington on horseback. A 23-year-old doctor was in the audience. He raced to Lincoln and found him slumped in his chair, paralyzed and struggling to breathe. Soldiers carried Lincoln to a house across the street. When the surgeon general arrived at the house, he concluded that Lincoln could not be saved and would die during the night. Lincoln was pronounced dead at 7:22 a.m. April 15, 1865. The president's body was taken to the White House, and on April 18 it was carried to the Capitol rotunda to lay in state. On April 21, Lincolns body was boarded onto a train headed to his hometown of Springfield, Ill. Thousands of people lined the railroad route through 180 cities in seven states to see the funeral train, which was in Harrisburg April 21-22. PHOENIX (AP) Retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who rocketed to the national spotlight when his congresswoman wife Gabrielle Giffords was shot in a failed assassination attempt, announced Tuesday hes running to finish John McCains last term in the U.S. Senate. Kelly, 54, is a top Democratic recruit to take on Republican Martha McSally in one of the most closely contested Senate races of the 2020 election. In this Oct. 2, 2018, file photo retired NASA astronaut and Navy Capt. Mark Kelly speaks as his wife, former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords looks on during a roundtable discussion with gun violence survivors, at UNLV in Las Vegas. Kelly said Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, that he's running to finish John McCain's term in the U.S. Senate.AP McSally is a former Republican congresswoman who was appointed to McCain's seat last year after she narrowly lost to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. McSally leaned heavily on her record as the first woman to fly a combat mission as a fighter pilot, but she was hurt by her embrace of President Donald Trump. If Kelly is nominated, the race would pit a Navy veteran and astronaut against a trailblazing Air Force pilot in the contest to replace McCain, a legendary Navy flyer who was famously shot down and held captive. Democrats are eagerly watching the Arizona contest, having already defeated McSally in a Senate race just a few months ago. Kelly and Giffords have for years pushed Congress to enact gun control measures with little success. They shifted their focus to state legislatures in recent years, helping to strengthen background checks and domestic violence protections, among other modest protections. Giffords was severely wounded in a mass shooting on Jan. 8, 2011. The shooting at a Giffords meet-and-greet event outside a grocery store in Tucson left six dead and 13 injured. Shooter Jared Loughner was sentenced to life in prison. Gov. Doug Ducey appointed McSally to the vacant Senate seat after his first appointee, former Sen. Jon Kyl, resigned after only a few months in office. The seat is a top target for Democrats because McSally just lost a Senate race in November and Democrats posted a strong showing in the November election, winning three statewide contests and picking up legislative and congressional seats. The 2020 election will decide who finishes the last two years of McCain's term. The winner would have to run again for a full six-year term in 2022. U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego of Phoenix is also considering a Senate run, which would likely set up a tough fight for the Democratic nomination. Former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods, a lifelong Republican who became a Democrat and a fierce critic of Trump, announced last week that he wont run, saying he didnt want to fight in a contested Democratic primary. By JONATHAN J. COOPER, Associated Press Patna: Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in Patna on Saturday carried out raid at the Gitanjali Gems located within the Maharaja Kameshwar Complex on Fraser Road and seized precious gems and jewelries worth over Rs. 2.7 crore. The raid was conducted in connection with the Rs. 11,400 crore scam involving fraudulent withdrawal from the Mumbai branch of the Punjab National Bank by Gitanjali chain owner Nirav Modi who is on run after the crime came into light a few days ago. Officials said ED sleuths seized diamond jewelries worth Rs. 2.7 crore from the shop. The raid began at 6:30 pm on Friday and went on until late Saturday morning. Authorities also interrogated the owner of the shop (Gitanjali Gems are a franchise) Vijay Singh and three other officials of the shop, all of them were said to be cooperating with the investigation. Reports said simultaneous raids were carried out in Gitanjali Gems showroom in Dhanbad, Jaipur, and Durgapur. Patna: Bihar Assembly building in Patna was all decked up on Thursday for the four-day 6th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) conference that kicks off on Friday featuring delegates from all Indian states and both Houses of the Parliament to talk about a host of legal and constitutional issues and their impact on the functioning of the government. A number of legislators from foreign nations are also expected to participate in the four-day event being hosted in Bihar for the first time. The program will kick-off with an inaugural meeting at Hotel Maurya on Friday but the real program would begin with the speech of Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan at the Gyan Bhawan near Gandhi Maidan on Saturday. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will be the chief guest at the opening function. Besides Gyan Bhawan, various events will be held at the two convention halls of the state Assembly and the state Legislative Council where keynote speakers will deliver their speech in the presence of delegates from other states and country, Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Chowdhary said. Among the prominent guests to speak at the conference are senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)leader and MP Murli Manohar Joshi who is expected to speak on the Parliaments role in development agenda Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, a native of Patna, will speak on 'Legislature and Judiciary - Two Important Pillars of Democracy', the Speaker said. The conference will conclude on 19th after which the guests will be taken for sightseeing in Bodh Gaya and Rajgir, the Janata Dal U leader said. Ive just begun reading Nancy Hartevelt Kobrin, The Banality of Suicide Terrorism: The Naked Truth About the Psychology of Islamic Suicide Bombing (Dulles, VA: Potomac Books. 2010). Thus far, Im not favorably impressed. I can only hope that it gets better. Dr. Kobrin, a psychoanalyst who has strong ties to Israel but practices in Minnesota, offers an interesting thesis, which she states in various ways: Islamic suicide terrorism can be understood as a new variant of an old problem domestic violence (1) The Islamic suicide attack is a hybrid of domestic violences murder-suicide, serial killing, and the Arab clan custom of honor killing (11). This book explains Islamic suicide terrorism as displaced rage against the Early Mother of childhood (3). Islamic suicide bombings are a form of displaced violence about the Early Mother in life, especially the Early Muslim Mother and the disavowed wish to murder her (13). The terror in Islamic suicide terrorism is nothing more than displaced murderous rage meant for the Early Mother . . . The terrorists do [what they do] because they have the need to hate and the need to have enemies, needs stemming from the externalization of the hatreds developed through blaming and shaming child-rearing practices, learned in early childhood, while these nascent terrorists were embedded in their families (20). Islamic suicide terrorism is informed by the childs experience that violence and force are to be used as a means to control others. It is learned behavior, which is ingrained early in life (4) I become quite uneasy when I read phrases like that casual nothing more. Is there, perhaps, any political dimension to suicide terrorism? Is it really nothing more than an aftereffect of experiences in early infancy and childhood? Really? Dr. Kobrin is plainly follows the lead of Sigmund Freud in her approach: Man created religion in order to fill a painful void left by the inability to mourn the loss of the Early Mother (24). Shes not quite an orthodox Freudian, though. She puts St. Sigmund himself on the couch, telling her readers that he didnt really talk about the Early Mother because of his own conflicted, ambivalent relationship with his own mother (27). Terrorists, says Dr. Kobrin, are terrified to separate from their mothers psychologically and remain fused with them, which binds and blinds them (xvii). I would certainly like to see some evidence for that claim, some data. Thus far, though, Ive seen none. [T]errorists have impaired thinking because they lack a maturity stemming from independence (xviii). Well, maybe. But maybe not. Muhammad Bouyeri, she says, killed Theo van Gogh on an Amsterdam street because his mother had just died and her death had left him feeling bitter and abandoned (xv). Perhaps. Its not impossible. But some actual evidence would be nice. Beyond the seemingly ungrounded character of her assertions, though, its their sweeping nature that astonishes me: At one point, Dr. Kobrin writes of the Islamic suicide terrorists and all their accessories to the crime, and she includes among those accessories not only the engineer-bomb maker, the recruiter, the sender, the escort, [and] the charismatic leader but their mothers and fathers, their uncles, the clan, the tribe, the umma (21). Its a comprehensive indictment of absolutely every member of the Islamic community worldwide which, in Arabic (including in the Quran itself) is called the umma. They are all like newborns. They have never been allowed to grow up, to mature, or to be free, independent, self-sufficient, confident, and competent human beings. They have been raised to stay immature all their lives through terrorizing and shaming child-rearing practices (22). I have to admit that, in my judgment, anyway, Dr. Kobrin has been flirting thus far with what looks very much like a flagrant form of ethnic stereotyping, even racism. And shes doing it on the basis of virtually no actual data. Arab culture as found in Saudi Arabia is the venerated culture for the Muslims (9, emphasis in the original). Really? Would Qataris agree to this, let alone Egyptians, Iraqis, Lebanese, and Moroccans? Does she have any evidence for her announcement? And, since shes purporting to describe the Muslims generally, what about Indonesians, Turks, Iranians, Pakistanis, and Malaysians? And what of Muslims living in, say, Florida and Yorkshire and New South Wales? The generalizations are vast, and deeply negative: The Arab Muslim culture in which they live has not permitted their children to grow up into confident and competent adults. Not being allowed to separate psychologically leaves their children feeling distrustful and terrified of the outside world and induces an inordinate amount of persecutory anxieties (xvii) Where you have a devalued woman and an overidealized mother, as you do in Arab and Muslim cultures (1) In Arab Muslim culture, the mother . . . herself is a victim (4). [T]he young mother in these cultures has been so utterly devalued, abused, and traumatized as a child that when she becomes a mother, often at a young age, she is compromised. She struggles in her capacity to mother in a completely unsupported environment in which she is further abused (3) In Arab Muslim families, children are not considered as individual personalities (5). Arab Muslim culture is not one in which children are loved and hugged appropriately (6) [I]n Arab Muslim culture everything is done in order to acquire prestige, which is confused with honor (21) That there is widespread sexual abuse of children, and of girls in particular, should be an obvious indicator as to how men in the Arab Muslim world feel about themselves (12) In Arab Muslim culture, writes Dr. Kobrin, Little boys are treasured and adored while little girls are despised (19). Arab Muslim boys grow up to become men who do not respect women (19). Male children in Arab Muslim culture are psychologically, emotionally, and intellectually stunted by the way theyve been raised (5). Does some potential evidence seem to contradict her thesis? Do some informants seem to tell a different story? No problem! Theyre lying. Dr. Kobrin simply dismisses contrary claims: Even though these families may claim to the media that their sons and daughters who became terrorists are really sweet, kind, and normal people, this assertion should be doubted and treated skeptically since their culture of shame has so infused the groups sensitivity to criticism. They must always present a good face to the public because they feel so excruciatingly shamed (10). The Arab Muslims have chosen to deny that honor killing is cold-blooded murder and that suicide bombing is mass slaughter of the innocent (11) Dr. Kobrin describes how, in Arab Muslim culture, a woman or a girl who has lost her honor is put to death in an honor killing (21). But how common is this? How widespread? Are there socio-economic or class factors involved? Thus far at least, Dr. Kobrin has nothing to say about such questions. Even less than Ive said: Sometimes, her declarations have been a bit weird: Honor killing is . . . a misnomer since it has nothing to do with honor. . . . My colleague Dr. Chesler rightly refers to it as honor murder' (11) But its self-contradictory for Dr. Kobrin to object to the adjective honor in the phrase honor killing while endorsing her colleagues formulation honor murder. Among her illustrations of Arab Muslim culture, which she interprets in a more or less Freudian way, is the all-enveloping burka, which the Taliban has [sic] imposed on women it [sic] controls (15). But the Taliban control portions of Afghanistan, which isnt Arab. The burka is Afghan. And the Taliban arent Arabs, either. And this statement strikes me as simply and self-evidently false: War is the misrecognition of the other as feared when, in fact, the other is familiar and legitimate (34). The Third Reich wasnt familiar and legitimate, and Churchill didnt misrecognize the Nazis. [I]t is estimated, writes Dr. Kobrin, [that] 1 percent of the nearly 1.5 billion Muslims become violent jihadis (22). Really? Is there any actual evidence that there are fifteen million violent jihadis out there? https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865676865/Why-are-there-so-few-Muslim-terrorists.html But I close with what I regard as merely a silly expression of that old-time Freudian religion: Suicide bombing, Dr. Kobrin suggests, merges or fuses the bomber with his or her victims which, seemingly inevitably for a psychoanalyst, means that its really about sex (28). As I say, I hope that it gets better. Soon. In Life in Red A Journey from Sydney Suburbs to Nagpur Slums Tibetan Buddhist nun (or Bhikkhuni in Pali), Ayya Yeshe speaks of her journey into Tibetan Buddhism, her disillusionment with what she describes as internalized patriarchy, [not] just our bad karma [as nuns or females], and her move to India, where she found it easier than Australia to live as a monastic. In a beautifully filmed video, Yeshe offers us an insiders view of what a woman might encounter as a Western nun. You can read more about her life as a second class citizen for Tricycle in 2017; that article begins By paying lip service to female empowerment but not materially supporting Western female monastics, we leave themand the future of Tibetan Buddhism in the Westin doubt. In the video, Ayya Yeshe notes the 75% disrobing rate and the institutional structures that limit women. Seeing this and having a crisis of faith, she asks, s what is the true essence of your religion, and what is cultural baggage, what is cultural overlay? What is something that is transcendent, and what is something that is being used to keep the powerful in power and oppress the vast majority? In a particularly moving piece of the video, Ayya Yeshe recounts a time in Bodhgaya, seeing very wealthy temples filled with foreign Buddhists and tall walls topped with barbed wire living in a bubble. Meanwhile the local population lives in deep poverty, locked outside those walls. She asks herself, if the Buddha were here today, which side would he be on? It is this kind of question that lies at the center of Engaged Buddhism, purposefully looking at the world and asking how the teachings fit in our real everyday lives. This is opposed to a tendency to individualistically consume Dharma (teachings) and practices. Progressive Buddhism Elsewhere, Ayya Yeshes move beyond tradition and clearly critiquing its failings (in this case the failure to widely support monastic women) is at the heart of Progressive Buddhism, a new trend in Buddhism to openly critique tradition where it is in conflict with helping the world today. This is not an ideological critique such as might be lobbied by Cardinal Ratzinger (see here or here) or Zizek (here or here); it is a critique based from firmly within Buddhist practice and ideals. Progressive Buddhism, like Engaged Buddhism, isnt a new school or sect. It is, instead, an approach to Buddhism which asks, in humility and openness, what can we do better? What really needs to change in our own tradition to better serve humanity? In a sense this must have been done throughout Buddhist history, as Buddhists have encountered new (to them) practices and ideas and adopted them. As Linda Heuman wrote in 2011 in Whose Buddhism is Truest, the Buddhist tradition(s) has always been one of a certain degree of flow and change and as we all come to understand this, it may well blow away outdated, parochial barriers between traditions and help bring Buddhism into line with the pluralistic climate of our times. Ive written about Sebene Selassie as a hero of Progressive Buddhism, and suggested a (very) rough outline of Progressive Buddhism for the Progressive Buddhism Blog. When Buddhists look seriously at historical critiques of inequality, even where theyve occurred within Buddhism: theyre being progressive. When Buddhists take seriously the potential of Western psychologists and neuroscientists to evaluate and even scrutinize traditional techniques and practices: theyre being progressive. When Buddhists make dealing with climate change a central concern of their lives, theyre being progressive. She writes: At Bodhicitta foundation, we change hundreds of lives each year. We make 6000 meals per year, have a girls home and educate 300 children through our programmes, as well as helping women start their own businesses in tailoring, computers, beauty therapy and more! Your small change could change a life! www.bodhicitta-vihara.com Donations are tax deductible in Australia. Ayya Yeshe is an Australian Buddhist nun, socially engaged activist, aspiring bodhisattva and mystic traveler. She is the founder of the Bodhicitta Foundation in India and splits her time between India and Australia. Her teachers are Sakya Trizen (the second highest Lama in Tibetan Buddhism) and Ven Thich Nhat Hanh, the Nobel Peace Prize poet and peace activist. Ayya Yeshe is the author of Everyday Enlightenment published by Harper Collins and is featured in the documentaries life beyond the begging bowl and Through the Eastern Gate. She is also made a Buddhist chanting CD with one of Australias top world music groups India Jiva called Dakini. She recently contributed the following to American Buddhist Perspectives: In his 2019 State of the Union address, President Trump stressed the importance of investing in the cutting-edge Industries of the Future. Emerging technologies are driving the creation of the Industries of the Future, and none more so than artificial intelligence (AI). AI technologies are transforming nearly every area of our lives, from transportation to healthcare to education to security. Even now at the earliest stages of commercializing these technologies, we have seen the power and potential of AI to support workers, diagnose diseases, and improve our national security. Americans have profited tremendously from being the early developers and international leaders in AI. However, as the pace of AI innovation increases around the world, we cannot sit idly by and presume that our leadership is guaranteed. We must ensure that advances in AI remain fueled by American ingenuity, reflect American values, and are applied for the benefit of the American people. The American AI Initiative Today, President Trump is doing just that by signing an Executive Order launching the American AI Initiative. This Initiative will focus the resources of the Federal government to develop AI in order to increase our Nations prosperity, enhance our national and economic security, and improve quality of life for the American people. This initiative takes a multipronged approach to accelerating our national leadership in AI, and includes five key areas of emphasis: 1. Investing in AI Research and Development (R&D) The initiative focuses on maintaining our Nations strong, long-term emphasis on high-reward, fundamental R&D in AI by directing Federal agencies to prioritize AI investments in their R&D missions. These investments will strengthen and leverage Americas unique and vibrant R&D ecosystem of industry, academia, and government, and prioritize Federal AI spending on cutting-edge ideas that can directly benefit the American people. 2. Unleashing AI Resources The initiative directs agencies to make Federal data, models, and computing resources more available to Americas AI R&D experts, researchers, and industries to foster public trust and increase the value of these resources to AI R&D experts, while maintaining the safety, security, civil liberties, privacy, and confidentiality protections we all expect. This action will drive our top-notch AI research toward new technological breakthroughs and promote scientific discovery, economic competitiveness, and national security. These efforts will work in concert with the Presidents Management Agenda and implementing the Open, Public, Electronic, and Necessary, (OPEN) Government Data Act. 3. Setting AI Governance Standard As part of the American AI Initiative, Federal agencies will foster public trust in AI systems by establishing guidance for AI development and use across different types of technology and industrial sectors. This guidance will help Federal regulatory agencies develop and maintain approaches for the safe and trustworthy creation and adoption of new AI technologies. This initiative also calls for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to lead the development of appropriate technical standards for reliable, robust, trustworthy, secure, portable, and interoperable AI systems. 4. Building the AI Workforce To prepare our workforce with the skills needed to adapt and thrive in this new age of AI, the American AI Initiative calls for agencies to prioritize fellowship and training programs to help American workers gain AI-relevant skills through apprenticeships, skills programs, fellowships, and education in computer science and other growing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. This action will help educate the AI R&D workforce our Nation needs to create and embrace new AI technologies. 5. International Engagement and Protecting our AI Advantage The Trump Administration is committed to promoting an international environment that supports AI R&D and opens markets for American AI industries while also ensuring that the technology is developed in a manner consistent with our Nations values and interests. Federal agencies will also develop and implement an action plan to protect the advantage of the United States in AI and technology critical to United States national and economic security interests against strategic competitors and foreign adversaries. The American AI Initiative is accelerating our Nations leadership in AI. By driving technological breakthroughs in AI, breaking barriers to AI innovation, preparing our workforce for the jobs of the future, and protecting Americas advantage in AI we are ensuring that AI technologies continue to improve the lives of our people, create jobs, reflect our Nations values, and keep Americans safe at home and abroad. About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus. In the last two weeks, a Munich court threw out four more of Qualcomm's Patent infringement lawsuits against Apple and in the U.S., Qualcomm got slammed by a California Judge for their procedural shenanigans that produced a baseless injunction against Apple. Today we're leaning that Apple has already found a workaround to one of Qualcomm's patents and by doing so has nullified Qualcomm's original claims. Back on July 6, 2017 Qualcomm published a press release titled "Qualcomm files Patent Infringement Complaints against Apple with International Trade Commission and Federal Court." Within that press release Qualcomm provided an infographic titled: Five technologies iPhones use everyday. Today Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents mocked Qualcomm's infographic, as presented below, with the reality of the ground thus far in the Qualcomm-Apple patent war. None of Qualcomm's original claims against Apple infringing their technology stand today making the Qualcomm-Apple court case starting in April look bad for Qualcomm. To read more about Florian Mueller's take on Qualcomm's current efforts, read the full FOSS Patent report titled "Apple has already defeated Qualcomm's first ITC complaint with a workaround in iOS 12.1 and later, blessed by Qualcomm's CTO," here. About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus. Yesterday Patently Apple posted a report titled "Qualcomm's Infringement Cases against Apple are Dropping like Flies." The report noted that back on July 6, 2017 Qualcomm published a press release titled "Qualcomm files Patent Infringement Complaints against Apple with International Trade Commission and Federal Court." Within that press release Qualcomm provided an infographic titled: Five technologies iPhones use everyday. Yesterday's report noted that the so-called "five technologies" that Apple was accused of infringing are no longer valid. Today, more bad news for Qualcomm hit the wires. US chipmaker Qualcomm has lost a lawsuit against Korea's Fair Trade Commission, the nations antitrust watchdog, over unfair practices to maintain a monopoly in the local mobile communications chip segment in 2009. Some market watchers believe the latest Supreme Court ruling could affect a separate legal fight between the US chipmaker and the FTC. Korea's Supreme Court on Feb. 11 found most of the FTC decisions in 2009 to impose a total of 273 billion won (US$242 million) worth of fines on Qualcomm for illegal kickbacks from 2000 to 2009 to be lawful. Of the 273 billion-won penalty, the court ruled the chipmaker should pay at least 200 billion won, while the remainder needs be reconsidered at a lower court. Qualcomm, which supplies communications chips to Korean smartphone makers like Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, has been criticized for giving away incentives to smartphone companies that used more than a certain amount of the chip providers mobile communications and radio frequency chips. Such a practice, the court said, forced mobile phone companies not to receive chips from Qualcomms rivals. The kickbacks handed to the phone makers in 2000-2009 amounted to millions of dollars per quarter. Qualcomm has not made an announcement regarding the latest courts ruling, with a spokesperson of the Korean office saying that there is nothing to say at the moment. Customarily, two rounds of trials are held separately by a high court and the Supreme Court to handle lawsuits protesting FTC decisions. In the first trial held in 2013, the Seoul High Court ruled in the watchdogs favor, saying the chip companys kickbacks prevented Korean phone makers from inking business deals with other chip producers. In 2016, the watchdog decided to levy 1.03 trillion won on Qualcomm for utilizing its market dominance to keep competitors from entering the market and maintain a monopoly. In response, the chip manufacturer filed a complaint with the Seoul High Court. About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus. This is one of the stranger sentences I have read lately. Per Reuters: When news emerged that Qatar may have unwittingly helped bail out a New York skyscraper owned by the family of Jared Kushner, Donald Trumps son-in-law, eyebrows were raised in Doha. This is one of the largest real estate deals in American history, and its hard to see how anything could have happened unwittingly given the massive amount of money at stake. What happened is that the Qatari wealth fund (QIA) bought a nine percent stake in Brookfield Property Partners in 2014 (based out of Toronto and New York), who then invested in Kushners albatross in 2018taking a 99 year lease on the property and paying 99 years of rent up front (worth $1.1 billion). Kushner made what is objectively one of the worst real estate purchases in American history when he sank $1.8 billion into 666 (yes, really) Fifth Avenue in Manhattanand all but $50 million of the sale was financed entirely with debt. This came in 2007, just as the market began to collapse under the weight of Wall Streets byzantine mortgage derivatives market. It is worth, uh, significantly less than $1.8 billion today. Before selling the building last summer, Kushner had a $1.4 billion mortgage payment due this month. A source close to Brookfield Asset Management told Reuters that the Qatari wealth fund was not involved in the deal and there was no requirement for the company to inform the QIA before closing the deal with the presidents son. In fact, according to two sources familiar with the QIAs strategy, this investment angered members of the Qatari government thanks to Kushner and Trumps staunch support for the Saudi ruling family who helped to organize the Qatari embargo that still lasts to this day. Brookfield Property Partners is its own independent company and at a nine percent stake, the QIA cannot boss them around, but given that Qatar has followed the model of Saudi Arabia, Israel, Russia (and countless other countries who want to spread their influence), and poured tons of its $320 billion wealth fund into the Westinvesting in landmarks like New Yorks Plaza Hotel and Herrods in Londonits fair to question their motivations in Brookfield Asset Managements business. The story of Trumps business is the story of foreign governments like Russia taking advantage of legitimate market activity to gain leverage over a man only governed by the almighty dollar. This is just how a lot of the world works. Governments try to buy influence in myriad ways, and while there is nothing on Brookfield Asset Managements side of this deal to suggest that this is anything less than a fund trying to buy low on an asset, there is plenty of reason to question Kushners motivations given the dire straits in which he found himself. The Kushners spent two years on an international search for financing on their albatross. The $1.4 billion debt payment due this month is really the only context you need to understand their desperation. While it does seem strange that Qatar would do a solid like this for an ally of one of their chief enemies, if they calculated that they could use it to pressure Kushner to pressure the Saudis to reverse the blockade, then this deal makes a lot of sense for Qatar to bring to Brookfield Asset Management. In 2016, Charles and Jared Kushner pitched investors on an idea to level the building and replace it with a $7.5 billion luxury supertower. According to the New York Times, they almost made a deal with Qatars former prime minister, Hamad Jassim Al-Thani, and Anbang, a Chinese insurance giant. The deal fell apart largely thanks to Chinese legislators. Two years later, an entity in which Qatar holds a nine percent stake bought the building outright. Given that their former prime minister was close to a deal with Kushner, its fair to doubt the categorical denial from two sources in the Reuters report that Doha played no part in the bailout. Were just supposed to uncritically believe that the Qatari wealth fund and the former Qatari prime minister stumbled upon the same investment independent of one another as Kushner was directly courting people like them? Come on, man. That categorical denial reads like Brookfield protecting one of their investors. Again, this is all speculation brought about by Kushner and Trumps outright corruption, and the Reuters reporting paints a picture of a Qatari leadership genuinely unnerved by an accidental investment which has triggered a strategy revamp. The only thing that gives me some doubt over the Reuters report is that its sources speaking on the Qatari governments position are from Brookfield (and Reuters said QIA declined to comment), and Brookfield is not privy to all Qatari foreign policy. Its entirely possible that this is what they were told by QIA despite the mountain of circumstantial evidence pointing to some knowledge of this deal in Doha. Given the opacity of foreign influence through sovereign wealth funds like QIA, its good to be skeptical about any reports involving these funds since the only thing that we know for certain is that their endgame is ultimately to purchase some kind of influence in the West while turning a profit. Jared Kushner is corrupt. He owned maybe the most overvalued piece of real estate in American history, where analysts said that the building itself was worth less than its debts. He is also the presidents son-in-law, and he is the de facto Secretary of State and Chief of Staff. This building was impossible to sell pre-2016, and yet, post-2016, Kushner went on an international charm offensive and found a buyer in just two years. Given the transparent desperation on Kushners side of the deal, the soulless transactional nature of the Trump Administration and Kushners elevated position in the government, its not only fair to question anyone rescuing him out from under this albatross, but what the United States may have given up to make a deal that seemed impossible to make before Kushners father-in-law became the most powerful man in the world. Jacob Weindling is a staff writer for Paste politics. Follow him on Twitter at @Jakeweindling. Weve written extensively about this years surprisingly entertaining Grammys. Now we want to share some of our favorite performances by this years Grammy winners in the Paste Studio. Before they were taking home statuettes, they were performing at one of our recording spots. You can see all our Paste Studio videos on our YouTube channel (Please subscribe!). Congrats to the following artists on their 2019 Grammy victories. 2019 Grammy Awards: Best American Roots Performance (The Joke), Best American Roots Song (The Joke), Best Americana Album (By the Way, I Forgive You) Date of Paste Session: Oct. 10, 2009 Ill never forget the date of this performance because it was my daughter Jordans 11th birthday, and Brandi Carlile was her favorite musician, making me a hero that day. The three-song performance was basically her birthday party, with the studio audience filled with pre-teen girls. Carlile was amazingly gracious with the kids and gave them a wave from the stage at her concert later that night. Shed first performed at Paste three years earlier at the first Paste Rock n Reel music and film festival. Anyone tuning into the 61st Grammys on Sunday night discovered what weve known for more than a dozen years. No one sings like Brandi. 2019 Grammy Award: Best Contemporary Blues Album (Pleast Dont Be Dead) Date of Paste Session: Aug. 27, 2018 This was Fantastic Negritos second consecutive Grammy. And this recording was his third time in the Paste Studio (you can watch his performances from 2016 and 2017 here, as well). His original take on the blues is unlike anyone else youll hear. Watch this video, and youll see why hes welcome back into our studio any time. 2019 Grammy Award: Best Folk Album (All Ashore) Date of Paste Session: March 16, 2012 Chris Thile and his band of Brothers played the Paste Party in Austin during the 2012 SXSW Music Festival to a raucous outdoor crowd. Be sure to check out Paul Kowerts bass solo during Flippen. Thile and Michael Daves also played two other sessions for Paste in 2011, at our headquarters in Atlanta and at the Paste Ruins at the Newport Folk Festival. 2019 Grammy Award: Best Bluegrass Album (The Travelin McCourys) Date of Paste Session: Jan. 24, 2019 We had the Del McCoury Band into our New York studio last year, and the younger generation of the McCoury clan returned to our Daytrotter Studio in Davenport, Iowa, last month, to play three songs from their self-titled album that would go on to win a Grammy. Brothers Ronnie and Rob McCoury, along with Jason Carter, Alan Bartram and Cody Kilby proved theyre great players even with dear old dad leading the charge. She may not have won a Grammy this year, but she continued to win us over with her stunning performance of Make Me Feel. Here she is performing for our cameras at an abandoned house we stumbled upon in Austin, Texas in 2009. It was just too good not to share. The (Champaign) News-Gazette State Comptroller Susana Mendoza is spending most of her time these days running for mayor of Chicago. But back at the office, her worker bees have been reviewing the state's finances, releasing a report last week that lays out the numbers. Those looking for something to cheer them up should skip this horror story. The state's budget picture is a shambles that will get dramatically worse if the strong national economy should take a wrong turn. "Finally, certain uneven indicators measuring national economic trends reveal that state policy makers should be mindful that a downturn in the market is possible in the near future. As highlighted in the January 2019 Comptroller's Quarterly report, Illinois is woefully ill-prepared for an economic downturn given the state's massive liabilities and lack of contingency funds," the comptroller's report states. For starters, the comptroller confirms what those who've been paying attention already knew the 2018-19 state budget now in place was a masterpiece of flimflam and gimmickry that was balanced only on paper. Further, Illinois is in deep financial trouble that the hyperpartisan Mendoza, a Democrat, blamed solely on former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. The comptroller reports that the state's unpaid bills totaled $6.9 billion in mid-December and that they can be expected to rise "between $1.5 billion and $2 billion" because of "budgeted revenue shortfalls" in the current budget. In other words, the phony numbers in the current budget that no one believed haven't come to pass. The comptroller outlined a series of revenue estimates that were phony. There was $300 million for the sale of the Thompson Building in Chicago that never took place. There was $445 million in assumed pension savings in connection with a plan that is not yet implemented, even as fiscal 2019 approaches an end. There was a $285 million shortfall in estimated federal revenues. Even in the face of unanticipated growth in sales- and income-tax revenues, the budget billed as balanced is deeply in the hole. Unfortunately, there's more. "Fiscal year 2020 will also see a $679.9 million increase in certified state contributions to the pension systems, a roughly $350 million increase in evidence-based funding for elementary and high schools, and $405.5 million in inter-fund borrowing due for repayment. As reported, an additional $170 million to $500 million in court-ordered state employee step adjustments, plus 7 percent per year interest, as a result of the collective bargaining agreement, is owed but has not been accounted for in terms of budget revenue," the report states. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who has repeatedly called for tax increases to boost revenues, is scheduled to deliver a joint state of the state and budget address on Feb. 20 in Springfield. Thanks to unprecedented fiscal mismanagement, taxpayers should get ready for another assault on their wallets. The Quincy Herald-Whig In a report that almost seems unnecessary, the World Economic Forum reported in September that machines will overtake humans in terms of performing more tasks in the workplace by 2025 to the tune of up to almost 75 million jobs being displaced. It's not all discouraging, though, as the report says 133 million new jobs could be created by companies in transition. Those jobs will require new skills and technical and vocational training for workers. Locally, John Wood Community College and the Quincy Area Vocational Technical Center are rising to meet the challenge of training a next-generation workforce. John Wood Community College President Mike Elbe knows that vocational training will be key to meeting the needs of future employers, and the college has been busy expanding its offerings. One example of the college working to meet the needs of local companies was the creation of a new HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) certificate program that debuts later this year. It was developed in conjunction with an advisory council made up of eight local businesses and other experts to develop HVAC-specific courses, identify internship sites and acquire equipment necessary to deliver the program. QAVTC, which was established in 1973, caters to students from the Quincy, Quincy Notre Dame, Central, Griggsville-Perry, Liberty, Payson, Pittsfield, Pleasant Hill, Southeastern, Unity Western and Brown County districts. QAVTC classes also are available to adults. QAVTC is designed to provide career and technical education programs that can assist students finding their niche in the workforce. Both organizations are vital to the region's economic prospects. While the need for professionals still will exist, a growing proportion of available jobs will be in vocational careers. Developing a skilled workforce that is able to meet the needs of businesses has become a key economic development strategy, and having training programs such as those offered by JWCC and QAVTC will continue to help the region be a key player in attracting and retaining businesses. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Can we all agree on this? The ridiculous and futile 35-day partial shutdown of the federal government that ended Jan. 25 does not deserve a sequel when the funding deal reached that day runs out Feb. 15. Most members of Congress Republicans as well as Democrats seem to grasp this. There were several reports Thursday that lawmakers were close to a compromise on a measure that would provide some funding to improve border security, though not the full $5.7 billion for 230 miles of new walls that President Donald Trump has sought. Senate Appropriations Chair Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, told Politico that Trump wanted negotiators to wrap it up and to get a legislative solution. Of course, its possible a president as mercurial as Trump may ultimately not sign what Congress sends him. Its also possible that the Democratic lawmakers who seem increasingly opposed to basic immigration enforcement may oppose any deal that builds off the premise that the border needs defending. But its time for a compromise that treats border security as essential yet also seeks to improve an immigration system that seems close to broken. For starters, the deal shouldnt accept the presidents preposterous premise that America is in the middle of a national emergency because of criminal elements freely entering the country. Unauthorized immigrant apprehensions are down; agents per apprehension are up; most of the crossing of people and drugs happens at ports of entry; and authorized and unauthorized immigrants are both less likely to commit crime than native-born Americans. The deal should acknowledge the difficult jobs of immigration and Border Patrol agents, and address their staffing woes. It should provide more funding for technology and barriers to boost border security but also significantly increase the ranks of immigration court judges to relieve a backlog of more than 800,000 cases of asylum seekers, migrants arrested for being in the United States without authorization and individuals who overstayed their visas. This is a reasonable compromise that nearly all modern presidents except for maybe the current one would likely accept. But to his credit, Trump made one very reasonable observation about immigration last week. His unscripted comment in his State of the Union address that America could use legal immigration in the largest numbers ever reflected a recognition that such immigration has historically strengthened the nation and its economy. The U.S. Chamber of Commerces enthusiastic reaction to the remark reflected the difficulty that many entire industries are having in filling jobs. So perhaps something constructive will come out of Washingtons ugly squabbles. Or perhaps Trump will disavow his own remarks, as he has done repeatedly. Americans desperate for a focused, coherent federal government should hope its the former. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Following is the first part of the full speech made by Dr. K. Kanag-Isvaran, Presidents Counsel, at the 22nd Annual Oration on Taxation organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. Mr. Jagath Perera, President of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, Ms. Shamila Jayasekara, Chairperson of the Faculty of Taxation, Honourable Council Members of the Institute, Distinguished Invitees, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am greatly honoured to have been invited to address this august assembly of the members of the accountancy profession. I thank you for it. I was at first a little hesitant because I could not fathom what the Faculty of Taxation would require of me as to the content of the presentation. That hesitancy was soon dispelled when I was given a list of topics to speak on. I have endeavored to stick to it. I must congratulate you on your choice of a Lawyer not only because Lawyers and Chartered Accountants are looked upon as allies as we occasion much annoyance and grief to the tax collector but also because we have a complimentary, albeit a little different, perception and approach when we set out to do what we do best in protecting those under our care from the clutches of the tax collector. I would like to illustrate this with a folk story from a village in Ottoman Turkey: One day, the tax collector of Aksehir and surrounding towns fell into the river. Since he didnt know how to swim, he was about to drown. The villagers gathered by the river bank to save him. Give me your hand, give me your hand, they were all shouting. But the man was not extending his hand. At that time, Nasreddin Hodja happened to be passing by. He was a learned man, of high social standing. He was lawyer. Hodja Efendi, said the good samaritans, the tax collector fell into the water. He is going to drown. He is not giving his hand. Let me try, said Hodja. Efendi, efendi, he yelled to the man bobbing in the water, take my hand! To this, the tax collector immediately extended his hand and grabbed Hodjas arm. The Hodja and the people around were now able to pull him off the water. The good Samaritans were amazed! And looked at him inquiringly. You see, NasreddinHodja clarified, he is a tax collector, he is more practiced in taking than giving. We lawyers understand this reality. The tension between the tax collector and the taxed is as old as time in terms of recorded history.In every culture, in every part of history, from the tax collectors of ancient Israel to the Inland Revenue Agents of today the tax man has received more than his share of contumely. That is why even the Bible speaks so negatively of the tax collector. No one likes to pay money to the Government, especially when the Government is perceived to be oppressive. But they do nevertheless end up paying. As the American Humorist Evan Esar would say: Some taxpayers close their eyes, some stop their ears, some shut their mouths, but all pay through the nose. But not without resistance. It is out of such a resistance that the Magna Carta, the Great Charter was born. You might re-call that the event took place nearly eight centuries ago, in 1215, on Mount Runnemede in England. Rebel nobles, the Barons in England, drafted the Magna Carta to curtail the power of their own tyrannical monarchKing John who taxed heavily his nobles to pay for his military defeats. King John affixed his seal on the document at Runnymede on June 15, 1215, making it Europes first written constitution. The Magna Carta is considered one of the first steps taken in England towards establishing parliamentary democracy. A few hundred years later the Magna Carta would inspire the American colonists to declare independence from the British themselves. The 39th clause of the Magna Carta declared: No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned, disseised, outlawed, banished, or in any way destroyed, nor will we proceed against or prosecute him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers and by the law of the land. The principle that no man shall be taxed except by the authority of Parliament became established. It is this principle a principle of the rule of law- which we as lawyers seek to establish in a court of law against the demands of the tax collector, once the chartered accountants have finished with them. The burden of this oration will be to discuss the travails of the citizen vis-a-vis the revenue laws of the country. Constitutional underpinning of the principle The principle established by the Magna Carta is reflected in our Constitution too, as a constitutional safeguard. The Sri Lankan Constitution in Chapter XVII mandates that the raising of finances from the citizen shall only be by the authority of Parliament. This is articulated in Articles 148 and 152 of the Constitution. Article 148 of the Constitution, reads as follows: Parliament shall have full control over public finance. No tax, rate or any other levy shall be imposed by any local authority or any other public authority, except by or under the authority of a law passed by Parliament or of any existing law. It is then well established that it is only a law, namely an Act of Parliament, now extant or to be passed, that can impose any tax, rate or any other levy. Hence no tax, rate or other levy can be imposed except by or under the authority of a law passed by Parliament. Therefore the question whether the burden of any tax, rate or levy has been imposed by Parliament must be clearly and unambiguously spelt out in the very words of the enactment seeking to impose that burden. Otherwise it is unconstitutional and bad in Law. Whether it is so or not, is tested by the rules of statutory interpretation in a court of law. The process by which legislation is enacted is beyond the scope of this presentation but, it is to be seen in the Standing Orders of Parliament and some provisions of the Constitution, with regard to the constitutionality of bills and the like. However, the initiation of any enactment, as you know, is by way of a Bill. Article 152 controls who shall introduce legislation relating to public finance, and under what circumstances, thus ensuring parliamentary control over finances. Article 152 of the Constitution reads as follows: No Bill or motion, authorizing the disposal of, or the imposition of charges upon, the Consolidated Fund or other funds of the Republic, or the imposition of any tax or the repeal, augmentation or reduction of any tax for the time being in force shall be introduced in Parliament except by a Minister, and unless such Bill or motion has been approved either by the Cabinet of Ministers or in such manner as the Cabinet of Ministers may authorize. The Constitution is careful to address not merely the imposition of taxes but alsoof the repeal, augmentation or the reduction of any tax for the time being imposed. Any endeavour to impose, repeal, augment or reduce tax requires a bill or a motion. Such bill or motion maybe introduced in parliament only by a Minister. Thus attempts to grant amnesty, exemption, or any favoured treatment is brought under parliamentary oversight and scrutiny. So far well and good. But sometimes what is given with the right is taken away with the left! The legislative sleight of hand. You need a hawk eye to spot it. Let us do a reality check. Let me flag an important fact of life in this regard. Article 152 speaks only of a Bill or motion. But we know, day in and day out, the Minister of Finance issues, usually at mid-night, Gazettes, imposing or exempting or reducing taxes and levies. A case in point you might be familiar with is section 2A of the Value Added Tax Act where the power vested on the Minister to change the VAT rate (section 2A of the Value Added Act 14 of 2002 introduced via VAT amending Act No 06 of 2005) empowers the Ministry of Finance to vary the VAT rate at his discretion by Order published in the Gazette. Section 2A(1) Value Added Tax Act reads as: The Minister may by Order vary the rates specified in Section 2 insofar as the same relates to the increasing or reducing of the rate previously specified, and to such extent as it relates to the imposition of Value Added Tax specified under the aforesaid Section. Minister may vary the rates by Order (2) The Order made by the Minister under subsection (1) shall be in operation immediately upon the Minister affixing his signature thereto. (3) Every such Order shall as soon as convenient be published in the Gazette. (4) Every such Order shall as soon as convenient thereafter be approved by a Resolution of Parliament. (5) Where any such Order is not approved by Parliament it shall be deemed to be rescinded with effect from the date of such Resolution Though section 2A(4) mandates that Every such Order shall as soon as convenient thereafter be approved by a Resolution of Parliament, any disapproval by Parliament would not impact the application of the varied rate during the period prior to the Parliament rescinding it, and during this period of time, seemingly with no time limit, the act and deed of the Minister in charge of the subject of Finance determining at his will and pleasure the augmentation and reduction of the VAT rate reigns supreme in the country to the exclusion of the Parliament! More importantly, though section 2A (4) and (5) contemplates a resolution being passed by Parliament, either approving or disapproving the Order, there is no compulsion to place the Gazette before Parliament for its approval or disapproval! What happens if the Gazette is not placed before Parliament for approval at all? Does not the section2 A of the VAT Act, therefore defeat the very spirit and the core underpinning of Article148 read in conjunction with Article 152 of the Constitution? You are aware that recently the Minister was empowered to exempt any financial institution from payment of Debt Repayment Levy by Order published in the Gazette. On the 1st of November 2018 there was certified an Act of Parliament styled the Finance Act No 35 of 2018, which introduced, inter alia, the Debt Repayment Levy (DRL), which imposed on financial institutions a 7 percent levy on the value addition attributable to the supply of financial services by such institutions. However the Act also empowers the Minister to grant exemptions from the payment of the levy by Order published in the Gazette. But the curious thing is the said Finance Act has not imposed a requirement, as is done normally, for the Gazette sopublished by the Minister to be laid before the Parliament for its approval ! Why may we not ask?? Section 37 of the Finance Act No 35 of 2018 states: The Minister may, having regard to the economic development of the country, by Order published in the Gazette, exempt any transaction of a financial institution specified in such Order, from the payment of the levy payable under this Part, subject to such condition as may be specified in such Order. Any exemption of the application of the Debt Repayment Levy, to a particular tax payer could then be effected by the Minister in charge of Finance, contrary to Article 152 of the Constitution! But alas, there are many similar provisions in various tax statutes to like effect as you well know. One is therefore well entitled to ask, is not the carte blanche power thus given to the Minister violative of Article 152 of the Constitution and hence unconstitutional? Unfortunately all these have passed muster, sub silentio or simply out of disinterest of those concerned, prior to, during and after the bill stage. The statutory time bar for challenging a bill has lapsed, since Article 78 of the Constitution mandates: 78 (1) Every Bill shall be published in the Gazette at least fourteen days before it is placed on the Order Paper of Parliament. There is then a further bar to a challenge in Article 80(3) of the Constitution. It declares: Where a Bill becomes law upon the certificate of the President or the Speaker, as the case may be being endorsed thereon, no court or tribunal shall inquire into, pronounce upon or in any manner call in question, the validity of such Act on any ground whatsoever. One may well ask, have these unconstitutional provisions in the aforesaid tax statutes empowered the Finance Minister of Sri Lanka to assume powers that were denied to the King John via the declaration of the Magna Carta of 1215, that no tax will be levied without the authority of the Parliament? Recently it was published in the newspapers that the Cabinet has approved a proposal to amend the VAT statute to empower the Minister in charge of the subject of finance to introduce exemptions from VAT via Gazette notifications!. I believe the time has come to go looking for Barons at the Institute of Chartered Accountants to take the fight to the State. We the lawyers can offer our services! I believe the answer lies in the enactment of a constitutional provision permitting a post enactment challenge to any Act of Parliament. This is now prohibited and therefore not available. Could we look forward to it, if and when the promised new Constitution comes? Powers given to Provincial Councils to impose taxes As you know with the passage of the Thirteenth amendment to the Constitution in 1987, and the establishment of the Provincial Councils in addition to the power of the Parliament to impose taxes, the Thirteenth amendment also devolved power to impose taxes upon the Provincial Councils in respect of any matter set out in List 1 of the 9th Schedule to the Constitution, commonly referred to as the Provincial Council List. This includes turnover taxes on wholesale and retailer, betting taxes, and taxes in prize competition in lotteries, license taxes, arrack, toddy rents, tapping license fee and liquor license fee, Motor vehicle license fee, Stamp Duty on transfer of properties, taxes on mineral rights and the like. Even here the like principles of law with regard to the exercise of the power to levy taxes etc., at the centre will apply to the periphery as well. Fundamental Rights and Tax Legislation The Magna Carta apart from being a peace treaty between the rebel Barons and King John, in time came to be regarded, especially in the modern era, as a potent, international rallying cry against the arbitrary use of power. It became famous as the symbol of justice, fairness and human rights It has been said that At their core, taxpayer rights are human rights.Is there then a correlation between fundamental rights and revenue legislation One of the core principles of human rights is that all persons are equal in the eyes of the law. Our Constitution enshrines this principle in Article 12 of the Chapter on Fundamental Rights. Article 12 of the Constitution, insofar as is relevant, reads: (1) All persons are equal before the law and are entitled to the equal protection of the law. (2) No citizen shall be discriminated against on the ground of race , religion, language, caste, sex, political opinion, place of birth or any one of such grounds. Implicit in this principle is the prohibition against discrimination. Naturally, a question therefore arises whether subjecting persons to different taxes, tax rates or providing exemptions as per the economic and fiscal policy of the Government amounts to a breach of the Article that endeavors to provide equal protection of the law to all citizens and eliminate discrimination. As far as I am aware this question appears not to have been addressed by our Courts. The levy and collection of tax has historically been one of the most controversial exercises. Its critics have considered it nothing less than theft sanctioned by law. Its protagonists elevate it to the platform of a great instrument to finance State welfare and achieve the elusive dream of egalitarianism But the judgements pronounced in foreign jurisdictions indicate that laws relating to taxation should be afforded greater latitude compared to the laws regulating religion, freedom of speech and other civil rights. This is because laws regulating taxation essentially reflects the requirements of the Government of the day and the courts are not so quick to interfere with the economic policies of the Government. It is argued that it cannot be for a court to suggest in any case that a more equitable mode of assessment or rate of taxation might be adopted than the one prescribed by the legislature. Parliament ought to have wide discretion, it is said, and a provision in a taxing statute cannot be likely be held to be invalid on the ground of violation of Article 12 of the Constitution. Therefore a person engaged in the business of tobacco or alcohol may not have a case based on violation of fundamental rights or discrimination for slapping of a higher rate of income tax of 40 percent compared to a standard rate of 28 percent applicable to a manufacturer or concessionary rate of 14 percent applicable to a person engaged in agriculture. Another example would be the concessionary income tax regime applicable to foreign currency owners from the service provision as opposed to the service providers to local persons earning income in rupees. N. S. Brindra discussing this subject in his book on Interpretation of Statutes opines that in a tax legislation, as the legislature has to deal with complex problems, the legislature must be given a greater latitude and greater play in the joints the laws relating to economic activities should be viewed with greater latitude than laws touching civil rights such as freedom of speech, religion etc. Citing R. K. Garg V Union of India he reminds that the constitution bench of the Supreme Court pointed out that there may be crudities and inequities in complicated experimental economic legislation but on that account alone it cannot be struck down as invalidthe Court mustadjust the Constitutionality of such legislation by generality of its provisions and not by crudities and inequities or by the possibilities of abuse of any of its provisions. In regard to taxing statutes the Courts have conceded greater latitude to the legislators both in the matter of classification of the persons as also the mode and method of recovery. Therefore, we might as well reconcile to the fact that mounting a successful legal challenge against a taxing statue on the basis of violation of fundamental right would be a difficult if not a herculean task. CHARLESTON The selling price Tuesday for 30 acres of land Abraham Lincoln once owned was $300,000, but what will happen next isn't yet known. The southern Coles County land was part of a total of 590 acres that the Best family sold at an auction, with the entire sale bringing $4.2 million. The land owned by Lincoln whose 210th birthday was celebrated on Tuesday was sold separately from the rest of the seven tracts that made up the sale. The land that adjoins or is near the other farmland sold Tuesday, has been used for farming since the family bought it in 1989. After the auction was completed, successful bidder Cory Kauffman said he bid on behalf of someone who wanted to remain anonymous. He said he didn't know what plans the new owner has for the former Lincoln land. Ron Best of Charleston and his four siblings decided to sell the land since he'd retired from farming four years ago. Best didn't attend the auction, but family members there included his sister, Barbara Robertson of Dayton, Ohio, who said they were thankful for the amount of money the sale brought. "I think it's very reasonable," she said. "It's what the market will bear." Robertson called the former Lincoln land a "wild card," but said the family's only thoughts on a price were based on its value as farmland. The family never considered a use for it based on its historical significance. Auctioneer Mike Stanfield said the selling price of the land was expected based on the area's hilly terrain, soil types and other factors. "I thought it was a fair price," he said, adding that sales have been similar for other land in the area he's auctioned. Several rounds of bidding came from a large crowd in a meeting room at Unique Suites Hotel. While the 30 acres that Lincoln owned sold separately, bidders had the option to try for each of the other seven tracts individually or to bid on all of 560 acres combined. Some of the individual tracts drew bids, but those came to about $1 million, leaving a $3.9 million bid as the selling price for all seven tracts. Others in attendance included Lincoln portrayer Abe Clymer of Vandalia, who said the Best family invited him to attend. All the land the family sold is located in southern Coles County, and the part Lincoln owned is immediately east of Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site. It was part of 40 acres Lincoln bought from his father, Thomas Lincoln, whose home is featured at the historic site. The site's grounds include six acres that Abe bought from his father. The other four acres of the Lincoln land was passed down after the 16th president's death and was eventually inherited by Ray Phipps. Best bought the 30 acres from Phipps 30 years ago, and Rockford businessman Dan Arnold, now deceased, purchased Phipps' last four acres in 2007. Though Phipps and Arnold both had plans to promote the land based on its history, they never came to fruition. Discovering Lincoln: Abraham Lincoln markers in Central Illinois Contact Dave Fopay at (217) 238-6858. Follow him on Twitter: @FopayDave Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0 CHICAGO Special prosecutors and the Illinois attorney general's office are challenging former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke's prison sentence before the state's highest court. A petition filed Monday does not explicitly target the length of the nearly seven-year sentence, which many activists have criticized as too lenient. But it does note that a significantly longer sentence would be justifiable under state law. Kane County State's Attorney Joseph McMahon, appointed to handle the Van Dyke case, and Attorney General Kwame Raoul argue in the petition that Judge Vincent Gaughan sentenced Van Dyke under improper legal guidelines. Van Dyke was convicted of one count of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery in the 2014 on-duty shooting of Laquan McDonald. He was sentenced last month to 6 } years in prison. Gaughan sentenced Van Dyke only on the second-degree murder conviction, ruling that it was the more serious offense and that the aggravated battery counts should "merge" into it for purposes of sentencing. "Is it more serious for Laquan McDonald to be shot by a firearm or is it more serious for Laquan McDonald to be murdered by a firearm?" Gaughan asked from the bench before imposing sentence. "Common sense comes to an easy answer on that in this specific case." But the petition argues that state law actually makes aggravated battery a more serious offense, and therefore the state Supreme Court should order Gaughan to resentence the ex-patrol officer. The court should also direct Gaughan to determine which of the 16 gunshot wounds caused "severe bodily injury" and sentence him to consecutive prison terms for each corresponding count. Prosecutors have argued that at least two of the wounds caused that kind of injury, which, the petition contends, means Van Dyke should face a minimum sentence of 18 years: six years for each of those two wounds, plus six more years for the other 14 counts. An aggravated battery with a firearm conviction carries a sentence of six to 30 years in prison. But even if Gaughan is ordered to resentence on the aggravated battery counts, he could impose the same sentence or even a lighter one if he finds that only one gunshot caused severe bodily harm, according to Robert Loeb, a longtime defense attorney who teaches at DePaul University College of Law. In that scenario, he could potentially give Van Dyke just six years. "Conceivably he might find a way to say that only one shot caused the bodily harm," Loeb said. "Probably it's more likely that there would be a finding of more than one shot causing the requisite harm and therefore a higher sentence." Inmates convicted of aggravated battery with a firearm must serve at least 85 percent of their sentences _ far higher than the 50 percent required by a second-degree murder conviction. Van Dyke's attorneys may file an objection to the prosecutors' filing within seven days, unless the higher court sets a different deadline. The Supreme Court is not obligated to accept the prosecutors' petition, and there is no time frame in which it must issue a ruling if it does. Van Dyke's appellate attorneys said the prosecutors' petition is an attempt "to turn the Illinois Supreme Court from a deliberative body into a political battleground." "The filing also opens up a Pandora's box of legal issues that, in the long term, could result in grossly excessive, unjust sentences for defendants that follow in the wake of this request," said a statement from attorneys Darren O'Brien and Jennifer Blagg. After the attorney general's office last month announced it was conducting a "review" of the sentence, Van Dyke's trial attorney, Daniel Herbert, blasted the decision as politically motivated _ an allegation Raoul on Monday said was "nonsense." "It's in the interest of justice that the law be followed, no matter who the defendant and who the victim is in a particular case," he said at a news conference. "I'm not going to opine on my opinion on the length of the sentence. What I will opine on is whether or not the law should be followed, and I believe the law should be followed." McMahon, who had initially requested a sentence of 18 to 20 years in prison, told reporters after the sentencing that he accepted the judge's decision. On Monday, he said he is still satisfied with the sentence, but after considering the legal basis of Gaughan's ruling, he thinks the challenge is appropriate. "As we have had an opportunity to step back and kind of evaluate both the law and how the sentence was imposed, we have the benefit of some time and counsel in working with the attorney general's office," he said. "I think the bigger message in this case is to make sure that the sentence that is imposed is a sentence that is lawful." Van Dyke, 40, shot McDonald in October 2014 as the 17-year-old walked away from police on a Southwest Side street while holding a knife. Graphic police dashboard camera footage of the shooting _ ordered released by a judge more than a year later _ sparked weeks of chaos and political upheaval, exacerbating the already fraught relationship between Chicago police and minority communities. Van Dyke's monthlong jury trial last fall ended in a historic guilty verdict, making him the first Chicago police officer in half a century to be convicted of murder for an on-duty incident. Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 SPRINGFIELD A group of downstate business owners on Monday warned of dire consequences should a $15-per-hour minimum wage that passed the Senate last week become law without changes. Several members of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association and Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association spoke of layoffs, businesses leaving the state and cutbacks in staff benefits, while advocating for a plan that would make the minimum wage rate $4 lower per hour in downstate counties than in Chicago. Treating the rest of the state as if it has the same strengths as Chicago is simply illogical, Rob Karr, IRMAs president and CEO, said. No one else has 55 million visitors a year. Karr said two-thirds of Illinois population is within a 40-minute drive of bordering states, which could cause shoppers to spend their money elsewhere. Don Welge, president and CEO of Gilster-Mary Lee, a food manufacturer headquartered in Chester, said businesses will begin doing the same. Its just an open invitation to move operations out of the state of Illinois, Welge said. Welge said Illinois already has higher workers compensation and unemployment insurance rates than surrounding states, costing $600 more per employee annually than in Missouri. Everything weve opened up recently has been in Missouri, he said. We started in Illinois. We have a lot of loyalty to the state of Illinois, but we can begin to move and we will begin to move. As it is written now, Senate Bill 1 would raise the statewide minimum wage, now $8.25 per hour, to $15 per hour over a six-year period, starting with a $1 increase in January 2020, then a 75-cent increase in July 2020, bringing the wage up to $10. Another dollar would be added to the wage every January until 2025. The group said it was not against raising the wage, but the current structure particularly the increase of $2.75 in the first calendar year was too steep and too quick. They argued for a regional alternative a $15 rate in Chicago within five years, a $13 rate in the suburbs within seven years and an $11 rate for downstate communities within five years. But state Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, Senate Bill 1s sponsor in the House, said last week he expects his chamber to pass the bill without further amendment. All of us in the House, or at least all of us on the Democratic side in the House, are working to get this done, he said. I anticipate us having discussions about the bill that was sent to us, and I suspect that thats the bill we are going to vote on and I think thats the bill we will pass. State Sen. Kimberly Lightford, a Maywood Democrat who ushered the bills passage in the Senate, had questioned the constitutionality of a regional rollout and said all Illinois workers deserve equal pay for equal work. How do you decide that someone down in Danville, who needs to make $14.60 today, how do you tell them that they should be held lower than $15 in 2025? she asked in her floor speech during the bills passage last week. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 SPRINGFIELD Attention at the Statehouse is expected to begin focusing on one of Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzkers top priorities legalizing recreational marijuana with the deadline for lawmakers to introduce new bills on Friday. Two key Chicago Democratic lawmakers, Sen. Heather Steans and Rep. Kelly Cassidy, have met with interested groups around Illinois and are expected to introduce legislation soon. Meanwhile, though, state Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana, has already introduced a bill that is drawing attention. It would open the door to a much more expansive legal pot industry than most others have envisioned. Ammons bill, the Cannabis Legalization Equity Act, would allow anyone 21 or older with valid identification to purchase or sell marijuana. Driving under the influence of the drug would still be illegal, and the legislation makes specific mention that only legitimate, taxpaying business people would be permitted to sell cannabis. Illinoisans would be allowed to possess as many as 224 grams, or roughly half a pound, of marijuana at a time. It also would allow individuals to grow as many as 24 plants in their own homes for personal consumption, and it would provide for the licensing of cultivation facilities and retail dispensaries. Ammons did not respond to requests for comment Monday. Her measure does include language indicating its purpose would be to allow law enforcement to focus on violent and property crimes, generating revenue for education and other public purposes, and individual freedom. We like it. We think that thats more in line with how we treat alcohol, said Dan Linn, who lobbies for the Illinois chapter of NORML the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. We also think it would be good for consumers to be able to cultivate their own cannabis, as well as to have a cap on the licensing fees for the new businesses that would be created by that legislation. Ammons proposal, which has not yet been assigned to a committee, includes a civil penalty, not a criminal one, of $200 to $400 for minors who attempt to buy marijuana illegally. Also in the bill is a requirement that at least 51 percent of the licenses for cultivating facilities and retail cannabis stores be issued in communities disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs, which the bill defines as census tracts in which more than half the population is African-American, Native American, Hispanic or Latino. Revenue for the state would be generated by a 10 percent excise tax on the sale or transfer of marijuana from a cultivating facility to a retail store. Half of that money would be paid into the states main checking account, while 30 percent would go to the Common School Fund. Smaller percentages of the revenue would be distributed to various state retirement systems; the Department of Human Services to fund treatment programs for tobacco, alcohol and cannabis abuse; and for hiring and training police in drug recognition efforts. There is no official estimate of how much revenue the bill would generate. Any effort toward legalization is certain to meet resistance. Coming out against are the Illinois Catholic Conference; law enforcement groups, including the Chicago Crime Commission and the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and the Drug Free America Foundation. The legislation is House Bill 902. Love 4 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Derrick Lewis knew he wasn't guilty of committing drug-related crimes in the mid-2000s. But he pleaded guilty to the cases in his mid-20s because he knew he faced the possibility of decades in prison, he said. Lewis, now 39 years old, didn't have money to hire a private attorney to help fight the allegations against him. He ended up doing two stints in prison on drug-related cases that since have been tied to disgraced former Chicago police Sgt. Ronald Watts. "And no matter how innocent you is, you don't want to think about the possibility of being locked up for 30 years," Lewis said Monday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. "Nah, I'll take the 10 years. But it's killing me inside because I know in my heart that I'm not guilty of these crimes that I'm being accused of." On Monday, Lewis finally got some sense of justice as he and eight other men, all African-American, filed into Cook County Circuit Judge LeRoy Martin Jr.'s courtroom and stood before him as prosecutors filed a motion to vacate their convictions. Martin overturned all of the convictions during a brief hearing. A 10th man, who was in police custody on an unrelated matter, also had his previous conviction overturned, his attorneys said. In a statement, the Cook County state's attorney's office said the review of the cases determined that it was appropriate to vacate the convictions and dismiss the charges "in the interest of justice." It was the fourth time a similar scene of mass exoneration involving cases connected to Watts has played out in recent years at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. Another hearing is scheduled for Wednesday to address the convictions of four other men, attorneys said. If the convictions of those men also are overturned, it would increase to 63 the tally of people who have been exonerated of crimes linked to Watts and to officers who worked with him. Attorneys believe there are similar cases still out there. Joshua Tepfer, an attorney with the Exoneration Project at the University of Chicago Law School, said there are about three dozen additional cases from the Watts era that attorneys have submitted to prosecutors for review. The scope of wrongful convictions could be even broader because from 2004 to 2012, Watts and the officers who worked with him made hundreds of arrests in Chicago, Tepfer said. Attorneys working on the wrongful conviction cases are frequently retaining new clients and examining more past convictions, Tepfer said. At the center of the cases was the former Ida B. Wells public housing complex on the city's South Side. Attorney Sean Starr said some of the people who became entangled with Watts didn't even live there; they merely were visiting someone who did. Starr said the men tried to speak up about the false accusations as the cases snaked through the courts but that no one took them seriously. "These people told as many people as they could and no one would listen," Starr said after the hearing. "This was an open secret." After the hearing, some of the men emotionally detailed how the convictions upended their lives. Kim Wilbourn still has nightmares about the ordeal. He had been visiting a friend at the Wells complex in September 2006 when he was detained by Watts and his team, who then framed him for drug possession, according to Wilbourn's attorneys. That interaction with Watts eventually led to him serving about two years in prison, Wilbourn said. "You understand what this man did to me," Wilbourn said after Monday's hearing. "He took everything from me, not only that, he destroyed my family, he destroyed my mental ability. ... I will never be the same." Lewis no longer lives in Chicago, and he's faced difficulties getting a job because of the convictions. If he indicates he's had a past felony conviction, he won't hear back from an employer. If he doesn't answer that part of an application, a job interview fizzles as soon as he reveals his past, Lewis said. Monday's exoneration felt long overdue, Lewis said, and he won't ever get back the time he lost while in prison. The wrongful conviction also led to his distrust in law enforcement, he said. "Black and brown skin gets you time in the penitentiary, period," Lewis said after the hearing. "I can't see it no other way." Watts' corruption run ended in 2012 when he and Officer Kallatt Mohammed were convicted of using shakedown tactics against a drug courier who actually was a FBI informant. Watts was sentenced to 22 months in prison, and he moved to Las Vegas after being released. In recent pending lawsuits involving him, Watts has invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 40 times, according to court records. In the wake of the allegations, 15 Chicago police officers tied to Watts were placed on desk duty pending an investigation into their conduct. Chicago police said they were cooperating with the Civilian Office of Police Accountability on the investigation. COPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of the review. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 BLOOMINGTON McLean County business leaders are taking a different perspective against the state's proposed minimum wage hike. "These politicians are saying they care about the people, but the amount of people who are going to be even more impoverished and lost through this ... my gut tells me it'll be astounding," said Marc Largent, owner of six local Jimmy John's sandwich shops with about 150 employees. "We're the ones taking care of our employees. You don't know their names. I do. I know their families. I know their struggles," he continued. "The amount of people that I'm going to have to look in their eyes and say, 'I don't have it for you,' that's heartbreaking. Springfield doesn't have to do that. We do." Largent said he'd need to make cuts if the House votes to increase Illinois' minimum wage to a maximum of $15 by 2025, possibly this week. The Senate passed the proposed hike on Thursday. While Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said a minimum wage hike will help working families, Matt Drat, director of resource development and community engagement at Mid Central Community Action in Bloomington, said it could have unintended consequences. "There is no process for tiered transition of public benefits. You lose everything as soon as you start making more money," he said. "We're very much in favor of people making a wage that will cause them to be ... a productive member of our community, but I'm not sure this is the best way." About 25 Twin City leaders, including Largent and Drat, met Tuesday with State Sen. Jason Barickman and State Rep. Dan Brady, both Bloomington Republicans, at the McLean County Chamber of Commerce to discuss the issue. Chamber representatives plan to go to the state capital on Wednesday to register their opposition and share a survey of local small and medium-sized businesses about the impact of the proposed hikes. Of 510 respondents, 85 said their businesses would buckle under the strain and close, and others said they'll increases prices or automate operations. "The stories that are out there are very, very concerning," said Brady. "I can only tell you that my vote will be 'no' in regards to the minimum wage, and 43 of my colleagues (Republicans) will be the same." Barickman encouraged those concerned about the proposal to pressure the House's Central Illinois Democrats to vote against the bill. He suggested that might push Democratic leadership to compromise on restrictions, including a different minimum wage for downstate and a slower rollout. "This isn't a debate about whether to increase the minimum wage. It's the question of how," said Barickman. "This is a done deal? I don't accept that." The proposal already includes a lower wage for workers under 18 years old and tax credits for businesses with 50 employees or fewer though John Walsh, the chamber's manager of government and public affairs, noted the credits decrease as wage increases ramp up over the next few years. Barickman said taxes could go up to fund wage increases for public services, including property taxes that power local school districts. He suggested increasing the minimum wage statewide could wipe away the benefits local schools got from a new K-12 funding formula passed in 2017. Attendees also were shown how to create "witness slips" on the General Assembly website to comment on the bill at https://bit.ly/2DvO9DA. Contact Derek Beigh at (309) 820-3234. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_beigh Love 0 Funny 3 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 7 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. BLOOMINGTON Ward 7 Alderman Scott Black says he's been getting a lot of phone calls from people worried about their safety in the wake of recent shootings in his west-side ward. "The question becomes: What do we do about it?" said Black after the City Council's meeting Monday night, when one of those callers, a landlord, spoke about safety concerns after several shootings near her rental properties. "This has been a top priority for the chief and our officers for months, and they are continuing to work diligently," said City Manager Tim Gleason on Tuesday. "We are committed to public safety." But Black wants to hear more from Chief Clay Wheeler. "At this point, I think the solution to assuaging the public's concerns about the uptick in violence is to have a public presentation from our police chief to walk the community through what is being done, what's the plan, and how we are addressing these issues," said Black. "I'd love to have it at a City Council meeting this month." As of Tuesday afternoon, city officials had not set a specific meeting on the issue. Karen Kinsella said she and her husband, Gerard Berthel, have rehabbed several houses, but the recent violence has led them to reconsider making any more investments in the neighborhood. "My husband and I would like to invest, but we do not invest in an area where safety ... is questioned," said Kinsella during the public comments portion of Monday's meeting, Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} "Somewhere between August and now, it has escalated so bad that it is now considered ... a high crime area," she said. "My tenants are concerned for their safety so I have to field calls from them. My husband and I are concerned with our safety going in there. "This is not a criticism. This is addressing safety concerns, and we want help," Kinsella said. Several shootings have occurred near Eastview Christian Church's Bloomington campus at 401 Union St. "We hold programs there throughout the week; small groups meet there," Eastview Senior Pastor Mike Baker told The Pantagraph Tuesday. "So we're certainly concerned with the safety of many people who live in the neighborhood and come to our church. "We will be working with police officers, city government, schools ... to help make it a better and safer neighborhood," he added. After the meeting, Wheeler said his department has begun extra patrols in the area, which is something Mayor Tari Renner said he wanted to see happen. Wheeler said police are working to improve the situation. "One of things we're going to do is try to make contact with the residents to try to see what they've been seeing on a regular basis to help us identify all of the layers of any potential problem," he added. "We want people not only to feel safe, but we also want them to invest in our community," said Renner. Since 2008, the West Bloomington Revitalization Project has been promoting economic development, safety, housing, youth and education in west side neighborhoods directly west of downtown along Market Street. "I think we're always battling this image that this is a dangerous place where you don't want to live," WBRP board director Deb Halperin said Tuesday. "But there are these great opportunities for apartments to rent and homes to buy on the west side," she added. "We certainly want people to come to this neighborhood, and we think it has a lot of positive things going for it." Contact Maria Nagle at (309) 820-3244. Follow her on Twitter: @Pg_Nagle Love 0 Funny 8 Wow 2 Sad 3 Angry 1 BLOOMINGTON Kroger will have another year to complete more than $1 million in infrastructure improvements for a proposed $24.5 million new store in northeast Bloomington, which the grocery chain placed on hold in January 2018. In a recent letter sent to the city, Kroger asked for the extension to complete public improvements identified in a final plat for the commercial subdivision the City Council approved on Feb. 13, 2017. "While the store project is still under review, we want to fulfill the infrastructure commitment we made to the city," Kroger spokesman Eric Halvorson said in an email sent Friday to The Pantagraph. The City Council granted on Monday the extension for Kroger to add an eastbound right turn Lane on College Avenue near Hershey Road along with sidewalk, sewer and bus shelter improvements. The measure was approved unanimously without discussion as part of the council's consent agenda. Kroger proposed the new store, which would be east of Veterans Parkway, in 2016 to replace its store on College Avenue west of Veterans Parkway in Normal, but placed the project on hold last year. The new site is located across the street from the Meijer store, which is located in Normal. City Manager Tim Gleason said he would support, with council authorization, reinstating economic incentives for Kroger that were voided by city staff prior to Gleason beginning his job in July 2018. Community Development Director Bob Mahrt and then-interim City Manager Steve Rasmussen sent Kroger a notice in April 2018 terminating the economic incentive agreement because the company did not meet the deadlines for construction to begin. In its final form, the agreement that began in February 2016 and amended in December of that year called for the city to rebate $2.45 million in sales tax over 10 years in exchange for starting construction on a 128,000-square-foot store by Jan. 31, 2018. In other action Monday night, the council voted unanimously to approve an ordinance creating a technology commission to advise the city on technology matters. The creation of the seven-member commission was requested by Ward 1 Alderman Jamie Mathy, "My goal with the technology committee was to bring together some of Bloomington's smartest and brightest folks to talk about what's next, where is technology going, and what the city can do to make use of things that we already have in place regarding wireless and infrastructure and things of that nature," said Mathy. Anyone interested in serving on the committee must submit an application to the city clerk's office. Mayor Tari Renner will review the applications and select those for council approval. The commission will be subject to the Illinois Open Meetings Act, opening all its meetings to the public. Contact Maria Nagle at (309) 820-3244. Follow her on Twitter: @Pg_Nagle Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 BLOOMINGTON After more than 27 years in prison, Donald Whalen will learn Wednesday if a new trial will be granted for him on murder charges in the death of his father. Judge Scott Drazewski set a 10 a.m. hearing to announce his ruling. Whalen is nearing the end of the 30 years he's required to serve of a 60-year sentence in the 1991 death of his father, William Whalen, who was stabbed more than 30 times and beaten with a pool cue before his body was found by an employee of The Twenty Grand Tap, then a downtown Bloomington bar owned by the elder Whalen. In closing arguments Tuesday, defense lawyer Elliot Slosar challenged each pillar of the state's evidence used to convict Whalen at a 1991 trial, starting with a bloody palm print allegedly left by the suspect on a piece of a pool cue found near the victim. The defense contends retired Illinois State crime lab worker John Dierker was pressured by Bloomington police to produce an opinion on a partial palm print. Dierker's statement to the jury in 1991 that no one other than Donald Whalen could have left the palm print was a key element of the state's case. Slosar argued that a hastily conducted investigation by former Bloomington Police Chief Randy McKinley, who was a crime scene technician at the time, and BPD detectives quickly put Donald Whalen at the top of the suspect list. Dierker's initial opinion that the print was inconclusive as to whether it was the victim's changed after he was told Donald Whalen was a suspect, said Slosar. The incriminating conclusion has no scientific basis in fact, said Slosar, one of Whalen's lawyers with the University of Chicago's Exoneration Project. "The state will never be able to tell a jury that the print was left in blood," Slosar told the judge. The absence of Donald Whalens DNA from evidence collected at the bloody scene of his fathers death contradicts findings in most violent attacks, said Slosar, echoing testimony earlier Tuesday from a forensics expert. Tests on multiple items, including the knives used to kill William Whalen, excluded Donald Whalen as the source of DNA profiles, according to Karl Reich, a forensic expert with Independent Forensics outside Chicago. The victims DNA could not be excluded as the source of DNA on the knives, according to results performed by Orchid Cellmark for the state. The absence of Donald Whalen's DNA is unusual, given the violent nature of the encounter that led to the victims death, said Reich. You absolutely expect the assailant left some part of himself behind, he said. The defense also took aim at the credibility of 1991 testimony from McKinley, who claimed at the time to be a "certified fingerprint examiner." Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} McKinley, who now serves as chief of police in St. Charles, Mo., testified he believes the certification was provided by the state police. But Dierker testified that no such certification is available for police departments. According to training records maintained by the state Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, McKinley completed a basic fingerprint classification course in 1990 and a one-day course on fingerprint processing in 1993. McKinley also had the benefit of a script provided by former prosecutor Teena Griffith before the trial that told him to how to testify about the palm print, said Slosar. "It was that script that doomed my client's fate," said Slosar, adding that he has only seen such assistance provided to jailhouse informants before their trial appearances. The so-called script was never provided to the defense working on Whalen's trial, he said. In his closing remarks, Assistant State's Attorney David Rossi said the lengthy briefs filed by the Exoneration Project "completely glossed over" actual evidence at the trial. The lack of DNA is unimportant, said Rossi, because the victim likely was hit from behind by his son, leaving the younger Whalen without injuries from his father or a chance to leave behind DNA evidence. The prosecutor questioned whether any of the newly raised arguments by the defense amounted to new evidence something the defense must prove to secure a new trial. Photos: Donald Whalen seeks new trial in murder of father Contact Edith Brady-Lunny at (309) 820-3276. Follow her on Twitter: @pg_blunny Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 3 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Last week, I heard from one of my readers who wrote about hydrogen peroxide something I've written about in the past but not so much in the context of this reader's personal report. I loved her story and outcome but needed to confirm that hydrogen peroxide is safe, reasonable and recommended as a mouthwash. In the process, I ran into a whole lot more than I was looking for: multiple uses for hydrogen peroxide around the house some new, some not so new but perhaps forgotten. Kitchen counters Clean your counters and tabletops with hydrogen peroxide to kill germs and leave a fresh smell. Simply put a little on your dishrag when you wipe, or spray it on the counters. Cutting board After rinsing off your wooden cutting board, pour hydrogen peroxide on it to kill salmonella and other bacteria. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved hydrogen peroxide as a sanitizer. Teeth whitening Mix salt, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide to make a paste for brushing your teeth. Not only will this help reverse the early stages of gingivitis but if used regularly, it will also remove stains and whiten your teeth. Reusable shopping bags It's more than likely the reusable bags you take to the supermarket are contaminated with germs, even E-coli. That's because grocery bags often come in contact with poultry and produce that have bacteria on them, which causes cross-contamination the next time they are used. These bags should be laundered after every use, but most shoppers admit they've never done that. An easier solution is to spray them inside and out with ordinary 3 percent hydrogen peroxide. Remove bloodstains Bloodstains on kitchen towels, clothes or other items can be difficult to remove. The secret is to saturate the stain with hydrogen peroxide. Allow it to sit for a few minutes. Then rinse with water and launder as usual. Whiten laundry Add 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide to a load of white laundry to whiten and brighten without using chlorine bleach. Allow it to pre-soak for 15 minutes, if possible, before you start the wash cycle. So, is using it as mouthwash safe, reasonable and recommended? Back to the letter from reader Caren, who wrote: "I read your article on prevention for dental care. I just wanted to add another item to the arsenal for dental care -- hydrogen peroxide. I was facing a $1,600 cost for scaling and root-planing for a mild to medium case of gingivitis. "While I was deciding when to make the appointment, I spoke with a coworker who was a part-time dental hygienist. She recommended hydrogen peroxide as a pre-brush rinse. I decided to give it a try. "I started this more than 8 years ago and I continue to have excellent checkups. I'm not saying this will cure anything or prevent cavities but it is another tool in the box for dental care. My gums are healthier with little to no bleeding and very, very minor pain during the cleaning. I'm 54 years old with 'soft' teeth prone to cavities and gingivitis and this was something easy to incorporate into my routine." According to the Intelligent Dental website, hydrogen peroxide can be used safely as a mouthwash, provided the Food and Drug Administration approved 1 to 3 percent concentration mixed with equal parts water is strictly adhered to. In this way, it can be used to treat trench mouth, gingivitis and plaque and, in some cases, help to whiten your teeth. It is extremely important to stick to the FDA-recommended concentration of 1 to 3 percent that can be bought in drugstores and pharmacies. Using too high a concentration of peroxide is known to cause skin injuries, and its ingestion is possibly fatal, especially at 35 percent concentration. Anything above 3 percent grade would be considered dangerous to use as a mouthwash. Dr. Keith Roach writes for North America Syndicate. Send letters to 628 Virginia Dr., Orlando, FL 32803 or email ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) will not campaign or back a presidential candidate who is not a member of the SLPP, Party's National Organiser Basil Rajapaksa said yesterday. He told this to a group of Gampaha District SLPP local government members who met him at the party head office yesterday. The local government members said there were many different views about the upcoming presidential election and some parties, which aspire to ally with the SLPP, have already commented on their presidential candidate even without consulting the party leadership. The SLPP members said they were not ready to campaign for a presidential candidate who is not a party member. Responding to the local government members concerns, Mr. Rajapaksa assured that the candidate fielded by the SLPP under the lotus bud symbol would be elected as the next president. As a party which gives the foremost place to party members at grassroot level, the SLPP is not ready to steer a campaign for someone who is not accepted by the grassroot level. The party leadership will never force members to vote for such a candidate. Without any doubt, the next president will be an SLPP candidate, he said. (Lahiru Pothmulla) NORMAL The 12th year of Illinois State University's Red Note New Music Festival is underway through Thursday. The fest combines performances from the country's leading contemporary talents, as well as guest ensembles and performers from ISU's own student/faculty resources. The remaining events, all at Kemp Recital Hall, are free and open to the public. The co-directors of the event are ISU music faculty members Carl Schimmel and Roy Magnuson. This year's guest performers include the Fifth House Ensemble and Iridium Quartet. The Chicago-Based Fifth House Ensemble has been praised by The New York Times for its conviction, authority, and finesse. Having pioneered the art of narrative chamber music, Fifth Houses innovative programs work to engage audiences through their connective programming and unexpected performance venues. The ensemble has been involved in artistic projects with urban neighborhoods, social service organizations, and an agricultural community to spark conversations on issues that matter. It also works with music schools and conservatories. The Iridium Quartet, meanwhile, draws upon a rich history of more than 10 years of collaboration between its saxophonists: Paul Nolen, Marcos Colon, Paul Forsyth and Eric Lau. Iridium has commissioned and/or premiered major works by a variety of composers and released its first CD of new American music, "Xylonia," in 2014 after receiving a 2012 Aaron Copland Fund Recording Grant. In 2016, it recorded its second full-length CD, set to be released this year. Also ISU students and faculty are presenting a program of works by featured guest composers Chen Yi and Eric Moe at 7:30 p.m. tonight (Feb. 11) at Kemp Recital Hall. The groups will perform at these events: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12: Fifth House Ensemble performs music by contemporary composers based throughout the U.S. 7:30 p.m. Feb. 13: Fifth House Ensemble and Iridium Quartet present a concert of premieres by the participants in the festival's composition workshop. 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14: The Iridium Quartet performs 21st-century compositions for saxophone quartet, including works commissioned by Iridium. For more information on the festival, contact rednote@ilstu.edu. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 NORMAL Uptown Normal is getting its own brewpub and it will be connected to an existing restaurant. D.P. Dough is expanding from 121 E. Beaufort St. into the former Bill's Key and Lock next door at 127 E. Beaufort with a new brewpub, representatives told Normal's Uptown Design Review Commission on Monday. "Their ideas are to have an interior space that's available to showcase the brewing of the beer," said Jeff McMorrow, an associate architect at Bloomington-based EA Architecture and Design. "(They would) brew their beers and serve food from D.P. Dough." McMorrow, D.P. Dough owner Ryan Fiala and his cousin, Doug, presented an early concept for the project Monday, not including a name or when it might open. Plans are expected to return to the commission before construction. "(This would have) an outdoor patio area that would overlook Beaufort Street and that whole area, a covered patio, and they're going to add solar panels on the top," said McMorrow. "We're going to gut the whole building other than the perimeter shell. ... It's going to be a pretty substantial structure." Town Planner Mercy Davison told the commission the town's staff is excited about the proposal but unsure how it fits into the town code, which "wasn't written for this." The commission often approves code variances for developments. "I love the concept. I think it would be great for that area," said Commissioner Dennis French. "Maybe that (code issue) needs to be addressed in and of itself." Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} In other business, the commission approved amended plans for the Trail East building to be added to Uptown Circle next year, sending the project back to the Normal City Council for its Feb. 18 meeting. Members signed off on several variances but denied a request to leave out an entrance on the Uptown Circle roundabout after Commissioner Kyle Glandon, an architect at Bloomington-based Workbench Architects, challenged that. "We don't know how the space is going to be used. Why don't we just tell the tenant they have to use it that way? It's written very specifically that that's how the building is supposed to be designed. To me it seems like we should stick to that intent," said Glandon. Josh Bishop, senior architectural manager with Farnsworth Group, presented the plans on behalf of Iowa developer Bush Construction, which is building the $30 million structure and getting about $8.65 million in future property and sales tax revenues. Those incentives have a value of about $4.7 million in 2019 dollars. Commissioner Dave Burnison, a principal at Farnsworth, abstained from voting on the proposal. Bloomington-Normal business openings and closings Contact Derek Beigh at (309) 820-3234. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_beigh Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Stay up-to-date on what's happening Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Eric Washington of Palestine Texas, died June 17, 2021 at the age of 46. Graveside Service will be Saturday, June 26, 2021 at the Jackson Quarter Cemetery in Tennessee Colony Texas. Elder R.C. Emanuel will be the officiant. viewing will be held, Friday, June 25, 2021 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. a Livingston, TN (38570) Today Sunshine to start, then a few afternoon clouds. High around 85F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy. Low 68F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Midland County Sheriff Scott Stephenson had his driver's license restricted for 90 days after he pled guilty to impaired driving during his Dec. 13 arraignment. Following his arraignment in the Kalkaska County District Court, a notice was sent to the office of the Michigan Secretary of State regarding the status of Stephenson's driver's license. As reported by MLive, Kalkaska County Assistant Prosecutor Ryan Ziegler said the Kalkaska court had no jurisdiction on what would happen to Stephenson's license. "The court will send notice to the Secretary of State, and they will do whatever they think is appropriate," Ziegler said. "It's not something the court decides." The period of restriction extends from Dec. 30, 2018, until March 29, 2019. "Based on the conviction, the Secretary of State was required to take a mandatory action," said Shawn Starkey, Michigan Department of State communications director. Under the restriction, Stephenson is only allowed to drive to and from his residence and employment, during employment, to treatment and/or support group meetings or regularly scheduled treatment for a serious medical condition, Starkey said. He also can operate a vehicle to attend matters of probation, community service and school, and must carry proof of destinations and hours at all times. He cannot drive a vehicle requiring a commercial driver license. Starkey said the mandatory action occurred under the administration of former Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, before her successor Jocelyn Benson took over on Jan. 1, 2019, though the action is dictated by the law passed by Michigan Legislature. Stephenson was arraigned on a drunken driving offense that took place on Nov. 16 in Kalkaska County. He later pled guilty to impaired driving. In addition to the license restriction, Stephenson was sentenced to one year of probation, and had to pay the court $600 in costs and fines. He also had to submit to breath and urine tests and undergo an alcohol education course. Delta College's activities demonstrating its commitment to sustainability are being recognized at a national level. Second Nature, a nonprofit public benefit corporation that works to accelerate climate action throughout higher education, and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) have named Delta the winner of the ninth annual 2018 Higher Education Climate Leadership Award for two-year institutions. "We are the only community college to win this award two times," said Jean Goodnow, president of Delta College, noting Delta is in good company with the University of Illinois, which took home the honor for four-year universities. "I am so proud of our staff at Delta College, who really earned this award." Second Nature and USGBC based the award on the collective sustainability practices and efforts across campus, including: Campus use as a living lab, using energy-efficient practices, furthering research in renewable energy and offering sustainability related courses Implementation of an Energy Optimization Incentive Program with Delta's utility provider to maximize energy conservation and savings "Common Good" community partnership to host climate-adaption and resilience learning opportunities A sustainability-immersive study abroad program in Ireland, Costa Rica and France "We have had sustainability in our strategic planning for the last four years and our Board of Trustees has helped to support our sustainability initiatives," Goodnow said. "All that we have done in our facilities really does make Delta a role model." The award adds to a list of sustainability accomplishments at Delta over the past year. In 2018, Delta was ranked fifth in North America, second in the U.S., in the community college category for sustainability programs and practices by the Sustainable Campus Index. In addition, Delta is the first college in Michigan to be certified by BeeCampus USA as a Pollinator Campus. "These achievements mean we are setting an example," said Linda Petee, the Sustainability and Risk Management coordinator at Delta. "It's important work and I'm happy Delta College is leading the way." Looking ahead, Goodnow said Delta plans to continue to look for ways to improve in the areas of environmental, economic and social justice, as well as looking for ways to work closely with businesses in the community to promote sustainability. "Part of our mission is to reach out to the businesses and employers in our area and see what we can do to collaborate," Goodnow said. "In the near future, Dow Chemical's Director of Sustainability will be coming to our campus to discuss ways in which we can work together." Delta, along with the University of Illinois, will be recognized for the award as part of the 2019 Higher Education Climate Leadership this week in Tempe, Arizona. Primary Industries Minister Daya Gamage said though a National Government was extremely necessary to speed up the development in the country, the UNF did not want to confront President Maithripala Sirisena on this matter because as he was opposed to such a government. He said the government did not need the support of 113 members in parliament to rule the country as long as the issue did not arise. At a ceremony held to hand over appointment letters to top officials of the statutory bodies that come under the purview of his ministry, the Minister pointed out that the UNF was the biggest single party in the House and had majority support to pass any Bill. The problem arises if and when the joint opposition challenges us in parliament on any issue. In such a scenario, we need the support of a minimum of 113 members to ensure the smooth functioning of the government. We are well aware that the JO will never hesitate to grab an opportunity if they sense that the government can be defeated in a parliamentary vote at any time, he said. The Minister said the UNP believed that the President would eventually agree to a National Government when the party secured the necessary numbers. (Sandun A. Jayasekera) Naoki I. Kihata, of Midland, was recently named to the highly selective Dean's List at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, for outstanding academic achievement during the fall semester of the 2018-19 academic year. Kihata is one of 538 Colby students -- or 26 percent of the qualified student body -- to qualify for the Dean's List last semester. Goose Creek, SC (29445) Today Plentiful sunshine. High 84F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Oskaloosa, IA (52577) Today Scattered thunderstorms this morning, then mainly cloudy during the afternoon with thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. High 82F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight Variable clouds with scattered thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low 69F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected. Oregons suction dredge miners, recently banned from gold mining in salmon-bearing streams, are taking a new tack. Theyve formed a nonprofit, called StreamSavers, and are asking the Legislature to fund stream cleanup projects using their dredge equipment. The miners say that, in addition to bringing up gold and other valuable minerals from stream bottoms, their dredge equipment uncovers old fishing lures, lead shot and trash, much of which is toxic. Our waterway cleaning process will actually assist nature in returning itself to what it was meant to be, a clean, pristine, refreshing water source without pollution, the nonprofit organizations web site reads. StreamSavers are trained and experienced technicians with a deep concern for aquatic health that will last for generations to come. A House committee will hold a public hearing on the proposal, House Bill 2737, Tuesday afternoon. For the full story, visit the Statesman Journal website. Oregon city officials appear uneasy with a proposal from House Speaker Tina Kotek to allow duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes in low-density neighborhoods across the state. House Bill 2001 would effectively abolish single-family zoning in cities with more than 10,000 residents, allowing the construction of multi-unit homes, as well as dividing existing homes into more than one living space. The proposal also calls for allowing cottage clusters, or small detached homes that share a common yard. Its an attempt to attack the states housing shortage by increasing density within established neighborhoods that occupy most of the land given over to housing in even the states most urban cities. Even some cities that say they embrace the concept of so-called missing middle housing, however, blanched at the proposals broad-brushed approach. Planning officials from the city of Hillsboro, for example, said 25 percent of its housing units fell into the missing middle category, and half are apartments or townhouses. But Laura Kelly, Hillsboro Planning Department project manager, said that allowing more homes in established neighborhoods could require a costly rewrite of its infrastructure plan and costlier upgrades of its public utilities, including water and sewer pipes. Were no stranger to growth or density, Kelly said. We plan for infrastructure where growth is going to occur. What were talking about here is putting growth where we have not planned for the infrastructure. Sherwoods City Council also voted to oppose the plan. City Council President Tim Rosener said the citys school district is already nearing its bonding capacity, limiting its ability to absorb students who move into the district. Sherwood stands willing and ready to partner with our neighbors and Salem to solve for the affordable housing crisis we have today, Rosener said. That being said, in Sherwood, the council concluded the bill will have unintended consequences and reduce affordability in high-demand areas like Sherwood. Even Portlands Bureau Planning and Sustainability, which is writing its own plan to allow duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes in neighborhoods throughout the city, expressed concerns about the legislations aggressive timeline, though the city didnt oppose the bill and said it shares the commitment to expand middle housing. The bill gives cities until December 2020 to write code allowing for the new housing types. Cities also chafed under a provision that would delay the assessment of system development charges which are fees on new development used to pay for utilities, parks and schools until a building gets final occupancy approval from the city. City officials said that could create uncertainty around when, if ever, those fees could be collected. Some cities have endorsed the measure, though with caveats. Milwaukie Mayor Mark Gamba, who has frequently addressed issues related to housing affordability in Salem, said the bill had the unanimous backing of the City Council with a handful of tweaks, including a longer implementation timeline for cities. Kotek said she was open to amendments to the bill but that the state needs a new approach to the housing crisis. This isnt about single-family houses. This is about the future," she said. Its about allowing different opportunities in neighborhoods that are extremely limited today. The bill has the backing of a slate of housing activists and nonprofits, who say it would restore housing types that make up a large portion of unsubsidized affordable housing in cities like Portland. They also point to a history of racial and economic exclusion in single-family zoning. But it faces strong opposition from neighborhood groups, who say it would encourage the demolition of houses to build larger plexes. That would put homeownership further out of reach, they said. Residents of single-family neighborhoods also argued the the new housing units would crowd neighborhoods, reducing available parking and hurting nearby property values. The bill didnt pass out of the House Committee On Human Services and Housing on Monday, whose hearing stretched into the evening. Chairwoman Rep. Alissa Keny-Guyer, D-Portland, said there would likely be at least one additional hearing, and perhaps more. -- Elliot Njus enjus@oregonian.com; 503-294-5034; @enjus Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. An Oregon man who sued Burger King after he said they broke their promise of free meals for life to make up for him being trapped for more than an hour in one of their bathrooms will receive a little more than $9,000 in a settlement. Within 30 days, 50-year-old Curtis Brooner will receive a check for $9,026.16, the full amount he sought, his attorney Michael Fuller said. It should be enough to buy a Whopper meal once a week until he is 72. Brooner determined $9,026.16 was the value of the lifetime supply of Burger King meals he was promised and also factored in the average life span of an American man, the attorney said. The lawsuit was filed in January in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Fuller said the terms of the settlement were discussed over the last week and completed Monday. The lawsuit was dismissed the same day, records show. Burger King did the right thing, Fuller said. They could have dragged this out for years and were glad they didnt. (Brooner) still likes Burger King, he just doesnt go to their bathroom anymore. Burger King denied liability and disputes Brooners claims despite the settlement, Fuller said. Brooner told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the lock on the bathroom door at the Wood Village burger joint jammed when he tried leaving Dec. 15 after eating his meal. When he couldnt get the door open, he called a number on his receipt for help, but the summoned employees couldnt get him out from the outside. Brooner described the restroom as, the kind of place where you hold your breath: Go in and get out of there as fast as you can. Employees slid him a fly swatter and a plastic-edged card to help, but none of it worked and he cut himself while trying, he said. He was later freed by a locksmith. Brooner said Burger King workers gave him a bandage, ointment, an apology and a promise from the manager that he could eat there for free anytime. He said he ate there for free over the next 13 days, but was then told by the company Dec. 28 that they werent going to honor the deal. As the lawsuit was pending, Brooner went to three other Burger King restaurants other than the one he was trapped in on Northeast 238th Drive, Fuller said. The lawyer said he advised Brooner not to return to that Burger King because of the suit, but said its likely hell return now that the legal proceedings are over. Theres nothing stopping Brooner from using the money to buy burgers at other fast food chains, but Fuller said Brooner is partial to the home of the Whopper. -- Everton Bailey Jr. ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 |@EvertonBailey Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. A man accused of killing two people in Lebanon is a former police officer in the small Oregon city, according to media reports. Brenton Richmond, 48, was arrested Sunday near the Mexico border and is facing a pair of aggravated murder accusations. Hes accused of killing Tammy Hopper and Erik Jacobs, who were found dead Saturday morning in Hoppers Lebanon home. Richmond, Hoppers ex-boyfriend, had allegedly told her that if he ever saw her with another man, hed kill both of them, according to court records cited by KATU-TV. Those court records werent available online early Tuesday. Richmonds family is quoted in the records as saying he was distant and quiet over the past month, according to KATU. Police said he got a concealed handgun license in that time, the news station reports. Police think the suspect left for Eugene, flew to California and tried to cross into Mexico after killing Hopper and Jacobs, the court records show. Richmond is being held in the San Diego Central Jail. KOIN-TV reports he was a Lebanon officer in the early 2000s. Hes expected to appear in court in California on Wednesday, the news station reports. -- Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. Those profiting off our disastrous health care system keep pushing patchwork bills and incremental change. But we dont need more Band-Aids. We want real reform. We want Medicare for all. The grassroots movement for Medicare for all has -- neighbor by neighbor, conversation by conversation -- grown support to more than 70 percent of Americans. That number, combined with new leadership and a new Medicare for All caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives, means that now is an unprecedented time to win this thing. Rep. Pramila Jayapal will soon introduce a Medicare for All bill in the House, and we must call our lawmakers to demand they sign on as cosponsors. Medicare for All Week of Action, Feb. 9-13, is also a great opportunity to attend one of 130 nationwide barnstorm events to plan with our neighbors the best path forward. No tweaks to our existing system will make it value people over profits. Lets stand together to win Medicare for all. John Chaney, Portland By Greg Sargent (c) 2019, The Washington Post WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump appears to be dimly aware that he isnt going to get the $5.7 billion he wants for his border wall. Months of rage-tweets and lies just didnt get it done: Most reports suggest conference negotiators are converging on an agreement to spend $1.3 billion to $2 billion on new barriers in targeted locations. Yet a new sticking point has now arisen: a dispute over detention beds. But Trump is lying about this issue, too. And his administration appears to be operating in bad faith in a manner that renders a reasonable compromise less likely. The core dispute is this: Democrats want to cap the number of beds available to detain undocumented immigrants rounded up in the interior at 16,500. Trump and Republicans claim this would result in the failure to detain "violent" offenders. Democrats say it would force Immigration and Customs Enforcement to choose among who is picked up from the interior, meaning they'd focus more on violent offenders, resulting in fewer detentions of nonviolent longtime residents. To understand this dispute, we need to step back. As of Sunday, according to an ICE official, there were over 48,000 people in ICE detention. They break down roughly into two categories: those rounded up in the interior and those picked up crossing the border. This second group is made up of further categories, such as illegal crossers and those seeking asylum. The primary dispute right now concerns the first group: those rounded up in the interior. According to a House Democratic aide, ICE has told members of the conference committee that as of early February, there were just over 20,000 such people in detention. Thus, by proposing to cap the beds for those people at 16,500, Democrats do want to reduce the numbers detained from the interior. The rub is that this would force ICE to prioritize violent offenders and reduce detentions of nonviolent ones. Trump cannot allow the dispute to be perceived as one over whether to dial down the rounding up of nonviolent longtime residents, who are often sympathetic figures. So Trump has hit on a new way around this problem. Over the weekend, Trump tweeted that Democrats "all of a sudden" have declared that they "don't even want to take murderers into custody." On Monday morning, he tweeted: "The Democrats don't want us to detain, or send back, criminal aliens! This is a brand new demand. Crazy!" The idea that this represents a "new" demand is a lie. The call for a 16,500 cap on detention beds was in the original Democratic offer made in these talks over 10 days ago. That Jan. 31st offer explicitly includes a provision that "statutorily limits" the daily population of people detained from the interior at $16,500 by the end of the next fiscal year, phasing it in over time. So this isn't "new" at all. If anything, what's "new" is the Trump/GOP objection to this. What about Trump's claim that in pushing for this, Democrats oppose rounding up violent "criminal aliens" and "murderers? This one looks to be based on bad faith. The core question turns on who makes up that population of people detained from the interior -- how many tend to be a real public safety threat? Trump and Republicans need to keep the answer to this question obscured. According to a House Democratic aide, Democrats on the conference committee asked ICE for a breakdown of the current 20,000 or so in custody -- how many are dangerous criminals, and how many are merely longtime residents with no criminal record or who have committed minor infractions, like traffic violations. The aide said ICE is refusing to answer that question. "We have sought a breakdown about how many people in interior enforcement detention are actually dangerous, but they simply won't engage in constructively answering," the aide said. Instead, ICE has responded by saying, in essence, that there's no percentage in breaking down those detained, because "they're all dangerous," the aide said. "They want us to believe that people with minor traffic violations are dangerous criminals who should be deported." Democrats are asking the administration to justify their demand for more detention beds, and say they're getting nothing serious back. A spokesperson for DHS didn't immediately return an email for comment. Where did Democrats get the 16,500 number as their preferred cap? It is based on the number of people detained from the interior at the end of the Obama administration. Thus, it's designed to try to restore the priorities of former President Barack Obama, who deprioritized the removal of longtime residents and instead focused enforcement resources on removing criminals and public safety threats. Trump canceled those Obama priorities. This gets at the much bigger argument here: Democrats don't want to deport longtime residents and want to refocus resources away from that. Trump and Republicans do want to deport as many from the interior as possible, with no regard to their status. The bottom line is that Trump and top adviser Stephen Miller want fewer immigrants in the United States. That's why they want cuts to legal immigration, restrictions on asylum seeking, slashed refugee flows, and (as we're discussing now) a much broader deportation dragnet. By contrast, the core trade-off that Democrats seek would give Trump some of the barriers he wants, in exchange for edging the overall system in a more humane direction. Thus, their blueprint also includes $500 million to address the humanitarian plight of migrant families at the border -- and the effort to cap detention beds to limit deportations of longtime residents. That's a reasonable compromise -- both sides get something. But Trump cannot accept such an outcome. And so, when he speaks in El Paso on Monday afternoon, I expect he will repeat numerous claims about the supposed criminality of the undocumented population, something he lies about constantly, most recently in his State of the Union address. Now he'll be reviving them to justify his opposition to fewer detention beds. But Trump has lost this bigger argument. Polls show large majorities don't want mass deportations, and instead want longtime immigrant residents to be provided a path to legalization. In short, most Americans think they should stay. Trump's lies about the wall and about undocumented immigrants have failed him. - - - Sargent writes The Plum Line blog. He joined The Post in 2010, after stints at Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine and the New York Observer. DPA, 11th FEBRUARY, 2019 - German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has pulled out of an upcoming conference in Warsaw on peace and security in the Middle East organized by Poland and the United States that has been widely referred to as an anti-Iran conference. Maas has bowed out of the conference and will be replaced by Niels Annen, a senior official in the Foreign Ministry, a spokeswoman said Monday. Multiple Western European foreign ministers were expected to skip the controversial conference set for February 13-14, which Tehran has argued is directed against its government. US officials have insisted Iran is not a target. Federica Mogherini has already declined due to scheduling difficulties. Russia will not be sending a representative, according to the Polish government. The US administration has accused Tehran of engaging The Oregon Legislature is weighing a bill that would close loopholes and fix weaknesses in state rules that allowed a longtime educator to repeatedly dodge accusations of sexual misconduct in the states largest school district. Senate Bill 155 would strengthen the state teacher licensing agencys powers to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct by codifying many of its rules into law and broadening its jurisdiction to cover staff, contractors and volunteers working directly with students, not just licensed educators. It would also mandate creation of a database of the agencys ongoing and completed investigations, available for school districts to research potential hires. And it would require much faster investigations than such cases now receive. Under the bill, which was introduced by the Senate Education Committee, the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission could levy fines of up to $1,000 on educators, administrators and other school employees who fail to report instances of abuse or properly maintain records of teacher misconduct. It would also up the ante on school districts to report any reasonable cause to believe that any school employee or contractor has engaged in sex misconduct. Any school employee who has that reasonable cause must tell the superintendent or other designated administrator, who must in turn inform state investigators. If any of those people fail to do as required, their license could be in jeopardy and they would potentially face a fine. There are going to be some consequential changes to the agency, Anthony Rosilez, the agencys executive director, said. This bill has a lot of good provisions that are going to support student safety. Top officials at Portland Public Schools repeatedly fielded complaints from students that they had been ogled, groomed, solicited for sex and worse by Mitch Whitehurst, a licensed teacher who worked in the district for three decades, investigations by The Oregonian and an independent panel of investigators hired by the school board found. District officials only passed one of those complaints, made in 2001, to the state licensing board. It wrote off the others as rumors or cases in which it could not prove the students allegations were true. The state, following Portland schools lead, did not discipline Whitehurst for the conduct reported in 2001. No one in the states largest school district, including top human resources officials and lawyers who fielded students complaints, was disciplined for failing to take the complaints seriously or pass them along to the state. State officials ultimately revoked Whitehursts license after an unrelated criminal case led state licensing investigators to interview women who said he solicited sex from them when they were high school students in the 1990s. Whitehurst acknowledged that abuse in his settlement agreement with the state. Rosilez said that if lawmakers pass the bill, school employees, school district leaders and his agency will all face greater responsibility to act on students complaints. It increases accountability and responsibility for administrators and licensed individuals to follow state procedures and agency procedures to ensure student safety, Rosilez said. The bill also would bar districts from signing new union contracts with provisions that would suppress information about employee sexual misconduct. It also would prohibit termination agreements that require district officials to drop an investigation into employee misconduct. The bill would require the licensing agency, which polices educator conduct, to issue a ruling in alleged sexual misconduct cases within 90 days. The bill also would require school districts to train faculty and staff in appropriate electronic communications with students. The bill, based in part on proposals by leaders at Portland Public Schools, is one of at least four before lawmakers this session to address sexual misconduct in Oregon schools. Another, Senate Bill 573, gives the licensing agencys executive director the power to immediately suspend a teachers license if he or she believes the educator under investigation poses a threat to student safety. Sen. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay, said Senate Bill 155 is designed to address some of the problems state lawmakers had with so-called pass-the-trash legislation passed a decade ago. That lawmaking followed a 2008 Oregonian investigation into sexual misconduct by Oregon teachers . It was clear, years later, that the bill had not done what we hoped, Roblan told The Oregonian/OregonLive. When Roblan, a retired principal who chaired the Senate education committee until this year, read The Oregonian/OregonLives 2017 report on Whitehurst, Benefit of the Doubt, he felt an immediate desire to pass legislation and patch loopholes. Roblan was aghast that Oregons system allowed Whitehurst to keep working in Portland schools despite allegations of abuse. It was instantaneous for me, he said. I said, Lets get ahold of a lawyer. Lets see what we can do to close those loopholes and protect kids as much as we can. Rosilez, the licensing agencys executive director, said the bills, passed in concert with each other, offer a comprehensive package that would better protect students across the state. But he said the increased demand on strained resources poses a challenge. A single misconduct case can take one of Rosilezs three investigators up to 8 1/2 months to wrap up, he said. Senate Bill 155 requires that timetable to be cut by two-thirds. Rosilez also expects the bills stricter provisions would increase the number of cases his agency takes on. Just do the math its going to require more work and more time, he said. The licensing agencys budget is composed entirely of revenue from fees, which has been falling in recent years. In 2017, state lawmakers passed a provision that extended teaching license expirations educators would need to renew them after five years instead of three. Before then, the educator licensing agency charged $90 per license, or $30 per year. The fee went up to $140, or $28 per year. Its still a loss, Rosilez said. That may not sound like a lot, but if youre processing thousands of licenses every year, thats easily a staff member. That same year, legislators passed a law allowing educators whose teaching license approval was pending to work for up to 90 days while they waited for the official confirmation. Before that provision took effect, the licensing agency would issue provisional licenses at $140 each. Because of those two losses of revenue, my revenue projections for the next biennium wont allow for me to have an extra investigator, Rosilez said. Still, the legislation patches some major loopholes, Rosilez said. And Roblan said hes heartened that Democrats and Republicans have been working to amend the bill and get it ready for consideration. This has nothing to do with politics. It has everything to do with protecting children, Roblan said. A man accused of threatening U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, his family and an unnamed Oregon state official in phone calls and emails must go to a medical facility in federal prison until hes competent to defend himself in court, a judge ordered Monday. U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman made the ruling after reviewing a Jan. 8 mental health evaluation of Nathanial Blaine Luffman. Luffman, who is representing himself with a standby attorney, said he objected to the evaluation and the reports submittal to the judge. Federal prosecutors in July had sought the evaluation of Luffman, concerned he was suffering a mental health impairment, according to court records. Luffman, 33, was arrested in Berkeley, California, in June and transferred to Oregon to face a four-count federal indictment. A U.S. Capitol Police investigation found Luffman sent an email about 7:49 a.m. on June 25 to several Oregon state employees and a U.S. Capitol police special agent with a subject line identifying two people as "Found Dead Execution/Suicide,'' according to a criminal complaint. In the email, Luffman is accused of threatening to "gut'' Paul like a hog, as well as his wife and children, and included the hashtag #ObamaforLife. The same morning as the email, Luffman is accused of leaving a threatening voicemail at the office of an Oregon state official in the Portland federal building, introducing himself as Sen. Nathaniel Luffman and threatening to "hack to pieces'' Paul's daughters, according to court records. Luffman, previously of Kentucky, was indicted on charges of threatening a federal official, threatening the family of a federal official and two counts of interstate communication. Hours after Luffman's arrest in California became public in federal court records, Paul issued a message on Twitter, "Thank you to the US Capitol Police for their arrest of the man who recently threatened to kill my family and me.'' Luffman's email address has been associated since 2017 with other threatening communications to members of Congress, according to the complaint. Luffman was interviewed in Portland in February by threat assessment officers with the U.S. Capitol Police, according to the complaint. He had been living in Portland before his arrest in California. In a prior court appearance, Luffman claimed that the U.S. Capitol Police had no authority to arrest him, contending that the University of California at Berkeley is a "sovereign nation'' that would require his extradition before arrest. -- Maxine Bernstein Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian Updated at 3:18 p.m. A litany of Portland-area roads is closed Tuesday amid a flood warning and spate of heavy rain. The National Weather Service on Tuesday morning issued a flood warning for Washington County, northwestern Multnomah County and west-central Clark County, among other areas. The warning, which lasts until 2:15 p.m., says flooding is happening along several creeks and on roads. The flooding is likely to continue and may worsen, the weather service said. Washington County reports flooding has caused over 40 road closures as of early Tuesday afternoon. Multnomah County also reports a landslide has closed Northwest Cornelius Pass Road between U.S. 30 and Skyline Boulevard. At about 3 p.m., the county said Northwest Rocky Point Road between U.S. 30 and Skyline Boulevard was closed because of a large crack in the road caused by heavy rains and snowmelt. One lane of Cornelius Pass Road is closed for repairs that will likely last until around 6 p.m. There is also standing water on the lower section of the road, the county said. Deputies patrolling Highway 30 saw what can only be described as a waterfall near the road. Water is flowing across the highway. Please slow down. pic.twitter.com/IE5GjXr64t Multnomah Co Sheriff (@MultCoSO) February 12, 2019 The Gaston and Yamhill Carlton school districts are sending students home early because of flooding, as well. The Portland and Vancouver areas are also among the areas under a flood watch through late Tuesday night. Follow Oregon and southwest Washington weather news here. Flood waters have always littered roadways with debris from ditches. This is on NW Stringtown RD near NW Waldheim Way. MJ #pdxtraffic pic.twitter.com/U9kGtmy1jq Forest Grove Fire (@ForestGroveFire) February 12, 2019 -- Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. They gathered in the cold, carrying signs and grudges. One sign read: Vaccines: the more you KNOW, the more you NO! With a measles outbreak among unvaccinated children in the Vancouver area causing Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to declare a health emergency last month, hundreds of protesters turned out at the state capitol in Olympia to oppose a bill that would restrict personal exemptions to vaccines for school-age children. So-called anti-vaxxers are part of a homegrown fringe movement, one that is suspicious of scientific data about the safety and efficacy of vaccinations. But they unwittingly have been getting overseas help in recent years. Russian President Vladimir Putin isnt trying to mess only with Americas elections. He has set loose his undercover opinion manipulators to promote fear of vaccines and set pro- and anti-vaccination Americans against one another, a recent study concluded. The overarching objective in this ongoing offensive: to divide and terrify Americans -- and win a second Cold War. For the most part, Russia has taken this fight to where we live: on social media. Compared with average users, Russian trolls, sophisticated bots and content polluters tweeted about vaccination at higher rates, the study concluded last fall. The research, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found that [a]ccounts masquerading as legitimate users create false equivalency, eroding public consensus on vaccination. An example of a disinformation tweet: "Did you know there was a secret government database of #Vaccine-damaged child? #VaccinateUS." Another tweet argued the other side: #VaccinateUS You cant fix stupidity. Let them die from measles, and Im for #vaccination! Both tweets, it appears, came from bad actors in Russia. "By playing both sides, they erode public trust in vaccination, exposing us all to the risk of infectious diseases, John Hopkins University computer-science professor Mark Dredze told the BBC. The American Journal of Public Health study linked malicious propaganda on the issue to social-media accounts from Russias Internet Research Agency, which Robert Muellers special-counsel office has indicted for its role in 2016 election interference. The U.S., it must be noted, isnt the only Western country where measles outbreaks have returned in recent years. The BBC reports that higher rates of measles are being found throughout Europe as well. -- Douglas Perry pFriem Family Brewers, named last year as the nations top midsize brewery, has announced plans to add production capacity that could eventually triple its output as it expects continued growth, prompted in part by the introduction of cans to its distribution system. The Hood River brewery, which brews about 20,000 barrels a year, anticipates a first phase of growth that would push it to 60,000 barrels annually. The facilities expansion, which would cost as much as $9 million, would create capacity that could eventually push pFriem to 80,000 barrels a year. Cascade Locks would become home to a second pFriem production facility. Just east of town in the Port of Cascade Locks Business Park, pFriem plans to build a 22,000-square-foot facility that would provide warehousing, cold storage, and would house the brewers large barrel-aged and sour-beer programs. The new facility would open in the first quarter of 2020. With space freed by moving those operations to Cascade Locks, pFriem will add a second, larger brewhouse, as well as a canning line, creating a 60,000-barrel capacity in the Hood River building. The combined expansion and would add 20 full-time employees to pFriems ranks, which now includes more than 50 full-time and about 70 total The goal has been to increase our offerings, continue to boost quality and innovation and to create opportunities for our employees to further their careers and personal lives in the special communities that we are lucky to be a part of, said brewmaster and co-founder Josh Pfriem. We are in Hood River at pFriem Family Brewers, which recently was named the best midsize brewery in the nation at the prestigious Great American Beer Festival. We are touring the brewery and restaurant with founder Josh pFriem. Posted by The Oregonian on Friday, October 19, 2018 When pFriem opened in 2012, it occupied only a portion of its current Hood River home, the Port of Hood River-owned Halyard Building. It has grown from the start and now occupies the entire building, which sits just off the banks of the Columbia River and includes the 15-barrel brewhouse, tasting room, barrel warehouse and company headquarters. pFriems growth follows recognition of its commitment to high-quality Northwest, Belgian and German style beers. Last year it was named the Best Mid-Size Brewing Company of the Year at the prestigious Great American Beer Festival, where its mixed-culture brett beer, Druif, won gold. It also won gold in the 2018 World Beer Cups Belgian Style Fruit Beer category for its Nectarine Golden Ale. March will see stores starting to carry cans of pFriems Pilsner and IPA. Josh Pfriem said the brewery is adding cans to its lineup as part of its focus on outdoors lifestyles and the products hikers, climbers and campers seek. But he said pFriem went through time-consuming, rigorous testing and development to preserve its standards. The cans will sell for $11.99 for a six-pack of pFriem IPA, and $10.99 for its Pilsner. pFriem will continue to bottle a wide line of its beers. Cans have been bad for some breweries and hurt them, Josh Pfriem told a recent gathering of media. pFriem wont sacrifice quality and our programs, and we will maintain the highest quality control. -- Andre Meunier 503-221-8488 Instagram: @oregonianbeerguy Twitter: @AndreMeunier13 Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. More beer coverage: Burnside Brewing, brewery and pub in Portlands inner east side, reportedly closed Were starting our search for Portlands best brewery, so come along Widmer closing struggling N. Portland pub amid intense competition Hopworks Urban Brewery opens pub at Portland International Airport Last hurrah: The Portland area said goodbye to some landmark breweries and pubs in 2018 Portland named best U.S. city for beer drinkers Cascade Brewing at 20: How Portlands sour-beer house became the gold standard The global bathroom and toilet assist devices market has been experiencing significant surge, due to the large pool of patient, increasing acceptance of advance and innovative technology, increasing awareness about assistive devices, and growing geriatric population due to increasing life expectancy. Based on product type, the global bathroom and toilet assist devices markets has been classified into bath aids, bath lifts, chairs and stools, commodes, handgrips and grab bars, and Molecular Diagnostics Market to Witness Huge Growth by 2025 - Abbott Laboratories, Hologic, Grifols, S.A., Siemens Healthineers, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Becton, Dickinson and Company, Beckman Coulter, Inc. Molecular Diagnostics Market https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1545 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/market-insight/molecular-diagnostics-market-1545 Molecular diagnostics is used for detection in various applications such as oncology, genetic testing, microbiology, STDs, blood screening, virology, tissue typing, and prenatal diagnostics. Molecular diagnostics are laboratory tests, conducted to identify a disease by analyzing DNA, RNA or proteins in humans. Furthermore, the reagent and kits for molecular diagnostics kits vary according to the application, as the kits consists of probes that are directed against specific sequence of viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Increasing use of biomarker specific testing kits is expected to foster growth of the molecular diagnostics market, as these tests are useful prior to initiation of any therapy or treatment.For In depth Information Get FREE Sample Copy of this Report at:Key companies covered as a part of this study include:-Abbott Laboratories-Hologic,Inc.-Grifols, S.A.-Qiagen N.V.-F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.-Siemens Healthineers-Becton, Dickinson and Company-Beckman Coulter, Inc.Market DynamicsThe global molecular diagnostics market is projected to witness significant growth over the forecast period, owing to rapid advancements in technology for development of novel biomarkers. For instance, in June 2017, Qiagen N.V. expanded its biomarker content portfolio by adding new biomarkers for microsatellite instability (MSI) and Mismatch repair (MMR) in its NGS panels. This extension in the product portfolio was done to cater to growing demand for molecular diagnostics for immuno-oncology therapies.Furthermore, precision medicine aids in treatment of diseases and prevention based on individuals genes, lifestyle, and environment. This helps to offer proper treatment, which has led to high demand for precision medicine, in turn, favoring growth of the market.However, stringent regulation by FDA to regulate molecular diagnostic tests is expected to be major factor restraining growth of the market. The FDA regulates molecular diagnostic tests in various ways, including in some instances, wherein, certain tests require regulatory pathways as complex as Class III medical devices.Key features of the study:This report provides in-depth analysis of the molecular diagnostics market size (US$ Million) and Cumulative Annual Growth Rate (CAGR (%)) for the forecast period: 2017 2025, considering 2016 as the base yearIt elucidates potential revenue opportunity across different segments and explains attractive investment proposition matrix for this marketThis study also provides key insights about market drivers, restraints, opportunities, new product launches or approval, market trends, regional outlook, and competitive strategy adopted by the leading playersFor More Details On this Report:It profiles leading players in the global molecular diagnostics market based on the following parameters company overview, financial performance, product portfolio, geographical presence, distribution strategies, key developments, and strategiesInsights from this report would allow marketers and management authorities of companies to make informed decision with respect to their future product launch, governmental initiatives, technological up-gradation, market expansion, and marketing tactics.The global molecular diagnostics market report caters to various stakeholders in this industry, including investors, product manufacturers, distributors and suppliers for molecular diagnostics market, research and consulting firms, new entrants, and financial analysts.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Coherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Market will multiply at an impressive CAGR of 2.1 % by 2026 & Top Key Players as 'big four': GSK, Merck & Co., Inc., Pfizer, and Sanofi Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Market https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1500 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/1500 According to Access to Medicine Foundation index, 2017, vaccine market is dominated by four major players, collectively referred as 'big four': GSK, Merck & Co., Inc., Pfizer, and Sanofi. Big four contribute to 80% of the global vaccine revenue. Players vary significantly by portfolio and pipeline size. Other major players operating in market include AstraZeneca PLC, Sinovac Biotech Ltd., Astellas Pharma Inc., Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd., and Daiichi Sankyo.Manufactures in vaccine market are focused on research and developmental activities for developing new vaccine with better safety and immunity for the disease at low cost and to strengthen the product portfolio. For instance, in 2017, GlaxoSmithKline plc, received US FDA approval for phase III clinical trial of its product Shingrix, a recombinant sub unit vaccine, for shingles infection in adults. Moreover, manufacturers are targeting disease such as HIV or dengue to expand product portfolio. For instance, in 2018, Sanofi received US FDA approval for its dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia. Furthermore, merger and acquisition are adopted by key players to expand the company share. In 2014, Pfizer Inc., acquired Baxters portfolio, which includes of marketed vaccines for US$ 648 million. The portfolio includes NeisVac-C and FSME-IMMUN/TicoVac vaccines against meningitis by group C meningococcal meningitis and tick-borne encephalitis, respectively.Request Sample Copy Of This Report:Vaccines aid in control and prevention of viral and bacterial disease. Vaccines for infectious disease has large impact on reducing disease incidence and burden of vaccine preventable disease. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2013, around 226,000 people are hospitalized every year and between 3,000 and 49,000 people die due to influenza and its complications. The global efforts to tackle infectious disease by better surveillance and immunization system enhanced effectiveness of the immunization program.For instance, according to World Health Organization (WHO), incidence of polio are decreased by 99% as of 2018 as compare to 1988, attributed to global initiatives for polio eradication by public and private organizations. Furthermore, increasing government initiative to strengthen immunization program are expected to augment the growth of disease control and prevention vaccine market. For instance, in 2017, Minister of Health from 194 countries endorsed Global Vaccine Action Plan to prevent millions of death through more access to vaccine by 2020. Moreover, manufacturers are focusing on the developing new vaccine with better safety and immunity for the disease at low cost.The global disease control and prevention vaccine market is projected to witness significant growth over the forecast period, owing to rapid advancements in technology for development of novel vaccines such as recombinant and cell-based technologies, resulting in increasing production of the vaccines. For instance, in 2018, collaboration between Austrian biotech Themis Bioscience and Oslo-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEIP). CEIP will fund US$ 37.5 million for vaccine development for five years.Moreover, governmental bodied supports the research and development program leading to the development of improved form of presently available vaccines. For instance, in 2015, a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease scientists engineered a protein to maintain the specific shape of the viral spike, stimulating the immune system to produce powerful anti-HIV antibodies. However, manufacturing cost as well as large gap between demand and supply leading to hike in pricing is expected to hinder the growth of disease control and prevention vaccination market.Ask for customization:Detailed Segmentation:Global Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Market, By Product Type:Live-attenuated VaccinesInactivated VaccinesRecombinant VaccinesToxoid VaccinesGlobal Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Market, By Type:Monovalent VaccineMultivalent VaccineGlobal Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Market, By Route of Administration:OralInjectableGlobal Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Market, By Age Group:PediatricAdultsGlobal Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Market, By Indication:Infectious DiseaseCancerOther IndicationAbout Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.1001 4th Ave,, #3200, Seattle, WA 98154 New Energy Vehicle Power Electronics Industry 2019-2025: Market Growth, Technology Impact, New Innovation, Development Trends, Top Companies Study (Bosch, BYD, Continental, Delphi, Delta Electronics, Denso, Infineon etc.) New Energy Vehicle Power Electronics market https://www.orianresearch.com/request-sample/793854 https://www.orianresearch.com/enquiry-before-buying/793854 https://www.orianresearch.com/checkout/793854 www.orianresearch.com/ www.linkedin.com/company-beta/13281002/ Global New Energy Vehicle Power Electronics Market Research Report 2019 analysis is provided for global market including development trends by regions, competitive analysis of market. This New Energy Vehicle Power Electronics market report offers detailed perceptions on the market dynamic forces to enable informed business decision making and development strategy formulation supported on the opportunities present in the market. The report provides the most up-to-date industry data on the actual and potential market situation, and future outlook.Get Sample Copy atMarket OverviewFirstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, applications and manufacturing technology. Then, the report explores the international major industry players in detail. In this part, the report presents the company profile, product specifications, capacity, production value, and market shares for each company. Through the statistical analysis, the report depicts the global market of Router industry including capacity, production, production value, cost/profit, supply/demand and import/export. Revenue and gross margin by regions (North America, EU, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India) and other regions can be added.Inquire more or share questions if any before the purchase on this report @No. of Pages: 109The report focuses on Global New Energy Vehicle Power Electronics Market major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. What's more, the New Energy Vehicle Power Electronics industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered. In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Key Companies Analyzed in this Report are: Bosch BYD Continental Delphi Delta Electronics Denso Infineon Semikron Meidensha Toshiba Mitsubishi Electric JEE Automation Hyundai Market segment by Type, the product can be split into Battery Management System (BMS) On-Board Charger Inverter Vehicle Control Unit (VCU)/Hybrid Control Unit (HCU) Pedestrian Detection System OthersOn the basis of the end users/applications can be split into Hybrid Electric Vehicles Electric VehiclesOrder a copy of Global New Energy Vehicle Power Electronics Market Report 2019 @Major Points Covered in Table of Contents:1 New Energy Vehicle Power Electronics Market Overview2 Global New Energy Vehicle Power Electronics Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Complementary DNA Microarrays (cDNA4 Global New Energy Vehicle Power Electronics Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2019)5 Global New Energy Vehicle Power Electronics Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global New Energy Vehicle Power Electronics Market Analysis by Application7 Global New Energy Vehicle Power Electronics Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 New Energy Vehicle Power Electronics Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global New Energy Vehicle Power Electronics Market Forecast (2019-2025)13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixAbout UsOrian Research is one of the most comprehensive collections of market intelligence reports on the World Wide Web. Our reports repository boasts of over 500000+ industry and country research reports from over 100 top publishers. We continuously update our repository so as to provide our clients easy access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on global industries, companies, and products. We also specialize in custom research in situations where our syndicate research offerings do not meet the specific requirements of our esteemed clients.Contact Us:Ruwin MendezVice President Global Sales & Partner RelationsOrian Research ConsultantsUS +1 (415) 830-3727 | UK +44 020 8144-71-27Email: info@orianresearch.comWebsite:Follow Us on LinkedIn: Blepharitis Market Size, Share with Topmost Players like InSite Vision Incorporated, NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Scope Ophthalmics Ltd, Thea Pharmaceuticals Limited, Perrigo Laboratories, Galderma S.A., Etc Blepharitis Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5766 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/blepharitis-market-5766 Blepharitis Market Research Report Type Anterior Blepharitis, Posterior Blepharitis, Mixed Blepharitis Treatment Eye Cleansers, Antibiotic Therapy Diagnosis Physical Examination End User Hospitals, Specialty Centers Global forecast till 2023Blepharitis Market - Key PlayersSome of the key players in the Blepharitis market are Scope Ophthalmics Ltd, InSite Vision Incorporated, NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Thea Pharmaceuticals Limited, Perrigo Laboratories, Merck & Co., Galderma S.A., and Novartis AG.Blepharitis Market - SegmentationThe Global Blepharitis market is segmented on the basis of type, treatment, diagnosis, and end user.On the basis of type, the market is segmented into anterior Blepharitis, posterior Blepharitis, and mixed Blepharitis.Request Free Sample Report atOn the basis of treatment, the market is segmented into eye cleansers, artificial tears, and antibiotic therapy. Antibiotic therapy segment is further sub-segmented into topical antibiotic therapy and oral antibiotic therapy.On the basis of diagnosis, the market is segmented into physical examination, comprehensive eye examination, and others.On the basis of the end user, the market is segmented into specialty centers, hospitals, and others.Blepharitis Market - HighlightsBlepharitis is an ophthalmologic disorder which causes inflammation of the eyelids that leads to eye irritation. It is a common eye disorder that is caused by either bacteria or a skin condition like dandruff from the scalp or overproduction of oil from the glands of the eyelids.Global Blepharitis Market is expected to grow a healthy growth at a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period.Blepharitis Market - Regional AnalysisThe Americas dominate the global blepharitis market owing to the rising ophthalmological disorders, such as dry eye, uveitis among others and increasing awareness among mass regarding eye care. Additionally, competitiveness among the major players in the North America region is likely to enhance the growth of blepharitis in the North American region. Similarly, growing initiatives and fundings along with demand for newer technologies are propelling the growth of blepharitis market in North America region. For instance, eye care programs such as Eye Care America and VISION USA aims to provide free eye examinations to eligible and uninsured people in the North American region.Europe accounts for the second largest market due to increasing aging mass and rising rates of eye disorders. Additionally, improving government initiatives and increasing healthcare frame along with rising demand for technologically innovative treatment is driving the growth of blepharitis market in Europe. For instance, Eurostat estimated that over 19.2% of the population in Europe were aged 65 and above. Additionally, according to the United Kingdom Statistics Authority, around 121,736 eye examinations were performed under Eye Health Examinations Wales (EHEW) scheme. This rising older population and increasing government initiatives are likely to drive the growth of the blepharitis market.Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market for blepharitis as it is developing at a very rapid pace and has shown the emergence of many players. Additionally, rising prevalence of ophthalmological disorders, increasing healthcare expenditure and demand for new treatment options along with multinational companies moving towards the developing nations and setting operational set-ups are likely to drive the growth of the market. India and China are the major contributors to the market growth due to the rapid development of healthcare infrastructure in these regions and increasing demand for improved healthcare services.On the other hand, the Middle East & Africa is expected to witness limited growth due to limited access and lack of awareness among the population. In the Middle East, the growth of the market is driven by increasing availability of advanced healthcare scenario.Browse Complete 100 Pages Premium Research Report Enabled with 64 Respective Tables and Figures at1 Report Prologue2 Market Introduction3 Research Methodology4 Market Dynamics5 Market Factor Analysis6 Global Blepharitis Market, By Type7 Global Blepharitis Market, By Diagnosis8 Global Blepharitis Market, By Treatment9 Global Blepharitis Market, By End-User10 Global Blepharitis Market, By Region11 Company Landscape12 Company Profiles13 MRFR Conclusion14 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.Contact Us:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Last week one of the Sri Lankan journalists, Rahul Samantha Hettiarchchi from Hambantota, whom I have worked with for a long time, had the worst type of experience in byline theft. Hettiarchchi, who is a pioneer in the use of the Right to Information Act for his reporting had just submitted a month-long investigative story on Minister Sajith Premadasa. When the story appeared, he was in for a rude shock above his byline was that of a staffer from Colombo! A livid Hettiarchchi, called the newspaper editor and the journalist with whom now he reluctantly shared a byline. Both were conciliatory, the former apologized and the latter feigned ignorance on the double byline. What Facebook did was something that could not have been done without it Social media allows for news, gossip, rumour, opinion, insults, almost anything to be posted It is Hettiarchchis next step that is of interest to the gamut of this column. He took his grievances on to Facebook. His complaint was taken over by colleagues and friends. What Facebook did was something that could not have been done without it. If Hettiarchchis complaint had been limited to those phone calls and a letter, only those within those circles would have known about it. But with Facebook, not only did this unethical act became well-known; but so were the culprits name and shame are now more effective. What mainstream legacy media generally holds back, sometimes due to a sense of archaic attitude but more often due to advertising and political pressure, social media outs without much fuss. Soon after the arrest of Makandure Madush, all kinds of rumours began swirling about his connections to politicians. Soon enough, Facebook posts and Instagram memes began to pop up on these. On at least one occasion, an MP thought it fit to counter those allegations on Facebook from the floor of the parliament. Now there is even a retort to his parliamentary speech. By weeks end, the original post had been shared over 1500 times and the rejoinder 900 times. Yesterday the lead story in an English newspaper was all on these allegations. Another example of how potent social media has become is when Minister Harsha de Silva posted a picture of a billboard of the opening of a new public swimming pool with his face on it. That post generated some major blowback and some hilarious memes. De Silva later ordered the billboard to be changed announcing that he had taken note of public criticism of his actions. His picture was taken off, but those memes have not vanished. Without social media and those reactions, it is unlikely that minister de Silva would have got to know about the deep felt public apathy for such stunts, in such a quick time or in such volume. One click, and anybody can now make anybody else, including ministers aware of how they feel. When worms were discovered in some food served at Colombos newest food court, the video went viral and the management was quick to take action. For such a complaint to get onto legacy media, it would have taken far longer Another example, but this one showing the negative side of social media is the video of a young womans suicidal rant. This would never have been put on any legacy media, but has made it on to Facebook, posted by the woman herself. It has racked up over 473,000 views and 6,500 shares. Another video of similar strain by the same person had been watched over 65,000 times. That is half a million views and counting of a love story gone horribly wrong. Whether such videos should be allowed to circulate in public domain is the big question. And also, whether Facebook, which is by far the most accessed social media forum in Sri Lanka is capable of monitoring such content coming in Sinhala. All the above posts were in Sinhala, which goes on to show that part of the attraction and popularity of Facebook is linked to how easily it supports vernacular posts. Social media seems to be the first recourse now. When worms were discovered in some food served at Colombos newest food court, the video went viral and the management was quick to take action. For such a complaint to get onto legacy media, it would have taken far longer. There is also no guarantee that advertising or other pressures would have culled the video. Social media allows for news, gossip, rumour, opinion, insults, almost anything to be posted. On a positive note, it creates for divergent views that could otherwise be kept out of public domain and resists censorship. On the other side, the same lack of gatekeepers allows for fake news, misinformation, rumour, innuendo and personal attacks to be made accessible to millions. User discretion is paramount. The author is the Asia-Pacific Coordinator for the DART Centre for Journalism and Trauma, a project of the Columbia Journalism School Carbon Fiber Market By Raw Material , Type , Form Analysis And Industry Forecast To 2022 | Key Players Toray Industries Inc., Sgl Group, Hexcel Corporation , Cytec Industries Inc. , Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd., Hyosung Carbon Fiber https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/request-sample/1051324?utm_source=op&utm_medium=Srbh https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/1051324?utm_source=op&utm_medium=Srbh https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/request-for-discount/1051324?utm_source=op&utm_medium=Srbh Fibers Consisting Of 92% Or Greater Carbon Weight Are Known As Carbon Fiber, Which Offers Properties Such As Light Weightiness, Elasticity, Stiffness, Strength, High Temperature Resistance, High Damping Properties, And Chemical Inertness. The Global Carbon Fiber Market Was Valued At $1, 980 Million In 2015, And Is Anticipated To Reach $4, 650 Million By 2022, Growing At A Cagr Of 11.1% During The Forecast Period. In Terms Of Volume, The Market Is Anticipated To Reach 143 Kilotons By 2022, Growing At A Cagr Of 13.0%. It Is Segmented Based On Raw Material, Type, Form, End-Use Industry, And Geography. The Demand For Carbon Fiber Has Increased Owing To Its Increased Use In Wind Turbines, Automotive, Sailing/Yacht Building,Get Sample Copy Of This Report @Marine, And Aerospace & Defense Industry.Based On The Raw Material, The Market Is Bifurcated Into Pan-Based And Pitch-Based & Rayon-Based Carbon Fiber. Pan-Based Carbon Fiber Segment Is Projected To Grow At The Highest Cagr In The Future. Based On The Type, The Market Is Divided Into Continuous, Long, And Short Carbon Fibers. Continuous Carbon Fiber Dominated The Market In 2015, And Is Also Projected To Register The Highest Growth Rate. Aerospace & Defense, Sports/Leisure, Wind Turbines, Molding Compounds, Automotive, Pressure Vessels, Civil Engineering, Marine, Pultrusion Misc., Misc.Consumer, And Sailing/Yacht Building Are The Various End-Use Industries For This Market. Aerospace & Defense Segment Was The Largest Revenue Contributor In 2015, Whereas The Wind Turbine Segment Is Projected To Witness The Highest Cagr. Increased Penetration Of Carbon Fiber In The Automotive Industry And Rise In Demand For Carbon Fiber In Aerospace & Defense Sector Drive The Market Growth. However, The Growth Of Carbon Fiber Market Is Restricted Owing To Its High Prices & Unavailability.Geographically, The Market Is Analyzed Across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, And Lamea. North America Led The Market, Both In Terms Of Value & Volume, In 2015, Due To The Presence Of Major Carbon Fiber Suppliers And Manufacturers. It Is Also Projected To Register The Highest Demand For Carbon Fiber, Owing To The Increased Demand From Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Wind Turbine, And Sports/Leisure Industries.The Companies Profiled In The Report Are As Follows:Toray Industries Inc., Sgl Group, Hexcel Corporation , Cytec Industries Inc. , Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd., Hyosung , Teijin Limited , Dowaksa , Ojsc "Svetlogorskkhimvolokno" , Nippon Graphite Fiber CorporationKey Market BenefitsThe Report Provides An In-Depth Analysis Of The Current Trends, Drivers, And Dynamics Of The Global Carbon Fiber Market To Elucidate The Prevailing Opportunities And The Probable Investment Pockets. It Offers Qualitative Trends As Well As Quantitative Analysis From 2014 To 2022 To Assist The Stakeholders To Understand The Market Scenario. A Detailed Analysis Of The Key Segments Demonstrates The Consumption Of Carbon Fiber In Different Applications Across Various Industries. Competitive Intelligence Highlights The Business Practices, Strategies, And Developments Followed By Key Business Players Across The Geographies.Get Purchase Inquiry @Carbon Fiber Market Key SegmentsBy Raw Material Pan-Based Carbon Fiber Pitch-Based & Rayon-Based Carbon FiberBy Type Continuous Carbon Fiber Long Carbon Fiber Short Carbon FiberBy Form Composite Non-CompositeBy End-User Industry Aerospace & Defense Sports/Leisure Wind Turbines Molding & Compounds Automotive Pressure Vessels Civil Engineering Marine Pultrusion Misc. Misc. Consumer Sailing/Yacht Building Others (Misc. Energy, Oil & Gas, Medical And Industrial Rollers)By Geography North America Europe Asia-Pacific LameaOther Key Players in the Market Value Chain Include The Following: Formosa Plastic Corporation Bluestar Fiber Company Ltd.*The Above List Of Companies Is Not Profiled, But Can Be Profiled Based On Client Request.Get Purchase Discount @About Us:Big Market Research has a range of research reports from various publishers across the world.Our database of reports of various market categories and sub-categories would help to find the exact report you may be looking for.We are instrumental in providing quantitative and qualitative insights on your area of interest by bringing reports from various publishers at one place to save your time and money. A lot of organizations across the world are gaining profits and great benefits from information gained through reports sourced by us.Contact Us:5933 NE Win Sivers Drive, #205, Portland,OR 97220 United StatesDirect: +1-971-202-1575Toll Free: +1-800-910-6452E-mail help@bigmarketresearch.com EV Charging Station and Charging Pile Market 2019-2025 | Global Demand, Technology, Innovation & Top Manufactures Research (TGOOD, Aotexun, Shanghai Xundao, Nanjing Lvzhan Beijing Huashang, Surpass Sun, BYD etc.) EV Charging Station and Charging Pile market https://www.orianresearch.com/request-sample/793877 https://www.orianresearch.com/enquiry-before-buying/793877 https://www.orianresearch.com/checkout/793877 www.orianresearch.com/ www.linkedin.com/company-beta/13281002/ Global EV Charging Station and Charging Pile Market Research Report 2019 analysis is provided for the global market including development trends by regions, competitive analysis of the market. This EV Charging Station and Charging Pile market report offers detailed perceptions on the market dynamic forces to enable informed business decision making and development strategy formulation supported on the opportunities present in the market. The report provides the most up-to-date industry data on the actual and potential market situation, and future outlook.Get Sample Copy atMarket OverviewFirstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, applications and manufacturing technology. Then, the report explores the international major industry players in detail. In this part, the report presents the company profile, product specifications, capacity, production value, and market shares for each company. Through the statistical analysis, the report depicts the global market of the Router industry including capacity, production, production value, cost/profit, supply/demand, and import/export. Revenue and gross margin by regions (North America, EU, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India) and other regions can be added.Inquire more or share questions if any before the purchase on this report @No. of Pages: 103The report focuses on Global EV Charging Station and Charging Pile Market major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture, and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment, and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. What's more, the EV Charging Station and Charging Pile industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered. In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Key Companies Analyzed in this Report are: TGOOD Aotexun Shanghai Xundao Nanjing Lvzhan Beijing Huashang Surpass Sun BYD Zhejiang Wanma Hepu Titans Shanghai Potevio XJ Group Market segment by Type, the product can be split into Slow AC Fast AC Fast DCOn the basis of the end users/applications can be split into Home Office CommercialOrder a copy of Global EV Charging Station and Charging Pile Market Report 2019 @Major Points Covered in Table of Contents:1 EV Charging Station and Charging Pile Market Overview2 Global EV Charging Station and Charging Pile Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Complementary DNA Microarrays (cDNA4 Global EV Charging Station and Charging Pile Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2019)5 Global EV Charging Station and Charging Pile Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global EV Charging Station and Charging Pile Market Analysis by Application7 Global EV Charging Station and Charging Pile Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 EV Charging Station and Charging Pile Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global EV Charging Station and Charging Pile Market Forecast (2019-2025)13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixAbout UsOrian Research is one of the most comprehensive collections of market intelligence reports on the World Wide Web. Our reports repository boasts of over 500000+ industry and country research reports from over 100 top publishers. We continuously update our repository so as to provide our clients easy access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on global industries, companies, and products. We also specialize in custom research in situations where our syndicate research offerings do not meet the specific requirements of our esteemed clients.Contact Us:Ruwin MendezVice President Global Sales & Partner RelationsOrian Research ConsultantsUS +1 (415) 830-3727 | UK +44 020 8144-71-27Email: info@orianresearch.comWebsite:Follow Us on LinkedIn: Global Database Security Market SWOT Analysis to 2025 Lead By IBM, Oracle, Mcafee, Trustwave, HEXATIER, Fortinet, CA, Symantec, Protegrity and Thales e-security Global Database Security Market http://bit.ly/2RowFit http://bit.ly/2RiiKu8 The Database Security market research report offers a detailed overview of the industry including both qualitative and quantitative information. It also provides market size and forecast till 2025 for overall Database Security market with respect to five major regions, namely; North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South America (SAM). The market by each region is later sub-segmented by respective countries and segments. The report covers the analysis and forecast of 16 countries globally along with the current trend and opportunities prevailing in the region.Some of the key players influencing the market are IBM CORPORATION, Oracle, Mcafee, Trustwave, HEXATIER, Fortinet, CA Technologies, Symantec, Protegrity and Thales e-security among others.Get Sample PDF Copy@Exponentially increasing penetration of connected devices has raised the instances of data generation, which in response have increased the population of database worldwide. The database over the period has become a very critical asset of businesses as through these databases the companies proactively derive the knowledge for smart decision making. At the same time, the cyber world has also raised the concern for almost every aspect related to the data. The ability of the companies like IBM and Microsoft to provide the solutions for database security has encouraged various other software security companies to enter the database security market. The trend is therefore expected to significantly drive the growth of the database security market in the coming years.The report aims to provide an overview of the global Database Security market with detailed market segmentation by component, deployment model, business function, end-user and geography. The global Database Security market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period. The report includes key statistics on the market status of the leading market players and offers key trends and opportunities in the market.Besides this, the report analyzes factors affecting Database Security market from both demand and supply side and further evaluates market dynamics affecting the market during the forecast period i.e., drivers, restraints, opportunities and future trend. The report also provides exhaustive PEST analysis for all five regions considered in the Global Database Security Market report. Also, key Database Security market players influencing the market are profiled in the study along with their SWOT analysis and market strategies. The report also focuses on leading industry players with information such as company profiles, products and services offered, financial information for the last 3 years, a key development in the past five years.Ask For Discount@About Us:The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Automotive and Defense.Contact Us:The Insight Partners533, 5th Floor, Amanora Chambers,Amanora Township, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028sales@theinsightpartners.com Cell Cycle Analysis Market Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2019 2023 Cell Cycle Analysis Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/673 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/cell-cycle-analysis-market-673 MRFR is the Leading Brand in The Research Company who Recently Published Cell Cycle Analysis Market Research Reports which includes Study of growth, Regional Analysis, Top Industry Players Formation, Major Drivers, Upcoming Trends and Forecast to 2023.Global Cell Cycle Analysis Market - OverviewCell cycle analysis is commonly used in biomedical research studies and clinical diagnosis. It helps in distinguishing cells that are in different phases of cell cycle and used to determine the cellular response to biological stimulations and various drug. Cell cycle analysis traditionally carried out though the sensitive fluorescence detection methods such as flow cytometry and laser scanning cytometry. The growing awareness and the increased adoption of the cell cycle analysis instruments among the research and academic institutes has upsurged the growth of the market.The global cell cycle analysis market is growing at a very reasonable pace. According to a recent study report published by the Market Research Future, The global cell cycle analysis market is booming and expected to gain prominence over the forecast period growing rapidly. The market is forecasted to demonstrate a spectacular growth by 2021, surpassing its previous growth records in terms of value with a prominent CAGR during the anticipated period (2017 2023).Get Sample Copy @The cell cycle analysis market is expected to grow at high growth rate due to corporate & government support in cell-based researches, high prevalence of chronic genetic diseases, growing healthcare industry and increasing medical spending, rising incidence of cancer, and technologically advancements. However, high prices of automated cell cycle analysis instruments, and reluctance among researchers to use advanced cell cycle analysis techniques may restrict the growth of this market. Furthermore, the instruments used in cell cycle analysis are relatively expensive, and large in size. It also requires a considerable amount of maintenance, which is less likely to be feasible for small research groups. Hence, it is difficult for the small research group to access to this equipment when required quick diagnostic results on site. Also, reluctance among researchers to use advanced cell cycle analysis techniques is another growth barrier for the market.Global Cell Cycle Analysis Market - Competitive AnalysisBecton, Dickinson and Company (U.S.), Merck & Co., Inc. (U.S.), Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (U.S.), Danaher Corporation (U.S.), GE Healthcare (UK), Agilent Technologies, Inc. (U.S.), Olympus Corporation (Japan), PerkinElmer, Inc. (U.S.), Promega Corporation (U.S.), Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (U.S.), Miltenyi Biotech (Germany), and Nexcelom Bioscience LLC. (U.S.) are some of the prominent players at the forefront of competition in the Global Cell Cycle Analysis Market and are profiled in MRFR Analysis.The market for cell cycle analysis is characterised by the presence of several well-established and small players, the global market of cell cycle analysis appears to be highly competitive and fragmented. Global players are increasingly expanding their footprint in the emerging nations, making it putting pressure on the regional players, especially in terms of features such as type, product portfolios, and pricing. The market is witnessing intensified competition which is expected to get more intensified further during the forecast period. These players possess state of art manufacturing facilities and strong sales and distribution network which have helped them to gain leadership position in the market.For instance, companies like in March 2016, Thermo Fisher has completed its anticipated acquisition of Affymetrix. This will give Thermo Fisher an expanded antibody portfolio that will strengthens its leadership in the biosciences space, as well as new genetic analysis capabilities to better serve clinical and applied markets.Moreover, in April 2016, Genomix Nutrition also acquired San Antonio Nutrigenomic laboratory for genetic testing. This acquisition will help the company to deliver quicker test results to patients. It will also improve operational efficiencies, ensuring that the companys nutrigenomic tests remain affordable and accessible to patients and providers.Additionally, September 2017, Miltenyi Biotec has launched MACSQuant X a benchtop instrument that gives you all the flexibility and is easy to use. It is a new product in field of fully automated high-throughput flow cytometry analysis.Furthermore, in September 2016, Nexcelom Bioscience, a leading provider of cell counting and analysis products for biomedical research and the biopharma industry, has released the addition of a 5th channel available as an option on the Celigo image cytometer. This will help the company to strengthen its market share in the global market.Therefore, the growing innovations in the field of cell cycle analysis and rising launches of various the competitive products by the major players has spurred the growth of the market.Browse Full Reports @About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Growing Industry of Manuka Honey Market will reach 1200 million USD | Top key Manufacturer - Comvita, Manuka Health, Arataki Honey, Watson & Son, Streamland, Pure Honey New Zealand | Forecast till 2023 Manuka Honey Market https://www.businessindustryreports.com/sample-request/134348 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/check-discount/134348 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/buy-now/134348/single The Manuka Honey Market has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, Manuka Honey market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of 23.70% from 280.00 million $ in 2015 to 530.00 million $ in 2018, analysts believe that the next few years, Manuka Honey market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2023 , The market size of the Manuka Honey will reach 1200 million $.Get a Premium Sample Report atImprove your beauty and honey facials are to rejuvenate your skin. Find out the way the use of honey confront gel can help you to reap the benefits of honey without the mess that comes together with it. No real surprise that honey was used since 1000's of years for rejuvenating and healing skin due to its properties. It's rich in special enzymes and anti-oxidants that aren't found in any other natural ingredients. Possibly the kind of honey is Active Manuka honey. It is found in New Zealand in its own form and has the quantity of healing capacities, which is called the manuka element that was distinctive.It plays a wonderful role in antiaging and skin rejuvenation when utilized as Honey facial in the shape of Manuka honey face gel. It revitalizes skin cells with that excite the immunity system and nutrients. This assists in protection against free radicals which are the cause of aging. Manuka honey face gel helps in the creation of collagen fibers that are stronger. 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Find out more of such amazing natural ingredients which you should appear out for in the very best honey facials, in order that you could achieve a young, beautiful and glowing skin.Major Table of Content1 Global Manuka Honey Market Research Report 20192 Global Manuka Honey Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Manuka Honey Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2019 )4 Global Manuka Honey Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2019 )5 Global Manuka Honey Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global Manuka Honey Market Analysis by Application7 Global Manuka Honey Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 Manuka Honey Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Manuka Honey Market Forecast (2019 -2023 )13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixPurchased this report online with 125 Pages and List of figures and table atAbout usBusinessindustryReports.com is the 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 Paints And Coatings Market In Construction By Size, Share, Trends, Demand, Analysis And Forecast To 2020 By Top Key Players BASF SE, Axalta Coatings System, Sherwin-Williams Company, PPG Industries Paints And Coatings https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/request-toc-and-sample/22836?utm_source=op&utm_medium=Srbh https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/22836?utm_source=op&utm_medium=Srbh https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/request-for-discount/22836?utm_source=op&utm_medium=Srbh Construction Paints and Coatings are paints and varnish materials such as powder and liquid. These materials are used in construction and buildings to decorate and protect various surfaces. Construction Paints and Coatings increase the resistance of the various surfaces and prevent the surface from rust and weathering. This protected layer results in raised aesthetics of the construction & buildings and makes the surface more durable. Construction Paints and Coatings have architectural applications such as commercial windows, building panels, curtain walls, etc. It is also used for powder coatings in aviation, and automotive sectors.Get Sample Copy Of This Report @Construction Paints and Coatings market is driven by the factors such as increased activities in civil construction and due to high demand for efficient paints. These paints act as protective layers for buildings and prevent the building from corrosion, dampness and damages due to extreme weather conditions. However, the major limitation of the construction paints and coatings market is the stringent regulations of environmental protection due to which there are less number of approved chemicals present in the market. Rising practice of green buildings and products such as nano-coatings, green coating, etc., offers lot of opportunities for the growth of the market.Construction Paints and Coatings Application Market AnalysisConstruction Paints and Coatings application market is segment into residential, commercial, medical & healthcare, automotives & aviation and others (Special Products, other industries, etc). Automotives & aviation segment is the largest revenue generating segment due to high demand for efficient operations in maintenance such as paint hangers, de-icing facilities, MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) heavy and line maintenance facilities, etc.Construction Paints and Coatings geography market analysisConstruction Paints and Coatings geography market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and RoW. Asia Pacific is the dominating segment of this market due to rising growth in aviations & automotive industry.Competitive LandscapeThe key strategies adopted by the companies to expand in the construction paints and coatings market are product launch, mergers & acquisitions and agreements & collaborations. These strategies would help in gaining competitive advantages and expansion of the market.The companies profiled in this report : BASF SE, Axalta Coatings System, Sherwin-Williams Company, PPG Industries, AkzoNobel N.V.High Level AnalysisThe report analyzes various macro environments of the construction paints and coatings market using porters analysis. According to porters analysis, the bargaining power of the supplier is high due to high cost of switching. The bargaining power of buyer is low due to the specialized products of construction paints and coatings market and threat of substitute is low due to unavailability of alternate products.Get Purchase Inquiry @Key Benefits The study helps to analyze the construction paints and coatings market trends to provide in-depth understanding of the entire market segment and thus, helps the market players to make strategic decisions To find out various regulations that result in lack of differential products. In addition, segmental analysis is also done to identify the largest revenue generating segment To study the various factors that are enhancing and restraining the growth of the market that would help the players in deeply understanding the market Analysis of environmental factors that would create opportunities for the growth of the market Analysis of the captivating strategies adopted by the players in the market is conducted and that would help in assisting the stakeholders to take actionable decisions To find out the recent trends of the construction paints and coatings market and opportunities that would open doors for the investors to participate in the market, which in turn would help in the enlargement and expansion of market.Key Market SegmentConstruction Paints and Coatings market is segmented based on product, applications and geographies.Market by Products Solvent-borne Technologies Water-borne Coating Power Coating High Solids/ Radiation Cure Others (Specialty Coatings)Market by Applications Residential Commercial Medical & Healthcare Automotives & Aviation Others (Special Products, other industries, etc)Market by Geography North America Europe Asia-Pacific RoWGet Purchase Discount @About Us:Big Market Research has a range of research reports from various publishers across the world.Our database of reports of various market categories and sub-categories would help to find the exact report you may be looking for.We are instrumental in providing quantitative and qualitative insights on your area of interest by bringing reports from various publishers at one place to save your time and money. A lot of organizations across the world are gaining profits and great benefits from information gained through reports sourced by us.Contact Us:5933 NE Win Sivers Drive, #205, Portland,OR 97220 United Statescall answer Direct:+1-971-202-1575call answer Toll Free:+1-800-910-6452email help@bigmarketresearch.com Breast Pumps Market Outlook 2019 2026 Analysis By Top Key Players meda AG, Ardo, Babybelle, Bailey Medical, Beldico, Linco Baby Merchandise Works, Freemie, Medela AG, Koninklijke Philips and Willow Breast Pumps Market Outlook 2019 2026 https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/download-sample/?rid=5478&utm_source=OPR&utm_medium=Amol https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/ask-for-discount/?rid=5478&utm_source=OPR&utm_medium=Amol https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/product/global-breast-pumps-market-size-and-forecast-to-2025/?utm_source=OPR&utm_medium=Amol The Worldwide Breast Pumps Market was valued at USD 0.99 Billion in 2018 and is projected to reach USD 1.30 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 3.5% from 2019 to 2026Verified Market Research recently launched the Global Breast Pumps Market study with market data Tables, Pie Chat, Graphs & Figures spread through Pages and easy to understand detailed analysis. 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Additionally, the report also highlights market entry strategies for various companies across the globe.Get | Download FREE Sample Copy of This Report Now with Detailed Toc and Charts & Tables @Breast Pumps Market Leading Key Players: meda AG Ardo Babybelle Bailey Medical Beldico Linco Baby Merchandise Works Freemie Medela AG Koninklijke Philips NV WillowGlobal Breast Pumps Market Segmentation, by Product Open System Breast Pump Closed System Breast PumpGlobal Breast Pumps Market Segmentation, by Technology Electric Breast Pumpo Single Electric Breast Pumpo Double Electric Breast Pump Manual Breast PumpGlobal Breast Pumps Market Segmentation, by End user Hospital Home CareGlobal Breast Pumps Market Geographic Scope North Americao U.S.o Canadao Mexico Europeo Germanyo UKo Franceo Rest of Europe Asia Pacifico Chinao Japano Indiao Rest of Asia Pacific Latin Americao Brazil Rest of the WorldAsk For Discount @Worldwide Breast Pumps Market Analysis to 2025 is a specialized and in-depth study of the Breast Pumps industry with a focus on the global market trend. 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The report also focuses on leading industry players with information such as company profiles, products and services offered, financial information of last 3 years, key development in past five years.Table Of Content Introduction Of The Global Breast Pumps Executive Summary Research Methodology Of Verified Market Intelligence The Global Breast Pumps Outlook The Global Breast Pumps, By Systems The Global Breast Pumps, By Service The Global Breast Pumps, By Verticals The Global Breast Pumps, By Applications The Global Breast Pumps, By Geography The Global Breast Pumps Competitive LandscapeComplete Report is Available @Reason to Buy- Save and reduce time carrying out entry-level research by identifying the growth, size, leading players and segments in the global Breast Pumps market- Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies.- The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the Breast Pumps market, thereby allowing players to develop effective long term strategies.- Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets.- Scrutinize in-depth global market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it.- Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to products, segmentation and industry verticals.About Us:Verified Market Research' has been providing Research Reports, with up to date information, and in-depth analysis, for several years now, to individuals and companies alike that are looking for accurate Research Data. Our aim is to save your Time and Resources, providing you with the required Research Data, so you can only concentrate on Progress and Growth. Our Data includes research from various industries, along with all necessary statistics like Market Trends, or Forecasts from reliable sources.Contact Us:Mr. AnkushCall: +1 (650) 781 4080Email: sales@verifiedmarketresearch.com Smart Hospitality Market Size, Share and Forecast 2017-2025 | NEC Enterprise Solutions, Samsung, CONTROL4 Corporation, Peach Technologies Ltd https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/7568 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/toc/7568 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/checkout?rep_id=7568&licType=S http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ The Latest Research Report "Smart Hospitality Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.bizSmart hospitality enables hotels to enhance their guest experience and increase revenue with digital In-room entertainment systems. Various hospitality brands are able to customize and personalize both their back-end solutions and those that enable a more notable experience for the traveler. Smart Hospitality provides HD free-to-guest channels, Interactive TV, IPTV services and Wi-Fi for hotels. It helps in improving customer experience and satisfaction. Smart hospitality includes smart hotels that uses innovative and new technologies to cater to guests. When it comes to the construction of these next generation hotels however, an important but unseen smart revolution is taking place in the building process itself. For instance, various contractors are teaming up with various tech companies to build smarter, better hotels in lower cost and less time. BIM (Building Information Modeling) Technology is at the heart of the hotel construction revolution, and also one of the most auspicious technological advancement in the architecture, engineering and construction industry.Smart hospitality market is expected to grow due to increasing adoption of the smart hospitality services and technology by various companies in the hospitality domain. Implementing smart hospitality technology could improve customer impressions and satisfaction. Many companies are providing variety of smart hospitality solutions and technology, which facilitate different needs of the customers. Some of these technologies are very innovative, such as those that allow easy check-in options for hoteliers. For instance, a company named StayNtouch provides guest-facing PMS overlay. This allows the front desk to check-in and creates keycards away from the desk. Furthermore, a company named Hospitalityplus offers automation for guest room assignments. Assigning hotel rooms based on category, view, and preference is generally a tedious manual process, however this system allows hotels to deliver assign different room automatically to their customers. Unavoidably, rooms will be oversold, and this enables hotels to arrange which guest will get a room and actively manage customer expectations prior to their arrival.Get Sample Copy of this report @Lack of technically skilled personnel or IT department could be the restraining factor for the smart hospitality market. As, skilled personnel can help in successful integration and implementation of technologies in the hotel. For instance, in many hotels there is lack of IT skilled personnel that can provide assistance with respect to smart hospitality features to the customers and aid hotel guest in making use of smart applications available in their room.Increasing usage of Internet of things (IoT) and other innovative technology in the hospitality industry is expected to bring novel opportunities for the smart hospitality market. For instance, different companies such as Starwood and Hilton are offering their guests the ability to unlock their doors with the help of their mobile apps using Bluetooth technology. Using smart hospitality solutions these hotels are increasing their guest satisfaction and lowering down labor costs all by saving time that would otherwise spent at the front desk. Furthermore, knowing that a Facebook user categorizes themselves as married can help Google create more accurate advertising campaigns for that same user on Googles search engine. This individual data can also be used to provide the tailored service to hotel guests to make them feel satisfy and special. For instance, an IoT platform could memorize a guests various comfort preferences and automatically arrange the room for their next stay, which includes lights, temperature, shades and TV channels. The TV could even greet and welcome the guest by name as soon as they walk in the door to make them feel special.The smart hospitality market can be segmented on the basis of solutions, hotel type and region. On the basis of solutions, the smart hospitality market can be segmented as PMS connectivity, BYOD for customers, staff mobility, virtualization & Hosted Delivery, smart display and others. Furthermore, on the basis of hotel type the smart hospitality market can be segmented into resorts, business hotels, heritage hotels and others.Geographically smart hospitality market can be segmented into North America, South America, Asia-pacific, Middle East and South Africa and Europe. North America and Europe are expected to lead due to the technological advancement with respect to smart hospitality sector. However, Asia pacific region is expected to grow at a significant rate due to the widespread adoption of new technologies related to the smart hospitality.Request For TOC Report @Some of the key players in the smart hospitality market are NEC Enterprise Solutions, Samsung, CONTROL4 Corporation, Peach Technologies Ltd, Yelp Inc., Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd, Honeywell International Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Oracle Corp. and more.MRR.BIZ has been compiled in-depth market research data in the report after exhaustive primary and secondary research. Our team of able, experienced in-house analysts has collated the information through personal interviews and study of industry databases, journals, and reputable paid sources.The report provides the following information:Tailwinds and headwinds molding the markets trajectoryMarket segments based on products, technology, and applicationsProspects of each segmentOverall current and possible future size of the marketGrowth pace of the marketCompetitive landscape and key players strategiesThe main aim of the report is to:Enable key stakeholders in the market bet right on itUnderstand the opportunities and pitfalls awaiting themAssess the overall growth scope in the near termStrategize effectively with respect to production and distributionMRR.BIZ is a leading provider of strategic market research. Our vast repository consists research reports, data books, company profiles, and regional market data sheets. We regularly update the data and analysis of a wide-ranging products and services around the world. As readers, you will have access to the latest information on almost 300 industries and their sub-segments. Both large Fortune 500 companies and SMEs have found those useful. This is because we customize our offerings keeping in mind the specific requirements of our clients.Request To PRE BOOK This Premium Report From Here @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Latest Research On Dog Carriers Market 2019-2025 | Estimated By Top Key Players Coastal Pet, Pet Life, Gen7Pets, Stefanplast, K&H Manufacturing, MPS Italian Pet Dog Carriers Market https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/requested_sample/57269 https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/enquiry_before_buying/57269 https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/requested_sample/57269 https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/request_for_discount/57269 www.upmarketresearch.com UpMarketResearch offers a latest published report on Global Dog Carriers Market Analysis and Forecast delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. This report focuses on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability.Request Sample Copy Of This Report @Dog Carriers Market research report delivers a close watch on leading competitors with strategic analysis, micro and macro market trend and scenarios, pricing analysis and a holistic overview of the market situations in the forecast period. This report focuses on the Dog Carriers market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type, segments and application.Dog Carriers Market research report is a professional and a detailed report focusing on primary and secondary drivers, market share, leading segments and geographical analysis. Further, key players, major collaborations, merger & acquisitions along with trending innovation and business policies are reviewed in the report. The report contains basic, secondary and advanced information pertaining to the Dog Carriers Market global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts upto 2025.The scope of the report extends from market scenarios to comparative pricing between major players, cost and profit of the specified market regions. The numerical data is backed up by statistical tools such as SWOT analysis, BCG matrix, SCOT analysis, PESTLE analysis and so on. The statistics are represented in graphical format for a clear understanding on facts and figures.For More Information On This Report, Please VisitThe generated report is firmly based on primary research, interviews with top executives, news sources and information insiders. Secondary research techniques are implemented for better understanding and clarity for data analysis.The report for Dog Carriers market analysis & forecast 2018- 2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.Region- wise Analysis Global Dog Carriers Market covers: North America Europe China Japan India Southeast Asia Other regions (Central & South America, Middle East & Africa)The Major players reported in the market include: Coastal Pet Pet Life Gen7Pets Stefanplast K&H Manufacturing MPS Italian PetGlobal Dog Carriers Market: Product Segment Analysis: Dog Carrier with Wheels Dog Carrier without WheelsGlobal Dog Carriers Market: Application Segment Analysis: Puppy Adult DogRequest for View Summary of this Report @Dog Carriers Market Analysis and Forecast 2018- 2025 report helps the clients to take business decisions and to understand strategies of major players in the industry. The report also calls for market- driven results deriving feasibility studies for client needs. UpMarketResearch ensures qualified and verifiable aspects of market data operating in the real- time scenario. The analytical studies are conducted ensuring client needs with a thorough understanding of market capacities in the real- time scenario.Global Dog Carriers Market: Key Stakeholders: Dog Carriers Manufacturers Dog Carriers Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers Dog Carriers Subcomponent Manufacturers Industry Association Downstream VendorsIn this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Dog Carriers are as follows: History Year: 2013-2017 Base Year: 2017 Estimated Year: 2018 Forecast Year 2018 to 2025Key Reasons to Purchase: To gain insightful analyses of the market and have a comprehensive understanding of the Global Dog Carriers Market Analysis and Forecast 2018- 2025 and its commercial landscape. 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Get in touch with our sales team, who will guarantee you to get a report that suits your necessities.You can also ask for region wise market research report, as below: Dog Carriers - Global Market Status & Trend Report 2013- 2025 Top 20 Countries Data Dog Carriers - North America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Dog Carriers - South America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Dog Carriers - Europe Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Dog Carriers - EMEA Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Dog Carriers - Asia Pacific Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Dog Carriers - China Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Dog Carriers - India Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Dog Carriers - United States Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025About UpMarketResearch:The UpMarketResearch () is a leading distributor of market research report with more than 800+ global clients. 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. At 70% CAGR, North America Beacon Technology Market to reach $8 bn by 2024: Apple, Google, Swirl, Texas Instruments are top key players North America Beacon Technology Market https://www.graphicalresearch.com/request/1121/sample https://www.graphicalresearch.com/request/1121/inquiry-before-buying https://www.graphicalresearch.com/industry-insights/1121/north-america-beacon-technology-market https://www.graphicalresearch.com/ Beacon Technology Market in North America is projected to surpass $8 bn by 2024 and it is attributed to the growing awareness regarding the benefits of proximity marketing among the retail and the healthcare sectors. According to a 2015 study of Canadian consumers awareness about location-based technology conducted by the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA), the consumers are ready to adopt the beacon technology and are over 85% of them are highly aware of its benefits.The Graphical Research report provides a detailed overview on North America Beacon Technology Market based on Platform, Deployment Model, Application, Technology, Industry Size, Share, Growth Trends & Forecast, 2018 2024.Request for a sample of this research report @The Eddystone platform is expected to register an accelerated growth between 2017 and 2024 with an impressive CAGR of over 75%. The platform eliminates the need for native apps by directly leveraging the chrome app on smartphones for offering a contextual mobile experience.The cloud deployment model is projected to exhibit a lucrative growth in the North America beacon technology market over the forecast period with a CAGR of over 85%. The cloud platform allows beacons to be managed remotely. Also, large Bluetooth beacon fleets can be efficiently administered using cloud platform while reducing the overall maintenance cost.The healthcare sector is anticipated to exhibit an accelerated growth between 2017 and 2024, growing at a CAGR of over 85%. Beacons and IoT can be leveraged together to ensure better healthcare security and compliance.Within the hospitals, beacons can be used to monitor staff activities and keep track of the equipment. This can considerably reduce the amount of time spent by the hospital staff in locating and maintaining different equipment.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Some of the key vendors in the North America beacon technology market include Beaconinside, Estimote, Sensorberg, Glimworm Beacons, Kontakt.io, blueSense Networks, Madison Beacons, Gimbal, BlueCats, Apple, Google, Swirl, Texas Instruments, Onyx Beacon, Radius Networks and RECO.Segments We Cover:North America Beacon Technology Market Statistics, By PlatformiBeaconEddystoneAltBeaconNorth America Beacon Technology Market Trends, By Deployment ModelOn-premiseCloudNorth America Beacon Technology Market Growth, By End UseRetailTravel, Tourism, and HospitalityHealthcareFinancial InstitutionsReal-estateEducationBrowse key industry insights from this 2018 report North America Beacon Technology Market in detail @North America Beacon Technology Market Analysis, By TechnologyBLEWi-FiUltrasoundCombined TechnologiesThe above information has been provided for the following countries:U.S.CanadaAbout Graphical Research:Graphical Research is a business research firm that provides industry insights, market forecast and strategic inputs through granular research reports and advisory services. We publish targeted research reports with an aim to address varied customer needs, from market penetration and entry strategies to portfolio management and strategic outlook. We understand that business requirements are unique: our syndicate reports are designed to ensure relevance for industry participants across the value chain. We also provide custom reports that are tailored to the exact needs of the customer, with dedicated analyst support across the purchase lifecycle.Contact Us:Parikhit B.Corporate sales,Graphical ResearchEmail: sales@graphicalresearh.comWeb: Former education minister Bandula Gunawardane today urged President Maithripala Sirisena to suspend the cabinet paper allowing private schools to expand its network by setting up more branches. The cabinet paper, submitted by Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, states that there are 80 government approved private schools under the purview of the ,inistry and that in the event an approved private school seeks permission to expand branches, it could set up a maximum of five branches. It states that this move will help ease the demand for government schools and the prevailing congestion in such schools. MP Bandula Gunawardana told a news conference that if one private school was each allowed to set up five branches, there would be 400 private schools across the country. This is a betrayal of those who cant afford to send their children to private schools and a move to privatise free education. We condemn this move and urge the President to suspend this cabinet paper, he said. He said none of the 80 private schools are monitored by the Education Ministry. These private schools take no notice of the Education Ministry. Once, there was an alleged LTTE fund related incident at a private school in Kandy. We couldnt even send ministry officials to that school to probe the incident as the school refused them entry. I invite the Minister for a public debate with regard to this cabinet paper, he said. (Lahiru Pothmulla) Video by Sanjeewa Network Management Systems (NMS) Market Global Analysis By Key Players BMC Software, Cisco, Extreme Networks, CA Technologies, AppNeta, Accedian, HelpSystems, Ipswitch, Kentik, Micro Focus, NETSCOUT, Nokia, Riverbed Network Management Systems (NMS) Market www.gminsights.com/request-toc/upcoming/2981 www.gminsights.com/roc/2981 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/network-management-systems-nms-market Network Management Systems (NMS) Market is anticipated to grow exponentially over the forecast years led by growing demand for these solutions, enabling network administrators to effectively control, monitor, and troubleshoot fixed & wireless networks from a centralized location. With an increase in the wireless network size and complexities due to the inter-operation of several wireless equipment, operators are facing challenges related to network performance and security. To overcome network-related issues, providers embrace network management solutions that provide them with a consolidated view of networks, enabling easy monitoring of the network performance and increasing productivity. The software also ensures interoperability as companies use NMS tools to control and add features across various devices.Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @Another factor fueling the growth of the NMS market is the explosive growth of data traffic with a surge in smartphone penetration and improved network connectivity. As the increasing volume of data packets in networks reduces the efficiency and predictability of the networks, operators implement NMS to manage network resources more efficiently. The market is also driven by intent-based networking, which incorporates AI and machine learning to automate administrative tasks across a network. With the profound growth of data centers and cloud IoT platforms, the demand for self-managing networks will increase over the forecast timeline, thereby leading to a swift increase in the market growth.Request for customization @The demand for NMS in banks and financial institutions is expected to increase over the forecast period as these institutions have a highly-interconnected network infrastructure to offer a wide range of services to customers. As banks have increasingly become targets for hackers and DoS attacks, it becomes crucial for banking institutions to adopt NMS to monitor the banking systems. To ensure that these institutions are operating more securely and efficiently, IT professionals use these management solutions to increase performance and improve the security of the banks IT infrastructure.North America is expected to hold a major share of the NMS market due to the widespread deployment of management systems to monitor attacks on mission-critical communication networks. According to the Identity theft Resource Center (ITRC), the U.S. recorded 1,579 breaches in 2017, indicating a 44.7 percent increase over the record figures reported for 2016. As the U.S. federal agencies suffer the significant data breaches, it becomes very crucial for them to deploy security solutions. For instance, in February 2017, the U.S. Army used InterMapper, an NMS solution from HelpSystems, enabling them to monitor devices in real-time and send alerts to the administrators about unusual traffic.Browse Report Summery @A rapid growth of the telecom industry in Asia Pacific, particularly in China and India, backed up by significant investments from government agencies will accelerate the adoption of NMS. For instance, in January 2017, the Chinese government reduced the subsidies and eased the rules to attract more private investments to bolster its internet services. According to the IBEF, the increasing penetration of smartphones and a decline in data costs are expected to add 500 million new internet users in India over the next five years.Major companies operating in the NMS market are BMC Software, Cisco, Extreme Networks, CA Technologies, AppNeta, Accedian, HelpSystems, Ipswitch, Inc., Kentik, Micro Focus, NETSCOUT, Nokia, Riverbed Technology, SolarWinds, VIAVI Solutions, Flowmon Networks, Paessler AG, Colasoft, Cubro Taps & Network Appliances & Network Packet Broker.About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.com Agricultural Adjuvants Market 2019 to Grow at + 4% CAGR to 2025 Notable Key Players DowDuPont, BASF, Solvay, Clariant, Evonik, Huntsman Corporation, AkzoNobel, BRANDT, Momentive, Loveland Products, Inc U.S. Agricultural Adjuvants Market Size, By Application, 2014 2025 (USD Million) https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2612 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2612 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/agricultural-adjuvants-market https://www.gminsights.com http://headlinenewsnation.com U.S. to remain a prominent ground for adjuvant agriculture marketThe rising population and the subsequently growing demand for food crops are certain to boost the regional adjuvant agriculture market. That said, the nation is also characterized by highly evolved technological advancements, which in conjunction with the limited land availability will bolster the U.S. adjuvant agriculture market growth.Request for a sample of this research report @As per reports, in the U.S., since 1974 to 2016, more than 1.6 billion kg of glyphosate active ingredients have been utilized which comes down to around 19% of the projected global use of glyphosate (8.6 billion kg).Moreover, from 1974 to 2014, 2/3rd of the total volume of glyphosate used in the U.S. has been sprayed in the last 10 years, which is equivalent to 72% of the global share. In 2014, agriculturalists sprayed enough glyphosate to apply approximately 1.0 kg/ha on each hectare of U.S.-cultivated croplands and approximately 0.53 kg/ha on all croplands worldwide.The usage of these herbicides is only projected to surge in the ensuing years, which would eventually expedite the U.S. adjuvant agriculture market. In fact, powered by the contribution of the U.S. and Canada in particular, North America adjuvant agriculture market valuation is forecast to cross USD 800 million by 2025.By Product Activator Surfactants Oil-based adjuvants Utility Compatibility agents Buffers/Acidifiers Antifoam agents Drift control agents Water conditioners OthersBy Chemical Group Alkoxylates Sulfonates Organosilicone OthersBy Crop Type Cereals & grains Corn Wheat Rice Others Oilseeds & pulses Soybean Others Fruits & vegetables OthersBy Application Herbicides Insecticides Fungicides OthersFor that matter, in terms of pesticide production and deployment, the U.S. has been on the forefront for quite a while now. As per estimates, global pesticide expenditure at the producer level totaled nearly $56 billion in 2012, while the U.S. pesticide expenditures at the producer level totaled nearly $9 billion in the same year.Prior to 2012, the regions expenditures accounted for 18% to 16% of worlds total pesticide expenditure, while in 2012, U.S. expenditures accounted for 21% of the global spending on herbicides, 14% on insecticides, 10% on fungicides, and 23% on fumigants. Quite overtly, these trends speculate a rising growth rate for the U.S. adjuvant agriculture market in the upcoming years.Adjuvant agriculture are indeed a key agent for the agro industry as they help improve farm productivity and control the growth of pests and other unwanted plants. Herbicides and pesticides are the most common applications of these products.The requirement for genetically engineered agriculture adjuvants will surge in the developed economies in the future, while in emerging agro-based economies the demand of adjuvants will spur due to the escalating requirement of bio-based products. Driven by the rising R&D programs in biotechnology and the surging need to increase product efficiency, global adjuvant agriculture market is expected to traverse alongside a profitable growth path in the years ahead.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Rising demand for high-quality yield especially in the developing agro-based economies across the Asia Pacific, will augment the global adjuvant agriculture market size. Adjuvant agriculture play a key role in enhancing the productivity of all the major chemical agents used to remove unwanted pests, insects, and other plant infections.They also help in enhancing crop productivity by promoting sustainability and increasing agrochemical efficiency. The escalating demand for high-quality & quantity yields from developing countries for serving the ever-growing population is expected to lead to a greater requirement for food crops in the near future, augmenting the industry trends.Adjuvant agriculture market to accrue commendable proceeds from herbicide applicationsHerbicide is indeed the largest application segment of adjuvant agriculture market, as per a report by Global Market Insights, Inc. Currently, weed resistance is one of the most significant issues faced in the pest control industry. The product is used to control weed growth, which if untreated could reduce the product yield and quality. On account of the near ubiquitous use of herbicides in major crop varieties, adjuvant agriculture market share from herbicides is expected to register a CAGR of 5% over 2018-2025.As a matter of fact, genetically engineered herbicide-tolerant yields now account for about 56% of the usage of global glyphosate a key herbicide compound. Glyphosate undeniably remains the utmost widely used herbicide in the world, supporting interest in quantifying human health and ecological impact. Accurate, accessible time-series data on glyphosate use is certain to propel research, further fortifying adjuvant agriculture market from herbicide applications.Strictly speaking, activators are one of the most prominently used adjuvants in agriculture, driven by the fact that these products effectively improve the herbicide activity when sprayed on weed affected crops. Salt adjuvants are also used as activators in a bid to fertilize crops in the short-term. On account of their incredible advantages, activator-based adjuvant agriculture market size stood at USD 1.5 billion in 2017.Company profiled in this report based on Business overview, Financial data, Product landscape, Strategic outlook & SWOT analysis:1. DowDuPont2. BASF3. Solvay4. Clariant5. Evonik6. Huntsman Corporation7. AkzoNobel8. BRANDT9. Momentive10. Loveland Products, IncFungicide is an important application segment which is likely to grow by around5% in terms of volume from 2018 to 2025. The product increases the efficiency of fungicides which help in eradicating spores and other fungal infection.Browse key industry insights from the report, Agricultural Adjuvants Market in detail along with the table of contents:North America agricultural adjuvants market value is likely to reach around USD 800 million by 2025. Significant volumes of herbicides and insecticide distribution in the U.S. and Canada will propel the regional market growth. Rising awareness among farmers about the benefits of using the product in the farming sector would drive the market growth during the forecast period. Availability of various product types in market for different crops makes it a more reliable option for the farmers of a mature market.Some key product manufacturing companies in the market include Clariant, Brenntag North America, Solvay, Alzchem, Evonik, WinField Solutions, Dow Dupont, and Huntsman.About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog: Halal Cosmetics Market key players, 2022: Amara Cosmetics, Iba Halal Care, Halal Cosmetics Company, Clara International, Inika, Wardah Cosmetics, PHB Ethical Beauty, Sampure Minerals, One Pure, Mena Cosmetics, and SaafSkinCare. Halal Cosmetics Market https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/2138?utm_source=open%2Fnee https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/2138?utm_source=open%2Fnee https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/2138?utm_source=open%2Fnee https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com The product line of halal cosmetics include personal care products, color cosmetics, and fragrances. The halal cosmetics market is booming owing to increased demand from the growing Muslim population. Therefore, halal cosmetics are expected to witness an increased adoption owing to availability of all the essential cosmetic products that range from personal hygiene to beauty care and personal grooming products.The global halal cosmetics market is expected to reach $54.16 billion by 2022 from $20.25 billion in 2015, registering a CAGR of 15.2 percent during the forecast period growing consumer awareness toward halal cosmetics is the market driver, while maintaining the integrity associated with halal cosmetics being the biggest market challenge, says a study.Request Sample Report:According to the report, Malaysia and Indonesia together accounted for nearly 60% of the Asia Pacific revenue in 2015, with skincare and makeup being the dominant products consumed. Personal care and beauty-care launches in Malaysia outnumbered UK and Philippines.Countries such as India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Maldives are characterized by considerable Muslim population and improving socio-economic conditions, therefore the above stated factors are crucial for halal cosmetics growth globally Asia Pacific accounts for nearly 45% of the global Muslim population, the report added.The Middle East is also a very important consumer hub for the industry, particularly considering high income levels in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Oman. Furthermore, as a more structured Islamic society, the region is a natural growth driving factor for the global industry, the report added.Request Purchase Enquiry:The fragrance market is expected to register the highest CAGR of 15.8 percent in the halal cosmetics market, owing to increase in demand for attar sprays among Muslim consumers, according to the report published by Oregon-based Allied Market Research titled, Halal Cosmetics Market by Type and Application: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2014-2022.Latin America, Middle East, Africa (LAMEA) is expected to dominate the market due to the increase in Muslim population, the rise in purchasing power, and the growth in demand for personal grooming products that adhere to Islamic requirements.Asia-Pacific is also expected to register a significant growth rate owing to the increase in Muslim population in nations such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and India.Request For Customization:Halal certification enables Muslims to identify the products which adhere to their religious requirements. However, rules and regulations pertaining to the authenticity of a halal ingredients vary across different countries. The lack of a global standardized set of halal-specific guidelines is a major factor that restrains the growth of the halal cosmetics market.According to Grand View Research, this combination of factors would favor eco-ethical modern consuming behaviors and would drive the overall growth of the halal cosmetics market over the next nine years. With the help of advertisements and promotion incentives offered by companies, the level of consumer consciousness has increased in the recent past and is fostering the growth of these segments in relatively smaller countries, explains the market research firm.Among the product types, the fragrance segment is expected to have the highest CAGR during the forecast period, followed by color cosmetics.The color cosmetics segment is expected to account for $17.91 billion in 2022 from $6.64 billion in 2015, registering a CAGR of 15.3 percent.Halal color cosmetics have widespread adoption among Muslim women, especially in the younger generation.Halal color cosmetic products include a broad array of products such as lipsticks, hair color, blushes, lip balms, and others.The demand for halal cosmetic products in the overall halal cosmetics industry is expected to be driven by the increase in purchasing power of the growing Muslim population and significant desire among young Muslim women to associate their interest in fashion and makeup with Islamic requirements.The haircare segment generated the highest revenue in 2015, and is expected to grow at the CAGR of 14.1 percent during the forecast period.The personal care segment accounted for the highest revenue in 2015, and is expected to have a notable CAGR of 14.6 percent. With growth in demand for e-commerce sales, the online distribution sales channel is expected to grow at the fastest rate of 18.2 percent by 2022.According to a report in the Arab News, the trade volume of halal products worldwide is said to be worth about two trillion dollars, of which 700 billion dollars is in the Islamic markets.The report identifies key players operating in the market including Amara Cosmetics, Inika, Martha Tilaar Group, MMA Bio Lab, The Halal Cosmetics Company.Other prominent vendors include: Clara International, INGLOT Cosmetics, Ivy Beauty, Liasari, Muslimah Manufacturing, OnePure, Paragon Cosmetics, Pure Halal Beauty (PHB) Ethical Beauty, Saaf Skincare, Samina Pure Makeup, SirehEmas.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.David Correa5933 NE Win Sivers Drive#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesToll Free (USA/Canada):+1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022, +1-503-446-1141UK: +44-845-528-1300Hong Kong: +852-301-84916India (Pune): +91-20-66346060Fax: +1-855-550-5975help@alliedmarketresearch.comWeb: Opalesque Industry Update - The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index rallied 2.22% in January, supported by the global equity market rally which resulted from the Fed's dovish stance and optimism over potential progress in the US-China trade talks. The MSCI AC World Index (Local) gained 7.36% over the month, recovering most of the losses it suffered in December last year. Returns were positive across geographic mandates, as most of the fund managers generated gains on the back of the equity market rallies around the globe. North American fund managers gained 3.65% during the month, while their peers focusing on Asia ex-Japan generated 3.11% returns. The weaker US dollar and cautious tone of the Fed created tailwinds for the emerging markets throughout the month, resulting in one of the best monthly showing of the Eurekahedge Emerging Markets Hedge Fund Index in recent years, as it edged 5.46% higher in January. Roughly 72.5% of underlying constituents of the Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index posted positive returns in January, in contrast to how only 35.5% of these fund managers avoided losing money in December last year. Fund managers utilising equity long-biased strategies topped the table with their 5.49% gain in January, while on the other end of the spectrum long volatility strategic mandate ended the month down 5.08% as market volatilities remained suppressed throughout the month. Key highlights for the month of January 2019: Hedge fund managers returned 2.22% in January, supported by the global equity market rally which saw the MSCI AC World Index (Local) gaining 7.36% over the month. Over the last 12 months hedge funds have outperformed the MSCI AC World Index (Local) by 3.23%. On an asset-weighted basis, hedge funds were up 0.70% in January, as captured by the Mizuho Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index (USD). The index slumped 4.23% throughout 2018. North American long short equity hedge fund managers gained 5.28% in January, kicking off the year with their strongest monthly performance over the past decade, as the region's equity markets reacted positively to the dovish tone of the Fed and hopes that the US-China trade relations could improve. The Eurekahedge European Hedge Fund Index gained 2.22% in January, supported by improving global trade outlook and expectations that the UK government would avoid a disorderly Brexit. The Eurekahedge CTA/Managed Futures Hedge Fund Index declined 0.37% during the month as fund managers struggled to capture the trend reversal in energy and commodity sectors. Fund managers utilising AI/machine learning strategies returned 2.76% in January, after recording their first year of losses. The Eurekahedge AI Hedge Fund Index was down 5.18% throughout 2018. Returns across the CBOE Eurekahedge Volatility Indexes were mixed in January, with long volatility mandate down 5.08% and short volatility mandate up 4.52% as market volatilities dwindled throughout the month. The CBOE VIX Index plummeted 34.35% in January as the risk-off sentiment among investors eased off. The Eurekahedge ILS Advisers Index was up 0.44% in January, ending its streak of losses through the final quarter of 2018 which resulted from the catastrophic losses incurred by the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season. ILS fund managers posted losses of 5.60% and 3.57% in 2017 and 2018 respectively. The Eurekahedge Crypto-Currency Hedge Fund Index declined 9.08% in January, narrowly outperforming Bitcoin which slumped 10.98% over the month. Crypto-currency hedge fund managers lost 71.63% throughout 2018, posting their worst year on record. Regional Indices North American fund managers gained 3.65% throughout the month, recovering from the losses they suffered last year. The dovish tone of the Fed and optimism over the upcoming trade talks between the US and China helped the region's equity markets recover from the sell-off in December. The Eurekahedge Japan Hedge Fund Index gained 2.23% during the month, supported by the risk-on sentiment among investors. Asia ex-Japan and emerging market equities rebounded in January, as optimism over the US-China trade talk outweighed concerns over China's slowing growth. The two mandates were up 3.11% and 5.46% respectively during the month. Strategy Indices Returns were mostly positive across strategic mandates in January. The equity long-biased mandate ended at the top of the table with a 5.49% return over the month as fund managers utilising this strategy reaped the largest benefit from the equity market rallies around the globe. In a similar vein, short volatility and long/short equities strategies also benefited from the upward movement in the equity markets, which kept market volatilities suppressed throughout the month. The two mandates ended the month up 4.52% and 3.59% respectively. CTA/managed futures mandate declined 0.37% in January, despite strong recovery in energy and industrial metal sectors throughout the month. Casual Connect Europe 2019 Preparing for May Published February 12, 2019 by Mike P From 28-30 May, Casual Connect Europe 2019 is hosted in London, giving iGaming professionals access to talks, an exhibition, and more. Casual Connect Europe shall makes it return from 28-30 May 2019 in cosmopolitan London, with attendees able to seek out investment, innovative, and creative opportunities from the iGaming industry. More than 1,000 professionals are expected to be in attendance for an event that will comprise of exhibition, conference, networking, and prize elements. Those interested can take note that Casual Connect Europe 2019 will take place in Londons Queen Elizabeth II Centre over three days. Speakers and Networking Principal organiser Casual Connect has arranged for approximately 150 industry experts to speak to the delegates. Thus far, speakers have been confirmed from a variety of experienced companies within iGaming, including the likes of Zynga, Small Giant games, Voodoo, NaturalMotion, and Netmarble Media. Broadly, the speakers have been arranged into nearly a dozen categories. This is to help delegates make sure that they attend the most beneficial discussions. At a glance, the content tracks cover the likes of casino, tech, business of games, industry insights, design & development, and kids & family. The exhibition floor will present attendees with opportunities to network with fellow industry professionals and their companies, which can include software developers, service providers, and iGaming operators. Casual Connect Europe will also hold a number of networking events, such as Track Mingle, Arcade Brawl, The Pub Crawl, and more. Indie Prize and Developer Showcase Each year, more than 1,500 developers apply to participate in the Indie Prize competition. The Casual Connect judges then have to search through the submissions to identify the brightest and most talented entries ahead of the May event. Aspiring developers can also browse through a selection of white papers to further aid their development. Meanwhile, the Developer Showcase is intended to help professionals build relationships with one another. Ahead of Casual Connect Europe 2019, it is possible for developers to chat online with a view to arranging meetings before the event. Embark - Sri Lankas fashion brand and community animal welfare program, concluded another busy year in 2018, having provided medical care for over 10,000 dogs through vaccinations and sterilizations. For the past 11 years Embark has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of Sri Lankas street dogs. Working with veterinary partners as well as through Embarks own vaccination and treatment clinic, 401 dogs, suffering from cancers, skin diseases, wounds and injuries caused by vehicles, were rescued and hospitalized. 5869 treatmentswere carried out at the organizations clinic,and via many mobile treatment programs carried out in several areas all over the island to support local communities. In addition to the community street dogs, many pets were provided with free medical care as large numbers of people cannot afford to provide them with the veterinary care they need. Embark conducted a total of 6597 vaccinations and 2260 sterilizationsin 2018. The organization sees vaccination and sterilization as humane and sustainable methods of preventing the spread of diseases such as rabies, parvo and distemper, as well as being the best way to manage the street dog population. A program was launched in Anuradhapura last year in partnership with the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in Paris to sterilize and vaccinate a 1,000 dogs. A total of943 puppies and adult dogs found homes and families via the 38 Adoption Days conducted by Embark throughout 2018. Embark also partnered with schools such as Lyceum, ICBT Campus, Gateway College, American College of Higher Education and other organizations. Through its unique Adoption programs,Embark seeks to provide homeless dogs with a chance to have a happy life far away from the misfortunes of the streets. Adoption is also the best means to stand against pet shops, puppy mills and factory-style breeding, which regularly place profit before animal welfare and often leads to horrendous consequences for the animals involved. Embarks compassionate fosters also play a significant role in improving the well-being of rescued canines by opening their homes and taking care of the dogs until permanent homes are found. Embark is fortunate to have the support of a large number of long-term and short-term fosters. Awareness programs are yet another medium used by the organization to promote kindness and compassion towards the helpless and voiceless street dog population of Sri Lanka. With a number of educational programs, which were conducted both independently and in partnership with leading schools, Embark has ensured a better future for both the next generation as well asthe beautiful street dogs of Sri Lanka None of Embarks worthy deeds would be possible without the dedication of the organizations loyal volunteers. Embark has over 1,000 volunteers who contribute to the success of many activities and programs conducted by the organization. As a means of honoring the great work and commitment of its volunteers, Embark introduced the first ever Volunteer Awards, which were held in December of last year. Embark also conducted a three week educational and awareness program for 21 AISEC International Volunteers which included;visiting the hospital to care for the sick and injured dogs, working with the Embark team at the weekly clinic and visiting the homes of adopted dogs to follow up on their well-being. The year 2018 also marked the opening of two new stores at the Marino Mall in Colombo and the Kandy Department Store in Nugegoda. The stores sell pooch-inspired clothing and merchandise that is used to fund Embarks extensive welfare work. By blending fashion and passion, Embark introduces Sri Lanka to a pashionable lifestyle, where kindness and compassion towards street dogs are a way of life. Embark was founded in 2007, when entrepreneur Otara Gunewardene together with her team designed and produced six t-shirts with fun, bold, doggy-themed slogans a characteristic that is still very much a trademark of the brand. The brand has found its way into hearts and homes in just eleven years, while future plans to grow the Embark brand go hand in hand with the hope of making a difference in the lives of more street dogs and the communities. Since its inception, Embark has changed the lives of more than90,000 street dogs, positively altered perceptions of street dogs and helped build communities that can co-exist with animals. Embark is deeply appreciative of the rescuers, foster families, veterinarians, volunteers and caring citizens who come forward and work tirelessly to give these animals a better life in their home, Sri Lanka. Traffic congestion along the Baseline Road was reported due to a container that had toppled across the road near Wesley College, Colombo 09, the Police said. They said vehicular traffic had come to a standstill due to the incident. Video by RM Pix by Sandun Gamage Amana Bank recently relocated its Oddamavadi Branch to a more modern banking premise located at No. 93, Main Street, Oddamavadi thereby providing an enhanced banking experience to its customers. The new premise was declared open by the Banks Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Azmeera long side Amana Banks Senior Director Mohamed Jazri Magdon Ismail, Members of the Management Committee, Branch Staff and Customers. With the relocation of the Branch, the Bank extends its service offering to reflect the Banks mission of enabling growth and enriching lives to both its existing and new customers. In line with offering an enhancedservice experience, the Branch also houses an exclusive banking zone to cater to its high net-worth based Vantage and Expat Gold customers. In addition to this, The Branch will offer a full spectrum of Banking Services including Account Opening, Vehicle Financing, Home Financing, Personal Financing, Business Banking, Trade Services and introduced for the first time in Oddamavadi the Banks Award Winning Gold Certificate Financing an alternative to conventional pawning. Further the Bank is equipped with a 24x7 Banking Zone facilitating Cash Withdrawals, Real Time Cash Deposits &Cheque Deposits round the clock. Commenting on the relocation, the Banks Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Azmeer said This relocation comes with a wholesome of benefits to our customers and we continue towards providing a people friendly banking experience to all our customers. Amana Bank is the countrys first and only Licensed Commercial Bank to operate in complete harmony with the globally growing non-interest basedparticipatory banking model. With the mission of Enabling Growth and Enriching Lives, the Bank reaches out to its customers through a growing network of branches, Self Banking Centres and 4000+ ATM access points and has introduced an array of customer conveniences such as Internet & Mobile Banking, Debit Card with SMS alerts, Online Account Opening, 365 Day Banking, Saturday Banking, Extended Banking Hours, 24x7 Cash Deposit Machines and Banking Units Exclusively for Ladies. Amana Bank PLC is a stand-alone institution licensed by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange with Jeddah based IDB Group being the principal shareholder having a 29.97% stake of the Bank. The IDB Group is a AAA rated multilateral development financial institution with an authorized capital base of over USD 150 Billion which has a membership of 57 countries. Fitch Ratings, in June 2018, affirmed Amana Banks National Long Term Rating of BB(lka) while upgrading its outlook to Positive from Stable. Amana Bank does not have any subsidiaries, associates or affiliated institutions representing the Bank. The pride of the nation was historically displayed on February 4 with the tri-forces and police taking pride of place. Seventy-one years of Independence is indeed a cause for celebration, but the question is with the country in such economic and political chaos, did it warrant a celebration of the calibre put on display? After all, the people of a country, any country, are a nations pride and if they arent, they should be! Since I want to comment lucidly on the fallacy of our Independence, I would like to quote ad verbatim from an article which, to my mind, uniquely presents the situation and I quote: After seven decades of Independence, we have come to see Independence as an essential marker of our Lankan-ness. To our utter disappointment, even after 71 years, Independence did not, however, bring socio-political freedom or economic progress; only disaster after disaster in these areas. There is a poignant lament expressed by writers and analysts about the collapse of the vision of equality and prosperity which inspired the Independence struggle. But no one has questioned the validity of Independence Day and exposed its cultural, political and psychological underpinnings and associations as false. Yet, this falsehood has been maintained year after year over the post-Independence period in our history. Yes, the fallacy of our Independence underlines the hypocrisy of our leaders! A few months ago, they were tearing each other apart, setting up two prime ministers, creating division and derision in Parliament, bringing about one disaster after another, with the president swearing never to speak to the lawful incumbent premier again, what absolute and utter chaos the country had to deal with till the Supreme Court stepped in and thankfully gave the correct verdict! Emperors Parade Sri Lanka displayed her military might with pomp and pageantry; pomp and pageantry which the country could ill-afford! The Kfir fighter jets were even taken on trial runs, notwithstanding the phenomenal cost of aero-fuel! Again we ask, was this necessary? Our leaders were talking about social justice and the need to eliminate poverty on the one hand, while squandering millions in public funds to fatten their nests; with Parliament being ridiculed, the misery of the masses ignored; they resorted to cover it all up with an Independence Day parade. What a glorious mockery it all was! The corridors of power are still being stalked not only by the mega-rich but also by the saffron robes! Double ethics In his Independence Day speech, our president spoke of and I quote: From what I saw in the media, there is a plan to form a national government with the support of a party that has only one seat in Parliament. It is important to think whether such an act is ethical What may we ask was ETHICAL in what he did? Perhaps, the meaning of ethical is yet to penetrate his mind! He slams Ranil on the one hand for wanting to form a national government and goes for Mahindas guts by saying he (the president) ended Beeshanaya after he took over in 2015.Mahinda was his blue-eyed boy when he wanted to eliminate Ranil, and suddenly, Mahinda is seen as the author of Beeshanaya! One wonders when this president is going to know the difference, the stupidity of the accusations he makes! Hang on in Dubai In all fairness, though we have to admit that the president is really slamming the drug peddlers and perhaps it wont be long before the death sentence is introduced for drug smuggling and peddling. This is something for which he deserves wholehearted credit and gratitude of every Sri Lankan. Recent headlines on the arrest of Makandure Madush and 24 others along with him created interesting speculation on many angles but the general consensus seems to be that they should be tried in Dubai and rightly so, they will get a harsh sentence there, hopefully, an unmitigated one they all deserve! DRUGS AT A PARTY Notwithstanding the Dubai raid, it is very obvious that as Sri Lankans we have to be EXTRA VIGILANT AND CONCERNED OVER THE DRUG MENACE PREVALENT IN OUR COUNTRY. IT IS HORRENDOUS AND FRIGHTENING. VERY FRIGHTENING! What went viral was a video on a birthday party held in the house of a notorious businessman in Colombo 6, attended by the police hierarchy and MPs at which drugs were freely available. Apparently, these drug barons travel around in luxury vehicles and almost every brand is freely available! One gram of cocaine is priced at Rs.20,000 there is a number to call and in 15 to 20 minutes, like pizza delivery; it is delivered to your doorstep!!! The president, we are told, is planning to bring the death sentence for drug dealing. Very praiseworthy, but the burning question is, WOULD HE INSTITUTE THE DEATH SENTENCE, IF IT WERE ONE OF HIS MPs, WHO IS GOING TO BE SENT TO THE GALLOWS? THE OTHER QUESTION IS, DO YOU PUNISH THE GUY WHO BROUGHT IT, THE GUY WHO SELLS IT OR THE GUY WHO USES IT? Cocaine and heroin, like ice and ecstasy, are highly addictive and are generally consumed by the high-class addicts, some of whom even sniff or inhale what is called a line before proceeding to board meetings! BUT, THE MOST PATHETIC AND HORRIBLE PART IS WHAT GOES TO THE SCHOOLS! SOME TRULY DRASTIC ACTION MUST BE INSTITUTED ON THIS ISSUE; WE CANNOT CONTINUE TO IGNORE IT! Ganja Politics The Tamil diaspora is sending KERALA GANJA INSTEAD OF CASH, IN THE ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY THAT IT CAN BE SOLD IN THE SOUTH, EAST AND WEST AND THE NEEDED MONEY DISTRIBUTED TO TAMILS! From all that you read and hear about, it is not the FOOLS who are hooked on drugs but the mega-rich, the business braggarts, the social butterflies, the nobody who wants to be a somebody, the show-offs; who all want to be with it! The end of the Makandure Madush chapter has almost been written, but Sri Lanka is not ready to confront another like him ever again! VIGILANCE IS THE NEED OF THE HOUR! THE VOICE Get out of Venezuela, Trump warns Russia; says all options open to make it happen Women who left Venezuela for better lives end up in flesh trade: report International oi-Shubham Ghosh Bogota, Feb 11: The ongoing crisis in Venezuela doesn't just have political and economic impact but also a human one and it is on the women who left the troubled country in the lookout for a better life. According to a report in CNN, educated and trained women who left their homeland over the past five years after Venezuela found itself in a serious economic crisis hoping that they would get to lead an honourable life found them eventually landing with something they had never thought in their nightmare: prostitution. And they had no other way but to follow that path for the sake of their families and children. "They (the women from Venezuela who left the country to go to neighbouring Colombia) speak with pain in their voices and sadness in their eyes. At first reserved, they eventually open up and tell, through tears, how they came to be in a situation that would once have been unimaginable: selling their bodies to make ends meet," the CNN report said. 24-year-old actress rescued as cops bust prostitution racket in Hyderabad Trained nurse gets into flesh trade for feeding family The report told the story of Mariza (name changed), a certified nurse who went to Colombia two years ago leaving behind her mother and three kids in Venezuela. With her professional training, Mariza had hoped that she would find a job in her own field but it wasn't so easy. After failing to get even a job of a cleaner, the woman took the path she had never thought about in her worst of dreams. "To have one guy today and another person tomorrow," she was quoted as saying in the report about her fall into prostitution. But as a mother, "you don't think -- you do what you have to." For Mariza, this experience is terribly disturbing because she spent five years of her life studying and preparing for nursing and then one fine morning, she finds herself in flesh trade. The woman was in tears as she narrated her story, the report added. Sangeetha, Vani Rani actress held for running flesh trade in Chennai Mariza blames both Venezuela's former president Hugo Chavez and the current one, Nicolas Maduro, for the country's plight whereby people are deprived of their basic necessities. She hence went to Cucuta, a city located near the Vemezuela-Colombia border but the high unemployment rate there meant she had very little chance of getting a job. Over three million Venezuelans have left the country since 2014 with a million of them moving to Colombia. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 8:27 [IST] US willing to sit down for talks with Iran, other nations on nuclear deal Iran vows to expand military power on 40th anniversary of 1979 revolution International oi-Shubham Ghosh Tehran, Feb 12: Iran observed the 40th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution of 1979 on Monday, February 11, and the country's president, Hassan Rouhani, vowed on the occasion to boost the country's military and missile programme, defying American pressure and sanctions. Iran has been facing the wrath of President Donald Trump's US over its nuclear programme as Washington last year pulled out of the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran which was concluded when Barack Obama was in power and renewed sanctions on the West Asian nation. Addressing thousands of people who assembled in Tehran's Azadi Square to mark the 40th anniversary of the overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, a monarch who was installed by the West, and set up clerical rule in Iran, Rouhani said Iran would continue to expand its military power and missile programme. Israel retaliates against Iran missile fire with strikes in Syria; West Asia tension intensifies The Iranian leadership was clearly trying to make the occasion a milestone of its confrontation with the US which has taken all possible measures to corner it on the international stage. Tehran presented rallies for the anniversary as a show of support for the regime and Rouhani accused his American counterpart of openly seeking a change of guard in Iran. "Today we are the target of a psychological and economic war. Enemies who seek to belittle us, we must resolve these problems with one another. With the assistance and the help of one another ... we will be victorious in the face of America", the Iranian president said. 40 years of corruption. 40 years of repression. 40 years of terror. The regime in Iran has produced only #40YearsofFailure. The long-suffering Iranian people deserve a much brighter future. pic.twitter.com/bA8YGsw9LA Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 11, 2019 After 40 years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has failed to fulfill its promises to uphold and safeguard the rights of its citizens. The 40th anniversary of the Iranian regime only serves to highlight four decades of failure and broken promises. John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) February 11, 2019 Its been 40 yrs of failure. Now its up to the Iranian regime to change its behavior, & ultimately up to the Iranian people to determine the direction of their country. The U.S. will support the will of the Iranian people, & stand behind them to ensure their voices are heard. John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) February 11, 2019 Even while the Iranians celebrated the occasion by reciting Quranic verses blended with revolutionary chants and carried posters of Supreme Leader Rouhallah Khomeini and hosted live radio shows, Trump and his National Security Adviser John Bolton called the occasion 40 years of failure and that the US stood by the people of Iran. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 9:00 [IST] Feels good: When a challenged man changed flat tyre of former US state secretary Colin Powells car International oi-Shubham Ghosh Washington, Feb 12: Even the powerful men need help and the faceless come to their rescue. This strange irony of life became evident recently when former US secretary of state Colin Powell found himself being helped by a man after a flat tyre left him stranded on the highway. The 81-year-old former four-star general of the US Army, who served in the administration of George W Bush between 2001-05, was on his way for a medical consultation in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland when the incident happened. One of the tyres of his car gave in on Interstate Highway I-495, Washington DC, and it became difficult for him to change the tyre since it was very cold outside and the bolts in the wheel were too tight. Video: Man with cerebral palsy lifts weight worth 200 pounds; earns Schwarzenegger's praise It was then a military veteran with an artificial leg who came to Powell's rescue and the former secretary of state posted an inspiring message on his Facebook account on January 24. "As the man got out of his car I could see that he had an artificial leg. He said he recognized me and wanted to help me. We chatted and I learned that he lost his leg in Afghanistan when he worked over there as a civilian employee. He grabbed the lug wrench and finished the job as I put the tools away. Then we both hurriedly headed off to appointments at Walter Reed," Powell wrote in his post, adding that the man named Anthony Maggert had sent him a heartfelt message as well. Maggert later told TODAY that he retired from the military in June last year after serving for 23 years during when he served in all three wings of the military. The 42-year-old said he is now studying to become a chef. "Gen. Powell, I hope I never forget today because I'll never forget reading your books. You were always an inspiration, a leader and statesman. After 33 years in the military you were the giant whose shoulders we stood upon to carry the torch to light the way and now it is tomorrow's generation that must do the same," Maggert wrote to Powell who was in charge when 9/11 took place. Video: Little girl recalls what her martyred armyman dad taught her & it's touching Maggert had to get his leg amputated in 2015 after he contracted flesh-eating bacteria in Afghanistan in 2011. He was also heading to the same medical centre to check new prosthetic legs. 'Show more kindness than seems necessary' "We are still a good people, but we can do better. Teach our children, tell our politicians, media and celebrities that we are fed up with coarseness, belittling each other and forgetting that not one of us is really superior to anyone else. One of my guiding principles is 'Always show more kindness than seems necessary because the person you give it to needs it more than you may ever know'," Powell was quoted as saying by TODAY. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 15:54 [IST] What will be the price of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine in India? Covid-19: First consignments of medical supplies from US, Russia expected to reach India by Thursday Second batch of 1.5 lakh Russian Sputnik V Coronavirus vaccine to arrive in India in next 2 days Sputnik V vaccine priced at Rs 995 for imported dose, first shot administered by Dr Reddy's in Hyderabad Emergency declared in Russian archipelago for a bizarre reason International oi-Shubham Ghosh Moscow, Feb 11: A state of emergency has been declared at Novaya Zemlya archipelago located in the Arctic Ocean in Arkhangelsk region of northern Russia because of a bizarre reason and it is the invasion of polar bears in human settlements. The governor of Arkhangelsk and the regional government said this in a press release on Saturday, February 9. "The decision to declare an emergency situation on the territory of Novaya Zemlya from February 9 was taken at a meeting of the commission tasked to prevent emergencies and ensure fire safety," Russia's TASS News Agency cited the statement as saying. This cute polar bear sees 'another polar bear' on a reflective object and feels intrigued It said the emergency situation was caused by "mass invasion" of polar bears in human settlements. Deputy head of Novaya Zemlya administration Alexander Minayev said dozens of the animals have been assembling near the residential areas since December last year and reports of the wild animals attacking people and entering buildings have also surfaced, the report added. People have sought help from the administration to protect them from the menace and extra fences were installed near the kindergartens to protect children. Patrols were increased along with deployment of dogs but the bears showed little signs of fear. The Russian environmental watchdog, meanwhile, has ruled out the option of shooting the animals, despite their aggression. It was reported that a team of experts will be sent to the archipelago to examine the situation and stop the animals from attacking human beings. They hoped firearms will not be required to solve the problem and authorities said emergency will remain till people's safety was ensured. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 8:34 [IST] Covid-19 origin: Was right about China virus coming from Wuhan lab, says Donald Trump Trump says India has just been devastated by COVID-19 Trump critics, take this! After govt shutdown, US prez has highest approval rating, says survey International oi-Shubham Ghosh Washington, Feb 12: To those who were sanguine that the record-breaking government shutdown in the US that ended on January 25 after continuing for over a month would badly hurt the approval ratings of President Donald Trump, here is a shocker. The Republican president in fact has got his highest approval rating since he took over in January 2017, said a new survey US parties reach agreement to avoid government shutdown According to the poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports, New Jersey, US, 52 per cent of likely American voters approved of the president's job performance while 47 per cent did not. Another interesting part of this finding is that while 39 per cent of the respondents have strongly approved of Trump's performance, an equal 39 per cent has strongly disapproved of it. It gave Trump a Presidential Approval Index Rating of zero which means he hasn't got a minus rating for the first time in almost two years. The shutdown happened in the US after the president and the Congress remained stubborn on their respective stands on building of a wall along the Mexico border. Shutdown in Trump's US: Why India shouldn't be presidential system Though the shutdown was lifted after over a month, Trump said another shutdown wasn't unlikely if a deal was not reached and warned of using emergency powers to have the wall in place. However, while the Rasmussen Reports said Trump has a high approval rate, other polls indicated that things were not so rosy for him. Real Clear Politics, which made an average of nine different polls on Trump's approval ratings, found only 42.4 per cent people backing him while 54.2 per cent not. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 16:25 [IST] After stint in BJP, Mukul Roy is back in TMC Explained: Can Mukul Roy be disqualified as MLA for jumping from BJP to TMC TMC MLA murder: Bengal BJP leader Mukul Roy files anticipatory bail plea India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, Feb 12: BJP leader Mukul Roy on Tuesday filed anticipatory bail petition in Calcutta High Court, apprehending arrest in the alleged murder of TMC MLA Satyajit Biswas of Krishnaganj. Roy is a former Member of Parliament (MP) in Rajya Sabha and was earlier with the TMC. He was also the Railway Minister in Manmohan Singh's government. Responding to the development, Roy said that it is "very sad that he (Biswas) was killed" and that "politics of killing is not BJP's style of politics". TMC MLA's murder: 'Allegations being levelled against BJP on Mamata's order', says Mukul Roy "In Bengal, there is huge infighting in TMC, and on directions of Mamata Banerjee they are putting blame on the BJP... I demand an independent and fair investigation..." Roy said. On Sunday, TMC MLA Satyajit Biswas was shot dead while he was attending a programme on the eve of Saraswati Puja. The TMC has been accusing the BJP of murdering Biswas. The West Bengal Police has arrested two people in the case so far and suspended the local police in-charge of the area where the murder took place. The incident occurred around 8.00 pm when 41-year-old Biswas, representing Krishnaganj constituency in the assembly, along with his party workers, were at the Saraswati puja marquee at Phoolbari in the Hanskhali police station area in the district bordering Bangladesh. The MLA was immediately taken to a local hospital where doctors announced him "brought dead". The police were suspecting that two assailants were present at the spot and one of them fired at him. The ruling TMC had alleged that it was a planned attack by the BJP. Denying these allegations, the BJP has however claimed that it was the result of the ruling party's infighting. Shortly after the incident, a high-level inquiry was ordered into the killing, the police said. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee directed the party leaders to stand beside the family of the victim, he said. Claiming that the attack was a conspiracy by the BJP, TMC Secretary General Partha Chatterjee said those involved in it would be punished after a full-fledged inquiry. Chatterjee said the saffron party was trying to create disturbances ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and resorted to politics of murder by singling out leaders having mass bases. "It was a pre-planned murder by the BJP. They have hired goons to carry out the murder," the party's in-charge of Nadia district Anubrata Mondal alleged. BJP's state unit President Dilip Ghosh denied the charges and claimed that the killing might be the result of infighting in the TMC. TMC MLA Satyajit Biswas shot dead in Fulbari "The allegations are baseless. The BJP is not at all involved in the case. Those who are blaming us are actually trying to hide their own sins," Ghosh said. Roy had also termed the allegations as baseless. This report was updated to incorporate reactions from Mukul Roy. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 14:51 [IST] The Dynast' spreading lies on Rafale, says Jaitley; Rubbishes conflict of interest allegation India oi-Vikas SV New Delhi, Feb 12: Union minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday rejected allegations of conflict of interest against CAG Rajiv Mehrishi and accused the Congress of peddling "lies" on the Rafale deal. Jaitley, in a Facebook post, rejected allegations of conflict of interest of CAG Rajiv Mehrishi saying he never dealt with any file or paper relating to the fighter jet deal during his tenure in the Finance Ministry in 2014-15. "How many more lies will be peddled to sustain a sinking dynast? India, certainly deserves better," Jaitley said in a Facebook post titled 'How Many Lies Need to be Peddled to Sustain a Sinking Dynasty?'. Stating that the contagion effect of falsehood is fairly large, Jaitley said the lies spread by the Congress have spread to other colleagues in the "Mahajhootbandhan". [Rahul Gandhi acting as foreign firms' lobbyist: BJP counters Rafale allegations] "In relation to the Rafale deal where thousands of crores of public money has been saved, a new falsehood is manufactured on a daily basis. The latest is in relation to the present CAG and his participation in the decision making process of Rafale," Jaitley said. In 2014-15, present CAG Mehrishi was Economic Affairs Secretary in the Finance Ministry, and being the senior most bureaucrat was also designated as the Finance Secretary. "I say this without fear of contradiction that no file or paper relating to the Rafale transaction ever reached him nor was he in any way, directly or indirectly, associated with the decision making on defence purchases. Expenditure to be incurred on purchases by various departments of the Government needs the approval of Secretary (Expenditure)," he said. Asking as to why then a lie in relation to the CAG having a non-existent conflict of interest is being raised, Jaitley said, "the dynast knows that his 500 crore vs 1600 crore kindergarten argument was a fictional story. No one would ever buy it because facts don't support it. Even before the contents of CAG report are known, a 'Peshbandi' attack on the institution of the CAG is launched," Jaitley said. ['Government's lies exposed,' says Congress leader Kapil Sibal] Without naming Gandhi, Jaitley said "the dynast" and his friends have in the past even attacked the Supreme Court when it rejected the writ petition on Rafale. He said the entire pricing argument of the Congress was factually wrong and the procedure argument that there was no Defence Acquisition Council, no CCS, no Contract Negotiation Committee was a blatant lie. "The Rs 30,000 crore favour to a private company is non-existent. The use of sliced document by a newspaper is unprecedented in the history. The use of an incomplete document is certainly not in consonance with the spirit of free speech. The 'no integrity pact' argument is belied by the fact that even in earlier purchases through inter-governmental agreement with Russia and the United States, such pacts were not there. Now without a shred of evidence, a fictional conflict of interest of the CAG is invented," he said. Jaitley said truth is both precious and sacrosanct and in mature democracies those who deliberately rely on falsehood are banished from public life. [Budget Session: CAG to submit report on Rafale deal to parliament] "In modern world dynasties inherently have their limitations. Aspirational societies abhor kingdoms. They insist on accountability and performance. But the grand old party of Indian politics has sadly become a captive of a dynasty. Many of its senior leaders lack the courage and moral authority to advise the dynasts to change course. This trend started in early 1970s; climaxed during the Emergency and has continued ever since. The 'slave' mentality of senior leaders convinces them that they must only sing the song scripted by the dynast. A contrarian opinion will cost them their political career. When the dynast speaks lies, they all join the chorus," Jaitley said. OneIndia News with PTI inputs For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 22:40 [IST] Dr.Rasitha Wickramasinghe,of STAX Colombo,discussesprivate equity (PE), due diligence and challenges faced by Sri Lankan corporates in attracting PE funding. Q: Private equity is not very common in Sri Lanka, could you explain how a fund works? A: A private equity firm (or PE fund) is a pool of money set up to invest in companies. They raise money from limited partners (LPs) that can includeendowments, pension funds, corporate funds, wealthy individuals, and funds of funds. General partners (GPs) manage the money from the LPs and oversee the day-to-day operations of the fund, making investment decisions and managing the acquired companies (also known as portfolio companies). Q: How is venture capital (VC) different from PE? A:Technically, VC is also a form of private equity. While VCfunds often go forstartups and early stage companies championing disruptive ideas, PE firmslookfor established businesses. A majority of PEs like leveraged buyoutswhere the fund borrows additional money to enhance its buying powerwhich supportslarger ticket sizes. Q: We understand that much of STAXs global work involves conducting due diligence for M&A. Could you describe that a bit further? A:Put simply, due diligence is the investigative process thats undertaken prior to making an investment. There are three types of diligencefinancial, legal, and commercial. The first two are, respectively, an assessment of the financial health of the target company and an investigation of legal risks associated with the deal. STAX conducts commercial due diligence, evaluating the growth fundamentals of the company and its industry. Q: What does commercial due diligence entail exactly? A:Essentially, we gauge whether the offerings of the target company are in line with the current market and if theyrepoised to take advantage of future growth. We evaluate the stability of the company by looking at factors like market size and share, competitive landscape, customer stickiness, and pricing stability. In terms of growth, we consider whether there are market whitespaces; how fast the industry is expected to grow; opportunities for increased volume or pricing; potential for new customers, products, channels, and geographies; and if operational efficiencies and/or bolt-on acquisitions could accelerate growth. Q: What is the deal process like? A: In the PE world, the acquisition processfrom sourcing to signingtypically takes 4-6 months, but occasionally it can takelonger if there are complications. The due diligence phase starts after the parties execute a binding Letter of Intent (LOI). Typically, the PE firm then has 45 days to do their diligence and close the deal. Q: Why dont we see more PE activity in Sri Lanka? Is funding limited? A: Actually, fund size isnt the issue. Globally, theresa lot of unused capital available with PE funds,commonly referred to as dry powderbutthe ticket sizeshere just arent big enough. Even the small funds that we work with are typically looking for target investments of $10M-50M. The other constraint is that companies themselves arent actively pursuing PE funds. Most often, we have a controlling mindset and a fear of letting in outside ownership. Sri Lankan businesses are far more comfortable going for an IPO to raise funds, even if the company may not be ready to go public. Q: So, what can Sri Lankan companies do to attract PE funds? A: Companies shouldnt immediately become discouraged thinking theyre not big enough. Positioning a company for attracting funds is a journey that can take some time. The key is to honestly assess the business and look for ways to increase valuation within 2-3 years. For instance, it will be important to demonstrate regional ambition and capability. A change in mindset is also needed. Attracting smart capital may be the best thing you can do for your company, to take it to the next level. PE investments not only pump in money, but alsogrant access to regional networks and expertise.They bring fresh thinking to give the new portfolio company a second wind. We need to be open to that. Rasitha Wickramasinghe is Business Development Lead at STAX Colombo. STAX, Sri Lanka's leading management consulting firm, has its headquarters in Boston, and branch offices across Chicago, Colombo, New York, and Singapore. For over 20 years, STAX has been advising 100+ global Private Equity investors and 25+ Fortune 500 companies. Since inception, STAX has delivered over 2,500+ client engagements, across diverse industries covering 40+ international markets. With a growing client base in Sri Lanka, including diversified conglomerates, blue chip industry leaders, and large family businesses, STAX inspires organizations to dream big and complement gut-based decisions with fact-based insights. You can find out more at www.stax.com. "The Beginning of Everything That I Am Today PM Modi Narrates His Life's Journey India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa Humans of Bombay known to disarm even the harshest of cynics with real-life gut-wrenching, heartwarming, intrepid stories of everyday individuals, have roped in their first big interview with none other than the Prime Minister of our nation, Narendra Modi. The interview provides an insight into Modi's life as a young boy. Seated in a chair, he regaled us with stories from his life, recounting the days that he describes as "the beginning of everything that he is today." Modi begins his tale by painting a rather endearing picture of his mother who had a "healing touch," where people would line up outside his house to seek a cure for their ailment. He said "She didn't have the fortune of getting an education, but God was kind & she had a special way of curing ailments. Mothers would line up outside our home because she was known for her healing touch." Modi behaves like prime minister of Pakistan: Arvind Kejriwal PM Modi's adulation for his mother is quite apparent in his reverential depiction of her demeanor. His fondness seeps through his illustration of her character. Modi says for his 99-year-old mother his consequential title never held any significance. All she cared about was that he worked with honesty and integrity and make those two qualities the cornerstone of his life. The only sage advice that the mother imparted to her son was that he never get ensnared in bribes. He recounted to the Humans of Bombay, " 'Dekh bhai, I don't understand what you do, but promise me you will never take a bribe -- don't ever commit that sin.' Those words really impacted me and I'll tell you why. A woman who has lived in poverty her entire life and who has never had material comforts, during an abundant and celebratory time, asked me to not take a bribe." He recalled the day he was announced the Chief Minister of Gujarat, the position that he would hold for 13 years. While he considered it a breakthrough of his political career, his mother was merely happy to have him working near home. He ruminates the day he went to visit her in Ahmedabad before the oath-taking ceremony. He said "By then she had already found out that I had become the CM, but to be honest I don't think she knew what the post was about. When I reached, the atmosphere was festive and celebrations had begun. But my mother just looked at me, hugged me and said, 'The best thing is that you will be back in Gujarat now!' -- such as a mother's nature, that no matter what's going on around her, she wants to be close to her children." He describes his humble abode, where his family of eight resided as a "40*12 feet house" where the day began at the crack of dawn. He would first open the tea stall and then head off to school. Modi said he found pleasure in helping his father out in the tea stall and didn't find the work tedious. The work paved a way to meet people from across the nation and listen to their stories. Modi narrates his life as a young boy with big dreams who envisioned more for himself and believed in making the best of the cards that he was dealt with. His story expounds his belief that to chase an elusive dream replete with luxury is futile. He was thought to make the best of the circumstances and work towards realizing your ambitions. He said "So when you ask me what my struggles were, I'll tell you that I had none. I came from nothing, knew no luxury & hadn't seen a 'better' life, so in my small world...I was happy." At a very young age, Modi was well-versed with the basic tenets of living a good charitable life despite your circumstantial shortcomings. He attended his first RSS meeting when he was 8 and was imbued with a charitable spirit at a tender age of 9 when he along with his friend helped "victims of flood in Gujarat." Although his family was deprived of material comfort while growing up, the PM says, that never deterred him from looking presentable in life. In absence of iron, he would wrap a cloth around hot coal and iron his clothes. National interest can be ignored for sake of 'chowkidar': Mayawati targets Modi So did the young Modi know he was destined for great things in life? According to the PM as a young boy of 8, he had no inkling that he would one day govern this nation. He said ". Never. It was too far to even think about." He instead dreamed about "Bambai" as a child and would spend hours in the library sifting through literature to quench his curiosity, he told the Humans of Bombay. Over the years we have become well-acquainted With Narendra Modi, the leader of our nation. The Humans of Bombay enabled us to gain a rare insight into his personal life stripped of the eminent tile. The man who holds his mother in high esteem, who had to overcome the adversities of life and rise above it all. Sit in a corner till we rise: What SC told Nageshwar Rao, while holding him in contempt SC holds ex-CBI interim chief Rao in contempt, slaps Rs 1 lakh fine India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, Feb 12: The Supreme Court on Tuesday held former CBI interim Director and now additional director M. Nageswara Rao guilty of contempt of Court in case of transferring the CBI officer probing the Bihar shelter home cases despite an order of the court against it. The apex court also imposed a fine of Rs. one lakh, after noting that the transfer orders were passed by him despite knowing that the SC had ordered that the investigation team should not be changed. [Former Interim CBI Chief Nageshwar Rao renders unconditional apology to SC] Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for Rao, made a fervent plea for leniency, saying that Rao's mistake was not willful. Earlier on Tuesday, Nageswara Rao who appeared in Supreme Court had tendered an unconditional apology to the court for transferring the officer in charge of the Muzzafarpur shelter home horror probe, bypassing court orders. The court had to decide whether to pardon him or punish him for contempt. The offence carries a maximum jail term of 6 months. In an affidavit, Rao said he cannot even "dream of violating court's orders". "I sincerely realise my mistake, and while tendering my unqualified and unconditional apology specifically, I state that I have wilfully not violated the orders of this Hon'ble court, as I cannot even dream of violating or circumventing the orders of this Hon'ble court," read Rao's affidavit. Last week, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi termed the transfer decision "full contempt of court" because one of its earlier orders explicitly said joint director A K Sharma should not be shifted. The court summoned Rao and the agency's acting director of prosecution S Bhasuran on February 12. It also asked the CBI director to identify officers who were involved in the transfer of Sharma from CBI. The top court is likely to take up Rao's affidavit on Tuesday. The court had issued the notice to Rao for transferring joint director A K Sharma out of CBI. A three judge bench, led by CJI Ranjan Gogoi, had at the last hearing issued contempt notices to him. In a stern message, the court had said that officers must obey the law and not "politicians" or "bureaucrats". "The law is your master not politicians or bureaucrats," the CJI had said. Rao on February 11 admitted that as interim chief of the CBI he committed a "mistake" in transferring Sharma and apologised to the top court, saying he had no intention to circumvent its orders. Raids carried out at properties linked to former CBI chief Nageshwar Rao Rao, who filed an affidavit in response to the contempt notice issued to him on February 7, said he was praying for an unconditional and unqualified apology by the court. The CBI is not only probing the Muzaffarpur house of horrors case but also the conditions in 16 other shelter homes which reported similar physical and sexual abuse. The lid was blown off the scandal in the wake of a damning TISS report elaborating the sexual abuse of kids in the home run by muscleman and self-styled journalist Brajesh Thakur. A state minister and her husband have also been arrested in connection with the case. All 21 accused will now be tried in a fast-track court in Delhi. After Jitin Prasada's exit, will Sachin Pilot be the next? RPSC teacher recruitment: Big vacancy announced to fill over 2000 Teacher posts soon India oi-Madhuri Adnal Jaipur, Feb 12: Nearly 2,000 posts of teachers in government colleges of Rajasthan are vacant, minister for higher education Bhanwar Singh Bhati told the state assembly here on Monday. Replying to a question raised by Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) legislator Rajkumar Raot, Bhati said the vacancies will soon be filled. He said nearly 2,000 posts of teachers are vacant in the state's 252 government colleges and RPSC has been designated to fill 850 of these posts. Last year, Department of Education, Government of Rajasthan had announced third-grade teacher posts. A total of 28000 vacancies were to be filled by the government. The pay scale of the teachers was expected to be Rs. 23,700 per month. Now the notification for college-level teachers is expected. The minister, however, did not inform the date of the notification on the same. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 16:37 [IST] Why govt used COVID-19 data as 'propaganda tool' rather than to stop coronavirus, asks Priyanka Gandhi Indians do not come first for PM, politics does: Priyanka on Covid crisis Robert Vadra, his mother appear before ED in Jaipur India oi-Chennabasaveshwar P Jaipur, Feb 12: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accompanied Robert Vadra to Enforcement Directorate office in Jaipur where he was questioned in connection with Bikaner land scam on Tuesday. 'Priyanka Gandhi Zindabad' and 'Chowkidaar Chor Hai' slogans were raised outside ED office in Jaipur as Robert Vadra and his mother Maureen arrived for questioning in connection with Bikaner land case probe. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was also with them, according to news agency ANI. After a roadshow in Lucknow on Monday, Congress General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East) Priyanka Gandhi arrived in Jaipur to be with her husband Robert Vadra and his mother Maureen Vadra. What impact will Priyanka Gandhi make? Hear it from Prashant Kishor UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra and his mother, Maureen Vadra, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case amidst heightened security. Vadra and his mother were questioned in connection with an alleged land scam case involving 275 acres of land in the Kolayat sub-division of Bikaner district of Rajasthan. A criminal case was registered by the ED in connection with the Bikaner land deal made in 2015 after studying FIRs and charge-sheets filed by the Rajasthan Police on complaints made by the Bikaner tehsil about alleged forgery in the land allotment. Last week, Robert Vadra was questioned for three days straight for his role in another money laundering case involving purchase of a property in the United Kingdom (UK). Protests erupt in UP after Akhilesh stopped from boarding flight, police resort to lathicharge India oi-Vikas SV Lucknow, Feb 12: Protests led be Samajwadi Party workers have erupted in several parts of Uttar Pradesh after party chief Akhilesh Yadav was stopped from boarding a flight to Prayagraj. The protests, whcih initially started at Prayagraj and Lucknow, have now spread to other cities such as Moradabad and Varanasi. Reports say that police had to resort to lathicharge to rein in the mob and many SP workers are said to be injured. SP's Dharmendra Yadav has reportedly been detained. Is BJP so afraid? Mayawati after Akhilesh Yadav is stopped at airport Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday claimed he was stopped at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad University. The issue also rocked the Uttar Pradesh legislature.As soon as Samajwadi Party members came to know about their national president being stopped at the airport, they raised the matter during Question Hour in the assembly. The SP members also raised slogans against Yogi Adityanath-led government. Coming out in support of Akhilesh Yadav, BSP chief Mayawati slammed the BJP government asking if it is "so scared" of the her party's alliance with the SP. She said, "Is BJP government so scared of SP-BSP alliance that they have started banning political events? They seem to be using Kumbh for political agenda. Not allowing Akhilesh Yadav to go to Prayagraj proves that." She described the episode as "anti-democratic" and "an example of total dictatorship of BJP government". "This is very unfortunate and this undemocratic step will be fought at all levels," Mayawati tweeted. Akhilesh Yadav stopped at Lucknow airport, not allowed to take Allahabad flight Yadav said he was to fly to Prayagraj from Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport to attend an event at the Allahabad University. Sharing a photo on Twitter, the former Chief Minister said, "I was prevented from boarding the airplane without any written orders. Currently detained at Lucknow airport. It is clear how frightened the govt is by the oath ceremony of a student leader. The BJP knows that youth of our great country will not tolerate this injustice anymore!" Modi Urges This Generation To Take Time Off From Busy Schedules For Self-Introspection India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa In the third instalment of the interview with Humans of Bombay, Modi elucidates on the virtues of meditation and the positive effect it can bestow in one's life. After his return from the Himalayas, Modi didn't waste any time getting down to the business of dedicating his life for the service of others. He moved to Ahmedabad and became a full-fledged member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. "We all took turns to clean the RSS office, prepare tea and food for colleagues and clean utensils," he said. "To ensure that this new phase of life didn't take over the sense of peace that I achieved there [Himalayas], I decided to take out some time every year and introspect. It was my way of maintaining a balanced life." Modi's Journey of self discovery in Himalayan encounters Amidst his busy schedule that with his duties in the RSS included "occasionally helping my uncle at his canteen," Modi wanted to ensure that he didn't get lost in the clamour of city life. He wanted to retain the tenets from his Himalayan travels. He said, "To ensure that this new phase of life didn't take over the sense of peace that I achieved there [Himalayas], I decided to take out some time every year and introspect. It was my way of maintaining a balanced life." During Diwali, he would take five days off to ruminate on his life without being interrupted by people, radio, newspaper or TV. He took off to the jungle where he would take the time to reflect on his life. "I would reflect - and the strength that this alone time gave me still helps me to handle life and its various experiences." When people asked him who he was going to meet, he answered: "I am going to meet myself." Modi believes that it is quite important for people to take the time off for self-introspection. It could change ones perception unto life like it did his. He urged the youngsters to go on a journey of self-discovery. The time off from his busy schedule gave him the strength to face the adversities head-on. He believes it's detrimental to spend time knowing yourself in this "fast-paced life" so you would be well-equipped to "handle life and it's various experiences." "The Beginning of Everything That I Am Today" PM Modi Narrates His Life's Journey "You will start living in the true sense of the word," he said. "It will also make you more confident and undeterred by what others say about you. All of these things will help you in times to come. So I just want each and every one of you to remember that you are special and that you don't have to look outside for the light...it's already within you." In the five-part interview with Humans of Bombay Modi shared his nuggets of wisdom and the trail he had to travel in the course of his life. In the first instalment, he spoke about his family and the reverence he holds for his mother. The second part was about the uncertainty of his purpose and his decision to travel to seek some clarity about his path. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 10:11 [IST] Russia's Sputnik V vaccine to get approval from Indian regulator in next few weeks: Dr Reddy's Bengaluru gangrape case: Two accused shot in the leg while trying to escape Victim, who was tortured and gangraped in viral video, traced in Kozhikode, brought to Bengaluru Ludhiana gangrape: 2 arrested, manhunt on to nab others India oi-Vikas SV Chandigarh, Feb 12: Two people have been arrested in connection with the gangrape of a 21-year-woman near Ludhiana, Punjab. A 21-year-old woman was allegedly raped by 10 men near Issewal village on the banks of Sidwan canal, about 15 km from Ludhiana, on Saturday. "We have arrested two people, further investigation is underway. 6 suspects have been identified...5-16 people are suspected to be involved in the crime. We are screening many people," DIG Ranbir Singh Khatra told ANI. Punjab police have released sketches of suspects in connection with the probe into the case. The woman was travelling with a man from Ludhiana to Issewal village on Saturday night when their car was stopped in Jagraon by men on three bikes, who were following them, Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Tarun Rattan told reporters. As soon as they stopped, the car was attacked by the men with stones and bricks, he said. [Bengaluru: 24-year-old MBA student raped during birthday party] The assailants then dragged them out of the car and took them to a vacant spot on the banks of the canal, where they called six to seven more persons and raped the woman, police said. Both the woman and her friend were held there till Sunday, police said. A medical test of the survivor at the Civil Hospital has confirmed the gang rape, officials said. [Mumbai: Man gets 20 yrs in jail for raping minor] A case under relevant sections of the IPC has been registered and police have launched a hunt to nab the accused. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 23:37 [IST] "Lows of vindictive government": Robert Vadra on questioning of mother India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, Feb 12: Congress President Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra on Tuesday hit out at the Centre terming it as a "vindictive government" over the Enforcement Directorate's summons to his 75-year-old mother Maureen Vadra along with him in a money-laundering case. Robert and Maureen Vadra are expected to appear before the ED at 10 am today. "So here we are my 75-year-old mother and me in Jaipur to depose in front of the Enforcement Directorate. Not understanding the lows of this vindictive government to be harassing a senior citizen, who the world knows has lost her daughter in a car crash, her ailing son to diabetes, and her husband as well. Three deaths and all I did was to ask her to spend time with me in my office, so I can look after her and we both could grieve on our losses, while spending time together," Robert Vadra posted on Facebook. Bikaner land case : Robert Vadra, mother to appear before ED in Jaipur "Now she is being accused, maligned and called to be interrogated, for spending time in my office," said the businessman. "This too shall pass and will make me stronger. What goes around comes around. God is with us!!" Vadra added. The 50-year-old businessman reached Jaipur on Monday for questioning by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an alleged land scam case involving 275 acres of land in the Kolayat sub-division of Bikaner district of Rajasthan. Robert Vadra was accompanied by his mother Maureen Vadra. He will appear before the ED in Jaipur today. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also reached Jaipur late on Monday after wrapping up her mega roadshow in Lucknow. Vadra's mother Maureen is also likely to appear before the central probe agency at about 10 AM at its zonal office on Bhawani Singh Road in Jaipur Tuesday. In the Bikaner case, the agency had summoned Vadra thrice but he failed to appear and later approached the court. The ED had registered a criminal case in connection with the deal in 2015, taking cognisance of a clutch of FIRs and chargesheets filed by the Rajasthan police after the tehsildar of Bikaner complained about alleged forgery in the allotment of land in the area, considered sensitive due to its proximity to the Indo-Pak border. Keep her safe, Robert Vadra's message for Priyanka Gandhi The ED, it is understood, wants to question Vadra about the operations of a firm - Ms Skylight Hospitality Private Limited - allegedly linked to him, which had purchased land in the area. It also wants to confront Vadra with the statements of those said to be linked to him. Last week, Robert Vadra was questioned for three days straight for his role in another money laundering case involving purchase of a property in the United Kingdom (UK). Kolkata police chief contacting witnesses, says Kunal Ghosh; Demands strong action against Kumar India oi-Vikas SV Shillong/Kolkata, Feb 12: In a serious against Rajeev Kumar, who is being questioned by the CBI in connection with chit fund scams, former TMC MP Kunal Ghosh on Tuesday said that the Kolkata Police Commissioner is communicating with people who can be "significant witness" in the case. Kunal Ghosh, along with Rajeev Kumar, were in Shillong for questioning by the CBI in the Saradha chit fund scam. The CBI questioned Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar and former Kunal Ghosh by making them sit face to face at the probe agency's office in Shillong on Sunday. "I have cooperated with investigation from very first day. I had been summoned by CBI to their Shillong office, I went there and cooperated in the investigation. As a part of the investigation I had to participate in a joint interrogation with Rajeev Kumar...Today I filed complaint to CBI that after first day of joint interrogation some names were there who can be significant witness. That night, on 10 Feb, after returning from CBI office in Shillong to guest house Mr Kumar communicated with those persons," Ghosh told the media today (February 12). [CBI vs Bengal: Did Rajeev Kumar, withhold or destroy evidence?] "I have appealed that there may be some influence, pressure or new chemistry. So I objected very strongly that this is not to be done. I prayed before CBI that they should take strongest action against Rajeev Kumar," he added. In a Facebook post on Monday, Kunal Ghosh also said the CBI should have questioned Rajeev Kumar long ago. Kunal Ghosh said, a lot of precious time has been lost as neither the CBI nor the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has taken any appropriate step earlier. "Neither the CBI nor any other investigating agency is above criticism. But it will not be wise to bring up those issues and create hurdles in the path of investigation of such a huge scam. The CBI should be allowed to perform its duty," Kunal Ghosh said in the post. Ghosh, whose two-day questioning ended on Monday, demanded that he should jointly be interrogated with BJP) leader Mukul Roy as it might be helpful for the CBI. Kunal Ghosh was arrested by the SIT in November 2013 when he was a Rajya Sabha MP of the TMC. He was granted bail in 2016. Kunal Ghosh had said he will cooperate with the investigation and wants the truth to come out. [Quizzed for 12 hours, Kolkata's top cop brought face to face with Kunal Ghosh] The Kolkata police chief was quizzed for nearly nine hours on Saturday by three senior CBI officers about his alleged role in tampering of crucial evidence in the case. Kumar had led the special investigation team (SIT) formed by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to probe the Saradha scam before the case was handed over to the CBI by the apex court. The CBI had moved the Supreme Court after its officials were thwarted by the Kolkata Police when they had gone to Kumar's official residence in Kolkata to question him on February 3. Banerjee had rushed to the spot and had staged a three-day 'Save the Constitution' sit-in against the CBI move and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah of plotting a "coup". The central investigating agency had said that its officials had wanted to question Kumar to plug the holes in the Saradha investigation case as he was supposed to be in possession of certain key documents as a member of the SIT. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 21:48 [IST] Different terror groups, one master: What has made terrorists desperate in Kashmir Puwama encounter: Militant who aided Jatts escape killed; Two jawans martyred India oi-Madhuri Adnal Srinagar, Feb 12: A Hizbul Mujahideen militant who had helped Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) 'commander' Naveed Jatt to escape from a Srinagar jail ast year was killed in an encounter in Pulwama on Tuesday, according ot THE HINDU report. One soldier also died and another sustained injuries in the gunfight. Two soldiers were also killed during the encounter. Hizb militant Hilal Ahmad Rather, a resident of Behgambagh-Kakapora in Pulwama, was encircled by a joint search team of the Army, police and CRPF in Ratnipora area. Martyred soldiers had been identified as Havaldar Baljeet of 55 Rashtriya Rifles and Naik Saneed of 10 Para. One soldier has been injured. The soldier, named Chanderpal, has been shifted to army base hospital in Srinagar. [J&K: Gunbattle breaks out between security forces, terrorists in Pulwama] Security forces are locked in an encounter with militants in Ratnipora in Pulwama District of south Kashmir. Three to Four militants of terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammed are holed up in the village. The gunfight started after the security forces received intelligence inputs about the presence of militants, following which they launched a search and cordon operation. Security forces have cordoned off the area. Internet services have also been suspended. [J&K: Five terrorists killed in Kulgam encounter; Hizbul and LeT hand suspected] Earlier on Sunday, five militants were gunned down by security forces during an encounter in Kellam area of Devsar in south Kashmir's Kulgam district. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Please let us know what's going on! Go to form Vaccine mix-up: Different jabs given to six people as second dose in Jharkhand's Palamu Jharkhand gov bans Popular Front of India India oi-Chennabasaveshwar P Ranchi, Feb 12: Jharkhand government has banned Popular Front of India (PFI) in the state under Section 16 of The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1908. The Popular Front of India is an extremist and militant Islamic fundamentalist organisation in India formed as a successor to National Development Front (NDF) in 2006. It acquired a multi-state dimension by merging with the National Development Front, Manitha Neethi Pasarai, Karnataka Forum for Dignity and other organisations. It is portrayed as a neo-social movement committed to empower people to ensure justice, freedom and security. The organisation has various wings to cater to different section of society, including the National Women's Front and the Campus Front of India. Akhilesh Yadav stopped at Lucknow airport, not allowed to take Allahabad flight In February of 2018, Raghubar Das' government had declared PFI as unlwaful and banned the outfit. But a few months later, the Jharkhand HC revoked state government's decision to ban the PFI. The court slammed the state government of not going ahead with the norms and revoked its February decision to ban the outfit. Is BJP so afraid? Mayawati after Akhilesh Yadav is stopped at airport India oi-Deepika S Lucknow, Feb 12: Commenting on Akhilesh Yadav's detention, BSP supremo Mayawati on Tuesday said it was extremely condemnable and asked whether the ruling BJP was afraid of their alliance because of which it is "resorting to anti-democratic methods". She described the episode as "anti-democratic" and "an example of total dictatorship of BJP government". "This is very unfortunate and this undemocratic step will be fought at all levels," Mayawati tweeted. "Is the BJP government at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh so afraid of BSP-SP alliance that it is resorting to anti-democratic methods to curb our political activities," Mayawati said in her tweet. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav was on Tuesday stopped by authorities at Lucknow airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad. Akhilesh Yadav stopped at Lucknow airport, not allowed to take Allahabad flight Yadav said he was to fly to Prayagraj from Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport to attend an event at the Allahabad University. Sharing a photo on Twitter, the former Chief Minister said, "I was prevented from boarding the airplane without any written orders. Currently detained at Lucknow airport. It is clear how frightened the govt is by the oath ceremony of a student leader. The BJP knows that youth of our great country will not tolerate this injustice anymore!" Photos shared by Yadav show a police officer standing at the stairs of the aircraft, blocking the path to boarding. Later, the Samajwadi Party chief released a statement over his detention, calling it "the remote control politics of two and a half men". "But, to be stopped from speaking, from asking questions that are on everyone's lips- to be prevented from engaging with the youth is just another clear sign of how scared the government is," the statement said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 16:31 [IST] India Shining on the Global platform through PM Modis Foreign Diplomacy India oi-Staff By Gaurav Singhal Foreign diplomacy has been one of the prime areas of focus under the Narendra Modi reign. The prime minister has travelled relentlessly since being elected in 2014 and have managed to strengthen ties with numerous nations across the world. The foreign policy is termed as highly energetic and we have seen the prime minister taking each of his tour with great zeal. Make in India One of the groundbreaking steps since PM Modi was elected in power was the Make in India Campaign. Prime Minister launched the initiative on 25th September 2014. Its main aim was to make India the hub of manufacturing across the globe. The initiative encouraged all domestic as well as the multinational companies to produce their products in the country. The Department of Industry Policy and Promotion is leading this initiative with the aim to raise the contribution of the manufacturing sector upto 25% of the total Gross Domestic Product till the year 2025. Promoting foreign direct investment, developing the manufacturing rights and implementing the intellectual rights are some of the prime areas of focus of the Make in India Campaign. The Campaign is targeting around 25 sectors of the Indian economy. The sectors range from Information Technology to Business Process Management to many more. FDI - First Develop India FDI has increased drastically from 23.30 billion in FY14 to $60.08 billion under the Narendra Modi government. It has been one of the biggest achievements by the government. According to a release by Ministry of Commerce and Industry the inflow of FDI has been one of the highest till date. The huge FDI led to a surprise in many as demonetization happened in the 2016 year end. Many from the opposition also criticized the demonetization as it would lead to derailing of the economy. According to a latest release, India is presently one of the most attractive locations for investing in foreign direct investment. The rapid increase in the foreign investment was a result of the crucial policy reforms the government undertook. New Beginnings What began with much energy continues till today with the 5 year term almost complete. With just seven months in power, the prime minister made a total of nine foreign visits. The first set of countries in the prime minister's foreign visit included the neighborhood nations. The prime minister sent an invitation to all the leaders of the SAARC nations for his inaugural ceremony. One of India's closest friends, Bhutan was the first country to welcome our newly appointed Prime Minister in June 2014 followed by Nepal in August. In November 2014 was the 18th SAARC summit in Kathmandu Nepal. The Prime Minister attended the same and made a significant reach to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif. 2015 witnessed the repetition of the prime minister's visit in the neighborhood countries. This time the visit was made to Mauritius, Seychelles, Sri Lanka along with Afghanistan and Bangladesh. A visit to the five of the Central Asian stans in 2015 was another significant highlight of the prime minister's foreign policies. In 2016, the prime minister marked his visit to the gulf nations. He visited Iran, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. In August 2016, he already visited the UAE. The Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan was the chief guest of the Republic Day Parade in the year 2017. The highlights of the prime minister's visits were those made to Japan and parts of Europe as well as U.S. These visits, especially the one with the U.S. were crafted with the aim to attract investors and increase aid. PM Modi's Firsts Prime Minister Modi's visit to Israel was the one of the highlights as it was the first by any prime minister to visit the nation. The Congress party, as always did not lag behind in ridiculing the government. The efforts made by the present prime minister to strenghthen the country's global dynamics cannot be compared by any of the opposition leaders. As commonly known, the Indo-US relations were quite tensed under the UPA era. With five trips to the U.S., including the UN General Assembly meeting in 2014, our relations with the U.S. are one a much better pace. Infact, India and US have been in good terms since the election of Narendra Modi. Defence, political and economic platforms have vastly seen the improved the Indo-US ties. The countries signed the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) which was the long pending defense agreement since the year 2004. India has also improved its ties with the UK. Meeting the Queen Elizabeth twice along with the counterpart Theresa May, PM Modi has developed strong ties with the nation. India is the third largest investor of the United Kingdom. This makes their ties even stronger. PM Modi signed the memorandum for the National Clean Ganga Mission, vocational programmes and skill development along with an agreement between NITI Aayog with the UK's Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Though the relations between India and China have seen quite tough times, PM Modi was one of the first ones to congratulate the president of China, Xi Jinping when he was reelected. PM Modi has also managed to strengthen our country's ties with Germany with each of his visit and meeting with the Chancellor Angela Merkel. Germany is India's largest trading partner in the entire European Union. The country is altogether on a different platform globally. The work of PM Modi is highly appreciated on the international platform by numerous countries. As we all know the positives and rapid development by this government is a boon to the country along with being a threat to the opposition. No wonder we can see the opposition criticizing the state of the nation regularly. What comes as a breakthrough is the result of the increased participation and the involvement of any Prime Minister of our country till date with the rest of the world. Be it the UAE, Russia, Europe or U.S. PM Modi has left no stone unturned in not only strengthening the ties but proving India as a significant emerging power globally. Gaurav Singhal tweets @https://twitter.com/allaboutgaurav Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of OneIndia and OneIndia does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. IAF bids adieu to MiG-27 ML 'Bahadur': This formidable fighter had some 'crash' issues After 35 years in action, IAF's MiG-27 roars through the skies for one last time IAF's MiG-27 fighter jet crashes near Pokhran India oi-Vikas SV Jaipur, Feb 12: A MiG-27 fighter jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed near Pokhran in Rajasthan on Tuesday. The pilot of the MiG-27 has ejected safely. The jet was on a training mission and had taken-off from Jaisalmer, said reports. The crash took place around 6.10 pm today. A Court of inquiry will investigate the cause of the accident, reported ANI. This is the second crash of a fighter jet this month. On February 1, a Mirage 2000 trainer fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed in Bengaluru. [Crashed Mirage 2000's black box to be sent to France to ascertain cause of mishap] Both the pilots - Squadron leader Negi and Squadron leader Abrol - of the fighter aircraft had died in the Mirage 2000 crash. Both pilots had ejected, but one of them died as he landed on the wreckage of the aircraft. Other pilot who had also ejected has succumbed to injuries in a hospital. It may be recalled that in June 2018, a pilot was killed after an Indian Air Force Jaguar fighter jet crashed soon after taking off from the Jamnagar airbase in Gujarat. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 19:39 [IST] 'Government's lies exposed,' says Congress leader Kapil Sibal India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, Feb 12: Just hours before the crucial CAG report on Rafale deal is taken up in the parliament today, Kapil Sabil in a tweet has once again launched an attack at the centre. Taking to twitter Sibal wrote: "It seems Airbus , French Government , Anil Ambani all knew that the PM will sign an MOU on his visit to France between 9th and 11th April , 2015 ," tagging an attachment of a mail that spells out the details. "The government's lies are now exposed," Sibal adds. CAG report on Rafale deal likely to be tabled in Lok Sabha today The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report on the Rafale deal in Parliament today. The significance of the report lies in the fact that the CAG has reportedly conducted a thorough review of the Rafale deal- looking into various aspects of the procurement process including pricing, the request for proposals received from all vendors and comparative pricing of other fighter jets - vis-a-vis the Rafale - available globally. Sibal had on Sunday alleged conflict of interest and asked CAG Rajiv Mehrishi to recuse himself from auditing the deal as he was the finance secretary when the Rafale deal was negotiated. "Rafale Deal took place during current CAG Rajiv Mehrishi's tenure as Finance Secretary. Since it's a corrupt deal probe should be done. But, how will CAG investigate against himself? First he will shield himself and then the government. This is conflict of interest," Sibal said. Congress has been accusing the Modi government of corruption in the deal, alleging that the price of the aircraft was raised and the offset deal was taken from state-owned aircraft maker HAL and given to businessman Anil Ambani's newly formed Reliance Defence, which had no experience. The government and Anil Ambani have repeatedly refuted all allegations of irregularities and corruption. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 11:52 [IST] Delhi: Security on high alert after Congress MPs car rams into Parliament barricade India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, Feb 12: Security at parliament was put on high alert on Tuesday afternoon after a Lok Sabha member's car rammed into a security barricade inside Parliament premises. J&K: Uri army camp cordoned off after suspicious movement; 2 detained News agency ANI reported that the vehicle belongs to Congress Lok Sabha MP from Manipur, Thokchom Meinya. It is unclear whether Meinya was inside the vehicle at the time of the incident. Parliament security personnel are investigating the cause of the incident. J&K: Encounter underway between terrorists, security forces in Pulwama The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is likely to be tabled in Rajya Sabha after the House convenes at 2 pm. In Manipur, curfew has been imposed for the day in Imphal city and mobile internet services shut down for five days across the state in order to contain the growing anger against the bill. Delhi continues to sit on fire' as nobody is bothered India oi-Hardeep Singh Bedi New Delhi, Feb 12: Death of 17 persons in a hotel fire incident in Delhi has once again highlighted how the national capital continues to sit on fire, thanks to the nexus between businessmen, government officials and politicians. A fire broke out in Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh area of Delhi in the wee hours of Tuesday. When the fire was brought under control around 7 am, it had claimed 17 lives, including three Myanmar nationals and two Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited officials. The mobile footage captured by some eyewitnesses tells heart-wrenching scenes, like how a person was dangling from the terrace and then jumping off to death and how a woman and a child were killed when they jumped off the fifth floor to escape the fire. Media carries a commoner's clean-chit! Even before any inquiry, or any high-ranking government official or police gave any statement regarding the unfortunate incident, a commoner went on to 'disclose' cause of the fire and virtually gave a clean-chit to the hotel. [Delhi: 17 killed in fire at Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh; 2 jumped off the building] At 9: 31 am on Tuesday, News Agency ANI tweeted Delhi Hotel Association Vice-President Balan Mani as saying that "It was due to a fire in the ducts, and as a result, it spread to the hotel rooms... All (safety) norms were followed here. A license is issued only after inspection... Mishappenings can occur in a house as well." However, according to some media reports, the kitchen on the terrace of Hotel Arpit Palace caught fire leading to the tragedy. Action Taken So Far: However, contrary to Delhi Hotel Association's Mani's clean-chit, reports have emerged that everything was not okay in Hotel Arpit Palace. Delhi Urban Development Minister Satyendra Jain visited the accident site and inspected the area. Later, he tweeted: "Fire in Karol Bagh hotel. 17 causalities 2 injured. Magistrate enquiry ordered. Visible violations of building bye laws, building constructed 6 stories including one temporary floor instead of permissible 4 floors. Ordered fire inspection of buildings in the area." Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who visited the location, said a magisterial inquiry had been ordered that will also look into violations by other hotels in the area. However, neither Jain nor Kejriwal clarified whether they came to know about the violations in Karol Bagh today or were they already aware of it. North Delhi Municipal Corporation has also ordered a probe into the fire tragedy and sought the report within three days. Karol Bagh falls under North Delhi Municipal Corporation. Delhi Police has registered a case under culpable sections of homicide, not amounting to murder. Blame Game: North Delhi Municipal Corporation mayor has blamed fire department of Delhi government of giving No Objection Certificate (NOC) to Arpit Palace Hotel. He, however did not say anything about violation of building bye-laws as claimed by Delhi Minister Satyendra Jain Ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also swung into skin saving action. Spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj tweeted: "Will Delhi ever see a Commissioner of MCD or Chief of fire being suspended for such huge loss of innocent human lives. What a rotten system of Governance where all powers rest with LG who has zero accountability." He, however, forgot that Fire Department comes under Delhi government. Former Delhi Chief Minister and incumbent Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee President Sheila Dikshit said, "They should form a committee and look into the issue. If they form a committee, people responsible for the incident will be punished." She ruled Delhi for 15 years, she knows very well how different nexuses thrive in the national capital. The Reality: Since majority of Delhi's restaurants, banquet halls, hospitals, old cinema halls and other commercial buildings don't have fire safety norms in place, Delhi seems to be sitting on fire as nobody is bothered. 'Nobody' includes: Delhiites, businessmen, fire department officials, other concerned government officials, and politicians. Common Delhiites are not concerned because they are ignorant about the enforced fire safety rules & regulations and building bye laws in the national capital. Because of the ignorance, they don't understand how their lives have been put at risk by the rest in the 'nobody club', who know 'ways and means' to bypass the applicable rules and regulations for their 'common benefit'. Delhi Fire Department, which comes under Delhi government, is very much aware of the fact that how residential and commercial buildings in Delhi flout fire safety norms. Under the National Building Code of India, only restaurants having 50 or above seats are under legal obligation to obtain no objection certificate (NOC) from the fire department. Every government official and politician knows that there are thousands of restaurants, hotels, and banquet halls in Delhi that have declared themselves under 50-seat establishment but as per requirement they accommodate more than 50 guests. The fact of the matter is that only around 20% restaurants and hotels in Delhi have the NOC from Fire Department. As the North Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor has questioned the fire safety NOC to Arpit Palace Hotel, it is a matter of investigation that out of these 20% how many restaurants and hotels actually fulfill the fire safety requirements in letter and spirit under National Building Code of India. The functions of Municipal Corporation of Delhi are same as those of other corporation across the country, but many MCD works in Delhi overlap with Delhi Government. Therefore, it is very easy for the officials and politicians to confuse the common people of Delhi over any matter. Incumbent Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal or his predecessors have used this 'confusing tactics' as and when required. For example, the MCD runs dispensaries and some hospitals, while the Delhi government runs bigger and more specialised hospitals. In the collection of taxes, the roles of MCD and Delhi government differ - while MCD collect toll tax at the borders, advertisement revenue and property tax, the Delhi government collects excise duty, service tax and value added tax on the services and commodities sold. The enquiry ordered by North Delhi Municipal Corporation establishes the responsibility of the corporation officials and area corporator in the Arpit Palace Hotel fire tragedy. The epitome: As it is the case in other parts of the country, flouting of government rules and regulations in Delhi are going on by greasing the palms of concerned government officials and politicians. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 20:27 [IST] Chinese man held with gold bars at IGI airport India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa New Delhi, Feb 12: A Chinese man was apprehended at the Delhi airport for allegedly carrying gold bars worth Rs 12 lakh in his baggage in violation of rules, officials said. They identified the man as Jian Zhang and said he was intercepted by the CISF personnel at about 3 am at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) when he arrived at the facility to take a flight to Paro in Bhutan. Delhi: Police officer shot at by two unknown assailants Four gold bars, each weighing 100gm, were recovered from his hand bag and he was handed over to Customs department officials as he could not produce required valid documents for carrying the yellow metal, they said. The estimated value of the gold bars is about Rs 12 lakh, they added. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 6:18 [IST] Bengaluru: 24-year-old MBA student raped during birthday party India oi-Madhuri Adnal Bengaluru, Feb 12: A 24-year-old student who is currently studying MBA was raped by a flat mate of her Facebook friend during the birthday party. The incident happened in HAL area on Saturday night, according to TOI. The accused arrested has been identified as Adithya K who is from Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh and is currently residing in Doddanekkundi near HAL area. Adithya is working with a priate firm in Marthalli and shared a flat with Arif whom the MBA student had befriended. 19-year-old woman arrested under Section 377 for raping another woman using sex toy in Delhi Arif had invited MBA student for his birthday. The trio partied and consumed alcohol, after which when the victim went to take some rest. Arif stepped out to bring food for his friends. Adithya then entered the room and started assaulting her. She could not push him away as she was in an inebriated condition. When he returned the victim narrated her ordeal to him. She rushed to the police station early Sunday morning and filed a rape case against Adithya. Based on the complaint filed by the student, the police arrested the accused and sent him to Parappana Agrahara central jail. However, the victim later wanted to withdraw the case following a request from her friend, but the police have refused, saying the FIR has already been registered and she has to undergo a full medical test as per law. Mumbai: Man gets 20 yrs in jail for raping minor During interrogation, Adithya confessed to the crime. He claimed that he was under the influence of alcohol when the incident happened. The police also questioned Arif and recorded his statement. Arif said that he became friends with the MBA student on Facebook few months agoo and that she is also from Andhra Pradesh. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 9:11 [IST] Amit Shah launches ambitious 'Mera parivar, Bhajapa parivar' campaign in Gujarat India oi-PTI Ahmedabad, Feb 12: BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday kicked off his party's ambitious "Mera parivar, Bhajapa parivar" campaign by hoisting its flag at his residence in Gujarat as it seeks to cover over five crore houses under the drive ahead of the announcement of the schedule of Lok Sabha polls. The BJP intends to hoist the party flag at the houses of voters under this mass outreach drive. The exercise will last till March 2 and the saffron party aims to plant its flag at five crore homes of its workers and sympathisers across the country. "This BJP flag is a symbol of development, belief and nationalism, and shows how appeasement, casteism and family rule is ending in the Modi era," Shah said, launching the campaign. A large number of party leaders and workers joined the campaign and shared pictures on social media platforms. BJP must run with workers' contributions, not "industrialists": Amit Shah BJP sources have described the drive as a part of its mass mobilisation campaign for Lok Sabha elections, expected to be held in April-May, claiming it may touch up to 20 crore people if a house has on an average four residents. Among other measures, the party has been reaching out to beneficiaries of different government schemes, like Jan Dhan bank accounts, building of toilets, Mudra loans and LPG connection scheme, to mobilise people in its support. Party sources said they have already verified details of over 9.5 crore new members out of the 11 crore it had claimed to enrolled during its membership drive following its victory in 2014. "The BJP had received over 17 crore votes in 2014. Now we have details of of 9.5 crore members in our record. There are 35 crore beneficiaries of Jan Dhan bank accounts, seven crore under Mudra and over six crore under Ujjwala scheme to give free LPG connection to the poor," a leader said. He added the party has targeted different groups for mobilisation ahead of the polls. Later in the day, Shah will attend a cluster meeting of party leaders in Godhra for Panchmahal, Dahod and Chhota Udepur Lok Sabha seats in central Gujarat. Incharges of the three LS seats, party office-bearers, sitting and former MLAs and MPs from the region, will attend the meeting. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 11:41 [IST] FIR against former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav, 20 SP workers for 'assaulting' journalists in Moradabad Uttar Pradesh government lying about number of teachers who died during poll duty: Akhilesh Yadav Akhilesh Yadav stopped at Lucknow airport, not allowed to take Allahabad flight India oi-PTI Lucknow, Feb 12: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday claimed he was stopped at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad University. "The government is afraid of oath ceremony of a student leader and is stopping me at the airport to prevent me from visiting Allahabad," Yadav claimed. He also posted photographs in his official Twitter handle in which he was seen talking to police officers inside the airport. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav believes Congress is part of the anti-BJP alliance in UP He said he had to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad university. When asked, Airport Director AK Sharma said, "I have no such information." The matter rocked the Uttar Pradesh legislature. As soon as Samajwadi Party members came to know about their national president being stopped at the airport, they tried to raise the matter during Question Hour in the assembly. "The present regime is trying to kill democracy and stop our leader from visiting Allahabad," SP leader Narendra Verma said. The members also trooped into the Well of the House due to which Speaker Hriday Narain Dixit adjourned the proceedings for 20 minutes during the Question Hour. The matter was also raised in the Legislative Council, leading to the adjournment of the House for 25 minutes during the pre-lunch sitting. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 14:39 [IST] Aero India 2019: Skycats, Dakota heritage plane and Rafale jets to rule the sky India oi-Chennabasaveshwar P Bengaluru, Feb 12: The 12th edition of the biennial Aero India Exhibition will begin on February 20th (Wednesday). The exhibition will be inaugurated with fly past and aerobatic display at Yalahanka air base. The tagline for Aero India 2019, "The Runway to a Billion Opportunities" was created to communicate India's value proposition in addressing the immense opportunities in the Aerospace and Aviation sectors in India today. AeroIndia logo: The logo for Aero India 2019 is inspired by the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). The Tejas LCA together with its variants, is the smallest and lightest Multi-Role Supersonic Fighter Aircraft of its class. This single engine, Compound-Delta-Wing, Tailless Aircraft is designed and developed to meet diverse needs of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Indian Navy (IN).The Tejas LCA programme has achieved the rare distinction of completing over 4000 Successful Test Flights. The tri-colored silhouette of the Tejas LCA with the Ashok Chakra in the centre is the core motif of this logo, reminiscent of the spirit of New India. CAG report on Rafale deal likely to be tabled in Lok Sabha today The defined outlines of the 'A' in Aero is symbolic of a fighter jet while conveying that Aero India is a premier global aerospace exhibition. AeroIndia Mobile app: In hours of its first ever launch, the Aero India Mobile app was downloaded over 1100 times. The app is the Ministry of Defence's latest initiative on Digital India. The app will have schedules, maps, connect with Exhibitors, even report feedback on amenities/public services information. Aero India 2019 will provide a significant platform in bolstering business opportunities in International aviation sector. A rapidly growing economy and opening up of defence production to private sector, have given a major fillip to the defence industry in India. It has also become a hub for defence businesses in Asia. Major attractions: Skycats: The SKYCATS will perform an aerobatic wing walking act on "CATWALK". With the powerful smoke system and wingtip pyrotechnic smoke the air show pilot Jacob Hollander or Sus Jan Heden invites for an wingwalking display that is unique in its class. During flight the two SKYCATS are climbing and posing on the wings of the aircraft in different formations like "Lazy Cat", "Super Cat" etc. while the pilot is making numerous of aerobatic manoeuvres like loops and barrel rolls. SKELDAR V-200 UAV The Saab Skeldar is a medium-range VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) developed by the Swedish aerospace company Saab. Missions for the Skeldar involves surveillance, intelligence gathering, light cargo transportation and electronic warfare. DAKOTA heritage aircraft: Hero of the Indo-Pak war in 1947, the Dakota was among India's first aircraft in the battle zone. Decommissioned but resurrected in 2011, the old warbird is now all set to rekindle nostalgia with an emphatic display in AirIndia Show 2019. Twin Rafales to make a sortie: Twin Rafale fighet jets will go for a sortie as a part of aerobatic display in the five-day exhibition. The Rafale aircraft manufactured by Dassault Aviation and deployed by the French Air Force, a Dassault Falcon 2000S, an Airbus A330-900, an Airbus C295 and Airbus H135 and H145 helicopters will be presented. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 11:14 [IST] The following editorial appeared in the Washington Post. Forget a dystopian robot future. The present, in which it seems impossible to sit down to dinner without a machine calling your smartphone, is troubling enough. The scourge of robocalls has worsened in recent years, but stirrings in Congress suggest that spam-slammed Americans may finally find some relief. Consumers frustrated with the continual flow of unwanted calls have technology to thank. Gone are the days when clunky hardware meant autodialing was a hassle and when long-distance fees could cost a marketer more than it could hope to make. Now, spammers can target thousands of phones an hour with only a click, almost for free, no matter where they are and spoofing software allows them to do it while concealing their identities. Any solution, then, will have to tackle two problems at once: run-of-the-mill spammers who do not spoof and the fraudsters who use fake numbers for their scams. Thankfully, proposals in both chambers of Congress offer some hope. It would be easier to argue that "Medicare-for-all" amounts to a dangerous socialist scheme. But the same claim was made about the original Medicare. In 1964, Ronald Reagan predicted that if it came to pass, Americans would "spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free." Somehow most Americans don't feel enslaved by a program that ensures health care for the elderly. Will Wilkinson, vice president for research at the Niskanen Center in Washington, notes that "some of the freest countries in the world, and the most capitalist, have single-payer systems." He's right. In the latest Economic Freedom of the World report, co-published by the Cato Institute and the Fraser Institute, the freest nation is New Zealand -- which has a single-payer approach akin to "Medicare-for-all." Second is Switzerland, which provides universal coverage through a system reminiscent of Obamacare. Conservatives depict any expansion of government as a step on the path toward socialist dystopia. But they slight the value of government action to correct failures of the market -- such as voluminous carbon emissions, which produce climate change. The committee divided, lamentably, along partisan lines in voting on his nomination, with the Republican majority in the affirmative and Democrats in the negative. But in his testimony before the committee, he correctly and repeatedly framed a judges role, saying a judge needs to set aside his or her personal political views in deciding cases. Buescher approached his work at Kutak Rock conscientiously and effectively, and hes given clear indication that he understands the proper responsibilities for judicial conduct. Bueschers description of a judges obligation to adhere to the law, rather than ones personal ideology, is one that applies to strong liberals as well as conservatives. Plus, federal judges have no power to disregard precedent; that authority rests solely with the U.S. Supreme Court. It was particularly unfortunate to see that some senators choose to make an issue of Bueschers membership in the Knights of Columbus. The anti-Catholic tone of that line of criticism spurred U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska to push back by introducing a resolution that the Senate not consider religious affiliation in deciding on judicial nominees a principle in line with a key point in the U.S. Constitution. Today Partly to mostly cloudy. High 92F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Tonight Partly cloudy in the evening with more clouds for later at night. Low 76F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Tomorrow Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 91F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Editor's note: For an updated version of this story, click here. A 28-year-old man was taken to an Omaha hospital early Tuesday after he was shot near 47th Street and Lafayette Avenue. Patrick Peirce was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center, police said. Witnesses flagged down police while officers were in the area about 4:15 a.m. to investigate a report of a home invasion. The witnesses said they were hanging out at an apartment when two men entered, demanding drugs and money. During the encounter, Peirce was shot numerous times, police said. Officers reported finding narcotics at the scene. At a nearby apartment, a 32-year-old man told officers that two men had forced their way inside, showed a gun and asked for a person who was not there. The men then fled on foot. While officers were at the scene of the shooting, they noticed an unresponsive 23-year-old man in the driver's seat of a van behind the apartment building. The man, who was possibly suffering from a drug overdose, was taken by ambulance to the Nebraska Medical Center in serious condition. Edison Red Nest, a school board member from Alliance, raised concerns that restraints could be used disproportionately against Native American students just as Native American students are disproportionately represented in the districts alternative high school. Red Nest also related a personal experience of being restrained during his elementary school years for refusing to eat his spinach. The teachers held me down and force-fed me, he said. Some opponents said the bill would encourage more use of restraints against students, despite studies showing that restraints can lead to physical and emotional harm. Michael Warner, a board member for Disability Rights Nebraska, raised concerns particularly about children who cannot speak. Students are in school to learn, he said. They should not be fearful of retaliation from a teacher because they got frustrated. LB 147 would allow teachers or administrators to use necessary physical contact or physical restraint against students who act violently against themselves or others or who damage school property. The bill defines restraint as holding a students hands, wrists or torso and specifically bars the use of mechanical restraints or tying up students. Republicans and Democrats are crappy tribes, Sasse said. These arent people who love you and are going to comfort you in your old age. Theyre just political parties. The panel also included three UNL undergrads: Grace Chambers, Kameryn Sannicks and Hunter Traynor. Their ideas on why people dont get along included fear, not listening to the minority opinion, and media and social networks that profit off of disagreement. The discussion was scheduled as part of events in celebration of UNLs 150th anniversary. The students, McMahon said, represent the next 150 years. Sasse and the students attempted to answer the question: What we can do to lessen divisiveness? Traynor asked his fellow students to seek out information you disagree with on purpose. Sannicks suggested staying connected with someone who looks different from yourself. Sasse said that if people have trouble understanding where others are coming from, they probably havent tried hard enough. A 28-year-old man was taken to an Omaha hospital early Tuesday after he was shot near 47th Street and Lafayette Avenue. Patrick Peirce was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center, police said. Witnesses flagged down police officers in the area about 4:15 a.m. to investigate a report of a home invasion. The witnesses said they were hanging out in an apartment when two men entered, demanding drugs and money. During the encounter, Peirce was shot numerous times, police said. Officers reported finding narcotics at the scene. At a nearby apartment, a 32-year-old man told officers that two men had forced their way inside, showed a gun and asked for a person who was not there. The men then ran off. While officers were at the scene of the shooting, they noticed an unresponsive 23-year-old man in the drivers seat of a van behind the apartment building. The man, who was possibly suffering from a drug overdose, was taken by ambulance to the Nebraska Medical Center in serious condition. A hospital spokesman said no information about Peirces condition is being released. The overdose victim still was being treated in the emergency room at midday, the spokesman said. A 33-year-old man accused of leading Omaha police officers on a high-speed chase across the city had tried to run over officers, a prosecutor said Monday. Jesse Fields of Omaha faces 10 charges, including four counts of attempted assault on an officer and theft by receiving. He was ordered held in jail on combined bail of $275,000. Prosecutor Anthony Clowe said officers went to a U-Haul outlet at 90th and Maple Streets on Thursday to investigate a report of a theft in progress. Officers tried to stop a U-Haul truck from being stolen by parking a cruiser behind it, but the driver revved the engine, rammed into the cruiser and almost struck an officer, the Police Department has said. The driver sped toward another officer, who was able to get out of the way, officials said. Officers began a pursuit but then called it off because the driver was veering into oncoming traffic and tried to hit another police cruiser head-on, police said. On Friday, an off-duty officer spotted the stolen U-Haul truck and an on-duty officer attempted to make a traffic stop near 93rd Street and West Dodge Road. Former Husker Spencer Long signed a three-year deal with the Buffalo Bills on Tuesday, one week after he was released by the New York Jets. Long was cut on Feb. 5 as a cost-saving move by the Jets, who would've owed him an additional bonus of nearly $3.5 million had he remained on the roster. Financial terms of Long's new deal with the Bills have not been released. Buffalo could have two former Huskers on the starting offensive line next season. Jeremiah Sirles signed a one-year extension with the Bills last month after starting five games for them last season. Long started all 13 games for the Jets in 2018, the first of a four-year contract. He played both center and guard. Long was a fourth-round draft pick of the Redskins in 2014. He played in 40 games with 31 starts for Washington before going to New York in 2018. 21 Savage is free for now. After being arrested by ICE in Atlanta after the federal agency claimed that the rapper was unlawfully present in the United States as a UK citizen, 21 Savage has now been released on bond. READ: Grammys 2019: Only One Person Speaks Up For 21 Savage, Childish Gambino Doesnt Attend But Still Wins, And Cardi B Makes History 21 Savage asked us to send a special message to his fans and supporters he says that while he wasnt present at the Grammy Awards, he was there in spirit and is grateful for the support from around the world and is more than ever, ready to be with his loved ones and continue making music that brings people together, Savages lawyer Charles H. Kuck, as well as other lawyers Dina LaPolt and Alex Spiro (who Jay-Z and Roc Nation hired to assist on the case), said to TMZ. He will not forget this ordeal or any of the other fathers, sons, family members, and faceless people, he was locked up with or that remain unjustly incarcerated across the country. And he asks for your hearts and minds to be with them, the statement continued. 21 Savages detainment with ICE stopped him from attending the 61st Grammy Awards last weekend. The rapper was nominated for two Grammys, including Record of the Year for Rockstar, his collaboration with Post Malone. TRENDING VIDEOS Frequent Childish Gambino collaborator Ludwig Goransson acknowledged Savages ICE detainment while accepting the award for Record of the Year for the Gambino song This Is America, which Savage contributed ad-libs to. During his speech, Goransson said that the Atlanta rapper should be here at the Grammys. 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Nuala helped the Irish Cancer Society launch its 32nd Daffodil Day at an event in Dublin last week, where the charity revealed it needs to raise 4million this Daffodil Day to meet ever-increasing demands for support. Daffodil Day 2019, proudly supported by Boots Ireland, takes place on March 22. People of Offaly are urged get involved by volunteering to help fundraise on www.cancer.ie and donating what they can on the day. Nualas father Maurice died following a 16-month battle with pancreatic cancer. When dad was first diagnosed we didnt really know that the prognosis was so bad, Nuala said. We were hopeful he could overcome it but sadly that wasnt to be. As a family, we made his last days as special as we could and I am grateful for the time we had together. But now I want to fight back and raise vital funds to help stop other families losing loved ones to this awful disease." Pancreatic cancer currently has the lowest survival rate for all major cancers, with just one in ten people alive five years after diagnosis. We can, and must, change this. But it will require much more investment in cancer research and services. Thats why I am appealing to people in Offaly to get involved and help make Daffodil Day 2019 bigger than ever." Your donations will also fund vital supports for patients and their families, so no-one has to go through cancer alone, she added. Averil Power, Chief Executive of the Irish Cancer Society, said: Sadly we know many more Dads like Maurice will hear the dreadful words you have cancer this year. Every three minutes someone receives a cancer diagnosis. We are determined to be there for everyone who needs us. But with the number of people getting cancer at a record high, we cant do that without public support." Last year our nurses, staff and volunteers reached thousands of patients in Offaly affected by cancer, but we didnt reach everyone in need. We dont just want to provide an excellent service to some cancer patients. We want to provide it to ALL cancer patients. As 98% of our funding comes from the public, we simply cant do that without more donations." Boots Ireland has been in partnership with the Society since 2012, with the aim of the partnership to increase awareness, promote prevention and support people living with cancer across Ireland. The pharmacy chain has raised 1.4m for the Society and is sponsoring Daffodil Day for the second year in a row. Bernadette Lavery, MD, Boots Ireland said: Colleagues here locally are ready to join with our local communities again this Daffodil Day. Not a week goes by where our staff dont come face to face with the impact of cancer on our customers and patients. We are there to extend care and advice instore through our Boots Irish Cancer Society Information Pharmacists and Cancer Beauty Advisors, and by sponsoring Daffodil Day we will play our part in ensuring cancer patients and their families are fully supported. The Daffodil Day launch was attended by Minister for Health Simon Harris, hundreds of Daffodil Day volunteers, cancer survivors and representatives from Boots stores around the country. A male student at the Universidad Mayor de San Miguel, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, was recently apprehended while trying to take the college entrance exam on behalf of a female applicant, disguised as a woman. 19-year-old Bryan G. was already a Systems Engineering student at the Universidad Mayor de San Miguel, but on February 6th, he tried to once again take the entrance exam at his college, this time on behalf of a female applicant. To fool university staff, he put on a wig, applied makeup on his face and dressed in womens clothing. Unfortunately, he was seated at the front of the exam hall where all the professors and assistants could see him, and because he looked more nervous than the other applicants, he quickly attracted their attention. Just as Bryan was about to receive his exam sheet, an assistant came over, asked him who he was, and when he answered Jocelin C., the man told him You are not that person. Photo: Red Uno de Bolivia/YouTube I was in the front seats and a teacher or assistant saw me, Bryan told police. I was about to get the exam sheets, but he said you are not that person, and I was very nervous so I confessed. Asked why he tried to deceive the university, the 19-year-old originally said that he was contacted by a relative of the female applicant on the OLX online marketplace and offered money to take the exam on her behalf, because she was away. After he accepted, the contact sent him her university application card and even booked him a makeup session to make his disguise more believable. I did not want to do anything bad, I just did not have a job and thats why I accepted, Bryan said. Ive never done this before, I love studying and I want to go to Japan to specialize. I dont want any trouble! Photo: Los Tiempos/Daniel James However, according to El Deber, he later changed his statement, saying that he did it out of love, to help his girlfriend. So its safe to say that right now his motives are unclear. Luckily for the 19-year-old impostor, the police cant take any action against him, because impersonating a university applicant for the entrance exam is not a crime. Things would have been different if he had signed the exam sheet, as that would have been a case of forgery. Juan Rios, the rector of the Universidad Mayor de San Miguel, told La Razon that there is no specific rule that punishes students for impersonating applicants, adding that it will be up to the board to come up with a proper punishment for Bryan G.. As for Jocelin C., the girl this student posed at, she is not yet enrolled at the university so its unclear if any measures can be taken against her. In a video interview with Red Uno de Bolivia, rector Rios later said that both Bryan and Jocelin will be banned from the Bolivian public university system, making it impossible for them to apply to any public university in the country. Police in Papuas Jayawijaya district, Indonesia, issued a public apology after a video showing an alleged thief being interrogated by security forces using a two-meter live snake went viral online. Human rights advocates in Indonesia are condemning the use of a live snake during the interrogation of an alleged thief in Western New Guinea. In a video doing the rounds on social media, a barefoot, handcuffed man can be seen squirming and screaming as police officers push a live snake in his face and threaten to put in his mouth and in his pants. Later, the reptile is also seen wrapped around the suspects neck, as police try to get a confession out of him about some stolen phones. How many times have you stolen a mobile phone? a police officer can be heard shouting at the alleged thief, to which the terrified man answers Only two times. Local police chief Tonny Ananda Swadaya recently issued a public statement, apologizing for the use of the snake during the interrogation, but also pointing out that the media was making too big a deal out of the incident, as the snake wasnt poisonous and the suspect was never in any real danger. The snake was tame and not poisonous or dangerous, and the incident was their own idea so they could get admission of guilt as quick as possible, Swadaya said. We will work more professionally in the future. We apologize for the incident, a police spokesperson told local reporters. Institutionally we do not recognize such an unprofessional method of interrogation, and we guarantee that such an inhuman method will not happen again in the future. However, according to human rights lawyer Veronica Koman, the use of live snakes is very common among police and the military in Western New Guinea, especially against the ethnic Melanesian people. She added that a snake was put in the cell of one of his clients, a Papuan activist, in January, to intimidate him. Elizabeth City, NC (27909) Today Mostly sunny skies. High 78F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight A few clouds. Low 64F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. (CNN) The human toll of the Venezuelan crisis is evident in the women's faces. They speak with pain in their voices and sadness in their eyes. At first reserved, they eventually open up and tell, through tears, how they came to be in a situation that would once have been unimaginable: selling their bodies to make ends meet. Mariza, a certified nurse, made the journey across the border from Venezuela to Colombia two years ago, leaving behind her mother and three children. Like most immigrants with professional careers, she expected to find a job in her own field, but when doors were repeatedly closed in her face and even a cleaning job was nowhere to be found, Mariza found herself making an impossible decision. "To have one guy today and another person tomorrow," she says of her fall into prostitution, is not easy, and it's dangerous. But as a mother, "you don't think you do what you have to." Mariza's name has been changed to protect her identity, as have other names in this report. Disappointment rings in her voice when she speaks of her time spent in education and being unable to work as a nurse. "It's frustrating because you realize that you worked. Five years of my life studying, preparing I feel at this moment that it's five years I've lost because I can't practice," she said, tears streaming down her face. Back home, she was a woman with a career and a dream, but the crisis in Venezuela created a downward spiral she couldn't control. As a certified nurse, 15 days' work only earned her enough to buy a bag of flour. A normal grocery run became a two-day ordeal and even then there was no guarantee Mariza could find the items she needed, like diapers for her baby. According to Mariza, people spent the night outside the stores, waiting to be given a number the following morning. With a ticket in hand, customers would wait outside to buy whatever the store might have that day. "You had no choice but to buy whatever was in stock," she said. 'We always voted for Chavez' For years, Venezuelans supported President Nicolas Maduro who, like his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, used the country's oil wealth to fund social programs. But when the price of oil began to fall, and the economy to falter, many Venezuelans started to protest the hand that fed them. Mariza is among them. Her entire family supported Chavez. "We always voted for Chavez," she said, blaming both the former leader and current president for mismanagement of the country that led to this crisis. In the past, "there was no hunger, there were no shortages, there was no separation," Mariza said, explaining that when things were good, you left the country "for a vacation, not for necessity." The desperate needs of her family brought her here, to Cucuta a border city with one of the highest unemployment rates in Colombia where she struggles daily to make enough to send food, diapers and basic supplies to her mother and kids. If her mother found out what she was doing, would she understand? "My mom is a super mom. My mom is everything," she said, her voice cracking again. "And I know that the day she finds out, for whatever reason, it will hurt her but she won't judge me." 'I'm doing things that don't look good to survive' The economic crisis has driven Venezuelans from all walks of life to leave their country in search of food, medicine and a better life, and neighboring Colombia is feeling the effects. More than three million Venezuelans have left their homes, with a million emigrating to neighboring Colombia, UNHCR said in November. Former attorney Malcia arrived over a week ago, leaving her two children behind with her 64-year-old parents. "I could only afford to give them breakfast, sometimes just lunch, and at times they go to bed without eating. They go to school. I do even the impossible," she said, finding it hard to talk about the reality of her new life. She came to Colombia with the hope of finding a job as a cleaner, a babysitter, "anything." Even when doors were shut in her face, she never imagined herself "getting to this extreme." Wiping away the tears, she said, "when I was in Venezuela, I was at the point of going crazy, and here I'm also going crazy because I'm doing things that don't look good to survive." It's a burden that weighs on her constantly. "I kneel at night to ask God I've even been to church to ask God for forgiveness because I think of my kids' little faces, my parents ... It's not easy, friend, not easy," she said. 'I'm a child raising a child' It's not only professional women who are desperate. In the sea of thousands of migrants are younger women like Erica, who has found herself unable to get a job. Just 17 years of age, Erica is selling her body to provide for her seven-month-old son, whom she carried across the Colombian border in her arms. Looking for work in Cucuta, with its high unemployment rate, proved difficult, and being underage made it that much harder, she says, so she was given this "option the worst there is." If it weren't for Maduro and his government, she says, she would be studying to be a veterinarian. And despite having to let go of her dream, she said, as a mother, she will do anything. "I wasn't going to let my child be without a diaper, without a bottle," she said. At the end of the day, she said, "I'm a mother, but I consider myself a child raising a child." This story was first published on CNN.com "They left Venezuela for a better life now they're selling their bodies" South Africa: Media urged to enter SADC media awards competition South African media have been invited to submit entries for the 2019 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Media Awards competition. The awards are aimed at recognising excellence in journalism in print, photo, television and radio, as well as to encourage media practitioners in member States to cover issues pertaining to the region. They were established following a decision by the Council of Ministers in 1996 to establish a sector that deals with matters relating to, amongst others, information, culture and sport. These awards serve as part of ensuring a link, coordination and synchronisation between formal structures of SADC governments, civil society, academia, labour and the media. Journalists who wish to enter the competition can access more information about the competition, including competition rules, from the link below: Entry form: https://www.gcis.gov.za/sites/default/files/docs/2019%20Entry_form-English.pdf Rules: https://www.gcis.gov.za/sites/default/files/docs/2019_Rules_of_Competition_revised-English.pdf Entries need to be posted or delivered to Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) or Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) marked: SADC Media Awards Entry or SADC Media Awards Entry MDDA 1ST Floor Government Communications 5 St Davids Place 1035 Francis Baard Street Parktown, Johannesburg Hatfield, Pretoria 2193 0028 All entries must be submitted to the National Adjudication Committee not later than 28 February 2019. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-02-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Slide 1 of 18, Calm and Collected | Saturday, 1:40 p.m. Sander Lak, the designer behind the New York-based label Sies Marjan, on the eve of his brands runway show. The energy is relaxed and calm as Lak and his team welcome models arriving for final castings and fittings. The first half of the collection was finished two months ago, while the rest was completed a week before. I dont like drama, stress or this idea of the show being the moment that everything needs to be done that forced deadline, Lak says. A lot of fans still vehemently defend the character. It's not difficult to understand why. Apu has been a staple of the show for three decades. He's in video games, Lego sets, and is personal friends with a goddamn Beatle. (And not Ringo, either. A good one.) Plus, Apu is clearly meant to be one of the smartest characters on the show. Take the episode "Much Apu About Nothing," in which Mayor Quimby distracts Springfield's citizens by blaming the town's problems on undocumented immigrants. Apu's efforts to become a citizen prove time and again that he's actually more knowledgeable about American history than the people testing him. Continue Reading Below Advertisement So despite the fact that on paper, Apu fits the description of a regressive stereotype, a lot of folks are willing to look the other way because his inception was never malicious ... except it kinda was. Recently, the man behind Apu's voice, Hank Azaria, even offered to step away from the character, and expressed regret over the hurt he may have caused. He also claimed that his only intention with Apu was to "spread laughter and joy." But in a 2015 interview, briefly seen in the documentary, Azaria admits that the Apu voice stemmed from an Indian 7-Eleven clerk who chastised him for drinking Gatorade in the store before paying for it. Azaria then goes on to say that he was so aggrieved by the clerk's outrageous demand that he not consume the thing he hadn't actually purchased that he began to imitate him. Why? Because that's how he likes to "work out aggression." According to Azaria: There were similar frustrations for those who called the agencys so-called balance-due line in hopes of making payment arrangements for taxes they owed. Fewer than 7 percent of such calls were answered, and the typical wait for those that were stretched to more than 80 minutes. I.R.S. officials said they were reviewing the taxpayer advocates findings. We are continuing to assess the impact of the shutdown on our various operations across the agency and remain proud of the many I.R.S. employees who have risen to the resulting challenges, the agency said in a statement. The I.R.S. is committed to continue making improvements across our information technology, tax enforcement and taxpayer service operations. Data released by the agency last week showed that Americans had filed 12 percent fewer returns through Feb. 2, compared with the same point in 2018, and that the I.R.S. had processed 26 percent fewer returns. The agency has given no indication in Tuesdays statement or otherwise that it might consider pushing back Aprils tax filing deadline in order to account for shutdown-related snags. The taxpayer advocates audit did not focus solely on the shutdowns impact and reflected an effort by the office, which is led by Nina E. Olson, to capture the typical taxpayer experience when dealing with I.R.S. The audit said many Americans feelings about the process could be boiled down to two words: extreme frustration. The audit found that a policy change made by the Trump administration intended to simplify the tax-filing process the creation of a postcard size 1040 form has made filing more difficult because the new form does not include much of the information that many taxpayers need to complete their returns. When Ms. Moayeri got word of protests at Tehran University, she found students and riot police throwing stones at each other. Despite her fear of arrest, she started snapping photographs. A stone hit her leg and some police officers blasted fire extinguishers, filling the air with billowy white fumes that resembled tear-gas smoke, she recalled, as the protests spilled outside the universitys gates. Suddenly this young woman appeared through the smoke, covering her face with her head scarf and flashing a victory sign, I snapped some images, she said. I never figured out who she was. Only when I came home I saw the picture had power. Thousands were arrested, 25 people died, the authorities tried to control the news and Ms. Moayeri possessed an image that had captured it all. As a freelancer who had worked in Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan, Iraq and elsewhere, she had many places to sell the picture, but also knew that if her name were published she might get into trouble with the authorities. She ended up selling the image to Iran-based photographers for The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. It quickly spread via social media as the symbol of the protests in Iran. There was no contract, and Ms. Moayeri said she still owned the rights to the image. After six months she decided she had waited long enough to take public credit for the image. Ms. Moayeri sent it to the annual Iranian Photojournalists Association and won first prize. She did not get in trouble. The Pentagon, in a statement that seemed aimed at calming the concerns over Mr. Trumps comments on Iran, said that Mr. Shanahan and the Iraqi prime minister, Adel Abdul Mehdi, had reaffirmed the growing bilateral security relationship between their countries and noted that the partnership is based on defeating ISIS. There are still around 2,000 American troops in Syria, many of them special operations forces fighting Islamic State militants alongside Syrian Kurdish soldiers. They have drastically cut into the Islamic States territory, save one or two pockets of militants in the far east of Syria. But Mr. Trump has ordered the troops to leave the fighting to other players, including the Syrian Army, the Russians who are fighting with them, and the Turks. Military leaders have resisted the order, both because they say that the Islamic State still poses a threat and that a retreat now would mean abandoning the Syrian Kurds, whom the Americans have in many cases armed, trained and fought alongside. Turkey regards the Syrian Kurds, the Syrian Democratic Forces, as the military arm of the P.K.K., an outlawed Kurdish terrorist group, in Ankaras eyes. The Turks have made little effort to conceal their intent to drive them far from the Turkish border, and possibly out of Syria entirely. As he left Washington, Mr. Shanahan did not say whether he would ask Iraq to host some of the special operations troops now fighting in Syria. However, there has been discussion about that possibility in military circles both in Baghdad and Washington. From there, theoretically, they could help finish off the Islamic State and give support to the Syrian Kurdish troops. LONDON Prime Minister Theresa May has delayed so many decisions on Britains withdrawal from the European Union that critics accuse her of turning can-kicking into a political art form. On Tuesday she did it again, this time with just 45 days to go before Britain plans to leave the bloc. Undeterred by the looming deadline, Mrs. May pleaded with British lawmakers for more time, saying she is still in talks with officials in Brussels. We now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this House requires and deliver Brexit on time, Mrs. May said. PARIS Swastikas drawn on portraits of a womens rights champion and Holocaust survivor in Paris; the word Juden (Jews, in German) spray-painted on a bagel bakery; a tree planted in memory of a young Jewish man who was tortured to death, chopped down in a Paris suburb. A spate of reports in recent days illustrates what the government officially confirmed on Tuesday: Anti-Semitic incidents have risen sharply in France. Such episodes jumped by 74 percent in 2018, to 541, up from 311 in 2017, the interior ministry reported. Anti-Semitism is spreading like a poison, like a bile, the interior minister, Christophe Castaner, said on Monday as he visited the site of the felled tree. The tree was a memorial to Ilan Halimi, a Jewish man who was kidnapped and tortured to death after being held captive for three weeks by members of a French criminal gang in 2006. The authorities and Jewish institutions were preparing to commemorate the 13th anniversary of Mr. Halimis death, which falls on Wednesday, when the tree was found destroyed. ROME When he was prime minister of Italy, Matteo Renzi, fighting desperately to win a referendum on which he had staked his job, thought that one particular rally had gone well. He was surprised, then, to discover that RT, the international Russian television network with close ties to the Kremlin that was formerly known as Russia Today, had mischaracterized the pro-Renzi event on Oct. 29, 2016, as Protests against the Italian prime minister ahead of the referendum on the Constitution. Mr. Renzis opponents quickly latched on to the report and shared it widely on social media, prompting the Italian leader to express his displeasure directly to Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian president. Does it seem reasonable to you that Russia Today often uses headlines that are not true? he asked Mr. Putin in a phone call. Why do they have to have reports today on some protest against me, if that square is full of my people, defending our reform? Edging toward war with Iran? Keeping track of the Trump administrations foreign policy is like trying to track a cat on a hot tin roof: Were pulling out of Syria (not right away). Were leaving Afghanistan (sometime in the future). Mexico is going to pay for a wall (no, it isnt). Saudi Arabia, Russia, the European Union, China, Turkey, North Korea one day, friends, another day, foes. Even with a scorecard, its hard to tell whos on first. Late last year, National Security Advisor John Bolton pressed the Pentagon to produce options for attacking Iran, and he has long advocated for military strikes and regime change in Teheran. Except for Iran, where a policy of studied hostility has been consistent from the beginning. Late last year, National Security Advisor John Bolton pressed the Pentagon to produce options for attacking Iran, and he has long advocated for military strikes and regime change in Teheran. And now, because of a recent internal policy review on the effect of US sanctions, Washington may be is drifting closer to war. According to On Thin Ice, a report by the International Crisis Group (ICG), the Trump administration has concluded that its maximum pressure campaign of sanctions has largely failed to meet any of the White Houses goals of forcing Iran to re-negotiate the 2015 nuclear agreement or alter its policies in the Middle East. While the sanctions have damaged Irans economy, the Iranians have proved to be far nimbler in dodging them than Washington allowed for. And because the sanctions were unilaterally imposed, there are countries willing to look for ways to avoid them. If you look at the range of ultimate objectives of the administration, from encouraging protests that pose an existential threat to the system, to change of behaviour, to coming back to the negotiating table, none of that is happening, Ali Vaez of the ICGs Iran Project, told Laura Rozen of Al-Monitor. This time around, the US is pretty much alone. While the Trump administration is preparing to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear agreement the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action the European Union (EU) is lobbying Iran to stay in the pact. Russia, China, Turkey and India have also made it clear that they will not abide by the US trade sanctions, and the EU is setting up a plan to avoid using dollars. But the failure of the White Houses sanctions creates its own dangers because this is not an American administration that easily accepts defeat. On top of that, there is a window of opportunity for striking Iran that will close in a year, making an attack more complicated. The nuclear agreement imposed an arms embargo on Iran, but if Teheran stays in the agreement, that embargo will lift in 2020, allowing the Iranians to buy weapons on the international market. Beefing up Irans arms arsenal would not do much to dissuade the US, but it might give pause to Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates (UAE), two of Teherans most implacable enemies. It is not clear who would be part of a coalition attack on Iran. Saudi Arabia and the UAE would almost certainly be involved, but that pair hardly has the Iranians quaking in their boots. The rag-tag Houthi army has fought the two Gulf monarchies to a standstill in Yemen, in spite of not having any anti-aircraft to challenge the Saudi air war. Iran is a different matter. Its Russian built S-300 anti-aircraft system might not discomfort the US and the Israelis, but Saudi and UAE pilots could be at serious risk. Once the embargo is lifted, Iran could augment its S-300 with planes and other anti-aircraft systems that might make an air war like the one the Gulf monarchs are waging in Yemen very expensive. Of course, if the US and/or Israel join in, Iran will be hard pressed. But as belligerent as Bolton and the Israeli government are toward Iran, would they initiate or join a war? Such a war would be unpopular in the US. Some 63 percent of Americans oppose withdrawing from the nuclear agreement and by a margin of more than two to one, oppose a war with Iran. While 53 percent oppose such a war 7 percent strongly so only 23 percent would support a war with Iran. And, of those, only 9 percent strongly support such a war. The year 2020 is also the next round of US elections where control of the Senate and the White House will be in play. While wars tend to rally people to the flag, the polls suggest a war with Iran is not likely to do that. The US would be virtually alone internationally, and Saudi Arabia is hardly on the list of most Americans favourite allies. And it is not even certain that Israel would join in, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls Iran an existential threat. Polls show that the Israeli public is hardly enthusiastic about a war with Iran, particularly if the US is not involved. The Israeli military is more than willing to take on Iranian forces in Syria, but a long-distance air war would get complicated. Iraq and Lebanon would try to block Israel from using their airspace to attack Iran, as would Turkey. The first two countries might not be able to do much to stop the Israelis, but flying over a hostile country is always tricky, particularly if you have to do it for an extended period of time. And anyone who thinks the Iranians are going to toss in the towel is delusional. Of course Israel has other ways to strike Iran, including cruise missiles deployed on submarines and surface craft. But you cant win a war with cruise missiles, you just blow a lot of things up. There are deep fissures among the Gulf monarchs. Qatar has already said that it will have nothing to do with an attack on Iran, and Oman is neutral. Kuwait has signed a military cooperation agreement with Turkey because the former is more worried about Saudi Arabia than it is Iran, and with good reason. A meeting last September of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Emir Sabah Al-Sabah of Kuwait to discuss problems between the two countries apparently went badly. The two countries are in a dispute over who should exploit their common oil fields at Khafji and Wafra, and the Saudis unilaterally stopped production. The Kuwaitis say they lost US$18 billion revenues and want compensation. The bad blood between the two countries goes back to the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, when Saudi Arabia refused to accept the borders that the British drew for Kuwait and instead declared war. In 1922 the border was re-drawn with two-thirds of Kuwaits territory going to Saudi Arabia. Lebanese legal scholar, Ali Mourad, told Al-Monitor that Kuwait has tightened its ties to Turkey because they are truly afraid of a Saudi invasion, especially given the blank cheque Trump has issued to Prince Salman. Whether Kuwaits embrace of Turkey will serve as a check on the Saudis is uncertain. Prince Salman has made several ill-considered moves in the region, from trying to overthrow the government of Lebanon, blockading Qatar, to starting a war with Yemen. Turkey and Saudi Arabia are currently at odds over the latters support for the Muslim Brotherhood, probably the only thing that the Saudi princes hate more than Iran. Would or could Ankara really defend Kuwait from a Saudi attack? Turkey is currently bogged down in Northern Syria, at war with its own Kurdish population, and facing what looks like a punishing recession. Its army is the second largest in NATO, and generally well-armed, but it has been partly hollowed out by purges following the 2015 coup attempt. So is Bolton just blowing smoke when he talks about regime change in Iran? Possibly, but it is a good idea to take the neo-conservatives at their word. The US will try to get Iran to withdraw from the nuclear pact by aggressively tightening the sanctions. If Teheran takes the bait, Washington will claim the legal right to attack Iran. Bolton and the people around him engineered the catastrophes in Afghanistan and Iraq (the Obama administration gets the blame for Libya and Yemen), and knocking out Iran has been their long-time goal. If they pull it off, the US will ignite yet another forever war. Peoples World TRAUNSTEIN, Germany The rumor began, as so many do these days, on Facebook. A group of Muslim refugees in southern Germany, it was claimed, had dragged an 11-year-old girl to a pedestrian underpass and raped her. When the police denied the claim, it was said that politicians beholden to the European Union had ordered them to cover up the assault. The rumor proved unfounded, but it provoked waves of fear and anger as it was pushed out across Germany by Facebooks News Feed. Users worked one another up into fits, concluding that these dangerous refugees, and the duplicitous politicians who shielded them, would all have to be thrown out. In most of the world, rumor-fueled meltdowns are taken as a fact of life, a product of Facebooks propensity for stirring up peoples worst impulses. But Andreas Guske, a trim, steely-eyed police inspector in the refugee-heavy Bavarian town of Traunstein where the rumor circulated, didnt think his community could afford complacence. Attacks on refugees were already rising. And southern Germany is a front line in Europes battle over identity and immigration. PRAGUE For more than 1,000 years, the sprawling castle complex perched high above Prague has been the seat of power for Holy Roman emperors, the kings of Bohemia and, now, the Czech president, Milos Zeman. And for the last four years, the Chinese technology giant Huawei has had a contract to fulfill the communication needs of the president and his staff. The presidential contract is the most visible symbol of how deeply Huawei has established itself in the Czech Republic, long viewed by China as a springboard country for its interests across the European Union. So when the Czech governments cybersecurity agency issued a directive in December warning that Huawei represented a potential national security threat, company officials were shocked as was Mr. Zeman, known for his closeness to China. Huawei has threatened legal and financial retaliation. Mr. Zeman has accused his own intelligence services, including the cybersecurity agency, known as Nukib, of dirty tricks. The unexpected confrontation in the Czech Republic comes as Huawei, already entangled in the trade war between China and the United States, is running into deepening problems in European Union countries, where it has worked for years to build inroads. Only weeks after Nukib issued its directive against Huawei, Polish authorities in January arrested a Huawei employee in Warsaw on charges of spying. MADRID The simmering conflict over Catalan independence roared back to the center of Spanish attention on Tuesday, as 12 people went on trial for their roles in the botched secession attempt of 2017, and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez scrambled to keep the issue from toppling his government. The eagerly anticipated trial before the Spanish Supreme Court in Madrid has drawn enormous attention and is being broadcast live on national television, but it could soon be overshadowed by the political crisis unfolding just blocks away, in Parliament. On Wednesday, Mr. Sanchezs minority Socialist government faces a crucial parliamentary vote on his national budget. If a majority of lawmakers reject it, including Catalan lawmakers who have so far backed the prime minister, he will almost certainly be forced to call elections. With Spains government hanging in the balance, the Supreme Court is under intense pressure to demonstrate that it can remain impartial and above politics in a case that has ignited passions and recriminations. The Catalan separatist leaders were indicted on charges that include rebellion, after holding an independence referendum and then declaring independence in October 2017 moves the Spanish courts ruled unconstitutional. With the arrival of cold weather in the fall, he knew the growing migrant population in Bayonne could no longer stay in one of the citys main squares, where people had been camping out. It was cold and raining, Mr. Etchegaray said. We couldnt leave them there anymore. They were cold, sick and hungry. The mayor formed plans for the initiative quickly. He came directly to the square, Ms. Etcheverry recalled, adding that she remembered him saying, Ill be back in a half-hour. When he returned, he led volunteers and migrants to an underground parking lot for the municipal police a temporary solution until something better could be found. He accompanied them, and showed them where the toilets were, Ms. Etcheverry recounted. He saw that they were quiet, and that we were just young people helping other young people. But we never imagined that it would end like this, in a center financed by the municipality. It is a mayors duty, Mr. Etchegaray said. The state just doesnt want to know, he added. But me, Ive got to know. And this was an emergency. Opposition politicians and others have claimed, without evidence, that Mr. Trudeau demoted Ms. Wilson-Raybould to the veterans affairs job, a less prominent position, as punishment last month. When I sought elected office it was with the goal of implementing a positive and progressive vision of change on behalf of Canadians, Ms. Wilson-Raybould, who will remain a Liberal member of Parliament, said in her resignation letter. She said her resignation from the cabinet in no way changes my commitment to seeing that change achieved. Speaking with reporters in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Mr. Trudeau said that to be honest, I dont entirely understand why Jody Wilson-Raybould made the decision she did. He said that she had never raised concerns with him that she was being improperly pressured, either in recent conversations or last fall, when the incidents are supposed to have occurred. Mr. Trudeau dismissed the idea that the government had acted improperly toward Ms. Wilson-Raybould. He said that if it had done so, it was her responsibility to come forward to me this last fall and highlight that to me. She did not. He added, We followed all the rules and standards. Alluding to the ethics questions, Ms. Wilson-Raybould said in her letter that she had retained Thomas Albert Cromwell, a former Supreme Court justice, for legal advice on what she can reveal about her conversations about SNC-Lavalin. Mr. Trudeau has separately asked her successor to look into whether privilege can be waived. SYDNEY, Australia The Australian Parliament on Wednesday narrowly passed legislation that would let some asylum seekers being held on remote Pacific islands come to Australia for medical treatment, a blow to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who had strongly opposed the measure. Under Australias offshore detention policy, asylum seekers who try to reach the country by boat are barred from ever settling there. About 1,000 migrants intercepted at sea have spent years on the tiny island nation of Nauru or on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, under conditions that visiting experts have described as dire. The detention policy has been condemned by the United Nations and various human rights groups, and Australians who oppose it celebrated the 75 to 74 vote in the House of Representatives on Tuesday and the 36 to 34 vote in the Senate on Wednesday. This victory breaks the political deadlock that has poisoned our refugee policy for years, Hugh de Kretser, executive director of the Human Rights Law Center, said on Twitter. It sends a message that the cruelty must stop. HONG KONG Like many across East Asia, North Koreans have been exchanging presents this month to celebrate the Lunar New Year. But rather than tea, sweets or clothing, some in this impoverished, isolated country are giving the gift of crystal meth. The gifting and use of methamphetamine, a powerful stimulant that has been blamed in health and addiction crises around the world, is said to be a well-established custom in North Korea. Users are said to inject or snort the drug as casually as they might smoke a cigarette, with little awareness of its addictive qualities or destructive effects. Meth, until recently, has been largely seen inside North Korea as a kind of very powerful energy drug something like Red Bull, amplified, said Andrei Lankov, an expert on the North at Kookmin University in Seoul, South Korea, who directs the news site NK News. That misconception, he said, highlighted a significant underestimation within the country of the general risks of drug abuse. Methamphetamine was introduced to the Korean Peninsula during the Japanese colonial period, in the early 20th century, and defectors have reported that the North Korean military provided methamphetamine to its soldiers in the years after World War II. Since the 1970s, many North Korean diplomats have been arrested abroad for drug smuggling. NEW DELHI Huge flames shot up from the hotels rooftop. Thick smoke clogged the hallways. As panicked guests searched for a way out, they found, to their terror, that the emergency exits were locked. This is how witnesses and government officials described the scene inside a five-story hotel in central New Delhi as fire swept through its corridors on Tuesday morning, killing at least 17 people. Some guests said they had to lean out their windows to breathe the smoke was that thick. Others were trapped in engulfed rooms and climbed out of their windows and jumped, with some suffering severe injuries. A preliminary investigation indicated that the fire, at the Arpit Palace Hotel, in the heart of Indias capital, was caused by a short circuit. Some guests said that the power had abruptly cut out around 3:30 a.m., and that when it returned, smoke began to fill the hallways. A French tourist who was arrested last week after allegedly flying a drone near Myanmars Parliament could face up to three years in prison under the countrys strict laws on unmanned aerial vehicles. The Frenchman, Michel Desclaux, 27, could be charged with bringing a drone into the country illegally as well as flying one in a restricted area, said Min Tin, a police official in Myanmars capital, Naypyidaw. An image of Mr. Desclauxs passport circulating in the Burmese news media gave his first name as Arthur. Myanmars tough restrictions on drones have prompted complaints that visitors who want footage of scenic areas can easily find themselves in violation of the law. Drones are banned over many parts of the capital; in much of Yangon, Myanmars largest city; and near a palace in Mandalay. They also cannot be flown near airports, over gatherings of people or on or near private property without permission. KABUL, Afghanistan Afghanistans coalition government fired on Tuesday all the commissioners who directed fraud-tainted parliamentary elections last fall, as the country prepares for a presidential race this summer and watches, with its leaders on the sidelines, peace talks unfold between Americans and the Taliban. The move follows a push by some opposition politicians to postpone the election and form an interim government that, as part of a peace deal, could include the Taliban. President Ashraf Ghani, who has fumed over the governments exclusion from the American-Taliban talks, has insisted that the election be held on time. The firings, which came after a series of meetings between the government, civil society groups and political parties, were portrayed as a badly needed consensus on electoral reform. The commissioners called their dismissal a political decision by officials who hope to serve in a new government. The election had already been pushed back from April to July. The panel behind that decision, the Independent Election Commission, was one of two whose members were removed on Tuesday. A brief history of the world communist movement Part 1 Scientific socialism as we know it today developed out of the early 19th century critique, by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and their comrades, and followers of what they called utopian socialism. The term utopian refers to the book Utopia, published in the year 1516 by the 16th Century English philosopher and statesman Sir Thomas More. The utopian socialists expressed beautiful ideas about a better world, but their plans fell short because they were not rooted in the material reality of early industrial Europe and its growing class struggle between capitalists and workers. In the context of the expansion of industry and the industrial proletariat in Europe, Marx and Engels came on the scene. In London, an organisation called the League of the Just (Bund der Gerechten), headed by Karl Schapper, and Heinrich Bauer, brought together radical German refugees. Meanwhile, The Communist Corresponding Society had been set up in Brussels, Belgium, by another group of exiles from Germany, including Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. As the two groups had very similar goals, namely of uniting the working class movement in all of Europe around a program of struggle, they merged in 1847 to form the Communist League (Bund der Kommunisten), based in London. Marx and Engels were assigned the job of drawing up a document stating the principles of the new organisation. The result was the Communist Manifesto, considered by millions to be the founding document, not only of communism, but of scientific socialism in general. The Manifesto lays out the dialectical and historical materialist approach to understanding the march of history, and analyses the way capitalist society is both based on class domination, and undermined by the rise of the proletariat. It ends with the stirring words You have nothing to lose but your chains, and you have a world to gain! Workers of all nations, unite! This clearly sets out the idea principle later called proletarian internationalism (or working-class internationalism) which is still central to the communist movement today. Revolutions of 1848 and temporary setbacks No sooner had the Communist League been founded and the Manifesto published than all hell broke loose in Europe, in the form of the Revolutions of 1848. These were rebellions in Prussia, Austria, Hungary, Italy, France and the smaller German states against the authoritarian social order that had been imposed by the winners of the wars against Napoleonic France. They had in common that both the bourgeoisie and the expanding industrial proletariat were in the front lines of the struggle, in an alliance against the absolute monarchies (the kings of France and Prussia, the Emperor of Austria, rulers of the smaller German states, the Pope and others). The demands were for the expansion of democracy and the freedom of the people, but not, explicitly, socialism. Nevertheless Marx, Engels and the other socialists and communists of that time supported these revolutions actively, Engels going so far as to buckle on a sword and head for the actual battle front (hence, and also because of his interest on writing on military matters, his nickname as General). But the revolutions were defeated in every country, and even more European exiles poured into Britain, the one country where the people had not risen in armed rebellion. The Communist League did not survive long beyond the defeat of the European revolutions. A Prussian government spy got hold of the Communist Leagues membership list, and several members of the League were arrested and put on trial for their role in the Revolutions of 1848, as a period of repression and reaction set in. One conclusion that Marx and Engels drew from the defeat was that even in the struggle against the remnants of the old feudal order, the bourgeoisie is a weak reed for the working class to lean on, and the creation of entirely working class political formations and politics is therefore essential. Meanwhile, Marx and Engels worked on honing their economic and political analysis, adapting Hegels idealistic dialectical method of analysis to apply to the analysis of material phenomenon hence another synonym for Marxism, the materialist dialectic later called dialectical materialism. The First International and the Paris Commune The working-class movement in Europe was down but not out, and recuperated from the defeats of 1848-1849. By 1864, the project of creating an organisation to bring together the workers movement Europe-wide and beyond led to the creation of the International Workingmens Association, often called the First International. Again, Marx and Engels played a leading, but not undisputed role. From the beginning, there were strong internal tensions in the International Working Mens Association. It included not only the strong core of followers of Marx and Engels, but also trade unionists who wanted to concentrate on labor struggles only and not political ones, and anarchists from the less industrialised parts of Europe. But the international nature of the movement prospered, spreading to many areas in the United States as well as Europe. This was the beginning of Marxian socialism and communism in our own country. The anarchist tendency in the Association was led by the Russian Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (1814-1876). Bakunin, like Marx and Engels, was a former admirer of the conservative German Philosopher George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), Bakunin disagreed with Marxism on key points. Rather than the creation of a transitional socialist state, Bakunin called for a stateless society of cooperative groups. That stance, and Bakunins propensity for factional intrigues, eventually led to conflict between him and the Marxists. But as all this ferment was going on in the International Workingmans Association, war broke out in Europe. The ambitious Emperor Napoleon III of France allowed himself to be goaded into a war with the German states led by their military powerhouse, Prussia, and was soundly defeated, captured and forced out of power. As the Prussian troops marched toward Paris, the citizens of the capital, with the participation of their militia, the National Guard, took over power in the city and instituted a radical regime called the Paris Commune. A right-wing republican regime, established in nearby Versailles, moved, with Prussian acquiescence, to overcome and crush the Commune. A number of members of the International Working Mens Association, including close friends of Marx and Engels, participated in the governance and military defence of the Commune. It implemented a number of radical measures which were very advanced for the time: For example, workers whose employers had abandoned their businesses could take control of the concerns and run them for their own benefit, separation of church and state, abolition of interest on debts, and radical democratisation of governance of the city. These things horrified the French and European bourgeoisie, and on May 21, 1871 the regular army entered Paris. By the end of that month, the Commune was crushed, and the restored bourgeois government carried out sickeningly bloody reprisals, with thousands of men, women and children executed without trial. Others were given long prison terms, while thousands more went into exile. In a pamphlet called The Civil War in France, which Marx wrote to sum up, for the International Workingmens Association, the lessons he drew from the Commune, he included this important passage: One thing especially was proved by the Paris Commune, viz. the working class cannot simply lay hold of ready-made state machinery, and wield it for its own purposes. In other words, after the working class overthrows the power of the capitalist class, new worker-controlled state machinery must be created from the start. This subsequently became an important difference between the respective attitudes of communists on the one hand, and moderate socialists, or, as we now say, social democrats on the other. The End of the First International, on to the Second The disagreements between Marxist socialists and Bakuninist anarchists continued to destabilise the International Workingmens Association. Finally, in 1872, the Hague (Netherlands) Congress of the International Working Mens Association voted to move the organisations headquarters away from London and to New York, isolating it from European disputes and effectively killing it. Labour and socialist organising now continued everywhere in the world, where both Marxist and anarchist ideas had spread. For a while, there was not an international coordinating structure, however. Marx and Engels turned their attention once again to developing their theoretical work and writings. The first volume of Marxs most famous work, Capital (Das Kapital) had already been published in German in 1867, and further volumes were projected. (However, Volumes II and III had to be finished by Engels after Marxs death in March of 1883). By the mid 1870s, socialist groups had been maturing in many countries. In Germany, there was a sharp rivalry between the followers of Marx and Engels, on the one hand, and those of another German socialist pioneer, Ferdinand LaSalle (1825 - 1864) on the other (LaSalle had been killed in a duel in 1864, but his followers continued to have a major influence in German socialism). In 1875, Lassalians, Marxists and others came together in the city of Gotha in Lower Saxony to try to unite to found a new socialist party. The new party, which was ancestral to todays SPD, or German Social Democratic Party (Sosialdemocratisches Partei Deutschlands) included in its program a mishmash of ideas which met with Marxs strong disapproval. In particular, Marx frowned on the failure of the Gotha Program to reflect the international nature of the working-class struggle, and was highly suspicious of its attitude toward the bourgeois state. The flaws that Marx identified in the Gotha program were an early sign of the schism that would break the communist movement away from the social democratic, or moderate socialist one. Meanwhile anarchist organising, and its variant, anarcho-sindicalism, continued alongside socialist organising. Though there was often conflict between the two orientations, there was sometimes cooperation also, and the two tendencies often overlapped and interpenetrated. One such situation happened in Chicago in 1886. In the context of the huge Eight Hour Day movement, workers were striking the McCormick Harvesting Machine factory on the Southwest side of the city. Private factory guards fired on the strikers on May 3, and several were killed. The next day, there was a mass protest at Chicagos Haymarket Square, organised by the socialist and anarcho-sindicalist leaders of the movement. A bomb was thrown, very likely by an agent-provocateur, as a group of policemen were moving to break up the peaceful rally. Several police were killed, and also some workers in the shooting which followed. The government put eight leaders of the Eight Hour Day movement in jail, and after a joke of a trial, hanged four of them (one had committed suicide in jail). Already there has been a growing opinion that a new international socialist organisation needed to be established to replace the long-vanished First International. The Chicago Haymarket incident and other sharp labour struggles heightened the urgency. On July 14, 1886, after a small preliminary action in 1881, the Second International was founded without much of an anarchist presence. A lasting legacy was the designation of May 1 as International Workers Day, in commemoration of the Haymarket Martyrs. Achievements of the Second International In spite of the diverse nature of the parties and leaders involved in the Second International, it achieved important advances for the workers movement and the cause of socialism. In the first place, it spread the basic message of Marxism far more widely than had ever been possible before. Affiliate parties of the Second International represented every continent except for Antarctica. At the first formal Congress of the Second International, on July 14 (Bastille Day) in 1889, parties from two dozen countries were represented. By the beginning of the First World War, many millions of workers belonged to the Second International parties. In Germany and other places where Second International parties were strong, they accomplished many things that were beneficial to the working class. They had mounting electoral successes, and got legislation passed that protected labour rights. They were heavily engaged in union organising alongside their socialist educational and legislative work. They advanced social welfare programs such as health insurance and retirement benefits, and were strongly represented in the struggle for womens rights. For these reasons, at their height, the Second International Parties scared the world ruling class as much as the communist parties did later on. In spite of Marxs misgivings expressed in his critique of the Gotha Program, the idea of international working-class solidarity continued to be a major theme of Second International socialism. And there were sharp criticisms of colonialism and imperialism from important Second International leaders. For example, the German Social Democratic parliamentarian and leader August Bebel played an important role in exposing and denouncing the genocidal actions of the German government and military in the repression and near extermination of the Herrero and Nama nations in German Southwest Africa (todays Namibia). The First World War and the Second International The incoherencies in the Gotha Program, already noted by Marx, began to manifest themselves, in one form or another, in the world socialist movement. Eduard Bernstein (1850-1932), an important figure in German socialism, had been an associate of Marx and Engels but began to distance himself from their basic outlook on issues of the state and the transition toward socialism. He believed that capital was not becoming more concentrated, thought that capitalism would be transformed into socialism by legislative reforms, and jumped on the German nationalist bandwagon, adopting support for colonialism as a mechanism to help backward peoples to advance. Denying the inevitability of systemic crises in capitalism in the future, he promoted economism, i.e. the stressing of ameliorating the economic conditions of the working class without attempting to challenge bourgeois control of the state. Bernstein was sharply criticised by more left-wing members of his own party, who accused him of opportunism. In her pamphlet Reform or Revolution? another member of the German Social Democratic Party, Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919), sharply criticised Bernstein for his revisionism, opportunism and economism precisely those things that became major currents of thought not only in Germany, but in a number of other socialist parties worldwide. In the Social Democratic Party of Russia, a similar dispute led to the split of the majority radical faction, or Bolsheviks, from the minority reformist faction, or Mensheviks, in 1903. The principal Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Illyich Lenin (1870-1924), had, a year earlier, laid out his views on what a socialist party should be and how it should be organised in his book What is to be Done? In Lenins opinion, the purely economic struggle of the workers would not, by itself, lead to revolutionary change and socialism; that Marxists should be organised to introduce the element of revolutionary consciousness into the working-class struggle, and that for this purpose they should form a different kind of political party, more tightly organised, to carry on this work. The Mensheviks, for their part, took up an ultra-orthodox stance on the possibility of socialist revolution in Russia, claiming that according to Marxist doctrine, such a thing would be impossible until capitalism was fully developed in the country. Similar disputes, with variations, occurred within socialist parties all over the world, but meanwhile the development of the worldwide capitalist system, with its imperialistic competition for colonies, resources and markets, was building international tensions up to a level that a major war seemed almost certain. The Second International held its Seventh Congress in Stuttgart, the capital of the Kingdom of Wuertemberg, Germany, in August of 1907. Even though the revolutionary versus reformist tensions were evident in the conference hall, the delegates nevertheless approved a bold resolution denouncing militarism and the march toward war, and calling for the working classes of all countries involved to mobilise to prevent war from breaking out and to fight for a speedy end to hostilities should it break out anyway. Then exactly seven years later, in August of 1914, the First World War did indeed break out, between the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire) against the Triple Entente (France, the UK and Tsarist Russia), with other countries later diving into the mayhem. But the leaders of many of the social democratic parties, and many of their representatives in parliament, failed utterly to keep their promises to prevent war and to stop it once it broke out. Important figures of the world socialist movement, such as Plekhanov in Russia, abandoned the position decided on at Stuttgart and enthusiastically came out in support of their own governments. There were exceptions: In the United States, Eugene V Debs (1855-1926), a major leader of the Socialist Party of America, managed to keep his party from supporting US entry in the war, and in fact received a stiff jail sentence for his anti-war activities. A leading French socialist leader, Jean Jaures, was assassinated in July 1914 because of his attempts to stop the outbreak of the war. In Germany Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, along with others on the left of the German Social Democratic Party, also militantly opposed the war a position which helped define the left in the socialist movement worldwide. The left of the socialist movement saw this surrender to nationalism and war fever as a monstrous betrayal of the working class and humanity, and it led to a definitive break between reformist social democracy and what eventually became the world communist movement and the Third International. The Bolshevik Revolution, the Third International The Russian people, devastated by the impact of the First World War, overthrew the Romanov monarchy in February of 1917. A government of bourgeois liberals and moderate socialist took power. This Provisional Government, however, was unable to meet the demands of the working class and the masses and, moreover, wanted to continue the war with the Central Powers instead of finding a way to make peace. The Bolsheviks, headed by Lenin and now also by Leon Trotsky (1879-1940), a former Menshevik who had moved over to the Bolshevik side, put out the slogan of Peace, land, bread! and denounced the war policy of the Provisional Government, along with advancing a radical socialist program that also promised to break up the big landed estates in favour of the peasants. Large numbers of workers, poor peasants and rank and file soldiers were attracted to the Bolshevik cause by this program, and by the energetic work of the tightly organised Bolshevik cadres. On November 7, 1917, the Bolsheviks carried out a successful revolution in Russia, called the October Revolution due to a difference in the Russian calendar in use at that time. The Bolshevik government, initially in coalition with a left-wing faction of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, moved fast to implement radical measures. One of these was the publication of the secret treaties among the nations, which had set the stage for the outbreak of the war. The Bolsheviks, recognising that Russia could not win the war, opened negotiations with the Central Powers for a peaceful exit from the conflict. But the Germans especially played a hard game and took advantage of Russias willingness to negotiate in order to seize large amounts of Russian territory and to set up a German-puppet government in Ukraine. Helped by the capitalist powers, the right-wing White Guards mounted a multipronged effort to overthrow the Bolshevik government, leading to a bloody civil war. Some of the former Menshevik leaders took the side of the White Guards, others reconciled themselves with the Bolsheviks, and yet others went into exile, thus effectively putting an end to social democratic (in the modern sense of the term) politics in Russia. But the central powers lost the war, and the Austro-Hungarian, German and Ottoman Turkish monarchies were overthrown by popular uprisings. Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, Emperor-King Karl of Austria-Hungary and other minor German rulers went into exile. For a while, both branches of the socialist movement the radicals and the moderates were riding high. The Social Democratic Party established a government in Germany under Friedrich Ebert of the Social Democratic Party. The army and conservatives agreed to this, in part in order to support these reasonable socialists in Germanys defeat, and in part to stop the more radical socialists, who came to be called Spartacists, from overthrowing the whole capitalist order. Ebert had not even wanted an end to the Hohenzollern monarchy, and negotiated a deal with the German army whereby its privileged status in society would be preserved. This had terrible consequences a very few years later. The Social Democratic Party government instituted various economic and democratic reforms, but the basic nature of the German state was minimally altered. To stop the Spartacists, Ebert allied with military units returning from the front to keep order. In late December 1918, the Spartacists and right-wing paramilitary (Freikorps) and military forces allied with Eberts government had armed clashes in Berlin and elsewhere in Germany. The Spartacists were crushed and two of the best-known leaders of the German left, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, were murdered. The Spartacists, having broken off all relationships with the Social Democratic Party, became the German Communist Party. Similar things happened elsewhere; Bolshevik forces briefly took over in Bavaria and also in Hungary. These red revolutions were also crushed, often with the connivance of social democratic parties and politicians. The Third International and the COMINTERN The successful revolution in Russia, the crushing of similar efforts in Hungary and elsewhere, and the disgraceful role played by moderate socialists in siding with reaction against the revolutionaries, led to a worldwide split in the socialist movement. In a great many countries, the left wings of existing socialist parties moved to break away from the Second International. The breakaway lefts began to refer to themselves as communist parties, while the term social democrat began to be applied to those parties that retained the politics of the Second International. In the United States several groups claimed the Communist mantle. The main ones were the Communist Party of America, whose members were mostly immigrant workers and which was headed by Charles Ruthenberg, and the Communist Labor Party, headed by John Reed and Benjamin Gitlow, which included more US born workers. Eventually, the newly created COMINTERN persuaded these two groups to merge, creating the Communist Party USA (the CPUSA) which exists today. Next week: Working-class internationalism This essay is adapted from an oral version the author presented to the Communist Party USAs National Party School, August 2018. Peoples World While this process is underway, young people are put in a rather delicate position. Though they tend to be highly rational when calm, if they become upset, their new, high-octane emotional structures can overpower their yet-to-be upgraded reasoning capacities, crashing the entire system until it has a chance to reset. I have enthusiastically recommended glitter jars to several parents and colleagues knowing that some teenagers will instantly benefit from having a concrete model of emotional distress. That said, I have come to appreciate that a glitter jars main utility is in the instructions it provides to those who are caring for the overwrought: Be patient and communicate your confidence that emotions almost always rise, swirl and settle all by themselves. Not long after I returned from Texas, I ran into a visibly upset sophomore in the lunchroom of the school where I consult each week. She looked stricken, and her eyes were red from crying. Urgently she asked, Are you free? Yes, I replied, turning her toward my office. Once there, she buried her hands in her face and broke into heaving sobs. Soon, she slowed her breathing and looked at me, even as tears continued to stream down her face. In the past, I would have taken that opening to quiz her about what had gone wrong. In retrospect, I now see this as the verbal equivalent of further shaking the mental glitter jar. Instead, I asked if she wanted a glass of water, or some time alone to let her painful feelings die down. She declined both offers, so we just sat there quietly. Not a minute had passed before she relaxed completely. Then she volunteered that she had done poorly on a test that morning and had fallen down a rabbit hole of worries about what a bad grade might mean for her future. Now, with her glitter nearly settled and her mind more clear, she regained perspective on the situation. Within moments she decided that the low grade probably wasnt such a big deal, and if it was, shed figure out how to make up for it in other ways. This is not to say that letting glitter settle is the solution to all teenage problems. But I have found it to be a better first response than any other. Every time I stop myself from trying to figure out what made a teenager upset, and focus instead on her right to just be upset, I find that doing so either solves the problem or helps clear the path to dealing with it. Its critical to recognize that when we react to psychological distress as though its a fire that needs to be put out, we frighten our teenagers and usually make matters worse. Reacting instead with the understanding that emotions usually have their own life cycle coming as waves that surge and fall sends adolescents the reassuring message that they arent broken; in fact, theyre self-correcting. So, when you next encounter a young person in full meltdown, take a deep breath and think to yourself (Dallas accent optional), First lets settle your glitter. For those who live in snow-prone regions, driving in the winter can feel like an exercise in futility: Unsuspecting, and then it appears, a crater in the asphalt, just waiting to blow out a tire. You try to swerve, brace for impact, and then: Kathunk. But commuters of America, take heart: Indianapolis has it worse. Much, much worse. The capital of Indiana (whose state motto is, ironically, the crossroads of America) has essentially become one large pothole, compliments of wild temperature swings this winter. The metropolis is so pockmarked by decaying asphalt that local officials have said that more than $730 million is required to repair over 8,100 miles of streets nearly six times the citys current budget for transportation infrastructure. Decades of neglect and underfunding, combined with the brutality of Midwestern winters, have left the citys roads resembling the surface of the moon. To assist motorists, the city last year posted an Indy pothole viewer map online, which currently shows 4,388 open potholes, marked by a swarm of angry red dots. In Des Moines, the city fills about 7,000 potholes a year. And in Chicago, which recently emerged from a brutal few days of subzero temperatures and where snow is forecast for five out of the next seven days, the city received just shy of 4,400 pothole complaints from residents in January. Nevertheless, Mr. Barr is virtually certain to be confirmed. That would bring him back for a rare second stint in the same cabinet-level position that he held in a previous era. Mr. Barr served as attorney general from 1991 to 1993, under President George Bush, before spending the last quarter-century as a corporate lawyer much of it with the telecommunications company that became Verizon. It would also end a turbulent chapter in the history of the Justice Department that traces back to the decision by Mr. Trumps first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation, leaving the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, as acting head of the department for the purpose of that investigation. Mr. Rosenstein appointed Mr. Mueller as special counsel and protected the investigation from interference, even as Mr. Trump raged at the Justice Department and repeatedly lashed out at Mr. Sessions for what he viewed as a betrayal. That tension reached a crescendo in November, the day after Democrats victories in the 2018 midterm election, when Mr. Trump ousted Mr. Sessions. Breaking with the normal order of succession for the Justice Department, Mr. Trump then installed as acting attorney general, Matthew G. Whitaker, a White House loyalist with ties to a company that had been shut down for fraud. Democrats were deeply suspicious of Mr. Whitaker, who had openly denigrated the Mueller investigation and unsuccessfully interviewed in 2017 for the job of the chief White House lawyer charged with defending against it. Many saw his appointment as illegitimate. Their criticism surged when Mr. Whitaker rejected the advice of career department ethics lawyers that he, too, recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation. At a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week, Mr. Whitaker testified that he had told Mr. Trumps circle none of the information he received in briefings, and said he had taken no steps to interfere with Mr. Muellers work. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump nominated Mr. Barr, who was known during the first Bush administration for his unusually strong interpretation of the presidencys executive powers. That choice also attracted intense scrutiny. Among other things, Mr. Barr had publicly declared in 2017 that he saw more reason to investigate Hillary Clinton over a conservative conspiracy theory involving a uranium deal the Obama administration had approved while she was secretary of state than to investigate any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. It also emerged that in June 2018, he had taken it upon himself to write a lengthy legal memo for the Trump administration, which he also shared with Mr. Trumps outside legal team, arguing that Mr. Trump wielded unchecked power to start or stop a law enforcement proceeding and so Mr. Mueller should therefore not be permitted to investigate whether Mr. Trump committed obstruction of justice for pressuring the former F.B.I. director, James B. Comey Jr., to drop an investigation into a top aide. But at his confirmation hearing in January, Mr. Barr walked back or qualified some of his early writings on executive power, putting greater emphasis on the Justice Departments independence and legal limits on the presidency. And he vowed to let Mr. Mueller finish his work, saying he would resist any effort to fire him without good cause. I started to do the research, she said, and realized that many other veterans and their families, including former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., believed that such tumors stemmed from breathing toxic fumes from the open-air trash fires that were standard on American military bases in the desert war zones since Sept. 11, 2001. I wish they would have told us about this instead of throwing us to the wolves, she said. Congress is listening. Both the House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs plan to review the process for adding diseases to the Department of Veterans Affairs list of presumed service-connected illnesses used to determine disability compensation. That already worries department officials because of the potential for explosive costs and the difficulty of accurately determining whether diseases are caused by burn pit exposure. It is a top priority to make sure veterans who have service-connected diseases have the care and benefits they are owed, said Senator Johnny Isakson, Republican of Georgia and the chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs. There are also concerns about exposure to depleted uranium, which was used in tank armor and in the ammunition intended to penetrate enemy-armored vehicles. We are going to make a lot of noise this year, said Representative Raul Ruiz, Democrat of California and the co-chairman of the bipartisan House caucus on burn pits. You are starting to see more and more people come out of the military with illness and diagnosis and realizing they have been exposed to burn pits. He and other members have already introduced a flurry of bills. In interviews, Mr. Biden has speculated that toxic substances from burn pits contributed to the brain cancer of his son Beau. The younger Mr. Biden served in Iraq, as a major in the Delaware Army National Guard in 2009, and died of the illness in 2015. Scores of other veterans and their families have said they believe those toxic substances contributed to their illnesses, many of them fatal, a claim the Department of Veterans Affairs said is not supported by evidence. The V.A. looks continually at medical research and follows trends related to medical conditions affecting veterans, Mr. Cashour, of the veterans department, said. I dont care if the mayor is a Democrat or a Republican, they are full of crap when they say the border barrier didnt help lower the crime rate, Mr. Trump said, again adding falsely, It didnt stay the same. It went way down. What Was Said If we cut detention space, we are cutting loose dangerous criminals into our country. This is disputed. Before Mr. Trump took the stage, lawmakers in Washington reached a tentative deal on border security that included funding for physical barriers at the border and the reduction of detention space for migrants. Democrats had sought to limit the number of detention beds under the control of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, arguing that limiting the beds would force the agency to prioritize migrants with serious criminal records. Matt Albence, the deputy director of ICE, said a reduction in the number of beds would mean the release of criminals. Whether or not ICE would be forced to released hardened criminals is a prediction that cannot be fact checked, but available data suggests that most immigrants in detention have not committed serious crimes. Records obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University show that in June 2018, for example, ICE held more than 44,000 migrants in detention facilities across the country. Of these migrants, 58 percent had no criminal conviction and 21 percent had committed minor offenses such as traffic violations or illegal entry while 18 percent had been convicted of serious crimes. ICE has disputed that breakdown but used a broader measure for its figures: The agency said 54 percent of detained immigrants had criminal records or faced pending charges, though it did not specify what crimes they were accused of committing. A supporter of President Trump attacked a BBC camera operator during a presidential rally in El Paso on Monday night, the broadcaster said. BBC cameraman Ron Skeans was violently pushed and shoved by a member of the crowd while covering a President Trump rally in Texas last night, a BBC spokesman said in an email on Tuesday. Mr. Trump was in El Paso to increase support for his proposed wall on the United States border with Mexico, in his most significant rally since his funding demands for the project temporarily shut down the government. The president was talking about a decline in attacks on African, Hispanic, and Asian-Americans when the cameraman was pushed. A 36-second clip from Mr. Skeanss camera before, during and after the shove was widely circulated on social media on Tuesday. It shows a protester in a red Make America Great Again cap, who has not been publicly identified, shouting at members of the media as he is restrained by someone who appears to be part of the events security team. WASHINGTON In his State of the Union address, President Trump announced a bold plan to end the scourge of H.I.V. by 2030, a promise that seemed to fly in the face of two years of policies and proposals that go in the opposite direction and could undermine progress against the virus that causes AIDS. In November, the Trump administration proposed a rule change that would make it more difficult for Medicare beneficiaries to get the medicines that treat H.I.V. infection and prevent the virus from spreading. Mr. Trump has repeatedly urged Congress to repeal the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, even though Medicaid is the largest source of coverage for people with H.I.V. And he has promoted the sale of short-term health plans that skirt the Affordable Care Act, even though such plans usually exclude people with H.I.V. To end the spread of the virus, federal health officials say they must reduce the stigma attached to gay men and transgender people who are at high risk so they will seek testing and treatment. But for two years the administration has tried to roll back legal protections for people in those groups. Good Tuesday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today. _____________________ House and Senate negotiators agreed in principle to provide $1.375 billion for physical barriers at the southwestern border. The deal, which would stave off another partial government shutdown, appears to be a significant victory for Democrats. It still must pass the House and Senate, and secure the presidents signature. The border deal came together just before President Trump was about to begin a campaign and Finish the Wall rally in El Paso. In a bit of political theater, Beto ORourke was holding his own rally less than a mile away. Critics called Hillary Clinton shrill and unlikable in 2016. Its no coincidence that the same words are being used against Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris as they campaign for the 2020 Democratic nomination. Heres how sexism plays out on the campaign trail. Mark Kelly, the former astronaut and gun-control activist who is married to Gabrielle Giffords, announced on Tuesday that he would run for Senate in Arizona, challenging appointed Senator Martha McSally and intensifying the Democratic threat to Republicans narrow control of the chamber. Mr. Kellys entry sets up a possible general election between two combat veterans in a swiftly changing state, and may elevate Arizona further as a 2020 battleground. Both parties already view Arizona as a swing state in the presidential race and in 2018 Democrats won a Senate race there for the first time in decades. Ms. McSally, an Air Force veteran, was narrowly defeated in a statewide race last year by Senator Kyrsten Sinema. Ms. McSally joined the Senate anyway a few months later, appointed to fill the vacancy left by John McCains death after a placeholder appointee, Jon Kyl, resigned. [Make sense of the people, issues and ideas shaping American politics with our newsletter.] Mr. Kelly, 54, unveiled his campaign in an online video highlighting his experience as an astronaut and Navy pilot. Ms. Giffords, a former member of Congress who was shot and nearly killed by a deranged gunman in 2011, appeared beside him in the message. Civilian deaths in a dirty war The RAAF, after a year-long investigation, have admitted that Australian Super Hornets may have killed an estimated 18 civilians in Mosul in Iraq. The announcement on February 1, by Air Marshal Hupfield, was in damage control mode. The airmen were not to blame, the Iraqi soldiers were not to blame as they under fighting stress, and most of all the Coalition forces were not to blame as they gave the right target coordinates. With suitable sad face Hupfield announced this was an unfortunate consequence of war. Australian Super Hornets may have killed an estimated 18 civilians. The government swung in behind the RAAF. Defence Minister Christopher Pyne said it was unclear if Australian bomb even hit the civilians. He then went on to say: The Australian platform was operating entirely within the rules of engagement, and under the law of warfare, and so there will be no discipline for the pilots involved, because they were doing exactly the job that they were supposed to do. The Prime Minister in similar vein stated that it is not clear it was the ADF who hit the civilians, and declared that Australia never targets civilians. Opposition leader Bill Shorten said; If they have been investigated ... Im satisfied with that. However, a survivor of the attack says the Australian bomb destroyed her house, killing 35 members of her family. Airwarfare, an NGO that monitors coalition bombing in the Middle East, says those killed numbered 35 with 18 more injured. There is an obvious mismatch between the information from the Australian Government and that from independent observers. Based on past experience, the survivor and NGOs are likely to be closer to the truth than the ADF. A spokesperson for the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition (AABCC) responded to this latest tragedy, saying We reject the governments explanation of this tragedy. We say they should not be using aircraft in city areas! The RAAF has been less than honest in the past, the AABCC says. One incident was reported on the ABCs 7.30 Report in March 2017. The RAAF was exposed as being the most recalcitrant of military services in providing co-ordinates of bombing missions to human rights organisations. Australias intransigence contrasted strongly with even the US and NATO states. Another pointer to the ADFs duplicity is the fact that the commander of the operation that resulted in the civilian deaths was awarded a Distinguished Service Medal in the 2019 Australia Day Honours. The citation read in part that he protected civilians in proximity to the fighting. The Anti-Bases group reports that after bombing elements of the Syrian Army and killing six Syrian Army soldiers the Commander of that operation also received a medal. Asked why such a catastrophe was worthy of a medal, Air Commodore Edgeley, Acting Deputy Chief of Air Force, replied: Royal Australian Air Force members who were recognised in the Australia Day Honours served their country with distinction in a demanding operational environment, and have been recognised accordingly. We say in fact they brought shame on us. The February 1, 2019 statement is a continuation of the ADFs policy of not providing information to the Australian people on a range of issues relating to its operations. In view of the exorbitant amount of money provided by the Australian taxpayer for ADF operations, the lack of information is scandalous. Both the government and the ADF are responsible for these deaths as they decided to take part in yet another US dirty war. Senator, lawyer, mother, childrens book author and now, Democratic candidate for president. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is in. Im filing an exploratory committee for president of the United States tonight. Hailing from President Trumps home state of New York, shes joining what will likely be a crowded 2020 field. Which Democrats Who will run for president in 2020? The list is growing. It ranges from Gillibrand is a former corporate lawyer and congresswoman. Growing up in a political family in Albany, She fell in love early on. I was drawn into politics when I was a little girl. And it was really with my grandmother, who loved politics. She was appointed to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate in 2009. Welcome, Senator. Gillibrand went on to win the seat again in a 2010 special election and has held it ever since. Over time she has reversed her positions on immigration and gun control. You start off in a different place on immigration and now youre more progressive on that. On guns, you started off, you know, more kind of pro-Second Amendment. Now, you went from having an A to an F from the N.R.A. I recognize that there was a lot of things I didnt know, and I should have been fighting for them before. Shes now one of the partys most reliably liberal voices. Some of her priorities: A populist economic agenda, womens rights and gender equality and fighting for victims of sexual assault with a focus on the military. Who is being held accountable for doing nothing since 2013? Who? Which commander? Gillibrand was the first senator in her party to call for the resignation of fellow Democrat Al Franken, following accusations of sexual misconduct. Enough is enough. Here she is during Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaughs confirmation hearings. I want to really have Dr. Blasey Fords back tomorrow. So Im going to sit behind her. Not only do I support her. But I believe her. So what is her dynamic with President Trump? He said: Shes just a puppet of Schumer. You know that. He put her there. Hes also referred to her as a lightweight who would do anything for money. She responded this way. It was a sexist smear. Its part of the presidents effort at name calling and its not going to silence me. Gillibrand has also voted against almost all of Trumps major nominees. I urge my colleagues. Reject this bad choice. So what are her chances? Gillibrand is seen as a serious contender, but so far her poll numbers are low. Her next step? Building a national profile and campaign. WASHINGTON Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee said on Tuesday that they had retained two elite white-collar litigators and prominent legal critics of President Trump to help begin inquiries into some of the most sensitive allegations involving the president, including ethics violations, corruption and possible obstruction of justice. The committees chairman, Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, has not committed to opening a formal impeachment inquiry. But the addition of the two lawyers, Norman L. Eisen and Barry H. Berke, indicates that the Democrats do not intend to wait for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, to finish his work to begin weighing issues that could ultimately be wrapped up in such a proceeding. The president of the United States faces numerous allegations of corruption and obstruction, Mr. Nadler said in a statement announcing the decision. His conduct and crude statements threaten the basic legal, ethical and constitutional norms that maintain our democratic institutions. Congress has a constitutional duty to be a check and balance against abuses of power when necessary. Mr. Nadler gave little detail about those inquiries in his statement, saying that Mr. Eisen and Mr. Berke would consult on matters related to the Department of Justice, including the departments review of Special Counsel Muellers investigation. A Judiciary Committee official, who was not authorized to discuss the appointments publicly, said that Democrats would be making public more detailed plans in the coming weeks. Trump has a messaging challenge By almost any objective measure, the president cannot claim victory based on this deal. That does not mean he will not try. In recent days, he has shifted his rhetoric from building a wall to finishing a wall. He was defiant at the rally in El Paso. We need the wall and it has to be built, he said. News of the possible deal broke just before Mr. Trump was to speak. He had the option of receiving a briefing on the compromise or making a scheduled appearance with Laura Ingraham of Fox News. He chose the latter. He has some work to do persuading his supporters on the right who see the wall as a core promise of his presidency. The early reviews were harsh. On Fox, Sean Hannity called the deal a garbage compromise. The president still has a card in his pocket: a national emergency The president has retained the option of declaring a national emergency to build the border barrier. Now he will have to decide whether to accept the deal that top members of his own party in Congress negotiated, or to in effect go it alone. If Mr. Trump were to declare a national emergency, the move would assuredly draw a court challenge, and would not help him in further negotiations with Congress on other issues. WASHINGTON The Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives was a blessing in disguise for a president who needed a foil, Republicans predicted last November. President Trump, who had only the press and the special counsel to battle with, they said, would find a useful antagonist in Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It hasnt exactly turned out that way. After a series of misadventures, Mr. Trump has conspicuously laid off personal attacks aimed at Ms. Pelosi. Even as the standoff over funding a border wall appears to be finally ending with a deal seen as a defeat for the president, he has blamed unnamed Democrats but not their most prominent leader. And there has been no undermining Trumpian nickname the president has said his moniker for Ms. Pelosi is, simply, Nancy. Mr. Trump, who once stalked Hillary Clinton, the former Democratic nominee, around the presidential debate stage and continues to encourage lock her up chants at his rallies more than two years later, simply gazed up at Ms. Pelosi during his State of the Union address and then found himself the target of ridicule for the picture of her giving him what appeared to be a dismissive clap of the hands. She has a unified Democratic caucus behind her, and shes not intimidated, said Representative Katherine M. Clark, Democrat of Massachusetts. I dont think that Donald Trump has run into that too often in his life, and he doesnt know quite what to make of it all. WASHINGTON To compete with a more assertive China, the United States should invest in alliances and multilateral institutions, which President Trump and his administration have rejected or undermined, a report issued Tuesday by prominent scholars and former top White House, State Department and trade officials working on China concluded. In addition, the Trump administration should take firm stands against China on its malign policies, from mercantilist measures to military expansionism, but should avoid overreacting to hard-line actions by President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party while searching for areas of cooperation with Beijing, the report said. The United States and China find their bilateral relationship at a dangerous crossroads, said the report, issued by the Asia Society and the 21st Century China Center at the University of California, San Diego. The United States and China are on a collision course. The foundations of good will that took decades to build are rapidly breaking down. The report was overseen by Orville Schell of the Asia Society and Susan L. Shirk, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, who worked on China policy as a deputy assistant secretary of state under President Bill Clinton. The two spent Monday in Washington briefing policymakers at the White House and State Department on what they call smart competition. WASHINGTON President Trump appeared poised on Tuesday to end two months of scorched-earth confrontation without the money he demanded for a border wall as Republicans pressured him to accept a bipartisan spending deal rather than close the government again on Friday. Mr. Trump pronounced himself unsatisfied with the agreement brokered by House and Senate negotiators, and he refused to publicly commit to signing it. But he all but ruled out another government shutdown and emphasized that he would find other methods to finance a border barrier, leading aides and allies to predict he would grudgingly go along with the deal. Am I happy at first glance? the president said, speaking with reporters at the beginning of a cabinet meeting. I just got to see it. The answer is no, Im not. Im not happy. But he said he was moving things around in the budget from far less important areas to finance a wall even without explicit congressional approval, and he expressed no desire to repeat the standoff that shuttered many federal agencies for 35 days. I dont think youre going to see a shutdown, he said. On July 25, 1946, two black couples were riding in a car in Walton County, Ga., when they were mobbed by a group of white men. They were dragged from the car at gunpoint and tied up. Then they were shot about 60 times, at close range and killed. The episode, which became known as the Moores Ford lynchings, is considered by many to be the last mass lynching in American history. It prompted national outrage and led President Harry Truman to order a federal investigation, making the case a critical catalyst for the civil rights movement. Although a grand jury convened and witnesses testified for 16 days, no one was ever charged and the case remains unsolved. Now, more than 70 years later, what those witnesses said may be on the verge of becoming public. On Monday, the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, affirmed a lower courts ruling that had ordered the release of the grand jury transcripts from 1946. In a 2-to-1 opinion, Judge Charles R. Wilson wrote that the event was so clearly of exceptional historical significance that the interest in disclosure outweighed the interest in continued secrecy. Good morning. (If you dont already get California Today by email, heres the sign-up.) The State of the Union was last week. But theres one Californian whos been waiting to give his rebuttal. Gov. Gavin Newsoms first State of the State is this morning. Hes set to double down on his inaugural promise to present an alternative to the rhetoric and policies coming out of the White House. President Trump offered a vision of an America fundamentally at odds with California values, Mr. Newsom plans to say, according to excerpts from the address. He described a country where inequality didnt seem to be a problem, where climate change doesnt exist, and where the greatest threat we face comes from families at the border, seeking asylum from violence-stricken countries. LOS ANGELES After her son, Eric, was killed by the police in Los Angeles two years ago when officers mistook a water pistol he was holding for a real gun, Valerie Rivera channeled her grief into activism. She joined Black Lives Matter and lobbied the State Legislature to open to the public Californias records on police shootings, which have long been hidden. She wanted, she recently wrote in a court filing, to understand what really happened, and to advocate for change so that officers do not kill civilians, and are held accountable when they do, so that other families do not have to suffer as mine has. Her efforts paid off. Under a new state law, Ms. Rivera and other members of the public can now request to see the investigative records, prying open for the first time Californias strict secrecy laws regarding police shootings and serious misconduct by officers. But, just as activists and state lawmakers have sought to bring decades-old investigative records to light, police unions have tried to jam the door shut. While police departments have said they would comply, police unions up and down the state, including in Los Angeles, have filed lawsuits challenging the law, arguing that it shouldnt be applied retroactively. The union lawsuits have succeeded in some jurisdictions in getting temporary stays from the court. This year marks the quincentennial of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian Renaissance master who died in May 1519. To celebrate the prodigious polymaths life and work, museums are hosting special exhibitions and tour operators are taking travelers on Leonardo-inspired journeys across Western Europe. In the United Kingdom, the Royal Collection Trust opened a nationwide exhibition of drawings, Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing, earlier this month. Museums and galleries in 12 cities, from Belfast to Southampton, are each displaying 12 of Leonardos drawings through May 6. Then the entire collection will be shown, along with more than 50 additional drawings, at The Queens Gallery, in Buckingham Palace, until Oct. 13; this assemblage will form the largest exhibition of Leonardos work in more than 65 years. The exhibits last leg, from Nov. 22 until March 15, will showcase 80 drawings at the Queens Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland. The collection, curated to highlight the artists varied interests from engineering to botany, allows us to enter one of the greatest minds in history, said Martin Clayton, Head of Prints and Drawings for Royal Collection Trust. Italy will celebrate its native son with honorary exhibits across the country, and one of the most comprehensive will be Leonardo da Vinci: Drawing the Future, running from April 15 to July 14, at the Royal Museums of Turin. More than 50 drawings will be on display, including Codex on the Flight of Birds and Face of a Young Girl. Leonardos famous Self Portrait will also be on view. During a similar time period (April 19 July 14), the Gallerie dellAccademia in Venice will exhibit 25 drawings, including the rarely displayed masterwork Vitruvian Man, while the Sforza Castle in Milan is set to debut the newly restored Sala delle Asse room and show more of Leonardos work on May 2, the anniversary of his death. While every tax exemption means that the state is forgoing the collection of revenue it would otherwise receive, the choices this state makes about what to tax and what to exempt from tax are a reflection of the states values," Kathy Flaherty, executive director of the Connecticut Legal Rights Project, wrote in testimony submitted to the finance committee. This state should value supporting people being able to stay in their homes and do the physical modifications necessary so that people can age in place, or that younger disabled people will have more options about where to live. Image Big Freedia at Neyows Creole Cafe. Credit... Edmund D. Fountain for The New York Times If the next time you are in New Orleans, you find yourself wondering who will make you dance during your visit, the local rapper Big Freedia has your answer. Im that queen thatll make you bounce! she crows on one of her best known songs. You can hear Big Freedias music playing in cars as they pass beneath the live oaks, or in French Quarter corner stores when youre picking up a drink, or in darkened neighborhood bars between the bands sets. Her version of bounce music, a New Orleans genre of hip-hop, is hypnotic, and her dance parties are some of the rowdiest party scenes in this rowdy party city. The success of Big Freedia (birth name Freddie Ross Jr.) in the Deep South might seem surprising: She is a 40-year-old gay black man who dresses in regal wigs and dangly earrings and uses the pronoun she. For many people here, Freedia represents the new New Orleans, the real New Orleans, where what matters most is not what you look like, but how funky you get down when the music turns up. We asked her to share five favorite places in New Orleans. Morrows is a new spot in New Orleans, run by a young black entrepreneur who used to be a club promoter. His mom is the chef. Its another place with authentic cuisine, with a menu really off the chain. My favorite is their crawfish pasta. It comes with fried fish on top and garlic bread scrumptious! 2438 St. Claude Avenue; morrowsnola.com When I visit him in Queens, he has flipped the order of his day to take advantage of the morning light that streams in from the studios grimy, chicken-wired windows. Hes been up half the night finishing the install of a lofted book-lined office in one corner of his soaring space, and tidying downstairs, where his setup is pleasantly spare. A 10-foot-long carpenters bench, thick maple on blue metal trestles, dominates, surrounded by neat racks of planks, clamps and rulers. Near the door, a set of gymnastics rings dangles from a ceiling beam you need a strong back for this work, says Orloff, who uses them for exercise but he is more excited to show off other toys: a gigantic drum sander and a tiny robotic edge bander that he calls the Cadillac of Festool machines, both recent additions. Orloff traces his interest in carpentry back to high school in Providence, R.I., and a warehouse called Fort Thunder, where he went to see noise shows and left enchanted with the way the proprietors, a group of art school dropouts, had carved bedrooms out of the performance space. Later, he figured out how to build his own lofts, as an undergraduate at McGill University in Montreal and as an early 20-something living in Brooklyn. At 28, Orloff moved in with his friend, the late journalist Matt Power, who had bought an old brownstone and turned it into something like a dorm for his publishing friends. Everyone needed bookshelves, and Orloff, with help from YouTube, became adept at building them using a dinky table saw that he would wheel out into the backyard. FG: It was a great project, and I think its our one connection to each other before now. We were developing technology with a leader in the French aerospace industry, Dassault Systemes, and we felt that from that we were able to do things more freely, like the curves of Bilbao, with no cost increase. So when your Birds Nest was being built, some of the engineers working for you at the time contacted us, and we helped them with the weird connections. AW: When I see your earlier work, the models that look like you crumpled up a piece of paper that you were going to throw out, I think thats a breakthrough quite revolutionary considering traditional architecture doesnt teach that way. You really liberated the form. FG: You know, I grew up in the art world this was the way I wanted to work, more hands-on, sort of like the way you work. You pick up materials, you put them somewhere, you make things. I always felt that it was more direct, more human, more related to the body. In the late 60s and early 70s I saw all the artists in L.A. doing things, like Larry Bell and Billy Al Bengston, Charles Arnoldi and Ed Ruscha. Everybody was working very freely and I emulated that, I loved that. So you had a sense of freedom, you didnt have to make apologies for doing it. It was just hard for the clients of an architect to accept that. Now developers charge a premium for our work. But you have a whole other economic thing with galleries. AW: I can go through a gallery, but its not necessary. A gallery is just a structure that you use because you dont want to make all those deals or meet all those collectors. Its not necessary. Its not like a building, which has to be paid for by some developer. Artworks dont have to be sold. A poet doesnt have to sell his poetry, nobody has to buy it. FG: I think its important to find that sweet spot in architecture, too, to make it happen like that. AW: But architecture is very limited because you have so many practical and financial restrictions you have that developer to think about. FG: You have all that, but I say, And then what? You have to look at it this way: You solve all the economic issues. You solve the safety of the building. You solve the acceptance by the building department. You solve all of those things. And then what? Its the then what that Im interested in. What else can the building give you? And when you do that, the people that hired you are beneficiaries of it. Like in Bilbao, the building cost $100 million, but its raised much more since it opened. There was no way to have predicted that. And when I look at the building, personally I have all kinds of criticisms of it I cant understand why they like it so much. But most of us are not like Mr. Meehan, my former swain or the serial fabulist Frank Abagnale, Jr., whose life story spawned a cottage industry of deception: a book, Catch Me If You Can, a movie of the same name, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and a Tony-nominated Broadway show. Nor are we Dan Mallory, a.k.a AJ Finn, the best-selling novelist who was the subject of a recent New Yorker profile. Mr. Mallory had claimed that he had cancer, which had also killed his mother, and that his brother had committed suicide. He also said he had a Ph.D. from Oxford. None of it was true. People who break the social contract in such a protracted and consistent manner inspire both admiration (for the chutzpah it takes to dissemble consistently) and fear. These stories make us ask, What if nothing is as it seems? said Kevin Balfe, a partner at Red Seat Ventures, which produces CrimeCon, a three-day true crime convention held annually in New Orleans. What makes someone willing and capable to do that? And what it would mean if more of us had that same capability? Society is built largely on human trust, and when thats shattered we all suffer. In December 2016, Bravo conducted a survey with Research Now of 1,500 people ages 18 to 54, called Truth and Deception in Relationships. More than four in 10 wondered if their partner could have another side to them; more than one in three often suspected that their partner was being dishonest about something. Fifty-one percent said theyd kept a secret from their partners, male or female. And 41 percent of online daters had been lured into a relationship by means of a fake online persona, or catfished, said Dave Kaplan, the head of strategic insights and research for lifestyle networks at NBCUniversal, which owns Bravo. Its not that people were so exemplary in years past think of ye olde hucksters, snake-oil salesmen and The Wizard of Oz but there werent as many avenues for letting our dark sides run wild. And though digital footprints and identity-verification programs like Spokeo might make it easier to track down deceitful people, the internet presents more opportunities to transgress and, upon being caught, to create a new virtual identity. CareerExcuse.com provides fake reference letters from fake bosses for fake jobs youve never had. For as little as $69 a month, Paladin Deception Services will offer character and personal references, landlord referrals, and verification of specific skills. Ninety-nine dollars gets you verification of a white lie or exaggeration, along with voice mail, a dedicated phone line in the city of your choosing, and a male or female operator whichever suits your fancy. Consider the clam. Imagine that its two iconic shells have shrunk into a collar, fringed with jagged teeth, which it uses to gnaw through wood. Imagine that its digestive tract and most of the rest of its organs have gotten pushed out the backdoor of the shell, forming a long streamer of flesh that it keeps safe by burrowing into the wood it eats. And imagine that it is larded with symbiotic bacteria that aid the creature in the digestion of all that wood. Congratulations: You have arrived at the shipworm. Shipworms and their bizarre wood-eating lifestyle loomed large in the fears of sailors for centuries, as they can send a vessel to the bottom with little more than concerted munching. Even today they can bring structures with wood pilings under them, like Pier 5 in Brooklyn, to their knees. But they are also intriguing as potential sources for new antibiotics, among other things, which led a team of researchers last year to a river mouth in the Philippines where they pulled up a piece of wood that turned out to contain a new species of shipworm, which they named Tamilokus mabinia. [Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.] The discovery, which was reported in the journal PeerJ on Thursday, occurred during a feverish episode of wading through mangroves and scuba diving in coastal waters looking for wood that contained shipworm burrows. The team brought their finds to the parking lot of a beachgoers hotel, where, wearing headlamps and wielding axes, they extracted the worms and brought them up to their hotel-rooms-cum-biology labs. Its not what you expect when you book your beach holidays to see people doing this, said Reuben Shipway of Northeastern University, one of the studys co-authors. But working quickly allowed the team, known as the Philippine Mollusk Symbiont International Collaborative Biodiversity Group, to identify, photograph and begin the process of sequencing the DNA of the animals and their bacterial symbionts right away. In the days running up to Mr. Trumps State of the Union address, more than one member of the administration accused me, my colleagues and The Times of deliberately highlighting those differences in an effort to provoke just the kind of reaction Mr. Trump had the morning after the testimony. Why dont you just write it straight, one asked? Just say what the intelligence chiefs said, and not try to compare it to the presidents statements? The answer is simple: Were not stenographers. Our readers expect us to use decades of experience, as foreign correspondents around the world and as reporters who have delved into unclassified and classified data for years, to provide context into what an intelligence report on some of the most complex problems in the world really means. And we must assess the question of whether the president is integrating, ignoring or rejecting the conclusions of the intelligence community before he makes decisions. As Mr. Trump likes to point out, intelligence agencies are not infallible see Iraq, nuclear weapons. But the core of our job is helping readers understand the difference between facts on the ground, the assessments or judgments of the intelligence community, and the policy decisions that result. So it is news when Mr. Trump decides he is going to deal with the Saudi crown prince, because the relationship with the kingdom outweighs the import of the C.I.A. conclusion, with medium-to-high certainty, that he was deeply involved in the killing of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Mr. Trump called the C.I.A.s view feelings rather than an assessment.) And hiding behind the fact that the C.I.A. conclusion is classified, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did when asked about it the other day, does not silence the debate over how the United States should deal with a national leader suspected of being part of a murder conspiracy. There was another reason to point out the differences: to prepare the country for the stark difference between the picture of the world the intelligence chiefs painted and the one Mr. Trump described last Tuesday night in his State of the Union address. In Mr. Trumps telling, the flood of illegal immigrants from unguarded stretches of the southwestern border is the No. 1 threat the United States must address. But drug trafficking, cartels and the issues of the Mexican border do not appear in the report until Page 18, and then comparatively fleetingly. In the intelligence communitys judgment, it is cyber threats to our electric grid, our privacy and our election system that ranked No. 1, and occupied pages upon pages of the report. The intelligence chiefs, it turned out, are consumed by the long-term issues of the race with China over artificial intelligence and quantum computing, and whether we have enough programming and scientific talent in the pipeline to keep up, much less keep ahead. The issue never came up in the State of the Union address. Nor did the central conclusion of Mr. Trumps own national security strategy: that the chief concern today has to be the renewal of great-power competition between the United States, Russia and China. Sometimes the news is in the reports, the testimony, the leaked documents. Sometimes, its in the silences. Usually when some sententious centrist talks about ending partisan polarization and just coming up with solutions based on data or studies or expert consensus, the appropriate response is to roll your eyes the way people have been eye-rolling lately at Howard Schultz of Starbucks and his apparently substance-free vision for an independent presidential campaign. Usually where you find polarization, you also find some issue of great moment, some important conflict of interests or values, that cant just be turned over to the smart people to solve because any solution would inevitably be a victory for one side and a defeat for the other. But there are occasional exceptions: Polarizing issues where you could essentially call a truce without anyone winning or losing, without it affecting the balance of power in Americas political debates and culture wars, without anything disappearing except a lot of nonsense, hysteria and panic. My candidate for the exception is the debate over voter ID laws. For as long as Ive been politically conscious, conservatives have touted tougher identification requirements at the polls as a means to fight the scourge of voter fraud, and over the last decade Republicans have successfully implemented voter ID laws in a number of reddish states. Over the same period those laws have been cited by liberals as evidence that Republicans are bent on winning elections by disenfranchising Democrats locking out poor and minority voters in a rerun of the Jim Crow-poll tax era, and electing conservative politicians at the expense of democracy itself. You could imagine a world in which the voter ID debate reflected a real and sweeping clash of interests. If conservatives were right that the laws reduced rampant voter fraud by preventing illegal immigrants from voting for Democrats in large numbers, and meanwhile liberals were also right that the laws dramatically reduced turnout among African-Americans and other liberal-leaning constituencies, effectively limiting the right to vote, then the whole debate would be extremely consequential and difficult to resolve. Second of two articles There really isnt an app for everything. At least not for everyone. Avi Karnani first noticed that tech gap when he was just out of business school, working on mergers and acquisitions for Citigroup Global Markets. At my corporation there was all this great financial tech available to help them manage their risk and achieve anything they wanted, he said. But my friends had high-interest credit cards, and high-fee checking accounts and their student loans were incomprehensible. They were calling me up for help, and they didnt have access to anything like that. If you run a business, or youre a consumer of means, theres a technology solution for every problem you could imagine, and many you probably cant. But if youre in financial trouble, or have problems typical of low-income people, sorry. Its an analog world for you. Still, there are some successes. Last week, I wrote about Propels Fresh EBT app, which helps people manage their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. Mr. Karnani is the chief executive and co-founder of Alice, a company that automates pretax benefits to enable companies to offer them and let more employees use them. Those benefits can add hundreds or thousands of dollars to a workers paycheck. But while white-collar employees can usually get them, most hourly workers cant. Good Call links people arrested in New York City to a lawyer within seconds. JustFix.nyc helps New York City tenants respond to eviction notices, compel landlords to make repairs, and represent themselves in housing court. To the Editor: Re The Progressive Assault on Israel, by Bret Stephens (column, Feb. 10): As a moderate Democrat and a strong supporter of Israel, I am concerned about efforts by the Democratic Partys far left to demonize Israel, question its legitimacy and exclude its supporters from progressive movements and groups. Mr. Stephens delineates the double standard lobbied against Israel and how so many in the progressive left dont understand the complexity of the situation. As he wrote, the comparison of Israel to South Afr ica during apartheid is inaccurate, as Israeli Arabs are members of Parliament and attend Israeli universities, something that blacks were not able to do in South Africa. He notes that Israel can do more and sometimes better, but that is different from saying that Israel is an apartheid state. But the focus on the individual can distract from the size of the crisis in Mexico. Tuesdays verdict followed more than 200,000 murders over the past decade, a level of bloodshed that has ripped at the heart of the nation. More than 100 journalists have been slain, including my friend and colleague Javier Valdez Cardenas, whom one of the witnesses against Mr. Guzman was questioned about. An entire movement has grown of family members of those killed and disappeared, pushing to see the violence against their loved ones punished, or at least to find the bodies. In the face of such slaughter, it is obviously good that Mr. Guzman, a leader of one of the drug cartels involved, is convicted and is likely to spend the rest of his life in a tough prison. But considering this was the biggest trial to date related to Mexicos catastrophic drug war, it seems only a bittersweet victory in the battle for justice. It is a painful fact that Mr. Guzman was convicted in the United States and not in Mexico, where he has sown corruption and terror. After he escaped from two top security prisons here, the Mexican government conceded that its institutions were not powerful enough to hold him and extradited him north. As a result the charges were mostly related to his trafficking drugs to Americans rather than murdering Mexicans. In the trial, 14 fellow criminals testified against him, using the long-criticized system of cooperating witnesses. One of them, Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, alias Chupeta, confessed to ordering as many as 150 murders, mostly in his home country, Colombia, yet hoped to have his sentence reduced in return for his testimony. With audio recordings of Mr. Guzman setting up drug deals, you have to question whether it was necessary for prosecutors to work with such hardened criminals. Lunatics, drug dealers, maniacs, given sweetheart deals, the defense lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman said in his closing arguments. In rebuttal, the assistant United States attorney Amanda Liskamm said, The day that cocaine conspiracies are made in heaven is the day we can call angels as witnesses. The challenge for Schiff and the Democrats is to pursue their inquiry in a way that makes it hard for Trump or his supporters to dismiss it as partisan presidential harassment. Schiff says that it appears that Republicans on the panel will rejoin the investigation, though he says hes not sure whether they would be doing so in good faith. He should do his best to conduct the investigation in a way that will win the cooperation of some Republicans and restore the bipartisanship that used to prevail on the committee. Gail: Pecker politics definitely tops anything else we can possibly talk about. Still, I have to ask you about Virginia. You wrote a very powerful column taking the governors side. I wonder if thats what convinced him to refuse to resign. Bret: Thanks, though I think he had made up his mind before my column appeared. Gail: But we may differ on this blackface thing. I came from a pretty conservative background but I cant think of ever seeing anybody at my college putting shoe polish on their face or a sheet over their head under the theory that it would make them look cool. And Ralph Northam was in medical school! I know medical students arent all the omni-dedicated healers we saw on E.R. But good grief. Bret: I dont know if we really differ. But I think context and intention matter. Billy Crystal did blackface for a Sammy Davis Jr. impression, and I dont think Crystal is racist in any respect. Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman, to name a few boldface names, have all done blackface. If were going to start excommunicating people from public life for this, were going to destroy a lot of people who almost surely intended no harm. Gail: Yeah, but I dont remember Billy Crystal doing his act with a guy wearing a sheet. Bret: Thats true. And I think thats in a different league in terms of offensiveness. But again, I think we need to better understand the context, whether it was connected to a pattern of behavior, and whether it was ever repeated. And again, we are talking about an incident from 35 years ago followed by an admirable life without any hint of racial bias. Right now, Northams real moral jeopardy is that he has contradicted himself and is doing a duck-and-cover move. He has a good opportunity to rise above it, first by clarifying how exactly that photo ended up on his yearbook page and whether hes one of the people in the picture, as he now claims he isnt and then by explaining why the casual racism of a past generation mustnt be communicated to the present. Gail: I do find it hard to believe he looked at that picture and said: Who are these people? How did they get in my yearbook? Hed be a gone goose now if the Legislature wasnt busy talking about trying to impeach the lieutenant governor over some terrible allegations of sexual assault. Did you know Virginia has, for all practical purposes, a one-term limit for governors? Im wondering if that has anything to do with all these crises. Roderick MacFarquhar, a consummate scholar of Communist China whose writing on Maos power politics influenced how people around the world understood China, died on Sunday in Cambridge, Mass., where he had long taught at Harvard University. He was 88. His son, Rory, said the cause was heart failure. Professor MacFarquhar specialized in the origins of the Cultural Revolution, the decade of turmoil that terrorized China beginning in 1966. His three-volume work, The Origins of the Cultural Revolution, came to be considered a classic. The research for those books, which were based on dense official texts, public speeches and Maos own words, opened a world hidden to the West and illuminated an era of Chinas past that still seems almost unfathomable. At Harvard, Professor MacFarquhar taught history and political science and was known for his wit and informality. In one class he asked his teaching assistants to pose as Red Guards, Maos paramilitary youth, and act out boisterous self-criticism sessions. He then coaxed the class to shout over and over, Mao Zedong, Wan Sui! 10,000 years for Mao! so that everyone felt the fervor of the movement that shook China. The CultRev class packed the biggest lecture hall on campus. [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] There is an unwritten rule in Albany known as the Bear Mountain Compact, a promise that whatever happens north of Bear Mountain a vast region that includes the state capital stays there. For decades, that compact has governed Albanys private meetings, its raucous fund-raisers, its bars where legislators flock after session. But on Wednesday, it will be broken when state lawmakers hold their first public hearing on sexual harassment since 1992. Survivors of harassment, and anyone else interested, will have the opportunity to speak directly to the people with the power to address it. The hearing is the result, in large part, of the Sexual Harassment Working Group, which is made up of seven former legislative employees who say they experienced or reported sexual harassment in Albany. For the past 11 months, the women many of whom, until their activism, had not gone back to Albany in years have been pushing lawmakers to let them tell their stories. For much of those 11 months, they were ignored. [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] A high-level panel commissioned by Mayor Bill de Blasio called on the city to adopt a sweeping measure to address entrenched segregation in education: create diversity targets for all 1,800 schools so that their population reflects the racial and economic makeup of the surrounding areas. Over the next five years, the panel recommended, elementary and middle schools should reflect the racial makeup of their local school district, and high schools should look as much like their local borough as possible, in terms of race, income level, disability and proficiency in English. New Yorks schools have become increasingly divided along racial lines over the last two decades, and the city is currently home to one of the most segregated urban public school systems in America. Mr. de. Blasio, now in his second term, ran on a promise to reduce inequality in all aspects of city life. But, when it comes to school segregation, he has been stymied by the same quandary that previous mayors faced: How to redistribute resources so that black and Hispanic students have more access to high-quality schools without alienating middle class, white families. Snowflakes started falling shortly before 9 a.m. in the city. Three to four inches are forecast. Northern and western suburbs could get half a foot. The snow will mix with sleet late in the morning, as temperatures hover near freezing. Things could get very slippery, so be careful and allow extra time to get anywhere. At some point rain will wash it all away, but possibly not till tonight. It could be two messy rush hours, Joseph Esposito, the head of the citys Office of Emergency Management, said. If youve grown skeptical of snow forecasts, we understand. Since the surprise November storm, the city has seen only 1.1 inches of snow. The hyped-up mid-January storm delivered a grand total of 0.7 inches. But after getting caught off guard in November, officials are taking no chances. Mr. Esposito said he was ready for a foot of snow. [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] New York Citys fast-food industry has served as a laboratory for the nations labor movement for the last several years. Its workers were the first to stage rallies demanding a minimum wage of $15 an hour. Then, they pressed for changes in the way national restaurant chains set their work schedules. Now, they are asking the City Council to shield them from being fired without a valid reason. That protection, the sort of job security that unions usually bargain for, would be a first for a city to provide to workers in a specific industry, labor law experts said. City Councilman Brad Lander said he planned to introduce a bill on Wednesday that would require fast-food businesses to show just cause for firing workers and give them a chance to appeal dismissals through arbitration. A. Eduardo Balarezo, another one of Mr. Guzmans lawyers, added about his client: When he came here he was already presumed guilty by everyone, unfortunately. We werent just fighting evidence, we were fighting perception. Not long after the jury got the case on Feb. 4, Matthew G. Whitaker, the acting United States attorney general, stepped into the courtroom and shook hands with each of the trial prosecutors, wishing them good luck. Over the next several days, the jurors, appearing to scrutinize the governments evidence, asked to be given thousands of pages of testimony, including in an unusual move the full testimonies of six different prosecution witnesses. Mr. Guzmans trial, which took place under intense media scrutiny and tight security from bomb-sniffing dogs, police snipers and federal marshals with radiation sensors, was the first time an American jury heard details about the financing, logistics and bloody history of one of the drug cartels that have long pumped huge amounts of heroin, cocaine, marijuana and synthetic drugs like fentanyl into the United States, earning traffickers billions of dollars. But despite extensive testimony about private jets filled with cash, bodies burned in bonfires and shocking evidence that Mr. Guzman and his men often drugged and raped young girls, the case also revealed the operatic, even absurd, nature of cartel culture. It featured accounts of traffickers taking target practice with a bazooka, a mariachi playing all night outside a jail cell and a murder plot involving a cyanide-laced arepa. At times, the trial was so bizarre it felt like a drug-world telenovela unfolding live in the courtroom. Last month, one of Mr. Guzmans mistresses tearfully proclaimed her love for him even as she testified against him. The following day, in what seemed like a coordinated show of solidarity, the kingpin and his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, appeared in court in matching red velvet smoking jackets. Toward the end of the proceeding, Alejandro Edda, an actor who plays El Chapo on the Netflix series Narcos: Mexico, showed up at the trial to study Mr. Guzman. The crime lord flashed an ecstatic smile when told Mr. Edda had come to see him. Although Tuesdays conviction dealt a blow to the Sinaloa drug cartel, which Mr. Guzman, 61, helped to run for decades, the group continues to operate, led in part by the kingpins sons. In 2016 and 2017, the years when Mr. Guzman was arrested for a final time and sent for prosecution to New York, Mexican heroin production increased by 37 percent and fentanyl seizures at the southwest border more than doubled, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. At first glance, Jacques Tondelli (Pierre Deladonchamps) seems to enjoy an unmoored, cushy life in early 1990s Paris. And the early 1990s Paris Christophe Honore evokes in this film looks to be a good place for that. We are introduced to Jacques alone at an elegant bistro, giving a pleasant but slightly ironical glance at a male-female couple sitting nearby. In his late 30s, hes dressed stylishly, mostly in blue, a color that suffuses the film, subtly, as has been Honores customary light-touch going back to Dans Paris (2006) and Love Songs (2007). Soon Jacquess date arrives: a shabbily dressed young hustler. And it clearly amuses the self-assured Jacques to dine with the fellow in such an upscale environment. Back at his apartment, Jacques commiserates with an older friend, Mathieu (Denis Podalydes). Jacquess writing is going poorly, his finances are bad. Little to do but hang out and get high with his pal, although steps are taken not to disturb Jacquess grade-school-age son, Loulou. As it peels Jacques like an onion, Sorry Angel also develops, in a loping, unhurried style, the narrative of a love affair that is never truly allowed to happen. Isnt It Romantic is the second comedy in less than a week, after What Men Want, in which a woman gains the power to improve her life following a concussion. Natalie (Rebel Wilson), an architect whose colleagues treat her as a doormat, disdains romance and hates it in movies. Her appearance is played for laughs. (A halal vendor implores her to stop his runaway cart with her body.) Then, in the process of foiling a mugger, she smacks into a metal beam in a subway station and wakes up to find herself in a romantic-comedy version of New York, filled with clean air, flowers and cupcakes. She has a meet-cute with a Hemsworth (Liam). Her dog is suddenly obedient. Her newly capacious apartment looks like the 21st-century equivalent of a Doris Day pad. (The titles nod to Rodgers and Hart notwithstanding, Isnt It Romantic mostly operates on the assumption that rom-coms were invented in 1990 with Pretty Woman.) And her mousy best friend, Josh (Adam Devine), who was always encouraging her to be confident, has his own meet-cute with a woman who is both a yoga ambassador and swimsuit model (Priyanka Chopra). Wesaam Al-Badrys first and fondest memory of his father, Sattar, was visiting him in an Iraqi prison. Sattar had been imprisoned and tortured for being a pacifist who refused to fight in the Iran-Iraq war. There were at least 20 other prisoners in the same cell, Wesaam recalled where his father hugged him and held him in his lap. It was an unlikely setting for a tender encounter, but Wesaam and his family had learned to find comfort where they could. His mother raised five children in crushing poverty in Nasriyah, which they fled when the gulf wars fighting approached in 1991. After years in refugee camps where food was scarce the family was granted refugee status in the United States and settled in a rundown apartment building next to railroad tracks and a plastics factory in Lincoln, Nebraska. The family was deeply grateful. Flexer was one of the sponsors of what became known as the Times Up Act aimed at strengthening the states sexual harassment and sexual assault laws. It failed last year but already has been introduced again this year. The bill currently focuses on only the statute of limitations for criminal cases, but she said Monday, in light of the revelations that there are more than 100 priests credibly accused of sexually assaulting minors and over 300 victims in the state, she would be amending the bill to also change the statute of limitations for civil cases. This recommendation is really important, said Jennifer Felder, an assistant professor of psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco, who was not on the panel. This focuses on identifying women who are at risk for depression and proactively preventing its onset, using concrete guidelines. The panel recommended counseling for women with one or more of a broad range of risk factors, including a personal or family history of depression; recent stresses like divorce or economic strain; traumatic experiences like domestic violence; or depressive symptoms that dont constitute a full-blown diagnosis. Others include being a single mother, a teenager, low-income, lacking a high school diploma, or having an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy, panel members said. It highlighted two specific programs, which were similarly successful, Dr. Davidson said. They counsel first-time mothers and those who already have children. They are available in Spanish and focus on low-income women, about 30 percent of whom develop perinatal depression, experts say. One program, Mothers and Babies, includes cognitive behavioral therapy in eight to 17 group sessions, often delivered in clinics or community health centers, primarily during pregnancy with at least two sessions postpartum. Its really meant to break down this idea that talking about your thoughts and behaviors is scary, said Darius Tandon, an associate professor at Northwestern Universitys Feinberg School of Medicine and principal investigator of several Mothers and Babies studies. So far, health and human service agencies in over 175 counties in 21 states have been trained to implement the program. It is also being evaluated in Florida and the Midwest to see if it works when administered one-on-one by home visiting caseworkers instead of groups run by psychologists or social workers, Dr. Tandon said. The other program, Reach Out, Stay Strong, Essentials for New Moms or ROSE, typically delivered in four sessions during pregnancy and one postpartum, can be administered in groups or one-on-one by nurses, midwives or anyone trained to follow the manual, said Jennifer Johnson, a professor of public health at Michigan State University. In the hills and dales of Pradagonia a terrain of the mind rather than the land, an urban aspiration for an out-of-reach wilderness the fleece reigns supreme. Fashion in recent years has been captured by a wild yearning, if not to visit the great outdoors, at least to dress for it. The chunkier the sneaker, the fatter the price tag. The tougher the puffer, the closer to God. But in at least some corners of this movement soi-disant Gorpcore, as in the hikers snack there is no piece like the fleece, and no fleece like Sandy Liangs. Ms. Liang is a New York womens wear designer, city-born and -reared, the country at a comfortable remove. But a few years ago, drawing inspiration from the hand-me-downs of her youth, she tried to make her own version of a garment she had hated having foisted on her as a child : the nubby winter layer well-known to anyone who has stopped by a Patagonia shop. The fleeces were not an immediate hit. Not too many stores ordered them, Ms. Liang said in an interview, but those that did generally sold well. Her version, which might incorporate flashes of neon lining, or bold patches of leopard print gave a staple new life. She continued tweaking the designs and kept them in her collections, and demand only continued to rise. LOS ANGELES It was Friday night in Cypress Park, and King Taco glowed with neon. Inside, teenagers in sweatshirts and shiny puffer coats tipped cups of salsa on beef-tongue tacos. Cooks hustled, calling out orders in Spanish. Angelenos dont usually know where I live if I rattle off the cross streets, but add just one detail that the first location of King Taco is close by and many of them can drop a pin on a map. A few have reminded me that Raul Martinez Sr., who started the California chain in 1974, drove one of the citys first food trucks, altering the course of culinary history in Los Angeles with little more than an old ice cream van and a stack of tortillas. The first King Taco is a cramped, vaguely peach-colored building at the end of a residential street. The windows are covered up with posters of chimichangas and champurrado. The grout is stained. Its nothing fancy. But like many old restaurants in Los Angeles, its a landmark in the citys consciousness. As a new critic in town, I knew I had to start by paying respects to elders like this one the steakhouses and the taco stands, the diners and the burger joints that have endured and collectively defined the city, as new contenders have come and gone. Want climate news in your inbox? Sign up here for Climate Fwd:, our email newsletter. WASHINGTON As a lobbyist and lawyer, David Bernhardt fought for years on behalf of a group of California farmers to weaken Endangered Species Act protections for a finger-size fish, the delta smelt, to gain access to irrigation water. As a top official since 2017 at the Interior Department, Mr. Bernhardt has been finishing the job: He is working to strip away the rules the farmers had hired him to oppose. Last week President Trump said he would nominate Mr. Bernhardt to lead the Interior Department, making him the latest in a line of officials now regulating industries that once paid them to work as lobbyists. Others include Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist who now heads the Environmental Protection Agency after the resignation of Scott Pruitt amid ethics scandals. William Wehrum, the nations top clean-air regulator, is a lawyer whose former clients included coal-burning power plants and oil giants. If confirmed as the next Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Bernhardt would succeed Ryan Zinke, who left in January under a cloud of ethics investigations. We will be watching this very closely, he said. The pipeline is fraught with geopolitical significance. United States officials had gone so far as to threaten sanctions against the companies building it, saying it would make Germany even more dependent on Russian energy. Countries including France and Poland shared American concerns. It is important to send the signal that we are ready to make progress; we are ready to cooperate, Mr. Altmaier said during an appearance with Mr. Brouillette at a conference that included representatives of German industry. Both men said there was no formal deal, but they exuded relief that at least one point of conflict had been eased. Analysts say a terminal for liquefied natural gas on Germanys northern shore, where the port would be built, is probably superfluous. Terminals in Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland can pump gas into Germanys network and are operating far below capacity. And gas transported in tankers is likely to be much more expensive than gas sent by pipeline from Russia. If the Germans want to import L.N.G., the obvious way to do it is by the Belgian terminal or the Dutch terminal not to build their own terminal, said Jonathan Stern, distinguished research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. But this is how politics intruded on the situation. The Germans are eager to prevent the Trump administration from following through on threats to impose tariffs on imported Mercedes, Porsche, BMW and Audi vehicles. The Commerce Department is expected to submit a report within days that would establish a legal basis for doing so. By taking steps to import more gas, the Germans are addressing Mr. Trumps complaints that Germany sells more goods to the United States than it imports. But he appeared to acknowledge that not all of the outstanding issues were likely to be resolved by negotiators and that he and President Xi Jinping of China might need to be involved before a final agreement is reached. At some point, I expect to meet with Xi, Mr. Trump said, noting that the two leaders could potentially make the parts of the deal that the group is unable to make. The American negotiators will probably get a frosty greeting in Beijing. Already, a stopgap deal reached by Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi on Dec. 1 in Buenos Aires has proved to be unpopular within the Chinese government, people with detailed knowledge of Chinese economic policy deliberations said. The agreement essentially allowed Mr. Trump to maintain tariffs he had ordered on Chinese goods while China stepped back from many of its retaliatory moves. The internal displeasure in Beijing may be contributing to the lack of progress in trade talks since then. United States trade officials noted at a White House briefing on Jan. 31 that negotiators had not produced a draft framework of what a final agreement might look like. Still, given the Chinese governments track record for failing to keep its trade promises, American negotiators feel that any deal must have some sort of mechanism that will swiftly inflict higher tariffs on China if it does not comply. The mechanism they have in mind is one Beijing has fought vociferously in the past. When China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, the international body approved a rule that allowed member countries to raise tariffs if increases in Chinese exports disrupted their domestic markets. Many countries were loath to use it, given Chinas growing economic might. Most of those in line to benefit from the Trump tax cuts are not complaining. Plenty of business owners and investors cheered the changes as good for themselves and the economy. But Mr. Prince has found camaraderie among an ad hoc group of wealthy individuals known as the Patriotic Millionaires. Founded in 2010 by Morris Pearl, a former BlackRock executive, the loose-knit group advocates higher taxes on businesses and the wealthy. In recent years, they have met with legislators in Washington and various state capitals, testified before Congress and endorsed candidates who endorse higher taxes on the rich. Were very concerned about this huge inequality thing, said Mr. Pearl. And the tax cut was designed to make the rich richer. Now retired, Mr. Pearl is frustrated that his income from investments is not taxed at a higher rate. I dont work at all, but Im making more money than most people who do work, and Im paying less taxes than they do, he said. Its a pretty good deal if you can get it, but its not good for the country. A Monstrosity This is not the first time millionaires have voiced their enthusiasm for higher taxation. In 2011, President Obama introduced the so-called Buffett rule. Named after the billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who has spoken out in favor of higher taxes for the rich, the tax would have applied a minimum rate of 30 percent on individuals earning more than $1 million a year. In an op-ed in The Times, Mr. Buffett lamented that his tax rate was lower than any of the other 20 people in his office, and called for changes to the tax code that would ask more of him and less of middle-class wage earners. My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress, Mr. Buffett wrote. Its time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice. The Buffett rule was never enacted. And last year, Mr. Buffett, of all people, cheered the Trump tax cuts, calling them a huge tailwind for American companies. Halfway through the first quarter of the year, analysts now expect profits of companies in the S&P 500 to decline by 1.7 percent from the same period last year, according to data from John Butters, senior earnings analyst at FactSet. That is a sharp reversal from the start of 2019, when the same analysts predicted that corporate earnings would rise by 3.3 percent compared with the first quarter of 2018. And in October, before the stock markets entered a downward spiral at the end of the year, analysts had anticipated that first-quarter earnings would leap by 6.6 percent. Corporate profits are by no means a perfect proxy for the health of the United States economy, the worlds largest. But they exert heavy influence over the direction of the stock markets. In the first nine months of last year, for example, an unexpected gusher of company earnings up 20 percent from their previous levels powered the S&P 500 to record highs. The fat bottom lines allowed investors to look past both the prospect of a trade war between the United States and China and a number of data points that showed large foreign economies, including Japan and Germany, losing steam. Even in the final three months of 2018, as the United States appeared to be skidding into an economic recession, corporate profits leapt higher. Not all companies have disclosed their fourth-quarter results yet, but they are on track to be up 13.3 percent from 2017. Good Tuesday. Want this by email? Sign up here. The best shot yet at averting a new shutdown Democratic and Republican negotiators said last night that they had an agreement in principle on border security funding that could keep the federal government open. The deal includes $1.38 billion to pay for 55 miles of new fencing, technology and staffing for border protection. Its not the $5.7 billion that President Trump had demanded to build a 200-mile wall. Democrats waived their demand for limits on detention capacity for immigrants. But theres no guarantee that it will go through. The House and Senate would have to vote on the pact, and Mr. Trump would have to sign it. I think everyone will say, Good work, Representative Kay Granger of Texas, one of the Republican negotiators, said. Still, at a rally in Texas last night, Mr. Trump insisted that he will build a wall. And influential Republican commentators like the Fox News host Sean Hannity called the deal a garbage compromise. The remaining alternatives are hugely unattractive. Politico notes that a potential White House plan to redirect unspent federal funds toward the wall would create a firestorm. And another government shutdown could hit the U.S. economy and endanger aviation safety. WASHINGTON President Trump said on Tuesday that he would consider delaying a March 2 deadline to reach a trade deal with China, saying the United States might not impose higher tariffs on Chinese goods if talks with Beijing were going well. If were close to a deal where we think we can make a real deal, I could see myself letting them slide for a little while, Mr. Trump said during remarks at the Oval Office. Mr. Trumps comments came as American officials were in Beijing for a week of talks with Chinese officials to try to resolve a trade war that has begun to inflict economic damage on both sides of the Pacific. The two countries are trying to work out significant differences ahead of the March 2 deadline, when, the United States has said, it will increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent from 10 percent. [One potentially big obstacle in the way of reaching a deal is how the United States punishes China if it doesnt meet its obligations.] Under the plan, the Bristol family would retain control over the rest of the 100 acres on the farm. The 27.4 acre parcel involved in the development rights purchase includes a barn and farmhouse and the popular family farm stand. Members of the family have said the funding from the plan will allow them to make improvements to the barn. Last month, BuzzFeed laid off more than 220 employees, or 15 percent of its work force. On Tuesday, employees at the companys news division responded with the announcement that they planned to form a union. Its not all fun and memes, the organizing committee said in a statement. Our staff has been organizing for several months, and we have legitimate grievances about unfair pay disparities, mismanaged pivots and layoffs, weak benefits, skyrocketing health insurance costs, diversity and more. More than 40 of those who lost their jobs in the recent layoffs worked in the companys bureaus in New York, Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The cuts included all seven members of the BuzzFeed News national desk and six members of its nine-person national security team BuzzFeeds revenue grew by more than 15 percent in 2018, but that gain wasnt enough to stave off the decision by its founder, Jonah Peretti, to reduce the number of employees. In an email to the staff before the firings, Mr. Peretti wrote, Unfortunately, revenue growth by itself isnt enough to be successful in the long run. 1. President Trump said he was not happy with a bipartisan border security compromise negotiated by congressional leaders in time to avert another partial government shutdown. He did not say whether he would veto it. The deal includes over $1 billion for 55 miles of new border barriers far from Mr. Trumps vision of $5.7 billion for more than 200 miles of wall. But it also contains a win for Republicans: a possible sharp expansion of ICEs detention capacity. Above, Mr. Trump at a rally in El Paso on Monday. India: A fire broke out at a fully occupied hotel in New Delhi, killing at least 17 people, officials said. The cause has not yet been identified. Trade talks: President Trump said he would consider delaying the March 2 deadline, when tariffs on Chinese goods will increase sharply, if negotiations were going well. Two days of talks kick off in Beijing today and a main U.S. objective in any deal: penalties if China fails to keep its word. Turkey: Courts are close to concluding the mass trials of thousands of security personnel and civilians accused of involvement in the failed coup attempt in 2016 that left 251 people dead and more than 2,000 wounded. The trials have widened political divisions in the country and deepened a sense of persecution among opponents of the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Myanmar: A French tourist who was arrested and accused of flying a drone near the Parliament building in the capital, Naypyidaw, could face up to three years in prison, a local police official said. El Chapo: The Mexican drug kingpin was found guilty after a three-month trial in New York that exposed the inner workings of his brutal and corrupt cartel. He faces life in prison. Hungary: Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced that women with four or more children will no longer pay income taxes, the latest incentive hes offered to increase the countrys dwindling population and work force without allowing in immigrants. Canada: The parliamentary ethics commissioner opened an inquiry into allegations that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tried to influence the criminal investigation of a Montreal-based engineering company, a case that could dent his reputation in an election year. The details: The financing, including for 55 miles of new fencing, is far less than the $5.7 billion Mr. Trump has demanded, and not even as much as the $1.6 billion a Senate panel approved last year. The president refused that earlier legislation, leading to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Whats next: The latest deal, which would still have to pass in the House and Senate, could be finalized today, well before funding is scheduled to lapse for several federal agencies on Friday. Lawmakers expressed confidence that Mr. Trump would be willing to sign the measure. Reaction: Mr. Trump was informed of the agreement shortly before appearing at a rally in the border city of El Paso on Monday night. Were building the wall anyway, he later told the crowd. Beto ORourke, the former Texas congressman from El Paso who is considering a run for the White House in 2020, held a rally of his own less than a mile away. Stone Age tombs said to emanate from France They are called megaliths, and there are about 35,000 such monuments in Europe. The tombs of ancient Europeans, they began to appear thousands of years ago, ranging from single stones to complexes like Stonehenge. For a century, archaeologists have debated how the knowledge to build them spread. Analysis: Bettina Schulz Paulsson, a prehistoric archaeologist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden , says she has traced the first such tombs to northwestern France, about 6,500 years ago. (Stonehenge, by comparison, dates to around 2500 B.C.) The form then spread along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, as well as to England, Ireland and Scandinavia. Other researchers said they found the analysis persuasive. Heres what else is happening Spain: Leaders of the Catalan independence movement will go on trial starting today at the Supreme Court. They face criminal charges including rebellion and violating court orders, and other European countries are watching closely. Heres what to expect. WOMANISH A Grown Black Woman Speaks on Love and Life By Kim McLarin Image When black women gather, unrehearsed refrains are often heard, surrounded by voices of encouragement or disbelief. In Womanish, McLarin incorporates these black female voices into her writing, itself blisteringly honest, funny and vulnerable. Other voices ring out, too: in Becky and Me, the voices of her girlfriends who find it nearly impossible to trust white women; in Maurices Blues, her sisters voice as she grapples with her sons prison sentence; and, in The Upside to Loving a Sociopath, the disembodied perspective of the D.S.M.-5 shedding light on a dysfunctional relationship. Essays like Fire All the Time and Better Than the Alternative (meditations on anger and aging, respectively) draw to a close just as McLarins prose is beginning its ascent, leaving readers wondering what heights it could have reached. Some may be taken aback by McLarins forceful frankness, as she contemplates suicide in Eshu Finds Work, or concocts the ideal retribution for one of the many wrongs shes suffered in A Case for the Selective, Targeted, Nonviolent Act of Revenge. But black womens truth, in chorus or solo, is best vocalized without restraint. 190 pp. Ig Publishing. Paper, $16.95. NOTES FROM A BLACK WOMANS DIARY Selected Works of Kathleen Collins Edited by Nina Lorez Collins Image When Kathleen Collins died of breast cancer in 1988, she left as her legacy Losing Ground, the first feature-length film directed by a black woman. Recently, thanks to the efforts of her daughter, Nina Lorez Collins, Kathleen and her work have been granted new and necessary examination. Following her posthumous 2016 story collection, Whatever Happened to Interracial Love?, Notes From a Black Womans Diary further celebrates this fertile mind through her fiction (both finished and not), plays and personal reflections. Collins sought the complexity of interiors, of both our homes and ourselves. Women take up space in her work with their love and their trauma. Though the oeuvre hails from the 70s and 80s, nothing feels dated. Readers will discover Collins is as she characterized herself: I live way ahead of myself in some ways, seeing things long before it is their time to come into being. New this week: ATOMIC MARRIAGE By Curtis Sittenfeld, read by Diane Lane. (Audible.) Sittenfeld, the best-selling author of Prep and Eligible, has produced an original short story for Audible. Its the tale of a Hollywood power broker intent on turning an evangelical businessmans best-selling guide to a happy marriage into a blockbuster romantic comedy. THE STRANGER INSIDE By Laura Benedict, read by Therese Plummer. (Hachette Audio.) Kimber Hannon comes home one day to discover a stranger living in her house and insisting he has a right to be there. I saw what you did, he tells her. This thriller from Benedict plumbs our everyday fears. POWER MOVES By Adam Grant, read by the author. (Audible.) Grant wants to understand how the nature of power is changing. Where better to consider the shifts than at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where the thought leaders gather? He speaks to a handful of them, including Facebooks Sheryl Sandberg and the former Google chairman Eric Schmidt. THE FORK, THE WITCH, AND THE WORM By Christopher Paolini, read by Gerard Doyle. (Listening Library.) Three original stories from Alagaesia, the world of Eragon and the Inheritance Cycle, are the latest addition to the hit fantasy series full of dragon adventures. THE LAST DAYS OF AUGUST By Jon Ronson, read by the author. (Audible.) Ronson delves into the 2017 suicide of August Ames, a porn star who killed herself a day after being targeted on Twitter for making a homophobic comment. He unravels a more complex story about her life and death. & Noteworthy In which we ask colleagues at The Times what theyre reading now. Image I read THE POWER recently with my book-and-wine club, and it spurred the most animated discussion that weve had about a novel. Its a dystopian tale by the British author Naomi Alderman and explores a world in which women are suddenly imbued with the ability to dispense an electrical charge from their bodies. Teenage girls are the first to develop this new weapon, which can be mild or deadly depending on how they wield it, and as it spreads to other women, it wreaks havoc on the world and its gender dynamics. (I learned later that Margaret Atwood is a mentor of Aldermans, and the influence is delightfully clear in the books original plot and its exploration of feminism and power.) It made me think anew about the role of physical strength in gender dynamics particularly against the backdrop of the ongoing #MeToo movement and how that influences the way we all behave and interpret different situations. Sapna Maheshwari, business reporter BOWLAWAY By Elizabeth McCracken Bowlaway begins with a body in a cemetery: a mysterious woman wearing a divided skirt, a small bowling ball and bowling pin in her bag. It is 1900. And the body is alive. Her name is Bertha Truitt. No one knows where she came from or how she got to the Salford, Mass., cemetery, and she doesnt say, but she brings with her the shock of life. It is felt by Joe Wear, the watchman who finds her, who couldnt shake the alarm hed felt upon seeing her in the morning frost, the pleasure when shed opened her eyes. She had been brought back from the dead. Her nose was now florid with life, her little teeth loosely strung. Its felt by the doctor who happens by the cemetery, a black man from the Canadian Maritimes, when he feels her pulse, waking her from a Sleeping Beauty-like sleep. But what were you doing here? Dr. Leviticus Sprague asked her. Poor man. She admired how their hands looked folded together. Darling sir, she said. I was dreaming of love. With her energy, her empathy, her flamboyance, her demands and her love, Bertha creates a devoted family. Theres Joe Wear, a man with a limp and no prospects who loves men rather than women; Dr. Sprague, a scholar, poet and medical doctor in a land that does not value those accomplishments in a black man; and another oddity, Jeptha Arrison, a patient in the hospital where Bertha is taken to recuperate, a man considered mentally deficient, who curls up at the end of her hospital bed to be near her. Dr. Sprague winds up marrying her, Joe Wear manages the candlepin bowling alley she opens and Jeptha Arrison becomes its all-important pinbody. He scrambles onto the lanes to set up the tall, narrow pins in precise constellations, preparing them to be knocked down, again and again. In his 1956 book In the Winter of Cities, Tennessee Williams printed a small and exquisite poem titled Little Horse, a tribute to his lover Frank Merlo. This poem ends: Mignon he is or mignonette avec les yeux plus grands que lui. My name for him is Little Horse. I wish he had a name for me. Williams and Merlo were together from roughly 1947 to 1963, a stretch during which the playwright composed some of the American theaters enduring classics, including Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Suddenly Last Summer and The Rose Tattoo. Merlo was a working-class New Jersey boy from an Italian family and a charming young war hero. When they met, Tennessee Williams was already Tennessee Williams, flush from the success of A Streetcar Named Desire, voluble and lit as if by klieg lights. Not long into their relationship, Williams wrote in a letter to a friend: Have I ever told you that I like Italians? They are the last of the beautiful young comedians of the world. Williams and Merlos years together are the subject of Christopher Castellanis blazing new novel, Leading Men. Writing fiction is to no small degree a confidence game, and Leading Men casts a spell right from the start. Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous nights highlights that lets you sleep and lets us get paid to watch comedy. If youre interested in hearing from The Times regularly about great TV, sign up for our Watching newsletter and get recommendations straight to your inbox. Northams White Guilt Almost two weeks into a scandal over a racist photo on his medical school yearbook page, Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia is still in hot water. But a new poll from The Washington Post shows that Virginians are split on whether he should quit and black residents say by a wide margin that he should stay in office. After watching clips of a contrite Northam addressing the scandal, Trevor Noah had an idea of why African-Americans might want the governor to stick around. To black people, especially in Virginia, every white guy serving in office has probably done some racist stuff, Noah said, using a more scatological word. So you might as well have a white guy who has already been caught and feels bad about it, because you know that guys never messing up again. While at Rodeway Inn in East Windsor, the victim called her mother to let her know she was OK. Although the phone number was blocked, the mother called her local police department and law enforcement was able to determine the call came from near the Rodeway Inn. An FBI agent then posed a a customer, set up a meeting with the victim, and the FBI and East Windsor police recovered her. (CNN) Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stood before a big crowd celebrating the Islamic Revolution's 40th anniversary on Monday and vowed to boost his country's military and ballistic missile program, defying U.S. pressure and sanctions. "Iran will continue to expand its military might and missile program," Rouhani said in front of tens of thousands of people who had gathered in Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square to mark the 1979 overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, a Western-installed monarch, which paved the way to clerical rule. U.S. President Donald Trump has said that the economic sanctions he re-imposed in 2018 sought to keep Iran's military namely its ballistic missile program in check. Tehran has tried to present the anniversary rallies as a show of support for the regime and Rouhani has accused Trump of openly agitating for regime change in Iran. "Today we are the target of a psychological and economic war. Enemies who seek to belittle us, we must resolve these problems with one another," said Rouhani on Monday. "With the assistance and the help of one another ... we will be victorious in the face of America." 'Death to America' The recital of Quranic verses mixed with revolutionary chants as a sea of people carried Iranian flags and demonstration banners. Stalls that lined the road to the main square distributed information pamphlets, hosted live radio shows and showcased young children singing Islamic and nationalist anthems. "When we say 'Death to America' we mean down with Trump, and (U.S. Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo," said cleric Mohammed Reza Maqsood, 32, referring to the inflammatory chant that has long been a staple of the Islamic Republic's national celebrations. Maqsood was echoing an address made by Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Friday where he said that "Death to America" applied only to "Trump, (National Security Adviser) John Bolton and Pompeo." "I chose to come here and rally so that I can see. I don't need a higher education to see the support here," Maqsood added. 'Conflict with the Islamic Republic would fail' The chief of the Iranian military's elite Revolutionary guards was also among the crowds marching to Azadi Square. In a rare interview with Western media, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari told CNN: "With the missiles we have right now, with the progress in high technology and with the self-reliance we have achieved in various fields, and also with the growth of the population in Iran, we have the power and capacity to defend against any kind of invasion." Jafari said popular support for the government, as well as Iran's "expanded defense system" has rendered the Islamic Republic "invincible." "The Americans and other big powers know that a conflict with the Islamic Republic would fail," said Jafari. "They have started a soft war, a cultural, political and economic war against us, and our people have understood that. They are resisting and they are prepared." Nostalgic fervor Iranian authorities have tried to build up anticipation for the anniversary. For days, state-aligned TV stations have aired archival footage from the 1979 protests. They re-ran dramatic video of the country's first Supreme Leader Ayatollah Rouhallah Khomeini arriving in Tehran after 14 years in exile and replayed the charismatic leader behooving crowds to shake off the shackles of "Western imperialism." The government's messaging centered around the slogan "Yes, we can," an apparent acknowledgement of the difficulties millions of Iranians face under the strain of renewed U.S. sanctions. Prices have soared, the rial currency has plummeted and food and medical shortages have affected households across Iran. But authorities say that the country is no stranger to hardship, and regularly invoke its people's "steadfastness" in the eight-year war with Iraq in the 1980s. On Sunday night, fireworks lit up Tehran's sky and some conservative neighborhoods echoed to calls of Allahu Akbar (God is great). This was a tribute to an oft-recalled scene from the revolution exactly 40 years earlier. On the night before it was declared that the Shah had officially abdicated, Iranians took to their balconies, beating pots and pans as 'Allahu Akbar' reverberated across the capital. Widening inequality While many people attest to the fervor that gripped Iranians at the time, several former revolutionaries privately say they feel disillusioned by how the political and economic situation played out. "We succeeded in creating cultural change, in making the country more religious," said businessman Abolqasem Shafie who participated in the Islamic revolution's demonstrations. "But I think that in terms of economics, there is a lot to be desired." Since the revolution, literacy rates have skyrocketed and access to healthcare and education has improved, particularly in rural areas and the provinces. Yet signs of widening inequality, as well as widespread reports of government corruption and cronyism, have weighed heavily on an economy that has been repeatedly hit by international sanctions over the last 40 years. "There's been a big push at a grassroots level inside Iran over the past year, as demonstrated by protest movements ... to actually deal with issues to do with corruption and mismanagement of domestic affairs," said Ellie Geranmayeh, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). "This is going to be a big issue ... for not just the existing Rouhani government but any successive government that comes to power." For some, these problems have marred an event that would otherwise have been cause for celebration. "I am not proud of this anniversary," said one man in his late 20s, who requested anonymity for security reasons. "This isn't the Fourth of July. It's not something we should be proud of. People like me have not achieved what they wanted." He added, however, that he has no nostalgia for the days of the Shah, despite wishing to regain the social freedoms that were lost as Iran transformed into a theocracy. His father participated in the demonstrations four decades ago to undo what the revolutionaries had done, he argued, would mark "a step backwards." 'Trump shouldn't be involved' The man said that the U.S. president's attack on the regime should stop. "Trump shouldn't be involved in these things. This is my country and we know what's better for us." Instead of pitting Iranians against the regime, the Trump administration's attempts to isolate the country and support anti-regime protesters have only called up images of war, some Iranians said. "My friends and I would rather stick to this regime than have a war like in Syria and Iraq," said the man. ECFR's Geranmayeh said that there is a "deep distrust" and doubt about future deals growing once again between Iran and the West. "Will Iran come to the negotiating table once more with the United States? So far, the messaging is no, not until the U.S. comes back to the nuclear deal and meets its commitment," she added. This story was first published on CNN.com "Iran marks 40 years since Islamic Revolution with nostalgia and threats" In all seriousness: What cant Yuja Wang do? This star pianist has built her reputation on breathtaking mastery of the standard repertory, like the chamber works she played last Wednesday with the violinist Leonidas Kavakos at Carnegie Hall. Or Robert Schumanns Piano Concerto, which shell do with the Boston Symphony Orchestra later this week. But in between those two dates, she stopped by Carnegies Zankel Hall on Monday for something entirely different: a comedy show. One with music, of course. And, as always, she was radiant in Rachmaninoff and Lutoslawski. But there was more. She rapped! She sang and danced through a West Side Story medley! She did one-legged, upside-down yoga on a piano bench! And along the way, she never lost an ounce of virtuosity. The Bulgarian authorities have reopened a criminal investigation into the poisoning of a prominent arms dealer over questions about a possible connection with the nerve agent attack on Sergei V. Skripal, the former Russian spy poisoned in Britain last year. Bulgarias chief prosecutor, Sotir Tsatsarov, said Monday that a suspected Russian intelligence officer, identified in news reports last week as potentially involved in the Skripal case, had also visited Bulgaria in April 2015, around the time that the arms dealer, Emilian Gebrev, was poisoned with an unknown substance. Last week, the British newspaper The Telegraph reported that the two men indicted in the poisoning identified by British authorities as active officers in Russias military intelligence agency were accompanied by a third man, an officer using the alias Sergey Fedotov, when they traveled to Britain last spring. In his remarks on Monday, Mr. Tsatsarov said the same man had visited Bulgaria three times in 2015, confirming a report published last week by the investigative site Bellingcat. We are trying to establish all moments while he was on Bulgarian territory, the hotels he stayed in, the vehicles he used, contacts with Bulgarian citizens, Mr. Tsatsarov said at a news conference. Canadas parliamentary ethics commissioner said on Monday that he would look into allegations that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau improperly pressured his former attorney general to call off a criminal case against a major engineering company based in Montreal. The announcement, made in a letter to two members of Parliament, followed several days of allegations that Mr. Trudeau, or members of his staff, improperly tried to force a settlement of charges that the company, SNC-Lavalin, paid millions of dollars in bribes to officials in Libya when the country was ruled by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. The allegations of the push to drop the case first surfaced last week in The Globe and Mail. Citing anonymous sources, the newspaper said that Mr. Trudeaus office had pressed Jody Wilson-Raybould when she was his justice minister and attorney general to, in turn, pressure prosecutors to use a new law that would allow a remediation agreement with the company that would prevent a trial in exchange for paying a penalty. Whether or not such pressure was brought to bear, prosecutors, who are independent of the government in Canada, have continued to pursue the company in court. Hi. Welcome to On Politics, your guide to the day in national politics. Im Lisa Lerer, your host. [Get On Politics delivered to your inbox.] On Saturday, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand made a campaign stop at Kikis Chicken and Waffles in Columbia, S.C., and asked whether to use fingers or forks to eat the fried chicken. The mockery that followed online? Sexism, cried social media! The next day, Senator Amy Klobuchar announced her presidential bid in the midst of a Minnesota snow shower and a blizzard of stories describing her demanding behavior as a boss. Asha Harris, a voter at the rally, told a Times reporter that the critique was plainly sexist. The historic number of women running for president was bound to change the dynamics of the contest. And now, just a couple months in, were seeing one way that could take shape: sexism as a shield, fending off criticism that, on its surface, would seem nongendered. WASHINGTON House and Senate negotiators on Monday night agreed in principle to provide $1.375 billion for fencing and other physical barriers at the Mexican border, part of a broader agreement that would stave off another partial government shutdown without funding President Trumps wall. The agreement would allow for 55 miles of new bollard fencing, with some restrictions on location based on community and environmental concerns, according to two congressional aides, who requested anonymity to disclose details of the private negotiations. That is a fraction of the more than 200 miles of steel-and-concrete wall that Mr. Trump demanded and 10 miles less than negotiators agreed on last summer, before Democrats took control of the House. The deal, which must still pass the House and the Senate, and secure Mr. Trumps signature, came together just before Mr. Trump, framed by banners emblazoned with Finish the Wall at an event in El Paso, doubled down on his demands. Were building the wall anyway, he told the crowd, saying that aides had told him that the negotiators had made progress. PAGES A2-3 A Times Insider article on Sunday about coverage of the failing heat and electricity at the Metropolitan Detention Center misspelled in one instance the surname of a lawyer with the civil rights clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. She is Betsy Ginsberg, not Ginsburg. NATIONAL An article on Sunday about a protest at the Guggenheim Museum over donations made to the museum by the Sackler family misstated the name of a museum in London. It is the Victoria and Albert Museum, not the Albert and Victoria Museum. SPORTS An article on Monday about so-called rental goalies serving the needs of amateur hockey teams in Toronto misspelled the surname of a commercial airline pilot who is also a rental goalie. He is Dan Medeiros, not Madeiros. ARTS An article on Saturday about a $3.5 million gift to the Baltimore Museum of Art misstated the position held by Asma Naeem at the Smithsonians National Portrait Gallery. She was the curator of prints, drawings and media arts, not the associate curator. Last Valentines Day, a year ago this Thursday, classes were wrapping up at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when a former student with a semiautomatic rifle murdered 17 people and wounded 17 others. It so happens that this Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee will move to advance legislation requiring background checks on all firearm sales. The killer in the Parkland, Fla., school massacre passed such a check, but this measure would close a loophole exploited by other killers that exempts unlicensed gun sellers from conducting background checks. Support for such a change is overwhelmingly popular, even among gun owners. The bill has an excellent chance of passing the Democrat-led House. Its prospects in the Senate, controlled by the Republican majority leader, Mitch McConnell, are bleak. Even so, the very emergence of this bill is a reminder of how the gun debate has shifted since President Trump took office and not in a direction that Second Amendment crusaders might have hoped. Politically, financially and legally, the gun-rights cause and, more specifically, the lobbying juggernaut that is the National Rifle Association have not fared well in the Trump era. If this trend continues or accelerates it could wind up being a rare silver lining to Mr. Trumps presidency. Some of the challenges facing the gun lobby are not specific to Mr. Trump. A gun-loving president always makes a less effective boogeyman than a gun-skeptical one. In that way, President Barack Obama was good for the gun-rights cause and it was perhaps inevitable that, having labored to get Mr. Trump elected, the N.R.A.s fund-raising would taper off. In 2017, the groups revenues dropped by $55 million, or 15 percent, o ver its 2016 haul, driven largely by a decline in member dues. Combined with its heavy spending in the 2016 campaign, the group now finds itself in a deep financial hole , in debt to the tune of $31.8 million. Consciously or not, Omar invoked a poisonous anti-Semitic narrative about Jews using their money to manipulate global affairs. This came just weeks after shed had to apologize for a 2012 tweet in which she said that Israel had hypnotized the world, phrasing that also recalled old canards about occult Jewish power. Her words were a gift to Republicans, who seek to divide the Democrats over Israel, even as their president traffics in anti-Semitic imagery and stereotypes. The knives were out for Omar and she ran right into them. On Monday afternoon, Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the House Democratic leadership rebuked Omar and called on her to apologize for her use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israels supporters. It was a depressing fall from grace for someone who just weeks ago was being feted as a path breaker, a refugee from Somalia who, alongside Tlaib, rose to become one of Americas first two Muslim congresswomen. Omar herself has been subject to vicious Islamophobic smears, and has also come under attack for supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which seeks to use economic pressure to secure Palestinian rights. Perhaps such criticism is why shes sometimes seemed unwilling or unable to distinguish between disingenuous political pile-ons and good-faith calls to respect Jewish sensitivities. But whether from carelessness or callousness, her weekend tweets damaged her political allies and squandered some of her own hard-won power. After I tweeted about Omar on Monday, an anti-racist activist sent me a message expressing genuine confusion about why I found the congresswomans words offensive. After all, its hardly radical to point out that lobbyist money has pernicious political effects. (Aipac doesnt make direct contributions to candidates, but it does rally donors on their behalf.) And I certainly have no problem with denunciations of Aipac, which plays a malign role in pushing American policy in the Middle East to the right. But at a moment when activists have finally pried open space in American politics to question our relationship with Israel, its particularly incumbent on Israels legitimate critics to avoid anything that smacks of anti-Jewish bigotry. And the idea of Jews as global puppet masters, using their financial savvy to make the gentiles do their bidding, clearly does. Tomi Ungerer, an acclaimed illustrator and author who brought a scampish style to childrens books and whose wide-ranging career also took him into advertising, protest art and erotica, died on Friday in Cork, Ireland. He was 87. His death was announced on his website. Mr. Ungerer burst onto the childrens-book scene in 1957 with The Mellops Go Flying, the first of a series of books he would write and illustrate about a family of pigs prone to going on adventures and getting into predicaments. (In the first book, they build an airplane, which crashes when it runs out of fuel, and thats only the beginning of the tale.) The Mellops books and others, with their quirky stories and simple but idiosyncratic drawings, stood out in the often uninspiring world of childrens books. Yet Mr. Ungerer, born in Europe but living in the United States, was soon also turning his artistic talents to more adult themes, in works like The Underground Sketchbook of Tomi Ungerer (1964), which was full of humorous, suggestive drawings. As the Vietnam War became the dominant political issue of the day, he made posters with an antiwar theme; one, from 1967, showed the Statue of Liberty being crammed down the throat of a yellow figure. And, especially after the publication in 1969 of his Fornicon, a book of comical but startling sexual imagery, he found himself unwelcome in childrens-book circles. I dont think were opening the EOC. I dont think it necessitates that, Lamont told reporters Tuesday. Id recommend that you use caution. The roads are going to be slippery. The roads are going to be icy. Were going to be doing some plowing. If you can stay off the roads in any way, do it. If you have a neighbor or an elderly parent that you ought to take special attention to, its probably a good few days to do it. The manuscript had been rejected by more than a dozen publishing houses. Finally, an elderly man who was screening new books for what was then Farrar, Straus & Cudahy read it and liked it. Too ill to write a full critique, he just scrawled, Read this. And then he died, the manuscript beside him on his bed. Without those two words, the novel would have never been published, C. Y. Lee, the manuscripts author, told The Associated Press in 2002. The novel was The Flower Drum Song, a story of generational and cultural conflict among newly arrived Asians in San Franciscos Chinatown. It was published in 1957 and became a best seller. It was adapted as a Broadway musical, which received six Tony nominations, and then as a movie, which was nominated for five Academy Awards. [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] The accusation rocked Trenton: A top official in Gov. Philip D. Murphys administration claimed that another official had sexually assaulted her during Mr. Murphys campaign in 2017. Yet despite the womans repeated pleas to Mr. Murphys senior aides, her colleague remained in his $170,000-a-year state job for months before resigning. Mr. Murphy said he did not know about the assault accusation by Katie Brennan against Albert J. Alvarez before it became public and that his administration had technically done nothing wrong. The legislature launched an investigation, while the governor opened a separate review by an outside counsel. Now, five months later, one simple, yet significant, question remains a head scratching mystery: Who hired Mr. Alvarez? It is one of several questions in a slow-boil scandal that has revealed the inner workings and shortcomings of New Jersey state government. To be perfectly blunt, I think it is disingenuous to say you would support a congestion-pricing plan and then talk about the number of carve-outs that youve suggested today, Mr. Carroll said. That was immediately followed by a critique from another Democrat, Senator Diane J. Savino, who represents Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn, who said that many of her constituents, as well as residents of transit-starved sections of the Bronx and Queens, drove because they did not have the luxury of a one-seat ride via public transportation. Not everyone who drives to work is rich, Ms. Savino said. Mr. de Blasios testimony also took place amid simmering tension between Mr. Cuomo and the Democratic-led Senate over the issue of a plan to put a corporate campus for Amazon in Queens, using billions of dollars in state and city tax incentives. On Friday, Mr. Cuomo accused the Senate of governmental malpractice in its approach to the plan, particularly the proposed appointment of a prominent Amazon critic, State Senator Michael Gianaris, to a board with potential veto power. Mr. de Blasio found himself repeatedly defending the deal in the face of questions from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including Senator John Liu, another newly elected Democrat who wondered aloud why Amazon was being given tax breaks potentially worth $3 billion when tech companies like Google have said they would expand their work force without such incentives. Mr. de Blasio countered, saying the Amazon deal was pro forma. The vast majority of the subsidy that Amazon got was standing incentive programs, he said. At another moment, Senator Jessica Ramos of Queens, a former aide to Mr. de Blasio, suggested that the most logical option for a progressive leader would have been to raise taxes on Amazon, rather than to give it tax breaks. And so on. (Mr. de Blasio pointed out several times, seemingly to no avail, that state lawmakers, not he, had the power to make the changes they were requesting.) Then, too, there was the small issue of Mr. Cuomo, Mr. de Blasios most prominent and powerful critic here. Mr. de Blasios remarks made it clear that there were conflicts in his wanting more funding for education and the citys decrepit public housing. Sasson tells the story of Sultana, whose uncle King Faisal ruled Saudi Arabia until 1975, and shows how restrictions against women in Saudi Arabia affect even those in the privileged class. Sultana has nine sisters; one, married to a much older, sexually sadistic man, attempted suicide. Another was circumcised. Women in the Kingdom are valued mostly for their reproductive ability, Sasson says, and when Sultana was unable to bear more than five children, her husband tried to take another wife. In later books Sasson also writes about Sultanas daughters and her social circle. Image THE WIND IN MY HAIR My Fight for Freedom in Modern Iran By Masih Alinejad 400 pp. Little, Brown. (2018) Told poignantly and with a blunt honesty that seems a characteristic of Alinejads life and writing, here is a gripping tale that permits us to peek at the inner workings of the Iranian Revolution and consider the question of its health and longevity, our reviewer wrote. Alinejads life has been defined by her rebellions against her societys restrictions. As a teenager, she helped to print pamphlets calling for greater dissent, and as a young adult she spoke out against a cleric who admonished her for exposing her hair. Now, in her work as a journalist, she writes stories that expose the corruption of the Islamic Republic. Image IN THE LAND OF INVISIBLE WOMEN A Female Doctors Journey in the Saudi Kingdom by Qanta Ahmed 454 pp. Sourcebooks. (2008) On Feb. 19 I will be going to the Indiana Statehouse to join hundreds of other youth and adult advocates calling for an increase in the state cigarette tax to reduce tobacco use and save lives. This debate is personal to me. Nearly three years ago, my grandma, Patricia Miller, passed away from tobacco-related illness. She was a longtime smoker, faithful to her Kool 100s. Longs only, or else she couldnt come back to it later. She was so influential in my life. She was the woman who taught me to read, write, sing and live your life as if tomorrow isnt promised. But smoking robbed her of her tomorrows. I remember sitting up with her one night near the end of her life rubbing circles in her back as she gasped for air waiting for the ambulance. I remember not being able to see her in the hospital but reading her one last original poem over the phone. Tomorrow is never promised, and she knew that the whole way through. She also had wished she would have quit smoking sooner, but in that moment, it was too late. Just the week before her passing, I had told her how I was so sure shed be alive to see me walk across the stage to get my high school diploma, start college and eventually marry the love of my life. I shouldnt have to feel like I shouldnt have spoken too soon. Parents in a remote Russian archipelago are scared to send their children to school after a "mass invasion" of polar bears into residential areas, state news agency TASS reported. Novaya Zemlya, located off Russia's northeastern arctic coast, has been swarmed by dozens of polar bears since December. The region's largest settlement, Belushya Guba, with a population of about 2,500 people, has reported more than 50 sightings. Local administrator Alexander Minayev said bears had attacked people and entered buildings. A state of emergency was announced on Saturday, with up to 10 polar bears reportedly on the settlement's territory at any given time. "People are scared. They are frightened to leave homes, and their daily routines are broken," Minayev said. "Parents are afraid to let the children go to school or kindergarten." Climate change effects Polar bears are increasingly coming into contact with humans as climate change reduces their sea-ice habitats, forcing them on land for longer periods of time. CROWN POINT A former Lake County politician is asking a federal judge to reduce her public corruption sentence because she is ill and elderly. Former Calumet Township Trustee Mary Elgin recently filed a petition requesting she be released 15 weeks early from the Pekin Federal Correctional Institution, in Pekin, Illinois, where she is serving time for fraud and tax evasion. Elgin filed a written motion, without the advice of a lawyer, arguing the First Step Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law Dec. 21, permits U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen to let her serve the final third of her 366-day sentence under home confinement. Elgin was the Calumet Township trustee from 2003 until her defeat in 2014. She ran the largest township office in Northwest Indiana and employed about 200 workers who distributed assistance to Gary's poorest residents. Elgin pleaded guilty in May 2017 to extorting campaign contributions and work from her employees, at taxpayers' expense, and failing to pay $6,311 federal income taxes to the Internal Revenue Service. Van Bokkelen sentenced her in May 2018. HAMMOND Lake County Commissioner Mike Repay said Monday he and his wife chose not to discuss her breast cancer before her death in order to marshal their strength. "Some people have come up and asked why we didn't tell them, but it wasn't to be mean, we just wanted to fight it, not talk about it," Repay said. Amanda Repay, 33, of Hammond, lost that battle Friday, leaving behind her husband and their 1-year-old daughter, Vivian. He said it was a two-year fight during which Amanda gave birth to their daughter in January 2018, continued work as a nurse at the cardio thoracic unit at the University of Chicago Medical Center and pursued a future health care career. She received treatment for her cancer at the University of Chicago "until they ran out of treatments," her husband said. They then went to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for more advanced therapies. He said he and Amanda got to meet former Vice President Joe Biden during Biden's October campaign swing through Lake County. He said Biden, learning Amanda was a nurse, but unaware of her cancer, began talking about how grateful he was to the nurses who have treated his family, including his son Beau Biden, who died in 2015 of cancer. NIPSCO said it anticipated the majority of customers will see power restored by Tuesday night. The company said it was prepared to respond quickly Tuesday night in the event of additional outages. By 7 p.m., 35 households remained without power in Gary, Highland, Hobart, Merrillville, Lowell, Valparaiso, Chesterton and LaPorte, according to NIPSCO's website. Indiana State Police reported no major incidents on Northwest Indiana expressways and the Indiana Toll Road, but drivers still should slow down. Ice could still be a risk on bridges and secondary roads, forecasters said. The Indiana Department of Transportation's Northwest District said plows were dumping salt and pushing ice and slush off roads early Tuesday, but some slick spots remained. "Take it slow this morning and leave plenty of time to get where you're going if you need to be out," INDOT said. "Conditions should gradually improve as the morning moves along, but be careful out there." Besides slush and ice on roads, ice on trees has caused branches to hang low in unincorporated areas of Porter County, officials said. A partial crew of 20 plows were out Tuesday evening. The compact board could appoint an executive director to oversee day-to-day operations, as well as establish a steering committee for guidance with representatives from a variety of local, regional and state development and governmental organizations. "It's something that we've actually been working on for probably well over a year," Mishler said. "Senate leadership went up to Gary last summer and toured the area, and we kind of looked at that harbor as a great place for economic development." Lakeshore projects initially would be funded through a mandatory annual payment by the owner of the second Gary casino license that's expected to be relocated outside the city once the two Majestic Star boats are consolidated at a Gary land-based site. The measure also permits the compact to sell bonds that would be repaid through the lease of buildings and other facilities developed by the compact. The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to review the proposal Thursday. Freeman-Wilson said Tuesday that while she is eager to partner with the state to fully develop Gary's transportation assets, she does not believe the legislation, as currently written, matches her vision for the city's lakeshore development. INDIANAPOLIS The Indiana House unanimously approved legislation Monday to ensure the Region's premature babies and very ill young children served by Medicaid can be treated at a nearby Chicago hospital, instead of having to travel to the state's capital city. House Bill 1238 requires the state pay the same rates for care at the University of Chicago children's hospital as it does at Indianapolis' Riley Hospital for Children, rather than the sharply reduced Medicaid rates typically paid to out-of-state health care providers. "The University of Chicago provides excellent care for Northwest Indiana children in urgent need of treatment," said state Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, the sponsor. "By reimbursing the Chicago hospital the same as we would any other Indiana facility, Region parents and their children can continue receiving quality treatment without having to travel hours from home." State Rep. Rita Fleming, D-Jeffersonville, who has delivered more than 7,000 babies in southern Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky, agreed the measure is critical for families with very sick children and no nearby hospital with a top-level neonatal and trauma unit. "It's a great hardship for families when their baby is two hours away," Fleming said. The proposal, which is co-sponsored by state Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon, D-Muster, now goes to the Senate. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. VALPARAISO A police pursuit of suspects in a stolen car sent Ivy Tech's campus, Little U and and Victory Christian academies into a lockdown Monday afternoon. The lockdown was lifted after four suspects were taken into custody, authorities said. Valparaiso police Sgt. E.J. Hall said officers initiated a traffic stop on eastbound Interstate 80/94 a little after 3 p.m. while working a criminal highway interdiction. The vehicle, occupied by four people, was discovered to be reported stolen out of Elkhart and a chase ensued from I-94 to U.S. 421 and onto Ind. 2 in Valparaiso, he said. In the area of Cain and Engle drives, the vehicle stopped and everyone bailed out in attempts to run from police. Four people were taken into custody on charges of resisting law enforcement, including Andrew Sanner, 18, of Elkhart. The other three suspects are juveniles. During the encounter, area schools were on lockdown and Washington Township School buses were diverted from the area. MICHIGAN CITY A thrill ride that turned deadly has resulted in a felony count of reckless homicide against a 20-year-old friend of the deceased. Kayla Foster, who was being held on $10,000 cash bond Tuesday afternoon in LaPorte County Jail, made an initial court appearance that morning on the charge nearly five months after the incident. Foster reportedly told police she had her mother's car Sept. 23 near Swasick Avenue in Michigan City when her friend, Tiffany Butts, climbed on top of the vehicle and encouraged Foster to drive. Foster said she resisted at first but ultimately gave in and drove south along Swasick Avenue with Butts still on the roof. After stopping at the intersection at Earl Road, Foster said she discovered Butts had fallen off and was lying in the middle of the road, according to court charging documents. Butts was found bleeding from the back of the head and was taken to a local hospital and then airlifted to another hospital in South Bend, police said. She died Oct. 30 from the injuries, authorities said. A federal appeals court will hear arguments next month on whether to overturn the fraud and bribery convictions of former Lake County Sheriff John Buncich. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals announced Monday it is scheduling a 9:30 a.m. hearing March 26 at its courtroom, 219 S. Dearborn St. in Chicago on Buncich's appeal and giving his attorney and the government 15 minutes each to make their argument. A U.S. District Court jury in Hammond convicted Buncich Aug. 24, 2017, of six felony counts of wire fraud and bribery. He is serving a 188-month prison term at a federal medical center for the Bureau of Prisons in Springfield, Missouri. A government lawyer conceded in earlier written arguments the appeals court judges should vacate Buncich's conviction on three of the wire fraud counts, but argues the court should uphold the remaining convictions. Kerry C. Connor, Buncich's attorney, has petitioned the appeals court to reverse all counts. She argues Buncich accepted legitimate campaign contributions from towing firms. She said the government's case improperly relied on evidence that raised suspicions but no proof of wrongdoing. The rural Michigan City man said he contacted his wife and mother of the child, who was at work. She said she received the voicemail nearly two hours later, and it did not seem urgent. When she arrived home at 2:30 p.m., "she immediately observed (the baby) to be in a worse condition than described by Brandon L. Bottom," according to charging documents. She said the baby was "very pale, with shallow breathing, and unable to open his eyes," police said. The mother rushed the baby to a local hospital, and the baby was transported to University of Chicago Medicine's Comer Childrens Hospital because of the extent of his injuries. The pupil in his left eye was dilated and unresponsive, and the baby had bruising on his right side, court documents state. The Chicago doctors said the baby "suffered traumatic brain injuries from abuse," and he was declared brain dead Feb. 5, police said. An autopsy Thursday found "several ribs exhibited calcification, indicating prior breaks that were now in healing stages, as well as what appeared to be a more recent rib break," court documents state. The cause of death was determined to be "closed head injuries from blunt force trauma," and the manner of death was ruled a homicide, according to charging documents. The motion accuses police of fraudulently using the system to "generate information regarding a fugitive of the law." The Lake County prosecutor's office has not yet filed a response to the motion. The question regarding use of Amber Alerts never has been litigated in Indiana and could set a precedent, Cantrell said. Reeves was charged with murder in Lake Juvenile Court in February 2017. Lake Criminal Court Judge Thomas Stefaniak Jr. waived her to adult court July 18, 2017, without deciding on a motion to suppress a statement Reeves gave to police. She has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to stand trial starting June 3. A plea agreement Lake County prosecutors reached in December with one of Reeves' co-defendants, Matthew Martin, 18, of Merrillville, alleges Reeves smirked as she told Martin and Virgil King, 19, of Gary, she had stabbed her mother to death. "I broke the tip off on that (expletive)," Reeves is alleged to have told the boys. Reeves later laughed as she showed the boys a photo of a woman, who was slumped over and appeared to be deceased, court records state. The odds-on favorite to win Supporting Actress is Regina King for her emotional turn in "If Beale Street Could Talk." She's a Hollywood favorite and been overlooked for years. The odd footnote that will come with that is she was passed over for even a nomination by her own guild at the SAG Awards. Lurking right there behind her, though, is Amy Adams for "Vice" and she has her own backers ready to finally give her an Oscar on her sixth nomination. Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz are sensational in "The Favourite," but cancel each other out. Marina de Tavira was a surprise nominee for "Roma" and is no real threat. It's King's to lose. NEW YORK Toys R Us fans in the U.S. will see the iconic brand re-emerge in some form by this holiday season. Richard Barry, a former Toys R Us executive and now CEO of the new company called Tru Kids Inc., is exploring freestanding stores, shops within existing stores as well as e-commerce. Tru Kids, owned by former investors of Toys R Us, will manage the Toys R Us, Babies R Us and Geoffrey brands. Toys R Us liquidated its businesses last year in the U.S. as well as several other regions including United Kingdom. Outside the U.S., Toys R Us continues to operate about 800 stores. Tru Kids, based in Parsippany, New Jersey, will work with licensing partners to open 70 stores this year in Asia, India and Europe. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 In 2017, about two weeks after the East Bay Times won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the deadly Ghost Ship fire in Oakland, the paper announced one round in a series of layoffs that left Digital First's three Bay Area newspapers with less than half the employees they had in 2011. Last year, after the Denver Post laid off nearly a third of its staff, its editorial board published blistering criticism of the paper's owners and reporters traveled across the country to protest outside Alden's Manhattan offices. Lisa Wilken is an Air Force veteran and one of the organizers of the fifth annual Indiana Military Veterans Legislative Day. Wilken said Monday at the Statehouse she supports many initiatives designed to help fellow Hoosier veterans, active duty soldiers, and their families. When asked by NUVO what sort of resistance she and other advocates were encountering from lawmakers, her answer captured the turmoil over the past few months. Here at the Statehouse there's a phrase: It's never not about the money. It's always about the money, she said. We're a special interest group here at the Statehouse. We can only have so much of the pie. Wilken and others made news last year after someone contacted her with state records that show some people are getting beyond the $2,500 limit from the Military Relief Fund, documents she then made public. Military Family Relief Fund, a fund that helps veterans get emergency help with food, housing, utilities, medical services and transportation, reported WRTV's Kara Kenny on Nov. 9, 2018. When you purchase a veteran license plate or a Support the Troops plate, a chunk of that money goes into the Military Family Relief Fund. The Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs administers the fund, and it says on their website that veterans and their families can get up to $2,500. On Dec. 7, 2018, Gov. Eric Holcomb accepted the resignation of Jim Brown, IDVA director. On Jan. 18, Holcomb named another Air Force veteran, Dennis Wimer, to the post. When asked which pieces of legislation he supported, Wimer said he was only 10 days into the job, and couldn't answer. Though, he did mention House Bill 1010, authored by Rep. Robert Cherry, R-Greenfield, which makes changes to the property tax deductions for those over 65 years of age and for disabled veterans [by increasing] the income tax deduction for income from military retirement or survivor's benefits beginning in 2019. Wilken said she also supported this legislation because it would help disabled veterans who are otherwise left out of the current tax structure. They are looking to give them an income tax exemption to make them more equal to our disabled veterans who do own real property, she said. This was also one of five named legislative priorities by a group known as The Big FourThe American Legion, American Veterans, Disabled American Veterans, and The Veterans of Foreign Wars. These groups are the largest veterans service organizations, which represent more than 140,000 Hoosier veterans. In addition to the income tax exemption, their announced legislative priorities for 2019 include: Remission of fees for disabled veterans' children attending state schools. Senate Bill 374, co-authored by Sens. Frank Mrvan, D-Hammond, and Sen. Jim Tomes, R-Evansville, does exactly this for students, provided their GPA is at least a 2.0. Because of a change which went into effect June 30, 2011, only children of those who entered service on or before that date are currently eligible. Currently, children of disabled veterans who entered service after that date get a 20 percent discount on top of whatever the VA disability rating is. What that does is it creates two classes of disabled veterans, said Wilken. The veteran community does not like that. They are not saving any money on that cut yet, and so we'd like to see that benefit restored to its original version. Provide legislation to allow electronic gambling terminals in congressionally chartered veterans service organizations facilities. House Bill 1662, authored by Rep. Beau Baird, R-Greencastle, authorizes wagering on video gaming terminals in certain establishments. Requires the gaming commission to issue video gaming licenses based on the population of the county and the type of establishment. Establishes a licensing structure for participants in video gaming. Imposes a video gaming wagering tax of 30 percent of adjusted gross receipts. Designation $4 million of lottery ticket revenue to fund County Veterans Service officers. House Bill 1575, authored by Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon. D-Munster, requires the state lottery commission, in collaboration with a vendor contracted for a major procurement, to design or designate a scratch off game to benefit Indiana veterans. An Idaho nurse who was charged with tampering with evidence in the case of missing and presumed dead Colorado mother Kelsey Berreth pleaded guilty and said that she helped Patrick Frazee, Berreths fiance because she was afraid he was going to kill her. Frazee was arrested in late 2018 and charged with killing Berreth and trying to hire at least one person to carry out the murder. Krystal Lee Kenney, the Idaho nurse, was charged after authorities tracked Berreths phone to the state. Michelle Stein, Kenneys friend, said that Frazee practically forced the nurse to help him try to cover up Berreths death. Krystal was very, very scared, Stein told CBS. Krystals a very levelheaded, kind, fun-loving, happy-go-lucky person. Shes a tough cowgirl. But she was absolutely scared and extremely upset. She did tell me that she has never seen that kind of evil in anybody. Stein said that Kenney confided in her about her role in covering up Berreths death, explaining that she had known Frazee for 15 years and that the pair previously dated. Three days after Berreth vanished from Woodland Park on Thanksgiving, her cellphone pinged in Gooding, Idaho, about an hour from Kenneys house. Two text messages were also sent from the phone: one to Berreths workplace, saying she would be away from work for another week, and one to Frazee, the contents of which havent been disclosed publicly. In her guilty plea, Kenney didnt mention being afraid of Frazee but said that she did have Berreths phone and when she obtained it, she knew that Frazee had murdered Berreth on Thanksgiving. I learned that Patrick Frazee had committed murder on Nov. 22, Kenney said in a Colorado courtroom on Feb. 8, reported the Denver Post. I had no right or authority to remove the cellphone. She did not explain how she knew Frazee had committed the murder and court documents pertaining to the matter have been sealed. District Attorney Dan May said that Kenney wont be sentenced until after Frazees trial or the trials of any additional suspects in the case and that she must testify against Frazee and any other suspects as part of her plea agreement, a process that could take up to two years. Kenney was barred from speaking to media outlets as part of the guilty plea. She faces up to 18 months in prison, or up to 3 years in prison if a judge finds aggravating circumstances. Frazees preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 19. Kenneys best friend reportedly informed her bosses, Joe and Patty Rockstahl, in October 2018 that Kenney, her best friend, told her that a man had asked her to kill the mother of his child, the couple told KMVT before the sentencing. The couple asked the employee to have Kenney talk to them but she never did. They werent able to alert authorities in time but they did speak to the FBI after Berreths disappearance. Stein, Kenneys friend, said that her friend has very good reasoning for whatever it is she may or may not have done. I cant really comment completely, but fear, and legitimate fear, she told CBS. The reporter responded, That if she didnt comply with Patrick, he might kill her? Stein replied, Yes, thats what I believe. The murder of George Floyd sparked outrage, pain, and energy to mobilize against police brutality throughout Connecticut communities during the summer of 2020. A year already marked by tragedy and chaos came to a turning point on May 25. Tuesday marks one year since Floyd's murder at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, one of whom knelt on his neck for nearly 10 minutes. Take a look back at the Black Lives Matter movement in Connecticut since May 25, 2020 and the rallies of support for the equitable treatment of Black and Brown people in Connecticut, across the country and beyond. Sandy Meyer of North Platte is celebrating 25 years of the Fun with Watercolor cancer survivors painting group and is in the midst of about her sixth year of the groups cloth valentine creations for cancer patients. On Wednesday and Thursday, the valentines will be distributed to patients at Callahan Cancer Center in North Platte. It kind of all started when one of my friends from Colorado was involved with doing this for Denver hospitals, and she asked me to do some, Meyer said. I thought, Why am I doing this for Denver hospitals why am I not doing this for Callahan Cancer Center? Meyer said she created 50 valentines for her friend to fulfill that request. Then I did 100 for us, Meyer said. They loved it so much; then the next year I got other people to help. She said no one has ever turned her down when she asked them to help. Meyer gathers materials for the valentines, which are all hand-sewn, or if they want to find their own material, they do that as well. They come up with such fun things, Meyer said. One of her favorite valentines this year is one that has a high-heeled shoe crafted on it. The watercolor group meets on Tuesdays from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at Northwestern Energy, 215 E. Fifth St., in the Blue Flame Room. For more information, call Meyer at 308-532-9799. Our most popular newsletter Herald Headlines Join tens of thousands of your neighbors and get the week's top stories sent right to your inbox. Delivered every Friday morning. Radioactive waste, sealed in large stainless steel canisters, are stored under 5-feet of concrete in a storage building at the Savannah River Site near Aiken. North Augusta, SC (29841) Today A mix of clouds and sun. High near 85F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Clear skies. Low 64F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Barone, one of six children who grew up in Hamden, has had experience with physical trauma. When he was 11, he was hit by a car and broke his foot. Later he lost half of his right foot hopping a train. At age 21, he was in a car accident, not wearing a seat belt. The car was traveling 89 mph, but Barone walked away. He has had a few more accidents. "I wrapped my car around things a few times," he says. "My father didn't think I'd see 20." Peggy Lou Butterfield died June 10, 2021 in Purcell at the age of 82 years 6 months 21 days. Services are entrusted to the care of Wadley's Funeral Service. Online condolences may be made at www.wadleysfuneralservice.com. Peggy was born November 11, 1938 in Lexington, Oklahoma to Addison Uly Equally as concerning, Paulsrud said Iowas meth-related death rate is probably higher than reported because some victims cause of death may be listed as a stroke or some other medical condition caused by drug use. A federal agent working in the Sioux City area, Mark Minten, acting resident in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administrations office in Sioux City, told the newspaper that meth use in the area remains at epidemic levels. The real change, Minten said, is the purity level of the meth available now. He said the purity of meth seized a decade ago was around 20 percent. Todays meth is normally 90 percent pure or higher. Minten said most of the meth found in the area today comes from labs in Mexico, most of it smuggled into the U.S. in rail cars, vehicles and trucks that cross at border checkpoints or sent by mail and parcel services. Polly Carver-Kimm, Iowa Department of Public Health communications director, said the higher purity affects addiction levels in more ways than one. The increased purity may make the drug more addictive, but the frequency of use and the amount used is usually a bigger culprit. Meth has become cheaper, allowing users to buy and use more of the drug. At the Delaware County Daily Times in Pennsylvania, the staff shrunk from 125 people to 25 in six years, said Bill Gross, executive director of the NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia. Digital First sold the papers old building for $2 million in 2016; reporters and editors now work out of a converted CVS and bicycle repair shop. Management is already crying to me; they have too much space and theyre thinking about not renewing that lease. Theyre thinking about having everyone work from home or from Starbucks. At several Digital First newspapers, employees now must work at home or from coffee shops, their brick-and-mortar newsrooms sold and replaced with the most profitable alternative: nothing. Brandt, the Pottstown Mercury reporter who works out of his attic, said it has been painful to watch Alden squeeze profits out of the Mercury only to in his view squander it on losing investments. Digital Firsts Philadelphia unit turned a higher profit 30 percent than any of the companys other units in 2017, according to media analyst Ken Doctor, who reported on the companys leaked financial documents. Dan Kinney, president of Iowa Western Community College, has been selected to receive the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Societys Shirley B. Gordon Award of Distinction. Kinney and other community college presidents will be recognized during the societys annual convention, Catalyst 2019, April 4-6 in Orlando, Florida, according to a press release. These awards are given to college presidents who have shown strong support of student success on their campus by recognizing academic achievement, leadership, and service among high-achieving students at their colleges, the press release stated. Recipients are nominated by students on their campus and are only eligible to receive the award once over the course of their career. The Shirley B. Gordon Award is Phi Theta Kappas most prestigious award for community college presidents and is named in honor of the late Dr. Shirley B. Gordon, Phi Theta Kappas longest-serving Board of Directors Chair and a founder and long-time president of Highline Community College in Washington. Phi Theta Kappa is the premier honor society recognizing the academic achievement of students at associate degree-granting colleges and helping them to grow as scholars and leaders. The congregation used to do its own links with crank stuffers, but they were never uniform and the casings were hard to tie. Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Everything is the same size, Ross said. It works perfect. After its returned from Stoysich, the meat is smoked and then cooked on Saturday. Ross is happy to share some details, but not the mix of spices that makes the mettwurst one of a kind. Only the Schoening family of Mineola knows the ingredients. Its a holdover from those days when families each winter made their own unique sausage. We always know theyll be there, Ross said. Everyone from age 8 to 80 makes something, too. Biermann grinds the rye seed and members of the congregation both men and women take it home and turn it into bread. The cabbage is bought at Russs and cooked overnight with feather bones for the kraut. On the day of the feast, more than 60 people arrive to cook meat and potatoes, cut up the pies and bread and serve as waiters and waitresses. Thats the best part, Ross said. The chairman of the state board that oversees gambling in Louisiana abruptly resigned from his position Wednesday, the same day he was likely to face questions from a legislative committee about actions he took as a State Police commander in 2019 But in that room, it was as if time stood still. I felt horrifically humiliated for many, many reasons, which should be obvious. I mean, I had already done years and years in the past of Conchita-Lolita parts and had sworn off them. And also: I had won the Oscar for Anita in West Side Story. I also won the Golden Globe for that role. By this point in my career I had a number of awards in my living room not that thats the thing you think about, but its not unimportant, and particularly for a Hispanic actress; in fact its extremely important and very meaningful. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. James 4:17 One common evil in the sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic and Southern Baptist churches is the number of people in authority who chose to cooperate, compromise or remain silent in allowing the wrongdoing to continue. Just six months after a grand jury report provided horrific details of sexual exploitation and abuse by members of the Catholic clergy and laity in Pennsylvania, the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News published a joint investigation Sunday (Feb. 10) documenting similar offenses by pastors, ministers and volunteers within the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention. As with the Catholic offenses, the worst atrocities are magnified by the church's indifference to the victims or its protection of the perpetrators. DA Leon Cannizzaro is dead certain in his convictions A case in point is the story of Debbie Vasquez, who was just 14 when she was first molested by her Southern Baptist pastor in Sanger, Texas, a small town an hour north of Dallas. The abuse went on for years until she became pregnant at age 18. The leaders of her church, she said, then forced her to stand in front of the congregation and ask for forgiveness without saying who had fathered the child. Church members were supportive, she said, but leadership shunned her. More than 30 years later, Vasquez would make her way to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Indianapolis in 2008 to beg leaders of the denomination to implement prevention policies like those adopted by the Catholic Church. Clear rules so that victims would be heard and abusers removed from positions of authority. The convention rejected almost all the reform proposals. The abuses continued. The newspapers said they verified that about 220 Southern Baptist pastors, deacons, Sunday school teachers and volunteers had been convicted of sex crimes or received deferred prosecutions in plea deals over the past 20 years. Their 700 victims included children as young as 3 years old. Of the identified predators, [m]ore than 100 are registered sex offenders, the reporters said. Some still work in Southern Baptist churches today ... including a Houston preacher who sexually assaulted a teenager and now is the principal officer of a Houston nonprofit that works with student organizations, federal records show. Its name: Touching the Future Today Inc. Some church leaders blamed local church autonomy for limiting the national organization from enforcing tougher rules. But others pointed out that SBC governing documents ban gay or female pastors and that the denomination has ended its affiliation with at least four churches in the past 10 years for affirming or endorsing homosexual behavior. The rules, however, do not specifically outlaw convicted sex offenders from working in churches. The newspapers database listed four Louisiana church leaders and volunteers who face or have faced sexual misconduct allegations since 1998, including a youth minister at First Baptist Church in New Orleans, who was convicted in 2016 of 12 felonies, including molestation of a juvenile, indecent behavior with a juvenile and obstruction and is serving a 10-year prison sentence. First Baptist leaders fired Jonathan Bailey as soon they discovered the improper relationship. They later learned he had been dismissed from a church in another state a few years earlier for similar behavior. "We had no red flags on him," senior pastor David Crosby said at the time. "We do criminal background checks on every staff member and volunteer who works with children. We try to be very careful." First Baptist no doubt would have benefited from a system that tracks and reports such behavior or never have hired him if the previous church had reported him to legal authorities instead of passing him on to another congregation. Church leaders cannot be a part of covering up crimes to protect their own reputations or out of some misguided idea of guarding the church. Signs of intelligent life at the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board There can simply be no ambiguity about the churchs responsibility to protect the abused and be a safe place for the vulnerable. The safety of the victims matters more than the reputation of Southern Baptists, SBC President J.D. Greear said Sunday. There will be opportunity to test that. If the church is truly open to believing and helping victims, the 700 is only the beginning. Tim Morris is a columnist on the Latitude team at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Latitude is a place to share opinions about the challenges facing Louisiana. Follow @LatitudeNOLA on Facebook and Twitter. Write to Tim at tmorris@nola.com. Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson made an explicit argument Monday (Feb. 11) that former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu should be on the main stage for 2020, presumably as a Democratic candidate for president. Its not clear how strong a voice Gerson, who was a top aide and speechwriter for President George W. Bush, has with Democrats. But the nationally syndicated commentator could hold some sway with independents and moderate Republicans. Most of Gerson's praise for Landrieu is based on the former mayor's successful efforts to remove Confederate statues from city property and more specifically Landrieu's eloquent explanation for why he believed the removal was important. Another church sex abuse scandal. This time, its the Southern Baptists Landrieu is known as the guy who took down the four Confederate monuments in New Orleans, Gerson writes. He should be better known as the guy who explained his actions in one of the best civil rights speeches since President Barack Obama spoke at Selma in 2015. Gerson, who is both lauded and derided for some of the words he put in President Bush's mouth, quotes Landrieu admiringly. These statues are not just stone and metal, Landrieu said of the statues. They are not just innocent remembrances of a benign history. These monuments purposely celebrate a fictional, sanitized Confederacy; ignoring the death, ignoring the enslavement, and the terror that it actually stood for. As America still wrestles with and suffers from its racist history, Gerson praises Landrieu for being "morally unambiguous about his position, without dehumanizing his opponents." He notes Landrieu's own admission of indifference to the monuments, "But then Landrieu urged people like him to see the monuments through other eyes. He imagined an African American father or mother trying to explain the meaning of the monuments to their fifth-grade daughter. 'Can you look into that young girls eyes and convince her that Robert E. Lee is there to encourage her?' he asked. 'Do you think she will feel inspired and hopeful by that story?' Gerson thinks Landrieu might have what it takes to "appeal to moderates or religious conservatives," something that clearly is missing from the current field of announced Democratic candidates. Landrieu repeated last week that he is unlikely to jump into the race, although his name remains on the list of possible contenders. "I never say never, but at this point in time, I dont think Im going to do it, Landrieu said on CNN. The field is getting filled up. I think the Democrats have a lot of great candidates," he said. "I feel very comfortable that there are people who are going to get into this race. Each and every one of them, by the way, are better than what President Trump is offering for the country right now. Gerson and others, however, argue that Landrieus stated mission for racial reconciliation and healing may be just what the country needs in the wake of a divisive debate over immigration and the recent blackface scandal in Virginia. Landrieu also could be the balance to a Democratic field that so far tilts heavily to the left and seems likely to wage an all-out "take-no-prisoners" war against Trump and the GOP. DA Leon Cannizzaro is dead certain in his convictions Landrieu is proposing a message of national healing to a Democratic Party that seems to want unrestricted warfare, Gerson writes. This makes him unlikely to be the 2020 Democratic nominee. But it says a great deal about our current politics that reason, outreach and tolerance for those with differing ideological views are broadly seen as disqualifications. The more Landrieu demurs, the more some people think thats a sure sign he should run. Tim Morris is a columnist on the Latitude team at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Latitude is a place to share opinions about the challenges facing Louisiana. Follow @LatitudeNOLA on Facebook and Twitter. Write to Tim at tmorris@nola.com. A proposal to create a voluntary do-not-sell gun list for people in Louisiana who fear they are a threat to themselves or others has secured two sponsors and bipartisan support in advance of the legislative session. Rep. Jimmy Harris, D-New Orleans, has signed on as the bills primary sponsor while Sen. Danny Martiny, R-Metairie, has agreed to co-sponsor. The legislators put their support behind Donnas Law following discussions with Katrina Brees, whose mother and the bills namesake, Donna Nathan, used a gun in her suicide last year. Nathan, who struggled with bipolar disorder for 30 years, purchased a gun June 26 then, just hours later, drove to Audubon Park and shot herself while sitting underneath a tree. It was the first gun Nathan ever owned. Brees, whose story was first reported as part of NOLA.com | The Times-Picayunes A Fragile State series, believes her mother, if given a second chance, would have chosen a different path. But suicide is often a rash decision made in moments of intense hopelessness and despair. In a state with some of the least restrictive gun laws in the country, those moments are often armed, advocates say. Louisiana had 677 suicides in 2016. Of those, 440, or 65 percent, were by firearms. My mother took every legal avenue to protect herself from the times of crises that ultimately overtook her. But she did not have a mechanism to protect herself from buying a firearm, Brees said. That is why I am working with Harris and Martiny to empower my fellow Louisianians to be vigilant guardians against the threat of suicide. After mother's suicide, Katrina Brees fights for 'no guns' self-registry This is how Donnas Law would work: People could choose, for any reason, to put their names on a do-not-sell list. Once they present photo identification proving their identity, their names would be entered into the National Instant Criminal Background System, which is used to identify people prohibited from buying guns from licensed dealers. Those on the list voluntarily could remove their names at any moment, but there would be a waiting period of anywhere between 7 to 21 days before they could once again purchase a gun. As an added layer of security, people on the list could provide contact information for friends or loved ones they want the state to immediately notify should the person on the list ask to be removed from it. Harris called his support of the bill a no-brainer because it gives people the right to not only save themselves but potentially others, while preserving their Second Amendment rights. I think it will pass because I have colleagues in the House and Senate who value the lives of their constituents and families more than anything, Harris said. Unfortunately, its a reality that everyone knows someone that may have a mental health illness, but legislation like this puts the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana in a better position to help. Martiny echoed Harris sentiments, saying it didnt take much to convince him to lend his support. If someone thinks they have a problem and want to opt out, they can. I dont think were infringing on anyones rights, Martiny said. I cant imagine anyone would be opposed to it. There are many ways people attempt to kill themselves, but nothing is as brutally efficient as a gun. Nearly 90 percent of suicide attempts with firearms are fatal, compared to 3 percent or less for other methods such as prescription overdosing or wrist-cutting, according to the Brady Campaign, a national group that advocates for gun control laws to reduce violent deaths. Washington last year became the first state to pass legislation creating a voluntary do-not-sell gun list similar to Donnas Law, which went into effect this Jan. 1. Similar legislation has been introduced this year in Massachusetts and Oregon, and its being considered in Alabama. The NRA declined to comment on Donnas Law, but hasnt opposed the concept when presented elsewhere. The main objection raised by the NRA during the Washington process was that people could be coerced into signing up for the registry during a legal proceeding, or as a condition of employment or obtaining services. So, proponents added language to the law making such coercion illegal. Louisianas legislative session begins April 8 and ends June 6. Last year there were approximately 30 gun-related bills proposed, though most failed to go anywhere, including proposals for a 10-day waiting period to purchase guns, a bump stock ban, an assault weapons age limit and the inclusion of ammunition purchases in background checks. Our state has one of the highest rates of gun suicide in the country and we know that the presence of guns increases the risk and lethality of suicide attempts, said Victoria Coy, founder and director of the Louisiana Violence Reduction Coalition, who has partnered with Brees on the effort. This bill allows people in a time of crisis, or those who may face a time of crisis, to be proactive in their own defense. A fertilizer plant in St. James Parish is siphoning hazardous wastewater out of a retaining pond to try to prevent the possible collapse of a retaining wall, but also preparing to respond if it cannot prevent the failure, records show. A letter from the Mosaic Uncle Sam fertilizer plant to the Environmental Protection Agency outlined preparations to try to prevent the wastewater from contaminating surrounding wetlands if the wall collapses. The plans include installing or staging plugs for nearby culverts to try to contain the wastewater, should it be released, according to a letter to the EPA date Jan. 30. The acidic wastewater is stored in a retention pond on top of a nearly 200 foot tall mound of gypsum. The gypsum, like the acidic wastewater, is a byproduct of Mosaics manufacturing process. For every ton of phosphate-based fertilizer the plant makes, it produces about five tons of waste. A farmer first alerted the company that the northern side of one of its gypsum stacks was moving in December. Environmentalists have warned that if the wall collapses it could send the wastewater into nearby tributaries that feed into Maurepas Swamp. The wastewater has a pH of 2, which is capable of affecting fish reproduction and killing adult fish, according to the U.S. Geological Study website. Acid water atop slumping Uncle Sam gypsum pile threatens swamps Last week, local residents and environmentalists gathered in front of the plant to bring attention to the dangers posed by the facilitys byproducts. Robert Taylor, with Concerned Citizens of St. John the Baptists Parish, asked how the plant could accumulate so much hazardous waste near where people live. These whole communities are in eminent danger and something needs to be done immediately, he said. There are about a dozen residents who live within the area where the wastewater is likely to flow, should it escape the facility, according to Mosaic. Those neighbors have been notified by Mosaic, a company spokeswoman told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Environmental news in your inbox Stay up-to-date on the latest on Louisiana's coast and the environment. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The state Department of Environmental Quality has conducted several site visits to the St. James plant since they were notified of the gypsum stacks movement. After a visit Jan. 27, a DEQ inspector noted that the Mosaic representative they spoke with was unable to answer all of the inspectors questions. Louisiana online map shows where not to eat the fish or swim Gregory Langley, a spokesman for DEQ, said some days the facility has not answered questions until late in the evening, when Mosaic sent in written reports containing the requested information. The facility has generally been co-operative with our inspectors, Langley wrote in an email. Mosaic has also received questions from the Environmental Protection Agency on how the plant is working to prevent acidic wastewater from leaving the facilitys property. The company has plugged or staged plugs in the culverts around its Uncle Sam facility and built a berm perpendicular to Highway 3125, according to a letter to the EPA dated Jan. 30. In addition, the plant is considering ways to adjust the acidity of the wastewater. Mosaic would likely add lime to the wastewater to make it less acidic were it to pursue this option, said Mosaic spokeswoman Callie Neslund. The plant is also in the process of removing some of the wastewater from the retention pond with the unstable wall. As of Sunday (Feb. 10), the plant had siphoned 133 million gallons out of the gypsum stack into other ponds on the site. The syphons are removing the wastewater at a rate of 6,000 gallons per minute, according to the company. The federal governments regulation of Mississippi River water flowing through the Old River Control Structure north of Baton Rouge has caused repeated flooding that has taken a portion of the value of farmland owned by school boards in three Mississippi counties, the state of Mississippi argues in a lawsuit filed Monday (Feb. 12). The state contends thats a violation of the U.S. Constitutions 5th Amendment requirement that the federal government compensate landowners when taking a portion or all of the value of their property. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Court of Claims in Washington, D.C., by Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, and the Claiborne County, Natchez-Adams and Wilkinson County school districts. The Old River Control Structure, completed by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1963, was designed to block the majority of the flow of the Mississippi River shifting west into the Atchafalaya River. Old River was upgraded following a 1973 flood that nearly broke through portions of the structures. In 1985, the city of Vidalia built the Sydney A. Murray Hydroelectric Station using water passing through one of the structures to generate 192 megawatts of electricity for local use. Congress has required that no more than 30 percent of the Mississippis flow pass through the structure into the Atchafalaya. That split guarantees freshwater levels in the Mississippi River south of Baton Rouge are high enough for the river to be used as drinking water supplies in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish, as well as a by more than 190 petrochemical plants and other industries along the rivers path. Atchafalaya River will get more water from Mississippi River to help wildlife The high flow levels, combined with a narrowing of the rivers mouth by jetties in Southwest Pass also reduce the cost to the corps and federal government of keeping the mouth of the Mississippi River free of sediment and navigable by ocean-going vessels. In their lawsuit, Mississippi officials point out that Congress and the corps did not take into account the potential effects of the Old River complex on their states public school lands, and never purchased flowage rights from the school boards, allowing higher water caused by the structure to flood their land. The lawsuit charges that today, the structure actually is diverting only 23 percent to 25 percent of the Mississippis flow into the Atchafalaya, and contends the failure to release more water has meant more sediment has stayed in the Mississippi, narrowing its channel by about 2,600 feet and raising the rivers bottom. Rising river bottom could switch Mississippi to Atchafalaya riverbed in next mega flood In a presentation to the American Geophysical Union on December 2017, Louisiana State University research hydrologist Yi-Jun Xu warned that the infill of the river both above and below the Old River structure had the potential of creating a shift of the river to the Atchafalaya channel during a major high-river flood event. Such a shift would result in salt water from the Gulf of Mexico moving far enough up the Mississippi River to threaten the drinking water supply for 2 million people. It also would make the freshwater aquifer used by Baton Rouge for its drinking water too salty. Environmental news in your inbox Stay up-to-date on the latest on Louisiana's coast and the environment. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Xu did not address flooding in Mississippi during his presentation. But Mississippi officials say the narrowing and rising river bed, plus other actions the corps has taken to straighten and shorten the river to eliminate curved oxbows upstream, have resulted in more severe flooding and more flood days on more than 7,900 acres, or 12.4 square miles, of school-owned land in Adams, Claiborne and Wilkinson counties. That land is used for recreation and for growing and harvesting timber, the suit said, with money from its use supporting the public schools. The school boards should be paid not less than $25 million for the lost value of their property, the suit said. This 8,000 acres that is owned by the state of Mississippi, we believe it is being turned into a permanent reservoir, Hosemann told reporters Monday. He said only 75 days of flooding were recorded in the area from 1950 to 1972, while more than 1,000 days were recorded from 1973 to 2016. The Republican, who is running for lieutenant governor this year, said he appealed to the Mississippi River Commission in 2016 for relief. The commission oversees the levees and dams that are meant to prevent flooding and enhance navigation along the river. Private property owners in southwest Mississippi have also complained about increased flooding in recent years, and Hosemann acknowledged that if the states lawsuit is successful, private landowners would likely follow suit. Despite the assertions in the lawsuit, Hosemann said the state has not yet conducted studies of the rivers water flow meant to scientifically prove that siltation from Old River is to blame for increased flooding. Hosemann said such studies would be conducted over the next two years at a cost of $50,000. There could be other factors driving flooding as well. Some experts say increased upstream development is sending more water downstream. In addition, in two of the last three years, the lower Mississippi has seen unusual wintertime floods sparked by heavy rains upstream that could be related to climate change. Historically, the Mississippis peak flood has been in the spring. The Associated Press contributed to this story. Mark Schleifstein covers the environment and is a leader of the Louisiana Coastal Reporting Team for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Email: mschleifstein@nola.com. Facebook: Mark Schleifstein and Louisiana Coastal Watch. Twitter: MSchleifstein. Outstanding student loan debt in Louisiana has increased by $10.4 billion over the last decade and stood at $18.7 billion as of December 2018, according to data from Experian, a consumer credit reporting agency. Experian reported Louisianas total student loan debt has increased by 126 percent since 2008, when the agency started tracking and publicizing data on nationwide student loan debt. That compared with a 129 percent increase across the nation. Nationally, student loan debt hit an all-time high of $1.36 trillion in the third quarter of 2018. A report last year from Bloomberg put the total closer to $1.44 trillion. The Experian report found the average American carries roughly $22,600 in student loan debt. That is up 20 percent since 2015. Overall, loan balances are on the rise, and, in some cases, have more than tripled since 2008, the report said. Student loan debt is of particular concern in Louisiana where many students struggle to afford the cost of higher education. Last year, the Louisiana Department of Education reported that more than half of Louisianas 2017 high school graduates were eligible for TOPS scholarships to attend college. Even so, student loan debt continues to climb in Louisiana, where students and colleges are grappling with rising tuition costs, stagnant wages and low state investment in higher education. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The Government Accountability Office reported last September that only a small number of people have had their debt discharged under the federal student loan program. U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos last November warned officials that the country needs to make policy changes in the way the program is managed or else the program will be in serious jeopardy. Read the full study from Experian. Outstanding student loan debt hits nearly $1.5 trillion: report Wilborn P. Nobles III is an education reporter based in New Orleans. He can be reached at wnobles@nola.com or on Twitter at @WilNobles. Katherine Magrini paused when she thought about her feelings towards her grandson who last week was accused of murdering his uncle at her French Quarter home. My feelings toward him are great love, and great sorrow and grief, said Magrini of her grandson, Morgan Rothe-Skinner, 26. Thats the only thing I can say. His life is over, of course. Speaking Monday (Feb. 11) at her home in the 600 block of Burgundy Street about Wednesdays (Feb. 6) fatal stabbing, Magrini, 76, said, This has undone me. Rothe-Skinner was detained that evening after a brief standoff with police and booked Thursday on a charge of second-degree murder. New Orleans police, alerted to a possible hostage situation, were called to the home about 6:15 p.m., the department said then. Magrini said she was on the phone that day, unaware anything had happened in the adjoining apartment, when she saw her grandson walking around, agitated. She asked him what was wrong, she said. He told me he had just killed him, Magrini said, recalling her grandsons words, and his declaration he had killed her stepson. When Magrini responded by telling her grandson they need to get help, she said, Things went downhill. He was just very manic, she added. After an hours-long standstill between the two, Magrini said, she managed, even with a broken leg that was injured in a fall a few days earlier, to get outside the Burgundy Street home and reach police, she said. An affidavit for Rothe-Skinners arrest states officers responding to the home that evening encountered him in the back of the home, armed with a knife. The affidavit says a woman, who Magrini said was her, was held inside the home for hours. After a brief standoff with officers, Rothe-Skinner surrendered, was detained as their investigation began. Inside an apartment connected to the main house through a courtyard, officers found a rolled-up rug with a mans feet poking out, the affidavit says. They unrolled the rug and found a man with lacerations on his face and body. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The Orleans Parish Coroners Office on Monday identified the deceased man as Daniel Magrini. Daniel Magrini is Katherine Magrinis stepson, adopted by her late husband, she said. We just dont know how to react to it, its beyond us totally beyond us, Magrini said. Man killed in last Wednesdays stabbing at French Quarter home IDd by coroner Rothe-Skinner, a North Carolina native, had been living with Katherine Magrini while attending school at Tulane University, where a university spokesman confirmed he was enrolled in a digital design program within Tulanes School of Professional Advancement. Her stepson had arrived in New Orleans not more than 36 hours before the fatal encounter with his nephew, she said. Magrini was not aware of a confrontational relationship between her grandson and stepson, or of any specific confrontations they had in the past, she said. They werent around each other very often, she said. She had also never witnessed or been aware of any violent tendencies from her grandson. 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 He just cared for me like a China doll, she said. Magrinis niece, who identified herself only as Emily, agreed she had not seen evidence of a propensity for violence in her nephew Never, she said. Katherine Magrini said the family knew that Rothe-Skinner dealt with mental illness, but it had not exposed itself in a way that worried her. I knew it was off, but I thought it was harmless, she said, the later added, Obviously something was wrong, to do what he did. Our thoughts of (Rothe-Skinner) was of a sweet loving grandson, who cared for his grandmother a great deal, and he was suffering from anxiety, I think, and had become delusional," Emily said. Woman held by accused French Quarter stabber told police he confessed to her: records The grandmother said her grandson, who police said held her for hours at knifepoint, took care of her while she was immobilized with a broken fibula, and was nearing the end of his last semester at school. After he earned his degree, she said, she hoped to help get him a job. She smiled when she relayed his name for her: G-ma. Daniel Magrini was father to two children, both in their 20s, and lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the same city where Katherines primary residence is located, Katherine Magrini said. She said her stepson received disability benefits and was not employed. He had a girlfriend, and he was religious. It was a double whammy loss for us losing my grandson, I lost my stepson, she said of her grandsons incarceration and her stepsons death. Rothe-Skinner and Katherine Magrini have talked several times since police detained him at the scene. Hes terrified, Magrini said. Magrinis grandsons mother came to New Orleans from North Carolina after the arrest, she said, and has since returned. Rothe-Skinners mother has arranged for legal representation for her son, Magrini said, though she did not know if a private lawyer was hired or if the Orleans Public Defenders Office would represent him. Magistrate Commissioner Jonathan Friendman on Thursday set Rothe-Skinners bond at $500,000. His next court hearing is Wednesday. Rothe-Skinner had no criminal record in other states to Magrinis knowledge, she said. Orleans Parish Criminal Court records do not show any prior arrests or convictions. Magrini said when her grandson drove her, if the speed limit was 55 miles per hour, thats the speed he would go and would protest if she suggested he pick up the speed a bit. Emily said the entire family is reeling, from Wednesdays fatal violence. Everyones devastated. After all that happened that day, Magrini said she finds it difficult to be alone, though her feelings for her grandson remain unchanged. I love my grandson very deeply, no matter what happens, she said. Jimmy Sanchez, the councils majority leader, said that after the possible addition of scooters was made public, the city was contacted by two other bike-sharing programs with the electric devices. He did not name the companies, but said Hartford officials have been in contact with them. A man is suspected of stealing a womans wallet during a meet-up in Algiers arranged through a dating app, New Orleans police said. The victim said she met the man, who identified himself as James, through the MeetMe app, and the two got together Jan. 29 in the 4400 block of General De Gaulle Drive. After meeting up about 3:45 p.m., they walked to a McDonalds in the 3500 block of General De Gaulle Drive for food. They later walked to a bus stop at Vespasian and Murl streets where James placed his hands in the victims pocket, which the victim allowed so he could keep warm, police said in a news release. James then ran off, and the victim realized her wallet was missing. Anyone with information on the theft or the whereabouts and identity of James is asked to call the NOPD 4th District at 504-658-6040 or call Crimestoppers anonymously at 504-822-1111 or toll-free at 1-877-903-7867. Laura McKnight covers crime and breaking news for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. The Santa Cruz County Sheriffs Office is sending a crew into the Santa Rita Mountains on Wednesday, two days after a hiker apparently discove TAMPA A day before spring training reporting day for Yankees pitchers and catchers, right-hander Masahiro Tanaka showed up for a Tuesday morning workout at the clubs player development and scouting facility. Already, hes feeling ahead of schedule due to a little change made to his usual offseason routine back home in Japan. I was able to work out somewhere that was a little bit warmer, so I feel like my throwing program is a little bit ahead of where it was last year, Tanaka said from the complex parking lot through interpreter Shingo Horie. Get tickets to see the 2019 Yankees: StubHub and Ticketmaster. Other than that, Tanaka pretty much stuck with his routine, which surprisingly includes no special treatment to prevent further damage to his partially torn right ulnar collateral ligament. A lot of people have been waiting for Tanakas elbow to blow since he opted for rehab instead of Tommy John surgery when he was injured midway 2014, his rookie season as a big leaguer. A lot of people have been wrong so far. Im not conscious of it, Tanaka said. I dont exercise the elbow more so than other things. I dont do anything special specifically for the elbow. Tanaka missed just 2 months before returning to make two September starts in 2014, then made it through four full seasons pitching with this tear while seeing many other pitchers with similar injuries get Tommy John surgery and then not pitch again for about a year. He does admit feeling fortunate that hes bucked the odds. Somewhat, but for me when I was talking to the doctors, the decision was lets not go with (Tommy John surgery), Tanaka said. Just rehab it and get back. For other guys, it wasnt like that obviously. The decision was, Lets go ahead and do the surgery. So its that Im following what the doctors told me and so far its been good. Tanakas mostly been good during his five seasons with the Yankees, as hes pitched to a 3.59 ERA while building up an impressive 64-34 record over 132 starts. In 2018, he fared well again going 12-6 with a 3.75 ERA in 27 starts. This was a nice rebound campaign from 2017 when he was 13-12 with a career-worst 4.74 ERA in 30 starts before lighting it up in the postseason allowing just two runs over 20 innings in three outings. Tanaka, a 30-year-old who now is one of the most senior Yankees, is optimistic that his 2019 club will be able to dethrone the Boston Red Sox as AL East, AL and World Series champs due to a bunch of key offseason additions that include an improved rotation due to a trade for Seattle Mariners ace James Paxton plus free agents J.A. Happ and CC Sabathia re-signing. Thats where we want to be, for sure, Tanaka said. Boston had the upper hand last season, but hopefully well get together as a team and take that spot this year. (Were) obviously a better team now; The additions are going to help us out as a team, but I look at it as Ive got to do my job really step up and do what I need to do. Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook. UPDATE (Tuesday, 12:39 p.m.): Fancreds Jon Heyman clarifies how much the Chicago White Sox have offered Manny Machado: Have heard reported offer of 250M for 8 yrs for Machado by White Sox isnt right. May or may not be close, but guess would be that at least today its a bit lower. Higher than 175 but lower than 250. At least at moment. (So yes, we still dont have facts, just educated guesses.) Yankees pitchers and catchers report to spring training on Wednesday. Several position players have already checked into Tampa, including outfielders Aaron Judge and Clint Frazier, as well as rehabbing shortstop Didi Gregorius. Dont expect to see free-agent slugger Manny Machado at the Yankees complex any time soon. But according to SNYs Andy Martino, there is still a (slim) chance the Yankees will sign the four-time All-Star. As Yankees players trickle into spring training, the front office continues to check in with Machados camp, according to major league sources. The Yankees are not the frontrunners for Machado -- both the White Sox and Phillies have been more aggressive -- but they are not out on him, either. ... People close to Machado still believe that he will ultimately choose the highest offer. That will almost certainly not be the Yankees. Get tickets to see the 2019 Yankees: StubHub and Ticketmaster. Plan your trip to spring training: Airbnb and TripAdvisor. The Yankees are believed to have made a contract offer to Machado that is worth $220 million, but its unknown how many years were in the proposal. The White Sox had previously offered Machado $175 million over seven or eight years. Chicago has been the most aggressive suitor for Machado. The White Soxs offseason has been highlighted by signing free-agent outfielder Jon Jay and trading for first baseman Yonder Alonso, who is Machados brother-in-law. Jay trains during the offseason with Machado and Alonso. The Phillies are expected to land either Machado or Bryce Harper, who is drawing interest from the White Sox, Washington Nationals, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants. UPDATE (Tuesday, 12:39 p.m.): Fancreds Jon Heyman clarifies how much the Chicago White Sox have offered Manny Machado: Have heard reported offer of 250M for 8 yrs for Machado by White Sox isnt right. May or may not be close, but guess would be that at least today its a bit lower. Higher than 175 but lower than 250. At least at moment. (So yes, we still dont have facts, just educated guesses.) Remember when Manny Machado followed the YES Network and all those Yankees players on Instagram out of nowhere a few weeks back? Everyone just assumed it was a done deal, that Machado had tipped that he was heading to the Yankees, where hes always wanted to play, the team for which he grew up cheering. Well, not so much. Machado still hasnt picked a team. (News flash: Bryce Harper hasnt, either.) Get tickets to see the 2019 Yankees: StubHub and Ticketmaster. Buy Yankees gear: Fanatics.com and Dick's Sporting Goods. Or has he? Back at it again, Machado did something on social media that warrants the chin-scratching emoji. The 26-year-old free agent shortstop posted a photo of a White Sox baby slipper to his Instagram story. He later deleted it. Is Manny Machado hinting at something....? pic.twitter.com/oLp6K4hNjV Cut4 (@Cut4) February 11, 2019 The slipper was white with Sox logos on it. The bottom was bedazzled pink. One of the slippers had a seven on the bottom, which led to more confusion. Chicago traded for Yonder Alonso, Machados brother-in-law and close friend, in what seemed part of a two-step not-so-subtle attempt at wooing Machado. They also signed outfielder Jon Jay to a one-year, $4-million deal. Jay is best friends with Machado. Alonso wore No. 17 in Cleveland last year. He also wore it in Oakland. He wore No. 77 when he came up with the Reds in 2010. It seems likely the other slipper had a No. 1 on it. So, maybe they were the slippers of Alonsos kid, who would be Machados niece? The intrigue! (Or is it the fatigue?) The Yankees are reportedly still in on Machado, and Vegas has them in the lead to sign the Miami kid. BetOnline.com put the odds the Yankees sign Machado at 2/1. It had the Padres at 4/1, the White Sox at 5/1 and the Phillies at 5/1. Machado visited the Yankees just before Christmas. He and his wife toured the stadium and then dined with general manager Brian Cashman, team president Randy Levine and special assistant Carlos Beltran. Owner Hal Steinbrenner said last week he was told the meeting went very well. Everybody thought he was great, Steinbrenner said at the MLB Owners Meetings in Orlando. Very down-to-earth, intelligent. Everybody loved his wife. She was great. My people have been around long enough that I have implicit trust in them and when Cashman and Randy tell me hes a very good kid, then Im going to believe them. In response to the South Jersey Times Feb. 4 editorial, Which N.J. college gives most for the buck? Its not that simple, Rowan College at Gloucester Countys (RCGC) costs are much lower than the U.S. Department of Education chart cited would have you believe. RCGCs mission, as a county college, is to provide an affordable, high-quality education and promote student achievement. A full-time student living in Gloucester County taking 30 credits a year pays $3,150 in tuition. This breaks down to $105 per credit for tuition currently the lowest per-credit community college price in the state. We are also proud that 64 percent of our full-time students return after the first year to continue their education and ultimately graduate or transfer to four-year institutions. The editorial, based on data provided by the Education Departments College Scorecard, unfortunately does not take into account RCGCs Rowan Choice program. Students who select to participate in Rowan Choice live on Rowan Universitys campus while taking RCGC classes. This has inflated the numbers presented in the DOE data (which cited average costs of $8,091 annually) and does not accurately reflect the true cost of a county residents tuition. The numbers presented for all colleges in the editorial also include other expenses, such as the skyrocketing price of textbooks. RCGC is committed to helping students obtain affordable textbooks and is currently developing freely accessible educational materials to help reduce the cost of books in what has become a problem nationwide. RCGC is proud to offer the most affordable tuition in the state of New Jersey. Frederick Keating, Ed.D., President, Rowan College of Gloucester County End pension income exclusion to aid state, tax-wise An estimated $11 billion was paid out by the State of New Jersey last year in pension benefits for public-sector retirees. At the same time, the pension income exclusion from state income taxes in 2018 was $60,000 for a married couple, and $45,000 if youre single. (The exclusion is unavailable if gross income from all sources is more than $100,000.) Real estate taxes keep escalating. When my family first moved here 34 years ago our annual real estate taxes were $1,400 per year. Now these property taxes are $1,900 per quarter, or $7,600 per year. Obviously, I live in a pretty modest house, since I know other homeowners whose tax bills are much higher. From what I read, even with the large amount taxes now being paid, even more will be needed to fund the state pension system adequately in the future. What Id like to know is why the beneficiaries of pension payments, both government and private-sector ones, receive such a large state tax exemption. If the beneficiaries paid as little as a 1 percent tax on the below-the-cap benefits received, wouldnt this help offset some of the real-estate tax hikes we will be facing? Joe Ledvina, Turnersville Leftist Democrats undermine Trumps positive agenda Benjamin Franklin was once asked by a woman whether the Constitution established a republic or a monarchy. He replied, A republic ... if you can keep it. Anyone watching the congressional Democrats react during President Donald Trumps State of the Union address will realize that many of them are not for America and its foundational beliefs of liberty and freedom, but desire government control over every part of our lives. In recent years, the national Democratic Party has moved far left of center. Trump criticized in his speech the horrific New York state law recently signed by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, which expands the legal circumstances under which a woman can obtain an abortion up to the date of birth. This is infanticide of the most vulnerable and helpless of human beings. The lack of positive Democrat response to the presidents statement was obvious. Trump also said that America will never be a socialist country, knowing that socialism is popular with some in Congress. Venezuela, for example was once a rich, thriving country until a socialist president destroyed it. Securing our southern border and enforcing our immigration laws needs to be addressed, but some Democrats seem to want open borders. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has said a border wall is immorality, but she has a wall at a property she and her husband own. Trumps State of the Union presented a positive outlook for America, as opposed to the Democrats radical agenda. With prayers and petitions to God, who is sovereign over this world, much progress can be made. Keeping our republic intact involves all of us. Barbara Essington, Carneys Point Township Send a letter to the editor of South Jersey Times at sjletters@njadvancemedia.com A new poll on what New Jerseyans think of Gov. Phil Murphy after his first full year in office was released Tuesday, and it shows some troubling signs for the Democratic governor. Murphy isnt viewed as favorably than his two immediate predecessors former Govs. Chris Christie and Jon Corzine at the same point in their terms, according to the Monmouth University Poll. And worse yet, the more that people in the state who formed an opinion of him in his first year the less popular he became, the survey showed. Murphy has taken a hit with political independents in the state. But its not all gloom for Murphy. He gets good marks, for example, for his effort to raise the minimum wage In total, 43 percent of New Jerseyans approve of the job Murphy is doing, compared to 40 percent who disapprove, according to the poll. His approval rating hasnt moved much since April 2018 when it was 44 percent. Its less positive than Christie and Corzine when they were at this stage in their terms. Christie had a 47 percent approve and 40 percent disapprove rating in February 2011 and Corzine had a 44 percent approve to 34 percent disapprove rating in February 2007, according to past Monmouth polls. Murphy is doing better, however, than former Gov. Jim McGreevey, who had a 34 percent approve and 45 percent disapprove, according to a February 2003 Eagleton poll. But a hit Murphy took was with those who dont have a high opinion of his job performance. The poll showed the more that people formed an opinion of him, the higher his negatives rose. Last year he had a 28 percent negative rating when 28 percent of New Jersey adults had no opinion of him. In the new poll, fewer people only 17 percent have no opinion of him. But his negative shot up to 40 percent. And political independents flipped on the governor. Among them, 39 percent approve of his job compared to 43 percent who disapprove, according to Monmouth. In April, 41 percent approved and 33 percent disapproved. Also, and maybe more troubling, among the people without an opinion of the governor are a quarter 25 percent of New Jersey Democrats, which hasnt shifted much from last year when 28 percent of Democrats said they didnt have an opinion of the Democratic governor. Murphy started his term with greater public goodwill than his recent predecessors, but he has now fallen behind them," Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement. The most troubling result may be the large number of his fellow Democrats who continue to take a wait-and-see attitude, he said. It seems he has yet to score a defining win with his base despite spending a significant amount of energy pushing a progressive agenda. Murphy, for his part, brushed off the polls bad news when asked about it at a public event Tuesday. We dont run our government based on polling," Murphy said, adding that he hadnt seen the poll numbers. Whether its really good or challenging or somewhere in between, we try to call balls and strikes to do what we were sent here to do, he said. The governor can take comfort in that two-in-three adults in the state (66 percent) approve of the $15 minimum wage bill he recently signed into law. Told the poll showed majority support for the minimum wage hike, Murphy said thats a good piece of news. Also, the governor has not been damaged by the turmoil surrounding his staffer Katie Brennans allegation that she was raped by a former top Murphy official. A legislative committee is investigating how the accused, Albert J. Alvarez, was able to be hired and then keep his job in the administration for as long as he did. A majority of New Jerseyans havent even heard about the legislative inquiry, according to the poll. Only 41 percent said theyve heard something about it. The poll was conducted by telephone from February 8 to 10. It surveyed 604 New Jersey adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. NJ Advance Media staff writer S.P. Sullivan contributed to this report. Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. A top Port Authority official has accused Gov. Phil Murphys administration of trying to meddle with and exert control over the powerful bi-state agency. The claim was made by Kevin OToole, the chairman of the agencys board of commissioners, in a July letter to a pair of top lawmakers that was recently obtained by NJ Advance Media. In the letter, OToole, a former Republican New Jersey state senator who was appointed to Port Authoritys board of commissioners by former Gov. Chris Christie, accused Murphys chief counsel, Matt Platkin, and other unnamed senior officials of a troubling trend of overreach" by attempting to be in control or in charge of every senior hire at the port. The letter sparked a prompt rebuke from Murphy, who referred to the issues OToole laid out in the letter as baseless accusations." A former senior Murphy staffer also said OToole made unsubstantiated claims. OToole declined to comment on the 3-page letter, which, among other things, accused Platkin of threatening to fire an unnamed senior Port Authority staffer if Platkins orders on hiring were not complied with." The increasingly hostile dialogue between Governor Murphys senior staff and port staff is unnerving, unprofessional and detrimental to port operations, OToole wrote. The port is extraordinarily respectful of both governors (New Jersey and New York) and we strive to work collaboratively with both, it reads. However, we operate under a strict understanding that the port will never be at the mercy or direct control of any other entity or personality. Simply put, the all-important transportation purpose and mission statement of the port cannot and will not be sacrificed at the altar of politics." OToole sent the letter to state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and state Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen. Sweeney and Weinberg declined to comment. Murphy promptly fired back Tuesday. Not only do I have the right to inquire into high-level operations at the Port Authority, I have a responsibility to do so. Anyone leveling baseless accusations intended to scare off our administration from holding the Port Authority accountable will be sorely disappointed," Murphy said in a statement to NJ Advance Media. I believe the Port Authority exists to serve its commuters, not the other way around, he said. "I look forward to working with the port to ensure a more responsive and less political Port Authority that will finally work towards improved PATH train service, smoother traffic flow on Hudson crossings and updating and improving our regional transportation facilities. Port Authority board members are appointed by the governors of New York and New Jersey. The agency is supposed to operate with some independence, however governors of both states appoint members to the board and have long used the Port Authority as a place to put patronage hires. OToole told the lawmakers he and the Port Authority have kept a list of each of the administrations inquiries and hiring requests, and that Platkin suggested he would greenlight a program the agency wanted to implement in exchange for Murphy being allowed to hand select the ports deputy executive director, a position that was blamed for helping to make the George Washington Bridge lane scandal possible and was done away with in 2014. After he accused Platkin of threatening a senior staffer if his orders on hiring were not complied with, OToole wrote that the increasingly hostile dialogue between Murphys administration and Port Authority staffers was unnerving, unprofessional and detrimental to Port operations. Murphys former chief of staff, Pete Cammarano, who wasnt called out by name in the letter but who served in the administration at the time it was sent, told NJ Advance Media OTooles claims are not accurate. Rather, Cammarano argued, the Port Authority kept the new administration out of the loop on things like hiring senior staffers. Theyre withholding information. We were finding out about major personnel decisions after they were made, Cammarano said. They should have been keeping us in the loop and they werent doing it. These are not small positions. Some of the positions that were filled included four senior positions OToole named in the letter: the superintendent of the Port Authority Police Department, the general manager of Newark Liberty International Airport, the deputy director of human resources and the director of real estate. OToole claimed Murphy officials tried to sway who got those jobs while Cammarano argued the administration was left in the dark on those hires. Murphy has been backed into a corner when it comes to control at the Port Authority. Since hes taken office, hes yet to have one of his people appointed to the board of commissioners in large part because hes locked horns with members of his own party in the state Senate who need to sign off on his nominations, including Sweeney. Theres still a New Jersey vacancy on the board that hasnt been filled since Murphy nominated Amy Rosen in May to fill the position of Caren Turner, a former board member who resigned over her intervention caught on a police dashcam with a Tenafly traffic stop involving her daughter. OTooles control at the agency is significant. The power at the bi-state agency is split between New York and New Jersey governors. New York gets control over the authoritys executive director and New Jersey getting the chairman position. Murphy, more than a year into his administration, has been forced to cede control of that chairman position to a Christie holdover. Commissioners serve six-year terms and the head of the chairman of the board is decided by a vote by fellow lawmakers. Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. A specter is haunting Donald Trump, the risk that American freedom is in peril. Its not the devilish hordes of brown people pouring across the Mexican border this time. It is socialism. America was founded on liberty and independence, and not government coercion, domination and control, he declared in the State of the Union address. We are born free, and we will stay free. When have we heard this before? In 1910 when Teddy Roosevelt warned that super-rich dynasties in America threatened democracy and called for an inheritance tax and a progressive income tax. We heard it when Franklin Roosevelt created Social Security, and again when Lyndon Johnson created Medicare. We heard it when Martin Luther King Jr. pressed to win voting rights for black Americans, and when protesters called for a halt to the carpet bombing of North Vietnam. It is a reflex. Now were hearing it from Donald Trump, just in time for the 2020 race. The Democrats, he says, want to turn America into something like Venezuela, now the basket case of the western hemisphere. This is alarming stuff, needless to say. So, lets take a look at the policy proposals from Democrats that have the president so verklempt. Sen. Cory Booker wants to give children a baby bonus of $1,000, one that would be followed by annual grants of up to $2,000, based on income. For a poor kid born today, it would create a nest egg of about $50,000, which could be spent only on education, a first home, or retirement accounts. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is floating the idea of a 70 percent marginal tax rate on income over $10 million. Most people agree with her, even most Republicans. And yes, Dwight Eisenhower imposed an even steeper tax on top earners. (An aside: That alone would cover more than half the cost of Bookers baby bonuses.) Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants to tax wealth, taking 2 percent of fortunes above $50 million, and 3 percent of those over $1 billion. Taxing wealth seems radical at first. But ask yourself this: Why is it permissible to tax wealth in the form of real estate -- which hits the middle-class between the eyes -- but not in the form of stock and bonds and expensive art work? Sen. Bernie Sanders wants to tax inheritances at the same punishing rates we imposed during the Reagan era. Imagine the ruin that will result. He would also end the special tax breaks for capital gains and dividends. Want more? Several Democrats want to enroll everyone in Medicare, while others would allow people to buy in, a revival of the public option idea embedded in Obamacare before conservative opposition killed it. Other ideas including raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, protecting employees who try to form unions, and even pilot programs to guarantee a job for everyone. These are the competing ideas as Democrats start to line up for the 2020 race. Some are better than others, granted, but they share a common thread: They all draw inspiration from the remarkable explosion of wealth among the elites over the last generation, and the stagnant incomes for everyone else. Our economy is broken. After World War II, the gains of economic growth were shared broadly as the middle-class was born. Since the 1970s, the benefits have increasingly been captured by the top 1 percent. Heres what thats done in New Jersey: The average income for the top 1 percent is just over $1.5 million a year. The average for the other 99 percent is $57,000. Thats unfair, and it has to change. It is revealing that Trump, and Republicans in general, have proposed nothing to stop this trend. They have run out of ideas, and still reflexively answer the economic anguish of common people by throwing tax breaks at the rich, no matter how many times their promises prove false. Instead, we hear these rantings about Venezuela. Its an old trick. Dont fall for it. More: Tom Moran columns Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or call (973) 836-4909. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. I thought about legacy and what I was going to leave for my children and my childrens children. Cannabis is a way to be able to do that through entrepreneurship in this billion-dollar industry. And I dont just want that for me, I want that for people who look like me, said Smith-Bolden, who is African-American. Making sure there are clear paths to entrepreneurship, there are clear paths to being able to learn and grow their businesses, that there are opportunities for partnerships and to receive support from the city, thats important. By Shelley Skinner and Patricia Morgan Some New Jersey education groups suggest suspending the use of standardized testing as a graduation requirement for the 2019-2020 school year. But any suspension of an assessment requirement is would open the door to permanently weakening graduation assessments, two education advocates say. Imagine being a high school graduate and finding out a few months before your big day that a court decision has put in jeopardy your ability to walk across the stage and receive a diploma. Yes, for four years, you followed the rules, took the assessments and exams and all of a sudden an Appellate Court, that you didnt know existed, has decided the rules you followed werent the right rules. That is the reality for 170,000 New Jersey high school students who as of this moment have no clear path to graduation. For years, New Jersey high school students have had to pass the Algebra 1 assessment (anytime from 7th grade to 11th grade) and the English assessment given in 10th grade. These exams ensured that students who graduated had the skills required to attend college and be ready for the workforce. The court decided that these exams, because they werent given in 11th grade as indicated in statute, violated the law. Todays seniors cant go back in time to 11th grade to have a do-over and there is no readily available exam meeting the requirements set forth by the court. So without an immediate legislative remedy, current high school seniors will be unable to graduate this spring. This court decision presents two very real issues for students, families and the employers. First, to ensure fairness and respect for current juniors and seniors, legislation must be passed quickly to guarantee graduation for those students who met the rules that were in place when they began their high school journey. Any other option that retroactively changes the rules would cause considerable confusion and disruption and impose unfair obligations on students who did what they were supposed to do. The second, and the larger issue, is what New Jersey will expect of its high school graduates moving forward. The courts decision has left a requirement that students simply pass a graduation assessment in the 11th grade. The world is too competitive for New Jersey to be satisfied with our students simply passing a graduation assessment of undetermined quality at some point in their junior year or worse, no assessment at all. The real issue is ensuring that graduating from a New Jersey high school means something -- that our high school diploma provides a degree of certainty, and that our students are prepared for college and career. Over the past several years, New Jersey has been a leader in continuing to raise the academic bar for its K-12 students. A diploma from the state of New Jersey should represent mastery of rigorous college and career ready content providing a solid academic foundation for success in post-secondary life. Twenty-two of our sister states require high school students to take an assessment in order to graduate. This begs the question why some New Jersey education groups are suggesting suspending the use of standardized testing as a graduation requirement for the 2019-2020 school year. Any suspension of an assessment requirement is, in essence, opening the door to permanently weakening graduation assessments. It would move us backwards in a world requiring more education and betray our responsibility to prepare students for the challenges in an increasingly competitive economy. The legislative remedy is not a complicated one -- a high quality graduation assessment that measures college and career readiness and maintains New Jerseys place as an academic leader. We need to act quickly to end chaos and give students, parents and employers reassurance that a graduation diploma means something. Shelley Skinner is the executive director of Better Education for Kids (B4K), an education advocacy organization founded in 2011 to be an independent voice for common-sense education reform in New Jersey. Patricia Morgan is a former special education teacher and currently the executive director of JerseyCAN, a statewide education advocacy group dedicated to ensuring all kids have the opportunity to attend great schools. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. A woman at a Harrison QuickChek clearly was not having a good day as she was caught on video trashing store shelves and then peeling off onto a busy street, nearly causing at least two accidents. The unexplained tirade of the woman, who was identified as a 24-year-old Newark resident, was captured on video by a customer on Friday morning at the convenience store located on Bergen Street. The Harrison Police did not release the womans name but she was issued a complaint charging her with criminal mischief, according to Harrison Police Lt. David Doyle. As the video begins, several items already litter the floor of one aisle and then the camera shows the woman randomly grabbing drinks from a refrigerator and tossing them on the ground. She then kicks a display, grabs a can of Pringles potato chips and then runs her hand along a shelf, knocking all of its contents to the floor as she makes her way toward the front of the store. A clerk tries to get her to stop as a woman in the background can be heard telling people to call the police in Spanish. The womans onslaught didnt end there as she demolishes a small display of energy drinks as the Harrison Mayor James Fife looks on in stunned silence as he waits in line to buy his morning paper. Fife was identified in the video in a report by ABC. In a move as strange as her destructive jaunt through the store, the woman goes to the counter, pulls out a credit card and acts as if she is about to pay for her potato chips and a drink. She waits a few moments, but after nobody rings her up, she promptly puts her credit card back into her wallet and leaves the store. Several customers follow her out and one begins writing down her license plate before she speeds away in a black Kia and cuts off another driver. She then drives down the middle of the road between two lanes of traffic and cuts off at least two more cars before her vehicle disappears out of view as she turned from Bergen Street onto Frank E Rodgers Boulevard. The video was turned over to the police, who searched the searched the area for her car but did not find it. The woman caused about $500 in damage to the store, according to an incident report provided by the Harrison Police. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Mexicos most notorious drug lord, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, was convicted Tuesday of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation after a three-month trial packed with Hollywood-style tales of grisly killings, political payoffs, cocaine hidden in jalapeno cans, jewel-encrusted guns and a naked escape with his mistress through a tunnel. Guzman listened to a drumbeat of guilty verdicts on drug and conspiracy charges that could put the 61-year-old escape artist behind bars for decades in a maximum-security U.S. prison selected to thwart another one of the breakouts that made him a folk hero in his native country. A jury whose members' identities were kept secret reached a verdict after deliberating six days in the expansive case, sorting through what authorities called an "avalanche" of evidence gathered since the late 1980s that Guzman and his murderous Sinaloa drug cartel made billions in profits by smuggling tons of cocaine, heroin, meth and marijuana into the U.S. As the judge read the verdict, Guzman stared at the jury straight-faced. When the jury was discharged, he leaned back in his chair to catch the eye of his wife, who gave him a subtle thumbs-up. U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan lauded the jury's meticulous attention to detail and the "remarkable" approach it took toward deliberations. Cogan said it made him "very proud to be an American." Evidence showed drugs poured into the U.S. through secret tunnels or hidden in tanker trucks, concealed in the undercarriage of passenger cars and packed in rail cars passing through legitimate points of entry suggesting that a border wall wouldn't be much of a worry. The prosecution's case against Guzman, a roughly 5-foot figure whose nickname translates to "Shorty," included the testimony of several turncoats and other witnesses. Among them were Guzman's former Sinaloa lieutenants, a computer encryption expert and a Colombian cocaine supplier who underwent extreme plastic surgery to disguise his appearance. One Sinaloa insider described Mexican workers getting contact highs while packing cocaine into thousands of jalapeno cans shipments that totaled 25 to 30 tons of cocaine worth $500 million each year. Another testified how Guzman sometimes acted as his own sicario, or hitman, punishing a Sinaloan who dared to work for another cartel by kidnapping him, beating and shooting him and having his men bury the victim while he was still alive, gasping for air. The defense case lasted just half an hour. Guzman's lawyers did not deny his crimes as much as argue he was a fall guy for government witnesses who were more evil than he was. In closing arguments, defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman urged the jury not to believe government witnesses who "lie, steal, cheat, deal drugs and kill people." U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue called the conviction "a victory for the American people who suffered so much" while the defendant poured poison over the borders. He expected Guzman to get life without parole. "It is a sentence from which there is no escape and no return," Donoghue said. Lichtman described the conviction as "devastating," but he said he was proud that the defense "left it all on the battlefield." Deliberations were complicated by the trial's vast scope. Jurors were tasked with making 53 decisions about whether prosecutors have proven different elements of the case. The trial cast a harsh glare on the corruption that allowed the cartel to flourish. Colombian trafficker Alex Cifuentes caused a stir by testifying that former Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto took a $100 million bribe from Guzman. Pena Nieto denied it, but the allegation fit a theme: politicians, army commanders, police and prosecutors, all on the take. The tension at times was cut by some of the trial's sideshows, such as the sight of Guzman and his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, showing up in matching burgundy velvet blazers in a gesture of solidarity. Another day, a Chapo-size actor who played the kingpin in the TV series "Narcos: Mexico" came to watch, telling reporters that seeing the defendant flash him a smile was "surreal." While the trial was dominated by Guzman's persona as a near-mythical outlaw who carried a diamond-encrusted handgun and stayed one step ahead of the law, the jury never heard from Guzman himself, except when he told the judge he wouldn't testify. But his sing-songy voice filled the courtroom, thanks to recordings of intercepted phone calls. "Amigo!" he said to a cartel distributor in Chicago. "Here at your service." One of the trial's most memorable tales came from girlfriend Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, who testified she was in bed in a safe house with an on-the-run Guzman in 2014 when Mexican marines started breaking down his door. She said Guzman led her to a trap door beneath a bathtub that opened up to a tunnel that allowed them to escape. Asked what he was wearing, she replied: "He was naked. He took off running. He left us behind." The defendant had previously escaped from jail by hiding in a laundry bin in 2001. He then got an escort from crooked police officers into Mexico City before retreating to one of his many mountainside hideaways. In 2014, he pulled off another jail break, escaping through a mile-long lighted tunnel on a motorcycle on rails. Even when Guzman was recaptured in 2016 before his extradition to the United States, he was plotting another escape, prosecutor Andrea Goldbarg said in closing arguments. Why? Because he is guilty and he never wanted to be in a position where he would have to answer for his crimes, she told the jury. He wanted to avoid sitting right there. In front of you. Lawyers representing women across the country alleging they were sexually assaulted at Massage Envy franchises have added another New Jersey woman to their lawsuit bringing the number of plaintiffs to five in the state. Nationwide, more than 400 allegations of sexual assault at the chains locations have been made in the last two years, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation said this week. The organization added the franchise to its 2019 Dirty Dozen List of contributors to sex exploitation due to years of mishandling sexual harassment and assault cases. The latest case of alleged assault at a New Jersey Massage Envy occurred in Short Hills, according to Stewart Ryan of the Philadelphia law firm Laffey, Bucci & Kent. The woman claims she was forcibly kissed and groped on Dec. 27, 2016 by a male therapist who asked, How far can we go? Its the second claim of a sexual assault at that location, according to the complaint. The first alleged assault involved a different woman on Jan. 23, 2015, the lawsuit states. Other assaults in New Jersey are alleged to have occurred at franchises in Piscataway, Closter and Mays Landing. A spokesperson at Massage Envys corporate headquarters in Arizona said the company does not comment on pending legal matters but released a statement saying they support the decision of any victim to report misconduct. Massage Envy is committed to promoting a safe environment for members, guests and service providers at each of our 1,200 franchise locations nationwide, the statement said. We urge anyone (who) experiences anything other than a safe, quality massage to report it immediately to the franchise location so that it can be investigated. All of the allegations involve male massage therapists who allegedly assaulted female customers. Stewart said his law firm is preparing to sue Massage Envy on behalf of victims in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Texas, Massachusetts and New Mexico. We currently have 93 clients and the number grows almost daily, Stewart said. Other suits have been filed by attorneys across the United States, bringing the number of plaintiffs into the hundreds. In January, a former Paterson woman now living in Florida claims she was assaulted at a Massage Envy in East Hollywood, California. A woman who claims she was assaulted at the Piscataway franchise spoke publicly on Monday during a conference at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation in Washington D.C. The closed door seemed so far away, said the woman, identified in the New Jersey lawsuit as Jane Doe #1. All I wanted to do was pass out. Frozen and confused and shocked and vulnerable, all I wanted to do was run. And the last word out of the therapists mouth was, she said, Can I get a cash tip? Some of the New Jersey women who have alleged assaults said they reported the incidents to franchise workers or managers but nothing happened. In our lawsuits we allege that Massage Envy knew about the problem of sexual assault (and), beyond simply doing nothing, in fact discouraged reporting to police and other authorities, Stewart said. The attorneys cited wording in contracts they claim Massage Envy clients are required to sign beforehand: At no time shall you have a right (to) assert or bring any claim, demand, or legal action against (Massage Envy) or any of its affiliates. Last year, New Jersey permanently revoked the license of a Massage Envy therapist accused of inappropriate conduct at two locations in Monmouth County. Massage Envys statement said the company require its franchisees to supply any guest who claims to be a victim of sexual misconduct with the contact information of local law enforcement and the state (massage therapy) board. It is our policy to respect the victims privacy and the victims right to decide whether they would like to report to law enforcement, the state board, or anyone else, the statement said. We do require franchisees to report to law enforcement when required by law. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. The continuing legal saga of Bridgegate defendant Bridget Anne Kelly has been dealt another setback on appeal and attorneys for the former aide to Gov. Chris Christie say they will move this week to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a federal court filing, Kellys attorney Michael Critchley said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia denied a request for a rehearing on her case. In a letter to the judge who presided over her trial he said he would petition for a review by the nations highest court. If unsuccessful, the 46-year-old single mother of four faces prison. Kelly who served as Christies deputy chief of staff, together with Bill Baroni, 47, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were found guilty in November 2016 in a bizarre scheme of political retribution involving the unauthorized shutdown of several local access lanes at the toll plaza of the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee. Prosecutors charged that the two conspired with David Wildstein, a former political operative and a patronage appointee at the Port Authority, to cause massive traffic jams in Fort Lee. They argue the move was payback against Mayor Mark Sokolich, after the Democratic mayor walked away from an expected endorsement of Christie, a Republican, during the governors 2013 re-election campaign. Baroni and Kelly were ultimately found guilty of conspiring to misuse public resources to create a choke point, to pursue a purely personal vendetta. Wildstein, who admitted to masterminding the lane closure plan, pleaded guilty and testified against Baroni and Kelly. He was sentenced to three years probation and 500 hours of community service. Christie, who has repeatedly denied any advance knowledge of the scheme, was never charged of any wrongdoing or involvement. Both Baroni and Kelly have remained free on bail since the trial, pending their appeals. However, late last year, the Third Circuit upheld a major portion of their convictions. The court said federal prosecutors presented evidence sufficient to prove that the two fraudulently obtained the labor of public employees and in a harsh rebuke said there was no legitimate justification the conduct of the two. The three-judge panel, though, threw out a part of the case dealing with civil rights violations against the former Christie administration officials focusing on whether they interfered with interstate travel. After the ruling, Baroni in January decided to drop further appeals and is scheduled to be resentenced later this month on the lesser charges before U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton in Newark for his role in the scheme. Originally sentenced to 24 months in prison, he is now expected to see no more than 18 months, based on the reversal of the civil rights counts by the appeals court. Kelly, who had been sentenced to 18 months in prison by Wigenton, also would have likely received less time. However, attorneys for Kelly opted to separately pursue a further legal challenge before the Third Circuit, requesting a rehearing of the decision by the three-judge panel by the full appeals court, in what is known as a rehearing en banc, to reconsider the decision. Typically such rehearings are only granted in matters of exceptional public importance, or when the panels decision appears to conflict with a prior decision of the courts. That is a point that Kellys legal team repeatedly hammered at in their filings, arguing that her conviction and the Third Circuit ruling leaving most of that conviction intact were at odds with previous Supreme Court rulings involving allegations of corruption. The panels decision is dangerous and untenable. Taken seriously, it would allow any federal, state, or local official to be indicted based on nothing more than the (ubiquitous) allegation that she lied in claiming to act in the public interest, wrote Kellys attorneys. But last week, the Third Circuit denied her petition for a rehearing and Critchley, who had already indicated he would go to the Supreme Court, said he would continue her appeal in a filing that the court would be in the position to act upon before its current term ends in June. The legal argument will likely focus again on whether the statute used to convict Kelly has already been overturned by prior Supreme Court rulings. Her attorneys have maintained since the charges were first brought the U.S. Attorneys office had sought to criminalize bad behavior. Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. A judge on Monday ruled grand jury transcripts from the investigation into the 1946 unsolved murders of two black couples - brutal killings known as Americas last mass lynching - should be released after the efforts of a New Jersey lawyer. A federal appeals court upheld a lower court decision to unseal the documents, which stem from an FBI probe into the horrific July 1946 murders of Roger and Dorothy Malcom, and George and Mae Murray Dorsey in rural Monroe, Georgia. The decision came from a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The U.S. Department of Justice argued grand jury transcripts are secret, while lawyer Joseph J. Bell Jr., of Bell & Shivas in Rockaway, countered that the historical significance of the files warranted an exception. It will shine a bright light on a dark part of American history, Bell said of the decision Monday. Bell argued the case after meeting historian Anthony Pitch, who authored a book on the murders called "The Last Lynching: How a Gruesome Mass Murder Rocked a Small Georgia Town. A judge in 2017 granted a request to release the files, but Justice Department lawyers appealed. Roger and Dorothy Malcom, along with George and Mae Murray Dorsey, were traveling together by car when they were stopped by a white mob of around 20 to 25 people at the Moore's Ford Bridge. The couples were pulled from the car and shot several times. I am at a loss to understand why [the DOJ] would want to keep this confidential, Bell said of the governments push to keep the documents under seal. "Perhaps now the truth of this unfortunate, gruesome act will be finally unearthed and displayed to the world, Bell told the Associated Press. In a majority opinion, Circuit Judge Charles Wilson called the lynching an event of exceptional historical significance. "Compared to the journalist or the family member of a victim that seeks access to the details of a salacious unsolved crime, the Moore's Ford Lynching is historically significant because it is closely tied to the national civil rights movement, Wilson wrote. More than 70 years later, there were was little risk that possible witnesses could be intimidated or anyone arrested, the opinion noted. In a dissenting opinion, U.S. District Judge James Graham said he was concerned people still alive today may find their reputations damaged if the transcripts "reveal that their parent or grandparent was a suspect, a witness who equivocated or was uncooperative, a member of the grand jury which refused to indict, or a person whose name was identified as a Klan member." I believe that judges should not be so bold as to grant themselves the authority to decide that the historical significance exception should exist and what the criteria should be, Graham said. FBI agents investigated the case, leading to multiple possible suspects in a probe that involved interviews with at least 2,700 people. The grand jury, however, failed to indict anyone for crimes. Both the FBI and Georgia Bureau of Investigation has since officially closed the case. It was not yet clear if the Justice Department would appeal the decision. Lawyers for the DOJ could ask for the matter to be considered by the full bench of the 11th Circuit or take the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court. This story contains material from The Associated Press Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. A motorist who admitted being drunk and high for a fiery car wreck that killed his passenger will now head to prison for the crime. Tayib Mahmood, 29, of Woodbridge, was sentenced Monday to seven years in state prison, Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey said in a news statement. Mahmood was driving his 2014 Toyota Camry on Stelton Road near Jessie Way in Piscataway when he hit a concrete barrier and the car caught fire. Tahir Jamile, the 27-year-old passenger from the Colonia section of Woodbridge, was pronounced dead at the scene. Mahmood later pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and driving under the influence of alcohol and marijuana. In addition to the prison time, Judge Michael Toto ordered a seven-year loss of license beginning when Mahmood is released from prison. He must serve 85 percent of his sentence before parole. Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. JERSEY CITY Maybe the fourth time will be the charm? The Jersey City school board on Monday passed its fourth resolution since Jan. 31 that tosses Marcia V. Lyles as the districts superintendent. The vote was unanimous, with the boards lone supporter of Lyles, Matt Schapiro, absent. There was no discussion. The boards repeated votes to get rid of Lyles come as her allies accuse board members of deposing her illegally. The first vote came at the boards Jan. 31 meeting, when it approved a resolution relieving Lyles of her duties immediately, while continuing to pay her $231,000 salary and benefits until her contract expires in June 2020. After the county superintendent told the board on Feb. 1 that she was nullifying the vote because the board did not terminate Lyles properly, the board met for an emergency meeting on Sunday, Feb. 3 to clarify that it was not terminating Lyles but putting her on paid administrative leave and barring her from school property. When the board met the following day, Feb. 4, for a special meeting, it voted to reiterate that it was putting Lyles on administrative leave. The resolution passed on Monday is identical to the one approved on Feb. 4. Asked why the board continues to take votes on Lyles employment, Board of Education President Sudhan Thomas referred to legal challenges to the prior votes. Its out of an abundance of caution, Thomas told The Jersey Journal. If somebody challenges the meeting, we just want to be in the clear. In a lawsuit filed last week, Lyles ally Cathy Coyle alleges the Feb. 3 and Feb. 4 votes violated the state Open Public Meetings Act because the board did not properly notify the public about the meetings. The boards policy is to advertise special meetings 48 hours in advance in two newspapers, The Jersey Journal and The Hudson Reporter. The Feb. 3 meeting was not advertised and the Feb. 4 one was advertised in The Jersey Journal only. Coyles attorney, Bertram C. Okpokwasili, himself a former board member, told The Jersey Journal they will confer with a judge to discern if Mondays meeting adhered to OPMA. Board members have been largely silent about tossing Lyles a year and a half before her contract expires. Thomas has chided Lyles for not fighting state school funding cuts, overseeing a nearly complete depletion of the districts budget surplus and allegedly misleading the board about student achievement. On Monday, Thomas said the fourth vote might not be the last. The board may vote to reaffirm its decision on Lyles at its next regular meeting on Feb. 28. A request for comment from Lyles attorney was not immediately returned. Lyles on Jan. 30 filed a federal lawsuit against Thomas, the school board and the local teachers union alleging they harassed her, embarrassed her and took actions intended to make her fail. Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. The South Jersey woman accused of killing her child, then claiming he was abducted, placed a series of 911 calls on Friday evening in which she hysterically reported being assaulted on a Bridgeton street. Nakira M. Griner, 24, who lives in Bridgeton, is charged with murder in the death of 23-month-old Daniel Griner Jr., whose burned and dismembered remains were found buried under a shed at Griners Woodland Drive home. The grisly discovery was made early Saturday morning, hours after Griner told authorities she was attacked and her child taken. Griner told police she was walking along a street with her infant child strapped to her chest and Daniel in a stroller when someone she could not describe knocked her to the ground and repeatedly kicked her. When she looked up, the stroller and Daniel were gone. Cumberland County officials on Tuesday made public four 911 calls placed around 6:30 p.m. Friday in which a sobbing Griner can be heard saying that she was attacked and that she fell on her 8-month old infant child. The 911 operator struggles to understand what the woman is saying, as she is crying throughout the calls. Im really trying to understand you, but its really difficult while youre crying, he tells her. Try to take a deep breath, slow your breathing down and tell me whats going on so I can help you. Im hiding, she says. Who are you hiding from? the operator asks. The calls disconnect before she phones again to offer additional details. A baby can by heard crying in the background. Through tears, Griner tells the 911 operator that she was walking to Walgreens when she was attacked. She says she was pushed to the ground and fell on top of her baby. The final call ends as police arrive on the scene. 6 Memorial outside home of Daniel Griner, Jr. Her story changed during interviews with police, according to her criminal complaint, and she failed a polygraph test. She eventually admits striking Daniel because he would not eat nor listen to her, according to the affidavit of probable cause. Griner told police she struck the child so hard that it left bruises on his face, and also said he fell down a flight of stairs. Authorities have not revealed exactly where or how the child died. Police describe finding human remains in trash bags under the shed at the home Griner shares with her husband. The report also states burnt remains of what appeared to be a child were located in Nakiras purse under the shed Authorities confirmed the younger child was not injured. Griner is due in court Thursday for a detention hearing on charges including first-degree murder, endangering the welfare of a child, desecration of human remains and tampering with evidence. She remains in Cumberland County Jail pending that hearing. Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip?Tell us: nj.com/tips. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. A man walking in the left lane of Route 322 in Atlantic City was struck and killed by a car Sunday night, authorities said. The man, whose identity has not been released, was struck by a car driven by a 38-year-old Hyattsville, Maryland man near a Shell gas station just before 7 p.m., Sgt. Kevin Fair said. The driver immediately stopped, leading to a chain-reaction crash involving two other cars. No one in those vehicles was injured. The pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene while the driver of the car who hit him was taken to a local hospital to be treated for minor injures. Police closed the road for two hours to investigate. Fair said Tuesday morning that police were still trying to notify the victims family. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook. John Hill, president of the Providence Newspaper Guild, which would represent Courant employees if the union were recognized, said The Courants petition reflects a powerful trend in the news industry. Massive job and revenue losses caused by the internet combined with hedge fund owners seeking to squeeze every last penny out of properties has led to an unprecedented wave of unionization, he said. In the last three to four years, the Newspaper Guild has organized more 40 new bargaining units, the most in many decades, he said. Niagara Falls, NY (14301) Today Sunny to partly cloudy. High near 85F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 67F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. ANSONIA Nearly 50 students, staff, parents and community members recently joined forces to figure out how to bring about more diversity to city schools. The Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools Carol Merlone held a community conversation about the subject last week at the Boys & Girls Club. The event was led by John Ramos, founder and president of the Equity and Excellence Imperative, and Mary Broderick, a consultant with the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education. According to a news release from Merlones office, the three-hour program featured high school students, staff and community members broken into three groups. At the end of the night, a representative from each group reported on the common themes discussed. It was a tremendous turnout, said Merlone. Everyone agreed that we need to continue the conversation, and we need to dig deeper. School board President William Nimons was pleased to hear the ideas shared. We all know that many of our students do not come to school on a level playing field, he said. It is up to people like us to determine how we can close this educational gap, given the many challenges that exist. Merlone said Ansonia is part of a pilot program through CABEs Diversity Committee, which is seeking to be a catalyst in promoting excellence in education for each child through policies and practices that support diversity and equity. Ramos and Broderick worked with each group and reported that three common themes emerged: many students bring trauma to school, and teachers with large class sizes are having trouble addressing their needs; the curriculum needs to be more culturally aware and students need rich, meaningful experiences in order to learn; and children are being harmed by the fight between the city and the Board of Education over the budget. That budget fight since appears to have been settled, with the school board and Board of Aldermen agreeing to terms that would cease the school boards lawsuit with the city. The city and school district have been fighting more than $600,000 added to the schools spending plan last year after the state was late with its budget and then withdrawn when the state budget included more in funding than the district expected but less than it had requested. The school district said the $600,000 should not have been taken back by the city. The city disagreed. The school district then filed a lawsuit. Under a settlement worked out before a judge last week, the school board will receive $850,000 for its 2018-19 budget. At the forum, a questionnaire completed by participants found that most want to continue the conversation to to help brainstorm solutions, attract additional community members and elected officials to get involved and encourage more involvement in the schools and community, according to the Merlone. Parental engagement and community involvement need to be at the epicenter of an effort to leverage the human capital already living in Ansonia, said Josh Shuart, a 6th Ward alderman who participated. It was extremely encouraging to see everyone working together, and it is now essential to craft actionable follow-up, to motivate even more residents to participate. Second Ward Alderman Phil Tripp, who also took part, said he found the event very informative and eye opening, and agreed the conversation needs to continue. Merlone said a second such event is in the works and will dig deeper into the common themes found by the groups, which she hopes will lead to prioritizing some action steps. jean.sos@snet.net The nature of his business makes his work difficult, he said. For example, he said, there is no simple answer to the question of cost. With 169 municipalities in Connecticut, scores of sign regulations scramble easy answers about cost. Placement and size also are factors. (CNN) British Prime Minister Theresa May has again rejected calls for the UK to remain in a customs union with the European Union after the country leaves the blocbut said she remains open to further talks with the opposition Labour Party as the clock ticks toward a potential no-deal Brexit. While May battles to salvage her withdrawal agreement from the EU, her government enjoyed a brief victory on Monday by announcing a trade agreement with Switzerland. The prime minister wrote a letter to opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn Sunday, responding to Corbyn's suggestion that Labour might support a Brexit deal if it ensured membership of a customs union -- allowing tariff-free trade to continue with the EU after Brexit. She appeared to rule out that possibility, arguing it would diminish the country's ability to strike trade deals. "I am not clear why you believe it would be preferable to seek a say in future EU trade deals rather than the ability to strike our own deals?" she wrote. But May said she would welcome further talks on what "alternative arrangements" should be sought to the backstop -- an insurance policy designed to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland -- which has stalled parliamentary support for her proposals so far. "One of the things I would like our teams to discuss is the exact nature of those alternative arrangements," May wrote. And she revealed Parliament will play a bigger role in directing negotiations with the EU, writing: "We intend to give Parliament a bigger say in the mandate for the next phase of the negotiations to address concerns that... MPs cannot be sure precisely what future relationship it would lead to." May's original withdrawal agreement with the EU was defeated by 230 votes last month -- a historically emphatic loss for a government in the House of Commons. If no new deal has been reached with the EU by Wednesday, May will make a statement to Parliament that day and table a motion for debate Thursday. Swiss-UK trade agreement Meanwhile, the UK's deal with Switzerland will ensure the current trading relationship between the two nations will continue after Brexit, the British government said. The agreement, which will take effect when the UK leaves the EU, was first announced in December and was ratified in Bern, Switzerland, on Monday. The deal replicates current trading arrangements "as far as possible," the government said when it was first revealed. But ministers remain under pressure to strike further deals before Britain leaves the European Union on March 29. "Switzerland is one of the most valuable trading partners that we are seeking continuity for, accounting for more than 32 billion pounds worth of trade a year," Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox said in a statement. "This is of huge economic importance to UK businesses, so I'm delighted to be here in Bern today, ensuring continuity for 15,000 British exporters," he added. As a member of the EU, the UK benefits from the EU's trade deals with other nations, but it will lose those deals in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Switzerland is not a member of the EU but is part of its single market. On Sunday, the director-general of the Confederation of British Industry said the government's failure to secure other continuity of trade deals was an "emergency." "The prospect is the day after Brexit those deals will disappear," Carolyn Fairbairn told Sky News. This story was first published on CNN.com, "May rejects customs union as Britain signs deal with Switzerland." NEW HAVEN Four years after she allegedly killed her two young children, LeRoya Moore is scheduled to go on trial Wednesday on two charges each of murder and risk of injury to a child. Moore, now 39, has been held in lieu of $2 million bail since she was arrested June 10, 2015. Eight days earlier, her children were found dead in the familys home at 541 Strong St. in East Haven. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The office of the states chief medical examiner ruled that Aleisha Moore, 6, and Daaron Moore, 7, died from acute intoxication of diphenhydramine, a drug (antihistamine) found in many over-the-counter medications. In addition, police said there was a strong smell of gas in the home when they entered it. After police came into the house, they found a note near the childrens bodies that had Moores name on it. Police later said the signature matched hers on other documents. In the arrest warrant, police quoted portions of the note: Im sure theres an expert somewhere that will say the children suffered, but I let them know they were loved very much and they were going to heaven. We said the Lords Prayer to protect their souls. The note continued: I know this was meant to end the way it did. I dont know the reason why, but we were meant to die today. Im numb and if I burn for eternity, at least Ill know why I deserve it. I couldnt leave any more of my kids to the system, the note added. They were in pain and now theyre in heaven. I prayed and God knows my heart, he made me the way I am and knew we werent fit for this world past this time. They should not be left to burden anyone because I am the only one who could love them like a mother, the note continued. Not an institution or a social worker. They will be in heaven with the people who we lost and loved. According to the warrant, Moore had told a friend that she cut herself and police said she did have cut marks on her wrist. State judicial records showed Moore was to appear at Superior Court in New Haven on June 22, 2015, on third-degree assault and breach of peace charges stemming from a dispute with her ex-husband, the childrens father, in New Haven. According to state online judicial records, those charges remain pending. Moores attorneys for the trial will be Senior Assistant Public Defender Scott M. Jones and Supervisory Assistant Public Defender Jennifer Bourn. Jones Monday declined to comment on whether he and Bourn will use a mental health defense. But Moores former attorney, Assistant Public Defender Tejas Bhatt, told the New Haven Register in an email on Sept. 30, 2016: We filed notice of intent to pursue a mental health defense. Moore, in consultation with her attorneys, exercised her right to have a trial by a three-judge panel rather than a jury. Superior Court Judge Elpedio N. Vitale will be the presiding judge and on either side of him will be Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue and Superior Court Judge Brian T. Fischer. The prosecutors for the trial are New Haven States Attorney Patrick Griffin and Senior Assistant States Attorney Stacey Miranda. She declined to provide any details about the prosecution strategy for the case. The trial has been delayed for several years because of ongoing investigations by state authorities and negotiations between prosecutors and defense attorneys. randall.beach@hearstmediact.com Oregon Gov. Kate Brown urged residents to get vaccinated Thursday as public health officials in Oregon and Washington reported a combined 56 confirmed cases of measles. The Oregon Legislature will likely take a look at ways to tighten the state's immunization rules in the wake of the Pacific Northwest measles outbreak, Brown said, although she didn't point to any specific proposal. "I think we need to strengthen our legislation," she told reporters. Washington lawmakers, meanwhile, will hold a public hearing Friday on a bill that would remove the so-called "philosophical" exemption for the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, or MMR. Advocates on both sides of the childhood vaccines debate are expected to attend. Clark County, Washington where the outbreak began on Dec. 31 reported Wednesday that is has identified 13 additional suspected cases, including four in unvaccinated people who had contact with contagious individuals. Fifty-one of the confirmed measles cases are in southwest Washington, one is in the Seattle area and four are in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area. Three more possible exposure sites were also identified in Vancouver, Washington, on Wednesday, leading to the possibility of more cases. "Any time we start getting a little optimistic, something happens. We're hopeful and any time we see that there are no new exposure locations that's helpful," said Marissa Armstrong, spokeswoman for the Clark County Public Health. "But I think we all still know that it's not over yet." Measles is a highly contagious and potentially dangerous viral illness that is transmitted through coughing and sneezing. Forty-four of the patients in southwest Washington were not vaccinated against the disease and one patient had one shot of the two-shot series. NEW HAVEN A city man who federal authorities said was a heroin dealer was sentenced to more than a little more than 1 year in prison, according to a release. Curtis Draughn, also known as Kirk, 63, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to a total of 15 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, for distributing heroin, according to a release from the office of John H. Durham, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut. NEW HAVEN The Board of Education filled two central office vacancies Monday night amid a period of turnover and retirements, including a crucial replacement for former school district Chief Operating Officer Will Clark. Michael Pinto, the citys deputy director of transportation, will begin work as the school districts operations manager in March for a starting salary of $145,000. He is quite familiar and committed to New Haven, said Superintendent of Schools Carol Birks. He has vast experience in private practice. Pinto, who has a law degree from Quinnipiac University, is replacing Clark after the latter left for a similar position in Waterbury Public Schools. According to a severance agreement, Clark is receiving a payout of more than $100,000 from the school district for leaving before his contract had expired. The New Haven Public Schools have been a part of my familys life since 1915, Pinto said. His grandmother attended Worthington Hooker, he said, and his grandfather taught Latin within the system. His siblings voluntarily integrated into the citys schools from Hamden, he said, and he attended Worthington Hooker for a spell himself. I recognize the magnitude of this job, he said. I think Im collaborative, but I also try to be pragmatic; I dont need to be right, I just want to get the job done. Birks also recommended Elizabeth Gaffney for the role of director of Head Start. This has been a long journey to getting a Head Start director, so were extremely elated shes joining our team, Birks said. Gaffney said two of the most important lessons she learned from her mother were that children are sacred and other people are not disposable. She said she, too, is elated to begin the job, which has a starting salary of $115,000. Birks said the contract for The Management Solution, the firm contracted to serve in the role of CFO for the district, has expired. She said the district has selected a finalist for the role, and the finalists references are being checked and verified. She said she wants to have a candidate on board as soon as possible, as the school district is on track to approve its preliminary budget for 2019-20 at the next board meeting Feb. 25. In a presentation, Birks laid out an initial version of the budget that calls for a $10.3 million increase to the budget from the state . In total, the district projects a $30.7 million deficit for 2019-20 without any efforts to cut costs or increase revenue. Birks said she hopes to save $5.4 million from right-sizing the districts model or eliminating positions through attrition and spreading resources thinner. Its not my vision to close schools, she said, although her budget proposal currently calls for $1.5 million in savings from program consolidations and renegotiating lease agreements. We have enough student enrollment to occupy our schools. Last year, the Board of Alders moved Harps proposed $5 million increase to the school board budget to another line item, flat-funding the schools budget before secondary sources of revenue such as grants. District officials say district operations have become more reliant upon the citys funding as large grant funds, such as the Teacher Incentive Fund, have dried up. Although Pinto comes to the district from the citys transportation department, an actual contract for the school districts business with First Student has not yet been signed. Board of Education President Darnell Goldson said he believes negotiations are winding to a close and he anticipates some savings as the school district has more say in creating routes. They want to get paid, he said. brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com Editors note: A previous version of this story incorrectly said Superintendent of Schools Carol Birks presented a budget that called for an additional $10.3 million from the city. The money would be requested from the state. MIDDLETOWN -Two people are facing numerous drug charges after a routine motor vehicle stop Feb. 7 revealed they were both hiding drugs in their clothing, police said. The driver, Hashana Hicks, 25, of Portland Street, Middletown, and her passenger, Luis DeJesus, 24, of Warren Street, Hartford, were held on bond overnight until their arraignment in Middletown Superior Court Friday. An officer parked at the intersection of Pearl and Liberty Streets saw an Acura traveling on Pearl Street with tinted windows so dark that he couldnt see the occupants of the car, reports said. When he pulled the vehicle over, the car smelled like marijuana so he asked Hicks and DeJesus if there were any illegal drugs in the vehicle, reports said. Hicks voluntarily handed over a bag of marijuana and then officers noticed a bulge in her pants which turned out to be 30 packets of heroin, police said. She also had a rock of crack cocaine in her pants, police said. DeJesus began to swear at officers as they tried to determine if he had drugs stuffed in his pants as well, reports said. Officers located crack cocaine stuffed in his buttocks and in his pants worth about $723 on the street, reports said. Hicks was charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance within 1,500 feet of a school, possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, possession with intent to sell within 1,500 feet of a school, possession of less than one-half ounce of marijuana, interfering with police and a window tint violation. DeJesus was charged with tampering with evidence, interfering with officers, possession with intent to sell, possession of narcotics, possession of a controlled substance within 1,500 feet of a school, and possession by a non-student near a school. Hicks was released on a promise to appear after her arraignment Friday. DeJesus was held after his arraignment Friday on $25,000 bond. Pfeiffer was removed from the car and taken by ground ambulance to Rockville General Hospital, Tolland fire officials said. He then was airlifted by Life Star helicopter to The Connecticut Burn Center at Bridgeport Hospital to be treated for severe burns. CHESHIRE Chesprocott, the regional agency that oversees food inspection in Cheshire and two other communities, performed 183 inspection of licensed food service establishments over the last six months and six restaurants failed twice, inspection records show. One restaurant, BellaGio Ristorante, & Pizza on West Main Street, failed three times during the six-month period. Other restaurants failed inspections once, but were able to correct the violations during follow-up visits from health inspectors. During inspections, restaurants receive a score of up to 100 points. Each issue listed in the inspection report is assigned a specific point value. To pass, the restaurant must meet two main requirements: It must score 80 points or higher, and it must not have any 4-point infractions, which pose the highest threat to food safety. Click here to read more about Connecticut restaurant inspection rules. Susan Lonczak, chief sanitarian for Chesprocott, said that when a food service establishment fails twice, we hold a formal hearing to discuss next steps. These scores arent necessarily out of the ordinary, Lonczak said. We do have a seasoned inspector who joined us a year ago, so a fresh pair of eyes has made for more thorough inspections. Lonczak said the department issues letters outlining violations and expectations for fixing problems found during inspections. The lowest score achieved by any of the establishments reviewed over the last six months was BellaGio, which received a score of 61 during an inspection on Oct. 25. The West Main Street restaurant had four 4-point violations, including food stored at improper temperatures and lack of proper hand washing facilities. BellaGios next inspection came on Nov. 26. And while the restaurants score improved to 80, it failed the inspection because of a 4-point violation for storing food at improper temperatures, inspection records show. That led to a hearing with Chesprocott officials. BellaGios most recent inspection was done Jan. 23 and although the restaurant got a score of 80, it failed again because of three 4-point violations, health records show. The violations uncovered during the inspection were for food stored at improper temperatures, food from an unapproved source and a failure to maintain the proper sanitizing mixture in the restaurants dishwasher. The restaurant ultimately passed during a follow-up spot check on Jan. 24, health officials said. Lonczak said the spot checks address the specfic health problems identified in previous inspections and although no score is issued, if the issues originally cited are addressed, the restaurant passes and is able to continue operating. Restaurant owner Frank Loga was not available for comment on BellaGios health inspection scores. The other restaurants that failed inspections twice during the time period were: Toro Sushi, on South Main Street, had a score of 74 during an inspection Aug. 31. During that visit, the health inspector found violations in food stored at improper temperature levels, handling of cooked items with bare hands, a lack of hand washing at appropriate times and unclean food contact surfaces, records show. The restaurants next inspection was on Oct. 4 when it got a score of 87, but failed because of a 4-point violation involving inadequate hand washing facilities, records show. The restaurant ultimately passed during a follow up spot check on Oct. 11. Attempts to reach Toro Sushis owner were unsuccessful. Rossinis Italian Restaurant Pizza on West Main Street failed inspections Oct. 10, when it had a score of 74, and Nov. 7, when it had received a 79 from health inspectors. The Oct. 10 inspection turned up food stored at improper temperatures, unclean food preparation surfaces and a failure to wash hands at appropriate times, records show. The restaurant ultimately passed during a follow-up spot check Jan. 9. Attempts to reach Rossinis owner were unsuccessful. Lazy Susans Deli on South Main Street had a score of 75 on Oct. 29. The South Main Street deli was cited for improper food storage temperatures, raw meat stored near ready-to-eat foods, handling of cooked foods with bare hands, food preparation workers with exposed lesions or burns, records show. The next inspection for the deli was on Nov. 16, when it received a score of 94, but failed because of a 4-point violation for food stored at improper temperatures, records show. The restaurant ultimately passed during a follow-up spot check Jan. 4. Susan Comunale, the owner of Lazy Susans, said she and her staff are working hard to correct the problems identified in the inspections. Were always very concerned about cleanliness, Comunale said. But weve had a problem with the temperatures in our showcase that were trying to fix. Pops Pizza on West Main Street had a score of 64 during an inspection Oct. 29. During that visit, the inspector found food stored at improper temperatures, handling of cooked foods with bare hands, employees not washing their hands at appropriate times and unclean food contact services, records show. The restaurants next inspection on Nov. 20 earned a score of 93, but it failed because of a 4-point violation for food stored at improper temperatures, records show. The restaurant ultimately passed during a follow-up spot check Jan. 9. Peter DeBisschop, Pops owner, was not available for comment on the restaurants health inspection scores. Vespuccis Restaurant on Main Street had a score of 67 on Dec. 13. The restaurant had health violations that included food cans that were not in good condition, food stored at improper temperatures, raw meat stored near ready-to-eat items, in adequate splash and sneeze guards, improper handling of cooked food with bare hands, unclean preparation surfaces and improper hand washing procedures, records show. Vespuccis score improved to an 80 when inspected Jan. 9. But the restaurant failed that inspection because it had a pair of 4-point violations for food stored at improper temperatures and inadequate hand washing facilities, records show. The restaurant ultimately passed during a follow-up spot check on Jan. 29. Attempts to reach Vespuccis owner were unsuccessful. Viron Rondo Osteria on Highland Avenue scored a 79 and had two 4-point violations during an inspection on Nov. 29 that caused it to fail: Food stored at improper temperatures, and a failure to maintain the proper sanitizing mixture in the restaurants dishwasher, records show. Owner Viron Rondo said the problem with food being stored at improper temperatures was the result of a malfunction with the restaurants refrigerator. It happened overnight and we didnt discover it until the moring, Rondo said. We had already called our repairman and were waiting for him to show up when the inspector showed up. Executive Chef Sean Farrell said the restaurant has since added a refrigerated trailer powered with a generator to provide more space for foods that need to be kept cold. Viron Rondo is in the midst of an expansion that will add a second kitchen that will be state of the art and will give us more space to work out of. Were working with Chesprocott and they have been very helpful in making this a better restaurant, Farrell said. Rondo said the first phase of the expansion project is expected to be done in May with the complete renovation finished by August. During a second inspection Jan. 16, the restaurant had three 4-point violations and scored an 80. Inspectors cited the restaurant for food stored in a bent can, food stored at improper temperatures and inadequate hand washing facilities, records show. The restaurant ultimately passed during a follow-up spot check on Jan. 23. luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com WATERTOWN A bloody footprint, a cardboard box of vegetables and DNA left amid a grisly scene helped lead Watertown police to William Bayarinas, accused of murdering former East Haven teacher Maryann Stanisz-Kibbe in January. Bayarinas, 48, has been charged with home invasion, murder, murder with special circumstances, first-degree burglary and third-degree larceny, according to state judicial records. According to an affidavit seeking a warrant for Bayarinas arrest, officers went to Stanisz-Kibbes home Jan. 9 after family members came to check on her but were unable to get inside. They found Stanisz-Kibbe dead. She had suffered trauma to her head and ear. Her vehicle, a 2007 PT Cruiser, was missing. A large amount of blood was found around her body, the room and in the hallway, police said in the affidavit. Detective Kevin Ferrucci, who wrote the affidavit, said he found a partial footprint in the blood-like substance near Stainsz-Kibbes head. Blood was also found on the exterior of the home and the front door, he said. On Jan. 11, Waterbury police told Ferrucci two men operating a PT Cruiser appeared to have committed a burglary in the community Jan. 8. Police found two cigarette butts and stains from a red, blood-like substance in the vehicle, according to the affidavit. That same day, a person told police that Bayarinas had known Stanisz-Kibbe and her late husband, the affidavit said. The person said Bayarinas and Stanisz-Kibbe had lived across the street from one another; that Stanisz-Kibbes husband had given Bayarinas money while he was in prison; and that Bayarinas later moved in with Stanisz-Kibbes mother-in-law. In searching for a television believed to be missing from the home, Watertown police looked around the area where the PT Cruiser had been on Jan. 12. Ferrucci found a brown cardboard box of vegetables with a sticker from a Waterbury restaurant approximately 250 feet from where the car had been located, according to the affidavit. The victim of the Jan. 8 burglary was able to describe the contents of the box and the sticker when contacted by police. Bayarinas was found outside a Waterbury motel by Watertown police Jan. 14, according to the affidavit. Ferrucci said Bayarinas was wearing a worn pair of white sneakers, stained with a red, blood-like substance. The pattern on the heel appeared to match the partial, bloody footprint found at the scene. Another person found in Bayarinas company told police that Bayarinas had a silver car. He admitted the pair committed the Jan. 8 robbery but continually denied knowing anything regarding the murder, according to the affidavit. Bayarinas told police he knew Stanisz-Kibbe and her husband, but that he was last at their home more than two years ago. He said he found the PT Cruiser in a Dollar General parking lot with the keys in it and denied knowing it was Stanisz-Kibbes, police said. Bayarinas continually stated he was not there, did not go to the house, and did not ask her for anything. Bayarinas denied killing the victim or doing anything to harm her in any way, Ferrucci said in the affidavit. (He) exhibited a range of emotions while being interviewed and multiple times started to sob and could not look at either myself or (another detective) for most of the interview. Bayarinas was offered every explanation we could imagine as to why he may have been in the house or how it was that the victim ended up the way she was found but he still continually denied ever being at the house, said Ferrucci. The interview lasted for nearly five hours, Ferrucci said. DNA matching Bayarinas and the person found in his company was recovered in the PT Cruiser, according to the affidavit. The Connecticut State Forensics Laboratory said blood on Bayarinas sneakers was matched to a man. The soles of the shoes had been cleaned and possibly burned, according to the affidavit. The lab determined that they or another shoe of the same design could have made the partial footprint. A DNA sample taken from inside Stanisz-Kibbes home was found to be consistent with (Bayarinas) or another member of his fathers family tree. Fewer than 1 in 1,700 individuals are expected to match the DNA profile, according to the affidavit. Bayarinas, currently held in lieu of $3 million bail, has not yet entered a plea to any of the charges stemming from the two incidents. He is charged with third-degree burglary and sixth-degree larceny stemming from the Waterbury burglary, according to state records. Bayarinas is next scheduled to appear in court March 6. william.lambert@hearstmediact.com TORONTO, Feb. 12, 2019 /CNW/ - The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc. ("Supreme Cannabis" or the "Company") (TSX: FIRE) (OTCQX: SPRWF) (FRA: 53S1), announced the release of its financial and operating results for the three and six months ended December 31, 2018. Q2 2019 Financial and Operational Highlights Q2 2019 revenue for the Company was $7.72 million , a 359% increase from Q2 2018 ( $1.68 million ) and a 50% increase from Q1 2019 ( $5.14 million ). , a 359% increase from Q2 2018 ( ) and a 50% increase from Q1 2019 ( ). Q2 2019 net comprehensive loss for the Company was $1.55 million , compared to a net loss of $2.03 million in Q2 2018 and a net loss of $5.39 million in Q1 2019. , compared to a net loss of in Q2 2018 and a net loss of in Q1 2019. During the quarter, Supreme Cannabis strengthened its balance sheet by raising $100 million of gross proceeds through a bought deal offering of 6% unsecured convertible debentures due 2021 and led by GMP Securities L.P. and BMO Capital Markets. of gross proceeds through a bought deal offering of 6% unsecured convertible debentures due 2021 and led by GMP Securities L.P. and BMO Capital Markets. Supreme Cannabis made its first shipments of 7ACRES branded High-End Cannabis to six of Canada's provincially regulated adult-use channels. provincially regulated adult-use channels. The Company contracted Medipharm Labs Co. to facilitate the launch of the Company's cannabis oil products line. Supreme Cannabis and Khalifa Kush Enterprises announced an international partnership agreement to develop and launch premium cannabis products for the Canadian and international markets excluding the United States . . The Company's wholly-owned subsidiary and multi-award winning brand, 7ACRES, was named Brand of the Year at the 2018 Canadian Cannabis Awards. Subsequent to Q2 2019 The Company's 7ACRES facility received Health Canada approval for approximately 30,000 square feet of additional production space in January 2018 . . Supreme Cannabis graduated to the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") from the TSX Venture Exchange on February 4, 2019. 7ACRES entered into a supply agreement with the New Brunswick Liquor Corporation and has been registered as a supplier in the province of Saskatchewan , expanding distribution into eight provinces. "We're pleased with our second quarter results, which show meaningful revenue growth quarter-over-quarter and continues to reflect our strong operational execution," said Navdeep Dhaliwal, CEO of Supreme Cannabis. "Since Supreme received its license over two years ago, we have been one of the fastest scaling Licensed Producer's in Canada, demonstrated by one of the strongest first years of revenue in the sector." "During the second quarter we made our first shipments of 7ACRES-branded product to adult-use markets in six provinces. The consumer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Cannabis enthusiasts are vocal about their passion for high-quality cannabis. We believe 7ACRES has quickly established itself as Canada's only premier cannabis producer at scale. With construction on the flowering room at 7ACRES scheduled to be completed by the end of March, we're looking forward to increasing our production capacity to help meet consumer demand and drive further revenue growth throughout the year. This quarter validated many aspects of our consumer driven market thesis and demonstrates the strength of our intellectual property around scaled cultivation." We Grow Better. Supreme Cannabis' 2019 second quarter MD&A and consolidated financial statements for the quarter ended December 31, 2018, along with all previous public filings of The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc. may be found on SEDAR at www.SEDAR.com. About Supreme Cannabis The Supreme Cannabis Company (TSX: FIRE) (OTCQX: SPRWF) (FRA: 53S1) is a Canadian publicly traded company committed to providing premium brands and products that proudly reflect its consumers, people and uniquely innovative culture. The Company's portfolio includes its wholly-owned subsidiary and multi-award-winning brand, 7ACRES. 7ACRES is a federally licensed producer of cannabis operating inside a 440,000-square-foot facility in Kincardine, Ontario. 7ACRES is dedicated to providing consumers with a premium-quality product that recognizes its customers are informed, discerning and value a brand and culture that aligns with their principles. 7ACRES brand success has been reflected in its "Brand of the Year" award at the 2018 Canadian Cannabis Awards, "Best Licensed Producer Branding" award at the 2018 AdCann Advertising Awards and in provincial supply agreements where 7ACRES' product is consistently listed in the highest brand category available to recreational consumers. The Company's growing portfolio also includes an equity investment and long-term global distribution partnership with Lesotho-based Medigrow for the exporting of medical-grade cannabis oil. The Supreme Cannabis Company has been a leading innovator in the sector including the design of growing facilities and development of operational excellence metrics. We are confident that together with our flagship brand, proprietary technology and products, truly unique culture, and industry-leading team, we will deliver our shareholders consistent long-term value creation. Stay Connected: For more information, please visit The Supreme Cannabis Company and 7ACRES websites. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Forward-Looking Information Certain statements made in this press release may constitute forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. These statements may relate to anticipated events or results and include, but are not limited to, the launch of the Company's cannabis oil products line, the launch of premium cannabis products for the Canadian and international markets excluding the United States with Khalifa Kush Enterprises, the anticipated completion of construction on the flowering rooms and the resulting increases in our production capacity and revenue and other statements that are not historical facts. Particularly, information regarding our expectations of future results, targets, performance achievements, prospects or opportunities is forward-looking information. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "believe", "estimate", "plan", "could", "should", "would", "outlook", "forecast", "anticipate", "foresee", "continue" or the negative of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology. Forward-looking statements are current as of the date they are made and are based on applicable estimates and assumptions made by us at the relevant time in light of our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that we believe are appropriate and reasonable in the circumstances. However, we do not undertake to update any such forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities laws in Canada. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. Many factors could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements or future events or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's Annual Information Form dated October 2, 2018 ("AIF"). A copy of the AIF and the Company's other publicly filed documents can be accessed under the Company's profile on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval ("SEDAR") at www.sedar.com. The Company cautions that the list of risk factors and uncertainties described in the AIF is not exhaustive and other factors could also adversely affect its results. Readers are urged to consider the risks, uncertainties and assumptions carefully in evaluating the forward-looking information and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such information. SOURCE The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc. For further information: Scott Davidson, Investor Relations, Email: [email protected], Phone: 416-466-6265, Website: supreme.ca Highlights Bantou Zone Maiden resource estimate outlines an inferred resource of 2.1 Mt averaging 5.35 g/t Au ( 0.36M oz) oz) Resource estimate based on 80 drill holes totalling 12,767 meters of drilling Core drilling results show high grade mineralization along the plunge of the deposit including 52.97 g/t Au over 5.9 meters and 16.43 g/t Au over 13.0 meters Gold mineralization remains open along strike and at depth Preliminary metallurgical recovery results suggest an average recovery of ~90% Bantou Proximal Zone Discovery of Bantou Proximal Zone, located 500 meters west of Bantou Zone Significant near-surface results, including 5.21 g/t Au over 11 meters, were obtained over 400 meters of strike length which remains open in all directions Benoit Desormeaux, President & CEO, stated: "Congratulations to the exploration team for delivering the first of many important new discoveries and resource updates. Bantou is located within the prospective Hounde Greenstone Belt that hosts Mana and multiple other gold mines, and is an area we know well. We look forward to what the 2019 exploration program will bring in terms of resource growth." Overview Bantou is located on the Dynikongolo permit, approximately 170 kilometers south of Mana, along the prolific Hounde Greenstone Belt that hosts Mana and multiple other producing gold mines. See Figure 1 for the location map. The permit is rectangular and measures approximately 10 kilometers along the southern and northern boundaries and 25 kilometers along the eastern and western boundaries. The permit is contiguous to Savary's Karankasso Project. Based on limited drilling to date, there are two known mineralized zones: Bantou and Tankoro. Bantou Zone Drilling on the Bantou Zone was designed to test the down plunge potential to better understand and characterize the mineralization, and to also test the southern extension of the mineralization. A total of 13 core holes (4,245 meters) were completed down dip (see Table 1 for highlights). Results continued to show high-grade mineralization along the plunge of the deposit including 52.97 g/t Au over 5.9 meters (DMP-003) and 16.43 g/t Au over 13.0 meters (DMP-008). A total of 19 RC holes (2,588 meters) was completed along the near-surface southern extension of the deposit, returning values of up to 12.36 g/t Au over 4 meters (KRC18-0102). Five samples were tested for preliminary recovery at the Mana mill, and results suggest an average recovery in the order of 90%. Further testing will be required to better define the best metallurgical approach. Table 1: Bantou Zone Drilling Highlights Hole No. From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) DYDD-011 256.8 265.7 8.9 4.82 DYDD-012 180.8 184.0 3.2 11.99 DYDD-013 229.0 237.0 8.0 1.50 DMP-002 412.1 415.2 3.1 2.21 DMP-003 196.2 202.1 5.9 52.97 DMP-004 318.6 322.9 4.3 6.29 DMP-006 273.6 281.6 8.0 4.35 DMP-007 194.7 197.0 2.3 1.92 DMP-008 216.0 229.0 13.0 16.43 KRC18-102 56.0 60.0 4.0 12.36 KRC18-165 47.0 54.0 7.0 2.26 1. All lengths are along the hole axis, and the true thickness has yet to be established. 2. All assay results are uncut. Bantou Zone Local and Regional Geology The Bantou mineralization is constrained by two parallel zones of cherts and banded iron formations (BIF) separated by a late mafic intrusive dyke. The stratigraphy appears consistent from hole to hole and shows excellent continuity and regularity. The gold is spatially associated with pyrite-magnetite bands and stringers with locally minor galena. The zones appear to show evidence of primary BIF-type mineralization although orogenic enrichment could also have contributed to the higher-grade portions. Regionally, the favourable horizon sits within a folded sequence of volcanoclastic rocks, underlain by mafic volcanics. Bantou is located on the east flank of a property-scale synclinal fold, while the west flank outcrops within the permit, approximately four kilometers to the west. Permit-scale mapping completed in 2018 shows that the favourable horizon extends approximately 10 kilometers both north and south of the Bantou mineralization. Bantou Proximal Zone New Discovery 500 Meters West of Bantou Zone A regional-scale drilling program tested different target areas identified from previous work and surface mapping. Among these, the Bantou Proximal Zone was identified 500 meters west of the Bantou Zone. See Figure 3 below for location of Bantou Zone and Bantou Proximal Zone and related drill holes. A total of 20 holes (2,813 meters) was drilled over a strike length of 400 meters. Significant near-surface results, including 5.21 g/t Au over 11 meters (KRC 18-180), were obtained over the strike length which remains open in all directions. Table 2: Bantou Proximal Zone Drilling Highlights Hole No. From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) KRC18-109 30.0 33.0 3.0 3.86 KRC18-109 55.0 58.0 3.0 3.29 KRC18-110 79.0 81.0 2.0 3.16 KRC18-174 87.0 94.0 7.0 1.13 KRC18-175 54.0 57.0 3.0 3.25 KRC18-178 95.0 98.0 3.0 7.35 KRC18-180 62.0 73.0 11.0 5.21 KRC18-224 93.0 100.0 7.0 1.18 KRC18-225 121.0 124.0 3.0 5.30 1. All lengths are along the hole axis, and the true thickness has yet to be established. 2. All assay results are uncut. Bantou Proximal Zone Local Geology Mineralization at Bantou Proximal is characterized by a sericitized and silicified felsic dyke dipping steeply to the west. In addition to the dyke itself, gold is locally present in the host volcanoclastic rocks that are also altered and mineralized with disseminated pyrite. Tankoro Zone The Tankoro target is located to the southeast of the Bantou Zone, where artisanal mining and historical drilling had returned interesting results. A total of 14 holes (2,405 meters) was completed on four sections covering one kilometer of the favourable strike length. Significant highlights are listed below in Table 3. Table 3: Tankoro Zone Drilling Highlights Hole No. From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) KRC18-154 47.0 51.0 4.0 6.41 KRC18-154 74.0 78.0 4.0 2.35 KRC18-155 102.0 106.0 4.0 6.25 KRC18-156 126.0 134.0 8.0 1.42 KRC18-156 149.0 152.0 3.0 1.23 KRC18-159 49.0 52.0 3.0 22.76 KRC18-159 86.0 89.0 3.0 5.27 KRC18-160 147.0 150.0 3.0 16.14 KRC18-161 186.0 189.0 3.0 4.51 KRC18-162 162.0 166.0 4.0 2.12 KRC18-163 70.0 73.0 3.0 2.41 KRC18-164 204.0 210.0 6.0 5.63 1. All lengths are along the hole axis, and the true thickness has yet to be established. 2. All assay results are uncut. Tankoro Zone Local Geology Mineralization at Tankoro is characterized by two parallel felsic dykes approximately 30 to 50 metres apart. Both dykes and surrounding volcanoclastic rocks are sericitized and contain disseminated pyrite. An important observation at Tankoro is the thick saprolite reaching up to 50 meters. Although the Tankoro drilling also returned attractive values in fresh rock, preliminary metallurgical testing suggests recoveries in the order of 60% using milling parameters of the Mana mill. Prior to further drilling, further work will be carried out to improve the recoveries in order to establish the viability of this target. Next Steps Given the prospectivity of the combined Savary-Bantou properties, the Bantou exploration budget of $3 million will be enhanced if, and when, the proposed transaction with Savary Gold Corp. proceeds as planned. Quality Assurance For core drilling, all individual samples represent approximately one meter in length of core, which was sawn in half. Half of the core is kept on site for reference, and its counterpart is sent for preparation and gold assaying to the ALS laboratories in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, or Yamoussoukro in Cote d'Ivoire. For RC drilling, all individual samples represent approximately one meter in length of rock chips homogenized and riffle-split to an approximately 2-kilogram subsample that is sent for preparation to the ALS Minerals Services laboratories in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, or Yamoussoukro in Cote d'Ivoire. Each sample is fire-assayed for gold content on a 50-gram subsample. In addition to ALS's own QA/QC (Quality Assurance/Quality Control) program, an internal quality control and quality assurance program is in place throughout the sampling program, using blind duplicates, blanks and recognized industry standards. Richard Roy P. Geo, Vice-President Exploration, is the Qualified Person for the information contained in this press release and is a Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101. The estimate was prepared using a block model constrained within 3D wireframes of the principal mineralized domains. Values for gold were interpolated into blocks using a 3-pass ordinary kriging (OK) interpolation method. High grade assay values were capped at 50 g/t Au and bulk densities from 2.3 g/cm3 to 2.8 g/cm3 were used based on weathering. A preliminary open pit optimization algorithm was run on the estimated grade block model to constrain the resource. The resource estimate assumes a long-term gold price of US$1,500/ounce. The mineral resource estimate comprises mineralization contained within the preliminary pit shell at cut-off grades ranging from 0.43 to 0.56 grams of gold per tonne and mineralization below the pit shell at a cut-off grade of 2 grams of gold per tonne. The Mineral Resources were estimated as at December 31, 2018 in accordance with the definitions adopted by the Canadian Institute of Mining Metallurgy and Petroleum and incorporated into National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101). Mineral resources estimates for the Bantou Zone were carried out by an in-house team under the direction of Francois Thibert P.Geo MScA, Manager, Reserves and Resources Estimation Group, and SEMAFO's Qualified Person. About SEMAFO SEMAFO is a Canadian-based intermediate gold producer with over twenty years' experience building and operating mines in West Africa. The Corporation operates two mines, the Boungou and Mana Mines in Burkina Faso. SEMAFO is committed to building value through responsible mining of its quality assets and leveraging its development pipeline. CAUTION CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions and accordingly, actual results and future events could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. You are hence cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include words or expressions such as "targets", "preliminary", "suggest", "first of many", "will", "growth", "further", "next steps", "committed", "building", "leveraging" and other similar words or expressions. Factors that could cause future results or events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements include the ability of the 2019 exploration program to bring resource growth, the ability to carry out further testing to better define the best metallurgical approach, the ability to complete the proposed transaction with Savary Gold Corp. and increase the $3 million Bantou exploration budget in 2019, the ability to establish the viability of the Tankoro target, the ability to execute on our strategic focus, fluctuation in the price of currencies, gold or operating costs, mining industry risks, uncertainty as to calculation of mineral reserves and resources, delays, political and social stability in Africa (including our ability to maintain or renew licenses and permits) and other risks described in SEMAFO's documents filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities. You can find further information with respect to these and other risks in SEMAFO's 2017 Annual MD&A, as updated in SEMAFO's 2018 First Quarter MD&A, 2018 Second Quarter MD&A and 2018 Third Quarter MD&A and other filings made with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available at www.sedar.com. These documents are also available on our website at www.semafo.com. SEMAFO disclaims any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law. SOURCE SEMAFO For further information: SEMAFO: John Jentz, Vice-President, Corporate Development & Investor Relations, Email: [email protected]; Ruth Hanna, Analyst, Investor Relations, Email: [email protected]; Tel. local & overseas: +1 (514) 744 4408, North America Toll-Free: 1 (888) 744 4408, Website: www.semafo.com Related Links https://www.semafo.com/ According to court documents and statements made in court, following the December 2016 overdose death of a 33-year-old New Haven man, investigators determined that the victim had called Kirk prior to his overdose. In May 2017, investigators contacted Kirk, who was identified to be Draughn, asking about purchasing heroin. In May, June and August 2017, investigators made three controlled purchases of heroin from Draughn. The police didnt want it. Neither did local officials. But the public demanded it. And now, pot companies in California can deliver marijuana directly to your home. Think of it as a kind of Uber Eats for the cannabis consumer. The public spoke loud and clear in favor of statewide delivery, said Alex Traverso, spokesman for the states cannabis bureau, according to USA Today. That was after the bureau issued the new regulation allowing home delivery anywhere. As has been the case with many issues involving marijuana, public officials and law enforcement have been slow to catch up with public demand. Only about 30 percent of local jurisdictions passed laws regulating marijuana use, creating a situation in which delivery companies had to draw up extremely complicated maps for where their drivers could and could not go. But the new regulation is designed to change that. If you live in a California city or county that doesnt allow cannabis production or sales (so-called Pot Deserts), you can still have it delivered to your home. Thats what the people wanted in the Golden State, and thats what they got. Related: These Cannabis Jobs Are Most In-Demand Right Now California First, But Not Last The home delivery decision makes California the first state to allow people to order marijuana and have it delivered to their doorstep. But with demand high, it is unlikely it will be the last. For example, Massachusetts officials are close to finalizing a plan that would allow home delivery in that state. A subcommittee of the states Cannabis Control Commission has already approved the plan, citing a concern that illegal drug dealers are filling the void where home deliveries are not allowed. As in California, officials in Massachusetts pointed out that medical marijuana patients often have difficulty traveling to a dispensary and that home delivery of cannabis is needed service for them. New Jersey lawmakers also are expected to debate home delivery this spring. Related: Adults In Massachusetts Can Legally Buy Marijuana Starting Today Local resistance However, despite the new California regulation, local officials still could pass ordinances specifically banning home delivery. Some already have. The potential for legal entanglements involving contradictory state and local laws seems possible. Police chiefs opposed the measure because it could lead to difficulties in enforcement and unreported pot transactions. The League of Cities opposed the measure, saying it takes away local control by allowing pot deliveries in cities that banned marijuana production and sales. They also feared it could lead to a chaotic patchwork quilt of local laws. Indian Wells in the Greater Palm Springs area provides an example of the latter. The small city of about 5,000 does not allow marijuana deliveries. It sits next to another town that does. On the other side of Indian Wells, theres a city that allows delivery, but only for medical marijuana. The nearby city of Indio has banned marijuana completely, including deliveries. Obviously, the many contradictory laws in a relatively small area incredibly confusing. But local officials and police will need to figure it out. Thats why Indian Wells Community Development Director David Gassaway told the Desert Sun the new regulation is an affront to local control and accused the state of slowly creeping into local affairs more and more. Related: 3 Compliance Considerations for Multi-State Cannabis Businesses Follow dispensaries.com on Instagram to stay up to date on the latest cannabis news. Related: California Gives Green Light to Marijuana Home Delivery These Cannabis Jobs Are Most In-Demand Right Now This Week in Weed: New York City Cracks Down! Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Michael Borger, secretary general of the 45th annual Yale Model United Nations conference, addressed a sea of diligent students during the opening ceremony last month. Our goal is not to give awards, certificates, or speeches, but to instill our message: Learn today, lead tomorrow, he said. The goal is to take the skills you learn here and use them to form a better world. Make friends, open your eyes, and start the change. With that, over 2,000 students from 80 schools across 40 distinctive countries were discharged for their first committee session at the Yale Model U.N. 2019. Among them were 11 students from Danbury High School. It was the DHS Model U.N. Clubs first year in attendance. Coordinated by club advisor and history teacher Anthony Steady, alongside senior president Kayla Downs, the Model U.N. club attended thanks to a Breaking Boundaries scholarship, granted to first-time attending schools. The Model U.N. club formed last year when Downs aspired for DHS students to fulfill the purpose of Model U.N. allowing for students to grow and develop their public-speaking and critical-thinking skills. In Model U.N., students represent a delegate from each country and debate pressing matters facing global security in present time. They compromise with other nations to pass working papers, which cite the resolutions made to solve the presented problem. Steady had heard of the conference in his own high school years. I remember being in high school and very much enjoying it, he said. Engaging in the debate and gaining a new perspective from all of these students is my main priority for us. His goals were fulfilled as DHS students became members of a variety of committees from the Historical General Assembly and Development to the Special Political and Decolonization Committee. Each student had the unique opportunity to tackle the most pressing problems in our time. Students walked into the conference with the goal of learning from those more experienced than them, and gain the opportunity to apply their compromises to make considerable changes within their own lives. Sophomore Rebecca D'Ostilio represented Slovakia on the Commission on the Status of Women. On her first day, she expressed great passion in the issues she was presented. I understand my stance and role as a young female in this committee, she said. I hope to instill more confidence in my leadership skills and become a moral leader overall for others. By the end of the conference, she sponsored a resolution that was passed, and worked tirelessly with her committee to do so. During the Opening Ceremony, held at the Omni Hotel in New Haven, students heard from notable figures, such as Save the Children President Carolyn Miles and U,S, Ambassador Harry Thomas. The people at this conference are the ones who will change our world, Miles said. Yale Model U.N. partner Crimson Education further emphasized this, as secretary general Borger relayed their intent being to take your solutions to global issues and apply them to your communities. Within the actual conference, students were able to work directly with Yale students who helped them along the way in developing their Model U.N. capabilities. Committee sessions were hosted on campus, and provided the chance for students to demonstrate their formidable presence for a chance to win delegate awards, given to those with the strongest showing of collaboration and respect. Despite not winning any awards, fellow advisor and DHS social studies teacher Katherine Holden was immensely proud of her students. I really appreciated how serious they were about this, she said. It takes bravery to go on a three-day trip with thousands of other foreign students as a first-timer. However, they defied our wildest expectations. While learning how to speak in front of an audience alongside making compromises proved to be challenging, garnering new perspectives from a variety of other schools and experiences proved to be worthwhile. My proudest accomplishment was working with the other students in my committee, said Roshni Vasudevan, a junior who represented Mongolia on the Economic and Financial Council. In the end, we all became friends, and I hope to stay in contact with them. Through compromises and resolutions, we were unstoppable when we worked together. In the end, going through the admission process, getting the approval, working with Yale coupled with the tireless research our club put into this conference was all worth it, Steady said. The Danbury High School Model U.N. Club plans to participate in the Yale Model U.N. Conference for years to come. Viktoria Wulff-Andersen is a sophomore and student journalist at Danbury High School. The Westport Center for Health has a new owner. The 38,000 square foot medical office complex at 323-329 Riverside Ave. was sold to Healthcare Trust of America Inc. out of Scottsdale, Ariz., for $18.7 million. A team of brokers from Newmark Knight Franks Boston Capital Market helped push the sale through. "Westport Center for Health is one of Fairfield County's premier medical office campuses, boasting a blue-chip tenant roster in a truly beautiful setting overlooking the Saugatuck River, which provides virtually all tenants with water views, said Michael Greeley, managing director, in a press release. In a clear testament to the asset's truly irreplaceable location, some of the on-site doctors kayak along the river before and after work." The property was previously owned by The Davis Companies out of Massachusetts, which purchased the complex in 2012. The Boston-based firm transformed the medical office complex in 2015 by demolishing one building of a five-building campus to convert the site into a four-building medical office complex with additional parking for medical office tenants. "The Davis Companies should be commended for recognizing the need for a best-in-class medical office asset in a market where much of the supply is decades old, and for the successful execution of an ambitious healthcare conversion, Greely said. We congratulate Healthcare Trust of America as it continues to expand its Northeast medical office portfolio. HTA, which invests in medical office space nationwide, owns properties in 32 states, including 31 sites and more than 975,000 square feet of space in Connecticut with a concentration in Hartford and New Haven. The Westport Center is off Interstate 95 less than a mile from the train station and town center. Yale New Haven Healths Northeast Medical Group anchors the property. Other tenants include Coastal Orthopedics, Westport Dermatology and Laser Center, Westport Dental Associates, Village Pediatrics, Professional Physical Therapy and Womens Health Connecticut. Jordan.grice@hearstmediact.com Trevor French, 58, told a family member at about 3 p.m. Monday that he was going for a hike at a trailhead for the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail in East Granby, police said. When he had not returned by 5:30 p.m. and had not contacted the family member, she decided to call police. New Delhi: The Democrats and the Republicans have reached an agreement to avert another federal shutdown of the US government. According to the Associated Press, negotiators from both parties say lawmakers have reached an agreement in principle to fund government, avoid shutdown. It is still not clear whether the agreement also includes any funding for the proposed wall on the southern borders of the US. On January 26, US President Donald Trump had ended the longest shutdown in the countrys history. However, the January 26 announcement meant that the US government would open, albeit temporarily. If not for todays agreement, the shutdown would have come into effect sometime later next week. Functioning of several key wings of the US government, including Security and State departments, were paralysed for nearly four weeks now because of the partial government shutdown. President Trump insists that building a wall is the only solution to protect the nation from a large flow of illegal immigrants and drug smuggling. The Democrats are opposed to any such funding. After Trump walked out of a meeting at the White House last week, Democrats have refused to come to the negotiation table. Pelosi and the Democratic party argue that such a funding is a wastage of tax payers payer and does not reflect the ethos of American culture. The divide between the parties has led to some 800,000 federal government employees being rendered without work. The shutdown on January 12 broke the previous record of 21 days of US government shutdown under the Bill Clinton administration in December 16, 1995 to January 5, 1996. Besides the border issue, the divide between Trump and Pelosi deepened after he denied her a military plane for an "excursion" to Brussels and war-torn Afghanistan, a tit-for-tat retaliation after the House Speaker asked the president to reschedule his annual State of the Union address slated for January 29. Pelosi, who is third in line to the presidency, had made the suggestion citing security reasons triggered by the shutdown that has entered its 28th day. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Personal amenities of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have reached Islamabad, ahead of his two-day trip to Pakistan during which investment deals worth billions of dollars are expected to be signed between the two-decades-old allies, according to a media report on Monday. The Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman powerful is expected to arrive in Pakistan this week, but the exact date of his arrival has not been disclosed due to security reasons. The crown prince's belongings, including his exercise equipment and furniture, reached Islamabad in five trucks, the Dawn News reported quoting Saudi Embassy sources. ALSO READ | Iran revolution brought 40 years of failure, says Donald Trump Prince Muhammad bin Salman will be the guest of honour at international investment conference scheduled to be held here next week. He is supposed to visit four countries but will start his visit from Pakistan. According to sources, a 40-member Saudi delegation, and over 100 Saudi and Pakistani business leaders will attend the international event. The forum will deliberate on energy, petrochemicals, housing, tourism in Punjab and KP, as well as sign MoUs in this regard. During the visit of the Saudi Crown Prince, both sides are ready to sign four memorandums of understanding (MoUs) worth $15 billion. His security team and Saudi media representatives also arrived in the capital ahead of his visit. This will be the first visit of Mohammed as the crown prince. He had earlier visited Pakistan as defence minister at the start of the Yemen conflict. While the prince himself is expected to stay at the Prime Minister House, two of the top hotels in Islamabad have been booked fully for members of his staff, while two others hotels have been partially booked. The crown prince is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Imran Khan and other senior civil and military leaders. Outer security of the hotel where the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) General Raheel Sharif is staying has been handed over to the army. ALSO READ | Four dead after military helicopter crashes in Istanbul Prime Ministers Adviser on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood and Chairman Board of Investment Haroon Sharif told selected reporters that the KSA and the UAE were taking a lot of interest in Pakistan and both were establishing refineries with an investment of $6 billion separately. 10:12 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Rafale CAG report likely to be tabled in Parliament today: Lets see what all they have written in it. In my opinion, they will give the same suggestions here which they gave to Supreme Court in a sealed cover. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Bernard Luetjen, 42, of 62 Catherine St., Hartford, turned himself in to authorities Tuesday, police said. He was released from custody on a written promise to appear in court and is scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Rockville on Feb. 26. New Delhi: Islamic revolution four decades ago in Iran has been a complete failure for the country, President Donald Trump has said. In a tweet written on the anniversary of the upheaval that was also sent out in Farsi, Trump said: "40 years of corruption. 40 years of repression. 40 years of terror. The regime in Iran has produced only #40YearsofFailure. "The long-suffering Iranian people deserve a much brighter future," he added. Earlier, Donald Trump's chief foreign policy advisor John Bolton tweeted that "it's been 40 yrs of failure. Now it's up to the Iranian regime to change its behavior, & ultimately up to the Iranian people to determine the direction of their country." 40 years of corruption. 40 years of repression. 40 years of terror. The regime in Iran has produced only #40YearsofFailure. The long-suffering Iranian people deserve a much brighter future. pic.twitter.com/bA8YGsw9LA Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 11, 2019 ALSO READ | Where is Jamal Khashoggi's body? 'We don't know, says Saudi Arabia Bolton said Washington would support "the will of the Iranian people, & stand behind them to ensure their voices are heard." Bolton, a leading hawk in the Trump administration's attempt to weaken Iranian influence, was tweeting as a huge crowd in Tehran gathered to celebrate the 1979 revolution, in which Muslim leader Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini ended the centuries-old rule of the royal dynasty. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told Iranians they should resist a "conspiracy" involving Washington. "The world saw when Iran decided to help people of Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Yemen, they achieved victory. The enemies are now confessing to their defeat," said Rouhani. The Trump administration has pushed hard to weaken Iran and what it says is Tehran's "destabilizing" influence. The two countries have not had diplomatic relations since 1980, and Trump has pulled the United States from an international agreement meant to reward Iran for giving up nuclear weapon ambitions. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians marched and some burned U.S. flags on Monday to mark the 40th anniversary of the triumph of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Shia cleric who toppled the Shah in an Islamic Revolution that rattles the West. ALSO READ | Pakistan has Mecca, Medina for Sikhs, says Imran Khan On Feb 11, 1979, Iran's army declared its neutrality, paving the way for the collapse of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the United States's closest ally in the Middle East. One banner read: "Much to the dismay of America, the revolution has reached its 40th year," CBC News reported. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Ankara: Four soldiers were killed on Monday after a Turkish military helicopter crashed in a residential area of Istanbul, the provinces governor said. Unfortunately four of our soldiers became martyrs, Istanbul governor Ali Yerlikaya told reporters at the scene. Yerlikaya said no other military personnel or civilian had been injured after the helicopter ploughed to the ground in the Cekmekoy district. The incident happened around 1851 (1551 GMT), he said in televised comments. Also Read | Pak man gets 7-year in jail for stabbing to death Indian roommate in Dubai Images on Turkish television earlier showed thick black smoke emanating from behind a white wall at the site on the Asian side of Istanbul. Yerlikaya said the Istanbul public prosecutor had launched an investigation into the cause of the crash. Four Turkish soldiers were killed last November after a military helicopter crashed in another residential area of Istanbul, hitting a four-storey building. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: India and China are leading the global greening effort, which is quite contrary to the general perception worldwide, a latest NASA study said Monday, observing that the world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago. The NASA study based on data received and analysed from its satellite said that India and China are leading in greening on land. "China and India account for one-third of the greening but contain only 9 per cent of the planet's land area covered in vegetation," said lead author Chi Chen of Boston University. "That is a surprising finding, considering the general notion of land degradation in populous countries from over exploitation," he said. The study published on February 11, in the journal Nature Sustainability said that recent satellite data reveal a greening pattern that is strikingly prominent in China and India and overlaps with croplands world-wide. ALSO READ | Round trip ticket to Mars will cost just $100,000, says Elon Musk China alone accounts for 25 per cent of the global net increase in leaf area with only 6.6 per cent of global vegetated area. The greening in China is from forests (42 per cent) and croplands (32 per cent), but in India it is mostly from croplands (82 percent) with minor contribution from forests (4.4 per cent), the NASA study said. China is engineering ambitious programmes to conserve and expand forests with the goal of mitigating land degradation, air pollution and climate change. Food production in China and India has increased by over 35 per cent since 2000 mostly owing to an increase in harvested area through multiple cropping facilitated by fertiliser use and surface- and/or groundwater irrigation. When the greening of the Earth was first observed, we thought it was due to a warmer, wetter climate and fertilization from the added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, said Rama Nemani, a research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Centre and a co-author of the study. This study was made possible thanks to a two-decade-long data record from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites. Now with the MODIS data, we see that humans are also contributing, she said. Observing that once people realise there is a problem, they tend to fix it, Nemani said in the 1970s and 80s in India and China, the situation around vegetation loss was not good. In the 1990s, people realized it, and today things have improved. Humans are incredibly resilient. That's what we see in the satellite data, she said. According to the paper, how the greening trend may change in the future depends on numerous factors. ALSO READ | Ultima Thule is like a pancake, NASA's New Horizons unveils the unique shape For example, increased food production in India is facilitated by groundwater irrigation. If the groundwater is depleted, this trend may change, it said. The researchers also pointed out that the gain in greenness around the world does not necessarily offset the loss of natural vegetation in tropical regions such as Brazil and Indonesia. There are consequences for sustainability and biodiversity in those ecosystems beyond the simple greenness of the landscape, the research study said. For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Indian weddings and dramas, they never cease to amaze us for good or bad. This particular wedding in Delhi, however, grabbed attention for the latter after what was supposed to be the happiest day turned hellish when the guests were served cold food. According to reports, the wedding havoc occurred at the Piccadily Hotel in Janakpuri, where some guests of the groom went bonkers on receiving cold food. Taking matters of the hotel services into their own hand, some guests at the wedding resorted to venting out their dissatisfaction by smashing the hotels crockery and trashing the hotel's staff even resulting to several head injuries. The bridegroom sure must have regretted not filtering the guests with the incident! Hindustan Times (HT) reports that the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Monika Bhardwaj said that the violence allegedly started after the guests accused the staff of having served 'cold' food. The hotel's manager, however, has denied all allegations and instead claims that the groom's friends misbehaved with the hotel's female staff members. Following the incident, general manager, Rajesh Batla in a statement claims that the groom and his friends fled the spot without attending the ceremony. Although no identity of the wedding crashers has been revealed to the public, police are reported to have detained two guests from the spot. The hotel authorities are reported to filed a written complaint at the police station and arrested several of the guests on Monday. For all the Latest Offbeat News News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Every year, the 13th of February is observed as the International Condom Day with an aim to increase awareness regarding the need for condoms as a contraceptive method. However, time and again, the importance of using condoms while having sexual intercourse is chucked aside, given the fact that sex even in the 21st century is still considered a 'hush-hush' topic hence increasing the rate of unwanted pregnancies, STIs and STDs. At 1.2 billion people and counting, the population of India clearly suggests that the general masses are not using condoms while having sexual intercourse. These findings have also been substantiated by Durex India, a condom producing company whose study finds that almost 95% of Indian men dont use condoms, making us question, why? A study conducted by Durex India, 2018 gives you the answer as to why Indian men hate using condoms: Whats happening India? 95% of Indians dont use condoms! Wed love to know why? Durex India (@DurexIndia) March 5, 2018 While Indians are making #HateCondoms the latest way to vent their frustrations on these very important products, question is why do people hate condoms? https://t.co/i4CigHIfq9 Biswa Kalyan Rath (@kalyanrath) March 5, 2018 Many of us feel shy while buying condoms at medical store, Any solution for it?? raj pathak (@rajpathak25) March 5, 2018 Agreed... 'feeling' is a big problem... and it's not just a guy thing - plenty of women #hatecondoms too pic.twitter.com/gOeEQGbDES Anish Dasgupta (@anishdg) March 5, 2018 Because your condom ads are so awkward to watch when they should be educational. Condom companies really need to rethink their ads. It is themselves they are hurting. Sanskar Dikshit (@isanskari) March 5, 2018 indians has better control pic.twitter.com/zKqEqacqV3 Mausam (@itsmausam) March 5, 2018 Cause the govt. of India think advertising during primetime is sin Raj Malpekar (@malpekar) March 5, 2018 Becuz of Lack Of Sex Education and Also talking abt Sex Is considered Taboo in public ... While many think the lack of sex eduaction is the primary reason for not using condoms, some blame the issue on the society for considering the talk of open sex-talks and its related topic a taboo. What is your answer, why do you think Indian men despise using condoms? highlights CBI is grilling Kolkata Police chief Rajeev Kumar in Saradha chit fund case. Rajeev Kumar and Kunal Ghosh were jointly interrogated by CBI on Sunday. Ghosh accuses Kumar of tampering with evidence in the chit fund case. New Delhi: In what could be a big blow to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, former All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) MP Kunal Ghosh on Tuesday dashed a letter to the Central Bureau of Investigation Agency (CBI), accusing Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar of tampering with the new evidence that has emerged during their joint interrogation in Shillong on February 10. His demands also include that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mukul Roy be jointly interrogated with him by the investigating agency. Both Kumar and Ghosh were questioned by the CBI in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam case. Speaking to the media, Ghosh said, "Today I filed a complaint to CBI that after the first day of joint interrogation some names were there who can be significant witnesses. That night, on 10 Feb, after returning from CBI office in Shillong to guest house Mr Kumar communicated with those persons". "Kumar is leaking whatever I had said during the joint interrogation with him (at Shillong) and is instructing his subordinate officers to tamper with that evidence. I have received information regarding it. I request the CBI to take immediate action so that the tampering of evidence is stopped," he added. "I have appealed that there may be some influence, pressure or new chemistry. So I objected very strongly that this is not to be done. I prayed before CBI that they should take the strongest action against Rajeev Kumar," the former Trinamool Congress MP reiterated. "I am always ready to cooperate with the CBI. I think I should be interrogated jointly with Mukul Roy. It will throw some light on the investigation," he said, adding that several key persons are still out of the purview of the CBI investigation into the multi-crore-rupee scam, Ghosh further said. Former TMC MP Kunal Ghosh: Today I filed complaint to CBI that after first day of joint interrogation some names were there who can be significant witness. That night, on 10 Feb, after returning from CBI office in Shillong to guest house Mr Kumar communicated with those persons. https://t.co/oVqKgdieXm ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2019 Being asked about Ghosh's allegations, Kolkata Police officials said they were yet to receive any query from the central probe agency, adding that if they get any they will answer it positively. Roy, when contacted, also said that he is ready to be quizzed by the CBI to help it in the investigation process. Roy, a former TMC general secretary, who joined the BJP in November 2017 following differences with party chief Mamata Banerjee, has been interrogated once by the central probe agency in January 2015. Ghosh had on Monday urged political parties not to politicise the CBI probe into the Ponzi scheme case. In November 2013, Ghosh, then Rajya Sabha MP of the Trinamool Congress, was arrested by the special investigation team headed by Kumar in connection with the chit fund case. He was granted bail in 2016. (With inputs from agencies) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Amid ongoing controversy over Rafale fighter plane deal, the Indian Air Force has said that the combat jet programme is on schedule and that the first aircraft will be delivered in September later this year. The delivery will take place in France and the aircraft would be brought back to India, an air force official was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. Earlier report suggest that the Indian Air Force plans to deploy Rafale fighter jets at strategic air bases near Pakistan and China. As part of change in the current structure, the Indian Air Force will deploy Rafale squadrons at Haryanas Ambala and West Bengals Hashimpura bases respectively. At present, the number 3 Cobra squadron of MiG-21 Bison fighter jets has been deployed in Ambala since 1997. But with Rafale taking over the fighter base in next two years, the Cobra squadron will be shifted to Rajasthans Nal air base. The air force has almost completed the shifting process soon Ambala skies wont see the famous MiG-21 fighter jets. The air force has also confirmed the development. After India signed the multi-billion fighter jet deal, the Indian Air Force has been planning to replace the aging fighter jets. The strategic deployment will help India in protecting her Western and Eastern front. With Pakistan in the West and China in the East, the Rafale deployment will help India in achieving a formidable position. To protect its skies, India has so far been relying on the Sukhoi-30MKIs. However, the Indian Air Force regards Rafale higher than the current lot of fighter jets. Defence experts have highlighted the worrying trend of depleting squadrons. The air force has seen a steady decline in its fighter squadrons. With two more squadrons due to be phased out by March this year, the strength will be down to just 29 as against the sanctioned strength of 42 squadrons. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind unveiled the life-size portrait of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Parliaments iconic Central Hall on Tuesday. Several senior leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan were also present at the event. Parliaments Portrait Committee had taken the decision in this regard on December 18 last year. Atal Ji had a long political career, a large part of that career was spent in opposition. Yet, he continued raising issues of public interest and never ever deviated from his ideology, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said during the event. The proposal for Vajpayees portrait was formalised at a meeting, which was attended by Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narendra Singh Tomar. The meeting was also attended by senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai, and members from other parties including B Mahtab (BJD), Sudip Bandyopadhyay (Trinamool), Anant Geete (Shiv Sena) and Jitendra Reddy (TRS). Last year, on the eve of Atal Bihari Vajpayee's 94th birth anniversary on December 24, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released a Rs 100 commemorative coin in the memory of the former premier. The former prime minister died at Delhi AIIMS after battling with illness. He was 93. Apart from the iconic Central Hall of Parliament, the BJP has also undertaken other projects to honour one of Indias tallest leaders. As part of the initiative, a 25-feet high statue of the former prime minister will be installed in Lok Bhawan, the Uttar Pradesh government secretariat in Lucknow. , Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath made the announcement at a ceremony held to celebrate Vajpayee's 94th birth anniversary last year. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, also the local MP, and Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik also attended the function. "Atalji had strong ties with Uttar Pradesh. He started his public life from Balrampur in the state and represented Lucknow as an MP for five terms," the chief minister said, adding that a number of schemes are being launched in the name of the former prime minister. "Atalji was the foundation of 'sushasan' (good governance). He learnt the nuances of politics from Deendayal Upadhyay and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and became a symbol of trust in politics," Adityanath said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Prayagraj: Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav and several party supporters got injured after police resorted to cane charge to disperse them in Prayagraj. SP supporters were protesting against the Yogi Adityanath government for stopping former chief minister and party chief Akhilesh Yadav from going to the city earlier in the day. Akhilesh Yadav was scheduled to attend a students' union event at Allahabad University (AU). Supporters of Samajwadi Party are taking out processions against the state government and they also burnt the effigy of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Earlier today, Akhilesh was allegedly stopped at Lucknow airport while he was on his way to Prayagraj. Taking to Twitter, the former chief minister said that he was stopped at the airport as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government is afraid of him attending the swearing-in program of a student leader. "The government is so afraid of me going to attend a student leader's swearing-in ceremony that I am being stopped at Lucknow airport," he tweeted in Hindi. He also shared photographs in which he was seen talking to police officers inside the airport. pic.twitter.com/151IwzPl1t Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) February 12, 2019 Speaking to reporters, Adityanath said Yadav's visit could have triggered violence between rival student groups at the Allahabad University. "The Allahabad University had urged the government to stop his visit and the government acted," he said. Reacting to the development, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said it was extremely condemnable and asked whether the ruling BJP was afraid of their alliance because of which it is "resorting to anti-democratic methods". Mayawati described the episode as "an example of total dictatorship of BJP government". "This is very unfortunate and this undemocratic step will be fought at all levels. Is the BJP government at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh so afraid of BSP-SP alliance that it is resorting to anti-democratic methods to curb our political activities," she asked. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also condemned the arrogant attitude of the BJP-led state government. I've already spoken to @yadavakhilesh. We all condemn the arrogant attitude of the so-called #BJP leaders who didn't allow Akhilesh to address the students. Even @jigneshmevani80 was not allowed. Where is the democracy in our country? And they are giving lessons to everybody! Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) February 12, 2019 I've already spoken to @yadavakhilesh. We all condemn the arrogant attitude of the so-called #BJP leaders who didn't allow Akhilesh to address the students. Even @jigneshmevani80 was not allowed. Where is the democracy in our country? And they are giving lessons to everybody! (sic) she tweeted. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: All India Trinamool Congress president and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is scheduled to reach Delhi on Tuesday night, strongly condemned the incident of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav being stopped at Lucknow airport. Banerjee said such incidents took place because of "arrogant attitude of so-called BJP leaders". Speaking to news agency ANI, the AITC chief said, "If under Yogi's rule, a former Chief Minister is not allowed to attend a college event then there is 'rukawat'. 'Rukawat ke liye khed hai'...There is such a situation in the country today that people are not allowed to go to places". Banerjee also referred to a similar incident in the past, saying "Jignesh Mevani was also stopped from attending a University event in Gujarat". "He was threatened by BJP goons and they preach to us. They indulge in hate politics. Never before was this ever done in our nation. It's unfortunate, I condemn this," Banerjee went on to claim further. In a hard-hitting Twitter post, the West Bengal Chief Minister wrote, "I have already spoken to Akhilesh Yadav. We all condemn the arrogant attitude of the so-called BJP leaders who did not allow Akhilesh to address the students. Even Jignesh Mevani was not allowed". I've already spoken to @yadavakhilesh. We all condemn the arrogant attitude of the so-called #BJP leaders who didn't allow Akhilesh to address the students. Even @jigneshmevani80 was not allowed. Where is the democracy in our country? And they are giving lessons to everybody! Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) February 12, 2019 Earlier in the day, Yadav was prevented from boarding plane at Lucknow airport in a bid to block his visit to Allahabad, triggering outrage by opposition parties in the state and elsewhere in the country. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said he flew to Allahabad from Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport to attend an event at Allahabad University. A 15-member joint delegation of the SP-BSP coalition has also decided to hand a memorandum over to Governor Ram Naik in this regard on Wednesday. In a separate incident on Monday, Mevani's college cancelled its annual day function after the institution's trustees got protest calls against the leader's visit as the chief guest. In a related note, Banerjee is scheduled to take part in Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's mega Opposition rally on Wednesday. Titled 'Tanashahi Hatao, Desh Bachao' (Remove Dictatorship, Save Country, the AAP's anti-BJP rally is expected attendance of several Opposition leaders from across Party lines. Apart from the AAP rally, Banerjee will visit Trinamool Congress' office at Parliament where she is expected to meet party lawmakers and MPs from other parties. She is likely to leave for Kolkata on Friday. Last month, the AITC chief organised a grand Opposition rally in Kolkata's historic Brigade Parade Ground, where she gave a clarion call to oust the Narendra Modi-led BJP government in the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2019, claiming its "expiry date" has passed. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The government is scheduled to table the CAG report on Rafale jet fighter deal, which has generated a massive political controversy. Robert Vadra, Congress President Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law, is expected to make a fresh appearance before the Enforcement Directorate on in Jaipur in connection with a probe into an alleged land scam in the Rajasthan's border town of Bikaner, officials said . Vadra's mother Maureen is also likely to appear before the central probe agency at about 10 am. Priyanka Gandhi Vadras meetings will start from 9.30 am and continue till 11.30 pm with only half-an-hour reserved for lunch. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit Haryana on . During his day-long visit, the prime minister is set to address the "Swachh Shakti 2019" programme in Kurukshetra and will inaugurate the National Cancer Institute. There is a sense of anxiety in and around Sabarimala as the Lord Ayyappa shrine is all set to reopen on Tuesday for monthly worship, after witnessing frenzied protests during the recently concluded annual pilgrim season over the entry of young women. 22:43 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In CBI to continue grilling Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in connection with Saradha chit fund case. 21:14 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman inspected the guard of honour at the German Ministry of Defence and held a bilateral meeting with German Minister of Defence Ursula von der Leyen, in Berlin today. 16:35 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Jharkhand govt bans Popular Front of India (PFI) in the state under Section 16 of The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1908. 13:34 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Delhi: A doctor's body was found behind his house in Mukherjee Nagar earlier today, the cause of the death is yet to be ascertained. Body has been sent for a postmortem. Police are investigating the case. 13:25 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Security alert in Parliament after Manipur lawmakers car rams into boom barrier. 13:08 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In No negotiations in Jaipur, says Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla on quota stir. Movement is not spearheaded by me; its the people who are making me do it. These people have said it categorically that this time no negotiations in Jaipur, negotiations should take place here in their presence, Bainsla said. 12:00 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Akhilesh says stopped at Lucknow airport to prevent him from attending Allahabad event Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav Monday alleged he was being stopped at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow by police in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad University. "The government is so afraid of oath ceremony of a student leader that it is stopping me at the airport to prevent me from visiting Allahabad," Akhilesh said in Hindi on Twitter. He tweeted photographs in which he was seen talking to police officers inside the airport. Yadav had to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad University. When asked, the airport director AK Sharma said, "He had no such information". 11:25 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday took to Twitter to complain about the Uttar Pradesh government. In his tweet, Yadav claimed that the Yogi Adityanath government stopped him at Lucknow Airport. The former chief minister was scheduled to attend a students oath-taking ceremony later in the day. Samajwadi Party chief @yadavakhilesh claims he was stopped at Lucknow Airport while on his way to attend a student leader's swearing-in ceremony More updates: https://t.co/mxEkvhWTW5 pic.twitter.com/tDIraYJ3YI News Nation (@NewsNationTV) February 12, 2019 09:19 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Gujarat: BJP President Amit Shah flags off 'Mera Pariwar, Bhajpa Pariwar' campaign from his residence in Ahmedabad. Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani also present. 07:47 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Delhi: Cold weather conditions continue in the national capital; visuals from night shelter near Lodhi Road. Delhi: Cold weather conditions continue in the national capital; visuals from night shelter near Lodhi Road pic.twitter.com/NY1KCHY0oX ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2019 07:02 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In A Dalit police personnels wedding procession was allegedly attacked on Saturday in Dugar village. 07:01 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Jammu & Kashmir: Encounter underway between terrorists and security forces in Ratnipora area of Pulwama district. 07:01 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Fire breaks out at Arpit Palace Hotel in Delhi's Karol Bagh. One dead and several injured as people tried to jump from the fourth floor. As many as 27 fire-tenders have been rushed to the spot. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. highlights Alphons said he was sure that there would be violation of norms. Delhi govt announces a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the kin of dead. 17 people were killed and several injured in Arpit Palace hotel fire. New Delhi: Union Tourism Minister KJ Alphons on Tuesday said the emergency exit of the Arpit Palace hotel, a 3-star hotel on Gurudwara Road at Karol Bagh in Central Delhi where 17 people were killed in a fire that broke out early today, was too narrow and also locked. Alphons, who visited the site of the tragedy, said he was sure that there would be violation of norms. The minister said there were a lot of wooden structures inside, which may have helped the fire spread. "When I headed to the emergency exit, I found that it had been locked yesterday (last night). Also, it was too narrow. Obviously, even if people came to the emergency exit, they could not have escaped as it was too narrow and it was locked anyway," he said. Alphons said he spoke to the Mayor and asked him to check whether all regulations were in place and to take immediate action if there was any lapse on the part of the hotel management. Meanwhile, the Delhi government has announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the kin of the dead. Earlier, seventeen people were killed and several injured in a massive fire that broke out in Delhis Karol Bagh area in the early morning hours today. While many of the victims were suffocated or charred to death, reports suggest that at least three people were killed when they reportedly jumped off the building in desperate attempts to escape the blaze. There was a short circuit in the kitchen which caused a fire to break out at 4 am, and it quickly spread on to the other areas. The wooden panelling on the floors acted as a catalyst and prevented people from running down. Though there have been several cases of fire in the national capital but the Karol Bagh hotel tragedy has claimed most lives in recent past. In 1986, a major fire broke out in Siddharth Hotel in Vasant Vihar. The blaze had killed 37 and injured 39 people. Later, it was renamed as the Vasant Continental. Owned by Jaypee Group, the hotel was a 10-storey luxury hotel in 1980. Several foreigners were also killed in the blaze. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: What can be termed as a major boost for the Indian armed forces, the Defence Ministry on Tuesday has signed a contract to procure 72,000 Sig Sauer assault rifles under fast-track procedures. The procurement of 72,000 Sig Sauer assault rifles will modernise the infantry. India has signed the contract with the US for the assault rifles which are already being used by armed forces in the US and several European countries. According to PTI sources, the US firm will have to now deliver the rifles within a year. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had earlier approved procurement of the Sig Sauer rifles which will be used by troops deployed along the nearly 3,600-km border with China, the sources told PTI. They said the rifles, being used by the US forces as well as several other European countries, are being bought under the fast track procurement procedure. "The contract is expected to be finalized within a week. The US firm will have to deliver the rifles within one year from the date of finalising the deal," said a senior official involved in negotiation of the deal said. Army sources said the US-manufactured rifles will replace the Insas rifles. The world's second largest standing Army has been pressing for fast-tracking the procurement of various weapons systems considering the evolving security threats including along India's borders with Pakistan and China. In October 2017, the Army began the process to acquire around 7 lakh rifles, 44,000 light machine guns (LMGs) and nearly 44,600 carbines. Around 18 months ago, the Army had rejected an assault rifle built by the state-run Rifle Factory, Ishapore, after the guns miserably failed the firing tests. Following it, the Army started scouting for rifles from the global market. The procurement of assault rifles has witnessed significant delays due to a variety of reasons including the Army's failure to finalise the specifications for it. The Army needs around 7 lakh 7.62x51 mm assault guns to replace its INSAS rifles. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan over quota in jobs and education entered the fifth consecutive day on Tuesday as agitators blocked roads and railway tracks. As many as three trains were cancelled and two diverted in the Sawai Madhopur district of the state. The district collector issued a notice to Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla asking him to vacate railway tracks. The sit-in has affected the movement of over 300 trains through the region so far. Internet services in the Sawai Madhopur district have been suspended till Wednesday. Demanding 5 per cent reservation in government jobs and educational institutes, the Gujjar community members blocked National Highway-11, which connects Jaipur with Agra, in Rajasthan's Dausa district on Monday as well. The Jaipur-Kota Highway in Tonk and a few other roads in Karauli and Sawai Madhopur districts were also blocked. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot reiterated that the agitating Gujjar community members vacate the railway tracks and come forward to hold dialogue. He said the state government will do whatever it possibly can to address their issues and they should raise their demand before the Centre. I want to appeal to the community members to hold talks. Whatever will be possible at the state governments level will be done. They should also raise their demand before the Centre, Gehlot told reporters in Jaipur. He said that the one per cent reservation the community was getting at present was because of the decision taken by the former Congress government led by him. Several trains have been cancelled, many diverted. It is a loss for the country and its economy. People are suffering and I would appeal them to hold talks, the chief minister said. Bainsla, who along with his supporters began the indefinite sit-in on railway tracks in Malarna-Dungar of Sawai Madhopur on Friday evening, has so far refused to back off. We will not move from the tracks unless the announcement is made. There is only one demand, that is five per cent reservation, Bainslas son Vijay Singh said. (With PTI inputs) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal went to Hotel Arpit Palace at Karol Bagh in New Delhi. The Delhi government announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the kin of the dead. Seventeen people were killed and several injured in a massive fire that broke out in Delhis Karol Bagh area in the early morning hours today. The blaze was reported from Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh, which has now been doused. Fire has been doused. Bodies are being taken out now. Rescue operation underway, Sunil Choudhary, Deputy Chief Fire Officer was quoted as saying. Initial probe suggests a short circuit to be the reason for the blaze. The chief minister also ordered a magisterial enquiry. Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit will visit the family of the fire victims at RML Hospital in the afternoon. She expressed her condolences. "I express my sorrow at the tragic death of several innocent people in a fire at #ArpitHotel in #KarolBagh. Our brave firefighters are working amidst extremely difficult circumstances to rescue those who are stranded in the building (sic)," she wrote on Twitter. I express my sorrow at the tragic death of several innocent people in a fire at #ArpitHotel in #KarolBagh. Our brave firefighters are working amidst extremely difficult circumstances to rescue those who are stranded in the building. Sheila Dikshit (@SheilaDikshit) February 12, 2019 According to the latest reports, 25 fire tenders have been pressed into action. 45 people have been rescued from the burning hotel, whereas 8 people are said to be in critical condition. The dead include a mother a child. All the 13 taken to RLM hospital have died, of the 5 admitted to Lady Hardinge Hospital, 2 have succumbed to their injuries. Three injured persons have been shifted to Sir Gangaram Hospital. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday referred to a seven-judge bench the issue of determining the correctness of minority status granted to the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), according to reports. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi referred the matter to the larger bench for defining the parameters for grant of minority status to the educational institution. "Centre's petition seeking a direction to withdraw the minority tag from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU): Supreme Court refers the case to a seven-judge bench," the news agency ANI reported. Centre's petition seeking a direction to withdraw the minority tag from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU): Supreme Court refers the case to a seven-judge bench. pic.twitter.com/smsAxhkVbh ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2019 The top court was dealing with a petition filed by then UPA government, challenging the Allahabad High Court's 2006 order holding that the varsity was not a minority institution. The varsity administration had also filed a separate plea against the high court verdict on the issue. The Allahabad High Court had in January 2006 struck down the provision of the Act by which the university was accorded the minority status. However, in 2016, the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre decided to withdraw the appeal, saying that a five-judge Constitution bench in 1968 in the Aziz Basha case had held that AMU was a "central university" and not a minority institution. After the 1968 verdict, the AMU (Amendment) Act, 1981 came into force. In May 2018, the Aligarh Muslim University was in the headline, after scores of agitated students along with some Hindutva activists started a nationwide protest at the AMU's main gate, seeking to withdraw a portrait of Pakistan's founding father Mohammad Ali Jinnah hanging on the varsity wall. Their demands include a probe into the alleged "anti-national activities" in the varsity. (With inputs from agencies) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Veteran Bollywood actor Danny Denzongpa, who played a significant role in Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi's recent release 'Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi', is going through a hard time in his personal life and stayed himself away from all the developments associated with the film. Denzongpa has not even had time or desire to watch or attend any function in connection to the film and is reeling from the loss of his two brothers within a week. Confirming the massive loss in his family, Danny says, "We had a double tragedy in the family. My two elder brothers passed away within a week of one another. All of us in the Denzongpa family have been in a state of shock. We've all been visiting different monasteries in remote places for the ritualistic 49 days of prayers according to our Buddhist religion". One of his co-starts said, "He has bigger problems to look into. He has lost family members very close to him, and hes attending to the formalities. The last thing he is bothered with at the moment is the length of his role. In fact, Danny hasnt seen Manikarnika, nor does he want to. The experience of shooting with a substitute director (Kangana Ranaut) after the original director (Krish)s departure was unpleasant". Starring Kangana Ranaut in the lead role, Manikarnika hit the theatres on January 25, 2019. Apart from Manikarnika, Denzongpa is known for films like Agneepath, Fakira, Chor Machaye Shor, Devata, Kalicharan, Bulundi, Adhikar and many others. His directorial venture Phir Wahi Raat was considered among the top five best horror suspense films of Hindi Cinema. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Here are the Live updates: 11.57 am: Anil Ambani knew he was going to get Rafale deal, what PM has done is treason and in violation of Official Secrets Act, says Rahul Gandhi. 11.55 am: Now PM needs to answer how did Anil Ambani knew 10 days in advance of the Rafale deal. Defence Minister, HAL, Foreign Secy don't know but Anil Ambani knew. If this is true then PM is in violation of official secrets act, criminal action must be initiated on this basis, says Rahul Gandhi. 11.52 am: What PM has done is criminal and that itself puts him in jail, says Rahul Gandhi on Rafale deal. 11.50 am: PM Modi has compromised national security. He has leaked defence information to a person who was not supposed to have it, the Congress president said. 11.46 am: CAG is not Comptroller and Auditor General report, it is Chowkidaar Auditor General report, says Gandhi. 11.45 am: Anil Ambani, who met the French defence minister, mentioned an MoU he is looking forward to sign after the Indian prime minister's visit to France, ays Rahul Gandhi. 11.44 am: Ambani says he is first looking to make commercial helicopters.Thi s is a breach of the official secrets act... the PM is the only other person who knows about this... in fact Anil Ambani opened his company after this meeting.The Prime Minister is acting as Anil Ambani's middleman, says Rahul Gandhi. 11.43 am: An email has come into light that states "A. Ambani visited the Minister's office... Mentioned MoU in preparation & intention to sign during PM visit". How is Anil Ambani meeting the French Defence Minister prior to PM's visit? asks Congress President. 11.43 am: A new mail had emerged regarding the Rafale deal. This email is clear. An Airbus executive wrote that Mr Anil Ambani met the French Defence Minister and told him 10 days before the Rafale deal was signed that he was going to get it, says Rahul Gandhi. 11.42 am: New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that his government will speed up the campaign to rid the country of the corrupt, claiming that only such people had a problem with him while the honest trusted the 'chowkidar'. PM Modi sought people's support in the campaign while addressing a gathering at the "Swachh Shakti 2019", an event to recognise the leadership role played by rural women in the Swachh Bharat Mission towards achieving a clean and open defecation free country by October 2 this year. "In 2014, you gave your votes for an honest and transparent government. Middlemen and those who snatched the rights of the poor have been thrown out of all the systems," he said. "Every honest person in the country trusts this 'chowkidar' (watchman) but those who are corrupt, have a problem with PM Modi," he said. PM Modi said some people in Haryana are worried over the ongoing investigations by probe agencies against them. "Even in Haryana, you are witnessing how some people are worried because of probe by investigating agencies," he said without naming anyone. There are investigations against former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Congress president Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra for alleged irregularities in land deals in the state. The Prime Minister also mocked the opposition's proposed grand alliance as "maha-milawat", saying all the faces in this are indulging in threatening and abusing Modi. "All the faces of this 'maha-milawat' are indulging in competition of threatening and abusing investigating agencies, court and Modi," he said. "But you rest assured, this 'chowkidar' will neither be threatened or browbeaten with their threats and abuses, will neither stop nor bow down. Our 'safai' campaign to rid this country of the corrupt and the dirt is going to be further accelerated. For this campaign, your blessings should continue," he said. PM Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stones for six development projects, including the National Cancer Institute, Jhajjar and Shri Krishna Ayush University, Kurukshetra in Haryana Tuesday. The 'Swachh Shakti 2019' event partaken by Modi was attended by woman sarpanchs and women associated with the 'Swachhta' campaign from across the country. Here are the highlights from the PM Modi's address in Kurukshetra: 14:45 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Only corrupt people are worried lot right now. These faces of mahamilwat are competing with each other to threaten the courts and probe agencies, says PM Modi. 14:40 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Earlier, our daughters were forced to abandon their studies because there were no toilets in their schools. The pain of crores of sisters had huge impact on me. I vowed to help sisters and daughters of our country and work for their dignity, says PM Modi. 14:31 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In In Kurukshetra, PM Modi salutes naari shakti, says our daughters are strengthening New India 14:26 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Under PM Housing Scheme, we are prioritising that the houses are registered under womens name only, says PM Modi. 14:24 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Beti bachao, beti padhao improved the sex ratio. Ujjwala Yojana gave ours sisters freedom from smoke-filled kitchens, says PM Modi 14:23 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Its my govt that introduced capital punishment for rapists, says PM Modi 14:17 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In There is a place in Europe where a lot of tourists visit since the front walls of the houses that are painted beautifully. Maybe, one day there will be a village in Hindustan where toilets and paintings on it will be so good that tourists will come to see it, says PM Modi. 14:16 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Be it one rank, one pension, beti bachao, beti padhao or Ayushman Bharat scheme, all projects have deep connection with the land of Haryana. 14:13 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In I welcome our guests from Nigeria. I am told that you are here on a study tour since the past week to learn how Swachh Bharat mission had such dramatic success so quickly and how it can be replicated in Nigeria. I wish you all success, says PM Modi. highlights In 2014, Naveen Patnaik was one of the regional satraps who stood his ground. The BJD outperformed the BJP and the Congress again and won 117 seats. The BJP had only 36 Zilla Parishad seats which it increased to 306 in 2017. New Delhi: Lok Sabha Elections 2019: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has finally sounded the poll bugle and declared the schedule for the Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on March 10. The Lok Sabha Elections 2019 will be held in seven phases, starting from April 11. The results will be declared on May 23. 91 constituencies will go for polls in the first phase on April 11, followed by 97 constituencies in the second phase on April 18. The third phase will be held on April 23 and fourth on April 29, fifth on May 6, sixth on May 12 and seventh phase on May 19. 115 constituencies will go for polls in the third phase, 71 in the fourth phase, 51 in the fifth phase, 59 in the sixth phase and 59 in the seventh phase. We are also gearing up for the elections and are coming up with a series: 2019 Lok Sabha Election Analysis: What happened in 2014 Lok Sabha Polls? What will happen this year? Let us look at the political scenario in the state of Odisha. The Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has been ruling the state since 2000 without any serious threat from the opposition. The Congress party has been in shambles while the BJP is still in a search of some credible face to challenge the might of Naveen Babu. The party is likely to project Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan as its chief ministerial candidate in the upcoming Odisha Assembly elections. However, the BJP has slowly but surely replaced the Congress as the prime opposition party and the main challenger of the ruling BJD. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJD swept the state leaving the BJP and the Congress to fight for the coveted second spot. Let's discuss this in detail. Also Read: Lok Sabha Elections 2019: When will you vote? Know poll dates of your seat here Lok Sabha Elections 2019: When will Odisha vote? Odisha will vote in the first four phases i.e. on April 11, 18, 23 and 29 for Lok Sabha as well as Assembly. Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh are the other states which will have both the elections simultaneously. Kalahandi, Koraput, Berhampur and Nabrangpur will vote on April 11 whereas the voters in Sundargarh, Bargarh, Aska, Kandhamal and Bolangir will use their franchise on April 18. Six seats namely Puri, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Sambalpur and Bhubaneswar will vote on April 23 while the voting will be held in Jajpur, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore, Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj on April 29. What happened in Odisha in 2014 Lok Sabha Elections? In 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, Naveen Patnaik was one of the regional satraps who stood his ground against the Narendra Modi wave. The 2014 polls in Odisha were held in two phases on April 10 and 17. The state sends 21 members in the Lok Sabha and the BJD won 20 seats, while the BJP was able to win a single seat of Sundargarh. Jual Oram defeated BJD's Dilip Kumar Tirkey from the constituency and relegated former chief minister and Congress leader Hemananda Biswal to the third position. The BJD received 94,89,946 votes with a vote share of 44.77 per cent, while the BJP was able to garner 46,38,565 votes in the state with a vote share of 21.88 per cent. The saffron party came second in Balasore, Bargarh, Bhubaneswar, Bolangir, Dhenkanal, Kalahandi, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Sambalpur. The Congress got more votes than the BJP in the elections but drew a blank. The party got 55,91,380 votes with 26.38 per cent of the vote share. According to our analysis, the BJD was ahead in 116 Assembly segments during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The Congress was leading on 11 and the BJP on 20. In 2009 Lok Sabha Elections, the BJD was successful on 14 seats and the Congress won 6. The BJP was not able to open its account in the state. Some of the prominent winners in 2014 were Jual Oram (BJP-Sundargarh), Arjun Charan Sethi (BJD-Bhadrak), Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD-Cuttack), Baijayant Panda (BJD-Kendrapara), Pinaki Misra (BJD-Puri), Prasanna Kumar Patasani (BJD-Bhubaneswar), Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo (BJD-Bolangir), Tathagata Satpathy (BJD-Dhenkanal) and Jhina Hikaka (BJD-Koraput). Hemananda Biswal (Congress), Dilip Kumar Tirkey (BJD), Suresh Pujari (BJP), Ananta Nayak (BJP), Srikant Kumar Jena (Congress), Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo (BJP), Bhakta Charan Das (Congress), Kharabela Swain (AOP), Prithiviraj Harichandan (BJP), Bijay Mohanti (Congress) and Giridhar Gamang (Congress) lost the elections. What was the result of Odisha Assembly Elections in 2014? Odisha was one of the states that went for Assembly elections along with the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. The BJD outperformed the BJP and the Congress again and won 117 seats in the 147-member strong Assembly with a vote share of 43.35 per cent. The BJD received 93,35,159 votes in the state. The BJP was able to get 38,74,748 votes with a vote share of 17.99 per cent. The party won only 10 seats in the Assembly. Congress, on the other hand, won 16 seats with a vote share of 25.71 per cent. The party got the backing of 55,35,670 voters. Both the Assembly and the Lok Sabha elections showed a similar trend, however, the BJP polled around 4 per cent less in the Assembly polls as compared to the Lok Sabha polls. In 2009 Assembly elections, the BJD was successful on 103 seats and the Congress got 27 seats. The BJP had managed only 6 seats after its break up with the BJD. What is the current scenario in 2019? The BJP is trying its best to emerge as the alternative to Naveen Patnaik in Odisha and has already dethroned the Congress as the main opposition party. The party got the confidence after its exceptional performance in the panchayat elections in Odisha in 2017. The BJP had only 36 Zilla Parishad seats in 2012 which it increased to 306 in 2017. The ruling BJD suffered a jolt after its tally went down from 651 seats to 460. The Congress which was having 126 seats in 2012 also saw the decline in 2017 and was reduced to just 66 seats. The BJP got more than 32 per cent votes in the panchayat polls. In Kandhamal Lok Sabha and Bijepur Assembly bye-elections, the BJP came second after the BJD. However, the desertion of former Union minister Dilip Ray and Bijoy Mahapatra from the party can hurt the prospects of the BJP. It is a worrisome factor for the party who has set a target of winning 120 of the 147 Assembly seats. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. The party got the confidence after its exceptional performance in the panchayat elections in Odisha in 2017. (File photo: PTI) The BJD is also facing the dissent in the party and Baijayant 'Jay' Panda, one of the prominent BJD leaders, was already shown a door. Naveen Patnaik has been toying the idea of maintaining equidistance from the BJP and the Congress since 2009 when his party left the BJP-led NDA, but his recent actions such as supporting NDA candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh in the Rajya Sabha deputy speaker election, endorsing Ram Nath Kovind for the Presidents post and also walking out of no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha have been creating ripples in the political circles. Patnaik always rubbished all rumours about an alliance with the BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had launched a scathing attack against Naveen Patnaik and PM Narendra Modi. (File photo: PTI) The Congress has attacked Patnaik for his stance and alleged that "both the parties are hand-in-glove with each other". Party chief Rahul Gandhi had launched a scathing attack against Patnaik and alleged that he is being "remote controlled" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. New Delhi: It has not been even a month that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra made her debut in active politics and the newly appointed Congress General Secretary is already having her hands full. A day after her mega roadshow accompanied by brother Rahul Gandhi and western region in-charge Jyotiraditya Scindia in Lucknow, Priyanka on Tuesday met several senior leaders and party workers to outline strategies ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2019. During Tuesday's meeting, Priyanka's most resentment was with the factionalism in the Congress. In her first message to party workers in Mohanlalganj, Fatehpur, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Unnao, Lucknow and other Lok Sabha constituencies, the younger Gandhi gave a strict and clear directive to put an end to groupism and factionalism within the party. "Guthbaazi khatam Karo (end groupism)," Priyanka was quoted as saying during her address. The eastern region in-charge also stressed that all the party workers should unilaterally support those who will be chosen for different constituencies ahead of the General Elections 2019. The workers have been also asked to help people get out of their homes and reach their respective polling booth during the elections. Keeping in mind that Lok Sabha polls are just a few months left, Priyanka decided not to make any big organisational changes. Besides, Priyanka, in an accusing tone, asked all the Congress workers that when did they last visit or organise an event in their respective areas across in the state. Being asked about the name of their respective booths, the party leaders started looking at each other instead of answering the question of Priyanka Gandhi. Sources said, Priyanka on Tuesday conducted several rounds of meeting with karykartas, District presidents from each constituency for over an hour and will continue the process on Wednesday. On Monday, Priyanka did not address the crowd during the mega road show or at the Congress office in Lucknow. It was Congress president Rahul Gandhi who addressed the gathering, adding that the party will fight fo0r its ideologies in the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2019. New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Tuesday flagged off the 'Mera Pariwar, Bhajpa Pariwar' campaign from his residence in Ahmedabad. The campaign aims to plant the BJP flag at five crore homes of its workers and sympathisers across the country. "This BJP flag is a symbol of development, belief and nationalism, and shows how appeasement, casteism and family rule is ending in the Modi era," Amit Shah said, during the campaign launch. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was also present on the occasion. BJP sources have described the drive as a part of its mass mobilisation campaign for Lok Sabha elections, expected to be held in April-May. Gujarat: BJP President Amit Shah flags off 'Mera Pariwar, Bhajpa Pariwar' campaign from his residence in Ahmedabad. Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani also present. pic.twitter.com/da7ns8LFXA ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2019 Among other measures, the party has been reaching out to beneficiaries of different government schemes, like Jan Dhan bank accounts, the building of toilets, Mudra loans and LPG connection scheme, to mobilise people in its support. ALSO READ | Mamata Banerjee to join AAP's anti-BJP rally today in Delhi "We have already verified details of over 9.5 crore new members out of the 11 crore it had claimed to enrolled during its membership drive following its victory in 2014, news agency PTI quoted a source as saying. "The BJP had received over 17 crore votes in 2014. Now we have details of of 9.5 crore members in our record. There are 35 crore beneficiaries of Jan Dhan bank accounts, seven crore under Mudra and over six crore under Ujjwala scheme to give free LPG connection to the poor," a leader said. He added the party has targeted different groups for mobilisation ahead of the polls. ALSO READ | Election Analysis 2019: What happened in Gujarat in 2014 Lok Sabha Polls? On Monday, Amit Shah wrote an open letter to the people of Andhra Pradesh where he launched a blistering attack on Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and said that the TDP chief has destroyed the trust of the people. BJP president Amit Shah said the Andhra Pradesh chief minister knows that his political fortunes are declining rapidly and so he was back to theatrics in his desperation for grabbing headlines. Naidus delusional politics is about to end, he said, adding that the BJP has full faith in Satyameva Jayate (truth prevails). New Delhi: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav took to Twitter on Tuesday to complain about the Uttar Pradesh government. In his tweet, Yadav claimed that the Yogi Adityanath government stopped him at Lucknow Airport. In another tweet, he said that he was being detained at the airport. The former chief minister was scheduled to attend a students oath-taking ceremony later in the day. "The government is so afraid of oath ceremony of a student leader that it is stopping me at the airport to prevent me from visiting Allahabad," Yadav said in Hindi on Twitter. He tweeted photographs in which he was seen talking to police officers inside the airport. The BJP knows that youth of our great country will not tolerate this injustice anymore, Yadav said in another tweet. I was prevented from boarding the airplane without any written orders. Currently detained at Lucknow airport. It is clear how frightened the govt is by the oath ceremony of a student leader. The BJP knows that youth of our great country will not tolerate this injustice anymore! pic.twitter.com/xtnpNWtQRd Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) February 12, 2019 Yadav was scheduled to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad University. When asked, the airport director AK Sharma said, "He had no such information". Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, however, maintained that the step was taken due to law and order situation. The Chief Minister claimed that the situation would have deteriorated had Yadav visited the university campus. SP should refrain from its anarchist activities. Allahabad University requested that Akhilesh Yadavs visit may create law & order problem because of the dispute between student organisations. Hence the government took this step, Yogi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. New Delhi: The Jammu and Kashmir Bank (JK Bank) has released the admit card for the recruitment of banking associates. The candidates who have applied for the examination can download their admit card by visiting the career section of Jammu and Kashmir Bank at official website- jkbank.com. The candidates who are preparing for the examination must note that the admit card will be available for download till February 24, 2019. The bank has scheduled the online preliminary exam on February 22, 23 and 24, 2019. For the convenience of the students, we have mentioned the steps through which the candidates can download the JK Bank Associate exam 2109 Admit Card: Visit the official website -jkbank.com Click on download Call Letter for Banking Associates link A new login page will appear Enter your login credentials- registration number and password Enter the captcha code Click on the login button and your admit card will be displayed on the screen Download and take a print-out for future use For all the Latest Education News, Jobs News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Jammu and Kashmir Board has released the Board Date Sheet for Class 10th at its official website- jkbose.ac.in. The date sheet is of the bi-annual session 2018-19 of Kashmir Division excluding the districts of Tehsil Gurez, Machil, Keran and Tangdhar. The candidates who are preparing for the examinations are asked to visit the official website of the board i.e. jkbose.ac.in for more details. For the convenience of the students, we have mentioned the dates of the examination: Additional/ Optional February 25, 2019 Science February 27, 2019 English March 2, 2019 Urdu/ Hindi March 5, 2019 Mathematics/ Music/ Arts March 9, 2019 Vocational Subject March 11, 2019 Social Science March 14, 2019 Candidates are also informed that the Practical Examinations in Science, Home Science and Music will be conducted on March 23, 2019. About Jammu and Kashmir State Board of School Education (JKBOSE) The Jammu and Kashmir State Board of School Education, renowned as the JKBOSE is actually a governmental body that is responsible for the development as well as maintenance of Jammu and Kashmir school education. Under the state government administration, this governmental body acts as the autonomous body of education. Apart from this, the JKBOSE also looks after the quality of the education which is provided to the student at a school level through 10,609 affiliated schools in the state. Besides from the responsibility of giving the quality education, the board also promotes the equality of opportunity by providing the essential facilities. At the same time, the Jammu and Kashmir State Board also conducts annual 10th and 12th Class Exams every year. The main objective of JKBOSE is to shape up the strong basis of higher education for students of Jammu and Kashmir. There are number of government as well as private schools in the state which are affiliated with the JKBOSE. They try to provide all the education-related facilities to the students, who are learning under the Jammu and Kashmir State Board of School Education. highlights The hotel, which was built 25 years ago, has 46 rooms. Wooden panelling on corridor caused huge panic among guests. Rescuers are now focusing on those still trapped inside hotel rooms. New Delhi: Seventeen people were killed and several injured in a massive fire that broke out in Delhis Karol Bagh area in the early morning hours today. The blaze was reported from Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh, which has now been doused. Fire has been doused. Bodies are being taken out now. Rescue operation underway, Sunil Choudhary, Deputy Chief Fire Officer was quoted as saying. Initial probe suggests short circuit to be the reason for the blaze. Balan Mani, Delhi Hotel Association Vice President, on 9 dead in Delhi hotel fire: It was due to fire in ducting because of which it had spread to the hotel rooms.All norms were followed here; license is issued only after inspection. Mishappening can occur in a house as well. pic.twitter.com/e3hYIqI1Yp News Nation (@NewsNationTV) February 12, 2019 According to latest reports, 25 fire tenders have been pressed into action. 45 people have been rescued from the burning hotel, whereas 8 people are said to be in critical condition. The dead include a mother a child. All the 13 taken to RLM hospital have died, of the 5 admitted to Lady Hardinge Hospital, 2 have succumbed to their injuries. Three injured persons have been shifted to Sir Gangaram Hospital. Though there have been several cases of fire in the National Capital but the Karol Bagh hotel tragedy has claimed most lives in recent past. In 1986, a major fire broke out in Siddharth Hotel in Vasant Vihar. The blaze had killed 37 and injured 39 people. Later, it was renamed as the Vasant Continental. Owned by Jaypee Group, the hotel was a 10-storey luxury hotel in the 1980. Several foreigners were also killed in the blaze. Last week, a massive fire had broken out at the prominent Metro Hospitals and Heart Institute in Noidas Sector-12. The probe into the incident unveiling a startling fact. The hospital has been functioning without a fire licence that expired over five months ago, officials said. "The hospital authorities had got a licence from the fire department in March 2017, but they did not get it renewed from over five months," Gautam Budh Nagar Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Arun Kumar Singh told to PTI. Deeply saddened by the loss of lives due to a fire at Karol Bagh in Delhi. I convey my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives. May the injured recover soon: PM @narendramodi PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 12, 2019 Luckily, no one was injured in the blaze that broke out at 8 am in the dispensary located on the ground floor. Ten fire tenders were rushed to the site, the officials said. The Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, commonly referred to as Calcutta Medical College, was established in 1835 and is the second oldest medical college in India after Ecole de Medicine of Puducherry. The hospital fire was a stark reminder of the blaze at Kolkatas Calcutta Medical College last year. The fire had broken out in the dispensary of the state-run Medical College and Hospital on October 3 last year. As many as 250 patients were evacuated from the premises, fire officials had said. Please purchase a subscription read this premium content. If you have a subscription, please sign up for a digital website account or log in. An American hunter is under fire for paying US$110,000 (NZ$163,000) to shoot a rare Pakistani mountain goat. Video from the hunt shows Bryan Kinsel Harlan shooting the wild Astore markhor and then dragging it onto a rocky outcrop to pose for a photo. "It was an easy and close shot. I am pleased to take this trophy," he said, according to The Washington Post. There was immediate reaction to the photos on social media, with many questioning why hunting the animal was legal in the first place. But there's a reason Mr Harlan was allowed to shoot the goat. Many of the protestors wore "Make America Great Again" hats. They stood hand in hand for 45 minutes, in honour of Mr Trump, the 45th US President, reports the Epoch Times. "We are here to bring attention to the fact that there isn't a wall here" Texas resident Anthony Aguero told Reuters. "We have to secure our nation and at the same time we are securing the nation, all of these people will be able to live in peace because of all the drug and human trafficking that passes through here won't happen here." Chants of "USA! USA! USA!" rang out from those forming the human wall. The protest comes days ahead of Mr Trump's first expected campaign rally of the year. The rally will take place in close proximity to the US Mexico border. Newshub. Judith Collins isn't ruling out another tilt at the National Party leadership, telling Newshub she doesn't "rule out anything". The Papakura MP is polling higher than Simon Bridges as preferred Prime Minister in the Newshub-Reid Research poll, and even National voters think she's the better person for the job. She says she's but a humble servant to her caucus. "My role is just to do whatever the caucus needs me to do," she told Newshub. "My view is I'm just doing my job." But she refused to rule out a leadership challenge, saying instead: "I'm very clearly not ruling out anything." When asked how many of her colleagues had asked her to be leader, she said they "discuss all sort of things". But they're not alone - voters are also discussing her. Poll results indicated just 13.4 percent of people believe Mr Bridges should lead the National party. Ms Collins topped him on 17.3 percent. Paula Bennett was next on 6.2 percent - she denies leadership ambitions, as does former leadership hopeful Amy Adams. "I think Simon's doing a great job," she said. The National leadership is decided by its MPs. Newshub asked a few of them what they thought about Ms Collins in that role. "Simon is our leader," said David Bennett, MP for Hamilton East. "I'm happy with Simon, I'd be happy with Judith," said Northland's Matt King. "You either love her or you hate her," was East Coast MP Anne Tolley's verdict. "There's a number of people who would make a good leader, we'll just see," said list MP Nuk Korako. "Simon's doing a great job at the moment," said Tim van de Molen, MP for Waikato. "I don't think it's up for consideration at the moment," said Ilam MP Gerry Brownlee. There were "ums and "ahs" as well as a lot of "at the moment" and "we'll see" - far from an emphatic vote of confidence. The government is being accused by the opposition of destroying New Zealand's valuable relationship with China. A major joint tourism launch planned between our countries has been postponed and the Prime Minister's trip to Beijing is still being delayed. National is blaming Winston Peters, and Simon Bridges says he's out of control. "'The government has demonstrated a new kind of leadership that means 'Let Winston Do Whatever the heck he wants'." Today in parliament a verbal war over the pronunciation of China escalated. Mr Bridges asked Mr Peters to "tell us about China." Mr Peters shot back "I'll tell you about China but 'Choina'. I'm becoming an expert on China but 'Choina?' I don't know anything about that country." It kicked off today with a China-New Zealand Tourism ceremony at Te Papa suddenly and quietly put on ice. Mr Peters said delays can't be helped. "Sometimes these things are delayed." But it's not just that - a Prime Ministerial trip to China that was supposed to happen last year still has no start date - that's down to so called 'scheduling problems' on the Chinese Premier's side. Mr Peters said it's still going ahead. "She's got an invitation from them, it still stands, and she'll be going there." This all comes after a year of challenges to China by New Zealand. Communications giant Huawei halted in its tracks, the GCSB warning of Chinese cyber-attacks, and the government's Defence Policy statement that explicitly names China as a growing military power and threat. Simon Bridges is zeroing in on just one man. "Winston Peters is to blame here for a steadily declining relationship between China and New Zealand." He says the Prime Minister has failed to rein Peters in. "She hasn't grasped foreign affairs the way a Prime Minister should have." But Ms Ardern says she's not playing games. "We will not play politics with our foreign policy." The Prime Minister trying to rise above the scrap, but until China sets a date for her visit - her government's wide open to criticism from the opposition Newshub. OPINION: I never understood why the gay community had to have a big song and dance about it. But after a co-worker of mine was assaulted, I've been humbled in my opinion. I'd like to talk about hate crimes. Something, I'd like to think, in this country are rare. Like a lot of other heterosexual middle class people,I look at things like the gay parade and the Big Gay Out and a little part of me, says 'why do they have to go on about it?' There's no legal impediment to being gay in this country. What is the big deal in 2019? I think a lot of people have feelings like this. But this morning, I found out that my co-worker, Aziz, who happens to be gay, was with a mate on K' Road on Saturday night. And they got beaten up, for being gay. Aziz thought his friend may have been killed. They were minding their own business walking down the street, when someone accosted them, started calling them fags. Aziz ran, his friend is down being kicked on the ground by two or three assailants. All because Aziz has a sexual orientation different to those who set upon them. They're both okay. But that's a hate crime. And I suddenly felt bad about questioning the need for gay pride parades. It doesn't matter what the law says. If rubbish like that is still going on in New Zealand, and hate crimes like that are still being perpetrated against people just minding their own business, then there is a need for it. The LGBTQI community have a reason to get in our faces occasionally, and we need to accept it and we have got to stop hating on it. I feel humbled by that, and I feel bad about looking at pride parades and saying 'oh why does that go on?' because this is why it's going on. All the laws have been changed, but there's still hatred out there. It's knuckle dragging rubbish in my opinion, and if you know these three guys who decided to beat up Aziz and his mate on Saturday, if they went back to the pub and bragged about it then ring the police and dob the bastards in. Because they don't have any place, they are not the majority and they don't represent anything but prejudice and hatred, and it's got to stop. It made me feel bloody sad, that this can go on in this day and age and maybe that's the reason that certain communities need to get out on the street and get in our faces occasionally. I'll never totally get it, but I get where you're coming from now. Sean Plunket is the host of Magic Afternoons. A possibly severe tropical cyclone is forming to the north of New Zealand and it could hang around for 10 days. Cyclone Oma has recently been named by the Fiji Met Service and is expected to track over Vanuatu and New Caledonia as a category 2 storm, forecaster Weatherwatch said in a statement. "Oma is likely to basically hover near New Caledonia and the Coral Sea area for over a week, in favourable conditions to grow potentially into a 'severe' tropical cyclone," it said. "It's unclear what will happen in 10 days but current modelling shows the storm becoming stronger at sea before possibly drifting further west to Queensland." There's not much to suggest Oma will affect New Zealand, even in the parched paddocks in Northland, but Weatherwatch said there could be a remote chance. "Tropical storms can be unpredictable so we aren't ruling anything it completely out - but the latest data and our own forecasts do not support tropical rain bringing relief to dry northern NZ - but it may be falling just offshore nearby. " Weatherwatch said New Caledonia and Vanuatu should be on the lookout as Oma slowly tracks around them over the coming days. It said there is the chance the cyclone could bring heavy rain and possibly damaging winds. Newshub. A man who was found guilty of spying on men while they were in a public toilet at a Christchurch mall is now facing deportation. The migrant, who has name suppression, was found to have 101 videos and images, saved in a folder named "Spy Toilet", of men's genitalia, as they used the urinal at Riccarton's Westfield Mall. The 23-year-old was caught when police raided a cubicle in the men's toilet in January 2018. He was found guilty of wilful damage and a representative charge of making the intimate visual recordings, in a judge-alone trial at the Christchurch District Court in December, for poking holes in the toilet wall, Court News reports. The man took the explicit images through holes poked in the cubicle wall or by going over the top of the wall. Now he faces possible deportation to South America following his sentencing on Tuesday. Judge Tom Gilbert sentenced the man to six hours of home detention and 100 hours of community work and immigration authorities may consider his deportation immediately. Had he been sentenced to jail time, Immigration New Zealand would have considered deporting him after he had served his sentence, Court News reports. In December 2017, mall staff found the holes in the wall at about waist height, allowing a view to the men's urinal. They repaired the holes but later found they had come back. Security footage showed the man using a small screwdriver to make a hole in the cubical wall and then using his cellphone to take the pictures and videos. The court heard how he would stay in the cubical for more than an hour. His defence lawyer Natalie Wham said the man considered himself to be a better person than he was when the offending happened and he apologised to his victims. The man has been refused name suppression but has appealed the decision in the High Court. That appeal hearing has been held but the decision has not yet been released. Newshub. As the world hurtles towards a mass insect extinction, an expert warns New Zealanders would only have "two weeks of life" left after insectageddon. In the insects' absence, we'd be trapped in a brutal fight for survival in a toxic world covered in dung, while we starve due to crop failures. New meta-analysis, published in the journal Biological Conservation, found insect numbers are collapsing around the world - and it's going to have horrendous flow-on effects. Over 40 percent of insect species are threatened with extinction, and total insect biomass is decreasing at a rate of 2.5 percent per year. Based on current trends, insects could be extinct within a century. "It is very rapid. In 10 years you will have a quarter less, in 50 years only half left and in 100 years you will have none," review author Francisco Sanchez-Bayo told The Guardian. The Salvation Army has found little to celebrate over children's wellbeing in its latest review of life in New Zealand. The State Of The Nation report has found persistent inequalities between those who are living comfortably, and our most vulnerable. It said there are more children in state care, violence hasn't abated, and youth unemployment rates remain high. But there have been reductions in teenage pregnancies and prison populations. The Salvation Army said there needs to be a radical review of welfare policies, and inequality in education should be addressed. Report author Alan Johnson told Newshub the report was a mixed bag. "Some good news and some not good news, much of it's really about not much changing the last couple of years." Mr Johnson said the lack of movement is having dire consequences. "Children from poorer communities or neighbourhoods are far more likely to fail and do so consistently." Overall, he said the Government needs to step up. "The gaps that still exist really haven't closed much and you would hope we would be doing much better." National Party social investment spokesperson Louise Upston said the Government was all talk and no action. "This Government talks about supporting the most vulnerable and improving wellbeing, but it's the results that matter. National's social investment approach is about changing lives - setting targets, measuring impact and improving accountability," she said in a statement "Now we have a Government that talks a lot about aspiration, but this report makes it clear that good intentions don't make for good policy, or good outcomes." Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the Government was working on fixing inequality, but it would take time. "I have a lot of respect for the work of Alan Johnson and the Salvation Army when it comes to their State of the Nation report," he said in a statement. "I'm sure they realise that the scale of the challenge this Government inherited means that we won't finish our work in one year. "The Coalition Government has already done an enormous amount in our first year to improve New Zealanders wellbeing and make our country the best place in the world to be a child." Newshub. Back in 2013, the police investigated the case for 18 months but didn't lay charges due to a lack of evidence. I argue that prosecution decisions and societal responses to sexual offending may not be any more enlightened today, partly because of the way the law treats the issue of consent and classifies sexual crimes. Rape discourse One of the common tropes in rape discourse is the idea that genuine victims would complain immediately. If they don't, the argument goes, the complaint is fabricated. Another myth is that such "false" complaints are motivated by some personal gain, be it financial or political. It is therefore deeply ironic that Joseph Parker, the leader of the Roast Busters, issued public statements about his role in the incidents five years later. But unless the police decide to lay charges after all, the alleged sexual offenders are irrelevant. What is relevant is to consider what the response would be to a similar case if it arose in 2019. On the one hand, the publicity indicates a great deal of support for the complainants and concern about exacerbating their trauma. But in 2013, I participated in a Radio New Zealand panel discussion about the case, in which one of the biggest issues discussed was the conduct of the complainants - in other words, what they were doing in the company of the alleged offenders, why and how much were they drinking, and what they were wearing. At the time, two commercial radio hosts, John Tamihere and Willy Jackson, grilled a friend of one of the Roast Busters complainants, asking her "how free and easy are you kids these days?". They also described as "mischief" the conduct of the alleged offenders in bragging about their sexual conduct with drunk and underage complainants on social media. Both broadcasters were censured in 2013, but it is worth noting that Jackson is now a Member of Parliament, and Tamihere is running for mayor in Auckland. The real issue All these questions about the complainants divert attention from the behaviour of offenders. Some believe they are entitled to treat people in this way - and society and, in some contexts, the law have implicitly given them permission to do so. We must look at every case in its own individual context but at the heart of the issue in most cases is consent. This has two elements: first, did the complainant actually consent? And second, if not, did the defendant believe, on reasonable grounds, that there was consent? In the Roast Busters case, it would be hard to argue that the alleged offenders did have reasonable grounds for believing in consent if they did in fact set out to have sex with the complainants while they were drunk or unconscious. Disparity in how the law treats women Under section 128A of the Crimes Act 1961 a person does not consent to sexual activity if the activity occurs while he or she is so affected by alcohol that they cannot consent or refuse to consent. Also, a person does not consent to sexual activity if the activity occurs while he or she is asleep or unconscious. Yet, these provisions of the Crimes Act are subject to interpretation by judges and juries. How, and on what basis, do they decide whether a complainant is "so affected" by alcohol that they are unable to consent? Further evidence of the law's differential treatment of sexual complainants is the way in which sexual offences are characterised in the Act itself. Sexual crimes are classified as "crimes against religion, morality and public welfare" as opposed to murder, manslaughter and non-sexual assaults which are labelled "crimes against the person". This disparity in language confirms a real inequity in the way in which the law treats women (who make up the large proportion of complainants in sexual cases). It is a relic of the days when women were chattels owned by men and a sexual offence was a property offence committed against the property owner. This choice of statutory language is not confined to New Zealand's legislation. In both the Northern Territory and Queensland, sexual offences against children are classified as offences against morality, but against adults they fall within the "assault" category. On the other hand, in Victoria's Crimes Act, sexual offences against adults and children are sub-categories of a general "offences" category. I would like to think that things would be different if Roast Busters happened now. Unfortunately, I do not have that optimism. Instead, I see the character assassination of Dr Christine Blasey Ford during Brett Kavanaugh's appointment to the US Supreme Court, the Irish case where a defence lawyer was permitted to tell a jury to look at the way the complainant was dressed, and that the fact she was wearing a G-string was evidence of her consent. I also see the #notallmen and #mentoo hashtags. I would like to see an end to the offence taken every time a news story references the victimisation of women or an advert for a razor calls out toxic masculinity. We know not all men do bad things, but all women are subject to (at the very least the risk of) sexual violence and harassment. Denial of that reality is a real barrier to change. Brenda Midson is the editor of the New Zealand Law Journal and senior lecturer in law at the University of Waikato. This article originally appeared on The Conversation. This weekend was Auckland's Pride march and festival event the 'Big Gay Out', both celebrating the diversity of New Zealand's LGBT+ population. But it seems not everyone was in the pride spirit, after The AM Show reporter Aziz Al Sa'afin and his friend were violently attacked walking along Auckland's Karangahape Road. Al-Sa'afin told The AM Show on Tuesday that three men walked up to him and his friend and begun hurling verbal abuse, before the situation quickly turned physical. "Before I knew it, my friend was on the ground getting decked as I was walking towards him I got decked in my left eye." Rawa Karetai is an LGBTI+ activist, and told Newshub that ufortunately, gay hate crime still happen in New Zealand. "New Zealand is still not safe for LGBTI folk," he explained. He said much more often the attacks don't escalate to physical violence, but even verbal abuse is not okay. "It is rare that something of this scale happens, but about once a year we hear another story and it gets media coverage. It's not a safe environment. Mr Karetai said it's especially sad this attack happened during pride, a time where the rainbow community should be celebrated. "Pride is the most exciting time to be up in Auckland with the LGBTI community, it was a fantastic time, but we are still vulnerable to attacks." "People may not realise, but gay bashing still happens in this country." Al-Sa'afin said he was physically okay after the incident, but that it would take a while to get over the shock of the ordeal. Mr Karetai said there is almost certainly a percentage of people who never report incidents like this for fear over their safety. "There is a fear for safety and it's a complex process that can take up to two years, two years of dragging up all the memories and trauma. "Fear of life is not okay. We want to be able to live." Newshub. An activist group is condemning what it claims are "sexist, queerphobic, [and] racist" views from controversial professor Jordan Peterson ahead of his New Zealand tour. Prof Peterson, a free-speech proponent who shot to fame in 2016 for his views on political correctness, will speak at four events throughout New Zealand in mid-February to promote his book Twelve Rules for Life. But his views, including calling white privilege a "Marxist lie" and saying women wear makeup to work to be sexually provocative, have caught the attention of activist group Auckland Peace Action. The activist group released a statement on Monday accusing Prof Peterson of advocating for "distinctly unhelpful" values that threaten "everything of value in our society". "In the lead-up to Jordan Peterson's visit to New Zealand we have a duty to condemn his sexist, queerphobic, racist and deeply reactionary views," said Iris Krzyzosiak of Auckland Peace Action. Ms Krzyzosiak said Prof Peterson is well-known for his "objectionable opinions" which he believes contrasts with New Zealand's values of "gender equality, egalitarianism and social inclusivity". The statement then lists several claims about Mr Peterson, such as that he believes men cannot "control crazy women" because they can't use physical force. "Prof Peterson's associations are equally objectionable: he's appeared on noted racist and misogynist Stefan Molyneux's Youtube channel no fewer than three times," said the statement. But not everyone is on board with the activist group. One man replied to a video the group posted on Monday about Prof Peterson, calling it "cute" and saying he was "going to sell out in Auckland". A Twitter user on Monday also tweeted that were excited for Prof Peterson to come to New Zealand. "Good luck with all of the lefty lunatics," they said. Of the professor's four New Zealand shows, two have sold out, showing a keen interest from Kiwis in his views. Prof Peterson's book was also an international best-seller, including topping The Washington Post's bestsellers list. In January, he announced the book had sold more than three million copies. It has been described as a self-help piece for young men, offering simple advice such as to "stand up straight" and "clean your room". Ms Krzyzosiak said Prof Peterson's statements need to be subject to critical analysis as his "presence in this country is worrying as it threatens many of the basic values of our society". Newshub. Unvaccinated teenagers are using internet forums for advice on how to obtain immunisations, often without the knowledge of their anti-vaxxer parents. Ohio teen Ethan Lindenberger sparked international attention after posting on Reddit that his parents are "kind of stupid" and don't believe in vaccinations. "Because of their beliefs I've never been vaccinated for anything, God knows how I'm still alive," the 18-year-old wrote. He explained that as he was now legally an adult, he wanted advice on where to go to get credible vaccinations. Lindenberger's post drew more than 1200 comments, including a nurse who offered some advice on navigating the US healthcare system. The teen shared his medical records with online science magazine Undark this week, which reportedly show he has not yet received shots for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), chickenpox, or even polio - "a disease that can cause paralysis and sometimes lead to death". Lindenberger says he credits this to his mother being influenced by online anti-vaccination discussions, and the theories of physician Andrew Wakefield, whose studies linking the MMR vaccine to autism have been long discredited. Lindenberger is not alone. In a Reddit post under 'Legal Advice', 15-year-old 'Danny' begs readers for help on obtaining vaccines as a minor. "I have spent the last four years trying to convince my mother that vaccines are safe. I haven't succeeded. So instead I am trying to research how to be vaccinated without my mother's consent," he wrote. "What legal consequences can I face if I fake my parent's signature giving me consent to vaccinations besides the hepatitis vaccine?" The Washington Post reports there is an increasing number of internet-savvy teenagers seeking their own treatment, in opposition to their parents' views. "This generation of unvaccinated children coming of age has looked at the science and want to protect themselves," Allison Winnike, spokesperson for the Texas-based Immunisation Partnership told the newspaper. "Now you're seeing children coming of age, out from a cloud of misinformation." A series of Twitter posts in response to the topic have shown how common the conundrum is. "My mum told me that she "vaccinated" me against whooping cough with homeopathy," wrote one user. "I was horrified and asked my dad and he said he took me (and siblings) to get vaccinated without telling her." "I was one of these people once upon a time! I am so grateful to the particular Reddit community that helped me get caught up in a discreet way :)" wrote another. Kiwi Elton John fans have taken to social media to express their outrage after the New Zealand leg of his farewell tour sold out at break-neck speed. Tickets for all three of his Feburary 2020 shows in Aotearoa were snapped up on Tuesday morning shortly after the presale began at 9am - and some are already being onsold at a profit. Many fans of the 'Benny and the Jets' hitmaker claimed their presale promotional codes didn't work, or that they were pushed out of the queue while waiting to buy tickets online. According to the NZ Herald, 23,000 tickets for John's Napier Mission Estate show sold out within an hour of going on sale. Tickets to all three shows are already being sold on notorious scalper website Viagogo, which is being sued by New Zealand's Commerce Commission. Viagogo contacted Newshub to insist "it is perfectly legal to resell a ticket". A Venezuelan fitness model has taken to Instagram to share the moment she was bitten by a wild pig during a bikini photo shoot in the Bahamas. According to People magazine, Michelle Lewin was taking pictures on the island of Big Major Cay, home to many untamed pigs that are famous among tourists looking for photo opportunities. The 32-year-old Instagram influencer shared the moment her sexy shoot went sideways with her 13.4 million followers, posting a clip in which a large sow runs and bites her squarely on the behind. Tekashi 6ix9ine has triggered outrage by starring in an adult store's Valentine's Day advertisement that carries an anti-violence against women message. The 'Gummo' rapper infamously pleaded guilty to a 2015 child sex offense and was recently accused by his longtime girlfriend of multiple incidences of vicious physical and sexual abuse. Despite those and other accusations, Romantic Depot - a US lingerie and adult toy superstore chain - is using the musician in an anti-abuse video that advertises their goods. "When I was younger, I used to make a lot of stupid mistakes. But I'm ready to learn more," Tekashi69 says in the ad. "Thanks Romantic Depot, I now know how to treat women with dignity and respect." Tekashi69, real name Daniel Hernandez, is currently behind bars after pleading guilty to federal racketeering charges related to a crackdown on the Nine Trey Bloods gang. The ad includes a message saying: "In no way does Romantic Depot support Tekashi 6ix9ine's past activities" - but the company's decision to debut the video this week has still been met with outrage. "I have no words. What is this world, even, anymore?" writes user BadOmbre on Jezebel. "Even independent of the abuse, why would you want this twisted and demented Muppet Baby-looking troll representing your brand?" On Consequence of Sound's page for the video on YouTube, commenter nittyscottMC called it " disturbingly offensive". "This is disgusting and needs to be taken down. This makes a mockery of abuse survivors and is extremely triggering for anyone who has experienced intimate partner violence... your shop now represents the exact opposite of what it was trying to pass itself as. Any space that puts abusive rapists on a platform to sell a few dildos is a very dangerous space for women." Other commenters applauded Romantic Depot for the video and mocked Tekashi69's accent. Consequence of Sound reports that, as recently as Sunday (local time), the ad was airing across the New York metropolitan area. Newshub. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. February 12, 2019: In 2018, the global Learning Management Systems market size was million US$ and it is expected to reach million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of during 2019-2025. This report focuses on the global Learning Management Systems status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. The study objectives are to present the Learning Management Systems development in United States, Europe and China. The key players covered in this study IBM Corporation SAP SE Xerox Corporation Download sample Copy of This Report at: https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-learning-management-systems-market-size-status-and-forecast-2019-2025/request-sample NetDimensions (Holdings) Limited Blackboard Cornerstone OnDemand McGraw-Hill Education Pearson PLC Market segment by Type, the product can be split into Cloud Based Services On-Premise Click For Report Details @ https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-learning-management-systems-market-size-status-and-forecast-2019-2025 Market segment by Application, split into BFSI Government Healthcare Retail Manufacturing IT & Telecommunications Consulting Other Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report covers United States Europe China Japan Southeast Asia India Central & South America The study objectives of this report are: To analyze global Learning Management Systems status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. To present the Learning Management Systems development in United States, Europe and China. To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their development plan and strategies. To define, describe and forecast the market by product type, market and key regions. In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Learning Management Systems are as follows: History Year: 2014-2018 Base Year: 2018 Estimated Year: 2019 Forecast Year 2019 to 2025 About Radiant Insights Radiant Insights is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. We assist and facilitate organizations and individuals procure market research reports, helping them in the decision making process. We have a comprehensive collection of reports, covering over 40 key industries and a host of micro markets. In addition to over extensive database of reports, our experienced research coordinators also offer a host of ancillary services such as, research partnerships/ tie-ups and customized research solutions. For More Information, Visit Radiant Insights Contact: Michelle Thoras Corporate Sales Specialist, USA Radiant Insights, Inc Phone: 1-415-349-0054 Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519 Email: sales@radiantinsights.com Blog URL: http://ictmarketforecasts.wordpress.com Catch up on local news with our roundup of top 5 headlines of the week, and learn how you can get unlimited access to these stories and more here. Student loan servicers in Virginia will still not be licensed after a House of Delegates committee killed a bill Tuesday to regulate the companies. Senate Bill 1112 from Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax, would have required companies that service student loans, such as Navient and Nelnet, to be licensed by the State Corporation Commission. The bill cleared the Senate unanimously, but died in a 10-9 vote in the House Commerce and Labor Committee. Students are issued loans from the federal government and the servicing companies oversee the repayment of those loans. They are totally at the whim and the will of the student loan servicer, said Howell. More than 90 percent of all current student debt is owed to the federal government, according to the U.S. Department of Education. The bill outlined the role of the servicers while prohibiting them from misapplying loan payments or misrepresenting the amounts that borrowers owe, among other things. Other servicers, such as mortgage lenders, must meet similar standards. Pro-life is more than pro-fetus How heart-warming to know that our legislators shed tears for fetuses. I wonder if they would do the same for a woman, a live human being? My sense is that they and their pseudo-Christian supporters view being pro-life as nothing more than pro-fetus. If that is the case, I would strongly recommend that they reflect in order to expand their definition of pro-life. To me, pro-life would mean that every child born against her/his mothers best interests would be guaranteed adequate housing, food, medical care and education until the age of adulthood. Being pro-life would mean demanding that all schools offer a full program of sex education that includes contraception as well as abstinence so that fewer women would feel the need to consider an abortion. Adopting a pro-life stance would require us to withdraw our support for and acquiescence in state-supported murder capital punishment. How can one be pro-life while also supporting politicians who enable NRA actions to make guns as widely available as possible for killing, even to the mentally deranged? It is downright criminal that the victims of Columbine, Newtown, Orlando, Las Vegas and Pittsburgh (among others) are worth less than a fetus. Lastly, to be pro-life, one must acknowledge that women should have the right to control their own bodies, just as men do. U.S. taxpayers spent at least $2 trillion enough to wipe out all outstanding student loans on bombing and pillaging and torturing Afghans. Wind-down costs, interest on the national debt, care for wounded veterans, etc. will cost more still. As I mentioned at the top of this essay, the war was lost before it really began. Anyone who was paying attention knew losing was inevitable. Not many Americans were paying attention. Eighty-nine percent of American voters polled in December 2001 approved of the invasion of Afghanistan. Now, 70 percent disapprove. So why did we lose? Its too facile to say: graveyard of empires. Afghans really did welcome us as liberators in 2001. We had a better shot at success than the Brits and the Russians. The short answer is we did both too little and too much: too much cash spent, too little reconstruction. Now, Layne estimates the state will return about $390 million to 2.5 million taxpayers this year, including $110.2 million to more than 900,000 Virginians earning less than $50,000 a year. The state will seek to begin issuing the refunds by mid-August, Jones said in response to questions by Del. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, one of five members of the Appropriations Committee who initially opposed the emergency legislation. To me, its not about the election, Aird said later. If you say our people need the relief right away, we should do everything in our power to do that right away. The tax legislation also will give future tax relief to nearly 2 million Virginia taxpayers by boosting the standard deduction by 50 percent from $3,000 to $4,500 for individuals and from $6,000 to $9,000 for married couples the first increase since 2005 for people who choose not to itemize deductions on their state returns. The change is expected to save taxpayers an average of $107. For about 931,000 people making under $50,000 a year, the average savings would be $89. In comparison, refunding the unused portion of the Earned Income Tax Credit, as Northam and progressive Democrats had urged, would save an average of $240, for about 385,000 people. (CNN) Officials have disqualified a Thai princess from running for prime minister in next month's general election after her brother, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, said her nomination would be "inappropriate." Thailand's Electoral Commission announced on Monday that the "monarchy must remain above politics." In a shock announcement on Friday, Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya, 67, said she would stand as the prime ministerial candidate for the Thai Raksa Chart Party (Thai Save The Nation, or TSN) aligned with populist former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by the military in a 2006 coup. The candidacy of a close member of the royal family is unprecedented in Thailand since the era of absolute monarchy ended 86 years ago. Thai law stipulates that once a name is submitted, it cannot be withdrawn -- though the Electoral Commission has the power to decide the legitimacy of candidates. The March 24 election is widely considered to be a vote between a form of democracy and legitimized authoritarian rule, following a military coup in 2014. Coup leader turned Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha announced his own candidacy Friday. The commission revealed on Monday that Prayut was among 45 candidates it said was eligible to contest the vote Ubolratana gave up her royal status when she married American Peter Jensen in 1972, but returned to Thailand in 2001 following her divorce and continued to be active in royal life. In a televised statement on Friday, hours after TSM announced Ubolratana would run for prime minister, Vajiralongkorn said: "To involve a high-level member of the royal family in politics, directly or indirectly, is against royal traditions, norms and the national culture," adding that "it is deemed extremely inappropriate." TSN on Friday said it accepted Vajiralongkorn's words "with our loyalty to the King and all royal family members" and would comply with the "Electoral Commission's regulations, election laws, constitution and to royal traditions with respect." It stands "ready to bring prosperity to Thailand with respecting the decision of the people under democratic system with the King as our head of state." Thailand has been a constitutional monarchy since 1932 and the royal family is highly revered in the country. Criticizing or insulting the monarchy -- which officially applies to the King, the regent, or heir apparent, is punishable with prison sentences of up to 15 years under the nation's strict lese majese law. Vajiralongkorn's statement deemed the princess part of the royal family despite her having relinquished her royal title and instructed that royal family members are constitutionally above politics. "It suggested she has royal status without royal title because she has been performing functions and duties on behalf of the King," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University. "The scope of this royal command was aimed to address and prohibit senior royalty in politics." The princess on Friday thanked "all Thais for the love and moral support given to me in the past day." "I want to say again with sincerity that I want to see Thailand move forward," she said. "I want to see all Thais have rights and the chance to live well and be happy." TSN is an offshoot of Pheu Thai, the latest incarnation of Thaksin's party that has won every election since 2001. In his first public comments since Ubolratana's announcement, Thaksin on Saturday tweeted: "Chin up and keep moving forward! We learn from past experiences but live for today and the future. Cheer up! Life must go on!" This story was first published on CNN.com, "Thailand election 2019: Princess disqualified from prime minister bid." BEDFORD A home formerly used as a manger at a Christian-themed tourist attraction caught fire Tuesday, displacing nine residents, authorities said. About two dozen firefighters responded to 4067 Dickerson Mill Road the site of the long-shuttered Holy Land USA shortly before noon for a report of a structure fire, according to Bedford Fire Department Chief Brad Creasy. Creasy said firefighters contained the blaze to a room and part of the buildings attic within 25 minutes of arriving on scene. No one was injured in the blaze, but heavy smoke and fire inflicted about $125,000 in damage and has made the building unlivable, Creasy said. The building, which is connected to a barn, was being used as a residence at the time of the fire. Creasy said the American Red Cross assisted the displaced residents with temporary housing and other basic needs. The Bedford County Fire Marshal now is investigating the cause of the blaze. Holy Land USA, an attraction dedicated to the life of Jesus Christ, saw thousands of visitors before the nonprofits board of directors sold the property in 2009. The property now is privately owned. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. BEDFORD An Accomac man was sentenced Friday to 10 years behind bars after pleading guilty to soliciting sex from a 16-year-old girl living in Forest. Michael Ian Bowser, 23, was arrested in the summer of 2017 on numerous child pornography-related charges. Last July, he pleaded guilty in Bedford County Circuit Court to 10 felony charges of possession of child pornography and one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. In the first part of 2017, Bowser began an online relationship with a 16-year-old girl from Forest, Commonwealths Attorney Wes Nance said after Fridays sentencing hearing. Nance said Bowser asked the girl for sexually explicit images three times in June 2017, which translated into three felony counts of soliciting child porn. On Aug. 1, Bowser snuck into the house where the girl lived with help from the juvenile, Nance said. He said Bowser fled the home after one of the girls family members discovered him inside the house the next day. When law enforcement arrested Bowser outside Jefferson Forest High School, officials found an arsenal of firearms, a hatchet and knives in his car, Nance said. Measurement of AHNAK2 helps physicians make challenging diagnostic decisions, according to a new study in The American Journal of Pathology Label-free digital pathology using infrared (IR) imaging with subsequent proteomic analysis for bladder cancer (BC) has revealed the first protein biomarker (AHNAK2) for BC. AHNAK2 differentiates between chronic cystitis (inflammation of the bladder) and a non-muscle invasive-type BC (carcinoma in situ) which is challenging to diagnose. A report in The American Journal of Pathology describes this new diagnostic procedure, which is label-free, automated, observer-independent, and as sensitive and specific as established histopathological methods. Distinguishing benign inflammatory conditions in the bladder from low-grade and advanced cancers can be difficult, especially since some BC treatments induce inflammation. "We developed this label-free digital pathology annotation system by IR imaging to support the pathologist, similar to driver assistance in cars. This technique in combination with a proteomics approach allowed us to identify AHNAK2 as an important new biomarker for BC, and the results encourage us to transfer this label-free digital technique to other pathologies," explained Klaus Gerwert, PhD, Chairman of the Department of Biophysics and the PURE (Protein Research Unit Ruhr within Europe) consortium at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. Using label-free Fourier transform IR (FTIR) imaging, investigators were able to classify unaltered tissue thin sections by color to identify regions of interest. "The resulting index color images automates tissue classification, including cancer type, subtype, tissue type, inflammation status, and even tumor grading," noted Prof. Dr. Gerwert. In an analysis of 103 freshly-frozen samples that included confirmed diagnoses for 41 cystitis, 19 low-grade carcinoma, and 43 high-grade carcinoma, FTIR imaging showed a specificity of 95 percent, sensitivity of 95 percent, and an accuracy of 95 percent compared to stained images reviewed by a trained pathologist. The technique also differentiated cancerous from healthy tissue as well as low- from high-grade carcinoma. Laser capture microdissection was then used to obtain homogenous tissue samples for protein analysis by proteomics. By comparing tissue from patients with inflammatory bladder (cystitis) to samples from patients with invasive, high-grade urothelial carcinoma, the investigators identified three potential biomarkers, with the protein AHNAK2 found to be the best performing candidate biomarker. In a large cohort that included 310 freshly-frozen, paraffin-embedded tissue samples (51 high-grade cancers, 67 carcinoma in situ [CIS], 84 low-grade cancers, and 108 patients with severe cystitis), AHNAK2 measurement achieved 97 percent sensitivity and 69 percent specificity in differentiating between severe cystitis with reactive urothelial atypia (RUA) vs CIS. It also displayed high sensitivity in distinguishing low versus invasive high grades and low grades vs CIS. "In our study, AHNAK2 was identified and verified in two steps as a candidate biomarker for BC," said Barbara Sitek, PhD, Deputy Director, Medizinisches Proteom-Center (MPC), Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany. "AHNAK2 has already been proposed as a potential prognostic biomarker for clear renal cell and pancreatic cancers and is part of a urinary mRNA panel for the diagnosis of BC and prediction of tumor aggressiveness." The investigators believe AHNAK2 could be a very helpful tool for detecting CIS recurrence or persistence, particularly because misdiagnosis of CIS can delay treatment of an aggressive malignancy or could lead to unnecessary treatment or bladder removal. BC is the second most common urogenital malignancy, with about 430,000 new cases diagnosed worldwide in 2012. About 75 percent of newly diagnosed patients have non-muscle invasive, mostly low-grade BC, and about 25 percent have high-grade BC at the stage of infiltration of smooth muscle. The presence of acute or chronic inflammation (urocystitis) with RUA can complicate diagnosis, especially when patients with BC have been purposely treated with pro-inflammatory agents. The current gold standard for tumor grading and staging of BC is the visual inspection of stained tissue thin sections by a pathologist; immunohistochemistry is also used but can be difficult to interpret. insights from industry Bill Kessler Principal Research Scientist & Manager Physical Sciences Inc. The water content in pharmaceuticals is extremely important to the finished product, please give an overview of how the water content impacts pharmaceutical product quality? Freeze drying is a long and expensive fill/finish operation that is required for many pharmaceutical and biotechnology products to ensure product stability, efficacy and long shelf life prior to distribution to patients. One of the key parameters affecting product quality is residual moisture (RM) content. The RM is typically lowered to a level that will no longer support chemical reactions (or biological growth). RM is lowered to control chemical and physical degradation processes. Although most drug products are dried to RM values of <1%, some of the new biotechnology products may require an intermediate RM value, 2-5%, to maximize product stability, safety and efficacy. Despite the importance of RM, there is currently no real-time monitor capable of determining RM throughout the secondary drying phase of lyophilization. What effect would too much, or too little water have on a finished pharmaceutical product? The effect of residual moisture on product stability has been studied for numerous products. In most cases lower levels of residual water improves stability and the manufacturer needs to balance increased drying times that result in lower water levels with a reduction in process efficiency and additional processing complications to achieve and maintain the extremely low levels of residual moisture. In some cases, lower levels of residual water can lead to a reduction in product stability, specifically for protein-based products and vaccines. It has been reported that a minimum level of residual water is required for conformational stability and over-drying can lead to a loss in product quality and stability. What does Physical Sciences Inc. offer to monitor and manage water removal? Physical Sciences Inc. has developed a Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS) based water vapor mass flow rate monitor, called the LyoFlux, that provides continuous measurements of the water removal rate during pharmaceutical freeze-drying operations. The sensor uses a non-intrusive, near IR optical absorption technique to monitor the water vapor concentration and gas flow velocity in the duct connecting the lyophilizer product chamber and condenser. These measurements are used in combination with the duct cross-sectional area to calculate the instantaneous water vapor mass flow rate (grams/second) in the duct. These measurements can be integrated to provide a continuous, real-time determination of the total amount of water removed during the freeze-drying process. We note that the determination of product RM is a little harder to determine. The end user cannot simply subtract the integrated TDLAS measurements of water removed during freeze-drying from the total amount of water added to the batch of vials undergoing freeze-drying. This is because the total solid content of the formulations is typically in the 5% - 10% range. Measuring RM of the remaining solid following drying would require a measurement error of 0.05% - 0.1% for a product RM content of 1%. This is beyond the capability of the TDLAS sensor, and in fact most analytical instruments. In collaboration with the University of Connecticut, TDLAS-based determination of RM has been demonstrated based on correlating the TDLAS measured water vapor concentration at the end of primary drying to Karl Fisher based RM measurements. The development of the correlation curve for a specific product is performed once in a laboratory scale freeze-dryer and then has been used for subsequent laboratory and pilot scale experiments. This correlation curve essentially erases the measurement error accumulated during primary drying and enables accurate integration of the measurements during secondary drying to predict product RM throughout secondary drying with a useful measurement accuracy of +/-0.5%. What features does PSI offer to ensure a reliable freeze-drying process? The LyoFlux sensor provides real-time data that can be used to efficiently develop and monitor freeze drying processes. Use of the sensor helps process engineers save time and money in developing their cycles and supports rapid disposition of product by production engineers following a process disruption. PSI, through a long and productive collaboration with the University of Connecticut, has demonstrated numerous applications of the LyoFlux technology for monitoring freeze-drying processes including the determination of: Primary and secondary drying endpoints Vial heat transfer coefficients, K v Product temperature at the bottom center of the vial, T b Product temperature at the sublimation interface, T o Continuous determination of the ice and dryer layer thicknesses Product resistance to drying, R p The maximum lyophilizer equipment capability: mass flow as a function of pressure Residual moisture content Many of the pharmaceutical industry end users have also demonstrated these measurements and additional applications of the technology, including the development of Quality by Design (QbD) knowledge and design spaces. Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s a couple of important papers were published that demonstrated that through the use of gravimetric determinations of mass flow and the well-accepted steady state model of heat and mass transfer of vial-based freeze-drying, a product, vial and dryer specific process design space could be calculated and graphically displayed that provided lyophilization process engineers with a comprehensive overview of the drying process. This approach calculated shelf and product temperature isotherms of the water vapor mass flow rate as a function of process pressure. When combined with the knowledge of the equipment capability limit, also displayed as mass flow as a function of process pressure, the graphical output provided a QbD based method of developing the lyophilization process design. In addition, the process engineer could predict how the product temperature would respond to possible process shocks in pressure and shelf temperature. The only problem with the gravimetric based approach was that the data required to calculate the knowledge and design spaces would require weeks to months to obtain. That is because gravimetric based experiments required for the data collection had to be run in steady state. These data were used to determine the key parameters including the pressure dependent values of K v , the continuously changing value of R p (as a function of dry layer thickness) and the pressure dependent equipment capability limits. Use of the TDLAS sensor to acquire the same data means that experiments no longer had to be run at a fixed set of conditions (e.g. pressure) and this shortened the data collection period to approximately 1-2 weeks. The use of the TDLAS sensor to develop the process design space will have the highest impact on pharmaceutical freeze-drying process development. The LyoFlux sensor from PSI are also available to be fitted into SP Scientific freeze-dryers, please give an overview of your partnership and how this collaboration helps both companies stay at the cutting edge of freeze-drying. PSI has had a relationship with SP Scientific from the initial experiments that demonstrated the feasibility of the TDLAS measurements in a Lyostar 2 freeze dryer back in 2004. During the past ~5-years, this relationship has been strengthened and is now producing product improvements and new products that directly benefit our pharmaceutical customers. This collaboration has enabled efficient application of the TDLAS technology to different scale lyophilizers, such as the miniature LyoCapsule and the larger LyoConstellation S20 pilot scale dryer. We have successfully demonstrated accurate mass flow measurements and importantly, accurate determinations of batch average product temperatures when the mass flow measurements were combined with the heat and mass transfer model of freeze drying. Thus, these tools enable more rapid process development and scale-up, ultimately allowing end users to streamline their processes and get their products to the market faster. A key improvement has been the development of software that allows direct communication between the freeze-dryer and the TDLAS sensor. This communication provides the sensor with continuous measurements of the freeze dryer product chamber pressure, shelf temperature and the product temperature data. The pressure and shelf temperature values provided to the sensor remove the need for user inputs to the sensor throughout the lyophilization process and allow truly autonomous operation of the sensor 24/7/365. This is a big benefit to the end user, saving time, resulting in fewer data collection errors and providing a single location for capturing and plotting the process data for subsequent analysis. Process recipes are input into the dryer and the user initiates the freeze-drying cycle, from this point the process runs without operator intervention to apply this technology. At the appropriate times in the process the dryer opens and closes the isolation valve to determine measurement offset values and initiates sensor integration of the mass flow measurements. The TDLAS sensor measurements and all of the resulting heat and mass transfer model data products calculated using the sensor and freeze dryer data are transferred to the lyophilizer control computer for storage using the dryer data historian. This ensures a common time stamp for all of the data and easier display and processing by the end user. The collaboration between SP Scientific and PSI keeps us both at the cutting edge of freeze-drying technology by allowing us to work together on research and development projects. The establishment of communication (and control) between the sensor and the freeze-dryer has also provided the foundation for more advanced applications of the sensor technology. PSI and SP Scientific recently completed a collaborative R&D effort that has created the TDLAS SMART Freeze Dryer technology. The TDLAS SMART FD enables the development of a freeze-drying cycle using a single experiment. It combines the existing Manometric Temperature Measurement (MTM) based SMART algorithm with TDLAS determinations of the water vapor mass flow to create a new product that overcomes the limitations of the original MTM based product. The SMART freeze drying technology automatically generates a freeze-drying cycle based on user inputs of product characteristics and vial dimensions, combined with non-intrusive TDLAS-based in-process product temperature measurements and a pseudo-steady state heat and mass transfer model of freeze drying in vials. This development enables the application of the SMART FD technology for a much wider range of product formulations, including high weight percentage amorphous biological products, on both laboratory and pilot scale freeze dryers, supporting both process development and scale-up. PSI and SP Scientific continue to explore additional applications and automation of cycle development with the ultimate goal of sensor-based cycle control. We recognize that automated cycle control will require many years of additional R&D and industry testing, but achievement of this goal is directly in-line with the FDA Process Analytical Technology (PAT) and Quality by Design (QbD) initiatives. What features support your customers in increasing their understanding and robustness of the routine freeze-drying process? The recent development and rollout of sensor and freeze dryer software packages enable direct communication and control between the sensor and the lyophilizer are important improvements for our customers. The communication (and control) capability significantly improves user application of the sensor technology, reducing the potential for end-user errors in applying the LyoFlux sensor. The data sharing between the two systems also enables real-time and accurate calculation of the heat and mass transfer model data products and storage of the data on the freeze-dryer. Our goal is to eventually eliminate the sensor user interface, preparing the combined system for application in a manufacturing environment. This will provide end users with a rich library of data for each batch of the product that is freeze-dried. Currently these real time data sets provide process development scientists with the information needed to increase their understanding of the drying process, life cycle management, and enable development of robust processes using Quality by Design principles. In the future this data will be available to enable more rapid release of lyophilized product and more rapid disposition of product following process deviations. How does the TDLAS sensor integrate with other freeze dryer scales in the manufacturing process to ensure a smart approach to production and a reliable quality of the product? The LyoFlux sensor is applicable to all size freeze dryers as long as we can insert an optical spool in between the freeze dryer product chamber and the condenser. PSI has demonstrated application on dryers ranging from the SP Scientific LyoCapsule miniature, seven, 20mL vial lyophilizer, which has a 2-inch spool, up to a manufacturing scale lyophilizer which has a 30-inch diameter spool. The sensor control electronics, data acquisition and processing algorithm are common for all size dryers. A fiber optic and electronic signal umbilical cable connects the sensor control unit to the freeze dryer optical spool. A common optical platform is used for all spools, thus the only change with dryer scale is the size of the spool and the location of the optical ports. Because we are using absorption spectroscopy, longer absorption pathlengths associated with larger spools provide higher signal to noise ratios. To date our most common installation has been on the SP Scientific Lyostar 3 laboratory scale freeze-dryer, but we have fielded many recent inquiries for potential installations on larger dryers. We believe that this indicates a natural evolution of the product application from the laboratory to manufacturing scale. It may be occurring at this time due to widespread industrial knowledge of the technology and the numerous publications describing application of the sensor, including a publication by the FDA. Companies that adopt the LyoFlux technology for monitoring their processes on all scale freeze dryers will have common data sets from development through scale-up to manufacturing. This should result in improved process understanding, likely faster time to market and more efficient assessment of product quality in the event of process disruptions. Whats next for Physical Sciences Inc? Physical Sciences Inc. continues to work with both our academic and industrial collaborators to develop next generation sensors, and to improve application of the TDLAS technology, with the eventual goal of using the LyoFlux sensor and other PAT sensors for real-time process control. PSI is currently collaborating with university and industrial partners to apply the TDLAS technology and process models for improved lyophilization process development and scale-up. This includes the development of a new aseptic, pilot scale lyophilization facility to enable testing of new sensors and process development models in an environment that is representative of a manufacturing facility. This will support the pharmaceutical industry and the training of the next generation scientists and process engineers on lyophilization process development and scale-up. This facility, which is expected to come on-line in Fall 2019, will be available as a user facility to both academia and industry. In summary, we are still actively pursuing numerous R&D projects to advance the sensor and its application. Where can users find more information? www.sp-lineofsight.com http://www.psicorp.com/case-studies/lyoflux%E2%84%A2-tunable-diode-laser-absorption-spectroscopy https://www.spscientific.com/News/TDLAS_LyoFlux/ https://www.spscientific.com/TDLAS/ Optimization of the Secondary Drying Step in Freeze Drying Using TDLAS Technology. (2011). AAPS PharmaSciTech. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1208/s12249-011-9600-7 Advancement of Emerging Technology Applications for Pharmaceutical Innovation and Modernization Guidance for Industry. (2017). https://www.fda.gov/downloads/drugs/guidancecomplianceregulatoryinformation/guidances/ucm478821.pdf Kevin R. Ward and Paul Matejtschuk, Lyophilization of Pharmaceutical and Biologicals: New Technologies and Approaches, Methods in Pharmacology and Toxicology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8928-7_5 About Bill Kessler Bill Kessler received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in chemistry from Boston University, performing ultra-high-resolution gas spectroscopy. His research focused upon multi-photon excitation of aligned ionic states. In 1986 Bill joined Physical Sciences Inc. in Andover, Massachusetts as a staff scientist. His work at PSI has spanned numerous disciplines including combustion, atmospheric, and chemical laser research. Bills focus shifted to the development of diode laser-based sensors and sensor networks which leveraged the tools created by the optical telecommunication industry for industrial sensor applications. In December 2000 Bill became a founding member of the PSI-spinout company, Confluent Photonics Corp., focused on developing high index contrast optical waveguides for optical telecommunications. Bill served as the Director of Applications Engineering while at CPC and its partner, the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, developed silicon-on-insulator waveguide tapers for efficient laser source coupling to single mode photonic circuits. He returned to PSI to pursue the development and application of advanced optical sensors for pharmaceutical process monitoring and control. Bill is now the Vice President of the Applied Optics business enterprise within PSI and is the technical lead for the tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy based LyoFlux product. He oversees two additional business units, the Biomedical Optics Technology and Aerothermal System groups. Obesity or low physical fitness during adolescence is strongly associated with disability pension later in life. This is shown in a study of more than one million Swedish men, published in Annals of Internal Medicine by researchers at Karolinska Institutet. In many countries, disability pensions are granted to working-aged persons who are likely to never work full-time again because of a chronic disease or injury diagnosed by a physician. In addition to serving as an important indicator of chronic disease, disability pensions are associated with high societal costs. Researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and University of Granada in Spain led a study assessing cardiorespiratory fitness and weight for more than 1 million men between the ages of 16 and 19. Data from the Swedish military service conscription registry was used. The researchers then reviewed who would later in life go on to receive a medical disability pension. Over a median follow-up of 28.3 years, the data showed that low cardiorespiratory fitness was strongly associated with later receipt of a disability pension due to all causes. Obesity was also associated with a greater risk for disability pension, with the greatest risks observed for severe/morbid obesity. Important marker regardless of body weight However, the researchers noted that compared with being unfit, being moderately or highly fit was associated with lower risk for disability, regardless of BMI. According to the researchers, this means that being physically fit is an important indicator of health irrespectively of body weight. "Our findings support the relevance of cardiorespiratory fitness and healthy body weight during adolescence as important markers of future health", said Pontus Henriksson, researcher at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, and first author of the study. What's Included With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 319-352-3334 or email legals@waverlynewspapers.com. Tuberculosis treatment still entails the intake several antibiotics over a period of many months and is torturous for many patients. The pathogen's increasing multidrug resistance additionally complicates this lengthy treatment, and side effects frequently lead to a discontinuation of treatment and high mortality rates. Developing alternative treatment approaches is therefore of critical importance. DZIF scientists from the University Hospital Cologne are working on an immunotherapy that supports antibiotic treatment. In their current study, they were able to identify a new target protein in human immune cells, which can inhibit the bacteria's destructive effects. Jan Rybniker from the University Hospital Cologne and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) explains the goal of the research work, "If we can support antibiotic treatment with immunotherapy, the duration of treatment would be shortened, which in turn would reduce secondary complications." The scientists are on a quest for drugs that are able to inhibit tuberculosis-induced cell death (necrosis) and consequent destruction of lung tissue. In contrast to directly targeting the bacteria with antibiotics, this treatment is host-directed and hence combats the consequences of infection without targeting the pathogen directly. Starting point for the investigations are corticosteroids, a group of hormones that have been successfully used as adjuncts to tuberculosis treatment for decades, e.g. dexamethasone. However, until now, their precise mechanism of action has not been known. "We have now been able to show that corticosteroids inhibit Mycobacterium tuberculosis-induced cell death which may support the healing process," says Rybniker. The scientists used cell biology investigations to elucidate the precise mechanism of action for the effect of steroids. A protein called p38 MAP kinase, which increases release of inflammatory hormones and induces cell death, plays a central role in this pathway. "We have identified a new target protein in this kinase, which we can inhibit with active agents," says Rybniker. Numerous p38 MAP kinase inhibitors have already been tested in clinical trials on rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease and chronic lung diseases. The DZIF scientist is certain, "These substances could now also be used for tuberculosis treatment." The Cologne researches now intend to use high-throughput screening to find further substances that can inhibit tuberculosis-induced cell death by blocking the above-mentioned kinase. In collaboration with the Research Center Borstel, these substances will subsequently be tested further in animal models. In doing so, the scientists hope to discover new paths in immunotherapy. A new study carried out by a team of researchers in Germany suggests that a womans ability to read emotions may be negatively impacted by the contraceptive pill. Image Point Fr | Shutterstock As with any medication, the contraceptive pill can have a number of side effects, including headaches, nausea, and mood swings. The latest study suggests that this list may be extended to include cognitive side effects. Cognitive psychologist Alexander Lischke of the University of Greifswald led the study, which aimed to investigate the potential cognitive side effects of contraceptive medication. He explained: Oral contraceptives impair the ability to recognize emotional expressions of others, which could affect the way users initiate and maintain intimate relationships. Alexander Lischke, Lead Researcher However, the side effects Lischke and his team found were deemed subtle impairments, and women are most likely unaware of the effects the pill is having. If oral contraceptives caused dramatic impairments in womens emotion recognition, we would have probably noticed this in our everyday interaction with our partners. We assumed that these impairments would be very subtle, indicating that we had to test womens emotion recognition with a task that was sensitive enough to detect such impairments. Alexander Lischke, Lead Researcher This is the first study to focus on emotional recognition and control, with most other studies either focusing on physical side effects or mood and cognition. Researchers tested 41 women using the contraceptive pill and 53 not using the oral contraceptive. Before the test, the women were given questions about their age, education, distress, empathy, their menstrual cycle, and their use of contraception. They were then taken through a test called Reading the Mind in the Eyes, which tests a persons ability to read subtle social signs and cues in black and white images of peoples eyes. The images varied in difficulty, with the more complex emotions including pride and contempt. The study , which was recently published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, found that women on the pill were 10 percent worse at judging the most complex images of emotions. Lischke drew links between these results and previous studies that found that estrogen and progesterone levels can affect a womans ability to recognize emotions. He says the exact mechanism responsible for creating changes in womens emotion recognition is yet to be elucidated. It is assumed that sex hormones influence the neurobiological processes that control emotion cognition, and the pill regulates fluctuations in these hormones. The pill is used by approximately 100 million women worldwide, and can be used to control menstruation cycles as well as a contraceptive. Despite this huge number of women using the medication, studies into the emotional side effects caused by the drug are still very few in number. The sample size of Lischkes study claiming that womens abilities to read complex emotions are impaired was also relatively small, with only 94 women in Germany included in the study. The methodology in a growing number of other studies around the mental side effects of the pill is also open for criticism, and many studies provide mixed results on the subject. As many women stop using the contraceptive pill because of adverse mental side effects, it is clear that more research involving larger cohorts, longer study times and more complex tasks is necessary to ascertain whether womens social lives can be negatively affected by the medication. An antibody-based treatment can gently and effectively eliminate diseased blood-forming stem cells in the bone marrow to prepare for the transplantation of healthy stem cells, according to a study in mice by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The researchers believe the treatment could circumvent the need to use harsh, potentially life-threatening chemotherapy or radiation to prepare people for transplant, vastly expanding the number of people who could benefit from the procedure. "There are many blood and immune disorders that could be cured by a transplant of healthy stem cells," said Judith Shizuru, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at Stanford. "But the pre-treatments necessary to get the healthy cells to transplant effectively are so toxic that we can't offer this option to many patients. A treatment that specifically targets only blood-forming stem cells would allow us to potentially cure people with diseases as varied as sickle cell disease, thalassemia, autoimmune disorders and other blood disorders." Shizuru is the senior author of the study, which will be published online Feb. 11 in Blood. Postdoctoral scholar Wendy Pang, MD, PhD, and assistant professor of pediatrics Agnieszka Czechowicz, MD, PhD, share lead authorship of the work. The study is one of two recently co-authored by Shizuru, Czechowicz and research associate Hye-Sook Kwon, PhD, indicating that an antibody targeting a protein called CD117 on the surface of blood-forming, or hematopoietic, stem cells can efficiently and safely eliminate the cells in mice and non-human primates. CD117 is a protein found on the surface of the stem cells. It regulates their growth and activity; the antibody, called SR1, binds to the protein and prevents its function. The use of antibodies against CD117 to eliminate blood-forming stem cells is based on studies conducted in the laboratory of study co-author Irving Weissman, MD, director of Stanford's Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Stem Cell Research and Medicine at Stanford, and by then-graduate student Czechowicz. Ongoing clinical trial The results of these studies, including a recently published article in Blood co-authored by Kwon that showed the antibody treatment was safe in non-human primates, set the stage for a clinical trial of the antibody at Stanford and the University of California-San Francisco in children with an immune disorder called severe combined immunodeficiency. Hematopoietic stem cells are found in the bone marrow. They give rise to all the cells of the blood and immune system. Blood cancers, such as leukemia, arise when the stem cells or their progeny begin dividing uncontrollably; other genetic conditions such as sickle cell anemia or thalassemia occur when the hematopoietic stem cells generate malformed red blood cells or hemoglobin. Often the best chance for a cure for these and other diseases originating in the bone marrow is to eliminate the patient's own defective hematopoietic stem cells and replace them with healthy stem cells from a closely matched donor. But in order to do so, the patient must be able to withstand the pre-treatment, known as conditioning. Most conditioning regimens consist of a combination of chemotherapy and radiation in doses high enough to kill stem cells in the marrow. Shizuru and her colleagues studied a mouse model of a class of human diseases called myelodysplastic syndromes, or MDS. People with MDS are unable to make mature, properly functioning blood cells and the only cure is a stem cell transplant. The disease primarily affects older adults, who are more likely than younger people to have additional, complicating medical factors and who are less likely to withstand the conditioning regimen. "Many of these people are elderly and unable to qualify for a transplant," Pang said. "But there is no other cure for MDS." Because there are many different types of MDS, the patients are assigned risk levels based on disease type, blood test results and the presence or absence of specific mutations in the affected cells. According to the World Health Organization, patients with low-risk MDS have a median survival rate of 5.5 years; those with high-risk disease have a median survival of 2.2 years. SR1, the anti-CD117 antibody Pang and Czechowicz studied, recognizes CD117 on the surface of hematopoietic stem cells isolated from either healthy donors or from patients with MDS. They found that the antibody blocked the growth of both healthy and diseased stem cells in a laboratory setting. Then, the researchers investigated the effect of SR1 treatment on mice that were engineered to have a hybrid blood systems consisting of both human and mouse hematopoietic stem cells. They found in the mice that SR1 quickly and efficiently eliminated both healthy human hematopoietic stem cells and cells isolated from low-risk MDS patients. In those animals with diseased human stem cells, SR1 pre-treatment significantly improved the ability of healthy hematopoietic stem cells to engraft after transplantation. "SR1 directly targets the disease-initiating cells for elimination in the mice, even though these cells typically have a significant competitive advantage," Pang said. "This is the first antibody directed against CD117 that has been proven to clear both normal and diseased human cells from the recipient. We are very pleased with the results." Although SR1 is also able to significantly reduce the number of high-risk MDS cells from the mice, the researchers found that the effect was transient: The diseased cells eventually returned even after transplant. In such cases, it may be necessary to combine anti-CD117 treatment with other therapies to completely eliminate the diseased cells, the researchers believe. "Based on the results of this study and others, we have received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to move forward with a clinical trial for MDS patients using a version of SR1 appropriate for a trial in humans," Shizuru said. "We are very hopeful that this body of research is going to have a positive impact on patients by allowing better depletion of diseased cells and engraftment of healthy cells." Source: http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2019/02/antibody-could-increase-cure-rate-for-blood-immune-disorders.html In 2010, the US National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines suggested that patients with stable and low-risk prostate cancers could be managed with active surveillance or watchful waiting (AS/WW). AS/WW was considered to be a safe and effective alternative to aggressive surgery to remove the prostate and radiation therapy. A new study looked at the trends in management of prostate cancer between 2010 and 2015 and found that this trend of AS/WW has indeed caught up with the treating doctors. The study results from researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, appeared in the latest issue of the journal JAMA. Image Credit: Image Point Fr / Shutterstock A team of researchers, for this study, looked at management of localized prostate cancer among 164,760 men between 2010 and 2015. They obtained this data from the national database of cancer statistics - Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results. In 2010 the use of AS/WW was 14.5 percent and it rose to 42.1 percent in 2015, write the researchers. This mode of management became more popular they write. The use of this approach also rose in men with intermediate-risk disease and remained similar among men with high-risk prostate cancer. They noted that the numbers of radical prostatectomy surgery reduced from 47.4 percent in 2010 to 31.3 percent in 2015. Radiation therapy use declined from 38 percent in 2010 to 26.6 percent in 2015. Among cases of intermediate-risk cancer the rates of AS/WW rose from 5.8 percent to 9.6 percent. Similarly among these cases prostatectomy decreased from 51.8 percent to 50.6 percent and radiotherapy fell from 42.4 percent to 39.8 percent. Among those with high-risk disease active surveillance was unchanged (1.9 percent to 2.2 percent) while prostatectomy increased from 38 percent to 42.8 percent and radiotherapy decreased from 60.1 percent to 55 percent in 2010 and 2015 respectively. The researchers explain that compared with high-risk or intermediate-risk cancers, low-risk prostate cancer grows very slowly and thus it can be considered to be an alternative treatment option to surgery and radiation therapy. They explain that surgery and radiation therapy are fraught with side effects such as bleeding, nerve damage, urine or stool leakage, infections, erectile dysfunction etc. Brandon Mahal, lead author and a clinical fellow in radiation oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute said in a statement, We found that in low-risk prostate cancer, active surveillance use nearly tripled... Overall, these numbers are a good sign and a good thing. From 2010 to 2015, there's been a lot of new evidence -- the highest level of evidence we can get in medicine, which are prospective trials and some of them randomized trials -- that have shown that active surveillance, conservative approaches or non-treatment approaches of low-risk prostate cancer have very favourable outcomes. He called this study a benchmark. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men across the world. According to the World Cancer Research Fund, there were 1.3 million newly diagnosed cases of prostate cancer in 2018. National Cancer Institute states that in the US 11.2 percent men are at risk of getting prostate cancer at some point in their lives. A new form of cancer fighting drug has been developed using the principles of the Trojan Horse. The drug is carried in by the carriers and this allows them to penetrate into the tumours and attack them from within explain researchers. This could be beneficial in several types of cancers that are generally resistant to treatment with conventional anti-cancer therapy. The findings of the early Phase I/II global clinical trials of this new drug have been reported in the journal The Lancet Oncology. New Trojan horse cancer treatment shows early promise in multiple tumour types. Image Credit: Morphart Creation, Salon of 1874, Painting. - The Trojan Horse, by Motte The drug Tisotumab Vedotin (TV) has been shown to enter within the tumour and kill the cancer cells selectively. This stops the tumour from growing and shrinks them. Results have been encouraging in trial patients; 27 percent of patients with bladder cancer 26.5 percent of patients with cervical cancer 14 percent of patients with ovarian cancer 13 percent of patients with esophageal cancer 13 percent of patients with non-small cell lung cancer 7 percent of patients with endometrial cancer Benefits were not seen among patients with prostate cancer, write the researchers. The clinical trials for TV were conducted by a team of researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research, London, and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. Initially only 27 patients were recruited to look at the safety of the drug and then as it was proven to be safe and well tolerated, a further 120 patients with various cancers were included. Results showed that patients responded for up to 9.5 months maximum (average of 5.7 months). Lead researcher Professor Johann de Bono in a statement said, Our early study shows that it has the potential to treat a large number of different types of cancer, and particularly some of those with very poor survival rates. TV has manageable side effects, and we saw some good responses in the patients in our trial, all of whom had late-stage cancer that had been heavily pre-treated with other drugs and who had run out of other options. The drug TV carries with it the active component called monomethyl auristatin E that when released inside the tumour prevents its cells from multiplying. De Bono explained, What is so exciting about this treatment is that its mechanism of action is completely novel it acts like a Trojan horse to sneak into cancer cells and kill them from the inside. The researchers explain that several cancers are resistant to existing treatment expecially when they begin to spread. This new therapy might help scientists develop effective anti-cancer therapies they add. De Bono added, We have already begun additional trials of this new drug in different tumor types and as a second-line treatment for cervical cancer, where response rates were particularly high. We are also developing a test to pick out the patients most likely to respond. Cancer killed 9.6 million people last year says World Health Organization making it a leading killer worldwide. The WHO adds that around half of the cancer deaths are preventable. Research shows our spinal cords contribute to sophisticated hand function We often think of our brains as being at the center of complex motor function and control, but how 'smart' is your spinal cord? Turns out it is smarter than we think. It is well known that the circuits in this part of our nervous system, which travel down the length of our spine, control seemingly simple things like the pain reflex in humans, and some motor control functions in animals. Now, new research from Western University has shown that the spinal cord is also able to process and control more complex functions, like the positioning of your hand in external space. "This research has shown that a least one important function is being done at the level of the spinal cord and it opens up a whole new area of investigation to say, 'what else is done at the spinal level and what else have we potentially missed in this domain?'" said the study's senior and supervising researcher Andrew Pruszynski, PhD, assistant professor at Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and Canada Research Chair in Sensorimotor Neuroscience. The study, "Spinal stretch reflexes support efficient hand control," will be published online in the high impact journal Nature Neuroscience. (LINK to follow) This kind of hand control requires sensory inputs from multiple joints - mainly the elbow and the wrist - and these inputs was previously thought to be processed and converted into motor commands by the brain's cerebral cortex. Using specialized robotic technology, a three degree of freedom exoskeleton at Western's Brain and Mind Institute, subjects were asked to maintain their hand in a target position and then the robot bumped it away from the target by simultaneously flexing or extending the wrist and elbow. The researchers measured the time that it took for the muscles in the elbow and wrist to respond to the bump from the robot and whether these responses helped bring the hand back to the initial target. By measuring the latency, or 'lag', in the response, they were able to determine whether the processing was happening in the brain or the spinal cord. "We found that these responses happen so quickly that the only place that they could be generated from is the spinal circuits themselves," said the study's lead researcher Jeff Weiler, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry. "What we see is that these spinal circuits don't really care about what's happening at the individual joints, they care about where the hand is in the external world and generate a response that tries to put the hand back to where it came from." This response generated by the spinal cord is called a 'stretch reflex,' and has previously been thought to be very limited in terms of how it helps movement. "Historically it was believed that these spinal reflexes just act to restore the length of the muscle to whatever happened before the stretch occurred," said Pruszynski. "We are showing they can actually do something much more complicated - control the hand in space." This finding adds immensely to our understanding of neuroscience and neurocircuitry, and provides new information and targets for rehabilitation science. "A fundamental understanding of the neurocircuits is critical for making any kind of progress on rehabilitation front," said Pruszynski who is also a scientist at Western's Robarts Research Institute and the Brain and Mind Institute. "Here we can see how this knowledge could lead to different kinds of training regimens that focus on the spinal circuitry." Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account to continue reading. To subscribe, click here. Already a subscriber? Click here. featured North Perry Village First year of tent camping goes well at Lakeshore Reservation After seeing a major decline in the presence of carfentanil in 2018, Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Gilson said his office has se Free access for current print subscribers As a home delivery subscriber, you get free unlimited digital access to news-daily.com including stories, photos, obituaries, e-edition and more on your computer, tablet or phone. All you need is your print subscription account number and your last name. Don't know your subscription number? Email access@news-daily.com with your delivery address. Activate your account now. BRIDGEPORT During the first six weeks of the year, Bridgeport has seen five homicides the most recent the death of a teen gunned down late Monday night. Police are deep into the search for his killer. Dyshon Williams, 19, was found shot to death around 10:45 p.m. Monday near Luis Munoz Marin School on Helen Street. Williams, who lived on Cowles Street in the city, was shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene. It looks like some kind of transaction gone bad, said Police Chief Armando Perez Tuesday afternoon. Were working on it. Detectives are still out there talking to people. Perez said there are surveillance cameras in the area and that detectives are working on a number of leads but had no definitive suspects yet. Monday, officers responded to the north parking lot of the school for a report of shots fired, according to a statement from police Tuesday. Police Lt. Chris LaMaine said the officers first found numerous shell casings but no victims. Instead, they found something else. There, they discovered the victims car, unoccupied, police said. Perez said preliminary investigation indicated that the victim was shot in his vehicle and apparently staggered away before he collapsed, police said. Shortly after, the officers found Williamss body near the fence on the north side of the school. While Williams was the citys fifth homicide this year, he was the fourth fatal shooting. The problem is there are just too many guys on the street with guns, Perez said. The department is working alongside ATF and Connecticut State Police to combat the problem of guns on the street, he said. He said Bridgeport police are planning for a gun buyback program this spring to help take some of the weapons out of circulation. On Feb. 5, Sujata Lee Edwards, 36, died after being shot through a second story window in her residence on William Street. The day before, 28-year-old Eric Salters died from injuries he sustained during a shooting on Barnum Avenue on Jan. 26. Arrests have not been made in either case. Eugene Rogers, 50, was the citys second homicide of 2019; he was fatally shot on Jan. 27. Razzie Hancock, 39, was stabbed to death on Jan. 14. Arrests have been made in both of the deaths. Anyone with information on Williamss death is asked to contact Detective Martin Heanue at 203-581-5242 or call the Bridgeport police tip line at 203-576-8477. BRIDGEPORT More board members are willing to restart community conversations that expose the districts dire financial situation to the public, but not enough to reverse a decision to cancel them. The city school board needed a two-thirds majority to reopen the boards decision to cancel the final six of 10 workshops, but could only muster a 5-to-4 vote to put it on Mondays agenda. Board members Dennis Bradley, Jessica Martinez, Chris Taylor and Chairman John Weldon voted no. The effort came after the board heard from more than a dozen speakers who questioned whether the school board was worried about people learning the truth in an election year. Are you trying to avoid embarrassment for Mayor Ganim and his rubber stamp city council? Retired Superior Court Judge Carmen Lopez asked during the public comments portion of the meeting. Enough is enough, said Abigail Tosdado, a Harding High student who said more students have to walk to school because of budget cuts. The message we get is that we dont matter. Yorelys Cardenas, through an interpreter, told the board that canceling the meetings was simply trying to cancel the voices of parents. Her daughter is a fourth-grader at Marin school and Cardenas said she worries about diminished resources. It is necessary to reestablish the rest of forums. Today, Cardenas said. The forums were started in the fall by Schools Superintendent Aresta Johnson, at the direction of the school board, to get ahead of the school budget process. Four of the community conversations were held before the remaining six were canceled. s For each of the past three years, the boards request for double-digit increases to maintain current services has been met with none to small increases. As a result, the district has cut more than 100 positions including teachers, guidance counselors, facilities staff and aides. School officials say there is nothing left to cut. This year, the district is asking for a $15 million increase in an operating budget of $247.9 million. The board call a special meeting earlier this month to cancel remaining forums. One had been scheduled in each city council district. Board Member Maria Pereira, who has led the charge to restore the forums, disputes that the sessions were used to bash council members. She has spent time at some of the forums telling the audience what the district asked for and what it received from the mayor and council. Four out of five council members who have attended the sessions so far say they wanted them to continue. Others who had invited community members to the session were disappointed with their sudden end, Pereira said. How dare we educate (the public) about cuts made, Pereira told fellow board members. Board member Hernan Illingworth said he would vote to resume the forums if they are restructured so as to hear from the public not board members. I want us to listen to them, he said. Board member Joseph Sokolovic said the community forums held so far have not been dominated by board comments. The public, he added, needs factual information and that includes the voting records of city officials. Jessica Martinez, the board vice chairman said she agreed with Illingworth but added that parents dont need community forums to make their voices heard. This is not about snuffing out voices, she said. We are not sharing the same message ... We need the city council ... We need to do what is best for us to get that $15 million. lclambeck@ctpost.com; twitter/lclambeck Help support your local hometown newspaper/website. Independent local news reporting matters. Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription, for as little as $3, so we can continue to provide independent local reporting on our communities. MC Stevus G to appear in court today A London rapper has been charged in connection with an assault outside a Newbury hotel. Steven Angliss, aged 28, also known as MC Stevus G, was charged on Saturday with one count of a wounding or inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent and one count of intimidating a witness. The charges relate to an incident which occurred in Newbury on Wednesday, January 16 in which a woman was assaulted outside The Bacon Arms Hotel in Oxford Street, Newbury. Mr Angliss, of Lewin Terrace, Feltham, was also charged with one count of going equipped in an unrelated incident. He has been remanded in custody to appear at Reading Crown Court today (Tuesday, February 12). Richard Benyon says EU subsidies are unsustainable and welcomes changes NEWBURY MP Richard Benyons family farming business benefited from more than 250,000 of EU subsidies last year. Mr Benyon, who was the fifth highest on a list of 48 land-owning MPs or peers to receive money through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), admitted his familys business might well take a hit post-Brexit. In total, 278,180.22 was handed to the Englefield Estate Trust Corporation Ltd, Englefield Estate Forestry and Englefield Home Farms, which encompasses 2,000-acres of mixed livestock and arable farmland around Englefield. Mr Benyon, a director of the trust, said he did not receive the money personally and that Brexit had presented an opportunity to create a more sustainable system. The UK will leave the CAP under any Brexit arrangement and the Government has pledged to commit around 4bn a year for farm support until 2022. A seven-year transition period for farmers funding, which will see direct payments from the state reduced and tied more closely to delivering environmental and other public goods, has been proposed. The Environmental Land Management scheme will provide farmers who generate the greatest environmental benefit the most cash. Mr Benyon said: I think the public want it to be linked to public goods. When I was in DEFRA, I and the agriculture minister tried a number of schemes which were deemed too complicated at the time, where payment would be directly linked to outcomes. Thats now whats happening, so Im pleased. My family business might well take a hit, but its something I believe is right for agriculture and will link farmers and landowners in a much more beneficial way. Like every farm, we are looking to a new regime of agriculture support. I think one of the most important things for farmers is to work with their neighbours and create landscape projects. The way the system operates until we leave the EU is that a farm receives payment and I have campaigned or been active in government and outside it, saying that its not a sustainable system of farming support. On the wider impact to UK farmers, Mr Benyon said that a number would cope post Brexit through the alternative payment scheme, provided they could show they were benefiting the environment or communities. Saying that there would be some uncertainty, Mr Benyon added: Farmers have been living for decades under a system where they get a payment on an acreage basis and thats coming to an end, National Farmers Union leaders wrote to every MP stating their concerns about exports in a no deal scenario. We export most of our lamb to France and that will be subject to a 40 per cent tariff, said Mr Benyon. Every other type of farm export could be subject to a tariff that would make it uncompetitive. This is one of the reasons I would not want no deal. Englefield Farm Homes received 214,158.62, split between an agri-environment climate subsidy of 37,820, a 2,388.66 reimbursement of financial discipline, a 120,516.29 basic payment scheme and 53,433.67 for greening practices beneficial to climate and environment. The Englefield Estate received 52,230.28, broken down into 9,281.73 for agri-environment-climate, a 563.20 reimbursement of financial discipline, a basic payment scheme of 29,614.99 and 12,770.36 for greening. Englefield Estate Forestry received 11,791.32, divided between a 4,831.30 subsidy for investment in forest area development and improvement of the viability of forests, and a 6,960.02 grant for forest environmental and climate services and forest conservation. The Duke of Norfolk was the peer to receive the highest amount of EU subsidies (473,062), while MP for South Dorset, Richard Drax, was the highest-receiving MP with 411,201. JIM VAIKNORAS/Staff photoStaff members of the Triton Regional High School student newspaper, The Triton Voice, talk about their stories on fellow students who use e-cigarettes, also known as vaping. From left, Bridget Tucker of Rowley, Sophia Agrella of Rowley, Alexander Michals of Byfield and Andrew Valianti of Newbury. A Massachusetts high school teacher is facing criminal charges after allegations of indecent assault and battery. Sharon Public Schools Superintendent Victoria Greer announced Monday that charges had been filed against a teacher, who had been suspended since allegations of misconduct came to light in December. Greer said that criminal charges were being filed, and that the teacher's employment at Sharon High School had been terminated. Later Monday, Sharon Police identified the suspect as 56-year-old Bradley Lengas of Cumberland, Rhode Island. He is charged with indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14. The superintendent said her district was cooperating with Sharon Police and the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office. "As a school district, please be assured that our first priority is the protection and safety of our students so that they may learn in healthy, supportive, safe and responsive school environments," Greer said in a statement. After her "raise the roof" State of the Union reaction went viral, a New Hampshire congresswoman says she was honored by her portrayal on Saturday Night Live. Rep. Annie Kuster, who represents the state's 2nd Congressional District, found herself alongside a handful of other powerful women in politics being portrayed on the most recent SNL episode. Comedian Aidy Bryant played "Rep. Annie 'Raise the Roof' Kuster." The name was inspired by Kuster's real-life reactions to the State of the Union address last week. "We were celebrating gains for Democrats and women in Congress and for America," Kuster said in a FaceTime interview on Monday. "I understand it was from the 1990s, but apparently, that was the height of my cool." The Democrat's "raise the roof" dance moves went viral on social media and then landed her a spot on the iconic late-night NBC show. "It's a tremendous honor," Kuster said. "My kids were totally flabbergasted by the whole thing." She says the best part about all the attention is that the skit has people talking. "It's funny, I think it's great," said Diana Destefano, who we met in Salem, New Hampshire. "We have a lot of women in Congress now with different ethnic backgrounds." Kuster says it's given her the chance to put a modern spin on the old-school term. "That whole expression, 'raise the roof,' means raising expectations, and fulfilling our goals and our dreams," Kuster said. And she believes the SNL sketch is a salute to all of the record 102 women in congress. "I'm super proud of all of my colleagues, men and women, but very excited that we have more women in the U.S. House of Representatives than ever before in history," Kuster said. She notes many Democratic congresswomen were dressed in white during the State of the Union to bring attention to the centennial of women's suffrage and to celebrate the fact that, for the first time in history, there are more than 100 women in Congress. Police in Lynn, Massachusetts, say a missing man who suffers from Alzheimer's disease has been found. Lynn Police said Monday afternoon that 65-year-old Luis Amparo had last been seen in the area of Shaw's on State Street, but they did not say when he disappeared. Shortly after 8 p.m., police said Amparo was found in Swampscott. Police thanked the public for their help. An 11-year-old boy who was reported missing Monday was found safe that night. Dracut Police said Dayqwuan Watson had last been seen at 3:30 p.m. on Lakeview Avenue near the intersection with Pleasant Street. Later Monday night, police said Watson had been found safe. One person is dead following a car crash overnight in Boxborough, Massachusetts. State police said the fatality happened at 1:35 a.m. on the southbound lanes of Route 495. The left and middle lanes of the crash were closed for several hours while officials investigated the incident. The lanes reopened at approximately 5 a.m., state police said. Authorities did not release the name of the fatal victim. What to Know A 3-alarm fire was reported at about 2:30 a.m. at a home on Forest Street in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Thirteen people were displaced due to the blaze and are anticipating the Red Cross' help. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Thirteen people are displaced following a 3-alarm structure fire that damaged a multi-family home in Lawrence, Massachusetts overnight. The blaze was reported at about 2:30 a.m. at a home on Forest Street, according to the city's fire department. All 13 residents were able to escape the fire safely after an upstairs neighbor woke a woman and her four children on the first floor, officials said. Fire crews said the inferno was difficult to access since the home is on a hill. The blaze was too dangerous for firefighters to battle it from the inside, forcing crews to combat the flames from outside the building. Adding more difficulty to an already complex situation, the chilly temps made water form to ice, causing the grounds to be slick. One firefighter suffered a slip and fall injury after ice developed. Firefighters continued to battle hot spots through 5:30 a.m. Displaced residents are anticipating the Red Cross' assistance. The cause of the blaze is under investigation. What to Know Threats of a shooting and targeting a specific employee were posted to Tenney Grammar School's Instagram accounts, police said. Authorities tracked the threat to a 12-year-old Methuen, Massachusetts boy. The tween was arrested and charged before being released. The boy, whose name has not been released, is expected to appear Tuesday at Lawrence Juvenile Court. A 12-year-old boy was arrested Monday for allegedly posting threats on Instagram to "shoot up" a Methuen, Massachusetts school. The threats came in the form of a reply to the Tenney Grammar Schools Instagram account, according to the Methuen Police Department. In addition to threatening the school, the boy also referenced a specific employee as a target, police say. The schools principal alerted authorities of the threat immediately after seeing it on Instagram. Authorities were able to track down the owner of the account with the menacing reply and arrested the tween. "The posts were in regards to doing damage, to hurting people and to shooting up the school," Methuen Police Department Captain Jim Jajuga Jr. said. "We dont want to go into any more specifics than that." Police searched the 12-year-olds home and found there were no weapons on the property. Extra patrol will be available Tuesday at the school following the threat, officials said. The tween, whose name has not been released, was arrested and charged with making threats to a school and threatening to commit murder. He was later released into the custody of his mother, according to police. The 12-year-old is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday at Lawrence Juvenile Court. It is unclear if he has an attorney. What to Know Four children found inside makeshift home, covered in feces and apparently malnourished. Two of the kids were locked in a wired dog cage. Police found the children after being called to the residence following a fight or domestic disturbance. Mother to the four children and father of one both facing four charges of child endangerment. North Texas deputies discovered four young children in a "state of neglect," apparently malnourished and covered in feces and urine, living in an outbuilding in rural Wise County Tuesday. Two of the children, deputies say, were being held inside a small locked dog kennel. Their mother and the father to one of the four children, now face child endangerment charges. Wise County Sheriff's deputies were called to a domestic incident at a residence described by sheriff's deputies as a barn house, or a metal, shop-type outbuilding near County Road 4930 at about 7:15 a.m. NBC 5 News NBC 5 News Deputies arrived to find a man, identified by police as 24-year-old Andrew Joseph Fabila, with a number of scratches on his face. While talking with Fabilia and his partner, 24-year-old Paige Harkings, deputies reported hearing the voices of children coming from a makeshift living space inside the outbuilding. Craig Johnson, Chief Deputy of the Wise County Sheriff's Office, said deputies went to check on the children and found four kids, ages 5, 4, 3 and 1, living in what deputies described as "filthy" and "cluttered" living conditions. North Texas deputies discovered four young children in a "state of neglect," in rural Wise County Tuesday; two of the children were being held inside a small locked dog kennel. Four young children in Wise County who were found malnourished, filthy and living in a "state of neglect," were expected to be transferred from a Fort Worth hospital to foster care Tuesday night. Still, child abuse experts say likely they face several years of treatment and therapy to overcome the apparent abuse. Investigators said the children all share the same mother and that Fabila is the father to only one of them. The older two children were found locked in a single, wired, 3-by-3 foot dog kennel, one on a blanket and another on a small toddler bed; the other two children were only partially clothed and all of them were described by deputies as unkempt and in a "state of neglect." "Locking a child, any time, in a dog crate is unacceptable. When you find them in the state they were found today, covered in fecal material, no food readily available to them, didn't appear to have been cared for. It's unacceptable. It's bad," Johnson said. Craig Johnson, Chief Deputy with the Wise County Sheriff's Department talks about four young children found malnourished in a home near Rhome, Feb. 12, 2019. Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said when deputies found them, all of the children were hungry and thirsty and that "there was plenty of food inside the barn but the refrigerator and the cabinets had been locked so the kids could not get in to get food." "There was a refrigerator in the residence, but it had three straps on it that served as locking devices to keep people out. In dealing with children ... they were positioned in a manner where those small children would not have access," Johnson said. Deputies gave food and water to all of the children, all of whom were believed to be small for their ages and malnourished. They were then taken to Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth for examinations. Fabila was treated at the Wise Regional Hospital in Decatur for facial lacerations before joining Harkings at the Wise County Jail where they were each booked on four counts of child endangerment. Harkings was also charged with aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury for the cuts on Fabila's face. The couple was arraigned Wednesday morning and ordered held on $15,000 bond each for each charge. Neighbors told NBC 5 that they didn't know any children were living in the space and that the man and woman had only begun using the space a couple of weeks ago. Deepak Andhikari works at a convenience store in nearby Newark. He said Fabila bought gas from him at about 9 p.m. Monday. "He had all the wounds in his face. That's why I recognize his face," Andhikari said. Child Protective Services confirmed to NBC 5 they have had previous contact with the parents at a different address and that they're investigating this latest incident. CPS said Tuesday afternoon that the children were being released from the hospital and will be placed into foster care. Johnson said he had no immediate knowledge of his department having previous contact with the family. Some neighbors who live near the metal shop where four children were discovered locked up Tuesday said they had no idea the building even served as someone's home. Two young children were found locked in a dog kennel near Rhome, the Wise County Sheriff's Office said according to the Wise County Messenger. North Texas deputies discovered four young children in a "state of neglect," in rural Wise County Tuesday; two of the children were being held inside a small locked dog kennel. NBC 5's Seth Voorhees, Maria Guerrero, Frank Heinz, Meredith Yeomans, Allie Spillyards, Scott Gordon and Eline De Bruijn contributed to this report. No one was injured when a plane made an emergency landing onto a state highway Sunday afternoon in Culpeper County, Virginia, authorities said. The plane, a single-engine Cessa, had three people aboard when its engine failed after taking off from the Warrenton-Fauquier Airport, according to a Virginia State Police press release. The pilot, 47-year-old Hyunju V. Ko, of Gainesville, made an emergency landing onto Route 3 and then struck a utility pole shortly after 4 p.m. The plane then struck a fence. Ko and the plane's two passengers, both juveniles, were not hurt. The FAA responded to the scene, and the crash remains under investigation. No further details have been released. Maryland could become the next state to raise its smoking age to 21 as new data shows tobacco use among teens is on the rise. The Centers for Disease Control reported Monday that a long decline in youth cigarette smoking appears to have stalled, and e-cigarettes are to blame. About 4.9 million middle and high school students used some type of tobacco product in 2018, according to CDC data. That number is up from 3.6 million in 2017. "You know, the numbers speak for themselves," Maryland Del. Darryl Barnes told News4. Barnes is the head of the 57-member Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, which has endorsed a measure to raise the age for buying tobacco and e-cigarettes from 18 to 21. "I feel confident. But nevertheless it's going to be a heavy lift," Barnes said of the measure. "It's something that we all are rallying behind to say that we want to be one of the seven states to raise tobacco usage to the age of 21." Currently, six states have passed similar legislation including California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oregon, Hawaii and Maine, according to tobacco21.org. Washington, D.C., also limits sales to people 21 and older. The U.S. Surgeon General calls e-cigarette use, or vaping, an epidemic among young people. "Going to the bathroom to use these products as well as sneaking it in class, sticking it under a hoodie," said Laura Hale with the American Heart Association. Hale says research shows that 95 percent of smokers start before they turn 21. Activists with Tobacco 21 Maryland plan to lobby lawmakers to pass the legislation this year. Hale says the effort is backed by young people who have seen their classmates struggle. "Their peers are becoming addicted to these products and just can't quit no matter how much they want to," Hale said. Supporters of the measure say it has failed in years past due to opposition from the tobacco industry and stores that sell cigarettes and vape pens. Tobacco 21 Maryland activists hope that the CDC's statistics will bolster support for the bill. In Virginia, the House and Senate have passed similar bills to increase the age to buy or possess products containing tobacco or nicotine to 21. Each chamber is now working on the others measure. In the state that gave birth to the tobacco industry, not everybody is happy about the legislation. William Bechtle, a 20-year-old computer science major at Virginia Commonwealth University, believes it would infringe on peoples rights. If an 18-year-old who is legally an adult wants to make the horrible choice to start smoking, they have that right, said Bechtle, who smokes cigarettes. If they dont, then why is the age of adulthood 18 and not 21? E-cigarrette company Juul released a statement saying it supports the effort to raise the legal age limit. We are committed to preventing youth access of JUUL products, and no young person or non-nicotine user should ever try JUUL. We cannot fulfill our mission to provide the worlds one billion adult smokers with a true alternative to combustible cigarettes if youth use continues unabated," the company said. "We look forward to working with policymakers at the federal, state and local levels to achieve Tobacco 21." California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared Tuesday there "isn't a path" for completing the state's plan for a high-speed rail line between San Francisco and Los Angeles, yet his office insisted he is fully committed to building such a project. Newsom, delivering his first State of the State address, said he'd shift his focus to completing just a 171-mile segment of the line already under construction in the state's Central Valley. The project is key to the economic vitality of the state's agricultural heartland, he said. A high-speed rail line linking Los Angeles to San Francisco was the goal when voters approved a ballot measure in 2008. The roughly 520-mile line initially was estimated to cost $33 billion and was pegged for completion in 2020. Officials eventually hoped to connect the line to San Diego and Sacramento. Subsequent estimates more than doubled the cost to $77 billion and pushed the timeline to 2033. "Let's be real," Newsom said. "The project, as currently planned, would cost too much and take too long ... Right now, there simply isn't a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to L.A. I wish there were." Newsom said he'd continue doing environmental reviews for the LA-San Francisco line and seek private investment to connect the Central Valley to the state's major hubs, prompting confusion about whether he actually was changing the policy of his predecessor, Jerry Brown. Newsom's spokesman Nathan Click said the governor is committed to completing the longer line with additional private and federal money "as the Central Valley section demonstrates the viability of the broader project." The questions about Newsom's rail plans clouded his first State of the State address in which he outlined his vision for leading the nation's most populous state. California, he said, faces "hard decisions that are coming due" on clean water, housing and homelessness. Newsom used the speech to contrast his administration with Brown's as much as he did to take issue with President Donald Trump. He blasted the president's views on immigration Newsom called the border emergency "a manufactured crisis" but also complimented Trump's calls for lowering prescription drug costs. Trump has criticized California's high-speed rail plan. Newsom said the state risked having to return $3.5 billion in federal money if building stops on the Central Valley leg or it doesn't complete the environmental reviews. Rail leaders have long said they do not have enough state money to complete the line. Private investment has been tied to getting more government investment. Newsom did not provide any fresh details about how he planned to leverage or gather private money in a way his predecessors could not. His speech left lawmakers with different interpretations of how the project would move forward. Democratic state Sen. Anna Caballero, who represents part of the Central Valley, called the shift to a line only from Bakersfield to Merced "disappointing." But she said she hopes to see that line connected to other state hubs at some point. "People need to see it move to really feel like it's important," she said. Republican state Sen. Jim Nielsen of Fresno said Newsom's comments were an acknowledgement the full train would never be completed. "It cannot be achieved, and the governor has essentially admitted it," he said. "This entire thing has now changed from whether or not there's going to be a high-speed rail to what's going to be left for central California." Newsom rejected the idea that his plan would create a "train to nowhere" and said building in the Central Valley would help revitalize the economically depressed region. He also replaced Brown's head of the state board that oversees the project and pledged more accountability for contractors that run over costs by putting information about how rail dollars are spent online. Newsom also announced a new head of the state water board, a new chair of the state board of education and a new task force on housing and homelessness. It's typical for new governors to remake the administration, even if executive power remains within the same party. He announced the creation of the new Commission on Homelessness & Supportive Housing to address what he said is a moral issue that has become a public health crisis. His administration recently sued the Orange County city of Huntington Beach, accusing it of not meeting mandated affordable housing goals. The governor has invited the leaders of 47 other noncomplying cities to a meeting next week for what he called "a candid conversation." "I don't intend to file suit against all 47, but I'm not going to preside over neglect and denial," he said. "These cities need to summon the political courage to build their fair share of housing." Newsom also promised to have a plan within 60 days for dealing with the recent bankruptcy filing by Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. after years of devastating wildfires. He said he has convened a team of the nation's best bankruptcy lawyers and financial experts from the energy sector to work with his administration to develop a strategy to protect the state's power grid, wildfire victims, company employees and ratepayers. "We are all frustrated and angry that it's come to this," Newsom said. "PG&E didn't do enough to secure dangerous equipment or plan for the future." He also promised to address the pressure that climate change is putting on utilities. Associated Press writer Don Thompson contributed. Weather Alert ...VERY HOT TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED BY THE WEEKEND AND THROUGH AT LEAST MIDWEEK NEXT WEEK... A strong high pressure system will build over the Pacific Northwest by the end of this week and will continue through the weekend into next week. Strong air subsidence and adiabatic heating of sinking air under this high pressure system will result in record high temperatures from Friday through midweek next week in most areas. ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH NOW IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with temperatures of 108 to 114 possible. * WHERE...In Washington, Lower Columbia Basin of Washington. In Oregon, Lower Columbia Basin of Oregon. * WHEN...From Friday afternoon through Wednesday evening. * IMPACTS...Extreme heat will significantly increase the potential for heat related illnesses, particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...There is some possibility that all time record high temperatures will be reached or exceeded during this heat wave. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Monitor the latest forecasts and warnings for updates on this situation. Be prepared to drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air- conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. This is especially true during warm or hot weather when car interiors can reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes. && The head of the flight attendants' union on Monday called for demonstrations at the country's airports if there's another government shutdown and warned that her members might have to stop working, NBC News reported. Association of Flight Attendants-CWA head Sara Nelson said the recent 35-day partial shutdown had stretched the airline industry to the breaking point and "made all of us less safe." Nelson called on Americans to come out to the country's airports for mass demonstrations on Saturday to show their support if the government does shut down again Friday night. She urged those who were interested to sign up on the website, generalstrike2019.org. What to Know A woman was found dead inside a home in Brooklyn Monday afternoon, police said Law enforcement sources say the 75-year-old woman had been dead for several days and had stab wounds all over her limbs A medical examiner will determine the womans cause of death and the investigation in Flatlands is ongoing A 75-year-old woman was found dead in Brooklyn after sources say police discovered her with stab wounds all over her limbs. The woman was found unconscious inside a Kings Highway home in Flatlands at around 12:30 p.m. Monday, according to the NYPD. She was pronounced dead the scene. Her identity has not yet been released. Law enforcement sources tell News 4 she was found with multiple stab wounds to her limbs and added that she had been dead for several days before she was discovered. A medical examiner will determine the womans cause of death. The investigation is ongoing. What to Know A man told police his Tesla, on autopilot, suddenly veered off a New Jersey highway Sunday, hitting a car and then some signs No one was hurt, but the car suffered heavy damage Tesla said its autopilot doesn't make a car autonomous but is an advanced driver assistance system that requires a fully attentive driver A man involved in a messy crash off a New Jersey highway over the weekend told the cops his Tesla made him do it. The driver, Eric Carter, told cops he had his car on autopilot as he moved along Route 1 in North Brunswick around dinnertime Sunday, North Brunswick Police Capt. Brian Hoiberg told News 4. Hoiberg said he meant to continue moving on Route 1, but his Tesla pulled hard to the right at the intersection near Adams Lane; it struck a curb, several signs, and came to rest on a grassy area to the side of the road, police say. No one was hurt, though Carter's Tesla suffered heavy damage. Carter was the only witness, police say, adding they have no reason to "disbelieve that that's what happened," according to Hoiberg. In a statement, Tesla said safety is top priority, and since launching autopilot in 2015, "we are not aware of a single instance in which Autopilot refused to disengage." Autopilot is intended for use only "with a fully attentive driver who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any time... it does not turn a Tesla into an autonomous vehicle, and it does not allow the driver to abdicate responsibility." Tesla added, "We also ask our customers to exercise safe behavior when using our vehicles, including following the cars instructions for remaining alert and present when using Autopilot and to be prepared to take control at all times. A driver can easily override Autopilot by lightly touching the steering wheel or brakes. "Moreover, the brakes have an independent bypass circuit that cuts power to the motor no matter what the Autopilot computer requests. And the steering wheel has enough leverage for a person to overpower the electric steering assist at all times." What to Know Officers on Long Island rescued a terrified dog after the pooch was left out in the freezing cold, police said A caller reported a dog in distress at an abandoned house in Uniondale around 10:45 a.m. Tuesday The officers carried the dog to their car, gave her warm water to drink and brought her to McDonald's, where she ate a few hamburgers Officers on Long Island rescued a terrified dog after the pooch was left out in the freezing cold, police said. A caller reported a dog in distress at an abandoned house on Warren Street in Uniondale around 10:45 a.m. Tuesday morning, Nassau County police said. When officers got to the house, they found the terrified dog tied to the porch and hiding under a bush, according to police. It wasn't immediately clear who tied the dog there. The officers carried the dog to their car, gave her warm water to drink and brought her to McDonald's, police said. "After eating a few hamburgers, the dog started feeling better and her tail even began to wag," the department said. The dog was taken to the Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter, where staff named her Warren. Anyone interested in adopting the dog can contact the shelter, police said. What to Know The TSA unveiled its weirdest and most dangerous checkpoint finds of 2018 Monday Two local airports were among the locations where agents made the most unusual finds At Newark Airport TSA agents say they found novelty grenades "dressed" in tuxedos; Meanwhile, at LGA agents found a knife in baby carrier The Transportation Security Administration unveiled Monday its weirdest and most dangerous checkpoint finds of 2018 and it turns out that two local airports were among the locations where agents made the most unusual finds. One of the strangest finds had little to do with the object found, but rather where it was found. According to the TSA, a traveler passing through a security checkpoint at LaGuardia on July 6, 2018, was traveling with a child in a baby carrier. When the carrier went through the X-ray, TSA officers discovered a sharp kitchen carving knife artfully concealed in the lining of the baby carrier. According to one dermatologist, there are four things you need to be doing in the shower to lower your risk of infection, itching, acne and dry skin. KPRCs Haley Hernandez reports. Every day, TSA officers discover a wide range of strange and dangerous items at security screening checkpoints. Here a collection of the #topten most unusual items that were found in 2018. pic.twitter.com/YmIM2r4nRD TSA (@TSA) February 11, 2019 It could be that the baby took it from the kitchen drawer and folded it up into the bottom of the baby carrier. Or it could be that an adult did it. Your guess is as good as ours. All that TSA knows is that sharp kitchen carving knives have no place in the cabin of an airplane. Thats quite a no-no, the TSA said in a tongue-in-cheek statement. This incident came in as the sixth weirdest find, according to TSAs list. CBD is everywhere and News 4 first highlighted the popularity surrounding it months ago, but after putting products to the test the finding results are alarming. The I-Team's Sarah Wallace reports. Meanwhile, coming in at No. 4 is an incident that occurred at Newark Liberty International Airport when TSA officers detected two hand grenades in a carry-on bag on Aug.20, 2018. The grenades had a tux painted on them and were accompanied by a large set of instructions to not pack them for a flight. But alas, this traveler ignored the instructions provided by the manufacturer and it resulted in the grenades being confiscated. They were actually inert grenade-like novelty bottle openers, TSA said. Top Tri-State News Photos The agency goes on to say that even novelty grenades will trigger an alarm at the the checkpoint and will delay not only you, but the others in line and your traveling companions. Even more important is that if someone displays them on an aircraft, the crew and other passengers could think that they are live grenades and cause a panic on a plane. Or, in an another scenario, someone could pretend they are real in an attempt to make a threat aboard an aircraft, TSA said in a statement, simply concluding. Dont be that guy. Ship these sorts of items to your destination. What other weird confiscations took place at TSA checkpoints? Well, according to the released list, an ax, harpoon, switchblade, snakes, an apparent bomb, gigantic scissors, an inert mortar round and a glove complete with finger blades reminiscent of scary movies rounded the Top 10 most unusual checkpoint finds. [NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More What to Know Police have arrested a person in connection with the death of a woman whose body was found bound in a suitcase in Connecticut Valerie Reyes, 24, of New Rochelle, was last seen on Jan. 29, Greenwich police said Thursday Her disappearance had been reported to the New Rochelle Police Department, according to police An ex-boyfriend has been arrested in connection with the death of Valerie Reyes, whose body was found bound in a suitcase on a street in an upscale Connecticut suburb last week, police and Reyes' mother said. Officers arrested Javier Da Silva at his home in Flushing, Queens, after he fraudulently used Reyes' ATM card, Greenwich Police Captain Robert Barry said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. "At this point, Mr. Da Silva is the only one identified as a suspect, but the investigation is ongoing," Barry said. A federal criminal complaint says Da Silva claimed in interviews with investigators that he and Reyes had sex in her New Rochelle apartment and at some point she fell and bumped her head. That's when he put her body in a suitcase and brought it to Greenwich, then dumped it in a wooded area off the street, he told investigators. But he denied killing her. Both Greenwich and New Rochelle police departments made the arrest; the FBI was then contacted because of the interstate nature of the case. Da Silva was charged with one count of kidnapping resulting in death, which carries a sentence of death or life in prison. It's not clear if he has an attorney who could comment on the charge. The criminal complaint describes law enforcement finding the body of Reyes, barefoot with an unbuttoned shirt and jeans, inside the suitcase on Feb. 5. She was bound at the feet and knees, and her hands were bound behind her back with what appeared to be white twine and packing tape. She had bruises on her face including a large one on the forehead. Reyes' debit card was used at an ATM on Jan. 29 to withdraw about $1,000, the complaint said. The rental car captured on surveillance video leaving the bank after the withdrawal was traced to an account held by Da Silva. Police reviewed hours of surveillance video and conducted a number of interviews as they investigated Reyes' murder, Barry noted. Investigators saw "continued" use of Reyes' ATM card past what they believe to be the time of her death, he added. Reyes, who was from New Rochelle, was last seen on Jan. 29, and reported missing on Jan. 30. News of Da Silva's arrest comes the same day Reyes was being mourned at a wake. Her mother said it's been a heart-wrenching, bewildering day. "I've been really angry. Really angry because I don't have my daughter no more," said Norma Sanchez, who said "my heart dropped" when she learned Da Silva had been arrested. "It's like emotions of so much anger and hate, but relieved [too]," she said. Sanchez said she met Da Silva once before, and that he seemed nice and polite. But when her daughter broke up with him after dating eight months, he refused to stop harassing her. "He became possessive and not taking no for an answer," said Sanchez. "My daughter started getting annoyed, and she would tell me, 'I don't want nothing to do with him,' but he just keeps looking for her. But then it just stayed under the rug. She never told me he was bothering her again or anything, so I would never have imagined it was him." "We lost everything," she said. "I lost my daughter. I lost a sister to my kids. A friend to many friends." "It's different when your child dies of natural diseases but when somebody, a monster, comes and takes your daughter away, your child away -- for what. For what!," said Sanchez, anguished. When Sanchez spoke to News 4 last week, she recalled her last phone conversation with her daughter, who was panicked and frightened. "We asked if her ex-boyfriend made her feel a certain way, and she said no. If anything, 'he made me feel safe,'" Sanchez said last week, though it's not clear if Da Silva was the ex in question. Reyes had taken bed sheets and towels from her New Rochelle apartment before heading into Manhattan, where she took out money from a bank near Rockefeller Center. Days later, she took out more money at another bank. Her family thought she was seeking help in the city for her anxiety and depression. that she "was strong enough to just leave and seek help in the city," said Sanchez. "We were hoping. We were hoping she was seeking therapy." "We just went about our day, 'She's fine, she's gonna come back, they're gonna find her,'" said Sanchez. "But not this way. This is a mother's worst nightmare." Sanchez said her daughter, whom she called Val, was vibrant and friendly. She worked at a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Eastchester since it opened two and a half years ago. "She was very hard-working, very dedicated," said Sanchez. "She didn't show up for work on Wednesday. That was something very unusual. She didn't call, so that's what made us worried even more." Reyes was passionate about art and enjoyed drawing and painting, according to Lauren Bradford, who said she worked with Reyes at the bookstore for about 10 months before Bradford left the job to go to college a few months ago. Reyes had plans to train to become a tattoo artist, Bradford said. "Horrified. Absolutely horrified," said Bradford, 19. "I'm just like totally shocked. She was a confidant. She really encouraged me and my aspirations. She had a really bright future. She was really excited about her art and her goals." Highway workers found Reyes' body inside a full-size suitcase off of Glenville Road, north of Stillman Lane, at around 8:15 a.m. on Feb. 5, police said. Reyes' hands and feet were bound inside the suitcase, according to police. Police said it was difficult to tell how long Reyes had been dead due to the environment and fluctuating temperatures in the particular area where the victim was found. The chief medical examiner will determine a cause and manner of death. Code Red drills are now a part of life for Florida students in the year since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Schools are required by state law to practice the drill once a month, barricading the doors with desks and file cabinets, turning tables over to act as bullet shields, and lying face-down on the floor behind the obstacles. That's in addition to drills for fire alarms once a month and tornado drills once to twice per year. While security experts say this preparation could help save lives, not everyone supports how often they happen. "It doesn't do anything for any of us to have more of these drills," said Carlos Rodriguez, who was a junior at MSD during the shooting. He doesnt think the drills fully prepare students for the chaos that happens during a real emergency. "When a shooter comes into your school, when people are dying, when people are in baths of blood, you're in a situation where you are going to feel a lot of emotion. Nobody prepared us for those emotions," said Rodriguez. "The Code Red drill is insane," said Luz Sandoval, Rodriguezs mother. His mother worries about the emotional toll these drills have taken on him and his friends. They've taken part in five this school year already. "At the very start of the school year, the drills were a problem for me. I figured out that they were one of my triggers. They brought back memories and agitation from February 14," said Rodriguez. "It made me sweat cold and it made me really stressed out so I went to get help." His mom also worries kids will stop paying attention to drills if they happen too often. "They are going to be 'That's normal. It's normal,'" said Sandoval. Before the shooting in Parkland, all Broward public schools held 101 code red drills, combined. There wasnt a code red drill held at MSD in the months before the shooting. The MSD Commission in its report wrote that not having a drill left students and staff vulnerable. In the last year, Broward School records show the drills are happening monthly since it was made law. Outside of Parkland, several parents told NBC 6 it makes them feel better about their childs safety. "I prefer that my kid be trained and be ready if something happens," said mother Audrey Bagne. And law enforcement officers like Officer Chris Christianson of Hollywood Police say when kids train over and over again for emergencies it becomes second nature for them to respond. Christianson, who helped establish the protocol for code red drills throughout the county told NBC 6 last year that he believes the drills help empower students and buy time for law enforcement. "It's to protect them for the two minute magic window before we can get here and end it," said Christianson. But as a student who lived through the shooting at his school, Rodriguez worries about it happening again. "It can still happen," he said. "Even if we have all these drills and the police presence. Somebody can come in with a weapon and do the same thing they did on February 14." The school district told NBC 6 theyve established a new policy on emergency codes including code red. The school board is expected to adopt it at a meeting next week. The new policy is supposed to "establish expectations on training and compliance with emergency codes at the highest level within the District." What to Know Detectives tracked the video, showing a man dressed in a black and white costume and engaging in the acts while the dog was in distress. Police have arrested a 21-year-old man near St. Petersburg after he admitted to dressing up as a dog and videotaping himself performing sex acts on his Siberian Husky. Christian Nichols was taken into custody Monday at his home in Oldsmar, where he was charged with one county of aggravated animal cruelty. Nichols is being held at the Pinellas County jail while detectives say additional charges are likely. According to NBC affiliate WFLA-TV, an investigation began last month when a person in another state called Animal Services in the county to report video and photos of a man having sexual conduct with the dog. Detectives tracked the video, showing a man dressed in a black and white costume and engaging in the acts while the dog was in visible distress, back to Nichols. Animal Services officials removed the Siberian Husky and another dog from the home following Nichols arrest. A South Florida family is filing a lawsuit against a transportation rental company after an accident on one of its motorized scooters left a woman in a coma. Ashanti Jordan, 28, was riding a Lime scooter back in Dec. 28 in downtown Fort Lauderdale when she was struck by a car. "It's like I've been living this dream since Dec. 28 and I haven't woke up yet," said her mother, Tracy Jordan. Ashanti Jordan, a security guard at Broward Health, suffered a fractured skull, a severe brain injury and multiple fractures to her ribs. She was left in a vegetative state. "It's so traumatizing," Tracy Jordan said. "Every time I see someone on a scooter, it's like, they don't understand the danger behind these scooters." According to state law, motorized scooters are prohibited on streets, bike lanes or paths. The Jordans' attorney argues that the transportation devices are dangerous and that Lime's app has messages instructing riders to stay off the sidewalks. "Lime is operating their business in clear violation of the law," said attorney Todd Falzone of the law firm Kelley/Uustal. "As part of the process, the company Lime directs you three different times tells you that you are not to operate your scooter on the sidewalk." While there have been some complaints about the safety of the various dockless scooters, city commissioners in Fort Lauderdale voted last week to keep them running, but only on sidewalks. "The safety of our riders and the community is our highest priority, and we're committed to making our streets safer by working with local governments to support safe infrastructure for scooters and bikes," a Lime spokesperson said in a statement. "Our thoughts remain with Ms. Jordan and her family." Freshman Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar "unequivocally" apologized on Monday for tweets suggesting that members of Congress support Israel because they are being paid to do so, which drew bipartisan criticism and a rebuke from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Minnesota Democrat said she had no intention offending anyone, including Jewish Americans. "We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me about my identity," Omar tweeted. "This is why I unequivocally apologize." The statement was the latest reckoning among Democrats of intense differences in their ranks over the U.S.-Israeli relationship, highlighted by criticism from Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. They are the first Muslim women to serve in Congress. Pelosi and other Democrats, including leaders and chairmen, laid down a marker making clear that Omar had overstepped. In a pair of tweets over the weekend, Omar criticized the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. "It's all about the Benjamins baby," she wrote, invoking slang about $100 bills. Asked on Twitter who she thought was paying members of Congress to support Israel, Omar responded, "AIPAC!" That sparked Pelosi's first public rebuke of a freshman lawmaker who had helped flip the House from Republican control and is part of a record number of women in Congress. "Congresswoman Omar's use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel's supporters is deeply offensive," Pelosi said in a statement issued by her office and signed by other Democratic leaders after a bipartisan backlash against the Minnesota Democrat. "We condemn these remarks, and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments." It also was a stark exposure of an increasingly tense split among Democrats over U.S.-Israeli policy ahead of the 2020 elections. None of the Democratic presidential hopefuls weighed in publicly as their party's House leaders chastised Omar. Omar's fellow freshmen felt the strain. Some, such as Jewish Reps. Elaine Luria of Virginia and Max Rose of New York, explicitly denounced her remarks. Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., said: "Anti-Semitism or xenophobia is never acceptable. I'm glad Rep. Omar has apologized." Senior Democrats dealt the new lawmaker a swift schooling. "There is an expectation of leaders particularly those with a demonstrated commitment to the cause of justice and equality that they would be extremely careful not to tread into the waters of anti-Semitism or any other form of prejudice or hate," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York said in a statement. "Rep. Omar failed that test of leadership with these comments." Republicans called on Democrats to strip Omar of her seat on the House Foreign Relations Committee, but Chairman Eliot Engel stopped just short of that. He said in a statement that he expects his committee members to discuss policies on merits. And though he did not name Omar, he left little doubt that his statement was a response to her tweets. "It's shocking to hear a Member of Congress invoke the anti-Semitic trope of 'Jewish money,'" Engel said. Asked on Air Force One en route to El Paso, Texas, about the controversy, President Donald Trump said the freshman congresswoman "should be ashamed of herself" for the tweets. "I think it was a terrible statement, and I don't think her apology was adequate," he said. Asked what she should have said, Trump replied: "She knows what to say." AIPAC is a nonprofit organization that works to influence U.S. policy toward Israel. While it is barred from directly donating to candidates, it encourages its more than 100,000 members to do so and to be politically active. One way the organization has made a mark on Congress is through expense-paid junkets to Israel, which are paid for by an affiliated nonprofit that does not have to disclose its donors. The popular weeklong excursions for members of Congress, their families and some senior staff can cost upward of $12,000 per person and are intended to "educate political leaders and influencers about the importance of the U.S. - Israel relationship through firsthand experiences." The nonprofit responded Sunday night: "We are proud that we are engaged in the democratic process to strengthen the US-Israel relationship. Our bipartisan efforts are reflective of American values and interests. We will not be deterred in any way by ill-informed and illegitimate attacks on this important work." Omar supports a movement known as BDS, for "boycott, divestment and sanctions" aimed at Israel. And it's not the first time she's fought accusations of anti-Semitism. She insists her rejection of the Israeli government refers to its stance toward Palestinians and is not directed at Jewish people. Omar has expressed regret for tweeting in 2012: "Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel." She said the statement came in the context of Israel's treatment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. "It's now apparent to me that I spent lots of energy putting my 2012 tweet in context and little energy in disavowing the anti-Semitic trope I unknowingly used, which is unfortunate and offensive," she tweeted last month. The controversy over Omar's remarks stretched beyond Capitol Hill to the crowded Democratic presidential race. Less than a week earlier, all but one high-profile Democratic senator eyeing the White House in 2020 voted against a Middle East policy measure that included a provision cracking down on BDS activism against the Israeli government. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar supported the Middle East bill, while her potential presidential rivals Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sherrod Brown of Ohio all opposed it. Several of those Democrats had raised concerns that the bill's bid to rein in anti-Israel boycott efforts risked violating the constitutional rights of activists, although all the senators are opposed to the Palestinian-led push itself. Among the yellow notes of support posted on Omar's office nameplate on Capitol Hill Monday was one that read, "Mazel Tov." Associated Press writers Elana Schor and Brian Slodysko and photographer Andrew Harnik contributed to this report. Rep. Walter Jones Jr., a 13-term Republican from eastern North Carolina whose about-face on the Iraq War came to define his congressional service, died Sunday on his 76th birthday, his congressional office confirmed. No cause of death was announced. Jones entered hospice care last month as his health sharply declined after he suffered complications from a broken hip he sustained in a fall, and he had been on leave since then, NBC News reported. Jones was a deeply Christian orthodox conservative of the pre-Donald Trump era, strongly supporting the military and just as strongly opposing taxes, same-sex marriage and abortion. But it was his stark reversal of his support for Bush's war in Iraq that Jones was most famous for, a turnabout that marked the beginning of a period increasingly outside the House Republican mainstream. Jones initially supported the war in 2002 even going so far as to have spearheaded the effort to persuade the House cafeterias to rename french fries as "Freedom Fries" to protest France's opposition to the U.S.-led war. But he soon regretted the vote, he told The Associated Press in 2017. Some people who went into an abandoned Houston home to smoke marijuana found a caged tiger, police say. The tipster said they thought they were hallucinating when they first saw the tiger, according to police. Houston's major offender animal cruelty unit and animal shelter volunteers were called in to care for the tiger. Police told KPRC-TV the tiger was well fed, but the cage was secured by a nylon strap and screwdriver. The tiger was taken to an animal shelter and will be transferred to an undisclosed animal sanctuary in Texas. The Houston Zoo told KPRC it does not have the capacity to receive another tiger. It's legal to own a tiger in Texas if the owner has a wild game permit. But it is illegal to have a tiger in Houston. The Dallas Independent School District will hold several meetings to continue discussions regarding partnership and privatization proposals. District administration leaders, parents and teachers will meet for the "Partnership Policy Conversation." Some administrators within the district believe they could get more funding for students if they let other organizations run specialized programs. According to the Texas Education Agency, when compared to Dallas ISD, charter schools receive greater funding per students. Meetings will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at these four campuses: L.G. Pinkston High School W.T. White High School Skyline High School Moises Molina High School Perla Canales, born in Honduras, has been living and working in the U.S. for 26 years under a federal program that temporarily protects her immigration status, but she is worried how long that will last. Canales, 54, who works as a cleaner at a mall in Staten Island, New York, was one of thousands who went to Washington on Tuesday to call on Congress to enact permanent protections for those in the TPS program. Approximately 325,000 people have Temporary Protected Status, which is granted to immigrants from certain countries fleeing natural disasters and civil wars, and allows them to live and work in the United States. Though previous administrations have always renewed TPS protections, the Trump administration has tried to end the program for most of its recipients, including 200,000 Salvadorans, nearly 3,000 Nicaraguans, 57,000 Hondurans, 46,000 Haitians and nearly 10,000 from Nepal and Sudan. Two House Democrats, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, joined the crowd of demonstrators Tuesday in front of the White House. From Nepal to Honduras, we made a promise that we were going to be a safe haven, Ocasio-Cortez said. We need to make sure that, as a nation, we honor our promises. The airports of the future will have high-tech features that make the flying experience less stressful and more enjoyable, and Dallas is playing a role in that transformation. Architects and designers at Corgan, which is headquartered in downtown Dallas, are working on major airports around the world, including Shanghai, London and Chicago. They also designed Dallas Love Field and Terminal D at DFW International Airport. Among the projects Corgan is working on is the advent of flying taxis. Uber hopes to start testing them in North Texas soon. "We're looking at how it can be integrated into Love Field," said architect Samantha Flores. Flores also describes other futuristic changes that are likely to land at airports soon. Facial recognition technology will do away with the need for an actual boarding pass. Cell phones will communicate with items travelers want to purchase, eliminating lines. Restrooms will even alert airport workers as soon as they need to be cleaned. Architects use many different tools to develop ideas and concepts. Augmented reality glasses let them see how new features would look in existing facilities. Virtual reality goggles let them start from scratch and envision something entirely new. Some research happens in the real world, like an "age suit" that designers wear to simulate how the airport experience feels for older travelers. The airports of the future will have high-tech features, and developers are testing out some of the new features with an "age suit" that designers wear to simulate how the airport experience feels for older travelers. Corgan's work at Love Field has caught the attention of planners in other cities. "We give tours constantly," said Mark Duebner, the city's Aviation Director. But work at Love is not finished, even though the rebuilt terminal is only six years old. Corgan is working on several projects to improve Love further. "When I go around and talk to my colleagues who work at other airports, there's a little envy in their voice," Duebner says. [[375690231, C]] Different airports will adopt different features over the next several years. But Flores has little doubt that some of the most futuristic ideas will become reality. "It's actually going to happen," she said. And when it does, there's a good chance that Dallas will have played a role. A man who had stolen mail, W-2 forms and drugs in his car when police spotted him rummaging through a dumpster in Arlington is under investigation for identity theft, police say. A police spokesman said Michael Queen was arrested on outstanding warrants Jan. 30 after police spotted his vehicle, which had been flagged as wanted by the United States Postal Service, in the 4000 block of South Cooper Street. According to police, detectives watched Queen pull into an alleyway and rummage through a dumpster. The detectives confronted Queen and saw drugs inside the vehicle, police said. "A search of the vehicle turned up a treasure trove of stolen mail, that included W-2 forms, personal checks, commercial checks along with drugs," police wrote on Facebook. Queen was held on unrelated warrants for his arrest, police said, and additional charges from the USPS were "forthcoming." California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday he's withdrawing most of the state's National Guard troops on the Mexico border because he won't participate in the Trump administration's "absurd theatrics" on border security. Still, he acknowledged some troops were doing good work fighting drug crime and said he plans to allow 100 of the roughly 360 state troops now deployed to keep working with the federal government. "I'm trying to acknowledge there are some legitimate concerns but I'm not going to play into the hype and the politics," he told reporters before signing an executive order changing the troops' mission. Former Gov. Jerry Brown agreed in April to deploy up to 400 troops to the border in response to a request from the Trump administration made to four border states. Brown made it clear then that California troops couldn't aid in immigration enforcement, but Newsom said there's been a "gray area" in their duties. Maj. Gen. David Baldwin of the California National Guard said the troops have not participated in immigration detention but some are conducting camera surveillance that could inadvertently aid in immigration enforcement. Newsom's rebuke of Republican President Donald Trump's administration came on the eve of Newsom's first state of the state address as governor of the nation's most populous state and frequent foil to Washington. In announcing his decision to withdraw troops, the governor ratcheted up his rhetoric against the president. "This whole thing is the theater of the absurd and California has had enough," he said. The Trump administration hasn't commented. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence held a meeting Monday on border security with sheriffs from around the country. Sheriff Donny Youngblood of California's Kern County was in attendance, according to the White House. The drawdown of California's troops will begin immediately but may not be completed until March 31, when the state's current agreement with the federal government is set to end. Newsom has reassigned roughly 110 of the troops to beef up California's fire preparation efforts ahead of the next wildfire season and to expand the guard's counterdrug task force program. The expansion requires approval from the U.S. Department of Defense. Newsom made clear during his campaign that he did not support the use of California Guard troops at the border. He took action about a month into his governorship because he wanted to responsibly review the issue, he said. He initially wanted to pull all of California's troops back but said he was convinced by Guard officials that good work is being done related to combating drug trafficking. If the Trump administration does not agree to Newsom's new terms "we'll bring the rest back," he said. Newsom's move came on the heels of a decision by New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, also a Democrat, to pull back her state's troops from the border. Newsom's Monday order said the increase in Central American migrants crossing the border is the result of a desire to escape violence and repression fueled in part by the activities of transnational crime organizations. The California Guard's resources are best spent tackling those activities, he argued. Texas and Arizona still have troops on the border. The 360 troops are a fraction of the roughly 14,000 that have been deployed throughout California for various operations since 2016, according to Newsom's office. What to Know U.S. Rep. Mia Love said her Josh Holt's imprisonment took a major emotional and financial toll on the family. The cause of Laurie Holt's death is not yet known. She is survived by her husband and four adult children. Laurie Holt, a Utah woman who struggled for nearly two years to get her son freed from a Venezuelan jail, died on Sunday. She was 50 and died less than a year after her son returned to the U.S. Holt died unexpectedly at her home in the Salt Lake City suburb of Riverton, former U.S. Rep. Mia Love said Monday. Laurie Holt's husband Jason Holt went to wake her for church at about 11 a.m. and found her unresponsive, Love said. The cause of death is unknown and Holt had no known illnesses, said Love, who became Holt's friend while working with other politicians to help win freedom for Josh Holt. He returned to the U.S. with his Venezuelan wife, Thamara Caleno, in May 2018 after he was imprisoned in June 2016 on weapons charges that the Holts and U.S. politicians said were invented. Holt went to the South American country in June 2016 to marry Caleno, who he met online while looking for a Spanish-speaking Mormons to help him improve his Spanish. He had planned to spend several months in Caracas with his new wife and her two daughters to secure their visas so they could move with him to the U.S. Instead, the couple was arrested and accused of stockpiling weapons. Venezuelan authorities suggested the case was linked to unspecified U.S. attempts to undermine President Nicolas Maduro's rule amid deep economic and political turbulence. Laurie Holt vehemently denied the accusations on her son's behalf and raised awareness about her son's incarceration by hosting rallies and fundraisers and doing media interviews. Holt and Caleno were held in a notorious Caracas prison and Laurie Holt said her son suffered numerous health problems in jail, including kidney stones and respiratory problems. Their release came after secret backchannel talks between an aide to Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and close allies of Maduro. President Donald Trump hosted the Holts at the White House to commemorate the release. U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch on Sunday retweeted a video taken that day in his office of the moment when Laurie Holt first saw her son again, leading to a long and tearful hug. Laurie Holt is survived by her husband and four adult children. "We are devastated to announce the tragic passing of our sweet Mama Bear Laurie Holt this morning," the family said in a statement on her Facebook page. "She had a gigantic heart and we will miss her dearly." Love said Josh Holt's imprisonment took a major emotional and financial toll on the family, leaving Jason Holt with debts to lawyers they hired to try to win Josh Holt's freedom. Love has launched an online fundraising drive to help raise funds for the funeral. Love said Laurie Holt was relieved and happy to have her entire family back together, and was very excited about the August due date for Josh Holt and Thamara Caleno's baby. "It's sad to me that she really only had a few more months with her family and her son," Love said. "She's going to be missed dearly." Bradley International Airport is open and is resuming normal operations on Wednesday after Tuesday's storm affected some flights. Most airlines are operating on schedule on Wednesday morning, however, there is a small number of canceled flights, an airport spokesperson said. Some airlines adjusted schedules and canceled flights on Tuesday afternoon as the snow moved in. By 5 p.m., about 25 percent of flights in and out of Bradley were canceled, according to the airport spokesperson. Anyone who is scheduled to fly out of Bradley Airport is asked to contact their airline for updates on their flight status. Click here for a real-time flight status updates. Reporters and editors of the Hartford Courant announced that they have formed a new bargaining unit. One of the organizers told NBC Connecticut that about 60 reporters and editors would be covered by the new bargaining unit. Rebecca Lurye is one of the organizers for the new Hartford Courant Guild, which has filed paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board for recognition by the Courant and its parent, Tribune Publishing. Lurye says the petition for a union is not a direct response to any one event, even as the paper has seen layoffs over the past 15 years. I dont think there was one last straw. We could have done this 10 years ago when the Courant lost 100 workers to mostly layoffs, said Lurye, who covers business and health for the Courant. And we gave the company 10 years to kind of right the ship, and now, if its going to happen, we need to be part of the conversation. The Courant is one of the newspapers under the Tribune Publishing label. The Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune are also part of Tribune, and each newsroom has seen successful unionization efforts in recent years. Unionizing efforts have become more common as newsrooms have seen more cutbacks by corporate parents. Courant Publisher Andrew Julien would not comment to NBC Connecticut about the petition from newsroom employees, but a spokesperson did provide the letter he sent to members of the Guild. In the letter, Julien acknowledged receipt of the petition filed with the NLRB The economics of the newsroom are not what they used to be and theres no way the newsroom is going to come back to its glory days of the 1980s and the 1990s, said Rich Hanley, an Associate Professor of Journalism at Quinnipiac University. At some point, journalists needed to say, stop it, and this move by the Courant is that moment. Theyre saying the newspaper is too important to let executives decide its future. The Hartford Courant is the longest continuously circulated newspaper in the United States, going back 254 years. Lurye says employees are looking for a voice when major decisions are being made that affect readers and employees. On employment issues, Lurye specifically mentioned wanting to have a say in raises, grievance procedures, and cost of living increases. We just think it will look better. It will be stronger. It will be more stable. Were lucky to still have people with decades of experience at the Courant and they shouldnt have to go through their jobs feeling like the next shoe is going to drop on them and constantly worrying about whether theyre valued by the company. Lurye says she hopes the Courant voluntarily recognizes the Guild as a bargaining unit. More than 80 percent of the newsroom signed cards backing the effort. She says she hopes the new group working as a union could help to keep the Courant as a Connecticut institution and have a seat at the table helping shape how that happens. We really dont know who will own us a month or a day from now or a year. It means that were always able to negotiate those major things. It means that were able to advocate for ourselves and thats not a natural thing for journalists sometimes, to be activists or advocate for anything, but its OK for us to ask for the tools we need to do our jobs to the best of our ability. With his budget address approaching on February 20, Gov. Ned Lamont has penned an open letter to Connecticut residents discussing his priorities and strategy for the state economy. See the full text of the letter below: February 11, 2019 My fellow residents, friends and neighbors, First, thanks for allowing me the opportunity to govern this great state. It doesnt matter to me for whom you voted in November. From the day I was elected, I began focusing on governing the best way I know how transparently, openly, and in a way that encourages debate, dialogue and discussion on all sides of an issue. Thats why its important that you hear from me directly about my vision for Connecticuts future and how it shapes the budget that I will be submitting to the legislature in just over a week. I believe our state is poised for success, with new jobs on the rise, unemployment rates at historic lows, and the growth of established and emerging sectors from wind energy to biotechnology on the horizon. I also believe that delivering on those opportunities requires a sustained commitment to fiscal stability that will allow Connecticut to turn the page on whats been holding it back and give you, your employers, and your local governments the confidence you need to thrive. We are expected to end the fiscal year with a surplus. While that sounds like great news, I ask you to temper your enthusiasm for a few reasons. First, our economy has still not fully recovered from the Great Recession more than a decade ago, and we must be prepared for the possibility of another economic downturn. Second, we cannot allow the fact that we are expecting a surplus and the likelihood of a significant deposit to the Rainy Day Fund lull us into a false sense of security and sap the urgency we need to confront our fiscal crisis head-on. In fact, a significant portion of the anticipated surplus must, as required by the recently enacted volatility cap, be deposited to the Rainy Day Fund and therefore cannot be used to address the budget gap. Although we could use that surplus to balance next years budget, our fixed costs the true culprits behind our continued deficits are growing by hundreds of millions of dollars per year. That growth eats into our ability to make much-needed investments in our future- things like a 21st century transportation system, education and workforce and economic development. These fixed costs are not something that we can simply cut, as they are contractual obligations, similar to your mortgage or credit card debt. So where do we go from here? In my proposed budget, Ill suggest a path forward to finally address those fixed costs and reduce the rate of increase. Ill also hold the line on the operating budget, while increasing investments in technology which, over time, will streamline our citizens interface with state government and produce real long-term savings. These savings wont happen overnight, but we cant continue to put off to tomorrow what we should have begun a decade ago. People expect an Amazon Prime experience and our state governments capabilities, namely its technology, simply arent there. In terms of revenue, the sales tax used to be the revenue workhorse, supporting most of our states budget. But today, the sales tax is not applied to the fastest growing sectors of our economy including the digital and service economy. If you go to a store to buy a DVD, you pay sales tax. But if you download that same DVD from a streaming service, you dont. What sense does that make? There are many similar examples in our states current sales tax exemptions list and we need to streamline our system and ensure fundamental fairness. Next week, I plan to start a discussion with the legislature about how we can reform the sales tax without raising rates. My job on February 20 is to share with you a realistic and thoughtful budget that will jumpstart the Connecticut economy, and work for everyone leaving no one behind. But my proposal is just the beginning of the conversation not the end. I look forward to sitting down with your legislative representatives, with our friends in labor and business, and with other stakeholders, as we push toward an honestly balanced budget which we will pass in the light of day and before the end of the legislative session in June. Our budget will be posted online, and I encourage you to take a look and share your thoughts with my office via email or social media. Over the coming weeks and months, I, the Lieutenant Governor and key commissioners will also be travelling around the state to talk to you in person about my proposal. We need to hear from you, and so do your legislative representatives. Its my job to make sure that you understand the tenuous reality that we face, as well as the cost of doing nothing at such a critical juncture. But its also my job to make sure we work together to pass a budget that represents and supports the values we hold dear. Lets work together and make our state the place we know it can be. Teddy Roosevelt once said Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. This is hard work. But its worth it. I look forward to doing it with you. Ned Lamont Governor, State of Connecticut Arriving on campus for the first time as a freshman can be stressful for a multitude of reasons, so keeping yourself busy is key to settling into a healthy routine. In order to get into this new college lifestyle, Virginia Tech provides its students with plenty of opportunities outside the c Rescue crews have ended a search for a missing hiker in East Granby after a man's body was found in the area, according to Connecticut State Police. On Monday police began searching for an overdue hiker at the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail in East Granby. Police identified the hiker as 58-year-old Trevor French. The body found does match French's description but has not been positively identified, police said Tuesday. Authorities are awaiting an autopsy for more information. A number of legislators have decided to take aim at bills connected to our state's rising bear population. NBC Connecticut Investigates explored the idea of bringing back a bear hunt in a piece that aired last November. Legislators have scheduled a hearing for one of the proposed bills, which calls for a black bear hunt in Litchfield County only, an area with one of the states greatest concentrations of bears. Bear Sightings in Connecticut (Nov. 2017-Sept. 2018) The bill would allow no more than five percent of the black bear population to be taken in a hunt. Senator Craig Miner, (R Litchfield), one of the bill's sponsors said, No one wants them eliminated. We want them controlled. Right now they are out of control. Another bill suggests setting up a bear sanctuary. And another would empower the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to manage our state's bear population. The Connecticut Director of the Humane Society of the United States told NBC Connecticut Investigates, Trophy hunting of bears is not appropriate in Connecticut. University of Connecticut researcher Dr. Tracy Rittenhouse explains what her study revealed about where bears live in Connecticut. The HSUS says the public needs to be better educated about removing things that attract bears, like bird feeders and garbage, and keeping dogs on a leash. Under mounting pressure from his own party, President Donald Trump appeared to be grudgingly leaning toward accepting an agreement that would head off a threatened second government shutdown but provide just a fraction of the money he's been demanding for his Mexican border wall. Trump said Tuesday he would need more time to study the plan, but he also declared he was not expecting another shutdown this weekend when funding for parts of the government would run out. He strongly signaled he planned to scrounge up additional dollars for the wall by raiding other federal coffers to deliver on the signature promise of his presidential campaign. "I can't say I'm happy. I can't say I'm thrilled," Trump said of the proposed deal. "But the wall is getting built, regardless. It doesn't matter because we're doing other things beyond what we're talking about here." Trump sounded more conciliatory in a Tuesday night tweet, thanking "all Republicans for the work you have done in dealing with the Radical Left on Border Security." Accepting the deal, worked out by congressional negotiators from both parties , would be a disappointment for a president who has repeatedly insisted he needs $5.7 billion for a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border, saying the project is paramount for national security. Trump turned down a similar deal in December, forcing the 35-day partial shutdown that left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without paychecks and Republicans reeling. There is little appetite in Washington for a repeat. Lawmakers tentatively agreed Monday night to a deal that would provide nearly $1.4 billion for border barriers and keep the government funded for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30. The agreement would allow 55 miles (88 kilometers) of new fencing constructed using existing designs such as metal slats but far less than the 215 miles (345 kilometers) the White House demanded in December. The fencing would be built in Texas' Rio Grande Valley. Full details were not expected to be released until Wednesday as lawmakers worked to translate their verbal agreement into legislation. But Republican leaders urged Trump to sign on. "I hope he signs the bill," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who joined other GOP leaders in selling it as a necessary compromise that represented a major concession from Democrats. Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., expressed optimism Trump would be on board. "We believe from our dealings with them and the latitude they've given us, they will support it," he said. "We certainly hope so." Others were less upbeat. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who traveled with the president to a rally in Cornyn's home state Monday night, said, "My impression flying back with him from El Paso last night is that he thinks it's pretty thin gruel." A presidential rejection of the deal could plunge Congress into a new crisis, as lawmakers have no clear Plan B. They need to pass some kind of funding bill to avoid another shutdown at midnight Friday and have worked to avoid turning to another short-term bill that would only prolong the border debate. Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Trump said of a possible shutdown: "I don't think it's going to happen." Still, he made clear that, if he does sign on to the deal, he is strongly considering supplementing it by moving money from what he described as less important areas of government. "We have a lot of money in this country and we're using some of that money a small percentage of that money to build the wall, which we desperately need," he said. That could be more difficult than he made it sound, facing challenges in Congress or federal court or both. The White House has long been laying the groundwork for Trump to use executive action to bypass Congress and divert money into wall construction. He could declare a national emergency or invoke other executive authority to tap funds including money set aside for military construction, disaster relief and counterdrug efforts. Previewing that strategy last week, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said, "We'll take as much money as you can give us, and then we will go off and find the money someplace else legally in order to secure that southern barrier." He said more than $5.7 billion in available funds had been identified. McConnell, who had previously said he was troubled by the concept of declaring a national emergency, said Tuesday that Trump "ought to feel free to use whatever tools he can legally use to enhance his effort to secure the border." The framework now under consideration contains plenty to anger lawmakers on both the right and left more border fencing than many Democrats would like and too little for conservative Republicans but its authors praised it as a genuine compromise that would keep the government open and allow everyone to move on. Trump was briefed on the plan Tuesday by Shelby and sounded more optimistic after the meeting. "Looking over all aspects knowing that this will be hooked up with lots of money from other sources," he tweeted, adding, "Regardless of Wall money, it is being built as we speak!" A Senate aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the aide was not authorized to describe the conversation by name, said the senator told Trump the wall money in the agreement was a down payment. Shelby did not ask whether Trump would sign the measure, but Trump told him he would study it. The aide said the measure contains $22.5 billion for border security programs, including programs run by Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Congressional negotiators plan to release the legislation Wednesday. The measure and most of its details have so far been closely held. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer urged Trump to accept the package to avert another shutdown, calling the tentative accord "welcome news." But the proposal was met with fury by some on the right, including Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity, a close friend of the president, who slammed it as a "garbage compromise." Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, released a scathing statement saying she and others had been "hoodwinked." "This so-called 'deal' is worse than a joke," she said. The hosts of Trump favorite "Fox & Friends," however, urged the president to agree to the deal and keep the government open, a relief to White House officials and congressional Republicans who had been nervously watching the roll call of conservative media voices, trying to predict where Trump would land. Conservative Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a close ally of the president, said that if Trump does agrees to the deal, he could be spared a "conservative uproar because everyone expects executive action to follow." That's despite concerns from many Republicans about executive over-reach and the precedent Trump might be setting for future presidents of both parties. "Two things are clear. We will not have a shutdown of the government and executive action to reprogram additional border security dollars is required," Meadows said. After the El Paso rally, Trump climbed back aboard Air Force One elated by his boisterous crowd. But his attention quickly turned to the deal as the presidential plane began to streak away from the border city. As aides filled him in on the outlines, Trump kept an eye on the coverage on Fox News, which was playing onboard, according to a Republican familiar with the president's interactions but not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations. And, despite the late hour, Trump began calling allies, a process he continued Tuesday from the White House. The president made clear that he had wanted more money for the wall and worried that it was being spun as a defeat for him in the media, according to the Republican. But others expected him to sign on nonetheless. Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report. Pitchers and catchers for the Chicago Cubs and White Sox reported to spring training Tuesday in Arizona. The Cubs returned to Sloan Park in Mesa while the White Sox continue to call Camelback Ranch in Glendale home. Cubs President Theo Epstein, General Manager Jed Hoyer and Head Coach Joe Maddon met with the media Tuesday while White Sox General Manager Rick Hahn will address the media Wednesday. "We want to make a statement this year, we want to get back on track - meaning, of course making the playoffs, but the goal every year is to play the last game of the season and win it," Maddon said. The Cubs begin spring training with largely the same group of players. The team made three consecutive appearances in the NLCS before they faltered last year in the NL Wild Card game. But they were noticeably quiet the past couple months, staying away from the marquee free agents because of budget constraints. The White Sox head to spring training believing they are setting themselves up to turn the corner after six straight losing seasons, even if they don't sign a superstar slugger like Manny Machado to speed up the process. That's because of the promising players they have on their roster and in the pipeline. I could care less who gets signed, White Sox outfielder Daniel Palka said today. Adding a guy like that is awesome, is going to make a lot of people on the team better, but at the same time, you cant sit here and dwell on whether youre going to let get someone or not because then youre going to let yourself down. You know you get all excited to get a guy, and if it doesnt work out, you still gotta just do your job. You cant sit around thinking about everybody else at the same time. Chicago went 62-100 last year and posted its highest loss total since the 1970 team dropped a franchise-record 106. The White Sox also struck out more times than any other team in major league history. The first full-squad workout for both teams is set for Feb. 18. A man has been charged with robbing a bank in northwest suburban Rolling Meadows and hiring a Lyft car to escape to OHare Airport. Jonathan Decorah is accused of robbing almost $6,000 the Ben Franklin Bank of Illinois in the 3200 block of Kirchoff Road, according to a criminal complaint filed by the FBI on Monday. Decorah, 43, of Arlington Heights, allegedly exited his hired Lyft car and entered the bank at 9:35 a.m. on Feb. 9, the complaint states. He handed a teller a note that said, Give me all the money or Ill blow your head off. I got two guys outside with machine guns, the complaint states. Decorah kept one hand inside his jacket. Another employee saw Decorah from a distance and remembered him as a regular customer, the complaint states. The employee recognized Decorahs crooked nose when it slipped from his mask. The bank manager saw Decorah from a distance and recognized him, too, according to the complaint. The manager didnt realize it was a robbery until the teller gestured that it was. The manager stayed by a window and saw Decorah walk the cash to a white car idling with a ride-sharing sticker on the back and a someone sitting in the drivers seat, the complaint states. Decorah entered a rear seat and added OHare airport as his next destination, the complaint states. On the way to the United Airlines Terminal, Decorah asked his driver if there were any Chase banks on the way there. The driver said no. Police found and arrested Decorah at OHare at 2:10 p.m., the complaint states. He had about $4,665 on him. The FBI said Decorah admitted to the robbery and to sending photos of the stolen money to a friend. Decorah pleaded guilty twice to domestic battery in the last decade, according to Cook County court records. He has two theft convictions from the 1990s. What to Know Bill Cosby is serving 3 to 10 years for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004. He is currently living in a single cell and has inmates to help him navigate the facilities given his age and disability. Cosby's legal team has repeatedly sought to appeal his sentence but has not been successful. Bill Cosby hasnt seen his wife or children since entering a maximum security Pennsylvania prison four months ago. His only contact with the outside world is Andrew Wyatt, his spokesman and self-proclaimed right-hand man who recently spoke with NBC10. Wyatt provided a glimpse of Cosbys new life behind bars. The 81-year-olds routine is a far cry from his previous days when many considered the comedian Americas Dad. UPDATE: Bill Cosby has responded to NBC10 after this story was published. Read his comments here. Now, the former Hollywood star rinses off his food during every meal to reduce his sodium intake. He wakes up at 3:30 a.m. to do pushups and situps in his cell before breakfast. Cosby is serving 3 to 10 years at SCI-Phoenix outside Philadelphia for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, home in 2004. He recently settled a civil lawsuit with her for nearly $3.4 million. Despite two trials and a wave of additional allegations in the wake of the #MeToo movement, Cosby insists his encounter with Constand was consensual. He considers himself a political prisoner much like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela, Wyatt said. Cosby remains unapologetic, even if it leaves him to serve the 10-year maximum, according to Wyatt. When I visit him, its nothing sad about it, Wyatt said. Hes not sad. Hes not remorseful because he did nothing wrong. Bill Cosbys team of confidants talk about the now famous inmate after his 3-10 year sentence for sexual assault. Earlier this month, Cosby was moved to a general population unit after spending about four months in special housing as he acclimated to the prison. Inmates at SCI-Phoenix outside Philadelphia spend several hours a day in the gym or exercise yard, and other times in the library, class or day room, prison spokeswoman Amy Wordensaid said. Several inmates are assigned to help Cosby navigate the facility, given his age and disability, Wordensaid said. Cosby is legally blind, a condition his legal defense attempted to use when appealing his conviction. Despite the circumstance, Wyatt told NBC10 his client is in good spirits. He speaks with his wife by phone three times a day and has weaned himself off coffee. He does not indulge in coffee or dessert, Wyatt said. Instead, Cosby works to develop show ideas from behind bars, according to his lawyer. Much of the direction comes from his wife, Camille Cosby. Hes mentally strong, Wyatt said. Hes just a strong man. Last month, Constand settled a defamation lawsuit against a former prosecutor who said she added details to her story over time. Her suit against Bruce Castor had been set for trial in April in Philadelphia after a federal judge refused to dismiss it. The case then settled this week, court records show. The terms are confidential and both sides had agreed not to comment, Constand's lawyer, Dolores Troiani, said. Castor declined to charge Cosby when Constand went to police in suburban Philadelphia in 2005 to report that she had been drugged and molested a year earlier. In a statement, Castor said both parties could be portrayed in "a less than flattering light." When the criminal case was reopened a decade later, Castor defended the decision. "If the allegations in the civil complaint were contained with that detail in her statement to the police, we might have been able to make a case out of it," Castor said. Troiani demanded a public apology, saying Castor had revictimized her client. "This is outrageous that a victim of a crime could be treated this same way twice by the same man," Troiani said at the time. A new prosecutor arrested Cosby in 2015 after documents from Constands 2005 civil suit against Cosby were unsealed, revealing Cosby's damaging testimony about sexual encounters with Constand and others. Representatives of Axon, the company that manufacturers Taser stun guns, defended the safety of the devices at a special meeting called by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors on Monday to investigate the use of electronic control weapons in the wake of three deaths last year. Axon representatives argued that the devices were the safest intermediate force option, causing less serious injuries than pepper spray, dogs or batons, and had never conclusively lead to a fatal electrocution, an assertion that drew jeers and laughter from the audience in the packed chambers in Redwood City. When asked by Supervisor David Pine about the extensive warnings that are distributed with Tasers, including that for certain vulnerable people Tasers "may cause or contribute to sudden death," Axon attorney Michael Brave minimized the importance of the warnings. "It's just like ladders and acetaminophen, if you read all of the warnings you'll never use any of those things," Brave told the supervisors. Pine called for the hearing in December as an investigation into the death of Chinedu Okobi during an arrest in Millbrae by San Mateo County sheriff's deputies drew increasing scrutiny. Okobi's was the third Taser-related death in the county last year, following Warren Ragudo in Daly City in January and Ramzi Saad in Redwood City in August. A Taser was also used on a fourth person who died in the county in 2018, Kyle Hart, but Redwood City police officers shot him after Tasing him in December. Sheriff's officials said that Okobi was running in and out of traffic in Millbrae on Oct. 3 and assaulted a deputy who approached him. Okobi's sister, Ebele Okobi, publicly accused the sheriff's office of lying after she viewed video of the encounter. The video has not been made public, but District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe has committed to releasing it once his investigation is complete. At the end of the hearing, Ebele Okobi thanked the supervisors for holding the meeting, which in addition to Axon featured presentations by sheriff's officials, civil rights leaders, and a medical researcher from the University of California at San Francisco. "It's a first step in bringing accountability," Ebele Okobi said. The Okobi family's attorney, civil rights attorney John Burris, in October called for a moratorium on Tasers in the county. Representatives from the sheriff's office, including Sheriff Carlos Bolanos, touted the department's crisis intervention training as well as its psychiatric emergency response team, a program started in 2015 that pairs a sheriff's detective with a technician from the county Behavioral Health and Recovery Services. The psychiatric response team is the first program like it in the greater Bay Area, Detective Michael Tabak said, and between May and December last year it made 98 new referrals to mental health services and reconnected 352 people to services. Bolanos argued against any kind of moratorium, saying that deputies may use firearms more frequently if they do not have access to Tasers. Asked how his deputies are trained in addressing the medical implications, including that multiple deployments could increase the chances of cardiac arrest, Bolanos said that deputies observe the suspect and how they're reacting to Taser applications. But, he acknowledged, "You really don't know when you're in the midst of that situation how many times you or someone may be activating the Taser." Dr. Zian Tseng, who researches sudden cardiac death at UCSF, said that his studies of Taser use do not suggest that the introduction of Tasers reduces firearm use or officer injuries, despite the results of some narrower studies cited by Axon. And, he said, there is a proven risk that Taser use can stop someone's heart when deployed directly to the chest. Axon now warns officers not to deploy Tasers to the chest. "These are rare events," Tseng said. "There is a low absolute risk for sudden death but it is not non-lethal." Despite Taser's specific warnings of higher medical risks when someone is intoxicated or suffering from excited delirium, Axon litigation counsel Amy Nguyen argued that Tasers are recommended for people experiencing "mind-body disconnect." Nguyen said that some research shows that there are fewer serious injuries from Tasers than deployments of pepper spray, batons and police dogs. But Alan Schlosser, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, said that San Mateo County shows that the devices aren't as safe as the company says. "Three people have been killed in this county in the last year," Schlosser said. "I doubt that three people have been killed by pepper spray. I doubt three people have been killed by batons." Ebele Okobi, following the meeting, called Axon arrogant and callous in a Facebook post. "Apart from the human cost their product inflicts on communities, Axon US clearly intend to also foist onto tax payers in those same communities the financial cost of wrongful death and similar suits related to the weapons they make," she wrote. San Francisco-based social media service Reddit Inc. says it has raised $300 million in a financing round led by Chinese internet giant Tencent. Reddit's CEO, Steve Huffman, told CNBC on Monday that values the privately held company at $3 billion. Half the new money came from Tencent, Asia's most valuable tech company. Other investors included Sequoia, Fidelity, Andreessen Horowitz, Quiet Capital, VY and Snoop Dogg. The announcement prompted criticism of Reddit for linking itself with a company from China, where the ruling Communist Party enforces extensive online censorship. Access to Reddit is blocked in China. Tencent operates online games and popular WeChat social media service. It owns 40 percent of "Fortnite" creator Epic Games and 15 percent of photo service Snap. What to Know One year after California cities began issuing recreational dispensary licenses, new pot shops resemble grocery stores, cafes and bars Under state law, anyone 21 and up can buy cannabis in California with a valid ID Lounges for consuming cannabis at dispensaries have become a draw for tourists visiting from states where pot is still illegal "What kind of high you looking for?" asks a man standing behind a case of cannabis concentrates that only a year ago would have required a doctor's note to purchase. As sunlight streams into the steampunk-themed lounge at Urban Pharm in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood, the "budtender" offers a few options to a young woman visiting from New York and allows her to sniff each one before making a purchase. "Welcome to a non-prohibition state," he says gleefully. "Great to be here!" she replies. Just a year after San Francisco and other California cities began issuing permits for recreational sales and on-site consumption of marijuana, retailers like Urban Pharm are working hard to change the image of a plant that was illegal for generations, and convince people to come in and give it a try. "This is a product this is a manufactured product now, as opposed to just something from someone's backyard," said Marcy Leventhal of the Green Door dispensary. The Green Door, which once catered only to medical customers, is across the street from Moscone West, a major hub for conventions. Leventhal said she now sees a steady flow of visitors from other states and countries coming into the dispensary for their first legal cannabis experience. "(We) urge them to start small, make sure they're not overdoing it or going big the first time, and that they have products that they understand how to use," she said. Customer-friendly weed has become a big deal in the legal cannabis industry from vape pens that measure a precise dosage to edibles that are packed with flavor and light on THC, pot's psychoactive ingredient. "We're designing the products for clarity and simplicity," said Bloom Room general manager Steven Rechif, who said his fastest-growing customer group is now Baby Boomers. "Generally when seniors come in, they feel very comfortable: 'This is not what I was expecting, this is much nicer than I would've thought it would be.'" Across town on Geary Boulevard, Harvest is hoping to welcome seniors and first-time pot users by turning the "pharmacy counter" dispensary model on its head. "Typically, what you'd do if you were shopping somewhere is you'd have some kind of a basket," said Harvest guest services manager Tom Powers. Harvest resembles a high-end corner grocery store, with large plate glass windows, wide-open shelves and and display tables made of light-colored wood. Customers are invited to browse at their leisure, or ask for help. "Is it Whole Foods, is it Starbucks, is it Apple?" Powers continued. "Those leading retailers that have delivered something bright and clean and refreshing, so cannabis we're not hiding in the shadows anymore." Harvest is the first stop on a new bus tour offered by Green Guide Tours, a company that weaves San Francisco history together with a dose of cannabis education. Stuart Watts, the tour company's founder and CEO, said his mission is to de-stigmatize a plant that's been banned in the country for 80 years. "Years ago, I started a walking tour company that was doing food and beer tours," Watts said. "The way we saw people treating craft beer and craft food was eventually the way they're gonna treat craft cannabis." On a three-hour tour of the city, Watts took guests to a handful of dispensaries along a route that snaked through the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, passing houses where The Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin once lived, while telling a version of marijuana's story that was likely different from what they'd learned in school. "It's really interesting, but it's not super surprising, because a lot of what I grew up learning was true about history turned out not to be the real story," said Anya Khalamayzer after the tour wrapped up. The stories included tales of the late Dennis Peron, who fought to legalize pot for medical use from his cannabis buyers' club in the Castro District, and ultimately convinced voters to pass Proposition 215. John Entwistle, Peron's husband and Prop 215 co-author, spoke to us in a room full of memorabilia from the political fight. "The club was a good thing, but we figured at the end it would be like cigarettes, you'd be able to buy a box of pot in the gas station," he said. "It's not perfect yet. But it will be." For an in-depth look on the evolution and history of pot culture in the Bay Area and the pioneers who fought to legalize it, watch our special documentary Bay Area Revelations: Cannabis Rush. In this episode, we take a look at the evolution and history of pot culture in the Bay Area. A gas leak that shut down an Oakland elementary school's central heating last week has forced students to learn in classrooms that are in the upper 50's to lower 60's degrees before temporary heaters were installed. Students at Brookfield Elementary have been without warm food since the heating went out on Feb. 7. They were warmed up by space heaters the day after the Oakland Unified School District was forced to shut off heating because of the gas leak. More temporary heaters were being installed Tuesday in all occupied classrooms, according to OUSD spokesperson John Sasaki. Sack lunches are distributed to the students instead of warm lunches because the school has also been unable to make hot food, Sasaki said. The outage comes as the Bay Area is experiencing very low temperatures brought in by the rain storm and a winter storm. Brookfield Elementary serves students from kindergarten through Grade 5 and has 296 students, according to the California Department of Education. (CNN) Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan landed in Afghanistan for an unannounced visit Monday amid increasing uncertainty about the future of the longest-running U.S. war in history. Shanahan met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, the country's chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, and defense minister Asadullah Khalid during the first few hours of his trip. Shanahan's trip comes after U.S. President Donald Trump publicly questioned the benefits of a continued military presence in Afghanistan in multiple interviews. A defense official told CNN in December that Trump decided to withdraw about half of the 14,000 troops deployed to Afghanistan at the same time he ordered the military to pull out of Syria. Shanahan said from his plane that he had no orders to "step down our forces in Afghanistan," but was tasked with supporting ongoing peace talks between Washington and the Taliban. Those talks have provided a glimmer of hope of an end to the war. Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special envoy dealing with the Afghan peace process, said last month that the two sides had agreed to the framework of a deal, but much needed to be "fleshed out before it becomes an agreement." Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said talks with the U.S. "saw progress" on vital issues. However he added that "until the issue of withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan is agreed upon, progress in other issues is impossible." Many of Trump's military advisers and congressional allies have advised the President against drawing down troops in Afghanistan. Members of the defense establishment were strongly critical of his decision to get out of Syria. Shanahan's predecessor, Jim Mattis, resigned in protest. So did Brett McGurk, the American envoy to the coalition to fight ISIS. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Acting US defense secretary makes unannounced visit to Afghanistan." What to Know The California Bureau of Automotive Repair issues licenses to auto mechanics, and investigates complaints Auto shops under investigation for fraud and other violations can stay open for business while the legal process continues Car owners can search the Bureau of Automotive Repair website to check a mechanic's license, but fraud investigations may not be obvious When Kayne Doumani took her car to a Midas location in Napa in August 2018, all she needed was an oil change. As she drove away following the service, she didn't get far. "I got to the on-ramp to I-80, and the car lost all power," she said. Doumani hired a tow truck to take her car to a dealership. The mechanic's findings left her stunned. "The oil filter assembly was installed incorrectly, with a piece missing," Doumani said. "No oil had gotten to the top of the engine, and it seized." The dealership's service manager told her repairs would not be cheap. "He told me, 'You need a new engine, and it's going to be about $16,000,'" she said. Doumani says she immediately knew the Midas shop that changed the oil was to blame. What she didn't know: the state had been investigating the shop's owners since 2015, after receiving previous complaints. Timothy Bowden, program manager for the California Bureau of Automotive Repair, helped oversee the investigation. His agency sent undercover agents with cars to the Napa Midas and two others owned by the same company. They made seven visits from early 2015 to late 2016. "Of those seven undercover vehicles, 26 serious violations of law occurred," Bowden said. "We couldn't even get one single legal repair transaction. They were 0-for-7." The Bureau of Automotive Repair, or BAR, reported its findings in a 33-page accusation filed with the California Attorney General. "They committed fraud," Bowden said. "They made false and misleading statements, and in one case, committed gross negligence." The only way for Doumani, or anyone else, to know the shop had already been accused of failing seven inspections, would be to look up the mechanic's license online, search the docket, and decode the legal language. "I wish I'd done it before I got my oil changed," Doumani said. In the meantime, the state let the repair shop stay open, throughout the investigation and disciplinary process. The last stop on that journey is the California Attorney General's office, where NBC Bay Area found a backlog of auto repair cases involving serious allegations. The backlog has tripled in the past three years. At the end of last year, 1,314 shops were under investigation yet free to do business as usual. There's no requirement to tell consumers. That's very different from another kind of business where Californians regularly spend money: restaurants. An official health score helps customers quickly gauge whether a restaurant is above board. They go up immediately after inspections, and restaurants are required to post them. Mechanics are not held to a similar standard. State Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Silicon Valley) says he's open to introducing an auto shop grading system. "I do think we can do a better job at publicizing whether or not a particular repair shop might be above reproach," Low said. Low chairs the Assembly Committee on Business and Professions, which oversees the California Department of Consumer Affairs and its Bureau of Automotive Repair. We shared with Low the story of Doumani's costly oil change at the shop that failed seven BAR inspections. "One is too much," Low said. "That's our obligation as a state, to protect consumers from such fraudulent practices and safety challenges as well." Low showed an appetite for grading auto shops like restaurants. "We need to be as proactive as possible to ensure as much consumer protection as possible," Low said. "We will do so this coming year." As for Doubmani and her $16,000 engine replacement, NBC Bay Area called the Midas corporate parent in Florida. The company reached a confidential settlement with Doumani. She tells NBC Bay Area she is happy with the outcome but still disappointed in the state's regulatory bureaucracy. "It is a little bit frustrating to know that they know what they know, and yet, he's still out there doing it," she said. The Napa Midas location is an individually owned and operated franchise. The owner of the company accused of fraud by BAR told NBC Bay Area by phone he recently sold the Napa franchise. The owner declined our request for an on-camera interview, but he did take our calls at the shop he says he no longer owns. He denies any wrongdoing, and he says he never saw the state's accusation. That accusation is scheduled for a hearing in May. Search any licensed mechanic in California by clicking here. A San Francisco cable car that was sold off in the 1950s and eventually dropped off the historical radar has turned up for sale in an ad on Facebook in the Sacramento area. The cars winding tale reveals that San Franciscos rolling wooden ambassadors werent always cherished and were even sold off by the dozens during one period. Car forty-nine was one of those cars the city sold off to a Southern California amusement park and disappeared in the abyss of history. That is until an Auburn resident named Brett Folena recently listed the car for sale, tipping-off cable car historians who had lost track of the original car. We thought the original car forty-nine was gone, said Muni Transportation planner Paul Bignardi whos writing a book chronicling the history of all San Franciscos cable cars. But apparently not. Its shown up. And its alive sort of and well in Auburn, California. To understand the cars winding trajectory you have to step back into the 1940s and 50s when San Francisco sold off some 50 cars as transportation surplus. Six of those cars were purchased by Knotts Berry Farm in the 50s and used as parking lot shuttles. But in the late 1970s the amusement park shut down the trams and sold off the cars. Three of them ended up back in San Francisco. One went to the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Southern California. Two including car forty-nine landed at an Auburn retirement home. Eventually forty-nine was listed for sale on Craigslist which caught the eye of Folena, and eluded railway aficionados keeping tabs on the cars. Me and my dad decided we wanted it and brought it home, Folena said standing in front of the car in the front yard of his Auburn home near Sacramento, next to an empty chicken coop. This things been hoisted all over the place and its a survivor. The car has survived eight years in Folenas front yard enduring snow, rain and even a few gunshots by the appearance of the dented number 49 painted on the side, above the Knotts Berry Farm logo reflecting its time there. Folena said his plans for the car didnt really extend much past getting it to his driveway which required a crane. Folena said he toyed with ideas of turning the car into a parking lot cafe, a tiny home, or maybe even setting it on a barge and driving it around a river. Ultimately, he opted for a more hands off version. Absolutely nothing, Folena said detailing the extent of his modifications. I hang Christmas lights on it, take pictures with it, people come over and have pictures taken on it. Folena decided it was time for the car to make its next stop and recently listed it on Facebook for $6,000. He said a few potential suitors have called with ideas for turning it into a fruit shed on a farm or a cabana in the center of a family pond. Folena said he even tried pitching car forty-nine to the San Francisco 49ers. I talked to somebody in the front office of the 49ers, Folena said. And he said to me, what am I supposed to do with that? The cars condition reflects its journey; its windows are mostly broken out, some of the running boards have caved in with rot and its rusted wheels sit astride pinecones. But the car, which was built around 1912 following the 1906 earthquake and fire, is the genuine article, looking as though it might just coast up Hyde Street hill with just a couple coats of paint. Its just time somebody takes it from me and does something cool with it, Folena said. Bignardi said the discovery of the car is helping inform historians who had lost track of the car. He added that there are other cars that San Francisco sold off that are no longer accounted for. Bignardi said even though San Franciscos cable cars have always been beloved they havent always been treasured. San Francisco sold off around fifty surplus cars in the forties and fifties. He said Muni no longer sells off its cable cars. Some of the cars that ended-up out in the world have been transformed into pool houses, coffee stands; one even sits in the outfield of San Francisco Giants Oracle Stadium. They thought they were very unique and really interesting, Bignardi said of the past city transportation planners who sold the cars, but I dont think they had that same sense that theyre priceless as we consider them now. Car ten wound up as a play structure at the San Francisco Zoo. Car nineteen was sold to a railway group which eventually donated it back to the Muni. But perhaps the most strangest tale of re-use was car forty-two which was purchased by a cattle rancher in Santa Maria and used to convey his buyers by track out to see the herd. The car was eventually donated back to Muni where it was painstakingly restored and is used for special occasions. Bignardi said Folenas original car forty-nine is actually the first of three cars numbered forty-nine; the other two still in Munis operating fleet. Bignardi speculated the transportation agency probably wont be interested in buying back car forty-nine because of its advanced deterioration. Its unlikely that Muni would be interested in buying it back because we already have a good car forty-nine, Bignardi said. Folena said if the car doesnt sell, hell just hang onto it a piece of San Francisco history parked in his front yard near his chicken coop come to rest at the end of the line. Id like to think Im saving a piece of San Francisco history, Folena said. A new species of the Brazil-endemic small genus Mcvaughia is described as part of a extended revision of this unique group. The study was published in the open access journal PhytoKeys. Mcvaughia is a genus of the plant family Malpighiaceae comprising just three known species, all of which endemic to the unique Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests biome found in the Atlantic Forest and Caatinga domains in northeastern Brazil. Spiders are one of the most successful groups of 'invaders' on the planet. Out of over 47,000 species of spiders known today, there are some that tend to follow humans across the globe and settle in habitats far away from their native homelands. A particularly notorious example is the species Steatoda nobilis, the Noble False Widow spider. Originating from Madeira (Portugal) and the Canary Islands (Spain), the Noble False Widow has been rapidly spreading around the globe over the last few decades. While the species is already well established in Western Europe and large parts of the Mediterranean area, it has recently spread into California, South America and Central Europe. Meanwhile, its populations in England, where the spider used to be restricted to the very southern parts of the country, are now seen to experience a sudden expansion northwards. As its name suggests, this is a relatively large species that resembles the well-known Black Widow and can inflict a painful - yet mostly harmless to humans - bite. Naturally, its 'arrival' causes widespread concerns and public disruptions. Specifically, the Noble False Widow poses a threat to native faunas, since it can prey on nearly every smaller animal thanks to its potent venom and sturdy webs. Recently, experts and non-professional citizen scientists joined forces to reconstruct the invasion path of the Noble False Widow in Europe and the Americas, so that they could identify patterns and predict which regions are likely to be the next colonised by the spider. By combining data from museum collections and the Spider and Harvestman Recording Scheme of the British Arachnological Society with published literature and their own observations from England, Germany, France and Ecuador, the researchers provided an unprecedented detailed view of the expansion of the Noble False Widow. The study, conducted by Tobias Bauer (State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe), Stephan Feldmeier (Trier University), Henrik Krehenwinkel (Trier University and University of California Berkeley), Rainer Breitling (University of Manchester) and citizen scientists Carsten Wieczorrek and Nils Reiser, is published in the open-access journal Neobiota. While it had largely been assumed that the Noble False Widow turned up in Europe along with bananas traded from the Canary Islands, a new look at the data revealed that the spiders have most likely been transported via imports of ornamental plants. Further, rather than the result of climate change, the establishment of the species across new, large territories is rather linked to the fact that these habitats all share similar conditions to the spider's native localities. "Similar suitable False Widow habitats occur in quite specific regions all around the globe," explain the researchers. "Most importantly, South Africa, some areas in southern Australia, and a large part of New Zealand turn out to be highly likely targets for future invasions, unless appropriate import control measures are implemented." In conclusion, the authors call for enhanced monitoring of the Noble False Widow as well as its still little known ecological impact on the environment in newly colonised areas. They also urge scientists in the predicted potential invasion target regions to search for specimens, especially in coastal cities. (Natural News) In todays hyper-Leftist social media environment it has become all too clear that pro-Trump, right-leaning, independence-minded media have no chance of getting equal access or fair treatment. The founders of Facebook, Google, Twitter, and YouTube are committed libtards who had no problem using the free market to introduce and grow their platforms into the behemoths they have become, only to then use their newfound influence and power to ban views and opinions of those they culturally, socially, and politically disagree with. Whats more, the proof of this incredible bias now comes on a daily basis, making it impossible for rational people to deny the realities that Left-wing social media censorship is a real thing that is aggressively practiced. Case in point, as noted by The Gateway Pundits Christina Laila, Twitter recently banned conservative journalists who dared to tweet three words: Learn to code. Last week, reporters said they heard through the grapevine that Twitter would begin taking action against accounts for telling people learn to code and now its actually happening, Laila wrote. Why? Whats so offensive about learn to code? According to Twitters speech Nazis, its harassment. (Related: Rep. Matt Gaetz going after Twitter with FEC complaint for shadow banning conservatives.) Really? Laila noted that Nick Short, a correspondent for Security Studies Group, was tossed from the platform Friday after tweeting, Lawfare flips out after Nunes says reporters covering the Russia hoax will need to learn to code after the investigation is done. Journalists need to learn to take a joke before learning to code. Short later tweeted a screenshot of the Twitter ban with an accompanying caption that read, Telling journalists they need to learn to take a joke before learning how to code will now get you locked out of your Twitter account. You wont be able to access your account either until you remove the tweet in violation of their ever expanding rules. Telling journalists they need to learn to take a joke before learning how to code will now get you locked out of your Twitter account. You wont be able to access your account either until you remove the tweet in violation of their ever expanding rules. pic.twitter.com/kOddFqsVi5 Nick Short (@PoliticalShort) February 9, 2019 When the Leftist media gets mocked they whine to Twitter and the platform responds Meanwhile, Twitter refused to take action against L.A.-based DJ Micheal Buchanan, AKA House Shoes, who tweeted in regards to the Covington Catholic High teens, LOCK THE KIDS IN THE SCHOOL AND BURN THAT B**CH TO THE GROUND. Twitters response? Nothing to see here because hate directed against pro-Life Catholic kids is just fine, The Gateway Pundit noted. Whats the big deal about learning to code? Stephanie Hamill at The Daily Caller explains that its considered offensive to tell laid-off journalists (from Left-wing news sites) learn to code because theyve been laid off from Left-wing news sites. She writes: The hashtag began trending after the announcements that thousands of journalists had been laid off from various news organizations including Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post. Dozens of journalists took to Twitter to announce they had been laid off, and some even used their tweets to try to get the attention of potential employers. Some Twitter users seized the moment to give journos the same advice that was given to coal miners who were laid off during the Obama era thanks to overregulation: Learn to code. The message: Left-wing activist journalism is good because it spreads Left-wing Marxist/socialist political ideology, but mining coal is mining a fossil fuel and fossil fuels are bad becauseclimate change. Conservative Americans and anyone who supports POTUS Trump had best come to the realization that no amount of outrage at the hypocrisy and juvenile actions against us by the social media giants is going to change their behavior. The only answer is for someone on our side to build platforms that rival theirs. Like this one. Read more about the libtard Left at Libtards.news. Sources include: TheGatewayPundit.com DailyCaller.com YouTubeCensorship.news (Natural News) A recent study from the University of Guelph in Canada warns that the countrys plan to expand its crude oil exports is bad news for local populations of commercially important salmon and thats not even factoring in the dangers of a floating derrick or an oil tanker suffering a disastrous oil spill. In the research, lead author Sarah Alderman and her team evaluated Canadas plans to massively increase the amount of crude oil it exports to other nations and calculated its probable effects on salmon populations near the areas that will host the new oil infrastructure. Based on her findings, she expressed concern with the looming expansion of the Canadian crude oil industry, saying that it carries a higher risk for a major accident. An oil spill on the same level as the Exxon Valdez or Deepwater Horizon disasters, for instance, would be devastating to the local environment. If a large amount of crude oil got into the waters and soil, it would cause all kinds of short-term and long-term health problems for both humans and animals. Alderman described her findings at a health science conference held by the American Physiological Society (APS) in New Orleans. (Related: Fracking gas wells linked to migraines, fatigue and chronic nasal problems are people being mass poisoned by airborne chemicals?) Canadas new crude oil pipelines will cut through salmon spawning grounds Crude oil is the unprocessed form of petroleum that occurs in nature. Even in its unrefined form, its a complicated cocktail of various chemicals, almost all of which have toxic effects on organic lifeforms. Canada controls the third biggest deposit of crude oil in the world. The bitumen in the oil sands of Athabasca provides 98 percent of the countrys available supply, and almost all of its exports go to the United States. In a bid to increase its profits, the Canadian government wants to increase the supply of crude oil that it can sell to other countries. It will construct new pipelines and extend existing networks like the Trans Mountain Pipeline in Alberta. When the Expansion Project of the Trans-Mountain pipeline is completed, it will connect Alberta and the West Coast seaports of British Columbia. The new pipes will also cut through habitats that salmon visit to spawn the next generation of fish. Crude oil pollution will harm salmon populations in Canada and the Atlantic Alderman and her colleagues from two other universities in Canada investigated the effects of crude oil on the health of salmon that are migrating upriver to traditional spawning areas and nurseries. These regular salmon runs are important for the species itself and for various other animals that feed on them. These fish spend parts of their life in both freshwater and the ocean, and our research is critical for finding out whether exposure leads to changes in the physiology or performance of the salmon that would impair their ability to move between these environments, she stressed in her study. Her efforts identified the sub-lethal effects of crude oil on the animals. Exposed salmon displayed changes on the molecular and tissue levels that could hamper the fishs famous ability to migrate from freshwater bodies to the sea and back, as well as its lesser ability to acclimate to saltier or fresher waters. Furthermore, juvenile fish exposed to crude oil at an early stage of their development suffered ill effects further down the line. A contaminated fish could be transferred to clean water, only to still die several months later. Crude oil will also alter the brain of the animal, and the negative effects remain evident a year after exposure. Alderman recommended testing salmon to see if an animal has been contaminated by toxic oil pollution. Sources include: The-APS.org Pembina.org [PDF] Termen extins: CJI anunta un concurs de grant pentru selectarea unei echipe care va crea un instrument sau instrumente ce vor fi utilizate la lectiile de Educatie pentru media (Natural News) When something sounds way too good to be true, it is. The Green New Deal now propagated by a former bartender turned Congresswoman overnight is wrought with ideas so far-fetched and reckless that anyone in their right mind would recognize it as being no more realistic than a 10-year plan for world peace, flying pigs and unicorns, concocted by a sophomoric, Soros-backed supernova politician. What makes the whole thing even more insane is that the leading Democrats are all in for it. Natural health enthusiasts are the first to recognize this as an outright communist plan to destroy everything we hold sacred in America, including our right to own land, buy and grow organic food, spread the truth about natural remedies, and protect our rights to do so with words, votes, and guns. But AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) is having none of it. Shes declaring that the rich will be taxed at 90 percent in order to give all their money to people who are unwilling to work. And that the rest of the working class will be taxed at 70 percent to pay for train tracks across the 30,000-foot-deep oceans, so we can get rid of all airplanes in order to save the world from global warming (even though were in a slow cooling phase). Stalins first 5-Year Plan in 1928 concentrated on rapid economic industrialization in order to save the country from surefire destruction Joseph Stalins Five-Year Plan began at a snails pace, and increased the mass production of the essentials he declared were necessary to save the country, like iron, steel, and agriculture. All failed to reach the required targets. Factory workers were to blame and the peasants were quitting their jobs under all the pressure to produce at unfathomable rates. Still, Stalin promised higher wages to encourage increased output at the industries. Yet, more repressive measures came down like a sledge hammer, and Stalin began accusing lazy workers of trying to sabotage the 5-Year Plan. Those found guilty were simply shot in the head, or sent to forced labor camps for social rehabilitation (basically concentration camps) so they could learn to be more obedient and committed to the gross domestic product. This really meant forced labor building train tracks in freezing Siberia and mining for gold. Many people sent to these forced labor death camps were members of outlawed political parties and priests. In other words, if you opposed the Socialist tyranny in any way, whether through political views or religious views, you became a prisoner of the state and forced into nightmarish labor, tortured, and eventually killed. Stalins real long term plan was to completely eliminate all private businesses, increase violence and disregard for culture, consolidate power, and eradicate the former political parties. He expanded the Gulags as they became an indispensable sector of the economy. The socialist dream was empty of all human meaning and became nothing more than a reduced mechanical formula for a police-state tyranny that ruled over helpless serfs. Americas Leftist Green New Deal 10-Year Plan insidiously resembles Hitlers 4-Year Plan of installing National Socialism Hitlers Germany had much in common with a socialist state. Rooted in a big lie of utopian socialism, Hitler used the pitfalls of economic depression, scapegoats (blaming the Jews for everything wrong with Germanys economy), and a plan of economic radicalism, to feed on the peoples imagination of a better world. He convinced millions that it would be for the greater good to exterminate children with autism (mental challenges), handicapped people, and the elderly. They were all considered a burden on society and the economy. Hitler published millions of leaflets and posters purporting this eugenics propaganda in order to win the peoples minds. To match his scientific declarations of the time, Hitlers policies included forced euthanasia, sterilization, organ harvesting, and medical experimentation on any undesirables (sounds just like Hillary Clintons basket of deplorables). Today, we see the Democrat Death Cult pushing new laws for live-birth-abortion (think New York Democrats here), gun confiscation (think all Democrats here), religious persecution, forced vaccination (think California here), swat-style FBI arrests of any dissenters of the Deep State (think Roger Stone here), removing God from swear-ins (think Nancy Pelosi here), labeling all patriotism and support for President Trump as terrorism and White Supremacy, and calling the MAGA slogan the new Swastika. You see, the real reason AOC has declared that the world will end in 12 years if we dont drastically change everything about our economy, fuel use, and farming, is really a communist con to vote for tyranny, total destruction of our infrastructure, and the elimination of the middle class. The 10-Year-Plan is really a permanent plan to turn the United States in to one huge Venezuela, where were all peasants, engaged in forced labor, with no weapons, no decent food, no working medicine, no religious thoughts, no police, no courtrooms, no border security, and where were all bowing down to the oligarchy (New World Order). Tune in to Trump.news for updates on the latest Democrat Death Cult, their FBI Gestapo, and the purported lies and deception under the guise of National Socialism and the Green Greed Deal. The new Hitleresque Deep State Left in America already has control of all mass media (bar a few Fox shows like Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson), all social media, Google and YouTube. Know your rights and know your enemy! Sources for this article include: Spartacus-educational.com Independent.co.uk ZeroHedge.com NaturalNews.com NaturalNews.com (Natural News) Not that were necessarily his biggest fan, seeing as how hes notorious for pandering to Leftist crybullies in the name of political correctness. But Starbucks founder and former CEO, Howard Schultz, does deserve some recognition for exposing the new far-Left Democratic Party as a hate-filled cult comprised of death-loving Satanists. You see, ever since he first announced his run for the 2020 presidency, Schultz has faced an endless barrage of hatred from members of the Left Cult, which see him as an existential threat to socialist-communist darlings like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) whom the New Democratic Party are aching to see installed into the White House in two years as a replacement for President Trump. Since hes a self-made billionaire, Schultz simply doesnt fit in with the current far-Left culture of hating everyone whos successful. People like AOC and her worshipers, it turns out, actually want to see all billionaires like Schultz completely removed from American society, and the fruits of their labor divvied up not only to people who cant work, but also to people who wont work. I do think that a system that allows billionaires to exist when there are parts of Alabama where people are still getting ringworm because they dont have access to public health is wrong, AOC is quoted as saying during a recent conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates about her proposed Green New Deal. Under AOCs totalitarian proposal, someone like Schultz never would have had the opportunity to start a coffee shop and achieve success in life. In fact, had AOC been in charge when he was just a budding entrepreneur, Schultz likely would have had his fledgling business seized by Big Brother, and its assets redistributed to the people in the name of social justice. For more related news, be sure to check out LiberalMob.com and Tyranny.news. If you vote Democrat, youre voting for your own enslavement Matthew Continetti, writing for The Washington Free Beacon, describes what Schultz has faced from the Cult of AOC as sustained, ferocious, and panicked attacks which, again, derives from the New Lefts absolute hatred for anyone who actually works hard, makes money, and achieves the type of success that they themselves are incapable of achieving. To Schultz, the problem lies with both major political parties, as both establishment Republicans and establishment Democrats continue to fail at doing whats right for all Americans. In many ways, Schultz is attempting to break the Democratic status quo in much the same way that Donald Trump broke the Republican status quo and naturally, the baby-killing Leftists hate him for it. Both parties are consistently not doing whats necessary on behalf of the American people and are engaged, every single day, in revenge politics, Schultz recently stated during an interview with 60 Minutes. So where does that leave us? On the one hand, the seething hatred coming from the Left Cult against all voices of reason both within and without their party all but ensures Trumps reelection in 2020. At the same time, Americas silent centrists are getting a bitter taste of what the Democratic Party has become, which could steer even more of them towards outsiders like Schultz and Trump, as opposed to deranged extremists like AOC, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Pocahontas Warren, Ilhan Omar, and the various other Left Cult tyrants that the Democrats are propping up as contenders in 2020. The scope of Democratic craziness is so bewildering, the ambition of the left to overturn the political, economic, and cultural basis of our society so staggering, that the right needs all the help it can get, writes Continetti about the situation. Go, Howard, go. Sources for this article include: NaturalNews.com FreeBeacon.com (Natural News) As you may have read, Democratic Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) released her Green New Deal last week to immediate praise and fanfare from the Left-wing establishment media, though it was instantly panned by critics including some from her own party over its many unrealistic objectives. The plan has already received the endorsement of nearly 70 Democrats and a number of 2020 Democratic presidential contenders including Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Corey Booker of New Jersey. But many others have criticized it for its ridiculous proposals to fight so-called climate change, which includes proposals to completely move off all fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, gasoline, coal) and nuclear power (which is emissions-free) within a decade by building a high-speed rail system to replace all air travel and rebuilding every home and building in the country to ensure they are energy efficient. However, one of the plans many social justice provisions turned heads the most: A plan to ensure economic security even for people unwilling to work. After an outline of the Green New Deal containing that provision was published online, Ocasio-Cortez had staffers remove it because it was being slammed by Republicans and Democrats alike as too foolish for words. She and her surrogates tried to claim that the initial post was some Republican conspiracy, but archived metadata shows without question the initial post did make such a claim. Needless to say, however, before the plan was pulled offline, it generated a lot of attention and support from younger Americans, Campus Reform noted. So, curious as to just how young people felt about the Green New Deal, the websites Cabot Phillips went to the University of Miami to get a feel for students views. I like that its progressive, that its gonna push the world forward, one student noted. Another said, Just from knowing whos endorsed it and some other little things, it sounds great. Another student took a much more serious viewpoint of the Green New Deal, predicting if we didnt do that, were going to be killing ourselves a view reflective of how successful the climate hoaxers have been at convincing young Americans the worlds going to end thanks to SUVs, cattle farts, and life-sustaining carbon dioxide. Said another student, I view it favorably, while yet another added, Its definitely a great idea. (Related: The real Democrat agenda unveiled: Murder the babies, demolish all buildings, block the sun, kill free speech, ban all airplanes and declare a new UTOPIA.) Then they learned the facts of the plan But is it? After Phillips began revealing portions of the Green New Deal and, specifically, what their lives would actually be like if it ever passed, students quickly became skeptical. For instance, in addition to the no more airplanes allowed provision, the Green New Deal its packed with specific provisions that urge a series of truly immense political, economic, and cultural changes to fundamentally remake the United States, the National Review reported. The plan calls for 10-year national mobilization to achieve net zero emissions but also ensure that there is economic security for all people of the United States. To get there well have to ensure that 100 percent of our power demands come through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources. Other radical aspects of the plan include a complete overhaul of all transportation systems, free college for all, guaranteed wages, universal healthcare, guaranteed family/medical leave, and a host of other freebies all of which will cost trillions and trillionsand trillionsof dollars America will never have. All of this was too much for the U of Miami students. It doesnt sound like something I would be behind, one student admitted after hearing all the details. Another added, Sometimes you need to take extreme measures to save the environment, but I think this is too extreme. Said another: I think thats drastic. Read more about life-saving carbon dioxide at CarbonDioxide.news. Sources include: CampusReform.org TheNationalSentinel.com NationalReview.com (Natural News) New research discovers that women who do not undergo surgeries for cataract are more likely to die early. A team of researchers from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) examined data of around 74,000 women with cataract from ages 65 and over. More than half of them, or about 42,000, underwent cataract surgeries. Moreover, around half of them smoked cigarettes and most of them reported drinking seven or fewer alcoholic drinks per week. The participants body mass indexes (BMIs) were lower than 25. The researchers drew on data from the Womens Health Initiative (WHI), which is a nationwide study of postmenopausal women from 50 to 79 years old in the U.S. that covered the years starting 1993 to 2015. The findings of the study, published in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology, showed that women who underwent cataract surgery had a 60 percent lower chance of premature death. The researchers claimed that those who had surgery for cataract had better chances of living longer because they could afford better healthcare due to their higher socioeconomic status. The UCLA study is the first to analyze the impact of cataract surgery to the risk of death in women. This possibility is suggested by the higher odds of cataract surgery in WHI participants who underwent routine mammography and in those with health insurance, the researchers wrote. Previous studies have suggested that undergoing cataract surgery is linked to a smaller risk of falling and fracturing bones. Cataract study may improve overall functioning, which may be a potential mechanism to explain the association with decreased mortality, they added. According to a report of the same study by Health.USNews.com, results revealed that risk of death due to accidents, lung and heart diseases, cancer, infectious diseases, and neurological disorders were 37 to 69 percent lower. The authors of the study noted that although their study is limited to women, eye complications tend to occur more frequently among women than in men. In addition, they said that further research is needed to identify the effect cataract surgery has on the death risk of women from deadly diseases. Further study of the interplay of cataract surgery, systemic disease, and disease-related mortality would be informative for improved patient care, the study indicated. (Related: 10 Foods That Help To Prevent Cataracts.) Cataract surgery rationing and delaying by the National Health Service (NHS) In a report by The Telegraph, cataract patients in England are becoming almost blind because they are being forced to wait for about 15 months to get cataract surgery. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) told the NHS should stop rationing cataract surgery or delaying it. The guidance said that the NHS should provide patients with surgeries when they feel their quality of life is affected by their poor vision, instead of relying on vision tests. This is a condition which can severely impair a persons vision and can lead to a decreased quality of life as daily tasks such as driving or going to the shops seem impossible, expressed Mike Burdon, who is a consultant ophthalmic surgeon and the chairman of the NICE. Fast facts on cataracts Cataract, as defined by the National Eye Institute, is a common eye problem where the lens in the eye becomes cloudy and affects the vision of a person. In the U.S., 17 percent or 24.4 million Americans aged 40 and above have cataract. The most common symptoms of cataract include cloudy or blurry eyesight and colors appearing faded. Glare, headlights, lamps, or even sunlight may also suddenly seem too bright. Early warning signs of the condition are poor night vision, double vision or multiple images in one eye, and frequent prescription changes in eyeglasses or contact lenses. Sources include: DailyMail.co.uk Health.USNews.com Telegraph.co.uk NEI.NIH.gov (Natural News) British researchers found out why many people listen to music before and during sleep. They reported that the participants of their online survey did so in the belief that music made it easier to fall asleep and stay soundly asleep. Their study is considered to be the pioneering investigation of music as a means by which people improved their sleep. It received support from the University of Sheffield, the university of lead researcher Tabitha Trahan and her colleagues. Many people suffer from sleep loss. A lack of sleep degrades the health and capability of a person, which would affect the quality of his or her life and work. Conventional treatment consists of pharmaceutical drugs that artificially increase certain natural chemicals associated with sleep. They can be expensive for the patient, display negative side effects, and do not always work. Trahan is one of the researchers who have come to believe that music could offer an alternative and more natural means of improving sleep. She conducted the survey to determine how many people use it as a sleep aid, the reason for their selection of music as their means of therapy, and the type of music that lulled them to sleep. (Related: Biological PROOF that singing benefits cancer patients.) Younger, more musically inclined people like to use music as a sleep aid The Sheffield researchers held an online survey that anyone could choose to join in. They asked the respondents to grade certain questions about musicality and its effects on sleep habits. Furthermore, a respondent could submit open-text answers that provided greater detail than scores. They could explain what kind of music helps them sleep, as well as what they believe was the reason for the effectiveness of the song. A total of 651 people participated in the study. Of this number, 403 respondents (62 percent) confirmed that they used music as a sleep aid at night. The participants who answered in the positive listened to 545 different performers who performed songs in 14 music genres. There were also respondents who enjoyed normal sleeping patterns but chose to listen to music on a daily basis, including before and during their sleep. These participants remarked that music made their sleep experience feel much better. Analysis of the ages and habits of the participants revealed that younger people with significant exposure to music were much more prone to using music as a sleep aid. Last but not least, respondents maintained two distinct opinions regarding music. First, they believed that listening to music encourages the mind and body to fall asleep. At the same time, they also think that it stops a chemical process that could disturb ones sleep. The first and largest online survey of music as a sleep aid Trahan enumerated several drawbacks of their study. The answers were self-reported, so analysis was limited to the participants individual belief and the researchers were unable to find out the psychological and physiological effects of using music as a sleep aid. The respondents of the study selected themselves. This bias could have skewed the population of the participants towards music users. In conclusion, the Sheffield researchers said their study provided the first systematically collected evidence on a large group of people whose usage of music was based on the belief that it worked as a sleep aid. They believe their findings could be used as a stepping stone toward further studies of therapeutic uses for music. The largest ever survey of everyday use of music for sleep reveals multiple pathways to effect that go far beyond relaxation; these include auditory masking, habit, passion for music, and mental distraction, wrote Trahan in the study. Sources include: ScienceDaily.com Journals.PLOS.org (Natural News) If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your current insurance plan, you can keep your current insurance plan. Your monthly premiums will be $2,500 a year lower. Your monthly deductibles will be reduced. Emergency room visits will decline. Overall medical costs will decline. And finally everyone in America will be covered by health insurance. All of these claims were made by former President Barack Obama and Democrats when they were attempting to sell that fiasco, Obamacare, to the American people. But Americans werent fooled; at the time, most voters rejected a government takeover of one-sixth of the economy, so Democrats had to pull a fast one (they cheated) in order to pass Obamacare in March 2010. As Americans would learn, none of the promises Obama made turned out to be true. Also as Americans learned, thanks to an admission by Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber, Obama and Democrats counted on the stupidity of voters (and a complaint Left-wing media) to perpetuate the deception. That was then. Now, another Democratic Socialist has introduced another Marxist, big government scheme that she and her backers cant discuss truthfully over fears it will be handily rejected by most Americans. Last week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), accompanied by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), unveiled her Green New Deal, which she claims is primarily a plan to move the United States off of fossil fuels and into green renewable energy within a decade. (Related: Like Obama lied about Obamacare, Ocasio-Cortez advisor caught LYING about her Green New Deal plan.) According to The National Sentinel: Ocasio-Cortez, Markey, and other Democrats envision a government-led investment effort (read taxpayer-financed, not private industry-financed) on a large scale to develop clean energy infrastructure while transforming the U.S. economy. The Green New Deal fully tackles the existential threat posed by climate change by presenting a comprehensive, 10-year plan that is as big as the problem it hopes to solve while creating a new era of shared prosperity, according to a summary of the plan Democrats released Thursday. Its the Republicans fault But a funny thing has already happened on the way to try to convince Americans to give up all air travel, close most all power plants, and revert to mass transportation rail service that was popularized in the 1800s: AOC, as shes known, and her surrogates have already had to lie about the real details behind the Green New Deal. In an appearance Friday on Fox News with Tucker Carlson, AOC advisor and Cornell University law professor Robert Hockett claimed that the plan did not contain a provision to essentially provide slackers with a taxpayer-supported stipend even if they didnt want to work. The host asked, Why would we ever pay people who are unwilling to work? UhIwe never would, right? And AOC has never said anything like that. I think youre referring to some sort of document thatsome doctored document that somebody other than us has been circulating, Hockett said. The Left-wing monitors of conservative media had a field day correcting Tucker. As The Gateway Pundit noted, Andrew Lawrence, a senior researcher for Media Matters, tweeted: Watch what happens when Tucker Carlson steps out of the conservative bubble and brings on an @AOC policy adviser who debunks all the conservative media lies straight to his face (spoiler: it doesn't go great for Tucker) pic.twitter.com/joDNXBBB7G Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) February 9, 2019 AOC retweeted Lawrences claim, which means she agreed with him. But as it turns out, Lawrence was wrong and so was Hockett. TGP noted that Tucker referenced an actual document from the website where a summary of the plan was posted by Saikat Chakrabarti, AOCs chief of staff, according to metadata taken from the site, as noted by the graphic below: And that original document did indeed contain a provision calling for paying people for doing nothing those unwilling to work. But because shes not mature enough yet to accept when shes wrong, AOC proceeded to blame Republicans for her lie. When your #GreenNewDeal legislation is so strong that the GOP has to resort to circulating false versions, but the real one nets 70 House cosponsors on Day 1 and all Dem presidential candidates sign on anyway https://t.co/BbHIn8cu0f Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 8, 2019 Read more about Democratic hoaxes at Hoax.news. Sources include: NaturalNews.com TheNationalSentinel.com TheGatewayPundit.com (Natural News) California used to be known for its beautiful cities and landscapes, but it seems liberal ideologies have turned the Golden State into the Garbage State. While Californian cities have long been mocked for their street-pooping problems, the coastal state is now seeing its beaches destroyed by waves of refuse and human waste. Home to eight of the ten most polluted cities in the U.S, California seems to be getting more uninhabitable by the day. As one of the nations most deeply blue states, Californias garbage problem is almost funny if it werent for the fact that liberals are clearly destroying the planet they pretend to protect. California cities have come under fire in the past for filthy conditions and human waste problems, but it seems these issues are now spreading to other areas of the state. SoCal beaches are swimming in filth After recent rains, residents of Southern California say that many nearby beaches are covered in all kinds of refuse. Dirty diapers, used syringes and old furniture are just some of the waste seen on the shores. As KTLA reports, the piles of trash are coming from storm drains along the San Gabriel River. The mouth of the river opens up into the ocean, allowing whatever garbage to float freely right onto the beach. And its happening all the time. Seal Beach resident Jamison Delfino told KTLA, a local television station, Every time it rains theres just tons and tons of trash anything you can think of. Delfino stated further that she doesnt even go in the water anymore because of all the pollution. Multiple organizations, such as Surfrider Foundation and Save Our Beach, reportedly host events to help keep the beaches clean. But clearly, the beaches are not the problem pollution from storm water is. If dirty diapers from storm water drains are ending up in the ocean, its not by osmosis its because careless people didnt dispose of their waste properly. For a state that prides itself on being a leader in environmentalism, the amount of pollution in California is truly astounding. As has happened time and time again, left-wing policies have likely made the states pollution problems worse. Whether its making poverty worse, or bad environmental laws, liberal policies consistently fail to produce the promised results. Liberal policies fail While liberals love to pat themselves on the back for their progressive policies, the proof is always in the pudding and in California, there really isnt any pudding to be had. Many of the policies pushed into place by overzealous politicians have done nothing but hurt the people of California and the surrounding environment. Last year, reports revealed that irresponsible planning and bad environmental policies that prevented healthy tree clearing practices were substantial contributors to Californias wildfire crises. Experts say that the hands off approach to forest management doesnt work; without logging, grazing and management, wildfires are practically imminent. Californians cheered for millions of dollars to be spent on electric vehicle subsidies, while the residents of Los Angeles destroyed over 50 percent of the citys green space in under 10 years. Indeed, it would seem that liberal politicians are all for talking about doing things to help the environment. But, they are more interested in increasing government power through regulations and taxes and nailing the right talking points than achieving actual results. San Francisco, the street poop capital of the United States, is living proof that ideology should never come before reality. San Fran politicians have blamed high cost of living and other issues for the plague of homelessness, dirty needles and human excrement overtaking city streets but who is going to admit Californias ill-conceived policies have created these issues? See more coverage of whats going on in the loony land of liberals at Collapsifornia.com. Sources for this article include: KTLA.com USAToday.com RedState.com (Natural News) It wasnt all that long ago that Silicon Valley, social media giants, and a long list of other online platforms all colluded and deplatformed Infowars Alex Jones, and while we noted at the time that whether people agreed with Jones, liked him, or disagreed and disliked him, everyone should be concerned at the coordinated manner used to silence an Independent Media voice. (Article by Susan Duclos republished from AllNewsPipeline.com) Many of us in the Independent Media predicted that Jones was just the first high profile attack against the rest of us.. and we see that is coming to pass as Silicon Valley ramps up their efforts to destroy us all before the 2020 elections. BUSY MONTH SO FAR FOR TECH NAZIS On Thursday we learned that conservative activist Laura Loomer had been banned by Paypal, among other platforms and services, with Paypal telling Newsweek that her activism doesnt fit with their core values. Loomer is very vocal and outspoken and many of her demonstrations have gone mega viral, such as when she handcuffed herself to the Twitter headquarters to protest their banning her, a conservative Jewish woman, from their platform while allowing openly anti-Semites to remain, even giving them the verified blue check mark. Another example of a high profile demonstration Loomer conducted was taking a number of illegal aliens to the home of Nancy Pelosi, who promotes open borders and refuses to fund President Trumps border wall, where she and her entourage breached Pelosis barrier wall, and protested in Pelosis yard, setting up a tent and everything, until Pelosi had her and her group removed. The point here is while some might not agree with Loomers methods, she works at exposing leftists, and does it in a manner that garners attention. Via her Instagram post, Loomer publishes the notification she received from Paypal terminating her from their services, along with a message where she explains the left-wing attacks on her, and lists a number of services and platforms that she has been banned from using, including Twitter, Uber, Uber Eats, Lyft, Go fund Me and Venmo. Loomer also states Essentially I cant even exist in society because the actual Nazis in tech and on the left constantly ban me because I post facts. How am I supposed to pay my bills? I cant get a regular job because I have been accused of being a Nazi. Am I supposed to be homeless? I guess these people wont be happy until I reach a breaking point and just die. Lets be honest. Thats what these people want. They want me to die from all of the pressure and stress of not being able to live freely in America.. On Thursday I also saw that Twitter banned Natural News and Health Ranger channels immediately following an appearance by Mike Adams, who runs both, on Infowars with Alex Jones, where he criticized a recent interview by Joe Rogan with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, an interview I might add that Rogan himself apologized publicly for mishandling. This is not Mikes first experience with outright censorship of his work, as back in 2018 YouTube also terminated his Health Ranger account and deleted years of his work, so this is just the latest attempts to silence Independent and conservative voices online. Before that, Google removed Natural News from their search results for nearly a week. TWITTERS WAR ON MEMES THAT OFFEND LIBERALS It appears that Twitter is also waging another type of war, dubbed the memetic war by Paul Joseph Watson in the video below. Memes are a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc., that is copied, sometimes with variations, and spread rapidly by Internet users, in order to convey a message. Twitter previously banned thousands of accounts for using the NPC memes. NPCs are Non-playable characters in video games. It is a computer generated player that has a set number of responses, always the same and unable to generate any original content. Quite a few of them would say Orange Man Bad, which was conservatives way of highlighting the lack of original thought in liberals constantly attacking President Trump. Obviously, that offended liberals and the Twitter police went into action, banning more than 1,500 accounts that used them. More recently, after a number of liberal media websites had reportedly been forced to drastically cut their staff, despite many being funded with hundreds of millions of dollars by large liberal media outlets, conservatives took a shot at them by telling them to learn to code. The origin of that came directly from the liberal media establishment themselves, back when coal miners were being layed off, when they casually suggested it was time for those miners to learn to program, or learn to code. While snarky, it was well deserved, but liberal journalists and their online mobs started mass reporting those people claiming targeted harassment. One of those temporarily suspended was a writer for the Daily Caller. Read more at: AllNewsPipeline.com (As delivered) Good morning. Defence Ministers will meet here tomorrow and the day after tomorrow to address pressing security challenges. We will discuss Russias violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Moscow continues to develop and deploy several battalions of the SSC-8 missile. Despite the efforts of the United States and other NATO Allies over many years to encourage Russia to return to compliance. We all know that a treaty that is only respected by one side cannot keep us safe. That is why the United States, with the full support of all NATO Allies, has announced its intention to withdraw from the Treaty. This will take effect within six months. So Russia has a last opportunity to take the responsible path. To return to compliance and save the INF Treaty. We urge Russia to take this opportunity. At the same time, we are planning for a world without the INF Treaty. At this meeting of defence ministers, we will discuss what steps NATO should take to adapt to a world with more Russian missiles. And maintain effective deterrence and defence. I will not speculate on what those steps will be. But let me say this: Any steps we take will be coordinated, measured, and defensive. And we do not intend to deploy new ground-based nuclear missiles in Europe. At the same time, we remain committed to meaningful arms control and non-proliferation efforts. NATO does not want a new arms race. Because that would be in nobodys interest. We will also discuss NATOs deterrence and defence more broadly, including work on our new Readiness Initiative. This will add to our readiness with 30 combat ships, 30 land battalions, and 30 air squadrons, available within 30 days. Burden sharing and defence spending will be high on our agenda. All Allies have now submitted their annual reports on their national plans to meet the Defence Investment Pledge. And we will review progress on all three dimensions of the pledge: cash, capabilities and contributions. On all three measures, the trend is up. Since 2016, European Allies and Canada have spent a cumulative 41 billion US dollars more on defence. And based on the latest reports, this will rise to one hundred billion dollars by next year. Allies are also investing more in modern capabilities. And contributing more forces to our missions and operations. We still have work to do. But I am encouraged by the significant progress so far. We will also discuss NATO missions and operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo. In Afghanistan, the situation remains difficult. But we also see efforts for peace. Allies have been kept closely updated by the United States. We continue to consult on the implications of a possible peace deal and how NATO can support it. Yesterday we met with the US envoy Ambassador Khalilzad. This is the third time in the last few weeks we meet with him. It is too early to say if there will be a deal. NATO continues to help the Afghan security forces create the conditions for a peaceful solution. What is clear is this: we went into Afghanistan together, and together we will determine our future posture. Based on conditions we determine with the Afghans. In Iraq, our new training mission is now up and running. Our support will help Iraq prevent the resurgence of ISIS or other terrorist groups. We will also address our KFOR mission, which has made an important contribution to stability in the Western Balkans region for the last 20 years. At the same time, we will review the level of our support for the Kosovo Security Force after the change of its mandate. We will have a session devoted to NATO-EU cooperation and the EU efforts on defence. Done in the right way, EU efforts can strengthen the European pillar in NATO, and lead to fairer burden sharing. But of course, EU efforts on defence cannot replace NATO. So we must ensure our efforts complement and do not compete with one another. To conclude, let me say that I am extremely glad that at this meeting we will welcome for the first time our colleague from Skopje, minister Radmila Sekerinska. The future Republic of North Macedonia now has a seat at NATOs table. With that, Im ready to take your questions. Oana Lungescu [Nato Spokesperson]: Okay, well start with Agence France-Presse over there. Damon Wake [AFP]: Hello, good morning, Damon Wake, AFP, on the INF, do you have any plans for contact with the Russians in the near future? And what message can you give to them beyond repeating for the umpteenth time that they should come back into compliance? Thank you. Jens Stoltenberg [NATO Secretary General]: We have and we will meet with the Russians to address the INF issue. We met with Russia recently, in the NATO-Russia Council and one of the main topics there was actually the INF, and the Russian violations of the INF Treaty. This is very serious because these missiles are hard to detect, they are mobile, they have little warning time, they can reach European cities, they are capable of carrying nuclear warheads. And by reducing the warning time they also reduce the threshold of any potential use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict. So we have raised it, we will raise it again, both in the NATO-Russia Council, but also in direct talks with the Russians. So I, for instance, expect that this will be an issue that will be raised, for instance, at the Munich Security Conference, because all NATO Allies are concerned about the fact that we now see that this cornerstone for European security is really in jeopardy. We are both urging Russia to come back into compliance, but at the same time we are planning for a world without the INF Treaty and with more Russian missiles. We dont have to measure what Russia does, but we need to make sure that we have effective deterrence and defence. Oana Lungescu: Okay, the gentleman over there. Third row. Rexha Xhemajl [KTV Kosovo]: Mr Secretary General, can you please elaborate on how will this future cooperation of NATO with the engagement with Kosovo security forces will look like? And will the ongoing dispute with Serbia about the tariffs will affect your decision? Thank you. Jens Stoltenberg: I think it is important to distinguish between two types of NATO presence in Kosovo. We have the KFOR operation that will not be affected at all. Because the KFOR operation, with three or four thousand troops has been there for many years, for 20 years, and is based on a UN Security Council Resolution. That will continue because it contributes to stability, it protects all people in Kosovo, and it contributes to stability in the wider region. So that will continue unchanged. What we will assess is the activities we have outside the KFOR mission, which is different kinds of capacity-building. We have not made any decisions, but we have made clear that we will assess the level of NATO engagement, because several Allies have expressed that they think its ill-timed, the decision to transform the Kosovo security force into an army, and several Allies have also expressed their disappointment with the new tariffs. And they have also clearly stated that the security forces in Kosovo must respect all their international obligations, including the agreement, the Brussels Agreement that they will not move to Northern Kosovo without concurrence, or the support of the NATO Commander of KFOR. So all these issues will, of course, be on the table, and then its too early to say exactly what kind of adjustments that will take place, but this is now something we are addressing. Oana Lungescu: Okay, VG. Gentleman in the third row please. In the third row, there on the third row. Alf Johnsen [VG]: Alf Johnsen, VG, Norwegian daily. We have . . . there are reports after the Trident Juncture in Norway last fall about Russian activities in all domains and there was specifically GPS disturbances every day during the exercise, both in northern Norway and in Finland, that could pose danger to civilian air traffic for instance. So my question is whether NATO have addressed the incidents and what response you got? And also if other Allies have experienced the same kind of disturbances on the satellite GPS. Thank you. Jens Stoltenberg: So we have addressed air safety with Russia several times and this has been an issue, especially related to the Baltic Sea, but also an issue which is of more general concern. And taking into account the importance of GPS signals for both civil aviation, but not least for search and rescue, for emergency services, it is very serious when GPS signals are jammed as we have seen in Norway and also in Finland. To jam GPS signals is dangerous and irresponsible behaviour. And that's also a reason why Norway and other NATO Allies have expressed such great concern about this. And also why NATO will continue to raise all issues related to air safety with Russia, because this is something which is undermining actually the cooperation we have with Russia - some NATO Allies, including Norway, have with Russia - up in the High North related to search and rescue. So this will benefit . . . any jamming of GPS signals will undermine search and rescue for, of course, the Norwegians but also for Russians who may need help in the High North. Oana Lungescu: OK gentleman over here. Nizamuddin Hameedi [Pajhwok Afghan News]: Thank you. This is Nizamuddin Hameedi from Pajhwok Afghan News. My question refers to recent peace efforts in Afghanistan. So, given your recent meetings with Ambassador Khalilzad, what step can facilitate direct Afghan government and Taliban talks, as it is not happening? Jens Stoltenberg: We strongly support Afghan reconciliation and of course that has to include the Afghan government. And I know that that's part of the discussions which are ongoing now: how to facilitate Afghan reconciliation. I would also like to commend President Ghani for taking the initiative and his courage and his leadership initiating the peace process, when he, last summer, announced a ceasefire and also initiated talks to address how to move forward on the peace process. It is, of course, no way can we have a lasting peace in Afghanistan without Afghan reconciliation, including of course the Afghan government a legitimate elected government which has to play a key role in any peace settlement. NATO's role is partly to provide political support to the peace process, where also, of course, the government has a key role to play. But also to provide military support, to train, assist and advise, we provide through our Resolute Support Mission to create the conditions for a peace deal, sending a message to Taliban that they will not win on the battlefield, so they have to sit down at the negotiating table. We will continue to provide that support. The purpose of military presence is to create conditions for peace and that's exactly what we now, at least, see some signals which are encouraging. Oana Lungescu: Okay, lady in the first row please. Olga Chaiko [ICTV]: This is ICTV Ukraine, concerning the vote of Ukrainian deputies to introduce the chapter on NATO integration into the Constitution, will it help to speed up the process somehow, the integration of Ukraine into the NATO. Thanks. Jens Stoltenberg: We work with Ukraine. Ukraine is a highly-valued partner. We provide support to Ukraine in many different ways. We have different trust funds. We have different programmes. We help them to modernise their defence institutions, their security institutions. We help them with some training, with some capacity-building when it comes to the naval forces. So we do a lot with Ukraine and I urge Allies to step up, because partly we do this in the NATO framework and partly some NATO Allies also provide bilateral support. So we do this to help Ukraine move towards Euro-Atlantic integration and to modernise their armed forces and reform including fighting corruption. Oana Lungescu: Okay, we have Deutsche Welle, NPR, lady in the second row. Teri Schultz [Deutsche Welle, NPR]: Yeah. Hi, Teri Schultz. Thank, thank you very much. New poll results released by the Munich Security Conference ahead of this weekend's meeting shows that when asked who citizens trust to do the right thing in world affairs, both Germans and French trust President Putin a lot more than they trust President Trump, by, in the German case, more than three times the figure. Does that cause you any alarm when you think about solidarity inside NATO and the feeling of security that Allies are getting from the United States? Jens Stoltenberg: NATO is an alliance of 29 democracies and there are different views and sometimes there are also differences between Allies, and there are different views within Allies on issues related to defence security under NATO. But the strength of NATO is that despite these differences, we have shown again and again and again that we are united around our core task and that is to protect and defend each other, because that is in our national interests to do so. And what we see now is that actually the United States is stepping up their presence in Europe. The United States is committed to NATO, not only in words but also in deeds. And the US is increasing their presence with more troops, more exercises, and more investments in infrastructure in Europe. At the same time as European Allies are stepping up. So it's not for me to go into the details of that opinion poll, but what really matters for me is what I see, the actions on the ground, and that is that European Allies, Canada, are stepping up at the same time as the United States are stepping up and that we are doing more together in NATO than we have done for many, many years. Oana Lungescu: Radio Free Europe, up there. The gentleman up there, thanks. [Radio Free Europe]: Secretary General, I wonder if you have any comments about the comments made by the UK Defence Minister yesterday that Brexit in fact is a [inaudible] for the UK armed forces. He especially mentioned the term, enhanced lethality. Is that an assessment you share? Jens Stoltenberg: Brexit will change the UKs relationship with the European Union, but Brexit will not change the UKs relationship with NATO. If anything, it will strengthen the importance of NATO, because NATO is a platform where we bring together European Allies, some, many of them EU members. But some of them not EU members, and also together with the US and Canada. So, NATO as a platform for political cooperation, becomes, if anything, even more important. I welcome the clear message in the speech by Defence Secretary Williamson, the clear message about the UK leadership and the UK commitment to NATO. And UK is leading by example, by investing more than 2 percent of GDP on defence. UK have done that for many years. UK is providing high-end capabilities to our collective defence, and UK is present in many of our missions and operations, and leading one of the battle groups in the Baltics, in Estonia. So, I really welcome this strong message from UK from the Defence Secretary and I look forward to seeing him at the Defence Ministerial meeting here in Brussels tomorrow. Oana Lungescu: Okay, we have the German news agency DPA, I think, just behind the cameras. Ansgar Haase [DPA:] Secretary General, a quick question on defence spending. Can you tell us how many Allies will reach the 2 percent target in 2024, according to the new national plans? Jens Stoltenberg: The majority of Allies have put forward plans to reach 2 percent by 2024. I hope, of course, that as we get new and revised plans that we will be able to increase that number. I also welcome the fact that even those Allies who not yet have submitted plans to reach 2 percent, they have started to increase. So they are very much moving in the right direction and that includes Germany. We see a significant increase in German defence expenditure. The current plan, outlay describes an 80 percent increase in defence investments by 2024 this is significant. It matters because Germany is such a big economy. So, what Germany does matters when it comes to total defence spending among European NATO Allies. The good thing is that all Allies have stopped the cuts after years of cutting defence budgets. All Allies have stopped the cuts and all our Allies are now increasing investments in defence. Oana Lungescu: Politico over there. Gentleman with glasses just there. David Herszenhorn [Politico]: Thank you Secretary General, David Herszenhorn from Politico. You're also meeting with High Representative Mogherini and because of some of the doubts that have been created about the US commitment to NATO, to European security, I wonder if you could address a perception among some European Allies that NATO is in fact an obstacle to enhanced European defence cooperation. That NATO really doesn't like the concept of an EU Army proposed by President Macron and Chancellor Merkel. That PESCO, it's not . . . in the guise of criticising certain things as potentially duplicative. In fact what . . . what NATO is trying to do is sort of protect American dominance of this Alliance? Jens Stoltenberg: For me there is no contradiction between EU efforts on defence and a strong NATO. Actually that works perfectly hand-in-hand, as long as the EU efforts are done in the right way, meaning: not competing, not duplicating with the NATO efforts, but complementing. Then these EU efforts will strengthen the European pillar in NATO. Because I strongly believe that PESCO, the European Defence Fund, will help to develop new capabilities, they will help to increase defence investments, they will help to address the fragmentation of the European defence industry. All of that will strengthen European NATO Allies. And since we only have one single set of forces, and they are available for NATO operations, this will be good for NATO as it is good for Europe. That's two sides of the same coin. So the only thing we have to be focused or . . . aware is the risk for any duplication or any misperception that this is something that will replace NATO. Because, of course, EU can never replace NATO when it comes to collective defence and protecting Europe. We see a lot of cooperation between European Allies in NATO: exercises, capability developments. We work very closely even with non-NATO EU members like Sweden and Finland. They participated, for instance, in the Trident Juncture. The Trident Juncture is a big NATO exercise, but bringing European Allies together, most of them EU members, so they exercise together, European Allies, in the NATO exercise. So, I think actually NATO promotes a lot of European cooperation and PESCO and other EU efforts on defence can actually just strengthen the European pillar of NATO. Let me also add that . . . well, what I think is important is that we need to avoid any perception that Europe can manage without NATO, because two World Wars and the Cold War taught us that we need a strong transatlantic bond to preserve peace and stability in Europe. And, especially after Brexit, it's obvious that EU efforts cannot replace NATO, because after Brexit, 80 percent of NATO's defence expenditure will come from non-EU members. This is partly about money, but also partly about geography. Norway in the north - not a very big Ally but important when it comes to the High North. Turkey in the south, very important in the fight against terrorism. And then in the west you will have major Allies as Canada, United States and United Kingdom. So this is both about geography and money which highlights that European unity cannot substitute for transatlantic unity. I welcome European unity and I welcome transatlantic unity as something that we need together, not apart. And the last thing Ill say is that three of the four battle groups in the eastern part of the Alliance in Europe will be led by non-EU Allies. So, Europeans and North Americans are doing more together now than we have done for many years. And this shows that actually Europe and North America are working together. Oana Lungescu: We have the lady in the centre please. Just wait for the microphone. Thanks. Ekaterina Mareeva [Kommersant]: Ekaterina Mareeva, Kommersant daily newspaper, Russia. Moscow charges Washington with three violations of the INF Treaty. A former US Ambassador to Ukraine, Steven Pifer says the charge regarding the MK-41 launcher for missile interceptors at the Aegis Ashore facility in Romania has some basis, because MK-41 launchers on US warships can hold a variety of missiles including cruise missiles. Do you admit to Washington's violations of the INF Treaty, and if no, why didnt they demonstrate it to Russia? JENS STOLTENBERG: The Russian efforts to try to focus on the NATO Missile Defence System is the only way to try to distract attention from the real issue. And the real issue is that Russia is deploying new nuclear-capable missiles in Europe. They have done that for several years in blatant violation of the INF Treaty. So when Russia starts to speak about something else, its only a way to try to avoid attention on what's the problem. There are no new US missiles in Europe; but there are more and more new Russian missiles in Europe nuclear-capable. And that's the reason why the INF treaty now is in real danger, and also the reason why we continue to call on Russia to come back into compliance in this six-month period when they still can do so, saving the Treaty which will be of great importance for all of us. The ballistic missile defence system is a defensive system; there are no missiles there. We have interceptors, they're not armed. And, it's part of the agreement with Romania and Poland that, of course, there will be no offensive missiles at that site. So that's totally mixing two totally different things, in just an attempt to try to distract attention from the real problem. The real problem is the new Russian missiles. Oana Lungescu: Okay. Gentleman in the front row here. With glasses. Thank you. Khushnood Nabizada [Khaama Press:] I have one question about Afghan peace which has two parts. You mentioned about meeting Ambassador Khalilzad on Afghanistan peace. As we all know that foreign military pull-out is one of the key conditions of Taliban for the Afghan peace deals. Was this discussed during your meeting yesterday? And is there any troops pull-out schedule plan which is in line with the Afghan peace process. Thank you. Jens Stoltenberg: First of all I would like to commend Ambassador Khalilzad for his efforts and the hard work and his commitment to really find a solution. And, we all want a peaceful, negotiated, political solution to the crisis in Afghanistan. He has been very clear, and I totally agree with him, that this is not about negotiating a leave deal. This is about negotiating a peace deal. Then, of course, a peace deal may have implications for the presence of NATO and US troops in Afghanistan. But then it's part of an agreed deal. That's the reason why we so clearly also agree with Khalizad, Ambassador Khalizad, when he stated yesterday that we went into Afghanistan together, we are making the decisions on our future posture in Afghanistan together, and we'll do that on conditions determined together with the Afghans. The aim is, of course, not for us, for NATO to stay forever in Afghanistan. The aim for NATO in Afghanistan is to fight terrorism and to create the conditions for a peaceful solution, by helping and training and supporting the Afghan security forces. That's exactly what we do. And, one of the reasons why we now see some increased possibilities for a peace deal - we still have a long way to go - is actually that NATO has been present, supported all that support and sent a very clear message to Taliban. Oana Lungescu: Okay, we have the gentleman in the centre there. Third row. Igor Subbotin [Nezavisimaya Gazeta]: Thank you. Igor Subbotin, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, a Moscow-based daily. I have one more question on Russia-Norway relations. Just a week ago, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokes Maria Zakharova expressed concerns on increasing number of NATO's submarines in Arctic waters. So I'm just wondering, how can you explain these movements near border between Russia and Norway, how can you comment? Jens Stoltenberg: Well, Norway is a sovereign nation with its own military capabilities and they're, of course, free to operate both in Norwegian territorial waters and in international waters: in the Barents Sea, in the Polar Sea, in the Norwegian Sea, in the North Sea, and many other places. And NATO and Norway, we are very transparent and yes, there has been some new investments over the last years in the Norwegian maritime capabilities and also in maritime capabilities of other NATO Allies including, for instance, the United Kingdom, or Denmark, which are operating in the High North. But, we do that, of course, in line with all our international obligations. And, what we have seen is a significant Russian military build-up in the High North. And, as you well know, there is a big naval base at the Kola Peninsula, with a lot of Russian submarines, including Russian submarines with nuclear-capable missiles. So . . . well, NATO is present in the High North. Norway is part of that. And that's one of the ways we make sure that we maintain credible deterrence and defence. At the same time I think we all continue to try to work for a situation where we have as low tensions as possible in the High North. Also because there is some cooperation, partly part of the Barents Council, and also partly part of the Arctic Council, to address, for instance, issues related to search and rescue, where many different countries and non-NATO countries are working together with NATO Allies in the High North. Oana Lungescu: We have the Kuwaiti News Agency in the third row. [Kuwait News Agency]: Thank you. Mr Secretary General. On the Middle East, besides Iraq, will you discuss at the ministerial the situation in Syria and Libya? Thank you. Jens Stoltenberg: What we will discuss at this ministerial is NATO missions and operations, and that includes Afghanistan, Kosovo and the training mission in Iraq. We don't have any specific discussions on other countries, but, of course when we, for instance, address fighting terrorism, the situation in Syria is relevant for that. As you know NATO is not present on the ground in Syria, but some NATO Allies are. And, I welcome also the efforts of, for instance, Turkey and United States in northern Syria. And, very often we see that when they meet at NATO meetings, on the margins of the official meetings, they sit down and address how to better coordinate their efforts, for instance in northern Syria, and I expect that also to happen this time. Oana Lungescu: Okay. We have our Montenegrin colleague there in the second row. Milos Rudovic [Daily Press Vijesti]: This year will mark 70 years of NATO, but it will also mark the 10 years of first Western Balkan countries joining the Alliance. Albania and Croatia joined in 2009, Montenegro most recently in 2017, and we are on the path of welcoming the future Republic of North Macedonia as the 30th Member. So my question is, how have these enlargements impacted security and the overall situation in the region and also how it impacted NATO? Thank you so much. Jens Stoltenberg: The enlargement with members from the Western Balkans has strengthened NATO. And I welcome that. But it has also of course helped to stabilise the Western Balkans and help to strengthen those countries in the region that have joined NATO. For instance, Montenegro, and now also the future Republic of North Macedonia. We have to remember that not so many years ago, in the 1990s and also even in the beginning of 2000, we saw armed conflicts, we saw atrocities, we saw wars in the Western Balkans, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in Kosovo, Serbia. And we also saw a really dangerous situation in what we then called the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which is now going to be the Republic of North Macedonia. And NATO has played a key part in solving those conflicts, in ending the wars and helping to stabilise. There are many challenges, many problems still, but it is extremely encouraging to see that we have members like Slovenia, like Croatia, like Albania, but also now, recently, Montenegro and the future Republic of North Macedonia. And I really look forward to welcoming Defence Minister Shekerinska at the meeting here tomorrow. Oana Lungescu: Okay, we have the lady at the back, with Bloomberg. [Bloomberg News]: Thank you very much. Secretary General, will there be any discussions during the meeting on cyber-security and China? Will the Alliance address the threat of alleged state-sponsored Chinese attacks, software and hardware attacks? Thank you very much. Jens Stoltenberg: We will have discussions about NATO readiness and our deterrence and defence. And a part of that is cyber. So, we don't have a dedicated discussion on cyber, but part of our more general discussion about our readiness and defence and deterrence, of course, cyber will be part of that. We have significantly increased our cyber defences over the last years. We have agreed what we call a cyber-pledge, where we actually have a plan for how different Allies, or all Allies should strengthen their cyber defences. We share technology, we share best practices. We conduct the biggest cyber exercises in the world. We did that recently from Estonia. And we will continue to exercise to increase readiness, to increase awareness, to improve understanding of the cyber threats coming from many different angles, some from many different directions. One of the challenges with cyber-attacks, and we see more and more of them, is attribution. So one of the things we are working on is how to improve methods to be able to identify and to agree on attribution. So cyber will be part of this, which has been part of NATO's increased readiness and preparedness for several years. [Inaudible, off-mic] Jens Stoltenberg: I guess that Allies will also mention China, and, of course, we have seen the reports from Allies about their concerns about Chinese activity related to infrastructure and cyber. And these are reports we take seriously in the Alliance, and we will continue to consult on these issues, because that's part of the broader cyber challenge we all face. Oana Lungescu: Okay, we have the gentleman over there in the middle. [National News Agency of Ukraine]: On INF suspension. Solving the issue of defence and deterrence does not though consider some kind of political solutions, like creation for example, a new multilateral treaty to replace INF, maybe together and in cooperation with the European Union? Thanks. Jens Stoltenberg: NATO strongly supports arms control efforts. And, we have been on the forefront of the work to try to move forward the arms control agenda for many, many years. And we see reasons to also try to broaden the INF Treaty to include more countries, because we have seen that since the agreement was signed in 1987, then between Soviet Union and United States, more countries have invested heavily in intermediate-range forces, missiles. We have seen that, of course, in a rising power as China, but also countries like India, Pakistan and Iran are developing and deploying intermediate-range weapons. So, there are reasons to look into how we can broaden this, how can we have a treaty which covers not only Russia and United States. But, my important message today is that these efforts to try to strengthen or to broaden arms control regime on intermediate-range weapons is in no way an excuse for leaving or violating the existing treaty we have. That is the cornerstone. It has to be preserved and then built on that. We should look into possible ways to strengthen and to broaden that treaty. So, I just strongly express that I totally disagree with the idea that since not all countries with intermediate-range weapons are covered by the existing INF treaty, that makes it in a way legal or okay to violate it. No, it's not okay to violate an arms control treaty totally different issues whether we should try to build on it and to expand it, and of course, we would like to see that. Oana Lungescu: Thank you very much, this concludes this press conference. We'll see you tomorrow at the ministerial, thank you. NATO Defence Ministers will meet in Brussels this week at a critical time for transatlantic security. In a press conference (on Tuesday 12 February) ahead of the two-day meeting, NATOs Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced important discussions on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, NATOs defence and deterrence posture, NATOs missions and operations, and European cooperation on defence. The meeting will begin (on Wednesday 13 February 2019) by discussing the future of the INF Treaty and Russias ongoing violation of its provisions. The Secretary General called on Russia to seize the last opportunity to return to compliance and save the INF Treaty. Ministers will address maintaining a credible and effective defence and deterrence posture in their second session, including NATOs so-called Four Thirties Readiness Initiative to deploy 30 combat ships, 30 land battalions and 30 air squadrons, within 30 days. Burden sharing and defence spending will also be high on the agenda. On the Allies pledge on cash, capabilities and contributions, the Secretary General said that the trend is up. Since 2016, European Allies and Canada have spent $41 billion more on defence and based on the latest reports, this will rise to $100 billion by next year. The second day (on Thursday 14 February 2019) will focus on NATOs missions and operations, including Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq and maritime operations. NATO will continue to support the Afghan security forces to create the conditions for a peaceful solution, and to help Iraq prevent the resurgence of ISIS, or other terrorist groups. Finally, Ministers will conclude with a discussion on NATO-EU cooperation and efforts to strengthen the European pillar within NATO. The Secretary General repeated his support for European efforts that complement and do not compete with NATO. The Defence Minister of the future Republic of North Macedonia, Radmila Shekerinska, will take a seat at NATOs table for the first time as an official invitee in all of the Ministerial discussions. Posted Tuesday, February 12, 2019 9:51 am The peaceful blanket of white snow belies the ugliness beneath in the state of Washington, where voters elected a senator who essentially supports infanticide. Last week Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from this state, was the lone voice against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would have required medical care for babies born alive during abortions. She and her supporters would probably express outrage if anyone stood by and allowed a dog, cat, horse, deer, cougar, or seal to perish. But when it comes to human beings, letting a baby die is acceptable even preferable simply because the mother didnt want it. What about toddlers who live with moms and dads who dont want them? Should we allow those children to die simply because theyre unloved? I agree with Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa that its a sad day in America when Congress can no longer unanimously condemn murder. Murrays vote tops off a new year where weve seen New York pass a law that allows abortions up to the point of delivery. Virginia considered a law to allow third-trimester abortions up to the point of birth if only one instead of three doctors determines a mothers mental or physical health is threatened. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat and pediatric neurologist, said if a baby is born alive, it would be delivered and kept comfortable while the doctor and family discussed whether to let it live. Vermont and Rhode Island are also considering legislation to ease restrictions on late-term abortions. What kind of mixed-up world do we live in where people care more about a spotted owl or a marbled murrelet than a human baby? Whos next on the list of disposable human beings? Elderly people? Those with dementia? What about people with physical or mental disabilities? If this disregard for human life sounds familiar, its because Nazi Dictator Adolf Hitler implemented just such slaughter of innocents. Sen. Ben Sasse, a Nebraska Republican, introduced the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act to repudiate Northams morally repugnant remarks. Im going to ask all 100 senators to come to the floor and be against infanticide, Sasse said. This shouldnt be complicated. Only Murray voted no. Were talking about killing a baby thats been born, Sasse said. Were not talking about some euphemism; were not talking about a clump of cells. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, will determine whether to force a roll call vote. Sasse said he will fight to require one. I hope he does. Id like to know which other lawmakers in our nations capital support what amounts to infanticide. A Montana Republican, Sen. Steve Daines, described Northams comments as showing a callous disregard for human life and evil. I remember when Sen. Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama, and other abortion defenders described the need to keep the procedure safe, legal and rare. Abortion isnt rare at least 54 million babies have been aborted since Roe v. Wade legalized the procedure in 1973. Now the lobby wants abortions allowed up to the point of birth and supports allowing babies born alive to die. The measure introduced by Sasse was cosponsored by more than three dozen Republican senators. There should be no politics here that are right vs. left, or Republican vs. Democrat, Sasse said. This is the most basic thing you could be talking about. Since when did protection for babies divide along party lines? Have we reached the point where pro-choice has morphed into pro-infanticide as long as thats what the mother wants? Do Democrats truly favor allowing babies who survive abortions to simply die? Murrays supporters say a live birth seldom happens. Yet in Philadelphia, Kermit Gosnell was convicted of murdering three infants born alive during abortions. Whats sad is that the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act is unlikely to pass in the House, which is now controlled by Democrats. So much for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Weve lost our moral compass when we allow a baby born alive to simply die without rendering medical care. Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at memoirs@chapteroflife.com. Watch the trailer for a new film by Story in Progress following a team of scientists, explorers and conservationists surveying the effects of climate change on a remote region of the Great Barrier Reef. The full film is available to watch now. Yves here. Arbitration??? Are you kidding me? First, this is just an excuse for not regulating or negotiating. Every other advanced economy, and they all have fewer patients than the US, bargains with drug companies over prices. I know a bit about the Australian system, run by its Therapeutic Goods Administration. The TGA studies the research about drug efficacy carefully and doesnt allow in every drug on the market. It also tends not to buy drugs where minor enhancements (a 24 hour timed release version, compared to a former version where you take it 3x a day) lead to big price increases (and an extension in patent life, as in these minor changes are still treated as new drug applications in FDA rules). I got around a bit during my two years in Australia, and I never heard or read complaints about patients not able to get drugs they thought they needed. Second, as most readers likely know, arbitration systems are regularly abused or gamed via having arbitrators who are not neutral. Securities arbitration, credit card arbitration, and ISDS panels are among the many examples. On top of that, there is no or limited discovery in an arbitration process and no requirement to adhere to rules of evidence. See this short paper by Public Citizen on why mandatory arbitration clauses are unfair. Many of the issues it raises apply to arbitration broadly. By Thomas Neuburger. Originally published at DownWithTyranny! Prescription drug prices in the U.S. are universally hated (source). Which political party will step up and genuinely address the issue? Lets put two recent stories next to each other and see what conclusions we can draw. A Game Changing Opportunity First, Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg has found that Donald Trump has two strong vulnerabilities one on trade, one on drug prices and also that these are interlinked: Democrats and progressives believe they may have found a way to unmask [Trumps] sham populist pivot. And their developing counterargument involves not one, but two, of the issues on which Trump will build his case for reelection: prescription drugs and trade. This counterargument surfaced almost by surprise in a series of focus groups recently conducted in the industrial Midwest by veteran Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg, for the trade watchdog group Public Citizen. Greenberg outlined his findings in a memo that was shared with this blog. Specifically, Greenberg found that working-class white voters who switched from Barack Obama to Trump are deeply angry about soaring prescription drug prices. As a result, they vehemently oppose a key provision benefiting Big Pharma at the core of Trumps renegotiation of NAFTA which he touts as proof that hes delivering for his working-class white base. The problem on the trade side is that the proposed NAFTA 2.0 agreement (rebranded as USMCA) includes major concessions to drug manufacturers. Elizabeth Warren, for example, in announcing her opposition, said that NAFTA 2.0 is stuffed with handouts that will let big drug companies lock in the high prices they charge for many drugs. Especially egregious is the increased patent protection in the new agreement (emphasis added): [T]he US Trade Representative Offices Fact Sheet on the deal states that it Includes 10 years of data protection for biologic drugs and expanded scope of products eligible for protection. (Details await publication of the full agreement. Also, apparently, data protectionof, for example, clinical trial resultsis the equivalent of patent protection for such products.) The 10-year span is more than what had existed before (in the case of Mexico, essentially nothing; with Canada, an eight-year term is on the books) but the biopharma industry has long argued for the same 12-year exclusivity that exists for biologics within the US market. That 12-year span was a key sticking point in the long-ago Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), which, before it was dumped by the incoming Trump Administration, was an effort to bring some added protection to biopharma products. The problem on the drug side is that almost every voter in the country, Republican and Democrat, hates the current price of pharmaceutical drugs. The polling against it is universal. Heres how Greg Sargent characterized Greenbergs results: Working-class whites in Greenbergs focus groups apparently agreed. As his memo notes, these voters hate pharmaceutical companies and are deeply convinced that high drug prices are the result of their political influence. In effect, Greenberg concluded, this debate links corporate power directly to soaring medical costs, providing a gateway to a larger argument about the ability of big corporations to rig market rules in their favor. These voters, Greenberg noted, especially distrust the way that corporations bend the system to their will, with lobbyists and big campaign donations, so that they can earn more profits while hurting workers and consumers. As one Macomb man put it: They are buying their laws, basically. Greenberg was surprised by the depth of emotion about pharmaceutical companies and drug prices, noting that they emerged as an extraordinary point of anger. The result: Pointing to the Big Pharma provision constitutes the single most powerful argument against Trumps NAFTA rewrite. All of this provides Democrats with an excellent opportunity in the next election cycle, an opportunity that Greenberg characterizes as game changing. Pelosi Advisor Proposes Non-Binding Arbitration as Road to Lowering Drug Prices Second, heres what Democratic leaders are doing in the face of this opportunity: Liberals worry Pelosi may pivot away from a bold drug price plan A split between House Democratic leaders and rank-and-file members over how to lower drug prices is threatening the partys efforts tries to make good on one of its biggest campaign promises just weeks into the new congressional session. Some progressive lawmakers and outside groups are concerned that aides to Speaker Nancy Pelosi are proposing to have a third party help decide the price of a drug through binding arbitration a solution that falls short of the Democrats 2018 campaign platform that promised direct government negotiations for medicines in Medicare Part D. Note that the plans binding arbitration is actually non-binding, since drug companies can opt out. The same article says, Two major concerns are emerging with his push for arbitration. Sources say [Pelosi senior advisor Wendell] Primus is limiting it to a select group of high-cost drugs, instead of developing a broader proposal for all medicines. Additionally, the arbitration process would be voluntary and nonbinding, meaning companies could opt out without consequence (emphasis added). Public Citizens Peter Maybarduk calls the deal a total capitulation to pharma from what we can tell. Social Security Works Alex Lawson said, Poll after poll shows that lowering drug prices is a top concern for the American people. They also show that maintaining access to needed drugs is equally important. Negotiating with licenses accomplishes both goals by directly negotiating lower prices without putting patients access in pharmas greedy crosshairs. The Pelosi plan appears to be toothless and impotent. What Is Democratic Party Leadership Up To? Debate is now raging in progressive circles about this proposal. The question isnt, What good is it? Its universally disliked. The question instead is, What is Pelosi up to? Answers range from she has a secret plan to acting foolishly but well-intentioned to protecting sources of Party revenue on the backs of voters health. The question for this piece isnt, What do you think of Pelosis proposal? The question instead is, What will voters think of the Democratic Party in 2020? Feel free to answer these questions in a way that makes sense to you. Scientists Are Totally Rethinking Animal Cognition Atlantic (J-LS). Ahem, see video at the end of the post. Natures Revenge: Wildlife in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Sputnik (TYJ) Artificial intelligence used to decode rodent chitchat Science Focus (David L) Archive shows medieval nun faked her own death to escape convent Guardian (J-LS) This Inflatable Jacket Vacuum Dries Your Dog When Theyre Wet, and OMG This Is Coming Home With Me Now PopSugar (David L). Theres a doggie store nearby, and its big source of income is clearly grooming. The dogs all look to behave well when being primped. So I take it that the issue with drying dogs is that its a time consuming nuisance for its human, not that the dog wont stand there to be dried. Global insect decline may see plague of pests BBC Hawaii Lawmakers Chewing on Ban of Plastic Utensils, Bottles and Food Containers hawaiinewsnow Software Engineer Loses Life Savings in Quadriga Imbroglio Bloomberg What Its Like to Work Inside Apples Black Site Bloomberg (David L) Tobacco Use is Soaring Among US Kids, Driven By E-cigarettes Axios Decade-long study reveals key master switch regulating immune system activity New Atals (David L) China? The barefoot engineers of Malawi in pictures Guardian. Resilc: Doing more of this and no drone bases would be a smart step for USA USA. Brexit Gilet Jaunes Venezuela Venezuelan bondholders face an uphill battle for repayment FT Alphaville (Kevin W) As US laments human rights in Venezuela, US-allied Colombia descends into drug-fueled humanitarian crisis Intrepid Report (Anthony L) New Cold War Syraqistan Big Brother is Watching You Watch Doomsday Docker Security Hole Uncovered ZDNet Trump Transition Fear of Filing? Some Taxpayers Finding Tax Bills, Not Refunds Bloomberg Ocasio-Cortez retracts erroneous information about Green New Deal backed by 2020 Democratic candidates The Washington Post. UserFriendly: This was bad. Its sheds support. If its anti nuke its anti science and anti reality. Making Globalism Great Again Consent Factory, Inc. (UserFriendly) Why The Entire Political-Media Class Just Tried To End Ilhan Omars Career Caitlin Johnstone (Randy K) 2020 We need a capital bill Capitol Fax (Jerry B). On Chicagos crumbling infrastructure. Was Bezos Blackmailed? John Coffee (Adrien F). FYI Coffee is a Columbia law prof and one of the most esteemed securities law experts. Amazon Is Buying Mesh Router Company Eero The Verge. The better to monopolize the IoT market. Eeek. Guillotine Watch Class Warfare Consent and refusal are not the only talking points in sex Aeon (Chuck L). Todays must read. Ive not been at all keen about the post #MeToo discussions of sex-related etiquette, and this is a very welcome exception. Also (finally) made me realize what bugged me about the consent framework: it treats sex like a contract (offer and acceptance). Antidote du jour. Tracie H: On a walk with our dog, I spotted this baby cottontail near a curb. I went back about 30 minutes later, sans dog and hubby, who were now in our van, and was thrilled to see shed waited for me. She seemed to be feeling so lazy that I began to puzzle over whether she was injured, but no, she finally darted into the underbrush after allowing me to get much closer than I expected to be allowed. And a bonus video: See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here. A man from Gutu who was caught with a picture of his curvy girlfriend in his memory card has suffered 30% burns after his wife poured boiling water on him. Mavis Kweteza (28) was sentenced to an effective 12 months in jail for physically abusing her husband. Kweteza of Chinasire Village under Chief Mataruse in Gutu poured boiling water on her husband William Matenga (31). She told magistrate Victor Mohamadi last week that she was angry when she saw the picture and she was retaliating to that. It was the State case led by Kudakwashe Muza that on October 26, 2018 at around 4pm Kweteza discovered a picture of Matengas curvaceous girlfriend in his memory card and a misunderstanding arose between the two to the extent that Kweteza barred her husband from going to look for piece jobs. On December 6 2018, Matenga eventually went to Harare to look for a job and came back on December 26 at around 6pm. However, as he slept Kweteza poured boiling water on him. Medical reports indicate that Matenga suffered 30% burns. TellZim Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News The clampdown on the ring leaders of the national shutdown that left a trail of destruction and over 12 civilians dead at the hands of security forces across the country is a Zanu PF ploy to target MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisas support base ahead of the partys national elective congress slated for October this year, the biggest opposition party has alleged. The MDC Alliance has more than once distanced itself from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) organised national shutdown that rocked the major cities but many MDC Alliance leaders have been arrested charged with subversion while others have gone into hiding. MDC Alliance national chairperson and leader of the opposition in parliament, Thabitha Khumalo, told TellZim News that the current clampdown by Zanu PF forces was aimed at shaking Chamisas support base ahead of their congress. The big question you should ask them is why are they targeting all key members who are known to be loyal to president Chamisa? We did not organise the national shutdown but all our people are being victimised. I cannot tell you more because I am also in hiding but we will not be broken, said Khumalo. Khumalo wrote a letter to Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda on January 21, 2019 complaining the wanton arrests of opposition legislators on what she said were trumped up charges. Some MDC Alliance legislators have been arrested and persecuted for the stay away which, as common knowledge has it, was called for by the suffering Working Class of Zimbabwe. Their call for the action was motivated by the various socio-economic challenges that are bedeviling our nation. Obviously, the hiking of fuel price and its ripple effects to the general cost of living. Consequently, some of the MPs are being charged for alleged attempts to subvert the sitting Zanu PF government. In this regard we strongly feel that these are trumped up frivolous charges meant to frustrate and prejudice their social standing and that of the MDC-Alliance. For Your record and urgent attention, the following legislators have been unfairly arrested Mbizos Settlement Chikwinya, Redcliffs Lloyd Mukapiko, Mkobas Amos Chibaya and Chiwunduras Levi Chiminya. A host of other MDC legislators are being threatened and haunted by the State Security Agencies. All is being done for no good reasons. It must be highlighted to you that Opposition MPs are also Citizens who deserve respect just like their Zanu PF counterparts thus we call upon you to always ensure that this remains the case always, wrote Khumalo. Chamisas foot soldier and national organiser Chibaya is still on the radar of law enforcement agents facing inciting violence and subversion charges. He was only given bail by the Masvingo High Court on February 06 after two weeks in remand prison on inciting public violence and subversion charges. MDC Alliance national youth league boss Happymore Chidziva said he was still being hunted by the police and has been under their watch. I am safe for now, they said they will call me if they have an issue. Our people need not to tire because we will triumph over evil and we will stand by our president Chamisa, said Chidziva. MDC Alliance Mashonaland Central provincial youth chairperson, Tonderai Samhu and four colleagues were on Monday given six-year jail terms each by Bindura magistrate Vongai Guwiro for taking part in the violence during the shutdown in Mvurwi. Zanu PF national spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo could not be drawn into comment as he said he was getting into a meeting. I am getting into a meeting, said Moyo before hanging up. Zanu PF is said to be working underground to fund MDC Alliance members chief among them vice president Elias Mudzuri to contest Chamisa for the presidency at congress. Attempts to block Chamisa have been futile after Zanu PF mooted an idea of using their two thirds parliamentary majority to amend the constitution and raise the presidential age limit from 40 years to 52 years. TellZim Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News A 10-man joint team made up of spies, soldiers and police officers which was deployed in Harare suburbs during last months fuel protests has been arrested and charged with armed robbery. The first of the 10, Sergeant Wellington Mushosho of the Polices Internal Security Intelligence (PISI), appeared in a Harare court on Monday and was remanded in custody to February 25. Nine others made up of Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) spies, police officers and Military Intelligence (MI) agents were arrested yesterday and are due in court on today. The case against the 10 men, investigated under crime reference number CR34/02/19, stems from a February 8 raid on a shebeen on Mangende Street in Mbare, by six armed men wearing masks and all armed with AK47 rifles. Prosecutors say patrons in the shebeen were ordered to lie on the ground and many were kicked and whipped with sjamboks, during which a shot was fired in the ground. The intruders, whom prosecutors say were members of a security forces Ferret Team, robbed the shebeens owner, 42-year-old Norah Kandawasvika, of $2,800 bond notes and $100. The men jumped into their vehicles, a white Nissan MP300 with registration number AEA 4471, a white Nissan MP300 without registration plates and a Datsun Go without registration plates. As revealed by ZimLive on February 9, the Nissan vehicles are owned by the Central Intelligence Organisation. Mushosho told investigators they were under orders to harass MDC members but unbeknown to the men, Kandawasvikas husband, David Kandawasvika, is a soldier with the 1 Commando Battalion and he arrived minutes after the raiders left. Despite growing evidence, President Emmerson Mnangagwa and security agencies deny that their members who are still deployed in residential neighbours in urban centres are behind a wave of crimes including rape, murders, beatings and abductions. Security forces were deployed starting January 14 when a three-day job boycott called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions quickly turned into street protests which turned violent in some areas. ZimLive Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News ZIMBABWEAN students studying in Russia on government scholarships have narrated disturbing tales of sodomy, prostitution and other unthinkable means of survival as they cannot meet food and rentals expenses since the government of Zimbabwe has repeatedly failed to send them money. Find below their unedited accounts as hunger hits them: As a Zimbabwean student studying in Russia, every day I have to choose whether to skip crucial lessons and go to work or sit in class with an empty stomach. Every day I face humiliation at the hands of the school authorities for unpaid rent. Every day I face humiliation at the hands of the school authorities for unpaid rent. Every day I wonder how I will be able to pay hospital bills if I get sick because I cant afford medical aid. Our government has completely abandoned its responsibilities. Boys are making shisha in Nightclubs to make ants meat and few unfortunate ones are being sodomized. The situation is terrible and it needs the government immediate response. If you had told us the truth we wouldnt have accepted this offer from the word go. Why are you making us suffer like this? Girls are now well known for selling their bodies for them to eat and many have actually stopped their studies because the situation is unbearable. We havent paid rentals and compulsory medical insurance. Theres no food to eat and warm shoes for this winter. We need money. In Russia, there is no excuse for I dont have. Why would you promise us that you will take care of us whilst you do the exact opposite? However every time my stomach growls in class from hunger and every time people see me in tattered clothes, my countrys name is soiled. Life in Russia is extremely expensive. On top of that, we are obliged to pay expenses like rent, medical insurance, visa and transport. In the first place, the government has promised to give each beneficiary a stipend of $3000 per year and they made every student sign the forms. The president visited Russia and as a father, we believed he would not come to see his children with open hands. Did I just say see, he even insisted on seeing only student representatives, shall we talk of closed arms too. He had a tight schedule, I understand. The President promised he has availed something for us and starting January we would receive some money for the upkeep, The Minister of Finance was there agreeing that they do have something ready for us. We couldnt be any happier, I for one was bubbling with joy! Why cant you keep the promise? We have spent more than half a year without money making us more vulnerable to hunger and starvation, police arrests and deportation. The Russians kept their promise, as they said in the contract that they will pay tuition fees and theyre doing so.We started a new semester & we need money for registration, hostel fees, medicals and visas and to cover arrears for previous semester that we started without money. The ZBC broadcasted that the students have been given their money.Thats assuring our parents with false hope. Now they followed a series of excuses; the officials who are supposed to bring the money are waiting for their visas and will be coming next week. We live and study at the mercy of the Russian government. As graduation day approaches we are faced with a mountain of arrears accumulated over 5 years because of our government. All we want is for our government to grow a conscience.We try to be good ambassadors of our country. Its now the third week, we are still waiting. Next week surely never arrives. In 2016/17 academic year, we didnt receive anything and we are being told lets leave the past into the past. I am a student, in a foreign land and not allowed to work. This scholarship is meant for underprivileged students like those who dont have parents like us.Our Zimbabwe govt promised to take care of us but its not.The weather is more than harsh here, as I write the temperature is 20 degrees below zero and its only the start of winter. While in Russia in January, President Mnangagwa assured his government would immediately start clearing arrears amounting to US$600 000 owed to Zimbabwean students pursuing higher education degrees in Russia under a bilateral training agreement. The President made the commitment after meeting representatives of the Zimbabwe Students Association in the Russian Federation in Moscow. There are about 200 Zimbabwean students on Russian government scholarships, and around 160 others on private arrangements. Under the bilateral training agreement, Russia covers tuition costs while the Government of Zimbabwe meets living expenses. Government undertook to provide each of the nearly 200 students on the scholarships with $3 000 per year. Only last week, the Government of Zimbabwe invited more students to apply for the scholarships to Russia, Azerbaijan and other countries. Some have suggested that government focuses on local scholarships since it has perennially failed to make good its promise to students on foreign lands. Besides, virtually all the degree programmes offered on these foreign scholarships are available at local universities. ZOOMZimbabwe Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News A SUSPECTED protestor who initially told prosecutors during vetting for initial appearance at the Harare Magistrates Courts that he was given army uniform at the Zanu PF headquarters, yesterday changed his defence and accused the police officers who arrested him of forcing him to wear a friends military gear. Shepard Magorimbo, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, appeared before magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa, who remanded him in custody to February 25. While applying for his bail, Magorimbo told the court that he was arrested in the city centre and was taken to his place of residence by police officers who forced him to wear Fungai Makonis army fatigue that was in his room. Magorimbo said the only link to the robbery charge he was facing was the mobile number used to transfer money from the complainant. Magorimbos lawyer Blessing Mupwanyiwa told the court that the State must have brought the arresting officer to testify if it was opposing bail. But prosecutor Sebastian Mutizirwa opposed bail, saying Magorimbo was arrested by members of the public while wearing army uniform. The prosecutor further said there was overwhelming evidence against Magorimbo and that he was a flight risk. Mutizirwa said if Magorimbo was released, he would link up with his accomplices, who are still at large. Magorimbo is facing two counts of robbery. According to prosecutor Sheperd Makonde, on January 15 at the Seke Road flyover, Magorimbo, who was clad in the ZNA camouflage uniform, together with his four accomplices who are still at large, accosted Tapfumaneyi Muviyi and started accusing him of being a thief and threatened to take him to Harare Central Police Station. Instead, they took him to the Seke Road flyover, forced him to reveal his EcoCash pin number and transferred $54 into their account and they also took $94 cash, two Samsung mobile phones and two Nokia mobile phones. Magorimbo was positively identified by Muviyi. He is also accused of robbing a motorist, Nicholus Mupazi, along Baines Avenue in Harare. Magorimbo, together with his two accomplices who were also clad in army uniform, got into Mupazis vehicle, opened the glove compartment and took R60 and a Samsung mobile phone and went away. Meanwhile, Mugwagwa also denied bail to a 29-year-old serving soldier accused of robbing foreign currency dealers in Chitungwiza last week. Norest Nyasoro of Manyame Airbase was charged together with Tichaona Sosera (27) and Mafeking Tagara (24). In denying them bail, Mugwagwa ruled that the suspects were positively identified by the witnesses and that might influence them to flee the jurisdiction of court. Mugwagwa remanded the trio in custody to February 25. In another matter, MDC Alliance councillor for Epworth, Elias Sithole (45) was yesterday sentenced to five years imprisonment by Harare magistrate Edwin Marecha for participating in public violence. One year was, however, conditionally suspended. In convicting him, Marecha said Sithole was positively identified by the complainants while leading a group of supporters to attack Epworth Police Station. NewsDay Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News VICE-PRESIDENT Constantino Chiwengas regular visits to foreign hospitals have drawn renewed fire from hard-pressed Zimbabweans, who yesterday called on President Emmerson Mnangagwas government to properly fund the local health delivery system and ensure all leaders seek treatment at home and save on foreign currency. This comes amid reports that Chiwenga was last week flown to India where he reportedly underwent a minor abdominal surgery, shortly after visiting a South African hospital over an undisclosed ailment all at the expense of the taxpayer. Last week, Zimbabweans living in South Africa picketed at a hospital in Cape Town, where he was suspected to have been receiving treatment. Following the protests, Chiwenga made a cameo appearance at Cabinet and on ZBC before being airlifted to India. On Sunday, Information deputy minister Energy Mutodi tweeted that Chiwenga was recuperating in India. The Hon Vice-President CDN Chiwenga is recovering well from some minor abdominal ailment in Delhi, India, he tweeted. Hard-pressed Zimbabweans have attacked Chiwenga for seeking treatment for a minor ailment abroad, all at the expense of the taxpayer. Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) spokesperson Fortune Nyamande said, while it was Chiwengas right to access treatment in India, the fact that he did not seek medical attention locally was a vote-of-no-confidence in the local health delivery system. We dont have the finer details on whether or not the ailment could be treated locally or not, so in that aspect we cannot comment except to say that had he accessed treatment locally, it would have saved resources and also show confidence in the health delivery system, he said. It shows that there should be more investment in the health sector, especially in surgical operations and management of critical health problems. We believe we have adequate human resources to deal with these matters, he said. Jacob Mafume, spokesperson of the main opposition MDC also said, while he wished Chiwenga a speedy recovery, the party called on government to invest more in the health delivery system. It then underscores the need for the nation to invest in health systems as you know we are all human beings; poor health affects everyone, it affects the top of our society, it affects those at the bottom of our society and indeed those are the ones that are affected by our decisions as leaders, he said. We need our hospitals to be up to scratch, we cannot visit our hospitals when we want to sweep them, when we want to remove dirt, those hospitals need to be equipped to have doctors, they need to have nurses, he said. NewsDay Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News Posted Tuesday, February 12, 2019 9:55 am The two remaining members of a Kelso fraud ring that police said scammed thousands from Longview businesses in 2017 were sentenced Jan. 4 to a year on probation. Michael Franklin Chester, 35, and Virginia Kay Boggs, 26, were also sentenced to 364 days in jail suspended as long as they follows their terms of probation. They pleaded guilty in October to a total of 28 charges each, including forgery, second-degree theft, first-degree trafficking in stolen property, and third degree theft, as well as one count of possession of methamphetamine. A January risk assessment report found Chester and Boggs engaged in the scheme to raise money for a drug habit. They reportedly regretted the scheme, which involved fraudulent credit card purchases, and said they had paid the victims back the approximately $10,000 stolen in full, which the investigator confirmed was true. The investigator found that Chester and Boggs seemed to have turned a corner in their lives, largely because they understand the impact their behavior has had/will have on their children, and had earned a reduced sentence under the Family and Offender Sentencing Alternative (FOSA), which gives convicted felons with children an opportunity to take care of their family if they can demonstrate doing so would be a net benefit to their children. The fraud groups scheme, according to court documents, involved generating bank card numbers and printing them onto blank credit cards. They would then use those cards to buy and resell items from Longview businesses. An Aug. 16 Longview police search of a home shared by the suspects found forged credit cards and materials and tools to create more fraudulent credit cards. It also found large amounts of methamphetamine. Four members of the group were ultimately accused of making purchases at businesses using the fraudulent credit cards, including Woods Logging Supply, North Coast Electric, Cowlitz River Rigging, Longview Pawnbrokers, DCP Hobbies and Audio Express, according to court documents. Charges against an alleged fifth member were never filed. The other two members, Stanley Canterbury, 62, and Holly Boggs, 54, were found guilty by jury trial in March on 22 counts, including forgery and second-degree theft charges. They were sentenced to two years in prison and to pay about $9,100 in restitution. Reports late last week that Amazon may be reconsidering its decision to open a new headquarters in New York City has the real estate community there on edge. The online retailing giant was painted as a white knight who would sweep into the Queens neighborhood of Long Island City, bringing masses of buyers and tenants along with it to fill the slew of gleaming, luxury towers that have gone up in recent years and were having trouble attracting new residents. In the wake of the neighborhood's selection, real estate brokers reported hordes of buyers and investors descending, prices jumping 10% to 25% overnight and the number of sales tripling and quadrupling. But community opponents of the plan have been vocal, which reportedly caused Amazon execs' second thoughts. So if the company decides to go where it's more welcome, could the party be over for Long island City? It's "likely to slow the pace of sales and price growth in Long Island City and surrounding neighborhoods in the short term," Chief Economist Danielle Hale of realtor.com said in a statement. But that doesn't mean that prices will suddenly snap back to where they were, she says. The qualities that attracted Amazon to the area, having gotten good publicity, "will keep the Queens market humming for the foreseeable future," she said. Furthermore, a slower pace of growth will be more manageable for existing residents. Amazon has received quite a bit of blowback from New York City politicians after its selection of the city in November. The company was planning on bringing up to 25,000 jobs with average salaries of $150,000 each to both Long Island City and Crystal City, VA, just outside of Washington, DC. But while Virginia has welcomed the announcement, New York politicians and activists have protested the large subsidies the city used to entice the company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos. They've also raised fears that the local infrastructure, like the already crowded subway system, will be overextended. Watch: Just How Many Homes Could Jeff Bezos Afford in the Amazon HQ2 Candidate Cities? The Washington Post reported on Friday that the company could pull out of New York and go elsewherewhich then set off a new wave of support from the community. One Long Island City real estate broker immediately started circulating an online petition calling for folks to support Amazon coming to the neighborhood. Eric Benaim of Modern Spaces also asked folks to contact their elected officials asking them not to stand in the way of the company. "Some people think it's a game of chicken. They don't really see them pulling out," says Benaim. "It's like dating. They need to play a little hard to get now." Business has remained brisk, he says. And if the company does opt to open up elsewhere, he just anticipates it will take longer to fill Long Island City's condo and rental buildings with new residents. Long Island City, just across the East River from Manhattan, was once better known as an industrial wasteland with some single-family homes sprinkled in. But then it was rezoned for residential development, a piecemeal process over the past couple of decades. Scores of high-rises have risen along the waterfront in recent years, pushing the median home price in the neighborhood up to $992,500, according to realtor.com data. The local market actually had an oversupply of housingan anomaly in New York Citythat is, until the Amazon announcement. Long Island City resident and real estate broker Lauren Bennett, of the Corcoran Group, had a buyer who spent several years looking for a three-bedroom condo in the neighborhood, thinking he had plenty of time to find one as more buildings kept coming online. Then Amazon announced it was moving in and "he feels like he missed the boat," she says. "Overnight, the entire market just drastically shifted." Prices on properties she represented rose 20% to 25%. Like Benaim, Bennett doesn't envision a dramatic price drop if the company does choose to go elsewhere. But the need to get in quick on the ground floor before workers arrive and prices explode will likely disappear. "Long Island City will still be hot, but I don't think there will be as much urgency to pull the trigger as quickly," she says. For now, folks are a little nervous about how things will shake out. "They're definitely concerned, and they're waiting to see what's going to happen,"says Long Island Citybased real estate broker Rick Rosa, of Douglas Elliman. He's lived in the neighborhood for 20 years and has been selling homes there for about 15 years. But "the market just can't change in 24 hours like that. It's not a stock market." One of his clients asked him about Amazon this weekand then signed a deal to purchase a $900,000, one-bedroom condo in the neighborhood in spite of the uncertainty. So even if the company does go somewhere else, he believes Long Island City is still better off in the end. "Amazon brought awareness," says Rosa. "People are saying, 'This is a cool neighborhood and I want to live here.'" The post If Amazon Doesn't Deliver in New York, Will Long Island City's Hot Market Cool Off? appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com. San Antonio police tracked down a suspected burglar using the cell phone he left behind at a crime scene, authorities said. Christopher Hernandez, 30, was arrested Monday on suspicion of burglary of a habitation, according to jail records. A health care worker who was hired to take care of a disabled man stole his jewelry and sold it to a pawn shop, according to San Antonio police. Sarah Ann Salas, 20, was arrested Monday and charged with theft, jail records showed. San Antonio police have identified the officer officials said was shot in the shoulder early Tuesday at an apartment complex on the Northwest Side while pursuing a teenage suspect. Officer Drew Matthewson, who has been with the department for one year, came across a vehicle with stolen tags around 1:30 a.m. and immediately began following the driver. As soon as he did so, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said, the driver fled. The suspect crashed into the gate of an apartment complex in the 5000 block of Hamilton Wolfe and fled on foot inside the complex, police said. McManus said Matthewson followed him into a corridor between two apartment buildings. The suspect was waiting for him. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox "He hid behind a wall, and when the officer hit the end of the corridor, he shot the officer in the upper chest, the shoulder," McManus said. Matthewson, who had been wearing body armor, returned fire, striking the suspect twice. He then detained the suspect until backup officers arrived. ""This morning's shooting demonstrated once again the courage of San Antonio Police Officers who put their lives on the line every day to protect our City," said San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg. "Officer Drew Matthewson showed the kind of bravery that we can never take for granted. I am grateful that he was released from the hospital this morning. Our prayers are with him as he recovers at home. Paramedics took both men to a local hospital for treatment. Matthewson has been released from the hospital. The suspect, who has not been identified, is in critical condition. Police said the suspect is in his late teens and will be charged with attempted capital murder. The officer will be placed on administrative duty, per protocol. RELATED: S.A. man accused of killing wife sent her photos of rifle before she died McManus commended the officer on his actions in the pursuit, saying he did a "fantastic job" but and is "very fortunate to not have been shot in a more vital area." Police believe the suspect in the shooting could be part of a larger criminal organization working in the area. The stolen tags he was caught with belong to a vehicle that was stolen on Saturday by a suspect who shot at the car's owner during the robbery. Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com Caleb Downs covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | cdowns@mysa.com | @calebjdowns Police arrested a woman in connection with the death of a man whose body was found Monday night in San Antonio, authorities said. Mandy Lou Villegas, 42, faces a first-degree felony murder charge. She was booked into the Bexar County Jail Tuesday on a $250,000 bail. In a rare move, a San Antonio man accused of killing his common-law wife in 2016 testified in his own defense Tuesday, telling jurors she had given him a rifle as a surprise gift a month earlier and he was cleaning it in their bedroom moments before they both were shot. Gabriel Martinez, 37, was the defense's second witness after the state rested its case in his murder trial. Hes accused of killing Lori Lee Ortiz, 35, who was shot three times with an AK rifle with a pistol grip May 18, 2016, and later died at University Hospital. Martinez was wounded in the abdomen. Police charge he killed her then turned the rifle on himself in a failed attempt to commit suicide. Ortiz and Martinez had three children together during an on-and-off relationship that spanned about 19 years. The two met while attending Kennedy High School. Prosecutors Ryan White and Jennifer Brown argued during the state's case that he killed Ortiz because she was dating Tony Guzman, a man she had met while in radiology school. On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio man to be charged in wifes shooting death In his opening statement Tuesday, defense attorney Miguel Najera paraphrased fictional private detective Sherlock Holmes and urged the jury not to jump to conclusions. Its dangerous to have already decided what happened, he told the panel. There were only two individuals there that know what happened that day, and stated his client would tell his story, and a private investigator would present evidence of a bullet found at the scene two years later that would shed light on their relationship. But it was the testimony of both men first Guzman, then Martinez that captivated the gallery in the 379th state District Court. Testifying for the state, Guzman told the jury he met Ortiz in May 2014 when they started school together, and they began to date in December 2015. He said he attended family functions with her and that she took him to her uncles house around Christmas, where he met her children. Guzman said he knew about Martinez, but said Ortiz referred to Martinez as a roommate. To me, he (Martinez) was just her baby daddy, Guzman said. Martinez knew of their relationship because he sent angry text messages and left voicemails for Guzman from Ortizs phone, Guzman said. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox White played a profanity-laced message in court that Guzman said was Martinez, in which he told Guzman to stay away from Ortiz and their family, sometime after Christmas 2015. Lets (expletive) get this (expletive) over with (expletive) so I can (expletive) know who the (expletive) you are, (expletive), where the (expletive) youre at, (expletive) so I can (expletive) your (expletive, expletive), jurors heard in court. Text messages sent from Ortizs phone to Guzman the day before the killing also were shown to the jury. Stay the (expletive) away from my children. We have kids, I already know she called you. Next, Ill be looking for you. In a subdued voice, Guzman testified that the night Ortiz was shot, he received a call from her phone and heard Ortizs voice asking someone why they was calling Guzman. When the phone rang subsequent times, Guzman said he didnt pick up. But when he checked his voicemail and heard Martinez yelling, I told her, I (expletive) told her. I told you! he called 911 and headed toward the house. As he approached, he saw two ambulances coming from the area of the home and followed them to University Hospital. On ExpressNews.com: Distraught daughter calls police after parents shot After Guzmans testimony, the state rested. When he took the stand in his defense, an emotional Martinez went into great detail about his relationship with Ortiz, which he said was on and off throughout the years they had been together since high school. He told the court he had a shotgun for a time in the house before he and Ortiz argued one night and she fired near him to frighten him. He said he got rid of the shotgun, but that Ortiz later bought an AK rifle for him because the couple had spoken about buying land, and they wanted to shoot the weapon out there. Martinez also testified that he and his wife had argued the night before the shooting. I got the rifle and pointed it at her, he told the jury. I didnt mean to hurt her. I wanted (her) to see how she felt having it pointed at her, since she had fired the shotgun at him. Martinez began talking about the night of the shooting, but was stopped by Judge Ron Rangel around 5:15 p.m. because the transport to the jail was about to leave. Martinezs testimony will resume today. If convicted of murder, Martinez faces up to life in prison. Elizabeth Zavala covers county and state courts in San Antonio. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863 A hearing is scheduled for Thursday to hear the results of a psychiatric evaluation regarding convicted child killer Genene Jones. Jones, 67, a former nurse who worked at hospitals in San Antonio and for a Kerrville pediatrician in the 1980s, was convicted in 1984 of killing 15-month-old Chelsea McClellan in 1982 by injecting her with an overdose of muscle relaxers at a doctors office in Kerrville. The former pediatric nurse was sentenced to 99 years in prison in that case and was also found guilty of injury to a child for attempting to overdose Rolando Santos in San Antonio. The child lived. She was sentenced to 60 years in the Santos case, and both terms were served at the same time. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox Because of a law designed to ease prison crowding, Jones was to be released March 2018. Under Nicholas LaHood, former Bexar County district attorney, Jones was indicted in 2017 on five new charges. Shes accused in the deaths of Joshua Sawyer on Dec. 12, 1981; Richard Ricky Nelson, 8 months, who died July 3, 1981; Patrick Zavala, 4 months, who died Jan. 17, 1982; Rosemary Vega, 2 years old, who died Sept. 16, 1981; and Paul Villarreal, who was 3 months old when he died Sept. 24, 1981. LaHood estimated she could be responsible for up to 60 deaths. RELATED: Woman charged with murder after body found in San Antonio home She has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, she faces life in prison. The hearing will be held in Criminal Magistrate Court, with Judge Andrew Carruthers presiding. ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863 Elizabeth Zavala covers county and state courts in San Antonio. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863 Posted Tuesday, February 12, 2019 9:58 am Efforts spearheaded by the George Washington Bicentennial Committee to rehabilitate the Washington Lawn Cemetery are set to commence in the months to come thanks to the expected approval of two small bid awards by the Centralia City Council. Councilors will have the opportunity to approve two contracts as part of the consent agenda during their regular meeting Tuesday night at Centralia City Hall. The city is serving as administrator of a nearly $28,000 grant awarded to the committee by the state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. The first would be with Mudslingers, Inc. of Onalaska for about $17,000 to install a concrete sidewalk and curbing from the dirt road through the cemetery to and around the Washington family plot. The second, a $9,900 contract with Centralia Monuments, accounts for cleaning and turning the seven Washington family headstones and obelisks to face the same direction. Two granite monuments matching the inscriptions on the obelisks will be added to the display. The goal is to clean it up and make it more accessible for people, said Emil Pierson, community development director for Centralia. The (George Washington) Bicentennial Committee has done a good job designing it. We as the city are just administrating it, making sure it meets all the state requirements for putting bids out, wages, things like that. Pierson expects the concrete work to commence relatively soon once the ground dries out from the ongoing deluge of winter weather. Work on the monuments may take a bit longer to become visible, but it all must be done and invoiced by June 30 to be eligible for reimbursement by the state. The bicentennial committee initially applied for enough grant money to install an arch with a commemorative plaque at the entrance to the Washington family plot. The Historic Preservation Capital Grant awarded by the state doesnt include those funds, at least for now. Its still not off the table, said Bob Russell, a committee member who has taken the lead on the Washington Lawn Cemetery project. It depends on what funding the historical folks have at the end of the biennium. If they have money left over from groups that didnt complete their work in time or found other funding sources, theyve already approached us and said that if they have money left, they want to help us with an arch. Russell anticipates the committee will hold some sort of celebratory event marking the completion of the restoration work in June or July. He has tried to lead cleanup parties at the cemetery in each of the past two years, with mixed results. Once the project is completed, Russell plans to focus his efforts on other community projects not related to George Washington. That said, hell still be out at the cemetery with his weed whacker on a regular basis. I was always in this to celebrate (George Washingtons bicentennial) and get the statue in the park last summer, Russell said. Then we got this grant and I laughed, because it meant I couldnt quit just yet. Thats not to say the people who worked on the educational component, the artwork, the parade component of the bicentennial arent going to keep doing something else, but this will pretty much wrap it up for me. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump thanked acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker on Tuesday for his service at what was probably Whitaker's last Cabinet meeting, telling him that he has "taken a tremendous amount of abuse." Trump's comments referenced Whitaker's combative appearance before the House Judiciary Committee last week, when he was pressed by Democratic lawmakers about special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign. "You've taken a tremendous amount of abuse," Trump told Whitaker as other Cabinet members looked on. "You handled yourself incredibly last Friday. But on behalf of all of us, I want to thank you very much." Applause ensued. In a series of chippy exchanges during the hearing before Democrats who questioned his credentials, judgment and integrity, Whitaker adopted a confrontational tone that often left lawmakers exasperated. At one point, Whitaker drew guffaws after noting that the committee chairman's five-minute window to ask questions had expired. Whitaker took command of the Justice Department in November after Trump's ouster of Jeff Sessions, and he is likely to leave the job after the expected confirmation this week of William Barr to serve as attorney general. Trump has frequently cited the perceived abuse that he and his aides endure. He has started calling stepped-up oversight by House Democrats "presidential harassment." And last month, Trump said he had directed White House press secretary Sarah Sanders "not to bother" with press briefings, in part because he believes that reporters are rude to her. - - - The Washington Post's Devlin Barrett and Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report. WASHINGTON - The threat of another government shutdown receded Tuesday as lawmakers lined up behind a fragile border security compromise and President Donald Trump predicted that federal agencies would stay open. Trump did not publicly endorse the bipartisan agreement, which offers just a fraction of the money he's sought for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. But with a shutdown deadline looming Friday at midnight, the president suggested he might be able to accept the deal, saying he could take other steps to fund his wall. "Am I happy at first glance? The answer is no, I'm not, I'm not happy," Trump told reporters around midday at the White House, as he met with Cabinet members. "It's not going to do the trick, but I'm adding things to it, and when you add whatever I have to add, it's all going to happen where we're going to build a beautiful, big, strong wall," Trump said. Hours later, after speaking on the phone with Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., Trump offered a more positive take. He praised Shelby in a tweet as "hard working," welcomed increased border security spending in the deal apart from the wall and wrote, "Regardless of Wall money, it is being built as we speak!" As Trump warmed to the emerging legislation, the House prepared to vote on it as soon as Wednesday evening, according to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and action in the Senate could follow Thursday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., also briefed Trump, later telling reporters that he hopes to have the president's support, because "he's got a pretty good deal here." The compromise, which bipartisan negotiators struck late Monday after reviving stalled talks, includes $1.375 billion for 55 miles of new fences along the border, short of the $5.7 billion Trump had sought for 234 miles of steel walls. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle claimed that as a win - Democrats because the figure agreed to is much lower than Trump's original request, and Republicans because it does give Trump the ability to build some new segments of barriers. The barriers would be targeted for the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, a priority area for the Border Patrol. The deal also includes compromise language on funding immigrant detention by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Some conservatives attacked the plan in withering terms, but there was a growing acceptance among others on the right that it was likely to become law. "I think he will sign it, I think the president will sign it," said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a leader of the conservative Freedom Caucus. "I think he will do so reluctantly. And then obviously have to use executive actions to secure our borders." It wasn't clear exactly what executive actions Trump might try to take. One option White House officials have strongly considered is to accept the money Congress appropriates for the wall, then take additional steps using executive authority to redirect potentially billions of dollars more. Trump has threatened to declare a national emergency at the southern border, a move that could allow him to bypass Congress and use the military to build the wall. That idea has run into bipartisan opposition, but some GOP lawmakers offered support for the more limited approach of redirecting spending. Democrats said they would challenge such efforts, but several Republicans described the money the deal offers for border barriers as a "down payment" that the president could build on. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and others pointed specifically to a military program providing for the construction of roads and fences to block drug smuggling, which Blunt said could offer $881 million for the president's purposes. "The defense budget, I'm sure they very likely already have in mind what they'd like to do with that $881 million, but if the president was looking for $881 million that he controls, he can look at what they wanted to do with it and decide if barriers would be a more important use," Blunt said. "It's certainly a specifically approved use in drug trafficking areas, and these areas would all fit that definition." The developments came amid abundant signs from lawmakers of both parties that, after living through a record-long 35-day shutdown that ended late last month, they are eager to finalize a spending agreement that would remove the shutdown threat for the rest of the fiscal year - and allow them to flee Washington for a scheduled congressional recess next week. The deal under consideration would fund, through Sept. 30, the Homeland Security, State, Agriculture and Commerce departments, along with other agencies large and small, composing about 25 percent of the federal budget controlled by Congress. The remaining federal agencies and departments, including the Pentagon, have already been funded through Sept. 30 in spending bills passed last year. The bill was still being written Tuesday night, and lawmakers from both parties were pushing to include a number of favored provisions. Some Democrats wanted to add language that would provide back pay to federal contractors who were caught in the middle of the recent shutdown, but it was unclear if lawmakers would be successful in getting the provision included. "Please Mr. President, nobody got everything they wanted in this bill, but sign it and don't cause a shutdown," said Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. Some 800,000 federal workers, and tens of thousands more contractors, went without pay during the last shutdown, and crucial services at airports, food inspection sites, the IRS and elsewhere were jeopardized. The president defended pushing the nation into a record-long shutdown in a failed attempt to force Congress to pay for the wall, but suggested he'd made his point and did not want to repeat the experience. "I don't think you're going to see a shutdown. I wouldn't want to see a shutdown. If you did have it, it's the Democrats' fault," Trump said. "And I accepted the first one, and I'm proud of what we've accomplished because people learned during that shutdown all about the problems coming in from the southern border. I accept it. I've always accepted it. But this one, I would never accept it if it happens." Although the dispute began over Trump's wall demands, another flash point was the question of how many detention beds can be maintained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The deal reached Monday omits a strict new cap Democrats had sought on immigrants detained within the United States - as opposed to at the border. At the same time, it sets funding for the average number of detention beds maintained by ICE at 45,274 beds, an increase from levels funded in the 2018 budget. Democrats said that, because ICE regularly exceeds the bed funding limits, the deal will result in a decrease in detentions over time, while Republicans said ICE will have the authorities needed to maintain and increase detention levels. In a sign that it could meet the classic definition of a compromise - something that satisfies no one - the deal drew condemnation from both right and left Tuesday. "Trump talks a good game on the border wall but it's increasingly clear he's afraid to fight for it. Call this his 'Yellow New Deal,' " conservative commentator Ann Coulter wrote on Twitter. Mary Small, policy director at Detention Watch Network, said the agreement "makes morally wrong and deeply harmful concessions." "In particular, this deal actually increases funding available for immigration detention by about 5,000 people per day, helping to grow the machinery of deportation and further heighten the risk faced by immigrant communities across the country," Small said. - - - The Washington Post's Robert Costa, John Wagner, Paul Kane, Mike DeBonis, Nick Miroff and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report. Stanford University is probing the involvement of the school's faculty members with the Chinese scientist who's drawn international condemnation for creating the world's first gene-edited babies. Since He Jiankui's claim in November that twin girls had been born with DNA altered to make them resistant to HIV, multiple Stanford faculty members have said that the Chinese researcher spoke with them about the possibility of genetically modifying human embryos and implanting them in women. He's work, which used the Crispr gene-editing technology to modify DNA in the embryos, has sparked debate within the scientific community on the boundaries of genetic engineering. A Chinese government probe last month found he violated laws and signaled he may face a criminal investigation. "We routinely look into concerns that are brought to our attention involving Stanford, and we have a review underway of the circumstances around Dr. He's interactions with researchers at the university," Stanford spokesman E.J. Miranda said via email. He conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford. His former adviser, Stephen Quake, had said he was in contact with He recently, as have bioethicist William Hurlbut and Matthew Porteus, a pioneer in the field of gene editing. Both Hurlbut and Porteus have said that they discouraged such an experiment, and signaled their disapproval. Stanford declined to elaborate on specifics of its probe. Hurlbut referred questions about the review to Stanford's public relations office while Porteus and Quake couldn't be immediately reached for comment. At least one other U.S. researcher's relationship with He is also under scrutiny. Michael Deem, who appears as an author on several papers with He and was He's advisor, is under investigation by Rice University in Houston. A Chinese government investigation last month determined that He did edit the genes of two baby girls who were born, and another pregnancy resulting from He's work is also underway. He's work has not been confirmed by independent scientists or peer review. The scientist's employment and research activities were terminated by the Southern University of Science and Technology after the Chinese probe. Stanford's review was first reported by the Associated Press. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday he's withdrawing most of the state's National Guard troops on the Mexico border because he won't participate in the Trump administration's "absurd theatrics" on border security. Still, he acknowledged some troops were doing good work fighting drug crime and said he plans to allow 100 of the roughly 360 state troops now deployed to keep working with the federal government. "I'm trying to acknowledge there are some legitimate concerns but I'm not going to play into the hype and the politics," he told reporters before signing an executive order changing the troops' mission. Former Gov. Jerry Brown agreed in April to deploy up to 400 troops to the border in response to a request from the Trump administration made to four border states. Brown made it clear then that California troops couldn't aid in immigration enforcement, but Newsom said there's been a "gray area" in their duties. Maj. Gen. David Baldwin, of the California National Guard, said the troops have not participated in immigration detention but some are conducting camera surveillance that could inadvertently aid in immigration enforcement. Newsom criticized President Donald Trump for promoting a "manufactured" crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border. "This whole thing is the theater of the absurd and California has had enough," he said. "This is our answer to the White House: No more division, no more xenophobia and no more nativism. We suffered enough from that." The Trump administration hasn't commented. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence held a meeting Monday on border security with sheriffs from across the country. Sheriff Donny Youngblood, of California's Kern County, was in attendance, according to the White House. The drawing down of California's troops will begin immediately but may not be completed until March 31, when the state's current agreement with the federal government is set to end. Newsom has reassigned about 110 of the troops to beef up California's fire preparation efforts ahead of the next wildfire season and to expand the guard's counter-drug task force program. The expansion requires approval from the U.S. Department of Defense. Newsom made clear during his campaign that he did not support the use of California National Guard troops at the border. He took action about a month into his governorship because he wanted to responsibly review the issue, he said. He initially wanted to pull all of California's troops back but said he was convinced by Guard officials that good work is being done related to combating drug trafficking. If the Trump administration does not agree to Newsom's new terms, "we'll bring the rest back," he said. Newsom's move came on the heels of a decision by New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, also a Democrat, to pull back her state's troops from the border. Newsom's Monday order said the increase in Central American migrants crossing the border is the result of a desire to escape violence and repression fueled in part by the activities of transnational crime organizations. The California National Guard's resources are best spent tackling those activities, he argued. Texas and Arizona still have troops on the border. The 360 troops are a fraction of the roughly 14,000 that have been deployed throughout California for various operations since 2016, according to Newsom's office. If you are looking to catch a final cocktail or two inside The Brooklynite at the original downtown San Antonio location, tonight is your chance. The popular cocktail bar will feature a drink menu that will spotlight the most popular concoctions throughout the years. Steven Martin, a partner of the Boulevardier Group, which owns the bar, said drinks will be priced down to $7 to $8 each. The doors will open at 4 p.m. Based on the amount of times Guy Fieri has visited San Antonio restaurants for his hit show "Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives," it's safe to say the Alamo City could also be dubbed Flavortown. Central Texas has held a special place in the long-running food TV reality show since 2007, when Tarpley's Mac & Ernie's Roadside Eatery was featured in "Classics" the very first episode of the entire series. Posted Tuesday, February 12, 2019 9:57 am The recent openings of a brewery and tattoo parlor in Packwood are promising signs of the communitys growth but many residents see challenges to further development unless Packwood can connect to the proposed sewer infrastructure thats long been discussed in the area. Its big for the downtown business corridor, said Hal Blanton, owner of Blantons Market and a booster of plans to bring sewer service to Packwood. Its real difficult for a business to be able to operate without a sewer system. Land gets to be a problem in order to put in a septic system, it takes an awful lot of property. Many feel that squeeze has hampered business in downtown Packwood. Theres little land left available for prospective business owners to put in septic systems, and the lack of sewer puts limitations on businesses with no septic connection. Maree Lerchen, a real estate broker and longtime advocate for sewer service in Packwood, noted that the lack of infrastructure has prevented any laundromats or car washes from opening in town. With that in mind, the Lewis Economic Development Council is asking the Legislature for around $5 million to fund construction of a sewer system in Packwood. Theres not enough septic capacity, said EDC executive director Matt Matayoshi. For new development, it makes it challenging. Were just talking about taking care of whats existing and making an opportunity for growth. Matayoshi noted that some businesses in Packwood rely on portable restrooms outside not ideal in a community that lives on travel and tourism. Its as simple as being able to use the bathroom, he said. Lerchen added that some restaurants must limit capacity to meet the infrastructure restrictions, and some use disposable dishes because they cant have dishwashers. The options for new businesses would be dramatically improved, she said. We would be able to fill the empty buildings that we have now as well as construct new businesses. Adding a sewer system wont just be good for business, Lerchen added. Many people work seasonal jobs nearby at Mount Rainier National Park or the White Pass Ski Area, but Packwood lacks the affordable housing to accommodate them. Sewers in the downtown area would allow people to build some multi-family housing apartments, which would be wonderful to have those available, she said. The EDC pegs the cost for the project at about $5.3 million, though its asking the state for only $4.3 million of that cost. The organizations proposal calls for the construction of a sanitary sewer system downtown, along with a wastewater treatment plant and drainfield. About $3.6 million would be needed for construction costs, with another $500,000 for design, as well as added costs for land acquisition and site preparation. The proposal document submitted to the Legislature notes that adding sewer service would allow land currently occupied by septic systems and drainfields to be used for new businesses. It would also allow larger water use industries to set up shop in town. Meanwhile, it could replace aging septic systems that pollute groundwater and the nearby Cowlitz River. Lerchen said that the community has been exploring the possibility of sewer for close to 20 years, saying that downtown has been stagnant as a result of the infrastructure limitations. In all that time, she said shes never seen so much support for the endeavor. Its definitely the farthest weve ever been, she said. This is the first time weve had any indication that we might be able to get some grant money from the Legislature, and that money will allow us to pursue some other avenues. She noted that with only a small base paying into the system, it would need to be an affordable system. While Water-Sewer District 3 is not directly involved in efforts to get the sewer system built, the district has agreed to assume responsibility for operations if it is constructed, Lerchen said. The proposed sewer system would serve the areas within Packwoods zoned Limited Area of More Intensive Rural Development essentially the downtown business core and not the surrounding residential community. The downtown corridor, were just kind of stymied, Blanton said. In order to put something else in its difficult to have the kind of area needed for septic. In a restaurant business, its just very difficult. The fact that would (a business) want to come into a town that doesnt have a sewer system? Most romantic hotel Google searches are hitting peak interest leading up to Valentines Day, according to information from Google Trends. For San Antonians, Forbes has the answer. Hotel Emma is not only one of the best hotel destinations in the country, it is also the Alamo Citys most romantic, according to a recent report from Forbes. RELATED: San Antonio restaurant ranked 3rd most romantic in the country The Pearl hotel opened in 2015 after a comprehensive remodel. Hotel Emma bookings always include complimentary margaritas at check-in and nightly turndown service. Its Valentines Day special also features a half bottle of Moet & Chandon Rose Imperial as well as four handmade truffles. Hotel guests can enjoy a romantic weekend without even leaving the hotel. Supper and Sternewirth, the hotel's restaurant and bar, are regularly named among the city's best. 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 Law enforcement officials from all around the area, county and city officials from around Plainview and Hale Center turned out to join the Plainview Police Department in support of one of its own officers currently dealing with severe health issues. Lines were long, the parking was full and food ran low during the department's fundraiser at the Elks Lodge to raise money for Officer Jeremy Martinez. Noemi Barrientos was named the Central Plains Center 2018 Employee of the Year. CEO Sherri Bohr presented Barrientos with a plaque at Central Plains Center's annual employee event on Tuesday at the Fair Theater in Plainview. Barrientos is a certified peer specialist and case manager at CPC's Mental Health Services Department. Her role as a case manager includes assessing clients' needs, planning, coordinating and linking clients to services and teaching basic skills to help them cope with stresses in life. Barrientos described her role as peer specialist as a fun job where she gets to share her stories of lived experiences within the mental health system. Studies have shown that peer specialists have a positive impact on individuals seeking mental health services, and as a result, the number of crisis interventions and hospitalizations are reduced. Oftentimes, lasting relationships are built between clients and the mental health provider. Barrientos said the most rewarding part of her job is that she gets to walk with the individuals (clients) in their journey of recovery. "Everybody has a story, and listening to their story and sometimes sharing my story gets them to open up and start a recovery relationship," Barrientos said. She continued, "I know that because I was once on the other side. I may have seen a particular case manager or counselor only once, but regardless of what happened to me, it was always helpful. So, I feel that all the help I received in the MH (Mental Health) system has helped me to learn and share my experiences, and, hopefully, inspire change in the individuals I serve." Noemi was described as a team player that is supportive and always ready to help in any way. She is caring, optimistic, kind and compassionate toward all others. You can always rely on her to help cover the office and to see unscheduled folks waiting to be seen. She demonstrates time and time again the ability to lead and teach. Noemi has a big heart and passion to help her clients improve their quality of life. Hale County Commissioners on Monday chose to table the discussion regarding the Sheriff Department's request to apply for a grant to purchase a new communications system that would allow signals to bounce off patrol vehicles when deputies use their walkies. Sheriff David Cochran told the court that the system would cost an estimated $47,710. He asked the commissioners for permission to apply for a grant through the South Plains Association of Governments. The tower that intercepted the signals from deputies' walkies is broken and has caused issues, particularly when the Sheriff's Office responds to calls in Seth Ward, Cochran told the commissioners during a Friday morning work session. "When these guys get out of the vehicles, they can't talk until they're back in the car," Cochran said. The signal from that communication then would bounce back to the communications tower and then to its intended recipients. The new system would let deputies communicate from wherever they are as long as they're within a certain range of the vehicle, he explained. The commissioners were informed that insurance recovery for the tower will equal somewhere between $26,000 to $28,000, which can be used toward the cost of the SO communications system, if needed. Or they can shuffle money around and make a money transfer. They also mentioned the possibility of the SO using some of its own budget cover the cost. The court seemed to lean toward a line-item transfer as opposed to letting the SO apply for the grant and chose to table the item to get it properly on the budget during the next meeting for a vote. "It'll be better than the one-and-a-half-year wait," said Commissioner Mario Martinez, precinct 2. During his own presentation to the court, County Attorney Jim Tirey presented a resolution regarding the county's purchase of a hangar at the Plainview Hale County Airport. The resolution is just the first step, he said. The court voted unanimously to approve the resolution. The commissioners also unanimously approved each of the following: The hire of Debra Smith as court reporter for the 64th District Judge's office A proposal for Scott Merriman to digitize birth records for Hale County dating back to 1908 Recognition that show Hale County Judge David Mull went through the required judicial training Recognition that Karla Glowicki, with the Veterans Service Office, is up to date on her Texas Veterans Commission training Petersburg EMS report for January and UMC EMS quarterly and yearly reports, Veterans Service Office quarterly report and Indigent Health quarterly report Hospital board reappointments: Donald Ebling, Bobby Hall, Frances Guerrera, Danny Glenn and Jim Mock Tirey's request to change a job description for the administrative assistant position to the County Attorney New flooring in Judge Karen Davis's office Personnel hires in both the Sheriff's Office and the County Commissioner Precinct 2 Plumbing repairs at the jail tat caused 16 inmates to be housed in Lubbock for three days Purchase of a one-year license for the Veterans Service Office to use Vetra Spec program that will allow the office to check and share veteran records with other veteran agencies, should the need arise Purchase of advertisement spots through The Herald's advertising department's upcoming Outlook 2019 and Community Sections Posted Tuesday, February 12, 2019 9:53 am CENTRALIA POLICE DEPARTMENT Thefts At 10:53 a.m. Friday, a theft of $5,000 worth of merchandise was reported from a store in the 1300 block of Lum Road. At 11:48 a.m. Friday, a theft of $20 was reported in the 1300 block of Alexander Street. At 2:15 p.m. Friday, a theft of a tape measure and other tools was reported in the 1900 block of Ahlers Avenue. At 6:30 p.m. Saturday, police responded to the 2400 block of Borst Park on a report of two suspects in the process of stealing a security camera outside a business. Trespass Suspect Arrested, Released At 2:33 p.m. Friday, police responded to the 200 block of North Railroad Avenue and arrested and released a 57-year-old Centralia woman on suspicion of second-degree criminal trespass. Police Arrest Man on Meth Possession, Warrant At 2:57 p.m. Friday, police responded to the 500 block of West Pear Street and arrested Daniel R. Randall, 55, a transient on suspicion of possession of meth and on a felony Department of Corrections warrant. Suspect Cited for Two Collisions, Driving with Suspended License At 8:35 p.m. Friday, police responded to the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue and arrested and released a 41-year-old Rochester man on suspicion of driving with a suspended license. The man was also issued an infraction after he caused two vehicle collisions. New Jersey Man Accused of Providing False Name At 2:52 p.m. Saturday, police responded to the 1100 block of View Avenue and arrested Matthew S. Mangual, 24, of Garfield, New Jersey on suspicion of criminal impersonation. Mangual allegedly used a false name at a business to fraudulently obtain merchandise. Shoplifting Suspect Arrested, Released At 6:04 p.m. Saturday, police responded to the 500 block of South Tower Avenue and arrested and released a 22-year-old Chehalis resident on suspicion of shoplifting from a local business. Police Arrest Assault, Mischief Suspect At 8:14 p.m. Saturday, police responded to the 2800 block of Russell Road and arrested James R. Wisner, 33, of Centralia on suspicion of fourth-degree assault domestic violence and third-degree malicious mischief. Suspect Referred for Alleged Assault At 9:41 p.m. Saturday, police responded to the 700 block of South Gold Street for a reported assault. The suspect could not be located, but was referred to Centralia Municipal Court on suspicion of fourth-degree assault. Driver Cited and Released for Suspended License At 3:15 p.m. Sunday, police responded to the 500 block of North Tower Avenue and arrested and released a 33-year-old Chehalis resident on suspicion of third-degree driving with a suspended license. Hit and Run At 8:21 p.m. Sunday, a hit and run was reported in the 200 block of South Tower Avenue. Someone struck a parked car and left the scene. Someone Breaks Business Window At 11:20 p.m. Sunday, police were notified that someone broke a window at a business in the 100 block of North Silver Street. CHEHALIS POLICE DEPARTMENT Burglary At 1:02 p.m. Friday, a burglary was reported in the 1600 block of Southwest Snively Avenue. Someone kicked a hole in the wall of a vacant structure to gain entry. Theft At 9:32 a.m. Saturday, a theft of cash from a wallet was reported in the 300 block of West Main Street. Caller Reports Assault At 12:52 p.m. Saturday, a caller in the 300 block of Southwest Third Street reported a woman struck him in the face. Citizen Finds Wig, Clothes and Knife At 1 p.m. Saturday, a caller in the 1700 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue told police they found a wig, clothes and a knife in a shed. The caller also said there was evidence of drug use. Caller Reports Imminent Fist Fight At 1:24 a.m. Monday, a caller in the 300 block of Southwest Ninth Street said a fist fight was about to break out, but hung up when the dispatcher asked about the callers address. Police Book DUI Suspect At 2:16 a.m. Monday, police responded to National Avenue and Coal Creek Road and arrested Hunter D. Kincaid, 24, of Centralia on suspicion of driving under the influence. LEWIS COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE Deputies Investigate Burglary of Nabbed Guns At 4:32 p.m. Friday, deputies were dispatched to the 600 block of Independence Road in Lewis County where someone forced entry into a building and stole firearms and tools. LEWIS COUNTY JAIL STATISTICS As of Monday morning, the Lewis County Jail had a total system population of 231 inmates, with 199 in general population, 30 in the work ethic and restitution center and two on work release. Of general population inmates, 165 were male and 34 were female and of WERC inmates, 26 were male and four were female. A total of 31 inmates were booked through contracts outside Lewis County. By The Chronicle Staff Please call news reporter Cody Neuenschwander with news tips. He can be reached at 807-8208 or cneuenschwander@chronline.com Microphone and US Flag View Photos During the Democratic Weekly Address, Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) stated that President Trump has presided over the most corrupt administration in history. Lee was Tuesdays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Here are her words: Hi, Im Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and Im proud to represent the beautiful 13th District of California in Congress. Every February, we celebrate Black History Month. But this year is particularly meaningful, as we mark the 400th year since the first African slaves arrived on the shores of America. Families were separated, children were taken from their parents, and they entered into lives of bondage and unspeakable cruelty. From this painful history, African Americans have risen to lead our nation, transform music and art, pioneer new inventions, and speak as the conscience of this country. I stand on the shoulders of Black leaders who spoke truth to power. Visionaries like James Baldwin, a clear-eyed social critic who told the stories of disenfranchised African Americans. James Baldwin used to say: I cant believe what you say, because I see what you do. Leaving the House Chambers on Tuesday after the State of the Union, these words echoed in my head. We cannot believe what President Trump says, because we see what he has done. He has sabotaged our health care system. Lined the pockets of billionaires at the expense of the poor. And presided over the most corrupt administration in history. And after offering a lukewarm pledge of unity in his speech, he then turned around and threatened anyone who would hold him accountable. So let me be clear: we will stand up for the truth. We have seen what he has done. And we will stand up for the American people and for justice, for righteousness, and for truth. Democrats will follow the Constitution. As one of three co-equal branches of government, Congress will be the check that this President so sorely needs. We will work For The People. In fact, weve already begun. One of our top priorities is H.R. 1 The For the People Act. This legislation would safeguard our democracy, expand voting rights protections, and rein in the corrosive influence of money in politics. Were also tackling rising health care costs, because no one should have to choose between refilling their prescriptions or putting food on the table. And were working to raise wages for everyday families who are still struggling to get ahead, while billionaires hoard wealth at the very top. We will start by rebuilding Americas crumbling infrastructure and creating good-quality, good-paying jobs. Our agenda was written For the People, for all the people. It is an agenda built on radical truth, on the understanding that every American will benefit from fairer elections, lower health care costs, and higher wages. And this February, as we celebrate the Black truth-tellers and change-makers who have transformed this country, I am reminded that this work must continue. There are more chapters to be told, more battles to be won. When African American women die in childbirth at nearly four times the rate of white mothers there is more work to be done. When every day, across the nation, our neighbors, classmates, our loved ones are gunned down in senseless acts of violence there is more work to be done. When children are once again snatched from their mothers arms as they come to our country there is more work to be done. Yes there is more work to be done. Four centuries after the first slave ships came to the shores of Virginia, I sit in Congressional leadership as a black woman tasked with building a more perfect union, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you for honoring me with this solemn responsibility. I welcome it! And happy Black History Month. The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML. CA Gov. Gavin Newsom View Photos Sacramento, CA Calling President Donald Trumps U.S.-Mexico border emergency a manufactured crisis, Californias governor rescinded previous authorization for state National Guard members to perform federal security duties. In announcing on Monday that he has issued a new General Order to take the place of two orders previously made by former Governor Jerry Brown, Governor Gavin Newsom stated that California personnel would not be part of what he described as political theater, instead redeploying members to focus on real threats and emergencies facing the state. Last week, the president announced plans to deploy 3,750 U.S. military personnel to the border. Newsoms order cites the move as more reason to reprioritize the states National Guard deployment away from operations traditionally performed by the Department of Homeland Security. This is our answer to the White House: No more division, xenophobia, or nativism, Newsom said. Newsom, who in his position serves as the Commander-in-Chief for the California National Guard, explained that for about 360 members of the California National Guard now working at the U.S.-Mexico border at the request of the White House for help in federal government in border operations, new plans are to draw them down by March 31, and specifically reassigned them. Redirecting Guard To Real Threats According to the order, 110 personnel will help CAL Fire prepare for the upcoming fire season through supporting fire prevention and suppression efforts. Another 150 will expand the Guards federally funded, state-coordinated Counterdrug Task Force (CDTF), and 100 will focus in on conducting counter narcotics search and seizure operations targeting transnational criminal organizations around ports of entry. Providing more rationale in his order for his decision, the governor noted that while sending a surge of U.S. troops to the border, the federal government has underinvested in federal land management in California even as the state continues to face an unprecedented number of natural disasters including wildfires for which the state National Guard serves a critical role. He also provided details of CDTFs work on the southern border, coastline and across the state addressing the drug and firearm trafficking activities of violent transnational crime organizations, which are among the root causes for migrants making claims for asylum. In a related move, Newsom sent a letter to Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan requesting the federal governments financial support to expand the CDTF, starting with but not limited to redeploying 150 personnel from the border. The governor cited in his communication that in 2018, CDTF made illicit drug seizures valued at $2.2 billion, delivering a high-value and high-investment-on-return program despite a decline in federal funding from $27 million the previous year to $24 million in 2018. Aerial view of dead trees in the Pacific Northwest Region (California) View Photos Sonora, CA Since the last tree mortality inventory federal and state forest and fire officials say millions more trees have succumbed to drought and bark beetles. Monday, officials shared that since the fall of 2017, an additional 18 million trees, mostly conifers, have died. In total, since the states devastating five-year drought began in 2010, an estimated 147 million trees have died across 9.7 million acres of federal, state, local, and private lands in California. The number represents one of the largest tree die-offs in state history. The water-year that brought the winter rains of 2016-2017 officially ended the drought. However, below-average precipitation that followed in 2017-2018 slowed recovery of surviving trees. Officials note that dead and dying trees in forested areas are still posing significant hazards to people and critical infrastructure, especially on the west side of the southern Sierra Nevada. CAL Fire Director Chief Thom Porter notes that while the mortality rate slowed last year, forests are clearly still under significant stress from drought, insects, and disease, bringing an increased risk for prolific wildfires that will continue to challenge forest resiliency. Working in tandem, federal, state, and local partners estimate they have removed 1.5 million hazard trees, primarily those posing the highest risks to life and property. Focusing on increasing the pace and scale of restoration, management and wildfire prevention efforts, related activities include thinning dense areas to promote healthy forests that are more resilient to wildfires, drought and bark beetle outbreaks. Randy Moore, Regional Forester for the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region, reports that foresters completed approximately 313,000 acres of restoration in 2018, of which a record number of acres some 63,000-plus were treated with prescribed burns. In accordance with the states 2019 Strategic Fire Plan, Porter says that CAL Fire will continue increasing and expanding fuels and forest management projects and grants. He notes that the Forest Management Task Force, which formed last May, is continuing to coordinate the statewide multi-agency response. Confirming his commitment to forest health, Governor Gavin Newsom last month also included a five-year, $1 billion forest management plan in his 2019-2020 state budget proposal. Posted Tuesday, February 12, 2019 9:46 am Five-gallon buckets set out to catch water leaking through the walls. Plaster flaking off walls to reveal unenforced masonry without any insulation. Corrosion of wooden beams that looks like the work of beavers. Those were just a few of the examples highlighted by city of Chehalis staff members Monday as they outlined for the city council why it was their collective recommendation that the Chehalis Fire Department should abandon any notion of renovating the historic downtown fire station prior to a new one being built. City Manager Jill Anderson explained that an occurrence of airborne asbestos in August led her to reexamine ongoing efforts to rehabilitate the building at 455 NW Park St. Chehalis. Firefighters have been operating out of Lewis County Fire District 6 headquarters since then, an arrangement that seems likely to continue for at least the months to come. The question became that, if this happened on a fairly simple aspect of the project, what happens when we get into the more complicated aspects? Anderson said. Its my recommendation that they not go back to that fire station. Community Development Director Trent Lougheed walked councilors through a powerpoint presentation outlining the various obstacles preventing a relocation back to downtown Chehalis. Chief among them were the glaring structural issues with the building and the cost of retrofitting it to bring it up to not only building code, but an enhanced metric required of facilities deemed essential by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Roofing is a central concern, as there do not appear to be any mechanical connections between the roof, walls and flooring. The roof and floor supports rest inside beam pockets notches built into the masonry. Mayor Dennis Dawes drew a comparison to Lincoln Logs that Lougheed did not object to. The masonry itself is heavily damaged from decades of exposure to the elements. The mortar holding the bricks in place has degraded to the point that Lougheed was able to find a damp spot last week and push a house key all the way into the wall. The station is also not built to withstand a significant seismic or severe weather event. It has in the past the presentation stated, and It is reasonable to assume the building is not in danger of collapsing due to its own weight. That said, an earthquake could jolt the roof out of its sockets, which could render bay doors inoperable and trap fire engines inside the building during a time of crisis. The cost to make this structure meet all the criteria would be well more than what a new fire station would cost, Lougheed said. The council did not take any action related to the fire station Monday and is not expected to until Fire District 6 puts together a long-term lease proposal for Chehalis firefighters to continue operating out of its building just south of town. Another option for bridging the gap between now and the completion of a new fire station includes constructing a temporary station between Walmart and Home Depot for anywhere between $530,000 and $740,000. Additionally, the city could choose to reconfigure much of City Hall to accommodate a makeshift fire station. Both of those options come with significant drawbacks aside from cost, according to city staff. Sharing space with Fire District 6 is not ideal, but is seen as the lesser of necessary evils at this time. The location and scope of a new Chehalis fire station will depend largely on whether or not it and Fire District 6 consolidate into one department. A feasibility study is slated to take place in the spring to help determine whether or not that can happen. We need to make that decision quick, Dawes said. We need to be moving, and we need to be moving fast. Posted Monday, February 11, 2019 3:30 pm A house in Chehalis was severely damaged by flame Saturday afternoon, with four people making it out of the house and to safety, albeit with three of them suffering from symptoms of smoke inhalation. The cause of the fire is under investigation, said Chehalis Fire Chief Ken Cardinale. He noted that although it hasnt been confirmed preliminary investigation indicates it was caused by smoking material, such as a cigarette, not being properly put out. Cardinale said they were dispatched to the fire at 3:55 p.m. Jessie Garman-Bush, who lives a couple of blocks from the house that was burning located in the 500 block of Southwest McFadden Avenue said she could see the billowing smoke from her place, and went over to see what was happening. She ended up getting there before the first fire truck arrived, she said, and asked someone at the scene if everyone was out of the house. She learned that there were two women still inside, and so she went in to see if she could find them. Flames were shooting from the back of the house and from an area of the roof near a porch roof. Smoke billowed from the open front door, she said. Garman-Bush said she found two women sitting near the entrance of the small home. One of them uses a wheelchair to get around, she said, but didnt have the chair with her where she was. Garman-Bush said she helped the woman get to safety. She helped her get about 10 feet from the house before the woman wasnt able to make it any further. Then a man at the scene helped her take her the rest of the way to safety. While they were helping her, Garman-Bush said she heard what sounded like a small explosion inside the house. The door slammed shut and flames shot from a window. The other woman who was in the house made it out, too. Garman-Bush said when she got home, she realized that her coat had been burnt because of her close proximity to the blaze. She also said, on Monday, that she still felt soreness in her throat from the smoke. Cardinale said it took them about 20 minutes to get the fire under control, but they remained on the scene until about 6 p.m. Crews from Lewis County Fire Protection District 6, Riverside Fire Authority and Thurston County also responded. It was a two-alarm fire, said Cardinale, because of the number of residents that needed medical assistance. Two of them had minor to moderate symptoms of smoke inhalation. Another needed to have a tube put down into her lungs because of burns something that may help paramedics work on the patient later on because of potential swelling, he said. Cardinale wasnt certain of the patients status, and a representative from American Medical Response, the agency that took them from the scene, was unable to provide the information, either. We hope to utilize our strength ... Mexicos most notorious drug lord, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, was convicted Tuesday of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation after a three-month trial packed with Hollywood-style tales of grisly killings, political payoffs, cocaine hidden in jalapeno cans, jewel-encrusted guns and a naked escape with his mistress through a tunnel. Guzman faced a drumbeat of drug-trafficking and conspiracy convictions that could put the 61-year-old escape artist behind bars for decades in a maximum-security U.S. prison selected to thwart another one of the breakouts that embarrassed his native country. New York jurors whose identities were kept secret reached a verdict after deliberating six days in the expansive case, sorting through what authorities called an avalanche of evidence gathered since the late 1980s that Guzman and his murderous Sinaloa drug cartel made billions in profits by smuggling tons of cocaine, heroin, meth and marijuana into the U.S. Evidence showed drugs poured into the U.S. through secret tunnels or hidden in tanker trucks, concealed in the undercarriage of passenger cars and packed in rail cars passing through legitimate points of entry suggesting that a border wall wouldnt be much of a worry. The prosecutions case against Guzman, a roughly 5-foot figure whose nickname translates to Shorty, included the testimony of several turncoats and other witnesses. Among them were Guzmans former Sinaloa lieutenants, a computer encryption expert and a Colombian cocaine supplier who underwent extreme plastic surgery to disguise his appearance. One Sinaloa insider described Mexican workers getting contact highs while packing cocaine into thousands of jalapeno cans shipments that totaled 25 to 30 tons of cocaine worth $500 million each year. Another testified how Guzman sometimes acted as his own sicario, or hitman, punishing a Sinaloan who dared to work for another cartel by kidnapping him, beating and shooting him and having his men bury the victim while he was still alive, gasping for air. The defense case lasted just half an hour. Guzmans lawyers did not deny his crimes as much as argue he was a fall guy for government witnesses who were more evil than he was. Defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman urged the jury in closing arguments not to believe government witnesses who lie, steal, cheat, deal drugs and kill people. Deliberations were complicated by the trials vast scope. Jurors were tasked with making 53 decisions about whether prosecutors have proven different elements of the case. The trial cast a harsh glare on the corruption that allowed the cartel to flourish. Colombian trafficker Alex Cifuentes caused a stir by testifying that former Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto took a $100 million bribe from Guzman. Pena Nieto denied it, but the allegation fit a theme: politicians, army commanders, police and prosecutors, all on the take. The tension at times was cut by some of the trials sideshows, such as the sight of Guzman and his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, showing up in matching burgundy velvet blazers in a gesture of solidarity. Another day, a Chapo-size actor who played the kingpin in the TV series Narcos: Mexico came to watch, telling reporters that seeing the defendant flash him a smile was surreal. While the trial was dominated by Guzmans persona as a near-mythical outlaw who carried a diamond-encrusted handgun and stayed one step ahead of the law, the jury never heard from Guzman himself, except when he told the judge he wouldnt testify. But his sing-songy voice filled the courtroom, thanks to recordings of intercepted phone calls. Amigo! he said to a cartel distributor in Chicago. Here at your service. One of the trials most memorable tales came from girlfriend Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, who testified she was in bed in a safe house with an on-the-run Guzman in 2014 when Mexican marines started breaking down his door. She said Guzman led her to a trap door beneath a bathtub that opened up to a tunnel that allowed them to escape. Asked what he was wearing, she replied: He was naked. He took off running. He left us behind. The defendant had previously escaped from jail by hiding in a laundry bin in 2001. He then got an escort from crooked police officers into Mexico City before retreating to one of his many mountainside hideaways. In 2014, he pulled off another jail break, escaping through a mile-long lighted tunnel on a motorcycle on rails. Even when Guzman was recaptured in 2016 before his extradition to the United States, he was plotting another escape, prosecutor Andrea Goldbarg said in closing arguments. Why? Because he is guilty and he never wanted to be in a position where he would have to answer for his crimes, she told the jury. He wanted to avoid sitting right there. In front of you. The Jacksonville City Council approved an application for an Illinois Department of Natural Resources grant in the hopes that it can be procured to expand the trails by Lake Jacksonville. Community Development Director Kelly Hall explained at Mondays city council meeting that $1.2 million in grant funds are up for grabs for recreational trail projects in Illinois. We want to participate and throw our hat in, Hall said. Any time theres free money, we want to apply for it Its a competitive grant but we like to think that ours is just as good as anyone elses. In order to be in the best position to receive the grant, Hall recommended the city consider using gambling funds for an $80,000 project to expand the current lake trails from Pine Point to the lakes dam. Should the city receive the grant, which could provide up to $250,000, that money would pay for bridge construction on the trail and other improvements. The city council approved the application, which will be compiled by engineering firm Benton and Associates. In other business, the city council approved a plat for a 12-unit, six building duplex project for Country Club Hills. Mayor Andy Ezard noted that the property is private and the street being built was not to the specifications of the city so it will not be dedicated by the city. Its private but over the years, historically, weve had folks with private streets or drives that they want the city to take over, Ezard said. If we were to do this we would do sidewalks, curb and gutter, lighting, up to what the city wants. I know the discussion was if we could do some lighting but ultimately thats up to the city. The city reduced the number of liquor licenses by one, bringing the total down to 43, as Shopko turned in its license because it never used it. Nick Draper can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1223, or on Twitter @nick_draper. BEARDSTOWN Police are investigating a weekend burglary at a Beardstown restaurant. About 4 a.m. Saturday, someone broke into Little Mexico restaurant at 405 E. Fourth St. and removed a cash drawer containing what police said was a large amount of cash. During a speech to U.S. Air Force personnel station in the United Kingdom recently, President Joe Biden warned that global warming is the greatest physical theat to the nations security. Biden has suggested that climate change poses a threat to U.S. military security on multiple occasions. In February, he noted that he had directed the Pentagon to reimagine the countrys strategy for dealing with the impact of climate change. Do you agree with the President that climate change is the great physical threat to the United States? Choices are: You voted: Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 12) President Rodrigo Duterte expressed happiness over the success of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) envisioned to end decades-long conflict in Mindanao. Duterte touted it as one of the most significant developments in the country in the past three years during the distribution of certificates of land ownership for farmers in Maguindanao Monday. "I'm glad that it has succeeded and I am inviting everyone here, Maguindanao primarily, join us in government," the President said. He enjoined Filipinos in Mindanao to be part of the government. "Okay man lang 'yang armas mo. Ilibing mo na 'yan, 'di mo kailangan. Isang putok lang 'yan gulo. Pero kung tahimik tayo, mag-usap tayo at maibigay naman 'yung gusto ninyo na tulong na dapat talaga sa inyo," he said. [Translations: Your weapons, you can bury those since you no longer need it. One shot would trigger chaos. But if we remain quiet, we can talk and we can help you in ways you both need and deserve.] The President also lauded Moro Islamic Liberation Front Chairman Al Hajj Murad Ebrahim, a key figure in the BOL. "Mabuhay ang BOL. Mabuhay ang Maguindanao. Mabuhay si Murad," Duterte said. He also said he will try to reach out to Nur Misuari, founder of the Moro National Liberation Front, to ensure peace in Mindanao. Discuss this article with your neighbors or join the community conversation. Click here to get access TravelSkills on SFGate is brought to you by Visa . See More Collapse Last week, a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-800 took off from Oakland International Airport and landed safely in Honolulu, Hawaii five hours later. The successful test flight, with only Southwest crew and FAA inspectors on board, paves the way for the carrier to announce fares and schedules for its new Hawaii service, which could come as soon as this week. Southwest already has employees on the ground in Honolulu and they all turned out to welcome the flight, and even created a lei to welcome the new bird. Take a look at the slideshow at the top of this post to see the festive photos! A Midland Crime Stoppers tip led the arrest of a Goddard Junior High student for allegedly having a weapon on campus, according to a press release from Midland ISD. The student was arrested and charged with possession of a prohibited weapon in a weapon-free zone and possession of a stolen weapon, according to the release. The student was taken to Barbara Culver Juvenile Center, an MISD communications specialist told the Reporter-Telegram in a phone interview. Five years after the Midland County Commissioners Court allotted $28 million to repave 47 miles of roads throughout the county, 13 miles of designated roads were never repaved, Commissioner Luis Sanchez told the court Monday morning. The Commissioners Court approved the road paving initiative in 2014. Now, the $28 million is gone, but 13 miles of roads have not been repaved. In Sanchezs precinct, Precinct 3, four roads totaling 6.6 miles -- were approved for repaving. No work was done on any of those roads, according to documents provided to the court by Sanchez. I did my own research because I wanted to know why roads in my precinct werent being paved, he said. Precinct 2 received $21.6 million from the project, while Precincts 1 and 4 received $3.4 million and $2.6 million, respectively, according to the documents. Precinct 3 didnt receive any of the approved funds. For one precinct to receive zero dollars is unacceptable, Sanchez said. The 6.6 miles in Precinct 3 that werent paved amounted to 14 percent of the total miles approved for repaving, according to the documents. Eleven percent of the roads approved for repaving were in Precinct 1, which received 12 percent of the allotted money. Seven percent of the roads were in Precinct 4 and they received 10 percent of the total funds. Precinct 2 had 32 miles approved for repaving -- 68 percent of the total -- and received 78 percent of the funds. I didnt realize, either, that this is the way it was working, said Commissioner Robin Donnelley of Precinct 2. The 13 miles that were not repaved involved 10 separate roads. Despite those roads not being repaved, six roads that were not designated as part of the project were repaved without previous approval, according to the documents presented to the court. Five of these six roads were in Precinct 2 and one was in Precinct 1. Roads cannot be paved in Texas without approval from county commissioners, according to state law. Nobody knows what happened, said Sanchez. But how much longer do we have to wait for the work to get done? Sanchez proposed hiring a road engineer to oversee all future road construction in Midland County. A road engineer would be able to devise a formula that could divide all road funding equally, he said. The commissioners voted to table that discussion until their next meeting on Feb. 25, pending a job description for the road engineer. Moultrie, GA (31768) Today Scattered thunderstorms during the morning becoming more widespread this afternoon. High 79F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Some passing clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Rate of the day is what we consider the best value mortgage rate for a loan with a loan-to-value ratio below 80%, that is available to new and existing borrowers, and is not limited by the size of the loan. Ontario-based credit union Meridian has received authorization from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions to open its digital arm Motusbank this spring. Merdian assured that the digital entity will provide its users the opportunity to benefit from better pricing and services because there are no shareholders expecting quarterly returns. The announcement added that among others, the bank will offer mortgages, loans, and lines of credit, BankingTech.com reported. Motusbank will treat members as true partners, offering an exceptional digital experience, along with some of the most competitive rates and fees in the country, Meridian CEO William Maurin said. Maurin previously stated that he would like the digital arm to take on the Big Five. Read more: Will digital mortgage apps steal brokers market share? Canadas environment of early adoption of tech solutions for financial services has placed it in an ideal spot to become a global leader in fintech/proptech innovations, Toronto-based financial services lawyer Stephen Redican of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP wrote recently. Among the most who would benefit from this are domestic institutions, Redican predicted. This is especially pertinent since historically, Canadian financial organizations have moulded their processes to accommodate new technologies almost as soon as these tools became available. Sheffield Village Two hospitalized after head-on crash on I-90 @MJ_JournalRick on Twitter Richard Payerchin covers Lorain City Hall, business news and other interesting stories for The Morning Journal. Reach the author at rpayerchin@MorningJournal.com or follow Richard on Twitter: @MJ_JournalRick. Victory for Pro-life Speech in New York Contact: Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel, 407-875-1776, Liberty@LC.org BROOKLYN, N.Y., Feb. 12, 2019 /Christian Newswire/ -- New York Attorney General Letitia James has abandoned on appeal attempts to censor the Christian and pro-life speech of Liberty Counsel's client Scott Fitchett, Jr. as he preaches the gospel on the public sidewalks outside New York's largest abortion business. Photo: Liberty Counsel's Harry Mihet and Roger Gannam with Scott Fitchett, Jr. Fitchett and 12 other defendants were sued in June 2017 by former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman who sought a preliminary injunction to shut down the Christian and pro-life speech of the defendants outside Choices Women's Medical Center in Jamaica, NY. Fitchett is a pre-K teacher who has spent Saturdays peacefully sharing the gospel on public sidewalks throughout New York City, including outside Choices "to persuade women to change their minds about seeking an abortion by communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ." Judge Carol Bagley Amon of the federal Eastern District of New York denied the preliminary injunction in July 2018 after a 14-day evidentiary hearing. The Attorney General appealed the denial to the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals, as to all defendants, but has now informed the appellate court that the appeal is abandoned as to Fitchett. Schneiderman filed the original lawsuit under the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, enacted by Congress to prevent actual violence and physical obstruction of abortion facility entrances, and similar New York laws. Schneiderman intended to silence the pro-life and Christian messages he openly despised. He launched the lawsuit against Fitchett and the other defendants with a press conference outside Choices, where he touted his pro-abortion credentials while shockingly berating pro-life Christians who he said "run their mouths" with "unlawful, un-American rhetoric." Flanked by the millionaire abortionist and Choices owner Merle Hoffman, Schneiderman smugly declared, "We are not a nation where you can choose your point of view," and denigrated Christians' efforts to counsel women and advocate for the life of the unborn as "horrifying" and "illegal." In a sad twist of irony, Schneiderman would resign in disgrace less than a year later after serious allegations that he physically abused four women. "It was clear after a 14-day hearing that the Attorney General could prove no wrongdoing against Scott Fitchett, and never should have filed a lawsuit against him," said Liberty Counsel's Assistant Vice President of Legal Affairs Roger Gannam. "Perhaps the new Attorney General has realized that Scott Fitchett not only has a constitutional right to speak on New York's public sidewalks, but will not bow down to the state's pro-abortion bullying and intimidation. Now the Attorney General should dismiss all claims against Fitchett," said Gannam. Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics. You can volunteer. Lots of organizations need assistance and will treasure your help. The Little Sisters of the Poor in Pittsburghs North Side is one of many amazing groups that will never turn down willing volunteers. The truth about kindness is that it benefits those who practice it as much as, or more than, those who receive it. One of my favorite diners is frequented by older individuals who get tired of cooking for themselves and eating alone. Among them are widows, widowers and many proud veterans, some in wheelchairs. I'd like to pull the waitress aside and pay for a proud veteran's meal without the proud veteran knowing that I'm paying for it. I'd be sure to leave the waitress a nice tip while I'm at it. Try to tell me that this wouldn't be the most joyful 20 bucks I'd ever spend! There's a saying widely attributed to Mark Twain. It says that kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. Kindness is contagious, after all. It brings out the best in us. When someone does something kind for you, arent you inspired to do something kind for someone else? Four family members have died and a fifth is missing in the accident, which is being called the worst recreational disaster in Rockingham County. Robert Burgin said the county has several options, including building new or expanding the existing facility. They are recommending retaining the current facade and the original library structure from 1935 and demolish the rest of the facility, as well as the six other structures on the block, and build new sections onto the original. The new parking spaces would be in the back of the library with a covered drop-off entrance. The inside of the library would have an open design, which would give more flexibility, said Bill Burgin. The North Carolina Room, the history room, would be moved downstairs and a large meeting room that could be partitioned would be added and the childrens area would remain downstairs, he said. Robert Burgin said they looked at several library projects done in 2018, and most were $267 per square foot. If they were to do the project today, a rough estimate for it would be $10.5 million. Commissioner Maynard Taylor asked whether there has been a study done about whether libraries are as needed with the instant knowledge that the Internet gives. In addition to license plate sales, the program is supported mainly by contributions of state income tax refunds (known as the N.C. State Income Tax Check-off), as well as federal and other grants. In 2015, the Commission introduced a native brook trout license plate to pay for habitat protection for brook trout and to create public access to brook trout waters in North Carolina. That plate is also available on the Department of Motor Vehicles website for $30. Projects that protect our states native game, non-game and endangered animals are made possible by the generous support of North Carolina citizens through the purchase of the native brook trout and wildlife conservation license plates, said Shannon Deaton, the Commissions Habitat Conservation chief. With this new design, the rate for the plate increased from $20 to $30; meaning increased resources for the Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Fund. This fund supports projects that benefit nongame and their habitats. As an added bonus, many of these projects also benefit game species, such as turkey, bear and deer, because they share the same habitats. February 12, 2019 Russiagate Is Finished For more than two years U.S. politicians, the media and some bloggers hyped a conspiracy theory. They claimed that Russia had somehow colluded with the Trump campaign to get him elected. An obviously fake 'Dirty Dossier' about Trump, commissioned by the Clinton campaign, was presented as evidence. Regular business contacts between Trump flunkies and people in Ukraine or Russia were claimed to be proof for nefarious deals. A Russian click-bait company was accused of manipulating the U.S. electorate by posting puppy pictures and crazy memes on social media. Huge investigations were launched. Every rumor or irrelevant detail coming from them was declared to be - finally - the evidence that would put Trump into the slammer. Every month the walls were closing in on Trump. At the same time the very real Trump actions that hurt Russia were ignored. Finally the conspiracy theory has run out of steam. Russiagate is finished: After two years and 200 interviews, the Senate Intelligence Committee is approaching the end of its investigation into the 2016 election, having uncovered no direct evidence of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to both Democrats and Republicans on the committee. ... Democrats and other Trump opponents have long believed that special counsel Robert Mueller and Congressional investigators would unearth new and more explosive evidence of Trump campaign coordination with Russians. Mueller may yet do so, although Justice Department and Congressional sources say they believe that he, too, is close to wrapping up his investigation. Nothing, zero, nada was found to support the conspiracy theory. The Trump campaign did not collude with Russia. A few flunkies were indicted for unrelated tax issues and for lying to the investigators about some minor details. But nothing at all supports the dramatic claims of collusion made since the beginning of the affair. In a recent statement House leader Nancy Pelosi was reduced to accuse Trump campaign officials of doing their job: The indictment of Roger Stone makes clear that there was a deliberate, coordinated attempt by top Trump campaign officials to influence the 2016 election and subvert the will of the American people. ... No one called her out for spouting such nonsense. Russiagate created a lot of damage. The alleged Russian influence campaign that never happened was used to install censorship on social media. It was used to undermine the election of progressive Democrats. The weapon salesmen used it to push for more NATO aggression against Russia. Maria Butina, an innocent Russian woman interested in good relation with the United States, was held in solitary confinement (recommended) until she signed a paper which claims that she was involved in a conspiracy. In a just world the people who for more then two years hyped the conspiracy theory and caused so much damage would be pushed out of their public positions. Unfortunately that is not going to happen. They will jump onto the next conspiracy train and continue from there. Posted by b on February 12, 2019 at 18:38 UTC | Permalink Comments next page July 22, 2018 'Progressives Are Putin Stooges' - How Centrist Democrats Help To Reelect Trump Updated Below --- Blaming 'Russian meddling' for their loss of the 2016 elections allowed the democratic establishment to avoid any discussion about their unelectable candidate and their bad centrist policies. Meanwhile the party base has moved on. Progressives candidates continue to win in primaries. The centrist party establishment will now use their genius invention of 'Russian meddling' to defeat them. Lambert Strether at Naked Capitalism links several recent pieces about the democrats and notes: Suddenly a lot of stories about centrists. Somebody must have gotten funding. The centrists and their big money sources feal endangered. They try to find strategies to defeat calls for 'medicare for all', demands to 'abolish ICE' and other progressive aims: The gathering here was just that an effort to offer an attractive alternative to the rising Sanders-style populist left in the upcoming presidential race. Where progressives see a rare opportunity to capitalize on an energized Democratic base, moderates see a better chance to win over Republicans turned off by Trump. The fact that a billionaire real estate developer, Winston Fisher, co-hosted the event and addressed attendees twice underscored that this group is not interested in the class warfare vilifying the "millionaires and billionaires" found in Sanders' stump speech. ... The invitation-only gathering brought together about 250 Democratic insiders from key swing states. Third Way unveiled the results of focus groups and polling that it says shows Americans are more receptive to an economic message built on "opportunity" rather than the left's message about inequality. "Once again, the time has come to mend, but not end, capitalism for a new era," said Third Way President Jon Cowan. McClatchy's lede about the meeting is on point: Leading moderate Democrats forcefully argued this week that the party can embrace a robust agenda of change while still praising capitalism and downplaying income inequality. In other words, everything the empowered liberal base has spent a year and a half mobilizing against. The 2016 elections have shown that people no longer buy the Third Way nonsense. The republican electorate moved to the more radical candidate Trump. The democratic electorate is now well underway to mirror that move: [T]rends within the Democratic Party itself could take the Washington-based establishment by surprise, just as the Republican national security community found itself out of sync with the broad base of GOP voters as demonstrated in the 2016 election. The muscular interventionism championed by almost all of the Republican partys standard-bearers was rejected in favor of an America First message which resonated with primary and general election voters. Similarly, the rise and growing prominence of a more unabashedly progressive wing of the Democratic Party has similar implications, because the activists critique of the status quo does not end at the waters edge. The Democratic foreign policy establishment may find it difficult to forge a stable marriage with a mobilized voter base and the candidates it is putting forward. The republican establishment has now bought into the 'Russian meddling' meme to suppress the insurgency within its party. It is trying to limit the space for Trump to achieve more radical measures, especially in foreign policies. The democratic establishment is using the very same trick. 'Russian meddling' must be responsible for the insurgency within their own party. Progressive candidates are Putin marionettes. A few days ago Doug Henwood warned of this: It seems that Democrats are now incapable of talking about anything but Russian interference in our sacred elections. ... Were seeing Dem pundits even accusing Bernie Sanders and other insurgents within their party of being Russian agents, witting or unwitting. Their indictments of Trump for treason make them sound like demented right-wingers at the height of the Cold War. This obsession does relieve mainstream Democrats of concocting an attractive agenda that might win an election or two, but to do that theyd have to tack left, and Goldman Sachs wouldnt like that. This Russia obsessions a win win for the establishment though subdue Trump and the domestic left insurgency all at once. A few days later Henwood points to a Facebook post by Columbia Law lecturer and Harpers author Scott Horton which accuses progressive Democrats of being Putin's agents. Horton comments on a New York Times piece that discussed the wave of progressive candidates in democratic primaries: bigger Horton claims to have talked with 'European intelligence analysts' who allegedly told him that Putin authorized an 'active measure campaign' to split the Democratic party to let Trump and the Republicans win again: The Russian operation will also aim, in the classic fashion, to pick Democratic candidates in the primary period who, for whatever reasons, are seen as likely not electable. Some evidence for this is clearly at play now. The key thing to look for is not positive messaging supporting any particular policy program, but negative messaging attacking other Democrats. To point out what Democratic candidates Putin will pick Horton adds a picture from the NYT piece which shows a 'progressives' candidate with an 'Abolish ICE' t-shirt. Political scientist and author Corey Robin notes: In other words, we should look at these [progressive] candidates as tainted by a "Russian operation". Based on nothing other than the word of an individual who cites no facts but alleged conversations with "European intelligence analysts". Robin points to historic similarities with McCarthyism. He adds: If this thing catches on, if it becomes something that now gets reported in the paper, everything single candidate from the left, who is running in a Democratic primary, will be tainted by the suspicion that they are somehow or other a Putin operation. Tainting leftish candidates as Putin stooges is the ideal tool for Democratic centrist to defeat them. Tuition free colleges, single-payer health care and $15 minimum wage are obviously Russian conspiracies designed to destroy the United States. This scheme is effective and will therefore be widely used by the centrists during all primaries and the next federal elections. It also guarantees that Trump and the Republicans continue to win. During the Obama years the Democrats lost over 1,000 positions in state and federal elections. Centrist policies have been tried and they failed to win votes. More of the same will not lead to different results. To move even further to the right to catch a few conservative votes from republican voters disgruntled with Trump will not help to win. The further the party moves to the right the more people on the left will abstain from voting for it. These are the decisive few percent that cost the Democrats the presidency and the majorities in Congress and in various states. These centrists are the ones who are really helping Trump. Aren't they the real 'Russian agents'? --- Update - July 23 10:30 UTC A long time Republican prosecutor, former FBI chief and hedge fund millionaire recently said that he would vote for Democrats to oppose Trump. That made him the new 'hero' of the centrist 'resistance'. A few days later, he is already giving his new party some terrible advice: James Comey @Comey - 20:37 UTC - 22 Jul 2018 Democrats, please, please dont lose your minds and rush to the socialist left. This president and his Republican Party are counting on you to do exactly that. Americas great middle wants sensible, balanced, ethical leadership. How much is Putin paying him? More of the centrist same won't work. The people will not vote for a 'Democratic' Comey-Kristol ticket against a president with such a high approval: NBC/WSJ POLL: Donald Trumps approval rating has risen to 45%, with disapproval at 52%. Among Republicans, 88% approve. Thats the highest intra-party rating of any president at this stage since the dawn of modern polling, except Bush post-9/11. The Democrats need a more radical message. They will have to either move left or sink into the same permanent minority status as many of the Social-Democratic parties in Europe have done. Posted by b on July 22, 2018 at 16:53 UTC | Permalink Comments The airline industry Where investment dreams go to die. It sure does look appealing at first. Airlines collect revenues up front. Costs like fuel and plane leases have been coming down. Collecting cash up-front and paying suppliers later is a quality many investors are looking for. But the problems outweigh these minor benefits. The industry has little to no regulation making it easy for competitors to jump and in and out whenever profits are abound (it doesnt happen often). If you want to become a millionaire, Richard Branson says, start as a billionaire and then buy an airline. While hes probably correct, there is a pocket in the industry, where investors dont get banged around. Im talking about airports. Enter Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd [ASX:SYD] Free Guide: How to Invest in the Massive Infrastructure Boom. Download now. The government is terrible at everything Sydney Airport is the only one in Sydney. Its why sales have increased each year since 2010. Its also why 23% of the $1.5 billion Sydney Airport makes in sales drops down into profits. Its amazing to see such a profitable company remain that way for so long. Usually competition will ruin it all for investors. Other people will jump into the Airport game, Sydney Airport will lose their monopoly and that will be that for this high flyer. But no one is entering the airport game. The Aussie government wont let them. Its regulation that makes Sydney Airport such a wonderful business. Any air carrier wanting to land in Sydney has no other choice. Theyve got to pay the exorbitant runway fee. Or they can turnaround. So why werent investors scared in 2017, when Sydney Airport was about to lose their monopoly? From the ABC: The Federal Government has confirmed it will build Sydneys second airport at Badgerys Creek, after Sydney Airport declined their first option to take on the project. Sydney Airport Group cited the risks on monetary return for their investors as its main reason for declining the Governments offer. Wait a minute Why would Sydney Airport not want to own another airport? With another competitor in the market, Sydney Airport loses their monopoly and pricing power. Heres the rub Sydney Airport does want to own the second airport in Sydney. They just dont want to build it. Theyll leave that to the government who has oodles of money but are terrible at making it. Thats also what investors are expecting. Sydney Airport shares didnt even blink at the mention of a second airport. They remained at their extremely fat 44-times earnings multiple. Why spend the billions to build it when the government will do it? Then, when the public sector fails to turn a profit (which usually happens), Sydney Airport can step in and take it off their hands. Its not just airports the government sucks at either. The national broadband network (NBN) is a wonderful example. In 2009, a Rudd-led government announced a new $30 billion project. It would roll fast connectivity to 93% of Aussies. Our fixed line internet speeds were going to get four-times faster, from 25 megabits per second (Mps) to 100 Mps. What we got instead was a network, hardly different from original copper wire. Costs have blown out to $51 million and were almost three years past the planned finished date. Rudds attempt to rewrite history Youve seen the headlines. Maybe you even have NBN. Its hard to find anyone who likes it. That is, other than Kevin himself. Rudd recently hit back against the critics. It was never envisaged that the NBN generate a commercial rate of return, he said. That has never been the case with fundamental economic infrastructure. If it were, the railway and road networks would never have been built. Such ideological claptrap fails to understand the fundamental economic drivers that basic infrastructure provides for the rest of the economy. Sorry Kevin, but the Australian Financial Review (AFR) is calling bullshit Rudd stood in the Prime Ministers courtyard beside Wayne Swan on April 7, 2009 as his then Treasurer uttered these immortal words: I believe this is a responsible investment. We are establishing a commercial entity. We are putting it together on commercial terms. And it should give a return over time to the Australian people. So there couldnt be a better investment. Then Rudds party members went on to say things like The Government can expect a return on its equity investment sufficient to fully cover its cost of funds. Or they said The study (a viability study of the NBN project) confirms that the NBN business model establishes that taxpayers are paid back their investment with a modest return by year 15 of the project on the basis that privatisation is completed. One good thing to come out of this botched project Investment opportunities as the private sector comes in to pick up the pieces. Reclaiming your NBN tax You might have heard about this whole 5G thing. Its the fifth generation of connectivity. Its better than 4G, in that it allows us to send and receive more data faster. Every man and his dog have built up this 5G revolution. With more data and faster speeds, technologies like driverless cars and the Internet of Things all becomes possible on a larger scale. Whether you believe in the hype or not, theres money to be made. The government has bungled yet another project. And theres an opportunity for the private sector to come in and profit. With a choice investment, you might even make back the tax the government spent on the blown out NBN fiasco. What you might want to look for is a telco like Sydney Airport. Competition is bad. Regulation (if it keeps others out) is good. Like the only runway in Sydney, you may want to find telcos with fibre optic networks that are very hard to copy. Maybe they own the strategic rights to a cable that goes from city to city, or country to country. Have a look around and see if you can clean up from yet another government failure. Your friend, Harje Ronngard, Editor, Money Morning Free Report: Insiders guide to trading options for profit on the ASX: Discover how to potentially boost your stock returns with options. Download the free report now. The Supreme Court has rejected the plea filed by operational creditors of Essar Steel Ltd. The rejection of plea will allow Ahmedabad bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to take a decision in the debt-ridden company's case. This will pave way for approval of bid by ArcelorMittal for Essar Steel. Last month, NCLT had rejected debt settlement proposal worth Rs54,389 crore submitted by Essar Steel Asia Holding. ArcelorMittal had submitted a bid of Rs42,000 crore. After this, promoters of Essar as well as the company's former managing director Dilip Oommen and project directo Rajiv Kumar Bhatnagar moved to NCLAT (National Company Law Appellate Tribunal). In its order, the NCLAT directed Ahmedabad bench of NCLT to expeditiously take a final decision in the Essar Steel insolvency case, where ArcelorMittal emerged as the highest bidder. Seeking a stay on the NCLAT order, operational creditors approached the apex court. The plea sought setting aside of the orders as it claims them to be contrary to the settled legal propositions and against the principles of natural justice. In its order, the Supreme Court reportedly stated that Essar promoters are acting through operational creditors, people and proxies to delay the process and it has been 571 days since the inception of the insolvency proceedings. Essars repayment offer came from a subsidiary of Essar Global after the lenders had already accepted a bid of Rs42,000 crore from the LN Mittal group under the IBC (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code) process, that too after forcing the group to make several other repayments as a condition to the bid. But Essar appears to have found a way to stymie the IBC process at the last minute, again calling into question the bankruptcy process. pCloud is a Switzerland-based cloud storage company which helps you save your local hard-disk space. It offers multi-platform cloud storage that any user can use efficiently. The best part about this solution is that, after you copy the files to the pCloud, you can delete them from your hard-disk and then seamlessly keep using the files on your computer. This is especially useful for devices which have low memory, like ultra-light laptops and mobile phones. pCloud allows you to upload any type of file, without any size restrictions. If you need to encrypt your private files, you have that option as well. The basic version comes free and, for larger space and encryption, you need to pay. pCloud allows you to upload any type of file, without any size restrictions. If you need to encrypt your private files, you have that option as well. The basic version comes free and, for larger space and encryption, you need to pay. Representative Image The Trump administration wants to ensure that Afghanistan is never used as a safe haven for terrorists, Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has told President Ashraf Ghani during his surprise visit to the war-torn country to lead a push for peace talks with the Taliban. Shanahan held talks with Ghani at the Presidential Palace on February 11 to reaffirm his commitment to Afghanistan through implementation of President Trump's South Asia strategy. "The leaders discussed a broad range of defence issues, including the importance of the US-Afghanistan security relationship and of achieving a political settlement to the war that ensures Afghanistan is never again used as a safe haven from which terrorists can plan and launch terrorist attacks against the United States, our interests, and our allies," said Pentagon Spokesperson Cmdr Sean Robertson. During the meeting, Shanahan praised the sacrifices made by Afghan and Coalition troops, and reaffirmed America's continued support to Afghan forces as they lead the fight to defend their country. Shanahan made a surprise trip to Afghanistan on February 11 , his first-ever visit to the country where US troops have been stationed for 17 years. President Donald Trump reportedly wants to cut in half the 14,000 American troops in Afghanistan, and the Taliban leaders have made a US withdrawal a key condition in peace negotiations. Shanahan told reporters on Monday that he had no orders to reduce the American troop presence. He said that while the US had a key role to play, it is ultimately up to Afghans to find peace. "The Afghans have to decide what Afghanistan looks like. It's not about the US, it's about Afghanistan," he said. The Acting Defense chief's visit comes after the US held major talks with the Taliban officials in Qatar last month in an attempt to end the 17-year conflict. US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who is leading the talks, has expressed hope of finding a deal before Afghan presidential elections scheduled for July. In a series of tweets after six days of talks with the Taliban representatives in Doha last month, Khalilzad said the US has made "significant progress" in its peace talks with the Taliban. "We have a draft of the framework that has to be fleshed out before it becomes an agreement. The Taliban have committed, to our satisfaction, to do what is necessary that would prevent Afghanistan from ever becoming a platform for international terrorist groups or individuals," Khalilzad said at the time. Since being appointed in September, Khalilzad has met with all sides in an attempt to end America's longest war in which the US has lost over 2,400 soldiers. The US is expected to start a second round of talks with Taliban officials on February 25 in Qatar, where they have their political office. The Afghan Taliban, however, has said that despite the ongoing talks with the US and other regional powers, it had "not yet reached" any conclusion that would entail an immediate end to hostilities against America and its allies. The Taliban are holding talks with the United States "on their own initiative", Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid was recently quoted as saying by a TV channel. The Taliban control nearly half of Afghanistan, and are more powerful than at any time since the 2001 US-led invasion after the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001. Meanwhile, Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna said that the US should continue supporting the Afghan government financially and diplomatically after leaving and include them in the peace process. "We should continue supporting the Afghan government financially and diplomatically after leaving and include them in the peace process. The Afghans must eventually earn domestic legitimacy themselves, though," he said in an op-ed in USA Today. Khanna said the biggest threat to democracy was not the Taliban, but staying economically competitive with authoritarian superpowers like China. Responding to critics who argue that after the US withdrawal the Taliban might steamroll the Afghan government and then harbour terrorists, Khanna said preventing that outcome did not require a permanent US troop presence. "Deterrence works. The Taliban should understand that the United States will use overwhelming force again if they harbour terrorists who directly threaten our homeland. Moreover, other 'ungoverned territories' exist where terrorists can operate. There, we conduct counterterrorism from the air without troop deployment," Khanna said. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said he sees a significant scope of a global recession in 2019 or early 2020, reports CNBC. He was speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai on Sunday. Since the start of 2019, there has been a raging debate of whether rising protectionist steps by trading majors, ongoing US-China trade spat, falling consumer spending in developed countries will tip the global economy into a recession. This was also one of the key topics of discussion at the recently concluded World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. However, the world's business elite in interviews to CNBC were split right down the middle with Nobel prize-winning economist Robert Shiller, JP Morgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and Richard Bernstein, CEO of Richard Bernstein Advisors, ringing the alarm bell. At the other end of the spectrum was Blackstone Chairman and CEO Steve Schwarzman and ING CEO Ralph Hamers who ruled out a recession anytime soon. The scepticism of Professor Emeritus of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School, who won the Nobel Prize in 2008 for his work on economic geography and identifying international trade patterns, is only going to fuel this debate further. Ruling out one big thing that could prompt an economic downturn, Krugman said a range of economic headwinds would increase the likelihood of a slowdown. He expressed concern on US President Donald Trump's tax cut stimulus, saying the programme was not very effective, the report said. But the key takeaway from his address was the lack of preparedness among economic policymakers. The report Krugman as saying, "The main concern has always been that we don't have an effective response if stuff slows down. The place that looks really close to recession right now is the euro area." On February 7, the European Commission sharply cut its forecasts for euro zone economic growth for 2019 and 2020 on global trade tensions, China slowdown, slower car production in Germany, social tensions in France and budget policies in Italy. The Commission said euro zone growth will slow to 1.3 percent this year from 1.9 percent in 2018 and is expected to rebound in 2020 to 1.6 percent. Whats worse, its forecast is less optimistic from its November projections, when it expected the euro zone to grow by 1.7 percent this year. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cautioned US allies on Monday against deploying equipment from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei on their soil, saying it would make it more difficult for Washington to "partner alongside them". The United States and its Western allies believe Huawei Technologies' apparatus could be used for espionage, and see its expansion into central Europe as a way to gain a foothold in the EU market. Washington is concerned in particular about the expansion of Huawei, the world's biggest maker of telecoms equipment, in Hungary and Poland. "We want to make sure we identify (to) them the opportunities and the risks of using that equipment," Pompeo told reporters during a visit to the Hungarian capital, Budapest. Hungary is the first stop in a trip by Pompeo to central Europe that also includes Slovakia and Poland and is part of what administration officials say is an effort to make up for a lack of U.S. engagement in the region that opened the door to more Chinese and Russian influence. Huawei denies engaging in intelligence work for any government. It says its technologies serve 70 percent of Hungarians and that it cooperates with most telecoms providers in Hungary, including state-owned enterprises. "We have seen this all around the world, it also makes it more difficult for America to be present," Pompeo told reporters during a stop at the U.S. embassy," referring to Huawei equipment. "If that equipment is co-located where we have important American systems, it makes it more difficult for us to partner alongside them." Pompeo announced plans for a defence cooperation agreement with Hungary, one of the European governments that is most enthusiastic about Chinese investment. But he said he had discussed "the dangers of allowing China to gain a bridgehead in Hungary" in talks with Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. Budapest's nationalist government, like Poland's largely isolated politically in the European Union, hopes to buy mid-range air defence capabilities from the United States. US INTERESTS In Poland, where Pompeo is travelling to on Tuesday, the government is considering banning Huawei from participating in the development of 5G capabilities after arresting a Chinese employee of Huawei and a former Polish security official on spying allegations last month. Both men have denied wrongdoing. It is also lobbying Washington for an increased military presence on its soil. Slovakia, which Pompeo visits before Poland, is looking to buy F-16 fighter jets. Pompeo's tour includes a conference on the Middle East, hosted by Poland, where Washington hopes to build a coalition against Iran. He is also expected to voice concerns about energy ties with Moscow, and urge Hungary not to support the TurkStream pipeline, part of the Kremlin's plans to bypass Ukraine, the main transit route for Russian gas to Europe. Hungary gets most of its gas from Russia and its main domestic source of electricity is the Paks nuclear power plant where Russia's Rosatom is involved in a 12.5 billion-euro ($14 billion) expansion. Hungary's Szijjarto brushed off U.S. concerns over Russia and China, saying Budapest was fulfilling its obligations to western allies as a member of the NATO military alliance. "When it comes to cooperation with Russia or cooperation with the People's Republic of China that does not harm us being reliable as a NATO ally," he told a joint news conference with his U.S. counterpart. A EUROPEAN TRUMP Pompeo also discussed concerns over the rule of law in Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban is pressuring courts, media and non-governmental groups. Earlier in the day Pompeo met with civil society leaders at the U.S. embassy and said he would discuss their treatment directly with Orban. "So many of the concerns that are voiced are things that have happened in the absence of America being engaged," he told reporters. Szijjarto drew parallels between the Trump administration and Orban government on curbing immigration, protecting Christians around the world and support for Israel. "Hungary's government and President Donald Trump's administration represent an identical, or very similar, approaches in both general political and numerous international political issues," he said. Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has agreed to hire half of the 2.5 million tonnes underground strategic crude oil storage that India has built at Padur in Karnataka, making it second such deal by the UAE firm in the state. Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL) CEO and Managing Director HPS Ahuja said ADNOC will store oil in two of the four compartments of 0.625 million tonnes (MT) each. "They signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in November last year and now they have agreed to take two compartment of 0.625 million tonnes each. A final agreement will be signed soon," he said on sidelines of the Petrotech 2019 conference here. India has built 5.33 MT of emergency storage enough to meet its oil needs for 9.5 days, in underground rock caverns in Mangalore and Padur in Karnataka, and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. It has allowed foreign oil companies to store oil in the storages on the condition that the stockpile can be used by New Delhi in case of an emergency. ADNOC had in February 2018 signed a pact to fill half of the 1.5 MT strategic oil storage at Mangalore. It signed an MoU for Padur in November 2018. "The remaining half of Padur storage will be filled up by auctioning the space," Ahuja said. ISPRL will shortly seek interest from oil companies and traders willing to store oil in the Padur facility, he said. Companies hiring the strategic storages can sell or trade crude oil stored in the underground rock carvens to local refiners, but gives Indian government the first right to the oil in case of an emergency. While a third of the Visakhapatnam facility has been hired by Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), ADNOC and government of India filled the storage at Mangalore. The 2.5 MT Padur facility remained empty. Allowing foreign companies to use the storage for storing crude oil helps the government save on the cost of filling the reserves. The ISPRL has constructed and commissioned underground rock caverns for storage of total 5.33 MT (around 39 million barrels) of crude oil at three locations Vishakhapatnam (1.33 MT), Mangalore (1.5 MT) and Padur (2.5 MT). Padur storage has four compartments of 0.625 MT each; and ADNOC will use half of the storage capacity for stocking its oil, Ahuja said. The total 5.33 MT capacity under Phase-I of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) programme is estimated to supply about 9.5 days of India's crude requirement. In Mangalore, ADNOC had agreed to stock 5.86 million barrels or 0.75 MT of oil. In Phase-II, India plans to build an additional 6.5 MT facilities at Chandikhol in Odisha and Padur, which is expected to augment the emergency cover against any supply disruption by another 11.5 days. India, which meets 83 per cent of its oil needs through imports, built the storages as insurance for any disruption in supplies. It has the right of first refusal to buy the crude oil stored in the facilities in case of an emergency. Indian refiners maintain 65 days of crude storage, and when added to the storage planned and achieved by ISPRL, the Indian crude storage tally goes up to about 87 days. This is very close to the storage of 90 days mandated by International Energy Agency (IEA) for member countries. ADNOC had in 2017 given up its crude storage lease in South Korea and instead agreed to store oil at Mangalore in a bid to establish a ground presence in the world's third-largest oil consuming nation. Out of the crude stored, a part would be used for commercial purposes by ADNOC, while a major part would be purely for strategic purposes. The Visakhapatnam facility can meet two-and-half days of India's oil need while Mangalore can meet 2.8 days requirement. Padur can meet 4.7 days requirement. The SPR at Mangalore consists of two compartments with a total storage capacity of 1.5 MT (11 million barrels). While one compartment has been filled with crude oil through funds made available by the government, the other compartment will be filled with crude supplied by ADNOC. ADNOC hired the Mangalore storage just as it ended a contract to store 6 million barrels of crude oil at Korea National Oil Corp's Yeosu facility in the country's southwest coast. South Korea had first right over the oil in the event of a supply emergency. The wait for Galaxy Unpacked - Samsung's annual event this year is almost over but Samsung isnt done teasing the launch of their flagship Galaxy phones. A video by the South Korean giant has teased an interesting addition to its Galaxy series - a foldable smartphone, presumably titled the Galaxy X, Galaxy F, Galaxy Flex, you get the gist. The video teases Korean language imagery sliding across two screens alongside the words The future of mobile will unfold on Feb. 20, 2019, spelt out in English. Smartphone enthusiasts can expect more than just a flash of a folding phone prototype. With brands like Xiaomi, Huawei and LG also planning mega unveils at the Mobile World Congress, little under a week after the Galaxy Unpacked event on the 20th of February. Samsung will likely talk about its foldable phone in detail or showcase a full-fledged folding smartphone at the event. Samsung hasnt revealed details about its foldable smartphone, other than teasing it in a video. However, UI details have been unveiled. The UI will offer continuity between both displays, which will allow you to use an app on the front screen and pick up where you left off on the internal display as soon as you open the phone. The interface layout will automatically change depending on whether the device is folded or unfolded. Google recently confirmed that Android would support foldable devices in the future. While Samsung is likely to showcase a version of the first foldable Galaxy smartphone at the Galaxy Unpacked event, the phone itself may not be available for purchase until the following month. The new foldable phone will support 5G internet speed and is expected to leave a considerable dent in your wallet. Samsungs foldable smartphone is estimated to retail for $1800 to $2500. And, while the device is touted as the only device youll need, the estimated price tag may still not be justified. Shiv Sena_BJP_Devendra Fadnavis_uddhav thackeray Moneycontrol News The Shiv Sena has sought Big Brother status in the Maharashtra seat-sharing arrangement with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and demanded a return to the 1995 formula, The Indian Express reported. According to the report, BJP President Amit Shah on February 11 called Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray to finalise the seat-sharing arrangement. Thackeray demanded that the alliance return to the 1995 formula, wherein the Sena contested on 169 seats while the BJP was given a much smaller chunk of 116 out of the 288 seats in Maharashtra Assembly. This would mean that the Sena would get to choose the chief minister in the event of the alliance's win. During the 1995 elections, the Sena had won 73 seats while the BJP had won 65, and Manohar Joshi, belonging to the Sena, was appointed the CM. According to the report, Shah is looking to finalise the seat-sharing arrangement for the Lok Sabha polls. However, Thackeray is keen on brokering a deal which involves both the national as well as the Assembly elections. According to the report, as a response to bargaining from both sides, Sena decided to send its representative, Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Raut, to Andhra Bhavan to demonstrate the party's support for Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu. Naidu was on a daylong fast to demand special status for Andhra. A number of Opposition leaders visited the leader to show their solidarity. According to the report, Raut was sent in to display to the BJP that the Sena had other options in case the negotiation doesn't go the party's way. The report states that while the Sena might eventually scale down to 145 seats, it would still mean a major compromise on the part of the BJP, which had won 122 seats while contesting separately during the last assembly polls. Shiv Sena had managed to win 62 seats. In terms of the Lok Sabha seat-sharing arrangement, according to the report, Janata Dal (United) leader Prashant Kishor had offered to negotiate for 28 of the 48 Parliamentary seats in the state. Kishor had met Thackeray on February 6 at the latter's residence in Mumbai. However, Sena leaders have remained non-committal to the proposal. Twitter Sounak Mitra A parliamentary panel has summoned Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey and his team on February 25. It wants Dorsey to spell out the companys views on safeguarding citizens rights on social media or online news platforms and the possibility that the platform could be used to interfere in elections. However, theres more to it. Over a year or so, several Right-wing sympathisers have complained about losing followers overnight, and theyve blamed Twitter for censoring content and influencing traffic. For Twitter, this is not an exclusive challenge in India. The micro-blogging site has undertaken a global initiative and locked users who failed to follow the companys global standards. According to a Washington Post reporters tweet, immediately after Twitter made the change, US President Donal Trump lost 100,000 followers, and his immediate predecessor Barack Obama lost 400,000. Twitter does not develop country- or political party-specific standards or policies. Thus, India is no different. The parliamentary panel, led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Anurag Thakur, has also asked the ministry of information & technology to access Twitters public standing to check whether it is a media entity or a social platform. If it is registered as a media entity, Twitter is going to face a bitter future. Indias regulations are still pretty stringent for foreign media entities. But, if Twitter is a social platform, it is bound by laws that do not allow such (social) platforms to edit what has been posted by users. In short no censoring. Either way, Twitter will hit a wall. Now, how important is India for Twitter? Twitter has around 30.4 million (2018) users in India, or about a tenth of its global user base of 321 million. Besides, Dorsey visited India in November and met political leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi, to better understand the opportunities that the micro-blogging site has in India, especially how it can be more useful as a platform during the upcoming general elections. What followed was the #PowerOf18 campaign to encourage young Indians to participate in civic issues and public debates. Yet, Twitter remained a hotbed for users who spread fake news. Will Dorseys appearance before the parliamentary panel on February 25? Theirs is no straight answer. The reality is, Twitter needs to open a dialogue with the Indian authorities So far Twitter has been operating in India without a proper and capable leadership team. Its former India country director Taranjeet Singh resigned in September, 16 months after taking up the job. Balaji Krish, who was heading revenue and operations globally for Twitter, is now acting as the interim country head (India). The only senior person who is here is Mahima Kaul, public policy head for Twitter in India. However, Kaul does not have any legal authority to represent Twitter before a parliamentary panel. To add to that, Kaul can only give suggestions to Twitters policy and standards formation team but has no say in deciding the final framework. Twitter needs to resolve that first. It needs to appoint an India country head, someone who has legal authority and who will have regular and meaningful conversations with the government. In any case, a parliamentary panel summoning the chief of a tech company isnt something unheard of. Last year, the US congressional panel grilled Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg following reports that Facebook shared users data with advertisers. If Zuckerberg can be summoned by US congressional panel there is no reason why Dorsey cant be by Indian parliamentary panel. Rajasthan has the highest number of deaths reported at 107, followed by Gujarat at 55. While this is the latest data released by the government, a swine flu epidemic in India is not new. Cases have been reported on an intermediate basis since 2012, with a spike in 2015. What causes the disease? Swine flu, or H1N1 is a respiratory disease. It affects pigs, which is why the name, but a particular type of influenza also affects humans. Swine flu is a highly contagious disease, which means that it can spread through human contact and can, in fact, affect a person even if an individual touches the surface that an infected person has had contact with before. According to the National Health Portal of India, swine flu can infect an individual up to 6 feet away, and spreads mainly when an infected person sneezes, coughs or talks. What are the symptoms? A number of deaths have occurred because swine flu was not recognised as such. The symptoms, according to the National Health Portal, include fever, headache, running nose, sore throat, shortness of breath, loss of appetite and diarrhoea. While these symptoms, when looked at individually, are common, doctors suggest that an individual suffering from all or most of these symptoms together should immediately consult a health practitioner. Is this the first such swine flu epidemic in India? Although the recent epidemic is a serious concern, it is not the first, or the largest in India. Swine flu cases have been reported in India on an intermediate basis since 2012. While 2014 was the year when the least number of cases were reported at 914, the next year saw a spike in the number of cases, with 42,592 cases getting reported and almost 3,000 deaths. This pattern has seen a repetition, with 2016 having reported fewer cases and 2017 seeing another spike. The highest number of cases in a single year happened in the state of Maharashtra in 2015, with over 8,000 cases being reported. Are there any India-specific reasons for the spike in numbers? While causes behind the spread of the disease and how they spread are common across the world, there are certain socio-economic reasons why the epidemic might have spiked in India. For instance, in Rajasthan, according to an Indian Express report , a number of patients who think they might be infected have to travel long distances in order to get checked, which, according to the report, discourages many. Moreover, there is also an acute lack of diagnostic centres. This problem, according to experts, is common for almost every state. What measures are the government taking? In Rajasthan, the state government has carried out drives with the purpose of making people aware of the symptoms of the disease and the importance of recognising them and getting oneself checked. However, reports have suggested that this drive included students from government and private colleges who were sent without the necessary safety gear. The Health Ministry has asked state governments to bolster their surveillance for early detection of the disease and also keep beds reserved in hospitals to deal with acute cases, which require ventilator facility. Swine flu in India has claimed over 312 lives , with over 9,000 cases being reported, according to data released by Union Health Ministry. Alarmingly, over 86 deaths were reported in the last week itself. Congress President Rahul Gandhi with party general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia during a roadshow, in Lucknow on Feb. -- PTI Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's roadshow in Lucknow saw much pomp and grandeur. After years, the party has been able to create a buzz in Uttar Pradesh. Assisted by Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia, the road show drew a massive crowd. Apart from raising hopes of the partys fan base in the populous state that has not seen a Congress government since 1990, the cheering and sloganeering also helped thieves nick over 50 phones, as per a report in India Today. Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report. Mobile phones of party leaders were also stolen, including that of the Assistant City Magistrate of Uttar Pradesh and Congress spokesperson Jeeshan Haider. After walking for 10 odd kilometres, the supporters finally realised their phones, cash, and wallets had been stolen. Pushpendra Pandey, District Vice-President of Congress in Kannauj, said he, along with other party workers, joined the roadshow near Sringarnagar Metro station. When the attendees stopped at Burlington crossing, they realised that some of their belongings were missing. Pandey's phone, Rs 9,500 in cash, and his wallet also got stolen, he told The Times of India. However, the Congressman alleged that the cops mocked them and did not take their complaint seriously. Only after the workers staged a sit-in protest outside the police station, were their complaints heard. Triloki Singh, SHO, Sarojini Nagar police station, said they have taken the complaint and further investigation is underway. Interestingly, after the crime came to light, the Congress cadre did nab a man on grounds of suspicion; but it turned out that the man did not possess a single mobile phone. For three consecutive months now, India-wide sales of Royal Enfield have seen a drop compared to a year earlier, marking its slowest growth pace in more than 12 years. The company has been hit by a combination of factors including brand fatigue, increased competition and a series of price hikes. A critical reason, according to market watchers, for the fall has been the entry (and return) of Jawa brand, which competes in the same segment as Royal Enfield. Owned by conglomerate Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) the Jawas are priced in the same price band as the Royal Enfield range of Rs 1.5-2 lakh. While Eicher Motors-controlled Royal Enfield sales growth in November, December and January slid into the red, M&M declared a total stock out for nine months for the Jawas, thanks to the unprecedented bookings turnout. Since bikes of both the competing brands belong to the same segment, Jawa is believed to have poached customers of Royal Enfield. Siddhartha Lal, the Managing Director and CEO, Eicher Motors, admitted that competition for Royal Enfield is rising and will continue to rise in the future but it 'will take a lot more to take away our pie'. "Royal Enfield is an entrenched leader which has a strong distribution and aftermarket network with strong service backup and residual value. New entrants, of course, there will be many and more shall be coming up. There will be copycat types and there will be people doing totally different things and that is part of a competitive nature. We have a very good product line and very strong plans. We are on a great wicket, it's the others who have to try hard to even take a nibble out of us," Lal said. Domestic sales growth of Royal Enfield slowed down 5 percent (down from high double-digit growths in past several years) to 686,773 units during the April-January period. In the previous financial year, Royal Enfields growth stood at 23 percent to 801,229 units while in 2016-17 it was 31 percent to 651,107 units. "In the last 10 years, we have had an excellent growth of nearly 20X and margin expansion to 30 percent from 10 percent. And that is attracting lots of people to enter our market and that includes some of the biggest players. Initially, there is always hype, because there is a new product and there is always the noise and excitement about it. But we have managed to keep steady and keep our course. We take deep cognizance of competitors coming in and we have our own ways of managing that," Lal added. With 878 dealers, Royal Enfield has the largest network of dealerships in India for premium bikes and the brand is banking on this to keep the retail push. The brand saw an addition of 20 dealerships during the October-December quarter. Eicher Motors hopes to end the year at 900 dealerships by end of the current financial year. 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 lok sabha, Parliament ,session The reported killing of Bengalis in Assam was raised in the Lok Sabha on February 12, with TMC members asking the BJP government to stop the "dirty politics" and ensure safety of Bengali people in the state. TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi and Congress' Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury raised the matter during the Zero Hour. Trivedi said a TMC delegation has visited Assam. "Bengalis in Assam are being killed in broad daylight...Bengal has always been pro-India. Dirty politics of BJP has to stop and you must stop killing of Bengalis in Assam," he said. Chowdhury said Bengalis move out of West Bengal in search of livelihood but are not feeling safe in Gujarat, UP and Assam. "In Assam they are killed. The Centre should ask the state to ensure safety of Bengalis," he added. There were media reports of killing of migrant labourers from West Bengal by unidentified men in Assam. Separately, Idris Ali (TMC) demanded that January 23-- the birthday of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose -- be declared as a National Holiday. Tej Pratap Singh (SP) raised the issue of the alleged stopping of party president Akhilesh Yadav at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad University. "The Centre should ask the state government to allow Akhilesh Yadav to go to Allahabad University," Singh said. Smriti Irani Taking a jibe at Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Union Minister Smriti Irani sought to know how those who "looted the poor" could criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She also asked how those who indulged in "corruption" and "filled the coffers of Congress" target the "pradhan sevak"?. Irani's comments came in the backdrop of Gandhi's attack on Modi over the Rafale deal. In a veiled reference to Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra's alleged acquisition of properties in London, she said, "Those who lived amidst the rich and looted the poor for years.. whose brother-in-law purchases assets in London, have the temerity to cast aspersions on the Prime Minister." Irani was addressing a party meeting at Mahabubnagar, in Hindi. The meeting was organised as part of BJP's preparations for the coming Lok Sabha elections. Modi had announced the procurement of a batch of 36 Rafale jets after holding talks with then French president Francois Hollande on April 10, 2015 in Paris. Opposition Congress has accused the Centre of choosing Reliance Defence over state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) as offset partner to benefit the private firm though it did not have any experience in the aerospace sector.. Robert Vadra, Congress president Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law, and his mother Maureen appeared before the Enforcement Directorate at its zonal office here in connection with a probe into an alleged land scam in the Rajasthan's border town of Bikaner. AICC general secretary and his wife Priyanka Gandhi accompanied them to the office. This is Vadra's fourth appearance before the agency and first in Jaipur. On the last three occasions, he appeared before ED in Delhi in connection with a money laundering probe against him for his alleged role in procuring assets abroad. The Rajasthan High Court had asked Vadra and his mother to cooperate with the agency after they approached it seeking directions that no coercive action is taken against them by the agency, following which the duo appeared before the ED in Jaipur. In the Bikaner case, the agency had summoned Vadra thrice but he failed to appear and later approached the court. The ED had registered a criminal case in connection with the deal in 2015, taking cognisance of a clutch of FIRs and chargesheets filed by Rajasthan police after the tehsildar of Bikaner complained about alleged forgery in the allotment of land in the area, considered sensitive due to its proximity to the India-Pakistan border. It is understood that the agency wants to question Vadra about the operations of a firm Ms Skylight Hospitality Private Limited allegedly linked to him, which had purchased land in the area. It also wants to confront Vadra with the statements of those said to be linked to him. Washington : President Donald Trump arrives to speak during the National Prayer Breakfast, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019, in Washington. AP/PTI(AP2_7_2019_000217B) Democrats and Republicans have reached an agreement in principle to fund the US government and avert another partial government shutdown at the end of the week while denying President Donald Trump much of the money he has sought to build walls along the US-Mexico border. The announcement by lawmakers on February 11 night came days ahead of a possible government shutdown in the absence of such an agreement. Senate and House negotiators from both parties, who held a closed-door meeting in Washington, did not comment on the details of the deal, saying the staff is still working on last-minute logistics. Sharp differences between Democrats and President Trump over border security and building a wall along the US-Mexico border resulted in a record partial government shutdown for more than 30 days. "We've had a good evening. We've reached an agreement in principle between us on the Homeland Security and the other six bills, Senator Richard Shelby told reporters at the US Capitol Hill Monday night. As a result, the House and the Senate are likely to pass a new resolution before the February 15 deadline. According to reports, the bill would provide USD 1.375 billion for wall construction, far less than USD 5.7 billion congressional funding Trump has demanded to build the wall. But, if accepted, the deal would end a standoff in which Trump has threatened to cut budgets from swaths of government this Friday. The tentative agreement, according to the Hill newspaper, also specifically prohibits the use of a concrete wall. But, senior Congressional aides separately noted that it will fund approximately 55 new miles of barriers along the US-Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley sector. The agreement came as Trump went to the Southern Border in El Paso, Texas to address a rally with his supporters on wall. The White House didn't comment on the agreement and Trump said at the rally, "We probably have some good news but who knows." Addressing thousands of his supportes, many wearing his red "Make America Great Again" campaign hats, Trump said: "We need the wall and it has to be built and we want to build it fast." According to Trump, illegal immigrants pose a national security risk to the US and can only be stopped by the construction of a border wall. Earlier in the day, Trump said another government shutdown depends on the Democrats. We've actually started a big, big portion of wall today in a very important location. And it's going to go up pretty quickly over the next nine months. That whole area will be finished. It's fully funded, he said at a White House event. "Construction, which I know a lot about, has begun. And it's a much better wall, much stronger wall, and a much less expensive wall than we've been building. And we're going to have a lot of wall being built in the last -- in the next period of time, he said during his meeting with National Sheriffs. The US he said, needs a wall. And all of the other things are nice to have. But without a wall, it's not going to work. We can have technology, we can have beautiful drones flying all over the place, but it doesn't work without the wall, he said. Trump said the wall could be given any name. We need a wall. We can call it anything. We'll call it barriers. We'll call it whatever they want. But now, it turns out not only don't they want to give us money for the wall, they don't want to give us the space to detain murderers, criminals, drug dealers, human smugglers, he said. "How bad is that? Human smuggling. People think of that as an ancient art. There are more human smugglers right now -- traffickers, they call them -- than at any time in the history of our world, because of the Internet, unfortunately, said the US President. In December, Trump pushed back at Congress by refusing to fund large sections of the government, leading to record-breaking government shutdown in America's history that affected some 800,000 federal employees. In January last, Trump backed a deal to temporarily end the five-week shutdown despite getting no funding for his controversial plan to build the wall along the US-Mexico border. The deal resolved the crippling 35-day closure but not the fight over his proposed border wall. He had given Congress until February 15 to come up with the wall money or face another shutdown. All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary of Uttar Pradesh (East), Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, during a roadshow, in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. (Image: PTI) It may not be clear as yet how Priyanka Gandhi Vadra joining Congress would impact its electoral fortunes, but it would help the party reduce its funding and resource gaps with the ruling BJP, an influential American foreign policy magazine has said. The Congress Party's newest campaigner may not actually contest elections, but she will likely narrow a funding gap in a country where winning votes costs serious money, Milan Vaishnav from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace wrote in his latest article for the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine. Congress president Rahul Gandhi last month made his sister party's general secretary in-charge of crucial eastern Uttar Pradesh having 40 seats in the Lok Sabha. She made her maiden road show Monday in Lucknow along with her brother. Her formal entry into politics, Vaishnav said, has imparted the much-needed enthusiasm to the party, which lost power in 2014 amid a historic victory of the BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Headed into the 2019 general election, the Congress starts from a position of weakness, he said, adding "reports suggest that Congress state units have been starved of funds from the party high command due to the fiscal crunch. "Priyanka Gandhi's entry into active politics comes at a time when the Congress needs all the help it can get. The party has seen few victories since a disastrous 2014 general election performance, and Gandhi provides a much needed morale boost to the Congress rank-and-file," wrote Vaishnav, co-author of a recent book Costs of Democracy: Political Finance in India. "Just last month, the Congress was unceremoniously excluded from a pivotal opposition alliance in Uttar Pradesh, India's most electorally consequential state. With Priyanka Gandhi heading the Congress party's campaign in eastern Uttar Pradesh -- home to the parliamentary seats of her mother, brother, and Prime Minister Modi of the ruling BJP -- the party may gain new leverage with fellow opposition forces," he said in his write-up. "But the Priyanka Gandhi play is not only about winning allies and lifting spirits; it's also about cash. The party is short of it, and Gandhi substitutes for the political finance that the Congress desperately needs," he said. Stating that "Vadra, unlike Modi, is just a campaigner; there is no indication that she will contest elections herself", he said, "In 2014, the Congress faced three insurmountable deficits - of leadership, ideology, and resources." "There is no short-term fix for the first two, but the third problem just got a little easier, he said, arguing that she would help her party meet the resource crunch and would "partially offset her party's lackluster coffers." "Lacking a sizable advertising budget, the Congress can ensure wall-to-wall television coverage of any event in which Gandhi even remotely figures... in a country where dynastic politicians are often revered as deities," said Viashnav. Vaishnav notes that the Priyanka Gandhi buzz will also challenge the BJP's dominance on social media. In less than 24 hours after joining Twitter, she had more than 13,000 followers. Elaborating upon the role of social media in modern electoral arena, he said Modi had already mastered the social media game, using Twitter and Facebook to circumvent traditional media gatekeepers and communicate directly with his online followers even before 2014. "Five years ago, Rahul Gandhi did not even have a Twitter account to his name," he said. While the Congress has invested heavily in upping its social media presence, it still lags far behind. (Modi currently has 45.4 million Twitter followers to Rahul Gandhi's 8.45 million.) But the same fascination with Gandhi that will suck in traditional media outlets is also likely to catch eyeballs online, Vaishnav said. Will the Priyanka-Gandhi-as-political-finance strategy tip the scales? The arrival of a new Gandhi family member on the political scene will not fix the organisational infirmities that ail the party overnight. But those things that money (or, in this case, Gandhi) can buy have never guaranteed victory: They earn you a seat at the table, concluded the Foreign Policy columnist. Priyanka Gandhi_.jpg A day after making her debut in Uttar Pradesh's political arena as Congress's general secretary, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on February 12 got down to business, holding strategy sessions to script her party's victory in the upcoming parliamentary polls. Returning to the state capital after a short visit to Jaipur, where her husband Robert Vadra and his mother Maureen appeared before the ED in connection with a probe into an alleged land scam in Rajasthan's border town of Bikaner, Gandhi got cracking at the UP Congress headquarters. The party office here buzzed with activity as enthusiastic Congress workers gathered outside the UPCC building, even before she returned from an overnight stay in Jaipur. Immediately after reached the party office, she was closeted with senior leaders and office bearers of Lucknow, Mohanlalganj, Prayagraj, Ambedkar Nagar, Sitapur, Kaushambi, Fatehpur, Bahraich, Phulpur and Ayodhya Lok Sabha constituencies to galvanise the party's preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Priyanka Gandhi is slated to continue this exercise Wednesday and Thursday with leaders of other constituencies which she has been asked to take care of in eastern Uttar Pradesh by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, party sources said. In an adjoining room, the newly appointed Congress general secretary incharge of western UP, Jyotiraditya Scinda, held deliberations with leaders from the constituencies he has been asked to groom. Scindia too will hold strategy sessions over the next two days to ensure victory of candidates of the Congress, which has decided to go alone in all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state, they said. Priyanka Gandhi and Scindia, along with Rahul Gandhi, had held a grand roadshow here on Monday, raising hopes of a turnaround in the party's fortunes. Virtually launching the party's Lok Sabha poll campaign, Rahul Gandhi asserted that it was the time to uproot the BJP and form government in the state. Asserting that the party would "play on front foot", Rahul Gandhi on February 11 said, "Till a Congress ideology government is installed here (UP), we will not rest, and ensure justice for farmers, the youth and the poor." "Their (Priyanka and Scindia) aim is definitely the Lok Sabha elections, but it is also to bring a Congress government here," he had said, adding, "the Congress began its journey from Uttar Pradesh and it cannot remain weak in the state... the Congress has to improve its performance in UP in the LS polls and from government in the next assembly elections". Giving a sense what her entry means to the party workers in UP where the Congress has been struggling electorally for years, posters showed Priyanka Gandhi in 'Durga Mata' (Hindu Goddess) avatar riding a lion. "Maa Durga ka roop behen Priyankaji (Sister Priyankaji is Maa Durga's incarnation)", said one poster, while some others highlighted her resemblance to Indira Gandhi, her grandmother. Priyanka Gandhi's entry into active politics has been at a time when the party is not only witnessing one of the most difficult times electorally but has also been sidelined by prospective allies for 'mahagatbandhan', with the Samajwadi Party and BSP totally ignoring it while forming their alliance. "An alliance is also in the contest here and I have clearly said that I respect Mayawati ji and Akhilesh Yadav ji...but the Congress will fight with all its might for its ideology to change Uttar Pradesh," Rahul Gandhi had said. The Congress had fared miserably during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections by winning just two of 80 seats in the state. The eastern UP, Priyanka Gandhi's area of responsibility, has Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency Varanasi. The region is also seen as a stronghold of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. On the day of her political debut in UP, Priyanka Gandhi also joined Twitter and garnered a massive response with tens of thousands following her on the social media platform within hours. A day before her maiden visit to Uttar Pradesh as Congress general secretary, Priyanka Gandhi had said that together with the people of the state she hopes to start a "new kind of politics" in which everyone will be a stakeholder. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is garlanded by Telangana Party leaders during a BJP election campaign ahead of the state Assembly elections at LB Stadium, in Hyderabad. (Image: PTI) Amar Devulapalli The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is facing a serious crisis in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. A few months away from general elections, the chances of retaining or winning new seats are slim for Prime Minister Narendra Modis party. Thats the bad news for the party; the good news for the BJP is that both the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) might not have it easy in either of the states. In 2014, the BJP won three of the combined 42 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana after joining hands with ally-turned-bitter-rival TDP. Though the BJP won an impressive 282 seats across India, its performance in the newly-bifurcated states was not the best compared to previous terms. BJPs lost opportunity In the last four-and-a-half years this was expected to change, especially with the RSS favourites and top BJP strategists Ram Madhav and Muralidhar Rao (who hail from these states) strengthening the party. That did not happen. On the contrary, in the recently-held state elections in Telangana, the BJPs representation came down to just one from five MLAs in 2014. In Andhra Pradesh too they seem to be in trouble, as the party is facing the heat for failing to grant the state a special category status. However, not all is lost for the saffron party. In these two states, the BJP is not expecting to win a significant number of seats, but it will work to ensure that its main opponents lose a great deal. In other words, the BJP would like to pull down with it the Congress in Telangana and the TDP in Andhra Pradesh. A bad show for the Congress and the TDP in these two states will weaken the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance). On Sunday, Modi participated in BJPs Praja Chaitanya Sabha in Guntur near Amaravathi, Andhra Pradeshs capital. Being former allies it was easier for Modi to accuse Naidu of amassing wealth from the development funds sanctioned by the Centre for the state. Modi also said that Naidu parted ways with the BJP because he did not like being held accountable. The second half of Modis speech on Sunday gives a clear hint that in the days ahead Naidu and his close associates will be repeatedly attacked on corruption charges. In Telangana, both the BJP and K Chandrashekar Raos Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) have a common enemy in the Congress. The TRS would want to keep the Congress, which is the main opposition in Telangana, at bay this suits the BJP as long as the Congress does not win considerable number of Lok Sabha seats from the state. The ground realities In Andhra Pradesh, both the state and general elections will take place simultaneously. In the process of trying to boost his image and play a key role in Delhi, Naidu is utilising all his energy, resources and time on fighting the BJP, which is an insignificant player in state politics. Meanwhile, the main opposition party, the YSR Congress, is gaining ground in Andhra Pradesh. YSRC leader YS Jagan Reddys one-year-long padayatra and the increasing anti-incumbency has made him the frontrunner for the CMs post an indicator reflected in various surveys by different agencies. Actor Pawan Kalyans Jana Sena is still to make any mark even though the star has been holding rallies and meetings for some time now. Though the Congress has said that it will contest on its own, it most certainly has a secret understanding with the TDP in some seats to benefit the grand alliance. Thus, Andhra Pradesh is likely to witness a multi-cornered contest with the TDP, the YSRCP, the BJP, the Congress and the Jana Sena in the fray with no open tie-ups for the 175 assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats. In Telangana, the TRS is brimming with confidence because of its recent win in the state elections. It looks like its victory run will continue even in the general elections as it is poised to win a majority of 17 seats. The Congress, the TDP and the BJP will have to fight really hard for whatever little chance they have for winning the remaining seats. In the days ahead it will be clear which party joins which alliance: the anti-BJP Mahagathbandhan or the anti-BJP, anti-Congress federal front. While Naidu is trying to be the architect for the grand alliance, Rao has been voicing support for the federal front. Supporting Rao is Asaduddin Owaisis AIMIM. The YSRCP has also been invited to join the federal front, but Jagan is yet to commit. For now, it is safe to assume that every political party is on its own in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Amar Devulapalli is a Hyderabad-based senior journalist. Views are personal For more Opinion pieces, click here New Delhi: Opposition leaders (R-L) Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, National Conference President Farooq Abdullah, NCP Chief Sharad Pawar, TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and TMC MP Derek O'Brien at a press conference, in New Delhi, Monday, Feb. 4, 2019. (PTI Photo/Kamal Singh) (PTI2_4_2019_000243B) Viju Cherian On Wednesday, February 13, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will hold a protest rally against the Narandra Modi government at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. An array of anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders are expected to attend the rally. This will be the latest in a series of protests held by opposition parties against the BJP government at the Centre. Opposition unity has strengthened over the past few weeks and is likely to further solidify. However, its electoral benefits might be limited particularly if the Congress is kept out of the equation. On January 19, the unity of anti-BJP parties was tested when Trinamool Congress (TMC) hosted what it called a mega rally in Kolkata. With 20 opposition parties, including the Congress, attending the rally the anti-BJP grand alliance proved a point to many of its detractors that a Mahagathbandhan should not be taken lightly. On February 11, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) held a protest in Delhi against the central government for not fulfilling its promise to grant the special category status to Andhra Pradesh. Here also opposition parties turned the protest into a show of strength. These protests and many more to come prove one point no longer can the grand alliance be laughed off as a self-contradicting political theorem. If initially, about a year ago when the idea was being floated, it appeared vacuous, in the last few months opposition unity has gathered momentum. This has mainly happened after the assembly polls to five states in December, where the Congress formed governments in three Hindi-heartland states. The BJP won none of the five. Regional parties in the opposition space agree on two aspects: One, the BJP must be defeated and, two, they must stand together to achieve the first objective. The disagreement is in including the Congress in this space and this is a major weak point. Most parties are ready to join hands with the Congress, but the TMC, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, the Biju Janata Dal and AAP do not want to have truck with the grand old party. Shows of strength help in developing a better understanding between opposition parties which would help in a post-poll scenario. However, such support has little electoral benefits for most of the regional parties. For example, AAP support would not mean much for the TMC in West Bengal as would TMC support for the TDP in Andhra Pradesh or for the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. From a national perspective and when purely looked at arithmetically, the maximum number of seats a non-BJP, non-Congress party can win is 42 provided Mamata Banerjees TMC wins all the seats in West Bengal. In UP, which has 80 Lok Sabha seats, both the SP and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are contesting 38 each. So, while a federal front (of anti-BJP, anti-Congress parties) might appear formidable, to look at it as an electoral behemoth would be an overestimation. It is here that the importance of Congress as a national party must be recognised. With a pan India party network and a good chance in many states, the grand old party cannot be side-lined. Even if the party was to marginally improve from its present 45 seats, it would be the largest non-BJP party. Many surveys show that the Congress will do way better than 2014, and further buttresses its place in the grand alliance. Thus, for a non-BJP government to come to power in May, it is essential that the Congress is a part of it. A year ago such a statement would have been considered wishful thinking or even outlandish. If today it is in the realm of possibility, credit must go to Congress President Rahul Gandhi. For more Opinion pieces, click here Akhilesh Yadav Hours after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav claimed that he was stopped at Lucknow airport on Tuesday while on his way to Allahabad, BSP supremo Mayawati said it was extremely condemnable and asked whether the ruling BJP was afraid of their alliance because of which it is "resorting to anti-democratic methods". Mayawati described the episode as "an example of total dictatorship of BJP government". "This is very unfortunate and this undemocratic step will be fought at all levels," she said. "Is the BJP government at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh so afraid of BSP-SP alliance that it is resorting to anti-democratic methods to curb our political activities," she asked. The SP and the BSP recently forged an alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Akhilesh claimed he was stopped at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad University. "The government is afraid of oath ceremony of a student leader and is stopping me at the airport to prevent me from visiting Allahabad," Yadav claimed. He also posted photographs on his official Twitter handle in which he was seen talking to police officers inside the airport. The matter rocked the Uttar Pradesh legislature. N Chandrababu Naidu Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu along with TDP MPs and MLAs met President Ramnath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan here on February 12 and raised demand for special status for the state. The delegation marched from Andhra Pradesh Bhavan to Rashtrapati Bhavan and presented a memorandum to the President with 18 demands, including the Bifurcation Act promises and special status to the state. "We met the President and apprised him of our demands. The central government has ignored the Andhra Pradesh bifurcation act promises. Modi government is passing the time without releasing grants to the state. "For the development of Hyderabad there has been a struggle for 60 years and today it stands as a world-class city. On seeing the injustice done to Andhra Pradesh many people went into depression and recently a physically challenged man Arjun Rao has committed suicide over the special status not being granted to the state," Naidu said at a press conference. He said that a possibility of pre poll alliance with opposition parties cannot be ruled out. "Nothing is decided yet but possibility of a pre poll alliance with opposition parties cannot be ruled out," he added. Bringing his battle for special status for his state to the national capital, Naidu on Monday went on a daylong fast that became a rallying point for opposition unity for the second time in less than a month to take on the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Naidu, who is trying to unite opposition parties, has over the last three months held a number of meetings with opposition party leaders on forming an anti-BJP front. The TDP pulled out of the NDA government in March last year over its refusal to grant special status to Andhra Pradesh. Demanding that the Centre fulfil promises made during Andhra Pradesh's bifurcation in 2014, the TDP president has been alleging that Modi was not following 'raj dharma' by denying the state special status. Akhilesh yadav Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday claimed he was stopped at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad University. "The government is afraid of oath ceremony of a student leader and is stopping me at the airport to prevent me from visiting Allahabad," Yadav claimed. He also posted photographs in his official Twitter handle in which he was seen talking to police officers inside the airport. He said he had to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad university. When asked, Airport Director AK Sharma said, "I have no such information." The matter rocked the Uttar Pradesh legislature. As soon as Samajwadi Party members came to know about their national president being stopped at the airport, they tried to raise the matter during Question Hour in the assembly. "The present regime is trying to kill democracy and stop our leader from visiting Allahabad," SP leader Narendra Verma said. The members also trooped into the Well of the House due to which Speaker Hriday Narain Dixit adjourned the proceedings for 20 minutes during the Question Hour. The matter was also raised in the Legislative Council, leading to the adjournment of the House for 25 minutes during the pre-lunch sitting. Akhilesh Yadav Describing Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's comments that his Allahabad visit could have triggered violence as "a cover to hide nervousness", Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on February 12 said that stopping him shows how "scared" the government is. "I was stopped from boarding a flight to Allahabad to attend a students' union programme. I haven't been given a reason why but it seems the general impression was that I would create a law and order problem. Chief minister has given a statement to this effect but they are using this as a cover to hide their nervousness because our youth have had enough," Yadav said. "If there was a genuine problem, the police there would have objected, or asked for a change in my schedule. I understand the need to ensure the safety of people and property and would never do something to endanger either knowingly," he added. He said the BJP has lost Uttar Pradesh, "but more than an election, they have lost the faith that the youth of this country reposed in them". The former UP chief minister said the BJP has betrayed the aspirations and hopes of crores of young people in their "blind pursuit" of creating a monochrome India. "Their attack on institutions by filling them with people whose loyalties lie with an organisation that harbours people who celebrate the Mahatmas murderer, is an attack on our democracy. These are people who have taken two oaths (of government and RSS) but are only loyal to one. These are people who have never accepted or celebrated our Constitution," he said. "This is is what I hear from the youth - We are awake. We are aware. And we will never again be fooled by rhetoric that is designed to divide and conquer," Yadav said. "I stand with the youth of Uttar Pradesh and this country, and they stand with me. Today, I ask everyone to come forward and join hands not to win an election but to defeat, and forever stand vigilant against, an ideology that threatens to unravel the beautiful tapestry of our country," he added. Speaking to reporters, Adityanath said Yadav's visit could have triggered violence between rival student groups at the Allahabad University. "The Allahabad University had urged the government to stop his visit and the government acted," he said. Bizarre as it may sound, Income Tax department officials had to dig up a grave to uncover illegal income hidden away in the form of cash, gold, and diamond. The I-T sleuths were raiding the premises of realty firms GSquare, Lotus Group, and Saravana Stores Bramandamai when they received intel on an SUV carrying cash and valuables doing the rounds in Chennai. They had information about Rs 433 crore unaccounted income in the three firms combined. The officials tracked the vehicle down eventually and recovered important documents that could help indict the black money hoarders. Apart from that, they also got information on several bags of valuables buried in buildings and some dumped inside buildings. As per a report by Times of India, 74 locations owned by Saravana Stores owner Yogarathinam Pondurai and G Square and Lotus Group owner Ramajayan (Bala) 72 in Chennai, 2 in Coimbatore -- were searched. A total of 12.53 kg of gold, 626 carats of diamond, and Rs 25 crore in cash were retrieved over a nine-day-long search. The raids revealed that payments were being made in real estate aggregation through these firms. The role of the realty companies allegedly was to amass plots of land for Saravana stores. Additionally, the team learnt that the staffers of the realty firms were told to delete all records from the computers, including the CCTV footage, to avoid being detected. Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves to the crowd as he boards a seaplane on the Sabarmati river front in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. PTI Photo by Santosh Hirlekar(PTI12_12_2017_000017B) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been relentlessly travelling across the nation in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. PM Modi has made 27 trips in 42 days since January 1, covering as many as 18 states and Union Territories, Scroll has reported. The online publication has pointed out that on many of his trips, Modi has combined official work with campaign meetings of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). For instance, he inaugurated the Indian Science Congress in Jalandhar on January 3. Hours later, he addressed a public meeting organized by the Punjab BJP unit in Gurdaspur. Another example could be Modi visiting Baripada in Odisha on January 5, where he attended both party events and official meetings on the same day. Although this is an effective way in which the PM can save time considering his extremely tight schedule, it however poses the question whether these dual trips are making the lines on account books a bit blurry. To get clarity on the issue, the publication reached out to the Prime Ministers Office seeking details on how the expenses of these travels are split between the government and the party. The PMO hasnt responded yet. The Prime Ministers Office maintains a public record of both his international and domestic trips, it spells out expenditure details only for his international trips. Neither the information regarding expenditure on his domestic travel is available nor the official protocol governing it. The publication pointed out that this, however, was not the case with former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who never overlapped official tours with unofficial ones. Besides, Singh spent 368 days travelling during his first term and 284 days in his second term, as opposed to PM Modi, who has spent 565 days nearly one-third of his term in travelling. In response to questions on official tours in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh said an expenditure of over Rs 2,021 crore was incurred on chartered flights, maintenance of aircraft and hotline facilities during PM Modi's visits to foreign countries since June 2014. In fact, in 2017, Hindustan Times has reported that the PMO has paid around Rs 89 lakh to the Indian Air Force for flying Modi on 128 non-official domestic trips since he took office, an expense that was lower than what it would have been had the PM used commercial providers. The expenses on domestic visits of PM are met out of the budget of Ministry of Defence. However, the report pointed out that Defence Ministry hadnt revised the prices of air travel since 1999. The Election Code of India suggests that the ministers, including the Prime Minister, must reimburse the government if its machinery is used for the purpose of electioneering. current-affairs-trends PM Modi, Amit Shah to launch projects, host rallies in UP as BJP prepares to take on Opposition The BJP is hoping to minimise potential losses in Uttar Pradesh which has the highest pool of Lok Sabha seats New Delhi: BJP National President Amit Shah addresses a press conference, in New Delhi, Friday, Dec. 07, 2018. (PTI Photo/Arun Sharma) (PTI12_7_2018_000036B) Claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rock-solid support of people, BJP president Amit Shah Tuesday dubbed the proposed "mahagathbandhan" of opposition parties as an alliance of state-level leaders "not standing a chance" in the coming Lok Sabha polls. Attacking the opposition parties' bid to forge the 'grand alliance' ahead of the election to take on Modi, Shah said it will not affect BJP's poll prospects. He sought to know from the opposition parties their prime ministerial 'face' and leader of their proposed grand alliance. Addressing BJP leaders and workers from Gujarat after launching the 'Mera Parivar-Bhajapa Parivar' voter outreach campaign, Shah said a full majority government was required to enable Modi to continue serving the needy. "The 2019 Lok Sabha election is an important step for India to become a superpower in the world. I have travelled across the country and I can see thatpeople are standing like a rock with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I have seen love for Modi in people's eyes," he said. Shah said BJP workers ask him about the 'mahagathbandhan'. "I want to tell them that it will not have any impact," he said. "What will happen if (former prime minister and JD-S supremo) Deve Gowda gives a speech in Gujarat or (West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee in Maharashtra or (former UP chief minister) Akhilesh Yadav in Kerala? It will not have any impact whatsoever because they are only state-level leaders," the BJP president said. Asking party workers to reach out to people, Shah said they need not worry as the opposition parties "do not stand a chance" in the coming election. "I want people of this gathbandhan to declare their candidate for PM's post. Who is your leader? Who will run this country? We are very clear about it. Modiji will be the NDA candidate and only he will lead us," he said. On BJP's prospects in Uttar Pradesh, which accounts for the highest number of 80 Lok Sabha seats, Shah said his party will win "nothing less than 74 seats" there. The Modi government has worked to end corruption and to support 22 crore people through various programmes in its maiden term in office. "I would like to tell all party workers that the Modi government has not done anything to make BJP workers hang their heads in shame. Meet people with pride, they are ready to welcome Modiji," he said. Earlier, he hoisted the party flag at his private residence here while launching the mass outreach campaign. The campaign is a strategy of the ruling BJP to connect to voters by hoisting party flags at their houses ahead of the polls. Shah said the BJP will hold four major programmes in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls to mobilise and expand its voter base. As part of the 'Mera Parivar-Bhajapa Parivar' campaign, the party plans to reach out to five crore families by unfurling its flag and garner support of around 20 crore voters in these households. "If more than 20 crore voters express their support to Modji, it means that the BJP will return to power with more votes compared to the last election," Shah said. "The programme is meant to express the power of the organisation and to convert it into victory. I am sure crores of party workers will ensure victory for the party," he said. The BJP also plans to contact 22 crore beneficiaries of various government programmes as part of its 'Sampark Abhiyan', Shah said. "There are 22 crore such families who have benefited from programmes launched by the Modi government an BJP-led governments in 16 states," he said. The central government has also connected 50 crore people through its Ayushman Bharat scheme, he said. "We will reach out to them and tell them that the party feels there are still many people who are yet to get these basic benefits that you have been offered by the Modi government. The party appeals to you to express your support for Modi so that no one is left behind," he said. The BJP will also organise the 'Kamal Jyoti' programme wherein party supporters will light up their houses and fire crackers to express their support for Modi, Shah said. The party will also conduct motorcycle rallies, involving over three crore bikes, across the country on March 3 as part of its voter outreach programme, he said. India Economy In a bid to fight marine pollution, India signed a letter of intent with the Norwegian government establishing the India-Norway Marine Pollution Initiative. The letter was signed by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) establishing the initiative with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a statement from the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) said. "In January, 2019, the Indian and Norwegian governments agreed to work more closely on oceans by signing an MoU and establishing the India-Norway Ocean Dialogue during the Norwegian Prime Minister's visit to India in January," it said. The joint initiative was signed by Anil Kumar Jain, Additional Secretary, MoEFCC, and Nils RagnarKamsvag, Norway's Ambassador to India. The statement from the EAC-PM said his is the first joint initiative under this new partnership and the India-Norway Marine Pollution Initiative will combat marine pollution, which is one of the fastest growing environmental concerns. In partnership, Norway and India will share experiences and competence, and collaborate on efforts to develop clean and healthy oceans, sustainable use of ocean resources and growth in the blue economy, it said. Among those present at the event were Marianne Hagen, Deputy Minister, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and M Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences. This initiative will seek to support local governments in implementing sustainable waste management practices, develop systems for collecting and analysing information about sources and scope of marine pollution and improve private sector investment, the government said. Support will also be directed towards beach clean-up efforts, awareness raising campaigns and pilot project using plastic waste as fuel substitution for coal in cement production and developing frameworks for deposit schemes, it said. Suresh Prabhu India, with its stellar track record in building affordable and innovative technologies, would be keen to partner with nations looking for scalable and low-cost communications solutions, Commerce and Industry Minster Suresh Prabhu said on February 12. Terming communications technology as "all pervasive", the minister said that it had brought people on the same platform on a real time basis. "These are interesting times, but also challenging, because the change is profound and the speed of change is dramatic," Prabhu said, speaking at India Telecom 2019 expo organised by Telecom Equipment and Services Export Promotion Council (TEPC). The minister said that India is looking to build partnerships that are mutually beneficial. India is next only to China in consumer base in communications, he said, adding that the country offers great advantage in terms of low cost and high tech manufacturing, and is known for scalability, precision and technology prowess, and "we extend our hand of friendship to developing countries". Indian entrepreneurs have built new class of products and solutions, and the government will extend all possible support to foster growth and innovation, he added. Amit Shah_BJP BJP president Amit Shah Tuesday held a closed door meeting here with party leaders from Gujarat to review its Lok Sabha poll preparations. Party sources said Shah asked leaders to ensure BJP retains all 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Shah also met former Unjha MLA Asha Patel who recently quit the Congress and the state Assembly and joined the ruling party. Patel told PTI that it was just a courtesy call. Gujarat Chief minister Vijay Rupani, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, state unit president Jitu Vaghani, state BJP in charge Om Mathur and other leaders were present in the meeting held at the city circuit house. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Duracell, owned by Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway, is eyeing controlling stake in Eveready Industries, the flagship company of the BM Khaitans group, reports The Economic Times. Other competitors in the fray include Energizer Holdings, private equity firms Blackstone and KKR, as well as domestic funds like Kedaara, sources told the newspaper. Energizer Holdings may have a slight advantage here as it already owns the Eveready brand in the US and China. Eveready is part of the diversified BM Khaitan-led Williamson Magor group, which has interests in tea (McLeod Russel) and engineering (Kilburn Engineering and McNally Bharat), sells over 1.2 billion batteries and 25 million flashlights every year. It commands half of the domestic dry battery and flashlight industry, the report said, adding that Panasonic and Nippon are its two main competitors in the organised space and Chinese companies dominating the unorganised segment. Promoters own 44.35 percent stake as of December 31, 2018. Of this, the Khaitan family holds 1.17 percent, Williamson Magor owns 23.67 percent; and its unit Williamson Financial Services 8.79 percent. McLeod Russel is another shareholder from among the group entities, at 2.29 percent. On January 11, the Hindu Business Line reported that the company has appointed Kotak Mahindra to scout for potential financial or strategic investors. The ET report said that all non-binding bids are expected to be submitted this week, post which the selected candidates will begin their due diligence process. The move is likely to trigger an open offer for an additional 26 percent stake in the company, the report said. Sources told the Economic Times that promoters expect a 30-40 percent control premium to the current market price as they believe the stock is deeply undervalued. The Hindu Business Line report expects the deal to conclude at an enterprise valuation of around Rs 4,000-6,000 crore. How has the stock fared? The Eveready stock has corrected 44.96 percent in the past one year and risen 12.37 percent since January in anticipation of the deal. On February 12, it closed at Rs 204, down 2.11 percent. A brief history The Eveready brand was owned by the erstwhile Union Carbide India since 1905. The latter exited India after the methyl isocyanate leak from its Bhopal plant (read as Bhopal Gas tragedy, one of the worlds worst industrial disasters) in 1984. The Khaitans fought a bitter battle with Nusli Wadias Bombay Dyeing to acquire Eveready for Rs 300 crore in 1993. The company has six manufacturing facilities in Kolkata, Noida, Haridwar, Chennai, Lucknow and Assam. The group has been divesting non-core assets such as land to pare down its debt but sale of family silver will be a first for the group. Financials For the quarter-ended September, Eveready posted a profit of Rs 25.06 crore on sales of Rs 392.75 crore. Liabilities as of September 2018 stood at Rs 814.92 crore. The civil aviation ministry has invited bids from airlines to fly over as many as 28 to 30 route networks in a bid to cover north eastern region, hilly terrain of Uttarakhand, Jammu and Himachal as well as intra-island connectivity at Andaman and Lakshadweep. Bids have been invited for routes such as Guwahati-Tezpur, Guwahati-Passighat, Port Blair-Hutbay/Havelock/Neil Island, Raipur-Bilaspur, Patna-Hazaribagh, Hazaribagh-Kolkata, Hissar-Chandigarh, Hissar-Jammu, Kargil-Leh/Jammu, Srinagar-Thoise and Rewa-Jhansi/Bhopal among many other routes. For the first time, Centre has also bid out routes for Lakshadweep islands including Agatti-Mincoy and Agatti-Kavaratti. UDAN, short for Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik, is a government sponsored scheme to connect tier-II and tier-III cities with tier-I or metro cities. The scheme aims to make air travel affordable for economically weaker citizens by capping fares, for every one hour flight, at Rs 2,500. The government has invited bids till February 22, 2019 after which it shall award the routes to airlines on February 27, 2019. It has set a deadline of six months for the airlines to commence operations on such routes from the date of award to the airline. Also read: 21 UDAN routes connecting Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand to be bid in a week Centre has, however, asked the airlines to do their own due diligence for infrastructure readiness. Applicants are encouraged to submit their respective proposals after ascertaining for themselves the site conditions, condition of the regional connectivity scheme (RCS) airports / water aerodromes, feasibility of the proposed RCS routes, traffic, location, surroundings, climate, availability of power, water and other utilities / space for temporary construction (if any required), access to site, handling and storage of materials, weather data, applicable laws and regulations, and any other matter considered relevant by them, the notice inviting proposals said. Centre, on January 25, released 235 routes that were awarded under third phase of the scheme. Certain routes, however, were yet to be finalised in consultation with state governments and were withheld by the ministry Exceptions under UDAN 3.1 The government, however, has withdrawn certain benefits for airlines opting to fly on routes under UDAN 3.1. According to the notice, airlines opting to bid for these new routes shall not receive any exclusivity of operation right as is given to airlines under previous UDAN routes coupled with any additional concession apart from funds through viable gap funding. The scheme, launched in 2016-17, is funded by the government through a Viability Gap Fund, where the government reimburses the airlines for subsidised pricing. Additional concessions offered by the government include excise duty will be levied at the rate of two percent on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) drawn by selected airline operators at RCS airports for such flights for a period of three years, selected airline will have the freedom to enter into code sharing arrangements with domestic as well as international airlines in accordance with applicable regulations and prevailing air service agreements and concession on service tax on tickets among other things. Also read: UDAN 3: Centre announces regional connectivity for 235 routes As per rules, airlines flying under UDAN scheme get three year exclusivity period, giving them exclusive right to fly over such routes. During such exclusivity period, no other airline operator would be allowed to operate flights on the specific RCS route. In case of a network proposal, exclusivity of operations shall only be provided on RCS routes as part of the network, the rules say. Ministry of civil aviation has already awarded 128 routes under the first phase of UDAN and 312 routes under the second phase. Of these, 76 routes are operational under the former and 60 are operational under the latter. India has close to 100 airports that are operational at the moment coupled with 31 helipads that are being prepared for operation. Representative image Moneycontrol News Shares of aviation companies are falling in trade on the back of higher crude oil prices. SpiceJet, IndiGo and Jet Airways fell between 1 and 4 percent. Oil prices rose on Tuesday amid OPEC-led supply cuts and U.S. sanctions against Iran and Venezuela, although analysts expect surging U.S. production and concerns over economic growth to keep markets in check. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $52.78 per barrel at 0329 GMT, up 37 cents, or 0.7 percent, from their last close. The ongoing closure of parts of the Keystone pipeline that brings Canadian oil into the United States also helped prop up WTI, traders said. International Brent crude futures were up 50 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $62.01 per barrel. Analysts said markets are tightening amid voluntary production cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and because of U.S. sanctions on Venezuela and Iran. Investors could have also reacted to SpiceJets earnings for December quarter. The airline posted a steep 77.1 percent year-on-year decline in profit to Rs 55.1 crore, dented by higher aircraft fuel expenses. Its profit in same period last year was at Rs 240 crore. The company said revenue from operations during the quarter grew by 20.2 percent to Rs 2,487 crore year-on-year. At operating level, EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) plunged 62.7 percent YoY to Rs 113.2 crore and margin contracted to 4.5 percent in Q3 against 14.7 percent YoY due to more than 33 percent increase in operating expenses. Angel Commodities' report on Soybean NCDEX Mar Soybean futures slipped more than 1.4% on Monday due to fresh selling. There are concern about slowing physical demand, increased arrivals and higher production forecasts. As per latest press release by SOPA, Indias soybean output is likely to rise by a staggering 38% to114.8 lakh tonnes this year due to increase in average yield across the country. However, in January, prices jumped about 12.5% on higher exports of soybean meal. Soymeal exports from India are expected to rise 25% on year to around 15 lakh tn in 2018-19 (Apr-Mar). Demand for Indian soymeal is growing from Europe and West Asia while Iran is emerging as one of the largest buyers. Soymeal exports up by 98% on year in January to 210,166tonne, as per SEA press release. Soymeal exports are higher by 16% at 10.66 lakh tonnes for the Apr-Jan period compared to last year. Outlook Soybean futures expected to trade sideways to lower on expectation of technical selling. However, good physical demand for new season crop from oil mills due to higher meal exports may keep prices supportive in coming weeks. For all commodities report, click here Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. Read More Anju Gandhi The requirement to make a valid will keeping in mind the new age digital assets is highlighted again in the recent unfortunate demise of the CEO of a Canadian company that owes its customers $190 million in cryptocurrency. The new age will should take care of the inheritance of digital assets to the beneficiaries and help should also be forthcoming from the likes of Google/Facebook /WhatsApp and similar platforms for providing access to the information of an account holder to his/her legal heirs. In this column, we closely examine the various legal issues relating to the difficulties that a beneficiary may face, while inheriting any property under a will; and the precautions which one must exercise while preparing a will. A testamentary disposition of property means a disposition of property which would be bought into effect after death. A testamentary disposition is generally effected by a will or by a codicil. We have discussed the salient features of a will in the first column published in January 2019. Under the orthodox Hindu system, it was construed that the property, if not previously distributed during the lifetime of the deceased, automatically passed to his heirs, after he dies. So far as Hindus are concerned, it was in Bengal that the testamentary power of Hindus was first recognised and settled. The first important prejudicial announcement was made in 1772. This is popularly known as Nuddeas case. The will of the Raja of Nuddea, the testator, bequeathing the entire zamindari in favour of his eldest son while excluding his all other sons, was held to be perfectly valid. The personal laws applicable to an individual play an important role and a will should be written keeping this in mind. As an example, the Mohammedan laws as applicable to a specific sect allow only one-third of the estate to be given under a will and the remaining estate is distributed in terms of the personal laws. Similarly, a will by a Christian may be required to be made again upon the change in marital status. Legal Requirements for a valid will The requirement of a valid will is that the testator must have known and approved the contents. A person of sound mind, not being a minor, is capable of executing a will. It is necessary under the Indian laws that the will must be executed by the testator in the presence of two witnesses and the said two witnesses must have signed the will as witnesses in the presence of a testator. If this requirement is not complied with, the will may be rendered invalid or void. Under the Indian laws, there is a provision for privileged wills as well, which may be in writing or may be made by word of mouth. These are restricted to wills made by any soldier under special circumstances. Requisite of a valid will IT IS A VOLUNTARY ACT The execution of a will is a voluntary gratuitous act on the part of the testator whereby the person expresses the intention with regard to inheritance of his asset upon his demise. The wills obtained by fraud, coercion, undue influence or importunity are not valid. FRAUD & COERCIONThe Indian laws define fraud as any act committed by a person with the intent to deceive. It includes active concealment of a fact. Coercion means committing or threatening to commit any act that is barred under the Indian Penal Code. Undue influence is where a person is in a position to dominate the will of another and uses this position to obtain unfair advantage. Importunity which takes away the free exercise of the testators own mind is another ground under which a will can be challenged. Whether or not the persistence/pestering of a person did lead to the writing of a will would depend upon the facts of each case. MOST COMMON OBJECTIONSThe most common objections seen while disputing the will before a court of law are forgery, unsound mind and undue influence. In order to circumvent the issues stated above, we strongly advise the following safeguards while executing a will: Obtain a certificate of the doctor on the date of the execution of the will that should clearly state that the testator has been examined by the doctor and he/she is of a sound mind and capable of independently taking decisions; Video record the execution of the will by the testator and two witnesses in the presence of each other. During the recording pertinent questions may be asked from the testator and the witnesses to corroborate that they are aware of their actions; The doctor issuing the certificate of good health may also attend the execution of the will and be video graphed; Registration of the will with the office of Sub Registrar of Assurances. The author is Partner at the law firm SNG & Partners. The Nifty50 after rangebound trade extended losses in last hour of trade and closed in the red for third consecutive session on Tuesday despite strong global cues and sharp rupee appreciation. The selling pressure in technology, banking & financials and FMCG stocks weighed the market. The index failed to cross previous day's high and continued its weakness towards 10,824 zones to settle near its 50 DEMA. It formed a bearish candle on daily scale. As the market managed to hold on to its crucial support of 10,812 levels, there could be possibility of pull back rally in coming session, experts said, adding 10,900 could be next crucial level for further rally. The Nifty50 after flat opening at 10,879.70 remained rangebound, but suddenly fell sharply in last hour of trade and hit an intraday low of 10,823.80. The index closed at 10,831.40, down 57.40 points, taking total three-day loss to 238 points. "Nifty50 continued its corrective phase for fourth session in a row but seems to be attracting some support between 10,85010,800 levels as the pace of fall on the downside is somewhat sluggish in this zone," Mazhar Mohammad, Chief Strategist Technical Research & Trading Advisory, Chartviewindia.in told Moneycontrol. He said as long as Nifty sustains above its near term support level of 10,812 bulls may attempt a pull back rally but the moment Nifty slips below 10,800 then the pace of fall shall get aggravated further with initial targets close to 10,700 levels. But ideally if Nifty is making a rangebound move between 11,00010,600 then the test of lower end of said consolidation zone (10,600) can't be ruled out, he added. Mazhar said traders who are on short side will consider booking profits close to 10,700 levels. "Contrary to this any close above 10,900 can be an initial sign of come back for bulls." India VIX fell by 0.57 percent to 15.75 levels. VIX needs to cool down further with a hold below 16 zones to get any recovery from support zones. On option front, maximum Put open interest (OI) was at 10,400 followed by 10,700 and 10,500 strike while maximum Call OI was at 11,000 followed by 11,200 strike. Put unwinding was at all the immediate strikes from 11,100 to 10,700 strikes while Call writing was at 10,900 to 11,100 strikes. Experts said option band signifies a lower shift in the trading range in between 10,700 to 11,000 zones. "Nifty index has been forming lower highs - lower lows from last three trading sessions. It has broken its 50 percent retracement at 10,850 zones and finding hurdle to surpass 10,929 zones. Now it has to cross and hold above 10,850 zones to witness a bounce towards 10,935 then 10,985 while on downside it may find support near to 10,777-10,750 zones," Chandan Taparia, Associate Vice President | Analyst-Derivatives at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited said. Bank Nifty broken its immediate support of 27,150 zones and drifted towards 27,000 zones in last hour of the session. The index closed 217.05 points lower at 27,010.75 and formed a bearish candle on daily scale. "The index has been forming lower highs - lower lows from past three sessions which suggests selling pressure is intact at higher levels," Chandan said, adding now if it sustains below 27,350 zones then weakness could drag it towards 26,850 then 26,666 zones while on the upside hurdles at 27,350 then 27,500 zones. tata motors live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Shares of Tata Motors, which underperformed benchmark indices in 2018, witnessed a fresh round of selling recently after December quarter results. It led to an erosion of more than Rs 8,600 crore in terms of market capitalisation. Tata Motors hit a 10-year low in intraday trade a day after it reported a net loss of Rs 26,961 crore for the quarter ended December 2018 impacted by an exceptional item of asset impairment of Rs 27,838 crore. Over 200 mutual fund schemes are invested in Tata Motors, which is part of Nifty and Sensex. Any drastic slide in market price could also impact those which have considerable exposure in the automaker. Out of 200 schemes, 16 have exposure of more than 2 percent including Reliance Capital Builder, Reliance Vision, Reliance Tax Saver, UTI Focused Equity, Kotak India Growth Fund and ICICI Prudential Bharat Consumption, Morningstar India data showed. In terms of value, more than Rs 4,000 crore of mutual fund money is riding on Tata Motors, and approximately Rs 1,700 crore in Tata Motors DVR, data showed. We have collated a list of 15 MFs from data provided by Morningstar India that have exposure of more than 2 percent of their AUM in Tata Motors: According to Reuters, analysts giving buy rating to Tata Motors have reduced from 16 to 11 in the last three months. The consensus has now shifted towards holding the stock. Some brokerage firms such as Axis Capital and Motilal Oswal downgraded Tata Motors stock post the December quarter numbers that were impacted by an exceptional item of asset impairment. Most brokerage firms reduced their earnings per share (EPS) estimate for Tata Motors and reduced their target price on the stock. CLSA retained sell rating on Tata Motors and has a target price of Rs 150. JLR reported a loss for the third straight quarter as net sales declined 1 percent YoY to 6.2 billion pounds, as volumes fell 11 percent YoY. EBITDA margin shrank 180 bps to 7.3 percent impacted by one-off cost on account of de-stocking and warranty cost. JLR margins declined QoQ despite higher volume. The big asset impairment dragged Tata into a consolidated loss. The demand outlook has worsened in recent quarters in China and India. CLSA slashed its FY19-21 EPS estimate for Tata Motors by 2-66 percent. The stock will remain weak given insufficient near-term product triggers, said the research firm. The weak sales in China and de-stocking have impacted JLR numbers. The December quarter loss stood at 3,129 million pounds. JLRs EBITDA margin stood at 7.8 percent which was 200 bps below estimate. The finance cost for the Indian automaker increased by Rs 321 crore to Rs 1,568 crore during Q3FY19 versus the same quarter last year. It is tough to bottom fish in the company while P&L (profit & loss) seems to be near trough. Axis Capital downgraded Tata Motors to 'hold' after December quarter earnings and reduced its target price to Rs 187 from Rs 217 earlier. Motilal Oswal downgraded Tata Motors to 'Neutral' after December quarter results with a target price of Rs 166. The brokerage firm also slashed its FY20/21 consolidated EPS estimate by 21percent/13 percent. Deutsche Bank maintained its 'hold' rating on Tata Motors after December quarter results and reduced its target price to Rs 175 from Rs 195 earlier. : The views and investment tips expressed by investment expert on Moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. Dalal Street live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Angel Broking has shortlisted 22 stocks that can be considered for investment with a one-year perspective. The brokerage house is overweight on TTK Prestige, Safari Industries, Bata and Blue Star, which are part of the list of 22 stocks. All of our top picks are backed by sound business model and are likely to do well in the coming years, analysts at the firm wrote in their report. Investors could also pick at the some of the overly corrected value stocks which offer high margin of safety. We also advise our investors to avoid bottom fishing stocks which are facing severe corporate governance/regulatory issues, they added. The brokerage said the Street will be in wait-and-watch mode till general elections. The markets are still factoring in the current ruling partys win in the upcoming election and hence, any unfavourable results for the ruling Centre party could draw a sharp negative reaction from the market, they added. However, this period could also offer opportunities to cherry pick some quality equity investments. Angel Broking also expects some of the populist measures announced in Budget 2019 will boost consumption story in the economy, especially from the middle-class. Moreover, the fiscal deficit target at 3.4% for FY19 wasin line with market expectations, analysts further added. For FY20, too, the fiscal deficit target is at 3.4% which includes Rs 75,000 crore allocation for the income support scheme (PM KISAN) to farmers. Here are 10 stocks from the list of 22 stocks with highest return potential according to the brokerage: Jindal Steel and Power | Upside: 91 percent The company has increased its crude steel capacity more than double in last five years from 3.6 MTPA to 8.6 MTPA and currently running at ~50% utilization. It is trading at attractive valuation to its peer, we value the stock based on asset based approach of Steel segment on EV/Tonne basis and Power segment on EV/MW basis Aditya Birla Capital | Upside: 86.4 percent The NBFC business contributes highest value in our SOTP valuation. It has recorded a strong CAGR of 42% over FY13-18. Despite aggressive growth in lending and migration to 90dpd for NPA recognition, GNPA has remained at 1%. It expects financialization of savings, increasing penetration in Insurance & Mutual funds would ensure steady growth. Ashok Leyland | Upside: 85.7 percent The brokerage observed how the company gained market share in domestic market between April and July 2018. Further, the company has reported 46.4% yoy growth (against 45% industry growth) during the same period due to strong pick up in construction and industrial activities. BS-VI emission norms and the vehicle scrappage policy are among the major triggers that can provide a fillip to the commercial vehicle industry over the next couple of years. Further, in our view, the change in axle load norms will not impact the CV demand scenario; hence the company will not witness any disruption in performance, analysts said. Siyaram Silk | Upside: 78.2 percent Going forward, the company would be able to leverage its brand equity and continue to post strong performance. The company is likely to report a net sales CAGR of 14% to Rs 2,272 crore and net profit CAGR of 14% to Rs 150 crore over FY2018-20E on back of market leadership in blended fabrics, strong brand building, wide distribution channel, strong presence in tier II and tier III cities and emphasis on latest designs and affordable pricing points. GIC Housing Finance | Upside: 74.4 percent The company has healthy capital adequacy, and is seeing an increase in demand for home loans. GICHFs loan book is expected to report 18% loan growth over next two years. Its asset quality is on the higher side compared to other HFCs (As on Q2FY19 GNPA-3.11%). This is primarily due to GICHF has not written off any bad asset and has not sold any bad assets to ARC. Inox Wind | Upside: 71.4 percent It expects Inox Wind to report exponential growth in top-line and bottom-line over FY19-20E. The growth would be led by changing renewable energy industry dynamics in favor of wind energy segment viz. changes in auction regime from Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) to Reverse auction regime and Governments guidance for increasing wind energy capacity from 34GW current to 140GW by 2030. It has assigned a multiple of 7.5X on FY20EPS to arrive at a target price of `120 (potential upside of 70% over a period of the next 12-18 months). Shriram Transport | Upside: 68.9 percent The companys primary focus is on financing pre-owned commercial vehicles. CV/LCV sales grew by 20%/25% in FY18, respectively. It expects AUM to grow at healthy CAGR of 20% over FY2018-20E led by pick up in infra/ construction before 2019 elections, macro revival and Ramping up in rural distribution. It sees loan book/PAT CAGR of 20%/45% respectively over FY2018-20E. At 1.8x FY20E ABV, valuation appears reasonable. Music Broadcast | Upside: 58.8 percent The company grabbed the Number 1 position in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi in terms of number of listeners. This is helping MBL to charge premium rate, which resulting into higher EBITDA margin (33.6%) compare to 22% of ENIL. Capex for 39 licenses have been done for the next 15 years, hence no heavy incremental Capex requirement would emerge. Moreover, the maintenance Capex would be as low as Rs 5-10 crore. This would leave sufficient cash flow to distribute as dividend. Amber Enterprises | Upside: 56.2 percent In line with its strategy to capture more wallet share, it has made 2 acquisitions in the printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing space over the last 1 year which will boost its manufacturing capabilties. It expects Amber to report consolidated revenue/PAT CAGR of 28%/51% respectively over FY2018-20E. Its growing manufacturing capabilities and scale put it in a sweet spot to capture the underpenetrated RAC market in India. Maruti Suzuki | Upside: 55.5 percent Maruti Suzuki continues to hold 52% market share in the passenger vehicles. The launch of exciting models has helped the company to ride on the premiumization wave that is happening in the country. Due to the favorable business mix, company has also been seeing improvement in the margins. It believes that the company has further room to improve its margins. 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 number of dematerialised (demat) accounts opened in 2018 reached a 10-year high at 4 million, according to a report by Mint, quoting Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) data. The total number of demat accounts rose to 34.8 million in 2018 from 30.8 million in the previous year, marking a 13-percent increase. This indicates a shift in saving patterns from traditional instruments such as gold, real estate and bank deposits to alternatives such as equity and stocks. A demat account is opened by an investor with a depository participant to invest in securities such as stocks and bonds. The securities are held in electronic format, making it easier for users to trade shares. Read: How holding a demat account can benefit you According to the report, demonetisation of two high-value currencies in November 2016 seems to have pushed households to invest in stock markets. "With the push towards financial inclusion, a new set of participants have bank accounts now. We see a considerable influx in the middle-income groups, which are now diversifying from gold and real estate into the four million new demat accounts were opened in 2018, taking the total number of such accounts to 34.8 million. Along with easier access to stock markets, we see the number of accounts opened in India increasing each year exponentially," Nikhil Kamath, co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Zerodha, told the paper. In India, however, a very small part of the population has access to financial markets, Kamath said. Comment | What falling equity MF inflows mean for investors and markets "In India, less than 10 percent of the population has any exposure to the stock markets as compared to developed economies where this number is closer to 90 percent," he added. Retail investors flocked to equities after the market offered massive returns in 2017, Prakarsh Gagdani, Chief Executive Officer of 5paisa Capital told the paper. "Retail always participates, when they see the market going up. Seeing previous years' returns, retail investors flocked to the market in 2018. Also, with the rise of discount brokers offering easier and faster digital account opening, the demat number additions are higher. For example, we clocked over 300 percent growth in client acquisitions last year," Gagdani added. The enthusiasm of retail investors kept pace even after a muted 5.91 percent return in 2018. In 2018, 24 initial public offerings (IPOs) that hit the market, raising a total of Rs 30,959.07 crore compared to Rs 67,147.44 crore garnered by 36 IPOs in the previous year. Retail investors also showed an increase in interest in mutual funds and systematic investment plans (SIPs). An SIP allows an investor to invest a fixed sum in a mutual fund scheme periodically at fixed intervals. Also see: Inflows in equity mutual funds receding, but SIPs holding up There are 80.3 million mutual fund folios or accounts as of December 2018, of which 99.5 percent is accounted for by individual investors, according to Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI). Individual investors held Rs 12.91 trillion in mutual funds as of December 2018, a year-on-year increase of 13 percent. Overall, 75.3 million accounts belonged to retail investors, 4.54 million high to net worth individual accounts and 4.38 lakh accounts were held by institutional investors. "Retail investor accounts have shown a positive rate of growth since March 2014," said AMFI. In 2017, mutual fund folios stood at 66.5 million. Investments of individual investors in equity schemes increased 15 percent over December 2017. Analysts told the newspaper that participation of retail investors is at an inflection point and they expect to see a much larger influx of retail participants allocating their savings to the stock markets in the coming future. 1. Apollo Micro Systems | Return: -54.18% | Issue size: Rs 113 crore | Listing date: January 22, 2018 | Subscription ratio: 248.51 | Apollo Micro Systems caters primarily to the defence and aerospace sectors. India's Lohia Group has acquired an Israeli company, Light and strong Ltd, specialising in aerospace and military carbon fibre and glass fibre composite components production, with the aim of becoming a leading supplier for global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the aerospace and defence sector. The Group's director, Anurag Lohia, told PTI that the acquisition would help "establish a firm international footprint for the group and in further growing new markets". "We believe this marks the beginning of our growth in this sector on a global scale. We will continue to look at other synergistic opportunities in this space towards our aim to be a key participant in the global defence and aerospace domain, Lohia added. The Israeli company specialises in giving alternative solutions in the field of construction and engineering in the domain of UAVs in particular as well as in various other fields. It already has an established track record with Israel's Ministry of Defence, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Elbit systems, Rafael and several other defence companies from the fields of optics, simulation and UAV integrators as its clients. The company's CEO, Uri Orbach, said that it has about 60 people working at its manufacturing unit in Ashdod. "The firm's established pedigree in military technology manufacturing is a synergistic fit with Lohia Group's decades long expertise in large scale manufacturing across sectors," Lohia noted. "The acquisition allows Lohia Group to dovetail its considerable engineering experience with cutting edge technologies and deliver high quality products and services to its customers. The Group aims to become the leading supplier of choice for global OEMs in the aerospace and defence sector," he stressed. With its operations in India supporting its Israeli facilities, the Group looks at strengthening the Make in India initiative as well as making Israel a key export hub to the American and European markets. "With these facilities serving as a strategic base for customers in those markets, the Group will utilise Israel's well-known prowess in aerospace R&D and engineering to leverage its expertise globally," Lohia said. The Group's Indian facility located in Kanpur will be part of the Uttar Pradesh government's defence corridor and also help establish India as an exporter for customised composite products, he noted. All existing customers will now also be ably supported from the Group's India facilities, Lohia emphasised. The Group also aims to become a successful vehicle for executing offset obligations of global companies through this endeavour and will also explore other opportunities in the sector which align with its experience and expertise. The Lohia Group, headquartered in Kanpur, is a diversified conglomerate with its flagship company being one of the world's largest manufacturer of machinery and equipment for the plastic woven sack industry providing end-to end solutions to customers in 85 countries. It employs more than 5,000 people. Nitin Gadkari Union Minister Nitin Gadkari launched national highways and waterways projects worth more than Rs 3,400 crore during his day-long visit to East Champaran and West Champaran districts of Bihar. Gadkari, who holds road transport and highways, and shipping, water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation portfolios, also addressed the concluding ceremony of a three-day farmers' conclave in Motihari, the district headquarters of East Champaran. The Union minister began his visit from Bagaha in West Champaran, where he inaugurated and laid foundation stones for projects worth Rs 366.62 crore, which included two road overbridge (ROB) approach roads for National Highway 28, an official release said. He also laid the foundation stone for a 300 km national waterway from Balmiki Nagar in Bagaha to the confluence of river Gandak and Ganga in Hajipur. At Motihari, Gadkari launched projects worth Rs 2,540 crore which included widening of an 83.24 km-long stretch on National Highway 227A, which would cost Rs 1,285 crore, and four-laning of an 81.11 km-long section on National Highway 74, which would cost Rs 1,254 crore. At the 'Kisan Kumbh', Gadkari spoke of pro-farmer measures taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre, including an increase in the minimum support price and promoting the blending of ethanol, produced as a by-product during the process of making sugar from sugarcane, in petrol and diesel. He said the government, in keeping with its commitment to cleanse Ganga, had launched schemes worth Rs 26,000 crore. The farmers' conclave was also attended by Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh. Later, the Union ministers left for Raxaul in East Champaran where projects worth Rs 505 crore were launched. These included widening of a 40 km-long stretch on National Highway 28B and a 69 km-long stretch on National Highway 28A. Customers were offered lesser discounts on e-commerce sites such as Amazon and Flipkart in the first week of February after the government implemented the revised foreign direct investment (FDI) guidelines for the e-tailers on February 1. According to a survey which was conducted by Local Circles, a community media platform that hosts various startups and SMEs, 25 percent of the respondents said that price of the products including shipping costs were higher by over 25 percent during the period. Around 50 percent of the consumers said that they found lower discounts as compared to the earlier days. The survey was conducted among 10,500 individuals across 60 cities in India. It included 61 percent male and 39 percent female participants. Customers also said that even the delivery timing and availability of the products suffered post the implementation of the new FDI rules. Around 36 percent of the respondents said that the companies promised up to or more than twice the delivery time. Multiple products were also missing from the websites. About 20 percent of the consumers surveyed said that they were unable to find the products they typically order from e-commerce sites. Press Note 2, which was implemented on February 1, bars e-commerce companies from influencing the price of the goods. It was brought to protect the interests of small, local businessmen who accused online portals of stealing their business through predatory pricing and heavy discounts. E-commerce companies such as Walmart-owned Flipkart and US-based Amazon had been demanding an extension of the deadline stating that the regulation required extensive overhauling of their business model. But given the pressure from the offline retailers associations ahead of the elections, the government refused to extend the deadline. While Amazon has asked for time till June, Flipkart has sought six more months. Now the new norms make it difficult for the e-commerce companies fund discounts, do exclusive tie-ups and do business via group companies on their platforms. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Come April 2019, the Vodafone Executive Brian Humphries will take up the reins from Francisco D'Souza, the outgoing CEO of top IT firm Cognizant. By then, D'Souza would have completed over 12 years at the helm, during which period the company registered exponential growth. For one, the companys revenue grew from $2.1 billion in 2007 when he took over to $16.13 billion in 2018. It was under his leadership that the company overtook Infosys and Wipro in terms of revenue. The company also entered the Fortune 500 league, where it is now ranked 195. But all these achievements are hardly surprising given that the 50-year-old was one of the founding members of CTS, right from the time the company began as the in-house project of Dun & Bradstreet Corporation in 1994. The company was later christened Cognizant, where D'Souza held various leadership positions till he became the CEO in 2007. The growth in part could be attributed to period itself, which was ideal for growth of IT outsourcing services. In an interaction with CNBC-TV18, D'Souza's colleagues described him as a data-driven decision-maker. That probably explains the success of strategic decisions and investments D'Souza made during his tenure. D'Souza seems to have been a believer in inorganic growth as evident from the pipeline of acquisitions the company saw since 2007. The company saw small and large scale acquisitions from business consulting to digital products and services amounting to over 40 between 2007 and now. The pace has only stepped up as digitisation wave set in over the last 2-3 years. The company acquired healthcare IT services provider TriZetto Corp for $2.7 billion in 2014. It made series of acquisitions since 2016 till now including Idea Couture, Mirabeau and most recently Finnish company Oy Samlink. Apart from growing inorganically, D'Souza was keen on nurturing in-house digital capability as the IT landscape witnessed a huge transformation. "Last year, we reorganised the business we took all our capabilities and grouped them into three big practice areas: digital business, digital operations, digital systems and technology," D Souza said in a statement in 2017. This includes digital marketing, developing connected products and digital collaboration and innovation. "During my 25 years at Cognizant, including the last 12 as CEO, and the last seven months as Vice-Chairman, I've had a bird's-eye view of the world-changing technology revolution that is reshaping how we work, live and play. While I have enjoyed serving as CEO, I believe this is the right time for me to step aside and for the company to name a new leader to build on the strong foundations we've created and take Cognizant into the future," D'Souza said. Humphries has his work cut out for him. It could be growing the new digital model and staying ahead in the wake of burgeoning digitisation ecosystem and new models resulting from that. Low operating margins compared to its competitors such as TCS is a concern for investors as evident from a letter Elliott Management wrote to the CTS management in 2016. Though they seem to have improved in recent times, the company needs to step up in this aspect. However, the CTS management seems to be confident as seen from D Souza's interviews with different media outlets where he had mentioned that Humphries's experience of working across various industries, geographies, roles and transformational technology will help CTS grow further. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More The Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Reliance Capital's AMC, Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management, has resigned from the fund house, two industry sources told Moneycontrol. Insider sources at Reliance AMC confirmed the news. The fund house, however, declined to officially comment on Vyapak's resignation. If market grapevine is to be believed, then Vyapak may join Yes Mutual Fund. A gold medalist in MBA, Vyapak joined Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Limited (RNLAM) in Oct 2003. He has been instrumental in expanding RNLAM's footprints in both domestic & international territories. He was also actively involved in various industry-level initiatives and is also a member on the ARN committee of Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), Advisory Committee of FLAB India. Apart from Reliance Mutual Fund, he was also involved with other businesses across Reliance Capital group like credit cards & unsecured loans. Prior to Reliance Capital, he held key positions with ICICI Bank and Escorts Finance across liability and asset verticals. Essar Steel The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLT) has extended the deadline it had set for its Ahmedabad bench to pass an order on the Essar Steel insolvency case. The deadline, which was earlier set at February 11, has been extended to February 28. "The judge has ordered that NCLT should finish off the hearings by February 19," an industry executive said. The Appellate Tribunal extended the deadline in its February 12 hearing. It was one in a series of court hearings in the Essar Steel insolvency case that were scheduled for the day. While NCLT will conduct two hearings, the Ahmedabad bench will hear a petition filed by Essar Steel directors. Though more than 570 days have passed since the case was admitted in the insolvency courts, the finishing line is nowhere near given that the 270-day deadline is well past. Though NCLAT had set the February 11 deadline, NCLT clearly has unfinished business. On February 11, it heard some of Essar Steel's operational creditors, who said their interest is not being heeded to by the Committee of Creditors (CoC). The NCLT has asked the rest of the operational creditors to provide a written submission by February 13. Meanwhile, the Ruias on February 11 filed another petition at the Appellate Tribunal, challenging NCLT's January order that had turned down their plea for consideration of their proposal. In a last minute move, the Ruias, through Essar Steel Asia Holdings, had submitted a Rs 54,000-crore proposal to repay debts, countering ArcelorMittal's offer of Rs 42,000 crore. Separately, NCLT will on February 12 hear the petition filed by Essar Steel directors on February 1. Citing the January 31 order of the Supreme Court, the petition said directors of Essar Steel should be consulted by CoC while considering the resolution plans. The CoC consists of lenders to the insolvent company. The Supreme Court order states that directors of a company facing insolvency should be consulted by CoC before arriving at a resolution. The directors who moved the application are- Prashant Ruia, Director; Dilip Oommen, Managing Director and Deputy CEO; and Rajiv Kumar Bhatnagar, Director (Projects), Essar Steel. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More JSW Steel has received the letter of intent from the resolution professional overseeing the auction of Bhushan Power & Steel, taking the country's largest steelmaker a step closer in its acquisition of the insolvent company. The development comes more than a week after the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on February 4, turned down Tata Steel's request to consider its bid as the 'most legitimate" one for Bhushan Power & Steel. Confirming the development, resolution professional Mahender Khandelwal told Moneycontrol that JSW Steel has accepted the LoI. "The resolution will be submitted to the National Company Law Tribunal on Wednesday." Kandelwal later clarified that while JSW Steel has been sent the Letter of Intent (LoI), the steelmaker is yet to accept it. "The Resolution Plan will be submitted to the Adjudicating Authority upon receipt of duly accepted LoI from JSW Steel," Khandelwal told Moneycontrol. According to the procedure, the Tribunal will now have to give the stamp of approval, before Bhushan Power & Steel comes under the JSW Steel umbrella. Sources added that the whole process could be over by March. The acquisition will cement JSW Steel's position as the country's largest steelmaker. Bhushan Power has a capacity to make 3.5 million tons of steel a year. JSW Steel has a capacity to produce 19 million tons of steel a year as compared to Tata Steel's 18 million tons, in India. Tata Steel had moved the tribunal after Bhushan Power's lenders agreed to consider a competing bid by Liberty House, which the Tata company said had come into the race past the deadline. But the Tribunal, in its order, upheld the lenders' decision. Update: The story has been updated with the clarification from Mahender Khandelwal, the Resolution Professional overseeing the insolvency process of Bhushan Power & Steel Limited. Tata Steel Tata Steel UK's Chief Executive Officer Bimlendra Jha has put in his papers, at a time when the European operations of the steel major enter a crucial phase in its proposed joint venture with thyssenkrupp. A unit of Tata Steel Europe, Tata Steel UK has operations in the UK, Sweden and Canada. Jha, a Tata Steel lifer, was the chief executive of the operations since 2016. He was also an Executive Director on the Board of Tata Steel Europe, and a member of the Executive Committee. He will be partly replaced by Ashish Anupam, who was Chief Executive Officer and President at NatSteel Holdings, the Singapore unit of Tata Steel. The Indian company recently divested its stake in NatSteel, and other assets in South East Asia. It had signed an agreement with China's HBIS Group for the same. Anupam, added sources, will take over some of the Long Products units that Jha was expected to take over. A Tata Steel spokesperson confirmed the development. "Yes, Jha has resigned and Ashish Anupam, presently with NatSteel Singapore, will step in to oversee some of the businesses," he said. Jha, who is currently in London, recalled his stint at the steel major. "Tata Steel is a great institution. In nearly three decades with the group, I have had much to learn and to give back to society," he told Moneycontrol. At the same time, he noted the challenges too. "In UK, I am proud to see the steel industry stabilising and protecting tens of thousands of jobs under a distributed ownership. The situation of intensive care, however, persists as the global headwinds grow. We may be safe for now but not yet secure." "As I leave with fond memories and great friendships, I wish my colleagues and societal stakeholders the very best for the future," added Jha, who joined Tata Steel has a graduate trainee in 1990, after completing his engineering from Banaras Hindu University. In 2010, he was appointed Vice President, Long products, and later moved to the European operations. He was initially Executive Director, Group Strategy & Supply Chain, and was later appointed Executive Chairman, Long Steel, UK. In 2016, he was elevated to the post of CEO. Jha said that he is returning to India, and has accepted a new role. "I'm constrained to speak about my next role. Suffice to say that it is not in a competing space," he said. While the exit of Jha, a seasoned professional rated highly by his peers, will not hamper the joint venture with thyssenkrupp, "Tata Steel will miss his experience, which was across segments and geographies," said a senior executive from the industry. The partnership has come under intense scrutiny of European Union's antitrust regulators. Reuters reported on Monday that the regulator could veto the proposed joint venture, unless the two partners agreed to offer concessions. The joint venture will be called thyssenkrupp Tata Steel, and will have a combined capacity of 27.5 million tons a year. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 12) A local city prosecutor has found probable cause to charge the Chinese national in the 'taho'-throwing incident at the Metro Rail Transit (MRT-3) with direct assault, police said Tuesday. The 23-year-old student, Zhang Jiale was able to post bail of 12,000 and was released Tuesday afternoon, according to Mandaluyong police. The Mandaluyong City Prosecutor's Office charged Zhang with direct assault and dismissed cases of unjust vexation and disobedience to authority, according to Director Guillermo Eleazar, the Metro Manila police chief. "Now that the case will be filed by the city prosecutor sa korte [in court], after that, she will be turned-over to the Bureau of Immigration. It's up to the Bureau of Immigration para doon sa [for the] case of deportation against her," Eleazar added. Earlier in the day, the Bureau of Immigration's legal team found probable cause for a deportation case against Zhang. "Upon her release, BI will take over and will get custody of the suspect for procedures on deportation," he added. Zhang was arrested on February 9 after she threw her cup of 'taho,' a soy snack, at a police officer who was enforcing the liquids ban at the Boni MRT-3 station in Mandaluyong. The ban is in response to security threats following the January 27 Jolo twin bombings. Zhang's lawyer Sandra Respall said her client is apologetic over the incident. CNN Philippines Correspondent Gerg Cahiles contributed to this report. Vietnams FM visits N. Korea ahead of planned Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi Vietnams FM visits N. Korea ahead of planned Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi Vietnams Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday ahead of a planned summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnams capital later this month. The minister is expected to stay in Pyongyang until Thursday, AP said. Vietnams capital, Hanoi, is to host the summit between Trump and Kim on February 27-28. They held their first summit last June in Singapore, and the US is hoping to get a firm commitment on denuclearization from Kim.Source : RT - Daily news US trade representative Lighthizer arrives in China ahead of high-level talks US trade representative Lighthizer arrives in China ahead of high-level talks US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer arrived in Beijing on Tuesday ahead of high-level trade talks for the worlds two largest economies to hammer out a deal ahead of a March 1 deadline. After that date, US tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports are scheduled to increase to 25 percent from 10 percent. Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are set to hold talks on Thursday and Friday with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, the top economic adviser to President Xi Jinping, Reuters said. Talks kicked off in Beijing with discussions among deputy-level officials on Monday before minister-level meetings later in the week.Source : RT - Daily news Theres a nation that saw violent unrest, looting and anti-government protests over the past days, but dont think of Venezuela. This is Haiti, a country that received no mention from the US except for a vague travel warning. Thousands of people demonstrated in the Haitian capital, demanding that President Jovenel Moise step down. Protesters, who engaged in bloody skirmishes with police in which at least four people were killed, also vented their anger at economic hardships, embezzlement and widespread corruption. Just across the Caribbean Sea, Venezuela is facing an anti-government crisis as well, but this is where the similarities end. The Venezuelan government has been sanctioned by the US, its opposition is backed and recognized by the West and elected President Nicolas Maduro is portrayed as a politician with tyrannical traits. Haiti, for its part, didnt have the honor to be mentioned by US policymakers in recent days. The State Department has only warned American travelers to think twice before going to the crisis-ravaged country. Also on rt.com A bridge too far: US claims Venezuela blocked aid deliveries... at a crossing that was never open Back in 2017, however, Washington hailed Haitian election, saying inauguration of a democratically-elected president allows Haiti to return to democratic and constitutional rule. That election wasnt a model of democracy as voter turnout was only 21 percent, and every tenth ballot sheet was discarded. Notably, Moise positioned himself as a big fan of Donald Trump, hailing Trumps entrepreneurial talents and suggesting they have much in common. RTs Ilya Petrenko weighed in on the striking differences between two similar situations. Washington has no sense of shame in its response to the Venezuelan crisis, Russias foreign minister has said. He also lambasted the US-backed opposition for derailing talks with president Nicolas Maduro. The latter signaled he is ready to have a face-to-face with his opponents in case they needed to be heard by the government, but the opposition chose to neglect the offer, probably because they are guided by the US, Sergey Lavrov commented on Tuesday. American politicians have lost all sense of shame when speaking of the way the situation in Venezuela should be dealt with, he argued. While the remark by Russias top diplomat might sound over-emotional, various Washington officials indeed werent shy to suggest what should happen next to Venezuela. The Trump administration, for instance, continuously signaled that it was weighing up all actions against Venezuela, including military intervention. In the meantime, Washington denied the mere possibility of talks with the Caracas government. As the State Departments neocon appointee Elliott Abrams has put it, the time for dialogue with Maduro has long passed. In his view, Maduro could manipulate any negotiations to his advantage. At some point in the crisis, Washington also slapped sanctions on the state oil company, PDVSA, and its US subsidiary Citgo. Aside from that, the White House also promised $20 million in humanitarian aid to the fledgling government of Juan Guaido, the self-proclaimed interim president of Venezuela. Notably, the UN and the International Red Cross (ICRC) have issued concerns that the US may misuse the delivery for own political goals. We will not be participating in what is, for us, not humanitarian aid, Colombias ICRC spokesperson, Christoph Harnisch, said recently. In a separate move, the opposition leader obtained access to Venezuelan assets held in US banks. On the political front, the US and European allies have been pressuring Maduro to set up a snap election, a demand that he rejected. While resisting overwhelming Western pressure, Maduro has consistently said he believes in dialogue and mutual understanding between all Venezuelans. [The] 21st century is a bad time for cannon fire and military intimidation, he told RT in early February, adding, it should be a century of dialogue, civilization, politics and respect [for] diversity. Meanwhile, nations such as Russia, China, Turkey, and Iran have thrown their weight behind Maduro, still recognizing him as the legitimate president and warning against foreign interference. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! Tokyo lodges complaint with Seoul over S. Korean MPs remarks on Japans emperor Tokyo lodges complaint with Seoul over S. Korean MPs remarks on Japans emperor Tokyo said on Tuesday it had lodged a complaint with Seoul and demanded an apology after a South Korean lawmaker said the Japanese emperor should apologize over the issue of comfort women who were used in military brothels. Relations between Japan and South Korea have soured because of an intensifying row over their wartime history. South Koreas National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang said in an interview with Bloomberg last week Japanese Emperor Akihito, as the son of the main culprit of war crimes, should apologize to women forced to work in Japans military brothels before he steps down at the end of April. Japans Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said in Tokyo on Tuesday that Moons comments were extremely regrettable, Reuters reported.Source : RT - Daily news An academic specializing in online influence has uncovered a nefarious scheme in which ostensibly pro-Saudi agents are hijacking verified Twitter accounts, including that of a deceased US weatherman, to promote Saudi interests. Marc Owen Jones, an academic who researches digital propaganda and Twitter bot networks published a detailed blog post Saturday in which he blew the lid off a campaign targeting verified Twitter accounts, including that of former Weather Channel meteorologist Dave Schwartz (@TWCDaveSchwartz), Fox Business contributor Sheyna Steiner (@AlMinJaf), and Australian Nicole Jade Parks (@Nicolejadeparks), a former Winter Olympian. The @TWCDaveSchwartz account was used to promote tourism in the al-Qassim region of Saudi Arabia in 2018, despite the fact that the much-loved anchor passed away following a battle with cancer in 2016. The name on Schwartzs account was initially changed to the Arabic name or Al Qassim Events but now has been replaced with a full stop, as has Parks. The investigation suggests the hacked accounts of verified users are being potentially bought and sold online by nebulous pro-Saudi entities, though the efficacy of their methods and messages is questionable at best. In all cases highlighted by Jones, the accounts are now followed by several hundred, mostly Saudi-based, accounts. Twitters verified accounts system is currently offline; the company issued a moratorium on blue ticks in 2017 as it felt it was being abused. Under these circumstances, the market for verified accounts appears to be booming as such accounts are seen to have more prestige and thus more influence, in theory at least. [A verified account] would gain credibility and followers more rapidly than a non-verified account, Jones told Al Jazeera. In practice, it is limited by the fact you cannot change the handle, meaning anything obviously incongruous would stand out in the local context. It remains unclear who exactly is behind the account hacking, necrotweeting and sale of verified accounts, though all are either linked to or appear to support Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman in some way. It has already been highlighted by a variety of agencies, think tanks and private investigators that theres a growing pro-Saudi influence network developing online which consists of possible moles in Twitter HQ, plus troll and bot armies. In addition, former royal court advisor Saud Mr. Hashtag Al Qahtani was believed to have been amassing sim cards to create fake twitter accounts to grow the influence network. An NYT investigation highlighted conversations between high-ranking Saudi officials who sought to mute criticism of the militarys siege of, and bombing campaign in, Yemen through a targeted campaign of reporting posts which triggers Twitters automated response and thus limits the potential reach of a story. Also on rt.com Facebook blocks transparency tools as one third of world gets ready to vote Often Saudi strategy is to manipulate Twitter en masse, as opposed to be concerned about the consequences of people finding individual accounts suspicious, Jones told Al Jazeera. A separate Mashable investigation found that people would pay upwards of $1,200 for a verified Instagram account, so a market in verified Twitter handles is entirely feasible. In the meantime, Twitter appears to be slowly working to deactivate the hijacked accounts. The company, along with its Silicon Valley cohorts have vowed to tackle deliberate misinformation campaigns on their respective platforms for years with a particular emphasis on 2019 as one third of the world goes to the polls. However, the apparent slow response on the growing hijacked verified account market is troublesome to say the least. Furthermore, we still do not know the full extent of the problem. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! There is a racist dimension to Washingtons ongoing campaign in Venezuela, since the US is currently led by an openly white supremacist president and similarly minded extremists, said the countrys embattled leader. Its a political war, of the United States empire, of the interests of the extreme right that today is governing, of the Ku Klux Klan, that rules the White House, to take over Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro told the BBCs Orla Guerin. The US government is the apparent driving force behind Venezuelan Parliament Speaker Juan Guaido, who last month declared himself acting president and its incumbent head of state usurper. Washington rushed to recognize Guaido as the rightful leader of the Latin American country and hand over control of Venezuelan assets seized in the US. The unceremonious approach to the regime change attempt is indicative of how Venezuelans are perceived in Washington, Maduro said. They hate us, they belittle us, because they only believe in their own interests, and in the interests of the United States. The dismissive attitude is not reserved for his country only, because the US is ruled by people of extreme white nationalist views, he said. President Donald Trump is a white supremacist, Maduro agreed when asked by the reporter. He is, publicly and openly. He has encouraged the fascist tendencies, the neo-fascists and neo-Nazis within the United States, in Europe, in Latin America. Its an extremist tendency that hates the world, he said. Also on rt.com A bridge too far: US claims Venezuela blocked aid deliveries... at a crossing that was never open Maduro appealed to the public around the world to denounce US actions and possible military intervention in Venezuela. Wake up, open your eyes and see: this is an aggression against a peaceful country, he said. If you really want to help Venezuela, you have to support peace. Say no to the intervention. Tell the US: hands off Venezuela. And support Venezuela in its own effort to resolve its own problems through dialogue. The Venezuelan president also reiterated that part of the economic hardship that his country is experience can be explained with crippling US sanctions, which Washington has been ramping up against his government for years. He dismissed the apparent publicity stunt by Washington to deliver humanitarian aid to Venezuela through Guaidos opposition group as part of the US charade to justify eventual military intervention. Venezuela remains in the balance with Maduro and Guaido fighting for loyalties at home and recognition from foreign nations. While many US allies in Latin America and elsewhere followed its lead to recognize the self-proclaimed president, countries like Russia and China expressed support of Maduros government and attempts for national dialogue. Inside Venezuela, the military are the main focus for both sides at the moment, since their decision may make or break Guaidos attempt to seize power without major bloodshed or a direct military aggression by a foreign power. Also on rt.com Backed by UNSC? 5 moments from Guaidos interview with RT that dont quite add up Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Emmanuel Macron suffer from wavering public support in their home countries, but a new poll shows that the French have an affinity for Merkel, and the Germans are quite fond of Macron. Macron and Merkel have struggled to weather a series of political storms, ranging from the Yellow Vest movement currently shaking France to the electoral whippings that Merkels conservative coalition has suffered due to the burgeoning political uprising against her unwavering support for EU dictates. But an opinion poll conducted by Pew Research and released by the Munich Security Conference suggests that Merkel still has plenty of fans in France, at least. Likewise, Macron could seek refuge from his 28 percent approval rating in January by running for office in Germany where apparently Germans find him quite trustworthy. According to the 2019 Munich Security Report, 77 percent of German respondents said that they had confidence that Emmanuel Macron would do the right thing regarding world affairs. Only 68 percent, in contrast, said the same about the German Chancellor. Merkel neednt feel unloved, however: A full 78 percent of French respondents said they trusted Merkel to do the right thing while only 64 percent felt the same way about Macron. Notably, Merkel and Macron signed a friendship pact between their two nations in January, in part, pundits say, in order to drum up support in their respective home countries. Perhaps their real motive was to reach out to their fans. in neighboring France and Germany? Also on rt.com Most Germans see relations with US as negative, while less than 2% name Russia as threat The Pew poll revealed more than Merkel and Macrons bright political futures (in each others countries): Germans, it appears, are highly doubtful of US President Donald Trumps ability to make sound decisions in the international arena. A measly 10 percent of German respondents said they trusted Trump to do right by the world compared to 30 percent voicing confidence in Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Russian President Vladimir Putin topped them both, clocking in at 35 percent. German unease about Washingtons leadership abilities was illustrated by a survey recently conducted by Civey, a German polling company. As many as 85 percent of respondents in Germany saw US-German relations in a negative or even very negative light, according to the survey. Just about 10 percent of respondents had positive opinions about the relationship. Like this story? Share it with a friend! The Italian government is considering selling the countrys gold holdings in an attempt to avoid an increase in value-added tax (VAT) next year, one of Italy's oldest newspapers La Stampa reported. The news comes amid a law proposal drafted by Italy's ruling League party. The new amendment is set to allow the sale of the reserves if it were authorized through a constitutional law, according to Reuters. The gold ownership bill, proposed by League's Claudio Borghi, sparked harsh criticism from opposition leaders with local media warning that the governing party is planning to seize the nation's gold reserves to fulfill their spending promises. Also on rt.com Russias gold & foreign currency reserves surge for third consecutive year Italys Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini appeared to give a positive assessment of the plan. Its not an issue that I am following, but it could be an interesting idea, Salvini, who heads the League party, told journalists. Earlier, Salvini and his coalition partner, Luigi Di Maio, called for replacing the current administration of the Bank of Italy, which controls Italy's gold and foreign currency reserves. The government accused the regulator's current management of failing to maintain proper supervision of the countrys banking system. The Bank of Italy enjoys a broad autonomy with its decision-making process absolutely independent from the Italian government. According to some government officials, the insufficient control has led to a collapse of a wide range of big financial institutions with thousands of ordinary depositors suffering from the impact. Also on rt.com Russian companies get green light to mine gold in Venezuela Past efforts by Italian authorities to gain control over the countrys gold reserves were halted by Brussels as disruptive for Bank of Italys independence and public financing rules. In December, the Italian government approved a controversial state budget plan for 2019, ditching plans to increase VAT. The parliament introduced unconditional basic income and added a new provision to amend the current legislation to ensure earlier retirement. The move evoked a conflict between Italy and European authorities pushing Brussels to consider the potential launch of a debt-based excessive deficit procedure (EDP) against the country. For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section Germany bans 2 Kurdish PKK publishers after raids Germany bans 2 Kurdish PKK publishers after raids German authorities banned two media organizations allegedly linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) after raids early on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said. The party is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and Turkey. Police searched the Mesopotamia Publishing House and MIR Multimedia in the western states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony and seized material, Reuters reports. As the PKK is still active despite being banned in Germany, it is necessary to rein in the PKK, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said. Earnings from the two organizations are funneled exclusively to the PKK and strengthen its capabilities in Germany, the ministry said, adding the two organizations go under the guise of publishing houses.Source : RT - Daily news The sleeping pro-Europe majority must wake up before the EU goes the way of the Soviet Union, billionaire George Soros has warned, adding that Europes political parties must give the blocs interests first priority. Pro-EU political parties must rally support ahead of crucial European Parliament elections in May, the Hungarian-American businessman and controversial influencer wrote in an op-ed published by Project Syndicate. The bloc is sleepwalking into oblivion and could soon meet the same end as the Soviet Union, Soros prophesized. In order to avoid catastrophe, he argued, right-minded political parties must resist the lure of EU skepticism sweeping across the continent and put Europes interests ahead of their own. He chastised Germanys ruling coalition for not being adequately pro-EU out of fear of losing votes to the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), while praising the German Greens for being the only consistently pro-European party in the country. Also on rt.com George Soros-type seance: Orban mocks EU opposition to Hungarys anti-migrant law The outspoken opponent of Brexit suggested that it wasnt too late for the UK to hold another referendum, or, even better, for revoking Britains Article 50 notification advocacy which appears to clash with Soros self-declared affinity for democracy. In the UK, the billionaire has been sharply criticized for forking over 800,000 (US$1,062,000) to pro-EU campaigns, including 400,000 to Best for Britain, a campaign group that has been at the forefront of anti-Brexit activism. On the topic of Italy, Soros chided the EU for strictly enforcing an agreement which unfairly burdens countries like Italy where migrants first enter the EU. As a result, the massive influx of migrants into Europe has transformed the once pro-EU Italy into a bastion of populism, Soros lamented. Curiously, he failed to mention that he is a leading champion of the EUs open-door migrant policy a policy which is directly responsible for Italy being swamped with asylum seekers. Addressing Soros arch-nemesis the Hungarian government under Prime Minister Viktor Orban the billionaire businessman said that trans-European alliances must show more backbone and not be dictated by party leaders self-interest. Also on rt.com George Soros Open Society foundation ends operations in Hungary He argued that the European Peoples Party (EPP) is the worst offender in this regard because it continues to grant membership to Orbans Fidesz party, allegedly in order to preserve its majority and control the allocation of top jobs in the EU. Soros has been repeatedly accused by Orban of using his wealth to push pro-migrant policies on conservative, anti-immigration Hungary and much of the Western world. Soros has antagonized not only us but also England, President Trump, and Israel too, Orban said in February. Everywhere he wants to get migration accepted. It wont work. We are not alone and we will fight together and we will succeed. Hungary has even passed a Stop Soros Law, aimed at punishing those who provide assistance to migrants trying to illegally enter the central European country. If Europes political leaders fail to stamp out the rise of populist political parties within the bloc, the dream of a united Europe could become the nightmare of the 21st century, Soros wrote in closing. Sadly, Soros doesnt elaborate on why he believes the democratic will of Europeans poses such a fearsome threat to his grand vision for a united Europe. Also on rt.com George Soros-type seance: Orban mocks EU opposition to Hungarys anti-migrant law Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! Chinese, Russian diplomats support 2nd US-N. Korean summit Chinese, Russian diplomats support 2nd US-N. Korean summit Chinas special envoy for Korean Peninsula and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov have expressed support for the second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump, TASS reported. Both sides think that the situation on the Korean Peninsula continues to develop toward a closer dialogue, Chinas Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday after the diplomats meeting in Moscow. China and Russia positively assess the active efforts of North Korea and the US to eliminate existing disagreements, and hope for positive results of the second North Korean-US summit, the ministry added. Moscow and Beijing will actively facilitate political settlement on the Korean Peninsula, the statement said.Source : RT - Daily news Beijing has joined the global gold rush, increasing its gold reserves for two months in a row to 59.94 million ounces. China has long been silent on its holdings of gold as many countries are turning away from the greenback. Chinas national gold reserves rose by 0.38 million ounces (nearly 12 tons) at the end of January from 59.56 million ounces at the end of December 2018, according to data released by the Peoples Bank of China on Monday. The value the countrys holdings of the precious metal reached US$79.319 billion, increasing by more than $3 billion compared to the end of last year. Before December, the Chinese central bank had not reported an increase in gold reserves for more than two years, and the official figures remained unchanged from October 2016 to November 2018, standing at 59.24 million ounces. Also on rt.com Dump dollar for gold: Russia mulls eliminating gold tax to boost investment at greenback's expense Gold prices surged following the news, with futures climbing to $1,315.20 per ounce on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Chinas foreign exchange reserves rose by $15.2 billion in January to $3.088 trillion. That is nearly $6 billion more than economists polled by Reuters expected. The surge came as the yuan hit its highest level against the US dollar in over six months, driven by hopes for progress in US-China trade talks. The amount of gold added by global central banks to their coffers in 2018 hit the second highest annual amount on record, according to World Gold Council (WGC) estimates. Countries bought 651.5 metric tons last year, and now hold nearly 34,000 tons. Russia led the gold purchases as it seeks to reduce its reliance on the US dollar, followed by other big buyers like Turkey, Kazakhstan, India, Iraq, Poland, and Hungary. Also on rt.com Russia leads global gold purchases to reduce reliance on US dollar China is also trying to diversify its reserves away from the greenback, according to Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at currency broker OANDA. The analyst told the South China Morning Post that the state of affairs in global politics, including a trade war with the US, are driving Chinas interest to buy gold as a safe haven hedge. In January, China dropped to sixth place among the worlds largest holders of the yellow metal behind Russia. With its 67.6 million ounces of gold, Russia now stands in fifth place behind the US, Germany, France, and Italy. For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section Germanys Lufthansa airline wants to punish a passenger who allegedly took advantage of their ticket pricing by ditching the last leg of a booked flight. The case may put an end to a loophole exploited by seekers of cheap flights. One of Europes major airlines and the largest one in Germany wants to recoup lost profits by taking a customer to Berlin-Mitte court, claiming the individual had no intention of making the final leg of the journey, according Airliners.de website. The client reportedly bought a cheaper multiple-stop ticket instead of a direct one, and simply did not show up for the last leg of the flight. Also on rt.com It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superjet! Russia's Sukhoi to boost production of SSJ-100 airliners The defendant, whose name has not been disclosed, was supposed to fly to Oslo from Seattle via Frankfurt back in April 2016. However, the passenger failed to catch a connecting flight and later returned from Frankfurt to Berlin on a separate ticket. Lufthansa says the customer paid 657 for his ticket while he should have paid 2,769, and demands 2,112 plus interest, according to the court filings cited by media. The local court initially ruled in favor of the customer in December 2018. However, it gave Lufthansa an opportunity to appeal as it reportedly said that the reason the company is trying to sue the passenger is valid. At the same time, the court ruling said that while the Lufthansa price calculation lacks transparency, the passenger was aware that the ticket he chose was cheaper. RT has reached out to the company about the matter, but has not yet received a response. The practice, when a person books tickets from one destination to another via a third location but only intending to travel one part of the route, is also known as skiplagging. Travelers use the option of a two-leg ticket as it is often cheaper than the one leg one. For example, if you take a direct flight from Los Angeles to Munich on March 1, you will spend nearly $1,100. However, if you book a flight from the same place for the same date but to Moscow via Munich, it will cost you around $300 less. While there is much debate whether the practice is legal and the companies warn passengers they may be charged additionally for doing so, it is almost unheard of for airlines to go through with the threat. Last year, Spains supreme court reportedly ruled that skiplagging is legal, meaning Spanish flag carrier Iberia cannot charge clients for missed flights on multiple-stop routes and allowing passengers to use any or all parts of a ticket. For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section Acting Pentagon chief Pat Shanahan has arrived in Baghdad to consult with Iraqi leaders about the future US troop presence in the country, after Donald Trump was slammed for suggesting American forces would remain to watch Iran. Marking his first trip to Iraq, Shanahan will discuss the US military mission in the country with top officials, as well as receive a briefing on Iraqs fight against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) remnants, the Associated Press reports. The acting secretary of defense was in Afghanistan on Monday, where he pushed Kabul to hold peace talks with the Taliban and reportedly assessed the prospects of a potential US military withdrawal. The apparent charm offensive appears to have a different goal in Iraq, however. President Donald Trump previously said US troops may be stationed indefinitely in order to watch Iran a comment that hasnt resonated well in Baghdad. Iraqi President Barham Salih dismissed Trumps statement, claiming that the US leader never asked for permission to use Iraqi territory to snoop on Iran. He said that it was wrong for Washington to pursue [its own] policy priorities in Iraq, especially since it is in his countrys fundamental interest to pursue constructive relations with Iran. The US military, Salih stressed, has only one mandate in Iraq to help fight terrorism. Meanwhile, former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told RTs Sophie Shevardnadze that Washingtons stated aim to expand US military objectives in Iraq would be a violation of Iraqi law. Its not a job of foreign troops to spy on our neighbors or use Iraq as springboard against our neighbors, this is not allowed in the Iraqi constitution and this is not part of the whole operations, Abadi said. The former prime minister observed that poor communication between Washington and Baghdad has poisoned [their] relationship slightly. Also on rt.com Trump did not ask permission to watch Iran from bases in Iraq President Salih Sixteen years after the US invaded to topple Saddam Hussein and expropriate his non-existent weapons of mass destruction, 5,200 US troops still remain in Iraq, where they advise and train Iraqi forces. Shanahan has temporarily taken the reins at the Pentagon after James Mattis resigned over Trumps decision to pull out of Syria. The acting defense secretary isnt the only top US official trying to mend Washingtons wobbly relations abroad. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is currently on a five-day tour of Eastern Europe, in hopes of courting countries that were once shunned by the US. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed the idea of a domestically-built supersonic passenger aircraft based on the brilliant Tu-160 strategic bomber recently developed for the military. We now need to go back to supersonic passenger travel. We should think about it, Putin told the public as he visited the city of Kazan on Tuesday. The president noted that a new machine for the Russian military, the long-range heavy strategic bomber Tu-160 and its technology, could be developed into a civilian version. Everything is running like clockwork, said the Russian president about the Tu-160. So why not also create a supersonic passenger plane? Also on rt.com Putin eyes supersonic civilian airliner based on Tu-160 strategic bomber The Soviet Union developed a supersonic passenger plane the Tupolev Tu-144. The aircraft made its maiden flight in 1968, and was used for passenger service for less than a year in 1977-1978 before it was ruled economically unfeasible and potentially unsafe. The same happened to the only other similar aircraft, the British-French Concorde, which made its last flight in 2003. Its not the first time Putin has floated the idea of bringing back a civilian supersonic plane. After witnessing a test flight of Russias new Tu-160 strategic bomber last year, the president said that the Tu-144 was too costly for people for its time, but now the economic situation in the country is different and some companies would be able to operate this type of aircraft. Also on rt.com Russia to bring back the supersonic passenger airliner Earlier this year, the Russian Ministry of Industry said that the United Aviation Corporation (UAC) will be in charge of developing the supersonic passenger jet. The company will build a flight simulator demonstrating the new jets capabilities by 2022 and then start working on the planes design. For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI A man convicted of stealing more than $300,000 from an elderly widow he met at his phony financial planning seminar will spend at least 7 years in prison. Gary Edward Duke Haynes, 58, of Comstock Park was convicted by a jury in December of eight counts of embezzlement from a vulnerable adult, four counts of failing to file his income taxes and running a criminal enterprise. Muskegon County Circuit Judge Annette Smedley on Feb. 8 sentenced Haynes to between 7 and 20 years in prison for embezzlement of $100,000 or more and the criminal enterprise charge. He received 30 months to five years for the remaining charges, which will run concurrent to the longer sentence. In a letter to the court, Haynes 97-year-old victim described the devastation of his crimes, including isolation, loss of confidence, financial desperation and fear of retaliation from Haynes. I trusted Duke too much and now I cant trust anyone, she wrote. The case was brought by the office of Michigans Attorney General. It was alleged that Haynes met the victim in 2006 at a financial planning seminar he led and served as her agent for 10 years. When she met him, she asked Haynes to help her pay her bills online and gave him access to her computer, financial accounts and passwords, according to the attorney generals office. During testimony at Haynes preliminary examination, the woman said she moved to the Fruitport area from Arizona in 2005. Aside from a cleaning lady who also took her on errands, the woman said she didnt have local friends or family who she saw regularly. I talked to (Haynes) about handling my affairs because I had no one and I didnt know anyone here, she testified. Haynes had taken the womans money from her account and transferred it to bank accounts belonging to his two companies: Senior Planning Resource and Future by Design. He had told the woman some of the money would be invested in annuities in her name, but it never was. He took more than $300,000 over four years, documents show. In her letter to the court, Haynes victim explained that before her husband died in 2001, they had invested in an annuity that would allow her to live a better life as I grew older. According to a state document, Haynes allegedly was successful in coercing the woman to liquidate a $107,735 annuity and place the funds in a bank account he controlled. He then invested the funds in a risky and illiquid house flipping venture, according to the notice of intent to revoke Haynes investment adviser representative registration. Haynes registration was revoked by the state, and the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs fined him $10,000 last April. I considered myself a strong, independent woman not afraid of anything, the victim wrote. Now I hear things in the night that wake me, I am afraid of cars slowing rolling by my house, car doors slamming. I dont know if Duke or someone Duke would send will hurt me. She also wrote about having to decide which bills to pay because I run short almost every month. The woman ended her letter with this: I do not want to die but at times I would welcome death to ease the suffering Duke has created in my life. MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI If there was a sliver of doubt after the jury returned a first-degree murder verdict against Kahlek McPherson Monday, McPherson himself removed it with a courtroom outburst admitting to the crime. The jurys verdict on three counts was still being read in Muskegon County Circuit Court Monday when McPherson unexpectedly stood up, turned to victim Corey Thompsons family and pronounced If he wasnt such a bitch, I wouldnt have shot him! That was counter to McPhersons insistence on the stand Friday that he was innocent of the close-range shooting of Thompson in the city of Muskegon on July 4, 2018. Thompson, 44, was drinking a beer by himself on a family members front porch when he was shot in the head with a revolver sometime between 12:30-1 a.m. Following McPhersons outburst in court, a woman who was a close friend of Thompsons and had testified during McPhersons trial, stood and began shouting at McPherson and was removed from the court by deputies who handcuffed her in the hallway. It wasnt the first time McPherson had gone rogue in the courtroom. On Friday, he insisted on taking the witness stand against the advice of his attorney, Kevin Wistrom. McPherson insisted under oath theres no reason for me to want to kill this man. The reason, according to the prosecution, was McPherson felt disrespected by Thompsons brother earlier in the day. Keith Thompson testified that Corey Thompson told him about a dispute with a group of individuals at a local store that day, and that Keith Thompson then confronted about 100 people in a nearby park. He said he told them to leave Corey alone. Instead, according to Muskegon County Senior Assistant Prosecutor Benjamin Medema, McPherson armed himself with a long-barrel silver revolver, and approached the home where Thompson was sitting alone and in the dark. Two men were with him, video surveillance played in court showed, though no one else has been implicated in Thompsons murder. Medema said the investigation into Thompsons murder is continuing. Thompson was killed by one shot to the head with a revolver that McPherson later hid in an acquaintances stairwell, Medema said. McPherson later admitted to his then girlfriend that he killed Thompson and instructed her in a letter from jail to retrieve the gun, clean his fingerprints from it and try to sell it, she testified. During his closing argument, Wistrom challenged some of the evidence, saying a bullet was never recovered so it couldnt be proved what gun fired the fatal shot. He elaborated, saying the prosecution couldnt prove that the revolver recovered by police in the stairwell had been the weapon. Medema said McPhersons courtroom outburst fit with the theory of the case that all it took was for him to feel disrespected to commit murder. Based on his demeanor that we know from other incidents and so far in the trial, I was not that surprised disappointed, very disappointed, Medema said. "I think with the victims family being there and finally having closure in the case, it was disappointing to have him do that while they were there. McPherson also is charged with robbing and sexually assaulting a young woman who testified she would occasionally help him out by giving him rides. Charges in that case, as well as a separate alleged assault on a jail guard by McPherson, are pending, and its unclear if they will be prosecuted, Medema said. McPherson had predicted how he would be spending the remainder of his life during the assault on the corrections officer, that officer testified Monday. Sheriff Deputy Eric Anderson testified that he was trying to get McPherson to go into his jail cell when McPherson rushed him. He began assaulting me, Anderson said. It was pretty intense. It was pretty violent. Anderson said he warned McPherson that he could go to prison for the assault he was committing. He said You think I care? Anderson testified. Im already going to prison for murder. In addition to first-degree murder, McPherson was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and committing a felony with a firearm. TEXAS TOWNSHIP, MI -- A feeling of crisis in Texas Township is growing as residents wonder whether a solution to reduce flooding around inland lakes will bring problems to the doorstep of their downstream neighbors. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is considering a permit requested by Texas Township to pump water from Crooked Lake and Eagle Lake to Bass Lake and surrounding wetlands. Floodwaters encroaching on more than 100 properties have caused some to abandon their homes while residents worry the situation will worsen during the spring snowmelt. Water would need to be pumped from Eagle Lake into Crooked Lake at a rate of 1,500 gallons per minute. Pumps will remove water from Crooked Lake to wetlands adjacent to Bass Lake at a rate of 3,000 gpm. Eagle Lake would need to be pumped for about 6 months to return to normal levels and Crooked Lake would need to pump about 8 months. To approve the permit, the DEQ must find pumping the lakes will not adversely affect the public trust or riparian rights and take public comments from property owners. During a Monday, Feb. 11 public hearing, Thomas Schripsema said hes not too proud to beg his downstream neighbors to support the permit. The water is rising, Schripsema said. In the coming weeks, I look to possibly displace my family of five. Our life savings are at risk through no fault of our own. Please allow our home to be saved. Please give us our lives back. DEQ Environmental Quality Analyst Derek Haroldson said the issue is the top priority for the Kalamazoo office. DEQ will accept additional written comments until Feb. 21 and make a decision by May 6. Several homeowners who live near Bass Lake asked the DEQ to deny the permit based on adverse impacts they could face if floodwaters are pushed northeast. Representatives of lake associations for Crooked Lake and Eagle Lake said those concerns are overblown. Kalamazoo County Deputy Drain Commissioner Jeffrey VanBelle said there will be no adverse downstream impact. A permanent solution is likely years away, he said, but something needs to be done now to relieve residents of a significant threat to their property. The level of stress and intensity has dramatically increased form the last few months, VanBelle said. Even if the crisis is averted, we still need to work on this permanent solution. I am totally convinced we will be back in this one day. Mary Ewalt said residents will suffer if the permit is denied, but she and others could suffer if the permit is approved. She expressed sympathy for those affected but isnt convinced that pumping wont adversely impact the natural ecology of Bass Lake. We, the residents of Bass Lake, will be directly and negatively impacted if the permit is approved, Ewalt said. Pumping water to Bass Lake will most likely result in invasive species where currently none exist, decreased water quality, flooding of wetlands and damage to personal property. Prein & Newhof was hired by Texas Township to study groundwater flow conditions and make recommendations. Project Manager Tom Smith said lake levels have been rising quickly since September 2018. Smith said residents who can see water rising in their basements cant wait for evaporation to happen naturally this summer. Spring rain and melted snow and make the situation much worse by then, he said. High amounts of precipitation since 2016 has caused groundwater tables in Kalamazoo County to reach record highs in some places. A severe storm in February 2018 caused lakes to overflow their banks. Smith said one of the main goals of the permit is to prevent adverse impacts downstream. Monitoring wells at several lakes, culverts and U.S. Geologic Survey gages will be observed. Obviously we need to bring the lake levels down," he said. "But, we cant have adverse impact on other folks in the township. Still, other residents werent convinced there will be no negative impact on downstream property owners and Boy Scouts who use the Rota-Kiwan Scout Reservation on Bass Lake. Some saw the permit as a trade that will benefit one group at the expense of the other. Scouts expressed concern that invasive vegetation in Eagle Lake and Crooked Lake could enter Bass Lake. A December 2018 study commissioned by the township found no aquatic invasive species in Bass Lake and Scouts said they want it to stay that way. A screen should help stop invasive species from migrating, Smith said. More than two dozen Scouts attended Mondays meeting. Texas Township Trustee Tim Brown addressed them directly. Your neighbors are hurting right now and they need immediate help right now, Brown said. This is a great civics lesson and a great Scout lesson. Some truths you should know before you leave: No one is going to take your property, no one is going to ruin your scout camp and no one is going to break the law. Meanwhile, residents said they are spending thousands of dollars to keep pumps operating at their home 24 hours per day. Some worried about the long-term impact to their property values and a chilling effect on the housing market. Janet Hedden said she spent more than $40,000 on pumps to keep water out. Hedden said her real estate said her home wouldnt sell for half of its market value. My entire livelihood is being decimated right now," she said. "We need this fixed. This has not been a couple of months for us, this has been over a year. The amount of stress that it puts on us, financially and emotionally, is insurmountable. VanBelle said the township intends to pay for the pump equipment with a special assessment district encompassing the impacted area. Kalamazoo County Board Chair Julie Rogers says the county has never experienced a prolonged flooding event like this, but it doesnt rise to the level of requiring a state of emergency declaration. The emergency management process is reactive," she said, and it hasnt been proven that significant property damage has been caused, despite possibly being on the horizon. PORTAGE, MI A family in Lakeland, Florida, adopted Joshua Meadows and his twin brother, Christopher, at 10 months old. They knew little about their other siblings. We knew we were adopted and we knew there were two girls and a boy who were older than us, said Meadows, a 27-year-old Portage resident. During the intermission of an Old Dominion concert in December, Meadows received a life-changing alert on his phone that would reunite him with family members he never knew. It had been about two years since he purchased a kit from 23andMe, a DNA testing company, and submitted his saliva. There were no significant DNA matches until after Meadows updated his app during the concert. The app showed he had a DNA match with a possible half-sister, Stephaine Higbee, who was living in California. The two started communicating. It was kind of surreal, Meadows said, wondering at first if the match could be with a fake account. But when Higbee and the other siblings knew his birth name, Edward Scott, it confirmed she was truly his family member, Meadows said. They asked each other questions about their lives and exchanged pictures of their children. When Meadows and his twin brother were born, Higbee said, their mother was single and living in a shelter with Higbee and two other children, a boy and a girl. When Higbee met Meadows, she told him he also has a younger half-brother. Higbee said it took a while to process. I am still excited, she said in January, more than a month after first hearing from Meadows. My family is whole and complete. I had two brothers out there that Ive always known about and now I know them, and I would do anything and everything for them. Theyre my blood, my family." Joshua Meadows twin brother, Christopher Meadows, still lives in Lakeland, Florida. He said the newly reunited family members started calling each other brother and sister during the phone calls that followed. I was kind of nervous, at the same time you want to keep it going, Christopher Meadows said. You want to yell it out there. I knew of you but weve never met." He said he hopes they can meet up about once a year and for special occasions. It brings a whole new meaning to the word family to me, he said. Higbee said she is still in contact with their birth mother, Carmen, who lives in California. She told her about reconnecting with the twins. Their mother is in shock and disbelief, Higbee said, though Higbee believes there is still a chance they will be able to meet or speak to each other. I dont foresee my mom saying, N,o I will never ever meet them, she said. It was a hard spot for my mom, a hard situation she was put in. She probably had no idea this would ever happen." Both Meadows brothers said they want to tell their mother thank you for what she did. We havent spoken to her yet," Joshua Meadows said. Hopefully we get around to that point because I would like to really like to thank her for the opportunity she gave us by giving us up for adoption. Meadows said he and his brother were adopted by two loving parents and both had the opportunity to go to college. You can be selfish or selfless, Meadows said. It seemed like she realized, to give us the best life she wanted us to have, was to put us up for adoption. I couldnt be more thankful for that selfless act. She had to do what was right at the time and if that was what was right, then thank you." Racheal Richardson, 35, of Duluth, Georgia, is Higbees sister and another half-sibling of Meadows who he discovered through Higbee after the DNA testing. We text every day now, she said. Richardson exchanged photos of her children with Joshua Meadows, who sent her a photo of his son, she said. She said her mother did not want to give the twins up for adoption, and hopes they will be able to meet their mother soon. It would make them feel whole, Richardson said. It would make me feel whole. Meadows also found out from his siblings his fathers name and that he was in the Navy. Meadows works as a route driver for Kalamazoo-based distributor Imperial Beverage. He lived in Grand Rapids before moving to Portage. He said he did the DNA test to research his genealogy. Higbee bought the kit during a Black Friday sale, she said. Now theyre part of our lives, Higbee said, and I dont know what I would do without them." The newfound siblings are tentatively planning to meet in the coming months near Atlanta. KALAMAZOO TOWNSHIP, MI Police say a 67-year-old Kalamazoo man was killed in a crash that closed a portion of Ravine Road for several hours. Terry Lee Doornbos, 67, of Kalamazoo, suffered fatal injuries in the Monday, Feb. 11, crash on Ravine Road, the Township of Kalamazoo Police Department reports. Police originally said the crash involved critical injuries. The crash occurred around 11:50 a.m. in the 2900 block of Ravine Road and closed Ravine Road from Nichols Road to Douglas Avenue following the crash. The roadway is now reopened, police said about 5:30 p.m. Monday, and the investigation is ongoing. Police ask anyone with information about the crash to contact the Township of Kalamazoo Police Department at 269-567-7523. GRAND RAPIDS, MI A flood warning remains in effect for the Grand River near Comstock Park and Ottawa Countys Robinson Township, two areas prone to flooding. Rain and melting snow have brought the Grand River nearly to flood stage in those places. Areas that typically flood will likely see minor flooding through the weekend, the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids said. The weather service said that widespread flooding is not expected but urged those living near the river to be aware of changing conditions. The breakup of river ice, and the dynamics of ice jam formation, are extremely difficult to predict, the weather service said. While unlikely, rapid changes in water levels are possible should an ice jam form as the ice shifts around, compacts, and pushes downstream. The scene was different last week in Portland. An ice jam on the Grand Rapids caused significant flooding. But water levels have slowly gone down in the Ionia County town, City Manager Tutt Gorman said. The Bridge Street Bridge, which was closed Friday, re-opened Monday afternoon. Authorities continue to monitor upstream ice jams, he said. He urged residents near the river to be vigilant. Be mindful that this is not a typical flood event due to the ice shifting. Conditions can change quickly. In Kent and Ottawa counties, the flood warnings are in effect until 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13. The river is expected to reach flood stage on Tuesday. Meanwhile, a winter-weather advisory is in effect from midnight until 1 p.m. Tuesday. West Michigan is expected to receive 4 to 7 inches of snow and one-tenth of an inch of ice accumulation north of I-96. Freezing rain, sleet and snow are possible south I-96 beginning after midnight. Wind gusts of 40 mph or higher are possible Tuesday night into Wednesday. The heaviest accumulations of ice are expected along the I-96 corridor, the weather service said. The snow and wind should affect commutes Tuesday morning and evening and Wednesday morning. The most significant icing should happen around I-94 which could lead to downed trees and limbs and power lines. WYOMING, MI -- State licensing officials have closed an adult foster care home in Wyoming after multiple domestic disputes involving an alleged love triangle among staff. Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs officials announced Tuesday, Feb. 12, they suspended caregiver James Kamans license, shuttering his adult foster care home in the 2000 block of Collingwood Avenue. In the emergency suspension order, LARA officials wrote that Kaman and two staff members -- one his girlfriend and the other a romantic partner -- are not suitable to meet the needs and assure the welfare of the residents. The suspension order further alleges that Kaman failed to ensure a staffer was tested for tuberculosis, trained to administer medications and had a clean criminal history. In addition, the order alleges Kaman failed to ensure residents took their medication. Kaman did not return calls for comment. Kamans facility, which had capacity for up to 11 adult foster care patients, operated out of a duplex, the other half of which he lived in with his girlfriend. He received a license for the facility in March 2018. LARA officials began their investigation Jan. 3, following up on a domestic dispute complaint from Dec. 10. Kaman and his girlfriend said police had come to the facility Dec. 10 but denied a fight between them had occurred, according to the suspension order. Two weeks later, on Jan. 17, LARA officials conducted another inspection. A resident told the LARA investigator that Kaman and his girlfriend were always fighting. While the resident was talking with LARA officials, police arrived at the home on reports of a domestic dispute. On Feb. 3, police were called again to the home after an incident with the other female staffer, according to LARA. Kaman told the LARA investigator that officers were blaming him for the incident and the staffer wouldnt leave the home. He left the home and put his mother in charge of caring for the residents. The following day, the LARA investigator arrived to find Kamans sister watching over the residents and the female staffer barricaded in the office. The LARA suspension order does not state if Kamans mother and sister were trained to watch over the residents. Eventually the staffer came out, telling the investigator she worked at the home for the past three weeks and was in a romantic relationship with Kaman. She told the investigator that Kaman wrongfully terminated her and tried to kick her out on Jan. 31. Kaman sent the investigator three emails around 1 a.m. the following morning saying how the female staffer is crazy, is a risk to residents and needs to be removed. Two days later, on Feb. 7, LARA officials issued an emergency suspension of the mans licence, saying that serious violations and the potential risk to vulnerable adults in the facilitys care requires immediate action. Kaman has until Feb. 14 to state his wish to appeal the revocation and have an administrative hearing on the issue. FLINT, MI A handful of college campuses are closed Tuesday because of poor weather conditions, while others planned to open late. Delta Colleges main campus and centers, along with Saginaw Valley State University were closed on Feb. 12. Central Michigan University, Mott Community College and the University of Michigan-Flint planned to open on a delayed start late Tuesday morning or by the early afternoon, according to the institutions. Freezing rain was falling as of 7 a.m. in the Fenton area, while there were was winter weather advisory for Genesee County until 3 p.m. A storm warning issued by the National Weather Service for mid-Michigan counties including Saginaw, Bay, Tuscola, Huron, Sanilac, and Midland states 5 to 8 inches of snow is possible along with one-tenth of an inch of ice and wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour that may create whiteout conditions at times. Travel will be very difficult. Areas of blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility, according to the warning that points out the storms peak is expected between 6 a.m.-2 p.m. Feb. 12. The hazardous conditions will impact the Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning commutes, as well as Tuesday evening. FLINT, MI -- A longtime community activist is calling for a boycott of an annual fundraising dinner for the Flint branch of the NAACP because an officer of the group made anti-gay comments last fall. Quincy Murphy, an member of the Flint Charter Review Commission, said hes organizing the boycott after asking that A.C. Dumas resign or be removed from his position as vice president of the civil rights group -- neither of which happened. Dumas took to Facebook last October to says he would not vote for Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is married to a woman, because shes gay" and said he could not support a gay candidate because of his religion. That same month, Murphy asked for Dumas resignation in a letter to the NAACP and asked the group to remove him if he refused to leave. We will target sponsors ... Were gonna protest, Murphy said of his boycott campaign during the Flint City Council Monday, Feb. 11. Frances Gilcreast, president of the Flint NAACP branch, said Dumas doesnt speak for the organization and the local group doesnt have the authority to remove him from office. But Gilcreast called Dumas remarks about Nessel unfortunate and ridiculous. We try to carry out the mission of the NAACP through scholarships and job fairs funded by the groups annual fund-raising dinner, which is scheduled for March 9, the local president said. We have bigger issues than to play their political games," she said of the feud between Murphy and Dumas. They are searching for some relevance, Gilcreast said. Its unfortunate we got people in every community that do that. This years NAACP dinner features Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist as keynote speaker and the group is selling individual tickets for $100 and seeking other corporate sponsorships to fund its operations. Dumas said Tuesday, Feb. 12, that his views about homosexuality are his own. I dont speak for the NAACP, he said. I said what I said. No one can bully me because of my beliefs. The NAACP is bigger than Mr. Murphy, (and) bigger than me. DEARBORN, MI The first of two funeral masses for former U.S. Rep. John Dingell is taking place Tuesday morning, Feb. 12, with speeches from Joe Biden, John Lewis and Fred Upton. The service at Church of the Divine Child in Dearborn is starting at 11:30 a.m. due to a weather delay and U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingells office has arranged to have it broadcast live on ClickOnDetroit.com. Watch the live stream here. C-SPAN is also broadcasting the service live here. Dingell, the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history, died Thursday, Feb. 7 at 92. Hundreds steadily streamed into the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center in Dearborn to pay their final respects to the Michigan Democrat during a public visitation on Monday, Feb. 11. Following Tuesdays funeral service, Dingells casket will be flown to Washington, D.C., where members of the House and Senate will pay their respects at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday as a motorcade carrying his casket is driven past the U.S. Capitol on the East Plaza. Bill Clinton, Steny Hoyer and John Boehner will speak at a Thursday funeral service at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in D.C. before Dingell is laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. Dingell, a World War II veteran, served in Congress nearly 60 years, from 1955-2015. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for donations to the International Wildlife Refuge Alliance, which supports operation and maintenance of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. Donations can be made at http://www.iwralliance.org. U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, reflected on Dingells legacy in an interview before Tuesdays funeral started. He said my people all the time, and so it was his people and their lives that motivated him, she said, adding she appreciated him for his knowledge, experience, guidance and wit. What John had, which I think is so critical, is the respect of people on both sides because he told the truth, she said. When he shook your hand, he kept his word. He had integrity. So he would fight hard and then make a compromise and then stick to it, and thats what you have to be able to do to be able to get things done. People have to be able to trust you and trust your word, and people trusted John Dingell. By the great horned spoon, John Dingell was loved for his words and ways ANN ARBOR, MI - A suspect in an apparently random attack on a student at a Starbucks near the University of Michigan was arraigned Tuesday on multiple assault charges. Chaquile McKinney, 25, is accused of striking a woman in the head with a chair Saturday night at a Starbucks at 222 S. State St., Ann Arbor. McKinney, who appears to be homeless, according to police, was arraigned Tuesday before 14A-1 District Court Magistrate Elisha Fink on charges of assault with intent to do great bodily harm and assault with a dangerous weapon. He could face up to 10 years prison. Are you sure I am the one? McKinney asked Fink, pressing to see video evidence. Based on the information I have... thats what Im considering, Fink said. Ann Arbor Police Detective Bradley Rougeau testified that McKinney has a criminal history and was convicted of attempting to resist and obstruct a police officer. From the day he was put on probation, (he) has been non-compliant, Rougeau said. The Starbucks victim was minding her own business, Rougeau said, when McKinney picked up a chair and struck her in the head. The woman suffered a head injury that required multiple stitches, said Rougeau, who added that the two did not know each other. Im supposed to wait here and be sentenced for something I didnt do?" McKinney asked Fink. I dont even know when this happened ... I am being bullied. Fink told him he was a potential danger to the community. You are not in compliance with your probation on your other cases, Fink said "This is being characterized as an unprovoked attack. An attack where nothing was going on and the person that was a stranger to you was allegedly violently attacked by you." Fink set a $25,000 cash bond. Rougeau said McKinney indicated he has no permanent residence, phone or email address. The same night of the incident, another female was punched 15 times in West Park in a separate assault. That case is still being investigated, Rougeau said. McKinney is scheduled back in court for a probable cause conference at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 21 and for a preliminary exam at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28 in 14A-1 District Court. DEARBORN, MI Freezing rain delayed the start of John Dingells funeral mass by about a half hour on Tuesday, Feb. 12, and it also kept many members of Congress from attending. Military aircraft transporting dozens of lawmakers from Washington, D.C., could not land in Michigan due to bad weather and had to turn back. Lawmakers held an impromptu service in the sky to remember the former congressman. Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican, and John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, were scheduled to speak at Tuesdays funeral, but were among those aboard the plane with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others. We feel very sad, Pelosi told the Associated Press. "We had nearly 60 members going to the service for our colleague, Chairman John Dingell, but weather prevented us from landing and we had to accept the pilot's decision about that." Dignity was how John walked, Biden says at Michigan funeral for Dingell U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, described an emotional moment when they all said a prayer while above Michigan, in memory of the former dean of the U.S. House. We love you, Dean, he tweeted. Attempted to fly back to MI to attend Congressman Dingell's funeral service. Due to bad weather, we sadly could not land. All of our colleagues--incl. @SpeakerPelosi & @RepJohnLewis--said a prayer on the plane while above Michigan, in memory of John. We love you, Dean. Rep. Dan Kildee (@RepDanKildee) February 12, 2019 Rep. Billy Long, R-Missouri, called it an impromptu service at 30,000 feet. We held an impromptu service at 30,000 feet for @JohnDingell lead by @repjohnlewis @SpeakerPelosi and @RepFredUpton After a delayed start we took off for #Detroit & circled there for an hour waiting for the temperature to rise one degree. It didnt and were back at @Andrews_JBA Billy Long (@auctnr1) February 12, 2019 We shared a prayer for him in the sky, and felt a bit closer to the Dean in heaven, tweeted Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Rochester Hills. On board a plane with our Speaker, the great @RepJohnLewis, @RepDanKildee, and so many other friends. We were unable to land to join the funeral of Chairman Dingell. We shared a prayer for him in the sky, and felt a bit closer to the Dean in heaven. Rep. Haley Stevens (@RepHaleyStevens) February 12, 2019 Sen. Gary Peters, D-Michigan, and Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, expressed disappointment that they couldnt land, but said theyll be at a ceremony to honor Dingell in D.C. I am so disappointed that our plane couldn't land in Michigan due to inclement weather. But Ill be at the ceremony to honor Chairman Dingell's life on Thursday in DC. https://t.co/2DlzOrJ8MP Senator Gary Peters (@SenGaryPeters) February 12, 2019 Sadly, Michigan weather prevented me and 70 of my fellow Congressmen & women from attending John Dingells funeral today. I am terribly sorry to not have been able to join my friend, @RepDebDingell, on such an important day, but we will attend the service in DC later this week. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (@RepSlotkin) February 12, 2019 Members of the House and Senate are planning to pay their respects to the late congressman as a motorcade carrying his casket is driven past the U.S. Capitol on the East Plaza at 4 p.m. Tuesday. A second funeral mass is planned for Thursday in D.C., with speeches by former President Bill Clinton and others. Former Vice President Joe Biden spoke at Tuesdays funeral mass in Michigan, remembering Dingell as a man of dignity. Dingell served nearly 60 years in Congress from 1955-2015. Biden was one of three Dingell colleagues scheduled to speak at Tuesdays mass, along with Upton and Lewis, who have been in Congress since 1987. John was enormous in stature, integrity, and accomplishments. When he put his hand on your shoulder and spoke, you listened, Upton said in a statement last week. Representing the great state of Michigan was truly a labor of love and John Dingell fiercely fought to support and rescue our auto industry in the toughest of times, he said. There is a reason why a Dingell has represented Southeast Michigan for some 86 years. Their constituents know they always put country over everything else. Lewis, a well-known civil rights leader, offered similar praise in a statement remembering Dingell, calling him a legislative giant who helped shape the politics of the 20th century. Rep. John Dingell was a man who did not hesitate to stand up, speak up and speak out for those who were left out and left behind. He was a champion of Medicare and health care reform, he said. He introduced legislation that established the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. He co-wrote the Endangered Species Act and the Mammal Protection Act, which saved animals like the gray whale, the whooping crane and the bald eagle from extinction. Under Dingells leadership, the House Energy and Commerce Committee became an investigative powerhouse that enforced consumer safety regulations, rooted out corruption and demanded fair dealings from pharmaceutical companies, health care companies, and scientific research interests, Lewis said. He was a fearless representative who demanded fairness on behalf of his constituents and fought for what he was convinced was in the best interests of the people, he said. Rep. John Dingell was one of a kind. DICKINSON COUNTY, MI A Wisconsin teenager has been killed in an Upper Peninsula snowmobile crash. According to the Michigan State Police Iron Mountain Post, the crash occurred in Dickinson Countys Felch Township around 5:15 p.m. on Feb. 8. A 19-year-old male was pronounced dead at the scene. No information was released as to how the crash happened and the teenagers name has not been disclosed, pending notification of family. Michigan State Police were assisted at the scene by Nordic Ambulance, Beacon Ambulance, STAR Ambulance, the Department of Natural Resources and the Dickinson County Sheriffs Department. An online list of salaries for people on the state House payroll no longer lists employees by name. An updated list of salaries on the House website now lists salaries by job title only. The decision was made by House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, who took over as speaker in January. Chatfield has decided that the salary list by name will still be made available to the public, but only by request, according to Gideon DAssandro, Chatfields spokesman. Asked why Chatfield pulled the names from the online list, DAssandro said the the information is still available. The list is available to anybody at any time" if they ask for list, he said. The Michigan Legislature is not covered by the Freedom of Information Act, so posting the list online in any form is voluntary, DAssandro said. The state Senate does not post salary information online but does make it available by written request. The House started publishing a list of staffers with salaries and titles online in 2011. The body quietly scuttled the practice in 2016 under the leadership of then-Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant, but it was restored under Tom Leonard, R-DeWitt, who was speaker during 2017-18. The various stances mean GOP leaders have careened between maintaining its information that voters deserve to know, to making it harder to access. Chatfield has sponsored legislation that would extend FOIA-like disclosure requirements to the Legislature and governors office. I dont believe people can have faith in their government if it fails to set an example for honesty and openness, he said in 2016. The House provided the salary list by name to MLive. An online database of the current House payroll is below. You can search by name or by job title. If you click on all jobs, you will see the list ranked by salary. Current salaries for state House employees Forget duck, duck, goose. Try duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck. That was the scene on an icy river branch in Farmingtons Shiawassee Park where a flock of ducks traveled in near-single-file formation. Michigan resident Laurie Smalis captured video of parade and posted it to Facebook on Jan. 14, but the video has since gone viral thanks to national news outlets like ABC News. And while ducks playing a game of follow the leader happens all the time in Michigan waterways, its rare to see a group this large. You can see the video in its entirety below. LANSING, MI -- A campaign-trail idea to make college more affordable and community college debt-free will come one step closer to reality at the State of the State address Tuesday night, where Whitmer will prioritize it as a way to help Michigan residents gain job skills. Whitmer said in an interview she has heard from Michigan employers about what some call the skills gap" -- the space between job skills companies need and skills the population actually has. Having been to the auto show, Ive got to tell you, every conversation I had was about how there is a need for people with skills and were far behind, Whitmer said. She plans to address that by presenting Michiganders with an array of options. One will be a reconnect path, for people who need to re-tool their skills. The other is the MI Opportunity scholarship, something she talked about on the campaign trail. High school graduates can use that to either go to community college debt-free or bring down the cost of a four-year degree. For the longest time we looked at the career as a ladder, right, that there was one way up. I want to make sure that in Michigan we think of skills as rock climbing, that theres a different path for everyone. And each has dignity and each has the ability to make a good living here, Whitmer said. But to fund the program she will need buy-in from the state legislature, which sets the budget each year after taking a budget proposal from the governor into consideration. Whitmer said she wasnt seeking new revenue and the program could be funded through existing dollars. There are a lot of little pieces of the budget that are devoted to various things in terms of trying to help people get skills. What we do is pull them all together... and the investment will yield incredible dividends, she said. She will also announce a goal: she wants 60 percent of Michigans population to have some kind of post-high school education, like a college degree or a community college degree or training for a skilled trade. We are the only state in the Midwest that does not have a formal goal for having skills, concentration of talent, she said. According to 2017 census estimates, 38.6 percent of Michigan residents over 25 have an associates, bachelors or graduate degree as compared to 40.5 percent of the same population nationally. And while the business community would benefit from a rich labor pool, Whitmer was also focused on the impact her paths would have for individuals. She talked to one young man during the campaign who was wrapping up high school, working as a dishwasher and contributing to his family finances, she said. He told her he wanted to be an electrician, but didnt have the $5,000 to get training. Its people like him a small boost from the state could help, she said. An opportunity like this would put him into a profession, into a field where he can make a good living, fulfill a need that is unmet in our society and take care of his family. Its a small investment with an enormous return, and one that is foolish for us not to be pursuing, she said. Whitmer talked about her idea for the MI Opportunity scholarship on the campaign trail. Overall, she wants to help young people see the multiple, good paths for their future careers. Were not all the same. And were suffering because weve thought that we all should be, and thats the wrong mindset, Whitmer said. Two other big campaign trail subjects for her, roads and education, will also come up in Tuesdays address, she said. The address takes place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. It will livestream at that time here. NOVI, Mich. -- Another officer with the Michigan State Police has been injured after a driver hit their car while it was parked on a Michigan highway. According to the MSP Metro Detroit Twitter account, a sergeant was sitting in the median on I-696 in Novi Tuesday doing paperwork when a driver lost control of their vehicle and slammed into the sergeants car. The sergeant suffered minor injuries and was taken to Providence Park Hospital in Novi, while the driver of the other vehicle was also taken to a local hospital for injuries, but the extent of those injuries were unknown. Tuesdays accident comes just two days after a pair of MSP vehicles were struck by drivers who hit the police cars while they were stopped. One of the vehicles was hit twice by two different GMC Terrains and suffered minor injuries that required a hospital visit. The MSP has continued to warn drivers to slow down in treacherous winter conditions and to use extra caution when they see police lights on roadways. Icy roadways and snow have cause serious traffic problems since Sunday afternoon and are expected to continue into Wednesday. LANSING, Mich. -- A 39-year-old Houghton County woman says she was as white as a ghost after she realized shed won a $500,000 prize after playing the Michigan Lotterys Platinum Wild Time game. I braved a snow storm to go grab a few groceries at Louies, said the 39-year-old player who chose to remain anonymous. "I bought a $5 ticket and won $10, so I went back in and bought the Platinum Wild Time ticket. I scratched the ticket off when I got home and when my husband came in to the room he asked if I was OK because I was white as a ghost. I handed him the ticket and he almost ripped it in half because he thought it was a fake. We felt nauseous, thrilled, and then nauseous again! The lucky winner bought her ticket at Louies Super Value Foods, located at 53115 State Highway M-26 in Lake Linden. She visited Michigan Lottery headquarters in Lansing recently to claim her prize. With her winnings, she plans to buy a new car and save the remainder. This kind of stuff doesnt happen to us. I still cant believe it happened. Everything had to align just right for us to win, the player said. "Sealab" is a new American Experience documentary that celebrates the aquanauts, the Navy's forgotten explorers of the 1960s. Undersea exploration is just as dangerous as outer space travel, and the program details how those risk takers performed research that has helped the military mission in countless ways over the last 50 years. The program will debut on most PBS stations on Tuesday, Feb. 12, at 9 p.m. ET (as always with PBS, check local listings). We've got an exclusive clip that details how the sinking of the USS Thresher atomic submarine in 1963 motivated the Navy to (just barely) fund Capt. George Bond's research on the Sealab project. The Navy recruited NASA astronaut Scott Carpenter as one of its first aquanauts in an attempt to draw the obvious parallel and gain the attention of an American public mesmerized by space travel. Underwater pressure is one of the most dangerous threats to human life we've encountered, and the program details Bond's efforts to devise ways to counter the damage and allow humans to live undersea for extended periods of time. The effort abruptly ended after a tragedy during the Sealab III mission in 1969. The Navy wasn't willing or able to overlook the fallout in the same way NASA pushed forward after the Apollo 1 fire. Based on the book "SEALAB: America's Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor" by Ben Hellwarth, "Sealab" effectively revisits one of the greatest examples of scientific research conducted by the U.S. military. Check out the first chapter of the episode below. Just because your vacation may be delayed by COVID doesn't mean it can't be better than in prior years. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 12) The election fever heats up, and so does the possible escalation of related violence, said the Philippine National Police (PNP). Dir. Gen. Oscar Albayalde PNP chief, said on Tuesday 701 areas have been identified as election hotspots or areas of concern ahead of the May elections. He noted a spike in the number of "areas of grave concern" from 19 to 94. An election hotspot can be classified as either an area of concern, an area of immediate concern or an area of grave concern. An area of concern means it has a history of political rivalry, violence in the past two elections, and a record of having been placed under Commission on Election (Comelec) control. A hotspot is classified as an area of immediate concern if it is threatened by local terrorist groups. Meanwhile, areas of grave concern are towns or cities that possess all criteria. "Una may intense political rivalry doon mayroon nang history of election-related violence doon whether physical injury, killing and others, or there's threat of the National People's Army, and other threat groups. Ito 'yung naparami doon kaya naparami ang itong tinatawag natin election areas of grave concern," Albayalde explained. [Translation: First of all there's intense political rivalry there, history of election-related violence whether physical injury killing and others, or there's threat of the National people's Army and other threat groups. These increased in those places that's why the number of areas of grave concern rose.] The PNP chief said they would have to adjust their deployment in a number of hotspots with this development. According to the PNP, there are 223 areas of concern, mostly in the Ilocos region with 40 cities. For areas of immediate concern, there are 382 municipalities or cities, mostly in the Bicol region covering 49 areas. There are two areas under Comelec control, namely Cotabato city and Daraga town in Albay. Under this set-up, Comelec has control over security forces and supervision over local officials doing poll duty. As for peaceful areas, the PNP listed 933 cities and municipalities. The country has a total of 1,634 cities and municipalities. Albayalde reiterated the PNP's duties in the election period which ends on June 12, two days before the midterm elections. He said the PNP will be continuing their gun ban, law enforcement operations, dismantling of private armed groups, contingency planning and security measures for vulnerable candidates. Candidates are allowed two armed security personnel subject to Comelec approval, he said. The Marines' F-35B Joint Strike Fighter achieved another first in recent weeks during an at-sea deployment when the aircraft conducted training strikes with an external ordnance load. The 5th-generation fighters launched from the deck of the amphibious assault ship Wasp over the Philippine and East China Seas with a load of inert and live ordnance for a first-of-its-kind training mission, according to a news release from the deployed 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. The training took place between Jan. 26 and Feb. 6, officials said. The Joint Strike Fighter, which has variants specific to the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, is designed to operate in stealth mode, carrying only internal ordnance to make the aircraft less detectable, and in what manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corp. calls "beast mode," with a full complement of internal and external weapons. In full "beast mode" loadout, according to Lockheed, the aircraft can carry 22,000 pounds of bombs and missiles. According to the 31st MEU release, the F-35Bs in the recent training evolution were loaded with CATM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missiles; 500-pound GBU-12 Paveway II bombs; and 1,000-pound GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munition [JDAM] ordnance. The aircraft dropped inert and high-explosive externally loaded ordnance during the exercise. "We achieved mission success by using the full capabilities of the F-35B at sea," Lt. Col. Michael Rountree, the F-35B detachment officer-in-charge with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (Reinforced), said in a statement. Rountree added that the F-35s were able to engage role-player adversary aircraft, hit simulated targets with internally and externally loaded precision-guided weapons, and complete the training mission by executing a vertical landing on the Wasp. Only the F-35B has vertical-landing capability, thanks to a powerful lift fan in the body of the aircraft. Officials said this was the first time the F-35B executed strikes in the region with ordnance fully loaded. "The combination of stealth tactics and fully loaded strike aircraft increases the lethality of the F-35B, enabling greater contribution and combat effectiveness by the Amphibious Ready Group/Marine Expeditionary Unit Team," said Col. Robert Brodie, commander of the 31st MEU and an F/A-18 Hornet pilot, in a statement. "The formidable and versatile capability of the F-35B provides a premier platform to support the Marine Air-Ground Task Force's ability to own the fight in the dynamic and evolving Indo-Pacific environment." The F-35B first deployed aboard the Wasp with the Pacific-based 31st MEU in March 2018, marking the first maritime operational deployment for the aircraft. -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. A Navy plane was being towed out of a hangar last week when its tail clipped the top of the structure, leading to what could amount to millions of dollars in repairs. An E-6B Mercury, a nuclear command-and-control aircraft, was being moved at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, on Thursday as part of its daily operations when the vertical stabilizer at the rear of the aircraft struck the hangar, said Lt. Travis Callaghan, a spokesman for Naval Air Forces. The incident has been labeled a Class-A mishap by the Naval Safety Center, meaning the damages to the aircraft likely total at least $2 million. One person was aboard the Mercury at the time of the mishap, Callaghan said. It's standard to have a "brake rider" on board any time an aircraft is towed out of a hangar, he added. The incident remains under investigation. Once that process is complete, Callaghan said a determination will be made "as to what repairs are required and a way ahead for the aircraft." Photos of the damaged aircraft posted on social media the day of the mishap appear to show the vertical stabilizer broken away from the rest of the plane after it struck the top of the hangar. The Navy's E-6B Mercury is based on a Boeing 707 commercial plane. The aircraft is part of the Navy's "Take Charge and Move Out" community. Its mission, Callaghan said, is to enable the president and defense secretary to directly communicate with U.S. submarines, bombers and missile silos during a nuclear war. This marked the Navy's fifth Class-A aviation mishap five months into fiscal 2019, according to Naval Safety Center data. -- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins. As the trials for the alleged perpetrators of the attacks on the guided-missile destroyer Cole and 9/11 draw closer, the Defense Department should consider how it plans to broaden public access to the proceedings, a government watchdog agency recommended. Noting that interest in the trials of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged orchestrator of the Sept. 11 attacks, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, alleged planner of the attack on the Cole, will likely increase among victims, family members, the media and the general public when their dates are set, the Government Accountability Office on Tuesday recommended that the Pentagon prepare now to ensure that it can meet public access demands. Currently, the DoD allows a limited number of victims, family members, press and the general public to view pre-trial proceedings, held at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It also has closed-circuit television viewing rooms at five military bases on the East Coast. According to the GAO, 359 victims and family members have watched the proceedings in Cuba since 2011, out of 1,140 who expressed interest in attending. The DoD has counted an additional 433 victims and family members since 2011 at closed-circuit TV sites to view the proceedings for Mohammed, al-Nashiri and others who faced trial at Guantanamo. A total of 2,304 visitors, including the general public, media and other interested parties, have watched at Guantanamo and the CCTV sites, according to the GAO. Related: Why Is Guantanamo Seeking a Wheelchair-Accessible Three-Cell Compound? When the trials begin, however, there likely will be significantly more interest and "DoD has not developed a strategy to address challenges or identified the resources needed to achieve its public access goals," the GAO noted. GAO analysts proposed several options for improving access to the proceedings, including increasing the number of the seats in the courtroom at Guantanamo; adding or opening more CCTV sites to the general public; adding sites solely for use by victims and family members; broadcasting the proceedings over the internet publicly; and establishing a password-protected broadcast only for victims and their family members. Each option has its benefits and drawbacks, and the Pentagon should weigh all of them, the GAO recommended. Trial dates have not been set for Mohammed or al-Nashiri, both of whom could face the death penalty if convicted. Jury selection is scheduled for Feb. 19, 2020, in the case of Abd al Hai al Iraqi, who faces charges of commanding al-Qaida forces in Afghanistan. The Cole was attacked on Oct. 12, 2000, in the port of Aden, Yemen, killing 17 sailors. Al-Nashiri was captured in Dubai in November 2002 and transferred to Guantanamo in 2006. Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan in 2003; he also has been at Guantanamo since 2006. According to the report, victims and family members told the GAO they support broader access for the general public. DoD leaders interviewed by the GAO agreed that the public should be allowed to watch the proceedings, as long as classified information remained protected. "The current chief prosecutor for military commissions stated that public access is ... 'hugely important' and that [the commissions] are 'owned by the American People,' " the report states. In a response to the GAO recommendations, the Pentagon's Office of Military Commissions said it concurred and would form a working group to study the issue. -- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime. The head of the combatant command where two ship collisions left 17 sailors dead defended the Navy's performance during a tense exchange on Capitol Hill. Adm. Phil Davidson, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, told lawmakers Tuesday that hundreds of other ships "weren't having collisions" in response to questions about new safety measures after a pair of Navy destroyers collided with other vessels in separate 2017 incidents. Seventeen sailors were killed in those accidents. "These two collisions were a tragedy, there's no doubt about it," Davidson said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. "And all of the senior leadership of the Navy feels an immense amount of accountability for that. "... But the fact of the matter is that 280-odd other ships weren't having collisions," he added. Sen. Angus King, a Maine Independent, fired back. "Isn't that the standard: No collisions?" he asked. "Airplanes are landing all over America and, just because they're not all crashing, doesn't mean they don't need a high level of maintenance. To tell me that isn't very convincing." The exchange came after a damning two-part investigation by ProPublica into the lead-up to the collisions involving the destroyers Fitzgerald and McCain. Both happened in the Indo-Pacific Command's area of responsibility. The Fitzgerald collided with a cargo ship near Japan, and the McCain hit another vessel off the coast of Singapore. According to the ProPublica report, top Navy leaders sounded the alarm about readiness problems in the Pacific several times, but their concerns weren't addressed. Davidson, who didn't take the helm at U.S. Indo-Pacific command until about a year after the mishaps, said the idea that the Navy isn't transparent about its readiness challenges "is appalling." King, who called the accidents "avoidable tragedies," acknowledged that blame doesn't fall fully on the Navy. Congress, he said, must also accept responsibility for a portion of the problems. Across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration contributed to fleet readiness issues, King said. But, he added, the problems were preventable because there were multiple warnings that weren't acted upon. "I want to be reassured that it is [now] being acted upon," he said. "... I would like to see specific responses from the Navy -- not promises and good feelings." Navy leaders have made more than 100 recommendations to improve conditions -- such as sleep policies and training guidelines -- that contributed to the deadly collisions. The service stood up a special council to oversee implementation of those recommendations and, by last summer, almost two-thirds of the sweeping policy changes were in place. Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. William Moran briefs congressional staffers quarterly on the status of those changes, Davidson said. -- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins. Marine war veteran and Massachusetts congressman Seth Moulton began to build a platform for a potential run in the 2020 presidential election Tuesday by arguing that the United States needs to spend more on cyber technology and artificial intelligence and less on aircraft carriers and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Moulton, a Democrat, joined the Marine Corps in June 2001 and led troops as an infantry officer during his four tours in Iraq, earning the Bronze Star with "V" device in the 2004 Battle of Najaf. The 40-year-old lawmaker has served in the House of Representatives since 2015, sits on the House Armed Services Committee and is the top Democrat on the Oversight and Investigations Committee. "The reason I got into politics goes back to my time in the Marine Corps," the former captain told an audience Tuesday at the Brookings Institution. "I realized that I loved service ... and I enjoyed going to work every single day to serve our country even in the midst of a war I disagreed with. And fundamentally, that is what motivated me to go back into public service and become a congressman." Now, Moulton is considering becoming a candidate in the 2020 presidential race to energize the country's approach to keeping pace with China and Russia's high-tech defense programs, as well as rebuild relationships with allies that the Trump administration threatens to destroy, he said. "The [Trump] administration has alienated our allies, cowered to our key adversaries and abandoned our alliances," Moulton said. "In so doing, it has torn down the policy values that two generations of American leadership built. "When your old house gets damaged by a bad renter or, in this case, by a terrible president, you don't just restore it to look like it was built in 1950. You take the opportunity to renovate it. You don't just rebuild, you build something new," he said. Moulton, who has a bachelor's degree in physics and a master's degree in business and public policy from Harvard University, said America is at "serious risk of being entirely leapfrogged by China and Russian by new technology." "China is not trying to compete with our 11 [aircraft]-carrier Navy by building 12 or 13 or 14 of their own," he said, adding that the U.S. should focus on the number "1,238." "That is our best estimate for how many Chinese anti-carrier missiles you can buy for the price of one U.S. carrier," he explained. Moulton then described a conversation with the Navy's chief of naval operations, Adm. John Richardson. "I asked the CNO how many times had the Chinese attacked a U.S. carrier. [He responded] 'Never, sir,' " Moulton said. "How many times have the Chinese attacked us through the internet? 'Over the last 24 hours, sir?' "The punch line is this: We have invested 16 times more in carriers than cyber. We need to re-examine that balance," he said. Moulton said the U.S. also needs to ask the same questions "of our massive financial commitment to the F-35." "I am more worried about how soon we can field the F-45," he said, referencing a notional future aircraft. "We need to dramatically up our investment in autonomous, hypersonic and cyber weapons to compete and win." Moulton argued that the U.S. also needs to radically improve its foreign policy. One way to do this is to take a new approach to arms control that ultimately "makes us stronger, giving us a strategic advantage," he said. "The U.S. and Russia agree to comparable reductions in ICBMs. But [if] our missiles are more accurate and more reliable, then we have the advantage," Moulton said. "That is why I was such a strong advocate four years ago for a worldwide convention to limit the proliferation on drones. Back then, we were still far ahead of the rest of the world, and limiting them may have solidified that advantage." The U.S. needs to start "thinking about arms control, not just with traditional weapons but with new weapons as well," he said. "Much sooner than later, we would be wise to consider what kinds of arms control over autonomous weapons powered by artificial intelligence will make us safer." Moulton also argued that the U.S. needs to strengthen its relationships with NATO partners and should be asking if it makes sense to establish a Pacific NATO to counter China. But he also said America would be stronger if more emphasis were placed on national service for young people. "Being in the Marines taught me how much I enjoyed serving, and I think that if more young people had that experience, it would make us a better country, a stronger country, a more united country, a country that understands each other in these extremely divisive times," he said. He does not believe in returning to a draft, Moulton said, adding that "we have had tremendous success having an all-volunteer military." Instead, there are "tremendous opportunities for civilian service" through programs such as AmeriCorps, a voluntary civil society program supported by the federal government in which adults can serve their communities. Moulton said he wants to see national service become an expectation. "When you interview for a job in your thirties, one of the first questions that gets asked is, where did you serve," he said. "I think that is where we want to go with national service, and I am a huge proponent of it myself." During the event at Brookings, Moulton briefly acknowledged that he is considering a 2020 campaign. "Yes, I am looking at a presidential campaign. I think we have to make the argument to people that there are serious national security [issues] across the globe, and this has got be part of the debate," Moulton said. "I will be the first to say we have extraordinary candidates who have already announced they are running," he added, naming the recent campaign launches of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota. "There are amazing people out there who are running and contributing to this debate," he said. "If this is one of the things that I can add to the debate, then that is perhaps an argument for me to jump in." Moulton acknowledged that the "political fight will be severe" in the 2020 race and that the country needs leaders with moral courage. "Moral courage is often in short supply around here, but we need it to meet these tough challenges. Our troops deserve it, and our national security demands it," he said. -- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com. The patrol boats, which have been in the Persian Gulf region since 2003, have been replaced by two of the service's newest... MIDDLETOWN The instances of major crimes in the city overall are on the decline during the last three years, amid an uptick in sexual assaults and slight rise in car thefts, according to the states unified crime reporting data. Statistics from 2017 and 2016 were taken from the annual Crime in Connecticut report. This information is collected by the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Crimes Analysis Unit. All of these figures represent reported crimes, not convictions. Figures from 2018, provided by Middletown Police Lt. Heather Desmond, are a rough estimate by the department. Reports are submitted monthly to the state, and its not uncommon for state personnel to detect errors or reclassify incidents, she said. The eight major crimes reported to the FBI in the United States are murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, car thefts and arson, according to the FBI. Overall, violent crime is decreasing in Connecticut, the FBI said. However, during this three-year period, among violent crimes in Middletown, rape is on the rise: from five to six incidents between 2016 and 2017 (up 20 percent), and from six to 14 incidents from 2017 to 2018 (a 133 percent increase). Motor vehicle thefts (classified as a major crime) declined from 2016 to 2017 by 17.2 percent (87 to 72), and then rose 6.9 percent from 72 in 2017 to 77 in 2018. Its hard to pinpoint exactly why crime will fluctuate year to year, Middletown Police Lt. Heather Desmond said Tuesday afternoon. One factor is the diligent work of officers in the Middletown Police Department. Its a community effort, she said. Rises and declines may be a trend, or due to outside influences, such as the economy, new city programs, weather, the way officers are responding to calls, whether a crime is reported or not, and/or new methods of training and tools, she said. For instance, during winter storms, domestic disturbance calls may increase because people are snowed in together, Desmond said. Heat waves have similar effects on crimes. Other major crime percentage differences from 2017 to 2018 are: robberies, down 22 percent; assaults, down 67.1 percent; burglaries, down 26.5 percent; and larcenies, down 20.5 percent. Those same figures, from 2016 to 2017, show robberies down 61 percent, assaults down 16.7 percent, burglaries down 37.6 percent and larcenies down 19.3 percent. No arsons were reported from 2016 to 2018. Over this three-year period, there was a single homicide in 2018. Cornel Myers of Middletown was charged with murder and first-degree burglary and criminal trespass in connection to a Sept. 8 death of a woman in the Westfield portion of the city. Myers is being held in lieu of $2 million bail and is expected back in court March 5. The Hartford Courant reported the victim is Hartford teacher Danielle Fasciocco. Crime in 2018 According to 2018 figures from city police, there were 669 domestic incidents, 470 larcenies, 403 narcotics complaints, 320 loud noise complaints, 261 intoxicated people calls, 181 incidents of vandalism, 173 incidents of suicide threats, 158 pistol permit violations, 108 instances of fraud, 104 DUIs, 91 overdoses, 86 simple assaults, 86 burglaries, 77 stolen cars (of which 10 were recovered), 66 untimely deaths, 61 shoplifters, 26 suicides/attempts, 25 gunshot complaints, 18 weapons laws violations, 15 aggravated assaults (with injuries), 14 animal cruelty reports, 14 sexual assaults, 13 domestics with injuries, 11 robberies, six indecent exposures, two bomb threats, two water rescues, one escaped person, one jumper and one prowler. Crime in 2017 In 2017, there were 591 larcenies, 72 motor vehicle thefts, 68 burglaries, 35 aggravated assaults, nine robberies and six rapes, according to the report. These incidents constitute a total loss of $1.13 million, of which $309,378 was recovered, according to the report. In all, 13 of the aggravated assaults were committed with a knife or cutting instrument, 11 with another dangerous weapon, 10 by strong arm (hands, feet, ect.) and one with a firearm. Other offenses are broken out into 595 simple assaults and 16 officer assaults. Of the robberies, three occurred at miscellaneous locations, two took place at other businesses, one on a highway/street, one at a home, and one each at a gas station and convenience store. Twenty-nine burglaries took place at a residence during the day, and 18 at a residence in the evening. Of those, 37 were forcible entries and 31 were unlawful entries without the use of force. There were 167 items stolen from motor vehicles, 112 shoplifting incidents, 69 items taken from buildings, 27 stolen bicycles, 27 car parts, two from coin-operated machines, one purse snatching and 185 other crimes. All these larcenies represent a total loss of $136,845. Figures on 2017 crimes indicate 1,454 were committed by an adult and 61 by minors; 1,048 by males and 437 by females, according to the data. When broken down by race, 949 suspects identified themselves as white, 534 as black, six as Asian and 26 as unknown. Crime in 2016 In 2016, there were 732 larcenies, 109 burglaries, 87 motor vehicle thefts, 42 aggravated assaults, 23 robberies and five rapes. These incidents constitute a total loss valued of $1.3 million, of which $343,972 was recovered. In all, 20 of the aggravated assaults were committed by strong arm, 14 with a knife or cutting instrument, seven with another dangerous weapon and one with a firearm. Other offenses are broken out into 693 simple assaults and 10 officer assaults. Of the robberies, eight were on a highway/street, four each took place at a home and miscellaneous location, two each at gas stations, convenience stores and banks, with one classified as an other business. Thirty-nine home burglaries took place during the day and 30 in the evening. Of those, 70 were forcible entries, 38 unlawful entry without force, and one attempt at forcible entry. For larcenies, there were 131 items taken from buildings, 127 shoplifting incidents, 111 items stolen from motor vehicles, 49 stolen bicycles, 44 stolen car parts, and 267 other crimes. These represent a total loss of $184,139. Of these 2016 crimes, 1,603 were committed by an adult and 89 by a minor; 1,211 by males and 481 by females, according to the data. When broken down by race, 988 suspects identified themselves as white, 481 as black, two as Asian and 56 as unknown. For more information, view https://bit.ly/2SKPGPS. Managing editor Cassandra Day can be reached at cassandra.day@hearstmediact.com. This is maybe the best snow day announcement. Ever. Kids across Connecticut slept in Tuesday, and most school districts decided to play it safe and announced the snow day Monday night. But the decision was not an easy one for Westports Greens Farms Academy. Bob Whelan, the head of school, decided to ask some advice, as local blogger Dan Woog first reported. In a video posted Monday, Whelan is shown taking the train up to ESPN headquarters to speak with Mike Greenberg, host of ESPNs Get Up!, who also happens to live in Westport. In the video, Greenberg enlists some help, and Whelan gets some conflicting advice. Snow day? Go to school, it builds character, Former Ravens cornerback Dominique Foxworth tells Whelan in the video. And dont you have to pay to go to your school? So that means youre getting paid for not working? You need to work. I dont want you getting no free days, Foxworth says. Lazy. But former Cowboys defensive end Marcus Spears disagreed. Hes from Louisiana, and cant believe Whelan might expect kids to attend class. The fact that you want them to come to school when it snows is beyond me, Spears says in the video. Give the kids a snow day. Whelan, of course, sided with most other school districts in the state, and decides to close school for the day. Greens Farms Academy is a private school in Westport. Tuition for the 2018-2019 school year was about $35,000. NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. Norma Sanchez found out her daughters accused killer had been arrested just hours before she gathered with family and friends to celebrate the young womans life. It was a blessing that they caught him so fast, Sanchez said Tuesday afternoon at the calling hours for her daughter at Lloyd Maxcy & Sons Beauchamp Chapel in New Rochelle. Police detectives came to her door at 10:30 Tuesday morning to tell her of the arrest of Javier da Silva Rojas of Flushing, Queens. I was ecstatic, Sanchez said. Im hoping he gets life in prison rot in there! she said in an interview with Greenwich Time. Sanchez had met da Silva only once or twice when he was dating her daughter, Valerie Reyes, back in 2017. Da Silva was arrested Monday night in Queens by New Rochelle Police, accompanied by Greenwich Police detectives. Da Silva, who police say admitted a role in Reyes death, was held in federal custody after his arrest and arraigned late Tuesday afternoon. He was charged with kidnapping resulting in death, which carries a sentence of death or life in prison. Despite the arrest, Sanchez said she still has questions about the death of her 24-year-old daughter, who went missing Jan. 30 from New Rochelle. Reyes was found a week later, on Feb. 5, off the side of Glenville Road in Greenwich, with her body stuffed in a suitcase and her hands and feet bound. I have so many questions, Sanchez said. The last time Reyes spoke with her mother shortly before police say da Silva kidnapped her she told her mother that she was upset. At the beginning, she was paranoid and depressed, Sanchez said. A lot of anxiety. Sanchez recalled a few details that she remembered about da Silva, who she thought met her her daughter on an online dating site. He liked horror movies and was never aggressive, but very persistent, the type not to take no for an answer. Weird, she said. Reyes father, brother and other family members declined to comment. Sanchez said they appreciated the outpouring of support from their daughters friends, classmates and co-workers. Very comforting. So much love and support, Sanchez said of the crowd at the funeral home in New Rochelle. Friends who began to gather Tuesday afternoon for calling hours to mourn Reyes expressed relief that a suspect had been arrested. Many knew Reyes from work or from school. Others are friends of her parents and wanted to show support. Mourners filed past a green casket, topped with a large bouquet of white roses, carnations and black-eyed Susan flowers, to pay their respects. Photos of Reyes, as a girl and a young woman, lined the walls of the funeral home. High school friends recalled how she changed her hair style frequently, often adding bright new colors her look. She was a good soul, a good person, said Steve Costa, who worked with her at Costco. She didnt go with the drama, the gossip. ... She was the sweetest girl you could meet; always had a smile on her face. Im glad that someone is held responsible, Costa added. I hope the law gives him the firm end of the stick when it comes to justice. A former classmate recalled that he and Reyes frequently spent lunch together on a break in the library, catching up and talking, when they attended New Rochelle High School together. The man, who did not want to be identified, said, Im just glad there is finally justice for Valerie. A friend from middle school who declined to give her name said Reyes was a fighter and that they had bonded over their common struggles with depression and anxiety. Her friends remembered Reyes, who lived in New Rochelle and worked at a Barnes & Noble in Eastchester, for her artistic talents and hard-working nature. A funeral Mass for Reyes will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Gabriels Church, 120 Division St., New Rochelle. BRIDGEPORT James Bulerin III has dreamt of following in his fathers footprints and becoming a city firefighter. But city officials have dashed those dreams because Bulerin has a medical marijuana card and tested positive for the drug. The city has disqualified him from being a firefighter which is a clear violation of the state law, said Bulerins lawyer, Thomas Bucci, who this week filed a discrimination lawsuit against the city on his clients behalf. As long as he is not using the drug during working hours, he cant be denied an employment opportunity, Bucci said. A hearing on the suit is scheduled for Feb. 21 in Superior Court here and, depending on a judges decision, the case could end up before the state Supreme Court which has not yet reviewed the states medical marijuana law. Assistant City Attorney John Bohannon confirmed that he will argue the case for the city but declined comment until the hearing. On May 31, 2012, Connecticut became the 17th state in the country to approve medical marijuana when Gov. Dannell Malloy signed HB 5389, "An Act Concerning the Palliative Use of Marijuana, or PUMA. Under the state law, No employer may refuse to hire a person or may discharge, penalize (,) or threaten an employee solely on the basis of such persons or employees status as a qualifying patient or primary caregiver. There is no exception for public safety positions, Bucci said. And while the states highest court has yet to render an opinion on the law, Bucci said a federal judge has already upheld it. That case involved a Connecticut woman who used marijuana to treat PTSD. She received a job offer from a nursing home, but when she tested positive for cannabis on a pre-employment drug test, her job offer was rescinded. She then sued under PUMA. There are currently 27,340 patients in the states medical marijuana program, nine dispensing facilities and 30 conditions approved for medical marijuana. In his lawsuit, Bucci stats that Bulerin passed all the eligibility requirements to become a city firefighter but then volunteered that he has a medical marijuana card after a medical exam determined he had marijuana in his system. In a letter obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media to Bulerin on Jan. 23, City Personnel Director David Dunn states: You were offered conditional employment as an entry level firefighter with the City of Bridgeport, contingent upon passing all pre-employment screens. This is to advise you that you tested positive for marijuana and this conditional offer is being rescinded effective immediately. You will not be moving forward in this process and your name has been removed from the eligibility list. Bucci said his client has been using medical marijuana for six months. He would not disclose the condition Bulerin takes the marijuana for but said that condition would not affect his ability to serve as a firefighter. The plaintiff did not lack any of the established qualification requirements for the position of firefighter in the Bridgeport Fire Department; the plaintiff is physically fit to effectively perform the duties of the position of firefighter, the lawsuit states. He has satisfied the physical requirements for the position and passed the physical agility component of the selection process; the plaintiff is not addicted to the habitual use of drugs or intoxicating liquors. Bulerins father, James Bulerin Jr., became a city firefighter since 2009 after initially being rejected for having a minor criminal record. HURON COUNTY A man who dedicated his life to the sea has concluded his final voyage. Captain Fred Davis, 80, of Port Austin, died from cancer Saturday. He will be remembered for his passion and knowledge of all things that involved the waters of Lake Huron. "If you knew him, there just is no way you wouldn't like him," said good friend Gordon Miller. "He would help anybody out." Davis, whose career on the water spanned many decades, also had strong area ties on land. In his early years in Port Austin in the 1970s, he served on the local school board, village council and and area fire department for over 28 years. Davis loved his family and enjoyed times spent on the water with wife, Pat, and daughters, Lori, Lynn, Leah and Lucynda. The family's fun-filled weekend getaways and extended cruises to distant ports were always special to him. Aside from family, the sea was most important to Davis. Davis taught power squadron and Coast Guard Auxiliary classes, and served as Division 15-09 Vice-Captain. Following his tenure with the Coast Guard, Davis assembled a group of talented mariners and formed a salvage and towing company called Thumb Marine, saving many boats and lives in the process. Miller, who has known Davis for over 30 years, began working for Davis and the two quickly became friends. Miller said Davis' knowledge of the business was second to none. "That was one of the things that really amazed me all of the knowledge he had of all of the different powerboats and sailboats," Miller said. "He knew every boat and all the different things about them." In addition to operating his salvage business, David launched the 30-passenger charter vessel the Miss Port Austin, which took generations of people perch fishing over the years. Chris Roth captained the Miss Port Austin for a time, working for Davis over five summers. During that time, he said he was able to pay for a substantial amount of his college tuition. Just as important, he said he picked up an invaluable amount of marine knowledge he still uses to this day. "It was very educational, but Fred was also a tough cookie to work for," Roth said. "He was very knowledgeable and very firm on the way he wanted his business run. He really expected the most out of everybody, and we all grew because of that." During his career, Davis also served as a sales representative and test boat operator for Henry Smith Co., served as an arbitrator for BoatU.S. and was a member of Boating Writers International. Davis was perhaps best known for his writing endeavors. Over the years, he shared tales of his exploits at sea in numerous publications. Tom Campbell, managing editor at Woods-N-Water News, has known Davis for almost 30 years, when Davis began writing his Boat Smart column for the publication. "Fred's been writing his Boat Smart column for us faithfully every month I don't think he's ever missed in those 30 years," Campbell said. "He was just a great writer, a great guy, and a master for the top of the Thumb." Campbell said what made Davis stand out to his readers was his obvious enthusiasm for the subject. "He was so passionate about what he wrote about, and you could read that," Campbell said. "That says a lot about him. He had a passion for the water and to help people enjoy the water safely." Davis was also published in Mid-America Boating since 1999, wrote his As I See It column for the Huron Daily Tribune since 2005, and had his Tips for Boating column appear in the Great Lakes Scuttlebutt since 2012. His columns also appeared in Go Boating, Sea Magazine, Lakeland Boating, Trailer Boating, Boating World, Heartland Boating and Mad Mariners online publication. In total, over a span of 30 years, more than 3,000 columns have appeared in print. Additionally, Perils of the Fresh Water Seas, a compilation of many of his most exciting exploits on the water, is in the process of being published. "With all the articles he wrote for all the different boating magazines, there's so many people that knew him," Miller said. "He might be gone, but he's not going to be forgotten for a long time." Added Miller: "He was a nice man, I enjoyed his company. We had a lot of laughs. I'm going to miss him." BAD AXE Four students from The Interact Club of Bad Axe High School will be traveling to the Dominican Republic over spring break with Rotary International's District 6310 Water and Sanitation Committee. This is the fourth annual Interact trip to the Dominican Republican and the third trip the Bad Axe Club will be participating in. The first trip was founded by the efforts of the Bad Axe Club. The Interact Club, which has 50 members, is a Rotary-sponsored community service club that participates in both local and international projects. You accompanied the Prime Minister on his two-day visit to Turkey and participated in the expanded meetings at Ak Saray. What is your impression of the visit and its outcome? The objective goals of the visit were completely successful, which included, first of all, reducing tensions in the Aegean and, second of all, for dialogue to recommence with systematic and substantive planning of the steps to follow. This will occur forthwith, in the coming week, on the margins of the NATO meeting of Ministers of Defence between two old friends, from the days when they were heads of the general staffs of their countries: Greek Minister of Defence Ev. Apostolakis and his Turkish counterpart, Mr. H. Akar. Contact will follow on the level of Secretary General of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Minister of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to fully document the situation with regard to the state of affairs and planning of the steps to come. Can we truly look ahead to reduced tension and reduced Turkish provocativeness in the Aegean following the contact between Tsipras and Erdogan? We can be cautiously optimistic. This past week, we had the lowest number of violations in many years. Indeed, on the two days that followed the meeting, we had zero violations of our national airspace. We hope that this situation will stabilise, on the condition that the intention for something like this by other sidewill be confirmed in the upcoming meeting of Ministers of Defence. You visited the Theological School of Halki. The visit was deemed historic. What are your feelings about the issue of its reopening? It was a historic meeting indeed, and all of us who participated in it felt that we were part of history. Reopening of the School is not an issue that is only of interest to Greece, or at least the Orthodox world, but it has a universal dimension. It will prove to the entire world that Islam and Christianity can peacefully coexist, bringing people together and not dividing them, and that Turkey is a democracy that defends religious freedoms and rights. Consequently, the very presence of the Prime Minister, and especially his speech, as well as that of the Ecumenical Patriarch, was of special significance and constitutes a significant guarantee for the Schools reopening in the future. Was the issue of lifting the status of casus belli also discussed? All the issues were not substantively discussed this time, because this was not the goal of the visit, which was re-planning and recommencement of dialogue. But as you also saw in the public interview with the two leaders, all issues raised by the other side were responded to on the basis of the long-standing positions of Greek diplomacy, and indeed with an emphasis on what constitutes for us the cornerstone of our relations, namely respect for International Law. Mr Erdogan made special reference to economic agreements which will be concluded at the Cooperation Council of the two countries that will be held in Thessaloniki. When do you think that the High-Level Cooperation Council will take place, as well as the business forum between the two countries? It was indeed agreed between the two leaders for the highest form of political dialogue between the two countries to be combined with the opportunity for their business communities to meet. The High-Level Cooperation Council and the Economic Forum will constitute the bottom line in the effort to restart dialogue. I believe that if the proper will exists by our side, and also by the other side, something like this will be able to occur in the near future, in other words in the first half of the year. Based on the agreement between the Alternate Minister of Economy Stergios Pitsiorlas and the Turkish Minister of Commerce for the ferry service linking Thessaloniki and Izmir, does the possibility exist for ferry service linking Lavrio and Izmir to become a reality, as well as direct rail connection between Thessaloniki and Istanbul? Of course. All these plans are being examined. Indeed, as regards ferry services, wherever investment in infrastructure is not required, this represents a realistic possibility for the first ship to be launched this summer, on the Thessaloniki-Izmir line. Does Greece consent to the revision of the EU-Turkey Customs Union? There was broad reference to EU-Turkish relations, as well as to the issue of revising the EU-Turkey Customs Union, for the benefit of all countries in the region. The Prime Minister repeated our long-standing national position in favour of the European prospects of Turkey, on the understood condition of respecting the European acquis and the interests of all sides involved. From this standpoint, we are amenable to the relevant discussions commencing. Are you optimistic about the fact the talks on the Cyprus issue have recommenced? When do you foresee preliminary dialogue beginning, and what does this include? Indeed, preliminary meetings are expected to begin soon between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, something that Greece has been requesting since 2016. We seek for the progress made at Crans-Montana to be built upon, especially as regard the area of security, abolition of guarantees, planning for the departure of occupying troops, so that the island can be reunified based on the decisions of the UN and International Law. On Friday, Greece ratified the Protocol for the Northern neighbours accession to NATO. What are the next steps? When will Athens send the note verbale, and by when is the neighbouring country expected to notify the UN and the other international organisations, as well the other States, about its new constitutional name based on the Prespa Agreement? On Monday, the note verbale will be sent, which will notify of ratification of the agreement and subsequently, North Macedonia will notify the UN, as well as all the Member States that had recognised it according to its constitutional name, so that recognition can take place according to its new constitutional name going forward. And naturally, starting Monday, its obligations also begin to change, in its interior, the names of streets, buildings, documents which bear the old name, as has been agreed upon. Therefore, from the coming week, is the neighbouring country required to solely use its new name of North Macedonia? Of course. The Prespa Agreement is explicit and clear in that regard. In all the international fora, in all the international organisations, in bilateral relations, as well as in the countrys interior, e.g. on all new documents, the neighbouring country will be referred to by its new constitutional name. And accordingly, systematic planning will take place on their part for replacing the old name with the new one on existing documents, and wherever additional special material actions are required, such as e.g. for naming of streets etc. On 12 and 13 February, talks will be carried out in the Plenary for Revision of the Constitution. What do you hope for? Despite the voices of the extremists in New Democracy calling for undermining of the revision process, there was agreement in the Revision Committee, which indeed led to six cases of proposals by SYRIZA as well as New Democracy being passed by a wide majority. Clearly, agreement cannot exist on all issues, where ideological differences, the manner in which we interpret conflicting political and social interests is fundamentally different. This is what Democracy means, to seek solutions where a difference of opinion may exist today, and for a juxtaposition of views to continue so that future solutions are prepared. I feel therefore that, in the coming week's vote, this positive momentum of the Committee will be confirmed, so that we have a revision that will be progressive and democratic, which will strengthen rights and popular sovereignty. JOURNALIST: What is your view on Alexis Tsipras visit to Turkey? Has there been a jump start in the relationship between the two countries, or are we simply keeping a channel of communication open? G. KATROUGALOS: It was a particularly successful visit, which was carefully prepared and met the goals we had set, to reduce tensions and to begin talking again, systematically and in a planned manner. The other side, too, seemed to also desire reopening of dialogue. It should be noted that the tete-a-tete meeting between the Prime Minister and President Erdogan, which was planned to last one hour, ended up lasting two and a half hours and, furthermore, following the discussion, violations of our airspace in the Aegean were reduced to zero. I dont recall anything of the sort taking place in recent years. Therefore, the conditions seem to exist, after a very long time, for dialogue to recommence between the two countries. JOURNALIST: What is included in the Confidence Building Measures between the Ministries of Defence of the two countries? Do you feel that Evangelos Apostolakis and Hulusi Akar being present in these is important? Is there a meeting planned between the two? G. KATROUGALOS: There is a series of Confidence Building Measures that have been agreed to in recent decades which, though they dont resolve the differences that exist between us, are nonetheless useful for reducing tensions in the Aegean and restoring a positive climate. But detailed planning was agreed to during the meeting for recommencing substantive dialogue. The first step will be for the Ministers of Defence to meet in the immediate future, Mr. Apostolakis and Mr. Akar, old friends from their previous tenures as Chiefs of Staff. During this meeting, which will take place on 13 or 14 February, in the context of the NATO Summit, discussion will take place on how we shall proceed with implementation of the confidence building measures already taken. Similar steps will be taken also between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs. The Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is due to soon meet his counterpart, Turkey's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, to record the issues and begin the systematic planning in our diplomatic work. This will be followed by a meeting on the level of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, with the last phase being to convene the High-Level Cooperation Council and recommencing exploratory talks on issues pertaining to the continental shelf. JOURNALIST: The Prime Minister expressed the hope that the tension will be reduced, and that we will proceed with reopening the exploratory contacts. Based on everything the Turkish Ambassador said during his interview on AMNA a few days ago, was the possibility of recourse to the Hague discussed at all in Ankara? G. KATROUGALOS: Negotiations have not yet matured to this extent. The exploratory contacts have practically been discontinued for a long period of time, and any assessment prior to their recommencing is premature. JOURNALIST: The Prime Minister said that the organisation of a business forum was agreed upon, and Erdogan said that he will attend this, along with businessmen. When is this scheduled to take place? Will it perhaps be held at the same time as the High-Level Cooperation Council? G. KATROUGALOS: It is indeed our intention that at the same time as the High-Level Cooperation Council, for a business forum to be held in Thessaloniki, in which representatives of large companies from both countries will participate. In general, we promote economic cooperation, both as regards collaborations between Greek and Turkish businesses in third country markets as well as the necessary regulatory measures. For example, both sides agreed on the need for immediate opening of the Thessaloniki-Izmir ferry connection, and potentially Izmir-Lavrio as well. JOURNALIST: The issue of reopening the School of Halki is not a bilateral one. How do you interpret the fact that Erdogan insists on linking it to the request for directly electing the muftis in Thrace? Do you believe that prospects exist for reopening the school? G. KATROUGALOS: Indeed, reopening of the Theological School of Halki is in no way related to the election of Muftis, which is an internal issue for the Hellenic Republic. And the Prime Minister has made this completely clear. During his historic speech at Halki, he highlighted the special symbolism that the Theological School possesses, not only for Greece and Orthodoxy, but for Turkey itself. Its reopening will send a global message about co-existence and dialogue between Christianity and Islam, the message that Turkey is a modern state which protects religious rights and freedoms. For this reason, the Prime Minister stated his wish that the next time he visits Halki, it will be together with President Erdogan, to announce the school's reopening. JOURNALIST: The Prime Minister said that we must agree with Turkey to carry out preliminary meetings of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs on the crucial issue of security with regard to the Cyprus issue. Was the Turkish reaction a positive one? When will the first meeting take place? G. KATROUGALOS: The reaction was generally a positive one for dialogue to recommence. As I mentioned earlier, it was agreed for the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the two countries to again hold systematic talks on all levels. With regard to the Cyprus issue, for us, the primary issue is one of security, of ending the unacceptable system of guarantees and departure of the occupying troops. For this reason, it is necessary to know Turkey's present stances. For our country, it is clearly a given, our will for a solution that is in line with UN decisions, which will reunify the Island, building upon the progress and the acquis of Crans-Montana and the related Guterres framework. At the same time, a relevant initiative is under way by the Secretary General of the United Nations with his special envoy, Ms. Lute, on the views of whom we must adopt a stance. The Prime Minister, during his meeting with Mr Erdogan, stressed the need for respecting International Law in the Eastern Mediterranean, and underscored the right of the Republic of Cyprus to exploit its wealth-producing resources. He referred to the extremely significant decision of the Republic of Cyprus to establish a State fund for the distribution of revenue resulting from the exploitation of natural resources among all Cypriots following resolution of the Cyprus issue. On Monday, 11 February, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Markos Bolaris met with members of the Polish-Greek Parliamentary Friendship Group, and specifically with Parliament Members Tomasz Szyminsky and masz Kostus, as well as with Stanislaw Derahajlo, the attorney of the Polish Governments Vice President and Vice-Prefect of Podlasie Province, where there is a strong Christian Orthodox presence. The meeting was held on the occasion of the visit of the Polish delegation to Greece to participate in the commencement of celebrations for the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Greece and Poland, which began with a Holy Mass dedicated to the Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn at St. Marina Parish in Ilioupoli. The delegation was accompanied by the President of the St. Marina Foundation, Patrikios Panasious. The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, welcoming the visitors, stressed the possibilities that arise, on the occasion of the aforementioned anniversary, for strengthening cooperation between the two countries on a governmental and parliamentary level, as well as on a level of local bodies. To achieve this goal, he encouraged that initiatives be undertaken by both sides to organise political meetings and cultural events. He also stressed that the Polish community in Greece and the Greek community in Poland, which has existed there for many years, can play a vital role in strengthening relations between the two peoples. The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs noted the proposals of his interlocutors for potential cooperation in specific areas, such as collaborations by Universities through exchanges of scientists and students, the exchange of technical know-how related to use of the internet at Greek schools and Universities, mutual briefings for programmes for seniors that are in progress in the two countries, and increasing the flow of tourists from Greece to Poland, while he underscored our countrys amenability towards cooperation in these fields. The meeting was concluded with the expression of will on both sides for the bolstering of bilateral relations. CITY OF AITKIN ORDINANCE 388 SUMMARY AN ORDINANCE ENACTING CHAPTER 113 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES FOR THE CITY OF AITKIN REGULATING THE POSSESSION, SALE AND CONSUMPTION OF TOBACCO AND TOBACCO RELATED DEVICES AND PRODUCTS WITHIN THE CITY OF AITKIN. 1. The City Council has adopted a lengthy ordinance administering and regulating the sale, possession and use of tobacco, tobacco products, tobacco relate devices, electronic cigarettes, electronic delivery devices and nicotine or lobelia delivery devices. The purpose of this summary is to inform the public of the intent and effect of the ordinance and to publish only a summary of the ordinance with the full ordinance being on file in the office of the City Administrator during regular office hours. 2. The City of Aitkin Code of Ordinances is amended by adding a new chapter, Chapter 113. The new chapter provides essentially as follows: Sec. 113.01. Purpose and Intent. Sec. 113.02. Definitions. Sec. 113.03. License. Sec. 113.04. Fees. Sec. 113.05. Basis for Denial of License. Sec. 113.06. Prohibitions. Sec. 113.07. Self-Service Sales. Sec. 113.08. Responsibility. Sec. 113.09. Compliance Checks and Inspections. Sec. 113.11. Exceptions and Defenses. Sec. 113.99. Penalty. 3. The City Council hereby directs that the Title and Ordinance Summary shall be published in the official City newspaper and hereby gives notice that the complete Ordinance is available for inspection by any person during regular office hours at the office of the Aitkin City Administrator. 4. ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Aitkin this 5th day of November 2018. This Ordinance shall take effect immediately from and after its passage and publication according to law. Published in the Aitkin Independent Age November 14, 2018 879065 Ad details CITY OF AITKIN ORDINANCE 388 SUMMARY AN ORDINANCE ENACTING CHAPTER 113 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES FOR THE CITY OF AITKIN REGULATING THE POSSESSION, SALE AND CONSUMPTION OF TOBACCO AND TOBACCO RELATED DEVICES AND PRODUCTS WITHIN THE CITY OF AITKIN. 1. The City Council has adopted a lengthy ordinance administering and regulating the sale, possession and use of tobacco, tobacco products, tobacco relate devices, electronic cigarettes, electronic delivery devices and nicotine or lobelia delivery devices. The purpose of this summary is to inform the public of the intent and effect of the ordinance and to publish only a summary of the ordinance with the full ordinance being on file in the office of the City Administrator during regular office hours. 2. The City of Aitkin Code of Ordinances is amended by adding a new chapter, Chapter 113. The new chapter provides essentially as follows: Sec. 113.01. Purpose and Intent. Sec. 113.02. Definitions. Sec. 113.03. License. Sec. 113.04. Fees. Sec. 113.05. Basis for Denial of License. Sec. 113.06. Prohibitions. Sec. 113.07. Self-Service Sales. Sec. 113.08. Responsibility. Sec. 113.09. Compliance Checks and Inspections. Sec. 113.11. Exceptions and Defenses. Sec. 113.99. Penalty. 3. The City Council hereby directs that the Title and Ordinance Summary shall be published in the official City newspaper and hereby gives notice that the complete Ordinance is available for inspection by any person during regular office hours at the office of the Aitkin City Administrator. 4. ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Aitkin this 5th day of November 2018. This Ordinance shall take effect immediately from and after its passage and publication according to law. Published in the Aitkin Independent Age November 14, 2018 879065 Asbestos in schools has been a long-standing concern. In 2015, there were 131,000 public and private schools running in the United States, and one-third of them were thought to have contained asbestos. Everything from ceiling tiles to insulation and heating ducts has caused asbestos exposure in schools, putting both teachers and students at risk of developing asbestos diseases like mesothelioma. Tests Find High Levels of Asbestos at University of Montana Asbestos products pose the largest risk to school occupants when they are damaged or have faced everyday wear and tear. This releases microscopic asbestos fibers into the air, where they can then be ingested or inhaled, potentially leading to asbestos cancer. In enclosed classrooms and spaces, fibers can become concentrated, making them easily inhaled. In some cases, the carcinogen can enter the HVAC systems, allowing the fibers to be spread quickly through vents and fans. This was the case for preschoolers and teachers of McGill Hall at the University of Montana. Officials at the University of Montana (UM) conducted testing to determine the presence and amount of asbestos in active classrooms. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has many protections in place for the dangers of asbestos, some specific to schools. According to the EPA, asbestos cleanup is required if there are 5,000 fibers per square centimeter. In the case of McGill Hall, there were 15,000 asbestos fibers per square centimeter from one table swipe. The highest concentration of fibers found atop a light fixture, measured at 110,000 fibers per square centimeter. Asbestos poses a much smaller risk if the fibers are contained in products that havent sustained any damage or wear. However, high concentrations of the toxin were found on surfaces like tables, that students frequently touched and interacted with. Parents were especially concerned that amounts were so high, even after regular cleaning. UM officials claim that earlier tests didnt cause alarm, so they were unsuspecting of such large surface amounts. However, they also claim that the asbestos came through their air system, as a result of long-term degradation. As a long-term issue, faculty and children could have been exposed for a long period of time, putting them at an even higher risk of asbestos illnesses. A worker found a visible contamination problem in a tunnel linked to the preschool, which was never inspected or tested because maintenance workers werent required to enter the tunnel. Over a month earlier, crumbling asbestos was also found in an air system linked to McGill, but officials felt that it wasnt an issue as the air systems were separate. Parents Criticize UMs Delayed Reaction to Asbestos Parents of McGill Hall children are concerned that the test results were shared way too long after asbestos was revealed, and that it took the school too long to move their children from the contaminated areas. UM claims that they moved the 47 preschoolers as soon as possible, after unacceptable levels of asbestos became known. There are many concerns around the use of asbestos in schools. Construction with asbestos products was done before its dangers were fully known. However, since then, its become widely recognized that asbestos is a common toxin in schools, especially with older construction. Low amounts of asbestos are still allowed by the EPA, even though research has shown even small amounts can cause asbestos cancer. Furthermore, schools arent required to conduct testing for asbestos, despite it being so common. When parents faced UM officials, they also questioned why ongoing asbestos testing wasnt done when the building was known to contain asbestos. They demanded explanations for why data showed asbestos amounts significantly higher than the EPA threshold for cleanup. Removal and handling of asbestos is not simple. It requires trained and certified professionals that know how to handle the carcinogen without causing further exposure. The asbestos found in McGill Hall was also found to be chrysotile and amosite, of which chrysotile is the most dangerous type of the toxin. Paula Short, the Communications Director for UM insists that they are confirming the source of the asbestos, getting rid of the source, and conducting a full-scale cleanup with comprehensive testing. UM officials continue to stress that they understand the parents anxieties and are working hard to remedy the situation. The 50,000-square-foot facility has been shut down, relocating students and around 70 faculty, staff, and other employees until the asbestos has been fully cleaned up. Meridian, MS (39302) Today Variable clouds with thunderstorms, especially during the afternoon hours. High 89F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. We've been talking about a foldable smartphone by Samsung for years and it seems like the company will finally reveal the smartphone. We will finally get a glimpse at Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event on February 20 as the company teased the smartphone via a tweet. The South Korean company tweeted with the caption The future of mobile will unfold, which basically confirms that it would at least give consumers a glimpse into the foldable smartphone which is said to open and close like a book. The future of mobile will unfold on February 20, 2019. #SamsungEvent pic.twitter.com/MHvwrt7Rf4 Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) February 11, 2019 We've already seen the prototype of the phone back in November when Samsung showed off the foldable phone encased in a bulky cover. Justin Denison, Samsung Electronics America SVP and GM, indicated that the phone was hidden in the case so that the true design could be revealed at its official launch which looks like it will be happening in eight days. Twitter Denison also detailed that the smartphone could not only expand to seven inches but also run three apps at the same time. It is said to have a very sleek appearance with a screen that had to be thinner than any other. Twitter/CNet Samsung Vietnam may have actually revealed the design of the phone earlier this month in a teaser video that is now deleted. Samsung is not the only phone maker that has been working on a foldable smartphone as Rouyu and LG both plan to launch their foldable device later this year. Seeing the world through the eyes of an explorer soothes more than just our senses, it feeds our soul. There is a renewed sense of vitality that comes from seeking the world with an avid lust of a traveller, who wishes to discover new places and gather experiences that turn out to be nothing less than Aladdin's treasure. This becomes all the more poignant when people say that the world is an oyster for those who know where to look. Tryst with the travel bug is made memorable every time we witness the lush hill stations, or snow-capped mountains and pristine islands sitting in the lap of nature, that are scattered around the world. Instagram Yet, such amazing experiences would get heightened manifold if one could witness the teeming beauty of this world in the company of someone they love and wish to share their life with. It is a life that most couples would kill for, and there is no guessing why. The possibility of discovering the captivating beauty of the earth with the person who makes your world go round, would pretty much be like living the dream life. And let us tell you that Vidit and Savi are living this exact life. They are lovers as well as travellers in love, and this is exactly how their story unfolded. For Vidit and Savi, their love for travelling and discovering the world together first began from the backseat of their school bus rides at DPS R. K. Puram. Talking about that time of their life Savi says, we met in high school in New Delhi we were friends for years, dated for ages, and then got married! Instagram Even their first date involved the outdoors, and even though it was a long time ago, Savi remembers it like it was yesterday, we went for a long drive and coffee at a newly-opened coffee shop in the city! I'd happily do that on a date even today! Even after having seen most of the world with Vidit, Savi is more than happy to take him up on a similar date even today - who said little things don't count? From that first date to a gazillion one-of-a-kind dates later, Savi and Vidit have come a long way. However, it was back in 2008 when the couple took the biggest leap of their lives. From travelling as a couple to scaling thousands of miles to get married and travel to a new place every month and amping that up to travelling to a new destination every few days and leaving their jobs to make it possible, Savi and Vidit's journey has been nothing short of an adventure. Instagram The couple decided to document it all on their blog 'Bruised Passports', which today has a great following online. So, when Jaime Lynn Beatty once said that, jobs fill your pocket, but adventures fill your soul, we suppose nobody could live up to this saying better than the makers of 'Bruised Passports'. As of today, the couple has travelled to 90 countries around the world, with many more to go as per their itinerary. However, their journey as travellers in love began when they were teenagers. Recalling their journey as a couple, this is what Savi had to say, we travelled a fair bit in South East Asia as teenagers when we had just started dating because Vid went to university in Singapore. That's when both of us fell in love with travelling together! Instagram Soon, life caught up with the young couple and as we grew up, we moved to London and got married. At this stage of our lives, we would save our salaries to travel together each month. We spent almost 8 years in London and would try to travel to a new place every month! This is how we ended up exploring Europe, the US, and parts of Africa. However, the thrill of exploration and discovery rubbed off on the couple and they began to seek much more of what they had already tasted of life as travellers. Savi shares more and says, sometime along the way we fell in love with travelling and savouring new experiences. Eventually, we ended up working towards travelling full time. Experiencing remote corners and busy cities of the world together has brought us a lot closer. It's like being partners-in-crime at a whole new level. Instagram Yet, when we asked them of their most cherished memory, this is what they had to say, Finnish Lapland - the feeling of lying in a transparent glass igloo and looking out at the Northern Lights is incomparable. A trip to Lapland offers so many bucket list items - riding a reindeer, sledging with husky dogs, seeing the Northern Lights, cruising through a frozen sea, swimming with icebergs - and for that reason, it is second to none! Just reading about it is making us daydream about all the glory they might have witnessed, and that sure as hell would be one of the most romantic ways of spending a date night with our significant other, don't you agree? Instagram But this journey that Savi and Vidit set out on over a decade ago has taught them as much about each other as individuals, as it has taught them about relationships and life at large. Vidit shares how he learns something new from Savi every single day, I have learnt to be a fighter when it comes to achieving goals. Savi has a meticulous rhythm of working and because of that, I learn something new from her every day. She juggles so many different roles and does it all with perfection. As for Savi, she claims that I've learnt the art of prioritising from Vid and never settling for anything less than 100%. He strives for complete happiness, in work and life, and isn't afraid of spending hours, days, or even years to achieve something. But it has to look exactly like what he had in mind! I'm also really proud of the fact that he's passionate about gender equality and is always talking about how important it is to fight stereotypes and respect women. Instagram And when you ask the couple what their relationship has taught them over the years, they say, loads. But mostly that a long term relationship isn't always about flowers and candles. It's about adventure, experiences, mind-numbing compatibility, and consciously CHOOSING to be with someone every single day. And marriage isn't about duties, being 'tied down' (the one stereotype we hate the most!) or becoming one soul! For them, love and marriage mean nothing else than saying that, it's actually about celebrating your individualities, being two financially independent people supporting each other's dreams, giving each other strength when all hope is lost, and most importantly having fun! Instagram Savi and Vidit may have travelled far and wide on the face of this earth, but they have also managed to discover themselves in the process, and grow as individuals as well as a couple by coming in touch with myriad people, places and cultures which only helped them to appreciate life and each other a lot better. Why? Because this world can be the greatest teacher, and when you know where to look, it can surprise you with some of life's most splendid experiences. It's that time of the year again where the city is decked up in pinks and reds, and while most people enjoy the 'love' displayed all over, some are significantly indifferent or not so savvy towards it. It's a choice really. Even for couples who'd just like to spend Valentine's Day without any cupid-induced festivities and treat the day just like any normal day. For single people, Valentine's Day can be a little rough or unremarkable. Either you feel bad about the fact that you don't have anyone to spend the day with or you're happy in your skin, feeling content with yourself, all the time. Netflix Whatever it is, we have a rebellious remedy for the Val Day naysayers out there. The remedy is simple. Just drag yourself to a couch or your bed, alone or with a significant other and watch these 5 shows that are absolutely anti-candy hearts and sugary cupid and not at all Valentine friendly, and re-live a normal non-cheesy day: (1) The Umbrella Academy Netflix Hollywood star Ellen Page and music legend Mary J Blige star in this hot new superhero series fresh out on Netflix. The Hargreeves children have never-seen-before superpowers but their dysfunctional family soon falls apart. Now they must reunite to save the world. It is based on the highly popular comic and award-winning graphic novel by Gerard Way (front man, My Chemical Romance) and Gabriel BA with Steve Blackman (Fargo S2) as the show runner. Watch the trailer here (2) Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened Netflix Netflix's latest documentary takes on the luxury festival created by Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule. Fyre was promoted as a luxury music festival on a private island in the Bahamas featuring bikini-clad supermodels, A-List musical performances and posh amenities. Guests arrived to discover the reality was far from the promises. This behind-the-scenes look by Charles Smith is the much-needed reality check you may need on your 'let's rebel Valentine's Day' day. Watch the trailer here (3) Sex Education Netflix Choose sex and self-love this V-Day. An inexperienced socially-awkward high school student Otis Milburn lives with his mother, a sex therapist. Thanks to being surrounded by manuals and TMI conversations on sex, he starts an underground sex therapy clinic for his classmates. This British comedy series has received acclaim for being a smart, sensitive at teenagers trying to find themselves and being comfortable with their bodies and sexuality. It is recently renewed for a second season, so catch up the first one soon. Watch the trailer here (4) Marvel's The Punisher S2 Netflix Replace romance with a desire for some revenge! Marvel's The Punisher is back with another season. After seeking revenge for his family's death, Frank Castle saves a girl from murder making himself a target. His old enemies now force the war veteran to confront whether he should accept his destiny and embrace life as The Punisher. Watch the trailer here (5) The Good Place S2 Netflix Welcome. Everything is just fine - now that season 2 is here! Kristin Bell plays Eleanor Shellstrop a selfish 'bad' person, who by some glitch, has arrived in heaven ie the Good Place in her afterlife. But is the Good Place actually that good? Season 1 was a laugh riot and season 2 takes Eleanor and her friend's escapades further! This one is to watch with your gang. Watch the trailer here So, without much further lament on how to spend the 14th of February, cue these or one of these series and sit back and have some fun, you've been avoiding since a while. Ps: Happy Valentine's Day! SALT LAKE CITY, Utah Feb. 12, 2019 Las Vegas, NV. Richard Boddington Salt Lake City Christopher Peters Edouard Saget /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- OrthoGrid Systems, Inc., a leading innovator in surgical imaging, workflow efficiency and decision-making support in orthopedic surgery, today announced that its new PhantomMSK Hip Preservation System, with novel new applications for peri-acetabular osteotomy (PAO) procedure and treatment of femoral acetabular impingement (FAI), will be unveiled at the 2019 annual meeting of American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons inOrthoGrid Systems will be in Hall A, booth #625."Developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) is a relatively common condition that can lead to early onset osteoarthritis, pain, and limited mobility," explained, CEO of OrthoGrid Systems. "Because DDH can be difficult to treat and can also become symptomatic early in life due to bony impingement and profound cartilage loss, there is a tremendous need for better solutions. OrthoGrid's new PhantomMSK Hip Preservation applications are exceptional because they seamlessly integrate into the standard workflow, enhance procedural decision making, and confirm preoperative surgical plans intraoperatively during these complex surgeries"OrthoGrid's PhantomMSK System is a digital platform for orthopedics that also includes patented solutions for total hip arthroplasty and other in-process applications. In conjunction with OrthoGrid's HipGrid and HipGrid NINE product lines, the PhantomMSK offers a clinically relevant, cost-effective, and completely mobile solution that can be installed in either ambulatory surgical centers or hospitals."Peri-acetabular osteotomy can be a technically demanding procedure, and physicians rely heavily on fluoroscopic imaging that is often marred by fluoroscopic distortion," noted renowned-based orthopedic surgeon,, MD. "OrthoGrid's PhantomMSK System directly addresses the distortion in a manner that is simple and that can contribute to a tremendous difference in the final outcome."For more information about OrthoGrid System's portfolio of orthopedic solutions, please visit our website at http://www.orthogrid.com.About OrthoGrid Systems, Inc. OrthoGrid Systems is a rapidly expanding global leader in intraoperative imaging technologies targeting component and anatomic alignment, imaging efficiency, optimized visualization and decision-making support for orthopedic surgery. OrthoGrid specializes on leveraging the latest innovation in technology to create practical and efficient solutions available or in development for hip arthroplasty, hip preservation, trauma and other common procedures performed over 10 million times per year globally. Learn more about OrthoGrid and our products by visiting our website at http://www.orthogrid.com.Source: OrthoGrid Systems, Inc. Media Contact:, President Email: info@orthogrid.com Phone: 801-703-5866SOURCE Ortho Spine Partners CHESTER, England Feb. 12, 2019 Philip Ward Europe Vienna, Austria 27 February 2019 Most Influential Radiology Researcher Most Effective Radiology Educator Radiology Rising Star Most Significant News Event in Radiology Scientific Paper of the Year Best New Radiology Device Best New Radiology Software Best New Radiology Vendor /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Radiology portal AuntMinnieEurope.com today announced the winners of the first edition of the EuroMinnies, a new annual event recognizing excellence in European medical imaging.The EuroMinnies awards enable Europeans to acknowledge the contributions of their peers to the field of radiology. EuroMinnies candidates are nominated by the 29,000-plus members of AuntMinnieEurope.com, with winners chosen by a panel of experts after two rounds of voting.The EuroMinnies are based on the Minnies, the successful awards event held for the past 19 years by AuntMinnieEurope.com's sister site, AuntMinnie.com."We're pleased to be able to bring the success of the Minnies to European radiology," said, editor in chief of AuntMinnieEurope.com. "So many of the great achievements in radiology have their roots in, so it's only fitting that we now have the EuroMinnies as a vehicle to recognize the European imaging community's many accomplishments."The eight EuroMinnies categories range from Most Influential Radiology Researcher to Best New Radiology Vendor and also include categories such as Radiology Rising Star and Scientific Paper of the Year. Trophy presentations will take place at the European Congress of Radiology, which begins in, onThe eight categories are as follows:The full list of EuroMinnies winners can be viewed by visiting http://eurominnies.auntminnieeurope.com.About AuntMinnie.com AuntMinnie.com is the premier online destination for radiologists, radiation therapists, interventional radiologists, and related professionals in the medical imaging industry, while AuntMinnieEurope.com serves the European radiology community.AuntMinnie.com and AuntMinnieEurope.com feature the latest news, communities, continuing medical education, and board review education for medical imaging physicians, clinicians, residents, and medical students across the world.SOURCE AuntMinnieEurope.com Lower respiratory tract infections are any infections in the lungs or below the voice box. These include pneumonia, bronchitis, and tuberculosis. A lower respiratory tract infection can affect the airways, such as with bronchitis, or the air sacs at the end of the airways, as in the case of pneumonia. In this article, we look at the causes and symptoms of lower respiratory tract infections and discuss their treatments and prevention. Symptoms Share on Pinterest Symptoms of a less severe lower respiratory tract infection can include a dry cough, a low fever, and a runny nose. Symptoms of lower respiratory tract infections vary and depend on the severity of the infection. Less severe infections can have symptoms similar to the common cold, including: a stuffed up or a runny nose a dry cough a low fever a mild sore throat a dull headache In more severe infections, symptoms can include: a severe cough that may produce phlegm fever difficulty breathing a blue tint to the skin rapid breathing chest pain wheezing Upper vs. lower respiratory tract infections Lower respiratory tract infections differ from upper respiratory tract infections by the area of the respiratory tract they affect. While lower respiratory tract infections involve the airways below the larynx, upper respiratory tract infections occur in the structures in the larynx or above. People who have lower respiratory tract infections will experience coughing as the primary symptom. People with upper respiratory tract infections will feel the symptoms mainly above the neck, such as sneezing, headaches, and sore throats. They may also experience body aches, especially if they have a fever. Lower respiratory tract infections include: bronchitis pneumonia bronchiolitis tuberculosis Upper respiratory tract infections include the following: common colds sinus infections tonsillitis laryngitis Flu infections can affect both the upper and lower respiratory tracts. Causes and risk factors Share on Pinterest Tobacco smoke can lead to a lower respiratory tract infection. Infections in the lower respiratory tract are primarily the result of: viruses, as with the flu or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bacteria, such as Streptococcus or Staphylococcus aureus fungal infections mycoplasma, which are neither viruses or bacteria but are small organisms with characteristics of both In some cases, substances from the environment can irritate or cause inflammation in the airways or lungs, which can lead to an infection. These include: tobacco smoke dust chemicals vapors and fumes allergens air pollution Risk factors that make a person more likely to develop a lower respiratory tract infection include: a recent cold or flu a weakened immune system being more than 65 years old being under 5 years old recent surgery Diagnosis A doctor will usually diagnose a lower respiratory infection during an exam and after discussing the symptoms a person has and how long they have been present. During the exam, the doctor will listen to the persons chest and breathing through a stethoscope. The doctor may order tests to help diagnose the problem, such as: pulse oximetry to find how much oxygen is in the blood chest X-rays to check for pneumonia blood tests to check for bacteria and viruses mucus samples to look for bacteria and viruses Treatment Some lower respiratory tract infections go away without needing treatment. People can treat these less-severe viral infections at home with: over-the-counter medications for a cough or fever plenty of rest drinking plenty of fluids In other cases, a doctor may prescribe additional treatment. This may include antibiotics for bacterial infections, or breathing treatments, such as an inhaler. In some cases, a person may need to visit the hospital to receive IV fluids, antibiotics, or breathing support. Very young children and infants may need more treatment than older children or healthy adults. Doctors often monitor infants especially closely if they have a higher risk of severe infections, such as premature infants or infants with a congenital heart defect. In these cases, a doctor may be more like to recommend hospitalization. Doctors can also recommend similar treatment for people of 65 years of age and above or those individuals with weakened immune systems. Recovery time Recovery time for a lower respiratory tract infection varies from person to person. According to the American Lung Association, a healthy young adult can recover from a lower respiratory tract infection, such as pneumonia, in around 1 week. For older adults, it may take several weeks to make a full recovery. Prevention Share on Pinterest Washing the hands frequently can help prevent lower respiratory tract infections. A person can take many steps to prevent getting a lower respiratory tract infection, including: washing their hands frequently avoiding touching the face with unwashed hands staying away from people with respiratory symptoms cleaning and disinfecting surfaces regularly getting vaccines, such as the pneumococcal vaccine and MMR vaccine getting a flu shot every year avoiding known irritants, such as chemicals, fumes, and tobacco Complications Most lower respiratory tract infections are uncomplicated. However, when complications occur, they can be very serious. Complications of lower respiratory tract infections can include: congestive heart failure respiratory failure respiratory arrest sepsis, which is a blood infection that can lead to organ shutdown lung abscesses by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, February 12, 2019 T-Mobile's proposed 26 billion acquisition of Sprint will lead to excessive consolidation and undermine innovation, a group of Democratic senators say in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission and U.S. Department of Justice. It will raise prices, particularly on low-income consumers and seniors, Senators Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota) and others write. This merger offers little in return for these likely tangible harms. It will not speed up the deployment of 5G, nor will it achieve meaningful nationwide coverage for rural Americans. The senators want regulators to block the merger -- a deal that would leave the country with only three major mobile wireless carriers, all of which are roughly the same size. T-Mobile and Sprint combined have around 100 million wireless customers, while Verizon has roughly 116 million and AT&T has around 93 million. advertisement advertisement Our enforcers have been emphatic in recent years that a four-to-three merger in the telecommunications industry would be harmful, the lawmakers write to the FCC and DOJ. They note that the government blocked T-Mobile's merger with AT&T in 2011, and a proposed merger between T-Mobile and Sprint in 2014. History has proven that those were the right decisions, Blumenthal and the others write, adding that prices dropped in the years after the mergers were blocked. T-Mobile and Sprint say they plan to invest nearly $40 billion to roll out a nationwide 5G network, if the merger goes through. The companies argue the new network will offer 5G speeds four to six times faster than each company could achieve independently, which will spur competition by forcing Verizon and AT&T to improve their own networks. But the lawmakers are skeptical of whether a merger is necessary to accomplish the 5G buildout. T-Mobile's and Sprint's sudden claims that neither can create a competitive 5G network separately flies in the face of announcements, disclosures, and marketing to consumers and investors over the past two years, they write. by Tanya Gazdik , February 12, 2019 Edward (Ed) Laukes has spent almost 30 years at Toyota Motor North America. During that time, he has helped transform the company into a major player in the automotive category and a brand that is synonymous with quality. The divisions work last year for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games and Paralympics was indisputably exemplary. Furthermore, he has a vision for what automotive marketing can do to help make the world a better place that extends far beyond the companys balance sheet. For these reasons, Laukes has been selected as MediaPosts 2018 Automotive Marketer of the Year. He will receive the honor April 17 at the MediaPost Marketing: Automotive conference during the New York Auto Show at Javits Center. advertisement advertisement Ed Laukes and his team have demonstrated consistency, focus and the ability to use all the tools necessary to connect with their consumers throughout 2018, says Ian G. Beavis, AMCI Global chief strategy officer and one of the jurors for MediaPosts Marketing: Automotive awards. Amid all the turmoil of the industry, they have proven the value of solid strategic thinking and executional excellence in Toyotas marketing. Laukes currently is group vice president of Toyota division marketing, responsible for all Toyota division market planning, advertising, merchandising, sales promotion, incentives, NASCAR and motorsports, and all social and digital media. He also serves as a member of the Toyota Racing Development board of directors. In an era where we are inundated with negative and contentious messaging, Toyotas campaign of positive programs and messages work to empower and inspire consumers, an effort that Ed Laukes has shepherded and empowered within the company, says Scotty Reiss, founder of A Girl's Guide To Cars and a juror for the Marketing: Automotive awards. With the cornerstone idea of mobility for all, Toyotas Start Your Impossible campaign ranges from fun Corollas playing tag to being a foundational element for Olympians and Paralympians dreaming of taking the podium. The Olympic campaign smartly took root in 2018 and builds to 2020, showcasing athletes and their pursuit of the Olympic dream, Reiss says. The overall message resonates through Toyotas other programs including NASCAR, where Laukes put down roots in the companyto empower drivers and car owners. Among them, the brand is supporting a number of young racing teams, including teams featuring female drivers, and winning new fans around the country. Toyotas continued commitment to reaching multicultural audiences resonates deeply with all consumers, she adds. Since joining Toyota in 1989, Laukes has held various positions in both the Lexus and Toyota divisions, including management positions in the field. Prior to his current position, he was vice president of integrated marketing operations, and vice president, engagement marketing and guest experience. Before joining Toyota, Laukes worked with Buick and American Honda. by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, February 12, 2019 The advertising industry loses millions of dollars annually to advertising fraud. At the IAB Leadership Summit in Phoenix, Per Bjorke, senior product manager at Google, rallied advertisers, agencies, publishers and platform providers to work together to stop ad fraud. Bjorke drew from his recent work with White Ops. In November 2018, Google and White Ops uncovered a digital ad-fraud scheme called 3ve, which involved several schemes in which the U.S. Department of Justice became involved. Defendants allegedly used malware-infected computers to run automated ad-fraud schemes without users knowledge or consent. The 3ve malware scheme hit more than 1.7 million computers and resulted in $29 million in payments for fake digital ads. Not all invalid traffic is categorized as ad fraud. The industry, however, needs to accept that there is no "silver bullet" to solve the economic hardship created by ad fraud, Bjorke said. advertisement advertisement Bjorke believes ads.txt, also known as Authorized Digital Sellers, aims to provide a secure method that publishers and distributors can use to verify the companies they authorize to sell their digital inventory. He said it can help to stop ad fraud, although it is not a silver bullet. This is hard work that is ongoing ,and everyone needs to contribute, he said. Contributing to the ad-fraud problem are too many intermediaries in the supply chain and less-than-stellar ad inventory. Some believe blockchain can reduce ad fraud by detecting the invalid traffic. The technology might be able to follow the money if it can tap into the entire ecosystem, but wont necessarily detect valid from invalid traffic or detect shell companies. The same type of fraud doesnt happen with search ads. The main fraud occurs from sabotage from competitors. For example, one dry cleaner business might compete with another up the street. One might try to waste the other's budget by clicking on their ads. Google has technology that can curtail search fraud from occurring, and uses ads.txt to try and stop ad fraud in other types of advertising. During the questions at the end of the presentation, IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg said the IAB is working to educated officials in Washington about the problems surrounding ad fraud. by Karlene Lukovitz @KLmarketdaily, February 12, 2019 Butterfinger one of the brands acquired in Ferreros $2.8 billion acquisition of Nestles confections business last January is touting an improved recipe with its largest campaign in over a decade. The nearly 100-year-old brand now uses a larger type of peanut and more cocoa and milk for a richer chocolate coating, and has eliminated hydrogenated oils and the preservative TBHQ. The bars, now at retailers across the country, also feature a brighter-yellow wrapper thats double-layered to preserve freshness. Ferraro is supporting the major revamp with a Better Butterfinger campaign from lead creative agency Pubbliregia. The campaign features an ad being run across cable and network channels and social media, as well as a new website. by Howard Polskin , February 11, 2019 Cliff Sims, the former White House aide, has just published a spicy tell-all book about his year and a half in the Trump administrations communications shop. Its Sims attempt to make Americas White House exposes great again and he mostly succeeds. First, the bad news for anyone who prizes organizational loyalty: Sims stabs his boss in the back. The good news: His boss was Sean Spicer. Sims book, Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House, has its ups and downs, and its never more up (and riveting) then when its getting down and dirty about Mr. Spicer. Sims also kicks lots of mud on the boots of John Kelly. His portrayal of Kellyanne Conway as a first-class leaker further sullies her reputation. Sims showers praise on Hope Hicks although a cynic might be justified in wondering if hes angling for a job at her new employer, 21st Century Fox. advertisement advertisement As someone who regularly monitors right-wing media outlets for my website TheRighting, I was particularly interested in the role of former Breitbart boss Steve Bannon (Spoiler alert: He behaved worse than I feared). Even if youre not a political junkie, theres a lot to recommend about Team of Vipers. Sims survived for 18 long months in the snakepit of the Trump administration, and careful readers can pull some useful marketing tips from the pages of the book. Here are just a few of them. Tip: Brand your concepts simply (really simply!) If you cant explain your position, ideology or product in a simple phrase, no one will understand it easily. And worse yet, they wont buy it. Examples: Make America Great Again, Drain the Swamp, Build the Wall. Any questions? Tip: Take credit for something big and powerful. When asked by President Trump about a possible choice for his attorney general, Sims immediately suggested Jeff Sessions, whom he knew from his previous job as the CEO of the Alabama news site Yellowhammer. And guess what? Trump liked the idea. Sims took credit for the choice. He was doing his best to defend himself from the idea vampires who suck the fingerprints off of brilliant concepts and pass them off as their own. Sims instincts were sound and generated enormous political capital for the young staffer that carried far even after Sessions star dimmed. Tip: Pick a favored communications channel, master it and use it to hammer home your messages. FDR had radio. JFK, with his good looks and GQ-perfect hair, used television to perfection. For Trump, its Twitter, which Sims maintains is one of the Presidents most prized possessions. Zorro had his sword and Trump uses his tweets with equal deadly flair and aim. Marketing professionals, especially those in politics, would be well served by studying Trumps adept use of the platform. Tip: Double-check your facts before pushing your message. Anyone remember Sean Spicers first press conference about crowd size after President Trumps inauguration? Hard to forget. But the crowd size was not Spicers only factual error that day, according to Sims. He lifts the curtain on the harrowing hours just before the press conference when it was clear that Spicer did not have all the facts he needed to meet the press. Tip: If your boss looks like crap before an important meeting or public appearance, tell him. Anyone remember Sean Spicers first press conference about crowd size after President Trumps inauguration? (See: suit, ill-fitting) Tip: Let the boss take credit for your ideas (and dont outshine the boss). This seems like pretty simple advice, but it was ignored repeatedly by some people who should have known better, according to Sims. Scaramucci got caught leaning too far over his Gucci loafers with his love of the spotlight, and Bannons profile was way too high as well. The takeaway: sometimes mushrooms live longer than sunflowers. Tip: Always take extraordinary care physically positioning your CEO or candidate during a television interview. Sims learned this lesson from working closely with Trump, who picked up a few tricks from his days as a reality television star. In particular, he didnt like a white backdrop because his blonde-ish, orange-ish hair faded into it. Sims tells readers to always have the shot framed exactly how you want it. And never be afraid to have the lighting turned down. Tip: All employees are disposable. Thats the lesson of the Trump White House where loyalty, as Sims personally discovered, was a one-way street. But its a lesson for all employees, whether or not theyre in marketing. Tip: If youre going to burn a bridge, use dynamite. Whatever you think about Cliff Sims, hes got some explosive allegations in his bridge-burning book. Hell never write talking points in this town again. Whats the sound of 118 million Verizon customers raising hell? Some city and state officials may be able to tell you pretty soon. The wireless phone Goliath today announced Lets 5G, described as a Verizon-led advocacy initiative that provides an opportunity for those who want 5G to express their support for the technology in direct outreach with their local and state officials. Consumers will be urged to tell politicians, I support the immediate rollout of 5G wireless service in our community because of the benefits it will provide today and the breakthroughs it will enable tomorrow. Via the Lets5G.com website, they can add their names and addresses to that statement and Verizon will pass it on to relevant local and state government agencies. advertisement advertisement After consumers send that message, theyll receive an email that reads, in part, By speaking out and joining the Lets 5G! movement, youre playing a key, personal role in unlocking the limitless potential of our 5G future. Probably without knowing it, many of those signing that document will be taking wireless operators side against some cities. The Federal Communications Commission issued 5G regulations last fall that give wireless companies far more latitude to put those small cell towers wherever they need to be--even, critics say, attached to historic or architecturally significant buildings. That regulation has so far survived a challenge in court but, according to RCR Wireless News, it appears to be far from settled. Whats more, the regulations restrict the ability of cities to set their own rates for allowing wireless companies to put up the many antennas that will be needed for 5G. In many cases, they will be spaced just a few hundred feet away from each other. In the FAQ section of the new Lets 5G site, Verizon explains, 5G uses a dense network of 'small cell' antennas about the size of a backpack. Designed to blend into the environment, these 5G antennas hide in plain sight on things you never notice like utility poles and street lamps. A Verizon spokesman told Marketing Daily, We regularly work with policymakers on the federal, state and local level to make the process of upgrading service for our customers as efficient and cost-effective as possible. Local governments continue to have a significant say in the process and we respect that role. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, the only Democrat on the commission, voted against that provision. She said "I do not believe the law permits Washington to run roughshod over state and local authority like this, and I worry the litigation that follows will only slow our 5G future. The National Governors Association, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities and the National Conference of State Legislatures opposed the order. As any advocacy website would be expected to, though, Verizon plays up the considerable advantages 5G will bring. Take a moment, step back and imagine if you were around during the emergence of the Industrial Revolution, wrote Ronan Dunne, president of Verizons consumer group and Tami Erwin, president of Verizons business group, on Verizons corporate news platform. We fully believe that 5G can be just as powerful, as an agent of change, and not simply as a technology upgrade. Its a network that will help reduce the carbon footprint, and bring new jobs and new opportunities for learning. Its a network thatll offer societal benefits in a myriad of ways. Saeum Meditec, a South Korean company, will showcase an innovative medical pressure monitor, EPI-Detection, at the upcoming AAOS 2019 (American Academy of Orthopedic surgeons) annual meeting in Las Vegas during the 13-15 March. EPI-Detection is a medical pressure monitoring device to detect the epidural space in epidural anesthesia. As cervical epidural anesthesia is most difficult procedure with more complications than Lumber or thoracic approach, reaching the epidural space in safety and accuracy has been one of the top concerns of anesthesiologists. For epidural anesthesia, most commonly used methods is Loss of Resistance technique using saline (LOR) and it depends on the anesthesiologists or surgeons skill level in placing ESI (Epidural Steroid Injection). Furthermore, it is very difficult in patients who are obese or have abnormal vertebral anatomy. To solve significant unmet needs, the EPI-Detection was invented to detect the epidural space for more accurate procedure. When the epidural needle reaches the epidural space, it detects the pressure change of the muscle layer and epidural space. The pressure sensor recognizes this, which is displayed on an LED so that the user can easily identify it. It has a structural feature (Luer-lock) that allows the Raczs catheter to be inserted right away. To put it simply, the device supports the safe treatment of patients by allowing the epidural needle to precisely reach the epidural space. In Korea, the total number of Epidural procedures is estimated to be about 32 million by 2017. Number of case of Epidural nerve block One-time block (cervical and thoracic) (CPT in Korea: LA321) is 452,302 and Number of case of Epidural nerve block One-time block (lumbar and sacrum) (CPT in Korea: LA322) is 2,674,754. Number of case of Labor epidural for vaginal delivery is 196,451. There are now about 9 million epidural steroid injections performed annually in the U.S and the number of procedures appears to be growing. Market has a big potential as well as an aging population is growing over the world. Clinical trials of the device are currently underway. Efficiency and stability have been verified since 2016 and the current study, which initiated in January 2018, uses Epi Detection in 70 cases to verify how the procedure time is shortened into 43% and how many times the use of C-Arm and radioactivity is reduced into 52%. Results are expected to be announced early this year. The innovation was launched at MEDICA 2018 to its international audience. As well as at Association of Anesthetists UK Winter Scientific Meeting 2019 (14th Jan), it has received enthusiastic responses. After the events, the made-in-Korea device is being exported to UK, Denmark, Spain, Turkey and Kuwait. Saeum Meditec is currently on discussion with their partners in EU including Germany and Italy to broaden its market. After the successful launching of EPI-Detection in global market at last MEDICA 2018, we are delighted to present the device to undiscovered customers, said Sang-Won Yoon, CEO, of Saeum Meditec. We will continue catching the eyes of customers around the globe through the American Academy of Orthopedic surgeons. Currently we are preparing the documents for 510(k) and will submit them soon after internal review, he added. For more information : www.saeummeditec.com Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb0mzIXeLglKwMi5_1ohjIA) Contact person: alicia@saeum.net Pharmaceutical Contract Manufacturing Market Segmentation The global pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market has been segmented on the basis of type which comprises Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) Manufacturing and Finished Dosage Formulation (FDF) Market. The Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) manufacturing segment is expected to be the leading segment while the Finished Dosage Formulation (FDF) segment is expected to exhibit the fastest growth rate of 6.5% over the forecast period. Sample Report at https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1532 Pharmaceutical Contract Manufacturing Market Competitive Landscape Grifols International, Vetter, S.A, AbbVie Inc, Lonza AG, Pharmaceutical Product Development, Patheon Inc., Catalant, Boehringer Ingelheim, and others are the key players in the global pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market. Pharmaceutical Contract Manufacturing Market Overview The growth of the global pharmaceutical contract manufacturing industry can be traced to multiple factors. Overall rapid growth within the pharmaceutical industry can be credited for the growth of the global pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market, with the continuity of the outsourcing trend. Growth within the industry offers opportunities provided by both small biotech and large pharmaceutical companies which has been instrumental in shaping the market. The competitive nature of the pharmaceutical industry has paved the way for the growth of the global pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market. Pipeline challenges, the rising cost of drug development and pricing pressure have increased the reliance on pharmaceutical contract manufacturing. Pharmaceutical contract manufacturing provides the advantage of reduced costs, and increased expertise which coupled with regulatory norms pertaining to standardization has boosted the growth of the market. Fundamental growth drivers include population growth, surging healthcare expenditure on a global scale, aging population and GDP growth. All these factors induce a high demand for drugs which, in turn, supports market growth. Besides, expansion of service offerings by pharmaceutical contract manufacturing organizations along with growing complexities in clinical trials remains major growth drivers. The growth of the market is partly offset by the entry of biosimilars. Other possible bottlenecks include lack of manufacturing standardization, increasing lead time and logistics costs. Meanwhile, the introduction of blockchain technology in the pharmaceutical industry is likely to present lucrative growth opportunities for the global pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market. Blockchain technology can fulfill the need for a sophisticated tracking and tracing technology and solve the real-world issues of the pharmaceutical industry such as provenance of drugs. Industry Updates In January 2019, Cambrex Corporation, a leading manufacturer of generic active pharmaceutical ingredients, announced the acquisition of Avista Pharma Solutions, a contract development and manufacturing organization from Ampersand Capital Partners. The acquisition will help strengthen Cambrexs position as a leader in contract development and manufacturing (CDMO). In December 2018, AGC Biologics, a contract development, and manufacturing organization announced the expansion of production capacity of its biopharmaceutical manufacturing services. The company intends to invest USD 90 Mn to extend animal cell bioreactors and add new microorganism facilities. The expansion will triple the companys production capacity in the US. In December 2018, Cambrex Corporation completed the acquisition of Halo Pharma, a leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) for a sum of USD 425 Mn. The transaction will add formulation development and finished dosage manufacturing capabilities to Cambrexs existing global API manufacturing network. Pharmaceutical Contract Manufacturing Market Regional Analysis By region, the global pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market has been segmented into the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), and the Middle East & Africa (MEA). The Americas dominate the global pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market due to prolific growth of the pharmaceutical industry and presence of major players in the region. Europe commands the second largest position in the global pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market. High government support for research & development. The Americas pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market is likely to reach USD 40,041.5 Mn by the end of 2023. Browse Complete 108 Pages Premium Research Report Enabled with 121 Respective Tables and Figures at https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/pharmaceutical-contract-manufacturing-market-1532 APAC market for pharmaceutical contract manufacturing is expected to showcase the fastest growth over the forecast period. The growth of the APAC market is largely driven by China and India which represent the most significant drug markets in the world. Increase in API manufacturing capacity of China coupled with shifting of pharmaceutical operations of Western pharmaceutical companies in China to take advantage of the economic benefits offered by the region has been instrumental in driving the growth of the APAC market. In addition, the implementation of favorable government policies in the region has resulted in a wave of investments in China and India which is boosting the growth of the APAC market. APAC pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.7% over the forecast period. The Middle East & Africa market is expected to exhibit the least growth over the forecast period due to poor economic conditions predominant in the region, especially in Africa. About US: Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. Contact Us: Market Research Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India Phone: +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Segmentation Analysis: The Global Pediatric Vaccines Market has been segmented on the basis of type, technology, disease indication, and route of administration. On the basis of type, the global pediatric vaccines market is segmented into monovalent vaccines, multivalent vaccines, and others. On the basis of technology, the global pediatric vaccines market is segmented into synthetic vaccines, dendritic cells vaccines, conjugate vaccines, inactivated and subunit vaccines, live attenuated vaccines, toxoid vaccines, recombinant vaccines, and others. Get Exclusive Sample Copy at https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5779 On the basis of disease indication, the global pediatric vaccines market is segmented into MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella), polio, Haemophilus influenza type B, pneumococcal disease, meningococcal disease, influenza, DTP (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis), hepatitis, varicella, rotavirus, combination vaccines and others. On the basis of route of administration, the global pediatric vaccines market is segmented into intramuscular administration, subcutaneous administration, oral administration, and other routes of administration Key Players: Some of the key players in the global pediatric vaccines market are GlaxoSmithKline plc (U.K.), Pfizer, Inc. (U.S.), Merck & Co., Inc. (U.S.), Sanofi Pasteur SA (France), Astellas Pharma Inc. (Japan), CSL Limited (Australia), Emergent BioSolutions, Inc. (U.S.), Johnson & Johnson (U.S.), MedImmune, LLC (U.S.), Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. (India), Bavarian Nordic (Denmark), Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation (Japan), Daiichi Sankyo (Japan), Protein Sciences Corporation (U.S.), Grifols (Spain), Crucell (Netherlands), Bharat Biotech (India), Kaketsuken (U.S.), Panacea Biotec (India), Baxter International (U.S.), Zydus Cadila (India), Nuron (U.S.), S K Chemicals (South Korea), Dynavax Technologies (U.S.), Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals (India), Lupin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (India), Indian Immunologicals (India), Novartis AG (Switerzland), LG Life Sciences (India), Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products (China), Sinovac Biotech (China), Bio Med (India), AstraZeneca (UK), bioCSL Inc. (U.S.), Valeant Pharmaceuticals (U.S.), Takeda Pharmaceutical (Japan) and others. Global Pediatric Vaccines Market: There has been constant research for the development of novel molecules providing immunity against fatal diseases such as Zika virus and different types of cancers. For instance, in June 2016, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. stated the commencement of phase I clinical trial for their Zika DNA vaccine named GLS-5700. The vaccines administered to prevent children from several non-infectious and infectious diseases are known as pediatric vaccines. These vaccines are heat-killed or inactivated viruses that lose their pathogenicity, i.e., the ability to cause a disease. Moreover, these inactivated antigens can stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies against the infected virus. Thus, they assist the immune system in protecting itself from infectious or non-infectious diseases in the future. Currently, immunization prevents an estimated 2-3 million deaths every year. Furthermore, about 1.5 million deaths can be prevented through improved global coverage for vaccination. The Worldwide Pediatric Vaccines Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of ~10.6% during 2017 to 2023. There are different pediatric vaccines accessible in the market, for example, pneumococcal immunization, polio antibody, rotavirus immunization, MMR immunization, flu immunization, hepatitis B antibody, meningococcal immunization, and Hib antibody. However, low accessibility to remote areas, increasing availability of biosimilars at low rates, increasing cost of vaccines, limited or no access to healthcare services in developing and under-developed countries, low healthcare spending, and less medical coverage for pediatric vaccination are some of the challenges which might hamper the growth of the global pediatric vaccines market in future. Browse Complete 100 Pages Premium Research Report Enabled with 84 Respective Tables and Figures at https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/pediatric-vaccines-market-5779 Pediatric Vaccines Market Regional Analysis: The Global Pediatric Vaccines Market consists of four regions such as the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa. The Americas region accounted for the largest market share of the global pediatric vaccines market owing to the growing initiatives by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reduce the occurrence rate of infectious diseases. Such factors along with the growing immunization will fuel the U.S. market. The European pediatric vaccines market is urged due to the superior government spending such as NHS (Nation Healthcare Service) for the development of the pharmaceutical and medical industries. The Asia Pacific region is expected to grow rapidly during the forecast period owing to the growing healthcare sector in leading regions such as China and India. The Middle Eastern region is expected to grow at a steady pace owing to factors such as rising R&D activities in the healthcare sector and extensive development of healthcare infrastructure. About US: Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. Contact Us: Market Research Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India Phone: +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Global Biosurgery Market Overview Biosurgery refers to the medical use of maggots (also known as larval/ maggots therapy) to clean infected wounds, especially wherein the infection is resistant to conventional antibiotic treatment. Maggots can even help new tissue grow, perhaps by introducing natural antibiotics into the wound. This rediscovered technique has been proving very helpful in cases where the injured person is infected with bugs resistant to antibiotics. Biotechnology also means surgical techniques that employ a range of natural or manmade materials wherein, biocompatible products are used such as a bio-glue that can seal surgical incisions, bio-lubricants that help joint movement, biomaterials that support on which living tissue is grown or shaped, and implants such as artificial pacemakers that are made with biocompatible materials. GET EXCLUSIVE SAMPLE REPORT @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/6246 Leading Key Players Key players leading the global biosurgery market include Baxter International, Inc., Braun Melsungen AG, R. Bard, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, PLC., MAQUET Holding B.V. & Co. Kg. (Getinge Group), Cohera Medical Inc., Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corporation, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL), Hemostasis, LLC, Sanofi, Pfizer Inc., Stryker Corporation, Cryolife, Inc., and Kuros Biosciences Ltd. among others. Market Growth Analysis Over the past few years, the growing numbers of accident & injury cases along with the growing prevalence of chronic diseases drive the market growth of biosurgery, acting as a major tailwind. Moreover, an increasing number of surgeries led by the ever-increasing geriatric population and rising occurrences of trauma and sports-related injuries are escalating the market on the global platform. Acknowledging the kind of the growth, the market witnesses at present, Market Research Future (MRFR), in its recently published study report confirms that the global Biosurgery market will register over 7% CAGR from 2018 to 2023, witnessing exponential accruals by 2023. The market is already booming and estimated to garner further prominence over the anticipated period. Additional factors boosting the growth of the market include rising R&D spending led by the support from private and public organizations and key players foster the market growth. On the flip side, factors such as the rising cost of surgical procedures, expensive biosurgery products, and lack of skilled professionals for the effective use of biosurgery products impede the growth of the market. Global Biosurgery Market Segments MRFR has segmented the report into four key dynamics for enhanced understanding. By Product : Bone Graft Substitutes, Hemostatic Agents, Soft-Tissue Attachments, Surgical Sealants & Adhesives, Adhesion Barriers, and Staple-Line Reinforcement Agents among others. By Source : Biological and Natural Products and Synthetic Products. By Application : Neurological Surgery, General Surgery, Cardiovascular Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Thoracic Surgery, Gynecology Surgery, Reconstructive Surgery, and Urology Surgery among others. By Regions : Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, and the Rest-of-the-World. BROWSE REPORT DETAILS AND IN-DEPTH TOC @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/biosurgery-market-6246 Global Biosurgery Market Regional Analysis North American region accounts for the leading Biosurgery market followed by the European & Asia Pacific region, respectively. This well-developed region with the worlds highest GDP holds an edge over other regions in terms of every aspect including healthcare, technology, and wellness. Indeed, the developed economy is allowing wide access to the quality healthcare. Moreover, the rising prevalence of chronic diseases, growing aging population, and increasing incidences of trauma-related injuries that leads to the increase in the number of surgical procedures are some of the key forces driving the market growth in the region. The presence of a well-established healthcare system and the adoption of highly advanced technology, the changing lifestyle, and the presence of leading market players such as Johnson & Johnson Services Inc. are some of the other major forces pushing up the growth in the regional market. The biosurgery market in the European region, heading with the demand for minimally-invasive procedures accounts for the second-largest market, globally, following the North American market closely. The presence of a large patient pool alongside the resurging economy in the region which is allowing access to the quality healthcare by increasing per capita healthcare expenses drives the regional market predominantly. Moreover, government funding and support for increasing the research and development activities act as a major tailwind supporting the market growth in Europe. The western European countries such as the U.K., Italy, and France, lead the regional market. The Asia Pacific region, led by the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and rising investments in healthcare and expansions, is emerging as a lucrative market for minimally-invasive cosmetic procedures. Improving economic conditions in the region support the market growth in the region, enhancing the quality of healthcare and per capita expenses. Competitive Analysis Highly competitive, the biosurgery market appears fragmented characterized by the presence of several large and small-scale players. These players incorporate strategic initiatives such as acquisition, partnership, collaboration, expansion, and technology launch to gain a competitive advantage as well as to maintain their positions. The significant growth potential demonstrated by the market is attracting many high-profile new entrants, which is resulting in intensifying the competition further. Huge investments made in the development of innovative techniques are expected to turn the market landscape bringing about many novel technological innovations. Leverage to the current trend of these key players to expand the network and product distribution mainly into developing economies, the market is expected to witness overall growth over the forecast period. CHECK DISCOUNT @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/6246 Industry/ Innovation/ Related News January 11, 2019 TELA Bio, Inc. (the US), a leading biotechnology company operating operates in the healthcare industry and partner Aroa Biosurgery (New Zealand), a soft-tissue repair company announced the FDA 510(k) clearance for the large-size OviTex reinforced bioscaffolds which are intended for soft tissue repair. These OviTex RBS devices are surgical implants with integrated synthetic and biologic materials that allow the movement of cells and fluid through the product. With this clearance, the companies said that they will now offer the OviTex RBS devices in the US with a 150% surface area increase over its currently available offerings. The launch of the larger OviTex RBSs indicates the duo companies mission to provide valuable solutions for a comprehensive range of hernia repairs and abdominal wall reconstructions, including the most complex cases presenting a technical challenge for some surgeons. About Us: Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. Contact Us: Market Research Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India Phone: +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com The Global Active Implantable Medical Devices Market by product type (pacemaker, implantable cardioverter defibrillator, cardiac resynchronization therapy devices, neurostimulator, drug infusion pump, implantable loop recorder, cochlear implant, and others), and region (North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa) was valued at US$ 16,721.2 million in 2016 and is projected to exhibit a CAGR of 5.4% over the forecast period (20172025), as highlighted in a new report published by Coherent Market Insights. Advancements in technology in active implantable medical devices such as MRI compatible pacemakers and cochlear implants with smartphone connectivity are being developed by key players in the market, which is expected to be a major driving factor propelling demand for active implantable medical devices over the forecast period. Request Sample Copy of the Report @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1126 Manufacturers are focusing on upgrading the available implantable medical devices as well as developing new devices for various acute conditions related to diseases such as cardiovascular and neurological. In 2016, Medtronic Plc. was the first company to receive the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approval for leadless pacemaker, Micra. Micra transcatheter pacing system (TPS) is 93% smaller than conventional pacemakers and Micra is directly placed in heart for monitoring the heart rate. Furthermore, in 2016, Boston Scientific Corporation was successful in receiving approval for its EMBLEM MRI subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) system. Biotronik received approval for its leadless ICD system, which is first of its kind, in the U.S. in July 2017. Moreover, in 2016, Medtronic plc was the first company to receive FDA approval for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) conditional cardiac resynchronization therapy devices (CRT-D), and was also successful in receiving approval from FDA for MR-Conditional Quadripolar CRT-P in May 2017. In 2016, St. Jude Medical launched its first commercial implants of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) stimulation therapy for management of chronic intractable pain in the U.S. Furthermore, Cochlear Limited launched iPhone compatible cochlear implant in July 2017. Abbott announced European CE mark approval for worlds first smartphone compatible Confirm Rx insertable cardiac monitor in October 2017. Browse 30 Market Data Tables and 56 Figures spread through 197 Pages and in-depth TOC on Active Implantable Medical Devices Market by Product Type (pacemaker, implantable cardioverter defibrillator, cardiac resynchronization therapy devices, neurostimulator, drug infusion pump, implantable loop recorder, cochlear implant, and others), and Region (North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and, Africa) Global Forecast to 2025 To know the latest trends and insights prevalent in the Active Implantable Medical Devices Market, click the link below: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/market-insight/active-implantable-medical-devices-market-1126 Manufacturers are increasing investment in developing advanced implantable medical devices to monitor vital organs and capability of their functioning. Medtronic plc received the U.S. FDA approval for its portfolio of Azure pacemakers with BlueSync technology in November 2017. This technology enabled secure, automatic, and wireless remote monitoring via the Medtronic CareLink Network making remote patient monitoring possible in case of pacemakers. Furthermore, research organizations are focusing on developing batteryless pacemakers. For instance, researchers from Rice University and Texas Heart Institute (THI) introduced a wireless, and batteryless pacemaker that can directly be implanted into a patients heart, in June 2017. Furthermore, Glenfield Hospital, U.K. is focusing on developing a new technique for fitting pacemakers in patients under HOPE-HF clinical trials, which involves placing an extra pacemaker wire into the heart to correct delays in electrical activation. The clinical trials as a part of the His Optimized Pacing Evaluated for Heart Failure Trial (HOPE-HF) are being conducted throughout the country. Key Takeaways of the Active Implantable Medical Devices Market: The global active implantable medical devices market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 5.4% over the forecast period (20172025), owing to presence of high potential markets, especially in Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. Multiple product launches from leading players such as Medtronic plc. and St. Jude Medical, Inc and growing number of innovative start-ups in the field in these regions in recent years is has led to development of cost-effective products, which in turn has resulted in higher adoption rate for the technology Strong competition in the market spurs the demand for continuous development from supply as well as demand side as manufacturers thrive to stay competitive in the market and customers remain on the lookout for the alternatives boosting the development rate in active implantable medical devices market driving growth of the global active implantable medical devices market Implantable Neurostimulators product type segment is expected to show significant growth owing to increasing application in management of chronic pain diseases Asia Pacific region is expected to show significant growth owing to multiple product launches by major players such as launch of Edora pacemakers by Biotronik in Japan in 2017 According to WHO, 31% (about 17.7 million) of all global deaths were due to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and this number is expected to grow further as aging population, which are more prone to CVDs is growing. Growing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, which can be monitored or treated by devices such as pacemakers and ICDs, is expected to be the major factors driving growth of the global active implantable medical devices market over the forecast period Major players operating in the active implantable medical devices market include Cochlear Limited, Boston Scientific Corporation, Medtronic Plc, LivaNova Plc, Abbott Laboratories, Sonova Holding AG, William Demant holding A/S, Nurotron Biotechnology Co., Ltd., and Med-EL About Coherent Market Insights: Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity. Contact Us: Mr. Shah Coherent Market Insights 1001 4th Ave, #3200 Seattle, WA 98154 Tel: +1-206-701-6702 Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Lt. Gov. John Fetterman talks with state Rep. Patty Kim on stage in Harrisburg at the beginning of his first stop on a statewide listening tour to explore the issue of legalizing marijuana for recreational use. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 12) A local court has allowed detained Daraga, Albay Mayor Carlwyn Baldo to post bail for charges of illegal possession of firearms. Baldo posted a 3-million bail before the Legazpi City Regional Trial Court Branch 10 on Tuesday afternoon. Presiding Judge Maria Theresa Loquillano granted his bail. Baldo, however, would have to stay in detention at the Legazpi Police Office as the court has yet to issue a release order. "Na-file na namin 'yung bail, nabigay na namin. Tsaka 'yung mga requirements, pero hindi na umabot kay judge," his lawyer said. [Translation: We already filed bail, we gave it already. We also passed the requirements, but they failed to reach the judge.] Baldo was arrested on January 22 after authorities seized unregistered firearms during a search in his house in Barangay Tagas in Daraga. The mayor is also facing double murder and frustrated murder charges, as he was previously tagged as the mastermind behind the December killing of AKO BICOL partylist representative Rodel Batocabe. Baldo has repeatedly denied the allegation. Albay-based journalist Rosas Olarte contributed to this report. Northside Hospital, including its Sandy Springs campus, has been recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in 2018 by workplace culture and Images Sorry, there are no recent results for popular images. Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. The Georgia Manufacturing Alliance (GMA) was recognized with a special Resolution at the Georgia House of Representatives on Feb. 6 at the Sta Marietta, GA (30060) Today Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. High 82F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight A few clouds. Low 64F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Brother Wolf McDowell County Chapter is once again hosting its annual PuppyGrams fundraiser for Valentines Day and you still have time to book yours. Valentines Day PuppyGrams are the perfect choice to give to anyone who needs some puppy love without the lifetime commitment. If you have a child, friend, or relative who loves puppies and cupcakes, then look no further than a PuppyGram, according to a news release. Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} This is how it works: a Brother Wolf volunteer will surprise the recipient at their home, office, or school (with permission) with a Carolina Baking Co. cupcake and flower or giftbag, delivered by an adorable rescue puppy. PuppyGrams include 15 minutes of puppy cuddle and playtime to give the lucky recipient the dose of love they need on Valentine's Day. PuppyGrams start at only $15 for individual visits in McDowell County. Classroom and group rates are available, and out-of-county PuppyGrams can be booked for a nominal extra fee. All funds raised from PuppyGrams go to help the animals at Brother Wolf McDowell, according to the news release. Northwestern Engineerings Linda Broadbelt and Wei Chen have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the highest professional distinctions awarded to an engineer. Broadbelt, Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor and professor of chemical and biological engineering, and Chen, Wilson-Cook Professor in Engineering Design and professor of mechanical engineering, stand among the 86 new members and 18 new foreign members announced by the NAE today, February 7. They will be formally inducted during a ceremony at the NAEs annual meeting on October 6, in Washington, D.C. Linda and Wei are outstanding researchers, collaborators, and educators, said Julio M. Ottino, dean of the McCormick School of Engineering. We are extremely proud to have them recognized at the highest level in our field. They are role models for faculty and students, and I am delighted to see them recognized with this well-deserved honor. Broadbelt was cited for contributions to complex kinetic modeling, particularly for understanding the pathways by which hydrocarbons and polymers undergo pyrolysis. Chen was cited for contributions to design under uncertainty in products and systems, and leadership in the engineering design community. Broadbelt is internationally recognized for contributions in complex kinetics modeling of hydrocarbon chemistry, particularly for the development of automated mechanism generation techniques and methods for specification of rate coefficients. She is applying her computational expertise to diverse fields, including catalysis, degradation kinetics, and biological pathway identification. Much of her work has been adopted by industry. Broadbelt, who joined Northwesterns Chemical and Biological Engineerings faculty in 1994, also serves as associate dean. Along with being Fulbright Distinguished Scholar and visiting researcher at the Imperial College London, Broadbelt has earned many honors, including a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and an E.V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry from the American Chemical Society. She is a Fellow of AIChE and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She received the R.H. Wilhelm Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2018. Chen, who joined Northwestern in 2003, has made important contributions to design under uncertainty and decision-based design. Chens research aims to develop rational and computationally efficient design methods based on data science, optimization, statistical inference, and decision analysis for use in engineering design and manufacturing problems. Currently, her research involves close collaborations with experts in mechanics, manufacturing, materials science and engineering, social science, and computer science. She serves as director of the Integrated DEsign Automation Laboratory (IDEAL) as well as the Predictive Science & Engineering Design (PSED) Cluster, and the co-director of the Design Cluster. Her many awards include Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), an ASME Design Automation Award, National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Award, and Pi Tau Sigma Gold Medal Achievement Award. She also serves as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Mechanical Design. Founded in 1964, the National Academy of Engineering is a private, independent, nonprofit institution that provides engineering leadership in service to the nation. It has more than 2,000 peer-elected members and foreign associates, senior professionals in business, academia and government, who are among the worlds most accomplished engineers. SPRINGFIELD The parent company of Smith & Wesson rebuffed a group of shareholding nuns who asked the company to do more to fight gun violence saying in part that its gun customers wouldnt stand for it. The Companys reputation as a strong defender of the Second Amendment is not worth risking for a vague goal of improving the companys reputation among non-customers or special interest groups with an anti-Second Amendment agenda, management at Springfield-based American Outdoor Brands Corporation wrote in a 20-page response issued Friday. In 2018, frustrated by incessant gun violence, mass shootings and a lack of dialogue with gun makers, a coalition of nuns from around the country bought small amounts of stock in American Outdoor Brands and competitor Sturm, Ruger & Co. The nuns, led by Sister Judy Byron, a member of the Adrian Dominican Sisters and director of the Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investments in Seattle, put referendums on ballots for shareholders meetings at both companies requiring that management write reports about gun safety efforts and how they could be improved. Both measures passed over managements objections. Ruger has not yet released its report. One thing that is encouraging is that we have their attention, Byron said in the wake of the votes. She couldnt be reached Monday. American Outdoor Brands, in its report, stressed that its customers dont hold the company responsible for criminal shootings. AOBCs customer base of knowledgeable, law abiding firearms purchasers does not blame Smith & Wesson, or any other firearms brand, for the malfeasance of criminals or the actions of the mentally or emotionally impaired," the report said. "In fact, they are more inclined to support greater access to firearms by private citizens to help prevent and protect themselves from these tragedies. American Outdoor Brands says that violent acts, including mass shootings, done with guns it makes dont hurt its corporate reputation. The message sent this year has shades of Smith & Wessons near death in 2000. Back then, previous owners of the company announced cooperation with Clinton administration gun control efforts in exchange for an end to lawsuits against the company. The agreement included a promise to develop smart gun technology that would allow only the owner to fire a gun. Such guns can work by means of a computer chip embedded in a ring or bracelet. Proximity to the chip unlocks the gun. The backlash from the NRA was swift and boycotts nearly destroyed Smith & Wesson. This week, AOBC management said that there isnt a market for smart guns nor technology reliable enough to make them. But it did tout several safety features on its guns. AOBC also explained its support of educational efforts for proper gun storage and teaching people not to be '"straw" buyers and purchase guns for those who cant buy a gun legally, a program called Dont Lie for the Other Guy. American Outdoor Brands also cited its support for enforcing current gun laws and for suicide prevention efforts, saying 60 percent of all gun deaths are those who die by suicide. The same nuns who became AOBC stockholders had already pressured retailer Dicks Sporting Goods to stop selling assault-style semiautomatic rifles at its Field & Stream stores. Separately, the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts voted in December to buy 200 shares of stock in American Outdoor Brands so that it can also influence the company through shareholder ballot questions. In July, Bishop Douglas J. Fisher spearheaded a successful effort to get the churchs national body also to buy just enough AOBC stock in order put questions on the ballot. The Episcopalians are calling for universal background checks, smart gun technology and an end to Smith & Wesson making guns that are illegal to possess in Massachusetts under this states stringent gun laws. Byron has stressed that her efforts arent about banning guns but about creating safer guns and keeping them out of the hands of people who shouldnt have them. National conversations about gun control centered on Smith & Wesson in February 2018 after a troubled teen used a Smith & Wesson rifle to kill 17 students and staff at high school in Parkland, Florida. In the aftermath of that incident, student groups started organizing marches on American Outdoor Brands headquarters on Roosevelt Avenue. Parkland survivor turned activist David Hogg was part of one such march in August. One of the things the nuns asked Smith & Wesson to do is to research the impact of mass shootings and gun violence on its corporate reputation. AOBC said in the report that it hired a media monitoring firm. The report said news story mentions of Smith & Wesson in connection with violence spiked in the aftermath of Parkland. But AOBC said management doesnt fear that the negative connotation with violence will stop consumers from buying its other products, including outdoor equipment and the like. Smith & Wesson changed its name in 2016 as part of a diversification push. American Outdoor Brands has 1,600 employees at its Springfield Smith & Wesson plant. Smith & Wesson traces its roots to 1852, when Horace Smith and Daniel Baird Wesson partnered to manufacture a firearm that used a self-contained cartridge. FORT MYERS, Fla. Longtime WBZ Red Sox reporter Jonny Miller is covering spring training less than four months after suffering a stroke. Red Sox manager Alex Cora declared Miller the 2019 Comeback Player of the Year after the WBZ reporter asked him about Dustin Pedroia here at the JetBlue Park complex Monday. (Pedroia) said in the newspaper hes going to be Comeback Player of the Year, but youve got that one already," Cora told Miller. So I dont know what hes talking about. The 69-year-old Miller suffered a stroke on his flight to Los Angeles before Game 3 of the World Series. The plane was rerouted to Denver where he was treated at a hospital outside the city. Miller then spent a month at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown. He flew to Fort Myers in January. Whats up with Pedroia? Pedroia could arrive at spring training in the next two or three days, Cora said. The first full squad workout isnt until next Monday. Pedroia appeared in only three games during 2018. He underwent a left knee cartilage restoration procedure Oct. 25, 2017, then had scar tissue removed during an arthroscopic surgery in late July in Arizona. The second baseman began running in mid-January. Like I told him a few months ago, just be patient, Cora said. He feels hes in a good spot. Well see him here. Well see how were going to work him. Obviously youve got to take care of him but at the same time we have to push him. .. So hes ready for that. Looking forward to working with him the whole spring. U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton laid out his vision Tuesday for an American foreign policy that offers next-generation thinking and approaches to arms, alliances and arms control The Salem Democrat unveiled his foreign policy plan during keynote remarks at the Brooking Institution in Washington D.C., sparking further speculation that he will seek a 2020 White House bid. Moulton, a Marine who served four tours in Iraq before entering Congress, took issue with the Trump administrations approach to foreign policy, arguing that it has torn down longstanding American values. He, however, argued that the country must do more than just fix that damage and called on American leaders to build something new: Something more relevant, something better. Its time to completely reimagine our arms, our alliances and our arms control for this new and rapidly changing world," he said. All three are indispensable to meet the challenges of the new world order, which emphasizes the importance of an all-hands-on-deck approach to national security. LIVE NOW: Watch my speech on the future of defense in America at The Brookings Institute. Posted by Seth Moulton on Tuesday, February 12, 2019 Focusing on arms-related policies, Moulton argued that the United States must stop fighting todays battles on yesterdays battlefields" and utilize new technologies to compete with China and Russia. He, for example, offered that China can build more than 1,000 anti-carrier missiles for the price of one U.S. carrier. The congressman added that while countries like China are unlikely to attack U.S. Navy carriers, they are constantly launching internet attacks against Americas military. Moulton argued that the United States must develop the smaller, cheaper, next-generation weapons to defeat China and Russia, as well as invest more in autonomous, hypersonic and cyber weapons. Turning to arms control, the Democrat contended that the United States needs to start looking at the issue in terms of both traditional and newer weapons, like artificial intelligence. He offered that America would be wise to consider what kinds of arms control over autonomous weapons powered by artificial intelligence will make us safer. The congressman further called for fixing and strengthening Americas alliances with other countries, re-examining its troop commitments around the world and joining other world leaders in tackling climate change. Such changes, however, will require new and moral leadership in Washington, he argued. Moral courage is often in short supply around here, but we need it to make these tough changes, he said. Our troops deserve it, and our national security demands it." Moultons remarks came one day after he told BuzzFeed News that he is thinking about running for president. The congressman noted that he was not definitely running," but would consider it. Moultons trips to early primary states and recent staffing shakeups have fueled speculation of his presidential ambitions. He told The Republican ahead of the 2018 midterm election that he was not running for president, but believed the country needed new leadership. The Salem Democrat is not the only member of Massachusetts congressional delegation to call for a foreign policy shakeup. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren made her pitch for an American foreign policy that works for all Americans, not just the rich and powerful during a November speech at American University. The senator, who had also faced 2020 speculation, officially joined the growing field of Democratic candidates looking to unseat President Donald Trump as she launched her campaign with a Saturday rally in Lawrence. Former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly announced that he is running for U.S. Senate in Arizona next year. My next mission. ... #FullSpeedAhead #ForArizona the 54-year-old Democrat posted on Twitter Tuesday. Kelly will take on Republican Martha McSally, who was appointed to the seat held by the late John McCain. The 2020 election will decide who finishes the last two years of McCains term. The winner would have to run again for a full six-year term in 2022. Like McCain, both candidates have a military record: Kelly flew 39 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm, while McSally was the first woman to fly a combat mission as a fighter pilot. Kelly is the husband of former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Arizona, who survived a shooting outside a grocery store in Tucson in 2011 that left six dead and 13 injured. Shooter Jared Loughner was sentenced to life in prison. Upon hearing that Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar would seek the presidency, Donald Trump handled the news in his usual way. The Commander-in-Chief and free world leader mocked her in a tweet, somewhat like high school kids do when someone comes in wearing clothes out of style. The president should not laugh too heartily. President Klobuchar may not sound like a name that would roll off the lips of American voters, but she offers much that other early Democrats do not - and she has qualities that could tap into the more fragile aspects of Trumps base. Klobuchar is a pragmatist. She will compromise and make above-the-table deals to get results. Senate Republicans speak so highly of her that her popularity among them could impede her appeal among Democrats. But if this Democratic dark horse somehow claims the nomination, she poses a challenge to Trump unlike that of Elizabeth Warren and other heroes of the left. Neither a Northeast liberal nor a California progressive, Klobuchar comes from that vast expanse between Americas two coasts - a once-competitive heartland that has turned Republican and went with Trump. Shes liberal on abortion, immigration and climate change, the last stance of which provoked Trumps mockery. She supports the liberal Green New Deal, for instance. But if swing voters exist who share mixed feelings about Trump policies but tire of his obstinacy, tantrums and tweets - the likes of which began to hurt him during the government shutdown - Klobuchar offers an alternative that cant be dismissed. I hope Im not condemning her nascent run for the presidency. Shes too reasonable, too likable, too nice." Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas said. Even Trump advocates dont apply those adjectives to the president. Will Americans want someone less impulsive, argumentative and abusive? Some might. In a close election, which 2020 is expected to provide, that could matter - a lot. She wants to achieve a solution and I would hope thats not a disqualifying thing for someone who would like to be president, Republican Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri said. Polls consistently indicate that whether surveyed voters prefer Trump or the opposition left, their biggest desire is a government that functions. The shutdown and call to end the stalemate began forcing many Republicans to begin carefully questioning the president in ways they had not done before. That election season had safely passed, which no doubt emboldened some of them. But to defeat Trump, Klobuchar must first be nominated, and that might be the hard part for her. Voters in primaries are generally more ideology-based than the general electorate. That wont help Klobuchar, who has been known to cross party lines in her pursuit of results. How badly do the Democrats want to win? They have probably lost the South. If they choose an archetypal coastal (East or West) liberal, they risk forfeiting the Midwest as well - and the 2020 election along with it. From Kentuckys eastern border to Utahs western line, only four states voted Democratic - Illinois, New Mexico, Colorado and Klobuchars home state of Minnesota. The three-term Senate incumbent, who has done well in Trump-leaning parts of her own state, remains a dark horse or even a long shot, but she is also a candidate posing a potentially headache-inducing political challenge for Trump. President Klobuchar? Cant imagine it? Then keep in mind that a year before the 2016 election, people were snickering at the very notion of a President Trump, too. The Springfield Police Department has selected Winbourne Consulting, a Virginia-based technology and management consulting firm, to oversee the implementation of its body camera program. Winbourne, which was the sole bidder for the project, was awarded a $300,500 contract to help the city research and solicit potential camera systems, negotiate contracts, implement the use of the cameras and train officers. Awarding this contract is a major step towards implementing body worn cameras," Police Commissioner John Barbieri said in a statement. "We will move this process along as quickly as possible, but just as important we want to make sure it is done efficiently. This process will not only benefit our officers, but also the city taxpayers in the long-term. The use of body cameras on officers has long been a stated goal of departmental leadership and Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. But the idea had faced roadblocks amid negotiations with the Springfield patrolmens union. That all changed in June, when Sarno, Barbieri and IPBO Local 364 leadership announced an agreement on a new four-year contract that includes the use of body cameras. It will make Springfield the largest department in Massachusetts to have a full-scale body camera program. Boston police launched a one-year pilot of the technology in 2016, and in February Massachusetts State Police announced that about 100 troopers will participate in a body camera pilot as well. This initiative is something that I and Commissioner Barbieri have steadfastly believed in. With all our proactive public safety programs, this will only continue to enhance mutual respect and trust with all of our Springfield community. My administration, through our CAFO TJ Plante, has made this a funding priority, Sarno said in a statement. While the patrolmens union has signed off on cameras, the departments supervisors union is still in contract negotiations and has not yet reached a deal with the city. The Springfield Supervisors Association, which has worked without a contract for the past three years, has long advocated for a body camera program in the Springfield Police Department, supervisors union president Brian Keenan said in a statement. "As with any change in working conditions, implementation of a body camera program is dependent on collective bargaining. We were pleased to see a positive outcome from the patrolmens union. We look forward to the positive resolution of our own collective bargaining efforts prior to the implementation of a body camera program. Winbourne is currently assisting the cities of Waco, Texas and Virginia Beach, Virginia and Bellevue, Washington with body camera initiatives. The award of the consulting contract is the first of a three-step process laid out by the city. In the second step, the city will issue a request for proposals for the new cameras and a data storage system to manage the video files. The third step will be the roll-out of the program. The patrolmens union labor deal gave a first look at how body cameras would work in Springfield. The agreed policy lays out a series of situations that officers are required to record: vehicle stops, pat frisks, searches, detentions and initial suspect interviews, K9 searches, emergency driving with lights and sirens activated, car chases and crowd control incidents that may result in unlawful activity. The cameras should also be activated during any hostile confrontations or uses of force, the policy says. Officers are allowed to use their discretion if they cannot immediately activate their cameras for safety reasons, and are generally expected to inform civilians that they are being recorded. Patrolmen are expected to state their reasoning on-camera whenever they choose to de-activate their cameras during an encounter with the public. In public, officers do not need the permission of civilians to record. But in private homes, officers will be limited in their authority to shoot video. The policy also suggests that officers use discretion when recording in other places where people may expect privacy like hospitals, law offices and places of worship. In some circumstances, officers could only record audio instead. Police will be allowed to access footage to assist in investigations, and the policy recognizes concerns that body cameras could be used as a surveillance tool. Civilians should not be recorded based on their political or religious beliefs or for exercising their constitutional rights to free speech and protest, the policy says. Proponents of body cameras, which include both civil liberties advocates and some law enforcement leaders, say the technology both promotes officer accountability and protects police from false complaints. Research on the effectiveness of body cameras has shown mixed results. A study on the Boston pilot program found a slight reduction in complaints against officers wearing the cameras but no statistically significant change in use of force. Other studies have found significant reductions in use of force among officers wearing cameras. The Baker Administration on Monday announced the distribution of $7.74 million in grant funding to communities across the state to help combat gang activity and related violence. The amount announced by Gov. Charlie Baker for this years Senator Charles E. Shannon Jr. Community Safety Initiative program represents $2 million increase, or around 36 percent, from the $5.65 million amount awarded this time last year. The Shannon Initiative is a successful program that allows the Commonwealth to partner with local communities and make a serious impact to prevent youth violence and gang activity, Baker said Shannon Grants are awarded to communities that have reported problems with juvenile violence and gangs. The funding supports police and community programs that work to reach out to high-risk teens who are susceptible to joining gang, as well as program that encourage those in gangs to leave the life. In all, the program funded 15 municipal grants that aid in all 27 cities, plus 13 separate research partners including the Amherst and Lowell campuses of the University of Massachusetts. We are proud to join with these communities and partners each year to help provide the tools necessary to make a serious impact on youth violence and gang activity, said Thomas Turco, Secretary of Public Safety. Disrupting illegal activity makes these communities safer and helps young people redirect their lives in a positive direction. The overall increase reflects an increase in the annual appropriation in the state 2019 state budget due to increase demand, according to Felix Browne of the state Executive Office of Public Safety. Every city and organization that received funding under the program last year saw an increase in funding this year. Increased ranged from 4 percent for the city of Lawrence to 180 percent for the city of Pittsfield. Most saw increases of at least 10 percent. Springfield was awarded $786,025.70, an increase of 32.11 percent from the $595,000 awarded last year. Police Commissioner John Barbieri issued a statement that gave credit to local legislators for the increase. Shannon Grants help deter gang and youth violence with targeted enforcement and prevention strategies with our partner agencies, he said. These grants have definitely played a role in reducing our overall crime rate in Springfield by 45 percent over the past five years and it is one piece of the puzzle in Mayor (Domenic) Sarnos strategy for city departments and agencies to have a collaborative mindset. According to the spending breakdown provided by police, $235,025.62 will be used by the police department for different policing units, including the student support, street crimes and strategic impact units, and for C3 units operating in different parts of the city. Another $551,000.08 will be distributed among the 10 community agencies that the police partner with for programming dedicated to providing service to teens at risk by gang violence. These include the Salvation Army, $70,000, Martin Luther King Jr. Family Services, $65,000, Springfield Boys & Girls Club, $65,000, and YMCA Dunbar, $60,400. WASHINGTON U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., apologized Monday afternoon for what many saw as anti-Semitic comments perpetuating the stereotype that Jews control politics with money. Omar's mea culpa came shortly after House Democratic leaders called the first-term representative's comments "deeply offensive" and urged her to apologize. In a tweet, the Minnesota congresswoman said "anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on this painful history of anti-Semitic tropes." In a statement issued Monday, the Democratic leadership said that legitimate criticism of Israel's policies and its treatment of Palestinians is protected by free speech, but Omar's use of "anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel's supporters is deeply offensive." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and that they've agreed "to move forward as we reject anti-Semitism in all forms." The statement comes after two Jewish House Democrats, alarmed by what they consider anti-Semitic comments from new Muslim colleagues, urged Pelosi and her top lieutenants to denounce the divisive rhetoric and take action to stop it. On Sunday, Omar, a freshman congresswoman, suggested on Twitter that American politicians are influenced by a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group, setting off a firestorm of criticisms from both sides of the aisle. Reps. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Elaine Luria of Virginia are gathering signatures on a letter asking Pelosi, D-Calif.), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Marylandand other senior Democrats to confront Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, also a freshman congresswoman from Michigan, by "reiterating our rejection of anti-Semitism and our continued support for the State of Israel." "As Jewish Members of Congress, we are deeply alarmed by recent rhetoric from certain members within our Caucus, including just last night, that has disparaged us and called into question our loyalty to our nation," the letter reads, according to a draft viewed by The Washington Post. "We urge you to join us in calling on each member of our Caucus to unite against anti-Semitism and hateful tropes and stereotypes." Although the letter does not name Omar and Tlaib, its intention couldn't be clearer. In fact, Jewish lawmakers in recent weeks have huddled privately to discuss what they should do about their new colleagues, who openly criticize Israel and have made insensitive comments about Jews and Jewish Americans. The last straw came Sunday night, when Omar suggested in a tweet that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., supported Israel only for campaign donations. "It's all about the Benjamins baby," she wrote, an apparent reference to the 1997 Puff Daddy single featuring the Notorious B.I.G., Lil' Kim and The Lox. Omar was responding to a tweet from Glenn Greenwald, a journalist who argued on Twitter that the GOP's move to equate Omar and Tlaib's criticism of Israel to the embrace of white supremacist rhetoric by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, "is obscene." "In the US, we're allowed to criticize our own government: certainly foreign governments. The GOP House Leader's priorities are warped," he wrote. When people asked what Omar meant by McCarthy's motives being "all about the Benjamins," she tweeted, "AIPAC," referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, an influential pro-Israel lobbying group that has spent millions sending lawmakers on visits to the Jewish nation over the years The fallout continued Monday afternoon with condemnations from powerful House Democrats and a promise from McCarthy that Republicans will take action, though he did not say what that would be. The Anti-Defamation League also urged Pelosi to take action. In their letter, Gottheimer and Luria acknowledge attempts to force a conversation on the matter, arguing that "we cannot remain silent." "We must speak out when any Member - Democrat or Republican - uses harmful tropes and stereotypes, levels accusations of dual loyalty, or makes reckless statements like those yesterday," the two wrote. "All Members of Congress should reject anti-Semitism, just as we reject all forms of hatred, bigotry, and intolerance, and must denounce those who deny Israel's right to exist, including terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas." Some of the most ardent pro-Israel Democratic members of the House condemned the tweets Monday, including House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York and Florida Rep. Ted Deutch. Nadler called the tweets "deeply disappointing and disturbing" and said Omar "appears to traffic in old anti-Semitic tropes about Jews and money." Lawmakers can debate the influence of any particular group on policymaking, he said, but they must "be extremely careful not to tread into the waters of anti-Semitism or any other form of prejudice or hate." Deutch, who has emerged as a leading Democratic voice against anti-Semitism, also said the tweets reflected "anti-Semitic tropes." "The use of stereotypes and offensive rhetoric by Members of Congress, whether anti-Semitic or racist, must come to an end," he said. "They should never be a part of any conversation about the policies of Congress. They do not belong in any conversation, period." House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said in a statement Monday that it was "shocking to hear a Member of Congress invoke the anti-Semitic trope of 'Jewish money.' " Omar serves on the Foreign Affairs panel. "I fully expect that when we disagree on the Foreign Affairs Committee, we will debate policy on the merits and never question members' motives or resort to personal attacks," he said. "Criticism of American policy toward any country is fair game, but this must be done on policy grounds." Several Republicans, including House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., Rep Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and GOP Chairman Ronna McDaniel, have called for Omar's removal from the committee. The president's son, Donald Trump Jr., scoffed at Democrat's response to Omar's tweets. "The forthcoming non apology is going to be awesome," he tweeted. Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said that Omar's words only serve to fuel bigotry. "As the people's House, the House of Representatives must not tolerate any bigotry against any community in our nation," Greenblatt said in a statement. "We call on the House leadership to make immediate action, so that the message is clear: anti-Semitism will not be tolerated." Omar's spokesman did not respond to requests for comment. Her spokesman told Politico on Sunday that the tweets "speak for themselves." Tlaib's spokesman also has not responded to a request for comment. This is the second time in as many weeks that Omar has become entangled in a Twitter controversy replete with emoji and snarky clapbacks centered on the complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Omar, who supports the anti-Israel movement called BDS, for "boycott, divestment and sanctions," has persistently fought accusations of anti-Semitism by maintaining that her condemnation of the Israeli government for its treatment of Palestinians does not equate to condemnation of Jewish people. She has also claimed to be the victim of GOP attacks seeking to misrepresent her position on Israel as anti-Semitic. But several more Democrats have joined the chorus in rebuking Omar. Reps. Donna Shalala of Florida and Sean Patrick Maloney of New York said they find offense in the suggestion that members of Congress support Israel because of money. Rep. Max Rose of New York, who is Jewish, wrote in a statement Sunday that Omar's comments invoke "hurtful stereotypes and caricatures of Jewish people." Rep. Daniel Kildee of Michigan was more restrained in his criticism, telling CNN that people shouldn't "go too far to make judgments" that Omar's comments are anti-Semitic. But, he added: "I think sometimes we ought to tamp down a bit of the rhetoric." The American Jewish Committee demanded an apology, calling her suggestion that AIPAC is paying American politicians for their support "demonstrably false and stunningly anti-Semitic." The organization linked to a 2018 Gallup poll finding that 64 percent of Americans sympathize with the Israelis over the Palestinians, saying, "American politicians are pro-Israel because Americans are." Others have defended Omar and Tlaib, contending that critics are conflating the congresswomen's condemnation of the Israeli government with anti-Semitism. Women's March organizer Sophie Ellman-Golan accused McCarthy of attacking Omar and Tlaib "in the name of 'defending' Jews." She called out McCarthy for tweeting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Jewish billionaire philanthropist George Soros. Omar's comments come on the heels of escalating Republican ire for the positions that she and Tlaib have put forth in Congress, joining a small group of lawmakers willing to challenge the United States' traditional support for Israeli policy. McCarthy urged Democratic leaders to admonish Omar and Tlaib for their backing of the BDS movement, which is intended to put economic pressure on Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., urged Pelosi to call a vote on an anti-BDS bill the Senate passed last week with bipartisan support. AIPAC, which is not a political action committee, does not make campaign contributions to politicians, but its individual members can make donations, and the organization spends millions on lobbying efforts for pro-Israel legislation every year. In 2018, AIPAC spent more than $3.5 million lobbying for pro-Israel measures, according to lobbying disclosure filings maintained by the Senate's Office of Public Records. Such legislation includes financial support for Israel and measures that would ban boycotts of Israel, including the BDS movement that Omar and Tlaib support. Still, some who agree with Omar's position on Israel argued that she could criticize the Israeli government or the pro-Israel lobbying establishment without using stereotypes that Jews find offensive. J Street, a nonprofit liberal advocacy group, called the entire debacle a "war of words" that "does nothing to advance the true interests and needs of Israelis or Palestinians, nor those of the American Jewish community." While elected officials need to be aware of harmful Jewish stereotypes, they also should refrain from labeling all criticisms of Israel as anti-Semitic, the group said. Omar has responded to anti-Semitism accusations before. Last month, she acknowledged that she "unknowingly" used an anti-Semitic trope after a 2012 tweet surfaced in which she said, "Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel." Omar had initially said she didnt understand why American Jews would be offended by the statement, which critics argued evoked ugly Nazi conspiracies about Jewish peoples power to hypnotize the world. She backtracked and apologized after a New York Times columnist explained to her why Jews could find it offensive. And she later expressed regret while on The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, saying she had to take a deep breath and understand where people were coming from and what point they were trying to make. The future of a Western Massachusetts charter school hung in the balance Tuesday when state education officials considered if it should be allowed to continue operations. The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted Tuesday to extend the probation of Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter School in Holyoke. The vote comes following the recommendation of Jeffrey Riley, the Massachusetts commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, to extend the probation of the school with new conditions on the schools charter. The school was placed on probation last year following high leadership turnover in the school, low academic performance, low enrollment and chronic absenteeism. Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter school opened in Holyoke six years ago, seeking to provide a college-prep curriculum with a social justice focus to up to 500 students from six communities in Western Massachusetts. Enrollment has been low. As of this fall, the school had 275 students. Student enrollment exceeded 300 students only two years. With enrollment at about half of the schools capacity, education officials questioned if the schools operating budget is sufficient. Charter schools in Massachusetts receive funding from a students home community for each child enrolled. In addressing these concerns, Paulo Freire have proposed amending the schools maximum enrollment and districts served. While it opened to serve students in Chicopee, Holyoke, Northampton, South Hadley, West Springfield and Westfield, school officials say theyve received limited interest from families in Northampton and Westfield. They sought state approval to remove Northampton and Westfield from its charter region and add Springfield. Riley recommended the state education board remove Northampton and Westfield from the schools enrollment communities but deny the request to add Springfield due to low academic performance in the charter. In addition to low enrollment, attendance is of concern. Attendance rates for grades 9-11 are far below statewide averages of approximately 95 percent and below rates for Holyoke Public Schools of approximately 92 percent for grades 9-12, Riley said. Two years ago, one in three students were chronically absent. During the 2017-2018 school year, more than half were. Chronically absent students are those who miss 10 percent or more of the total number of school days. In a typical 180-day school year, this is the percentage of students who miss 18 or more days. Founded with an intention of providing students a pathway to college through a curriculum steeped in social justice values and norms, state education officials have questioned student outcomes. He also recommended the board decrease the schools maximum enrollment from 500 to 320 students. On MCAS tests conducted in the spring, about 83 percent of sophomores at the school scored proficient or higher in English language arts, 43 percent in science and 42 percent in mathematics. About 82 percent of sophomores in Holyoke Public Schools scored proficient or higher in English language arts, 49 percent in science and 44 percent in mathematics. Holyoke Public Schools were placed in receivership four years ago due to low student performance. State education officials made a condition of the charters probation to improve student achievement. The school must demonstrate that it is an academic success by providing evidence that the school has exhibited significant and sustained academic improvement in mathematics, English language arts, and science." When Paulo Freire sought approval from the state to open in 2013, school officials shared plans of locating the school in downtown Holyoke. Paulo Freire officials said they failed to find a suitable building downtown and moved to a site near the Holyoke Mall. In the last year, school officials have proposed moving out of Holyoke and into the former Pope Francis Catholic High School building on Springfield Street in Chicopee. Executive Director Isabelina Rodriguez said in a petition to the state regarding the move that the schools lease was up at the end of the 2018-2019 school year and increasing by about $100,000. Additionally, she said, the landlord has informed us that he does not intend on renewing the lease with us." She told state education officials Tuesday that the building becoming available was a stroke of good fortune. The building was recently renovated and features a new library, computer lab and art room which would be a significant upgrade compared to the current school building. We couldnt have built a better facility from scratch, Rodriguez said. The request to move the school to Chicopee was approved Tuesday, allowing Paulo Freire officials to go forward with plans to move into the Pope Francis Catholic High School building for the 2019-2020 school year. Rodriguez is the schools third executive director since opening. In the schools short span of operation, it has seen four principals and three different chairpersons on the schools board of trustees. Of the founding board members, two remain. During its first five years of governance, the board demonstrated an inability to oversee and govern the school due to a lack of effective communication between the board and school leadership; an inability to obtain requested data to monitor academic success, finances, and enrollment; problems with adherence to the Open Meeting Law and the schools bylaws; and an inability to properly monitor the fiscal health of the school, Riley said of the charter. Rhonda Soto, a founding board member of the school acknowledged disfunction on the board" in past years but said the current board is working diligently to meet the states conditions of probation. She also emphasized to state education officials the schools founding mission of educating students and encouraging them to effective citizens. Our school is very unique, Soto told the board. It is critical that the community needs other high school options like ours. She spoke of the schools dual enrollment program, which allows students to graduate with both a high school diploma and college credit. Michael Moriarty, a Board of Elementary and Secondary Education member from Holyoke, thanked Soto for her forthrightness on school leadership concerns. While Soto emphasized the schools current readiness to meet state benchmarks, Moriarty was critical of the schools lack of attendance at last months state board meeting when school progress was on the agenda. Multiple Paulo Freire officials were scheduled to attend the January meeting but due to illness and loss of a family member, none were available and no other representatives were sent in their place. Is your bench that shallow? Moriarty asked. He added that had the commissioner recommended the closure of the school, I would have voted for that too. The vote passed 10 in favor, one opposed. James Morton, the vice chair of the board, was the sole vote against extending the schools probation. PALMER Police arrested a 27-year-old Palmer woman Monday night after she allegedly stabbed a male on Old Warren Road. The victim, who suffered serious injuries, was taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, said James Leydon, spokesman for the Hampden District Attorneys office, said. The victim is expected to survive. The stabbing occurred about 11 p.m. and the suspect was arrested a short time later. Kelsey Gaulin, 27, of Palmer, was taken into custody and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and domestic assault and battery. Gaulin, during her arraigned today in Palmer District Court, was ordered held without right to bail pending a dangerousness hearing on Feb. 19. The stabbing remains under investigation by Palmer police and Massachusetts state police. On Tuesday night, Margaret Eckert of Springfield will read aloud the names of those killed 10 years ago on a plane that crashed just minutes before it was supposed to land in Buffalo, New York. Among the list of names is her big sister Beverly Eckert. I am honored to be asked to be one of those who will read the names of the victims at the vigil on Tuesday night at the crash site at the time of the crash, including my sisters name, said Margaret Eckert. Family members will gather in remembrance of the victims of Continental Flight 3407. To recognize the 10-year anniversary of the crash, the Peace Bridge, Niagara Falls, Buffalo City Hall Dome, the Electric Light Tower, the Rath Building, and Erie County Hall will all be lit in red. There will be multiple events and gatherings at the Flight 3407 Memorial and burial site at Forest Lawn Cemetery, a Flight 3407 Memorial at the Clarence Library and at the site of the crash at Long Street in Clarence, New York. A native of New York, Beverly Eckert and her husband Sean Rooney spent several years living in Enfield, Connecticut, and she later lived in Stamford. Rooney was killed in terrorist attack the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. After his death, Beverly Eckert connected with others who lost loved ones. My sister and a group of 11 others whose loved ones were killed on 9/11 formed a Family Steering Group to advocate for an investigation into the causes, Margaret Eckert said. She and the others attended countless hearings in Washington D.C. and New York. Once the 9/11 Committee Report was issued, they worked relentlessly to make sure that the recommendations were implemented, including the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security and the reorganization of how intelligence is shared within our government. Eight years later, on Feb. 12, 2009, Beverly Eckert was killed in an airplane crash while on her way to New York to celebrate with relatives what would have been her husbands 58th birthday. She also planned to award an annual scholarship in his name at Rooneys alma mater, Canisius High School. Her siblings jumped into action when they found out the airplane crash was due to a preventable safety issue and not mechanical error or bad weather. That night and the weeks after were a nightmare, but to learn that the crash was preventable turned grief into activism, as my sisters, Karen Eckert and Susan Bourque, went to D.C. 70 times, at their own expense, with others who lost loved ones, Scott Mauer, Kevin Kulwik, and John and Marilyn Kausner, Margaret Eckert said. "Whenever more pressure was needed to counteract the lobbyists paid for by the airlines, an all call went out for others in the Family Group to join them in D.C. or to lobby by emails and phone calls for One Level of Safety. The families were horrified to learn that the captain of Flight 3407 failed three proficiency check rides before being hired by Colgan Air, a partner to Continental. After he was hired by Colgan he failed two more proficiency check rides. In a recording, family members could hear the co-pilot yawning throughout the flight. Citizen lobbyists pressed Congress to unanimously pass the Airline Safety Act in 2010. Among many changes, the minimum flight experience hours to be hired as a co-pilot was increased to 1,500 from just 190 hours of experience and a commercial pilot license needed previously. Eckert said the Families of Continental Flight 3407 did not let up the pressure during hearings on the legislation. The pressure and vigilance remained when the (Federal Aviation Administration) needed re-authorization in 2018. These heroes, my heroes, have made flying safer for every single airline passenger in the U.S. There has not been a single fatal crash of a commercial airline in 10 years in the U.S., she said. Eckert is now retired from teaching at South Hadley High School. She spends most of her time caring for her son with special needs and working with causes that mean a lot to her. I pay it forward, just as Beverly did, and just as my siblings continue to do, by working with and supporting Loaves and Fishes, the YWCA of Western Massachusetts, the Human Trafficking subcommittee of the (Sisters of St. Joseph), Habitat for Humanity and other causes, she said. Eckert planned to be in New York to be with her family and participate in several activities leading up to he memorial service on Tuesday. Beyond the love and memories she and her family with carry with them, Eckert will also have a physical memory with her. I will be wearing a pair of her boots, the same boots I wore when we all marched years ago from the crash site to the airport to complete their journey, she said. CHESTER A man accused in a stabbing that prompted a shutdown of Baystate Noble Hospital in Westfield was found dead at his home in Chester on Monday. The suspect, Igor Kachur, 26, brought the female victim to the hospital after the stabbing Sunday, which was a domestic assault, said James Leydon, spokesman for Hamdpen District Attorney Anthony Gulluni. The man, who is the victims husband, then fled the hospital. Staff then contacted police and called for a lockdown of the hospital, Leydon said. Westfield Police Capt. Michael McCabe said Sunday morning that police were summoned to Baystate Noble for a report of a person who was perceived as a threat. That person was gone by the time police arrived, he said. McCabe had no information about the domestic incident in Chester. At the same time, state police immediately began searching for the suspect using personnel from the Russell barracks, the detective unit assigned to the Gullunis office, the Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section, K-9 units, and the Air Wing, Leydon said. Tragically, the sought after suspect ... was discovered today in Chester deceased. Foul play is not suspected, he said. The female victim is recovering from injuries she suffered in the domestic assault that occurred in the couples home on Blandford Road in Chester, Leydon said. The incident prompted a 90-minute lockdown at hospital. Baystate spokeswoman Shelly Hazlett said the shutdown began as an incident in the emergency department and was called for as a precaution. In a lockdown no one is allowed to enter or exit any part of the building until police assess the threat. Sundays lockdown was lifted at about 12:30 p.m. Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to Gullunis office and the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner are continuing to investigate the incident, Leydon said. Gulluni offers his sympathies to Kachurs family during this difficult time, Leydon said. SPRINGFIELD - U.S. District Judge Mark Mastroianni has decided a lawsuit against the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools over water quality may continue, but the man filing the action really needs to hire a lawyer. In a decision released Monday, Mastroianni ruled that plaintiff Michael Hootstein of Shutesbury may represent himself in court, but because he is not a lawyer, he may not represent anyone else. That would rule out Hootstein arguing on behalf of his grandson, a senior at Amherst-Pelham Regional High School. Hootstein, a custodial grandparent and a retired hydrologist, filed action against the Amherst schools in 2017, charging that the drinking water available to students has an unacceptably high level of lead, and that is harmful to students. The schools deny the drinking water in the schools is unsafe. He is seeking emergency relief in the form of the schools being ordered to provided bottled water to students, much like they already do for some faculty, staff and administrators. Mastroianni decided that because Hootstein is not a lawyer or a member of the bar, he lacks the standing in the court to represent anyone else - including his grandson. The court recognizes (Hootsteins) good intentions in wanting to protect his grandson and is sensitive to (his) interest in upholding his grandsons rights, Mastroianni wrote. But as a pro se litigant, Latin for for oneself, Hootstein cannot represent anyone but himself in federal court. If (Hootstein) would like to bring an action on behalf of his grandson or a class action on behalf of a class of people similarly situated to (himself), or his grandson, he must first arrange for counsel to represent him. Mastroianni also dismissed a Hootstein claim that the Amherst schools, by providing drinking water with unsafe lead levels, violated his rights under Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution, which states people have the right to clean air and water and to be free of excess noise. By dismissing that claim, Mastroianni asserted existing case law that it is not the role of the federal courts to develop and expand upon state law. For Hootstein to proceed with that claim, he would need to do so not in federal court, but in a Massachusetts court. Hootstein said Mastroiannis decision was on the whole very positive. He sent an email titled A beautiful court decision! to a reporter with The Republican, and in a subsequent interview with the reporter, he said Mastroiannis decision was a great and wise decision by a judge. He said he intends to begin looking for a constitutional lawyer who will take up the case in order for it to proceed. Well see what happens with it, he said. David McCay of Mirick, OConnell, DeMallie & Louggee in Westborough, who is representing the Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee, said he was not at liberty to comment on the decision because he had not yet had the opportunity to brief the committee on the new developments. Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld is considering a run for president in 2020, either as a Republican or a Libertarian. Weld was the former boss to then-cabinet secretary and now Republican Gov. Charlie Baker. But the current governor will not say whether he would like to see one of his political mentors run for office. Im a big fan of Bill Weld the person, but the decision he makes to run for office is very much his own, Baker said Monday. As Ive said to anybody whos involved in elective office, I hope anybody who gets into it enjoys the ride and appreciates the opportunity it gives them to talk to voters, Baker said. But thats a personal decision. In the end, thats going to be up to him and to his family. Baker has said he did not vote for President Donald Trump, a Republican. Asked whether he would like to see someone challenge the president, Baker said, I think thats a really big lift for anyone who chooses to go down that road. Weld led Massachusetts as a Republican, then became a Libertarian to run as the partys vice presidential candidate in 2016. A Chicopee woman who was arrested in May after driving to New Haven with a Springfield man to purchase 4 kilos of cocaine pleaded guilty in federal court to her role in a cocaine trafficking scheme. Latoya McKreith, 36, pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New Haven to a single count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute at least 500 grams of cocaine. She was arrested in New Haven with Laprese Gollman, 43, of Springfield. At the time of their arrests, Gollman had $100,000 in cash with him. He pleaded guilty to the same charge and in October was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, to be followed by 8 years probation. McKreith faces between a minimum of 5 years in prison and a maximum of 40 years. AMHERST -- Three Western Massachusetts forestry businesses will see the lion's share of nearly $2.9 million in state grant funding to boost renewable heating technology and renewable fuels -- in particular, the in-state production of wood chips and the growth of efficient wood-burning furnaces and boilers. With this round of funding, the grants will help the local farm and forest businesses buy equipment to create, dry, handle, store, and deliver wood chips at facilities in Amherst, Dalton and Ashfield. The investments are meant to jump-start the regional supply chain for wood chips and boost the forest economy while pursuing the state's clean energy goals, officials said at a celebration on Monday. The grants "will help reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, help lower our energy costs, help reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, all while supporting and fostering our local industry and growing the amount of wood that comes from right here in Western Massachusetts," said Department of Energy Resources Commissioner Judith Judson. At the outdoor awards ceremony at Wagner Wood in Amherst, rural forestry workers and state officials chatted and shared coffee, cider and pastries against a backdrop of heavy equipment and saw logs before settling onto rustic hand-hewn benches to hear and share congratulatory remarks delivered from a tree-stump dais adorned with a bouquet of local forsythia. A massive American flag, suspended from the top of a tall crane, provided further visual interest. Wagner Wood will see $885,000 for a specialized chipper and a trailer to pneumatically deliver the chips into storage silos, officials announced. Holliday Farm in Dalton will gain $1 million for custom delivery trucks and a facility to remove moisture from the chips. Pantermehl Land Clearing in Ashfield will use $350,000 to buy a chipper and build a storage facility. While Massachusetts uses plenty of wood products, nearly all of it comes from out of state, said Kevin Sullivan, a Wagner spokesman. "We are here today to connect the dots," he said. Sullivan pointed to a distant ridge, and said the land within view has been responsibly managed by three local families for many generations. Matthew Beaton, Gov. Charlie Baker's energy and environment secretary, said he has learned about forests and the services they provide -- from wood products to wildlife habitat to carbon sequestration -- by spending time with those who make their living from the woods. Beaton, who said he was proud of Baker, mentioned that discussions about forestry have been "challenging" at times, without making any specific reference. In fact, a vocal contingent in Massachusetts has opposed nearly all commercial logging while fighting the expansion of wood heat, saying both are bad for the environment. Currently, an online petition seeks "an immediate moratorium on logging on all Massachusetts state-owned lands ... excluding the cutting of trees proven to be necessary to protect public safety." Tim Crane, a co-owner of Holliday Farm, said he believes that approach is misguided, and said a well-managed forest is a healthy forest that can help support families while sequestering carbon and providing ecological services. "It's the peoples' fuel," said Crane, who sang the praises of firewood and safe, modern wood stoves and chip boilers. Wagner Wood, with its sawmill and logging operation, already heats a farmhouse and shop with its wood chip boiler. "We can use what we produce," said Jim Wagner of the family business. Also receiving grants were Dunlap's Energy in Plymouth for a biofuel mixing facility, and Caluwe Inc. in Burlington, which will test and certify European wood chip boilers for their compliance with U.S. air pollution laws. One Romanian national was sentenced and two others pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Boston Tuesday for their parts in an interstate conspiracy in which password-skimming devices were installed on ATMs throughout Massachusetts and three other states. According to the office of U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew E. Lelling, Florinel Vaduva, 22, was sentenced to three years in prison and three years probation, and ordered to pay $50,453 in restitution. Vaduva had pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity, conspiracy to use counterfeit access devices, and aggravated identity theft. In a separate hearing, two other Romanian nationals, Ion Vaduva, 38, and Florin Hornea, 37, apleaded guilty to pleaded guilty to conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity and conspiracy to use counterfeit access devices. They are scheduled to be sentenced in May. They could be sentenced to up to 22 years in prison, be fined $250,000 and be subject to deportation. Hornea and the two Vaduvas were among the 15 people indicted last May for their roles in a scheme in which password-skimming devices were installed on ATM machines in seven states over an 18-month period. The 15 were members of what was known as the Hornea Crew. The devices installed on ATMs stole debit card numbers and passwords from customers, and members of the crew were able to use that information to steal money from the card holders bank accounts. That money was then transferred from the United States to Romania and China. Skimmers were found in several Massachusetts communities, including Amherst, Bellingham, Billerica, Braintree, Chicopee, Quincy, Southwick, Waltham, Weymouth and Whately. They were also found in Connecticut, South Carolina, Georgia, New York and New Hampshire. So far, eight of the original 15 defendants have been sentenced, found have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing, one is awaiting trial and two remain at large. BOSTON There was energy-efficient lighting, bottling equipment and fertilizer, cookbooks, food flavoring and vaping products. The National Cannabis Industry Association held its third annual Seed to Sale show at Hynes Convention Center in Boston, a two-day expo that began Tuesday and attracted marijuana business professionals from around the country. The event included sessions on marijuana-related technology, marketing, lab testing and other facets of starting or growing a marijuana business. Massachusetts legalized recreational marijuana on the ballot in 2016, and the first recreational shops opened in November. The photos and video above provide a look around the expo floor, where businesses had booths displaying products and advertising services. SPRINGFIELD A Boston businessman has emerged as the new owner of a proposed downtown marijuana shop on Hampden Street, replacing a New York woman who initially presented the plans. Andrew Koudijs, the sole officer of Hennep, Inc., has replaced Laura Amato of Nyack, New York, as the business seeking to open the recreational marijuana shop at 15 Hampden St. As a result of the ownership/administrative shift, there is a new community outreach meeting planned Feb. 19 at 5:30 p.m., at 15 Hampden St., to discuss the plans with the public, officials said. The community meeting is required before the company can seek approvals from the city and the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission. Koudijs also is proposing to open a marijuana shop in Provincetown, according to SouthCoastToday. He was not immediately available for comment. Ezra Parzybok, a cannabis consultant for the past and current business, said Koudijs intends a similar boutique-style shop as proposed by Amato. Hennep, Inc. is a boutique style cannabis dispensary that seeks to make new users comfortable and to bring a more sophisticated and thoughtful approach to the retail market in Western Mass., Parzybok said. Amato, reached by telephone on Tuesday, said that she decided to drop her plans because of unforeseen circumstances. She did not wish to provide details, but said there is a long process" for establishing marijuana facilities in Springfield and that it was not something I can maintain, and regrettably so. Amato was proposing to lease the site. The shop is proposed in a vacant storefront on the left side of the Patton Building. The building also includes the dental offices of Dr. Richard Elfman, who owns the building. In Springfield, the city is not yet accepting applications for retail marijuana shops, but announced Monday that it expects to begin accepting company proposals and qualifications in early March to be evaluated by a city review committee. Thereafter, a company would need a host community agreement approved by the mayor, a special permit approved by the City Council and a license approved by the Cannabis Control Commission. On Jan. 15, Amato and other business representatives conducted a community meeting at the Hampden Street site to discuss her plans. She was listed as manager of Hennepx LLC. She said at the time of the January community meeting that she loved the Hampden Street site and is in love with New England. On Tuesday, Amato said that perhaps she could pursue such a business in some other town. The City Council approved an ordinance last September that will allow up to 15 retail marijuana shops in Springfield. The shops must be located in business or industrial zones, and are allowed only on 58 designated streets within those zones, under the ordinance. Thus far, there have been community meetings conducted in Springfield regarding eight proposed marijuana shops including four sites proposed downtown. A Washington-D.C.-based non-profit that has reported on the country's public health and emergency preparedness on an annual basis for 15 years has ranked Massachusetts among the top 17 states for such preparedness on the basis of comparative cumulative scoring on 10 indicators. In its report, "Ready or Not: Protecting the Public's Health from Diseases, Disasters and Bioterrorism," the Trust for America's Health looked at such indicators as whether a state participates in a compact to allow registered nurses and licensed practical or vocational nurses to practice in multiple jurisdictions with a single license, whether employed state residents have access to paid time off and whether states "had a plan to surge public health laboratory capacity for six to eight weeks as necessary during overlapping emergencies or large outbreaks." According to TFAH, the 2019 Ready or Not Report Scores for Massachusetts, which last year became the seventh state to create a paid family and medical leave program and has been updating laboratory and surveillance resources, are: "Preparedness is key to preventing harm when public health emergencies and natural disasters occur, but, being prepared requires dedicated funding and multi-sector planning and collaboration," said John Auerbach, the nonprofit's president and chief executive officer, in a release. "The risks to America's health security are very real, and in the headlines - from wildfires to floods to food borne illnesses. These events are wake-up calls. To stay safe, we need to devote more time and money to emergency preparedness." In their "Ready or Not" scores, 20 states scored in the middle tier and 12 in the bottom. The report, which states it is not a comprehensive evaluation of any one state's overall emergency readiness or response, says some 21 states have made preparations to expand public health and healthcare capabilities in an emergency, often through inter-state collaboration and compacts, that 96 percent of Americans who access water from a community water system, have access to water that meets all applicable health-based standards, and that most hospitals work in coalitions and that most states are accredited in the areas of public health and emergency management, often in both. However, citing such public health emergencies of the past year as "an unusually severe flu season, confounding cases of acute flaccid myelitis, two major hurricanes, and the deadliest fire season in California's history, the report says, "Americans face serious health risks and even death with increasing regularity," and says states are "uneven in their level of preparedness" and "unstable and insufficient funding" puts progress on preparedness measures at risk. Among the report's areas of concern: Its top recommendations include: PALMER -- The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts awarded Baystate Health Foundation a $26,000 Capital Grant to purchase two patient monitors for the recently opened Baystate Wing Hospital Emergency Department in Palmer. The Phillips IntelliVue MX450 portable patient monitors will allow team members to quickly check vital signs on one screen, including blood pressure, oxygen levels, and heart rate. That data then moves with patients to their next phase of treatment, if required. "These new cardiac monitors will allow us to take care of critically ill patients while offering us greater flexibility in patient care and decreasing wait times in our Emergency Department," said Dr. Robert Spence, chief of Emergency Medicine who oversees emergency care at Baystate Mary Lane Outpatient Center and Baystate Wing Hospital. Currently, the emergency department has 13 patient monitors for its 20 treatment bays. The Baystate Health Foundation will continue to raise funds for the additional monitors, which will provide more usable bays and create improved lengths of stay for patients. "The additional monitors further enable us to care for any patient in any room, improving our patient experience," said Kim Davis, MSN, RN, CCRN, CEN, nurse manager for Emergency Services at Baystate Mary Lane and Baystate Wing Hospital. Baystate Wing Hospital's new Emergency Department opened in September 2018. The new $17.2 million facility is three times the size of the old emergency department and can accommodate more than 24,000 visits annually. Bradley International Airport is open, but about 20 percent of the flights are canceled, according to a an email sent Tuesday afternoon by spokeswoman Alisa D. Sisic. Snow removal efforts at the Windsor Locks, Connecticut, airport are ongoing, she said. Passengers who are scheduled to travel are advised to check with their airline. Real-time flight status updates are available at www.flybdl.org. The aircraft tracking website Flight Aware lists nearly 3,000 cancellations and another 2,600 delays across the country, and its misery map of disrupted flights matches up with the most recent weather map of the approaching storm. Both Logan International Airport in Boston and Worcester Regional Airport also encouraged travelers to check with their airlines. Due to expected weather this afternoon, flights may be impacted. Please check with your airline for the latest flight information before heading to the airport. https://t.co/wVVu6Eoyf8 Boston Logan Airport (@BostonLogan) February 12, 2019 Boston Logan flight updates are available online at www.massport.com. Worcester flight updates are available at www.massport.com/worcester-airport. T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, listed a few cancellations as well: www.pvdairport.com. By COLIN M. D'AMOUR Corporate center store sales manager Big Y Foods It can be easy to walk into your local Big Y World Class Market and see innovation and technology everywhere. Our stores are equipped with the highest efficiency refrigeration systems, LED lighting, modern registers and, in some cases, roof-top solar panels and electric vehicle charging stations. We use computer-assisted ordering and forecasting systems to ensure proper product assortment and availability while minimizing food waste. Additionally, we now have a digital app that helps engage and offer customer specific savings throughout our stores. Technological tools like these are important in today's competitive environment, yet they would have seemed like science fiction if described to our company's founders Paul and Gerry D'Amour in 1936 when Big Y first began. When they were opening their first 500-square-foot community market, things were, of course, much different: hamburger cost 25 cents a pound; a loaf of bread was a nickel; and home deliveries were often made on the company bicycle. In those early days, Paul and Gerry strove to offer a personalized shopping experience with a localized assortment that met the needs of their local community. It is said that Paul became especially adept at speaking several dialects and languages to customers, vendors and local farmers. Gerry worked hard to know many customers by name and would often inquire how dinner turned out when a special order had been prepared in the butcher shop. Paul and Gerry believed that their nascent business would succeed only by becoming a part of the community they served. While the company has grown since those humble beginnings we believe our future success lies in staying true to the vision and principles laid out by our founders. Today we still work hard to identify the right localized assortment. From summer produce, to hand soap, to pasta sauce, this store-specific selection of products is driven by a ground-up approach where store employees and customers help identify local farms and businesses with which we can partner. While we may not all speak several languages like Paul and Gerry, we still believe in creating a true partnership with these local vendors. Today we are proud to work with almost 200 local vendor partners. Like the community markets of decades ago, we believe there is pride in true craftsmanship and our employees work hard in this pursuit. This is why we still have bakeries that create many products from scratch, full-service butcher shops, and cheese merchants who attend ongoing training to ensure they are experts in their field. We may not know all our customers by name, but we still strive to offer that community market touch of "Your Big Y." And, we, of course, still want to know how that specially cut roast turned out for your family dinner! Our founders taught us that being part of the community meant giving back to the community, and we try to continue to live this ethos on a local level. Our family of over 12,000 employees volunteers time and money to local charities throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut. Employees can often be found assisting at local soup kitchens or senior centers, collecting for animal shelters or toy drives, and cleaning up local parks. Additionally, we work to identify local food banks and soup kitchens to which we can donate unsold perishable product. We also strive to support education in our communities. Through our annual scholarship program we have awarded over $4.5 million to over 6,000 customers, employees and their family members. Additionally, we work hard to support local schools through donations and through our Education Express program. Technology and computer systems will naturally continue to play an increasingly important role in our future, but must be viewed and used through the lens of customer and community service. They are tools which, when used in concert with the principles established by our founders, will help us to continue to exceed our customers' evolving expectations and to continue to deliver World Class Service in the communities we serve. My grandfather, Gerry, often called our business a "people business." He helped me understand at an early age that whether it a birthday party, a religious holiday or simply gathering for dinner, a meal is often central to our most precious moments we have as a family and a community. I can remember as a child seeing the excitement my grandfather derived from being a part of these intimate experiences. "It gets in your blood," he would exclaim when describing his work. It is this same legacy for passion that will carry us on through the next 83 years. Colin M. D'Amour is a corporate center store sales manager for Big Y Foods, focusing on all non-perishable grocery products for the 70 store supermarket chain. To learn more about Big Y, visit bigy.com. It can be easy to walk into your local Big Y World Class Market and see innovation and technology everywhere. Our stores are equipped with the highest efficiency refrigeration systems, LED lighting, modern registers and, in some cases, roof-top solar panels and electric vehicle charging stations. We use computer-assisted ordering and forecasting systems to ensure proper product assortment and availability while minimizing food waste. Additionally, we now have a digital app that helps engage and offer customer specific savings throughout our stores. Technological tools like these are important in today's competitive environment, yet they would have seemed like science fiction if described to our company's founders Paul and Gerry D'Amour in 1936 when Big Y first began. When they were opening their first 500-square-foot community market, things were, of course, much different: hamburger cost 25 cents a pound; a loaf of bread was a nickel; and home deliveries were often made on the company bicycle. In those early days, Paul and Gerry strove to offer a personalized shopping experience with a localized assortment that met the needs of their local community. It is said that Paul became especially adept at speaking several dialects and languages to customers, vendors and local farmers. Gerry worked hard to know many customers by name and would often inquire how dinner turned out when a special order had been prepared in the butcher shop. Paul and Gerry believed that their nascent business would succeed only by becoming a part of the community they served. While the company has grown since those humble beginnings we believe our future success lies in staying true to the vision and principles laid out by our founders. Today we still work hard to identify the right localized assortment. From summer produce, to hand soap, to pasta sauce, this store-specific selection of products is driven by a ground-up approach where store employees and customers help identify local farms and businesses with which we can partner. While we may not all speak several languages like Paul and Gerry, we still believe in creating a true partnership with these local vendors. Today we are proud to work with almost 200 local vendor partners. Like the community markets of decades ago, we believe there is pride in true craftsmanship and our employees work hard in this pursuit. This is why we still have bakeries that create many products from scratch, full-service butcher shops, and cheese merchants who attend ongoing training to ensure they are experts in their field. We may not know all our customers by name, but we still strive to offer that community market touch of "Your Big Y." And, we, of course, still want to know how that specially cut roast turned out for your family dinner! Our founders taught us that being part of the community meant giving back to the community, and we try to continue to live this ethos on a local level. Our family of over 12,000 employees volunteers time and money to local charities throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut. Employees can often be found assisting at local soup kitchens or senior centers, collecting for animal shelters or toy drives, and cleaning up local parks. Additionally, we work to identify local food banks and soup kitchens to which we can donate unsold perishable product. We also strive to support education in our communities. Through our annual scholarship program we have awarded over $4.5 million to over 6,000 customers, employees and their family members. Additionally, we work hard to support local schools through donations and through our Education Express program. Technology and computer systems will naturally continue to play an increasingly important role in our future, but must be viewed and used through the lens of customer and community service. They are tools which, when used in concert with the principles established by our founders, will help us to continue to exceed our customers' evolving expectations and to continue to deliver World Class Service in the communities we serve. My grandfather, Gerry, often called our business a "people business." He helped me understand at an early age that whether it a birthday party, a religious holiday or simply gathering for dinner, a meal is often central to our most precious moments we have as a family and a community. I can remember as a child seeing the excitement my grandfather derived from being a part of these intimate experiences. "It gets in your blood," he would exclaim when describing his work. It is this same legacy for passion that will carry us on through the next 83 years. Colin M. D'Amour is a corporate center store sales manager for Big Y Foods, focusing on all non-perishable grocery products for the 70 store supermarket chain. To learn more about Big Y, visit bigy.com. Itll cost between $29.5 million and $37.8 million to build new highway exit on the Massachusetts Turnpike (Interstate 90) between Exit 2 in Lee and Exit 3 in Westfield, according to recently released Massachusetts Department of Transportation cost estimates. To supporters like state Sen. Donald Humason, R-Westfield, the new exit is a chance to bring people and investment to the lagging Hilltowns and solve a nagging rush-hour traffic snarl at Exit 3. The cost estimates vary according to the amount of work it would take to build. Alternative 1 at Algerie Road in Otis: $37.8 million. Alternative 2 at the MassDOT Maintenance Facility in Blandford: $29.5 million. Alternative 3 at the Blandford Service Plaza in Blandford: $34 million. The Department of Transportations next steps are to analyze local intersections and review the impacts a new exit would have, said spokeswoman Judith Reardon Riley. She said MassDOT expects to have the study done in May. But to some folks who live between Westfield and Lee, the exit is a threat to the communities they love. I hope we can get this thing stopped right away, said James R. Adams, who lives near Big Pond and Algerie Road in Otis. I dont really see the need for it at all. He said he and his neighbors would be less opposed to an exit at one of two proposed locations further east in Blandford, where MassDOT already has a rest stop and a maintenance facility that could accommodate the exit. Humason is concerned about the impact vocal opposition might have on a project in which he believes. A number of folks in the Hilltowns are going to say, We dont want it, and that voice will drown out everyone else, the senator said. I think this is the last best chance for economic development in the Hilltowns. Id really hate to have some well-meaning residents who are concerned about the environmental impact and the change to their community block it. And at the same time, they are not happy that the Hilltowns seem to be dying for lack of business investment and lack of residents Thirty miles separate Exit 2 and Exit 3, an abnormally large stretch between highway interchanges. One oft-repeated story goes that Westfield businessmen put the kibosh on a Hilltowns exit when the highway was built because they wanted to force travelers to pass through town. Little happened with the idea of creating a new exit until the state did away with toll plazas in favor of overhead gantries in 2016. Humason, state Rep. William Smitty Pignatelli, D-Lenox, and state Sen. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield, put language in the 2018 budget bill calling for MassDOT to study and possibly build a new exit. That budget bill led to the current study. Humason said one benefit of a new exit would be less traffic coming off Exit 3 and snaking down Elm Street and out Franklin Street from Westfield to the Hilltowns. We have to figure out how we are going to pay for it, Humason said. I think that could be done quickly through the Legislature. Letting the plans sit without legislative action would make it less likely the work would ever get funded, Humason said. Boston police on Tuesday identified a man who was shot to death in Roxbury as 32-year-old Juan Morales of Fitchburg. Morales was shot around 12:35 p.m. on Feb. 4 in the area of 186 Northampton Street in Lower Roxbury, police said. Officers found Morales suffering from gunshot wounds with life-threatening injuries. Morales was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The shooting remains under investigation. Boston police ask anyone with information about the shooting to call homicide detectives at 617-343-4470. No further information was released. A Boston man suspected of carrying out 19 break-ins over the last five months has been identified and charged. The Middlesex District Attorneys Office said 33-year-old Jargle Soto-Suazo is believed to be responsible for an uptick in housebreaks in Medford, Brookline, Quincy, Watertown and Arlington. Authorities had been investigating the reported crimes since September 2018, and arrested Soto-Suazo following an alleged break-in in Brookline last week. Police said Soto-Suazo was observed leaving the scene of a break-in at a home in the area of Colbourne Street on Thursday. A search warrant was executed for his home and vehicle, leading police to discover multiple items, including several watches, jewelry, a gun and an iPad, that were reported stolen from homes across multiple communities, according to the DAs office. Authorities said a preliminary investigation suggests that Soto-Suazo entered the homes through second-story windows between 4 p.m. and 11 p.m. using a pry bar. In several instances, the DAs office said residents were home during the break-ins. Charges were filed against Soto-Suazo for 19 burglaries. They include multiple counts of breaking and entering in the nighttime to commit a felony, attempted breaking and entering, possession of burglarious tools and receiving stolen property, according to the DAs office. Soto-Suazo pleaded not guilty in Brookline District Court. He was ordered held on $40,000 cash bail, according to the Norfolk District Attorneys Office. The most dangerous place for black people to live is in white peoples imagination. So says comedian D.L. Hughley. And surely Tamir Rice and Trayvon Martin would concur if they were alive to do so. But if white peoples imagination is the most dangerous place for black people, it is also the most denigrating. Fresh but superfluous evidence of that arrived Friday in the form of a photo on the med school yearbook page of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam. The image, taken in 1984, the year Northam turned 25, depicts two young men, one wearing a KKK hood, the other painted in blackface. Northam, a Democrat who attends a black church, has trotted out shifting explanations. First he apologized, though he failed to say which man in the picture was him. Then he said neither man in the picture was him. Then he admitted that he did once darken his skin to imitate Michael Jackson in a dance contest. By now its immaterial whether either man in the picture is Northam. The very fact that he thought it could have been, never mind that he admits to having worn blackface at least once, speaks to how ubiquitous this sort of thing white people pretending themselves black must have been in his circle. Doris Draper of Drapers Flowers & Gifts on U.S. 220 in Bassett said her shop has not had regular helium in years. The helium supplier used in her shop took up our tanks and everything. They said they had to have them for hospitals and other medical uses. It was a shock when we had to quit doing it, because we sold so many balloons, she said. The shop still sells balloons occasionally, but on a smaller scale, she said. She buys smaller tanks of helium locally, but those dont fill many balloons. Doyle McDaniel of Pams Floral Designs said he has been reading up on what makes helium hard to get sometimes. Helium is not a processed gas, he said. They have to find these gases underground and trap them. Theres a shortage because they have to find the next source. In Martinsville, helium is sold by Airgas, but an employee in the local office said that only a corporate representative could speak with the press. A message left with the company's office did not generate a response by Tuesday afternoon. Helium is used to cool the superconducting magnets in MRI scanners, according to the Royal Society of Chemistry on rsc.org/periodic-table. Ensure you get a print copy of the Loudoun Times-Mirror delivered weekly to your home or business! Complete online access is included with all print subscriptions purchased online. Plus, up to four other members of your household can share online access through this subscription with their own, individual linked accounts at no additional charge. (Are you a current advertiser? Ask your sales rep for our special advertiser rate code!) Local News, Crime, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: February 12 2019 Fire Marshal Joseph Battaglia and K-9 pup Pilot join ATFs National Response Team deployment in response to disaster in NJ. Nassau County, NY - February 12, 2019 - Nassau County Executive Laura Curran today recognized Nassau County Fire Marshal Joseph Battaglia and his K-9 team partner Pilot for their deployment as part of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms (ATF) National Response Team to the site of 8-alarm fire disaster in Elmwood Park, New Jersey two weeks ago. News 12 NJ recently featured FM Battaglia and Pilot in a segment about the team on the ground determining the cause of the fire. Our Fire Marshals train hard and make personal sacrifices so that they can respond to danger when it confronts others, said County Executive Curran. I am grateful and proud that Fire Marshal Battaglia and Pilot step up not just for their own communities, but for also for others when they are in need. I am very proud that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives has allowed the Nassau County Office of the Fire Marshal to be partners in their Accelerant Detection Canine program for the past 25 years, said Nassau County Chief Fire Marshal Scott D. Tusa. This Office is dedicated to assisting ATF whenever they activate the National Response Team and call upon us. I have an even greater sense of pride for our Fire Marshal Canine Handlers Matthew Kerin (K-9 Leah) and Joseph Battaglia (K-9 Pilot) who dedicate themselves to working and training with their canine partners 7 day a week. Two weeks ago, the Marcal Paper Mill located in Elmwood, NJ suffered a destructive 8 alarm fire, drawing over 300 firefighters to battle the blaze. Local fire officials requested the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms (ATF) assist with the investigation of the fire. In cases of emergency, the ATF activates the National Response Team (NRT). When the NRT is activated, the ATF calls upon its members nationwide to bring various special assets to an investigation scene. Due to the scale of the fire, the ATF activated elements of the NRT, requesting the Nassau County dispatch one of its Accelerant Detecting K-9 Teams to the scene. The request was for a one week deployment of a K-9 Unit comprised of Fire Marshal Joseph Battaglia and his K-9 partner, Pilot. FM Battaglia and Pilot have been on the ground all week, receiving briefings as the lead accelerant detection team. Teams participating in the Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms Accelerant Detection Training Academy spend 6 weeks in an intensive training for 7 days a week. Nassau County Fire Marshal Joseph Battaglia arrived at the academy in Virginia on October 28 and trained with Pilot everyday until December 7 graduation day. Joseph Battaglia, who has served as a Nassau County FM for four years, was away from his family during time period, including Thanksgiving. Local News, Crime, Business & Finance, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: February 12 2019 Vickram and Gayatri Mangru, Owners Of Vick Construction and AVM Construction Corp., Pleaded Guilty to Failure To Pay Prevailing Wages On Construction Work at Several New York City Public Schools. New York, NY - February 12, 2019 - Attorney General Letitia James today announced the guilty pleas of Vickram Mangru, his wife Gayatri Mangru, and AVM Construction Corp., of Attorney General Letitia James today announced the guilty pleas of Vickram Mangru, his wife Gayatri Mangru, and AVM Construction Corp., of Valley Stream, NY , for failing to pay proper prevailing wages to workers and falsifying business records related to a publicly-funded New York City construction project. The defendants were charged with failing to pay three workers their required prevailing and overtime wages, as well as supplemental benefits from December 2012 through February 2015. The defendants unlawfully falsified payroll records to conceal their crimes, and thereby stole more than $280,000 from three workers. In October 2017, a Bronx County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging the defendants with two counts of Failure to Pay Prevailing Wages and Benefits and two counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree. Intentionally underpaying workers is both highly illegal and immoral, said Attorney General Letitia James. Not only did the defendants take advantage of innocent workers trying to earn a living, they also took advantage of New York City by falsifying records to the Department of Education. This office will never hesitate to investigate any employer who tries to cheat our workers or our government. Today, Defendants Vickram Mangru and AVM Construction Corp. both pleaded guilty in Bronx County Supreme Court before the Honorable Barry E. Warhit, to felony Failure to Pay Prevailing Wages and Benefits counts under the indictment. Defendant Gayatri Mangru pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor Failure to Pay Prevailing Wages and Benefits in the indictment for her involvement in the crimes. As a condition of their pleas, the Defendants will pay restitution to the three workers in the amount of $80,000 before their sentencing. Defendant Vickram Mangru will be sentenced to 30 days of incarceration and will subsequently serve three years probation; Defendants AVM Construction Corp. and Gayatri Mangru will be sentenced to conditional discharges and additional fines. A judgment order of restitution will be entered for the remaining amount owed. In addition, all defendants will be barred from bidding on or being awarded any public works contract in the State of New York for a period of five (5) years. An honest days work deserves an honest days pay and when employers cheat workers from the wages they rightfully earned, regardless of their status, its labor abuse at its worst, said New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer. Despite being debarred, this unscrupulous contractor attempted to use his wifes name to open a company and take advantage of immigrant workers by withholding their prevailing wages yet again now he is facing the consequences of his actions. I would like to thank the Attorney General for working side by side with my office to prosecute this contractor and bring justice to the workers who are owed their fair share. Between December 22, 2012 and April 12, 2014, Vickram Mangruas owner of Vick Constructionfailed to pay several of his employees proper prevailing wages for construction and repair work on several public schools in the Bronx. State law requires that on certain construction projects designated as public works, workers must be paid a pre-determined industry minimum wage per hour, plus a benefit rate, collectively known as a prevailing wage rate. Instead of paying this prevailing wage rate, the investigation revealed that Vickram Mangru allegedly paid his workers between $120 and $160/day for 40-50 hours worked per week an amount far less than what his employees were owed under the prevailing wage rate. To cover up the crime, Vickram Mangru falsified Certified Payroll Records and Reports submitted to the New York City Department of Education by claiming that he did pay workers the proper prevailing wage rate. The New York City Comptrollers Office previously barred the defendant, Vickram Mangru, from obtaining contracts for public works projects in New York City after he was found to be in violation of labor laws. The Comptrollers Office referred the case to the Attorney Generals Office after Mangru created a new company in an attempt to continue operating in New York City, but was allegedly still committing labor violations. The Attorney General thanks the New York City Comptrollers Office, specifically Constantine Kokkoris, Chief of the Bureau of Labor and the Comptrollers Offices Bureau of Labor Law Supervising Attorney Michael Turilli, Agency Attorney Caroline Friedman, Management Auditor Ilona Stadnicka, as well as the Comptrollers Office Director of Investigations Francisco Gonzalez and Investigator Dwayne Gibson. The Attorney General also thanks the New York City Department of Education Division of School Facilities Deputy Director of Procurement Kimberly De Vine as well as Labor Law Investigator David Coles. The investigation was handled for the Attorney Generals Office by Investigators Frank Tirri and Ray Almodovar, under the supervision of Supervising Investigator Sylvia Rivera and Deputy Chief Investigator John McManus. The Investigations Bureau is led by Chief Investigator John Reidy. Gardai have sealed off the Shannon Key West Hotel at Rooskey as a crime scene after a second attack at the premises last night. Fire services spent three hours at the scene after the alarm was first raised. At about 9.30pm last night, Mohill and Strokestown fire brigades arrived at the hotel after a report of an attempt being made to start a fire, with Mohills unit remaining there for more than three hours. The scene has been sealed off and a full examination will take place. Gardai are investigating claims that a fire bomb may have been used. Also read: Gardai appeal for witnesses in Rooskey following Shannon Key West Hotel fire Last month, on January 10, there was also a suspected arson attack at the hotel which is earmarked to provide accommodation to asylum seekers. Also read: Suspected arson attack at Rooskey hotel 'a sad day for Ireland of a thousand welcomes' Meanwhile Leitrim and Roscommon United Against Racism has condemned "what appears to be a second racist attempted arson attack on the hotel. "We are shocked and saddened yet again by this incident. We want to send a clear message that the tiny minority of people who were involved in these attacks on the hotel and those who support them by no means reflect the vast majority of the people living in Leitrim or Roscommon. The group added "we ask that all public representatives throughout the country come out, stand united with us and publicly condemn and work to end all forms of racism, whether it be online or in our communities." Also read: Concerned Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan: 'Too early to say when Rooskey hotel might be ready to accept residents' The beginning of the school year when you got to show off your new duds, new cars, new looks! Sports! Playing, cheering, watching high school athletics. The arts: Dramatic arts, musical groups and shows, graphic arts groups, debate, etc. The prom! No dancing the night away or punch bowl antics. The daily interactions. Just being with the group, hanging with friends and classmates. Access to college recruiters and advisors its harder to line up higher education. Walking onstage to get a diploma while all the family is watching with everyone elses family. Vote View Results Lois Tedesco entered into rest June 18, 2021. Predeceased by her parents Carlton and Catherine (Buchannon) Fruck. Beloved mother of Lynn (John) Villella, Shane (Dana) Lamke and Tonya (Kenny) Tedesco; cherished grandmother of six; and several great-grandchildren; dear sister of June (late Hen Google Maps A San Antonio woman was killed Sunday in a collision with an 18-wheeler truck in South Texas, officials said. Elysia Neylan Leos, 21, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which was reported around 5:44 p.m. in Duval County, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. This week, a 78-year-old Texas man convicted of three murders confessed to an additional 90 killings throughout his life, a prosecutor said. If Samuel Little's claims are true, it would make him the worst serial killer in U.S. history. Snakes are actively slithering in Houston thanks to warmer temperatures. Although the nice weather is great for getting outdoors, it also stirs local wildlife. On Monday, local TV news station KHOU reported a copperhead sighting near a bayou in Cinco Ranch. While Texas is home to more than 115 different species and subspecies of snakes, only 15 of those are potentially dangerous to humans, including venomous copperheads, coral snakes, cottonmouths (water moccasins) and several types of rattlesnakes, according to Texas Parks & Wildlife. "Houston is home to a large number of snake species," Houston Zoo snake expert Stan Mays told KHOU. "The best thing to do when you see one is to leave it alone." Texas wildlife: See proposals for 2019-20 hunting seasons As a precaution, Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) officials advise Texas residents to learn to recognize the snake species in their area. As well, you should keep the lawn around your home trimmed low, wear shoes while outside, and avoid rocks, holes and crevices that you can't look into or behind. For the TPWD's complete guide, click here. If bitten, go to the hospital instead of trying a home remedy, and do not use an extraction device to remove the venom. "Don't use a tourniquet, don't tie a string off, don't try to cut and suck. The best thing you can do is get to an appropriate facility," director of medical toxicology at Baylor College of Medicine and Ben Taub Hospital Dr. Spencer Greene told KHOU. For those afraid of snakes, take some solace in that they not only play a key role in the balance of nature but will usually slither away unless they feel threatened. Marcy de Luna is a digital reporter specializing in social media, the famous, and food. You can follow her on Twitter @MarcydeLuna and Facebook @MarcydeLuna. Read her stories on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com. | Marcy.deLuna@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message Virginia lawmakers on Monday moved to allow school systems to start classes before Labor Day, a measure that would end a decades-old rule intended to boost the state's tourism industry. The Virginia Senate voted 30 to 10 to approve a House bill that would permit schools to start two weeks before Labor Day. School systems that take advantage of the rule would be required to close the Friday before Labor Day and on the Monday holiday. Many school systems already bypassed the provision known colloquially as the Kings Dominion law, a reference to the popular theme park, by qualifying for weather-related or program waivers from the state. The Senate version of the measure passed with slight differences from the House bill proposed by Del. Roxann Robinson, R-Chesterfield. Those differences, she said, will be negotiated over the next week. Schools that are granted waivers, Robinson said, sometimes start three weeks before other school systems in the state. The law, if passed, would help bring those divisions in line with others in Virginia. Fairfax County, the state's largest school system, received a waiver for a second consecutive year because it closed schools for an average of eight days in five of the past 10 school years because of weather or other emergencies. Karen Corbett Sanders, chairwoman of the Fairfax County school board, said an earlier start gives students time to prepare for national tests, such as Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams. "The more flexibility they give to local jurisdictions, the better," Corbett Sanders said. "We are, of course, closer to our community and understand what our community expects from us." Several other Northern Virginia school divisions, including Prince William County, Manassas City and Manassas Park City were also allowed to start school before Labor Day, according to the Virginia Department of Education. Tourism advocates have long backed post-Labor Day starts, arguing that the extra time would give families more opportunities to vacation and bolster the industry. The issue has been hotly debated for years in the state's General Assembly, but the Kings Dominion law survived as efforts to repeal it didn't generate enough support from lawmakers. Eric Terry, president of the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association, said starting school earlier would "definitely affect business." "We rely heavily on our end-of-August tourism season in Virginia Beach, Williamsburg and the Shenandoah Valley," he said. "We basically lose the last two weeks of August, which we refer to as our Black Friday. That's some of our best times." Maryland officials are immersed in a similar dispute. The state's Senate last week gave preliminary approval to a measure that would allow local school districts to set their own calendars, which would reverse an order from Republican Gov. Larry Hogan delaying the start of the school year until after Labor Day. Hogan, who has argued that the later date would help businesses, give families more vacation opportunities and spare school cooling costs, vowed to spearhead a referendum on the matter if the Senate bill passes. Many Virginia school districts have scheduled start dates for the 2019-2020 school year, and several, including Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun County public schools, are set to begin before Labor Day. Loudoun schools spokesman Wayde Byard said starting the school year earlier allows for longer winter breaks and more days set aside for teachers to grade. Arlington Public Schools' calendar for next school year sets the first day of class for the Tuesday after Labor Day. Spokesman Frank Bellavia said once the General Assembly's decision is final, the school system would gather opinions from the community about the 2020-2021 calendar. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., should resign from Congress or give up her seats on congressional committees following her suggestion on Twitter that Israel's allies in U.S. politics were motivated by money rather than principle. Omar, a House freshman, had said Sunday evening that she believes the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is paying lawmakers to take pro-Israel positions, tweeting, "It's all about the Benjamins baby." Omar's tweets sparked a bipartisan backlash and ultimately a rebuke from House Democratic leaders, who issued a joint statement on Monday denouncing her use of "anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel's supporters." Omar later apologized. At Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, Trump said that "anti-Semitism has no place in the United States Congress" and called Omar's apology "lame." "I think she should either resign from Congress or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee," Trump said. "What she said is so deep-seated in her heart that her lame apology - and that's what it was, it was lame, and she didn't mean a word of it - was just not appropriate." House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., was among those Monday calling for Omar to be removed from the committee. A senior Democratic aide told The Washington Post such a move was not under discussion. In the wake of the controversy, Trump himself has come under scrutiny for comments he made to the Republican Jewish Coalition as a presidential candidate in 2015. "You're not going to support me because I don't want your money. . . . But that's okay. You want to control your own politician," Trump told the group at the time. - - - The Washington Post's Mike DeBonis, Rachael Bade and Isaac Stanley-Becker contributed to this report. WASHINGTON - State efforts to expand access to late-term abortion are creating some political headaches for Democrats as Republicans seek to paint them as out of step with voters on the issue ahead of the 2020 elections. Democratic leaders in Congress and those seeking the presidential nomination haven't appeared eager to discuss a new law in New York and stalled legislation in Virginia making it easier for a woman to obtain a third-trimester abortion - a procedure that, while exceedingly rare, is nonetheless opposed by an overwhelming majority of Americans. Measures to expand abortion rights, which are also in the works in New Mexico and Rhode Island, reflect the growing polarization between the two parties on the abortion issue, as states led by Republicans have sought to restrict abortion rights while states helmed by Democrats have boosted access to it. The stark partisan divides stand in contrast with the more measured views held by the public, which generally supports abortion rights in the early but not late part of a woman's pregnancy. Deepening the rift is a newly cemented conservative majority on the Supreme Court, which last week blocked Louisiana abortion restrictions from taking effect but is viewed as a potential threat to the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that established a right to abortion. Democrats believe that Republicans are on the wrong side of the issue following the election of President Trump, who has embraced the antiabortion rights cause, and have moved urgently since Brett M. Kavanaugh's appointment to the high court to lock in protections for the procedure because they believe its legality may be at risk. But Republicans see a political opening as, they argue, some states have passed laws out of sync with most Americans. Most of the candidates for the 2020 Democratic nomination skipped over specifics when asked in a Feb. 2 story by The Washington Post whether there should be any restrictions on late-term abortions. Instead, candidates mainly expressed a general support for the ability of women to obtain abortions or offered ideas for how to lower the abortion rate. "There is zero place for politicians to be involved in these very complicated medical decisions, and they should only be made between a woman and her doctor - period, full stop," Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said in an email. Gillibrand tweeted this the day New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D, signed an abortion rights bill into law, but she didn't mention the law specifically: "Today marks 46 years to the day since Roe v. Wade established women's constitutional right to make private decisions about our bodies, and legalized abortion nationwide. 46 years-don't you think it's about time politicians stopped trying to control women's bodies? "Remember: Abortion existed before #RoevWade, it just wasn't legal or safe. Women died without that access to the health care they needed. We're not going back to that. "This isn't just a fight for equality - it's a fight for our lives. And it's one I refuse to lose." Andrew Yang, an entrepreneur seeking the nomination, said there would be "fewer women who would feel that they need to get an abortion" if the country had more economic security. Marianne Williamson, an author who is one of the lesser-known Democratic candidates, told Annie and Ariana she favors abortion rights but believes allowing a late-term abortion only to address the woman's mental health would be too permissive. "Mental health, that would be problematic for me," Williamson said. "Because mental health can be so broadly defined." A spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., didn't respond when we asked whether Pelosi supports fewer restrictions on abortion in New York's Reproductive Health Act. When asked by reporters about controversial comments by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, D, about Virginia's measure, Pelosi said she didn't know what Northam had said. By contrast Republicans, who themselves have moved in some states to ban abortions as early as six weeks of pregnancy, have eagerly highlighted the late-term abortion measures, saying they'd allow the procedure up to the point of birth and even characterizing those measures as permitting infanticide. "To hear it described by the governor of Virginia in the way he described it was grisly and alarming, I think, to most people, and it woke a sleeping giant," House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said of Northam's comments in a recent radio interview. New York's law decriminalizes an act of violence causing death to a fetus and allows abortions to be performed up until birth if a woman's health, not just her life, is in jeopardy. It also repeals a section of public health law that required abortions after 12 weeks to be performed in a hospital and that an additional physician be present for abortions after 20 weeks to care for infants born alive after a botched abortion. The Virginia measure, which was tabled by legislators, would have required just one doctor to sign off on a late-term abortion instead of three. It also would have removed from existing law language allowing late-term abortions only when the pregnancy "substantially or irredeemably" harms a mother's health. Trump described the New York law in his State of the Union address as allowing "a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb moments before birth." Senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway was quoted as saying in a Feb. 11 Post story that Democrats could lose races over appearing too extreme on abortion. "The Democratic Party runs a huge risk if they continue to go all in on abortion because they can alienate those male and female voters in states that President Obama won both times and President Trump won in 2016," Conway said. Conway added that in those states "someone who calls themselves pro-choice" may not be willing to accept a "definition of pro-choice that says it means abortion is for anyone, anytime and anywhere." Reports over the weekend that an abortion charge was dropped in Queens against a man accused of fatally stabbing his 14-weeks-pregnant girlfriend reignited criticism by abortion foes who said the measure would eliminate criminal penalties for pregnancies lost due to violence. Dennis Poust, director of communications for the New York State Catholic Conference: "White House aides recently discussed the advantage of forcing Democratic candidates to make their views clear on abortions late in pregnancy," the Post reported Feb. 11. "They noted that Democrats chose not make abortion a national issue in last year's congressional elections, even as they fielded a record number of female candidates and aggressively courted female voters." "What makes it qualitatively different is the Democrats overplaying their hand on late-term abortion," said Ralph Reed, chairman of the conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition. "The leftward lurch under Trump has brought into real relief the Democratic Party's real extreme position - namely, abortion through the ninth month of pregnancy, in some cases up to the moment of birth." Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 12) The Bureau of Immigration (BI) recommended the filing of a deportation case against the Chinese student who threw 'taho,' a soy snack, on a policeman enforcing the Metro Rail Transit's (MRT-3) liquid ban. Jiale Zhang, 23, is facing unjust vexation, direct assault, and disobedience to authority cases over the incident. Photos of the incident went viral online Saturday. "Our Legal Team saw that there was probable cause to file a deportation case against her," said BI Spokesperson Dana Sandoval said in a statement. "The BI can file a case motu proprio, especially since there are photos showing what happened." The BI said Zhang reportedly arrived in Manila in October 2018 with a Special Resident Retiree's Visa. If the deportation charge is approved, Zhang will automatically be placed in the immigration watchlist, according to BI Commissioner Jaime Morrente. Sandoval added Zhang's visa will be cancelled following this approval. Zhang's lawyer, Sandra Respall said her client has apologized over the incident. Metro Manila police also asked the Immigration bureau to declare Zhang as an undesirable alien. Its chief, PDir. Guillermo Eleazar, earlier said they will file a deportation case with the BI against Zhang by this week. The MRT imposed measures against bringing liquids into the trains amid security concerns raised over the twin Jolo blasts in January. U.S. government shutdowns harm the IRS and Americans trying to pay what they owe, National Taxpayer Advocate told Congress on Tuesday. "It is irresponsible for an agency that touches all aspects of people's lives to be underfunded, understaffed, and at the mercy of shutdowns," according to the group's report submitted to lawmakers. Congressional negotiators presented a tentative plan Monday night that is aimed at averting a partial government shutdown Friday at midnight. It is unclear whether President Donald Trump will support the spending plan. A lapse in federal funding, which would come on the heels of the longest one in U.S. history, would force the IRS to send about 43 percent of its workers home, according to the tax agency's plan. During a shutdown, much of the agency's work grinds to a halt, including audits and examinations. That hurts taxpayers who want to resolve their cases with the agency and means that the easiest resolution for both the IRS and the taxpayer is harder to reach, Jennifer Breen, a partner at law firm Morgan Lewis, said. The IRS already is struggling with its workload and "making strategic decisions that ultimately burden taxpayers, increase its own rework, and create distance and distrust between taxpayers and the tax agency, thereby undermining voluntary compliance," the report said. During the last week of the recent shutdown, only 12.8 percent of callers looking to see how much they owe or checking on the status of their agreement with the IRS were able to get through to the agency. The delay came after waiting on average more than an hour on hold. "Make no mistake about it, these numbers translate into real harm to real taxpayers," the report said. "And they represent increased rework for the IRS downstream, at a time when the IRS is already resource challenged," according to the report. The IRS, in a statement in response to the report, said it has successfully reopened operations following the shutdown and is continuing to assess the impact of the partial closure on various operations across the agency. AccuWeather, a private weather company who's former CEOis President Donald Trump's nominee to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, agreed to pay $290,000 as part of a settlement after a federal oversight agency found that the company subjected female employees to sexual harassment and a hostile work environment. The conciliation agreement was published in June after an investigation by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. The agreement was first reported Monday by the Centre Daily Times. It says AccuWeather subjected women to "sexual harassment and a hostile work environment" and agreed to pay thousands of dollars to dozens of women as part of a settlement. Barry Myers, tapped by Trump in 2017 to lead NOAA, became Pennsylvania-based AccuWeather's CEO in 2007 and stepped down Jan. 1, 2018, agreeing to divest himself of any company ownership in accordance with an ethics pledge to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, according to the company. His brother, Joel Myers, is founder and president of AccuWeather. The White House acknowledged receipt of The Washington Post's inquiry into this story, but he did not return a request for comment before this story published. The agreement alleges that AccuWeather did "not exercise reasonable care to prevent and correct" the improper treatment and harassment against women there. It includes a letter that was sent to former employees who worked at AccuWeather between Jan. 1, 2014, and Dec. 21, 2017, who were notified that they were eligible to receive a payment of at least $7,250 as part of the settlement. AccuWeather denies the allegations of harassment in the letter. However, as part of the agreement, the company promised to institute a number of changes - including mandatory, in-person training for managers in how to identify and prevent unlawful harassment. The company was also asked to hire a third party to "receive and investigate complaints of harassment, intimidation, threats, retaliation and coercion against employees throughout 2018." At least four women had received payment by the time the agreement was signed by Joel Myers, and the agreement indicates that at least 35 other women had an opportunity to receive money in the settlement. Rhonda Seaton, director of marketing communications at AccuWeather, said in a statement Monday that the company cooperated fully with the OFCCP audit before signing the conciliation agreement in June. "The agreement confirmed our compliance with, and implementation of, continuing equal opportunity programs to strengthen our commitment to diversity and inclusion," she said. "AccuWeather clearly denied the allegations raised after the audit, yet we are using this opportunity to partner with the OFCCP voluntarily to further enhance our strong programs to promote workplace inclusion and diversity." The Post has reported that former administrators of NOAA expressed concern about Myers' nomination - two of whom said he had conflicts of interests that should disqualify him. His controversial nomination was highlighted by the fact that Myers, a businessman and lawyer, is not a scientist. The Post's Jason Samenow reported in October 2017 that every past NOAA administrator but one, attorney Richard Frank, who served from 1977 to 1981, has held a degree in science - though advocates argue that he brings private-sector experience that would help advance the organization. NOAA oversees the National Weather Service, whose data are used by AccuWeather. Samenow reported that AccuWeather has supported measures to limit what the Weather Service can make public, granting private companies a chance to create their own value-added products using the same information. Myers and his brother gave money to then-Sen. Rick Santorum. The Republican from Pennsylvania introduced legislation aimed at curtailing government competition with private weather services. Myers and his brothers also pressed the government on weather-related programs that could affect AccuWeather's finances, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The Post. "Barry Myers defines 'conflict of interest,' " Ciaran Clayton, former communications director at NOAA in the Obama administration, told The Post in 2017. "He actively lobbied to privatize the National Weather Service, which works day in and day out to protect the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans, to benefit his own company's bottom line." Influence Salubi was at work when he got the call from the nanny telling him that something was wrong. His 8-month-old daughter had been happy and healthy when he had left the house hours earlier but when he rushed home, she was lifeless. Her feet were cold. Her arms went limp. Milk poured out of her nose and mouth. "What did you do?! What happened?!" Salubi recalled screaming to the nanny before trying to suck out the liquid streaming from his child's face. "You left home with a live baby and come home with a dead baby," Salubi said in court recalling the day his daughter Enita died. "It's not something I can forget." Salubi shook with anger and grief as he testified in the trial of Oluremi Adeleye, who prosecutors accused of fatally force-feeding Enita because the crying child roused the nanny from a nap. Adeleye, 73, was convicted Monday after a judge found her guilty of child abuse and second-degree murder in Prince George's County, Maryland, Circuit Court. Adeleye declined a trial by jury and opted to have a judge weigh her case. During a week of testimony, prosecutors argued that Adeleye unscrewed the lid of Enita's baby bottle and poured nearly eight ounces of milk down the child's throat in less than 30 seconds, essentially drowning the girl. But when she testified in her own defense, Adeleye testified she didn't mean to hurt the child. Adeleye said she was merely trying to ensure that the baby didn't go hungry and contended it is customary in her home country of Nigeria to force children to eat. "I did what I needed to do to make sure the baby had food in the stomach," the mother of five and grandmother of 10 said through a Yoruba interpreter. The trial took place in the week Enita Salubi would have turned 3. Arguments centered on whether Adeleye acted cruelly and knew that forcing the child to eat in the manner she did would result in the girl's death. The girl died Oct. 24, 2016, while in Adeleye's care, with the incident captured on video by a camera. Footage aired in court showed the baby bouncing in a walker, pulling on the nanny's dress and patting her leg as the nanny was lying on a couch. After a few minutes, Adeleye gets up from the couch and tries to give Enita a bottle, the footage showed. Eventually, Adeleye removes the nipple and lid from the bottle and appears to pour the milk into the baby's mouth as the baby squirms. The 8-ounce bottle, which was nearly full, was drained in less than half a minute, testimony showed. The baby continued to wriggle in Adeleye's arms the video showed, before she falls to the ground. Adeleye picks up the child up and attempts to give her more liquid from a second bottle, according to the video. "She was getting her to shut up by pouring down the milk," Prince George's County Assistant State's Attorney Artemis Moutsatsos said at trial. The video eventually shows Enita going limp like a doll with Adeleye rocking the baby for minutes, trying to make her alert and wiping the girl's face as her head flops back and forth. Adeleye and her lawyers said she was "cup feeding" the child. Her defense described cup feeding as placing one's hand to a child's mouth and pouring liquid into the hand to give the child food when they don't want to eat but need feeding. The defense called relatives of Adeleye as witnesses, who testified she had cared for their children with no problems and that "cup feeding" - pouring liquid in the hand bit by bit - was common in Nigeria. Adeleye's attorney Douglas Wood argued that Enita's death was a "tragic accident" and there was no criminal conduct. Wood argued that this was not a case of child abuse, which legally requires a finding that "cruel or inhumane treatment or malicious acts" occurred. Woods said his client was merely trying to feed the girl. "All she wanted to do was feed the child," Wood said. "She wanted to make sure the baby was healthy and the baby was well-fed." Adeleye was initially charged under her married name of Oluremi Oyindasola. Prince George's CountyCircuit Court Judge Karen Mason found Adeleye guilty of all the charges against her - second-degree murder, second-degree child abuse and child abuse resulting in death. In announcing the conviction, Mason noted that Adeleye lied to homicide detectives during a recorded interview about how she fed the child. Adeleye at first denied removing the lid of the bottle to feed the baby and then later admitted to unscrewing the cap after a detective told her there was video of what happened, testimony showed. The lying "demonstrates a consciousness of guilt," said Mason, who also said the nanny's actions were "cruel and inhumane."Adeleye's defense said that much of the milk ran down the nanny's dress and down the child's shirt. But the judge said emergency responders testified that milk came out of the baby's nose and mouth with each of the 20 chest compressions they administered. The judge also said the child's father testified to sucking milk out of his daughter's face. Adeleye "disregarded any signs of any distress" the child showed as her arms and legs flailed while being fed. Wood declined to comment on the case after the trial. Prince George's County State's Attorney Aisha N. Braveboy said the camera played a key role in securing a conviction. "You have two loving, caring parents who did everything right," Braveboy said. "They interviewed the sitter, they got references and they did their homework and research by all accounts . . . but she abused this young child and the reason we were able to prove it is because the parents had the foresight to install a camera." Nikia Porter, Enita's mother, said her family misses their "beauty," who was always smiling and laughing. Porter and her husband both testified and sat through the trial, sometimes in tears as video of their baby going lifeless replayed over and over in court. The day before the trial ended - what would have been Enita's third birthday - Porter pulled out a white candle left over from her daughter's celebration from two years ago. A photo of her child smiling in a pink onesie stared back at her as the flame burned. "I lit the candle," Porter said, "and prayed that justice would prevail." EDWARDSVILLE Requiring pawn and secondhand shops to participate in an online registry of items taken in appears to be the focal point of a proposed ordinance regulating the businesses. Regulations for pawn shops were discussed at the Madison County Boards Public Safety Committee meeting. Lt. Kris Tharp of the Madison County Sheriffs Department gave a presentation on the issue. He referred to the current system as antiquated and extremely cumbersome. This is something thats been needed for a long time, Tharp said. He also said it has not changed in more than 40 years. Madison County Coroner Steve Nonn, a former detective with the Madison County Sheriffs Department, told the committee the city uses the same system now as when he became a detective in 1979. Tharp noted that drug-related thefts continue to be a large problem, and better regulation of pawn and secondhand shops could help cut down on the ability of thieves to sell stolen property. Pawn shops can either purchase items for resale or loan money using the items for collateral. Secondhand shops purchase items outright. Currently county pawn shops submit pawn tickets on a weekly basis to the Sheriffs Department on a weekly basis. The tickets are either hand-written or typed, and require a large number of man-hours to process. Secondhand shops are not regulated. Tharp said the new regulations would bring the county into compliance with state law, save police departments money and make it easier to track potentially stolen items. Secondhand items covered would include electronic equipment, jewelry, stamps and precious metals. Garage sales, yard sales and similar activities would be exempt. Tharp said that at least 22 businesses in Madison County would be affected by the ordinance. From Sept. 30, 2016 to Oct. 1, 2017 a total of 603,721 tickets were generated involving 2.1 million items with a cost of approximately $36 million. He said the departments current contract with LeadsOnline is approximately $2,238 per year. He estimated requiring the online submission of items to the database would save the county $42,546 per year. While a copy of the ordinance was not available, most of the discussion centered on the use of the LeadsOnline reporting database. Tharp said it is the largest electronic database for reporting pawned or sold items, and is free to businesses. Law enforcement agencies pay for access to the database. Currently Madison County police agencies have access through St. Louis, but local items are not listed. Tharp said criminals in St. Louis know this and will often bring items over to local pawn shops because of that. An ordinance is expected to be considered at the next Public Safety Committee meeting. There was also a brief discussion about monitoring bracelets for prisoners. Board Member Mike Parkinson, D-Granite City, a lieutenant with the Granite City Police Department, said with the Madison County Jail renovations requiring a reduction in the number of prisoners, it might be a good idea to consider. We know were going to have to reduce numbers, he said. I want to start the conversation. He also noted that there could also be a significant cost savings. He said it costs about $75 per day to house a prisoner, but only $5 per day for an ankle monitor. No action was taken on the issue. Reach reporter Scott Cousins at 618-208-6447. Iowa Democrats on Monday proposed an expansion of the presidential caucuses, allowing for a tele-caucus that is meant to allay Democratic concerns that too few people can take part in the stand-in-a-grange-hall version that has been the norm for decades. The state party plan, which still must pass muster with the Democratic National Committee, marks the most significant change to the caucus process since its inception in 1972 and seems likely to complicate the campaigns' strategies. "This process has created presidents; it's allowed presidents and campaigns to test ideas that can win," Troy Price, chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, said during a conference call on Monday. "But we know we had to make changes, and make improvements." The move is meant to make it easier for voters to participate in the process, even if they have to work and can't make it to their local precinct on caucus night. Although party officials don't have estimates, the move could significantly increase the number of voters involved and bring more moderates into a process that has long been dominated by liberal activists willing to show up for several hours on a winter's night. In a state of 3 million people, only 171,000 participated in the Democratic caucuses in 2016. Not all of the details have been sorted out, but party officials say the voting will take place over a phone or smart device. To ensure no one votes twice, those who want to participate in the tele-caucus would have to register ahead of time. They would be given a personal identification number to tele-caucus and then would be prohibited from participating in the in-person caucus. In the week leading up to the in-person caucus, the tele-caucuses would be held at five different times. Voters would rank their choices, and the party would tabulate the choices. Candidates would still need to meet a 15 percent threshold to be considered, as they do in the in-person precinct meetings. If a candidate doesn't gain 15 percent, then the voter's second selection would be tabulated - the electronic equivalent of making voters at the current caucuses pick a surviving candidate. Iowa Democrats would have to foot the bill for the added cost of implementing the virtual caucus. Price said the state party did not have cost estimates but said that the caucuses next year will be the most expensive it has held. The tele-caucuses would comprise about 10 percent of the allotted delegates from Iowa - regardless of how many people participate - while the in-person caucus would account for about 90 percent. "The fact of the matter is Iowans are used to caucusing and campaigns have historically been built on getting people physically in the room," said Scott Brennan, a Democratic National Committee member from Iowa who has been involved in crafting the proposal. "The incentive is that [in-person caucusing] is still the preferred method. That is where people will put their resources." The proposal will be open for a 30-day comment period before Iowa Democrats finalize the plan and send it to the DNC for approval. The changes are being made to satisfy absentee voting requirements from the Democratic National Committee. Iowa Democrats said they had "thousands of conversations" before making the proposal and that they have weighed a variety of alternatives. One idea was to allow a proxy vote by a trusted friend or relative. Another involved having a ranked mail-in ballot. But party leaders have been conscious of any change that would make the caucus seem like a primary, which would provoke officials in New Hampshire, where state law requires them to hold the nation's first primary. Iowa Democrats last spring flew to New Hampshire to meet with the state's longtime secretary of state, Bill Gardner. Iowa officials believe the solution they have come up with will satisfy Gardner and not trigger him to move the New Hampshire primary up in front of the Iowa caucus date of Feb. 3, a move which could trigger other changes to the primary season calendar. In an interview, Gardner said that "so far it doesn't appear that they're changing it from a caucus," but he reserved judgment until the Iowa plan is final. "It's not all together yet. It's just mostly an idea or theoretical . . . but ideas sometimes can morph when they start trying to put flesh on it," he said. "They've got a lot of work ahead of them." Fatal shootings by police are the rare outcomes of the millions of encounters between police officers and the public. Despite the unpredictable events that lead to the shootings, in each of the past four years police nationwide have shot and killed almost the same number of people - nearly 1,000. Last year police shot and killed 998 people, 11 more than the 987 they fatally shot in 2017. In 2016, police killed 963 people, and 995 in 2015. Years of controversial police shootings, protests, heightened public awareness, local police reforms and increased officer training have had little effect on the annual total. Everyone agrees - criminal justice researchers, academics and statisticians - that all of the attention has not been enough to move the number. Mathematicians, however, say that probability theory may offer one explanation. The theory holds that the quantity of rare events in huge populations tends to remain stable absent major societal changes, such as a fundamental shift in police culture or extreme restrictions on gun ownership, which are unlikely. "Just as vast numbers of randomly moving molecules, when put together, produce completely predictable behavior in a gas, so do vast numbers of human possibilities, each totally unpredictable in itself, when aggregated, produce an amazing predictability," said Sir David Spiegelhalter, a professor and statistician at the University of Cambridge who studies risk and uncertainty. The Washington Post began tracking the shootings after Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, was killed in 2014 by police in Ferguson, Missouri. A Post investigation found that the FBI's tracking system undercounted fatal police shootings by about half, because of the fact that reporting by police departments is voluntary and many departments fail to do so. The ongoing Post project relies on news accounts, social media postings and police reports. In the wake of the findings by The Washington Post and similar reporting by the Guardian, the FBI in 2015 committed to improving its tracking and last month launched a system to track all police use-of-force incidents, including fatal shootings. The new system, however, is still voluntary. The Post's reporting shows that both the annual number and circumstances of fatal shootings and the overall demographics of the victims have remained constant over the past four years. The dead: 45 percent white men; 23 percent black men; and 16 percent Hispanic men. Women have accounted for about 5 percent of those killed, and people in mental distress about 25 percent of all shootings. About 54 percent of those killed have been armed with guns and 4 percent unarmed. "We've looked at this data in so many ways, including whether race, geography, violent crime, gun ownership or police training can explain it, but none of those factors alone can explain how consistent this number appears to be," said Geoffrey Alpert, a criminologist at the University of South Carolina who has studied police shootings for more than three decades. Mathematicians say that the fact that the number of shootings is stable even though each one is a complex, isolated event can be explained through a fundamental principal of statistics coming out of probability theory. This was used notably to examine the accuracy of German bombings of London during World War II, according to Spiegelhalter. He said that every year there are a huge number of instances in which police interact with civilians. In each, there is a tiny probability that a shooting will occur, usually as the result of a chain of unpredictable events. "If this probability stays reasonably constant from year to year, then the beautiful theory of probability says that the number of police shootings will be a 'Poisson' random variable," he said. Poisson's random variable, named after Simeon Denis Poisson, a 19th-century French mathematician, is a statistical tool that has been used for hundreds of years to predict rare events, such as how often Prussian soldiers died from horse kicks. Spiegelhalter used this probability theory - the chance that a given event will occur - to analyze homicides in London and whether several plane crashes in one weekend meant flying has become less safe. It has not. In almost every case, a police shooting is an individual, unrelated event that can't be predicted, he said. But because the data covers the entire United States and millions of police-civilian interactions, he said statisticians can make predictions about the pattern of shootings, based only on knowing the overall number over four years. Then they can see if the prediction fits the observed pattern. With about 1,000 shootings each year, Spiegelhalter said he would expect the number to range between around 940 and 1,060 annually, as long as no major systematic change occurs, like a dramatic reduction in crime rates. Andrew Wheeler, a criminologist and statistician at the University of Texas at Dallas, agreed with Spiegelhalter's theory about the number of shootings and said spikes in news coverage or on social media can make it seem like they are happening more often, even when the overall rate is unchanged. He likened the phenomenon to flipping a coin and having it land on heads three times in a row. One may conclude heads is more likely, but if the coin is tossed 1,000 times, the 50-50 probability becomes clear, he said. Even if the total number of fatal shootings fluctuates yearly, it doesn't mean that the number is changing in a meaningful way. "Most things like homicide and crime rates don't change by a lot, and when they do, it's often consistent with random chance," Wheeler said. This is one of the reasons experts, including Wheeler, have cautioned against using fatal police shootings as a measure of police conduct overall: They are rare events given all the interactions with the public. "Looking at other more common applications of the use of force is much more telling," Wheeler said. "Since things like Taser usage or open hand strikes are more common, it is easier to see when a police department or individual officer is an outlier." But other statisticians believe it may be possible to reduce the fatal shootings through policy changes, for example, by preventing high-risk individuals from having access to guns. Daniel Nagin and David Choi, statisticians at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, said they are exploring another theory based on the binomial distribution. That model considers the 1,000 fatal shootings to be a subset of 1,300 highly charged interactions annually between police and civilians. The 1,300 is an estimate derived from four years of The Post's data. An advantage of the model is that it acknowledges that some interactions are more likely to lead to a fatal shooting, such as when a police officer encounters someone armed with a gun, Nagin said. He also believes it suggests there is less variation in the annual shooting totals, about 30 cases a year. The model, however, may underestimate the total number of times police encounter highly charged events - police shooting data made public by large cities shows that officers shoot and wound people more often than they kill, he noted. Nagin said the binomial model is important to consider because, unlike the Poisson model, it suggests that the outcomes of the many individual steps that lead up to a shooting can be changed. "The distinction between these two models is important because of their very different policy implications," Nagin said. "If policy can reduce the number of high-risk events, by better training for example, much would be gained." Criminologists would like to believe the number of police shootings is not immutable. Their focus has been on what societal factors may affect the toll. Some criminologists cite gun ownership, pointing out that in developed countries where guns are banned, police seldom shoot and kill people. In England and Wales, with a combined population of about 70 million, police fatally shot six people in 2016, the most since 2004, according to an annual report from the Independent Office for Police Conduct in England. Others say the nation's violent culture leads to shootings, as police must routinely confront armed and dangerous people. Still others point to the wide discretion police are granted in using lethal force, saying the killings will not subside until police use more restraint, an enormous challenge that will require fundamental changes in the nation's 18,000 police departments. "Crime has nothing to do with it," said Franklin Zimring, a criminologist at the University of California at Berkeley. "The number remains high because the police rules for shooting people don't change, and police forces tolerate shootings of people armed with weapons that aren't usually life-threatening to police." Justin Nix, a criminologist at the University of Nebraska Omaha, who worked with The Post to analyze the data, said police shootings appear to closely track three factors: the total number of police interactions with the public, the nation's murder rate and the yearly number of arrests for violent crime. Based on his research, Nix said that as those variables fluctuate, so too should the number of annual fatal shootings. But even the most dramatic changes in the former would produce a tiny shift in the latter, given how rarely they result from police-citizen interactions. The most recent data on police interactions, drawn from a Bureau of Justice Statistics survey, shows that in 2015, officers had contact with the public on more than 50 million occasions. This included a range of encounters, including traffic stops, people seeking information and individuals reporting crimes. Nix said those interactions led to fatal shootings about 0.00002 percent of the time. He said, for example, a 2 percent drop in the arrest rate would probably lead to a drop of about 10 fatal police shootings per year. Some cities seem to defy the formula. The District of Columbia, for example, ranks in the top half of America's most dangerous cities out of the nation's 50 largest. In 2017, D.C. police seized more than 2,000 illegal guns. Yet, police in the District shot and killed only two people in 2017. That is a dramatic decline from the 1990s, when a Post investigation showed that the District led the nation in fatal police shootings per capita. In that decade, police shootings in the city peaked at 15. The series prompted Justice Department intervention and an extensive retraining of officers. A steep and immediate drop in fatal shootings ensued. David Klinger, a criminologist with the University of Missouri at St. Louis, said there is no official data set that captures all the elements needed to fully understand the factors that lead to fatal police shootings. He pointed out that The Post's data covers only fatal shootings - not the number of times police shot people without killing them. He also said the data fails to record the type of weapon used and the number of rounds fired, noting that police could be using rifles more frequently, or firing more bullets, two factors that would increase lethality. There is limited historical context for the number, he added, because there is only four years of data. "We need a much longer trend line and much more detail to show us where things really change," Klinger said. "The question we can't answer is, 'Are we looking at the leading edge of a trend, or the end of one?' " David Hemenway, a professor at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said he was surprised at how many people were killed each year when he first heard The Post's count in 2015, but today he is not surprised that it is largely unchanged. The prevalence of guns is a key factor for Hemenway. "Where there's a lot of civilians that own guns, fatal police shootings happen more often," Hemenway said. He and other researchers compared the rates of fatal police shootings in states with the highest levels of gun ownership with rates in states with the lowest levels. High gun-ownership states, such as Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky and Louisiana, had 3.6 times more fatal police shootings than the low gun-ownership states, such as Connecticut, Hawaii and Massachusetts, the study found. Zimring, the Berkeley professor, said his research has also led him to conclude that the saturation of firearms in the United States is an overwhelming factor in police shootings. Police, he said, tend to feel more threatened because so many people are armed. In 2017, Zimring wrote "When Police Kill," a book that analyzed when police are killed and when they kill. The annual number of officers killed has fallen by more than 65 percent since 1976, he said, but the number of people police kill remains relatively high. "There are 100 million homes with guns in them and 10 million cars, so every time an officer walks into a home or pulls over a car they could encounter a gun," Zimring said. "This is a characteristic of American life, which creates a unique set of hazards to police and more killings by police." Zimring said police also kill too many people who pose little threat. His review of shooting data in 2015 for armed people shot by police showed that 57 percent of those police killed were reportedly armed with a gun, but the other 40 percent were armed with things that usually don't kill police officers. "The rules police follow on when to shoot someone have not changed," he said. "So the number of people they kill does not change either." Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that advises the chiefs on policy issues, said some police shootings are difficult to avoid, such as when an officer confronts a gunman. But he said many shootings can be avoided with better training, especially in cases involving mentally ill people and individuals armed with knives. Wexler said New York City shows how training can reduce fatal police shootings. In 1971, the city had 314 officer-involved shootings, 93 of which were fatal, he noted. The next year the city passed a law prohibiting officers from shooting into vehicles, a practice still permitted by many police departments. Within two years the city reduced police shootings to 121, with 41 fatal. By 2015, after a period when crime dropped enormously, the number had fallen to 23 people shot by police with eight killed. No New York City police officers have been seriously hurt by someone in a car in the 46 years since the ban in shooting into vehicles took effect, he said. Wexler said his organization has made its mission to train police departments in how to reduce police shootings. But Wexler adds that they have been able to train only about 10 percent of the nation's 18,000 departments. "We have a long way to go," he said, "but the shooting number will come down." --- Orion Donovan-Smith contributed to this report. This article was produced in partnership with the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, where Weber and Donovan-Smith are students. More than a dozen years ago, voters in Denver backed a measure to increase taxes to fund a novel experiment in teacher pay, offering educators bonuses based on performance and for going to work in high-needs schools and working in difficult-to-fill positions. At the time, the school district was a pioneer in performance pay, the first large urban school system to adopt that model. Now, thousands of Denver teachers are striking to roll back the system, which they say has become unwieldy and unpredictable. Schools remained open Monday while teachers took to the picket lines, absences that are expected to affect the 70,000 students who attend traditional public schools. Students at one high school also walked out in support of the teachers. The school system canceled all early childhood education classes. Denver took the lead on performance pay for teachers and was followed by several other large urban school systems, including in Dallas, Orlando and Washington. It's an issue that proved to be a lightning rod for teacher unions, who fiercely oppose performance pay systems. They maintained that it was based on measures that were unreliable and beyond the control of teachers, such as test scores and metrics that attempt to predict how effective teachers are at boosting test scores. D.C. Public Schools has one of the most robust performance-pay systems. Adopted in 2009, the system tied teacher evaluations to test scores and established a pay structure that gives teachers who are rated as highly effective up to $25,000 in bonuses. But the system remains controversial, with critics suggesting that the fixation on data has driven scandals that have rocked the district. The Denver Classroom Teachers Association, which represents about 5,700 teachers and other school professionals, has been pushing the Colorado school system to invest more in base pay and to curtail the bonus structure. The union has also sought to simplify it. "We're looking for a fair and reliable pay system that actually retains teachers in Denver," said Rob Gould, a special-education teacher and lead negotiator for the teachers association. "We've had a 20 percent turnover in Denver year after year. The district - they have been doubling down on these bonuses that are unreliable." Denver Public Schools Superintendent Susana Cordova lamented that union officials walked away from the negotiating table Saturday. The strike comes at the end of 15 months of negotiations. At a news conference Monday, Cordova said it would be foolish for the school system to scrap the bonus system - called ProComp - because it would mean forfeiting about $33 million that voters elected to set aside for the program in 2005. She said the district is working to simplify ProComp so teachers have a better handle on how much money they will make year after year. "We are working to make it as transparent as possible," Cordova said. The Denver teachers strike follows a year of educator activism that swept the nation, drawing teachers out of the classroom from West Virginia to Los Angeles, where teachers were on strike for a week to rally for more classroom resources. It appears likely it won't be the last walkout, with teachers in Oakland, California, moving toward a strike. WASHINGTON - The email that followed Kamala Harris's announcement that she was running for president was simple: six behind-the-scenes photos from her launch day, signed by her "hubby." But the note was more than a fuzzy glimpse into the senator from California's nascent campaign. Co-written by the 28-year-old digital strategist who helped Democrat Beto O'Rourke of Texas raise tens of millions of dollars online for his unsuccessful bid for Senate, it served as a powerful fundraising tool, helping Harris bring in $1.5 million in the first 24 hours, the campaign said. Although the Democratic field for the 2020 election is still taking shape, the race for small-dollar donations has already begun, with about two dozen prospective and declared candidates scrambling to build online operations focused squarely on individual supporters who may give in amounts as low as $5. Historically, these early low-dollar contributions were viewed largely as a sign of grass-roots support and an indication of potential voter enthusiasm. But that has changed in recent elections as small contributions have increasingly filled the coffers of many candidates - providing the fuel that allows them to be viable contenders. In 2016, Donald Trump shattered the record for presidential small-dollar fundraising, harnessing the energy from his base and boosting the GOP's digital operations nationwide. His campaign and affiliated committees continue to raise tens of millions of dollars in increments of $200 or less toward his reelection. In last year's midterm elections, it was the Democrats who leveraged anti-Trump sentiment and fundraising platforms such as ActBlue to generate record-breaking sums from small donors. Being able to raise a lot of money from a lot of small donors is now a test - not only of a candidate's ability to tap this source of funds, but to go head-to-head against Trump and his army of grass-roots donors. "It is the metric, 100 percent. The very simple definition of front-runner status is: Can you or can you not raise substantial money online?" said Tom Nides, former deputy secretary of state under President Barack Obama and longtime Democratic fundraiser. The emphasis on smaller donations is a shift from previous presidential election cycles, when the focus wasprimarily on wealthy donors who spent heavily early on to improve their favored candidates' chances. These donors and fundraisers would pool massive amounts of money for campaigns and outside groups. This time, an influx of smaller amounts from a large pool of donors may go further than donations from individuals who give the maximum of $2,800 each, Nides said. In interviews with The Washington Post, several prominent Democratic donors said they are holding back their support for now, in part waiting to see which candidates successfully attract broad low-dollar support. The shift also comes amid intensifying efforts among Democratic candidates to distance themselves from the political donor class and moneyed interests. "This campaign is going to be a community-led effort, and your voice will ring true in everything we do. No corporate PAC money, no federal lobbyist money, no individual Super PAC," Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., a declared candidate, tweeted Sunday. Shelby Cole, the architect behind O'Rourke's massive email fundraising haul, was hired into a firm led by a top Harris digital consultant shortly after O'Rourke's loss. Cole is known for bringing a savvy and personal touch to candidates' email appeals. "When you feel like you're being asked by a real human for help, not some robot, you're more inspired to support that candidate," Cole said in a statement to The Post. "It's always nice to be treated like a real person who is actually making a difference as part of a campaign, not a piggy bank." But the need to raise millions of dollars through a flurry of emails, texts, tweets and elsewhere on social media will pose a challenge for campaigns: How do you build an online army of supporters that gives tens of millions of dollars? How do you stand out online, when up to two dozen campaigns are targeting similar donors? For example, Gillibrand's campaign recently hired two staffers whose job it is to make personalized appeals to online supporters. Among the first tasks for the digital strategists, Alexis Magnan-Callaway and Justin Jenkins, will be to engage with voters who are interested in Gillibrand casually and may have given her a few dollars, but have not made a decision about which candidate they will support. "We know we're in the primary with a lot of really great candidates, and I think a lot of voters love multiple candidates at once," said Emmy Bengtson, who oversees the Gillibrand campaign's digital outreach. "Soon, we will be in a place to persuade folks: 'Why Kirsten.' But right now, we're laying a really long-game groundwork, not just to lock in donors but to recruit core supporters who can help our campaign in the long term." A handful of potential 2020 contenders has a broad online following that gives them an edge. But others are starting from scratch. For example, former Housing and Urban Development secretary Julian Castro is trying to recruit staff who can match the firepower of the more established campaigns. "We don't have a war chest to set us apart from the more traditional campaigns. But it doesn't mean that we can't compete," said Jennifer Fiore, Castro's campaign spokeswoman . Campaigns other than Harris's declined to provide their fundraising tallies from the first 24 hours, or did not respond to requests for comment. Overall, many Democratic activists say, the open field of Democratic hopefuls will help the party elevate the strongest contender, with small-dollar fundraising serving as a test of who can best rally the base. "The explosion of small donors in the party is terrific for democracy and the progressive movement. The less influence from Park Avenue gatekeepers, the better," said Raj Goyle, a New York Democratic activist. In a sign that 2020 contenders are also moving to court wealthier donors, several are holding private meetings and phone calls with stalwart party donors in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, according to multiple major donors and fundraisers. Among the few major Democratic donors who have publicly announced their support for a primary candidate is Susie Tompkins Buell, San Francisco philanthropist and co-founder of the clothing brand Esprit. In an early February email to friends, Buell said Harris's "campaign rollout has been so strong and so encouraging that I am compelled to get behind her now." When asked whether she viewed Harris's $1.5 million online donation haul as a sign of the strong rollout that wowed her, Buell responded: "Absolutely. She's on fire," using an emoticon of flames. In need of a backup for Wayne Rooney, D.C. United has turned to a well-traveled MLS forward known for his work ethic and strength but, in recent years, not his scoring touch. Quincy Amarikwa, 31, agreed to contract terms and joined the team for indoor workouts in Springfield, Virginia, on Monday morning. The sides are in the process of finalizing the free-agent deal. United officials did not want to comment until the agreement is completed. Amarikwa's base salary last year was $275,500. His compensation with United would not be made public until spring. Amarikwa began last season with the San Jose Earthquakes before being traded to the Montreal Impact. He totaled 24 appearances, eight starts, one goal and two assists. In 2017, after recovering from a major knee injury suffered late in the 2016 season, he did not score in nine matches (one start). Amarikwa began his career in 2009 with San Jose before moving to Colorado, Toronto and Chicago and then the Earthquakes again in 2015. His most productive seasons came in 2014 with Chicago (eight goals, five assists) and the following year with San Jose (six goals, four assists in just 17 matches). Amarikwa is pegged to fill the void left by Darren Mattocks, who became disgruntled with playing time late last season after losing his starting job to Rooney. Mattocks signed with expansion Cincinnati this winter. Rooney, 33, was a durable figure after joining the team last July, logging 90 minutes in 14 of the last 17 regular season matches and departing the other three in the late stages. But over the course of a full season, he will need relief at times. In the first two preseason matches, others to see time on the United frontline were a third-round draft pick, a second-division prospect and midfielder Ulises Segura. United remains in the market for a central defender to compete with Frederic Brillant for a starting slot or to add depth. Steve Birnbaum will anchor the backline, and the other options are rookie Donovan Pines and reserve Jalen Robinson. It's almost Valentine's Day, and at Towson University in Maryland a mother has been trying so hard to find a date for her son that police are concerned. The Baltimore Sun reports that a woman in her 50s wearing a multicolored scarf approached students in two campus buildings last week, showing them a picture on her cellphone and asking if they would date her son. One person was injured after an 18-wheeler carrying thousands of gallons of fuel rolled over on an overpass just north of Plainview Tuesday morning. The rollover occurred at the Interstate 27 and County Road 60 overpass around 9:30 a.m. The driver, 24-year-old Christopher Villarreal-Ochoa, was transported with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, said Tim Gibson, Plainview Fire Chief. Villarreal-Ochoa was driving southbound on Interstate 27 business lane in a 2015 Mack Truck Tractor towing a semi-trailer when the trailer drifted west off the roadway, according to Lt. Bryan Witt, spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety. The trailer was carrying 5,200 gallons of diesel and 2,800 gallons of unleaded gasoline and some of it spilled, though there are no estimates as to how much. Gibson said crews slowed or stopped most of the serious leaks but the tanker, which is owned by Groendyke Transport, was still leaking just after 4 p.m. He expected crews to remain on scene through the night to monitor the spill and to oversee the process of pumping the remainder of the fuel in the tanker into another truck. When the trailer went off the roadway, it slid down the embankment between the services roads which then caused it to overturn. South Plains Hazardous Material Response Team, out of Wolfforth, was called out for consultation, Gibson said. A team out of Dallas was on the way to handle to spill by just after 4 p.m. Multiple agencies including Plainview Fire/EMS, Plainview Police, Hale County Sheriff's Office and DPS responded to the rollover. Gibson said Texas Department of Transportation officials also responded to the scene too. The city of Galveston has settled a federal lawsuit with the family of a woman shot and killed by a Galveston police officer nearly two years ago. The family of Toni Jo Collins filed the lawsuit last July against the city and Evan Fraley, an officer who shot and and killed Collins on March 9, 2017. Collins' family will receive $475,000 from the settlement, a city spokeswoman confirmed. The money will be paid out of a public entity risk insurance pool. HOUSTON SHOOTOUT: Squad of veteran officers take fire in botched drug raid, only on HoustonChronicle.com The lawsuit alleged that Collins' shooting was not justified as she was not fleeing, had not been a suspect in a serious crime and did not possess a weapon. Attorneys for Fraley responded that he "reasonably feared his life was in immediate danger" and that he shot Collins as she was resisting arrest and assaulting him. Fraley, who now works for the Hutto Police Department, was a three-year veteran in Galveston at the time of the shooting. While off duty, he reportedly responded to a call from his mother about a woman pointing a gun at people as they drove by on Broadway, according to the Galveston Police Department. Fraley eventually approached Collins and told her that he was a police officer as he got out of the car. He told Collins to drop her gun, later identified as a pink Daisy BB gun or air rifle, but the woman didn't initially give into the officer's requests. The officer's wife was also on the phone with 911 emergency dispatch asking for assistance for her husband, police said. Fraley managed to take the rifle from Collins' hands. However, a physical struggle with the woman ensued. Collins apparently approached Fraley in a "threatening manner" and was "wielding a piece of wood over her shoulder," police said. He shot her one time in the chest. Collins was transported to the University of Texas Medical Branch emergency room, where she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. Collins and Fraley had several encounters in the past and he was calling the woman by her name during the shooting. Victor Mangum, Collins' boyfriend, was also present during the shooting. He originally told the Houston Chronicle that Collins was "pistol-whipped" and then shot as she held a stick in her hand as she faced the officer. However, the district attorney's office said Mangum later verified that Collins had a piece of wood in her hands when the shooting occurred and she was struggling with Fraley. The Galveston County Sheriff's Office completed a criminal investigation of the incident. The Galveston Police Department conducted a separate internal affairs investigation concerning Fraley. The Galveston County District Attorney's Office announced in December 2017 that a grand jury decided not to take any action against Fraley. Throughout the grand jury probe, witnesses were interviewed by investigators, recordings of the 911 calls were taken, a copy of the Medical Examiner's report was also secured, as well as other evidence. Collins was shot one time in the torso and was under the influence of alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana, according to the Medical Examiner's report. Nick Powell covers Galveston County for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter and send him tips at nick.powell@chron.com 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. Seven people were charged felonies related to sex crimes during the month of January, according to records obtained through a request made by the Houston Chronicle. Charges include sexual assault of a child, indecency with a child and failing to comply with sex offender registry requirements. The teen reported missing over the weekend was found safe in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, according to Laredo police. With the assistance of Nuevo Laredo authorities, Katherine Judith Mena, was located Sunday. A woman called 911 saying she wanted her parents arrested so she could drink alcohol, according to Laredo police. Amy Ann Alaniz, 49, was arrested and charged with making silent abusive calls to 911. A man led Laredo police officers on a chase while transporting four immigrants who had entered the country illegally, authorities said. LPD said the case unfolded at about 2:20 a.m. Saturday in the intersection of Sierra Vista Boulevard and Ejido Avenue in south Laredo, when a 2004 GMC Yukon failed to stop for a traffic violation. A 17-year-old has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to killing a boy at a park in Laredo. Luis Enrique Celis was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Tuesday in the 111th District Court for fatally shooting 15-year-old Jesus Alberto Pedraza Trevino. One of three men accused of fatally assaulting a local strip mall owner in 2015 pleaded guilty Monday to the lesser charge of manslaughter. Felipe Arispe-Rosales was sentenced to eight years in prison upon entering the plea in the 406th District Court. Co-defendants Efrain Leonel Hernandez and Justin Jerman Hernandez were previously found guilty by a jury. Each was sentenced to 45 years and 10 years to serve. During their trials, Arizpe-Rosales cooperated and testified as the prosecutor's witness. The Hernandez brothers and Arizpe-Rosales were indicted on murder charges for their involvement in the slaying of 57-year-old Hector Benavides Sr. READ MORE: Eyewitness testifies about fatal beating of Laredo businessman "The investigation revealed that ... Benavides ... was attacked and severely beaten by ... Efrain Leonel Hernandez, Justin Jerman Hernandez and Felipe Arizpe-Rosales," the Webb County District Attorney's Office said. "It is believed that the attack ensued due to a previous argument that had occurred between one of the attackers, Justin Hernandez, and Benavides over parking fees. Benavides' son subsequently got into a physical altercation with Justin before he drove off. "Later that evening, Justin returned with two males to confront Benavides' son, but severely beat him instead." During Justin Hernandez's trial, Arispe-Rosales testified that he and his wife left Rumors Country Bar, located at the strip mall, to go to TKO on Shiloh Road. On their way there, Arispe-Rosales' wife received messages telling them that something had happened. "My wife and I arrived to the bar and that's when I found out that (someone) had hit Justin," Arispe-Rosales said. He testified that he went to the restroom and that is where Efrain and Justin Hernandez explained what had occurred. Justin Hernandez wasn't angry; his brother seemed to be more bothered, Arispe-Rosales said. READ MORE: Second defendant gets 10 years in prison for fatal beating of Laredo businessman "I got out of the restroom ... and that's when I told them that I knew Mr. Benavides because back then I used to work in L&F Distributors," Arispe-Rosales said. The three men decided to drive back to Rumors to talk to the people there because of what had happened, he said. Arispe-Rosales testified that they saw Benavides in the parking lot and the Hernandezes got close to him and began talking to him. "Then, suddenly, I just saw Justin and Efrain throw a punch and from there Mr. Benavides had defended himself," he said. Benavides stumbled and fell, Arispe-Rosales said. When he fell, the brothers began hitting him with their hands and knees. Arispe-Rosales said he tried to stop them but couldn't do much. "At the moment they continued hitting (Benavides) was when I removed myself from the situation," Arispe-Rosales said. "I never hit him. But I did help in trying to remove them." The three men then fled the scene. READ ALSO: Laredo family finally gets justice when killer is sentenced to prison after seven-year wait Arispe-Rosales said that on the day Benavides died, Efrain Hernandez told him to not say anything. He said he took weeks to come forward about what happened because he knew how aggressive Hernandez could be. In order to avoid problems and keep his family safe, Arispe-Rosales said he decided to stay quiet. He said he agreed to testify in Justin Hernandez's trial because he said justice should be served and those who really committed the crime should stand trial. Following the attack, first responders found Benavides unconscious at about 12:30 a.m. Nov. 15, 2015, at the parking lot of the Cantera Court Complex, 9802 McPherson Road. Laredo police said Benavides was collecting $10 parking fees when several individuals assaulted him. Benavides, critically wounded, was later airlifted to a San Antonio hospital, where he was pronounced dead Nov. 16. In the history of the Laredo Police Department, no woman had served higher than the rank of captain. That changed Monday when LPD Lt. Enedina Martinez was promoted to deputy chief. The position was previously held by Miguel Rodriguez, who was promoted to LPD assistant chief. The assistant chief slot was vacated recently by Jesus Torres, who retired after 37 years of service. LPD announced the two promotions late Monday. Martinez, a 27-year veteran, joins LPD's administration from the watch commander's division. READ ALSO: See Laredo's favorite viral stories of 2018 "The Laredo Police Department is proud of ... Martinez and the new pathway paved for women in law enforcement in Laredo," LPD said. "Deputy Chief Martinez has been promoted through the various ranks, first as a patrol officer, then assigned to the auto theft division. Martinez was then promoted to the rank of investigator and was assigned to the special investigations unit. "After a few years, she promoted ... to sergeant and was assigned to the patrol division and soon after was assigned to the robbery/homicide division." In 2011, Martinez was promoted to lieutenant. She has attended Laredo Community College, where she earned an associate degree. Martinez is also a graduate of Cotulla High School. She is married to LPD Investigator Jorge Martinez and has one child. "We wish Deputy Chief Martinez all the best wishes in her new appointment," LPD said. Assistant Chief Rodriguez was first welcomed into the administration as deputy chief in June 2017. He was promoted to deputy chief after having successfully headed up previous assignments with the Laredo PD auto theft task force. The task force has transcended into one of the best auto theft divisions in the state, LPD said. "This division alone has rendered multiple theft ring arrests and massive reductions in auto thefts, in what used to be the top city in the nation for auto theft," according to LPD. Rodriguez earned a criminal justice associate degree from Laredo Community College and a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M International University with a double major study in both criminal justice and sociology. READ ALSO: 'Good still exists:' Video of Laredo Border Patrol agent's kind gesture goes viral Rodriguez has worked for 19 years for LPD. He became a peace officer in 1997 and later joined the LPD in 1999. In 2001, he was promoted to investigator and was assigned to the crime scene investigation division. In 2003, he was assigned to the special investigations unit, where he worked on solving cases involving sex crimes, child abuse and domestic violence. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant in 2009 and was assigned to the patrol division. In 2011 he was transferred to the auto theft task force to become their sergeant. In 2016, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and kept his assignment of leading the task force. Just recently, Rodriguez was appointed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to the auto burglary theft prevention executive board after he was recommended to the post by state Sen. Judith Zaffirini. Currently, Rodriguez is heading the Real Time Crime Center project, which will be coming online soon, along with other projects. Past and present merge in "The Current," Tim Johnston's atmospheric, exquisitely suspenseful novel of two murders separated by 10 years. Audrey's friend, Caroline, is driving her from their Southern college up to Minnesota where Audrey's father, a former sheriff, is dying. On the way, the young women narrowly escape violent molestation by two louts in an Iowan gas station - only to have their car maliciously bumped onto fragile ice of the Black Root River, under which runs a powerful current. Tragedy ensues. Ten years earlier, up in Audrey's hometown, a young woman was drowned in the same river. The two episodes develop into an increasingly interwoven mesh of victims, suspects, motives, revenge and grief. Audrey, a determined sleuth, is intent on getting to the bottom of both incidents. Sarah Mollo-Christensen delivers the general narration in a low, gentle voice, modulating her tones unobtrusively to capture the dialogue among the characters. This is a masterly performance of a first-rate thriller, one which completely dissolves the barrier between story and listener. (HighBridge, Unabridged, 14 1/2 hours) --- Lawrence Osborne's 2012 novel "The Forgiven" - a tale of clashing cultures, mutual misunderstanding and death set in Morocco - is finally available as an audiobook. David Henniger is an alcoholic London society doctor; his wife, Jo, is a blocked writer. Driving on a lonely road to a grotesquely extravagant three-day party, David, not quite sober and bickering with Jo, hits a young man, killing him instantly. When the couple show up at their hosts' elaborately restored estate with a corpse, no one is pleased, especially the help, already repulsed by the party itself - a bacchanal of booze, drugs and sexual excess. The dead man's father appears, insisting that David travel back with him to his remote village. For what - compensation, atonement, revenge? Narrator Ralph Lister gives marvelous renditions of the diverse characters in both accent and mood, from the many Moroccans to David, who alternates between a choleric Colonel Blimp and "a plump, sullen toad." (Random House Audio, Unabridged, 10 3 /4 hours) --- David Treuer, an Ojibwe novelist and critic, here offers a counternarrative to "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," Dee Brown's best-selling 1970 history of the obliteration of American Indian life and culture. Treuer's book, "The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee," is a colorful, thoroughly engaging mix of history, memoir, reportage, interview, anecdote and observation. Although Treuer addresses the injustices and atrocities committed against America's indigenous people, he focuses more closely on what has persisted in Indian life, showing the role of Native Americans in the nation's history as a whole. Traveling throughout the country to reservations, rural areas, towns, and urban Indian enclaves, Treuer talks with Native American men and women engaged in a variety of pursuits, including cage-fighting, leech trapping, culinary arts and legal representation. Narrator Tanis Parenteau - a member of the Metis Nation of Alberta and is of Cree and Sioux descent - delivers this revelatory book with dispatch and confidence. (Penguin Audio, Unabridged, 17 3/4 hours) --- Powers reviews audiobooks every month for The Washington Post. Jimmy Neurosis By James Oseland Ecco. 293 pp. $27.99 --- A memoir can be many things: A deeply reflective reckoning with the past; the tearing off a veil between two types of existence; a tale of derring-do. Or, in the case of "Jimmy Neurosis," the portrait of the author as a young punk. Former Saveur editor in chief James Oseland revisits his teen years in late-1970s San Francisco, where he explores his dual identity as a gay man and an edgy artist. Neither of these identities would please his rigid single mother, who is equally terrified of penury and social shame. Young James christens himself "Jimmy Neurosis" and starts sporting unusual thrift-store finds (women's capri pants, shrunken sweaters, ripped T-shirts). He takes up with other club kids and has one-night stands with older men. But he still goes on outings with his mother for their favorite indulgences such as McDonald's meals and bags of See's Candies. Movingly, despite their differences, they both exist on the margins - due to his sexual orientation and cultural longings and her bad divorce and pink-collar ghettoization. While Jimmy spends as many nights away from home as he can possibly wrangle, he still depends on his mom for rides and meals at first (even when they're just TV dinners) - and the sense of a family. It isn't until he drops out of high school, sailing through the GED as if it were a kindergarten exam, and meets a man who introduces him to New York City, that he begins to understand that he can make his own family. He can create a family from the friends who surround him, even the people he sees in the morning on his way to the subway. That's not the end of Jimmy's story; he returns to California and finds another path, one that will no doubt be chronicled in Oseland's next volume. You might think, from the summary, that "Jimmy Neurosis" is just another coming-of-age story, one among scores. But Oseland writes with the kind of immersive attention to detail that makes his younger self come alive. "I drifted into the bathroom to stare into the mirror," he writes. "I looked even skinnier than usual, and there were dark circles under my eyes. My dirty-blond hair was in need of a trim. I bared my prominent front teeth, exaggerating them into rabbit protrusions. 'You're so ugly,' I told my reflection. The bowl of rosebud-shaped miniature soaps seemed to regard me with reproach." It's a vivid tale, though not always an easy one. Oseland is just old enough to have felt the sexual unshackling that presaged the AIDS decades, and has lived to tell us his truth, which is anything but neurotic. --- Patrick is the editor, most recently, of "The Books That Changed My Life: Reflections by 100 Authors, Actors, Musicians and Other Remarkable People." Lost Children Archive By Valeria Luiselli Knopf. 400 pp. $27.95 --- "Lost Children Archive" begins with an epigraph, a translation of the migrant's prayer - "To leave is to die a little./To arrive is never to arrive." Some days, it seems the distances between us cannot be closed. "Lost Children Archive" is a work of fiction that daylights our common humanity and challenges us, as a nation, to reconcile our differences. In its epic road trip across the disunity of our domestic landscape, Valeria Luiselli's novel echoes the narrative framework of her nonfiction "Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions," in which she drove toward the U.S.-Mexico border with her husband and children. In both books, Luiselli, a New Yorker born in Mexico City, argues for our country's responsibility to care for migrant children whose lives and families were made fragile by ruinous federal policies, from the failed war on drugs to destabilizing interventions in the democratic affairs of our southern neighbors. In spinning "Tell Me How It Ends" into a work of ambitious fiction, Luiselli widens her lens to capture the unruly intimacies of marriage and parenthood. The unhappy couple at the center of the story - she a radio reporter, he in pursuit of recording more arcane sounds - are no longer tethered by the project that brought them together: to create a soundscape of New York so the languages and ephemera of that great, teeming city will not be erased in its ongoing project to remake itself. Like Luiselli, who translated for refugee children, the narrator involves herself in the immigration proceedings of kids with fraught histories and uncertain futures. Luiselli nails the joys and discontentments that accumulate in parents who lose sight of their own happiness amid the hustle, the health insurance, the groceries, the laundry. The road trip in "Lost Children Archive" is occasioned by the husband's move to the Southwest - Apacheria, as he calls it - to capture the echoes of the Chiricahuas led by Geronimo, who is now buried in a cemetery owned by the U.S. Army. Accompanying the husband are the narrator and their children, a boy and a girl produced by prior relationships, marred by knowing their new little family will split up upon arrival. Despite the layers of pain - the immediate collapse of her marriage set against the brutal deportation of migrant children - the narrator resists self-pity or, as she puts it, becoming someone she would eventually disdain. Every dissolution has two players. "I needed to admit my share: although I hadn't lit the match that started this fire, for months I had been leaving a trail of dry debris." The family drives from one tense roadside exchange to the next amid myriad disintegrations - the couple's own, and that of our country, both beset by vast, futile ambitions - lightened momentarily by ecstatic splashing in a guitar-shaped motel pool. Throughout, the narrator weaves lyric flashes of Americana in all of its decayed glory - "we see more churches than people, and more signs for places than places themselves" - with kaleidoscopic inquiries into why we, a nation of ragged individuals, exhibit so little compassion for brave kids fleeing death to arrive at our border, bereft but hopeful. On the heels of the U.S. government's longest shutdown in history, it bears repeating that though President Trump has made false and racist claims about immigrants to generate public support for a border wall, the inhumane federal treatment of migrant children began before his presidency, which is infamous for forced separations of migrant families. Under President Barack Obama, the U.S. government fast-tracked the immigration proceedings of unaccompanied migrant Central American children, which sounds like a good thing until Luiselli's narrator points out - factual references give the novel urgency - that children who could not find a lawyer within 21 days were sent back to the country they escaped. To build empathy for the lives of children, Luiselli begins with the narrator's own, safely clicked into their seat belts, air-conditioned in the back seat of a car, sheltered from the violence that drives their brethren north yet exposed to the calamity of parental loss, the confusion of separation and the isolation of diaspora. Overheard from the narrator's fixed position in the passenger seat, the children's word games, derived from listening to adult conversations and audiobooks, recast recent historical atrocities into persistent moral quandaries as they play Apaches and white-eyes, wondering whom they should join, and why. "Lost Children Archive" unfolds in four parts interspersed with annotated contents of archival boxes belonging to various family members and containing bibliographies, maps, migrant mortality reports, photos and notes. This archive underpins the narrative, a resonant chamber of books and documents from which Luiselli borrows themes and lines that she reweaves into Elegies for Lost Children, a poetic account of migrant kids braving La Bestia, their perilous traintop journey told in numbered fragments. The narrator and her stepson take turns reading this fictional text by the invented author Ella Camposanto, whose last name means cemetery in Spanish. Lest anyone get upset about artistic license, Luiselli includes a detailed works cited page that sources those quotes, allusions and craft decisions. Does plot matter, when her deep thinking yields vital insights? Her mind is a delight. Still, Luiselli builds heat she doesn't use, preferring the elision provided, halfway through, by a switch from the point of view of the wife/mother/narrator to that of her stepson. Having decided against a dramatic crescendo between the spouses, Luiselli supplants the dull ache of marital grief with something far more panicked. In the book's late, lyric section, her writing shimmers like its desert setting, flickering among the minds of children walking to find a future. One sentence winds on for 20 pages in a rush of hope that does find its reward. "Lost Children Archive" concludes with reprints of Polaroids provided by the author, but nominally taken by the fictional stepson, chronicling their family's journey to the very same canyons where so many peoples have faced their end. Arguing for compassion, again and again, in recurrent narrative parallels, Luiselli refuses to resign herself to a lesser world. Even now, she writes, children are "traveling alone on trains, crossing the desert, sleeping on the ground under the huge sky." --- Young is the author of "Subduction," a novel forthcoming from Red Hen Press on April 14, 2020. Oil rebounded from a two-week low Tuesday as Saudi Arabia pledged to deepen production cuts and U.S. President Donald Trump said he could extend a deadline for new tariffs on China. Futures closed 1.3 percent higher in New York after Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih told the Financial Times that the kingdom will continue to curb output more than required by a December deal among top producers. Meanwhile, OPEC's secretary-general issued a statement nudging other members to keep up their end of the cuts. "As if on cue, Saudi Arabia's energy minister has injected a hearty dose of bullish impetus into the energy complex," analysts at PVM Oil Associates Ltd. said in a report. PREVIOUSLY: Oil slips as resumption of trade talks offers little optimism Developments in Washington, meanwhile, signaled progress on two controversies that have dogged the global economy for months. Trump on Tuesday said he was open to postponing a March 1 deadline for increasing tariffs on Chinese products if talks between the two countries make headway. He also said he may sign a proposed agreement on border security and avoid a government shutdown even though he's unhappy with the deal. Crude's rally had fizzled in February on concern the U.S. and China won't be able to defuse their tensions. A strengthening dollar has also hurt the appeal of commodities priced in the currency. Prices have shown a dwindling response to the output reductions brokered in December by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery rose 69 cents to $53.10 a barrel at the official closing of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent for April settlement added 91 cents to $62.42 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. AT THE PUMP: Houston gasoline prices dip again Al-Falih said Saudi Arabia would pump about 9.8 million barrels a day next month, lower than the limit it agreed to in December's OPEC+ agreement. OPEC's 14 members already saw production fall by almost 800,000 barrels in January, the cartel said in a report Tuesday. It also reduced its estimate for demand. "OPEC's overall production being down has refocused the market's expectations around tightened supply," said Gene McGillian, a senior analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. "Whether or not we have enough strength to make a return to recent heights of $55 remains the question." U.S. crude stockpiles are projected to rise for a fourth week, the longest such run since November, according to a Bloomberg survey before Energy Information Administration data due Wednesday. Inventories expanded by 2.5 million barrels in the week through Feb. 8, according to the survey. --With assistance from Tsuyoshi Inajima, Heesu Lee and Michelle Kim. 2019 Bloomberg L.P. Denham Springs, LA (70726) Today Scattered thunderstorms during the morning becoming more widespread this afternoon. High near 90F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 73F. Winds light and variable. The crater is 22 miles (36 km) in diameter and is buried under 1.2 miles (2 km) of ice. It's located close to the Hiawatha impact crater. Editor's Note: This story was updated at 9:55 a.m. E.T. on Thursday, Feb. 14 Lurking below more than a mile of ice in Greenland is a circular depression that was very likely left by an ancient impact with a space rock. The meteor impact crater, reported Feb. 11 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, is only the second ever discovered in Greenland. It's just 113 miles (183 kilometers) from the other crater in the country, which scientists reported last year. Joseph MacGregor, a glaciologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, was on the team that discovered the first crater, dubbed Hiawatha. In late 2016, when most of the work identifying the Hiawatha crater was done though the research was yet to be published, MacGregor was already on the hunt for another crater. He found one faster than he expected. [Images: Greenland's Gorgeous Glaciers] "I was like, 'Really, could there actually be another?'" MacGregor told Live Science. "I sort of stood up from my desk and paced the hallways a little bit." A new crater The new crater is about 22 miles (36 km) across, which makes it the 22nd-largest impact crater ever discovered on Earth and a wee bit bigger than the Hiawatha crater, which measures 19 miles (31 km) across. Hiawatha sits under about a half-mile (930 meters) of ice, while the new crater is buried under 1.2 miles (2 km). Both craters are in northwest Greenland, and scientists have a disproportionate amount of information on this remote, icy region simply because many of their research flights originate at the nearby Thule Air Base. [Photos: Top-Secret, Cold War-Era Military Base in Greenland] A GIF showing the surface topography of the new meteor impact crater in Greenland. (Image credit: Joe MacGregor, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) To find the craters, the research team combined satellite imagery of the Greenland ice sheet and radar-sounding data collected by aircraft. With the radar data, scientists can "see" through the ice using radar waves that hit the bedrock below and bounce back. Most of the data came courtesy of NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites and the space agency's IceBridge aerial survey program; all of that data is publicly available. "Anyone could have found this," MacGregor said. In fact, some amateur enthusiasts did. After the Hiawatha paper was published in November 2018, some members of the public contacted MacGregor to draw his attention to the second crater, he said, not knowing he'd found it before the Hiawatha crater paper went out. Crater questions The age of the new crater is hard to gauge, MacGregor said. The oldest ice layer dated above the depression is about 79,000 years old, but ice flows, so that doesn't necessarily mean much. Using depth-to-width ratios of impact craters allowed the team to estimate the crater's age by its erosion rate but only very roughly. The researchers peg it at between 100 million and 100,000 years old. Hiawatha is probably younger, MacGregor said. [Photos: Craters Hidden Beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet] Scientists are fairly certain the new crater really is from an impact. The only other explanation for the newfound depression is that it's a volcanic caldera, MacGregor said, but volcanic rocks create magnetic anomalies that just aren't present in the new feature. Though it was surprising to find the first known pair of Greenland impact craters so close to one another, a sample size of two is too small to alter the understanding of how many Arctic impacts there were or how fast craters erode, MacGregor said. Most likely, Hiawatha and the new crater are the "largest-slash-easiest ones that there are to find," he said. Any additional craters will probably be much smaller and harder to detect. Answering questions about the craters' age and formation won't be easy, he added. "You have to drill through 2 kilometers [1.2 miles] of ice, and then, depending exactly what element of the crater's history you're interested in, you might have to drill through 100 or 200 m [330 to 670 feet] worth of rock," MacGregor said. He added that all the equipment would have to be hauled more than 100 miles (160 km) inland across the ice. "That's a technological challenge." Editor's Note: This story was corrected to note that the new crater is slightly bigger, not slightly smaller, than Hiawatha crater. Originally published on Live Science. Chile's Atacama Desert, the driest nonpolar desert on Earth, stretches across a roughly 600-mile (1,000 kilometers) tract of land wedged between the coastal Cordillera de la Costa mountain range and the Andes Mountains. The region boasts stunning geologic formations and has provided scientists with a wealth of research opportunities. Old, hot and dry The Atacama is the oldest desert on Earth and has experienced semiarid conditions for roughly the past 150 million years, according to a paper in the November 2018 issue of Nature. Scientists estimate that the desert's inner core has been hyperarid for roughly 15 million years, thanks to a combination of unique geologic and atmospheric conditions in the area. This perfectly parched inner-desert region spans roughly 50,000 square miles (130,000 square km), according to soil scientist Ronald Amundson of the University of California, Berkeley. The Atacama is tucked in the shadow of the snow-capped Andes Mountains, which block rainfall from the east. To the west, the upwelling of cold water from deep in the Pacific Ocean promotes atmospheric conditions that hamper the evaporation of seawater and prevent the formation of clouds and rain. [Photos: The Haunting Splendor of Chile's Atacama Desert] In other deserts around the world, like the Sahara, the mercury can soar above 130 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius). But temperatures in the Atacama are comparatively mild throughout the year. The average temperature in the desert is about 63 degrees F (18 degrees C). An analogue for other worlds The outskirts of the Atacama are home to communities of organisms that have adapted to thrive in harsh conditions. The desert's hyperarid core, however, is largely devoid of plant and animal life, save for a few strains of microbial life. Scientists hope that studying the dry, dusty conditions of the Atacama will reveal secrets about the key to life in other parts of the universe, such as Mars. "It's not the biology that makes scientists eager to study in the Atacama Desert it's the lack of biology," said Henry Sun, an astrobiologist at the Desert Research Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada. Researchers suspect that the microbes that inhabit the desert's hyperarid core which slip into a sort of stasis during periods of aridity could survive life on the Red Planet. "It's a really interesting place to see how tenacious life is on Earth and what the climatic limits to life as we know it really are," said Amundson. But even the most tenacious of life-forms can be disrupted. On average, the driest part of the Atacama receives less than a millimeter of rain each year. In rare cases, torrents of rain do fall, and life responds. In 2017, wildflowers bloomed the aftermath of a dramatic downpour. Similar rainstorms were reported in March and August of 2015. Although the rains awakened fields of wildflowers, the floods had devastating consequences for microbial life in the desert, which has adapted to survive without water. Many microbes in the desert's hyperarid core, for instance, burst after absorbing too much rainwater. Scientists suspect that these catastrophic storms may become more frequent as the climate changes and atmospheric conditions in the Pacific Ocean fluctuate. "Instead of making the desert drier, climate change could actually make it wetter," said Amundson. Geologic wonderland Much of the Atacama Desert's core is caked in thick salt deposits called playas, which can stretch for miles and are nearly half a meter thick (1.6 feet) in some places. The desert is speckled with stones that have been carried across the playas by powerful wind gusts. Alluvial fans, which are large, fan-shaped sediment deposits, connect the desert plateau with the mountains that surround it and suggest that water once flowed from the Andes into the desert. The Atacama also features a 435-mile-long (700 km) and 12-mile-wide (20 km) swath of desert known as the nitrate belt. Nitrate minerals can be found in everything from explosives to fertilizer and were mined extensively in the Atacama before the 1930s. Traditionally scraped from the desert's crusty surface or mined from rocky veins, nitrates were initially thought to be carried to the desert by wind-swept sea spray. Recently, scientists discovered that one of the sources for the desert's "white gold" might be ancient, evaporated groundwater. Other materials, such as lithium, copper and iodine, have also been mined nearby; in some cases, the remnants of these mining operations can be seen from space. The Atacama Desert is home to a number of observatories. The European Space Observatory's Very Large Telescope sits atop a hill in the Atacama Desert. (Image credit: Shutterstock) A dazzling array of telescopes At 16,570 feet (5,050 meters) in elevation, the Atacama Desert plateau may be the best place in the world to spot the solar system's secrets. To the delight of amateur astronomers, the desert sees as many as 330 cloud-free nights each year. High along the Atacama Desert plateau, an array of observatories track the celestial bodies in our solar system and beyond. The Atacama Large Millimeter Array/submillimeter (ALMA) a network of 66 telescopes run by an international collaboration of scientific organizations from Europe, North America, East Asia and the Republic of Chile spies on faraway stars and the planets birthed around them. The European Space Observatory's Very Large Telescope, helped spot the TRAPPIST-1 system of Earth-like planets, located a mere 40 light-years from Earth, and has gathered data on distant exoplanet atmospheres. This telescope, along with others, has uncovered some of the universe's most intriguing oddities and provided a wealth of data to researchers and astronomers worldwide. Additional resources: In the 1960s, NASA's first astronauts tested the limits of human endurance far above the planet. Meanwhile, teams of intrepid divers explored similar boundaries in an equally inhospitable environment here on Earth: the dark, numbingly cold and high-pressure depths of the ocean. Dubbed "Sealab," the grueling program was launched by the U.S. Navy during the Cold War. Participants called "aquanauts" trained to survive underwater in a pressurized environment for days at a time, at depths that created enormous physical challenges. Over three stages, the Sealab environments descended to greater and greater depths. But with the death of a diver in 1969, officials decided that the risks were too great, and they terminated the program. The long-forgotten story of the aquanauts surfaces in a new documentary called "Sealab," airing Feb. 12 on PBS at 9 p.m. ET (check local times). [Gallery: Declassified US Spy Satellite Photos & Designs] From the 1950s into the 1960s, the U.S. and the Soviet Union were engaged in a heated race into space. But they were also eyeing each other's progress in the development of deep-sea technology for submarine warfare. To that end, the U.S. Navy established a program to test just how deep into the ocean humans could go, Stephen Ives, director and producer of "Sealab," told Live Science. "Ironically, the ocean is far more accessible than the stratosphere, and yet, it's remained more of a mystery than space," Ives said. The deep ocean exerts crushing pressure on the human body, compressing oxygen in the lungs and tissues. The deeper a diver descends, the more time is required for the body to return safely to normal surface pressure. Rising from the depths too quickly releases nitrogen bubbles in body tissues, causing the bends excruciatingly painful cramps and paralysis, which can be lethal. Deeper and deeper For the project's first undersea laboratory Sealab I, in 1964 the Navy introduced a new technique called saturation diving. The aquanauts inhabited a special environment that saturated their bloodstream with helium and other gases that were at the same pressure as the surrounding water, enabling the explorers to spend longer periods in the deep sea without risk of decompression sickness, according to a report published in June 1965 by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). For 11 days, four aquanauts lived and worked in a seafloor laboratory near Bermuda at at depth of 193 feet (59 meters) below the surface, breathing a mixture of helium, oxygen and nitrogen, the ONR reported. In 1965, Sealab II touched down on the seafloor at a depth of 203 feet (62 m), near La Jolla, California. The successful 30-day mission earned aquanaut Scott Carpenter a congratulatory phone call from President Lyndon B. Johnson on Sept. 26, 1965. Carpenter spoke to the president while still decompressing from the experience, and his voice was unusually high-pitched from the helium-rich environment, according to the National Archives. In a recording of the call, Johnson appeared unfazed by Carpenter's cartoonish voice, enthusiastically thanking him and saying, "I want you to know that the nation's very proud of you." An enduring legacy But tragedy struck the project in February 1969 after Sealab III was lowered to the sea bottom off the coast of San Clemente, California, to a depth of 600 feet (183 m). When divers descended to fix a helium leak in the still-unoccupied habitat, aquanaut Berry Cannon died of carbon dioxide asphyxiation. His death put an end to Sealab and all of the U.S. Navy's saturation-diving experiments, according to the U. S. Naval Undersea Museum. A view of the interior of the capsule intended for transporting aquanauts to the Sealab III habitat, in December 1968. (Image credit: National Archives) Though Sealab ended nearly half a century ago, it had a lasting impact on marine research and deep-sea exploration, Ives said. One current endeavor that owes much to the program is the Aquarius Underwater Laboratory the world's only fully equipped undersea laboratory formerly owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and now owned and operated by Florida International University. Located near Key Largo in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Aquarius rests on the seafloor about 60 feet (18 m) below the surface, allowing researchers to live and work underwater for missions that typically last 10 days, according to NOAA. But another important part of Sealab's legacy was sparking a long-standing scientific commitment to study the deepest parts of Earth's oceans and to investigate how they affect climate and ecosystems worldwide, Ives said. "It helped lead the way to a new understanding of how important oceans are to our world they're the planet's life-support system," Ives said. "And I think Sealab helped us to see that." Editor's note: This article was updated to reflect that NOAA no longer owns the Aquarius underwater laboratory. Originally published on Live Science. February 14th, the day of chocolates, roses and heart-festooned greeting cards, is upon us once again. If that sentence made you groan, you're not alone. Almost half of Americans describe Valentine's Day as "overrated," according to a 2017 survey. Still, another 43 percent called it "romantic," indicating some serious polarization surrounding this day celebrating love. Valentine's Day itself does not get a lot of love in the scientific literature, but a few scattered studies hint at why it inspires hate. See if any of the reasons to hate Valentine's Day ring true for you. 1. You're a rebel In marketing, there's a notion called "resistance theory." Basically, if people feel like they're being asked to comply with a prescribed, prepackaged behavior, they're unlikely to do so. Valentine's Day is ripe for resistance, according to a 2008 study in the Journal of Business Research. It's not a religious holiday, so it's perceived as corporate and consumerist, a way for businesses to stick their money-grubbing noses in your personal romantic business. According to surveys, diaries and e-diaries collected between 2000 and 2006, people feel a strong sense of gift-giving resistance surrounding Valentine's Day, even as they feel obligated to get something for their significant other. The sense of obligation killed any sense of meaning that came with the gift-giving. In response, many participants enacted monetary limits on gift-giving. But 88 percent of men in relationships and 75 percent of women did still gift something, the researchers found, though often the gift was a handmade item or home-cooked dinner. [13 Scientifically Proven Signs You're in Love] Valentine's seemed to bum out those in new relationships and single people the most. Eight-one percent of men and 50 percent of women in brand-new partnerships reported feeling obligated to give gifts. Meanwhile, some singles became particularly incensed with the marketing surrounding Valentine's Day. "I would like to extend a warm thanks to Hallmark, the official sponsor of Valentine's Day, for reminding me that without a significant other, how truly worthless my life is," one single participant wrote, as the researchers recorded in their study. Notably, Valentine's Day isn't the only holiday that fills people with angst over obligatory gift-giving. A 2013 Pew Research survey about Christmas found that the top things Americans dislike about Christmas all have to do with consumerism: A third (33 percent) hate the materialism; 22 percent hate the expense; and 10 percent loathe the crowded stores. 2. You're not comfortable in relationships Regardless of relationship status, Valentine's Day may be particularly cringe-worthy for those who avoid intimacy. A 2014 study surveyed coupled-up individuals online about how Valentine's Day impacted their assessments of their own relationships. The researchers focused on a concept called "attachment," which is rooted in research on parent-child interactions. People who are attachment-avoidant try not to become too intimate with their partners and tend not to offer much emotional support. Attachment avoidance turned out to be key for how people experience their relationships in the context of Valentine's Day. The researchers had people take online surveys on Valentine's Day and on a random day in April about their relationships. Some of the surveys were accompanied by banner ads with romantic (though not explicitly Valentine-y) themes. The people who were both low in attachment avoidance and reminded of romance with a banner ad reported a boost in relationship satisfaction and investment in their relationships on Valentine's Day. Without all of those ingredients, meh. "One of the main messages from the paper is that Valentine's Day actually doesn't make a difference" for most people, study author William Chopik, a social scientist at Michigan State University, told Live Science. And for people high in attachment avoidance, even throwing Valentine's Day and reminders of romance at them didn't make them feel more into their relationships. For the researchers, these findings explained some previous conundrums surrounding Valentine's Day. Some previous research had found that anniversaries, holidays and birthdays helped glue couples together, they wrote. However, other studies had suggested that, on the contrary, weak relationships are especially prone to go down in flames around Valentine's Day, Chopik said. A person's individual attachment style could determine whether V-Day casts a rosy light on a relationship or sinks the whole thing. [The 6 Most Tragic Love Stories in History] "For better or for worse, recurring relationship events provide opportunities for people to think about their relationships," the researchers concluded. 3. You're being a little melodramatic right now Then again, maybe Valentine's isn't such a big deal after all. Whatever you're feeling about it right now might simply evaporate come Feb. 14. A 2010 study of emotional anticipation asked participants to report how they were likely to feel about Valentine's Day in mid-January. On Feb. 16, the same participants were again asked about Valentine's Day, this time reporting how they actually felt about the holiday. Across the board, participants overestimated how intensely they'd feel about the holiday. Daters believed they'd feel more positive about Valentine's than they actually did. Non-daters thought they'd feel more negative. In fact, after the day passed, it turned out that both daters and singles felt about the same on Valentine's. Your personality might clue you in about whether your pre-V-Day emotions are likely to track with how you'll really feel. The researchers found that extroverts tended to view their future emotions through a rosier light, while people with anxious, neurotic tendencies tended to expect to feel particularly bad about Valentine's (especially if they were single). It turned out to be true that extroverts did report feeling better about Valentine's after the fact than neurotic individuals did, but both groups still overestimated their emotional response. So the next time you pass a display of roses or see a commercial hawking diamond rings, take a deep breath and remember: This Valentine's Day, too, shall pass. Originally published on Live Science. Stonehenge and similar large, arranged rock structures around Europe may have a common origin. Hunter-gatherers in northwestern France might have first created these megaliths around 7,000 years ago and spread them throughout Europe, according to a new study published yesterday (Feb.11) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It was previously thought that megaliths originated in the Near East, but nowadays more and more anthropologists agree that they were independently invented in various places across Europe, according to the magazine Science. In this new study, Bettina Schulz Paulsson, an archaeologist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, searched through the literature to find radiocarbon data (a method that reveals ages of rocks and structures) for over 2,400 sites across Europe. She looked at megaliths, pre-megalithic graves, and any information she could find on how the rocks were crafted and the customs of the hands that crafted them. [In Photos: A Walk Through Stonehenge] She found that the earliest megaliths in Europe originated in northwestern France around 4700 B.C. This region also happens to be the only known megalith site that also contains grave sites that date back to 5000 B.C., which might indicate that such megaliths originated there, Paulsson wrote in the journal article. Around 400 years after those first megaliths, in 4300 B.C., similar structures began to pop up on the coasts of southern France, the Mediterranean, the Iberian Peninsula and other areas. Stonehenge itself was likely created around 2400 B.C. Because these structures typically popped up near the coasts, Paulsson thinks the idea of megaliths might have been spread by sailors at the time, according to Science. In fact, the architects' interest in the sea is engraved in markings of sperm whales and marine life on those first northwestern France megaliths. While some researchers agree with the findings, others say it's difficult to rule out the possibility that people of various regions invented these megaliths independently or that another region had earlier megaliths, according to Science. Originally published on Live Science. About 2.1 billion years ago, a blob-like creature inched along on an early Earth. As the organism moved, it carved out tunnels, which may be the earliest evidence of a moving critter on the planet. Until this discovery, the earliest evidence of motility that is, an organism's ability to move independently using its own metabolic energy dated to about 570 million years ago, according to fossils from different locations. That's a good 1.5 billion years younger than the new finding. Whatever left the teeny, tiny tunnels was likely a cluster of single cells that joined ranks to form a slug-like multicellular organism, the researchers said. And perhaps, this sluggy conglomerate tunneled through the mud in search of greener pastures or food to gobble up, the international team of scientists said. [In Images: The Oldest Fossils on Earth] However, not everyone agrees that these tunnels were made by complex life, and one researcher, who was not affiliated with the study, called the claims "imprecise." Tunneling life? The researchers found the trace fossils in Gabon, along Africa's west coast. A trace fossil is a fossil that was not part of an organism's body that it leaves behind, such as a footprint, a burrow or even poop. In this case, the trace fossils are a series of slender tunnels that were made in what was once called the Francevillian inland sea an oxygenated and shallow marine environment that existed during the Paleoproterozoic, an era lasting from about 2.5 billion to 1.6 billion years ago. Until now, the oldest traces of motility (an organism's ability to move independently using metabolic energy) dated to about 600 million years ago. But now, newly analyzed fossils suggest that motility dates back to 2.1 billion years ago. (Scale bar: 1 centimeter, or 0.4 inches.) (Image credit: A. El Albani/IC2MP/CNRS - Universite de Poitiers) After collecting hundreds of specimens from the ancient inland sea, the scientists in the recent study found fossilized tunnels. These structures indicated that some ancient multicellular organisms were complex enough to scoot through the mud, said first author Abderrazak El Albani, a professor of paleobiology and geochemistry at IC2MP, an institute of the University of Poitiers and the the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France. There is a modern analogue to this weird slug-like creature. During times of starvation, some cellular slime molds aggregate together in what is called a "migratory slug phase," so they can look for food together, El Albani said. The tunnels these ancient critters left behind are small, with a diameter of up to 2.3 inches (6 centimeters) and a length of up to 6.7 inches (17 cm). What's more, the tunnels appear to be made by something that moved laterally and vertically through the muck, El Albani told Live Science. To determine for sure that these tunnels were left by living creatures, the researchers analyzed the structures in several ways. For starters, the scientists used an X-ray computed microtomography (micro-CT) scan to analyze the specimen in 3D (see the above video). The team also analyzed the chemical components in the trace fossils, finding that these traces were biological in origin and also matched the age of the 2.1-billion-year-old sediment around them. Moreover, the tunnels were next to fossilized microbial mats, known as biofilms. Perhaps the strange, slug-like beast grazed on these microbial "carpets," the researchers said. The tubes in the sample are filled with pyrite crystals, which are generated by the transformation by bacteria of biological tissue. The parallel horizontal layers are fossilized microbial mats. (Image credit: Copyright A. El Albani & A. Mazurier/IC2MP/CNRS - Universite de Poitiers) While much about this critter remains a mystery, its existence raises new questions about the history of life, El Abani said. Was this the first time a complex organism moved, and was movement perfected later on? Or was this creature's experiment cut short when atmospheric oxygen levels dropped drastically about 2 billion years ago, only for this kind of movement to resurface much later? [7 Theories on the Origin of Life] But not everyone thinks these tunnels represent the oldest proof of motility. "The claim sounds really imprecise," Tanja Bosak, an associate professor of geobiology in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told Live Science in an email. "Perhaps they are referring to something macroscopic moving there are much older rocks (stromatolites) with shapes and textures that require the former presence of motile microbes." She emphasized that while she didn't have time for an in-depth reading of the study, Bosak told Live Science, "I hope that they discuss this somewhere and tone down the splashy claims at least a little." The study was published online yesterday (Feb. 11) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Originally published on Live Science. Members of the Boger City Fire Department who were honored during the department's annual awards banquet (l-r) Mark Carpenter, Roger Williams, Hunter Carpenter, Randy Beal, Jordan Cook, Floyd Peeler, Joe Cline, Jason Ingle and Nicky James. A LIMERICK charity has given one of the worlds poorest communities a major piece of support. Limerick Gateway to Education, based in Wickham Street has been gathering and preparing out-of-date schoolbooks over the last two years for shipment to Malawi, where there are only 168 books to each 1,000 students. A total of 500 boxes were shipped to the African community last Wednesday, and a relative of a volunteer with Gateway to Education is based in Malawi, where he is doing aid work. Sinead Roche, who manages the centre, said the books have been accumulated over the past two years. We put the word out there and got a great response. Any books which were in-date, and of use, we passed to parents of school children here din Limerick. Anything which was out-of-date, we boxed and put away, she said. As well as this, toys, uniforms and personalised messages from local children were sent to Mzuzu, which like Limerick to Ireland, is Malawis third largest city. Set up in 2015, Limerick Gateway to Education offers second-hand books, clothes and learning materials at discounted prices to parents who might not be able to afford them. While in-date books are of use to parents, those which deal with matters no longer taught would most likely have ended up in landfill, were it not for the intervention of Suzanne, and Patrick Kamanga, whose idea it was to come up wityh the shipment to Malawi. His brother Mhpatso Bantu Kamanga lives in Malawi and will be co-ordinating with the ambassador for the distribution of the books and what school they will go to. Some books will go to schools, others will go to libraries in Malawi, he said. As well as book donations, Gateway also runs an after school homework club. To get more information on the charity, telephone 061 481633, or visit www.gatewaytoeducation.ie A LIMERICK survivor of sexual violence has joined trade and student unions in calling for an end to gender-based violence on International Womens Day, March 8. Leona OCallaghan, who waived her right to anonymity last November so that her rapist would be identified, joined the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), Unite the Union and ROSA in Dublin on Monday. The group, which was chaired by Ruth Coppinger TD, are urging a series of protests and walkouts this International Womens Day, Friday March 8, to call for an end to the gender pay gap and for an end to gender-based violence. The statistics about the epidemic of violence against women speak for themselves, Ms OCallaghan said. We do not have sufficient legislation to adequately deal with the issue of consent. We remain participants in a victim-blaming Ireland where the perpetrator has the right to legal representation, but victims and survivors do not. We remain in a country where there is inadequate education in our church-led schools that fail us, by not providing the knowledge and guidance needed to put an end to victim blaming, to highlight what consent is and to teach men not to rape, rather than teach women how to not be raped. Gender equality is not a women's issue, Ms OCallaghan added. When we associate masculinity with power, money, muscles and aggression we disclude the good men who are not representative of these traits. This Monday, the USI called for walkouts and protests on March 8, to demand action on violence against women. Unite the Union also called on workers to protest the gender pay gap at 3.25 pm on March 8, to represent the gender-pay gap between male and female workers. THE Thomond region of Engineers Ireland welcomed the Irish branch of Ingenieurs sans Frontieres to Limerick. ISF, or Engineers without Borders in the English language, is a registered charity which collaborates with collages, industry and non-governmental organisations to give engineers the chance to learn about and contribute to sustainable development globally. It partners with communities in developing countries and by harnessing the creativity and innovation of Irish engineers aims to improve the resilience of those communities through education and implementation of sustainable engineering projects. Declan Alcock, Engineers without Borders, was present in Limerick to give an overview of what they do. He also gave an outline of the United Nations sustainable development goals and the unique position the engineering profession holds as problem solvers and innovators, to contribute to their achievement particularly with regard to clean energy, water and sanitation, climate action, infrastructure and sustainable cities and communities. At the event, Patrickswell man John Garrett presented Declan with a copy of his book Be Inspired Images and stories of Limericks true leaders which highlights the significant role Limerick has played and continues to play in international development, with close ties to Concern and Bothar in particular. It is hoped this talk will result in further collaborations between the regions engineers and the international community in developing countries. GARDAI are appealing for information after a youth sustained serious facial injuries when he was assaulted at the weekend. The victim, who is aged in his late teens, was treated at University Hospital Limerick following the incident which happened at Corbally Road at around 9pm on Saturday. Superintendent Derek Smart is appealing for anyone with information about what happened to come forward. What I am appealing for is anyone who was in or around the area from the likes of Grove Island right out as far as Shannon Banks from about 5.30 or 6 oclock onwards up to around 10 oclock to contact us, he told Live 95. If you saw any groups around the place that you recognise anything unusual at all that you may have seen I would appeal for you to come forwards and let us know what information you have, he added. Gardai at Mayorstone station are investigating and can be contacted at (061) 456980. GARDAI have arrested a man in his 40s after seizing a number of vehicles, drugs, paperwork and devices, as part of a Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) operation in County Limerick. Gardai have described the arrest as a significant development in the CAB investigation. Targeting a suspected individual member of an organised crime gang, CAB carried out searches at five homes and one professional premises this Tuesday morning. As part of the searches, gardai seized a 151 Audi A6, 151 VW, a 131 Range Rover Sport, and a Harley Davidson Motorcycle. Bureau officers are also examining financial documents, mobile phones and electronic devices that were seized as part of the searches. These include laptop computers, mobile phone with evidence of drug dealing, tick list and weighing scales. Cocaine worth and estimated 20,000 was also seized. A 42 year old man has been arrested and is being detained under the provisions of Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996 as amended at Henry Street garda station. The CAB investigation centres on an individual member of an Organised Crime Gang involved in the sale and supply of controlled drugs in the Limerick City and County area. All searches were conducted under CAB Warrants, Section 14 of the Criminal Assets Bureau Act 1996, as amended. LIMERICK City and County Council should move to purchase the former Greenpark Racecourse site at the South Circular Road. Thats the view of Labour member Joe Leddin after the vast site was placed on the market for 12m. The site has not been operational as a racecourse since 1999, the year Cllr Leddin became a member of the local authority. Now, he has written to council chief executive Conn Murray asking he consider acquiring it and developing it along the same lines as its plans for Mungret. In his letter, he writes: The 116-acre site is the last remaining undeveloped land bank in the city. Its strategic location adjacent to the Southern Ring Road and close proximity to the city centre offer significant opportunities to complement our plans to transform Limerick in the years ahead. He said the fact the Mungret plans are progressing shows that the council can ensure proper and sustainable development for the betterment of a community. Greenpark racecourse now presents a unique opportunity for the Council to continue the ongoing transformation of our city under the vehicle of Limerick 2030 and develop this site to reflect the need for additional services while incorporating the history associated with Greenpark, he said. The City West councillor believes the move to impose high levies on owners of undeveloped land perhaps paved the way for the sale, which was revealed on Friday. But he warned that any development of the site must exclude traffic access from the South Circular road end, as it is already overwhelmed by traffic access. The road is a residential area in which a number of junior and post-primary schools are, and already suffers heavy traffic. A number of planning proposals in the past, which have included access to the site from the South Circular Road end, have failed. There is better access from the Dock Road end of the site, which would not overwhelm an already busy route, said the councillor. As a local councillor and resident, I want to advise any potential purchaser of the site that while the community would welcome development that would enhance the surrounding area and wider city all access from any future planning application must not include the South Circular Road, he said. Racing in Limerick has taken place at seven venues for over 225 years with the first Limerick racecourse being established in 1790. The current racecourse, Greenmount Park, was the first new racecourse developed in Ireland for 60 years. The first meeting at the Patrickswell site was held in October 2001 and attracted over 18,000 racegoers. The racecourse counts the Munster National and its Christmas Racing Festival among highlights. MUNSTERS largest shopping destination, the Crescent Shopping Centre in Limerick, has undergone extensive refurbishment in the last two years to offer shoppers an outstanding experience. With anchor tenants like Tesco, Penneys, Shaws Department Store, Argos and Boots, international brands like Selected Femme / Homme, Superdry, Gap Outlet, Swarovski, Pandora, Irish independent brands like Inglot, Pamela Scott, Carraig Donn, Elverys, Easons, and more, theres something for everyone at the Crescent. With a range of services including hairdressers, beauty salons, a locksmith, banks, ATMs, a post office, a travel agent, and a 12 screen Omniplex cinema, there is truly something for everyone. Parents can keep kids entertained in our outdoor playground, or take a well-deserved shopping or coffee break while letting the qualified staff in our drop-in creche look after your little ones! Pop into Butlers Chocolate Cafe, BBs Coffee and Muffins, Costa Coffee, or enjoy delicious food offerings from OBriens Sandwich Bar, Quigleys, Milano, Ramen & Sorrento, Subway, KFC, Shake Dog, Franklins Restaurant and McDonalds. And thats not all! The latest addition to the centre is the weekly Farmers Market which takes place every Friday from 10am 4pm, located in the Civic Area, just outside the City Mall entrance near the newly opened Milano restaurant. With all of this, and an emphasis on value, comfort and choice, the Crescent Shopping Centre is well worth a visit. Opening hours are Monday-Wednesday and Saturday 9.30am-6pm, Thursday and Friday, 9.30am-9pm and Sunday 12 noon-6pm. For more, see Crescent Shopping Centre. The Crescent is backing the Limerick Leaders search to find Limericks All Time Great. A TAKEAWAY in a Limerick village was ordered to close last month after health inspectors found there had been no obvious cleaning at the premises for some time, it has been revealed. The Orient Express at Main Street, Bruree was one of nine food business across the country which were ordered to close during January. The closure order, under the provisions of the FSAI ACt 1998, was served on the proprietor of the premises on January 15 following an inspection by an authorised officer with the HSE. It was lifted two days later. Details relating to each of the closure orders were published by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland on Monday. The order relating to Orient Express stated there had been no obvious cleaning in recent times as evidenced by cobwebs dirt, debris, stained utensils, stained equipment, absence of clean cleaning equipment and a cleaning programme. The inspector also noted there was an absence of hot water at wash sinks and wash hand basins in the food preparation area. Dr Pamela Byrne, chief executive, says the food businesses across the country need to prioritise hygiene. Consumer health in relation to food is our priority, and the FSAI, together with the inspectorate, strives to ensure that all food businesses abide by the legal requirements placed upon them. Non-compliances by food businesses are not tolerated and all breaches of food safety legislation are dealt with the full extent of the law, she said. DUNNES Stores could face regular local boycotts, after a new group was established to pressure the retailer to act on its vacant sites in Limerick city. More than 50 people were at Ormston House for the first meeting of a new movement designed to tackle Dunnes Stores head on in order to have the firm bring its former stores at Sarsfield Street and OConnell Street back into use in some form. The units described as a blight on the landscape by northside Labour election candidate Anne Cronin, who called the first meeting have been vacant for almost 11 years after Dunnes Stores went from three stores to just one in the city centre. Despite calls, the firm has refused to act and has been accused by many groups of hoarding the land. Last month, Dunnes Stores secured a High Court order temporarily halting moves to put the site on the vacant sites register. It came after council offered to pay 3m for it. This has only intensified anger, and at the meeting, called for protests outside the remaining Dunnes Stores in Henry Street were supported, alongside a number of other options including petitioning the retailer and supporting the local authority in its own legal challenge. Ms Cronin said: Their responsibility is to communities where they have their stores and we create their profits for them. We need to tell them, look at what they are doing to the communities where youre expecting us to come into your stores, seven days a week, 24/7. Put a notice on them to give back to these communities. Seamus Ryan, a columnist with our sister newspaper, The Leader, added: There are two things which will defeat Dunnes, one is the legal route which the council is taking, the other is the money route. The only way of accessing the money route is essentially for people to stop shopping in Dunnes. He said people should contact Dunnes Stores to let them know of their reasons for doing this. However, there were warnings over the damage this could do to jobs and local suppliers to the retail giant. This is why Maria ODwyer suggested periodic protests, of an hour, on a regular basis. Ask anyone to abandon Dunnes Stores for one hour at a planned time: one hour in Limerick where people do not shop there. The protestors will be outside asking people why, and they see a picture of why the eyesore. Youd build up awareness, while not affecting local suppliers and jobs, she told the meeting. Clodagh Callanan, 22, who lives in the city centre suggested a social media campaign highlighting the empty stores and juxtaposing it with the hypocrisy of them being the Irish supermarket and the local supermarket. Dunnes Stores was contacted for comment on Friday. However, the firm does not routinely return requests for comment from the media. A SINGLE mother was to be paid less than 100 by criminal elements to store thousands of euro worth of illicit drugs at her home, a court has heard. Natalie Wall, aged 32, of Rostrevor Close, Caherdavin has admitted having significant quantities of cannabis herb and Alprazolam (Xanax) tablets for the purpose of sale or supply. The drugs were seized when her home was searched by gardai on June 24, 2016 during an intelligence-led operation. Detective Garda David Boland said cannabis herb with a street value of around 20,000 was located at the house along with Alprazolam tablets worth around 9,000. The cannabis, he said, was found in two packages which were hidden in a bedroom and in the attic of the house. Almost 4,500 Alprazolam tablets were located in the kitchen of the house. The detective told Limerick Circuit Court Ms Wall made admissions at the house telling gardai she was storing the drugs to clear and outstanding bill of around 350. She made further admissions following her arrest. Mark Nicholas, SC, said his client was not selling the drugs and that she had helped gardai in every means possible she could. Judge Tom ODonnell was told that while Ms Wall did not say who give her the drugs, gardai know the identity of the owner and were aware of it before they searched the house. These people knew she was vulnerable, she had no choice, said Mr Nicholas who said his client was a cannabis user around the time of the offence. Since the seizure, she was secured full-time employment and is no longer using drugs and Mr Nicholas said she is unlikely to come before the courts again. She is a young woman, she has a young son, she is a lone parent and she his doing her best, he said. Noting the contents of a probation report, the barrister said his client now has an insight into her offending and that she represents a low risk of reoffending. Its a struggle but she is moving in the right direction, he said. Indicating he needs time to consider the evidence Judge ODonnell adjourned the matter to June. A MAN who was arrested in Limerick during a major garda operation targeting the activities of a suspected drug dealer has been released without charge. The 42-year-old was arrested this Tuesday morning during a pre-planned operation which saw five private homes and one business premises being searched by gardai attached to the Criminal Assets Bureau. A number of high-powered vehicles were seized along with a cocaine with an estimated street value of around 20,000. The CAB investigation centres on an individual member of an organised crime gang involved in the sale and supply of controlled drugs in the Limerick city and county area. This search operation is a significant development in the CAB investigation, said a garda spokesperson. In addition to the vehicles and drugs, ddocumentation in relation to the ownership of assets, financial documentation, mobile phones and electronic storage devices were also seized These included laptop computers, mobile phone with evidence of drug dealing, tick lists and weighing scales. The suspect, who was detained and questioned at Henry Street garda station, was released without charge this Tuesday evening. Investigations are ongoing and a file is to be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Minister for Justice and Equality, Mr Charlie Flanagan TD, and the Minister of State with responsibility for Equality, Immigration and Integration, Mr David Stanton TD, have expressed their grave concern at reports of a fire last night in the Shannon Key West Hotel in Rooskey. Minister Flanagan said: I am deeply concerned and disappointed at the reports of the fire, which broke out in the Shannon Key West Hotel in Rooskey last night. This comes just five weeks after the previous fire at the hotel. This pattern of behaviour represents an unacceptable and worrying development and should be condemned by all. The person or people responsible for this attack have shown a reckless disregard for the safety of human life and no respect for private property. The owners of the hotel had just completed the necessary repairs to the property from the last fire and the damage will now have to be assessed again for the second time this year. Minister Stanton expressed his relief that there was no serious injury or loss of life in the incident and his concern at the impact of the two fires in quick succession on the local community: Thankfully, there were no residents in place when the incident occurred. The security personnel on site were unharmed and managed to bring the fire quickly under control thanks to their immediate response. We know that the events last night will have been deeply distressing for the community in Rooskey, as indeed they were five weeks ago. We are committed to working with the community and offering whatever support and reassurances we can. Minister Flanagan reiterated the States commitment to providing accommodation and supports for asylum seekers and said any acts of this nature are completely unacceptable: We must ensure that people arriving to seek our protection can be offered shelter, food and any urgent medical care that they require. Incidents like those in Rooskey and in Moville in Donegal impede our ability to provide these compassionate services on behalf of the people of Ireland. Asylum seekers come to Ireland seeking the protection of the State. An act of hatred against the most vulnerable in society is an attack on society itself. A Garda technical examination is being completed at the scene. Out patients appointments at Naas General Hospital will resume today following the suspension of strike action by nurses there and at other public hospitals throughout Ireland. The Health Service Executive has said that outpatient clinics will go ahead today following the suspension of nurses' strike. The strikes were suspended yesterday following a Labour Court recommendation of a new nursing grade with a higher pay. The HSE has advised that outpatient clinics will go ahead today and for the rest of the week. Anyone with an appointment is advised to attend. According to RTE News surgical patients will be contacted by their hospital to let them know if their procedure is going ahead. Emergency departments will be open, but are expected to be very busy. The public is being asked to use emergency departments only if absolutely necessary. A team working to develop a new mental health unit at Naas General Hospital has been disbanded. Though the reason given by the Department of Health for the disbandment is a significant expansion of project scope and associated increases in project value, the news is being seen as a further and disappointing delay to the building of a new mental health unit in Naas. Two years ago, 5.5million was allocated to the project. The news of the disbandment was revealed in an answer to a parliamentary question on the Dail from Deputy Fiona OLoughlin. She was told that a new design team is anticipated to be appointed by April. The HSE has not responded to a query seeking clarity into the decision. There was no explanation forthcoming for the change of scope or an increase in project value that caused the project team to be disbanded. It is now more than two years since the Government allocated 5.5 million to Lakeview Acute Mental Health Unit in Naas. While initial discussions on the project involved a refurbishment, a decision had been made to deliver an additional eight beds and a high observation unit to alleviate service pressures at the facility. Chairperson of local mental health organisation Hope(D) Terri Thorpe said she was very disappointed at the news of a delay. She emphasised that investment in Lakeview is very badly needed in order to have people in distress treated empathetically and respectfully. And she echoed calls for a separate A&E at Lakeview. With all due respect to the nurses who work in the A&E, theyre under immense pressure, and the ailment isnt all that visible when its a mental health situation. Very often patients get tired waiting and come back over to us in Hope(D), she said. The Newbridge-based charity, which had its AGM last night (Monday, February 11), has seen an increased number of people attending its services over the past two years. By the end of 2017 we had 106 people come through our doors, Ms Thorpe explained. However at the end of 2018, we had seen 248 people and 25% of them were adolescents. And of the 248, between 30 and 50 of them had carried through from the previous year. Deputy OLoughlin noted that Lakeview Unit in Naas Hospital was built in the 1980s when the population of Kildare West Wicklow was 138,000. It now serves a population of close to 242,000 and does not have the infrastructure to cater for that population size. Infrastructure needs to be improved and a standalone mental health unit is urgently needed. This new delay in the development of a new unit is very worrying for those who avail of the mental health services provided by Naas General Hospital. The community health care area in which Lakeview is based has the lowest number of mental health in-patient beds in Ireland at 19.6 per 100,000. As Brexit looms the Laois Local Enterprise Office is set to host two events the help business cope with the fallout. The first of the events takes place during Laois Enterprise Week which runs from March 4-8. Preparing for a Hard Brexit is the name of a one to one mentoring clinic which aims to review and identify the principle risks posed to your business by a hard or soft Brexit. A second event takes place later in March to help you prepare your business for custom changes. If the UK leaves the Customs Union and Single Market, it will become a Third Country for customs purposes. The workshop offers an opportunity to learn about the potential impacts, formalities and procedures you will need to adopt when trading with a country which is outside the Single Market and Customs Unions (a Third Country). The event is open to businesses from all sectors, this workshop will cover areas such as what export and import procedures apply, how tariffs work and how to correctly classify goods. The aims are to help Irish businesses understand: The administration process around import and export procedures. Customs formalities at borders. The Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) process. Tariffs and the cost implications of tariffs Import procedures, such as the Electronic Declaration Process and Automated Entry Processing (AEP). The event takes place at the Killeshin Hotel, Portlaoise on March 21 from 9.30am to 4.30pm. To book a place click here The Enterprise Week event takes place in the Local Enterprise Office, County Hall, Portlaoise on Thursday, March 7 9am-5pm. To book a place on this event click here In an update Tuesday afternoon, PennDOT and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission eased some of the commercial vehicle restrictions on state highways. All commercial vehicles, including buses, are still prohibited on I-70, in Bedford and Fulton County only I-80, east of I-79 I-81, north of I-78 I-84 I-99, from I-80 to the turnpike I-180 I-380 I-476, from I-78 to the Clarks Summit exit (#131). Empty and double trailer restrictions will be in place on: I-76, from New Stanton to Carlisle I-78 I-81, from I-83 to I-78 Routes 22 and 33 The vehicle bans on the Pennsylvania Turnpike included empty, straight CDL-weighted truck; all large combination vehicles (double trailers); tractors hauling empty trailers; any trailers pulled by motorcycles, passenger vehicles, pickup trucks or SUVs; all motorcycles and all recreational vehicles and RVs on : I-70/I-76 from New Stanton to Breezewood I-76, I-276 and I-95 from Breezewood to the New Jersey state line I-476 from the Mid-County exit to the Lehigh Valley exit A full commercial ban is still in place on I-476 from the Lehigh Valley exit to Clarks Summit. Speed restrictions of 45 mph are still in place on various roads, including all of I-476, as well as I-76, I-276 and I-95 from New Stanton to the New Jersey state line. Restrictions were put in place midnight from Monday into Tuesday, and at 6 a.m. Tuesday ahead of the storm. Accidents involving commercial vehicles were reported on I-76, including one Tuesday afternoon between the Reading exit (#286) and the Lebanon-Lancaster exit (#266) that closed all westbound lanes. Commercial vehicle has been removed at MM 187.5 EB on I-76. Traffic has been released at the Tuscarora Tunnel eastbound. Motorists will encounter heavy delays in this area. The below restrictions are still in effect. #paturnpike pic.twitter.com/NdMM5m3jAK PA Turnpike Alerts (@PATurnpikeAlert) February 12, 2019 Drivers who ignore the ban can be cited with tickets that carry a $300 fine. Pennsylvania State Police said troopers issued 993 citations and 222 warnings to drivers who traveled into the Keystone State during the ban Jan. 19-20. But troopers said there were called to 86 percent fewer commercial vehicle crashes than during the snow storm last November, when there were fewer restrictions. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Buses and flights into and around the Lehigh Valley were canceled as freezing rain approached the Lehigh Valley. LANTA announced it would stop bus service at noon on Tuesday due to the winter weather. Any passengers on LANTA buses at that time would be taken to their stops. LANTAVan suspended service for Tuesday, and will only offer return trips for the rest of the day, and LATAFlex was cancelled. The travel ban for commercial vehicles, including buses, on Pennsylvania highways and I-78 in New Jersey meant Trans-Bridge canceled bus service Tuesday to Hellertown, Allentown, Doylestown and its Wall Street service. By Tuesday morning, Lehigh Valley International Airport showed canceled flights, to and from Detroit and United service to Newark. Philadelphia International Airport also had cancellations and delays. Travelers were advised to check their flights before heading to the airport. Our #PHLairport deicing team has been busy since before dawn getting planes cleared and on their way during Round 2 of our wintry weather. Cancellations and delays are reported. Be sure to check flight status with your airline before coming to the airport #PHLsnow pic.twitter.com/xQNr8WVvz4 PHLAirport (@PHLAirport) February 12, 2019 Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. The Bethlehem Area School Board is hopeful that it could hold the line on taxes in its next budget after years of real estate tax hikes. On Monday night, the board unanimously approved a $292 million preliminary 2019-20 spending plan with a $7 million deficit. The board also authorized the administration to apply to the state for exceptions to exceed its 2.8 percent Act 1 Index. But school board President Michael Faccinetto said Tuesday the board hopes to not have to use the loophole, which allows school boards to increase taxes above the ceiling on annual tax hikes for specific categories. In fact, the district thinks it may be able to not increase taxes at all. We are trying to get to zero, Faccinetto said. When the budget was introduced in January, the administration faced an $11 million budget hole. Thats already been scaled down to $7 million without including any new money from the state or tapping into the districts $33 million savings account, Faccinetto noted. That includes everything we wanted to do, the board president said. Gov. Tom Wolfs budget proposal calls for a $3 million increase for Bethlehem. While the district doesnt expect to see the full proposal, $2 million would go a long way, Faccinetto said. In recent years, the district has taken up to $3 million from fund balance to help balance its budget, but thats not included in the current spending proposal, Faccinetto said. He expects the board to back doing that again. With the help of fund balance, natural growth of revenue, real estate tax settlements and new state funding, district officials feel confident they can likely close the gap with little to no tax increase. The board directed the administration Tuesday night to show them a zero tax increase budget at its first budget workshop Wednesday, March 27. The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. in the districts education center, 1516 Sycamore St. Since 2006-07, the districts spending on employee pensions and charter schools have jumped by $58.7 million or 592 percent in the last 14 years. The district is projected to spend $30.7 million on charter schools -- an almost $1 million jump -- next year and $37.8 million on mandated employee pension contributions. Final budget adoption is scheduled for June 17, ahead of the June 30 state deadline. The current $281 million budget began with a $10.7 million deficit and in the end carried an almost 2.5 percent average tax hike. As the Nigerian election draws closer, many people are taking to social media to speak on the need to maintain peace and order in the elections and Funke Akindele is one of them. The beautiful mother of two, has taken to her Instagram page to speak on the need to avoid engaging in violent acts all in the name of election Sharing a cute selfie, she wrote: "Provocation is the cause of major violence in elections in Nigeria. Dont be provoked. Avoid provoking others. Respect everyone. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Lets make 2019 elections safe, secure and credible READ ALSO: Personal letter from the Editor-in-Chief of Legit.ng (former NAIJ.com) PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News on Legit.ng News App Meanwhile, Nollywood actors have taken to showing their support for their preferred Lagos gubernatorial candidate. With music, dance and drama, these artistes went all out to show who their loyalty belongs to. In the same accord, these actors have taken to endorsing their choice presidential candidate. Get the hottest gist on Africa Love Aid HELLO! NAIJ.com (naija.ng) upgrades to Legit.ng We keep evolving to serve our readers better Who are the Nigerian presidential candidates? | Legit TV Source: Legit.ng News - A group known as the Egalitarian Mission says the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, is not a citizen of Nigeria by birth and as such not fit to contest in February 16 presidential election - The Egalitarian Mission argues that none of the parents or grandparents of the PDP presidential candidate was born in Nigeria - The group also contends that Atikus father died a citizen of Northern Cameroon in 1957 prior the referendum that made Northern Cameroon part of Nigeria A group known as the Egalitarian Mission for Africa has asked the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to disqualify the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, from contesting the February 16 presidential election. The Cable reports that the group in a suit alleged that the PDPs presidential candidate is not a citizen of Nigeria by birth and as such not fit to contest in the election. The group argued that when Atiku was born on November 25, 1946, Jada village and other parts of Chamba land in the then Northern Cameroon were still known as British Cameroons. READ ALSO: 2 opinion polls reportedly predict Buhari as winner of presidential election The Egalitarian Mission for Africa also stated that none of Atikus parents or grandparents was born in Nigeria and that Atikus father died a citizen of Northern Cameroon in 1957 prior the referendum of June 1, 1961 that made Northern Cameroon became part of Nigeria. The group among other demands asked the court to determine whether only a Nigeria citizen by birth can contest for the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria according to the provisions of section 131(a) of the constitution. It also demanded for interpretation as to whether section 25 of the 1999 constitution is the sole authority that spells out ways by which a person can become a Nigerian citizen by birth. Among other demands, it requested for: A declaration that by the provisions of Section 131(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), only a Nigerian citizen by birth can contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. A declaration that by the combined interpretation of Sections 25(1) & (2) and 131(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and giving the circumstances surrounding the birth of the 1st Defendant, he cannot be cleared by the 2nd and 3rd Defendants to contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda Joined as second, third and fourth defendants are the PDP, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation respectively. The court is yet to fix hearing for the legal action with was filed days to the February 16, presidential election. The chairman of the group which filed the suit is Olukayode Ajulo, former national secretary of Labour Party who recently declared his support President Muhammadu Buhari, in the presidential election. Meanwhile, the Social Democratic Party in Ughelli south local government of Delta state, on Tuesday, February 12, disclosed that the party was not supporting any other All Progressive Congress candidate apart from President Muhammadu Buhari. The party in a statement issued by its chairman, Jonathan Idoro, the party denied throwing its weight behind the APC House of Repss candidate, Francis Waive. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Idoro said he remained strongly in support of SDPs candidate, Hon. Solomon Awhinawhi, a serving lawmaker at the national parliament. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better. Nigeria Latest News: Buhari vs Atiku - 2019 Elections | Legit TV Source: Legit.ng The Supreme Court has confirmed that the All Progressives Congress will not have candidates in Rivers state during the forthcoming 2019 general elections. Reports by Channel TV claimed that the court dismissed an appeal filed by the APC challenging the judgment of a high court in Port Harcourt. The court earlier barred the party from conducting any primaries in the state to nominate candidates to represent the party in the elections. READ ALSO: 2 opinion polls reportedly predict Buhari as winner of presidential election Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that few days to the forthcoming general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission insisted that the APC in Rivers state has no candidates for the polls. The Court of Appeal had earlier granted stay of execution of the lower court's judgement nullifying all primaries of the APC in the state and restrained the INEC from fielding the party's candidates in the forthcoming general elections. The INEC national commissioner and chairman, voter education and publicity, Festus Okoye, said the commission had taken a position. Okoye, at an interactive meeting with reporters in Abuja, revealed that the position of the commission has not changed in respect of Rivers state APC candidates for the National Assembly and governorship elections. In a related development, the Rivers state chapter of the APC asked the INEC to postpone elections in the state. The APC in Rivers had been disqualified by the electoral commission, from taking part in the elections in the state, over the crisis which affected the partys primaries. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda Following the crisis, two factions of the part emerged in the state; one led by the minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and the other led by Senator Magnus Abe. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service! 2019 Elections: Sirleaf meets with INEC chairman - on Legit TV: Source: Legit Getting a job in Nigeria has become a very tasking ordeal as many graduates spend a long time searching for good employment. This has led to desperation among unemployed graduates. However, despite being anxious, some applicants still like to draw the line. The state of things in Nigeria has almost made it the norm for most graduates to make contacts with people and go for dozens of interviews as they hope to secure a job. In their bid to get a job many youngsters have faced many funny experiences. Legit.ng recently gathered a funny conversation between a potential employer and an impatient job seeker. The youngster, identified as Arresting Yellow, engaged the potential employer, identified on Twitter as @Williams_Oreofe, in a WhatsApp chat and he seemed tired of exchanging pleasantries instead of getting straight to the point. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read the best news about Nigeria From the conversation, it looked like Yellow had been exchanging greetings with the employer for a while and their conversation did not seem ready to take another turn. Obviously fed up with the greetings, Yellow told the employer not to worry about giving him the job. See the funny chat below: Hilarious conversation between an employer and an impatient applicant Photo: @williams_oreofe / Twitter Source: Twitter Williams however seemed surprised at the outburst and he revealed that he had not seen the previous messages, hence replying with a greeting. The employer also seemed to be a bit offended at the applicant telling him not to worry about the job. READ ALSO: Nigerian man loses job opportunity for having 2 mobile phones Yellow finally revealed that he was already tired of the constant greeting. Hilarious conversation between an employer and an impatient applicant Photo: @williams_oreofe / Twitter Source: Twitter Nawa o! Meanwhile Legit.ng previously reported that a 60-year-old woman recently got compensated by her employer after being forced to work on Sundays. Marie Jean Pierre had been awarded N7 billion by a jury after she was dismissed from her duty as a dishwasher at a posh hotel in Miami, USA. It was gathered that the middle-aged woman had been a devout dishwasher at Conrad Hotel for over a decade and since inception of her time of working, had made it clear that she will not work Sundays as she dedicated it to God. READ ALSO: Personal letter from the Editor-in-Chief of Legit.ng (formerly NAIJ.com) HELLO! NAIJ.com (naija.ng) upgrades to Legit.ng We keep evolving to serve our readers better. I have never had to look for a job in my life | Legit TV Source: Legit - The United Nations has re-elected Professor Muhammad-Bande as chair of special committee on peacekeeping - The professor who is the permanent representative of Nigeria to the UN was re-elected in absentia as he was away on another official assignment - The envoy's re-election is expected to strengthen Nigerias leadership at the United Nations Professor Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, the permanent representative of Nigeria to the United Nations (UN), has been re-elected chair of the UN Special Committee on Peacekeeping known as C-34. Muhammad-Bande was re-elected by acclamation at the UN headquarters in New York during opening of the 2019 Session. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Nigerian envoy was re-elected while he was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, attending the on-going African Union summit. Canada was also re-elected as vice-chair, while Argentina, Poland Japan and Egypt were elected as Bureau members. READ ALSO: 2 opinion polls reportedly predict Buhari as winner of presidential election Mohammad-Bandes re-election in absentia was a demonstration of confidence reposed by the UN on Nigeria regarding the envoys ability, personality and charisma within the diplomatic community. His re-election also re-enforced Nigerias standing within the comity of nations in the realm of peacekeeping and contribution to international peace and security. Muhammed-Bandes re-election is expected to strengthen Nigerias leadership at the United Nations and keep the UN more focused on its peacekeeping operations across the world. The committee is the only UN Committee mandated to review comprehensively the whole question of United Nations Peacekeeping operations in all its aspects. It also makes recommendations on enhancing United Nations peacekeeping operations across the world, particularly, some of the pressing issues facing the more than 100,000 military, police and civilian personnel from 125 countries presently serving in 14 operations. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda These include in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Central African Republic and Lebanon, among others. The UN peacekeeping committee helps countries navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace. It has unique strengths, including legitimacy, burden sharing, and an ability to deploy troops and police from around the world, integrating them with civilian peacekeepers to address a range of mandates set by the UN Security Council and General Assembly. Peacekeeping is one among a range of activities undertaken by the United Nations and other international actors to maintain international peace and security throughout the world. The special committee on peacekeeping operations was established in 1965 by the General Assembly in order to review and provide recommendations on United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. The committee consists of 147 member states involved in peacekeeping missions and observing members such as the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol). PAY ATTENTION: Download our mobile app to enjoy the latest news updates Recall that Legit.ng previously reported that the UN condemned the Nigerian government stating that the suspension of Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen as the head of the judiciary by President Muhammadu Buhari breaches international human rights standard. Diego Garcia-Sayan, the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, on Monday, February 11, was quoted as saying: International human rights standards provide that judges may be dismissed only on serious grounds of misconduct or incompetence. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better. FG releases list of looters, Nigerians blow hot (Nigerian Street Interview) | Legit TV Source: Legit Editor's note: The founder and senior pastor of the Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations, an evangelical-charismatic mega church and a christian denomination in Kiev, Ukraine, Pastor Sunday Adelaja, in this interview with Legit.ng, gives 34 reasons President Muhammadu Buhari and the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) would win election on Saturday, February 16, among other issues. How do you like Ukraine, did you notice some striking similarities between the Ukrainian and the Nigerian nations? I have been living in Ukraine for almost twenty-six years. Before then, I lived in Belarus for seven years and I was also in Moscow. So, I have something to compare to. First, I like the fact that Ukrainians are very warm and friendly. They are very accommodating apart from the nationalist I guess. And I like Ukraine mostly because of my experience with Ukrainians in my team and our church has been a huge blessing. It has been a great and good experience. READ ALSO: Most popular pastors enslave people's minds, turn church to money collecting gatherings - Ukraine-based Nigerian pastor (part 2) Is there any similarity between Ukraine and Nigeria? Yes, I think the similarity is in politics. Ukraine politics is almost as corrupt as that of Nigeria with politicians who are more concerned about their selfish interest than that of the ordinary people. But I think in all, Ukraine is still much better than Nigeria. An Ukraine-based pastor Sunday Adelaja. Source: Original This year both of the countries have presidential elections. Nigerians will go to polls on February 16. Could you predict the winner? Is the second round possible? Yes, February 16 will be the presidential elections in Nigeria. I think there will be no second round. I think President Buhari will win clearly and with majority votes. President Buhari has not done the best that most Nigerians expected from him. But, if we are to compare him with the other candidate running against him, AtikuAbubakar, I think most Nigerians will vote for Buhari. He is much better. In one of your blog posts you said: I will not keep quiet - Buhari is not the reason Nigerians are suffering today." Surely, we cannot blame the president for all the bad things and praise for all the positive changes. However, as the #1 citizen, his impact and leverage are the highest. Could you list the reasons? Here is the list of 34 reasons I said Buhari is not the reason Nigerians are suffering today: 1. The PDP got $1 trillion dollars from crude oil sales in 16 years and no visible change in the country. Buhari got $97 billion in three and half years and turned the whole of Nigeria into a giant construction site. 2. It is the PDP that looted Nigeria into recession but Buhari pulled us out of recession in less than 12 months due to smart implementation of brilliant economic policies. 3. Compare Nigeria and Venezuela economy. 4. Thousands of Venezuelan citizens are crossing their land borders into Brazil because of economic hardship. 5. Another example is Cyprus and Greece. 6. The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) miracle. 7. Despite earning 1 trillion Dollars under PDP, Nigeria was still owing $6 Billion Dollars to multinational oil partners leading to job losses. Buhari paid it back in two years. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda 8. The Nigeria Customs Service used to remit disgraceful amounts to the treasury. But now, it is projected that it would remit between N1.5 trillion and N2 trillion Naira in 2018. In 2017, it remitted close to N1.4 trillion to the treasury. 9. The Nigeria Customs now remits about N2 trillion Naira to the treasury instead of about 50 Billion under PDP. 10. The federal inland revenue service now remits around N4 trillion naira per year to the treasury unlike before under GEJ when it used to remit N2 trillion. 11. The implementation of the treasury single account which was conceived by GEJ only started under Buhari and over 4 trillion was accumulated in a year. 12. The implementation of the BVN by President Buhari eliminated 75K ghost workers from the civil service thereby saving Nigeria N200 billion per year. 13. Unlike before when fuel scarcity was a recurring decimal, now under Buhari this problem has been nipped in the bud. 14. The 3K MW Mambila Hydropower project which was conceived decades ago has now received counterpart funding from the FG and it has been awarded to a Chinese construction firm for $5.7 billion. Most of the funds for the project will come from the China Exim Bank. 15. Buhari has recovered looted funds of over N1 trillion looted under the PDP/GEJs 3-year administration and these recoveries were factored into 2017 and 2018 budgets for the FG. 16. Buhari has been able to purchase over a billion-dollar worth of military hardware to fight terrorism. 17. Smuggling, armed robbery and brazen embezzlement of public funds have reduced drastically under President Buhari. 18. Buhari took us from a one-product and oil-dependent economy to a diversified economy. From spending billions of dollars on rice importation and from being the biggest rice-importing nation in the world to becoming the biggest rice producer in Africa and the 6th largest in the world. 19. He is also putting billions of naira in the pockets of Nigerians directly via the rice related anchored borrowers program which has created over 12 million jobs and over 4 million rice millionaire farmers. 20. Cash is paid directly to the poor via the conditional cash transfer of a non-refundable sum of N5k per person per month under Buhari. 10k per person is being paid also under the TraderMoni program and this amount can be scaled up to N100k if the beneficiaries pay back the loan. 21. Over 15m pupils are getting one meal a day with a drink and this has increased school enrolment. 22. Over 4,000 capital projects were included in the 2018 budget alone and Buhari is doing his best to disburse to contractors despite the fact that Saraki reduced the funds for these 4,000 projects by N347b. Buhari has so far spent over 2 trillion naira on roads, bridges, airports, primary health care etc. Instead of 18 Billion spent by Jonathan. 23. 500,000 previously unemployed graduates now have jobs under Buhari N-Power program. 24. Pensioners who were forgotten are now getting paid including ex-staffers of the Nigerian Airways 35 years later. An Ukraine-based pastor Sunday Adelaja. Source: Original 25. Also, ex-service men including those who served under Biafra got paid the gratuity that the FG had been owing them since the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and their pension payments have been regular under Buhari. 26. Thousands of Nigerians who would have continued to die in roads the PDP did not fix for 16 years cannot say Buhari has not made his impact felt considering the fact that over 500 federal roads are currently being fixed by FERMA and the Federal Ministry of Works all under Buhari. 27. There is not one state in Nigeria today where the Federal Government is not executing at least one road project. 28. Difficult or abandoned projects like the 2nd Niger Bridge have been brought back to life. 29. Sections of Ilorin-Jebba, Sokoto to Jeba, Sokoto-iletahave been completed. While progress of works continues nationwide from Jada to Mayo Belwa, Enugu to Port Harcourt, Lagos to Shagamu, Benin to Okene, Lokoja to Abuja, Kano to Maiduguri, Abuja Kaduna, Kano to mention a few. 30. Millions of Nigerians will benefit from the dual carriage standard gauge rail lines scattered around the 6 geopolitical zones of Nigeria. 31. Thousands of artisans and graduates draw on loans of over N50b made available to them through the bank of industry with only their University certificates serving as collateral. 32. Boko Haram used to control 26 local governments in Nigeria but now it controls none. . Paris Club refund and Bail out to all the 36 States for 2 conservative times to the tune of $3B. 33. 20,000 Nigerians rescued from Boko Haram captivity including 100 Chibok girls and 100 Dapchi girls. 34. Jonathan met 64 billion dollars in the foreign reserves of Nigeria Depleted it to 29 billion despite making 383 billion from oil alone. They spent the 383 billion in six year, borrowed 20billion dollars, then went to the reserves to vandalize the reserves Today Buhari with three times less income has been able to increase our foreign reserves to 43 billion, and still executing more projects on ground. The current administration was voted into office promising to defeat corruption and recover the looted funds. How can Nigeria get rid of corruption? It is going to be a long and difficult fight for Nigeria to get rid of corruption. The only way to do it is to first of all change the value systems of the Nigerian people. We need to change our mindset. The government unfortunately right now are not paying keen attention to values. They are rather paying too much attention to the fight against corruption through police and government groups that they had set up. But the only way to get the country out of corruption is first to change the mindset of the people. READ ALSO: Breaking: INEC releases electoral offences ahead of 2019 elections (Full list) Nigeria is competing with South Africa for continents #1 economy title and stabilise its economy pretty well following the slump in oil prices. Will Nigeria eventually become an African superpower? Yes, there is no doubt about it. Nigeria will eventually become Africas superpower. I think the greatest challenge has been this past four-five years. From now on, I think Nigeria will be growing gradually but steadily. Nigeria will eventually fulfill her potentials. Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that six days to presidential election, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, President Muhammadu Buhari's chances of winning the poll has again been boosted with his adoption by the Oyo state chapter of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) as its presidential candidate. The views expressed in this interview/article are the authors own and do not necessarily represent the editorial policy of Legit.ng. Your own opinion articles are welcome at info@corp.legit.ng drop an email telling us what you want to write about and why. Contact us if you have any feedback, suggestions, complaints or compliments. We are also available on Facebook and Twitter. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better. Sowore, Fela Durotoye, Buhari; who will Nigerian youths vote for? | - on Legit TV Source: Legit - The governor of Katsina, Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari is the best option for Nigeria in the coming polls - Masari said that the APC will continue to contain those who try to oppose the president with discipline and honest leadership - The governor said that President Buhari has brought stability in many areas not just in Nigeria, but across west Africa Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina on Monday, February 11, claimed that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is bent on working against President Muhammadu Buhari's efforts to better the lives of youths in Nigeria. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda Speaking at the Government House in the state, Masari alleged that the PDP's quest to return to power is aimed at repeating is its mistake for 16 years, Leadership reports. The governor said: As human beings, we easily forget, otherwise the continuation of APC with President Muhammadu Buhari is the best thing that can happen to our country and Africa in general. It has brought stability not only to Nigeria but also along West Africa and some parts of Central African Republics. Those forces of integration are still alive, waiting for an opportunity to rear their ugly heads and we can only contain them with discipline, sincere and honest leadership. He further claimed that the PDP established insecurity, looting and lack of order, adding that the Buhari-led federal government is a stark difference from what obtained under the opposition party. What Buhari is doing is to bring Nigeria to a level that it can be easily managed, but certainly anybody who is thinking of any reversal does not know the consequences or appreciate them. PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet! "A situation we left in 2015 can best be described by the people of North East, in particular, Borno, Yobe and Taraba states. What Buhari is doing is in the best interest of the nation, Masari said. Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that the PDP Presidential Campaign Organization (PPCO) said that President Buhari should not bother with any New Year message, stating that the president had nothing to offer Nigerians after his promise of more hardship in the coming year. President Muhammadu Buhari delivered a new year message to Nigerians on Tuesday, January 1, 2019. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service! How Fashola, Adesina, others exposed Buhari in new video | Legit TV How Fashola, Adesina, others exposed Buhari in new video | Legit TV Source: Legit Flash Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Monday that as a solid and trustful NATO member state, Hungary can have good relations with China and Russia. The minister made the remarks when meeting with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a joint press conference held here. Szijjarto said that Hungary's exports to China only account for 1.2 percent of those from the European Union (EU), and German and British companies are the main partners of China in the EU. As for Russia, the minister asked the critics of Hungary to stop "being hypocritical," as "the North-stream gas line with Russia was being built by German firms, and not Hungarians." Szijjarto said the economic and defense cooperation between Hungary and the United States had existed before, but a new rebuilding of ties started in political relations since the Trump administration. "Our governments share similar approach on many political, international issues," Szijjarto said. "Patriotic politics, national interest come first, and it is our fundamental duty to guarantee the security of our own citizens." Pompeo warned its NATO ally Hungary about having too close relations with Russia and China. "Autocratic Russia has never been a friend of any small Central European nations during the last 300 years," Pompeo said. "The previous administration was a no-show," Pompeo added. "For decades we have done nothing, and it is no wonder that in the void, the competition came in." Pompeo had a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The top U.S. diplomat is on a Central European tour, visiting Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. - Kogi central senatorial candidate has petitioned the United Nations Women wing on harassment and intimidation she faces in the state - Natasha Akpoti who is contesting for the Kogi central senatorial seat under the platform of Social Democratic Party (SDP) accused the state governor and his aides of continuous vituperation on her and her campaign team - The petition alleged the detention of the candidates supporters while the security agencies in the state look away A female senatorial candidate in Kogi state has petitioned the United Nations Women over alleged harassment and intimidation from the Kogi state governor, Yahaya Bello, his chief of staff, Edward Onoja and director of media and publicity, Kingsley Fanwo. Natasha Akpoti through the Natasha Akpoti Campaign organisation accused the Kogi state governor and his aides of continuous vituperation on her and her campaign team. The petition signed by director general of the organisation, Mohammed Sadiq, described Akpoti as a candidate to emerge victorious in the forthcoming senatorial election in Kogi central. The petition also said that Akpoti's capacity can be deduced from her high profile and popularity among the people of Kogi central which become a source of concern and nightmare to Governor Yahaya Bello-led administration. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda Sadiq alleged that the governor has at many times vowed to use violence and intimidation to suppress Akpoti in the forthcoming election. The petition also said that it is on record that the state government sponsored attacks on Natasha Akpoti's supporters, killing and maiming them, destroying her political bill board and illegally arresting. It also alleged the detention of the candidates supporters while the security agencies in the state look away despite Akpoti's various petitions to the leadership of these agencies in the state and the federal government of Nigeria. The petition further alleged that, after failing to stop the risen profile of Natasha, the agents of the state government resorted to blackmail, making offensive and derogatory comments about her personality to tarnish her image and influence the people to turn against her. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app It disclosed that Edward Onoja went to the Facebook page of Natasha Akpoti and openly used a derogatory comments on her while Fanwo made derogatory comments on Natasha on the instruction of Governor Bello and administrator of Okehi local government, Abdulraheem Ohiare. Finally, the organisation in the petition called on the office of United Nations Women wing to come to the defense of Natasha Akpoti and draw the attention of the federal government to the plight of the senatorial candidate and that of young women in Nigeria who have been abused serially for standing for their constitutional rights. Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that a supporter of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Kashim Abdulrasheen, has narrated a horrific details to the killing of his elder brother, Ojo Enesi, by some thugs allegedly hired by the ruling All Progressives Congress Party (APC) in Kogi state. Kashim, 23, said he was in the house with Enesi, an SDP youth leader in Obeiba Ihima, Okehi local government area of Kogi state when was shot dead. Speaking to journalists in Abuja, Kashim who said he was able to identify one of the alleged killers said the thugs had knocked on their door calling for his brother on Saturday, January 12. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better. Nigeria news: IDPs in Plateau getting ready for the elections | Legit TV Source: Legit.ng - The EFCC has detained Babachir Lawal, the former secretary general of the federation - Lawal is facing a 10-count charge filed against him by the anti-graft commission - The former SGF will be arraigned at the high court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on February 12 Ahead of his arraignment at the FCT high court, the former Secretary General of the Federation (SGF) Babachir Lawal has been detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The Nation reports that Lawal, who is facing a 10-count charge, will be arraigned on Tuesday, February 12, along with five other defendants. Those to be arraigned with the former SGF are: Hamidu David Lawal; Sulaiman Abubakar; Apeh John Monday; Rholavision Engineering Limited and Josmon Technologies Limited. READ ALSO: We will liberate Kwara from Saraki - Tinubu All the suspects will face trial for alleged N544, 119, 925.36 for the removal of Invasive plant species and simplified irrigation. On the charge sheet against Lawal, the EFCC accused the former SGF of holding indirectly a private interest in the contract awarded to Rholavision Engineering Limited and Josmon Technologies Ltd by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) through the Presidential Initiative for North East (PINE)." The charges read in parts: That you Engineer Babachir David Lawal while being the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and a director of Rholavision Engineering Ltd on or about the 22nd August, 2016 at Abuja did knowingly hold indirectly a private interest in the contract awarded to Josmon Technologies Ltd but executed by Rholavision Engineering Ltd for the removal of invasive plant species and simplified irrigation to the tune of N258,132,735.00 by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) through the Presidential Initiative for North East (PINE) and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 12 of the Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act, 2000." Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to prosecute leaders in the All Progressives Congress (APC) that are allegedly corrupt. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app The director, media and publicity, PDP presidential campaign organisation, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement on Tuesday, January 22, asked the president to go beyond the former SGF and former director general of the National Intelligence Agency, and prosecute other leaders of his party who have been indicted of corruption. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better! We are honestly tired of Buhari and Atiku | - on Legit TV Source: Legit.ng - Senate President Bukola Saraki says Bola Tinubu continues to bear grudges against him because he (Saraki) stopped the ambitions of the APC national leader from becoming the vice-presidential candidate of the APC in 2015 - Saraki says he is proud of his role in stopping Tinubus ambition and is not bothered that the APC leader continues to nurse grudges over the issue - The Senate president faults the comments made about him at the APC presidential campaign rally in Ilorin, Kwara state The Senate president, Bukola Saraki, has said he stopped the APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, from realising his ambitions of becoming the vice-presidential candidate of the APC in 2015. Saraki said the role he played by opposing the Muslim-Muslim ticket idea in 2015 and eventually stopping Tinubus ambition is the reason the APC national leader continues to bear grudges against him, Vanguard reports. The Senate leader made the claim in a statement issued on Monday, February 11, through his media aide, Yusuph Olaniyonu, shortly after the APC rally in Kwara state, where the party called on the people to free themselves from the clutches of Saraki. READ ALSO: Election: Anyone sponsoring political thuggery will face the wrath of law - FG warns He noted that he was proud of his role in stopping Tinubus ambition and was not bothered that the APC leader continues to nurse grudges over the issue which he said was prompted by national interest. As for Tinubu, we have never expected any good words from him. All his life, he will continue to belly ache and nurse grudges over my opposition to the Muslim-Muslim ticket idea in 2015. As far as he is concerned, I stopped him from realizing his ambition then, Saraki said. "However, I believe my action then and now is in pursuit of national interest. Again, I supported President Buhari in 2015 because I believe he could make a positive change. I left the party when I realized he lacked the capacity and the desire to make any change. Saraki faulted the comments made about him at the APC presidential campaign rally in Ilorin, Kwara state and insisted that the APC lose the presidential and National Assembly elections on February 16. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda However, let me make it clear that what Tinubu and his putative party chairman, Oshiomhole did today is to insult the people of Kwara State who are independent minded, forward looking, assertive and God-fearing. On Saturday, the APC will be punished for their bad behaviour. Kwarans will tell them that they cannot take dictates from power mongers, pretenders and hypocrites. The people of Kwara State will never take dictates from selfish individuals. Their evil design will be thwarted on Saturday and March 2, he stated. Legit.ng had reported that the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu urged the mammoth crowd and party supporters at the Ilorin rally to liberate Kwara from the clutches of Bukola Saraki, in the forthcoming general elections. Tinubu, a former Governor of Lagos, made this call on Monday at the APC Presidential Campaign rally in Ilorin, Kwara. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the rally was attended by President Muhammadu Buhari, who led other APC stalwarts including, Chief Bisi Akande, Abdullahi Adamu, the Party National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole and others to the gathering. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better. Saraki is key to Atiku winning in 2019 - Primate Ayodele| Legit TV Source: Legit - President Buhari has praised Vice President Osinbajo over his role in sustaining the APC-led administration - The president affirmed that Osinbajo is a great asset to Nigeria's economic recovery - Buhari also noted that Nigeria had attained food security under his watch President Muhammadu Buhari has extolled the virtues of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, and his pivotal role in delivering on the change agenda in the last four years. Legit.ng reports that Buhari gave the commendation on Monday, February 11, at a meeting with Ogun state traditional rulers led by Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo. The president particularly lauded Osinbajos role as the head of the National Economic Council (NEC). The presidents special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, in a statement in Abuja, said the president responded to the vice presidents presentation at the meeting on the economic outlook in the country in the last four years and how the APC-led administration had done more with less resources. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda President Buhari said: He (Osinbajo) being the chairman of NEC is in a very strong position to know what we are earning and what we are doing with the earnings. I am very pleased with his vast experience and intellect. He has captured effectively what the administration has done and I commend him for playing a very great part in that. Thank you, Mr Vice President." The president told the traditional rulers that in all the states he had visited so far for his reelection bid, he had taken time to explain to Nigerians the achievements, programmes and future plans of his government in the three key areas of economy, security and anti-corruption. On the promises on security, I have mentioned repeatedly that the people of the North East appreciate our undertakings because you cannot manage a country unless it is secure. We have succeeded in that and we thank God," he said. The president noted that Nigeria had attained food security under his watch, adding that many farmers had testified that fertilisers had been made available and affordable. Fighting corruption is the most difficult under our system but we have not given up. We are steadfast in our determination to ensure that those who abuse trust are brought before the law and punished," he said. READ ALSO: 2019: I will begin restructuring Nigeria after May 29 - Atiku He appealed to the traditional rulers to prevail on their subjects to be law abiding and show respect to constituted authority during and after the elections. I am happy for what you have done on voter education so that your people can choose whoever they like from whatever party, he said. In his remarks, Oba Gbadebo assured the president that Ogun people would give him more than 60 percent of the votes in the state to guarantee his reelection and that of their son, the vice president on February 16. He hinged Ogun peoples support for President Buhari on his commitment to the welfare of the masses, reflected in the array of well-conceived, executed and various ongoing projects that abound all over the country. The Oba announced that Ogun state had been a major beneficiary of federal government projects, listing the Lagos-Ibadan expressway that passes through 80 percent of the State, Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge fast train, the latest technology in train movement the world over, among others. It was my privilege to have been part of the passengers on the trial run on the Lagos-Abeokuta stretch of the rail on Friday, February 8, 2019. Generations unborn will continue to thank your Administration for taking the bull by the horns, Oba Gbadebo said. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, on Sunday, February 10, paid a courtesy visit to Ayangburen of Ikorodu, Oba Kabiru Shotobi, in continuation of his house-to-house campaign in Lagos state. Osinbajo highlighted some of the achievements of the APC in the last few years and urged residents to go out en-masse and vote for the partys candidates during the upcoming general elections. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better. 2019 Elections: Sirleaf Meets With INEC Chairman | - on Legit TV Source: Legit - PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has revealed the first thing he would do if he wins presidential election - The former vice president said he would begin restructuring of Nigeria after May 29 - According to Atiku, his administration would complete the dredging of old Port Harcourt and Onne sea ports if he wins the polls The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 elections, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has re-affirmed his commitment to restructuring if elected on February 16. Legit.ng reports that Atiku gave the assurance while addressing thousands of party faithful at a presidential rally at the Adokiye Amiesimaka stadium in Port Harcourt on Monday, February 11. The PDP presidential candidate who was accompanied by his running mate, Peter Obi, and other leaders of the party promised to uphold the rule of law. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda He said: If you (masses) elect PDP and Atiku into office; I will restructure Niger Delta and all other parts of the country. We must restructure the country. Secondly, after the Obasanjo/Atiku administration started the East West highway project; till today it has not been completed. It has not been completed because we did not vote PDP to continue in power in 2015. The project has been haunted till today. We are going to complete it, if voted into power." Atiku said that his administration would complete the dredging of old Port Harcourt and Onne sea ports if he wins February 16 presidential polls. According to him, Rivers state, Niger Delta and south-south had been abandoned by the administration since 2015, notwithstanding being the economic hub of the country. Every development that the people of south-south, Niger Delta and Rivers have gotten was done by PDP-led governments. The roads, schools, hospitals and water, among others were provided by PDP. I assure you that I will protect the constitution, protect separation of powers and will not interfere with the National Assembly and Judiciary because I believe in checks and balances. My administration will uphold rule of law and will never allow the rule of law to be trampled by anybody, he promised. Also speaking, former president Goodluck Jonathan called on the people of the state to come out enmass to vote PDP at all levels. READ ALSO: 2019 election: Buhari, Atiku to meet at Murtala Muhammed memorial lecture He said that nepotism, divisiveness, discrimination, factionalism, favouritism, sectionalism and killings had now become prevalent in the country. All of us know that things that had never been happening in this country have been happening since 2015. Nigerians can attest if the country has gone forward, backward or static. We cannot as a nation continue to stay where we currently are. We believe the only person out of the candidates who can lead us out if this quagmire is Atiku. If your son or daughter is qualified to become Inspector-General of Police and Chief of Army Staff, he or she will be appointed. No one will be discriminated. Atiku will lead Nigeria forward, he said. Senate president and director general of Atiku presidential campaign, Bukola Saraki, said that Atiku had experience to take the country to greater heights. He said that poverty and unemployment had reached an all-time high never seen in the country since its independence in 1960. There is poverty in the land and Nigerians are tired of poverty. The people want a man who can bring economic prosperity and that man is Atiku, he said. On his part, PDP national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, assured the people of victory at the polls. He expressed optimism that Atiku would win the north western states of Jigawa, Kebbi, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto and Zamfara. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app If you want a president that will work for 24 hours daily, a president with capacity and energy and a president who will be in charge and take responsibility, then vote Atiku, he appealed. Highlight of the rally was the adoption of Governor Nyesom Wike as gubernatorial candidate by 58 political parties in the state. Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that a northern youth group, Northern Youth Stakeholders Forum (NYSF), adopted Atiku as its preferred candidate for the forthcoming presidential election. The group made the affirmation on Saturday, February 9, during its northwest zonal town hall meeting, held at Mambayya House in Kano. The group say they are following the footsteps of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) who earlier endorsed Atiku. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better. How Fashola, Adesina, others exposed Buhari in new video | - on Legit TV Source: Legit.ng News - The United Nations (UN) says the Nigerian government erred in the suspension of Walter Onnoghen - The UN claims that the federal government went against the international human rights standard with its action - The international body says some judges and lawyers opposing the suspension are being threatened The United Nations (UN) has berated the Nigerian government stating that the suspension of Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen as the head of the judiciary by President Muhammadu Buhari breaches international human rights standard. Aljazeera quoted Diego Garcia-Sayan, the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, on Monday, February 11, as saying: International human rights standards provide that judges may be dismissed only on serious grounds of misconduct or incompetence. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda "Any decision to suspend or remove a judge from office should be fair and should be taken by an independent authority such as a judicial council or a court. The report said Diego Garcia-Sayan, mandated by the UN human rights council to investigate legal and judicial independence, lamented that sending judges packing without following the due process is an abuse of the independence of the judiciary. The UN alleged that some of the judges and the defence lawyers involved in Onnoghen's case had been facing serious threats, pressures and interference. Legit.ng earlier reported that the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) accused the National Judicial Council (NJC) of conniving with the presidency to retire Justice Walter Onnoghen and recommend Justice Tanko Mohammed as the substantive CJN. Reports by Guardian claim that the council had earlier fixed Monday, February 11, to consider responses from Justices Onnoghen and Tanko over the petitions written against them. In a statement issued in Abuja through its spokesperson, Ikenga-Imo Ugochinyere, the group said: "The compromised draft resolution contains the decision that the suspended Onnoghen be forcefully retired while Justice Mohammed be confirmed as the substantive CJN. PAY ATTENTION: Download our mobile app to enjoy the latest news updates "It also contains the defence of Justice Tanko that as at the time he made himself available in the villa to be sworn in as acting CJN, he did not have much of a choice as security operatives were detailed to bring him to the Villa on his way from the Mosque. "The acting chairman of NJC, Justice Abdullahi has already sealed a deal with the presidency and has already commenced his role of persuading members of the NJC to support the government and adopt the resolution." NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better. Onnoghen's Trial is Politically Motivated - APRJ | Legit TV Source: Legit Flash US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo started his five-nation tour in Europe on Monday to counter the so-called China and Russia influence, but experts said those nations should be free to make their own decisions. In a news release about the trip on Sunday, the US State Department said that the United States is committed to increasing its diplomatic, military, commercial and cultural engagement with Central Europe "in order to strengthen the region's ties with the West as it faces increased pressure from Russia and China". "Our efforts at diplomatic engagement are aimed at competing for positive influence and giving allies in the region an indication of US support and interest in order to have alternatives to China and Russia," said a senior US administration official who briefed the press about the trip. Pompeo, a former CIA chief, will visit Hungary, Slovakia and Poland before wrapping up his trip with brief stops in Brussels, Belgium, and Reykjavik, Iceland, on Friday. One of Pompeo's missions is to lobby the European nations not to include China's Huawei Technologies, one of the world's top telecom equipment manufacturers, in their development of 5G networks. US diplomats have been aggressively lobbying across Europe lately to hype up a national security threat posed by Huawei without providing any evidence. Huawei has denied all the US allegations, saying it has a clean record in cybersecurity. While facing challenges in its development in the US, Huawei has witnessed rapid expansion in recent years in many European nations, most of which see China as a partner rather than a geopolitical rival like the US does. Shen Dingli, a professor of international relations at Shanghai-based Fudan University, believes those countries could make decisions by themselves. "Those countries shall be able to make their own judgment on national interest, welcoming foreign investment, including from China, while being sensitive to their information security," Shen told China Daily on Monday. During his visit to those Central European countries, Pompeo will also voice US concerns about their energy ties with Russia. He is likely to urge Hungary not to support the Turk-Stream pipeline, part of the Moscow's plans to bypass Ukraine, the main transit route for Russian gas to Europe. Hungary receives most of its gas from Russia and its main domestic source of electricity is the Paks nuclear power plant in central Hungary where Russia's Rosatom is involved in a 12.5 billion-euro ($14 billion) expansion. The trip by a top US diplomat will remind people how those central European nations are often overlooked by the US. Even US government officials described Pompeo's trip as "overdue". Pompeo's visit to Bratislava, Slovakia, on Tuesday will be the first such high-level US visit to the country in more than 15 years. During the Central Europe trip, Pompeo will also focus his attention on a US conference titled "Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East", a two-day event on Feb 13-14 in Warsaw. US Vice-President Mike Pence will attend the meeting. At the meeting, Washington will try to ramp up pressure on Iran. The European Union, which has criticized the US government for quitting the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, has voiced its determination to stick to the agreement. Hungary and Poland are the subjects of EU disciplinary proceedings, charged with putting the bloc's fundamental values at risk. The European Parliament has accused Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government of attacks on the media, minorities, and the rule of lawcharges which Orban has denied. The EU has also charged Poland with eroding the independence of the judiciary. The proposed Rock Island Trail would undoubtedly put Missouri on the map as an unrivaled hiking/biking trail state: joined with the popular Katy Trail, it would create a 400-mile loop unlike any other in the United States. But plans for the former rail line, owned by Missouri Central Railroad, have dragged on for years, while the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) weighs whether to accept the land for trail development. The trail promises huge benefits for Missouri communities, even in the Lake of the Ozarks area, but also comes with a weighty set of liabilities. As MDNR and Missouri Central Railroad continue negotiating, they've bought another six months from the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. On Feb. 7, 2019, the U.S. Surface Transportation Board approved a request submitted by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and Missouri Central Railroad seeking an additional 180 days to negotiate an agreement to railbank 144 miles of the former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad corridor stretching from Windsor to Beaufort, Missouri. The Surface Transportation Board is a federal adjudicatory board responsible for economic regulatory oversight of railroads. On January 19, 2018, the Surface Transportation Board granted a one year extension to the current Notice of Interim Trail Use. This required the parties to conclude negotiations by Feb. 21, 2019. But a spokesperson for Missouri State Parks said the negotiations are still active and ongoing, so the Surface Transportation Board extended the deadline again. To learn more about the process and what's taking so long, visit Missouri State Parks' Rock Island page online. We are glad to know the Surface Transportation Board has granted the extension." said Mike Sutherland, deputy division director of Missouri State Parks. "This will allow us to continue talking with Missouri Central Railroad Company. The corridor could be an asset, but we have to look at many aspects, including potential costs. Sutherland also told LakeExpo.com that Missouri State Parks has a foundational commitment to not siphoning off money from the state's other parks in order to make the Rock Island Trail happen. Because the trail is estimated to cost between $6585 million to build, and over $500,000 per year to maintain, money is the main object. The extension request emphasized the importance of preserving the Rock Island Line corridor and recognized the significant size, liabilities, costs, benefits and opportunities of undertaking trail sponsorship. The request also indicated that Missouri State Parks and the Missouri Central Railroad Company are committed to working toward the goal of signing an Interim Trail Use Agreement in the future, if mutually agreeable terms can be reached. We are open to being a trail sponsor as long as it doesnt impact the rest of the system." said Ben Ellis, division director of Missouri State Parks. "This trail would take lots of money and people. We are looking for help to support it. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Missouri Central Railroad Company now have until Aug. 20, 2019, to enter into an Interim Trail Use Agreement and provide notice of that agreement to the Surface Transportation Board. For more information about Missouri State Parks and Historic Sites, visit the web at mostateparks.com. Missouri State Parks is a division of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Rome, February 12 - Moses Pendleton, who in 1980 founded the dance troupe Momix, said the group's newest show, "Alice", was inspired by the world "beyond the looking glass" created by Lewis Carroll. Pendleton likened the show to "a journey inside the white rabbit's den". "It's a trip into the depths of our unconscious, a journey that you don't know whether it will be pleasant or unpleasant, but that's inevitable for rebirth, for growth," he said. The new show will have its world premiere in Rome from February 20 through March 3, to close the 9th edition of the International Festival of Dance sponsored by the Rome Philharmonic Academy and Teatro Olimpico theatre. Pendleton said Alice is a character that's "inside each of us". "I see Alice as an invitation to invent, to open oneself to the impossible," Pendleton said. After its debut in Rome, the show will travel to Trieste from March 6-10, Cremona on March 16 and 17, and Turin from March 20-24, before taking off for a world tour. Pendleton said he and his former partner and Momix co-director Cynthia Quinn didn't go in search of Alice, but rather "she came to find us". He said the idea came after Momix was asked to perform a small show at the launch of last year's Pirelli calendar, which was dedicated to Alice. In the magical world of Momix, four dancers will play Alice, wearing white costumes and long, light blonde wigs. Pendleton said it's a way to let the audience project onto the character any changes or deconstructions they can imagine, "facilitating a dreamlike vision". He said that principle applies to everything in the show. "The Cheshire Cat, who appears and disappears, we show with projections of cats and little by little they all come together to form a Chinese dragon, and then they transform into a large spiral, undertaking metamorphoses of dreams both a bit sweet and a bit dark," he said. Although the show is called simply "Alice", Pendleton said first he had considered calling it "Alice Underground", which was Lewis Carroll's first title for Alice in Wonderland, which he later rejected. Flash The Japanese government will launch the process of selecting a drone in fiscal 2019, which starts on April 1. The country plans to include three maritime surveillance drones in the procurement program for fiscal years 2019 to 2023 and 20 more drones after that. This is part of the country's efforts to add artificial intelligence and drones to its defense capabilities, according to Japanese media. Japan is joining other global powers in competition for developing and deploying AI in military contexts. Tokyo has released an AI technology strategy with a three-phase plan to achieve a true AI ecosystem. Building on successes in robotics, the Japanese government envisions joining AI with other advanced technologies, such as the internet of things, autonomous vehicles and the blending of cyberspace and physical space. In fiscal 2021, Japan's Air Self-Defense Force will deploy the US-made Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle and establish a special unit to handle the drones. An underwater drone will be developed for the Maritime SDF to gather information. Japan's new defense guidelines, which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet approved in December, envisage the establishment of space and cyberdefense units, while the application of AI will be expanded. Japan wants to use advanced technologies, such as AI, in part to compensate for its low birthrate and population decline. The country will also set up an unmanned aircraft department to enable permanent control of its air space and information gathering in "remote regions". Other countries and organizations, including the United States, Russia, China, Australia, Canada, Denmark, the European Union Commission, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Nordic-Baltic region, Poland, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, have some sort of AI strategy. To the degree that AI includes more players, it increases the "risk that countries may put aside the safety and reliability concerns" that experts have expressed given AI's capacity for social and political disruption, according to a study released by the Washington-based think tank Center for a New American Security last year. 'Enormous benefits' In November at the Web Summit, Europe's biggest tech conference, in Lisbon, Portugal, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres praised the "enormous benefits" of new technology. He also warned that it would be "morally repugnant" if the world fails to ban autonomous machines capable of killing people without human involvement. US politicians have played up the "threat" of AI weapons from China and Russia. They have criticized the US Congress and the Trump administration for not paying sufficient attention to AI. The US government's investment in AI, in their words, has been essentially flat. A report published by the Subcommittee on Information Technology of the US House Committee on Oversight and Reform expressed concerns about the prospect of Russia or China overtaking the US in AI. "AI is likely to have a significant impact in cybersecurity, and American competitiveness in AI will be critical to ensuring the United States does not lose any decisive cybersecurity advantage to other nation states," the report said. The Congressional Research Service, the in-house independent think tank of the US Congress, released a report in November detailing the future of military uses of robotics and artificial intelligence. According to the report, Russia and China are "aggressively pursuing" advanced robotic and AI weapons systems "that could be used against US forces". Meanwhile, the US military is looking to introduce robotic tanks and autonomous cargo vehicles. It is also looking into something called the Fully Autonomous First Wave Concept, which would involve "robotic and autonomous aerial, amphibious and ground platforms ...employed as the first wave of an amphibious assault," the CRS report said. But a 2018 white paper on the state of AI in China, released by Chinese organizations including the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence, found that the US is a hotbed of AI talent. The US has more than 13,000 top AI researchers, compared with only 5,000 in China. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 12) The police have captured a notorious Abu Sayyaf member involved in kidnapping and bombing, including the 2012 bus explosion in Kidapawan. Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde on Tuesday said Abdurahman Mataud Daiyung was arrested during a joint police and military operation in Ermita, Manila on January 10. He said Daiyung was also involved in the 2001 kidnapping of 15 employees of a plantation in Basilan for which he is charged in seven separate criminal cases. South Africa: No plans to close Rhodes due to water crisis Rhodes University has refuted reports that it is about to shut down due to a water crisis. Contrary to recent media reports, Rhodes University is not about to shut down. Treated water is being supplied from Settlers Dam. While the dam level is very low, the university is closely monitoring the situation and has thrown its full weight behind the plan to prolong this supply for as long as possible, as per the water crisis plan released by the municipality, the university said in a statement. The university said a plan has been developed for a scenario where Settlers Dam were to run dry, in which case, treated water will be supplied to the entire city on a rotational basis from Glen Melville Dam via the James Kleynhans Water Treatment Works (JKWTW). The university said it has been working closely with various arms of government and Makana Municipality to get JKWTW functioning optimally prior to the potential Settlers Dam outage. The university is obviously concerned about the recent shut down of JKWTW due to inflows of highly turbid water and is liaising with the relevant authorities in this regard. The university is also assisting with the supply of clean water to communities on the eastern side of town, the university said. Regarding the statement issued by Rhodes University Vice Chancellor, Dr Sizwe Mabizela, which states that Rhodes University will have to close its doors, the university noted that attention is drawn to the fact that the original statement indicates that this will only happen in the absence of reasonable water sources. The university said it is monitoring the situation very closely. TUT suspends activities in campuses Meanwhile, activities at Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria West and Arcadia campuses have been suspended following protest action on Tuesday morning. Campuses in Pretoria, Ga-Rankuwa, Arts, Arcadia and eMalahleni experienced disruptions on Monday due to issues predominantly related to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and student accommodation. The university said the management will engage with student representatives about issues put forward for each of the affected campuses. No incidents were reported at the Soshanguve or Polokwane Campuses on Monday, and activities were expected to resume on Tuesday. The Mbombela campus remains closed until further notice following protest action experienced there last week. The university apologises for the inconvenience caused and will issue regular updates as verified information is received, the university said. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-02-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Turin, February 12 - More than 700,000 glue sticks imported from China have been seized across Italy by tax police from Turin because they contain banned substances, sources said Tuesday. Ten businessmen, Italian and Chinese, have been cited in the probe. Strasbourg, February 12 - The European Parliament gave a 'fail' mark to Premier Giuseppe Conte's maiden speech to the Strasbourg assembly on Tuesday with one caucus leader calling him a "puppet" of his deputy premiers, Luigi Di Maio and Matteo salvini. "I wonder how much longer you will be the puppet moved by Salvini and Di Maio," Liberals leader Guy Verhofstadt asked Conte in the EP plenary assembly. Verhofstadt also said Di Maio had "abused" his office by meeting with French Yellow Vests protesters last week. Verhofstadt told Conte: "I'll speak in Italian, I'm in love with Italy, for me it is a country, it is an entire civilisation, Italy is where our European civilisation was born... "That is why it hurts me to see Italy's political degeneration, which did not start yesterday, or a year ago, but 20 years ago. "This beautiful country has become, from a convinced defender of Europe, a laggard in the Union". European Socialists and Democrats caucus leader Udo Bullmann said "I am very saddened by the senseless escalation between Italy and France. In contexts like this no one comes out a winner, it is a classic lose-lose situation" after France recalled its ambassador due to "unprecedented" attacks and DI Maio's meeting with the Yellow Vests. Bullmann said on his recent visit to Catania on the Sea Watch migrant standoff, and on Conte's speech to the EP, that "this is not the Italy that we know, the Italy we know is that of (European founding father Altiero) Spinelli". He said "your government must stop showing us this inhuman face (on migrants)". European People's Party (EPP) leader Manfred Weber commented on Conte's speech by saying "on Venezuela Guaido has asked Italy to recognise him, I think you should answer Guaido if you think there should be a common European approach". The barbs brought a sharp response from League leader Salvini. "That some European bureaucrats, accomplices to the disaster of these years, dare to insult the Italian premier, government and people is really disgraceful", he said. "The European elites (are) against the choices of citizens. Get your boxes ready, on May 26 (in the European elections) the citizens will finally send these people home". Premier Conte told the parliament that Europe had not yet been able to build a European people and that European politics lost touch with people after the economic crisis of 2007-8. He added that the Dublin migrant rule reform was unsustainable and that a single EU seat at the United Nations Security Council was needed. Conte told the Strasbourg parliament that the construction of a 'European people' has seen "significant moments of advancement" but "we still haven't succeeded in really becoming a 'people', we haven't had the courage to build an inclusive model that, realistically, beyond all rhetoric, could favour the creation of a European demos." "European politics, faced with an unprecedented economic crisis, withdrew in fear inside the cold grammar of procedures, ending up by progressively losing contact with its people and making ever more unbridgeable the distance, which is not only geographical, between Brussels and the continent's many peripheries," the Italian premier said. "Politics gave up its legitimating and representative function, appearing - in the eyes of citizens - distant and 'oligarchic'." Conte added that "no European Member State can play a significant role on its own. "Hence the hope that a united European voice may find space also at the UN Security Council. "It is a battle, this one, on which the European Union must move in a coordinated way, it must speak with a single voice. "The European Union must be able to speak to the world. A strong, ambitious and coherent Europe is above all necessary to improve its capacity of talking to the United States". Conte said that "faced with the massacre of human lives we must all together wage a fight on traffickers without quarter. let us stop remaining divided, giving in to nationalist or regionalist logic, and let us try to put into practice an authentic solidarity. "The proposal to reform the Dublin Regulation, approved in November 2017, is not sustainable in the present EU. There prevails, unfortunately, the unwillingness of the majority of States to participate in compulsory (quotas)." Conte added that "the inadequate and insufficient solidarity inside the EU also explains why Europe is struggling and is late on being fairer and more social. "The new European legislature must pursue with greater decision and as an urgent priority the fight against unemployment and support for growth...The EU's economic governance must take account of the need to balance growth and stability". European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen reacted to Conte's speech by saying "Europe proceeds and gives its best when Italy and the Italian people are at the centre, this must represent a guide for us. "In order to build a future of European success we need a strong Italy at its centre, we must build together our future in unity and solidarity working always with each other and not against each other, speaking together". European Parliament President Antonio Tajani responded to Conte's saying the Dublin Regulation reform is unsustainable by saying "we ask you for a further commitment in the next meetings of the Council so that the proposals of the EU parliament are accepted, perhaps by finding some compromise on the Dublin reform." He stressed the importance of involving member States "in the choices in favour of strengthening the Parliament's powers". In his reply, on migrants, Conte said "Italy has decided to apply a line of greater rigour, we say so with our heads held high and we affirm it with force, because we have concluded that we must not banalise and this is the only effective road to combat human trafficking". Conte said that "a safe port means only that the disembarkation is in Italy, this is not OK. All must take part in this mechanism of solidarity. Even countries that say they are willing to take part (in this mechanism) are only doing so with those who are entitled to humanitarian protection. Economic migrants remain where they disembark". Cone also said Italy is not isolated on Venezuela. Italy, he said, "is not isolated, it contributed to the communique of the High Commissioner and the entire EU on January 26 and it was recognised that my intervention was decisive". He said "many people want to anticipate history (but) prudence would be necessary. We don't know what the evolution of the crisis will be, Italy has clear ideas and is not alone". Conte said Rome had not recognised last year's presidential elections and had called for new elections. "Having said that we do not think we can crown anyone who does not pass through free elections". Conte said earlier Tuesday his meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker "went very well and President Juncker will come to Rome on April 1". The meeting lasted about half an hour. "We did not talk about France, but we spoke about various issues," said Conte. Asked why a fresh meeting was needed in Rome, Conte replied: "He loves Italy". European Commission Spokesperson Margaritis Schinas told journalists the talks had been "constructive" and "wide-ranging". Rome, February 12 - Centre-right Forza Italia (Fi) leader and three-time former premier Silvio Berlusconi said Tuesday that only 5-6 Italians out of 100 voted for him, "something out of this world, the Italians are almost all out of their minds, they should look in the mirror." Strasbourg, February 12 - The European Parliament gave a 'fail' mark to Premier Giuseppe Conte's maiden speech to the Strasbourg assembly on Tuesday with one caucus leader calling him a "puppet" of his depuuty premiers, Luigi Di Maio and Matteo salvini. "I wonder how much longer you will be the puppet moved by Salvini and Di Maio," Liberals leader Guy Verhofstadt asked Conte in the EP plenary assembly. Verhofstadt also said Di Maio had "abused" his office by meeting with French Yellow Vests protesters last week. Verhofstadt told Conte: "I'll speak in Italian, I'm in love with Italy, for me it is a country, it is an entire civilisation, Italy is where our European civilisation was born... "That is why it hurts me to see Italy's political degeneration, which did not start yesterday, or a year ago, but 20 years ago. "This beautiful country has become, from a convinced defender of Europe, a laggard in the Union". European Socialists and Democrats caucus leader Udo Bullmann said "I am very saddened by the senseless escalation between Italy and France. In contexts like this no one comes out a winner, it is a classic lose-lose situation" after France recalled its ambassador due to "unprecedented" attacks and DI Maio's meeting with the Yellow Vests. Bullmann said on his recent visit to Catania on the Sea Watch standoff, and on Conte's speech to the EP, that "this is not the Italy that we know, the Italy we know is that of (European founding father Altiero) Spinelli". He said "your government must stop showing us this inhuman face (on migrants)". European People's Party (EPP) leader Manfred Weber commented on Conte's speech by saying "on Venezuela Guaido has asked Italy to recognise him, I think you should answer Guaido if you think there should be a common European approach". Premier Conte told the parliament that Europe had not yet been able to build a European people and that European politics lost touch with people after the economic crisis of 2007-8. He added that the Dublin migrant rule reform was unsustainable and that a single EU seat at the United Nations Security Council was needed. Conte told the Strasbourg parliament that the construction of a 'European people' has seen "significant moments of advancement" but "we still haven't succeeded in really becoming a 'people', we haven't had the courage to build an inclusive model that, realistically, beyond all rhetoric, could favour the creation of a European demos." "European politics, faced with an unprecedented economic crisis, withdrew in fear inside the cold grammar of procedures, ending up by progressively losing contact with its people and making ever more unbridgeable the distance, which is not only geographical, between Brussels and the continent's many peripheries," the Italian premier said. "Politics gave up its legitimating and representative function, appearing - in the eyes of citizens - distant and 'oligarchic'." Conte added that "no European Member State can play a significant role on its own. "Hence the hope that a united European voice may find space also at the UN Security Council. "It is a battle, this one, on which the European Union must move in a coordinated way, it must speak with a single voice. "The European Union must be able to speak to the world. A strong, ambitious and coherent Europe is above all necessary to improve its capacity of talking to the United States". Conte said that "faced with the massacre of human lives we must all together wage a fight on traffickers without quarter. let us stop remaining divided, giving in to nationalist or regionalist logic, and let us try to put into practice an authentic solidarity. "The proposal to reform the Dublin Regulation, approved in November 2017, is not sustainable in the present EU. There prevails, unfortunately, the unwillingness of the majority of States to participate in compulsory (quotas)." Conte added that "the inadequate and insufficient solidarity inside the EU also explains why Europe is struggling and is late on being fairer and more social. "The new European legislature must pursue with greater decision and as an urgent priority the fight against unemployment and support for growth...The EU's economic governance must take account of the need to balance growth and stability". European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen reacted to Conte's speech by saying "Europe proceeds and gives its best when Italy and the Italian people are at the centre, this must represent a guide for us. "In order to build a future of European success we need a strong Italy at its centre, we must build together our future in unity and solidarity working always with each other and not against each other, speaking together". European Parliament President Antonio Tajani responded to Conte's saying the Dublin Regulation reform is unsustainable by saying "we ask you for a further commitment in the next meetings of the Council so that the proposals of the EU parliament are accepted, perhaps by finding some compromise on the Dublin reform." He stressed the importance of involving member States "in the choices in favour of strengthening the Parliament's powers". Conte said earlier Tuesday his meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker "went very well and President Juncker will come to Rome on April 1". The meeting lasted about half an hour. "We did not talk about France, but we spoke about various issues," said Conte. Asked why a fresh meeting was needed in Rome, Conte replied: "He loves Italy". European Commission Spokesperson Margaritis Schinas told journalists the talks had been "constructive" and "wide-ranging". Strasbourg, February 12 - Premier Giuseppe Conte told the European Parliament Tuesday that Europe had not yet been able to build a European people and that European politics lost touch with people after the economic crisis of 2007-8. He added that the Dublin migrant rule reform was unsustainable and that a single EU seat at the United Nations Security Council was needed. Conte told the Strasbourg parliament that the construction of a 'European people' has seen "significant moments of advancement" but "we still haven't succeeded in really becoming a 'people', we haven't had the courage to build an inclusive model that, realistically, beyond all rhetoric, could favour the creation of a European demos." "European politics, faced with an unprecedented economic crisis, withdrew in fear inside the cold grammar of procedures, ending up by progressively losing contact with its people and making ever more unbridgeable the distance, which is not only geographical, between Brussels and the continent's many peripheries," the Italian premier said. "Politics gave up its legitimating and representative function, appearing - in the eyes of citizens - distant and 'oligarchic'." Conte added that "no European Member State can play a significant role on its own. "Hence the hope that a united European voice may find space also at the UN Security Council. "It is a battle, this one, on which the European Union must move in a coordinated way, it must speak with a single voice. "The European Union must be able to speak to the world. A strong, ambitious and coherent Europe is above all necessary to improve its capacity of talking to the United States". Conte said that "faced with the massacre of human lives we must all together wage a fight on traffickers without quarter. let us stop remaining divided, giving in to nationalist or regionalist logic, and let us try to put into practice an authentic solidarity. "The proposal to reform the Dublin Regulation, approved in November 2017, is not sustainable in the present EU. There prevails, unfortunately, the unwillingness of the majority of States to participate in compulsory (quotas)." Conte added that "the inadequate and insufficient solidarity inside the EU also explains why Europe is struggling and is late on being fairer and more social. "The new European legislature must pursue with greater decision and as an urgent priority the fight against unemployment and support for growth...The EU's economic governance must take account of the need to balance growth and stability". European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen reacted to Conte's speech by saying "Europe proceeds and gives its best when Italy and the Italian people are at the centre, this must represent a guide for us. "In order to build a future of European success we need a strong Italy at its centre, we must build together our future in unity and solidarity working always with each other and not against each other, speaking together". European Parliament President Antonio Tajani responded to Conte's saying the Dublin Regulation reform is unsustainable by saying "we ask you for a further commitment in the next meetings of the Council so that the proposals of the EU parliament are accepted, perhaps by finding some compromise on the Dublin reform." He stressed the importance of involving member States "in the choices in favour of strengthening the Parliament's powers". European Socialists and Democrats caucus leader Udo Bullmann replied to Conte's speech by saying "I am very saddened by the senseless escalation between Italy and France. In contexts like this no one comes out a winner, it is a classic lose-lose situation". France recalled its ambassador after Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio met Yellow Vests protesters in Paris. Rome, February 12 - Premier Giuseppe Conte said Tuesday his meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker "went very well and President Juncker will come to Rome on April 1". The meeting lasted about half an hour. "We did not talk about France, but we spoke about various issues," said Conte. Asked why a fresh meeting was needed in Rome, Conte replied: "He loves Italy". European Commission Spokesperson Margaritis Schinas told journalists the talks had been "constructive" and "wide-ranging". Rome, February 12 - A Palermo appeals court on Tuesday upheld a January 2016 ruling that the defence and transport should pay 12 million euros in damages to some of the relatives of the 81 victims of the 1980 Ustica air disaster. The court found that the plane was downed by a missile. Damages from cover-ups were declared to have timed out. On 27 June 1980, a Bologna-Palermo flight by the now-defunct Itavia airline crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea between the islands of Ponza and Ustica, killing all 81 people on board. Known in Italy as the Ustica Massacre ("Strage di Ustica"), the disaster led to numerous investigations, legal actions and accusations, and continues to be a source of controversy, including claims of conspiracy. Rome, February 12 - Premier Giuseppe Conte said Tuesday his meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker "went very well and President Juncker will come to Rome on April 1". The meeting lasted about half an hour. "We did not talk about France, but we spoke about various issues," said Conte. Asked why a fresh meeting was needed in Rome, Conte replied: "He loves Italy". Rome, February 12 - The government's new basic income for poor households will be "prioritised" for households with disabled members, according to a League amendment to the 'decretone' (big decree) filed on Tuesday. Among the proposals are an increase in the co-efficients of the scale of equivalence, a basic income also for old people living with younger disabled people, and the exclusion of the invalidity cheque from the ISEE means test, League sources said. Further, a priority is requested for those who have disabled family members in obtaining work closer to home. Strasbourg, February 12 - Press freedom in Italy "clearly deteriorated" in 2018 according to a report released on Tuesday by the Council of Europe's Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists. The annual report said that Italy was among the countries with the highest number of alerts posted on the Platform in 2018 - 13, the same as Russia and more than three times the number registered in 2017. It said Italy is also the EU member state with the highest number of active threats on the Platform - 19 - adding that the Italian authorities have not responded to any of the alerts since June 2017. "The growing violence against journalists in Italy is particularly worrying," the report said. "Mafia and organised crime remain one of the biggest threats of journalists". It said the Platform recorded three cases of journalists facing death threats in 2018, while 21 reporters threatened by the mafia live under permanent police protection. Several journalists have been intimidated and attacked by members of neo-fascist groups, it said. The report said most of the alerts were recorded after Premier Giuseppe Conte's 5-Star Movement (M5S)-League coalition government took office in June. It said journalists unions complained of a "constant risk of violence fuelled by the hostile rhetoric of members of the government and the ruling coalition parties". It singled out Deputy Premiers Luigi Di Maio, the M5S chief, and Matteo Salvini, the League leader, for criticism. It said they "regularly express through social media rhetoric particularly hostile to the media and journalists. "Among other things, Deputy Prime Minister Salvini has threatened to remove police protection for investigative journalist Roberto Saviano, despite the known threats to his life from criminal organisations. "Deputy Prime Minister Di Maio has insulted journalists and initiated a policy of abolition of public subsidies to the press". Flash A senior commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Monday that the U.S. and its allies must leave the region, Press TV reported. "The enemy should not ask us to leave the region. They themselves must leave the region," Brigadier General Hossein Salami, the IRGC's second-in-command, was quoted as saying. "They want Iran to leave the region to clear the way for their dominance and allow them once again to control our borders to be able to create problems for the Iran," Salami said. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in January threatened to "expel" all Iranian forces from Syria. Iran has insisted that its military presence in Syria is an advisory mission at the request of the Syrian government. Flash At least 16 people were killed Monday by a U.S.-led airstrike in eastern Syria, a war monitor reported. Half of the deaths were children, who lost their lives as a result of the U.S.-led shelling on the Islamic State (IS)-held areas on the outskirts of the Baghouz town in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The shelling also led to the killing of 28 IS militants. The attack is the latest in a string of airstrikes targeting the last IS-held pocket in the eastern Euphrates river region. Earlier in the day, state news agency SANA said four civilians were killed by U.S.-led airstrikes on the same area. On Saturday, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) started on the final stage of attacks against the IS in the eastern Euphrates river region in eastern Syria. Following the evacuation of over 20,000 civilians from the town of Baghouz, the SDF started on Saturday night the operation against the remaining IS-held pocket in the eastern Euphrates region, according to Mustafa Balli, the head of the SDF media office. Balli said that the battle aims to eliminate the last IS militants in the town of Baghouz. After losing the four sq km, the IS will still be in control of 4,000 sq km in the Syrian desert in eastern Syria. The SDF have been on a crushing offensive to root out IS from the eastern Euphrates region since last September and managed, with the help of the U.S., to defeat IS in much of the areas it had controlled in the eastern Euphrates area. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said over 37,000 civilians, including tens of IS militants, have fled the last IS-held pocket to areas controlled by the SDF in the eastern Euphrates area since last December. You are here: World Flash A total of 57 rhinos and 26 elephants were poached in Namibia in 2018, Minister of Environment and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta said Monday in Windhoek. He said 120 suspected poachers were arrest last year. Shifeta said his ministry has called for harsher punishments for those found guilty of poaching. The minister said rhino poaching happened at rhino custodian farms and private farms and no that poaching was recorded in the national parks. He said one rhino was reported poached so far this year. Flash The international conference dubbed "Ocean Economy and Future Technology" kicked off on Monday in Oman with around 900 participants and 80 exhibitors from 30 countries. The conference discussed trends related to the future of the ocean economy, focusing on oceanography, concepts and international case studies. It also examined future ocean technologies with emphasis on operational enhancements, emerging oceanology business opportunities, regulatory challenges and the impact on current and future careers. Addressing the opening session of the conference, Abdul Latif bin Rashid Al Zayani, secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, said that the conference was unique and Oman was the first Arab country to host the region. Peter Thomson, UN secretary-general's special envoy for the ocean, said in his speech that the conference was a platform for discussing topics related to science and technology diplomacy and, in commercial terms, a good business opportunity for investors. The conference will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday, focusing on themes such as ocean sustainable development, technology and innovation as well as investment in the ocean economy. Flash Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Monday wrapped up the 32nd African Union (AU) summit of heads of state and government at the AU headquarters in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, with a pledge to work for the welfare of African people. Al-Sisi, who took over the rotating one-year-term AU chairmanship from Rwandan President Paul Kagame, said that over the next one year he would energetically work toward achieving the goals set by the AU during the summit. These include putting into force the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), efforts to reform the UN Security Council, rehabilitation of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and providing employment to the continent's large young population. The AU revealed on Friday that various conflicts across the African continent have left 20.8 million people displaced. "The 32nd AU summit theme on refugees and IDPs showed how the displacement of people can create social, security, political and economic challenges in the continent, hence this will be my focus in the next one year," said al-Sisi. CONTINENTAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION The Egyptian president outlined a vision of economic integration in Africa that he said can be a solution to the multifaceted problems facing the continent. On top of his list of African economic integration schemes is the AfCFTA, which is expected to formally start operations during the next AU summit in Niamey, capital of Niger, in July. "Many African countries are already grouped under Regional Economic Communities (RECs), my chairmanship will focus on how RECs can be a vehicle to achieve wider continental economic integration," said al-Sisi. "The start of operation of AfCFTA will not just ease movement of goods across African borders, but also facilitate the movement of African brainpower across the borders of African countries, adding social importance on top of political and economic benefits," he added. CLIMATE CHANGE AND TERRORISM Al-Sisi said he will also focus on relatively new challenges the continent is grappling with including climate change and terrorism. "We need to have plans that match with the scope of challenges terrorism and climate change pose to the continent. As such, during my period I will focus on mechanisms to fight climate change and ways to achieve AU's silencing the guns by 2020 initiative," said the Egyptian president. "I will in particular vigorously fight the terrorism threat in the continent, that have left large areas of Africa suffering from political, social, economic and security problems," he further said. Al-Sisi also said the 32nd AU summit had established an agency for medicine, a center for women's and girls' education and other instruments intended to achieve a holistic approach to Africa's numerous challenges. You are here: World Flash U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday, launching an initiative to ensure the country's leadership in Artificial Intelligence (AI). This technology-promoting initiative at national level calls for protecting the advantage of the United States in AI "against strategic competitors and foreign adversaries," but without specifying its competitors or adversaries. "Continued American leadership in Artificial Intelligence is of paramount importance to maintaining the economic and national security of the United States," Trump said. The initiative proposes a multi-pronged approach to accelerating its leadership in AI, including investment, data-sharing, standard-setting and personnel training. However, it stresses an "international engagement" instead of the international cooperation most AI researchers and industrialists call on. It urges other countries to open markets for American AI industries while ensuring the technology developed in a manner consistent with American values and interests. The initiative also allows federal agencies to offer more data, models, and computing resources to the country's AI researchers and industries. "We cannot sit idly by and presume that our leadership is guaranteed," according to a statement released by White House on Monday. Billings city council has approved the One Big Sky district development plan. Council members voted 7-3 Monday night in support of the plan. The One Big Sky District development plan focuses on four core themes through four distinct districts. Developers say the general conceptual framework of One Big Sky District will help the state of Montana attract the next generation workforce, and would focus on lifestyle, civic and community and fiscal and economic districts. The plan is based on research outlining the economic challenges Billings faces which ranks near the bottom of U.S. states when it comes to millennial population. Approval of the resolution includes accepting and adopting the plan, approve the general framework outlined in the plan and agree to the goals in the plan. The plan does not include commitment or adoption of any specific agreements, project design, policy or public funding in the plan, or city commitment to enact regulations or taxes to spend on public funds. The plan also relies on new state legislation to allow private investors to be reimbursed up to $125 million for public approved infrastructure investments, if private investment reaches $650-million, within a decade of creating the district. Proponents of the One Big Sky legislative bill, say they'll introduce it March 1st and hope to have a hearing March 11th. They left Venezuela for a better life -- now they're selling their bodies Despite a delay in selecting development projects to be executed under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Nepal, there are good prospects for trilateral cooperation between Nepal, China and India, especially with the improved relations between the latter two. These relations have long been marked by cooperation and competition; however, of late, the two countries have developed better mutual understanding and friendship, leaving the nastiness of the past behind them. On January 5, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said China-India pragmatic cooperation had entered the fast lane of development, stressing a "healthy and stable" relationship between them was crucial for world peace and development. In mid-June 2017, India and China were on the verge of another military skirmish over a border standoff at Donglang (Doklam) near the Bhutan-China border. However, late last month, these giant neighbors were able to conduct a joint military drill "Hand-in-Hand 2018" in Chengdu in western China. Echoing the improved ties, India's Minister of State for External Affairs Gen. V K Singh noted these were "a factor of stability" at a time of global uncertainty. In similar manner, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the Chinese "dragon" and Indian "elephant" should dance in a "duet" and avoid a "duel," while his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj underlined the need for collaboration to lead the region towards a glorious "Asian Century." The two nations have also started a "China-India Plus" model of cooperation to undertake joint projects in other countries. It is true that India has not joined the BRI due to reservations about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a BRI flagship project, arguing it undermines its sovereignty as it passes through the disputed territory of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. However, India has actively participated in scores of China-led initiatives such as Boao Forum for Asia, Asian Infrastructure Development Bank and Shanghai Cooperation Organization. India is also seeking Chinese backing to secure membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has recently faced a series of defeats of his party in State Assembly elections, is pushing for stronger economic collaboration between the two nations. Seemingly, he does not want political and territorial conflicts to dampen the growing economic and cultural ties. India has cautiously distanced itself from the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Strategy aimed at containing China's rise. The U.S. is trying to coalesce the other three powers India, Japan, Australia into the so-called "Quad" to check China's maritime activities in the Pacific region. Meanwhile, Nepal has politely refused to participate in any such Indo-Pacific strategy. To an American request to play a central role in the strategy, Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said Nepal would not join any strategic alliance that sets one nation against another. Given its sensitive geography, Nepal can't be a part of any strategic alliance of powerful nations. In 2017, Nepal joined the BRI that is the key to implementing a trade and transportation deal with its northern neighbor. China gives Nepal access to its sea and dry ports to carry out international trade, ending long-term dependence on India for a third country trade route. These developments are conducive to realizing trilateral cooperation between Nepal, India and China. Both Nepal and China have been pushing this concept to boost the cross-Himalaya connectivity essential to spur trade, investment and cooperation in the region. China has envisioned creating an economic corridor involving all three countries under the broader framework of BRI. In ancient times, all three were connected by the Silk Road that originated from Chang'an (now Xi'an) of China and passed through the South Asian nations to reach the Mediterranean in the west. India still suffers from Sinophobia as it considers BRI as geopolitical tool of China to increase its influence in South Asia, despite Chinese insistence it is purely a development agenda and does not seek to gain any geopolitical goal. It is imperative for India to shed its zero-sum mentality and participate in the BRI that can play a vital role in shaping the trilateral cooperation between the three neighbors. Ritu Raj Subedi is Deputy Executive Editor of The Rising Nepal of The Rising Nepal. Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. Half of children with a mental health condition in the United States go without treatment, according to a new study published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. Auburn, IN (46706) Today Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High 84F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Thunder possible. Low 68F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Kendallville, IN (46755) Today Partly cloudy this morning, then becoming cloudy during the afternoon. High 84F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Cloudy with occasional showers overnight. Thunder possible. Low 68F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Angola, IN (46703) Today Clouds and some sun this morning with more clouds for this afternoon. High 83F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers after midnight. Thunder possible. Low 68F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Experts have responded to a recent report about plasmodium infection-based treatment, also known as "malariotherapy", for cancer patients, saying it is still too early to draw any conclusions, the Science and Technology Daily reported on Monday. The issue was raised by a lecture given by Chen Xiaoping, a professor from Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), on his research into plasmodium infection-based treatment for cancer patients in an open class that circulated widely on the internet during the Chinese New Year holiday. He said: "Cancer cells secrete a series of signals that keep our immune system dormant, hence not working, while a plasmodium infection activates it." According to Prof. Chen, after being injected into the body, the plasmodium itself doesn't actually attack cancer cells. Instead, it is "attacked" by the body's immune system in the normal way. Immune cells (such as NK cells and T cells), that had been "confused" by the cancer cells present in the body, then "become aware of" and attack them. The professor's lecture evoked a huge public response. Some thought that a "single milliliter of plasmodium [in the blood] plus a controlled dose of artemisinin could cure a cancer patient", while there have been those claiming the "malariotherapy" would prove to be the "magic prescription" Louis Cha wrote in his martial arts stories an approach to "attacking poison with poison" which is simple and effective. Experts and scholars worried that public opinion might possibly be led astray by mass media reports of a "magic prescription" that they deemed full of exaggeration. Zhong Nanshan, academician with the CAS, stressed the plasmodium infection-based treatment was still in the experimental stage and there were still many unknowns. "There remains insufficient evidence and cases to prove the effectiveness of this treatment, so it is too early to draw any conclusions," he said. Zhong, also a cooperative partner with Prof. Chen Xiaoping's scientific research team, said that plasmodium infection can lead to periodic fever and other symptoms, so post-infection nursing and monitoring were absolutely necessary. "With an infection by plasmodium, patients must be carefully monitored to prevent malaria transmission should they be bitten by mosquitoes," he said. Yang Guanghua, professor from Shanghai Ocean University and chairman of Shanghai Telebio Biomedical Co., Ltd., said: "Presently, scientists all over the world are trying to find broad-spectrum antigens of tumors as vaccines to activate anti-cancer cells in the body, which I personally believe is promising"; however, he added that most vaccines were highly targeted while tumors could mutate to produce new drug-resistant cancer cells in the course of treatment. Industrial insiders said any new anticancer treatment needs rigorous and systematic clinical research to prove its safety and effectiveness before it can be widely put into clinical practice. They believed screening of cancer cases would be beneficial to both scientists' research and patients' curative effect. However, with many ordinary people optimistic about the prospects of plasmodium infection-based treatment, the experts agreed scientific research in this field still had a long way to go. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 12) A shipment of shabu worth 90 million that the Bureau of Customs (BOC) confiscated at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport has been turned over to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on Tuesday. In a statement, the BOC said the shipment, which was declared as muffler parts valued at $500 or around 26,000, was seized on January 23 at the airport. It arrived at the DHL Warehouse from West Covina in California, USA, according to the agency. The 13.1-kilogram illegal drugs were sent in 26 packages concealed in three muffler parts. "Further profiling and case build up are being undertaken by PDEA for the institution of corresponding criminal case against the consignee and his cohorts," the BOC said. The agency said 30 drug busts have been conducted at the NAIA in the last 10 months, resulting in the confiscation of illegal drugs with a total value of nearly 364 million. Butler, IN (46721) Today Clouds and some sun this morning with more clouds for this afternoon. High around 85F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Cloudy with occasional showers overnight. Thunder possible. Low 68F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. China will further shorten the time required for the registration and approval of new cancer drugs and cut prices, a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang decided on Monday. Experts will be gathered to select overseas new drugs to meet urgent clinical needs, while import policies will be improved for faster launch of the drugs in China, according to a statement released after the meeting. The country will step up efforts to ensure more early diagnosis and treatment of cancer, and offer preferential value added tax policies for drugs for treatment of rare diseases. It was also decided at the meeting that China will enhance its anti-poverty efforts to lift at least 10 million people out of poverty in 2019 after bringing 13.86 million people out of poverty last year. China will support commercial banks to replenish capital through various channels including speeding up approval of perpetual bond issuance and introducing long-term investors. Lenders with augmented capital are required to offer more loans to private enterprises and small and micro businesses, according to the meeting. Officials have charged Trevor Strohl of Palmerton, Pennsylvania, with aggravated cruelty to animals after he allegedly stabbed Rosie, a one-year-old pit bull. An Illinois volunteer firefighter who has down syndrome said he quit his job because he was being bullied by co-workers. Information from: Jefferson City News Tribune, http://www.newstribune.com Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. A newborn baby, with her umbilical cord still attached, was abandoned in the middle of a California road. (KGPE via CNN) A local mother said her son was tortured for his religious beliefs by bullies then punished by his school. Learn about her mission to make sure this doesnt happen to your child. Xi Jinping, chairman of the Central Military Commission, has signed an order to release a trial regulation on the supervision of military training, the first of its kind in the country. The regulation, which will take effect on March 1, 2019, focuses on improving the combat readiness of the People's Liberation Army. The regulation formulates measures to rectify practices that are inconsistent with the requirements of actual combats. It also details the criteria for identifying malpractices and discipline violations during military training. The regulation also clearly states the responsibilities, power and priorities of military training supervision and regularizes the methods and procedures for carrying out such work. The regulation is expected to consolidate the strategic role of military training under the new circumstances, strengthen the management of military training, and deepen military training under combat conditions. You are here: Business U.S. social media site Reddit Inc. said Monday it has raised 300 million U.S. dollars in Series D round led by China's internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., which pushed the company's market valuation to 3 billion dollars. Reddit CEO Steve Huffman told CNBC news outlet that Tencent invested 150 million dollars in the latest round of fundraising, along with other investors. Huffman said Tencent has invested in lots of video games companies, and video games are a popular category on Reddit, a social news and media aggregation company based in San Francisco, Northern California. Tencent is a new investor in Reddit's most recent funding round. The Herald reports: Diplomatic links with China appear to have plummeted to a new low as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is given the cold shoulder by Beijing and a major tourism promotion is postponed by the superpower. Ardern was scheduled to visit China early this year but the invitation has been put on hold. The 2019 China-New Zealand Year of Tourism was meant to be launched with great fanfare at Wellingtons Te Papa museum next week, but that has been postponed by China. The initiative was announced by the Key Government almost two years ago when Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was in Wellington. Richard Davies, manager of tourism policy at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, said: China has advised that this event has had to be postponed due to changes of schedule on the Chinese side. Officials are now working with China to reschedule the opening. Ardern said after the Cabinet meeting yesterday that the official visit to Beijing is being worked on. Late last year she was on standby to visit but said they could not co-ordinate their diaries. New Zealand sources in Beijing say her first visit to China is not expected any time soon. The decision by the Governments chief spy agency, the GCSB, to axe Chinese telco giant Huawei from the Spark 5G broadband rollout is seen by China as New Zealand taking sides with the United States. The Trump Administration publicly asked its Five Eyes partners not to do business with Huawei. It was naive to think that the Huawei decision would not have serious consequences. Huawei is arguably Chinas most successful company. It is a world leader in technology and shows that China is not just good for cheap manufacturing but also innovation and technology. Shutting Huawei out of a country is seen as nothing less than an act of economic sabotage against China. Especially when the ban is not predicated on any actual behaviour from Huawei, but simply because it is a company based in China and owned by Chinese. A smart Government can navigate the challenging relationship between the United States and China. John Key formed incredibly strong personal and professional relationships with both the US and Chinese presidents. The Ardern-Peters Government has done the opposite. Weve had the US impose tariffs on us, and China will not be advancing the enhanced FTA negotiations anytime soon. In fact I am sure we will see more and more trade barriers emerge. Sources in Beijing say China plans trade retaliation and the turning back of an Air New Zealand plane at the weekend may not have been a coincidence. Sources say the airline has been trying to secure extra landing slots in Shanghai without success. Two-way trade with China trebled over the past decade to $27 billion. The implications for New Zealand are dangerous at every level, Burdon said. And danger that we have imposed on ourselves. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn More Reddit Pinterest Print Tumblr The Herald reports: A mother in the UK was arrested in front of her children and locked up for seven hours after referring to a transgender woman as a man online, the Daily Mail reported. Three officers detained Kate Scottow at her home before quizzing her at a police station about an argument with an activist on Twitter over so-called deadnaming. The 38-year-old, from Hitchin, Hertfordshire, had her photograph, DNA and fingerprints taken and remains under investigation. More than two months after her arrest on December 1, she has had neither her mobile phone or laptop returned, which she says is hampering her studies for a Masters in forensic psychology. Writing on online forum Mumsnet, Scottow who has also been served with a court order that bans her from referring to her accuser as a man claimed: I was arrested in my home by three officers, with my autistic ten-year-old daughter and breastfed 20-month-old son present. I was then detained for seven hours in a cell with no sanitary products (which I said I needed) before being interviewed then later released under investigation I was arrested for harassment and malicious communications because I called someone out and misgendered them on Twitter. Confirming the arrest, Hertfordshire Police said: We take all reports of malicious communication seriously. (Adding details, updating prices throughout) By Josephine Mason LONDON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - European shares opened higher on Tuesday as investors cheered signs of a compromise in the standoff over the U.S. government funding and positive signals around U.S.-China trade talks, while Michelin's results pumped up tyre stocks. The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.6 percent at 0940 GMT, with Germany's trade-sensitive DAX up 1.1 percent and Paris' CAC 40 up 0.8 percent. Automakers and their suppliers were the biggest gainers, up 2 percent after Michelin delivered better-than-expected results and pledged further gains in operating profit this year despite challenging conditions. The French tyre maker's shares rallied more than 10 percent and were on track for their best day in nearly a decade. Italy's Pirelli and Germany's Continental were among the top gainers in their domestic markets and on the STOXX 600. London indices underperformed their euro-zone peers amid caution ahead of a parliamentary address by British Prime Minister Theresa May later in the day as she struggles to secure a Brexit deal. Highlighting the headwinds that threaten the rally in global equities so far this year, Credit Suisse said it was shifting to a 'neutral' stance on global equities, taking profit on its 'overweight' view. "While we continue to expect overall attractive total returns from global equities this year, we recognise certain mounting short-term risks," it said. "In particular, we note that investors remain thin-skinned after last December's correction." Furthermore, the U.S.-China trade conflict could lead to renewed volatility, while growing political tensions in Italy, France and Germany and the still uncertain Brexit outcome could weigh further on European stocks, it said. Gucci owner Kering shares turned positive in midmorning trade as investors took comfort from upbeat comments about the Q1 outlook. Shares had fallen as much as 3.3 percent in early deals as the better-than-expected sales failed to impress investors, a sign of the demanding expectations for luxury brand earnings following solid numbers from the sector, including LVMH last week. Thyssenkrupp shares fell 2 percent after its mixed report. The German steel-to-elevator maker stood by its 2018/19 targets, but warned the global economic environment is darkening after reporting a big drop in first-quarter results. Investors continued to punish TUI as the tour operator reported a widening loss in its quarter to end-December. That follows its profit warning last week. Online trading platform Plus500 lost more than a third of its value after the company issued a profit and revenue warning, blaming tightening EU regulation on its retail business. The news dragged peer IG with it. (Reporting by Josephine Mason Editing by Danilo Masoni/Keith Weir) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. congressional negotiators on Monday reached a tentative deal to try to avert another partial government shutdown on Saturday, but congressional aides said it did not contain the $5.7 billion President Donald Trump wants for a border wall. We reached an agreement in principle on funding border security programs through Sept. 30, Republican Senator Richard Shelby told reporters. Our staffs are going to be working feverishly to put all the particulars together, Shelby said. Neither he nor three other senior lawmakers flanking him provided any details of the tentative pact. But it was far from clear if the Republican president would embrace the agreement. His December demand for $5.7 billion this year to help pay for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border - rejected by congressional Democrats - triggered a 35-day partial government shutdown that ended last month without him getting wall funding. A congressional aide, who asked not to be identified, said the outline of the deal included $1.37 billion for erecting new fencing along the southern border. That is about the same amount Congress allocated last year and far below what Trump has demanded. The aide said none of the money would be for a wall, which Trump has been touting since he launched his campaign for president in 2016. Democrats say the wall would be costly and ineffective. Two other congressional sources said only currently deployed designs could be used for constructing 55 miles (90 km) of additional barriers. Those designs, which include steel bollard fencing, have been in use since before Trump became president. Shortly after the deal was reached in the U.S. Capitol, Trump held a rally in the border city of El Paso, Texas, to argue for the wall he says can protect Americans from violent criminals, drugs and a tremendous onslaught of migrant caravans. Trump said he heard about progress in the talks just before he took the stage, but he too did not discuss details. Just so you know - were building the wall anyway, he said. Maybe progress has been made - maybe not. Beto ORourke, the former Democratic congressman from Texas considering a 2020 White House run, held a counter-rally just 200 yards away and accused Trump of stoking false fear about immigrants and telling lies about ORourkes hometown of El Paso. But a vocal group of conservatives influential with Trump has urged him to remain steadfast in his demand for the border wall money. In comments about the tentative congressional deal reached on Monday, Fox News commentator Sean Hannity told his viewers: Any Republican that supports this garbage compromise, you will have to explain. DETENTION BEDS Under Mondays agreement, which must be fleshed out by congressional staff experts, Democrats gave up on a demand they floated on Friday night to lower the cap on immigrant detention beds in the interior of the United States. Democrats had complained the Trump administration was increasing detention capacity as a way of speeding up deportations of illegal immigrants, some of whom were seeking asylum under U.S. law. But an overall cap - on borders and in the interior - would remain at 40,520 beds. The aide said that despite that cap, the number had actually grown to 49,057 and that under the deal, it would be brought down to the legal cap. But one of the other aides said the deal would give Trump the flexibility to increase the number to 52,000 if necessary. Democratic Representative Nita Lowey said on Monday night: I hope by Wednesday well have a finished product. Lowey said she had been in touch with House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who she said has confidence I have made the right decision. Trump agreed to reopen the government last month for three weeks to allow congressional negotiators time to find a compromise on government funding for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30, to avert another shutdown. The handful of lawmakers leading the negotiations met privately for about two hours on Monday. They said they wanted to seal a plan by Monday night to allow time for the legislation to pass the House of Representatives and Senate and get Trumps signature by Friday, when funding is due to expire for the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and several other federal agencies. Without a new injection of federal funds, an array of federal agencies would have to suspend some activities, ranging form the maintenance of national parks to publication of economic data that is important to financial markets. During the record-long partial government shutdown, which ran from Dec. 22 to Jan. 25, 800,000 federal workers went without pay even though many of them were required to report to work. The shutdown ended shortly after a shortage of federal air traffic controllers triggered delays of hundreds of flights at airports in the New York and Philadelphia areas. In recent weeks, Trump has threatened to declare a national emergency if Congress did not give him money to build a border wall. He says that would allow him to use existing funds for other activities to build a wall - an idea that Democrats and many Republicans in Congress oppose. LONDON (Reuters) - OPEC said on Tuesday it had cut oil production steeply under a global supply deal, although it flagged headwinds confronting its efforts to prevent a glut this year including weaker demand and higher rival output. In a monthly report, OPEC said its oil output fell almost 800,000 barrels per day in January to 30.81 million bpd. That is still slightly more than the demand OPEC expects for its crude on average in 2019. Worried by a drop in oil prices and rising supplies, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies including Russia agreed in December to make supply cuts. Under the deal, OPEC is lowering output by 800,000 bpd from Jan. 1. In the report, OPEC cut its forecast for 2019 world economic growth by 0.2 percentage point to 3.3 percent and highlighted a range of headwinds such as a slowdown in global trade. Some recent positive developments could support the global economy at its current level, including the recovery in oil prices, possible progress in U.S.-China trade negotiations and less-ambitious monetary tightening by the U.S. Federal Reserve, OPEC said in the report. Nevertheless, this would not lift the global economy beyond the growth forecast. Oil extended a rally on Tuesday above $63 a barrel. Crude has risen from less than $50 in December, supported by the Saudi Arabia-led OPEC cuts and involuntary declines despite concerns about slowing demand. The supply cut was a policy U-turn after the producer alliance known as OPEC+ agreed in June 2018 to boost supply amid pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to lower prices and cover an expected shortfall in Iranian exports. OPEC changed course after prices slid from $86 a barrel in October, making the producers wary of a new glut. An OPEC+ cut from January 2017 had got rid of an earlier surplus. In a sign of excess supply, OPECs report said oil inventories in developed economies were above the five-year average in December. SAUDI CURBS The biggest drop in OPEC supply last month came from Saudi Arabia and amounted to 350,000 bpd, the report showed. With the supply cut delivered in January, the 11 OPEC members expected to cut supply under the deal achieved 86 percent compliance, according to a Reuters calculation - a high rate by OPECs past standards. This could rise in coming months as Saudi Arabia voluntarily lowers supply by more than it agreed. Saudi Arabia plans to pump around 9.8 million bpd in March, more than 500,000 bpd below its target under the deal, its energy minister told the Financial Times. And further declines in Iran, Libya and Venezuela - exempt from the supply pact - could give a tailwind. OPEC said in the report that 2019 demand for its crude would decline to 30.59 million bpd, a drop of 240,000 bpd from its last report, as rivals such as the United States boost output and the slowing economy limits demand. This implies that the global market would see a slight surplus of about 200,000 bpd in 2019 should OPEC keep pumping at Januarys rate although - other things being equal - the Saudi plan to reduce supply further will offset this. OPEC forecast global oil demand would grow by 1.24 million bpd in 2019, down 50,000 bpd from last month. Non-OPEC producers will boost output by 2.18 million bpd, 80,000 more than expected previously. STRASBOURG (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte called on Tuesday for a less austere European Union more in tune with popular demands for economic growth, but he faced a barrage of criticism after his keynote speech in the EU legislature. Speaking to the European Parliament in Strasbourg as part of a series of contributions by national leaders to a debate on the future of the Union, Conte stressed the continued commitment of Romes populist government to EU integration - a commitment some doubted after the coalitions election last year. But in renewing Italian calls for more flexibility in euro zone budget rules, common debt instruments for the EU currency area, an EU unemployment fund and a change in rules intended to avoid new bank collapses, he said years of austerity had driven a wedge between elites and people that endangered the Union. The powerful opposition that the European people, in its various forms, is demonstrating in the face of the elites speaks to our consciences and reminds us that politics, too assertive on economic rationales, has not done its homework and has given up on its mission, Conte told the assembled lawmakers. Insisting his administration was keeping its accounts in order, Conte said it was also seeking to stimulate growth. He called for the EU to end long arguments over how to handle migrants arriving by sea across the Mediterranean - a longstanding Italian complaint - and to play a stronger, more united role in global affairs while maintaining dialogue with other powers such as the United States, Russia and China. But leaders of mainstream political groups, whose Italian allies found themselves excluded from power in Rome by the rise of the populist League and 5-Star Movement coalition, lined up to criticize Contes government. They objected to Romes straying from euro zone budget rules, passing measures against asylum-seekers or siding with Russia to thwart EU support for the opposition in Venezuela. The sharp exchanges with a prime minister who, as an academic and political novice, is seen as the moderate face of a government dominated by radical voices, illustrated themes that will be aired in elections to the EU assembly this coming May. SALVINI BLASTS CRITICISM OF CONTE While Conte himself rejected charges from the floor that he was a mere puppet of the League and 5-Star, his far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the League, also leapt to his defense. He called it shameful that European bureaucrats had insulted not just the premier but all Italy. The European elites (are) against the choices of the peoples, Salvini said in a statement. Prepare the crates. On May 26, the people will finally send these folks packing. After weeks of tension with France after senior figures in his government hailed protesters opposed to President Emmanuel Macron, Conte offered a veiled rebuff to French complaints, which culminated in recalling the French envoy from Rome. We should not be afraid of conflict. We should show that we can control it, Conte said. We should not oppose change with sterile and damaging conservatism. Instead, we should allow conflict to emerge, to demonstrate - in democratic forms its propulsive force. On a day when Rome also irritated Paris by questioning the need for a new Alpine rail link, Conte appeared to tweak French interests by calling for a combined EU permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. Barring soon-to-be ex-EU member Britain, France is the blocs lone voice on the global body. Over nearly three hours of debate, tempers flared at times. Anti-EU members spoke in Contes defense and the chambers speaker had to ask his fellow Italians to mind their language. Manfred Weber, German leader of the main conservative bloc in the European Parliament, accused Conte of running an economic policy based on high borrowing and slow growth. Socialist leader Udo Bullmann accused Rome of showing the ugly face of inhumanity toward asylum seekers landing on Italys shores. Speaking Italian, former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, the liberal leader, said his love for Italy, a founding member of the EU, made it painful for him to see what he called the countrys political disintegration that began with the administrations of conservative Silvio Berlusconi. Paris-based UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Monday unveiled the list of five laureates of the 2019 L'Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science Awards, an initiative that "honours outstanding women scientists." The five laureates are Najat Aoun Saliba from Lebanon, Japanese Professor Maki Kawai, Argentina's Karen Hallberg, Claire Voisin from France and the American Ingrid Daubechies. The 2019 edition of the awards extends to two more research areas, mathematics and computer science. "These exceptional women are recognized for the excellence of their research in the fields of material science, mathematics and computer science," UNESCO said in a statement. "Each laureate receive 100,000 (112,730 U.S. dollars) and their achievements will be celebrated alongside those of 15 promising young women scientists from around the world at an awards ceremony on March 14 at UNESCO's Headquarters in Paris," it said. Since 1998, the L'Oreal Foundation, in partnership with UNESCO, has honored five exceptional female researchers every year, each from the following regions: Africa & the Arab States, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America. (1 euro = 1.127 U.S. dollar) Charles Schwab (SCHW) on Tuesday announced a roughly doubling of its program offering commission-free exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Schwab ETF OneSource. OneSource currently offers a suite of 257 ETFs, commission-free, from 16 providers: Aberdeen Standard Investments, ALPS Advisors, DWS Group, Direxion, Global X ETFs, IndexIQ, Invesco, John Hancock Investments, JPMorgan Asset Management, Oppenheimer Funds, PIMCO, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, USCF, WisdomTree and Charles Schwab Investment Management. However, Schwabs program will expand to 503 funds via both additions from its current partners, as well as a new partner: BlackRocks iShares ETF unit the largest exchange-traded fund issuer with $1.4 trillion in assets under management. Current partners that will expand their ETF lineups significantly are Invesco, SPDR and WisdomTree. The expansion also will add to the number of Morningstar categories included, from 70 to 79. New to the fold will be Communications (the new GICS sector), Foreign Small/Mid Value, Latin America Stock, Long-Term Bond, Multisector Bond, Muni California Long, Muni National Intermediate, Muni New York Intermediate and World Small/Mid Stock. Today, nearly three in four investors tell us that ETFs are their investment vehicle of choice, and portfolio allocations continue to rise steadily, said Kari Droller, Schwabs vice president of third-party platforms. Against that backdrop, were pleased to provide investors with significantly more choice and to welcome iShares ETFs to our family of providers. OneSources funds include a number of Schwab offerings that are either the lowest or among the lowest in annual expenses, too, such as Schwab U.S. Broad Market (SCHB, 0.03% annually), Schwab U.S. Large-Cap (SCHX, 0.03%), Schwab International Equity (SCHF, 0.06%) and Schwab U.S. Aggregate Bonds (SCHZ, 0.04%). Other notable ETFs included via the commission-free program include: Litter is an ongoing problem for Williamsburg County. Though many volunteers spend countless hours picking up the trash others leave behind, it is not the solution. Williamsburg County Council and Williamsburg County Supervisor Tiffany Wright discussed the issue with a citizen during a February 4, meeting. ROCHESTER, Minn. One person is hurt when a two-vehicle collision causes a semi to jackknife on Highway 52 in Rochester. The Minnesota State Patrol says Angalee Lynn Morrow, 24 of Rochester was driving an SUV north on Highway 52 when she spun out in front of a northbound semi. The semi hit the SUV and then jackknifed just south of 37th Street. Morrow suffered what is described as a non-life threatening injury and was taken to St. Marys Hospital. The semi driver, Tony Kirk Mehaffy, 58 of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, was not hurt. The State Patrol says both drivers were wearing their seat belts. The Rochester Police Department assisted with this accident, which took place just before 9:30 am Tuesday. ROCHESTER, Minn. Dan Fifield is leaving his 15-year-long career as an ER nurse, to start a non-profit addressing homelessness with his wife. After interacting with the homeless population often on the job and realizing the need, Fifield and his wife are starting a non-profit to help called, The Landing MN. We feel as a core group that everybody needs a soft place to land at some point in their life, Fifield said. Right now, its an organization. The application to become a non-profit is in, and is just waiting approval from the Internal Revenue Service. In the meantime, the group is simply having conversations with the homeless to see what they needs really are. Fifield said theyre finding its anything from helping someone fill out an online job application, to helping someone remember to take their medications. It's those things, it's the standing by their side, walking the walk with them. I hope we establish that trust in the community, that they know that they can reach out to us and that we can help them with what they need, he said. With many non-profits already helping the homeless in Rochester, Fifield hopes his organization will also bring consistency to the issue, like opening a homeless shelter that would be open for 24/7 and not just when the temperatures hit below zero. We are trying to do our part to at least make sure these people are safe, that they are safe, that they are heard and that somebody out there loves them, Fifield said. To learn more about The Landing MN or how to get involved, click here. OWATONNA, Minn. A disturbance involving a large group of students and possible racism led to a lockdown Monday at Owatonna High School. Police say they were called to the school for a reported fight around 11:47 am. The Minnesota State Patrol and the Steele County Sheriffs Office assisted. Law enforcement says students were seen shouting and being disruptive in the schools commons area and gymnasium. A lockdown was ordered by school staff but Owatonna police say not all students were cooperative. The Owatonna Police Department says one juvenile was taken into custody for assaulting a member of law enforcement. A second juvenile was taken into custody for obstructing the legal process. A third juvenile was also cited and released for trespassing. All three cases remain under investigation. Police say there are no reports of any injuries to students and they are not aware of any fights that took place between students. Authorities say initial reports are the disturbance may have been connected to racists comments posted on social media by white students toward black students. Those social media posts are being investigated as well. Owatonna police say a report on social media of weapons being involved in Mondays incident was incorrect. Gold Cross paramedics also responded to the high school for medical emergencies not related to any physical assault. THOMPSON, Iowa A Winnebago County man is charged with stealing a service truck and thousands of dollars worth of tools. Andrew John Aukes, 31 of Lake Mills, is accused of 1st degree theft and operating a vehicle without the owners consent. The Winnebago County Sheriffs Office says it got a report on January 27 of a truck belonging to Advanced Concrete being stolen from a rural location east of Thompson. The report said the truck had $20,000 worth of tools inside. The truck was found in a rural area west of Thompson with the tools missing. An investigation led the Sheriffs Office to search Aukes home on Sunday. Deputies say the shoes Aukes was wearing match prints at the scene where the truck was found. Deputies say a digital caliper and a box with white writing was also found and identified as being among the items stolen from the truck. GARNER, Iowa A Britt man charged with 28 sex crimes pleads guilty to four of them. Jeromie Holland, 39, was accused in November 2018 of 14 counts of 2nd degree sex abuse and 14 counts of lascivious acts with a child. He has now entered guilty pleas to two of each. Authorities say Holland sexually assaulted a female child 14 times between May 7 and November 2, 2018. His trial was due to begin on February 20 but Hollands is now due to be sentenced on April 8 in Hancock County District Court. STEWARTVILLE, Minn. - With all the school closings and delays due to winter weather, Minnesota education officials are now surveying districts to decide whether or not to ask lawmakers for a shorter school year. Stewartville School District thinks that should be decided locally. That's because for them, a snow day doesn't necessarily mean a day off. Just this year, the district implemented "Flexible Learning Days," where learning isn't done in the school but online.] After 20 years with the district, Kelly Manley's never seen winter affect a school schedule like this. "One will never forget this many snow days, the bitter cold," Manley, a social studies teacher at Stewartville, said. "Yeah this will be one in 10 years we'll be talking about, 2018-2019. This is not one that will leave our memory anytime soon." He used to have the headache of rearranging his lesson plans, and even taking out certain curriculum "In the past when we didn't have the e-learning days, we'd put things off or we'd put things back and we might get to a point where we lose enough days there's certain things in the curriculum we just can't cover," Manley said, "but with the e-learning days that we have now, we can get to everything." He thinks it's a different generation, and sometimes that calls for different ways of going about education. "They like the flexibility, they like the ability to get things done," Manley said. "These are kids who are self-driven, self-motivated, capable of taking technology, utilizing it in a way that is designed for them, geared towards them." With the technology, it's almost like the teachers are there with them. "We have to be available all day to the kids also online," Stephanie Affeldt, a math teacher at Stewartville, said, "so then we can send messages back and forth. I find that some of those kids are kids who wouldn't have asked you in class, but they have no problem sending you a message and asking." It allows the school to not only keep up with curriculum, but also stay on track with the schedule. "I remember before it was like you got a free day," Affeldt said, "but then all of a sudden once you started having three, four, five they were being added on at the end of the school year. And then as a teacher, I found that jeez you started making them up in June, you've lost the kids." Superintendent Belinda Selfors tells KIMT it's never an easy decision to cancel school, a lot of communication and thought goes into it. She says the first priority is safety of the students. Kenyan scholars on Monday renewed calls to promote learning of indigenous languages. Ngugi wa Thiong'o, professor of English and comparative literature at the University of California, said in Nairobi said that Kenyans are more concerned with learning foreign languages at the expense of vernacular dialects. "It is important for Kenyans to learn their mother tongues in order to promote traditional cultures and values," he said during the launch of a book, "Kenda Muiyuru," in Gikuyu language. "If you know all languages of the world but don't know your own mother language, it is mental enslavement," he said. "If you know your mother tongue and add languages of the world, it is empowerment." He called for the learning of local languages but not at the exclusion of foreign languages. Wanjiru Kabira, professor of literature at the University of Nairobi, said Kenyans should not treat local dialects as subordinate to foreign languages. Kabira noted that vernacular languages are at risk of becoming extinct unless children take up learning of indigenous languages. Local dialects are critical in accurately capturing traditional history and culture, she added. FOREST CITY, Iowa Two Winnebago County men are pleading not guilty to driving other peoples tractors. Joshua Lynn Mathahs, 22 of Buffalo Center, and Jesse Allan Boehm, 21 of Buffalo Center, are charged with 1st degree criminal mischief, 3rd degree burglary, and operating a vehicle without the owners consent. Law enforcement says they drove off with a tractor on December 8, 2018, and left it standing in the middle of a field. Court documents say the tractors right front wheel separated from the rest of the tractor after it was driven through two ditches. The damage to the tractor is estimated at $50,000 to $60,000. Authorities say the two men also took another tractor from a farm near Buffalo Center on December 8, 2018, and used it to pull Mathahs truck out of a ditch, then returned the tractor. Mathahs and Boehm are now set to stand trial beginning April 10 in Winnebago County District Court. Outpatient clinics in St Luke's General Hospital in Kilkenny are going ahead today as strike action by nursing staff has been suspended. The INMO (Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation) suspended their planned three-day strike on Monday night at the request of the Labour Court. The HSE has said that all outpatient clinics at facilities across the country will go ahead today. The Kilkenny People has confirmed that Kilcreene Hospital and St Luke's Hospital are asking all patients with appointments to turn up as normal today, Tuesday. St Lukes General Hospital Carlow/Kilkenny is making every effort to reschedule outpatients appointments and cancelled elective surgical day cases within the next few days. Priority will be given to urgent outpatient appointments to ensure that they are facilitated. All services are resuming including emergency services, however there may be some delays in the coming days until everything returns to normal. Patients with surgery scheduled at Kilcreene will be contacted in person by the hospital. If patients for these two hospitals have any queries they are urged to contact the hospitals on (same number for both) 056 7785000 Glanbia will pay its member milk suppliers 32 cent per litre (cpl) including VAT for January manufacturing milk supplies at 3.6% butterfat and 3.3% protein. This is unchanged from the December price. Glanbia Ireland (GI) has maintained its base milk price for January at 30 cpl including VAT, for manufacturing milk at 3.6% fat and 3.3% protein. In addition, Glanbia Ireland will make an interim market payment of 1cpl (including VAT) on all January milk supplies (excluding Fixed Milk Schemes paying above 31cpl). Glanbia Co-op will make a support payment to Members of 1 cpl including VAT. The Glanbia Ireland payments and the Glanbia Co-op support payment will be adjusted to reflect the actual constituents of milk delivered by suppliers. Glanbia Chairman Martin Keane said: Glanbia Ireland is holding its base price at 30cpl and paying a 1 cent per litre interim market payment as we await developments. Lower supply from key EU regions and a positive GDT has helped market sentiment, but Brexit and global trade tensions continue to create uncertainly around market direction. Trading bonus Glanbia Co-op to pay 10.9 million Trading Bonus to Members based on 2018 milk supply. Glanbia Co-operative Society (Glanbia Co-op) has confirmed that a total of 10.9 million will be paid to milk supplier Members of the Co-op this month as part of its 2018 Trading Bonus Scheme. The Milk Supplier Trading Bonus payment will be made to qualifying Members with their January milk payment and is based on 2018 milk supply volumes. A total of 3,755 Glanbia Co Members will receive an average Milk Supplier Trading Bonus of 2,850. Two-thirds of Trading Bonus recipients qualified for the top rate bonus payment of 0.75 cent per litre (plus VAT) on their 2018 milk supply as they spent over 7 cpl with Glanbia Ireland last year. In the coming weeks a further 3m in 2018 Trading Bonus Scheme payments will be made to Members with the distribution of the Grain Supplier Trading Bonus and the Feed Trading Bonus. Martin Keane said that the Trading Bonus rewards Glanbia Co-op Members for trading with the business that they majority own, Glanbia Ireland. It is an equitable and transparent means of returning a share of Glanbia Irelands profit to active farmers, he said. One of the most successful family hotels in the country is investing in the future. The Phelan family of the Kilford Arms, John Street Kilkenny manage 77 hotel bedrooms, a number of bars, function rooms and the longest running night club in the south east, Pegasus. They are not ones to rest on their laurels and have: Upgraded the lounge and bar areas, put in a new bandstand, brightened the reception areas, developed a new games room and put in a new state-of-the-art kitchen with every conceivable piece of modern technology to ensure food is fresh and top class. Pius, Sheila, Oliver, Louise, Alan and Kerrie Phelan and extended family and loyal staff a number of who have over 35 years plus service, are conscious of the history of the establishment and the bedroom where Eamon de Valera stayed, nearly 100 years ago, is still there, obviously it now has free wifi, satellite tv and all the modern twists and services you would expect from a top quality, city centre hotel serving tourists and business people with equal enthusiasm. At the height of the tourism season, the Kilford Arms hotel employs over 100 people. It is an untold success story. Pius Phelan did however, inspire international headlines some years ago when he bought a deconsecrated, intact church in Wales, shipped it over to Ireland and rebuilt it (minus the roof) inside his famous Pegasus night club. It is stunning. As well as superb cuisine, revellers' have a choice of smoking areas and while other clubs around the country are suffering, Pegasus and the Phelan family are bucking that trend with multiple dance areas on different levels and DJs in comfortable surroundings where you can relax or let loose. It's your choice. The achievements of the Phelans in the Kilford Arms often goes unnoticed, it's an empire created by a south Kilkenny man, Pius and his wife, Sheila from Clare. That 40 year tradition is being carried on by the family and the future looks bright for the Kilford. And the dynasty stretches to the Glendine Inn on the city's Castlecomer road where Pius and Sheila's son, Alan heads up the family business offering great food, drinks and accommodation in what is both a local and a tourist haven. Cheltenham Gold Cup favourite Presenting Percy heads an initial entry of eight for the Grade 2 Red Mills Chase at Gowran Park this Saturday. Following his victorious return to action in the Grade 2 Galmoy Hurdle last month, after which he received one of the best receptions given to any horse anywhere this season, the Pat Kelly-trained Presenting Percy will be returning to fences for the first time since his impressive success in last seasons RSA Chase at Cheltenham. As a novice chaser last year Pat Kellys charge was just touched off by Our Duke in this race before going to strike at Cheltenham and Saturdays expected outing at Gowran Park will see the eight-year-old follow a familiar path. Presenting Percy is currently as low as 3/1 favourite for the Gold Cup where he will be bidding to win at the Cheltenham Festival for the third year in succession. "I spoke to Pat this morning and he is very happy with Presenting Percy," Philip Reynolds, owner of Presenting Percy reported today. "He came out of the Galmoy Hurdle very well and has improved from that. Pat is happy with where he has him now and he has a measure to go on because we were in exactly the same place last year targeting the same race this weekend. "Speaking to Pat he told me he was every bit as happy as he was this time last year. Of Presenting Percy's last five runs four of them will have come at Gowran Park so he has kind of made Gowran his home. It will be nice to get him back there and back over fences as well. "It would be great to see him win but it is not going to be the end of the world. A bit like last year we will be going there hopeful rather than confident but it is a race that should put him spot on for what will hopefully be a race in three and a half weeks or so." Reflecting on the atmosphere at Gowran Park last month, Reynolds added: "When you hear Davy Russell say 'It's days like this that we ride for' on a Thursday in Gowran Park that really sums up what a reception it was. It was unbelievable. Presenting Percy was even clapped out of the parade ring. That doesn't happen often. Among Presenting Percys opponents on Saturday is last years Gold Cup third Anibale Fly who has been restricted to just one run this season. Another possible runner for owner J.P. McManus is Joseph OBriens Edwulf who is searching for his first win since last years Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown. Willie Mullins has entered the talented Killultagh Vic and the prolific Bachasson while Henry de Bromhead has already confirmed that Monalee will take his chance on Saturday. The line up is completed by the Gordon Elliott duo of Alpha Des Obeaux, a runner-up in last months Thyestes Chase, and A Toi Phil. Last years winner Forge Meadow heads the entries for the Red Mills Trial Hurdle which has also attracted last years Triumph Hurdle winner Farclas. The Gordon Elliott-trained grey will be bidding for his first win since that Cheltenham victory. Elliott could also field the four-year-old Coeur Sublime who fell when holding every chance in a Grade 2 at Leopardstown at Christmas. As usual well just see how the horses are later in the week before deciding what to run, said Elliott. Its never easy for those good juveniles when they have to take on their elders and Farclas has had to take on Apples Jade in two of his races this season but this looks a potentially nice opportunity for him. Were anxious to get a run into Coeur Sublime before Cheltenham and there arent too many options left for him which is why weve put him in here. Ive been happy with him over the last few weeks." The first on a seven race card at Gowran Park is due off at 1.25pm and the ground is currently yielding to soft, soft in places. For further information ahead of Saturday's fixture see www.gowranpark.ie. A major multi-venue exhibition of contemporary crafts featuring 74 makers from 19 European countries, including seven Irish participants, was officially opened at Kilkenny Castle and the National Design & Craft Gallery, Castle Yard on Saturday. Monumentality/Fragility: European Prize for Applied Arts has been receiving rave reviews. Mary Heffernan, Assistant Principal, National Historic Properties at the Office of Public Works, welcomed guests to the launch in The Long Gallery in Kilkenny Castle, followed by a word of thanks by Karen Hennessy, Chief Executive, Design & Crafts Council of Ireland. Karen then introduced the special guest speaker, Gaelle Cornut, Director of BeCraft, who officially opened the exhibition. Visitors were then invited to the National Design & Craft Gallery to explore more of the exhibition and enjoy complimentary Design Cocktails courtesy of Stathams by Pembroke Kilkenny. The Irish makers whose work is displayed in Monumentality / Fragility and who attended the opening were silversmith Coilin O Dubhghaill; ceramicist Nicola Kelly; textile artists Caroline Schofield and Niki Collier; and jewellers Eimear Conyard and Annemarie Reinhold. Caroline Schofield, Eimear Conyard and Annemarie Reinhold are all based in Kilkenny. Caroline studied Textiles in NCAD and received an MA in Art & Process from Crawford College of Art & Design in 2015. Eimear is Course Manager at the DCCoI Centre of Excellence in Jewellery and Goldsmithing and is a contemporary jewellery designer-maker and silversmith. Annemarie graduated with a Degree in Metals and Jewellery from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin in 2016 and is developing her skills at the DCCoI Centre of Excellence in Jewellery and Goldsmithing at Castle Yard, Kilkenny. Several international makers whose work features in the exhibition also travelled to attend the opening, including jeweller Dimitar Stankov (Bulgaria) and ceramicists Karine De Baets, Valerie Cuelemans, Fabienne Withofs (all from Belgium), Claudia Biehne (Germany), and Astrid Sleire (Norway). This exhibition is the 2018 edition of the European Prize for Applied Arts for which artists were invited to draw inspiration from the paradoxical nature of the dual theme, Monumentality / Fragility, proposed by BeCraft (previously World Crafts Council Belgique Francophone). Ireland is the only country to host this prestigious exhibition for the European Prize for Applied Arts outside of Belgium, and this unique showcase of over 170 exceptional objects is displayed at both locations until 23rd June 2019. The exhibition is presented in partnership with the Office of Public Works (OPW). Admission to the National Design & Craft Gallery is free. Free access to the exhibition in Kilkenny Castle is available by request at reception. As Valentines Day approaches ISME, the Irish SME Association is appealing to Irish consumers to make a real effort to shop local and buy Irish. Commenting on the importance of shopping local ISME CEO Neil McDonnell said: Every 10 spent locally on Irish products generates more than 40 of benefit to the local community in terms of employment. The retail sector employs more people than any other sector in the Irish economy. Retailers are currently under significant pressure; for example health stores are facing a 23% VAT increase, and with a crash-out Brexit looming, its more important than ever to shop local. Local shops use local services, accountants, insurance brokers, and suppliers, as well as employing local people, and they also carry a higher percentage of locally produced goods. While online shopping is a resource for many buyers, the importance of quality, traceability, and value-for-money of Irish products should be remembered. Colm Healy, the owner of Skelligs Chocolate in Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry in pointed out: Local businesses are part of the fabric of the local community, providing a focal point in every village, town and city in Ireland. If you value where you live, and want it to thrive, buy local. For Valentines Day, David Cox, CEO, Fragrances of Ireland in Kilmacanoge, Co. Wicklow noted: We here at Inis the Energy of the Sea believe in small business. It is our privilege to partner with unique shops and boutiques both in Ireland and in many other countries across the world, with our signature scent. This Valentines Day, we hope everyone takes the opportunity to purchase something special for their loved ones from their local gift and boutique stores. Dublins Wicklow Street Clinic, Manager, Jenny Boyce stated: Customers shouldnt be afraid of popping into beauty salons in the run up to Valentines Day; whether you want to make an appointment for a facial, or you want to purchase a voucher for your Valentine. Our therapists feel that shopping shouldnt be a faceless pastime. Consumers should enjoy the interaction of touching products and speaking to shop assistants. Irish consumers should remember that by supporting Irish SMEs this Valentines Day, they are supporting people, not shareholders. Nuala Woulfe, Owner, Nuala Woulfe Serenity Spa Serenity Day Spa, in Sandycove, Dun Laoghaire added: Independent businesses create and offer choice. By supporting your local small business, youre directly putting money back into your own community. This Valentines Day, book some Me Time with a Spa Treat Ailish Connolly and Liz Greehy of Kilbaha Gallery in Loop Head, Co. Clare said: We are a small family business employing locally and also using many local suppliers, so when our customers shop local their money is filtering into the local economy in a big way; through our staff, our bakers, our artists, our crafters, our local post office, and other small business suppliers. We, and all our staff have a shop local policy too. We try to keep our own spends within the locality or certainly within the County where possible. Businesses need to support each other. ISME Marketing Executive Ciara Whooley concluded: From our previous Shop Local Campaign, its clear that now is the time to rally behind our local entrepreneurs, to support our towns and villages and to help our local economies grow. Weather Alert ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH NOW IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions Friday through at least Wednesday. Triple digit heat will develop in central Washington Friday and spread into eastern Washington over the weekend. * WHERE...Portions of North and North Central Idaho. Portions of Central, East Central, North Central, Northeast, and Southeast Washington. * WHEN...From Friday afternoon through Wednesday evening. * IMPACTS...Several days of triple digit heat and unusually warm overnight temperatures will make it difficult to control the build up of heat in homes without air conditioning. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...This will likely be an historic heat wave. Chances are good that many long standing records will be broken during this upcoming heat wave. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Monitor the latest forecasts and warnings for updates on this situation. Be prepared to drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air- conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. && Egypt's embassy in Amsterdam received a limestone statue from the First Intermediate Period which was stolen and smuggled out of the country in the 1990s, Egyptian Antiquities Ministry official said on Monday. "The statue was first noticed by the department in March 2018 when it was put on display at an art exhibition hall in Holland," said Shaaban Abdel Gawad, supervisor general of the Antiquities Repatriation Department at the Ministry of Antiquities. The department immediately reported the incident to Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which contacted the Dutch police and concerned authorities in Holland to confiscate the statue and inform the hall and the owner of the statue that it was a stolen artifact. The Dutch authorities handed the statue over to Egypt's embassy in Amsterdam and it will return to its homeland soon, Abdel Gawad said. The statue is carved of limestone and was uncovered via illegal excavation carried out in 1990s at the Saqqara necropolis, added the official. It depicts a top official named Nekaw-Ptah in a standing posture and wearing a short wig. It also bears hieroglyphic text showing the name of its owner and the date when he lived. Egypt, one of the most ancient civilizations, has been working effortlessly to preserve and retrieve its rich archaeological treasures and historical heritage, which will also help boost the once-flourishing tourism industry that has largely been affected by the political turmoil over the past five years. One artifact prominently displayed in the exhibit is an iron collar with two arms reaching out from the base containing bells. The collar would be locked around the neck of a captured runaway slave. Greenwald said the collar was worn continually by the punished individual. EUGENE, Ore. -- Marijuana users could smoke for six years and still not burn through the excess cannabis in oregon, a new report from the Liquor Control Commison says. One local grower told KEZI 9 News he's not surprised. "Well we kinda knew that was going to happen because oregon is not a very populated state and has a lot of prime cannabis growing real estate," said Travis Mackenzie, owner of TJ's dispensary. Mackenzie started growing legal cannabis over 10 years ago, and even with is experience, he said he has made sacrifices. He said he's had to lower prices as well as pay. However, he said he won't be the only one making sacrifices. He said he started growing medical cannabis for his wife. "We have a lot of medically sensitive people who are counting on this to work," Mackenzie said. "The ability to get medicine for cheaper is great, but if the medicine that works for them, if the farms that grow the cannabis that works for them go out of business because of the market landscape, that's not good for patients," Mackenzie said. He said the recreational marijuana market is only a replacement for the medical one. Former OSU professor Seth Crawford, who is an expert on marijuana economics, told the Associated Press last year that overproduction was guaranteed when oregon legalized recreational marijuana because the state did not cap the number of producers. What happens to the oversupply is now in the hands of Oregon lawmakers. The vehicle, which had four occupants, continued to evade police as it traveled from I-94, taking U.S. 421 to Indiana 2 in Valparaiso. The vehicle stopped in the area of Cain Drive and Engle Drive, just east of Eastport Centre Drive, where its occupants fled on foot, police said. Councilwoman Christine Cid, D-East Chicago, said she was in favor of overriding the veto by the commissioners. She said they will take a deeper review and pass an ordinance that will attempts to please all parties, which is impossible, and stay within our legal rights as a council. To me it is public safety. And I hope in our further review that we continue to look at distance. A livable world for all of our children and grandchildren is what four Nebraska chapters of Citizens Climate Lobby advocate for each day. We are a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization. While recognizing that local communities have unique concerns, we strongly support legislation that was recently introduced in both the U.S. House (H.R. 763) and U.S. Senate (S. 3791), the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividends Act. The Senate bill is from 2018, but there are plans to reintroduce in the coming months. This bipartisan bill addresses a shared problem with a policy that has appeal for both parties. The proposed bill has four components: 1) A carbon fee assessed on coal, oil and natural gas companies, starting low and increasing annually. For example, the fee would translate into an increased cost of about ten cents per gallon of gasoline annually. This fee will use the marketplace to encourage businesses and individuals to move away from fossil fuels toward cleaner, less expensive options. It will incentivize innovation. By starting small and increasing steadily on a schedule, the fee will allow businesses to plan and make changes as desired. Importantly for Nebraskas agricultural community, fuel used in farming and ranching will be exempt from fees. If Legislature does approve one of the bills, Lost Way and breweries like them will be forced to raise their prices and that may result in fewer sales. We are forced to raise our prices so we are going to sell less. If we sell less, they get less tax so there is that concern there as well, Mark said. Craft brewing has grown in Nebraska recently, he said. Four years ago, there were 32 breweries in the state. Now there are 49 operating breweries and more in the planning stages. A lot of those are opening in greater Nebraska. Thats also helping to relieve the property tax burden from the landowners, Mark said. Since the proposal of these bills, Mark has gone to Lincoln to speak to senators who are members of the Revenue Committee and to help them understand the effect this tax would have on businesses like Lost Brewery. Through this process, he wants to help educate senators and the public to know how the craft brewing business operates. Every four to eight years, we have to help the senators understand the regulations that we face and the way our industry is regulated, he said. This will contribute to the renaissance of the city of Gary and we are proud to be a part of that, Ivy Tech Lake County Chancellor Louie Gonzalez said in a statement. "Without question, this will contribute to the development of the 35th Avenue corridor. And, as an educational partner, we will continue to improve the quality of life for thousands of young people in the years to come." Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 11) The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Monday denied accusations that it conspired with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in ensuring the victory and creation of the new Bangsamoro autonomous region. In a statement Monday, AFP Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Edgardo Arevalo said it was "grossly unfair" to tag authorities for such activity. "This is an unfortunate occasion where the AFP, despite diligently performing its mandate 24/7, is being accused of a malpractice. This is grossly unfair to the men and women of the AFP who dutifully performed their election duties," he said. Cotabato City Mayor Guiani-Sayadi on Sunday told The Manila Times that there has been a conspiracy among plebiscite officials, security forces, as well as the members of the rebel group. Guiani-Sayadi has openly opposed her city's inclusion in the soon-to-be established Bangsamoro region, which will replace the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Cotabato City, although not an official part of ARMM, hosts its regional offices and line agencies. Majority of Cotabato City residents, however, said "yes" to inclusion in the new region. "The AFP is and will remain professional, non-partisan, and true to its mandate of protecting the people in the exercise of their political rights and in electing their leaders who will manage the affairs of the state," AFP added in its statement. The Commission on Elections on January 25 declared the ratification of the Republic Act 11054 or the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), which is seen to end conflict between the government and rebel groups in Mindanao. A total of 1,540,017 residents who took part in the first plebiscite voted in favor of the BOL. Also joining the new Bangsamoro region are 63 North Cotabato barangays (villages), according to its plebiscite board of canvassers. Lanao del Norte, however, rejected the inclusion of its six towns in the new region. KEARNEY Like just about any factory, West Pharmaceutical Services has the pedal to the metal. The plant in southwest Kearney is on pace this year to produce 5 million syringe tips, vial stoppers and other components for pharmaceutical devices. Were running at maximum capacity, said DeWayne Gohl, who retired last week as plant manager. Turning latex and artificial compounds into devices that help heal sickness or save lives is Wests goal as a business. However, many of the companys 266 employees will be looking beyond their job duties this year to make a difference with the people they work and with the communities where they live. Caring about coworkers and the community is practically built into the calendar at West, said Gohl, recalling employees decision to recarpet the office of the S.A.F.E. Center at 620 E. 25th St. When Chuck Sinsel, a West employee who commutes from Grand Island, learned about his coworkers decision to donate the carpet, Sinsel volunteered to install it. With 26 years as an installer, he figured there was no need to pay anyone to put in the carpet when he could do it for free. ASHLAND, Ore. Law enforcement officers, firefighters, and City officials descended on a property in Ashland on Monday, shutting down and taking over an "illegal boarding house," according to a statement from the City of Ashland. The City said that a homeowner named Derek Allen Hinger converted his 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom home in the 700-block of Elkader Street into a warren of 11 rental units. "The illegal conversion of the residence placed the occupants into serious life safety hazards," the City said. Back in August of 2018, the City said that execution of a search warrant discovered the illegal conversion, after which Hinger entered into a deferred plea agreement. The plea required that Hinger submit to inspections from Ashland Code Enforcement over a period of 10 months. "Code Enforcement would post the property 24 hours in advance of the inspection to comply with the Oregon Landlord Tenant Laws," the City said. "Derek Hinger and Rob Hisamoto would arrive at the property after the posting late at night or first thing in the morning, remove doors and occupant belongings giving the appearance they were complying with the court order prior to the Code Enforcement Inspection." Multiple tips and subsequent surveillance by Ashland Police confirmed that Hinger and Hisamoto, with some unidentified accomplices, were taking out doors, mattresses, and personal items and then placing them in "self-moving style vans," the City said. Ashland Police also obtained video evidence of the illegal boarding house while searching for a theft suspect on January 14 finding that the "illegally constructed rooms were occupied again." Finally, on Monday, Ashland Fire and Rescue, Ashland Police Department, Ashland Building Department and Ashland Code Enforcement served an inspection warrant on the house removing the occupants, the shutting off both water and power. Utilities will remain shut down pending a hearing with the Ashland Municipal Judge. "Enforcement in complaints of illegal occupancy are required to avert such tragedies as the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland, CA on December 2, 2016 where 36 people perished," the City said. YREKA, Calif. -- Oregon State Police (OSP) and agents from the Medford Area Drug and Gang Task Force Enforcement Team (MADGET) arrested 41-year-old Eddie Dodge of Anderson, California for the murder of 31-year-old Hunter Sims of Sugarland, Texas on Friday evening, February 8, 2019. Sims' body was found on February 7th by a utility worker at the bottom of an embankment near a county road in the "South County" area of Siskiyou County. A California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer and SCSO units gathered evidence located at the scene to suggest the death was suspicious. SCSO patrol units and SCSOs MCU, including detectives and forensic technician conducted an extensive crime scene investigation. Dodge is currently being held at the Jackson County Jail. Dodge is awaiting extradition to California, where he will face murder charges in the death of Mr. Sims. According to Sheriff Jon Lopey, I would like to take this opportunity to commend the exemplary investigative work of the involved deputies, SCSOs MCU, and the excellent support we received from other agencies such as the OSP, MADGET, SUMIT, Jackson County Sheriffs Office (OR), and NSMIT. Our MCU detectives and forensic technician worked around the clock to analyze evidence, coordinate and follow-up leads from different counties and states, and the team contacted and synchronized the efforts of a variety of law enforcement agencies in Oregon and California. Additional support at the crime scene was received from the Mt. Shastas CHP Area and the CHP Northern Divisions Air Operations Unit. Siskiyou County Roads assisted with a lengthy road closure during the investigation. This case is still under investigation and a lot of work has to be done. Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact the Siskiyou County Sheriffs Office 24-hour Dispatch Center at (530) 841-2900. SALEM, Ore. In a statement released on Monday, Governor Kate Brown announced a new five-year statewide housing plan meant to address housing availability and affordability in the state, as well as the burgeoning issue of homelessness. "It will take all of us working together to prevent people from slipping into homelessness, to get people quickly off the street, and to help all Oregonians access stable homes," said Governor Brown. The report, dubbed Breaking New Ground, comes from Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS), reportedly informed by input from community partners and other state agencies. It outlines six priorities: equity and racial justice, homelessness, permanent supportive housing, affordable rental housing, home-ownership, and rural communities. We are embarking on a new era for OHCS. An era in which we will be conducting business differently," said Margaret Salazar, director of the agency. "You will see us be proactive, flexible and intentional, and we will step up to provide the leadership Oregon needs to deliver this work. We will not be able to do it without strong partnerships and the support of Oregon communities. According to OHCS, the report serves as a road-map for creating more stable housing in the state based on data gathered beginning in 2017. CLICK HERE to read the full OHCS report on Oregon's statewide housing plan. The data demonstrated that 27 percent of Oregon renters have a "severe housing cost burden," with renters spending more than half of their income on housing and utilities. Oregonians overall have a greater chance of living in poverty today (16.5 percent) than they did during the recession in 2009 (14.3 percent). The burdens of poverty and housing struggles disproportionately affected people of color, OHCS found, with 26 percent living below the poverty line, compared to 15 percent of the White population. According to the last Point-in-Time count of the homeless population, about 14,000 Oregonians experienced homelessness in 2017 an increase of nearly 6 percent since 2015. Each section of the report focuses on one of the six priorities and outlines strategies geared toward addressing the problem strategies that will ultimately require greater funding to implement. "This is an ambitious and historic statewide housing plan that will guide our states housing investments for years to come, and will set a trajectory that will endure even longer. It will take an equally ambitious and historic investment from the Legislature to ensure that every Oregonian, in communities large and small, has access to housing choices that allow them and their families to thrive," said Governor Brown. For more context and funding information from the report, find the Appendices here. You can download or view the Executive Summary below. This is someplace people want to live, said school board member Kristen Kroeger. People are moving here to raise their families. In order to get them to come here, we have to have a strong school system, she said. KCTV5.com is now with you on the go! Get the latest news updates and video, StormTrack5 weather forecast, weather radar, special investigative reports, sports headlines and much more from KCTV5 News. >> Click/tap here to download our free mobile app. << Copyright 2019 KCTV (Meredith Corp.) All rights reserved. Every time your water bill comes, somebody has to go downstairs and read the numbers off it, 1st Ward Ald. John Moran explained to a group of high school students attending Mondays council meeting. This [project] is to put in an automated link-up so that nobody has to do that anymore. That would prevent people from forgetting to put the meter reading down, doing it inaccurately and then getting hit with a big bill. A lot of times, if you dont do it we just estimate. If you go too many months like that, and then submit a reading of more than what we estimated, you can get a large bill. The survey, originally set to end Jan. 31, remained open until Feb. 6 because of the brutally cold weather that forced district schools to close for several days during the last week of January and canceled a public forum designed to allow District 64 residents to give feedback on the search in person. Staff also proposes the village allow developers to pay a fee in lieu of their creation of on-site affordable housing units, which is proposed to be set between $50,000 and $100,000 per unit. It would allow the village to leverage those cash resources by supporting existing rental units or increasing the chances of additional state and federal funding for small stand-alone projects. The village previously used $500,000 from its affordable housing fund to assist The Community Builders in gaining approval for a 37-unit, low-income housing development at 801 S. Oak Park Ave. Your honors, Faycal Barakets family, the victim, and the lawyers of the civil party protest against this new postponement and against the absence, once again, of the accused. This is not normal. We cannot continue at this pace, lawyer Mokhtar Trifi told the specialized trial chamber in Nabeul, 60 km northeast of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. Mr. Trifi, Vice-President of the World Organisation Against Torture (WOAT), former President of the Tunisian Bar Association and of the Tunisian League for Human Rights, a highly respected personality in the country and abroad, is known for his magnanimity and natural leniency. The reasons for his anger on Friday, February 8, are obvious: the trial on the death by torture of Faycal Baraket in 1991 has just been postponed to March, because of the absence of the president of the court, currently on leave, as one of the judges stated. The public had been waiting for more than an hour in the courtroom. Faycal Barakets family had come in full, including the old mother and grandchildren. The defence lawyers and a strengthened WOAT team had also made the trip, very early, to this town of Cap Bon. 34 defendants, including former President Ben Ali Camille Henry, WOATs lobbying and advocacy coordinator, expresses the same disappointment as Mr. Trifi: We are now driven by a form of constant doubt and frustration that leads us, each time, to wonder at what time the judges of the specialized chambers will start the session and what reason will still be given to postpone the trial. When will trials really begin in these cases of serious human rights violations? The message sent back to us with this type of event is not reassuring. In a courtroom that suddenly empties itself of its magistrates, Mokhtar Trifi, who defends several victims of the regime of former President Ben Ali, seems powerless. Six or seven judges should have been appointed for the specialised chambers and not just five. This problem is in addition to the difficulties in summoning or bringing the defendants, which we have seen since the beginning of the trials investigated by the Truth and Dignity Commission in the context of transitional justice last May, he laments. The Faycal Baraket case was referred to the Nabeul court by the Truth and Dignity Commission (IVD) in April 2018. The first hearing took place on July 6. The case was first postponed to 12 October due to the absence of the accused: 34 individuals, including former President Ben Ali himself, former ministers and several presidential advisers, as well as two judges, two forensic doctors, officers and executives of the Ministry of the Interior. The second postponement was due to the lack of logistics for recording the trial, a request from Faycal Barakets family and in particular from his brother, Jamel Baraket, who has been campaigning for almost 30 years for justice to be done. The ordeal of the two Baraket brothers Strangely, Jamel Baraket remains calm in the face of the new postponement. I was expecting it. No verdict from the specialized chambers will be issued until the next general and presidential elections at the end of this year, he said. Jamel Baraket is the true guardian of the memory of this very long, heavy and complex case for murder, torture, kidnapping, rape and sexual assault, arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance and falsification of official documents. The United Nations Committee against Torture itself had already taken a decision in favour of the Faycal Baraket case in 1996. Jamel Baraket, Faycal Barakets brother, poses in front of the empty chairs of the Court ( Olfa Belhassine) The facts date back to 1991. Faycal Baraket was arrested on 8 October by members of the Nabeul National Guard Research Brigade as part of a widespread persecution campaign targeting opponents of the regime, including militants of the Islamist Ennahdha party, which was not recognised by the government. He was 25 years old and was studying mathematics at the Faculty of Science in Tunis. Eight days earlier, on October 1, the Brigade couldnt find him and instead arrested his brother Jamel, his two-year-old apolitical younger brother, in order to force the eldest to surrender. Arrested in turn, the Islamist militant was taken to the Brigade post. According to statements by Jamel Baraket, present on the scene, Faycal Baraket was tortured in the office of Abdelfettah Ladib, head of the Brigade and main accused of the Islamist students torture. I was tortured by the same team as my brother. But with him, they went to excess. From an administrative office, Abdelfettah Ladibs workplace has become a torture centre, says Jamel Baraket. Death, after six hours of torture Faycal Baraket was completely undressed and tied with his feet and hands. He was hanged in the so-called roasted chicken position, between two chairs. Fiercely beaten all over his body, sodomized with a metal cable, he was then thrown into the corridor. According to fellow prisoners and eyewitnesses, the young man then seemed to be in agony. My brother spent nearly six hours at the Nabeul National Guard Research Brigade from 1pm to 6pm, where he suffered the worst abuses. When he was brought to the emergency room, shortly after 6pm, there was nothing more to do. He had already passed away, says Jamel Baraket. On 17 October, the authorities informed the victims father that his sons body had been found on the side of the road in Menzel Bouzalfa, near Nabeul, after being hit by an anonymous driver. The first report of the two forensic doctors was falsified. The police asked the father to recognize the body without allowing him to see it in full. He then noticed that the face was largely swollen, even disfigured. The burial took place under high police surveillance three days later at the small cemetery in Menzel Bouzelfa. Jamel Baraket, who was released in April 1992 without trial and after being tortured, took over his brothers case and made it his own cause. A car accident Faycal Barakets case took on an international dimension. Amnesty International and WOAT took on the case. In 1992, the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) began to monitor the case closely. It became a carefully documented story that embarrassed the regime. The latter retaliated through an armada of legal advisors and the establishment of an intergovernmental commission defending the thesis of a car accident committed by a stranger. In a decision of 10 November 1999, the CAT considered that Tunisia, which had ratified the Convention against Torture, has violated its obligation to conduct an impartial investigation into the case of Faycal Baraket. After the January 2011 Revolution, the investigation made progress despite attempts to block it by Abdelfettah Ladib, promoted to chief of police for the Nabeul region, says Jamel Baraket. In March 2013, the deceaseds remains were exhumed in the presence of his family, judges, Tunisian forensic doctors, British forensic doctor Derrik Pounder and Amnesty International delegates. This new examination revealed additional forensic evidence of torture. As the justice system has left the case dragging on and no warrant was brought against the four officers responsible for the abuses (although they were issued in 2013 by the Nabeul court) has so far been enforced, all the Baraket familys hopes focused on transitional justice. On 16 November 2016, Jamel Baraket and his mother testified at the first public hearings of the IVD. We want the alleged perpetrators to come to the court and tell the whole truth. The torturers must come to report their crimes and not pass the buck as they have been trying to do since the beginning. How can we forgive and start a reconciliation process in the face of such a flow of denial?, wondered Faycal Baraket, in an already deserted courtroom. 2017 high-grade grab samples include 331 g/t Au, and 313 g/t Au 600-meter strike length established through prior drilling in 2005 1,348.5-hecatre property located in the prolific Red Lake Gold Camp VANCOUVER, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / Nexus Gold Corp. (''Nexus'' or the ''Company'') (TSX-V: NXS, OTCQB: NXXGF, FSE: N6E) is pleased to announce that it has signed a definitive agreement with 1082545 B.C. Ltd. (the ''Vendor''), an arms'-length party, to acquire the McKenzie Gold Project (the ''Project''). The Project consists of a series of mineral claims located in the Red Lake region of Northwestern Ontario. In consideration for the Project, the Company is required to issue 4,000,000 common shares and complete a one-time cash payment of $150,000. The McKenzie gold project is a 1,348.5-hectare property located in the heart of the Red Lake gold camp. The highly prospective geological setting is analogous to several past producers. McKenzie hosts nine documented historical gold occurrences with limited exploration. ''The acquisition of the McKenzie Gold Project adds a Canadian-based project with high-grade potential, in a marquee district, to our portfolio,'' said president & CEO, Alex Klenman. '' Nexus now has a total of six projects on two continents, in prolific and proven gold producing regions. With multiple types of exploration targets and excellent jurisdictional diversity, we feel Nexus is well positioned for growth in 2019 and beyond,'' continued Mr. Klenman. In 2017 a ground reconnaissance program resulted in a prospecting discovery, with high-grade samples returning up to 313 grams-per-tonne (''g/t'') gold (''Au''). A new showing on the southwest corner of McKenzie Island, located in the northern portion of the project area, was also discovered during this program and returned multiple high-grade samples ranging from 9.37 g/t Au to 331 g/t Au. This new discovery lies approximately 100 meters west of a historical showing where gold values of up to 212.8 g/t Au have been reported in provincial government files. In 2005, Cypress Development Corp conducted a small drill program near the southern boundary that intersected a strongly silicified, sericite-altered, east-west-trending mineralized zone up to 600 meters long and open along strike and to depth. Quartz veining accompanied by sphalerite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite and free gold returned gold values in drill core of up to and 2.2 g.t Au over 6 meters. Quartz veining and sulphide mineralization are also reported in multiple locations on McKenzie Island, within the northern portion of the property boundary. Sampling conducted in 2017 returned up to 18.02 g/t Au in grab samples from the vein exposure. Figure 1: Area map showing NXS acquisition and surrounding companies/projects Figure 2: Detailed area map showing NXS acquisition and surrounding companies/projects In connection with completion of the acquisition of the Project, the Company intends to issue 300,000 common shares to an arm's-length third-party who assisted with introducing the acquisition to the Company. All securities issued in connection with the acquisition of the Project will be subject to a four-month-and-one-day statutory hold period. The transaction remains subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange and cannot be completed until such approval is obtained. Nexus Gold to raise up to $2M in Private Placement The Company is pleased to announce that it intends to conduct a non-brokered private placement of up to 17,391,304 units (each, a ''Unit'') at a price of $0.115 per Unit, for gross proceeds of up to $2,000,000. Each ''Unit'' will consist of one common share and one common share purchase warrant (each, ''Warrant'') exercisable at a price of $0.18 per Warrant for a period of twenty-four (24) months. Proceeds will be used to continue ongoing drill programs at the Bouboulou-Rakounga projects as well as exploration work at the new Dakouli 2 project in Burkina Faso, and summer work programs at the New Pilot Gold Project in BC and the McKenzie Gold Project, in Red Lake, Ontario. The Company may pay finders' fees to eligible parties who have introduced subscribers to the placement. All securities issued in connection with the placement will be subject to a four-month-and-one-day statutory hold period in accordance with applicable securities laws. Completion of the placement remains subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. About the Company Nexus Gold is a Vancouver-based gold exploration and development company with active projects in West Africa and Canada. The company is currently concentrating its efforts on establishing a compliant resource at one or more of it's four current Burkina Faso-based projects which total over 560-sq kms (56,000+ hectares) of land located on active gold belts and proven mineralized trends. For more information please visit www.nexusgoldcorp.com. Warren Robb P.Geo., Vice-President, Exploration, is the designated Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the technical information contained in this release. On behalf of the Board of Directors of NEXUS GOLD CORP. Alex Klenman President & CEO 604-558-1920 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. www.nexusgoldcorp.com Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statement or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws. TORONTO, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Red Pine Exploration Inc. (TSX-V: RPX) ("Red Pine" or the "Company") announces new results from its exploration/infill drilling in the gaps in the Surluga Deposit (Surluga or the Deposit), and from its confirmation drilling in the higher grade zones of the Deposit. The Surluga Deposit is one of two (2) known deposits, identified to date, on the large 6,519 hectares Wawa Gold Project, located near Wawa, Ontario. The Surluga Deposit currently hosts a NI 43-101 Inferred Resource of 1,088,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 1.71 g/t (using a 0.5 g/t cut-off) contained within 19.82 million tonnes1. These latest results will be included a revised NI 43-101 resource estimate for the Deposit that is expected to be issued in Q2 2019. Red Pines understanding of the geological factors that control higher-grade gold mineralization in the Surluga Deposit, has enabled the Company to identify gaps in the historic drilling as well as areas where potentially significant zones of new gold mineralization could to be discovered. Hole SD-18-241 targeted one of these historical gaps that appear to be typically located near the existing underground infrastructure of the Surluga Mine. Drilling highlights (Table 1): Discovery of high-grade gold in drilling gaps in the Surluga Deposit: Hole SD-18-241 contains 4.9 g/t gold over 16.3 metres (true width) including 16.1 g/t gold over 2.7 metres (true width). Confirmation drilling supports the current resource defined in the Surluga Deposit Hole SD-18-235 contains 1.9 g/t gold over 38.5 metres (true width) including 5.0 g/t gold over 8.7 metres (true width) Quentin Yarie, President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Pine stated, "The discovery of significant mineralization in exploration gaps of the Surluga Deposit validates our model that significant zones of gold mineralization remain to be discovered and quantified. The addition of these discoveries has the potential to add higher-grade ounces to the Surluga Deposit, accessible by the historical underground workings of the Surluga Mine. We expect pending results from the remainder of our infill drilling program to fall in line with what weve observed so far, and were on track to issue a revised NI 43-101 for Surluga in Q2 2019. Table 1. Highlights of results from the 2018 drilling in the Jubilee Shear Zone Hole X Y Z Az Dip From (m) To (m) Length(m) Calculated true width (m) Gold (g/t) Gold Zone SD-18-235 668389 5316834 373.7 250 60 269 310.4 41.4 38.5 1.9 Jubilee Shear Zone Including 290 299.4 9.4 8.7 5.0 Including 290 292.4 2.4 2.2 12.3 298.7 299.4 0.7 0.7 10.6 SD-18-241 668153 5316251 381.7 348 78 148.5 167.5 19.0 16.3 4.9 Jubilee Shear Zone Including 149.4 152.5 3.1 2.7 16.1 171.9 182.6 10.7 9.2 0.4 Including 181.6 182.6 1.1 0.9 1.9 Figure 1. Plan map of drilling results Infill and confirmation drilling in the Jubilee Shear Zone Red Pines 2018 diamond drill program, from July to early January 2019, targeted strategic areas in the Surluga Deposit where geological modelling suggested that high-grade mineralization could be discovered. Drilling results to date support the potential for the Surluga Deposit to host a higher-grade gold resource, accessible using the existing underground developments of the Surluga Mine. Recent drilling is also confirming that additional gold zones exist below the Jubilee Shear Zone (host of the Surluga Deposit) and that higher grade mineralization can be found in those gold zones. Gold assays results for 40 holes completed in the Surluga Deposit are still pending. Follow-on Financing In a non-brokered private placement financing, Red Pine issued 1,000,000 non-flow-through units (Units) of the Company, each priced at $0.05, for gross proceeds of approximately $50,000. Each Unit consists of one common share of the Company and one-half of one common share purchase warrant of the Company, which is exercisable to acquire one additional common share for a period of 24 months from the issuance thereof at a price of $0.075 per share. No finders fee was paid. All securities issued in the financing carry a restricted period of four months and one day from the date of issuance. The financing is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. Wawa Gold Project Background Since December 2014, Red Pine's exploration work has involved the ongoing sampling of 42,000 m of historic core that was never sampled by previous operators of the project, and exploration drilling campaigns. To date, the Company has completed over 59,000 m of drilling and made four discoveries along the extension of the Surluga Deposit: the Surluga North Zone; the Hornblende-William Zone; the Minto Mine South Zone and; the Grace-Darwin Zone. These are part of the Wawa Gold Corridor, a gold-mineralization zone that extends for more than 5 kilometres. Red Pines on-going exploration program is designed to potentially expand the size of the existing inferred gold resource and connect the other zones of gold mineralization along the newly-discovered Wawa Gold Corridor. The Company issued a maiden resource for the Mint Mine South Deposit in November 20182 and plans to issue a revised NI 43-101 for the Surluga Deposit in Q2 2019. On-site Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) Measures Drill core samples were transported in security-sealed bags for analyses to Activation Laboratories Ltd. in Ancaster, Ontario. Individual samples are labeled, placed in plastic sample bags and sealed. Groups of samples are then placed into durable rice bags and then shipped. The remaining coarse reject portions of the samples remain in storage if further work or verification is needed. Red Pine has implemented a quality-control program to comply with best practices in the sampling and analysis of drill core. As part of its QA/QC program, Red Pine inserts external gold standards (low to high grade) and blanks every 20 samples in addition to random standards, blanks, and duplicates. Qualified Person Quentin Yarie, P Geo. is the qualified person responsible for preparing, supervising and approving the scientific and technical content of this news release. About Red Pine Exploration Inc. Red Pine Exploration Inc. is a gold and base-metals exploration company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Company's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "RPX". Red Pine has a 60% interest in the Wawa Gold Project with Citabar LP. holding the remaining 40% interest. Red Pine is the Operating Manager of the Project and is focused on expanding the existing gold resource on the property. For more information about the Company visit www.redpineexp.com Or contact: Quentin Yarie, President & CEO, (416) 364-7024, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Or Mia Boiridy, Investor Relations, (416) 364-7024, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 1NI 43-101 inferred resource of 1,088,000 ounces of gold at 1.71 grams per tonne (g/t) using a 0.40 g/t gold cut-off grade for pit-constrained and 2.50 g/t gold cut-off grade for underground-constrained resources, contained in 19.82 million tonnes open along strike and at depth. The Cut-off grades are based on a gold price of US$1,250 per once and a gold recovery of 95 percent (Mineral Resource Statement, Surluga-Jubilee Gold Deposit, Wawa Gold Project, Ontario, SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc (effective May 26, 2015)). 2NI 43-101 maiden resource of 100,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 6.8 g/t using a cut-off grade of 3.5 g/t gold (Initial Technical Report for the Minto Mine South Property, Golder Associates Ltd. (effective Nov. 7, 218)). Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This News Release contains forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as may, should, expects, plans, anticipates, believes, estimates, predicts, potential or continue or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our or our industrys actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. Highlights: Drilling continues to make new discoveries as well as expand previous discoveries on the Courvan property Near-surface intersections grading 9.6 g/t Au over 9.0 metres and 3.2 g/t over 10.0 metres, expanding the east side of the Creek Zone 1,000 metres north of the Former Bussiere Mine Main Zone Two new discoveries grading 8.4 g/t Au over 5.0 metres , 4.0 g/t Au over 7.0 metres and 4.9 g/t Au over 9.0 metre, located 450 metres and 750 metres, respectively, north of the Creek Zone Near-surface discoveries grading 5.1 g/t Au over 8.0 metres and 1.2 g/t over 22.0 metres, located 450 metres north of the Former Bussiere Mine Main Zone Follow-up drill program currently underway. TORONTO, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Probe Metals Inc. (TSX-V: PRB) (OTCQB: PROBF) (Probe or the Company) is pleased to provide new results from the 2018 drill program on the Val-dOr East Courvan property area (the Property) located near Val-dOr, Quebec. Results from thirty-nine (39) drill holes, totaling 11,819 metres, were received and identified both new discoveries as well as confirmed significant expansion of previous discoveries north and west of the Former Bussiere Mine (see figure 1). The 100%-owned Property is located approximately 1.5 kilometres west and adjacent to the New Beliveau deposit. Significant drill results are presented below. David Palmer, President and CEO of Probe, states, In a very short space of time the Courvan property has been elevated into a priority area for generating potential new gold resources. The area is characterized by thick, high-grade gold zones that are interpreted to be part of the same system responsible for the mineralization that comprises the current 43-101 gold resource 1.5 kilometres to the east. The Courvan area, as well as the ground in between, has become a priority focus for the winter drill program as we look to extend these mineralized zones and expand our resource base. The 2018 drilling program at Courvan has allowed the identification of 12 new gold structures over an area of 2.5 kilometres by 1 kilometres around the old Bussiere Mine, all located within a short distance of the Companys current resources. The mineralized zones are similar to those observed along the Pascalis trend with large envelopes of quartz-tourmaline veins and associated alteration. Visible gold is common within the mineralization. Assay results from selected drill holes are reported in the following table: Selected drill results from the Courvan Area drilling program1 Hole Number From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) Area CO-18-31 33.5 41.5 8.0 5.1 Bussiere West including 34.5 39.0 4.5 8.5 Bussiere West including 83.0 84.0 1.0 7.2 Bussiere West CO-18-36 126.0 148.0 22.0 2.1 North of Creek Zone including 143.0 148.0 5.0 8.4 North of Creek Zone including 143.0 144.0 1.0 34.1 North of Creek Zone 282.0 289.0 7.0 4.0 North of Creek Zone including 282.0 283.0 1.0 25.2 North of Creek Zone CO-18-37 158.5 159.5 1.0 10.0 Bussiere West 235.0 257.0 22.0 1.2 Bussiere West including 252.0 257.0 5.0 3.0 Bussiere West CO-18-40 148.0 165.8 17.8 1.0 Bussiere West including 148.0 154.5 6.5 1.9 Bussiere West CO-18-42 149.0 159.2 10.2 1.0 Bussiere West including 158.0 159.2 1.2 4.8 Bussiere West CO-18-47 46.0 49.5 3.5 4.1 Bussiere West including 47.0 48.0 1.0 12.5 Bussiere West CO-18-48 41.0 42.1 1.1 4.3 North of Creek Zone 218.0 227.0 9.0 4.9 North of Creek Zone including 225.5 227.0 1.5 27.5 North of Creek Zone CO-18-57 114.0 125.0 11.0 1.4 Bussiere West CO-18-59 61.5 71.5 10.0 3.2 Creek Zone including 64.1 65.6 1.5 17.1 Creek Zone CO-18-62 60.8 70.5 9.7 1.0 Bussiere West CO-18-64 105.2 114.3 9.1 9.6 Creek Zone including 106.3 107.3 1.0 42.4 Creek Zone (1) All the new analytical results reported in this release and in this table, are presented in core length and uncut. Additional drilling is planned for the immediate area which will enable the true width determination. Figure 1: Surface Map Val-dOr East - Courvan and Pascalis Gold Trend Area About the Courvan Property, Val-dOr East Project: The Courvan Property is adjacent to the Companys New Beliveau deposit at Val-dOr East and unlocks significant exploration potential to the west of the New Beliveau mineralized system. The Property land package is largely unexplored, with limited historic diamond drilling in the vicinity of the past-producing Bussiere Mine. Gold-bearing veins historically mined on the property consisted of quartz-tourmaline-pyrite veins associated with shear zones and diorite dykes, similar to what is found in the New Beliveau deposit, approximately 1.5 kilometers to the east. The Bussiere Mine produced 42,000 ounces at a grade of 5.8 g/t Au between 1932 and 1942 before being destroyed by forest fires. Qualified Persons The scientific and technical content of this press release has been reviewed, prepared and approved by Mr. Marco Gagnon, P.Geo, Executive Vice President, who is a "Qualified Person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). Quality Control During the last drilling program, assay samples were taken from the NQ core by sawing the drill core in half, with one-half sent to a certified commercial laboratory and the other half retained for future reference. A strict QA/QC program was applied to all samples; which includes insertion of mineralized standards and blank samples for each batch of 20 samples. The gold analyses were completed by fire-assayed with an atomic absorption finish on 50 grams of materials. Repeats were carried out by fire-assay followed by gravimetric testing on each sample containing 3.0 g/t gold or more. Total gold analyses (Metallic Sieve) were carried out on the samples which presented a great variation of their gold contents or the presence of visible gold. About Probe Metals: Probe Metals Inc. is a leading Canadian gold exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of highly prospective gold properties. The Company is committed to discovering and developing high-quality gold projects, including its key asset the Val-dOr East Gold Project, Quebec. The Company is well-funded and controls a strategic land package of approximately 1,000-square-kilometres of exploration ground within some of the most prolific gold belts in Quebec. The Company was formed as a result of the sale of Probe Mines Limited to Goldcorp in March 2015. Goldcorp currently owns approximately 13.7% of the Company. On behalf of Probe Metals Inc., Dr. David Palmer, President & Chief Executive Officer For further information: Please visit our website at www.probemetals.com or contact: Seema Sindwani Director of Investor Relations This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. +1.416.777.9467 Forward-Looking Statements Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements" which are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Companys future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as believes, anticipates, expects, estimates, may, could, would, will, or plan. Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet managements expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, the Companys objectives, goals or future plans, statements, exploration results, potential mineralization, the estimation of mineral resources, exploration and mine development plans, timing of the commencement of operations and estimates of market conditions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to failure to identify mineral resources, failure to convert estimated mineral resources to reserves, the inability to complete a feasibility study which recommends a production decision, the preliminary nature of metallurgical test results, delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals, political risks, inability to fulfill the duty to accommodate First Nations and other indigenous peoples, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, changes in equity markets, inflation, changes in exchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in the development of projects, capital and operating costs varying significantly from estimates and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, and those risks set out in the Companys public documents filed on SEDAR. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. Chicago revolves around the character Roxie Hart, who kills a man who tried to walk out on her. While in prison, she meets Velma Kelly, a vaudeville star who is also in prison for murder. The two hire the same lawyer to help win their freedom and seek to win fame when they are free. TORONTO, Feb. 11, 2019 /CNW/ - Roxgold Inc. ("Roxgold" or "the Company") (TSX: ROXG) (OTC: ROGFF) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with Newcrest West Africa Holdings Pty Ltd ("Newcrest") to acquire a portfolio of 11 exploration permits in Cote d'Ivoire (the "Tenements"), which includes the Seguela gold project ("Seguela"), for total upfront consideration of US$20 million (the "Transaction"). All amounts in this news release are expressed in US dollars. Highlights of the Transaction Highly prospective exploration permits covering 3,298 km 2 in the attractive mining jurisdiction of Cote d'Ivoire with significant scope to build upon existing data and high-quality exploration work completed to date in the attractive mining jurisdiction of Cote d'Ivoire with significant scope to build upon existing data and high-quality exploration work completed to date Near-term development potential at the flagship Seguela project, which hosts the Antenna deposit and a number of satellite opportunities Seguela's Antenna deposit hosts a mineral resource containing an inferred resource of 5.8Mt at 2.3 g/t Au for 430koz Au 1 Acquisition cost of $20 million upon closing with a further payment of $10 million upon first gold production from the subject land package upon closing with a further payment of upon first gold production from the subject land package Addition to management team with the return of Paul Criddle to a full time executive position John Dorward, President and Chief Executive Officer of Roxgold commented, "Roxgold is excited to acquire Seguela and the related permits from Newcrest. This acquisition represents a meaningful addition to our growth pipeline, providing a key second asset, immediate additional resource upside and a large prospective land package all in an accretive transaction for Roxgold shareholders. Rarely does such a large and carefully assembled land package become available from one of the world's leading gold producers and Seguela is expected to materially increase Roxgold's overall resource inventory, particularly after we bring the deposit up to National Instrument 43-101 standards later this year. We also believe there is substantial near-term exploration upside at this deposit, and regionally, with the opportunity to significantly advance Seguela in the near term." Paul Weedon, Vice President, Exploration added, "This acquisition provides Roxgold with a very attractive exploration portfolio that includes highly prospective early stage opportunities as well as an advanced stage exploration asset in Seguela. Acquiring these assets from Newcrest allows us to build upon the high quality exploration work they have completed to date. We are eager to get to work on this portfolio to fully explore the potential upside we see at these assets." Terms of the Agreement Roxgold is acquiring the Tenements from Newcrest for upfront consideration of $20 million. Roxgold is also committing to a further payment of $10 million in cash upon production of the first gold from any of the areas covered by the Tenements. Closing of the Transaction is dependent upon, amongst other things, the renewal of certain tenements and the approval from the Minister of Mines of Cote d'Ivoire and other required regulatory approvals. About the Tenements The Tenements are located across prospective Birimian greenstone belts in the established mining jurisdiction of Cote d'Ivoire and includes highly prospective early stage projects as well as advanced stage projects throughout Cote d'Ivoire (See Figure 1). To date, approximately $21 million dollars has been invested in exploration and approximately 117,000 metres of drilling has been completed on the Tenements, allowing for significant scope to build upon existing data and exploration work completed to date. Figure 1: West African Regional Exploration Portfolio Included in the portfolio is the advanced exploration Seguela gold project that hosts the near surface Antenna gold deposit. Seguela is located approximately 240 kilometres north-west of Yamoussoukro, the political capital of Cote d'Ivoire, and approximately 480 kilometres north-west of Abidjan, the commercial capital of the country. The Antenna gold deposit consists of near-surface, potentially open pittable mineralization and is ideally located near existing infrastructure including grid power, transport and water resources. Newcrest has been operating in Cote d'Ivoire since 2010 and discovered the Antenna deposit in 2016. Roxgold intends to keep key infrastructure and personnel in place to ensure a smooth transition of activities at site. A maiden mineral resource was declared at Seguela's Antenna deposit in December 2017 in accordance with JORC 20121. Mineral Resources Antenna Deposit*1 Mineral Resources Antenna Deposit Tonnes (Mt) Grade (g/t Au) Ounces (koz) Inferred 5.8 2.3 430 (*) The mineral resources presented are as defined under the JORC Code, which is materially consistent with National Instrument 43-101. The Company is currently undertaking work to support a conversion from JORC reporting standards to National Instrument 43-101 reporting which is expected to be completed in the first half of 2019. Furthermore, Seguela presents a significant opportunity to further assess multiple priority exploration targets within 15 kilometres of the Antenna deposit. These targets have the potential to increase the resource base and enhance the potential economics of the Seguela project by adding low-cost near surface ounces (see Figure 2). In addition to Antenna, early stage drilling by Newcrest has produced results ranging from trace to 14 metres at 58.1 g/t Au from 0 metres, and including several high-grade intercepts from the nearby Agouti, Boulder, Kwenko and Ancien prospects, all of which support the potential to add additional ounces to the project. Additional notable results from the satellite targets include2: Boulder: 9 metres at 16.9 g/t Au in SGRD162 from 145 metres; and 7 metres at 9.1 g/t Au in SGRC161 from 18 metres. Agouti: 14 metres at 58.1 g/t Au in SGAC5021 from 0 metres; 5 metres at 20.4 g/t Au in SGRC152 from 44 metres; 4 metres at 16.5 g/t Au in SGRC185 from 125 metres; and 11 metres at 5.1 g/t Au in SGRC187 from 21 metres. Ancien: 16 metres at 9.3 g/t Au in SGRC172 from 37 metres. Roxgold intends to elaborate on its near-term exploration plans for Seguela prior to the end of the current quarter. Figure 2: Seguela Project exploration portfolio targets within 15km of the Antenna deposit In addition, significant exploration potential exists across the balance of the Tenements with large total holdings covering 3,298 km2. These early stage, prospective regional opportunities exist on the Dimbokro, Dianra North and South, Boundiali and Bouake Permits (see Figure 1). Raymond James Ltd. has acted as financial advisor and Norton Rose Fulbright has acted as legal advisor to Roxgold. Management Addition Roxgold is also pleased to announce that Mr. Paul Criddle will be returning to the Company in a full-time executive capacity as Chief Development Officer. John Dorward, President and Chief Executive Officer of Roxgold commented, "We are very pleased to have Paul returning to Roxgold in an executive function. Paul was the prime mover for the definition and development of Yaramoko which has been one of the most successful projects developed by a junior in recent years. In terms of its current stage, Seguela is of nearly identical scale to when we started with Yaramoko so I am very pleased to have Paul back in an executive capacity to lead the efforts on our second growth project." As part of his transition to an executive function, Mr. Criddle will step down from his current role as a non-executive director of Roxgold. Qualified Person Paul Weedon, MAIG, Vice President, Exploration for Roxgold Inc., is a Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101, having verified and approved the technical data disclosed in this press release. This includes the sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information. About Roxgold Roxgold is a gold mining company with its key asset, the high grade Yaramoko Gold Mine, located in the Hounde greenstone region of Burkina Faso, West Africa. Roxgold trades on the TSX under the symbol ROXG and as ROGFF on OTC. This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation: statements with respect to closing of the proposed Transaction, Mineral Resource estimates (including proposals for the potential conversion thereof from JORC to National Instrument 43-101 standards, and the anticipated timing thereof), anticipated receipt and maintenance of permits and licenses and renewal of the Tenements proposed to be acquired, future potential production, satellite opportunities and exploration and development potential of the Tenements, retention of personnel and existing infrastructure following the Transaction, future expansion and development plans, proposed exploration plans and the timing and costs thereof, the anticipated costs, timing and sufficiency of future funding. These statements are based on information currently available to the Company and the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. In certain cases, forward-looking information may be identified by such terms as "anticipates", "believes", "could", "estimates", "expects", "may", "shall", "will", or "would". Forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on certain factors and assumptions regarding, among other things, satisfaction of all closing conditions to the completion of the Transaction, the estimation of Mineral Resources, the realization of resource estimates, the timing and amount of future exploration and development expenditures, the estimation of initial and sustaining capital requirements, the estimation of labour and operating costs, the availability of necessary financing and materials to continue to explore and develop the Tenements, the progress of exploration and development activities as currently proposed and anticipated, the receipt of necessary regulatory approvals and permits including renewals of the Tenements, and assumptions with respect to currency fluctuations, environmental risks, title disputes or claims, and other similar matters. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include: failure to satisfy all closing conditions to the completion of the Transaction, changes in market conditions, unsuccessful exploration results, possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, changes in the costs and timing of the development, inaccurate resource estimates, changes in the price of gold, unanticipated changes in key management personnel, failure to obtain permits or renewal of the Tenements as anticipated or at all, failure of exploration and/or development activities to progress as currently anticipated or at all, and general economic conditions. Mining exploration and development is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by the Company or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. ___________________________________ 1 Newcrest declared an inferred mineral resource of 5.8Mt at 2.3 g/t Au for 430koz Au for the Antenna Deposit in their Annual Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves Statement 31 December 2017 in accordance with JORC 2012, released to the ASX on 15 February 2018. 2 Potential quantity and grade is conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration to define a National Instrument 43-101 compliant mineral resource on the Tenements and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the Tenements being delineated as such a mineral resource. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GT Gold Corp. (GT Gold or the Company) (TSX.V: GTT) is pleased to report the results for the final Saddle South core holes from its 2018 exploration drilling program. The program was successful in extending the high-grade epithermal system discovered in 2017 along strike by several hundred metres, and to a similar depth beneath largely covered and untested areas east and west of Saddle Ridge. High-grade intercepts within numerous broadly mineralized intervals continue to increase the extent of the Saddle South mineralized system. Building on the success of the 2018 drilling campaign at Saddle South and North, the team at GT Gold is currently in the process of compiling and interpreting our enhanced data set ahead of our 2019 exploration season. Once finalized the company will update its plans for 2019. Highlights Southwest of Saddle Ridge: high-grade intervals within broadly mineralized intersections. Hole TTD103: 18.08 g/t Au and 313.38 g/t Ag over 2.13 metres from 92.18 metres, within 3.85 g/t Au and 57.39 g/t Ag over 16.06 metres from 82.57 metres, within 1.19 g/t Au and 13.87 g/t Ag over 68.14 metres from 59.2 metres 4.12 g/t Au and 7.72 g/t Ag over 4.27 metres from 259.66 metres, And 48.0 g/t Au over 0.77 metres from 250.51 metres with visible gold, within 1.56 g/t Au over 42.66 metres from 221.27 metres Hole TTD096: 8.15 g/t Au and 5.40 g/t Ag over 5.85 metres from 277.9 metres, within 5.37 g/t Au and 2.85 g/t Ag over 16.19 metres from 267.56 metres, within 2.34 g/t Au over 37.75 metres from 246 metres Hole TTD100: 5.17 g/t Au over 14.91 metres from 475.48 metres , and 5.24 g/t Au and 7.32 g/t Ag over 2.85 metres from 402.55 metres, within 1.07 g/t Au over 126.20 metres from 382.8 metres Drill results and oriented core data suggest that the mineralizing system trends more to the south, where it remains open. East of Saddle Ridge: visible gold intersected in TTD105 (187.50 g/t Au & 53.6 g/t Ag over 0.74 m from 332.26 metres) confirms presence of high grades within the gold-bearing system in the easternmost drill holes. This intercept is coincident with an extensive high-potential chargeability anomaly that is yet to be fully tested. The 2018 exploration program exceeded our goals. Following our impressive 2017 discovery of high-grade gold at Saddle South, we hoped to considerably expand the footprint of gold-bearing mineralization, said Charles Greig, Vice President of Exploration for GT Gold Corp. These latest results show that the system stretches well to the southwest and continues with strength beneath the previously untested Rockpile on the southwest side of Saddle Ridge, where it remains open. With the recent excitement of GT Golds Cu-Au porphyry discovery at Saddle North, it is easy to overlook the fact that Saddle South has developed into a potentially economic prospect on its own. It remains open at depth and along strike to the east, and to the west, the Saddle South system appears to turn southerly, where it also remains open. A plan view (Figure 1) showing the locations of Saddle South core holes and drill sections, and the drill sections themselves (Figures 2-5), are attached to this news release, as is a summary plan view highlighting exploration potential of the Saddle zones (Figure 6). A total of 16,587 metres of core were drilled at Saddle South in 2018, and a grand total of 32,582 metres have now been drilled at Saddle South over two seasons of exploration. The mineralized system now has a strike length of at least 1300 metres, a width of up to 300 metres, and it extends to depth over 600 metres from surface. Saddle South The 2017 exploration program, testing an excellent Au-in-soil anomaly with the first-ever drilling in the Saddle area, confirmed the presence of an epithermal gold system at Saddle South. It is hosted by hydrothermally-altered volcanic fragmental and volcaniclastic rocks of the Upper Triassic Stuhini Group and cut by dikes, primarily of latest Triassic and Early Jurassic age. Drilling defined a well-mineralized east-west trend of gold-bearing and sulphide-rich veins spanning roughly 400 metres that was up to 150 metres across and is coincident with a moderate chargeability high and resistivity low. The 2017 drilling returned many high-grade intercepts (e.g., 51.53 g/t over 6.95 metres in TTD007; 20.02 g/t Au over 8.25 metres in TTD046), and the aim of the 2018 program at Saddle South was to further test the strike and depth extents of the system. Early drilling in the 2018 season quickly expanded both the depth extent and the strike length of the high-grade system. Deep intercepts on the west (e.g., TTD079), and on the east (e.g., TTD069), have increased the size and exploration potential, as have intercepts along strike to the west (e.g., TTD065, TTD068, TTD076),and to the east (e.g., TTD105, with 187.5 g/t Au over 0.74m). On the west margin of Saddle Ridge, and in all holes drilled west of the ridge and beneath the rock glacier in that direction, mineralized veins generally trend north-northeast (average strike 200) and dip moderately west-northwest (average 55). Veins oriented in this direction correspond with a more southerly trend of the system, toward an area across the rock glacier where 2018 soil and talus fines sampling yielded highly encouraging results for gold (see news, September 4, 2018; figure 6). Also encouraging was the fact that drill holes collared from the rock glacier encountered less overburden than expected (typically less than 30 metres), suggesting that the potential evident to the southwest may be readily tested. Table 1 Saddle South 2018 Diamond Drill Program Assay Results. Significant intercepts for 21 NQ-diameter diamond drill holes are reported below. For hole locations, dips and azimuths, please refer to the accompanying drilling plan view (Figure 1) and drill sections (Figures 2-5), as well as Table 2 below. Widths reported are drilled core lengths. True widths are estimated at approximately 85% of reported intercepts. Hole Au (g/t) Interval (m) From (m) To (m) Ag (g/t) TTD080 0.54 6.56 82.8 89.36 0.14 Including 2.2 0.97 82.8 83.77 0.34 TTD081 No significant intervals TTD082 0.51 77.83 288.41 366.24 0.45 TTD083 0.35 14.56 236.68 251.24 0.31 Including 0.88 3.66 236.68 240.34 0.67 TTD084 0.95 2.64 391.91 394.55 0.47 Including 4.28 1.17 543.05 544.22 1.74 TTD086 0.86 18.41 143.31 161.72 1.14 Including 1.9 6.2 155.52 161.72 2.8 Including 9.13 0.9 160.82 161.72 17.1 TTD087 0.86 26.62 135.08 161.7 3.76 Including 1.48 14.15 147.55 161.7 6.75 Including 9.71 1.45 147.55 149 61.5 TTD088 1.87 0.7 118.58 119.28 2.23 TTD089 0.29 47.21 220.84 268.05 0.66 TTD089 1.88 3.39 325.05 328.44 3.83 TTD089 1.21 10.35 415.65 426 0.68 Including 8.92 1.24 419.85 421.09 2.51 TTD091 0.7 47.85 92.6 140.45 0.85 Including 0.93 27.08 92.6 119.68 1.24 Including 1.6 10.22 92.6 102.82 1.51 Including 5.61 2.42 99.35 101.77 4.91 TTD091 12.4 1.24 209.76 211 1.47 TTD092 0.77 27.93 245.07 273 0.68 Including 2.4 5.54 267.46 273 2.3 Including 3.81 2.54 267.46 270 3.8 TTD094 0.28 27.12 85.24 112.36 0.42 TTD095 0.64 16.81 180.91 197.72 1.07 TTD096 12.29 2.07 209.81 211.88 9.23 Including 23.5 1 209.81 210.81 17.25 TTD096 5.37 16.19 267.56 283.75 2.85 Including 7.02 5.58 267.56 273.14 2.28 Including 19.75 1.84 267.56 269.4 4.5 And 8.15 5.85 277.9 283.75 5.4 Including 24.66 1.85 277.9 279.75 12.04 TTD097 0.27 48.75 113 161.75 1.23 TTD097 0.41 30.9 181.6 212.5 0.19 Including 2.34 3.23 195.17 198.4 0.42 TTD097 5.32 2.2 237 239.2 1.62 TTD097 1.86 23.73 347.5 371.23 0.96 Including 10.51 3 347.5 350.5 1.17 Including 34.1 0.91 348.42 349.33 2.61 TTD099 0.83 18.7 249.16 267.86 0.64 TTD099 3.8 12.41 300.35 312.76 2.85 Including 6.5 6.35 300.35 306.7 3.7 Including 27.3 0.53 306.17 306.7 12.75 TTD099 1.62 4.41 428 432.41 14.05 TTD099 2.13 4.3 465.7 470 2.56 TTD100 1.07 126.2 382.8 509 1.88 Including 5.24 2.85 402.55 405.4 7.32 And 3.32 24.89 475.48 500.37 3.8 Including 5.17 14.91 475.48 490.39 6.2 TTD101 1.77 13.35 557 570.35 1.74 Including 2.95 7 557 564 3.04 Including 7.37 2 562 564 8.61 TTD103 1.19 68.14 59.2 127.34 13.87 Including 3.85 16.06 82.57 98.63 57.39 Including 8.86 4.99 92.18 97.17 136.96 Including 18.08 2.13 92.18 94.31 313.38 TTD103 1.56 42.66 221.27 263.93 1.6 Including 2.57 25 238.93 263.93 2.56 Including 48 0.77 250.51 251.28 13.4 And 4.12 4.27 259.66 263.93 7.72 TTD104 No significant intervals TTD105 0.36 48.14 42.65 90.79 0.56 Including 1.13 6.79 84 90.79 2.75 And 187.5 0.74 332.26 333 53.6 1. Widths reported are drilled core lengths. True width is estimated to be approximately 85% of drilled length 2. Visible gold present in interval Table 2 Saddle South Collar Information: Refer also to the accompanying drilling plan view and drill sections Hole Number Azimuth (degrees) Dip (degrees) Length (m) Elevation (m) UTM E UTM N Section TTD080 180 -45 462 1726 433897 6408284 TTD081 180 -70 384 1726 433897 6408284 TTD082 170 -70 669 1533 433403 6408310 XS Rockpile 2/3* TTD083 350 -45 549 1794 434029 6408038 TTD084 170 -50 573 1498 433300 6408375 TTD086 165 -50 411 1655 434247 6408195 TTD087 165 -65 279 1655 434247 6408195 TTD088 165 -80 345 1655 434247 6408195 TTD089 195 -45 516 1627 434497 6408177 TTD091 125 -45 357 1544 433391 6408220 XS Rockpile 2* TTD092 0 -50 477 1828 434062 6407892 TTD094 0 -70 474 1828 434062 6407892 TTD095 115 -45 298 1552 433389 6408119 XS Rockpile 1* TTD096 115 -75 366 1552 433389 6408119 XS Rockpile 1* TTD097 115 -85 621 1552 433389 6408119 XS Rockpile 1* TTD099 170 -50 603 1583 433448 6408418 XS Rockpile 2/3* TTD100 170 -63 567 1583 433448 6408418 XS Rockpile 2/3* TTD101 170 -55 624 1562 433450 6408315 XS Rockpile 2/3* TTD103 305 -45 426 1651 433683 6408097 XS Rockpile 3* TTD104 350 -45 267 1706 434615 6408041 TTD105 170 -45 408 1706 434615 6408041 *See section XS3444 for alternative section view of drill hole QA/QC Procedures GT Gold has implemented a rigorous quality assurance / quality control (QA/QC) program to ensure best practices in sampling and analysis of diamond drill core, the details of which can be viewed on the Company's website at http://www.gtgoldcorp.ca/projects/tatogga/. All assays are performed by ALS Canada Ltd., with sample preparation carried out at the ALS facility in Terrace, BC, and assays at the North Vancouver laboratory. Assay values are uncut. For gold, fire assays are performed as per ALS method Au-AA26 (0.01-100.00 g/t Au) using 50 grams of sample measured by atomic absorption (AA). Assays equal to or greater than 100 g/t Au are reanalyzed gravimetrically by method Au-GRA22. Silver and copper are analyzed by ALS method ME-MS61 with a 4-acid digestion followed by ICP-MS analysis. Qualified Person Charles J. Greig, M.Sc., P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration for GT Gold Corp. and a Qualified Person as defined by NI-43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this press release. The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. About GT Gold GT Gold Corp. is focused on exploring for base and precious metals in the geologically fertile terrain of British Columbias renowned Golden Triangle. The Companys flagship asset is the wholly-owned, 45,847-hectare Tatogga property, located near Iskut, BC, upon which it achieved in 2017 two major discoveries at its Saddle prospect: a near surface bulk-tonnage and potential deep high-grade underground-style epithermal gold-silver vein system at Saddle South and, close by at Saddle North, a large-scale, richly mineralized and high-grade porphyry copper gold mineralized intrusion. The Company has the backing of major institutions and is currently in the process of planning its 2019 drilling campaign. For more information please contact: GT Gold Corp. GT Gold Corp. GT Gold Corp. Steve Burleton Charles J. Greig, P.Geo Amandip Singh President and Chief Executive Officer Vice President, Exploration Director, Corporate Development Tel: (647) 256-6752 Tel: (250) 492-2331 Tel: (647) 256-6754 Website: www.gtgoldcorp.ca Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "plans", "expects', "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors disclosed under the heading Risk Factors and elsewhere in the Companys filings with Canadian securities regulators, that could cause actual results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing these forward-looking statements are reasonable based upon the information currently available to management as of the date hereof, actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Readers are therefore cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed times frames or at all. Except where required by applicable law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. ST. JOHN'S, Feb. 12, 2019 /CNW/ - Aurion Resources Ltd. (TSXV: AU) ("Aurion" or the "Company") is pleased to report on the recent discovery of widespread gold mineralization at its 100% owned Launi East Project in northern Finland. Highlights: 399 rock samples collected over a 2.0 km 2 area average 2.47 g/t Au Local visible gold in rocks assaying up to 379.0 g/t Au Individual veins can be traced for > 100 m in bedrock No documented history of mineral exploration or mineral claims in the area Only fifteen days prospecting and recon geological mapping to date Launi East Exploration Licence became Valid Jan 21 st , 2019 Please follow the below link for maps and photos: Click Here Summary Reconnaissance prospecting on Aurion's wholly owned 4,250-hectare Launi East project has resulted in the discovery of several zones of gold mineralization comprising angular quartz boulders and outcrop over an area of approximately 2.0 km2. A total of 399 rock samples assayed from nil to 379.0 g/t Au and average 2.47 g/t Au. Individual veins can be traced for > 100 m in outcrop and sub-outcrop and are generally < 1.0 m wide but can reach up to 1.9 m width. One (Prospect Area 1) zone of quartz veining comprising multiple parallel 5-30 cm wide individual quartz veins within a 2-5 m wide zone was traced for > 115 m. A total of 52 rock chip grab samples were collected over this distance, assaying from nil to 74.30 g/t Au, averaging 10.00 g/t Au. A total of 12 outcrop samples were collected over a distance of 90 m within the trend. They assayed from 0.009 g/t Au to 74.3 g/t Au, including 5 outcrop samples that assayed 74.30, 52.90, 48.60, 38.00 and 28.70 g/t Au. Significant alteration including fuchsite, tourmaline, sericite and iron-carbonate is widespread throughout the property. These showings are within 1 km of a major flexure in the > 125 km long regional scale Sirkka Shear Zone which the property straddles. Aurion controls land holdings covering approximately 80 km of the Sirkka Shear Zone. The Launi East property lies approximately 8-10 km south of the Risti Project, 10 km northwest of the Municipality of Sodankyla and is easily accessed by gravel road. The property has had no documented history of mineral exploration or mineral claims. The Launi East Exploration Licence was recently granted and came into validity on Jan 21st, 2019. The sampling to date is preliminary in nature, and consists primarily of grab samples of sub-outcrop, outcrop and quartz boulders in glacial till. Although every effort is made to ensure that the samples are representative, the very nature of this type of sampling involves natural variations and inconsistencies. Insufficient work has been carried out to date in order to determine the source of many of the mineralized quartz boulders. Comment "The discovery of new gold mineralization in another area with no history of mineral exploration again demonstrates how underexplored the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt and the Sirkka Shear Zone are.", commented Mike Basha, President and CEO. "It is very early days at Launi. We look forward to advancing Launi further during the upcoming field season". Background The geological setting of the Launi project has many similarities to prolific gold-rich orogenic gold belts globally, including the Timmins camp of the Abitibi province of Northern Ontario. The property straddles the > 125 km long Sirkka Shear Zone, a major regional fault zone which has over 40 individual gold prospects and deposits associated with it. Aurion has land holdings covering approximately 80 km of the Sirkka Shear Zone. In the Abitibi province, many high-grade, multimillion-ounce gold deposits are temporally and spatially associated with major regional fault zones such as the Porcupine-Destor or Cadillac Lake-Larder Lake deformation zones. Quality Assurance and Quality Control All samples were delivered to ALS Minerals preparation facility in Sodankyla, Finland where sample preparation work was completed. All analytical work was completed at ALS Minerals facility in Loughrea, Ireland. ALS Minerals is an internationally accredited lab and are ISO compliant (ISO 9001:2008, ISO/IEC 17025:2005). All samples were analyzed for gold using the Au-AA24 procedure (50g fire assay with AAS finish: Lower Detection Limit 0.01 g/t gold; Upper Limit 100 g/t gold). Any samples that returned overlimit values (>90.0 g/t gold) or had visual indication of mineralization, such as visible gold or prospective vein intervals (>90.0 g/t gold) were analyzed by Au-SCR24 1kg, Screen Fire Assay Au (0.05-1,000 ppm) by 1kg screen fire assay (50g nominal sample weight). The sample pulp (1kg) is passed through a 100 micron stainless steel screen. Any material remaining on the screen (>100 micron) is retained and analyzed in its entirety by fire assay with gravimetric finish and reported as the Au (+) fraction. The material passing through the screen (<100 micron) is homogenized and two sub-samples are analyzed by fire assay with AAS finish. The average of the two AAS results is taken and reported as the Au (-) fraction result. All three values are used in calculating the combined gold content of the plus and minus fractions. The gold values for both the (+) 100 and (-) 100 micron fractions are reported together with the weight of each fraction as well as the calculated total gold content of the sample. Multi-element analysis (ME-ICP61, four-acid digestion, 35 element ICP-AES) was completed on all samples. Certified standards and blanks were inserted every 30 samples. ALS has its own QA/QC protocol using standards, blanks and duplicates. Mike Basha, P.Eng., P.Geo., President and CEO of Aurion, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for the preparation of this release. For more information on these projects please visit our website at www.aurionresources.com. Forward-Looking Statement Certain statements contained in this release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Companies' current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and Aurion is not obligated to update or revise any forwardlooking 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 forwardlooking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forwardlooking information contained herein. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Michael Basha, Chief Executive Officer Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Summerville, SC (29483) Today Sunny. High near 85F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Selfishness A couple of recent letters to the Journal with regard to the issue of abortions have motivated me to contemplate the thinking of such people. I have concluded that most such matters and most of the other controversial matters in our society today pertain to selfishness. People who want to abort an unborn baby generally do so because they dont want the responsibility of caring for the baby. (Certainly, there are some exceptions that could be regarded as reasonable, rather than selfish.) People attempt to justify killing an unborn baby by stating that a woman has the right to do so, because bearing an unwanted child might adversely affect her physical and/or mental health. But, doesnt an unborn child have the right to life? Similarly, people who are intolerant of the civil rights of others usually do so for selfish reasons. Furthermore, people who fragrantly disobey traffic laws generally do so because they regard these laws as inconvenient for them, even if in doing so they jeopardize the safety of others. So, how can the problem of rampant selfishness be addressed? I believe the answer is found in the Bible. We join many in the state and the nation in mourning the death of U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., whose career and character exemplified many of the fine qualities integrity in particular that wed like to see in all of our politicians. Born in Farmville in 1943, Jones died in Greenville on Sunday at 76. He was a graduate of Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va., and Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College) in Wilson. He served in the N.C. National Guard and worked in his family business before first running for Congress in 1992. I am grateful for the life and service of my longtime friend Congressman Walter Jones Jr. He was a public servant who was true to his convictions and who will be missed, Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement on Sunday. Congressman Walter B. Jones, Jr. was the true embodiment of a public servant. He will be long remembered for his tireless advocacy for Eastern North Carolina, which he loved dearly, and for always following his convictions, no matter the political cost, U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis said in a statement. When I leave Congress, I would rather have one thing said about me: I will never question Walter Jones integrity, Jones told The Associated Press in a 2018 interview. Thats a worthy goal and one he likely met. What have they done since? If someone offends at age 25 but never offends again, if he lives a life of service, dedicated to such causes as civil rights and equal opportunity should that count for something? On the other hand, if it does, will we find ourselves judging people who agree with us less harshly? Is that defensible? How sorry are they? We want to know that the offenders appreciate the gravity of their offenses. We do not want to see them joking about moonwalking nor lashing out at their accusers. If they were clueless or even racist at a young age, we need to hear how they have changed and what made them grow. And yet, when we are presented with the perfect, heartfelt apology, how do we know this is not just a more artful politician, or one with better handlers? If he has burned with shame ever since applying brown makeup, why did he not tell us until now? What impact will our judgment have? Presumably, the standard may differ when we are considering whether someone deserves a promotion (to a higher court, say) than when we are pressing for a resignation that would nullify a democratic election. In my opinion, the mayor used his power to get someone who worked for him in the village of Niles to get signatures and instead of having him sign it, [the mayor] signed his own name to it, Trunco said. A native of Orange County who now lives in Mebane, Green was appointed as the states poet laureate last year by Gov. Roy Cooper. The reception across the state has been really wonderful, she said in an interview. People are full of pride. Its a very celebratory moment, not just for me but for many people, for a lot of women, for a lot of people of color and for the literary community. Green, who teaches documentary poetry at Duke University, was glad to share her art at Biscuitville. I believe in art in unusual places, she said. But more importantly, I believe in the everydayness of how art shows up in our lives. I travel all over the world and I speak at universities and museums, she said. But this is where the everyday people are, who may not think about their stories being of value or their stories being worthy. Green said she also was honored to share the bill with A&T student poets, as they were with her. As a seasoned writer, it gives me hope and I feel very comfortable that new voices are emerging every day, she said. There is enough space at the table for all the new voices that are coming.(tncms-asset)228a855e-2e38-11e9-92b9-00163ec2aa770 (/tncms-asset) Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane is a reporter for the Greensboro News & Record. Winston-Salem police found a man Monday night who had earlier missed his WSTA bus Monday to return to his home, authorities said. Officers found Terry Lamont McCullough, 32, after 9 p.m., police said. McCullough was previously last seen at 1100 W. First St., police said. The N.C. Center for Missing Persons had issued a Silver Alert for McCullough because he suffers from cognitive impairments, police said. Officers believe that McCullough missed his bus to return to his home in the 4400 block of Northampton Drive. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. GREENSBORO Immigrant rights advocates say they have come up with another way of fighting back at what they see as aggressive tactics by federal immigration officers. College students identifying themselves as Sam and Natalie on Monday recounted for the throng of TV cameras how they approached the man in plain clothes at 5 a.m. outside an apartment complex this weekend, where several SUVs with dark, tinted windows idled nearby. The two students, members of the volunteer ICE Watch brigade, had been dispatched after a call to a tip-line set up by immigrant rights groups. The caller indicated that federal agents might be on the grounds looking to pick someone up. They approached the man with their phones recording, asking who he was and if they could see his badge. Caught off-guard, they said, the man walked away and got into one of the vehicles and left. Maybe, they said, the attention thwarted someone being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers that day. Its the least I can do. I have papers, said Sam, of being in the country legally and being able to question the officers without fear of arrest. I have that power. This hearing is only necessary as the city and property owner are publicly stating that they will take illegal action to remove the monument without going through the proper legal process, Powell said in the release. In the event the city does remove the monument prior to the hearing ... the UDC will ask the court to order the monument be returned to its rightful place at the expense of the city. Angela Carmon, the Winston-Salem city attorney, said the UDCs statement will have no effect on the citys plans to go forward with removing the statue. The city contends that the UDC owns the statue and that the state law does not apply. Carmon said the city would move forward and remove the Confederate statue for public safety reasons in cooperation with the landowner. City officials had no word on when the removal will actually take place. Last week, officials said that the need to coordinate the removal of the statue with whichever contractor is selected would prevent the statues immediate removal. The city plans to eventually move the statue to Salem Cemetery, where a number of Confederate veterans are buried. We want to see what the problems are, what has changed in education (since 2004) and find solutions, Johnson said. The bills face what appear to be long odds, if theyre not considered as dead on arrival. Lambeth estimated that more than 200 school-calendar bills have been submitted in the legislature in the past six years, with none of them clearing a committee because of stiff opposition from the states travel and tourism industry. The 2004 law, which went into effect in the 2005-06 school year, passed after the successful Save Our Summers campaign by coastal business owners and a vocal parents group. Before the law, many public-school systems, including WS/FCS, began school in early August. The law delayed the start by up to three weeks, in an effort to allow families to spend more time at North Carolinas beaches. The N.C. Travel Industry Association lists schools calendars as the No. 2 item on its 2019 legislative agenda. Matt Ellinwood, director of Education and Law Project with the left-leaning N.C. Justice Center, said the House may be more willing to consider local school calendar bills in part as eastern counties request more flexibility to deal with what it becoming annual damages from hurricanes. A Forsyth County grand jury indicted a Winston-Salem man Monday on charges he shot at three police officers, drove his car into one officer and led police on a 6-mile chase from Silas Creek Parkway to University Parkway last year. Jashoun Andrew Steele, 22, was indicted on three counts of assault on a law-enforcement officer; assault with a deadly weapon, with intent to kill; speeding to elude arrest; possession of a stolen firearm; possession of a firearm by a felon; discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle; and being a habitual felon. The indictments move the case from district court to superior court, where either prosecutors and defense attorneys will set a trial date or negotiate a plea deal. His next court date in Forsyth Superior Court has not yet been set. The incident happened on June 7, 2018. Winston-Salem police officers were watching Steele in the parking lot of the former Toys R Us store in the Silas Creek Crossing Shopping Center. Steele was considered a robbery suspect, Scott Williams, a special agent in charge for the State Bureau of Investigation, said. A search warrant filed in the case said Winston-Salem police detectives went to the shopping center because Steeles girlfriend worked at a hair salon there and he would regularly pick her up from work. Addressing the smart gun shareholder proposal, Ruger repeated its statement that user-authentication technology has not been successfully integrated into firearms, and the company does not believe there is a viable commercial market for so-called smart guns. As an example, Ruger said the technology is not ready to determine how a firearm should become inoperable if the gun-safety mechanisms fail, and the smart gun turns dumb. We also know from experience that firearms are price-sensitive and that a firearm that sells well at a particular price point may not sell at all for $100 more. Ruger rejected the proposal that it and other firearms manufacturers play a downstream role with the use of their products. While we know the distributor to whom we ship a particular firearm, we generally do not know how the distributor disposed of it, Ruger said. Similarly, we do not receive information from retailers regarding the ultimate consumer who purchases the firearm. Ruger warned that the firearms industry has a history of companies that opted for a politically expedient course of action, only to discover that they so offended their core customers that they were barely able to survive. Over the last two summers Brouch and Sanders were among the elementary and middle school teachers from District 204, West Aurora District 129 and All Saints Catholic Academy who met with STEM industry professionals and college educators to learn how the math and science lessons they teach in their classrooms correlate to jobs available today and in the future. The program was made possible through a two-year, $500,000 grant from the Illinois State Board of Education. For a better experience on our website and avoid any trouble, we strongly recommand to activate Javascript ( click here ). Hello and welcome to Journal des Palaces You are a communication or the PR manager? Click here You are an applicant? Check out our questions and answers here ! Joplin, MO (64801) Today Thunderstorms this morning, then partly cloudy during the afternoon hours. High near 95F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight Some clouds. Low 77F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Register with JOC.com and receive 5 free pieces of content for the first thirty days. After thirty days, you will receive 3 pieces of content and after sixty days you will receive 1 piece of content. To receive full access, Subscribe Today . You can also subscribe to our daily newsletter. Register Page Content As part of the City of Joburgs efforts to ensure that 5% economic growth become a reality, Executive Mayor Cllr Herman Mashaba handed over 36 title deeds to business owners and NGOs in Soweto today, 11 February 2019. The initiative form part of Joburg Property Companys (JPC) Land Regularisation Programme, which is aimed at addressing the distribution of council-owned land to residents. This is the second time title deeds have been handed over to businesses in Diepkloof over the last nine months. The first 22 recipients that received title deeds became owners of business premises in Soweto that had been leased to them for about 30 years. The process of land regularisation is an important initiative, which, if tackled effectively, will act as a catalyst for development benefiting communities, small enterprises and developers. Its purpose is to address some of the socio-economic inequalities associated with land and home ownership. Today is yet another celebration as three churches, the Biblical Reformed Church in Riverlea, the Presbyterian Church of Africa in Orlando West and the Methodist Church of South Africa in Naledi, and 33 business owners receive full ownership of their premises, said Mayor Mashaba. He said the title deeds provided them with security when growing their businesses. This is a real chance to participate in the Citys economic growth. I encourage these business owners to continue working hard to grow their businesses, and when they start employing more people, they will grow and empower their communities, said Mayor Mashaba. When the multiparty coalition government took over the citys administration in 2016, it promised to fast track the delivery of title deeds, create a business-friendly environment that attracts investors and entrepreneurs that lead to the creation of much needed jobs, and ultimately, achieve a 5% economic growth rate by 2021. Scene Editor Billy Arnold covers arts and entertainment. He apprenticed as a sound engineer at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio before making his way to Jackson, where he has become a low-key fan of country music. Allie Gross covers Teton County government. Originally from the Chicago area, she joined the News&Guide in 2017 after studying politics and Spanish at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Cody Cottier covers town and state government. He grew up with a view of the Olympic Mountains, and after graduating Washington State University he traded it for a view of the Tetons. Odds are the mountains are where youll find him when not on deadline. Kylie Mohr covers the education and health beats. Mohr grew up in Washington and came to Wyoming via Georgetown. She loves seeing the starry night sky again. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 12) CNN Philippines was among the media companies awarded by the Optical Media Board (OMB). In an awards ceremony Tuesday night, the OMB granted CNN Philippines the Banhay Award, recognizing its efforts in assisting the government in getting out its messages and advocacies. The award was received by CNN Philippines' correspondent Makoi Popioco. The OMB is a government agency under the Office of the President, which is tasked with curbing media piracy. In its awards night, the OMB also awarded other Philippine news and media outfits. Yes. Our bridges and roads are crumbling. No. It is too expensive. Yes but the current price tag is too high. I support it but for less money. No. States should pay for this, not the federal government. I haven't really thought about it. Vote View Results Students Give Thanks on TAG Day Feb. 11, 2019 Students wrote notes of thanks to donors in the Dugout during "Thank a Giver" Day. BLOOMINGTON, Ill. During Illinois Wesleyan Universitys Thank a Giver (TAG) Day on Monday, Feb. 11, students took a moment to collectively thank the generous IWU alumni and friends who make their collegiate experience possible. Each year, TAG Day falls during mid-February, approximately 70 percent of the way through the academic year. This time marks a symbolic point when tuition dollars run out and support from alumni and friends, the Universitys endowment, and external grants kicks in for the remainder of the year. Students were invited to stop by tables across campus and write postcards expressing their gratitude. Thank you for allowing us to have these opportunities, wrote political science major Shakira Cruz Gonzalez 21. I appreciate your support. Emma Asta '19 wrote a note of thanks in the Dugout during "Thank a Giver Day." Several other students reflected on how donations have opened the door to the many possibilities that come with an Illinois Wesleyan education. Jennifer Medina 22 shared, Im a political science and neuroscience double major, and because of you, Im able to pursue an MD/JD degree after IWU! Its important to reach out to the donors because theyre making a difference in our education by helping us afford to go to a school like this, said biology major Jackson Rapala 22. If theyre making a donation, we should all at least have the kindness to thank them with a card. Illinois Wesleyan depends on the generosity of donors to bridge the gap between tuition dollars and the total cost of an IWU education. To make a gift, please visit www.iwu.edu/giving or call 1-800-689-9743. By Rachel McCarthy 21 Today A mainly sunny sky. High 106F. ESE winds at less than 5 mph, increasing to 10 to 20 mph. Tonight Clear skies. Low 73F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph. Tomorrow Mainly sunny. High 108F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. Rachelski also issued an open invitation for those in the community to become members of this group. Rehearsals are Tuesdays from 7 to 9 p.m. in the St. John Brebeuf Church. For information, contact Rachelski at 702-806-8421 or email newmru@hotmail.com. Biometrics definition Biometrics are physical or behavioral human characteristics to that can be used to digitally identify a person to grant access to systems, devices or data. Examples of these biometric identifiers are fingerprints, facial patterns, voice or typing cadence. Each of these identifiers is considered unique to the individual, and they may be used in combination to ensure greater accuracy of identification. Because biometrics can provide a reasonable level of confidence in authenticating a person with less friction for the user, it has the potential to dramatically improve enterprise security. Computers and devices can unlock automatically when they detect the fingerprints of an approved user. Server room doors can swing open when they recognize the faces of trusted system administrators. Help desk systems might automatically pull up all relevant information when they recognize an employee's voice on the support line. According to a recent Ping Identity survey, 92 percent of enterprises rank biometric authentication as an "effective" or "very effective" to secure identity data stored on premises, and 86 percent say it is effective for protecting data stored in a public cloud. Another survey, released last year by Spiceworks, reports that 62 percent of companies are already using biometric authentication, and another 24 percent plan to deploy it within the next two years. However, companies need to be careful about how they roll out their biometric authentication systems to avoid infringing on employee or customer privacy or improperly exposing sensitive information. After all, while it's easy to issue a new password when the old one has been compromised, you can't issue someone a new eyeball. According to the Spiceworks survey, 48 percent cite the risks of stolen biometric data as a top security risk with the technology. Other barriers to adoption include costs, cited by 67 percent of respondents, followed by reliability concerns at 59 percent. For companies specifically using biometrics to secure IT infrastructure in cloud, SaaS, on-prem and hybrid environments, adoption rates are even lower, according to the Ping Identity survey. Only 28 percent of companies use biometrics on premises, and even fewer, 22 percent, use it for cloud applications. Types of biometrics A biometric identifier is one that is related to intrinsic human characteristics. They fall roughly into two categories: physical identifiers and behavioral identifiers. Physical identifiers are, for the most part, immutable and device independent: Fingerprints: Fingerprint scanners have become ubiquitous in recent years due to their widespread deployment on smartphones. Any device that can be touched, such as a phone screen, computer mouse or touchpad, or a door panel, has the potential to become an easy and convenient fingerprint scanner. According to Spiceworks, fingerprint scanning is the most common type of biometric authentication in the enterprise, used by 57 percent of companies. Photo and video: If a device is equipped with a camera, it can easily be used for authentication. Facial recognition and retinal scans are two common approaches. Physiological recognition: Facial recognition is the second most common type of authentication, according to Spiceworks, in place at 14 percent of companies. Other image-based authentication methods include hand geometry recognition, used by 5 percent of companies, iris or retinal scanning, palm vein recognition, and ear recognition. Voice: Voice-based digital assistants and telephone-based service portals are already using voice recognition to identify users and authenticate customers. According to Spiceworks, 2 percent of companies use voice recognition for authentication within the enterprise. Signature: Digital signature scanners are already in widespread use at retail checkouts and in banks and are a good choice for situations where users and customers are already expecting to have to sign their names. DNA: Today, DNA scans are used primarily in law enforcement to identify suspects -- and in the movies. In practice, DNA sequencing has been too slow for widespread use. This is starting to change. Last year, a $1,000 scanner hit the market that can do a DNA match in minutes -- and prices are likely to keep dropping. Behavioral identifiers are a newer approach and are typically being used in conjunction with another method because of lower reliability. However, as technology improves, these behavioral identifiers may increase in prominence. Unlike physical identifiers, which are limited to a certain fixed set of human characteristics, the only limits to behavioral identifiers is the human imagination. Today, this approach is often used to distinguish between a human and a robot. That can help a company filter out spam or detect attempts to brute-force a login and password. As technology improves, the systems are likely to get better at accurately identifying individuals, but less effective at distinguishing between humans and robots. Here are some common approaches: Typing patterns: Everybody has a different typing style. The speed at which they type, the length of time it takes to go from one letter to another, the degree of impact on the keyboard. Physical movements: The way that someone walks is unique to an individual and can be used to authenticate employees in a building, or as a secondary layer of authentication for particularly sensitive locations. Navigation patterns: Mouse movements and finger movements on trackpads or touch-sensitive screens are unique to individuals and relatively easy to detect with software, no additional hardware required. Engagement patterns: We all interact with technology in different ways. How we open and use apps, how low we allow our battery to get, the locations and times of day we're most likely to use our devices, the way we navigate websites, how we tilt our phones when we hold them, or even how often we check our social media accounts are all potentially unique behavioral characteristics. These behavior patterns can be used to distinguish people from bots, until the bots get better at imitating humans. And they can also be used in combination with other authentication methods, or, if the technology improves enough, as standalone security measures. How reliable is biometric authentication? Authentication credentials such as fingerprint scans or voice recordings can leak from devices, from company servers or from the software used to analyze them. There is also a high potential for false positives and false negatives. A facial recognition system might not recognize a user wearing makeup or glasses, or one who is sick or tired. Voices also vary. People sound different when they first wake up, or when they try to use their phone in a crowded public setting, or when they're angry or impatient. Recognition systems can be fooled with masks, photos and voice recordings, with copies of fingerprints, or tricked by trusted family members or housemates when the legitimate user is asleep. Experts recommend that companies use multiple types of authentication simultaneously and escalate quickly if they see warning signs. For example, if the fingerprint is a match but the face isn't, or the account is being accessed from an unusual location at an unusual time, it might be time to switch to a backup authentication method or a second communication channel. This is particularly critical for financial transactions or password changes. What are the privacy risks of biometric authentication? Some users might not want companies collecting data about, say, the time of day and the locations where they typically use their phones. If this information gets out, it could potentially be used by stalkers or, in the case of celebrities, by tabloid journalists. Some users might not want their family members or spouses to know where they are all the time. The information could also be abused by repressive government regimes or criminal prosecutors overstepping boundaries. Foreign powers might use the information in an attempt to influence public opinion. Unethical marketers and advertisers might do likewise. Last year, a fitness app was discovered to be collecting information about user locations and exposing it in a way that revealed the location of secret U.S. military bases and patrol routes. Any of these situations could potentially lead to significant public embarrassment for the company that collected the data, regulatory fines, or class-action lawsuits. If DNA scans become widespread, they give rise to a whole new area of privacy concerns such including exposure of medical conditions and family relationships. How secure is biometric authentication data? The security of the biometric authentication data is vitally important, even more than the security of passwords, since passwords can be easily changed if they are exposed. A fingerprint or retinal scan, however, is immutable. The release of this or other biometric information could put users at permanent risk and create significant legal exposure for the company that loses the data. "In the event of a breach, it creates a Herculean challenge because physical attributions such as fingerprints cannot be replaced," says data security expert Kon Leong, CEO and co-founder at San Jose-based ZL Technologies. "Biometric data in the hands of a corrupt entity, perhaps a government, carries very frightening but real implications as well. " At the end of the day, every company is responsible for its own security decisions. You can't outsource compliance, but you can reduce the cost of compliance, and the possible repercussions of a leak, by picking the right vendor. If a small or mid-sized company uses, say, Googles or Apple's authentication technology and there's a security breach with Google or Apple, it's likely Google or Apple will get the blame. In addition, companies that dont keep credentials on file have some legal protections. For example, many retailers can avoid substantial compliance costs by keeping their systems "out of scope. Payment information is encrypted right at the payment terminal and goes straight through to a payment processor. Raw payment card data never touches the company servers, reducing both compliance implications and potential security risks. If a company needs to collect authentication information and keep it on its own servers, best-practice security measures should be applied. That includes encryption both for data at rest and data in transit. New technologies are available for runtime encryption, which keeps the data in encrypted form even while it is being used. Encryption is not an absolute guarantee of security, of course, if the applications or users that are authorized to access the data are themselves compromised. However, there are a couple of ways that companies can avoid keeping even encrypted authentication data on their servers. Local or device-based authentication The most common example of a local authentication mechanism is the hardware security module in a smartphone. User information such as a fingerprint scan, facial image or a voice print is stored inside the module. When authentication is required, biometric information is collected by the fingerprint reader, camera or microphone and sent to the module where it's compared to the original. The module tells the phone whether or not the new information is a match to what it already had stored. With this system, the raw biometric information is never accessible to any software or system outside the module, including the phone's own operating system. On the iPhone, this is called the secure enclave and is available on every phone with an Apple A7 chip or newer. The first phone with this technology was the iPhone 5S, released in 2013. Similar technology is also available on Android phones. Samsung, for example, started rolling out the ARM TrustZone trusted execution environment with the Samsung S3 smartphone. Today, smartphone hardware security modules are used to provide security for Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay as well as to authenticate third-party applications. PayPal, for example, can use a phone's biometric sensor for authentication without PayPal ever seeing the actual biometric data itself. Square Cash, Venmo, Dropbox and many banking apps and password management apps leverage this authentication mechanism as well. Enterprises can also use smartphone-based biometric readers whenever their users or customers have access to smartphones, without ever having to collect and store any identifying biometric information on their own servers. Similar technology is available for other types of devices, such as smart cards, smart door locks, or fingerprint scanners for PCs. According to Spiceworks, phone-based fingerprint recognition is the most common biometric authentication mechanism in use today. Thirty-four percent of companies use Apple's Touch ID fingerprint sensor. In addition, 14 percent of companies use Apple Face ID and 7 percent use Android Face Unlock. Netflix has launched its January 2019 Netflix Speed Index, with Telstra quick to tout its #1 ranking from Feb 2018 to Jan 2019. You can see the details of Netflix's Australian January 2019 Speed Index here. Telstra noted in a media release that, "with consumers streaming more content than ever before", the company "has been working to make sure our customers are able get the best possible experience when watching video from a range of content services including Netflix. "The Netflix results is due to Telstra customers enjoying the fastest internet speeds available in Australia, combined with access to Australias most extensive and sophisticated caching capacity in the region." Netflix itself states: "The Netflix ISP Speed Index is a measure of prime time Netflix performance on particular ISPs (internet service providers) around the globe, and not a measure of overall performance for other services/data that may travel across the specific ISP network". The company continues, stating: "The function of caching is to store copies of Netflix content to enable streaming from a location closer to consumers. "To deliver further transparency, Telstras speed score has been split between our NBN and non-NBN products the first time it has happened in Australia. "The #1 ranked position is for our NBN speed of 4.38Mbps; our non-NBN connections (cable/DSL) is ranked at #4." Click here or the image above for the full resolution version. Curious as to how this compares with the US and elsewhere in the world? In the US January 2019 Netflix Speed Index, we see Comcast with a speed of 4.46Mbps. In the UK January 2019 Netflix Speed Index we see BT with 4.29Mbps. Meanwhile, in Singapore's Jan 2019 Index, we see Singtel Fiber on 4.24Mbps Over in New Zealand, its Jan 2019 Index sees Spark Fibre top the charts with 4.17Mbps. So, what does Telstra have to say about its results? Telstra said "Were pleased the January 2019 Netflix result reflects the real-world difference that Telstra customers can experience from Telstras ongoing network leadership and our efforts to deliver a better streaming experience. "This result follows on from Ooklas naming of Telstra as the fastest fixed network in the 2018 Speedtest Awards by Ookla. "Delivering the very best for our customers is about more than just download speeds. Telstras innovative products and devices, including our Smart Modem Gen 2.0, Smart Wi-Fi Booster and Telstra TV, all help ensure our customers can enjoy the best streaming experience. "This continued #1 ranking reflects the investments we have made to deliver the streaming experiences our customers expect. "According to Roy Morgans latest research, Netflix has continued its impressive growth over the past year with nearly 10 million Australians in the June 2018 quarter now having a Netflix subscription in their household up nearly 30% on a year ago", Telstra concluded. Netflix Speed Index results over the past 12 months. See full-res version here or click image above. Australian-based global technology recruitment specialist Talent has reported a 20% increase in global revenue for the six months to the end of December 2018 to $314 million, including a 19% increase in revenues in the APAC region to $276 million. Touting exceptional growth in the six months, Talent says compared to the same period in 2017, gross margin increased by 22%, and EBITDA by a massive 94%. Richard Earl, founder and executive chairman of Talent, said, This is a real breakthrough moment as we see our various initiatives now converting to a very healthy bottom line. As a believer in the long term game this is extremely satisfying and is a validation of our strategy. I am especially pleased with how our APAC chief executive Mark Nielsens unique brand of leadership and focus on culture has played a major part in this growth. In the process he has earned a number of well-deserved industry accolades. In APAC, revenue increased by 19% to $276m, gross margin by 24% and EBITDA by 86%. Nielsen commented. We have seen strong growth across all ANZ branches, with both permanent and contract revenue significantly exceeding budget, he said. In Australia, our Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane branches saw exceptional growth. What was also very pleasing to see was the coming of age for our New Zealand business, which increased revenue by 47% and is now achieving strong profitability. Further supporting this stellar growth has been our continued expansion into the mid-sized RPO market where we are seeing significant success through our unique approach to solutions. In Europe we have seen continued growth in the UK public sector, Germany, and our Microsoft Dynamics specialist business Hunter Charles. We have also seen a major take-up of Talent360, our proprietary recruiter on demand solution. Europe chief executive Jon Butterfield reiterated that he was delighted to be seeing a return on investment as the business is now generating sustainable profits." Earl said that Talents US operations continue to develop well in California with particular success in the Digital Health and Biotech sector, which will continue to expand. The next six months will also see a greater focus on New York as the company pursues acquisition targets in addition to launching the Microsoft offering Hunter Charles. These latest results provide us with the necessary capital to further develop our innovation products, invest in new people, and continue to scale and expand into the US market. A number of Australian technology companies, led by the charity StartupAUS, have called on the Federal Government to make four changes in the encryption law that was passed last year. The changes were sought in a submission made to the review of the legislation known as the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Act 2018 that is being conducted by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. The PJCIS is expected to submit a report to government by 3 April. Among the firms signing on to the submission were Airtree, Atlassian, Blackbird, Brighte, Culture Amp, Canva, Freelancer, Girl Geek Academy, Safety Culture, Square Peg Capital, Tech Sydney, WiseTech Global and 99designs. Under the law, there are three ways listed by which the authorities can get industry to aid in gaining access to encrypted material. A technical assistance request (TAR) allows for voluntary help by a company; in this case, its staff would be given civil immunity from prosecution. An interception agency can issue a technical assistance notice (TAN) to make a communications provider offer assistance. Finally, a technical capability notice (TCN) can be issued by the attorney-general at the request of an interception agency; the communications minister of the day would also need to agree. This will force a company to help law enforcement, by building functionality. One of the changes sought in the submission is the removal of the possibility of issuing a TCN to an individual as this was a major concern for the technology sector. Such an individual would then face tough penalties if he or she told their fellow workers about it. "It is our understanding after consultation with Home Affairs that this is not the intention of the Act, yet we believe that removing the possibility from the legislation would do a lot to reassure the tech sector that such action will not occur," Alex McCauley, chief executive of StartupAUS, wrote. The submission also called for narrowing the definition of who could be called a designated communications provider, pointing out that the term encompassed any provider of electronic services with one or more end-users in Australia. "Effectively, this includes any technology provider that offers technology designed to connect to the Internet, whether or not the service is designed to support communications as a market segment," McCauley said. The definition should be narrowed to reflect the nature of the services the government was most interested in: communication providers, he said. A third change sought was the increasing of oversight and fourth was a limit on the use of the powers provided in the law. McCauley pointed out that there was no bill of rights in Australia to act as a check on the use of such powers. Given that, he said: "The government must include an objective, merits-based review to ensure consistency regarding the exercise of powers under the Act, including further defining key terms that will draw important boundaries around the exercise of powers under the Act and root them in meaningful legal frameworks." He added that serious offences were defined very broadly in the law. "The result of such a broad definition of serious offence is that rather than the powers under this Act being reserved as a critical measure in times of great need, they will simply fall into regular use as part of the daily toolkit of law enforcement , at significant cost to Australian technology companies, their customers and their products." And McCauley added: "The definition of serious crime should be restricted only to those crimes which are the stated target of the Act, that pose a genuine and serious threat to Australia and its citizens. Further, the ability to exercise powers in furtherance of other countries criminal laws should be withdrawn." Like the Ithaca Times? Please help support local journalism by whitelisting this site in your ad blocker. Thank you! On Friday, officials with the Walker County Hospital District board announced that they have finalized a $7.8 million purchase of Huntsville Memorial Hospital. Do you feel like this is a good use of tax dollars, and is this the right direction for the struggling health care facility? You voted: Tuesday, February 12th, 2019 (1:45 pm) - Score 2,711 Cityfibre has appointed infrastructure firm Amey to build their new 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband network in the Scottish city of Edinburgh (UK ISP Vodafone will supply to consumers), which is expected to cost a little over 100 million and be largely complete by around the end of 2021. At present Cityfibre has already built a 150km long Dark Fibre network in the city (Edinburgh CORE), which serves public sector sites and businesses. Amey will now be expected to extend this infrastructure to reach local homes and smaller businesses, which is anticipated to result in a 2100km long city-wide network. Preparatory construction work began in November last year and a significant recruitment drive is already underway to find the necessary civil engineers (not an easy task as theyre also in demand by other operators), which over the projects lifetime could create around 300 local jobs. Andy Milner, CEO of Amey, said: Were delighted that CityFibre has chosen Amey to transform the broadband provision in Edinburgh. As a trusted provider of utility services, were looking forward to working with CityFibre on this flagship project in a transparent and collaborative way, to deliver a service that adds value, benefits local residents and in turn helps Edinburgh become a truly intelligently connected city. All of this forms part of Cityfibres wider 2.5bn investment plan to cover 5 million UK premises in 37 UK cities and towns with full fibre broadband by the end of 2024 (here), which in total could result in the installation of over 50,000km of cable and the construction of over 150 buildings to house their network equipment. At its peak, Cityfibre said they expect to connect 125,000 homes a month, which seems rather ambitious given that Openreachs own FTTP deployment with a significantly larger number of engineers is still in the sub 20,000 premises per week territory (we wouldnt be surprised if they doubled that by the end of this year). On Nov. 20, police said Gouveia was driving north on Lincoln when he hit the other vehicle as the woman was trying to turn east on Arthur Avenue. Gouveia was believed to have been traveling between 96-103 mph, said police, who added that they received assistance from the Major Crash Assistance Team. Commentary Many Arakanese Embrace AAs Presence Arakan Army chief Tun Myat Naing attends a cadet graduation ceremony in Kachins Laiza Township last year, where the armed groups headquarters is situated. / Arakan Army Info Desk Rakhine State has been the scene of the countrys worst fighting so far this year, as opposed to last year, when Kachin State was the focus. Each year the fighting moves from one area of the country to another, but it never seems to break out everywhere at once, despite the fact that most ethnic groups have their own armies. Some people have even asked why this should be. But, as we all know, the history of ethnic revolutionary armed groups shows that there is no common interest that would lead to a coordinated attack on the Myanmar Army (or Tatmadaw). Until recently, the Arakanese had no fighting in their region for over 60 years. So, they did not have experience with IDPs being forced to flee the fighting, as is the case today. The Arakanese did not have a strong armed force based in their region. The Myanmar military had sole control of the region, though it was unpopular among ethnic Arakanese. Ethnic Arakanese were split when the Arakan Army returned to base forces on their land. For good reason, many Arakanese were happy, as their ethnic armed group was able to return and set up bases. They feel that now they have an army that can protect their security and even fight for their political rights. When it comes to the Myanmar Army, if you do not have a strong armed force, they ignore your requests for political talks. So, for many years, Arakanese were upset, as their political voices were ignored by the Myanmar government and Army. When the AA came back to the region, it was the first time Arakanese had seen their own army face to face. They compare their army to the Ye Baw Ton Jade (Thirty Comrades led by General Aung San) who went to study military training in Japan, then came back secretly to Myanmar to fight against the British for independence. Unfortunately, the Arakan region, especially the northern part, has become a war zone, forcing many local people to flee the fighting. However, the fighting has continued to spread. About 7,000 IDPs have fled their homes since the Myanmar Army launched a military offensive in Arakan after the AA attacked three police bases in Maungdaw and killed 13 police officers on Jan. 4. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the State Counselor, instructed the Myanmar Army to use a military offensive to crush the AA as a threat to the countrys sovereignty. The Myanmar Army declared it would eliminate those AA based in Arakan. The Myanmar Army uses the Four Cuts policy, an old military strategy used to fight against ethnic rebels in the past. The strategy aims to cut off food, funds, intelligence and support for the groups it is fighting. The Myanmar Army arrested 38 people and charged them under the Unlawful Association Act 17 (1) and 17 (2), according to Narinjara news agency based in Arakan State. The state government has even allowed the Army to check civilian houses whenever the Army suspected families of supporting the rebels. The Army uses different types of repression on the ground to stop local Arakan from supporting the rebels, but the fighting has gotten worse and local people continue to support them. KIA: AAs big brother The AA describe the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) as being like a brother organization that helped it to build up a strong armed force. The KIA was the main group providing assistance to the AA when it was being set up. So, the Arakanese are thankful to the Kachin for allowing their army to be established on Kachin land. A Kachin friend who works for a foreign embassy described how he was happy when he visited Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State. He said that when he told them he was Kachin, many locals were happy to see him, and said they were good comrades. So, the Arakanese feel a close friendship with their Kachin brothers. The KIA and the AA cannot be split when it comes to the current armed conflict in Myanmar. The Myanmar Army is not happy that the KIA allowed the AA to be set up in Laiza. Some members of the Tatmadaw have posted hate messages on Facebook saying that they cannot forgive the KIA, and blame it for what is happening in Arakan. The AA set up its headquarters in Laiza in 2009. The AA has even been based in the area controlled by the Karen National Union. But they were forced to move those bases after the KNU signed a ceasefire in 2012 with the Myanmar Army. The AA has also been based in northern Shan State in an area under the control of the Taang National Liberation Army, as well in the Kokang area, where they helped the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) fight the Tatmadaw. When the MNDAA launched a strong attack in Laukkai, some AA troops were also killed alongside their Kokang comrades. Some people criticized the AA for letting its soldiers die on other peoples ground. But leaders from the AA said they needed to gain fighting experience before returning to their land. In the 1970s, the former Arakan armed group known as the Arakan Liberation Army led by Khaing Moe Linn tried returning to their motherland after forming an armed group in the KNU-controlled area. They tried to cross into Chin after traveling through Karen, Shan and Kachin, then go to Arakan. But the Myanmar Army attacked as the group was on their way into Chin State. Many Arakan Liberation Army troops were killed, so they could not reach their region. The AA is smart to use the area of the Kachin first, then move into Paletwa in Chin State, where the population on the border of Rakhine State is mixed Chin and Arakanese. The AA was able to survive by relying on Arakanese living in Paletwa. It took five years for the AA to up build troops in Arakan, and for them to be able to fight back against the Myanmar Army. The Myanmar Army has ruled in Arakan for a long time, dispensing patronage to help poor people in the Arakan region. Local Arakanese now use the language of the Burmans, who provide security on the Bangladesh border and prevent the Rohingya from spreading into other townships in the region. Nonetheless, the local Arakanese view Burmans as not much different from the British who once came to colonize their region. They ask why, given the lack of fighting there in recent decades compared to other states, Rakhine remains the poorest state. They accuse the central government of taking natural resources from their region but failing to develop it. The Arakanese even feel that they need their own armed group in their region to stop religious violence. They feel the Army will only try to create problems between Arakanese and Rohingya. Local Arakanese have struggled under a poor economy and repressive Burman rule for over 60 years. The director of the Myanmar Presidents Office, U Zaw Htay, warned local Arakanese people early in January not to support the rebels, saying the Arakan region was in danger of becoming a war zone. Some locals say they are prepared for the worst, but hope for best now that they have their own army in the region. News President Foreshadows Peace Dividend on Union Day Anniversary Members of several ethnic minority groups join Union Day celebrations in Mandalay on Monday. / Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy President U Win Myint urged people to cooperate with the government, lawmakers and the military in building a democratic federal state and achieving national reconciliation and socio-economic development during the 72nd anniversary of Union Day. In an anniversary message on Tuesday, he addressed the ongoing peace process, negotiations with ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) and the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference, which he said, is a pragmatic approach to achieving the dream of building a democratic federal Union that the people have longed for for 70 years. Prior to Myanmars independence from Britain in 1948, national leader Gen. Aung San joined 22 Saohpas and representatives of the ethnic Chin, Kachin and Shan in signing the Panglong Agreement on Feb. 12, 1947. The agreement states that, freedom will be more speedily achieved by the Shan, the Kachin and the Chin by their immediate co-operation with the Interim Burmese Government. U Win Myint said the agreement helped lay the foundations for independence. But he added that, due to that undesirable legacy and a variety of reasons, there was misunderstanding, mistrust and doubt among the ethnic people, thus leading to 70 years of armed conflicts. And it has not yet ceased. Despite an ongoing peace process, including the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference meetings, fighting continues today in Kachin, Rakhine and Shan states. The 21st Century Panglong has convened three times since the National League for Democracy took power 2016, with 52 basic principles for the formation of a democratic federal Union agreed to date. In the meantime, based on the principle of all-inclusivity, the government is moving toward the goal to peace through negotiations with both the signatories and non-signatories of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement [NCA], the president said. I firmly believe that when we achieve peace throughout the country, we can see the development of our states and regions in a short time. The governments National Reconciliation and Peace Center, which oversees the peace process and is led by the State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, invited the 10 EAOs that have signed the NCA to Naypyitaw to join a Union Day dinner and to hold informal talks on Wednesday. The center will meet with the leaders of the Karen National Union (KNU), including Chairman Saw Mutu Say Poe, in the morning and with all 10 groups in the afternoon. Formal peace talks have been on hold since November, after the KNU said it was withdrawing from the process indefinitely and the Restoration Council of Shan State stopped participating in the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee. News French National Detained for Flying Drone near Union Parliament French national Arthur Desclaux NAYPYITAWNaypyitaw police have detained a French national for illegally flying a drone in a restricted area near Gate 2 of the Union Parliament building on Feb. 7. Police Captain Min Tin, the head of Phayarkone Police Station in Ottara Thiri Township in Naypyitaw, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that a case was filed against French national Arthur Desclaux under the 2012 Export and Import Law for illegally bringing a drone into the country. We are currently investigating and will proceed in accordance with the law, he said. The 27-year-old French citizen was remanded until Feb. 22. Police said they would complete their investigation by then and Desclaux would be referred to the court. Desclaux entered Myanmar through the Myawaddy border checkpoint from Mae Sot town in Thailands Tak province on Jan. 30. He rode a bicycle and arrived in Naypyitaw on Feb. 7. He was arrested while flying the drone on arrival in Naypyitaw and had not even booked a hotel yet. According to police sources, he asked the authorities to inform his family about the arrest. He said he is the eldest of three siblings and works for six months a year, spending the other six months travelling. He added that he loves traveling in Myanmar. It is not clear what kind of images Desclaux had captured with his drone, said Police Capt. Min Tin, who had not yet seen the pictures. That is confidential [evidence for the investigation] and we have asked for help from the relevant authorities. We are working together with the Criminal Investigation Department. The police captain added, [Desclaux] said he flew his drone as this road is wide and very beautiful. But we do not know his intention and he could not show us any documents. Therefore, he is charged under the Export and Import Law. In October 2017, Malaysian Mok Choy Lin, a producer for Turkish state broadcaster TRT World, freelance camera operator Lau Hon Meng from Singapore, and their interpreter Ko Aung Naing Soe and driver U Hla Tin from Myanmar were arrested for attempting to take pictures with drones. They faced charges including violating Section 8 of the Export and Import Law, which later was dropped. They spent two months in prison under the 1934 colonial-era Myanmar Aircraft Act for filming with a drone and released in December of that year. In Myanmar, those who fly drones should only be charged according to specific regulations and not under the Export and Import Law, said Naypyitaw-based lawyer U Khin Maung Zaw, who served as the defense lawyer for the TRT drone case in Naypyitaw. He said those who brought in such materials from foreign countries and used them here should not be charged with a crime. He said this action undermines the countrys tourism image and it is a shame. Now drones are used to take pictures of weddings or merit-making ceremonies. It is not clear how these people obtain drones, with permits or not. And we have not heard whether there are any restrictions upon them. But this case, there was a feeling that the Parliament was being assaulted. Police Capt. Min Tin said he could not comment on whether the arrest of the foreign tourist would damage Myanmars tourism image, but he said there is a sign near the No. 2 Gate of Parliament that no drones are allowed to fly over the Parliament building. He said, He [Desclaux] could not prove that these materials were brought in with permission. If he declared what he had been carrying and filled in the form at the border entrance [in Myawaddy], there would be no problem. But if he did not declare it, he violated the Export and Import Law. Article 8 of the Export and Import Law prohibits people from exporting and importing restricted materials. Violators face imprisonment and a fine. Nato's secretary-general has warned that the military alliance will respond to what it insists are Russia's violations of a key Cold War-era treaty - but will not station more nuclear missiles in Europe. Jens Stoltenberg urged Moscow to return to compliance with Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty it agreed bilaterally with the US in 1987. On February 2, Washington launched the six-month process of leaving the INF, insisting that a missile system Russia calls the Novator 9M729 - known at Nato as the SSC-8 - breaks the pact's range requirements. The INF bans production, testing and deployment of land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 500-5,500 kilometres (310-3,400 miles). "Any steps we take will be co-ordinated, measured and defensive, and we do not intend to deploy new ground-based nuclear missiles in Europe," Mr Stoltenberg told reporters at Nato headquarters in Brussels on the eve of a meeting of allied defence ministers. He said the ministers will on Wednesday discuss "what steps Nato should take to adapt to a world with more Russian missiles". He declined to say what measures are being considered. "Moscow continues to develop and deploy several battalions of the SSC-8 missile," Mr Stoltenberg said. "We all know that a treaty that is only respected by one side cannot keep us safe." The Pentagon believes that Russia's ground-fired cruise missile could give Moscow the ability to launch a nuclear strike in Europe with little or no notice. Russia insists it has a range of less than 500 kilometres, and claims that US target-practice missiles and drones also break the treaty. President Vladimir Putin has announced he is pulling Russia out of the INF too. European Nato members are especially keen to avoid any nuclear build-up and a repeat of the missile crisis in the 1980s. Nato allies decided to deploy US cruise and Pershing 2 ballistic missiles in Europe in 1983 as negotiations with Moscow faltered over its stationing of SS-20 missiles in eastern Europe. The US ambassador to Nato, Kay Bailey Hutchison, sought to reassure them. "Our allies want to know what the future will be, and the future will be that we will start the development of a defensive mechanism and we will keep our allies informed all along the way. We will consult at every turn," she said. - Press Association The United Nations (UN) Security Council has issued its eigth report stating that the Islamic State is still a major threat to international peace and security. The report was written by Head of UN Office of Counter-Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov in collaboration with a number of official agencies. Voronkov said that "while ISIL has transformed into a covert network, including in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, it remains a threat as a global organisation with centralised leadership. This threat is increased by returning, relocating, or released foreign terrorist fighters." Overview ISIL is still being led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but its senior leadership has been reduced to a dispersed group whose members "struggle to execute a number of essential tasks, without which the ISIL network could not survive." Far fewer attacks associated with ISIL took place in 2018 than in 2017 across the globe, and successful internationally directed attacks have fallen dramatically from 20152016, when ISIL's external operational activity was at its height. Damage to the ISIL brand may be a factor as to its reduced capacity for its military to be able to project an international threat, but it still remains the most ambitious international terrorist group, and the one most likely to conduct large scale and complex attacks in the near future. Member States remain concerned at the continued explicit intent of ISIL leadership to generate attacks, and the haphazard nature of inspired attacks, which makes defending against them difficult. Foreign terrorist fighters leaving the conflict zone, or prior returnees becoming active again on release from prison or for other reasons, will increase the threat, as could radicalized women and traumatized minors. Member States have reported ISIL to have access of between $50m and $300m and the terrorist group is said to be encouraging the use of cryptocurrencies, though it has not been deemed a significant source of income as of yet. In November 2018, a woman pleaded guilty to purchasing $62,000 in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to fund ISIL. Europe The number of returnees to Europe was low and direct propaganda from ISIL decreased, but recycled material, online messaging and "implausible claims of responsibility for attacks" increased. In the the western Balkans, approximately 1,000 foreign terrorist fighters have travelled to the conflict zone in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic and 100 of those have been reported killed while 300 returned and the remainder are unaccounted for. The foiled plan for a major terrorist attack in the Netherlands in September of last year "demonstrated that 'frustrated travellers' remain a problem." Islamic State militants. Middle East According to the report, the terrorist group has evolved into a covert network in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, where it priorities local operations, organising cells at provincial level to replicate key leadership functions. "ISIL is reported still to control between 14,000 and 18,000 militants in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, including up to 3,000 foreign terrorist fighters. "There are believed to be about 1,000 foreign terrorist fighters of various, sometimes undetermined, nationalities under arrest in Iraq. "A growing number, currently nearly 1,000, plus more than 500 dependants, are detained in the northeast of the Syrian Arab Republic." Iraq gets some of its reinforcement fighters from the Syrian Arab Republic and it is expected that the Syrian network will evolve to resemble that in Iraq, as "ISIL shows signs of wishing to stoke sectarian tension and pose as the standard-bearer for marginalized communities" in both countries. An estimated 13,000 minors up to the age of 12 in Iraq are believed to lack established nationality because their papers are unavailable or their birth was never registered. ISIL no longer have reliable access to oil in the Syrian Arab Republic and gets revenue by extorting oil cargos that is extracted by others. Africa In Nigeria, ISIL killed more than 700 troops and seized their equipment between July and December of 2018. ISIL continues to pose a threat in Libya, where it frequently raids and holds inner-town police stations to secure arms. There are approximately 30 ISIL-affiliated fighters in the mountainous regions of western Tunisia. West Africa's gold-mining sector is potentially vulnerable to exploitation for financing terrorist activity. Pagoria said five of the recommendations were not a problem, but the maximum building coverage on the lot was a sticking point. The R-4 zoning allows buildings to cover only 30 percent of an interior lot and 35 percent of corner lots. M/I had wanted to cover 36.7 percent of interior lots and 39.7 percent of corner lots. The first step to defending Europe from its enemies, both internal and external, is to recognise the magnitude of the threat they present. The second is to awaken the sleeping pro-European majority and mobilise it to defend the values on which the EU was founded, writes George Soros. EUROPE is sleepwalking into oblivion, and its people must wake up before it is too late. If we dont, the European Union will go the way the Soviet Union did in 1991. Neither our leaders nor ordinary citizens understand that we are experiencing a revolutionary moment, that the range of possibilities is broad, and that the outcome is highly uncertain. Most of us assume that the future will resemble the present, but this is not necessarily so. In a long and eventful life, I have witnessed many periods of what I call radical disequilibrium. We are living in such a period today. The next inflection point will be the elections for the European Parliament in May 2019. Unfortunately, anti-European forces will enjoy a competitive advantage in the balloting. There are several reasons for this, including the outdated party system that prevails in most European countries, the practical impossibility of treaty change, and the lack of legal tools for disciplining member states that violate the principles on which the European Union was founded. The EU can impose the acquis communautaire (the body of European Union law) on applicant countries, but lacks sufficient capacity to enforce member states compliance. The antiquated party system hampers those who want to preserve the values on which the EU was founded, but helps those who want to replace those values with something radically different. This is true in individual countries and even more so in trans-European alliances. The party system of individual states reflects the divisions that mattered in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, such as the conflict between capital and labour. But the cleavage that matters most today is between pro- and anti-European forces. The EUs dominant country is Germany, and the dominant political alliance in Germany between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Bavaria-based Christian Social Union (CSU) has become unsustainable. The alliance worked as long as there was no significant party in Bavaria to the right of the CSU. That changed with the rise of the extremist Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD). In last Septembers lander elections, the CSUs result was its worst in six decades, and the AfD entered the Bavarian Parliament for the first time. The AfDs rise removed the raison detre of the CDU-CSU alliance. But that alliance cannot be broken up without triggering new elections, which neither Germany nor Europe can afford. As it is, the current ruling coalition cannot be as robustly pro-European as it would be without the AfD threatening its right flank. The situation is far from hopeless. The German Greens have emerged as the only consistently pro- European party in the country, and they continue rising in opinion polls, whereas the AfD seems to have reached its highpoint (except in the former East Germany). But, now, CDU/CSU voters are represented by a party whose commitment to European values is ambivalent. In Britain, too, an antiquated party structure prevents the popular will from finding proper expression. Both Labour and the Conservatives are internally divided, but their leaders, Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May, respectively, are so determined to deliver Brexit that they have agreed to cooperate to attain it. The situation is so complicated that most Britons just want to get it over with, although it will be the defining event for the country for decades to come. But the collusion between Corbyn and May has aroused opposition in both parties, which, in the case of Labour, is bordering on rebellion. The day after Corbyn and May met, May announced a programme to aid impoverished, pro-Brexit Labour constituencies in the north of England. Corbyn is now accused of betraying the pledge he made at Labours September 2018 party conference to back a second Brexit referendum, if holding an election is not possible. The public is also becoming aware of the dire consequences of Brexit. The chances that Mays deal will be rejected on February 14 are growing by the day. That could set in motion a groundswell of support for a referendum or, even better, for revoking Britains Article 50 notification. Italy finds itself in a similar predicament. The EU made a fatal mistake in 2017, by strictly enforcing the Dublin Agreement, which unfairly burdens countries like Italy, where migrants first enter the EU. This drove Italys predominantly pro-European and pro-immigration electorate into the arms of the anti-European League party and Five Star Movement in 2018. The previously dominant Democratic Party is in disarray. As a result, the significant portion of the electorate that remains pro-European has no party to vote for. There is, however, an attempt to organise a united, pro-European list. A similar reordering of party systems is happening in France, Poland, Sweden, and probably elsewhere. When it comes to trans-European alliances, the situation is worse. National parties at least have some roots in the past, but the trans-European alliances are dictated by party leaders self-interest. The European Peoples Party (EPP) is the worst offender. The EPP is devoid of principles, as demonstrated by its willingness to permit the continued membership of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbans Fidesz, in order to preserve its majority and control the allocation of top jobs in the EU. Anti-European forces may look good in comparison: at least they have some principles, even if they are odious. It is difficult to see how the pro-European parties can emerge victorious from the election in May, unless they put Europes interests ahead of their own. One can still make a case for preserving the EU in order radically to reinvent it. But that would require a change of heart in the EU. The current leadership is reminiscent of the politburo when the Soviet Union collapsed continuing to issue ukazes as if they were still relevant. The first step to defending Europe from its enemies, both internal and external, is to recognize the magnitude of the threat they present. The second is to awaken the sleeping pro-European majority and mobilise it to defend the values on which the EU was founded. Otherwise, the dream of a united Europe could become the nightmare of the 21st century. George Soros is chairman of Soros Fund Management and chairman of the Open Society Foundations. He is the author of many books, including The Alchemy of Finance, The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What it Means, and The Tragedy of the European Union. Gardai have hit organised crime with arrests, the seizure of cash, firearms and drugs, and stopping murder teams, Detective Superintendent Seamus Boland tells Cormac OKeeffe. ARMED gardai tasked with intercepting murder teams are under no illusions that they are safe from being fired upon. So says the Gardas top detective targeting the countrys most dangerous gangs. Detective Superintendent Seamus Boland said that running so-called threat to life operations is an incredibly complicated and risky element of the work of the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB). Since they started collecting the stats, in early 2016, after the Kinahan-Hutch feud erupted, they have conducted a total of 59 operations against murder teams. There were 20 in 2016; 27 in 2017; and 13 in 2018. Such operations can involve up to 200 officers, either on the ground, conducting surveillance and staffing interception squads, or running control rooms. For operations like that you can imagine the balancing of risks, said Det Supt Boland. Theres a very high level of training, even with the decision making, never mind the tactical interventions. He said his officers train abroad in this area, including trying to decide when to order the ERU intervention teams to pounce. You cannot be blase. With people looking on intending to murder somebody you need to take it to a level of investigation that you are intercepting them almost as they are about to commit that crime, he said. And what if you get it wrong? There are a lot of checks and balances. The experienced detective said there was one case where three DOCB officers opened fire on a vehicle targeted in a threat to life operation. In September 2017, the DOCB were alerted to an imminent threat to life in the Inchicore area of Dublins south inner city. They spotted the target van driving at speed, during which a firearm was thrown out the window. The occupants of the van then got into a second vehicle which drove at the three officers who had to fire shots. He said no one was injured and that one man was subsequently convicted. He said a Garda Ombudsman investigation (automatic in cases of discharge of official weapons) fully exonerated the members, who are now recommended for commendation. Det Supt Boland said his officers are under no illusions these gunmen, armed and on their way to carry out assassinations, are prepared to fire at gardai in order to avoid apprehension and, most likely, a hefty prison term. He said many of the shooters used by the main criminal gangs are very experienced gunmen, who may have been involved in unsolved gangland murders down the years. While 2016 and 2017 were the busiest years, and with threat to life operations falling last year, he warned against complacency. Theyve gone down, but its important that we dont get into a false sense of security. The two recent murders show we cant get complacent. He added: Not all of those resulted in a prisoner, but were very satisfied that because of our actions lives were saved on a particular night. He said a majority of the incidents relate to the Kinahan-Hutch feud. Other figures show the work of the DOCB is hitting organised crime: 191 arrests in 2018 and 124 in 2017 (with 518 since DOCB established in March 2015); 2.8m in cash seized in 2018 and 3.4m in 2017 (8.3m since DOCB set up); 23 firearms seized in 2018 and 29 in 2017 (91 to date); 28m of drugs seized in 2018 and 75m in 2017; 159kg of cocaine seized in 2018 and 81kg in 2017. Seizing cash is very significant and effective way of disrupting organised crime at a senior level, Det Supt Boland explained. Generally by the time that cash is counted and about to go out of the country a lot of work has gone into building up that cash you could have a whole month, two months work null and void and hopefully will result in us, if forfeited to the State if successful in court, in taking their profits. Det Supt Boland is reluctant to be tied down on estimating the number of serious criminal gangs in Ireland or operating into the country. He said this is because organised crime groups are very fluid with individuals prominent in two or more groupings and with groups acting collectively in terms of trafficking and domestic sourcing of product. They almost operate at times like a co-op, he said. It depends on who has capabilities at any given time to get their hands on product. They all interact with each other. He said it is the same across Europe. He estimated there are two, maybe three Irish groups operating internationally in terms of trafficking. He said they would fit into the top European level where co-operation also operates, as would be seen in the recent mammoth 9.5 tonne cocaine haul in Cape Verde destined for Europe. In relation to major gangs, he said the DOCB are targeting in the region of 20 groups at any one time. He said some of these groups, like the massive Kinahan cartel, could have hundreds of people linked to it. But trying to establish if someone is active, or just associated, with a group, is difficult. Det Supt Boland, with 29 years experience, said that within the groups, people are organised in cell-like structures. We break them down into groups of cells, each confined to five to eight people, in order to keep their own security tight, he said. He said the DOCBs mission is to disrupt, dismantle and prosecute organised crime groups. He said that like the Criminal Assets Bureau they target the controllers at the top of the criminal gangs and those groups that cause the maximum fear such as murders. Speaking of such gangs, he said the work of the DOCB, and gardai generally, is not done in relation to the Kinahan cartel: Our work is not finished. We have definitely impacted them, definitely disrupted them, but we havent completely dismantled them, yet. Detective Superintendent Seamus Boland He said the recent spate of arson attacks in Dublins north inner city targeting females associated with the Hutch group shows the true nature of this feud: Its actually thuggery. These are not sophisticated operations. If you strip it back it shows you where it is at this stage. Theyll be smashing windows with stones next. But well continue to throw resources at this. We have to remain focused until those groups are absolutely dismantled. Significant gang convictions by the DOCB in 2018 Dec 2018: Estonian hitman Imre Arakas, 60, was jailed at the Special Criminal Court for six years for the Kinahan-ordered conspiracy to murder James Gately in April 2017. That case hinged on gardai accessing Arakas encrypted phone when they raided a west Dublin house. We had a tactical team on top of him straight away, said Det Supt Boland. He didnt get time to turn off his phone and he was in full conversation with somebody, an email thread, so we got it all photographed, the full thread of the conversation. We had less than five minutes, it was all very quick. We had staff instructed and primed to do that. It was a very significant arrest and a significant sentence. Nov 2018: Luke Wison (aged 23) from Cremona Road in Ballyfermot, was jailed at the Special Criminal Court for 12 years for a Kinahan-ordered conspiracy to murder Gary Hanley. July 2018: Gary Gleeson, 34, from Ballyfermot and Stephen Dunne, 39, from Lucan, were jailed for 12 years each at the Special Criminal Court for conspiracy to murder Michael Frazer in August 2017. June 2018: Heist boss Stefan Saunders, 41, and his associates Francis Murphy, 39, and Damien Noonan, 32, were jailed to seven and a half years each for conspiracy to commit robbery of a security van and ATM in Dunboyne, Co Meath in October 2016. March 2018: Paul Carew, 41, from Saggart, Co Dublin, was jailed for eight years for money laundering, involving a total of more than 600,000 in cash linked to the Kinahan cartel. Jan 2018: Jonathan Harding, 44, of Sallins, Co Kildare, was sentenced to 10 years at the Special Criminal Court in relation to a Kinahan firearms cache at Greenogue Business Park, Rathcoole, in January 2017. Three others were also convicted, including, on Tuesday, senior Kinahan figure Declan Brady. Central to the fate of the Brexit negotiations is the future of the Irish border. Politicians from all sides insist they want to avoid a return to border checks once the UK leaves the EU but they disagree on how this can be achieved. The history of smuggling across the Irish border and what already happens today is a major issue in this disagreement, yet it has received relatively little attention. In 1923, soon after the end of the Irish war of independence, British and Irish customs authorities agreed on 15 approved frontier crossing points on cross-border roads for the inspection of goods in daytime hours. At each point, a border customs checkpoint or customs hut was set up. Many unapproved routes crossing the border remained open to pedestrians but travelling on them by vehicle was prohibited. The exception was a small number of concession roads on which vehicles could travel from one part of a jurisdiction, passing through another jurisdiction, and re-enter the original one without stopping. Travellers with contraband on unapproved routes risked detection with penalties enforced by customs patrols. Smuggling became a widespread feature of borderland life between the 1920s and 1960s as borderlanders and those from further afield sought to avoid paying duty on goods bought on the other side of the border. This period is replete with tales of small-time, domestic smuggling tea and butter concealed beneath a petticoat in wartime, whiskey and a turkey beneath a heavy overcoat at Christmas time. Even commercial smuggling stories, usually involving the transportation of animal livestock in some unusual way, were told to generate amusement, even admiration, rather than outrage. Northern Irelands Troubles, beginning in 1969, suppressed smuggling activities because many unapproved routes were closed or blown-up by the British security forces. For many people, the presence of British Army checkpoints at approved crossing points also provided a sufficient disincentive for cross-border travel. An end to border checks The launch of the European single market on January 1, 1993 to provide free movement of goods, services, people and capital within the European Union made border customs checkpoints redundant because import duties on goods were no longer applied. But excise duties on fuel, alcohol and tobacco remained. Smuggling across the border then became a highly profitable, niche activity that was the preserve of well-organised gangs who have largely concentrated on smuggling tobacco and fuel. The smuggling of counterfeit cigarettes manufactured in Eastern Europe and Asia into Ireland and across the border was identified in 2018 as a significant threat by Her Majestys Revenue and Customs (HMRC). In March 2018, an illicit tobacco factory manufacturing cigarettes from raw tobacco destined for the UK market was discovered in County Louth, south of the border. Fuel smuggling also remains a significant issue despite the success of HMRCs anti-fraud strategy which contributed to the shrinking of the Northern Ireland illicit diesel market share from 19% in 2005-6 to 6% in 2016-17. Post-Brexit opportunities for smugglers It is entirely possible that the activities of such organised smuggling operations could be turbo-charged by a no-deal Brexit which would bring with it import and export duties between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and regulatory divergence for a wide range of commodities. The golden rule of smuggling is that where there is a difference in the price of a commodity, or it is in short supply on either side of a border, smugglers will seek to step in and make a profit. The organised and experienced smugglers are the most likely candidates to reap the illicit rewards. An anti-Brexit sign in the border village of Belleek in Northern Ireland. Paul McErlane/EPA An upsurge in smuggling would be facilitated by the most extensive cross-border road network in Europe. Officially, there are 208 cross-border roads on the island, nearly twice as many as those crossing the EUs entire eastern external frontier. A security response to that upsurge would be inevitable. One possible retrograde step could be to close scores of the secondary cross-border roads that were reopened in the 1990s with the support of EU funding. Technology could also be deployed. Motion sensors, scanners, and infra-red and surveillance cameras could be erected on border crossings. But they could also be knocked down in the dead of night. A 2018 survey conducted in the central border region found that a majority of the 600 respondents claimed they would not accept border control technology even if it was unmanned and not at the border. Mobile security patrols along the unwieldy 500km of the Irish border would be almost irresistible, not least to help protect vulnerable customs officials and agrifood inspectors working in isolated border terrain. Such an introduction is made more likely by the fact that the peace and openness of the borderlands for 20 years, courtesy of European integration and the Irish peace process, has led to the closure of 40% of police stations on either side of the border. So its also likely that new security personnel would be drafted in from outside and would be unfamiliar with the area, unknown to borderlanders, and characterised by them as nameless strangers. Alienation and antagonism would seep into the borderlands as a result. Chiefs of police on both sides of the border are acutely aware of potential post-Brexit challenges. These difficulties are posed not only by the possible return of alienation, antagonism, and by the likely strengthening of politically-motivated dissident Irish republicanism, but also by well-organised, cross-border smugglers motivated by profit. This article was written by Cathal McCall of Queen's University Belfast and was originally published on The Conversation This article is republished from theconversation.com under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here. IT is Valentines Day on Thursday, when many Irish couples turn the love in the air into a concrete decision to get married. Factor in the Christmas and New Year engagements and a lot of wedding plans are being made around now, writes Grainne McGuinness. While you might not put a price on love, many lovebirds can find their hearts thumping for all the wrong reasons when they calculate the cost of their big day. A survey last year by wedding website onefabday.com found that Irish weddings cost an average of 31,000, while, in other research, couples said they underestimated the cost of their wedding by as much as 35%. For couples who may have done some pricing last year, there is also the impact of the recent Vat increase to consider. Vat paid by the Irish hospitality sector increased by 50% from January, jumping from 9% to 13.5%. It is most unlikely hotels will absorb that increase, so price rises are to be expected. But saying I do still doesnt have to cost the Earth. The first thing to do, as always, is identify how well your budget matches the costs of the event you are planning. When calculating the expenses, make sure you include as much detail as possible. Dont just write down a budget for bridesmaids dresses; they will also need shoes, other accessories, and hairstyling and make-up. There are numerous wedding budget planners online. Irish site www.mrs2be.ie has a detailed Excel spreadsheet, which you can download. It should give you a clear picture of your likely spend. If the figure you come up with is not at all what you have to spend, dont despair. Dont think you have to give up on the wedding you want, either. Instead, think about what is really important to you, as a couple, and prioritise accordingly. There are a small number of major decisions that will have the biggest impact on your final spend. The first of these is the number of people you invite. Try not to let obligation dictate your guest list. This day should be about being surrounded by friends and family who care about you and who are delighted to be sharing your day. If you find your guestlist inflating , because you are adding people you think you should invite, try and resist this impulse. Ive often heard a joke among older Irish people that a wedding invite in the post is worse than a speeding fine or summons, as it will cost them more. Maybe bear that in mind when you are adding a should; do these people want to be at your wedding any more than you want to invite them? The second big decision is when to get married. The summer months are by far and away the most popular. A huge proportion take place in July or August, but hotels are busy right through from May to September. If you have your heart set on a summer wedding, or your career constrains your choice of date, fair enough. But if not, choosing to marry at an off-peak time can help considerably with costs. Many hotels offer reduced-price packages during the winter and you will not be competing with as many other couples for bands, make-up artists, and other elements. Plus, particularly during the peak wedding years, many guests can find themselves attending multiple weddings in a single year. My personal record was being a guest at five weddings across seven weeks in one hectic summer. I could forget about taking a holiday that year. A winter or early spring wedding gives your guests breathing space from other expensive events, and also means that you will have an anniversary to look forward to at a quiet time of year. Once you have decided the time of year, the number of guests, and the type of wedding, that will give you a clear idea of some of the bigger costs in your budget. But there is still a lot of wriggle room in the rest of the planning. Next week, I speak to a wedding expert about ways to limit your costs, while still creating the big day of your dreams. DEAL OF THE WEEK[ If you would like to spruce up your home as part of an annual spring clean, Aldis latest range of Specialbuys will allow you to transform your home on a budget. On sale from Thursday, the highlight of the range is a Tripod Floor Light for 69.99. Available in grey, white or washed wood effect, with a wood and metal adjustable base and fabric shade, it should change the mood of a room. In addition, the range includes a number of different floor coverings, including mats and runners from 7.99. The grey, brown or cream 80 x 140cm shaggy rug, with thick pile, is particular value at 19.99. They also have included a number of cushions and throws, always the easiest way to update a living space, from 7.99. Finish your efforts with a designer candle for 3.99. All items should be available in store in 137 Aldi shops nationwide from Thursday, February 14. Tenancy protection charity Threshold has criticised the governments failure to deliver meaningful protection for renters when it comes to deposits. Despite passing legislation to introduce a deposit protection scheme in 2015, the Government has yet to act on it, leaving tenants with no legal protections on the issue of deposits. The charity was responding to a recent advert on property website Daft.ie which asked potential tenants for three months security deposit and a full months rent up front if they could not find a suitable guarantor to sign off on the lease. The property was advertised at a monthly rent of 1,425, meaning tenants who did not have a guarantor would be paying out 5,700 up front. One month of this would be refunded after six months and the rest at the end of the lease, if all terms and conditions were met, according to the advert. It also specified that children were not allowed, which, said Threshold,, is contrary to the Equal Status Act. The property, located on Bridge St in Cork city, has been let. Edel Conlon, southern regional services manager with Threshold in Cork, said it shows how few protections there are for tenants in the current market. At present, there are no legal limits on the amount that a landlord can seek for a deposit and this is an issue that Threshold has highlighted to governments time and time again, said Ms Conlon. The common practice of one months rent as a deposit needs to be consolidated in law. There is no law in relation to this. This needs to be addressed to protect tenants. The landlord of the property, who gave his name as Jeremiah, said that he made no apologies for the strict requirements for potential tenants. We have been badly stung before, he said. People sign up for a year and they leave after a few months without paying bills and we are left with just one months deposit to clear it. He said that a tenant he had dealt with previously had run up more than 1,300 in electricity bills. The tenant had also quit the property before the end of the lease. It is a standard policy that we have in place for five or six years, he said. A loan must form part of the extra State funding for the Cork event centre, insists the Tanaiste. Simon Coveney said the contentious 9m loan element of the increased 30m State funding injection into the stalled project is part of the legal model required to ensure the increased funding remains consistent with the original tendering process over four years ago. And legal contacts between Cork City Council, the Department of Culture, and the Attorney Generals (AG) office are ongoing to work out the legal and financial model to deliver that, he said. He made his comments last night ahead of todays third anniversary of the sod turning on the former Beamish & Crawford brewery site on South Main St. It was confirmed just before Christmas that the State was legally cleared to up its investment in the project from 20m to 30m but concerns were raised two weeks ago over the inclusion of a repayable loan element. The council is seeking fresh legal advice on the departments insistence that 9m of the 30m has to be a repayable loan. Mr Coveney said: Ive always said that Im confident that this can be delivered, but Ive also, particularly over the last 12 months or so, been quite open and honest about the complexity of the project. 9m has to be a loan that gets repaid. Thats part of the legal model thats required to stay consistent with the tendering process that happened four years ago. But we can do it with that. I met the AG last week, Cork City Council the week before, and the AG the week before that again, so virtually every week we have a meeting in either Cork or Dublin on making progress on getting this event centre project fully across the line so people can physically see it built. However, he said that the project is still in the planning process. We need to resolve the legal issues in parallel with finalising the planning decision, he said. I think the timeline for both of them are probably roughly on the same path, theres probably a couple of months in this yet. Labour local election candidate Peter Horgan criticised the delays and continued secrecy three years on from the sod turning. From talking with people on the streets of Cork, on the doors around the city, and with those in business, theres a belief that this will never happen, he said. I dont want to believe that but the continuing secrecy and stalling makes it hard to not come to that conclusion. A man caught smuggling 1.2m worth of heroin into Dublin airport has been jailed for seven years. Mudassar Khan (27) had come off a flight from Dubai and was stopped by customs officers when he tried to enter the blue channel for travellers within the EU. His bags were searched and the customs official found 13kg of heroin wrapped up in one suitcase. Gardai were alerted and arrested Khan. In interview, Khan said he lived in the UK and was a drug addict with a drug debt of 2,500. He said he had agreed to transport a package but claimed he thought it was just cigarettes. Questioned further about who gave him the drugs he told investigators: Im not speaking no more, they are going to end up killing us. He said he was in fear and couldn't give names. My friend got machine-gunned down for giving names before. I'm in fear. These people go to extremes, he said. Khan of Shore Rd, Oldham, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to importation and possession for sale or supply of heroin on October 6, 2018. He has one previous conviction for drug dealing. Aoife O'Halloran BL, defending, told the court that her client had become addicted to cannabis, cocaine and crack cocaine and built up a drug debt. She said the debt led to unambiguous threats being made to Khan and he was left in no doubt that he had to transport the drugs. Ms O'Halloran said the father-of-one was extremely remorseful and had insight into how destructive heroin was. Khan even telephoned Crimestoppers at one stage about heroin in his community, she said. Judge Melanie Greally said that even if Khan didn't know he was moving heroin he was extremely reckless to transport such a large amount of contraband. She noted in mitigation the pressure he was put under, his remorse and the fact that he is a non-national in prison far from home. Cervical Check programmer manager John Gleeson has told the High Court open disclosure requires an adverse event, and the upgrading of the results of Ruth Morrissey's smear slides from negative was not considered an adverse incident. Asked if the Vicky Phelan case never happened, when would the Limerick mother who now has at maximum two years to live have found out about the audit reviews on her smear slides, Mr Gleeson said: "If she had chosen to ask us". Mr Gleeson who was subpoenaed by the young mother's legal team was giving evidence in Ms Morrissey's case against the HSE and two US labs over the alleged misreading of her smear slides in 2009 and 2012. Limerick woman Ruth Morrissey (pictured) who has cervical cancer and at maximum has only two years to live has sued the HSE and two US laboratories over the alleged misreading of two smear tests she had in 2009 and 2012 under the CervicalCheck screening programme. The 37-year-old mother did not find out until May last year, the results of audits on her 2009 and 2012 cervical smear slides which showed they had been incorrectly reported as negative. Mr Gleeson wrote the letter to Ms Morrissey's consultant in 2016 in relation to the audit results on her previous smears of 2009 and 2012 and which revealed the smear tests had been reported incorrectly as negative but Ms Morrissey was told the audit results in May last year. The CervicalCheck Programme manager is being asked question about governance in particular in relation to Ms Morrissey's 2009 and and 2012 smear slides as part of her claim for exemplary damages as well as compensatory damages. Ms Morrissey's Counsel Patrick Treacy SC who told the court the Vicky Phelan case settled on April 25, 2018 asked the witness was it fair to say we don't know if Ruth Morrissey ever would have found out about the smear slide audit results. Mr Gleeson replied correct and it was not an adverse incident and open disclosure required an adverse incident. Mr Justice Cross asked Mr Gleeson was he saying that it was not an adverse incident, Mr Gleeson replied "No we did not consider it an adverse incident." He added the HSE are reviewing its open disclosure policy and he was sure we will see changes. It was the eighth day of the action by Ruth Morrissey and her husband Paul Morrissey of Kylemore, Schoolhouse Road, Monaleen, Co Limerick who have sued the HSE and the US laboratory Quest Diagnostics Ireland Ltd with offices at Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin along with Medlab Pathology Ltd with offices at Sandyford Business Park, Dublin 18. It is claimed there was an alleged failure to correctly report and diagnose and there was an alleged misinterpretation of her smear samples taken in 2009 and 2012. A situation it is claimed allegedly developed where Ms Morrisseys cancer spread unidentified, unmonitored and untreated until she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in June 2014. It is further claimed a review of the 2009 and 2012 smears took place in 2014 and 2015 with the results sent to Ms Morrissey's treating gynaecologist in 2016, but she was not told until May 2018 of those review results which showed her smears were reported incorrectly. The Morrisseys further contend if Ms Morrissey had been told the results of the smear test audits in late 2014 or early 2015, she would have insisted on an MRI and other scans. The HSE the court has already heard admitted it owed a duty of care to Ms Morrissey but not to her husband. The laboratories deny all claims. Mr Treacy asked Mr Gleeson about a leter Ruth Morrissey's treating consultant with the Morrisseys wrote to him in May last year in which they asked questions about the reporting of the smear slides, when the audit results were made known and looking for feedback on the upgrading of the slides. Mr Gleeson said he did not recall seeing the letter but it was stamped as having been received on June 1 last year and passed on to the State Claims Agency legal team. The case before Mr Justice Kevin Cross continues today. Cook County voters were asked if the municipality they live in should match that $13 per hour Cook County minimum wage law for adults over the age of 18 by July 1, 2020, and then be indexed to the consumer price index after that. They were also asked if the municipality they live in should match Cook County earned sick time law, which allows for workers to earn up to 40 hours of sick time a year to take care of their own health or a family members health. A Limerick woman who was raped when she was 13 is leading the call for people to take to the streets of Dublin to mark International Womens Day. Leona OCallaghan, who has been critical of the way the judicial system deals with victims of rape and sexual assault, backed the worldwide demonstration. Her attacker was sentenced to 18 and a half years after pleading guilty to charges of sexual assault and rape. Events will be held across the globe to mark International Womens Day on March 8. Demonstrators will raise issues surrounding gender pay gap, gender-based violence, working conditions, abortion rights, and sexual violence. Ms OCallaghan said bias, blame, and unfairness was at the heart of her judicial experience. Only a few months ago, I stood in an Irish court where my abusers defence were permitted to indicate that I, as a child, had given a sign of consent because I did not physically fight back on those rapes, said Ms OCallaghan. The judge was asked to take this as a mitigating factor. A child cannot consent. We do not have sufficient legislation to adequately deal with the issues of consent. We remain participants in a victim-blaming Ireland where the perpetrator has the right to legal representation but victims and survivors do not. We remain in a country where there is inadequate education in our Church-led schools that fail us by not providing the knowledge and the guidance needed to put an end to victim-blaming, and to highlight what consent is, and to teach men not to rape. The lack of moral compass in the legal, school, government and judicial systems does not represent the morality of our country. Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger called on unions, community groups, young people and women to join the 3pm walkouts and protests. In recent years, a global revolt of women has emerged, demanding freedom from violence, exploitation, and, in the case of Ireland, for abortion rights, she said. On all these issues, it is movements on the ground that have forced change. Neil Moor, Unite organiser, said the gender pay gap is in both the private sector and public sector. Women in the hospitality industry are far more likely to be in part-time precarious contracts, while women in other private sectors tend to have worse-off contracts, he said. We have seen from the Repeal movement and the McDonalds strike around sexual harassment that enough is enough and we are calling time on these issues. We want to see real equality, which means real zero-tolerance sexual harassment policies where bosses no longer hang the threat of losing your hours, the threat of not getting shared tips, over women that speak out against sexual harassment. Aisling Cusack, vice president for equality and citizenship at Union of Students in Ireland (USI), said that women who are at most risk of serious sexual violence are aged between 18 to 29. This is a core age group in our campuses, she said. Sexual violence and harassment is something deeply embedded in our culture and despite survivors bravely coming forward we have done little to change. We need to stop the victim blaming attitudes, we need to stop saying they were asking for it, we need an end to slut shaming. We all need to to be participants in challenging a culture of sexual violence and this includes sexist jokes and calling out sexist behaviours of friends. Latest: A 42-year-old man arrested as part of a "significant" CAB operation in Limerick has been released without charge. A file will be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said gardai in a statement. A local TD has said that while a Roscommon community is opposed to the use of a hotel for asylum seekers there, they "do not condone" a second fire in the space of just over a month there. Gardai said they are concerned at the level of determination shown by those behind the fires at the Shannon Key West Hotel in Roosky, on the Roscommon-Leitrim border, which is due to house asylum seekers. The latest blaze broke out shortly before 9.15pm on Monday night. Onsite security personnel alerted emergency services and the fire was quickly brought under control, causing a small amount of damage. All residents of the hotel, which included security personnel and a foreman, were evacuated and no-one was injured. A full Garda technical examination took place this morning. Garda Supt Kevin English told Newstalk Breakfast that it is too early to determine if there is a connection between last nights fire and a blaze on January 10. He said there were three security personnel there at the time with their cars visible in the car park outside. These individuals were not deterred by the presence of security personnel. It is a concern that they showed this determination, he said. He appealed for any witnesses in the area who saw suspicious activity in the area of the hotel between 8pm and 9.30pm on Monday to contact the Gardai in Carrick-on-Shannon on 071 9650510 or to call the Garda hotline. This is the second fire at the disused 39-room hotel, which had been the subject of a high court dispute over its sale and sparked criticism locally since it emerged that the Department of Justice plans to accommodate around 80 asylum seekers at the premises. The hotel had previously closed in 2011. An anti-racism rally attended by hundreds of people was held in the town after the first fire, a suspected arson attack, in January. Local Fianna Fail TD Eugene Murphy said it was "true to say a large percentage of people in Roosky have serious reservations about the hotel being used as a centre for asylum seekers". "But despite the Governments lack of engagement on the issue, the local residents do not in any way condone this type of illegal activity and they are outraged by this second fire at the hotel," he said. Local residents had expressed dismay at the Governments approach to direct provision by locating over 80 asylum seekers in a small rural village such as Roosky thereby increasing the population by over 20% with no proper facilities but any protests to date have been peaceful and local people do not in any way condone these type of arson attacks and this type of activity must be utterly condemned. Last November, there was also a fire in Moville, Co Donegal in the town's Caiseal Mara Hotel, where 100 refugees are set to be housed. The jury have begun their deliberations in the case of a 28-year-old Kanturk man accused of unlawfully killing a 65-year-old local man by giving him a single punch at a bar in the town in 2016. The jury of three women and nine men will resume their deliberations tomorrow morning at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. Judge Sean O Donnabhain sent them home after they had deliberated for just over one hour. Finbarr Lehane died in hospital a fortnight after being struck at the Stand Bar in Kanturk after midnight on October 23/24, 2016. Jonathan OSullivan from Kanturk, but now living at Birchfield Park, Goatstown, Dublin, pleaded not guilty of manslaughter but guilty of assault. The charge was that at The Stand Bar, The Square, Kanturk, he unlawfully killed Finbarr Lehane. Imelda Kelly, prosecution barrister, said in her closing address to the jury that they could be satisfied that the blow struck by OSullivan was objectively dangerous and she urged them to review the CCTV of the incident. It is an objectively dangerous act to strike a blow to the face of another person without warning. Mr Lehane was immediately felled by that blow. It was unprovoked and without warning. Ms Kelly said it was clear from the evidence of state pathologist Margaret Bolster that the cause of death was complicated but Ms Kelly added, I am not under obligation to prove the punch was the sole cause of death, I must show it was a real and substantial cause. Mary Rose Grearty defence senior counsel reminded the jury of how upset the accused was when he gave brief evidence where he stated that what happened had horrendous consequences for everybody. Ms Grearty SC said that obviously the most terrible consequences were for the late Mr Lehane and his relatives. Ms Grearty said to the jury that the issue they had to decide was whether the blow struck by OSullivan was objectively dangerous. The single most important factor is, do you have a doubt about whether it was objectively dangerous? What force was used to strike the blow? It is not about feeling sorry for anybody, it is about considering how he met this and considering what he did and was there any strength in it at all. He left him without a mark. That must leave you at least with a reasonable doubt, Ms Grearty SC said. Dr Bolster agreed under cross-examination by Ms Grearty that she did not find a single mark to the face of the deceased when she examined it a fortnight after the incident in the bar. Dr Bolster also confirmed that medical notes on the late Mr Lehanes admission on the night made no reference to any mark on his face. It took Health Minister Simon Harris less than four minutes to explain himself. The National Children's Hospital is badly needed and will transform the delivery of children's healthcare in Ireland Mr Harris said in prefacing his apology for not being fully forthright in keeping the Dail up to date on the cost of the project. Many in the opposition placed hands on chins, knowing that regardless of what Mr Harris said they would not have a chance to respond. It had been decided that the Health Minister would make a statement on the spiralling cost of the children's hospital which has engulfed the Government in controversy. "It is true that the costs of this project have increased significantly and taxpayers want to be assured that their investment is being managed correctly," Mr Harris told the Dail. Then turning to a parliamentary question he answered in September he said: "At the time of answering, I was not in a position to give commercially sensitive figures." Sinn Fein's deputy Dail leader Pearse Doherty could take no more and got to his feet in protest. A bewildered looking Health Minister glanced at Mr Doherty who at this stage was furious at what he was hearing. But Mr Harris quickly pivoted toward the Ceann Comhairle silently asking for his assistance before his eyes darted up to the pack of journalists seated in the Dail press gallery. When the interjection from the Sinn Fein benches subsided, Mr Harris calmly continued. "As I said at the Health Committee last week, I should have answered it more fully as it would never be my intention to mislead this House. "I should have added further detail to inform that a process was ongoing to finalise costs and that updated costs would be known when that process concluded. I apologise for not doing this . I have always tried to approach my work in this House, and especially as Health Minister, in a collaborative way. I want to acknowledge the constructive contribution of colleagues on many issues, including this one. Mr Harris stressed that he takes the need for accountability very seriously and would be "happy to work together with members on all sides in the service of that aim" before sitting back down in his seat. Opposition TDs lined up to insist that time be found to question Mr Harris. Mr Doherty again voiced criticism of the minister's "feeble" apology. After some back and forth, the Taoiseach intervened: "I am sure the Business Committee can discuss the matter but the Minister, Deputy Harris, has no problem answering questions. He likes to answer questions." The Health Minister will be doing a lot of what he likes this week as it was eventually agreed by the Business Committee that he be brought back into the Dail tomorrow. This time questions will be allowed. A Meath nurse has written a hugely emotive post on why she left general nursing to become a flight medic, saying she had to train her bladder to go seven hours without visiting a toilet because she never had time on duty. As nurses return to work today and consider the details of the recommendations agreed at the Labour Court yesterday, Gabrielle Cooney McGuire said: "Never has so much been done for so many by so few." Gabrielle Cooney McGuire loved her job but left because "I was worn out, my head hurt and my heart broke." The mum of two said on social media: "I was the nurse who cried the whole way home after giving a patient the best care I could - but not the care he deserved "Whose family didn't need to ask how the day was, as my blotchy, tear-stained face told them all they needed to know. I felt your anxiety as you waited to go to theatre, I felt your pain as you watched a loved one slip away, your anger that your mother had to spend a night on a trolley in a bright, loud ED because there were no beds. "I was the nurse who wiped your tears as you were brought in to see your son's lifeless body, after the life-saving surgery because of a construction accident just wasn't enough. "I kept your secret, keeping your 'unsuitable girlfriend' and narrow minded family apart, so you could see them both as you went through your treatments. "On New Year's Day, I was the nurse who laid your son out after his motorbike accident while the police went to your home to break the devastating news of his death. "I pumped your chest on the forecourt of a petrol station in the desperate hopes of giving you another chance of life, even though scars on your chest from previous cardiac surgeries and clear indication of lack of oxygen and blood supply made me wonder was I doing the right thing." The strong-willed woman has blamed the lack of nurses and not the lack of beds for long waiting times "I left a public sector permanent and pensionable job over ten years ago as I could no longer have any hand, act or part in the fiasco that was, and is the healthcare system. "I brought a man back from theatre after surgery to the ward at 5pm one day and the next time I clapped eyes on him was at 10pm because I was just too busy. "There were other people that needed looking after, 12 post-ops, five of them major. I just didn't have the time and what upset me was that man could've bled to death. I thought, I can't do this. If that was a member of my family, I wouldn't be happy with that level of care. "You come out from CPR, you've cried because you are human but then you have to pull yourself together and put a smile back on your face because someone out there is wondering why their mother hasn't yet been seen. "The reason for cancelled surgery and appointments is not due to a lack of beds but a lack of nurses to man them. "I can now go over seven hours without going to the toilet because I had to. I didn't have time on duty. Sometimes I might have been lucky to get a cup of tea at 10am and then nothing until 9.30pm that night. "This strike was not solely about pay. It was about not having to leave a job you love because it's just not paying the bills. "It was about being able to encourage nurses to stay in the profession they love instead of leaving because they are burned out from carrying an unbearable load of trying to care for more than you are physically able for." Gabrielle now works as a flight medic around the world and spends up to 20 days a month in the air, giving patients one-to-one care. A heroin runner in Youghal caught with 3,800 worth of the drug in his jacket pocket has been jailed for 18 months. Gearoid Connolly, who is originally from Shannon, C Clare, was living at a number of addresses in Youghal recently including Pier Head apartments in the town. Judge Sean O Donnabhain imposed a three-year jail term on him with the last 18 months suspended. Sergeant John Sharkey said at Cork Circuit Criminal Court that members of the local district drugs unit observed the accused acting suspiciously on March 28, 2018 and as they approached he became very nervous. They carried out a search and retrieved a package from his pocket containing 27 grammes of heroin with a street value of 3,800. He admitted the offence immediately. He was aware he was carrying it from one person to another but said he was not sure what drug it was. The 26-year-old was in a relationship with a girl in Youghal and came from Shannon. He had 44 previous convictions, Sgt Sharkey said. The conviction of most concern to Judge O Donnabhain was one from 2017 which the young man had for having drugs for sale or supply, for which he got an eight-month jail term. Defence barrister, Helen Boyle, said the accused was going to get money knocked off his own drugs bill by carrying this drug himself. Ms Boyle said the accused was not the number 1 in the particular drug distribution. Sgt Sharkey agreed with that and said the defendant was a runner bringing the package from one place to another. Ms Boyle said the accused pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and had been using drugs himself at the time. The judge said: This was not his first excursion and was before the courts in 2017 for a Section 15 (the section under the Misuse of Drugs Act for having drugs for sale or supply). Judge O Donnabhain said the accused appeared to be progressing positively in prison and showing signs of rehabilitation. The judge backdated the sentence to November 13 when the accused went into custody. The North Suburban YMCA also supports phasing in the minimum wage over the longest period possible, according to the report. Additionally, the North Suburban YMCA is requesting that state legislators encourage Northbrook officials to follow the state plan and continue to opt out of the Cook County minimum wage ordinance and to provide nonprofit organizations with other forms of relief or exception to make up for the possible wage increases, according to the report A residential unit for former Defence Forces personnel who have fallen on hard times is to open in Cobh, Co Cork. The new unit is the latest addition to a number of facilities being set up by the ONE (Oglaigh Naisiunta Na hEireann) organisation for former Defence Forces personnel. The unit comes at a time when, according to ONE chief executive, Ollie OConnor, there are eight former Defence Forces personnel sleeping rough in Cork City. Thats the figure we have for those sleeping on the streets, said Mr OConnor. But it is in all likelihood much more. We have eight centres now for our people who are in need and were in the process of getting 13 set up around the country. Ollie OConnor, chief executive, ONE, says the organisation has eight centres for ex-Defence Forces personnel, with the aim to build 13. With around 20% of the Defence Forces based in the south of the country, support for those who are in trouble is much needed. Mr OConnor was speaking yesterday as ONE ran a campaign to highlight the plight of Defence Forces personnel who had ended up homeless. The campaign involved the siting of a number of sleeping bags designed around the Irish flag at points around Dublin city centre. The organisation currently has three hostels where former personnel can stay if they require a roof over their heads. Fran, a resident of a facility set up by the ONE organisation for former Defence Forces personnel. The facility in Dublin has 30 beds with two others in Athlone, Co Westmeath, and Letterkenny, Co Donegal, which both have eight beds. Our first homeless hostel opened in direct response to a number of veterans dying on the streets of Dublin, said Mr OConnor. Since then, weve helped over 900 homeless veterans from all over Ireland who could have faced the same situation. These Sleeping Flags are bags we never wanted to make, but if we cant get enough funding, our veterans will end up back on the streets. Encrypted mobile phones have become a big problem for gardai tackling gangs and they are seeking expanded powers to demand passwords to access them. The countrys top gangs, including the Kinahan crime cartel, are replacing encrypted phones costing around 1,500 each every couple of weeks, a senior garda has said. In an interview, Detective Superintendent Seamus Boland of the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau told the Irish Examiner: 20 serious criminal gangs are targeted by the DOCB at any one time; 191 suspected gang members were arrested in 2018 and 124 in 2017; 2.8m in cash was seized in 2018, and 3.4m in 2017; 23 firearms were confiscated in 2018 and 29 in 2017; 59 threat to life operations against murder teams have been conducted to date 13 in 2018, 26 in 2017, and 20 in 2016. Det Supt Boland said gardai are seizing more encrypted phones. They are a big problem, he said. Its a daily experience for us now, dealing with the level of criminal we are dealing with. They will all have an ordinary phone and a PGP [encrypted Blackberry] phone for nothing else than directing drug trafficking, money laundering, shootings, and murders. He said there is a provision under the Theft and Fraud Offences Act 2001 that, when operating on a court search warrant, gardai can demand passwords to access a computer and that people have been jailed for refusing to do so. However, he said the power only exists for offences under that act and can not be used for other crimes. He said the likes of the Kinahan cartel regularly distribute a large number of encrypted phones 20-25 at a time, definitely with each phone costing 1,500-1,600. Because of the security aspects of the bigger groups, they will change their encrypted phones every couple of weeks, he said. Det Supt Boland said they are in continuous interaction with the Department of Justice and legal people and often make recommendations where legislation might benefit us. Asked if they have specifically raised the encryption matter: Yes, and it is being reviewed. This issue of greater garda powers to access encrypted devices was raised by the Garda Inspectorate last year in a review of Garda investigations of child sex abuse. The report of a Government implementation body said the department accepts in principle it will consider the matter, including the broader application to other crimes. Family and friends today said a final farewell to globally-celebrated children's French-born author, cartoonist and illustrator Tomi Ungerer following a funeral service in West Cork, and later a cremation. But his legacy - including an amazing body of work including over 140 books published in 28 languages - remains, with his family announcing the 87-year-old had been working on a new collection of short stories. His works will also feature in two major exhibitions in Paris this springtime. It was announced Mr Ungerer had "died peacefully in his sleep with a book beside him", with his website noting: 'Tomis imagination never slept'. He had been a lifelong activist having protested against racial segregation, the Vietnam war and the election of US President Donald Trump. His social activism and often irreverent writings led to some of his work being branded "subversive" by critics. However, throughout his life in which his work continued to be politically-charged and he was involved in numerous humanitarian campaigns for nuclear disarmament, Amnesty International, Reporters without Borders and more recently, European integration. After the publication in 1969 of his Fornicon, a book of comical but startling sexual imagery, he found himself unwelcome in childrens book circles," the New York Times recalled. Americans cannot accept that a childrens book author should do erotic work or erotic satire, Mr Ungerer told the newspaper in 2008, when some of his books began to be republished in the US and Britain. However, his status as an important and innovative figure in graphic arts has been more widely recognized in the US. In 2015, he had his first American retrospective in New York. Reviewer Roberta Smith wrote: This selection is too small and fast-moving to do justice to Mr Ungerers multifaceted creativity. With a talent as polymorphous as this, you want a cornucopia, not a tasting menu. His final decades were spent living in the Mizen Peninsula, in the Goleen area, with his wife Yvonne and their family. Born in Strasbourg in 1931, Mr Ungerer works ranged from children's books like The Three Robbers and The Moon Man to erotic drawings as well as satirical paintings and political posters. He wrote in three languages - English, French and German. Mr Ungerer, who had been born in November 1931 into a family of watchmakers, had witnessed the annexation of his birthplace Alsace by Germany during World War II and the imposition of German and Nazi ideology in schools which he recounted later in autobiographical works. He donated more than 11,000 original works of art, sculptures, books and toys to a museum which opened in 2007 in Strasbourg. Since then, the Tomi Ungerer Museum is one of the ten best museums in Europe. He was awarded the Legion of Honour by France in 1990 and was elevated to Commander of the Legion of Honour in 2018. Read More: The Irish Examiner's 2015 interview with Mr Ungerer: Illustrator Tomi Ungerer says Ireland is the best place to live The DPP has revealed that payments to barristers in the criminal courts last year totalled 17.39m - an increase of 1m or 6% on the 16.4m paid out in 2017. The figures have been released through the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. According to the figures the top paid senior counsel was paid 524,649 (incl VAT) with four others receiving payments over 300,000. Ten other un-named senior counsel received fees between 200,000 and 300,000 with eight junior counsel receiving fees between 200,000 and 300,000. However, the DPPs FOI unit has decided not to name the barristers and refers to the barristers as Senior Counsel 1, Senior Counsel 2 etc as a result of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) directive. A spokeswoman for the DPP FOI unit stated: The FOI Unit in the Office of the DPP has departed from previous practice over recent years by choosing not to disclose the names of counsel. The reason for this is due largely to recent data protection legislation and in particular this Office's obligations under the GDPR." She stated: The decision from the FOI Unit relates only to our own GDPR obligations. I have taken advice from our Data Protection Officer in this regard. A big driver in the increase in payments for 2018 was the 1.2m paid out by the DPP in the trial of former Anglo Irish Bank ceo, David Drumm. File image of David Drumm outside court The figures reveal that senior counsel in the case enjoyed a brief fee of 40,000 + VAT and a daily fee of 3,000 plus VAT. Mr Drumm was jailed for six years last June after being convicted for his role in a 7.2 billion fraud perpetrated at the peak of the banking crisis in 2008. The second most expensive trial last year for the DPP concerned a 'heinous' tiger robbery and cost 346,316 in DPP counsel fees with the total cost of lawyers - including defence lawyers - to the tax-payer more than double that at around 700,000. Four men, Mark Farrelly (47) of Moatview Court, Priorswood, Coolock, Christopher Corcoran (71) of Rosedale, Raheny, David Byrne (45) of Old Brazil Way, Knocksedan, Swords, Dublin and Niall Byrne (36) of Crumlin Rd Flats, Dublin were sentenced to a total of 53 years. The trial, which began in January 2018 - was the 5th time the case had gone to court. It also cost the tax-payer over 500,000 to pay the prosecution and defence lawyers in the trial that convicted three people of the murder of Gareth Hutch (36). At the three judge Special Criminal Court in November, brother and sister, Jonathan Keogh of Gloucester Place, Dublin 1 and mother of five, Regina Keogh Avondale House, Cumberland Street North, Dublin 1 were convicted of Mr Hutchs murder on May 24th 2016 and received the mandatory life prison term. Thomas Fox of Rutland Court, Dublin 1 was also convicted of Mr Hutchs murder and also received the life term. Denis OBrien has told a High Court jury that articles in the Sunday Business Post which named him as among the 22 biggest borrowers from Irish banks in 2008 were a hatchet job page by page. Being called a buccaneer borrower by the Sunday Independent in April 2012 was not derogatory but he objected to being described as part of a gang of 22 borrowers in the SBP articles of March 2015, he said. Michael McDowell SC, for the SBP, said the dictionary definition of a buccaneer is a pirate usually operating in the Caribbean and asked Mr O'Brien was he seriously saying it was a complimentary term. Mr OBrien said buccaneer is not a derogatory term but a gang is. When counsel said a biography of Mr OBrien by Siobhan Creaton referred to Mr OBrien as one of a gang and again put to him gang is not a derogatory term, Mr OBrien said he had not read that book or co-operated with the author. Cross-examination of Mr OBrien has concluded in his action alleging defamation in the SBP articles of March 15, 2015. Their focus was a report by Price WaterhouseCoopers (PWC) given to the Government in November 2008 concerning the exposure of Ireland's banks. The report was obtained in 2015 by the newspaper but destroyed shortly afterwards to protect the source. Written by journalists Tom Lyons, Gavin Sheridan and others, the articles include a front-page article headlined "22 men and 26 billion" with a subheading: "The secret report that convinced Cowen the banks weren't bust." Mr O'Brien claims the articles wrongly meant he was among a gang of 22 borrowers identified with the bankruptcy of Ireland's banking system and injured his reputation. The defence denies the words mean what Mr O'Brien alleges, denies defamation or malicious publication and has pleaded "fair and reasonable publication on a matter of public interest". Journalist Tom Lyons told the court articles about the Irish banks' 22 biggest borrowers in 2008 were in the public interest and identifying Denis O'Brien as one of the 22 was "not malicious". Mr O'Brien was named among 22 people identified as the biggest borrowers from Irish banks in 2008 in an "astounding" report by Price Waterhouse Coopers to the Government in November 2008 concerning the exposure of Irish banks, Mr Lyons said. Articles published by the Sunday Business Post in March 2015 "faithfully reported" the PWC report and there was nothing malicious in including Mr O'Brien, who was "one of the good guys" in that he had paid off his loans over five years. The PWC report put Mr O'Brien's total indebtedness to Irish banks at 1bn, including some 785m to Anglo, and he was listed in the SBP articles in the same sequence as in the report, he said. The articles named all 22 because that was demonstrative of the concentrated risks in the banks, they were lending too much money to too few people which was "a big deal" in the PWC report. He said Mr O'Brien was in "strong financial shape" in 2015 as he was three years earlier when Mr Lyons was involved in writing another article, in the Sunday Independent, about Anglo Irish Bank's top 13 borrowers. There was a "fear factor" about including Mr O'Brien in the SBP articles but he and SBP editor Ian Kehoe decided they had "to be brave" and not leave Mr O'Brien out "because he is a special case or could sue us or affect our job prospects into the future". The PWC report addressed an "extraordinary time" in Irish life and the Irish public "deserved the answers". Mr Lyons was giving evidence in Mr O'Brien's continuing action alleging he was defamed in the articles of March 15, 2015. He told Michael McDowell SC, for the SBP, he is an award-winning journalist who was given the PWC report in 2015. He said Anglo Irish Bank lost 30bn, making it the worst bank in world history and such losses, plus those of other banks, meant Ireland had to suffer years of austerity. PWC was asked to examine the state of health of the banks which by November 2008 were guaranteed by the State, he said. The PWC report was based on what the banks themselves told PWC and the Government thought, from the report, the problem was short-term liquidity and not long-term solvency. Mr Lyons said he was never of the view Mr O'Brien's borrowing brought down the country. "That's ridiculous, no individual could bring down the country." He considered publication of the PWC report in 2015 was in the public interest as the banking inquiry was underway and the report showed for the first time the banks misled the Government about the scale of their problems. He did not blame PWC at all for that. Based on what the banks told PWC, PWC suggested total losses of between 8.6-10.6bn when the ultimate figure was 64bn. The case continues. A lost statue of Oliver Cromwell with a nose for trouble has been recovered by gardai nearly eight years after it was stolen from a Co Cork castle, along with three other limestone creations. Gardai have revealed that the life-sized bust of Cromwell, along with one of William of Orange and two statues of eagles, were recently discovered by a member of the public who was out hunting on lands near Cratloe, Co Clare. The member of the public later mentioned the find in passing during a conversation with a garda, and a local officer remembered the 2011 theft. Last Friday, gardai recovered the haul near a derelict outhouse in woodlands. The statues had been stolen from Milltown Castle in Charleville, during a theft which saw those responsible remove the eagles from 3m-high pillars. The effort involved in removing the statues led gardai to believe that a lorry with a Hiab-type arm-lift could have been used in the theft, and while a lorry was seen driving through a four-crossroad junction near Milltown Castle on the morning of the incident, no one was ever charged in connection with the heist. While the owners of Milltown Castle have not spoken to the media about the find, at the time of the theft Claude Keane, whose family took over the estate in the 1890s, said the fixtures were part of our life as we saw them every day when we came and went and they were like part of the family. When I read up on Cromwell it was said he had a wart over his right eye, Mr Keane told the Irish Examiner in 2011. And sure enough when I checked there was a wart over the right eye of our fellow as well. The statues bothered nobody, although the IRA broke off the nose of Cromwell in 1921 when they hit it with a hammer. Gardai are appealing for anyone with information about the theft, or who has information about how the property ended up in Clare, to contact Mallow Garda Station on 022 31450. A county councillor who criticised the cost of trips to foreign conferences and called them unnecessary "junkets" was reminded that he was on one himself. Cllr Diarmaid OCadhla had asked Cork County Council officials for details and costs of all foreign trips undertaken by councillors and staff members last year. He was informed that council representatives attended 12 different foreign conferences last year, at a cost of 45,796.64. "People are rightly dismayed and even angry at spending in excess of 45,000 on foreign trips. I'm aware of a council tenant in Cobh who has had no heating in his home for nearly three years," Cllr OCadhla said. He claimed that councillors and staff shouldn't be attending many conferences because they didn't have the expertise to understand certain lectures. The themes of the trips undertaken were varied and included twinning, economic development, energy and tourism. Cllr OCadhla said he was against another trip coming up at the end of the month to Barcelona and the cost of an "exodus" of people to represent the council abroad on St Patrick's Day. "I would prefer to have these trips stopped," he said. Cllr Joe Carroll said he'd been to a conference in Brussels and found it enlightening. "I was in the company of Cllr O'Cadhla on that trip," Cllr Carroll added, which Cllr O'Cadhla didn't deny. However, he got support from a number of councillors. "I do believe there's money being wasted. They (foreign conferences) should be curtailed," Cllr Kieran McCarthy said. Cllr Danielle Twomey said there was an element of the trips needed. However, she added that it was hard to explain to constituents why potholes weren't filled when such money was being spent. There has been an 84% increase in the number of cases of mumps reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre in recent weeks. Over the first five weeks of this year, the number of cases has increased to 231, compared to just 36 over the same period last year, an increase of 195. Two major acts have been announced to play at Musgrave Park this summer. Liam Gallagher and Lauryn Hill will perform at the rugby stadium as part of a series of six concerts that will take place from June 20 to 26. PHOTOS These are the 50 most caring cities in America To be caring means to show concern for others or to be kind to them. Care can be expressed in many different ways, so WalletHub took a look at some of the most populated cities in America and ranked each according to caring for the community, caring for the vulnerable and working in caring industries. (Diamond Bridges, The Active Times) Just Eat should merge with a rival online meal-delivery company because the board has shown that it cant find a suitable chief executive, according to Cat Rock Capital Management, which owns about 2% of Just Eat. The US investment firm sent an open letter to Just Eats board of directors saying it made a mistake in appointing Peter Plumb as CEO in 2017. Just Eat should use global consolidation to its advantage and a merger would deliver real value, according to Cat Rock. You basically have a situation where you can get a world-class CEO and delivery capabilities, while also potentially securing a premium valuation for shareholders, Alex Captain, founder of Cat Rock, said. We are very focused on ensuring the board engages in discussions to secure this outcome for shareholders. A spokesman for Just Eat said it takes communications with all of its shareholders extremely seriously, adding its carrying out a thorough CEO appointment process and we will update the market as appropriate. Mr Plumb stepped down, and Cat Rock said Just Eat has ignored two suggestions of potential replacements who have experience in online food delivery. The stock has dropped 13% in the past 12 months and several key executives resigned during Mr Plumbs tenure, including former chief operating officer Adrian Blair. Any new CEO will face the daunting task of rebuilding Just Eats entire management team while simultaneously attempting to execute on the companys marketplace and delivery initiatives, Cat Rock said. It is, therefore, clear that a merger would be the best way for Just Eat to secure the management talent and delivery expertise it needs to compete. Consolidation has been heating up. Dutch player Takeaway.com agreed to acquire the German businesses of Delivery Hero for approximately 930m in December, while Ubers bid for Deliveroo reportedly stalled over a disagreement. Takeaway.com and Delivery Hero have market values of about 3bn and 6.5bn respectively. Other industry players include GrubHub, Meituan Dianping, Uber Eats, DoorDash, Postmates and Deliveroo. Not all of those are going to be legitimate industry peers for Just Eat to negotiate with, but we do think there are multiple logical suitors, Mr Captain said. - Bloomberg So thats Tuesday nearly wrapped up. Here are some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening. TO INFORM Children's hospital overspend: The Minister for Finance has revealed how 99m is to be deferred from other public expenditure projects this year as a result of the children's hospital overspend. 'I was the nurse who wiped your tears': A Meath nurse has written a hugely emotive post on why she left general nursing to become a flight medic, saying she had to train her bladder to go seven hours without visiting a toilet because she never had time on duty. Mass-goer catches fire: A former All-Ireland winning GAA star has been hailed a hero after saving a woman who caught fire at Mass. Cork doctor accused of sexual assault: A jury has failed to reach a verdict in the trial of a doctor accused of sexually assaulting a teenage patient over 20 years ago. '30 under 30': Seven Irish people have been included on this year's Forbes '30 under 30' list. El Chapo convicted: Notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been convicted of drug-trafficking charges at a trial in New York. TO ENGAGE Europe on cusp of a revolutionary moment: The first step to defending Europe from its enemies, both internal and external, is to recognise the magnitude of the threat they present. Armed gardai under no illusions: Gardai have hit organised crime with arrests, the seizure of cash, firearms and drugs, and stopping murder teams, Detective Superintendent Seamus Boland tells Cormac OKeeffe. TO ENTERTAIN Professor Green fractures neck: Professor Green has been forced to cancel his upcoming tour after fracturing his neck in a fall just hours before his first show. Sex File: My partner is a fitness fanatic and she only ever wants to have sex after a workout. MOST READ SO FAR TODAY Strict social housing plans: Families who turn down two offers of social housing will not get another one for five years under stricter government plans. Mississippi senators are advancing a bill that would limit peoples ability to sue property owners for injuries or other problems. Senate Bill 2901 passed Thursday by a 32-17 vote. It was held for the possibility of more debate. The bill says a person who owns, leases, operates or manages property could not be held liable for injuries caused by someone else on the property unless theres proof that the person in charge knew about possible harm and let it happen. Its main sponsor, Republican Sen. Josh Harkins of Brandon, is a real estate broker. Senators debated the bill as real estate agents were at the Capitol for a lobbying day. Where do you draw the line in what the land owner can control or is supposed to control? Harkins asked. Democratic Sen. Hob Bryan of Amory, who is an attorney, said he was bewildered by the bill and gave a scenario he said could happen: If I own a nightclub I have no civil liability for a crime that occurs in my parking lot unless basically I went out there and said, `How come you two guys dont start fighting? Republican Sen. Brice Wiggins of Pascagoula, who is also an attorney, said the changes could hurt crime victims. As an example, he cited the case of a Hattiesburg woman whose husband was shot to death several years ago when they stopped at a Moss Point gas station. Wiggins said if the bill were to become law as its now written, a person in her situation would be limited in recovering money from owners of the poorly lit gas station. The elephant in the room is that this is a shot at the trial lawyers, Wiggins said. Its affecting everybody. Supporters say Mississippis current law is unfair because it prohibits judges or jurors from assigning partial fault for a harmful action to the criminal or other third party who performs the action. Under the proposed change, judges and juries could say someone suffered $100,000 in damages, but the property owner is only 10 percent liable, meaning the property owner would pay less. In many cases, the third party has no money or insurance, so the person who sues would get nothing from them. Ron Aldridge, executive director of the Mississippi chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses and a supporter of the bill, said businesses are sued too often and insurance settlements are driving up premiums. Its not slip-and-fall cases, Aldridge said Wednesday. He said property owners would still have a duty to warn visitors of known hazards. He also said business owners will still want to provide maintenance and security so their property will attract customers. Others question that assertion. Jordan Hughes, a University of Mississippi law professor, said in an interview Thursday that under her reading of the bill, an apartment complex might not be liable if a tenant spilled oil in the parking lot and someone tripped a month later. She said she teaches a case in which an apartment owner didnt repair a sliding glass door and a tenant was later raped by an intruder who entered through the door. Hughes said shes not sure if the tenant could recover damages under the proposal. During the Senate debate, Democratic Sen. Derrick Simmons of Greenville, who is an attorney, said he thinks the bill could allow owners of unsafe apartment complexes to avoid liability if a woman were raped or a child were abducted. Simmons asked: Do we want our women and children to be unsafe? A similar proposal, House Bill 337 , awaits House debate. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Legislation Property Mississippi Alera Group, a national insurance firm, has acquired Whipple & Company, effective Feb. 1, 2019. Terms of the transaction were not announced. Whipple & Company, based in Boca Raton, Fla., was founded in late 2016 by Melissa Whipple, who remains managing partner of the firm. The company offers employee benefits programs, with particular expertise in carrier negotiations, compliance, and wellness. According to Alan Levitz, CEO of Alera Group, the acquisition expands Aleras presence and expertise in Florida and the surrounding states. Whipple & Company employees will continue operating out of the firms existing location under the name Whipple & Company, an Alera Group Agency, LLC. Based in Deerfield, Ill., Alera Groups over 1,500 employees serve thousands of clients nationally in employee benefits, property and casualty, risk management and wealth management. Topics Mergers Florida Chicago-based Ryan Specialty Group LLC has reached a definitive agreement to acquire the assets and operations of Westphalen Insurance Services Inc. (Westphalen), an independently owned wholesale insurance brokerage located in Edmond, Oklahoma. The Westphalen team will become part of R-T Specialty LLC (RT Specialty), the wholesale brokerage unit of Ryan Specialty Group, and will establish the companys presence in Oklahoma. Founded in 1987, Westphalen is a long-time family run business which focuses on property/casualty, personal lines and transportation. The firm has binding authority commitments within each segment with A rated XV carriers. Led by Jeff Westphalen, Westphalen has established itself as a leader in its market, providing superior solutions, service and access to excellent capital. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Source: Ryan Specialty Group LLC Topics Mergers Excess Surplus Oklahoma Southern courts favor physicians in malpractice lawsuits over facial trauma treatment, while courts in the Midwest favor patients, according to a Rutgers study. The study, which was published in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, is the first to explore facial trauma litigation. It also found that outcomes in facial trauma lawsuits generally favor physicians, with nearly three-fourths of cases being dismissed before trial. In 2016, nearly 43,000 cases totaling $3.8 billion in payouts were awarded for allegations surrounding diagnosis, treatment and surgery, with the top five defendant specialties being surgical. About 15 percent of plastic surgeons face at least one malpractice lawsuit annually. The researchers studied defendant data from facial trauma malpractice cases in the Westlaw federal litigations database. They reviewed 69 cases from 1913 to 2016. Most decisions occurred between 1965 to 2013, with half processed through legal systems in the South, 29 percent in the Midwest, 11 percent in the West and less than 9 percent in the Northeast. About 75 percent of the plaintiffs were males with injuries to the jaw or with multiple facial fractures. A complaint of delay or failure to diagnose accounted for 50 percent of the lawsuits, which were significantly more likely to be brought against an emergency physician who failed to diagnose a fracture. The researchers found that patients who had an initial X-ray that was followed by imaging with a computed tomography (CT) scan or other, more sensitive scan were more likely to be diagnosed with a fracture. This tells us that emergency medicine physicians may be able to reduce their risk of malpractice by using sensitive radiography, like CT scans, while evaluating potential facial fractures, said corresponding author Boris Paskhover, assistant professor, department of otolaryngology, facial plastic and reconstructive surgery at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Of the cases that went to court, 58 percent were tried by a judge and 38 percent by a jury. Three-quarters of the examined cases were decided on behalf of the defendants, 19 percent on behalf of the plaintiff, 3 percent were settled and 3 percent had an unknown outcome. Awards ranged from $14,437 to more than $1.8 million. An overwhelming majority of cases decided in the favor of the plaintiff were jury trials, said Paskhover. This finding is understandable given the overall litigation structure of the United States court system, where it is a constitutional right for persons to be initially tried by a jury of their peers and not experts within the field. The Midwest upheld 40 percent of the malpractice suits, while the South dismissed more than 90 percent. The researchers weighed four possible scenarios that could account for this finding: a tendency for juries of Midwesterners to side with the plaintiff, an increased rate of legitimate malpractice cases occurring in the Midwest, a preponderance for frivolous suits in the South or a proclivity for Southern judges to dismiss claims. It may behoove Midwestern physicians to consider settlements over a trial, while Southern healthcare professionals may be more comfortable allowing malpractice decisions to be decided through litigation, Paskhover said. Co-authors were Rutgers New Jersey Medical School students Alexander M. Mozeika, Devika Sachdev, Rijul Asri and Nicole Farber. Source: Rutgers Topics Lawsuits Medical Professional Liability American International Group has named Carla Ferrara as head of communications for AIGs Investments organization. Ferrara will be based in New York and report to Elaine Rocha, chief operating officer, AIG Investments. Ferrara brings 25 years of experience in the global insurance and financial services industry to this role. She joined AIG in 2018, serving as director, Internal Communications, for AIGs Finance, Internal Audit, Enterprise Risk Management and Global Legal Compliance & Regulatory functions. Prior to her tenure with AIG, Ferrara served as director of Data Communications for XL Catlin. Prior to that, she was vice president, Corporate Communications & Branding, for QBE North America. She also previously worked for Chubb North America. Source: AIG Topics AIG Detroit has seen a dramatic decline in the number of fires over the last five years, which fire department officials credit to the citys aggressive blight elimination, bolstered arson investigations and community education efforts. According to the Detroit Fire Departments data, the average number of structure fires annually in the city has dropped by 42 percent since 2014, the Detroit News reported. Detroit Fire Commissioner Eric Jones said the city has ramped up efforts to prevent fires, and identify and arrest arsonists. When a home is demolished, that is less fuel for arsonists to use to commit their crimes, Jones said. Its showing a significant effect. But the fire unions president, Mike Nevin, is questioning the departments data, claiming that officials are omitting structures and separating fires into categories to skew the numbers. The newspapers analysis of structure fire rates in other large Midwestern cities found that Detroits daily average outpaces them by more than three times. The departments data show there were 2,736 structure fires in 2018, with the city fighting about seven structure fires per day. The city was battling an average of about 30 structure fires per day five years ago. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Columbus, Ohio, both average fewer than two structure fires per day, even though Milwaukee has a greater density of people and Columbus has more land. The city has a long way to go, and is inadequately staffed to fight the fires, Nevin said. Nevin hasnt provided figures to discredit the administrations data. He said he was waiting for an open records request before making his own tally of the citys structure fires public. There were 46,578 total fire incidents in 2018, according to run sheets compiled by the fire departments administration and submitted to the state. The daily run sheets show there were 839 structure fires, an average of about seven per day, just from June through September of last year, Nevin said. That is how they are manipulating runs and categorizing runs to fit a false narrative that people are properly protected, Nevin said. Jones said the department makes all fire categories public on the citys open data portal. Were not patting ourselves on the back and celebrating, but we are seeing appreciable decreases with the fire load, Jones said. There are far too many fires in the city, but there is value in this data to demonstrate that were turning a corner and that the city is becoming healthier. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Lock em all up: The dominoes keep on falling. The latest domino is Roger Stone, who was the big tough-talking guy a few months ago. Lets see if he plays that same tune. It seems everyone thats associated with Donald Trump eventually winds up in jail. This is going to go down as the worst administration in American history. They are a bunch of thugs, hooligans and crooks. The whole administration needs to be locked up, along with his kids. Vale SA , the worlds largest iron ore miner, knew last year that the dam in Brazil that collapsed in January and killed at least 165 people had a heightened risk of rupturing, according to an internal document seen by Reuters on Monday. The report, dated Oct. 3, 2018, classified the dam at Brumadinho in the state of Minas Gerais as being two times more likely to fail than the maximum level of risk tolerated under internal guidelines. The previously unreported document is the first evidence that Vale itself was concerned about the safety of the dam. It raises questions as to why an independent audit around the same time guaranteed the dams stability and why the miner did not take precautions, such as moving a company canteen that was just downhill from the structure. Vale said that the report, called Geotechnical Risk Management Results, comprised the views of specialist engineers, who are obliged to work within strict procedures when they identify any risks. There is no known report, audit or study with any mention of an imminent risk of collapse at Dam 1 in the Corrego do Feijao mine in Brumadinho, Vale said in an emailed statement. To the contrary, the dam had all its certificates of safety and stability attested to by local and foreign specialists. U.S.-listed shares of Vale extended losses on Monday following the Reuters story, dropping as much as 2.6 percent to $11.10. The company has lost a quarter of its market capitalization or nearly $19 billion since the Jan. 25 dam collapse, Brazils most deadly mining accident. The disaster in the mineral-rich state of Minas Gerais was the second major collapse of a mining dam in the region in about three years, following a similar disaster in 2015 at a nearby mine co-owned by Vale. Attention Zone Vales internal October report placed the Brumadinho dam within an attention zone, saying that all prevention and mitigation controls should be applied. A failure could cost the company $1.5 billion and had the potential to kill more than a hundred people, the report said. The dam was marked for decommissioning. Nine other dams in Brazil, out of 57 that were studied, were also placed in the attention zone, according to the report. A separate Vale report dated Nov. 15, 2017, also seen by Reuters, states that any structure with an annual chance of failure above 1 in 10,000 should be brought to the attention of the chief executive and the board. The dams annual chance of collapse was registered as 1 in 5,000, or twice the tolerable maximum level of individual risk, according to the report. Thats not good in my book, especially if you consider that these are meant to be long-term structures, said David Chambers, a geophysicist at the Center for Science in Public Participation and a specialist in tailings dams. The miner said in its emailed statement that the creation of an alert for top management, suggested in November 2017, was studied in the context of the integration of geotechnical risk and business risks for Vale. Asked what came of that discussion, Vale said such an alert had not been implemented. Under Investigation Vale said the causes of the rupture were still being investigated. It has repeatedly said the collapsed dam was declared sound by an independent auditor in September. The audit by Germany-based TUV SUD, which was seen by Reuters, said the dam adhered to the minimum legal requirements for stability but it raised a number of concerns, particularly about the dams drainage and monitoring systems. The auditor made 17 recommendations to improve the dams safety. Vale said the recommendations were routine and that the company attended to them all. The October internal report identified static liquefaction and internal erosion as the most likely causes of a potential failure at the dam in Brumadinho. It is still not known what was behind the collapse, but a state environmental official told Reuters this month that all evidence pointed to liquefaction. Liquefaction is a process whereby a solid material such as sand loses strength and stiffness and behaves more like a liquid. It was the cause of the 2015 dam collapse nearby, which resulted in Brazils worst-ever environmental disaster. We used to say these kinds of mining incidents were acts of God, but now we consider them failures in engineering, said Dermot Ross-Brown, a mining industry engineer who teaches at the Colorado School of Mines. Vale has said it will invest some $400 million from 2020 to reduce its reliance on tailings dams, which store muddy detritus from mining. (Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer; additional reporting Ernest Scheyder in Houston; editing by Brad Haynes and Rosalba OBrien) Related: Topics Mining Federal officials are investigating after a railroad worker was killed at a Baltimore, Md., railyard. National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said by telephone that a Norfolk Southern worker was fatally injured Thursday morning at the Bayview railyard during the switching of cars. Holloway says the NTSB is sending a team to investigate the accident. A Norfolk Southern representative couldnt be immediately reached for comment. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Maryland Transportation The Virginia House of Delegates passed a joint resolution that would designate the first full week in March each year as Trusted Choice Independent Insurance Agents Week beginning in 2019. HJ 703, introduced by Del. Buddy Fowler (R-Ashland), recognizes the Independent Insurance Agents of Virginia and its network of more than 4,000 Trusted Choice independent agents for their work in filling the gap in flood insurance coverage throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. Trusted Choice Independent Insurance Agents Week would occur the week immediately preceding the National Weather Services Flood Awareness Week, which this year falls from March 12 through 16. According to the legislation, only three percent of Virginians have flood insurance policies, even though more than nine percent of land within the commonwealth is located in designated flood areas. In addition, 68 percent of Virginians living in high flood zone areas do not have insurance policies to protect them in case of flooding. Last year, we saw what mother nature is capable of when it comes to flooding when Hurricane Florence hit the Carolinas, IIAV President and CEO Robert N. Bradshaw Jr. said in an IIAV press release. Thousands of Carolinians were left without adequate coverage, leaving homeowners with huge out-of-pocket repair bills. We want to make sure everyone in Virginia is covered so that the same thing doesnt happen here. Property owners have access to flood insurance through the federal National Flood Insurance Program, which requires insurance policies for all loans or lines of credit on buildings and homes located in participating communities. According to FEMA, nearly $9 billion was paid by the NFIP in 2017, the third-highest mark over the last four decades. Just because your home isnt in a high flood area doesnt mean you dont need flood insurance, Bradshaw added in the release. The average flood insurance premium is usually only a few hundred dollars each year, but the average flood damage claim is almost $50,000. To put it simply, make sure youre covered. The last thing you want is to be stuck with a costly repair bill. Source: Independent Insurance Agents of Virginia Topics Agencies Flood Virginia Everything that we have done from the front end to the back end has been designed and orchestrated with the customer in mind to make it easy for them to transact, Cerity SVP and chief operating officer Dennis Dix told Built in Austin in an interview. Aside from leveraging an online platform for direct sales, Cerity is also unique in that it assigns rates based on a proprietary model that predicts risk and evaluates pricing based on 100 different tiers. The insurance industry has offered this approach in the personal space, like auto insurance, for quite a while, explained Dix. But this is breaking ground in the workers compensation space. Cerity is capable of offering flexible prices due to its parent company, Employers Holding, having access to vast sources of data. Incorporated in 2005, Employers Holdings provides workers compensation coverage to small businesses through its insurance subsidiaries, such as Cerity. Other subsidiaries include Employers Insurance Company of Nevada (EICN), Employers Compensation Insurance Company (ECIC), Employers Preferred Insurance Company (EPIC) and Employers Assurance Company (EAC). Rhode Island law only allows insurers to levy a surcharge on auto insurance policies once a year. Following the DBRs rate filing review, Progressive announced that it would issue $1,900,000 in refunds and interest to 4,096 former policyholders. The insurer will also issue $80,000 in credits to 837 current policyholders, and has agreed to pay a $10,000 fine. In working with the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation, we determined that some Progressive customers were inadvertently overcharged for their policies, a spokesperson for the company told WPRI Call 12 for Action in an email statement. We will be issuing reimbursements as soon as possible to these customers for the amount owed plus interest. Hetner has more than 20 years of experience in cybersecurity, risk management, and regulatory compliance. During his tenure with the SEC, Hetner also served as a member of the US Treasury Financial Banking Information Infrastructure Committee, where he provided leadership across a range of cybersecurity programs that impacted the financial services sector. Prior to his tenure there, Hetner served in several industry leadership roles, including as wealth and asset management cybersecurity practice leader at EY, global chief information security officer at GE Capital, and senior vice president of information security at Citigroup. Given the increasing frequency and sophistication of cyber intrusions and data breaches, Marsh clients can access the foremost experts in cyber risk, Richards said. Chriss proven track record of developing cybersecurity policy and programs across government and industry will provide clients with valuable insight into effectively managing their risk in the evolving risk landscape. Risk management plays a central role in enabling organisations to effectively manage cyber exposure, Hetner said. Im excited to join Marshs global team of experts to help organisations better understand their cyber exposure, make more informed cyber risk management decisions, and improve their resilience in the face of ever-changing cyber threats. Global professional services firm Aon, in line with its Aon United growth strategy, has tapped a company veteran to take on the role of global chief executive of Commercial Risk Solutions. Lambros Lambrou has been with the brokerage giant for three decades, with a career described by the UK-headquartered enterprise as a true embodiment of Aon United. His previous positions include CEO of Aon Risk Solutions Australia, chief executive of the global broking centre in London, chief broking officer in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa), as well as global chief operating officer for Aon Broking. Assuming the Commercial Risk Solutions CEO role from Mike OConnor who was named Aon co-president last year Lambrou will also retain his remit as the units chief commercial officer and chief executive of global specialties. Currently he is based in the New York office. Co-president Eric Andersen believes the appointment will further strengthen the Aon United growth strategy by increasing company-wide collaboration as Aon accelerates the development of new value sources. Im energised by the opportunity to work across our firm to bring the best of Aon to our clients, commented Lambrou. I look forward to helping clients minimise volatility and better manage their risk exposure to maximise performance. Meanwhile OConnor, who called his successor a widely respected and collaborative leader, cited the latters broad experience spanning risk management, broking, and specialty strategy, as well as Lambrous commitment to innovating and leveraging data and analytics. To warn travel insurers, the group enumerated five risks - and how insurance providers can avoid them. Not educating travellers According to Traveller Assist, there were almost one million tourists that visited Nepal in 2018, and that figure is expected to increase by around 30% this year. The group said that the vast majority of travellers who are rescued by helicopter and/or receive treatment in hospitals, could avoid the situation by being informed of the risks prior to travel. Some trekking companies and guides are being blamed for pushing travellers to ascend too quickly, causing various altitude sicknesses, and for not descending quickly enough with trekkers who start to experience these symptoms, said Danny Kaine of Traveller Assist. While this should never happen with an experienced guide through a reputable trekking agency, it does still happen. According to Kaine, travellers need to be educated on how to avoid altitude-related illnesses, as well as what to do in the event they do get sick. All travellers should carry their insurance policy (and passport) in a waterproof bag, at all times. Furthermore, trekkers should insist with their guide that they immediately descend upon experiencing symptoms of acute mountain sickness. In the event that symptoms do deteriorate, travellers should ensure that they are allowed to call or email their travel insurance company through the emergency assistance details listed on the policy. Furthermore, he added that insurers must emphasise in their policies that failure to call the insurer or assistance provider could result in a claim being denied. Pay and claim There is a growing trend in Nepal of trekking organisations, helicopter charter companies and hospitals who are charging patients upfront by taking payments from their credit cards and telling them to claim it back from their insurer. This creates both a duty of care, and a financial risk, to the traveller, and the insurer, said Kaine. It could also result in higher prices for helicopters and medical bills being charged to the patient. As such, he advised insurers to make it clear in their policy wording that all pay and claim cases will be denied. All reputable providers in Nepal will accept [guarantees of payment], providing a completely cashless service for travellers, so there is absolutely no reason for any provider to be taking payments from travellers, said Kaine. New companies According to Traveller Assist, there have been reports of companies implicated in the rescue fraud controversy closing down and simply reopening under a new name. Insurers should be wary of new companies in Nepal offering medical assistance and cost containment services, Kaine said. This is not to say that every new company will be a front for fraudulent activity, but it is very important for insurers to conduct thorough due diligence on all new providers. Helicopter charter companies In our humble opinion, there is absolutely no reason for insurers to use helicopter charter companies in Nepal, Kaine said. They dont own helicopters. They just have agreements with companies who do own helicopters. It stands to reason that a helicopter booked through a charter company will cost more than going directly to the helicopter company itself. He revealed that there are only 10 companies in Nepal that own helicopters, with four more to be added in 2019. He advised insurers to go directly to these companies, which are available 24/7. In case a companys choppers are not available, they can help locate one that is available, at no extra cost. Hospitals without helipads According to Kaine, some hospitals involved in the scam did not have helipads, which meant the helicopters had to land at the airport and the patients transported by land to the hospital. However, he argued that there are three full-service hospitals in and around Kathmandu with helipads, and that these also have international patient departments with private rooms and direct billing agreements. As the insurer, you can make this a condition of your agreement with heli providers, that they must fly the patient directly to a hospital of your choice, and, in our opinion, that should be one with a helipad, he said. In conclusion, Traveller Assist believes that unnecessary helicopter lifts, over-treatment at hospitals, over-billing and multiple-billing has long been a problem in Nepal, and insurance providers must work together to combat it. Its every insurance company and assistance providers responsibility for checking that reasonable and customary costs have been charged to you, and if you believe that you have been overcharged, question it, Kaine told insurers. The 9,847 total includes 1,923 jobs originating from 42 firms brought in by the Invest in Holland network as a result of Brexit. The Invest in Holland network consists of the NFIA, its regional partners, and the Holland International Distribution Council (HIDC). These 42 companies translated to about 291 million in investments into the Netherlands. The Ministry reported: The number of companies relocating activities to our country due to Brexit has grown compared to 2017, during which 18 companies made a Brexit-related move to the Netherlands. Additionally, the NFIA is talking with more than 250 foreign companies considering setting up operations in the Netherlands following Brexit. These are predominantly British companies, but also American and Asian organisations that are reconsidering their current European structure due to uncertainties caused by Brexit. These include companies in the financial sector, media and advertising, life sciences & health, and logistics. According to the Ministry, these organisations are looking at other countries as well such as Germany, France, and Ireland. Meanwhile it cited marine insurer UK P&I Club among those who have chosen the Netherlands as their post-Brexit destination. We showed up with a truck and it was too small, Barr said. We had to get a bigger one. When we got there we couldnt get it into the church. We had to go around and use one of the sliding doors. Local Twin Cities artists Enzyrose, Eyenga Bokamba, Noah Lawrence-Holder, LeShon Lee, and Meadow Gillispie, talk about their reaction to the murder of George Floyd, the trial of Derek Chauvin, and life as a black artist during this time. Offer a personal message of sympathy... You'll find individual Guest Books on the page with each obituary notice. By sharing a fond memory or writing a kind tribute, you will be providing a comforting keepsake to those in mourning. . From a Guest Book, you may log in with your Google, Facebook, Yahoo or AOL account to leave a message. If you have an existing account with this site, you may log in with that. Otherwise, it's simple to create a new one by clicking on the Create "Sign up" button and following the simple steps on the Sign Up page. This home in the 1000 block of Theresa Ann Street in McLean currently is on the market, listed at $2,840,000 by Maureen Sloan of McEnearney Associates. Real-time social media posts from local businesses and organizations across Northern Virginia, powered by Friends2Follow. To add your business to the stream, email cfields@insidenova.com or click on the green button below. The Latest from Barchart Sign up to receive your Watchlist or Portfolio sent to you by email up to 4 times a day; available at market open, mid-day, market close or end-of-day. Premier Members can also receive the results of custom Screeners - alerting to price or trend changes during and after each trading day. Sign up for a risk-free 30-day Barchart Premier trial. Infosys (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today joined Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo to inaugurate its Digital Innovation and Design Center in Providence and announced a partnership with the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) to build and launch the Digital Economy Aspirations Lab (DEAL) to enable and develop students for the digital jobs of the future. Infosys also announced that it has already hired over 100 employees in Rhode Island toward its goal of creating 500 jobs in the state by 2022. Since Spring 2017, Infosys has hired more than 7,600 American workers as part of its ongoing commitment to accelerate the pace of digital innovation for American enterprises. The Providence Center, located at 75 Fountain Street, will help close the gap for design and human-centric skills in technology fields and enhance Infosys ability to provide digital technologies and breakthrough innovations at the intersection of industry and design for its clients. The center offers early-career designers and design graduates unique training opportunities with in-demand digital skillsincluding exposure to systems, platforms, strategy and organization domainsto make them more employable in todays digital world. By studying everything from user-experience to how people interact with systems, these design-focused hires will be equipped to create 360-degree solutions to business challenges. Infosys clients and industry partners will likewise benefit from increased access to top-tier designers and subject matter experts. Critical thinking led by the practice of strategic design is key to building the world-class, human-centric solutions our clients need to accelerate their digital transformations, said Salil Parekh, Chief Executive Officer, Infosys. We are excited to inaugurate our flagship Digital Innovation and Design Center in Providence and continue our partnership with the state of Rhode Island. The demand for talent with strategic design skills will only rise, and Infosys is training American workers in these skills, keeping them and our clients on the front lines of innovation. Infosys is a global leader in information technology, and Im so excited that theyve chosen Rhode Island as the home of their new innovation center, said Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo. In partnership with RISD and CCRI, Infosys will be helping train todays Rhode Islanders for tomorrows jobs. Our state has some of the top designers in the world, and its a testament to the strength of our workforce that Infosys is looking to tap into, and further develop, our talent. Infosys is pleased to announce our center and our partnership with the Community College of Rhode Island. This partnership aims to enable and develop workers for the new collar digital jobs of the future. Together, Infosys and CCRI will design and launch DEAL, which will serve as the principal workforce development technology center for community college and industry collaborations, said Ravi Kumar, President, Infosys. DEAL represents the coming together of two organizations at the forefront of education and workforce development. Through education, training and exposure, these community college students will be enabled to enter and advance careers in the digital economy. "Today is an exciting day for Rhode Island, said Rhode Island Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor. Infosys could have selected any location for this new Design and Innovation Hub, but the company chose Providence in order to draw upon our state's deep pool of talented designers and to establish pioneering partnerships with our innovative higher ed institutions -- including RISD and CCRI. Infosys will be training the next generation of forward-thinking global design leaders and professionals right here in Rhode Island. At Citizens Bank, we are making investments in design and digital capabilities so that we can provide a simple and frictionless experience for our customers both today and into the future, said Mary Ellen Baker, Citizens Bank, EVP and Head of Business Services. We believe in the power of collaborative ideation and have long worked with external partners, like Infosys, to help drive innovation in support of our strategic vision. Todays inauguration of Infosys Providence Design and Innovation Center is a great moment for the state of Rhode Island because it brings together strong partners like the Rhode Island School of Design to help drive talent development to achieve the best design thinking and design skills. The Digital Economy Aspirations Lab will be housed at Infosys Providence Center, with plans to open more Labs at CCRI campuses and expand nationally. Infosys will form a joint task force with CCRI representatives from across the state to co-develop bridge programming to support pathways to four-year degree programs and enable community college students to pursue careers in information technology. We are thrilled to partner with Infosys to launch the Digital Economy Aspirations Labs, or DEAL, to deliver our students meaningful learning, relevant skills, valuable work experience, and access to professional connections necessary to pursue quality careers in the digital economy, said CCRI President Meghan Hughes. In Infosys, we have found a bold and visionary corporate partner who understands the talent community college students possess and recognizes the essential contributions community colleges must make to grow the digital economy and the middle class. Infosys previously announced a partnership with Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) to foster the continued development of top designers at Infosys and explore new ways of solving complex challenges at the intersection of design, technology and industry. Infosys commitment to education also extends to the companys charitable foundation, Infosys Foundation USA. In Rhode Island, the Foundation has provided multiple grants for classroom technology and computer science training to teachers and schools. To date, these grants have reached 1,070 students, 29 teachers, and 14 schools across the state. The Foundation has invested in professional development (training) for teachers, hands on workshops for students, and new technology and teaching aids for classrooms, with an emphasis placed on underrepresented groups such as young women, African American, Native American, Latino, urban, rural, and autistic student groups. Infosys has been approved for incentives under Rhode Islands Qualified Jobs Incentive Act, the Rebuild Rhode Island program, and the state's First Wave Closing Fund. For more information please visit: https://www.infosys.com/content/infosys-web/en/american-innovation/ri.html About Infosys Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in 45 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With over three decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem. Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next. Safe Harbor Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements concerning our future business opportunities and growth prospects. Such forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, and unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. In addition, please note that any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of the date of this press release. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is required by law. Media contacts: For further information, please contact: PR_Global@infosys.com The House Judiciary Committee just held the first hearing on gun violence in more than eight years this past week, Schneider said in an email. I fully expect that legislation on universal background checks will reach the floor of the House for a vote in this Congress. We now offer lithium prices and coverage free for reference. Click here to read all about it. Join our growing community of participants who want to learn more about electrification and how this market is developing. Following the #MeToo movement, a deluge of sexual misconduct by men across different fields came to the fore - no one was immune to the fall out that happened after. One might think that this wave would have in some way acted as a deterrent for sexual offenders. But that's hardly the truth. Modi ji2,9,2019 ku tripura pucha oha Ek udgatan pe tripura ki #bjpneta ki halat dekiye #santanachakma minister social welfare bar bar inki kamar par hat dalte #manojkantideb minister of youth affairs ek minister honeki bad khud suraksit nahi@abhisar_sharma @dhruv_rathee pic.twitter.com/oc0x2F8Aj8 Zakaria Ahmed (@zakariaahmed332) 10 February 2019 Day in and day out cases of sexual misconduct make headlines. Now again, a viral video has exposed a Tripura minister blatantly groping his female colleague with the Prime Minister of the country present on the same stage! According to reports, a video on social media shows Tripura minister Monoj Kanti Deb putting his hand on the waist of Social Welfare and Social Education Minister Santana Chakma in an inappropriate manner. Twitter The incident took place during a rally in Agartala and has also sparked outrage from opposition parties. Soon after the video went viral, Deb tried to defend his actions saying the video was "doctored". "How can this be possible and, that too, in the presence of the Prime Minister and a large crowd? Someone has to be of very dirty mentality to doctor the video of a programme. I was trying to come forward," Deb told TOI ALSO READ: Tripura CM Biplab Deb Drops Another Genius Theory, Says Ducks Increase Oxygen Levels In Water "Manoj Kanti Deb must be sacked and be arrested for touching the woman minister in an extremely indecent manner on the stage from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and others addressed the public gathering." NDTV quoted Left Front convener Bijan Dhar as saying "The male minister has publicly harmed the modesty, sanctity and dignity of the lone woman minister of Tripura at a public platform where the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister and other important personalities were present," Mr Dhar said. ALSO READ: Diana Hayden Hits Back At Tripura CM, Says Shes Proud To Be A Brown-Skinned Indian In Dhar's opinion, women are being raped, murdered and kidnapped since the BJP-led government came to power in Tripura 11 months ago. However, Debs party colleagues have defended him and have slammed the video, calling it fake. Victor Shom, BJPs Tripura unite media in charge, told The Times of India that it was an effort of the opposition to malign the minister. In a proud moment for Indians, Major Gopal Mitra became the first differently-abled person from India to be appointed at the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). Facebook 'Major Gopal Mitra, SM lost his vision in an IED blast. Despite all odd Major Mitra did Masters in social work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and MSc in Development Management from London School of Economics', said the Indian Army's post on Instagram. ALSO READ: Meet Ranveer Singh Jamwal, The First Indian Army Officer Who Will Complete Seven Summits 'He is now the first disabled person from India to be appointed at the UNICEF Headquarters', reads the post. According to a Mid-Day report, Mitra works at the UNICEF as programme specialist, and his role involves providing technical support to enhance the inclusion of children with disabilities in policies and programmes at global, regional and national levels. During a 'search and destroy' operation in the Kupwara district of Kashmir, Major Mitra suffered serious visual impairment. After the insurgency attack, there were 60 stitches across his face and two years worth of trips to hospitals for surgeries. "Young people with disabilities are among the poorest and most marginalised of the world's youth. Estimates suggest that there are between 180 and 220 million youth with disabilities worldwide, and nearly 80 per cent of them live in developing countries," he was quoted as saying in a 2012 interview with the Mid Day. "So our point is if people with disabilities are not included by the government in programmes and policy making, it is not a only violation of human rights of the disabled, but also a huge loss of potential to the nation" he added. ALSO READ: A Video Of A BSF Jawan Singing 'Sandese Aate Hai' From 'Border' Is Winning Hearts On The Internet Garima Abrol, the wife of martyred squadron leader Samir Abrol, in a heartbreaking post demanded answers from the government. She wrote, 'How many more of these pilots have to give up their life to shake you up and make you realise there is something really wrong in the system?' with the hashtag #lostpilots. Also Read: Brother Of Martyred Pilot Samir Abrol Pens Moving Poem Slamming Poor State Of Fighter Jets Garimas post came days after squadron leader Samir Abrol and squadron leader Siddharth Negi lost their lives in the Mirage 2000 aircraft crash. They were test-flying the aircraft when it crashed at the HAL Airport in Bengaluru on February 1. Garima in her post raised an important issue by asking how many more pilots have to die for the government to realise that something is really wrong with the system. While saying that she remembered her husband as a 'proud Indian' and how she loved to send her husband 'off to serve the nation with a morning cup of tea and a head held high.' Garima noted that a pilots life is full of struggles and that a person has to work hard for years to become a pilot. Also Read: Young Air Force Pilots Sacrificed Their Lives To Save Hundreds From Mirage 2000 Crash On Friday In the end, she wrote 'I do not want any other sister of the Armed Force family to suffer the pain that I am going through. Words cant describe how painful it is out here alone without my better half, my BATMAN'. 'I need answers' Her post has already got more than 2,000 shares on Facebook with several people leaving messages to support her in the comments section: 1. Facebook 2. Facebook 3. Facebook 4. Facebook 5. Facebook About a week ago, Samir Abrol's brother, Sushant Abrol also penned down a touching poem slamming poor state of fighter jets of the country. It is sad and disheartening to see so many brave, young people lose their lives because people higher up in the hierarchy are callous. Even as technology makes everyday life easier for us, it's also inevitably making warfare much more complex and devastating. But this latest adoption of the US army may actually help to preserve the lives of soldiers on the ground in conflict areas. Images courtesy: FLIR The US Army is looking to give a major number of its ground combat units tiny spy drones they can use for on-the-fly reconnaissance. The drone, called Black Hornet, are being sold to the army as part of a $39.6 million with Oregon-based FLIR Systems. Also Read: All Gamers Rejoice As World's 1st Submarine Driven By An Xbox Controller Just Landed In Water FLIR will provide the US military with the Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance Systems (PRS), unmanned nano-drones small enough to sit in your open palm. They're just 6.6-inches across and weigh less than 33 grams. Despite their size however, these drones are incredibly capable. They have an effective range of just under 2 km, and can fly at speeds of up to 21.48 km/h for up to 25 minutes on a single charge. They wouldn't be much good if they only buzzed over enemies' heads though. The Black Hornets are also equipped with cameras that can capture HD photos, and transmit live video feeds. The ground control station (GCS) unit is small enough meanwhile to also be held in your hand, and communicates with the drone over an encrypted signal. Also Read: Data Analytics: The Secret Weapon That Helps Indian Army Track & Predict Terrorist Movement These drones are pretty hardy too, capable of functioning in extreme temperatures between -10 to 43-degrees Celsius and can fly despite winds up to 20 knots. These drones are part of a new Soldier Borne Sensor (SBS) Program by the US Army, which has them investing in both unmanned aerial vehicles and ground control systems. The first batch of drones is already en route. "With a camera in the air, soldiers will be able to see further and around obstacles that they previously wouldn't be able to see in near real time," the US Army said. The eventual goal is to equip each of the US Army's 7,000 squads with at least one of these drones and control units. Also Read: Why Indian Army Of Ethical Hackers Earn Millions Abroad But Are Ignored At Home Not just for warfare though, these drones could also come in very handy for Armed Forces the world over when they're brought in to respond in cases of natural disasters. Drones could help squad leaders locate distress points and chart the fast route to respond, or help locate survivors during things like cave-ins, earthquakes, and wildfires. YouTube is full of budding inventors, tinkers, and more, all modding everyday stuff into something cool. Not many of them do their modding with Legos though, and even fewer are working on their own bodies. At that confluence sits David Aguilar. The 19-year-old, who goes by the name HandSolo online runs a YouTube channel where he first began posting drum pad covers of his favourite songs. Over the past year though, he's taken to building prosthetic replacements for his missing left completely out of Lego bricks, and he's doing a phenomenal job. Also Read: This Guy Lost His Arm So His Engineering Friends Built A Giant Gun Right Into His Arm's Bone The bioengineering student told Reuters he's been building prosthetic models since he was nine years old, and is currently on his third edition of the prototype he recently built. He calls it the HandSolo Mk III, an homage to both Han Solo and Tony Stark. "As a child I was very nervous to be in front of other guys, because I was different, but that didn't stop me believing in my dreams," he told the news agency. "I wanted to ... see myself in the mirror like I see other guys, with two hands." Also Read: This Cyborg Musician Used His Cool Bionic Arm To Become The Fastest Drummer Alive In The World It's not just for fun though, the end goal is to apply everything he's learned to give back to the disabled community. Right now, movable prosthetic limbs can cost anywhere between $5,000 (Rs 3.53 lakh) to $50,000 (Rs 35.3 lakh). And that's not even considering maintenance costs. For a disabled person hard up on finances, that's unaffordable. "I would try to give them a prosthetic," Aguilar told Reuters, "even if it's for free, to make them feel like a normal person, because what is normal, right?" Part of the reason our pollution problem keeps getting worse is that we just can't seem to stop cutting down trees. There's only so much replantation efforts can counteract this too, but at least someone's trying. And it seems like India and China are making the most difference in this area. Reuters This observation comes from a NASA study published this Monday, based on satellite data analysed by researchers across the world. Despite the general perception that we're the biggest polluters in the world (which we might still be as far as greenhouse emissions are concerned) we're leading the global greening effort. So far, NASA says we've helped make the Earth greener than it was 20 years ago. Also Read: How This Tribe Uses Internet To Fight Deforestation, And Save The Amazon Forest And Our Planet "China and India account for one-third of the greening but contain only 9 percent of the planet's land area covered in vegetation," said lead author Chi Chen of Boston University. "That is a surprising finding, considering the general notion of land degradation in populous countries from over exploitation." NASA China alone is apparently responsible for a quarter of the world total increase in leaf cover, despite possessing only 6.6 percent of vegetated land on Earth. This comes largely from its forests (42 percent) and croplands (32 percent). In the case of India however, 82 percent of our greenery contribution is from croplands with only a 4.4 percent contribution from our forests. Also Read: How World's 1st AI-Based Camera Is Helping Nab Poachers And Save Lives Of Animals In The Wild Long-since plagued by heavy air pollution, China has recently been making efforts to cut back on land degradation and minimize pollutants in the region. Together, both our countries have increased food production by more than 35 percent since 2000, largely by maximising arable land usage through crop rotation, fertilizers, and groundwater irrigation. NASA "In the 1990s, people realized it, and today things have improved," says Rama Nemani, a research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and a co-author of the study. "Humans are incredibly resilient. That's what we see in the satellite data." Unfortunately, scientists say our efforts are still not enough to offset tree cover loss in other areas like Brazil and Indonesia, where corporations still relentlessly exploit the forests for resources and building expansion. While level 5 autonomy in vehicles has not yet been achieved, todays autonomous vehicles can pretty much drive by themselves under controlled situations. They can start, stop, accelerate, brake, turn and as per recent events, can now even create world records. You read that right. Self-driving vehicles have created a Guinness World Records. We say 'vehicles' because the record was a collaborative effort of 55 autonomous cars. Collectively, the cars completed the largest parade of autonomous cars recently. To achieve this, the self-driven vehicles travelled at a constant speed of 30 kmph and covered a total distance of 3.2 kms on a test track in Dianjiang, Chongqing, China in 9 minutes and 7 seconds. Each of the 55 cars maintained a distance of less than two car lengths from each other. The vehicles in focus here were 55 self driving cars built by Changan Automobile. Guinness World Records Also read: Chinese Electric Car Sets World Record By Climbing More Than 18,000 Feet To A Glacier In Tibet Changan Automobile claims that the drivers who participated in the attempt had no contact with the autopilot system, hinting at the ease of adjustment required for the autonomous technology. A company official asserted that the drivers will also be ready to let go of the controls completely in a short time with further advancement in the technology. The cars were slightly modified for the record attempt. These changes included improvements in the cars sensors, with an enhanced ability to identify lane boundaries as well as the position of the car in front. The autonomous cars also drove at an equal distance from each other, made possible by lowering the cars object and event detection to 1% from the average 5%. The reduced detection and response allowed the cars to drive with little distance between them. The lower detection capability was not an issue during the attempt as the record was carried out in a controlled environment, having fewer variables than the real-life road conditions. Guinness World Records Also read: This Autonomous Car Warns Pedestrians Of Its Intentions With The Help Of Pulsating Lights The part to focus upon, was to identify some of the risk factors in advance, like the walking of field personnel or the placement of photographic equipment. Once this was in place, the rest of the deal was just a cakewalk for the autonomous cars. To be honest, with the level of autonomous technology that has been achieved by the auto makers and tech firms alike, it is not hard to see that such a record can be replicated by others soon enough. In fact, this is the essence of autonomous technology, vehicles moving at a constant pace while sticking to their lane. So dont be too surprised if you get to see such an event around you once self-driving vehicles become commonplace. Korkis was in possession of one of the vehicles that was struck in late October in Niles. A Niles police officer contacted Blue Island at the time because the vehicle was registered to the city. The Tahoe had municipal license plates and was equipped with red-and-blue emergency lights that, by law, may only be installed on vehicles driven for official use. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 12) One of the country's largest pyrotechnic events will be held in Pampanga this year. SM Supermalls announced in a statement that the Philippine International Pyromusical Competition (PIPC) will be held at SM City Clark in Angeles City, Pampanga from February 23 to March 30. For the past nine years, the PIPC has been held at SM Mall of Asia, which is built on reclaimed land in Manila Bay. SM Supermalls said the change in PIPC's venue is in support of the ongoing Manila Bay Rehabilitation Program of the government. It added that the PIPC has always complied with international standards for environment safety. "We will seek the public's support and understanding as we strive to still provide the same enjoyment as we have over the years," it said in a statement. More than a dozen of villages falling near the Line of Control (LoC) in border town Uri in north Kashmir are disconnected from the rest of the valley for the last one month after it received a heavy spell of snowfall. Locals of these areas have expressed resentment over the lackadaisical approach of the civil administration in restoring the road connectivity thus plunging them to face severe hardships. The villages that continue to remain closed include Syedpora, Hathlanga, Mothal, Soura, Silikote, Charunda, Batgran, Tilawari, Nawarunda and Balkote. In Boniyar tehsil of Uri town, villages like Chotali, Baidan, Gagerhill, Dudran, Maidanan and Bernate are still cut-off from the tehsil headquarter in Uri and all these villages lie close to the LoC. The road connectivity to several other villages of Uri town including Gohallan, Mayan and Bararipora has also not been resorted yet. Our village received around two feet of snow but the unfortunate thing is that the local administration hasnt cleared the road so far for the vehicular traffic. We have to travel on foot to reach Uri market, says Farooq Ahmad, a local of Mothal village. Many residents complained that they were facing severe shortage of the essential commodities due to the blockade of roads. We are suffering immense hardships due to shortage of essentials since the month of January as the authorities have failed to supply the ration in our village. We also travelled to the nearby village to get the ration but returned empty handed as the depot was empty, says Abdul Rashid Chak, an elderly man and the old resident of Baidan village. The drinking water supply has also got badly hit after the fresh snowfall as the water pipelines have been choked in many villages of Uri, Rashid adds. Our area is reeling under darkness since last week and nobody from the power department has bothered to visit our area to restore the service. Students are suffering immensely, says Lassa Ganie of Hathlanga, the village that lies on the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector. Ghulam Qadir Chalkoo, a resident of Silikote village says, Since the roads have been left unclear, patients are the worst sufferers. We have to ferry them on our shoulders to the local hospital in main Uri that is around 3 kilometres from here Several locals told Indiatimes that there is not good relation between the civil administration Uri and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) department, which takes care of clearance and maintenance of the roads in Uri. Others also complained that they use defunct machines to clear the roads. Civil administration has been making the tall claims of clearing the snow covered roads of Uri and providing all the basic facilities but on ground the picture is very grim. There is poor communique between civil administration and PMGSY. They dont listen to each other. They only pass the buck, says a delegation of locals from main town Uri. Local representative and the vice-president, Jammu & Kashmir National Conference north zone Dr Sajjad Shafi Uri also urged the local administration to restore the connectivity of the disconnected villages and asked to ensure the adequate supply of essential commodities. Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Uri Baseer-ul-Haq Choudhary says that his team is on the job. As per my report only two villages are closed. We have pressed men and machinery to restore them as soon as possible. As we witnessed around ten feet of snow there, simultaneously it gets accumulated and makes our job a bit tough, says SDM. He adds, We have taken the help from R&B, BRO and NHPC departments to clear the accumulated snow soon. The author is a Srinagar based freelance contributor. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra announced her political arrival in style with a grand road show in Lucknow on Monday as Congress' general secretary. Accompanied by party president Rahul Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia, in-charge of the state's western region, Priyanka's road show drew large crowds along with party workers. Those in attendance wanted to get a glimpse of Priyanka and were seen clicking pictures, making videos. However, it was thieves who made the most of the large gathering making do with over 50 phones, a report in India Today said. Picture credit - India Today Mobile phones of party leaders, including the Asisitant City Magistrate of the state and Congress spokesperson Jeeshan Haider, were also stolen. After the crime came to light, Congress got hold of a man who they thought was a mobile thief and handed him to the police. Police had to release the man after no mobile phones were foundin his possession. AP/ FILE A formal complaint was lodged and an investigation is underway. At least 17 people have been killed in a massive fire at a hotel in Delhi's Karol Bagh on Tuesday morning. The fire broke out at the Arpit Hotel around 4.35am. At least 25 fire tenders responded to a call at 4.30 am to conduct rescue operations. According to reports the entire hotel was booked by a family which was in Delhi for a function. Those killed in the fire include a woman and child who tied to jump off the three-storied building after the fire broke out. Delhi: Fire breaks out in Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh. Fire tenders rushed to the spot. More details awaited. pic.twitter.com/YH2CZO6u3D ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2019 Fire Department officials said the blaze has been brought under control, but a search operation is still on for survivors. So far 17 people have been confirmed dead while dozens are admitted in hospital with injuries, at least five of them are said to be critical. Balan Mani, Delhi Hotel Association Vice President, on 9 dead in Delhi hotel fire: It was due to fire in ducting because of which it had spread to the hotel rooms.All norms were followed here; license is issued only after inspection. Mishappening can occur in a house as well. pic.twitter.com/vySEmm82bb ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2019 Even though the cause of the deadly fire is yet to be ascertained, it is suspected to be the result of a short circuit. There are also allegation that wooden panels on the corridor which stopped people from evacuating on time. At least 17 people have been killed in a massive fire at a hotel in Delhi's Karol Bagh on Tuesday morning. The fire broke out at the Arpit Hotel around 4.35am. Read more Here's more top news of the day: 1) Not Even Congress Spokesman Was Spared As Thieves Steal 50 Mobiles At Priyanka Gandhi's Lucknow Roadshow Picture credit - India Today Accompanied by party president Rahul Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia, in-charge of the state's western region, Priyanka's road show drew large crowds along with party workers. Read more 2) Gabbar Singh, Samba Are Helping Gurugram Traffic Police & They Will Catch You HT Gabbar Singh and Samba are two names that remain prevalent today too. Dressed in the two iconic Bollywood villains' costume, students Deepak and Arun were seen giving road safety lessons to traffic violators in Gurugram, according to a report in India Today. Read more 3) Censorship Of Amol Palekars Speech Only Shows That Indian State Is Increasingly Becoming Intolerant Of Opinions AFP On February 8, as veteran actor-director Amol Palekar, stood behind the podium at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) to felicitate the work of seasoned artist Prabhakar Barwe, he was constantly interrupted and snubbed during his speech. Read more 4) Zomato Has Found A Solution To Delivery & Environment Problems Using Good Old Bicycles Representational Image While e-commerce and food delivery firms are rapidly switching to drones, Zomato has found a way to end delivery woes and also, saving the environment at the same time. The food delivery app has switched to bicycles to get rid of short-term problems. Read more 5) Sri Lanka Plans To Go Philippines Way As It Mulls Capital Punishment For Drug Traffickers afp It appears Sri Lanka is mulling to go Philippines way to combat drug trafficking and therefore, it has begun advertising for hangmen this week who would probably hang the drug traffickers. Read more Every time you rewatch your favourite film, you notice details you realise you had missed the first time. And it's a nice surprise every time. Luckily for all of us, Reddit compiled a whole list of movie details you may or may not have caught. Either way, it'll be interesting to see how many details you did get right. 1. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Ron Weasley's robes are noticeably more faded than everyone else's as he's from a poor family and buys them second hand. SirNomoloS 2. In Up there is a time movement shot where it shows the main character's home go from night to day when he is getting prepared to set sail. You can see he removes his antenna off of his home so that it wont pop any balloons when they come out of his chimney. CD4L1FE 3. The necklace in Moana: The ancestors wore a combination of the necklaces. But Moanas father wasnt a wayfinder, so his mother kept it. She was the village crazy lady, because she still believed in the ancestors stories of travel. She passed it to Moana since she was chosen by the sea. mangatagloss 4. Buzz Lightyear is in Finding Nemo (2003); scene is when Nemo gets to the dentist and looks out into the lobby. KillerCujo53 5. In Django Unchained (2012), when Leonardo DiCaprio's character Calvin Candie smashes his hand on the dinner table, the actor accidentally crushed a small stemmed glass with his palm and began to bleed profusely. DiCaprio ignored it, stayed in character, and continued. GitEmSteveDave 6. Coraline: The first night after Caroline meets the other parents and goes to sleep, you will see the other mother's shadow as her real self, while the other dad has none. EatASnickrz 7. After Bats shoots a guard in Baby Driver (2017) and Baby sees a murder for the first time with his own eyes, the raindrops and light from the ultraviolet glasses look like blood drops. space-throwaway 8. In the Netflix movie Bandersnatch, Colin Ritman has a daughter named Pearl. Perl is a programming language that began in the late '80s. Stuck_In_the_Matrix 9. The Predator ship at the start of Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem is a smiling face. Smothered_By_Puppies 10. In Harry Potter, Voldemort's nose is shaped like a snake's head from the top. goshdrnmouthbreather 11. In Saving Private Ryan, after Wade is wounded he requests "a little more morphine." Morphine syrettes during WWII contained a very strong dose, and two for someone with blood loss as severe as his would be fatal. The rest of the unit knows this, which is why they hesitate before giving it to him. PopeliusJones 12. In Batman v Superman, a broken window pays tribute to Joel Shuster's birthplace. Pinkestunicorns 13. In Saving Mr. Banks (2013), in Walt Disney's office during the '60s, you can see a map of Florida because Disney was planning Disney World during this time. Pinkestunicorns 14. In the Graduate (1967), Mr. Robinson asks Ben if he wants scotch or bourbon. Ben says bourbon but Mr. Robinson continues to pour him scotch, showing his disconcern about Ben. ashthundercrow 15. In Rosemarys Baby (1968), when Rosemary and Guy first move in, they have a B&W TV. After Guys career starts taking off they upgrade to a colour set. NotPennywisesBoat 16. In Eden Lake (2008), when Jenny looks at her reflection after hiding in the bin, the mirror says "the most dangerous animal in the forest" hinting at the some of the events which were to follow. le_cretin 17. In Scary Movie, Ghostface is drinking Killer beer. beet111 How many of these details did you know already? Music legend Bhupen Hazarika's son is on a full-on protest mode. He slammed the government over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 -- a proposed law to grant citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants. He also tagged the Bharat Ratna for his father "a display of short lived cheap thrills". In a media statement, Tez Hazarika, who is based in the US, expressed that he is extremely unhappy how the centre planned to pass the "painfully unpopular" Bill which was against his father's beliefs and position. His statement reads, "I believe that my father's name and words are being invoked and celebrated publicly while plans are afoot to pass a painfully unpopular bill regarding citizenship that is actually undermining his documented position. It would in reality be in direct opposition to what Bhupenda believed in his heart of hearts." Just to jog your memory a little, Bhupen Hazarika was named for Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award, along with former President Pranab Mukherjee and Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Nanaji Deshmukh. In his statement, Hazarika added, "I go on record here to answer that A) I have not received any invitation so far there is nothing to reject, and B)how the center moves on this matter far outweighs in importance the awarding and receiving of such national recognition - a display of short lived cheap thrills." But the entire family is divided on the issue. Bhupen Hazarika's brother Samar Hazarika said in Assam he was "not in touch" with Tez. "This award should be given to Bhupen. It's too late now," he said. The maestro's sister-in-law Manisha Hazarika sort of agreed. A media statement quoted he saying, "Being a member of the Bhupen Hazarika family I am saying that this award is one of the most respected awards of this nation and Bhupen Da is a legendary figure. He is above politics, so raking up this controversy is wrong." For the uninitiated, the citizenship Bill, is one of the key projects of the government and it proposes smoother and quicker grant of citizenship to non-Muslim illegal migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years' stay in India. But the topic has always been in the center of protests in the northeast. The bill will be discussed in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday and will be moved by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., who was in Monday's meetings, said she hoped the negotiators would have a finished product by Wednesday. She said she ran the proposal by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and she signed off on it. "Some may be happy, some may not be happy," said Lowey, assessing how Democrats would receive the deal and saying she hoped the agreement would have the votes needed to pass the House. "We did the best we could." Shelby, Lowey, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, participated in the Monday meetings. They are the top lawmakers on a bipartisan conference committee charged with striking a deal and staving off another shutdown. Asked why she thought the dispute over the detention beds flared up over the weekend, Lowey paused before saying, "You'll have to ask those who were debating it and arguing it. It's one part of the bill. And the issue, in some communities across the country, has really become very volatile and personal to many of the members." In this frame grab provided by Shyamal Duary, flames rise from a hotel that caught fire in the early hours of the morning in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. A fire engulfed a shoddily built budget hotel in central New Delhi early Tuesday, killing 17 people and injuring at least four others, including a woman from Myanmar who leaped from an upper floor to escape the flames, Indian authorities said. (Shyamal Duary via AP) A fire has engulfed a shoddily built budget hotel in central New Delhi, killing 17 people and injuring at least four others, including a woman who leapt from an upper floor to escape the flames, Indian authorities said. Three of those killed at the Arpit Palace Hotel in Karol Bagh were members of a family who had travelled to the Indian capital from Kerala to attend a wedding, family friend Arvind Vishwanathan said outside a hospital mortuary. Most of the deaths in an area in Indias capital city popular with tourists because of its shops and budget hotels were due to suffocation, said Satyendar Kumar Jain, the Delhi government minister of health and urban development. Expand Close Firefighters rescue people at the Arpit Palace Hotel (Sivanand Chand via AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Firefighters rescue people at the Arpit Palace Hotel (Sivanand Chand via AP) The hotel developer had a permit from the fire department to build up to four storeys the standard height in central Delhi but the building appeared to have six floors, including a basement and a kitchen built on top of the roof, Mr Jain said. Carelessness on the part of authorities is evident. We are going to investigate, and the wrongdoer will be punished, he said. Hotel guest Sivanand Chand, 43, said he was jolted awake at around 4am, struggling to breathe. When I got out of my room, I could hear help, help! from adjoining rooms, he said. The hallway was dark and thick with smoke, so Mr Chand turned back into his room and opened a window. He saw flames rising fast. In 15 minutes, the whole room was black, he said. Expand Close The hotel is in an area popular with tourists (Manish Swarup/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The hotel is in an area popular with tourists (Manish Swarup/AP) A video shot by a worker at a nearby hotel showed flames consuming the top of the building, which authorities said contained an unauthorised makeshift kitchen formed from sheets of fibreglass. Mr Chand said rescue efforts were delayed because the first fire engines arrived with manual ladders that were not tall enough to reach his floor. He and some other guests were eventually escaped through his window on to a hydraulic lift. About 100 firefighters and 25 fire engines responded to the fire, which engulfed all but the ground floor of the hotel, fire officer Vijay Paul said. About three dozen people were rescued. It was not immediately clear how many guests and staff were inside the hotel, which had 43 guest rooms, according to its website. Rescuers had to break windows to rescue people because wood panelling in the corridors and stairwells fed the flames, said fire official Atul Garg. That is the escape route. People have to come out of the room and take the staircase but the staircase itself was on fire, so how they will go out? Mr Garg said. Video showed firefighters carrying victims slumped over their shoulders through an unlit, charred stairwell. Authorities are investigating what sparked the blaze, Deputy Police Commissioner Mandeep Singh Randhawa said. Among those injured was a woman from Burma who sustained spinal injuries after jumping from an upper floor, according to Deputy Fire Chief Sunil Choudhary. She is being treated at a local hospital, he said. The other injured people were also taken to hospital but their conditions were not immediately known. Prime minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet that he was deeply saddened by the loss of lives. I convey my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives. May the injured recover soon. US President Donald Trump speaks to the press after meeting with sheriffs from across the country at the White House. Photo: Getty Images The prospect of another US shutdown has moved a step closer as negotiators remained deadlocked over whether to limit the number of migrants authorities can detain, creating a new hurdle for a border security compromise. The White House refused to rule out the possibility that the federal government may once again be forced to close down unless a deal Congress can accept can be hammered out by Friday. But as the deadline closes in, the two sides remained separated over how much to spend on President Donald Trump's promised border wall. Rising to the fore was a dispute over curbing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency that Republicans see as an emblem of tough immigration policies and Democrats accuse of often going too far. Republicans favour rigid enforcement of immigration laws and have little interest in easing them if Democrats refuse to fund the Mexican border wall. Democrats despise the proposed wall and, in return for border security funds, want to curb what they see as unnecessarily harsh enforcement by ICE. People involved in the talks say Democrats have proposed limiting the number of immigrants who are caught inside the US - not at the border - that the agency can detain. Republicans do not want that cap to apply to immigrants caught committing crimes, but Democrats do. Democrats said they proposed their cap to force ICE to concentrate its internal enforcement efforts on dangerous immigrants, not those who lack legal authority to be in the country but are productive and otherwise pose no threat. They have proposed reducing the current number of beds ICE uses to detain immigrants in the US illegally from 40,520 to 35,520. But within that limit, they have also proposed limiting to 16,500 the number for illegal immigrants caught within the US, including criminals. Republicans want no caps on the number of immigrants who have committed crimes who can be held by ICE. Mr Trump used the dispute to cast Democrats as soft on criminals. "I don't think the Dems on the Border Committee are being allowed by their leaders to make a deal. They are offering very little money for the desperately needed border wall and now, out of the blue, want a cap on convicted violent felons to be held in detention," he tweeted. Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, in appearances on US new programmes, said "you absolutely cannot" eliminate the possibility of another shutdown if a deal is not reached over the wall and other border matters. The White House had asked for $5.7bn (5bn), a figure rejected by the Democratic-controlled House, and the mood among bargainers has soured, according to people familiar with the negotiations not authorised to speak publicly. "You cannot take a shutdown off the table, and you cannot take $5.7 (billion) off the table," Mr Mulvaney said. "But if you end up someplace in the middle, yeah, then what you probably see is the president say, 'Yeah, OK, and I'll go find the money someplace else'." While the two sides appeared close to clinching a deal late last week, significant gaps remain and momentum appears to have slowed. Though congressional Democratic aides asserted that the dispute had caused the talks to break off, it was initially unclear how damaging the rift was. Both sides are eager to resolve the battle and avert a fresh closure of dozens of federal agencies that would begin next weekend if Congress does not act by Friday. "I think talks are stalled right now," Senator Richard Shelby said. "I'm not confident we're going to get there." Senator Jon Tester agreed: "We are not to the point where we can announce a deal." But Mr Mulvaney did signal that the White House would prefer not to have a repeat of the last shutdown, which stretched more than a month, left more than 800,000 government workers without paycheques, forced a postponement of the State of the Union address and sent Mr Trump's poll ratings tumbling. As support in his own party began to splinter, Mr Trump surrendered after the shutdown hit 35 days without getting money for the wall. Notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been convicted of drug-trafficking charges at a trial in New York. The verdict reached on the sixth day of jury deliberations could put the 61-year-old behind bars for the rest of his life in a high-security US prison selected to thwart another one of the escapes that embarrassed his native country. Guzman broke out of Mexican prisons twice before he was finally recaptured and extradited to the US in 2017. Federal prosecutors put on more than 50 witnesses over three months detailing how Guzman's Sinaloa cartel amassed billions of dollars importing tons of cocaine, heroin, meth and marijuana into the US. Witnesses detailed assassinations and political payoffs, and how drugs were smuggled using tanker trucks, railway carriages and even shipments of canned peppers. More to follow... Brian Younker, who was running for a second term on the Village Board, withdrew at the end of last month, according to a notice he filed with the village clerk. He said that time constraints prevented him from devoting the time necessary to campaign. Macedonias government has said the country is now officially renamed North Macedonia, under an agreement to normalise relations with Greece that also allows the country to enter Nato. A government press release said, as of Tuesday, the country is officially called the Republic of North Macedonia. Expand Close North Macedonia and Nato flags (Dragan Perkovski/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp North Macedonia and Nato flags (Dragan Perkovski/AP) A government official said the decision would be published in the government gazette later on Tuesday. As of Wednesday, the official said, the new name will be incorporated in official road signs, starting with one on the border with Greece. We have just exchanged the final note verbale: Prespa Agreement enters into force! May today be the beginning of a long friendship between Greece and North Macedonia. We canat change our past, but we can and we will shape our future of friendship, partnership and cooperation. Nikola Dimitrov (@Dimitrov_Nikola) February 12, 2019 The name change resolves a dispute with neighbouring Greece that has gone back decades. Politician and gun control advocate Gabrielle Giffords and husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly who is hoping to finish the late John McCains term in the US Senate (Evan Agostini/AP) Retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who became a prominent gun-control advocate after his wife, former US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was shot in a failed assassination attempt, has announced he will run to finish John McCains last term in the US Senate. If he wins the Democratic nomination, Mr Kelly would take on Republican Martha McSally in what is expected to be one of the most closely contested Senate races of the 2020 election. Mr Kelly described himself as an independent-minded centrist who will take a scientists data-driven approach to solving problems such as climate change, wage stagnation and health care affordability. You see a lot of partisanship in Washington and a lot of polarisation, and to some extent weve created that, Mr Kelly said. Its going to take people who are more independent to fix it. Arizonans value independence. If Mr Kelly is nominated the race would pit the Navy veteran and astronaut against Ms McSally, a trailblazing Air Force pilot, in the contest to replace Mr McCain, a legendary Navy flyer who was famously shot down and held captive in North Vietnam. Expand Close The late John McCain (John Stillwell/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The late John McCain (John Stillwell/PA) Ms McSally is a former Republican congresswoman who was appointed to Mr McCains seat after she narrowly lost to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema last November in the race for outgoing Republican Jeff Flakes seat. Ms McSally leaned heavily on her record as the first woman to fly a combat mission, but she was hurt by her embrace of President Donald Trump. The 2020 election will decide who finishes the last two years of Mr McCains term. The winner would have to run again for a full six-year term in 2022. Democrats are eagerly watching the Arizona contest, having already defeated Ms McSally. The party is also gauging whether Arizona could be competitive at the presidential level in 2020. I learned a lot from being an astronaut and a combat pilot. I learned a lot about solving problems from being an engineer. But what I learned from my wife, @GabbyGiffords, is how you use policy to improve people's lives.#FullSpeedAhead #ForArizonahttps://t.co/x94NukAYOQ Captain Mark Kelly (@CaptMarkKelly) February 12, 2019 Mr Trump won the state in 2016. Mr Kelly has never held elected office. He flew combat missions during the first Gulf War before becoming an astronaut along with his twin brother, Scott Kelly. He flew four space missions over 10 years and commanded the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 2011. Mr Kelly and Ms Giffords have pushed Congress to enact gun control measures with little success. They shifted their focus to state legislatures in recent years, helping to strengthen background checks and domestic violence protections. Expand Close Former Representative Gabrielle Giffords, listens as her husband Mark Kelly, left, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington (Susan Walsh/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Former Representative Gabrielle Giffords, listens as her husband Mark Kelly, left, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington (Susan Walsh/AP) Ms Giffords was severely wounded in a mass shooting on January 8 2011. The shooting at a meet-and-greet event in Tucson left six dead and 13 injured. Ms Giffords played a prominent role in the four-minute video launching Mr Kellys campaign. I thought then that I had the risky job, Mr Kelly said to Ms Giffords. Turned out, you were the one that had the risky job. Mr Kelly said Ms Giffords, who has been a rising Democratic star before the shooting, will join him frequently during campaign appearances. Mr McCain, a legendary and beloved Arizona politician, died last year from an aggressive form of brain cancer after more than three decades in the Senate. Twelve Catalan politicians go on trial tomorrow for their role in Catalonia's failed 2017 independence bid, putting the spotlight back on Spain's biggest political crisis in decades, which could make it flare once again. To the dismay of much of the rest of Spain, Catalonia defied a judicial ban by carrying out a referendum and subsequently unilaterally declaring independence in October 2017. There was shock at home and abroad when police used batons and rubber bullets on protesters on the day of the vote. Some of the Catalan separatist leaders were later arrested or fled the country. The start of the trial will refocus attention on the region's push for secession which so rattles Spain's political and cultural identity. The trial will decide if Catalan nationalist leaders stay in jail. The public prosecutor is seeking prison terms of up to 25 years on charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds. At stake are Spain's stability, the future of Catalonia's independence movement as well as the region's and the central government's image abroad. "It's the most important trial we have had in democracy", Supreme Court president Carlos Lesmes told reporters on February 1, referring to the return to democracy in Spain after dictator Francisco Franco's death in 1975. Raul Romeva, one of nine defendants jailed without bail since late 2017 facing the charge of rebellion, has made clear his view that it should end only with an acquittal. "A (prison) sentence would weigh forever on history and on Spain's future," Mr Romeva told Reuters in an interview conducted by email from jail. At the time of his arrest, Mr Romeva was foreign minister in Catalonia's regional government and a member of the European Parliament. Fellow defendants include veteran Catalan politicians Oriol Junqueras and Carme Forcadell. Notably absent from the list is former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who is in self-imposed exile in Belgium and thus cannot be tried in Spain. The dozen's fate has been a rallying cry for separatists ever since 2017, said Federico Santi, analyst at political risk consultancy Eurasia, adding that he expected, like other observers, that the trial will re-ignite tensions. Pro-Catalan independence protests had quieted down over the past months but separatist groups have called a series of protests in Catalonia and in Madrid to coincide with the trial. Their supporters say they are political prisoners, while Madrid accuses them of breaking the law. Among the many witnesses will be Mariano Rajoy, who was Spanish prime minister at the time of the independence vote and its aftermath. President Donald Trump before leaving the White House for a trip to El Paso, Texas (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP) Congressional negotiators have reached an agreement to prevent a US government shutdown and finance construction of new barriers along the US-Mexico border. Republicans were desperate to avoid another bruising shutdown, so tentatively agreed to far less money for President Donald Trumps border wall than the White Houses 5.7 billion US dollars (4 billion) wish list, settling for a figure of nearly 1.4 billion dollars (1 billion), according to congressional aides. That means 55 miles of new fencing constructed through existing designs such as metal slats instead of a concrete wall but far less than the 215 miles the White House demanded in December. The fencing would be built in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Expand Close Richard Shelby leaves a closed-door meeting at the Capitol (Andrew Harnik/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Richard Shelby leaves a closed-door meeting at the Capitol (Andrew Harnik/AP) We reached an agreement in principle, said Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Richard Shelby, appearing with a bipartisan group of House and Senate politicians who concurred. Our staffs are just working out the details, said House Appropriations Committee chairwoman Nita Lowey. Details will not be officially released until Tuesday, but the pact came in time to alleviate any threat of a second partial government shutdown this weekend. The agreement also includes increases for new technologies such as advanced screening at border entry point, humanitarian aid sought by Democrats, and additional customs officers. This weekend, Mr Shelby pulled the plug on the talks over Democratic demands to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities, frustrating some of his fellow negotiators, but Democrats yielded ground on that issue in a fresh round of talks on Monday. Asked if Mr Trump would back the deal, Mr Shelby said: We believe from our dealings with them and the latitude theyve given us, they will support it. We certainly hope so. The border debate got most of the attention, but it is just part of a major spending measure to fund a bevy of Cabinet departments. A collapse of the negotiations would have imperilled another upcoming round of budget talks that are required to prevent steep spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic agencies. Expand Close Workers prepare for President Donald Trumps campaign rally at El Paso County Coliseum (Eric Gay/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Workers prepare for President Donald Trumps campaign rally at El Paso County Coliseum (Eric Gay/AP) Mr Trump travelled to El Paso, Texas, for a campaign-style rally on Monday night focused on immigration and border issues. He has been adamant that Congress approve money for a wall along the Mexican border, though he no longer repeats his 2016 mantra that Mexico will pay for it, and he took to the stage as politicians back in Washington were announcing their breakthrough. Just so you know, we're building the wall anywayDonald Trump They said that progress is being made with this committee, Mr Trump told his audience, referring to the congressional bargainers. Just so you know, were building the wall anyway. Democrats carried more leverage into the talks after besting Mr Trump on the 35-day shutdown but showed flexibility in hopes on winning Mr Trumps signature. After yielding on border barriers, Democrats focused on reducing funding for detention beds to curb what they see as unnecessarily harsh enforcement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The agreement yielded curbed funding, overall, for ICE detention beds, which Democrats promised would mean the agency would hold fewer detainees than the current average of 49,000 detainees held each day. Democrats claimed the number of beds would be ratcheted down to 40,520. But a proposal to cap at 16,500 the number of detainees caught in areas away from the border a limit Democrats say was aimed at preventing overreach by the agency ran into its own Republican wall. Democrats dropped the demand in the Monday round of talks, and the mood in the Capitol improved markedly. Mr Trump met on Monday afternoon with top advisers in the Oval Office to discuss the negotiations. He softened his rhetoric on the wall but ratcheted it up when alluding to the detention beds issue. We can call it anything. Well call it barriers, well call it whatever they want, Mr Trump said. But now it turns out not only dont they want to give us money for a wall, they dont want to give us the space to detain murderers, criminals, drug dealers, human smugglers. The recent shutdown left more than 800,000 government workers without pay, forced postponement of the State of the Union address and sent Mr Trumps poll numbers tumbling. Paris St-Germain fans in Manchester ahead of their teams Champions League game against Manchester United (Images courtesy of Ross Byrne and Liam Martindale) Anyone in Manchester on Tuesday afternoon would have found it difficult to ignore Paris St-Germain supporters ahead of their teams game against Manchester United. The fans of the French champions were in the north of England for the Champions League last-16 first leg between the two teams, and were in full voice ahead of kick-off. (I) Was just walking around the city centre and it just went crazy. Trams were stopped. Flares all over the place, Ross Byrne, 19, told the Press Association. PSG fans being absolute dons in Manchester atm pic.twitter.com/JP6Ut4sovu Ross Byrne (@theCyclingGK) February 12, 2019 According to Ross, police had to stop a couple of trams to get flares off the lines, while one tram was apparently swinging due to the banging and screaming of the fans. But while the scenes appeared a little chaotic at times, Liam Martindale, 30, said the fans seemed to be having a great time without causing any trouble. The PSG fans in Manchester pic.twitter.com/hRK9uihg2D Liam (@liam_2912) February 12, 2019 I work on the 19th floor of the Arndale House building and could hear the fans from up there, he said. They were singing and letting off flares and bangers. Then when I left work I saw the fans queuing for the tram. I thought the atmosphere was great. Theyve brought a lot of fans over and they were all in full song. And while some were given a bit of a fright by the appearance of the noisy supporters, the atmosphere apparently remained enjoyable. It was good, just fans sharing their support, said Tatijarna, 20. At first they frightened me because of how loud they were but after I had realised what was going on and what they were doing it was quite fun to watch. Manchester United will travel to Paris for the second leg of the tie on March 6. Actor Jussie Smollett has dismissed any suggestion that he has been less than cooperative with police since the star of the Empire television drama reported he was attacked by two masked men in Chicago last month. Smolletts representatives issued a statement a day after police said the heavily redacted phone records he turned over to detectives this week were insufficient for a criminal investigation. Jussie is the victim here, which has been stated by the Superintendent of Police, said the statement issued in Smolletts name. Any redacted information was intended to protect the privacy of personal contacts or high-profile individuals not relevant to the attackStatement issued in Jussie Smollett's name Jussie has voluntarily provided his phone records from within an hour of the attack and given multiple statements to police. The statement said Smollett had a good reason for turning over what police called a redacted file. Any redacted information was intended to protect the privacy of personal contacts or high-profile individuals not relevant to the attack, according to the statement. The statement is the latest in a back-and-forth between Smollett and police since he reported the attack took place on January 29. Police have made no arrests and said they have found no surveillance video that shows the attack. They released video of two people in the area at the time who they said were persons of interest. Smollett and his family have insisted that he has been truthful about the attack and his story has not changed since it happened. Expand Close Jussie Smollett (Richard Shotwell/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jussie Smollett (Richard Shotwell/AP) Smollett, who is black and openly gay, told police that his attackers doused him with an unknown chemical substance, shouted racial and homophobic slurs at him before looping what police said was a thin rope tied like a noose around his neck. Smollett also told detectives that before they ran off, the attackers yelled This is Maga country, a reference to the Make America Great Again slogan President Donald Trump uses. Police have collected video surveillance footage from cameras in the central area and have also extended their search to stores in the area in the hopes of gathering evidence on who might have purchased the rope. Long before the Kate Middleton vs Meghan Markle headlines were used to lure in readers, Jennifer Aniston vs Angelina Jolie (and Brad Pitt) remained the most enduring conflict in modern pop culture In order to understand just how deep the Brangelina vs Jen An story goes, we need to take a short history lesson. In 2004, Pitt met Jolie, then his co-star on the set of Mr & Mrs Smith and there were constant reports of the insatiable chemistry between the two, this, despite the fact that he was married to Aniston at the time. She was Americas Sweetheart, he was the biggest movie star in the world and theirs was a union so widely beloved that even their agents who set them up on their first date in 1998 couldn't have predicted what a behemoth their lives would become. They were unstoppable and so it seemed, madly in love. Before social media, they announced their engagement at a Sting concert in New York with Brad proudly dragging his new fiancee on stage to show off her diamond ring while she blushed with glee beside him. By 2000, they wed in a lavish ceremony on the grounds of a coastal estate in Malibu, attended by 200 guests and rumoured to have cost $1m. She vowed to always make his favourite banana milkshake and he promised to always split the difference on the thermostat. Reports from guests suggest it was a wild night celebrating true love, the antithesis to the Hollywood cliche. Despite making their engagement public, they soon realised the voracious appetite for details of their personal life and released only one black and white picture from their big day, one which fuelled pregnancy announcements because Brad was slightly gazing towards her stomach and without factual information to go on, the rumour mill went wild. This type of reporting would follow both of them around to the present day. Four years after that California wedding of dreams, a guest appearance on Friends and Jennifers public discussion of her desire to start a family later, Pitt began filming opposite Jolie. He has always maintained there was no cheating, the timeline has always been somewhat suspicious. Expand Close Jennifer Aniston and husband Brad Pitt attend the 56th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium September 19, 2004 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jennifer Aniston and husband Brad Pitt attend the 56th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium September 19, 2004 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) "There was stuff printed there that was definitely from a time when I was unaware that it was happening," Jennifer told Vogue in 2008 about Jolie's admission to falling in love with Pitt on set. "I felt those details were a little inappropriate to discuss. That stuff about how she couldn't wait to get to work every day? That was really uncool." This was three years after her marriage breakdown and still, the public fascination was incomparable to any other movie star, even to this day. At the time, tabloids were unwavering in their criticism and relentless in their pursuit: digital publishing was still relatively new, but it allowed for the creation of the first wave of bloggers were making names for themselves and of course, the introduction of TMZ in 2007 changed everything. A 24/7 celebrity news cycle was born. Largely because of the circumstances under which her marriage ended, Aniston has always been painted as a figure of pity (if you think its bad now, imagine what 2005 was like). It was the start of celebrity culture as we know as it and remains a clear pinpoint as to when the overly invasive interest in public figures began to take hold, notably in a pre-social media age. In an interview with Vanity Fair entitled The Unsinkable Jennifer Aniston, she detailed her marriage breakdown, only describing him as having a sensitivity chip missing when asked about his happy-families spread with Jolie in W magazine. It was published six months after they announced their divorce and remains one of the most talked-about magazine features throughout the noughties. The impossible-to-ignore glamour of Brangelina became a cultural movement all its own, while Jennifer was simultaneously painted as a victim and as the one responsible for her marriage breakdown: what did she do to drive him into the arms of another woman? Most tabloids came to the conclusion it was because he wanted a family - a large one - and Angelina facilitated that faster than his wife. The fact that Aniston doesnt have children is regularly used as a stick to beat her with and she has alluded to the fact that not being a mother was not her choice. Over the next few years, Brangelina continued apace having six children in total, while she pursued her advocacy work and he focused on acting and developing rich person hobbies like architecture. Meanwhile, Jennifer was dating, as most single people tend to, before eventually marrying Justin Theroux in 2016, and such was the interest in her that she wrote an out-of-character op-ed for the Huffington Post hitting out at the poor Jen narrative which has followed her throughout most of her career, in particular when speculation mounted that she was expecting a child after pictures of her sporting a non-perfect six pack were taken. For the record, I am not pregnant. What I am is fed upThe way I am portrayed by the media is simply a reflection of how we see and portray women in general, measured against some warped standard of beauty, she wrote. We use celebrity 'news' to perpetuate this dehumanizing view of females, focused solely on ones physical appearance, which tabloids turn into a sporting event of speculation. Is she pregnant? Is she eating too much? Has she let herself go? Is her marriage on the rocks because the camera detects some physical 'imperfection?'" It was incredible. It also served as a reminder to shifty magazine editors that years of weekly headlines of Jens Heartbreak, Jens Shattered World, Explosive Showdown and endless fake pregnancy rumours later, that there was a living, breathing person at the end of their bullseye. Theroux was also uncharacteristically vocal, describing the interest as trash and saying he had a rare insight into how disgusting all that is. It had seemed that finally, Jen had found her man and while the same titles would continue to question the stability of her second marriage, which made it all the more crushing when they split last year. Anistons extraordinary fortune and illustrious career is proof she is the opposite of unlucky, but just that some marriages dont make it to the finishing line. Despite the fact that public favour largely remains on her side, she has never deflected ownership of the breakdown of either of her marriages, telling InStyle last year, "The misconceptions are Jen cant keep a man and Jen refuses to have a baby because shes selfish and committed to her career. Or that Im sad and heartbroken," she said. "There is a pressure on women to be mothers, and if they are not, then theyre deemed damaged goods. Maybe my purpose on this planet isnt to procreate. Maybe I have other things Im supposed to do?" Now, she is celebrating her milestone 50th birthday with - of all people - Brad Pitt. As expected, the internet went berserk. The news was trending across social media all weekend and those celebrity followers still rooting for the couple had fresh hope there could be a reconciliation after all, two years after his marriage to Jolie ended. The choice to invite him was surprising in many ways, but tactical in others. Apparently he was invited by a mutual friend who extended the invite on her behalf, but you have to wonder what the motivation was. Aniston famously throws parties nearly always at her expansive home where she has complete privacy and keeps her circle of friends extraordinarily tight, so the decision alone to have the event at the very public Sunset Tower Hotel with a guestlist that could rival the Oscars was enough to capture attention from the paparazzi culture she is so often victimised by. But the decision to invite Brad, a man whose ghost has haunted her for 14 years, at the most public event shes ever thrown? She is thriving, personally and professionally, not to mention the fact that she seems to be ageing in reverse. Inviting your ex-husband to the biggest party of your life, with the world watching you live your best life? Frankly, it's the ultimate power move. Fianna Fail is ramping up pressure on Health Minister Simon Harris by personally targeting his age and lack of life experience as the hospital controversy escalates. However, Fianna Fail will not force Leo Varadkar to sack Mr Harris as it believes it can inflict more damage on the Government while he is still in the Cabinet. Fianna Fail is now playing the waiting game knowing Fine Gael is too far ahead in the polls. Pulling the chain on the Government over a few hundred million of taxpayers money will not bridge this gap. To regain power, it must wait for a much bigger scandal. In the meantime, the taxpayer will continue to pick up the tab for this very expensive political waiting game! Seamus McLoughlin, Keshcarrigan, Co Leitrim Nuclear energy holds the key for us to kill carbon emissions I am glad Ivan Yates is flagging the impending substantial penalties for Irelands lack of progress in reducing emissions once we reach 2020 (Wind energy can provide a silver-bullet solution to 600m EU climate fines, Irish Independent, February 9). However, I disagree with him entirely about wind being the panacea he claims. Surely the fact we are a world leader in wind power while at the same time being climate laggards should tell him something. I dont think he is doing the maths, which for a former bookie is a bit surprising. What is his vision exactly? Is it 100pc intermittent renewables (wind/solar) or is it an intermittent renewables/natural gas mix which looks like the preferred option at present for our Government, with plans for LNG terminals being developed for Cork Port and Ballylongford, Co Kerry. Either of these options is problematic. The first because it is technically almost impossible to achieve. More wind turbines, even if offshore, just increase the spikes of supply while leaving fossil fuels to keep the lights on 70pc of the time. As Robert Kennedy Jr said in 2010: The wind and solar plants we are building are gas plants. Germany and California have borne out the veracity of this statement with increasing reliance on fracked gas in the US and Germany building more coal plants and planning the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to bring in more Russian gas. There is a third way. It is a mix of renewables and nuclear and it is proven to work. France, Sweden and Ontario in Canada have fully decarbonised electric grids with this approach. Dr Pat Morrissey, Adare, Co Limerick Garryowen keeps rugby teams alive and kicking There are two popular kicks used in rugby: one is the box kick, which appears to be used most often to give the ball to the opposing side either directly or via the side line throw-in. The other is the Garryowen which is accurately fashioned, as by the English, to enable the kickers side to have a 50/50 chance of winning it. Ted OKeeffe, Ranelagh, Dublin 6 Ireland gave Finney fine film stage to shine in the cinema The obituaries on Albert Finney fail to acknowledge that he starred in three films which were shot in Ireland. Two of the movies The Playboys in 1992, and The Run of the Country (1995) were filmed in Redhills in Co Cavan. The other film, A Man of No Importance (1994) was shot in Dublin, in which Finney played a bus conductor in the 1960s whose real passion is producing amateur theatre productions of Oscar Wilde plays. All three were a testament to Finneys acting ability. Jim Griffiths, Clonsilla, Dublin 15 Litany of woe spells out deserved fate for Brexiteers Leo F Sharkey suggests that what Donald Tusk said was that there was a special place in Hull, rather than Hell, for those who promoted Brexit without a plan (Irish Independent, January 2). The 17th century Beggars Litany saw no difference: From Hull, Hell, and Halifax, may the good Lord deliver us. Sean Donnelly, Ballyfermot, Dublin 10 Animal or vegetable The Bible has wisdom of ages Regarding the controversy between vegans and carnivores, The Bible, which must be regarded with some authority on the subject, says at Genesis ch 9 v 3-4: Every moving animal that is alive may serve as food for you. As in the case of green vegetation: I do give it all to you. Richard Ryan, Pallasgreen, Co Limerick And lo! On the seventh day, the Lord (well, in this instance, the Unicode Consortium) decided there should be a period emoji. A "menstruation" emoji, to be precise: a perfectly rounded, red droplet, designed to tackle stigma and encourage conversation around periods. Naturally, in a world where a significant percentage of us struggle to communicate unless in emoji form, it might be a surprise that there isn't already an emoji to represent - whisper it - periods. After all, there are vampire, mermaid and zombie emojis; unlike these, periods are actually real, so definitely have the relevancy edge. There are two ant emojis, a dozen moon emojis (literally), a rather pointless boiled egg emoji, a ball of knitting wool AND a bobbin. According to Emojipedia, there are close to 3,000 emojis in circulation - yet not a single one that denotes periods. The decision to introduce the symbol follows extensive work from Plan International, which first submitted a bid for a "period pants" emoji after a 2017 survey found half of women in the 18-34 age bracket believed an emoji would help them talk about periods. The pants were turned down, despite receiving the backing of over 55,000 voters; Plan International UK then paired with NHS Blood and Transplant and submitted a successful proposal for the droplet design. An emoji dictionary: What do they mean? Sure, it's not as cheeky as the other "everyone does it" emoji - clue: the one that has eyes, a grin and according to some, is actually chocolate ice-cream. But it's a start, right? (Though arguably a tampon emoji with bulging eyes and a manic beam could double as an ice lolly - just saying.) The fact that a period emoji has been introduced to the expansive emoji library highlights the fact that it's a conversation we're increasingly having, and there's still so much to say. In our age of ultra wokeness, menstruation still has a hint of taboo around it, whether in active conversation with others, or in terms of people feeling confident enough to talk about it, or share experiences. Periods link people together - over race, religion, sexuality, reality-show preference, career ambitions, bank balance... You get the drift. Despite this unifying power, it's still a deeply intimate monthly process between a woman and her body - so much so, that society traditionally tells us it's not cool to talk about; rather, it's something to be "got on with", endured, tolerated. Don't get me wrong. The people who have wanted to talk about periods on WhatsApp or Snapchat or iMessage all this time will have found a way, obviously; they'll have sent a shark gif on their group chat, for example, or alternated the knife emoji with the "significant red circle" in their tweets. They might have even had face-to-face conversations. Equally, the introduction of the new emoji won't appeal or be of interest to everyone: we don't all want to talk about periods. But just the fact it's there shows it's a step in the right direction, especially for the 50pc of young women who believe it will encourage them to talk more openly. Could the emoji have been a little more obvious? Subtle is better than nothing, sure, and with the original period pants idea turned down, chances are a tampon or sanitary towel (surely not a million miles from that weird pile of notes with wings) would be rejected too. The beauty of the red droplet is it can mean everything and nothing; it drips with meaning but equally, doesn't have to. Plus, these things tend to grow of their own accord. Did the developers intend for the aubergine to take on such nudge-nudge wink-wink intention, for example, or for the side-eye emoji to innocently convey so much in just one glance? One thing the new emoji could definitely do is widen discussion and awareness around the complexities and problems some women endure because of their period. According to stats, one in 10 UK women suffers with agonising endometriosis; a similar proportion have polycystic ovary syndrome. Period poverty will affect an estimated one in 10 young women this year; organisations such as The Red Box Project works tirelessly to tackle this, spreading awareness among schools and communities and ultimately aiming to help the 137,000 schoolgirls who miss education each year because they can't afford sanitary products. Its recently launched campaign with Free Periods campaign founder Amika George is asking the UK government to consider making products free for schoolgirls. I'll end with a stat: the typical woman will have 450 periods in her lifetime. That's at least 449 times more than she will ever meet a vampire - so long may the conversation around them (periods, not vampires) get louder. Fundamentally, it's sad this emoji needs to exist - but equally, it's mad that it didn't already. The Independent News Service Molski said Leave it for Love is operated in conjunction with the Chicago chapter of Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly, which distributes the gifts. Formerly known as Little Brothers of the Poor, the not-for-profit group offers programs and opportunities which alleviate isolation and loneliness. Belated first anniversary wishes to Mary Lou McDonald who completed 12 months as party leader, without much fanfare, on Sunday. It has not been a great year, there has been no popularity bounce and the presidential election foray - which netted 6pc of the poll and half its last general election showing - was a huge disappointment. So, here we go again. Move into tried-and-trusted territory and table a Dail no-confidence motion attacking the "big wig" who is left holding the bag in the latest source of public outrage. Edinburgh is one step closer to becoming the first city in the UK to introduce a tourist tax after the move was approved by councillors last week. Plans for the tax, or 'Transient Visitor Levy' (TVL), include a 2 per night room charge, an exemption for campsites, a cap of seven consecutive nights and investing an estimated 14.6 million every year. Councillors backed the plans by 43 votes to 15 last week, and the local authority will now put its recommendations to Scottish parliament. The move would see the city follow in the footsteps of cities such as Paris, Venice and Barcelona, while Bath and Oxford councils have also called for similar powers. Elected members have agreed Edinburgh's case for a #TouristTax and will now submit proposals to the @scotgov #edinwebcast pic.twitter.com/ZyujZ1D3gQ The City of Edinburgh Council (@Edinburgh_CC) February 7, 2019 Council leader Adam McVey said: My expectation is that this will be a locally-run, collected and set tax. It will be additional to other revenues. My mind is absolutely clear this is additional to our resources in this city. Expand Close The flat rate levy would see visitors charged 2 a night to stay in the city, for up to a week (Jane Barlow/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The flat rate levy would see visitors charged 2 a night to stay in the city, for up to a week (Jane Barlow/PA) The 2 charge is regarded as a better approach than a percentage charge, while the seven-night cap is designed to protect seasonal and festival workers in the city for extended periods of time. A recent public consultation indicated more than half (51pc) of accommodation providers and 91pc of residents supported the introduction of a TVL. The council estimates the proposals could raise between 11.6 million and 14.6 million per year. It's putting the cart before the horseCouncillor Iain Whyte Opposition to the TVL in Edinburgh has come from the organisations such as UK Hospitality (UKH), claiming it would be bad for price-competitiveness. UKH previously estimated the annual negative economic impact from the imposition of a TVL at 2 per room, per night, will be 175 million to 200 million in Scotland 44million to 94 million in Edinburgh. Expand Close On with the old (town), and the new: The only problem Edinburgh poses for the visitor is trying to fit all the attractions into a short visit / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp On with the old (town), and the new: The only problem Edinburgh poses for the visitor is trying to fit all the attractions into a short visit The Conservative group sought to amend the motion, raising concerns over how the money might impact block grants and the fact the levy is set at a flat rate. Tory members also wanted assurances any extra funds would not impact how they are allocated resources in future. Councillor Iain Whyte said: For me, the most important bit is whether this will be additional money. We have got to sort that out. This is a muddled policy, its putting the cart before the horse. The Scottish budget was approved on January 31 which set out that ministers will legislate to allow local authorities to introduce a tourist tax on hotel stays. John Donnelly, chief executive at Marketing Edinburgh, said: Whether you support or oppose TVL, the facts are irrefutable we have a growing need to protect areas of economic value yet a dwindling pot of money to do so. Solving the problem means we can continue to invest in world-class festivals, protect our built environment and support the promotion of the city, all of which are crucial to building a bright future for Edinburgh. Willie Macleod, UKH executive director for Scotland, said: We are extremely disappointed today that the City of Edinburgh Council has voted in favour of a tourist tax. During the debate, Cllr McVey stated that consultation was a critical part of their process. Our members in the city would disagree, they do not support the introduction of a tourist tax and their opinions have been ignored. Mr McVey said after the vote: A TVL is the right choice for a historic, world-famous festival city like Edinburgh and our proposals have cross-council and citywide support. Edinburgh warmly welcomes over 4.5 million visitors annually which brings huge benefits but, the reality is, this footfall also has an impact on our streets and on our services." Read more: I have some terrible, distressing news - I have succumbed to Cool Dad Syndrome. It hit me out of the blue, as I had only gotten over a severe bout of Smug Dad Syndrome, which I caught after I brought my kids to both an art gallery and a bookshop within the same 24-hour period. However, Cool Dad Syndrome, or CDS to make it sound official, is a much, much sadder affair. I suspected I was predisposed towards it as I liked to think of myself as being liberal and open minded in my approach to parenting, allowing my kids to play video games online or my daughter to go to teen club nights (even the fact I don't call them discos shows how cool I thought I was), but I'm afraid I have recently gone full blown by allowing her to go to Longitude, or, if I am to give it its correct title, 'Longi'. She began her campaign of lobbying around the upcoming festival season last summer, telling me all the amazing acts that were playing everywhere and how her growth as a person and her standing socially were both being negatively affected by my refusal to allow her to go on her own to Glastonbury for a week. If I loved her, I would let her head off to the UK like Dick Whittington with a bindle full of cans and head full of idiotic teenage dreams about how great life probably is beyond the cocoon of your family home. Eventually, she wore me down and I agreed to let her go to a festival. But I wore her down too, from her demands of a one-way ticket to Burning Man, to a one-day ticket for Longitude. I even tried to buy the tickets for her, but as an old man who has never bought a ticket anywhere other than the murky depths of Sound Cellar on Dublin's Nassau Street, I couldn't figure out how the online ticket selection process worked, and gave up just before an all-caps message came through that "someone has secured tickets". Luckily, there was another parent on the case, or, to be more specific, every other parent in the east Cork region, because it would appear that this year's Longitude is going to be an unofficial school trip. So while I briefly basked in the warm glow of CDS because I was allowing my daughter to go to a festival for one day, it would appear there are other parents who are afflicted with a far worse strain of the same problem. According to my beloved first-born, there are swathes of girls in her school who are decamping to Dublin on their own for three days. Apart from the fact that for us delicate country folk, our nation's capital appears to be twinned with both Gotham and the Interzone from Naked Lunch, the classmates aren't even staying in a nice house as they would in Irish college, with a bean an ti to clip them round the ear if they show any signs of independent thought. No, they are all staying in apartments, the least moral of all human dwellings. I was horrified - what a dereliction of parental duty, letting their kids head off to a festival on the tear. Sher it'll be like Lord Of The Flies but with glitter and Orchard Thieves. However, my daughter was quick to point out that while she is just turning 16, most of her class will be 17 by the time Longi swings around and are therefore adults, or at least beta versions of adults. So this is how it starts - festival season is now where they spread their wings, leap from the nest and smash headlong into mud. And so it was that my sudden outbreak of CDS slowly morphed into Despondent Dad Syndrome, when you realise that the day they leave you is fast approaching, and you wonder if you have prepared them for life, if they have learned from your mistakes, if they are the better versions of you that you always tried to mold them into, or, at the very least, if they have the good sense to bring earplugs and toilet paper to a festival. The country's fastest growing town is set to undergo a massive transformation. Balbriggan, Co Dublin, has more than 20,000 people living there and has been deemed Ireland's fastest growing town by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Now, the town's main street and harbour areas are set for a massive transformation, which will also include a new swimming pool. Plans for the development have come about following a public survey carried out among 4,000 inhabitants. More than 25pc of the local population aged over 11 took part in the 'Our Balbriggan' survey to prioritise a list of suggested improvements for a 20m-plus transformation. A Balbriggan leadership group, chaired by Professor Brian MacCraith, president of Dublin City University, had prepared suggestions for a 20m-plus rejuvenation plan: an ambitious new vision for the town, shaped by the views of its population. Transforming the main street and connecting it to a re-imagined harbour area topped the board across all age groups in the public survey. "We couldn't have dreamed of this level of response, with a huge section of the community getting involved to imagine the possibilities," said Prof MacCraith. Fingal County Council chief executive Paul Reid added: "An idea which strongly emerged was the desire to have a swimming pool. Provision is being made for a swimming pool in the Castlelands Masterplan." A strategy published in April will contain an implementation plan. Hundreds of family doctors have threatened to use their surgeries to campaign against Fine Gael election candidates. The unprecedented move would see GPs lobby their patients to vote against the Government party. The threat is made in a letter to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's TDs, which demands a meeting by Friday for representatives of the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGPs). It says NAGP members will begin "informing their patients personally about the health policies of Fine Gael TDs and councillors in the upcoming local and general elections, and the detrimental effect that these policies are having on patient services in the community". The dispute centres of the NAGPs exclusion from talks with the Government on a new deal for GPs. The Irish Medical Organisation is in discussions about reversing cuts to GP fees during the economic crash - but the NAGP, which claims to have 2,100 members, is not recognised by the Department of Health or the HSE. The correspondence, signed by chief executive Chris Goodey, warns Fine Gael chiefs of action unless they agree to meet "by the end of this week". A spokesperson for Fine Gael said last night it had "no comment" to make in relation to the demands. Gardai are to review the security arrangements in place for ministers as a result of the ongoing threat of protests at their homes. The arrival of demonstrators at the door of Health Minister Simon Harris has been described as "a new low in Irish politics". But it's not the first time and, based on the analysis being espoused on social media over the past day, it won't be the last. It comes just weeks after another alert about female ministers being targeted led to gardai patrolling the homes of other ministers. Officers are now being forced to assess the risk to each minister. Of course, there was a time in the not-so-distant past that we took it for granted that every minister would have Garda protection. The "luxury" was scrapped in 2011 in order to save around 4m. Those who targeted Mr Harris and his family on Sunday would like everybody to believe he lives in a Wicklow mansion, oblivious to the housing crisis. But, in reality, Ireland has some of the most accessible politicians in Europe, perhaps the world. Most TDs hold constituency clinics where you can walk in off the street. If you want a word with a minister, they are not very hard to find. Some of the online commentary in the wake of Sunday's protest noted how Mr Harris lived in a modest two-storey home in a Greystones housing estate. It's no secret the Taoiseach's 'Ivory Tower' is an apartment he bought with a 100pc mortgage. Those behind the protest remained defiant online yesterday, claiming they staged a "peaceful, dignified demonstration". They insist the minister was never "trapped" because they were merely standing on a public footpath. Yet, put yourself in Caoimhe Harris's shoes. On a Sunday afternoon, you're planning an afternoon trip with your three-week-old baby to her grandparents when more than a dozen people turn up outside. They are blaming your husband for all the country's ills. One group is calling itself the 'Fingal Battalion' after a group of 1916 volunteers famed for guerrilla warfare. Their partners are a 'Flying Column'. Would you bring the baby outside the house? Simon Harris's wife is not a politician or somebody who takes part in public debate. In fact, she's a nurse. Who knows, maybe if she wasn't on maternity leave, Caoimhe might well have been at the legitimate rally in Dublin city centre on Saturday. So what did the protesters hope to achieve? If they genuinely wanted the minister to resign or the Government to initiate policy changes, then their actions were a monumental failure. Politicians of all colours have united to condemn the picket, even the country's most famous water protester Paul Murphy. Yesterday, the organisers said they "won't be backing down" and want TDs, sheriffs and judges to be targeted next, which is an appalling vista. The level of debate these protesters are engaged in is summed up by the comment from one Facebook supporter: "I was contemplating running for elections but have decided against doing so because I do not want to become another one of these parasite scumbags only there for a pay check [sic] and live off the people of Ireland." Without a hint of irony, some of those at Mr Harris's door even managed to unfurl a poster declaring: "This is our mandate." For two olive farmers from Syria far away from home, integrating into the rural town of Claremorris, Co Mayo, wouldn't appear to be easy. But a social farming project has given Abdul and Faisal a chance to work and exchange skills with local farmers. Both men and their families, including grandchildren, resettled in Claremorris under a scheme run by the Government in partnership with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. After their move to the Co Mayo town, the two men were offered a chance to do a placement under a scheme called Social Farming in Ireland. According to Brian Smyth, deputy CEO and national project manager for Social Farming in Ireland, the language barrier was soon overcome, thanks to Google Translate. Through the project, the Dixon family opened up their organic farm to a 10-week placement for both men. They found a place to live and their grandchildren were sent to school nearby, and the two men started working on the farm last October. An interpreter, Google Translate and some sign language between Abdul, Faisal and Irish farmers ensured understanding between all. As well as taking care of apple trees, Abdul and Faisal helped feed cattle, cut firewood and tend to plants. According to Brian, it was not an employment placement, but a personal connection that allowed people to develop. The programme is not restricted to refugees, and social farming has been developing for a while, with this project funded by the Department of Agriculture under the Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas for the past four years. "This project arose out of a previous project, with a cross-Border piloted project on 20 farms," he said. There are 60 farms in Ireland taking people on placements through Social Farming and 60 more farmers are being trained to join the process. Those who will be able to avail of the placements include the long-term unemployed, refugees, people with disabilities and people in recovery. President Michael D Higgins said it will be more important than ever to build upon the deep friendship between the UK and Ireland after Brexit (Aaron Chown/PA) President Michael D Higgins will meet Britain's Prince Charles during a day celebrating the culture, history and people of Liverpool. The event at the Victoria Gallery and Museum aims to formally cement the prince and president's roles as joint patrons of Liverpool University's Institute of Irish Studies. University of Liverpool Vice Chancellor, Professor Dame Janet Beer, said: "The Institute of Irish Studies plays a huge role in shaping the relationship between our islands, through its research, events, student programmes and expertise. "This visit provides an excellent opportunity for us to showcase this important work." President Higgins is mid-way through a three-day visit to the UK and at Birmingham Town Hall on Monday he said "the deep friendships which have grown between Britain and Ireland" will be more important than ever in the wake of Brexit. During Charles' visit to Merseyside he will meet Nelson Mandela's daughter Makaziwe Mandela who has donated a set of her father's drawings for permanent display at the city's St George's Hall. Ms Mandela is also on a short trip to the UK and began her visit on Monday, the 29th anniversary of her father, who led the movement to end South African apartheid, being released from prison after 27 years. Charles will also visit Liverpool's Royal Albert Dock to celebrate its new royal status ahead of the 175th anniversary, in 2021, of its opening by Prince Albert. THE heartbroken family of a Finglas teenager who died from sepsis has succeeded in getting a health awareness campaign on to Dublin buses in the hope that more people will become aware of the killer illness. Sean Hughes, known as Lil Red, was only 15 and appeared to be getting over a flu-like chest infection when he suddenly lost consciousness while watching television with his mother last January. Despite the desperate efforts of his father and a team of ambulance paramedics to resuscitate him, he died in Temple Street Hospital. Seans family is now calling for a nationwide awareness campaign about sepsis and its symptoms, and they came one step closer to that after getting the Lil Red Legacy poster on to Dublin Bus vehicles. Expand Close One of the new posters on a Dublin Bus / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp One of the new posters on a Dublin Bus The poster describes the symptoms of the illness so that people can be more familiar with them. Around 3,000 people a year die from sepsis in Ireland. It claims more lives than heart attacks, breast cancer or lung cancer, and can kill a healthy person within 12 hours. We got in touch with a few companies ourselves to see if they could help us spread Lil Reds message, his father Joe told Independent.ie. We are still trying to get the HSE and the Department of Health to launch a national campaign like they did for stroke awareness and meningitis, but we are still finding little backing or support, he explained. Dublin Bus were great and the posters, which we paid for ourselves, are now on the buses from the Harristown and Phibsboro depots for the next two weeks. They will be seen by a lot of people and we are hugely grateful to Dublin Bus for helping us out. Expand Close The posters highlight thje symptoms of sepsis / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The posters highlight thje symptoms of sepsis The Hughes family has also been invited to do school talks on sepsis, and is to get a stand at Croke Park during an upcoming music event to help spread their message. They are still calling on the HSE and health professionals to include new protocols in their diagnosis procedures so sepsis cases can be picked up as early as possible. Were doing the best we can on our own but the people who actually have a duty of care to do it are not, Joe said. They believe that a public campaign with simple symptoms graphics, similar to ones raising awareness about stroke and meningitis, could save lives. There isnt anything out there at the moment. You see TV campaigns and posters about meningitis and stroke, but there isnt anything similar for sepsis, Joe said. Weve been told by the authorities its not in the 2019 budget and it might be in the 2020 budget, but what price do you put on a life? Sean, their youngest child, had been sick before his collapse in January. He hadnt been well but hed had colds and chest infections before and always shook them off, said his mother Karen. On the Wednesday I brought him to the doctor and he was prescribed antibiotics. Then on the Thursday he was lying on the couch. Sean had a rattle in his chest and he said, This is doing my head in, and I thought to myself that Id bring him back to the doctor the next day. Then he stopped talking. He just stopped. I couldnt believe it, it just didnt seem real. I had been talking to him, wondering what to watch on the TV, and half an hour later we were in intensive care in Temple Street, she added. He started at the company a few months before I did and even though I was his supervisor, he kind of took me under his wing and showed me what I needed to learn. He was meticulous about everything being done properly and he had a huge impact on the entire warehouse. He was never late, never called off work because of the weather; he rode his bike every day. I often would offer him a ride home when the weather was miserable, but he always refused. I could never understand how he could ride his bike through rain or snow. Probe: Garda forensic officers outside the Shannon Key West Hotel in Rooskey after the fire in January. Photo: Tony Gavin The balcony area sealed off by Garda at the Shannon Key West hotel Picture credit: Damien Eagers / INM A Garda outside the Shannon Key West hotel in Roosky, Co. Leitrim Picture credit: Damien Eagers / INM GARDAI have launched an investigation after a fire was reported by security staff at a hotel earmarked for direct provision last night. Members of the garda technical bureau began examining the site shortly after 9am this morning after on-site security personnel discovered a fire at the Shannon Key West Hotel in the village of Rooskey at 9.15pm. The hotel remained sealed off this morning pending the forensic examination by members of the garda technical bureau. They spent some time on a balcony above the main entrance where a window may have been broken prior to the fire being reported. Expand Close The balcony area sealed off by Garda at the Shannon Key West hotel Picture credit: Damien Eagers / INM / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The balcony area sealed off by Garda at the Shannon Key West hotel Picture credit: Damien Eagers / INM They photographed the hotel inside and out with their initial focus being in the first floor and external balcony. All residents of the hotel, which is on the Roscommon-Leitrim border, were evacuated and no injuries were reported. Gardai said this morning that a small amount of damage was caused by the fire. Traffic diversions were put in place through the town of Dromod because the road in front of the hotel and along the bank of the river Shannon was closed also. Emergency services attended the incident at the hotel late last night, which was previously targeted in an arson attack. At around 9.45pm on Monday evening, gardai based at Carrick-on-Shannon were alerted to reports of a blaze at the hotel. Locals said they had seen the fire brigade from Strokestown arriving last night but they did not see flames. "It was a small fire and it was under control quickly," said one local man. Members of the Leitrim and Roscommon United Against Racism group condemned the fire last night, describing the incident as "horrifying". "If this is the second racist arson attack on the hotel, then there are people somewhere around who are pretty determined not to have asylum seekers come and use the hotel as a direct provision centre, member Leah Doherty told Shannonside FM. Its pretty horrifying. It would be the second time that a fire has struck the hotel in the space of a month. A separate investigation is currently under way into an arson attack at the disused hotel which was earmarked as a centre for asylum seekers. Senior gardai at the time said that fire, on January 10, was being treated as suspicious and that internal damage had been caused. Last November it emerged that the hotel - which closed in 2011- was in line to become a reception centre for up to 82 refugees. A garda investigation will determine if the latest incident is suspicious. Senior officers attended the scene and a probe will be led by gardai based at Carrick-on-Shannon. Gardai are appealing for any witnesses in relation to the incident who may have been in the area between 8p.m. and 9.30p.m. on Monday night 11th February to contact Carrick-on-Shannon garda station on 071 - 9650510. Sleeping flags: Veteran Andy Nolan helps to raise awareness of homelessness among the Defence Forces. Photo: Damien Eagers Irish Defence Force veterans slept out on the streets of Dublin in tricolour sleeping bags yesterday to highlight the issue of homelessness which some members face when they leave the force. The demonstration was organised by the Organisation of National Ex-Service Personnel (ONE), which supports veterans in coping with issues such as PTSD, disabilities and depression. They also help to provide shelter in hostels to those who face sleeping rough when they finish their service. The campaign aims to raise public awareness, as well as raising funds to continue to keep the service up and running. Ollie O'Connor, CEO of ONE, said that hundreds of former defence personnel ended up on the streets, having dedicated themselves to tours in countries including the Congo, Lebanon and Syria. "Our first homeless hostel opened in direct response to a number of veterans dying on the streets of Dublin," he said. "Since then, we've helped over 900 homeless veterans from all over Ireland who could have faced the same situation. "These 'sleeping flags' are bags we never wanted to make, but if we can't get enough funding, our veterans will end up back on the streets. "The men and women we're helping have a special affinity with the Tricolour," Mr O'Connor added. "These are fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and our next door neighbours who joined the Irish Defence Forces to serve their country. "When they joined up, they were young fit men and women. "They didn't put up their hands to become homeless veterans." The preventive services provided by ONE are more vital than ever. The organisation provides more than 16,000 bed nights every year, between Dublin, Letterkenny and Athlone, with 95pc of the veterans they help moving on to permanent housing. Nurses pictured during the rally at Merrion Square, in support of Nurses and Midwives pay. Picture Credit:Frank McGrath 9/2/19 Nurses pictured during the rally at Merrion Square, in support of Nurses and Midwives pay. Picture Credit:Frank McGrath 9/2/19 Nurses pictured during the rally at Merrion Square, in support of Nurses and Midwives pay Picture Credit: Frank McGrath THE countrys largest union is set to consult widely with its members about pay rises offered to nurses to halt strikes this week. Siptu has indicated that it will examine the potential for knock on claims as a result of proposals put forward to resolve the dispute. In a statement, it said it will be consulting widely with members in its health division and others across the public service in local government, education and state bodies. The union is referring to a Labour Court recommendation to resolve the row after nurses demanded wage hikes. The proposal includes a new higher pay scale for nurses. SIPTU representatives will meet the Public Service Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in the coming days to discuss the recommendation. Siptu deputy general secretary, John King, said members in health and other public services will engage in consultation on the implications of the Labour Court recommendation arising from nursing unions claims. We have noted the statement by the Government that the proposals outlined in the Labour Court recommendation are consistent with the terms of the Public Service Stability Agreement, he said. We will give careful consideration to the detail of the recommendation and will be consulting widely with our members in the health division and others across the public service in local government, education and state bodies. 'The failure to prosecute in so many gang murders is becoming a major cause of concern among gardai who fear that the current feud between northside and southside gangs in Dublin could lead to what some term a 'bloodbath' incident' Photo: PA The four north Dublin Garda districts which are at the centre of last week's murder investigation of dissident republican Vinnie Ryan and the Regency Hotel attack have been the scene of more than 40 unsolved gang murders over the past decade. In the last 10 years there have been around 200 gun and knife murders related to gangs in Dublin. Around 160 gang murders involving firearms remain unsolved, with no charges or court proceedings. There have been charges brought in only 23 gun murder cases over this period. This contrasts sharply with the massive level of Garda prosecutions resulting in fines imposed on Irish drivers over the same period. Available statistics suggest there have been something like six million traffic prosecutions by Traffic Corps gardai in this period since the garda began its aggressive prosecution of driving offences. The failure to prosecute in so many gang murders is becoming a major cause of concern among gardai who fear that the current feud between northside and southside gangs in Dublin could lead to what some term a 'bloodbath' incident. Gardai in the south of the city are on high alert this weekend, fearing retribution for either the Regency Hotel attack last month in which David Byrne was killed or for last week's murder of Real IRA man Ryan. The southside gang in which David Byrne (32) was a leading member controls much of the city's cocaine and heroin supply. The northside gang responsible for the Regency attack is heavily involved in the supply of cannabis and the massive market for opioid tablets. The Regency and Vinnie Ryan murders has highlighted the continuing level of unsolved murders on the northside of the city. The Ballymun district, in which the Ryan and Byrne murders occurred, has six unsolved gang killings. The Coolock and Finglas districts each have 17 unsolved gun murders and the Cabra district has a further five murders unsolved. It has also emerged that the Garda central detective unit, which formerly had responsibility for investigating major crimes, including gang murders, is devoting 50pc of its resources to 'internal' investigations. A 2014 report by the independent Garda Inspectorate also found that the National Bureau of Crime Investigation (NBCI) is not significantly involved in investigating any gang murders. The report, Crime Investigation, also found that the detective ranks have been severely depleted in the past decade, with up to 700 gardai with no proper training involved in investigating major crimes such as murder and rape. The Inspectorate was critical of the strict adherence to rostering under which detectives involved in murder cases are taken off investigations as soon as their leave days occur. They cited one case in which the initial team of investigators were taken off a case just a day after it started to begin their four-day leave period. The case was transferred to other detectives who worked on it for their rostered five days' duty before passing it on to yet another team of gardai. Gardai say that much of the responsibility for murder investigations is being passed to gardai appointed as 'crime scene examiners' who, the Inspectorate found, receive relatively little training in investigating serious crime. The Inspectorate also found major deficiencies in the preparation of court cases which is resulting in significant numbers of cases being struck out. Garda sources say the depletion of the detective ranks and the introduction of new regulations in 2006 preventing detectives from handling their own intelligence sources has resulted in the breakdown in prosecutions for gang murders. The breakdown in major crime investigation contrasts starkly with the massive prosecution of motorists for minor offences, which accounts for 62pc of cases before district courts, according to the Irish Courts Service. Figures on the Garda website for traffic offences show that 177,744 people were prosecuted for speeding for the 11 months to the end of November last year. A further 25,195 were prosecuted for using mobile phones while driving during the same period and 9,586 were prosecuted for not wearing seatbelts. These figures are in line with 2014 when 223,191 were prosecuted for speeding, 30,524 for using mobile phones and 11,513 for not wearing seat belts. The traffic prosecution statistics on the Garda website for the past three years do not contain figures for the 'other' category of prosecutions of people for other minor offences, such as driving in bus lanes, overtaking on the left and parking on yellow lines. The last published year with these statistics was in 2012 when the website recorded that 404,638 people were prosecuted for offences other than speeding, no seat belt on or talking on mobile phones. In 2011, the total for 'other' offences was 459,908. This would suggest that around 600,000 people are prosecuted by gardai each year for traffic offences. With fines of at least 80 per offence, this would suggest the Traffic Corps is raking in around 50m a year for the State from motorists who are already paying an estimated 5bn in driving related taxes - with the prospect of insurance costs doubling this year. Education Minister Joe McHugh will discuss the impact of Brexit on his sector at an Oireachtas hearing today. The Education Committee will focus particularly on what would happen in the event of a no-deal scenario when the UK exits the European Union on March 29. With or without a deal, the Government is relying on the maintenance of the long-standing common travel area (CTA) between Ireland and the UK to underpin the continuation of many existing arrangements in the area of education. Among other things, the CTA, which pre-dates the EU, ensures reciprocal rights to access education at all levels for Irish and British citizens in each other's countries. Mr McHugh has already announced that Brexit will not affect grants for Irish students in the UK next year or for UK students in the Republic. The move will require amendments to the Student Support Act 2011 and is one of the areas covered in a list of proposed no-deal Brexit-related laws in the General Scheme of the Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019, that was recently published by the Government. The minister has also made a commitment that UK students enrolling in a third-level college in the Republic will be recognised for the 'free fees' scheme, which currently involves a student contribution of 3,000 a year. Existing fee arrangements for Irish students in the UK - where they are treated as domestic students - are also expected to continue. The alternative would see students from both jurisdictions deemed to be "international" students in each other's countries and liable for much higher fees. Committee chair Fiona O'Loughlin said it was "eager to examine the issues facing us in relation to Brexit, and its impact on education and skills across the country". Members of the committee will also quiz the minister about his forthcoming Statement of Strategy 2019-2021, which will outline Department of Education priorities for the next two to three years. CervicalCheck programme manager John Gleeson told the High Court open disclosure requires an adverse event - but the upgrading of the results of a womans smear slides from negative was not considered an adverse incident. Mr Gleeson was asked if the Vicky Phelan case never happened, when would Ruth Morrissey, who is suing the HSE over alleged misreading of herCervicalCheck tests, have found out about the audit reviews on her smear slides. Mr Gleeson said: "If she had chosen to ask us." Mr Gleeson was giving evidence in Ms Morrissey's case against the HSE and two US labs over the alleged misreading of her smear slides in 2009 and 2012. Ms Morrissey (37) who has cervical cancer and at maximum has only two years to live, did not find out until May last year the results of audits on those cervical smear slides which showed they had been incorrectly reported as negative. Mr Gleeson wrote the letter to Ms Morrissey's consultant in 2016 in relation to the audit results on her previous smears of 2009 and 2012 and which revealed the smear tests had been reported incorrectly as negative. The CervicalCheck Programme manager was being questioned about governance in particular in relation to Ms Morrissey's 2009 and and 2012 smear slides as part of her claim for exemplary damages as well as compensatory damages. Ms Morrissey's counsel Patrick Treacy told the court the Vicky Phelan case settled on April 25, 2018. Expand Close Ruth and Paul Morrissey pictured at the Four Courts Pic: Collins Courts / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ruth and Paul Morrissey pictured at the Four Courts Pic: Collins Courts He asked Mr Gleeson was it fair to say we don't know if Ms Morrissey ever would have found out about the smear slide audit results . Mr Gleeson replied correct, it was not an adverse incident and open disclosure required an adverse incident. Mr Justice Kevin Cross asked Mr Gleeson was he saying that it was not an adverse incident, Mr Gleeson replied "No we did not consider it an adverse incident." He added the HSE are reviewing its open disclosure policy and he was sure we will see changes. It was the eight day of the action by Ms Morrissey and her husband Paul Morrissey of Kylemore, Schoolhouse Road, Monaleen, Co Limerick. They have sued the HSE and the US laboratory Quest Diagnostics Ireland Ltd with offices at Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin along with Medlab Pathology Ltd with offices at Sandyford Business Park, Dublin 18. It is claimed there was an alleged failure to correctly report and diagnose and there was an alleged misinterpretation of her smear samples taken in 2009 and 2012. A situation allegedly developed where Ms Morrisseys cancer spread unidentified, unmonitored and untreated until she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in June 2014. The HSE the court has already heard admitted it owed a duty of care to Ms Morrissey but not to her husband. The laboratories deny all claims. Mr Treacy asked Mr Gleeson about a letter Ruth Morrissey's treating consultant wrote to him in May last year in which they asked questions about the reporting of the smear slides, when the audit results were made knownm and looking for feedback on the upgrading of the slides. Mr Gleeson said he did not recall seeing the letter but it was stamped as having been received on June 1 last year and passed on to the State Claims Agency legal team. Earlier, Mr Justice Cross warned there are not enough judges to hear the cases of women suing over the alleged misreading of their CervicalCheck smear slides. He said he may be faced with having to hear two actions in one day, one in the morning and switching to another in an afternoon as the cases mount up. "I cant see a way around it," he said. He added if cases dont settle, the court will have to do something. The case continues. Caught: Declan Brady was one of the financial masterminds for the Kinahan cartel In the days after he was arrested by gardai, Declan Brady (52) was given the name 'Mr Nobody'. He wasn't known to gardai, was far less obvious than other members of the Kinahan cartel, and seemingly happy to operate under the radar. However in the months before the massive seizure, Brady had been subject to a massive secret surveillance operation by the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB). Before the garda operation and seizure in Rathcoole, he was identified as one of the cartel's main logistics and finance organisers. He was also observed travelling overseas on visits to the organisation's main leaders in the UK and Spain. However his presence in the warehouse during the raid marked the first-time 'Mr Nobody' had ever been found at a crime scene. Despite the nickname given to him after his arrest, sources say gardai were well aware Brady was one of the main fixers for the Kinahan gang in Ireland, and had known this for a year before his arrest. "He was being watched at very high levels," one source said. He was seen as the gang's main organiser, taking charge of the finances and the acquisition of firearms for the members of the gang operating here. He has not been involved in any of the attacks but was regarded as a very significant player in the cartel "behind the scenes". At the time of his arrest, one garda officer told the Irish Independent: "He is one of the most important, if not the most important, Kinahan figure, based in this country." Brady, who is originally from South Dublin but told gardai he was living in Celbridge, Co Kildare at the time of his arrest, was seen as a "money man" with close links to senior figures such as Liam Byrne and Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh, as well as Daniel Kinahan. Since his arrest two years ago, Brady has been in custody in Ireland's highest security prison in Portlaoise. His arrest and removal from his role dealt a huge blow to the Kinahan cartel. The Hutch/Kinahan feud has claimed the lives of 17 people since September 2015, including two innocent men, Trevor O'Neill and Martin O'Rourke Speaking at a Joint Policing Committee of Dublin City Council last month, Assistant Commissioner Pat Leahy, in charge of the Dublin region, described the feud as "inter-generational" and fears it would go on for years to come. Almost 90,000 checkpoints and patrols have been carried out under Operation Hybrid since it began in Feburary 2016, days after gunmen dressed as gardai stormed the Regency Hotel and shot David Byrne dead. "This has not gone away, it is unlikely to go away," Mr Leahy said. "This is inter-generational. These people are neighbours, and they were always neighbours. They know each other intimately. "They've grown up with each other, they've gone to school with each other, some have now been convicted of the most outrageous crimes and have been sentenced to life imprisonment." Caught: Declan Brady was one of the financial masterminds for the Kinahan cartel The senior Kinahan cartel figure nicknamed 'Mr Nobody' will be sentenced in March after he pleaded guilty to possessing 15 lethal firearms and more than 4,000 rounds of ammunition. Declan Brady (52), with an address at Celbridge, Co Kildare, gained his nickname after his arrest in relation to the massive seizure which happened at Greenogue Business Park, Rathcoole, in south county Dublin on January 24, 2017. Prior to this, Brady had barely any convictions and was not generally known to gardai. He was caught in the Rathcoole facility along with three other men who have already been jailed by the Special Criminal Court in relation to the huge firearms seizure. Brady had indicated that he was going to contest the charges against him but yesterday before his trial was due to commence, he pleaded guilty to possessing nine revolvers, four semi-automatic pistols, a sub-machine gun, an assault rifle and more than 4,000 rounds of ammunition in suspicious circumstances. It took the registrar of the Special Criminal Court several minutes to read the entirety of the two counts such was the itinerary of firearms and ammunition. When asked how he pleaded to the counts, Brady replied "guilty" in both instances. Weapon He was remanded in custody to appear before the court on March 25 next for a sentence hearing. Prosecuting counsel Fiona Murphy SC noted that a "nolle prosequi" would be entered on remaining charges, which means the State will not be proceeding with these counts. Last week, Kilkenny man Sean Ruth (29), with an address at, Rathangan, Co Kildare, was jailed for two and a half years for possession of a single revolver and ammunition which was not compatible with the weapon which was seized as part of the same garda operation. Jonathan 'Rocket Man' Harding (45) of McNeill Court, Sallins, Co Kildare, and James Walsh (33), with an address at Neilstown Drive, Clondalkin, both previously pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court to the possession of nine revolvers, four pistols, a sub-machine gun, an assault rifle and various ammunition magazines at the unit in Greenogue Business Park. A senior source said last night that the unit in Greenogue was the "main distribution hub" for the Kinahan cartel. Ut is suspected that at least three shipments of firearms, drugs and cash had been distributed there before the seizure by gardai in January 2017. Police officers were ordered not to go into rough seas during Storm Callum as an Irish father struggled to swim to safety and drowned, an inquest has heard. Officers said David Dooley had drifted too far out to sea and the weather was so bad it was unsafe to try to rescue him, the hearing was told. The 38-year-old was swept out to sea when he was on a night out in Brighton, East Sussex, on October 13. Born in Dublin, Mr Dooley - who has a son called Brendan - lived in Tullamore, Co Offaly, before moving to Chiswick, west London. A post-mortem examination found he died after drowning but "serious intoxication" was a contributing factor. Toxicology reports showed he was almost four times the drink-drive limit and had traces of cocaine in his system, Brighton and Hove Coroner's Court was told. Mr Dooley was spotted "waving his arms and making attempts to return to shore" in the "very rough" sea with "high winds and large waves" before he fell lifeless and his body was seen floating, the inquest heard. His Ukrainian wife Khrystyna left the hearing in tears as Detective Sergeant Kerry Bartup told the court officers were ordered not to go into the sea. They had been unable to find any of the lifebuoys situated at points along the seafront and because they were on foot patrol, did not have access to throw lines sometimes kept in police cars. Instead they tried to shout advice to Mr Dooley over the noise of the waves, kept other members of the public back from the water's edge and tried to get equipment sent from a nearby police station. Officers were called at 1.21am and arrived and reported seeing him in the water at 1.23am, according to a timeline of correspondence with the control room read to the court. By 1.34am Mr Dooley could no longer be seen moving, the coastguard arrived at around 1.54am and his body was found at around 2am. Reading evidence to the court, Det Sgt Bartup said it was "far too dangerous" for officers to go out and a sergeant "made the decision that no-one was to go into the water". She added: "Officers felt concerned about their own safety and other members of the public." When Mrs Dooley came back into the room, she asked: "You saw him struggling for about 20 minutes in the water but nobody could help him?" Det Sgt Bartup added: "I am really sorry." In a statement read to the court, Mr Dooley's friend Andrew Mather told how the pair - who met at work in Ireland 26 years ago but had lost contact - arranged to meet in Brighton after he got in touch to say he was moving to Sussex for work. The pair spent the afternoon and evening together drinking and eating before sitting with cans of lager to drink on the beach, chatting and laughing, he said. Then Mr Dooley went down to the water's edge but Mr Mather had a "feeling something was wrong" and saw he had disappeared so raised the alarm with security staff at the nearby Coalition nightclub, who contacted the police. Mr Mather added: "I was scared he had gone in the water." Helicopters could not be sent out because of the weather conditions and lifeboat crews had to battle crashing waves to get to the body, the hearing was told. Paramedics could not resuscitate him. Mr Dooley was one of two people to die as the storm wreaked devastation across western parts and coastal areas of the country that weekend. Corey Thomas Sharpling, 21, of Newcastle Emlyn, was killed near the village of Cwmduad in Carmarthenshire, west Wales, on the same day. When news of Mr Dooley's death emerged, The Windmill pub in Acton - where he was a regular - paid tribute to a "lovely friend". A campaign for donations was set up to help pay for his funeral and realise his wish to be buried in Ireland. Assistant coroner Gilva Tisshaw decided to adjourn the inquest to investigate "matters of concern", adding: "If a lifeline had been available to the officers earlier, would the outcome have been different." The hearing will resume at 10am on March 19. A GARDA has told a murder trial how he recalled seeing "ten to 15" round bales of silage at the location of the tank where the remains of Bobby Ryan were subsequently found. Garda Tom Finan said he only realised yesterday the exact location of the tank where the body was found, after looking at an aerial photograph of Mary Lowry's farm at Fawnagowan, Co Tipperary. He originally thought the body was found in a slurry tank on the farm, he told the trial at the Central Criminal Court. Garda Finan said he became "unhappy" with his initial evidence after seeing a report on television, last Friday week, which included aerial footage from the back of the farm. Questioned by Bernard Condon SC for the Defence, Garda Finan was asked how he came to be unhappy about it, he replied: "I knew I hadn't seen the tank where the tank has been portrayed." "Portrayed by who?" Mr Condon asked and Garda Finan replied: "I suppose by the media." Garda Finan explained that he had been having coffee in the second floor of the Courts of Criminal Justice Complex with his colleagues when he asked to see an aerial photo of the farm. He subsequently made a second statement in the CCJ, where he outlined how he had seen "ten to 15 round bales of silage" where this tank was located. "I searched that area and found nothing there in relation to a tank," he told the trial, of the initial Missing Persons search on June 7 2011. Farmer Patrick Quirke (50) of Breanshamore, Co Tipperary has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Bobby Ryan, a DJ known as Mr Moonlight, on a date between June 3 2011 and April 2013. Under close cross questioning by Mr Condon, Garda Finan said he had asked the lead investigator on the search team, Sgt Cathal Godfrey, if he could see the photo. He said he had seen this photo for the first time in the Coffee Dock yesterday. A man jailed for 12 years for the violent rape of a young woman at a Dublin gaming convention is to appeal the severity of his sentence, the Irish Independent has learned. Keith Hearne (29) was jailed in 2017 for the rape and false imprisonment of Dominique Meehan, who was 24 years old at the time, at the Crowne Plaza in Blanchardstown in 2015. Hearne, from Allenton Drive, Tallaght, locked the door of a conference room in the hotel where he had cornered his victim, bound her hands with his tie and raped her. When she screamed, he told her he had a knife in his bag and would use it if she wasn't quiet. His bag, containing a "rape kit" of a prop knife, handcuffs, condoms, a mask and "sado-masochistic" items, was later found at the scene, the Central Criminal Court heard. Ms Meehan, who waived her right to anonymity after Hearne was convicted, was only saved when another person forced their way into the room when they heard the disturbance inside. She has since said she feared Hearne would kill her. Hearne, now known as Prisoner 107512, pleaded guilty to two counts of rape, one count of oral rape and one count of falsely imprisoning the gaming enthusiast. Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy handed down the 12-year sentence at the Central Criminal Court, saying the ordeal had been "devastating" for the victim. Read More The judge said Hearne had perpetrated an "extremely violent series of sexual offences" on the victim, extending to her false imprisonment over a period of time. Last week, Ms Meehan was told that Hearne's appeal against the length of the sentence handed down to him will be heard in April. The case will come before the Court of Appeal on April 12. When Hearne was imprisoned he was first brought to Mountjoy to be processed into the jail system. It is usual for prisoners to spend their first night in the Dublin jail, but in Hearne's case he was transferred straight to the Midlands Prison over fears he could be attacked by other inmates. After Hearne was sentenced, Ms Meehan said she would have to reinvent herself, because she had forgotten who she was before the brutal event. "I don't know who I am anymore. I can't remember who I was before I was raped, and I'm trying to reinvent myself so I'll know who I am. I don't know how I'm going to proceed from here," she said at the time. "In my opinion, that person that he raped is dead. That person was so naive, so innocent, because I suppose I believed those kind of things didn't happen to people. "I'd see it in the news and in the papers, but I just couldn't believe that something that awful could happen to someone, but now I know it does, so that person, I believe, is dead." Last year, the brave Donegal woman wrote a letter to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in which she raised concerns over the availability of treatment and services supplied to rape victims. In it, she highlighted a lack of Sexual Assault Treatment Units (SATUs) in the country, and the confusion surrounding the services available for survivors going through the justice system. Anti-eviction activist Ben Gilroy was returned to prison on Tuesday after the High Court rejected his challenge to his detention for contempt over his failure to complete an 80-hour community service order. Mr Gilroy had brought an inquiry under Article 40 of the Constitution, claiming his detention for three months at Dublin's Mountjoy prison was unlawful and he should be released. Mr Justice Max Barrett found against Mr Gilroy. He told Mr Gilroy that he was "sorry" for "the predicament" he found himself in. However, the judge said, the court was "coerced as a matter of law to conclude that Mr Gilroy's detention at Mountjoy Prison" was in accordance with the law. He then revoked Mr Gilroy's bail, which was granted when the inquiry commenced earlier this month. He ordered the former election candidate be returned to Mountjoy to serve the remainder of the three-month prison term. In his action, Mr Gilroy, assisted by businessman Jerry Beades, had claimed that the order upon which he was detained was flawed on several grounds. They included that the order did not mention that Mr Gilroy was to be detained by the Governor of Mountjoy Prison, that the order had been wrongly endorsed by the garda who brought him to the prison, and that the order named the wrong plaintiff. The State opposed the application and rejected the claims. Mr Justice Barrett said none of the points raised could be deems as flaws that would render Mr Gilroy's detention fatally flawed, invalid or unlawful. Mr Gilroy was jailed last month by Mr Justice Brian McGovern for three months over a failure to comply with a court order to complete 80 hours community service after he had admitted criminal contempt. Mr Justice McGovern found there was a deliberate and conscious breach by Mr Gilroy of the October 2017 community service order, arising from Mr Gilroys admission earlier in 2017, of criminal contempt. The contempt related to Mr Gilroy having, in a sworn statement in proceedings by Allied Irish Banks plc seeking to enforce a 3.2m judgment against another man, accused the court of criminal intimidation and threats and compared the action of a court to that of a thief putting a gun to his head and robbing him of his wallet. The court, after being informed that Mr Gilroy had not performed the 80 hours community service, ordered that Mr Gilroy of Riverview, Athlumney Abbey, Navan, Co Meath, be detained at Mountjoy Prison. Newly engaged couple Killian Casey and Emer Duffy light candles under a statue of St Valentine having received a blessing from Bishop Denis Nulty ahead of St Valentine's Day at the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, to promote the Catholic marriage agency Accord. Niall Carson/PA Wire Catholic couples still want a priest officiating in a church on their wedding day, a senior bishop has said. Bishop Denis Nulty said that this persists even though though lay people can act as wedding solemnisers for non-Catholic marriages. Bishop Nulty, who is President of Accord, the catholic marriage agency, blessed engaged couple Emer Duffy and Killian Casey from Rathfarnham at the Shrine of St Valentine in Whitefriar Street Church. The couple are set to marry in 2020. In front of the ancient relics of St Valentine, Dr Nulty highlighted that this year marks the 1750th anniversary of the death of the Roman saint -and that many couples visit the Dublin shrine as an act of homage. Emer said: "There's a lovely ceremony in here, and because we knew Valentine was here, when we came for Mass we saw the notice and put ourselves forward for it. "It's lovely to get the blessing, it'll be a nice thing to remember. The Dublin GAA-mad duo worked in the same technology company in 2012, but didn't see any sparks fly until meeting up socially for a match at Croke Park. According to Killian: "We soon became strongly emotionally attached and our relationship has grown over the intervening years. We share many interests in life such as GAA, history, culture, travel and family. Expand Close Newly engaged couple Killian Casey and Emer Duffy are presented with flowers and chocolates under a statue of St Valentine from Bishop Denis Nulty ahead of St Valentine's Day at the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, to promote the Catholic marriage agency Accord. Niall Carson/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Newly engaged couple Killian Casey and Emer Duffy are presented with flowers and chocolates under a statue of St Valentine from Bishop Denis Nulty ahead of St Valentine's Day at the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, to promote the Catholic marriage agency Accord. Niall Carson/PA Wire "We go to Mass here, and we got the opportunity to get the blessing and it just fit for us." Killian proposed to Emer at a restaurant in Spain in October last year with a 'promise ring'. The pair then booked a trip to Dubai in November where they shared some great moments including picking a proper engagement ring. Speaking to the Irish Independent about Accord's figures for 2018, Bishop Nulty said 16,048 individuals attended marriage preparation courses last year. CSO figures have shown that 52pc of all those who married opted for a Catholic wedding. Asked about the role of lay Catholics in presiding at funerals and whether they might also preside at Catholic weddings, Bishop Nulty said, I think we have to see where the other possibilities of lay involvement are. Some people are registered solemnisers of civil marriage but that is a slightly different thing. Referring to the fact that over half of all marriages are catholic ceremonies, he added: The fact that 52pc are choosing to marry in the Catholic Church in 2019, saying we believe in this and this is important to us, is a superbly positive fact. I think people want the priest and the church. New research by Maynooth University was also unveiled on Tuesday. The study was carried out on 3,000 men and women by the university for Accord on the issues and outcomes from counselling by the agency. Among the issues identified as contributing to relationship problems were mobile technology and social media. Issues of culture, religion and values were also identified as contributing to relationship difficulties. For some couples, their belief systems, the value they place on education, their cultures may be very different. We are going to become much more diverse in Ireland in the future and Accords marriage preparation will have to take this issue into greater consideration in the years ahead, Dr Nulty acknowledged. The study also showed that women are more likely to rate childcare and home duties as a problem. ARMED gardai have raided the headquarters of a Dublin motorcycle club whose members led the cortege for the gangland funeral of a Kinahan cartel associate. Early this morning heavily armed officers attached to the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) and local Gardai carried out searches of the Crumlin property as part of an investigation into the motorbike gangs Dublin chapter. The group came to prominence almost three years ago when a number of its members led the funeral cortege of David Byrne (33), who was shot dead in the Regency Hotel as part of the Hutch/Kinahan feud. The bikers led a large convoy of stretch limos carrying Byrne's family and associates, with dozens of prominent mourners dressed in matching black suits and blue shirts. Expand Close David Byrne, who was shot dead in the Regency Hotel / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp David Byrne, who was shot dead in the Regency Hotel The dawn raid this morning also involved local Garda units including members of the Sundrive Road drug unit and district detective unit, who have been carrying out ongoing investigations into the motorcycle club. Sources said that a large number of suspected weapons, including close to 100 knives and swords, were seized during the operation, along with documentation. The Crumlin property is the club house of the motorcycle gang and has been described as a compound with a number of small buildings built inside. No arrests were made today as part of the Garda searches but investigations are ongoing. This mornings raid was carried out almost three years to the day that three motorbikes driven by the clubs members led the funeral procession of David Byrne as it made its way from his family home in Raleigh Square to the church St Nicholas of Myra on Francis Street. The Kinahan cartel associate had been shot dead at the Regency Hotel days earlier as part of the Hutch/Kinahan feud, which has claimed up to 19 lives to date. Therese Daunt-Smyth (second from right) on stage during an episode of Irelands Got Talent It boasts some top TV names and showcases the wide variety of talent the country has to offer but viewing figures for Irelands Got Talent suggest it is failing to hit the right note with viewers. The Virgin Media talent show, in which hopefuls audition to impress Louis Walsh, Jason Byrne, Michelle Visage and Denise Van Outen, has been haemorrhaging viewers since it returned to TV screens earlier this month. Figures obtained by Independent.ie show that it lost 100,000 viewers between its first episode on Saturday, February 2, and Saturday, February 9. Meanwhile, its audience has dropped significantly since it aired last year. The first episode in 2018 attracted 470,000 viewers, 35pc of the viewing share. This year, the first episode of the talent show presented by Lucy Kennedy attracted 330,000, which was a 22pc share. The second episode last year attracted 339,000, while last Saturday 230,000 viewers tuned in, a 17pc share. With 340,000 viewers tuning in to RTE Two for Dublin v Kerry at the same time as the talent show at the weekend, figures may have suffered with the clash in airing time. In sport, the first weekend of Irelands Six Nations campaign captured the nations attention, with people tuning in in their droves to watch their clash with England on Virgin Media. The match attracted 979,000 viewers as Ireland embarked on their Grand Slam defence. However, it may be the case that some viewers have lost interest in Joe Schmidts men as there were fewer people tuning in to watch last weekend following their defeat against the English. As Ireland took on Scotland, 592,000 viewers watched; for Ireland v Scotland last year, 721,000 viewers looked on. Interestingly, 100,000 viewers watched this years Ireland v Scotland match on BBC One. The British broadcaster did not air the England match as part of a six-year agreement between ITV and BBC to share the coverage. When contacted by Independent.ie last night, Virgin Media declined to comment. Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney bid farewell to Catastrophe with an emotional and optimistic tribute to the late Carrie Fisher. The Star Wars actress, who played Delaneys mother Mia on the show, died before the fourth and final series was filmed. Many wondered how the Bafta award-winning Channel 4 sitcom would deal with her absence. In an deftly handled finale, the pair arrive in the US just as Fishers character dies, upsetting their planned family trip and causing them to reassess their relationship. Expand Close Sharon Horgan last week revealed the final episode of Catastrophe would be a tribute to Carrie Fisher (Ian West/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sharon Horgan last week revealed the final episode of Catastrophe would be a tribute to Carrie Fisher (Ian West/PA) Catastrophe told the story of an American advertising executive and an Irish schoolteachers one-week-long journey from accidental pregnancy to marriage. Going full circle, the final episode saw the pair embark on raising another child together after another accidental pregnancy. It ended with the pair swimming out into the sea before being swept away on a rip tide. Fans hailed the shows poignant ending, suggesting that Horgan and Delaneys characters fight against the sea current was symbolic of their turbulent relationship. They wrote: Poignant ending to the final ever #Catastrophe As Rob and Sharon swim against the current as theyve done since episode 1 to overcome their differences and save their marriage. Poignant ending to the final ever #Catastrophe As Rob & Sharon swim against the 'current' - as they've done since episode 1 - to overcome their differences & save their marriage aaiaai Mark Foley (@mecafolidas) February 12, 2019 Another viewer labelled the final image of the couple beautiful and romantic and tragic and scary. They added: Rob wading in after Sharon despite the dangers. The two of them trying to stay afloat together. Dark and unsentimental but lovely. Others who analysed the ending thought it might show how they had been swept away by meeting one another. They said: I chose to believe the rip current is like fate/destiny it takes you where it wants no matter how much you try fight it and Rob went into it with Sharon like he did when she found out she was pregnant. Being swept away together in the beginning and end. I chose to believe the rip current is like fate/destiny it takes you where it wants no matter how much you try fight it & Rob went into it with Sharon like he did when she found out she was pregnant. Being swept away together in the beginning & end #catastrophe #morrisnorrislives Aisling (@AislingMc23) February 12, 2019 Another fan of the show admitted its finale had brought them to tears, writing: Theres always a point in every episode of Catastrophe when the emotional authenticity makes me cry. Last week it was Chriss it made me want to be your husband again so badly dick speech. Bravo. .@SharonHorgan I love your & @robdelaney's show so damn much. There's always a point in every episode of @catastrophe_tv when the emotional authenticity makes me cry. Last week it was Chris's "it made me want to be your husband again so badly" dick speech. Bravo. Katie Puckrik (@KatiePuckrik) February 12, 2019 Speaking last week, Horgan did not write off a return to the programme. However, she confirmed the show was certainly finished for now, saying: It doesnt mean that its dead and over for good forever. But it just means thats it for now. Professor Green has been forced to cancel his upcoming tour after fracturing his neck in a fall just hours before his first show. The British rapper said in a post to Instagram that he had had three seizures resulting in a fall which fractured vertebrae in his neck. Hackney-born Green known off stage as Stephen Manderson was due to embark on a tour of the UK beginning tonight at The Globe in Cardiff. The rapper, 35, shared a picture of himself strapped onto a stretcher with his head supported and a neck brace, with a tube in his nose. Along with the picture on Instagram, he wrote: I had seizure this morning which resulted in a fall while I was packing for tour. Depending on how you look at this fall I was extremely lucky. I fractured vertebrae in my neck and subsequently had to cancel my tour that was due to start today. Ill be back in the winter with a bigger tour. Ive had two further seizures and am lucky I didnt break my neck. Really f****** lucky. Thanks for baring [sic] with me. He apologised to fans, but said he felt lucky to not be in worse condition. A statement from Professor Greens spokesperson said: Due to a serious neck injury Professor Green has been forced to cancel his February 2019 tour. Tickets for all dates are refundable. Refunds will be made available at the point of purchase. Prosecutors previously had charged 16-year-old Andre Naydenov with murder in the Feb. 1 shooting death of 20-year-old Jose Castaneda. Naydenov was charged as an adult and is accused of driving the car used in the shooting. The 15-year-old boy, who authorities believe was the gunman, was charged as a juvenile, and his name was not released. Margaret Thatcher found the Irish Border a bit of a puzzle. When the Iron Lady first examined Ireland on a map, she complained that the line between north and south was full of "kinks and wiggles". After finally being persuaded that straightening it out was not an option, she admitted to Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald: "We got it wrong in 1921." As Diarmaid Ferriter's short but wide-ranging history of Irish partition makes clear, Thatcher was by no means the only person to reach this conclusion. Any Brexit negotiator worried about Ireland's 'backstop' should remember that the Border also once seemed like a temporary solution, grudgingly accepted by Michael Collins and other republicans who assumed Northern Ireland would be too small to survive for long. Almost a century later, it is still the defining issue of Anglo-Irish relations - and a logistical headache that the best political brains in Europe apparently cannot solve. At 144 pages, Ferriter's book is a quick read but certainly not a light one. Just like the UCD historian's best lectures, it skilfully condenses a vast amount of research into a coherent narrative packed with striking quotes and acerbic commentaries. While his focus is naturally on high politics, he also adds some welcome colour by citing the works of songwriter Christy Moore, poet Seamus Heaney and novelist Eugene McCabe - whose powerful description of the border region itself would take some beating: "A dim, hidden country, crooked scrub ditches of whin and thorns stunted in sour putty land; bare, spade-ribbed fields... housing a stony-faced people living from rangy cattle and welfare handouts... To them a hundred years was yesterday, two hundred the day before." Despite the book's slightly scattershot feel, it has a clearly identifiable theme. Ferriter depicts Northern Ireland as the problem child of a messy divorce, deeply traumatised because neither parent seems to really want custody. Even David Lloyd George, the prime minister whose Government of Ireland Act first created partition, secretly yearned to wash his hands of it. British soldiers might die for king and empire, he mused, but "I do not know who will die for Tyrone and Fermanagh". During the Anglo-Irish Treaty talks, he described unionists as "a pugnacious people" and told Sinn Fein's Arthur Griffith: "There is nothing we would like better than that they should unite with you." Unfortunately for all concerned, the Boundary Commission set up to design a more sensible frontier soon became politically toxic. The two governments suppressed its report and Ireland was left with what Ferriter calls a "ridiculous" geographical barrier surrounded by a dense rural road network. One house in Fermanagh straddled both jurisdictions, prompting the Catholic Registration Association to argue that four Protestants should be disenfranchised because they slept in "the foreign part". Ever since then, British leaders have tended to see the North as an expensive nuisance. Winston Churchill secretly offered Eamon de Valera a united Ireland in return for support during World War II (Dev didn't trust him to deliver and refused). Tony Blair devoted himself to creating a peace agreement but found the Orange Order "unbelievable people... there is nothing more irritating than sitting in a room with someone who claims to be British, but who treats you as though you are nothing to do with Britain, even though you are the prime minister". On this side of the Border, meanwhile, most taoisigh have paid lip service to the idea of scrapping it. De Valera's 1937 constitution claimed ownership of the entire island and there was much romantic talk about taking back "our fourth green field". His successor, Sean Lemass, however, privately derided northern nationalist politicians as "old women" (a grave insult in his book) and thought they were just as "intractable" as their unionist counterparts. The next Fianna Fail Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, did his best to keep up the pretence. "It is impossible for true Irishmen, of whatever creed, to dwell on the existence of partition without becoming emotional," he declared in a 1970 speech. The reality, Ferriter caustically notes, was that many true Irishmen were "well able to remain unemotional about the Border by not engaging with it in any way". Some people, of course, had no psychological hang-ups about making the journey. Ferriter includes several humorous asides on smugglers, including one elderly lady in the 1950s who used a hot water bottle to bring whiskey up north and tea leaves down south. Another archival gem is the 1939 Irish Tourist Association advert that urged Belfast Telegraph readers to spend Christmas in Dublin, calling it "the gayest city in Ireland!" A few weeks ago, Tanaiste Simon Coveney suggested that Brexiteers such as Jacob Rees-Mogg might change their minds if they read a little more Irish history. Ferriter's erudite and insightful book would be a fine place to start. Diarmaid Ferriter will be discussing 'The Border' at the Mountains to Sea dlr Book Festival on March 31, www.mountainstosea.ie China struck an upbeat note yesterday as trade talks resumed with the United States, but also expressed anger at a US Navy mission through the disputed South China Sea, casting a shadow over the prospect for improved Beijing-Washington ties. White House senior counsellor Kellyanne Conway also expressed confidence about a possible deal. Asked yesterday if the two countries were getting close to a trade agreement, she told Fox News: "It looks that way, absolutely." The United States is expected to keep pressing China on long-standing demands that it reform how it treats American companies' intellectual property in order to seal a trade deal that could prevent tariffs from rising on Chinese imports. The latest talks kick off with working level discussions yesterday before high-level discussions later in the week. Negotiations in Washington last month ended without a deal and with the top US negotiator declaring work was needed. "We, of course, hope, and the people of the world want to see, a good result," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a news briefing in Beijing. The two sides are trying to hammer out a deal before the March 1 deadline when US tariffs on $200bn (177bn) worth of Chinese imports are scheduled to rise to 25pc from 10pc. Mr Trump said last week he did not plan to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping before that deadline, dampening hopes that a trade pact could be reached quickly. But the White House's Ms Conway said a meeting was still possible soon. Escalating tensions between the US and China have cost both countries billions of dollars and disrupted global trade and business flows, roiling financial markets. The same day the latest talks began, two US warships sailed near islands claimed by China in the disputed South China Sea, a US official told Reuters. China claims a large part of the South China Sea, and has built artificial islands and air bases there, prompting concern around the region and in Washington. Reuters Bank of Ireland is denying trackers to a large number of its own staff, despite evidence that they were promised they would be put on the low-cost mortgage rate. A number of internal staff emails show the bank staff had been told they would be given trackers once their fixed rates ended. Some of the cases date back 10 years, which would mean a large payout for the staff and ex-staff if the bank concedes. Around 200 bank staff and former staff have now formed into a group to fight for trackers and to be refunded overcharged interest. The group wrote an 18-page letter to Central Bank Governor Philip Lane in December, but has yet to get a reply. The bank, run by Francesca McDonagh, is holding out, despite already restoring some 1,800 other staff and former staff on trackers, refunding them overpaid interest and paying compensation. The difference with this group, it is understood the bank argues, is that they were never on a tracker rate when they took out their mortgages. Most staff started out on two-year fixed rates, but internal communications seen by this publication show the bank promised them they would get a tracker. Press releases issued by the bank also promised that fixed-rate customers would roll to a tracker rate. A press release issued by the bank in 2006, announcing a cut in its then two-year fixed rates, states: "As mentioned previously, this product (as with all our new fixed rates) will roll to ECB +1.25pc (APR 3.6pc) on expiry of the fixed rate term." An internal communication told staff before they opted for a fixed rate that "if you switched to the two-year fixed rate mortgage, you would have the option to roll to a staff tracker at the end of the fixed-rate period". The bank has now told the staff and former employees that their cases had been deemed "out of scope" in its tracker review. Bank of Ireland said the tracker mortgage examination was continuing at the bank. "To date, impacted customers have been identified and remediated where a right to a tracker or the right to be offered a tracker existed. "This is the central tenet of the Central Bank of Ireland's 'Framework for Conducting the Tracker Mortgage Examination' and applies equally to all customers, including colleagues," the bank said. The Central Bank said it had received the letter from the Bank of Ireland staff group, and the issues raised were being considered by it. SUPERMARKET sales rose by 5.3pc in the final three months of 2018, buoyed by rising employment and wages that helped contain the shift to online. However, discounting in the run up to Christmas has slowed overall retail growth. Grocery sales were the highest since 2007 as consumers splurged on food and drink over the festive period. Department stores also reported an increase in sales - up 3.7pc in the three months to December 31 - according to the latest retail monitor from trade body Retail Ireland. The increase in sales, over what is traditionally the most important period of the year for consumer spending, was affected by Black Friday sales in November, which have stretched and altered the traditional Christmas season. While sales were up for the quarter, department stores reported a 7pc decline in the volume of sales in December last year compared to November. Black Friday is the informal name given for the day following Thanksgiving in the United States, which last year fell on November 22. It is regarded as the start of the Christmas shopping season in the US, and many retailers in Ireland now also offer discounts and promotions. On the back of the discounts, the price of cosmetics, skincare and beauty products fell by 4.4pc, while footwear prices dropped by 4pc. Overall, the volume of all retail sales in December, historically the biggest shopping month of the year, grew by just 0.5pc when compared to figures for November. "Deep discounting and promotional events in early November are central determinants of this low growth," said Tom Burke, the head of Retail Ireland. The lobby group warned that the increase in sales masked declining customer footfall and a gradual softening in consumer sentiment and spending. "While sales values held up reasonably well, there is consensus in the sector that footfall levels in traditional shopping hotspots are continuing to decline," Mr Burke said. He added that the fall in traditional bricks and mortar shops was largely as a result of a move to online shopping, and changing shopping patterns. "Retailers have reacted to that move and are now offering an increasingly compelling proposition in this space," Mr Burke said. "This is challenging margins however as online fulfilment costs are high and there is intense price competition in this market." Retail Ireland says 2019 will be "challenging" for the sector, with ongoing structural shifts requiring shop owners to rethink traditional ways of operating. "Brexit impacts will likely require the re-imagining of supply chains, and depending on negotiations over the coming weeks, could impact consumer spending power," Mr Burke said. New offices: The Dublin skyline as seen from Capital Dock in the citys docklands Pre-tax profits at an Irish arm of JP Morgan bank more than doubled to $22.68m (20.1m) in 2017 in spite of an un-named key client of the bank exiting. Accounts filed by JP Morgan Bank (Ireland) plc show that pre-tax profits rose by 126pc to $22.68m in the 12 months to the end of December 2017. Revenues rose by 8.6pc, from $130.35m to $141.64m, during 2017. At the end of 2017, the bank had $306.5bn of 'assets under custody'. The directors said that a decrease in assets-based fees to $40.2m was due to a key client exiting but this was offset by increased revenues from existing clients. The firm's non-asset based fee revenues rose from $92m to $101.4m and the directors said "the increase in non-asset based fee revenues is due to a rise in the attribution of revenues from other group companies during 2017". The business recorded operating profits of $15.99m and benefited from net interest payments of $6.6m. The business recorded post-tax profits of $19.24m in 2017 after paying corporation tax of $3.44m. During 2017, the company purchased the 12,000 sq m 200 Capital Dock on Sir John Rogerson's Quay that has given the JP Morgan the capacity to double its Irish workforce to 1,000. The accounts put a cost of $42m on the purchase of the site and associated costs of the building incurred in 2017 with work ongoing at year end. Salary costs for staff in 2017 rose from $32.68m to $33.03m while other staff costs increased from $8.34m to $10.03m. Directors' remuneration increased by 35pc from $883,958 to $1.193m. The bank's Investor Services arm provides an integrated range of products whose investor base is mainly located outside Ireland. The company's Treasury Services group provides treasury and cash management outsourcing services to a global client base. The directors' report said the company and its subsidiaries are confident that they will continue to meet client needs through the continued consolidation and expansion of its existing business. At the end of 2017, the business had shareholder funds of $404m, including accumulated profits of $347.6m. The global financial services company has been in Ireland since 1968. Neither Greencore chief executive Patrick Coveney (pictured), nor other board members, participated in the tender offer Greencore's largest shareholder has boosted its stake in the sandwich-maker by tendering significantly fewer shares than it was entitled to under a share buy-back it had lobbied the company to launch. A stock exchange filing yesterday shows that Polaris Capital Management holds a 13.8pc stake in the Irish firm, up from 9.45pc prior to the tender offer. It passed the 13pc threshold on February 7. Polaris Capital had pressured the Irish food group to launch the 509m (580m) buy back of its own shares as a means to return capital to investors following the sale of its US arm. Greencore bought back nearly 37pc of its own shares under the tender offer. None of Greencore's board, including chief executive Patrick Coveney, sold stock back to the company under the tender offer, in what was a show of commitment in the group. Greencore, one of the world's biggest sandwich-makers, bought 261m of its own shares - the maximum permissible under the tender offer. It could not clarify Polaris' holding beyond the notice to the stock exchange yesterday. If Polaris did not avail of its full entitlement to sell shares to the company under the tender offer, while other shareholders did, it was left with an increased stake in the company even without buying additional shares. Greencore decided to return cash to shareholders after it sold its US arm for $1.07bn (930m). It originally intended to pay a special dividend to split 509m among shareholders, but the plan was criticised by investors, including Polaris, which proposed the tender offer as an alternative. "In effect, others sold and/or we sold less thus increasing our ownership," said Polaris founder and lead investment manager Bernie Horn in a statement. Another Greencore shareholder, Susquehanna International, has now exited its shareholding altogether. The company most recently held a 6.5pc stake. A JOINT venture between Coillte and the ESB to develop 1,000MW of wind farms could be up and running within a year if a deal between the pair can be finalised, according to Coillte CEO Fergal Leamy. The two semi-State companies announced yesterday that they have entered into talks to form the joint venture, with a hope that negotiations can be concluded by May. The companies would take an equal share in the entity. Coillte, in conjunction with advisers IBI and Capricorn, has been seeking a joint venture partner for more than a year for its wind farm development programme, which currently has 12 high priority sites. Coillte has a number of additional sites that could be built on in the longer term. Mr Leamy, who is stepping down as Coillte CEO in June for a private sector role, said that the company has spent about 9m in the past year preparing sites for wind farm development. The company has previously worked with the ESB on developing two other windfarms, in Co Cork and Co Wicklow. The Coillte boss said that the joint venture with the ESB, if agreed, would also require a financing partner with access to low-cost capital. He said such a partner could potentially emerge from the pensions or insurance sectors. Coillte and the ESB have already held talks with the government regarding the joint venture, and with the European Commission. Last year, Coillte sold its operating wind farm assets to Greencoat Renewables for an enterprise value of 281m. Communication between the IFA and its thousands of members countrywide has been brought under the microscope as the organisation conducts a review into the issue. Rank and file members in several areas of the country have been critical of "the divide" between IFA at national level and the membership on the ground on decision making and have been calling for farmers' voices to be heard. The launch of the Beef Plan Group has set a challenge for the IFA to counteract allegations that livestock farmers have not been adequately represented by the organisation. Over 70pc of the IFA membership is made up of livestock farmers. It is understood the review will examine how the organisation communicates with its membership and it will be considered by the national officers before the end of this month. A senior IFA source explained: "We want to see are we getting the messages to the members as effectively and as quickly as possible. "We want to establish if there is a better way to keep in contact with our farmers." A convicted sex offender and fraudster was jailed once again this week for conning farmers into handing over tractors. Damien Peter Loughran (34), from Jubilee Park, Cookstown, pleaded guilty to two sets of offending with a combined total of more than 40 charges, accumulating over 25,000 in value and targeting multiple victims in Counties Armagh, Down and Tyrone. Shameless career criminal Loughran is a regular before the courts and after being convicted of sexual assault in 2007 police went to court two years later to stop him moving in with an older woman who had teenage daughters. Loughran has an extensive criminal record with 148 convictions of which 74 were for fraud. Jailing him this week for three years at Dungannon Crown Court, the judge said he was appalled at his behaviour. Judge Neil Rafferty added: Quite frankly it takes a lot to appal me, but this is a confidence hoaxer who just makes his living this way. He manages to endear himself to people using some sort of charisma and claims of ill-health. In offences running from April 2017 and January 2018, Loughran took tractors supposedly to carry out repairs, taking cash from the owners. However, he put the tractors up for sale. Thirteen counts of fraud by false representations involved Loughran taking three tractors from various people for repair. He also offered seven tractors and various engine parts for sale, when all belonged to others. He had tried to seek a collective 660 to carry out repairs to the tractors. Twelve offences related to the theft of three tractors and cash totalling 7,050, as well as 300 bank credit. Loughran perverted the course of justice by making a false report of a burglary to police. This occurred after the owner of a tractor which Loughran had taken for repairs went to the shed in Dungannon where it was supposed to be stored. On finding it missing he challenged Loughran who deliberately damaged the lock and reported to the premises to have been burgled. There were further convictions of running up 1,291 in a mechanical supplies company trade accounts, stealing a low-loader, and three counts of driving while disqualified and without insurance. In a bid to avoid a jail sentence, Loughrans legal team argued that he suffered from drug problems. His barrister said: My client struggles with addictions. He falls into debt to dangerous elements in society who will do bad things to him. He is under pressure to get money to pay the debt. But Judge Rafferty took no pity on Loughran, telling him: You are not a first-time offender. You have previously serviced prison terms for similar offending the difficulty is it has made no impact on your offending behaviour. Loughran has a conviction for indecent assault on a female from 2007 for which he served three months in jail. In 2009 we reported how police took unprecedented steps to stop him moving in with his partner who had teenage daughters at the time. Loughran was fighting a police order to stop his girlfriend from moving into his Cookstown home. He had previously been caught living in his partners home with the kids before Social Services found out and intervened. Cops feared the girls may be at risk as its a well-known tactic for sex offenders to target older partners with children and in this case the age difference was more than 10 years. Social Services and the police got involved in February 2008 when it emerged Loughran was living alone with the children. In 2013 we reported how Loughran went on a staggering crime spree across Northern Ireland over an 18-month period. The shameless crook wrote dozens of dodgy bank cheques which he knew he didnt have the funds to cover. He also stole cash and sold farm machinery which didnt belong to him leaving businesses out of pocket to the tune of almost 60,000. A source who knows Loughran told the Sunday World: Hes addicted to crime. Conning and stealing is all he knows. He has no sense of morals at all and doesnt care that he leaves people completely fleeced. Hes a scumbag through and through. At least he is behind bars for while. Auctioneers throughout the country have described the supply of letting land as practically non-existent. The supply of letting land has hit a record low and prices have climbed as high as 350/ac for grazing and up to 600/ac for potato ground. Auctioneers throughout the country have described the supply of letting land as practically non-existent. Dairy farmers are dominating the letting scene in southern counties and are also moving outside their traditional heartlands in search of land for fodder, zero grazing and replacements. The amount of new land on the letting market has been declining steadily since 2015 when tax breaks for long-term letting took effect. Proposed changes in the new CAP are also a factor. "Landowners are afraid that 2017/18 and 2019 may be regarded as reference years in relation to the new regime of entitlements," said Dundalk auctioneer Raymond Fee. "If they are not farming the land themselves during one of these reference years, they may be left without entitlements." However, some analysts are questioning the viability of the current letting rates. Carlow-based agri-advisor Pat Minnock said there are concerns that there is not enough of a margin for farmers paying the higher rates. "You would be concerned when you hear the type of money changing hands. I recommend 150/ac is enough for tillage ground and you can justify 200 or 250/ac for some grassland for dairying depending on the situation, but after that it is hard to justify," he said. Mr Minnock also urged people to act with caution on long-term leases and ensure the person renting will be able to pay the money. Otherwise, they could end up having to pay back the tax relief if the lease falls through, he warned. 'Non-existent' On the supply issue, Carlow auctioneer John Dawson said there is virtually no land available in his area for rent. Roscommon auctioneer John Earley said land is scarce and prices being paid to date are much higher than in previous years, with decent grazing land making 220/ac. "You would have to ask if it's worth it given the return," he said. Stephen Barry of Navan-based auctioneers Raymond Potterton is seeing prices of 160 to 205/ac for weaker grazing. "If I had stubble ground for spuds, I could get 450/ac for it and up to 600/ac," he said. In Wexford, Frank McGuinness of Sherry FitzGerald O'Leary Kinsella also said there is very little land coming on the market "Dairy farmers and tillage farmers are willing to pay up to 300/ac for ground around here," he said. Cork auctioneer Dan Fleming describes the scarcity as "savage", especially for tillage people. "The tillage man has lost out to the cow man and there is literally no ground available to grow cereal, potatoes or vegetables - it is very serious for these people," he said. He has seen land make from 250/ac to 350/ac, and in one case 400/ac. Meanwhile, the land sales season has started strongly with 18,000/ac and 15,600/ac paid at auctions in Cork and Wexford respectively. Hinsdale police, who assisted on the scene, charged Adam T. Blankenship, 40, of the 14300 block of Melbourne Place, Lockport, with driving under the influence of alcohol and disobeying a police officer at 8:59 p.m., after he was stopped for driving around a squad car that had closed the ramp. Sabina Coyne and the Duchess of Cornwall as they receive a posy of flowers from Frank Shovlin, nine, and Beatrice Shovlin, six, as they attend a reception at Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool. Maxwell/PA Wire The Duchess of Cornwall and Sabina Coyne sign a visitor's book watched by the Prince of Wales and Irish President Michael D Higgins during a reception at Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool, to celebrate Charles' and President Higgins' joint patronage of the Liverpool Institute of Irish Studies. Peter Byrne/PA Wire The Prince of Wales and Irish President Michael D Higgins watched by the Duchess of Cornwall and Sabina Coyne sign a charter during a reception at Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool, to celebrate Charles' and President Higgins' joint patronage of the Liverpool Institute of Irish Studies. Danny Lawson/PA Wire President Michael D Higgins has called for the "warm relationship" between Ireland and the UK to survive whatever the outcome of the "Brexit odyssey". He also praised the Prince of Wales's commitment to Anglo-Irish relations in a speech to a gathering of regional business leaders in Liverpool. Mr Higgins paid tribute to the "unique, optimistic outlook and natural warmth" of Liverpool as he toured the city during the first overseas trip of his second term as President. Mr Higgins and his wife Sabina renewed their friendship with Charles and Camilla when the foursome visited Liverpool University's Institute of Irish Studies. Speaking later during a business lunch, he said: "We cannot deny that we are on the cusp now of a potentially seismic shift in the structure of the trade and commercial relationships between Ireland and Britain and, of course, this brings reverberations within the island of Ireland, and through the Midlands and North of the UK. "The uncertainty that exists, and that may continue to exist for some time, seems to offer an inevitable dampening effect on business links and investment decisions across borders that are currently frictionless, but where barriers to trade and co-operation may soon emerge. "We must together face the uncertainty we are now confronted with, and endeavour to ensure, whatever the outcome of the Brexit odyssey, that the warm relationship, built on ties of family, friendship and shared interests, will endure and will grow." The president and the prince met at Liverpool's Victoria Gallery and Museum to formally cement their roles as joint patrons of the Institute of Irish Studies. Following protocol, Charles and Camilla arrived first and waited patiently for Ireland's head of state and his wife, and greeted them warmly when their limousine pulled up. The institute's foundations lie in the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement to encourage greater understanding between the two islands. Expand Close The Duchess of Cornwall after attending a reception at Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool, to celebrate the Prince of Wales and Irish President Michael D Higgins' joint patronage of the Liverpool Institute of Irish Studies. Peter Byrne/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Duchess of Cornwall after attending a reception at Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool, to celebrate the Prince of Wales and Irish President Michael D Higgins' joint patronage of the Liverpool Institute of Irish Studies. Peter Byrne/PA Wire The foursome held a private meeting for around 15 minutes before chatting to guests at a reception including representatives from Liverpool Irish Centre, Irish Community Care (Merseyside), and Irish businesses along with students and academics from the institute. In his speech to business leaders Mr Higgins highlighted the common ancestry between his homeland and the city: "It is the people of Liverpool and their unique, optimistic outlook and natural warmth which make this place what it is and sustain Liverpool's energy and cultural creativity. "And as you know, the very Irishness of Liverpool might just have something to do with that. Indeed, it has been claimed that up to three-quarters of all people here can easily claim Irish ancestry." Charles has toured Ireland every year since 2014 and the president highlighted his dedication to preserving ties between the two nations. Mr Higgins, who is midway through a three-day tour of the UK, said: "The deep personal commitment of Prince Charles to Irish-British relations, combined of course with that of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, is truly exceptional. "It speaks of the progress we have made as neighbours and friends over recent decades and following very challenging times." Unionism Separately, Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald said unionism could be an energetic and energising voice in the debate around Irish unity. Her comments came after a DUP MLA sent a letter warning unionists they may not be able to vote to keep Northern Ireland in the UK. North Down MLA Alex Easton contacted his constituents asking them to register in case there is a vote on Irish unity. The letter emerged hours after DUP leader Arlene Foster claimed there was no possibility of a border poll. Mrs McDonald said people should not "feel anxious" about a border poll. Speaking outside Leinster House in Dublin, she said: "People shouldn't feel a sense of threat around the prospect of a border poll or the debate that will lead into it or the Ireland that will emerge from it. "This will be a collaborative and collective process. We won't write the blueprint for a new united Ireland. "Unionism needs to be accommodated and welcomed and become a very energetic and energising voice, and perhaps a challenging voice, in the debate around Irish unity and in the debate around the securing a referendum on that matter." Mr Easton's undated letter includes a electoral form for constituents to get registered. He wrote: "If for instance, there was ever a referendum called on a border poll on a United Ireland, and you are not on the electoral register, you would NOT be able to vote to save our UNION with the rest of the UK!" How Irish policymakers manage the fall-out from Brexit - regardless of the form it takes - will be important for assessing Irish credit fundamentals into the future, according to Canadian credit rating agency DBRS. How effectively authorities use fiscal and macro-prudential policy tools to manage the eventual Brexit outcome are an important test in terms of the ability to manage the economy over time. For now, the negative impacts of Brexit here have been hard to see and may even be helping cool an otherwise overheating economy, according to DBRS. The UK economy has already slowed dramatically and last year it grew at 1.4pc, the weakest rate since 2012, with some economists citing the impact of Brexit uncertainty on investment. But in Ireland, exports are booming, companies have relocated and created 4,500 jobs here, helping the economy to grow around 5.6pc last year. Booming company tax receipts have also pushed the budget into surplus. "Despite the benefits to the Irish economy since the referendum, including many companies shifting resources from the UK to Ireland, the threat of a no-deal Brexit may in part be starting to apply some convenient friction to the Irish economy," DBRS said in a report on the Irish economy. "Concerns of economic overheating, given the supply constraints in labour and real-estate markets, could be exacerbated over the medium-term if the Brexit-related uncertainty that has loomed over Ireland were to evaporate following a benign outcome," it noted. For most European economies, Brexit will have a limited impact, but comes at a time when activity is already slowing quickly. But for the economy here, the impact of Brexit, especially a cliff-edge no-deal, could be worse than in the UK. Read more: EU 'should hand back Irish taxes in no-deal UK divorce' There is a wide range of estimates for the impact here, from a hit of 4pc lopped off potential economic growth over the long-term to a loss of as much as 8pc versus a situation where the UK had remained in the EU. Ireland's recovery from the financial crash - based on the headline economic numbers alone - has been spectacular. According to DBRS, real modified domestic demand, which strips out external distortions, has grown at an annual average rate of 4.6pc from 2014 to the third quarter of 2018, while employment growth has increased at an annual average pace of 3.3pc over the same period. Those strong numbers however mask an increasingly uneven wealth distribution here. While the poorest 10pc in terms of income do relatively well when compared with advanced European Union peers, where there are relatively equal income distributions, the next poorest 40pc do badly, according to Robert Sweeney, a policy analyst at TASC, an independent think-tank here. Elsewhere, Davy Stockbrokers cut its outlook for UK economic growth to 1.0pc this year from 1.8pc previously. The move from Davy came after the Bank of England last week cut its 2019 growth forecast for the UK to just 1.2pc. Read more: Lane gets nod for ECB post "Brexit, tighter financial conditions and political uncertainties are now weighing on UK GDP growth," Davy said. "We expect a 'soft patch' in the first half of 2019 so that GDP growth slows to 0.1-0.2pc per quarter. On Brexit, we expect the status quo to be maintained via a deal or an extension of Article 50. "We forecast 1.4pc GDP growth in 2020, with activity still held back by weak investment and productivity growth." Amid continuing uncertainty, ING Bank said that in a no-deal scenario it expects a sharp move lower for sterling, with euro/pound above 0.95, and even testing parity in case of a crash. The pound/dollar could drop to the 1.10-1.20 area, the investment bank said. Central Bank governor Philip Lane has been formally nominated by eurozone finance ministers to be the next ECB chief economist. His appointment is due to be confirmed at an EU summit in March. His impending elevation comes with current ECB chief economist Peter Praet due to leave at the end of May. Prof Lane, the only candidate put forward to replace Mr Praet, will have an important role in managing the sluggish eurozone economy when he takes up his new job. Prof Lane's departure will create a race to replace him at the Central Bank. Deputy governor Sharon Donnery and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform secretary general Robert Watt, who was pipped by Prof Lane to the post the last time out, could be among the contenders to replace him. The Irish economy faces a number of challenges ratings agency DBRS has warned The Irish economy faces a number of challenges regardless of the outcome of Brexit, ratings agency DBRS has warned. Recognising that a no-deal Brexit would be the most painful outcome for the Irish economy, a note from the Toronto head-quartered group said the Irish economy could be anywhere from 4pc-8.2pc smaller over the long-term compared to a no-Brexit baseline. However, it added that a benign Brexit outcome would not eliminate, and over time may even exacerbate, existing economic challenges. These economic difficulties include supply constraints in labour and property markets. Such challenges could be exacerbated over the medium-term if the Brexit-related uncertainty that has loomed over Ireland were to evaporate following a benign outcome. How the country manages Brexit will be important for assessing Irish credit fundamentals, DBRS added. "DBRSs future assessments of Irelands credit quality will consider how effectively authorities use fiscal and macroprudential policy tools to manage the eventual Brexit outcome," the agency said. THE EU should hand back tax payments it would receive on Irish imports from the UK if there's a no-deal Brexit, a leading accountants' group has warned. If there's no deal the EU will get 80pc of the tariffs paid by Irish firms on UK imports under WTO rules, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) said. The ACCA said this money should be returned to Ireland as part of a support package if no deal arises. "Many people will be surprised that under international WTO rules, imports into the EU from any other international region sees only 20pc being retained by the country of entry," said Stephen O'Flaherty, chair of ACCA Ireland. "With Brexit [Ireland] now finds itself in the eye of an international storm and the EU must maintain its flexible support," Mr O'Flaherty said. "It can do this by ensuring that the revenue from UK WTO trade tariffs form an integral part of a far-reaching economic support package that can help offset some of the financial upheaval of Brexit on businesses, communities and families." Separately, a number of business representative groups have called for a three-month extension for Irish businesses on their import VAT payments. After Brexit, Irish firms will have to pay VAT upfront on their imports from the UK, resulting in a new squeeze on cashflows. Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has proposed that companies could wait until they make their VAT returns (due every two months) before paying, but business groups Ibec, the Irish Exporters Association, Chambers Ireland and others are looking for three months of grace. Internal struggle: UK Prime Minister Theresa May at Downing Street yesterday as she gears up for another big week for her Brexit deal. Photo: Reuters British Prime Minister Theresa May will update parliament today on her progress with Brussels, as the EU moved to press her to work with Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Mr Corbyn's terms for supporting Brexit include a customs union with the EU, something Mrs May has ruled out. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier described the Labour proposals as "interesting" last night, warning that time was "extremely short" to ratify a deal. With just 45 days to go to Brexit, nine Government departments will today update Cabinet on their work on the so-called omnibus bill to prepare Ireland for a no-deal Brexit. The legislation will be published on Friday, as various ministers meet with Oireachtas committees to discuss their sections of the unprecedented bill. In London, there are plans for Mrs May and Mr Corbyn to meet again to discuss a path forward amid growing Tory concern that any ground ceded to the party will be detrimental to the Conservative Party. Tanaiste Simon Coveney met with Labour's Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer in Dublin last night, but insisted it would not be helpful for Ireland to interfere in internal British politics. "What we want to see are the two large parties in Westminster working together to find a way of getting consensus and a strong majority to provide so many people with certainty around Brexit," he said. "But that is a matter for Westminster as a parliament and for Theresa May as a prime minister. "She has to manage the politics of Brexit. We are at a ratification process of a deal done last November - it is a deal that Ireland and the EU signed up to and that the British government also signed up to." But the backstop remains the crucial issue for Mrs May, who found cold comfort in Brussels on the idea of changing the terms of the insurance policy against the Irish Border. Negotiations continue to find a way to break the impasse, but Brussels has repeatedly ruled out re-negotiating the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement. The Alternative Arrangements Working Group in the House of Commons - a group of MPs who are seeking a means of replacing the troublesome elements of the backstop - met with UK Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay yesterday before he travelled to Brussels. DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds said: "Whilst the focus will return to Brexit in parliament this week, the backstop remains the central problem and it must be dealt with. "The prime minister has committed to securing legally binding changes to the Withdrawal Agreement. Those changes will be required for parliament to support any deal." He said if the political will is there a deal can be reached in the coming weeks. "The alternative is to cling to an unacceptable backstop which actually increases the chances of an outcome it was supposedly designed to prevent. It can make no sense for anyone to continue pursuing such a perverse policy," he said. Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson has appeared to soften his stance on the backstop, signalling that a time-limit or an exit mechanism would convince him to support Mrs May's deal. The leading Brexiteer's shift in position will be welcome for the internal battle facing Mrs May to unite her party around Brexit, but the solutions being touted by him will not pass muster with the EU. Meanwhile, former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will appear before the House of Commons Committee on Exiting the EU tomorrow, a day before MPs debate Brexit again before the latest a series of votes. The Prime Minister's chief EU adviser Olly Robbins was reportedly overheard in a Brussels bar saying Britain's withdrawal could be put on hold for an extended period. He was said to have indicated that if MPs did not vote for a deal, then the delay would be "a long one". "The issue is whether Brussels is clear on the terms of extension. In the end they will probably just give us an extension," he was quoted as saying. The reported comments by Mr Robbins - a key figure in the negotiations with the EU - will fuel the suspicion among MPs that Mrs May is trying to "run down the clock" to Brexit day on March 29 in an attempt to force them to back her agreement. It comes as a cross-party group of MPs is to launch a fresh attempt to prevent a no-deal Brexit if Theresa May cannot reach an agreement with Brussels by mid-March. The group, including Labour MP Yvette Cooper and Tory former minister Sir Oliver Letwin, have said they are ready to table an amendment enabling the UK Parliament to force ministers to seek a delay if there is no deal in place. The move comes as ITV news reported that Mr Robbins was overheard in a Brussels hotel bar on Monday telling colleagues the EU would probably give the Government an extension to the Article 50 withdrawal process. "Got to make them believe that the week beginning end of March... Extension is possible but if they don't vote for the deal then the extension is a long one..." Publicly the Prime Minister has always insisted the UK will leave on time - although a number of Cabinet ministers have raised the possibility of an extension. A British government spokesman said: "We would not comment on alleged remarks from a private conversation which is said to have been overheard in a hotel bar." Accident Meanwhile, the group led by Ms Cooper and Sir Oliver said they were preparing plans to enable Parliament to prevent the country falling into a no-deal Brexit "by accident". Expand Close Olly Robbins gives evidence before the Exiting the European Union Committee (PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Olly Robbins gives evidence before the Exiting the European Union Committee (PA) The move follows the announcement by Mrs May on Tuesday that she will make a further Commons statement on February 26 and table an amendable motion to be debated and voted on by MPs the following day, if she has not got a deal at that point. The group say they would then put down an amendment creating parliamentary time for a bill requiring the Prime Minister and Parliament to decide by mid-March whether the UK is leaving with a deal, without a deal or whether it will seek an extension to Article 50. Ms Cooper said: "This bill creates a Parliamentary safeguard to prevent us drifting into no-deal by accident, and to prevent those crucial decisions being left until the final fortnight." A similar amendment by Ms Cooper and the Tory former minister Nick Boles was defeated in the Commons last month. However supporters of the plan believe that as the calendar counts down towards March 29, it will focus the minds of MPs on all sides who believe no-deal would be a disaster for the UK economy. Sir Oliver added: "Any MP who genuinely wants to prevent an under-prepared no-deal Brexit will need to vote for this bill at the end of February. "It is the only way of giving the House of Commons the time to produce a consensus about a positive way forward if the PM cannot get her deal through by mid-March." Other MPs supporting the move include the senior Labour MP Hilary Benn, Tory former attorney general Dominic Grieve and the Liberal Democrat Norman Lamb. It is also backed by Tory MP Dame Caroline Spelman and Labour's Jack Dromey, who last month tabled a non-binding amendment opposing a no-Brexit which did win Commons support. Earlier, Mrs May set out plans to short circuit parliamentary rules in order to get a Brexit deal ratified in time for the UK to leave the EU on March 29. Contempt She told MPs that she would enable the House of Commons to lift a requirement for a 21-day delay before any vote to approve an international treaty. But Labour pledged to oppose the move, accusing the Government of showing "contempt for our democracy". In a House of Commons statement, Mrs May acknowledged she would need "some time" to seek legally-binding changes from the EU to the controversial backstop for the Irish border. With 45 days to go however, Mr Grieve warned time was running perilously short under the terms of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act which requires 21 sitting days before the ratification of any international treaty. Downing Street insisted by the time the 21-day period to consider the Brexit treaty kicked in, MPs would already have passed judgment on it in the "meaningful vote" and the Withdrawal Agreement Bill. Mrs May sidestepped demands from several MPs to spell out whether she would ask the EU for an Article 50 extension if she hit the March 29 deadline with no agreement. In stormy exchanges in the Commons, the SNP's Westminster leader Ian Blackford risked being thrown out of the chamber after shouting "liar" at the Prime Minister. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested she was "running down the clock" on Brexit in the hope that MPs will be "blackmailed" by the fear of a no-deal scenario into supporting a "deeply flawed" agreement. "She is playing for time and playing with people's jobs, our economic security and the future of our industry," he said. Mrs May told the Commons: "We now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this House requires and deliver Brexit on time." Elected officials at almost all levels of government have now joined the chorus of voices calling for a shutdown of the two buildings near Route 83 and Midway Drive, especially following the most recent testing results from the federal Environmental Protection Agency. It cost the tax-payer over 500,000 to pay the lawyers in the trial that convicted three people of the callous murder of Gareth Hutch (36). According to new figures from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), barristers employed by the DPP were paid 243,776 to successfully prosecute Thomas Fox (31), Jonathan Keogh (33) and Regina Keogh (41) for the gangland murder of nephew of Gerry the Monk Hutch, Gareth Hutch in 2016. Barristers employed to defend the three would have been paid similar amounts on legal aid along with legal payments to solicitors which would bring the total lawyer bill for the case to over 500,000. In figures released through the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, the DPP has confirmed that payments to barristers to prosecute cases in the criminal courts last year totalled 17.39 million - an increase of 1 million or 6% on the 16.4 million paid out in 2017. The top paid senior counsel was paid 524,649 (incl VAT) with four others receiving payments over 300,000. Ten other un-named senior counsel received fees between 200,000 and 300,000 with eight junior counsel receiving fees between 200,000 and 300,000. However, the DPPs FOI unit has decided not to name the barristers and refers to the barristers as Senior Counsel 1, Senior Counsel 2 etc as a result of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) directive. A spokeswoman for the DPP FOI unit stated: The FOI Unit in the Office of the DPP has departed from previous practice over recent years by choosing not to disclose the names of counsel. The reason for this is due largely to recent data protection legislation and in particular this Office's obligations under the GDPR." She stated: The decision from the FOI Unit relates only to our own GDPR obligations. I have taken advice from our Data Protection Officer in this regard. A big driver in the increase in payments was the 1.2 million paid out by the DPP to prosecuting barristers in the trial of former Anglo Irish Bank ceo, David Drumm. Senior counsel in the case enjoyed a brief fee of 40,000 + VAT and a daily fee of 3,000 plus VAT. Mr Drumm was jailed for six years last June after being convicted for his role in a 7.2 billion fraud perpetrated at the peak of the banking crisis in 2008. The Gareth Hutch trial last year was the 5th most expensive trial last year for the DPP. At the three judge Special Criminal Court in November, brother and sister, Jonathan Keogh of Gloucester Place, Dublin 1 and mother of five, Regina Keogh Avondale House, Cumberland Street North, Dublin 1 were convicted of Mr Hutchs murder on May 24th 2016 and received the mandatory life prison term. Thomas Fox of Rutland Court, Dublin 1 was also convicted of Mr Hutchs murder and also received the life term. The second most expensive trial last year for the DPP concerned a 'heinous' tiger robbery and cost 346,316 in DPP counsel fees with the total cost of lawyers - including defence lawyers - in the case to the tax-payer more than double that an around 700,000. Four men, Mark Farrelly (47) of Moatview Court, Priorswood, Coolock, Christopher Corcoran (71) of Rosedale, Raheny, David Byrne (45) of Old Brazil Way, Knocksedan, Swords, Dublin and Niall Byrne (36) of Crumlin Rd Flats, Dublin were sentenced to a total of 53 years. The trial, which began in January 2018 - was the 5th time the case had gone to court. The third most expensive trial for the DPP at 281,074 concerned the trial of Kevin Braney who was convicted of murder of father of two, Peter Butterly (35) on March 6th 2013. Mr Braney had two co-accused in the case who pleaded guilty to lesser offences and earlier this month, Mr Braney (44) of Glenshane Crescent, Tallaght, Dublin 24 was was jailed for life. The fourth most expensive case for the DPP last year at 257,938 concerned five accused charged with subversive-related offences. Work continues at the site of the new National Childrens Hospital at St. James Hospital in Dublin. Fianna Fail has published a Bill that would give more power to the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) to investigate major infrastructure projects. Following the huge overspend on the National Childrens Hospital, the opposition has called for strengthened oversight of capital projects. The Bill would give extra powers to the C&AG to investigate all infrastructure projects as soon as they go over budget, and have a bidders previous history taken into account when assessing tenders. The estimated cost of the new hospital on the campus of St Jamess Hospital in Dublin has risen from an original estimate of 650 million euro to more than 1.7 billion euro. The FF Comptroller&Auditor General Bill will ensure enhanced oversight on capital spending & mandate the C&AG to review if project costs rise above a certain amount. It would put Ireland in line with best Intl practice and ensure lessons are learned from NCH debacle. pic.twitter.com/Ezny507mKl Fianna FAil (@fiannafailparty) February 12, 2019 Fianna Fails Public Expenditure spokesman Barry Cowen said: Its blatantly clear to all that lots of changes are needed in the way the Government deals with capital development plans and projects. In the case of this instance, its our duty to ensure that we get to the bottom of what went wrong in this sorry debacle and mismanagement and without having the legislation to give that power to the C&AG, who are replying on PWC and our Oireachtas committees to ensure that information is forthcoming, that will present us with more mechanisms to ensure that it doesnt happen again. If a minister being informed of a potential overrun way and above what would have been envisaged within the contract, the C&AG would have the power to intervene, to adjudicate and make recommendations on behalf of the tax payer. It doesnt interfere with its own independence, it merely acts as another layer of oversight. We need to learn the lessons from the National Children's HospitalDara Calleary Fianna Fails deputy leader Dara Calleary said the party is also reviewing the two-step procurement process. He said: We are trying to come up with solutions ensuring this kind of problem does not happen again. We have the expertise within the State service to identify those problems around addressing the complete inadequacies that have been highlighted by the hospital overrun. We need to learn the lessons from the National Childrens Hospital. Theres no sense in us blowing this up now without learning the lessons. We are taking a sensible decision in relation to this. Spokeswoman for Older People Mary Butler TD said: People are very upset with the cost overruns on the National Childrens Hospital. Clarity is what is needed and certainty. There are a lot of areas throughout the whole country that are waiting to see what areas will be deferred and what are going forward. Work continues at the site of the new National Childrens Hospital (Brian Lawless/PA) The government has signed off on almost 100m euro of the capital project budget reallocation to tackle the National Childrens Hospital overspend. The A5 Derry to Dublin road project and The National Forensic Science Laboratory will be the hardest hit by the spending deferral. Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe said on Tuesday that government must learn from the overrun and implement changes to the oversight of large projects. Speaking at Government Buildings, Minister Paschal Donohoe outlined how a99m necessary for the provision of the National Childrenas Hospital will be accommodated with a minimum of disruption to the scheduled rollout of key infrastructure projects under Project #Ireland2040 pic.twitter.com/lsqMyJiN4W MerrionStreet.ie #StaySafe #HoldFirm (@merrionstreet) February 12, 2019 The Department of Health will be hit for 24m euro, across 2019 and 2020. Mr Donohoe said at this moment the National Childrens Hospital will cost 1.7bn euro. The government has come under severe criticism for the overspend on the hospital project which is due to be built at the St Jamess site in Dublin. Charges to public procurement processes include no pre-committal to major bespoke projects before final tendering is completed and the cost is known, and pay to advisory firms will be linked to performance. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is now commencing a capacity and capability review of public sector bodies, to ensure state delivery practices meet a higher standard, Mr Donohoe said. Mr Donohoe said the country would see a rescheduling of expenditure across a number of departments. The National Forensic Science Laboratory, weve also looked at an advance payment from the Department of Education, and the operation and a draw down of expenditure of Ireland 2040 regeneration funds, will all see spending diverted, according to Mr Donohoe. In doing this, we will ensure there will be no delays in relation to the operation of these funds, and in decisions on individual projects, but it is our expectation that this work will be taking place a bit later in the year. The largest single decision has accrued in relation to the expenditure for the A5, it is (now) not due to happen until the end of this year, whereas the government expected it would happen earlier in the year. I am accepting that we have a clear learning in relation to how the process of the National Childrens Hospital worked, I am taking responsibility for it and Im acknowledging what I want to do differently in the future. Other departments including Education, the Office of Public Works, Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Communications, Climate Action and Environment will see funding diverted. The minister did not supply a definitive list of the spending diversion to deal with the overrun but assured media there would be one very shortly. The minister added the new nurses pay deal will cost the State 10-15m euro this year and 30-35m in 2020. The funeral of tragic Irish model Alli MacDonnell is to take place on Friday, her heartbroken family has confirmed. The mother-of-four (37), who was from Rathfarnham, Dublin, passed away last week. Her funeral Mass will take place in Dalkey at 11.30am, followed by burial in Dungar Cemetary, Roscrea, Co Tipperary. The funeral notice, posted on RIP.ie, said the beautiful model is "Very sadly missed by her heartbroken children, mum Imelda, father Michael, brothers, sisters, brother-in-law, sisters-in-law, her grandparents John and Maureen, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, extended family and a wide circle of friends." Expand Close Tributes: Model Alli MacDonnell was an extraordinary mother. Photo: Brian McEvoy / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Tributes: Model Alli MacDonnell was an extraordinary mother. Photo: Brian McEvoy It concluded with the message "Forever young and beautiful." Tributes poured in for Ms MacDonnell following her death. Autism Ireland CEO Samantha Judge said Ms MacDonnell was an "amazing mother" and a tireless campaigner for autism. In recent years she fronted campaigns for Autism Ireland after her younger son was diagnosed with the condition. Here at Autism Ireland, we are very shocked and saddened at the loss of Alli," Ms Judge said. Alli was an amazing mother, a beautiful woman, inside and out." Close friend Lisa Burgess paid tribute to the mother of four, describing her as "wickedly funny, naughty, full of mischief and extraordinarily caring and compassionate". "She was an extraordinary mother and lived for her kids and her wonderful family," she said. A regular face on Ireland AM where she modelled in fashion slots, Alli was mum to Sienna (2), Harry (9) and she had two older teenager children. Valerie Roe who runs a PR and events agency recalled working with Alli. She was a single mum, life was hard but she lived for her kids, that was my abiding memory". Her death is being treated as a "personal tragedy". If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article please contact Samaritans helpline 116 123 or Aware helpline 1800 80 48 48 or Pieta House on 1800 247 247. The new National Childrens Hospital at St James Hospital in Dublin (Brian Lawless/PA) The Minister for Health has sincerely apologised over an answer he gave to the Dail about the overspend at the National Childrens Hospital project. Simon Harris apologised for information he gave about the costs, admitting he should have answered it more fully. He told the Dail on Tuesday he was not in a position to give commercially sensitive figures at the time. It has never been my intention to mislead the Dail, he said. I should have added further detail to inform that a process was ongoing to find out the cost and that updated costs would be known when that process concluded. Expand Close Work continues at the site of the new National Childrens Hospital (Brian Lawless/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Work continues at the site of the new National Childrens Hospital (Brian Lawless/PA) I sincerely apologise for not doing this and I specifically apologise to Mr (Barry) Cowen who tabled the question. I have always tried to approach my work in this house, especially as Health Minister, in a collaborative way. The estimated cost of the new hospital, on the campus of St Jamess Hospital in Dublin, has risen from an original estimate of 650 million euro to more than 1.7 billion euro. The minister said an inquiry set up to assess the overruns will provide a report by the end of next month. Mr Harris added: It will not be found wanting when it comes to acting against any entity or any company if errors were made. Lessons must and will be learned and Cabinet took a number of decisions in that regard today. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that he understands tax payers have been left annoyed that costs of the project has escalated. An anaemic non apology from Minister Simon Harris is this govt's version of accountability. A joke. A bad joke. An expensive -a450 million - joke. Mary Lou McDonald (@MaryLouMcDonald) February 12, 2019 It is a case of government and our agents underestimating the cost of this project and we have to accept responsibility and be accountable for that, he added. Leader of the opposition party Micheal Martin said it was a remarkable increase of costs. Speaking during leaders questions, he said: Are we to seriously believe the secretary generals of finance and health had no discussions about this between August and November last year or indeed that the two ministers didnt. Because if that is the case then that raises fundamental issues in terms of the governance and competence and management of the budgetary process itself. Expand Close Health Minister Simon Harris (Niall Carson/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Health Minister Simon Harris (Niall Carson/PA) Was it a case this project was too big and politically you invested too much and it was too late to stop and too late to relocate, but it seems there was an extraordinary silence across Government on this over a long period of time. Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald said: It extraordinary to hear you again, Taoiseach, try to justify or to explain away this fiasco as if to suggest to the taxpayer its actually not such a big deal after all. What is most extraordinary is to hear your collation partner Micheal Martin extol the extraordinariness of the situation and then resolve to back you and back your incompetent Minister for Health Simon Harris. It crystal clear at this juncture that the Minister for Health is incapable of solving it, in fact he is part of the problem. Fianna Fail might be prepared to sit on their hands, we wont. Independent TD Michael Lowry said: The perception out there amongst the working people is they are questioning the misuse of public monies. At a time when many Irish households struggle with every day costs like childcare, mortgages, rent and insurance there is a strongly held sentiment on the ground that public monies are being squandered with unnecessary layers of bureaucracy. Airline passengers have always played the system. In the 20th century this was mainly because fares were extremely high. For a couple of decades after the start of the jumbo jet age, the mismatch between what people could afford to pay and what the price-matching airlines were officially obliged to charge was astronomical. As a result, many airlines indulged in tariff abuse of their own. They sold cheap tickets through back-street travel agents with techniques such as backdating ticket stamps selling short-notice Apex tickets that officially required three months advance-purchase. Bonafide groups of passengers were allowed to buy cheap transatlantic seats on affinity charters, but I doubt anyone who availed of these flights was actually a member of a club, which has been formed for a purpose other than air travel, who attends regular meetings. Spurious membership cards were handed out along with the tickets, in case (as often happened) government inspectors conducted a swoop in a futile bid to stamp out cheap flying. I have been guilty of tariff abuse on an industrial scale, often with the airlines connivance. For cheap charter flights to Spain and Greece, we purchasers of seat-only deals had to pretend to be property owners signing entirely fictitious legal agreements leasing non-existent villas back to the carrier who would, in turn, sublet the imaginary property back to the passenger for a nominal 1. That meant the deal constituted a package holiday, so the cost of the flight could legally undercut scheduled fares. Travel Photographer of the Year 2018 Show all 16 1 /16 Travel Photographer of the Year 2018 Travel Photographer of the Year 2018 Timbuktu, Mali: In the last light of day the inhabitants of Timbuktu wash their clothes and take a shower in the port of Kabara. Stefano Pensotti/www.tpoty.com Travel Photographer of the Year 2018 Budapest, Hungary: Szechenyi Baths, built in 1913, is the most popular the inhabitants of Budapest who come here to relax with friends. Stefano Pensotti/www.tpoty.com Travel Photographer of the Year 2018 Chefchaouen, Morocco: Perfect newly picked oranges were everywhere in Chefchaouen, Morocco. Isabella Smith/www.tpoty.com Travel Photographer of the Year 2018 Kollam, Kerala, India: On my summer holidays in India our neighbours 30+ year old Mango tree was cut down. It was a sad sight to watch as this was a fruit yielding tree, home to many birds and a lot of shade under it on a hot sunny day. Daniel Kurian/www.tpoty.com Travel Photographer of the Year 2018 Lake Louise, Banff, Canada: When I first went to Lake Louise, I thought everything was beautiful not just the lake or the mountains but all of the little details. Tevin Kim/www.tpoty.com Travel Photographer of the Year 2018 Thanarghat, Sadar, Bangladesh: The river was little bit dried up; thus, the sandy base was seen. These little girls lived on the other side of the river and they were playing in the shallow water while waiting for their mother. Fardin Oyan/www.tpoty.com Travel Photographer of the Year 2018 Chamonix, Mont Blanc, Switzerland: A few climbers descended down to the base of Mont Blanc. Katherine Kosmicki/www.tpoty.com Travel Photographer of the Year 2018 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: In Tanzania, when you have albinism, you are thought to be evil. There is even a price on the head of children with albinism since killing a person with albinism is considered to bring good luck. Marinka Masseus/www.tpoty.com Travel Photographer of the Year 2018 Guatemala, Santa Lucia Utatlan: Mayan woman from Santa Lucia Utatlan, Guatemala. The designs from this region incorporate colourful geometric patterns and bird motifs. Tom Law/www.tpoty.com Travel Photographer of the Year 2018 Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo: Elie, 45, struts his stuff in the streets of Brazzaville. He has been a Sapeur for 35 years and his elaborate outfits bring joy to himself and his community. Tariq Zaidi/www.tpoty.com Travel Photographer of the Year 2018 Shaanxi, China: Endangered gold: The Qinling golden snub-nosed monkey is listed as Endangered by the IUCN as only some 3,800 individuals still exist. Most people have never seen these creatures. Marsel Van Oosten/www.tpoty.com Travel Photographer of the Year 2018 Mantadia National Park, Madagascar: Chameleon colours. Ignacio Palacios/www.tpoty.com Travel Photographer of the Year 2018 Svalbard, Norway: A mother Polar bear and her two young cubs are migrating north, as the sea ice melts quicker than previous years. Roie Galitz/www.tpoty.com Travel Photographer of the Year 2018 Amritsar, India: A Sikh pilgrim performs his ritual washing in the lake with the most famous place of worship for the Sikhs in the background. Matjaz Krivic/www.tpoty.com Travel Photographer of the Year 2018 Rio Lagartos, Yucatan, Mexico: Colours of the World: Pink - Las Coloradas. On the northern coast of Mexicos Yucatan peninsula are the magical pink lakes of Las Coloradas. The area is actually a private salt mine adjacent to the Rio Lagartos biosphere. Daniel Burton/www.tpoty.com Travel Photographer of the Year 2018 Niger River, Mali, West Africa: Sand divers freedive down to the bottom of the Niger river to collect sand for the building industry. Its an extremely dangerous job from which many dont return. Philip Lee/www.tpoty.com British Airways, meanwhile, worked with a web of agents in Barcelona to sell one-way flights to London for only 70, rather than the official fare of three times more; an Argentinian agent drove me across the city to pick up a ticket that insisted I was on an inclusive tour to the UK. When planes made a series of stops, it was possible to board with a ticket to the nearest destination and stay on the plane, hoping no one would notice; I procured a free domestic flight in Cuba through what I suppose is technically stowing away. Impersonation was also a frequent technique: unwanted tickets (or unused return halves) were sold semi-openly with the only stipulation being that the gender of the purchaser must match that of the vendor; in the halcyon days before 9/11, booking names were rarely checked against passports. On one flight where I was travelling on a ticket that previously belonged to Mr Lawrence Hourahane of Tenby, South Wales, my cover was nearly blown when an acquaintance on the same flight used my real name. But I dont suppose anyone would have cared. Airlines had yet to be exposed to the full ferocity of competition. Once the skies opened and airlines could charge what they liked, and the market would bear, fares fell. But to compete and survive, carriers had to become adroit at yield management: extracting the most they could for every seat. Air Canada, for example, knew that its mid-May Airbus from Toronto to Amsterdam would never fill unless it constructed some deep discounts to other destinations. So it bought some seats on British Airways from Amsterdam to Gatwick and flogged the itinerary for 140. I daresay some shrewd passengers bought the deal even if they were heading only as far as the Dutch capital, and hopped off at Schiphol airport (bearing hand luggage only) to halve the normal fare. Good luck to them, and to you should you decide to breach the conditions of contract. But as airlines defend the high-fare trips that underpin their business models, dont be surprised if a bill arrives shortly after you no-show for the final leg. As extreme cold weather continues to wreak havoc across the US, a small aircraft attempting to land in Indiana slid off the snowy runway and came to a stop on the highway. The charter jet, which was carrying three people, was touching down at Richmond Municipal Airport in Indiana. Arriving from Waukesha, Wisconsin, the aircraft slipped off the runway, through a field and stopped in the middle of Highway 227. Jeff Lane witnessed the event and shared several pictures on social media. He tweeted: No injuries reported, adding, State police and RPD now on scene after small jet slid off runway, thri [sic] field, and across 227 at Richmond Municipal Airport. Hawaii is blanketed by snow Show all 5 1 /5 Hawaii is blanketed by snow Hawaii is blanketed by snow Polipoli state park on Maui, Hawaii, has received a dusting of snow Reuters Hawaii is blanketed by snow Snow has fallen as low as 1,900m, potentially the lowest altitude snowfall on record in Hawaii Reuters Hawaii is blanketed by snow The storm also cut power supplies and flooded coastal roads in Hawaii AP Hawaii is blanketed by snow The slopes of the Haleakala volcano on Maui also received a dusting of snow AP Hawaii is blanketed by snow It's thought to be the first time a state park in Hawaii has seen snow settle AP The plane can be seen in the photos lying at the side of the highway, with its wing sticking out into one of the lanes of the road. Richmond airport manager Rodney Mayse told the Palladium-Item newspaper that this was the first incident to occur in the 22 years hed worked there. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating what caused the accident. The snow arrived as part of Storm Maya, which is currently disrupting travel plans across the US. Pictures show Hawaii blanketed in snow at some of the lowest altitudes ever on record for the state, while schools are closed all over Washington state. Recommended Photos of Hawaii in the snow illustrate just how cold it is in the US Northern New York and Michigan could receive up to 25cm of snow. A number of airlines have said they will waive fees for changing flights scheduled in the next few days to a later date for passengers due to fly to or from nearly 40 airports across the country. Airlines offering this option during the bad weather include American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Jetblue, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines. While the UK has shaken off its recent cold snap, the US is still in the midst of a deep freeze as snowy pictures taken in Hawaii prove. The island state, known for its volcanic beaches and tropical foliage, was completely transformed by a blanket of white this week. Photos show the archipelago dusted with snow, including the Polipoli State Recreation Area on the island of Maui. Hawaii officials say its likely the first time a state park has had snow settle. Even the slopes of the Haleakala volcano were streaked with white. The same storm that brought snow to Hawaii also knocked out the power, brought down tree branches and flooded coastal roads. Hawaii is blanketed by snow Show all 5 1 /5 Hawaii is blanketed by snow Hawaii is blanketed by snow Polipoli state park on Maui, Hawaii, has received a dusting of snow Reuters Hawaii is blanketed by snow Snow has fallen as low as 1,900m, potentially the lowest altitude snowfall on record in Hawaii Reuters Hawaii is blanketed by snow The storm also cut power supplies and flooded coastal roads in Hawaii AP Hawaii is blanketed by snow The slopes of the Haleakala volcano on Maui also received a dusting of snow AP Hawaii is blanketed by snow It's thought to be the first time a state park in Hawaii has seen snow settle AP Although its not unheard of for snow to settle on the islands, this is thought to be the lowest-altitude snowfall on record for the state it was seen at 1,900m in Mauis state park. Recommended Lake Michigan has frozen over and the pictures are spectacular Elsewhere in the US, schools closed across Washington state and the Legislature cancelled all hearings on Monday 11 February in response to further snowstorms pummelling the Northwest. Its thought to be Washingtons snowiest February ever. New York City is forecast 5-10cm of snow today, while New Jersey could get a dump of more than 60cm, prompting Governor Phil Murphy to declare a state of emergency that comes into effect at 12am local time. More than a dozen civilians have been reportedly killed in the last 24 hours as the battle for the last territory held by Isis nears its end in eastern Syria. Some 16 people, among them seven children and eight women, were hit by an airstrike from the US-led coalition as they were fleeing the Isis-held village of Baghouz, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the beginning of a final battle on Saturday to capture the small hamlet, which would effectively bring an end to the groups territorial ambitions in Iraq and Syria. Some 600 Isis fighters are thought to be holed up in Baghouz, and have been stopping civilians from leaving in order to use them as human shields, the Observatory said. Syrian state media, meanwhile, said 70 people were killed by an airstrike on the edge of the village, where they were taking shelter from the fighting. The government-controlled outlet is a less reliable source of news, however. Isiss scorched earth tactics damaged northern Iraq Show all 6 1 /6 Isiss scorched earth tactics damaged northern Iraq Isiss scorched earth tactics damaged northern Iraq Oil spills in Qayyarah, northern Iraq Wim Zwijnenburg/PAX Isiss scorched earth tactics damaged northern Iraq Plumes of black smoke from burning oil wells hung over Qayyarah for several months Wim Zwijnenburg/PAX Isiss scorched earth tactics damaged northern Iraq The burning of oil wells and oil spills have caused long term damage to the environment in Iraq Wim Zwijnenburg/PAX Isiss scorched earth tactics damaged northern Iraq Experts still do not know the extent of the damage from Isis's burning of oil wells and polluting of rivers Wim Zwijnenburg/PAX Isiss scorched earth tactics damaged northern Iraq Soil and water pollution is high in northern Iraq and impacting agriculture Wim Zwijnenburg/PAX Isiss scorched earth tactics damaged northern Iraq There are fears if environmental damage is not taken seriously agriculture in northern Iraq could be destroyed Wim Zwijnenburg/PAX The coalition said in a statement that it had launched a precision strike on Monday against an Isis command and control facility, formerly used as a mosque, but it is unclear whether the strike caused civilian deaths. This mosque lost its protected status when Isis deliberately chose to use it as a command and control centre, said Maj Gen Christopher Ghika, deputy commander in the coalition. Colonel Sean Ryan, a spokesperson for the coalition, told The Independent that the battle for the last Isis pocket has been slow and methodical as the enemy is fully entrenched and Isis fighters continue to conduct a counter attack. The capture of Baghouz would mark an important military and symbolic victory for the coalition of more than 70 countries that was forged to defeat Isis. The caliphate declared by the group in 2014 once ruled over 10 million people and spanned thousands of miles. It carried out genocidal attacks in Iraq, enslaved thousands of women and massacred all those who opposed it. We do not want to look too far ahead, however, said Colonel Ryan. After Baghouz, clearing operations will have to take place as well and Isis has purposely left IEDs behind to intentionally kill innocent civilians. Isis has resorted to desperate tactics in the last few days as it faced an onslaught of airstrikes and attacks from the SDF on the ground. The group sent three car bombs towards the frontline on Tuesday, reportedly killing nine SDF fighters. Recommended The last days of the caliphate loom as Isis nears defeat in Syria Over the past month, as the caliphate has shrunk smaller and smaller, more than 20,000 people have fled the area. Many of them are suspected of being family members of Isis fighters, and fighters themselves have tried to sneak out of the area by posing as civilians. With the battle not yet done, the SDF is already preparing for an entirely different battle against Isis. The group has begun morphing back into an underground insurgency, activating sleeper cells to launch bomb attacks. 'I have no other home': Irish citizen suspected of Isis links Alexandr Bekmirzaev on his desire to return to Dublin Donald Trump announced last month that the 2,000 US troops in Syria would be withdrawing from the country, which may force the SDF to strike a power-sharing deal with Bashar al-Assads government in the areas it captured from Isis. When news emerged that Qatar may have unwittingly helped bail out a New York skyscraper owned by the family of Jared Kushner, Donald Donald Trumps son-in-law, eyebrows were raised in Doha. Mr Kushner, a senior White House adviser, was a close ally of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - a key architect of a regional boycott against Qatar, which Riyadh accuses of sponsoring terrorism. Doha denies the charge. Brookfield, a global property investor in which the Qatari government has placed investments, struck a deal last year that rescued the Kushner Companies 666 Fifth Avenue tower in Manhattan from financial straits. The bailout, in which Doha played no part and first learned about in the media, has prompted a rethink of how the gas-rich kingdom invests money abroad via its giant sovereign wealth fund, two sources with knowledge of the matter told the Reuters news agency. The country has decided that the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) will aim to avoid putting money in funds or other investment vehicles it does not have full control over, according to the sources, who are familiar with the QIAs strategy. Tunisians protest against Saudi Crown Prince's visit Show all 10 1 /10 Tunisians protest against Saudi Crown Prince's visit Tunisians protest against Saudi Crown Prince's visit Street protests greeted Mohammed Bin Salman during his visit to Tunisia AFP/Getty Tunisians protest against Saudi Crown Prince's visit A mural depicting Mohammed Bin Salman washing his hands of blood Simon Speakman Cordall Tunisians protest against Saudi Crown Prince's visit A protester holds a banner accusing Mohammed Bin Salman of being a war criminal AP Tunisians protest against Saudi Crown Prince's visit Protesters pass down Habib Bourguiba avenue in Tunis Simon Speakman Cordall Tunisians protest against Saudi Crown Prince's visit A Tunisian man holds up a cartoon that depicts Donald Trump assisting Mohammed Bin Salman in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi AP Tunisians protest against Saudi Crown Prince's visit A poster depicting a war ravaged Yemeni child Simon Speakman Cordall Tunisians protest against Saudi Crown Prince's visit Protesters hold up saws in reference to the reportedly gruesome manner in which Jamal Khashoggi was disposed of AFP/Getty Tunisians protest against Saudi Crown Prince's visit Protesters pass down Habib Bourguiba avenue in Tunis Simon Speakman Cordall Tunisians protest against Saudi Crown Prince's visit Protesters chant slogans as they move down Habib Bourguiba avenue in Tunis Reuters Tunisians protest against Saudi Crown Prince's visit Protesters pass down Habib Bourguiba avenue in Tunis Simon Speakman Cordall Qatar started looking into how its name got involved into the deal and found out it was because of a fund it co-owned, said one of the sources. So QIA ultimately triggered a strategy revamp. The QIA declined to comment. Canadas Brookfield Asset Management Inc bailed out 666 Fifth Avenue via its real estate unit Brookfield Property Partners, in which the QIA acquired a 9 per cent stake five years ago. Both parent and unit declined to comment. The QIAs strategic shift was made late last year, according to the sources. It offers a rare insight into the thinking of one of the worlds most secretive sovereign wealth funds. The revamp could have significant implications for the global investment scene because the QIA is one of the worlds largest state investors, with more than $320bn (248bn) under management. The wealth fund has poured money into the West over the past decade, including rescuing British and Swiss banks during the 2008 financial crisis and investing in landmarks like New Yorks Plaza Hotel and the Savoy Hotel and Harrods store in London. Emmanuel Macron and Mohammed Bin Salman meet at G20 in Argentina Qatari boycott Mr Kushner was chief executive of Kushner Companies when it acquired 666 Fifth Avenue in 2007 for $1.8bn, a record at the time for a Manhattan office building. It has been a drag on his familys real estate company ever since. The debt-laden skyscraper was bailed out by Brookfield last August, when it took a 99-year lease on the property, paying the rent for 99 years upfront. Financial terms were not disclosed. The QIA bought a 9 per cent stake in Brookfield Property Partners, which is known as BPY and is listed in Toronto and New York, for $1.8bn in 2014. BPY has about $87bn in assets, part of more than $330bn managed by its parent Brookfield. The stake purchase by QIA was in line with its strategy to boost investments in prime US property. The investment gave QIA no seat on the board of BPY. The Qatari wealth fund was not involved in the 666 Fifth Avenue deal, a source close to Brookfield Asset Management told Reuters. There was no requirement for Brookfield to inform the QIA beforehand. Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Show all 23 1 /23 Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Joe Biden The former vice president - poised to be a frontrunner - has announced his run. He recently faced scrutiny for inappropriate touching of women, but was thought to deal with the criticism well AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Bernie Sanders The 2016 runner-up has announced that he will be running again in 2020 Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Hillary Clinton The 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State says she is still considering whether she will run again. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Pete Buttigieg The Indiana mayor and war veteran will be running for president. If elected, he would be the first openly LGBT+ president in American history. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Kamala Harris The former California attorney general will be running for president in 2020. Introduced to the national stage during Jeff Sessions testimony, she has endorsed Medicare-for-all and proposed a major tax-credit for the middle class. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Elizabeth Warren The Massachusetts Senator has formally launched her bid for president in 2020. A progressive Democrat, she is a major supporter of regulating Wall Street. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Beto ORourke The former Texas congressman told Oprah Winfrey that he has been thinking about running for presidency, but stopped short of formally announcing his bid to run in 2020. AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Wayne Messam Mayor of the city of Miramar in the Miami metropolitan area, Wayne Messam has announced his bid. He intends to run on a progressive platform against the "broken" federal government. He favours gun regulations and was a signatory to a letter from some 400 mayors condemning President Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord. Vice News Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Kirsten Gillibrand The New York Senator formally announced her presidential bid in January, saying that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Cory Booker The New Jersey Senator has announced that he will be running for the presidency in 2020. If he secures the nomination he said finding a female vice president would be a priority. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? John Delaney The Maryland congressman was the first to launch his bid for presidency, making the announcement in 2017. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Julian Castro The former San Antonio mayor announced his candidacy in January and said that his running has a special meaning for the Latino community in the US. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Tulsi Gabbard The Hawaii congresswoman announced her candidacy in January, but is likely to face tough questions on her past comments on LGBT+ rights and her stance on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Andrew Yang The entrepreneur has announced his presidential candidacy, and has pledged that he would introduce a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every American over the age of 18. AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Marianne Williamson The author and spiritual advisor has announced her intention to run for president. She had previously run for congress as an independent in 2014 but was unsuccessful. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? John Kerry The former secretary of state has said he is still thinking about whether to run. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Michael Bloomberg The entrepreneur and former New York mayor with a net worth of around $50bn has said he will decide by the end of February whether to seek the presidency. AFP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Howard Schultz Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has not yet ruled out running for president in 2020, despite criticism that his bid could help re-elect Mr Trump by dividing the Democrat vote. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Eric Holder The former attorney general has said he will decide in the next month or so whether to run as a 2020 presidential candidate. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Eric Swalwell The California congressman said he is ready to do this and will decide before April whether to run. MSNBC Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Terry McAuliffe The former Virginia governor, who worked to elect Democratic governors during 2018 midterms, said there was a 50 per cent chance he would run. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Sherrod Brown The Ohio senator is still undecided about whether to run for president in 2020. Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Mitch Landrieu The former New Orleans mayor said he doesnt think he will run for president, but never say never. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin The rescue rankled with Doha, according to the two sources familiar with the QIAs strategy, because Mr Kushner - married to Mr Trumps daughter Ivanka - had long been one of the key supporters in Washington of the Saudi crown prince, who is the kings favorite son and heir to the throne. Prince Mohammed was a prime mover in leading regional states to severing links with its neighbor Qatar and embargoing the small nation since mid-2017. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain accuse Qatar of sponsoring terrorism. Doha denies the allegation and says the other countries simply want to strip it of its sovereignty. There is no upside in investing through funds for someone like QIA. Qatar wants full visibility into where its money goes, said the second source familiar with the QIAs strategy. He added that one of the reasons for Dohas concerns about the deal was that it might have been seen as an attempt by Qatar to influence the Trump administration, which was not the case. The QIA will not wind down existing investments with Brookfield or others, but will rather no longer invest in similar deals, according to the two sources. The source close to Brookfield said relations with the QIA were still strong. Still going big The QIAs strategic revamp also followed a reshuffle at the top of the fund last November when its long-serving chief, Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani, was replaced by its former head of risk management, Mansour Ibrahim al-Mahmoud. Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was named QIA chairman. Qatar, whose wealth comes from the worlds largest exports of liquefied gas, does not provide data on how much money it places with external fund managers. What we have seen lately is that it has have not been placing much, said a Western fund manager who regularly sources money from wealth funds. Either they are investing themselves or they are just sitting on a lot of cash. The Qatar shift in its approach reflects a wider trend among sovereign wealth funds to reduce reliance on external investment managers, in an attempt to keep tighter control over their money. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, for example, said last year that 55 per cent of its assets were managed by external managers in 2017, down from 60 per cent the year before. Recommended Kushner and Cohen accused of falsifying documents to push out tenants Yet, even if the QIA is being more cautious in its choice of investment vehicles, there is little indication that its appetite for big international acquisitions has diminished. In December, new QIA chief Mahmoud told Reuters the fund was focusing on classic investments in the West such as real estate and financial institutions, and would also accelerate investment in technology and healthcare. The instructions from the top are to go out and do big deals, said a Western banker who has held talks with Qatari officials. He said QIAs dealmaking had not stopped even during the height of the Gulf embargo, which initially forced the fund to put in about half of the $43 billion injected by public-sector firms into Qatari banks to mitigate the impact of outflows. With oil and gas prices growing over the past two years, Qatar has not departed from what it is best known for - snapping up big-name properties. In 2017, QIA pledged to ramp up its investments in Britain to 35 billion pounds ($45 billion) from 30 billion. Since then, it has spent about 1.7 billion pounds on real estate and another 1.1 billion on infrastructure in the country. In recent months, Qatar has bought New Yorks Plaza and Londons Grosvenor House hotels. Reuters After a closed meeting in November following the resignation of Mayor Mickey Straub, Paveza, Mottl and Franzese were selected to be acting mayors, taking turns until the April election with Paveza first, then Mottl and finally Franzese. Mottl was chairing his first meeting as mayor pro tempore, and is to chair two more meetings before Franzese takes over. It has often been said that to know Jesus is to know God. But what if the Jesus the world knows was actually an ancient Greek man named Apollonius, born in what is now Turkey before his deeds were adopted by Christians to create a mythical figure of Christ? That is the somewhat spurious claim made in a documentary called Bible Conspiracies, a 67-minute, low-budget affair available on Amazon Prime. The film is peppered with dated computer animations and stock images in the place of interviews with experts or original footage, all accompanied by a monotone voiceover. What about this person, Jesus? the narrator asks during the course of the documentary. Was he real? Was he created? Was he an alien? The fact the film was released in 2016 and has been available on Amazons streaming service since at least November 2017 has done little to prevent its contents being widely publicised this week. Media outlets in the UK and across the world picked up on the theory after it apparently first appeared on the Kremlin-backed Sputnik News website, filed under the headline: Jesus wasnt a Jew, bombshell documentary claims. The film states Jesus did not exist as a historical person and that the New Testament actually details the exploits of Apollonius. In an attempt to provide evidence for this, the documentary suggests Apollonius had a number of monuments dedicated to him, while no statues or temples were erected to Jesus. It claims early Christians suppressed details of supposed miracles performed by Apollonius, as they were concerned he would usurp the idea of Christ with his own factual life. Unlike Jesus, there is actually evidence to prove that Apollonius existed, the narrator says. Nobody can say with any conviction that Jesus was a real person. However, the assertion that Jesus was not a genuine historical figure, or that there is no evidence of his existence, holds little weight with experts. Academics overwhelmingly agree Jesus was a real person, with debate more focused on whether the gospels offer an accurate account of his teachings and actions. Simon Gathercole, a senior lecturer in New Testament Studies at Cambridge University, said Apollonius was a well-known figure in the ancient world, who often drew comparisons to Jesus. However, he dismissed the idea Jesus was not a historical person, but a myth based on the Greek philosopher as crackers. There was no doubt in the ancient world or now over whether Jesus existed, there has never been any confusion over whether or not he actually existed, he told The Independent. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty There are some very early sources for Jesus. Pauls letters were written 20 years after Jesus died and part of the New Testament was also written by people who knew Jesus. We know the first of Pauls letters were written in 50 AD and describe him as being born of a woman under Jewish law. There is no doubt in the evidence from the first sources that Jesus was Jewish and not Greek. In complete contradiction to the arguments put forward in Bible Conspiracies, Dr Gathercole said there was a possibility the first biography of Apollonius, who lived from around 15 to 100 AD, may have in fact borrowed from accounts of Jesuss life. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The biography of Apollonius by Philostratus was written almost 200 years [after the letters of Paul], when the gospels were very widely known, he added. We are not certain, but Philostratus may have been borrowing stories from the gospels to show Apollonius as an equal or even superior figure to Jesus. Philip Gardiner is listed as the director of Bible Conspiracies, one of several of his films currently available on Amazon. IMDB credits Mr Gardiner as the director of more than 80 documentaries, including 666: The New World Order, 2020 Nostradamus, A One World Agenda: The Illuminati and Alien Contact: Nasa Exposed. Reebok has pulled an advert which suggested women should sit on mens faces rather than asking for their approval. Alexander Golofast, the sportswear brands marketing director who promoted the idea within the company, resigned over the advert which sparked criticism on social media. He voiced his frustration with the companys decision to backtrack on the adverting campaign saying Reebok had shown disrespect for itself. It signed up to this, approved all the quotes, was even delighted with how bold and interesting and in line with the global strategy to do something bright and unusual, Mr Golofast told EuroNews. Sit not on the needle of mens approval sit on mens face, the controversial ad said. The slogan was authored by Zalina Marshenkulova, a feminist campaigner who also appeared in the promotion. Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Show all 22 1 /22 Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Russian police officers detain a protester in Moscow AFP/Getty Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny addresses supporters AFP/Getty Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Russian police push protesters back during Pushkin Square AP Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Pro-Kremlin activists and opposition supporters scuffle in Moscow AFP/Getty Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Alexei Navalny during the rally Rex Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Russian riot police officers detain opposition leader Alexei Navalny AFP/Getty Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Russian police arrest a participant of a liberal opposition rally EPA Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Alexei Navalny being carried away by police Rex Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Opposition supporters shout slogans AFP/Getty Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Russian police officers detain a participant AFP/Getty Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Demonstrator carries a poster depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin during a massive protest rally in St.Petersburg AP Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Russian police carrying struggling opposition leader Alexei Navalny AP Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Russian police detain a protester at a demonstration AP Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Policemen detain opposition supporters REUTERS Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia A fighter of National Liberation Movement, left, clashes with protesters AP Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Russian police officers detain a participant AFP/Getty Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Russian police arrest a participant of a liberal opposition rally EPA Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Policemen detain an opposition supporter Reuters Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Russian police officers detain a cossack during an unauthorized anti-Putin rally AFP/Getty Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Russian police detain a protester in Pushkin Square in Moscow AP Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Protesters attend a rally in St. Petersburg AP Anti-Putin protests: hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Russia Russian police officers run towards protesters AFP/Getty Mr Golofast defended the advert and argued the campaign was a success because it put the sportswear brand in the spotlight. He said: In this slogan, there are two parts: approval and pleasure. The first part calls for being yourself, and the second part calls for people to give each other pleasure. This is the most positive quote that is the best to reflect the image of a modern woman, who not only spits on stereotypes but also a woman who goes into the world with a positive agenda. He said the campaign was a huge success, adding that nobody ever spoke that much of Reebok in Russia, in the world it hasnt happened since the 90s. Reebok, an English sportswear brand founded in Bolton in the late 1950s, recently launched a global advertising campaign which sought to promote female empowerment under the hashtag #BeMoreHuman. It featured high-profile individuals such as model Gigi Hadid and actor Gal Gadot who encouraged other women to be strong and assertive. The Russian version was launched on Thursday with a hashtag that roughly translated as #OutOfControl and native Russian models. They included mixed martial artist Justyna Graczyk and Anzhelika Pilyaeva, a champion jiu jitsu fighter, according to the New York Post. Ms Marshenkulova was pictured in one of the Russian campaign images alongside the now-withdrawn slogan that she had authored. After some social media users voiced outrage, Ms Marshenkulova, who is the founder of the Womens Power feminist Telegram channel, poked fun at them on Facebook. God, save Russia from me and from cunnilingus, she said. Recommended Gigi Hadid designs bold trainers for new Reebok collection We live in a world where advertising is a zone of chauvinism and in every second woman is used as bait, she added. Before the backlash began, Ms Marshenkulova told her Telegram followers she thought Reebok was joking and would never accept her slogan. And here we are launching an advertisement, where one of the slogans (no kidding) is my famous Stop sitting on the needle of male approval, start sitting on mens faces! she said. Because its time to stop worrying about what others think of you, stop being afraid of being NOT THE GOOD KIND of woman, stop adjusting your life and your looks to what your partner or neighbour said. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events A spokesperson for Reebok said they ensured their messages meet certain standards but "unfortunately a local execution of this campaign in Russia did not meet these standards." They said Mr Golofast was no longer a Reebok employee, adding that his comments do not reflect the views and opinions of the company. "This execution of our Be More Human campaign, which was pulled as soon as we were made aware of it, was not authorized by Reebok. The overall campaign, however, will continue as planned," the spokesperson added. Citizens receiving a basic monthly income as part of a radical Finnish pilot scheme have seen a reduction in their stress levels, an official leading the trial has said. The first of its kind in Europe, the scheme sees 2,000 people receive 560 euros (473) every month for two years. Recipients do not have to report whether they are seeking employment or how they are spending the money, which is deducted from any benefits they are already receiving. Marjukka Turunen, head of KELA, the legal unit at Finland's social insurance agency, said as well as cutting bureaucracy, reducing costs and tackling poverty, the scheme was having an indirectly positive effect on people's mental health. There was this one woman who said: I was afraid every time the phone would ring, that unemployment services are calling to offer me a job, Ms Turunen told US-based broadcaster Kera News. The woman was not able to work because she was caring for elderly parents. She added: This experiment really has an indirect impact, also, on the stress levels [of people] and the mental health and so on. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Under the pilot, if a participant finds work, they will continued to receive the stipend, easing claimants' fears they will lose out by finding employment. The problem of refusing work because people feel better off on benefits is particularly acute under Finland's generous and complex social security system. The trial is part of measures introduced by the centre-right government to tackle Finland's unemployment problem. More than eight per cent, or around 213,000 Finns were out of work in November, a figure unchanged from the previous year. The average private sector income in Finland is 3,500 euro (2,958) per month, according to government data. In April, it was announced that Canada's largest province, Ontario, was trialling a similar universal basic income scheme. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said the scheme was needed to address new challenges presented by the modern world. Twelve Catalan separatists have appeared in court to face sedition charges carrying sentences of up to 25 years in prison in what Spanish media are calling the trial of the century. Madrids Supreme Court was locked down by security officials as small but highly vociferous protests took place outside, both for and against the separatist leaders who are accused of crimes linked to their role in the regions illegal independence referendum in 2017. Police lined streets outside the plush neo-Georgian square where the court is based, as a group of some 100 pro-Catalan protesters hurled slogans in support of those on trial. Some protesters held up posters quoting Thomas Jefferson, saying (in Spanish): When the law is unjust, rebellion becomes an obligation. The night before the trial an unknown individual projected giant TV pictures of Spanish police charging demonstrators during the 2017 referendum onto the facade of the court building, under the title Spanish democracy. Then, at exactly 10am, when the trial started, supporters of the far-right Falange movement unfurled a giant poster with caricatures of the 12 separatists as devils. Others yelled Golpista! [Coup plotter!] as Catalonias current leader, Quim Torra, entered the building to support those on trial. Every time that Catalonia has revolted - in pictures Show all 14 1 /14 Every time that Catalonia has revolted - in pictures Every time that Catalonia has revolted - in pictures Reapers' War In 1640, amidst the Thirty Years War, Philip IV of Spain sent his Castilian soldiers into the Catalan region to defend the border with France. The soldiers were not on their best behaviour and drew the ire of the Catalan peasants and politicians alike, at a time when the region was already agitated by economic decline. On June 7, reapers arriving to Barcelona for seasonal harvest work were dismayed to find little of the sort and blamed the stationed soldiers. After a reaper was killed, the revolt began in full force with a fierce uprising known as Corpus de Sang (depicted here in a 1910 painting by Ermenegild Miralles) Ermenegild Miralles i Angles Every time that Catalonia has revolted - in pictures Reapers' War More Castilian forces arrived, strengthening the Catalan resolve and leading Pau Claris, President of the Generalitat (Catalonia's political assembly) to declare Catalonia an independent republic on January 17 1641. A week later the republic swore its allegiance to Louis XIII of France and the war came to a head at the Battle of Montjuic (depicted above by Pandolfo Reschi) where the Franco-Catalan forces were victorious. Following negotiations, Catalonia became an independent republic under the protection of France Pandolfo Reschi Every time that Catalonia has revolted - in pictures War of the Spanish Succession As Charles II of Spain died in 1700 without an heir, a variety of nations and other powers across Europe had their own ideas of who ought to succeed him. Catalonia sided with the Austrians, English and the Dutch in endorsing Archduke Charles of Austria, a Habsburg. Unsuccessful in their aims, they were violently brought back under the Spanish crown by the victorious Phillip V. (Depicted above is the Battle of Almansa, a decisive battle in the War of the Spanish Succession) Ricardo Balaca Every time that Catalonia has revolted - in pictures Tragic Week The conflict of the Tragic Week of July 1909 resulted from Spanish Prime Minister Antonio Maura's desire for power gains in Morocco. He relied on, mostly poor, Catalonian conscripts for the cause, who questioned the motives of the conflict and doubted their chances of survival Every time that Catalonia has revolted - in pictures Tragic Week A general strike commenced on Monday 26 July. By midday the crowds had set fire to the San Jose Workers Foundation, the first of around 80, mostly religious, buildings that they would burn that week. Soldiers and police barricaded streets and fought openly with the strikers Alamy Every time that Catalonia has revolted - in pictures Tragic Week By the end of the week, the police and army had taken control. Over 1000 strikers were arrested and 5 leading figures executed. This caused disgust across Spain and wider Europe and the episode contributed to the downfall of Maura's government Getty Every time that Catalonia has revolted - in pictures The Spanish Civil War In the Spanish Coup of July 1936, Republican forces opposed the Nationalist presence in Catalonia. The National Confederation of Labour (CNT), an anarchist organisation, began to take hold of power in Catalonia AFP/Getty Every time that Catalonia has revolted - in pictures The Spanish Civil War As the CNT took control of the Generalitat, companies and organisations were ordered to collective control Getty Every time that Catalonia has revolted - in pictures The Spanish Civil War Nationalist forces eventually regained control of the territory. Pictured are their tanks entering Barcelona in 1939 Getty Every time that Catalonia has revolted - in pictures The Spanish Civil War Barcelona nationalists rejoice at the arrival of General Franco's forces. Catalonia, along with the rest of Spain, was to remain under dictatorship until 1975 Getty Every time that Catalonia has revolted - in pictures Independence Referendum 2017 In 2017 the Generalitat passed a motion that a referendum would be held on Catalan independence. The Constitutional Court of Spain ruled that the referendum was a breach of the Spanish constitution, therefore illegal Reuters Every time that Catalonia has revolted - in pictures Independence Referendum 2017 Catalan government buildings were raided in the lead up and polling stations were blockaded by police on the day but the vote went ahead illegally. Turnout was 43% and of those 92% voted for independence Reuters Every time that Catalonia has revolted - in pictures Independence Referendum 2017 Catalan President Carles Puigdemont declared victory and is pictured here signing a declaration of independence on October 27. Warrants were issued for the arrest of Puigdemont and five other Catalan politicians and the Spanish government did not recognise the result and imposed direct rule over Catalonia, as opposed to its then status as an autonomous community of Spain Reuters Every time that Catalonia has revolted - in pictures 2018 A year on from the vote Spain has ended direct rule in the region and dropped the arrest warrants. But on the anniversary of the vote, more than 180,000 protesters took to the streets of Barcelona with the cry "1 October, no forgiving, no forgetting" AFP/Getty This is a trial against everybodys civil rights, anybody who thinks this is only against the pro-independence movement is mistaken, claimed Gabriel Rufian, an outspoken MP for the Catalan Republican Left, as police hustled a small group of separatists away. All we should ask is, Whos going to be next? Mr Rufians party leader, former Catalan vice-president Oriol Junqueras, was one of the 12 inside the court. Mr Junqueras faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of rebellion and misuse of public funds. In the trials opening session, largely given over to procedural and technical questions, some political issues were nonetheless raised. Mr Junquerass lawyer, Andreu Van den Eynde, claimed defendants had the right to seek self-determination and said that practically all their rights had been ignored. Mr Junqueras has been removed from the political arena, Mr Van den Eynde said. Other defence lawyers questioned the impartiality of the judges in the case. Some 600 witnesses are expected to testify, amongst them former Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy, as the trial unfolds over the next three months. The Spanish government is anxious to show the trial is being fairly conducted, and it will be broadcast live on TV in its entirety. The best-known separatist leader, Carles Puigdemont, is not on trial, having fled after Catalonias failed declaration of independence, but his image looked down from posters featuring a picture of a chicken a sarcastic reference to his current self-imposed exile in Germany which appeared on walls near the court. Protests against the trial have been going on in Catalonia all day, with activists using burning tyres to blockade its main motorway, the AP-7. A general strike is planned for 21 February. An Irish TV host was moved to tears on air as she read out the names of victims of The Troubles who had died on that day in history, in a stark warning about the threat to peace posed by a disordely Brexit. In a segment of her prime time RTE show, Claire Byrne called on politicians to ensure there is no return to a hard border, which she feared could see a repeat of the dark days of Northern Irelands past. With the UK set to leave the European Union on 29 March, the issue of the backstop and the Irish border are still unresolved. It is feared that if the UK crashes out of the bloc without a withdrawal deal - despite the commitments of both parties - it will be necessary to reintroduce a hard border on the island of Ireland. Many across Ireland fear that the return of such a divisive symbol would provoke a return to the violence of The Troubles. Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An abandoned shop is seen in Mullan, Co Monaghan. The building was home to four families who left during the Troubles. The town was largely abandoned after the hard border was put in place during the conflict. Mullan has seen some regeneration in recent years, but faces an uncertain future with Brexit on the horizon Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A defaced Welcome to Northern Ireland sign stands on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Mervyn Johnson owns a garage in the border town of Pettigo, which straddles the counties of Donegal and Fermanagh. Ive been here since 1956, it was a bit of a problem for a few years. My premises has been blown up about six or seven times, we just kept building and starting again, Johnson said laughing. We just got used to it [the hard border] really but now that its gone, we wouldn't like it back again Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Farmer Gordon Crocketts Coshquin farm straddles both Derry/Londonderry in the North and Donegal in the Republic. At the minute there is no real problem, you can cross the border as free as you want. We could cross it six or eight times a day, said Crockett. If there was any sort of obstruction it would slow down our work every day Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures John Murphy flies the European flag outside his home near the border village of Forkhill, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Potter Brenda McGinn stands outside her Mullan, Co Monaghan, studio the former Jas Boylan shoe factory which was the main employer in the area until it shut down due to the Troubles. When I came back, this would have been somewhere you would have driven through and have been quite sad. It was a decrepit looking village, said McGinn, whose Busy Bee Ceramics is one of a handful of enterprises restoring life to the community. Now this is a revitalised, old hidden village Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Union Flag colours painted on kerbstones and bus-stops along the border village of Newbuildings, Co Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Grass reflected in Lattone Lough, which is split by the border between Cavan and Fermanagh, seen from near Ballinacor, Northern Ireland Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Donegalman David McClintock sits in the Border Cafe in the village of Muff, which straddles Donegal and Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An old Irish phone box stands alongside a bus stop in the border town of Glaslough, Co Monaghan Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Billboards are viewed from inside a disused customs hut in Carrickcarnon, Co Down, on the border with Co Louth in the Republic Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Seamus McQuaid takes packages that locals on the Irish side of the border have delivered to his business, McQuaid Auto-Parts, to save money on postal fees, near the Co Fermanagh village of Newtownbutler. I live in the south but the business is in the North, said McQaid. "I wholesale into the Republic of Ireland so if theres duty, Ill have to set up a company 200 yards up the road to sell to my customers. Ill have to bring the same product in through Dublin instead of Belfast Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A disused Great Northern Railway line and station that was for customs and excise on the border town of Glenfarne, Co Leitrim Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Alice Mullen, from Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland, does her shopping at a former customs post on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh. Id be very worried if it was a hard border, I remember when people were divided. I would be very afraid of the threat to the peace process, it was a dreadful time to live through. Even to go to mass on a Sunday, youd have to go through checkpoints. It is terribly stressful, said Mullen. All those barricades and boundaries were pulled down. I see it as a huge big exercise of trust and I do believe everyone breathed a sigh of relief Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A bus stop and red post box stand in the border town of Jonesborough, Co Armagh Reuters At the beginning of Ms Byrne's show, she opened the book Lost Lives, which documents the 3,637 people who were killed during the conflict between 1968 to 1998. Its a reminder, if one is needed, as to why we can never allow a return to violence, she said. Theres just 46 days for politicians to come together and to ensure that there is no hard border on this island, and to make sure that there are no more excuses for violence and bloodshed. Then, selecting the days date, 11 February, she listed the people who were murdered on that day in history: Thomas Donaghy in 1974, Samuel Mein in 1975, Winston Howe in 1980, John McCabe in 1986 and Thomas Molloy in 1993. The mens stories left her visibly moved, and she was then seen to hold back tears as she spoke with Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aidan was killed in the Omagh bombing in 1998. Your son is in this book, and I read his story today, she said. Im sorry to put you through that, but its important for us to have this conversation at this point in time. Mr Gallagher spoke of how his younger brother had been killed by the IRA in 1984, at the height of the conflict, while his son was killed in the Omagh bomb which was carried out after the Good Friday Agreement by the Official IRA, who opposed the peace process. Recommended The Irish parties building a new era for nationalism My family is a victim of The Troubles and also a victim of the peace," he said. "I think its important that we are here, and we are recognised. "Those people who are in that book have died so that we can have the peace that we have, and this very serious situation called Brexit has the possibility of sending us back into those dark days. Viewers praised Ms Byrne on social media for the powerful show, and for putting victims front and centre". During The Troubles, the Northern Ireland border a meandering line which includes hundreds of crossings across 310 miles was notoriously difficult to police, with many Royal Ulster Constabulary officers and British soldiers targeted by the IRA as they patrolled it. The detonation of a car bomb outside a courthouse in Derry in January by dissident republicans targeting "British crown forces" renewed fears that they would target any infrastructure or personnel stationed along the border. Portraits of a Holocaust survivor stained with swastikas. A memorial in honor of a Jewish man vandalised. A bagel shop with the German word Juden sprayed on its front window. These are just a few of the hundreds of antisemitic acts that have been committed in recent months in France, home to the worlds largest Jewish population outside Israel and the United States. According to French authorities, registered incidents of antisemitism rose to 541 last year from 311 in 2017, an increase of 74 per cent. These acts are revolting, prime minister Edouard Philippe said at the French parliament on Tuesday. Day after day Im noticing scandalous degradation and inscriptions. Day after day, Im noticing that symbols and venues our country cherishes are attacked. A judicial official told the Associated Press that Paris prosecutors have opened four investigations following incidents in the French capital last weekend. The official was not authorised to be publicly named because the investigations are ongoing. Antisemitism is spreading like a poison, like a venom, interior minister Christophe Castaner said while attending a ceremony at the memorial of a young Jewish man who was tortured to death in 2006. Two trees planted at the scene where Ilan Halimi was found dying in a Paris suburb have been vandalized. Its rotting minds, its killing, Mr Castaner said at the Monday event, vowing that the government would fight antisemitism. Mr Castaner did not link the rise of incidents to any specific groups. Some members of the yellow vest movement are known for extremist views, and several antisemitic incidents have occurred amid weekly anti-government protests that started in November. Frederic Potier, a French government official in charge of fighting antisemitism, racism and anti-gay discrimination, said some far-right groups have managed to infiltrate yellow-vest demonstrations. Antisemitic tags up to nausea in the heart of Paris this weekend, Mr Potier tweeted with a picture of a wall with a derogatory inscription, insinuating that French president Emmanuel Macron was just a tool of a supposed Jewish plot. When the hatred of the Jews overlaps with the hatred of democracy, the vocabulary of the fachosphere (the sphere of fascists) is found on the walls, Mr Potier wrote. In addition to the desecration of the Ilan Halimi memorial, portraits of the late Simone Veil drawn on mailboxes were daubed with swastikas. A survivor of Nazi death camps and a European Parliament president who died in 2017, Veil also spearheaded abortion rights as one of Frances most prominent female politicians. In a separate incident, one of the founders of bagel chain Bagelstein said the word Juden was painted on the window of one of their restaurants in Paris. He said the graffiti was found before the yellow vest demonstrations that took place on Saturday. Concerns that antisemitism might be growing in France pre-dated the protests that were started in the fall to oppose fuel tax increases. In a speech to a leading Jewish group last year, Macron pledged to protect Frances Jews. In 2012, three children and a teacher from a Jewish school were killed by an Islamic extremist in the southwestern city of Toulouse. In 2015, four customers of a Paris kosher supermarket were slain by another extremist. AP The Australian parliament has passed a bill giving doctors greater say over medical transfers for refugees, the first time a government has lost a vote on its own legislation in the country for almost 80 years. It means that doctors at Australias processing centres on the Pacific islands of Nauru and Manus Island will be able to force through medical evacuations against the governments wishes, as long as the patient meets a set of criteria. Previously, the decision of whether to allow a medical transfer to the mainland was entirely at immigration officials discretion. The prime minister, Scott Morrison, said the bill would take control from the government, and unleash a world of woe. The change was forced into a broader government bill on border security, as a series of amendments proposed in the Senate and supported by the opposition Labor party. And by just 75 votes to 74, the government has now been defeated on the bill in the House of Representatives. Tens of thousands protest against Australia Day Show all 8 1 /8 Tens of thousands protest against Australia Day Tens of thousands protest against Australia Day Invasion Day protesters march down a street during Australia Day in Brisbane, Australia. EPA Tens of thousands protest against Australia Day Invasion Day protesters march down a street during Australia Day in Brisbane, Australia. EPA Tens of thousands protest against Australia Day Invasion Day protesters march down a street during Australia Day in Brisbane, Australia. EPA Tens of thousands protest against Australia Day Invasion Day protesters march down a street during Australia Day in Brisbane, Australia. EPA Tens of thousands protest against Australia Day Invasion Day protesters march down a street during Australia Day in Brisbane, Australia. EPA Tens of thousands protest against Australia Day Invasion Day protesters march down a street during Australia Day in Brisbane, Australia. EPA Tens of thousands protest against Australia Day Invasion Day protesters march down a street during Australia Day in Brisbane, Australia. EPA Tens of thousands protest against Australia Day Protesters shouts slogans as they march through the streets of Sydney in an "Invasion Day" rally on Australia Day. AFP/Getty Images This was never about politics, said Shayne Neumann, the shadow minister for immigration and border protection. This was about doing the right, decent and humane thing. Bill Shorten, the Labor leader, said the amended bill "ensures that people in Australias care can get urgent medical treatment when they need it". The defeat calls into question the grip on power of the coalition government, led by Mr Morrison's centre-right Liberal party. The last time a government lost a major vote on its own legislation was in 1941, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, when the House agreed to an opposition amendment to a budget appropriation bill. It spelled the end of prime minister Arthur Faddens 40-day term. In a news conference after the vote on Tuesday evening, Mr Morrison told reporters that "votes will come and they will go, but they will not trouble me". "My job has been to seek to prevent those bills passing. My job now is to work with border and security agencies to mitigate the risks of these bills," he said. The prime minister dismissed speculation that he would attempt to block the bill being sent to the Governor General for royal assent. "The bill will follow its normal process" and be passed into law, he said. Sri Lanka began advertising for hangmen this week after the country reinstated capital punishment, inspired by the Philippines hard-line approach to drug trafficking. The last execution in Sri Lanka took place 43 years ago, but president Maithripala Sirisena said last week he wants to restore the death penalty for drug traffickers in the next two months. During a state visit to the Philippines in January, Mr Sirisena praised president Rodrigo Dutertes war on drugs, which has drawn international criticism after the deaths of thousands of people and allegations of extrajudicial killings by police. Drug trafficking is a capital offence in Sri Lanka, although no one has been executed for any crime in the country since 1976, with all death penalties commuted to life in prison since then. The countrys last hangman quit in 2014 without ever having to execute anyone, citing stress after seeing the gallows for the first time. Another hired last year never turned up for work. The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Show all 9 1 /9 The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On killing drug addicts These sons of whores are destroying our children. I warn you, dont go into that, even if youre a policeman, because I will really kill you. If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Message to China I will go there on my own with a Jet Ski, bringing along with me a [Phillipino] flag and a pole, and once I disembark, I will plant the flag on the runway and tell the Chinese authorities, Kill me AP The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Christmas message to law-breakers If you do not want to stop, and just continue committing crimes, then this would be your last Merry Christmas AP The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On sex life I was separated from my wife. Im not impotent. What am I supposed to do? Let this hang forever? When I take Viagra, it stands up AFP/Getty Images The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On the drugs trade None of my children are into illegal drugs. But my order is, even if it is a member of my family, kill him'" AP The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Insulting the Pope We were affected by the traffic. It took us five hours. I asked why, they said it was closed. I asked who is coming. They answered, the pope. I wanted to call him: Pope, son of a wh**e, go home. Do not visit us again AFP/Getty Images The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Joke about rape I saw her face and I thought, 'What a pity... they raped her, they all lined up. I was mad she was raped but she was so beautiful. I thought, the mayor should have been first AFP/Getty The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Insulting Barack Obama "Mr Obama should be respectful and refrain from throwing questions at me about the killings, or son of a bitch, I will swear at you in that forum" REUTERS The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On Abu Sayyaf Islamic militants "If I have to face them, you know I can eat humans. I will really open up your body. Just give me vinegar and salt, and I will eat you. If you annoy me to the fullest... I will eat you alive. Raw" EPA But, anticipating that capital punishment could soon be used again, the prison service is now hurrying to recruit two new executioners. We never know if the government will resume the death penalty, but we want to hire two hangmen to fill vacancies and be ready if the government wants to execute drug traffickers, Thushara Upuldeniya, a spokesman for the prison service, said. An advertisement published in the state-run Daily News on Monday put the monthly pay at 36,310 rupees (158), above average for a government job. Candidates should be Sri Lankan, male, aged between 18 and 45, and have both excellent moral character and mental strength, the advert said. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Mr Upuldeniya said the job interviews will be conducted next month, while at least 25 people convicted for drugs offences, including two drug dealers, could be executed. There were also 436 people, including six women, on death row for various crimes including murder, he added. Government officials said Mr Sirisena has sought advice from the Philippines on how to combat drug trafficking, amid mounting concerns that Sri Lanka could become a transit hub for the narcotics trade in Asia. Police have arrested more than 50 people since the middle of last year after busting a drug smuggling ring. Additional reporting by Reuters A West Virginia politician is facing pressure to resign after making a series of homophobic comments, including comparing the LGBT+ community to the Ku Klux Klan. Eric Porterfield, a Republican member of the states House of Delegates, has claimed the LGBT+ community is a terrorist group that has no care for diversity of thought. The LGBTQ is a modern-day version of the Ku Klux Klan, without wearing hoods with their antics of hate, Mr Porterfield, who is blind and a born-again Baptist missionary, told the Charleston Gazette-Mail. In addition to the KKK comparison, Mr Porterfield used an anti-gay slur during a committee meeting over a proposed amendment to limit anti-discrimination protections for individuals who identify as LGBT+. The amendment did not pass. Responding to the backlash over his anti-gay comments, Mr Porterfield appeared on a local radio station where he said that if either his son or daughter came out to him as gay, he would see if she can swim...then Id see if he can swim. Big Gay Kiss protest - In pictures Show all 8 1 /8 Big Gay Kiss protest - In pictures Big Gay Kiss protest - In pictures Kashmira Gander Big Gay Kiss protest - In pictures Kashmira Gander Big Gay Kiss protest - In pictures Kashmira Gander Big Gay Kiss protest - In pictures Kashmira Gander Big Gay Kiss protest - In pictures Kashmira Gander Big Gay Kiss protest - In pictures Kashmira Gander Big Gay Kiss protest - In pictures Kashmira Gander Big Gay Kiss protest - In pictures Kashmira Gander West Virginias Democratic Party (WVDP) swiftly criticised the Republican lawmakers comments and called for his resignation in a statement. West Virginia has no room for someone who expresses such hate. Let alone room for him to hold a public office where he is supposed to represent the people of West Virginia, WVDP Chairwoman Belinda Biafore said. She added: His hate-filled remarks and actions speak volumes and so does the Republican Partys silence. The Republican majority leadership needs to condemn these actions. Their silence is complicit and the people of West Virginia deserve better. Several Republicans also publicly condemned Mr Porterfield and his comments, including Mercer County Commissioner Greg Puckett. Mr Puckett argued that Mr Porterfields anti-gay comments went against the teachings of the Bible. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events As a Commissioner within Mercer County, I do not condone, nor accept this behaviour of anyone, let alone an elected official, Mr Puckett wrote in a Facebook post. Likewise, this form of antics in representation of my county is not inclusive to the people within, Mr Puckett said in a Facebook post. John Shott, a Republican delegate representing the same county as Mr Porterfield, also denounced the politicians statements as too extreme. I dont accept his categorization of that group nor do I think its productive to call anyone names when you are trying to advance the goals of the party, Mr Shott told the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. Its not a productive approach to solving problems. He added: [Mr] Porterfield should learn to be [discreet] with his words. The Trump administration has angered Senate Republicans after failing to obey a law requiring it to report to Congress its conclusions about who is responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi. A deadline last Friday imposed in 2018 by 22 bipartisan senators was ignored by the White House. The lawmakers had called for an investigation into the killing of the journalist, who was allegedly strangled and dismembered in October inside a Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The probe, which specifically directed the White House to conclude whether Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman was responsible for the murder, was requested under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. A senior administration official told Politico Donald Trump maintains his discretion to decline to act on congressional committee requests when appropriate. But Marco Rubio, a Republican senator who sits on the committee, said the Trump administrations failure to meet the deadline violates the law. Jamal Khashoggi death: key figures Show all 7 1 /7 Jamal Khashoggi death: key figures Jamal Khashoggi death: key figures Jamal Khashoggi Washington Post journalist who was critical of the Saudi regime and the young Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, he was murdered on 2 October in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul AFP Jamal Khashoggi death: key figures Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Heir to the Saudi throne, Mohammed bin Salman has been implicated in the murder, with US officials claiming that he must have known of the plot AFP/Getty Jamal Khashoggi death: key figures 15 man hit squad Turkish police suspect these 15 men of being involved in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, issued 10 October, 8 days after the journalist disappeared EPA Jamal Khashoggi death: key figures Saud al-Qahtani Aide to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saud al-Qahtani is claimed to have ordered Khashoggi's murder Saud Al-Qahtani/Twitter Jamal Khashoggi death: key figures Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb A former diplomat who often travelled with the Crown Prince, Mutreb was initially claimed to be the leader of the hit squad and is pictured here entering the Saudi consulate on the day of the murder AP Jamal Khashoggi death: key figures Mustafa al-Madani First implicated in the 15 CCTV photos released by the Turkish police, al-Madani was later found to have been used as a body double for Khashoggi, leaving the Saudi consulate dressed in his clothes on the day the journalist was killed CNN Jamal Khashoggi death: key figures Salah bin Jamal Khashoggi (L) Son of the murdered journalist met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on 23 October EPA The law is clear about those timelines. Im urging them and I expect them to comply with the law, he added. Republican senator Cory Gardner said there was no excuse and that the government must submit it, while Chuck Grassley, an influential Republican lawmaker, said they better have a good excuse for not issuing it. Over the weekend, secretary of state Mike Pompeo pushed back against allegations of a US-backed cover-up over the killing of Khashoggi, who was a prominent critic of the Saudi royal family. "America is not covering up for a murder," he told reporters at the US embassy in Budapest. Mr Pompeo sent on Friday a letter to Bob Menendez, the ranking Democrat on the foreign relations committee, in which he said Mr Trump had called for a prompt and open investigation into the death of Khashoggi. Mr Pompeo wrote that in multiple meetings with Saudi officials and in numerous public statements, he had "emphasised the importance of a thorough, transparent and timely investigation, including accountability for those responsible for the killing". He also noted the US sanctioned 17 Saudi individuals for their involvement in the killing, but the letter did not assess whether the crown prince was responsible. Democratic senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, where Mr Khashoggi lived, accused the Trump administration of aiding in the cover-up of a murder. Hillary Clinton says Trump is part of the coverup in Khashoggi killing during speaking tour "The Trump administration has blatantly turned a blind eye to this crime, and is now refusing to provide a required report about who is responsible for his murder, despite the fact that the CIA concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally ordered Khashoggi's killing, he said. Mr Pompeo insisted the US would continue our investigation and that Mr Trump had been very clear that his administration would continue to hold all of those responsible accountable. The CIA is reported to have assessed with high confidence that Mr Bin Salman was involved in the order to kill Mr Khashoggi - a claim he has vehemently denied - partly based on the judgement that as the countrys de facto ruler he would have had to have known. But Mr Trumps desire to maintain close relations with Saudi Arabia including lucrative weapons deals has seen his administration play down the agencys assessment. It appears it can be accomplished in several ways. One section of the statutes provides for a resolution by the Library Board and a referendum. A second section appears to provide for a resolution of the Library Board requesting that the city approve the conversion without a referendum. A third section provides for a citizen petition for a referendum to convert the library to a district. President Donald Trump has condemned Representative Ilhan Omar for her tweet criticising the Israeli lobby, and called on her to resign. I think she should either resign from congress or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee," Mr Trump said from the Oval Office on Tuesday. The Minnesota Democrat prompted swift backlash from both Democrats and Republicans on Sunday evening when she retweeted journalist Glenn Greenwald's story about House Minority Leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, urging "action" towards Ms Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaibboth of whom are Muslim womenover their criticism of the Israeli government. Ms Omar, one of the first Muslim women elected into Congress, captioned her retweet with the following text: "It's all about the Benjamins baby." The Somali-American lawmaker's comment was met outrage from conservative and centrist politicians, commentators and journalists, who accused her of anti-semitism. Palestinians await Israeli demolition of their homes in the West Bank Show all 7 1 /7 Palestinians await Israeli demolition of their homes in the West Bank Palestinians await Israeli demolition of their homes in the West Bank Children play as their parents prepare for their homes to be destroyed (Bel Trew) Bel Trew/The Independent Palestinians await Israeli demolition of their homes in the West Bank A toddler plays in the dirt of Khan al-Ahmar village (Bel Trew) Bel Trew/The Independent Palestinians await Israeli demolition of their homes in the West Bank Palestinian flags festoon the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar as they await eviction (Bel Trew) Bel Trew/The Independent Palestinians await Israeli demolition of their homes in the West Bank Children play as their parents brace themselves for the bulldozers (Bel Trew) Bel Trew/The Independent Palestinians await Israeli demolition of their homes in the West Bank Iman, 7, says she does not want to leave her home (Bel Trew) Bel Trew/The Independent Palestinians await Israeli demolition of their homes in the West Bank The demolition order includes the villages school, which provides education for some 170 children from five different Bedouin communities. (Bel Trew) Bel Trew/The Independent Palestinians await Israeli demolition of their homes in the West Bank The playground of the school which will likely be demolished in the coming days (Bel Trew) Bel Trew/The Independent When asked who she believes is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel, Ms Omar replied AIPAC! The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is one of the most influential pro-Israel lobbying groups. As Quartz reported, the group has been shelling out millions of dollars into US politics in the past 20 years. According to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan nonprofit group tracking spending and lobbying in American politics, reported that AIPAC has spent about $3.5m in pro-Israeli lobbying in the 2018 fiscal year. Some of their lobbying efforts included their opposition to the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal and their support for Mr Trumps withdrawal from the agreement. In addition to pro-Israel interest groups like AIPAC, the Israeli government has also spent about $15.8m on lobbying-related efforts in American politics. The Jewish Agency for Israel, a nonprofit group, spent around $8.3m. These numbers are provided by OpenSecrets based on Foreign Agents Registration Act filings. Although AIPAC is prohibited from directly contributing to campaigns, their staff and supporters can make financial contributions to election campaigns. In general, however, the pro-Israel lobby has been an influential player in terms of campaign contributions: It has spent about $14.9m in the 2018 election cycle. It also has given more to Democrats than Republicans last year with the former receiving about $9.3m in campaign contributions. Some of the top recipients include Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, each receiving $548,507 and $352,894 respectively. Ms Omars comments were swiftly censured by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders, who accused her tweet of perpetuating anti-semitic tropes and called it deeply offensive. The Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish group, said that: As Americans and Jews, we expect our politicians to condemn bigotry, not to fuel it. Words matter. At a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise in the U.S. and abroad, Rep. Omar is promoting the ugly, anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that Jews have an outsized influence over politics." However, several progressive Jewish groups spoke in defence of Ms Omar and criticised the double-standard applied on the Muslim-American lawmaker. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events IfNotNow, an organisation led by American Jews with the mission to end our community's support for the Israeli occupation, started a petition to support Ms Omar and condemning the outsized response by Democratic leadership. The organisation said that while Ms Omar had poor word choice in her tweet, it acknowledged the attacks against her are designed to discredit a new generation of political leaders who oppose Netanyahu and his governments racist policies. Ms Omar released a statement on Monday evening unequivocally apologising for the tweet while also standing by her assertion that lobbying has a problematic role in American politics. "Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes," Ms Omar said. "My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole. We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me for my identity. This is why I unequivocally apologize." She added, "At the same time, I reaffirm the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the fossil fuel industry. It's gone on too long and we must be willing to address it." In his statement on Tuesday, Mr Trump insinuated that the Muslim congresswomans comments were deep seeded in her heart, and called her apology lame. A newly elected US congresswoman accused of employing an antisemitic trope about money has unequivocally apologised after an avalanche of criticism and a rebuke from the highest levels of her own party. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat, had tweeted about her belief the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobby group, was paying US politicians to support Israel. Its all about the Benjamins baby, she wrote, using slang about $100 notes. Asked who she thought was paying members of Congress to support Israel, Ms Omar responded, AIPAC! Her comments were criticised by both Republicans and Democrats, with house speaker Nancy Pelosi condeming her remarks and calling for an apology. Legitimate criticism of Israels policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate that the United States and Israel share, Ms Pelosi said in a statement issued by her office and signed by other Democratic leaders. But Congresswoman Omars use of antisemitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israels supporters is deeply offensive. US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Show all 20 1 /20 US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Democratic candidate Ilhan Omar is celebrates with her husband's mother after she won a congress place, becoming the first Muslim woman to be elected into congress alongside Rashida Tlaib Reuters US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Democratic House candidate, from Kansas, Sharice Davids (left) and her mom Crystal celebrate after she won. Davids is the first lesbian Native American Congresswoman by beating Republican incumbent Kevin Yoder. Davids is one of several first-time female candidates that helped the Democratic Party takeover in the House of Representatives EPA US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Republican Marsha Blackburn celebrates after winning the race for senate in Tennessee. In doing so she became that states first female senator AP US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Supporters of Democratic House candidate Sharice Davids cheer and cry after learning she won EPA US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Ayanna Pressley beaome Massachusetts first black congresswoman by defeating 10-term Republican Michael Capuano AFP/Getty US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Republican candidate Young Kim has become the first Korean-American woman elected to Congress AP US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Democrat Jared Polis won his seat and became the USs first ever openly gay governor AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post via AP US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Jean Kasselman (left) and Teresa Booker, supporters of Democratic candidate for Kansas' 3rd Congressional District Sharice Davids, react to election results Getty US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Republican Kristi Noem hugs a supporter after being announced as the new governor of South Dakota. Noem made history by being the first female governor of the state AP US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Gabierla Martinez and Cesar Delgado cheer on Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jared Polis REUTERS US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest women ever elected to Congress, representing New Yorks 14th congressional district AFP/Getty US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Democratic congressional candidate Rashida Tlaib celebrates with family and friends at her midterm election night party in Detroit after won and also became the nations first Muslim woman to congress alongside Ilhan Omar who was also elected Reuters US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Supporters of Democratic candidate for Kansas' 3rd Congressional District Sharice Davids react to election results Getty US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Already having become the first Native American woman to chair a state political party, Deb Haaland has now become the joint-first Native American woman to be elected to congress, alongside Sharice Davids Reuters US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Supporters of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez cheer during her election night party in the Queens Borough AFP/Getty US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Young Kim hugs her son Alvin after she won a seat in congress AP US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Supporters of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez cheer AFP/Getty Images US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Asma Mohammed and Ashley Fairbanks celebrate as results come in at Democratic congressional candidate Ilhan Omar's election night headquarters AP US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Democrat Deb Haaland hugs a voter REUTERS US midterm results: more diverse, more female and more progressive Supporters of Democratic House candidate from Kansas Sharice Davids cheer and cry after learning she won her race EPA Republicans called on Democrats to strip Ms Omar of her seat on the House Foreign Relations Committee, but its chairman, Eliot Engel, stopped just short of that. Although he did not name Omar, he left little doubt his statement was a response to her tweets: Its shocking to hear a member of congress invoke the antisemitic trope of Jewish money, he said. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, said on Twitter: Rep Omars use of antisemitic stereotype was offensive and irresponsible. Ms Omar released a statement in which she acknowledged the backlash and apologised. Antisemitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of antisemitic tropes, she said. My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole, she said, adding that she unequivocally apologised. President Donald Trump later said Ms Omars apology fell short and she should be ashamed of herself for the tweets. I think it was a terrible statement, and I dont think her apology was adequate, he said. Asked what she should have said, Mr Trump replied: She knows what to say. AIPAC is a nonprofit organisation that works to influence US policy toward Israel. While it is barred from directly donating to candidates, it encourages its more than 100,000 members to do so and to be politically active. The organisation responded on Sunday night: We are proud that we are engaged in the democratic process to strengthen the US-Israel relationship. Our bipartisan efforts are reflective of American values and interests. We will not be deterred in any way by ill-informed and illegitimate attacks on this important work. It is not the first time Ms Omar, who is one of just two Muslim women to have ever been elected to congress, has been accused of antisemitism. She supports an economic campaign known as boycott, divestment and sanctions that is aimed at Israel, but insists her rejection of the Israeli government refers to its stance towards Palestinians and is not directed at the Jewish people. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events She expressed regret for tweeting to say Israel had hypnotised the world in 2012, which was compared to a term once used by the Nazis. Its now apparent to me that I spent lots of energy putting my 2012 tweet in context and little energy in disavowing the antisemitic trope I unknowingly used, which is unfortunate and offensive, she tweeted last month. It is not always easy being the most famous congresswoman in the history of the universe. Yes, you get lots of people who think youre a youthful, straight-talking breath of fresh air. But then you get the haters too; not just Republicans who claim you plan to transform the US into the United Communist States of America, but also from within your own party. People can get jealous of all that media attention. How delightful then, to see in in real physical form, the gratitude of some of the people who appreciate what you are doing to help them. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez greets fellow lawmakers ahead of the State of the Union address Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez participates in an event with Democratic members of Congress EPA Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures The Democrat senator speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol January 30, 2019 Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and fellow Democrat Rashida Tlaib AP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the Senate chamber to watch two votes on January 24, 2019 Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez arrives with Chellie Pingree at a House Democratic Caucus meeting Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez during Donald Trump's State of the Union address Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures New York State Assembly member Catalina Cruz with Ocasio-Cortez AFP/Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Nydia Velazquez talks with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez casts her vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House EPA Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez poses with a campaign worker during a whistle stop in the Queens borough of New York Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez outside the US Capitol AFP/Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez after casting her ballot in the 2018 midterm general election at a polling site in New York EPA Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez looks on during a march organised by the Women's March Alliance in Manhattan Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio Cortez looks on at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 16, 2019 AFP/Getty On Tuesday, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez revealed some some of the colourful messages of thanks that had been sent in by people to her office, and carefully added to the wall beside her door. After being told they had to take it down, the congresswoman instead put the messages on a board inside. 'We have a system that is fundamentally broken' Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez plays 'lightning round game' during hearing It just appeared one day. Some mothers came by & left 2-3 encouraging notes on my plaque, Ms Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter, responding to a question about the origins of the wall. The 29-year-old, who last week unveiled a plan to make the nations economy carbon neutral within a decade, added: We left them up, bc it was great to read those little encouraging words every morning. Soon, more post-its came. It became a little ritual for the public, so we left stacks out for people. An American man reportedly shelled out $110,000 to hunt and kill a rare mountain goat while on a recent expedition trip in Pakistan's northern Himalayan region of Gilgit-Baltistan.. Bryan Kinsel Harlan, a trophy hunter from Texas, was photographed on Tuesday kneeling and smiling behind the butchered goat. It was an easy and close shot, Mr Harlan told the Pakistani press. I am pleased to take this trophy. The local press identified the goat Mr Harlan killed as a wild Astore markhor by Pakistani newspapers. It is the official national animal of Pakistan. The women hunting big-game poachers Show all 8 1 /8 The women hunting big-game poachers The women hunting big-game poachers The Black Mambas are a specially trained team of rangers who police the park night and day to protect the animals from illegal hunting Julia Gunther The women hunting big-game poachers Lukie, 26, says, 'The next generation must know rhinos in life. If poaching is allowed they will only see them in a picture' Julia Gunther The women hunting big-game poachers Proud finds and disables a snare laid by poachers Julia Gunther The women hunting big-game poachers During a scouting trip, the Mambas examine an impala horn Julia Gunther The women hunting big-game poachers Qolile, 21, learned about wildlife and conservation at Timbavati Bush School. She would like go further both with her studies and with the Black Mambas Julia Gunther The women hunting big-game poachers Mambas on the march. The unit has so far removed more than 1,000 poachers snares, and been awarded the UNs Champions of the Earth award Julia Gunther The women hunting big-game poachers Yenzekile reports the location of a young, slain kudu to the control room Julia Gunther The women hunting big-game poachers Black Mambas Mirren, 26, Winnie, 22, Belinda, 27, and Dedeya, 26 Julia Gunther Mr Harlans photo prompted outrage on social media, many from people who are angered by the lack of laws banningor regulatingthe practice of hunting markhors. The Texan hunter is the third American to travel to Pakistan and kill a markhor. Despite the swift backlash, Mr Harlan seems to have enjoyed his exotic adventure and postured himself as someone involved with animal conservation efforts. The video footage of Mr Harlan's hunting experience shows him climbing a cliff and shooting a male marcher sitting next to a young goat before high-firing his local guides. Another video features Mr Harlan expressing his gratitude in being "welcomed with open arms" and called Pakistan a safe destination for tourists, and urged fellow Americans to follow his footsteps. "This is a perfect example of hunters and villagers coming together for a common goal of game conservation, he said. Pakistani authorities told the Washington Post that, in the past month, only hunterslike Mr Harlanwho have paid large amounts of money are permitted to hunt markhors in the northern parts of its country as part of its efforts to protect the endangered species from potential extinction. The markhor population have reportedly been diminishing in the past several years, mainly due to deforestation, military activities, local poaching, and unregulated trophy hunting among other causes. In 2011, there were only about 2,500 markhors remaining in the region. Pakistani authorities have attempted to make strides to protect the markhors from facing extinctions, including allocating five sanctuaries in India for the rare mountain goats to roam freely and breed. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The South Asian country also banned all hunting from local poachers with the exception of foreign hunters. Foreign hunters are only permitted to hunt 12 male goats in community conservation areas. About 80 per cent of the profits the Pakistani authorities made from foreign hunters are reportedly given to isolated residents who live in the goats habitat, and the other 20 per cent are allocated to the government wildlife agencies. In 2015, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature changed the classification for the markhor population from endangered species to near-threatened. A man who broke into an abandoned house to smoke marijuana stumbled across more than he bargained for when he discovered a pet tiger inside. Police in Houston, Texas, said the concerned citizen contacted them after he found the overweight mammal crammed inside a tiny cage. Officers initially assumed the caller had smoked too much cannabis and was hallucinating, but soon discovered his report was entirely grounded in reality. They saw a tiger in this building, this vacant house thats obviously been abandoned for some time, said Sergeant Jason Alderete, the Houston Police Departments animal unit. They were trying to get into this house to smoke marijuana. We questioned them as to whether they were under the effects of the drugs or they actually saw a tiger. Thailand's Tiger Temple raid Show all 10 1 /10 Thailand's Tiger Temple raid Thailand's Tiger Temple raid Thai officers carry a sedated tiger outside its cage at the Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua Tiger Temple Getty Images Thailand's Tiger Temple raid Wildlife officials sedate a tiger at the Tiger Temple AP Thailand's Tiger Temple raid A tiger stands in a cage at a property in Saiyok district in Kanchanaburi province AP Thailand's Tiger Temple raid Thai army display a tiger skin found inside Tiger Temple as officials continue moving live tigers from the controversial place REUTERS Thailand's Tiger Temple raid A sedated tiger is stretchered as officials start moving tigers from Thailand's controversial Tiger Temple, a popular tourist destination which has come under fire in recent years over the welfare of its big cats REUTERS Thailand's Tiger Temple raid Thai wildlife officials load a cage containing a tiger onto a truck after they removed it from an enclosure at the Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua Tiger Temple AFP/Getty Images Thailand's Tiger Temple raid Tiger cub carcasses were found in jars containing liquid as officials continue to investigate the Tiger Temple REUTERS Thailand's Tiger Temple raid Thai officers observe the carcasses of 40 tiger cubs and a bear found undeclared at the Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua Tiger Temple Getty Images Thailand's Tiger Temple raid A Thai wildlife official looks at a Malayan sun bear in a cage as found during a raid at the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi Province EPA Thailand's Tiger Temple raid An official looks at a stuffed bear as they continue moving live tigers from the controversial Tiger Temple REUTERS After securing a warrant to search the property, officers did indeed find the overweight female tiger, which weighed about 160kg. Despite the beast appearing friendly to the police, they decided to tranquilise her so she could be transferred to the citys animal shelter. Conditions in the abandoned home were very poor and the cage was far too small for the tiger to be living in, police said. Recommended Endangered female tiger killed by potential mate at London Zoo But there were also several packages of meat nearby, which suggested the tigers owner had not abandoned the pet entirely. Heidi Krahn, the head of a local animal charity, told a local TV news channel she had arranged for the tiger to be rehomed at a specialist facility which is able to handle exotic pets. Finding a forever home for a tiger is not easy, she said. I tried to explain to people its a lot like having a child. But unlike human children, tigers, including those bred illegally to be pets, always pose a huge risk, she explained. They are basically a loaded gun pointed at anyone that encounters them, she said. They can be extremely dangerous. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events There are about 7,000 tigers living in captivity in the US, nearly twice as many as the estimated 3,800 still in the wild. Although experts warn they are inappropriate pets, in many states including Texas the private trade of tigers is mostly unregulated. Federal laws only ban the smuggling in of tigers, so those born to breeders inside the US are in many places so readily available they can be bought online. Joaquin El Chapo Guzman faces spending the rest of his life behind bars after a jury reached a guilty verdict following six days of deliberation. Guzman, 61, was convicted on all 10 counts, including international distribution of cocaine, heroin, marijuana, engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, and conspiracy to launder money. The drug lord had pleaded not guilty, triggering a two-and-a-half month trial which included 200 hours of testimony from 56 witnesses and drew tourists from around the world to watch from the public gallery. Of the witnesses, 14 were former associates of Guzman who agreed to testify in exchange for lesser sentences. The 12-person jury, made up of eight women and four men, deliberated for 34 hours in Brooklyn federal court before coming to a verdict. Inside Mexicos top drug lord El Chapos hideout Show all 4 1 /4 Inside Mexicos top drug lord El Chapos hideout Inside Mexicos top drug lord El Chapos hideout Inside El Chapo's hideout Pictures reveal how the Mexican drug lord had been living since his escape Getty Inside Mexicos top drug lord El Chapos hideout Inside El Chapo's hideout The inside of a house searched by marine special forces where Guzman was hiding Getty Inside Mexicos top drug lord El Chapos hideout Inside El Chapo's hideout Inside a house searched by marine special forces during the military operation to recapture Guzman Getty Inside Mexicos top drug lord El Chapos hideout El Chapo's attempted escape A marine stands guard next to a manhole of the sewer system through which drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman tried to escape Getty Guzman reportedly looked stunned as the verdict, which will see him serve a mandatory sentence of life with no chance of parole in federal prison, was read. Recommended El Chapo to spend life in prison after being found guilty in US trial Guzmans wife, Emma Coronel, a former beauty queen and constant presence in the courthouse throughout the trial, gave her husband a thumbs-up as he was escorted out of the courtroom. Prior to his final capture in 2016, the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel escaped maximum security prison in Mexico twice. He was extradited to the United States in 2017. During the trial, which often played out like a soap opera, testimonies detailing large-scale drug trafficking, murders, underground tunnels, and jeweled AK-47 rifles were heard by the court. In addition to drug-trafficking charges, the 61-year-old was also found guilty of charges related to the use of firearms. After announcing the verdict, Judge Brian Cogan thanked the jury for its careful deliberation. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The way you went about it was really quite remarkable and frankly it made me proud to be an American, he said. Guzman will be sentenced on 25 June. Close Special agent in charge of Homeland Security gives statement following El Chapo guilty jury verdict Mexicos most notorious drug lord, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, was convicted Tuesday of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation after a three-month trial packed with Hollywood-style tales of grisly killings, political payoffs, cocaine hidden in jalapeno cans, jewel-encrusted guns and a naked escape with his mistress through a tunnel. Guzman faced a drumbeat of drug-trafficking and conspiracy convictions that could put the 61-year-old escape artist behind bars for decades in a maximum-security US prison selected to thwart another one of the breakouts that embarrassed his native country. New York jurors whose identities were kept secret reached a verdict after deliberating six days in the expansive case, sorting through what authorities called an avalanche of evidence gathered since the late 1980s that Guzman and his murderous Sinaloa drug cartel made billions in profits by smuggling tons of cocaine, heroin, meth and marijuana into the US. Evidence showed drugs poured into the US through secret tunnels or hidden in tanker trucks, concealed in the undercarriage of passenger cars and packed in rail cars passing through legitimate points of entry suggesting that a border wall wouldnt be much of a worry. The prosecutions case against Guzman, whose nickname translates to Shorty, included the testimony of several turncoats and other witnesses. Among them were Guzmans former Sinaloa lieutenants, a computer encryption expert and a Colombian cocaine supplier who underwent extreme plastic surgery to disguise his appearance. Inside Mexicos top drug lord El Chapos hideout Show all 4 1 /4 Inside Mexicos top drug lord El Chapos hideout Inside Mexicos top drug lord El Chapos hideout Inside El Chapo's hideout Pictures reveal how the Mexican drug lord had been living since his escape Getty Inside Mexicos top drug lord El Chapos hideout Inside El Chapo's hideout The inside of a house searched by marine special forces where Guzman was hiding Getty Inside Mexicos top drug lord El Chapos hideout Inside El Chapo's hideout Inside a house searched by marine special forces during the military operation to recapture Guzman Getty Inside Mexicos top drug lord El Chapos hideout El Chapo's attempted escape A marine stands guard next to a manhole of the sewer system through which drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman tried to escape Getty One Sinaloa insider described Mexican workers getting contact highs while packing cocaine into thousands of jalapeno cans shipments that totaled 25 to 30 tons of cocaine worth $500m (387.5m) each year. Another testified how Guzman sometimes acted as his own sicario, or hitman, punishing a Sinaloan who dared to work for another cartel by kidnapping him, beating and shooting him and having his men bury the victim while he was still alive, gasping for air. The defence case lasted just half an hour. Guzmans lawyers did not deny his crimes as much as argue he was a fall guy for government witnesses who were more evil than he was. Defence attorney Jeffrey Lichtman urged the jury in closing arguments not to believe government witnesses who lie, steal, cheat, deal drugs and kill people. Recommended Jury finds drug lord El Chapo guilty on all counts Deliberations were complicated by the trials vast scope. Jurors were tasked with making 53 decisions about whether prosecutors have proven different elements of the case. The trial cast a harsh glare on the corruption that allowed the cartel to flourish. Colombian trafficker Alex Cifuentes caused a stir by testifying that former Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto took a $100m (77.5m) bribe from Guzman. Mr Nieto denied it, but the allegation fit a theme: politicians, army commanders, police and prosecutors, all on the take. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The tension at times was cut by some of the trials sideshows, such as the sight of Guzman and his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, showing up in matching burgundy velvet blazers in a gesture of solidarity. Another day, a Chapo-size actor who played the kingpin in the TV series Narcos: Mexico came to watch, telling reporters that seeing the defendant flash him a smile was surreal. Reporting by AP. See below for The Independents live coverage of the El Chapo verdict. Please allow a moment for the liveblog to load Brazil's president and his senior officials have vowed to revise school textbooks to remove references to feminism, homosexuality and violence against women. Jair Bolsonaro has also said he wants the military to take over some public schools, as part of what teachers believe is a "nonsensical" approach to education reform. One of the goals to get Brazil out of the worst positions in international education rankings is to combat the Marxist rubbish that has spread in educational institutions, Mr Bolsonaro tweeted on the eve of his inauguration last month. Mr Bolsonaro, who once declared Im homophobic, with pride, has further pledged to review the content of the countrys national high school exam to remove questions on gender or LGBT movements. He made the announcement in a YouTube video after seeing a question from last years exam on a secret dialect used by gays and transvestites, called Pajuba, which mixes Portuguese and West African languages. It is mostly used in Afro-Brazilian religions but has also been adopted by the Brazilian LGBT community. Dont worry, there wont be any more questions like this, the far-right leader said. Brazil election: far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro wins Presidency Show all 8 1 /8 Brazil election: far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro wins Presidency Brazil election: far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro wins Presidency A man holds an inflatable figure of jailed former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as supporters of far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro celebrate in front of the National Congress in Brasilia, after the former army captain won Brazil's presidential election AFP/Getty Brazil election: far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro wins Presidency Supporters of the left-wing presidential candidate for the Workers Party (PT), Fernando Haddad, react in Rio AFP/Getty Brazil election: far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro wins Presidency Police officers patrol the streets during a gathering of supporters of the left-wing presidential candidate for the Workers Party AFP/Getty Brazil election: far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro wins Presidency Fernando Haddad, presidential candidate of Brazil's leftist Workers Party (PT), is kissed by his wife Ana Estela Haddad Reuters Brazil election: far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro wins Presidency EPA Brazil election: far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro wins Presidency AFP/Getty Images Brazil election: far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro wins Presidency AFP/Getty Images Brazil election: far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro wins Presidency REUTERS After Mr Bolsonaro took office on 1 January, the education ministry dismantled its diversity department and published a new set of guidelines for textbook publishers that eliminated references to topics such as violence against women and sexism. Following an outpouring of criticism, officials backtracked on the revised texts. But education minister Ricardo Velez Rodriguez nonetheless vowed in his inaugural speech to end the aggressive promotion of the gender ideology. He has also said he wanted to enter the education ministry with a flamethrower to remove Paulo Freire, one of Brazils most famous educators whose ideas have had worldwide influence. Mr Bolsonaro and other conservatives have said Freires legacy in schools turns students into political militants. Conservatives believe the late socialist intellectual's teaching methods encourage students to challenge traditional values such as family and the church. We are still waiting to see how, in practice, all this is going to turn out, said Nilton Brandao, president of one of Brazils largest teachers unions, PROIFES Federacao. Right now, it does not make any sense. The far-right president quickly issued an executive order to remove the concerns of the LGBT community from consideration by the countrys new human rights ministry. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events He has also strongly criticised what he calls gender-based ideology, calling it a threat to Brazils Christian values. Additional reporting by AP Police are searching for the mother of a newborn child who was found covered with just a blanket in near-freezing temperatures in the middle of a California road. Authorities say the baby was found on a rural Central California road on Monday morning by a newspaper carrier on his route. The baby girl was taken to a nearby hospital and is said to be in good condition. The child, according to local reports, was likely just hours old and still had her umbilical cord attached. The sheriffs department for Madera County told local media that, while they have yet to find the mother, they have some clues as to how they might find her. Before the baby was found, for instance, they say a woman driving a white SUV approached a man at around 4.30am and asked him to take her baby. The man refused to take the baby, and told her that she should take the child to the hospital. He was approached by a female driving a white, smaller SUV. This female got out of her car, asked the man if he could help her and asked him to take her child, Madera County Undersheriff Tyson Pogue said during a press conference on Monday. He continued: The man directed her to the fire station and the Valley Children's Hospital down the street and suggested she take the baby there. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The newspaper carrier found the child soon after that, and brought the baby girl into their car to keep the child warm. It's very fortunate that the child was discovered by the newspaper delivery person before she was seriously injured or even possibly killed, Mr Pogue said. In creating the song list for Higher and Higher, Gregory worked closely with producer Michael Ingersoll. We went back and forth with songs that speak to me and songs that he felt would complete the arc of the show, Gregory explained. While Im singing the songs, Im also sharing various parts of my story and my journey, and why these songs are relatable not only to the audience but also myself. We go on this journey together as we celebrate this great music. To increase the ability to resist those who despise global law, the defense secretary proposed plans to modernize and boost combat capability of the British armed forces, including investment in the Royal fleet and rapid reaction forces, cyber forces, as well as "swarm squadrons" of drones, aimed to to overwhelm enemy air defenses. He will also say that the United Kingdom has its "greatest opportunity" to redefine its position on the world stage after Brexit. The report said Williamson will highlight close military ties between Washington and London and will support U.S. President Donald Trump's call for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries to increase military spending in the face of what he called Russian provocations. "A moment when we must strengthen our global presence, enhance our lethality, and increase our mass", Williamson will say. He announced that the first mission of the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier will include work in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Pacific regions, and the vessel would carry British and U.S. F-35 jets. Mr Williamson is to use his speech to outline how cyber forces will be reinforced thanks to a "very significant investment", which will be used both to defend and launch attacks. Britain's defense minister says the country should bolster its military capabilities after Brexit and warned that Russian Federation should be aware that actions deemed unacceptable by the West will "come at a cost", according to a text seen by Reuters. He will go on to say: "We have to be ready to show the high price of aggressive behaviour". "To talk but fail to act risks our nation being seen as little more than a paper tiger", he will add. The UK is to field "swarming drones" to confuse and overwhelm enemy air defences by the end of this year, the Secretary of State for Defence said on 11 February. "The Conservatives have slashed the defence budget by over 9bn in real terms since 2010 and they are cutting armed forces numbers year after year". A man who allegedly ploughed his car into hundreds of people on a pavement in the Californian city of Anaheim injuring at least nine, police said. Christopher Solis was charged with causing great bodily injury while driving under the influence, the Fullerton Police Department said. Officers ound multiple victims trapped underneath the red Toyota Tacoma , which was smoking after hitting a tree, the force added. Lieutenant Jon Radus said: It was a very chaotic scene. Police and firefighters lifted the vehicle enough to free the trapped pedestrians, with the help of members of the public. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Eye witness Charles Gibbs told CBS Los Angeles: I saw at least 50 people or more grab the truck and actually lift the truck off of a body that it had run over." A number of people were transported to hospital with injuries, varying from moderate to life-threatening. Due to the time and location of where this accident occurred, hundreds of people were on the sidewalk, in the parking lots, and to the front of nearby restaurants and bars during bar closing time, police said. An alleged rape victim who tried to report his assault to police was sentenced to eight months imprisonment by a Tunisian court for engaging in homosexual acts. The man, known as Anas attended a police station in the coastal city of Sfax on 2 January, where he reported that he had been raped and robbed by two men, according to Shams, a leading gay rights group in the north African nation. Following initial questioning, Anas was accused of homosexuality and subjected to an enforced anal examination an invasive procedure designed to detect evidence of sodomy, an act prohibited under Article 230 of Tunisias penal code and punishable by up to three years in prison. Following his examination, Anas was remanded in custody until his trial this week. A court has now ordered Anas to serve six months in custody for homosexuality and a further two months for having lodged a false allegation after he was judged to have consented to sex. Both of the men Anas accused of attacking him received sentences of six months for homosexuality, with a further two months for physical assault and theft. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Shams president Mounir Baatour, a lawyer who has been involved throughout the case, told The Independent that Anas friends and family were still struggling to reconcile themselves with the courts ruling. His mother has been very affected, he said. She does not stop crying. His friends are all angry. Domestic and international pressure upon Tunisia to repeal its anti sodomy legislation, and specifically to halt its practice of enforcing anal tests upon those suspected of homosexuality, has been growing for some time. However, despite conciliatory noises from politician in the capital Tunis, cases such as Anas provide strong evidence that the practice continues. In April of 2017, Tunisias National Council of the Medical Order announced that doctors must inform people accused of sodomy of their right to refuse the anal examination. Months later, the government also bowed to the recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Council and declared that it was halting its practice of enforcing anal tests upon those suspected of homosexuality. Nevertheless, Mr Baatour said: The police always force suspected homosexuals to undergo the anal test, or face torture and the threat of having their refusal considered a confession. Dr Zied Mhirsi, a co-founder of the Tunisian Center for Public Health, told The Independent, I am surprised to hear about forced anal examination for a victim of rape and an exam in a local hospital where forensic doctors are usually absent. Anal examinations forcibly conducted on males in an effort to prove homosexuality are wrong and are considered as a form of torture. he said. Dr Mhirsi stressed that Tunisian doctors were trained on the principles of informed consent and were unlikely to proceed without it. In the case of rape, the forensic physical examination of sexual assault victims is an important piece of evidence that help survivors of sexual assaults access justice, he said. Their consent is also crucial to move forward. During the test, doctors will either manually inspect the rectum or use an object to test for indications of repeated homosexual contact. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Human Rights Watch alleges that police routinely take advantage of legal provisions outlawing homosexual contact to conduct wider searches in direct contravention of the suspects rights. In a review of 11 cases published in November of 2018, the organisation alleged that police use Article 230 as a pretext to enter individuals homes without warrants, as well as search through chats and images on suspects telephones. In addition, HRW documented accounts of mistreatment in police custody, forced confessions, and the denial of access to legal counsel. A petition calling for Anas release has been launched at the Allout website. Mr Baatour confirmed that Anas and his supporters would appeal the ruling. The children of EU citizens risk losing their right to stay in the UK after Brexit because of flaws in the application system, a senior MP has warned. The alarm has been raised over youngsters who in a repeat of the Windrush scandal do not apply for the new settled status, perhaps because their parents believe them to be British. Campaigners giving evidence to the Commons Home Affairs Committee told MPs of a real concern that there are no safeguards in place. Yvette Cooper, the committees chair, said: You could have quite a lot of children who could pass the deadline for the settlement scheme, be completely unaware of their rights and to lose their rights. Around 3.7 million EU citizens in the UK must secure the right to stay, with a deadline of June 2021 provided a no-deal Brexit is avoided. The settled status scheme is already under fire because of fears the Home Office is unable to cope with 5,000 applications every day and because the IT only works on Android phones. Theresa May was forced to respond to growing criticism by waiving application fees for EU citizens, which had been set at 65 for adults and 32.50 for children under the age of 16. Now the inquiry has heard growing fears that the children of some EU nationals will be hit by that strict deadline because their parents or carers fail to apply on their behalf. Nicole Masri, legal officer at the group Rights of Women, said the application process does not even ask who family members are. How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Show all 14 1 /14 How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Passports British passports that expire after 29 March 2019 will continue to be valid as UK travel documents, but will lose the power that comes with being a European Union passport notably the right of free movement within the EU27. UK passports issued from 30 March 2019 will have the words European Union removed from the cover and the first page (along with the translations into Welsh and Gaelic). But they will still be burgundy. By October 2019, new British passports will have dark blue covers Getty How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Pets You will still be able to travel to the EU with your pet after Brexit, but it could well get more complicated depending on the status that the European Union decide to apply. If the UK is given Part 2 listed status, there would be some extra requirements for travelling pets and owners post-Brexit. These would require an additional visit to the vet and some additional papers to be carried but would not prevent you from enjoying your trip, says Eurotunnel. But it adds that if the UK is given unlisted, third-country status, owners who wish to travel with their pets from the UK to EU nations will need to discuss their specific preparations and requirements with an Official Veterinarian at least four months prior to their desired travel date AFP/Getty How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Eurotunnel/Eurostar The Treaty of Canterbury between the UK and France governs the Channel Tunnel link and operations will continue subject to any local disruption at Folkestone and/or Calais AFP/Getty How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Driving Motorists, whether taking their own cars or hiring abroad, are likely to need to obtain an International Driving Permit or two; different EU countries are signed up to different treaties, so for a trip embracing Spain and France you would need both types. These are currently sold from a limited number of Post Offices, but the government intends to make them widely available. The cost is 5.50 for each. Motor insurance will no longer automatically extend to the EU. Insurers will provide on request a Green Card, for which an extra charge will be made PA How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Flights Even in the event of a no-deal Brexit, flights will continue to operate between the UK and European Union. However, in the event of the UK leaving with no deal, many flights are likely to be cancelled because departures would be capped at 2018 levels. As UK airlines have already announced thousands of new flights to Europe from the end of March 2019, some would have to be cancelled Getty How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Air routes The network of flight links between Britain and eastern Europe could be affected by any reduction in the number of workers from those countries. Not only do they use the flights so do their families and friends PA How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Flight disruption rights Current European passengers rights rules, known as EC261/2004, stipulate high payouts for delays and cancellations that cannot be attributed to extraordinary circumstances. Buried in a document called Beyond the Horizon: The Future of UK Aviation, the government says the UK will not fall below current standards of protection when we leave the EU AFP/Getty How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Entry regulations to the European Union From 11pm GMT on 29 March 2019, UK travellers will become third-country nationals when travelling to Schengen countries and subject to the standard rules of admission for citizens of nations such as the US, Japan and Australia. That means there must be at least 90 days (roughly three months) left on your passport beyond your intended date of departure. Because third-country nationals can remain in the Schengen area for 90 days, the actual check carried out could be that the passport has at least six months validity remaining on the date of arrival Getty How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Online registration prior to travel ETIAS From 2021, non-EU nationals who do not require a visa to enter the Schengen area including British travellers will need to request prior authorisation to visit Schengen countries. The Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) is aimed at reducing the migration, security or public-health risk from nationals of visa-exempt third countries, which is what the UK will become after Brexit. It costs 7 for three years AFP/Getty How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Brexit clauses A large number of travel providers even including National Express coaches have added Brexit clauses to their terms and conditions. These generally specify that they will not be liable for consequential losses as a result of Brexit-related issues PA How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Fast track lanes for passport control entering EU countries British passport holders will not be able to use them, and must join the queue for third-country nationals. People holding an EU passport or ID card as well as a British passport will be able to exit the UK on the British passport but enter Europe on the EU document Getty How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Ferries The ferry industry insists vessels will continue to sail. The UK Chamber of Shipping says: Unlike the carriage of cargo, trade deals do not have a significant effect on the cruise and passenger ferry industry. The explicit standardisation of commodity codes and tariffs associated with trade deals have little relevance to holidaymakers. Having said that, the government and Kent County Council are planning for possible chaos at Channel ports because of a backlog of trucks in the event of a no-deal Brexit. This would impinge on holidaymakers plans PA How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) The EU says: If you fall ill or have an accident during a visit to another EU country, as an EU citizen you have the right to receive the necessary public healthcare in any EU country under the same conditions as people in the host country. The EHIC also works in Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Treatment, says the NHS, is at a reduced cost or, in many cases, free of charge. From 11pm GMT on 29 March 2019, when the UK ceases to belong to the European Union, British travellers will have no automatic right to use the EHIC. There is no certainty about what may replace it PA How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Mobile phones From 30 March 2019, the law banning mobile phone firms from charging extra for calls and data in Europe will cease, though operators have yet to set out exactly what will replace it. In theory, mobile phone firms can impose whatever fees they think the market will bear. But Dave Dyson, chef executive of Three, says his firm is committed to maintain the availability of roaming in the EU at no additional cost following Brexit AFP/Getty We are not aware of any safeguards in place, she told the committee. This is a real concern for parents who dont understand the needs of children. Marianne Lagrue, policy manager at the Migrant Childrens Project, said there was a fear for children in care, because local authorities only recorded their ethnicity not their nationality. Ms Cooper expressed surprise that there was no mechanism for settled status applicants to be identified through NHS or benefit records. So, there is currently no system in place to identify every child who should be entitled to settled status, to be able to go through the settlement scheme, she said. And no system that would identify them before the end of the settlement scheme and the deadline kicks in. Ms Cooper also set out the grim situation for any EU citizen without settled status after Brexit even though might have been living here all their lives. If they dont complete the application process by the deadline they will be here unlawfully, potentially unable to re-enter the country if they leave to visit family, potentially committing criminal offences just by working, potentially told by their landlord that they can no longer rent a property, potentially told by the NHS that they are no longer entitled to urgent treatment they might need, despite the fact they may have been paying in taxes for very many years, she warned. The UK could be just days from crashing out of the EU without an agreement before MPs vote again on Theresa Mays deal, a cabinet minister has admitted. Andrea Leadsom, the Commons leader, twice failed to rule out a delay until after the next EU summit finishing on March 22 exactly one week before the scheduled departure day. The prime minister had to abandon hopes for a second meaningful vote this week, after the EU rejected her plea for legal changes to the Irish backstop that could win over the Commons. Asked if that could mean no vote until the last few days before the Brexit cliff edge, on 29 March, Ms Leadsom said: It is a negotiation. It is not possible to predict the future. But the meaningful vote will come back to parliament as soon as the issue around the backstop has been sorted out. However, Ms Leadsom denied Ms May was planning to inflict a my deal or no deal choice, in late March, saying: No, its not running down the clock. Instead, she heaped all the blame for pushing the UK into the risk of a crash-out Brexit, by failing to compromise on the backstop controversy. It would be an extraordinary outcome if the thing the backstop is seeking to avoid which is a hard border in Northern Ireland if the EU were so determined to be completely intransigent that they actually incur the very thing they are seeking to avoid, the Commons leader said. Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Show all 20 1 /20 Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Brexit supporters outside parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester adjusts her pro-EU wig AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A message to Jeremy Corbyn in support of a peoples vote Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A mock Titanic captained by Theresa May heads towards an iceberg in a stunt by campaigning group Avaaz AP Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters outside parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides are in close contact outside of parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Paintings of Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage speaks to the media at the protests outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A pro-Brexit protester in Parliament Square Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Opposing protesters share the space outside parliament Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester holds EU balloons outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters stand on Westminster Bridge PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage speaks to the media at the protests outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament EPA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A pro-Brexit protester sets up outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An Avaaz campaigner holds a Peoples Vote life float Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A demonstrator holds a sign advocating a no-deal Brexit outside parliament AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester waves an EU flag on Westminster Bridge PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides demonstrate outside parliament AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides stand near parliament Reuters The comments come ahead of another statement by the prime minister later today, in which she will urge MPs to give her two more weeks to win over the EU. On Thursday, a fresh round of Brexit votes will take place, but with little expectation of any amendment passing that will put parliament in control. There is no sign of pro-EU cabinet ministers carrying out their threat to resign unless they are free to vote for moves seeking a delay to the Article 50 process, to avoid a no-deal process. Without that shift, the amendment put forward by Labours Yvette Cooper to bring forward legislation to force Ms May to seek an extension is likely to be defeated again. Labour is expected to seek a second meaningful vote before the end of February, but may lack Tory support to win the vote. It means the expected showdown is likely to be delayed again, until the next set of votes in just over a fortnights time. Ms May stated publicly that she is not seeking to replace the backstop with alternative arrangements the demand made in the successful Commons vote two weeks ago although No 10 then tried to backtrack. Speaking on BBC Radio 4s Today programme, Ms Leadsom hinted an addendum to the withdrawal agreement to clarify the impact of, rather than replace the backstop might be enough. The point is to ensure that the UK cannot be held in a backstop permanently. How its achieved is not something to be purist about, she said. MPs have launched separate bids to stop Theresa May running down the clock on Brexit in an attempt to give parliament control of what should happen if no exit deal is in place by the end of the month. A cross-party group of senior backbenchers has tabled a motion that would force the government to call a Commons vote in mid-March on whether to pursue a no-deal exit. Labour has put forward a separate plan that, if passed, would force Ms May to either call a second vote on her plan by 27 February or admit there was no longer a viable deal on the table. The cross-party group of MPs, which includes Labour's Yvette Cooper and Hilary Benn and former Tory ministers Sir Oliver Letwin, Nick Boles and Dominic Grieve, said they would push ahead with their plan if no deal is in place by 26 February. At that point, they would table legislation to ensure that parliament is given a vote in mid-March on whether to allow a no-deal Brexit or instead instruct the government to ask the EU to extend Article 50. Many MPs fear that Britain could be heading for a no-deal exit given the continued lack of parliamentary support for any withdrawal plan. It comes after the prime minister again delayed another "meaningful vote" on her deal as she told MPs that more time is needed for talks with the EU. Instead, the Commons will vote on Thursday on a government motion requesting more time to secure concessions from Brussels. Votes will also be held on amendments tabled by MPs. Addressing MPs on Tuesday, the prime minister said another vote on an "amendable motion" could be held on 27 February in place of a vote on the Brexit deal, if there is still no revised agreement on the table by then. And Ms May suggested that laws saying parliament must have at least three weeks to consider any new treaty could be overriden - fuelling speculation that she is planning to go down to the wire as she attempts to secure parliament's backing for a Brexit deal. Some MPs believe she wants to wait as late as the week before Brexit day on 29 March before holding another vote on her deal, in the hope that MPs might reluctantly back her plan if they believe it is by then the only alternative to a no-deal exit. An EU summit on 22 March could give her a further reason to delay, if she insists that this is when Brussels is most likely to offer new compromises. Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Show all 20 1 /20 Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Brexit supporters outside parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester adjusts her pro-EU wig AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A message to Jeremy Corbyn in support of a peoples vote Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A mock Titanic captained by Theresa May heads towards an iceberg in a stunt by campaigning group Avaaz AP Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters outside parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides are in close contact outside of parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Paintings of Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage speaks to the media at the protests outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A pro-Brexit protester in Parliament Square Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Opposing protesters share the space outside parliament Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester holds EU balloons outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters stand on Westminster Bridge PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage speaks to the media at the protests outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament EPA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A pro-Brexit protester sets up outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An Avaaz campaigner holds a Peoples Vote life float Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A demonstrator holds a sign advocating a no-deal Brexit outside parliament AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester waves an EU flag on Westminster Bridge PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides demonstrate outside parliament AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides stand near parliament Reuters Ms Cooper said: The prime minister needs to get a workable deal in place quickly and she has asked for more time. But there is a real danger of endless drift so if she cant get a deal in place by 26 February, our cross-party group will put forward this bill at that point to ensure that crucial decisions are made by the middle of March. That is the latest timetable to get the bill through the parliamentary process in time for decisions to be made in March. I want to see a workable deal in place, but I am deeply worried about us drifting into no deal by accident, given the serious warnings from top police chiefs, businesses, trade unions and medical experts, and the prime minister is running out of time. We have a responsibility to make sure there is a common sense safeguard in place. After tabling his own motion, Mr Corbyn said: This amendment would stop the government from running down the clock on the Brexit negotiations, hoping members of parliament can be blackmailed into supporting a botched deal. "This is an act of gross irresponsibility. The prime minister is playing for time and playing with peoples jobs, our economic security and the future of our industry. This week parliament should set a clear deadline for the government to come forward with its revised deal or give MPs the chance to decide what happens next. Guy Verhofstadt warns Brexiteers not to end up on the guillotine Remainer Tory ministers are also reported to be demanding that the prime minister hold another "meaningful vote" on her deal. If she refuses, around 15 ministers are said to be considering backing the cross-party plan tabled by Ms Cooper. A similar motion was rejected last month, but supporters believe more MPs may be willing to back it as the prospect of an no-deal Brexit edges ever closer. Close 'We now all need to hold our nerve and deliver Brexit on time' Theresa May says Brexit talks are at 'cruicial stage' Theresa May has been accused by Labour of "blackmailing" MPs to get her "botched Brexit deal" over the line after urging MPs to give her more time to secure a breakthrough. In a fraught Commons clash, Jeremy Corbyn said her only tactic was to "run down the clock" after it emerged that the UK could be days from a no-deal Brexit before parliament votes on her blueprint. MPs also reacted with anger after the prime minister revealed plans to rip up Commons rules to get a Brexit deal ratified in time for the UK to leave the EU on March 29. Recommended UK trying to convince EU that Brexit backstop is illegal Ms May told MPs that she would enable the Commons to lift a requirement for a 21-day delay before any vote to approve an international treaty. But shadow Brexit minister Paul Blomfield vowed to oppose the move, adding: This plan shows contempt for our democracy. The government is trying to avoid proper scrutiny and run down the clock in order to force through its bad Brexit deal. To follow events as they unfolded, see our live coverage below British Brexit negotiators are trying to convince the EU that the controversial Irish backstop the two sides agreed to, is actually unlawful under the blocs own treaties. Speaking after a tour of EU chiefs in Brussels and Strasbourg on Tuesday, Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay said he believed the indefinite backstop was in fact not legal because Article 50 under the European treaty says that it must be temporary. He said this argument was very much the message that weve taken to European leaders the latest glimpse inside the UKs frantic efforts to try and extract a change in policy. The key issue is that we need to deliver an outcome that is legally binding on the backstop, Mr Barclay told reporters after his meetings. That's the key issue because Article 50 under the European treaty says that it must be temporary and yet the advice from the UK attorney general sets out a concern that it could be indefinite. Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Show all 11 1 /11 Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Anti-Brexit protester Steve Bray (left) and a pro-Brexit protester argue as they demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament A pro-Brexit protester argues Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Police surround the pro-Brexit protester after he confronted Steve Bray, a pro-European protester Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament A leave supporter is spoken to by a police officer as he argues with a remain supporter, Steve Bray, outside Parliament PA Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament MPs in Parliament are to vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal next week after her December vote was called off in the face of a major defeat Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament A leave supporter is spoken to by a police officer PA Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Police look on as anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament. Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Police hold back a leave supporter PA Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament A police officer speaks with anti-Brexit protester Steve Bray Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Police surround a pro-Brexit protester after he confronted a pro-European protester Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Conservative MP David Davies, wearing a gopro camera, speaks to anti-Brexit protester Steve Bray Getty Images So this link between what is legally temporary under the Article 50 but what the UK attorney general has said could be indefinite is the key issue and that's very much the message that we've taken to European leaders. The EU has previously expressed legal doubts about whether the withdrawal agreement can be used to set the future relationship with the UK thought here is no section of Article 50 that expressly says any of its provisions must be temporary. Mr Barclay is among ministers and officials to have gone back to the continent to try and extract changes to the withdrawal agreement after Brexiteer MPs instructed the government to ditch the backstop. The EU says it will not reopen the withdrawal agreement, and that the UK should shift its red lines if it wants a more ambitious future relationship. Both sides say they are preparing for no deal. The Brexit secretary would not answer whether he thought the changes he sought could be made without reopening the withdrawal agreement, saying only that weve started a process. Asked whether he thought a deal could be sorted out before the March summit of the European Council he was also unclear, stating that weve been very clear that time is of the essence. Speaking after his meeting with Mr Barclay, Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliaments Brexit chief cast doubt on the value of talks. Stephen Barclay has been in Europe this week trying to win support (EPA) Despite meetings with UK representatives, including prime minister May, Lidington, and Barclay Im yet to hear of a proposal to break Brexit deadlock, he said. I ask myself: what are these negotiations at a crucial state raised in the House of Commons? The way forward is cross-party, not kicking the can towards a disastrous no deal. On Monday, European Commission chief negotiator Michel Barnier said the EU was waiting for the UK to move and that in his meeting with Mr Barclay that evening he would merely repeat the EUs well-known position that the withdrawal agreement could not be renegotiated. The politicians pushing Brexit should be careful not follow in the footsteps of revolutionary leaders who ended up on the guillotine, the European Parliaments Brexit chief has said. At a press conference in Strasbourg Guy Verhofstadt compared Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg to Georges Danton and Maximilien Robespierre leading figures in the French revolution who were ultimately executed by their former comrades. He said it was important to remind the senior Conservatives that their historical counterparts had ended up losing their heads. I know that within the Tory party the hard Brexiteers are compared to the leaders of the French revolution. I think Gove is Brissot, and Boris Johnson is Danton, and Rees-Mogg is compared to Robespierre, Mr Verhofstadt said. We should not forget that the efforts of these men were not appreciated by the common man they claimed to represent because they all ended up on the guillotine. So thats important to remind [them]. Brexit so far: in pictures Show all 53 1 /53 Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit campaign Boris Johnson led the VoteLeave campaign PA Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit campaign Boris Johnson MP, Labour MP Gisela Stuart and UKIP MP Douglas Carswell address the people of Stafford in Market Square during the Vote Leave Brexit Battle Bus tour on 17 May 2016. Their lead line on the tour was: We send the EU 350 million a week, let's fund our NHS instead. Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Voting day A man shelters from the rain as he arrives at a polling station in London on 23 June 2016. Millions of Britons voted in the referendum on whether to stay in or leave the European Union AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Referendum results Leader of Ukip, Nigel Farage, reacts at the Leave EU referendum party at Millbank Tower in central London as results indicated that it was likely the UK would leave the European Union AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Protesting the result A young couple painted as EU flags and a man with a sign reading Im not leaving protest outside Downing Street against the voters decision to leave the EU on 24 June 2016 Getty Brexit so far: in pictures David Cameron resigns British Prime Minister David Cameron resigns on the steps of 10 Downing Street on 24 June 2016 after the results of the EU referendum were declared and the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Theresa May Becomes the new Conservative Party leader Theresa May receives a kiss from her husband Philip, after becoming the new Conservative Party leader on 11 July 2016. May became Prime Minister two days later and although she voted to remain in the referendum was keen to lead Britains Brexit talks after her only rival in the race to succeed David Cameron pulled out unexpectedly. May was left as the only contender standing after the withdrawal from the leadership race of Andrea Leadsom, who faced criticism for suggesting she was more qualified to be prime minister because she had children AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Lancaster House keynote speech on Brexit British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers her keynote speech on Brexit at Lancaster House in London on 17 January 2017. Where she spoke about her offer to introduce a transition period after the UK formally leaves the European Union in March 2019. Despite repeating the pro-Brexit mantra of no deal is better than a bad deal, the Prime Minister claimed she wanted a tone of trust between the negotiators and said Britain was leaving the EU but not Europe. She said there should be a clear double lock needed for the transitional period to make sure businesses had time to prepare for changes to their trading relationships with the EU Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Triggering of Article 50 British Prime Minister Theresa May in the cabinet, sitting below a painting of Britain's first Prime Minister Robert Walpole, signs the official letter to European Council President Donald Tusk invoking Article 50 and the United Kingdom's intention to leave the EU on 29 March 2017 Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Gibraltar nonsense Tensions have risen over Brexit negotiations for the Rock of Gibraltar. The European Council has said Gibraltar would be included in a trade deal between London and Brussels only with the agreement of Spain. While former Conservative leader Michael Howard claimed that Theresa May would be prepared to go to war to protect the territory. Spain's foreign minister stepped in only to assert that there was no need for the dispute Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Shock snap election Soon after triggering Article 50, Theresa May called on 18 April 2017 for a snap general election. The election would be on 8 June and it came as a shock move to many, with her reasoning to try to bolster her position before tough talks on leaving the EU AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Dissolution of Parliament for General Election Campaign Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement in Downing Street after returning from Buckingham Palace on 3 May 2017. The Prime Minister visited the Queen to ask for the dissolution of Parliament signalling the official start to the general election campaign Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Conservatives lose parliamentary majority An arrangement of British daily newspapers showing front page stories about the exit poll results of the snap general election. British Prime Minister Theresa May faced pressure to resign on 9 June 2017 after losing her parliamentary majority, plunging the country into uncertainty as Brexit talks loomed. The pound fell sharply amid fears the Conservative leader would be unable to form a government AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Labour gains Britains opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gives a tumbs up as he arrives at Labour headquarters in central London on 9 June 2017 after the snap general election results showed a hung parliament with Labour gains and the Conservatives losing their majority AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit negotiations begin Brexit Minister David Davis and European Commission member in charge of Brexit negotiations Michel Barnier address a press conference at the end of the first day of Brexit negotiations in Brussels on 19 June 2017 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures May speaks in Florence British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks on 22 September 2017, in Florence. May sought to unlock Brexit talks after Brussels demanded more clarity on the crunch issues of budget payments and EU citizens' rights AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU council summit insufficient progress German Chancellor Angela Merkel joins other EU leaders for a breakfast meeting during an EU summit in Brussels on 20 October 2017. The EU spoke about Brexit and announced that insufficient progress had been made AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures DUP derails settlement on the withdrawal part of Brexit DUP Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds walks off after speaking to members of the media as a protester holding flags shouts after him outside the Houses of Parliament on 5 December 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May was forced to pull out of a deal with Brussels after the DUP said it would not accept terms which see Northern Ireland treated differently from the rest of the UK Getty Brexit so far: in pictures May suffers defeat over EU (Withdrawal) Bill Theresa May suffers defeat in parliament over EU (Withdrawal) Bill on 13 December 2017. The Government was defeated by Conservative rebels and Labour MPs in a vote on its key piece of Brexit legislation. MPs amended the EU (Withdrawal) Bill against Theresa May's will, guaranteeing Parliament a meaningful vote on any Brexit deal she agrees with Brussels. Ms May's whips applied pressure on Conservative rebels who remained defiant in the Commons throughout the day and in the end the Government was defeated by 309 votes to 305 Brexit so far: in pictures EU council summit sufficient progress Britain's Prime minister Theresa May arrives to attend the first day of a European union summit in Brussels on 14 December 2017. European leaders discussed Brexit and announced there was finally sufficient progress at the end of the two days AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures The game moves to transition Brexit Secretary David Davis gives evidence on developments in European Union divorce talks to the Commons Exiting the EU Committee in Portcullis House, London, on 24 January 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures Trade deal is what May wants French President Emmanuel Macron gestures to Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May after they hold a press conference at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, on 18 January 2018. May and Macron agreed a new border security deal, through which the UK will pay more to France to stop migrants trying to reach British shores on 18 January 2018 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Transition period agreed The UK and EU agree terms for Brexit transition period on 19 March, 2018 Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures No agreement on Irish border The EU and UK however failed to reach an agreement on the Irish border during the successful talks on other Brexit issues AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU attacks Mays fantasy strategy For months after the March deal is struck there is little significant progress in talks. One senior EU official tears into Britains fantasy negotiating strategy and accuses Theresa May of not even having a position on a variety of important issue Getty Brexit so far: in pictures UK releases Ireland plan Britain releases a new customs plan to solve the Northern Ireland border but Michel Barnier says it leaves unanswered questions and would not prevent a hard border EbS Brexit so far: in pictures Chequers plan agreed The cabinet agrees on a plan known as the "Chequers deal" on July 6 2018. The plan seeks regulatory alignment on goods and food, divergence on services, freedom from the European Courts of Justice and an end to free movement. Many were surprised that the hard Brexiteers of the cabinet would agree to this plan PA Brexit so far: in pictures Chequers plan sparks resignations Brexit Secretary David Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and numerous ministers resign in the days following the Chequers agreement Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Davis out, Raab in On 9 July, Dominic Raab replaces David Davis as Brexit Secretary. Raab is a keen Brexiteer and was a housing minister before taking over from Davis Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Barnier's "deal like no other" EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier claims on August 29 2018 that they are prepared to offer Britain a trade deal like no other, though he stressed that they will not divide or change the single market to accommodate Britain AP Brexit so far: in pictures "My deal or no deal" In an interview on Panorama on September 17, the Prime Minister insists that any Brexit deal will be offered to the EU on her terms. She asserts this amongst continued attacks on her approach to Brexit by Boris Johnson and the European Research Group, headed by Jacob Rees Mogg BBC/Jeff Overs Brexit so far: in pictures EU leaders reject Chequers Quite the blow was dealt to the Prime Minister at a EU leaders summit in Salzburg on September 20. European Council President Donald Tusk stated that the Chequers deal "will not work" Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures May demands respect Following the rejection of her Chequers plan the day before, the Prime Minister voiced her anger that the EU had dismissed it without offering an alternative. She stated that throughout this process, I have treated the EU with nothing but respect. The UK expects the same. A good relationship at the end of this process depends on it." Getty Brexit so far: in pictures People's Vote march As the People's Vote campaign and The Independent's Final Say campaign gain traction, 700,000 people turn out in London to demand a final say on the UK's Brexit deal on October 20 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures More resignations As the Prime Minister settles on a Brexit deal, Brexit secretary Dominic Raab resigns along with Work and Pensions secretary Esther McVey and many other ministers Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Final Say petitions delivered to Downing Street People's Vote supporting MPs Chukka Umunna, Justine Greening and Caroline Lucas and The Independent editor Christian Broughton deliver over a million signatures in favour of a People's Vote to the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street on December 3 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures May delays vote On December 10, the Prime Minister delayed the vote on her Brexit deal as it was near certain not to pass through the Commons due to Tory rebels and lack of DUP support AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures No confidence motion Tory MPs triggered a confidence vote in the Prime Minister on December 12. She won by 200 votes to 117 Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Commons rejects the deal Following the delay, the Prime Minister's deal was rejected in the Commons by a historic 230 votes AFP Brexit so far: in pictures Corbyn tables a no confidence motion Following the rejection of the Prime Minister's deal, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn tabled a motion of no confidence in the government, which the government won by a margin of 19 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Plan B The Prime Minister won the support of the commons to return to Brussels to renegotiate the backstop on January 29. In the same sitting, MPs also voted against a no-deal Brexit in a non-legally binding motion PA Brexit so far: in pictures EU council president savages Brexit campaigners who failed to plan for departure: Special place in hell There is a special place in hell for pro-Brexit campaigners who demanded Britain leave the EU without explaining how it should happen, Donald Tusk has said. The European Council president launched the scathing attack as he accused anti-EU campaigners of pushing for Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely. Mr Tusk also dismissed suggestions that the EU could reopen negotiations over the controversial Northern Ireland backstop, dealing a blow to Theresa Mays hopes of securing fresh concessions as she tries to get her exit deal through parliament. Speaking in Brussels alongside Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Mr Tusk said: Ive been wondering what a special place in hell looks like for people who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely. He also tweeted the accusation moments later Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU and UK announce talks to restart after Theresa May visits Brussels Both have agreed to restart Brexit talks to find a way through the deadlock in Westminster, following a visit by Theresa May to Brussels. In a joint statement the British government and European Commission said Ms May had had a robust but constructive meeting with president Jean-Claude Juncker, and that the pair would meet again before the end of the month. But the EU again refused to reopen the withdrawal agreement and its controversial backstop with any negotiations expected to focus on the future relationship between the UK and EU instead Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit strategy lost MPs voted down May's Brext plans, with a majority of 45. The prime minister did not appear in parliament to see another defeat PA Brexit so far: in pictures Labour and Conservative MPs resign and create the Independent Group Back row of Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, Chuka Umunna and Mike Gapes, middle row of Angela Smith, Luciana Berger and Ann Coffey and front row of Sarah Wollaston, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Joan Ryan PA Brexit so far: in pictures Non-biding votes on amendments to Brexit motion On February 27 he house held a series of votes, unanimously calling for the UK and EU to guarantee citizens rights in a no-deal scenario AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Attorney General publishes legal advice A hammer blow for May as Geoffrey Cox said her renegotiated deal can still leave UK in backstop against its will. Mr Cox did say the prime ministers efforts had reduced the risk of the UK being trapped in the backstop indefinitely. MPs went on to vote against her deal by 391 to 242 UK Parliament/PA Brexit so far: in pictures No-deal off the table MPs rejected a no-deal Brexit by 43 votes on March 13, with cabinet ministers rebelling in another humiliating defeat for Theresa May. A day later they voted in favour of the prime minister seeking an extension to Article 50 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures House speaker bans May from third Commons vote on same Brexit deal John Bercow sensationally told Theresa May he would stop her making another attempt to pass her Brexit deal unless she has secured changes. The Speaker said a further meaningful vote would be ruled out of order if the motion was the same or substantially the same under an ancient convention to stop the government bullying parliament on issues MPs have rejected Parliament Live Brexit so far: in pictures May writes to Tusk The prime minister wrote to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, to ask for a three-month extension to give her more time to try to get her deal through parliament. However the European Commission advises the EU27 should offer a short extension to May 23 or a longer one meaning the UK would participate in European elections 10 Downing Street/AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures European Council summit Theresa Mays request to extend triggering Article 50 until the end of June was rejected by the EU, and instead offered a shorter time frame. She accepted the offer of a delay until May 22 if her withdrawal deal is approved by Parliament. If MPs rejected it for a third time, the EU said Britain must propose a new plan by April 12. Ms May said she will not support a long delay because it would mean Britain participating in elections for the European Parliament Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brussels confirms preparations for a no-deal Brexit are completed They warned that it is increasingly likely the UK will crash out. In a statement the European Commission (EC) said preparedness and contingency work, which the EC has been conducting since December 2017, was now finished. The announcement came days after EU leaders agreed to a request by Theresa May to extend the UKs Brexit date AFP Brexit so far: in pictures May resigns Reuters His comments come a week after European Council president Donald Tusk caused a story in the UK by saying there was a "special place in hell" for Brexiteers who had advocated leaving the EU without a serious plan of how to do it. Mr Verhofstadt was speaking ahead of a meeting with Stephen Barclay at the European Parliament part of the UK Brexit Secretarys tour of the EU to gauge support for changes to the withdrawal agreement. He urged Brexiteers to compromise, adding: I think its completely irresponsible of the hardliners to reject such cross-party cooperation because a no-deal scenario is a disaster for everybody and especially for the UK. I hope that such cross party cooperation will now lead to a new proposal or in any way further proposals by the British side. The Brexit coordinator said that the government and opposition were not as far apart as some believed, adding: In my opinion it would surprise me that a country that has shown so much political creativity in its long history would not be able to overcome these differences and find a broad majority in the House of Commons. Tory MPs have said they will not support the withdrawal agreement negotiated by Theresa May as long as it includes the Irish backstop she negotiated with Brussels to prevent a hard border in Northern Ireland. Many Brexiteers are also opposed to a close economic relationship with the EU, preferring to be outside the customs union and not aligned with single market rules. A 95-year old couple who met in their teens will celebrate a special Valentine's Day this year as they mark 75 years of marriage. James and Cecilia Marsh tied the knot in December 1943 after Ms Marsh's youngest brother who introduced them. Mr Marsh said he could not have been prouder as he rode his Ariel Red Hunter motorcycle from the Welsh coal mines where he worked as a Bevin Boy, to marry the woman who would become his life-long companion. As they prepared for their 75th Valentine's Day together, Cecilia said the secret to the success of their marriage was communication and the fact they have always "worked together" to tackle the tough times. She said: I never thought James and I would still be together after all this time - especially after he was called up to the mines during the war. He had no option, he was going whether we liked it or not. As a young man, he was very smart its something hes always been known for. 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day Show all 21 1 /21 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day Cecelia and James Marsh. James and Cecelia celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary on Christmas Day, 2018. This year, they celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day together. Photograph taken in Bexley, London, on 11th February 2019 SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day Cecelia and James Marsh. James and Cecelia celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary on Christmas Day, 2018. This year, they celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day together. Photograph taken in Bexley, London, on 11th February 2019 SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day Collect picture of Cecelia and James Marsh on 60th wedding anniversary SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day Collect picture of Cecelia and James Marsh on 25th wedding anniversary SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day Picture of Cecelia and James Marsh SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day Cecelia and James Marsh on 70th wedding anniversary SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day Cecelia and James Marsh on 70th wedding anniversary SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day Cecelia and James Marsh with their family on Christmas day 2018 SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day Picture of James Marsh taken in 1989 before the shop closed SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day Picture of James Marsh taken in 1989 before the shop closed SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day Picture of James Marsh taken in 1989 before the shop closed SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day The shop they ran together until it closed in 1989. SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day The first car James Marsh bought in 1955 SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day Marion Jones (daughter) taken in 1950s SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day The bike James rode to and from the mine. early 1940s SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day Cecelia and James Marsh. 1942 SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day James and Cecelia get married, December 1943 SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day Cecelia and James Marsh, taken in the eighties SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day Cecelia and James Marsh in 1989 before shop closed SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day Cecelia and James Marsh. Wedding dec 1943 SWNS 95-year-old couple celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day SWNS Cecelia and James Marsh. James and Cecelia celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary on Christmas Day, 2018. Thius year, they celebrate their 75th Valentine's Day together. SWNS She added: "Even after 75 years, hes still the same man I married and were as in love today as we were on our wedding day. And because we were married on Christmas Day, its always been easy to remember the date. Weve always worked together with whatever weve done. We even used to ride a tandem bicycle. Mr and Mrs Marsh celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary on Christmas Day last year. They said they feel gratitude because they have a large family, which contributes to maintaining a loving relationship spanning nearly eight decades. Recounting their approach to money, Cecelia spoke about the frugal times endured when they used credit to buy just one item at a time. Referring to Mr Marsh, she added: But that said, if we wanted to buy something, you didnt mind going out and spending money, did you James! Mr Marsh, who lives with dementia, replied with a quick wit when he said: Yes, and now Im skint! Mr Marsh, whose first job was at a local hardware and iron merchants, added: When we first met, I thought Cecelia had a lovely way about her. After we were married we were sometimes short on money, but we made a decent home because the kids were growing up. Theres more to life than money you dont need to make extravagant purchases. And it was nice to get home at the end of the day to a home-cooked meal. Pair of penguins serenaded with violinist and red roses for Valentine's Day With Valentines Day approaching, Ms Marsh said they did not really celebrate it in a big way anymore. We used to - flowers, chocolates, that kind of thing," she said. She added they had made cards for each other this year with help from the staff at the Bupa Abbotsleigh Mews care home in Sidcup, South East London where they now live. They have also planted a rose bush in the grounds to symbolise their diamond anniversary. Its heart-warming to watch their relationship continue to grow even after all these years, and so we all wanted to do something special to mark the occasion," said care home manager Tracey Cheeseman. After the war, Mr Marsh returned to work at a local hardware merchants, and eventually ended up as general manager until he retired in 1989. Ms Marsh worked as a trainee seamstress, which meant she frequently made clothes for the family. She said she was kept busy with sewing, dressmaking and crocheting, and with designing and making wedding dresses. By the time their three children, James, Marion and Ann grew up, Ms Marsh took up employment at the Peek Freans biscuit factory in Bermondsey. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events In the sixties, she moved on from her job to help Mr Marsh at Hawkins and Sons, working as a bookkeeper for 20 years. The pair have been retired since 1989 and up until three years ago, accompanied each other to the shops every day. The couple have seven grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Mr Marsh said: Looking back at the old times, I remember we had to learn to work together to overcome any troubles we might have had. Ms Marsh added: And if you can see that your family is happy and content, then that makes you happy. People in our generation didnt ask a lot from life, we were happy with what we had. SWNS A prison that saw five suspected drug deaths in just eight months was promised scanning equipment by the government, only for it to be delivered to another jail, a report said. Inspectors said staff at HMP Durham were immensely frustrated by the fact that they had no modern technology available to them to help their efforts to stem the flow of drugs. Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons said: We were told that they had been promised some modern scanning equipment but that it had been diverted to another prison. The scale of the problem at HMP Durham and the obvious linkage to all kinds of violence were such that technological support was urgently needed. An inspection found seven prisoners had killed themselves since the last inspection in December 2016 and another five had died suspected drug-related deaths. Violent incidents doubled in the period and the use of force by prison officers trebled. More than 350 acts of self-harm were recorded in just six months. UK prison conditions: in pictures Show all 8 1 /8 UK prison conditions: in pictures UK prison conditions: in pictures A cell covered in graffiti at HMP Liverpool. PA UK prison conditions: in pictures HMP Liverpool has some of the worst conditions inspectors have seen. HM Inspectorate of Prisons/PA UK prison conditions: in pictures A broken window in a cell at HMP Liverpool HM Inspectorate of Prisons/PA Wire UK prison conditions: in pictures A shower unit with protruding electric cable at HMP Liverpool HM Inspectorate of Prisons/PA UK prison conditions: in pictures Litter at HMP Liverpool HM Inspectorate of Prisons/PA Wire UK prison conditions: in pictures A wall damaged by damp at HMP Liverpool HM Inspectorate of Prisons/PA UK prison conditions: in pictures A pool table at HMP Liverpool HM Inspectorate of Prisons/PA UK prison conditions: in pictures A sign for HMP Liverpool, where drones are seized at a rate of more than one a week. The prisons watchdog flagged up the impact of the remote-controlled flying devices at HMP Liverpool. PA Ian Carson, the Prison Officers Association representative for the north-east, accused the government of prioritising 10 jails that minister Rory Stewart vowed to improve or resign. While justice secretary David Gauke has named the spread of former legal highs as a driver of violence, Mr Carson told The Independent that prison officers felt disempowered by policy changes and budget cuts. The fundamental facts are relationships broke down, we had less staff and we lost control, he said. HMP Durham is among numerous jails criticised by HM Inspectorate of Prisons, while others have been subject to rare urgent notifications over spiralling violence, drug use and suicide in what campaigners say is a nationwide crisis. The heavily overcrowded jail held 872 inmates at the time of the inspection. Its normal capacity was 595. Inspectors found more than 80 per cent of cells designed for one held two people. As a reception prison, HMP Durham holds mainly inmates who are on remand or subject to recall and almost three quarters had been imprisoned there for under three months at the time of the inspection. Significant numbers of prisoners said they arrived feeling depressed or suicidal, two thirds said they had mental health problems and a third felt unsafe. A survey found 66 per cent said it was easy to obtain drugs and another 30 per cent told inspectors they had acquired a drug habit since coming into the prison. Although one in 10 prisoners presenting a high risk of harm, many were being managed by supervisors who had neither the training, experience nor adequate supervision to deal with them, inspectors found. Despite some early signs that violence was starting to decline, safety at HMP Durham remained poor, they said. Mr Clarke said improvements were being made, including new in-cell phones, video links to courts and the use of more amenities, but he warned: The most pressing needs are to get to grips with the violence of all kinds, make the prison safer and reduce the flow of drugs. Only then will the benefits flow from the many creditable initiatives that are being implemented. David Gauke describes shocking videos emerging from UK prisons The Independent understands that HMP Durham has still not received drug scanning equipment, but it is expected to arrive in the coming months. Mr Stewart, the prisons minister, said: We are determined to install full airport-style security with the right dogs, technology, scanners and search teams to detect drugs. We will install the technology in Durham and we will be rolling it out across our local prisons. Tackling drugs is vital for reducing violence. Michael Spurr, chief executive of HM prison and probation service, said progress was being made on significant challenges. Since the introduction of the prison officer key worker scheme, violent incidents, self-harm and disruptive behaviour have all reduced, he said. The prison is also working closely with the police and the NHS to tackle illicit drug use. We are developing a national strategy to restrict supply, reduce demand and build recovery. As part of this process we will consider which measures, including technology, can be implemented to further strengthen the prisons approach to tackling drugs. We are under no illusions that there is much still to do." The problem most often manifests itself on sunny days after a large snowfall, as the ice starts to get loose and tumbles down, said Dr. Tarlan Hedayati, a physician at Stroger Hospital. People rarely wind up at Stroger because of injuries caused by falling ice, she said. More often, the hospital treats injuries related to people falling because of snow and ice on the ground. A dying nurse has hit out at NHS bosses after multiple chances to diagnose her cervical cancer were missed. Mother-of-two Julie OConnor was eventually found to have the disease by a private gynaecologist, three years after a 2014 smear test gave her the all clear. An independent review of that initial finding was later shown to have signs of cervical cancer and her husband Kevin said there were six tests, biopsies and examinations in total, where the cancer could have been caught In a video recorded three days before she died at St Peters Hospice in Bristol, Julie who worked for the NHS for 13 years, said: Its disgusting I have been suffering the way I have and I continue to suffer. Sitting alongside her Kevin said that the message is intended for staff and senior directors who missed her diagnosis, and to ensure a repeat of the mistakes isnt allowed to happen. Nurse who loved the NHS let down Show all 5 1 /5 Nurse who loved the NHS let down Nurse who loved the NHS let down The O'Connor family - Julie, Kevin and their two children Kevin O'Connor/Facebook Nurse who loved the NHS let down A photograph of Julie posted on Facebook by husband Kevin O'Connor Kevin O'Connor/Facebook Nurse who loved the NHS let down A photograph of Julie posted on Facebook by husband Kevin O'Connor on the day she passed away Kevin O'Connor/Facebook Nurse who loved the NHS let down Julie was a dedicated NHS nurse Kevin O'Connor/Facebook Nurse who loved the NHS let down Kevin OConnor with his wife Julie Kevin O'Connor/Facebook We hold them fully accountable," he said. The pathologist and the gynaecologist, who had several opportunities to intervene, I hold them responsible, and I do hold the board of directors at North Bristol Trust accountable. They put me and Julie through this." The family are now calling for a wider review of screening and diagnostics at the trust, as well as its process for managing complaints from families. No one person can be that unlucky, Kevin said. To have a misdiagnosed smear, missed biopsies and all these clinical examinations and were talking senior members of staff. There needs to be an independent public inquiry that is the only way we are going to get to the bottom of it." The trust said it has commissioned an independent review of its investigation into Ms OConnors care. We are extremely sorry to hear that Ms OConnor has died, said Dr Chris Burton, North Bristol NHS Trust medical director. We have her family in our thoughts at this very difficult time and we send our deepest condolences. We are committed to understanding the full circumstances of the care we provided so we can improve our services for the future, and we will be publicly open with the overall findings of the independent investigation we have commissioned. I have met with Mr OConnor and will remain in contact with him. Women aged 25 to 49 are invited for cervical cancer screening every three years, but uptake of the test is at a record low of 71 per cent. The NHS is currently reviewing cancer screening across the NHS, following a National Audit Office report which found two thirds of women waited too long for smear test results. Women aged between 25 and 49 are invited for screening every three years, rising to every five years for women aged 50 to 64. But a National Audit Office report earlier this month found that just a third of patients received their test results within the recommended two weeks, with some left waiting an agonising four months. Brexit will of course bring about all manner of changes in the UK. But few people will feel the impact more sharply than the 3.5 million EU nationals who have built their lives in this country and who are now having to take steps to secure their right to be here. The government has pledged that all EEA citizens (ie those from the EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein), their family members and dependents living in the UK on or before 29 March can remain in the country with no loss of their rights. The EU Settled Status Scheme, which opened fully last month, is designed to facilitate this, providing in the words of Sajid Javid a simple, streamlined process for residents and EU citizens and their family members to obtain their new UK immigration status. Anyone who views terrorist propaganda once online can be jailed for up to 15 years under new laws that have sparked human rights concerns. MPs had urged the government to scrap plans to criminalise viewing information useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, which goes further than much-used laws that made physically collecting, downloading or disseminating the material illegal. A United Nations inspector accused the government of straying towards thought crime with the proposal, which originally stated that people would have to access propaganda on three or more different occasions to commit a terror offence. But the benchmark was removed from the draft law, meaning a single click is now illegal. Journalists, academic researchers or people who had no reason to believe they were accessing terrorist propaganda are exempt. In pictures: Muslims in London protest against Isis Show all 7 1 /7 In pictures: Muslims in London protest against Isis In pictures: Muslims in London protest against Isis Muslims gather with flags in Trafalgar Square on October 1, 2017 Getty In pictures: Muslims in London protest against Isis People listen to a speaker in Trafalgar Square on October 1, 2017 Getty In pictures: Muslims in London protest against Isis Protesters gather with placards ahead of the annual Ashura march in Marble Arch on October 1, 2017 Getty In pictures: Muslims in London protest against Isis Muslims pray ahead of the annual Ashura march in Marble Arch on October 1, 2017 Getty In pictures: Muslims in London protest against Isis Protesters holding placards demonstrate along Oxford Street on October 1, 2017 Getty In pictures: Muslims in London protest against Isis Protesters gather with placards during the annual Ashura march in Marble Arch on October 1, 2017 Getty In pictures: Muslims in London protest against Isis Protesters holding flags and placards demonstrate along Oxford Street on October 1, 2017 Getty Security officials have told The Independent that discretion will be exercised and the law will help prosecute extremists in cases where other offences cannot be proven, or to prevent radicalisation. A report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights said the offence is a breach of the right to receive information and risks criminalising legitimate research and curiosity. Max Hill QC, the former Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation and current Director of Public Prosecutions, told the committee he found lengthy prison sentences difficult to countenance when nothing is to be done with the material last year. A Home Office spokesperson said the change reflected the fact people now stream propaganda, rather than making the downloads covered by previous laws. There are cases where suspects have become radicalised to the point of planning attacks, at least in part because of the volume and nature of terrorist material they are accessing online," he added. The reasonable excuse defence continues to be available. The new law was introduced as part of the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act, which received royal assent on Tuesday. It makes statements that are reckless as to whether a person will be encouraged to support a proscribed group illegal, and entering designated areas abroad. The areas, to be defined by the government, are expected to include territory controlled by terrorist groups and warzones. Last month, security minister Ben Wallace told MPs the law would help prosecute foreign fighters, but it cannot be applied retrospectively to hundreds of Isis supporters who have already returned to the UK. Terror police appeal for public help to thwart plots We are all struggling in the West to deal with the emerging threat of foreign fighters as failed state safe areas are becoming the routine, he said. Members on both sides of the House rightly get angry when foreign fighters come back and we cannot prosecute them, because gathering evidence of deeper and more complex offences is very challenging. The Independent understands that because the law exempts people who remain in such areas involuntarily, it cannot be applied to British Isis members captured in Syria. Last month, the government accepted amendments to create specific exemptions including humanitarian work, journalism and funerals. Corey Stoughton, advocacy director at Liberty, said: Despite a series of amendments brought about by concerted campaigning, this act remains a grave threat to our human rights. It unnecessarily adds to the raft of existing counterterror legislation, introducing harsh sentences for ill-defined offences related to travelling overseas and browsing the internet. It risks stifling dissent and making thought crime a reality. Convicted terrorists will be required to provide additional information to the police in line with registered sex offenders, and the law also includes a new power to detain people suspected of hostile state activity at ports and borders. Sajid Javid, the home secretary, said 2017s terror attacks and the Salisbury poisoning showed the threat posed to the UK by terrorists and hostile states. Keeping people safe is my number one job and this important piece of legislation will help do that, he added. The Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act gives the police the powers they need to disrupt plots and punish those who seek to do us harm. A second enormous crater that appears to have formed when a meteorite smashed into the Earth has been discovered underneath Greenland's ice. Buried around a mile underneath Greenlands ice sheets, it is even larger than the site beneath Hiawatha Glacier revealed to the world in November. A team including Nasa scientists came across this second impact site after studying radar images mapping the regions bedrock. At 22 miles wide, the crater ranks among the largest ever found on Earth, and is comparable with impacts known to have triggered global climate change and extinctions. Weve surveyed the Earth in many different ways, from land, air and space its exciting that discoveries like these are still possible, said Dr Joe MacGregor, a Nasa glaciologist who contributed to the discovery of both Greenland craters. Glacier collapse shows climate impact Show all 20 1 /20 Glacier collapse shows climate impact Glacier collapse shows climate impact An iceberg floats in a fjord near the town of Tasiilaq Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Meltwater pools on top of the Helheim glacier near Tasiilaq Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Safety officer Brian Rougeux works with student Febin Magar to assemble a radar dome while working in a science camp on the side of the Helheim glacier Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Airplane Mechanic, David Fuller, left, works with a local worker to move a Nasa Gulfstream III during a pre-flight inspection before a flight to support the Oceans Melting Greenland research mission Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Meltwater pools on top of the Helheim glacier Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Earth Science Flight Programs Director at Nasa, Eric Ianson, looks out at the Greenland ice sheet Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Glacial ice is seen from the window during the Nasa flight Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Oceanographer David Holland's science camp on the side of the Helheim glacier Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact An iceberg floats in a fjord near the town of Tasiilaq Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact A large crevasse forms near the calving front of the Helheim glacier Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Safety officer Brian Rougeux uses a drill to install antennas for scientific instruments that will be left on top of the Helheim glacier Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Tabular icebergs float in the Sermilik Fjord after a large calving event at the Helheim glacier Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Radar Engineer, Ron Muellerschoen, monitors data collection inside a NASA Gulfstream III flying above Greenland to measure loss to the country's ice sheet Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact GPS tracking equipment is left on top of the Helheim glacier REUTERS Glacier collapse shows climate impact Sunshine lights up the Helheim glacier Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact A glacial terminus above the east coast of Greenland REUTERS Glacier collapse shows climate impact Student Febin Magar watches as leftover wood burns in a research camp Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Tabular icebergs float in the Sermilik Fjord after a large calving event Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Oceanographer David Holland repairs a broken GPS module at his research camp Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact An iceberg floats in a fjord near the town of Tasiilaq Reuters The only other circular structure that the scientists think could have caused a crater of this size would be a collapsed volcano but the closest known areas of volcanic activity are hundreds of miles away. If they can confirm the structure is the result of a meteorite impact, it would be the 22nd largest impact crater ever found on this planet. Past research has revealed profound consequences for life on Earth when large meteorites hit the most famous example being the Chicxulub impact linked to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Recommended Giant meteorite crater bigger than Paris found beneath Greenland When the first impact site was discovered, the scientists said they intended to accurately date the site in order to understand when and how it affected the planet. Based on the undisturbed ice in the area, the team said the more recently identified crater is probably more than 79,000 years old. While the impact craters in Greenland were discovered only 114 miles apart, the scientists think they probably did not form at the same time. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The ice layers above this second crater are unambiguously older than those above Hiawatha, and the second crater is about twice as eroded, explained Dr MacGregor. The discovery of these craters has come as a surprise to scientists, who long assumed most evidence of ancient impacts would have been wiped out by erosion as years passed. These results were published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. A government recruitment drive to fill more than 100,000 jobs in social care could be doomed to failure because ministers are yet to deliver reforms promised two years ago, experts have warned. The Department of Health and Social Care has pledged around 3m for adverts and events across England in February and March aimed at highlighting the rewards of a career in social care. While around 1.45 million people work in social care, an extra 650,000 workers will be needed by 2035 to look after rising numbers of older patients, ministers said. However, charities and care groups said that the long overdue recruitment drive would not be enough without fundamental changes to improve working conditions. Labour meanwhile, said that the government had ground down wages for highly skilled social care staff with a decade of austerity and cuts to council budgets. Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves Show all 6 1 /6 Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves The elderly We acknowledge that there are pressures on the health service, there are always extra pressures on the NHS in the winter, but we have the added pressures of the ageing population and the growing complex needs of the population, Theresa May has said. Waits of over 12 hours in A&E among elderly people have more than doubled in two years, according to figures from NHS Digital. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves Patients going to A&E instead of seeing their GPs Jeremy Hunt has called for a honest discussion with the public about the purpose of A&E departments, saying that around a third of A&E patients were in hospital unnecessarily. Mr Hunt told Radio 4s Today programme the NHS now had more doctors, nurses and funding than ever, but explained what he called very serious problems at some hospitals by suggesting pressures were increasing in part because people are going to A&Es when they should not. He urged patients to visit their GP for non-emergency illnesses, outlined plans to release time for family doctors to support urgent care work, and said the NHS will soon be able to deliver seven-day access to a GP from 8am to 8pm. But doctors struggling amid a GP recruitment crisis said Mr Hunts plans were unrealistic and demanded the Government commit to investing in all areas of the overstretched health service. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves Simon Stevens, head of NHS England Reports that key members of Ms Mays team used internal meetings to accuse Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, of being unenthusiastic and unresponsive have been rejected by Downing Street. Mr Stevens had allegedly rejected claims made by Ms May that the NHS had been given more funding than required. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves Previous health policy, not funding In an interview with Sky Newss Sophy Ridge, Ms May acknowledged the NHS faced pressures but said it was a problem that had been ducked by government over the years. She refuted the claim that hospitals were tackling a humanitarian crisis and said health funding was at record levels. We asked the NHS a while back to set out what it needed over the next five years in terms of its plan for the future and the funding that it would need, said the Prime Minister. They did that, we gave them that funding, in fact we gave them more funding than they required Funding is now at record levels for the NHS, more money has been going in. But doctors accused Ms May of being in denial about how the lack of additional funding provided for health and social care were behind a spiralling crisis in NHS hospitals. Getty Images Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves Target to treat all A&E patients within four hours Mr Hunt was accused of watering down the flagship target to treat all A&E patients within four hours. The Health Secretary told MPs the promise introduced by Tony Blairs government in 2000 should only be for those who actually need it. Amid jeers in the Commons, Mr Hunt said only four other countries pledged to treat all patients within a similar timeframe and all had less stringent rules. But Ms May has now said the Government will stand by the four-hour target for A&E, which says 95 per cent of patients must be dealt with within that time frame. Getty Images Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves No one Mr Hunt was accused of hiding from the public eye following news of the Red Crosss comments and didnt make an official statement for two days. He was also filmed refusing to answer questions from journalists who pursued him down the street yesterday to ask whether he planned to scrap the four-hour A&E waiting time target. Sky News reporter Beth Rigby pressed the Health Secretary on his position on the matter, saying the public will want to know, Mr Hunt. Sorry Beth, Ive answered questions about this already, replied Mr Hunt. But you didnt answer questions on this. You said it was over-interpreted in the House of Commons and you didnt want to water it down. Is that what youre saying? said Ms Rigby. Its very difficult, because how are we going to explain to the public what your intention is, when you change your position and then wont answer the question, Mr Hunt. But the Health Secretary maintained his silence until he reached his car and got in. Getty However, care minister Caroline Dinenage insisted that spreading the word that care work is rewarding, varied and worthwhile would help address the massive demand for staff. But care experts pointed out that around 400,000 social care workers leave the sector every year a turnover rate of 30.7 per cent, twice the national average. As of February 2018, the average hourly rate for care workers in the private sector is 7.82 per hour, a penny less than the national minimum wage for over 25s. The recruitment crisis is a symptom, not a cause, of the ongoing funding crisis in the social care sector, Billy Davis, policy and public affairs manager for Hft, a national charity supporting adults with learning disabilities. Mr Davis said recognition of the need to recruit was welcome, but the charitys Pulse Check survey of 56 care providers identified low wages as the biggest barrier to hiring and holding on to staff for 80 per cent of organisations. It also showed that more than half of providers had to hand back unsustainable contracts last year, while two-thirds expected to do so in future. George McNamara, director of policy and influencing at Independent Age, said little job progression, lack of training and perceived lower status compared to similar healthcare roles were other major issues. Solely focusing on recruitment, without also addressing staff retention, will severely limit the impact of the campaign, he added. While the government promised social care reforms back in 2017, a pledged green paper has been delayed multiple times and still has not got a publication date. Meanwhile staff leave to work in better paid NHS roles or quit altogether. Negotiations over leaving the European Union (EU) have been one of the factors delaying the reforms and Brexit is set to hit social care staffing particularly hard with one in six care roles is currently filled by overseas staff. While EU workers - exempt from the visa cap - have filled many of these jobs, the government's pledged crackdowns on low skilled workers after Brexit could create 380,000 vacancies in the next decade, experts have said. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Labours shadow health minister for social care, Barbara Keeley, said launching a recruitment drive without fixing the underlying cause of staff shortages showed a stunning lack of self-awareness from ministers. Nine years of crushing cuts to councils funding at a time of unprecedented demand for social care has ground down the wages, terms and conditions of a high-skilled, overworked and underpaid workforce." The warning comes as a report by the Health Foundation think-tank said staff shortages across the NHS threaten ambitions of the health service ten-year plan to transform services and deliver more care away from hospital. While the number of hospital-based doctors has continued to grow, the report shows GP numbers fell 1.6 per cent equivalent to 450 full-time doctors in the year to September 2018. Similarly, numbers of nurses and health visitors working in community health services have continued their long-term decline, falling by 1.2 per cent (540 FTE staff) in the year to July 2018. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: Our green paper, published shortly, will look at long term sustainable solutions for the adult social care system including how we can recruit and retain a valued workforce. In the meantime there is huge demand for more care professionals and we need to spread the word that careers in adult social care can be hugely rewarding, varied and worthwhile." The chancellors target of reducing the budget deficit and balancing the books has no credibility and should be abandoned, MPs have said. The Treasury Committee also said Philip Hammonds claim in last years Budget that the UK would benefit from a deal dividend if a Brexit agreement was reached with Brussels was not credible. Mr Hammond said the UK would receive a boost from the end of uncertainty, and a boost from releasing some of the fiscal headroom that I am holding in reserve at the moment if a no-deal Brexit was avoided, but the Office for Budget Responsibility said that as it already assumed an orderly Brexit in its forecasts, it was odd for the challencor to refer to a deal dividend. Nicky Morgan MP, chair of the Treasury Committee, said: The great cloud of uncertainty hanging over Budget 2018 was Brexit. And as the chancellor has said, a new Budget may be needed in the event of no deal. But the Treasury Committee has nevertheless scrutinised this budget and made a series of recommendations to government. On Brexit, the chancellor spoke of a deal dividend of lower taxes and higher spending once a withdrawal agreement has been agreed. The OBR already assumes an orderly Brexit, so there wont be a deal dividend beyond the forecast just by avoiding no deal. Business confidence may improve with increased certainty, but its not credible to describe this as a dividend. 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" Its clear that the government should update its charter for budget responsibility. The chancellor appears to have disregarded the fiscal objective of achieving a surplus and says that he prefers securing economic growth as a better way of shrinking the debt as a proportion of GDP. As the objective now has no credibility, parliament cannot use it to hold government to account, and it should be replaced. Meanwhile, the committee said Mr Hammonds claim that austerity is coming to an end was inaccurate. The chancellor said he viewed austerity coming to an end as meaning more generous funding of public services, real wage growth and a lower proportion of income going into taxation. Budget 2018: the 6 biggest announcements This definition, the MPs said, was expansive but also imprecise, and the committee called on Mr Hammond to set out his meaning in more measurable terms at the next Budget and comprehensive spending review. A Treasury spokesman said: Restoring the public finances to health is a result of good economic management, not luck. Debt is now falling on a sustained basis for the first time in a generation, wages are growing at their fastest rate in over a decade, and [Mondays] GDP data confirmed that the UK economy grew for a ninth consecutive year. Upskirting has officially become a criminal offence following the introduction of a new law that has passed in parliament. The act of taking a photograph underneath another persons clothing without their knowledge or consent is known as upskirting and could now see perpetrators face up to two years in prison and being placed on the sex offenders register. The news comes following an 18-month campaign led by writer and activist Gina Martin, who launched an online petition after being upskirted at a music festival. Describing her feelings at the time, Martin said she was astounded to learn that upskirting wasnt illegal, when she reported the incident to police. After a Facebook post detailing her experience went viral, Martin launched an online petition to have her case reopened by the police, which received 50,000 signatures at the time. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Martin called for upskirting to be made part of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, a campaign that received support from a number of celebrities including Laura Whitmore and Dermot OLeary, in addition to politicians such as Lib Dem MP Wera Hobhouse. Hobhouse then brought a private members bill backing the instatement of upskirting as a criminal offence in England and Wales in March 2018. The government has now announced that the bill has received Royal Assent. Confirming the news on Twitter, Martin said: After 18 months of tireless work, today weve finally done it. As the Queen formally agrees to make our bill into an Act of Parliament, we should see this campaign as not only essential legislative change, but also proof that normal people and grassroots campaigning can make a real difference. Its a reminder to, instead of saying someone should do something about this, be that someone. In June 2018, Conservative MP Sir Christopher Chope was heavily condemned for blocking the upskirting bill, when he shouted object during the bills second reading in the House of Commons. Sir Christopher caused further controversy recently for blocking legislation designed to protect children from female genital mutilation (FGM). Sian Hawkins, Head of Campaigns and Public Affairs at charity Womens Aid, expressed her hope that the introduction of the new law criminalising upskirting will help to challenge prevailing sexist attitudes and behavious in our society that underpin violence against women and girls. Domestic abuse does not happen in a cultural vacuum, Hawkins added. By making upskirting a criminal offence, we will send out the powerful message that this form of abuse is unacceptable and perpetrators of this crime will be held to account. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Justice minister Lucy Frazer praised Martin and those who supported her campaign. Gina Martin and other victims, charities and MPs supporting her should be immensely proud, Frazer said. Her efforts show how one campaigner can work with government to change the law for everyone. In February 2018, released figures revealed that girls as young as 10 have been targeted by perpetrators of upskirting. Young people in the UK are being targeted by the government in a bid to recruit thousands more care workers. Despite more than 1.45m people currently working in social care, there are 110,000 vacancies in the workforce a figure which is expected to rise by an additional 650,000 by 2035 due to an ageing population, ministers said. To tackle this, the government has launched The Every Day is Different campaign which will promote a range of roles, including carer in a nursing home, activities co-ordinator in the community, hospital occupational therapist and personal assistant in a persons home. The campaign will be promoted on social media and online platforms and, while the aim is to attract a diverse range of people, it will be targeted at people aged 20 to 39. This, the government says, is because research suggests this group is the most likely to consider a role in adult social care. The top 10 best-paid part-time jobs Show all 10 1 /10 The top 10 best-paid part-time jobs The top 10 best-paid part-time jobs Lecturer - 36,513 Almost 10,000 more than the median UK salary. Experience required. Istock Photo The top 10 best-paid part-time jobs Business analyst What do they do? Nobody knows, but they are handsomely rewarded for it. Must speak fluent jargon. Istock Photo The top 10 best-paid part-time jobs Teaching assistant - 20,300 Istock Photo The top 10 best-paid part-time jobs Research assistant - 21,370 The world of academia pays surprisingly well according to the survey. Reuters The top 10 best-paid part-time jobs Warehouse worker - 16,800 Despite what Mike Ashley might be paying. Reuters The top 10 best-paid part-time jobs Tutor - 16,500 Private tutors can command upwards of 50 per hour. Istock Photo The top 10 best-paid part-time jobs Beauty consultant - 15,000 Reuters The top 10 best-paid part-time jobs Brand ambassador - 15,020 This is actually Max Verstappen representing several brands. He earns more than 15,020. rex features The top 10 best-paid part-time jobs Office assistant - 14,560 Harder than it looks. Istock Photo The top 10 best-paid part-time jobs Front desk manager - 14,520 Front of house. The face of the operation. Reuters Adult social care is too often seen as the Cinderella service to our NHS, said minister of State for Care, Caroline Dinenage. Im determined to change this perception, starting with our hardworking social care workforce. "There is huge demand for more care professionals who work incredibly hard to look after the most vulnerable people in our society. We must spread the word that careers in adult social care can be rewarding, varied and worthwhile. Care is a vocation where you can transform peoples lives and every day is different to the next. Recommended Demonising smoking in pregnancy may lead to women to do it private The announcement comes as a report claims a lack of community staff may damage the NHS. The report, published by the Health Foundation, expresses concerns about the growing number of staff shortages across the board, adding that there are worrying trends in community care, with a drop in nurses and health visitors. While the new campaign has been welcomed by charities they insist that more needs to be done to improve work conditions and pay for employees. George McNamara, director of policy and influencing at Independent Age, told ITV News: Workers are leaving due to low wages, little job progression, lack of training and perceived lower status compared to similar healthcare roles. Many of these issues should have already been addressed but havent because of delays to the social care green paper. Solely focusing on recruitment, without also addressing staff retention, will severely limit the impact of the campaign. In February 2018, the standard hourly rate a care worker in the independent sector would receive was 7.82 per hour. Since then, the national minimum wage for anyone over 25 has risen by a penny to 7.83. Investigators working for Jeff Bezos have reportedly concluded that the intimate text messages published by the National Enquirer were leaked by the brother of the Amazon bosss mistress. The team, led by investigator Gavin de Becker, believed that Michael Sanchez the brother of Mr Bezoss girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez gave the texts to the tabloid, several media reports have suggested. Mr Sanchez has previously denied he was involved in leaking the material and this weekend he attacked the Amazon founder. Mr de Becker, who has been in charge of Mr Bezoss security for two decades, reached the conclusion after the texts were published by the Enquirer last month, and launched a probe to see where the leak had come, according to both the Daily Beast website and the Associated Press news agency. Last week, Mr Bezos made headlines around the world when he claimed in a blogpost that the Enquirer had threatened to publish explicit photographs of him unless he issued a public statement reversing claims by Mr de Becker that the magazines reporting of his private life was politically motivated. He refused to do so, and instead made public emails between his lawyers and those of American Media Inc (AMI), the parent company of the Enquirer, and whose owner is an ally of Donald Trump. One of the images was said to be a below the belt selfie. Inside the Amazon Fulfilment Centres Show all 15 1 /15 Inside the Amazon Fulfilment Centres Inside the Amazon Fulfilment Centres One of Britain's largest centres in Dunfermline, Fife PA Inside the Amazon Fulfilment Centres The centre in Peterborough AFP/Getty Inside the Amazon Fulfilment Centres The centre in Hemel Hempstead PA Inside the Amazon Fulfilment Centres The centre in Robbinsville, New Jersey Getty Inside the Amazon Fulfilment Centres The centre in Tracy, California Reuters Inside the Amazon Fulfilment Centres The centre in Robbinsville, New Jersey Getty Inside the Amazon Fulfilment Centres The centre in Boves, France AFP/Getty Inside the Amazon Fulfilment Centres The centre in Swansea PA Inside the Amazon Fulfilment Centres The centre in Madrid Getty Inside the Amazon Fulfilment Centres The centre in Robbinsville, New Jersey Getty Inside the Amazon Fulfilment Centres The centre in Swansea PA Inside the Amazon Fulfilment Centres The centre in Hemel Hempstead Getty Inside the Amazon Fulfilment Centres The centre in Hemel Hempstead Getty Inside the Amazon Fulfilment Centres 'Amazon Jobs Day', a job fair, at the centre in Robbinsville, New Jersey Getty Inside the Amazon Fulfilment Centres The centre in Boves, France Reuters Of course I dont want personal photos published, but I also wont participate in their well-known practice of blackmail, political favours, political attacks and corruption. I prefer to stand up, roll this log over and see what crawls out, Mr Bezos wrote. The findings added to the intrigue surrounding the clash between the pro-Trump tabloid and the worlds richest man, the AP reported. It said Mr Trump had been highly critical of Mr Bezos over his ownership of the The Washington Post and Amazon, and the Posts coverage of the White House. Mr Sanchez is a supporter of Mr Trump and an acquaintance of Trump allies Roger Stone and Carter Page. He is also the manager of Ms Sanchez, a former TV anchor. The investigators have not said how they believe Mr Sanchez came into possession of his sisters intimate messages. Jeff Bezos reveals why he's spending million of dollars to go to space Mr Sanchez did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Mr de Becker and Amazon also did not respond to emails. Over the weekend, Mr Sanchez told Fox News: Everything that Gavin has advised Jeff to do has only amplified the magnitude of the scandal. A lawyer for AMI, Elkan Abramowitz, declined to name who provided the texts but told ABC News it was a reliable source, well-known to Mr Bezos and Ms Sanchez. She said that the source had provided information to the company for at least seven years. Mr Sanchez previously told the Post he was not the source of the information. He said the claims about him were lies, half-truths, sloppy tabloid leaks and crazy conspiracy theories. Moving to Mars could one day cost less than $100,000, according to Elon Musk and coming back will be free if you don't like it. The billionaire founder of companies including private space firm SpaceX hopes to one day take private citizens to the red planet, with the hope they might live there. And a journey will be eventually be relatively cheap, he says, though it depends in part on how many people actually want to go. Asked on Twitter about how much the journey will eventually cost, he said that it would be cheap enough that many homeowners could easily relocate to live on Mars instead. "Very dependent on volume, but Im confident moving to Mars (return ticket is free) will one day cost less than $500k & maybe even below $100k," he wrote. "Low enough that most people in advanced economies could sell their home on Earth & move to Mars if they want." Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Show all 30 1 /30 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An image from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows a 200,000 mile long solar filament ripping through the Sun's corona in September 2013 Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa Celebrates 50 Years of Spacewalking For 50 years, NASA has been "suiting up" for spacewalking. In this 1984 photograph of the first untethered spacewalk, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless is in the midst of the first "field" tryout of a nitrogen-propelled backpack device called the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Hubble Cosmic Couple The spectacular cosmic pairing of the star Hen 2-427 more commonly known as WR 124 and the nebula M1-67 which surrounds it ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Veil Nebula Supernova Remnant Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled in stunning detail a small section of the Veil Nebula - expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago Nasa's most stunning pictures of space The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launch The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, carrying three new astronauts to the International Space Station. It also took caviar, ready for the satellite's inhabitants to celebrate the holidays Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth from the ISS From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Black Hole Friday Nasa celebrated Black Friday by looking into space instead sharing pictures of black holes Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space NuSTAR X-rays stream off the sun in this image showing observations from by NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, overlaid on a picture taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Cassiopeia A c A false colour image of Cassiopeia A comprised with data from the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes and the Chandra X-Ray observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Orion Capsule splashes down The Orion capsule jetted off into space before heading back a few hours later having proved that it can be used, one day, to carry humans to Mars Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth Observations From Gemini IV in 1965 This photograph of the Florida Straits and Grand Bahama Bank was taken during the Gemini IV mission during orbit no. 19 in 1965. The Gemini IV crew conducted scientific experiments, including photography of Earth's weather and terrain, for the remainder of their four-day mission following Ed White's historic spacewalk on June 3 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Frosty slopes of Mars This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater. The image was taken by Nasa's HiRISE camera, which is mounted on its Mars Reconaissance Orbiter Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Yellowstone from space NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman shared this image of Yellowstone via his twitter account Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Saturn This near-infrared color image shows a specular reflection, or sunglint, off of a hydrocarbon lake named Kivu Lacus on Saturn's moon Titan Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Worlds Apart Although Mimas and Pandora, shown here, both orbit Saturn, they are very different moons. Pandora, "small" by moon standards (50 miles or 81 kilometers across) is elongated and irregular in shape. Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across), a "medium-sized" moon, formed into a sphere due to self-gravity imposed by its higher mass Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An X1.6 class solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun in this image taken 10 September, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Mars Rover Spirit Nasa's Mars Rover Spirit took the first picture from Spirit since problems with communications began a week earlier. The image shows the robotic arm extended to the rock called Adirondack Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Morning Aurora From the Space Station Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station Nasa/Scott Kelly Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Launch of History - Making STS-41G Mission in 1984 The Space Shuttle Challenger launches from Florida at dawn. On this mission, Kathryn Sullivan became the first U.S. woman to perform a spacewalk and Marc Garneau became the first Canadian in space. The crew of seven was the largest to fly on a spacecraft at that time, and STS-41G was the first flight to include two female astronauts Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Fresh Perspective on an Extraordinary Cluster of Galaxies Galaxy clusters are often described by superlatives. After all, they are huge conglomerations of galaxies, hot gas, and dark matter and represent the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Sees a Galactic Sunflower The arrangement of the spiral arms in the galaxy Messier 63, seen here in an image from the Nasa Hubble Space Telescope, recall the pattern at the center of a sunflower ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Pluto image Four images from New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with colour data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced colour global view of Pluto Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Fresh Crater Near Sirenum Fossae Region of Mars The HiRISE camera aboard Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this closeup image of a "fresh" (on a geological scale, though quite old on a human scale) impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars. This impact crater appears relatively recent as it has a sharp rim and well-preserved ejecta Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Peers into the Most Crowded Place in the Milky Way This Nasa Hubble Space Telescope image presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way NASA & ESA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space An Astronaut's View from Space Nasa astronaut Reid Wiseman tweeted this photo from the International Space Station on 2 September 2014 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Giant Landform on Mars On Mars, we can observe four classes of sandy landforms formed by the wind, or aeolian bedforms: ripples, transverse aeolian ridges, dunes, and what are called draa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Expedition 39 Landing A sokol suit helmet can be seen against the window of the Soyuz TMA-11M capsule shortly after the spacecraft landed with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan (NASA/Bill Ingalls) Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Jupiter's Great Red Spot Viewed by Voyager I Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and perhaps the most majestic. Vibrant bands of clouds carried by winds that can exceed 400 mph continuously circle the planet's atmosphere Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Chandra Observatory Sees a Heart in the Darkness This Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of the young star cluster NGC 346 highlights a heart-shaped cloud of 8 million-degree Celsius gas in the central region Mr Musk hopes that space travellers will eventually make their journey on SpaceX's starship, a new craft that is going through the testing process. Recommended Elon Musk says Boring Company may dig new 100km CERN collider A number of Twitter users asked the SpaceX boss what the public could do to support its development, apparently in the hope of being allowed to make trips to Mars as soon as possible. "The goodwill of the public is critical to Starships success," he wrote in one post. He was then asked how he would ensure the public stayed engaged with the project. He joked that there would probably be some RUDs rapid unscheduled disassemblies, which is how SpaceX refers to the events other people might call an exposion but that there would be plenty to get excited about. "Just planning on keeping the public informed about progress & setbacks," he wrote about his plans. "Will be some RUDs along the way, but excitement is guaranteed!" For one, we tend to be a forgiving group, especially for people who support an equal-rights agenda. We so appreciate the historic civil rights laws that President Lyndon Johnson pushed to passage in the 1960s, for example, that we have all but forgotten the powerful Texans leadership in the Senate of Southern Democratic opposition to civil rights in the 1950s. The Pentagon will review rocket launches by Elon Musk's SpaceX, it has said. The certification that allows the company to send launch vehicles into space will be reviewed to check that the US Air Force complied with the requisite guidelines, investigators said in a memo. Our objective is to determine whether the U.S. Air Force complied with the Launch Services New Entrant Certification Guide when certifying the launch system design for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle-class SpaceX Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, wrote US Department Of Defense Deputy Inspector General Michael Roark. SpaceX successfully launched its first national security space mission for the US in December. One of its rockets carried a military navigation satellite into space from Florida's Cape Canaveral, marking a major moment for Mr Musk's company. The US government hopes that many space missions will eventually be taken over by private companies such as SpaceX and its competitors, with the hope that it could make launches cheaper. Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Show all 30 1 /30 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An image from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows a 200,000 mile long solar filament ripping through the Sun's corona in September 2013 Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa Celebrates 50 Years of Spacewalking For 50 years, NASA has been "suiting up" for spacewalking. In this 1984 photograph of the first untethered spacewalk, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless is in the midst of the first "field" tryout of a nitrogen-propelled backpack device called the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Hubble Cosmic Couple The spectacular cosmic pairing of the star Hen 2-427 more commonly known as WR 124 and the nebula M1-67 which surrounds it ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Veil Nebula Supernova Remnant Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled in stunning detail a small section of the Veil Nebula - expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago Nasa's most stunning pictures of space The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launch The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, carrying three new astronauts to the International Space Station. It also took caviar, ready for the satellite's inhabitants to celebrate the holidays Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth from the ISS From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Black Hole Friday Nasa celebrated Black Friday by looking into space instead sharing pictures of black holes Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space NuSTAR X-rays stream off the sun in this image showing observations from by NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, overlaid on a picture taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Cassiopeia A c A false colour image of Cassiopeia A comprised with data from the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes and the Chandra X-Ray observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Orion Capsule splashes down The Orion capsule jetted off into space before heading back a few hours later having proved that it can be used, one day, to carry humans to Mars Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth Observations From Gemini IV in 1965 This photograph of the Florida Straits and Grand Bahama Bank was taken during the Gemini IV mission during orbit no. 19 in 1965. The Gemini IV crew conducted scientific experiments, including photography of Earth's weather and terrain, for the remainder of their four-day mission following Ed White's historic spacewalk on June 3 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Frosty slopes of Mars This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater. The image was taken by Nasa's HiRISE camera, which is mounted on its Mars Reconaissance Orbiter Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Yellowstone from space NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman shared this image of Yellowstone via his twitter account Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Saturn This near-infrared color image shows a specular reflection, or sunglint, off of a hydrocarbon lake named Kivu Lacus on Saturn's moon Titan Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Worlds Apart Although Mimas and Pandora, shown here, both orbit Saturn, they are very different moons. Pandora, "small" by moon standards (50 miles or 81 kilometers across) is elongated and irregular in shape. Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across), a "medium-sized" moon, formed into a sphere due to self-gravity imposed by its higher mass Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An X1.6 class solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun in this image taken 10 September, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Mars Rover Spirit Nasa's Mars Rover Spirit took the first picture from Spirit since problems with communications began a week earlier. The image shows the robotic arm extended to the rock called Adirondack Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Morning Aurora From the Space Station Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station Nasa/Scott Kelly Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Launch of History - Making STS-41G Mission in 1984 The Space Shuttle Challenger launches from Florida at dawn. On this mission, Kathryn Sullivan became the first U.S. woman to perform a spacewalk and Marc Garneau became the first Canadian in space. The crew of seven was the largest to fly on a spacecraft at that time, and STS-41G was the first flight to include two female astronauts Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Fresh Perspective on an Extraordinary Cluster of Galaxies Galaxy clusters are often described by superlatives. After all, they are huge conglomerations of galaxies, hot gas, and dark matter and represent the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Sees a Galactic Sunflower The arrangement of the spiral arms in the galaxy Messier 63, seen here in an image from the Nasa Hubble Space Telescope, recall the pattern at the center of a sunflower ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Pluto image Four images from New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with colour data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced colour global view of Pluto Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Fresh Crater Near Sirenum Fossae Region of Mars The HiRISE camera aboard Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this closeup image of a "fresh" (on a geological scale, though quite old on a human scale) impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars. This impact crater appears relatively recent as it has a sharp rim and well-preserved ejecta Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Peers into the Most Crowded Place in the Milky Way This Nasa Hubble Space Telescope image presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way NASA & ESA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space An Astronaut's View from Space Nasa astronaut Reid Wiseman tweeted this photo from the International Space Station on 2 September 2014 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Giant Landform on Mars On Mars, we can observe four classes of sandy landforms formed by the wind, or aeolian bedforms: ripples, transverse aeolian ridges, dunes, and what are called draa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Expedition 39 Landing A sokol suit helmet can be seen against the window of the Soyuz TMA-11M capsule shortly after the spacecraft landed with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan (NASA/Bill Ingalls) Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Jupiter's Great Red Spot Viewed by Voyager I Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and perhaps the most majestic. Vibrant bands of clouds carried by winds that can exceed 400 mph continuously circle the planet's atmosphere Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Chandra Observatory Sees a Heart in the Darkness This Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of the young star cluster NGC 346 highlights a heart-shaped cloud of 8 million-degree Celsius gas in the central region The review comes at a difficult time for SpaceX, which said last month that it would sack about 10 per cent of its more than 6,000 employees. It said then that it was facing "extraordinarily difficult challenges". The memo to SpaceX which requested to speak to someone familiar with the certification, and said investigations would begin in February did not say why specifically the new review had been launched, or whether there was any likelihood that the certification itself would be changed. Accidentally ending a work call with I love you, complaining about someone when they are standing behind you and getting on the wrong train are among a list of life's most awkward moments, according to a survey. A poll of 2,000 adults found that more than eight in 10 have experienced an FML" moment with waving back at someone only to discover they were waving at someone behind you the most common. Other awkward moments include misjudging the weather and ending up in a thick jumper on a hot day, dropping your phone into the toilet and texting the person you were gossiping about by accident. Stalking someones social media profile but accidentally liking a post from years ago and replying to all instead of just to one person on an email also featured on the list. But the study, by haircare brand Aussie, found that while 43 per cent would "ride out" the awkward moment, more than one in 10 would head to the nearest toilets to take some time out. A spokesperson for Aussie, which commissioned the research as part of its #GreatHairThough campaign, said: Weve all been there when you just want the ground to swallow you up (or retreat to Oz down under) when things havent gone to plan. We cant always fix our messy lives, but we can make sure hair is looking on point, because life doesnt always go to plan." Other FML moments that appear in the list include leaving tags on new clothes when wearing them for the first time and forgetting a friends birthday. Researchers also found that younger British people tend to experience more awkward moments, with almost half of the millennials surveyed having an FML moment at least once a week compared to just over one in 10 of over-55s. With data revealing that more than one in 10 would head to the toilets after an FML moment, Aussie is installing loos at Waterloo train station in London to allow commuters to recover from their daily disasters. The #GreatHairThough loos will travel on from London Waterloo Station to Glasgow Central Station and Manchester Piccadilly. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The top 25 most common embarrassing moments for British people: Returning a wave only to realise they were waving at someone else Forgetting a friend's birthday/anniversary Misjudging the weather and wearing a jumper on a hot day Forgetting to put a phone on charge overnight so the alarm does not go off Spilling coffee on a fresh white shirt first thing in the morning Umbrella turning inside out in heavy rain Dropping a phone into the toilet Forgetting headphones before a long journey Someone pointing out a tag left on new clothes Leaving the house in a rush and spending the whole day worrying about whether you have left hair straighteners on Opening a handbag and the entire contents falling out Telling a hairdresser you only wanted a trim but ending up leaving with much shorter hair Losing balance on the tube/train and landed in a stranger's lap Sleeping through an alarm and tripping over whilst running for the bus Falling asleep on the tube/ train/ bus, and ending up leaning on someone's shoulder Sending a personal email to a colleague by mistake Stalking someone's Instagram and accidentally hitting "like" on an old photo Accidentally mentioning something to a person, then realising they had not told you but that you had actually found out through stalking their social media channels Replying all/texting the person you were gossiping about Spilling food on your clothes before a job interview Keys falling out of a pocket into the toilet Bumping into someone you have cancelled plans with Purchasing "dream" heels and then spending the whole night out regretting it Rushing for a train, making it, but then realising it is the wrong one Accidentally ending a work call with love you SWNS The Harry Potter franchise will surely get a reboot, according to none other than Daniel Radcliffe even though it's unlikely to feature him in the title role. Radcliffe, who plays the famous wizard in all eight Harry Potter films, told IGN in a recent interview that he is certain someone else will play the part in the future. Im sure there will be some other version of it; I know Im not the last Harry Potter Im gonna see in my lifetime weve already got a few more, he told the platform. Radcliffe appeared to be referring to Jamie Parker and Gareth Reeves, who have both played the lead part in the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. While the actor acknowledged the ongoing popularity of the Harry Potter franchise, he said he expects the movies to lose some of their shine in the future. The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films Show all 11 1 /11 The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films Frazer Harrison / Getty The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 10. The Revenant (2015) The film DiCaprio finally won an Oscar for. Is it his best role? No. But there's no denying DiCaprio's commitment to the cause: as Hugh Glass, the legendary explorer who was attacked by a bear and left for dead, he literally eats a raw bison liver. Ravishingly shot, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's 19th-century tale is not only a brutal story of revenge and determination, but a profound meditation on man and nature. Rex The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 9. Titanic (1997) Titanic may be one of the most successful films of all time, but its also become a lightning rod for critical opprobrium in recent years. That's unfair. James Camerons big-screen retelling of the ill-fated ships sinking anchored by the love affair between Jack (DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) is the perfect blockbuster and an all-round technical marvel. 20th Century Fox The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 8. What's Eating Gilbert Grape? DiCaprios first Oscar nomination came with this slice-of-life drama following a young man (Johnny Depp) who cares for his mother and mentally impaired brother. Its themes of loneliness and desperation may not make Lasse Hallstroms film a heartwarming affair, but its breezy screenplay brought to life by Depp and DiCaprios exceptional performances makes it a compulsory one. The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 7. The Departed (2006) It may lack the grit of Infernal Affairs, the Hong Kong film its based on, but The Departed is still a thrilling crime drama that fizzes with chutzpah from its opening scene. Its plot, following two moles one within the Boston police force, the other as part of a fearsome mob bosss crew keeps viewers on their toes right through to its bullet-ridden final act. Warner Bros The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 6. Django Unchained (2012) Save for its flabby climax, Quentin Tarantinos revisionist take on the western genre is up there with his best. As violent as it is sublimely silly, it casts DiCaprio as the villainous slaveowner Calvin Candie a role the actor, fake teeth and all, embraces with relish. TWC The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 5. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) DiCaprios performance in The Wolf of Wall Street could well be the role of his career. As real-life stockbroker Jordan Belfort, he covers the whole gamut of emotions: charm (the workplace speeches), slapstick comedy (the quaalude stair-plummet) and horror (the domestic abuse). The Wolf of Wall Street slips alongside Mean Streets and Goodfellas as one of Martin Scorseses most re-watchable films. AP The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 4. Shutter Island (2010) DiCaprios fourth film with Martin Scorsese is their only collaboration to be completely shunned by awards voters (it received a grand total of zero Oscar nominations). The mist-shrouded landscape of Shutter Island is a tribute to Sam Fullers 1963 cult film, Shock Corridor, and is a shining example of Scorsese succeeding in whatever he turns his hand to. The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 3. Catch Me If You Can (2002) Bouncy and gently amusing, Steven Spielberg's light drama stars DiCaprio as Frank Abergnale, a charming con artist whose life collides with that of FBI agent, Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks). Theres excitement to be had in Abergnales illicit escapades, as well as pathos when the circle eventually closes in. The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 2. Inception (2010) To call Inception a Leonardo DiCaprio film is to do a disservice to its writer-director Christopher Nolan, whose mind-bending blockbuster remains a staggering, if divisive, achievement. DiCaprio could have easily rested on his laurels, knowing the audience would be dazzled by the directors visuals, but his performance as Dom Cobb is genuinely affecting: his reaction to wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) throwing herself from a window is a devastating high point. Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 1. Romeo + Juliet (1996) Baz Luhrmann once described his update of Shakespeare's classic tragedy as "funky". That it is, and so much more. From the psychedelic tunes to the Hawaiian shirts, it's Romeo and Juliet by way of MTV: a heady, relentlessly innovative dive into the seedy metropolis of Verona Beach, Florida. This was the moment the then 21-year-old DiCaprio went stratospheric. It will be interesting to see how long those films stay it feels like theres a sacredness around them at the moment, but thatll go, the shine will wear off at some point, he added. Itll be interesting if they reboot them and just do the films again or do a series; Im fascinated to watch. The final instalment in the Harry Potter series came out in July 2011. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Since then, Radcliffe has continued developing his career both on screen and on stage. He recently played the main role of fact-checker Jim Fingal in the Broadway play The Lifespan of a Fact, which ran for three months at Studio 54 in New York City. After years of impressive growth, the U.S. solar industry continues to shrink under President Trump. The Solar Foundation on Tuesday released the National Solar Jobs Census, its annual report on the industry. For the second straight year, the findings were discouraging. According to the organization's research, the U.S. solar industry lost nearly 8,000 jobs in 2018, finishing the year at 242,343 jobs in total. That amounts to a 3.2 percent loss from the previous year. The industry shrunk by 3.8 percent in 2017. Before 2017, the solar industry had grown each year since the Solar Foundation began publishing its annual report in 2010. Its work force nearly tripled in size from about 93,500 to 260,000 between 2010 and 2016. The foundation, a nonprofit that's funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy and describes itself as a "nonpartisan organization dedicated to advancing the use of solar and solar-compatible technologies worldwide," cited the newly imposed tariffs on imported panels as a factor in the industry's slowdown. In January 2018, the Trump administration announced a 30 percent tariff on panels imported from several Asian countries including China and South Korea. Shelley Cohen co-founded Alpha Solar Group, a Washington, D.C.-based consultancy that helps develop and finance solar projects, in 2015. Last year, the CEO decided to pause her business in the wake of the new tariffs. "[They] made it difficult for small businesses like mine to survive," Cohen says. "I wouldn't get paid until my projects got built. I'm still honoring some remaining contracts, but have pretty much put the business on hold." The solar industry had anticipated that the tariffs were coming for several months before their announcement last January. Many solar projects, especially large-scale ones, that had been planned for 2018 were pushed back due to the uncertainty about the impending tariffs. According to the report, 39 percent of all new solar installations in 2018's third quarter were utility scale, the lowest that figure has been for any quarter in more than six years. State-level policies have also played a role the industry's downturn. While 29 states saw an increase in solar jobs, California--a state responsible for about one-third of the country's total solar output--lost more than 9,000 jobs on its own. California's industry had expanded quickly in recent years as it tried to meet aggressive state-wide solar energy goals, but many of those milestones have now been met. The state did pass a new set of goals in September 2018--including a commitment to 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2045--that are expected to jumpstart the industry yet again. Respondents to the foundation's survey were optimistic about 2019, predicting 7 percent growth for the industry. Still, last year's survey predicted 5 percent growth in 2018, and the industry shrank instead. The contraction of the U.S. solar industry comes at a time when scientists around the globe are calling for an immediate reduction in carbon emissions. An October report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change called for massive worldwide efforts to prevent the global temperature from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius, at which point the effects of climate change will be devastating and, in many cases, irreversible. After three consecutive years of cutting its carbon emissions, the U.S. increased emissions by 2.5 percent in 2018. Solar energy accounted for just 2.4 of all energy consumption in the U.S. in 2018. In its report, the Solar Foundation predicted that more new energy would come from solar installations (30 percent) than from natural gas (27 percent) in 2019. Amy Klobuchar announced Sunday, during a heavy snowfall, her intent to run for president in 2020. The Democratic senator from Minnesota is joining an already crowded race--she's one of twelve candidates, six of whom are women, to file with the Federal Election Commission or announce an exploratory committee. "We are tired of the shutdowns and the showdowns, of the gridlock and the grandstanding," Klobuchar said in her speech. "Today...we say enough is enough." While Klobuchar boasts more than a decade of experience in politics--she was first elected to the Senate in 2006--she's recently received harsh criticism over her treatment of staffers. Several former aides, who spoke anonymously to The Huffington Post, described her as "habitually demeaning and prone to bursts of cruelty." Klobuchar has acknowledged that she can be a tough boss, but also says that she loves her staff. Klobuchar, who worked as a corporate lawyer and an elected county attorney in Minnesota before entering the Senate, has an extensive record on business-related issues. Here are some of the highlights. Data security and net neutrality Klobuchar has been a strong critic of Silicon Valley while in the Senate. This year, she introduced the Social Media Privacy and Consumer Rights Act, which aims to improve Internet privacy by requiring tech companies to increase transparency in their user policies. In 2017, she worked with Arizona senator John McCain to create the Honest Act, a bill that would force tech companies to increase transparency about who is purchasing ads on their platforms. The bill stalled in the Senate, but Facebook and other industry giants said they would support the legislation. Klobuchar has also championed net neutrality--rules designed to stop Internet providers from blocking or slowing certain websites' traffic. After the Federal Communications Commission repealed net neutrality rules in December 2017, Klobuchar spoke out against the decision. She's pledged to guarantee net neutrality and promised to get all Americans connected to the Internet by 2022. Health care policy In May 2013, Klobuchar and fellow Minnesota senator Al Franken unsuccessfully tried to delay and repeal a tax on medical devices that was expected to add $28 billion over 10 years to cover the costs of health care reform. Klobuchar argued the tax would endanger thousands of high-paying jobs that device companies provide in the state. Immigration Self-described "impatient optimists" Bill and Melinda Gates remain resolutely sanguine about the future and the progress it will bring. Still, in their annual letter they note a few things that surprised them. Some global problems are so intractable that momentum has been slow, while others have been less difficult to overcome than they had originally thought. For instance, pollution remains a vexing issue that will likely continue to devastate the environment. Curbing malaria in the developing world, however, has been a bright spot. They had once thought minimizing the toll of the mosquito-borne disease would require a long-lasting vaccine, but the Gates were buoyed by the benefits of the widespread use of bed nets. Malaria deaths are down 42 percent since 2000, reports the couple.? In their 11th annual letter, released Tuesday and entitled "We Didn't See This Coming," the billionaire philanthropists, who co-chair the Kirkland, Washington-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, list nine things that proved confounding in 2018 and how they hope to address them in the year ahead. Both the nonprofit and for-profit worlds pore over the letter--which has been co-written by Melinda Gates since 2014--for clues as to how the philanthropists will direct their sizable influence and an endowment of more than $50 billion. The couple maintains separate investment vehicles, too. Bill operates Cascade Investment, through which he has a stake in everything from hospitality firms to a Canadian railroad operator, while Melinda's Pivotal Ventures aims to empower women and girls. They both, however, maintain a keen interest in supporting the expansion of technology globally. "We believe in the power of innovation," writes the couple, explaining their optimism. They also emphasize the import of human grit. "We've seen firsthand that for every challenge we've written about in this letter, there are people devoting their ideas, their resources, and even their lives to solving them." Here are three of the most compelling ideas on the minds of the Gates. DNA Sleuthing At-home DNA testing services led to the capture of the Golden State Killer in April of last year. While that's compelling in its own right, so too is the potential for how those tests, more generally, can be used to better understand gene-related health issues and treatment options. In particular, the duo point to a 2017 23andMe study of premature births, which the foundation helped fund. Using 40,000 samples that were volunteered by 23andMe users, the Mountain View-California-based DNA-testing service says it established a link between preterm labor and six genes, one of which is tasked with regulating how the body uses a mineral called selenium. The study suggests that expecting mothers carrying this gene, which prevents them from processing selenium properly, are more likely to deliver early. "This connection is one of several breakthroughs we've made in recent years," writes the Microsoft co-founder. "Better tools and more data sharing mean that we're finally starting to understand what causes babies to be born early--and what we can do to keep them in the womb longer." Toilets of the Future Another breakthrough? Self-contained toilets. As Bill and Melinda note in their letter, you can't export "rich-world" sanitation solutions, because they require a sewer system that may be too costly to build. At a 2018 toilet fair in Beijing, where Bill appeared onstage with a jar of human feces, he saw firsthand the promise of next-generation toilets, which can render urine and feces into useful byproducts like fertilizer. The focus in the near term is making commodes more affordable so people in the developing world might use them. Melinda notes the need is particularly urgent for girls and women in the developing world, who often stay home from work and school while they menstruate rather than face public ridicule. "If you're anything like me, I'm guessing toilets aren't your favorite topic of conversation," writes Melinda. "But if you care about keeping girls in school, expanding women's economic participation, and protecting them against violence, then we have to be willing to talk about toilets." "Sexist" Data The philanthropists also want to make sure people start measuring women's economic vitality. Specifically, they want to know how much women earn, how much property they own, and how many hours they spend on household chores. That data simply doesn't exist, writes Melinda. And the data that does exist, which is used by policymakers, can be flawed or downright "sexist," as Melinda calls it. "We like to think of data as being objective, but the answers we get are often shaped by the questions we ask. When those questions are biased, the data is too," Melinda writes, adding that three years ago, the foundation she runs with her husband started investing in resolving the gender-data gap. In time, by empowering new data collection methods and recasting existing data by gender, a clearer image of women should form. United States and International Law Enforcement Dismantle Online Organized Crime Ring Operating out of Romania Washington, DC - According to court documents unsealed Thursday, 20 people, including 16 foreign nationals, have been charged for their roles in an international organized crime group that defrauded American victims through online auction fraud causing millions of dollars in losses. Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Robert M. Duncan, Jr. of the Eastern District of Kentucky, Director Randolph D. Alles of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), Commissioner Richard W. Sanders of the Kentucky State Police, Chief of Police Lawrence Weathers of the Lexington Police Department, Chief Don Fort of IRS Criminal Investigation and Inspector in Charge Tommy Coke of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Pittsburgh Division made the announcement. The defendants allegedly orchestrated a highly organized and sophisticated scheme to steal money from unsuspecting victims in America and then launder their funds using cryptocurrency, said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski. As the charges and arrests announced today demonstrate, the Criminal Division and our law enforcement partners will vigorously pursue cybercriminals who defraud the American public, regardless of where those criminals may reside. This prosecution stems from a multi-year investigation initiated in Kentucky led by the U.S. Secret Service, in cooperation with several local, state, federal, and international law enforcement partners, said U.S. Attorney Duncan. Cooperation of this kind is essential, if we are to be effective in disrupting organized cybercrime, which costs victims from across the United States millions of dollars and has become an increasingly prevalent means for criminals to prey on the public. I commend the exceptional work done by our law enforcement partners, and we are proud to join this cooperative effort to combat cyber fraud schemes. Todays announcement demonstrates the success of the collaborative efforts of our worldwide network of law enforcement partners. It sends a powerful message and demonstrates the transnational investigative capabilities of the Secret Service, said Secret Service Director Randolph Tex Alles. This is a shared win for law enforcement across the globe. I would like to thank the more than a dozen law enforcement agencies worldwide who helped us investigate this case, each played a vital role in its success. On July 5, 2018, a federal grand jury in Lexington, Kentucky returned a 24-count indictment charging 15 foreign nationals with RICO conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and aggravated identity theft. Those charged include Andrei-Catalin Stoica, 28, of Romania; Victor-Aurel Grama, 29, of Romania; Liviu-Sorin Nedelcu, 33, of Romania; Ionut Ciobanu, 28, of Romania; Marius-Dorin Cernat, 35, of Romania; Alexandru Ion, 30, of Romania; Stefan-Alexandru Paiusi, 33, of Romania; Eugen-Alin Badea, 34, of Romania; Cristisor Olteanu, 31, of Romania; Adrian Mitan, 34, of Romania; Bogdan-Stefan Popescu, 29, of Romania; Florin Arvat, 24, of Romania; Alin-Ionut Dobrica, 26, of Romania; Vlad-Calin Nistor, 31, of Romania, and Rossen Iossifov, 51, of Bulgaria. On Feb. 6, a federal grand jury in Lexington returned an 11-count indictment charging an additional foreign national and four Americans for their roles in the criminal enterprise. Those charged include Beniamin-Filip Ologeanu, 29, of Alexandria, Romania; Austin Edward Nedved, 27, of Northborough, Massachusetts; Dimitrious Antoine Brown, 37, of Macon, Georgia and Rashawd Lamar Tulloch, 30, of Newnan, Georgia. Andrew Gilbert Ybarra II, 25, of Patterson, California, was also charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering. In all, 15 Romanian nationals and one Bulgarian national were charged in these two indictments. Of these, 12 have been extradited to the United States and are awaiting trials, which are currently set for June 18, 2019 and Aug. 7, 2019. The indictment alleges that these defendants participated in a criminal conspiracy primarily located in Alexandria, Romania that engaged in a large-scale scheme of online auction fraud. Specifically, Romania-based members of the conspiracy and their associates posted false advertisements to popular online auction and sales websitessuch as Craigslist and eBayfor high-cost goods (typically vehicles) that did not actually exist. According to the indictment, these members would convince American victims to send money for the advertised goods by crafting persuasive narratives, for example, by impersonating a military member who needed to sell the advertised item before deployment. The members of the conspiracy are alleged to have created fictitious online accounts to post these advertisements and communicate with victims, often using the stolen identities of Americans to do so. They are alleged to have delivered invoices to the victims bearing trademarks of reputable companies in order to make the transactions appear legitimate. Once victims were convinced to send payment, the indictment alleges that the conspiracy engaged in a complicated money laundering scheme wherein domestic associates would accept victim funds, convert these funds to cryptocurrency, and transfer proceeds in the form of cryptocurrency to foreign-based associates. The indictment alleges that these foreign-based money launderers include Vlad-Calin Nistor, who owns Coinflux Services SRL, and Rossen Iossifov, who owns R G Coins. According to the indictment, Nistor and Iossifov exchanged cryptocurrency into local fiat currency on behalf of the Romania-based members of the conspiracy, knowing that they were exchanging bitcoin that represented the proceeds of fraud. Some of the fraud schemes alleged in the indictments include: Nedelcu persuaded victims to send money for the advertised goods by creating fictitious but legitimate sounding entities through which he purported to sell vehicles. For example, he used email address, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , belonging to Aol Autos, to communicate with victims by email with subject lines like, America Online Autos Financial Department [Order # 099106592090]. The email would contain messages appearing to be legitimate invoices for payment for the advertised item purported to be sold. , belonging to Aol Autos, to communicate with victims by email with subject lines like, America Online Autos Financial Department [Order # 099106592090]. The email would contain messages appearing to be legitimate invoices for payment for the advertised item purported to be sold. Ciobanu and his coconspirators used the email address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to communicate with victims about the sale of vehicles, signing the emails as Sgt. Judith Lane, and created a Facebook profile for Judith Lane, who was depicted as a member of the Air Force. Ciobanu, acting as Judith Lane, also posted two Facebook advertisements for the sale of automobiles. to communicate with victims about the sale of vehicles, signing the emails as Sgt. Judith Lane, and created a Facebook profile for Judith Lane, who was depicted as a member of the Air Force. Ciobanu, acting as Judith Lane, also posted two Facebook advertisements for the sale of automobiles. Cernat and his coconspirators sent victims invoices that appeared to be from eBay Motors and provided an eBay Motors Support Department phone number and email address of This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . These invoices provided instructions for payment and included reassuring language for secure transactions, such as, Through OneVanilla Prepaid Visa services we can guarantee you 100 percent protection and insurance in this transaction. eBay Payments will secure the payment until the buyer receives, inspects, and accepts the item. Or, if it will be the case, eBay will refund the payment to the buyer. . These invoices provided instructions for payment and included reassuring language for secure transactions, such as, Through OneVanilla Prepaid Visa services we can guarantee you 100 percent protection and insurance in this transaction. eBay Payments will secure the payment until the buyer receives, inspects, and accepts the item. Or, if it will be the case, eBay will refund the payment to the buyer. Paiusi also convinced victims to send money for the advertised goods by sending them invoices for payment that appeared legitimate. [One such] invoice appeared to be sent from eBayTM Buyer Protection, provided the victim with an email address for questions, described the seller as a certified eBayTM third-party seller, and explained that the buyer will be refunded if he or she refuses the merchandise. The coconspirators then communicated with the victims via email, often signing their emails by posing as a member of the military, like Sgt. Logan Burdick. Other emails purported to be from the online auction company, like eBay. The emails often communicated convincing information about the item being sold and the reason payment was required before shipping or viewing the item. Adrian Mitan, who was charged in the July 5, 2018 indictment, was also charged in a separate indictment unsealed today with money laundering offenses arising from a credit card phishing and brute-force attack scheme, likewise designed to steal money from Americans. The indictment explains that phishing is an attempt to acquire personal information by masquerading as a trustworthy entity through electronic communications, and brute force is a cryptological trial-and-error methodology used to obtain information such as personal identification numbers for credit cards. Mitan allegedly phished for credit/debit card information of U.S. customers, hacked into the electronic systems of American businesses, and then conducted a brute force attack on their point-of-sale systems for the purpose of stealing the remaining credit/debit card information. According to the indictment, Mitan then directed American money launderers to create dummy credit/debit cards with the stolen information, which were used to extract money from the customers accounts. These fraudulent proceeds were then returned to Mitan in the form of bitcoin. The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service, Kentucky State Police, Lexington Police Department, IRS Criminal Investigation and U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and supported by the Justice Departments Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and the International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2). Assistance was provided by the Romanian National Police (Service for Combating Cybercrime) and the Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (Agency for Prosecuting Organized Crime). The Justice Departments Office of International Affairs provided significant support with the defendants extradition. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathryn M. Anderson and Kenneth R. Taylor of the Eastern District of Kentucky and Senior Trial Attorney Timothy Flowers and Senior Counsel Frank Lin of the Criminal Divisions Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section with assistance from the Criminal Divisions Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section. For the RICO conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy charges, each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release. The same penalties apply to the money laundering conspiracy charges, except that the fine may be up to $500,000. Additionally, if convicted of identity theft, Brown faces a term of 15 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release, and if convicted of aggravated identity theft, those charged face a mandatory-minimum sentence of two years in prison, to be served consecutive to any term of imprisonment ordered for the other counts of conviction. However, any sentence following a conviction would be imposed by the Court, after its consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statutes. The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Andrea L Thompson Travels to Germany and Israel Washington, DC - Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Andrea L Thompson will travel to Germany and Israel, February 13 - 21, 2019. In Germany, the Under Secretary will participate in the 2019 Munich Security Conference. She will discuss cyber security issues in a roundtable discussion, and will participate in a panel discussion on arms control. Additionally, Under Secretary Thompson will conduct a series of bilateral meetings with senior government officials. In Israel, Under Secretary Thompson will lead the U.S. delegation to the United States-Israel Joint Political Military Group (JPMG), one of several long-standing bilateral security discussions with Israels Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The discussions will cover a wide range of political-military issues, including regional security, arms control and nonproliferation policy, missile defense cooperation, and export control matters. The Under Secretary will also meet with senior government officials and receive field briefings on how the Israeli government addresses its current security challenges. Trump Is Serious About Diplomacy with North Korea Washington, DC - The new tack was made clear in a detailed speech given at Stanford last week by Stephen E. Biegun, the U.S. special envoy to North Korea. Mr. Biegun firmly reiterated the administrations objective: the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea. This approach compares favorably with the one the Obama administration took toward Iran, never demanding an end to nuclear programs and settling for a deal that came nowhere close. When Mr. Trump ditched the Iran deal before engaging North Korea, he signaled his commitment to stricter terms in his talks with Mr. Kim. Mr. Trumps critics assume the administration will settle for cosmetic changes rather than denuclearization, but its actions and its unified message lay down a very different marker. Mr. Biegun was even more blunt in the question-and-answer period after his speech. I dont mince my words when I say that [Mr. Trump] is unconstrained by the assumptions of his predecessors, he said. President Trump is ready to end this war. It is over. It is done. We are not going to invade North Korea. We are not seeking to topple the North Korean regime. Disapproval of North Korea is not a policy, and the expression of disapproval is not diplomacy. The special envoy also made clear that the diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea is personal. He described negotiations as top downthe product of commitments Messrs. Trump and Kim personally make to each other. Usually political leaders meet only after subordinates have ironed out details. President Trumps diplomacy is in some ways more 19th-century than 21st. He has shed President Obamas view that history has a right side, which Americas rivals will eventually seek to join. Mr. Obamas Iran deal was premised on Tehrans voluntarily abandoning its radicalism and deciding to join the peaceful, modern world. The Trump administration makes no such assumption about North Koreas eventual benevolence. Read the full op-ed here. Justice Department Awards More Than $8.3 Million to Support California Victims of the Las Vegas Mass Shooting Los Angeles, California - The Justice Department Thursday announced that the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) awarded more than $8.3 million in Antiterrorism and Emergency Assistance Program (AEAP) funding to aid Californians who are survivors of the October 1, 2017, mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein made the announcement in a speech today to law enforcement at the Los Angeles Crimefighters Leadership Conference. Fifty-eight people were killed and more than 600 physically injured when a man opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest Festival, an open-air music venue, from a hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino on the Las Vegas strip. When officers located the gunman and entered the room, he was found dead with self-inflicted wounds. This new grant is being awarded to the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board, as 35 of the 58 murder victims and approximately 200 of those physically injured were from California. By some estimates, half of the concert attendees that evening were from the state of California. This incident of mass violence significantly impacted the state resources available to victims. "The Las Vegas mass shooting was the deadliest in American history, and it inflicted unfathomable damage to hundreds of people, many of whom were visiting from California, Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein said. "While we cannot undo the evil that was done that day, the Department of Justice is doing its part to support first responders and survivors. We have already provided more than $19 million in funds for law enforcement and victims' services. Today we provide an additional $8.3 million to services for victims from California. We support them and all crime victims --and we will continue to do our part to help them heal." The $8,353,884 in funding will provide supplemental crisis response and consequence management support services to help victims as they continue to heal and cope with probable re-traumatization. These services include supplemental crime victim compensation expenses; victim assistance, such as mental health and peer support groups; outreach to identify and contact victims, including a virtual victim resiliency center; and related expenses for support staff to provide these activities. The peer support groups will occur in multiple locations to provide easier access for victims. In addition to this grant, in November 2018, the Justice Department awarded $16,735,720 to the state of Nevada, primarily for those not residing in California, to assist victims of this terrorist attack, including ticket holders, concert staff, vendors, witnesses, law enforcement personnel, and other first responders. The grant helped to support close family members, medical personnel, coroners staff, taxi drivers, and others who helped the concert attendees. In addition, it defrayed the costs of counseling and therapy, vocational rehabilitation, and trauma recovery for victims and emergency responders. Funds also assisted with legal aid and supplemented the massive outlays incurred by the Nevada victim compensation program. In June 2018, the Department awarded over $2 million to support first responders in the aftermath of the shooting. In addition, in November 2018, the Justice Department announced a new $8.7 million grant to provide multi-disciplinary, scenario-based active shooter training to first responders across the country. The scale of loss and suffering endured by these victims and survivors is enormous, and the trauma will follow them the rest of their lives, said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Matt M. Dummermuth. We hope that these resources will help sustain them as they walk the path from pain and grief to healing. AEAP is a non-competitive solicitation specifically created to provide supplemental emergency and longer-term victim support to jurisdictions where a criminal mass violence or domestic terrorism incident occurred. OVC awards funding once local and state authorities have determined the costs associated with responding and have submitted a request for assistance. I love socialized medicine. And so do most elderly people in the U.S. Yet many of them savaged Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for wanting to offer health care to everyone, including our children and grandchildren, regardless of ability to pay. Both of them encouraged support for universal health care: medical care for young and old, rich and poor, smart and ignorant, employed and unemployed, insured and uninsured. My socialized medicine is Medicare, that lovely entitlement that allows me to live a healthy and long life without bankrupting myself or my family. Executive Order on Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence Washington, DC - By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Policy and Principles. Artificial Intelligence (AI) promises to drive growth of the United States economy, enhance our economic and national security, and improve our quality of life. The United States is the world leader in AI research and development (R&D) and deployment. Continued American leadership in AI is of paramount importance to maintaining the economic and national security of the United States and to shaping the global evolution of AI in a manner consistent with our Nations values, policies, and priorities. The Federal Government plays an important role in facilitating AI R&D, promoting the trust of the American people in the development and deployment of AI-related technologies, training a workforce capable of using AI in their occupations, and protecting the American AI technology base from attempted acquisition by strategic competitors and adversarial nations. Maintaining American leadership in AI requires a concerted effort to promote advancements in technology and innovation, while protecting American technology, economic and national security, civil liberties, privacy, and American values and enhancing international and industry collaboration with foreign partners and allies. It is the policy of the United States Government to sustain and enhance the scientific, technological, and economic leadership position of the United States in AI R&D and deployment through a coordinated Federal Government strategy, the American AI Initiative (Initiative), guided by five principles: (a) The United States must drive technological breakthroughs in AI across the Federal Government, industry, and academia in order to promote scientific discovery, economic competitiveness, and national security. (b) The United States must drive development of appropriate technical standards and reduce barriers to the safe testing and deployment of AI technologies in order to enable the creation of new AI-related industries and the adoption of AI by todays industries. (c) The United States must train current and future generations of American workers with the skills to develop and apply AI technologies to prepare them for todays economy and jobs of the future. (d) The United States must foster public trust and confidence in AI technologies and protect civil liberties, privacy, and American values in their application in order to fully realize the potential of AI technologies for the American people. (e) The United States must promote an international environment that supports American AI research and innovation and opens markets for American AI industries, while protecting our technological advantage in AI and protecting our critical AI technologies from acquisition by strategic competitors and adversarial nations. Sec. 2. Objectives. Artificial Intelligence will affect the missions of nearly all executive departments and agencies (agencies). Agencies determined to be implementing agencies pursuant to section 3 of this order shall pursue six strategic objectives in furtherance of both promoting and protecting American advancements in AI: (a) Promote sustained investment in AI R&D in collaboration with industry, academia, international partners and allies, and other non-Federal entities to generate technological breakthroughs in AI and related technologies and to rapidly transition those breakthroughs into capabilities that contribute to our economic and national security. (b) Enhance access to high-quality and fully traceable Federal data, models, and computing resources to increase the value of such resources for AI R&D, while maintaining safety, security, privacy, and confidentiality protections consistent with applicable laws and policies. (c) Reduce barriers to the use of AI technologies to promote their innovative application while protecting American technology, economic and national security, civil liberties, privacy, and values. (d) Ensure that technical standards minimize vulnerability to attacks from malicious actors and reflect Federal priorities for innovation, public trust, and public confidence in systems that use AI technologies; and develop international standards to promote and protect those priorities. (e) Train the next generation of American AI researchers and users through apprenticeships; skills programs; and education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), with an emphasis on computer science, to ensure that American workers, including Federal workers, are capable of taking full advantage of the opportunities of AI. (f) Develop and implement an action plan, in accordance with the National Security Presidential Memorandum of February 11, 2019 (Protecting the United States Advantage in Artificial Intelligence and Related Critical Technologies) (the NSPM) to protect the advantage of the United States in AI and technology critical to United States economic and national security interests against strategic competitors and foreign adversaries. Sec. 3. Roles and Responsibilities. The Initiative shall be coordinated through the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence (Select Committee). Actions shall be implemented by agencies that conduct foundational AI R&D, develop and deploy applications of AI technologies, provide educational grants, and regulate and provide guidance for applications of AI technologies, as determined by the co-chairs of the NSTC Select Committee (implementing agencies). Sec. 4. Federal Investment in AI Research and Development. (a) Heads of implementing agencies that also perform or fund R&D (AI R&D agencies), shall consider AI as an agency R&D priority, as appropriate to their respective agencies missions, consistent with applicable law and in accordance with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) R&D priorities memoranda. Heads of such agencies shall take this priority into account when developing budget proposals and planning for the use of funds in Fiscal Year 2020 and in future years. Heads of these agencies shall also consider appropriate administrative actions to increase focus on AI for 2019. (b) Heads of AI R&D agencies shall budget an amount for AI R&D that is appropriate for this prioritization. (i) Following the submission of the Presidents Budget request to the Congress, heads of such agencies shall communicate plans for achieving this prioritization to the OMB Director and the OSTP Director each fiscal year through the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program. (ii) Within 90 days of the enactment of appropriations for their respective agencies, heads of such agencies shall identify each year, consistent with applicable law, the programs to which the AI R&D priority will apply and estimate the total amount of such funds that will be spent on each such program. This information shall be communicated to the OMB Director and OSTP Director each fiscal year through the NITRD Program. (c) To the extent appropriate and consistent with applicable law, heads of AI R&D agencies shall explore opportunities for collaboration with non-Federal entities, including: the private sector; academia; non-profit organizations; State, local, tribal, and territorial governments; and foreign partners and allies, so all collaborators can benefit from each others investment and expertise in AI R&D. Sec. 5. Data and Computing Resources for AI Research and Development. (a) Heads of all agencies shall review their Federal data and models to identify opportunities to increase access and use by the greater non-Federal AI research community in a manner that benefits that community, while protecting safety, security, privacy, and confidentiality. Specifically, agencies shall improve data and model inventory documentation to enable discovery and usability, and shall prioritize improvements to access and quality of AI data and models based on the AI research communitys user feedback. (i) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the OMB Director shall publish a notice in the Federal Register inviting the public to identify additional requests for access or quality improvements for Federal data and models that would improve AI R&D and testing. Additionally, within 90 days of the date of this order, OMB, in conjunction with the Select Committee, shall investigate barriers to access or quality limitations of Federal data and models that impede AI R&D and testing. Collectively, these actions by OMB will help to identify datasets that will facilitate non-Federal AI R&D and testing. (ii) Within 120 days of the date of this order, OMB, including through its interagency councils and the Select Committee, shall update implementation guidance for Enterprise Data Inventories and Source Code Inventories to support discovery and usability in AI R&D. (iii) Within 180 days of the date of this order, and in accordance with the implementation of the Cross-Agency Priority Goal: Leveraging Federal Data as a Strategic Asset, from the March 2018 Presidents Management Agenda, agencies shall consider methods of improving the quality, usability, and appropriate access to priority data identified by the AI research community. Agencies shall also identify any associated resource implications. (iv) In identifying data and models for consideration for increased public access, agencies, in coordination with the Senior Agency Officials for Privacy established pursuant to Executive Order 13719 of February 9, 2016 (Establishment of the Federal Privacy Council), the heads of Federal statistical entities, Federal program managers, and other relevant personnel shall identify any barriers to, or requirements associated with, increased access to and use of such data and models, including: (A) privacy and civil liberty protections for individuals who may be affected by increased access and use, as well as confidentiality protections for individuals and other data providers; (B) safety and security concerns, including those related to the association or compilation of data and models; (C) data documentation and formatting, including the need for interoperable and machine-readable data formats; (D) changes necessary to ensure appropriate data and system governance; and (E) any other relevant considerations. (v) In accordance with the Presidents Management Agenda and the Cross-Agency Priority Goal: Leveraging Data as a Strategic Asset, agencies shall identify opportunities to use new technologies and best practices to increase access to and usability of open data and models, and explore appropriate controls on access to sensitive or restricted data and models, consistent with applicable laws and policies, privacy and confidentiality protections, and civil liberty protections. (b) The Secretaries of Defense, Commerce, Health and Human Services, and Energy, the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Director of the National Science Foundation shall, to the extent appropriate and consistent with applicable law, prioritize the allocation of high-performance computing resources for AI-related applications through: (i) increased assignment of discretionary allocation of resources and resource reserves; or (ii) any other appropriate mechanisms. (c) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Select Committee, in coordination with the General Services Administration (GSA), shall submit a report to the President making recommendations on better enabling the use of cloud computing resources for federally funded AI R&D. (d) The Select Committee shall provide technical expertise to the American Technology Council on matters regarding AI and the modernization of Federal technology, data, and the delivery of digital services, as appropriate. Sec. 6. Guidance for Regulation of AI Applications. (a) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the OMB Director, in coordination with the OSTP Director, the Director of the Domestic Policy Council, and the Director of the National Economic Council, and in consultation with any other relevant agencies and key stakeholders as the OMB Director shall determine, shall issue a memorandum to the heads of all agencies that shall: (i) inform the development of regulatory and nonregulatory approaches by such agencies regarding technologies and industrial sectors that are either empowered or enabled by AI, and that advance American innovation while upholding civil liberties, privacy, and American values; and (ii) consider ways to reduce barriers to the use of AI technologies in order to promote their innovative application while protecting civil liberties, privacy, American values, and United States economic and national security. (b) To help ensure public trust in the development and implementation of AI applications, OMB shall issue a draft version of the memorandum for public comment before it is finalized. (c) Within 180 days of the date of the memorandum described in subsection (a) of this section, the heads of implementing agencies that also have regulatory authorities shall review their authorities relevant to applications of AI and shall submit to OMB plans to achieve consistency with the memorandum. (d) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Commerce, through the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), shall issue a plan for Federal engagement in the development of technical standards and related tools in support of reliable, robust, and trustworthy systems that use AI technologies. NIST shall lead the development of this plan with participation from relevant agencies as the Secretary of Commerce shall determine. (i) Consistent with OMB Circular A-119, this plan shall include: (A) Federal priority needs for standardization of AI systems development and deployment; (B) identification of standards development entities in which Federal agencies should seek membership with the goal of establishing or supporting United States technical leadership roles; and (C) opportunities for and challenges to United States leadership in standardization related to AI technologies. (ii) This plan shall be developed in consultation with the Select Committee, as needed, and in consultation with the private sector, academia, nongovernmental entities, and other stakeholders, as appropriate. Sec. 7. AI and the American Workforce. (a) Heads of implementing agencies that also provide educational grants shall, to the extent consistent with applicable law, consider AI as a priority area within existing Federal fellowship and service programs. (i) Eligible programs for prioritization shall give preference to American citizens, to the extent permitted by law, and shall include: (A) high school, undergraduate, and graduate fellowship; alternative education; and training programs; (B) programs to recognize and fund early-career university faculty who conduct AI R&D, including through Presidential awards and recognitions; (C) scholarship for service programs; (D) direct commissioning programs of the United States Armed Forces; and (E) programs that support the development of instructional programs and curricula that encourage the integration of AI technologies into courses in order to facilitate personalized and adaptive learning experiences for formal and informal education and training. (ii) Agencies shall annually communicate plans for achieving this prioritization to the co-chairs of the Select Committee. (b) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Select Committee shall provide recommendations to the NSTC Committee on STEM Education regarding AI-related educational and workforce development considerations that focus on American citizens. (c) The Select Committee shall provide technical expertise to the National Council for the American Worker on matters regarding AI and the American workforce, as appropriate. Sec. 8. Action Plan for Protection of the United States Advantage in AI Technologies. (a) As directed by the NSPM, the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, in coordination with the OSTP Director and the recipients of the NSPM, shall organize the development of an action plan to protect the United States advantage in AI and AI technology critical to United States economic and national security interests against strategic competitors and adversarial nations. (b) The action plan shall be provided to the President within 120 days of the date of this order, and may be classified in full or in part, as appropriate. (c) Upon approval by the President, the action plan shall be implemented by all agencies who are recipients of the NSPM, for all AI-related activities, including those conducted pursuant to this order. Sec. 9. Definitions. As used in this order: (a) the term artificial intelligence means the full extent of Federal investments in AI, to include: R&D of core AI techniques and technologies; AI prototype systems; application and adaptation of AI techniques; architectural and systems support for AI; and cyberinfrastructure, data sets, and standards for AI; and (b) the term open data shall, in accordance with OMB Circular A-130 and memorandum M-13-13, mean publicly available data structured in a way that enables the data to be fully discoverable and usable by end users. Sec. 10. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of OMB relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. DONALD J. TRUMP THE WHITE HOUSE, February 11, 2019. Imperial Valley News Center Electronic Health Records Vendor to Pay $57.25 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations Washington, DC - Greenway Health LLC (Greenway), a Tampa, Florida-based developer of electronic health records (EHR) software, will pay $57.25 million to resolve allegations in a complaint filed by the United States under the False Claims Act alleging that Greenway caused its users to submit false claims to the government by misrepresenting the capabilities of its EHR product Prime Suite and providing unlawful remuneration to users to induce them to recommend Prime Suite, the Justice Department announced. Electronic health records are critically important to the health care decision process, and both patients and providers rely on these technologies to safely and accurately record and transmit vital health information, said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the Department of Justices Civil Division. This resolution demonstrates our continued commitment to pursue EHR vendors who misrepresent the capabilities of their products, and our determination to promote public health while holding accountable those who seek to abuse the governments trust. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 established the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program to encourage healthcare providers to adopt and demonstrate their meaningful use of EHR technology. Under the program, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made incentive payments available to eligible healthcare providers that adopted certified EHR technology and met certain requirements relating to their use of the technology. To obt ain certification for their product, companies that develop and market EHR technology are required to demonstrate that their product(s) satisfies all applicable HHS-adopted certification criteria. Developers must first pass testing performed by an independent, accredited testing laboratory authorized by HHS, and then obtain and maintain certification by an independent, accredited certification body authorized by HHS. In its complaint, the government contends that Greenway falsely obtained 2014 Edition certification for its product Prime Suite when it concealed from its certifying entity that Prime Suite did not fully comply with the requirements for certification. Among other things, Greenways product did not incorporate the standardized clinical terminology necessary to ensure the reciprocal flow of information concerning patients and the accuracy of electronic prescriptions. Greenway accomplished its deception by modifying its test-run software to deceive the company hired to certify Prime Suite into believing that it could use the requisite clinical vocabulary. Additionally, in order to be eligible to receive incentive payments, healthcare providers were required to meet certain targets for EHR-related activities. For example, at certain times providers were required to provide patients with clinical summaries following office visits. In its complaint, the government further alleges that Greenway was aware that an earlier version of Prime Suite, which was certified to 2011 Edition criteria, did not correctly calculate the percentage of office visits for which its users distributed clinical summaries and thereby caused certain Prime Suite users to falsely attest that they were eligible for EHR incentive payments. Greenway refrained from rectifying this error in order to ensure that its users would receive incentive payments. As a result, numerous users of this earlier version of Prime Suite falsely attested that they were eligible for EHR incentive payments when, in fact, they had not met all necessary use requirements Finally, the government also alleged that Greenway violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by paying money and incentives to its client providers to recommend Prime Suite to prospective new customers. In the last two years my office has resolved two matters against leading EHR developers where we alleged significant fraudulent conduct. These are the two largest recoveries in the history of this District and represent the return of over two-hundred and twelve million dollars of fraudulently-obtained taxpayer monies. These cases are important, not only to prevent theft of taxpayer dollars, but to ensure that the promise of health technology is realized in the form of improved patient safety and efficient healthcare information flow, said United States Attorney Christina E. Nolan for the District of Vermont. This resolution demonstrates my offices initiative and resolve to vigorously uncover and to doggedly pursue these complex cases. We will be unflagging in our efforts to preserve the accuracy and reliability of Americans health records and guard the public fisc against corporate greed. EHR companies should consider themselves on notice. Medical professionals and patients depend on the security and competency of electronic health records as a means to improving both the quality and coordination of health care services," said U.S. Attorney Byung J. BJay Pak for the Northern District of Georgia. "Vendors who falsify the viability of their products erode the integrity of public health systems and will be held accountable for their misrepresentations. The False Claims Act settlement in this case will hopefully be a deterrent to those who selfishly circumvent our federal healthcare programs for their own benefit, said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. The FBI will not tolerate companies stealing from federal taxpayers and the people who trust in the fairness of our federally funded healthcare programs. As part of the settlement, Greenway entered into a five-year Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) with the HHS Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) covering the companys EHR software. This innovative five-year CIA requires, among other things, that Greenway retain an Independent Review Organization to assess Greenways software quality control and compliance systems and to review Greenways arrangements with health care providers to ensure compliance with the Anti-Kickback Statute. Greenway must provide prompt notice to its customers of any patient safety related issues and maintain on its customer portal a comprehensive list of such issues and any steps users should take to mitigate potential patient safety risks. The CIA also requires Greenway to allow Prime Suite customers to obtain the latest versions of Prime Suite at no additional charge, the opportunity to migrate their data from Prime Suite to another Greenway-developed software product also at no additional charge, and to give Prime Suite customers the option to have Greenway transfer their data to another EHR software vendor without penalties, service charges, or any other fees other than contractual amounts still owed in connection with goods or services already provided. Electronic Health Records can be key to an integrated health system providing improved care said Derrick Jackson, Special Agent in Charge for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Putting patients at risk will result in intensive investigation and compliance obligations such as those in OIGs comprehensive five-year Corporate Integrity Agreement. This matter was jointly handled by the Civil Divisions Commercial Litigation Branch, the U.S. Attorneys Offices for the District of Vermont and Northern District of Georgia, the HHS Office of Inspector General, and multiple HHS agencies and components. The Federal Bureau of Investigations field office in Atlanta, Georgia provided significant investigative support to the investigation. The case is captioned United States v. Greenway Health, LCC, 2:19-CV-20 (D. Vt.). The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability. Imperial Valley News Center Justice Department Warns Taxpayers to Avoid Unscrupulous Tax Return Preparers Washington, DC - As tax filing season begins, the Department of Justice warns taxpayers to beware of unscrupulous tax return preparers. The Department of Justice applies both civil and criminal tools at its disposal to shut down illegal tax return preparation activity. Taxpayers should always remain wary of tax return preparers who claim they can obtain larger refunds than others or engage in other unscrupulous practices. While most tax return preparers are professional and honest, some prepare returns with false information in order to improperly boost a taxpayers refund or reduce their liability or to increase business and preparation fees. But, under the law, taxpayers are responsible for what is reported on their returns. When the IRS uncovers the falsehoods, the taxpayer can face penalties and interest and, if circumstances warrant, criminal prosecution. Fraudulent tax return preparers harm taxpayers, legitimate businesses, and the American public, said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman. The Justice Department is committed to working with our partners at the Internal Revenue Service to protect the law-abiding American public and the treasury by stopping this fraud. Every year, the Justice Departments Tax Division, in collaboration with U.S. Attorneys Offices, files dozens of civil actions throughout the United States seeking court orders to shut down tax return preparers who allegedly prepared false tax returns, and to punish dishonest tax return preparers for their fraudulent activities. When the evidence supports criminal enforcement action, the Department of Justice and U.S. Attorneys offices pursue criminal prosecutions of tax return preparers. In 2019, the Justice Department has already obtained several injunctions barring individuals from filing returns for others, and filed actions against numerous others: On Jan. 4, 2019, a federal court in Indianapolis, Indiana, permanently enjoined Antonio Chappell and G & A Tax Service LLC, from preparing federal tax returns for others. The court noted that the defendants had prepared tax returns with a wide range of scams, including falsifying reported income or losses to wrongfully increase or claim the Earned Income Tax Credit, fabricating education expenses to obtain the American Opportunity Credit for certain educational expenses; misrepresenting a taxpayers filing status; and reporting non-qualifying dependents to take advantage of the Additional Child Tax Credit. On Jan. 7, 2019, a federal court in Orlando, Florida, entered a preliminary injunction barring Erotida Harden, Michael Harden, Aida Cortes, Yahaira Claudio, Tamika Robenson, Natasha Williams, and Certified Taxes LLC, from acting as tax return preparers and directing them to immediately close all tax return preparation stores that they currently own directly or through any entity and not to reopen them without a court order. On Jan. 16, 2019, a federal court in Orlando, Florida, entered a preliminary injunction barring Marcgenson Marc, Tiana Character, LeNorris LaMoute, Dosuld Pierre, Shirleen Thales, Advanced Tax Services Inc., Genson Financial Group LLC, and Character Financial Solutions LLC from acting as tax return preparers and directing them to immediately close all tax return preparation stores that they currently own directly or through any entity and not to reopen them without a court order. Examples of some recent criminal convictions obtained by the Tax Division include: On Jan. 28, 2019, a Minneapolis-based tax return preparer was sentenced to serve 121 months in prison for managing and directing a fraudulent return-preparation business, which prepared returns that reported false dependents, fake business income and losses, inflated deductions, inflated credits, and false filing statuses, in order to get customers inflated refunds. On Nov. 14, 2018, a Las Vegas, Nevada, tax return preparer was sentenced to 37 months in prison for aiding and assisting in the filing of false tax returns that included multiple false items, including charitable contributions, capital loss deductions, energy tax credits, and unreimbursed employee expensessuch as business meals and transportation expenses. On Sept. 13, 2018, a resident of Winton-Salem, North Carolina, who was licensed as an attorney in Georgia, was sentenced to 13 months in prison for aiding and assisting in the preparation of fraudulent tax returns. In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers and tax scheme promoters. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Departments website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found here. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details. In addition, when selecting a tax return preparer: Imperial Valley News Center Man Pleads Guilty to Trafficking Protected Turtles Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - David Sommers pleaded guilty last week in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to trafficking protected turtles. On July 10, 2018, a grand jury charged Sommers with smuggling a package containing diamondback terrapins to Canada and several Lacey Act offenses for mislabeling the package and trafficking turtles domestically. Sommers pleaded guilty to one felony count of violating the Lacey Act and agreed to forfeit nearly 3,500 diamondback terrapin hatchlings. The Lacey Act is the nations oldest wildlife trafficking statute and prohibits falsely labeling packages containing wildlife, fish, or plants. Sommers acknowledged that he falsely labeled and trafficked turtles taken from their New Jersey marsh habitat from Aug. 7, 2014, through Oct. 24, 2017. According to the plea agreement, Sommers admitted to sending a package to Canada in 2014 containing 11 terrapin hatchlings. Sommers mislabeled the package as a book and underreported its value to avoid detection by customs authorities. Wildlife authorities from Environment and Climate Change Canada intercepted the package. Sommers faces a maximum of five years imprisonment, three years of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000, and restitution to New Jersey for the value of the turtles. The government agreed to dismiss the remaining charges against Sommers at sentencing, which is scheduled for May 15, 2019. Diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) are a semi-aquatic species of turtle native to brackish waters in eastern and southern United States. They are not found in the wild in Pennsylvania, where Sommers resided, but have a dwindling habitat range in neighboring New Jersey. The terrapins are prized in the reptile pet trade for their unique, diamond-shaped shell markings. The turtles are protected under New Jersey law and by an international treaty, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The United States, Canada, and approximately 181 other countries are signatories to CITES, which provides a mechanism for regulating international trade in species whose continued survival is threatened by such trade. Due to declining populations, CITES listed the diamondback terrapin as threatened in 2013, and New Jersey banned collecting, possessing, and transporting them in 2016. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted the investigation with assistance from the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife. The government is represented by Trial Attorney Ryan Connors of the Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Joan Burnes of the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Imperial Valley News Center President Trump in Meeting with National Sheriffs Washington, DC - Remarks by President Trump in Meeting with National Sheriffs: THE PRESIDENT: So, thank you very much. Im heading out to El Paso, Texas right now. And we are going to do a job. Were going to continue to do what were doing. I think weve made a lot of progress. Weve actually started a big, big portion of wall today in a very important location. And its going to go up pretty quickly over the next nine months. That whole area will be finished. Its fully funded. Construction, which I know a lot about, has begun. And its a much better wall, much stronger wall, and a much less expensive wall than weve been building. And were going to have a lot of wall being built in the last in the next period of time. Im with some of the great law enforcement people. A lot of them are friends of mine. Ive known them for a long time, and theyve been fantastic people. Fantastic men and women. And they know what were up against. Were up against people who want to allow criminals into our society. Can you explain that one? You know, most things you understand, but they want to allow criminals into our society. Convicted felons people of tremendous like, big problems. I just got this from Homeland Security. And you look at this thousands of people. Dangerous drugs: 76,000 people. Then you have traffic offenses. Thats not so good, but thats every crime. Assault: 63,000 people. Larceny: 20,000 people. Fraudulent activities: 12,000 people. Burglaries: 12,000 people. These, again, are just a different crime. Robberies These are the people coming into our country that we are holding and we dont want in our country. And the Democrats want them to go into our country, thats why they dont want to give us what we call the beds. Its much more complicated than beds. But we call them the beds. Robberies: 5,991. Sexual Assaults: 6,350. Forgeries: 5,158. Stolen property: 4,462. These are people were talking about. Kidnapping these are people that kidnap people. The Democrats want them to come into our society. I dont think so. Anybody here who would like to have a lot of kidnappers left in our society? I dont think I wont bother waiting for you to raise your hand, right? Kidnappings: 2,085. Homicides that means murder murderers: 2,028. I mean, its incredible. Sexual offenses: 1,739. Just came out two minutes ago. Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security. I dont know, maybe were in a different country than I know of. And were going to El Paso. We have a line that is very long already. I mean, you see whats going on. And I understand our competitor has got a line too, but its a tiny, little line. Of course, theyll make it sound like they had more people than we do. Thats not going to happen. But were going there for a reason. Were going there to keep our country safe. And we dont want murderers and drug dealers and gang members, MS-13, and some of the worst people in the world coming into our country. Now, Mexico has had the worst year theyve ever had. Almost 40,000 killings in Mexico this year. One of the most unsafe places, unfortunately. We need a wall. And all of the other things are nice to have. But without a wall, its not going to work. We can have technology, we can have beautiful drones flying all over the place, but it doesnt work without the wall. Now, we need a wall. We can call it anything. Well call it barriers. Well call it whatever they want. But now, it turns out not only dont they want to give us money for the wall, they dont want to give us the space to detain murderers, criminals, drug dealers, human smugglers. How bad is that? Human smuggling. People think of that as an ancient art. There are more human smugglers right now traffickers, they call them than at any time in the history of our world, because of the Internet, unfortunately. So, Im heading out and we have a tremendous crowd. Like, tremendous. They have 75,000 people signed up. I think the arena holds like 8,000 people, unfortunately. I like the old days when I was allowed to make outdoors speeches. It was a lot easier because you could have very big crowds, John. But we have a tremendous crowd. We have screens on the outside of the arena, so well have a lot of people coming. And again, if you look at your own newscasts, youll see people lined up for a long way. A lot of people. Sheriff, would you like to say something? SHERIFF HODGSON: Well, first of all, I thank you, Mr. President THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. SHERIFF HODGSON: for standing with law enforcement. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Sheriff. SHERIFF HODGSON: Youve given us our footing back. Were very concerned about the fact that were going to have people being released from prison that should be held. And imagine, in any American city and the President certainly hits this that we would say were going to put a limit on the number of people that commit burglaries or rapes or what have you. After you reach that limit, were going to release them back into the neighborhoods. Thats whats happening. And the President is absolutely right to be standing in defense of this, in defense of the safety and security of the people of this nation. And we appreciate it, Mr. President. Its happening in our communities and we appreciate the support. THE PRESIDENT: Horrible. Its horrible. And not even and not even thinkable. Please, anybody? Yes. SHERIFF LOUDERBACK: Sheriff Louderback. THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Sheriff, please. SHERIFF LOUDERBACK: Mr. President, Vice President, members of the press: No one understands better than sheriffs in this country whats happening to us with the criminality thats coming across the border. This is what we do. This is where were engaged. If you do anything to cut ICE funding, you devastate our communities. If you make law enforcement one of the biggest problems that well have, if you were to if ICE was to be their funding cut, our communities would be at risk. And this is something that we cannot permit to happen in this country. We understand exactly what these men and women in this country of law enforcement understand very well whats going on in our border. Weve got to secure it. Our hats are off to the President, to the Vice President, for ensuring the safety of American public. Thank you. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Sheriff, very much. Appreciate your support. We had a couple of things interestingly happen. Everybody said, Let us see the people on the border, the experts Border Patrol, ICE, all of them, including law enforcement generally, including some of the people standing alongside of me we want to see them. We want to have a meeting with them. They had the meeting. Everybody said, You need the wall. If you dont have the wall, nothing is going work. They turned down that suggestion. You heard that. They turned it down. They said, We dont want to hear that suggestion. So the people came up in some cases, they made long journeys to come up and speak before the committee. They said, We need the wall. Its not going to work without the wall. Technology is just a part of the wall. Without a wall, it doesnt work. And they rejected their expertise. And these are the best people. We brought our best people from all over the country, and they rejected the recommendations from the experts. So thats what were up against. Does anybody have anything further to say? I mean, all of you folks who are with us a thousand percent. SHERIFF PAGE: Mr. President THE PRESIDENT: Yes, please. Go ahead. SHERIFF PAGE: We got a letter here; Im going to give it to you. But this is a letter we presented to Congressman Mark Walker from North Carolina today to bring to our other congressman to let him know that the 3,000 sheriffs represented by the National Sheriffs Association opposed any reduction of those ICE beds. Because if so, it would create a dangerous threat to our communities. And what happens at the border doesnt stay at the border. It comes to our communities in Ohio, in Maryland, in North Carolina, in Georgia, Ohio, Utah, across this country. So thank you for everything youre doing. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Yes, thank you, Sheriff. Let me have that letter. (Laughter.) You know, I have to say, before leaving and again, were going on the plane. I guess a lot of you are coming on the plane with me to El Paso. ICE is an incredible group of people. They help all of you a lot with some of the most vicious characters you meet anywhere in the world. No matter where you go, youre not going to find worse than the MS-13 gangs and some of these gangs that came over from countries that we dont even know about. And theyre very disrespected by the Democrats, and we cant let that happen. Theyre heroes. And these people will tell you that too. Theyre heroes. And these people are heroes and heroines. But I just want to say that the people working at ICE are brave, tough, strong people that love our country. And they help the sheriffs and they help law enforcement, and theyve done an incredible job, and I really appreciate your support. And the Democrats want to cut you know, think of it: They want to cut ICE. They take out MS-13 and others by the thousands, and they want to cut ICE. So were not going to let that happen. Thank you all very much. I appreciate it. (Applause.) Q Mr. President, is there going to be a shutdown? THE PRESIDENT: Well see what happens. Its up to the Democrats. Its really up to the Democrats. (The Center Square) With the Democrat-sponsored election law changes failing to advance in the U.S. Senate, Illinois congressional delegation may be closing in on where the two sides can agree: Redistricting reform. The partnership will focus on genomics based biomedical research and innovation in the detection and management of diseases such as cancer. Genomics examines the genome which is the complete set of genetic information contained within the cells in our bodies. In the second phase, the intention is to broaden the partnership into a wider range of clinical areas by demonstrating their health and economic benefits. The University of Melbourne and Illumina, Inc. one of the worlds leading biotech companies, announced a partnership that will enhance Melbournes reputation as a world class Biomedical Precinct. The partnership will provide opportunities for researchers within the Melbourne biomedical precinct. The University and Illumina have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work together to increase genomics innovation and how it is translated and adopted into the healthcare system to improve patient outcomes. To be co-located at the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct in Parkville, Melbourne, the University and Illumina believe the partnership could eventually lead to a range of benefits for oncology patients including better treatment, improved testing in hospitals and access to drugs in clinical trials. The partnership between the University and Illumina is based on a four-pillared approach: international reach, clinical utility, data generation and talent development. University of Melbourne Vice Chancellor Professor Duncan Maskell said: A partnership with a world leading genomics company like Illumina will serve as a catalyst for innovation across Melbournes Biomedical Precinct. It strongly supports the Universitys objective to collaborate with industry partners and develop programs that can make a real difference to peoples lives. Vice President and General Manager for Illumina Asia Pacific and Japan, Gretchen Weightman said: Illuminas Australia team is thrilled to be moving into the Biomedical Precinct later this year. Our hope is that co-location with the wider research community, and collaboration with the University of Melbourne, will enable a deeper engagement in collaborative research activities and clinical trials. The current momentum in genomics research is growing exponentially and we are inspired by the way it can stimulate job growth and economic activity to maximize the impact for Victoria and more importantly fuel research with the potential to improve health outcomes for patients. University of Melbourne Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) Professor James McCluskey said: The partnership will provide opportunities for researchers within the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct, including Illumina as a key industry collaborator in Precinct activities focused on biomedical and clinical innovation. For further information please visit The University of Melbourne Theres another common sense way to pay for road repair and road-building projects. We believe it is fair to have people who drive on roads and bridges pay for their upkeep. A gas tax is, in essence, a user fee. But the federal Highway Trust Fund, which helps fund road construction, relies on an 18.4-cents-a gallon federal gas tax that hasnt been raised since 1993. And with cars and trucks more fuel-efficient, along with the advent of alternative fuel sources, the gas tax as a road-building funding source is running on fumes. Press freedom in Europe is more fragile now than at any time since the end of the Cold War. That is the alarming conclusion of a report launched today by the 12 partner organizations of the Council of Europe Platform to promote the protection of Journalism and safety of journalists. The report, Democracy at Risk, analyses media freedom violations raised to the Platform in 2018. It provides a stark picture of the worsening environment for the media across Europe, in which journalists increasingly face obstruction, hostility and violence as they investigate and report on behalf of the public. The 12 Platform partners international journalists and media organisations as well as freedom of expression advocacy groups, including the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) reported 140 serious media freedom violations (alerts) in 32 Council of Europe member states in 2018. This review of the alerts reveals a picture sharply at odds with the guarantees enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights. Impunity for crimes against journalists is becoming a new normal. Legal protections for critical, investigative reporting have been weakened offline and online. The space for the press to hold government authorities and the powerful to account has shrunk. This report, which reflects the findings of 12 leading press freedom groups and journalists organisations, shows clearly the serious threat to press freedom in Europe, with journalists increasingly the target of physical and verbal attacks in retaliation for their work. The partner organisations believe it comes at a crucial moment, with governments across Europe increasingly ignoring or seeking to weaken the human rights guarantees that protect journalists right to disseminate the news. Together with their partners, IFJ and EFJ urge European institutions to take a stronger stand in defence of press freedom as a fundamental and necessary pillar of democratic societies. Last year the murders of Jan Kuciak and fiancee Martina Kusnirova in Slovakia and Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, were among 35 alerts for attacks on journalists physical safety and integrity. Alerts about serious threats to journalists lives doubled, and were accompanied by a strong surge in verbal abuse and public stigmatisation of the media and individual journalists in Council of Europe member states. Urgent actions backed by a determined show of political will by Council of Europe member states are now required to improve the dire conditions for media freedom and to provide reliable protections for journalists in law and practice, the report warns. The purpose of the Platform, based on a 2015 agreement between the Council of Europe and the partner organisations, is to prompt an early dialogue with member states and hasten remedies for violations and shortcomings in the protections for free and independent journalism. The Platform partners call on states that impose the harshest restrictions on journalists activities and freedom of expression to: Restore rule of law safeguards and drop charges against journalists and release them as a step towards restoring a safe and enabling environment for independent media; Remove extremism and other laws criminalising media and end arbitrary exercise of powers by the executive and regulators; and Take the necessary steps to put in place a structure of media regulation and ownership which safeguards media plurality and freedom. In addition, the Platform partners call on all states to reply fully and in good faith to all alerts and to take effective measures in law and practice to remedy the threats to the safety of individual journalists and media. The Council of Europe Platform was launched in April 2015 to provide information which may serve as a basis for dialogue with member states about possible protective or remedial action. While many member states responded to alerts in 2018, five states declined to respond to any alerts, including those reporting very serious media freedom violations. The 12 Platform partners are: the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the Association of European Journalists (AEJ), Article 19, Reporters without Borders (RSF), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Index on Censorship, the International Press Institute (IPI), the International News Safety Institute (INSI), Rory Peck Trust, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and PEN International. 47th Ward: After Ald. Ameya Pawar confirmed he would honor his self-imposed two-term limit, nine candidates jumped into the race to replace him in this booming North Side ward that includes Lincoln Square, North Center and Ravenswood. Of note are two candidates with big backers: Michael Negron, a Harvard grad who has worked for Barack Obama, Elizabeth Warren and Rahm Emanuel (and got a $20,000 campaign donation from Emanuel), and Heather Way Kitzes, a Cubs lobbyist who has received more than $30,000 from the Cubs and the Ricketts family. Negron and Kitzes bring appealing experiences to the race. Negron worked as Emanuels chief of policy and has a deep understanding of how Chicago government works and doesnt work. Kitzes, who headed the Lakeview Chamber of Commerce, understands the challenges of small business owners. But those big donations from a mayor who lives in the ward and says hes staying even after he leaves office in May, and from a Wrigleyville power family that might like to have a friendly vote in the next ward over stop us cold. Good thing Matt Martin is in the race. The civil rights lawyer for the Illinois attorney generals office offers smarts, experience and pragmatism. Martin helped write the Chicago Police Department consent decree and says police reform is a high priority. He also has an independent streak and shares our determination that a new City Council put away its rubber stamp and flex its legislative muscle. We believe Martin can be an influential new voice on a re-energized council. Also running are social worker Eileen Dordek, CPS teacher Angie Maloney, small business owner Jeff Jenkins, restaurateur Gus Katsafaros, physician Kimball Ladien and firefighter/paramedic Thomas Schwartzers. Martin is endorsed. In the White House, he has done things that would have been shocking from any previous president praising white nationalists, falling in love with the dictator of North Korea, spewing insults via Twitter, trusting the Kremlin and the Saudi regime over U.S. intelligence officials and wasting hours every day watching cable news while shirking real work. Not to mention firing the FBI director in an admitted attempt to kill an investigation of his possible collusion with the Russian government. Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email circulation2@journalnet.com for help creating one. We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email circulation@idahopress.com for help creating one. The museum and the craft beer company have teamed up to host the first annual Art of Brewing Contest, open to art students in the United States. Berkshires Beat: Rockwell Museum, Collective Arts Brewing Host Student Art Contest Art of Brewlng Norman Rockwell Museum and Collective Arts Brewing have announced a new partnership designed to promote illustration programs around the country and highlight career paths available to artists. The museum and the craft beer company have teamed up to host the first annual Art of Brewing Contest, open to art students in the United States. The submission deadline is March 31. Eight winning entries selected by a jury of representatives from Collective Arts Brewing, Norman Rockwell Museum and contemporary illustrators will be showcased on a Collective Arts Brewing can series, distributed across North America. To be eligible, students must be 21 or older and currently enrolled in one of the nation's undergraduate or graduate art program. "Both Norman Rockwell Museum and Collective Arts Brewing are dedicated to creating opportunities for contemporary illustrators," said Mary Berle, chief educator for Norman Rockwell Museum. "For many student artists, this will be their first opportunity for national recognition. We look forward to revealing the winners at the summer beer tasting event and celebrating the wide range of illustration art. Our thanks to Collective Arts Brewing for their sponsorship of the event." Norman Rockwell Museum's education team will share the art contest details with art schools, and college art departments across the nation. Winning artists will be announced at a major craft beer festival The Art of Brewing at Norman Rockwell Museum on Saturday, Aug. 10. Along with presenting the winning art entries, the festival will feature beer tasting opportunities from Collective Arts Brewing and a range of local brewers, food, music, art-making, and more. See the website for more information. Father and Daughter Dance The 25th annual Northern Berkshire Father and Daughter Dance will be held on Saturday, Feb. 16, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Hoosac Valley High School cafeteria in Cheshire. All proceeds from the dance this year will benefit Soldier On, which is an organization that is committed to ending homelessness among veterans. To celebrate the 25th year of the dance, there will be balloon sculptures by Alluring Balloon Designs of Adams and a balloon drop at 8 p.m. as well as dancing to DJ Bizz, baked goods, pictures, raffles and door prizes. Each girl who enters will also receive a flower. Tickets are expected to sell out and will not be sold at the door. They are available at Persnickety Toys in North Adams, Vals Variety in Adams and Whered You Get That?! in Williamstown. Tickets are $10 per person. 'Go Red for Women' Employees at Southwestern Vermont Health Care gathered on Friday, Feb. 1, for a photo to celebrate National Wear Red Day. The American Heart Association's observance and its "Go Red for Women" campaign raise awareness of heart health issues, especially in women. Southwestern Vermont Health Care is a comprehensive, preeminent, health care system providing exceptional, convenient and affordable care to the communities of Bennington and Windham Counties of Vermont, eastern Rensselaer and Washington Counties of New York, and northern Berkshire County in Massachusetts. Pathlight move Pathlight, a local organization that supports people with developmental disabilities and those with autism throughout Western Massachusetts, is moving from its longtime space on North Street to bigger quarters at 75 South Church St. in Pittsfield. The move, scheduled for Feb. 21, allows Pathlight to better support its programs in the Berkshires. Pathlights Autism Connections as well as its Shared Living and Adult Foster Care programs are growing in response to community demand. Autism Connections offers workshops, social skills groups and support groups, as well as recreation opportunities to people with autism and their caregivers. The program's Autism Specialists also work individually with families in their homes. In Pathlights Shared Living and Adult Family Care programs, a community member shares their home and provides support for a person with an intellectual disability or autism. The new office space features a large activity room, several meeting rooms and a kitchen. The space will host community activities including education workshops on a host of issues, social skills groups for people with autism, and support groups for families caring for a person with autism. In the future, Pathlight plans to offer recreational and performing arts classes for children and teens of all abilities. Pathlight will host an open house at the new space later in the spring. The phone number will remain the same at 413-443-4780. Preschool open house The Dalton Preschool will host open house in its classroom space within the Dalton CRA building, at 400 Main St., Dalton, on Saturdays, Feb. 16, March 23, April 27 and June 1, from 10 a.m. to noon. Families of prospective preschool students, ages 2 years, 9 months, through 5 years old, interested in obtaining information about Dalton Preschool's program and touring the classroom are invited to drop in. Prospective preschool students are encouraged to attend with their parents; open-play activities will be available. Administrative Director/Lead Preschool Teacher Paula Harris and current parent representatives will be available to meet families and answer questions about the program. No appointment is needed. Applications for the 2019-20 academic year will be available. The findings suggest that having uncertain work schedules can have a more strongly predictive impact on the health and wellbeing of workers than hourly wages. Senior policy analyst Alix Gould-Werth of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth said workers prefer following certain schedules at their jobs. When workers do not know what their schedule will be, they cannot plan out their time to accommodate school attendance, second-job holding, or family obligations, she explained. Gould-Weath said schedules end up depending on how employers perceive the ebbs and flows of consumer demand. This results in work hours becoming irregular and unpredictable. Because of this, lawmakers in the US have begun cracking down on such practices. Legislations have been passed to force companies to implement a more predictable scheduling for their employees. 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. WASHINGTON A tentative deal to avert a government shutdown without most of the money President Donald Trump sought to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border left many Texas Republicans in Congress stone-faced on Tuesday. The agreement drew fierce opposition from conservative groups and right-wing pundits, as well as a decidedly negative reaction from Trump. "I'm not happy about it," he said flatly. "It's not doing the trick." But Trump appeared to back off talk of another government shutdown, which remains a possibility at midnight Friday unless the White House and Congress bridge their differences over immigration and wall funding in a 2019 funding deal. TAKING AIM: Trump's border wall strategy focuses on Rio Grande Valley "I would hope that there won't be a shutdown," Trump said. The deal provides less than $1.4 billion for physical barriers, below the $1.6 billion figure that Congress had agreed to in December. It also would fund about 55 miles of new border fencing, far less than the 200 miles Trump sought. According to Texas U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Laredo Democrat who was one of the House negotiators, all or almost all the new construction would be in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, a top priority for Customs and Border Patrol - with protections for the National Butterfly Center and other environmentally sensitive areas. "It wasn't easy at all," Cuellar said in an interview Tuesday. "But I always felt that if there was no outside interference (from Trump or Republican and Democratic Party leaders) we could work something out." The final deal, which jettisoned Democratic demands to limit immigrant detention, is not likely to please lawmakers on the far left or right, Cuellar predicted. But the strongest pushback came from Republicans and conservative media pundits who felt that Democrats gave in very little to Trump's demand for $5.7 billion in wall funding. Freshman San Antonio Republican Chip Roy, who worked for both Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, said the deal does not come close to addressing the concerns conservatives have been voicing about the border. "Congress is moving forward with a profoundly unserious approach to a very real humanitarian crisis," Roy said in a statement to Hearst Newspapers. "We are failing to do our basic job to shore up our sovereignty and ensure our nation is secure." Both Cornyn and Cruz, however, refrained from specific public statements Tuesday. Cornyn said he was still going through the terms of the deal. "I know we're all eager to see the final details of the agreement and to learn exactly what was included," he said. "I hope that this agreement takes into account what we've reportedly heard from the experts that smart border security is a combination of barriers, technology, and personnel. I also hope it includes funding for our ports of entry to promote the legal movement of goods and people across the border without compromising security." Cruz took to Twitter to call for a border wall, though he stopped short of attacking the agreement: "What we need to do isn't complicated... Stop the human traffickers. Stop the drug traffickers. And #BuildTheWall!" Cruz also resurrected his long-shot bill, dubbed the "El Chapo Act," that would use drug profits forfeited by the notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, who was convicted Tuesday in a federal court in New York on charges related to running a longtime criminal enterprise. Another outspoken proponent of a wall, freshman Houston Republican Dan Crenshaw, called the $1.37 billion for physical barriers "a step in the right direction." He also balked at the Democrats' push to limit detention beds, accusing them of "simply asking for less enforcement and less security in order to secure themselves a political win against the president." FIRST SPEECH: Newly elected Dan Crenshaw speak out for Trump, wall Absent any clear signal from the White House about Trump's backing, many GOP lawmakers remained silent on the agreement, which was worked out by House and Senate negotiators from both parties. Republicans leaders, however, were reportedly pressing Trump to sign on and avert a relapse of the unpopular 35-day shutdown that left some 800,000 federal workers furloughed or working without pay. In a speech on the Senate floor, GOP Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called the agreement an improvement over some of the Democrats' earlier negotiating positions, which he termed extreme. "The notion that Congress shouldn't spend more than 'one dollar' on new border barriers, and the idea that we should impose a hard, statutory cap on (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) detainees in the interior of the country, which would require the release of criminals into the United States fortunately, my Democrat colleagues did abandon those unreasonable positions, and the negotiations were able to move forward productively," McConnell said. McConnell's endorsement signaled that, barring some new obstacle, the deal will likely be put to a vote in the Senate this week, a potential test of Republican resolve of Trump's wall promise, which originally came with a proviso that Mexico would pay for it. Texas Republican Kay Granger, who also helped negotiate the "agreement in principle," told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Monday that the deal makes good on Trump's wall promise, "if you want to call it a wall." But as the details emerged, there were growing signs of disenchantment among conservative groups outside of Congress. A strongly-worded statement from the Tea Party Patriots described leader and frequent Cruz associate Jenny Beth Martin as needing to "pick herself up off the floor" after reading some of the terms of the congressional agreement. "This so-called 'deal' is worse than a joke," Martin said. "It does not even begin to address the very real crisis at our southern border and continues to play politics with our national security. The paltry funding for physical barriers and for detention beds is ridiculous." Close Trump media allies Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter also came out against the bargain, with Coulter calling it a "Yellow New Deal" a play on the left's "Green New Deal" climate change initiative. Not all the opposition came from the right. Some Texas environmentalists and others opposed to Trump's wall moved to oppose it. The National Butterfly Center, which lies along a levee where the Trump administration plans to build a wall, filed for a temporary restraining order against the federal government on Monday evening as Trump was in El Paso rallying support for his border policies. Other wall opponents expressed guarded optimism about averting another government shutdown. "I'm glad about the prospects of being able to reach an agreement to make sure that President Trump doesn't shut down the government again," said San Antonio Democrat Joaquin Castro, who, like others, said he was waiting for details. "At the same time, people in Texas are very much against any kind of border wall or fencing, and as I understand it, the new fencing may go up in the Rio Grande Valley." Some analysts said that given the Democrats' control of the House, the deal was the best Trump could get in the current Congress. While some saw it as capitulation, the White House hinted that the deal with Democratic leaders might not be the end of the story. Some media reports suggested that White House is working to finalize a new plan to redirect federal dollars to pay for the border wall. According to Politico, funding sources reportedly include two Army Corps of Engineers' flood control projects in Northern California and disaster relief funds intended for California and Puerto Rico but not Texas. Officials also are reportedly considering using military construction funds. Although Trump has threatened to go around Congress and use emergency powers to tap more wall funds, that idea has been discouraged by Cornyn and other top GOP leaders. But White House officials have said in recent days that more money might be available for wall construction without declaring a national emergency, which would almost certainly be challenged in court. "There's pots of money where presidents, all presidents, have access without a national emergency," Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said on "Meet the Press" Sunday. Said Trump on Tuesday: "The wall's getting built, regardless." - Washington Correspondent Bill Lambrecht contributed to this report. Published Feb. 12, 2019 Second of six parts Doug Myers was suspected of preying on children at a church in Alabama but he went on to work at Southern Baptist churches in Florida before police arrested him. Timothy Reddin was convicted of possessing child pornography, yet he was still able to serve as pastor of a Baptist church in Arkansas. Charles Adcock faced 29 counts of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Alabama. Then he volunteered as a worship pastor at a Baptist church in Texas. The sordid backgrounds of these Southern Baptist ministers didn't stop them from finding new jobs at churches and working in positions of trust. They're among at least 35 Southern Baptist pastors, youth ministers and volunteers who were convicted of sex crimes or accused of sexual misconduct but still were allowed to work at churches during the past two decades, an investigation by the San Antonio Express-News and the Houston Chronicle reveals. Some were suspected of misconduct but were allowed to leave quietly and work elsewhere. Others had been arrested, had criminal records or even had to register as sex offenders but later found jobs at Baptist churches. All the men worked at times for churches in the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest coalition of Baptist churches in the United States. The SBC has rejected efforts to establish a registry to track sexual abuse cases and prevent churches from hiring predatory pastors. In some cases, churches knew of a pastor's past and allowed him to work anyway. In others, the SBC's inaction might have allowed offenders to move from community to community, ruining lives as they slipped through background checks and found jobs at unsuspecting churches. "There's no other group that does pass the buck better," said Dee Ann Miller, a longtime victims' rights activist in Kansas who speaks out against sexual abuse by Baptist ministers and clergy in other faiths. The practice of hiring pastors with disturbing pasts is part of a broader problem of sex abuse at Southern Baptist churches across the United States, the newspapers' investigation shows. At least 700 people nearly all of them children reported being sexually abused by those who worked or volunteered at Southern Baptist churches since 1998. Records show that about 220 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers have been convicted of sex crimes or took plea deals. The charges range from possessing child pornography to raping children. The SBC had an opportunity to stop some of the abuse. In 2007, at their annual meeting in San Antonio, SBC leaders considered a proposal to prevent sexual abuse by creating a database of ministers who had been credibly accused of sexual misconduct. But when the SBC met again in 2008, the committee assigned to study the proposal rejected it, saying it had no authority to compel churches to report sex offenders to the SBC. With no centralized method of tracking sex abuse at Southern Baptist churches, the Chronicle and the Express-News spent months developing their own database of Baptist offenders by collecting news stories and public records to find perpetrators and gather details about their cases. Studies show most sexual assault victims don't contact police, which means the true number of offenders may well be higher. August "Augie" Boto, interim president of the SBC's Executive Committee, said sex abuse in churches is a horrendous act. He said the newspapers' database would shine "the light of day upon crime." "Taking advantage of the vulnerable is what criminals do," Boto said. "And when that happens, our job is to voice it. Not to hide it." But it's unclear if anything will change at the SBC. RELATED: How can Southern Baptist church leaders prevent sexual misconduct? No religion is immune to sexual misconduct in its ranks. But unlike the Roman Catholic Church, which is wrestling with its own sex-abuse scandal, Baptists don't answer to a pope or bishop. Local church autonomy is a bedrock foundation of Baptist faith. There's no diocese that assigns priests to a parish. Instead, each church is responsible for ordaining and hiring its own ministers. Boto said the SBC can't force its churches to participate in any efforts to track sex abuse. That means each Baptist church in the SBC there are 47,000 of them decides for itself how vigorously to screen job applicants. "Pastoral assignment among Baptists is kind of the Wild West," said Ed Stetzer, a Christian author and executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College in Illinois. "There's no regulation. There's no system." At some churches especially small ones with fewer resources the congregation's idea of vetting a potential pastor is deciding whether he's a "good speaker," Stetzer said. "The Wild Wild West approach to moving from church to church has some real consequences for people who don't know that the pastor that they called is the pastor that got fired for abusing a child three churches ago," Stetzer said. 'A bad feeling' In case after case, Southern Baptists with a sex offense or troublesome behavior in their past have had no problem finding jobs as preachers, youth group leaders or volunteers at churches across the country. In Georgia, the pastor of the SBC-affiliated Eastside Baptist Church near Atlanta announced it was re-examining its hiring practices after Alexander Edwards, a volunteer youth pastor, was arrested in 2016 on charges of sexual battery involving an 11-year-old boy he had met at the church. It wasn't Edwards' first criminal charge. While serving as a youth pastor at another Baptist church 160 miles away in Lee County south of Atlanta, Edwards was arrested in August 2013 and charged with using the internet to find a child for a sex act. That case was still pending when Edwards began volunteering at Eastside. He was convicted of the 2016 charges, and the charge in Lee County was dismissed. "It was incredibly painful," said the current pastor at Eastside, John Hull, who blamed Edwards' hiring on employment practices that have since been revised. Hull emphasized that Edwards no longer worked at Eastside when the abuse occurred. But he had met the victim and his family at the church and ingratiated himself with them. "A child was hurt, and it happened on our watch," Hull said. "Taking advantage of the vulnerable is what criminals do. And when that happens, our job is to voice it. Not to hide it." August "Augie" Boto, interim president of the SBC's Executive Committee In Arkansas, Timothy Reddin was director of missions for the SBC-affiliated Central Baptist Association in 1998 when he was caught with child pornography and sentenced to 27 months in prison. Reddin told the federal judge at his sentencing hearing in 2000 that he would never molest a child. But last July, authorities say, Reddin attempted to solicit a 14-year-old minor for sex in an online chat. At the time, Reddin was pastor of Turner Street Baptist Church in Springdale, Ark., despite his federal child-pornography conviction. The "minor" was actually Gerald Faulkner, an undercover agent with the Department of Homeland Security who specialized in cases of child exploitation and child pornography. "I'll never tell!" Reddin told the agent in an online message. "I could go to jail!" Reddin pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity; in early February, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. His lawyer declined to discuss the case. In Alabama, Charles Adcock was charged in 2015 with 29 counts of rape and sodomy involving a 14-year-old girl he met at the SBC-affiliated Woodward Avenue Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals, where he had worked as a youth minister a few years earlier. While out on bail under the supervision of his parents, Adcock moved to Texas, where First Baptist Church in Bedford allowed Adcock to volunteer as a music minister at worship services, despite knowing about his arrest. "There's not a chance in the world that I would ever hire somebody if they were facing charges like this," said William Rushing, the current pastor of the church in Muscle Shoals. "You just got to be a big idiot to say, 'Hey, you know what? I'm going to hire this person even though they've got this accusation against them.'" Adcock insisted he was innocent. Without admitting any guilt, he pleaded to a single charge of second-degree sodomy in January 2016 and served 15 months. He is now a registered sex offender. "He has always, and continues to assert, his innocence," his lawyer, Chris Rippy, wrote in a letter to the Chronicle. Steve Knott, at the time the pastor of First Baptist in Bedford, said another pastor had hired Adcock. He wasn't allowed unsupervised access to children, court records show. That was little solace to victims' advocates who protested the decision. "To quietly hire an accused child molester as a music minister, which automatically places him in a position of trust, was astoundingly reckless and irresponsible on the part of the church leadership," the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests said in a statement. "It shows lack of sound judgment in the care and protection of the children of their church." 'Broken Trust' The SBC does not keep statistics on ministers accused of abuse, making it difficult to compare the rate of sexual misconduct at SBC churches to other religions, such as Catholicism. "The problem with Protestants is, we don't have the ability to track," said Wade Burleson, a Baptist pastor from Oklahoma who proposed creating a database of offenders at the SBC meeting in 2007. "Where we should be skewered is that leadership is acting as if they don't care to track. OK, so which is worse, tracking and knowing and doing nothing, or knowing there's a problem and refusing to track?" Church autonomy didn't stop one of the SBC's state conventions in Texas from keeping its own list of offenders. Under mounting pressure from critics in 2007, the Baptist General Convention of Texas, one of many groups that fall under the SBC umbrella, published a webpage called "Broken Trust" that included a list of eight Baptist pastors who had been convicted of sex crimes. The convention also kept a longer, confidential list of others who had been credibly accused of sexual misconduct. Churches could contact the organization to see if a job applicant was on the list. John McKay, former pastor of First Baptist Church of Hondo (Texas DPS) One of the ministers on the list was John McKay, a pastor at First Baptist Church of Hondo, 40 miles west of San Antonio. A charismatic former Marine who had a strong following, McKay had once received a military commendation for keeping his men out of trouble overseas. But in the spring of 2003, the parents of a girl who attended the church suspected McKay was sleeping with their teenage daughter. The girl's distraught father asked Medina County Sheriff's Sgt. Wayne Springer to investigate. Springer checked McKay's employment history and discovered a record of questionable behavior toward women at other churches. "I started looking into his past and we started calling these other churches where he'd been," recalled Springer, now an investigator with the district attorney's office in Medina County. "And there wasn't one of those churches that we called that didn't tell me something bad about this guy." SEARCH OUR DATABASE: See the Southern Baptist church officials who were convicted or pleaded guilty Springer was told that McKay liked to rub his arm against the breasts of church secretaries when he signed paperwork at the office. One Baptist deacon, Edward Lozano, told Springer that McKay had committed "indiscretions" with married women at a now-closed Baptist church in San Antonio, according to Springer's investigative report about McKay. In Hondo, McKay began "grooming" a teenager in his congregation when she was only 13 years old, telling her how special she was and how she was more mature than other girls, the report states. After two years, the relationship turned sexual. The girl was 15; McKay was 57. McKay drove her to motels in Devine and San Antonio weekly to have sex a second-degree felony in Texas, since she was under the age of 17. Springer arrested McKay on April 16, 2003. After pleading guilty to sexual assault and serving nearly nine years in a Huntsville prison, McKay moved to San Antonio, where he lived as a registered sex offender. McKay's wife answered the door at their house in August. She said he was in the hospital being treated for cancer and was unavailable for an interview. They had put his past behind them, she said, and didn't want to talk. McKay died in September. McKay didn't face any criminal charges related to his previous employment in San Antonio, and it's unclear if his past employers told First Baptist Church of Hondo about their concerns. Mike Vasquez, senior pastor at the church in Hondo, said background checks are conducted for all employees, especially anyone dealing with children. The McKay case was before his time, Vasquez said, but he was told the church fired McKay. "They dealt with it pretty swiftly," Vasquez said. Springer said the father of McKay's victim said he "should have known better" but trusted McKay. After all, McKay was the pastor of his church. No silver bullet The Baptist General Convention of Texas, also known as Texas Baptists, eventually removed the public list with McKay and other offenders and stopped maintaining its larger confidential list, saying it was rarely being used and that effectively dealing with sexual misconduct "falls directly on the local congregation." "While the list was created out of a desire to help churches, utilization was low and maintenance was challenging," Texas Baptists said in a written statement. "There were concerns about accuracy, given that the convention did not have the capacity to conduct investigations, and churches in their autonomy were free to choose whether or not to utilize the service," the statement read. "At the same time, the quality and availability of online background checks and registry searches increased dramatically." ABUSE OF FAITH: Read our entire series here A criminal-background check often includes a nationwide search of public records. But companies that offer such searches rely on a hodgepodge of data from thousands of county courthouses across the United States. In many cases, criminal records aren't online at all, creating gaping holes in the system. Checking sex offender registries isn't always effective, either. Sex crimes are often difficult to prosecute, and some church leaders plead to less-severe charges that don't require them to register as a sex offender. Given the limitations of background checks, the proposal for an internal SBC database of offenders could be a powerful way for Baptist churches to police their ranks, said Sean Bigley, a lawyer in Southern California whose firm specializes in background investigations. "You just got to be a big idiot to say, 'Hey, you know what? I'm going to hire this person even though they've got this accusation against them.'" William Rushing, pastor of Woodward Avenue Baptist Church "On the whole, the idea has merit," Bigley said. "I don't think anyone's going to argue with wanting to protect children from predators. That's certainly an honorable thing." But many employers not just churches are reluctant to release anything beyond basic information about a former employee because they're afraid of a defamation suit, said Michael Holland, a San Antonio lawyer who represents employers. "It's a tough problem," Holland said. "It's a sad, frustrating topic, and I really feel bad for people who have been assaulted by folks in the ministry." Burleson, the Baptist pastor from Oklahoma who proposed a database of offenders back in 2007, has had years to think about handling the sensitive information responsibly. Burleson primarily views the database as a place for credible accusations cases where investigators concluded something happened. Burleson also would encourage other Protestant denominations to participate. Burleson said the SBC should pay the cost of maintaining the database. To avoid any hint of bias, he says that an independent nonprofit should oversee the data and diligently seek out court cases alleging misconduct so it's not entirely reliant on churches to report wrongdoing. "Whoever's in power has a tendency to want to protect their buddies," Burleson said. "And I don't like a database in the hands of powerful people in the Southern Baptist Convention." Pastor Doug's rule Some ministers move from church to church for years until they're caught. Concerns about Doug Myers' behavior around young boys followed him from Alabama to Florida before he was finally caught, then convicted in 2007. Charles Canida first met Myers in 2000 at Concord Baptist Church in Russellville, Ala., where Canida was a deacon. Myers came from a Southern Baptist church in Maryland. Myers quickly gravitated toward boys in the youth group, Canida said, despite being hired to minister to adults. Canida was soon suspicious. "I just had a bad feeling about him," Canida said in a recent interview. The concerns grew when, a few months after Myers' arrival, a boy told Canida about "Pastor Doug's" rule: Everyone had to swim naked. Months later, a mother told Canida that Myers "held her son down on a table at the church on his back ... and was blowing on his stomach to tickle him," Canida said. "She was literally in shambles." Canida said he met with the county's district attorney but no charges were ever filed. Doug Myers worked at churches in Maryland, Alabama and Florida until he admitted to molesting a minor in 2006. (Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement) Concerns about Myers eventually split the congregation at Concord. Canida and others started a new church; Myers moved to Florida, where he established new churches for a few years with help from state and local Baptist associations. Canida wasn't surprised when he found out Myers was arrested. Myers admitted to molesting a minor he met at a church in Eustis, Fla., according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Lake County in 2006; he pleaded guilty a year later and was sentenced to seven years in prison. The family of the Florida victim sued, alleging that the Florida Baptist Convention and the Lake County Baptist Association had failed to contact Myers' previous churches before entrusting him to start churches in the Sunshine State. The victim, who according to the suit was 11 when he met Myers, said the assaults caused "shame, humiliation ... suicidal ideations and night terrors." WATCH: Hear the perpetrators tell their side in prison interviews A Lake County jury later awarded the victim $12.5 million. The lawsuit was eventually settled for an undisclosed amount of money, court records show. Before his release from prison in December 2012, new allegations surfaced in Maryland, where he had been a pastor. Myers was arrested on charges of custodial child abuse and sex offenses against multiple victims from 1995-2001. He was convicted in Calvert County, Md., and is serving a 15-year sentence. Training and transparency SBC officials stress the importance of conducting criminal background checks. The SBC's publishing arm, Lifeway Christian Resources, offers discounted screenings to churches through a partnership with a background-check company. They've handled 320,000 checks since 2009. But even if no criminal records are found, Boto said, that doesn't mean a church's job is done. When Texas Baptists stopped compiling its registry of offenders, the state convention partnered with MinistrySafe, an organization in Fort Worth that trains churches to develop stronger policies and techniques to prevent sexual abuse. Katie Swafford, director of counseling services at Texas Baptists, said the training sessions have been eye-opening. One lesson is that background checks, while important, won't catch every threat because most pedophiles don't yet have a criminal record. That means church members need to ask better screening questions during the hiring process and learn how to spot predatory behavior. "If you don't understand the risk, you're probably not preparing for the right thing," Swafford said. Larry Baker and Rex Miller, two FBI agents assigned to the San Antonio Child Exploitation Task Force, have spent years uncovering crimes against children. They once investigated a popular youth pastor who was always around kids but interacted only with boys. The pastor had "zero involvement" with girls, even though he was responsible for them. "Pastoral assignment among Baptists is kind of the Wild West. There's no regulation; there's no system." Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College "It's tough," Miller said. "For a lot of people, it's hard to imagine that someone would have a sexual interest in children." It was that very dynamic the tendency toward denial that made it difficult for people to believe the allegations against McKay, the charismatic former Marine who served as pastor in Hondo. "Everybody just thought he was the best guy," said Springer, the Medina County investigator who led the case. McKay's charm blinded parents and church leaders to the warning signs: the hugs McKay gave his underage victim at softball games; the suspicious phone calls at her home; the little favors McKay did for her. After McKay's arrest, some who attended the church shunned Springer as if he were the criminal, he said. Springer said it's crucial for church congregations to understand that sexual predators don't "groom" only victims to gain their trust. They groom everyone around them so no one suspects a thing. "He was everything that the community wanted," Springer said. "But (they) didn't know about the devil inside him." Tell us your story Do you have information about sexual misconduct in Southern Baptist churches? Help us investigate by telling us your story. Fill out our confidential questionnaire here. Support our journalism Help our journalists uncover the big stories. Subscribe today. John Tedesco, a longtime investigative reporter for the San Antonio Express-News, has exposed shady telemarketers at the Texas Highway Patrol Museum, bribery scandals at San Antonio City Hall and the deaths of oil-and-gas workers on the Eagle Ford Shale. He joined the Chronicle projects team last month. Follow him on Twitter @John_Tedesco and reach him by email at john.tedesco@chron.com. Robert Downen covers City Hall for the Houston Chronicle's metro desk. Prior to that, he worked as a business reporter in Albany, New York, and as the managing editor of a group of six newspapers in Illinois. He is a 2014 graduate of Eastern Illinois University. Follow him on Twitter @RobDownenChron and reach him by email at robert.downen@chron.com. Lise Olsen is deputy investigations editor and senior investigative reporter at the Houston Chronicle. Olsen has more than 20 years' experience specializing primarily in crime, corruption, worker safety and human rights. Follow her on Twitter @chrondigger and reach her by email at lise.olsen@chron.com. Jon Shapley is a staff photo and video journalist for the Houston Chronicle. A native Houstonian, he joined the Chronicle in 2015. He previously worked at the NPR affiliate in Austin, as well as monthly magazines in Austin and San Antonio. He can be reached at jon.shapley@chron.com. Design by Jordan Rubio and Jasmine Goldband *** In the past 20 years, about 380 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers have faced allegations of sexual misconduct, according to an investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News. They were pastors. Deacons. Ministers. Youth pastors. Sunday school and Christian school teachers. Church program volunteers. They left behind more than 700 victims. Read our investigation, "Abuse of Faith," here. *** Experts and activists say there are several ways that the Southern Baptist Convention could help protect against sexual abuse in its 47,000 churches. Here's how: Start keeping track of allegations Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention is completely decentralized. It has no hard numbers on how many ministers have been accused or convicted of sex offenses. Southern Baptist pastor Wade Burleson said the first step in dealing with a problem is understanding its severity. Burleson proposed in 2007 to create a database to track "credible" allegations of sexual misconduct against Baptist ministers, and proposed the measure again last year. An SBC commission is reviewing it. (ABUSE OF FAITH: Southern Baptist churches hired ministers accused of past sex offenses) Bolster background checks When someone applies for a job, not all churches conduct criminal background checks and those checks don't catch everything. Court records are kept by thousands of clerks' offices across the country, and not all files or dockets are online. Burleson said his proposed database would help fill in the gaps of a background check and alert churches to an arrest or criminal conviction that might otherwise be overlooked. It would also include other cases, such as instances when a church leader confessed to sexual misconduct or was fired for it. Obtain the actual records If a background check does find a red flag, it's important to review the actual police report or court file about the offense and not rely on a job applicant's explanation. Most court records are open to the public. They show what the original charges were and how the case was resolved. Andy Carpenean/AP Address the difficulty of tracking offenses Questions remain about how Burleson's proposed database of alleged misconduct would be handled: Who would be responsible for the data? What kind of information would be kept and released? How would non-criminal allegations in lawsuits or firings be tracked? Not everyone agrees it's feasible. "It's more difficult than you think," said Gregory Love, co-founder of MinistrySafe, a program that trains church members to prevent sexual abuse. Burleson said his proposal would be challenging. But if it's done right, he's convinced such a system would help more churches avoid terrible situations. "I believe a database actually prevents future harm and future hurt," Burleson said. (SEARCH OUR DATABASE: We compiled a list of Southern Baptist church pastors, leaders, employees and volunteers convicted of sex abuse crimes) Improve hiring practices Even if the SBC embraced Burleson's idea for a database of alleged misconduct, it wouldn't solve a related problem: Experts say most pedophiles haven't yet been arrested for a sex offense, which means strong hiring practices are crucial. But every Baptist church sets its own screening policies if it has any policies at all. MinistrySafe co-founder Kimberlee Norris recommends checking references for both paid employee and volunteer positions, and getting applicants to sign a release form that allows past employers to speak freely about any concerns. She also recommends that churches examine any gaps in employment maybe there was a problem at a past church and the applicant didn't want to use it as a reference. During interviews, do applicants refer to a child or teen as a "best friend?" Or do they show preferences for a particular gender and age group? Those can be warning signs of someone with an unhealthy interest in children, Norris said. (WATCH: Hear the perpetrators tell their side in prison interviews) Learn about 'grooming' Church leaders also should attend training or seek information to learn about warning signs, such as how pedophiles use grooming behavior the practice of forming a bond with a child to "groom" them for sex abuse so if they inadvertently hire or use a pedophile as a church or youth leader they can spot potential problems early. An adult who gives gifts to a child, surrounds himself with toys or activities that children like, or tries to make excuses to be alone with a child could be trouble, Norris said. "What molesters must have is trust and time alone with a child," Norris said. Often, that means an offender tries to groom and charm their victims' parents and other adults, too. *** Tell us your story Do you have information about sexual misconduct in Southern Baptist churches? Help us investigate by telling us your story. Fill out our confidential questionnaire here. Support our journalism Help our journalists uncover the big stories. Subscribe today. Theres a chance the roses you receive on Valentines Day have already been held by someone else. Its not a regift. U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspects thousands of flowers each week, making sure that the shipments from foreign countries dont carry over any invasive bugs or diseases to the American agriculture market. Now Playing: Customs and Border Patrol inspects imported commercial flowers on the rise during the Valentine's Day season Video: Houston Chronicle The days leading up to Feb. 14 are a busy time for Customs at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, with the number of roses double or triple what the office usually receives, said Gisel Medina Bobe, a Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialist. We have to be very careful, Medina Bobe said on Tuesday, inspecting a bouquet of red roses for insects at the airport's Air Cargo Center. I call them undercover passengers. LEADING THE PACK: Texas airports dominate top 10 list where TSA found guns in baggage in 2018 Bobe was searching a box of flowers from Colombia, which ultimately didnt have any pests or disease. By hand, she sifted through three bouquets of red roses and one bouquet of ivory. She first held a bunch by the stems, shaking them upside down. Any insects that might be hidden between the roses would have fallen, where Medina Bobe could separate them and send them to an entomologist for identification, she said. Anything not native to the area could be flagged by the entomologist - such a larva from a foreign type of moth - and then the roses would be fumigated or destroyed. Medina Bobe also checked the stems and leaves for any spots that would indicate disease. Were trying to keep them away from our landscape, Medina Bobe said. Something that we introduce to our country that we dont have here could be a devastation for the industry. NEW RECORD: Houston airports report 58M travelers in 2018 During a regular time of year, the office might receive two or three shipments of 3,000 stems from top importers - or 250 dozens of flowers, she said. Before Valentines Day, that number could triple, meaning workers have to pull overtime hours to make sure the flowers can be cleared to release to flower shops and grocery stores. The pink roses are Medina Bobes favorite, but theyre all gorgeous, she said. She pulled out a bouquet of ivory roses to inspect, filling the air with a sweet scent. Theyre so beautiful, she said. samantha.ketterer@chron.com Twitter.com/sam_kett A chubby tiger rescued from a ramshackle Houston home all thanks to a pot-smoking 311 caller was given a kingdom of his own at a North Texas wildlife refuge as law enforcement spent Tuesday searching for his owner. The apex predator whose unexpected discovery in an abandoned home Monday made international headlines as he arrived at the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch, where he may continue to live among a menagerie of horses, reptiles, primates and bison on the 1,400-acre property. The male cat rolled up to the Murchison ranch about 24 hours after a woman who requested anonymity from authorities dialed the city's 311 service with an animal welfare concern from a vacant home in the 9400 block of E. Avenue J in the Manchester neighborhood, according to officials. Houston police spokesman Kese Smith said the woman was at the vacant home in hopes of lighting up her marijuana stash. But she and a pal realized they were not alone. The woman found the exotic feline locked in a cage too small for a beast of his stature. Now Playing: Houston animal control officers removed a tiger found in a home in southeast Houston. Video: Godofredo Vasquez, Houston Chronicle "I'm not lying," the woman told a perplexed 311 dispatcher, according to a recording reviewed by the Houston Chronicle. "I don't know how he got it in there," she said. "It's not a baby tiger. It's pretty big." "How do you even get a tiger," the dispatcher wondered. Authorities have honored the 311 caller's request to remain anonymous, even to late night comic Jimmy Kimmel, whose representatives had hoped to bring the marijuana-toting good Samaritan on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" The woman's call was soon patched through to BARC, who then dispatched an animal control officer to the home. An HPD officer joined him. The officers could hear the striped animal and smell the unmistakable aroma associated with cat urine that followed it to the shelter. It was enough to obtain a search warrant. MUGSHOTS: See who was arrested in last week's raid that netted guns, drugs in southwest Houston The feline they found inside was trapped inside a 4x8-feet cage, resting on a bed of hay. He had eaten recently but was dehydrated. "It wasn't well cared for," said Lara Cottingham, of the city's Administration & Regulatory Affairs Department which oversees BARC and 311. She said the tiger woke up Tuesday morning in "good spirits" after spending the night at BARC's animal shelter in a tranquilizer-induced cat nap. "It was snoring adorably," she said, adding that he was well behaved, too. The tiger posed regally for photographs and picked up its food bowl with his mouth in an apparent attempt to request a meaty nosh. "It was really Instagram friendly," Cottingham said. Neighbors shocked As the sun went down Monday on Avenue J, neighbors were shocked to hear they were sharing a block with a tiger, whose counterparts in the wild are an endangered species, "Maybe they had it like a pet," said Pablo Briagas, whose guard dogs were roaming his driveway. "You know people these days." He was worried that the tiger they never knew about could have escaped and hurt someone. "I have my kids here," Briagas said alongside his 8-year-old son. "It's dangerous." His son Isaac was certain their dogs would have protected them if the tiger had broken free of its cage. How the planet's largest cat species ended up at the east Houston home is a mystery to law enforcement. Tigers are not a permitted pet in the city limits unless the handler, such as a zoo, is licensed to have exotic animals. "They're adorable kittens, but they grow up into very big, very hungry, very expensive and potentially very dangerous animals," Cottingham said. Investigators with HPD's Major Offenders' Animal Cruelty Squad have leads into who owned the tiger but it may not be the same person who owns the property, said Jodi Silva, a police spokeswoman. The house changed ownership at some point from 2018 to 2019, according to Harris County records. The dilapidated wood framed home went into foreclosure after its resident of two decades died, according to records and a man whose phone number was spray painted on the crooked garage. The man, who declined to be identified, was trying to purchase the property last year but the deal fell through, he said. The tiger was not a fixture in the home when he toured it. The animal's presence Monday was a surprise to him. "I had a good laugh. I didn't think you could have a tiger in Houston," he said. The lot in the Manchester subdivision was the subject of a 2016 tax delinquency lawsuit. The former owner's daughter had been living at the property but took residence in a nursing home when she developed medical issues, according to court documents. The woman whom records show currently owns the property could not be reached for comment. 'A better life' The tiger looked to be in good health after his 200-mile journey to Cleveland Armory Black Beauty Ranch, about 70 miles southeast of Dallas. A five-acre habitat has the potential to become his forever home, depending on the outcome of the police investigation. Ranch director Noelle Almrud said that while the tiger is fairly young, he's "a little overweight." "But probably because he wasn't getting any exercise," Almrud said. The cat will remain there for at least two weeks, while it's in quarantine. Should he remain for good, he will join two other tigers out of more than 800 animals in their care. "We feel we can provide him a better life," Almrud said. "We currently have the space. It's not a hardship for us." But requests to house tigers come frequently, she said. Their other tiger, Charlie, came to the refuge from a Colorado breeder who retired and relinquished his big cats in 2016, while Alex came to them from a pet trade operation in Kansas in 2014. During his initial two-week stay, Almrud said he will have access to a proper tiger diet they require 10 to 22 pounds of meat daily and veterinary care. Back in Houston, his rescuers settled on a name. He will be known as Tyson, named for the professional boxer Mike Tyson who had a tiger in the movie "The Hangover." Jay R. Jordan and Michela Garcia contributed to this report. Houston animal control officers removed a tiger found in a home in southeast Houston. The big cat, a female, was found in a residence in the 9400 block of E. Avenue J in the Harrisburg/Manchester area near East Loop 610 shortly after 1 p.m. on Monday. Lara Cottingham with the BARC Animal Shelter said an anonymous neighbor called 3-1-1 to report the tiger in the home. The person was reportedly concerned that it was being held in a cage too small for it, and was worried about its safety, according to Cottingham. CHRON PLAYLIST: Get the lighter-side of the day's news delivered to your email. Animal control officers arrived on the scene and spotted the cat. They called Houston Police for assistance in obtaining a warrant to enter the home. They entered and found the caged animal. The resident was reportedly not there at the time. BARC officers will remove the tiger, and find a place to house it. "Our shelter is not designed to house big cats," Cottingham told Chron.com She said BARC has contacted a wildlife refuge that can take in the tiger, but not until Tuesday. "We will keep it at our shelter for the night, safely secured from our other animals,"said Cottingham. As the sun went down on Avenue J Monday evening, neighbors were shocked to hear the news that a wild tiger was living down the street from them. "Maybe they had it like a pet," Pablo Briagas said as his guard dogs roamed up and down his driveway. "You know people these days." 'A COMPASSIONATE JUDGE': Newly elected Harris County misdemeanor judge dead at 57 The short block was lined with all sorts of guard dogs, each barking at every passing pedestrian. Briagas' 8-year-old son, Isaac, said he believed his guard dog could have protected him if the tiger were to break out. "It could break out of the cage and attack people," Isaac said on the dangers of housing such a big cat in a small neighborhood. "If it gets out of the cage and off the chain, it would be crazy." Pablo Briagas felt the same sentiment as his son. "I have my kids here," he said. "It's dangerous for them to have (a tiger down the street). Even if they had it as a pet, that's dangerous. They need to have that at the zoo." The tiger was long gone by 5:30 p.m. Its fate was not immediately clear, although it will have a cozy stay at Houston's BARC Animal Shelter overnight. This is a developing story. 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. The demonstration was expected to take participants from the White House, down Pennsylvania Avenue to three symbolic stops: First, protesters were expected to head to the Trump International Hotel, where activists would stage a demonstration against Trump and his immigration policies and rhetoric. Then, demonstrators were expected to walk to the Supreme Court, where several cases challenging the Trump administration's policies may be decided. Finally, they would arrive at the Capitol. Chris Grayling's decision to grant 108 million worth of contracts to Seaborne Freight, DFDS and Brittany Ferries has been described as a "secretive and flawed procurement process" by the company which operates the Channel Tunnel. The companies that run the Channel tunnel are suing the British government over its award of ferry contracts to handle freight shipments in a no-deal Brexit - in a lawsuit that comes just days after one of those contracts, with a startup company that doesn't own any ships, fell through. The contract was terminated at the weekend, after Irish company Arklow Shipping, which had backed the new operation, stepped away from the deal. The shadow transport secretary, Andy McDonald, said his opposite number had been shown to be "off the Richter scale of incompetence" after announcing the demise of plans involving the startup Seaborne Freight. But Prime Minister Theresa May has said she continues to have full confidence in him. Last month, Jacques Gounon, chief executive of Getlink - the Paris-based parent company of Eurotunnel - wrote to transport secretary Chris Grayling saying London had breached European Union "competition and state-aid law". The department cited the "extreme urgency" of the situation to bypass transparency requirements which would normally have required the publication of invitations to tender. An NAO memo prepared for the Public Accounts Committee said the Department. Asked whether Mr Grayling had the PM's confidence, Mrs May's official spokesman told a regular Westminster media briefing: "Yes". "In relation to Seaborne, we were clear that it would need to meet specific milestones in order to fulfil its contractual obligations". We have therefore made a decision to terminate our agreement. "It is obviously ultimately important that we protect taxpayers' money". Responding to an urgent question on the issue from McDonald, Grayling said the Seaborne freight capacity, and deals with the existing companies DFDS and Brittany Ferries, were intended as a contingency to bring key goods into the United Kingdom if there were no Brexit agreement and the Dover to Calais link were congested. In the Commons, McDonald said he wanted to know what other public money had been spent, for example on preparing the port of Ramsgate. Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, he told MPs that he was "fully aware" that Seaborne was a start-up business with no ships. The Transport Secretary responded that "not a penny of taxpayers' money has gone, or will go, to Seaborne". WASHINGTON - Key lawmakers announced a tentative deal late Monday that would avert another government shutdown at the end of the week while denying President Donald Trump much of the money he's sought to build new walls along the U.S.-Mexico border. The agreement came together during intense hours of closed-door negotiations at the Capitol in which lawmakers resurrected talks that had fallen apart over the weekend in a dispute over new Democratic demands to limit immigrant detention. Democrats ultimately dropped some of those demands, which had come under fire from Republicans, clearing the way for a deal. Lawmakers on both sides said they were motivated to find agreement by the looming specter of another government shutdown Friday night, three weeks after the last one ended. "What brought us back together I thought, tonight, was we didn't want that to happen," said Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the lead Republican in the talks. The deal includes $1.375 billion for 55 miles of fences along the border, compared with $5.7 billion Trump had sought for more than 200 miles of walls. The deal omits a strict new cap Democrats had sought on immigrants detained within the United States - as opposed to at the border. At the same time, it reduces an overall cap on detention beds maintained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, although GOP aides said ICE would have enough money and flexibility to maintain its current detention levels and add more when needed. To avert a shutdown, the deal needs to be written into final legislation, passed by both the House and Senate, and signed into law by the president by midnight Friday. White House officials were reviewing the terms of the deal, and Shelby said he hoped Trump would be supportive. But details of the compromise disclosed late Monday quickly came under fire from conservatives, raising the prospect of a backlash from the right that could ultimately render it unacceptable to Trump. The president has readied a plan to declare a national emergency on the southern border, which he believes will allow him to redirect taxpayer money from other projects to build parts of a wall - without approval from Congress. Democrats are all but certain to mount a legal challenge to this approach. Fox News host Sean Hannity, a Trump confidante, immediately called the shutdown deal a "garbage compromise." Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who talks regularly with Trump, said it fails to address serious threats. "This does not represent a fraction of what the president has promised the American people," Meadows said in a text message to The Washington Post. "I don't speak for the president, but I can't imagine he will be applauding something so lacking." At a rally in El Paso, Texas, on Monday night, Trump told a crowd of supporters that he was briefed on the conference committee's progress as he was walking onstage. "Just so you know - we're building the wall anyway," Trump declared to the audience. The president cast the Democratic proposal on detention beds as a dangerous idea. "I will never sign a bill that forces the mass release of violent criminals into our country," said Trump. "And I will never abolish or in any way mistreat our great heroes from ICE and Border Patrol and law enforcement." He added: "We need the wall, and it has to be built, and we want to build it fast." And Trump defended the record-long 35-day government shutdown that ended late last month - even though he did not achieve the new wall money he'd been demanding. "If we didn't do that shutdown, we would not have been able to show this country, these politicians, the world, what the hell is happening with the border. That was a very important thing we did," Trump said. The reaction from his conservative allies left the ultimate outcome in doubt, but negotiators said that with the president's assent, there would be time for the legislation to pass the House and Senate and be signed ahead of the deadline, when large portions of the government, including the Homeland Security Department, would run out of funding and begin to shut down. Negotiators said the deal would fund all government operations through the end of September, potentially removing shutdown threats for the remainder of the fiscal year. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., who was in Monday's meetings, said she hoped the negotiators would have a finished product by Wednesday. She said she ran the proposal by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and she signed off on it. "Some may be happy, some may not be happy," said Lowey, assessing how Democrats would receive the deal and saying she hoped the agreement would have the votes needed to pass the House. "We did the best we could." Shelby, Lowey, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, participated in the Monday meetings. They are the top lawmakers on a bipartisan conference committee charged with striking a deal and staving off another shutdown. Asked why she thought the dispute over the detention beds flared up over the weekend, Lowey paused before saying, "You'll have to ask those who were debating it and arguing it. It's one part of the bill. And the issue, in some communities across the country, has really become very volatile and personal to many of the members." The White House and congressional leaders have struggled for months to reach an agreement on a government funding bill because of major differences between Democrats and Republicans over immigration policy. Trump called for using $5.7 billion in taxpayer money to construct more than 200 miles of wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Democrats objected, and Trump forced a partial government shutdown that began Dec. 22 to pressure Congress to act. The White House and Republicans eventually backed down and agreed last month to a short-term spending bill for a number of agencies in an effort to give congressional negotiators more time to reach a longer-term deal. Those negotiators had made steady progress but ran into trouble over the weekend. The White House had largely signaled to Republicans that it would soften its demand for wall money, convinced it could use other legal maneuvers to redirect existing funds. Instead, discussions bogged down over disagreements about how many undocumented immigrants could be detained at once. Republicans wanted flexibility in detention rules, arguing that they needed to be able to adjust to account for violent criminals and others. Democrats countered that the changes Republicans sought would give the White House almost limitless powers to detain as many people as they wanted. The unexpected dispute imperiled talks, spooking negotiators as they worried they were running out of time. Democrats signaled earlier Monday that they were more interested in cutting a deal than digging in as the Friday deadline neared, and they largely backed down by late Monday. The discussions are the first major political test for Democrats and Republicans after the last government shutdown froze the paychecks of 800,000 federal workers. A partial shutdown could have a broad impact on the country. Funding lapses would go beyond the DHS to hit a number of other federal departments, including the Housing and Urban Development, Treasury, Agriculture and Interior departments, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the IRS. - - - The Washington Post's Seung Min Kim, Josh Dawsey and Robert Costa contributed to this report. WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the entire Democratic leadership on Monday condemned Rep. Ilhan Omar for suggesting that Israel's allies in American politics were motivated by money rather than principle, an extraordinary rebuke of a House freshman in the vanguard of the party's left flank. The Minnesota congresswoman's Sunday evening tweet - "It's all about the Benjamins baby," a reference to $100 bills - drew immediate denunciations from Republicans and fellow Democrats, especially Jewish members of Congress. Within hours, Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the leadership issued a joint statement calling Omar's "use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel's supporters" deeply offensive and insisted on an apology. In response, Omar said her intention was never to offend "my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole. . . . This is why I unequivocally apologize." The firestorm exposed deep divisions within the Democratic Party over the unquestioned U.S. support of Israel, pitting long-standing Democratic backers of the Jewish state against the party's newest lawmakers and several 2020 presidential candidates who have spoken out in favor of Palestinian rights. The episode sparked recriminations inside the party at a moment when Republicans are seeking to use unequivocal support for Israel as a political litmus test. It also comes as Pelosi seeks to keep her caucus united against President Donald Trump and the GOP while hard-left lawmakers try to push the party away from the center on foreign policy, climate change, immigration and other issues. In a sign of potential clashes, Omar said she would not change her views of the "problematic role of lobbyists in our politics" after the backlash to her tweets. "It's gone on too long and we must be willing to address it," she said. While some left-wing policies have gotten a sympathetic hearing from Democrats, including many of the party's 2020 presidential candidates, skepticism toward Israel has proved a much thornier issue. Many Democrats have struggled to reconcile their frustration with the conservative government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one closely allied with Trump and Republicans, with their support for the Jewish homeland. But for most Democrats on Monday, Omar's tweets crossed the line by playing into ancient stereotypes about wealthy Jews - forcing action from party leaders who had brushed off earlier accusations of anti-Semitism against Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., the only two Muslim women in Congress. "Legitimate criticism of Israel's policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate that the United States and Israel share," Pelosi said in a joint statement with five other House Democratic leaders, adding that Omar's use of anti-Semitic tropes were deeply offensive. Omar wrote that she thinks the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, the influential lobbying group, is paying American politicians to take pro-Israel stances. AIPAC, which is not a political action committee, does not make campaign contributions to politicians, but its individual members can make donations, and the organization spends millions on lobbying efforts for pro-Israel legislation every year. Moments before the Democratic leaders issued the statement, Pelosi phoned Omar to inform her what it would say, according a senior Democratic aide not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. Afterward, Pelosi issued a brief statement saying the two "agreed that we must use this moment to move forward as we reject anti-Semitism in all forms." About two hours later, Omar issued her apology. The Democratic aide declined to discuss whether Pelosi told Omar to take any particular action. The furor over anti-Semitism comes at a moment in which Democrats have been riven over matters of race, gender and identity, with many staking out a position of near-zero tolerance for party officials who have been accused of sexual misconduct and racial insensitivity - even decades ago. Some Jewish groups questioned the kid-glove treatment for Omar and Tlaib as Democrats have issued a flurry of resignation demands for two top state officials in Virginia who admitting to wearing blackface, as well as another who is accused of two sexual assaults. "Vigilance against anti-Semitism has to be as strong and as solid as the rejection of racism and other forms of discrimination," said Nathan Diament, public policy director for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. "For those who are going to say we have to be sensitive and uphold diversity, you shouldn't pick and choose which ethnic and religious groups you're going to defend against discrimination and which ones you are going to let slide." For many Democrats, the notion that they are suddenly on the defensive over anti-Semitism is bewildering, if not infuriating. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., last year faced criticism after a tweet accusing Jewish billionaires of trying to "buy" the midterm elections. Republican leaders for years dismissed racially charged statements by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, and did not respond after he used a congressional trip last year to meet with members of a far-right Austrian party with historical Nazi ties. Only after King seemed to defend white supremacy last month did they act. And that, Democrats say, is to say nothing of Trump's equivocation after the August 2017 white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. "If you ask me, if there's any rhetoric that has to be criticized, it would be that of Donald Trump," Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said Friday, before Omar's latest tweets. "That has emboldened people who now can say out loud any kind of anti-Semitic and racist (remark)." On Monday, Schakowsky put out a statement repudiating Omar's tweets - "STOP IT!" she said - while also pointing out McCarthy's tweet. Speaking Monday night aboard Air Force One, Trump said Omar "should be ashamed of herself" and that her apology was inadequate. Asked what she should say, he replied, "She knows what to say." It remained to be seen late Monday whether Omar's apology would quell the furor. A few Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, applauded Pelosi for her public repudiation of anti-Semitism. But other Republicans and some anti-discrimination advocacy groups suggested that the apology might not be enough. McCarthy, in a statement, said the GOP would "take action this week to ensure the House speaks out against this hatred." House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La. said Omar should be removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, a post she sought to defend human rights and advocate on behalf of refugees like herself. Omar fled Somalia in 1991, and she has been vocally critical of Islamic regimes, including Saudi Arabia's. The senior Democratic aide said there is no discussion of removing Omar from the panel. And while some Democratic aides discussed holding a House vote on a ceremonial resolution condemning anti-Semitism, there were no plans as of Monday evening to consider one. Republicans are weighing trying to force the House to consider a resolution by Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., rejecting "anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hatred in the United States and around the world." That resolution, filed before Monday's uproar, mentions Omar and Tlaib alongside the 2017 neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville and last year's mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue. Zeldin on Monday commended Pelosi for speaking out but said more needed to be done to admonish Omar. "You can't just take multiple apologies for multiple acts over the course of time and call it a day," he said. "This isn't the NBA, where you get six fouls and then you're out." The anti-Semitism accusations against Omar predate her short political career, which began with a 2016 successful run for a state legislative seat. Before Sunday, her accusers pointed most squarely at a 2012 tweet claiming that "Israel has hypnotized the world" - prompting her to apologize this month. She has also expressed sympathies with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS, which aims to apply economic pressure to change Israeli policy toward the Palestinian population - a movement that pro-Israel forces say is rooted in anti-Semitism. Jewish lawmakers in recent weeks have huddled privately to discuss what they should do about their new colleagues, who openly criticize Israel and have made insensitive comments about Jews and Jewish Americans. But the tweets Sunday night - suggesting that McCarthy supported Israel only for campaign donations - proved the last straw. Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Elaine Luria, D-Va., started gathering signatures for a letter asking Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and other senior Democrats to confirm "our rejection of anti-Semitism and our continued support for the State of Israel." Although the letter did not name Omar and Tlaib, its intention was clear - citing "recent rhetoric from certain members within our Caucus, including just last night, that has disparaged us and called into question our loyalty to our nation." "We must speak out when any member - Democrat or Republican - uses harmful tropes and stereotypes, levels accusations of dual loyalty, or makes reckless statements like those yesterday," the two wrote. "All members of Congress should reject anti-Semitism, just as we reject all forms of hatred, bigotry, and intolerance, and must denounce those who deny Israel's right to exist, including terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas." Meanwhile on Monday, numerous advocacy groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, pressured House Democrats to act against Omar, while some of the most ardent pro-Israel Democratic members of the House condemned the tweets, including House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., and Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla. Nadler called the tweets "deeply disappointing and disturbing" and said Omar "appears to traffic in old anti-Semitic tropes about Jews and money." Lawmakers can debate the influence of any particular group on policymaking, he said, but they must "be extremely careful not to tread into the waters of anti-Semitism or any other form of prejudice or hate." --- Video Embed Code Video: Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., apologized Monday for what many saw as anti-Semitic comments. While Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, said Omar's comments were "deplorable," Rep. Max Rose, D-N.Y., accused Republicans of not having the same standards.(Joyce Koh,Rhonda Colvin,Luis Velarde/The Washington Post) Embed code: Video: The Fix's Eugene Scott analyzes the thin line between criticizing Israel and being labeled anti-Semitic, following Rep. Ilhan Omar's (D-Minn.) recent comments about AIPAC.(JM Rieger/The Washington Post) Embed code: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The photograph, published last week in Pakistani newspapers, was stunning. It showed a magnificent mountain goat, with huge, symmetrically spiral horns, nestled on a rock and surrounded by breathtaking snowy mountains, with a man kneeling and smiling behind him. It took a few seconds to realize that the animal, a wild Astore markhor, was dead. The caption described the man as an American hunter who had paid a record $110,000 to shoot it on a tourist expedition to Pakistan's northern Himalayan region of Gilgit-Baltistan. "It was an easy and close shot. I am pleased to take this trophy," the hunter, identified as Bryan Kinsel Harlan, was quoted as saying. His home state or city was not identified, but his Pakistani guides said he is from Texas. The story drew immediate expressions of sorrow and indignation on social media here. Some Pakistani commentators asked why there was no legal ban on hunting the markhor (Capra falconeri), which is the official national animal. Others suggested that foreign tourists be taken to photograph the exotic goats, not shoot them. But there is another, more benign, rationale behind allowing Harlan, along with two other Americans, to pay enormous sums to kill three long-horned markhors in northern Pakistan in the past month. According to Pakistani officials and conservation groups, the practice has actually helped save a rare and endangered species from potential extinction. Now Playing: A US trophy hunter from Texas pays $110,000 to kill a rare mountain goat in Pakistan. Video: Adam Mayo Hunter, YouTube For decades, the population of markhors, which are native to the Himalayan ranges of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, has been dwindling, the result of local poaching for meat, deforestation and logging, military activities, competition with livestock and uncontrolled domestic trophy hunting for their splendid horns. By 2011, there were only an estimated 2,500 markhors left. Several years ago, regional officials and conservationists began taking action to save them. India designated five sanctuaries for markhors in the mountainous border state of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan banned all local hunting but started allowing a small number of foreign hunters to shoot 12 male goats per season in "community conservation areas" in Gilgit and elsewhere. Most of the funds are supposed to be distributed to the impoverished, isolated residents in the goats' mountainous habitat areas, which get 80 percent of the fee as well as income as hunting guides and hosts - all extra incentive not to poach the markhors. Government wildlife agencies get 20 percent. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in an effort to encourage U.S. trophy hunting of markhors as a conservation method, also reclassified the animal as "threatened," rather than endangered, which allowed hunters to bring back trophies such as their horns, which can grow as long as five feet. As a result, the markhor populace had rebounded enough by 2015 that the International Union for the Conservation of Nature upgraded the species from endangered to "near-threatened." According to the conservationist website Green Global Travel, the comeback of the markhor is "one of the world's great but little known conservation success stories." Pakistan has a mixed track record on protecting rare and endangered animals. Officials routinely allow parties of royals from Qatar and Saudi Arabia to shoot internationally protected birds called houbara bustards (chlamydotis undulata), which Pakistanis are banned from hunting. In 2014, a Saudi prince reportedly shot more than 2,000 bustards despite having a permit to kill just 100, creating an international uproar. In Pakistan's public zoos, neglect and disease have periodically led to the deaths of exotic animals. In the past four years, the main zoo in Islamabad has lost several zebras, lion cubs, an ostrich and deer. In the past month, four antelopes called nilgais have died of cold or infections. There are numerous private zoos in Pakistan, where wealthy people keep wild cats and other animals without supervision. In some other countries, promoting trophy hunting as a conservation tactic has backfired, with some programs charging high fees but failing to regulate the hunts. The Tasmanian tiger was reportedly driven to extinction in its native Australia by intensive hunting that was rewarded with generous bounties. But in Pakistan, the tactic seems to have been unusually successful. Tabarak Ullah, a professional hunter from Gilgit who has guided Harlan and other Americans, said the high-priced permit funds are used for local health and education as well as preserving species. "This is not just about hunting," Ullah said in a telephone interview. "The number of animals is increasing, and these foreign hunters are millionaires who go back and tell the world that Pakistan is safe." He noted that after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, foreign visits to Pakistan fell sharply. "Now, more and more tourists are coming." Harlan, for one, appears to see himself as participating in a conservation effort as well as an exotic escapade. In a video recorded on his recent visit to Gilgit, Harlan was shown climbing a cliff, shooting a male markhor that was sitting next to a young goat, and then high-fiving his local guides. In another, wearing a feathered local cap and robe, Harlan said he had been "welcomed with open arms" and encouraged other Americans to follow him, calling Pakistan a safe place for tourists. "This is a perfect example of hunters and villagers coming together for a common goal of game conservation," he said. Grazing on my nasi lemak platter at Phat Eatery a bite of dusky, curried beef rendang chased by a roasted peanut amplified by a chewy curl of dried sardine it occurred to me that Im going to have to stop making Katy jokes. No more cracks about the oxygen thinning 30 miles west of downtown on what used to be open prairie. Eighty-six the stale weather-event zingers about whether this sprawling suburb has evacuated yet. Sitting over a cold Thai beer and a feathery tuffet of roti canai, the Indian-inflected Malaysian flatbread, I couldnt escape the feeling that Katy is finally fleshing out into a place that feels identifiably Houstonian. The wild mix of diners waiting in the vestibule and at the welcoming bar at this Malaysian Kitchen is part of that sense. Its a heavily Asian crowd of families and hip young people, scattered with tables full of guys from nearby office parks, doing corporate dinners in a modern, spicier style. Then theres the exuberant 21st-century Houston mix of restaurants and tea shops and dessert spots clustered in the spanking-new Katy Asian Town mall, which is anchored by a brand-new Korean H-Mart supermarket. Vietnamese noodles, Chinese barbecued meats, delightful Japanese cream puffs (at Houstons first Beard Papas franchise!) and boba tea all wait to be savored by locals who converge on the parking lots in the hundreds. Phat Eatery One star 23119 Colonial Parkway, Katy; 832-913-6382 Hours: Lunch and dinner daily. 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 4:30-9:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 4:30-11 p.m. Fridays; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturdays; 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Sundays Credit cards: all major Prices: starters $4-$9; entrees $12-$24; weekday lunch $9-$13 Must-orders: Roti canai with curry dip; mixed chicken and beef satay skewers; beef rendang; ikan bakar (grilled pomfret with sambal belacan sauce wrapped in banana leaf); nasi lemak platter with two curries, coconut rice and garnishes; sizzling tofu; stir-fried yu choy with belacan Reservations: Taken via Resy app; walk-ins welcome Noise level: Moderate Parking: Ample space in Katy Asian Town lots Website:phateatery.com STAR RATINGS Four stars: superlative; can hold its own on a national stage. Three stars: excellent; one of the best restaurants in the city. Two stars: very good; one of the best restaurants of its kind. One star: a good restaurant that we recommend. No stars: restaurant cannot be recommended. See More Collapse Phat Eatery itself brings a little more worldliness to Katys rapidly evolving dining scene, where the past year has seen the advent of such destination restaurants as Tobiuo, for first-class sushi, and Bretts Barbecue Shop, for craft barbecue. On HoustonChronicle.com: Alison Cook thought she was too cool for Houstons. She was wrong. Phats chef-owner, Alex Au-Yeung, a native of Kuala Lumpur who grew up in Hong Kong, wanted to bring a more focused approach to his Malaysian menu than youd find at seminal Houston Chinatown spots such as Banana Leaf or its younger rival Mamak, where the offerings run to hundreds of items. Phats small, smart roster of wine and beer offerings, overseen by personable manager and barkeep Kevin Lee who is of Vietnamese descent and came up through the Azuma Group ranks adds another modern wrinkle. So does the bright neon lettering that gives the old-school hip-hop slang phat its Merriam-Webster meaning: highly attractive or gratifying. That actually could describe much of the food here. I always came away happy, even though I encountered a few execution blips and a too insistent lean toward sweetness in some dishes. For instance: the fat, supple Chili Prawns would have held my interest had sugar not been the overweening note in its tomato-based sweet chili sauce, to the detriment of the advertised torch ginger and all else. Later, I wished I had ordered the Sambal Prawns because Phats sambal belacan sauce is beguiling, multidimensional stuff, its red chiles and sweetness complicated by a deep thrum of the fermented shrimp paste that is belacan, the great Malaysian condiment. Sambal belacan added its funky tang to a dish of whole pomfret fish, Ikan Bakar, nicely grilled in banana leaf, so that under its crisp-singed skin, its white flesh flaked apart easily. Pomfret is a flatfish much used in Bengali, Thai, Vietnamese and Malaysian coastal cooking, and its texture reminded me of a slightly meatier and richer version of flounder. I would never eat a meal here without opening with a scalloped dome of roti canai, the riddled Malaysian flatbread thats all soft, flaky layers and gentleness. Dip it into a pink-tinted curry dip thats the soul of spicy innocence or into a cup of the rich, chestnut-brown curry gravy used in Phats marvelous beef rendang. You can order the rendang solo, to savor by itself with sticky steamed rice; or sample it on my favorite dish here, the nasi lemak (pronounced luh-mock). Nasi lemak is basically a little buffet of flavors and textures arranged on a banana-leaf-lined platter and served with aromatic coconut rice. Alternate bites of the golden, sweetish chicken curry, with notes of coconut and pandan leaf, with the rice and some crunchy roasted peanuts; or some chewy little dried sardines that have been marinated in a species of onion jam. Pop a few peeled cucumber spears for coolness and contrast; then grab a hunk of tender beef shank in its rendang gravy. And oh, yes: Dont forget to weave bites of the all-important frizzly fried egg into the program, along with nips of that complex, alluring belacan sauce thats served on the side. Id venture the 30 miles west just to eat this dish, and the roti canai, and to shoot the breeze with the hospitable Lee and Au-Yeung. On HoustonChronicle.com: The best soups in Houston according to the Chronicle food team I loved the soft, spongy texture of Sizzling Tofu made in house, cut in big crisp-edged cubes and doused in a dark, sizzling soy-gigged river flavored with either minced chicken and shrimp or mixed vegetables. And Ive put the yu choy, a green vegetable like a skinnier Chinese broccoli, on my future wish list because Cuc Lam the gifted Vietnamese chef who put together the Sing noodle shops Singaporean menu before her recent departure swears that Phats yu choy stir-fried with sambal bellman is one of her favorite bites in the city. The noodles dishes here could use a few more contrasting flavor highlights to really make them take wing. In particular, the pleasant-enough Mee Goreng, in its tomato-spiked sauce, could have used a bit of tartness or something to wake it up. A gentle toss of prawns with flat noodles in a scrambled egg sauce left me in a similar state of longing. Tossed with a little sambal belacan sauce, though, the flat-noodle comfort dish char kway teow had zip to spare. So when an order of salt-and-pepper calamari turned out tough and strangely bland; or when the wonderfully tender beef and chicken satay skewers seemed a little too sweet for their own good, I shrugged it off, and you may, too. Au-Yeung and Lee are serious about what theyre doing. They ask for feedback from people. They listen. They keep an open mind. That tells me Phat Eatery, already refreshing and fun, is going to keep getting better with age. Go for a cream puff at Beard Papas afterward, or pick up some hacked duck next door at Chung Wang BBQ. Its the new and exciting Katy. Enjoy it. Alison Cook is the Chronicle's James Beard Award-winning restaurant critic. Follow her on Twitter, and keep up with Houston's latest dining and drinking news and reviews by subscribing to our free Flavor newsletter. Zillow, the Seattle-based real estate listing and data firm, is now buying and selling homes directly from consumers in the Houston area, joining a growing crowd of so-called iBuyers shaking up the traditional real estate business model. The company launched its Zillow Offers operation in Houston Monday, adding to a service it already offers in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Denver and Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C. Part of a new breed of investors, iBuyers purchase homes directly from sellers and quickly put them back on the market. Homeowners who sell their houses to iBuyers don't have to stage their homes or hold open houses, and they can choose their closing date. That convenience can come at a higher cost to the seller. Where traditional agents charge commissions of up to 6 percent, iBuyers can charge fees of as much as 10 percent of the price they pay for the home. Sellers go online to provide information about their homes and typically receive notice of interest within two days. IBuyers only purchase homes that meet specific criteria; they typically don't buy properties built before the 1960s or that would sell for more than $500,000 or $600,000. Zillow Offers will join Offerpad, OpenDoor and others offering similar services in Houston. San Francisco-based OpenDoor began buying homes in Houston last summer. It now has 132 properties for sale in the area, about a quarter of which are under contract to a buyer. The company said it is in the process of buying another 149 homes in the market. Its going very, very well, said Jason Cline, general manager of OpenDoor Houston. We buy homes between $100,000 and $500,000 and were everywhere from Galveston to Sugar Land up to parts of Conroe. Houston is Zillow Offers' first Texas market to launch, but the company is also planning to begin operations in Dallas this year. Texas is home to some of the largest and most vibrant housing markets in the country, and we're thrilled to bring Zillow Offers to Houston today, Zillow President Jeremy Wacksman, said in an announcement Monday. The company said it will pay commissions to real estate agents that have listings on houses it is offered and those who represent buyers of its properties. It will also provide agent leads to sellers that its decline offers. OpenDoor also pays commission to agents, though the companys smartphone app allows shoppers to visit a house for sale without an agent. We feel the way were different is we keep the customer in the forefront, Cline said. Its about the customer, and empowering them. nancy.sarnoff@chron.com twitter.com/nsarnoff A diverse coalition of Texas health insurers, business organizations and consumer groups on Monday called on state lawmakers to better protect patients from the financially devastating effects of surprise medical bills. In a consensus letter, the groups representing millions of Texans issued a challenge to political leaders to keep patients out of the middle of billing fights between insurers and medical providers. When those battles occur, patients who try to follow the rules often get hit with charges sometimes in the thousands of dollars that they believed their insurance would cover. We are committed to working with the Legislature this session to put an end to surprise billing and make sure patients are no longer held hostage, Jamie Dudensing, CEO of the Texas Association of Health Plans, the states insurance lobby, said in a statement. Other groups that signed onto the letter include AARP Texas, the Texas Association of Business, Center for Public Policy Priorities, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Texas Association of Life & Health Insurers, Texas Association of Health Underwriters and the National Federation of Independent Business. Multiple pieces of legislation on medical billing are expected to be filed in coming weeks. Consumer advocate groups for years have tried to untangle the murky billing practice called balance billing where any or all of a billed charge that insurance does not pay can get passed onto unsuspecting patients. Out-of-network This happens most often in emergency rooms where patients dont have the luxury of time and often have no idea when they walk in the door if the doctor treating them or the facility itself is fully covered by their health plan. If the treatment is in-network, balance billing is illegal. But if the provider is out-of-network, there is no limit to the billed charge, often double or triple had it been in-network. RELATED: Blindsided: Patients squeezed in feud between doctors, insurance companies Texas has one of the worst records in the nation for balance billing. The Chronicle previously reported that in Texas, 48 percent of overall claims from emergency-room physicians were outside the networks of the states three largest insurers, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, Aetna and UnitedHealthcare. Health economists also have found that the likelihood of Texas patients getting an out-of-network bill after out-patient emergency room treatment is 27 percent nearly double the national average of 14 percent. Patients who think they have been wronged can dispute their bill through the Texas Department of Insurance mediation process. More often, though, they try on their own to fight the insurers and providers over the bills. In previous years, lawmakers fine-tuned the mediation mechanism for disputed medical bills, declaring a victory each time. And while mediation has been successful in resolving the bill in the patients favor, few know about the process or are eligible for its protection. Roughly 75 percent of insured Texans remain shut out of the system, including those with federally regulated self-funded plans in which large employers take on the risk and pay claims, Medicare and Medicaid recipients, or members of health maintenance organization (HMO) plans. Those with HMOs or government plans, however, are generally already protected from balance billing. Similarly, a law passed in 2017 was supposed to bring transparency to the states free-standing emergency clinics and require facilities to disclose insurance network status. It, too, has had limited success as the language used by some of facilities remains confusing and, critics say, misleading. RELATED: Despite law to force clarity, confusion over free-standing ERs persists Shifting ground Consumer groups feel hopeful this time will be different. For the first time you have these diverse groups coming together and saying one thing: The consumer needs to be protected and out of the middle of billing disputes, said Blake Hutson, associate state director of AARP Texas, the elder advocacy group. He would like to see Texas model the system used in a growing number of other states where charges to patients cant exceed their in-network co-pays and deductibles. Any dispute over the treatment charge must be settled between the insurer and provider without patient involvement. I feel the ground has shifted this year, agreed Stacey Pogue, senior health policy analyst for the Austin think tank Center for Public Policy Priorities. While consumer groups have long backed reform, it is notable that this year health insurers and business groups have joined, she said. But changes to billing practices are unlikely to come easily. Medical providers still say the solution lies squarely with insurers that wont cover necessary medical costs. The Texas Association of Free Standing Emergency Centers, the trade group representing more than 200 stand-alone emergency rooms in the state, said Monday in a statement it was fully in favor of patient-centered solutions to reinforce the responsibility insurance companies have to their policy holders to fairly cover their emergency care and other medical needs. The Texas Medical Association, the largest state doctor group in the nation with 53,000 members, echoed the free-standing clinics. The health plans need to be accountable to patients for the product they are selling and not pass the buck to the physician, said Dr. Douglas Curran, president of the Texas Medical Association. Going it alone Congress has vowed to tackle balance billing on a national level. Last week, more than 60 national medical organizations, led by the American Medical Association, sent a letter to U.S. House leadership urging accountability by insurers, limits on patients financial responsibility, better dispute resolution and keeping patients out of the middle of the fight between insurers and doctors. That letter was also signed by 41 state medical associations. Texas Medical Association was not among them. The group said it would come up with its own recommendations. Dedrick Williams, one of the four men suspected of murdering XXXTENTACION in June 2018, is demanding $15K in order to hire a crime scene expert to prove his innocence. Broward Sheriff's Office via Getty Images The men accused of murdering XXXTENTACION are working hard to prove their innocence. Williams filed documents in court on Feb. 6th requesting money to hire a crime scene/forensic expert in his criminal case. In the doc, he explains how he doesn't have any income nor can he afford to hire an expert. Wiliams says a genuine issue exists related to this case, which will require the assistance of an expert witness in the field of crime scene reconstruction and other forensic evidentiary matters. Williams' lawyer argues that his client won't have a fair opportunity at proving his innocence if he doesn't obtain an expert to investigate the evidence in XXXTENTACION's murder case. Williams' has been requesting tens of thousands of dollars over the past few months in an attempt to prove his innocence in the case. Back in August, he asked the judge for $10K in order to hire his own personal investigator for the case. He also requested an additional $20K to hire an electronic evidence expert to review cell phone tower analysis as well as computer and cell phone forensics. He previously requested $10K for a gang expert. All three requests have been granted. A citizen of Houston was in for a big surprise when he was searching for a place to smoke. According to Houston's ABC affiliate, a resident in Houston called the police after finding a tiger in an abandoned home. Police responded to a call from a concerned citizen who entered a bando in Houston to smoke weed, only to find a tiger inside of the abandoned house. "A concerned citizen called 311. They were trying to get into this house to smoke marijuana. We questioned them as to whether they were under the effects of the drugs or they actually saw a tiger. They saw a tiger in this building, this vacant house that's obviously been abandoned for some time," said Sgt. Jason Alderete, of HPD's Major Offenders, Livestock Animal Cruelty Unit. Police obtained a warrant to search the abandoned to find the tiger in "deplorable conditions." They said the cage that the animal was in wasn't large or strong enough for an animal of that size. Although they said the animal was friendly, the tiger was tranquilized for safety reasons before being moved to Houston's BARC's headquarters. There have been arrangements made for the exotic animal to be transferred to a facility that focuses on handling exotic pets. BARC spokesperson Laura Cottingham explained that caring for these animals can be extremely expensive, making it difficult to find them a permanent home. "He gave me confidence. He made me believe more in myself than I had. John had that special capacity to do so, because when you were with him, you knew you were with greatness," Biden said. Many of us go weeks, months, or even a full year without updating our social feeds. It's just not that important for some people. At the end of the day, who really cares what you ate for lunch today? When you live in the public eye, things can be a little different. Days feel like weeks and weeks feel like months. Sometimes, there's so much news flowing that it's difficult to remember what happened on the same day. When she's not releasing music, you can usually count on Iggy Azalea to post a few shots per week on Instagram, showing off her body by the pool or anywhere really. She was silent for over a month on the platform but she's officially returned and she's still looking good. The Australian rapper's return to Instagram happened with a photo of herself in some funky shades and a tiny white crop top. She quickly followed it up in a baby blue lace bodysuit, showing off her trademark curves while hitting a pose to accentuate her body. The second of which serves as somewhat of a Fashion Nova advertisement with Iggy shouting out the buzzing brand in her caption. Despite a short absence, the Aussie looks to be back in full force. Did you miss her or could you do without her for a while longer? Gucci has been in a well-publicized controversy as of late due to a sweater that resembles blackface. The social media backlash against Gucci has been palpable and many have decided to boycott the brand. While celebrities like Soulja Boy and Spike Lee have spoken out against Gucci, boxer Floyd Mayweather wants nothing to do with the protest. "You said they're gonna be upset with me? I love it, I love it, I love it. See, the thing is this, I live for myself. I do what I want to do," Floyd told TMZ. "I'm not a follower. You know when everybody else they say, 'Everybody gonna boycott?' I say guess what, this boy gonna get on a yacht and live life." Floyd then went on to say how he won't let the racism in the world get him down and that many of the people boycotting are fake anyway. "We all know racism still exists but that's not gonna stop my drive. I've got friends from all walks of life and to me of course, black lives matter first ... but my thing is this, I'm gonna continue to go out there live life and be happy," Mayweather explained. "Half of the people that's on social media saying, 'Don't wear this, don't wear that,' I ain't never seen none of them supporting The Money Team." What do you think of Floyd's stance on the whole thing? Is he right or is he way off on this? The trial of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman provided the general public with ineffable material, the likes of which would lend itself to a Telenovela of epic proportions. The jury's subjective analysis lasted a bit longer than expected, but in the end, the larger than life figure was found guilty of all 17 counts associated with his criminal dossier. As you are likely aware, El Chapo was extradited to the U.S. after sitting cross-legged more than a year in his native Mexico - at which point authorities were more than happy to absolve themselves of responsibility. America's "incorruptible" justice system would handle things from there on out, as the Sinaloa steam engine looks to have reconsolidated its ranks without El Chapo at the helm. ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images El Chapo was then transported to a properly fortified holding cell in Manhattan while his date in court. And so it began: the Narco trial of the Century. These are but some of the better anecdotes I've come to witness as an obsessive bystander. The World has never seen a kingpin of this magnitude, even with consideration to the grandiose exploits of Carlos Lehder and Pablo Escobar at the height of the Cocaine Boom. Live Burial This is perhaps the most gut-wrenching of El Chapos administrative decisions as the head of the Sinaloa Cartel. Isaias Valdez Rios, the final person called to the stand by the prosecution, told the packed courthouse about a prisoner exchange involving El Chapo and his rival Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, the latter delivering a member of his fleet as collateral in a sticky situation taking place either in 2006 or 2007 - he wasnt too sure. El Chapo, who accepted the offer, on indefinable grounds, held the prisoner for several days, interrogated him a few times, then ordered his henchmen to dig up an ad hoc burial site. According to Rios' testimony, El Chapo would then maim the prisoner with a non-fatal gun wound, while he descended into the grave, gasping for air. Cause of death: live burial. The Buck Naked Sewer Run The following anecdote didnt go unchallenged. El Chapo's former mistress Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez was forced to revisit unrequited feelings of love and lust as she took the stand. To make matters more awkward, El Chapos wife was in the courtroom as Lucero gave her deposition, the plausible tension impossible to overlook, between all three parties: El Chapo, his former mistress, and Emma Coronel Aispuro. ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images Lucero was asked to give jurors a play-by-play account of a daring escape she and El Chapo endured in the sewer grates of Culiacan, Sinaloa - parts well known to the kingpin and his mercenaries. As the story goes, Lucero and El Chapo were down to their uglies when the Feds came bustin' down the door, whose presence was captured by Scarface-levels of surveillance technology. So what did he muster as an escape plan? A bathroom enclosure which led to an underground tunnel at the turn of a switch. Before they knew it, the Feds had lost Lucero and El Chapo to Sinaloa's sewer system, without as much as minute to find spare clothing. The Incredulous Bribes The figures reported during Jesus Reynaldo "El Rey" Zambada Garcias testimony helped the jury better comprehend El Chapo's regime of social and political control. There's really no doubt, El Chapo used bribe money to hush Mexican officials - in fact, it would have been damn near inconceivable for him to pursue a Global Narco agenda without a little monetary push. Hector Vivas/Getty Images "El Rey" told the members of the court that Genaro Garcia Luna, once the understudy to former Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, was indebted to El Chapo to the tune of $6 million dollars in sprawling costs. A few days prior, another key witness named Alex Cifuentes who once served as a close ally to the suspected kingpin, alleged that former President Enrique Pena Nieto was himself guilty of the same matriculations, to the tune of $100 million (not pesos) in total hush money. As James Brown once said, "youve got to pay the cost to be the boss." It just so happens, El Chapo paid his dues at a historically high-level. Spyware & The IT Guy That Got Away What surprised many Narco-experts during the El Chapo trials, was the level of technological sophistication he operated under. In fact, the tech trail it produced may have inadvertently led to his downfall. Had the Feds not made a turncoat out of El Chapos personal IT guy, his inevitable capture, extradition, and subsequent trial, may have come sometime in the future. Spencer Platt/Getty Images But alas, the Feds caught up with Christian Rodriguez, the Colombian IT expert under El Chapo's wing, by leveraging jail time over his participation in the extradition process. As he Rodriguez stated in court, the parcel tracking devices he concocted were a secondary interest to his boss. El Chapo was far more interested in monitoring his wife and mistresses so as to ensure their "faithfulness." Anyone in his position would do the same. Therefore, he implanted spyware technology in all of his lovers phones to monitor their daily perusals, until of course, the functionality of the software became too engrossing for its own good. Before long, over 50 members of his inner-circle were subject to the technology. In its conception, Rodriguez was operating under one simple directive when he created the device: "make it special!" The Narcos Doppelganger This courtroom anecdote is less about a determinable act that occurred during El Chapos Narco reign, but rather, the strangest of doppelganger experiences. Its no secret, El Chapo like many other kingpins overcome with power, was/is quite the fan of the NarcoFiction based around his exploits. Even the NarcoReporting based on his criminal activities seems to have hit a positive note, save for the few instances where a journalist crossed a fictional line into upheaval. ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images So when the actor who plays El Chapo in Netflixs Narcos: Mexico decided to enter the courtroom to meet his maker, he was met with quite the reception. According to the actor, it was El Chapo who first made eye contact, holding his gaze for as long as it took to produce the desired look of fright. "I didnt smile back. I was just paying respect to him," Alejandro Edda of Narcos: Mexico told the press. "I was shocked in a way. He has a very intense look. His eyes say a lot. Hes a bit intimidating." For a man standing a modest 5 foot 7 inches, El Chapo certainly carries himself with the confidence of a man whos never been kicked in the teeth - but looks can be deceiving. The words And Then There Was X should carry considerable weight in the hip-hop community. Not only is it the title of DMXs third multi-platinum album, its a turn of phrase that depicts his indelible mark upon the rap industry and the boundaries he left in disrepair. For a spell of five albums in a row, each new record would ascend to the top of the charts upon its debut, inserting an undiluted grittiness into an increasingly commercialized marketplace. For those who didnt experience it first-hand, it must be hard to fathom how colossal the Yonkers, NY thoroughbred became after arriving with the seminal Its Dark And Hell Is Hot. After Biggie passed, there was a need for someone to pick up the mantle and become King Of New York. For a span of a few years, the frontrunner was not named Hov or Nas, but rather The Dark Man X himself. They say history is rewritten by the victors. In this case, it goes some way in explaining why the man who once held hip-hop on a short leash is now largely condemned to a be a parable on fames corrosive power. Fresh out of his latest stint in prison, X has been a free man for less than a month, but it already feels as though something has fundamentally changed within him. In this brief window, the man born Earl Simmons has outlined his plans with a clarity that has eluded him in recent years when he was still beset by substance issues and legal woes. Mark Davis/Getty Images Two days after he was reintegrated into the world, DMX already had his first live show under his belt, and has since announced a belated 20th-anniversary tour ofIts Dark And Hell Is Hot. As detailed by long-time collaborator and protege Swizz Beats, the person that ventured into custody for tax fraud and the man that exited the penitentiary possess two vastly different outlooks. I just got off the phone with my brother DMX! explained Swizz, upon Xs release. He told me this time he didnt work out his body in jail he said he worked out his mind! He also said hes about to make music for the people that need his truth and pain. A staggering seven years removed from the creative nadir of Undisputed, theres an inescapable feeling that order has been re-established within the psyche of Earl Simmons. Now that a return to the fore seems more plausible than it has for years, its a perfect time to reappraise his lasting influence on the rap game. To provide a comprehensive picture of DMXs lasting contributions, its important to note that they manifest in two distinct traits. On the whole, his imprint on todays budding talents and stars can be equated down to delivery and content. Although he was capable of a more tender inflection, one of the key tenets in DMXs meteoric rise was his formidable growl. Hyper-aggressive and oozing ill intentions, his tales of violence and destitution rang with an unchallenged authenticity. As contemporaries, his trademark style may have shared similarities with Onyx, but his skyrocketing popularity soon made it synonymous with the Yonkers MC. On the other side, X could also be fiercely protective of his gruff cadence, and Ja Rules perceived plagiarism eventually led to a beef between the two. DMX - "Get At Me Dog" Since the mid-2000s, the rise of smoother, melodically inclined flows threatened to render a more violent delivery a thing of the past. Yet in the last few years, there has been a notable resurgence in the vocal volatility that made Simmons into an icon. Following his release from prison, Ski Mask The Slump God vocalized his desire to work with DMX and proclaimed that theyd be on the same song soon. Known to dip into the more macabre side of hip-hop from time to time- such as on Stokelys La La- he is but one example of the New York legends impact on raps newest aggressors. Whether direct descendants or a few times removed, DMXs bombastic style can be seen in 6ix9ine, JPEGMafia, Tay-K, Scrlxrd, the late XXXTentacion, Flatbush Zombies Meechy Darko, Death Grips MC Ride and the guttural howls of City Morgues Zillikami and Sosmula. Given his penchant for upping the decibels, it should also come as no surprise that Denzel Curry described listening to Its Dark And Hell is Hot as a standard requirement last year. Away from the stylistic aspect, Xs other long-lasting contribution to hip-hop culture comes in the form of his lyrical content. Split between tales of street brutality and his desire to live in the pious manner that God intended, DMXs inner duality made for a compelling listen at every turn. Cursed with a brewing storm that he couldnt quell, his conflict between the teachings of his religion and the harsh realities of the life hed been accustomed to made his albums into an honest and thought-provoking listen. Prior to the release of Kendrick Lamars seminal Good Kid M.A.A.D City, the Compton MC was quick to cite X as one of the primary influences that got me started on music. Filled with tales of honorable intentions laid to waste by his surroundings, its not hard to find Xs fingerprints on Kendricks debut, as well as the mental and spiritual exorcism that is DAMN. Scott Gries/Getty Images On top of that, the way that Kendrick uses vocal manipulation as a storytelling device or to embody other characters has its roots firmly planted in DMXs iconic Damien trilogy. Known to juxtapose foreboding anthems such as Slippin, X Is Coming, or Whats My Name with spoken-word prayers, the dichotomy between his faith and his trespasses is one that countless rappers explore to this day. A prominent theme in the work of Kanye- who originally intended to give the beat for The Blueprints Heart Of The City to DMX- and touched on by Joey Bada$$, Dave East, Lupe Fiasco and Big K.R.I.T among others, Xs unabashed openness about his faith also paved the way for Chance The Rappers celebrations of God to be commercially normalized. Torn between evil deeds and the path of righteousness, DMXs inner turmoil is often unfairly compared to the late Tupac Shakur and his theological debates. But their reasons for expression were entirely different. If 2Pac was the prophet that hoped to lead his followers towards a glorious exodus, DMX was a pariah that had been outcasted by society, forced to reconcile with his own moral code. Now, with a new lease on life, it can only be hoped that X will continue to bring his trademark honesty to the booth and pick up where he left off. Theres no reason why he cant be absolved of the sins of the past and clamber back atop the throne, alongside all the claimants he has so clearly influenced. "DMX - Ain't No Sunshine" For the last little while, BlocBoy JB has been hit or miss. His last mixtape was not well received by most audiences who wish he would return to "Look Alive" form. The rapper came up quickly and he's still figuring out his style. If there's one thing BlocBoy specializes in, it's his gritty Memphis flavor. The Memphis Grizzlies have long been touted for their toughness and BlocBoy JB comes through with the same attitude every time he hops on a beat. Especially when Tay Keith is the producer. This time, BlocBoy came through with a short track under two minutes long, letting the fans hear "Clap Out." The piano loop is somehow made into an energetic bop with the rapper unleashing his Southern twang all throughout the new song. "Clap Out" comes with a fresh music video as well to set the vibe. What do you think? Quotable Lyrics: Tongue out Michael Jordan with licks I'm Randy Orton with the kicks Cuban links, ain't no snatching my shit Avantgarde Hospitality LLC, a privately held hospitality investment firm, announced today the acquisition of the Ivy Boutique Hotel, 233 E. Ontario Street in Chicago, Illinois, establishing its presence in the downtown area. Avantgarde Hospitality LLC, a privately held hospitality investment firm, announced today the acquisition of the Ivy Boutique Hotel, 233 E. Ontario Street in Chicago, Illinois, establishing its presence in the downtown area. The Ivy Boutique Hotel joins a roster of 4 Chicago hotels currently owned by the sponsors, broughtonHOTELS, who has been operating the property for the past year and introduced the Seller to Avantgarde. This brings the collaboration to 4 projects with broughtonHOTELS mid-west regional office based in Chicago. In an effort to provide enhanced quality products to the Chicago hospitality sector, Avantgarde Hospitality LLC and broughtonHOTELS plan to upgrade and rebrand The Ivy Boutique Hotel's Sky Lounge rooftop bar space, offering Chicagoans and travelers alike an exciting escape above the city. "We're excited to have joined forces with Avantgarde Hospitality's principals on our latest management assignment in Chicago," said Larry Broughton CEO of broughtonHOTELS. "The hotel is already an amazing property, but we're looking forward to renovating the Sky Terrace rooftop bar and bringing something sexy and new to Chicago." "When Avantgarde Hospitality learned of the Ivy Boutique Hotel, we quickly realized that the asset was hiding in plain sight and were thrilled at the opportunity to acquire it. We look forward to increasing the visibility of this hidden gem, and to immerse the hotel in the local community," said Frank Anderson co-founder of Avantgarde Hospitality. The Ivy Boutique Hotel features 63-rooms, the majority of which are suites with 675 square feet of luxurious accommodations. The hotel is less than 0.2 miles away from Chicago's premier commercial district, Magnificent Mile, and only 0.9 miles from the Art Institute of Chicago. The property offers numerous amenities and services, including the Divine Lounge lobby bar and restaurant, room service, complimentary Wi-Fi, meeting and event space and a lively rooftop bar during the summer months, which will undergo a series of updates beginning in winter 2020 to ensure year-round usage. "The Ivy's outstanding location, contemporary ambiance and opulent accommodations reaffirms our commitment to the boutique luxury segment of the industry," said Broughton. "We're thrilled to see it through its transition into a new ownership group, and are looking to significantly expand the hotel's profile in the luxury travel market." Sky Terrace's $1.5 million renovation is expected to be completed by Memorial Day 2020. It will add a retractable roof allowing the space to be accessed all year featuring breathtaking views of downtown. The improved roof top will offer guests an inviting retreat, sixteen stories above the bustling Streeterville neighborhood, to enjoy refreshing cocktails and tasty bites. Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource Palma Convention Centre managed by MeliA Hotels International presented its Activity Report for 2018 today, its first full year of operation after opening in April 2017. Over the year , the Convention Centre and MeliA Palma Bay Hotel hosted 226 events with 76,678 attendees, generating revenues of 15.3 million euros. Palma Convention Centre managed by Melia Hotels International presented its Activity Report for 2018 today, its first full year of operation after opening in April 2017. Over the year , the Convention Centre and Melia Palma Bay Hotel hosted 226 events with 76,678 attendees, generating revenues of 15.3 million euros. "These results are above our initial objectives and expectations and are very positive results which should lead to the consolidation of the Convention Centre in the domestic and European MICE market," said Ramon Vidal, Managing Director of the facilities. Vidal highlighted the relevance of Spanish and international events as the base of the business and the significant economic impact they have had on the destination by boosting demand for travel services and associated facilities. Proof of this are the more than 50,000 overnight stays made by business travellers in city hotels during their visits to the Convention Centre in 2018. The most relevant examples were corporate events hosted by Jaguar and Panasonic and attended by 7,000 people as well as a number of important Spanish medical congresses. All of these events are even more significant as they were held in the low or shoulder season, allowing the Convention Centre to act as a key driver behind the achievement of one of the major strategic objectives of the destination: the reduction of travel seasonality and greater diversification. At the same time, the 80 events held by local organisations also demonstrated the significant interest of the Mallorcan business and cultural community in the facilities and provided support for its aspiration to become a catalyst for innovation, culture and social cohesion. With regard to management of the facilities by Melia Hotels International, of particular note was the selection of the Palma Convention Centre as a best practice in Corporate Social Responsibility in Spain at the CaixaBank Hotels & Tourism Awards, a further demonstration of how Melia has made corporate responsibility an integral part of its management of the facilities. In 2018, the Company has continued to enhance employability, responsible supply chain management, new eco-efficient technology, reduced environmental impact (including measures such as the elimination of single-use plastics), greater sustainable mobility and solidarity projects. This management model aims to generate sustainable wealth throughout its local environment and to evaluate this Melia Hotels International measures the impact on society generated by the Convention Centre. Of the 15.3 million euros in revenue generated in 2018, 27% went to staff, 36% to suppliers and 28% to public authorities. Another 5% has been allocated to investment in infrastructure and the remaining 4% goes to the management company and its shareholders. Joana Maria Adrover, Chair of the Convention Centre Board of Directors and councillor at Palma City Hall, also presented the results of "Palacio de Congresos", the company that owns the facilities under the public responsibility of Palma City Hall and the Balearic Islands Government. 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 WoodSpring Suites brand recently surpassed a milestone with the opening of its 250th hotel in the greater Portland, Ore., area. This achievement coincides with the one-year anniversary of the Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) acquisition of the WoodSpring brand and franchise business. The WoodSpring Suites brand recently surpassed a milestone with the opening of its 250th hotel in the greater Portland, Ore., area. This achievement coincides with the one-year anniversary of the Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) acquisition of the WoodSpring brand and franchise business. Since the acquisition of WoodSpring Suites in February 2018, Choice Hotels has grown the extended-stay brand's system size, development pipeline, RevPAR and Choice delivered proprietary contribution, specifically: RevPAR increased 7.6 percent in 2018 over the previous year, exceeding the industry by 470 basis points. Coast-to-coast expansion in key markets, including Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago; Houston; Reno, Nev.; and Seattle. A year of record-setting development growth with 75 contracts awarded, which significantly exceeds the number of new franchise agreements previously granted in a single year for the WoodSpring brand. In fact, the total number of new extended-stay franchise agreements Choice awarded increased by 156 percent, including a 37-percent increase for MainStay and Suburban. A pipeline of 117 hotels, the largest in brand history. Operational improvements, including a 24-percent increase in website revenue delivery, a 5.5-percent improvement in call-center conversion rate, and an 18-percent increase in the brand's corporate accounts. Impressive extended-stay occupancy with almost 90 percent of WoodSpring Suites guests staying for over a week. "Choice evaluates growth opportunities carefullyand our deliberate strategy to welcome WoodSpring Suites into our family of brands is paying off," said Patrick Pacious, president and CEO, Choice Hotels. "The WoodSpring Suites brand has seen significant business delivery growth nearly every month since the acquisition. As we continue to integrate the power of Choice with the brand, WoodSpring Suites' trajectory as one of the fastest growing and most profitable hotel brands is expected to yield high returns on investment for its owners. In addition, the acquisition has benefited our entire extended-stay portfolio, including the MainStay Suites and Suburban Extended Stay brands, and solidifies our position as a leader in the extended-stay segment." The WoodSpring Suites brand expects to open approximately 20 hotels this year in markets, such as Miami and Orlando, Fla.; Sacramento, Calif.; and San Antonio. Choice anticipates having around 300 WoodSpring Suites hotels open and serving guests across the country by the end of 2020. Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. You should upgrade or use an You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser Press Release 12 February 2019 Radisson Hotel Group, one of the world's largest hotel groups has begun 2019 with the announcement of its new commercial strategy for South Africa. The Group currently operates 11 hotels and 2,200+ rooms across the country and is also one of the fastest growing hotel brands in Africa with 90+ hotels in operation and under development. Advertisements The new commercial strategy has been set to drive market share and maximize revenues through the implementation of dynamic commercial strategies across its hotel portfolio in the key cities of Cape Town and Johannesburg. The sales team has also been restructured to provide the necessary expertise to deliver on the Group's commitment to the continued evolution of strategy. "2019 will be a critical year for our growth in South Africa as we adjust our strategy to meet market demands. South Africa continues to be one of our key markets in the African continent and our new commercial strategy has been developed to ensure we are optimizing our resources while driving our commercial efforts towards gaining market share," said Caroline Thissen, Senior Area Director of Sales & Revenue Optimization, Middle East & Africa, Radisson Hotel Group. "Our new sales structure was conceptualized to better meet the needs of our stakeholders. We are confident that the team, comprising of experts in their respective sales segments will increase productivity and provide clients with a streamlined and efficient approach as well as deliver long-term value to our hotel owners." The sales team of 13, have collective experience of 121 years. Majority of the team members are South African, with vast insight in not only the industry, but importantly the country and its key feeder markets as well. The team comprises of top experts for each of the following segments: MICE, Leisure & Airline Crews, TMC, Corporate and Government. "The creation of dedicated teams to focus on each sales segment allows for a more focused approach, streamlined contact and cumulative knowledge. As a group, we're always seeking ways to increase efficiency and answer the requirements of each of our stakeholders," concluded Thissen. Greater Clark County Schools spokeswoman Erin Bojorquez says the district was able to track Everett "thanks to the power of social media" after one of her relatives saw a Facebook post about the purse . The district plans to mail the purse to Everett's home in Florida. Press Release 12 February 2019 We all want to feel valued and satisfied at work. But, the needs and desires of the modern worker are changing rapidly from one generation to the next, and it's not just about having more flexibility or being able to work from home. Professionals today want to be physically and mentally engaged beyond daily project or role-related challenges. And they want to feel optimistic and proud of the role their company plays in the world. Advertisements A new survey from Airbnb for Work finds similarities in what groups of workers now want from their employers, along with some very surprising differences in mindset between the generations, and between managers and those who don't manage people. Trends in worker satisfaction also have a lot to do with where you are in the world. Those in France may have very different needs from their peers across the channel in the United Kingdom. Different generations, different needs The survey found that when it comes to generational differences, younger workersMillennials (born between 1981 and 1994) and those from Gen Z (born between 1995 and 2010)are slightly more satisfied with their jobs than Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980), as 25 percent of 26-35-year-olds are "extremely satisfied," while only 18 percent of 36-50-year-olds are. For Millennials and Gen Z, that satisfaction is tied to their company's role in the world. Four out of five Gen Z workers, for example, believe their company needs to take a stance on global issues. The younger generations are more inclined to want to work in non-traditional spaces. A shared or open workspace is much more desirable to your typical Gen Z employee, who says it helps them feel more motivated and make stronger connections with their team members. Your average Baby Boomer (born between 1946 and 1964) still wants a traditional office, which they take as a sign of being valued. So, allowing for both may be the answer for today's modern employer. A gap between managers and those who report to them Understanding the differences in needs between workers of different ages is valuable information that can lead to positive change. But it's not all. The differences in mindset between managers and non-managers in today's fast-changing workplace is just as surprising. Managers, like Millennials in general, are a bit happier with their jobs than non-managers (76 percent vs. 58 percent either satisfied or extremely satisfied). And they like their workspaces (13 points more satisfied), which tend to change a lot more than they do for non-managers. Indeed, 92 percent of managers work in a variety of spaces beyond their traditional or assigned office. But how they view the traditional workplace is where the survey reveals the biggest gap. Managers see the workplace as an inspirational setting where people can be creative and take on exciting challenges, while non-managers think workspaces mostly provide comfort, but are also noisy and disruptive. Opportunities at work are also more important for managers, while having flexibility is high on the list for those who report to them. In general, a desire for more flexibility is a common theme for non-managers, and younger generations. Where you are in the world is important In the United States, people want to be encouraged to get out of the office. There's a stronger desire to work remotely than there is among their international counterparts. But when in the office, a private space, rather than a cubicle, leads to more happinessa somewhat common thread across global regions. US workers are slightly happier with their jobs than those in other regions, with 68 percent saying they are either satisfied or extremely satisfied. But while generally optimistic, they are concerned about employers replacing seasoned workers with younger ones, and the need for more modern benefit packages, especially for working parents. In Canada, workers put gym subsidies and a stocked kitchen high on their list of desires. They're less likely to work in open spaces, and are happy about it. But they believe an open work environment could foster more collaboration. In France, increased travel opportunities and onsite game rooms stand out. In general, they're the most satisfied with private work spaces, believing it's harder to motivate people in an open environment. Workers in Great Britain are happier in private work spaces, but those spaces are only available to 13 percent of employees there. Those in Germany are also happier in private work spaces when in the office, which they are more likely to get than in other regions. But Germans are also more likely to work in a shared space when outside the office. The majority of workers in India sit in a cubicle, and they're generally OK with that. But they're also more likely to work remote one to three days a week. The most surprising finding among Indian workers is that they're more likely to think that robots and artificial intelligence will make their position obsolete in the near future. Flexibility, modern benefits, and wellbeing bind us all Across the generations, 65 percent expressed satisfaction with their job. But they're also concerned that technology is challenging their work-life balance. Across all respondents in all regions, flexibility, and a desire for more of it, is highly valued, including flexible schedules and remote work opportunities. Modern benefits, such as parental leave, mental health programs, and sabbaticals are important to everyone, as are things that increase wellbeing, like onsite gyms. A desire for travel opportunities, stocked kitchens, and training courses also crosses boundaries and borders. Employees look to all of these things for increased engagementboth physically and mentallyat work. Based on the Airbnb for Work Modern Professional Survey, we see a changing landscape in which people are more likely to work remote, gravitate toward employers who offer modern benefits, and set a high bar for corporate social responsibility. And Airbnb for Work is there, as employers tackle many of these challenges. Whether employees are traveling for work, relocating, booking unique offsite spaces, or looking for team-building experiences, Airbnb for Work helps companies attract, motivate, and retain talent in our modern workforce. *These are the findings from an Ipsos poll conducted November 8 - 26, 2018 on behalf of Airbnb. For the survey, a sample of 3,324 adults ages 21 and over from the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia and India was interview online, in the local language(s) of each country. In order to qualify for the survey, respondents had to be at least 21 years old, be employed full-time/part-time or self-employed, and work in an office environment at least sometimes. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of 1.9 percentage points for all respondents and 5.0 percentage points for respondents within each market. Supplier News 12 February 2019 ALICE is the winning-est hotel technology at this year's HotelTechAwards. Recognized in six awards categories, ALICE proves once again why it's the industry leader in hospitality operations software. Over two thousand hotels around the world have chosen ALICE to streamline operations and communication with a single platform. The HotelTechAwards (produced by Hotel Tech Report) announced this year's top-rated technology companies and products based on more than 20,000 hotelier ratings and data points. The HotelTechAwards are the industry's only data-driven awards platform, with winners determined not by a handful of judges, but by a global community comprised of thousands of verified hotel technology users across more than 120 countries. #1 Concierge Software #1 Preventative Maintenance Software #1 Guest App #1 Best Place to Work Finalist in Staff Collaboration & Task Management Software Finalist in People's Choice Customers rallied to crown ALICE: "ALICE won 3 category awards this year and topped the 10 Best Places to Work in Hotel Tech - a first for any company in HotelTechAwards history. This feat is a testament to ALICE's laser focus on both customers and employees. This combination means that hotels that work with ALICE aren't just getting a top-rated product today but a best-in-class partner for years to come. It's no secret that the accommodations market is getting more competitive each year and it's nearly impossible for hotels to deliver truly differentiated service without top-rated technology partners like ALICE." - Jordan Hollander, Co-Founder, Hotel Tech Report The awards cap a momentous year for ALICE, and mark an auspicious start to 2019. Over the past year, the company has forged partnerships with major industry players like Sabre, as well as launched the industry's first enterprise smartwatch with Samsung, which improves staff communications, speeds responsiveness to guests, and enhances customer service. ALICE also opened a groundbreaking partnership with the Government of Puerto Rico's Tourism Company, making the island the first tourism destination to adopt a customer service platform designed to elevate the visitor's experience. ALICE continues to outpace the competition in 2019. In addition to sweeping the HotelTechAwards, the company was also recently designated the Official Staff Operations Technology of the Forbes Travel Guide - a distinction held by ALICE since 2017 and confirmation of the platform's ability to meet and promote the high standards of some of the world's most exacting hotels. To read customer reviews and view ratings of ALICE's suite of solutions head to the company profile on Hotel Tech Report, and visit aliceplatform.com to schedule a customized demo. Appointment 12 February 2019 As wellness-inspired hospitality group Fusion readies for a year of growth, they've tapped globe-trotting hospitality veteran Dawid Koegelenberg to lead the charge at Fusion Resort Cam Ranh, on Vietnam's South Central Coast. The South African brings with him close to a decade of experience in hotel management in Asia, and close to the same number of years in restaurant management and wine education in the UK. Dawid's most recent role was at Paresa Resort & Spa in Phuket where he was general manager for five years. He has also held management positions at two other iconic Thailand properties: Six Senses Koh Samui and Sarojin Resort in Khao Lak. Prior to moving to Asia, the 45-year-old managed popular London restaurants including the Michelin-starred London institution that was Lindsay House, to be followed soon after by the award-winning Corrigan's of Mayfair. Dawid was involved with both iconic establishments. He also lectured at the London Wine Academy for six years and is a qualified sommelier with a diploma in Viticulture from Brighton University. Dawid also graduated from Cape Town Hotel School with a diploma in Hotel Management. Rebranding 12 February 2019 African hotel group ONOMO Hotels have announced the addition of their second Cape Town property, Signature Lux Waterfront by ONOMO, into their portfolio. The recently-launched hotel brings a new competitor to the Cape Town CBD and popular Waterfront area. The skilful design of the 89 contemporary-style rooms has assured the preservation of this Waterfront heritage building. Sitting in the hotel's Vivaldi restaurant, one can see the impressive beams of the original warehouse, built in 1901 for German importer Wilhelm Spilhaus. Samantha Annandale, Onomo Group's Regional Operational Director, stresses that the historical integrity of the building is of huge importance to the group. Designer Johan Frank, of the property company Richland Properties, was challenged by keeping the authenticity of the building all the while transforming it into a hotel. "Some of the rooms have these beautiful beams running through them and we also have an incredible collection of antique furniture thanks to the developer's vision for the hotel," says general manager Walda Meyer. Vivaldi, the hotel's restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, supports the adjacent Waterfront Theatre School with live performances nightly by musical theatre students from the school. Annandale describes the restaurant as 'not your typical hotel restaurant'. "We wanted to offer our guests something unusual, and with Onomo group's love of the arts and the Waterfront Theatre School as our neighbour, it was a resounding sign to pair the two together. The result is something special, and we plan to put Vivaldi on the Cape Town nightlife map." The hotel has also placed a strong focus on servicing the tech-lovers and offers self-service kiosks that allow guests to check in and out as the hotel's app incorporates check-in and check-out facilities, mobile key function, and easy reservation, laundry, room service, instant messaging with the front desk, and wi'fi dialling services. Televisions in the rooms are set up with Chromecast, which allows guests to screen mirror from their phones to the telescreen. The Onomo Group's expansion continues, as they remain steadfast to their strategy of becoming the leading pan African mid-market hospitality professional platform. To add to various recent hotel openings in Kigali and Durban, the group is planning openings in Casablanca, Maputo, Douala, Kampala, Tangier and Dar es Salaam. Enter the Once Upon A Child Spring Style Sweepstakes today for the chance to WIN! Refresh your child's wardrobe! You could be the LUCKY WINNER of $200 in Store Cash! Spencer, IN (47460) Today Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High 86F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Cloudy skies early, then off and on rain showers overnight. Thunder possible. Low 72F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%. As of Wednesday, the official said, the new name will be incorporated in official road signs starting with one on the border with Greece. The official spoke on customary condition of anonymity. Click here to find out where to get a COVID-19 vaccine or test. To find out how many local residents have been vaccinated for COVID-19, click here. Use the map to find numbers for individual counties. Find detailed statistics about COVID-19 tests, cases and deaths by county and for the state as a whole on the Indiana State Department of Health's online dashboard. Copyright 2018 at Sun Newspapers/ APG Media of East Central Minnesota. Digital dissemination of this content without prior written consent is a violation of federal law and may be subject to legal action. Support local journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute About 2:50 a.m., Abudayeh and the two drove to the 5500 block of South Kedvale Avenue. The two stayed in the vehicle while Abudayeh got out and waited near a garage for Campos. When he showed up, Abudayeh and Campos worked out the transaction before Abudayeh pulled out a gun and pointed it at the 21-year-olds head. Please be aware that Cache Valley Publishing does not endorse, and is not responsible for alleged employment offers in the comments. Recommended for you The crew of the battleship Bismarck could be proud of themselves and their great ship. Two days earlier, on May 24, 1941, they had sent the pride of the Royal Navy, the battlecruiser HMS Hood, and all but three of its 1,419-man crew to the bottom of the Atlantic. Hit by three shells in return, Bismarck had set course for the port of Brest, in occupied France, to undergo repairs. The only warships that could pose a threat were hundreds of miles away. Then, at dusk, out of a rainsquall, skimming just above the waves at a leisurely pace, appeared what must have seemed phantoms from the previous war: nine Fairey Swordfish biplanes from the aircraft carrier Victorious, their crews heads leaning out of open cockpits. Bismarcks Captain Ernst Lindemann ordered the helm put hard over. He knew that while the biplanes might be obsolete, the torpedoes they carried were not. The battleships anti-aircraft guns unleashed an intense barrage. No planes were shot down, but only one torpedo scored a hit, amidships on the main armor belt, with negligible effect. Bismarcks crew probably wondered why, in the third year of the war, the Royal Navy had only sent a handful of antique aircraft against them. Tomorrow, they would be close to France, protected by the Luftwaffe and a line of U-boats. The battleship Bismarck, shown in September 1940, fell victim to a single torpedo launched from a Swordfish that jammed its rudder and left it steaming in circles. (Sobotta/Ullstein Bild/Getty Images) The battleship Bismarck, shown in September 1940, fell victim to a single torpedo launched from a Swordfish that jammed its rudder and left it steaming in circles. (Sobotta/Ullstein Bild/Getty Images) For the British there remained one last, desperate chance to attack. With darkness falling, another flight of 15 Swordfish managed to take off from the wildly pitching deck of the carrier Ark Royal into 70 mph winds. One of their torpedoes again fruitlessly hit the armor belt, but, as Bismarck turned hard to port, a second struck its vulnerable stern. With its rudder jammed, the great ship could only steam in circles. The next day, May 27, the battleships King George V and Rodney, together with several cruisers, appeared on the horizon. Bismarck put up a brave fight, but eventually joined Hood on the ocean floor. Britain pioneered naval aviation. The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) used seaplanes and land-based aircraft during World War I with some notable successes, including bombing the Zeppelin hangars at Cuxhaven, Wilhelmshaven and Tondern. A Short 184 seaplane made history when it sank a Turkish ship by torpedo during the 1915 Gallipoli operation. In 1918 Britain launched Argus, the first aircraft carrier with a full-length flight deck, allowing planes to both take off and land. The British were the first to begin construction of a purpose-designed carrier, Hermes, commissioned in 1924. It set the pattern for future aircraft carriers: a flush flight deck with command superstructure island to starboard. The RNAS and Royal Flying Corps were combined to form the Royal Air Force on April 1, 1918April Fools Day, as some disgruntled RNAS personnel observed. The bizarre result was the Royal Navy operating aircraft carriers with planes and pilots commanded by the RAF. In common with every other naval power, a battleship mentality ruled at the Admiralty during the interwar years. The prevailing view was that future battles would still be fought by ships lining up to slug it out, like at Jutland in 1916. The notion that flimsy flying machines could sink great warships was considered absurd. Vast sums were spent on new battleships, but only a trifle for a few hybrid carriers based on the hulls of merchant ships or of battleships whose construction had been halted by the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty. And nothing for developing carrier aircraft. Illustration John Batchelor, all rights reserved Admiral Lord Chatfield, head of the Royal Navy, called this insanity for an island nation whose very existence depended on its sea power. He threatened to resign unless naval aviation reverted to the Royal Navy, which it finally did in 1939. At the beginning of World War II, Britain had seven aircraft carriers, more than any other nation (reduced to six when Courageous was torpedoed with the war just 14 days old), but two were 15 years old and four had been launched in the previous war. Only Ark Royal, commissioned in 1938, was reasonably up to date. The government, now with a more visionary Admiralty, canceled battleship building and ordered the construction of modern carriers, 17 of which would enter service beginning in 1940. But the opportunity to develop advanced carrier-borne fighters and bombers had been irretrievably lost. The Air Ministry had issued a specification for a carrier aircraft in 1930: a biplane with an open cockpit like its RAF contemporaries, such as the Bristol Bulldog. The Fairey Aviation Company responded with the prototype T.S.R. II (for Torpedo-Spotter-Reconnaissance), progenitor of the Swordfish, for which it received a contract a few months later. Significantly, the Swordfish entered service in 1936, the year the first Spitfire flew. Long after other countries had introduced modern all-metal monoplane carrier aircraft with enclosed cockpits, powerful engines and retractable landing gear, for most of the war the Stringbag, as it was affectionately known by its crews, was the only effective torpedo, bombing and anti-submarine aircraft available to the Fleet Air Arm. What it achieved in those six years defied all expectations. Captain Lindemann and his officers had good reason to respect this apparent relic of a bygone era. In the April 1940 Battle of Narvik, off Norway, a Swordfish catapulted from the battleship Warspite, piloted by Petty Officer Frederick Rice, spotted 10 destroyers supporting the invading German armys landing. Rices radio transmissions corrected the fall of shot from Warspites 15-inch guns and allowed British destroyers to ambush their German counterparts, seven of which were destroyed, along with three supply ships. He then dived on the 1,050-ton U-64, and although hit in the tailplane and floats by the submarines gunfire, released two bombs. U-64 sank in half a minute, the first sub to be destroyed by an unaided aircraft. Stringbags would go on to sink 15 more, and share in another nine. The Swordfishs greatest single achievement came seven months later. The Italian navys fleet of fast, modern warshipssix battleships, nine heavy cruisers and multiple destroyerswas twice the size of the British Mediterranean fleet. From its main base in Taranto it could threaten key British bases such as Malta, Gibraltar and Alexandria; cut off vital oil from the Middle East; and jeopardize supplies for the British fighting the Italian army in North Africa. Taranto boasted one of the worlds most heavily defended harbors, with hundreds of anti-aircraft guns in shore batteries and on the warships themselves. Barrage balloon cables encircled the anchorage to snare low-flying aircraft, and tests had indicated the harbor waters were too shallow for aerial torpedoes, which simply plunged into the mud. On the night of November 11, 1940, against this seemingly impregnable fortress, Illustrious launched 20 Swordfish, armed either with torpedoes (modified for shallow water), bombs or flares to illuminate the targets. Pilot Lt. Cmdr. John Godley wrote: Its hard to understand how such a decision was ever made. The Charge of the Light Brigadecan it really not have been foreseen that the entire mad venture would end in disaster? A post-strike photo of Taranto shows the devastation wrought on the Italian fleet by the aircraft carrier Illustrious Swordfish on November 11, 1940. (Imperial War Museum CM 164) A post-strike photo of Taranto shows the devastation wrought on the Italian fleet by the aircraft carrier Illustrious Swordfish on November 11, 1940. (Imperial War Museum CM 164) The element of surprise was lost when one plane arrived early, alerting gun and searchlight crews. In the face of intense anti-aircraft fire, the Swordfish torpedoed the battleships Littorioputting it out of action for the rest of the warConte di Cavour and Caio Duilio, plus a cruiser and several destroyers. Conte di Cavour exploded. Caio Duilio took three torpedoes and sank. Despite 14,000 anti-aircraft shells being fired, only two planes were lost, with one crew surviving. In March 1941, the Italian navy sought revenge against the British in the Mediterranean, leading to the Battle of Cape Matapan. The battleship Vittorio Veneto, eight cruisers and 14 destroyers set out to intercept Admiral Andrew Cunninghams fleet. British cryptographers, having just broken the Italian naval code, alerted Cunningham. The heavy cruiser Pola was brought to a stop by torpedoes from Formidables Swordfish. Vittorio Veneto, hit in the stern and with one propeller smashed, almost suffered Bismarcks fate, but limped back to its harbor, leaving orders for the cruisers Zara and Fiume and two destroyers to stand by the stricken Pola. That night Cunninghams ships sank all five. The Italian fleet never again posed a threat to the Royal Navy. Taranto was momentous in its implications. A handful of carrier aircraft had reversed the naval balance in the Mediterranean, literally overnight. Together with Cape Matapan, it signaled that the days of the battleship as supreme warship were over, that aircraft carriers would play the decisive role in future naval battles and that a powerful fleet in a heavily defended harbor could be devastated by aircraft. Tarantos significance was recognized in Japan, but apparently not in the United States. A year later, the aerial attack was repeated on a grand scale at Pearl Harbor. In all, 2,391 Swordfish were manufactured, with production simplified by their uncomplicated structurewings of steel spars and duralumin ribs, steel-tube fuselage and fabric covering. The original 690-hp Bristol Pegasus engine, which Royal Navy test pilot Captain Eric Brown wrote from appearances seemed to have been added as an afterthought, was noted for its reliability, an important consideration to crews flying at night over water. The Swordfish ambled along lazily at about 85 knots if the wind was favorable, wrote Brown, but it was unbelievably easy to flyno aircraft could have been more tractable or forgiving. What the Stringbag lacked in speed it made up for in the multiplicity of armament and equipment it could carry, arguably more than any other aircraft: torpedoes, bombs, mines, flares, Air-to-Surface Vessel (ASV) radar, Leigh Lights (20-million-candlepower spotlights powered by a 300-pound battery), rocket-assisted-takeoff units (RATO) and rocket projectiles (on a fabric-covered plane!). Brown described taking off loaded with a Leigh Light, torpedo and eight anti-submarine bombs: There was really no logical reason why it should ever have flown with this mass of stores, but fly it did. The elongated cockpit, holding pilot, navigator and gunner, tended to act as an air scoop. One test pilot, losing control of the prototype, bailed out, only to be blown back into the rear cockpit, from which he finally exited, becoming the only man in history to have bailed out of the same aircraft twice. The gunner was originally equipped with a WWI-vintage Lewis machine gun, but since its utility against modern fighters was limited, the ex-gunner became the radio operator. All were exposed to the elements, particularly the bitter cold of North Atlantic winters and subzero temperatures on the convoys to Murmansk, Russia. That they could still conduct patrols against U-boats under such conditions, constantly aware that ditching likely meant death, was remarkable. Pilot Lt. Cmdr. Terence Horsley wrote of the Swordfish: [Y]ou know that youve got a friend. And a friend, when you are fighting your way through the darkness towards a lurching flight deck, or are 100 miles out over an empty waste, is something worth having. Stringbags sank six U-boats on the Murmansk convoysthree on one aloneand shared in the sinking of five more. Swordfish Mark Is of No. 785 Squadron from Royal Naval Air Station Crail in Scotland embark on a torpedo training flight in 1939. (Military History Collection/Alamy) Swordfish Mark Is of No. 785 Squadron from Royal Naval Air Station Crail in Scotland embark on a torpedo training flight in 1939. (Military History Collection/Alamy) Intended to operate at night, or if by day hopefully beyond the range of land-based enemy fighters, the Swordfish relied on its exceptional maneuverability as its main defense when intercepted. In a vertical bank it could turn around almost in its own length. This or a sudden climbessentially standing the plane on its tailpresented the attacking fighter pilot with an apparently stationary target disappearing behind him at 300 mph. Attempting to slow and follow these aerobatics would cause a stall. It will maneuver in a vertical plane easily as straight and level, Horsley wrote. It is possible to hold the dive to within 200 feet of the water; a gentle pressure on the stick pulls it out quickly and safely. Several enemy pilots who tried to follow Swordfish ended up in the sea. But a torpedo attack required flying straight and level, leading to a most tragic, gallant and unnecessary episode. As a result of continual RAF bombing at the French port of Brest, Adolf Hitler ordered the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen to safer berths in Wilhelmshaven on the North Sea. On February 11, 1942, together with 25 destroyers, and with aerial cover from several hundred fighters, they steamed up the English Channel in daylight. Hitler believed the British would be slow to react to such an audacious gamble. Due to ill luck, foul weather, radar failure at critical moments and poor communications, the fleet was only spotted when halfway through the Channel. RAF bombers failed to locate it in the poor visibility, bombed ineffectually or were shot down by anti-aircraft fire or fighters. RAF losses totaled 35 aircraft. As the ships passed the Straits of Dover, in an act of desperation Lt. Cmdr. Eugene Esmonde was ordered to attack with just six Swordfish. He knew what he was going into, but it was his duty, wrote Wing Cmdr. Tom Gleave. His face was tense and white, that of a man already dead. Escorting Spitfires, battling swarms of German fighters, were unable to protect them. Although several launched their torpedoes, all were shot down before coming close enough to achieve a hit. Esmonde was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. Swordfish pioneered the use of ASV radar to attack ships and surfaced U-boats in 1940. It could detect a submarine up to five miles away and larger vessels up to 25. Operating from Malta, the RAF and Fleet Air Arm created havoc among convoys supplying the Italian and German armies in North Africa. A couple dozen Swordfish alone sank an average of 50,000 tons of shipping per month, with a record 98,000 in August 1941. In August 1940 at the Gulf of Bomba, Libya, three Stringbags of No. 813 Squadron had the distinction of sinking four Axis vessels with just three torpedoes. One submarine underway was quickly sunk. The aircrews then spotted a destroyer, with another sub and a depot ship moored on each side. After the Swordfish torpedoed the outer vessels, the depot ships munitions exploded, sinking all three vessels. Britains most crucial conflict, however, was in the Atlantic. The majority of the island nations food and raw materials, and all of its fuel oil and gasoline, came by sea. By 1942, U-boats were sinking half a million tons a month, rising to 700,000 tons in November. Britain faced a real risk of being starved into surrender. The only thing that really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril, Winston Churchill later wrote. A 500-mile gap in the mid-Atlantic, beyond the range of land-based aircraft, allowed the subs to operate largely unmolested. From May 1943, operating from small escort carriers or merchant aircraft carriers (MACsmerchant ships with short decks built above their holds), Swordfish launched by catapult or RATO helped to close this gap. At night their ASV radar detected surfaced U-boats shadowing a convoy or recharging their batteries. Suddenly illuminated by the Leigh Light, they would be attacked with bombs or depth charges. As a result, the U-boats were forced to surface for battery recharging during the day, when they could at least see the attacking aircraft coming. But now they were prey to the Swordfishs 30-pound armor-piercing rockets. Fired in pairs or a salvo of all eight, one or two hits usually sufficed. From May 1943 until V-E Day, only one of the 217 convoys escorted by MACs was successfully attacked. Swordfish would fly 4,177 patrols, sink 10 U-boats and share in the destruction of five more. Already obsolescent when the first one landed on an aircraft carrier, this ugly duckling, outliving several designs meant to replace it, was the only naval aircraft in frontline service from the first day of the European war to the last. Amazingly, the glorious Stringbag was responsible for the destruction of a greater tonnage of Axis shipping in WWII than any other Allied aircraft. Nicholas ODell served in RAF Bomber Command from 1958 to 1962. For additional reading, he suggests: Bring Back My Stringbag: A Swordfish Pilot at War 19401945, by Lord Kilbracken; and To War in a Stringbag, by Charles Lamb. This feature appeared in the March 2019 issue of Aviation History. Subscribe here! A bitter feud between Generals John Gibbon and Joshua Owen, opposites in every regard, roiled the Army of the Potomac during the war. One would pay a dear price. John Gibbons utter disdain for fellow brigadier general Joshua T. Owen radiated from the pages of his report on the MayJune 1864 Overland Campaign. Owen and Gibbon had wrangled once before; Gibbon placed the Philadelphia Brigades commander under arrest in the summer of 1863, just before the Battle of Gettysburg. Although Owen was back in command of the brigade by March 1864, the Union defeat at Cold Harbor, Va., in early June spurred Gibbon to attach a damning addendum to his report. Gibbon charged Owen with disobedience and placed him under arrest once more, and soon succeeded in forcing Owen out of the Army of the Potomac altogether. Was Owens poor performance as a brigade commander to blame for his exile, or was it a result of Gibbons enmity toward Owen? There are valid points in either debate. T he Owen family claimed descent from the legendary leader of the 15th-century Welsh revolt, Owain Glyndwr. The youngest of 10 children, Joshua Thomas Owen was born on March 29, 1821, in the village of Bancyfelin, southwest Wales. The Owens relocated to Baltimore in 1835. Joshuas father, David, opened the publishing company Owen & Co. Joshua attended high school and became an apprentice in his fathers shop. Gallant Charge and a Promotion: Led by then-Colonel Joshua Owen, the 69th Pennsylvania captured a Confederate battery with a daring uphill charge at the Battle of Glendale, Va., on June 30, 1862. Owen was promoted to brigadier general that November. (A Brief History of the 69th Pennsylvania Regiment) Joshua Owen enrolled in Pennsylvanias Jefferson College in 1840. He excelled as a debater and won an award during a contest in 1845. After graduation, he taught school before he was admitted to the bar in 1852. He founded Chestnut Hill Academy with his brother Roger Owen, a Presbyterian minister, in 1851, but it closed five years later. He practiced law, served as a member of the Pennsylvania legislature, and volunteered as a private in one of Philadelphias militia units in the years before the war. The charismatic lawyer enlisted as a private when Confederate batteries fired on Fort Sumter in April 1861. He was elected colonel of the 90-day 24th Pennsylvania Infantry. The regiment saw no action. After it was mustered out, Owen assumed command of the 2nd California Infantry (renamed the 69th Pennsylvania). The regiment took part in the October 1861 debacle at Balls Bluff, Va., where its brigade commander, Colonel Edward D. Baker, was infamously killed. Owen led the 69th with distinction during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign. When Brig. Gen. George A. McCalls division broke at Glendale on June 30, 2nd Corps commander Brig. Gen. Edwin Bull Sumner anxiously galloped up to Brig. Gen. Joseph Hooker, with the 69th close behind, and howled: General, I cannot spare you a brigade, but I have brought you the Sixty-Ninth Pennsylvania, one of the best regiments in my corps; place them where you wish, for this is your fight, Hooker. Hooker ordered Colonel Owen to take the 69th and recapture the deserted Union batteries on a nearby hill. The 69th hit the advancing Confederate line with a volley, charged uphill with bayonets fixed, and retook the guns. I can only express my high appreciation of his [Owens] services, Hooker commended in his battle report, and my acknowledgments to his chief [Sumner] for having tendered me so gallant a regiment. Brigadier General John Sedgwick, Owens division commander, also expressed his pleasure and declared that no officer or regiment behaved better, recommending that Owen be promoted to the rank of brigadier general. Paddy Owen to his mendespite his Welsh lineagecontinued to inspire confidence in the fall and winter of 1862. Owens fiery speeches, easygoing attitude, and pluckiness in battle commanded respect and confidence from his men. George A. Townsend of the New York Herald dined with Owen on one occasion and found him to be the most consistent and intelligent soldier in the brigade. Owen received his star in November 1862. At Fredericksburg, in December, he was in command of the Philadelphia Brigade. He ended the year with a reputation as a solid 2nd Corps brigade commander. This changed for Owen when Brig. Gen. John Gibbon arrived in the spring of 1863. Gibbon returned to the Army of the Potomacs 2nd Corps after recovering from a wound he had received at Fredericksburg. Another officer had assumed command of his division, leaving Gibbon in command of Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howards 2nd Division (Howard was promoted to 11th Corps command). Gibbons new command consisted of Brig. Gen. Alfred Sullys 1st Brigade of five regiments, Owens 2nd Brigade (Philadelphia Brigade) of four regiments, and Colonel Norman J. Halls 3rd Brigade of six regiments. Gibbon was the opposite of Owen in nearly every element. He was a professionally trained soldier, cool instead of charismatic, a martinet when it came to discipline, and one who commanded respect through fear rather than friendship. Gibbon would write after the war that an army commander, to be successful in the field, must be as near a despot as the institutions of his country will permit. Not the kind of army it seemed that Owen and other volunteers wished to be part of. Gibbon studied his new brigade commanders. Hall and Sully also were professional soldiersHall, a West Pointer who, like Gibbon, had served in the artillery; Sully, the son of famed portrait painter Thomas Sully, had served in the Mexican War and on the California, Minnesota, and Nebraska frontiers. The odd man out was the civilian-turned-soldier Owen. But he wouldnt be the first chastised by the divisions new commander. On April 29, 1863, Sully reported to Gibbon that six companies of his brigades 34th New York Infantry refused to fight and demanded a discharge because their enlistments were about to expire. Gibbon told Sully to handle the matter. Sully reported back to Gibbon that there was little he could do. Gibbon addressed the mutineerswith the 15th Massachusetts as his enforcersand threatened to butcher them like hogs if they did not return to their posts. That threat had the desired outcome. Reportedly enraged by the inaction and indifference of Sully, Gibbon issued an order relieving him of command on May 1, two days before his division was to cooperate with Maj. Gen. John Sedgwicks 6th Corps advance on Fredericksburg during the Army of the Potomacs ill-fated Chancellorsville Campaign. Years later, Gibbon would write in his Personal Recollections of the Civil War: It was a sad blow to him for he was a good soldier, but the necessity for action was in my opinion, imperative. Six days after being placed under arrest, Sully requested a court-martial. The courtcomposed of Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, Brig. Gen. Samuel K. Zook, and Colonel Samuel S. Carrollreported its findings on May 16: In view of these facts, the court is of the opinion that Brig. Gen. A. Sully, U.S. Volunteers, probably doubted his authority, under existing circumstances, to order extreme measures, and that therefore his action and conduct were not such as to warrant the issue of Brigadier General Gibbons Special Orders, No. 122, of May 1, 1863. Despite the verdict, Sully would spend the rest of the war fighting Indians in the Dakota Territory. Gibbons division moved as part of the Army of the Potomacs effort to tail Lees thrust north in June 1863. On its way to Centreville, Va., the extreme heat led to widespread straggling in the division. Gibbon issued a stern order against the stragglers, asserting that in the vast majority of cases the straggler is a skulking cowardly wretch who strives to shift his duties upon the shoulders of more honest men and better soldiers. Gibbon left the division on June 17 to console his wife after receiving word of the death of their 23-month-old son. The division remained on picket duty, and the general returned after two days. On its march back to Centreville from Thoroughfare Gap on June 25, Owen suddenly found himself under arrest by Gibbon. The actual reason for Owens arrest is unclear. No definitive motive for it has been established by historians. One explanation given was that Owen allowed civilians to pass uncontested through his brigades picket line. Another attributed it to Owens reputation for drinkinghe had a physical altercation in October 1862 with then-Lt. Col. Dennis OKane of the 69th, supposedly fueled by alcohol. Most experts agree it came suddenly, and unexpectedly, but strangely Gibbon never mentioned it in his Recollections of the Civil War. The most probable cause is that Gibbon became convinced the Philadelphia Brigade lacked the level of discipline he felt it should have had. Gibbon loathed stragglers, and it appears that Owens brigade had the worst offenders. Jonah Franklin Dyer, a surgeon of the 19th Massachusetts, shed some light on Owens removal when he noted in his journal on June 28, 1863: Owen is now under arrest for irregular conduct. He had a very good brigade, but his discipline has been so loose that they have become notorious stragglers.General Gibbon requires everyone on his staff to use his utmost endeavor to prevent straggling. Whatever the irregular conduct Owen committed is uncertain, but Gibbon considered the Philadelphia Brigade the weak link in his division and wanted rid of its commander. By luckor by designGibbon quickly found Owens replacement. The 28-year-old West Point graduate and former member of Maj. Gen. George Meades staff, Alexander S. Webb (promoted to brigadier general on June 23), needed a command. Webb was the model brigade commander for Gibbon; he was a polished and professional West Pointtrained soldier (like Gibbon, commissioned in the artillery, and the two had served together 1857-59 on the U.S. Military Academy staff and faculty) who had no qualms about shooting stragglers. After taking command, Webb wrote to his wife in disgust that the Philadelphia Brigade was mocked as the straggling brigade and that sixty or seventy [were] absent daily. When he met his new officers, Webb called them out on how many did not wear rank insignia. Gibbon could not have been happier with the change, and wrote to his wife, Webb has taken hold of his Brig., with a will, comes down on them with a heavy hand and will no doubt soon make a great improvement. Owens arrest came six days before the Battle of Gettysburg. The Philadelphia Brigade, under Webbs leadership, would anchor the Union center during the battle. After the battle, the 2nd Corps commander, Hancock, said: In every battle and on every important field there is one spot to which every army [officer] would wish to be assignedthe spot upon which centers the fortunes of the field. There was but one such spot at Gettysburg and it fell to the lot of Genl Webb. During the battle, Brig. Gen. Alpheus S. Williams, the 12th Corps temporary commander on July 2-3, ran into Owen at the Weikert Farm. Owen, he noted, was in a sort of roving command and seemed not [in] a very clear state of mind. Unidentified Army of the Potomac stragglers. One of John Gibbons chief complaints about Owen was his lax attention to discipline. (Gilder Lehrman Collection, New York, USA/Bridgeman Images) Owen assumed command of the 3rd Brigade of Alexander Hays 3rd Division in the 2nd Corps in August to replace Colonel George L. Willard, who had been killed at Gettysburg. Major changes came to the organization of the Army of the Potomac in the spring of 1864. On March 26, Owen found himself back in command of the Philadelphia Brigade. The men had warmed up to Webb and his stricter approach to discipline while Owen was away. When Webb was assigned to command the nine-regiment 1st Brigade in the same division, Corporal Joseph R.C. Ward of the 106th Pennsylvania Infantry indicated that the departure of Webb was somewhat lessened by receiving in his stead our old friend, General Owen, who again assumed command of his old Brigade. John Gibbon also returned to the division, healed from a wound sustained July 3 at Gettysburg. The fact that Gibbon and Owen would have ended up in the same division despite their differences is unusual. Maybe it was an oversight. Gibbons arrest of Owen 10 months before may have seemed inconsequential to retaining the harmony within the division. But unable to rid himself of Owen the first time around, Gibbon made sure he wouldnt fail a second time. Near-Miss With Calamity After the Civil War, Gibbon reverted to his Regular Army rank of colonel and served mainly on the Western frontier until 1890, notably in the 1876 Sioux War and the 1877 Nez Perce War. In June 1876, Gibbon led one of the three army columns (Alfred Terry and George Crook led the other two) converging on south-central Montana as part of an effort to force the Lakota hostiles onto a reservation in Dakota Territory. Unaware that Crooks column had been turned back at the June 17 Battle of the Rosebud, Terrys and Gibbons columns pressed on, and on June 25 Lt. Col. George A. Custers unsupported 7th Cavalry (of Terrys column) attacked a large village of Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe Indians encamped along the Little Bighorn River. Gibbon (and the rest of Terrys column) arrived June 27, in time to rescue the surviving two-thirds of Custers regiment under Major Marcus Reno and Captain Frederick Benteen, but they found Custer and nearly 270 7th Cavalrymen dead. Later, at the August 9-10, 1877, Battle of Big Hole against Chief Josephs Nez Perce, Gibbon fought a bloody but inconclusive battle in which a third of his command was killed or wounded while the Indians escaped. Gibbons mixed success fighting Indians, however, did not match his noteworthy Civil War achievements. That disappointed Gibbon and likely inspired him to remember his army service in the West as being shot at from behind a rock by an Indian and having your name spelled wrong in the newspapers. Gibbon was promoted to Regular Army brigadier general in 1885, retired in 1891 upon reaching age 64, and died February 6, 1896, in Baltimore, Md. He is among the heroes buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Jerry D. Morelock Tensions remained high in the Army of the Potomac in the summer of 1864, especially in Gibbons division. Gibbon grieved the one-year anniversary of the death of his young son, John Jr. (poor little Johnny). The performance of the 2nd Corps regiments, plagued by high rates of battlefield deaths, exhaustion, and sagging morale, left much to be desired. The excellent working relationship between corps commander Hancock and his division commander Gibbon slowly crumpled to the point of hostility. Beginning with the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5-7 and ending with the slaughter at Cold Harbor in early June, Gibbon left a series of complaints in his official reports against Owen. At Cold Harbor on June 3, Gibbons division failed to break through the Confederate works and suffered terrible losses. Gibbon reported the loss of 65 officers and 1,032 men wounded or killed. In this bloody assault the division lost many valuable officers and men, Gibbon wrote, The loss of such officers as [Henry Boyd] McKeen and [Frank A.] Haskell cannot be overestimated. The death of Haskell affected Gibbon the most: I lost two brigade commanders, Gen. Tyler and Col. McKeen and several valuable officers, among them being my poor friend Haskell, who was shot through the head and died a few hours afterwards. I feel his loss very much and was just about to give him command of a brigade. Gibbon placed much blame for the failure on Owen. He indicated in his report that he had ordered Owen to be in position on the morning of June 3, ready to rapidly push forward past Brig. Gen. Robert O. Tylers and Colonel Thomas A. Smyths brigades when they secured a foothold on the enemys works. Gibbon complained he instead found Owens men asleep and not even under arms. After a 15-minute delay, the assault began. General Owen, instead of pushing forward in column through Smyths line, deployed on his left as soon as the latter became fully engaged, Gibbon wrote, and thus lost the opportunity of having his brigade well in hand and ready to support the lodgment made by Smyth and [Colonel James P.] McMahon. In his 2002 book Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26June 3, 1864, Gordon C. Rhea opined that Owens move disobeying Gibbons order might have been prudent after all. Rhea reasoned that Smyth and McMahon made insignificant progress. The broken and swampy terrain, strong enemy works, and awaiting Confederate reserves spoiled any chance of success. Owen brought his soldiers to the left of Smyths brigade, trying to get clear of the swamp, where he thought he could best support a breakthrough. Unfortunately, Owen arrived too late to help. After what Owen saw as repeated acts of injustice and oppression he received from Gibbon, he made the following request to Colonel Francis A. Walker, Hancocks assistant adjutant general, two days after the battle. Sir:I have the honor to request that I may be transferred to some other command, as I cannot consent to serve any longer under the present commander of the division. I do not feel that my reputation is secure whilst serving under him. If I cannot be transferred, then I request that my resignation be accepted, and I be mustered out of the service. Three days later, on June 8, Gibbon filed charges against Owen, who felt he had angered Gibbon by forwarding his resignation through 2nd Corps headquartersa breach of discipline. It is possible Gibbon had already made up his mind about placing Owen under arrest. After all, leading up to Cold Harbor he had included defaming comments about Owen in his reports. Cold Harbor proved the final blow. Gibbons order made it up the chain of command, until Meade, under Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants direction, ordered Owen to report to Fort Monroe, where a court of inquiry would try him. But from City Point, Va., on June 27, 1864, Grant expressed in a telegraph to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton that Owen should be mustered out of service instead of facing a court-martial. Grants recommendation was wired to President Abraham Lincoln and approved on July 16, 1864. Owen was mustered out two days later. Owen petitioned Lincoln in August asking to face a courtforwarded to Stantonbut nothing came of it. The soldiers of Gibbons division reacted differently to the news of Owens exile. John Day Smith of the 19th Maine Infantry disliked Owen as much as Gibbon did. He voiced his own distaste for Owen when he stated that he was not highly regarded as a commander. His burly form and red face were not seen any more by the Regiment after Cold Harbor. He was placed under arrest and reprimanded by his superior officers so often that it became monotonous. Corporal Ward attributed the removal of Owen to the Philadelphia Brigades breakup on June 28. This was a severe blow to our officers and men, one that they keenly felt, he wrote. [T]hey did not hesitate at all times to give expression to their feelings whenever General Gibbon was around, under whose order the change was made, which the men attributed to his antagonism to General Owen, whom he succeeded in removing from the command of this Brigade, and now robbed them of their good name and battle-scarred standard, which might have been left to them a few months longer, when their term of service would have expired. Gibbons enmity toward Owen left the latters Army career in shambles. Owen missed out from leading his brigade at Gettysburg, which was more tragic for his legacy than his service getting cut short in 1864. Webb was even immortalized for his role at Gettysburg and received the Medal of Honor for his heroism; Owen would be forgotten, forced to spend the rest of his life desperately trying to vindicate his reputation. He died November 7, 1887. Frank Jastrzembski, a frequent Americas Civil War contributor, studied history at John Carroll University and Cleveland State University. The adventures of U.S. Army ammo officer and the legacy of a 19th century British quartermaster Many articles and books about the Vietnam War, and other wars, understandably emphasize the feats of frontline fighting troops. While that focus on combat action provides interesting reading, it unfortunately overlooks the stories of the vast corporate enterprise working in rear areas to make that exciting battle mayhem possible. These mostly unsung logisticians, often derogatively referred to as loggie toads, are generally invisibleexcept, of course, when they screw up. One of the best known historical examples of a screw-upquite literally, involving screws!is the January 1879 Battle of Isandlwana during the Anglo-Zulu War in South Africa, where two battalions of British regulars, augmented by several hundred locally recruited native contingent troops, took on 20,000 Zulu warriors. The Redcoats, firing as fast as possible to hold back the onrushing Zulus, soon ran low on ammunition. They dispatched runners to the rear for resupply, but Quartermaster Edward Bloomfield demanded that the runners queue up and wait their turn for more ammunition. Soon officers arrived from the front and seized the coveted ammunition boxes from Bloomfield, only to find that the lids were held on by screwsand they didnt have any screwdrivers. The desperate Redcoats used their rifle butts to break open the boxes, and bent screws are still being found by treasure hunters. In the end, however, the retrieved ammo wasnt enough. Thousands of Zulus armed mainly with assegais, a hybrid of a spear and stabbing sword, overwhelmed the seriously outnumbered British riflemen and won the battle. Fortunately, Americans troops needing ammo have never been at the mercy of a punctilious British quartermaster. Since the War of 1812 the U.S. Army has understood that quartermasters, with their focus on how many raisins each soldier is allocated in his breakfast muffin each day, are not suitable for ammunition duties and replaced them with folks who like loud noiseswell-trained ordnance professionals. A fundamental principal of U.S. Army operations is superior firepower. That means putting more rounds on the enemy than he is putting on you. In practical terms, that means a lot more rounds. In Vietnam, 1st Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. William DePuy insisted that three batteries of artillery were much better for pounding an enemy position than just one. The Army is a bureaucratic organization and therefore thrives on order and discipline, but shoveling tons of ordnance on the enemy in the heat of a battle is by its nature a chaotic endeavor, contrary to the order that the military culture loves. This obsession with order and the focus on procedure over resultI call it the Bloomfield Effectmust be overcome so that ammunition flows fast to troops seeking overwhelming firepower to demolish the enemy. Were there any Bloomfield Effects during the Vietnam War? An obvious first look would be the response to the communists Tet Offensive in late January 1968, as American and South Vietnamese forces faced a 20th century Isandlwana when they were attacked by the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong. During the Lunar New Year holiday, tens of thousands of Viet Cong and NVA troops suddenly emerged from hiding places in jungles, towns and holes throughout South Vietnam, creating countrywide chaos. Of course, 80,000 communist troops versus some half-million U.S. troops and an even greater number of South Vietnamese soldiers might not seem like such bad odds, but the enemy was well-armed and had the element of surprise. While the scope of the onslaught was certainly shocking and the ammunition supply system was taxed to its limit, there was never a significant failure, and thus the comparison to Isandlwana soon loses traction. Ammunition operations did the job and, as usual when work is well-performed, remained invisible. Things had calmed down by the summer of 1968, when I arrived at the 1st Logistical Command headquarters at Long Binh, about 20 miles northeast of Saigon. I was a first lieutenant with the title, ammunition stock control officer (conventional), assigned to the 182nd Stock Control Detachment. The 1st Logistical Commandwhose operations in Vietnam included truck units, supply depots, equipment repairs, port development, food and clothing distribution and morewas staffed with about 50,000 troops. It had ordnance (ammunition) battalions throughout South Vietnam except for the Mekong Delta, where a single ammunition company worked with naval operations there. The 182nd Stock Control Detachment had about 20 folks on the day crew and 10 at night. Intense combat in the months before I arrived had left some obvious scorch marks on various folks in 1st Log, but the war had since shifted back to the boonies, and our close-up views of ammunition operations at the front were less frequent. My night crews life was one of monotony: recording ammunition transactions on tally sheets, transferring the data to key punch cards and creating color-coded display charts for the brass to examine each morning. My personal duties included regular midnight phone calls to the Army Materiel Commands ammunition center in Joliet, Illinois. I had to call at that hour because of the time differences. An occasional VC rocket or mortar round sent our way provided some excitement, as did a major attack on the base in February 1969. The well-oiled machine cliche applied to our ammunition operations. However, every once in a while, quartermaster Bloomfields ghost would waft in, and peculiar situations would ooze their way into my office from the maelstrom in the field. That is what happened after the NVA tank attack on Ben Het on March 3, 1969. The sudden appearance of a North Vietnamese armored force was a shock to everyone, even though it was far away in the Central Highlands and the NVA unit was composed of anemic PT-76 amphibious tanks (armed with 76 mm main guns) and equally thin-skinned BTR-50 personnel carriers with machine guns. The Ben Het firebase sat only a few miles from the Laotian border, where the bases long-range M107 175 mm guns could fire directly on the nearby Ho Chi Minh Trail, the NVAs lifeline. The base was situated on three hills. There were three companies of friendly Montagnard tribal militias on Hill One; a long-range 175 mm battery from the 6th Battalion, 14th Artillery Regiment, on Hill Two; and three dug-in M48 tanks from 1st Platoon, Company B, 1st Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, on Hill Threeall under the command of the 4th Infantry Division. The tanks had the essential mission of defending Ben Hets airstrip and blocking Highway 512, the primary road to the main base at Dak To. After several days of mortar and rocket attacks that began in late February, the Ben Het bases defenders began hearing ominous sounds of tracked vehicles on March 2. Despite the use of night vision equipment and spotlights, they were unable to precisely locate the enemy. But on March 3, a tank from the 4th Battalion, 202nd Armored Regiment, 65th NVA Division, set off anti-personnel mines while advancing on Hill Three. A vicious tank battle ensued, the first for U.S. troops since the Korean War. For a while both sides were forced to shoot blind at muzzle flashes, with little or no effect. Then some 15 NVA tanks began maneuvering around the 69th Armors left flank, toward the airstrip. There the American M48s started scoring hits, destroying two North Vietnamese PT-76s and a BTR-50. The NVA tankers countered with a direct hit on an M48, killing the machine gun loader and gunner. They then withdrew. The American tanks were firing very lethal high-explosive anti-tank, or HEAT, rounds as well as conventional high-explosive ammunition, according to then-Capt. Gerald R. Cossey, chief of supply of the 4th Infantry Division. But one wonders why the M48, which had never encountered an NVA tank before, was packing anti-tank rounds. I thought the M48s would have few, if any, anti-tank rounds in their racks because they primarily attacked enemy infantry. In those fights, anti-tank rounds were not as effective as regular high-explosive rounds. HEAT rounds are designed to pierce armor, while normal high-explosive rounds detonate outside of an enemy tanks skin. The nose of a HEAT round is hollow, with the explosive charge shaped around a cone in the rear. When the round strikes a target, electric crystals send a charge to the rear, initiating the detonator. As the blast progresses forward, the cone causes the blast to crisscross on itself, forming an extremely strong explosion intensely concentrated in the center, little more than an inch wide. This superblast will penetrate most armor. While penetration is small, the blast effect on soldiers inside the tank is catastrophic. The NVAs hit on the dug-in American tank is also peculiar. The round struck the M48 squarely on its strongest point, the sloped front metal plate. The tank itself was virtually undamaged, suffering only a bent operating handle on the top-mounted .50-caliber machine gunthe gun that the tanks loader and gunner were operating. They would have been safe inside the tank. So why were they outside with the machine gun? Either the crew had run out of ammunition for the main gun or the men decided to blanket the enemy with .50-cal bullets, which can be effective against the thin-skinned PT-76. The two other crewmen who were outside, the tank commander and company commander, were blown off the tank, but not killed. Not only did employment of the machine gun expose the gunner and loader, but the .50-cals notable muzzle flash can be a target for the enemy to zero in on. With the sudden appearance of an enemy tank force, demand for HEAT ammunition suddenly mushroomed. During the confused tank ammo resupply operations later that day, the Bloomfield Effect was rampant. My involvement came the following night. One my clerks answered the phone around 11 p.m., turned to me and said in an ominous tone, Lieutenant, youd better take this. On the other end of the line was a major, the head of 4th Infantry Divisions supply and logistics staff. I have a problem, the major began. The divisions tankers were in desperate need of anti-tank ammunition, and he didnt know where to get any. The 69th Armor had none, making me wonder if they had any to begin with. Nor was there any at the 4th Divisions base at Dak To or the divisions own ammunition supply point at Pleiku. The major, sending a requisition up the supply chain, didnt have any luck at the ammunition depot in Qui Nhon on the coast or the next depot farther south at Cam Ranh Bay. The requisition eventually landed at the 3rd Ordnance Battalions Long Binh ammunition depot, right down the street from where I worked. It turned out this was the only place in Vietnam that had the suddenly coveted HEAT rounds. But the major, after recapping all of the places he had contacted that day, said the 3rd Ord night crew insisted that the requisition was nowhere to be found. The major asked me if I could help. I expostulated one of my most memorable quotes of the war: Well, we normally dont get involved with direct issues of ammunition here, sir. With great enthusiasm the major instructed me on the need to expand my job description. We both agreed that I would find his HEAT ammunition and report back to himin an hour. Calling the 3rd Ord nighttime ammo counters, I found they were still reluctant to wade through that days transactions to find the missing anti-tank rounds. However, with a bit of bluster and a bit of bluff I convinced them they should. About 20 minutes later they called back with the status: The rounds had gone out of the depot and were currently sitting in the cargo hold of a C-130 transport plane. I asked for and got the aircrafts tail number. A call to Bien Hoa air base located the pilot, who in true flyboy fashion assured me the flight would depart for Pleiku at first light, providing the weather is decent. The major called at precisely the one-hour mark, and I updated him. He said fine and hung up. The next morning, I was called into the office. I had to convince my majors and colonels that I had not called a combat emergency and explain why 3rd Ord thought I was such a nasty SOB. But one is left to wonder just how much anti-tank ammunition the 69th Armor had for this battle. Cossey indicated the 69th fired both HEAT rounds and regular high-explosive rounds at the enemy tanks. Since the tank crews mission up to that point had been providing indirect fire at suspected enemy infantry positions in the jungle, it seems unlikely they would allocate much valuable space in their tanks ammunition racks for rounds they likely would never fire. For the record, about five months later a force of Hmong mercenaries, supporting U.S. troops, descended from the Plain of Jars in Laos and seized 25 North Vietnamese PT-76 tanks. Thus NVA armor would not raise its ugly head again until near the end of the warafter our all armor guys had gone home. The subject of Laos recalls another ammunition conundrum that arose a short time later. A late call, again followed by Lieutenant, youd better take this, put me on the phone with the 1st Logs three-star commander, Lt. Gen. Joe Heiser. His first question was, Who is this? I answered, Lt. Van Eldik. No, I mean whats your first name? Jim, I replied. Jim, I have a problem I want you to help me solve. The general went on to explain that a problem had arose in the CIAs secret war against the communists in Laos. The war planners at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, had arranged for 10,000 M16 rifles to be shipped to one of our allies, the Laotian Royal Guard. However, the CIA soon realized that the bullets being used in the Guards M1s, Sten guns, Thompson submachine guns, 1903 Springfield rifles and similarly old Lee-Enfield rifles would not fit in an M16. Therefore, they needed an immediate delivery of 2 million rounds of 5.56 mm M16 ammo. The generals question was: Where should I get it? The answer was easy. Our depot at Cam Ranh Bay had a relatively low issue rate of M16 ammo and was greatly overstocked. The general took my advice and issued his fait accompli decision the next morning to my commanders. Millions of M16 rounds were soon loaded on C-130s winging their way west. This time the meeting with my superiors was somewhat different, more resembling an intense group self-analysis at a resort in Big Sur, California. Incidentally, the 2 million-round issue is not as impressive as it might sound because the 1st Logistical Command issued more than 2 million rounds of M16 ammo every day. A final Bloomfield situation I witnessed, if I remember correctly, was in April 1969. Again, another call came in close to midnight, this time from a Navy lieutenant somewhere in the Mekong Delta. How he found a telephoneor my numberI have no idea. Despite sounding like someone from a college fraternity, the lieutenant was a swift boat commander, one of the Navys real killers, and had expended all of his ammunition. He was now many miles away from his support base at Cat Lo and wanted to know if the Army could provide him with some ammunition. We determined that he was less than 20 miles from a major ammunition supply point at Dong Tam, right on the Mekong River network. Will the Army give me the ammunition I need? he asked. Of course. What will I have to do to get it? Write down everything you want on a DA-581 form and sign it. Thats it? Yup. How will they know I am who I say I am? After briefly discussing the obvious physical differences between a U.S. Navy lieutenant and a typical Viet Cong, I suggested he show the soldiers his green military ID. In 1977, apparently to avoid such situations in the future, the Pentagon put all conventional ammunition under the administrative control of the Army. While the Bloomfield Effect is something those in the ammunition supply business should keep in mind, the words of Rudyard Kipling are the ones that an army and its ordnance crews should live by: A man can never have too much red wine, Or too many books, Or too much ammunition. Jim Van Eldik is a retired Army lieutenant colonel. He was discharged from active duty following his Vietnam tour and shortly afterward was assigned to an Army Reserve unit. He went back on active duty in 1983 and retired in 1995. This article was published in the April 2019 issue of Vietnam. The ship was saved. But its 75-foot stern sank in the pitch-black, fog-shrouded waters off the Aleutians, lost along with 70 men. Nearly 75 years later, scientists from the University of California San Diegos Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of Delaware, working in a partnership called Project Recover, found the missing stern from the destroyer USS Abner Read on July 17. It was in 290 feet of water off Kiska, an Aleutian island seized by Japan in 1942 in an often-overlooked World War II campaign. The Abner Read, named for a northern Civil War naval hero, was on patrol near Kiska at about 1:50 a.m., August 18, 1943, when it was rocked by an explosion, probably after hitting a Japanese mine. The blast ripped a hole in the stern. Staggering in the darkness, some crew members plunged through holes in the deck into the fuel tanks below; the stern sank. This was catastrophic damage that by all rights should have sunk the entire ship, said Sam Cox, director of the Naval History and Heritage Command. But the destroyer managed to stay afloat and was towed back to the port at Adak, another Aleutian island. After repairs at Puget Sound, Washington, the destroyer returned to war, only to be destroyed by a kamikaze dive-bomber in November 1944 in Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. The Project Recover mission was the first to thoroughly investigate wrecks from the battles of Kiska and Attu, Alaskan islands occupied by Japan from June 1942 through August 1943. A multibeam sonar mounted on the search ship Norseman II found a likely spot for the Abner Reads stern. The team dispatched an unmanned mini-sub to capture the wreck on live video. There was no doubt, said Eric Terrill, a Scripps oceanographer and leader of the expedition. We could clearly see the broken stern, the gun, and rudder control, all consistent with historical documents. We take our responsibility to protect those wrecks seriously, Cox said. Theyre the last resting place of American sailors. Throughout the ages, water-based forms of torture have gone by many euphemisms, but the intent has nearly always been the same. In the late morning of November 26, 2002, at a secret CIA torture site in Thailand code-named Cats Eye, al-Qaeda operative Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri looked past James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, the interrogators who had been slamming him into a wall, to see a hospital gurney being wheeled into his cell. Heavily muscled men, covered from head to toe in black, forced him onto the gurney and strapped him to it. Nashiri was so thin that Mitchell and Jessen had difficulty tightening the straps enough to immobilize him. After itemizing the information they were seeking from him (and presumably deemed him to be withholding), Mitchell and Jessen stepped out of the cell, leaving Nashiri strapped to the gurney. Twenty minutes later, at 11:47 a.m., Mitchell and Jessen returned. Previewing just how bad things were going to get, they promised Nashiri that they wouldnt let him die because they needed him to answer their questions. When Nashiri insisted that he didnt know or couldnt recall anything his captors considered useful, they splashed some water on his chest and expressed their dissatisfaction. This back and forthwith Nashiri desperately attempting through tears to remember something that would satisfy Mitchell and Jessen and the two men accusing Nashiri of lyingcontinued for 27 minutes. At 12:14 p.m., the CIA contractors placed a cloth over Nashiris face, covering his nose and mouth, and began to pour water over it. As he struggled to breathe and started ingesting water, they removed the cloth and stood the gurney up vertically. Nashiri, gurgling and gasping, strained to clear water from his sinuses as he began to slip down between the Velcro straps of the gurney. Although it likely seemed an eternity to Nashiri, only two minutes had elapsed. The interrogators returned him to a horizontal position and placed a hood over his head. As they left the room, Nashiri trembled and moaned, repeatedly begging God to help him. The respite lasted all of 13 minutes. As they adjusted the straps that kept Nashiris head immobile, Mitchell and Jessen told Nashiri to tell them everything. Nashiri said that he would, in the name of God, but what he said must have failed to satisfy them, for 11 minutes later, over Nashiris protests, they again covered his face with the cloth and poured water on it until he began to choke. Once again they stood the gurney up, enabling him to breathe. After hearing more demands to reveal plots against the United States and more threats that the torture would continue until he provided the information his captors were seeking, Nashiri was removed from the gurney, stripped, and locked in a small box. Although Nashiri would continue to be waterboarded, subjected to mock executions, and tortured in other ways, Jessen himself would later admit that Nashiri never provided any actionable information. WATERBOARD. WATER TREATMENT. WATER CURE. WATER RAG. This form of torture goes by many euphemisms. Requiring only a source of water and small piece of cloth and exploiting a persons involuntary reactions to asphyxiation, it is as economical and vicious as it is old. It is different from other water-based forms of torture, including submersion up to the airways, that intend not to frighten the detainee with drowning but to inflict pain with unbearably cold temperatures. Abu Hudhaifa (a detainee who was later found to be innocent and released), for example, was submerged in a bathtub filled with ice water at a CIA safehouse. In practice the two forms of torture are often combined. The attorneys for another CIA detainee, Majid Khan, claim that his interrogators shackled him, placed a hood over his head, and lowered him into a tub of ice water, then forced [his] head underwater until he feared he would drown, and, after pulling his head out of the water, demanded answers to questions and again dunked his head underwater. Another form of tortureforcibly pouring or pumping water into the stomachwas known as le question deau in medieval France and el tormento de toca in the Spanish Inquisition. It was part of Castilian criminal law in the 16th century and, perhaps through Spanish colonization, turned up in the Philippines, where, in 1902, American soldiers used it against Filipino insurgents, causing a scandal. The Spanish werent alone in using this form of torture: The British used it in Palestine against both Arabs and Jews; the Japanese used it in World War II; the French used it against prisoners in Algeria on and off throughout the 1950s; the Brazilian military used it against suspected leftists in the 1970s. There are abundant reports of its use in other countries around the world as well. Forcibly pouring water down someones throat is a close cousin to waterboarding, if only in intent. In practice they are siblings. Where the intent is ingestion, the stomach and intestines eventually fill, which not only causes extreme pain but forces the water back up the throat. It was a suffocating payne, said William Lithgow, who was subjected to the treatment when he was falsely accused of being a spy in Spain in 1620, the water reingorging it selfe in my throate with the struggling force; it strangled and swallowed up my breath from youling and groaning. Where the intent is to temporarily asphyxiate, a victims desperate attempts to keep his airway open forces him to swallow as much water as possible. Al-Qaeda 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed ingested so much water that the CIA medical officer on duty said that he was worried about water intoxication and dilution of electrolytes, which can be fatal. The asphyxiation version of the torture takes two basic forms. The first, and presumably more archaic, is dunking the mouth and nose into water, perhaps infused with such irritants as lime, soap, pepper, or excrement. Drawing on earlier traditions of trying witches via the ordeal, the British and later their colonists in America dunked nagging women into water in a specially designed chair. Nazi Germanys Gestapo deemed Frances use of la baignoire (the bathtub) to be so effective that its interrogators adopted the practice in Norway and Czechoslovakia. The bathtub spread to other countries and became la banera in Spain and el submarino in South American military dictatorships after 1960. On March 13, 1983, for example, members of Battalion 316, the notorious Honduran intelligence unit, kidnapped and then immersed Marxist guerrilla Ines Murillo in a barrel of water in an attempt to extract information from her. The second and perhaps more recent version of the torture involves pouring water over an immobilized mouth and nose draped with a wet cloth. Although this method is commonly attributed to the Dutch, it was already considered an ordinary French torture in Praxis Criminis Persequendi, a 1541 legal treatise by Jean Milles de Souvigny. But it is certainly true that the Dutch used the technique. Ernestus Eremundus Frisius described it in his 16th-century history of conflict in the Netherlands, and the English accused the Dutch of systematically applying the torture in 1623 to their countrymen suspected of a plot against the Dutch in Amboyna in what is today Maluku, Indonesia. Like its older sibling, this form of torture spread throughout the world. The British employed waterboarding in Cyprus in 1950s. French paratroops used it in Algeria alongside la baignoire, as documented in brutal detail by communist journalist and newspaper editor Henri Alleg in his memoir La Question. The French imported it from their time in Vietnam in the early 1950s, where both the South Vietnamese and some American soldiers would continue the practice. The highest ranking North Vietnamese officer captured during the Vietnam War was tortured with the water rag in addition to multiple other techniques, though he apparently never provided any information. The economy, simplicity, and manifest cruelty of waterboarding destined it to be deployed in many places, including in the United States. An investigation by the Alabama state legislature in 1881, for example, found that a coal company employing convict labor had waterboarded prisoners for wilful [sic] neglect of work. A Texas county sheriff and his deputies were convicted of waterboarding two prisoners in 1983. The CIAs eventual adoption of waterboarding was the result of two partly independent influences: the experiences of American pilots captured during the Korean War and lessons from Frances experience with counterinsurgency, especially in Algeria. Troubled by the lurid false confessions the pilots made, the U.S. military sought ways to inoculate future pilots and other military personnel at high risk of capture from the effects of those tortures. To that end the Pentagon created Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) schools that simulated each of these phases of captivity. In the resistance phase, students were subjected to various tortures, including waterboarding. Although the military would continue to use waterboarding at SERE schools for decades, by July 1, 2002one month before the CIA would waterboard its first detaineethe army, air force, and all other military forces save the navy had dropped the technique from their curriculums, considering it too brutal. The navy followed suit in 2007. That did not prevent James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, who had been psychologists at SERE schools, from resurrecting waterboarding along with other SERE techniques in their proposal to the CIA to reverse-engineer them to interrogate al-Qaeda suspects after 9/11. THE SECOND INFLUENCE, THE FRENCH CONNECTION, is actually two converging French connections. The indirect route we have already encountered: American troops and perhaps the CIA as well picked up the technique from their South Vietnamese counterparts, who had also used it with the French before the French left in 1954. The second route is more direct, yet also circuitous. One of the leaders of French forces during the Battle of Algiers, Brigadier General Paul Aussaresses, was seconded in 1961 to the U.S. Special Forces at Fort Bragg, where he taught a course on counterinsurgency. He admitted that he taught students about torture, and one of the books he used was sent to a CIA official who would later lead the CIAs Phoenix Program in Vietnam, a counterinsurgency campaign that employed torture extensively. Although waterboarding was not listed explicitly, the same approach to torture found its way into the CIAs KUBARK interrogation manual of 1963, which also drew on CIA-funded research on Korean and Chinese techniques from the 1950s. (KUBARK was the CIAs cryptonym for itself.) From 1966 to 1986 this manual, or versions of it, were used in army intelligence courses on counterinsurgency taught to visiting officers from Latin America. Some of these graduates would later be implicated in torture in their home countries. According to one study, for example, nearly nine in 10 survivors of torture under Uruguays military dictatorship reported having been waterboarded. The Pentagon recalled the manuals in 1992 and ordered them destroyed, but apparently then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney and his staff counsel, David Addington, saved copies for themselves. A decade later both men would play an important role in the creation of a torture program that included waterboarding. WATERBOARDING IN THE CIA PROGRAM WAS JUSTIFIED as involving merely the perception of drowning or the sensation of drowning. This is false. It is simply drowning that is stopped before the detainee dies, though often not before he or she loses consciousness. It is, in other words, an arrested execution. Since it is more easilybut never perfectlycontrollable, it permits torturers to bring detainees closer to death gradually over a relatively longer period of time and so presumably augment their fear in a way different from most if not all other tortures. A detainee who is beaten, for example, can sustain a life-threatening injury without that fact being immediately apparent to the interrogator. Even certain stress techniques can have this delayed effect. Electrocution runs the risk of cardiac arrest. (In truth waterboarding does as well, though torturers may not realize it.) The point is that a detainee might suddenly die from electrocution; similarly, a detainee might black out and then unexpectedly die later from beating or stress positions. Waterboarding permits the torturer to prolong the period of dying with morebut again not perfectcontrol. To that degree, waterboarding is really a form of mock execution. It differs from some other forms of mock execution, such as racking an empty pistol next to the ear of a blindfolded detainee or pushing a blindfolded prisoner out of a helicopter thats hovering a few feet off the ground, both of which cause extreme fear of death but tend to be over quickly. Waterboarding, in contrast, is slower; the detainee has time to desperately swallow as much water as he can, then try to prevent the water from going down his windpipe, and then remain terrifyingly conscious for some period as his airway begins to fill with water, and oxygen is cut off from his brain. On September 13, 2018, French president Emmanuel Macron officially acknowledged his countrys extensive use of waterboarding and other forms of torture during the 19541962 war in Algeria, and he apologized to the widow of a prominent victim. The contrast with the United States is stark. President Donald Trump has openly promised to bring back torture worse than waterboarding, and Gina Haspel, who became the director of the Central Intelligence Agency in May 2018, was in charge of that secret CIA prison in Thailand when Nashiri was being waterboarded. (In 2005 the CIA destroyed all videotapes showing detainees being waterboarded.) It took France six decades to admit to torture. Although President Barack Obama once acknowledged that the United States had tortured some folks, it appears that Americas reckoning with torture is a long way off. John W. Schiemann is a professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey. He is the author of Does Torture Work? (Oxford University Press, 2015). This article appears in the Spring 2019 issue (Vol. 31, No. 3) of MHQThe Quarterly Journal of Military History with the headline: The Waste of War Want to have the lavishly illustrated, premium-quality print edition of MHQ delivered directly to you four times a year? Subscribe now at special savings! The Ghaziabad police late Sunday night arrested three persons, said to be part of a gang of thieves, who allegedly claimed to have targeted at least 100 showrooms in the national capital region during the last three-four years. Police said they recovered four vehicles, including a Safari SUV and a Scorpio SUV, besides Rs 15 lakh, and branded goods and accessories worth Rs 50 lakh, from the possession of the three suspects. The arrested persons were identified as Rajvir Singh, 24, Sanjay Arora, 39, and their accomplice Anju, the wife of another suspected gang member Sachin Kumar, who is on the run. Police said they were arrested from Moradabad. According to the police, one of the SUVs they allegedly used in a robbery at Vaishali had received a dent during the heist. Police said they tracked SUVs with dents and traced it to Rajvirs, after which the gang was arrested. Police said the gang had allegedly been targeting showrooms and fleeing with items such as laptops, branded clothes, cameras and other costly items. As part of their modus operandi, the gang would first search for showrooms on the internet and procure information and estimation of valuables that they could steal. They would then conduct a recce of the location in person and would target the spot later at night. They used SUVs to ferry the stolen goods, Ravi Kumar, assistant superintendent of police (Indirapuram), said. In order to escape police checking during night and to ward off any suspicion, Sachin had roped in his wife Anju to help the gang flee, the police said. Anju would sit in the car while the gang members performed thefts. Seeing a woman in the car, the police would lower down the guard and allow the car to go unchecked. Farman, the mastermind of the gang, is lodged at Tihar jail in Delhi and his share would be handed over to his wife. The items they robbed from showrooms were sold at lower prices in the open market, the officer added. Police said they have also come to know about properties of the gang members which they purchased in Ghaziabad and Noida and are trying to trace them for further legal action. The gang members allegedly used crowbars and wire cutters to cut through the shutters and windows of the showrooms and escaped after bundling valuables items in their car, the police said. They added that the gang also had a habit of allegedly taking away the recording devices of the CCTV cameras whenever they looted a showroom. Police said that they had targeted a computer showroom in Vaishali a couple of months ago, besides a showroom in Hauz Khas in south Delhi. They added that Rajvir was residing in Noidas Sector 45 and allegedly spent lavishly on food after robbing showrooms and getting his share. Sanjay is a resident of Bhiwani in Haryana. Police said they have come across 18 cases against the two so far. The Maharashtra unit of the Congress has asked party president Rahul Gandhi to intervene and resolve the ongoing seat-sharing feud with long-time ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The parties have been engaged in a tussle over the Ahmednagar and Aurangabad seats for the Lok Sabha elections. While Congress has been demanding Ahmednagar for Dr Sujay Vikhe Patil, son of leader of opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, the NCP wants Aurangabad constituency, but wont concede the Ahmednagar seat. During a meeting with Rahul Gandhi on Saturday, state unit chief Ashok Chavan requested him to resolve the differences by talking to NCP chief Sharad Pawar, said a senior Congress leader, on condition of anonymity. Chavan told Gandhi that both parties have amicably admitted to sharing all other seats, but for Ahmednagar and Aurangabad constituencies. We do not see any reason to exchange Aurangabad, as NCP does not have a voter base there. Congress, while staking claim to Ahmednagar, have raised the issue of two consecutive defeats by NCP candidates there. The NCP, on the other hand, has contended that Congress has not been able to win Aurangabad in the past three elections. If the Ahmednagar seat is conceded to Congress, it will not be without an exchange for another seat, if not Aurangabad. That could be Nandurbar, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, said an NCP leader, who did not wish to be named. While political rivalry between the Vikhe Patils and Pawars goes back decades, Sujay met Rohit Pawar, Sharad Pawars grandnephew, on Sunday, indicating that efforts are on to mend bridges between the families. The parties are likely to go in for a 25:23 seat-sharing formula, and have arrived at a consensus for 46 seats. Congress and NCP had contested on 26 and 22 seats, respectively, in 2014, although later, NCP had conceded one seat to Congress as it did not have a suitable candidate. After a series of meetings between state-level leaders last month, the parties had arrived at a consensus for 40 seats. NCPs Praful Patel and Mallikarjun Kharge from Congress were asked to resolve the dispute over other seats, after a brief meeting between Pawar and Gandhi last month. Meetings between Patel and Kharge, and later, between Patel and Chavan led to the resolution of dispute over few more seats. Although NCP has been demanding Pune, Nandurbar, Yavatmal and Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg by conceding two more seats, Congress has turned down the proposal. Meanwhile, both parties have said they would share two seats each from their respective quotas with the smaller allies. The NCP is likely to concede one seat (Hatkanangale in Kolhapur) for farmers leader Raju Shetti; and one (Dindori in Nashik) for Communist Party of India (CPI). Congress, too, is expected to leave Palghar for legislator Hitendra Thakurs Bahujan Vikas Aghadi; and either Akola or Solapur for Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Monday the Supreme Court should respect the faith of the people on the Ram Janambhoomi issue. Replying to the debate on motion of thanks on Governor address, Adityanath said earlier the Allahabad High Court had resolved the dispute stating that the spot where Ram Lala temple was located was Ram Janambhoomi. People across the country and world over know Ayodhya as the birthplace of Lord Ram, he added. He said it should not take more than 24-hours to find a solution. Ayodhya, Mathura, Kashi are spots of Hindu faith. Socialist ideologue Ram Manohar Lohia had said that Ram, Krishna and Shiva are revered across the country but his followers have no respect for the Hindu icons. Rather the SP government had put petition in the court for withdrawal of case against the terrorist who attacked the Ram Janambhoomi, Yogi said. Yogi said three lakh stray cattle had been shifted to cow sheds erected in various districts. Funds have been allotted for the fodder of the cattle. The animal husbandry department has been directed to improve the breed of the cows to motivate the people in dairy industry, Yogi said and added that during his visit to NOIDA and Greater NOIDA on Monday farmers had told him that earlier stray cattle were smuggled to slaughter houses. Focusing on Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas (PBD) organized in Varanasi, Adityanath said for the first time the PBD was organized outside national and state capital. Over 7,000 NRIs participated in the programme. The perception of UP among the visitors is changing fast. They appreciated the development in the state as well as the working of the police and administration. Around 3,000 NRIs visited Prayagraj to participate in Kumbh, he said. During Maha Kumbh in 2013, the then PM of Mauritius had refused to take dip at Sangam after seeing the filth and pollution in the river, but this time the PM of Mauritius along with the 400 delegates took holy dip, he said. The SP- BSP government laid the foundation of the corruption corridor while the BJP government was laying the foundation of development corridor, he said. The state government has been able to create a security environment in the state. There is no migration in Kairana and Kandhla area in West UP. PAC has been deployed to instill confidence among the residents. The UP Investors Summit attracted 62,000 crore investment in the state; the state government had launched Bundelkhand expressway, Ganga expressway, Purvanchal expressway, the pending irrigation projects are being completed on priority basis. Three lakh home buyers harassed by the builders in NOIDA and Greater NOIDA area will get home soon. Welfare projects have been launched for suppressed communities- Tharu, Mushar and Vantangiyas, Yogi said. The old pension of the government employees was withdrawn in 2005 but no measure was taken by the SP and the BSP government to restore the pension scheme. The state government has decided to deposit government share in the account of the employees. It is committed to protecting the interest of the employees, he said. Jo bhrasht hai, usko Modi se kasht hai, says PM Modi Jo bhrasht hai, usko Modi se kasht hai (The corrupt have a problem with Modi) , said PM Modi in Haryanas Kurukshetra. I was mocked for talking about toilets from the Red Fort: PM Modi I was mocked for talking about toilets from the Red Fort. These were the people who didn;t care about the dignity of women, said PM Narendra Modi in Kurukshetra. Grameen yojana houses will be registered in womens names: PM Modi All houses constructed and being constructed under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana will be registered in womens names, said PM Modi in Kurukshetra. Some people thought history of India begins from 1947 by only one family: PM Some people thought history of India begins from 1947, and only one familys history was recorded, however, they are the one who tried to cut the nation from its past, said PM Narendra Modi in Harayanas Kurukshetra. One day, tourists will be attracted by Indias beautified toilets: PM Modi A day might come when tourists would be attracted to look at how toilets in India are painted, cleaned and beautified, said PM Narendra Modi in Haryanas Kurukshetra. PM Modi speaks at inauguration of development projects in Haryana PM Narendra Modi today began addressing the crowd as he laid the foundation of and inaugurated various development projects. PM Modi takes a look at cleanliness themed exhibition Accompanied by Haryana chief minister, ML Khattar and governor, prime minister took a round of an exhibition on the theme of cleanliness. PMK Modi inaugurates ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad PM Narendra Modi also inaugurated ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, through video conference. This is the first ESIC Medical College and Hospital in north India. The 510-bed hospital will have state-of-the-art-facilities. ESIC, under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the government of India provides social security to the insured persons and their beneficiaries, especially to worker population and their dependents. PM lays foundation stone, inaugurates development projects. ( BJP4India/Twitter ) PM Modi dedicates National Cancer Institute to nation Prime Minister Modi will also dedicate to the nation the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Bhadsa, Jhajjar. NIC is the state-of-the-art tertiary cancer care-cum-research institute, constructed on the AIIMS, Jhajjar campus. The 700-bed hospital will have different facilities like surgical oncology, radiation oncology, medical oncology, anesthesia, palliative care, and nuclear medicine, besides hostel rooms for doctors and attendants of cancer patients. PM lays foundation stone of Sri Krishna Ayush University PM Narendra Modi also laid the foundation stone of Sri Krishna Ayush University, Kurukshetra. It is the first university related to the Indian system of medicine in Haryana as well as the first university of this kind in India. PM Modi lays foundation stone of National Institute of Ayurveda Prime Minister Modi laid the foundation stone of National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA), Panchkula, which is being set up at Shri Mata Mansa Devi Temple Complex. It will be a national level institute for Ayurveda treatment, education, and research. Once completed, it will be highly beneficial for the residents of Haryana and other nearby states PM Modi reaches Kurukshetra PM Narendra Modi Tuesday reached Haryanas Kurukshetra to launch the Swachh Shakti-2019 programme from the Mela Ground of Brahma Sarovar. PM Modi to launch Swachh Shakti-2019 PM Narendra Modi will launch the Swachh Shakti-2019 programme from the Mela Ground of Brahma Sarovar, Kurukshetra. The Prime Minister will send out a message of cleanliness from Kurukshetra on February 12, during the Swachh Shakti-2019 programme. This programme is dedicated to women, the Haryana government said in a release. PM to dedicate National Cancer Institute to nation PM Narendra Modi will on Tuesday dedicate to the nation the National Cancer Institute at Bhadsa in Jhajjar district. The institute is the state-of-the-art tertiary cancer care-cum-research centre constructed at the AIIMS Jhajjar campus. PM Modi to kick off poll campaign in Kurukshetra PM Narendr a Modi will Tuesday will Tuesday visit Haryanas Kurukshetra to kick off BJPs poll campaign in Haryana. He will launch a series of projects, including a cancer institute. Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidus 12-hour protest saw more than 20 political leaders make an appearance at the national capitals Andhra Bhavan during the day. Congress president Rahul Gandhi had come in early in the day before heading to Lucknow for a road show, rival Aam Aadmi Partys Arvind Kejriwal came much later in the day. Around sunset when the Andhra chief minister wrapped up the protest, he told reporters that leaders from 23 political parties had showed up to extend support to Andhras Telugu Desam Party government, which is demanding special status for the state. BJP ally Shiv Sena was one of them. Its leader Sanjay Raut made a surprise appearance at the event where one speaker after another, treated the BJP-led national coalition as a punching bag. We are with N Chandrababu Naidu for the demand he is pressing for his state. Every state has its own role to play and every state has its own demands. We may have ideological differences but if the chief minister of a state is sitting on dharna for his state, we must support the cause, said Raut, according to news agency ANI. My leader Uddhav Thackeray told me to go and support N Chandrababu Naidu. We will think about politics later on, he added. Naidu said that Shiv Sena is not happy with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and thanked Shiv Sena for its support. Uddhav Thackeray is the best friend of mine. Even Bal Thackeray was very affectionate towards me. I really appreciate Shiv Sena chief for extending his cooperation, said Naidu. Disgruntled BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha and former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha also attended Naidus protest. Naidu, who ended his fast at 8.20 pm, accepting a glass of juice from JD(S) supremo and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, also announced that a memorandum would be presented to the President tomorrow morning. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and TMC leader Derek O Brien were among other opposition leaders who visited Andhra Bhavan to express their solidarity with Naidu, the supremo of Telugu Desam (TDP). The leaders in their brief speeches mounted a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a range of issues, notably the Rafale deal, with Kejriwal going to the extent of accusing him of behaving like PM of Pakistan and not of India in the way he treats state governments led by opposition parties. Reacting to Kejriwals barb, BJPs national secretary and co-incharge for Andhra Pradesh Sunil Deodhar said the leaders of the grand-alliance are competing with each other on who can be more abusive towards Modi, according to news agency PTI. Naidu, who is trying to unite opposition parties, has over the last three months, has held a number of meetings with opposition party leaders on forming an anti-BJP front. The TDP pulled out of the NDA government in March last year over its refusal to grant special status to Andhra Pradesh. After their extremely successful film Pink, Amitabh Bachchan and Tapsee Pannu will once again be seen on screen together in their upcoming film Badla. The trailer for the Sujoy Ghosh thriller dropped earlier today and people on Twitter seem extremely excited about the intriguing storyline of the film. And even as many have tweeted about not being able to wait for the films release, there are those whove done what they do best - picked dialogues from the film and turned them into hilarious memes. Twitter is flooded with posts that use the films dialogues to reference everyday scenarios. From cancelled Goa plans with friends to choosing engineering or MBBS for studies against ones wishes, people have shared some incredible memes using the films dialogues. Take a look at some of the best ones: When Parents Cancel your Goa Trip with Friends #BadlaTrailer pic.twitter.com/XePGbkhJdU Bajrangi MunNaa (@Munnaa09) February 12, 2019 When you ask your friend for help during exam.#BadlaTrailer pic.twitter.com/SBIzca36cs Anshul Mahajan (@2794_anshul) February 12, 2019 When the person who suggested engineering to you appears for Bank PO exam. #BadlaTrailer pic.twitter.com/0H9Um1UQK9 Bollywood Gandu (@BollywoodGandu) February 12, 2019 #BadlaTrailer *When you have a fight with your sister* Dad to her: pic.twitter.com/OpbOMy3dQa Ashutosh Singh (@ashusarcastic) February 12, 2019 When you are not able to solve a series of maths questions.#BadlaTrailer pic.twitter.com/0U5eV0IohK Sheena Ailawadi (@sheenafyinglife) February 12, 2019 In Badla, Amitabh Bachchan plays a lawyer named Badal Gupta. It is his job to get Taapsees character acquitted after she is found in a locked room with a dead body. The thriller is said to be a remake of 2016 Spanish film, The Invisible Guest and is slated to release on March 8. So what do you think of the trailer and all the memes it has inspired? Around two million of the total 8.3 million school students in Madhya Pradesh are still to get their uniforms even as only two months of the current academic session are left. Officials claimed the model code which was in place due to the November assembly election caused the delay in the distribution of school uniforms. According to a school education department official, till the last academic session, the government used to transfer the money directly into the students accounts but last January, then chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced that the school education would provide stitched uniforms to the students and that the stitching would be done by self-help groups (SHG). The basic motive was to provide work to women under the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). After this decision, the order was released in March and the work of stitching dresses of 83 lakh students begun. Only a few dresses could be completed till October but the distribution stopped when the model code of conduct (MCC) came into effect. Distribution of uniforms began again in December but self-help groups were unable to provide the quality and quantity needed, the official said. The education minister in the previous BJP government, Deepak Joshi, said the government had come up with a very good system to provide jobs to women as well as stitched dresses to the students, but the process was delayed due to elections. The present government should speed up the process so that students can get the uniforms at least before the elections, he said. School education minister, Prabhuram Choudhary, blamed the previous governments negligence for the problem. We are trying our best to speed up the process to distribute the uniforms, he said. Some students, who have received the uniform, complained of the quality. A student of Rashidia School, Bhopal, Shivani Singh said, I have just received my uniform but I cant wear it because it is too short. It is useless for me. MP teachers association general secretary Ashutosh Pandey said, Many students got badly made uniforms and when we complained we were asked to take the measurements again and send them to SHG for proper stitching. The principal of a government middle school of Agar Malwa Rajneesh Swarnkar said, The school uniform is necessary as it brings uniformity and equality among the students. Parents of students inquire daily about uniforms but what can we do. Rashtriya Sikhsha Kendra (RSK) director Irene Cynthia said, Around 20 lakh uniforms are yet to be distributed. We are trying hard so that distribution can be completed soon. The delay happened due to SHGs and model code of conduct. Alleging that he was stopped from boarding a plane from Lucknow to Allahabad, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav lashed out at the Yogi Adityanath government on Tuesday. He said this government believes in roko, thoko neeti (policy of stop and encounter). Yadav claimed that he was prevented from participating in a function at the Allahabad University, where he was scheduled to attend an event of the students union. In December last year, Samajwadi Party backed candidate Uday Yadav had won the union poll. Yadav said that he had informed the Yogi government in December about his visit to Allahabad University. We sent the first programme on December 27A detailed programme was sent on February 2 so that so that the administration could make necessary arrangements in the view of the Kumbh, Yadav said at a press conference in Lucknow. But this government believes in roko, thoko neeti. It stopped me from boarding the plane. This government is scared of students, he said adding, I was also invited by a seer at Kumbh over lunch but this government led by a yogi has problem with that also. I was prevented from boarding the airplane without any written orders. Currently detained at Lucknow airport, the former chief minister tweeted earlier. Read: #NeverAgain let the BJPs two and a half men rule us: Akhilesh to voters It is clear how frightened the govt is by the oath ceremony of a student leader. The BJP knows that the youth of our great country will not tolerate this injustice anymore! Akhilesh posted. Coming out in support of Akhilesh Yadav, BSP chief Mayawati slammed the BJP government asking if it is so scared of the her partys alliance with the SP. She said, Is BJP government so scared of SP-BSP alliance that they have started banning political events? They seem to be using Kumbh for political agenda. Not allowing Akhilesh Yadav to go to Prayagraj proves that. The SP and the BSP announced their alliance for the Lok Sabha elections in January. The two parties had joined hands last year to hand over an embarrassing defeat to the BJP in Lok Sabha bypolls after the party formed its government with huge majority in the state. The Samajwadi Party leader also posted a series of photographs from the Lucknow airport showing an official standing at the stairs of the aircraft apparently blocking his path. Akhilesh Yadav was seen in another photo surrounded by a sea of people, including policemen. Officials from the police and administration were already present when Akhilesh reached the airport to board the plane for Prayagraj. The moment Akhilesh stepped out the car, the officials made a ring around him. Do not touch me. Keep your hands off me, he said. Akhilesh said the officials did not have any written orders and failed to explain the reason behind their action. I was stopped at the airport without any written order. The officials could not clear the issue despite being asked. The only motive behind stopping me from going to the students union programme was to suppress the socialist thoughts amongst the youth, Akhilesh tweeted in Hindi. Read: Alliance, ambition and the allure of realpolitik Yogi Adityanath said that Akhileshs visit would have sparked a row in Prayagraj. Samajwadi Party should do away with its negative activities. At Prayagraj, Kumbh Mela is going on and Akhileshs visit could have created chaos there. Therefore, his visit was cancelled. The party is known for creating the ruckus, he told newspersons in Lucknow. Yogi Adityanath and the Bharatiya Janta Party slammed Akhileshs allegation that his government had stopped him from attending a swearing-in ceremony of the students union at Allahabad University. A leader of the Samajwadi Party Chatra Sabha, the students wing of the Samajwadi Party, holds the post of president of the universitys students union. Barely 10 days back Akhilesh Yadav had visited Kumbh and taken bath at Sangam. He has been detained to ensure that the situation remains peaceful as Kumbh is on in Prayagraj, Adityanath said in Lucknow soon Akhilesh accused his government of vendetta. The Samajwadi Party should stop indulging in negative activities, Adityanath said. BJP leader Chandramohan said the party cadre had checked and exposed what he called Yadavs lie. He said, It is clear that the Samajwadi Party is frustrated. The BJP is going to resist such tactics. The Samajwadi Party also released the videos of Akhilesh Yadavs detention at the airport. The Samajwadi Party workers, who were waiting for him at the Prayagraj airport, created a ruckus. Samajwadi Party legislators also tried to raise the issue in the Uttar Pradesh assembly during Question Hour. Anticipating law and order problem at the Allahabad University due to animosity between rival student groups, the university administration has not permitted any political programme to be held on campus and intimated them accordingly. Accordingly, the administration in Prayagraj has informed the chief ministers office and Lucknows district magistrate, said principal secretary (home) Arvind Kumar. Students from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, who are on bail in the pay-to-stay case in the US, say they were cheated in the alleged fraud played on them by American police in trapping them by floating a fake university to expose an immigration racket. According to Andhra Pradesh Non-Resident Telugu (APNRT) Society, as many as 27 of 129 Telugu students who were arrested in the case, were released from various detention centres in the US as on Saturday. The hearing of the cases is scheduled to be held on Monday and Tuesday and more students are expected to come out, APNRT spokesperson Sagar Doddapaneni said. One of the four students, who came out from Arizona State Detention Centre on Friday, said most of the students had enrolled in University of Farmington only because their application for H1B visa had been waiting for approval from the US government. He said he had completed his masters in electronics in 2016 and started working on Optional Practical Training (OPT) as a software developer and applied for H1B visa. It took almost a year to know whether H1B is approved or not and by that time OPT was over. I thought of doing masters in computer science so that I can get benefit from this course for jobs and get the valid status, he said. Like him, many students applied to various universities including the University of Farmington. When they contacted the university, they were told that classes were currently full and that no professors were available. They would be informed once the classes are open for enrolment. However, the university gave them an option. If they had any friend who was studying at the university and who could refer them, they could provide them with admission. That was how they were enrolled into the university through student recruiters, all from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. We clearly mentioned their H1B was in pending status as we do not want to lose our legal status, the student said. He said the students never knew that it was a place that could be used for pay to stay. Many students got their H1Bs still continue in their university thinking that the classes will start and they can get the degree which will be useful for their career. If students really wanted to stay illegally, they would not have given their genuine addresses and not done their paperwork, he said. According to Venkat Kommineni, an Indian American political activist in Arizona who has been assisting Telugu students in the case, the university assured to provide them legal status and also Curricular Practical Training (CPT) internship from day one. The students were provided with student portal to login in and when they logged in, no classes were available. The university staff continued to hoodwink the student saying classes would start soon. When some students applied for drivers license, the university provided the proof of valid student status to the authorities, he said. Apparently, the students were given the impression that the college was really big and classes were full at that time. They were informed that they would be called when classes were available. The students kept waiting to hear back and paying the fee. The only e-mail they got was an invoice e-mail, he said. Kommineni, who is working with consulate office and meeting immigration attorneys to secure bail for the students, said students and their relatives were requesting that the Indian government should come to their rescue. They want the government to help them by arranging a quick appointment with the judge so that they could come out from detention centres. They also want clear guidance and direction from the authorities on pros-cons of different options, he said. The students also want to know whether there was any way they would get another chance to join other universities and continue to work in the US with the approved H1Bs. If the students are forced to be deported to India, then the document should not show misrepresentation of ban on their entry into the US in future, Kommineni said. A top Maoist leader B Sudhakar, who had been carrying a reward of Rs 1 crore on his head, is learnt to have surrendered before the Telangana police on Monday. His wife Madhavi alias Neelima, who is also a top-ranking Maoist leader, reportedly surrendered along with him. Sudhakar (51), known by several aliases such as Satwaji, Ogu Buriyari, Sudhakaran and Kiran, hails from Sarangapur village of Nirmal district (erstwhile part of Adilabad district). The Telangana police, however, refused to deny or confirm the surrender. We shall let you know officially at an appropriate time, a spokesperson in the office of Director General of Police said. Sudhakar, who was one of the central committee and politburo members of the CPI (Maoist), used to control several districts of Jharkhand, including Palamu, Garhwa, Latehar, Lohardaga, Gumla and Simdega, collectively called Koyal Sankh Zone. Madhavi was a member of the Bihar-Jharkhand special area committee and was an expert in computer operations looking after the accounts of the party. The arrest of Sudhakars brother Narayana in Ranchi in August last and his interrogation had revealed that Sudhakar and Madhavi had allegedly siphoned off huge amounts of money collected by the Maoist party. During the period of demonetization in November-December 2016, the couple had allegedly exchanged lakhs of rupees of demonetized currency into new currency. There were also allegations that Sudhakar and Madhavi had diverted huge amount of money into real estate business in Andhra and Telangana. The couple had been negotiating with the Telangana police for safe surrender for quite some, a police source said. M Nageswara Rao, the CBIs ex-interim director who apologized to the Supreme Court for transferring a CBI officer AK Sharma probing the Bihar shelter home, committed contempt of court, a bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi ruled on Tuesday, rejecting the apology sent by two senior CBI officials. The top court ordered Rao and the CBI legal adviser to pay Rs 1 lakh fine within a week and sentenced them till the rising of the court. This means, they have to sit in a corner of the Chief Justices court until the end of the court proceedings for the day. As CBIs interim chief earlier, Rao had signed off on the transfer orders of CBI AK Sharma who was supervising the investigation into the abuse of inmates at Bihars shelter homes. Chief Justice Gogoi said there were explicit orders by the top court not to move out officers leading the Bihar probe without its permission. But the government transferred several officers last month, some of them out of the agency after cutting short their tenure in view of the clash between two top CBI officers, ex-CBI director Alok Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana. AK Sharma was one of them. Last week, a bench of Chief Justice Gogoi and justices L Nageswara Rao and Sanjiv Khanna had asked Nageswara Rao to explain if he informed the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet that AK Sharma could not be transferred without the top courts approval. Nageswara Rao, staring at contempt of court punishment, had filed an affidavit in his response. He apologized profusely, insisting that he could not even dream of disobeying the court order. Attorney General KK Venugopal asked the judges to accept his apology and let him off the hook. Also Read | Kolkata police raid firms linked to wife of ex-CBI interim chief Rao But Chief Justice Gogoi would have none of it. The judge, who looked at the files, pointed to the sequence of events and the file notings that pointed that Nageswara Rao, who was holding interim charge as CBI director, and the legal adviser did agree that they should take the Supreme Court into confidence before implementing the transfer. But when the file eventually came to him again, the legal adviser opined that they could skip this step. And the interim CBI director played along. Would heavens have fallen if the transfer order was issued a day later, the CJI asked the governments top officer. Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that in his 20 years as a judge, he had not compromised on the dignity and honour of the court. KK Venugopal told the judges that the former CBI interim chief did not do it willfully and throws himself to the mercy of the court. Holding him guilty of contempt would result in his career being ruined, the governments top law officer pleaded. An angry CJI Gogoi said, Mr Attorney General, let us be very clear. I dont think any of us ever had the occasion to invoke a contempt power. But it has to be the first time. Speaking for myself, I believe dignity and majesty of court should be maintained and this is blatant. AK Sharma, a joint director in the CBI, was the senior-most supervising officer in the Bihar shelter home case and the court, in two orders dated October 31 and November 28, said he should not be transferred. After his transfer, Sharma was appointed the additional director general in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Records placed before the court indicated that agencys acting director of prosecution S Bhasuran had given an opinion favouring the transfer. Bhasuran had also apologised to the top court. A report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) had highlighted that dozens of girls lodged at a government funded-shelter home in Muzaffarpur were allegedly being sexually assaulted. A businessmans six-year-old twins - both boys - were kidnapped at gunpoint from their school bus near Nayagaon in Chitrakoot, Madhya Pradesh, on Tuesday, the police said. The family of the kidnapped children lives in Sitapur on the Uttar Pradesh side of Chitrakoot, three kilometres from Sadguru Public School where the two boys are studying in lower kindergarten. Their father deals in herbal oils. Following the incident, superintendent of police, Chitrakoot (UP), Manoj Jha said all entry and exit points had been sealed and police teams were working in coordination with the Satna police. The incident took place when the school bus was transporting the children from the schools Janki Kund campus in Nayagaon police area of Chitrakoot, Madhya Pradesh. Two armed men boarded the bus and held the conductor Ram Kumar, driver Rinku, and two women attendants at gunpoint. The criminals, who had covered their faces with saffron stoles, kidnapped the two boys from among the 35 children on board around 12.40pm, eyewitnesses told the police. The bus staff told the police that the criminals escaped on a motorcycle. They said that the bus driver chased them for a while, but the criminals entered a lane where the bus could not enter and disappeared. Ram Kumar informed the police and the school authorities about the incident. Superintendent of police, Satna, Santosh Singh Gaur was on the spot but refused to comment on the incident. Soon after receiving information about the incident, the police rushed to the spot and saw the CCTV footage of how the twins were kidnapped at gunpoint from the school bus. We are investigating the matter, our teams are alert and we have informed other district police officials as well. The reason behind the kidnapping is yet to be ascertained, said Satna assistant superintendent of police Gautam Singh Solanki. Chitrakoot is the name of a town in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh as well as a district of the same name in Uttar Pradesh. (with agency inputs) Guzmans conviction clears the way for the sentencing in Chicago for his former right-hand man, Vincente Zambada-Niebla, the son of the current Sinaloa boss. Zambada-Niebla, 43, one of the highest-level Sinaloa operatives to flip against El Chapo, is scheduled to be sentenced April 25 by U.S. District Chief Judge Ruben Castillo. Known as "Mayito," he pleaded guilty in Chicago to two separate cases alleging he trafficked thousands of pounds of cocaine and heroin into the U.S. using speedboats, submarines and jumbo jets, records show. Zambada-Niebla also acknowledged the cartel used "military-caliber" weapons to enforce their shipments as well as "violence and threats of violence" to rivals, informants and law enforcement. He faces up to life in prison, but given his dramatic testimony at Chapos trial in January, prosecutors are expected to ask Castillo to sentence him to far less. Hes also agreed not to contest an unprecedented order to forfeit $1.37 billion in ill-gotten proceeds from the cartel. A seven-judge bench will decide minority tag for Aligarh Muslim University, other institutions, the Supreme Court said today. In July 2016, the Centre withdrew an appeal filed in the Supreme Court by the previous Congress-led UPA government that had sought to retain the minority tag for AMU.. The Centre took a stand in the Supreme Court that the Aligarh Muslim University could not be categorised as a minority institution and the government claimed that it cannot be seen as setting up a minority institution in a secular state. In August 2016, AMU told the top court that the NDA government s decision to withdraw the universitys minority status was politically motivated and argued that a mere change of regime at the Centre cannot be the grounds for a decision affecting community members across the country. .The Aligarh Muslim University Act was enacted in 1920 dissolving and incorporating Mohammedan-Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College. Parliament passed the AMU (Amendment) Act in 1951. The Act did away with compulsory instruction in Muslim theology. The amendment opened membership of the Court of AMU to non-Muslims. Earlier this month, the university hit the headlines after the Mayor of Agra Naveen Jain asked the Aligarh administration to take stringent measures to save the AMU from becoming a hub of terrorists,. Last year a row had erupted in the university over a portrait of Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah that had been hanging at the AMU students union hall since 1938. The controversy began after Satish Gautam, BJP MP from Aligarh wrote to AMU vice chancellor Tariq Mansoor seeking justification for the portrait of a leader blamed by many for the partition of India. Robert Vadra, businessman and the husband of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, and his mother Maureen Vadra are at the Jaipur office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning in connection with Bikaner land case. They reached the Jaipur office of the ED this morning. Priyanka Gandhi accompanied them to the EDs Jaipur office. Priyanka Gandhi had also accompanied Robert Vadra to Delhi office of the ED last week when he was questioned for hours over three days in connection with another property case. Priyanka Gandhi had then said that her trip to the ED office in Delhi was designed to send a message. Also Read | Priyanka flies to Jaipur to be with Robert Vadra ahead of questioning by ED Earlier, Vadra arrived in the Rajasthan capital on Monday after being summoned by the ED. The case relates to an alleged 275-acre land scam in the Kolayat sub-division of Bikaner district. Senior ED officials, according to sources, have prepared a set of 55 questions for Vadra in the alleged land scam case. The questioning is happening after a January 21 order of the Rajasthan High Court, which directed the partners of Sky Light Hospitality Company to appear before Enforcement Directorate (ED) on February 12. Robert Vadra and his mother Maureen are partners in the company. The high court, however, restrained the agency from arresting Robert Vadra and Maureen. You May Also Like | Congress workers, analysts, husband and BJP, Priyanka Gandhi under watchful gaze of many The name of the Sky Light Company surfaced during the investigation by the ED into a case of money laundering in the Bikaner land scam case. The Sky Light Hospitality moved the Rajasthan High Court, which in December 2018 restrained the ED from taking any coercive action against the company. The high court also sent notices to the finance ministry and the ED. Congress president Rahul Gandhi will address All India Congress Seva Dal Maha Adhiveshan (grand meet) in Ajmer (Rajasthan) on February 14. Seva Dals chief organiser Lalji Desai said the two-day sixth maha adhiveshan is being organised after 30 years on February 13-14, and AICC chief Rahul Gandhi will be addressing it on Thursday. The last five maha adhiveshans of Seva Dal were held in 1958, 1961, 1983, 1984 and 1989. A release of the event states that the highlights of the maha adhiveshan would be - In the year of Gandhi 150, reflect on various values Gandhi wanted to imbibe in the country and ensure grassroot level programmes are developed for the entire year to engage in all parts of the country so that we celebrate Gandhi 150 in its true sense; and garner support from Seva Dal volunteers, fellow Congressmen and like-minded people to fight fascist and corrupt forces in the country and ensure Gandhian ideology flourishes in the country. A mega rally on the penultimate day will be one of the major highlights of the two-day national maha adhiveshan. This rally will be addressed by Congress president. As part of this rally, Seva Dal volunteers will present the following activities to the leadership and the nation: 1. Display of parade by each state with band troops 2. Seva Dal drills and display program 3. All volunteers to take voluntary pledge for the development of Seva Dal and Congress 4. The leadership team comprising all levels and its members will present the declaration to Congress president. Protests against the citizenship bill continued in the northeast states even as regional political parties rushed to New Delhi to make a last ditch effort to stall the proposed amendment, which is likely to be tabled in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. In Manipur, mobile internet services have been suspended and curfew imposed in the twin districts of Imphal (East) and Imphal (West), according to police officials manning the control rooms. Manipur People against Citizenship Amendment Bill announced February 12 as D Day while People Alliance Manipur announced a 36-hour shutdown starting Monday. In Mizoram, civil society groups said they will intensify the protests and observe February 12 as black day. Normal life in Manipur and Nagaland was disrupted as organisations had announced a complete shutdown on Monday in protest against the citizenship bill. In a meeting on January 29, ten regional outfits including allies of the BJP, the National Peoples Party (NPP), in Meghalaya, the Mizo National Front (MNF) in Mizoram, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) in Nagaland, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) among others had passed a resolution opposing the bill. The grouping had support from the Janata Dal(United) and Shiv Sena. Read: Cheap thrills: Bhupen Hazarikas son weighs in on Bharat Ratna, Citizenship Bill On Monday, political parties from the region reached out to other outfits in New Delhi. We came here yesterday to meet different political parties and leaders of the government to appeal to not go ahead with the bill. Different political parties, the AGP and regional outfits, are here again. Let us hope that somehow we can ensure that the bill does not go through, Meghalayas chief minister Conrad Sangma said, adding that the National Peoples Party (NPP) will not budge from opposing the bill. The chief minister of Manipur N Biren Singh, who has earlier spoken against the amendment, met Union home minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi. We are communicating with the political outfits we had been in touch earlier. The coming days are important to us. The political parties have assured us of support, said Atul Bora, the president of the Asom Gana Parishad. While the AGP withdrew from the alliance with the BJP, the NPP said it will pull out if the bill is pushed. In Meghalaya, the United Democratic Party, another alliance partner in the state government, said it is waiting for the NPP to decide on ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party. We are waiting for the NPP to take a call on its ties with the NDA. We have decided that we have nothing to do with NEDA, that is how serious we are about the interests of the people, UDPs general secretary Allantry F Dkhar said. Along with the parties, students organisations from the region, too, have reached out to Rajya Sabha MPs. We have met Samajwadi Party MP Javed Ali Khan and Bodo Peoples Fronts Biswajit Daimary, Samuel Jyrwa, who heads the North East Students Organisation, an umbrella outfit of student bodies, said. Khan assured us of support from the SP while Daimary said he will vote in favour of the interests of the people of the northeast, said Jyrwa. Also read: NPP will quit NDA if Rajya Sabha passes Citizenship Bill, says Meghalaya CM Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his rally in Changsari in Assam on February 9 had assured that the NDA government will not let any harm come to the northeast because of the bill. However, groups in Assam claim it violates the Assam Accord while other organisations say it will encourage the inflow of illegal migrants. The proposed amendment which was passed by the Lok Sabha in January would relax citizenship eligibility criteria for Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains, Christians and Buddhists who have come from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. In Manipur, normal life came to a standstill as Peoples Alliance Manipur, a grouping of over 130 organisations called for a 36-hour shutdown starting 5am on Monday. Protests also continued at Ima Keithel or Mothers Market where six women were injured on Sunday as police fired tear gas shells to disperse the protesters. The agitators, all women, have been spending the night in the market as a mark of the protest against the bill. The state government claims the bill will not affect Manipur. We dont know what stand they have. It is likely they are supporting this bill, said Bhushan Longjam, general secretary of the Socialist Students Union of Manipur. In Nagaland, life came to a standstill as civil society groups announced a ten-hour shutdown against the delay in solution to the Naga issue and the citizenship bill. Our demand is very simple that there should be an early solution to the Naga issue. They have decided to impose the CAB even as the Naga issue is still pending. With this shutdown we want to show our resentment to the Government of India, said Shikuto Zalipu, the general secretary of Nagaland Gaon Bura Federation. Also read: PM Modi reaches out to Northeast to soothe citizenship anger Nagalands director general of police TJ Longkumer said the shutdown in the state was peaceful. No untoward incident was reported from the state but it was a spontaneous shutdown and everything was closed, he said. Lalnunmawia Pautu, the general secretary of the influential Mizoram students organisation Mizo Zirlai Pawl, said if the bill is passed there will be an influx of illegal Chakma migrants from Bangladesh. We, together with NGOs in the state are again going to have another round of statewide protest tomorrow, Pautu said. He said special prayers were held on Sunday against the bill. The railways Tuesday rationalised the proposed ticket prices for the Train 18, reducing the AC chair car fare to Rs 1,760 from Rs 1,850 and the executive class fare to Rs 3,310 from Rs 3,520 for a Delhi-Varanasi trip, an official order said. However, there would be no concessions on tickets in the soon-to-be-launched Vande Bharat Express or Train18 like the ones given to senior citizens in other trains and only full-fare adult tickets would be issued, the railway order said. On the return journey, the chair car ticket would cost Rs 1,700 and the executive car ticket will be priced at Rs 3,260, it said. The fares are inclusive of the catering service charges, the order said. The inaugural run of the train will be on February 15 when it is flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Delhi. Its first commercial run will be on February 17. For its commercial run, the train will leave Delhi at 6 am and reach Varanasi at 2 pm. On the return journey, it will leave Varanasi at 3 pm and reach Delhi at 11 pm, the official order said. The train will run all days a week except for Monday and Thursday, it said. Sources said the railways decided to reduce the fares after it was felt the ticket prices were much higher than in the Shatabdi Express, especially in the chair car. We wanted to ensure higher affordability and make it a compelling proposition, so we decided to reduce the fares, a senior railway official said. Now, the chair car fares are 1.4 times the base price of the Shatabdi trains running the same distance and the executive class fares are 1.3 times of first class air conditioned seating in the premium train, the railway order said. The ticket fares between Delhi and Kanpur will be Rs 1,090 instead of Rs 1,150 in the chair car and Rs 2,105 instead of Rs 2,245 in EC for a distance of 447 km, the order said. Between Delhi and Prayagraj (642 km), the ticket price for CC class will be Rs 1,395 (instead of Rs 1,480) and Rs 2,750 (instead of Rs 2,935) for the EC class. Between Kanpur and Prayagraj (195 km), the price for CC will be Rs 595 instead of Rs 630, and for EC it will be Rs 1,170 instead of Rs 1,245, the order said. The prices between Kanpur and Varanasi (319 km) for a CC ticket will be Rs 1,020 instead of Rs 1,065 and an EC ticket will cost Rs 1,815 instead of Rs 1925. The train will have differently priced meals as well. While passengers travelling from New Delhi to Varanasi in the executive class will be charged Rs 399 for morning tea, breakfast and lunch, travellers in the chair car will need to pay Rs 344 for the same. Those travelling from New Delhi to Kanpur and Prayagraj will have to pay Rs 155 and Rs 122 for executive class and chair car, respectively. From Varanasi to New Delhi, the passengers will be charged Rs 349 and Rs 288 in the executive class and chair, respectively. While there will be no option to opt out of meals for the passengers of the train, the ones travelling its first or final legs have been given that option. Passengers can save Rs 222 on CC tickets and Rs 244 on EC tickets by opting out of the meals provided by the IRCTC. The Vande Bharat Express is a luxury all air-conditioned chair car and will take around eight hours to travel between Delhi and Varanasi, halting at only two stations enroute Kanpur and Prayagraj. The Vande Bharat Express, manufactured under the Make in India initiative at ICF, Chennai is Indias fastest train, having attained speeds of over 180 kmph during it trial runs. On the Delhi-Varanasi route however, the section speed restrictions would mean that the new train set will hot a maximum speed of 130 kmph. Aarti, 15, was delighted to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi serving mid-day meal to her and nearly two dozen other students at a special enclosure on the campus of the Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir here on Monday. He even spoon-fed a few children and blessed them. The occasion marked the three billionth meal of the Akshaya Patra Foundation, a non-profit organisation funded by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). The foundation has been serving mid-day meal to schoolchildren in 12 states for over 18 years. He also unveiled a ceremonial plaque at the event to mark the serving of 3rd billionth meal by Akshaya Patra Foundation.Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also joined him in serving food. BJPs Mathura MP Hema Malini also joined the prime minister at the event. The prime minister went to this enclosure after addressing the gathering and served food to schoolchildren. First thali through this NGO was served by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and I feel fortunate to serve the third billionth thali today, Modi said. From serving just 1,500 children in the beginning to over 17 lakh now, the NGO is helping in the growth of the country. The meal that the PM served to the students on Monday included vegetables, dal, rice and gajar ka halwa (a dessert). The students described their experience as bahut achha (very good). The PM asked Annu, 14, in which class she studied and then he fed another student, Yogesh, with a spoon. Main apne doston ko bataunga (I will tell my friends about it), Chetan, 12, a student of Purv Madhyamik Vidyalaya at Nagla Kiki near Vrindavan. He asked me if I know cooking. When I said yes, Modiji wanted to know how I got the time to study. I told him that I always found the time to study, Aarti said. While Rahul was elated when the Prime Minister asked which sport he loved to play, Satyendra, Neetu, Chanchal and Chandni were amused when Modi asked them if he was late in turning up to serve them food. Governor Ram Naik, chief minister Yogi Adityanath, UP ministers Shrikant Sharma, Laxmi Narain Chaudhary and Anupama Jaiswal as well as Mathura MP Hema Malini were present on the occasion. Celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor, who is associated with the Akshaya Patra Foundation, said an advisory council discussed the mid-day meal menu. Indeed, it was great to have the Prime Minister serving meals to students, he said. Kapoor called upon the corporate sector to come forward to help such efforts to serve healthy food to children. The menu has been evolving. Only dal (pulses) and chawal (rice) was served initially. Once a chapatti-making machine became available, an addition was made to the menu. Then, it was decided to have sweets twice a week. Today was a special day, thus gajar ka halwa was served, said Kapoor. Akshaya Patra Foundation chairman Madhu Pandit Dasa, vice-chairman Chanchalapathi Dasa and independent trustee Mohandas Pai welcomed the guests. Akshaya Patra rose from a humble beginning, serving just 1500 students in five schools (initially). Today, we are serving wholesome food to 1.76 million children across 12 states of India, Madhu Pandit Dasa said. (With inputs from PTI) The Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) the most influential and largest Naga rebel group currently in talks with Government of India, announced its new chairman and vice chairman on Monday. The two posts had been lying vacant since the death of Isak Chishi Swu in 2016 and Kholi Konyak in December 2018. According to a statement from the outfit, in its National Hoho at its headquarters in Camp Hebron on the outskirts of Dimapur, it elected Qhehezu Tuccu as Chairman and Tongmeth Wangnao as Vice-Chairman. The announcement was made by T Muivah, the general secretary of the outfit. The members of the house applauded them with immense satisfaction for filling up the post of Chairman and Vice-Chairman lying vacant after the demise of late Isak Chishi Swu and late Gen (Retd.) Kholi, the statement from NSCN (I-M) said. The NSCN (I-M) signed a framework agreement with the Government of India in 2015 to pave way for a solution to the vexed Naga political issue. The rebel group wants a Greater Nagaland or Nagalim that would extend Nagalands borders by including Naga-dominated areas in neighbouring Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, to unite 1.2 million Nagas. Along with NSCN (I-M) six other groups under the umbrella of Working Committee of the Naga National Political Groups are also in talks with the Government of India on the Naga issue. The Khango Konyak faction of the NSCN (Khaplang), too, recently joined the working committee. It is likely to take part in the next round of dialogue. As Mamata Banerjee landed in Delhi Tuesday evening to join the protest by opposition leaders in the Capital, she will be handling a challenge of turning a threat into an opportunity. It was a difficult process that she launched on the evening of February 3, a couple of hours after a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team went to the official residence of Kolkata Police commissioner Rajeev Kumar. As police personnel were locked in a widely televised jostle with a CBI team trying to enter the red brick building at 2 Loudon Street, tongues began to wag in Bengal that the Trinamool Congress chief will now have face the heat as the federal agency could now crack down on those close to her in the Ponzi scam cases just before the Lok Sabha elections. But hardly could her rivals predict that the 64-year-old would park herself on a chair on the pavement at a busy intersection in the business district of Kolkata close to 8:45pm and announce a satyagraha against the Narendra Modi government, alleging the Centre is bent of destroying the Constitution, the federal structure of the country, the police force and democracy itself. Read | If Opposition wins, expect six PMs a week, country on holiday on Sundays: Amit Shah From the extremely awkward situation that the rivals began conjuring up for her in early evening, Mamata Banerjee began a counter-offensive by late evening that brought a few leaders of opposition parties to her platform over the next two days, catapulted her to the headlines and prompted more than a dozen of other leaders to issue statements supporting her stand and criticising the Union government. It seemed that Mamata Banerjee picked up from where she left during the rally on January 19 when almost two dozen leaders of parties opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party gathered at her unity show in Kolkatas Brigade Parade ground pledging to keep their differences aside and continue a united fight against the Modi government. While the possibility of a CBI crackdown on those who benefitted from Saradha and other scams still looms, Mamata Banerjee has succeeded, at least initially, to partially divert attention towards something that might benefit her politically and salvage her from a gloomy situation. It is with this objective of taking the attack right into the rival camp that the Bengal chief minister will be visiting Delhi to participate in another dharna. Her critics admit its a high-risk game and unlike any other that she has undertaken in her long political career. The dharna in Kolkata has committed her to a position where she will be held guilty of trying to shield police officers if they are found guilty of wrongdoing, something that opponents pointed out she did not carry out even when senior Trinamool leaders such as Sudip Bandyopadhyay were arrested in connection with the Rose Valley scam. Also Read | Chandrababu Naidu takes out protest march over Andhra special status, meets President The dharna has done two things for the Trinamool Congress chief. While it has made her one of the most prominent anti-BJP faces in the country, it has also brought her into a sharp attack by senior BJP leaders. Since Mamata Banerjees Kolkata gambit, both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party president Amit Shah have made it a point to highlight her in election rallies across the country as the first chief minister in the country to stage a dharna in support of persons accused in the Ponzi scams. Most political observers feel the special mention of Didi helps improve her position as a leader of the emerging anti-BJP front, it also indicates that she is moving farther and farther beyond the point of no return. There are a few other apprehensions too. Many feel that over the years Mamata Banerjee has failed to build a trusted circle of her own in the nations capital that is crucial to be recognised as a leader leading a platform of opposition parties. Building this acceptability is crucial for a bigger political role in Delhi, said a senior bureaucrat, who has watched her long as both as an opposition leader and as an administrator. Political observers also point out that the Bengal chief minister also has to fix her relationship with Indias oldest political party. The Congress is still the countrys only opposition party that has a countrywide footprint and after the victory in the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh it is more upbeat than it has ever been in the recent years. Mamata Banerjees relation with the Congress, and especially its president Rahul Gandhi, has been cold at best. She did not even congratulate him after the assembly election results and though Sonia Gandhi and her son warmed up to her before the January 19 rally in Kolkata by sending personal letters and senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Abhishek Manu Singhvi to the programme, Mamata Banerjees party continues to aggressively wean away Congress leaders away to her outfit. Since she came in power in May 2011, as many as 29 MLAs and one MP from Congress have joined the Trinamool Congress that has led state Congress leaders to allege that she is bent on obliterating the party from West Bengal. Over the past one year, Mamata Banerjee has been purveying the theory that if in each state the party that is the strongest takes on the BJP (and the rest of the opposition rally behind it), the ruling party at the Centre will be roundly defeated in the Lok Sabha elections. But many have questioned the theory, wondering whether the rather simplistic theory would work on the ground in the absence of a cementing force either in the form of a wave or an individual. None articulated this need more emphatically than former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, who during his brief speech in Kolkata on January 19, said that the senior leaders of the opposition have a lot of hard work to do beyond Modi bashing. He reminded them that a small group of senior leaders have to work out how they can go ahead and give good governance to the country that seemed to be a clear hint at a common minimum programme. Deve Gowda, the Janata Dal(Secular) supremo, also said that the leaders have to work out the contentious issue of seat sharing. As the atmosphere of the bitterness and tension continues and the opposition leaders join the dharna in the national capital on Wednesday and Thursday, these questions would perhaps be tormenting the Trinamool Congress chief, who has risen from a lower-middle class family without any godfather to oust the worlds longest-running elected Communist government. But if the leaders continue to pursue their individual goals of maximising their own seats in order to increase their post-poll bargaining power, it might help their individual objectives but not the purpose with which they have come together in the first place something similar to what many films with powerful individual performances held together by a loose screenplay suffer from. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has said the Congress is part of the opposition alliance that his party has stitched in Uttar Pradesh against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition for the upcoming Lok Sabha election. He said two seats were given to the Congress in the alliance. The SP and BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) are in alliance. Other parties are also part of the alliance. These parties have been allocated seats in the alliance. The SP and the BSP have kept them (the Congress) in the alliance. They have been given two seats, Akhilesh Yadav said at a press conference in Lucknow on Tuesday. This is not the first time that Akhilesh Yadav has talked about alliance with the Congress for the Lok Sabha elections. On Monday, he had said the Congress was very much part of the alliances consideration. His remark came in the backdrop of a roadshow organised by the Congress on Priyanka Gandhi Vadras first visit to the state after her appointment as the party general secretary in-charge of eastern UP. Priyanka Gandhi was accompanied during the roadshow by party president Rahul Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia, the other general secretary in-charge for Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav said, The SPs alliance is not only with the BSP but the Congress is also a part of it. He went on to include the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which he said, has been given three seats in the Lok Sabha polls, the Nishad Party and the Peace Party in the alliance. He said the alliance will have different seat sharing formulae for the Lok Sabha and the next UP assembly elections. He, however, did not speak about the number of seats that the SP-BSP gave to the Congress as part of the alliance in the state. He emphasised the sacrifice made by both the SP and the BSP for the Lok Sabha polls. The SP and BSP sacrificed 40 seats each in Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav said. The Congress, on the other hand, has decided to go full throttle in Uttar Pradesh. Party president Rahul Gandhi said the Congress will contest all 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh indicating that the part of the alliance talk by Akhilesh Yadav was not a consideration for the grand old party. Gandhi also set an ambitious target for the Congress party to form a government on its own in the next state assembly election. He had earlier said reviving the Congress party in the most populous state was a task that Priyanka Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia have to accomplish. Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati announced their electoral arrangement in January stating that the parties would contest 38 parliamentary seats each in the state. UP sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha. They had announced not to put up candidates at Amethi and Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constituencies represented by Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi respectively. At the time of announcing the SP-BSP alliance, Mayawati had criticised the Congress saying that the party is no different from the BJP. She said all sections of people are unhappy with both these parties. Akhilesh Yadav, who had joined hands with Rahul Gandhi for the UP assembly election last year, had later said the Congress was kept out of the SP-BSP alliance due to poll arithmetic with the aim of defeating the BJP in the parliamentary polls. PM Modi condoles loss of lives Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the loss of lives. Deeply saddened by the loss of lives due to a fire at Karol Bagh in Delhi. I convey my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives, he tweeted. Over 35 people were injured At least 35 people were injured in the blaze, said Madhur Verma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi), adding that one person was still missing. A 43-year-old woman suffered 45 per cent burn injuries, he told reporters, adding that 13 of the bodies had been taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, two to Lady Hardinge Hospital and one to BLK hospital. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, L-G Anil Baijal reach spot Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, and L-G Anil Baijal reached the spot in Delhis Karol Bagh where Arpit Palace Hotel caught fire. Delhi govt cancels concert to celebrate 4 years of AAP The Delhi government cancelled Tuesdays Vishal Dadlanis live concert because of the Karol Bagh incident. The show was organised to celebrate four years of AAP government in Delhi. Hotel building has 6 floors, instead of permissible 4 floors: Satyendra Jain The Arpit Palace Hotel is a six-storey building, including one temporary floor, instead of permissible 4 floors, said Delhi minister Satyendra Jain. A fire inspection of buildings in the area has been ordered, he added. Rules were followed, says Delhi hotel association Delhi Hotel and Restaurant Owners Associations vice-president Balan Mani said on Tuesday that all rules and regulations were followed in Karol Baghs Hotel Arpit Palace, where at least 17 people were killed in a blaze. Most people died of suffocation: Delhi minister Satyendra Jain 17 people were killed and 2 injured [in the fire that broke out at Delhis Arpit Palace hotel]. Most of the people died due to suffocation. Strict action will be taken against those found guilty of negligence. District magistrate has ordered an inquiry, said Delhi minister Satyendra Jain, as quoted by news agency ANI. Earlier major fire accidents in Delhi-NCR Here is a list of some major fires in Delhi and the national capital region: Death toll reaches 17 The death toll in fire that broke out at a hotel in central Delhis Karol Bagh area early Tuesday climbed to 17. A former Gallaudet University student convicted of murdering two classmates was sentenced Wednesday to six life terms in prison with no possibility of parole. "Both victims are on my mind forever and they will be in my memory forever," Joseph Mesa Jr., 22, said through a sign language interpreter. But his apology failed to sway jurors and District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Robert Richter. "There is a need for retribution, in a sense, for a case like this," Richter said before recommending that the defendant serve his sentences in a maximum security facility. The judge rejected a defense request that the Guam native, deaf since birth, be sent to a mental institution. Mesa will serve three concurrent life terms without parole for the September 2000 murder of Eric Plunkett, 19, of Burnsville, Minn., and a similar prison term for the February 2001 murder of Benjamin Varner, 19, of San Antonio. The murders sparked fear and mistrust on the campus of Gallaudet University, a school for the deaf and hearing-impaired about 2 miles northeast of the U.S. Capitol. Rahul has thrown muck at his own face: Ravi Shankar Prasad He (Rahul Gandhi) has thrown muck at his own face by abusing our honest prime minister... We will expose his lies before the public, senior BJP leader and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said. Will expose Rahuls lies against PM Modi: BJP BJP never accused ex-PMs from Gandhi family of treason despite serious differences with them, will expose Rahuls lies against PM Modi, said BJP, according to news agency PTI. Airbus itself under clouds for deals during UPA regime: Ravi Shankar Prasad Rahul Gandhi is working as a lobbyist for competitive aircraft supplier companies. From where did he get the email of Airbus? Airbus itself is under clsouds for deals during UPA regime, alleged BJPs Ravi Shankar Prasad. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad: Rahul Gandhi is working as a lobbyist for competitive aircraft supplier companies. From where did he get the email of Airbus? Airbus itself is under clouds for deals during UPA regime pic.twitter.com/3PFpcM6nDJ ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2019 Where did Rahul get Airbus internal email, asks Ravi Shankar Prasad What Rahul Gandhi said in a press conference is irresponsible. He called the PM a traitor, but we dont expect anything else from a jhoot ki machine, said BJPs Ravi Shankar Prasad. Rahul Gandhi has quoted an email from Airbus, it is about the helicopter not Rafale Where did he get the internal email of Airbus, he added. Our very serious charge that Rahul Gandhi is working as a lobbyist of competitive plane supplying companies, he further said. CAG report is a worthless report: Rahul Gandhi CAG report is a worthless report. I would term it as a Chowkidar Auditor General Report. It is Narendra Modis report, written for the Chowkidar, on behalf of the Chowkidar, for the Chowkidar by the Chowkidar, said Congress president Rahul Gandhi while addressing a press conference today, as quoted by news agency ANI. Congress President Rahul Gandhi: CAG report is a worthless report. I would term it as a Chowkidar Auditor General Report. It is Narendra Modis report, written for the Chowkidar, on behalf of the Chowkidar, for the Chowkidar by the Chowkidar. #Rafale pic.twitter.com/F5GZRceZyG ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2019 Nobody knew about the new Rafale deal: Rahul Gandhi Both foreign secretary, and former defence minister Manohar Parrikar refused that they knew anything about the new Rafale deal, said Rahul Gandhi while addressing a press conference. Supreme Court judgement open to question now: Rahul Gandhi Supreme Court said it clearly that it is not our jurisdiction. SC ne Chowkidar Auditor Report ko quote kar diya. Frankly, Supreme Court judgement is open to question now, said Congress president Rahul Gandhi while addressing a press conference today, as quoted by news agency ANI. Congress President Rahul Gandhi: Supreme Court said it clearly that it is not our jurisdiction. SC ne 'Chowkidar Auditor Report' ko quote kar diya. Frankly, Supreme Court judgement is open to question now. #Rafale pic.twitter.com/wQgGH1LDc3 ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2019 PM Modi acting like a spy, giving out defence info:Rahul Gandhi While addressing a press conference, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi attacked the Prime Minister over Rafale deal saying PM Modi is acting like a spy, giving out defence information, which under oath he is not suppose to. Rahul Gandhi: This is now treason, Mr.Narendra Modi is doing what spies do, he is informing somebody of a defence matter. He is under oath to protect these secrets. #Rafale pic.twitter.com/9thM4rJi7o ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2019 PM in violation of official secrets act: Rahul Gandhi Now PM needs to answer how did Anil Ambani knew 10 days in advance of the Rafale deal. Defence minister, HAL, foreign Secy didnt know but Anil Ambani knew.If this is true then PM is in violation of official secrets act,criminal action must be initiated on this basis, said Rahul Gandhi as quoted by news agency ANI. Rahul Gandhi: Now PM needs to answer how did Anil Ambani knew 10 days in advance of the #Rafaledeal. Defence Minister, HAL, Foreign Secy don't know but Anil Ambani knew.If this is true then PM is in violation of official secrets act,criminal action must be initiated on this basis https://t.co/5c5M7vA2jC ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2019 Narendra Modi is acting as middleman: Rahul Gandhi Rahul Gandhi: Narendra Modi ji is acting as the middleman of Anil Ambani. This email is clear. An Airbus executive wrote that Mr.Anil Ambani met the French Defence Minister and told him 10 days before the #Rafale deal was signed that he was going to get it pic.twitter.com/h2tQQUgSXk ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2019 Rahul Gandhi briefs media on Rafale deal Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be addressing a special conference on Rafale deal on Friday. A video of Tripura BJP minister Manoj Kanti Deb putting his hand on cabinet colleague Santana Chakmas waist on stage during Prime Minister Narendra Modis rally in Agartala on February 9 has gone viral on social media. Social welfare minister Chakma was seen in the video pushing away his hand quickly. She is the only woman minister in chief minister Biplab Debs nine-member cabinet. Santana Chakma could not be reached for her reaction on the incident. Manoj Kantis phone has been switched off and could not be contacted for his comments either. His office staff said he had gone to his constituency Kamalpur in Dhalai district for a field visit and will join office on February 14. Meanwhile, the opposition Left Front has demanded that the chief minister sack the BJP minister from the cabinet if the latter doesnt resign and also put him under arrest. The BJP minister touched the woman minister in an indecent manner in the prime ministers presence on stage. Based on that, we can assume what is the status of law and order and womens safety in the state. He should resign from his post and if he fails to do so, he must be sacked and arrested, said veteran CPM leader Bijan Dhar. The BJP said the CPM is trying to inflate into a big issue. The CPM should count the number of crimes against women that took place during their period rather than involving in cheap politics. Our partys minister Santana Chakma hasnt filed any complaint or sought action against her cabinet colleague. That was a petty issue, which they (opposition) are trying to make a big issue, said BJP general secretary Pratima Bhowmik. Tripura Chakma Rajya Samajik Parishad secretary Shantibikash Chakma said they would decide their future course of action after getting Santana Chakmas reaction on the issue. Lawyers across the country would observe a strike on Tuesday to press for their demand for allocation of Rs 5,000 crore in the Union budget for the welfare of advocates. The Bar Council of India (BCI) has called for the strike in association with the state bar councils and representatives of the various high court bar association. Lawyers will hold rallies on the premises of high courts and near governor houses across the country to voice their concerns. According to the BCI, around 1.7 million lawyers across the country have expressed solidarity for the protest marches. They are seeking chamber facilities, accommodation with well-equipped libraries, e-libraries with internet facilities etc. The legal fraternity is urging the Union government to provide budgetary allocations at all-India level, said Bar Council of Delhi chairman KC Mittal. Lawyers in Delhi will take part in a protest march from Patiala House Court to Jantar Mantar on Tuesday demanding budgetary allocations for the welfare of advocates. The office bearers of the Bar Council of India, Bar Council of Delhi, Supreme Court Bar Association and Delhi High Court Bar Association, among others, will participate in the protest march. Earlier on Monday, a group of 30 lawyers, along with the president and vice-president of Supreme Court Bar Association, met law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. The minister assured that he has already started working on the demands made by the lawyers, said a lawyer, who was among those who met the law minister. A law ministry official said lawyers had come to meet the minister, who heard their concerns and is considering the issues. The Central Bureau of Investigation questioned Kolkata Police commissioner Rajeev Kumar for the third straight day in Shillong on Monday in connection with the Saradha chit fund scandal. Former Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh too was questioned. He was arrested in 2013 and subsequently suspended by the party. He has been out on bail since 2016. Kumar was questioned until 7pm and was asked to return to the CBI office on Tuesday morning, an official of the agency said. Ghoshs interview continued for an hour more than that of Kumar, following which he was allowed to return to Kolkata. Also read: SC refuses to monitor CBI probe in Saradha case in West Bengal While Kumar turned up for questioning on Saturday, Ghoshs interrogation began on Sunday. Talking to reporters while leaving the CBI office, Ghosh said he participated in the confrontation session with Rajeev Kumar, refusing to divulge further details. Ghosh, in a Facebook post on Monday morning, urged parties not to politicise the CBI probe. The Kerala police on Tuesday booked an Imam for allegedly sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram last week. Police said the accused, Shafiq Al Qassimi, was booked under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. A senior police officer of the district said the accused was absconding and efforts were on to nab him. A scholar and orator, Qassim (42) was also a member of the Imam Council of Kerala. The council suspended him and removed him from the post of chief Imam of the Thalikkode mosque after it received a video of him with the girl who is a madrassa student and soon after the police booked him. Activists alleged that there were attempts to hush up the case and police intervened only after the Imam Council took action against him. The Imam and the minor girl were reportedly spotted at an isolated forest area by a group of women labourers. When they confronted him he told them they were recently married and the girl was his wife. But the women noticed the girls uniform and badge in the car in which they were travelling and alerted local people. The imam and the girl tried to escape but the locals chased them and took a video of the skirmish. Police allegedly dithered in taking action saying the girls parents did not file any complaint and acted only after some activists petitioned chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and state police chief Loknath Behra. Later medical examination confirmed assault on the minor. Many local people later told police that the accused was spotted in the forest area earlier also. Childline officials said they will be speaking to all girls studying in the madrassa to find out whether more were sexually exploited by the accused. Janepalli Srinivasa Rao, the man who attacked leader of opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly YS Jagan Mohan Reddy with a knife is likely to remain in judicial custody for up to six months with the family refusing to apply for bail for him. The move comes amid anticipation of threat to his life, his lawyer said. Srinivasa, who works at a canteen at the Visakhapatnam airport, had shot to fame for the wrong reasons when he attacked Yuvajana Sramika Rytu Congress (YSRC) chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at the Visakhapatnam airport. Srinivasa was immediately overpowered by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel and later handed over to the local police. Srinivasa Rao has been in judicial custody for the last 103 days and has been lodged in the Rajahmundry central jail since the attack on October 25, 2018. As per the legal provisions, after being in judicial custody for 90 days, he is entitled to bail. He (Srinivasa Rao) requested me to help him come out from jail as early as possible when I met him last month, his brother Subba Raju, of Thanelanka in East Godavari district, told Hindustan Times. Raju said his brother is quite likely to be targeted from both sides - the followers of Jagan Mohan Reddy and those of chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is accused of having engineered the attack to eliminate Reddy. The TDP, in turn, alleged that it was all stage-managed by Jagan Reddy to boost his image before the elections. Srinivasas lawyer, Salim, said he had given up the attempts to move bail petition in keeping with the request of Srinivasas family. He said Srinivasa can remain in judicial custody for a period of up to six months. The court had given Srinivasas custody to the Special Investigation Team (SIT), that was constituted by the Andhra police to probe the high-profile attack, for six days. Quoting Srinivasa Rao as having told him, Salim said he was subjected to torture during his custody in the SIT. Later, the court had granted Srinivasas custody to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for seven days with the rider that the NIAs interrogation be conducted in Salims presence. The attack on Jagan Reddy triggered a war of words between the ruling TDP and YSRC. Expressing disbelief over the ability of Andhra police to ensure an impartial probe, Jagan Reddy approached Union home minister Rajnath Singh and sought a probe by any central agency. Several big-ticket purchases by the three service arms do not have either an integrity clause or a sovereign guarantee, senior defence ministry officials said on condition of anonymity. They were responding to a report in The Hindu that pointed to the lack of both in the Rafale deal and a demand from the Congress, citing this report, for a probe into the defence acquisition. For instance, the Manmohan Singh led UPA-government negotiated the purchase of heavy lift transporters from the US through the Foreign Direct Sale route (FMS) that did not have an integrity clause or a sovereign guarantee, one of the officials said. The 10 C-17 strategic lift aircraft cost the exchequer $ 4.1 Bn. Similarly, the six US-made C-130 heavy lift aircraft bought in 2010 for $ 1bn came without any integrity clause or sovereign guarantee, this person added. Similarly, equipment and hardware from Russia, too, come without either of these. The Su-30Mki the current frontline fighters bought in the 1990s and early 2000 came without these, a second senior official said. The S-400 a missile defence shield deal will also not have these provisions, he added. India has bought tanks, warships, and other equipment from Russia without either, the official said. Air Marshal SBP Sinha, who headed the team that negotiated the Rafale deal confirmed to news agency ANI that previous government-to-government contracts with Russia and the United States do not have the anti-corruption clause. Russia refused to sign a deal with a so-called Pre Contract Integrity Pact (PCIP) when India was negotiating the purchase of helicopters to carry senior functionaries like the President and Prime Minister. The 36 Rafale fighters were bought under the 2013 Defence Procurement Policy (DPP) framework. According to DPP 2013, equipment bought from friendly countries need not follow the Standard Procurement Procedure (SPP) or Standard Contract Documents. The section of the DPP that deals with Intergovernmental Agreements (IGA) says; purchases made would be based on mutually agreed provisions by the Governments of both the countries. These provisions were included in the Defence Procurement Policy 2016, the last policy paper released by the government to guide defence acquisition. Some officials did raise the issue of the integrity clause during the year and half of negotiations. This included former MoD (Finance) officer Sudhansu Mohanty too raised these issues. However, the officers did not raise the issue before the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) the highest body in the defence ministry chaired by the defence minister that decides on acquisitions, Sinha said. The objections or disagreements were that of individuals and not of the negotiating team. Individual views shouldnt be projected as a view of the committee. he added. And all members of the team signed the report on the basis of which MoD moved Cabinet Committee on Security for a nod to purchase the 36 fighters, he said. There was no dissent or disagreement. In my long years with MoD, I dont remember integrity pacts or sovereign guarantees coming from Russia or for that matter any other government. These provisions are there for individual vendors, not for negotiations between governments, the former head of MoD Finance Amit Cowshish said. Congress spokesperson told Manish Tewari told a news conference that the BJP-led NDA government waived the anti-corruption clauses in the Rafale deal because there was corruption. He said the implications of the waiver of the anti-corruption clauses in the deal meant that the French, especially the suppliers Dassault and missile-maker MBDA were indemnified against any wrongdoing. Essentially, what it means is that those who essentially paid, through whom the transactions were routed, and the end beneficiaries, get fully indemnified...Government doesnt have the legal locus to cancel the contract, Tewari added. Earlier, Congress president Rahul Gandhi too referred to the report on the waiver of the anti-corruption clause. Congress president Rahul Gandhi launched yet another scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Rafale deal case on Tuesday alleging that the irregularities happened on three fronts of compromising national security, procedural lapses and corruption in the multi-billion defence contract with France. Gandhi demanded probe in the Rafale deal challenging PM Modi to an investigation if you have not done anything wrong. His chief negotiator was sitting in the French denfence ministers office and telling them that draft of the contract was being prepared, said Gandhi citing an email to up his ante against PM Modi. Earlier, a media report claimed that industrialist Anil Ambani held a meeting with French defence ministry officials a fortnight ahead of the announcement of new Rafale deal during PM Modis visit to France in 2015. Stepping up the attack on the prime minister, Gandhi said, This is now treason. Mr Narendra Modi is doing what spies do. He is informing somebody of a defence matter. He is under oath to protect these secrets. Live updates: Where did Rahul Gandhi get Airbus internal email, asks Ravi Shankar Prasad He alleged that it is now in black and white that the prime minister shared defence secrets with a private person in order to benefit him. Responding to the charge by Gandhi, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad accused the Congress president of working as a lobbyist for a competitive defence supplier. Rahul Gandhi is working as a lobbyist for competitive aircraft supplier companies, news agency ANI quoted Prasad as saying, The Union minister further said, Rahul Gandhi has quoted an email from airbus. It is about the helicopter not Rafale From where did he get the email of Airbus? Airbus itself is under clouds for deals during UPA regime. Gandhi said, Prime Minister compromised national security. He has given defence secrets to a private person. The second irregularity was procedural lapses, where he bypassed the defence ministry. And, the third issue is of corruption. Read: CAG Rajiv Mehrishi cant audit Rafale, he was part of deal: Congress points to conflict of interest Narendra Modi ji is acting as the middleman of Anil Ambani, said Gandhi showing a copy of the email. This email is clear. An Airbus executive wrote that Mr Anil Ambani met the French Defence Minister and told him 10 days before the Rafale deal was signed that he was going to get it, Gandhi said. Now the prime minister needs to answer how did Anil Ambani know 10 days in advance of the Rafale deal? Defence Minister, HAL, Foreign Secretary didnt know but Anil Ambani knew about it. If this is true then the prime minister is in violation of the Official Secrets Act. A criminal action must be initiated on this basis, the Congress president said. Read:Integrity clause often given a miss, say defence ministry officials on Rafale row Action will be taken and no one will be spared (if the Congress is voted to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections), Gandhi said at a press conference in New Delhi. Prasad dismissed the allegations levelled by Gandhi as irresponsible statements. What Rahul Gandhi said in a press conference is irresponsible. He called the prime minister a traitor, but we dont expect anything else from a jhoot ki machine, ANI quoted Prasad as saying. Gandhi also dismissed the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the Rafale deal which is expected to be tabled in Parliament soon. He said, The CAG report is a worthless report. I would term it as a Chowkidar Auditor General Report. It is Narendra Modis report, written for the Chowkidar, on behalf of the Chowkidar, for the Chowkidar by the Chowkidar. The Congress had earlier questioned the CAG report on Rafale deal citing conflict of interest. The party said Rajiv Mehrishi, the current CAG of India, was part of the decision making process for the Rafale deal. Mehrishi was the finance secretary when the Rafale deal was signed. The BJP retorted to the charge accusing the Congress of attacking the institution of the CAG. At his media briefing, Gandhi defended his partys stand saying, We are not questioning the institution. But the gentleman who is preparing CAG report was part of this decision making process. Gandhi also said the Supreme Court ruling on Rafale deal process in December last year has come under question in the light of new evidence. He alleged that the government did not give all the information to the apex court. The Supreme Court judgment is open to question now, he said. Hearing a bunch of public interest litigations (PILs) seeking probe into the Rafale deal, the Supreme Court had sought the details pertaining to the decision making process and examined the documents submitted to it by the government. In its ruling the Supreme Court said the due process was followed and ruled out any commercial favouritism. However, the opposition parties mounted attack on the government over a reference to the CAG report on Rafale deal in the Supreme Court judgment. Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge contended that the CAG report was not yet ready and not tabled in Parliament. The government subsequently moved for a correction in the apex court ruling blaming the factual error on misinterpretation in the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Anil Ambanis Reliance Defence has said the email referred to by Gandhi in his latest charge against the Modi government over Rafale deal has no connection with the inter-governmental agreement between India and France for the purchase of 36 fighter jets from the French company Dassault Aviation. Reliance Defence Spokesperson said, The purported email being referred to by the Congress party is regarding the discussion between Airbus and Reliance Defence, pertinent to Civil and Defence Helicopter Programs under the Make in India program. Discussions on the proposed MoU were clearly held with reference to cooperation between Airbus Helicopter and Reliance. It had NO connection whatsoever with the Government-to-Government Agreement between France and India for 36 Rafale aircraft. Also, for the record, the MoU for Rafale aircraft was signed between France and India on 25 January 2016, and not in April 2015, the spokesperson said adding, From the above, it is evident that the facts are being deliberately twisted and reality being ignored. A high alert was sounded in the national capital after the car of a Member of Parliament rammed a barricade at the Parliament premises on Tuesday morning. The car belongs to Congress Lok Sabha MP from Manipur Dr Thokchom Meinya. The incident took place when the car got stuck on the security spikes and set off the security siren. The security personnel immediately took positions to thwart any hostile challenge as has been the standard operating procedure since the 2001 Parliament attack. Though no one was injured in the incident, the car suffered some damage. The MP was not in the car when the incident took place. Read: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey summoned by parliamentary panel on Feb 25 Parliament security personnel are investigating the cause of the incident, news agency ANI reported. In December 2018, a similar incident had led to a security alert after a taxi had rammed the barricading pole at an entry point. The security siren was set off when the Toyota Innova collided with a pillar at the Parliament entry gate. Security at Parliament House was upgraded soon after the 2001 suicide attack. The attack had left nine people dead. Read: CAG submits Rafale audit report to President, to reach Parliament soon Standard response procedures and enhanced security systems along with better-trained manpower carrying sophisticated weapons, new detector gadgets, sniffer dogs and armoured vehicles were also brought in. The December 13, 2001, attack took place when five men of a suicide squad drove into the 6-acre Parliament complex. The attackers were armed with AK-47s with multiple magazines, grenades and other explosives. The gun battle, which lasted barely 20 minutes, had left nine people dead. Of the five attackers, four were shot and killed, while the fifth one had blown himself up on the main steps of the building. A 15-year-old girl who wanted to reach Delhi to marry her boyfriend reached Amritsar mistakenly, where she was allegedly raped by an auto driver and his friend. After raping her at a hotel, the accused made her board a bus to Ludhiana and threatened her not to reveal the incident. After reaching Ludhiana, the victim lodged an FIR against the accused at Division 4 police station. The accused have been identified as Sahib Singh and Baba of Amritsar. The girl who is a resident of Ludhianas Kila Mohalla, said she had met one Sahil, her boy friend around a year ago when he had come to visit his relatives in Ludhiana. Both of them eventually became friends. The victim said they decided to get married and Sahil asked her to reach Delhi on February 3 for the marriage. She stole Rs 1,500 from her house and boarded a train from Ludhiana railway station on February 3. The train took her to Ferozepur instead. After spending a night at the house of a good samaritan, she boarded another train from Ferozepur the next day that took her to Amritsar. As per the complaint, the minor asked Sahib Singh, an auto driver at the Amritsar railway station about trains to Delhi. Sahib told her that she would get a train the next morning and took her to a hotel, where he, along with his friend Baba, allegedly raped her. The next day, the accused made her board a bus to Ludhiana and threatened her not to reveal the incident. Investigating officer assistant sub inspector Shamsher Singh said a case under sections 376, 34 of the IPC and Section 4 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) has been registered against the accused. The accused will be arrested soon, he said. The Haryana government has decided to amend the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) in a move that could affect the Aravallis, catchments of the Badhkal, Surajkund and Damadama lakes, and other forest areas in a state which has the lowest forest cover (3.59%) in the country. However, the move will open up more land for real estate development and also remove the bottlenecks for some projects in limbo. The change involves excluding tracts of land included in the final development plans or town improvement plans from the ambit of the PLPA. The state government plans to table an amendment Bill in this regard in the budget session of the state assembly next week. The proposed amendment will come to the rescue of real estate developers, the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and individuals by allowing construction activity in areas where it was previously disallowed due to enforcement of PLPA. The amendment will also grant legitimacy to Kant Enclave in Faridabad, built on PLPA notified land and which was ordered to be demolished by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court held that Kant Enclave is a forest or is a forest land or is required to be treated as a forest or forest land and absolutely no construction activity could have been permitted on it with effect from August 18, 1992. Any and all construction activity in Kant Enclave since that date is illegal and impermissible in law. Environmentalists were quick to target the state government for its dilution of the green law. Aravalli areas are the only forested areas in cities like Gurugram and Faridabad. They provide critical ecological services like ground water recharge, are wildlife habitats, and are also the last green lungs in rapidly concretising cities. Diluting PLPA to expand real estate (activity) will destroy the Aravallis and severely damage the quality of life of both current and future generations, said Chetan Agarwal , an environment activisit. The PLPA legislation was enacted to save the soil from erosion. It is applicable to all of Punjab and Haryana. Certain activities, including construction, are barred in areas of northern Haryana along the Shiwalik hills which are prone to soil erosion due to water flow, and also in the rugged terrain of southern and western Haryana which are prone to erosion both by air and water. About 25,000 ha of Aravallis in South Haryana fall under PLPA. The government, however, is approaching the development environment equation from the other side. Lakhs of dwelling units, commercial buildings, industrial units, public buildings, massive public infrastructure and agriculture activities over about one-fourth (about 11,000 sq km) of the geographical area of the state are affected (by PLPA). Sale and purchase of such land and immovable properties have become liable to be considered illegal. Such unintended consequences adversely impacting livelihood of millions of citizens need to be allayed and remedied, said the draft amendment Bill, a copy of which has been seen by HT. Land under PLPA accounts for almost a fourth of the total land area of the state. The Supreme Court ruled in 2004 that the Aravallis have to be protected at any cost. It observed that PLPA areas were forest even if PLPA notifications had expired. Therefore, any attempt to dilute the act will threaten the Aravallis and be directly contrary to the directions of the court, said Lt. Col (retd) Sarvadaman Oberoi. The principal of Ahmedabads H K Arts College, Hemantkumar Shah, resigned on Monday after his decision to invite Dalit leader and independent MLA Jignesh Mevani as chief guest to the colleges annual function was overturned by its trustees (on Sunday), college officials said. Vadgam MLA Mevani, an alumnus of the college, and a strong critic of the states Bharatiya Janata Party government, was to hand over prizes to students during the colleges annual function scheduled for Monday. The college trust, citing opposition to Mevani from a section of students, refused to allow the event to happen in the colleges hall, leading to the cancellation of the function, said a functionary of the college trust. The trust has nothing against Mevani, but it got the sense that going ahead with the programme might spoil the atmosphere. The trust will not allow anything on campus that threatens this, said Amrish Shah, secretary of the colleges trust. In his resignation latter, principal Shah termed the trusts move undemocratic. He called out trustees such as Jnanpith awardee Raghuveer Chaudhari and Padma awardee Kumarpal Desai. I agreed to become principal on insistence of great figures like Desai and Chaudhari, but what has happened is undemocratic and curbing of rights of speech and expression, Shah said. He also asked the trustees to define atmosphere as cited by them in their letter. The prevailing political atmosphere is the kind where ones right of free speech has been curbed, he said, adding: the pressure (on the Trust) was (from) the students affiliated to the BJP. I invited Mevani as he is an alumnus and an MLA. People familiar with the matter said after some students threatened to disrupt the event, all trust members, except principal Shah and vice-principal Mohan Parmar, voted against the event. Parmar has resigned as well. Principal Shah could not be reached for comments. Reacting to the row, Mevani blamed BJP goons . Because of threat calls made by BJP goons, trustees of H.K.Arts college, Ahmedabad, which I graduated from, cancelled the annual function where I was invited as chief guest.Was going to talk about the life and mission of Baba saheb (BR Ambedkar). Salute to Principal Hemant Shah who resigned on moral grounds, he tweeted. CBIs M Nageswara Rao stood up from his seat in the back benches of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogois court. A government lawyer said Rao wanted to say something. The senior police officer, who for a few months called the shots in the Central Bureau of Investigation, had been glued to his seat for nearly four hours. It was a punishment. The judges had held Rao and the legal adviser guilty of contempt of court shortly before noon. They had to pay Rs 1 lakh each in fine also. This meant the two officers had to keep sitting in the court, even during the hour-long lunch break. They did get to eat biscuits and nutri bars that some government lawyers had got them for lunch. Chief Justice Gogoi had been upset that Nageswara Rao, who had led the central investigating agency for months, had disobeyed the Supreme Courts explicit order not to transfer joint director AK Sharma. File notings that the Supreme Court judges saw indicated that Nageswara Rao was aware of the directions but yet, chose not to seek the top courts concurrence and quietly carried out the transfer orders. As the CBI officer approached the bench, the Centres top lawyer KK Venugopal spoke on Nageswara Raos behalf. It really wasnt willful disobedience, Attorney General Venugopal said, pleading to let the CBI additional director leave the court. The Chief Justice clearly didnt seem to agree. Look, we have found them guilty and sentenced them till the rising of the court. And this court has not yet risen, Chief Justice Gogoi said, snubbing the officer. It was still about 3.45 pm. You ask him to go back to his seat or else, we might sentence him for one more day that is tomorrow, Chief Justice Gogoi said, delivering a clear unequivocal warning. The judge had underlined early in the day why he wasnt inclined to let off the senior officer. Chief Justice Gogoi said it was for the first time that he, or the two other judges on the bench, were going to invoke their power to punish for contempt. But it has to be the first time. Speaking for myself I believe dignity and majesty of court should be maintained... and this is blatant, the Chief Justice said. Venugopal did not give up. It would ruin his career, he said. The Chief Justice said the career of the officer was anyway blemished even if the court were to hold him guilty of contempt on his own admission and accept his apology. A 1986-batch Indian Police Service officer, Nageswara Rao shot to national headlines when he was elevated as acting CBI director in October last year after the government sent CBI director Alok Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana on forced leave. Rao was again the governments first choice for the job after a high-powered committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to move out Alok Verma from the top post. A petition filed against Nageswara Raos appointment as interim director is already before the Supreme Court. The court had completed the hearing and reserved its verdict. At 3.30 am, Somshekhar and his family were preparing to leave their hotel for Haridwar. But suddenly the power went out and their rooms plunged into darkness. Before they could understand what had happened, plumes of thick smoke ran through their floor at Arpit Palace Hotel. A foul smell created fear. Soon, they realised their lives could be in danger. Other than Somshekhar, 12 people were in the group staying at the hotel in central Delhi where a massive fire killed 17 people, including a child. He said his sister (53), mother (84) and brother (59) died in the early-morning fire. The family had come from Ernakulam district in Kerala to attend a wedding in Ghaziabad, which comprises the National Capital Territory of Delhi. We have come to attend the wedding of a relative in Ghaziabad. We were planning to go to Haridwar today, the 57-year-old said. Read more| Delhi hotel that caught fire was booked by wedding party, child among dead We were all ready early morning when there was a sudden power cut. They switched on the generator and there was heavy smoke and smell. My sister first spotted the smoke and informed us. The entire pathway was full of smoke and smell, Somshekhar said. His mother and brother were with his sister that time and Somshekhar had rushed to his room to open the windows to allow the smoke to pass and to find a possible exit route. Yesterday, we went to Vrindawan and returned late last night. Today, we had to go to Haridwar. We had also planned to visit Amritsar and leave for Kerala on the 15th, he said. Read more| Emergency exit was shut, too narrow for escape: Minister on Delhi hotel fire that killed 17 people Somshekhar said he has no knowledge what started the fire. But, he stressed, he believes negligence on part of the hotel management must have triggered the tragedy. There were more than 50 guests at the hotel, which had a canopy on the terrace, housing what appeared to be a restaurant, officials said. At least 35 people were injured in the fire. A senior civic official said a suspected short circuit could have sparked the fire. A video of the incident showed two people jumping from the fourth floor of the building. A senior civic official said short-circuit is suspected to be the cause of the fire. Delhi home minister Satyendar Jain, who visited the hotel, told reporters he has directed the fire department to inspect buildings which have five floors or more and submit a report on their fire safety compliance within a week. Babu Panikar, head of Delhi Malayali Association, said, I got to know that Malayalis were trapped inside. I rushed to the spot to check on them. Its a group of 13 members belonging to same family who came from Ernakulam to attend a wedding in Ghaziabad. Around 10 of them were rescued safely while three bodies have been identified. They are are ready to go to Haridwar this morning at around 6 am. Two of them family members left for Mumbai yesterday, he said. An encounter is underway in Ratnipora village of south Kashmirs Pulwama district. Officials said that two to three militants are believed to be trapped in a house which has been encircled by the forces. Locals said that around mid night, army and police launched a search and cordon operation in Ratnipora village which turned into an encounter. Police spokesman has confirmed that an operation is underway in the Ratnipora village. Mobile internet services have been suspended in the area. On Sunday, five local militants of Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar e Toiaba were killed in an encounter at Kilam village in neighbouring Kulgam district. Last week, a top Lashkar commander was killed in Chakoora village in Pulwama. The Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate have, in separate responses, opposed Christian Michels bail plea alleging that he might evade the process of law. Michel is a key accused in the 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. He was extradited from Dubai on December 4 last year and was handed over to the CBI on arrival. The CBI submitted that Michel is a British national and has no roots in India. There is every likelihood that if he is granted bail, he may abscond from India, evading the process of law and may not return to face the trial, it said. The ED too submitted that Michel has no roots in India and his past conduct makes it amply clear that there exists a reasonable apprehension of him evading the process of law. It said it was in the process of filing a comprehensive prosecution complaint. The court of special judge Arvind Kumar will hear the arguments on Michels bail plea on Wednesday. It has permitted Michels Italian lawyer-friend, Santrolli Rosemary Patrizi Dos Anjos, to meet him in Tihar jail as a general visitor for half an hour from Monday to Friday. In their separate responses, both the ED and CBI submitted that Michel is closely linked with influential people and there was apprehension that he might tamper with evidence. Michel is accused of serious economic offences and has acted as middleman in a defence deal of government of India, the CBI said. It said ...his release on bail would adversely affect further probe to unearth the deep-rooted multi-layered conspiracy As 17 people died in Tuesdays massive fire that engulfed hotel Arpit Palace in central Delhis Karol Bagh and with various departments including fire and police, passing the blame from one to another, sources have pointed out that the budget hotel failed to uphold safety standards and flouted regulations. The license to operate bar was given to the hotel owners for the ground floor, however, the propertys terrace had a kitchen for staff, which was converted into a bar for parties, sources said. Gas cylinders and an airconditioning plant both were on the terrace or top floor. There is heavy wooden panelling in the room. According to eyewitnesses, the smoke alarm did not work. There is no clear idea about a fire exit. The fire department claims they had a no objection certificate, but did not say anything about whether yearly safety audit was done or not, sources added. At least 17 people, including a child, were killed and 11 others injured in the fire. The fire broke out at around 2.30 am. It was a minor fire. The staff tried to control it on their own. But it soon spread. First call to fire at four am. sources said. It has been further alleged that the glass windows were jammed. The windows failed to open when frightened guests attempted to open them. The guests then ran back into their room. In the room, bodies were found with clasped hands. Some bodies were found under the table. A womans body was found with her child in a room. All electric plug points were loose. Fire spread from room no 109, the sources said. One of the dead has been identified as Suresh Kumar, a 45 year old Indian Revenue Service officer. Kumar, an assistant commissioner in the Income Tax department, jumped from the fourth floor and suffered serious wounds on his head. The resident of Panchkula who was taken to hospital was later declared dead. According to the Delhi Fire Department, 35 people were rescued from the hotel. Also read | Emergency exit was shut, too narrow for escape: Minister on Delhi hotel fire that killed 17 people The Delhi Hotel Association claimed that all fire safety norms were followed and that a licence was issued only after inspection of Hotel Arpit Palace. Speaking to ANI, Delhi Hotel Association vice president Balan Mani said that the unfortunate incident took place due to fire in ducting because of which it spread to the hotel rooms.It was due to fire in ducting because of which it had spread to the hotel rooms. All norms were followed here, the licence was issued only after inspection. A mishap can occur in a house as well, Mani said. However, sources claim that the :hotel owners were provided NOC only for running a guest house, but the hotel was functioning. Fire department remains mum on whether any safety audit done or why this gross violation not noticed in the first place. The hotel has been running over 25 years. Looking at the NoC, the civil agency provided a health license. It could not explain why and how these blatant violations were not noticed, sources claimed. The hotel was also provided with a liquor license from the Delhi Police. The liquor license shouldnt have been granted because this was a guest house. Moreover, it was for ground floor but alcohol was served inside the basement and terrace, sources said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders have expressed their condolences to the kin of people who died in the fire. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the accident and announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of kin of the people who lost their lives in the accident. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar has said, strict action would be taken against those found guilty. This is a five-storey building and there is a temporary above it. The roof of the temporary construction is covered with a fibre sheet which is the reason for the fire. Most people died due to suffocation. Union Minister J J Alphons met the victims of the fire admitted to the RML hospital and and said he asked the police commissioner to speed up the procedure of investgating the source of fire. BJPs Manoj Tiwari, Meenakshi Lekhi, and Congress leader KC Venugopal were among those who visited the RML hospital where those injured in the fire were admitted to. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.) Also read | Delhi hotel that caught fire was booked by wedding party, child among dead A fire suspected to have been triggered by an electrical short circuit engulfed a budget hotel in New Delhis dense Karol Bagh neighbourhood on Tuesday, killing at least 17 people, including a guest and the chef who tried to escape from the blaze by jumping off the five-storey building, the police said. Three people were injured, including a woman from Myanmar who too jumped to escape the fire. The fire department, which received a call for help at 4.35am, said the fire had broken out an hour earlier and the delay in alerting the authorities led to the large number of deaths. Another delay took place when the firefighting unit that first responded to the alert carried a manual ladder, which was not long enough to reach the top floor of the hotel, an official said. A hydraulic skylift was later used to rescue the trapped guests and staff. Sixteen guests and the chef died. Three of those killed in the fire at the hotel, Arpit Palace, were members of a family from Kerala that was in Delhi to attend a wedding. Delhi home minister Satyendar Jain, who visited the site, said most deaths were the result of suffocation. Dozens of guests and hotel staffers were trapped inside the building once the blaze began, even as at least three of them an Indian Revenue Service officer, the Myanmar tourist and the chef jumped from the top floor and the roof of the building. Only the tourist survived, the police said. Of the 17 fatalities, two died of severe burns and the rest of asphyxiation, said Atul Garg, chief fire officer, Delhi Fire Services. Although the building had a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Delhi Fire Services, safety norms were violated after the document was issued, Garg said. When we inspected the hotel in December 2017, the roof was sealed to obtain the NOC. Later, they demolished the wall and began operating a restaurant from the rooftop, he said. While the fire department and a few staff members of the hotel said that a kitchen-cum-restaurant was operating from the rooftop, North Municipal Corporation of Delhi officials denied it. Photographs of the burnt roof, covered by a fibre sheet, showed tables, benches and chairs laid out. MS Randhawa, deputy commissioner of police (central), said that there were also lapses and willful negligence by the hotels management. The emergency exit located on the rear of the hotel had been blocked with goods, the DCP said. The hotels owner, Shardendu Goel, who is allegedly on the run, has been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), the DCP added. We have arrested the hotels general manager Rajender, and manager Vikas, Randhawa said, adding that the investigation of the case has been handed over to the crime branch of the Delhi Police. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who visited the hotel, said he had ordered a magisterial inquiry to ascertain the cause of the fire and possible lapses. He announced a compensation of 5 lakh for the next of kin of those killed. The Delhi home minister said that prima facie, the hotel had been operating in violation of building by-laws. The North Delhi Municipal Corporation, however, said that the area was exempted from the development control norms that were applicable to the rest of the city. The hotel is located about 300 metres from the Karol Bagh metro station and has 48 rooms, of which 45 are offered to guests while the rest are used as offices, said the DCP. There were around 55 guests occupying 40 rooms and about a dozen staff members when the fire broke out, the officer added. The brother of the owner said that the hotel was 26 years old and had never been hit by an accident in the past. He suspected that the blaze was triggered by short-circuit after the air-conditioner was switched on in Room 109. We have all the mandatory permissions, he told a television news channel. According to Garg, too, the fire started in Room 109, located on the first floor of the hotel, around 3am, possibly due to an electric short-circuit. This was corroborated by Dileep Trivedi, a guest from Ahmedabad, who said he heard some unusual sounds between 3 am and 3.15 am. The first prominent alarms were raised around 4.30am, when there was a power failure and the hotels generator was switched on. The guests included eight tourists from Myanmar, 13 members of an extended family from Kerala, an officer from the Indian Revenue Services, two doctors, two advocates from Gujarat, an engineer from Hyderabad and a few visiting non-resident Indians. Our probe so far has indicated that it had been over an hour since the fire broke out, but the hotels occupants or staffers werent aware of it for long. When the hotel staff did know of the blaze, they tried using the firefighting equipment, but failed. It could either be because they were untrained or the equipment didnt work, said Garg. The guests said they woke up to find dense smoke everywhere. Some of them managed to run downstairs, but most others were trapped in their rooms. The corridors were burning and emitting a lot of smoke. I had to shut myself in my room and try to open the window, but it just wouldnt open. Finally, firefighters broke open the window panes and rescued me and my two relatives, said PC Som Shekharan, who lost his mother and two siblings in the blaze. Officers of the fire department said they will conduct checks on hotels and guest houses in the area to ensure violations such as the ones discovered on Tuesday at Arpit Palace are not prevalent elsewhere. Authorities in Imphal clamped curfew after sporadic violence erupted in Manipur on Tuesday amid a state-wide shutdown called by civil society groups as protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill continued while in Mizoram several organizations observed a black day with agitators came out on the streets with placards saying Hello Independent Republic of Mizoram. The proposed amendment which would relax citizenship eligibility criteria for Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains, Christians and Buddhists who have come from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh for reasons of religious persecution could not be tabled in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday as the House was adjourned. The contentious Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha last month. Curfew has been imposed in Imphal area, in the twin districts of Imphal (East) and Imphal (West) and the agitation continues, said LM Khaute, Manipurs Director General of Police. Khaute said there were some cases of violence as protestors took to the streets. Mobile internet services, too, have been suspended in the state. The district administration of Imphal (West) issued orders prohibiting transmission of agitations and protests. The police chief said the situation will be reviewed before further decision is taken. We are making all efforts to ensure peace prevails, Khaute said. In Imphal, a few protestors stripped naked in front of the state BJP office. In Thoubal district, one of the BJP offices which runs out of premises owned by MLA Paonam Brojen Singh was ransacked by agitators, police officials said. The state wide 36-hour shutdown called by Peoples Alliance Manipur (PAM) which was to end at 5 pm on Tuesday has been extended by 24 hours. As the bill was not tabled today, it has been decided to extend it, said Bhushan Longjam, General Secretary, Socialist Students Union of Manipur, a part of PAM. Last month, the BJP-led government in Manipur had urged the Centre to exempt the state from the jurisdiction of the Bill. Meanwhile, in Mizoram, the powerful civil society groups under the umbrella of NGO coordination committee, observed a black day. Agitators including former chief minister Lalthanhawla were seen with black flags and placards reading Hello Independent Republic of Mizoram. The Bill is not in the interests of the people of northeast, he said. If the Centre continues like this without listening to the people we may be driven to the extreme, he said. Why would they want to drive us to that extreme? he asked referring to the placards. Earlier, agitators had come out with placards reading Hello China. It signifies our demands and feeling are not been heard by the Government of India, said Lalmachhuana, secretary of the NGO coordination committee which comprises of organisations including the Central Young Mizo Association. Under the GoI, the sentiments of Mizos are not being heard. We need a separate government, he said. Protests have roiled much of the Northeast since the government made its intentions clear of going ahead with the Citizenship Bill. In BJP-ruled Assam, the saffron partys coalition partner Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) recently quit the government in protest. On Monday, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu changed his stance on the Citizenship Bill and asked Union home minister Rajnath Singh not to table the bill in the Rajya Sabha. Last week, Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma said his National Peoples Party would quit the NDA if the Bill is not scrapped. In a meeting on January 29, ten regional outfits including allies of the BJP, the National Peoples Party (NPP), in Meghalaya, the Mizo National Front (MNF) in Mizoram, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) in Nagaland, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) among others had passed a resolution opposing the bill The Nagaland cabinet has also rejected the Bill following pressure from various tribal organisations and students bodies. Protesting Samajwadi Party (SP) and Samajwadi Chatra Sabha (SCS) workers were lathicharged by police at the busy Balson crossing in Prayagraj on Tuesday afternoon. SP MP from Badaun Dharmendra Yadav, who was leading the protest, suffered injuries to his head in the cane charge by the police. The SP workers were staging a protest against the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav being stopped from catching a flight to Prayagraj at the Amausi airport of Lucknow earlier in the day. The SP chief was to attend a function of the Allahabad University Students Union and scheduled to go to the ongoing Kumbh Mela to meet seers and saints including the president of Akhil Bhartiya Akhada Parishad Mahant Narendra Giri. As soon as the news of Akhilesh Yadav being prevented from boarding a flight for Prayagraj reached SP and SCS workers waiting from him near Allahabad University (AU) protests started near the varsity. Upset students led by SP MP from Badaun Dharmendra Yadav reached the Balson crossing and staged a sit in raising slogans against the state government and demanding that Akhilesh be allowed to visit Prayagraj. As the police and the district administration officials tried to convince the protestors to call off their agitation, arguments broke out between them, and soon upset workers started hurling stones at passing vehicles and the cops. The policemen resorted to lathicharge in which many workers and student leaders including the MP sustained injuries. However the protest continued even after the police action. District Magistrate Suhas LY and SSP Nitin Tiwari were present on the site trying to control the situation. We are trying to bring the situation under control and anyone disturbing peace would be strictly dealt with, the SSP said. I told you to wait and you did. A month passed. Nothing. Another month. Still nothing. You contacted me again, asking about your EC 261 claim, and that's when I became worried. I recommended that you reach out to someone at Jet Airways about your claim. I list the names, numbers and email addresses for the customer service executives at Jet Airways on my nonprofit consumer-advocacy site. Ministers have conceded in private meetings with business leaders that they will not be able to replace all of the deals before the Brexit deadline on 29 March, meaning a large proportion of United Kingdom exports could shift to World Trade Organization rules. Communities Secretary James Brokenshire said Sunday that parliament would get another chance to pass judgment on May's Brexit plan "by no later than February 27". The prime minister is due to update parliament this week on the progress of her latest talks with the EU. "There needs to be a day when Parliament says that's it, enough is enough". Meanwhile, the British parliament is preparing for a Brexit debate on Thursday in which amendments to May's deal are expected to be tabled. Mr Fox said: "Switzerland is one of the most valuable trading partners that we are seeking continuity for". "If the meaningful vote has not happened, so in other words things have not concluded, then parliament would have that further opportunity [to vote] by no later than February 27", he said. "It's this blinkered approach that's got us to where we are, with her never wanting to see where the real majority is in parliament". Prime Minister Theresa May is set to ask MPs for more time to negotiate changes to the Irish border backstop with European Union leaders. There are fewer than 50 days until Brexit. The British government is seeking to win more time to secure European Union concessions on Brexit that could pass parliament and avert a chaotic split from the bloc on March 29. Brexit minister Stephen Barclay will meet European Union negotiator Michel Barnier on Monday to discuss changes to the part of the exit deal relating to the "backstop", an insurance policy against the return of a hard border between European Union member Ireland and British-ruled Northern Ireland. May has been seeking changes to the deal with Brussels since it was rejected by a record majority in parliament on January 15. The backstop aims to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland has been a constant sticking point in Brexit negotiations with Tory Brexiteers and the DUP rejecting the plan. May held talks in Brussels last week in an attempt to secure changes to the Northern Ireland backstop as demanded by Tory MPs. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu took out a protest march in Delhi demanding special status for his state. All the MPs, MLAs and MLCs of his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) will take part in the march that began from the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan and ended at Jantar Mantar. Naidu has alleged that the Narendra Modi government has gone back on its promise and also from the commitment made by the previous regime during the passage of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. The law provided for bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and creation of Telangana as a separate state. Following the protest march, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP legislators met President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and submitted a memorandum seeking special status for Andhra Pradesh. Naidu. The memorandum to President Kovind talks about the status of implementation of assurances made in the parliament during the passing of the state reorganisation legislation. Naidu had staged a dharna on Monday at the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan to press for his long-standing demand. His day-long hunger-strike a day ago turned out to be a rallying point for the opposition parties in Delhi as leaders from nearly two dozen political parties, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, visited him to express solidarity. Among those who supported Naidus demand for special status for Andhra Pradesh was BJPs ally Shiv Sena, whose Sanjay Raut said he was told by the party chief Uddhav Thackeray to visit the Andhra Pradesh chief minister at his dharna site. The development comes amid attempts by the BJP to reach out to the Shiv Sena, which is apparently not happy with the ruling party at the Centre and Maharashtra. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, disgruntled BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha, former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda, NCP president Sharad Pawar, TMC leader Derek OBrien and former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha also visited Naidu, who has been campaigning against the BJP-led government for past several months. Naidus TDP was part of the ruling NDA till mid-March 2018, when he pulled out of the alliance citing neglect of Andhra Pradesh by the Narendra Modi government. Naidu had held Prime Minister Narendra Modi responsible for the political fallout saying that he flew to the national capital 29 times but nothing could be gained for the state. Naidu and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee have been trying to form an opposition unity ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, likely to be held in April-May this year. Banerjee is scheduled to hold a two-day dharna in Delhi beginning Wednesday and Thursday. Both Banerjee and Naidu have alleged that the Modi government has launched an attack on federalism Priyanka Gandhi Vadras entry into active politics has given a new ray of hope to the Telangana Congress party, which has been totally beleaguered since its miserable show in the state assembly elections last in December. The party, which had won just 19 out of 119 assembly seats in Telangana, is desperate to win at least half a dozen MP seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections to retain its identity in the state. The party is planning to put up a big show of strength in the coming weeks in order to prove that it might be down after the assembly elections, but was not out. As part of the strategy, the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC), which has started preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, is contemplating inviting Priyanka Gandhi along with her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi to address a massive rally of five lakh people on the outskirts of Hyderabad soon after the announcement of the election schedule. A decision to this effect was taken at the meeting of PCC campaign committee headed by former MP Vijayashanti and publicity committee headed by Munugode MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy on Monday. The PCC has decided to send a formal request to the AICC, asking Priyanka to address the rally to rejuvenate the party cadre before the Lok Sabha elections. Also read | Robert Vadra, mother Maureen at Jaipur ED office, Priyanka Gandhi drops them off We shall invite Priyanka along with Rahul Gandhi to kick-start the election campaign in Telangana. We are expecting that the schedule for the general elections would be announced in the last week of February or the first week of March. Soon after that, we shall work out the campaign strategy, PCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy said. The Congress leaders are hopeful that Priyanka would help turn around the partys fortunes in Telangana. She is our trump card and she has already started weaving her magic around the people in Uttar Pradesh. Her campaign will have a tremendous impact on the parliament elections in Telangana as well, PCC treasurer Gudur Narayana Reddy said. The PCC has already started inviting applications from the candidates aspiring to contest the Lok Sabha elections in the state. As on Tuesday, the party had received more than 150 applications for 17 Lok Sabhs seats in the state. The last date to receive the applications was extended up to February 14. We shall scrutinise the applications and send them to the AICC screening committee. Ultimately, the AICC president will take a call on finalising the candidates for the MP seats, the PCC chief said, adding that the entire exercise would be completed by February end. Opinion | Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has her task cut out in UP The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh came under fire on Tuesday from opposition leaders after the police stopped Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav from boarding a plane from Lucknow for Allahabad to attend a students union function at the Allahabad University. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati whose party announced an alliance with the SP last month, condemned the police action as dictatorship and asked if stopping Akhilesh was an acknowledgement by the government that it was scared of the alliance. Is the BJP government at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh so afraid of the BSP-SP alliance that it is resorting to anti-democratic methods in order to curb our political activities. This is very unfortunate and this undemocratic step will be fought at all levels. Mayawati (@Mayawati) February 12, 2019 Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also said the decision to stop Akhilesh was dictatorial. Spoke to Akhilesh ji. We strongly condemn BJPs conduct. This is yet another example of BJPs dictatorial attitude. https://t.co/WliPMBameM Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 12, 2019 West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee who was embroiled in a bitter fight with the Centre earlier this month after a CBI team wanted to quiz the Kolkata Police commissioner on the Saradha chit fund scam, also criticised Adityanath for his arrogant attitude. . I've already spoken to @yadavakhilesh. We all condemn the arrogant attitude of the so-called #BJP leaders who didn't allow Akhilesh to address the students. Even @jigneshmevani80 was not allowed. Where is the democracy in our country? And they are giving lessons to everybody! Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) February 12, 2019 Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu who was in the national capital to demand special category status for his state, said the police action was another example of the BJP intolerance. Strongly condemn the high-handed behaviour of Lucknow authorities against Samajwadi party leader Sri Akhilesh Yadav. Another instance of BJP's intolerance against its political opponents. Really democracy is in danger. N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) February 12, 2019 Independent Gujarat MLA whose invitation to attend a college function in Ahmedabad on Monday was cancelled by its trustees, said the action against Akhilesh was nonsense and signalled the nervousness of the Narendra Modi regime. One more leader stopped from addressing students: , ... I strongly condemn this nonsense. However this also shows "bokhlahat" on the part of Modi-regime. @PMOIndia @yadavakhilesh Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) February 12, 2019 The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is considering a proposal by a high-level committee to take away 97 oil and gas fields being explored by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) and auction them to private sector energy companies, two government officials aware of the development said. The committee comprising top civil servants, including cabinet secretary PK Sinha and headed by NITI Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar, has proposed complete marketing and pricing freedom to potential investors, one of the two officials said on condition of anonymity. These are part of 149 marginal fields that contribute about 5% of the countrys total oil and gas production. The committee has, however, allowed ONGC and OIL to retain 52 of the total 149 marginal oil and gas fields on the condition that they deliver results in terms of production and financial performance within a definite time frame, the first official added. According to the committees report, ONGC and OIL are on notice for these 52 fields. They may lose these fields if they fail to perform, officials said. In these retained fields, NOCs [national oil companies] need to adhere to approved production profile. If they fail, even these fields shall be considered for taking back and privatisation by the government, the six-member committee said in its report, which was seen by HT. The committee submitted its report, Enhancing Domestic Oil & Gas Exploration and Production, to the government last month. Other members of the committee are oil secretary MM Kutty, department of economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, ONGC chairman Shashi Shankar and NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant. Out of the 52 fields, ONGC currently holds 49 fields and OIL three. Queries sent to the oil ministry, ONGC and OIL did not elicit any response. The panel also suggested that ONGC and OIL forge joint ventures (JV) with private entities in 66 lucrative oil and gas producing fields to enhance output from these blocks. It is necessary that recovery maximisation regime is adopted by NOCs and if need be, choose field specific implementation model including JV to make it possible to recover the additional oil expeditiously, the committee said in its report. These 66 fields contribute about 95% of Indias total oil (from 35.7 MMT in 2017-18) and gas (32,648 MMSCM) production. The committee, in its report, has expressed concerns over surging oil and gas consumption, which are resulting in higher energy imports (82.8% of total oil consumption and 45.3% in the case of gas). Total value of imports was Rs 4,79,377 crore in 2017-18. Higher imports are a direct consequence of steady decline in domestic production, it said. The report has pointed to two major dampeners for private investments poor geology of Indian sedimentary basins and policy focus on maximising revenue from oil and gas fields. The policy and the fiscal regime would have to adequately compensate for relatively inferior oil/gas prospects and the difficult geology. Hitherto instead of compensating for the poor geology, Indian policy has focused on maximising government revenues, it said. It has been highlighted by the oil and gas sector experts in the meeting with the Honble Prime Minister that our existing policy framework, fiscal and approval regimes would have to be made more attractive for both FDI [foreign direct investment] and domestic investments, it said. A former board member of ONGC said, This is nothing but asset stripping. Both ONGC and OIL are listed entities and this move will adversely impact the interests of the minority shareholders. Ideally, the government should wait and see the outcome of 69 blocks already privatised before taking this step. Privatisation is not the only solution. Performance of private companies is also not that encouraging. The proposal should not be hurried, especially when the governments current tenure is about to end, the direct-level official said requesting anonymity. The Indian Army on Monday issued two requests for information (RFI) for equipping thousands of assault rifles with two different types of night sights to bolster the night-fighting capabilities of its soldiers, two officials familiar with the development said. The army has launched a hunt for image intensifier and thermal imaging-based night sights for a total of 56,000 7.62X51 mm assault rifles, according to the RFIs. Image intensifier-based night sights amplify ambient light for detecting targets, while thermal imaging sights spot targets by their body heat. The army wants 40,000 image intensifier-based night sights and 16,000 thermal imaging based night sights, the officials said. The RFI for image intensifiers states that its sight should allow soldiers to aim up to 500 metres and to detect a human target at minimum 600 metres. Another key army requirement is that the sights should have a service life of 10,000 hours of operation or 10 years, whichever is earlier. Also read: Air force, navy stare at fund crunch next fiscal The second RFI states that the thermal imaging-based sights should facilitate accurate engagement of targets at a range of 500 metres. The sights should also be able to detect a moving human target at 800 metres and recognize it at 500 metres. These sights should have a minimum service life of 10,000 hours of operation or 12 years, whichever is earlier. Also read: VK Singh writes to PM Modi for probe into 12 coup reports Original equipment manufacturers have been asked to respond to both RFIs by March 15, 2019. The requests for proposals for the night sights will be issued in August 2019 to take the proposed procurement forward. According to the RFIs, the image intensifier-based night sights have to be delivered between six to 48 months of the signing of contract and the thermal imaging-based night sights will have to be supplied between six to 24 months. Also read: Safety gear failed in Mirage crash that killed both pilots The infantry is virtually blind and the night sights will provide soldiers a much-needed capability, said former Northern Army commander Lieutenant General BS Jaswal (retd). Even if the surveillance equipment detects the enemy, the shooter cant see the target. Despite detection, there is no integration between the shooter and the sensor for accurate engagement, he said. World over armies are going in for shooter-to-sensor integration. It is the need of the hour for the Indian Army too. Ideally, we should go in for night sights for 7.62X39 mm rifles too. Two days after the BSP ended its alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) in the wake of its humiliating defeat in the Jind bypoll, party supremo Om Prakash Chautala on Monday said they are ready to go in for a tie-up with any like-minded party as nobody is our enemy. Chautala, out on furlough from Tihar jail where he is serving a ten-year sentence in the JBT recruitment scam, addressed a public meeting here. Interacting with the media persons after the meeting, he said, The world lives on hope. We dont have any malice towards anyone. If like-minded people are willing to take us along for the bright future of the country, we would not have any objection. This could be any political party, he replied when asked about the possibility of forging alliance with the ruling BJP, which had been its ally in the past too. Chautala, however, did not comment on BSP supremo Mayawatis move to join hands with Loktantra Suraksha Party after parting ways with INLD. Several alliances are being formed ahead of elections, he quipped. Asked if he could imagine such a humiliating defeat of INLD candidate Umed Redhu, who lost his deposit, in Jind bypoll, Chautala said, I was not expecting such a result. But dont want to discuss the reasons behind it. He also refused to comment over the remarkable performance of the Jannayak Janta Party (JPP), which was formed by his estranged son Ajay Chautala and grandson Dushyant Chautala, in the Jind bypoll. JPP candidate Digvijay Chautala, brother of Dushyant, was the runner-up in the bypoll, pushing Congress Randeeep Surjewala to the third position. Having suffered three major jolts - split in the family, humiliating defeat in Jind bypoll and break-up of alliance with BSP - the visibly upset four-time Haryana chief minister asked the party workers to work on the ground to strengthen the party. Jobs for all educated youth Chautala promised to give jobs to all educated youths of the state on merit basis. Though I am in jail for giving jobs to 3,200 youths, I promise to give job to every educated youth as per his ability, irrespective of their caste, community or political association, he said. He added, I am ready to spend the rest of my life in jail, but I promise to give jobs to all educated youths of the state if we are voted to power. However, Chautala avoided attacking his grandsons Dushyant and Digvijay. The circumstances keep changing. People come and go. There were some people, who dont even hesitate to bring the country down to fulfil their own interests. But you need not think about others. Work on the ground to strengthen the party, he told INLD workers. Chautala also addressed a party workers meeting in Ambala later in the day. At least 17 people, including a child and a woman, were killed in a massive fire at a hotel in Delhis congested Karol Bagh area on Tuesday as authorities blamed building owners of flouting construction regulations. The latest incident prompted the Delhi government to order a probe into the fire reported early in the morning when most guests were sleeping. Delhi minister Satyendar Jain said strict action will be taken against those found guilty of negligence after the fire swept through Hotel Arpit Palace. He made the comments after visiting the accident site. Seventeen people have died and two others have been injured. Most of the people died due to suffocation. Strict action will be taken against those found guilty of negligence. The district magistrate has ordered inquiry, Jain, who holds multiple portfolios including home, industries and urban development, said. Follow LIVE updates here. The hotel has a basement, a ground floor and four other floors and the fire was reported on third and fourth floors but the blaze spiralled down as well. The basement and ground floors, however, were not affected. There has been visible violations of building bye laws. The building has six storeys, including one temporary floor instead of permissible four floors. I have ordered fire inspection of buildings in the area, Jain said. Most damages were reported between the second and the fourth floor. The fire has been controlled and the cooling process is underway. Reports said a woman and a child were among the dead, who tried to escape by jumping from a window of the six-story hotel located in the busy shopping area of the Capital. Also Read | Delhi hotel that caught fire was booked by wedding party, child among dead Fire officer Vipin Kental said the two people had jumped off the Hotel Arpit Palace on Gurudwara Road out of panic when the fire broke out. There was wood panelling on the corridor because of which people couldnt use the corridors to get out. The two jumped off the building, Kental said, according to ANI. Delhi Fire Service officials said they received a call at 4:35am about the fire at Hotel Arpit Palace on Gurudwara Road of Karol Bagh area. At least 35 people were rescued from the hotel located in the popular shopping district of the national capital, news agency Reuters reported quoting fire brigade official Virendra Singh. According to deputy chief fire officer Sunil Choudhary, 26 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. Authorities have launched raids to enforce building regulations, fire safety measures and evacuation procedures but these steps have failed to check rampant violations by builders in a rapidly expanding Capital, the home to more than 18 million people. However, Delhi Hotel Association vice-president Balan Mani all rules and regulations were followed in the hotel. It was due to a fire in ducting because of which it spread to the hotel rooms. All norms were followed here. A license is issued only after inspection. Mishaps can occur in a house as well, Mani said, according to news agency ANI. Last week, a fire broke out in a hospital in Noida, forcing an emergency evacuation of scores of patients and other people. Nobody was injured. Four people were killed in November last year in a factory fire in Beadonpura area in Karol Bagh after a solvent used for laundering clothes spilt out on the floor accidentally. (With agency inputs) There are 5,200 flats in various Amrapali projects which are either bogus or unsold, court-appointed forensic auditors on Monday told the Supreme Court, which also grilled multinational firm, JP Morgan, for investing Rs 85 crore in the real-estate company in 2010. A bench led by justice Arun Misra was also displeased to know that Amrapalis two properties could not be auctioned by the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) because banks are not coming forward to finance buyers who have shown interest to purchase the said properties. As per an earlier SC order, DRT had to auction the properties by January 31. The top court is seized of a batch of petitions filed by homebuyers who are seeking possession of around 42,000 flats booked in projects of Amrapali Group. Advocate Mihir, appearing for flat owners, told the bench that the DRT has reissued the same proclamation because it received no bid for the two properties. The lawyer told the bench that the banks were not ready to finance the buyers who want to purchase Amrapali properties. Also, DRT has asked for a clarification from SC whether banks can finance such properties. As per DRTs understanding the said properties are clean titles and, therefore, banks should be in a position to finance such a purchase. However, banks treat such properties as non-performing assets (NPA) and no loan can be advanced to make a bid for them. The court was surprised to hear the submission. Justice Mishra referred to a recent news report on how banks were ready to fund NBCC for completing Amrapalis unfinished projects. Are banks making a cartel with vested interest to defeat our orders, the judge wondered and said appropriate orders will be passed on the issue. Advocate ML Lahoty, also appearing for flat owners, pointed out to the court that in 2017 the Noida authority was asked to issue occupation certificate subject to Amrapali paying 10% of the land value. As per forensic auditors Amrapali reportedly owes Rs 1,900 crore to Noida and Rs 3,200 crore to Greater Noida authorities. At this, the lawyer for Noida authority said the authority was ready to issue occupation certificate provided it was assured a payment security. This submission was countered by advocates for homebuyers who said under the present law prepayment of dues is not a condition for grant of occupation certificate. The SC-appointed auditors also placed their report on JP Morgans transaction with Amrapali in 2010, and alleged that the company had violated Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). They said the company had invested the money through external commercial borrowings whereas it was not allowed at that point of time unless the company had Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval. Morgans counsel defended the transaction and tried to explain how the private equity was placed in Amrapali even as the court questioned him on the multinational companys investment of Rs 85 crore. The court wanted to understand how did Morgan exit Amrapali at Rs 40 crore and that too by selling shares to Amrapalis dummy companies. Forensic auditors revealed that peons working in Amrapali group were directors in such companies. The judges sought to know details of investors who placed money through JP Morgan in Amrapali and also beneficiaries when it exited. How is it possible that a peon earning Rs15,000 per month can afford to purchase shares worth Rs 140 crore, the court said, fixing February 14 to hear the matter again. On February 2, a 4-year-old girl lodged in Jaipurs JK Lone Hospital identified the man who raped her 3 days ago, from nine mug shots pasted on a white sheet of paper. Five days later, the process was repeated in court, and she identified him again, proving it to be the most important evidence in the fastest trial in a rape case in Rajasthan. The special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act Court in Sikar district completed the trial in five working days and on February 11 sentenced the accused to life imprisonment till death, said public prosecutor Shivratan Sharma. The trial began on February 5 and concluded around 8pm on Monday. It took only five working days for the judge to pronounce the man guilty of the heinous crime, Sharma added. Before this speedy trial, in 2005, a Jodhpur court had completed the trial in the rape of a German woman by an auto-rickshaw driver and his aide in 11 working days after the police filed the chargesheet. In another case, an Alwar court finished the trial in the rape of a German woman by Bitti Mohanty, son of a senior Odisha IPS officer, in 15 days. Sub inspector Surendra Kumar Saini with his team. In the Sikar case, the 4-year-old girl was found in a burial ground around 9pm on January 30, a few furlongs away from where she lived with her parents in shanties, said sub inspector Surendra Kumar Saini, who investigated the case. She was missing for two hours when her parents began looking for her. They found her in the burial ground with a man later identified as Karan, alias Kalu and Kaliya. The girl was bleeding and the man got injured when he tried to flee. Both were taken to hospital. Later, doctors referred the girl to JK Lone Hospital and the man to Sikars district hospital, the police officer said. The Khatu police station registered a case against Karan, who does not use a surname, on January 31 on a complaint given by the girls family. The man was arrested the same day and was sent to judicial custody the next day. The accused is a native of Gujarat. He lives with his aunts family. The girls parents exchange utensils for old clothes as they go around villages. On February 2, police officer Saini went to Jaipur to record the girls statement. The process in which she identified the man from the mug shots was recorded on camera and a CD of this was presented in court during trial. Prosecutor Sharma said the girl was brought to court on February 7 where she again identified the accused from the mug shots. We took the case under the case officer scheme, a programme in which police officers ensure that the witnesses dont turn hostile so that they get conviction, and finished the investigation in four days, said Dr Amandeep Singh Kapoor, Sikars superintendent of police. He added that the chargesheet was filed on February 4. Three poor, rural lads have won accolades for the country by bagging the first prize at the international snow art competition held in Japan. Hailing from remote villages of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Uttar Pradesh (UP), the three artists pooled their resources to participate in the event and got the achievement without any government sponsorship or support. Working under the most adverse conditions, the ill-equipped youths of Team India Abhyuday beat the better equipped 11 teams from eight developed countries that participated in the International Snow Sculpturing Competition (ISSC) Japan Cup 2019, held at Nayoro in Japan from February 6 to 9. Team Russia and Team Thailand came second and third respectively. This was the first-ever team from India to participate in the extremely popular competition in Japan. Working in bone-chilling high-speed cold winds and -25 degree Celsius freezing temperatures, a record in 19 years of the competitions history, Ravi Prakash, Sunil Kumar Kushwaha and Rajnish Verma of the Indian team sculptured Lord Vishnus Varah Avatar (Swine Incarnation). The 4-metre high, 3-metre long and 3-metre wide statue, based on a unique mythological character that saved earth from demons, was the biggest attraction for snow art lovers and the jury was happy to declare it the best. Herman Leung, member of the organizing committee of Nayoro Sightseeing and Town Planning Association, in a text message confirmed the achievement of the Indian team. It was a pleasure to have the hardworking and talented Indian team compete and win the first prize in the competition, Leung said. Nayoro is a famous winter tourism centre in Japan and the Nayoro tourism had organised the competition as a unique tourists attraction event. The team had to undergo a lot of pain and uncertainties before making it to the mega event. Having no money for air ticket and with all efforts to get government sponsorship failing, they had virtually lost hope when a Delhi-based NGO Viswa Samanwayak Sangh came as a good samaritan and arranged for their travel. The trio had approached the organization after a failed opportunity to participate in another international competition held in Italy in January for want of money for air ticket and tools. Upon their triumph in Japan, the three-member team, led by Bihars Ravi Prakash, was accorded a grand welcome at the Delhi airport by organization chairman Kusham Sah, officials Indrajeet, Abhinav Acharya, Rajkumar and volunteers on their return on Monday. About the three sculptures Ravi Prakash is resident of village Pakarihar Khurd under Mohania block of Kaimur district in southwest Bihar. Son of a poor Kumhar (potter), Ravi supports the family and is bearing the education expenses of his two younger sisters and a brother after the death of his father. Passionate in idol-making from early childhood, he is a gold medalist both in Bachelors in Fine Art (BFA) and Masters in Fine Art (MFA) from Allahabad University and Jamia Millia Islamia University (JMIU). He is presently working as a guest lecturer at JMIU. Sunil Kumar Kushwaha, resident of the remote hilly village Kachani in Maoist-affected Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh, is the son of a poor factory labourer. Sunil completed his MFA from JMIU in 2014 and works as a freelance artist. Rajnish Verma, resident of village Patel Nagar in Uttar Pradeshs Lakhimpur Kheri district, was born in a marginal farmers family. Rajnish lost his father very early in his childhood and his widowed mother raised and groomed him. He completed his MFA from JMIU in 2018, and is also a freelance artist. The three of them have several things in common. They hail from extremely poor and rural families, had their schooling and college education in local government institutions. Ravi Prakash said, Whatever we are today is due to our family support, our hard work and dedication, he said. The team has also won three awards - two excellent and one special award at the World Snow Art Competition held in China in December last. This is the biggest snow art competition in the world where entry for a team is very difficult, Ravi said. They will be felicitated at Jawahar Lal Nehru University on February 27 for their excellent achievements, Ravi said. Our only endeavour is to make India proud in the field of Fine Arts all over the world. Financial gains have been secondary. We are inspired by our prime ministers suggestions to youths to become self-dependent and contribute in making India a shining nation, the trio said in unison. Two weeks after a 23-year-old man allegedly killed his 18-year-old wife, the police on Monday arrested him from Shankar Chowk in Udyog Vihar. The police said the man confessed to strangulating his wife with a dupatta (stole), after she went to sleep following a fight between the two. According to the police, Dharmender, a daily wager, allegedly choked his wife to death on January 28 night and ran away after locking his rented house in Nathupur village, in DLF Phase-3, from the outside. Her decomposed body was recovered four days later on February 2, after their landlord, Dinesh, knocked at their door to arrange for cleaning. He picked up a foul smell and after discovering her body, reported the incident to the police. The police registered a case of murder against the husband, after his father-in-law, Bhagwan Singh, alleged that his daughter often complained to him that she and her husband had frequent fights, after which, he used to beat her. The case was subsequently transferred to the crime branch. Amit Kumar, in-charge of crime branch, Sector 40, said that since the alleged murder, Dharmender had been staying at the houses of his friends and acquaintances in the National Capital Region. He kept on switching his location to give the police a slip. He stayed in Burari, Sultanpuri in Delhi and Noida with friends. He had come to Gurugram to meet an associate, when he was arrested by the police after a tip-off, said Kumar. The police said in May 2018, the victim, Karan Kaur, had eloped from her house in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, after she met Dharmender, a native of Firozabad. The two got married and rented a house in Nathupur village in DLF Phase-3. The womans father told the police in the complaint that after moving to Gurugram, her daughter used to call the family every fortnight. The women of the House wore white. The men wore dark suits. And the contrast laid bare the growing gender gap between Democrats and Republicans. Wearing the colour of the suffragists, the Democratic women of the House put on a stunning display of solidarity during the State of the Union address on Tuesday, February 6, 2019. They paid tribute to the women who came before them and gave a nod to their own achievement, as more women than ever are now representatives in the House. There were white pantsuits, of course. But also sheath power dresses. Even a puffy zip snow vest. Hats for some, removed once inside. Shawls and scarves. In the chamber, there has long been a growing gender divide with Democratic women outnumbering Republicans. The House now has more than 100 women in office. But the vast majority of them, about 90, are Democrats. House Republican women count just over a dozen. Even when the senators arrive for a joint session like this, the gap comes into view with the sea of dark suits on one side of the aisle, and the diversity of colourful suits and dresses on the other. On this night, the simplicity of white offered a reminder that fashion is often political. Theirs was a reflection of the voters who sent them to office last November giving Democrats the House majority. During his speech, President Donald Trump noted the number of women in newly created jobs last year, touching off a remarkable moment. The women in white leapt to their feet and high-fived, pointing at themselves and each other. They had won some of those very jobs. Trump, surprised, said, You werent supposed to do that. Then, because he knew the part of his speech that was coming next, told them not to sit quite yet, promising Youre going to like this. Trump recounted that a century after the Congress passed the Constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote, we also have more women serving in the Congress than ever before. More high-fives and the women in white, repurposing a favourite outburst of the men in suits on the other side of the aisle, chanted, U-S-A! Among them was Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who also wore white last month when the 29-year-old was sworn into office, now a prominent member of the freshmen class. Thats great, Trump said. Very great. Speaker Nancy Pelosi watched over the night, the first woman to wield the gavel, when she rose to the position in 2007, and now the only speaker in half a century to reclaim it when she was elected again in January. Trump and Pelosi shook hands before the speech, pleasant enough. But he began his speech without the formal introduction the speaker traditionally gives the president, and Pelosi sat down. The two had sparred during the partial federal shutdown over whether he should even give the speech at all. Pelosi said no, not until the government reopened. He said yes, but eventually relented. Pelosi often says her strength comes from the unity of her diverse Democratic caucus, and that power was on display Tuesday. A few of the Democrats male colleagues joined them in white. Rep. Dean Phillips, a newly elected Democrat from Minnesota, wore a white jacket, as did Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill. Many other men wore white ribbons of support. As soon as the speech was done, the women headed for the doors, their place in history, in white, complete. Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Katrina Kaif and some of the most stylish A-listers have lately been stepping out in unique outfits that dont feel tired and like weve seen them over and over again. Here, were talking about everything from sleek pantsuit looks (Alia Bhatts Gully Boy style is so on point) to offbeat denim vibes (Hello, Kareena Kapoor!), and everything in-between. No matter how youre celebrating Valentines Day 2019 on Thursday, use it as an excuse to treat yourself to something new. So, whether youre planning a romantic date night or will be hanging out with friends, get in the Valentines Day spirit, and use it as an excuse to show the people in your life how much you love them, all while looking fashionable. Ideally, youd want an outfit that youre comfortable in, but that also makes you feel like youre making the most of a given day to celebrate love. And hey, who cares if you dont have V-Day plans? These are mood-boosting outfits youll always feel great in. Keep scrolling to check out stylish outfits spotted on Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Katrina Kaif, Priyanka Chopra and Sonam Kapoor, which are perfect for Valentines Day (and beyond). A red dress The red dress might be the most obvious choice in the Valentines Day dressing book, but did you know its also the hue that suits everyone? The great thing about it is that itll also bring out the colour in your face, which, according to science, makes you more attractive. Want more advice? Check out how actor Katrina Kaif styled her Jonathan Simkhai dress. A dress with leg slit They say that you should only show off your legs or your decolletage in any given outfit. Actor Priyanka Chopra clearly doesnt knows this to be true, as evidenced by this ivory Teresa Helbig dress handmade with cotton tulle and Japanese waxed ribbons. Remember to add a pair of statement heels in a bold, contrasting red, pink or neon colour (Priyankas are Le Silla) to your leggy look to give it an extra-romantic edge. A pantsuit True, a pantsuit can feel formal, but when you balance it out with unexpected, fun elements, you avoid that pitfall. Its the more modest way to do a Valentines Day ensemble and you can get heaps of wear out of it. You dont have to go all out like actor Alia Bhatt did in her white Moschino pantsuit with black and orange markertype squiggles suggesting pattern. Pantsuits with prints are just as acceptable. A pantsuit paired with a top featuring a quirky print would work too. A nice top + jeans Actor Kareena Kapoors Dsquared2 shirt and H&M jeans outfit is current and modern. Like her, keep your jeans high-waisted to flatter your figure and tie your shirt in the front to show off a sliver of skin. Sneakers will work with this, but sleek heels, like Kareenas pointy-toed black pumps by Christian Louboutin, will make the look elevated. This ensemble is great for a causal movie date or even a dinner with your BFFs for Galentines Day on February 13, Wednesday. A black dress Finally, this list (any list?) wouldnt be complete without a black dress. However, it doesnt have to be little to make an impact. Find one that covers you up but flashes a bit of leg, a la Sonam Kapoors Ralph & Russo design. Subtlety for the win, people. Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter In North East Indias biodiversity hotspots that are home to rare flora and fauna such as the Hoolock Gibbon and the Phayres Leaf Monkey, a Bengaluru-based research organisation has been gathering data on plant diversity and animal groups as well as mapping the ecosystem. Alongside, it has been wondering how to make sense of the data collected, given the limited resources at its disposal. In Hyderabad, researchers have been trying to devise a method to predict a pest attack, so farmers can be warned in advance. In both cases, artificial intelligence (AI) has come to the rescue. Our researchers are developing a machine learning algorithm in the cloud space of Microsoft Azure to facilitate ecosystem mapping and to create a bioresource atlas for the region, says Nitin Pandit, director of Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, the organisation working in Sikkim. He adds, The shortage of trained human resources in the documentation of biodiversity is a major impediment and AI tools bolster the efforts of documenting biodiversity data. The application of AI in our daily livesits the reason why every email lands in the right Gmail folder or Amazon recommends products suited to your tasteis well known. Whats new is that AI-based technologies are catching on big time across Indian research organisations working on environment and conservation. These organisations are being backed by big-ticket funding programs such as Microsofts AI for Earth, a $50 million, five-year program that has eight participants from India. Support has also been forthcoming from the central government, which recently approved a Rs 400-crore National Artificial Intelligence Centre that is scheduled to begin functioning from July this year. Lucas Joppa, chief environmental officer of Microsoft, says, AI is helping organisations understand life on Earthwhere species are, how many there are and how their behaviour is changing over time as their habitats change. This leads to more effective protection programs. Indias response is exciting with the third largest concentration of grantees for the AI for Earth program located here, just behind the United States and Canada. AI to prevent poaching Till date, the most popular AI application on protecting wildlife has been PAWS or Protection Assistant for Wildlife Security. Designed by Fei Fang of Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, US, the AI-based tool forecasts wildlife poaching based on ranger-collected data and evaluation through field tests. The program predicts a heat map of poaching threats. Over eight months of using PAWS in Uganda, it was confirmed that the predictions made led to forest rangers catching poachers or detecting snares and traps at a higher rate than before, says Fei Fang. Every snare removed means a potential saving of elephant life. Its not just about making predictions about poaching threats but PAWS also assists rangers to design the most effective patrol routes, even in tough terrains, she adds. This enables the most effective use of manpower available. PAWS has been successfully applied in South-East Asia as well as China but has not made it to India yet. However, companies such as Teradata India are working with the Indian government to apply AI to prevent poaching. Souma Das, managing director, Teradata India, says, We are actively engaged in wildlife conservation and protection using AI-driven predictive analysis on wildlife movement, tracking and monitoring their health to avoid the spread of any disease. We are also protecting wild animals from poachers, through continuously monitoring thermal and video images and analysing uncommon behaviour using machine learning techniques. Apart from preventing wildlife crime, AI is also being used to protect habitats. Chintan Sheth, a researcher at Bengalurus National Centre for Biological Sciences, has been using AI to predict habitat cover in the Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh and Chilika Lake in Odisha. AI makes the job easier and faster, especially when used within the Google Earth Engine platform. I no longer have to look at every satellite image, just some thoughtful code can predict land cover change across 30 years. Google Earth Engine is a powerful cloud computing platform that uses thousands of computers on the network to run analyses, making it phenomenally fast and efficient, says Sheth. AI for farming At Hyderabads International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), researchers have been applying AI to forecast pest attacks on crops and advise farmers on the best times to sow. Pest attacks are estimated to cause an annual crop loss of up to $500 billion for Indian farmers. Says Mamta Sharma of ICRISAT, Our project is a combination of better surveillance powered by satellite images, better forecasts powered by machine learning, and a robust decision-support system for farmers through a cloud-enabled app. Advanced pest forecasting models and GIS maps are having a significant impact on the understanding of constraints in crop production and to assess the impacts of climate change in the near future. She adds, To ensure smallholder farmers have access to information in time, we are also planning to link our pest prediction models with an AI-supported mobile application that displays personalised prediction results and recommended actions for each farmer. By using the AI sowing app, the research institute claims that farmers who took part in a pilot program in Andhra Pradesh had a 30% higher yield per hectare on average. Sharma says, The app sends sowing advisories to farmers about the optimal date to sow. The farmers dont need to instal any sensors in their fields or incur any capital expenditure for this. All they need is a feature phone capable of receiving text messages. IBM, too, has jumped on to the bandwagon and is aiming to reach out to as many as 3.5 million farmers through its AgriTech apps. We see AgriTech as a Rs 5,000-crore opportunity in the next five years. We are also working with Niti Aayog to develop a crop-yield prediction model using AI to provide real-time advisories to farmers in backward districts, says Himanshu Goyal, India business leader, the Weather Company, IBM. Having made large strides in the field of environmental sciences in India, AI is now a necessary tool. Joppa of Microsoft says, In one of our projects, there are 50 sensors monitoring a 1,243-sq km area to listen to elephants as well as to more troubling sounds like gunshots or chainsaws. They record a lot of data, about two million songs and calls from the forests every 3-4 months. He adds, With the help of AI, the data is being processed in a few weeks where it would have taken a couple of months earlier. Thats the kind of efficiency AI offers. No human would be able to sit there and listen to two million songs in a language they dont understand. The Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE) held a meeting of all stakeholders before commencing of board examinations of Classes 10 and 12, here on Monday. As many as 150 principals and heads of the examinations, centre superintendents, and officials from the UT education department, participated in the meeting. The meeting was convened by S Dharini Arun, the new regional officer of CBSE, Chandigarh. District education officer (DEO) Anujit Kaur and deputy district education officer, Monica Maini, were also present during the meeting. The DEO said, It was a very good gesture on the part of the CBSE that it has guided the examiners and the centre superintendents for the smooth functioning of the examination to prevent any mistake. She said, The CBSE has also asked them to take extra care while conducting the examination. The meeting was held at Delhi Public School (DPS), Chandigarh, as DPS principal Reema Deewan is the city coordinator of the CBSE Board Examination 2018-2019 session. The instructions were webcasted from CBSE, Delhi, for entire country and it was shown in DPS. Reema Deewan said, The meeting was an excellent initiative by the CBSE to ensure that exams are conducted in a fine manner. In the meeting, around 150 stakeholders participated for a detailed discussion on how to make exams students friendly CBSE new regional director was not available for comments, however, sources privy to the developments, said the meeting was convened to elaborate on conduction of examination for the academic session (2018-19). Primarily all Dos and Donts of the examination were shared with the schools. Specific instructions will be shared later, said Arun. CBSE ALLOTS NEW REGIONAL OFFICE TO CHANDIGARH The CBSE has allotted a new regional office to Chandigarh to be headed by a separate regional officer, who will oversee the stakeholders of school education in Chandigarh, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir. The Arpit Palace hotel in Delhis Karol Bagh where at least 17 people died in a massive fire that broke out early Tuesday morning was booked by a wedding party when the incident took place. News agency Reuters reported that a large part of the 35-room hotel had been booked by the wedding party. Among the dead in the fire incident were a child and a woman who tried to escape inferno by jumping through a window in the hotel room they occupied. Most of the victims were sleeping when the fire broke out. Follow live updates here Delhi minister Satyendra Jain said the district magistrate has ordered an inquiry into the fire incident. Jain promised strict action against those found guilty of negligence. He said, Seventeen people had died and two others are injured. Most of the people died due to suffocation. Strict action will be taken against those found guilty of negligence. The district magistrate has ordered inquiry. At least 35 people were rescued from the hotel located in the popular shopping district of the national capital, Reuters reported quoting Virendra Singh, deputy fire chief. Read: Major past fire incidents in Delhi-NCR There was wooden paneling on corridor because of which people couldnt use corridors to evacuate, news agency ANI quoted fire officer Vipin Kental as saying. The officer said that the cause of fire was yet to be investigated. Thirty fire tenders were pressed into the service to extinguish the fire. All norms were followed here; license is issued only after inspection. Mishappening can occur in a house as well, Delhi Hotel Association vice president Balan Mani said, according to ANI, adding, It was due to fire in ducting because of which it had spread to the hotel rooms. Earlier, a fire broke out in a Noida hospital near Delhi forcing emergency evacuation of patients. The fire was contained without resulting in any casualty. (With inputs from agencies) An IT engineer who refused to marry a 22-year-old BA final year student because she belonged to the Scheduled Caste community has been held guilty of rape. The quantum of punishment against Himachal Pradesh resident Sushant will be announced on Tuesday at the court of additional district and sessions judge Vijay Singh. Continuing since 2016, the rape trial had taken a sudden twist after the National Commission for Scheduled Castes directed the UT police to add offences of the SC Act to the FIR in December 2017. The daughter of a lab attendant in the city, the woman had filed a complaint with the Chandigarh police on September 1, 2016, alleging that Sushant, then 24 and living in her colony, would follow her on her way to college. On July 9 of the same year, he had taken her to a hotel in Sector 52 and raped her twice, using protection only once. According to the FIR, she did not disclose the incident to her family out of fear as he had threatened to kill her if she did do. However, after he tried to get physical with her again she told her family members about it and a case was registered at the Sector 36 police station for rape. The court of additional district and sessions judge Anshu Shukla had then heard the case (it was then the special court for crimes against women) but dismissed the survivors plea to cancel Sushants bail and add more offences in the chargesheet. Eventually, however, the SC Commission in New Delhi had to step in and direct the Chandigarh police to file a supplementary challan for offences under the SC and ST Act. The case was transferred to the family court which also has jurisdiction for offences under the SC and ST Act in January 2018 and a fresh trial began under sections 376(2)(n) (rape), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 419 (punishment for cheating by personation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 3(1)(W)(i) of the SC and ST Act. Arguing for the defendant, counsel Rabindra Pandit argued that Sushant and the woman were acquainted and pointed out to her plea being dismissed by the court earlier. Pandit had also argued that the accused had hired an autorickshaw and ensured the girl was dropped home safely after the act, which he said was consensual. She had also informed her family about the incident six months later, he added. The court was also told that since the two had been intimate over a period of time, Sushant must have been aware of the fact that the woman belonged to the SC community. The Central Board of Film Certification is back to its sanskaari ways. The body, often mentioned as censor board for its scissor-happy ways, has trimmed a kissing scene between Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt and come down heavily on any kind of swear work in Gully Boy. The Zoya Akhtar film about rap culture in India will release this Friday with the cuts. The film has been given UA certification after the cuts and producer Ritesh Sidhwani told Hindustan Times that they have no issues with the certification. It is absolutely fine, he said. Also read: Ranveer Singhs Gully Boy gets loudest cheers in 20 years at Berlinale The CBFC has asked the Ranveer-Alia kissing scene to be cut down by 13 seconds, besides making it a wide shot instead of a close-up of Ranveer and Alia. Earlier, the CBFC under the stewardship of Pahlaj Nihalani had faced a lot of criticism for shortening the kissing scene in James Bond film, Spectre. The CBFC has asked for four changes in the film apart from shortening the kissing scene. Interestingly, the name of liquor brand Royal Stag has been removed from the list of brand partners. This, perhaps, is a first where the name of a brand partner has been removed simply because it is an alcohol brand. Cuss words have also been bleeped or removed from the film. Recently, Emraan Hashmis film Cheat India had to be renamed Why Cheat India, thanks to CBFCs recommendations. Last year, Deepika Padukones Padmaavati was renamed Padmaavat. Starring Alia and Ranveer in the lead role, Gully Boy is the story of an aspiring rapper named Murad, played by Ranveer, who rises from the slums of Mumbai to make a mark for himself in the world of desi hip hop. Alia plays his fierce girlfriend in the film, which is set to release on February 14. After the film had the world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on Saturday, praises showered on the film and Zoya, with several viewers calling it her best work till date. Following in the footsteps of Odisha, the government of Tamil Nadu in January drafted a housing policy that emphasises leveraging technology for conducting accurate spatial surveys of slums. The Odisha governments policy has been lauded for providing a clear roadmap towards granting land titles to slum dwellers. However, it does not take into account the different tenural types in slums and risks excluding some of the most vulnerable groups tenant slum households. For Tamil Nadu, and other states formulating housing policies, it is critical to recognise the importance of rental arrangements. New migrants in a city prefer to rent. When migrants belong to low-income groups, they usually find a shelter in the citys slums thanks to kinship and other social networks. Renting is also a preferred choice for those who cannot afford the time and money spent on long commutes to the place of work. Therefore, an informal system of thriving rental markets has emerged in Indias slums. According to the 2011 Census of India, 26% of slum households lived in rented accommodation. In the city of Mumbai, 24% of slum households are tenants. In Bangalore and Chennai, rental households constitute 46% and 45% of slum households respectively. Rental agreements between tenants and landlords are either oral or written on paper having no legal validity. Rental payments are often made in cash and tenants are not provided proofs of payment. With no system of law and framework for dispute resolution to undergird rental agreements, both tenants and landlords face a very high degree of risk and uncertainty. To an extent, private ordering of different types has emerged to mitigate risks. Tenants are afforded some protection against unfair evictions and landlords can expect some guarantee of regular payments due to informal modes of contract enforcement. Often, tenants and landlords belong to the same community or might be related, which creates a degree of trust as well as a need to maintain a good reputation in the community. In some cases, slumlords or local leaders act as enforcers in case of disputes or reneging of contracts. This existing system is inadequate and far from efficient. There is anecdotal evidence showing that tenants may be asked to vacate their homes at short notice and that their homes are not properly maintained by landlords. Once the duration of negotiated rent ends, increases in rents are often very high. This is partly to dissuade tenants from staying for too long and claiming some sort of de facto ownership. A potential cause for this is the high degree of insecurity landlords face in renting out their premises due to the general nature of informal ownership tenure. A 2001 paper by Sunil Kumar of London School of Economics and Political Science finds that in Surat, when tax officials visited, landlords would remove partitions in the house separating themselves and the tenants and report that the tenants were relatives living with them temporarily. In Dharavi, during a slum census being conducted by Mashal, a Pune-based NGO, surveyors reported that landlords did not allow them to speak with tenants who often resided in lofts above their homes due to fear among landlords that tenants may become eligible for benefits or even ownership rights. Reforms for improving the situation have to be designed carefully so that the incentives they create do not lead to a complete breakdown of private ordering or drive rental markets further underground. Rent control-like regulations will be too onerous and will quickly and effectively thwart supply. The ideal reform is providing a foundation of clear property rights in the form of tenure security upon which the transactions and contracts can be built. Tenure security can be of different types, ranging from full property rights to the dwelling and, therefore, freedom to develop, rent or sell to partial rights that guarantee protection of slum dwellers against eviction for occupying public or private land and provide eligibility for basic amenities and services. The benefits to landlords from tenure security that recognises their right to rent are obvious. The risks they face from illegally renting out will dissipate. Since landlords often themselves live in slums and have low incomes, earnings from rent are an important revenue source and help smoothen consumption. But this policy is equally beneficial for tenants, who can expect better condition of dwellings and getting access to basic amenities. A 2017 study of slums in Pune by Shohei Nakamura of the World Bank provides empirical evidence to show that tenants are willing to pay a premium for living in slums that have been granted tenure security in order to get the aforementioned benefits. Therefore, for slum housing policies to be truly inclusive, they must recognise diverse tenurial arrangements instead of assuming a single type, that is, ownership, and legitimise informal rental arrangements. State governments that wish to create housing solutions for the poor cannot afford to overlook and undermine the solutions the poor have found for themselves. Vaidehi Tandel is Junior Fellow at IDFC Institute, Mumbai The views expressed are personal Does the world today look like what you imagined a decade ago? For us, the answer is both yes and no. On the one hand, the world as a whole continues to make the broad progress we hoped and expected to see. Many trendlines from the last decade continue their same positive trajectory. Fewer people are dying from preventable diseases. More children are surviving to adulthood, and more girls are going to school every year. The number of Indians living in extreme poverty has fallen from 306 million in 2011 to 70 million today. On the other hand, unexpected events have reshaped the world in a way that no one (including us!) saw coming. That would be true for any random year that you pick but last year, it seemed like unforeseen forces had an outsized impact. From especially devastating natural disasters to women achieving historic firsts in male-dominated fields, 2018 felt to us like a series of surprises. A benefit of surprises is that theyre often a prod to action. When you realise that the realities of the world dont match your expectations, it gnaws at you. Twenty-five years ago, a surprise changed the course of our lives. While reading the newspaper, we saw an article that made a shocking statement: hundreds of thousands of kids in poor countries were dying from diarrhoea. That revelation stopped us in our tracks. We sent a copy of the article to Bills dad and said, Maybe we can do something about this. That surprise was one of the most important steps in our journey to philanthropy. It helped crystallise our values: we believe in a world where innovation is for everyone where no child dies from a disease its possible to prevent. But what we saw was a world still shaped by inequity. In our Annual Letter this year, we wrote about nine things that have surprised us along this journey. Some helped us to see that the status quo needs to change, like the fact that data collection can be sexist and often doesnt take women and girls into account. Others underscore that transformation is happening already, like the notion that textbooks are becoming obsolete thanks to new technology. One of the surprises we wrote about is particularly resonant here in India: Toilets havent changed in over a century. If you could travel back in time to the mid-19th century, the toilets youd encounter wouldnt look so different from ones youd find in 2019. Thats because the flush toilet has long been a perfectly adequate tool for anyone who lives in a place with a decent sewer system. But because these toilets require sewer systems and because sewer systems are expensive to build and require a lot of water to operate the world needs to find sanitation solutions that work everywhere. Thats why, nearly eight years ago, we challenged engineers and scientists around the world to reinvent the toilet and why we organised a toilet fair in Beijing last year to showcase the results. Unlike todays commodes, these toilets dont need to be attached to a sewer system. Theyre essentially tiny treatment plants capable of killing pathogens and rendering waste safe on their own. Many of them even turn human faeces and urine into useful by-products, like fertilizer for crops and water for hand washing. Next-generation toilets along with important initiatives like Swachh Bharat wont just save lives. Theyll also improve them, especially for women and girls. Life without a toilet is hard for anyone, but it tends to be women and girls who suffer most. Weve both met women who have suffered kidney damage from holding in urine all night to avoid a risky trip to dangerous public facilities. Weve met others whose only place to defecate is in an open field, so they restrict their food intake all day and wait for cover of darkness to relieve themselves in relative privacy. Theres also some qualitative evidence that suggests that girls are more likely to miss school during their periods when their school doesnt have a decent toilet. A reinvented toilet would be a long-overdue game changer for them. We know firsthand that a surprise can be a powerful call to action just as the article about children dying from diarrhoea was for us. When you first confront a difficult reality, you get surprised, then you get outraged, then you get activated. Thats how the world gets better. Bill Gates and Melinda Gates are co-chairs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This article is adapted from their 2019 Annual Letter The views expressed are personal Over the past few months, more than 200 teens across the country, including some in the Chicago area, are naming those children, writing obituaries for every minor who has died from a gunshot in the year since the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 dead and sparked a youth movement on gun control. The memorials are part of a project from the nonprofit The Trace to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the shooting, which is Thursday. At around 11:30 a.m. on that day in August 1986, Fleming told police and she and Luster had stopped at a refreshment stand to buy food, the affidavit said. Francillon, she said, was less than 10 feet away at the time. After paying for the food, Luster wandered to a nearby store to buy a bicycle for Francillon, leaving Fleming at the stand "putting mustard, etc, on the food" and chatting with the waitress, the affidavit said. All the while, Fleming said she kept a watchful eye on her son, only taking her eyes off him when she made trips to carry drinks and food from the stand to a table. The last time she saw Francillon, Fleming said, he was walking toward the table. But when she returned with the last of the food moments later, her son was nowhere to be seen. At seven episodes, it doesn't require a great investment of time, reckoned either as the three or so hours it takes to watch in a lump sum or as the couple of months over which its weekly airings will be spread. Even when it isn't particularly funny, or when the humor is unpleasant, it is generally cheerful and always nicely acted. Buscemi as a slacker God is almost typecasting; Radcliffe, whom I think of (in a good way) as the British Elijah Wood, long ago left Harry Potter buried on the grounds of Hogwarts, playing off-kilter roles in oddball projects. Cameos by Tituss Burgess, Tim Meadows and the omnipresent Chris Parnell reward sticking around, and you may well watch to the end just to see how it all works out and how you were probably right about it all from the beginning. ****************** MID-MONTH MADNESS WINNERS GRAND PRIZE WINNER - Roxanne Cruz BLOG WINNER: Melanie Backus Individual Winners: Nancy: Amazon Gift Card: Connie Ruggles Contest #2 (not sure of prize): Marilyn Ridgeway Naomi: Ebook of Love Coward and swag: Darla Fillmore Catherine: Reader's choice of Destiny Series book: Deb Allard Vicki: Anonymous Bride: Darla Fillmore Mutiny of the Heart: Marilyn Ridgeway Linda: Ebook of Gold Rush Bride Hannah: Avis Powers Ebook of Gold Rush Bride Hannah: Nancy Costello ***************** GIVEAWAY RULES Winners must leave their email address and will be notified by email and the winne r s name will be anno unced in the days comments. No one under 18 can enter our giveaways. No purchase is necessary. All winners have one week to claim their prize. USA shipping only. Offer void where prohibited. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants. Well, were talking to a lot of people. Well, not a lot of people, a group of writers, Grammer said on The Late Late Show with James Corden. The first, like, principle is that its a different story basically. Same group of characters, but in a different setting. Something has changed in their lives. Certainly John Mahoney died over a year ago, and we would probably deal with that a little bit, Dad being gone but the third act of Frasier, rather than trying to pick it up like Will and Grace did right where they were. So were just exploring what that might be. It could be in Chicago. He left for Chicago before, in the last episode of Frasier. There seems to be some appetite for it. William Cummings The Herald-Mail The wide Democratic field of 2020 presidential candidates is expected to expand further Sunday with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar throwing her hat in the ring at an outdoor event in Minneapolis. Klobuchar, 58, hopes her working-class, Midwestern background will help her seize the middle ground in a Democratic primary where many of the candidates who have announced so far have generally appealed to the party's progressive wing. She first teased her announcement last week, declaring in a tweet, "Ive got a big announcement to make." She plans to deliver her remarks at the Twin Cities' Boom Island Park on the shores of the Mississippi. The Weather Channel's Sunday forecast for Minneapolis calls for snow and a high of 19 degrees Fahrenheit. "I don't come from money," Klobuchar is expected to say, according to excerpts of her speech obtained by CNN. "But what I do have is this: I have grit. I have family. I have friends. I have neighbors. I have all of you who are willing to come out in the middle of the winter, all of you who took the time to watch us today, all of you who are willing to stand up and say people matter." But the speech is still a work in progress. On Sunday morning, the former Hennepin County attorney tweeted that she was "already up and working on last minute speech prep." In 2006, Klobuchar became the first woman Minnesota elected that Minnesota had elected to the U.S. Senate. Last year, she won re-election to a third term with 60 percent of the vote in a state that President Donald Trump only lost by 1.5 percentage points. Who is running for president?:Here's a list of the candidates who have declared so far She is banking on that success carrying over into other Midwestern states to give her an edge in the Iowa caucuses and, if she were to secure the nomination, in states like Wisconsin and Michigan, which were key to Trump's upset over Hillary Clinton in 2016. "I think you want voices from places where Donald Trump did very well," she told CNN in December. "My state, for instance, he almost won in 2016, and we came roaring back in 2018." Klobuchar, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, gained national attention during the contentious confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. In one memorable exchange where Klobuchar asked Kavanaugh about his alcohol consumption, she spoke openly of growing up with an alcoholic father after Kavanaugh tried to turn the tables and angrily asked her about her own drinking. She voted against Kavanaugh, as well as Justice Neil Gorsuch. And she opposed most of Trump's Cabinet nominees, including Jeff Sessions, Betsy DeVos, Steven Mnuchin, Rick Perry and Ben Carson. But, according to FiveThirtyEight, she votes with Trump 31.5 percent of the time, the highest among the five other Democratic senators officially running in the primary so far. Klobuchar is more moderate than some of her primary opponents on a couple key Democratic issues. Unlike Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Kristen Gillbrand of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, she opposes the elimination of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. And though she says the U.S. needs universal healthcare, she has not endorsed the Medicare for All plan supported by Harris and Sen. Bernie Sanders. One early hurdle for the Minnesota Democrat is a recent BuzzFeed News report based on interviews with eight of her former staffer who accused her of running "a workplace controlled by fear, anger, and shame." The article said the senator "regularly berated" her staff over minor mistakes. A March 2018 report from Politico found she had the highest rate of staff turnover in the Senate from 2001 to 2016. "Senator Klobuchar loves her staff they are the reason she has gotten to where she is today," her campaign told BuzzFeed in response to the report. "She is proud of them and the work they have done for Minnesota." Poll:Defeating Trump is more important than issues for most Democratic voters This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Klobuchar to further heat up 2020 race with announcement on freezing Minneapolis afternoon Matthew Umstead mumstead@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. A circuit judge on Monday rejected a defense motion to reinstate bond for a Bunker Hill, W.Va., man charged last fall with driving under the influence causing death while already facing prosecution in another DUI-related case. Matthew Thomas Ostendorf, 33, of Fegan Road was charged with single counts of driving under the influence causing death, leaving the scene of an accident involving death and driving while license suspended or revoked for DUI stemming from a Nov. 23 vehicle crash on Goldmiller Road near Bunker Hill. Travis E. Ruckman, 43, of Winchester, Va., a passenger in Ostendorfs vehicle, was pronounced dead at the scene in southern Berkeley County, according to court records and the Berkeley County (W.Va.) Sheriffs Department. Ostendorf was charged in October by a Berkeley County grand jury on separate charges of DUI third offense, driving revoked for DUI second offense and driving suspended (non-DUI) that date to 2016. He was scheduled to go to trial in that case May 1. In a brief hearing Monday, 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Michael D. Lorensen cited the defendants failure to appear in court for a Dec. 10 hearing regarding his October indictment, among other concerns, for denying the motion filed by defense attorney Harley Wagner. Ostendorf was admitted to bond Nov. 17 after his indictment and was arrested Nov. 23 in connection with the fatal crash near Bunker Hill. Ostendorfs bond was revoked Nov. 26 by Lorensen, court records said. The judge on Monday also described the outcome of the defendants failure to comply with previous terms of bond as being nothing short of horrific. A preliminary investigation of the crash found that Ostendorf was driving a 2001 Chevrolet Suburban too fast on a curve when he lost control of the vehicle and it struck two trees, police have said. The defendant proposed wearing a 24-hour real-time alcohol-monitoring bracelet, making regular check-ins with the Berkeley Day Report Center, and being subject to random drug and alcohol screens if he were readmitted to bond, court records said. Ostendorf also proposed to be allowed to live in Fairfax, Va., with his fiancee and their 2-year-old daughter while also resuming employment at an automotive business in Chantilly, Va. Lorensen took issue with Ostendorfs proposal to live out of state, citing an inability for court officials to immediately respond to an alleged violation of terms of his bond, even if the alcohol-monitoring device alerts that he is drinking. Theres a time issue, said Lorensen, who noted that he doesnt want to be a passive participant in the defendants possible release from jail. The judge also cited public-safety concerns and again noted Ostendorfs previous failure to comply with bond conditions. Don Aines daines@herald-mail.com A woman who blocked traffic and threw bricks on Dual Highway last year was found not criminally responsible Monday. Lavita Monique Starr was placed in the custody of the Maryland Department of Health. Starr, 31, whose address was not given, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in the Aug. 30, 2018, incident on Dual Highway near the Manor Drive intersection. However, a psychiatric examination found that she was not criminally responsible for her actions at the time. Washington County Circuit Court Judge Daniel P. Dwyer accepted the plea and ordered her to be placed in the custody of the health department. Hagerstown police were called to the incident at 6:14 p.m. and found Starr standing in the road, holding what was described as a reddish-brown rock, the charging document said. The officer ordered her to drop the rock, but she threw it toward the entryway of Quality Inn, missing a vehicle parked there, the document said. A witness told police he saw Starr walking in the intersection, yelling and causing traffic to stop or go around her, the document said. One of the vehicles was an ambulance with its emergency response lights on. A man told police he tried to talk her out of the roadway, but she threw a piece of broken brick at him, barely missing his head. I apologize for my actions and will follow my treatment from now on, Starr told Dwyer. Deputy States Attorney Gina Cirincion told Dwyer that the department will evaluate Starr to determine if she is dangerous. Starr will remain in the departments custody until the health department determines she poses no danger, Cirincion said. Chicago moment: I did a movie called Make it Happen, and that was maybe in 2006, 07, 08, somewhere in there, he said. We shot most of it in Winnipeg, Canada, but we had to come get exteriors in Chicago. It was crazy because I did a scene on the Kinzie (Street) bridge where I'm having a little walk-and-talk with a girl and youre looking from the Kinzie bridge down the river towards Wolf Point. I now live there on Wolf Point in one of the buildings and all of that is brand new. Mike Lewis mlewis@herald-mail.com Some church leaders and contractors are teaming up to help people change their lives. The new nonprofit is called Rise Up Hagerstown. The idea is to provide second-chance career training for men and women who have struggled with addiction, survived an abusive relationship or been incarcerated. To do that, the group will work with the Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. Cumberland Valley Chapter, which provides training in construction trades. Good people make mistakes. Good people have addictions. No one is a throwaway, said Rob Apgar-Taylor, president of Rise Up Hagerstown and a pastor in the United Church of Christ. The goal is to raise $50,000 to provide 12 full scholarships to people who can be trained as carpenters, plumbers, or electricians or in other trades. The idea dates to 2015, he said, when Veritas United Church of Christ envisioned a nonprofit foundation to address the needs of people in Hagerstown. Its a lovely place to live unless youre someone whos had a past, Apgar-Taylor said. At first, the notion was to start a restaurant where people could learn skills on the job. But that notion stayed on the shelf. Weve had this idea and not known quite what to do with it, he said. Then Apgar-Taylor met Amos McCoy, president and CEO of the ABC of Cumberland Valley. Among other things, that organization trains people for jobs in the trades. And jobs in the trades pay pretty well these days, McCoy said. We already have the classes and everything. ... Most of these folks really want to do a good job, and they want to succeed, McCoy said. Hes hoping Rise Up Hagerstown can work hand-in-glove with other efforts aimed at helping people overcome similar problems. Were excited about it, he said. Apgar-Taylor said hes excited, too. Its simple. Its focused. ... This is such a God thing, he said. In July, Rise Up Hagerstown received its nonprofit status. In September, the organization began applying for grants. Since then, it has received two $10,000 grants and almost $2,000 in local donations. We are so excited about the possibilities this program has to transform local lives and our community, Apgar-Taylor said. If the group can award 12 scholarships a year, he said, that would mean changed circumstances for 60 local families in five years. Thats transformative, he said. The organization has a lot of work to do. It has to raise more money. It has to establish a process for getting the word out to potential students, receiving applications and awarding scholarships. Were going through the discernment process now of what that will look like. ... Were going to see where it takes us, Apgar-Taylor said. The people chosen will have a lot of work to do, too, he said. Those students will have to work to get the training; some of it will be difficult. Its not a free pass, he said. Mike Lewis mlewis@herald-mail.com HANCOCK Four Hancock officials three elected and one appointed took oaths of office Monday during a reorganizational meeting of the town council. The night marked the start of new terms for incumbent Mayor Ralph Salvagno and incumbent Councilman Tim Smith. Newly elected Councilman Roland Lanehart Jr. took the oath for the first time. All three were sworn in by Kevin Tucker, clerk of Washington County Circuit Court. Salvagno said he would offer state of the town remarks during the new councils first official meeting on Wednesday. On Monday, he deferred to others to speak, starting with outgoing Councilman Levi Little. Little thanked people for supporting him and the town during his term on the council. There were some good times, bad times, he said. Theres always something going on in our town. Likewise, Smith thanked people for having faith in me. Id like to thank my wife for being my biggest fan, he added, noting that he has spent many long evenings on town business during his years on the council. Lanehart, after expressing his thanks, said, Ill do my best to do whats right for the town. Salvagno, Smith and Little won their seats during Hancocks municipal election on Jan. 28. Salvagno, a first-term incumbent, beat Nigel Dardar, a former town council member, 224-62. In the council balloting, Smith topped the field with 169 votes to 142 for Lanehart, 133 for Little, 85 for David Kerns and 10 for Preston Hall. In Hancock, the mayor serves a two-year term and council members are elected to four-year terms. There are four council seats. The mayoral race was a rematch of the 2017 contest between Salvagno and Dardar. In that race, Salvagno finished with 269 votes, compared to 54 for Dardar. Also Monday, Salvagno administered the oath of office to new Hancock Police Chief Rick Cook. Cook previously served as an officer and a sergeant with the town force. I just want to say thank you for having faith in me, Cook said. The council will face some immediate and long-range issues. During the campaign, Salvagno said one of the top priorities will be hiring a town manager. On Jan. 9, David Smith announced his resignation after nearly 14 years on the job, offering no specific effective date. Among other things, the town also is working on a long-range plan for a new sewage treatment plant. Mike Lewis mlewis@herald-mail.com The Maryland Public Service Commission has set new hearing dates in the case of a proposed power line, pushing the dates back by more than a month. Fridays order cancels public hearings initially planned for March in Harford and Washington counties. The public hearings are to be rescheduled. The delay allows time for additional analysis of a possible alternative route identified by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Power Plant Research Program. Under the new schedule, evidentiary hearings before the commission will start in June rather than April. At issue is Transources plan to build two power lines from Pennsylvania into Maryland. PJM Interconnection, which directs the operation of the regions electrical grid, hired Transource to build the lines to address what has been called congestion of the grid in certain areas. The project totals 45 miles in two sections. A western segment would run a line from near Shippensburg, Pa., to the Ringgold substation near Smithsburg. An eastern leg would install a line from York County, Pa., to Harford County, Md. The eastern leg was the focus of the motion filed by the Power Plant Research Program, which is charged with ensuring that the state can meet demands for electricity at reasonable costs while protecting the states valuable natural resources. Fridays ruling sets a new schedule for submitting testimony and conducting hearings: April 12 (instead of Feb. 25): Deadline for direct testimony from the commission staff, the Office of Peoples Counsel, the Power Plant Research Project and intervenors in the case May 8 (instead of March 18): Deadline for rebuttal testimony May 22 (instead of April 1): Deadline for responses to the rebuttal testimony June 3 (instead of April 8): Start of evidentiary hearings before the commission in Baltimore. Don Aines daines@herald-mail.com A judge last week denied a motion to suppress statements a man made to Hagerstown police after his arrest on accusations he fatally stabbed a man. Malcolm Hasaunn Martin-Dorm, 23, of Virginia Avenue in Hagerstown is charged with first-degree murder in the May 27 stabbing death of Juan Francisco Martinez-Marroquin in the 200 block of East Franklin Street. Martinez-Marroquin was stabbed twice in the back shortly before 1 a.m. Police said after the arrest that Martin-Dorm asked another man to go inside Christophers Bar & Grill and get Martinez-Marroquin to come out. Washington County Circuit Court Judge Daniel P. Dwyer ruled on Friday that Martin-Dorm knowingly and voluntarily made statements to police, according to Assistant States Attorney Leon Debes. Police had evidence from surveillance cameras, witnesses and other sources as they arrested Martin-Dorm three weeks after the killing. The video showed a tall, thin man with dreadlocks fleeing the scene after the stabbing. Police spoke with Martin-Dorm the day after the killing, but he did not have dreadlocks, according to the charging document. One witness told police Martin-Dorm asked him to go into the bar and get Martinez-Marroquin to come outside to give Martin-Dorm a cigarette, according to the charging document. Another witness said Martin-Dorm asked to borrow a knife before the stabbing. Martin-Dorm is also charged with second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment, according to court records. His three-day trial is scheduled to begin May 29, according to online court records. "Consider the opposite circumstance a Christian person who is told that, during the final moments of his life, he can have only the services of an Imam," Ali wrote in an email. "It is hard to imagine the court reaching the same result as it did here. And that's a real problem because the very purpose of the Establishment Clause is to prevent this sort of religious preference." As of Monday, the city has 1,110 elementary students with 473 at Van Pelt and the remaining 637 distributed among the three older buildings. The rationale behind the new school was, of the three oldest buildings, Highland View was declared functionally obsolete in 2011, and the others had multiple issues with handicapped accessibility, needed asbestos abatement and other structural challenges. Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} A 2018 report by another firm estimated it could cost up to $42 million to fix all of the problems and upgrade all of the elementary schools. The difference is this is Band-Aid fixes to get us through until we are ready to build a new school, Perrigan said. I think everybody on City Council even the folks who voted against the plan we presented last fall agree we need a new school; its just a matter of getting the timing right. The other estimate was if you were to make all four schools an up-to-date, 21st-century learning center. Were not doing that here; were making them safe, functional and accessible. John P. Cleary | The Herald Bulletin, file photoBecky Watkins, owner of Little Reds Cafe & Bakery at 1023 Meridian St., talks in September about how she chose this space in Anderson to open her restaurant. She cited the string of bad weather this winter and building issues as factors in her decision to close her business last week. After reading over the agenda for tonights Greenville City Council meeting, many residents have asked questions about the scope of the $15 million road improvement bond that the council will consider adding to the May 4 election. Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email customercare@heraldandnews.com for help creating one. Many of the thousands of patients who faced cancellation of outpatient and surgery appointments today can expect further disruption, despite a three-day national strike by 40,000 nurses being called off. It followed the Labour Court's formal intervention to resolve the pay row yesterday. A HSE spokeswoman said that nurses are expected to fully attend at work today, tomorrow and Thursday. "We will endeavour to do everything we can to restore normal services. However, it will be appreciated that this will not be possible in all areas," the spokeswoman said. "Our hospitals and community based services will make direct contact locally with patients and clients where services are restored." Discussions The Labour Court's recommendation says there should be an enhanced nurses practice salary scale in return for 'productivity' measures. It says nurses with certain qualifications will be offered the opportunity to move to this new scale. The final details are to be worked out as part of new contract discussions. It also says that there will be an expert review of the nursing profession, and that the unions will cooperate fully with the roll out of a healthcare assistant review. The court's proposal also says that an agreement reached last year to address two-tier pay for recent recruits to the public service will be revised for nurses. It says that nurses and midwives will skip point two on their pay scale as well as two increments already being skipped by other public servants. More information on whether industrial action will be called off in the long term won't be known until all matters have been considered by the union and its members. It is understood that the Psychiatric Nurses Association also plans to suspend strikes planned for the next three days. Officials from the union met the Labour Court yesterday. Nurses had already held strikes on two days and a major protest was held in Dublin city centre on Saturday. Health Minister Simon Harris said the strike's end was "very welcome" for patients across the country but also welcome for nurses and midwives. "I now look forward to the health service resuming its normal work and doing all it can to catch up," he said, in reference to medical appointments that had been cancelled amid the strikes. Details Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe also welcomed the acceptance of the Labour Court recommendation. Mr Donohue said he will bring the details to Cabinet. He declined to say how much it will cost and said it will not breach the public service wage agreement. The INMO's general secretary, Phil Ni Sheaghda, said the union would be meeting tomorrow to "give full consideration" to the Labour Court's recommendation. "It's progress," Ms Ni Sheaghda said. "We have a lot of work to do currently requiring negotiations." Illustration of the measurement setup. The monolayer WTe2 flake sits on a SiO2/Si substrate and is covered by a thin hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) flake to protect it from degradation. A research team comprised of scientists at the University of California, Riverside, and the University of Washington has for the first time directly imaged "edge conduction" in monolayer tungsten ditelluride, or WTe 2 , a newly discovered 2-D topological insulator and quantum material. The research makes it possible to exploit this edge conduction feature to build more energy-efficient electronic devices. In a typical conductor, electrical current flows everywhere. Insulators, on the other hand, do not readily conduct electricity. In topological insulators, a special type of material, the interior works as an insulator, but the boundaries of such materials are guaranteed to be conductive due to its topological property, resulting in a feature called "topological edge conduction." Topology is the mathematical study of the properties of a geometric figure or solid that is unchanged by stretching or bending. Applying this concept to electronic materials leads to discoveries of many interesting phenomena, including topological edge conduction. Working like highways for electrons, channels of topological edge conduction allow electrons to travel with little resistance. Further, because edge channels can be potentially very narrow, electronic devices can be further miniaturized. "Several materials have been shown to be 3-D topological insulators," said Yongtao Cui, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at UCR, who led the research. "But 2-D topological insulators are rare. Several recent experiments established that monolayer WTe 2 is the first atomically thin 2-D topological insulator." Cui explained that for a 3-D topological insulator, conduction appears at its surfaces; for a 2-D sheet-like material, such conducting features are simply at the edges of the sheet. Cui's lab used a novel experimental technique called Microwave Impedance Microscopy, or MIM, to directly image the conduction at the edges of monolayer WTe 2 . "Our results unambiguously confirm edge conduction in this promising material," Cui said. Although WTe 2 has been known to exist for decades, interest in this material got a boost in only the last few years due to its exotic physical and electronic properties discovered using topological physics. WTe 2 layers are stacked together via van der Waals interactions and can be easily exfoliated into thin, 2-D, graphene-like sheets. "In addition to conduction at the edges in monolayer WTe 2 , we also found that the conductive channels can extend to the interior of the material, due to imperfections -- such as cracks," Cui said. "Our observations point to new ways to control and engineer such conduction channels via mechanical or chemical means." Cui's collaborators at the University of Washington prepared the monolayer WTe 2 samples. At UCR, his lab performed the MIM measurement, which involved sending a microwave electrical signal to a sharp metal tip, and positioning the tip near the surface of monolayer WTe 2 . By resolving the microwave signal bounced back by the sample, the researchers could determine whether the sample region directly below the tip was conductive or not. "We scanned the tip across the entire sample and directly mapped the local conductivity," Cui said. "We performed all the measurements at cryogenic temperatures, needed for monolayer WTe 2 to exhibit the topological property. The topological properties of monolayer WTe 2 can potentially serve as a platform to realize essential operations in quantum computing." Cui's lab is already exploring new ways to manipulate the edge conduction channels and topological physics in monolayer WTe 2 . Live and dead cockroaches were reported, the FSAI said A restaurant at one of the city's top tourist bars was issued a closure notice after an infestation of cockroaches. Louis Fitzgerald-owned The Quays restaurant in Temple Bar received the closure order from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) on January 8, with the order subsequently lifted eight days later on January 16. According to the inspector, a live cockroach infestation was discovered in a "hoy hoy" cockroach trap under the cooker area of the kitchen and both live and dead cockroaches were reported. The inspector claimed that the conditions posed a "serious risk of food being contaminated with pathogenic bacteria". A spokesperson for the Louis Fitzgerald group told the Herald that the "matter has now been dealt with to the satisfaction of the health authority". "This matter is clearly regrettable but we would like to reassure our customers that both ourselves and our franchise operator can confirm that our premises has always and will continue to implement only the highest standards of hygiene," the spokesperson added. It was part of 10 notices on food businesses for breaches in food safety last month. Meanwhile, two kitchenette areas in a hospital in Co Meath were served with closure notices last month after a small rodent was found dead. Rodent droppings were also found in one of the kitchen areas, as well as "inadequate pest-proofing of external drains", according to the FSAI. The closure order was issued by the FSAI on January 2 and lifted on January 5. A separate closure notice was issued last December after rodents that posed "a grave danger to health" were found in the men's ward. Rat Separately, a privately-owned coffee shop in the hospital, which was not the subject of the current FSAI findings, was issued a closure order by the FSAI in 2015 after a live rat dropped from a height on to the floor and six dead rodents were found in a trap. The closure last month was part of the notices on food businesses for breaches in food safety in January. In a statement released by the FSAI, rodent activity was reported in the kitchenette of the Medical Assessment Unit in the hospital, which included the discovery of a small, dead rodent, as well as droppings. In a second kitchenette in a female medical ward, a pest control company reported a "mouse caught on trap" on January 2. The inspector found the rodent evidence posed "a risk of contamination of food with pathogenic bacteria and foreign matter resulting in an unacceptable risk to consumer safety". A HSE spokesperson for the Ireland East Hospital Group said that protocol was immediately implemented to deal with the rodents and that no patients were affected by the findings, but apologised to all staff and patients for concern caused. "Funding has been made available to the hospital by HSE Estates to complete drainage works and other proofing works on the campus and we hope that this work will be completed shortly," the spokesperson said. They added that the hospital is "working closely with its contracted pest control company to ensure proactive management of the entire campus". More than 100 people turned up to discuss, and object to, the BusConnects plan Residents across a South Dublin suburb have expressed anger at plans to introduce a bus corridor, which they say will "destroy" local communities. The National Transport Authority (NTA) is currently in the process of rolling out 16 new routes across Dublin as part of the BusConnects project. One planned route, from Rathfarnham into the city centre, has left residents in Rathgar and Terenure up in arms at what has been described as "naive" planning. Scores of angered locals -as well as Fine Gael TD Kate O'Connell, Fianna Fail TD Jim O'Callaghan and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan - last night attended a meeting at The Hilton Hotel on Charlemont Place, hosted by the NTA. Strong opposition was expressed against proposals to increase lanes and plans to buy residents' land. Among the key concerns raised by locals was a lack of information made available, the impact on the local community and safety concerns, as well as a "short deadline" for people to make submissions. Currently the NTA is in the process of issuing information letters, which it says are not formal compulsory purchase orders (CPO), to "potentially impacted" land owners. The NTA intends to issue CPOs by the beginning of 2020 to people affected by the BusConnects plan. Resident Ernie Kenny described the process as "low- spirited and sneaky" and said that the NTA is "destroying the whole culture of the city". "You're pushing us for the March 29 [deadline] on something you've had years to look at. This is unfair," he said. "We have lived through the toughest times over the last 10 years but we have stuck by developing our properties so people will respect it in the next generation... I've sweated blood and I just hate what you're doing. It's against everything I stand for. "Here we are talking to you about what is a stupid plan. It's unfair what you've done and I think you need to stop now and go back to the people and let them speak." CRAZY Paula Moore, of the Action 12 Committee, described the idea of putting two more lanes on Rathgar Road as "naive" and said that the NTA will have "blood on its hands" if extra pedestrian lights are not brought in for schoolchildren. Lorna Callinan, who lives in a property along Rathfarnham Road and is set to lose a section of her land, described parts of the current proposals as "crazy" and asked if alternatives could be introduced. Hugh Creegan, deputy chief executive of the NTA, said that the organisation was open to suggestions from the community and that the current deadline of March 29 could be extended. Police at the scene in Spain where his body was found A man wanted in connection with the murder of a Dublin drug dealer in Spain returned to Ireland after the violent killing, the Herald has learned. Authorities in Spain yesterday confirmed that a European Arrest Warrant had been issued for the 26-year-old suspect, who they believe was present when Carl Carr (38) was killed. Police believe the dad-of-two was murdered during a row over a woman before his body was moved by car to a shallow grave. His mother Marie and his British girlfriend Danielle Coupe reported him missing last September. Kilkenny man Wayne Walsh (31) has been held on suspicion of killing Carr during a fight with a knuckleduster on the Costa Blanca. Well-placed sources said a judge tasked with an ongoing court probe into convicted drug dealer Carr's death wanted to quiz a second Irishman as the suspected co-author of the killing. Spanish investigators suspect the on-the-run 26-year-old alerted Walsh after seeing his former partner getting intimate with Carr after a night out, and believe he was present when Carr was killed. The Herald has learned that this second suspect returned to Ireland and was sighted in Kilkenny last week. A court source confirmed yesterday: "A European Arrest Warrant was issued on February 5 against a suspected co-author of the homicide of Carl Carr. "The court is not aware there has been an arrest so far." As well as Walsh, four other people - a Spanish handyman and three British women, including a woman said to have been at the centre of the 'love triangle' row that allegedly led to the homicide - were also arrested. None of the five suspects who were arrested have yet been charged, as is normal in Spain where formal charges are only laid shortly before trial. Carr's body was found buried by the AP-7 motorway between Benijofar and Algorfa, a 20-minute drive north from where the Irishman was last seen alive. Police say they believe he was killed in the aftermath of a night out, and that his body was driven to woods where it was buried alongside bleach thought to have been used in a clean-up operation. Carr was jailed in 2008 in Ireland after being caught with 1.43m of heroin and cocaine. Rapist Keith Hearne is to appeal his 12-year sentence for his vile attack on Dominique Meehan A man jailed for 12 years for the rape of a young woman at a Dublin gaming convention is to appeal the severity of his sentence, the Herald has learned. Keith Hearne (29) was jailed in 2017 for the 2015 rape and false imprisonment of Dominique Meehan, who was 24 years old at the time, at the Crowne Plaza in Blanchardstown. Hearne, of Allenton Drive, Tallaght, locked the door of a conference room in the hotel, where he had cornered his victim, bound her hands with his tie and raped her. When she screamed, he told her he had a knife in his bag and would use it if she was not quiet. Knife His bag, containing a "rape kit" of a prop knife, handcuffs, condoms, a mask and "sado-masochistic" items, was later found at the scene, the Central Criminal Court heard. Expand Close Dominique Meehan / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dominique Meehan Ms Meehan, who waived her right to anonymity after Hearne was convicted, was only saved when another person forced their way into the room when they heard the disturbance inside. She has since said she feared Hearne would kill her. Hearne, now known as Prisoner 107512, pleaded guilty to two counts of rape, one count of oral rape and one count of falsely imprisoning Ms Meehan. Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy handed down the 12-year sentence at the Central Criminal Court, saying the ordeal had been "devastating" for the victim. The judge said Hearne had perpetrated an "extremely violent series of sexual offences" on the victim, extending to her false imprisonment over a period of time. Last week, Ms Meehan was told that Hearne's appeal against the length of the sentence handed down to him will be heard in April, with the case expected to come before the Court of Appeal on April 12. When Hearne was imprisoned, he was first taken to Mountjoy to be processed into the jail system. It is usual for prisoners to spend their first night in the Dublin jail, but in Hearne's case he was transferred straight to the Midlands Prison over fears he could be attacked by other inmates. After Hearne was sentenced, Ms Meehan said she would have to reinvent herself because she had forgotten who she was before the brutal event. "I don't know who I am any more. I can't remember who I was before I was raped, and I'm trying to reinvent myself so I'll know who I am," she told the Herald at the time. "I don't know how I'm going to proceed from here. "In my opinion that person that he raped is dead. That person was so naive, so innocent, because I suppose I believed those kind of things didn't happen to people. Awful "I'd see it in the news and in the papers, but I just couldn't believe that something that awful could happen to someone, but now I know it does, so that person, I believe, is dead," she added. Last year, the brave Donegal woman wrote a letter to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, in which she raised concerns over the availability of treatment and services supplied to rape victims. In it, she highlighted a lack of Sexual Assault Treatment Units (SATUs) in the country, and the confusion surrounding the services available for survivors going through the justice system. Ali Chatoo was fined 850 and disqualified for four years A newly-married man was caught driving without insurance after he was involved in a minor road traffic accident, a court has heard. Ali Chatoo (30) was working in a used car dealership at the time and had mistakenly thought that he was insured to drive. Judge Miriam Walsh fined Chatoo 850 and disqualified him from driving for four years. The judge also imposed a three-month sentence, which she suspended for a period of 12 months. The defendant, of Merchant's Road, East Wall, Dublin 3, admitted driving without insurance or a driving licence. Garda Liam Hynes told Swords District Court that he was called to the scene of a road traffic accident at Seamount Road, Malahide, on October 4, 2017. Mistake Gda Hynes said he made the lawful demand for the defendant, who was driving a 2009-registered vehicle, to produce his insurance certificate and driving licence but he failed to do so. The court heard that Chatoo had two previous convictions, and received a two-year driving disqualification last December. Defence solicitor Bernard Stobie told the court that Chatoo had been working in a motor dealership at the time of the incident, and had thought that he was insured to drive the vehicle. Mr Stobie said this was a mistake, and Chatoo wished to apologise for it. Mr Stobie said that Chatoo had lived in Ireland for 10 years, had been an asylum seeker and was in a long-term relationship. Chatoo and his wife only got married two weeks ago, the court heard. Mr Stobie asked the judge to be as lenient as possible, claiming it was a genuine error on his client's behalf. A Dublin man who chased a former partner into a community centre with a broken brush handle and attacked her in front of children has received a fully-suspended sentence. Liam Byrne (37) pulled a knife from a kitchen drawer and threatened to kill the woman after he had invited her to his home. Garda Louise Moran said the woman managed to escape when Byrne's mother intervened, but he snapped a brush handle and chased her down the road. The woman later told gardai that Byrne had made stabbing motions at her with the brush. She ran into a nearby community centre changing room, where Byrne hit her in front of children and threatened to kill her. He left when his mother again arrived on the scene. Byrne, of Mariners Port, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm and threats to kill at the same location last May 16. His 32 previous convictions include road traffic matters, drugs offences and attempted robbery. Bruising Judge Martin Nolan sentenced him to 21 months' imprisonment, but suspended the entire sentence for a period of 21 months provided he keep the peace, be of good behaviour and engage with probation services. Gda Moran told Diana Stuart, prosecuting, that the woman was too embarrassed to seek medical treatment for her injuries, which included extensive bruising and lumps on her head. She declined to make a victim impact statement. The woman handed a letter to the court, in which she said that she did not want Byrne to receive a prison sentence and that he was getting on well with their daughter. Gda Moran agreed with Kenneth Kerins, defending, that the woman had been worried about Byrne's mental health and had communicated this with his mother. She further agreed that his family had attempted to hospitalise him the day before the incident but he refused to go. Mr Kerins submitted to Judge Nolan that his client had had a difficult upbringing and that his father had been murdered. Judge Nolan told Byrne that the woman "has kept you out of prison" and said that should he interfere with her or threaten her, then he will serve the 21-month sentence in prison. Acrylics are an incredibly diverse and useful family of chemicals used in all kinds of products, from diapers to nail polish. Now, a team of researchers from UConn and ExxonMobil describe a new process for making them. The new method would increase energy efficiency and reduce toxic byproducts. The global market for acrylic acid is enormous. The world used close to 5 million metric tonnes of it in 2013, according to industry group PetroChemicals Europe. And no wonder, for acrylics and the closely related acrylates are the building blocks for many kinds of plastics, glues, textiles, dyes, paints, and papers. Strung together in long chains, they can make all kinds of useful materials. Acrylate mixed with sodium hydroxide, for example, makes a super absorbent material used in diapers. Add extra methyl groups (carbon plus three hydrogens), and acrylate makes plexiglass. The current industrial processes for making acrylics require high temperatures close to 450 F, and produce unwanted and sometimes harmful byproducts, such as ethylene, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen cyanide. UConn chemist Steve Suib, director of the University's Institute for Materials Science, and colleagues at UConn and ExxonMobil have designed a new way of making acrylics at mild temperatures. Their technique can be finely tuned to avoid producing unwanted chemicals. "Scientists at ExxonMobil Research & Engineering partnering with professor Suib's group in UConn have been probing new technologies that can lower energy intensity, skip steps, improve energy efficiency, and reduce CO2 footprint in the production process of acrylics," says Partha Nandi, a chemist at ExxonMobil. "The recent publication in Nature Communications describes discovery of a new route to produce a class of acrylate derivatives in potentially fewer steps and with less energy." The technique uses a porous catalyst made of manganese and oxygen. Catalysts are materials used to speed up reactions. Often, they provide a surface for the molecules to sit on while they react with each other, helping them to meet up in the right configurations to do the deed. In this case, the pores fill that role. The pores are 20 to 500 Angstroms wide, big enough for fairly large molecules to fit inside. The manganese atoms in the material can trade their electrons with nearby oxygens, which makes it easier for the right chemical reactions to happen. Depending on the starting ingredients, the catalyst can facilitate all different kinds of acrylics and acrylates, with very little waste, Suib says. "We hope this can be scaled up," he says. "We want to maximize yield, minimize temperature, and make an even more active catalyst," that will help the reaction go faster. The group also found adding a little bit of lithium helped speed things up, too. They are currently studying the exact role of lithium, and experimenting with ways of improving the manganese and oxygen catalyst. Free access for current print subscribers As a home delivery subscriber, you get free unlimited digital access to premium content on HenryHerald.com, including local news, local sports, obituaries, legal notices, local features, and the e-edition. All you need is your print subscription account number and your last name. Don't know your subscription number? Email access@henryherald.com with your delivery address. Activate your account now. New assessed values go out Tuesday Notice of new values for every real property parcel in Henderson County go out Tuesday the start of a weeks long process in which landowners and homeowners can appeal. "They will be mailed tomorrow" by a vendor in the Triangle, said Tax Assessor Darlene Burgess said Monday. "Based on past experience, we're expecting people will start receiving them Wednesday afternoon. Appeals could land anywhere from a trickle to a flood, although a roaring local real estate market suggests a flood is possible. The 2019 revaluation is expected to show a much higher percentage increase in home values than in 2015, especially for mid-priced homes. In the last reassessment four years ago Condo sales in 2018 were up by 4 percent, to $214,630, while single family homes on average rose from $288,847 to $300,044 a 3.8 percent increase. Topping $300,000 on average, the sales price is "the highest we have ever had in Henderson County," broker Steve Dozier of Beverly-Hanks Realtors said. Those are year-over-year increases; the property assessment notices that go out this week will show the increase from the 2015 value to today's. "I imagine well get some feedback but weve got a good system in place to address all the feedback we do receive, Burgess said. Were trying to make this for the convenience of the taxpayers. The reappraisal is on the ground floor. Weve taken the tax collectors office and allocated three of those windows to the appraisal staff. Staffers will be able to handle basic questions, print out property cards of the parcel someone is asking about and help people find their parcel on tax maps if they choose, she said. For those people that actually do need to talk to an appraiser well have someone escort them to an appraiser, she said. Theyll talk about whatever their issue is and theyll discuss it with an appraiser. Well have someone monitoring to make sure we keep the lines down as much as possible. We try to put ourselves in the taxpayers shoes. If the state average of 10 percent of the assessments are appealed the state average the tax office could be looking at 6,600 phone calls or visits. Burgess says the staff will be ready. Were prepared for anything that comes our way, she said. We dont know what to expect at this point. It could be much less. Asked whether she has an average increase of the increase in the total taxable value compared to 2018, Burgess said the commissioners will hear that first. I have to share that with commissioners, she said. Thats when all those percentages will be finalized. The first step for taxpayers questioning the county's new value is to file an informal appeal using the form included in the Notice of Assessed Value. (You can also get a form at the tax office or on line.) After an appraiser reviews the informal appeal, the tax office will mail the result to the property owner. An appeal could result in the assessed value being left unchanged, reduced or increased, the county tax office says. The next step if the property owner is unsatisfied is to file a formal appeal with the county Board of Equalization & Review. The Board of Equalization & Review will meet as needed from April 15 to May 15. An appeal from the local board goes to the North Carolina Property Tax Commission. Appeals from the state Tax Commission go to the North Carolina Court of Appeals and state Supreme Court. Reappraisal Q&A Why does the county reappraise property? North Carolina law requires counties to reappraise all real property once every eight years but allows reappraisal once every four years. Since 1995, Henderson County has conducted a reappraisal every four years. The county must assess 68,000 parcels. The effective date of the reappraisal is Jan. 1, 2019. Who is responsible for the reappraisal? The assessor, not the Board of Commissioners, is responsible for establishing the assessed value of property; the commissioners, not the assessor, sets the tax rate. N.C. law requires counties to assess real property at its true value in money, meaning market value. The assessor sets market value based on the most recent qualified sale near the appraisal date. Sales between family members and other non-arms length transactions are excluded. Fair market value is what a house or other piece of property would sell for between a willing seller and a financially able buyer. How does the assessor establish the value? Henderson County uses a mass appraisal process that groups similar properties together based on location, type of construction, age, replacement cost, advantages and disadvantages, zoning and other factors. For property such as apartments or offices, the assessor may base the value on net operating income. The market approach takes into account an arms length sale of similar properties. Are there exceptions? Yes. The taxable value is lower when the owner is enrolled in the Present-Use Value Program for farm, horticulture or forestry use. There are also tax relief programs for the elderly, disabled and disabled veterans. Among uses exempt from property taxes are churches and other religious property, schools, nonprofit agencies and government buildings. When will I get my Notice of Assessed Value? It will be mailed on Feb. 12. Can I appeal? Yes. The first step is to file an informal appeal using the form included in your Notice of Assessed Value. (You can also get a form at the tax office or on line.) After an appraiser reviews the informal appeal, the tax office will mail the result to the property owner. An appeal could result in the assessed value being left unchanged, reduced or increased. The next step if the property owner is unsatisfied is to file a Formal Appeal with the county Board of Equalization & Review. The Board of Equalization & Review will meet as needed from April 15 to May 15. An appeal from the local board goes to the North Carolina Property Tax Commission. Appeals from the state Tax Commission go to the North Carolina Court of Appeals and state Supreme Court. What are grounds for appeal? The assessed value exceeds or is substantially below market value or the property has been appraised inequitably as it relates to the market value of comparable properties. Reasons that are not grounds for an adjustment include the percentage change from the previous value, actual construction cost, the amount of taxes due, financial ability to pay taxes, insurance value or liquidation or salvage value. Does the reappraisal apply in all taxing districts? Yes. Cities and fire districts do not assess property for tax purposes. The county collects taxes for the fire districts and the part of the town of Saluda in Henderson County. Hendersonville, Fletcher, Laurel Park, Flat Rock and Mills River set their own tax rate and bill and collect property taxes in the municipality. Will the county publish a revenue neutral tax rate? Yes, by state law it has to. The revenue neutral rate is the tax rate the county would impose to produce the same amount of revenue it would have received had no reappraisal had occurred. In practice, that means if the gross taxable value of all real property goes up by, say, 10 percent, the revenue neutral rate would be lower than the current tax rate (56.5 cents per $100 value) by a corresponding amount. The Board of Commissioners, not the assessor, establishes the revenue neutral rate. Does the Board of Commissioners have to adopt the revenue neutral tax rate? No, it can adopt a lower or higher rate. When will the Board of Commissioners and cities set the tax rate for their 2019-2020 budgets? By June 30, 2019. When will I get my property tax bill? The bills are mailed in August and become due on Sept. 1, 2019. Property owners have until Jan. 5, 2020, to pay the property tax bill without interest. * * * * * Sources: Henderson County Guide to 2019 Reappraisal, interviews. Foreign-born care workers are also generally younger and better-educated on average, with nearly one in every four holding a bachelors degree. In comparison, only one in 12 Australian-born care workers have a similar credential. In terms of postgraduate studies, as many as seven per cent of migrant workers have completed a program, while only 0.7% of their Australian counterparts have a degree. The study also showed that aged care in the country is becoming increasingly dependent on migrant workers with temporary visas. As many as 76.3% foreign-born care workers were issued temporary visa from 2012 to 2016. In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, Professor Sara Charlesworth of RMIT University, who was not involved in the UNSW study, said these results show how decreasing the intake of migrant workers in the country could impact the delivery of frontline care services profoundly. This week was a wild one with a couple of committee meeting running over 3 hours, needing to be cut short, and then finished at the next meeting. In my Energy Committee, bills that were closely related, often called companion bills, came to the committee. The first bill was designed to develop a policy for Montana to control greenhouse gas emissions. The idea is to set a standard that would ramp up until the year 2050 and eventually make Montana carbon-free. Or, as I understand what is being said, agriculture as we know it would cease to exist. If you are interested, read Senate Bill 190, sponsored by Sen. Mike Phillips, which can be found at leg.mt.gov. The related bill is SB 189, sponsored by Sen. Dick Barrett. It is a 32-page bill on how to sell carbon credits and use the money to fix the property tax inequities. We heard an introduction that lasted nearly an hour explaining how carbon credits would be sold at $10 per metric ton. The money would then be put in a fund to help pay low income, disabled veterans and elderly individuals property taxes. This bill is being called the Montana Climate Action Act to help reduce or reverse climate change. In the Education Committee, a bill was presented addressing dyslexia and awareness of dyslexia. The short title is, Establish the Montana Dyslexia Screening and Intervention Act. We had up to 40 people with this disability testify on behalf of the bill. The idea of the bill is to get schools to screen and diagnose early. Those who testified, who ranged in age from 7 to perhaps 60s, told of the struggles they experienced in their life. It seems some schools are successfully accommodating students with dyslexia while it is not being specifically addressed in other schools. I found the testimony enlightening. A few facts that I never knew about individuals with dyslexia: some struggle to tie shoes, it is often hereditary and word recognition is difficult. Again, if you email me, please put the name of your town in the subject and the first word of the first sentence. I am getting so many emails each day, but I want to be able to prioritize my constituents emails. I am sorry if Ive missed any emails up until now; I try to reply to everyone. Have a great week. Montana Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, can be emailed at russ.tempel@mtleg.gov/. Despite temperatures hovering around zero, Montana State University-Northerns Spring Career Fair will host a record number of employers Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon inside the Armory Gymnasium. Northern Career Center Director Mary Heller said 57 employers have registered to attend the career fair and are coming from as far as places like Alaska and Florida. She added that a majority of the employers are from the diesel industry, but there is an increase in the number of nursing employers that are coming. In the fall career fair, Heller said, only a couple nursing employers attended, but there are seven employers registered this year. The number of agriculture employers also saw a big increase, she added. In the fall, Heller said one ag employer attended, but this year nine have registered. She added that 14 employers will be staying to interview students for internships or full-time positions. Weve usually had about eight, Heller said. She said the employers will stay on campus to conduct the interviews and the Northern staff have provided rooms for the employers to use with Hellers office being one of them. She added that if the employers have not finished their interviews Thursday, then they will stay and finish them on Friday. Most places like Bozeman or Missoula, when they have a career fair, they make you interview off to the side or in a hallway or something, Heller said. We actually find a room where its private, its confidential. You know, its an actual interview process. Heller said there are a few first time employers that will be attending the Spring Career Fair as well. 406 Agronomy, Couer Alaska Inc., Great Falls Chamber of Commerce, Montana Civil Contractors and G and J Diesel are all first time attendees. She added that several employers will be sending former alumni as representatives as well. Timber Creek Village Assisted Living, Fairbanks Morse, GE Transportation, Hoven Equipment Company, Interstate PowerSystems, CHS Inc., and Tractor and Equipment Company Inc. all have former Northern students working for them who will be attending the career fair. Thats kind of neat when they come back and they recruit from their alma mater, Heller said. She added that it does help having someone who graduated from Northern come back and talk about their experience in the field in relation to what they learned at the university. Thats a big draw, because then they can talk about it firsthand, Heller said. The Career Center has been busy with students submitting resumes for review, Heller said, and she has noticed an increase in email traffic. She added that faculty have been requesting her to come and speak to their students about the career fair and how to approach employers. Heller said that she is thankful the employers are braving the weather and coming to attend the career fair. The career fair is open to all current students as well as alumni. Students and alumni interested in finding out which companies are interviewing and when the interview times are can log onto their CareerExpress account or contact the Career Center for more information. Editors note: This version clarifies that Montana Contractors Association presented awards to Swank Enterprises for its work as lead contractor on Montana State University-Northerns Diesel Technology Center. A project Montana State University-Northern worked on for more than a decade that finally came to fruition last year has been recognized for excellence in four categories by the state contractors organization. Montana Contractors Association announced Monday that it awarded Swank Enterprises for Northerns new Diesel Technology Center with awards for Best Industrial/Commercial, more than $5 million; Commercial Decorative; Technical Merit, and Judges Choice in its 2018 Excellence Awards competition at its annual convention in Helena. The project started last decade while Chancellor Greg Kegel was dean of the universitys College of Technical Sciences to replace the building housing Northerns world-renowned diesel program, which includes one of the few four-year diesel technology degrees in the country. The general contractor on the project was Swank Enterprises with Havres Rock Solid Materials providing the contract work and the design by CWG Architects of Helena. The project created a new, state-of-the-art facility to house the diesel technology program, which had shared a facility with the automotive technology program. That facility had not actually met code when it was originally constructed in 1954, and had five additions piece-mealed to it over the years. Northern fought for funding for the building for nearly 10 years. It originally received $800,000 for a study from the 2007 Legislature, study funding that was cut by the governor. Northern found additional funding and completed the study, then attempted to obtain funding through infrastructure bills in several more legislative sessions, but the bonding bills that would have funded the project never passed. The Legislature eventually approved spending $9.9 million for the new center and appropriated $5.9 million for the project, with Northern raising the rest of the funds on its own, including from local and Montana residents and businesses as well as national and international businesses. Contractors broke ground on the project in May 2016 and construction was completed last year. Staff and wire Editors note: This version adds comment from the office of Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont. WASHINGTON - GOP congressional leaders swung behind a hard-won agreement today to prevent a new government shutdown and finance construction of more barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, selling it as a necessary compromise even as some Republicans on the right voice opposition. President Donald Trump said he's unahppy with the compromise, although he didn't say he wouldn't sign it. Trump said he doesn't believe there will be a shutdown, which could have hit hundreds of thousands of federal workers again this weekend. "Everything" is on the table, he said at the White House, but "we certainly don't want to see a shutdown." He said he needs to look further at the agreement, which would grant far less than the $5.7 billion he wants for a long wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. "I can't say I'm happy. I can't say I'm thrilled," he said. But one way or another, he said, "the wall's getting built." The deal came out of negotiations in a bipartisan committee tasked with finding funding for border security after a 35-day partial shutdown of the federal government over whether Congress would provide the $5.7 billion Trump requested to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border. Congressional Democrats - including the Democrat-held U.S. House of Representatives - refused to budge on the request, saying the proposed wall is ineffective and immoral, and calling for increased staffing and technology at the border to increase security instead. U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., was named to the negotiation committee as ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. "Our bipartisan committee did its job and crafted a compromise that will help secure our borders and keep the government open," Tester said in a release Monday. "Montanans deserve that kind of certainty from their lawmakers, and I look forward to working with my colleagues over the coming days to shepherd this bill through the legislative process." The office of Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., noted that the details of the compromise will not be released until Wednesday. "Sen. Daines just returned from the southern border this weekend where he saw firsthand the importance of securing our border," his press secretary, Julia Doyle, said this morning. "The senator will be reviewing the details of the compromise carefully and will continue working to ensure our southern border is secure and Montana's communities are protected." The office of Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., made similar comments. "Based on initial news reports, Greg believes funding for border security is going in the right direction, but he wants to know more and see the proposal's details so he can make an informed evaluation," Gianforte spokesperson Travis Hall said this morning. The border wall funding, a main campaign priority for Trump in 2016, led to a shutdown of federal government services starting Dec. 21. The shutdown, which led to many federal employees being furloughed and others deemed essential working without pay during the shutdown, lasted until the House and Senate agreed on a three-week spending bill, which expires Friday, to give time to negotiate a compromise on border security funding. Top Republicans Mitch McConnell in the Senate and Kevin McCarthy in the House both claimed victory, crowing about Democratic concessions on new border barriers and a late-stage battle over the ability of federal authorities to arrest and detain immigrants living illegally in the U.S. "You've got to remember where Nancy Pelosi was. She has said, 'No money for a wall.' That's not the case," McCarthy said on CNBC Tuesday morning. "The Democrats have now agreed to more than 55 miles of new barrier." However, negotiators said it's pretty much the deal that Trump could have gotten in December. Aides revealed details under condition of anonymity because the agreement is tentative. Republicans and the White House were desperate to avoid another bruising shutdown. They tentatively agreed Monday night to far less money for Trump's border wall than the White House's $5.7 billion wish list, settling for a figure of nearly $1.4 billion, according to congressional aides. The huge funding measure, which combines seven spending bills into one, runs through the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Details might not be released until Wednesday, but the pact came in time to alleviate any threat of a second partial government shutdown this weekend. At the White House today, spokesman Hogan Gidley was noncommittal. "We want to focus on what's actually in the document," Gidley said. "Until we see that, it's going to be very difficult to have a conversation about what we will and won't accept." The agreement means 55 miles of new fencing - constructed through existing designs such as metal slats instead of a concrete wall - but far less than the 215 miles the White House requested in December. The fencing would be built in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. It closely mirrors Trump's original budget request from last winter. The split-the-differences compromise contains plenty to anger lawmakers on the right and left - more border fencing than many Democrats would like and too little for conservative Republicans - but its authors praised it as a genuine compromise that would keep the government open and allow everyone to move on. "With the government being shut down, the specter of another shutdown this close, what brought us back together I thought tonight was we didn't want that to happen" again, said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala. "Our staffs are just working out the details," said House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y. The pact also includes increases for new technologies such as advanced screening at border entry points, humanitarian aid sought by Democrats and additional customs officers. This weekend, Shelby pulled the plug on the talks over Democratic demands to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities, frustrating some of his fellow negotiators, but Democrats yielded ground on that issue in a fresh round of talks on Monday. Asked if Trump would back the deal, Shelby said: "We believe from our dealings with them and the latitude they've given us, they will support it. We certainly hope so." But Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity, a Trump ally, said the barrier money in the agreement was inadequate. He warned late Monday that "any Republican that supports this garbage compromise, you will have to explain." Conservatives like Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who has the ear of Trump, also came out in opposition. "I would hope that Sean Hannity and all the other people you mentioned aren't running this government. This was a bipartisan deal, Senate and House, Republican and Democrat," Democrat Lowey said on CNN. Trump traveled to El Paso, Texas, for a campaign-style rally Monday night focused on immigration and border issues. He has been adamant that Congress approve money for a wall along the Mexican border, though he no longer repeats his 2016 mantra that Mexico will pay for it, and he took to the stage as lawmakers back in Washington were announcing their breakthrough. "They said that progress is being made with this committee," Trump told his audience, referring to the congressional bargainers. "Just so you know, we're building the wall anyway." Trump aides are discussing using executive action to access other pots of money to build the wall without Congress, even if Trump backs the compromise. "We'll take as much money as you can give us, and then we will go off and find the money someplace else - legally - in order to secure that southern barrier," acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told Fox News Friday. He said more than $5.7 billon had been identified that Trump could tap. Democrats carried more leverage into the talks after besting Trump on the 35-day shutdown but showed flexibility in hopes of winning Trump's signature. After yielding on border barriers, Democrats focused on reducing funding for detention beds to curb what they see as unnecessarily harsh enforcement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The agreement yielded curbed funding, overall, for ICE detention beds, which Democrats promised would mean the agency would hold fewer detainees than the roughly 49,000 detainees held on Feb. 10, the most recent date for which figures were available. Democrats said the number of beds would be ratcheted down to 40,520 by year's end. But a proposal to cap at 16,500 the number of detainees caught in areas away from the border - a limit Democrats say was aimed at preventing overreach by the agency - ran into its own Republican wall. Democrats dropped the demand in the Monday round of talks, and the mood in the Capitol improved markedly. The recent shutdown left more than 800,000 government workers without paychecks, forced postponement of the State of the Union address and sent Trump's poll numbers tumbling. As support in his own party began to splinter, Trump surrendered after the shutdown hit 35 days, agreeing to the current temporary reopening without getting money for the wall. The president's supporters have suggested that Trump could use executive powers to divert money from the federal budget for wall construction, though he could face challenges in Congress or the courts. "The president still has a few more tools in his toolbox," GOP Leader McCarthy said. Steve Daines The negotiations hit a rough patch Sunday amid a dispute over curbing ICE, the federal agency that Republicans see as an emblem of tough immigration policies and Democrats accuse of often going too far. The border debate got most of the attention, but that is just part of a major spending measure to fund several Cabinet departments. A collapse of the negotiations would have imperiled another upcoming round of budget talks that are required to prevent steep spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic agencies. -- Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey, Darlene Superville and Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Jill Colvin in El Paso, Texas, contributed to this report. Editor: We have to rise up and fight for equality not equity in this country. Haiti - News : Zapping... "The country is not governed" dixit Youri Latortue/B> Senator Youri Latortue said concerning the resignation of the Head of State "it is not about the respect or not of the mandate of Jovenel Moise. The observation is that the country is not governed. We can not let the country go adrift with an incompetent person at its head." Common position for the departure of Moise In a joint note, published on Monday, the leaders of political parties and groups FUSION, MOPOD, OPL, VERITE"Kontra Pep La", Mocrhenha, "Ayisyen Pou Ayiti" and "Veye Yo" adopt a common position and demand the resignation of the President Jovenel Moise and his Government. DIGICEL : Localized disturbances The Digicel informs its customers that its network operates normally throughout the territory. Due to the blockage of certain roads, delays in the supply of fuel to certain antennas can lead to very localized disturbances. We have taken additional measures to ensure the fuel supply of the few antennas affected, and ask everyone to collaborate by facilitating the passage of our teams across the country's various roads. Thank you for your patience and your understanding. Resignation of the Head of State not in the Agenda of the Palace According to Guichard Dore, Special Adviser to President Jovenel Moise, the hypothesis of the resignation of the head of state is not mentioned in the National Palace. Mexico : Consular Section closed Given the prevailing insecurity situation, the Consular Section of the Mexican Embassy informs that the Section will be closed until further notice. All persons having an appointment reserved by our MEXITEL system, will be welcomed without making a new appointment once the service to the public will be restored. Please follow our next announcements. HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Religion : The hour is serious, the country is on the edge of the abyss... In this time of crisis, the Catholic Bishops of the Episcopal Conference Haiti (CEH) sends a message to the "People of God and men and women of good will." Message of the Bishops : "'Lord, save us. We are perishing !" (Mt 8:25). It is with this alarming cry of prayer and despair of the disciples to Christ who slept as the boat threatened to sink, that we address you today to tell you that the hour is serious. We must wake up to take together the full measure of the danger that threatens us all. This is the moment to join our forces and our intelligence to save our common boat, Haiti, which is our pride. The hour is serious because there is violence against life. We deplore the losses in both human lives and property recorded recently in illegal travel and demonstrations. We take this opportunity to present our sympathies to the victims and relatives of the victims. The hour is serious, the misery is increasing, the common good is threatened. The country is on the edge of the abyss ! This situation can not be prolonged. Let us wake up to listen to God, Master of wisdom and Principle of all life. Let us listen to the people he loves so much. We must find a solution of wisdom that takes into account the best interests of the Nation and the defense of the common good. In this sense, we appeal to the citizen conscience of the various parties for a patriotic decision, even if only at the cost of great sacrifices. On this February 11th, feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and World Day of the Sick, we invite you to pray for Haiti by turning our trustful looks towards the Lord who puts all things standing by his power."< I> HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Security : DR strengthens border and evacuates consular staff in Haiti On Monday, staff of the Dominican consulate in Ounaminthe, Haiti, was evacuated following demonstrations in the city since last Saturday, which killed at least one person and made several wounded in the Haitian population. The Ministry of Defense has ordered the reinforcement of the border with more equipment, men and logistical means, confirmed Major-General Estanislao Regalado, member of Joint Task Force "Cerco Fronterizo" who inspected on Sunday the military security and border surveillance in Dajabon. At the Beller fortress in Dajabon, military troops and all-terrain vehicles with machine guns are stationed as well as a riot truck. Helicopters and other technological means used for border control have been deployed for enhanced border surveillance. Commercial activities in the Dajabon border market have been reduced by more than 60% due to transportation paralysis and lack of security in Haiti preventing Haitian buyers and sellers from getting to and from the market border. SL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Economy : Chambers of Commerce worried about the escalation of popular anger The American Chamber of Commerce in Haiti (AmCham-Haiti), the Franco-Haitian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CFHCI) and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Haitiano-Canadian (CCIHC), deplore a legitimate popular anger which is unfortunately wrongly directed towards companies that create jobs in Haiti and wish to set up a dialogue table between all the actors concerned. American Chamber of Commerce in Haiti : "The Board of the American Chamber of Commerce in Haiti (Amcham Haiti) fully understands the frustration and distress of the population, but strongly condemns the acts of violence perpetrated in the country since February 7, 2019. [...] The Amcham-Haiti notes a more than dangerous escalation in the expression of the legitimate popular anger, which is, unfortunately wrongly oriented towards the companies that create jobs in the country. It is time for the demonization of the private sector to cease and for the real problems of the country to finally be solved. The Amcham-Haiti asks the Government to assume its responsibilities vis-a-vis the nation whose claims are justified [...] it thinks that the exit of crisis passes necessarily by the dialogue between the various [...] actors of the society only viable way for to obtain proposals for realistic and sustainable solutions for an immediate resolution of the crisis." French-Haitian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CFHCI) : "[...] The credibility of the necessary political dialogue necessarily involves the much requested accountability of all sectors of civil society. [...] As a formal private sector association that pays its royalties to the State that accounts for the vast majority of the national budget contribution, we are entitled to demand that the Prime Minister, Jean-Henry Ceant creates as soon as possible a mixed observatory composed of credible personalities for: Reassess the budget so that there are no more unproductive and ineffective allocations that are not used to improve the living conditions of the population but rather to increase the state of life ; Ensure immediate and reliable audits of State institutions such as ONA, OFATMA, OAVCT, APN, NAA. In addition, the CFHCI calls for a political agreement to be obtained as soon as possible in order to reduce the number of ministers, reducing it to 10 or 12 in order to drastically reduce the state's expenses and increase efficiency. Government [...]" Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIHC) : "The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Haiti-Canadian (CCIHC) is particularly concerned by the desperation of the population in search of wellness and opportunities for its young people. It protests against this situation of violence and looting in which the country is plunged for several days now that has led to the loss of many lives that it deplores. It profiles for : Urge people to demonstrate peacefully to claim their legitimate rights to food, decent housing, work, health, education and others, and to force our leaders to do the work for which they are paid and receive all the benefits while some layers of our society languish in the most abject misery. [...] To condemn in the strongest terms the destruction of public and private property which can only contribute to the impoverishment of our moribund economy. Recall that this multifaceted crisis (economic, financial, political, social) can only be solved by an Inter-Haitian dialogue [...] " HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - FLASH : 5th day of demonstrations, violence, looting, vandalism, popular anger grows On Monday, the fifth day of anti-government demonstrations, the country was plagued by multiple tensions. In Port-au-Prince, protesters in large numbers took the streets with their usual lot of demands, including the resignation of the Head of State and his Government, while in the National Palace, the Government remained silent face the demands and the outburst of popular anger Traffic was still blocked in several parts of the capital by barricades of burning tires. The situation was also "hot" among others in Les Cayes, Gonaives, Jeremie, Plaisance and Mirebalais, Saint-Marc, Hinche, Cap-Haitien, Fort-Liberte where economic activities were paralyzed as in Port-au-Prince. Roadblocks were reported in several provincial towns where demonstrations were taking place, a majority of schools, businesses and administrations remained closed. Most of the national roads were blocked. Coming from Cite Soleil and the popular neighborhoods of the metropolitan area, the angry demonstrators, in an atmosphere smoky by the burning of tires, threw stones at companies on their way. They vandalized and burned cars and smashed shop windows. Numerous scenes of looting were reported among others at Delmas, Airport Road, High Street and Petion Ville, before the police managed to disperse very aggressive protesters... At Delmas 77, the mini market of a gas pump was looted, in Delmas 83 more looting was reported, the police arrived too late, there was nothing left when he arrived... The National Police of Haiti (PNH) and the special units including among others agents of the Intervention and Maintenance Corps (CIMO), have intervened many times and on several fronts, to disperse the demonstrators, mostly young people from the poorest neighborhoods, but also to hunt thugs and looters, making extensive use of tear gas canisters. At Delmas 103, near Petion-ville, protesters clashed with CIMO agents, before being temporarily dispersed with tear gas. Sporadic shooting was heard in Petion-ville but also in several neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince causing panic in the population... A crowd of demonstrators from Carrefour was dispersed by the police at the rue des Casernes. Individuals attacked the National Bank of Credit (BNC) located between Delmas 52 and 54 with the intention of looting it. All windows of the branch of the BNC were broken, The police made a tough intervention and arrested inside the bank 5 individuals from Cite Soleil. A young police officer woman was shot in the arm while the individuals were trying to loot the bank, she was rushed to the hospital. Note that since 2 days, no more official report of the human victims (injured or dead) of these events is communicated. SL/ TB/ PI/ HaitiLibre We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Submit The Redmi Note 7 arrived for its first flash sale in China on January 15. Back then Redmi CEO Lu Weibing said the company is ready to sell 1 million units in the first month. Exactly four weeks later the milestone was reached, according to his own Weibo account. Lu even revealed an internal message to the Xiaomi board of directors, confirming the seven-digit landmark. Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 sold in 1 million units Redmi Note 7 was made available in a series of flash sales, all of them seeing thousands of units disappearing in minutes. We are yet to see how the phone will perform outside its domestic market, and we know it will eventually appear in India. You can check out our review while you wait to know more about it. The Redmi Note 7 owes its success to its aggressive price ($150 to $200 depending on version), 48 MP camera, Snapdragon 660 chipset and Quick Charge 4. We are also expecting to get the Redmi Note 7 Pro with Snapdragon 670, Sony IMX586 camera sensor and 128 GB storage soon. Prices should be a bit higher though - likely CNY1,599 ($240) for a 6/64 GB variant. Source (in Chinese) | Via (in Russian) Prompted by growing numbers of frustrated Uber and Lyft drivers, lawmakers will hold a hearing on establishing minimum pay for app-based drivers. After three separate legislative proposals regarding pay for drivers flooded the Labor and Public Employees Committee, the committee will raise the concept of driver earnings as a bill, said state Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven, who chairs the committee, on Friday night. A coalition of Uber and Lyft drivers from New Haven has been pressuring lawmakers to pass a pay standard, following New York Citys landmark minimum pay ordinance for app-based drivers approved in December. The legislation, which set an earnings floor of $17.22 an hour for the independent contractors, took effect on Feb. 1. Connecticut drivers have no minimum pay guarantees. Guillermo Estrella, who drives for Uber, worked about 60 hours per week last year and received $25,422.65 in gross pay. His pay stub doesnt reflect how much Estrella paid for insurance, gas, oil changes and wear-and-tear on his car. Factor those expenses in, and the Branford resident said his yearly take-home earnings were about $18,000 last year. Estrella and other New Haven drivers have suggested bill language to cap the portion of riders fares that Uber and Lyft can take at 25 percent, with the remaining 75 percent heading to drivers pockets. The idea has already received pushback from Uber, which said it was unrealistic given their current pay structure. Connecticut legislators have suggested two other models for regulating driver pay. State Sen. Steve Cassano, D-Manchester, filed a bill to set a minimum pay rate per mile and per minute for drivers. His bill has not assigned numbers to those minimums yet. What (drivers) were making when Uber started and got its name, they are not making that anymore, said Cassano. The company is taking advantage of the success of the company. I understand that to a point, but it shouldnt be at the expense of the drivers. State Rep. Peter Tercyak, D-New Britain, proposed legislation that says if drivers earnings do not amount to hourly minimum wage payments, Uber or Lyft should have to kick in the difference. Connecticuts minimum wage is now $10.10, although Democrats are making a strong push this year to raise it. As lawmakers consider these proposals, they will confront issues raised by the growing gig economy: a clash between companies seeking thousands of flexible, independent contractors and a workforce that wants the benefits and rights of traditional, paid employment. Some Democrats at the Capitol support the changes that favor drivers. I thought it was important to make sure our labor laws are keeping up with the changes we are seeing in this emerging gig economy, that we have sufficient safeguards to make sure that drivers are not being exploited, said Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown. But the proposals also raise broad, difficult questions like what protections does a large independent contractor workforce need? And how would constraining the business model of Uber and Lyft impact service availability around the state? Sen. Craig Miner, a Republican of Litchfield who sits on the Labor committee, wondered why Uber and Lyft drivers should have guaranteed pay, when other independent contractors do not. How would this impact the tax benefits realized by independent contractors, he asked. Uber and Lyft declined to provide data on how many drivers they have in the state, and the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles does not keep count. In Connecticut, 82 percent of Lyft drivers drive fewer than 20 hours per week, said Kaelan Richards, a Lyft spokesperson. Last week, Hearst Connecticut Media spoke to 20 Uber and Lyft drivers in New Haven who are demanding lawmakers protect their pay. All drove full-time for Uber or Lyft or both. An immigrant from Ecuador, Estrella, the Branford driver, struggles to pay for rent and groceries for his pregnant wife and seven-year-old son using his Uber wages. A cup of coffee at the local Starbucks cost $3 or $4, said Estrella. How can a trip can cost $3 when you have to drive to them five minutes away and drop them off after seven or eight minutes? In December, 50 Uber and Lyft drivers held a strike in New Haven demanding better pay. The New Haven drivers last week said they are planning more strikes soon. Why is Uber lowering the rates and why do we have to say yes to keep working? asked Carlos Gomez, a Guilford Uber driver, last week. The drivers believe Uber and Lyft are decreasing driver pay and taking a larger chunk of rider fares for company profits. Many New Haven drivers said pay per mile has been decreasing. They liked Sen. Cassanos idea of setting minimum pay per mile and per minute. The payment by mile, it went down by 10 cents, said Rosanna Olan, a driver from West Haven. Before it was more than one dollar and now when you have a big truck SUV, working long distance especially is not worth it anymore. Uber and Lyft both declined to provide pay rates per mile and per minute for drivers. Drivers are not paid for time spent driving to pick up a passenger, nor for time spent idling waiting for a ride, although the companies model depends on having drivers ready to pick up passengers at any moment. Lyft said nationally drivers earn an average of $18.83 an hour, but did not provide Connecticut specific earnings. Our goal has always been to empower drivers to get the most out of Lyft, and we look forward to continuing to do so in Connecticut, and across the country," said Rich Power, public policy manager at Lyft. Uber discouraged lawmakers from considering the drivers proposal of capping the transportation companies cut of rider fares. Uber spokesman Harry Hartfield said the idea wouldnt work because Uber no longer uses the commission model that stopped about two years ago. In order to make sure we can provide customers with an up-front price, driver fares are not tied to what the rider pays, said Hartfield. In fact, on many trips drivers actually make more money than the rider pays. What the rider is pays to Uber is an estimated price, calculated before the ride starts, Hartfield explained, while the driver receives from Uber a fare that is calculated based on actual drive time and distance. Changing the model could make it hard to give customers up-front pricing and lead to reduced price transparency, Hartfield said. New Yorks changes raised rates for riders. James Bhandary-Alexander, a New Haven Legal Assistance attorney who is working with the drivers, said Ubers current pay model is irrelevant to how drivers want to be paid for the work. The reason that drivers care is it seems fundamentally unfair that the rider is willing to pay or has paid $100 for the ride and the driver has only gotten $30 or $40 of that, he said. Pursuing any of the three driver-pay proposals would bring Uber and Lyft lobbyists back to the Capitol, where they negotiated legislation spearheaded by Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, from 2015 to 2017. Scanlon said the companies eventually favored the bill passed in 2017, which, after some compromise, required drivers have insurance, limited surge pricing, mandated background checks for drivers, imposed a 25 cent tax collected by the state and stated passengers must be picked up and delivered anywhere without discrimination. One of my biggest regrets about that bill, which I think is really good for consumers in Connecticut, is that we didnt do anything to try to help the driver, said Scanlon, who briefly drove for Uber. emunson@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson The ringing words of a congressional resolution by Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., summon Americans to "a new national, social, industrial and economic mobilization on a scale not seen since World War II and the New Deal." The Green New Deal's goal: a zero-carbon economy within 10 years, enabling the United States to lead a global attack on climate change while providing "unprecedented levels of prosperity and economic security for all people of the United States." It's a stirring vision, this Green New Deal. It tugs effectively at mystic chords of memory, as Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey showed by quickly echoing the resolution's themes in a stump speech: "When the planet has been in peril in the past, who came forward to save Earth from the scourge of Nazis and totalitarian regimes?" he asked an audience in Iowa on Friday. "We came forward." Politically powerful as the invocation of America's great collective deeds under Franklin Roosevelt might be, however, it is historically misleading - deeply so. Yes, "we all pulled together" (as the saying went) in the nearly four years between Pearl Harbor and V-J Day. The U.S. population overwhelmingly supported the war. It also accepted, or submitted to, extraordinary federal command and control. Mobilization required coercion. Without it, the war might have been lost. Ordinary democratic processes and market mechanisms could not have accomplished the massive reallocation of resources, physical and human, away from all other priorities and toward one overriding short-term purpose - "victory." Fifty million men registered for the military draft, and 10 million were inducted. (A total of 16 million people served, including volunteers.) The press practiced "voluntary" censorship. With prices and wages tightly regulated, ordinary civilians faced rationing of coffee, sugar and meat. Before the war, only 7 percent of the population was required to pay income tax; by 1944, more than 60 percent did. Under heavy federal pressure, organized labor took a no-strike pledge, but when coal miners walked out anyway in 1943, Roosevelt threatened to nationalize the mines. The federal atomic-bomb program, the Manhattan Project, was carried out partly in Oak Ridge, a town built on rural Tennessee land that the government had summarily seized from 3,000 small farmers. People wonder how the government could pay for the Green New Deal, but perhaps the real question is whether it could ever call forth, and distribute, physical and human resources on the World War II scale without resorting to similarly coercive measures. The Markey-Ocasio-Cortez resolution acknowledges that "many members of frontline and vulnerable communities" were excluded from the benefits of national mobilization during Roosevelt's time. Though Markey and Ocasio-Cortez don't name names, they may have been alluding to U.S. citizens and noncitizens of Japanese descent who were interned in remote camps and black people denied the best defense jobs or access to housing. The Green New Deal will not repeat these mistakes, they promise, but "must be developed through transparent and inclusive consultation, collaboration and partnership with frontline and vulnerable communities, labor unions, worker cooperatives, civil society groups, academia and businesses." For now, at least, the resolution doesn't even include a carbon tax. Though reassuringly democratic, this call for a new layer of time-consuming governmental process, on top of existing representative bodies, has an obvious problem: It is inconsistent with the urgency of the climate problem. The resolution's goal is to meet all U.S. electric power demand from "clean, renewable and zero-emission energy sources" within a decade. A single "green" public works project - California's high-speed rail system - is already years behind schedule. Delays are due in part to court cases, negotiations with landowners and tedious public hearings. First approved by voters in a 2008 proposition, California's bullet train is scheduled to open in 2033. No amount of historical idealization can overcome these real-world issues. What really happened during World War II is that, as the years went by, defense workers increasingly chafed at mandatory overtime, consumer shortages and crowded living conditions. (Building materials were set aside for military bases, not civilian housing.) Black markets flourished; many people were arrested for illegal sales of gasoline and other basics. Wildcat strikes hit key industries; workers who participated were often fired. In short, even when faced with a clear and present military threat during World War II, even in a good cause led by a popular president, many Americans did not go along with all aspects of the mobilization at all times. Here and there they actively refused. Where patriotic inspiration did not suffice to secure public cooperation, the Roosevelt administration resorted to stronger measures, and didn't waste too much time apologizing for them. Whatever else might be said about that attitude, at least it had to be taken seriously. As the debate about bringing tolls back to Connecticut heats up this legislative session, foes and advocates are debating the need, potential long-term economic benefits versus out-of-pocket expenses, and issues of fairness. Drivers want to known how much it would cost them. But that is not a particularly easy question to answer at the moment. Policy-makers proposals, including legislation, has been very short on specifics. But one source of clues is a report supporting tolls issued last year by the state Department of Transportation. The Connecticut Tolling Options Evaluation Study laid out a fee scale that ranges from 4.4 cents per mile for a car during off-peak hours up to 47.2 cents per mile for heavy out-of-state trucks during peak hours. According to fees recommended in the report, a commuter driving from, for example, Trumbull to Greenwich five days a week, would pay $760 a year if he or she had an E-ZPass and drove during peak hours. A commercial truck driver from out-of-state traveling across Connecticut during peak hours would be charged about $54 for a one-way trip. A trek for a driver without an E-ZPass or a commuter discount from Stamford to New Haven and back during off-peak hours would cost about $4. A Connecticut-based heavy truck driver with an E-ZPass who travels about 2,000 miles a week during off-peak hours would be charged about $18,304 in tolls annually. The tolls would yield more than $1 billion in gross annual revenue by 2023, the report estimates. More than 40 percent of that revenue would come from out-of-state drivers, the report said. Although the report lays out the closest thing to a plan that the state government has prepared, it does not necessarily represent what would actually be implemented if tolls were to return to Connecticut. The 2018 DOT report on tolls was intended to be informative, not prescriptive, said state Sen. Alex Bergstein of Greenwich, D-36th, who introduced a bill to return tolls to highways during her first week in office last month. It is not a roadmap for my bill. Bergsteins bill does not include any specifics about, for example, how many gantries would be installed (the report calls for 82), nor does it include examples of toll charges or possible discounts. Gov. Ned Lamonts administration has only indicated that it supports charging tolls on all vehicles, with few if any specifics. Im opening the discussion and want all voices to be heard, Bergstein said. The details should be worked out with the input of transportation experts, the public and other stakeholders. Her one-sentence bill calls only for the transportation commissioner to establish electronic tolls on major highways, establish toll amounts and deposit the proceeds in the Special Transportation Fund. It includes no further details. For and against Many CEOs and business leaders in the state have expressed support for tolls as a means of tackling congested highways and building better transportation infrastructure. But many small and local businesses especially those that require many miles of travel a day say tolls would devastate their livelihoods or force them to place the extra expense on the backs of consumers. Republicans in general argue tolls equate to another tax that would burden already struggling middle-class and low-income families. They say now that the states transportation funds have been placed in a legislative lock box, that money will cover necessary infrastructure upgrades without the need for extra revenue. But the DOT report claims the average commuter would save 15 hours a year that would otherwise be spent in traffic with the addition of electronic tolls and ensuing infrastructure improvements. The cumulative time savings in the state would be an estimated 20 million hours a year, which equates to an economic value of nearly $500 million, according to the report. That same report says the states current transportation revenues cant cover the maintenance of existing infrastructure or needed improvements to reduce traffic. Because revenue from the gas tax has been flat for a decade and is expected to decline as more drivers buy electric or more-efficient cars, the study recommends bringing in a new revenue stream with tolls. A separate report, by the Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Growth, said the state should prioritize transportation needs. We need to focus more heavily on projects that have direct economic development and growth payoff principally highway and rail projects in heavily congested corridors, the commission, made up of Connecticut business leaders, wrote. But it suggested a different method of raising revenue than statewide tolling. The commission suggested establishing public-private partnerships, creating project-specific revenue streams and securing bonds to fund needed transportation initiatives. It also suggested a toll-like system that differs from the one laid out in the Department of Transportations report. We are proposing toll-like user fees collected only from those who use the affected portion of the highway in question, the report reads. This would not be a statewide system of tolls, which has so inflamed the public debate, but a project-financing revenue bond vehicle. The only way the state can secure private investments is if it has a steady funding stream, like the one that would be created with tolls, according to the report. Revenue bonds would be issued against the income stream and private companies would complete the projects with private resources under state oversight. What legislators propose The Department of Transportation report isnt viewed as a specific roadmap for tolls by Lamont, according to Adam Wood, who served on the committee and once worked for the New York State Thruway Authority. The governor is considering all these proposals, Wood said. The report was released during the Malloy administration. Lamonts Transportation Policy Transition Committee recommended tolling all vehicles, instead of only tolling trucks as some legislators have suggested in the past. We did that because we were looking at the totality of important infrastructure improvements that need to be made in state, said Wood. Other states like New York have been able to tackle similar issues because they have a system that provides a regular source of revenue. As the last state in the region to implement tolls, Connecticut could use that advantage to learn from surrounding states, Wood said. Its also pertinent Connecticut brings its roadways up to par with its neighbors, he added. Connecticut needs to be competitive with our neighbors in order to attract more businesses, he said. Businesses know we need to address issues like congestion. Weve got to come up with a way to improve, otherwise we will continue to lose competition to other states. Bergstein said the state is missing out on billions in private investment dollars. Private companies invest in assets that either produce revenue or increase in value, she said. I-95 is our biggest asset and we are wasting its potential. In fact, weve been giving it away to our neighbors. We need to do what people and businesses do every day leverage our asset to access financing for major capital improvements. The senator said she is advocating for a consumer-first model when it comes to tolls. Im advocating for a fair-market solution that lets consumers choose the option that suits them best, rather than imposing a one size fits all price on everyone, she said. Customized pricing is the ultimate in fairness and freedom. Credits for low-income families and an option for drivers to pay more for access to an express lane are among the consumer choice options Bergstein has floated. Even if the state doesnt implement the same toll prices laid out in the Department of Transportation report, the senator said its still reasonable to estimate the state could raise about $1 billion a year with some iteration of tolls. Estimates are estimates, Bergstein said. But if New York gets $2.5 billion a year, New Jersey gets $1.5 billion and Massachusetts approximately ($500 million), then its altogether reasonable to estimate that Connecticut would derive approximately $1 billion. In response to Republicans who say the transportation fund lock box will ensure funding for infrastructure, Bergstein said: If youre willing to wait 25 years for faster times, then youre far more patient than I am. I want 30-minute trains to New York in the next three to five years and the only way to access the capital we need to do that is with a new revenue stream from tolls. MADRID - Twelve Catalan separatists went on trial Tuesday in the Spanish capital for staging a failed 2017 independence referendum that triggered a constitutional crisis and exposed rifts in a nation's identity. The trial is unprecedented in modern Spain. Carlos Lesmes, the president of Spain's Supreme Court, characterized it as the "most important" case since the country returned to democracy in 1975. It will be a test for the impartiality of Spain's judiciary. And, as it plays out on live television and saturates news headlines, reviving debates about democratic rights and political control, it will be a test of whether Spain's governing minority coalition can hold together. As what is expected to be a three-month trial got underway, pro- and anti-separatist demonstrators shouted at each other outside the court, surrounded by hundreds of police. "This is a highly politicized case," said constitutional law professor Antonios Kouroutakis, of the IE law school in Madrid. "And this is a situation where it will be very difficult for the courts to satisfy society. But this is not the primary goal of the courts - to satisfy society." The 12 separatists - including Catalonia's former vice president and other regional officials - stand accused of rebellion, sedition and the misuse of public funds. If convicted, they could face up to 25 years in prison. They deny the charges. "(Self-determination) is a synonym of peace, not of war," defense lawyer Andreu Van den Eyndehe told the court in his opening statement. In October 2017, they staged an independence referendum in open defiance of the government in Madrid and the Spanish courts. According to their results, 90 percent of voters supported secession - which Catalonia's regional parliament used as the basis for declaring independence. But only about 43 percent of Catalans participated, with most of those who supported the national government's position boycotting the exercise. Opinion polls at the time suggested that Catalans were evenly split on the secession question. European Union member states supported Spain's assertion that the referendum was illegitimate and illegal. But democracy advocates were discomforted by images of national police officers in riot gear firing rubber bullets into crowds and smashing through elementary school windows to search for ballot boxes. The separatists now say the trial is further evidence of Spain's democracy deficit, and they have appealed to the EU in a request for clemency for the arrested officials. Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont is not on trial, because he fled Spain in late October 2017 and has avoided extradition requests. But he continued to fan the flames from Berlin on Tuesday, in a news conference designed to coincide with the start of the trial. "Democracies around the world must be inspired by the Catalan struggle for democracy," he said. "And the image of our civil and political leaders on trial concerns all who live in a stronger democracy." "I want to ask the European Union institutions why the European Union is more concerned for what is going on in Venezuela than what is happening in Madrid today," Puigdemont said. Even some those who did not share the aim of regional independence suggested the trial is a dangerous precedent for Spain and Europe. "Although I am not an independence supporter, nor do I share many of the decisions of the previous Catalan government, I believe that this trial is a political fiasco, placing the space for dialogue and negotiation in danger," Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau wrote in a letter to EU leadership. "If the trial ends in guilty verdicts and sentences, it will not help to reassess Catalonia's position within Spain, but it will instead serve to exacerbate division." Spain's central government has been on the defensive, writing off the outrage over the Catalan trial as a "disinformation campaign." Madrid released a short video, "This is the real Spain," in which a parade of Spanish and international celebrities venerate a "great democracy." Actor Richard Gere and Michelin-starred chef Jose Andres have cameo appearances. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez sought to allay EU concerns during a trip to Strasbourg, France, last week. In a speech to the Council of Europe, he spoke about Spain as "a full democracy." And he visited what the Spanish government called "the two institutions that best represent and guarantee human rights and democracy in Europe - the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights." European officials have sided with Madrid, as they did during the 2017 referendum. Frans Timmermans, the first vice president of the European Commission, said last week that the commission had "no criticism" of the functioning of the rule of law, democracy or human rights in Spain, when he was questioned by Catalan secessionist members of the European Parliament. But the Catalans have made an impact with their campaign. "The pro-independence side of the trial has been more active and more successful in putting across their message," said William Chislett, a political analyst at the Elcano Royal Institute, a Madrid think tank. "Their attempts to say that Spain is not democratic have not worked. But they raised a question mark, which has done damage." The trial could have important repercussions in Spanish politics. Sanchez, of the Socialist Workers' Party, became Spain's prime minister in June 2018, several months after the referendum crisis. But his is a minority government, and Sanchez was only able to take power by aligning with Catalan separatist factions that opposed the right-wing government of Mariano Rajoy, who had led Madrid's opposition to Catalan independence. Given the trial, some of these Catalan factions have said they feel betrayed, and Sanchez needs their support to pass his 2019 budget in Spanish Parliament on Wednesday. Meanwhile, his opponents on the political right have seized the opportunity to attack a position of weakness, with tens of thousands marching Sunday in Madrid to demand snap elections if he fails to pass his budget. "The strange alliance that brought Sanchez to power was always going to crumble at some point, and as far as the Catalans are concerned, it's payback time," Chislett said. He noted, however, that a potential failure by Sanchez to pass the new budget would not automatically trigger elections, and that the previous year's budget could be temporarily rolled over for longer into the year ahead. - - - McAuley reported from Paris. GREENWICH, Conn. A weeklong search for the killer of Valerie Reyes led police to Jackson Heights in Queens Monday where they arrested Javier da Silva Rojas, an ex-boyfriend of the 24-year-old woman whose body was found in a suitcase by the side of the road in Greenwich. Da Silva was charged with a federal count of Kidnapping Resulting in Death, according to a spokesman for the United States Attorneys Office in the Southern District of New York. The Venezuelan citizen was held without bond, after being arraigned Tuesday in Federal Court in White Plains. Da Silva told police that Reyes fell and hit her head either during or after the two had sex in her New Rochelle apartment on Jan. 29, according to the arrest affidavit. He said he then sealed her mouth with packing tape, bound her legs and hands and put her in a suitcase, according to the document. Da Silva drove the suitcase north until after driving for some time (he) stated that he placed the suitcase in a forest presumably the wooded area by Glenville Road where it was found on Feb. 5. New Rochelle Police detectives, accompanied by Greenwich Police detectives, arrested da Silva, who had fraudulently used Reyes ATM card, in Queens, Greenwich police Capt. Robert Berry said. Da Silva was held without bond in federal custody after his arrest. Berry said da Silva is the only suspect, but the investigation is ongoing as there are a lot of loose ends that need to be tied up. The defendants next court appearance had not yet been scheduled by end of day Tuesday. According to the criminal complaint, federal investigators determined that Reyes debit card had been used at a New Rochelle bank branch at 5 a.m. on Jan. 29. A man in a black hoodie was seen making a withdrawal of $1,000. It appeared he was driving a black Honda CRV. A license plate number was later obtained, leading police to da Silva in Queens. Police said they later determined that Reyes had once dated da Silva. Investigators found a drawing of the suspect in Reyes New Rochelle apartment - which da Silva later used on his social media profile, according to the criminal complaint. The federal complaint said Reyes was found with packing tape over her mouth. Her hands were bound behind her back with what appeared to be twine and packing tape, the court records state, and there was evidence of a large blow to her head. She was clothed but barefoot. Investigators said she was in the early stages of decomposition. Friends who began to gather Tuesday afternoon at a funeral home in New Rochelle for calling hours to mourn Reyes expressed relief that a suspect had been arrested. Many knew Reyes from work or from school. Others are friends of her parents and wanted to show support. She was a good soul, a good person, said Steve Costa, who worked with her at Costco. She didnt go with the drama, the gossip. ... She was the sweetest girl you could meet; always had a smile on her face. Im glad that someone is held responsible, Costa said. I hope the law gives him the firm end of the stick when it comes to justice. A former classmate recalled that he and Reyes frequently spent lunch together on a break in the library, catching up and talking, when they attended New Rochelle High School together. The man, who did not want to be identified, said, Im just glad there is finally justice for Valerie. A friend from middle school who declined to give her name said Reyes was a fighter and that they had bonded over their common struggles with depression and anxiety. Those who spoke at the funeral home said they did not know da Silva. Justin Orda, a man who identified himself as Reyes recent boyfriend on Twitter, began sharing posts about the missing woman and pleas for her return beginning Jan. 30. My girlfriend Valerie is now officially reported as a missing person nationwide by the authorities, he posted. Please contact me if there is ANY kind of information. Reached for comment Tuesday about the development in the case, Orda said he was busy cooperating with police and preparing to mourn at Reyes funeral services Tuesday evening. I dont have much time now with the most recent news, he said. And law enforcement has my cell phone and iPad still. Orda posted on Twitter around noon Tuesday, Whats done in the dark will always find a way to shine. Reyes was found deceased on the morning of Feb. 5 just off Glenville Road in Greenwich. She had been previously reported as missing to New Rochelle Police by her family on Jan. 30. Autopsy results from the Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner are pending. Greenwich Police detectives had been following several promising lines of investigation and have been working collaboratively with the New Rochelle Police, the Westchester County Forensics Investigation unit and other law enforcement agencies, Berry said. Multiple crime scenes had been examined, hundreds of hours of surveillance footage had been reviewed, and numerous interviews of potential witnesses had been conducted, Berry said. Additionally, social media footprints and records from a variety of sources have been analyzed. We are confident that the pursuit of justice for Valerie will be successful and we continue to work with the family to provide closure to this tragedy, he said. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Gabriels Church, 120 Division St., New Rochelle. The charges were being handled by the federal authorities to straighten out any questions of jurisdiction due to the involvement of police in New York and Connecticut in the case, said Capt. Kraig Gray of the Greenwich Police Department. Berry said there was a complexity of the interstate nature of the crimes. Ever since Valerie Reyes was found deceased in Greenwich on Feb. 5, Greenwich police have been working closely with police from New Rochelle, said Berry. Several crime scenes have been examined, hours of surveillance video have been reviewed and numerous interviews conducted. Detectives from both agencies have pursued a multitude of leads. There had been intense focus on the use of Reyes ATM card during the investigation, Berry said. He did not offer any specifics about the timeline, but he said the card was not used in Greenwich and that it was the use of that card that led to detectives to da Silva. This entire investigation has been a herculean effort from the very beginning from the initial officers on scene to all the work of all the detectives following up and chasing down numerous leads, Berry said. I cant emphasize enough the success that we got from our collaboration with the New Rochelle Police Department and the professionalism of all involved. Were hopeful and confident that the pursuit of justice of Valerie will be successful and hope this investigation provides some level of closure to the Reyes family. Staff Writer Ken Borsuk contributed to this story. The latest political controversy involves Rep. Ilhan Omar tweeting and insinuating that American political support for Israel is driven by Jewish money and lobbying. Leaving aside her views for now, the general trend is striking: Social media is allowing individual politicians to further their own careers at the expense of their party's reputation. The result is that U.S. politics is quickly changing into a parade of celebrities. Put yourself in Omar's shoes. You are a freshman representative in a group of 435. Most of your cohort will never receive national recognition, and as a Muslim woman, perhaps your hold on the seat is not entirely secure. You will probably never run for president, or even Senate, so your future is not tied very closely to that of the Democratic Party. At some point you realize that if you tweet about Israel, you will get attention. You probably believe in what you are saying, and you think your opinions will contribute to the dialogue. But the tweets will also make you a national celebrity. That may help your future ability to get a book contract, hit the lecture circuit, or join a lobbying or non-profit firm. Even if most Americans find your views objectionable, there will be a place for you in a country this large, wealthy and diverse. I have found that when people perceive their self-interest and sense of morality to be in harmony, they are very likely to act in accordance with them. And so it came to pass. Omar started tweeting about Israel, later tweeted a problematic remark about "Benjamins," people were offended and accused her of anti-Semitism, and she has since apologized. But don't be too distracted by the apology: She definitely got people talking about one of her preferred issues, and she raised her profile significantly. And she hasn't withdrawn her main point. Of course, it is the Democratic Party that ends up looking bad. For one thing, most Americans are pro-Israel. Even if the tweets had been less controversial, the mere act of talking about Israel exposes more fissures in the Democratic coalition than among Republicans. Or consider Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, arguably a genius on social media. She is attracting more attention than most (all?) of the Democratic presidential candidates, and now has over three million Twitter followers. She has been setting the Democratic agenda on both tax and environmental policy, and spurring a general sense among primary voters that the party ought to be moving further to the political left. But is this all good for the Democratic Party? The positive spin would be that she is revitalizing debate in the party and giving it greater appeal to the young. The negative spin is that she is pushing the primary candidates too far to the left, and making them look tired and stale compared to her energy and innovativeness. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's response to the Green New Deal idea was striking: "It will be one of several or maybe many suggestions that we receive. The green dream, or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is, but they're for it, right?" No matter what the final result may be, the upstarts have been empowered relative to the establishment. The true innovator in all of this, of course, is President Donald Trump. He used Twitter to help himself get elected, at the expense of the traditional view of what the Republican Party should be. This trend will almost certainly continue and intensify. Most politicians do not have excellent social media skills, but many will try to get noticed and have an impact (or at least hire staff members who will). As more politicians up their game on social media, more of these attempts will hit home. Ocasio-Cortez will have competition. The influence and reach of political celebrities will grow stronger, and the parties will become weaker yet. This may be a more important trend than what is sometimes called political polarization. But what does this new, more intense celebrity culture mean for actual outcomes? The more power and influence that individual communicators wield over public opinion, the harder it will be for a sitting president to get things done. (The best option, see above, will be to make your case and engage your adversaries on social media.) The harder it will be for an aspirant party to put forward a coherent, predictable and actionable political program. Finally, the issues that are easier to express on social media will become the more important ones. Technocratic dreams will fade, and fiery rhetoric and identity politics will rule the day. And if you think this is the political world we're already living in, rest assured: It's just barely gotten started. - - - Cowen, a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, is a professor of economics at George Mason University. Support local journalism We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story. In North Carolina, towns like Black Creek, Lucama, Sharpsburg, Statonsburg and Whiteville all signed long-term power purchase agreements early on in the process. At the start of 2019, other cities in North Carolina, such as Concord and Kings Mountain, which is home to NTEs first North Carolina plant began receiving power as part of long-term provider agreements. Beginning in 2022, New River Power and Light, which is owned and operated by Appalachian State University, will enter a 30-year power agreement with NTE, alongside nine other municipal utilities. At the local level, it remains unclear when or if NTE will have conversations with officials as they approach the end of current power purchase agreements in place. In an interview with RockinghamNow in March 2018, County Manager Lance Metzler said he could potentially see the company providing wholesale energy to Rockingham County at some point in the future. Potentially, Id like it and itd be great, Metzler said. They will have a certain market and I dont have the answer to that. If we can, well try our best to get it done. As for the power company, theyll be prepared to discuss options with local wholesale buyers when the time is right. To be clear, I know nothing about Ralph Northam, the governor of Virginia, who is being called upon to resign due to widespread criticism of a 30-year-old racist photograph. The situation is made worse by being muddled. I am concerned about the headlong rush to judge this man long before anyone has investigated his more recent past. People can change a lot in 30 years. Virginians (and others) may be excoriating a good man. I dont know. I find myself thinking about fairness. It seems to me that a mob mentality has arisen to condemn Northam no matter what. Is Gov. Northam a closet racist or has he taken a higher path? I think his constituents owe it to him and to themselves to find out before ushering him summarily off the stage. Maureen Parker Greensboro Spears, though, hasnt had a single tank of helium since November. Its affected my sales quite a bit, said Spears, who once had a facility devoted to storing helium, but sold the building last year. Ill just focus on other gases and try to go from there." One aspect of the supply chain that isnt going dry are the grocers and department stores who can afford higher prices. All of those guys are at the top of the food chain for helium. They can leverage their vendors, Hermetet said. It's shops like Bears Balloons & Beyond who will end up with empty tanks. Lanny Miller said he has kept his prices low, but they will likely go up as much as 18 to 22 percent because "we have to use it." Hermetet said the increase for balloons will likely not matter to the average consumer. But customers like car dealerships or gyms, who use them for promotions, might be less likely to do so. Bears Balloons & Beyond sells balloons to those types of retailers along with churches, country clubs and restaurants. The shop also rents out helium tanks. This really eats into our mom-and-pop business, Renee Miller said. GRAHAM After close to three years, a woman charged with sex acts with a 15-year-old pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges Monday, Feb. 11, in Alamance County Superior Court, and was sentenced to a years probation. This is a pretty reduced plea, Judge Tom Lambeth said in court. Gwendolyn Rae Cloutier, 47, of Mebane, had no criminal record when she was charged in October 2016 with indecent liberties with a child, two counts of statutory rape of a child, and two counts of sex offense with a child. She accepted an Alford plea, meaning she pleaded guilty without admitting to wrongdoing, to two misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and was sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation with the condition that she have no contact with the victim or his family. Assistant District Attorney Rick Champion said the victim had known Cloutiers daughter in 2016. He fell asleep on a couch in her home when he woke up to Cloutier touching him. They had another encounter a few weeks before his 16th birthday. None of that came out until the victim was called as a witness against Cloutier in family court several months later, defense lawyer Woody Vann said, which he called an attempt to weaponize the events. Julians Leonard Allen Hill enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1942 a few months after World War II started. He served until a few months after the war ended. He moved often; too bad he wasnt paid mileage for his many travels across the United States, England and Europe. Not surprisingly, his travel itinerary began and ended at Fort Bragg, with outgoing stops at St. Petersburg and Clearwater, Fla.; Chanute Field, Ill.; Santa Maria, Calif.; Reno, Nevada; Fresno, Calif.; and Camp Kilmer, N.J. Before his first year of service was completed, he sailed for the war zone aboard the SS Argentina. From his home in Julian, he reminisced about that voyage. The ship carried 8,000 troops; evidently that was twice the ships capacity, Hill said. There was space for half of us to sleep below deck. The other half slept on deck. Each 24 hours, we rotated. I can guarantee you that sea-sickness does not rotate; I was sick above deck and below deck! We were sure the captain kept changing course just to make us seasick. We learned later he was dodging German U-boats; good for him! After reaching England, Hill was assigned to Base Air Depot #1, Burtonwood Airfield, near Liverpool. He looked forward to utilizing his training in teletype maintenance. In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded. In 1912, Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, abdicated, marking the end of the Qing Dynasty. In 1914, groundbreaking took place for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. (A year later on this date, the cornerstone was laid.) In 1959, the redesigned Lincoln penny with an image of the Lincoln Memorial replacing two ears of wheat on the reverse side went into circulation. In 1973, Operation Homecoming began as the first release of American prisoners of war from the Vietnam conflict took place. In 1980, the FBI announced that about $5,800 of the $200,000 ransom paid to hijacker D.B. Cooper before he parachuted from a Northwest Orient jetliner in 1971 had been found by an 8-year-old boy on a riverbank of the Columbia River in Washington state. In 1993, in a crime that shocked and outraged Britons, two 10-year-old boys lured 2-year-old James Bulger from his mother at a shopping mall near Liverpool, England, and beat him to death. In 1999, the Senate voted to acquit President Bill Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice. For other highlights from this date, see On This Day in the gallery area of greensboro.com. You can search the News & Record Historical Archive at greensboro.com/archive. Stand up if the answer is yes Do you plan to use the public advocate position to run for mayor? Jumaane Williams slipped off his chair and sat straight-legged on the ground. It drew laughs from the sparse crowd. The New York City councilman wasnt just going to say no by staying seated he was going to be extra-seated. The moderator at a Jan. 31 forum for public advocate candidates at Boys and Girls High School in Bed-Stuy had asked the candidates to simply stand or stay in their chairs, not to sit on the floor or jump up and down. Well, Williams often jokes that his nicknames in school were needs improvement and promotion in doubt. This was the same class clown, now grown up and running for higher office. Though Williams may have been more seated than anyone else, none of the candidates stood up to express an interest in running for mayor. And no one stood when, an hour later after four more candidates arrived late, the moderator posed the question again. (Williams slunk to the ground again, to fewer laughs.) The candidates commitment to public advocacy raises a central question of the race: Why should voters care who the next public advocate is? An obvious answer is that, as first in the line of succession if the mayor dies or steps aside, one of them could soon be mayor of New York City, a job with actual responsibilities and an immense budget. And even if tragedy or a job in Washington doesnt befall the sitting mayor, and the public advocate never has to take over, the holder of the office is in prime position to move up in the future. The role was created in part for that exact reason. And its worked! Just look at the offices two previous occupants: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and state Attorney General Letitia James, whose November election got us into this mess of an unprecedented citywide special election set for Tuesday, Feb. 26, to fill her vacancy. They claim theyll direct recreational marijuana taxes toward fixing the subways, or stop Amazon from expanding into Queens. Of course, the public advocate can do none of that. And yet the candidates shy away at least publicly from that particular ambition of becoming mayor. Day after day, in press conferences and on podcasts, and night after night, in forums and debates, the candidates are seeking to convince potential voters to care about the race for other reasons. They claim theyll direct recreational marijuana taxes toward fixing the subways, or use eminent domain to seize land and build affordable housing, or stop Amazon from expanding into Queens. Of course, the public advocate can do none of that. Voters may find it nice to have an elected official who agrees with them on certain issues, but the public advocate has limited powers outside of advocating. But hey, drawing the occasional attention of the New York City press corps can be a powerful thing. And even if the candidates wont cop to it, the public advocate is just a Bernie Sanders presidential transition team phone call to Gracie Mansion away from becoming mayor of the greatest city on Earth. Thats partly why the job is so popular. More than 30 candidates threw their hats in the ring initially, and 17 made it on the ballot. A candidate pool this big is unprecedented in modern New York City politics, as is the very nature of this race: a citywide special election for a second-tier job in the middle of winter. The 17 remaining candidates are facing some serious challenges: standing out from the crowd, turning out voters and not burning out. New York City has seen slightly less dismal turnout in recent elections, which experts credit to the Trump effect. But theres no telling if that will be a factor in this race, since its outside of the normal election cycle. With expected low turnout and a crowded ballot, the winner is likely to need relatively few votes. So candidates will rely heavily on getting their core supporters out to the polls as well as partnering with labor unions and Democratic clubs who know how to get people to show up. Theyre also scrambling to raise cash, bolstered by a public matching funds system that pays out as much as $8 for every dollar of individual contributions up to $250. Theyre raising their visibility in other ways as well, with 10 candidates qualifying for the first of two official debates last week, and a second one scheduled for Feb. 20. Late last month, Williams became the first candidate to air a TV ad. A candidate pool this big is unprecedented in modern New York City politics. But who to vote for, especially when there seem to be more similarities than differences among the candidates? Almost all of them are progressives. All of them conservatives included have talked about being a check on the increasingly unpopular mayor. Candidates often appear at the same press conferences, united in opposition. Assemblyman Ron Kim and New York City Councilman Rafael Espinal Jr. both protested Amazons planned expansion into Queens on a frigid morning last month outside City Hall. At least three candidates showed up to support immigration activist Ravi Ragbir at his recent check-in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The nonpartisan election requires candidates to come up with their own party lines, and several had to go back to the drawing board because their first drafts sounded too similar. Assemblyman Michael Blake got to keep For the People, but his claiming of the term people meant that Williams Peoples Advocate had to go, as did Kims People Over Corporations and Nomiki Konsts Pay People More. The campaign will be over before the end of February but only if you want it to be. The winner of the special election will only be public advocate until November, when the position will be on the ballot again. And petitioning for the June primary begins Feb. 26 the same day as the special election. Candidates who have been burning the candle at both ends, going to two public forums a night and flyering at subway stops in the morning, will barely get a reprieve. The race, and the work, never ends. You cant blame Williams for slipping out of his chair to take a breather on the floor. PICKING A PUBLIC ADVOCATE Melissa Mark-Viverito melissa-mark-viverito-celeste-sloman.jpg Alt Text: Melissa Mark-Viverito Title Text: Melissa Mark-Viverito Caption: Melissa Mark-Viverito. Description: Melissa Mark-Viverito Image Credit: Photo by Celeste Sloman Party line: Fix the MTA Ballot position: 1st Home base: East Harlem, Manhattan Job: Former New York City Council speaker, former Latino Victory Fund PAC senior adviser Money raised, as of Jan. 21: $345,742 Key endorsement: Rep. Adriano Espaillat Why shell win: Diversity as the only Latina in the race and experience. Council speaker arguably is the best preparation for being public advocate. That job, which she held from 2014 through 2017, gave her decent name recognition among voters. Why she wont: Her campaign failed to qualify for matching funds, suggesting shes lacking grassroots support. And the job of council speaker opens her up to a lot of criticism with current City Council members disparaging her leadership. She also was elected speaker thanks to de Blasios strong backing raising questions about how aggressively she would take on the mayor. Backup options: Run for governor of Puerto Rico, mount a primary challenge against Rep. Jose E. Serrano, or perhaps something else entirely. Michael Blake michael-blake-nina-cochran-michael-blake-for-public-advocate.jpg Alt Text: Michael Blake Title Text: Michael Blake Caption: Michael Blake. Description: Michael Blake. Image Credit: Nina Cochran courtesy of Michael Blake for Public Advocate Party line: For the People Ballot position: 2nd Home base: Melrose, Bronx Job: Assemblyman; Democratic National Committee vice chairman Money raised, as of Jan. 21: $1.04 million ($324,029 + $716,133 in matching funds) Key endorsement: Rep. Jose E. Serrano Why hell win: Hes got more money than anyone, and is the lone Bronxite in the race, which could swing voters. Hes got an inspired way of speaking, and as a former campaign manager, hes a wiley political operator. Why he wont: His naked ambition leaves no doubt hed use the position to aim for something higher, which could bother some voters. And Blakes always been more focused on national politics than local, leaving him wanting in local connections. Backup options: Whatever allows the ambitious young politician to climb the political ladder. Dawn Smalls dawn-smalls-dawn-smalls-for-nyc-public-advocate.jpg Alt Text: Dawn Smalls Title Text: Dawn Smalls Caption: Dawn Smalls. Description: Dawn Smalls Image Credit: Courtesy Dawn Smalls for Public Advocate. Party line: No More Delays Ballot position: 3rd Home base: Flatiron, Manhattan Job: Partner at Boies Schiller Flexner; former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services executive secretary Money raised, as of Jan. 21: $818,741 ($244,105 + $574,636 in matching funds) Key endorsement: Executive Women for Her Why shell win: Shes putting up impressive fundraising numbers. And though shes never held elected office before, shes got a stellar Democratic resume, with stints in the Obama and Clinton administrations and at George Soros Open Society Foundations. Why she wont: Her name has never appeared on the ballot before and has failed to earn any endorsements that could help drive turnout. Backup options: Stay on as a well-paid lawyer at her white-shoe law firm. Eric Ulrich eric-ulrich-new-york-city-council.jpg Alt Text: Eric Ulrich Title Text: Eric Ulrich Caption: Eric Ulrich. Description: Eric Ulrich Image Credit: Courtesy New York City Council Party line: Common Sense Ballot position: 4th Home base: South Ozone Park, Queens Job: New York City councilman Money raised, as of Jan. 21: $100,712 Key endorsement: Queens GOP Why hell win: Hes a Republican with a logical path to victory: If all the Democratic candidates split the vote, he could win, even with relatively few conservative voters. The Republican organizations in all five boroughs are backing him, and could help drive turnout. He might even win some Democratic votes with his pitch: de Blasios worst nightmare. Why he wont: Hes a Republican! In New York City! And fellow Republican Manny Alicandro could spoil his strategy. Backup options: Follow through on a long-rumored run for mayor bolstered by reality TV? Ydanis Rodriguez ydanis-rodriguez-celeste-sloman.jpg Alt Text: Ydanis Rodriguez Title Text: Ydanis Rodriguez Caption: Ydanis Rodriguez. Description: Ydanis Rodriguez Image Credit: Photo by Celeste Sloman Party line: Unite Immigrants Ballot position: 5th Home base: Inwood, Manhattan Job: New York City councilman Money raised, as of Jan. 21: $134,996 Key endorsement: Bengal Democratic Club Why hell win: An immigrant from the Dominican Republic, Rodriguez is appealing heavily to other immigrants-turned-voters like himself, and isnt afraid to reference his thickly accented English as an asset in a city where half the workforce is foreign-born. Why he wont: Rodriguez has had a hard time earning respect in the council, and from voters, and will likely get crowded out by the higher-profile Latinos in Mark-Viverito and Espinal. Even Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a fellow Dominican and a longtime ally, didnt endorse him! Backup options: Manhattan borough president in 2021. Daniel ODonnell daniel-o-donnell-daniel-o-donnell-for-public-advocate.jpg Alt Text: Daniel O'Donnell Title Text: Daniel O'Donnell Caption: Daniel O'Donnell. Description: Daniel O'Donnell Image Credit: Courtesy Daniel O'Donnell for Public Advocate Party line: Equality for All Ballot position: 6th Home base: Morningside Heights, Manhattan Job: Assemblyman Money raised, as of Jan. 21: $99,605 Key endorsement: Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City Why hell win: Elected in 2002 as the first openly gay assemblyman, ODonnell has been in public office longer than any of the other candidates, and has the relationships to prove it. Why he wont: ODonnell has never been particularly prominent in the Assembly, hes short on cash and voters may shy away from electing another white man to a citywide position with de Blasio as mayor, Scott Stringer as comptroller and Corey Johnson as City Council speaker. Backup options: Pass progressive legislation in Democratic-controlled Albany. Rafael Espinal rafael-espinal-rafael-espinal-for-public-advocate.jpg Alt Text: Rafael Espinal Title Text: Rafael Espinal, Jr. Caption: Rafael Espinal. Description: Rafael Espinal, Jr. Image Credit: Courtesy Rafael Espinal for Public Advocate Party line: Liveable City Ballot position: 7th Home base: Cypress Hills, Brooklyn Job: New York City councilman Money raised, as of Jan. 21: $172,537 Key endorsement: Teamsters Joint Council 16 Why hell win: After launching the citys office of nightlife, Brooklyns young, cool, councilman has a lot of cred among voters who stay out dancing till 2 a.m., as well as those opposing Amazons expansion into Queens. Why he wont: Hes relatively inexperienced, short on endorsements and battling the widespread notion that hes just running to raise his profile for a future run. Backup options: Brooklyn borough president in 2021. Jumaane Williams jumaane-williams-celeste-sloman.jpg Alt Text: Jumaane Williams Title Text: Jumaane Williams Caption: Jumaane Williams. Description: Jumaane Williams Image Credit: Photo by Celeste Sloman Party line: Its Time Lets Go Ballot position: 9th Home base: Flatbush, Brooklyn Job: New York City councilman Money raised, as of Jan. 21: $886,101 ($195,907 + $690,194 matching funds) Key endorsement: Working Families Party Why hell win: Williams challenged Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul last year, and actually beat her in New York City, 434,393 to 375,055. That race raised his profile and proved that voters see him as a viable counterbalance to the establishment in power. Hes running on the same platform in this race and has more major endorsements than every other candidate. Why he wont: The fields full of lefties, and not as straightforward as last years two-candidate LG race. All the other candidates are attacking him as the presumed front-runner and some of the hits may sting, such as those on his mountain of personal debt or his past opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion rights. Backup options: After running for council speaker, lieutenant governor and public advocate, see what office opens up next. Ron Kim ron-kim-assembly.jpg Alt Text: Ron Kim. Title Text: Ron Kim. Caption: Ron Kim. Description: Ron Kim. Image Credit: Courtesy New York Assembly Party line: No Amazon Ballot position: 10th Home base: Flushing, Queens Job: Assemblyman Money raised, as of Jan. 21: $186,886 Key endorsement: Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou Why hell win: Kims aiming for the anti-Amazon vote, and the grassroots movement opposed to the deal seems legitimately strong. As a Korean-American, Kim could also turn out Asian-American voters, a constituency that has been underestimated before. Why he wont: It seems like all the candidates are opposing the Amazon deal. And Kims wife Alison Tan failed to unseat City Councilman Peter Koo in 2017 in a race in which Gov. Andrew Cuomo endorsed the incumbent. Backup options: Pass progressive legislation in Democratic-controlled Albany. Nomiki Konst nomiki-konst-cassandra-hanks.jpg Alt Text: Nomiki Konst Title Text: Nomiki Konst Caption: Nomiki Konst. Description: Nomiki Konst Image Credit: Photo by Cassandra Hanks Party line: Pay Folks More Ballot position: 13th Home base: Astoria, Queens Job: Former anti-IDC activist; former The Young Turks investigative reporter Money raised, as of Jan. 21: $95,964 Key endorsement: Millennials for Revolution Why shell win: Shes a democratic socialist calling for a $30 minimum wage, and could use her impressive online presence stronger than any of the other candidates to hype up young leftists enough to vote. Why she wont: She has little money, little experience as a candidate, and although a Susan Sarandon endorsement is cool, its unlikely to turn out voters. Backup options: Keep building her celebrity as a progressive voice on TV and social media. ALSO RUNNING: The seven remaining candidates, who didnt raise and spend enough money nearly $57,000 to qualify for the first debate, include: Benjamin Yee, a minor folk hero of the anti-machine left who holds regular trainings for New Yorkers interested in getting involved in hyperlocal politics, dipping his toe into campaigning for the first time. Manny Alicandro, an unabashedly pro-Trump Republican attorney who briefly sought the Republican nomination for state attorney general last year before bowing out of the race. David Eisenbach, a historian and professor running on an anti-REBNY platform who fell to Letitia James in the 2017 Democratic public advocate primary. Jared Rich, a bombastic Court Street lawyer running for office for the first time. Tony Herbert, a Brooklyn community activist who briefly ran for public advocate in 2016. Helal Sheikh, a former teacher who emigrated from Bangladesh and unsuccessfully ran for City Council in 2013 and 2017. Latrice Walker, an assemblywoman and Letitia James ally who suspended her campaign in late January but couldnt get her name off the ballot. Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email circulation@skagitpublishing.com for help creating one. Goshen, IN (46526) Today A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. High near 85F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Cloudy with occasional showers overnight. Thunder possible. Low 68F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%. You asked. We listened. Your daily crossword, Sudoku and dozens of other puzzles are now available online. Play them or print them here. Play now Defence in Global Britain Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson gave a speech at RUSI outlining the future direction of the UK Armed Forces. 11 February 2019 Malcolm [Chalmers] thank you so much for having hosting this event here today at RUSI. It's a real privilege and honour to be able to come along. It's important to start off by asking the question why do we fight? It is fundamentally, to protect our people, protect our interests, and, of course, to defend Britain. As a nation, we've never shied away from acting even if that has meant standing alone as we did in the darkest hours of the Second World War. Even after the Berlin Wall fell 30 years ago, when there was no overwhelmingly obvious threat to our security, we recognised the UK had a role and responsibility to stand up for our values across the globe. Defending our values took us to Kuwait, Bosnia, Sierra Leone and Kosovo and it made a difference to millions of peoples' lives. But, after September 11th, the importance of defence increased as a deadly new threat arose. A threat not just to any nation but to all who cherished the values of the Western way of life. A global ideology seeking the destruction of everything that we hold dear. We have learned much from fighting Al Qaeda and Daesh. But, while we tackled this extremism, state-on-state competition has reviving. Today, Russia is resurgent rebuilding its military arsenal and seeking to bring the independent countries of the former Soviet Union, like Georgia and Ukraine, back into its orbit. All the while, China is developing its modern military capability and its commercial power. Today, we see a world of spheres of influence and competing great powers. Not only are we confronting a state like Russia. An ideological enemy without a state like Al Qaeda and Daesh. But the very character of warfare itself is changing. The boundaries between peace and war are becoming blurred. Our adversaries are increasingly using cyber-attacks, subversion and information operations to challenge us and the rules-based international order. Operating in the 'grey zone'. Operating below the threshold of conventional conflict. Our Joint Forces Command is already dealing with this. But, we need to go further. We need to bring together our strategic capabilities. We need to integrate them more effectively and a greater agility to meet the demands of this increasingly contested environment. We and our allies must deter and be ready to defend ourselves. Ready to show the high price of aggressive behaviour. Ready to strengthen our resilience. And ready, where necessary, to use hard power to support our global interests. But there is a great opportunity here too. As we look at our position in the world, we should remind ourselves that we are a nation with a great inheritance. A nation that makes a difference. A nation that stands tall. Inevitably, there are those who say that we are in retreat. Those who believe that, as we leave the European Union, we turn our back on the world. But, this could not be further from the truth. Whether people voted to leave or remain, they believe Britain must continue to play an important and major role on the international stage. It is my belief that Britain has its greatest opportunity in 50 years to redefine our role. As we leave the European Union. And, the world changing so rapidly it is up to us to seize the opportunities that Brexit brings. We will build new alliances, rekindle old ones and most importantly make it clear that we are the country that will act when required. We should be the nation that people turn to when the world needs leadership. And Defence will be pivotal in reinforcing Britain's role as an outward looking nation. We are making sure it does so in a number of key ways: A GLOBAL PRESENCE First, by increasing our global presence and building on our alliances. NATO. 70 years on from its founding, remains the bedrock of our nation's Defence. In the past five years, the Alliance has come a long way. It is far more focused and ready to deter and defend against Russian hostile acts. But, more European nations need to be ready and capable of responding too. Stepping up to the 2% NATO target and not being distracted by the notion of an EU Army. Britain must be willing and able to lead the Alliance, to bring stability in a changing-world. We are a leader in NATO, this year hosting the Leaders Meeting here in London. Alongside this we have sent a Battle Group to Estonia to support NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence. We lead multi-national maritime task groups in the Mediterranean and defend the skies over the Black Sea and the Baltics. And, we strongly support NATO's Readiness Initiative to make sure forces are available and ready to do their job. And in NATO, we must stand firm against Russia's non-compliance with the INF Treaty. If necessary being ready to deal with the threat that new Russian missile systems may pose. The Alliance must develop its ability to handle the kind of provocations that Russia is throwing at us. Such action from Russia must come at a cost. Nor, can we forget those countries outside NATO who face a day-to-day struggle with Russian attempts to undermine their very sovereignty. We stand ready to support our friends in Ukraine and the Balkans. These countries have the right to choose their own destiny and be free from Russian interference. At the same time, in such an uncertain age, like-minded nations must come together to increase their own security. That is why the United Kingdom is leading the nine-nation Joint Expeditionary Force which in a few months' time will take part in its first deployment to the Baltics. But we must not see this as our limit. We must be willing to go further. History has taught us that crisis comes when we least expect it. As uncertainty grows we must be ready to act, bringing others with us. Readiness has to be our new watchword. In an era of 'Great Power' competition we cannot be satisfied simply protecting our own backyard. The UK is a global power with truly global interests. A nation with the fifth biggest economy on the planet. A nation with the world's fifth biggest Defence budget and the second largest Defence exporter. And since the new Global Great Game will be played on a global playing field, we must be prepared to compete for our interests and our values far, far from home. That is why Global Britain needs to be much more than a pithy phrase. It has to be about action. And our armed forces represent the best of Global Britain in action. Taking action alongside our friends and allies. Action to strengthen the hand of fragile nations and to support those who face natural disasters. Action to oppose those who flout international law. Action to shore up the global system of rules and standards on which our security and our prosperity depends. And action, on occasion, that may lead us to have to intervene alone. Now, I know there are some that question the cost of intervention. But it is often forgotten the cost of non-intervention. The fact that this has been unacceptably high. It will not always be the role of the traditional Western powers to act as a global policeman but nor can we walk-on-by when others are in need. To talkbut fail to actrisks our nation being seen as nothing more than a paper tiger. I do not underestimate the challenges that this approach brings. But we do start from a position of strength. Our people are already acting around the world from the North Sea to the South Pacific to protect our interests and we already benefit from strong international partnerships. But we cannot take such relationships for granted. Our global presence must be persistentnot fitful. Patientnot fickle. Permanentnot fly-by-night. So, as well as our relationships with Europe, we need to build on our established relationship with the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada as part of the Five Eyes. With Singapore and Malaysia in the Five Powers Defence Arrangement. With other ASEAN nations, with Japan, the Republic of Korea and India. With our partners in the Middle East, and with our many friends in Africa from Nigeria in the West to Kenya in the East. And we are seeking to use our global capabilities to strengthen our global presence. From this spring, HMS Montrose, along with five other naval vessels, will be permanently based in the Gulf using innovative crewing and support methods to keep the ship available for more of the time. Today, we also go further. And I can announce the first operational mission of the HMS Queen Elizabeth will include the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Pacific region. Making Global Britain a reality. Significantly, British and American F35s will be embedded in the carrier's air wing. Enhancing the reach and lethality of our forces and reinforcing the fact that the United States remains our very closest of partners. We share the same vision of the world. A world shaped by individual liberty, the rule of law and, of course, the tolerance of others. We have the unique ability to integrate with US forces across a broad spectrum of areas. And, we are more determined than ever to keep working together. We will also be using our string of global support facilities and military bases more strategicallyto consistently project power both hard and soft. The Duqm port facilities in Oman are large enough to be able to support our aircraft carriers. The Al Minhad and Al Udeid Air Bases, in the Emirates and Qatar respectively, provide strategically important capabilities. In Bahrain, our Naval Base and our long-standing Maritime Command make a major contribution to our activities in the region but also beyond. Further afield we already benefit from facilities in Belize, in Brunei, in Singapore as well as our bases in Cyprus, Gibraltar and Ascension Island. And, I believe that we need to go further. Considering what permanent presence we might need in areas including the Caribbean and Asia-Pacific to extend our global influence. Our proactive approach shows we are not getting by on half measures. For us global engagement is not a reflex reaction to leaving the European Union. It is about a permanent presence. ARMED FORCES WITH MORE MASS But having that presence goes hand-in-hand with our multi-million-pound Transformation Fund, making sure our armed forces have the right capabilities as quickly as possible. And today, I can announce some of the first investments from that Fund. Take the Royal Navy. They are exerting British influence through greater forward presence. I want to capitalise on that. Investing now to develop a new Littoral Strike Ship concept. And, if successful, we will look to dramatically accelerate their delivery. These globally deployable, multi-role vessels would be able to conduct a wide range of operations, from crisis support to war-fighting. They would support our Future Commando Force. Our world-renowned Royal Marines they'll be forward deployed, at exceptionally high readiness, and able to respond at a moment's notice bringing the fight from sea to land. Our vision is for these ships to form part of 2 Littoral Strike Groups complete with escorts, support vessels and helicopters. One would be based East of Suez in the Indo-Pacific and one based West of Suez in the Mediterranean, Atlantic and Baltic. And, if we ever need them to, our two Littoral Strike Ships, our two aircraft carriers, our two amphibious assault ships Albion and Bulwark, and our three Bay Class landing ships can come together in one amphibious task force. This will give us sovereign, lethal, amphibious force. This will be one of the largest and best such forces anywhere in the world. In 1940, Winston Churchill said: "Enterprises must be prepared with specially-trained troops of the 'Hunter Class', who can develop a reign of terror down enemy coasts." Our actions mean that we will deliver on Churchill's vision for our Royal Navy and for our Royal Marine Commandos. Turning to our Royal Air Force, fresh from celebrating its centenary last year, it is now firmly focused on the next 100 years. They already have 17 new RAF and Royal Navy F35 Lightning jets, capable of land-based operations anywhere on the globe and due to embark on our aircraft carrier for the first time later this year. We'll soon have nine new Poseidon P-8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft enabling us to patrol thousands of miles of ocean and greatly enhancing our anti-submarine and maritime capability. We're upgrading our AWACS aircraft with modern and better capability that will improve our battle winning airborne command and control. We are growing our operational Typhoon squadrons from five to seven - equipping them with world leading radar and now carrying deep strike Storm Shadow cruise missiles. And, to complement leading edge technology from F35, I have decided to use the Transformation Fund to develop swarm squadrons of network enabled drones capable of confusing and overwhelming enemy air defences. We expect to see these ready to be deployed by the end of this year. And the Army is continuing to modernise its forces. We will have a Warfighting Division with troops able to deploy from our bases at home and in Germany. We'll increase the firepower and protection of the battle-proven Warrior and introduce the ultra-modern AJAX. And, at the tip of the spear, will be our elite Parachute Regiment within 16 Air Assault Brigade, able to deploy into any environment at a moment's notice. So, we are making sure our armed forces have the sufficient mass to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right equipment to deal with the coming dangers. TRANSFORMING DEFENCE THROUGH INCREASED LETHALITY Finally, if we are to live up to our global role then our armed forces must continue to be a lethal fighting force fully adapted to the demands of 21st century warfare. When I came into the Department the talk was about cutting capability. But instead, this Government has delivered an extra 1.8 billion of Defence funding, keeping us on track and prioritising the right UK Defence for the decade to come. That includes 600 million to protect the future of our nuclear deterrence. This ensures we will deliver the new submarines on time and means that we are spending 4 billion every year to ensure the ultimate guarantee of our safety for another 50 years. That means 60 million to invest in Typhoon's next generation radar. And, as the cyber threat grows, we are making a very significant additional investment on the 1.9 billion we spend on cyber capabilities. That's funding to improve offensive cyber, putting the command and control structures in place across-Government. And, it will give us extra money to protect our network resilience from online attacks. With the threat from the Kremlin increasing in the North Atlantic, we're spending an additional 33 million to improve our anti-submarine warfare capabilities. And, we will also spend 100 million on a variety of initiatives to modernise how we do business in defence. If this isn't enough there will also be a further 24 million available through innovative Spearhead projects. Meanwhile, we are using our Transformation Fund to further increase our armed forces' lethality. For example, we're going to make sure that our ground troops - whether in the Army, the Royal Marines or the RAF Regiment - are going to get the same night vision equipment that their colleagues in Special Forces have. We're also going to buy pioneering robotic fighting and logistic vehicles. Reducing the risk to our personnel and increasing the firepower and agility of our infantry. In addition, as a result of the Transformation Fund the Royal Air Force will double our armed ISR capability so we can identify and neutralise targets far faster. The Venom kinetic strike capability will mean those who wish to do us harm have more to fear. And to our armed forces quite simply the sky is not the limit. In space, they look forward to the investment we are making to enhance our space operations centre bringing together the best civilian and military minds. And our ambitions are greater still. I want to see our armed forces embracing transformation at an ever-faster rate, keeping pace with technological change, enhancing our mass and increasing our lethality. We shouldn't be shy about the ambition that we have for our forces. The future of conflict will require us to be adaptable, agile and capable of using new technologies quickly and cost-effectively. I am determined to focus the Transformation Fund on investments that will create the armed forces of the future. That future, of course, is uncertain. But I expect to see, the Army using both manned and unmanned teams, Artificial Intelligence and the unmatched quality of our personnel to win, not just conventional wars but also dominate the conflict in the grey zone. I expect the Royal Navy to deploy flexibly, to be capable of being in many places at once and to ensure we have an efficient fleet of warfighting ships, looking at how they can grow both their mass and their lethality. And, I expect the Royal Air Force to operate the next generation with modern Air Command and Control, more combat air squadrons and energy weapons to keep our skies safe. CONCLUSION Wherever I go in the world I find that Britain stands tall. It's not just because are the world's fifth biggest economy. Not just because we have the world's finest scientists, mathematicians and engineers. It's because we have the world's finest and best Armed Forces. Brave men and women who stand up for the values that we hold dear. Men and women that we are so truly proud of. They are contributing and they are the key capabilities that guard UK airspace and waters. They are supporting the civil authorities right across the United Kingdom. They are ensuring that we remain a leading member of NATO. They are protecting our interests and enhancing our prosperity. And they are showing, they are showing that Britain still matters on the global stage. Some still wish to cut Britain down to size and send her back to her shores. But to those I say that has never been our way. It is not in our nature. Britain has always sought to take risks. Britain has always stood up for its deeply held values. Britain has always been an outward looking nation. And against adversaries upping their spendinginvesting in new technologies we have to respond. If we do not, we will find ourselves with fewer options when we face the challenges and the threats in the future. And Brexit. Brexit has brought us to a moment. A great moment in our history. A moment when we must strengthen our global presence, enhance our lethality, and increase our mass. So today I set out my vision for UK Defence in a more global age. But as we look to life beyond Brexit, I believe it is incumbent on us all to consider the role of Defence in our national life. Defence has always been the most vital and first duty of Government. But now we have an unparalleled opportunity to consider how we can project and maximise our influence around the world in the months and years ahead. It is up to all of usfrom here on into make sure that our great nation seizes and grasps the opportunity that present themselves with both hands. Gavin Williamson sets out vision for defence in Global Britain Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has outlined the future role of the UK's Armed Forces in a speech at RUSI today. 11 February 2019 Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has outlined the global role of the UK's Armed Forces and defence industry after leaving the European Union and beyond in a speech at RUSI today. The Defence Secretary acknowledged that the UK faces a world of competing powers, hostile states and stateless ideologies, who are happy to operate in a 'grey zone' between war and peace. He claimed it is crucial that Britain's Armed Forces and defence infrastructure are ready to meet these challenges and do not stand still as the world moves forward, making a raft of announcements to support that goal. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said: "The UK is a global power with truly global interests. A nation with the fifth biggest economy on the planet. A nation with the world's fifth biggest Defence budget and the second largest Defence exporter. And since the new Global Great Game will be played on a global playing field, we must be prepared to compete for our interests and our values far, far from home." New strategic capacity To support this aspiration, the Defence Secretary announced new strategic assets that will allow Britain to meet the global challenges the future might hold. Two new Littoral Strike Groups are to be created. Complete with escorts, support vessels and helicopters, one would be based to the East of Suez in the Indo-Pacific and one based to the West of Suez in the Mediterranean, Atlantic and Baltic. To compliment these groups, there will be a Warfighting Division with troops able to deploy from our bases at home and in Germany. This will all ensure we have a global force, capable of deploying around the world in a matter of days. Using our world class assets This ability to remain a global force and to protect the UK at home and abroad depends not only on personnel but also the equipment they rely on. The Defence Secretary announced that HMS Queen Elizabeth's first operational mission will include the Mediterranean, Middle East and the Pacific. She will have British and American F35s embedded in her air wing, enhancing the reach and lethality of our forces. Increasing our air power The RAF will also grow the number of Typhoon squadrons from five to seven - equipping them with world leading radar and upgraded deep strike Storm Shadow cruise missiles. This is vital following the recent retirement of the Tornado jet, proving that the UK is still committed to defending ourselves and our allies across the world. Embracing new technology, the Defence Secretary also committed to use the Transformation Fund to develop swarm squadrons of network enabled drones capable of confusing the enemy and overwhelming their air defences. The Defence Secretary concluded by highlighting that Britain has always been an outward looking nation. Faced with our adversaries upping their spending and investing in technology, the Armed Forces must respond by strengthening our global presence, as well as enhancing our lethality and increasing our mass. Defence Minister to Say Post-Brexit UK Should Increase Its 'Lethality' Reports Sputnik News 07:28 11.02.2019(updated 07:31 11.02.2019) Britain should be ready to use military force in order to defend its global interests after Brexit, according to extracts from a speech defence minister Gavin Williamson will give on Monday. Williamson will speak about Britain's plans to send its new aircraft carrier to the Pacific, invest in offensive cyber capabilities and adopt a harder military stance after Brexit, which is only weeks away as Prime Minister Theresa May tries to find a last-minute agreement on leaving the European Union, Reuters reported. "Brexit has brought us to a great moment in our history. A moment when we must strengthen our global presence, enhance our lethality, and increase our mass," Williamson will say in a speech in London. "We can build new alliances, rekindle old ones and most importantly make it clear that we are the country that will act when required. And, a nation that people can turn to when the world needs leadership," Williamson will reportedly say. Williamson will announce that the first mission of the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier will include work in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Pacific regions, with the vessel carrying two squadrons of British and US F-35 jets. Williamson will also highlight US-UK military relations while echoing Trump's call for NATO countries to increase their spending, citing a need to better handle what Williamson calls Russian provocations. "Such action from Russia must come at a cost," Williamson will say in the speech, extracts of which were seen by Reuters. He will claim that the cost of non-interventions has often been "unacceptably high" and argue that Western powers cannot ignore those in need as "to talk but fail to act risks our nation being seen as little more than a paper tiger." Sputnik UK to Send Carrier to Pacific Ocean in Show of 'Hard Power' to China Report Sputnik News 10:57 11.02.2019 Later in the day, UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson will speak at the Royal United Services Institute in London, where he is due to unveil his plans for the modernisation of the country's armed forces, which he will say should increase its "mass and lethality". In a keynote speech on the country's new military strategy later on Monday, UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson is expected to announce that the Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, will be deployed to disputed waters in the Pacific in a show of "hard power", The Independent reports. Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London, Williamson will also say that the UK and its Western allies will have to "be ready to show the high price of aggressive behaviour" and be "ready to strengthen our resilience". "Britain has its greatest opportunity in 50 years to redefine its role as we leave the European Union. And with the world changing so rapidly, it is up to us to seize the opportunity that Brexit brings," he will note. Additionally, Williamson is expected to uphold the UK's interventionist policy and will say that the cost of failing to act in global crises had often been "unacceptably high", and "To talk but fail to act risks our nation being seen as little more than a paper tiger." Williamson will also say that Britain "may have to intervene" in the future to confront Russia and China, which he claims in the pre-released speech are "resurgent" in rebuilding their armed forces. His remarks will come as Beijing remains embroiled in dispute with neighbouring countries and the US over territorial claims in the South China Sea, a strategic and economically crucial waterway, which includes vital sea lanes through which about $3 trillion in global trade passes annually. In September 2018, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed hope that "Britain will truly implement its position of not taking sides in the South China Sea issue, earnestly respect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and not do anything to disturb the mutual trust between the two countries." He spoke after the Royal Navy's HMS Albion amphibious assault ship passed through Chinese-claimed areas in the South China Sea earlier that month on its way to Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam. In a separate development that month, Williamson unveiled the country's new Defence Arctic Strategy, citing ever-increasing threats in the region and Russia's alleged attempts to militarise it. Moscow has repeatedly rejected the allegations, stressing that it considers the Arctic to be an area for constructive dialogue and equal, conflict-free cooperation in the interests of all nations. Sputnik 'Kid in a Tank Shop': Britain's Def Secretary Wants to 'Enhance UK's Lethality' Sputnik News 23:56 11.02.2019 Gavin Williamson has made some new proposals regarding the UK's global military prowess. He only needs to secure 7 billion for them to work. Gavin Williamson, the UK minister of defense, notorious for his shocking suggestions and clumsy presentation, came up with yet another rhetorical pearl Monday, suggesting that the UK must "enhance its lethality" and "increase its mass" after Brexit. "Brexit has brought us to a great moment in our history. A moment when we must strengthen our global presence, enhance our lethality and increase our mass," he said Monday at the Royal United Services Institute. According to the minister, after Brexit (which, if fear mongers are to be believed, will leave the country without food, water and medicine), the UK should position itself as a global power, willing to unilaterally intervene against countries that "flout international law." Williamson insisted that Brexit, which has so far been a source of nonstop strife in the country, will somehow allow the UK "to consider how we not only project but maximize our influence around the world in the months and years to come." Thankfully, Williamson elaborated on whom exactly UK is going to fight. You guessed it Russia and China. Islamic terrorism is apparently out of fashion these days. "We have learned much from fighting al-Qaeda and Daesh. But, while we tackled this extremism, state-on-state competition was reviving," the minister said. "Today, Russia is resurgent rebuilding its military arsenal and seeking to bring the independent countries of the former Soviet Union, like Georgia and Ukraine, back into its orbit. All the while, China is developing its modern military capability and its commercial power." So, what's the minister's plan to enhance lethality and build mass? First, Williamson wants to build two British military bases: one in Asia and the other "in the Caribbean." He also wants to send the HMS Queen Elizabeth, a new aircraft carrier packed with F-35s, to the South China Sea. Another proposed measure is to increase the number of government specialist hackers from 500 to 2,000, according to The Guardian. However, as British columnists note, Williamson's plans are disconnected from reality. First, the Queen Elizabeth will not be ready for its maiden voyage before 2021. But this is only a minor problem, overshadowed by a much larger one: a huge "black hole" in the UK's defense budget, believed to amount to some 7 billion, according to the BBC. According to the report, citing the Public Accounts Committee, the MoD lacks the ability to "accurately cost programmes," and the shortfall could reach 14.8 billion by 2028. This was underscored by Nia Griffith, the shadow defense secretary. "Instead of simply engaging in yet more sabre-rattling, Gavin Williamson should get to grips with the crisis in defence funding that is happening on his watch," she said. The minister's remarks have been ridiculed not only within the government, but also on social media, with one user suggesting someone should "take away his office and give him a video game." Pro-EU twitter page @nobrexitthanks described Williamson as a "kid in a tank shop," arguing that he is deliberately pushing the UK towards Brexit to give the UK an excuse to ramp up military aggression again. "The EU is essentially a peace project conceived by Churchill after World War 2," the page tweeted. "So our Govt defence minister now wants UK to Leave so he can boost Britain's 'military lethality'. God help us. He's like a kid in a Tank shop." Sputnik British Defense Chief Urges Bolstering Military Post-Brexit, Warns Russia Of 'Costs' February 11, 2019 Britain's defense minister says the country should bolster its military capabilities after Brexit and warned that Russia should be aware that actions deemed unacceptable by the West will "come at a cost." Speaking at London's Royal United Services Institute on February 11, Gavin Williamson highlighted close military ties between Washington and London and supported U.S. President Donald Trump's call for NATO countries to increase military spending in the face of what he called Russian provocations. Relations between the West and Moscow are strained over a variety of issues, including Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region, alleged meddling in the U.S. presidential election, and a nerve-agent attack on a former Russian spy in England, which the West has blamed on Russia. "Such action from Russia must come at a cost," Williamson said. Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union at the end of March, although internal political fighting has left the country without a clear road map for the departure or what will happen afterward. Williamson, in his speech, outlined plans to adopt a stronger military stance after Brexit, saying: "Since the new global great game will be played on a global playing field, we must be prepared compete for our interests and our values far, far from home." The minister announced that the first mission of Britain's HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier will include work in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Pacific regions, and the vessel will carry British and U.S. F-35 jets. Based on reporting by Reuters Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/british-defense-chief -urges-bolstering-military-post-brexit-warns- russia-of-costs-/29762988.html Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. US, Partners Claim 'Significant Progress' as IS Makes Last Stand By Jeff Seldin February 11, 2019 U.S.-backed forces are making "significant progress" against Islamic State fighters in the last sliver of its self-proclaimed caliphate, despite poor weather conditions that have played to the terror group's advantage. "I think the characterization of progress within Syria has been that they have been decimated and that we're making significant progress," acting U.S. Defense chief Pat Shanahan told reporters Monday, while on his way to Afghanistan. The advance by Syrian Democratic Forces against IS in the Syrian town of Baghuz began just days after U.S. President Donald Trump told members of the global coalition to defeat IS that he expected to formally announce the collapse of the caliphate this week. SDF officials claimed progress against IS positions in a four-square-kilometer area that extends from Baghuz to the Iraqi border. Yet both SDF and U.S. officials admit the fighting has not been easy. Many of the remaining IS fighters are thought to be among the most committed and battle-hardened the group has to offer. "The Syrian Democratic Forces continue to slowly and methodically advance, despite poor weather conditions against an entrenched enemy," coalition spokesman Col. Sean Ryan told VOA via email Monday. "ISIS fighters continue to conduct counterattacks," he added, using an acronym for the terror group. Despite the poor weather, Ryan said airstrikes are being called in to target IS positions "whenever available." Still, there are questions as to how many IS fighters are left. SDF officials and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimate there are about 3,000 battle-hardened IS jihadists, mostly foreigners, in the region. But previous coalition estimates have put the number of fighters holed up in the Baghuz area at about half that. But Ryan said progress against IS should not be measured in numbers. "It is more about downgrading their military and logistical capabilities and not allow them the ability to mass forces," he said. Further complicating efforts to rout IS out of its remaining territory, the SDF has encountered thousands of civilians trying to flee the fighting. More than 23,000 Syrian civilians and foreign nationals are believed to have fled eastern Syria in the past week, according to local officials and activists. The displaced residents, mostly women and children, have been placed in the Kurdish al-Hol camp in al-Hasakah governorate, in northeast Syria. The administrator of the camp, Nabil Hassan, told VOA that many of the women and children from the new wave of displacement this week were foreign nationals and family members of IS. In a possible attempt to drum up sympathy, IS's Amaq news agency Monday claimed coalition shelling and airstrikes had killed almost 100 people in the village of Baghuz. According to a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group, most of them women and children. VOA has not been able to verify such claims, and coalition officials have long accused IS of using women and children as human shields. The latest progress in the effort to destroy the last remnant of the IS caliphate comes as the U.S. continues to prepare to pull some 2,000 troops out of Syria. Senior U.S. military officials have told U.S. lawmakers the withdrawal could hamper efforts to prevent a resurgence. And last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sought to reassure allies that despite the anticipated pullout, the U.S. would not abandon efforts to destroy the terror group as a whole. Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan cautioned Monday that IS retains capabilities ranging from "residual pockets to sleeper cells." He said that he plans to discuss the situation later this week with NATO allies, including the need for support and security operations as the military battle to destroy the terror group in Syria winds down. Rikar Hussein contributed to this report. US Praises Marshall Islands For De-Flagging Ships Used by Damascus - State Dept Sputnik News 17:55 11.02.2019 WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States commends the Marshall Islands for de-flagging ships used by the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino said in a Twitter statement on Monday. "The United States applauds the Republic of the Marshall Islands for de-flagging ships that are using their flag to support the Assad regime and terrorism,' Palladino said. "The Marshall Islands is a key partner in ensuring maritime security around the world." Syria has been in a state of conflict since 2011, with government forces fighting against numerous opposition groups and terrorist organizations. Russia, along with Turkey and Iran, is a guarantor of a countrywide ceasefire in Syria, while it also provides humanitarian assistance to Syrian civilians and is actively engaged in dialogue on settlement to the Syrian crisis. The United States and its allies have repeatedly stated that they do not consider a Syrian settlement possible if Assad remains in power. Russia has supported the legitimate government of the Syrian president, repeatedly stressing that only the Syrian people should decide the fate of Assad. The US-led coalition of more than 70 members has been conducting military operations against the Islamic State (IS, or Daesh banned in Russia) terrorist group in Syria and Iraq since September 2014. The coalition's activities in Syria are authorized neither by the Syrian government, nor by the UN Security Council. Sputnik Syrian Crisis Settlement Should Include Foreign Forces' Pullout Iranian FM Sputnik News 20:18 11.02.2019 BEIRUT (Sputnik) A political solution to the Syrian crisis should necessarily include the withdrawal of all armed forces that are in Syria illegally, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday. "Any political decision in Syria should include the mandatory withdrawal of all armed forces that entered without the permission of the government," Zarif, who became the first foreign minister to visit Lebanon after the creation of the new government said during a joint press conference with Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil. In turn, Bassil said that Lebanon advocated a political settlement to the crisis. "We support the soonest possible political settlement for Syria. The Astana process is important for Lebanon in terms of stability and creation of conditions for the return of refugees," he added. Lebanon, with its population of 4 million, has been hosting nearly 950,000 officially registered Syrian refugees, according to UN figures. Various other sources have suggested that, in reality, the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon could be as high as 1.5 million. The Lebanese authorities have repeatedly said that the influx of refugees had significantly damaged the country's economy and security, calling on the global community to help encourage their return to Syria. Sputnik At Least 16 Civilians Dead as US Coalition Pounds Village in Southeastern Syria Sputnik News 23:32 11.02.2019(updated 00:05 12.02.2019) According to the Syrian state broadcaster Ikhbariya, citing local sources, the US-led coalition struck the town of Baghuz in Deir ez-Zor province on Monday. The airstrike claimed the lives of 16 civilians, including seven children, Ikhbariya reported. "Aviation of the international coalition has committed a new crime: 16 civilians, including seven children, were killed as a result of massive airstrikes on the village of Baghuz in the southeastern province of Deir ez-Zor", Ikhbariya television said. Earlier in the day, local media reported that at least four civilians were killed in an airstrike by the US-led coalition. Last Saturday, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the start of an operation aimed at liberating Baghuz from the Daesh terrorist group. The SDF claims that the village is the last settlement held by Daesh in Syria. SDF units are engaged in a fight against the terrorists and are backed by the US-led coalition, whose airstrikes in the region have resulted in multiple civilian casualties, according to Syrian media reports. The coalition regularly carries out airstrikes in Deir ez-Zor. In January, Ikhbariya reported that at least 20 civilians were killed and several more wounded in a US-led coalition airstrike on a village in the province. Last year, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported, citing local sources, that the US-led coalition had used prohibited cluster bombs in airstrikes on the city of Hajin and the village of Shaafa. Previously, multiple Syrian media reports alleged that toxic white phosphorus munitions had also been used in the coalition's repeated attacks in the region. The Pentagon has dismissed the allegations as false, maintaining that the coalition's airstrikes in Syria conform with the laws of armed conflict. The US-led coalition of more than 70 countries has said it has conducted military operations against the Daesh in Syria and Iraq. The coalition's operations in Syria are not authorized by the government of President Bashar Assad or the UN Security Council. Syrian authorities have repeatedly called on the United Nations to hold those responsible for the civilian casualties accountable and put an end to the US-led coalition's unauthorized presence in Syrian territory. In December, US President Donald Trump announced the pullout of US troops from Syria, but gave no timeline for their withdrawal. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week that Washington would perform a well-coordinated withdrawal of its troops from Syria while continuing the fight against Daesh, adding that the US would count on its coalition partners and allies to permanently defeat the terror group. Daesh, also known as IS (Islamic State), ISIS, ISIL a terrorist group, banned in numerous countries, including Russia Sputnik 20 more Syrian civilians killed as US-led warplanes bombard Dayr al-Zawr Iran Press TV Mon Feb 11, 2019 01:16PM Nearly two dozen civilians have been killed when the US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group conducted a series of airstrikes in Syria's embattled eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr. Local sources told Syria's official news agency SANA that the aerial attack hit Baghouz town in the province on Monday, leaving four people dead. Hours later, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 16 civilians, including seven children, lost their lives when US-led coalition warplanes pounded areas on the eastern bank of the Euphrates. The developments came only two days after US-led military aircraft bombarded al-Tayyaneh town in the same Syrian province, leaving three people dead and several others injured. The aerial assaults damaged some private and public property in the targeted area as well. The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes and operations against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a United Nations mandate. The military alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of achieving its declared goal of destroying Daesh. Syria has on numerous occasions condemned airstrikes by the US-led coalition, asking the UN to force Washington and its allies to put an end to their military intervention in the Arab country. On January 19, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, in two separate letters addressed to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the former rotating president of the Security Council, Francisco Antonio Cortorreal, censured US-led coalition strikes conducted against al-Baghuz al-Tahtani village in Dayr al-Zawr a day earlier, saying the US-led warplanes had targeted dozens of families fleeing from areas controlled by Daesh. Local sources, requesting anonymity, told SANA that 20 people were killed in the raid when US-led warplanes bombarded residential buildings in al-Baghuz al-Tahtani. "This new crime is in line with the criminal acts that the US-led coalition is perpetrating systematically and on a daily basis against Syrian people, and in flagrant violation of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," said the letters. "The activities of this alliance are illegal as it has been formed outside the UN framework. Such acts have only contributed to the expansion of extremist terrorist organizations, especially Daesh. Cooperation and coordination between these terrorist groups and this alliance has been documented in numerous letters that [the] Syrian Arab Republic has sent to the Security Council," added the letters. The ministry also called on the UN Security Council to shoulder its responsibilities regarding the establishment of international peace and security, and put an immediate halt to crimes against humanity that were being carried out by this "rogue" coalition against Syrian civilians and infrastructure. It also demanded that the Council take necessary measures to set up an international mechanism to punish the perpetrators of such crimes. Russia, Turkey 'agree on need for decisive measures' in Syria's Idlib Iran Press TV Mon Feb 11, 2019 07:10PM Russia and Turkey say they agree on the need to take "decisive measures" to stabilize the situation in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, ahead of a summit between the presidents of the three guarantor states of a negotiated Syrian ceasefire, namely Iran, Russia, and Turkey. The agreement was outlined in a joint statement released following talks between Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Monday. The statement, which stressed "security in the Idlib demilitarized zone," however, did not specify what the measures would be or when they might be adopted. "Despite provocations, we underlined the importance and need to continue partnerships between our two countries' intelligence and military forces to establish peace and to support stability in Idlib," it said. Separately, Akar said that Ankara was in talks with Moscow "at all levels" in an attempt to "restore peace and stability in the region and protect interests of both countries." He also expressed hope that such cooperation would contribute to "world peace." Shoigu, for his part, said that earlier this month, Russian and Turkish military experts had met in Moscow to discuss "the most important issues for the Syrian settlement regarding further stabilization in the Idlib zone and everything that concerns the eastern bank of the Euphrates." Foreign-backed militancy erupted in Syria in March 2011, breaking out into an all-out conflict that drew in a mix of international terrorists and paid mercenaries fighting against the Syrian government. But that conflict has been winding down as Damascus reasserts control over parts formerly held by militant and terrorist groups. Idlib Province remains largely unsettled because it remains a concentration point of armed groups. Over the past couple of years, armed groups that have been defeated in battles with the Syrian military have been bused into Idlib under agreements with Damascus. While those groups have mostly had to leave their heavy weaponry behind under the deals, they have been allowed to take their small arms with them. Iran, Russia, and Turkey, which have committed to guaranteeing negotiated peace in Syria, have been negotiating a settlement for Idlib. Ankara represents Syrian opposition interests, and Tehran and Moscow are Damascus allies. The meeting between the Russian and Turkish defense ministers comes before a planned summit of the presidents of Iran, Russia, and Turkey on the peace process in Syria. On Thursday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will hold a tripartite summit in the Russian coastal city of Sochi to provide further coordination among the three countries. The three leaders, who are going to hold their fourth such meeting in the Astana format, will concentrate on the long-term settlement of the Syrian crisis. The summit will be held before the 12th Astana talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana. The first round of the Astana talks commenced a month after the three guarantors joined efforts and brought about an all-Syria ceasefire. Moscow, Tehran, and Ankara have been mediating peace negotiations between representatives from the Damascus government and Syrian opposition groups in a series of rounds held in Astana and other places since January 2017. The talks are collectively referred to as the Astana peace process. China Protests Over Turkey's Criticism of 'Re-Education Camps' for Uyghurs Sputnik News 17:23 11.02.2019 BEIJING (Sputnik) - China has expressed its protest over the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy's claims that Chinese Uyghur "re-education camps" were "internment camps," the Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman said on Monday. "We took notice of Turkey's foreign ministry spokesman's claims. They are disgusting. We have lodged a representation with Turkey over this matter," Hua Chunying said at a briefing. Earlier, Aksoy issued a statement claiming that more than one million Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group that resides in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, were imprisoned and tortured in internment camps created by the government in an effort to eliminate the ethnic and religious identities of the minority group. Aksoy called upon the international community and the UN chief to take "effective measures" to end the "human tragedy" in China. In August 2018, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination published a report stating that more than one million ethnic Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities were being detained in massive "no rights" "counter-extremism" camps and another two million were being held in "re-education" camps. At that time, Hua responded that these allegations were "not true" and that China's policies in Xinjiang were aimed at promoting development, security stability and improving living conditions. In January, Shohrat Zakir, the chairman of the Xinjiang regional government and an Uyghur himself, stated that the United Nation's estimate of one million people was a "rumour" and that the facilities were temporary vocational training and educational facilities that had proven to be "extremely effective" in reducing extremism, teaching residents about the law and helping them learn Mandarin. Sputnik China Mulls Installing Electromagnetic Catapults on First Aircraft Carrier Sputnik News 22:41 11.02.2019(updated 23:06 11.02.2019) The Chinese navy is weighing whether to retrofit its Liaoning aircraft carrier, replacing the ship's distinctive ski-jump bow and giving it new electromagnetic catapults, though Chinese experts say the undertaking may be too expensive. Removing the Lioning's 14-degree bow would convert the ship into "a training platform to fly warplanes for China's next generation aircraft carrier, the Type 002," an unnamed retired PLA Navy officer told the South China Morning Post Sunday. Yet the prospect of electromagnetic catapults on Liaoning remains "just a proposal," the anonymous officer said. It's not actually clear that China has developed electromagnetic catapults that could be directly installed onto the Liaoning, but Chinese military expert Zhou Chenming told SCMP that shipbuilders have determined the Liaoning is "compatible" with a refit. According to South China Morning Post, though, the new Type 002 will have electromagnetic catapults and conventional propulsion systems like Liaoning and its sister ship, the Type 001A. Beijing seeks electromagnetic catapults to launch aircraft at a greater clip while stocking each aircraft with more weapons and fuel, the report says. Song Zhongping, a military expert in Hong Kong, told the publication that "refitting work is too comprehensive and too complicated," adding that he doesn't think it's required "to do such a difficult project." Zhou said the biggest obstacle may be time instead of capital, noting that until the refit was complete, it would take the ship off the seas, thus limiting the amount of time pilots have to train from the carrier. Of the three aircraft carriers China has publicly revealed, the Liaoning, Type 001A and Type 002, the Liaoning and the Type 001A both utilize an inclined bow to help fixed-wing aircraft take off from the ship. Construction of the Type 002 is not expected to be complete until 2025, as shipbuilders just started on the massive vessel last November, Sputnik reported. The US Navy's USS Gerald Ford was the first to make use of EMALS instead of steam catapults or the ski-jump, but the electromagnetic launch system is still of "poor and unknown reliability," the US Department of Defense's director of operational testing said last month. In addition to pilot training, Sputnik has reported that the Chinese Navy does not have enough carrier-based aircraft to fill a squadron on the Type 001A. The service evidently only has about 40 Shenyang J-15 fighters, and the Liaoning carries about 26 J-15s, while the other 14 aircraft aboard the Soviet-built hull are rotary-wing aircraft, or helicopters. Lt. Gen. Zhang Honghe, deputy chief of the PLA Air Force, said a new a J-15 replacement is under development last July. Still, Russian military expert Vasily Kashin told Sputnik at the time that the J-15 is not going anywhere anytime soon, saying that Chinese naval aviators will have to "make do with the J-15" until the first carrier-based J-31s are reach an initial state of combat readiness. Khashin noted he does not expect for the J-31s to be ready by the mid-2020s. Sputnik China dismisses Turkey's 'unacceptable' criticism on Uighur Muslims Iran Press TV Mon Feb 11, 2019 10:08AM China has dismissed as "unacceptable" Turkey's allegations over Beijing's treatment of its Muslim ethnic Uighur community, urging Ankara to retract the "vile" remarks. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday that Beijing "has already made solemn representations" in response to accusations made on Saturday by her Turkish counterpart, Hami Aksoy. Aksoy had accused China of exposing over a million members of the Turkic-speaking minority to "torture and political brainwashing" in "concentration camps." He had also said those who were not detained were "under great pressure" in the country. "We invite Chinese authorities to respect fundamental human rights of the Uighur Turks and shut down concentration camps," the Turkish official had said. The Chinese spokeswoman described the remarks as "completely unacceptable." "We hope the relevant Turkish persons can distinguish between right and wrong and correct their mistakes," she said. 'Uighur poet alive, healthy' The Turkish diplomat had also alleged that Uighur poet and musician Abdurehim Heyit died in a Chinese prison. China, however, released a video on Sunday, showing a man who identified himself as Heyit and saying that he was still alive. "I saw his video online yesterday, showing that he is not only alive but also very healthy," Hua said A UN panel of experts has claimed that almost one million Uighurs have been held in "re-education camps" in China's western Xinjiang region, which is home to around 10 million Uighurs. The community, which makes up around 45 percent of the region's population, has long accused Beijing of cultural, religious and economic discrimination. China in turn accuses what it described as exiled Uighur separatist groups of planning attacks in the resource-rich region. China slams Turkish FM's Xinjiang centers claim Global Times By Liu Caiyu Source:Global Times Published: 2019/2/11 22:48:56 Death of Uyghur musician 'fabricated' China refuted claims made by Turkey's foreign ministry on the alleged death of a Uyghur musician, claiming the man is still alive and in good health. The Chinese Embassy in Turkey also strongly opposed accusations from Turkey on Xinjiang's vocational education and training centers, saying the accusations are "contrary to the facts" and were made up "out of thin air." In a statement Saturday, Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy alleged that Uyghur poet and musician Abdurehim Heyit had died in custody. He also called the vocational training centers a "great shame for humanity." A spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy in Turkey said in a statement on Sunday that Heyit, 57, who had performed with the Xinjiang Art Theater Song and Dance Troupe, is still alive and in good health. The embassy said Heyit was arrested on suspicion of endangering national security. On Monday, Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, criticized the claims of Aksoy over the fabricated death of Heyit. Turkey made groundless accusations based on an absurd lie. It is totally "wrong and irresponsible," Hua said at the routine press briefing. The Chinese government protects the basic rights of people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, said the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Turkey. "What needs to be emphasized is that the right to life is a basic human right, and terrorism and extremism severely threaten that right and the safety of all people in Xinjiang," the embassy spokesperson said. The spokesperson, who was not named in the two statements released on the embassy's website on Sunday, also said that "both China and Turkey are confronted with grave counter-terrorism situations. We oppose the double standards on counter-terrorism and hope Turkey correctly learns and understands the counter-terrorism and de-extremism measures that China has taken." Analysts said that Pan-Turkism has long existed in Turkey and has brought up Xinjiang from time to time. Since 2016, the Erdogan administration has kept a restrained attitude over the question after a failed coup. The Turkish foreign ministry claim shows their swaying attitude but it cannot tell that Turkey has made drastic changes in its policy toward China. It was the spokesperson from the Turkish foreign ministry that blamed China this time, which shows Turkey doesn't intend to make a fuss about it. Bringing up the Xinjiang question this time may help the Erdogan government win more votes in the upcoming election in March, Zan Tao, a professor from Peking University, told the Global Times on Monday. Given that the current situation in the Middle East and Turkey's relations with Europe and the US, the ties between China and Turkey won't further intensify in the big picture and strained China-Turkey relations won't do any good to Turkey, analysts stressed. "The Xinjiang question should not be the mainstream problem of China-Turkey relations," Yang Shu, head of the Institute for Central Asia Studies at Lanzhou University, told the Global Times, calling on the Turkish side to take the interests of the two sides into account. Stable Xinjiang The vocational education and training centers in Xinjiang are not "internment camps," as the Turkish side alleges, and their core objective is to counter terrorism and extremism, the Chinese Embassy spokesperson said in a statement. The centers unite, educate and save the vast majority who commit minor crimes from becoming victims of terrorism and extremism, the statement said. The embassy's statement maintains that the centers are open to the public and China has invited envoys and journalists from 12 countries including Turkey to visit them. "The journalists who were invited to Xinjiang wrote objective reports but the reports were ignored by some people. All I can say is these people are biased or have other motives," the spokesperson said. Accusations from other countries won't change China's Xinjiang policy. The Xinjiang question is complicated and difficult for others to understand for now but the Chinese government will continue to maintain the stability of the region and show the world a developing Xinjiang, analysts noted. Since the establishment of the centers, there have been no terrorist incidents in Xinjiang for over 25 months, and the security situation has greatly improved, the Chinese embassy noted. In 2017, Xinjiang received more than 100 million domestic and foreign tourists, up 32 percent, and 150 million tourists visited last year, a 50-percent increase, the statement said. US Sees Growing Threats to 'Freedom of Action' in Space By Jeff Seldin February 11, 2019 Russia and China are racing to advance their space-based military capabilities and could soon prevent the United States and its allies from using outer space freely. The warning, in a new report Monday from the Defense Intelligence Agency, builds on a series of warnings issued by the defense and intelligence communities over the past several years. But unlike many previous assessments, which focused on Russian and Chinese efforts to match or counter U.S. capabilities, the new DIA report suggests both countries are pursuing a far more aggressive agenda. "They are developing systems that pose a threat to freedom of action in space," the report warned, citing current Russian and Chinese military doctrine that sees the ability to control outer space as "integral to winning modern wars." U.S. defense intelligence officials believe Russia and China have spent the past four years increasingly aligning their militaries around the importance of space operations. Already, those efforts have resulted in what officials describe as "robust and capable" space services for both countries, with improvements constantly in the works. Additionally, Russia and China now have "enhanced situational awareness, enabling them to monitor, track and target U.S. and allied forces," the report said. Both countries have also made gains in tracking U.S. space assets. "Chinese and Russian space surveillance networks are capable of searching, tracking, and characterizing satellites in all Earth orbits," the report added. Such capabilities are critical in order for Russia and China to successfully use a variety of systems that could eliminate or incapacitate U.S. satellites, from directed energy weapons to anti-satellite missiles. While the DIA report warns Russia and China pose the greatest threats to the U.S. in space, other countries are also taking aim at U.S. dominance in space, including Iran and North Korea. Both Tehran and Pyongyang have shown the ability to jam space-based communications and "maintain independent space launch capabilities." In January, the U.S. issued a new National Intelligence Strategy, which warned of growing competition in space. The strategy, by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said both Russia and China are pursuing "a full range of anti-satellite weapons, which could degrade U.S. intelligence gathering abilities." The U.S. Worldwide Threat Assessment issued late last month also said China already has an anti-satellite missile capable of hitting satellites in low-Earth orbits, while Russia has been field testing ground-based laser weapons. Raptor Engine Beats Russian RD-180 Record in Combustion Chamber Pressure - Musk Sputnik News 10:26 11.02.2019 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The new methane-fueled Raptor engine developed by US SpaceX aerospace company for its Starship interplanetary craft has outperformed the Russian RD-180 rocket engine in terms of pressure level in the combustion chamber, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Monday. "Raptor reached 268.9 bar today [approximately 274.2 kilograms of power per square centimeter], exceeding prior record held by the awesome Russian RD-180," Musk said on Twitter. On February 4, Musk said that SpaceX had conducted the first test firing of Raptor. Russian liquid-fuel rocket engine RD-180 is used in the first stage of the US Atlas-5 rocket. According to Russian rocket engine manufacturer Energomash, the pressure in the combustion chamber of the RD-180 is 261.7 kilograms of power per square centimeter. On January 31, Musk posted a couple of images on Twitter showing a Starship Raptor engine and saying SpaceX was preparing to test fire it at its Texas facility. So far, SpaceX has completed the assembly of a stainless Starship Hopper prototype meant for takeoff and landing tests. Sputnik Feb. 11, 2019 News By Jim Garamone Defense.gov DIA Report Details Threats to America's Space-Based World WASHINGTON -- Space enables the modern world, and the United States needs to maintain its progress in this critical domain if it hopes to lead in the future. That's the conclusion of the Defense Intelligence Agency's report titled "Challenges to Security in Space," released today. DIA officials spoke to reporters at the Pentagon this morning about the threats facing American dominance in space. The unclassified report details the space and counterspace threats that pose a significant challenge the United States and its allies. It concentrates on the capabilities under development in China and Russia, but it doesn't ignore the space threat posed by North Korea and Iran. Space-based capabilities are key to all aspects of life in the United States. Space's role in commercial and civilian applications is growing, and it is absolutely vital to employing the U.S. military, DIA officials noted. Space-based capabilities are becoming more affordable and are technologically easier to build and deploy, and China and Russia are taking full advantage of this to eat into U.S. space dominance, officials said. Russian, Chinese Capabilities Russia and China have active counterspace programs. "Both countries have developed robust and capable space services, and these capabilities provide their militaries with the ability to command and control their forces worldwide, and with enhanced situational awareness enabling them to monitor, track and target U.S. and allied forces," a senior DIA official said, speaking to reporters on background. Both countries have established their own global positioning system satellite networks. "Chinese and Russian doctrine indicate that they view space as important to modern warfare and view counterspace capabilities as a means to reduce U.S. and allied effectiveness," the senior official said. "China views space superiority as part of the ability to control the information sphere and that is a key component of modern warfare." Russia sees space as a warfighting domain, and winning the battle in orbit will be decisive in future warfare, the official said. China and Russia have developed counterspace capabilities, including ground-based missiles aimed at satellites, jamming of signals to or from satellites, ground-based directed energy weapons, kinetic-kill vehicles, space-based counters and more. "Both China and Russia reorganized their militaries in 2015, emphasizing the importance of space operations," the official said. China established a strategic support force to integrate its space, cyberspace and electronic capabilities. Iran and North Korea have demonstrated satellite jamming and maintain independent space launching capabilities. The United States has the most operational satellites, followed by China and then Russia. This United States lead is a challenge to Russia and China, and DIA officials said they expect they will continue to develop counters to American capabilities. One threat is a result of the successes in space. "As the number of satellites grows, so does the threats posed by space debris," the official said. "That makes tracking satellites and discriminating satellites from threats and nonthreats and predicting and preventing collisions more challenging." Space Affects Daily Life The report is aimed at education; the public needs to understand all that space brings to the United States, its allies and the world at large, said a senior Defense Department official, speaking on background. When Americans think of space, they think of NASA and space exploration, but they do not necessarily think of all that space brings to their daily lives, the DOD official said. The application on a hand-held device that gives directions, calls rideshare car or locates a lost package is enabled by the GPS constellation operated by the U.S. Air Force. "Space is fundamental to U.S. prosperity," the Pentagon official said. "The United States harnesses the benefits of space for communications, financial transactions, public safety, weather, agriculture, navigation and more. Additionally, there is a wave of exciting commercial technologies and investments in space that are expanding the potential opportunities, the benefits we can all enjoy." Space has had a profound impact on the military, the official added, allowing American service members to anticipate threats, respond to crises and to project power globally with fewer troops deployed and less collateral damage. Defense Intelligence Agency Releases Report on Challenges to U.S. Security in Space By DIA Public Affairs Washington, D.C., Feb. 11, 2019 -- The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) today released "Challenges to Security in Space," a report that examines the space and counterspace programs that could challenge U.S. or partner interests in the space domain. The advantage that the United States holds in space and our perceived dependence on it will continue to drive actors to improve their abilities to operate in and through space. The report notes that "space-based capabilities provide integral support to military, commercial and civilian applications" and that "longstanding technological and cost barriers to space are falling, enabling more countries and commercial firms to participate in satellite construction, space launch, space exploration and human spaceflight." Although these advancements are creating new opportunities, new risks for space-enabled services have emerged, according to the DIA report. "Having seen the benefits of space-enabled operations, some foreign governments are developing capabilities that threaten others' ability to use space. China and Russia, in particular have taken steps to challenge the United States," the report said. In particular, the report notes that: Chinese and Russian military doctrines indicate they view space as important to modern warfare and counterspace capabilities as a means to reduce U.S. and allied military effectiveness. Both countries have developed robust and capable space services, including space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. China and Russia are making improvements to existing systems including space launch vehicles and satellite navigation constellations. These capabilities provide their militaries with the ability to command and control their forces worldwide with enhanced situational awareness, enabling them to monitor, track and target U.S. and allied forces. Chinese and Russian space surveillance networks are capable of searching, tracking and characterizing satellites in all earth orbits. This capability supports both space operations and counterspace systems. Both states are developing jamming and cyberspace capabilities, directed energy weapons, on-orbit capabilities and ground-based antisatellite missiles that can achieve a range of reversible to non-reversible effects. DIA's "Challenges to Security in Space" report is intended to support a deeper public understanding of key space and counterspace issues and inform open dialogue and partner engagement on these challenges. Contact: James Kudla, james.kudla@dodiis.mil, 202-231-0818 CDR Pam Rawe, pamela.rawe@dodiis.mil, 202-231-0808 Daesh Has Up to $300Mln in Cash Reserves for Sustaining Operations - UN Office Sputnik News 21:01 11.02.2019(updated 21:04 11.02.2019) UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - The Daesh terrorist group* despite territorial losses has up to $300 million in cash on hand to sustain operations, UN Counter-Terrorism Office (CTO) Under-Secretary-General Vladimir Voronkov told the Security Council on Monday. "In terms of ISIL' [IS] financial strength, the report notes that despite some loss of revenue due to territorial setbacks, ISIL could sustain its operations through accessible reserves in cash or investment in businesses ranging between $50 million and $300 million American dollars," Voronkov said. Voronko, briefing the Security Council on a new CTO report, also said IS remains a threat to international security. "Having a center of gravity in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, where it is reported to control between 14,000 and 18,000 militants, including up to 3,000 foreign terrorists fighters, ISIS [IS] has continued to evolve into a covert network operating at a local level and organizing itself at a provincial level," Voronkov said. The oil revenues have been one of the principal parts of the terrorists' income. However, since 2015, Daesh's wealth in stolen natural resources in Syria and Iraq has been declining, following a military campaign started by Russian and Syrian air power to destroy smuggled oil heading for the Turkish border. In November 2015, the Russian Aerospace Forces launched a major concentrated attack targeting oil tankers, destroying an estimated 1,000 oil tankers, as well as oil refineries and oil storage facilities in a five-day campaign in northern and eastern Syria. The US-led coalition reported destroying another 280+ tankers later that month, with both sides launching further strikes. When the terrorists started to dramatically lose the territories they seized in 2016, US analysts estimated that the terrorists were making about $20 million a month from the stolen oil, down from as much as $3 million per day in 2014. *Daesh, also known as IS (Islamic State), ISIS, ISIL a terrorist group, banned in numerous countries, including Russia Sputnik Acting US Defense Chief: No Orders to Withdraw Troops from Afghanistan By VOA News February 11, 2019 Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said he has not received orders from President Donald Trump to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan. "I have not been directed to step down our forces in Afghanistan," Shanahan told reporters before an unannounced visit Monday to Kabul. "The direction... in close coordination with Secretary [of State Mike] Pompeo and [National Security Advisor John] Bolton is to support Ambassador [Zalmay] Khalilzad in these peace negotiations." Last week during the State of the Union Address, Trump once again slammed prolonged conflicts from Syria to Afghanistan, saying that "great nations do not fight endless wars." He told the crowd that as American diplomats made progress in Afghan peace negotiations, "we will be able to reduce our troop presence and focus on counter-terrorism." Shanahan said Monday the size of the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan would be determined in a "coordinated and disciplined manner." "I think the presence we want in Afghanistan is what assures our homeland defense and supports regional stability," he said. The acting defense secretary met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Afghanistan's chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, and defense minister Asadullah Khalid while in Kabul. He also visited a base outside of Kabul where U.S. special forces train their Afghan counterparts and spoke with U.S. Army Gen. Austin "Scott" Miler, who commands international forces in Afghanistan. The trip comes as the United States is working to negotiate a peace deal between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Shanahan stressed the importance of Afghan government involvement in peace talks. "The U.S. has significant, significant investment in ensuring security, but the Afghans decide their future," he said. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's government has not been part of ongoing talks between U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and the Taliban. Khalilzad said last week he believes a peace agreement could be achieved before Afghanistan's presidential election in July. He and his team are due to meet with the Taliban again on February 25 in Qatar. 'Trial by Flag' for new F-35A pilots By 388th Fighter Wing Public Affairs, 388th Fighter Wing Public Affairs / Published February 11, 2019 NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. (AFNS) -- The desert screams by below. The clouds scream by above. Both stretch on into the horizon. It's deceptively calm in the cockpit. There's a constant, seemingly discordant stream of chatter coming through his helmet. The digital screens in front of him, along with images projected onto his visor, provide enough information to save lives and take a few as well. In the sky ahead are more than 60 advanced enemy aircraft, flown by some of the best fighter pilots in the world. They are huntinglooking to kill him and his wingmen. He just graduated pilot training. Welcome to Red Flag. "I haven't been flying that long. There are things that stand out in my career. My first solo flight, my first F-35 flight and my first Red Flag mission. I don't think I'll ever forget those things," said 1st Lt. Landon Moores, a 388th Fighter Wing, 4th Fighter Squadron, F-35A Lightning II pilot. Moores is one of a handful of young F-35A pilots who recently graduated their initial training and are currently deployed to Nellis Air Force Base as part of exercise Red-Flag 19-1. Now they are being battle-tested. "Going from F-35 training a little over a month ago to a large force exercise with dozens of aircraft in the sky is pretty crazy," Moores said. "For the initial part of the first mission, I was just kind of sitting there listening. I was nervous. I was excited. Then the training kicked in." Red Flag is the Air Force's premier combat training exercise where units from across the Department of Defense join with allied nations in a "blue force" to combat a "red force" in a variety of challenging scenarios over three weeks. "For us, the biggest difference between this Red Flag and our first with the F-35A two years ago is that we have a lot of pilots on their first assignment," said Lt. Col. Yosef Morris, 4th FS commander. "Putting them alongside more experienced wingmen is what Red Flag was designed for." Combat training has changed dramatically over the years, Morris said. "When I was a young pilot in the F-16, I had a couple of responsibilities in the cockpit. One, don't lose sight of my flight lead. Two, keep track of a bunch of green blips on a small screen in front of me, and correlate the blips to what someone is telling me on the radio," Morris said. "Now, we're flying miles apart and interpreting and sharing information the jets gather, building a threat and target picture. We're asking way more of young wingmen, but we're able to do that because of their training and the capabilities of the jet." Capt. James Rosenau flew the A-10 in four previous Red Flags, but he's brand new to flying the F-35. He graduated from the transition course in December 2018. "I loved the A-10 and its mission. It's like a flying tank. Like Chewbacca with chainsaw arms. A very raw flying experience," Rosenau said. "Obviously the F-35 is completely different. It's more like a precision tool. After seeing the F-35 go up against the near-peer threats replicated here at Nellis (AFB), I'm a big believer." The two aircraft are similar in one way. They do very specific things other aircraft aren't asked to do. "In the A-10, I liked being the guy who was called upon to directly support troops on the ground. To bring that fight to the enemy," Rosenau said. "Now I like being the guy who can support legacy fighters when they may be struggling to get into a target area because of the threat level. We have more freedom to operate. We have this big radar that can sniff out threats. We can gather all of that and pass it along or potentially take out those threats ourselves." The threat level is high at Red Flag. From the skill and size of the aggressor forces in the air to the complexity and diversity of the surface to air threats, there is a real sense of the 'fog and friction' of war. The adversary force also uses space and cyber warfare to take out or limit technology that modern warfighters rely on. Cutting through the clutter is a strength of the F-35A. "One of the jet's greatest assets is to see things that others can't, take all the information it's gathering from the sensors and present them to the pilot," Moores said. "One of our biggest jobs is learning how to process and prioritize that. For the more experienced pilots it seems like it is second nature. If we don't, it's not like we're getting killed (in the F-35), but we could be doing more killing." The pilots say seeing the F-35A's capabilities being put to use as part of a larger force has been invaluable. "When we mission plan with other units, it's not always about kicking down the door," Rosenau said. "It may be about looking at what the enemy is presenting and 'thinking skinny.' With the F-35, we can think through a mission and choose how we want to attack it to make everyone more survivable." Food for millions in Yemen at risk of rotting in key Red Sea port, warns UN 11 February 2019 - Desperately needed food aid for millions of Yemenis "is at risk of rotting" in a key Red Sea storage facility because conditions are too unsafe to reach it, UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths and UN Emergency relief chief Mark Lowcock said on Monday In a joint statement, the top UN officials warned that the urgency of getting to the Red Sea Mills in the key port city of Hudaydah was "growing day by day", more than five months after aid workers were last able to access it. "We emphasize that ensuring access to the mills is a shared responsibility among the parties to the conflict in Yemen. With safe, unfettered and sustained access, the United Nations can make this urgently needed food available to people in need," said the OCHA head and Mr. Griffiths, in an appeal to the Government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and Houthi militia, who have been fighting for overall control of the country since early 2015. With enough food to feed 3.7 million people for a month, the grain stored in the mills could help the World Food Programme (WFP) scale up food assistance to nearly 12 million people across the war-torn country; a 50 per cent increase on 2018. In December, the WFP reached a record 10 million people. Until now, however, forces affiliated with the Houthi movement, or Ansar Allah, which controls the vital port of Hudaydah, have not allowed the UN to cross front lines to access the mills on the outskirts of the city. Welcoming the "recent engagement of all sides" in creating the necessary conditions for a UN team to reach the grain stores "without further delay", the UN senior officials also noted their appreciation for the Houthis' earlier efforts to re-open the road leading to the mills, despite the "difficult and dangerous circumstances". "We acknowledge the confirmation from Ansar Allah of their commitment to implement the Hudaydah Agreement," they said, referring to the ceasefire deal struck in Sweden last December, between the warring sides. Chaired by General Michael Lollesgaard, a team of Security Council-mandated UN observers and monitors is trying to negotiate the withdrawal of fighters from the Houthi-held port city, stabilize the fragile ceasefire, and open new humanitarian corridors. Australia Signs $35Bln Submarine Deal With French Contractor - Defence Minister Sputnik News 12:02 11.02.2019(updated 12:03 11.02.2019) MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Australian government has signed an agreement with French Naval Group to build 12 attack class submarines worth 50 billion Australian dollars ($35.5 billion) for the Royal Australian Navy, the Australian defense minister said on Monday. "Today is a defining moment for Australia with the formal signing of a $50b agreement to build 12 submarines in Australia for the Navy. This agreement will create around 2,800 jobs for Australians, while helping to protect our country and keep Australians safe," Christopher Pyne said on Twitter. According to the Australian Defence Ministry, the first submarine that will be named HMAS Attack is expected to be delivered in the early 2030s. "The submarines will help protect Australia's security and prosperity for decades to come and also deepen the defence relationship between Australia and France The Attack class submarines are a major pillar of our $90 billion National Shipbuilding Plan, which will see 54 naval vessels built in Australia, to meet the strategic requirements set out in our 2016 Defence White Paper and giving our Navy the edge it needs in an uncertain world," the ministry said. In 2016, France won a tender for the construction of 12 new-generation submarines for Australia, beating Japan and Germany. According to media reports, the victory of France may mean that the new Australian submarines will be versions of Barracuda-class submarines with non-nuclear power unit. Sputnik Beijing Accuses US of Illegally Crossing Its Sovereign Borders in S China Sea Sputnik News 14:09 11.02.2019(updated 14:31 11.02.2019) China protests and expresses dissatisfaction with US vessels entering the waters near the Spratly Islands, an archipelago in the South China Sea that Beijing continues to regard as its "indisputable sovereignty," without authorization, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday. "The actions of the US vessels constitute a brusque violation of China's sovereignty, undermine peace, security and order in the relevant waters. The Chinese party expresses extreme dissatisfaction and a strong protest," Hua told a briefing. She stressed that China had "indisputable sovereignty" over the islands and respected the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea but would not tolerate the use of this freedom as pretext for undermining the country's sovereignty and security. "We strongly call on the US party to immediately stop these provocative actions The Chinese party will take all necessary measures to resolutely defend its sovereignty and security as well as the stability in the South China Sea," the spokeswoman underlined. According to Beijing, two US Navy destroyers sailed near the Spratly Islands, which China calls Nansha Islands, earlier on Monday without permission from the Chinese government. Chinese vessels issued a warning for the warships and demanded that they immediately leave the area. China and several other countries of the region namely Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines have disagreements over maritime borders and areas of responsibility in the South China and East China Seas. China considers the Spratly Islands its territory, despite the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling that there was no legal basis for China's maritime claims. The arbitration proceeding was initiated by the Philippines in January 2013. Sputnik U.S. Commander: Syria Pullout Likely To Begin Within Weeks By RFE/RL February 11, 2019 The Pentagon commander in charge of U.S. forces in the Middle East says the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria will likely begin within "weeks." General Joseph Votel, chief of the U.S. Central Command, tempered his comments on February 10 by saying the exact timing would depend on the situation in the country, where some 2,000 U.S. troops have been assisting a Syrian Arab and Kurdish alliance fighting against the remnants of Islamic State (IS) insurgents. When asked if the pullout would occur within days or weeks, Votel said, "Probably weeks. But again, it will all be driven by the situation on the ground." There has been conflicting information regarding the pullout, with some reports stating that the withdrawal has already begun. Votel, speaking to reporters aboard a U.S. military aircraft during a trip to the Middle East, said that "in terms of the withdrawal...I think we're right on track with where we wanted to be." "Moving people is easier than moving equipment, and so what we're trying to do right now is again [to] kind of clear out those materials, that equipment, that we do not need." The general did not speculate on how long it would take to complete the pullout. President Donald Trump surprised U.S. lawmakers and international allies in December by announcing he intends to withdraw all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria. The president said the troops were no longer needed, asserting that IS insurgents had been defeated. Trump has received criticism from Republicans, Democrats, and some foreign officials for what they have called a hastily planned withdrawal of the troops, with many saying it leaves Kurdish allies at the mercy of the Turks and hands a victory to Russia and Iran. Votel caused a stir in the United States on February 5 when he told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he had not been consulted before the announcement of the U.S. pullout from Syria. Votel also told reporters during his trip he did not believe the United States would significantly increase force numbers in neighboring Iraq, where there are some 5,000 troops helping Baghdad in its fight against IS and its efforts to prevent the terror group's resurgence. "I think it's going to remain more or less steady," he said of troop levels in Iraq. Those comments follow remarks by Trump on February 3 that it was important to keep a U.S. military presence in Iraq so that Washington can keep a close eye on Iran "because Iran is a real problem." Iraqi President Barham Salih on February 4 said that Trump did not ask Baghdad's permission for U.S. troops stationed in Iraq to "watch Iran." The Iraqi president said that "it is of fundamental interest for Iraq to have good relations with Iran" and other neighboring countries. "Don't overburden Iraq with your own issues," Salih added. Iraq has attempted to balance its relations with the United States, which provides financial and military support, and Iran, which carries significant influence with members of Iraq's Shi'ite population. With reporting by Reuters, CNN, and CBS Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/us-syria- troop-pullout-within-weeks-iraq- iran/29762816.html Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. Pompeo Says U.S. To Be More Engaged In East Europe, Warns Russia Trying To Divide West By RFE/RL February 11, 2019 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the United States must be more engaged in Central and Eastern Europe as Russia tries to divide the West. On the first day of a five-country European tour that will focus on opposition to the growing influence of Russia and China in Central Europe, Pompeo met with Hungary's right-wing populist prime minister, Viktor Orban, on February 11 to stress the importance of promoting democracy and the rule of law. Washington sees those issues as key to countering Russian and Chinese moves to sow discord in the European Union and NATO. "We must not let Putin drive wedges between friends in NATO," Pompeo told a joint news conference in Budapest with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. Pompeo specifically pointed to Central Europe's reliance on Russian energy as well as the presence of the Chinese telecom firm Huawei, particularly in Hungary. But Szijjarto parried any criticism of his country's energy policy, noting many European countries have deals with Moscow in the sector. "There is an enormous hypocrisy and political correctness in the European political arena," he said. U.S. officials are concerned by Huawei's expansion in Europe, especially in NATO member states where they believe the Chinese firm poses significant information-security threats. Orban, a vocal admirer of U.S. President Donald Trump, is an outspoken critic of mass immigration to Europe from areas such as the Middle East. On February 10, Orban launched a program to encourage women to have more children and reverse Hungary's population decline. He said the initiative was meant to "ensure the survival of the Hungarian nation." "This is the Hungarians' answer, not immigration," he said. His stance against migrants and refusal to join a new European Union public prosecutor's office focusing on fraud and corruption have also raised concerns. In the past, Hungary had been ranked by Freedom House as politically "free," but it was reclassified in the Freedom In The World 2019 report as "partly free" because of "sustained attacks" by Orban's Fidesz party on the media, courts, religious groups, academia, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector. Orban's government has also been targeted for criticism, including from Washington, for forcing a Budapest-based university founded by Hungarian-born U.S. billionaire philanthropist George Soros to move most of its programs out of the country. Pompeo will "express support for civil society" in Hungary and that he will meet with leaders of nongovernmental organizations, the officials said. Human rights groups and others have lamented Pompeo's plans to meet with Orban and urged him to take a strong stance against his policies. Pompeo's visit to Hungary comes as the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner said on February 11 that Hungary was facing "many interconnected human rights challenges," including legislation targeting civil society, backsliding on women's rights, and the detention of asylum seekers. Commissioner Dunja Mijatovic, who visited Hungary last week, also voiced concern about the independence of the media and the judiciary. Last year, Budapest approved legislation that provides for jail sentences for people convicted of aiding asylum seekers. Mijatovic said that "the space for the work of NGOs, human rights defenders, and journalists critical of the government has become very narrow and restricted," and called on Orban's government to "reverse its worrying course" on human rights. The State Department said that Pompeo's visit to Central Europe marked 30 years since the peoples of the region "tore down the Iron Curtain to reclaim their freedom and sovereignty, choosing the path of Western democracy denied to them for decades, and solidifying that commitment by joining NATO and the European Union." The United States was "committed to a strong, united, and capable transatlantic alliance rooted in the principles of common defense, democracy, and fundamental freedoms," a February 10 statement said. It said that Washington was also committed to increasing its "diplomatic, military, commercial, and cultural engagement with Central Europe in order to strengthen this region's ties with the West as it faces increased pressure from Russia and China." Pompeo is also due to visit Slovakia and Poland, and is set to complete his journey with stops in Brussels and Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, on February 15. In Poland, Pompeo will attend a conference on the Middle East on February 13-14 that is expected to focus on Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Jared Kushner, Trump's senior adviser on the Middle East and son-in-law, and Jason Greenblatt, the special U.S. envoy for international negotiations, are also expected to attend. With reporting by AP and AFP Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/pompeo-begins -central-europe-trip-with-focus-on-russia -china/29762993.html Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. U.S. Cancels National Guard Commander's Kosovo Visit Over Serbia Tariff By Amra Zejneli February 11, 2019 The National Guard commander of the U.S. state of Iowa has cancelled a visit to Kosovo over Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj's refusal to cancel 100 percent tariffs on goods from Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. A spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Pristina confirmed on February 11 that Major General Timothy Orr's visit was canceled "in connection to tariffs of Serbian and Bosnian goods." The spokesman added that the embassy had no comment on further visits or scheduled training. Kosovo Security Forces commander Rahman Rama said he had been told the visit had been scrapped, and then informed Kosovo President Hasim Thaci of the decision in a letter. "This is a consequence of the fees imposed on Serbia, which prompted the decision of the U.S. government," Rama told RFE/RL. Orr was scheduled to arrive for a three-day visit on February 16, during celebrations for Kosovo's 11th birthday. The Iowa National Guard has worked with the Kosovo Security Force as part of the State Partnership Program since 2011. Rama said that cooperation with the National Guard was one of the best partnerships the country has with the United States, not only for its military benefits, but also in the areas of culture and education. Both Brussels and Washington have pressed Kosovo to repeal the tariff on imported Serbian and Bosnian goods, which has strained international efforts to broker a deal between the former foes. Kosovo imposed the import tax in November in retaliation for what it called Belgrade's attempts to undermine its statehood, such as spearheading a campaign to scupper Pristina's bid to join Interpol. Belgrade has not recognized the independence of its former province, proclaimed in 2008 after a 1998-99 guerrilla war. More than 10,000 were killed in the war, which prompted NATO to launch an air campaign in the spring of 1999 to end the conflict. The possibility that Serbia and Kosovo might end their long-running dispute through a land swap was briefly floated last year. But the proposal was immediately abandoned following a firestorm of criticism from rights groups as well as Haradinaj, who is against ceding any territory to Serbia and recently said the fate of the tax shouldn't be linked to relations with Belgrade. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/us-cancels- national-guard-commander-s-kosovo-visit-over serbia-tariff/29764201.html Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. U.S. Acting Defense Chief Backs Kabul Role In Peace Talks By RFE/RL February 11, 2019 U.S. Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan has arrived in Afghanistan on an unannounced visit to meet with military commanders and Afghan officials amid a heightened push by Washington for a peace deal with the Taliban. Shanahan, who arrived early on February 11, told reporters traveling with him that he will stress in talks with Afghan leaders that they will be the ones to ultimately decide their future, including the final nature of any potential peace with the Taliban. "It is important that the Afghan government is involved in discussions regarding Afghanistan," Shanahan said. "The Afghans have to decide what Afghanistan looks like in the future. It's not about the U.S. It is about Afghanistan," he added. Shanahan, who took over the job after Jim Mattis quit in December over policy differences with U.S. President Donald Trump, said he could not make any guarantees because U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was leading the talks. "The U.S. military has strong security interests in the region. [The] presence will evolve out of those discussions," Shanahan said. He said the aim of his trip was to get an understanding of the situation on the ground from commanders and then brief Trump on his findings. Shanahan also said he had no instructions from the White House to reduce the troop level in Afghanistan from the current 14,000. Reports have circulated that U.S. President Donald Trump is looking to cut about half of the force as part of efforts to reduce U.S. military involvement in the region. Trump has already said he is pulling out all 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, where they have been aiding a Syrian Arab and Kurdish alliance fighting against the Islamic State and other insurgent groups. Shanahan's trip comes as the Afghanistan envoy Khalilzad is setting off on a visit to several key countries as part of efforts to push a U.S. peace initiative for the war-torn country. The State Department said Khalilzad would travel on February 10-28 to Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Qatar, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Khalilzad recently returned from talks with the Taliban in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar. It was not immediately clear if Shanahan and Khalilzad would be conducting joint discussions during their trips. Shanahan said in late January that he saw "some very encouraging possibilities" in Khalilzad's negotiations with the Taliban. "But we need to give them time and space," he said. Shanahan, 56, has said his priorities would include the impending U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria and countering China's military might. Shanahan is expected to attend a meeting of NATO defense chiefs in Brussels on February 13-14 and then the Munich Security Conference in Germany on February 15-17. With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/us-defense-chief-shanahan -arrives-in-afghanistan/29762885.html Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. Navy welcomes historic agreement for future submarines Royal Australian Navy 11 February 2019 The Australian Government today ratified a Strategic Partnering Agreement with the French shipbuilding company Naval Group that will see 12 regionally superior submarines designed and built in Australia for the Royal Australian Navy as part of the Future Submarine Program. Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Mike Noonan welcomed today's important milestone. "The $50-billion Attack Class program will deliver submarines that will meet our Navy's capability requirements, will be at the forefront of Australia's defence strategy and will help protect Australia's security and prosperity for decades to come," Vice Admiral Noonan said. "With their inherent stealth, long-range endurance, and formidable striking power, the Attack class are a key part of our Navy's future," he said. The Strategic Partnering Agreement was signed at Russell Offices in Canberra by the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, the Minister for Defence (Australia), Christopher Pyne, and the Minister for the Armed Forces of France, Madame Florence Parly. Some work on the future submarines has already taken place under a Design and Mobilisation Contract and this will continue uninterrupted under today's Agreement. The formalisation of the Strategic Partnering Agreement represents the contractual basis for the program. The full range of other activities required to deliver this major program, including the development of the submarine construction yard in Osborne South Australia, are continuing. The first 'Attack' class submarine, to be named HMAS Attack, is due to be delivered in the early 2030s. The decision to partner with Naval Group (formerly DCNS) was made in 2016, following a competitive evaluation process commenced by the Australian Government. The Attack class submarines are a major pillar of the Australian Government's $90 billion National Shipbuilding Plan, which will see 54 naval vessels built in Australia, to meet the strategic requirements set out in our 2016 Defence White Paper. US to withdraw from Syria 'in weeks,' claims top general Iran Press TV Mon Feb 11, 2019 01:58AM A top American general is claiming that Washington is "right on track with" its supposed Syria withdrawal. US Army General Joseph Votel, head of the US Central Command, made the comments Monday long after President Donald Trump ordered withdrawal of ground forces from war-ravaged Syria. "In terms of the withdrawal I think we're right on track with where we wanted to be," Votel told reporters travelling with him during a trip to the Middle East. "Moving people is easier than moving equipment and so what we're trying to do right now is again [to] kind of clear out those materials, that equipment, that we do not need." Asked when the withdrawal may begin, he answered: "Probably weeks. But again, it will all be driven by the situation on the ground." Operation Inherent Resolve is the name of a US military campaign launched in August 2014 after the Daesh terrorist Takfiri group overran large swaths of Syria and Iraq. The US has ever since maintained military presence in Syria without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate. Trump called for a swift troop pullout on December 19, alleging the defeat of Daesh and surprising many within the US establishment and abroad. The announcement further resulted in the resignation of Secretary of Defense James Mattis, US anti-Daesh coalition envoy Brett McGurk and Pentagon chief of staff Rear Admiral Kevin Sweeney who disapproved of the president's decision. Trump, nevertheless, seemingly gave in to pressure to slow down the troops pullout two weeks later. Poland to buy US rocket systems for $414 million Iran Press TV Mon Feb 11, 2019 07:41AM Poland says it is set to purchase artillery rocket systems worth $414 million from the United States as the two NATO allies seek closer military ties amid tensions with Russia. The deal, which is due to be inked on Wednesday, will "significantly increase Poland's army's capacities," Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Sunday, adding that the delivery of the mobile rocket launchers was expected by 2023. The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) -- manufactured by US weapons giant Lockheed Martin -- can launch six guided rockets with a range of 70 kilometers, or a single missile with a 300-kilometer range. The sale of 20 HIMARS launchers and related equipment to Poland was approved by the US State Department and Congress in November 2018. In March last year, Warsaw already signed a $4.75 billion contract to purchase a US-made Patriot anti-missile system. Poland has long hosted military forces from the US and other members of the NATO military alliance on a rotational basis. The right-wing administration in Warsaw has also been pushing for Washington to open a permanent military base on its soil as a "deterrent" against Russia. NATO is running a "counter-espionage" hub in Poland amid tensions with Russia, which broke out after Crimea voted in a referendum to separate from Ukraine and rejoin the Russian Federation in 2014 amid a political conflict with Kiev. The US-led alliance has since bolstered its presence in Eastern Europe on Russia's doorsteps, raising security concerns in Moscow. The Warsaw-Washington deal comes amid fears of a new arms race fueled by Washington's decision to suspend its compliance with the Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) with the ex-Soviet Union. Washington has even threatened to fully withdraw from the deal if Moscow does not stop "violations." Russia has denied the allegations, and said it could also exit the agreement, which bans nuclear-armed and conventional land-launched missiles with a range between 500 and 5,500km. Iran awaits Lebanese 'desire' to accept its military assistance: Zarif Iran Press TV Mon Feb 11, 2019 08:28AM Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has reiterated Iran's support for the Lebanese government, saying Tehran is waiting for Beirut to show a desire to accept its past offers of military assistance. Zarif made the remarks upon his arrival at Beirut's international airport on Sunday at the start of his first visit to Lebanon since its new government was formed late last month. "We always have this type of readiness and we announced on other occasions that this tendency exists in Iran but we are waiting for this desire to exist on the Lebanese side," said Zarif. The top Iranian diplomat said his visit was aimed at declaring Tehran's support for Lebanon and to announce that it "has complete and comprehensive readiness to deal with the brotherly Lebanese government in all areas." His comments came days after the secretary general of Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement expressed his readiness to bring defense systems from Iran in order to confront Israeli warplanes. Syria and Iraq are accepting Iran's help and benefiting from it, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said, adding, "Whatever the Lebanese Army needs to become the strongest regional army, I am willing to go to Iran and bring it." "Why should Lebanon remain afraid to cooperate with Iran?" he asked. Israeli warplanes regularly violate Lebanon's sovereignty and targets belonging to Hezbollah, which has been successfully helping Syria contain Takfiri militancy. Israel launched two wars on Lebanon in 2000 and 2006, in both of which Hezbollah inflicted heavy losses on the regime's military. In recent weeks, Israeli officials have threatened another war on Lebanon if it does not restrain Hezbollah. Lebanese officials have repeatedly complained about Israeli jets' violation of Lebanon's sovereignty. Zarif has already held talks with Lebanese President Michel Aoun. During their meeting, Aoun congratulated Iran on the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. Zarif also offered his well wishes on the formation of the new Lebanese government. The two officials discussed ways and means of enhancing political and economic relations between their countries. Zarif is also scheduled to meet with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil on Monday. The Iranian foreign minister's visit to Beirut comes a few weeks after Lebanon's presidency announced the formation of the new national unity government, putting an end to a nine-month stalemate. The new government, headed by Hariri, includes 30 ministers from most Lebanese political factions, which have been in talks after the country in May 2018 held its first parliamentary elections in nine years. Acting Pentagon chief visits Afghanistan, urges Kabul role in talks with Taliban Iran Press TV Mon Feb 11, 2019 09:03AM Acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan has made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan to discuss the process of peace talks with the Taliban militant group and Washington's planned drawdown of its military forces in the war-torn country. Patrick Shanahan arrived in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Monday and is scheduled to sit down for talks with President Ashraf Ghani and visit the American troops deployed to the country. Ghani's government has so far been excluded from the ongoing talks between the US and the Taliban, which view the Kabul government as illegitimate. Upon arrival in Afghanistan, Shanahan said coordination with the Kabul government to end more than 17 years of militancy is vital. "It is important that the Afghan government is involved in discussions regarding Afghanistan," he added. "The Afghans have to decide what Afghanistan looks like in the future. It's not about the US, it is about Afghanistan," he said. "The US military has strong security interests in the region. (The) presence will evolve out of those discussions." Shanahan, however, said no direction has been given to him to reduce the number of US forces on Afghan soil. The acting Pentagon chief also said he was in Afghanistan to get an insight into the situation on the ground from American commanders. Shanahan took over from Jim Mattis, who stepped down in December 2018 amid differences with President Donald Trump. Mattis' resignation came after Trump ordered the Pentagon, against the defense chief's recommendation, to work out a plan to withdraw approximately half of the nearly 14,000 American troops in Afghanistan. Representatives of the US and the Taliban militant group have held several rounds of talks in Qatar in an attempt to end the war in Afghanistan. The latest round was held last month, and the next round is scheduled for February 25. Efforts to negotiate a peace deal have been beset by disagreement in recent weeks as leaders of the militant group reject the Kabul government's offer for direct talks. Earlier this week, the Taliban dismissed Ghani's offer to open a political office in Afghanistan, saying the offer was aimed at "harming the peace efforts." Washington's efforts to get out of the Afghan war come around 17 years after the US invaded Afghanistan together with a number of its allies. That invasion removed the Taliban from power, but has failed to contain the group's militancy campaign to this day. Currently, Kabul only controls 55 percent of the country's territory, while the militants have a grip on 12 percent of the Afghan soil, according to a report by the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction published in October last year. About a third of the country remains contested. Daesh has also used the mayhem in Afghanistan to establish a foothold there. US sails destroyers near Chinese archipelago: Official Iran Press TV Mon Feb 11, 2019 09:23AM The United States has reportedly sailed two destroyers close to the Nansha archipelago in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety despite Washington's objection. The two guided-missile destroyers traveled within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef in the archipelago, which is also known as Spratly Islands, on Monday, Reuters reported, citing an American official speaking on condition of anonymity. Meanwhile, Cmdr. Clay Doss, a spokesman for the US Navy's 7th Fleet, told CNN, the operation was conducted "to challenge excessive maritime claims and preserve access to the waterways as governed by international law." "All operations are designed in accordance with international law and demonstrate that the United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows," Doss said, adding "that is true in the South China Sea as in other places around the globe." The US, which has been taking sides with several of China's neighboring countries in their territorial disputes, accused China of undertaking a land reclamation program by building artificial islands in the sea. Beijing asserts its sovereignty over nearly all of the contested sea, which serves as a crossing for more $5 trillion worth of maritime trade annually. Washington regularly dispatches its warships and warplanes to the waters in a move, which Beijing denounces as provocation. The US's allied countries have also been staging naval operations near the island, similarly to Beijing's disappointment. The new operation is the second in the South China Sea reported by the US Navy so far this year. Last month, the US' guided-missile destroyer, USS McCampbell, sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Xisha Island chain, called Paracel by Beijing's rivals. The Chinese Foreign Ministry reacted to the move, saying in a statement that the US violated China's law. The new operation comes as the United States and China are separately locked in a trade war. Last July, the US imposed 25-percent duties on $34 billion of imports from China in a first step in a possible series of increases that US President Donald Trump has said could affect up to $550 billion of Chinese goods -- the equivalent of the total value of Chinese exports to the US in 2017. Next month, Washington will be increasing tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports from 10 to 25 percent unless the two reach a deal that could avert the prospect. Last August, a broad cross-section group of American companies warned Trump's administration that the spike would force Americans to pay more for items they use throughout their daily lives. UN urges access to grain stocks in Yemen's Hudaydah Iran Press TV Mon Feb 11, 2019 03:37PM The United Nations (UN) has warned that there is an urgent need for making grain warehouses accessible in the Red Sea port city of Hudaydah and that the sustenance stored there is "at risk of rotting." In a joint statement on Monday, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths and UN aid chief Mark Lowcock highlighted the urgency of obtaining access to the UN stores at the Red Sea Mills, which are believed to contain enough grain to feed several million people for a month. Saudi Arabia, which has been leading a coalition of its allies in a war on Yemen, has blockaded all routes to the country, putting it on the verge of widespread famine. "The World Food Program (WFP) grain stored in the mills - enough to feed 3.7 million people for a month - has been inaccessible for over five months and is at risk of rotting," the statement by the UN officials read. The UN is pushing for the implementation of a ceasefire in Hudaydah, the main entry point for most of Yemen's imports, agreed in December last year in Sweden. The breakthrough deal also calls for the withdrawal of both Saudi-led forces and the Yemeni defense units from the city, and the deployment of UN observers there. The warring sides disagree over who should control Hudaydah once combat forces withdraw. The Yemeni Houthi Ansarullah movement, which has been running Yemen, says the other side has repeatedly violated the truce agreement. A UN-appointed committee tasked with monitoring the agreed ceasefire in Hudaydah started a new meeting in early February. In their Monday statement, Griffiths and Lowcock said they appreciated earlier efforts by the Houthis "to re-open the road leading to the mills which have been carried out under difficult and dangerous circumstances." But they stopped short of saying specifically who they wanted to cooperate with the UN to access the mills now. They only said they "emphasize that ensuring access to the mills is a shared responsibility among the parties to the conflict in Yemen." Accessing over 50,000 tones of UN wheat and milling equipment is a key aim of the ongoing peace talks for Yemen. Saudi Arabia and some of its vassal states invaded Yemen four years ago to restore a Riyadh-aligned regime that had resigned and fled the country. The Houthis have since been running state affairs and have been defending the country against the Saudi-led invasion and partial occupation. US seeks to 'stir up trouble' with naval sails-by: China Iran Press TV Mon Feb 11, 2019 04:02PM China says the United States is trying to "stir up trouble" by dispatching military vessels to the vicinity of disputed islands in the South China Sea, which Beijing regards as sovereign Chinese territory. On Monday, the guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance and USS Preble sailed within 12 nautical miles of Meiji Reef in the Nansha Archipelago, which is also known as Spratly Islands, in the South China Sea under what Washington calls "freedom of navigation operations," Reuters reported, citing an unnamed American official. A few hours later, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying confirmed the news at a daily press briefing and said the US had violated China's sovereignty by trespassing on its territorial waters. Washington "is determined to stir up trouble in the South China Sea, create tension, and undermine peace," she said, urging the US to cease the "provocative actions." China claims sovereignty over nearly all of the resource-rich South China Sea, through which five trillion dollars in shipping trade passes annually. There are competing claims to the islands from Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The US has taken sides with China's rival claimants in the territorial dispute, stepping up military presence under the pretext of "freedom of navigation operations" in "international" waters, which Beijing considers as provocation. China has largely exercised restraint. But it has in the past also scrambled military aircraft and ships to warn off the American military vessels. Beijing has also warned Washington that potentially close military encounters by the aerial and naval forces of the two sides in the region could trigger a larger crisis. Washington and Beijing have also traded barbs over the construction of artificial islands and reefs by China in the area and the building of military installations on them. China says the construction is necessary for defense. The two countries are also locked in a trade war, negotiating a deal ahead of a US-imposed March 1 deadline when American duties on 200 billion dollars worth of Chinese imports may increase from 10 percent to 25. Yemeni retaliatory attack leaves 8 Saudi soldiers dead in Jizan Iran Press TV Mon Feb 11, 2019 04:03PM At least eight Saudi troopers have been killed when Yemeni army soldiers, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees, launched a surprise attack against them in response to Riyadh's war on their conflict-stricken country. A Yemeni military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that Yemeni soldiers and their allies targeted the Saudi forces in the Madafin area of the kingdom's southern border region of Jizan, situated 966 kilometers south of the capital Riyadh, on Monday evening. Earlier in the day, Saudi troops had launched a salvo of artillery rounds and mortar shells against residential neighborhoods in the Munabbih district of Yemen's northwestern province of Sa'adah. There were no immediate reports about possible casualties or the extent of damage caused. Separately, Saudi-led military aircraft struck Sirwah district in the central Yemeni province of Ma'rib. No reports of fatalities were immediately available though. Elsewhere in the Dawran Ans district of the southeastern province of Dhamar, Saudi-led warplanes launched four aerial assaults, though no reports of casualties were quickly available. Battle tanks belonging to Saudi-sponsored militiamen loyal to Yemen's former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi also shelled al-Monqim village in the al-Durayhimi district of the western Yemeni province of Hudaydah. No casualties have so far been reported. Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing Hadi's government back to power and crushing Ansarullah. According to a 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. Top commander says U.S. likely to withdraw troops from Syria in weeks: U.S. media People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 13:24, February 11, 2019 WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. media reported on Sunday that a top commander has said that the United States would likely start to withdraw its troops from Syria in weeks. General Joseph Votel, the chief commander of U.S. Central Command overseeing troops in the Middle East and Afghanistan, made the remarks while speaking to the media on a military airplane heading to the region. "Probably weeks. But again, it will all be driven by the situation on the ground," he was quoted by The New York Times as saying. "In terms of the withdrawal ... I think we're right on track with where we wanted to be." "Moving people is easier than moving equipment and so what we're trying to do right now is again (to) kind of clear out those materials, that equipment, that we do not need," he added, warning however that the exact timing is still not settled. Votel told the media that the overall U.S. troops' number in Iraq "is going to remain more or less steady." Yemen accuses Saudis of breaching truce 547 times IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, Feb 11, IRNA -- Yemeni Armed Forces spokesman has accused the Saudi-led coalition of repeatedly breaching ceasefire agreement in Yemen, saying that it has violated the truce 547 times over the last 72 hours. According to the Yemeni media 'Saba', Brigadier General Yahya Saree said on Monday that Saudis fired 17 missiles and 364 mortar shells. He also referred to shooting with various kinds of arms and also Saudis' air and drone attacks on Al Hudaydah This is while, Yemeni army and popular committees shot down three Saudi spy drones in Al-Malahiz and Al-Suh over the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, Yemeni forces shot a Zelzal-1 missile toward Saudis' positions in Al-Jasher which is located in Saada-Najran border point. The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2451 to support the Stockholm Agreement on deployment of a team in order to facilitate monitoring and implementing the agreement and establishing truce in important Yemeni ports. The resolution mainly focuses on sending essential commodities to the Yemeni people, supporting the Stockholm Agreement, assigning the Secretary-General of the United Nations to implement it and observe the ceasefire. The fourth round of Yemen peace talks kicked off in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 6 with the attendance of the UN special envoy Martin Griffith and the government representatives. It agreed to establish truce in Yemeni ports of al-Hudaydah, al-Salif and Ayn Issa. Saudi Arabia and its regional allies attacked Yemen in March 2015 to bring back to power the deposed president of Yemen Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. Since then, the invaders have committed horrible war crimes against Yemeni civilians. 9376**1420 Venezuela's Maduro leads military exercises Global Times Source:Xinhua Published: 2019/2/11 10:56:59 Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro led military exercises on Sunday, pledging to strengthen the country's anti-aircraft defensive system. As part of the drill, Venezuelan air force troops at Guicaipuro Fort, in northern state of Miranda, deployed Russian-made 9M317 and Igla-S surface-to-air missiles. The 9M317 is a medium-range missile that can hit targets up to 50 km away, while the Igla-S is a man-portable missile with a 6 km reach. Maduro said he will make "the sufficient investment for Venezuela" to strengthen its anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense system, and equip the militia with "even the most modern missiles in the world." "These Igla-S and the thousands and thousands coming will be in the hands of the people, armed for anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense, to make our cities and towns impenetrable," he added. The militia is a civilian force founded in 2008 to supplement the armed forces. The military exercises, which mark the 200th anniversary of the historic Battle of Angostura, will continue through Friday. Feb. 11, 2019 News Release Press Operations Release No. NR-023-19 Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan is currently visiting the Central Command Area of Responsibility Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan is currently visiting Afghanistan. While there he is meeting with President Ashraf Ghani, Abdullah Abdullah, chief executive of Afghanistan, and other Afghan officials to discuss a broad range of defense issues. The secretary is also meeting with Operation Resolute Support leaders and troops. After his visit to the area, the secretary will travel to Brussels to attend the final NATO Defense Ministerial of 2019. He will meet with allied and partner nations to reinforce the need for equitable burden sharing, discuss implementation plans for key NATO Summit outcomes, and reinforce U.S. commitment to the NATO alliance. https://dod.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1754365/ Taiwan takes issue with Manila's South China Sea island buildup ROC Central News Agency 2019/02/11 20:16:52 Taipei, Feb. 11 (CNA) Taiwan on Monday urged all parties involved to halt any action that could escalate regional tensions in the disputed South China Sea amid ongoing construction by the Philippines on an island it occupies in the disputed region. "Taiwan reiterates its sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and urges all parties to refrain from action that could escalate tensions in the region," Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesman Andrew Lee () said when asked to comment on Manila's work on Thitu Island. It is "indisputable" that the Republic of China (Taiwan) enjoys rights to these islands and their surrounding waters based on international and maritime law, Lee said. The ROC government has protested the recent unilateral moves taken by all parties involved that heighten tensions in the region, and has urged the parties concerned to halt these actions immediately, Lee said. The spokesman also reiterated Taiwan's stance that disputes in the South China Sea should be dealt with through a multilateral mechanism for negotiations, based on the principles of shelving differences and seeking joint development of resources. Taiwan is also willing to engage in dialogue with other countries on an equal footing, to jointly seek to promote peace and stability and maintain freedom of navigation and overflight in the region, he said. Lee was responding to foreign media reports that said Chinese vessels have recently been deployed near Thitu Island -- located about 425 kilometers west-northwest of the island of Palawan -- during the ongoing rehabilitation of the Philippine-controlled island. Citing satellite images, Washington-based think tank Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative first reported the Chinese presence on Feb. 6. Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told Philippines media last Friday that his country will continue to carry out its construction on the island despite reports of Chinese paramilitary forces gathering nearby. "The presence of militia on the Chinese man-made structures is no surprise to us as they have been there since 2012," Lorenzana was quoted as saying in an English-language Philippine Daily Inquirer report. "We expect other countries to respect Philippine sovereignty, and to conduct themselves in a civilized manner befitting members of the global community," he said in a statement. According to the Philippines news report, the work on a beaching ramp on Thitu Island is expected to be finished by the first quarter of 2019. The repair of the runway and the construction of barracks, desalination facilities, a sewage disposal system, conventional and renewable power generation facilities, lighthouses, shelters and storage facilities for fishermen, will immediately follow, it said. With an area of 0.37 square kilometers, Thitu Island, locally known as Pag-asa, is the largest of nine features the Philippines holds in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Six countries -- Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei -- claim all or part of the South China Sea, which is said to be rich in resources. Taiwan controls Taiping, the largest of the Spratly Islands, which is located some 1,600 kilometers from Kaohsiung. With an area of 0.51 square kilometers, it has 200 Coast Guard officers stationed there and a few civilian residents. (By Joseph Yeh) Enditem/ls Chinese Embassy Dismisses Media Reports About Chinese Spies Working in Brussels Sputnik News 10:04 11.02.2019 BEIJING (Sputnik) - The Chinese Embassy in Belgium has rejected media reports claiming that hundreds of Chinese spies are operating in Brussels as a hoax. "This report is an outright fabrication without any evidence," the statement, published on the embassy's website on Sunday, read. The diplomatic mission stressed that these claims cast shadow on China and misled the public, adding that the attempts to undermine China-Belgium relations and ties with Europe would never succeed. According to the statement, China aims to develop friendly relations based on mutual respect with all countries, including Belgium. Last week, the German Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported citing EU diplomatic service that EU diplomats and military officials had been warned that "approximately 250 Chinese and 200 Russian spies" could be working in the Belgian capital. Sputnik Alleged Third Suspect in Skripal Case Visited Bulgaria in 2015 - Prosecutor Sputnik News 17:03 11.02.2019(updated 17:12 11.02.2019) MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Bulgaria's Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov has said that a third suspect in the Salisbury incident had paid three visits to Bulgaria in 2015, including when Bulgarian businessman Emilian Gebrev was presumably poisoned. "Fedotov entered the territory of Bulgaria three times, on February 5, 2015 and flew on February 22 from the Sofia Airport, the second time he flew to the city of Burgas on April 24, 2015 and again by plane left Bulgaria on April 28, 2015, the third time he flew to Sofia on May 23, 2015 and left the country in a passenger car on May 29, along with another unidentified person," Tsatsarov said at a meeting with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, as quoted by the BGNES news agency. The meeting was also attended by Bulgarian Interior Minister Mladen Marinov and UK Ambassador to the country Emma Hopkins, according to the agency. This comes after last week, the Telegraph newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources, that a third Russian citizen had been allegedly involved in an attempt to poison double agent Sergei Skripal in the UK city of Salisbury. The newspaper suggested that the alleged Russian security officer, using a name Sergei Fedotov, arrived in the country on the same day as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, the two suspects originally accused by London of having a role in the poisoning attack. The third suspect reportedly canceled his flight back to Moscow last minute and could still be staying in the United Kingdom. Later, the Bellingcat blogger group alleged that Fedotov is linked to the presumed poisoning of Gebrev. Gebrev was hospitalized on April 28, 2015 after collapsing at an event in Sofia with symptoms of severe poisoning. His condition later improved and he was released. The businessman then sought assistance from two laboratories specializing in chemical weapons, The Finnish Verifin lab identified one organophosphate in Gebrev's urine as a strong pesticide, while the other proved unidentifiable with the standard testing tools for chemical weapons, the prosecutor general said. The investigation into the incident failed to find perpetrators, however, in 2018, Gebrev sent a letter to Tsatsarov claiming that poison in his case was from the Novichok family, allegedly used in the poisoning of Skripal. The probe was reopened last October, the chief prosecutor stressed. Sofia then sought cooperation from the UK police, but the results of it still could not be disclosed as the investigation is ongoing, Tsatsarov and the UK ambassador said, according to the agency. Gebrev claims that poisoning attack might be linked to his defence industry business, particularly his deliveries of defence equipment to Ukraine or possible interest of Russia in an arms plant that he owns, the Bellingcat reported. Russian Foreign Ministry has dismissed reports about a third suspect in the Skripal case as disinformation. Kremlin said it was unaware whether Bellingcat's reports on links between the Skripal case and the 2015 poisoning in Bulgaria were well-grounded. Sputnik Norway Claims Russia, China Strengthening Intelligence Activities Against Oslo Sputnik News 17:12 11.02.2019 MURMANSK (Russia) (Sputnik) - The Norwegian Intelligence Service believes that Russian and Chinese security services are stepping up reconnaissance activities against the Nordic state, VG newspaper reported on Monday, citing the agency's report. According to VG newspaper, the report suggested that Russia and China might conduct complex offensive operations on the Internet, stressing that the two countries were allegedly continuing to develop their intelligence capacities. The report, in particular, asserted that Russia was increasingly working with so-called fake news as a means of exerting pressure on Oslo. Speaking about the reasons for the Russian and Chinese intelligence services' increased intelligence efforts against Norway, the report suggested that the country interested Beijing and Moscow as an Arctic state. The report's authors specified that they expected the pressure on Norway to continue in 2019. Moreover, the report renewed allegations of Russia impeding the work of the Norwegian Global Positioning System (GPS). Between late October and early November, NATO's Trident Juncture military drills, held in several northern European countries, including Norway and Finland, were overshadowed by several incidents in which pilots reported losing GPS signals. On November 13, the Norwegian Defense Ministry issued a statement blaming Russia for the disruption of GPS navigation signals. Finland also alleged that Russia could be responsible for jamming the signal. Moscow has denied the allegations, and Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has noted the existing trend of accusing Russia of "various deadly sins," saying that such accusations were, as a rule, unfounded. Sputnik Bulgarian Prime Minister, British Envoy Discuss Links Between Skripal, Gebrev Cases By RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service February 11, 2019 The British ambassador to Sofia has discussed with top Bulgarian officials possible links between the 2015 poisoning of a local businessman in Bulgaria and last year's nerve-agent attack on a former Russian spy in Britain. Ambassador Emma Hopkins sat down on February 11 with Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, chief prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov, Interior Minister Mladen Marinov, and the director of the counterintelligence agency DANS, Dimiter Dimitrov. The meeting follows a report alleging that a third suspect in the March 2018 nerve-agent attack on Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, may have also been involved in the poisoning of Bulgarian businessman Emil Gebrev in April 2015. Speaking after the talks, Hopkins said that information about Gebrev's poisoning had been discussed and that London and Sofia had been "closely" coordinating on the case for "several months." Tsatsarov said that the initial investigation into Gebrev's poisoning had found traces of the highly toxic insecticide chlorpyrifos in his coffee and food at his home -- but no substance banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention. A report published on February 7 by the British-based open-source investigation group Bellingcat said that a suspected Russian military intelligence agent, who traveled under the alias Sergei Vyacheslavovich Fedotov, arrived in Bulgaria just days before Gebrev fell into a coma with symptoms of severe poisoning. Bellingcat, along with its Russian partner The Insider, said that Fedotov had also arrived in Britain two days before the Skripals were poisoned. Gebrev, a veteran of the Bulgarian arms industry, survived the poisoning, as did his son and a company executive who were treated with similar symptoms. The Skripals also survived after weeks in critical condition, but Dawn Sturgess, a woman who authorities said came in contact with the poison after her boyfriend found a fake perfume bottle containing it, died in July 2018. British authorities have charged two Russian men identified by Bellingcat as agents of Russia's GRU intelligence services with carrying out the poisoning. Moscow has denied it had any involvement in the Skripal poisoning by the highly toxic nerve-agent Novichok, which led to a series of sanctions against Russia by the West and tit-for-tat diplomatic actions. The Kremlin has also cast doubt on the findings of the new Bellingcat investigation. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/bulgarian-prime- minister-british-envoy-discuss-links-between-skripal -gebrev-cases/29763687.html Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. Estonian Army Officer, Father Jailed For Spying For Russia By RFE/RL February 11, 2019 An Estonian court has found a former army officer and his father guilty of committing treason by spying for Russia. The court in Estonia's capital, Tallinn, ruled on February 11 that 38-year-old Deniss Metsavas -- a major with the Estonian Army -- and his father, 65-year-old Pjotr Volin, sold classified information to Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU. Estonia's State Prosecutor's Office said in a statement on February 11 the court found that Metsavas passed the information for a decade and sentenced him to 15 1/2 years in prison. Volin collaborated with the GRU for approximately half as long and was sentenced to six years in prison. Metsavas served with the Estonian armed forces in various positions including a mission with NATO troops in Afghanistan. Estonia has had several high-profile cases of alleged spying since the country declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Both Estonian and Russian citizens have been accused of providing sensitive information to Moscow. Estonia is now a member of NATO and the European Union. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/estonian -army-officer-father-jailed-for-spying -for-russia/29764178.html Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. Clay Center, KS (67432) Today Mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 97F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy...isolated thunderstorms developing overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 71F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%. Astronomers explain how to carve an asteroid to set up space station News oi-Vishal Kawadkar This will help the astronomers gain more minerals for an asteroid. This might sound like something coming straight out of sci-fi movie, but scientists are actually planning to carve a space station out of an asteroid. How is this going to work? Well, the rocky hull around the station will act as protection against the cosmic radiation that isn't suitable for humans. There are other advantages of using an asteroid station to facilitate the mining operation. For instance, the spin of the asteroid could create enough gravity that would make mining equipment in carving out the interior and obtaining minerals. At least, that's what astrophysicists Thomas I. Maindl, Roman Miksch, and Birgit Loibnegger from the University of Vienna in Austria have concluded in a paper. Working from the inside of an asteroid makes more sense, as it would be hard to start drilling away at the surface to break the thing down. The most important part is hollowing out an asteroid that would weaken its structure enough that it compromises its overall integrity. "The border between science and science fiction here is sort of blurry," said Maindl, in an interview with New Scientist. "My gut feeling is that it will be at least 20 years before any asteroid mining happens, let alone something like this." "If we find an asteroid that's stable enough, we might not need these aluminum walls or anything, you might just be able to use the entire asteroid as a space station," he added. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Nokia 9 PureView specs accidentally revealed by Google ahead of official launch News oi-Sandeep Sarkar Google has accidentally posted the specification of the upcoming premium Nokia 9 smartphone on Android's Enterprise catalog of supported devices. The Mobile World Congress 2019 is a few weeks away and we are definitely going to see a lot of action during the four-day long event. A number of established smartphone brands are expected to launch their upcoming smartphones during the event and some of the brands have already sent out media invites for the same. HMD Global, the Finnish smartphone giant taking care of Nokia branded Android smartphones is also gearing up to launch the flagship Nokia 9 PureView smartphone during the MWC 2019. The Nokia 9 has emerged online numerous times via leaks and rumors revealing the specifications and features which the device will offer. Now, the smartphone's specification has been confirmed by the tech giant Google itself ahead of its official launch. Google has accidentally posted the specification of the upcoming premium Nokia 9 smartphone on Android's Enterprise catalog of supported devices. The catalog listing of the Nokia 9 PureView smartphone showcased the front of the device with the display switched off. Notably, the listing shared accidentally by Google is not any render rather it reveals the specifications of the device; the listing suggests that the device will pack hardware from last year but will be a modern device. The Android Enterprise catalog listing of the upcoming Nokia 9 smartphone was first spotted by Nokiamob and like mentioned earlier it reveals the specifications of the device. The Nokia 9 PureView smartphone will sport a 6-inch display panel and will come with 4GB RAM to take care of the multitasking. The smartphone will offer an internal storage space of 128GB. The smartphone will not feature a "Zero-touch Support" which means that the Enterprise administrators will have limited ability to manage some features on the device remotely. The device will support NFC and fingerprint scanner. Going by the other leaks, the Nokia 9 PureView's key highlight will be its Penta-lens primary rear camera setup accompanied with an LED flash and stacked in a ring shape. The device will have a dual-lens front camera for selfies and video calls. Under the hood, there will be last year's flagship Snapdragon 845 chipset which will be clubbed with 6GB/8GB of RAM and 128GB/256GB on internal storage. 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 Gillette, WY (82718) Today Partly cloudy early followed by scattered thunderstorms this afternoon. High near 85F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers after midnight. Low 56F. S winds shifting to WNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021. John W. Eyster lives in the Edgerton area. He is an adjunct professor assigned with the online/distance education faculty of Viterbo University, LaCrosse. He continues his personal mission supporting democracy/civics education in Wisconsin K-12 schools through Project Citizen, We the People, Discovering Democracy (Milton HS) and WI Academic Decathlon. John is a community blogger and is not a part of The Gazette staff or management. Amid discordant notes from different political quarters and massive backlash in northeastern states, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will table the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which was passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8, seeks to provide citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014. In view of the volatile situation in the northeastern state Manipur, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have been imposed in East and West Imphal districts. As per the orders of the district magistrate, "Section-144 is imposed in Imphal till 12 February 2019 until further orders due to the situation arising out of intense agitation launched by various civil society organisations against the passing of Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha." Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu and his Manipur counterpart N Biren Singh voiced their opposition to the Bill during their meeting with Union Minister Singh here recently, and urged him to not press for the Bill in the Upper House. Replying to the debate on the Bill in the Lok Sabha on January 8, Singh had said: "The Act will not be confined to Assam, migrants can reside in any State; burden of these persecuted migrants will be shared by the whole country." Moving the Bill, the Union Home Minister had clarified: "The beneficiaries of Citizenship Amendment Bill can reside in any state of the country. The burden of these persecuted migrants will be shared by the whole country." "Assam alone would not have to bear the entire burden and the Government of India is committed to giving all help to the State Government and people of Assam," Singh had said. Dispelling the misgivings, Singh had highlighted the discrimination and religious persecution faced by these communities in these countries. They have no place to go to, except India, he said. "The Act will provide relief to persecuted migrants who have come through western borders of the country to states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and other states," he had said. Addressing a rally in Guwahati recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also dispelled apprehensions about the Bill, saying that the rights of the people of Assam and that of other northeastern states would remain intact. -ANI In his Feb. 8 letter to the editor, James Farmer, in discussing our nations political divide, asked me, How can we heal the divisions when we don't hear the truth? What James fails to understand is that our divisions are not caused by a lack of facts, but a lack of judgment. Daniel Patrick Moynihan once famously said, You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts. It is a fact that Donald Trump lies. Its his default position. The fact-checking industry is booming as it attempts to catalog the presidents myriad lies, numbering in the thousands, more than 8,000 to date. As Moynihan granted, we are entitled to our own opinion. And, if James wants to believe all the lies coming from Trump, his minions and hangers-on, he is clearly entitled. But, trying to sell it to critical, well-informed thinkers is a Sisyphian task and a fools errand. Bob Wynhausen Lebanon (Feb. 8) Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The Linn-Benton Chapter of the Pacific Green Party opposes attempts by the Trump administration to foment a coup in Venezuela. This destabilization of Venezuela follows more than a century of North American interference to gain control of natural resources, exploitable land and labor to benefit U.S. corporations in Latin America. Since Hugo Chavezs election in 1999, U.S. administrations have attacked the Venezuelan people through economic sabotage, propaganda and direct support of anti-government resistance groups. Most recently, the U.S. administration urged Juan Guaido, the conservative speaker of Venezuelas parliament, to declare himself president, akin to Nancy Pelosi declaring herself the president of the United States at the urging of a foreign power. There is no constitutional basis for Guaidos claim, nor popular support for the regime change sought by Wall Street and international petroleum conglomerates. If regime change is supported by the majority of Venezuelan voters, let Venezuelans decide that in the next Presidential election. Nicolas Maduro received 68 percent approval in the 2018 presidential election. Outside election monitors certified that the election complied with all international standards and national electoral law. Thanks to Jonathan Hayes for his recent letter clarifying how the urban renewal process works. It was established about 50 years ago in Oregon to provide a mechanism to attract businesses, create jobs, and improve communities. If Corvallis residents would like to see a great example of how urban renewal can revitalize a community, we only have to look to our neighbor to the east, Lebanon. The formerly depressed community was first able to attract businesses with family-wage jobs, such as Entek and Lowe's, and that led to attracting the medical school, the veterans' home, and two Linn-Benton Community College training centers, one for auto mechanics and one for medical training for assisting personnel such as nurses and technicians. Many new small businesses have opened their doors and operate successfully. It is all accomplished without increasing taxes, by generating income from the increase in assessed value due to improvements in the district. Typically, the agency sells bonds to provide for infrastructure and other improvements. The tax funds generated are used to repay the bonds. When the district expires, the new assessed value goes to increase the tax base of all government agencies supported by property tax. Study the proposal. You will find it is a win-win for the entire community. Please vote "yes" on Measure 2-121. When she released her proposed state budget for the two years beginning in July, Gov. Kate Brown didn't include any additional money for higher education but she did express a hope that legislators would be able to push through a $1.9 billion tax increase, and that some of the extra money could be funneled to help hold tuition increases to 5 percent or less. It's possible that part of Brown's strategy on this was to persuade education officials to lobby legislators to support the tax increase. The governor has declined to offer specifics about what sort of tax increase she'd like to see, and has left that task to the Legislature. It's fair to say that some education officials have been, shall we say, cool to Brown's approach: For evidence, look no further than Oregon State University Ed Ray's state of the university speech, delivered last week in Portland. "Under the governor's budget," Ray told a crowd of 700 or so OSU partisans, "universities would be forced to shunt even more costs onto the shoulders of students, and cut staffing and programs even more. Or both." A little later in his remarks in Portland, Ray added this: "I appreciate the governor for seeking new funding, but I must plan the university's operations on what I know, not what I hope legislators and voters might approve at some future date." She continued to work, but they traveled as well, taking long road trips across the country for Moose events and more. On October 13, 1986 and June 7, 1989, Mickeys granddaughters, Lisa and Karen, were born. She was an active member of the Women of the Moose as Deputy Grand Regent from 1982-83, and participated with other organizations such as Cascade Seafarers, American Legion, American Legion Auxiliary, and volunteered at The Cats Meow (Heartland Humane Society Thrift Store) for at least 15 years. Her favorite thing of all was her family, and she was excited when Karen was married to Decker Cleveland on December 16, 2016. She also loved her extended family, and loved visits from her nieces and their children. She loved to shop, to go out to eat, to do arts and crafts such as embroidery, knitting and sewing, and creating and collecting bears and dolls. She adored doing things with her daughter and granddaughters, and especially loved her special pets over the years, Clara, Sgt Tibbs, Nikki, Snookie, and Peanuts (and her great-granddogs, Captain and Addie). She also really loved to have her nails painted bright red, and never forgot a compliment! Mickey Kalinauskas went to Heaven on January 29, 2019 surrounded by her beloved family. She was 94 years old. She will be forever loved and missed by everyone who knew her. The Albany Regional Museums "History Bites at Noon" lecture series will focus on the stories and the history of Albanys fire chiefs on Wednesday. Current Albany Fire Department Chief John Bradner is the presenter, and will share information about some of the citys greatest civil servants. The Albany Fire Department is celebrating 150 of service to the community this year and is doing several public programs in 2019. The Albany Regional Museum also is getting ready to unveil its newest exhibit, Where Theres Smoke, which focuses on the fire department. That display opens on Saturday. History Bites is free and held at the Albany Regional Museum, 136 Lyon St. S. For more information, go to armuseum.com or call 541-967-7122. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Monsters created by the absence of the heart. A space ship made up of candy. Thirteen people in black cloaks with nefarious intentions. A boy with a giant key as a weapon. An unnecessarily complicated plot. And dozens of Disney animated classics to play through. Yep, that is Kingdom Hearts. First released to the masses in 2002, the appeal for the original Kingdom Hearts game was apparent. Who doesnt want to fight evil creatures called Heartless with Donald Duck and Goofy? Add in several worlds based on favorite Disney films that you can traverse in, and Kingdom Hearts was destined to be a hit. However, from there, the appeal became more than playing through your favorite Disney world. Players were drawn by the story and the original characters of Kingdom Hearts. An engaging storyline was still relatively a novelty in video games when the first Kingdom Hearts game was released back in 2002. Whereas the characters and stories of the Disney worlds were mostly the same as they were in the films, the original storyline was surprisingly meaty. From there, the sequels and spin-offs would continue to add more to the story and lore of the first game. The story grew to become increasingly more convoluted and complicated. The complexity of the narrative has become so difficult to grasp that even veteran players of the franchise have a hard time following along with the plot. It also doesnt help that every title in the series is vital to understanding the bigger picture, including some of the cash grab mobile games. Despite that, we all continue going back to the world of Kingdom Hearts. Though the Disney worlds have remained a big appeal for gamers still, there is just something about the complex narrative of the franchise that makes it riveting. Not every fan appreciates the plot, and the story is deeply flawed. But it continues to be the primary source of discussion among fans, and it is something most of us genuinely cherish. Lets go over what makes the plot so unique. Humble Beginnings I maintain the belief that the first Kingdom Hearts game has the best and most clear cut story. You are introduced to the main character Sora, along with his friends Kairi and Riku. They get separated, and Sora starts traveling through the many Disney worlds with Donald and Goofy to find his friends. Along the way, the many Disney worlds begin falling into darkness by creatures called the Heartless, those without hearts. You understand the stakes, Sora has the motivation, and there is the reason why you need to go to each Disney world. Sora may have a similar personality as seen within male leads in traditional Japanese anime, but it is his interactions with his friends that make him enduring. From his budding friendship with Donald and Goofy to his rivalry with Riku, Sora comes across as a protagonist to root for. His innocent romance with Kairi is also what helps drives the plot. Theres the genuine charm in seeing Sora going out of his way trying to save the one person closes to him. The dialogue is generally really cheesy, however, what would you expect from a game all about hearts and darkness? The story also has some compelling moments, a highlight being when Sora temporary loses his ability to use his Keyblade. Based on the franchises initial outing, its no wonder that the first game has resonated with people as strongly as it did. Things Start Getting Muddled Almost immediately after the first games success, the franchise started becoming more complicated and unyielding for newcomers. The first game to be released after Kingdom Hearts I was a Gameboy Advance title called Chain of Memories. Many gamers, including fans, saw Chain of Memories as a trivial spin-off. When Kingdom Hearts II was released, it turns out that Chain of Memories was a vital piece of information to understand the plot of II. Several key antagonists were introduced and promptly slain, in Chain of Memories. Sora ends up losing his memory and ends up in hibernation to recollect the memories he has forgotten. This explains Soras absence at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II, and why he was in a stasis pod. After Kingdom Hearts II, the franchise will continue to release new games that on the surface appear to be nothing more than inconsequential spin-offs; except that couldnt be further from the truth. It didnt help that a lot of these titles were released initially on handhelds rather than on home consoles. The franchise would also start to use nonsensical titles for their games, like Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. It is in 358/2 Days that we learn more about the character Roxas, and his relationship with his two best friends. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep is essentially Kingdom Hearts 0, detailing key info about the events that happened years before Kingdom Hearts I. Birth by Sleep also introduced characters that are important to overall lore of Kingdom Hearts. Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance is essentially a lead in for Kingdom Hearts III. There is also the Kingdom Hearts Union mobile game that also has much-needed lore to understand the franchise. Kingdom Hearts III is almost incomprehensible without knowing the stories in all the previous games in the franchise. The Series Never Loses Heart Despite the series constant need to make things more complicated than it needs to be, which includes convoluted plot points and making every game in the series a vital piece in a larger puzzle, fans continue to be fascinated by the franchises story. Even when the series takes it time to talk about the existentialism of what a heart is, and how Sora always win with the cheesiest thing like the power of friendship, we all keep coming back to this universe. Thats because underneath all the clutter is a genuine story about the connections you make with people. The juxtaposition between the dark storylines in the main plot and the cheery plot in the Disney worlds creates a unique narrative, something unique. While it may seem silly to want to see Disney characters like Mickey Mouse talk about serious things, the Kingdom Hearts franchise makes it work strangely. It also helps that theres a lot of pathos within the story, particularly among the characters. Even if you dont understand the ins and outs of the Kingdom Hearts lore, the emotional journeys among the characters are palpable. Roxas admitting to himself that his summer vacation is over in Kingdom Hearts II is a powerful, yet very subtle moment in the franchise. It symbolizes the end of innocence and emphasizes how tragic a character Roxas is. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is secretly (or not so secretly) a tragedy. 358/2 made me cry because I sincerely cared about the characters, and I was upset by their circumstances. Birth by Sleep has a similarly tragic story played among the leads, ending with all three main characters in unfortunate situations. The inherently tragic nature of Kingdom Hearts is what makes the happy moments, and even the cheesy moments, feel more worth it. It is one thing to have Sora beat the big bads, and save everyone with the power of friendship. It is another thing for Sora to save his friends from their sad fates. This is why many fans so desperately wanted to get their hands on Kingdom Hearts III; it is not just to experience the fantastic gameplay, but to also see what happens to our favorite characters. No matter what I write, I know a great many people will never care, or even like the story in Kingdom Hearts games. Which is fine, not everyone needs to love everything. Even I have issues with the stories; I mainly do not like the narrative in Birth by Sleep, and certain aspects in Kingdom Hearts III frustrate me because of how inconsistent it is with the rest of the series. However, I want readers to understand why the series has meant so much to so many people. Fans around the world cried while playing Kingdom Hearts III, and I dont blame. And even if you dont get Kingdom Hearts, you too shouldnt blame fans for being so emotionally invested in the franchise. Galveston, TX (77553) Today Cloudy early with peeks of sunshine expected late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 89F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy. Low 83F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Photo: Contributed Highway 1 near Revelstoke will be a little safer once a highway project is complete. A tender has been issued to improve safety and capacity on the Trans-Canada Highway, by widening it to four lanes and upgrading the existing brake check. The Illecillewaet four-laning project will widen two kilometres of Highway 1, approximately 42 kilometres east of Revelstoke. The brake-check area will be expanded to accommodate up to 15 trucks from the current five-truck capacity. Acceleration and deceleration lanes will be added to improve safety for trucks entering or leaving the brake check. Construction is expected to start in the spring. The project is estimated to cost $62.9 million, with the Government of Canada contributing up to $15.5 million through the Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component of the New Building Canada Fund and the Province providing the remaining $47.4 million. This is the first of several upgrade projects on the Trans Canada between Kamloops and Alberta to be built using a Community Benefits Agreement. Community benefits will include job and training opportunities for people in the local area and will increase the participation of apprentices and workers traditionally under-represented in the construction trades, such as Indigenous peoples, women and people with disabilities. A celebration of life for Barabra Zackery, 79, of Gainesville, will be held at a later date. A full obituary will be published when service times have been scheduled. Barbara passed away on June 15, 2021 in Gainesville. You may sign the online registry at www.geojcarroll.com. Thanks to doctors, nurses and staff members at MWH I recently had a serious illness that required a five-day stay in Mary Washington Hospital. First off, my highest praise to the emergency room, trauma and infectious disease doctors and their staffs who saved me from losing some parts. I also have to give great praise to the nursing staff on 5 South. They and the CNAs gave me the best care ever. Some of the folks who never get credit are food servers and house keepers. They were very polite and respectful. Thank you for your service. And once again, I was sent home with a Mary Washington health care nurse, Susan Crane. I mention this because on 5 South, I had some young new nurses who reminded me of Susan. You can tell they are interested in doing a good job and not just looking for a paycheck. In this day and time, a work ethic is everything. Some members of our younger generation either were not taught that, just dont care, or dont have the passion for their job like Susan Crane has. When I saw these young nurses desire to help me, I immediately thought of Susan because she displays that desire every day. Thank you all for all that you do. Neal Pearce Stafford AS PARTISAN wrangling in Washington continues, hamstringing the essential functions of the federal government, the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginiathe oldest legislative body in the United States, currently observing its 400th anniversaryis getting things done. Virginias legislature is in session for a mere 45 days this year, but is nonetheless finding the political will to pass vital legislation to address one of our most vulnerable populations: children in foster care. While Virginias legislature has as deep a partisan divide as Washington, legislators have long been able to work together to accomplish important goals. Its called the Virginia Way of governing. I know that by working together, we can protect our most vulnerable children and support the families who desperately want to love them. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services, Im proud to say that Virginia is one of the first states to begin to overhaul its child welfare system in response to a new federal law, passed as part of the spending bill signed by President Trump in February 2018. Photo: Pixabay He ran, but he couldn't hide from the long arm of the law. Salmon Arm RCMP have arrested a man wanted on several warrants after he fled from police twice. Staff Sgt. Scott West said police attempted to pull over a vehicle in the Shuswap community only to have the driver flee from police on two occasions. The vehicle was finally located in the Notch Hill area where it had gone into a ditch on snow-covered roads. It was obvious that two persons fled from the vehicle and the tracks were followed with RCMP officers and a police dog unit. After a lengthy track with the police dog, a male was located attempting to hide from police, said West. The male who is not known to be from Salmon Arm had warrants for his arrest from Kamloops, Merritt, and Vancouver. The arrest warrants were for obstructing a police officer, fail to comply with recognizance, assault police officer, possession of stolen property over $5000 and obstruction of a police officer. A female was arrested near the scene but was later released. The Salmon Arm RCMP continue their investigation into items located in the vehicle. Is Governor Andrew Cuomo Running for President? See reasons why below, and see...Pro-Lifer Leader Rebuke Cuomo, and Predict his run for President Contact: Randall Terry, 904-826-9989 SYRACUSE, N.Y., Feb. 12, 2019 /Christian Newswire/ -- Pro-life leader Randall Terry, and dozens of pro-life activists are taking to the streets in multiple cities across New York State. See stories below. Randall Terry, Founder of Operation Rescue, explains how and why Andrew Cuomo is planning to run for President. What follows are stories of the Christ, Cuomo, and Satan Tour. See all cities in tour at www.RandallTerry.com The Buffalo News - buffalonews.com/2019/02/11/randall-terry-back-in-buffalo-to-start-statewide-anti-cuomo-tour/ Batavia Daily News - www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP8RELa3FW4&feature=youtu.be Cuomo will run on: Open immigration (sanctuary cities, amnesty, and no wall); Single Payer health Care; "Abortion Rights" (AKA Child-killing); A leading Governor for Homosexual Marriage and "LGBT rights;" Keeping the Supreme Court in Liberal Hands; "Clean Energy" - he abolished fracking in New York State; He will call himself a "New Progressive." He defies the Catholic Church...he will run as "anti-religious right;" He is part of a massive redistribution of wealth (Socialism) in New York State. Cuomo will run - appealing to young voters, and fresh faces in politics such as Alexandria Ocasio Cortez - explains to them that he is a Chief Executive who has shown the nation what great "social justice governance" looks like. He will position himself as the man who has actually accomplished what Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Corrie Booker only talk about. Cuomo will declare that he knows how to govern, and he can "prove it," with his record in New York. "Mark my words, Andrew Cuomo is running for President. It is our duty to expose him for what he is - a baby killing, evil man, unfit for the Presidency." -- Randall Terry Hong Kong: CE lauds staff at control points Chief Executive Carrie Lam praised staff at boundary control points for handling the heavy passenger flow during the Lunar New Year. Speaking to the media before todays Executive Council meeting, Mrs Lam said more than seven million passengers passed through Hong Kongs control points in the past week, with 1.19 million passengers recorded on February 7. Single-day passenger records were also set at control points for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link during the festive period, she said. Mrs Lam thanked relevant government departments and other organisations for ensuring the smooth operation of the citys control points and maintaining good order at tourist spots. With the Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point to be commissioned this year and the further development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the Chief Executive encouraged government departments to use technology to handle an increasing number of passengers in the future. This story has been published on: 2019-02-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. The Better Business Bureau of Central Virginia is warning consumers to be on the lookout for scammers offering supposed sales and discounts on name-brand products. Scammers have recently been targeting consumers on social media with misleading ads for sales that claim to offer deeply discounted name brand products. How the Scam Works: In scrolling through social media you notice an advertisement that offers name brand shoes, clothes, or electronics for a great price. One ad promotes discounts of up to 95% off! If you click on the ad or type in the promoted URL itll lead you to a shop the deals website. If you then purchase over the internet, beware the results. Scammers either never intended to send you a product or the product they send is not the item and/or the quality promised. They simply steal your credit card information when you are prompted to pay. In other versions, the phony sites can download malware onto your computer and give scammers access to your personal information, password history, and more. "Borrowers would never have to pay more than 10 percent of their income that is not needed for necessities," Alexander told the audience. "And if a borrower loses his or her job and doesn't make enough to make a payment, they would not pay anything, and it would not hurt their credit score." Alexander gave several examples of how the proposal could work for borrowers. Take an engineering graduate with $28,500 in debt and a starting salary of $60,000. The first $18,735 would be untouched, leaving about $41,000 in discretionary income. Therefore, her student loan payments would be about $343 a month. If this borrower never gets a raise, she will pay back her loan in nine years. Say that same woman attended community college instead, amassed $7,500 in student debt and dropped out after the first year. If she earns $20,000 a year with a discretionary income of almost $1,200, she could expect to pay $120 a month. Anything she owes after 20 years would be forgiven. "Under this payment system, students will have a manageable payment. Most will completely pay off their loans, which is good for the student and good for the taxpayer," Alexander said. "And it should end the nightmare that many students have worrying how they're going to pay off their student loans." We welcome your letters and columns! Use the button below to send us your thoughts. Remember: Letters must include your real name, town of residence and daytime phone number, which we use for verification. We do not accept anonymous letters or letters written under a pseudonym. Letters should be no more than about 400 words. Those of no more than 200 to 300 words are more likely to be published. Submit Photo: VPD Police are searching for a federal sex offender who failed to return to his Vancouver halfway house. Joseph Davis, 47, a fourth-time federal offender, was serving a four-year sentence for sexual assault. Davis was on release under a long-term supervision order and failed to return for his evening curfew Monday night. A Canada-wide warrant has been issued for his arrest. Davis is described as Caucasian, five feet eight inches tall, 178 pounds with short, blond hair, blue eyes, and numerous tattoos on his arms. He was last seen wearing a black rain jacket, blue jeans, work boots and carrying a small backpack. Call 911 immediately if you see him or have information about his whereabouts. Scooters Coffee Adds First Coffee Drive-Thru Location to Burlington, IA New Store to Celebrate Grand Opening February 18 - 22 February 12, 2019 // Franchising.com // Burlington, IA - Scooters Coffee, the Midwest-based coffee franchise that has experienced tremendous growth over the past year, added its first location in Burlington, IA, with the companys latest opening at 1728 N Roosevelt Avenue. To celebrate, the location will be hosting a Grand Opening Week February 18-22. We are thrilled that the Burlington community has already welcomed us with open arms, stated Mike Rogers, Chief Operating Officer of Scooters Coffee. We are very excited that we have the opportunity to bring our world-class coffee to this new market. During the Grand Opening Week, customers can expect to receive a variety of offers that include: Monday, February 18 - Half Off Caramelicious Tuesday, February 19 - Half Off Mocha or White Mocha Wednesday, February 20 - Half Off Fruit Smoothies Thursday, February 21 - Half Off Candy Bar Drinks Friday, February 22: 10 a.m. - First 100 customers will receive a free $5 gift card with purchase 1 p.m. - First 50 customers will receive a free Scooters Coffee tumbler with purchase 4 p.m. - First 50 customers will receive a free Scooters Coffee t-shirt with purchase The new location is owned by Jeremy and Katie Music. We are very excited to bring Scooters Coffee to Burlington!, said Jeremy. We felt that Burlington needed a convenient location for coffee lovers on the north side of town, and we have been overwhelmed with the outpouring of support from the community. Scooters Coffee serves coffee, smoothies, tea, blenders, iced drinks, pastries and more. In addition, the brand offers a mobile app. The app allows customers to quickly pay for purchases by scanning a barcode linked to a registered Scooters Coffee gift card. The app also includes a loyalty program and other features. Acting as a digital punch card, customers earn smiley faces when they use the app for purchases, then can redeem their smiley faces for a free drink after collecting 12. In addition, the app will enable customers to access special offers, view the nearest locations, browse the full Scooters Coffee menu and track purchases. In line with their successful and robust grand opening strategy, Scooters Coffee recently opened five locations throughout Kansas and Missouri, opened the second of many locations in Arkansas and is opening additional locations in markets such as Phoenix, Arizona; Rapid City, South Dakota; Dallas, Texas; and Las Vegas, Nevada. Scooters Coffee is a drive-thru franchise that has been serving world-class coffee for 20 years. It roasts only the finest beans, and it makes that first-morning sip convenient and rewarding for its customers across the nation. Scooters Coffee has over 200 locations in 14 states and has over 175 franchise commitments to build new stores. To find out why Scooters Coffee is among the best coffee franchises in the nation and to learn more about franchise opportunities, visit ownascooters.com. About Scooters Coffee Founded in 1998 by Don and Linda Eckles in Bellevue, Nebraska, Scooters Coffee roasts only the finest coffee beans in the world at its headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska. In more than two decades of business, Scooters Coffees success is simple: stay committed to the original business principles and company core values. The Scooters Coffee Brand Promise, often recited to franchisees, customers and employees is: Amazing People, Amazing Drinks Amazingly Fast! It represents the companys business origins from 1998 and reflects a steady commitment to providing an unforgettable experience to loyal and new customers. Scooters Coffee specializes in hand-tamped espresso drinks, fruit smoothies, baked-from-scratch pastries and features its signature drink, the Caramelicious. The company also serves a line of hot and iced organic teas, single-origin coffee and the original Cold Brew & Cream. This year, one of Scooters Coffees drink innovations includes Red Bull Infusions. Scooters Coffee is at the dawn of a strategic growth phase in the Midwest and nationwide. The U.S. coffee market is an estimated $48 billion a year recession-resistant industry, and Scooters Coffee is striving to become the #1 drive-thru coffee franchise in the nation. Visit ownascooters.com to learn more about the benefits of owning a franchise of a well-established company. For more information, visit scooterscoffee.com, facebook.com/scooterscoffee, ownascooters.com or call 877-494-7004. SOURCE Scooters Coffee ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Mosquito Shield Franchise Corporation surges into 2019 Leader in residential mosquito and tick control celebrates growth at annual Owners Meeting North Attleboro, MA - February 11, 2019 - // GLOBE NEWSWIRE // - Mosquito Shield Franchise Corporation honored its successful franchisees and announced new initiatives for 2019 at its recent annual Owners Meeting. The event was held at the Melia Resort in Nassau, Bahamas from Jan. 20 through Jan. 24. Highlights of the four-day retreat included: Celebrating two more members of the organizations vaunted Million Dollar Club which recognizes sales over $1 million Successfully serving over 20,000 customers across the country in 2018 Opening up five more regions for expansion and territory opportunities. As the leader in residential mosquito and tick control services, Mosquito Shield has now grown to more than 55 franchises in 26 states. In 2019, the company will expand operations in the Dallas / Fort Worth region while also offering franchise opportunities in Atlanta, Virginia Beach, Delaware, and South Carolina. Our annual meeting offers us a great opportunity to get feedback and share best practices between franchisees, said Michael Moorhouse, Vice President of Franchise Development. Recognizing the leaders in our system also serves to motivate the entire franchise system. We are ready to go for 2019. Mosquito Shield offers mosquito control and tick control services throughout the country, delivering effective solutions, professional service, and guaranteed results to a rapidly growing base of satisfied customers. Founded in 2001, Mosquito Shield addresses the need for an effective and affordable residential mosquito and tick treatment. The company developed Mosquito Protection Barrier (MPB), a patent pending spray that rids properties of the existing mosquito population and builds a barrier around that property for a virtually mosquito-free environment. MPB includes FlexBlend, the industrys only intelligent spray-blend technology. Mosquito Shield Franchise Corporation began operations in 2013 and in 2017 completed its first major acquisition by entering into an agreement with Green Home Solutions to acquire its residential mosquito and tick control franchises. Also in 2017, Mosquito Shield Franchise Corporation was named one of Entrepreneurs Top New Franchises. The designation came in the April 2017 edition of Entrepreneur Magazine. The list recognizes the top 100 companies that have been franchising for five years or less, based on data submitted for Entrepreneurs Franchise 500 ranking. The company also earned Top 50 Franchise Satisfaction awards from Franchise Business Review in 2015 and 2016. Media Contact: Michael Moorhouse Mosquito Shield 508.316.3429 michael@moshield.com SOURCE Mosquito Shield ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Shale Remien reports on the alarming state statistic: South Carolina comes in at #6 in the country's deadliest domestic homicides. We speak to local experts, victims, and even policitians about what is being done to help the number drop. (February 11, 2019) GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) - Troopers with the South Carolina Highway Patrol said one person has died and another is in the hospital after a crash in Greenville County. ASHEVILLE, NC (FOX Carolina)- The North Carolina Department of Public Safety says that the Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice is searching for an offender that was serving part of his sentence outside of prison Thirty-three years after a child went missing in Nevada, the mother has been arrested in Palm Beach County. Photo: The Canadian Press Retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who became a prominent gun-control advocate after his wife, former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was shot in a failed assassination attempt, announced Tuesday he will run to finish John McCain's last term in the U.S. Senate. Kelly, 54, is a top Democratic recruit to take on Republican Martha McSally in one of the most closely contested Senate races of the 2020 election. McSally is a former Republican congresswoman who was appointed to McCain's seat last year after she narrowly lost to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. McSally leaned heavily on her record as the first woman to fly a combat mission as a fighter pilot, but she was hurt by her embrace of President Donald Trump. If Kelly is nominated, the race would pit a Navy veteran and astronaut against a trailblazing Air Force pilot in the contest to replace McCain, a legendary Navy flyer who was famously shot down and held captive. The 2020 election will decide who finishes the last two years of McCain's term. The winner would have to run again for a full six-year term in 2022. Democrats are eagerly watching the Arizona contest, having already defeated McSally in a Senate race just a few months ago. The party is also gauging whether Arizona could be competitive at the presidential level in 2020. Kelly has never held elected office. A retired Navy captain, he flew combat missions from an aircraft carrier during the first Gulf War before becoming an astronaut along with his twin brother, Scott Kelly. He flew four space missions between 2001 and 2011. Kelly and Giffords have for years pushed Congress to enact gun control measures with little success. They shifted their focus to state legislatures in recent years, helping to strengthen background checks and domestic violence protections, among other modest protections. Giffords was severely wounded in a mass shooting on Jan. 8, 2011. The shooting at a Giffords meet-and-greet event outside a grocery store in Tucson left six dead and 13 injured. Shooter Jared Loughner was sentenced to life in prison. Dorthea M. Scott, 65, of Las Vegas was sentenced to 12 to 36 in prison for medicaid fraud by a U.S. District Court judge. Please either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. (CNN) -- A federal jury in New York has found Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera guilty of all 10 criminal counts against him, including the top charge of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison. The jury of eight women and four men deliberated roughly 34 hours over 6 days. Guzman, 61, faced 10 counts, including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to launder narcotics proceeds, international distribution of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and other drugs, and use of firearms. He has pleaded not guilty and could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted. Over the course of two and a half months, a jury of eight women and four men in Brooklyn federal court heard testimony about unspeakable torture and ghastly murders, epic corruption at nearly every level of Mexico's government, narco-mistresses and naked subterranean escapes, gold-plated AK-47s and monogrammed, diamond-encrusted pistols. The prosecution's case featured 200 hours of testimony from 56 witnesses. Fourteen of those witnesses -- mostly admitted drug traffickers and cartel associates -- were cooperating with prosecutors in hopes of reducing their own prison sentences. There were also surveillance photos, intercepted phone calls and text messages involving Guzman, as well as exhibits of blingy firepower and bricks of cocaine that dropped with the force of potato sacks. In contrast, defense attorneys called just one witness and focused on undermining the credibility of cooperating witnesses. Defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said these witnesses had "lied every day of their lives -- their miserable, selfish lives." Guzman, once listed on Forbes' Billionaires List, has long been a slippery and near-mythical figure. He escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001 in a laundry cart and again in 2015 through a tunnel. After he was recaptured in 2016, he was extradited to the US to face American federal charges. The-CNN-Wire & 2019 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved. When you buy your favorite Girl Scout Cookies, you can also send a taste of home to troops serving overseas. You can donate through the Girl Scouts' "Operation Cookie Care Package"! Here's how you can participate: Giving back is in the Girl Scout DNA, and this year Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama (GSSA) is giving back through Operation Cookie Care Package (OCCP). OCCP is a program through which customers make donations to Girl Scout Troops to purchase Girl Scout Cookies for our brave military troops. When the Girl Scout Cookie Program ends on March 3, GSSA will place a special order. Those cookies will be delivered to the designated military organizations, such as the USO and also local military branches. The Girl Scout Cookie Program allows girls to develop five essential skills, such as goal setting, decision-making, money management, people skills, and business ethics. However, in addition to those skills, OCCP allows Girl Scouts to learn how to give back to those who give so much our armed forces. To find Girl Scouts selling cookies near you or to donate, visit girlscoutssa.org/cookies, use the official Cookie Finder app, or call 800-239-6636. FOX10 News is committed to letting you know about job openings in our area. A job fair was held Monday for people looking for a position in the marine trades industry. The maritime career fair was held at GulfQuest. Employers like Austal, Ingalls Shipyard, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were among those on hand looking to fill positions. Students from academies at B.C. Rain High School were also there to learn about future careers opportunities. Carlene Gagnon the Exhibit Educator at GulfQuest said, "Even though these might be companies that do do a lot of welding and other vocations, trades, they also need human resources representatives, they need graphic designers, they need accountants just as much as they need welders." Amanda Prowell, B.C Rain Signature Academy Specialist, said, "Our students are greatly interested because they're seeing that there are opportunities available for them upon graduation, because not all students want to go to a two year or four year college. A lot of them want to enter the workforce and this gives them the opportunity to integrate with business and industry and gain those employment opportunities." Also on hand were trade schools and military recruiters. Faith in Action Alabama held a community meeting Monday night pushing for a public defender's office in Mobile County. They say they want everyone to have the best legal representation possible and it shouldn't matter whether they have the money for it or not. Marvin Lue said the biggest problem has been getting government funding for it. "What we want to do is level the playing field and introduce a program that will enable the county to supply accurate effective legal representation for the least, lost and left behind, he said. As of now there is no plan to actually create one, but they're hoping to get community support for one. Roger Lynn Holliman, Sr., 62, of Lucedale, pleaded guilty on Monday, February 11 to two counts of sexual battery. According to authorities, the crimes occurred on or between August 1, 2014 and April 30, 2015 near Leakesville. Holliman is the grandfather of the victim, who was eight years old when the abuse began. During the investigation, two other granddaughters of similar ages were also discovered to have been abused by Holliman. He confessed to the crimes. The Greene County Sheriffs Department investigated the case. Judge Kathy King Jackson sentenced Holliman on the two counts of Sexual Battery (to run concurrently) to Forty (40) years to serve, day for day, in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, a fine of $1500, $100 to the crime victims compensation fund, and all costs of court. He will also have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life upon release from prison. District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath stated, The sexual abuse of these children at the hands of their grandfather is unimaginable and these children should be commended for bravely coming forward. One cannot fathom the courage it takes for a child to tell about being abused. Our children, the most innocent and vulnerable members of society, deserve to be safe in the care of their family members. "Childhood sexual abuse steals youthful innocence and affects the child for the rest of their life. The depravity of the abuse in this case warrants this 40 year day for day sentence. I hope this sentence sends a message to child predators that they are not going to get away with abusing our kids. My office will continue to prosecute child predators to the fullest extent of the law. Assistant District Attorney George Huffman stated, The damage that this defendant has done to his entire family, particularly his young grandchildren, may never heal. However, I hope the knowledge that the defendant will never be free to hurt another child aids in the healing process. I commend the bravery of these young victims in coming forward with their abuse. I also commend the efforts of the Greene County Sheriffs Office to see that justice was served in this case. Photo: The Canadian Press Molson Coors Brewing Co. says it has restated its financial results for 2016 and 2017 due to income tax accounting errors. The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says for 2016 it understated its deferred tax liability and income tax expense which resulted in an overstatement of its net income by US$399.1 million. However, Molson Coors says the deferred tax liability required revaluation in 2017 due to U.S. tax changes and that resulted in an overstatement of its income tax expense and understatement of its net income of $151.4 million for the year. The restated results came as the company reported a fourth-quarter profit of $76.0 million or 35 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31 compared with a profit of $716.9 million or $3.31 per diluted share a year earlier. Net sales totalled $2.42 billion, down from $2.58 billion. Molson Coors says its underlying profit for the quarter amounted to 84 cents per diluted share, up from 62 cents per share a year earlier. A 40-year-old child sex abuse case in South Carolina has resulted in the arrest of a youth pastor in Elmore, Alabama. The suspect is also accused of sexually abusing a minor while living in Baldwin County in 1974. The alleged victim in that case reached out to Robertsdale Police last October and an investigation was started. Two other victims were identified, living in South Carolina and authorities there are now pursuing charges. Investigators believe 63-year-old Peter William Cooper sexually abused at least three young girls in Baldwin County and two South Carolina counties between 1974 and 1976. Investigators caught up with Cooper last week in Elmore County, Alabama and was extradited back to Spartanburg, South Carolina to face charges there on one of those cases. It all began with the first alleged victim contacting Robertsdale Police. Once we had this case put together, we consulted with the Baldwin County District Attorneys Office and they researched it and unfortunately found that we could not prosecute this case because of the laws being different and the statute of limitations at that time, explained Lt. Rex Bishop with Robertsdale Police. South Carolina had no statute of limitations law in effect in 1976 when the alleged assault happened there. Police said Cooper was a youth intern pastor at a church there and the offense happened at the victims home during a bible study. Investigators said Cooper admitted he apologized to the women after they found and confronted him through social media, but that he couldnt remember all the details of the encounters. Robertsdale Police said Cooper was living there in 1974 and was volunteering as a youth minister at a local church. In the Baldwin County case, investigators said the alleged assault was not associated with the church or through his volunteer work there. Investigators said its rare a case as old as this one finds resolution and commend the victim for coming forward more than four decades later. Once she found and once she decided she had the courage to come forward, and she started looking into social media events and found that he was still involved with activities around children, it became very important to her to make sure that she protected anyone else from becoming a victim, Bishop said. Investigators are hoping that if there are any other alleged victims of Peter Cooper, they will now come forward. For now, Cooper is being charged for Lewd Act on a Minor in South Carolina since that was the applicable law in 1976. Alabamas laws have since changed and there is no longer a statute of limitations on sex crimes here. SPARTANBURG, SC (FOX Carolina) - An Alabama man has been arrested and extradited to South Carolina after a sex crime that took place during a Bible study in Spartanburg County back in 1976, according to the Spartanburg County Sheriffs Office. Lt. Kevin Bobo said deputies began investigating in October 2018 after a special victims unit investigator received a call from an investigator with the Robertsdale Police Department in Alabama. That agency had received a complaint about possible sexual abuse but was unable to charge the suspect. The alleged sexual abuse involved at least three victims, one of whom still resides in Spartanburg County. Our investigator also learned the suspect was a youth intern pastor at Central Church of Christ in Spartanburg in 1976, and that the offense occurred at the victims former residence during a bible study, Bobo said. The three victims told deputies they had reached out to the suspect, Peter William Cooper, 63, on social media and that he apologized to them. The Spartanburg County Sheriffs Office sent an investigator to Alabama to speak to Cooper and, per Bobo, Cooper stated he didnt remember all the details but admitted apologizing to the victims. After leaving Spartanburg County, deputies learned Cooper had primarily been employed at churches in Alabama. When she got back to Spartanburg, our investigator discussed the case with the Solicitors Office and then a magistrate, who approved a warrant on the suspect for lewd act on a minor, since that was the applicable law in 1976, Bobo stated. According to the arrest warrant, Cooper reached under a 13-year-olds dress and groped her while she was playing the piano during a Bible study at the victims home. Cooper was arrested in Alabama last week and extradited to South Carolina on Sunday. Central Church of Christ sent their members a letter back in November after learning of the allegations against Cooper. Bobo said one of the other three victims was reportedly abused in Greenville County and that deputies with the Greenville County Sheriffs Office has launched an investigation as well. Deputies are asking anyone else who may have been a victim of Cooper to come forward. Since this case is the third one in less than a week involving pastors and sex offenses, our special victims unit would strongly encourage any other victims of these 3 suspects or any other suspects to come forward, especially since South Carolina doesnt have a statute of limitations, Bobo said. It hasn't taken long for Aurora Cannabis (NASDAQ:ACB) to become one of the budding giants of the marijuana industry. With its extensive growth capacity, its voracious appetite for acquisitions, and its name and brand awareness among consumers, Aurora consistently ranks among the top prospects for cannabis stocks. Coming into Monday's fiscal second-quarter financial report, Aurora investors were looking forward to seeing substantial gains in revenue. Yet they weren't sure how those numbers would translate on the bottom line, and they wanted to see signs that Aurora is looking at ways to boost long-term profitability. Aurora's report was mixed on that front, and despite expected sales increases, there's still uncertainty about whether Aurora's future strategic direction will be the best for shareholders. How Aurora moved forward Aurora Cannabis' fiscal second-quarter results showed just how complex cannabis company financials are right now. Net revenue came in at 54.2 million Canadian dollars, which was up 83% from the fiscal first quarter and more than quadruple what the cannabis company had in sales in the year-earlier period. However, Aurora reported a monumental loss of CA$237.8 million, with mark-to-market adjustments for its derivative cannabis investments contributing about CA$190 million to the company's red ink. Aurora had good news with its production capacity. The company said it produced more than 7,800 kilos of cannabis during the quarter, up 57% from three months ago and more than six times what it produced a year ago. Similarly, kilos sold rose to nearly 7,000, with the rollout of recreational cannabis in Canada contributing considerably to Aurora's distribution. Sales to the Canadian consumer market represented about 40% of Aurora's overall revenue for the period, with medical marijuana sales making up most of the remainder of the company's cannabis-related sales. However, Aurora saw some pressures on the cost front. Average cash cost of dried cannabis jumped by nearly a third to CA$1.92 per gram, with the company citing higher expenses related to the ramp-up of the Aurora Sky facility in Edmonton and the regulatory costs connected to the launch of recreational cannabis throughout Canada. Aurora tried to reassure investors that this increase should be temporary, and cost savings should result from the optimization of new production facilities as they come fully online. CEO Terry Booth was happy with the way the company performed during the period. "Aurora continues to execute strongly across all of its market segments," Booth said, and "our brands continue to resonate extremely well in the consumer market." The CEO also pointed to international market opportunities as well as the recent MedReleaf acquisition as key components of Aurora's long-term growth strategy. Can Aurora shine brighter? Aurora has high hopes for the future. As Booth puts it: With our strong performance in the Canadian medical and consumer markets, our early mover advantage in a growing list of important international markets, together with our leadership in high-quality, CBD-rich hemp production, Aurora is strategically positioned across the entire cannabis industry value chain to further extend our rapid growth. Aurora pointed to a large number of new supply agreements to expand its international scope. Exports to Poland, Luxembourg, Mexico, the U.K., and the Czech Republic were the latest in what is now an operation that touches almost two dozen countries worldwide. At the same time, acquisitions have played a key role, and further mergers both during and after the fiscal second quarter show Aurora's commitment to growing by all available means. Yet some investors aren't entirely certain Aurora Cannabis is taking the optimal approach toward the industry. Unlike other major players like Canopy Growth and Cronos Group, Aurora has yet to make any major partnership or collaboration agreement with a large company in the consumer goods or healthcare space, and some fear the lack of support could put Aurora at a competitive disadvantage to its rivals. Aurora shareholders didn't seem all that excited by the news, and the stock traded down as much as 5% in pre-market trading Tuesday following the late-Monday announcement. That's a minor move in the context of the big jump that Aurora shares enjoyed in January, but it'll be interesting to see whether the stock can regain its positive momentum once investors have a chance to digest the financial and business performance that the cannabis giant has achieved and assess its potential for future growth. Check out the latest earnings call transcripts for companies we cover. Shares of gold mining stocks Goldcorp (NYSE:GG), Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO), and Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) rose 14%, 20%, and 30%, respectively, in January, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. With the price of gold climbing 3.46% in January, it comes as little surprise that all three mining stocks also rose last month. In all three cases, however, investors were moved to pick up shares for reasons that outshine a rise in the price of the metal. Let's dig in deeper and see what other forces were at play. For Goldcorp, a golden acquisition In one of the gold industry's most notable news stories last month, Goldcorp announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement with Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) in which Newmont will acquire all outstanding shares of Goldcorp's common stock in a deal valued at $10 billion. Newmont will acquire each Goldcorp share for 0.3280 of a Newmont share, representing a 17% premium based on the companies' 20-day volume weighted average share prices. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2019 and has already been approved by both companies' boards of directors. Over the next two years, the newly formed entity, Newmont Goldcorp, is targeting divestitures of $1 billion to $1.5 billion in an attempt to optimize gold production and achieve a consistent annual level of 6 million to 7 million ounces. For some context, Newmont and Goldcorp reported gold production of 5.3 million ounces and 2.6 million ounces, respectively, in 2017. According to the company's press release, the transaction is expected to generate up to $100 million in annual pre-tax synergies. Check out the latest Newmont earnings call transcript. Investors also responded favorably to Goldcorp's announcement of its preliminary Q4 2018 earnings and its 2019 outlook. Exceeding its guidance, Goldcorp achieved Q4 gold production of 630,000 ounces, and it expects to report all-in sustaining costs (AISC) for 2018 of $850 per gold ounce, which is in line with guidance. In the coming year, Goldcorp expects to achieve gold equivalent production of 3.3 million ounces to 3.7 million ounces -- an increase over the 3 million ounces it expects to report for 2018; moreover, it forecasts 2019 AISC per gold ounce between $750 and $850. Eldorado talks Turkey, and 2019 Shrugging off Eldorado's mid-January announcement of its 2018 gold production and preliminary cash costs, investors responded to the company's update on the Kisladag gold mine in Turkey as well as its gold production and financial guidance for 2019. In Q1 2018, Eldorado's management chose to suspend operations at Kisladag so it could examine processing options. After several months of evaluation, management decided to advance a mill project at Kisladag, and according to the company's press release, since the advancement of the mill project, "gold recovery from the leach pad increasingly exceeded expectations." Moreover, management believes that the resumption of mining and heap leaching at Kisladag will provide the company with the flexibility to shore up its balance sheet in 2019. Regarding the company's three-year outlook, management guided for gold production in each of the next three years to be higher than the 349,147 ounces it achieved in 2018, and AISC lower than the $990 per gold ounce, which it booked in 2018. From 2019 to 2021, Eldorado foresees average annual gold production between 420,000 and 450,000 ounces, and it forecasts average annual AISC per gold ounce between $867 and $967. Yamana's 2018 was paved in yellow brick, and the road ahead may be the same Rushing to pick up shares in the second half of the month, investors celebrated Yamana Gold's mid-January presentation, which provided preliminary financial figures for 2018 and a glittering glimpse into 2019. According to management, the company will report gold equivalent ounces (GEO) production that exceeds expectations. Whereas management had originally guided for GEO production of 1.013 million ounces, it now expects to report GEO production of 1.041 million ounces -- a 16.7% increase over the 892,000 ounces that it reported in 2017. And thanks to improved efficiencies at Chapada in Brazil and other mine sites, management expects to generate a wider margin. While the company reported AISC of $827 per GEO in 2017, management forecast AISC of $725 to $745 for 2018. Transitioning to the days ahead, Yamana provided additional cause for investors to rejoice. Management forecast GEO production of 1.08 million ounces and 1.15 million ounces in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Cerro Moro in Argentina, the company's newest mine, is operating at a better-than-expected level. According to management's presentation, in Q3 2018, Cerro Moro achieved "production run-rates already at levels needed to meet guidance for 2018 and 2019, and also with costs below the levels guided for both years." Check out the latest Yamana and Eldorado earnings call transcripts. The golden takeaway It comes as no surprise that many gold mining stocks jumped in January with the rising price of the metal. For Goldcorp, however, the stock's rise is closely tied to news of the pending transaction with Newmont -- a deal that the company believes will result in the formation of the "world's leading gold company." Regarding Eldorado, investors should hardly interpret the stock's movement as an indication that it's attractive, for the ambiguity surrounding the company's Skouries mine in Greece remains a valid concern. On the other hand, with the development of Cerro Moro, Yamana is apparently succeeding in bringing its plan of maximizing shareholder value to fruition. 29 Apr 2021 --- Pioneers in cell-based seafood BlueNalu, which develops a variety of seafood products directly from fish cells, is teaming up with two key seafood providers in Asia... Read More Google app is finally getting a new beta update, there are two distinct beta versions of the Google app; 9.21 and 9.23. Both these versions reveal a new Assistant device ID named nexus for an upcoming feature or hardware category, as well as a Labs feature. Despite the two new versions, the difference between them seems negligible. The assistant_device_id is usually a good indicator for new categories of Assistant devices. Google app 9.23 reveals NexusAmChips. Usually, features and hardware related to Assistant on phones are labeled with nexus. The NexusAmChips is likely a phone-related feature, with the category qualifier suggesting hardware. The AmChips could refer to Amlogic Chips used on the Google Home Hub and Android TV set-top boxes. It looks like the NexusAmChips could be the Assistant Connected platform that was announced at CES 2019. Google has not shared many public details about this new platform for building Assistant accessories, but this codename hints at a possible usage of Amlogic chips and there is some relation to Android, likely Android Things. The V9.21 further reveals its work on the Labs feature to let users try new features that Google is working on. This includes the ability for users to send feedback for any unstable functionality. One of the first features in testing is Pinch To Zoom in Search Results when on Image results. This feature is already live, but the feedback questions would likely include Were there any visual errors? Version 9.23 also lists the ability to output Assistant responses via the Hands-Free Profile (HFP) Bluetooth profile used by phones to communicate with cars. There also strings that would let users determine whether the Assistant plays or ends sound after a response. However, it is not clear if this is related to headphones, or is another option for car accessories. Assistants Explore section of Actions now features a shortcut to access Upcoming in the bottom bar. It also adds an icon for itself to help make the navigation more unified. It also includes tweaks to the Explore section, but this may be due to a buggy Webview than an actual interface tweak. Continued conversations are a way of talking to the Assistant with a series of questions. Version 9.23 hints at other language support including German. The strings also reveal that Google is generalizing the text describing Continued Conversation. It is no longer directly referred to as Google Home, just devices. Google could be planning on finally making it available to third-party Assistant speakers, or Smart Displays. Via Vivo has announced iQOO, the companys latest mobile phone sub-brand in China. The company has posted a teaser without saying when we can expect new mobiles under the sub-brand or what the iQOO means. Some reports from China say that the new brand will focus on premium mobile phones, while few reports say Vivo is getting into to gaming phone segment to take on Xiaomi, Nubia and others. Xiaomi recently announced that Redmi will be a separate sub-brand with Lu Weibing heading it, after it announced POCO / POCOPHONE brand. It also has Black Shark brand for gaming phones. Started off as OPPOs sub-brand, Realme was later formed as a separate company with a separate CEO. It is not clear if Vivo plans to launch iQOO phones outside China since this is not a global announcement. We should know more details about iQOO soon, and probably a new mobile phone sometime by the end of Q1 or early Q2 2019. Source Google has hired more than a dozen of microchip engineers in Bengaluru, India, in recent months and plans to rapidly add more, according to LinkedIn profiles, job postings, and two industry executives. This move comes in an effort to expand its program to design the chips of its devices internally. The Bengaluru site makes Google the first among the big internet platform companies developing their own chips and to establish a team for those efforts in what has become a leading hub for a semiconductor design over the last two decades. Since 2014, Google has designed computer server chips for its data centers and an image processing chip for its Pixel smartphones. The companys main motive is to create more powerful and efficient devices by customizing key components that traditionally come from Intel. Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc, and Facebook Inc each have launched similar chip design efforts, which could help them cut costs, and also reduce the dependency on vendors. Google in its Bengaluru hub has hired at least 16 engineering veterans and four talent recruiters for its gChips team from traditional chipmakers such as Intel, Qualcomm Inc, Broadcom Inc, and Nvidia Corp. Google had 13 job postings for roles related to chips in Bengaluru, according to a recent companys careers website. With Google boosting its chip design efforts, it could also benefit its products including smart speakers, routers, and home security devices. Source Photo: The Canadian Press Mexico's most notorious drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, was convicted Tuesday of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation after a three-month trial packed with Hollywood-style tales of grisly killings, political payoffs, cocaine hidden in jalapeno cans, jewel-encrusted guns and a naked escape with his mistress through a tunnel. Guzman faced a drumbeat of drug-trafficking and conspiracy convictions that could put the 61-year-old escape artist behind bars for decades in a maximum-security U.S. prison selected to thwart another one of the breakouts that embarrassed his native country. New York jurors whose identities were kept secret reached a verdict after deliberating six days in the expansive case, sorting through what authorities called an "avalanche" of evidence gathered since the late 1980s that Guzman and his murderous Sinaloa drug cartel made billions in profits by smuggling tons of cocaine, heroin, meth and marijuana into the U.S. Evidence showed drugs poured into the U.S. through secret tunnels or hidden in tanker trucks, concealed in the undercarriage of passenger cars and packed in rail cars passing through legitimate points of entry suggesting that a border wall wouldn't be much of a worry. The prosecution's case against Guzman, a roughly 5 1/2-foot figure whose nickname translates to "Shorty," included the testimony of several turncoats and other witnesses. Among them were Guzman's former Sinaloa lieutenants, a computer encryption expert and a Colombian cocaine supplier who underwent extreme plastic surgery to disguise his appearance. One Sinaloa insider described Mexican workers getting contact highs while packing cocaine into thousands of jalapeno cans shipments that totalled 25 to 30 tons of cocaine worth $500 million each year. Another testified how Guzman sometimes acted as his own sicario, or hitman, punishing a Sinaloan who dared to work for another cartel by kidnapping him, beating and shooting him and having his men bury the victim while he was still alive, gasping for air. The defence case lasted just half an hour. Guzman's lawyers did not deny his crimes as much as argue he was a fall guy for government witnesses who were more evil than he was. Defence attorney Jeffrey Lichtman urged the jury in closing arguments not to believe government witnesses who "lie, steal, cheat, deal drugs and kill people." Deliberations were complicated by the trial's vast scope. Jurors were tasked with making 53 decisions about whether prosecutors have proven different elements of the case. The trial cast a harsh glare on the corruption that allowed the cartel to flourish. Colombian trafficker Alex Cifuentes caused a stir by testifying that former Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto took a $100 million bribe from Guzman. Pena Nieto denied it, but the allegation fit a theme: politicians, army commanders, police and prosecutors, all on the take. The tension at times was cut by some of the trial's sideshows, such as the sight of Guzman and his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, showing up in matching burgundy velvet blazers in a gesture of solidarity. Another day, a Chapo-size actor who played the kingpin in the TV series "Narcos: Mexico" came to watch, telling reporters that seeing the defendant flash him a smile was "surreal." While the trial was dominated by Guzman's persona as a near-mythical outlaw who carried a diamond-encrusted handgun and stayed one step ahead of the law, the jury never heard from Guzman himself, except when he told the judge he wouldn't testify. But his sing-songy voice filled the courtroom, thanks to recordings of intercepted phone calls. "Amigo!" he said to a cartel distributor in Chicago. "Here at your service." One of the trial's most memorable tales came from girlfriend Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, who testified she was in bed in a safe house with an on-the-run Guzman in 2014 when Mexican marines started breaking down his door. She said Guzman led her to a trap door beneath a bathtub that opened up to a tunnel that allowed them to escape. Asked what he was wearing, she replied: "He was naked. He took off running. He left us behind." The defendant had previously escaped from jail by hiding in a laundry bin in 2001. He then got an escort from crooked police officers into Mexico City before retreating to one of his many mountainside hideaways. In 2014, he pulled off another jail break, escaping through a mile-long lighted tunnel on a motorcycle on rails. Even when Guzman was recaptured in 2016 before his extradition to the United States, he was plotting another escape, prosecutor Andrea Goldbarg said in closing arguments. "Why? Because he is guilty and he never wanted to be in a position where he would have to answer for his crimes," she told the jury. "He wanted to avoid sitting right there. In front of you." Photo: Twitter - YLW Crews are clearing the runway at YLW. While snow has been falling hard across the Okanagan, similar conditions in other cities have been problematic for those flying in and out of Kelowna. Arrivals and departures have been cancelled and delayed Tuesday morning, but Jessica Hewitt, communications advisor with YLW, says all of the issues are from other airports. It's not related to snow in Kelowna, there are similar storms happening all over Canada, and Seattle is also experiencing that, Hewitt said. As of 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, two flights arriving from Vancouver have been cancelled, along with flights from Edmonton and Victoria. Five other flights expected to arrive later in the morning are currently delayed. Earlier this morning a 7:15 a.m. departure headed to Toronto was cancelled, as was a 7:20 a.m. flight headed to Victoria. A third departing flight for Vancouver has been cancelled, while another five are delayed. Hewitt says crews are currently clearing the runway at YLW, and they're deicing planes. It's business as usual for us, she said. We'll keep monitoring it in case the weather does change. Photo: The Canadian Press Veterans Affairs Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould is quitting the federal cabinet days after allegations became public the Prime Minister's Office pressured the former justice minister to help SNC-Lavalin avoid criminal prosecution. In a letter published on her website Tuesday, Wilson-Raybould says she has hired former Supreme Court judge Thomas Cromwell to tell her what she can say about "matters that have been in the media over the last week." Wilson-Raybould's letter does not say exactly why she's quitting. It does say she will continue to serve as MP for the riding of Vancouver-Granville. The Globe and Mail newspaper reported last week that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or his staff pressured her to arrange a deal with SNC-Lavalin, the Montreal engineering and construction giant, that would have let it avoid a criminal prosecution on allegations of corruption and bribery in relation to its efforts to win government contracts in Libya. Since then, Trudeau has denied he did any such thing. On Monday, he said in Vancouver that he'd told Wilson-Raybould that any decision on the subject was hers alone. Trudeau also said he had "full confidence" in Wilson-Raybould and suggested she would have resigned from cabinet on principle if she had felt anyone had tried to improperly pressure her. "In our system of government, of course, her presence in cabinet should actually speak for itself," he said following a housing announcement one that Wilson-Raybould didn't attend, unlike a handful of fellow Liberals from the city. Last month, Trudeau moved Wilson-Raybould out of the justice portfolio in a cabinet shuffle brought on by former minister Scott Brison's departure from politics, elevating David Lametti as her replacement. Wilson-Raybould moved to Veterans Affairs. In her letter, the MP says that her decision "is in no way a reflection" on veterans, their families or their service. "I only wish that I could have served you longer," she writes. "When I sought federal elected office, it was with the goal of implementing a positive and progressive vision of change on behalf of all Canadians and a different way of doing politics," the letter says. "My resignation as a minister of the Crown in no way changes my commitment to seeing that fundamental change achieved. This work must and will carry on." She thanks her staff, officials and Canadians who supported her while in cabinet. "Regardless of background, geography, or party affiliation, we must stand together for the values that Canada is built on, and which are the foundation for our future," she writes. By Philip Pullella and Vivian Sequera VATICAN CITY/CARACAS (Reuters) - Envoys for Venezuela's self-declared caretaker leader Juan Guaido met Vatican officials and lobbied the Italian government for support on Monday in their quest to keep international pressure on socialist President Nicolas Maduro. By Philip Pullella and Vivian Sequera VATICAN CITY/CARACAS (Reuters) - Envoys for Venezuela's self-declared caretaker leader Juan Guaido met Vatican officials and lobbied the Italian government for support on Monday in their quest to keep international pressure on socialist President Nicolas Maduro. The Vatican, which has offered to mediate, called for respect for rights and avoidance of bloodshed after Guaido's bid to end two decades of increasingly authoritarian leftist rule in the volatile OPEC member nation of 30 million people. Members of the Vatican Secretariat of State met a delegation including Francisco Sucre, president of the foreign affairs commission of Venezuela's National Assembly, and Antonio Ledezma, former mayor of Caracas. They also met Italy's deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini. "We're in Italy to seek more support for our President @jguaido," tweeted Ledezma. "We're doing well, but we need to finish this with victory." The Vatican "underscored the deep concern that a just and peaceful solution could be found urgently to overcome the crisis while respecting human rights, seeking the good of all the country's people and avoiding bloodshed," it said in a statement. Pope Francis has said the Vatican could mediate if both sides asked. Maduro wants that, but Venezuela's opposition is sceptical given past dialogue failures and Guaido says the starting point for any talks must be Maduro's exit. Venezuela's opposition regards Maduro as an incompetent dictator who has wrecked their economy and crushed dissent, while he calls them puppets of Washington seeking a coup in order to control the nation's vast oil reserves. Rank-and-file opposition supporters, though often Roman Catholics, are suspicious of the Vatican given its support of past talks that have enabled Maduro to win time and survive various waves of protests. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin calls the Holy See's stance "positive neutrality", saying it has to stay above both sides if it is to help. The Venezuela conflict has fed into a wider geopolitical struggle. Along with U.S. President Donald Trump, numerous Latin American and European nations have recognised Guaido as interim president and backed his calls for a new, free election. But other powers, including Russia and China who have billions of dollars invested and loaned to Caracas, have denounced outside interference and backed Maduro. Breaking the unity of other major European countries, Italy's coalition government is divided over Venezuela. Salvini, far-right leader of the Northern League party and also interior minister, favours recognising Guaido, but its coalition partner the 5-Star Movement believes that is a bad precedent. Salvini telephoned Guaido while the Venezuelan delegation was visiting him, stressing his opposition to Maduro and support for a new vote, his office said. Guaido, who heads Venezuela's opposition-led National Assembly, invoked a constitutional provision last month to declare himself president. As well as the Vatican, Norway, another traditional international mediator, has also offered to help with dialogue. (Reporting by Philip Pullella in Rome, Vivian Sequera in Caracas, Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Monday that the Tennessee Valley Authority, a U.S.-owned power generator, should consider the importance of coal in the power mix before voting to close coal-fired plants, like one in Kentucky. 'Coal is an important part of our electricity generation mix,' Trump, who considers voters in coal-producing states as part of his base, wrote on Twitter. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Monday that the Tennessee Valley Authority, a U.S.-owned power generator, should consider the importance of coal in the power mix before voting to close coal-fired plants, like one in Kentucky. "Coal is an important part of our electricity generation mix," Trump, who considers voters in coal-producing states as part of his base, wrote on Twitter. TVA "should give serious consideration to all factors before voting to close viable power plants, like Paradise #3 in Kentucky!" The unit is the last coal-fired part of the plant, and TVA is expected to vote soon on its future. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Sandra Maler) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration threatened on Monday to veto an effort in the U.S. Congress to end U.S By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration threatened on Monday to veto an effort in the U.S. Congress to end U.S. military support for the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in the war in Yemen, continuing a stand-off with lawmakers over policy toward the kingdom. Democrats and Republicans re-introduced the war powers resolution two weeks ago as a way to send a strong message to Riyadh both about the humanitarian disaster in Yemen and condemn the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The administration said the resolution was inappropriate because U.S. forces had provided aircraft refuelling and other support in the Yemen conflict, not combat troops. It also said the measure would harm relationships in the region and hurt the U.S. ability to prevent the spread of violent extremism. The White House has angered many members of Congress, including some of President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans, by failing to provide a report by a Friday deadline on the murder of Khashoggi last year at a Saudi consulate in Turkey. Khashoggi was a U.S. resident and columnist for the Washington Post. "It's hard to feel any affection or some obligation to a regime that does that kind of stuff," Democratic Representative Ed Perlmutter said at a House of Representatives hearing on the resolution on Monday. The Saudis, who Trump considers an important regional partner, are leading a coalition battling Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The war has killed tens of thousands and left millions on the brink of starvation. The United States has supported the Saudi-led air campaign with mid-air refuelling support, intelligence and targeting assistance. Democrats view the war powers resolution as a way to assert Congress' constitutional right to authorize the use of military force in foreign conflicts. Republican opponents of the measure, echoing Trump, argue that support for the Saudis constitutes a security agreement, not the use of force. The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate passed the war powers resolution in December, the first time such a resolution had passed even one house of Congress. But Republicans, who then controlled the House, did not allow a vote in the lower chamber. After sweeping election victories, Democrats now have a House majority. They intend to take up the resolution this week. However, the resolution would struggle to garner the two-thirds majorities needed in both the House and Senate to overcome a Trump veto. Republicans still hold a slim majority in the Senate. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order asking federal government agencies to dedicate more resources and investment into research, promotion and training on artificial intelligence, known as AI WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order asking federal government agencies to dedicate more resources and investment into research, promotion and training on artificial intelligence, known as AI. Under the American AI Initiative, the administration is directing agencies to prioritize AI investments in research and development, increase access to federal data and models for that research and prepare workers to adapt to the era of AI. There was no specific funding announced for the initiative, but the White House wants better reporting and tracking of spending on AI-related research and development. The White House said investment in AI is "critical to creating the industries of the future, like autonomous cars, industrial robots, algorithms for disease diagnosis, and more." The initiative aims to make sure the United States maintains its advantage in AI development and related areas, such as advanced manufacturing and quantum computing. Trump, in his State of the Union speech last week, said he was willing to work with lawmakers to deliver new and important infrastructure investment, including investments in the cutting-edge industries of the future, calling it a "necessity." Michael Kratsios, a White House science adviser, said in an essay in Wired magazine on Monday that "with proper leadership, AI can empower American workers by liberating them from mundane tasks." "AI is something that touches every aspect of people's lives," a senior administration official told reporters on Sunday. "What this initiative attempts to do is to bring all those together under one umbrella and show the promise of this technology for the American people," the official said. AI and deep machine learning raise ethical concerns about control, privacy, cybersecurity, and is set to trigger job displacements across industries, companies and experts say. A 2018 study from PwC said 30 percent of jobs are at potential risk of automation by the mid-2030s, including 44 percent of workers with low education. At the same time, the study found automation could boost global gross domestic product by $15 trillion by 2030. The White House held a meeting on AI in May with more than 30 major companies from a variety of industries, including Ford Motor Co, Boeing Co, Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp, vowing not to stand in the way of its development. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Bill Berkrot) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Tim Reid EL PASO, Texas (Reuters) - Beto ORourke, the former Democratic congressman considering a White House run, and President Donald Trump will hold duelling rallies in El Paso, Texas, on Monday over the U.S.-Mexico border and the president's push for a wall. By Tim Reid EL PASO, Texas (Reuters) - Beto ORourke, the former Democratic congressman considering a White House run, and President Donald Trump will hold duelling rallies in El Paso, Texas, on Monday over the U.S.-Mexico border and the president's push for a wall. ORourke, who lost in his bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Texas, promised to blast Trump for stoking "false fear" about immigrants and telling "lies" about his hometown El Paso, which Trump said was a dangerous place before it had a border fence. In a conference call with reporters, O'Rourke said his counter-rally two hundred yards from the Trump event would be a "powerful, beautiful" response to "Trump's lies about our community, the U.S.-Mexico border, immigrants, about Mexicans." Trump is travelling to El Paso to argue for a wall he says can protect Americans from violent criminals, drugs and a "tremendous onslaught" of migrant caravans. The simultaneous rallies at 7 p.m. MST (9 p.m. EST) coincide with talks to reach a border security deal and avert another government shutdown. The talks stumbled on Monday over a Democratic proposal to reduce allotted spaces in immigration detention facilities for people facing deportation. Trump, a Republican, spoke out against the Democratic attempt to cap detention beds before he left for Texas. "We're up against people who want to allow criminals into our society," he said of the Democrats. EL PASO: "LOW ON CRIME" In his State of the Union speech last week, Trump said the border fence separating El Paso from Mexico had reduced the city's high crime rate. El Paso's Republican mayor, Dee Margo, said the city had been safe for years before the wall was built. "We were, I think, the No. 2 or No. 3 safest city before the fence went up and we progressed into No. 1," he told Fox News. "We were significantly low on crime to begin with and always have been." ORourke will join a protest march past Trumps rally at El Paso County Coliseum before they both speak within sight of the border fence. ORourke told Oprah Winfrey last week he would make a final decision about running for president by the end of the month. [L1N2001WQ] He declined to discuss a potential run on Monday. "Im following the community's lead tonight, no less, no more," he said on the call. O'Rourke would bring fundraising and grassroots firepower to an already crowded Democratic field hoping to take on Trump in next year's election. (Reporting by Tim Reid in El Paso, additional reporting by Steve Holland and Tim Ahmann in Washington; Writing by Andrew Hay; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Bill Tarrant and Sonya Hepinstall) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. In a blog post, Bezos alluded to Saudi Arabias displeasure at the Bezos-owned Washington Posts coverage of the murder of its columnist and Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Dubai: Saudi Arabia had absolutely nothing to do with the National Enquirers reporting on an extramarital relationship involving Amazon.com Inc chief executive Jeff Bezos, the kingdoms minister of state for foreign affairs said. Bezos on Thursday accused American Media Inc (AMI), the Enquirers owner, of trying to blackmail him with the threat of publishing intimate photos he allegedly sent to his girlfriend unless he said in public that the US tabloids reporting on him was not politically motivated. In a blog post, he alluded to Saudi Arabias displeasure at the Bezos-owned Washington Posts coverage of the murder of its columnist and Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He also referenced media reports about alleged links between AMI and Saudi Arabia. This is something between the two parties, we have nothing to do with it, Adel al-Jubeir told CBS Face the Nation when asked if the Saudi government was involved in the Enquirer leaks. It sounds to me like a soap opera, he said in an interview to be aired on Sunday, excerpts of which were posted on CBS website. Jubeir said he was not aware of any links between the Saudi government and AMI or its CEO David Pecker. AMI said on Friday its reporting on Bezos was lawful and it would investigate his claims. The killing of Khashoggi at the kingdoms Istanbul consulate last October strained Saudi Arabias ties with Western allies, exposed the kingdom to possible sanctions and tarnished the image of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. By Suzannah Gonzales CHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and a prosecutor on Monday challenged the sentence of former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke for the murder of a black teenager, questioning whether the judge who imposed it followed the law due to his failure to account for other convictions. Van Dyke, 40, who is white, was sentenced last month to nearly seven years in prison for second-degree murder in the shooting death of Laquan McDonald in 2014 in a case that highlighted racial tensions in America's third-largest city. By Suzannah Gonzales CHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and a prosecutor on Monday challenged the sentence of former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke for the murder of a black teenager, questioning whether the judge who imposed it followed the law due to his failure to account for other convictions. Van Dyke, 40, who is white, was sentenced last month to nearly seven years in prison for second-degree murder in the shooting death of Laquan McDonald in 2014 in a case that highlighted racial tensions in America's third-largest city. Activists and prosecutors had wanted a longer sentence. Van Dyke could have received up to 20 years in prison for second-degree murder and up to 30 years for each of 16 counts of aggravated battery - one count for each shot he fired at the 17-year-old McDonald, who was carrying a knife. Cook County Circuit Court Judge Vincent Gaughan did not sentence Van Dyke for the aggravated battery convictions, explaining that second-degree murder was the more serious crime. Van Dyke is appealing the conviction. Raoul, who took office last month, and Kane County States Attorney Joseph McMahon, the special prosecutor in the case, filed a petition on Monday asking the Illinois Supreme Court to review the sentence. They argued that aggravated battery is a more serious offence than second-degree murder under Illinois law and requested the supreme court direct Gaughan to vacate his sentence. They also asked for a sentence on each of the 16 counts of aggravated battery and to determine which of those involved "severe bodily injury" warranting consecutive sentences. This is a question of the law. And it is in the interest of justice that the law be followed no matter who the defendant and no matter who the victim is in a particular case, Raoul told reporters. Van Dyke's attorneys Darren O'Brien and Jennifer Blagg said in a statement the petition was politically motivated and "could result in grossly excessive, unjust sentences for defendants that follow in the wake of this request." The guilty verdict issued by a jury in October marked the first time an on-duty Chicago police officer was convicted for the killing of a black person. The release of a police dashboard camera video showing McDonald being repeatedly shot - compelled by a lawsuit more than a year after the Oct. 20, 2014, shooting - ignited protests. The ensuing firestorm over the case prompted the dismissal of the city's police superintendent and calls for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign. Emanuel is not seeking a third term in this month's mayoral election. The video was shown repeatedly during Van Dyke's three-week trial. Jurors said they faulted Van Dyke for escalating the incident. A federal judge on Jan. 31 approved court-appointed oversight of the Chicago Police Department to address a 2017 U.S. Justice Department finding of excessive force and racial bias by officers. (Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales and Karen Pierog in Chicago; Writing by Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Bill Berkrot) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. US President Donald Trump has announced that he would be 'building the wall anyway', while referring to setting up a barrier on the US-Mexico border Texas: US President Donald Trump has announced that he would be "building the wall anyway", while referring to setting up a barrier on the US-Mexico border, on Monday night at a rally in El Paso here. "We'll be building the wall anyway. They (Congressmen) say that progress has been madeI said, 'Wait a minute, I gotta take care of my people from Texas, I've got to go, I don't even wanna hear about it.' So I don't know what they mean (when they say) 'progress has been made," Trump said, according to Sputnik. This comes after Congressional negotiators announced that "an agreement in principle" had been reached on funding for border security, with more than USD 1.3 billion allocated for the barrier alone, reports Fox News. Trump had previously asked for a budget allocation of USD five billion to build the US-Mexico border wall. An impasse between the US Congress and Trump over funding for the wall had earlier triggered the longest-ever partial government shutdown in the United States, which lasted for 35 days and left scores of federal workers without pay for the period. A stop-gap measure is currently in place until 15 February, during which negotiators are trying to finalise a deal that would avoid plunging the United States back into the state of shutdown again. Trump has kept up his demand for the wall, despite Democrats labelling the fence as wastage of money. He has also indicated declaring a national emergency to get the barricade built - a claim which is strengthened by the US President's remarks at the 'Make America Great Again' (MAGA) rally here on Monday. Photo: BC Coroners Service The BC Coroners Service is seeking the publics help to identify a human foot that washed ashore in West Vancouver. A light grey Nike running shoe was found with a severed human foot inside at the 30th Street beach access in September 2018. A match was not found after conducting tests, including a DNA analysis in an attempt to determine the identity of the deceased. DNA evidence shows it is a mans foot, but it doesn't match any missing person files. Based on the structure, it's believed the age of death was under 50. The foot was in a blue sock. The shoe was a mens U.S. size 9.5 with an OrthoLite insert and was made between Feb. 1 and April 17, 2017. Anyone with information is asked to call West Vancouver Police or the BC Coroners Service. SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday signed an order withdrawing more than two-thirds of the state's National Guard troops from the U.S.-Mexico border, calling claims of an illegal immigration crisis there nothing but 'political theatre.' Newsom said most of the roughly 360 National Guard members deployed to the border would be reassigned to other duties in the state, with about 100 remaining behind as part of a task force targeting drug trafficking and cartels SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday signed an order withdrawing more than two-thirds of the state's National Guard troops from the U.S.-Mexico border, calling claims of an illegal immigration crisis there nothing but "political theatre." Newsom said most of the roughly 360 National Guard members deployed to the border would be reassigned to other duties in the state, with about 100 remaining behind as part of a task force targeting drug trafficking and cartels. "This whole border issue is a manufactured crisis. We are not interested in participating in this political theatre," Newsom said at an afternoon news conference in Sacramento. The governor, a Democrat who took office in January, said border crossings were at their lowest level since 1971 and that the state's undocumented population had dropped to a more than 10-year low. "This is pure politics, period full stop," he said. The move was a rebuke to President Donald Trump, who won election in 2016 partly on a populist pledge to build a wall on the southern U.S. border which he said in his campaign Mexico would pay for. Trump's demand for $5.7 billion to help build that wall was central to a 35-day partial U.S. government shutdown that ended last month. He agreed to reopen the government for three weeks to allow lawmakers time to find a compromise and avert another shutdown on Feb. 15. Newsom's predecessor, Governor Jerry Brown, agreed to send National Guard troops to the border last April after reaching agreement with the Trump administration that they would focus on fighting criminal gangs and smugglers and not enforce immigration laws. New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham last week ordered the withdrawal of most National Guard troops deployed at the border by her Republican predecessor at Trump's request last year. Trump has deployed an extra 3,750 U.S. troops on the border this month. Newsom said some of the National Guard troops would be re-deployed to help fight what he said were mushrooming illegal marijuana farms following approval of a 2016 ballot measure to legalize recreational cannabis - legislation the governor helped champion. "We have to hold accountable those who are not participating in the legal cannabis market," he said. "These illegal grows are manifesting, getting bigger." (Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Peter Szekely in New York, Rich McKay in Atlanta and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Agence France-Presse An artificial intelligence (AI) programme developed in China that combs through test results, health records and even handwritten notes diagnosed childhood diseases as accurately as doctors, researchers said Monday. From the flu and asthma to life-threatening pneumonia and meningitis, the system consistently matched or out-performed primary care paediatricians, they reported in Nature Medicine. Dozens of studies in recent months have detailed how AI is revolutionising the detection of diseases including cancers, genetic disorders and Alzheimer's. AI-based technology learns and improves in a way similar to humans, but has virtually unlimited capacity for data processing and storage. "I believe that it will be able to perform most of the jobs a doctor does," senior author Kang Zhang, a researcher at the University of California, San Diego, told AFP. "But AI will never replace a doctor," he added, comparing the relationship to an autonomous car that remains under the supervision of a human driver. "It will simply allow doctors to do a better job in less time and at lower costs." The new technology, said Zhang, is the first in which AI absorbs unstructured data and "natural language" to imitate the process by which a physician figures out what's wrong with a patient. "It can mimic a human paediatrician to interpret and integrate all types of medical data patient complaints, medical history, blood and imaging tests to make a diagnosis," he said. The system can be easily transferred to other languages and settings, he added. By comparing hundreds of bits of information about a single patient with a vast store of acquired knowledge, the technology unearths links that previous statistical methods and sometimes flesh-and-blood doctors overlook. In the nick of time To train the proof-of-concept system, Zhang and a team of 70 scientists injected more than 100 million data points from 1.3 million pediatrics patient visits at a major referral centre in Guangzhou, China. The AI programme diagnosed respiratory infections and sinusitis a common sinus infection with 95 percent accuracy. More surprising, Kang said, it did as well with less common diseases: acute asthma (97 percent), bacterial meningitis and varicella (93 percent), and mononucleosis (90 percent). Such technologies may be coming in just the nick of time. "The range of diseases, diagnostic testing and options for treatment has increased exponentially in recent years, rendering the decision-making process for physicians more complicated," Nature noted in a press release. Experts not involved in the research said the study is further proof of AI's expanding role in medicine. "The work has the potential to improve healthcare by assisting the clinician in making rapid and accurate diagnoses," said Duc Pham, a professor of engineering at the University of Birmingham. "The results show that, on average, the system performed better than junior doctors." "But it will not replace clinicians," he added. Machine learning which forms general rules from specific training examples "cannot guarantee 100 percent correct results, no matter how many training examples they use." AI-based tools for diagnosis abound, especially for interpreting machine-generated images such as MRI and CAT scans. A method unveiled last month in the United States to detect lesions that can lead to cervical cancer found pre-cancerous cells with 91 percent accuracy, compared to 69 percent for physical exams performed by doctors and 71 percent for conventional lab tests. Likewise, a cellphone app based on AI technology out-performed experienced dermatologists in distinguishing potentially cancerous skin lesions from benign ones, according to a study in the Annals of Oncology. tech2 News Staff We've all heard it glaciers are melting, and more quickly with each passing year because of climate change. But there's a tiny island of good news in the sea of bad linked to melting ice and climate change: more sand. Sand is an important and underrated resource in the world. Apart from being one of the best ingredients of beach day fun, sand is also important in a world with rising sea levels to prevent coasts from going under. A new perspective points out an unexpected effect of climate change more ice loss means more sand. Greenland, where this odd effect was first studied and reported on (in Nature in 2017), could end up being a sand supplier to countries nearby, according to an Earther report. The study was rehashed in a perspective written by the study's authors in Nature Sustainability this week after they noticed Greenland's growing coastlines. A few calculations and simulations later, the authors realized that the sandy deltas being formed off the coast are directly related to ice loss in Greenland. The melting ice is flowing down as rivers and carrying sediments towards the sea. The sand being dropped off at Greenlands coasts each year has a market value of more than half of the governments $2.22 billion gross domestic product (as of 2015), a press release said. The researchers aren't certain of how much sand could actually be washed down from future melting, but it is expected to rise as the ice sheet continues to melt. There's a visible rise in sedimentation near the islands southwest and northeastern coastline. As good as selling soil could do for the Greenland economy, the country could also be looking at economic threats such as the loss of fishing and mining jobs. Sure, mining sand could help diversify jobs in the country, but the giant island is home to fewer than 56,000 people a population that is also shrinking. If only it wasnt contributing to sea level rise as well, more sand would be good news and good news alone. Sand can help rebuild after natural disasters, and repair erosion along the coastlines from sea level changes. Sand is also naturally rich in minerals and silica which are ever-in-demand in construction and numerous industries. The study's findings are now with policymakers who will take a call on what the best course of action would be, keeping both economy and environment in mind. It looks like Greenland has some tough problems to address, but beaches sure ain't one of them. tech2 News Staff Xiaomis foldable smartphone has been subject to several leaks over the past few weeks. A couple of videos surfaced on the internet with the companys co-founder Linbin posting a hands-on demonstration and confirming the existence of the foldable phone last month. Xiaomi's global PR team has now shared an official statement describing the phones design and offering insight into its development. The statement, first spotted by Dutch tech website LetsGoDigital, reveals that this innovative device from Xiaomi will be a double folding smartphone. The company in the press release explains that the foldable screen of the smartphone has been co-developed in partnership with a supply chain partner. The Chinese OEM further discussed how it overcame some of the challenges with the flexible display, stating that they conducted extensive research to develop a robust folding mechanism. Xiaomi claims that besides the front panel, the foldable smartphones design, folding mechanism and software has been developed by the company in-house. While the handset maker offered some background on the foldable smartphones development, there are no details on the conventional specs yet. However, LetsGoDigital published a few 3D renders of the Xiaomi double-folding smartphone. The renders which are based on previous leaks, show off the phone having two folding sections that bend backwards and wrap behind the phone, shifting the UI to the middle of the screen. The report claims that the MIUI skin seen in the renders are not final and that it might change when the phone officially debuts. When folded the phone turns into a relatively compact, pocketable device. Once the foldable screen is opened, it transforms into a large tablet with thin bezels and offers a wider screen. Interestingly, the renders dont show any camera sensor on the phone. Reports predict that the rear camera might be placed on the rear of the centre panel and that one of the panels will have to be left open when clicking pics. At the bottom of the device one can see a USB-C port while at the top there is a button. Apparently, Xiaomi is considering two names for its foldable display smartphone- 'Xiaomi Dual Flex' and 'Xiaomi MIX Flex.' Xiaomi has not shared any details as to when it plans to unveil its innovative foldable smartphone, however, reports indicate that the company might showcase it at MWC 2019. Notably, the Chinese OEM is not the only one working on a foldable smartphone. Popular smartphone brands like Samsung, Huawei, Motorola and even LG are said to be developing smartphones with foldable and flexible displays. Anirudh Regidi The word radiation immediately brings to mind images of mushroom clouds, sloughing skin, melting faces and mutant children. And why not? Pop culture (The Terminator, Dr Strangelove, The Day After) and the horrifying reality of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombings as well as that of the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters have seared these images into our collective minds and resulted in something of a collective paranoia. via Gfycat Radiation, however, is a much more benign term that applies to everything from light to heat to even sound. In fact, every moment of your existence is spent getting bombarded with some sort of radiation or the other. What really matters then, is the type and intensity of radiation youre being exposed to. When it comes to cell phones and cell towers, there are only two kinds of radiation you need to worry about: ionising and non-ionising radiation. Ionising radiation is electromagnetic radiation that has enough energy to separate electrons from atoms, i.e. it is strong enough to ionise atoms. This type of radiation is indeed carcinogenic and a high enough dosage can affect any living thing, from bacteria to Bruce Willis. Even in this case, the operative word is "dosage". Ultraviolet light, for example, is ionising radiation and youre dosed with it all the time. Youre also continuously bombarded with ionising radiation that has enough energy to travel thousands of light years through space and hit tiny little you as you go about your business on planet Earth. But they hit you in low doses, and dosage matters. Bananas are more likely to cause cancer Potassium-rich foods like bananas also emit some form of ionising radiation. In fact, if you spend a lot of time on flights, youre getting dosed with considerably more radiation than the average human being. Youd need to go far out of your way to irradiate yourself with enough ionising radiation to cause lasting harm. But heres the kicker. Cell phone and cell towers only emit non-ionising radiation, which is almost completely harmless. This is radiation that doesnt have enough energy to ionise molecules, but it can, at enough intensity, cause some amount of localized heating. It is this principle that the microwave oven is based on, and you have to remember, a microwave oven consumes a heck of a lot of power to do what it does. via Gfycat Cell phones and cell towers emit harmless, non-ionising radiation at an intensity that is so much lower than any known harmful threshold that its pointless to even worry about it. This emission is at least 400-600 times less powerful than what youd find from a microwave. Its so low that you might as well worry about the electromagnetic radiation from your light bulb giving you cancer. As Dr Bhavin Jankharia, a senior radiologist puts it, There is absolutely no data to suggest that cell phone towers produce [harmful] radiation the way they are today or the way theyve been in the past 8-10 years. This also applies to smartphones. If you put a Geiger counter to a cell phone, you're not going to hear any ominous ticking. The Statista report on cell phone radiation is alarmist If youve been following the news lately, you would have noticed articles with alarmist headlines and excerpts talking about how OnePlus and Xiaomi are emitting harmful levels of radiation. via Gfycat Will you buy a phone that emits the most radiation even if it is cheap?, asks one website. Reports over the years have suggested that prolonged exposure to radiation from smartphones tend to be the reason for the blood-brain barrier condition, head tumours and also impact male fertility, among others., says another. Well spare said publications their blushes by keeping their names out of this report (hint: Google), but the fact remains that there is not a single, comprehensive, scientifically sound study to confirm any of these claims. If anything, studies say the exact opposite is true. You will find more infographics at Statista Getting back to the report, Statista has compiled a list of the most emissive smartphones as tested by the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection (Bundesamt fur Strahlenschutz). The list indicates the specific absorption rate (SAR) of each phone tested. SAR is a measure of the rate at which radiation is absorbed by the human body in terms of power per unit mass of tissue (W/kg). Again, it must be noted that the radiation being measured here is of the harmless non-ionising radiation variety, something that other reports have conveniently ignored. According to the Statista report, the Xiaomi Mi A1, Mi Max 3, OnePlus 5T and OnePlus 6T emit the most radiation (from 1.55 W to 1.78 W, in no particular order). India and the US, both of whom have some of the strictest radiation compliance laws in the world have capped acceptable SAR at 1.6 W/kg. In Germany, where the Bundesamt fur Strahlenschutz is based, the limit is 2 W/kg. While it might still seem like Xiaomi* and OnePlus are flouting Indian and US norms, this Times of India report points out that the variants sold in India have a lower SAR and are fully in compliance with Indian laws. As noted by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Many people mistakenly assume that using a cell phone with a lower reported SAR value necessarily decreases a users exposure to RF emissions, or is somehow safer than using a cell phone with a high SAR value. Again, the SAR value measured by the FCC, TRAI and other organisations is only a measure of the peak radiation emitted by a cell phone at a single moment during its testing. Basically: Cell phones and cell towers emit harmless, non-ionising radiation Non-ionising radiation can cause local heating under extreme circumstances The SAR limit set by India, the US and other govts. is well below that at which non-ionising radiation can harm biological tissue The SAR limit as determined by the FCC and TRAI is NOT an indicator of the radiation emitted in real-world conditions. Another factor that has been ignored in news reports is the fact that Europe uses a different averaging volume for measuring SAR than countries like India and the US 10 g in Europe vs 1 g in India and the US. In other words, the test process is slightly different, which will result in some variation in the results. The Statista report doesnt mention the averaging volume used by the Bundesamt fur Strahlenschutz. In other words, stop worrying about "cancer-causing" cell phones and instead focus on something that really matters, like what youre getting for that special someone this Valentines day. *Statement from Xiaomi: All Xiaomi smartphones sold in India comply with the laws for SAR values and are well under the limit. Mi A1 has a SAR value of 1.26 W/kg (head) and 0.17 W/kg (body) in India. Values shared in the said report have been obtained from tests in Germany (where the conditions and standards for SAR testing and values are different from those in India) and thus cannot be compared to SAR values in India. For reference, India has a maximum limit of 1.6 W/kg while in Germany, the limit is 2.0 W/kg. Amid uproar, Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Amendment Bill, 2019 and Rajasthan Municipality Amendment Bill, 2019 were passed in the House by voice vote. The Jaipur: Noisy scenes were witnessed on Monday in Rajasthan Assembly as Opposition created uproar over farm loan waiver issue and five percent reservation to Gujjars, prompting Speaker to adjourn the House twice. Amid uproar, Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Amendment Bill, 2019 and Rajasthan Municipality Amendment Bill, 2019 were passed in the House by voice vote. The Bills were tabled to scrap educational qualification for contesting panchayat and municipal elections that previous BJP government had introduced. The previous Vasundhara Raje-led government had introduced education criterion in 2015 which required a candidate to pass class 10 for contesting zila parishad, panchayat samiti and municipal elections. For contesting elections for Sarpanch of a panchayat in scheduled and other than scheduled areas, it was mandatory to pass class 5 and 8, respectively. Later, the House was adjourned till 13 February. As soon as the Zero Hour started, opposition BJP legislators raised the issue of farm loan waiver whereas BSP, CPM and RLTP members demanded government to clear its stand over five per cent reservation to Gujjars. Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria raised the issue of farm loan waiver in the Assembly, saying the Congress government deceived farmers of the state by luring them to waive-off loans within 10 days after coming to power. "The state government should give details of the loan it has waived and how much funds government has deposited in bank accounts of farmers. Government should clear its policy and intention," Kataria said. In reply, state urban development minister Shanti Dhariwal said Opposition BJP had not specified how many farmers will benefit when it announced loan waiver of Rs 50,000. Objecting to the minister's comment, BJP legislators trooped into the well and shouted slogans against the Congress government. The uproar continued for nearly half-an-hour. Speaker C Joshi asked the BJP legislators to go back to their seats. But, the BJP legislators continued shouting slogans against the state government and Congress president Rahul Gandhi. On the other hand, BSP legislators Joginder Singh Awana, Wajib Ali and Rajendra Gudha, CPM leaders Balwan Punia, Girdhari Lal, RLTP leader Hanuman Beniwal also trooped into the well demanding government to recommend the Centre for five per cent reservation to Gujjars. Amid noisy scenes, the Speaker adjourned the House for an hour till 2 pm. As the House resumed BJP legislators once again trooped into the well taking up farm loan waiver issue, but the Speaker did not pay any heed and continued with the proceedings. After 10 minutes, Speaker requested members of the House to go back to their seats and participate in debate and then adjourned the House for second time for more than 1.35 hours. BJP legislators continued shouting slogans as the House passed two bills scrapping educational qualification for contesting panchayat and municipal elections. Earlier, newly elected Congress legislator from Ramgarh constituency Safia Zuber Khan was administered oath by the Speaker. The poll on the seat was held on 28 January as it could not be held along with other constituencies due to the death of the BSP candidate ahead of the 7 December Assembly polls. Poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor said Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra might not be able to 'turn things around' for her party in the few months left for the Lok Sabha polls, but could make an impact in the long run. Patna: Poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor on Monday said Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra might not be able to "turn things around" for her party in the few months left for the Lok Sabha polls. The Janata Dal (United) national vice president, however, said she was a big name and a popular face, who could emerge as a force to reckon with in the long run. Kishor's remarks came on the day when Priyanka made her political debut with her arrival in Lucknow, where she will meet senior Congress leaders and party office bearers over the next three days. She arrived at the Lucknow airport to a rousing reception by party leaders and workers who showered rose petals and threw marigold garlands at her as her cavalcade slowly made its way through the city during a roadshow. Asked whether he saw Priyanka emerging as a rival to Congress president and her brother Rahul Gandhi, Kishor replied in the negative. "Rahul Gandhi is the party president while Priyanka is among the many national general secretaries, but her entry will have an impact in the long run," he said. "I had, on record, welcomed her induction into the party. I felt that her active participation could have helped the Congress in Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. But now it is a different context," he said. "Nobody has a magic wand. I do not think she will be able to turn things around for the Congress in the two-three months that are left for the Lok Sabha polls. But she is a big name and a popular face. In the long run, yes she would emerge as a challenge (to the NDA)," Kishor told reporters in Patna. Responding to a question about the 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) in Bihar, of which the Congress is a part, the JD(U) leader said any coalition comprising of five or more parties may appear strong, but its chances of achieving electoral success are not very high. "But, if the 'mahagathbandhan' manages to do well, it would serve as a learning experience for all of us," Kishor said. Besides Congress, the 'mahagathbandhan' also comprises Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP). Kishor exuded confidence that the BJP-led NDA would return to power at the Centre. "As far as I can see, the NDA looks poised to return to power (at the Centre). How many seats it is going to win, I cannot predict (that)," he said. In Bihar, the NDA has only three constituents and is relatively stable. The number of seats for each alliance partner has already been agreed upon and it is just a matter of time before the constituencies are also finalised, he added. Kishor further said he did not think issues like demonetisation and GST would have an adverse impact on the NDA's prospects in the parliamentary elections. Events that took place within six months before the elections play a far more important role than those that occurred two or three years ago, he said. Speaking about speculations that RSLP leader Nagmani, who resigned from the party on Sunday, could join the JD(U), Kishor said he had no knowledge. He, however, said former Bihar Congress president Ram Jatan Sinha was likely to join the party on Tuesday. Kishor clarified that the JD(U) was not poaching leaders of other parties. If anybody expresses faith in the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, there is no harm in taking him or her along, he said. Claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rock-solid support of people, BJP president Amit Shah Tuesday dubbed the proposed 'mahagathbandhan' of Opposition parties as an alliance of state-level leaders 'not standing a chance' in the coming Lok Sabha polls. Ahmedabad: Claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rock-solid support of people, BJP president Amit Shah Tuesday dubbed the proposed "mahagathbandhan" of Opposition parties as an alliance of state-level leaders "not standing a chance" in the coming Lok Sabha polls. Attacking the Opposition parties' bid to forge the 'grand alliance' ahead of the election to take on Modi, Shah said it will not affect BJP's poll prospects. He sought to know from the Opposition parties their prime ministerial 'face' and leader of their proposed grand alliance. Addressing BJP leaders and workers from Gujarat after launching the 'Mera Parivar-Bhajapa Parivar' voter outreach campaign, Shah said a full majority government was required to enable Modi to continue serving the needy. "The 2019 Lok Sabha election is an important step for India to become a superpower in the world. I have travelled across the country and I can see that people are standing like a rock with Modi. I have seen love for Modi in people's eyes," he said. Shah said BJP workers ask him about the 'mahagathbandhan'. "I want to tell them that it will not have any impact," he said. "What will happen if (former prime minister and JD(S) supremo) Deve Gowda gives a speech in Gujarat or (West Bengal chief minister) Mamata Banerjee in Maharashtra or (former Uttar Pradesh chief minister) Akhilesh Yadav in Kerala? It will not have any impact whatsoever because they are only state-level leaders," the BJP president said. Asking party workers to reach out to people, Shah said they need not worry as the Opposition parties "do not stand a chance" in the coming election. "I want people of this gathbandhan to declare their candidate for the prime minister's post. Who is your leader? Who will run this country? We are very clear about it. Modiji will be the NDA candidate and only he will lead us," he said. On BJP's prospects in Uttar Pradesh, which accounts for the highest number of 80 Lok Sabha seats, Shah said his party will win "nothing less than 74 seats" there. The Modi government has worked to end corruption and to support 22 crore people through various programmes in its maiden term in office. "I would like to tell all party workers that the Modi government has not done anything to make BJP workers hang their heads in shame. Meet people with pride, they are ready to welcome Modiji," he said. Earlier, he hoisted the party flag at his private residence in Ahmedabad while launching the mass outreach campaign. The campaign is a strategy of the ruling BJP to connect to voters by hoisting party flags at their houses ahead of the polls. Shah said the BJP will hold four major programmes in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls to mobilise and expand its voter base. As part of the 'Mera Parivar-Bhajapa Parivar' campaign, the party plans to reach out to five crore families by unfurling its flag and garner support of around 20 crore voters in these households. "If more than 20 crore voters express their support to Modiji, it means that the BJP will return to power with more votes compared to the last election," Shah said. "The programme is meant to express the power of the organisation and to convert it into victory. I am sure crores of party workers will ensure victory for the party," he said. The BJP also plans to contact 22 crore beneficiaries of various government programmes as part of its 'Sampark Abhiyan', Shah said. "There are 22 crore such families who have benefitted from programmes launched by the Modi government an BJP-led governments in 16 states," he said. The central government has also connected 50 crore people through its Ayushman Bharat scheme, he said. "We will reach out to them and tell them that the party feels there are still many people who are yet to get these basic benefits that you have been offered by the Modi government. The party appeals to you to express your support for Modi so that no one is left behind," he said. The BJP will also organise the 'Kamal Jyoti' programme wherein party supporters will light up their houses and fire crackers to express their support for Modi, Shah said. The party will also conduct motorcycle rallies, involving over three crore bikes, across the country on 3 March as part of its voter outreach programme, he said. Setting the 'mazboor versus mazboot' narrative,Modi said 'Karnataka's helpless model' was being sought to be imposed on the country and scoffed at the efforts of opposition parties to cobble up a mahaghatbandhan (grand alliance) against him. Hubbali: In a stinging attack on the JDS-Congress coalition in Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday said Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy heading a "helpless" government had become a "punching bag" and mocked opposition efforts to impose the same model on the country. Addressing a massive rally here in north Karnataka and virtually launching his Lok Sabha campaign, Modi said there was not even a single day "when the country doesn't see the Natak of the government" as he took potshots at the ruling coalition over turmoil within it for the past few weeks. "Everyone is involved in saving their seat," Modi said, adding that for the sake of power "MLAs are fighting at hotels and breaking their heads. Several Congress leaders are fighting for their supremacy." Modi's attack on the coalition government comes amid the politically fluid situation in Karnataka, with BJP allegedly making aggressive attempts to topple the government and both ruling and opposition camps having kept their MLAs in resorts and hotels to stall the poaching bid. In an ugly turn to the resort politics, two Congress MLAs Anand Singh and JN Ganesh,who were reportedly on BJP's radar, had an alleged brawl, causing serious injuries to the former. "The Chief Minister here is everyone's punching bag. Every day he is getting threatened. His whole energy is spent on saving his seat from big Congress leaders," Modi said referring to Kumaraswamy, who, facing coalition pressures, has often openly expressed his 'helplessness.' "Publicly, he weeps about his helplessness (mazboori). Such a helpless government, such a helpless Chief Minister who is being challenged by anyone and everyone. Who is the in charge of the government.? There is confusion about it." Setting the "mazboor versus mazboot" narrative,Modi said "Karnataka's helpless model" was being sought to be imposed on the country and scoffed at the efforts of opposition parties to cobble up a mahaghatbandhan (grand alliance) against him. "They want to impose it on the country. Such a helpless model, where the head of the government keeps weeping at the corner and decisions are taken in naamdaar's palaces...they want confusion and fight for power to continue and the world to laugh at the country. They want to impose this model on the country," he said. Modi said the "New India" wanted a model that was strong and not a model that was helpless. "Every single vote of yours will decide whether there will be honesty or dishonesty, progress(vikaas) or dynasty (vanshwaad), whether there will be positivity or negativity. Whether you want clarity orconfusion. The answer to these questions will decide our destiny" he said. Modi's visit came amid an escalating political war over charges of horse trading with Kumaraswamy releasing the audio clip of a purported conversation of state BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa over his alleged bid to lure a JD(S) MLA through his son. Yeddyurappa, at the vortex of the row over his alleged bid to poach the ruling coalition MLAs for the past few weeks, had dismissed the clip as "fake" and a "concocted story". "This Pradhan sevak (himself), this chowkidar (ensures) that the benefits meant for poor are going directly to their accounts. That is why the honest have trust on Modi while the corrupt have a problem, Modi said. "You are witnessing in Delhi who all are falling in line... About whose income people used to fear talking... they are made to make their appearances before court and agencies and answer questions. They are giving an account of their benami properties in the country and abroad," he said, apparently referring to Robert Vadra. Vadra is facing a probe by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an alleged money laundering case. "Whether it is the ration of the poor of the country, and of poor farmers, or deals relating to defence of the country, whoever has taken commission, their numbers are coming down one after other," Modi said. The Prime Minister also criticised the ruling coalition's loan waiver scheme for farmers. "These are the people who did not leave even farmers. People of Karnataka have experienced it. Ahead of elections big promises of loan waivers were made. What happened to it? How many loans were waived off?" Modi said a promise was made that loans of 43 lakh farmers would be waived, but till now they had waived loans of only 60,000 farmers. "This is the truth about their loan waiver. For decades these people have been playing this game. They come with a 10 year plan of loan waiver for the sake of votes. They lie to people, but in reality loan waiver happens to about 25-30 farmers out of 100 and even in that most of it goes to middle men." Modi also launched Rs 5,000 crore projects, including the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Facility that includes 1.5 million metric tonnes reserves at Mangaluru (Rs 1,227 crore) and 2.5 MMT at Padur (Rs 1693 crore) at Padur in Udupi district to ensure energy security. He laid the foundation stone for Indian Institute of Technology at Dharwad near Hubballi, a 470 acre "green, smart campus" with state-of-the-art infrastructure with provision for UG and Doctoral programmes in multiple stream. Modi also laid the foundation stone for the Indian Institute of Information Technology at Dharwad, which will come up on 60 acre land with public-private partnership for UG and doctoral programmes in IT and related areas. The 'audiogate' rocked the Legislative Assembly on Monday with Kumaraswamy announcing a comprehensive special investigation team (SIT) probe into the Operation Kamala clip, whereas BJP lodged a strong opposition to the same. On Saturday, Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy released an audio clip of BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa and claimed that the former chief minister of the state was trying to lure lawmakers to topple the Congress-JD(S) government. Kumaraswamy is likely to appoint a retired high court judge to supervise the SIT. "The probe will be conducted under the judge's guidance. The report will also be submitted to the judge who, in turn, will submit it to the House in the next 15 days," a report quoted CMO sources. The 'audiogate' rocked the Legislative Assembly on Monday with Kumaraswamy announcing a comprehensive special investigation team (SIT) probe into the Operation Kamala clip, whereas BJP lodged a strong opposition to the same. The near five-hour debate, which stalled the days proceedings amid three adjournments, saw heated debates as Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar advised the coalition government to constitute a SIT to probe the charges, which also involved him. The BJP, however, refused to acknowledge the Speakers ruling. Asserting that the Kumaraswamy government too was accused of horse-trading and that its trustworthiness was under suspicion, the BJP demanded that the Speaker either order a judicial enquiry or a House committee probe into the bribery charges. As the Opposition demanded the scope of the probe to be expanded, BJP MLA JC Madhuswamy asked the Speaker to reconsider his decision. The Speaker, however, justified his ruling, saying he had requested Kumaraswamy to form the SIT based on the fact that his name had been mentioned and a deal had been struck. This was surprising given that so far the Yeddyurappa-led BJP had vehemently denied taking part in any horse-trading practice and had questioned the veracity of the clip, terming it to be "fake" or "doctored". Accusing Kumaraswamy of blackmailing him, Yeddyurappa on Sunday had said the content and voice in the audio tape are fabricated and doctored. "I met Sharanagouda, son of JD(S)' Gurmitkal legislator Nanganagouda Kandakur, at Devadurga in Raichur district on 7 February and discussed many things. But the content in the audio tape Kumaraswamy released in Bengaluru on 8 February is fabricated and its voice doctored," Yeddyurappa told reporters at Hubballi. Quoting Yeddyurappa's statements in Kannada, BJP spokesman S Shantaram told IANS that the opposition leader would reveal all about the controversial audio tape in the state Legislative Assembly. "For your kind information, Kumaraswamy had sent Sharanagouda to the Circuit House at Devadurg to meet me and discuss certain things last Thursday as I was staying there. But the audio tape he released to the media is manipulated. The chief minister is indulging in blackmail politics," Shantaram said quoting Yeddyurappa. The clip containing a purported conversation between Yeddyurappa, BJP MLA Shivanagouda Naik and Sharanagouda towards an alleged attempt to lure the lawmaker to the other side by offering Rs 25 lakh and a ministerial post for his father. The Speakers name too was dragged into the matter, with the charge that he was booked for Rs 50 crore to accept the resignations of disgruntled MLAs to topple the government. Kumar, who raised the matter soon after the session started, said that he was distressed and anguished as a member of the House had cast aspersions on him. He even suggested stepping down against the backdrop of the bribery allegations. However, both government and Opposition members urged him not to be emotional and take a hasty decision. Meanwhile, amid the protest in the Assembly, BJP MP Renukacharya flashed CDs that he claimed contained evidence of Kumaraswamy demanding money from a JD(S) leader back in 2014. Submitting the same to the Speaker, he said, We have evidence of Kumaraswamy demanding money from JD(S) leader Vijugouda for an MLC seat. He had asked for Rs 1 crore to be given to each party MLA, Renukacharya told reporters later. BJP Karnataka's official Twitter handle also launched an attack on the Kumaraswamy government and alleged that Yeddyurappa's voice was "mimicked" in the clip. "Full-time movie producer turned part-time chief minister used his connection to mimic BS Yeddyurappa's voice," the tweet read. In a desperate attempt to save his govt full time movie producer turned part time CM @hd_kumaraswamy has used his connection to mimic @BSYBJPs voice. Your fake hit & run allegations are not something new. BTW here is one of your audiohttps://t.co/1ZME0AZF3X BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) February 8, 2019 Recalling what transpired between him and the MLA's son, Yeddyurappa had said that he would retire from politics if Kumaraswamy proved that he told Sharangouda that Rs 50 crore was given to Kumar for not invoking the anti-defection law if Kandakur joined BJP. "We have a recording of Kumaraswamy demanding Rs 25 crore from his own party leader to make him an MLC which we will submit to the Speaker. Yeddyurappa had also called out Kumaraswamy by saying, "Being a chief minister, speaking like this without evidence doesn't look nice. More than 11 MLAs aren't going to attend the budget session, I have been told." "If it is true, the speaker must answer. If true, I am ready to retire from politics. They're saying this to save their government. That's why they're saying such nonsense," Yeddyurappa had reiterated in another interview. "Kumaraswamy himself is a film producer. He is an expert in voice recording.... whatever the charge he has made is baseless," Yeddyurappa told PTI. Shortly after the clip was released, Yeddyurappa said he had not met anyone to woo JD(S) lawmaker Nagana Gouda as alleged and that the charge against him was "far from the truth". The BJP leader has also claimed that Kumaraswamy had "concocted" the story to hide his failures and inability to keep the JD(S) and Congress flock together. "This is drama," Yeddyurappa had alleged. The BJP and Yeddyurappa, however, are now reluctant to submit the investigation to the SIT, which, knowing their previous stand, is surprising, if not anything else. There were also reports of the Karnataka government sending the tape for forensic examination. Since BJP leaders have raised doubts over its authenticity, we are thinking of sending them for forensic examination to find out the truth, said Home Minister MB Patil. It is a conspiracy to destabilise the elected government in the state. Our party is also seeking legal opinion on the next course of action, he added. In fact, in retaliation Kumaraswamy also offered to resign if the tape was found doctored while vouching for its authenticity. Talking to media persons in Dharmasthala, the chief minister said: I am saying from this temple town that if it is proved that the voice in the audio clip is not that of Yeddyurappa and it is has been doctored or is a mimicry, then he need not resign, I will resign." Meanwhile, many senior Congress leaders, including Mallikarjuna Kharge demanded a probe and staged protests at several places in the state, including Bengaluru, demanding action against the BJP leader. "The conversation reveals the conspiracy hatched by Amit Shah, Yeddyurappa to overthrow a democratically elected government. The naked act of anti-constitutional methods being followed by them is exposed. An enquiry at the highest level is a must to expose the true face of BJP," said Dinesh Gundu Rao, president, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, in a tweet. With inputs from agencies How much more insanity can Alberta take? Victoria, Whistler, Horgan, Weaver, May, and Indigenous people, quit with your mindless, insulting behaviour towards our fellow Canadians in Alberta. Every time you threaten the oilsands, you threat an Albertan. As long as B.C. welcomes cruise ships, runs ferries, distributes coal for all of North America, runs jets, helicopters, trucks, cars, pours raw sewage into the ocean ... how can we hold our head high? It is my concern Alberta just might start to defend itself. Since when did city councillors think they are so high and mighty as to threaten people in other provinces? Why not target oil-producing countries like Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Iran and many more? I took a personal trip to Fort McMurray and did a Suncor tour. It was amazing. I was so impressed at how Albertans, along with 40,000 workers from B.C. and another 30,000 workers from all over Canada, produced oil from naturally occurring tarsands. Every Canadian who has a fight with Alberta should see the oilsands operations. Once you experience it, you would be thankful they are not in China, Russia, or so many other places. Then it would be a world disaster. Quit insulting Albertans. G. Nyki, Lake Country Facebook expands fact-checking network in India, adds partners including India Today to spot fake news Facebook Inc is expanding its fact-checking network in India to curb the spread of misinformation as the worlds largest democracy prepares for a general election that must be held by May, the US-based social media giant said on Monday. We are committed to fighting the spread of false news on Facebook, especially ahead of the 2019 General Election campaign season, Manish Khanduri, Facebook Indias news partnership head, said in the statement. The coming election is expected to be a close fought battle between Prime Minister Narendra Modis Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress Party and its regional allies. Last week, Facebook said it was introducing stricter rules for political advertisements in India. The latest move to strengthen the fact-checking programme is aimed at verifying the accuracy of stories and preventing the spread of hoaxes. Five new partners, including The India Today Group, a leading local media house, have been added to Facebooks fact-checker network, taking the total number to seven, the statement said. And the programme has been broadened to cover services in more Indian languages, so that it will now cover English and five local languages, the statement added. India is Facebooks largest market by users, and its WhatsApp messaging service has more than 200 million users in the country thanks to the advent of cheap mobile data and increasing penetration of smartphones. Aside from concerns over misuse of social media for political purposes, there has also been criticism over the spread of false, incendiary messages that have fanned communal tensions and sparked mob violence. Last year, after a series of lynchings were incited by messages sent on its service, WhatsApp reduced the number of people or groups that a message could be forwarded to at one time, cutting it to five from 20 previously. WhatsApp has since moved to make that its norm worldwide. Facebooks main rival in India, Alphabet Incs Google, has also conducted scores of workshops across the country to train journalists to verify news. Stepping up attack following another investigative report on Rafale deal, the Congress party has now alleged that Narendra Modi's 'surprise' announcement on a government-to-government contract on the defence deal was an open secret to Anil Ambani's Reliance Group. Stepping up its attack following another investigative report on Rafale deal, the Congress party has now alleged that Narendra Modi's 'surprise' announcement on a government-to-government contract on the defence deal was an open secret to Anil Ambani's Reliance Group. Congress leader Kapil Sibal, on Tuesday, tweeted out the excerpts of an email trail, which indicates that the French government, European aircraft manufacturer Airbus, and Ambani were well aware that a memorandum of understanding was to be signed in the upcoming prime ministerial visit, while the rest of India was clueless about any such development. In the quoted emails, Ambanis meeting was described by industry advisor Christophe Salomon to the then French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian as "confidential and planned as you can imagine with very short notice." It seems Airbus , French Government , Anil Ambani all knew that the PM will sign an MOU on his visit to France between 9th and 11th April , 2015 . This Governments lies exposed. pic.twitter.com/rJGNNycaRH Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) February 12, 2019 In fact, in a press briefing just before Modi's visit, then foreign secretary S Jaishankar claimed that the defence deal was "on a different track" and that India does not mix up "leadership level visits with deep details of ongoing defence contract", essentially denying a possibility of any major breakthrough or developments. "In terms of Rafale, my understanding is that there are discussions underway between the French company, our Ministry of Defence, the HAL which is involved in this. These are ongoing discussions. These are very technical, detailed discussions. We do not mix up leadership level visits with deep details of ongoing defence contracts. That is on a different track. A leadership visit usually looks at big picture issues even in the security field," Jaishankar told a press gathering on 8 April, 2015. However, merely two days later on 10 April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took everyone by surprise by announcing that India would buy 36 of the fighter planes in flyaway condition under a government-to-government deal, completely setting aside the protracted negotiations to buy 126 fighter aircraft by the previous UPA government. Meanwhile, Sibal's tweet also alleged that Ambani made a 'secret' visit to Drians office and held discussions with the minister's top advisors even before Modi's official tour had started. Two weeks before even the then RM Parrikar knew about Modi's Rafale deal, the failed businessman Anil Ambani met French defence officials in a confidential meeting. Soon after, Reliance Defence was incorporated. Bolo #ChowkidarChorHaihttps://t.co/4PI9iML9ud Congress (@INCIndia) February 12, 2019 The Congress party also upped the ante from its own Twitter handle, alleging that Ambani knew about the upcoming Rafale deal two weeks before even then defence minister Manohar Parrikar came to know about it. The party also pointed fingers at the timing of inception of Ambani's Reliance Defence, suggesting that the company was founded with the knowledge that an upcoming deal with the French government could benefit the new company. Reliance Defence was incorporated on 28 March, 2015 the same week as Ambani's meeting with the French officials and merely 13 days prior to the announcement of the deal. The Congress party quoted a report in The Indian Express, which clearly states that Ambani met Drians top advisors almost a fortnight before Modi announced the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft with an offset contract, which eventually went on to benefit the newly-forged Reliance Defence. According to the newspaper, the meeting was attended by Le Drians special advisor Jean-Claude Mallet; Salomon; and his technical advisor for industrial affairs, Geoffrey Bouquot. Subsequently, Ambani was also part of the prime minister's delegation during the France visit. Congress president Rahul Gandhi at a press conference said that the prime minister should be charged with treason for revealing a State secret to a businessman allowing him to profit from the deal. "If there were only two people in India who knew about the deal, it is anybody's guess that who could have told whom about the deal," Rahul said, hinting that the prime minister himself shared the specifics of the government-to-government negotiations with Ambani. "If this is true then the prime minister is in violation of official secrets act. Criminal action must be initiated immediately," Rahul said. Read Live updates on Rafale controversy here Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu would hope to generate enough political mileage from the Dharma Porata Deeksha hunger strike he undertook in New Delhi. Whether Andhra Pradesh gets special status or not, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu would hope to generate enough political mileage from the Dharma Porata Deeksha hunger strike he undertook in New Delhi. The hunger strike on Monday became a rallying point for the opposition around the agitating chief minister and showcase unity against the BJP. The 12-hour-long programme that began at 8 o clock in the morning looked more like an attempt to create an electoral plank for the ruling Telugu Desam Party rather than a demand for special status for the state. Andhra Pradesh is heading for Assembly election in April or May this year simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls. When Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated into two states it was promised that it would be given the status of a special state which was not given. Later it was assured that Andhra Pradesh would be granted special package to fulfil its needs such as a building for the state capital complex. We were a part of the NDA and hence our party waited for four years hoping that the promises would be fulfilled. But after the long wait we pulled out support as the promises were not met, said Parthasarathi, a Telegu Desam Party MLA to Firstpost. On March last year, the TDP pulled out of NDA after a prolonged spat over a special package to Andhra Pradesh with BJP. During the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, the Centre made 18 promises to the state including funding for constructing new capital in Amaravati and Polavaram irrigation project. But the TDP has been complaining that none of them has been fufilled in entirety. Even as the TDP blames the centre of betrayal, the BJP has been accusing that the former is resorting to lies to cover up its inept and inert governance. Parthasarathi however hoped that the protest programme would ring a bell in the ears of the NDA government at the Centre. Rather than conveying the message to the Centre, more effort was felt in the protest programme to cater to an audience back there in Andhra Pradesh. Naidu and his cabinet spoke in chaste Telugu most of the time which was relayed to the television screens by all the Telugu news channels ceaselessly. The protest came close on the heels of another dharna led by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata against the Centre accusing it of destroying the federal structure of the nation. The Kolkata dharna was seen as Mamatas attempt to hold on tight to her home turf by raising herself to a pedestal as high as Modis in national politics, at least in the imagination of her voters. Like the previous one, the Naidu's Delhi dharna too which also became a rallying point for opposition leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel, looked like a similar attempt. Prime Minister Narendra Modi knows very well that Chandrababu Naidu is one of the most powerful chief ministers in India and he is the only person who can unite the nation against him. This is the reason why Modi has been trying to keep him down by depriving Andhra Pradesh of its rights, said Qasim Khan, TDP organising secretary in Guntur district. He also claimed that despite insufficient grants from the Centre, the state goverrnment on its own has completed 70 percent works of the Polavaram irrigation project and 30 percent of the capital construction project. Apart from that we have connected Krishna and Godavari river to irrigate land of the farmers, he said. Despite claims made by the TDP, it is getting tougher by the day for the TDP government to meet its fund requirements without much help coming in from the Centre. In a condition like this, a second term for the party in the Assembly elections to be held along with the Lok Sabha polls looks like a bleak possibility. Last year the Andhra Pradesh government allowed the state owned corporations to garner loans on its own from financial institutions as the state budget does not permit the government to further avail loans. No wonder the Modi Hatao Desh Bachao pitch got higher in the dharna. Our single point agenda is to remove Modi from power. Once Modi is thrown out of power Andhra Pradesh will be solved, Khan said. The TDP saw its popularity spiralling down in the recently held Telengana polls, where the TDP-Congress alliance was trounced. The fear that this might replicate in the Assembly elections looms large. Party organising secretary Vasanta Satyanarayana doubts that the BJP is trying to foray into Andhra Pradesh politics through opposition YSR Congress Party in the state. BJP is conspiring with YS Jaganmohan Reddy, the leader of the main oppositon party to grab power in Andhra Pradesh. We will fight against this power tooth and nail to keep them out of power, Satyanarayana said. Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu took his protest for special category status for the state to Delhi on Monay, when he staged a 12-hour dharna at Andhra Bhavan. In these 12 hours, nearly two dozen Opposition leaders flocked to the protest seemingly to show solidarity for Naidu's cause. Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu took his protest for special category status for the state to Delhi on Monay, when he staged a 12-hour dharna at Andhra Bhavan. In these 12 hours, nearly two dozen Opposition leaders flocked to the protest seemingly to show solidarity for Naidu's cause. However, what was meant to be a platform to press for the demand for special category status in accordance with the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, turned into a stage for Modi bashing, but more importantly, one to showcase Opposition unity. From Congress president Rahul Gandhi, former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien, Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, to rebel BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha, former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha and leader of BJP ally Shiv Sena, Sanjay Raut, Naidu garnered the support of Opposition leaders from across the spectrum. At the dharna in Delhi, these leaders not only reiterated their support for special status for Andhra Pradesh, but also took the opportunity to bring up what they believe are failures of the Modi government. Ever ready to bring up the controversial Rafale fighter jet deal, Rahul said: "The prime minister has stolen from the people of Andhra Pradesh and given that money to Anil Ambani. I want to let you know that we all stand together. We are going to defeat the BJP." But Manmohan, who was the prime minister when Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated and Telangana was carved out of it, stayed true to the cause and said: "This demand had the support of all parties when it was discussed in Parliament. I stand in solidarity with Naidu." Naidu played smart by holding his protest in Delhi instead of in Andhra Pradesh. His hunger strike not only drew the attention of national media, instead of just a section of the media, it made enough of an impact for BJP president Amit Shah to issue a statement on Naidu, and not have one of his lackeys hold another press conference to counter any charges pressed against the BJP or BJP-led NDA government. In an "open letter to the people of Andhra Pradesh", Shah wrote that the TDP chief "is back to theatrics and histrionics" and his "desperation for grabbing headlines is understandable as he is aware that his political fortunes are declining rapidly". The BJP does not consider Naidu or his TDP a threat. It has repeatedly dismissed his efforts to bring the Opposition together to form an anti-BJP front. But the Opposition's latest show of strength at his protest in Delhi, which can be considered comparable to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's 19 January United India rally in Kolkata, appears to have rattled the BJP enough for Shah to speak up for the saffron unit himself. "The enlightened and politically-conscious people will see through his desperation to retain power. They will teach a befitting lesson to him in the coming elections for having joined hands with the Congress, which bifurcated the state in a unilateral, hasty and unscientific manner, ignoring the interests of the state," he said, regardless of the fact that Manmohan has repeatedly urged Parliament to keep his Congress government's promise to the people of Andhra and grant the state special category status, the very demand that the BJP government has been ignoring. The BJP chief also sought to draw attention to the way Naidu had usurped the TDP throne from its founder, NTR, and also drill home the fact that he was joining hands with the Congress, the very party against which the TDP was formed. In a near clear bid to save face, the Congress has been backing Naidu's demand for special category status, more so since the election season began. In this regard, Shah's statement may not hold ground as it is his party that's blocking the move, as a result of which the TDP pulled out of the NDA government in March 2018. Staving off Naidu's anti-BJP efforts may not have been high on the party's priority list, but Monday's dharna changes things. The turnout of nearly two dozen of Opposition leaders threw the BJP off enough to have a party biggie step in with its usual politics of blame. In fact, Shah's reaction proves that Naidu got exactly what he wanted with this protest he wanted to draw eyeballs; he wanted to get noticed by those whose views matter in current politics, which is surely not the BJP's go-to spokesperson Sambit Patra; he wanted to showcase that he could garner Opposition support if he wanted to. "His actions smack of political opportunism," Shah wrote in his open letter. Whether or not he is right about Naidu's intentions, the tactic is nothing new to Indian politics, especially to the BJP which jumps at any opportunity to target the Congress, especially the Gandhi-Nehru family, and stops at nothing to ridicule the Opposition. Mukul Roy is one of the four persons named in the FIR relating to the killing of Biswas. Two accused Kartik Mondal and Sujit Mondal were arrested on Sunday and have been remanded to 14 days' police custody Kolkata: BJP leader Mukul Roy on Tuesday filed an anticipatory bail application before the Calcutta High Court after being named in an FIR in the killing of a MLA in Nadia district. Roy claimed that he was booked out of "political vendetta" and was in no way linked to the murder of Krishnaganj MLA Satyajit Biswas on Saturday. Biswas (41), who represented Krishnaganj constituency in the West Bengal Assembly, was shot dead from point-blank range by unidentified assailants on Saturday evening inside a Saraswati puja marquee at Phoolbari area in the district, bordering Bangladesh. Roy's lawyer Subhasish Dasgupta said the anticipatory bail plea is likely to come up for hearing on Wednesday before a division bench presided over by Justice Joymalyo Bagchi. Roy has been charged with "criminal conspiracy relating to the murder", his lawyer said. "Roy has been implicated in about 25 criminal cases since he changed his affiliation from Trinamool Congress to BJP," Dasgupta said. The BJP leader is one of the four persons named in the FIR relating to the killing of Biswas. Two accused Kartik Mondal and Sujit Mondal were arrested on Sunday and have been remanded to 14 days' police custody. Roy, a former number two in the Trinamool Congress, joined the BJP in November 2017 following differences with party supremo Mamata Banerjee. He has denied the allegation of his involvement, saying the decision to name him in the FIR was "politically motivated". Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday said he used to boast about his '56-inch chest', but the 'hollowness' of his claims is now coming out in the open. Lucknow: Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday said he used to boast about his "56-inch chest", but the "hollowness" of his claims is now coming out in the open. Addressing Congress workers after a roadshow in Lucknow, where he was accompanied by his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in her first public event after entering active politics, Rahul claimed that Modi's body language has also changed now and the entire country has got to know about his "hollowness". "When Narendra Modiji came, he had said he has a 56-inch chest, he wants to be a chowkidar (watchman) and he wants to be prime minister of the country. But now, one after another, the truth is coming out," Rahul said, citing recent media reports on the alleged "parallel negotiations" carried out by the Prime Minister's Office in the Rafale deal and the alleged dilution of the anti-corruption clause in the jet purchase agreement. "The hollowness that was inside him has now come out before the entire nation. The entire nation and its youth and farmers now know that 'chowkidar chor hai'..." Rahul said, while repeating his allegations about corruption and crony capitalism in the multi-billion dollar Rafale deal. The government and the BJP have repeated rejected these allegations. Speaking at Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, senior BJP leader and Home Minister Rajnath Singh said. "Chowkidar chor nahi, chowkidar pure hai. Next PM sure hain, problem ke liye cure hai ("The watchman is not a thief, he is a pure man. He is sure to be the next PM and is a cure for problems." Speaking in Parliament in the national capital, another Congress leader Veerappa Moily also referred to Modi's famous comments about his his "56-inch chest" to attack the government. "When bullet of corruption is hit, his broad shoulders cannot bear it," Moily said. In the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it was in Uttar Pradesh that Modi, as a three-term Gujarat chief minister at that time, had famously said that it take a "56-inch chest" to convert Uttar Pradesh into Gujarat in terms of development. N Chandrababu Naidu talks on the 'grave injustice' done to his state, the possible repercussions on national unity, the Mahagathbandhan, the Lok Sabha polls and the agriculture crisis Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu staged a day-long protest fast entitled 'Dharma Porata Deeksha' on 11 February against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the "step-motherly treatment" meted out to his state. In an interview, Naidu talks about the "grave injustice" done to his state, the possible repercussions on national unity, the Mahagathbandhan, the Lok Sabha polls and the agriculture crisis. Edited excerpts follow: You were part of the NDA. But last year March you decided to call it quits. What was the reason? A grave injustice has been done to Andhra Pradesh. We have been denied what was rightfully ours. The promises made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act have not been kept and this is bound to have repercussions on national unity. Modi promised to help build the new Andhra capital Amravati: that would be even better than the national capital. How do we build such a capital without money? You have accused the prime minister of not following raj dharma? Yes. A national leader should follow raj dharma. He must work in the countrys and the national interests. Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said raj dharma was not followed in Gujarat (during the 2002 riots). Now I am emphasising that the raj dharma has not been followed in the case of Andhra Pradesh. That's why, on behalf of five crore people of Andhra Pradesh, I am warning this government. What kind of alternative plan does your Mahagathbandhan have. Has anything concrete been chalked out? We are working to arrive at some sort of a consensus. There are many problems before us. There is a crisis in agriculture. Unemployment is another major issue. Would you prefer a pre-poll alliance? We are working to create an informal pre-poll alliance. We will fight separately in Andhra Pradesh, but we will be united at the national-level for democracy. Who will head it? Modi has called your Mahagathbandhan a mahamilavat khichri? He can say anything. India has always done well under a consensus government. India needs cooperative federalism. Modi has destroyed all the institutions in the country. He has also lowered the level of political discourse. Who will be the face of this Mahagathbandhan? Are there many contenders? This will be decided after the elections on the basis of consensus. But first, let us win the elections. But one thing I will emphasise and that is anybody will be better than Modi. Modi is dividing the people. He is dividing the country. I have been in politics for the last forty years, but have never seen this level of political discourse. Are you in the race for prime ministership? No, I am not in the race. The PM attacked you in the rally he held at Guntur recently. He said you are busy promoting your son Lokesh... I would like to point out that making personal attacks against me and my people is unwarranted. I am just doing my duty as the head of my state. We are only demanding what we were promised. Yes, Lokesh is my son. I am proud of my family: as husband of Bhuvaneswari, father of Lokesh and grandfather of Devansh. Modi would not understand as he doesnt value family life. The feedback from Andhra Pradesh is that YSRCP chief Jagan Mohan Reddys campaign is picking up... Every party in the state supported my protest except YSRCP chief Jagan Mohan Reddy, because he was hand in glove with the BJP. Jagan made arrangements for the BJP gathering in Guntur because he feared his cases would otherwise be reopened by the CBI and ED. A large number of Opposition leaders came to express their solidarity to your protest. Did you invite them? Yes, they were invited. BSP supremo Mayawati did not send anyone... No one came from BSP. I will be speaking to her. I am in touch with her. Jagan Reddy is spending his time campaigning in Andhra but you are in the capital... I am going back to Andhra, but will return tomorrow morning to express solidarity with Mamata Banerjee. She is holding a dharna in the capital. Do you see Rafale being an election issue in the coming polls? Yes, it will be an important issue. There is no doubt about that. The Speaker made the intervention during the discussions in the Assembly over the SIT probe into an audio clip featuring BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa in a purported conversation to lure a JD(S) MLA in his alleged attempt to topple the Congress-JD(S) government. Bengaluru: Karnataka Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar on Tuesday compared himself to a rape survivor having to undergo repeated questioning, as he referred to repeated charges against him being part of the controversial audio tapes, over which government has announced an Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe. The Speaker made the intervention during the discussions in the Assembly over the SIT probe into an audio clip featuring BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa in a purported conversation to lure a JD(S) MLA in his alleged attempt to topple the Congress-JD(S) government. The Speaker, pointing to repeated reference to charges against him, said his "situation was like that of a rape victim, as they too are supposedly questioned about the incident repeatedly." Kumaraswamy on Monday had announced a comprehensive SIT probe into the audio clip. He had accepted an "advice" by an emotional Speaker to constitute SIT to probe the episode to "establish the truth" as his name has also been dragged with the charge that he had been "booked" for Rs 50 crore. The standoff between the government and Opposition continued in the Assembly on Tuesday over an SIT probe into the audio clip. The Speaker called for a meeting of floor leaders on Wednesday to resolve the issue, as the BJP stuck to its strong opposition to the SIT, saying it could be used for "political vengeance." He decided to convene the meeting at the end of the day long discussion on the issue for the second consecutive day in the Assembly, with both the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition and Opposition BJP refusing to budge from their positions. "Let's discuss and try to find a solution," the Speaker announced as he adjourned the Assembly proceedings to Wednesday morning. The Speaker's decision came after Yeddyurappa, the leader of the opposition, pointed out that no effort was made by the Chair to seek the opinion of the Opposition before deciding on the investigation agency to inquire into the case. "SIT probe is being imposed upon us forcefully," he said. Yeddyurappa expressed apprehensions about the SIT as it comes under the chief minister and said he was firm on his stand to quit politics if it was proved he was present during conversations between the persons in the audio on a "Rs 50 crore offer to book" the Speaker, as alleged by Kumaraswamy. Accusing the chief minister of hatching a conspiracy against him by "twisting facts", he said Kumaraswamy has released the audio partially, to save his seat. The BJP has objected to the SIT and insisted on constituting a House committee or a judicial probe. They also saId that the probe cannot be conducted by an agency that is under the chief minister as he too was a party in the case. The political war over charges of horse-trading had escalated in Karnataka on Friday with Kumaraswamy releasing the audio clip. As the House met for the day, Opposition members requested the Chair to reconsider the decision to hand over the probe to the SIT. Several BJP members, including Yeddyurappa, demanded a probe by house committee or judicial inquiry into the matter. Kumaraswamy had said that during the purported conversation that there was a mention about a "Rs 50 crore offer to book" the Speaker to give a ruling in favour of MLAs who might resign to help the BJP bring down his government. Former chief minister Jagadish Shettar allegedthat Kumaraswamy was behind the audio conversation as he was the one who sent Sharan Gouda, son of the MLA Nagan Gouda, who was being lured and he also heard the conversation between the two individuals via a conference call. "So the chief minister is the offender, he is the first accused in the case," he said. Another senior BJP member Madhu Swamy, questioning the constitution of the SIT, said the probe report can only be submitted to court by the SIT and not to the government or the Chair. Kumaraswamy expressed surprise about being called "A1" (Accused No 1) by BJP in the case and said that since the Leader of the Opposition and other members have called him accused, "at least to punish me, a comprehensive inquiry has to happen." Hitting out at BJP for suspecting political vengeance on the part of the government and its officials, he asked "did I direct Yeddyurappa and others in the way they did.? Claiming to enjoy the complete confidence of Congress and JD(S) MLAs, Kumaraswamy spoke of the need to amend the anti-defection law and said if an elected MLA resigns, he should not be allowed to contest elections for five years. "Such a permanent change has to be brought in," he said. Stating that he was also ready for a discussion on the alleged 2014 video CD about the cash for vote allegedly involving him, which was raised by the BJP, the chief minister said he would abide by the Speakers advice on constituting an SIT to probe the audio clip. The political slugfest broke out as Kumaraswamy on 8 February claimed there were two audio clips of recorded telephonic conversation between Yeddyurappa and Sharan Gouda. Hours after Akhilesh Yadav was allegedly stopped at the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow while on his way to an Allahabad University event, the Samajwadi Party chief said in a press conference that the Bharatiya Janata Party-government was nervous. Hours after Akhilesh Yadav was allegedly stopped at the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow while on his way to an Allahabad University event, Samajwadi Party leaders, including MP Dharmendra Yadav, and workers were lathi-charged by police in Allahabad during protests triggered by the incident, reports said. The SP chief, at a press conference, said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government had found it necessary to stop him because they were afraid of his presence at a students' programme and had effectively "prevented him from engaging with the youth". Meanwhile, ANI's Uttar Pradesh Twitter account published a letter sent by the Allahabad University registrar to Akhilesh Yadav's personal secretary on Monday, informing him that politicians are not allowed in university programme. "From our experience of the past years, the university has decided not to invite any politician to university events, including the annual function," stated the university letter. The matter rocked Rajya Sabha on the penultimate day of the Budget Session, where proceedings were disrupted multiple times amid uproar by Samajwadi Party members who jumped into the Well protesting against their party chief being allegedly stopped at the airport. Akhilesh was supposed to attend an oath-taking ceremony at the university. "I had sent my acceptance for attending this event long back, on 27 December, but the state government put a spoke in the wheel," he said, adding that a detailed programme of his trip had also been sent to the government on 2 February. In a statement he tweeted in the aftermath of the incident, Akhilesh called his alleged detention at the airport the "remote control politics of two and a half men", in a veiled jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Adityanath. "To be stopped from speaking, from asking questions that is on everyone's mind to be prevented from engaging with the youth is just another clear sign of how scared the government is," the SP chief said. "If there was a genuine problem, the police there would have objected, or asked for a change in my schedule. I understand the need to ensure the safety of people and property and would never do something to endanger either knowingly," he added. He said the BJP has lost Uttar Pradesh, "but more than an election, they have lost the faith that the youth of this country reposed in them". Neither in his press conference nor in his statement did Akhilesh mention the letter that was allegedly sent by the University authorities. "The government's intentions are not good. The kind of measures this government is willing to take are outrageous," Akhilesh said. Earlier in the day, he had tweeted photographs in which he was seen talking to police officers inside the airport. When asked as to why Akhilesh was stopped, airport director AK Sharma said, "I have no such information." Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said the BJP government's actions were "an example of total dictatorship of BJP government". "This is very unfortunate and this undemocratic step will be fought at all levels," she said. "Is the BJP government at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh so afraid of BSP-SP alliance that it is resorting to anti-democratic methods to curb our political activities?" she further asked. With inputs from agencies Colella comes to Maryland's SBDC from the private sector, where he owned and operated a full-service marketing firm specializing in promoting small businesses and non-profit organizations. Prior to that, he was the director of economic development for the Town of Sykesville. He graduated from James Madison University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in English with an emphasis on written and oral communication. His credentials include certification by the American Association of Small Business Consultants. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra arrived in Jaipur on a chartered plane on Monday evening to meet her husband Robert Vadra, who is scheduled to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a probe into an alleged land scam in Rajasthan's border town of Bikaner. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra arrived in Jaipur on a chartered plane on Monday evening to meet her husband Robert Vadra, who is scheduled to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a probe into an alleged land scam in Rajasthan's border town of Bikaner. According to airport authorities, Priyanka left the airport under tight security for the hotel where her husband had reached earlier in the day. Earlier on Monday, Priyanka made her debut in Uttar Pradesh's political arena as Congress general secretary with a grand road show in Lucknow. Priyanka had on last Wednesday strongly come out in support of her husband, whom she had dropped off at the Enforcement Directorate's office in Delhi on the first day of his questioning in another case. "He is my husband, he is my family...I support my family," she had said when asked whether she was sending a message by dropping off her husband. Vadra is scheduled to make a fresh appearance before the Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday in Jaipur in connection with a probe into an alleged land scam in Bikaner. Vadra's mother Maureen is also likely to appear before the central probe agency at about 10 amat its zonal office on Bhawani Singh Road in Jaipur. The duo landed at Jaipur airport on Monday noon. This will be the fourth time that Vadra appears before the agency. Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Aam Aadmi Party in Karnataka on Tuesday suffered a jolt when its state co-convener Shivakumar Chengalraya quit the party accusing the central leadership of ignoring Karnataka. Bengaluru: Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Aam Aadmi Party in Karnataka on Tuesday suffered a jolt when its state co-convener Shivakumar Chengalraya quit the party accusing the central leadership of ignoring Karnataka. "I quit because you know that it (AAP) is losing relevance. Each one of us has contributed for it. Blaming Prithvi Reddy, (party's national executive member from Karnataka) alone will not serve the purpose. The national team also kept on ignoring us (Karnataka unit of AAP). Even today it continues," Chengalraya said. Upset over the party's leadership making some appointments in the state unit allegedly without consulting the unit leaders, he said, in a statement, that he was not in active politics and was not associated with any political party for the past few months. Chengalraya said he will start political activism at the ground level soon with well-known activists in the state. "During the state Assembly election Arvind (Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal) did not come. These things should not be discussed in media but now I can speak. No national leader came. It is only we who struggled so hard," Chengalraya, who is also the state political affairs in-charge, said. Chengalraya said the state unit fully supported the national leadership but the latter ignored it. The party had fielded 28 candidates in the May 2018 Assembly polls and all of them forfeited their deposits. Women continue to be excluded from decisions around climate change in the region, even though they are disproportionately affected, argues ICIMOD gender expert Chanda Gurung Goodrich By Ramesh Bhushal The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) released a first-of-its-kind assessment of climate change in the Hindu Kush Himalaya this week in Kathmandu. The report has terrifying findings. Even with drastic cuts to global emissions, we will lose half of the Himalayan glaciers by 2100 with a temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius. The report complied by 200 leading scientists also warns that the lives of more than 240 million people in the mountains will become more difficult with climate change, and the livelihoods of more than 1.9 billion people downstream will also be affected. The region, known as the worlds Third Pole, with the largest store of ice outside the polar region, is the source of Asias major rivers, including the Ganga, Indus, Brahmaputra, Yangtze and Yellow River. While the scientific findings are worrying, the report also draws attention to the fact that the solutions to climate change are largely techno-centric in design and fail to grasp the social dimensions of problems such as gender. Focus on technical observations such as changes in temperature and precipitation are easier to measure, but undermine the importance of diverse local experiences. The complex effects of climate change on the lives, livelihoods and resources of diverse groups of people are poorly understood. The report argues that it is important to link the abstract generalisations, specificity and objectivity of climate science and climate interventions with contextually relevant social meanings and experiences. thethirdpole.net Nepal editor Ramesh Bhushal spoke to Chanda Gurung Goodrich, lead coordinating author of the gender chapter of the Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment: 'In the shadows of the Himalayan mountains: persistent gender and social exclusion in development'. Photograph by Jitendra Raj Bajracharya/ICIMOD Ramesh Bhushal: What does this chapter deal with, and why is it important in relation to climate change? Chanda Gurung Goodrich: It talks about the intersections between gender, social equity and climate change in the context of changing realities across the Hindu Kush Himalaya, and how climate-related institutional interventions respond or do not respond to the complex and diverse realities of peoples lives on the ground. What is the current state of gender inclusion on climate change in the region? When we think about gender, its not only about women or men, its more about which women and which men. People in this region are divided by caste, class, ethnicity, age, education, geography (urban, rural, highland, lowland) and marital status. People face multiple forms of exclusion and oppression based on who they are, on their position in the social hierarchy because of gender structures and due to geographical location. When you look at climate change or disasters, the most affected are the poorest women in the remotest part of the mountains, because they dont have access to resources, information, or the skills to adapt. Because you dont have the capacity, you are more vulnerable. Women across different socioeconomic categories are disproportionately affected because of structural inequalities in the distribution of rights, assets, resources and power based on repressive cultural rules and norms. The report says policies and responses in HKH countries overlook the multiple forms of oppression and exclusion that women face. Could you elaborate with some examples? Policies and programmes have long focused on the functional rather than the structural aspects of gender relations. Gender has been applied narrowly, often as a synonym for poor [rural] women but without further differentiation of these womens needs, interests, identities and roles. As a result, these policies produce technocratic quick fixes that place unrealistic burdens on women already in poverty. They offer women economic opportunities but do not address their unequal power relations with men, unequal wages and share of domestic and work responsibilities. For example, policies on land tenure and employment disadvantage rural women especially those in poor remote mountainous areas by undervaluing their critical roles in food security, sustainable agriculture and natural resource management. To give another example, in some cases early warning signals have not reached large numbers of women in Bangladesh, because the information is disseminated primarily in public places to which many women do not have easy access. And even when women received warnings, they were constrained by cultural norms that restrict their freedom of movement in public that is, women were not allowed to leave their houses without a male relative, and many women waited for their husbands to return home before evacuating, thereby losing precious time that might have saved their lives and those of their children. Another example is in China. China has a large national Climate Change Adaptation Plan using ecosystem-based adaptation and scientific technologies as key tools. Yet, consideration of gender analysis in community-based adaptation and womens roles in adaptation is limited. Photograph by Nabin Baral The report also says migration in the Himalaya mountains has given rise to a rhetoric of feminisation of responsibilities. What does that mean in the context of changing climate? There are high levels of migration in Hindu Kush Himalayan countries, and mostly young men are migrating. As more men migrate in search of livelihood options, rural women assume a disproportionate share of responsibilities agricultural labour, looking after children and supporting community welfare, as well as responsibilities in the public sphere. This has given rise to a gendered rhetoric of feminisation of responsibilities. Women are expected to adapt to climate change and cushion its adverse effects on their households and communities. Such rhetoric adds climate change adaptation to the already long list of womens responsibilities. Addressing this kind of social change will need policies that address multiple forms of exclusion, which is currently lacking. As argued in the report, available data on women in HKH countries does not reflect the relations of inequality, hierarchy, inclusion and exclusion how? A major problem is that empirical data on the impacts of climate change are often presented in aggregate terms, reflecting an unfounded assumption that climate change affects people uniformly. Policy makers need to acknowledge that experiences of climate change, and responses to climate change, are defined by intersecting factors of age, caste, class, gender, and ethnicity in this region. Therefore, policymakers need to support mechanisms to collect disaggregated data. Needs among women are also different. Blanket policies have been designed and implemented based on national data, and its not going to work. Does the shift in womens and mens responsibilities match by a corresponding shift in policies and attitudes about gender? There is a mismatch and its high time to fix it. For example, women are doing well in education and health in the HKH region, but when it comes to politics and economy, there is a huge gap. So what if I am educated and healthy? If I dont have the right to make decisions, I dont have the right to control the money. So responsibilities are changing with education, but policies and attitudes arent. How can we fix gender-related problems on climate change and natural resources? There are several problems and different ways to solve them. However, it is critical to recognise that gender does not equate to women. There is no single class of HKH women and men, and no universality of experience in regard to climate change impacts. It is quite important to realise that since men continue to be key actors in environmental science, policy and intervention across South Asia, the manner in which masculinity mediates environmental science, policy, and governance needs to be addressed. While it is critical to create space for women to participate in natural resources management, policies must reduce rather than increase the responsibilities and environmental burdens for women. Womens engagement and participation in climate change policymaking should empower them and promote womens rights not promote interventions dictated solely by efficiency. The Third Pole is a multilingual platform dedicated to promoting information and discussion about the Himalayan watershed and the rivers that originate there. This report was originally published on thethirdpole.net and has been reproduced here with permission. Sure, the scheme has been announced. But how will it actually benefit the poor if the money is eaten up by corrupt officers in the system, the way it generally happens? a farmer from Banda questions. The Interim Budget announced on 1 February made a splash with the introduction of a cash transfer scheme, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme, which promises income support to small and marginal farmers a cash assistance of Rs 6,000 per year. If their Rs 6,000 was going to be given to us every month, then it would have benefitted the farmers to a certain extent. But what good can this amount do for a whole year? said Chhote Lal, a farmer in Banda, Uttar Pradesh, in response to the budget that claims to prioritise the farmers. I suppose on one hand, it is beneficial for those who have real needs, those who are uneducated. They are in any case satisfied with whatever they get, he reasoned, however added, But really, what can a farmer achieve with Rs 6,000 a year? Anil, another farmer in Banda, echoed Chhote Lals thoughts, We could have still adjusted our expenses if we were getting Rs 6,000 every month, but for a year, it is practically nothing. According to the NABARD All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey 2017, the average monthly expenditure of an agricultural rural household in 2015-16 was Rs 7,152. Of the 1.9 crore agricultural households in Uttar Pradesh, the average surplus income is a mere Rs 315 per month. The income support of effectively Rs 500 a month is still a positive news for farmers like Surendra Kumar from Panna though. According to this budget, small-scale farmers will get Rs 6,000 a year, he said, But if they are given the opportunity to form the government, they can even increase the amount, isnt it?, he asked, perhaps nailing the moot point of the strategy behind the Budget presentation. The Union Finance Minister and then Acting Finance Minister, Piyush Goyal, did state that Rs 20,000 crore was budgeted for this centrally funded scheme for 2019, while the estimates for 2020 pushed the figure up to Rs 75,000 crore. Kumar concurred, They are the first to even take such an initiative. Any scheme is a good thing. Right now, we farmers are happy with this amount. But even while expressing his own support for the NDA government, Kumar couldn't help himself from adding, Of course, all this is a political strategy. Maya, another farmer in Banda, was unconvinced. Sure, the scheme has been announced. But how will it actually benefit the poor if the money is eaten up by the corrupt officers in the system, the way it generally happens? she questioned. This scheme will not be of much help to unregistered farmers, or sharecroppers, said Anil, a village head in Chitrakoot. According to the scheme, only those farmers with less than two hectares of land could avail the benefits of this scheme, which would in effect, leave out the landless, including unregistered farmers and agricultural labourers. They are not including the large-scale farmers in the welfare schemes, he pointed out, but do they not have the same needs? He then added, And these small-scale farmers, youre only giving them Rs 6000 but to others you are giving Rs 24,000, in reference to the financial assistance amount announced for the unemployed, If youre promising to give the unemployed Rs 24,000, then even the farmer will leave his profession to be eligible for that money. It is but obvious. There are so many problems farmers are facing farmers: barren lands with no productivity, high cost of seeds, and even increased rates of electricity, he continued, clearly agitated, The government can make all the false promises they want, we know what the ground reality is. If this Rs 6000 a year is just glorified lip service, what does Anil think the government could be doing instead to help the farmers? Anil had a host of answers, none of them shockingly new, If you actually want to consider the needs of the farmers and help them, then the Swaminathan report should be implemented. Give the farmers the right to decide the prices of their crops according to the costs of production. Ensure that the basic needs of farming, like manure and seeds, are provided to them free of cost. Anil had more to add, as he listed what have been recommendations to mitigate a slowly-building agrarian crisis in India, If the government really wants to consider the needs of farmers, then the first thing they need to do is make tubewell and other water provisions here. Here, all of the farmers biggest problem is the lack of irrigation which the government has done nothing for. And of course, the second biggest problem is stray cattle. By dealing with just these two problems, the farmers would be happy and successful, he said, pithily. Anil was dismissive of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme in general, All this doesnt help. The farmers death rate is only going to keep increasing day by day. Khabar Lahariya is a women-only network of rural reporters from Bundelkhand. A government-to-government agreement between India and France to procure 36 Rafale jets has all Opposition parties up in arms days before the biggest electorate event in the country. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2019, where the ruling NDA alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party will be fighting to win another mandate at the Centre, the controversy around the Rafale deal has exploded to huge proportions. A government-to-government agreement between India and France to procure 36 Rafale jets has all Opposition parties up in arms months before the biggest electorate event in the country. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2019, where the ruling NDA alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party will be fighting to win another mandate at the Centre, the controversy around the Rafale deal has exploded to huge proportions. As three separate news reports threw fresh light on the controversial deal, the issue has rocked the Parliament in the ongoing Budget session. This session is also the last sitting in the 16th Lok Sabha. The government is scheduled to present a CAG audit report in Parliament on Tuesday. The Opposition has also raised questions about the credibility of the government auditor alleging a "conflict of interest". Congress has asked the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Rajiv Mehrishi to recuse himself from the audit as he was finance secretary when the jet purchase was negotiated. Union Minister Arun Jaitley, however, has rebutted the claims, saying the Congress was casting aspersions on CAG based on "falsehood". Two investigative reports by The Hindu and a report by The Indian Express brought the controversial deal back in the political discourse. Before these reports, a statement by former French president Francois Hollande last year on how Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence came into the picture acted as a real trebuchet to put the issue into the political cauldron with both the Opposition and the ruling party slaloming between accusations and counter-accusations. Here are the major flashpoints which catapulted the deal into the limelight. Francois Hollande's admission As the issue whipped up a political storm in India, admission of former French president Francois Hollande opened up a new attack front for the Opposition. Hollande was quoted in an article by a French website Mediapart claiming that the Indian government had asked the French government to nominate Reliance Defence as its India partner in the deal. We did not have a say in this, Hollande was quoted as saying. "The Indian government proposed this service group and Dassault negotiated with Ambani. We did not have a choice, we took the interlocutor who was given to us." In 2015, when Hollande was the President of France, the deal to purchase 36 Rafale fighter jets from France was announced by Modi. Hollande's statement gave Opposition's allegations that Modi had unfairly picked Ambani-led Reliance Defence Limited to be the French firm's Indian partner, a shot in the arm. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said that the Rafale deal was doctored "behind closed doors" by Modi. "The Prime Minister personally negotiated and changed the Rafale deal behind closed doors. Thanks to Francois Hollande, we now know he personally delivered a deal worth billions of dollars to a bankrupt," Rahul had tweeted. Swifty reacting to control the damage, the French government issued a statement soon after. "The French government is in no manner involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners who have been, are being or will be selected by French companies," it said. The statement further said: "In accordance with India's acquisition procedure, French companies have the full freedom to choose their Indian partner companies that they consider to be the most relevant, then present for the Indian government's approval the offset projects that they wish to execute in India with these local partners so as to fulfil their obligations in this regard." Dassault Aviation also released a statement, saying, "This offsets contract is delivered in compliance with the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016 regulations. In this framework, and in accordance with the policy of 'Make in India', Dassault Aviation has decided to make a partnership with India's Reliance Group. This is Dassault Aviation's choice." The deal was initially estimated to be worth Rs 54,000 crore. The NDA government insisted that it got significantly better terms than those quoted in the original bid under the UPA government, with a total reported saving of more than 1,600 million (350 million in the cost of aircraft with a further reported saving on weapons, allied maintenance and training package amounting to around 1,300 million or Rs 12,600 crore). However, a cost breakdown of Rafale in the original bid under UPA and in the 36 aircraft in the government-to-government deal under NDA are not in the public domain. The Hindu reports Two consecutive reports by The Hindu (read here and here) sparked a fresh debate over the Rafale deal as the report quoted a 2014 note written by the Ministry of Defence which raised strong objections to 'parallel negotiations' conducted by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) with the French side. Stating that it was clear that such parallel discussions by the PMO had "weakened the negotiating position of MoD and Indian Negotiating Team," the note, dated 24 November, 2015 brought this to the attention of the then defence minister Manohar Parrikar. The Hindu quoted the defence ministry's note and reported: "We may advise PMO that any Officers who are not part of Indian Negotiating Team may refrain from having parallel parlays [parleys] with the officers of French Government, it suggested that in case the PMO is not confident about the outcome of negotiations being carried out by the MoD, a revised modality of negotiations to be led by PMO at appropriate level may be adopted in the case." The second report in The Hindu claimed that the deal involved "major and unprecedented concessions from the Indian government, with critical provisions for anti-corruption penalties and making payments through an escrow account dropped days before the signing of the inter-governmental agreement (IGA)." The Modi government, which rode to power in 2014 on the promise of culling corruption out of the country, came under intense criticism after the report was released on 11 February. The Hindu reported: "Official documents available to The Hindu reveal that the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by the then Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, met in September 2016, and ratified and approved eight changes in the IGA, supply protocols, offset contracts and offset schedules (see Box 1). This was done after the IGA and associated documents had been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by Prime Minister Modi on August 24, 2016. The most significant among these eight changes, recorded in a note signed by Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar, DCIDS (PP&FD) who was the member-secretary of the DAC, is at sub-para (c). This states: Non-inclusion of the Standard DPP Clauses related to Penalty for Undue Influence, Agents/Agency Commission and Access to Company Accounts in the Supply Protocols." Three members of the Indian negotiating team dissented to the direct dealing with the commercial suppliers under cover of an IGA and it was highlighted in a note, the report said. On the direct dealing with the two companies, they noted: Notwithstanding the fact that the procurement is on Government-to-Government basis, the IGA involves Transfer of Rights and Obligations relating to supplies of equipment and related industrial services by French Government to the French Industrial Suppliers, and the payment is also being made to the French Industrial Suppliers and not to the French Government; therefore, it is not advisable to sacrifice the basic requirement of financial prudence. On 8 February, after The Hindu report surfaced, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi called for a press conference and called the prime minister a "thief" for favouring "friend" and businessman Anil Ambani for the deal. Rahul minced no words before accusing Modi of interference during the negotiation process with France as claimed by the newspaper citing various documents. "Now, it is clear that the prime minister has stolen Rs 30,000 crore of your money and given it to his friend Anil Ambani. It is an open and shut case. The defence ministry has said this itself that the prime minister has interfered. Nirmala Sitharaman and Narendra Modi have lied to you. It is proven that chowkidaar chor hai," Rahul said in a press conference. The Congress president also included the "youths and the soldiers of the country" in his brief statement adding "This is about your future. You defend us, protect us, fight for us, even die for us." "NoMo anti corruption clause. The chowkidar himself opened the door to allow Anil Ambani to steal 30,000 Cr. from the IAF, Rahul tweeted tagging the report. Dear Students & the Youth of India: Everyday there are new revelations about RAFALE that make it clear that the PM helped his friend Anil Ambani, steal 30,000 Cr of your money. Watch my Press Conference LIVE at 11 AM today on the #RafaleScam Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 12, 2019 The Congress president met Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday and said, "The Prime Minister became prime minister saying he will fight corruption. Have you read today's Hindu? It is very clear in today's (Monday's) Hindu article that the prime minister removed the anti-corruption clause. Every defence deal has an anti-corruption clause." The India Express reports The Indian Express, in its report, said that in March 2015 before Modi announced officially procuring the 36 Rafale jets from France, industrialist Anil Ambani reportedly visited the then French defence minister's office in Paris and had a meeting with his top advisors. Special advisor to the then defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian met Ambani with industry advisor, Christophe Salomon; and his technical advisor for industrial affairs, Geoffrey Bouquot. Ambanis meeting was described by Salomon to a top official of a European defence company as 'confidential and planned as you can imagine with very short notice'. The report also stated that when Ambani visited the French defence minister's office, it was known that Modi would make an official visit to France from 9-11 April, 2015. Subsequently, Ambani was part of the prime minister's delegation during the visit where the deal for 36 Rafale aircraft was announced in a joint statement issued by both India and France. Reliance Defence was incorporated on 28 March, 2015, in the same week as this meeting. Reacting to the Indian Express report, Rahul said, "The Prime Minister is acting as Anil Ambani's middleman. National security has been compromised. An MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) is known to a businessman before it is drafted before anybody else. Like I said, the Prime Minister has done something that spies do." A UPA-era deal, which is haunting BJP-led NDA govt Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in April 2015 that India will buy 36 "ready-to-fly" Rafale jets manufactured by French company Dassault Aviation. Rafale was chosen in 2012 over rival offers from the United States, Europe and Russia. It was a necessary step to upgrade India's ageing fighter fleet. The original plan was that India would buy 18 off-the-shelf jets from France's Dassault Aviation, with 108 others being assembled in India by the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bengaluru. The Modi-led NDA government, however, rolled back on the earlier UPA government's commitment of buying 126 Rafale jets saying that the deal will be too expensive. Negotiations for the high-profile deal had dragged on for three years with deadlocks over the costs and subsidiary clauses frequently stalling the process. Finally, the Modi government decided to buy 36 "ready-to-fly" fighters instead of trying to acquire technology from Dassault and make it in India. The decision prompted the principle Opposition parties to criticise the BJP-led Centre of non-transparency in the multi-billion dollar deal and called it "one of the biggest failures" of the 'Make-in-India' programme. In January, 2016, India confirmed the order of 36 Rafale fighter jets with France. In September, 2016, India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France, dubbed as 'Rafale deal', in which India will pay about Rs 58,000 crore or 7.8 billion for 36 off-the-shelf Dassault Rafale twin-engine fighters. About 15 percent of this cost was being paid in advance. As per the deal, India will also get spares and weaponry, including the Meteor missile, considered among the most advanced in the world. In November 2016, a political warfare broke out between ruling and Opposition parties in India with the Congress claiming that the government has caused "insurmountable loss" to taxpayers by signing Rs 58,000 crore-deal and suggested that the deal was struck to facilitate Anil Ambani's defence venture. The Congress alleged that the cost of each aircraft was three times more than what the previous UPA had negotiated with France in 2012. The trial has just started in the Shahid Azmis murder case with the first of the prosecutions 108 witnesses in the witness box, says advocate Khalid Azmi. Shahid Azmi was a young lawyer from Maharashtra, best known for his exemplary litigating skills in the trial courts of Mumbai. His track record of 17 acquittals in seven years remains a matter of awe for those acquainted with the inordinate delays with which the criminal courts function. Shahid almost exclusively dealt with cases of those charged under anti-terror laws such as TADA, POTA, UAPA and MCOCA. He was himself charged under TADA and lodged in Tihar Jail, where he spent six years of his life. These years in jail, where he was subject to physical torture, pushed Shahid towards a new course of action. He completed his graduation while in prison and took up a degree in law immediately after his release. He started litigating in 2002. Shahid was a vocal critique of the dismal state of the criminal justice system. From time to time, he made representations about the overtures of investigating agencies and the manner in which anti-terror laws were used against Muslims in Maharashtra. Speaking about the methods of enforcement agencies at a seminar organised by Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad Research Centre, Aurangabad, Shahid had said, Whenever someone is arrested under anti-terror laws, agencies arrest him under a suspicion that he is a threat, not because theyve evidence with them. According to how his interrogation goes, IB prepares a report that this person should be in jail for these many years and even if he is able to obtain release, he should be under surveillance. How does the system keep him in jail? Even if he gets an acquittal, investigating agencies will immediately get it stayed from the higher judiciary. This appeal will remain in court for years. In my experience, Ive seen this happen in almost every case. From an acquitted prisoner, his position reverts back to that of an accused. If the person is able to afford to go to the Supreme Court, the bail will render him immobile. Trips to the courts will continue. The shadow of the system will never leave him. Due to his forthrightness and the nature of his work, he was regularly subject to attacks and threats. On 11 February, 2010, he was shot dead at his office in Kurla, a Mumbai suburb. It has been nine years since advocate Azmi was shot dead. Firstpost spoke with Shahids brother, advocate Khalid Azmi at the Second Memorial Lecture organised in the memory of Shahid Azmi at the Marathi Patrakar Sangh. Edited excerpts: What is the update on Shahid Azmis murder trial? The trial has just started. The first of the prosecutions 108 witnesses is in the witness box. Weve finished his chief examination, the cross-examination is still pending. The eyewitnesses have identified the accused. But the lawyers of the accused hasnt surfaced yet. On the next scheduled date, which is 25 February, they might appear to cross-examine our witness. There are four accused in all. Vinod Vichare and Pintu Dhagle are out on bail, Devendra Jagtap and Hasmukh Solanki are still in custody. Theyve tried to stall the case by filing multiple bail applications but even the Supreme Court has rejected their plea. Theyve filed yet another bail application in the (Bombay) high court. The prosecution is trying its best to quicken the pace of the trial. How is your family doing? How is your mother Rehana? We are getting by. My mother is still in shock. You might say it has been long but as Shahids mother, she is yet to come in terms with what has happened to her son. She is in depression most of the time. You have faced death threats before. So has your family. Is this still continuing? I did face a few threats. But after investigation, it came to the knowledge of the police that some of them had personal issues with me. Those cases are closed now. While there has been nothing explicit when it comes to the accused in Shahids murder case, I do feel it when I am in the court. Whenever the accused appears in the court, they are accompanied by many people. These people have never spoken to me but by way of their body language and stares, there is an attempt to intimidate me. There are silent threats which might not be visible but can be felt. Have you taken over the cases which your brother handled? I did handle these cases till 2014. But the Jamiat Ulema, the organisation whose cases my brother was handling, did not help us in his murder trial in spite of the struggles we were facing. I stopped working with them in 2014. I dont know what has happened to those cases. Anti-terror cases are not the only cases I am doing now. I am pursuing a full-fledged litigation practice. If they arent supporting, then who is? What about other organisations? How are you managing to keep yourself safe as youve received threats before and might, during the course of the trial? I can tell you this, there is nobody. I depend only on my close friends and colleagues. Till date, nobody has come forward and asked me about the status of Shahid Azmis murder trial. I was asked to share the update of the case at the memorial lecture. But how come no organisation has come to Shahid Azmis family to enquire about the trial and the difficulties we are facing. Nobody has come to us. We are called at times to give such updates, and we do this. We explain what is happening and what is not. But there is nothing beyond that. Why is it that only on the day of his death you want to talk about his case? What about the other days? Do we eat only one day in the year? The rest of the year, what happens to those who want to celebrate Shahid Azmi. Why have they forgotten that it has been nine years and the trial has just started. Why have they forgotten the family of Shahid Azmi? Sometimes I feel insecure, for myself and my family. But I reassure myself from time to time. I dont have another option. I need to carry on my work and for this, Ive to think that I am secure. At the memorial lecture, your brother Arif mentioned an incident from Shahids life. He described how when Shahid was taken to the Patiala House Court in Delhi, he saw Sikh prisoners accompanied by members of the Sikh community. He worked to create this for Muslim under trial prisoners as well. Following Arif, Walid spoke, whose brother was an accused (who was represented by Shahid and was eventually acquitted) in the 7/11 bomb blasts. Walid spoke about how Shahid had created an ecosystem for prisoners, right from the trial court to the Supreme Court. Walid also said that after Shahid, this support system has pretty much fallen apart. Why do you think that is? Soon after the death of my brother, there was nobody to handle the cases that my brother had been looking after. I had just started practising. It had been only about four months since I had received my degree in law. I was requested to look after the cases of 26/11. I approached many independent lawyers to help me in this trial but nobody agreed. Everybody was reluctant to associate themselves with the kind of cases my brother had been doing. They were scared that they would come under attack. Finally, I approached RV Muqasi, one of my closest friends. He agreed to help me out. He argued the matter and I assisted him. We completed the trial and got an acquittal as well. We appeared in the high court when the judgment came up. But at that time, it was really difficult. My brother was different. He used to approach all the cases with a lot of depth and intensity. It is probably because he had lived through the experience of being falsely accused. I dont see a lot of people like that anymore. They are still reluctant and dont want to have anything to do with this kind of work. Now, I am going through the same situation that my brother faced but can I stop taking the cases because of external pressures or intimidation? No. If you are in the field, youve to do what you can. Separatists on Tuesday called for a two-day shutdown to protest the legal challenge to Article 370 and Article 35-A of the Constitution, which grant special status to Jammu and Kashmir and special rights and privileges to its 'permanent residents', respectively. Srinagar: Separatists on Tuesday called for a two-day shutdown to protest the legal challenge to Article 370 and Article 35-A of the Constitution, which grant special status to Jammu and Kashmir and special rights and privileges to its "permanent residents", respectively. Petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court, challenging the constitutional validity of Article 370 and Article 35-A. "People of Jammu and Kashmir will forcefully resist every challenge by New Delhi to change the demography of the State by rolling back hereditary state subject laws of 1927 (protected by Article 35-A of the Constitution), being contested in the Supreme Court of India through their agents," separatists' Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) said here. The apex court is scheduled to hear the petitions challenging Article 35-A during the week. To protest the "vicious move", the separatists called for a complete strike on Wednesday and Thursday. "The late announcement and ambiguity over the dates of hearing of (PILs against) Article 35A and Article 370 by Supreme Court on 13 or 14 of February is worrisome, and indicates mischief," the JRL, comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik said. "(We) understand that frequent shutdowns add to the hardship already experienced by people as a result of occupation, but it is imperative to register our strong protest in the wake of such threatening measures," it said. The separatist amalgam said it is an "extremely critical issue" about the very existence of people and about "our disputed status". The JRL warned of a mass agitation if the court gives a decision "adverse to the interests of the people of Jammu and Kashmir" and the state's status. "Those forcing us to react" will be responsible for the consequences, it said. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have been imposed in East and West Imphal districts ahead of the tabling of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill Imphal: Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have been imposed in East and West Imphal districts ahead of the tabling of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. As per the orders of the district magistrate, "Section-144 is imposed in Imphal till 12 February 2019 until further orders due to the situation arising out of intense agitation launched by various civil society organisations against the passing of Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha." The bill will be tabled in the Rajya Sabha by Union Minister for Home Affairs Rajnath Singh. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which was passed in the Lok Sabha on 8 January, aims at granting citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who came to India before 31 December, 2014. Earlier on February 10, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had stated that his party, National People's Party (NPP), has decided that if the central government passes the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Rajya Sabha, then they will break ties with the NDA. Addressing media persons in Guwahati, Sangma had said, National People's Party (NPP) has decided if the Bill (Citizenship Amendment Bill) is passed in the Rajya Sabha, then the party will break its ties with the NDA. This decision was taken in the party's general body meeting. BJP, on the other hand, has said the government wants to resolve the problem of illegal migrants. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged the people to not be carried away by the rumors. He urged the political parties to stop playing with the emotions of the people of Assam for political gain and vote bank. Assam will not be harmed through the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, he said. Manipur: Section-144 imposed in Imphal East District till 12 February 2019 until further orders due to "situation arising out of intense agitation launched by various Civil Society Organisations against the passing of Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha." pic.twitter.com/4Qtzv48YnW ANI (@ANI) February 11, 2019 The BJP had won eight Lok Sabha seats from the region during the last Lok Sabha polls in 2014 out of which seven were from Assam, and one from Arunachal PradeshKiren Rijiju, who is Union Minister of State for Home Affairs. BJP president Amit Shah has set the target of winning 21 seats out of 25 in the coming Lok Sabha polls in the regionAssam, Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim, and Nagaland. Several organisations have been staging massive protests over the Bill asserting that the legislation will create law and order problems in the North East. Accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising ministers, senior officials and leading Saudi businessmen, Prince Salman will arrive in India on 19 February on his maiden trip to the country, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement. New Delhi: Defence, trade and energy security are expected to be high on the agenda when Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman holds talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his two-day visit to India next week. Accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising ministers, senior officials and leading Saudi businessmen, Prince Salman will arrive in India on 19 February on his maiden trip to the country, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement. During the visit, the crown prince will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on wide range of issues of mutual interest. He will also call on President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu. The visit by Prince Salman, who is also the vice-president of Saudi Arabia's council of ministers, follows the "highly-successful" trip of Modi to that country in April 2016, during which the two sides agreed to further elevate existing strategic partnership, the MEA said. In recent years, there has been significant progress in bilateral cooperation in key areas of mutual interest, including energy security, trade and investment, infrastructure, defence and security, it said. The bilateral trade was $27.48 billion during the last financial year 2017-18, making Saudi Arabia India's fourth largest trading partner. Saudi Arabia contributes significantly to India's energy security needs by supplying about 20 per cent of crude requirements of the country. Recently, Saudi ARAMCO in partnership with ADNOC of the UAE entered into a joint venture for $44-billion worth Ratnagiri Refinery and Petro-Chemical project Ltd. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also facilitates Hajj pilgrimage to over 1,75,000 Indians every year. Im a faculty member at the University of Montana, DeBoer said. I was scheduled to be on a sabbatical. An old friend of mine from graduate school, Jane Frazier [director of the theatre program at the Carroll Community College] invited me out to direct something at the college. This play is one Ive known from some time. The playwriter, Samuel D. Hunter is an old friend, and its the perfect play for a college, with age-appropriate roles. [Hunter] said no college has ever done this play before. He helped us secure the rights through his agent. An exhibition on China's peacekeeping input was launched Monday evening at the UN headquarters. With the theme "CPLA (Chinese People's Liberation Army): A Force for World Peace," the exhibition displays four sections of pictures, featuring Chinese military's participation in UN peacekeeping missions, securing maritime passages, disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, as well as exchanges and cooperation. Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the UN, speaks at the ceremony of China peacekeeping exhibition in the United Nations, Feb. 11, 2019. [Photo: China Plus/Qian Shanming] At the ceremony to launch the show, Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the UN, said that China has become the largest contributor of peacekeepers among the five permanent members of the Security Council. China first sent peacekeepers to carry out UN operations in 1990, said Ma, adding that over the past three decades, China has sent over 39,000 peacekeepers to UN missions around the world. Atul Khare, Under-Secretary-General for Field Support, speaks at the ceremony of China peacekeeping exhibition in the United Nations, Feb. 11, 2019. [Photo: China Plus/Qian Shanming] Under-Secretary-General for Field Support Atul Khare hailed China's role in UN peacekeeping, saying that China is the 10th largest contributor of uniformed personnel and the second largest financial contributor to peacekeeping budget. Last December, China's share of the UN peacekeeping budget was raised from 10.24 percent to 15.22 percent, making it the second largest contributor only after the United States. "China continues to be recognized as an essential partner across the spectrum of UN peacekeeping," Khare said, adding that the nation "currently deploys a total of 2,508 uniformed personnel, including 70 women, to eight of the UN's current peacekeeping missions." UN Military Adviser for Peacekeeping Operations Carlos Humberto Loitey told Xinhua that China's contribution to the UN peacekeeping is worth "highlighting," with "good quality" of peacekeepers and "outstanding support in terms of training." China's permanent representative to the UN Ma Zhaoxu, Under-Secretary-General for Field Support Atul Khare, and other guests at the China peacekeeping exhibition in the United Nations, Feb. 11, 2019. [Photo: China Plus/Qian Shanming] Mao Naiguo, head of the Chinese PLA delegation for international communication, said "China firmly upholds the purposes and principles of the UN charter and its central role in the international affairs." On safeguarding maritime passages, data from the exhibition showed since December 2008, the Chinese Navy has regularly deployed 3 to 4 vessels in the Gulf of Aden to carry out escort missions. "As of December 2018, 31 batches of 100 vessels were dispatched to provide safety protection for more than 6600 Chinese and foreign vessels, rescuing, escorting and salvaging more than 70 ships in distress," according to the exhibition. A guest stands in front of a poster at the China peacekeeping exhibition in the United Nations, Feb. 11, 2019. [Photo: China Plus/Qian Shanming] In addition, in recent years, the Chinese military has helped in various international disasters such as Haiti earthquake in 2010, Philippine typhoon Haiyan in 2013, and Ebola epidemic in West Africa. The 12-day exhibition is co-hosted by the Political Work Department of China's Central Military Commission and Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations. Arun Jaitley wrote: In relation to the Rafale deal where thousands of crores of public money has been saved, a new falsehood is manufactured on a daily basis. Truth is both precious and sacrosanct. In mature democracies, those who deliberately rely on falsehood are banished from public life. There is no doubt that with the changing socio-economic profile of India, this will inevitably happen in India. In modern world, dynasties inherently have their limitations. Aspirational societies abhor kingdoms. They insist on accountability and performance. But the grand old party of Indian politics has sadly become a captive of a dynasty. Many of its senior leaders lack the courage and moral authority to advise the dynasts to change course. This trend started in early 1970s, climaxed during the Emergency and has continued ever since. The 'slave' mentality of senior leaders convinces them that they must only sing the song scripted by the dynast. A contrarian opinion will cost them their political career. When the dynast speaks lies, they all join the chorus. How many lies are necessary to be peddled to save a sinking dynasty? The contagion effect of falsehood is fairly large. It appears to have spread to other colleagues in the 'Mahajhootbandhan'. In relation to the Rafale deal where thousands of crores of public money has been saved, a new falsehood is manufactured on a daily basis. The latest is in relation to the present CAG and his participation in the decision making process of Rafale. In 2014-15, the present CAG was Secretary (Economic Affairs) in the Ministry of Finance. Being senior-most at one point of time, he was also designated as the Finance Secretary. I say this without fear of contradiction that no file or paper relating to the Rafale transaction ever reached him nor was he in any way, directly or indirectly, associated with the decision-making on defence purchases. Expenditure to be incurred on purchases by various departments of the Government needs the approval of Secretary (Expenditure). Why then is the lie in relation to the CAG having a non-existent conflict of interest being raised? The dynast knows that his 500 crore vs 1,600 crore kindergarten argument was a fictional story. No one would ever buy it because facts dont support it. Even before the contents of the CAG report are known, a 'Peshbandi' attack on the institution of the CAG is launched. The dynast and his friends have in the past even attacked the Supreme Court when it rejected the writ petition on Rafale. The entire pricing argument was factually wrong. The procedure argument that there was no Defence Acquisition Council, no CCS, no Contract Negotiation Committee was a blatant lie. The Rs 30,000 crore favour to a private company is non-existent. The use of sliced document by a newspaper is unprecedented in the history. The use of an incomplete document is certainly not in consonance with the spirit of free speech. The 'no integrity pact' argument is belied by the fact that even in earlier purchases through inter-governmental agreement with Russia and the United States, such pacts were not there. Now without a shred of evidence, a fictional conflict of interest of the CAG is invented. How many more lies will be peddled to sustain a sinking dynast? India, certainly deserves better. This article first appeared on Arun Jaitley's official Facebook page. It has not been edited for content or style by Firstpost staff. India has, in the past, inked Defence deals with countries like the USA and Russia without signing an integrity clause or an anti-corruption agreement. Allegations and counter-allegations have come thick and fast in the Rafale row, with three news reports taking centre stage in asking the most important questions regarding the circumstances leading to the procurement of 36 fighter jets by the Indian government, from French company Dassault. In one of these bombshell reports, The Hindu noted that the deal had "involved major and unprecedented concessions from the Indian government", with critical provisions for anti-corruption penalties dropped. While this point has been highlighted by the Congress in its attacks on the BJP-led government that brokered the deal, the time is ripe to note that not all defence deals have had an integrity or anti-corruption clause attached to them. The integrity clause was codified in India's 2006 defence procurement policy (DPP). Unveiled by then defence minister Pranab Mukherjee, the clause mandated that all defence deals amounting to or exceeding Rs one billion should have a pact that vouches for the fact that no corruption or bribery went into the inking of the pact. Amending the DPP 2005 with this new policy, Mukherjee had said the reforms, including the integrity clause, were brought about to "ensure greater transparency and probity in defence deals". A report in The Hindustan Times on Tuesday noted that the non-adherence to the integrity clause was seen in the case of big ticket purchases as well, including the Manmohan Singh led UPA-government's purchase of heavy lift transporters from the USA through the Foreign Direct Sale route (FMS). The C-17 aircraft cost the Indian exchequer close to $4.1 billion, but the deal did not come with either an integrity clause or a sovereign guarantee, a defence official has allegedly told the newspaper. A similar purchase of six C-130 heavy lift aircraft from the US for $ 1 billion also had no integrity clause, the source is said to have informed. The USA, however, is not the only country that India has allowed this concession for. Another senior defence official has allegedly told the paper that the Su-30Mki frontline fighters which were purchased in the 1990s and 2000s, and the S-400 missile defence shield, which were bought from Russia, both came from deals without integrity clauses. India, the source said, bought tanks, warships, and other equipment from Russia without either. The sources quoted by Hindustan Times were not the only ones who spoke on the non-centrality of such a clause. Air Marshal SBP Sinha, who headed the Rafale negotiations with France, on behalf of India, also told ANI that an "integrity clause" did not feature in earlier government-to-government contracts signed with America and Russia. "Till now, we have had government-to-government contracts with America and Russia. This is the third such contract, which is with France. Such a clause was not there in any of them," said Air Marshal Sinha while speaking to ANI. Sinha also stated to The Hindu that paragraph 71 of the DPP states that classic pacts do not apply to government-to-government agreements, in the case of which both governments will rely on mutually agreed terms. He also said that some notes are being "selectively picked up" to prove a point but the fact is none of them are "linked to Indian negotiating team". Congress president Rahul Gandhi had, on Monday, asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had facilitated a "loot" in the Rafale deal by removing the anti-corruption clause, as stated in The Hindu report. "Every defence deal has an anti-corruption clause," Rahul had said, seemingly oblivious to the fact that a government headed by his own party had not included such clauses in defence deals inked earlier. The UPA government, ANI further reports, had in 2013 had come up with a new policy which allowed the defence ministry not to follow laid down rules and sign inter-governmental agreements with "friendly foreign countries" like France could be argued to be, as per mutually agreed provisions between both sides. The question may also arise as to why a government-to-government deal, essentially one in which only the two governments are negotiators of prices, would require an integrity clause at all. In such a deal, the procurement process is assumed to favour both countries as both governments are expected to look after the interests of their countries. Governments choose this route, notes the Observer Research Foundation, to avoid the perceived malpractices of an open competition. Had the Indian government purchased the aircraft directly from Dassault, the French government would most likely have had to step in to provide both a sovereign guarantee (a promise by a government to discharge the liability of a third person in case of default) and an assurance of integrity. However, it is not as if the matter arrives at a stop with acknowledging a diminished need for an integrity clause in the Rafale deal. In the case of this deal, the merits of a government-to-government understanding are made murkier by the government's alleged insistence on Reliance Defence to be made offset partner. But the fact remains that the spotlight has only recently fallen on the debated clause. "In my long years with the Ministry of Defence, I dont remember integrity pacts or sovereign guarantees coming from Russia or for that matter any other government," reiterates former head of the finance wing of the defence ministry, Amit Cowshish. To help readers understand where the government enjoys strong-footing and where it has failed to answer pointy questions, here is a low-down on the technical jargon associated with the debate on the issue. Opinion poll surveys conducted in September, November, and January indicated that despite the continuous media coverage and sustained political debate on the Rafale row, the issue failed to take off as a major electoral issue. A Business Standard survey conducted in September 2018 revealed that 52 percent of respondents believed that the issue would not matter during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Another poll by Times Now-CNX found that only 10 percent think that Rafale deal is an important cause of concern. ABP News-C voter survey said that over 44.9 percent people think Rafale will not have any effect on Modi government's image, while India Today's Political Stock Exchange (PSE) revealed that in politically important states like Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the issue has very little traction among respondents while many voters said they did not know about the matter enough to form an informed opinion. While some would argue that this could be taken as affirmation of support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it mostly displays that the issue failed to engage the larger public. Both sides either resort to pithy one-liners to glaze over the complex issue, or they threw complex jargon, without adequate explanation, to take cover behind wordplay and avoid closer public scrutiny. Either way the result is that the politicos lose audience on what should have been crucial to national interest. The Rafale deal, with its many unravelling layers, has been one of the most multi-faceted issues facing the Modi dispensation ahead of the election. To help readers understand where the government enjoys strong-footing and where it has failed to answer pointy questions, here is a lowdown on the technical jargon associated with the debate on the issue. What is Rafale controversy? First in 2013, the United Progressive Alliance first chose Dassault's Rafale after floating a tender to induct new fighter crafts in the Indian Air Force fleet. The government was towards the end of its tenure and hence the negotiations were stalled amid noise on various corruption scandals. The negotiations were on for 126 fighter jets including the purchase of 18 off-the-shelf jets from Dassault Aviation, with 108 others being assembled in India by Hindustan Aeronautical limited and the eventual transfer of technology to India. However, in April 2016, the National Democratic Alliance government set aside the progress made so far, stating immediate requirement by the Indian Air Force and planned to buy 36 aircrafts custom fitted to meet India's requirements, straight off the shelf instead of trying to acquire technology from Dassault and make it in India. The deal incorporated 50 percent offset clause, ensuring that 50 percent of the deal's amount will be invested in the Indian defence ecosystem, out of which France is to invest 30 percent of the total order cost in India's military aeronautics related research programmes and 20 percent into local production of Rafale components. It is the latter 20 percent that is at the root of the entire controversy as Opposition alleges that Anil Ambani's nascent Reliance Defence walked away with the major piece of the offset pie (on Modi's personal intervention), while the state-run HAL was left out. Rafale lingo simplified Government-to-government contract (G2G contract) Context - The Rafale deal, as it exists is essentially a G2G deal, between French and Indian government. This fact has been used by the Modi government to distance itself from the choice of Reliance as one of offset partners, and also in keeping the exact price of each aircraft a secret. A defence equipment purchase is primarily done in two ways. Either a country's government directly purchases equipment from a foreign defence manufacturer in a purely commercial transaction, or the governments of the two nations buy/sell equipment wherein the seller government can either sell from its own repository or procure the equipments from another local/ foreign vendors. The main point that differentiates the former from the latter is that the deal is struck between two governments and hence are seen as a method in which the procurement cycle becomes less cumbersome much faster and more importantly less controversial, according to a report on ORF. However, in this case the clause is part of the controversy, if not the root of it. ORF claims that the reason is that in this particular deal is that essential plus points of government-to-government contract, like the responsibility for the supply of equipment and related industrial services and performance of the entire contract have been transferred from the French government to Dassault. The French government has merely given a letter of comfort to the Indian government, stating that it will ensure that Dassault keeps its end of the deal, but in essence absolving itself of any responsibility if the French manufacturer fails to stick to the terms of the contract. Moreover, Indian Defence Review states that defence procurement in India should ideally be done on a competitive tender basis, and the G2G or (inter-governmental agreement) should be used as an exception only under few circumstances. Despite this, almost 70 percent of the defence deals are being concluded by India following the IGA route (Government to Government) but so far the government has always insisted on a sovereign or bank guarantee, Rafale being the only exception. Letter of Comfort Context - There has been a lot of noise around the letter of comfort signed by the French government in the deal, with the Opposition arguing that the government weakened India's stand by not insisting on a strong enough guarantee on the deal. BJP rebels Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie along with Prashant Bhushan have taken the government to court on this very count. The attorney-general told the Supreme Court during a hearing of the case that the letter of comfort, which says that if there is any exigencies, it would be taken care of by France, is almost analogous to a letter guarantee. However, even the law ministry did not accept this when the IGA proposal was routed through them. Experts say, that a letter of comfort is merely a moral obligation than a legal one, something an unfriendly government in future can entirely sideline. Indian Defence Review cites examples from countries like Canada, and US. In the former there are two levels of letter of comfort to ensure that signing of the second tier document means the signatory government has an intention to support the subsidiary. In contrast, US is against letter of comfort, as its legal enforceability is suspect. Sovereign Guarantee Context - Opposition insists that India should have insisted for this instead of settling for a letter of comfort to protect IAF's interest. Sovereign guarantee is a promise by the government of a state to discharge the liability of the subsidiary, or partner firm, in case of a default or failure to adhere to the terms of contract. Sovereign Guarantees are contingent liabilities of the Central and state governments signatories of such a pact. India did insist that under the G2G agreement, France provides a sovereign guarantee to it, however, the French government stopped short on many counts. According to The Wire, the French denied to take responsibility for the supply of equipment and related industrial services and performance of the entire contract, as is customary and transferred it to Dassault. The French also refused to be involved in the dispute resolution mechanism, which is ideally at the government-to-government level only in an IGA contract. However, in the course of negotiating the French government sought to transfer its own direct responsibilities and obligations to the industrial supplier in this case Dassault Aviation. Bank Guarantee Context - Similar to above. However, a controversy arose after reports suggested that a bank guarantee that India did manage to secure during initial rounds of discussion also dropped off after PMO's intervention. A bank guarantee is essentially a financial security net for the consumer nation in case the supplier nation fails to stick to the terms of the contract. In case India had managed to procure a bank guarantee, the defence ministry would reserve the right to cash it in if it feels that any conditions in the contract were not met in the quantum promised. Initial reports, in November 2018, suggested India may have a 185 million (~Rs 1,477 crore) bank guarantee from Dassault as a safeguard against any violations of the offset policy due to a special clause in the deal, which mandated that five percent of the total offset value be kept as a buffer in case of non-performance. However, a recent dissent note signed by Ministry of Defence officials has surfaced which reveals that this last net of guarantee was also dropped after direct negotiations between Prime Minister's Office and the French government, which the defence ministry officials claimed weakened India's position. According to the letter, penned by defence ministry deputy secretary SK Sharma, the French had told the Indian negotiating team that, following discussions with the PMO, no bank guarantee is provisioned in the supply protocol and a Letter of Comfort is sufficient. Rafale deal LIVE updates: Union minister Arun Jaitley lashed out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi in a Facebook post. 'How many lies are necessary to be peddled to save a sinking dynasty,' he wrote. Auto refresh feeds The Narendra Modi-led government's decision to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from French company Dassault has drawn severe criticism from the Opposition parties. The Congress has levelled allegations of corruption and impropriety. The Centre is scheduled to table the CAG report on Rafale jet fighter deal, which has generated a massive political controversy, in Parliament on Tuesday, PTI reported. Union Minister Arun Jaitley, however, rebutted Sibal's claims saying that the Congress was casting aspersions on the institution of CAG based on "falsehood". Former minister and senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday alleged a conflict of interest and asked the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Rajiv Mehrishi to recuse himself from auditing the deal as he was the finance secretary when the deal was negotiated. Congress leader and PAC chairman Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday said that he expected the Centre to give the "same suggestions" which were submitted to the Supreme Court in December 2018 in a sealed cover. "Let's see what all they have written in it," he said. Mallikarjun Kharge says CAG report will have suggestions 'similar' to those given to SC Stepping up its attack on the Centre over the Rafale deal, Congress on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have been the "number one accused" if the long-awaited anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal had been in place and even his "broad shoulders" cannot bear the "bullets of corruption". Centre waived anti-corruption clauses in the Rafale deal, The Hindu reported on Monday , following the newspapers 8 February report that claimed the Ministry of Defence had strongly objected interference from the Prime Ministers Office during the negotiation of the deal. The CAG report, which is expected to be submitted to the Parliament on Tuesday, will not get into the pricing details of the Rafale deal, reports said . The pricing details have been withheld by the government citing an information security agreement between India and France. The CAG report is likely to be tabled in the Parliament at noon on Tuesday, CNN-News18 reported. Congress leader Kapil Sibal tweeted, "It seems Airbus , French Government , Anil Ambani all knew that the PM will sign an MOU on his visit to France between 9th and 11th April , 2015 .This Governments lies exposed." Congress president Rahul Gandhi will address the media at the AICC headquarters ahead of the submission of the CAG report in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Reports on Tuesday said that the CAG cited two reasons for withholding the pricing details of the controversial Rafale deal in its much-awaited report. The auditor has said that the details have been withheld due to national interest, and also claimed that there is a non-disclosure agreement between India and France, CNN-News18 reported. Times Now reported that the "second report" is in "advanced stages". It also added that the report on Tuesday will not contain the details demanded by the Opposition. As the Lok Sabha gears up for the CAG report on Rafale which is likely to be submitted at noon on Tuesday, media reports said that the offset contracts will be detailed in a separate report of the auditor. "It is clear that the prime minister helped his friend Anil Ambani steal Rs 30,000 crore of your money," the Congress president said, addressing students and youth in a tweet. On Monday, the CPM asked the Supreme Court to revisit its earlier ruling on the Rafale matter and sought a high-level probe to get to bottom of what it described as a "scam", while BSP supremo Mayawati accused the government of ignoring national security for the sake of 'chowkidar' (watchman), a barb often used by the Opposition for the prime minister. While the Opposition on Monday renewed its attack on the Narendra Modi-led government over new allegations of misconduct in the Rafale deal, Union Minister Rajnath Singh responded to Congress president Rahul Gandhi's slogan, 'Chowkidar chor hai'. Reacting to the media report alleging that the Centre dropped anti-corruption clauses from the deal, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said, "Never ever in any past transactions in the last three decades, has the governmentt dropped such mandatory clauses from a procurement contract. One thing is emerging clearly which requires investigation, which requires a joint parliamentary committee, that somebody has paid somebody in the fighter Rafale procurement." The Congress on Monday said that if the "overt acts of malfeasance" in the contract are ignored by the CAG report, then it will "not be worth" the paper it is written on. Congress says CAG report will not be 'worth the paper' if 'overt acts of malfeasance' are ignored Rahul Gandhi cited The Indian Express report and asked how is Anil Ambani meeting the French defence minister before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting. "This is violation of the Secrets Act." Rahul Gandhi said Anil Ambani knew about deal before HAL. This was not a matter of corruption, the prime minister violated the Official Secrets Act, he said. "Narendra Modi acted as Anil Ambani's middleman," says Rahul. Addressing the presser, Rahul Gandhi questioned the prime minister over the controversy and asked whom he is protecting. "Who is he protecting? Why isn't he open for an unbiased investigation? What are they hiding?" Rahul asked Rahul Gandhi said that the Supreme Court judgment in December 2018 was "open to questions" after fresh allegations in the case. "The Supreme Court clearly said it is not their jurisdiction. The court quoted the 'Chowkidar Auditor Report'," he said. "Earlier there was one axis of corruption, second axis of procedure. This is the third, and frankly a serious one, where PM Modi has compromised national security." Congress president Rahul Gandhi said that the CAG report is a "worthless report". He added, "I would term it as a Chowkidar Auditor General Report. It is Narendra Modis report, written for the Chowkidar, on behalf of the Chowkidar, for the Chowkidar by the Chowkidar." Andhra Pradesh chief minister said, "There is a truth, nobody can hide it. So many more loopholes are going to be revealed in the Rafale controversy. At least now the government should come forward. We are still demanding a JPC. It is undemocratic to protect corrupt people." The CAG report has been tabled in the Lok Sabha, say reports. The submission comes after Rahul Gandhi's latest attack on the Centre. Leader of Congress party in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge said that the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are afraid of a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe and this says volumes about them. Challenging the ruling party, Kharge told the Speaker that Congress party will prove each and every charge it laid against the government in the Rafale deal. Union minister Rajnath Singh says that the Opposition was purposely misleading the public. "Congress repeating same lies 1000 times to make it a truth," he said. Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad countered Rahul Gandhi's accusations on the Rafale deal on Tuesday and said, "We cannot expect anything better from Rahul Gandhi, whose whole family has looted the country at some point or another. He quoted the Airbus email, where did he get it from? How did he get an internal email of the company? Let him explain how he got the email first. Some parts of the CAG's report on Rafale have been leaked, reports said. The leaked audit of the CAG says that the NDA's deal was 20 percent cheaper than that negotiated during the UPA's tenure, according to CNN-News18. The CAG has tabled two reports in Parliament, but not in connection with Rafale Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad accused Rahul Gandhi of being a "machine of lies" and said that the Congress chief was "playing national security". Tuesday's press conference was not the first time Rahul attacked Narendra Modi over the alleged irregularities in the Rafale deal. On 8 February, Rahul (citing a report in The Hindu ), and said that the prime minister was a thief. A defence ministry note dated 24 November, 2015, accessed by The Hindu, brought this to the attention of the then defence minister Manohar Parrikar. "We may advise PMO that any Officers who are not part of Indian Negotiating Team may refrain from having parallel parlays (parleys) with the officers of French Government," the note reportedly said, adding "in case the PMO is not confident about the outcome of negotiations being carried out by the MoD, a revised modality of negotiations to be led by PMO at appropriate level may be adopted in the case." The Hindu in an exclusive report claimed that the defence ministry reportedly raised "strong objections" to "parallel negotiations" undertaken by the Prime Minister's Office with the French in the controversial Rafale deal. The Hindu claimed that the French apparently took advantage of parallel parleys by the PMO which in turn weakened India's position. According to Indian Air Force, the Rafale programme is on schedule. ANI quoted an IAF official as saying that the first Rafale aircraft will be delivered in September this year. "The delivery will take place in France and the aircraft will be brought back to India," the official told ANI. The party said , "BJP never accused ex-prime ministers from the Gandhi family of treason despite serious differences with them, will expose Rahul's lies against prime minsiter." Airbus's e-mail cited by Rahul Gandhi refers to some chopper deal, not Rafale pact; Airbus itself under cloud in murky deals of UPA-era, the BJP said in response to Rahul Gandhi's allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Congress party on Tuesday, after Rahul Gandhi's scathing attack on the prime minister, in Twitter said, "Yare corrupt, you are a liar and you committed treason to help your friend. The people of India are not going to stay silent like you do." The people of India are not going to stay silent, says Congress Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari on Monday said, "We would again like to emphasise that if these very overt acts of malfeasance, if they can be documented by a newspaper...and if the Comptroller and Auditor General report ignores it because we believe that the CAG report is being tabled tomorrow, then that report will not be worth the paper it is written on." Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus, whose email Rahul quoted, is under a needle of suspicion in deals finalised during the previous Congress-led government. The BJP Tuesday dismissed Rahul Gandhi's allegations against Narendra Modi on the Rafale jet deal as the height of shamelessness and irresponsibility. The party also asserted that the e-mail he cited to criticise the prime minister referred to some chopper deal and not the purchase of the fighter aircraft. The BJP leader said his party had serious differences with former prime ministers, who came from the Gandhi family, over several "murky" defence deals signed during their term but never accused them of treason. Ravi Shankar Prasad also strongly objected to the Congress president's accusation of "treason" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The law minister said, "He (Rahul Gandhi) has thrown muck at his own face by abusing our honest prime minister... We will expose his lies before the public." "Under the original proposal, 18 warplanes were to be procured in a fly-away condition and the remaining 108 aircraft were to be manufactured by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) under licence," Hindustan Times reported . After the Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that the CAG report on Rafale had been leaked without being tabled in the Lok Sabha, CNN-News18 said that the report is not likely to get tabled in Parliament on Tuesday. The Congress, on Sunday, demanded that CAG Rajiv Mehrishi recuse himself from the case alleging a "conflict of interest". The party had also conducted a similar meeting in October, but on Sunday, Congress leader Kapil Sibal said, "Mehrishi was officially associated with the Modi governments internal negotiations on the Rafale deal If he audits and submits a report as CAG, it would mean that Mehrishi is trying to save himself and the government from the corruption in the Rafale aircraft deal. The cardinal principle of law is that no one should be a judge in his own case. Citing a meeting between a delegation of senior Congress leaders and the CAG in September 2018 to urge the auditor to put together the alleged "irregularities" in the Rafale case , The Economic Times pointed out that the Rahul Gandhi-led Congress had made a U-turn on the urgency of the report since then. The CAG report on Rafale is unlikely to get tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, which is the penultimate day of the Budget Session. The Budget Session is the last scheduled session of the Lok Sabha before the general elections in April-May. Former French president Francois Hollande last year was quoted in an article by a French website Mediapart claiming that the Indian government had asked the French government to nominate Reliance Defence as its India partner in the deal. We did not have a say in this, Hollande was quoted as saying. RECAP: Francois Hollande said, "We did not have a say in the matter of the Indian partner" Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said that the Rafale deal was doctored "behind closed doors" by Modi. "The Prime Minister personally negotiated and changed the Rafale deal behind closed doors. Thanks to Francois Hollande, we now know he personally delivered a deal worth billions of dollars to a bankrupt," Rahul had tweeted. In a veiled attack on the Opposition, Narendra Modi asserted that all the corruption had been "eradicated" from the system. "Today, all honest people have faith in the 'chowkidar'," he said, adding, "Lekin jo brasht hain, unko Modii se kasht hain (those who are corrupt, fear me)." CPM leader Sitaram Yechury tweeted, "Why would this crony businessman meet French Defence Minister's advisors in a 'confidential' meeting, days before Modi made the surprise announcement of buying 36 Rafale jets instead of 126 from France?" "In 2014-15, the present CAG was Secretary (Economic Affairs) in the Ministry of Finance. Being a senior-most at one point of time, he was also designated as the finance secretary. I say this without fear of contradiction that no file or paper relating to the Rafale transaction ever reached him nor was he in any way, directly or indirectly, associated with the decision making on defence purchases." Union minister Arun Jaitley lashed out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi in a Facebook post. "How many lies are necessary to be peddled to save a sinking dynasty? The contagion effect of falsehood is fairly large. It appears to have spread to other colleagues in the Mahajhootbandhan. In relation to the Rafale deal where thousands of crores of public money has been saved, a new falsehood is manufactured on a daily basis. The latest is in relation to the present CAG and his participation in the decision making process of Rafale," he wrote . ANI quoted Reliance Defence spokesperson as saying, "Discussion on proposed MoU was clearly with reference to cooperation between Airbus Helicopter and Reliance Defence. It had no connection whatsoever with government to government agreement between France and India for 36 Rafale aircraft. Purported email being referred by the Congress regarding the discussion between Airbus and Reliance Defence regarding Civil and Defence Helicopter Programs under Make in India. A statement by Reliance Defence said, "It is in the public domain that Airbus has partnered with Mahindra for the military helicopter program. The MoU for Rafale aircraft was signed between France and India on 25 January, 2016, not in April 2015. Facts are being deliberately twisted and ignored for political gains." The total expenditure of Government of India (GoI) against approved demands during 2017-18 was Rs 88,81,034 crore, of which Rs 81,80,553 crore (92.11 percent) was incurred by Civil Ministries (96 grants), Rs. 3,81,568 crore (4.30 percent) by Railways (one grant), Rs. 2,92,131 crore (3.29 percent) by Defence (two grants) and Rs. 26,782 crore (0.30 percent) by Department of Posts. The CAG report on 'Accounts of Union Government' tabled in Parliament on Tuesday revealed a failure of the accounting authorities from the highest to lowest levels to enforce accountability. It said: "Such excess expenditure over grants approved by Parliament are in violation of the will of the Parliament and the basic principle of democracy that not a rupee can be spent without the approval of the Parliament, and therefore, must be viewed seriously." Citing the e-mail written by an Airbus executive to a French official, Malik said, "Now, the Modi government has been completely exposed. The entire deal was negotiated by Anil Ambani on behalf of Modi and the e-mail has exposed everything." NCP national spokesperson Nawab Malik called the controversial fighter jet deal as "pre-planned loot of the country's money". He also charged Modi with being the "main person who got everything done" as he referred to media reports of the Centre dropping the anti-corruption clause from the deal. Slamming the Opposition grand alliance, he said, "The faces of 'mahamilavat' are in a competition among themselves to threaten the court, the CBI, and abuse Modi." Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was addressing a gathering in Haryana's Kurukshetra while the Rafale controversy was taken up by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, did not respond to the allegations in his speech, but asserted that "middlemen" and "those who loot the poor" have been eradicated from the system. PM:Middlemen & those who loot rights of poor have been eradicated from the system. Today all honest people have faith in 'chowkidaar', "lekin jo bhrasht hain unko Modi se kasht hai".The faces of 'mahamilavat' are in a competition among themselves to threaten court,CBI,&abuse Modi pic.twitter.com/uOXpjz7r9q In a veiled attack on the Opposition, Narendra Modi asserted that all the corruption had been "eradicated" from the system. "Today, all honest people have faith in the 'chowkidar'," he said, adding, "Lekin jo brasht hain, unko Modii se kasht hain (those who are corrupt, fear me)." Why would this crony businessman meet French Defence Minister's advisors in a 'confidential' meeting, days before Modi made the surprise announcement of buying 36 Rafale jets instead of 126 from France? And where this crony is the lead beneficiary from the new deal! pic.twitter.com/V0hcZIgKUg CPM leader Sitaram Yechury tweeted, "Why would this crony businessman meet French Defence Minister's advisors in a 'confidential' meeting, days before Modi made the surprise announcement of buying 36 Rafale jets instead of 126 from France?" The Reliance Defence company on Tuesday responded saying that the email referred to by the Congress has nothing to do with the Rafale deal, has no connection with the government-to-government agreement between France and India. "In 2014-15, the present CAG was Secretary (Economic Affairs) in the Ministry of Finance. Being a senior-most at one point of time, he was also designated as the finance secretary. I say this without fear of contradiction that no file or paper relating to the Rafale transaction ever reached him nor was he in any way, directly or indirectly, associated with the decision making on defence purchases." Union minister Arun Jaitley lashed out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi in a Facebook post. "How many lies are necessary to be peddled to save a sinking dynasty? The contagion effect of falsehood is fairly large. It appears to have spread to other colleagues in the Mahajhootbandhan. In relation to the Rafale deal where thousands of crores of public money has been saved, a new falsehood is manufactured on a daily basis. The latest is in relation to the present CAG and his participation in the decision making process of Rafale," he wrote . ANI quoted Reliance Defence spokesperson as saying, "Discussion on proposed MoU was clearly with reference to cooperation between Airbus Helicopter and Reliance Defence. It had no connection whatsoever with government to government agreement between France and India for 36 Rafale aircraft. Purported email being referred by the Congress regarding the discussion between Airbus and Reliance Defence regarding Civil and Defence Helicopter Programs under Make in India. A statement by Reliance Defence said, "It is in the public domain that Airbus has partnered with Mahindra for the military helicopter program. The MoU for Rafale aircraft was signed between France and India on 25 January, 2016, not in April 2015. Facts are being deliberately twisted and ignored for political gains." The total expenditure of Government of India (GoI) against approved demands during 2017-18 was Rs 88,81,034 crore, of which Rs 81,80,553 crore (92.11 percent) was incurred by Civil Ministries (96 grants), Rs. 3,81,568 crore (4.30 percent) by Railways (one grant), Rs. 2,92,131 crore (3.29 percent) by Defence (two grants) and Rs. 26,782 crore (0.30 percent) by Department of Posts. The CAG report on 'Accounts of Union Government' tabled in Parliament on Tuesday revealed a failure of the accounting authorities from the highest to lowest levels to enforce accountability. It said: "Such excess expenditure over grants approved by Parliament are in violation of the will of the Parliament and the basic principle of democracy that not a rupee can be spent without the approval of the Parliament, and therefore, must be viewed seriously." Citing the e-mail written by an Airbus executive to a French official, Malik said, "Now, the Modi government has been completely exposed. The entire deal was negotiated by Anil Ambani on behalf of Modi and the e-mail has exposed everything." NCP national spokesperson Nawab Malik called the controversial fighter jet deal as "pre-planned loot of the country's money". He also charged Modi with being the "main person who got everything done" as he referred to media reports of the Centre dropping the anti-corruption clause from the deal. A Business Standard survey conducted in September 2018 revealed that 52 percent of respondents believed that the issue would not matter during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Another poll by Times Now-CNX found that only 10 percent think that Rafale deal is an important cause of concern. ABP News-C voter survey said that over 44.9 percent people think Rafale will not have any effect on Modi government's image, while India Today's Political Stock Exchange (PSE) revealed that in politically important states like Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the issue has very little traction among respondents while many voters said they did not know about the matter enough to form an informed opinion. Opinion poll surveys conducted in September, November, and January indicated that despite the continuous media coverage and sustained political debate on the Rafale row, the issue failed to take off as a major electoral issue. Rafale deal LATEST updates: Union minister Arun Jaitley lashed out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi in a Facebook post. "How many lies are necessary to be peddled to save a sinking dynasty," he wrote. Meanwhile, rejecting Congress' claim, Reliance Defence said that the MoU for Rafale aircraft was signed between France and India on 25 January, 2016, not in April 2015. "Facts are being deliberately twisted and ignored for political gains," it said in a statement. CPM leader Sitaram Yechury tweeted, "Why would this crony businessman meet French Defence Minister's advisors in a 'confidential' meeting, days before Modi made the surprise announcement of buying 36 Rafale jets instead of 126 from France?" Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was addressing a gathering in Haryana's Kurukshetra while the Rafale controversy was taken up by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, did not respond to the allegations in his speech, but asserted that "middlemen" and "those who loot the poor" have been eradicated from the system. Slamming the Opposition grand alliance, he said, "Today all honest people have faith in 'chowkidaar', lekin jo bhrasht hain unko Modi se kasht hai".The faces of 'mahamilavat' are in a competition among themselves to threaten the court, the CBI, and abuse Modi." Notwithstanding the controversy around the Rafale deal, the IAF on Tuesday said that the Rafale fighter jet procurement process is on schedule. IAF vice chief air marshal Anil Khosla on Tuesday said, "Rafale induction into the IAF will give a big boost to our combat capabilities." After the Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that the CAG report on Rafale had been leaked without being tabled in the Lok Sabha, CNN-News18 said that the report is not likely to get tabled in Parliament on Tuesday. Ravi Shankar Prasad also strongly objected to the Congress president's accusation of "treason" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The law minister said, "He (Rahul Gandhi) has thrown muck at his own face by abusing our honest prime minister... We will expose his lies before the public." The BJP leader said his party had serious differences with former prime ministers, who came from the Gandhi family, over several "murky" defence deals signed during their term but never accused them of treason. According to Indian Air Force, the Rafale programme is on schedule. ANI quoted an IAF official as saying that the first Rafale aircraft will be delivered in September this year. "The delivery will take place in France and the aircraft will be brought back to India," the official told ANI. Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Rahul Gandhi was the "most shameful" president in the party's history. "Rahul Gandhi is a machine of lies, and we only exposing his lies. He is playing with national security." Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad countered Rahul Gandhi's accusations on the Rafale deal on Tuesday and said, "We cannot expect anything better from Rahul Gandhi, whose whole family has looted the country at some point or another. He quoted the Airbus email, where did he get it from? How did he get an internal email of the company? Let him explain how he got the email first. "I am accusing Rahul Gandhi of acting as a lobbyist for competitive plane supplier companies." Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge brought up the Rafale issue in the Lok Sabha, accusing the Centre of protecting corrupt people. "We demand a JPC in the matter, the government must agree." Union minister Rajnath Singh says that the Opposition was purposely misleading the public. "Congress repeating same lies 1000 times to make it a truth," he said. Rahul further questioned the fact that how did Anil Ambani come to know about the defence deal, which is ostensibly a state secret, even before the defence minister, or the foreign secretary. "This is no more about corruption, Narendra Modi is guilty of treason," says Rahul. "There were only two people in India who knew about the deal," Rahul said apparently in reference to Modi and Ambani. He claimed that it was the prime minister himself who shared the information with Ambani. "If this is true then PM is in violation of official secrets act. Criminal action must be initiated on this basis," Rahul said. Rahul Gandhi said Anil Ambani knew about deal before HAL. This was not a matter of corruption, the prime minister violated the Official Secrets Act, he said. "Narendra Modi acted as Anil Ambani's middleman," says Rahul. Rahul Gandhi cited The Indian Express report and asked how is Anil Ambani meeting the French defence minister before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting. "This is violation of the Secrets Act." 'National interest' has been cited as reason for withholding pricing details of the Rafale deal. Reports on Tuesday said that the CAG cited two reasons for withholding the pricing details of the controversial Rafale deal in its much-awaited report. The auditor has said that the details have been withheld due to national interest, and also claimed that there is a non-disclosure agreement between India and France, CNN-News18 reported. CAG report will not get into pricing details, says report. The CAG report, which is expected to be submitted to the Parliament on Tuesday, will not get into the pricing details of the Rafale deal, reports said. The pricing details have been withheld by the government citing an information security agreement between India and France. The Centre is scheduled to table the CAG report on Rafale jet fighter deal in Parliament on Tuesday. The Opposition has stepped up its attack on the Narendra Modi-led government over the controversial issue, alleged a "conflict of interest" asking the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Rajiv Mehrishi to recuse himself from auditing the deal as he was the finance secretary when the deal was negotiated. The ongoing Budget Session is the last session of the Lok Sabha before the general elections in April-May. Former minister and senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday asked Mehrishi to recuse himself from auditing the deal as he was the finance secretary when the deal was negotiated. Union minister Arun Jaitley, however, rebutted Sibal's claims saying that the Congress was casting aspersions on the institution of CAG based on "falsehood". "Another attack on the institution of CAG by the 'Institution wreckers' based on falsehood. After ten years in Government former UPA ministers still don't know that Finance Secretary is only a designation given to the senior most secretary in the finance ministry," Jaitley said a series of tweets on Sunday. The Congress on Monday cited a media report claiming that the government waived anti-corruption clauses in the Rafale deal to call for a probe into "who paid whom", with party chief Rahul Gandhi alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "opened the door" to allow industrialist to "steal" Rs 30,000 crore from the Air Force. The all-out attack on the government came after a report in The Hindu newspaper claimed the Rafale deal between India and France involved "major and unprecedented" concessions from the Modi dispensation, with critical provisions for anti-corruption penalties and making payments through an escrow account dropped days before the signing of the inter-governmental agreement (IGA). "NoMo anti corruption clause. The Chowkidar himself opened the door to allow Anil Ambani to steal 30,000 Cr. from the IAF (sic)," Gandhi tweeted, tagging the report. The government, as well as Ambani, whose company is offset partner under the deal, have strongly refuted allegations of any wrongdoing in the fighter jet agreement with France. Last week, the Congress president had demanded answers to questions raised by another report in the newspaper that the PMO conducted parallel negotiations on the Rafale deal. Repeating the "chowkidar" epithet, he ramped up his attack on the prime minister and said it was "crystal clear" that the "watchman" is the "thief". Speaking at Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu's day-long fast at the Andhra Bhavan, he alleged that Modi had "stolen" from the people of the state and given the money to industrialist Ambani. "The prime minister became prime minister by saying he is going to fight corruption. Have you read The Hindu newspaper today...The prime minister has stolen from the people of Andhra Pradesh and he has given that money to Mr Anil Ambani, that is the fact of the matter," he said. Later, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari, at a press conference, said the Congress wants to raise the fundamental question why the BJP-led NDA government waived the anti-corruption clauses in the Rafale deal. The answer is very simple because there has been corruption in the Rafale deal, he said. Tewari said the implications of the action of alleged waiving of the anti-corruption clauses in the deal meant that the French, especially the suppliers Dassault and missile-maker MBDA were indemnified. "Essentially, what it means is that those who essentially paid, through whom the transactions were routed, and the end beneficiaries, get fully indemnified...Government doesn't have the legal locus to cancel the contract," he claimed. Dassault and MBDA were in the "driver's seat" in the Rafale deal negotiations and not the government of India, he alleged. "One thing is emerging clearly, which requires investigation, which requires a joint parliamentary committee (probe), that somebody has paid somebody in the fighter Rafale procurement," Tewari said. "We would again like to emphasise that if these very overt acts of malfeasance...if the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report ignores it, because we believe that the CAG report is being tabled tomorrow, then that report will not be worth the paper it is written on," he said. On 24 August, 2016, the Cabinet Committee on Security approved the inter-governmental agreement, while in September 2016, the defence acquisition council overrode the cabinet committee on security and amended eight vital clauses of the fighter jet deal, Tewari alleged. "The moot question is what happened between 24 August, 2016, and 23 September, 2016, what transpired in those 30 days. Who paid whom in those 30 days that led to the dropping of the anti-corruption clauses from the Rafale agreement," he asked. Earlier, senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram said the Rafale deal is unravelling faster than the government thought. "First, it was the loading of the India Specific Enhancement costs on 36 aircraft, instead of 126 aircraft, giving a bonanza to Dassault. Then it was the revelation that 'parallel negotiations' were being carried on by PMO undermining the efforts of the Indian Negotiating Team," he said in a series of tweets. Now it is revealed that crucial changes were made to the clauses in the standard Defence Procurement Procedure, he said. "No sovereign guarantee, no bank guarantee, no escrow account, yet a huge amount was paid as advance," Chidambaram alleged. Lashing out at the Modi government, he said, "No penalty clause for undue influence, no clause against agency commission, no clause for access to suppliers' accounts, and Dassault goes laughing all the way to the bank." Citing the media report, Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, "Modiji, after waiving off sovereign guarantee in Rafale deal, you also waived off the 'anti-corruption measure' of a 'safeguard Escrow A/c'! What is the corruption you wanted to hide?(sic)" The whole country is abuzz that "chowkidar chor hai", he said. A 21-year-old woman was allegedly raped by 10 men near Issewal village on the banks of the Sidwan canal, about 15 kilometres from Ludhiana, after the car she was travelling in with her friend was stopped and she was dragged out, the police said on Monday. Ludhiana: A 21-year-old woman was allegedly raped by 10 men near Issewal village on the banks of the Sidwan canal, about 15 kilometres from Ludhiana, after the car she was travelling in with her friend was stopped and she was dragged out, the police said on Monday. The woman was travelling with a man from Ludhiana to Issewal village on Saturday night when their car was stopped in Jagraon by men in three bikes, who were following them, Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Tarun Rattan told reporters. As soon as they stopped, the men attacked the car with stones and bricks, he said. The assailants then dragged them out of the car and took them to a vacant spot on the banks of the canal, where they called six to seven more persons and raped the woman, the police said. Both the woman and her friend were held there till Sunday, the police said. A medical test of the survivor at a civil hospital has confirmed the gang rape, officials said. A case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code has been registered, and the police have launched a hunt to nab the accused. If there is any scope for Priyanka Gandhi to make an impact in Uttar Pradesh, she would do well to cast aside the hangover of the past. She is not Indira The film Aandhi, directed by Gulzar and starring Suchitra Sen and Sanjeev Kumar, was made in 1975 when Indira Gandhi reigned supreme in Indian politics. The film, based on Kamleshwars Hindi novel Kaali Aandhi, depicted the life of a woman politician, and it was believed to be partly inspired by the life of the then prime minister. Sen too apparently modelled her character on Indira in the way she spoke with authority to male colleagues or climbed on the stage with a sprint. Aandhi obviously created a storm of controversy and could not be released till 1977 when Indira lifted the Emergency and was defeated in the elections. It did reflect a rather untouched theme of the 1970s politics, but few would recall the movie now to understand todays politics. The political discourse has evolved around a new grammar; it has radically changed its axis. Perhaps nostalgia is the last resort of a dying politics. And the Congress seems to be doing exactly that in Uttar Pradesh. Those finding a canny resemblance between Indira and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and flaunting it as her political asset are literally clutching at straws in the face of a storm. The argument that Priyanka would mobilise voters (60 percent of whom are below 35 years of age) on the basis of her facial resemblance to her grandmother is as absurd as it gets. It is almost 35 years since Indira was assassinated. The reality was that she was facing the worst crisis of her political career after Operation Blue Star and her political prospects were bleak when she was assassinated. Except for the groundswell of sympathy that electorally benefitted the Congress and Indira's son Rajiv Gandhi in 1984 following the tragedy, she has hardly been a factor in any election since then. In more than three decades after Indiras demise, the countrys political landscape has grossly changed. In the two large states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the Congress has been struggling hard to retain even the third position whereas in those day they were considered impregnable bastions of the Congress. Its regional leaders seemed invincible. In Uttar Pradesh, the party had stalwarts like Kamlapati Tripathi, Bir Bahadur Singh, VP Singh and ND Tiwari. The partys state unit headquarters at Mall Avenue used to be a power hub parallel to the Lucknow secretariat, the seat of the government. But all that grandeur of the past was of little relevance on Monday when Priyanka along with her brother, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, staged a roadshow in Lucknow. Much of the crowd she attracted during her tour belonged to a generation who would scarcely relate to even Rajiv, not to mention Indira. Moreover, in the state, the Congress has been effectively marginalised since 1989. And there is no doubt that the three decades of consistent political marginalisation has debilitated the organisational strength of the oldest political party to mere rubble of what was once a magnificent palace. Of course, there is a lot of scope for the Congress to rebuild and resurrect that structure. But that requires a great deal of perseverance and foresight. Take, for the example, the manner in which Priyanka carried out her roadshow and rushed back to be with her husband Robert Vadra, who is facing an inquisition from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), is far too inadequate an exercise to inspire confidence among people about her sincerity. She is apparently planning to play the victim card, accuse the Narendra Modi regime of unleashing political vendetta and stand by Vadra. But she must realise her limitations. It would be rather naive to draw a parallel between Vadras case and Indiras return to primacy after her botched-up arrest by the Janata Party government following the Emergency. Indira had inherited the legacy of her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, and emerged as a strong politician in her own right after 1966 by outmanoeuvring stalwarts like Morarji Desai, Nijlingappa and K Kamraj in 1971 by aligning herself with the poor and coining the slogan of Garibi Hatao (banish poverty). Contrast that with the image of Priyanka standing by her husband accused of amassing wealth abroad, and you know the difference. Far from appearing like a tough and astute politician, she gives the impression of a woman defending the indefensible shenanigans of her wayward husband. That imagery may evoke a degree of sympathy for her but remain bad politics. If there is any scope for Priyanka to make an impact in Uttar Pradesh, she would do well to cast aside the hangover of the past. She is not Indira. And in politics personalities rise and fade away with the passage of time and then remain relevant only for history. She may benefit from her background and the glamour quotient associated with it to hog the limelight. But that is hardly an index of her political acceptability as a leader. The summons to Twitter chief Jack Dorsey comes as social media companies are under scrutiny ahead of the Lok Sabha elections due before May. Several companies are overhauling policies to curb misinformation ahead of the vote. New Delhi/Mumbai: An Indian parliamentary panel is summoning Twitter Inc's chief executive to appear before it later this month, after he did not attend a hearing on Monday to discuss citizens' rights on social media. The parliamentary committee on information technology (IT) has decided to summon Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on 25 February, panel chairman Anurag Thakur told reporters after its meeting. "We had summoned the global CEO. He did not appear but sent junior executives," said Thakur, a lawmaker from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The panel had taken this very seriously and if Dorsey still fails to appear again, Twitter will be seen as breaching parliamentary privilege, Thakur added. Officials of India's technology ministry and Twitter had been invited to the meeting to discuss safeguarding citizens' rights on social media and online news platforms. Twitter declined to comment. The summons comes as social media companies are under scrutiny ahead of elections due before May in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking re-election. Several companies are overhauling policies to curb misinformation ahead of the vote. The Youth for Social Media Democracy (YSMD), a collective with right-wing leanings, accused Twitter of left-wing bias and protested outside the firm's office in New Delhi earlier this month. "No action is being taken against left-wing accounts who are regularly posting offensive, abusive, violence inciting, threat and death wish tweets even when they are found violating Twitter rules," the YSMD said in a document it submitted to Thakur's panel on 31 January. Twitter said last week it "does not review, prioritise, or enforce its policies on the basis of political ideology", adding that all accounts and tweets are treated impartially. India, one of the world's biggest internet markets, has clamped down on US corporations over the past year from mandating firms such as MasterCard Inc and Visa Inc to store Indian citizens' payments data locally, to modifying e-commerce norms for Amazon and Walmart and drafting stricter rules to regulate content on social media. Facebook has stepped up its fact-checking programme and is toughening up policies for political advertisements. Its WhatsApp messenger has conducted road shows and media campaigns as well as tweaked features to control fake news. Alphabet Inc's Google has held more than 130 workshops across India, as of end-December, to train journalists to verify news. An encounter is underway at Ratnipora village of Pulwama district in South Kashmir. Two soldiers and one militant have died in the gunfight, which broke out after militants opened fire at security forces during a cordon and search operation. One solider and one militant were killed in an encounter that broke out in Ratnipora village of Pulwama district in South Kashmir early on Tuesday. A jawan was also injured in the gunfight and is being treated for his injuries at a hospital. Inspector General SP Pani said the encounter, which went on for over six hours, has ended, and that the militant killed was wanted in several cases. The slain militant has been identified as Hizbul Mujahideen's Hilal Ahmed Rather, the main accused in planning the escape of Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Naveed Jhutt last year. Security forces had launched a cordon and search operation in Ratnipora around 3 am after getting a tip-off that two to three militants were in hiding in the area, a police official said. The Pulwama gunfight ensued after the militants opened fire on the joint team of the Indian Army, Central Reserve Police force (CRPF) and Jammu and Kashmir Police, following which security forces retaliated. "During the initial exchange of gunfight in Pulwama, three soldiers suffered injuries and were immediately evacuated to the army's 92 base hospital in Badamibagh, Srinagar, where two of them succumbed," Greater Kashmir quoted a senior police officer as saying. As the exchange of fire is still on, the site of the encounter in Pulwama has been cordoned off, but reports say clashes between civilians and security forces have already begun. Local residents have begun to pelt stones at the security forces, who have retaliated with tear gas shells. Mobile internet services have been suspended in the area, Hindustan Times reported. A police spokesperson said incriminating material such as arms and ammunition was recovered from the site of encounter. "All these materials have been taken in the case records for our investigation. The body of the killed terrorist was handed over to his family after completion of medico-legal formalities," he said. With inputs from PTI Dear PM, since when has reading books and honouring Jyotirao Phule and BR Ambedkar been a crime? I am hoping this article will make clear something that should be obvious in 2019: jailing Dalit leaders will not help the BJP win elections. Since the BJP took power in 2014, there has been an unprecedented targetting of Dalit students, organisations, leaders, and advocates. From the attack on Rohith Vemula, Chandrashekhar Azad of Bhim Army, to the current faux conspiracy designed to target Anand Teltumbde, the criminalisation of Dalit assertion has become the core strategy of the BJP. These casteist tactics run counter to the glitzy marketing slogans of the BJP being the party of development. But I am sure that in almost all common understanding of development, it does not ever include the erosion of human rights and the rule of law. And frankly we are all just tired of it. Indians and the NRIs who love India should not have to resort to tweetstorms, public statements, and placards to ensure our people are safe. That is the job of the government. But on the contrary, this government has continued to allow the weaponisation of the State against Dalits and oppressed communities whose constitutional rights allow freedom of expression and assembly. So we have to ask, why is the BJP-governed State so afraid of Dalit assertion that instead of looking at the issues of caste equity as a fundamental issue we can address through investment and equitable development, the party would rather remove our leaders voices completely? With the Lok Sabha elections looming, the time has come for this government to take a position once and for all on the Koregaon nine and Anand Teltumbde. Is the PM anti-Dalit or not? From the Bahujan perspective, we will not remember the speeches of Prime Minister Narendra Modi or believe any of the fancy WhatsApp memes being pushed into our communities. We will remember instead the deafening silence of this governments collusion with the terror that has been unleashed against our communities. We will remember that journalist Gauri Lankesh was murdered in front of her home and that instead of supporting the investigations against the Hindu terrorist front that murdered her, there was a new hashtag called Urban Naxal that was developed by the BJP in its many IT cells. As the horror of Urban Naxal unfolded, we will remember that this government never countered the inflammatory, casteist and anti-tribal language of police officials like Jayant Umranikar, a former director general of Maharashtra Police, when he justified the arrest of the Koregaon nine saying, These minds sit at home, [on] the sofa, sip coffee and instigate young minds to wage war against the government machinery, and this is more harmful. This was said by Indian police officials on record and this government said nothing. The government was also were quiet when the Pune Police ransacked professor Satyanarayanas EFLU residence and the police asked questions like: Why are there so many books in your house? Why do you read so many books? Why are you reading books on Mao & Marx? Why are there photos of Phule and Ambedkar in your house but no photos of gods? Dear PM, since when has reading books and honouring Jyotirao Phule and BR Ambedkar been a crime? Modi has had many photo ops in front of Ambedkar statue and his books. Yet, he fails as a prime minister in his greatest responsibility in protecting the Constitution. By allowing our leaders to be so shamefully treated, this government has betrayed Ambedkars legacy to us all. So let me ask another question, what exactly is an Urban Naxal under this administration? I would argue it looks suspiciously at any one who is Ambedkarite, a believer of secular politics, and anyone who advocates for a human rights centered vision of development. I would also argue it looks like with these qualifications that our leaders are most definitely not enemies of the State. They are instead lovers of India who oppose what Hindu and caste fascism is doing to our democracy. And the courage of Dalit leaders who are standing up to the terror in our communities should be applauded not criminalised. So let me remind the ruling government the names of all the targeted leaders in this faux conspiracy: Varavara Rao is a poet. Surendra Gadling, Sudha Bharadwaj and Vernon Gonsalves are lawyers. Shoma Sen is a professor. Sudhir Dhawale is an editor. Arun Ferreira is a writer. Rona Wilson is an activist. Mahesh Raut and Anand Teltumbde are scholars. Take a good look at the list of these leaders. I would encourage this government to commit them to memory because Dalit and oppressed communities all around the world have done so already. We will say their names as we speak out about the repression of our people and we will hold them in our hearts as our people begin to vote. If this government has any shred of self-reflection and compassion, they would drop the charges against Anand and the Koregaon nine. Every day these leaders are under attack, the longer their shadow stains this governments already dubious record. Make no mistake: Dalits and oppressed communities are not going back. We are calling out the cowardly tactics of the right-wing that is increasingly trying to criminalise anything that is rooted in an anti-caste social justice politics. By trying to make an example of these 10 leaders, this government will not silence our communities rather it will only galvanise our resistance. For it is our communities that have defended the Constitution even when caste Hindus have undermined it with their lawlessness. We will not allow the targetting of our leaders and the erosion of the Constitution. And in the wake of this governments inaction we will take our heartbreak, our grief and resistance to the polls. The choice now is up to the prime minister. Is he anti-Dalit or not? The author is an artist, technologist, and founder of Equality Labs, a human rights group fighting caste and religious intolerance Tyler illegally possessed and transferred two .223 caliber, Ruger KAC556 model machine guns between Nov. 8, 2017, and Jan. 15 in the District of Maryland and elsewhere, and initially lied to federal agents that he had never fired the machine gun found at his residence and that he didnt know it was an automatic rifle, according to a statement of facts prepared by the U.S. Attorneys Office. The first part of the section of the Mood of the First-Time Voter survey titled 'News and Media' examines the differing views of male and female respondents The Lok Sabha election in a few months is set to see a massive 130 million first-time voters go to the polls. The stakes are already high for the National Democratic Alliance that seeks to secure five more years and a seemingly united Opposition that seeks to dislodge the ruling BJP and its allies at any cost. To get a better idea of how young first-time voters people aged 18 to 21 perceive of the forthcoming election, YouGov India and Firstpost conducted a nationwide survey between 3 and 9 January. There was a total of 1,324 respondents, from a panel of over 40,000, who answered questions ranging from politics and jobs, to religion and the media. The findings are being serialised in four sections: 1) Politics and Ideology 2) News and Media 3) Religion and Community 4) Jobs and Economy The first part of the section titled 'News and Media' examines the differing views of male and female respondents. Forty percent of female respondents said social media was their primary source of news, compared with 30 percent of males and both sets (37 percent of females and 28 percent of males) claimed that this was the medium with the greatest influence on their thoughts and actions. However, over three-quarters of both sets (77 percent of males and females) believed that newspapers were the most trustworthy medium, with word of mouth seen as the least trustworthy (24 percent of males and 28 percent of females). Meanwhile, 38 percent of male respondents claimed to always fact-check stories shared on social media, compared to 28 percent of females. To read the findings of the section of the survey titled 'Politics and Ideology', click here. A 32-year-old RTI activist, who went missing last month, was found dead in Pune district of Maharashtra, a police official said Pune: A 32-year-old RTI activist, who went missing last month, was found dead in Pune district of Maharashtra, a police official said on Tuesday. Police suspect that the deceased, Vinayak Shirsath, was killed by someone, a senior official Bharti Vidyapeeth police station here said. The decomposed body was found near Mutha village on Lavasa road on Monday evening, he said. Shirsath, a resident of Pune city, went missing on 30 January following which his family members had registered a police complaint on 31 January. "We later registered a kidnapping case on 5 February after his family raised suspicion that he might have been abducted as he had raised voice under the Right to Information (RTI) Act against illegal constructions in some parts of the city," the official said. Shirsath's family pointed fingers at several people linked to the real estate sector, but during the probe, all of them were found to be close friends of the deceased, he said. A case has now been registered under Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and a probe is underway, he said. The body has been sent for post mortem and its report is awaited to ascertain the exact cause of death, he added. The MiG-27 crash occurred on a day when the Air Force Vice Chief expressed sympathy with the family of the pilots Squardon Leaders who lost their lives in a Mirage 2000 crash at the Bengaluru airport. New Delhi: A MiG-27 aircraft airborne on a training mission from Jaisalmer crashed at the Pokharan firing range on Tuesday evening. The pilot of the crashed Mig 27 jet ejected safely. "The MiG-27 was on a training mission. After taking off from Jaisalmer airbase around 6.10 pm, it crashed near Pokhran Range. The Pilot ejected safely," an Indian Air Force (IAF) spokesperson said. "A Court of Inquiry will investigate the cause of the accident," he added. IAF is going to conduct the Exercise Vayushakti at the Pokharan firing range four days from now. The accident occurred on a day when Air Force Vice Chief Air Marshal Anil Khosla expressed sympathy with the family of the pilots Squardon Leaders Siddhartha Negi and Samir Abrol who lost their lives in a Mirage 2000 crash at the Bengaluru airport. "We lost two young pilots in the Mirage 2000 crash, we all need to pray their souls rest in peace," he said. Khosla said the Air Force will look at all aspects of the Mirage 2000 crash and "will not comment on who is at fault till the inquiry is over... We consider every accident as one too many". Seeking to do away with apprehensions on flight safety, he said that compared to flying, he found that the road traffic was more risk-prone. Akhilesh Yadav said he was to fly to Prayagraj from Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport to attend an event at Allahabad University. Kolkata: Condemning the incident of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav being stopped at Lucknow airport, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday said it happened because of "arrogant attitude of so-called BJP leaders". "I've already spoken to @yadavakhilesh. We all condemn the arrogant attitude of the so-called #BJP leaders who didn't allow Akhilesh to address the students. Even @jigneshmevani80 was not allowed," Mamata wrote on her Twitter handle. "Where is the democracy in our country? And they are giving lessons to everybody!" she added. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister was stopped by authorities at Lucknow airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Prayagraj, triggering outrage by Opposition parties in the state and elsewhere in the country. Yadav said he was to fly to Prayagraj from Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport to attend an event at Allahabad University. In a separate incident on Monday, Mevani's college cancelled its annual day function after the institution's trustees got protest calls against the Dalit leader being the chief guest. The incident in Kerala came to light after a group of local women confronted the cleric after seeing him with the school-going girl in the forest. Thiruvananthapuram: A Muslim cleric was booked on Tuesday for allegedly sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in Kerala, police said. "Shafeeq Al Qasimi, who was serving as the Imam of a rural mosque at Tholicode in Vithura, over 30 km away from Thiruvananthapuram, was removed after the incident came to light," they said. A case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was registered against him based on the mosque committee's statement. According to the statement, he had lured a 15-year-old girl to an isolated forest area in Vithura and allegedly sexually assaulted her last week. The incident came to light after a group of local women confronted the cleric after seeing him with the school-going girl in the forest. "An FIR was registered as per the statement of the mosque committee," a police official said, adding that the victim or her family was yet to file a formal complaint. "Qasimi was removed as Imam of the mosque after the issue surfaced," police added. The cause of the fire which broke out in Delhi's Karol Bagh area is still unknown, fire officer Vipin Kental said, adding that the rescue operation has been concluded. A fire at a hotel in Delhi's Karol Bagh's area killed 17 people, including a woman and a child on Tuesday morning. Most of the guests died of suffocation. Delhi chief minister Kejriwal announced Rs 5 lakh compensation for the families of all those killed in the accident after visiting the spot. State health minister Satyendra Kumar Jain has declared the blaze at Hotel Arpit Palace as a case of negligence, saying that the hotel had flouted rules by being allowed to build six floors instead of three. Jain blamed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for the violation and said a magisterial inquiry has been ordered. According to reports, 22 fire tenders were rushed to Hotel Arpit Palace where the fire broke out around 4 am when most people in the hotel were sleeping. Some members of the hotel staff, jumped off the building to save themselves and were rushed to the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital. The fire was doused around 7 am, however, the rescue operation went on for four hours and the firefighters and Delhi police officials were able to rescue 35 people. The cause of the fire was not known immediately but officials hinted at a short circuit. "As per information gathered from the site, it reveals that the incidence of fire accrued at second floor at around 3.30 AM on February 12 due to short-circuit," a senior civic official told PTI. The fire department will conduct an inquiry into the incident and the Delhi Police has also lodged an FIR against the hotel administration and will further investigate the negligence caused on their part. A woman and a child also died in the blaze. Most of the deaths took place due to suffocation, the police said. "There was wooden panelling in the corridor because of which people couldn't use corridors to evacuate," fire officer Vipin Kental said. "Two hotel staff members had jumped from the fourth floor of the hotel in an attempt to save themselves. The status of the staff who jumped is yet to be known." The injured have been taken to the hospital, officials said. A fire department official said some fire extinguishers were found used suggesting people trapped inside tried to douse the fire in a bid to escape. Spot visuals: 9 dead in the fire that broke out in Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh, earlier today. Rescue operation still underway. #Delhi pic.twitter.com/F2KNcozrZK ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2019 Meanwhile, the vice-president of the Delhi Hotel Association Balan Mani told ANI that all fire norms were maintained in the hotel. "It was due to fire in ducting because of which it spread to the hotel rooms. All norms were followed here. A license is issued only after inspection," Mani said. "Mishappening can occur in a house as well," he added. The hotel was first granted a licence in October 2005 and was renewed every year. The last renewal was done on 25 May, 2018 and was valid till 31 March. Delhi Minister Satyendra Jain on fire in Karol Bagh hotel: 17 people dead and 2 injured. Most of the people died due to suffocation. Strict action will be taken against those found guilty of negligence. District Magistrate has ordered inquiry pic.twitter.com/2JVLVvH0m8 ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2019 Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed grief on the incident and offered condolences to the family of those killed. Deeply saddened by the loss of lives due to a fire at Karol Bagh in Delhi. I convey my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives. May the injured recover soon: PM @narendramodi PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 12, 2019 On 7 February, a fire broke out in Metro Hospitals and Heart Institute in Noida, trapping several people inside the multi-storeyed building. No casualty was reported in the incident, PTI reported. Gautam Buddh Nagar district magistrate BN Singh had said more than 60 people were inside the hospital when the incident occurred. Reportedly, all patients were evacuated safely. With inputs from agencies With help from local community leader Saravanan, fisherfolk are creating their own maps, thereby taking control of a tool that has always belonged to the powerful By Mahima Jain In a small fishing hamlet in Tamil Nadu, a community leader unlocks his smartphone and searches his contacts for Map Saravanan to make sure the number is saved correctly. Amused at the nickname hes been given in recognition of his skills, Saravanan, who is sitting across the room, laughs: Isnt my name enough? The 35-year-old fisherman is a local legend who uses maptivism to help fishing communities across the state. Saravanan (who uses only his first name) creates maps documenting how fishermen use the land, by means of participatory mapping techniques, government records and historical data. As a coordinator with the advocacy group Coastal Resource Centre in Chennai, Saravanan has mapped around 35 villages across four districts of Tamil Nadu. He aims to eventually cover all of the states 600-odd villages lining the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean. Maps, in general, are created by governments and bureaucrats for administrative, economic and military purposes. By creating their own maps, Saravanan and the fisherfolk he works with, are taking control of a tool that has always belonged to the powerful. Their maps allow them to speak the language of the state so they can resolve disputes and mount legal challenges against industries and government projects encroaching on their land and fishing grounds. Saravanan is also acutely aware of the threat posed by sea-level rise. According to one study, nearly 40 million Indians and more than 125,000 fisherfolk along the coast of Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts will be affected if the sea level rises by 1 metre (3.3 feet) by 2050. This includes the 20,000-plus residents of Urur Olcott Kuppam, a village in Chennai where three generations of Saravanans family have lived. With the Adyar river to its north and the popular Elliots Beach to its south, Urur Olcott Kuppam is conspicuous due to the contrast it presents with its surroundings. Its densely packed shanties and small concrete buildings crowd unpaved roads. At its north end is a complex of public toilets and all along its east-facing beach are boats and nets owned by its residents. To the west, though, are apartment complexes and the gated park of the Theosophical Society. And to the south, cafes and restaurants, large bungalows and tree-lined roads border a popular scenic beach and promenade. In Saravanans grandfathers time, the village didnt even make it onto the citys maps. But the city of Chennai, previously known as Madras, has been expanding every year and fisherfolk like Saravanan have multiple battles to fight as the sea rises on one side of their homes and the city on the others. They have to keep their traditions and common lands safe not just from the wrath of nature (Chennai withstood the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, and more recently, severe floods in 2015, Cyclone Vardah in 2016 and a water crisis in 2017 and 2018) but also from residential and industrial encroachment. For now, Saravanan aims to create maps that capture not just the contours of fishing villages, but also their details, colour and vitality. Mongabay met Saravanan in Chennai in September last year to learn about his work. Mongabay: How did you conceive the idea of mapping your villages? Why did you start this? Saravanan: Between 2007 and 2009, there were plans for a project called the Elevated Expressway. It was a six-lane project affecting at least 14 fishing villages. The project feasibility report stated that fishing villages would not be disturbed, and that the project would only utilise beach space that has no other use". But this space is more important for our livelihoods and lives than our villages. It is where we rest our boats and nets. Our catamarans lie there, and we dry fish there. It is in this space where we trade fish and sell it at auction. The beach serves many purposes. This space is associated with our livelihoods, and is intertwined with our lives. But the government could only say that the space is of no use. So I realised that there has been no documentation of how we use this space. We then came into contact with Siddharth Hande, then with [the advocacy group] Transparent Chennai, who suggested we could record our data through mapping and create documents. This got me interested. He first started recording the data in my village and I started learning from him. He did one project in Chennai. After that, I did the documenting in many fishing villages throughout Tamil Nadu. Mapping is not just about documenting our rights. If there is something illegal happening, fishermen send us a GPS point. I will figure out the areas survey number, the zone, how far it is from the high-tide line, whether the activity is legal or not. When I respond with these details, they go ahead and take action on it. So our mapping is not just about tracking the areas where we park our boats and so on. We also use it to stop illegal activities. What kind of legal protection do Indian fishermen have when it comes to their rights over the seas? It is common understanding that the sea and the land along the sea belong to fishermen based on traditional rights that they have had for generations. But there is no legal sanction for such traditional rights. There is no government order saying that the fishermen have rights over the resources of the sea and they cannot be disturbed. There is no court order or even a gazette notification to this effect. However, Annexure 1 of Section 5 of the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification of 2011 describes Coastal Zone Management Plans, which each state is supposed to develop and codify, as recognising the traditional rights of fishermen. Each map in a states Coastal Zone Management Plan is supposed to show a fishing village and its common areas, which are used for parking boats, storing and repairing nets, drying fish, and its fish-breeding grounds and so on. It should also show the social services and infrastructure of the fishing village: the roads, its community hall, hospitals, temples and schools. Keeping in mind the effects of climate change, it also says that long-term plans for housing the fishermen should be considered. So if the notification and management plans are made into law, there would be legal recognition of the traditional rights of fishermen. For now, we use the notification and its subsequent amendments as our weapon to secure our rights. When my father said that the sea and its shore belong to fishermen, he held no rights. But when my son says the same thing, he should have rights. What is your method for the participatory mapping project? What are the tools used? [My colleague Pooja Kumar and I] basically focus on training young people in all the villages. Every fishing hamlet has its own set of problems, and we use the maps to tell them how to handle their problems. It empowers them to find their own solutions. The method is very important in mapping. Our GIS [geographic information system] mapping follows international standards. The maps in Tamil Nadus draft Coastal Zone Management Plan from 1996 were hand-drawn and did not follow GIS standards. The 2011 notification specified that it should be done to international standards and in GIS format. I learned that format and the tools I use open-source software called QGIS. Normally the software costs several lakhs [several thousand dollars], which we cant afford. But using GRASS, a free and open-source GIS software, we can get the physical data. There are other free tools to map land use. Using those, we create maps for built-up areas, agricultural areas, etc. There are many tools in GIS like geo-referencing and so on. Android smartphones have a free app called GPS Essentials that we use to collect data. In mapping it is very important to go to the field and collect data, which we do either through Android phones or GPS devices. How does mapping help your efforts to gain legal recognition of your rights? The economy of the country is dependent on ports, and there are many new harbour projects and projects around the ports. The government is targeting the sea and the places around the sea. So, the Coastal Zone Management Plans become important. We map to identify the spots in the sea that the fishermen frequent most. So if the government plans to bring a project there, we can establish that it is a place our fishermen use. Earlier, there was no evidence to establish this. GIS mapping has helped us achieve this. When it comes to documenting fishing practices and traditions, in prawn-fishing areas, if fishermen from one village fish there it is followed by two days of rest before the fishermen of another village go there and fish in that area. We have documented such systems, practices and areas through mapping. Heres a success story: In 2016, as part of the Ennore Thermal Power Station annex [in Chennai], a conveyor belt was built in an area traditionally used for prawn fishing. The fishermen were able to show the previous management plan maps and tell the government that the construction violated the Coastal Regulation Zone norms, as this was their workplace. The government had to relent and shut down the conveyor belt, restoring the land to the fisherfolk. After we create village-level maps, the respective panchayats [local self-governments] pass a resolution ratifying the maps and plans, which are then passed on to the relevant district and state departments for inclusion in official plans. However, the departments may or may not include them in full in the Coastal Zone Management Plan. So we follow up, requesting they show us proof of the steps theyve taken to include the maps we created. What do you think threatens your seas and shores the most? As fishermen, we are solely dependent on seas and shores for our livelihoods. The threats we face are multifold: natural disasters, man-made mistakes and government and business projects. Projects like Sagarmala [an approximately $120 billion Rs. 8.5 trillion government transport and logistics project launched in 2015] and beach beautifications pose a huge threat. The governments see the seas and shores only through an economic lens. The central government in India neither recognises nor deems it fit to take into account the livelihood of the fishing community. Instead, the government sees the sea as something to fill its coffers. It only sees it as blue economy and focuses on bringing in multinational companies. The threats we face from government projects are huge. It is not just about the projects; they also want to evict us from the shores, as the value of our shores is huge. These days, people are enamoured with living by the sea. People want to build factories and beach-facing properties on the shore. Then there are human activities like discharging industrial effluent and untreated waste into the sea and rivers. There is a deep connection between the rivers and the sea. If the river is polluted, it will affect the sea [and therefore fish and fishing activities]. Another major issue is the construction of seawalls. In Kovalam village, they put up a breakwater that was supposed to save the village. But, as a result, in nearby villages like Karikattukuppam there is no place to park boats anymore and the buildings have been destroyed because of erosion. We were affected during natural disasters like the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, but it was a natural disaster and fishermen always had a way to cope with these. But to be affected by man-made or government disasters is to live in perpetual fear. How does mapping help you to handle these threats? In 2016-2017, the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras released a report on shoreline management. It was about coastal erosion, and assessed how much damage would be caused if the sea rises by 1 metre. The Indian Space Research Organisation had released a similar report in 2012. But the government did not use it, nor has it let the public know about the results. There has been no training on how to handle these issues. For example, Pulicat is a lake and estuary. If sea level rises by 1 metre in the next 50 years, there will be severe consequences for it. We know this because of the mapping and we have reiterated our demand for long-term housing [to relocate vulnerable fishing communities]. The mapping was very useful in that sense. Only when we analysed the Indian Space Research Organisation maps along with satellite imaging did we realise the gravity of the situation. We worked on it and we spread the message to many villages. Mapping is a tool to help us to protect ourselves into the future. Media revelations in connection with the Rafale deal over the past few days have sent the government reeling Media revelations in connection with the Rafale deal over the past few days have sent the government reeling. On Tuesday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi called a bare-knuckled press conference to accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi not just of corruption, but also of compromising national security. The immediate provocation for the press conference was a report published in The Indian Express on Tuesday that showed that entrepreneur Anil Ambani had held meetings with then French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drien and three of his advisors in the fourth week of March in 2015, around a fortnight before Modi's visit to Paris to hold talks with then French president Francois Hollande. The Rafale aircraft deal was finalised and announced during this visit, although it was signed over a year later. According to an official who had been briefed about Ambani's meeting, the report said, he had expressed the desire to work with Airbus Helicopters on both civil and defence projects. Damagingly, he was also reported as having mentioned a memorandum of understanding (MoU) 'in preparation and the intention to sign during the prime minister's visit'. This MoU is construed to be the one for the Rafale deal. At this point of time, neither then defence minister Manohar Parrikar nor then foreign secretary S Jaishankar knew about the announcement. The latter had, in fact, on the eve of the prime minister's departure told the media that in his 'understanding', discussions were underway between the defence ministry, 'the French company', ie Dassault, and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, which, it had been envisaged, would manufacture a majority of the aircraft by means of a transfer of technology. There were other curious aspects to Ambani's involvement. He had incorporated a company called Reliance Defence on 28 March, 2015, at around the time that he met Le Drien and his advisors. Despite the fact that Ambani's company obviously had zero experience in aircraft manufacture, or defence-related production of any kind, his newly-incorporated company got a preponderant share of the offset contracts that Dassault the makers of the Rafale aircraft and three other companies were contractually bound to invest 50 percent of the deal amount in India. Reliance Defence got its offset contracts, worth in their totality Rs 30,000 crore, mainly through a 51:49 joint venture with Dassault. At Tuesday's press conference, Rahul said three axes constituted the Rafale deal. One was the axis of corruption, one that of procedural irregularities, and the third of national security. The Congress president was categorical: The prime minister had indulged in corrupt practice by favouring Ambani and influencing the offset contracts, but more dangerously he had compromised national security by betraying his oath of office and contravening the Official Secrets Act. That, according to him, was the only possible construal of a situation in which an industrialist had learned about a deal before it was announced and before even the defence minister knew about it. Modi, Rahul said, had opened himself up wide for criminal prosecution. It is hard not to agree with the conclusion. If the defence minister did not know about the stage the deal had reached, it could only mean that some people in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) knew about it and had informed Ambani. It is hard to imagine that everyone in the PMO knew about it; going by the need-to-know principle, just a very small number of very senior personnel would have known. Whatever that number may have been, the responsibility for the 'leak' to Ambani rests with the prime minister. Just before the Indian Express report was published, The Hindu had published two reports on the Rafale deal. The first, run last Friday, detailed the role of the PMO in conducting clandestine negotiations in the Rafale deal, bypassing the defence ministry and the Indian negotiating team. Thus, a raft of procedural irregularities. The second, published on Monday, showed that the Indian government made 'unprecedented' concessions to the French side in sealing the deal. The report noted that eight changes were made to the inter-governmental agreement by the Defence Acquisition Council after it had been ratified and approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security. The most significant of these were the decisions to drop anti-corruption provisions in the agreement, usually a standard feature, by non-inclusion of penalties for the exercise of 'undue influence' and related provisions, and the decision to drop the provision for making payments through escrow accounts. All the changes were made days before the agreement was finally signed. The Hindu's report is significant for what it says about a government that (and a prime minister who) obsessively parades its credentials a crusader against corruption. These three reports have provided enough ammunition to the Opposition and the Congress president used the firepower to strip the government of its pretensions. What is most notable about the material uncovered by the two newspapers mentioned is that none of it was made available to the Supreme Court when the Centre made its submissions while it was hearing a public-interest petition on the Rafale deal. Rahul might just have a point, therefore, when he says that the Supreme Court order exonerating the government in matters of pricing and other modalities had been rendered meaningless. The Centre was scheduled to table the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) report in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Rahul and other Opposition leaders have already stated that it will be seen as worthless if it doesn't include an audit of all the irregularities that have been uncovered, especially given the fact that the current CAG was the designated finance secretary between November 2014 and September 2015 and could well have a conflict of interest. At the press conference, Rahul had designated the report as that of the 'chowkidar auditor general' and, therefore, worthless. In the interests of discretion, it would perhaps have been better to employ somewhat more measured language. Be that as it may, the public will have seen through Modi's repeated insistence that he is the honest watchman of whom the guilty are petrified. He repeated this magic incantation on Tuesday as well, in the wake of the Indian Express report. Corruption has been eradicated from the system, he declaimed. Honest people have faith in the chowkidar, but the corrupt fear him, he added for good measure. These claims have by now become tedious and the Rafale deal has served to reduce it to tatters. Honest answers to a couple of questions could lend belated credibility to this government, which is characterised by nothing as much as it is by its opaque, authoritarian and arbitrary conduct. If the government and the Rafale deal are as squeaky clean as Modi claims they are, why not just agree to an inquiry by a joint parliamentary committee or the Central Bureau of Investigation, or both. All doubts will then be laid to rest. And another thing, why has the government failed to appoint a Lokpal yet, with its tenure almost over? We are waiting for convincing answers. The Haridwar police have arrested the prime accused Sardar Hardev and his son Sukka in Jhabrera in connection with the deaths that occurred due to consumption of illicit liquor or hooch in Uttarkhand's Roorkee. Roorkee: The Haridwar police have arrested the prime accused Sardar Hardev and his son Sukka in Jhabrera in connection with the deaths that occurred due to consumption of illicit liquor in Uttarkhand's Roorkee. Two more people were arrested for selling the illicit liquor in Roorkee on Monday. Director General of Law and Order Ashok Kumar told ANI that so far four people have been arrested in the region. On Monday's arrests, J Khanduri, SSP Haridwar told the media, "They have accepted that they sold illicit liquor in Saharanpur too. They have named another accused in the case, further investigation is underway." Consumption of spurious illegal liquor has claimed the lives of more than 80 people in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, forcing government officials to launch a major crackdown to nab those responsible for distribution of illicit liquor in the states and its neighbouring regions. Meanwhile, two persons have been arrested in connection with hooch tragedy in Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh, which claimed eight lives, said Superintendent of Police Rajeev Narayan Mishra on Sunday. The Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday constituted a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe recent deaths due to consumption of illicit liquor in the state. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has already announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of those who died after consuming spurious liquor and Rs 50,000 each to those who are undergoing treatment. Eastern Uttar Pradesh general secretary Priyanka Gandhi too expressed grief over the death of more than 100 people in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh due to illicit liquor consumption and demanded an appropriate compensation and provision of government jobs for kin of the deceased. However, the governor has also taken stances on issues that have angered Democrats. He canceled a $2.9 billion Red Line project across Baltimore, dismissing it as a boondoggle. And he joined other mostly GOP governors in 2015 in asking the federal government to bar Syrian refugees from their states until better vetting procedures were established. Hooch deaths aren't a one-off incident caused by negligence of a government, it's a collective failure of conscience and method. The toll in the most recent hooch tragedy has almost touched the 100-mark. From Haridwar, Saharanpur, Kushinagar, Roorkie to Meerut, fatalities were reported in places across Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. On Sunday night, hours after reports confirmed the deaths from the consumption of spurious liquor, the Uttar Pradesh government announced that a five-member Special Investigation Team will investigate into the manner. The Uttar Pradesh Police conducted raids in areas like Gorakhpur, Chitrakoot, Maharajganj, Mathura, Ghaziabad and Hamirpur. Meanwhile, Opposition parties kicked up a storm in Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Monday and demanded resignation of chief minister Yogi Adityanath. In response to the accusations, Adityanath slammed Samajwadi Party leaders who were found to be involved in illicit liquor trade in the states Azamgarh, Hardoi, Kanpur and Barabanki regions. The fact is death caused by spurious liquor is not fault of a state government and solution isn't political blame game. Into its 73rd year of independence, India lacks a national alcohol policy. Serious policy efforts in the direction only began in 2010, when The World Health Organisation (WHO) came up with its global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol that was adopted by 193 United Nations member countries. This was when stakeholders from civil society came together to form what was called the Indian Alcohol Policy Alliance (IAPA), which collaborated with the National Institute for Social Defence and the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment. The three bodies followed the guidelines laid down by WHO and designed a national strategy for reduction of alcohol abuse. Whats the status of its recommendations? Disappointing, said Johnson Edayaranmula, Director, Alcohol and Drug Information Centre. He was a part of that IAPA team and feels alcohol must be added in the concurrent list, where the constitution provides for a central law to override a state law. "If tobacco and narcotics are a national subject, then why is alcohol still a state subject, especially when the UN Sustainable Goals 2030 recognise alcohol abuse as one of the four risk factors to public health?" he asked, adding that subsequent health budgets have mentioned smoking but given alcohol a glaring miss. In states like Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, liquor is a state monopoly over alcohol distribution. But, in Karnataka, Goa and Uttar Pradesh, this is not the case. This enables distributors with one single permit to import much more than the permitted load and thereby evade tax. Since alcohol falls in the 7th schedule of the constitution, the state has the powers to decide. An example of this is the 2016 Supreme Court judgement banning liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways. In the wake of protests by those affected, particularly the hospitality industry, the Supreme Court diluted its stand by adding that the order does not prohibit licensed establishments within municipal areas. As a result, state governments began de-notifying national highways and declaring these roads as local, state roads. Yet another recommendation that the IAPA made was the need for uniform taxation, that can now be done by bringing it under GST and the need for tightening the price elasticity that can put an end to inter-state smuggling. In states like Gujarat, Bihar, Nagaland and Lakshadweep, the sale of liquor is banned. In Kerala, the left-wing coalition eased the ban on liquor imposed by the previous government. In 2017, liquor was liberalised in the state. During the days of the ban, 730 liquor shops had shut down but all that effort soon went down the drain. In Manipur, former chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh had floated the option of lifting prohibition in the state assembly during his tenure but the ban still exists. In a 2013 report released by the Public Health Foundation of India, the question of lack of coordination with various central departments is mentioned. While the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) looks after alcohol use prevention programs, developing networks and capacity building for alcohol prevention and control, and monitoring. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) runs de-addiction centres. Taxation and excise are the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance and the state Excise department. There is no systematic coordination between these departments. Hence, the lack of comprehensive national data on the production and sale of alcohol. In 2004, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment funded a study carried out under the guidance of Rajat Ray, former Head of the Department of Psychiatry and First Chief, National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC). In 2018, a new national study on alcohol abuse, funded by the same ministry, is in the final stages of compilation. Professor Dr Atul Ambekar of the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre at AIIMS is heading it. He told Firstpost that the shortage of legal and quality-controlled alcohol leads to proliferation of a black market, especially in areas where alcohol is permissible by cultural customs. In the case of hooch victims from Haridwar, the alcohol had allegedly been consumed as part of the 13th day mourning rituals. Professor Ambekar added that the brewing and fermentation process in home-made liquor arent what cause damage. Instead, the distillation process at small units that operate illegally are the culprits. HK Sharma, senior social scientist at AIIMS, who has been researching and writing on the subject of illicit alcohol in India since three decades, said that India has a huge moonshine industry that turns chemicals into poisons. Small manufacturing hubs use methyl alcohol a potent adulterant often as ethanol substitution. Since the chemical is readily used in industries, it is easy to get hold of it. To make the drink stronger, fatty acids, urea and ammonium chloride are also added, he deconstructed adulteration that is poisonous and life-threatening. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, in a 2015 report, noted that the illicit market for alcohol consumption has grown since 2002 and this huge increase has cost legal distillers 14,140 crore. We can safely state that 25 to 35 percentage of the total liquor production in India is being done under these moonshine industries, explained Sharma. In 1994, the Congress-party government of Andhra Pradesh was forced to ban the sale of arrack, a country spirit that earned it lakhs in excise duty. This was the result of pressure from women in newly formed literacy circles in Dubagunta, a village in Nellore. In Delhis Narela, where CM Arvind Kejriwals convoy was attacked some days ago, one single woman has led a movement against illicit alcohol. The area is also home to the Sansi tribe from Rajasthan that is notorious for engaging in production of illicit alcohol. But, unlike the women from Andhra Pradesh, she hasnt been successful. Parveen, a 39-year-old mother of four girls, attempted to expose the Sansi dealers in Narela (West Delhi), she filed FIRs and wrote letters to the DCP and the Delhi Womens Commission, regarding the illegal trade of alcohol in her area (all copies were shared with Firstpost). Videos of her being beaten up by the liquor mafia surfaced on social media in 2017, after which she was summoned for a hearing by the Delhi Womens Commission. Till date, no action has been taken, she feels it is unfortunate that Delhis mixed land-use norms allow people to open production centres within their homes and business goes on unchecked. Shaleen Mitra, an advisor in the Delhi government, cited the lack of coordination between agencies like the police and the excise department as one of the key reasons why Parveen lost her battle. Had there been a strong bottom-up law in the centre, couldnt it have kept authorities at even district and panchayat levels under strict check? Through surrogate advertising and minimum liability on authorities serving alcohol, a deadly market of poison is at work. Hooch deaths aren't a one-off incident caused by negligence of a certain government, it's a collective failure of conscience and method. Societies in different parts of the world have introduced reforms towards equality but the RSS-BJP wants to take the spiritual system of Hinduism backward. This is the most dangerous situation India is facing today. Unfortunately, we are all witnesses to that process. Hinduism is being defined as a religion like Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. Till the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Hindu Mahasabha came into being, it wasnt seen as a religion like the other three. Hinduism was treated as a social collective of different ways of life but now it is being interpreted like other religions of the world. Over the years, the RSS and its political wing, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have projected Hinduism like the Semitic religions such as Christianity and Islam without initiating any spiritual or social reforms. The Indian society was and is far more fragmented than the Israelite society was at the time of Jesus Christ or the Arabic society of Prophet Mohammad. The hierarchised caste system and multiple tribal communities that are being defined as Hindus are likely to create more problems than solve them. Ever since the BJP came to power at the Centre and started taking decisions that have had adverse fallout for the castes and tribes other than the top three, Brahmins, Banias or Kshatriyas, many new areas of clashes have emerged. The Dalits (historically untouchables) and tribals particularly are encountering economic and cultural assault by the Hindutva forces on food and belief fronts. The anti-beef RSS-BJP let loose terror on these communities. When the RSS was started in 1925 by KS Hedgewar and consolidated by MS Golwalkar, the caste fragmentations and the untouchability were worse. They didnt initiate reforms but started organising the so-called Hindu forces against Muslims of India, as if they are all one unit. They had not developed any anti-caste discourse. Instead, they emphasised on parampara (tradition) and sanskriti (culture). They adopted vegetarianism as organisational food culture, without thinking that the Shudra, Dalit, Adivasis and the Eastern most castes were and are multi-cuisine. The spiritual symbols for the top three varnas such as the janeu (sacred thread) cant be worn by all Hindus. The caste system does not allow individual choices in spiritual life. The Shudras, Dalits and Adivasis were and are not supposed to wear the janeu that the men of top three varnas wear. From the days of the writing of the Vedic texts (in the process when they were adopted as Hindu ritual mantra texts), the priesthood was reserved for the Brahmins. Over the years, other ritual services such as birth, death and house-warming were reserved for the Brahmins. It also has a link to reading and writing Sanskrit texts and interpreting them. The main religious philosophical discourse was and still is reserved for the Brahmins. Subsequently, business was reserved for the Banias and political rule for the Kshatriyas. The agrarian tasks, artisanal work, cattle grazing the basic production work were and are left to Shudras, Dalits and Adivasis. They have no spiritual rights. This is nothing but denying them the basic spiritual citizenship. Without spiritual citizenship, how do they attain moksha (salvation)? Like without political citizenship, there is no chance of acquiring a good position in the state, without religious citizenship, one can't train for priesthood and attain higher spiritual and philosophical attainment. This also results in denying intimate access to God, hence, no moksha. The right to visit a Hindu temple does not constitute basic spiritual citizenship. When major spiritual systems transformed into religion, they guaranteed equal rights, at least to all male members. Women continue to face discrimination in all religions. But in Hinduism, not all men Shudra, Dalit and Adivasi have equal rights. At no stage the scriptural basis of this fragmentation untouchability was changed and no caste Hindu wrote a synthesised religious text that was adopted as a pooja text with common symbols for all, with citizenship rights to all Hindus. The RSS is defining all varnas, including SC/STs, as Hindus for numbers and to use their muscle power against Muslims and Christians. This is a dangerous. When the secular constitution is mapping out citizenship rights for Hindu religious institutions, something as simple as temple entry for women is creating a crisis like the one we are witnessing at Sabarimala. This doesnt happen in any other religion. The right to enter a Buddhist vihar, a Christian church and an Islamic mosque is guaranteed to all women. No religion treats the body of a woman aged between 10 and 50 as impure. The ruling BJP-RSS agrees with the priests who impose these purity rules but do not respect the universal religious rights of women, yet another dangerous practice that needs immediate reform. The RSS-BJP is strong votary of this inequality and if they remain in power for few more years, theyll bring back Sati and child marriage. Societies in different parts of the world have introduced reforms towards equality but the RSS-BJP wants to take the spiritual system of Hinduism backward. This is the most dangerous situation India is facing today. Unfortunately, we are all witnesses to that process. Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd is political theorist and social activist The Court sentenced him to imprisonment till the rising of the Court and imposed a fine of Rs. one lakh to be deposited with one week, after the CJI noted that the transfer orders were passed by him despite knowing that the top court had ordered that the investigation team should not be changed. A Supreme Court bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi on Tuesday held CBI Additional Director M Nageswara Rao guilty of contempt of court for transferring CBI Joint Director AK Sharma, the officer heading the investigation in the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case in violation of the orders of the apex court. The Court sentenced him to imprisonment till the rising of the Court and imposed a fine of Rs one lakh to be deposited within a week after Gogoi noted that the transfer orders were passed by him despite knowing that the top court had ordered that the investigation team should not be changed. Additional legal advisor Bhasuran S was also held guilty of contempt and punished in the same manner. "You both go and sit in one corner of the court till we rise," Justice Gogoi told Rao and Bhasuran, News18 reported. "Would heavens have fallen if the relieving order was passed after taking the SC into confidence", CJI Gogoi asked. Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for Rao, made a fervent plea for leniency, saying that Rao's mistake was not willful. However, Gogoi asked Venugopal why a contemnor was being defended at the court's expense. Gogoi said that Rao's action was "brazen contempt" and that he deserved no leniency. "Even if we accept his apology, his career record will remain blemished, as he has acted in contempt by his own admission, the CJI remarked. "Rao wrote a note that affidavit be filed in the Supreme Court regarding the transfer of Sharma. However, no affidavit was filed, rather Rao signed order relieving Sharma from CBI. If it isn't a Contempt then what?" the CJI asked the AG. "We can't accept arguments advanced by AG," he said. CJI, in the end, asked Rao and S Bhasu Ram, the Director of Prosecution, whether they have anything to say. Both the officers sought the court's apology with folded hands. On Monday, Rao had filed an affidavit, stating that the transfer order was issued by mistake and had offered an unconditional and unqualified apology to the court saying that he had no intention to circumvent its orders. However, the CJI came down heavily on Rao on Tuesday holding of guilty and severely condemning his action. Earlier, on 7 February, the bench had called out CBI for transferring Sharma, who was probing the shelter home cases and had directed its then interim chief Rao to personally appear before it on 12 February. CJI Gogoi took serious note of violation of the two earlier orders of the court and issued a contempt notice to Rao for transferring Sharma to the CRPF on 17 January without taking prior permission from the court. The bench, which also comprised Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, directed CBI Director Rishi Kumar Shukla to give the names of officers who were part of the process in transferring Sharma out of the probe agency, Live Law reported. However, the court maintained that Sharma won't come back to join the shelter home rape case probe, News18 reported. Besides Rao, the bench also sought the appearance of all other CBI officers who were involved in the transfer process. It also directed for the presence of Ram, in-charge Director of Prosecution CBI, for violating its order. Several girls were allegedly raped and sexually abused at an NGO-run shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur and the issue had come to light following a report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in July 2018. Personal amenities of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have reached Islamabad, ahead of his two-day trip to Pakistan during which investment deals worth billions of dollars are expected to be signed between the two decades-old allies, according to a media report on Monday. Islamabad: Personal amenities of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have reached Islamabad, ahead of his two-day trip to Pakistan during which investment deals worth billions of dollars are expected to be signed between the two decades-old allies, according to a media report on Monday. The powerful heir to the oil-rich kingdom is expected to arrive in Pakistan this week, but the exact date of his arrival has not been disclosed due to security reasons. The crown prince's belongings, including his exercise equipment and furniture, reached Islamabad in five trucks, the Dawn News reported quoting Saudi Embassy sources. His security team and Saudi media representatives also arrived in the capital ahead of his visit. This will be the first visit of Mohammed as the crown prince. He had earlier visited Pakistan as defence minister at the start of the Yemen conflict. While the prince himself is expected to stay at the Prime Minister House, two of the top hotels in Islamabad have been booked fully for members of his staff, while two others hotels have been partially booked. The crown prince is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Imran Khan and other senior civil and military leaders. Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights is not limited to women and girls but they are at the forefront of disproportionate consequences of lack of information and services. The cascading impact of silence around sex and sexuality is the reluctance towards addressing the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues. While SRH is used interchangeably with family planning, it is much more than just family planning and caters to address the diverse need of different population groups including adolescents, unmarried youth and people with diverse sexual identity and orientation. The concept of SRH was first put forward at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994. The range of services under SRH included family planning; maternal and newborn health care; prevention, diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV; adolescent SRH; cervical cancer screening; infertility prevention and management. These services aim at preventing poor SRH, such as complications of pregnancy and childbirth, unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, complications caused by STIs, sexual violence and women dying from avoidable cancer. Prior to the ICPD, which is a cornerstone for population programmes across the world, the key focus of reproductive health programmes was around family planning, fertility control and safe motherhood. As a country, we have made several strides in steering the national family planning programme from a population control to population stabilization approach. The national programme likes RMNCH+A and RKSS recognises the need for integrated service delivery and information across life stages especially among adolescents. Similarly, progressive policy and legal changes related to Section 377 decriminalising same-sex relationships, maternity benefits and recognition of the third gender have opened up avenues to introduce Sexual and Reproductive Rights discussions in the India policy discourses. However, within our SRH programmes, there continues to be a disproportionate focus on women tubectomy, primarily due its success and traditional acceptance about a woman being the bearer of family planning burden, thanks to several decades of long-term contraceptive behaviour changes programmes. One of the classic examples is that most SRH programmes in India are implemented through the Department of Family Planning instead of a much-needed Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health, in many ways further creating a dichotomy between the sexual and reproductive health and rights. The resurfacing of the population control discussions around the fringes of the upcoming election is another worrying trend that may compromise the progress made so far. SRHR is not limited to women and girls but they are at the forefront of disproportionate consequences of lack of information and services. Every year, women and girls die of preventable maternal, neonatal conditions and sexually transmitted infections often caused by sexual abuse, unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions. Thus, creating several grassroots and international movements to demand gender justice and to recognise SRHR as a human right. As of now we lack an accepted definition of Sexual Rights, but United Nations Office Human Rights Office recognises that "womens sexual and reproductive health is related to multiple human rights, including the right to life, the right to be free from torture, the right to health, the right to privacy, the right to education, and the prohibition of discrimination. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) have both clearly indicated that womens right to health includes their sexual and reproductive health." The commitment to CEDAW and other development frameworks such as SDGs, reflects the obligations of the state to respect, protect and fulfil rights related to womens sexual and reproductive health. More importantly also implying the need to reassess the population health programmes in India with a human rights perspective and to establish a stronger human rights mechanism to address the neglect of SRHR for individuals. In 2018, the Guttmacher-Lancet Commission on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights has introduced an expanded and evidenced-based comprehensive definition of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and recommends an all-inclusive package of essential SRH services and information that should be available to everyone. These include comprehensive sexuality education, the prevention and treatment of STIs and cancers of reproductive systems, counselling and care related to sexuality, sexual identity and sexual relationships, and safe abortion services. We have made tremendous progress in the field of basket of choices, inclusive programmes and community-centred initiatives, but there is still a significant need to address inequity, accessibility for the disadvantaged groups and increased investments for a good quality and affordable health care services grounded in human rights. The author is Senior technical advisor - Advocacy and Accountability at International Planned Parenthood Federation - South Asia Regional Office. The Chhattisgarh Police has cleared Delhi University professor Nandini Sundar of all charges in a 2016 murder case. The sociology professor welcomed the clean chit. The Chhattisgarh Police has cleared Delhi University professor Nandini Sundar of all charges in a 2016 murder case. Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Archana Prasad and four others were also given a clean chit after investigators failed to find evidence against them in connection with the murder of Shamnat Baghel, a tribal resident of Nama village in Sukma district, the Hindustan Times reported. In its chargesheet filed in a local court on Monday, the police said there was no direct evidence against Sundar, Prasad, Delhi's Joshi Adhikar Sansthan member Vineet Tiwari, CPM leader Sanjay Parata, local sarpanch Manju Kawasi and a villager, Mangla Ram Verma. A case of murder was registered against them at the Tongpal Police Station in Sukma in 2016. Sukma Superintendent of Police Jitendra Shukla said during the course of their investigation into the Tongpal murder case, the police had taken statements of the villagers, which suggest that Sundar and the others were not present in the village at the time of the murder. "Hence, we have taken back the cases against them," the senior police officer was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times. The Sukma Police had booked Sundar, who is a sociology professor at Delhi University, and the five others for murder, criminal conspiracy and rioting on 7 November, 2016, on the basis of the statement of Baghel's wife. Sundar welcomed the clean chit and said the police had done the right thing by giving up concocting vague theories and making their decision on the basis of evidence. "It was clear that the initial charges were vindictive, coming almost immediately after the CBI chargesheeted special police officers for the violence in Tadmetla," she said. "We hope that all ordinary innocent Adivasis will also experience the same justice we got, and charges against them are dropped very soon." In November 2018, Sundar had approached the Supreme Court, seeking the removal of their name from the FIR in the murder case. A Dalit police personnel's wedding procession was allegedly attacked on Saturday in Dugar village of Rajasthan. Jodhpur: A Dalit police personnel's wedding procession was allegedly attacked on Saturday in Dugar village of Rajasthan. A police case in this regard was registered on Sunday. The Rajasthan Assembly recently witnessed an uproar over the issues of atrocities on Dalits in the state when Congress and an independent MLA boycotted the Question Hour while a ruling party MLA cornered the BJP government. The police has detained some people and are on a lookout for a few more in connection with the incident. The groom, Sawai Ram informed that the attack took place when his wedding procession was about to enter Dugar village. He claimed that people belonging to the Rajput community had first attacked his procession and verbally humiliated him. When people tried to stop the Rajput men, the perpetrators hit back with sharp weapons, leaving many injured. Police inspector Ajit Singh, said, "We recorded his statement on Sunday and have registered a case under relevant sections against more than 12 people. The matter is being investigated. Action will be taken against the culprits." The Congress under Rahul has been launching relentless attack on public institutions. Rahul Gandhi is angry again. As the election dates draw near, Rahul these days remains locked in a perennial stupor of intense anger even though he claims to profess politics of love. Be that as it may, on Tuesday the Congress president launched another savage attack on Narendra Modi, calling the prime minister a middleman for businessman Anil Ambani. Citing a media report, Rahul accused the prime minister of violating Official Secrets Act, called him a spy and said Modi should be put in jail for committing treason. We shall see more colourful language closer to the elections, but what seems particularly interesting is the Congress presidents stance on the CAG report on Rafale, which at the time of writing is about to be tabled in Parliament. The Congress president has presumably not seen the report because it was submitted to the president and the finance ministry only yesterday and had not been tabled when Rahul conducted a news conference on Tuesday to dismiss it with all the disdain at his command. Congress President Rahul Gandhi: CAG report is a worthless report. I would term it as a Chowkidar Auditor General Report. It is Narendra Modis report, written for the Chowkidar, on behalf of the Chowkidar, for the Chowkidar by the Chowkidar. #Rafale pic.twitter.com/F5GZRceZyG ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2019 Why did the Congress president call the still-to-be-tabled report worthless and belittle the institution as chowkidar auditor general? Presumably because the Congress has brought charges of conflict of interest against Rajiv Mehrishi, and claimed that he should recuse himself from auditing the deal because he was part of the negotiations. Mehrishi, incidentally, was the Union finance secretary when the intra-governmental deal was signed between India and France. The Congress advised Mehrishi in a media statement that: It is an act of gross impropriety for you to deal with the audit of the 36 Rafale aircraft deal on account of patent conflict of interest...You are constitutionally, legally and morally disentitled to either conduct an audit or to present a report before...Parliament. We urge upon you to recuse yourself and publicly accept the gross impropriety committed by you in initiating the audit... because finance ministry plays an important role in these negotiations... Now it is clear that the Rafale deal happened under Rajeev Mehrishi. Now he is CAG. The Congress argument, in a nutshell, is that since as finance secretary Mehrishi was part of the negotiations, he cannot initiate a probe against himself and therefore this report carries no meaning, as Rahul claimed on Tuesday. In his rebuttal, Union minister Arun Jaitley in a series of tweets claimed that Congress is indulging in another falsehood. Another attack on the institution of CAG by the Institution wreckers based on falsehood. After ten years in Government former UPA ministers still dont know that finance secretary is only a designation given to the senior most secretary in the finance ministry... defence ministry files are dealt with by secretary (Expenditure). Secretary (Economic affairs) has no role in expenditure files of the defence ministry, he said. In a blog post on Tuesday, Jaitley expanded on his argument to write: I say this without fear of contradiction that no file or paper relating to the Rafale transaction ever reached him (Mehrish as finance secretary) nor was he in any way, directly or indirectly, associated with the decision making on defence purchases. Expenditure to be incurred on purchases by various departments of the Government needs the approval of secretary (Expenditure). But let us for a moment assume that Jaitleys defence is weak and Mehrishi does indeed have a conflict of interest. Incidentally, the Congress earlier urged the same CAG, not once but twice, to do a forensic audit of Rafale deal. On 19 September, a delegation of senior Congress leaders met the CAG (Rajiv Mehrishi) and submitted a memorandum. Talking to reporters later, Congress leader Anand Sharma said: We have given a detailed memorandum along with enclosures on the irregularities and acts of omission and commission by the government in the fighter jet deal. We expect the CAG will prepare a report soon and present it before Parliament... Sharma also expressed confidence that when when the report on the deal comes out in public domain, the real scam will come out and the truth shall prevail. If the Congress was aware that CAG is suffering from a conflict of interest issue, why didnt the party raise it then, instead of reposing faith that truth shall prevail when report comes out? In another memorandum in October, Congress approached the same CAG again and in a second memorandum on Rafale deal, submitted: It is expected that the CAG which has a constitutional mandate and authority to scrutinise every document, in this case including original tender, understanding reached between Dassault and HAL and the arbitrary decision of the prime minister without any mandate from Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) will undertake a forensic audit. Now that the CAG report on Rafale is complete, submitted and about to be tabled in Parliament, suddenly Congress comes up with a conflict of interest charge and claims that the CAG is trying to save himself and the government from a scam. A series of questions arise. Why did the Congress remain silent for so long? Why did it repose faith repeatedly in the same CAG? Why is it raising this issue now? Does it fear that a forensic audit has found the deal to be proper and in conjunction with laid down rules and processes, and consequently its Rafale campaign may fall flat? If it was sure in September and October that truth shall prevail, what happened in the intervening months to assume that CAG is trying to save itself and the government? The Congress is unlikely to answer these questions, but the partys conduct points to an unfortunate pattern of behaviour in recent times coinciding with Rahuls stewardship. There is now an increasing tendency to question the credibility of all public institutions and undermine their sanctity if the decisions are inconvenient to Congress narrative. From the politically motivated impeachment motion against then chief justice of India that severely undermined the judiciarys integrity to questioning the credibility of Election Commission by raising phony charges of EVM manipulation whenever the party suffers losses in elections, the Congress under Rahul has been launching relentless attack on public institutions. It has no problems when election results go in its favour, but starts detecting EVM anomalies the moment it suffers a reverse. No other party has tried to challenge the credibility of the highest court of the land as Rahul-led Congress has done. When the Supreme Court gave a clean chit to the government on Rafale, the Congress demanded that the Supreme Court recall its verdict and try the government for perjury and contempt. The Congress may have a legitimate case against the government on Rafale. It is fully within its right to challenge the government on facts and demand answers and accountability. That is the hallmark of a functioning democracy. But to cite a media report in a news conference and call the prime minister a spy and a middleman is unprecedented even by the low standards of Indian political discourse. Elections bring temporal power to parties. The damage to institutions will be permanent. Political parties have been protesting against the citizenship bill, which will be tabled in the Rajya Sabha today, on the grounds that the bill seeks to grant nationality to non-Muslims who came to India till 31 December, 2014, a greater deadline from 1971 as per the Assam Accord. New Delhi: The chief ministers of two northeastern states, Arunachal Pradesh's Pema Khandu and Manipur's N Biren Singh, on Monday voiced their opposition to the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and urged Home Minister Rajnath Singh to ensure it was not passed in the Rajya Sabha, officials said. During a 30-minute meeting, the two BJP chief ministers apprised the home minister about the prevailing situation in the North East, which has been witnessing continuous protests against the bill, which seeks to provide Indian nationality to non-Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The two chief minister requested the home minister not to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill before convincing the people of the North East and sought protection of their cultural and linguistic identity, an official said. The home minister asked the chief ministers not to worry and assured that the rights of the indigenous people of the North East would not be diluted, the official said. The bill provides for according Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after seven years of residence in India instead of 12 years, which is the norm currently, even if they do not possess any document. The legislation was passed by the Lok Sabha during the Winter Session on 8 January and has been awaiting Rajya Sabha nod. There has been strong opposition in Assam and other northeastern states against the bill. Political parties have been protesting on the grounds that the bill seeks to grant nationality to non-Muslims who came to India till 31 December, 2014, thereby, increasing the deadline from 1971 as per the Assam Accord. Also, according to the Assam Accord, all illegal immigrants who came to India after 1971, irrespective of their religion, have to be deported and this bill violates that. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the bill is an "atonement of the wrong that was done during India's Partition. India will safeguard all who had been victims of the Partition". On Saturday, addressing a rally in Assam, Modi said the citizenship bill won't harm the interests of the people of the region but will provide succour to those who have "embraced the idea and ethos of Mother India". With the Wednesday being the last official business day of both Houses of the Parliament, let's take a look at some of the important key Bills that have been pending approval in both Houses of the Parliament The Budget Session, which started 31 January, will hold its final session on Wednesday and is likely to end with a large list of bills remaining pending in both Houses of Parliament. With Congress staging a walk-out on Tuesday in the Lok Sabha over the Rafale deal and the Rajya Sabha being adjourned following an uproar by Samajwadi Party members after party chief Akhilesh Yadav was allegedly stopped at Lucknow airport while on his way to Allahabad, both Houses once again lost valuable time. At the end of the Winter Session (247th session), the Upper House had 49 government bills and 130 private members bills pending; the Lok Sabha, on the other hand, according to its official website, had 25 government bills and over a thousand private members bills pending. With Wednesday being the last official business day of both Houses of the Parliament, let's take a look at some of the key bills that have been pending in both Houses of the Parliament. Rajya Sabha The Upper House has managed to pass just two bills during the Budget Session. The Upper House has the maximum number of bills pending, including key bills such as the Consumers Protection Bill 2018, Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 and the Aaadhar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill 2019. Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019: Though passed in the Lok Sabha, the Bill has been in limbo in the Rajya Sabha following the protests in the North East. Though the Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 6 February, it is yet to see any progress. Home Minister Rajnath Singh was expected to table the Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, however, following an uproar by the Samajwadi Party, the Upper House was adjourned for the most part of the day. It's unlikely the Bill will be tabled on the last day of the Budget Session even though the prime minister has thrown his weight behind it, and is an important part of the BJP's agenda to consolidate Hindu votes in the North East ahead of the Lok Sabha Election. The bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who fled religious persecution. It was passed by Lok Sabha on 8 January and is awaiting the nod of Rajya Sabha. Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019: Introduced by Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in the Lok Sabha on 2 January and passed on 4 January, the Bill is yet to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha. According to PRS India, the Bill seeks to make amendments in the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The Bill seeks crucial changes in the existing acts to put them in line with the Supreme Court order on the Aadhaar Act in September 2018, and ensure targeted delivery of subsidies and benefits to individuals residing in India by assigning them Aadhaar numbers. Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2019: The Bill which was passed by the Lok Sabha during the Winter Session seeks to make crucial changes to ensure transparency of businesses registered in India. Aimed to replace a November 2018 Ordinance, the Bill seeks several amendments in the Companies Act, 2013, in areas such as re-categorisation of offences described under the 2013 Act into 16 civil offences, and allowing their resolution in the form of penalties as well as better compliance to taxation rules. Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2018: Passed in the Lok Sabha on 31 December, the bill seeks to set up the Medical Council of India (MCI) and determines the members that will constitute the new regulator of medical education and practice in the country. The Bill, if passed in the Rajya Sabha, will amend the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, and replaces the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018. Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2018: The Bill seeks to make several amendments in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 to smoothen resolution of domestic as well as international disputes. The Bill seeks to establish an independent body called the Arbitration Council of India (ACI) for the promotion of arbitration, mediation, conciliation and other alternative dispute redressal mechanisms, according to PRS India. The Act details the composition of the ACI and contains provisions for contains provisions to deal with domestic and international arbitration, and defines the law for conducting conciliation proceedings. The Bill also seeks to ensure the confidentiality of the parties involved in an arbitration proceeding. New Delhi International Arbitration Centre Bill, 2018: In line with the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2018, the Bill seeks to create the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (NDIAC), a centre of national importance that will conduct arbitration, mediation, and conciliation proceedings. Consumer Protection Bill, 2018: Awaiting approval in the Rajya Sabha, the Bill seeks to set up a Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to promote, protect and enforce the rights of the consumers. The Consumer Protection Bill 2018, which will replace the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, while defining consumer rights also offers protection to consumers from defective products, misleading advertisements as well as seeks to create Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and forums at the district, state and national-levels for adjudicating consumer complaints. The Bill will lapse if the Rajya Sabha fails to clear it Wednesday. Lok Sabha Though the Upper House has managed to clear key bills like the Finance Bill 2019, work in the Lower House of the Parliament has been slow going. Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2018: Introduced in July 2018, the Bill provides for a mechanism to ban unregulated deposit schemes and protect the interests of depositors. It also seeks to amend three laws, including the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, and the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992. Apart from creating a separate court to deal with cases of unregulated deposits. The Bill is crucial to ensure the public doesn't lose money through unregulated and illegal Ponzi schemes. Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill, 2018: Introduced in the Lok Sabha during the Winter Session of the Parliament by Minister of State for Culture, Mahesh Sharma, the Bill provides for the erection of a National Memorial in memory of those killed or wounded on 13 April, 1919, in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar. Proposing amendments in the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Act, 1951, the Bill also seeks to create a Trust to manage the National Memorial. Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2018: Also introduced in the Winter Session of the Parliament, the Bill provides for the establishment of two central universities in Andhra Pradesh to be known as the Central University of Andhra Pradesh and the Central Tribal University of Andhra Pradesh, according to PRS India. The Central Tribal University will take additional measures to provide higher education and research facilities in tribal art, culture, and customs primarily to the tribal population of India. With inputs from PTI Students on the track to further their academic careers in Lee County and beyond can find some financial aid via an uncommon source. Applications are now open for scholarship opportunities for students graduating in the 2019-2020 school year from The Uncommon Friends Foundation. Our founders philosophy was to have uncommon scholarships, not just for the star high school student with a top GPA, said Jennifer Nelson, executive director of the foundation, as well as Cape Coral District 4 council member. Application deadlines are April, 1, and nominees must reside in Lee, Charlotte, Collier, Glades or Hendry counties, need financial assistance, excel in school and/or their personal lives and possess high quality character traits. There are a myriad of scholarships in different denominations and length, as well as requirements. Scholarships are as follows: * Cape Coral Kiwanis Club ($2,500) for any two disadvantaged students of any age to help defray tuition, books and supplies costs at any educational institution. * Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association (FRLA) Hospitality Scholarship ($1,000) for any age student seeking an education and/or career in the hospitality industry to help defray tuition, books and supplies costs, * HomeTech ($2,000) for any age student to help defray the costs of tuition, books and supplies to attend a trade school. * Jared Basco Pay It Forward Scholarship For any age student pursuing any career who demonstrates generosity through activities such as community service, financial giving or volunteerism that has impacted his or her life, and from which others may benefit. * Smith Family Trust Bonita Springs Charter School Scholarship ($1,000) For students from Bonita Springs Charter School who demonstrate strong character and ethics in their everyday life. * Valeries House Scholarship for a Grieving Child Two $1,000 Scholarships For any age student who has lost a parent or sibling and participates in Valeries Houses grief support programs to help defray tuition, books and supplies costs. * Waste Pro Scholarship ($1,000) for any age student to help defray the cost of tuition, books and supplies to attend a trade school. * Berne Davis Future Teacher Scholarship ($5,000) For a student enrolled in a program leading to a degree in education. * James F. Chelius, Jr. Scholarship for Disabled Students ($1,000) For any age student with a disability such as dyslexia, hearing, sight, physical, epilepsy, and cerebral palsy who has ambition and positive character traits. * Florida Prepaid College Foundation Scholarship Covers two years of state college tuition and fees for a freshman or sophomore who meets specific conditions and stays free of drugs and crime. * Health Sciences Scholarship ($1,000) For any age student working toward a degree in a health field, (e.g., nursing, dental hygiene, technologist, or therapist) to help defray cost of books or education. * Hilliard Scholarships ($4,000) Two, two-year scholarships for high school seniors residing in either Glades or Hendry Counties to attend FGCU. * Single Parent Scholarship ($1,000) For a deserving single parent who has overcome difficult obstacles to further his or her education and gain skills to enter the workforce. * Special Recognition Scholarship Three scholarships for any age student to help defray cost of books or education for one semester. * Technical College Scholarship For any age student to help defray costs of tuition, books and supplies at a technical college. * Veterans Scholarship ($1,000) For a deserving military veteran of any age to help defray costs of books or education. A focus of these scholarships involve students who want to learn a trade, said Nelson, as the need for workforce development is Florida is always in-demand. Its important to us that we invest in our community, region and people, Nelson said. Some people just need a hand up, and thats what these scholarships are intended to do. She even noted that many local organizations involved in a trade give the foundation funds to set up scholarships to, in turn, support the future of that trade. Organizations invest in us to honor their trade, thats what can be so unique about our scholarships, said Nelson. The scholarships do not discriminate by age, but by needs and qualifications. A recipient of a scholarship in the past, Jared Basco, is thankful for the opportunities that have been granted to him thanks to The Uncommon Friends Foundation, that he has been giving back month after month to have a fund set up in his name to be given to a deserving student. Basco was a Bishop Verot student and his counselor recommended him for the scholarship. Nelson said he is so grateful for how much the foundation changed his life, saying that it helped me out so much. Visit: uncommonfriends.org/scholarships/opportunities/ for scholarship application forms and specific requirements of each scholarship. Completed applications and/or any questions should be directed to scholarships@uncommonfriends.org. Winners will be announced by early summer and will be honored at the Uncommon Friends Foundations Uncommon Evening on Thursday, Nov. 14. -Connect with this reporter on Twitter: @haddad_cj Jean-Dominique Senard will visit Nissans headquarters in Yokohama to meet the companys executives and become better acquainted with its Japanese partner. Tokyo: Renaults chairman will meet Nissan Motors CEO this week in Japan as they look at ways to cement their partnership after the ouster of former alliance leader Carlos Ghosn, the Japanese automaker said on Tuesday. Jean-Dominique Senard, named chairman of the French automaker last month, will visit Nissans headquarters in Yokohama to meet the companys executives and become better acquainted with its Japanese partner. Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa is eager to familiarise Senard with Nissan and Alliance operations to optimise their work together, the automaker said in a statement. Earlier in the day, Saikawa told Japanese media that he was keen to smooth Nissan-Renault relations that have been strained in the past few months following Ghosns arrest in Tokyo and his immediate dismissal as Nissan chairman. First of all, we have to restore trust and stabilise the relationship, the Nikkei quoted Saikawa as saying. We want him to know more about Nissans (management) team. Kyodo news reported that Senard would visit for two days from 14 February. Senard, formerly CEO of tire maker Michelin, joined Renault as chairman in late January after Ghosn was forced to resign from the French automaker in the wake of his arrest on allegations of financial misconduct. Ghosn has been indicted in Japan for under-reporting his Nissan salary for eight years and temporarily transferring personal losses on to the automakers books around during the global financial crisis. The once-feted executive, credited for turning around both Renault and Nissan, remains in detention as he awaits trial that could be several months away. He denies any wrongdoing. Speculation about the future capital structure of the Renault-Nissan partnership has been rife since the arrest of Ghosn, who had been exploring ways to make the alliance irreversible before his arrest. But Saikawa has argued it is not time to discuss the ideal structure of the alliance, although he has said he wants to work closely with Senard who will likely sit on Nissans board. The automaking alliance has been underpinned by Renaults 43.4 percent stake in Nissan, which in turn owns a 15 percent non-voting stake in Renault. The French government owns a 15 percent stake in Renault. The head of Japans industry ministry on Tuesday denied media reports that the government had been told by France that it could lower its stake in Nissan, Jiji news reported, echoing a similar denial by Frances finance ministry last week. The Supreme Court of India had issued notice to Anil Ambani and others on a contempt petition filed by Ericsson India over non-payment of its dues. Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani has reached the Supreme Court on Tuesday (today) to appear in a contempt petition filed by Ericsson India over not clearing its dues of Rs 550 crore. Three contempt cases have been filed by Ericcson against Ambani. On February 4, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) allowed telecom gear maker Ericsson India to file its objection by 8 February over Reliance Communications plea to proceed with insolvency process. A two-member bench headed by Chairman Justice S J Mukhopadhaya also said that until further orders of the NCLAT or the Supreme Court, no one can sell, alienate, or create third party rights over RCom's assets. "Until further orders, the Appellants, corporate debtor (RCom), Respondent(Ericsson India), guarantors or any third party will not sell, transfer or alienate any moveable or immoveable property of RCom nor invoke any guarantee or mortgage or any other instrument without prior permission of this appellate tribunal or Supreme Court," the NCLAT said. The appellate tribunal has directed to list the matter on February 12 for orders. Reliance opts for insolvency Early this month, RCom decided to opt for insolvency proceedings following its failure to sell assets for paying back its lenders, the Anil Ambani-led telecom firm said. The company had chalked out plans to sell assets for about Rs 25,000 crore and use it for clearing debt of around 40 lenders. RCom was expecting to realise Rs 975 crore from sale of spectrum to Jio which it promised to use paying dues of Rs 550 crore to Ericsson and Rs 230 crore to settle dues of minority stakeholder Reliance Infratel. Reliance Jio, however, declined to take over any past liability of RCom for which the Department of Telecom may raise demand in future. Contempt proceeedings Ericsson India had moved the Supreme Court seeking initiation of contempt proceedings for the second time against Chairman of Reliance Communication Ltd, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani for allegedly not complying with its order to clear dues of Rs 550 crore. Besides seeking contempt proceedings against RCom chairman and two others, Ericsson has also sought that they be detained in civil prison unless they purge themselves by making the payment. It also sought directions to the Ministry of Home Affairs to prevent Ambani, Reliance Telecom Ltd chairman Satish Seth and chairperson of Reliance Infratel Ltd Chhaya Virani from leaving the country. The contemnor named above having committed and guilty of contempt of court be directed to be detained in civil prison unless the aforesaid contemnors purge themselves by making payment of Rs 550 crore along with interest thereon in terms of the order dated 23 October, 2018, the plea said. SC bench seeks response from Ambani in 4 weeks Earlier, the Supreme Court of India had issued notice to Anil Ambani and others on a contempt petition filed by Ericsson India over non-payment of its dues. A bench headed by Justice R F Nariman sought a response from Ambani and others in four weeks. Appearing for R Com, senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Mukul Rohatgi asked the court to accept Rs 118 crore towards outstanding dues to Ericsson India to establish its bonafide The counsel appearing for Ericsson, however, refused to accept the amount and said the entire outstanding sum of Rs 550 crore should be deposited. The bench then directed RCom to deposit a demand draft of Rs 118 crore in the registry. The apex court had on 23 October last year asked RCom to clear the dues by 15 December saying that delayed payment would attract an interest of 12 percent per annum. It is respectfully being brought to the notice of this court that respondents have not paid payment of Rs 550 crore as ordered and as undertaken by 15 December, 2018 or even thereafter. Clearly, the respondents have committed a gross contempt of this court deserve to be punished for the same, said the petition filed through advocate Bhargava V Desai. The plea claimed that Ambani and two others have abused the process of law to the hilt and caused grave damage to the interest of justice. It alleged that RCom has sold its assets and money received was not used to clear the dues and was illegally pocketed. The plea sought direction to Ambani and the lenders forum to hand over Rs 550 crore with interest, as directed by the 23 October order, from the sale proceeds. The apex court had on 23 October given one last opportunity to RCom for clearing the settlement amount. It had said that Ericsson can revive its contempt plea against Reliance if the amount is not paid by 15 December, 2018. In its first contempt plea, Ericsson sought action against Ambani and others for failing to pay Rs 550 crore towards settlement to the company by September-end last year. The company had alleged that RCom has wilfully and consciously defied the order dated August 3 of the top court and the undertaking given before it to pay up by September-end. Ericsson India, which had signed a seven-year deal in 2014 to operate and manage RComs nationwide telecom network, had alleged that it had not been paid the dues of over 1,500 crore and challenged the debt-ridden firm before National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). The top court had perused the 30 May last year interim order of the NCLAT and noted that Ericsson India was willing to settle its debt of over Rs 1,500 crore for a sum of Rs 550 crore which was to be paid by RCom within 120 days. It had on 3 August last year allowed RCom to sell assets covering spectrum, fibre, telecom towers and certain real estate assets for an aggregate value of approximately Rs 25,000 crore. ---With PTI inputs Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Tuesday said he had an interactive meeting with foreign investors in Hong Kong New Delhi: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Tuesday said he had an interactive meeting with foreign investors in Hong Kong. This is his first interaction abroad with investors after taking over as the RBI's governor in December last year. "Held an interactive meeting with FPIs in Hong Kong today (Tuesday). Good participation and discussion," he said in a tweet. Since he took over as 25th RBI Governor, he has hold a series of meeting with various stakeholders including heads of public sector banks, private sector banks, non-banking financial services, and industry chambers. The RBI last week proposed removal of 20 percent foreign portfolio investor (FPI) restriction on the corporate debt market. It was stipulated that no FPI should have an exposure of more than 20 percent of its corporate bond portfolio to a single corporate, including exposure to entities related to the corporate. This was decided as a part of the review of the FPI investment in corporate debt undertaken in April 2018. FPIs were given exemption from this requirement on their new investments till the end of March 2019 to adjust their portfolios. While the provision was aimed at incentivising FPIs to maintain a portfolio of assets, market feedback indicates that foreign investors have been constrained by this stipulation. To encourage a wider spectrum of investors to access the corporate debt market, the RBI in its sixth bi-monthly policy on February 7 said that it is now proposed to withdraw this exposure limit. Neglecting social issues is not just myopic but dangerous, warns former RBI governor Raghuram G Rajan as he calls for a return to empowering local communities as an antidote to growing despair and unrest New Delhi: Neglecting social issues is not just myopic but dangerous, warns former RBI governor Raghuram G Rajan as he calls for a return to empowering local communities as an antidote to growing despair and unrest. Local community government acts as a shield against the policies of the federal government, thus protecting minorities against a possible tyranny of the majority, and serving as a check on federal power, he says. It is community-based movements against corruption and cronyism that time and again prevent the leviathan of the state from getting too comfortable with the behemoth of big business, he says, adding healthy communities are essential for sustaining vibrant market democracies. Rajan has come out with a new book "The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Leave the Community Behind" in which he analyses critical issues plaguing societies globally. He observes that large young migrant populations, both tantalised and shocked by city life, and yet to be integrated into solid new communities, are ideal raw material for the populist nationalists' vision of a cohesive national community. The book is about the three pillars - state, markets and community - that support society and how the right balance among them can be restored so that society prospers. Rajan reintroduces the "neglected" third pillar - the community - into the debate. He argues that many of the economic and political concerns today across the world, including the rise of populist nationalism, can be traced to the diminution of the community. The state and markets have expanded their powers and reach in tandem, and left the community relatively powerless. In a section focused on India, Rajan observes that the country, with its more pluralistic and open-access political system, is better positioned for the community to create more separation between the state and markets. Its weakest pillar is the state, he argues. The economy is not based on just two struts - markets and governments - but instead on a neglected third: the local community. "Neglecting social issues is not just myopic, it is dangerous," he says and calls for a return to empowering local communities as an antidote to growing despair and unrest. India's private sector is still dependent on the state, which makes it a feeble constraint on it. So India has the paradox of having an ineffective but only moderately limited state, the book says. India's challenge in the years to come is not its democracy, which is probably the only way to keep a country with such varied communities together, but the need to strengthen both state capacity and private-sector independence, Rajan says. He discusses how to harness the strengths of a vibrant but chaotic democracy, why India has not done as well as China and the threat of populist nationalism, predicting that democratic, open, tolerant India will be an important, responsible contributor to global governance in the decades to come, though populist nationalism around the world will make this less likely. The book, published by HarperCollins India, releases on 26 February. Fluctuation in oil prices, yield indiscipline and airport infrastructure constraints remain three main challenges for the Indian aviation market, SpiceJet Chairman and MD Ajay Singh said New Delhi: Fluctuation in oil prices, yield indiscipline and airport infrastructure constraints remain three main challenges for the Indian aviation market, SpiceJet Chairman and MD Ajay Singh said. Yield is the measure of average revenue paid by each passenger per mile. "The largest risk, of course, is oil...From an airlines perspective, what we can do and what we are trying to do is to try and get more fuel-efficient aircraft," said Singh. Because of the spike in oil price go up to 86 dollars, airlines were forced to relook at their models and examine where they can make or save more money, he added. "Second (risk) is the indiscipline on yields. I think the massive dumping of the capacity and the ones we saw last year, and that capacity was going into the same markets (sectors or routes) where there were already a large number of flights and there was this whole strategy of squeeze out other player from the markets. "...that remains the risk though I think it is moderating a bit. In the last few months, I have seen some moderation happening," he said. "The CEOS that I speak to in the aviation sector are all trying to chase profitability and if we can retain that over the next year or two, this (India) is going to be a terrific market," the CMD said. He also pointed out that infrastructure constraint related to metro city airports is a major concern. "In terms of infrastructure, which remains a large concern, of course, (airports in) Delhi and Mumbai will remain a challenge," he said. Many airlines have complained to the Ministry of Civil Aviation regarding lack of slots at airports in metro cities. Singh said the company is trying to stay out of flight sectors or flight routes where there is stiff competition. "We find that there is still enough space to be in markets that are not hugely competitive. We are trying naturally as a strategy to stay out of a great deal of competition and try and focus on yield and trying to up our fares. "The benefit of flying on UDAN routes is that we would be flying to destinations that would remain exclusive to us for a period of three years....So far, UDAN routes, barring one or two, have done very well," he said. SpiceJet flies on multiple routes under UDAN scheme, largely using its Q400 aircraft. "We have tried to bring down the costs of Q400 operations over the years. We have a plan to convert 78- seater Q400 aircraft to 90-seater aircraft, and that should be done by July...so by adding more seats to the plane, we are bringing down the costs. "I think some issues around the new aircraft - the ones of Pratt and Whitney engines and the restrictions being imposed by DGCA - should slow down the pace of induction for aircraft in the country," SpiceJet CMD said. This will be a good sign for the industry as the inherent demand remains incredibly strong. If the pace of induction slows, it will push up yields. That will be something very positive, Singh added. The government and private players need to work together in the healthcare sector to increase the affordability of medical services as rising cost impacts access to patients, experts said New Delhi: The government and private players need to work together in the healthcare sector to increase the affordability of medical services as rising cost impacts access to patients, experts said on Tuesday. Arun Mitra, the core committee member of the Alliance of Doctors for Ethical Healthcare, suggests that the government should take steps such as 'one drug, one price' formula, strengthening of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) and public sector units in the pharma sector. These steps would help increase access to affordable medicines to all people, he said at a roundtable meeting on 'Cost of Life Saving Medicines - Is there a way out?', organised by startup Straight Drive. Mitra also emphasised on the need to boost expenditure on R&D by the government on medicines. Priti Nanda Sibal, Founder, AB Hospitals and Mediskool Health Services, said the government should involve all the stakeholders while taking decisions on price regulations for medicines. "Multiple pillars are involved in this segment and they have to come together to promote the growth of the sector," she said. Pratibha Sivasubramaniam, a lawyer who works in the sector, said healthcare is a basic right of the people and the government should ensure that. "Steps should be taken to reduce the cost of medicines and increase affordability in the healthcare sector," she said adding the private sector should be transparent in telling the cost of cure to patients. Healthcare equipment maker Vygon India MD Pavan Choudary said there is a need to focus on areas like transparency and alternative mechanism of price capping. Mukund Trivedy, Founder of Straight Drive said the government must increase spending on the healthcare sector and promoting research and development of medicines. "On the other hand, the private healthcare sector would have to be transparent in their pricing. Licensing and approval of drugs through the regulator should be made more stringent based on scientific data," he said. He added that there is an urgent need for the government to focus on improving primary healthcare centres in the country. The consideration assumes significance as several startups have claimed to receive angel tax notices, impacting their businesses. New Delhi: The government is considering giving complete exemption to startups from angel tax once they are certified by the Commerce and Industry Ministry, a move aimed at helping budding entrepreneurs, official sources said. The consideration assumes significance as several startups have claimed to receive angel tax notices, impacting their businesses. Various startups have raised concerns on notices sent to them under the Section 56 of Income Tax Act to pay taxes on angel funds received by them. Officials of the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) and Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) are holding series of meetings to address the angel tax issue, the sources said. "One of the consideration being though about actively is to give complete exemption to startups from Section 56(2)(viib) of the Income Tax Act, once they are certified by the DPIIT," they added. This move may be gelled with capping the investment to a much higher level of angel funds so that a good number of startups do not face the taxmen. A notification in this regard is expected to be issued by the department and board soon. Giving relief to budding entrepreneurs last year, the government allowed startups to avail tax concession only if total investment, including funding from angel investors, does not exceed Rs 10 crore. Though startups are demanding complete exemption from this tax, the government may increase investment limit for tax exemption to Rs 25-40 crore. Section 56(2)(viib) of the Income Tax Act provides that the amount raised by a startup in excess of its fair market value would be deemed as income from other sources and would be taxed at 30 percent. Touted as an anti-abuse measure, this section was introduced in 2012. It is dubbed as angel tax due to its impact on investments made by angel investors in startup ventures. Last month, the government eased the procedure for seeking income tax exemption by startups on investments from angel funds and prescribed a 45-day deadline for a decision on such applications of budding entrepreneurs. The new procedure says that to seek exemption, a startup should apply, with all documents, to DPIIT. The application of the recognised startup shall then be moved to the CBDT. Startups will have to provide account details and return of income for last three years. Similarly, investors would also have to give their net worth details and return of income. As per the Startup India action plan, startup means an entity, incorporated or registered in India not prior to five years, with annual turnover not exceeding Rs 25 crore in any preceding financial year, working towards innovation, development, deployment or commercialisation of new products, processes or services driven by technology or intellectual property. Gupte will join as president, Boeing India, from the aircraft maker's wholly-owned subsidiary Boeing Capital Corporation, where he served as vice president, it said. Mumbai: US aircraft manufacturer Boeing has named Salil Gupte as its India head, effective 18 March. Gupte succeeds Prat Kumar, who was appointed vice president and program manager of Boeing's F-15 fighter aircraft program in November last year. He will be based in New Delhi and report to Marc Allen, president of Boeing International, the company said in a release on Tuesday. Gupte will join as president, Boeing India, from the aircraft maker's wholly-owned subsidiary Boeing Capital Corporation, where he served as vice president, it said. "In leading the Boeing India team, Salil will build on Prat Kumar's great work of growing Boeing's business and partnerships in India and supporting the development of a thriving aerospace and defence industry for India," Allen was quoted as saying in the release. In his new position, Gupte will advance the development and execution of Boeing's strategy in India, integrate business activities across company's commercial airplanes, Boeing defence, space and security, its global services, and lead the growth and productivity initiatives in India, it said. He will also manage Boeing's partnerships with the government and business stakeholders, with a team of over 3,000 employees and joint venture personnel located across the country, the company said. His leadership will extend to cover Boeing's large supply chain presence in India, its engineering and technology centre in Bengaluru, and Boeing joint venture with Tata in Hyderabad, the release added. "I'm thrilled to be joining my colleagues at Boeing India during such an exciting time, when the business is growing exponentially and we are building the future of global aircraft manufacturing, services, supply chain, engineering, technology and innovation, right here in India," Gupte said. Besides Boeing, he has also worked with Citigroup and Goldman Sachs as an investment banker in the aviation and infrastructure sectors. Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power has asked the Sebi to immediately ban Edelweiss Group from the capital market, alleging 'illegal and market disruptive activities' to cause a steep plunge in the company's share price New Delhi: Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power has asked the Sebi to immediately ban Edelweiss Group from the capital market, alleging "illegal and market disruptive activities" to cause a steep plunge in the company's share price. Reliance Group, last week, accused L&T Finance and Edelweiss Group entities of "illegal" and "motivated" actions in invoking the pledged shares of Anil Ambani group's three listed firms and selling them in the open market causing a steep fall in share values. L&T Finance and Edelweiss Group have refuted the allegations and have counter-alleged that Reliance Group failed to make timely payments, which they said necessitated sale of pledged shares. Reliance Power, in a fresh letter to the Sebi dated 11 February, also asked the markets regulator to declare all Edelweiss Group entities as not being "fit and proper" and impose a ban on each of them from the capital markets and related activities. It also asked the regulator to investigate the sale of Reliance Power shares by Edelweiss Group on 4-5 February. When contacted, a Reliance Group spokesperson referred to an earlier statement in which boards of three listed companies of the group -- Reliance Power, Reliance Infra and Reliance Capital -- had approved and recommended "all appropriate legal steps" to protect shareholders' value. "We will take all legal steps necessary to protect and enhance the value of our stakeholders, including pursuing the matter with an appropriate regulator," the spokesperson added. There was no response to a query sent to Edelweiss Group. Last week, Edelweiss said it had granted credit facilities against pledge of shares to Reliance Group and it reached out numerous times to the group to address concerns on the shortfall in margins and resultant fall in collateral valuation. It said liquidation of collateral was necessitated after Reliance Group continued to breach contractual obligations, and did not reply to an offer for remediation. The letter alleged that Edelweiss Group usurped powers vested in debenture trustee over pledged shares and violated legal, contractual and fiduciary obligation to realise fair value for pledged shares. "The Edelweiss Group arbitrarily bypassed and flouted all documents processes for invoking of the pledge and enforcement of the security by the debenture trustee and instead illegally and in a pre-meditated manner themselves started dumping huge opportunities of Reliance Power shares and futures in the open market commencing from 9.57 am on 4 February and through the end of business hours on 5 February," it added. This illegal actions of Edelweiss Group brought down the share price of the company by 57 percent in just two days. Reliance Capital alleged that Edelweiss Group entities were indulged in illegal and market disruptive activities and violated the Sebi's PFTUP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices) norms. The company's promoter are also seeking "restoration of status quo ante and punitive damages from Edelweiss Group". Earlier, the company had written a letter to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on February 6 requesting it to investigate the matter and impose restrain on entities that pressed huge sale orders significantly below the prevailing market price and in-depth investigate the matter. Similar complaints are expected to be filed by Reliance Capital and Reliance Infrastructure as well, sources said. Meanwhile, the Sebi is looking into allegations and counter-allegations related to the sale of pledged shares of Reliance Group's three listed firms by two lenders, as per senior officials. LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / This fall, Kaiser Permanente pledged community grants to help increase underserved communities' access to healthier food, create economic and educational opportunity, and ensure equitable care. These investments all underscore Kaiser's commitment to empowering healthy communities. Delivering on this commitment, Kaiser Permanente recently announced that in the coming months it will award grants totaling over $15.5 million to national and community-based charitable organizations that work to provide access and care to improve health conditions in Kaiser Permanente-served communities. One of the organizations supported by these grants is IRCO Africa House, an organization that provides culturally and linguistically-specific services. With the grant, IRCO Africa House will train African-American immigrants and refugees as community health workers in Oregon and Southwest Washington. In Washington, grants will also help the National Alliance on Mental Illness Washington hire a statewide Youth Outreach Coordinator, and expand its peer-led 'Ending the Silence' program to support mental health among students, teachers, and parents in Washington state. The Maui Economic Development Board will expand STEM programming in schools and after-school programs thanks to the Kaiser Permanente grant, while ProCureWorks will increase access to healthy, sustainable, and regionally-sourced food in schools and health care systems in California. 'Improving community health is core to our mission and the work we do,' said Community Health Committee board chair, Cynthia Telles PhD. 'By working with communities to identify priorities and solutions, we can better address and resolve the root causes of poor health.' In order to serve those most in need and to work to improve community health and equity, Kaiser Permanente awards quarterly community grants. Kaiser Permanente contributed more than $2.8 billion to improve health and wellness in communities across the country in 2017 and will continue these efforts in the years to come. CONTACT: john.e.nelson@kp.org SOURCE: Kaiser Permanente View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535143/Dr-Cynthia-A-Telles-Investing-in-Community-Health And that same system asks voters to choose its judges after they have been vetted by expert panels and appointed by the governor. After covering years worth of judicial elections, we can attest to the difficulty in compiling a judges record on the bench. Thunder Bay, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 12, 2019) - Benton Resources Inc. (TSXV: BEX) ("Benton" or "the Company") is pleased to provide an update that diamond drilling is well underway on the Panama Lake Gold project in the Red Lake Mining district located approximately 50km along strike from Great Bear Resources Ltd.'s 2018 gold discovery where drilling is ongoing. To date, the Company has completed five of seven planned drill holes within the Panama Zone. Upon completion, the drill will move to the Slate Lake zone where earlier the Company had selective grab samples grading up to 6.17g/t Au. This new prospect is located approximately 120m north of the area where a glacial till sampling survey conducted by the Geological Survey of Canada in 1999 (Open File 3038) identified 107 gold grains in till sampling, the highest count in the survey. The current series of holes has successfully intercepted a 20-30m wide, mineralized shear identified by Noranda Exploration Co, Ltd. in 1988, which yielded results of up to 2.8g/t Au over 4.5m. Benton views the project as having many similarities in geology and structure to that of Great Bear Resources Ltd.'s discovery to the west (see Great Bear's press release dated August 22, 2018). Benton will release results from the current Panama property drill campaign as soon as they are received and compiled and will plan further exploration work accordingly. Benton is also pleased to update shareholders on the recent advancements at the Cape Ray Gold deposits ("Cape Ray") in Newfoundland by Matador Mining Limited ("Matador"). Benton currently holds 8 million shares and 833,333 options of Matador. Matador has recently announced a significant increase to the mineral resource at Cape Ray. Details of the increased resource are contained on Matador's website (Matadormining.com.au) in the press release dated January 29, 2019. Benton is pleased with Matador's progress to date and views its strategic share position in Matador as a key asset to Benton shareholders as Matador continues to advance the Cape Ray deposits. Nathan Sims (P.Geo.), Senior Exploration manager for Benton Resources Inc., is the qualified person responsible for this release and has prepared or supervised the preparation of or reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release. About Benton Resources Inc. (TSXV: BEX) Benton Resources Inc is a well-funded Canadian-based project generator with a diversified property portfolio in Gold-Silver, Nickel, Copper, and Platinum group elements. Benton holds multiple high grade projects available for option which can be viewed on the company's web site. Most projects have an up to date NI 43-101 report available. Interested parties can contact Stephen Stares from the contact below. On behalf of the Board of Directors of Benton Resources Inc., "Stephen Stares" Stephen Stares, President THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to gold price and other commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections For further information contact Stephen Stares @: 684 Squier Street, Thunder Bay, ON P7B 4A8 Phone (807)475-7474 Cell (807)474-9020 Fax (807)475-7200 www.bentonresources.ca sstares@bentonresources.ca To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42785 Theraclion continuing to develop the varicose vein business with unique none-invasive robotic treatment solution New directors have joined the Board of Directors to support business expansion This document must not be published, distributed or circulated, directly or indirectly, in the United States of America, Canada, Japan or Australia. Regulatory News: THERACLION (ISIN: FR0010120402; Ticker: ALTHE, eligible for the PEA-PME equity investment plan), an innovative company specialising in the development of medical equipment for echotherapy, notably for varicose veins, announces that it has signed a multi-tranche funding package of up to 11.8 million, with the immediate funding of a first tranche of 4.8 million. The strengthening of the company's finances is accompanied by the appointment of three new members to the Board of Directors, including two specialists in the health sector. David Caumartin, CEO of Theraclion, said: "In 2017, Theraclion made a clear strategic decision to grow its business on the treatment of varicose veins, building on its expertise acquired previously in echotherapy for pathologies affecting the breast and the thyroid. Today's new funding will finance further steps in the implementation of this decision. Long-standing shareholders, new investors and specialist vascular medicine practitioners have shown their confidence in our innovative technology and positioning. The funding will enable us to achieve our goal of achieving European and US approvals and to demonstrate the commercial appeal of our non-invasive varicose vein treatment. This treatment being without postoperative pain and without an anaesthetist." Funds raised for further development of varicose vein treatment To develop further strategic initiatives in the treatment of varicose veins, Theraclion plans to take significant new steps in the short and medium term, using the additional resources provided by this financing. In 2018, the efficacy and safety of varicose vein treatment using Echopulse technology was borne out by very good clinical results, including in advanced and inoperable stages. At the end of 2018, Theraclion applied for marketing authorisation by filing an application for registration with the FDA1 in the United States and an application for CE marking in Europe. However, these authorisations will not be sufficient to realise the full commercial potential of the varicose vein treatment using Echopulse technology. As such, the company has set itself three major operating objectives to prepare and support its business efforts: Drive adoption of the new transcutaneous treatment option for varicose veins among vascular Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) in Germany and the United States, including the completion of a pivotal study of more than 200 treatments; including the completion of a pivotal study of more than 200 treatments; Achieve regulatory approval and market access in key geographies, i.e. both marketing authorisation dossiers (FDA registration and CE marking) and reimbursement files with national health authorities, especially German authorities; i.e. both marketing authorisation dossiers (FDA registration and CE marking) and reimbursement files with national health authorities, especially German authorities; Streamline the Echopulse, high-intensity ultrasound treatment system, to better serve the needs of the varicose vein treatment market. The financing arrangement has been designed to give Theraclion the ability to fund these developments as progress is made. In line with the operational deployment of the varicose vein treatment strategy, Theraclion will continue to market its breast fibroids and thyroid nodules treatment solutions based on the existing commercial system. The Board of Directors has been strengthened To reflect the strategic objectives and the Group's new financing, three new directors, namely Christopher S. Bodtker,2 Ari Kellen, and Shawn Langer all investors, have joined the Board of Directors to share their expertise and experience. They will replace Sylvain Yon and Bernd von Polheim, who had resigned. Theraclion thanks Mr Yon and Mr Polheim for their contribution to the Board's work. The next Annual General Meeting to be held no later than June 30, 2019 will vote on ratifying these co-optations. The Board of Directors now comprises the following members: Jean-Yves Burel (Chairman), Christopher Bodtker, Samuel Levy, Renaud Saleur, Ari Kellen, and Shawn Langer About Christopher S. Bodtker Christopher S. Bodtker is co-chairman of the private equity investment committee at Unigestion S.A. He was previously chairman of Akina Ltd, which merged with Unigestion in the end of 2016. Before that, Mr Bodtker was an Executive Vice President at LombardOdier. Earlier Mr Bodtker worked 13 years in the US, Asia and Europe for UBS, last as Managing Director in charge of Merchant Banking activities in Europe. Mr Bodtker sits on the board in various companies and private equity funds. He holds a dual-degree B.Sc. and an MBA from Babson College, USA. About Ari Kellen Dr Ari Kellen, a physician trained in South Africa, has three decades of experience in the global healthcare industry, including management consulting and major operational roles. During his 20+ years at McKinsey & Company, he advised a broad range of healthcare clients in pharmaceuticals and medical devices, followed by senior roles in Bausch Health Companies. Over the past two years he has been supporting early stage healthcare ventures. About Shawn Langer Dr Shawn Langer holds a doctorate in medicine from the University of Toronto. He has over two decades of experience in the healthcare sector. During his 15 years at McKinsey Company, Dr Langer advised healthcare clients in the pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and healthcare sectors. More recently, he spent nearly five years investing in innovative companies for across the healthcare industry. Overview of the 11.8M financing agreement Under the terms of the agreement concluded on February 12th 2019, Theraclion has raised a first tranche amounting to 4.8 million from a group of investors. 4.376 million in the form of an issue of 5,470,000 shares at a price of 0.80 per share, representing a premium of 34% to the share price on 12th February 2019 (0.596); 0.424 million in the form of bonds with a nominal value of 4,000 each, convertible into shares, each bond giving entitlement to conversion into 5,000 Theraclion shares, i.e. at a price of 0.80 per share. Bonds must be converted no later than 30 September 2020 and will not bear interest. These issues are carried out with cancellation of preferential subscription rights on the basis of the 11th (private placement) and 12th (issue to a category of persons) resolutions of the General Meeting of 17 May 2018. Characteristics of Tranche 2 and Tranche 3 are detailed in Annex 1. Investors committed to vote in favor of the resolutions related to Tranches 2 and 3, and to ratify the appointment of the three new directors at the next general meeting Annual. All intellectual property rights held by Theraclion will be pledged as security for the repayment of any amount due in respect of the bonds in the various tranches. The dilution resulting from the various tranches of the Financing is presented in Annex 2. Following the first tranche, the distribution of the share capital within Theraclion will be as follows: Non diluted Shares % Ownership Voting righs % Voting rights Investors* 5, 470,000 38.3% 5,400,000 32.5% Funds managed by Truffle Capital 1,514,726 10.6% 2,701,609 16.1% Furui 1,208,651 8.5% 2,417,302 14.4% Public 6,052,894 42.4% 6,235,570 37.1% Treasury shares 31,850 0.2% 0 0.0% Total 14,208,121 100.0% 16,754,481 100.0% * Investors represents the securities acquired under Tranche 1 Diluted Shares % Ownership Voting righs % Voting rights Investors* 6, 000,000 40.5% 6,000,000 34.6% Funds managed by Truffle Capital 1,514,726 10.2% 2,701,609 15.6% Furui 1,208,651 8.2% 2,417,302 13.9% Public 6,052,894 40.9% 6,235,570 35.9% Treasury shares 31,850 0.2% 0 0.0% Total 14,808,121 100.0% 17,354,481 100.0% * Investors represents the securities acquired under Tranche 1 About Theraclion cash position The amount of 4.8 million raised under Tranche 1, together with sales expected to grow in 2019, reimbursement of tax credits and the cash from the previous arrangement with Nice Green3 will cover Theraclion's cash needs for the next 12 months. ________________________ 1 FDA Food and Drug Administration: regulatory authority in the field of healthcare in the US. 2 Biographies of the new directors are provided at the end of this press release. 3 Theraclion may draw up to 6 tranches from Nice Green remaining that could lead up to an 1.8M additional financing (see press release dated June 11, 2018) Risk factors Detailed information regarding THERACLION, related notably to its business, its results and its risk factors is presented in the annual financial report on the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2017 and the semi-annual financial report dated June 30th, 2018, which are made available, together with other regulated information and press releases, on the company's website www.theraclion.com. About Theraclion Theraclion is developing an innovative high-tech echotherapy solution using therapeutic ultrasound for the treatment of varicose veins. With its expertise in echotherapy for the non-invasive ablation of breast adenofibromas and thyroid nodules, pathologies for which the company has obtained CE marking and for which it commercialises treatments, Theraclion is adapting its solution to provide an innovative solution non-invasive, with no post-operative pain and without an anaesthetist for the treatment of varicose veins. This venous pathology is highly prevalent worldwide and is the cause of approximately 5 million procedures per year according to the Millennium Research Varicose Vein Device Market Study 2015. Theraclion's Echopulse technological solution is a high-tech, precise, easy-to-use and easy-to-handle ultrasound medical imaging tool for practitioners. Located in Malakoff, near Paris, Theraclion brings together a team of 25 people, more than half of whom are dedicated to R&D and clinical trials. For more information, please visit Theraclion's website: www.theraclion.com Theraclion is traded on Euronext Growth Paris Eligible for the PEA-PME equity investment plan Ticker: ALTHE ISIN code: FR0010120402 LEI: 9695007X7HA7A1GCYD29 Disclaimer This press release does not constitute and cannot be regarded as constituting an offer to the public, an offer to subscribe or a means of soliciting the interest of the public for a public offer in any country. This press release does not constitute an offer or a solicitation of an offer to sell or subscribe for securities in France. The securities discussed in this press release cannot and will not be offered to the public in France; these securities may only be offered to qualified investors in France, each acting on its own behalf, within the meaning of and pursuant to Articles L 411-2 and D. 411-1 to D. 411-3 of the French Monetary and Financial Code. This press release is addressed to and intended solely for (i) persons outside the United Kingdom, (ii) "investment professionals" within the meaning of Section 19 (5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (as amended, the "Order"), or (iii) persons falling within the scope of section 49 (2) (a) to (d) ("high net worth companies, unincorporated associations, etc.") of the Order (all such persons being referred to together as the "Relevant Persons"). This press release is addressed solely to Relevant Persons and no one other than a Relevant Person should use or rely on this press release. Any investment or investment activity to which this press release refers is available only to Relevant Persons and should only be made with Relevant Persons. This press release was prepared on the assumption that any offer of the securities described in this press release within any Member State of the European Economic Area ("EEA") (each being referred to as a "Relevant Member State") will be performed under an exemption from the requirement to publish a prospectus under the Prospectus Directive, as transposed in the Relevant Member State. Therefore, any person offering or intending to offer in the Relevant Member State the securities subject to the private placement contemplated in this press release may only do so in circumstances that do not give rise to the obligation for Theraclion or the Lead Partner and Bookrunner in charge of the placement of the securities described in this press release to publish a prospectus in relation to this offer pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Directive, as amended by the Amended Prospectus Directive (2010/73/EU). Neither Theraclion nor the Lead Partner and Bookrunner in charge of the placement of the securities described in this press release has authorised, nor will authorise, the execution of any offer of the securities described this press release in circumstances that create an obligation for Theraclion or the Lead Partner and Bookrunner to publish a prospectus as part of this offer. This press release is not a promotional communication and does not constitute a prospectus for the purposes of the applicable measures transposing Directive 2003/71/EC. This press release does not constitute an offer of securities in the United States of America or any other State. Securities may not be sold or offered in the United States of America in the absence of registration or exemption from registration under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Theraclion does not intend to register the offer referred to in this press release or any part thereof in the United States of America or to make any public offering of securities in the United States of America. This release may not be circulated in the United States of America. The circulation of this press release in certain countries may constitute a violation of the legal provisions in force. This release may not be circulated in the United States of America, Canada, Australia or Japan. The information contained in this press release does not constitute an offer of securities in Canada or Japan. Lastly, this press release may be written in French and in English. In the event of differences between the two versions, only the French version will prevail. ANNEX 1 Characteristics of Tranche 2 and Tranche 3: Subject to the further authorisation of the General Annual Meeting for the year ended 31 December 2018 and in exchange for the subscription of shares at a premium under Tranche 1, Theraclion has undertaken to issue free warrants for the Investors, giving them the option to subscribe for convertible bonds under the following terms and conditions: 3 million in the form of bonds with a nominal value of 4,000 convertible into shares each bond giving entitlement to conversion to 5,000 Theraclion shares. Such bonds must be converted no later than 30 June 2021. They will not bear interest. 4 million in the form of bonds with a nominal value of 4,000 convertible into shares, each bond giving the right to conversion to a number of Theraclion shares calculated on the basis of a share issuance price equal to 80% of the volume-weighted average price of the share observed over the 20 trading days preceding the issuance date of the free warrants. These Bonds must be converted no later than 30 June 2022. They will not bear interest. ANNEX 2 DILUTION RESULTING FROM THE FINANCING Impact of the issuance of Tranches 1, 2 and 3 on shareholder participation The impact of the issue of new ordinary shares under Tranches 1, 2 and 3 described above on the shareholding in the capital of the shareholders (calculated on the basis of 8,440,088 shares comprising the capital as at 31 December 2018 and 14,400,113 shares on a fully diluted basis on the same date), would be as follows: In Shareholder participation in% Before dilution After dilution Before issue of new shares 1,00% 0,61% After issue of 5,470,000 new shares subject to Tranche 1 0,61% 0,44% After issue of 530,000 new shares in case of conversion of 106 Bonds Tranche 1 0,58% 0,43% After issuance of 3,750,000 new shares in case of conversion of 750 Bonds Tranche 2 0,46% 0,36% After issue of 8,333,333 new shares (1) in case of conversion of 1,000 Bonds Tranche 3 0,32% 0,26% (1) The number of shares to be issued in case of conversion of Bonds T3 is given as an indication in the event that all Bonds T3 would be converted at a reference price of 0.477 euro corresponding to 80% of the closing price of 11th February 2019. Impact of the issuance of Tranches 1, 2 and 3 on equity The impact of the issuance of new ordinary shares under Tranches 1, 2 and 3 described above on the share of the company's equity (calculated on the basis of 8,440,088 shares making up the capital as at the 31 December 2018 and 14,400,113 shares on a fully diluted basis on the same date), would be as follows: Euro per share Annual equity as of June 30, 2018 Before dilution After dilution Before issue of new shares 0,08 0,50 After issue of 5,470,000 new shares subject to Tranche 1 0,36 0,58 After issue of 530,000 new shares in case of conversion of 106 Bonds Tranche 1 0,38 0,59 After issuance of 3,750,000 new shares in case of conversion of 750 Bonds Tranche 2 0,47 0,62 After issue of 8,333,333 new shares (1) in case of conversion of 1,000 Bonds Tranche 3 0,47 0,58 The number of shares to be issued in case of conversion of BondsT3 is given as an indication in the event that all BondsT3would be converted at a reference price of 0.477[] euro corresponding to 80% of the closing price of 11th February[] 2019. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005798/en/ Contacts: Theraclion David Caumartin CEO Tel.: +33 (0)1 55 48 90 70 David.caumartin@theraclion.com Jury offers a sweeping rejection of Alarm.com's patent infringement suit on all 3 claims LEHI, UT / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / SecureNet, a leading B2B provider of flexible, turn key security, smart home, and IoT solutions, has successfully defended itself against Alarm.com. Alarm.com filed a patent infringement lawsuit and was seeking $20,000,100 USD in alleged damages. In a Delaware US District Court, SecureNet successfully argued they did not infringe the 3 patents in question. The eight-member jury ruled SecureNet did not infringe U.S. Patent Nos. 8,073,931, 8,478,844 and 8,473,619 and that no damages for lost profits and no reasonable royalties were due to Alarm.com. SecureNet attorney Erik B. Milch of Cooley LLP told the jury, "You didn't see a single line of code from SecureNet's server. You didn't see a single line of code from SecureNet's app. Not one. The only thing SecureNet makes is software. We're talking about patent claims for devices that SecureNet does not make." SecureNet CEO, Andrew Wilson, stated, "We have a completely different architecture to our competitors that delivers a faster, better customer experience and we were very confident the court and the jury would see the difference. It's unfortunate we had to spend a tremendous amount of time, energy and resources defending ourselves; but, our incredible team stayed focused on our goal of providing our customers with the most innovative products and services in the industry. We're genuinely excited about empowering our customers and end users with continued innovation." Mr. Wilson also made special mention of his legal team, including Erik Milch - "Erik and the entire Cooley team were integral in guiding us through this process. We're grateful for their work and can't say enough about their professionalism and expertise." To learn more about SecureNet, visit www.securenettech.com. About SecureNet SecureNet develops B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions for providers of interactive services in the security, smart home, MSO health & wellness and energy verticals. CONTACT: ben.jensen@securenettech.com SOURCE: SecureNet View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535126/SecureNet-Victorious-Against-Alarmcoms-20-Million-Patent-Lawsuit Signature of an agreement with Swiss Life AG for the disposal of a property portfolio comprising 28 real estate assets for a price of 1.7 billion (excluding transfer duties) Proposed dividend to all shareholders and public share buyback tender offer providing liquidity to minority shareholders, representing a total consideration of approximately 60 euros per share for the minority shareholders of TERREIS (including dividend and price of public offer) Paris, February 12th, 2019 - TERREIS announces today that it has signed an agreement for the disposal of a property portfolio comprising 28 real estate assets for 1.7 billion (excluding transfer duties) to Swiss Life AG (with substitution option in favour of entities controlled or managed by Swiss Life Asset Managers). The disposal value externalises a premium of 7% above the appraisal value (excluding transfer duties) of the portfolio as of December, 31st, 2018. The transaction is perfectly in line with TERREIS' strategy of value creation through an active management of its portfolio and follows the receipt of an unsolicited offer from Swiss Life AG. The transaction perimeter includes approximately 72% of TERREIS' property portfolio as appraised on December 31st, 2018. Following the transaction, TERREIS will retain a property portfolio with an appraisal value of c.600 million as of December 31st, 2018, including c.150 million of non-strategic assets. The closing of the transaction is subject to (i) the satisfaction of the condition related to the potential exercise of the urban pre-emption rights and (ii) relevant antitrust approval. The closing of the transaction with Swiss Life AG would trigger the following operations: (i) Payment of a dividend corresponding to the legal distribution obligations under the SIIC tax regime in relation to the disposal of the portfolio of 28 assets to Swiss Life AG; (ii) Payment of a dividend corresponding to the legal distribution obligations under the SIIC tax regime between January and the month of the closing of the transaction with Swiss Life AG, expected in May 2019. The payment of both amounts, which together represent approximately 25 per share1, would be concomitant with the payment of the balance of the dividend relating to the 2018 financial year; and (iii) Launch of a public share buyback tender offer (OPRA) by TERREIS for a price of approximately 35 per share2, thereby providing liquidity to all minority shareholders of TERREIS. Ovalto, which owns 54% of the share capital of TERREIS, has indicated its intention not to tender its shares to the public offer, in order to reserve liquidity to all minority shareholders. This public offer will be subject to a clearance decision (decision de conformite) by the Autorite des marches financiers. The price of the public offer will be determined in reference to the EPRA liquidation NAV (excluding transfer duties) of TERREIS adjusted for the impact of the disposal to Swiss Life AG and the payment of the dividends referred to above. Depending on the outcome of the share buyback tender offer (OPRA), Ovalto will file a public tender offer on TERREIS followed by a mandatory squeeze-out at the same price as that of the public share buyback tender offer. Taking into account the payment of the dividends referred to above and the price to be offered in the context of the public tender offer, TERREIS minority shareholders would receive approximately 60 euros per share3, representing a premium of 49% on the closing price of February 8th, 2019, 56% on the volume-weighted average price during the month prior to February 8th, 2019 and 5% on the EPRA liquidation NAV per share (excluding transfer duties) of TERREIS as of December 31st, 2018. As part of the Annual General Meeting, the shareholders of TERREIS will be (i) consulted on the disposal to Swiss Life AG in accordance with the position-recommendation 2015-05 of the Autorite des marches financiers, and (ii) invited to vote the resolutions intended to allow the implementation of the public share buyback tender offer (OPRA). The Annual General Meeting will be held in May 2019. The actual completion of the disposal to Swiss Life AG is scheduled in May 2019, and the payment of the dividend and the settlement of the public tender offer are expected in early July. TERREIS' Board of Directors has appointed Ledouble as independent expert to assess the fairness of the aforementioned transactions for the shareholders of TERREIS, and in the context of a potential mandatory squeeze-out. Subject to the conclusions of the independent expert, all members of TERREIS' Board of Directors, with the exception of Ovalto, have already announced their intention to tender their TERREIS shares to the public offer. Commenting on the transaction, Fabrice Paget-Domet, Chief Executive Officer, said: "Since the creation of TERREIS, we have assembled a property portfolio mostly comprising Parisian assets, at very attractive terms. This successful strategy has enabled TERREIS to grow and become a leading player in the Paris office property market. The proposal of Swiss Life AG to acquire a significant portion of our assets enables us to crystalize this value creation and deliver an exceptional value proposition to our shareholders. An implied valuation of TERREIS at 2.3 billion, a multiple of 6.8 times the 2006 IPO price per share (excluding dividends), and the crystallization of a significant premium to the EPRA liquidation NAV (excluding transfer duties) are all testimony to an exceptional achievement that we are proud to share with all of our shareholders today. Subject to the conclusions of the independent expert, I will tender all my TERREIS shares to the public offer that will be filed." The listing of TERREIS will resume on February 14, 2019, at market opening. Contact: Fabrice Paget-Domet, Chief Executive Officer - Tel: +33 (0)1 82 00 95 23 About TERREIS (www.terreis.fr) - ISIN: FR0010407049 - Ticker symbol: TER TERREIS is a real estate company where the assets consist of offices and retail premises that are primarily located in Paris. TERREIS has been listed on the Euronext regulated market in Paris since December 2006, and has been included in Compartment B since January 2012. The Group has opted for the status of listed property investment company ("SIIC") since 1st January 2007. 1 This indicative amount will be finalized according to the conclusions of the report of the independent expert and to legal distribution obligations under the SIIC tax regime. 2 This indicative amount will be finalized according to the conclusions of the report of the independent expert. 3 This indicative amount, balance of 2018 dividend attached, will be determined in accordance with the conclusions of the report prepared by the independent expert. ------------------------ Copyright Actusnews Wire Recevez gratuitement par email les prochains communiques de la societe en vous inscrivant sur www.actusnews.com Communique integral et original au format PDF:Telecharger le PDF Just in Time for Tax Season, Life Ant has Posted an Educational New Article about this Subject on their Website NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / February 26, 2019 / Tax season is just around the corner, and around the country millions of people are organizing their paperwork, receipts and W2 forms. The founders of Life Ant are well-aware of how quickly Monday, April 15 is approaching, as well as how many people may be wondering "Is life insurance taxable?" This inspired them to research and post a new article to their company website titled "Are Life Insurance Payouts Taxable?" To check out the new article in its entirety and, if desired, also obtain life insurance quotes, please visit https://www.lifeant.com/are-life-insurance-payouts-taxable/. As the article notes, life insurance payouts are usually not taxable-but this is not a hard and fast rule. In some instances, people will find that they are required to pay taxes on the proceeds. "Generally, the payouts from a life insurance policy are not taxable. That means that the beneficiaries of your policy should be able to receive the full amount of the death benefit that your policy offers," the article noted, adding that people should always check with their CPA or tax professional to double check their personal situation. The new article then highlights four specific instances when life insurance benefits are not taxable-this includes when payouts go to beneficiaries, when payouts go to a spouse and when people remove cash from the policy as a loan. As for when life insurance payouts are subject to a visit from the Tax Man, the article lists three specific examples where this could occur. The first is when there is interest on the payouts. "If your beneficiaries decide to take the benefits of your policy in installments over a period of time instead of in one lump sum, your insurance provider will have to pay interest on the amount of the balance," the article noted, adding that in this case, the interest that accumulates will be taxed. "Certain states require that interest begins accruing immediately, or soon after death of the insured, even though the payout may take weeks to happen. This interest is taxable." About Life Ant: Life Ant is a life insurance rate comparison engine based out of New York City. Since 2013, Life Ant has provided affordable life insurance to thousands of Americans. Please visit https://www.lifeant.com for a free life insurance quote today. Contact: Thomas Rockford thomas@lifeant.com 1-844-578-0620 SOURCE: Life Ant View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/537045/Life-Insurance-Payouts-Sometimes-are-Taxable-Says-Life-Ant OXFORD, England, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Her Majesty Queen Noor Al-Hussein led a cavalcade of tributes to her late husband, HM King Hussein of Jordan, at a memorial event at Oxford to mark 20 years since the King's death, on 7 February 1999. Addressing the audience in person at the University's Middle East Centre she said, "His integrity and devotion to truth and justice can still guide us." Leading world figures, including US President Bill Clinton, UK Prime Minister John Major, HRH The Prince of Wales and HM King Felipe of Spain were interviewed for the event or provided messages. These contributions were incorporated within a unique film which was shown for the first time at the event, and which will be distributed widely later this month. The film contained the following quotes: President Bill Clinton: "We saw the world the same way. We weren't threatened by people who were different from us. Everyone trusted him and respected him. He just had an incredible gift. The people of Jordan were lucky to have him as a King and the world was lucky to have him as a peacemaker." HRH The Prince of Wales: "King Hussein's personal courage, cool head and sustained fortitude was dedicated to the service of his nation and to the wider good of mankind." Sir Jackie Stewart: "One of the deepest relationships I've ever had outside of my own family. He was a great man. I mean the greatest man I think I've ever met." Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi:"The important thing about his life is reconciliation. People who didn't speak to each other were brought together by him. That takes remarkable courage. The determination and passion with which he pursued peace is his major legacy to humanity." Sir John Major: "King Hussein renounced any rights to East Jerusalem and to the West Bank. That was a brave decision to take and it put him in a very strong position later to urge for peace. He had a lifelong commitment to peace whatever the risks to himself may be." HM King Felipe VI of Spain: "King Hussein was an exceptional mediator and peacemaker. A great King, and a good man." The memorial event, hailed by all who attended as a major success, was organised by the late King's nephew, Saad Kurdi, who also produced the film which reflected on King Hussein's life. As part of Queen Noor's introduction to the event, she said, "King Hussein understood his primary role to be that of public servant rather than entitled authoritarian. He faced challenges preoccupied him throughout his reign: the well-being of all Jordanians, the volatile regional conflicts that buffeted our country and regularly erupted into wars, and the short term, narrowly self-interested politics of global powers competing for strategic advantage in the Middle East." She continued, "He achieved remarkable progress in modernizing a conservative developing society from a pre-industrial state to a modern post-industrial state in under two generations-accomplishing this through promoting universal education, women's empowerment, and a participatory and pluralistic system of governance." For further information: Saad Kurdi Telephone: +44(0)7711-131307 Email: mec@sant.ox.ac.uk Caveonix's RiskForesight is designed to proactively manage evolving cybersecurity and industry compliance requirements at the speed of cloud and collaboration FALLS CHURCH, Virginia, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Caveonix, today announced that RiskForesight is now available to customers using IBM Cloud for VMware solutions. RiskForesight is designed to give users greater visibility and control to protect cloud workloads from cyber and industry compliance risks. Enterprises undergoing a digital transformation and adopting a hybrid cloud strategy are faced with the unique challenge of protecting an ever-increasing attack surface as well as maintaining their industry and regulatory compliance requirements in a multi-technology environment. To protect the expanding attack surface, enterprises need continuous visibility into cloud workloads, from the moment they spin up until they spin down. Enterprises must maintain a "full-stack" understanding of the workload vulnerabilities and con?guration issues at the infrastructure, platform, and application level in the context of the latest threats and compliance requirements. Now available on IBM Cloud for VMware solutions, RiskForesight provides consistent cloud protection using a common Risk Management Control Plane (RMCP) for secured hybrid cloud deployments. It helps eliminate security blind spots and address potential compliance gaps, restoring customers' risk visibility and confidence in deployments. The RiskForesight solution supports customers' continuous visibility into their cyber and compliance risk posture and provides both proactive and reactive means to help protect the hybrid cloud workloads with its deep API level integration with IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions, including VMware NSX. RiskForesight monitors industry or custom standards and government regulatory requirements such as PCI, FISMA, HIPAA, GDPR, FedRAMP, ISO, and others natively. Caveonix partnered with VMware to develop a hybrid cloud risk and compliance management solution as a service that could be made available on a rental basis to enterprise customers through partners such as IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions. The service builds on leading solutions from VMware that customers use on-premises for modernizing data centers and transforming networking and security in the multi-cloud era. Details about Caveonix and supported solutions can be found in the VMware Solutions Exchange. "As clients continue to migrate and modernize their VMware workloads on IBM Cloud, especially production workloads and mission critical business applications, security of these assets is of upmost priority," said Zane Adams, VP, IBM Cloud. "The combination of RiskForesight with IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions will help customers manage the cyber and compliance risk posture of their hybrid cloud workloads." "With RiskForesight, IBM Cloud customers can maintain visibility and mitigate risks proactively," said Kaus Phaltankar, President and Chief Technology Officer of Caveonix. "RiskForesight's Detect, Predict and Act Risk Management continuum provides continuous and automated defense of hybrid cloud workloads with up-to-date visibility of workloads, their changing risk postures through risk analytics and enforcement of proactive and reactive policies for mitigating risks." Join Caveonix at IBM Think, February 12-15 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco Register for IBM's flagship cloud event at https://www.ibm.com/events/think/ Visit Caveonix in Booth # 117 and contact kelly.bryant@caveonix.com to set up a meeting with Caveonix's team and learn more about RiskForesight during the conference. About Caveonix Caveonix is redefining comprehensive and continuous hybrid cloud workload protection on a single platform. Caveonix's flagship product, RiskForesight, allows service providers and enterprises to continuously detect, predict and act on risks due to Cyber threats and Compliance requirements impacting their hybrid cloud workloads. The RiskForesight platform can be deployed in a single or multi-tenant configuration and offers real-time visibility to hybrid and multi-cloud deployments with full-stack risk assessment of the cloud infrastructure, workload platforms, as well as applications and data running on the workloads. RiskForesight's advanced analytics engine, CaveoIQTM, leverages predictive analytics and machine learning to build IT, Cyber and Compliance risk analysis and mitigation models to secure the workloads across the full Risk Management Control Plane (RMCP) of network, compute and security layers. For more information, visit www.caveonix.com. Sudbury, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 12, 2019) - Transition Metals Corp. (TSXV: XTM) ("Transition", "the Company") is pleased to announce that North American Palladium (NAP) has commenced a diamond drill program at the Sunday Lake Platinum-Palladium (PGM) Property. NAP holds an option to earn up to a 75% interest in the Property and Transition holds a 25% free carried interest through to the completion of a Feasibility Study. Transition was notified by NAP earlier this month of the recommencement of drilling on the Sunday Lake Property. The planned program of up to 11,500 m is designed to test for high-grade massive sulfide mineralization and will focus on several high-priority conductivity anomalies identified from geophysical surveys completed in 2018. Commenting on the results, Company CEO and President Scott McLean stated "Geophysical and drilling results to date demonstrate the potential of the Sunday Lake Intrusion to host significant economic mineralization and the grades encountered are higher than other similar deposits and mines in the district. The geology at Sunday Lake bears many similarities to the Company's 100% owned Saturday Night Project located in similar geology 16 km to the west that we feel may have similar potential." About the Sunday Lake Property The Sunday Lake Property is located 25 km north of Thunder Bay and represents one in a series of mafic-ultramafic intrusions interpreted to be Proterozoic in age and related to the emerging Mid-Continental Rift (MCR) Ni-Cu-PGM camp. Recent discoveries in the district include Panoramic Resources', Thunder Bay North Project in Ontario, Lundin Mining's, Eagle Mine in Michigan and Rio Tinto's Tamarack Deposit in Minnesota. Mineralization in the Sunday Lake Intrusion is hosted within the Marginal Zone located along the basal contact of the intrusion and consists primarily of disseminated to blebby sulphides as well as isolated sections of massive sulphide. Higher-grade and thicker sections of the Marginal Zone are interpreted to be hosted within structurally controlled embayments within the footwall and serve as the primary exploration target. To date a total of 22,515m have been completed on the property targeting sulphide mineralization associated with the basal Marginal Zone. Highlights of the drilling include: Table 1: Selected historic assay results from the Sunday Lake drill programs. To view an enhanced version of this Table, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2766/42781_e178d2bdd4a89bd8_002full.jpg Note: Reported interval length are estimated as being between 80% and 90% of true width of the intersected sulphide mineralization. The Sunday Lake Property is held by Joint Venture Partners Transition Metals Corp and Impala Platinum Holdings Limited ("Implats"). NAP holds the right to acquire Implats' interest of up to a 75% ownership in the Sunday Lake Property by completing work commitments totaling $4.5M and making cash payments of $3.5M over a five-year period. (see NAP Press Release dated June 20, 2017 for details). Transition retains a 25% free carried interest in the project through to the completion of a feasibility study. Qualified Person The technical elements of this press release have been approved by Mr. Grant Mourre, P.Geo. (APGO), a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Historic assays cited in this release have not been verified by the Qualified Person. Refer to reference list below for QA/QC procedures for the assay results listed in Table 1. 1Source: Transition Metals Corp Media Release dated January 27, 2014 2Source: Transition Metals Corp Media Release dated November 16, 2015 3Source: North American Palladium Ltd. Media Release dated March 27, 2018 About Transition Metals Corp Transition Metals Corp (TSXV: XTM) is a Canadian-based, multi-commodity project generator that specializes in converting new exploration ideas into discoveries. The award-winning team of geoscientists has extensive exploration experience which actively develops and tests new ideas for discovering mineralization in places that others have not looked, often allowing the company to acquire properties inexpensively. Joint venture partners earn an interest in the projects by funding a portion of higher-risk drilling and exploration, allowing Transition to conserve capital and minimize shareholder's equity dilution. Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Information Except for statements of historical fact contained herein, the information in this news release constitutes "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities law. Such forward-looking information may be identified by words such as "plans", "proposes", "estimates", "intends", "expects", "believes", "may", "will" and include without limitation, statements regarding estimated capital and operating costs, expected production timeline, benefits of updated development plans, foreign exchange assumptions and regulatory approvals. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate; actual results and future events could differ materially from such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, among others, metal prices, competition, risks inherent in the mining industry, and regulatory risks. Most of these factors are outside the control of the Company. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as otherwise required by applicable securities statutes or regulation, the Company expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. 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. Further information is available at www.transitionmetalscorp.com or by contacting: Scott McLean President and CEO Transition Metals Corp. Tel: (705) 669-1777 To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42781 Regulatory News: Tikehau IM, the asset management subsidiary of Tikehau Capital (Paris:TKO), has raised a record 2.1 billion for its fourth generation of Tikehau Direct Lending (TDL) funds, raising more than three times the previous vintage. This record fundraising confirms investors' appetite for the private debt asset class, as well as Tikehau IM's leading position in the European direct lending market. Tikehau Direct Lending IV (TDL IV) is the flagship fund for this fourth generation of Tikehau IM's Direct Lending funds. The successful fundraising reflects Tikehau IM's increasingly international investor base, in line with its strategy, with more than 70% of its subscribers based outside of France, and more than 30% outside of Europe. These funds will continue to be deployed according to Tikehau IM's strategy, which aims at providing a wide range of bespoke financing solutions to SMEs. A pioneer in Europe's private debt market, Tikehau IM has leading expertise in financing solutions such as stretched senior, unitranche, mezzanine financing and PIK notes. This new generation of direct lending funds has already invested a total of more than 700 million in nearly 20 SMEs across Europe France, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway and the United Kingdom. Cecile Mayer-Levi, Head of Tikehau IM's Private Debt practice, said: "The enthusiasm we received from experienced investors across the globe reflects the attractiveness of Tikehau IM's private debt investment platform. This is the result of our strong team's many years of experience and capacity to finance highly diversified operations in Europe. We remain committed to providing continued support financing SMEs which stand out for their operational and strategic excellence." About Tikehau Capital Tikehau Capital is an alternative asset management and investment group which manages 15.9bn of assets (as at 30 September 2018) including shareholder equity of 2.3bn (as at 30 June 2018). The group invests in various asset classes (private debt, real estate, private equity and liquid strategies), including through its asset management subsidiary Tikehau IM, on behalf of institutional and private investors. Controlled by its managers, alongside leading institutional partners, Tikehau Capital employs 260 staff (as at 30 June 2018) across its Paris, London, Brussels, Madrid, Milan, New York, Seoul and Singapore offices. Tikehau Capital is listed on Euronext Paris, compartment A (ISIN: FR0013230612; Ticker: TKO.FP) www.tikehaucapital.com DISCLAIMER TDL IV is not currently available in the United States or to U.S. persons. Check with the investment advisor on specific marketing restrictions for the other funds of the new generation of TDL. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005632/en/ Contacts: Press Tikehau Capital: Julien Sanson +44 20 3821 1001 Finsbury: Arnaud Salla Charles O'Brien +44 207 251 3801 press@tikehaucapital.com Shareholder and Investor: Louis Igonet +33 (0)1 40 06 11 11 shareholders@tikehaucapital.com OXFORD, England, February 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Her Majesty Queen Noor Al-Hussein led a cavalcade of tributes to her late husband, HM King Hussein of Jordan, at a memorial event at Oxford to mark 20 years since the King's death, on 7 February 1999. Addressing the audience in person at the University's Middle East Centre she said, "His integrity and devotion to truth and justice can still guide us." (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/821001/The_Middle_East_Centre.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/821002/The_Middle_East_Centre.jpg ) Leading world figures, including US President Bill Clinton, UK Prime Minister John Major, HRH The Prince of Wales and HM King Felipe of Spain were interviewed for the event or provided messages. These contributions were incorporated within a unique film which was shown for the first time at the event, and which will be distributed widely later this month. The film contained the following quotes: President Bill Clinton: "We saw the world the same way. We weren't threatened by people who were different from us. Everyone trusted him and respected him. He just had an incredible gift. The people of Jordan were lucky to have him as a King and the world was lucky to have him as a peacemaker." HRH The Prince of Wales: "King Hussein's personal courage, cool head and sustained fortitude was dedicated to the service of his nation and to the wider good of mankind." Sir Jackie Stewart: "One of the deepest relationships I've ever had outside of my own family. He was a great man. I mean the greatest man I think I've ever met." Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi: "The important thing about his life is reconciliation. People who didn't speak to each other were brought together by him. That takes remarkable courage. The determination and passion with which he pursued peace is his major legacy to humanity." Sir John Major: "King Hussein renounced any rights to East Jerusalem and to the West Bank. That was a brave decision to take and it put him in a very strong position later to urge for peace. He had a lifelong commitment to peace whatever the risks to himself may be." HM King Felipe VI of Spain: "King Hussein was an exceptional mediator and peacemaker. A great King, and a good man." The memorial event, hailed by all who attended as a major success, was organised by the late King's nephew, Saad Kurdi, who also produced the film which reflected on King Hussein's life. As part of Queen Noor's introduction to the event, she said, "King Hussein understood his primary role to be that of public servant rather than entitled authoritarian. He faced challenges preoccupied him throughout his reign: the well-being of all Jordanians, the volatile regional conflicts that buffeted our country and regularly erupted into wars, and the short term, narrowly self-interested politics of global powers competing for strategic advantage in the Middle East." She continued, "He achieved remarkable progress in modernizing a conservative developing society from a pre-industrial state to a modern post-industrial state in under two generations-accomplishing this through promoting universal education, women's empowerment, and a participatory and pluralistic system of governance." For further information: Saad Kurdi Telephone: +44(0)7711-131307 Email: mec@sant.ox.ac.uk If you ever saw a construction site in the rain with a river of muddy water flowing toward the closest storm drain and thought to yourself Who dropped the ball and let this happen? What is the government doing to stop this? you will now be able to go online and figure that out. London, February 12, 2019 CNH Industrial N.V. (NYSE: CNHI / MI: CNHI) today announced the appointment of Brad Crews as the Brand President of Case IH, effective March 4, 2019. Case IH is one of the Company's global agricultural brands. Brad Crews rejoins CNH Industrial following his tenure as a Director of Titan Machinery Inc., an agricultural and construction dealer group of global scope. Mr. Crews can draw on some 23 years of experience at CNH Industrial, where he held a variety of increasingly senior managerial roles, culminating in his appointment as Chief Operating Officer of the former NAFTA region in 2014, a role he held until his departure in 2017. Mr. Crew's holds a Master's degree in Engineering from the University of Michigan, USA and a Master's degree in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA. PRINCE GEORGE, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / Barker Minerals Ltd. ("BML" on TSX/V) Barker Minerals Ltd. is dedicated to the business of mineral exploration and has been pursuing various strategies to create value for shareholders. Barker's management appreciates the ongoing support, patience and understanding of loyal shareholders and associates. Management continues to work diligently within its means to advance the business of Barker Minerals and its 100% owned stable of mineral properties with excellent access and infrastructure. Prospect Generator Activity In 2018, Barker continued business development through discussions with potential global partners, developed and cultivated important contacts with the mining and investment communities as well as with individual investors. Barker continues entertaining possible partnerships with entities such as mentioned in the BM-18-241 news release. To date, no agreements have been reached, although discussions are ongoing. Should discussions advance to the Letter of Intent stage, (LOI) it will be reported at that time. Barker continues to search out potential partners and invites interested companies to contact it to cultivate a creative deal or partnership on one, or more, of its high potential projects in the world class Cariboo Gold district. Over the past two decades, Barker has systematically and methodically gathered geological, geochemical and geophysical information over target areas on multiple projects. Through this extensive ongoing grassroots program and initial exploratory drilling, Barker has successfully advanced numerous projects through the exploration stage to the important drill testing stage where partners are now being sought to earn interest in project areas. Projects now at the exploration drill stage with recommended 43-101 budgets include: the Simlock, Kangaroo, Ace and Mag Gold projects; the Cariboo Zinc/Lead/Silver project and the highly potential Frank Creek Kuroko style copper/zinc/lead/silver/gold VMS project. The Company's Tasse Diamond potential project has accessible targets identified on logging access roads where significant diamond indicator minerals have been identified and reported in previous programs. Summaries will be forthcoming in subsequent news releases of the above-mentioned projects as the Company moves to create heightened awareness of the potential of the district and its wide variety of mineral deposit types. With the building interest over the recent past in the Cariboo district, it is anticipated that as partnerships and deals are completed, Barker will be looking forward to the future development of this mineral rich region. Barker anticipates the advancement by partners of their projects, other companies exploring and operating in the district and independent academic studies and follow up of successful geological and airborne geophysical surveys completed by Provincial, British Columbia Geological Survey (BCGS) and Federal Government Geological Survey of Canada (GSC). Cariboo District Activity As Barker continues to push forward, it is important to take note of the recent results of our neighbors and peers: Barkerville Gold Mines, and Spanish Mountain Gold. Both are actively increasing the amount of gold on their properties through extensive drilling programs. Details on the progress of these projects can be viewed on their prospective websites or SEDAR. Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd. owns "one of the most well-endowed land packages in British Columbia" with their multi-million ounce gold Cariboo Gold Project mineral tenures covering +2,000 square kilometres along a strike length of 67 kilometres. Barker Minerals shares a common boundary with a number of adjacent projects such as Kangaroo, Rollie, Keithly, Weaver and Simlock Gold project areas. It is believed the trends through Barkerville Gold's properties extends through to Barker's project areas. This conclusion is supported by Barker's work to date and through Government and independent expert studies. The Barkerville gold trends extending south into Barker's projects is further supported by the fact Barker was previously approached a couple of years ago, by Barkerville Gold, to consider selling approximately 80% of Barker's project areas. Terms and conditions could not be agreed upon at the time and no discussions have occurred between the two companies since then. Barker is pleased to see Barkerville Gold increasing ounces through drilling, generating near-term cash flow, training local work force, and feeding the QR mill that can be accessed by an all-season road which is fueling economic activity and creating awareness of the local area. Spanish Mountain Gold Ltd., is also in the process of revising the economics of their flagship multi-million ounce gold project. The activities at Spanish Mountain are also very helpful in globally highlighting the opportunities in the Cariboo mining district. Barker's Black Bear project also shares a common boundary with Spanish Mountain. Barker is finding that recently there is more of a global audience paying attention to the progress of the developments in the historic Cariboo Gold District. FairShares There have been recent encouraging developments through efforts of the FairShares movement to create awareness of the fraud and illegal activities carried on in the Canadian marketplace. Please visit Fair Shares website http://fairshares.ca/ to learn more about their petition: "Canadian retail investors are being defrauded." Barker agrees with the petition which highlights aspects of High-Frequency Trading and Failures to Deliver (FTD), also known as Naked Shorting. Please take the time to sign the petition and pass it on to others who are concerned about creating a transparent trading and settlement system in the marketplace. https://www.change.org/p/iiroc-combating-hft-s-and-market-manipulation Barker is grateful to see increased discussion of this controversial, illegal, extremely important, harmful and fraudulent activity. The timing for dealing with this is long past overdue. Barker management is engaging with organizers of FairShares to highlight issues of irregular trading and settlement patterns indicative of "settlement failures" or "delayed settlements". In fact, Barker encourages the use of the Pro Long System (PLS) by other companies for collection and compilation of trading and settlement data for early detection of irregular trading and settlement patterns indicative of failures. Barker has been down this road before with formal complaints made to IIROC and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) as advised by Dr. Susanne Trimbath and special legal counsel, Wes Christian. Barker continues to seek to expose and hold those accountable for any illegal and fraudulent activities which have hindered the growth and advancement of Barker. Susanne Trimbath, Ph.D. Susanne Trimbath, Ph.D. is CEO and Chief Economist of STP Advisory Services. Dr. Trimbath's credits include appearances on national television and radio programs (CNBC's Power Lunch and NPR's Marketplace) and the Emmy Award nominated Bloomberg report Phantom Shares. Trimbath's articles appear in the national publications US Banker, The International Economy, The American Enterprise, and The Mergers & Acquisitions Advisor. Dr. Trimbath is a former operations manager for depository trust and clearing corporations in San Francisco and New York. Since 2003, STP has provided support, primarily in securities litigation, to law firms, investors, companies and regulators. Dr. Trimbath was formerly Senior Research Economist at the Milken Institute and Senior Advisor on the Russian capital markets project for KPMG. Dr. Trimbath taught at both the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business and New York University's Department of Economics. She gained 20 years experience in financial services operations at Depository Trust Company in New York, Pacific Depository Trust and Clearing Corporations in San Francisco and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Quote from independent 2014 report, Dr. Trimbath... "This updated review and expanded statistical analysis on the share price and trading activity in the common stock of Barker Minerals Ltd. shows serious evidence of fails-to-deliver (FTD) or naked-short-selling (NSS) in the publically-traded common stock shares (TSX.V:BML). The evidence specifically identifies broker-dealers who are passing the fails-to-deliver and fails-to receive back and forth among themselves to avoid detection, regulatory reporting and potential tax consequences." "Barker executive Louis Doyle developed and refined a straight-forward data capture and analysis that can be used to discover which brokers and how many shares on what dates are involved in manipulative activity. Using trade data in combination with settlement reports they are able to methodically cross-reference activity to get to a net position -- which reveals where shares are sold but not delivered (NSS) and subsequently delivered (without matching sell-trades) to disguise the underlying activity. Many of the transactions caught by their reports are similar to the "wash trades" recently revealed in the case of Overstock.com." Quote Dr. Trimbath... "Barker Minerals Ltd. has passed the stage where more and further research is necessary. The latest developments and improved methodology and reporting which is called the "Pro Long Strategy" provide solid evidence upon which they can take legal action." Quote Dr. Trimbath... "Barker's tracking and reporting efforts provide the information that makes early intervention possible." And also "The sooner this information (Pro-Long Strategy) is presented and incorporated, more public companies will be able to protect themselves. As more companies begin to take action, pressure can be brought to bear on Government and Regulators to remedy this situation." About James Wesley Christian Mr Christian will provide legal advice, access to his wide network of professionals when and where required, and work together with management in developing the strategies to move the company forward in the most effective manner to stop these harmful and abusive activities and to hold those participants who are responsible accountable and to determine and recover any significant damages that were caused to the Company as a result of such activities. Mr Christian's experience with market manipulation and irregular trading activities is vast and impressive, as is the expertise of the professionals that he brings with him as a team. Mr Christian was part of the legal team representing such companies as Overstock.com, Eagletech Technologies and Taser International Inc. in their lawsuit and subsequent settlement with a number of U.S. brokerage firms. Quotes from Special Counsel Wes Christian In 2014 Mr. Christian states: "After reviewing the detailed data compiled by Barker executives, it is obvious to me that the stock of Barker has been manipulated and a large amount of stock sold has not been delivered. This is indicative of the systemic problem I believe exists in the US and Canadian markets where the clearing systems are full of IOU's resulting in, in effect counterfeit shares." Mr. Christian comments: "It is quite apparent to me that the stock of Barker Minerals has continuously and systematically been manipulated to the detriment of the Company. The perpetrators of this manipulation scheme need to be brought to justice." The scientific and technical information contained in this news release was prepared under the supervision of Rein Turna, B.Sc., P.Geo. the Company's "qualified person" under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. About Barker Minerals Barker Minerals is advancing exploration on its 100% owned mineral properties in the Cariboo Gold District, one of the most mineralized belts in British Columbia. Certain statements in this press release may be considered forward-looking information, including those relating to "plans" of the Company. Such information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors -- including the availability of funds, the results of financing and exploration activities, the interpretation of drilling results and other geological data, project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses and other risks identified by the Company in its public securities filings -- that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Louis E. Doyle Robert Kuhl Phone: (250) 613-2692 Phone: (604) 321-0709 barker@telus.net bmls@shaw.ca Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE: Barker Minerals Ltd. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535082/Barker-Minerals-Ltd-Company-Activity BEVERLY HILLS, CA and SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / NMS Consulting, Inc. ('NMSC') today announced the appointment of Edward Keebler and Nick Sramek to its senior team in its Management Consulting and Corporate Advisory business divisions. Mr. Keebler, who will serve as Managing Director and be based from the firm's Los Angeles office, covering the Western United States region, has over 20 years' experience in both public and private sectors as a consultant, strategist and operations executive having delivered solutions to the strategic, operational and growth challenges of over 450 clients, throughout 22 countries. Mr. Keebler's areas of specialization include food, fiber and water industries (production, manufacturing, technology, conservation, logistics, food service, hospitality and retail), infrastructure development, advanced and applied materials, nanotechnology, renewable energy and cleantech, government transparency, education and media, blockchain and cryptocurrency, regenerative economic development and financial innovation. Mr. Sramek, who will be based from the firm's San Francisco office where he shall focus on advising the firm's Management Consulting and Corporate Strategy group clients. Mr. Sramek has a proven track record in advising clients on building and cultivating high-value, sustainable partnerships with both domestic and international organizations. In addition, he has advised international institutions, investors and non-profit organizations in understanding and communicating global macroeconomic and geopolitical trends within the Asia-Pacific region. Mr. Sramek received his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and History for Trinity University (Texas) and a Master's degree in International Affairs from the University of California, San Diego's school of Global Policy and Strategy. 'Across our global platform, our experts assist clients in addressing a wide variety of issues and needs within multiple levels of complexities,' said Trevor M. Saliba, Managing Partner of NMSC 'As we continue to build and expand our global team, I am excited to welcome both Ed and Nick to the firm'. At NMS Consulting, Messrs. Keebler and Sramek will enhance the firm's Management Consulting and Corporate Advisory capabilities by assisting current and future global, regional and local clients. About NMS Consulting NMS Consulting is a global strategic advisory firm focused on delivering client solutions across three business units: management consulting, corporate advisory and strategic communications. The firm provides strategic counsel to private and public companies, governments, philanthropic organizations and the individuals who lead them. For more information, please visit www.nmsconsulting.com. Media Contact: Terrie Gorman+1.310.855.0020info@nmsconsulting.com SOURCE: NMS Consulting, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535034/NMS-Consulting-Expands-Los-Angeles-and-San-Francisco-Senior-Teams GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / Today, Mt Pelerin is happy to welcome and introduce its new advisor, Mr. Marc Fleury, a pioneer of open source software and a strong advocate of decentralization. Marc was born in Paris, France, where he earned his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from France's prestigious Ecole Polytechnique for his work done as a visiting scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also obtained a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics and Physics from the Ecole Polytechnique, and a Master's degree in Theoretical Physics from the Ecole Normale Superieure. He also served as a Lieutenant in France's 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment during his military service. He began his professional career working for Sun Microsystems, where he became one of the early Java evangelists and developed an interest in Internet infrastructure. As a result, he wrote an important chapter of open source's history when he disrupted the enterprise software industry with the creation of JBoss, an application server. At a time when open source was viewed as a dead end by most of the heavyweights of the industry, Marc built JBoss as one of the very first sustainable open source business models and turned it into a commercial success in a very short amount of time. As CEO of JBoss, Marc raised $10 million in venture capital in 2004, and sold JBoss to Red Hat for $350 million in April 2006. After overseeing the transition of his company as Red Hat's Senior Vice President and General Manager, Marc retired and went back to research in his domains of interest, including physics, biology, banking theory and modern monetary theory (MMT). Today, Marc conducts research on ontologies of quantum mechanics, focusing on experiments. He is a published author on the topics of Monte-Carlo software simulations of hydrodynamic analogs of quantum mechanics and optical experiments on entangled photons, with a focus on Bell inequalities. Marc is also involved in performance art and music production, as co-creator of 'Poemes Electroniques' and 'The Church of Space.' He has performed internationally with both acts as producer, live electronic musician and artistic director, headlining leading electronic music festivals such as Moogfest. In 2018, after a decade invested in intellectual and artistic pursuits, growth and meditation, Marc is back to active business life with his newly founded FreeSide Funds. In this new capacity of advisor, Marc will be supporting Mt Pelerin with an invaluable business acumen and technological experience, and a philosophical guidance on the project's values and vision. More information on https://www.mtpelerin.com/press. Disclaimer: Mt Pelerin has the ambition to become a bank, but it is not yet a bank and is not yet licensed as such by Swiss authorities. The information included in this document do not constitute fiscal, tax, legal, financial or investment advice and do not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell assets. Mt Pelerin and all the other companies mentioned in this document cannot be held responsible of the consequences resulting from the trust granted to the opinions or statements included in this document, or from any omission. About Mt Pelerin Mt Pelerin is a Swiss company based in Geneva building the next generation bank. Being a leading expert in the compliant application of the blockchain to finance, it uses the technology at its very core to create the perfect ecosystem to usher in the new era of financial digitalization. With it, its ambition isto make individuals and companies benefit from this revolution through unprecedented sources of value, investment and financing opportunities. Today, Mt Pelerin includes ten financial and IT professionals and has the ambition to become a fully authorized Swiss bank by early 2020. For more information, a press kit is available on https://www.mtpelerin.com/press. Press contact: media@mtpelerin.com Address: Mt Pelerin Group SA, Place de la Fusterie 5BIS, 1204 Geneva Telegram Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Reddit YouTube Medium Instagram Bitcointalk Github SOURCE: Mt Pelerin View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535038/Mt-Pelerin-Announces-New-Advisor-Mr-Marc-Fleury-Founder-of-JBoss-and-ex-Senior-Vice-President-at-Red-Hat New infrastructure subscription service provides customers with more flexible, agile and efficient solutions IT organizations can deploy and refresh data center hardware, software solutions and services without capital investment Customers pay for what they use with a flexible, consumption-based model that provides cloud-like economics Customers can track their usage in real-time through unique metering dashboard Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY), a Fortune Global 500 company and a technology leader in Intelligent Transformation, today announced Lenovo TruScale Infrastructure Services, its comprehensive as-a-Service offering. Lenovo TruScale is a subscription-based offering that allows customers to use and pay for data center hardware and services on-premise or at a customer-preferred location without having to purchase the equipment. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005239/en/ Lenovo TruScale Infographic (Graphic: Business Wire) Today's businesses, and today's CIOs, require data center infrastructure that enables growth rather than restricts it. As technology rapidly evolves, businesses need the ability to integrate new technologies and workloads efficiently and seamlessly, often within resource, budget and capital restrictions. Too often, IT personnel spend more time on administrative tasks and maintenance of systems than innovation. Modern IT solutions should be scalable with automated updates. By outsourcing resource management, IT organizations can focus on innovating within the business. According to IDC, 63 percent of IT buyers stated that, when selecting an IT infrastructure provider, the availability of flexible payment options or pay-per-use is very important.1 To address these customer needs, Lenovo is introducing Lenovo TruScale Infrastructure Services, a new take on procuring IT resources via a consumption-based, subscription model. With this new consumption model, customers never take capital ownership of the hardware or other IT assets and pay for what they use each month as part of their operating expenses. Lenovo's ThinkSystem and ThinkAgile product portfolios are available through this offering, which includes hardware installation, deployment, management, maintenance and removal. The Lenovo TruScale offering is a true consumption-based model with no required minimum capacity commitment. With Lenovo TruScale Infrastructure Services, customers only pay for capacity when their workloads are actively running. Additionally, capacity can be scaled up or down to accommodate business needs, ensuring IT infrastructure is right-sized, all the time. Lenovo's unique metering solution remains outside of the customer's data plane providing the advantages of cloud-like economics with the security of on-premise hardware. Monthly pricing structures are simple and all-inclusive of associated services (maintenance, support, remote monitoring and system health) in one bill. "Lenovo's TruScale as-a-Service offering is truly revolutionary, changing how IT departments procure and refresh their data center infrastructure. With our subscription-based model, customers pay for what they use, eliminating upfront capital purchase risk," said Laura Laltrello, Vice President and General Manager of Services at Lenovo Data Center Group. "Our offering can be applied to any configuration that meets the customer's needs whether storage-rich, server-heavy, hyperconverged or high-performance compute and can be scaled as business dictates." "Lenovo is accelerating our customers' Intelligent Transformation and digital journey by providing them with a new way of securing and deploying infrastructure. By eliminating the capital expense of purchasing IT equipment and replacing with a subscription model, customers can now focus on supporting their business growth, knowing that they'll have the right flexibility across their environment," said Roderick Lappin, Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer at Lenovo Data Center Group. "Lenovo TruScale Infrastructure Services combines the economic flexibility of cloud with the security of on-premise data, giving customers more agility, efficiency and simplicity in how they operate." Lenovo realizes the value of a true subscription offering is the ability for customers to view their consumption in real time, enabling them to control and predict their costs. Lenovo TruScale customers have constant visibility to their consumption through the customer portal. This, along with an assigned Customer Success Manager, enables the customer to have easy access to any level of detail needed, as well as clear paths to drive resolution with any issue they encounter. Lenovo TruScale as-a-Service offering is available through Lenovo sales representatives and channel partners across the globe. Lenovo is working with strategic partners to right-size Lenovo TruScale business models to best fit their customers' needs. For more information, please visit www.truscale.com. ____________________________ 1 IDC, Building a Utility Model to Deliver Datacenter Capacity, Doc DR2018_LAL2_JC_SM, February 2018 About Lenovo Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US$45 billion Fortune Global 500 company and a global technology leader in driving Intelligent Transformation through smart devices and infrastructure that create the best user experience. Lenovo manufactures one of the world's widest portfolio of connected products, including smartphones (Motorola), tablets, PCs (ThinkPad, Yoga, Lenovo Legion) and workstations as well as AR/VR devices and smart home/office solutions. Lenovo's data center solutions (ThinkSystem, ThinkAgile) are creating the capacity and computing power for the connections that are changing business and society. Lenovo works to inspire the difference in everyone and build a smarter future where everyone thrives. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Weibo, read about the latest news via our Storyhub, or visit our website at https://www. lenovo.com/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005239/en/ Contacts: Press Contacts Worldwide David Hamilton,dhamilton1@lenovo.com, +1 864 979 0024 Ashley Kusowski,akusowski@lenovo.com, +1 919 339 2819 EMEA Judith Schunke, jschunke@lenovo.com, +44 (0) 7500 922556 Caroline De Souza, csouza5@lenovo.com, +44 (0) 7768 080028 APAC Katy Chang, kchang20@lenovo.com, +65 6827 1095 Zeno Group - LenovoWWDCG@zenogroup.com Subject matter experts from CRF Bracket take an active thought-leadership role with key presentations and interactive roundtables at the conference WAYNE, Pennsylvania, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Running a seamless clinical trial means improving not only data quality but also operational logistics and most importantly the patient experience. Pharmaceutical companies around the world will convene at the 10th annual Summit of Clinical Operations Executives (SCOPE) 2019, where CRF Bracket executives and subject matter experts will discuss technology and best practices to accomplish these essential goals. Being held from 18-21 February 2019 in Orlando, Florida, the SCOPE Summit is the foremost collaborative gathering of a wide range of clinical operations leaders, and CRF Bracket will take an active role in driving the conversation - and results for patients worldwide - as more sponsors and CROs continue to place an increasing emphasis on modernizing clinical trials. As SCOPE 2019 examines advances in all aspects of clinical trial planning, management and operations, CRF Bracket will leverage its uniquely integrated global expertise in eCOA, eConsent, IRT, Clinical Trial Supply Management and Patient Engagement at numerous sessions, roundtables, and panels including... Tuesday, Feb 19 at 12:45 pm : Oliver Cunningham , Director of Client Enablement, will present 'Achieving Extended Enterprise Supply Chain Maturity Within a Clinical Supply Environment' as a deep dive into the potential quality improvements and logistical cost efficiencies at an enterprise level. : , Director of Client Enablement, will present 'Achieving Extended Enterprise Supply Chain Maturity Within a Clinical Supply Environment' as a deep dive into the potential quality improvements and logistical cost efficiencies at an enterprise level. Thursday, Feb 21 at 1:25 pm - Jeff Lee , President, Patient Engagement and eConsent, will deliver 'The Secret to Unlock Adoption of eClinical Solutions', to discuss the value and perceived barriers through an interactive discussion on what else is holding back the large-scale adoption of exciting new technologies. In addition, CRF Bracket will lead and participate in several roundtables and panel discussions focused on important topics such as implementing electronic informed patient consent (eConsent) and supply chain forecasting and management. CRF Bracket's CEO, Mike Nolte, together with a cross-team of subject matter experts, will carry the discussion further at their Booth #415 where they will present strategic opportunities to further transform the patient experience and advance clinical research worldwide. To begin a conversation with CRF Bracket about how technology can help improve your next trial, schedule a meeting or a demo at SCOPE. http://pages.crfhealth.com/2019_SCOPE.html About CRF Bracket CRF Bracket was formed in 2018 by the merger of CRF Health and Bracket to provide life science companies with patient-centric technology solutions that advance clinical research and transform the patient experience. The company's solutions include electronic clinical outcome assessments (eCOAs), eConsent, patient engagement, interactive response technology (IRT), clinical supply forecasting and management, and endpoint quality services that combine advanced analytics and therapeutic area-specific scientific consulting. CRF Bracket's applications are trusted by pharmaceutical companies of all sizes, including all of the top 20 pharmas, as well as CROs, biotechs, and academic institutions on over 4,000 global clinical trials. For nearly 20 years, CRF Bracket has been committed to helping life science companies bring life-changing therapies to patients and communities around the world. To learn more visit www.crfhealth.com and www.bracketglobal.com. Connect with CRF Bracket: Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 12, 2019) - Fremont Gold Ltd. (TSXV: FRE) (FSE: FR2) (OTC Pink: USTDF) ("Fremont" or the "Company") announces that it has received TSX Venture Exchange acceptance for and completed the shares for debt transaction previously announced on January 29, 2019. The Company issued 500,000 common shares at a deemed price of $0.15 per share for settlement of $75,000 of outstanding debt to Dennis Moore, the President and a director of the Company. The transaction is a "related party transaction" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 -- Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The debt settlement is exempt from the formal valuation requirements and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 pursuant to Section 5.5(a) and Section 5.7(1)(a) as the value of the common shares issued in the debt settlement will not exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization. The common shares are subject to a four month hold period expiring on June 9, 2019. About Fremont Gold Fremont's mine-finding management team has assembled a portfolio of high-quality gold projects in Nevada with the goal of making a new discovery. Fremont's Gold Bar and Gold Canyon are past producing gold mines adjacent to McEwen's Gold Bar project, where mine construction is underway. Other projects include North Carlin, Goldrun, Hurricane, and Roberts Creek. We are aligned with our shareholders: Insiders own approximately 20% of Fremont. On behalf of the Board of Directors, "Blaine Monaghan" CEO Telephone: +1 604-676-5664 Email: blaine@fremontgold.net www.fremontgold.net 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. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42773 Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 12, 2019) - Buffalo Coal Corp. (TSXV: BUF) (JSE: BUC) ("Buffalo Coal" or "the Company") shareholders are referred to the announcement, dated February 12, 2019, which advised shareholders of the resignation of Rowan Karstel as the chief executive officer ("CEO") of the company, effective from February 11, 2019. The board of directors of Buffalo Coal ("the Board") is finalizing the process of identifying and appointing a successor to Rowan. As an interim measure, the Board has taken the decision to appoint Emma Oosthuizen, the current chief financial officer ("CFO") of Buffalo Coal as interim CEO from February 11, 2019 until a new CEO is appointed. Emma joined Buffalo Coal in March 2018 as VP: Finance and was subsequently appointed as CFO of Buffalo Coal. The Board is confident that Buffalo Coal, under the leadership of Emma and the existing management team, will continue to focus on executing the Company's strategy. About Buffalo Coal Buffalo is a coal producer in southern Africa. It holds a majority interest in two operating mines through its 100% interest in Buffalo Coal Dundee, a South African company which has a 70% interest in Zinoju. Zinoju holds a 100% interest in the Magdalena bituminous mine and the Aviemore anthracite mine in South Africa. Buffalo has an experienced coal-focused management team. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Craig Wiggill Chairman Email: craig@wiggill.co.uk To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42779 For Many Years, DermaSet Has Been One of the Most Compliant Skincare Companies Offering Autoshipment. HOLLYWOOD, FL / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / DermaSet, a skincare company who has long been a leader in autoship transparency, is putting additional measures in place to help ensure better customer service and compliancy in response to new Mastercard requirements. In January, Mastercard announced stricter policies for merchants who retain credit card information after a shopper signs up for a free trial of a physical product. Mastercard will be requiring those merchants to request specific authorization from customers for any recurring subscription charges. "DermaSet is increasing the strictness of company compliancy following the requirement from Mastercard," says Boris Zion, Chief Marketing Officer at DermaSet. "We are hoping to achieve unprecedented transparency and inspire even greater customer confidence." DermaSet is composed of special botanical and natural elements, such as Edelweiss, sea fennel, apple stem, and grape seed extract, that have been refined and carefully combined to help increase the skin's ability to retain moisture, elasticity, and firmness. DermaSet also uses a combination of peptides, such as Argireline to firm and reduce the look of wrinkles, and Chromabright to replenish and even out skin tone. According to the company, in just 30 days of using DermaSet customers will begin to see a reduction of wrinkle depth, age spots and crows feet, an even overall skin tone and texture, soft and ultra-hydrated skin, and an overall young-looking appearance. To prevent people from being charged without their knowledge, DermaSet has a number of procedures in place. There are Checkboxes and visible terms and conditions on pages, a video explanation of terms and conditions, and notifications 10 days prior to each billing date. The company also offers free two-week extensions for every customer, a 60-day return policy, 24-hour email and chat support for cancellations, and straight sales options. For more information about the company and their specially-designed products, visit DermaSetskincare.com. About DermaSet DermaSet is a skincare company specializing in anti-wrinkle skin rejuvenation. The products allow customers to reveal firmer, younger looking skin fast. For more information, visit DermaSetskincare.com. Related Video: https://vimeo.com/211426429 Additional Images Image from DermaSet Video Straight Sale Option Additional Links Shopping Options Terms And Conditions SOURCE: DermaSet View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535072/As-Credit-Card-Companies-Tighten-Autoship-Requirements-DermaSet-Has-Remained-a-Leader-in-Autoship-Transparency 2017 high-grade grab samples include 331 g/t Au, and 313 g/t Au 600-meter strike length established through prior drilling in 2005 1,348.5-hecatre property located in the prolific Red Lake Gold Camp VANCOUVER, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / Nexus Gold Corp. ('Nexus' or the 'Company') (TSX-V: NXS, OTCQB: NXXGF, FSE: N6E) is pleased to announce that it has signed a definitive agreement with 1082545 B.C. Ltd. (the 'Vendor'), an arms'-length party, to acquire the McKenzie Gold Project (the 'Project'). The Project consists of a series of mineral claims located in the Red Lake region of Northwestern Ontario. In consideration for the Project, the Company is required to issue 4,000,000 common shares and complete a one-time cash payment of $150,000. The McKenzie gold project is a 1,348.5-hectare property located in the heart of the Red Lake gold camp. The highly prospective geological setting is analogous to several past producers. McKenzie hosts nine documented historical gold occurrences with limited exploration. 'The acquisition of the McKenzie Gold Project adds a Canadian-based project with high-grade potential, in a marquee district, to our portfolio,' said president & CEO, Alex Klenman. ' Nexus now has a total of six projects on two continents, in prolific and proven gold producing regions. With multiple types of exploration targets and excellent jurisdictional diversity, we feel Nexus is well positioned for growth in 2019 and beyond,' continued Mr. Klenman. In 2017 a ground reconnaissance program resulted in a prospecting discovery, with high-grade samples returning up to 313 grams-per-tonne ('g/t') gold ('Au'). A new showing on the southwest corner of McKenzie Island, located in the northern portion of the project area, was also discovered during this program and returned multiple high-grade samples ranging from 9.37 g/t Au to 331 g/t Au. This new discovery lies approximately 100 meters west of a historical showing where gold values of up to 212.8 g/t Au have been reported in provincial government files. In 2005, Cypress Development Corp conducted a small drill program near the southern boundary that intersected a strongly silicified, sericite-altered, east-west-trending mineralized zone up to 600 meters long and open along strike and to depth. Quartz veining accompanied by sphalerite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite and free gold returned gold values in drill core of up to and 2.2 g.t Au over 6 meters. Quartz veining and sulphide mineralization are also reported in multiple locations on McKenzie Island, within the northern portion of the property boundary. Sampling conducted in 2017 returned up to 18.02 g/t Au in grab samples from the vein exposure. Figure 1: Area map showing NXS acquisition and surrounding companies/projects Figure 2: Detailed area map showing NXS acquisition and surrounding companies/projects In connection with completion of the acquisition of the Project, the Company intends to issue 300,000 common shares to an arm's-length third-party who assisted with introducing the acquisition to the Company. All securities issued in connection with the acquisition of the Project will be subject to a four-month-and-one-day statutory hold period. The transaction remains subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange and cannot be completed until such approval is obtained. Nexus Gold to raise up to $2M in Private Placement The Company is pleased to announce that it intends to conduct a non-brokered private placement of up to 17,391,304 units (each, a 'Unit') at a price of $0.115 per Unit, for gross proceeds of up to $2,000,000. Each 'Unit' will consist of one common share and one common share purchase warrant (each, 'Warrant') exercisable at a price of $0.18 per Warrant for a period of twenty-four (24) months. Proceeds will be used to continue ongoing drill programs at the Bouboulou-Rakounga projects as well as exploration work at the new Dakouli 2 project in Burkina Faso, and summer work programs at the New Pilot Gold Project in BC and the McKenzie Gold Project, in Red Lake, Ontario. The Company may pay finders' fees to eligible parties who have introduced subscribers to the placement. All securities issued in connection with the placement will be subject to a four-month-and-one-day statutory hold period in accordance with applicable securities laws. Completion of the placement remains subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. About the Company Nexus Gold is a Vancouver-based gold exploration and development company with active projects in West Africa and Canada. The company is currently concentrating its efforts on establishing a compliant resource at one or more of it's four current Burkina Faso-based projects which total over 560-sq kms (56,000+ hectares) of land located on active gold belts and proven mineralized trends. For more information please visit www.nexusgoldcorp.com. Warren Robb P.Geo., Vice-President, Exploration, is the designated Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the technical information contained in this release. On behalf of the Board of Directors of NEXUS GOLD CORP. Alex Klenman President & CEO 604-558-1920 info@nexusgoldcorp.com www.nexusgoldcorp.com Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statement or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws. SOURCE: Nexus Gold Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535039/Nexus-Gold-Acquires-McKenzie-Gold-Project-Red-Lake-Ontario-Canada I kid you not. If you thought that was bad, King, also wrote: Anderson is not the only man of the cloth to wish widowhood upon Michelle Obama. In June, the Reverend Wiley Drake of First Baptist Church in Buena Park, California, said he was praying for the president's death. Anderson, however, was explicit in his wish. 'I'd like him to die of natural causes. I don't want him to be a martyr, we don't need another holiday. I'd like to see him die like Ted Kennedy, of brain cancer." VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / Skeena Resources Limited (TSX.V: SKE, OTCQX: SKREF) ("Skeena" or the "Company") is pleased to provide shareholders with an update on exploration and development activities for the Company's projects located in the Golden Triangle of British Columbia, and an outlook for 2019. 2018 Advancements In September 2018 (see news release dated September 17, 2018 ) the Company announced an initial resource estimate for the high-grade, past-producing Eskay Creek Project ("Eskay Creek") supported solely by historical data. Phase I drilling performed by the Company in 2018 was not included in this estimate but will be included in a resource update expected in Q1 2019. At Eskay Creek, pit constrained Indicated Resources include 207,000 AuEq ounces within 1.09 Mt grading 5.9 g/t AuEq, and additional Inferred Resources of 589,000 AuEq ounces contained within 4.26 Mt at an average grade of 4.3 g/t AuEq. Underground Indicated Resources include 814,000 AuEq ounces contained within 2.51 Mt grading 10.1 g/t AuEq, and an additional underground Inferred Resources of 261,000 AuEq ounces contained within 0.81 Mt grading 10.0 g/t AuEq. The Eskay Creek deposits represent a shallow water, bimodal volcanic sequence hosted in a fault bounded basin with an epithermal VMS signature. Rhyolite facies volcanics ("Rhyolite") are overlain by mafic volcanics with a clastic mudstone ("Mudstone") occurring at the contact between the two volcanic episodes. This Mudstone represents the period of quiescence between the two volcanic events and is spatially and temporally related to the main mineralizing event at Eskay Creek. The epithermal suite of elements (Hg-Sb-As) and bonanza precious metal grades dominantly occur at this interface but are not homogenously distributed throughout the Mudstone. Rather, they are spatially associated with vents fed from underlying synvolcanic feeders. Due to the higher precious metal tenor of the Mudstone-hosted mineralization, the vast majority of historical production at Eskay Creek occurred within this rock type whilst the Rhyolite-hosted feeder style mineralization was less developed due to its lower Au-Ag grades. Rhyolite-hosted mineralization is not enriched in Hg-Sb-As and was often blended with Mudstone-hosted zones to reduce smelter penalties for the on-site milled concentrates and Direct Shipped Ore (DSO). Resources for Eskay Creek calculated in 2018 by the Company were categorized by rock type (Rhyolite or Mudstone) in Tables 1 and 2 below. On a tonnage weighted basis, pit constrained resources in the 21A and 22 Zones average 85% Rhyolite and 15% Mudstone. Underground resources closely mimic these ratios with 75% hosted within Rhyolite and 25% hosted within Mudstone. Table 1: Eskay Creek Indicated and Inferred pit constrained resources reported at a 1.0 g/t AuEq cut-off grade. GRADE AUEQ OUNCES CONTAINED OUNCES TONNES AUEQ AU AG AU AG ZONE RHY:MUD* (000) G/T G/T G/T OZ (000) OZ (000) OZ (000) INDICATED 21A 85: 15 1,088 5.9 4.9 72 207 173 2,533 INFERRED 21A 75: 25 2,809 4.6 3.8 63 418 342 5,653 22 100: 0 1,452 3.7 2.5 89 171 116 4,151 TOTAL INDICATED 85: 15 1,088 5.9 4.9 72 207 173 2,533 TOTAL INFERRED 85: 15 4,261 4.3 3.3 72 589 458 9,805 Table 2: Eskay Creek Indicated and Inferred underground resources reported at a 5.5 g/t AuEq cut-off grade. GRADE AUEQ OUNCES CONTAINED OUNCES TONNES AUEQ AU AG AU AG ZONE RHY:MUD* (000) G/T G/T G/T OZ (000) OZ (000) OZ (000) INDICATED 21C 75: 25 674 9.6 7.5 154 207 163 3,335 21B 50: 50 338 12.1 8.6 263 132 94 2,855 21BE 70: 30 246 10.1 6.8 247 80 53 1,954 21E 30: 70 41 10.8 6.3 337 14 8 441 HW 100: 0 522 10.2 6.2 295 171 105 4,957 NEX 60: 40 510 9.6 6.8 209 158 112 3,432 PUMPHOUSE 90: 10 72 7.9 6.1 140 18 14 323 109 95: 5 111 9.5 9.4 12 34 34 42 TOTAL INDICATED 75: 25 2,513 10.1 7.2 215 814 582 17,340 INFERRED 21C 80: 20 44 7.2 6.7 38 10 10 55 21B 70: 30 262 10.5 7.8 206 89 66 1,738 21BE 50: 50 114 15.3 9.5 431 56 35 1,573 21E 65: 35 53 8.5 4.6 292 14 8 495 HW 100: 0 87 8.4 5.0 256 24 14 718 NEX 85: 15 220 8.5 6.8 130 61 48 922 PUMPHOUSE 95: 5 30 7.8 6.6 92 8 6 88 109 95: 5 2 7.4 7.3 8 0.4 0.4 0.4 TOTAL INFERRED 75: 25 812 10.0 7.2 214 261 187 5,590 Gold Equivalent (AuEq) calculated via the formula: Au (g/t) + [Ag (g/t) / 75]. Processing recoveries have not been applied to the AuEq calculation and are disclosed at 100%. *Ratio of tonnage hosted in Rhyolite to Mudstone. 2019 Outlook - Eskay Creek An updated resource estimate is scheduled for Q1 2019, which will include all data for estimating both underground and pit constrained resources. Drilling performed in 2018 was designed to add confidence and upgrade inferred resources to indicated, as well as to collect spatially distributed material for representative metallurgical test work optimizations. Blue Coast Research has been engaged by the Company to perform the metallurgical work and process optimizations that will be used in a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") on Eskay Creek. This phase of metallurgical test work is anticipated to be finalized by Q2 2019 and will support an upcoming PEA which is scheduled for completion in Q3 2019. Phase II drilling at Eskay Creek will be focused on further upgrading of resources to the indicated category for future economic analyses, as well as continued exploration and expansion of Rhyolite-hosted feeder structures, analogous to the 21C and 22 Zones. 2019 Outlook - Snip Exploration and development activities in 2019 on the Company's 100% owned Snip Gold Project ("Snip") will largely focus on exploratory regional drill assessments and follow-up drilling in the newly discovered 200 Footwall structure. Regional targeting is designed to assess and expand upon historically defined mineralization that was not extended, as well as grassroots exploration of previously untested geochemical anomalies. About Skeena Skeena Resources Limited is a junior Canadian mining exploration company focused on developing prospective precious and base metal properties in the Golden Triangle of northwest British Columbia, Canada. The Company's primary activities are the exploration and development of the past-producing Snip and Eskay Creek mines, both acquired from Barrick. In addition, the Company has completed a Preliminary Economic Assessment on the GJ copper-gold porphyry project. On behalf of the Board of Directors of Skeena Resources Limited, Walter Coles Jr. President & CEO Qualified Persons Exploration activities at the Eskay Creek Project are administered on site by the Company's Exploration Managers, Colin Russell, P.Geo. and Adrian Newton, P.Geo. In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Paul Geddes, P.Geo. Vice President Exploration and Resource Development, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has prepared, validated and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release. The Company strictly adheres to CIM Best Practices Guidelines in conducting, documenting, and reporting its exploration activities on its exploration projects. Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements Certain statements made and information contained herein may constitute "forward looking information" and "forward looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. These statements and information are based on facts currently available to the Company and there is no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Forward-looking statements and information may be identified by such terms as "anticipates", "believes", "targets", "estimates", "plans", "expects", "may", "will", "could" or "would". Forward-looking statements and information contained herein are based on certain factors and assumptions regarding, among other things, the estimation of mineral resources and reserves, the realization of resource and reserve estimates, metal prices, taxation, the estimation, timing and amount of future exploration and development, capital and operating costs, the availability of financing, the receipt of regulatory approvals, environmental risks, title disputes and other matters. While the Company considers its assumptions to be reasonable as of the date hereof, forward-looking statements and information are not guarantees of future performance and readers should not place undue importance on such statements as actual events and results may differ materially from those described herein. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or information except as may be required by applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment IndustrybRegulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. CONTACT: info@skeenaresources.com SOURCE: Skeena Resources Limited View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535018/Skeena-Provides-Corporate-Update-and-2019-Outlook D'Ovidio, Who Has Been Nicknamed "Ad Prophet" By His Fans, Offers His Top Five Predictions for Marketing Trends this Year LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 28, 2019 / Dante D'Ovidio, an internet entrepreneur who has been dubbed the "Ad Prophet" by his many enthusiastic fans, is playing into the title by releasing a new video on YouTube that includes his top 5 marketing predictions for 2019. As a spokesperson for D'Ovidio noted, he is well known for his public speaking engagements about advertising, marketing and lead generation. Recently, he traveled from Puerto Rico, where he is currently living, back to his native Las Vegas to film a YouTube video that focuses on his marketing predictions for 2019. As D'Ovidio noted at the beginning of the video, although there was no monetary benefit to sharing his thoughts on YouTube, he wanted to disclose what he calls the "real knowledge" about marketing, and what he feels are the five most effective approaches. While he acknowledged that some "secretive underground experts" will not like it that he made the video, D'Ovidio said he really wanted to provide a sneak peek into what he feels is especially important in marketing in 2019. To watch the new video in its entirety, please check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13XJEgF6anM&feature=youtu.be/. Thanking the universe for bringing his audience to YouTube, and suggesting that viewers imprint his words on their brains - should he have to pull the video at any time - D'Ovidio started out with his first prediction: the fact that traditional, hard selling techniques are dead. While he admits that older generations may still go for the traditional "buy this for $10 and get a free one, and another free one" approach, the better option for younger shoppers uses native advertising. Describing it as a million times better than hard selling, D'Ovidio explained that this approach creates ads that are native to each user. For example, if someone is on Instagram, he or she may see posts that look like regular Instagram posts but are actually ads, D'Ovidio noted, adding that companies can use native advertising on blog posts as well as news sites, and that there is a variety of ways to make it not look like an ad. D'Ovidio presents four other predictions in the interesting video; he strongly urges those who are interested in learning more about the topic of online advertising to check out the video as soon as possible. About Dante D'Ovidio: Dante D'Ovidio is an internet marketing expert who is originally from Las Vegas, Nevada. Currently living in Puerto Rico, he has a secret Facebook group and is known by his fans as the "Ad Prophet." To watch his controversial video before it could possibly be taken down, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13XJEgF6anM&feature=youtu.be/. Contact: Ivan Kennedy Contact@DanteDovidio.com (949) 555-2861 SOURCE: Dante D'Ovidio View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/537396/Internet-Entrepreneur-Dante-DOvidio-Releases-New-2019-Marketing-Predictions-Video-on-YouTube CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- 2018 saw spectrum release discussions for a faster LTE network, increasing communication reach in rural areas and enterprises across industries embracing innovative technologies such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). However, 2019 will be the year when South Africa start-ups lead the innovation in IIoT and AI, and their cross-industry integration, according to Saurabh Verma, head of ICT for Frost & Sullivan's Middle East and Africa Region. Verma presented the 2019 ICT trends for South Africa at Frost & Sullivan's ICT predictions road show. He said companies will need to revisit their competitive strategy to acquire new skill sets to remain competitive. At the State of the Nation address on 7 February, President Cyril Ramaphosa also stressed the need to develop skills for the "fourth Industrial Revolution" and called for a major shake-up in education to prepare the country to compete in the digital global economy. With the government reaffirming the importance of ICT, specifically in the communication sector, Frost & Sullivan identified seven ICT predictions for 2019. Prediction 1: The rise of the telecommunications sector The telecommunications sector revenue will reach 149.5 billion in 2019. The ICT industry revenue is expected to reach R305 billion in 2019, with the telecommunications sector contributing the most at 49.6%. The cloud services market will contribute the least at 0.6%. Telecommunications providers will strengthen digital content offerings, including OTT messaging, VOD, pay TC and triple-pay services. They will also actively acquire and partner with IT service providers to strengthen their in-house resources and capabilities to compete in the ICT services ecosystem. Prediction 2: Multi-tenanted data centres Multi-tenanted data centres will drive growth in data centre revenues. The data centre (DC) revenue contributes 8% toward the overall ICT industry and is estimated to reach R8.0 billion in 2019 with a growth of 10.6%. While a 1.8% growth in DC's revenue is expected in 2019, the growth of DC services via cloud will take longer than expected due to consumer protection regulations and the fact that large enterprises' transition to cloud is hampered by legacy infrastructure. A potential business model would be for cloud services to target SMEs as they have the potential to improve efficiencies and reduce costs. Prediction 3: 5G will take longer than anticipated; 3G is the present reality for South Africa Expensive data packages and delays in spectrum release are hampering subscriber base growth for 5G. While mobile operators are ready to develop 4G networks and deploy 5G services, 3G will be the dominant technology over the next three years. 5G promises significantly higher speed than 3G and 4G; however, there are still concerns about the immediate reliance on 5G for industries. 5G will be appropriate for industries requiring real-time decision making. Prediction 4: South African start-ups will lead the innovation in IIoT and its cross-industry integration With start-ups focussing on innovative IoT solutions to reach 6.2 million in M2M subscriptions, non-voice services, especially mobile data (3G and 4G), will continue to drive IIoT market growth in 2019. Telecommunications providers will become end-to-end solutions providers, growing beyond offering connectivity services to provide sensors, hardware, software, platforms, cloud, analytics and security. Prediction 5: AI-powered business applications to increase productivity and efficient customer support and services AI solutions that address regionally relevant challenges such as poaching and accessible healthcare and education services will grow steadily, improving the quality of life in South Africa. Hospitality, manufacturing and mining will use AI services in 2019. Prediction 6: Digital transformation to improve customer experiences Customers are demanding self-service, and companies aiming to improve the customer experience will focus on the digitisation of processes such as AI-enabled customer touch points. An omni-channel strategy will ensure a consistent, high-quality customer experience, regardless of how, where or why a customer chooses to interact with an organisation. Prediction 7: Incumbents and fintech firms will continue to enjoy a (mostly) good relationship With the exception of direct competitors, South African banks will continue to attempt to work with fintech start-ups and encourage innovation in this area. South Africa's fintech ecosystem is becoming steadily more innovative and dynamic with South African banks attempting to work with fintech firms either through acquisitions or partnerships to capitalise on innovations. Blockchain, augmented reality and virtual reality are the emerging technologies that Frost & Sullivan believes will disrupt the South African ICT industry in 2019. Blockchain has the potential to greatly increase the efficiency of data transfer between multiple parties, significantly reducing delays and costs, despite cryptocurrency price clashes and regulations, which will prompt exploration of other applications of blockchain technology. Augmented reality will be largely used in facilitating training and education and in industrial maintenance in the engineering services industry. It will also be used to enhance customer engagement and branding in the banking and retail industries through gamified mobile app-based platforms. "Lastly, virtual reality will redefine the training, marketing and advertising service delivery models across various sectors and provide customers with an immersive and interactive experience while helping to reach a wider audience to establish deep-rooted relationships with existing and potential new customers," said Verma. About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company collaborates with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, Frost & Sullivan has been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector, and the investment community. Former Scythian Biosciences Founder and CEO Assumes Newly Created Position GLEN ALLEN, VA / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / Exactus Inc. (OTCQB: EXDI) a healthcare company pursuing opportunities in Hemp derived, Cannabidiol (CBD) products and point of care diagnostics, is pleased to announce the appointment of Jonathan Gilbert to the newly created position of Executive Chairman. Mr. Gilbert founded one of the first companies to sponsor research into the medical efficacy and benefits of CBD therapies at Scythian Biosciences, Corp. where he held the position of Chief Executive Officer until its transformation to what is now Sol Global Investments (SOL; SOLCF). Mr. Gilbert successfully navigated several successful capital raises from major institutions and strategic corporate investors, including a major infusion of $10 million from Canadian-based Aphria, Inc. (APHA; Mkt.Cap ~$2B). Scythian successfully raised over $40 million during his tenure and thereafter. Scythian's ongoing research at the University of Miami seeks to determine a solution for the prevention and treatment of concussions and traumatic brain injury with its proprietary Cannabinoid combination. Mr. Gilbert will assume the position of Executive Chairman effective immediately and will be responsible for assisting the executive team with his knowledge of capital markets and evaluating opportunities to pursue farm and hemp production worldwide. Mr. Gilbert has been endorsed by Exactus' development partner and largest shareholder, Ceed2Med, LLC. Ceed2Med is becoming an established leader in CBD technology, including water soluble and effective bioavailability technology. It is expanding its offerings to include CBG, CBN, organic full spectrum and broad spectrum products, each of which offer full chain of custody accountability from the seed to the shelf from certified cGMP production facilities. Ceed2Med offers Exactus experienced personnel who, since 2014, have been engaged in many aspects of domestic and international hemp production, including farming, processing and production, providing access to expertise in the fields of genetics, product development and distribution. Together with Ceed2Med, Exactus is opening new sales channels and focusing on the creation of additional distribution partnerships. Philip Young, CEO of Exactus said, "We are excited to welcome Mr. Gilbert to our board and we are honored to have him serve as our Chairman. His experience in the public markets and the CBD sector in particular, will enhance Exactus' ability to navigate the capital markets effectively and determine our future direction." Emiliano Aloi, of Ceed2Med and a member of the Exactus Board of Advisors said: "We look forward to working with Mr. Gilbert. His knowledge of the needs and opportunities available to Exactus will allow us to collectively evaluate new opportunities. We anticipate that our access to various opportunities in Oregon and Kentucky will be helpful as we look forward to expanding Exactus' financial capacity, allowing it to develop into an independent and cooperative farming partner. With our previous experience in Uruguay, and future opportunities in places like Puerto Rico, Jamaica and elsewhere, we have the runway to add thousands of new acres, domestically and internationally. We look forward to working with Exactus as its preferred premium supplier and development partner." For information about our products and availability please call 804-205-5036 or email, ir@exactusinc.com . About Exactus: Exactus, Inc. , is a healthcare company pursuing opportunities in two distinct business segments, Hemp derived, Cannabidiol , which is more commonly referred to as CBD. Industrial hemp is a type of cannabis, defined by the federal government as having THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) content of 0.3 percent or less. That amount has not been shown to make a person feel "high." THC is the psychoactive compound found in cannabis. The company is also developing point of care diagnostics. Investor Notice Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. Before making an investment decision, you should carefully consider the risks, uncertainties and forward-looking statements described under "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of our most recent Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on April 2, 2018 and under the heading "Risk Factors" in our Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on January 14, 2019, and in other periodic and current reports we file with the SEC. If any of these risks were to occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations would likely suffer. In that event, the value of our securities could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment. The risks and uncertainties we describe are not the only ones facing us. Additional risks not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business operations. In addition, our past financial performance may not be a reliable indicator of future performance, and historical trends should not be used to anticipate results in the future. See "Safe Harbor" below. Safe Harbor - Forward Looking Statements The information provided in this press release may include forward-looking statements relating to future events or the future financial performance of the Company. Because such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Words such as "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "intends," "will," "potential," "hope" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations of the Company and involve assumptions that may never materialize or may prove to be incorrect. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of various risks and uncertainties. Detailed information regarding factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by statements in this press release relating to the Company may be found in the Company's periodic and current filings with the SEC, including the factors described in the sections entitled "Risk Factors", copies of which may be obtained from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements contained in this press release. For more information: Company Contact: Andrew Johnson 509.999.9696 ir@exactusinc.com SOURCE: Exactus Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535059/Exactus-Appoints-Seasoned-Industry-Veteran-Jonathan-Gilbert-As-Executive-Chairman-of-the-Board Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 12, 2019) - Cabral Gold Inc. (TSXV: CBR) (OTC Pink: CBGZF) ("Cabral" or the "Company") is pleased to announce an update of its initial drilling program, as well as assay results from rock chip and auger drilling sampling of the Quebra Bunda target at the Cuiu Cuiu Project, located in the state of Para, in northern Brazil. Highlights Six diamond drill holes for a total of 549m have now been completed at four different locations at Machichie, the first drill target. Results are pending. Drilling is currently focused on testing the Machichie East Au-Mo-Cu target. A composite rock chip sample returned 3,727 g/t Au (119.8 oz/t Au) from a shear zone at the Quebra Bunda target. The result represents the highest-grade sample ever returned from either surface rock chip geochemical sampling or diamond drill programs at Cuiu Cuiu. The host structure at Quebra Bunda is 0.5 - 1m wide with an east-west strike. It has now been traced a minimum of 365m along strike to the east and west using saprolite auger gold and pathfinder element geochemistry, and remains open. The high-grade zone is associated with box-worked (after sulphide) quartz veins in the widening segment of the vein. The position corresponds to a prominent demagnetized corridor which parallels the trend of Cabral's MG (Moreira Gomes) deposit, located 1km to the south. The Quebra Bunda target and its structural extensions have not previously been drill-tested, with the nearest historical drilling 1km away. Drilling update Six diamond drill holes have so far been completed on the initial high grade Machichie target at Cuiu Cuiu where surface sampling has returned values of 52.5 g/t gold over 0.9m and 23.8 g/t gold over 1.35m. Individual grab samples have returned values up to 356 g/t gold. The targeted structures have never been drill tested. Of the six holes completed thus far at Machichie, five holes were drilled from three locations over an E-W strike length of 275m to test the central part of the main Machichie structure. One of the five holes was lost at 40.5m depth and a subsequent hole was successfully drilled from the same location. The sixth hole targeted one of a series of NE trending structures, converging from the SW towards the main E-W trending structure at Machichie, where surface sampling returned values of 19.2 g/t gold. Laboratory results are pending on all of the above holes. Drilling is currently in progress at the Machichie East target where a significant Cu-Mo-Au anomaly has been identified from a program of shallow auger drilling. Quebra Bunda target The Quebra Bunda target is situated 1km to the north of Cabral's MG resource (Figure 1). It is located in a geological domain adjacent to the NW trending Tocantinzinho Lineament where the Company has recently defined several new high-grade gold targets from rock chip and channel sampling programs[1]. This prospective crustal block is associated with multiple parallel E-W trending structures, marked by corridors of demagnetization in the otherwise strongly magnetic granite basement. These structures are largely concealed beneath soil and transported cover. The artisanal workings locally penetrate the cover sequence and provide useful windows into the basement for sampling. Figure 1: Location of Quebra Bunda in relation to target areas under evaluation for exploration and resource development in the Cuiu Cuiu Project area To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3900/42767_eb934021e4fbebeb_002full.jpg The Quebra Bunda artisanal working is marked by an area where the modern alluvial drainage has been more intensively processed. It is located on the northern flank of a prominent E-W trending magnetic low (Figure 2). Historical surface soil geochemistry has defined anomalous areas in the range of 50 - 308 ppb Au along the projection of the E-W structure, and along NE-trending structures to the south which converge into the E-W trend (Figure 2). The peak soil anomaly in the vicinity of the Quebra Bunda prospect is 244 ppb Au. Figure 2: Location of the Quebra Bunda rock chip and auger samples in relation to the E-W demagnetised corridor To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3900/42767_eb934021e4fbebeb_003full.jpg A recent program of auger drilling in the area was designed to test for saprolite gold mineralization along the demagnetized corridor and returned a highly anomalous auger sample result of 177 ppb Au approximately 200m east of the Quebra Bunda prospect. A follow up line of auger sampling 175m to the west, returned anomalous gold colors in panned samples as well as abundant fine pyrite grains suggesting the Quebra Bunda structure extends over a minimum strike extent of 365m and is open to the east and west. The sample was anomalous in lead (a pathfinder element to mineralization) and is interpreted to have intersected the alteration halo of the structure. The auger drilling indicates the presence of a transported palaeovalley sequence covering the structural extensions. The palaeovalley sediments are believed to be subduing the surface geochemical response. The under-cover structural trend is open beyond the limit of auger drilling. The original alluvial workings date from the 1970's when gold was worked in the sediments manually by hand panning and sluicing. Recently, the pit was temporarily dewatered by the artisanal miners to access remnant alluvial material, which provided an opportunity for the Company to better access the available exposures of weathered bedrock on the southern side wide wall, where a subvertical shear zone had been identified. Channel sampling in the narrower upper part of the structure indicated the structure was gold-anomalous (0.12 - 0.25 g/t Au). The recognition of any mineralized structure in conjunction with alluvial workings in the Tapajos requires careful evaluation given the discovery history of deposits such as the Palito mine where high-grade structures can taper to have quite subtle surface expressions. The pit, when dewatered, provided an opportunity to view a better vertical section of the shear. The shear expanded to a width of 1m at depth and contained an increasing abundance of iron-staining and box-worked quartz veins (Figure 3). A composite rock chip sample across this lower part of the vein returned an exceptionally high-grade result of 3,727 g/t Au (119.8 oz/t Au). Figure 3: Quebra Bunda E-W shear zone. High-grade mineralization detected in the composite rock chip sample is associated with the zone of box-worked quartz veins outlined in the down-dip sector of structure To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3900/42767_4021e4fbebeb_07full.jpg The east-west trend of the vein trends parallel to the demagnetized zone. The closest drilling along the strike of the trend is located over a kilometer away, to the west at the Ivo prospect. Peak drill results from historical drilling at Ivo included 6.1m @ 3.4 g/t Au, but much of the drilling has been directed into a WNW-trending splay off the main structure. Hole CC_172_12, which traversed part of the magnetic low to the east, displayed strong hematite alteration to the limit of the drilling. The mineralized structures in the district display transitions from hematite to quartz-sericite alteration along and across strike. Alan Carter, President & CEO commented "We are encouraged by the drilling thus far at Cuiu Cuiu and the initial Machichie target and look forward to receiving the drill results. The recent results from the Quebra Bunda target, which is located 1km north of the Moreira Gomes deposit, also highlight the prospectivity of the E-W structural trends at Cuiu Cuiu and add further credence to the potential for high- grade mineralization associated with prominent E-W trends observed in the geophysical data". About Cabral Gold Inc. The Company is a junior resource company engaged in the identification, exploration and development of mineral properties, with a primary focus on gold properties located in Brazil. The Company owns the Cuiu Cuiu gold project, which covers the largest of the historical placer gold camps in the Tapajos region of northern Brazil, having yielded an estimated 2MMoz of gold from the overall 20-30MMoz gold produced during the Tapajos gold rush. Placer workings cover over 850ha on the property but are largely exhausted. The few remaining artisanal workers now process gold from palaeo-valley placer deposits and in places exploit high-grade gold mineralization from quartz veins in saprolite (shallow highly weathered bedrock). In 2018, Cabral reported an updated NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate totalling 5.9MM tonnes grading 0.9 g/t Au (Indicated) and 19.5MM tonnes grading 1.2 g/t Au (Inferred), or 0.2MM ounces and 0.8MM ounces of gold, respectively. That estimate was based on four deposits drilled prior to the cessation of exploration in 2012. The Company's current program is designed to improve understanding and expand existing prospects, evaluate newly identified discoveries, prioritize drill targets, and to build upon the existing resource inventory. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Alan Carter President and Chief Executive Officer Cabral Gold Inc. Tel: 604.676.5660 Email: info@cabralgold.com Website: www.cabralgold.com Dr. Adrian McArthur, B.Sc. Hons, PhD. FAusIMM., a consultant to the Company as well as a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-looking Statements This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively "forward-looking statements"). The use of the words "will", "expected" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon. This news release contains forward-looking statements and assumptions pertaining to the following: strategic plans and future operations, and results of exploration. Actual results achieved may vary from the information provided herein as a result of numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors. The Company believes the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct. Notes Composite rock chip samples are taken across vein structures along a horizontal level to produce a samples typically 3 - 5 kg in weight, and are taken where rock competency or access constraints prevent the channel sampling technique with a trenching tool. Samples are sent to SGS for preparation (method code PRP102_E - crushing to 3mm, quartering, and pulverising to produce a 250-300g pulp with 95% passing 150 mesh). Gold analysis has been conducted by SGS method FAA505 (fire assay of 50g charge). The high grade sample was checked by FAA525 (reported value). Analytical quality is monitored by certified references and blanks. Until dispatch, samples are stored under the supervision the Company's exploration office. The samples are couriered to the assay laboratory using a commercial contractor. Pulps are returned to the Company and archived. Under the agreement with the Cuiu Cuiu condominium, local artisanal operators can process mineralization to a depth of 30m, unless otherwise negotiated. Historical drilling results are reported as down-hole length weighted intersections unless otherwise stated. [1] See Cabral Press releases dated March 21, 2018, June 19, 2018 and July 19, 2018 To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42767 Allows cannabis growers access to both systems for accurate and rapid status reports Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 12, 2019) - Braingrid Limited (CSE: BGRD) ("Braingrid") (braingrid.io) a global provider of affordable, scalable, and easy-to-deploy sensor platforms for precision agriculture is pleased to announce that its subsidiary Braingrid Corporation has entered into an Integration Agreement with Cannabis OneFive, Inc. ("C15") a technology partner for Veeva Systems Inc. focused on a modern unified Quality Management System ("QMS") and Document Management System, bringing compliance and quality together for the global cannabis sector. Pursuant to the terms of the Integration Agreement, the parties will make use of Braingrid's Application Programming Interfaces ("APIs") in conjunction with C15's interfaces to enable C15 to provide additional functionality for users of its products or to integrate access to certain Braingrid products into C15's product offerings and for Braingrid to be able to have a bundled product offering with C15's QMS. Braingrid's versatile and quick-to-install data acquisition and sensor integration platform for cannabis cultivators captures real-time data needed to increase revenues, reduce costs and risks. The system inexpensively connects cultivators to their grow on a microclimate level. Braingrid is also developing systems utilizing data science, machine learning and AI to deliver "smart" controls and building management solutions for the precision agriculture and energy efficiency sectors. "C15 is the latest cannabis service provider to join the Braingrid family of great companies providing essential quality services to cannabis growers," said Michael Kadonoff, CEO and founder of Braingrid. "Growers who use the combined Braingrid and C15 systems will appreciate the ease and efficiency of the combined critical grow information and paperless document control at their fingertips" he continued. C15 utilizes the Veeva "QualityOne" cloud based QMS and document control system adopted by over 650 global pharmaceutical companies, tailored for the Canadian cannabis landscape. "Having Braingrid's data and analytics shown right on our customer's screen is a huge advantage for our growers who are intent of making immediate decisions that can save crops from a mold outbreak," said Scott Samuel CEO of C15. He added: "C15's user friendly automated design will integrate seamlessly with Braingrid's enhanced user interface". Contacts: Braingrid Limited Doug Harris Chief Financial Officer doug@braingrid.io 416.480.2488 Cannabis OneFive, Inc. Scott Samuel CEO scott.samuel@cannabisonefive.com 416.543.2496 About Braingrid Braingrid Limited (braingrid.io) is a global technology company that provides an affordable, versatile and quick-to-install data acquisition and sensor integration platform for cannabis cultivators. Capturing real-time data needed to increase revenues, reduce costs and risks, and connecting cultivators to their grow on a microclimate level, Braingrid is also developing systems utilizing data science, machine learning and AI to deliver "smart" controls and building management solutions for the precision agriculture and energy efficiency sectors. About Cannabis OneFive Cannabis OneFive, Inc. ("C15") is a technology partner of Veeva Systems Inc. ("Veeva" www.industries.veeva.com). C15's customer base includes cultivators (large and small cap, domestic and international), licensed dealers, and processors. C15 brings expertise and a laser focus on the cannabis industry along with the rights to sell, configure and customize QualityOne, BrandOne (claims management) and Vault CTMS (clinical trial management). The C15 Veeva QualityOne cloud application is globally compliant with FDA 21 CFR Part 11; EU GMP Annex 11, and Cannabis Act regulations. C15's mission is to digitally transform quality and compliance in the cannabis sector. FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This news release includes forward-looking information and statements, which may include, but are not limited to, information and statements regarding or inferring the future business, operations, financial performance, prospects, and other plans, intentions, expectations, estimates, and beliefs of Braingrid and C15. Information and statements which are not purely historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information and statements involve and are subject to assumptions and known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual events, results, performance, or achievements of Braingrid and C15 to be materially different from future events, results, performance, and achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking information and statements herein. Such forward looking statements include statements regarding the potential benefits of integrating the Braingrid and C15 technology. Although Braingrid and C15 believe that any forward-looking information and statements herein are reasonable, in light of the use of assumptions and the significant risks and uncertainties inherent in such information and statements, there can be no assurance that any such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, and accordingly readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such risks and uncertainties and should not place undue reliance upon such forward-looking information and statements. Any forward-looking information and statements herein are made as of the date hereof, and except as required by applicable laws, Braingrid and C15 assume no obligation and disclaim any intention to update or revise any forward-looking information and statements herein or to update the reasons that actual events or results could or do differ from those projected in any forward-looking information and statements herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this news release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42778 Financialnewsmedia.com News Commentary PALM BEACH, Florida, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers in the UK have developed a new strain of cannabis that could help treat psychosis. Recently, a British researcher, Dr. David Potter and his team, have turned their attention to developing a cannabis-based treatment for psychosis and related illnesses such as schizophrenia. "The most well-known ingredient in cannabis that gets people high is THC [or tetrahydrocannabinol]," says Potter, "But THC is just one of dozens of potentially useful cannabinoids in the plant." Cannabinoids are chemicals that act on the brain's cannabinoid receptors, part of a system that regulates a variety of physiological processes including pain sensation, mood, memory and appetite. Purified CBD has been shown to have antipsychotic and anti-anxiety effects and can lessen the psychotic symptoms normally experienced by people given high doses of THC. Research by the University College London also suggests that people who smoke cannabis rich in CBD are less likely to experience "schizophrenia-like symptoms" than those who smoke cannabis containing only THC. The origins of modern cannabis can be traced to California in the late 1970s, when professional breeders began to select the most potent, THC-rich plants for the first time. In the quest to make ever stronger cannabis, illicit growers may have inadvertently bred out a chemical (CBD) that protected the mental health of users in the past. Active companies in the markets this week include The Yield Growth Corp. (CSE:BOSS) (OTC:BOSQF), Aphria Inc. (NYSE: APHA) (TSX:APHA), The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc. (TSX-V: FIRE) (OTC: SPRWF), MedMen Enterprises Inc. (CSE: MMEN) (OTC: MMNFF), The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (TSX:TGOD) (OTC: TGODF). Cannabis treatment is effective for chronic pain and nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy, according to a 2017 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Chronic pain is the most common reason given for medical marijuana prescriptions in the U.S., and chronic pain affects an estimated 100 million Americans, according to an article in healthaffairs.org. According to Statista, in 2018, legal sales of cannabis amounted to nearly 10 billion U.S. dollars, and sales are projected to be over $16 billion in 2021, of which the State of Oregon is expected to account for almost $1 billion. The Yield Growth Corp. (CSE:BOSS) (OTCPK:BOSQF) BREAKING NEWS: Yield Growth Corp is pleased to announce that it has finalized product formulations and selected all THC and CBD strains for its first 9 products to launch in Oregon through a 400 retail distribution network. Pursuant to its agreement with a licensed cannabis processing facility in Oregon, Yield Growth subsidiary UJ Topicals' branded products will be launching in the Oregon legal cannabis market. The products include CBD and THC oils, Analgesic Topical Gel with THC and CBD, Pain Balm with THC and CBD, Massage Oil with THC and CBD, and 3 types of capsules containing THC and Ayurvedic herbal formulations, blended with ingredients that have been used to treat arthritis and chronic pain. All of the cannabis topical products have been formulated based on Urban Juve proprietary formulas, for which 11 provisional patents have been filed in the U.S. "We have formulated our products with very high concentrations of THC and CBD for maximum effect," says Penny Green, CEO of The Yield Growth Corp. "It's our hope that Oregon residents will embrace our cannabis products as viable treatments for chronic pain." Read this and more news for The Yield Growth Corp. at: https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-boss Other recent developments and major influences in the healthcare/biotech industry include: The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc. (TSX-V: FIRE) (OTCQX: SPRWF) recently announced that it has received approval from The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") of New York to make the Company's shares DTC eligible. DTC is a subsidiary of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, a U.S. company that manages the electronic clearing and settlement of publicly traded companies. Securities that are eligible to be electronically cleared and settled through DTC are considered to be "DTC eligible". This electronic method of clearing securities speeds up the receipt of stock and cash, and thus accelerates the settlement process for certain investors. "DTC eligibility greatly simplifies the process of trading our common stock in the United States, further improving our investment appeal south of the border," said Navdeep Dhaliwal, CEO of Supreme Cannabis. Aphria Inc. (TSX: APHA) (NYSE: APHA) the company recently announced the appointment of Brett D. Marchand as Senior Vice President of Supply Chain effective February 11, 2019 . Previously, Mr. Marchand was Vice President of Supply Chain and Logistics Canada at The Northwest Company ("NWC") where he was responsible for overseeing a supply network that supported 140 remote access retail grocery and general merchandise stores across Canada's North. "I am pleased to welcome Brett, a distinguished veteran and highly accomplished leader, into the Aphria family," said Jakob Ripshtein, President of Aphria. "Brett's tenure in similar roles across a broad scale of growth-focused companies has led to an impressive record of optimizing corporate operational strategies and maximizing profitability. The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (TSX:TGOD.TO) (OTCQX: TGODF) the company recently announced that it had secured a cannabis supply agreement with the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation. " Ontario has the largest population in Canada and is a critical component to TGOD's national recreational rollout," commented Brian Athaide , Director and CEO. "This represents the first of many provincial supply agreements planned for our premium organic product as our domestic facilities near completion and production increases throughout 2019." MedMen Enterprises Inc. (CSE:MMEN.CN) (OTCQX: MMNFF) recently, the company announced that it has closed its previously announced acquisition (the "Acquisition") of Seven Point, a licensed medical cannabis dispensary located in the historic Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois. Pursuant to the Acquisition, the Company paid a combination of cash at closing, deferred cash and subordinate voting shares of MedMen, for an undisclosed total amount. DISCLAIMER: FN Media Group LLC (FNM), which owns and operates Financialnewsmedia.com and MarketNewsUpdates.com, is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein. 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Media Contact: editor@financialnewsmedia.com +1(561)325-8757 Will Assist in Defining Targets for Future Drilling INCLINE VILLAGE, NV / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / LithiumOre (http://lithiumore.net) (the "Company"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oroplata Resources, Inc. (OTCQB: ORRP), a lithium resource exploration and development company, today announced it has initiated a geophysical survey to determine the presence and depth of conductive and potentially lithium brine-bearing strata. Doug Cole, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LithiumOre, commented, "We are excited with our progress in Railroad Valley and look forward to working with Zonge International. Our 2019 goals are centered upon advancing our exploration developments and effectively communicating our progress with our shareholders and the investing public, which includes improving our capital markets positioning by uplisting to a major exchange." The exercise encompasses an 11.8-kilometer Magnetotelluric ("MT") geophysical survey with Zonge International Inc. (http://zonge.com), a geophysical services and equipment resource for geoscientists and project managers in exploration, research, geotechnical and environmental engineering worldwide. The survey will consist of two MT profiles to determine the presence and depth of conductive and potentially lithium brine-bearing strata. The survey covers the deepest part of the Railroad Valley Basin as defined by gravity and historic oil wells Data will be correlated and combined with existing gravity, seismic, and oil well geophysical surveys to refine targets for future drilling. Magnetotellurics (MT) is a natural-source electromagnetic geophysical technique that measures the resistivity of the subsurface. MT is uniquely suited for either very deep exploration purposes or for exploration in extremely conductive terrains. Lithium brines are, by their nature, very conductive and are a good target for MT applications. Made in America, LithiumOre holds 1,300 lithium mineral claims, totaling 26,000 acres, located in Railroad Valley of Nye County, Nevada. Railroad Valley is approximately 112 miles northeast of Clayton Valley and can be accessed by paved highway directly from U.S. Route 6. Railroad Valley is one of Nevada's largest trapped basins and is noted to hold all the necessary commercial and engineering prerequisites for a massive lithium brine deposit. The Company's claims have been evaluated by experts and the BLM and are in planned on-site exploration. LithiumOre, Corp. LithiumOre (http://lithiumore.net), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oroplata Resources, Inc. (OTCQB: ORRP), is a lithium resource exploration and development company, whose primary focus is the establishment of a low cost, long life proved production base to supply the rapidly growing and currently flourishing lithium-ion battery industry for both mobile devises and laptops, as well as the burgeoning EV (electronic vehicle) industry. LithiumOre is focused on becoming a substantial, profitable lithium producer via the timely development of valuable production-grade lithium brine deposits in Nevada. For more information, please visit: http://lithiumore.net Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, including those with respect to the expected project economics for Western Nevada Basin (Railroad Valley), including estimates of life of mine, average production, cash costs, AISC, initial CAPEX, sustaining CAPEX, pre-tax IRR, pre-tax NPV, net cash flows and recovery rates, the impact of self-mining versus contract mining, the timing to obtain necessary permits, the submission of the project for final investment approval and the timing of initial gold production after investment approval and full financing, metallurgy and processing expectations, the mineral resource estimate, expectations regarding the ability to expand the mineral resource through future drilling, ongoing work to be conducted at the Western Nevada Basin (Railroad Valley), and the potential results of such efforts, the potential commissioning of a Pre-Feasibility study and the effects on timing of the project, are "forward-looking statements." Although the Company's management believes that such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee that such expectations are, or will be, correct. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Company's future results to differ materially from those anticipated. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, interpretations or reinterpretations of geologic information, unfavorable exploration results, inability to obtain permits required for future exploration, development or production, general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries in which the Company operates; the uncertainty of regulatory requirements and approvals; fluctuating mineral and commodity prices, final investment approval and the ability to obtain necessary financing on acceptable terms or at all. Additional information regarding the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements is available in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2017. The Company assumes no obligation to update any of the information contained or referenced in this press release. Contact Information Hayden IR Stephen Hart (917) 658-7878 hart@haydenir.com SOURCE: Oroplata Resources View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535043/LithiumOre-Initiates-Geophysical-Survey-for-Lithium CHICAGO, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Live Cell Imaging Market by Product (Instruments, Consumables, Software, Services), Application (Cell Biology, Stem Cells, Drug Discovery), End User (Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies, Research Institutes) - Global Forecasts to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Live Cell Imaging Market is expected to reach USD 2.9 billion by 2023 from an estimated USD 1.9 billion in 2018, at a CAGR of 8.9% during the forecast period (2018-2023). Don't miss out on business opportunities in Live Cell Imaging Market The growing adoption of high-content screening techniques in drug discovery, rising incidence of cancer, and the growth in funding for research are the major factors driving the growth of the global Live Cell Imaging Market. However, factors such as the high cost of high-content screening systems and the shortage of skilled professionals are expected to restrain the growth of this market during the forecast period. The instruments segment accounted for the largest share of the market in 2018 On the basis of product and service, the global Live Cell Imaging Market is segmented into instruments, consumables, software, and services. In 2018, the instruments segment accounted for the largest share of the Live Cell Imaging Market. Factors such as the launch of new and advanced instruments, increasing incidence of diseases, and rising government initiatives and awareness programs for promoting cell-based research are the major factors driving the demand for Live Cell Imaging instruments. Browse in-depth TOC on "Live Cell Imaging Market" 88 - Tables 38 - Figures 158 - Pages Get 10% Free Customization on this Report: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestCustomizationNew.asp?id=163914483 The academic & research institutes segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period On the basis of end user, the Live Cell Imaging Market is segmented into pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies, academic & research institutes, and contract research organizations (CROs). The academic & research institutes segment is expected to grow at a higher CAGR during the forecast period. The high growth in this segment can be attributed to the increasing focusing of academic and research institutes on strengthening their own drug discovery research programs coupled with rising government funding to support research and advancing scientific goals. North America dominated the Live Cell Imaging Market in 2018 North America is expected to dominate the Live Cell Imaging Market in 2018. The large share of the North America Live Cell Imaging Market can primarily be attributed to the availability of government funding for life science research, drug development regulations, advances in Live Cell Imaging techniques, growth in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, and the rising incidence of cancer. Inquiry Before Buying: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_BuyingNew.asp?id=163914483 The key players in the Live Cell Imaging Market are Danaher Corporation (US), Carl Zeiss AG (Germany), Nikon Corporation (Japan), Olympus Corporation (Japan), PerkinElmer, Inc. (US), GE Healthcare (US), Bruker Corporation (US), Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (US), Sartorius AG (Germany), BioTek Instruments (US), Etaluma, Inc. (US), CytoSMART Technologies (Netherlands), and NanoEnTek Inc. (Korea). Browse Adjacent Markets: Biotechnology Market Research Reports & Consulting About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Shelly Singh MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/live-cell-imaging-market.asp Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com WATERLOO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / SponsorsOne Inc., (CSE: SPO) (FRA: 5SO) the company that makes small brands BIG by building large, engaged and authentic influencer communities that buy and support the Brands they love, is pleased to announce it has developed a complete direct-to-consumer platform for processors of CBD in the USA. Higher margins, along with direct engagement with the customers create a sustainable long-term opportunity for these emerging CBD Brands. SponsorsOne takes a partnership approach and doesn't receive any upfront fees. As a true partner to the Brand, we only get paid when a product sale occurs, so we are investing alongside the Brand and sharing in the risk while bringing our brand-building expertise to the table. "We have developed a unique method of storytelling that engages the direct consumer market by telling the Brand's story within social media," states Myles Bartholomew, CEO of SponsorsOne Inc. "We build large influencer communities that buy a lot of product." Under a Brand Development Agreement, SponsorsOne will collaborate with the CBD Processor to develop a direct-to-consumer strategy, identify the target market and create the messaging. We will work together to create the branding, e-commerce website, build the influencer market and generate the creative content that tells the Brand story over social media. Further, SponsorsOne will manage the social media accounts for the Brand and interact daily with the influencers to continually engage with their followers and drive sales to the Brand's e-commerce site. SponsorsOne is looking to form long-term relationships with major CBD Processors. By leveraging SponsorsOne's proprietary micro-influencer platform called SponsorCoin, along with our content development capability, we believe we can build the first $1 billion online CBD brand in the USA. A sample e-commerce site can be viewed at www.gonutraceuticals.store and CBD producers can reach us by going to www.sponsorsone.com and click the CBD link to inquire. About SponsorsOne: SponsorsOne is the leader in the next evolution of digital marketing through storytelling and digital-commerce with the SponsorCoin platform and its highly scalable digital - smart contract based digital-currency. Combined, this allows Brands to build and manage exclusive and highly engaged communities of micro-influencers within the social realm. The SponsorCoin platform provides for data-driven marketing campaigns that will change the way brands connect to their customers and to compensate the consumer for authentic engagement using the SponsorCoin digital currency. SponsorCoin is a tool for brands to inspire real movements around their products and services in which their most valuable customers become their best salespeople, producing far higher ROI than current social media advertising methods. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Gary Bartholomew, Executive Chairman To learn more, please visit www.sponsorsone.com The Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this Press Release. Forward-Looking Statements This news 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 news 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. 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 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 marketing and sale of securities; the need for additional financing requirements and access to capital, reliance on key personnel; the potential for conflicts of interest among certain officers or directors with certain other projects; the volatility of the volume and price of the Common Shares, the failure of the business strategy, the integrity of the Company's patents and proprietary intellectual property and competition. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of risk 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. 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, including the risk factors, set out in the Company's Listing Statement. The Company has assumed a certain progression, which may not be realized. It has also assumed that the material factors referred to above will not cause such forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from actual results or events. THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS NEWS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE COMPANY AS OF THE DATE OF THIS NEWS 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 SECURITIES LEGISLATION. SOURCE: SponsorsOne Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535062/SponsorsOne-Set-to-Build-the-First-Direct-to-Consumer-Billion-Dollar-CBD-Brand-in-the-USA TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / Rockcliff Metals Corporation ("Rockcliff" or the "Company") (TSX.V: RCLF) (FRANKFURT: RO0, WKN: A2H60G) is pleased to announce the signing of the formal Purchase Agreement with RNC Minerals (TSX: RNX) ("RNC") to acquire fourteen properties (the "Acquisitions") located in Snow Lake, Manitoba. The Acquisitions from RNC's wholly-owned subsidiary, VMS Ventures Inc., call for the issuance of 2,250,000 common shares of Rockcliff to RNC. Red Cloud Klondike Strike Inc. acted as financial advisor to Rockcliff. Rockcliff has the largest junior property portfolio in the Flin Flon-Snow Lake greenstone belt ("Belt") which is the largest Paleoproterozoic VMS district (copper, gold, zinc, silver) in the world and also contains gold mines and deposits. Please view Figure 1 below for the location of Rockcliff's property portfolio. Figure 1: Rockcliff's Property Portfolio coloured in yellow (RNC's acquisitions) and purple located in the Flin Flon-Snow Lake greenstone belt. The Acquisitions The Acquisitions are subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange. About Rockcliff Metals Corporation Rockcliff is a Canadian resource exploration company focused on base metals, gold and royalties in the Snow Lake area of Manitoba, Canada. Rockcliff is the largest junior landholder in the Flin Flon-Snow Lake greenstone belt which is home to the largest Paleoproterozoic volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VMS) district (copper, gold, zinc, silver) in the world and also contains gold mines and deposits. Its extensive portfolio of properties totals over 4,000 square kilometres. It includes nine of the highest-grade undeveloped VMS deposits and 5 lode-gold properties including the historic Rex-Laguna gold mine, Manitoba's first and highest-grade gold mine. For more information, please visit http://rockcliffmetals.com. Twitter: @RockcliffMetals Facebook: Rockcliff Metals Corporation For further information, please contact: Rockcliff Metals Corporation Ken Lapierre, P. Geo President & CEO Cell: (647) 678-3879 Off: (416) 644-1752 ken@rockcliffmetals.com CHF Capital Markets Cathy Hume, CEO Off: (416) 868-1079 ext. 231 cathy@chfir.com Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from the historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements contained in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward-looking. Although Rockcliff believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. SOURCE: Rockcliff Metals Corporation View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535013/Rockcliff-Signs-Final-Agreement-to-Further-Solidify-the-Prolific-Snow-Lake-Camp Kore.ai's enterprise-centric approach is built on its open and extensible platform and end-to-end bot lifecycle management capabilities SANTA CLARA, California, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the global conversational artificial intelligence (AI) platform market for financial services, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Kore.ai, Inc. with the 2018 Global Growth Excellence Leadership Award. The company's leadership identified the potential of bots when it was still an emerging technology and quickly launched an end-to-end, enterprise-grade conversational AI bots platform for the financial services sector. The platform reflects Kore.ai's vision to transform global enterprises digitally so that they can automate routine processes and tasks across the ecosystem of employees, partners, customers, and stakeholders. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/819664/Frost_Sullivan_Kore_ai_Award.jpg "Kore.ai is aware that innovation is key to its vision to sustain growth and remain relevant in the rapidly developing market," said Deepali Sathe, Senior Industry Analyst. "The company's focus on innovation and frequent updates displays its focus on striving to remain relevant to customer needs. Additionally Kore.ai is expanding its presence across the globe and its multi-language processing capabilities can be expected to add further impetus to their growth plans. Conversational AI has potential to enhance customer experience and help companies optimize their resources, and Kore.ai is well placed to take advantage of the emerging opportunities." "Kore.ai has consistently set the tone for greater adoption of conversational AI by foreseeing the demands of the market," observed Kore.ai's Founder and CEO Raj Koneru. "Our clients appreciate the comprehensiveness and market readiness of our platform, while leading industry analysts have researched and validated our rich feature set for specific industry needs. We are honored to receive Frost & Sullivan's recognition for our contribution toward financial services industry," Raj explained. The company's intelligent virtual enterprise assistant, Kora, is expected to attract considerable interest upon its launch in 2019. In addition, Kore.ai is working on another product called searchbot to help enterprises leverage bundled conversational AI and search to enhance efficiency and productivity. In its most recent 6.3.0 release in December 2018, Kore.ai enhanced the adaptability of its conversational AI platform by making it more open and extensible for efficient integration with global enterprise systems. Furthermore, the company aims to offer a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform to address the needs of mid-market customers. In the current financial sector, one of the biggest challenges for banks is customer engagement. Conversational AI bots can help companies continue dialog with digital consumers. Kore.ai's platform offers specific features that aid in provisioning or de-provisioning, onboarding, which is important in view of the emphasis on security in the financial sector. Flexible pricing models such as license fee-based and usage-based options are appreciated by customers. Kore.ai's proprietary platform is equipped with application programming interfaces (APIs), messaging middleware, modules for bot connectors, and capabilities for speech recognition through integrations. Cross-functional teams can develop and deploy multi-language bots using in-built natural language processing (NLP) engines, conversational dialog management, messaging middleware, and enterprise backend integration. "As AI adoption gathers speed among Fortune 500 companies, Kore.ai, with its suite of conversational AI products and services, is set to experience a surge in growth. The company, already well established in North America and Europe, is looking to expand in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, India, and the Middle East. It has also developed a large partner ecosystem to penetrate a variety of global markets," noted Sathe. "Kore.ai's focus technology with a proprietary platform underlines its commitment to staying ahead of the curve and positions it for accelerated growth in the future." Each year, Frost & Sullivan bestows this award upon the company that demonstrates excellence in growth and customer value. The award recognizes the superiority of the product/service as well as the overall customer, purchase, ownership, and service experience offered, which results in the recipient company seeing above-market growth. In addition, the award lauds the company's growth, diversification, and sustainability strategies. Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analyses, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry. About Kore.ai, Inc. Kore.ai is a preferred conversational AI partner for Global 2000 companies. It provides an enterprise-grade, end-to-end conversational AI platform available on-premise/cloud for building secure, smart, conversational and quick-to-market bots. Kore.ai has repeatedly won global analyst acclaim and was most recently featured in Gartner Market Guide 2018 for Conversational Platforms,IDC Innovators: Conversational AI Software Platforms 2018 and Everest Group's Conversing with AI - Intelligent Virtual Agents Market Report 2019. About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, collaborates with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, Frost & Sullivan has been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector, and the investment community. Contact us: Start the discussion . Contact: Kristen Moore P: 210.247.3823 F: 210.348.1003 E: kristen.moore@frost.com Karthik G E: karthik.gandrajupalli@kore.com Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 12, 2019) -AXMIN Inc. (TSXV: AXM) ("AXMIN" or the "Company") notes the following news release. On Saturday February 2, 2019 the Government of the CAR announced on social media that an agreement for peace had been made at the talks taking place in Khartoum. The Government stated that the agreement would be initialed on Sunday February 3, 2019 and thereafter it was signed in Bangui on February 6th. The agreement comes after discussions that were facilitated in Khartoum by the African Union and the Untied Nations with assistance from Russia. The key points of this agreement are: An immediate cessation of violence by the armed groups against defence and security forces, UN personnel, humanitarian workers and the general population. The armed groups will respect the legitimacy of the CAR's institutions and will disband. The Government will analyse the reintegration of the leaders of the armed groups who previously served as civil servants or in the military. The Government will set up a Truth, Justice, Reparation and Reconciliation Commission within 90 days. The parties to the agreement will undertake to set up mixed security units that will include both the defence and security forces as well as former members of the armed groups. A Prime Minister will be appointed drawn from a representative of the former armed groups. The former armed groups will have the right to start political parties without hinderance. Ambassador Smail Chergui, the African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security stated on social media: I am humbled to announce that with the exemplary cooperation I received from both the Government of the CAR(@GouvCF) and the 14 armed groups, we have secured a peace agreement today in the interest of the people of CAR. Separately on Thursday January 31, 2019 the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously on a resolution drafted by France that provides for a roadmap to lift the arms embargo on the CAR. This resolution states that the Council will establish requisite benchmarks by April 30, 2019 and will assess progress on these benchmarks by July 31, 2019. The Council will then review the arms embargo measures by September 30,2019. The resolution welcomes 'the significant efforts made by the CAR authorities' to advance security sector reform, including by developing a national defense plan and national security policy. This resolution acknowledged 'the urgent need for the CAR authorities to train and equip their defense and security forces to be able to respond proportionately to threats to the security of all citizens in the CAR.' The Council stated that it had granted several exemptions to allow shipments of weapons from France, Russia, China, the United States and Belgium for the CAR's army. AXMIN's Chairman and CEO Lucy Yan sated: AXMIN is delighted to hear that a peace agreement has been reached in Khartoum and hope that this agreement will be honored and bring security and stability to the CAR. The Company believes that the combination of the agreement together with the eventual lifting of the arms embargo should provide both the framework for stability and also the effective method of enforcement by equipping and deploying the military forces of the Government of the CAR. We look forward to being back on site and working on developing the Passendro asset as soon as conditions allow in the near future. A further press release regarding the security situation in Ndassima, the location of the Company's Passendro asset, will be made when appropriate to do so. About AXMIN AXMIN is a Canadian exploration and development company with a strong focus on the African continent. AXMIN continues to closely monitor the political situation at its Passendro Gold Project in the Central African Republic. For more information regarding AXMIN visit our website at www.axmininc.com. Please also follow us on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/axmininc For additional information, please contact AXMIN Inc.: Lucy Yan Chairman and CEO ceo@axmininc.com AXMIN Inc. General Enquiries David de Jongh Weill Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary david@axmininc.com +65 9781 8281 Investor Relations ir@axmininc.com www.axmininc.com This press release includes certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All information, other than statements of historical fact included herein, including without limitation, information regarding the future option grant plans and objectives of AXMIN, are forward-looking information that involves various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from AXMIN's expectations have been disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in AXMIN's documents filed from time-to-time with the TSX Venture Exchange and other regulatory authorities. AXMIN disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether resulting from new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. 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. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42776 VALLEY COTTAGE, New York, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Network Tester Market is likely to witness more than 12.5% Y-o-Y in 2019, after registering the global revenue roughly equating US$ 7 billion in 2018, according to a study of Future Market Insights (FMI). In the light of a promising landscape emerging for 5G network, the demand for network tester is likely to gain more prominence among telecom operators. The study opines that although a majority of network tester sales are concentrated toward qualification and certification testing requirements, network tester will witness spectacular growth in adoption for troubleshooting applications. Request a Sample Report of Network Tester Market: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8260 The report points to a few strong push factors associated with the expansion of network tester market - Increasing criticality of seamless, faster network connectivity across both business and government operations Widening expanse of the enterprise network infrastructure Significant reliance of datacom, telecom, and fiber optic network operators Elevating fiber to the home (FTTH) service deployment High potential opportunities residing in upcoming next-generation technologies such as VoLTE, and Li-Fi, besides 5G Brisk adoption of 4G LTE is prominently boosting network tester demand in Europe Request For Customization On This Report: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/customization-available/rep-gb-8260 Soaring installed base of FFTx (fiber to the X) mostly in form of FFTH (home), FFTP (remises), and FFTB (building) is cited as an important factor encouraging adoption of network tester, which is compelling leading manufacturers of network testers to invest efforts in R&D of low-cost, high-quality products. In line of the visibly growing demand for portable network tester, manufacturers are focusing on introducing high-performance, high-efficiency products in network tester market. Sales of fluke network tester accounted for the revenue of around US$ 3 billion in 2018, followed by ideal network tester. Accounting for over 45% share in the total revenue of network tester market, qualification testing applications fuel maximum sales of network tester. Popularly sought after qualification testers such as CableQ Qualification Tester that efficiently address cabling bandwidth issues within shorter time spans are further promising functionality of network testers for applications in qualification testing. While certification testing remains the second most popular application of network testers, the report clearly prompts at drastically growing adoption rate of network tester for troubleshooting that will possibly pose a break-neck competition to qualification testing network testers in the long run. Our advisory services are aimed at helping you with specific, customized insights that are relevant to your specific challenges. Let us know about your challenges and our trusted advisors will connect with you: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ask-the-analyst/rep-gb-8260 Certifications Gathering Attention from Network Tester Vendors The report suggests that the tightening regulatory standards governing quality and performance of network testers such as International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) among others will continue to pose a strong influence on network tester market growth. Some of these network testing parameters also play a decisive role in pricing of network tester, thereby shaping the overall scenario of network tester market. In an effort to stay competitive in global competition landscape of network tester market, companies are focusing on introducing innovative products. Certifications are gaining increasing importance among regional players, says the report. The US-based Fluke Networks recently announced launch of a new cable analyzer adapter for Versiv DSX-8000 that allows certification, following testing of the compliance of their ARJ45 and TERA system with ISO 11801. Based in Singapore , AEM also announced the ETL certification of their TestPro Multifunction Cable Network Tester that specifically tests Intertek's category 8 cabling system. Post receiving the CAT 6A certification, TestPro has recently become the fastest-ever network tester for cable network in the global market. , AEM also announced the ETL certification of their TestPro Multifunction Cable Network Tester that specifically tests Intertek's category 8 cabling system. Post receiving the CAT 6A certification, TestPro has recently become the fastest-ever network tester for cable network in the global market. To facilitate transmission and troubleshooting testing, IDEAL Networks recently announced the addition of touchscreens to their selective range of network testers. Browse More Testing Equipment Market Insights Popular Research Reports by FMI: LTE Testing Equipment Market: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/lte-testing-equipment-market Network Cable Tester Market: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/network-cable-tester-market Network Connectivity Tester Market: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/network-connectivity-tester-market About Us Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights and an aerial view of the competitive framework and future market trends. Contact Us 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 T (UK): + 44(0)20-7692--8790 Sales: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Press Office: Press@futuremarketinsights.com FMI Blog: https://www.fmiblog.com/ Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Company growth underscores strength of solution portfolio ipoque GmbH, a Rohde & Schwarz company providing market-leading deep packet inspection (DPI) software, today announced record growth in 2018, with three of the five leading virtualized evolved packet core (vEPC) vendors embedding ipoque's R&SPACE 2 into their solutions. To meet increased customer demands, ipoque grew its employee headcount by nearly 115 percent year-over-year, making significant additions to its development team. The company also expanded geographically, opening a new office in Berlin. ipoque's growth is a testament to its powerful solution set, designed to meet the market's most pressing needs. As concerns related to network subscriber intelligence and security heighten, ipoque enables users to secure superior traffic analytics and best manage network traffic via real-time monitoring and insights. In 2018, the company enhanced its product portfolio, updating: R&S INTRA to include flexible counting of subscriber traffic, enhanced analytics for encrypted traffic and custom classification group reports that allow customers to more easily understand protocol and application usage. to include flexible counting of subscriber traffic, enhanced analytics for encrypted traffic and custom classification group reports that allow customers to more easily understand protocol and application usage. R&S PACE 2 DPI to better support horizontal scalability as needed for large-scale distributed cloud environments, wide area networks (WAN) or probes in the core network as part of preparation for the emergence of 5G. ipoque's advanced suite of solutions not only appeals to the vEPC market, but also to communication service providers (CSPs) and network quality experts who want to build the highest quality end-user experiences possible. Increasingly, they are also being used for application performance intelligence purposes, as well as for support of internet security and parental controls. "2018 was a year of rapid growth and expansion for ipoque," said Dirk Czepluch, CEO of ipoque. "In the year ahead, we will continue to enhance our solution set focusing on driving the deployment and performance for full virtualization, especially with the emergence of 5G. We will also stay laser focused on building technical excellence in packet processing, traffic analytics and traffic management." For those interested in joining the ipoque team, visit the careers page. For more on ipoque, visit the company's website. About ipoque ipoque, a Rohde Schwarz company, is a leading vendor of deep packet inspection software that adds protocol and application classification capabilities to network analytics, traffic management and cybersecurity solutions. Rohde Schwarz also provides a holistic network traffic analytics system for communication service providers that allows deep insights into network behavior, network performance and trends to optimize both quality of experience and quality of service. For more information, visit ipoque.com. About Rohde Schwarz The Rohde Schwarz technology group develops, produces and markets innovative communications, information and security products for professional users. The group's test and measurement, broadcast and media, aerospace defense security, networks and cybersecurity business fields address many different industry and government-sector market segments. On June 30, 2018, Rohde Schwarz had approximately 11,500 employees. The independent group achieved a net revenue of approximately EUR 2 billion in the 2017/2018 fiscal year (July to June). The company has its headquarters in Munich, Germany. Internationally, it has subsidiaries in more than 70 countries, with regional hubs in Asia and America. R&S is a registered trademark of Rohde Schwarz GmbH Co. KG. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005449/en/ Contacts: Press contact: Christine Lorenz Phone: +49 341 5940 3062 E-mail: christine.lorenz@rohde-schwarz.com BINGEN, Wash., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Insitu Commercial Solutions (operating through Insitu Pacific Pty. Ltd.) recently conducted a series of aerial data collection operations in Papua New Guinea (PNG) after obtaining its first approval to undertake commercial Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) operations in the country. A "first" for Insitu Commercial Solutions, this activity also is a first for Papua New Guinea, with Insitu demonstrating proficiency and competence in becoming the primary contracted UAS operator in PNG. "The approval in late 2018 was a direct result of our global history of safe, professional operations and close collaboration with the regulators in PNG," said Andrew Duggan, vice president and managing director for Insitu Commercial Solutions. "Insitu Commercial has been working closely with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), PNG and other government regulatory bodies to demonstrate safe and effective integration of UAS into PNG airspace." Over several weeks, Insitu undertook multiple remote sensing activities with visual line of sight (VLOS) UAS in direct support of earthquake remediation activities for clients in the remote and challenging highlands regions. The advanced UAS Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and Photogrammetric sensors collected high resolution and accurate datasets that were processed to provide point cloud and imagery products. By having reliable and precise information delivered in a timely manner, these products enable Insitu's clients to make informed business decisions more rapidly than through conventional data collection means. "This achievement is a testament to the experience of our professional aviation staff in operating safely and effectively in some of the world's more remote, rugged locations," said Esina Alic, Insitu president and CEO. "This endorsement from CASA and PNG will not only mean Insitu is able to expand commercial service-based offerings throughout the Asia Pacific region, but it also will mean that PNG-based enterprise clients now can benefit from the remote sensing technologies that Insitu is providing to mining, oil and gas, environmental and government entities globally." About Insitu Insitu is an industry-leading provider of information for superior decision making. With its headquarters in Bingen, Wash., and offices in the U.S., U.K., and Australia, the company creates and supports unmanned systems and software technology that deliver end-to-end solutions for collecting, processing and understanding sensor data. We proudly serve the diverse needs of our global customers in the defense, government and commercial industries. To date, our systems have accumulated more than one million flight hours. Insitu is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company. For more information, visit insitu.com. Follow us on Vimeo, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Australia CONTACT: Rebecca Kind Insitu Communications +61 7 3182 4030 rebecca.kind@insitupacific.com United States CONTACT: Monica Golden Insitu Media Relations +1 509.637.6574 monica.golden@insitu.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/820663/insitu1.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/820664/insitu2.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/685528/INSITU_Logo.jpg AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SoftServe, a leading digital authority and consulting company, announces it achieved the Infrastructure Partner Specialization in the Google Cloud Premier Partner Program. SoftServe received this Infrastructure Specialization in addition to the Machine Learning Specialization achieved in December 2018. These Partner Specializations affirm SoftServe's expertise and success building customer solutions using Google Cloud Platform (GCP) technology. The Google Cloud Partner Specialization Program is designed to provide Google Cloud customers with qualified partners that demonstrate technical proficiency in specialized solution and service areas. Specifically, the Infrastructure Specialization demonstrates SoftServe's expertise in assisting customers to architect and build customers' Google Cloud Platform infrastructure, workflows, and migrate to Google Cloud Platform. "SoftServe has proven success in building customer workflows on Google Cloud Platform and seamlessly moving them to Google Cloud's secure cloud infrastructure where customers can effectively store, analyze, and optimize data for the future," said Volodymyr Yelchev, vice president, critical services at SoftServe. "This Infrastructure Specialization validates the hard work we do every day, as well as our commitment to providing our customers with the unmatched solutions and service that meet their unique requirements." SoftServe joined the Google Cloud Partner Program in April 2017 and became a Google Cloud Premier Partner in August 2018. To date, SoftServe has 176 GCP professional certifications. About SoftServe SoftServe is a digital authority that advises and provides at the cutting-edge of technology. We reveal, transform, accelerate, and optimize the way enterprises and software companies do business. With expertise across healthcare, retail, media, financial services, software, and more, we implement end-to-end solutions to deliver the innovation, quality, and speed that our clients' users expect. SoftServe delivers open innovation-from generating compelling new ideas, to developing and implementing transformational products and services. Our work and client experience is built on a foundation of empathetic, human-focused experience design that ensures continuity from concept to release. We empower enterprises and software companies to (re)identify differentiation, accelerate solution development, and vigorously compete in today's digital economy. No matter where you are in your journey. Visit our website, blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter pages. SoftServe Media Contact Paul Jones Senior Manager, Analyst and Public Relations pjone@softserveinc.com 512-796-7358 Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/820337/SoftServe_Google_Cloud.jpg The maps, part of the Chesapeake Bay Crossing Study, show options for bridge sites spanning either side of the Chesapeake Bay. On the bays Western Shore, two potential sites begin in Harford County; three are in Baltimore County; five are in Anne Arundel County including a span alongside the existing bridge; three sit in Calvert County; and one is in St. Marys County. Visitors to the Boss North SEO Website Can Receive the SEO Website Analysis at No Cost By Clicking on the Facebook Messenger Bot MONTREAL, QC / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / The founders of Boss North SEO, a Montreal SEO company, are pleased to announce that they are now offering a free SEO website analysis to visitors to their website. The complimentary analysis is available through Boss North SEO's BossBot Facebook messenger bot. To learn more about Boss North SEO and the search engine optimization service that they offer throughout Montreal, Quebec, please visit https://bossnorthseo.com/montreal-search-engine-optimization/. As a company spokesperson noted, the founders of Boss North SEO know that while many businesses have websites, they may not be attracting as many customers as they would like through organic search. This inspired them to offer a free SEO website analysis through the user-friendly BossBot. Visitors to the site can simply click on the 'Free Website Analysis' button on the site. After receiving the complimentary SEO website analysis, online business owners are more than welcome to reach out to the friendly and experienced team from Boss North SEO for assistance. 'Our team of SEO specialists work with small businesses that want more search traffic to their businesses, and are ready to propel their websites to the top of Google for keywords that get anywhere from hundreds to thousands of searches per month,' the spokesperson noted, adding that from Laval to Longueuil and the surrounding area, the team at Boss North SEO is proud to be Montreal's trusted SEO company for local businesses looking to climb to the top of the search engine rankings. For company owners who are unsure how or why search engine optimization is so important, the team from Boss North SEO is ready and able to help. They understand how nearly every business would like to see an increase in customers, and they are able to help propel their clients' website rankings into the top results on Google. 'Our team can deliver results, with over 10 years of experience in the digital marketing space using SEO to rank our own businesses online as well as those of our clients,' the spokesperson noted. About Boss North SEO: Boss North SEO is a digital marketing agency based in Montreal, Quebec. Since 2016 they have been working with local businesses small and large to build their businesses online. They offer a range of specialized services including SEO, web design, social media marketing, and Facebook messenger bots among others. For more information, please visit https://bossnorthseo.com/. Contact: Bob Nelson bob@bossnorthseo.com 1-514-700-2065 SOURCE: Boss North SEO View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535031/Boss-North-SEO-a-Company-that-Provides-Montreal-SEO-Services-is-Now-Offering-a-Complimentary-Website-Analysis We hereby invite you to participate at the presentation of the Schibsted Media Group Q4 2018 report on 13 February 2018. Quarterly Earnings Release Time: 13 February 2018 at 07.00 CET Interim report, presentation materials, and spreadsheet with key figures and analytical information will be made available on the investor relations pages at https://www.schibsted.com/ir/ (https://www.schibsted.com/ir/). Results Presentation Time: 13 February 2018 at 10.00 CET (NOTE: New time) Location: Schibsted's premises in Akersgata 55, Oslo. The presentation will be webcasted live at https://www.schibsted.com/ir/ (https://www.schibsted.com/ir/). It will be presented in English. Participants can send in written questions through the webcast player. CEO Kristin Skogen Lund, EVP CFO Trond Berger and CEO of MPI Rolv Erik Ryssdal will present. A recording of the presentation will be available on our web site shortly after the live webcast has ended. Conference call for investors and analysts - Q&A session Time: 13 February 2018 at 14.00 CET Questions relating to the results will be answered in a conference call. The session will be held in English. NOTE: To avoid waiting time when connecting to the call, please use the below link 5-10 minutes prior to start time, where you will be asked to type in your phone number and registration details. The Event Conferencing system will automatically call you back on the phone number you provide and place you into the event. Please note that the link will become active 15 minutes prior to the event: Link to join call: https://bit.ly/2t8UP5N (https://bit.ly/2t8UP5N) For manual dial-in, use the following number (note that this connection might take more time): +47 2350 0187. Passcode: 200225. For additional phone number, please visit https://www.schibsted.com/ir/ (https://www.schibsted.com/ir/). A recording of the conference call will be made available at https://www.schibsted.com/ir/ (https://www.schibsted.com/ir/). Oslo, 12 February 2019, SCHIBSTED ASA Jo Christian Steigedal VP Investor Relations This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5 -12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. 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: Schibsted via Globenewswire Conference for Global Leaders Set for March 31-April 3, 2019 in USA PRINCETON JUNCTION, New Jersey, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA), a global trade association for card manufacturers, personalizers, issuers and suppliers, will host its 2019 ICMA Card Manufacturing & Personalization EXPO March 31-April 3, 2019 at the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate in Florida in the United States. The EXPO is the world's only manufacturing-focused global card conference and exhibition designed to prepare attendees for the changing future of the card industry. With a focus on how the world transacts, the EXPO brings together pioneers and trendsetters from around the globe to provide attendees with a stand-alone, card-centric event. The event will showcase new ways to apply science, engineering, tools, methods and knowledge to develop next-level products and services that will launch the card industry into an era of innovation. With dedicated exhibition hours, featuring over 50 leading card industry suppliers, the EXPO will also include presentations on the latest trends and newest technologies as well as market forecasts. Topics will cover a wide variety of subjects such as biometrics, digital printing, metal cards, printed electronics, the greening of card manufacturing, inks, design and more. Bernard Baumohl, a chief global economist at The Economic Outlook Group will deliver the keynote address, "The Economic and Geopolitical Outlook: What are the Opportunities and Risks Ahead?" He will discuss international trade tensions and the global reverberations of the U.S.'s unprecedented economic growth. Baumohl has served as an economist at European American Bank and was an award-winning economics reporter with TIME magazine. With hundreds of entries from Europe, Asia, MEA and North America, the 2019 ICMA Elan Awards of Excellence winners will be announced. The awards celebrate the pinnacle of design innovation, security and technical achievements in the global card industry. Limited sponsorship and exhibition opportunities for the EXPO, which features more than 50 exhibitors, are available. For more information, visit icmaexpo.com. About ICMA For nearly 30 years, ICMA has been a nonprofit association of card manufacturers, personalizers, suppliers and related industry participants. With 225 members globally, ICMA is a resource for industry issues, including the production, technology, application, security and environmental issues of cards. Visit icma.com. Media Contacts: Kimberly Tjoumakaris, ICMA Public Relations Manager 1-609-267-7845, KTjoumakaris@cmasolutions.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/819679/ICMA_Orlando_Expo.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/819680/ICMA_Logo.jpg Bright River receives investment from Pride Capital Partners, (formerly known as Main Mezzanine Capital) to enable ambitious growth in visual content optimization NEW YORK and AMSTERDAM, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Bright River, recognized as a global leader in visual content solutions for e-commerce brands, announced today that it has received substantial investment from Pride Capital Partners to realize its ambitious growth strategy. The investment will enable them to make significant leaps in bringing innovative, data-driven visual content optimization (VCO) solutions to market. "Visual product content is an area where there is enormous growth potential for e-commerce," said Lars van 't Hoenderdaal, managing partner at Pride Capital Partners. "We found Bright River's plans to enable brands to make data-driven decisions using visual content well-positioned to lead this growth. We've been consistently impressed with their vision for visual content optimization, their management team and their notable global client portfolio." "Visual content optimization plays a critical role in e-commerce by influencing and generating consumer confidence and buying intention," said David Jonkers, CEO and co-founder of Bright River. "We are thrilled to be able to bring visual product content to the next level and beyond with this investment." Bright River is committed to offering visual content optimization that is data-driven by leveraging the most cutting-edge technologies available to e-commerce worldwide. The company plans to use the Pride Capital Partners investment in three main areas: 3D product visualization; automation of image editing using machine learning; and advanced visual content optimization (VCO). "While we'll be sharing more of our plans at a later date, I will say that we are making significant strides in applying advanced and emerging technologies to image editing, 3D product presentation, and data-driven decision making," hints Jonkers. "There are exciting things on the horizon and this is a space to watch." About Bright River Bright River helps online (r)etailers optimize their visual product content mix, enabling them to create rich, engaging online shopping experiences that result in higher conversions and lower return rates. E-commerce success increasingly depends upon visual content optimization (VCO). Bright River applies machine learning and advanced technologies to increase efficiency in image editing, video editing, and 3D modeling. Bright River was established in 2006 and is headquartered in Haarlem, the Netherlands with a second head office in New York, NY. With 750 people employees in five offices across three continents globally, Bright River serves customers worldwide with a strong foothold in the United States. For more information about Bright River, please visit www.bright-river.com . About Pride Capital Partners LONDON, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On 25 January 2019 it happened again. Just three years and two months after Samarco's tailings dam failed, the world's largest iron ore producer, Vale, saw one of its tailings dams collapse in Brazil. Administrative buildings and infrastructure were destroyed as 11.7 million m3 of mining waste from ore processing, also known as tailings, flooded the site. The death toll is expected to exceed 300, mostly Vale's own employees. There are currently 165 people confirmed dead and a further 160 reported as missing. CRU has closely monitored the situation and our analysis shows that the dam breach will have an immediate impact on iron ore supply, prices, quality and pellet premia. In the aftermath of the event, we expect the breach to have a major impact on the use of tailings dams in Brazil, with tighter restrictions on wet beneficiation and prolonged licensing processes as a result. In the medium and long term, we are expecting Brazilian iron ore to deteriorate in quality and production costs to increase, thus making the country less competitive in the global iron ore market. While this will result in higher margins for the other major iron ore producers in the near term, a supply response is expected to come from high-cost mines in China as well as new projects that can be brought online in the next few years. The shipping industry has been hit hard by the dam breach as iron ore transported from Brazil to Northeast Asia was becoming an increasingly important route for Capesize vessels. Freight rates from Brazil to China have fallen by 20% since mid-January. Understanding Brazilian iron ore production Brazil is the world's second largest iron ore producing country behind Australia. ~70% of exports go to East Asia and ~15% of exports to Europe. Brazil's iron ore is some of the highest quality to be found in the world. In 2018, the average Fe content of Brazilian iron ore exports was 64.5%. In comparison, the same figure for Australia was 59.5%. A significant proportion of Brazil's iron ore does not require much processing, especially in the Para state, home to Vale's Northern System. However, most of the country's iron ore is produced in the Minas Gerais, a state dominated by a type of ore called Itabirite that has an Fe content between 30-58%. Therefore, wet beneficiation processes are often used to get rid of waste rock and to raise the iron content to levels above 60%. Wet beneficiation, however, generates large volumes of tailings that typically have been stored in tailings dams. Vale accounts for close to 90% of the country's iron ore production. Around half of the production takes place in the Northern system where less wet beneficiation takes place and the company is currently ramping up production there at the new S11D mine. Vale is also the world's largest pellet producer and most of the pellet feed production and pellet plants are located in or around Minas Gerais. Read the full story: https://www.crugroup.com/knowledge-and-insights/insights/2019/vales-dam-accident-to-have-significant-impact-on-the-iron-ore-market/ Read more about CRU: http://bit.ly/About_CRU About CRU CRU offers unrivalled business intelligence on the global metals, mining and fertilizer industries through market analysis, price assessments, consultancy and events. Since our foundation by Robert Perlman in 1969, we have consistently invested in primary research and robust methodologies, and developed expert teams in key locations worldwide, including in hard-to-reach markets such as China. CRU employs over 280 experts and has more than 11 offices around the world, in Europe, the Americas, China, Asia and Australia - our office in Beijing opened in 2004 and Singapore in 2018. When facing critical business decisions, you can rely on our first-hand knowledge to give you a complete view of a commodity market. And you can engage with our experts directly, for the full picture and a personalised response. CRU - big enough to deliver a high-quality service, small enough to care about all of our customers. Sigma Systems reveals how to accelerate CSP revenues beyond core services and discusses What's Keeping CTO's up at Night at MWC 2019 Sigma Systems, the global leader in catalog-driven software, has announced its program for Mobile World Congress 2019 from 25-28th February in Barcelona. During the industry's flagship event in Barcelona, Sigma will demonstrate its full Create-Sell-Deliver portfolio which includes its new Portfolio Inventory designed to accelerate product innovation, improve order conversion, and get Next Done NowTM. Use-cases including enabling the connected car and delivering the new consumer digital lifestyle will be showcased at the Sigma booth #7E11 located in Hall 7. Sigma's industry award-winning CTO Catherine Michel will join a panel of Chief Technology Officers to discuss "What Keeps CTO's up at Night?" on Monday 25th February at 11am and a Mobile World Live broadcast panel on "Convergence: Is it finally here?"on Monday 25th February at 1pm. She also speaks at the Women4Tech Summit on Tuesday 26th February and Thursday 28th February on "The Importance of Diversity in Creativity". As a key point of industry interest, Sigma will be sharing the findings from its latest industry survey reflecting CSP views and readiness for creating and delivering the next wave of digital services. Sigma's Survey now available identified that increased automation and reduced time to market could add $15.5bn to T1 and T2 CSP's 2019 revenues. To organize a meeting with Sigma to discuss its award-winning Create-Sell-Deliver portfolio of products and services, industry thought leadership, or partner program please visit https://sigma-systems.com/events/mobile-world-congress-2019/. If you are not attending this event, but would like to know more, please visit www.sigma-systems.com About Sigma Systems (sigma-systems.com or Twitter @SigmaSystems) Sigma Systems is the global leader in catalog-driven software solutions for communications, media, and high-tech companies. It serves over 80 customers in 40 countries with its award-winning products. The company's portfolio spans enterprise-wide Catalog, Configure Price Quote (CPQ), Order Management, Provisioning, Insights and Portfolio Inventory products, and offers a core set of services including professional services, cloud services, and managed services. Sigma utilizes an agile approach to implementing its B/OSS products for its customers. Sigma has offices in North and South America, Europe and Asia Pacific, with technology and integration partners globally. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005267/en/ Contacts: Chloe Purcell Head of PR Milner Strategic Marketing Ltd. +44 1473 633123 Glenn Gibson VP Marketing Sigma Systems +1-416-827-6851 KAWASAKI CITY, Japan, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The February 2019 issue of Kawasaki SkyFront i-Newsletter includes a video interview with Haruhiro Okuda, Director General, National Institute of Health Sciences, on the activities of the National Institute of Health Sciences; summary of news and events; and highlights of research being conducted by scientists affiliated with K awasaki IN novation G ateway at SKYFRONT (KING SKYFRONT)-the City's flagship science and technology innovation hub focused on the life sciences and environment. February 2019 issue of Kawasaki SkyFront iNewsletter http://inewsletter-king-skyfront.jp/en/ The KING SKYFRONT was launched by Kawasaki City in 2013 as a base for scholars, industrialists and government administrators to work together to devise real life solutions to global issues in the life sciences and environment. KING SKYFRONT is a 40 hectare area located in the Tonomachi area of the Keihin Industrial Region that spans Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture and Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport) and an important initiative in establishing the Tonomachi area of Kawasaki City as Asia's Silicon Valley. Contents of the 14th issue of Kawasaki SkyFront i-Newsletter http://inewsletter-king-skyfront.jp/en/ ----- Video Feature Haruhiro Okuda, Ph.D. Director General, National Institute of Health Sciences http://inewsletter-king-skyfront.jp/en/video_feature/vol-14-feature01/ The National Institute of Health Sciences or "Kokuritsueiken" was established in 1874. It has the longest history out of all national research institutes. In early Meiji era, when the introduction of western medicine became widespread, many bad drugs came into Japan. Therefore, the government of the time established the "Tokyo Medicines Control Laboratory" to chemically analyze and examine medicines with advice from Anton Johannes Cornelis Geerts, a Dutch pharmacologist who brought in from overseas. This is the origin of our institute. ----- Research Highlights Replicating Parkinson's disease brains in the laboratory Stem cell technology finds its application in elucidating Parkinson's disease using patient-derived cells http://inewsletter-king-skyfront.jp/en/research_highlights/vol-14-research02/ Mapping brain function of monkeys A novel technology has made it easier to visualize patterns in the brains of naturally behaving non-human primates http://inewsletter-king-skyfront.jp/en/research_highlights/vol-14-research01/ ------ News and Events Feature article of "In-body hospitals" which is the core theme of iCONM* / COINS was published in Nature. http://inewsletter-king-skyfront.jp/en/news/20181115/ GE Healthcare Japan and Daiwa House Industry Collaborate at the Tonomachi Open Innovation Base King SkyFront "District A" to provide a platform to accelerate the practical application of regenerative medicine http://inewsletter-king-skyfront.jp/en/news/20180926/ Kawasaki City signs a memorandum of mutual cooperation on life sciences for the first time as a municipality with LINK-J http://inewsletter-king-skyfront.jp/en/news/2018-8-31/ About KING SKYFRONT The Kawasaki INnovation Gateway (KING) SKYFRONT is the flagship science and technology innovation hub of Kawasaki City. KING SKYFRONT is a 40 hectare area located in the Tonomachi area of the Keihin Industrial Region that spans Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture and Tokyo International Airport (also often referred to as Haneda Airport). KING SKYFRONT was launched in 2013 as a base for scholars, industrialists and government administrators to work together to devise real life solutions to global issues in the life sciences and environment. Further information Coastal Area International Strategy Headquarters, Kawasaki City, Japan, 1 Miyamoto-cho, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-city, Kanagawa 210-8577 Japan EMAIL: 59jigyo@city.kawasaki.jp http://www.city.kawasaki.jp/en/category/132-5-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.html BEIJING, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- AI & Robotics company, Geek+ announced it will release the world's first interweaving Robot Sorting System with the latest version of Geek Picking System at LogiMAT 2019, the international trade fair for intralogistics solutions, to be held in Stuttgart, Germany from February 19 to 21. Geek+ is a leading AI-driven robotic solution and service provider - and China's No. 1 supplier of warehousing and logistics robotics. Now, it is bringing its award-winning solutions "Geek Sorting System" to Stuttgart for LogiMAT. Its wide range of automated and intelligent devices is capable of handling the material (pallets/boxes/single pieces), from goods receipt, unloading and storage, to picking, packing and order shipment. Geek Sorting Robot S20 is an innovative and productive tool to increase parcel sorting efficiency in distribution centers. Unlike traditional cross-belt sorters, this sorting system is designed to be highly flexible and easy-to-use. Warehouse reconstruction or two-layer steel platform structure is no longer necessary, so time and cost are saved. The P800 picking robot is equipped with QR code navigation and multiple-sensors. It can follow ground markings and pinpoint the right rack accurately. Managed by a powerful Geek Picking System that integrates strong algorithms, big data analysis, and a series of optimization strategies, hundreds of units are able to operate simultaneously. With the deployment of Geek Picking System, fast improvement on warehouse operation efficiency and order fulfillment accuracy have been proved by many testimonials. Founded in 2015, Geek+ has successfully delivered over 7,000 warehousing and sorting robots worldwide to more than 100 clients from different industries, including e-commerce, retail, 3PL, manufacturing, and others. Many well-known enterprises have benefited from implementation of Geek+ robots with significant productivity improvement and labor cost saving. "Even though it's the first time that Geek+ is exhibiting at LogiMAT, we've already started partnership with some outstanding customers and have accomplished several projects in the UK, Poland, Spain and other countries. We would like to take the opportunity to showcase our cutting-edge robotic logistics solution and expect to help more European companies to achieve robotic automation so as to reduce warehousing operation cost," said Yong Zheng, CEO of Geek+. "Moreover, I'm glad to say that our German branch is prepared to open soon. Then, we will be able to offer more efficient support and service for our European partners." The Geek+ executive and sales teams will be presenting audiences a thorough introduction to their turnkey intralogistics solution. Visit them at booth Hall 7 C51. About Geek+ Geek+ is well-funded (it has raised $150 million in Series B), has 600+ employees, and provides one-stop AI and robotic solutions to enhance efficiency for users in warehouse management. Geek+ attempts to simplify steps in order fulfillment, material handling, and sorting using AI and robotics to reduce labor, optimize parcel consolidation and the picking process, and manage fleets of robots. To learn more about Geek+, visit www.geekplusrobotics.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/820791/Geek_Plus_products.jpg 12 February 2019 Auxico Resources Canada Inc. ("Auxico"orthe "Company") NEWS RELEASE AUXICO CLOSES PRIVATE PLACEMENT The Company is pleased to note the announcement released yesterday via SEDAR in Canada. Auxico Resources Canada Inc. (CSE: AUAG) (NEX London: AUAG) is pleased to announce that it has completed a non-brokered private placement of 2,000,000 units ("Units"), issued at a price of $0.20 per Unit, for gross proceeds of $400,000. Each unit consists of one common share (a "Share") and one-half transferable common share purchase warrant ("Warrant"). Each full Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one additional Share of the Company at a price of $0.40 per Share for two years from the date of issuance. The Company paid finder's fees of $28,000 in connection with the private placement. All Shares issued pursuant to the private placement are subject to a four-month hold period in Canada. The net proceeds of the private placement will be used for evaluating coltan opportunities in Colombia and Brazil, as well as for general working capital purposes. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS signed signed Pierre GauthierMark Billings CEO, Auxico Resources Canada Inc. President, Auxico Resources Canada Inc. pg@auxicoresources.com mb@auxicoresources.com Cell: +1 514 299 0881 Cell: +1 514 296 1641" The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement. For further information, please contact: Auxico Resources Canada Inc. Mark Billings, President www.auxicoresources.com/ + 1 514 296 1641 mb@auxicoresources.com NEX Exchange Growth Market Corporate Adviser: Peterhouse Capital Limited Guy Miller and Fungai Ndoro +44 (0)20 7469 0930 About Auxico Resources Canada Inc. Auxico Resources Canada Inc. ("Auxico") is a Canadian company that was founded in 2014 and based in Montreal. Auxico is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties in Colombia and Mexico. The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of the contents of this release. Workshop will take a deep dive into price control; keynote address will introduce profitability for every sales transaction To help pricing professionals optimize spare parts management and win the race to value in the rapidly evolving aftermarket industry, Vendavo, a leading provider of commercial excellence solutions, will lead two sessions at the Spare Parts Business Platform in Stockholm, Sweden. On Tuesday, February 12 at 11:20 am CET, Vendavo business consultants Kalle Aerikkala and Darius Fekete will hold a best practices workshop, Price Control for Spare Parts in Today's Dynamic Markets. Participants will learn about the increasing complexity of the aftermarket industry and the 5 ways to get the right price at the right time for the right customer across all channels and offerings. Attendees will also learn: How to use guided selling for enhanced customer experience and satisfaction How to use configuration control for fast, accurate selection, including integration with SAP Variant Configuration How to ensure proper documentation and communication with quoting/proposal support What an integrated approval processes looks like How to use pricing guidance based on business rules and driven by AI for every situation On Wednesday, February 13, Vendavo business consultant Kalle Aerikkala will also deliver a keynote address at 9:45 am CET entitled Spare Parts The Forgotten Price Center. The talk will detail why and how profitability must be built into every sales interaction including: How pricing capabilities can be applied pragmatically for profitability in spare parts Why black-box solutions are dangerous for B2B Why business savvy must always be applied How specific applications of this methodology have been successful The Spare Parts Business Platform is February 12-13, 2019 in Birger Jarl in Stockholm. Registration is available here. Learn more about the value outcomes Vendavo brings to the aftermarket industry in this infographic. About Vendavo Vendavo powers the shift to digital business for the world's most demanding B2B companies, unlocking value, growing margin and accelerating revenue. With the Vendavo Commercial Excellence platform, companies develop dynamic customer insights and optimal pricing strategies that maximize margin, boost sales effectiveness and improve customer experience. With an annual margin improvement totaling more than $2.5 billion across companies in chemicals, distribution, high-tech and manufacturing, Vendavo delivers cutting-edge analytics and deep industry expertise that help companies stay one step ahead. Vendavo is headquartered in Denver, CO and has offices around the globe. Learn more at Vendavo.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190211005812/en/ Contacts: Kim Doyle Kimberly Communications 319.389.6953 kb@kimberlycommunications.com AIMA expects to lead in a symbolic peaceful non-violent march of prayer and protest: from the Alex Haley statute at City Dock, commemorating the arrival of slaves from Africa; up Main Street to Church Circle for a kneel-in and prayer; around to the State House for a stop at the statue of Maryland-born Roger B. Taney, the fifth Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court who wrote in the Dred Scott decision, that blacks "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit"; and then on to Lawyer's Mall for a rally under the statue of Maryland-born U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African American on the high court, who, among other triumphs in the law, was a strong supporter for Constitutional protection of individual rights, especially the rights of criminal suspects against the government. Here's some good news pouring in! Bollywood actor Freddy Daruwala, who was last seen in the Salman Khan-starrer Race 3, has been blessed with a baby boy. Talking about his fatherhood, Freddy said in a statement, "My wife and I have been blessed with a healthy baby boy. Since he is our first child, we are really excited. We are looking forward to spending our lives with him. He is our bundle of joy." The actor is married to Crystal Variava for six years. The baby was born on February 3. Meanwhile, Freddy's parents along with his entire family in Surat are in the celebratory mood. Priyanka Chopra- Nick Jonas Skip The Grammys This Year; Instead Have A Blast At Its Pre-Party! The actor who shies away from speaking about his private life had earlier told HT, "It's not that I deny that I am married, but I don't want to talk about what's going on in my personal [married] life. I'd rather talk about my work." He had further said, "My family prefers leading a normal life. You won't find their photos online nor do I share them on social media. My mother still goes out for grocery shopping and bargains with the seller. To keep them away from public attention, I make sure that I don't speak much about them. If they get recognised, they have to follow a certain lifestyle, and they aren't ready for it." Freddy has shared screen space with Bollywood superstars like Akshay Kumar, John Abraham in films like Holiday and Force2. Apart from Hindi films, the actor is currently working on three regional films in Punjabi, Telugu and Gujarati. Meanwhile, there's also a strong buzz that the actor will make his digital debut with a Zee5 original. (Inputs from IANS) Vicky Kaushal On His Relationship With Harleen Sethi: It Felt Right From The Very Beginning! Ranveer Singh & Alia Bhatt KISSING scene cut by censor board from Gully Boy; Here's Why | FilmiBeat Ranveer Singh- Alia Bhatt's Gully Boy is slated to hit the theatrical screens this Friday. But before that, the film will have to undergo some major cuts because of the Censor Board. Apparently, the CBFC found Ranveer Singh-Alia Bhatt's passionate kiss a little more to handle and demanded that scene to be diluted down. According to a report in Bollywood Hungama, "As per the cut list details, their smooching shot, lasting for 13 seconds, has been reduced. And moreover, it has been replaced by a wider shot." Also, some abusive and cuss words from the film have been replaced. "Gully Boy also has some abusive words like 'G***u', 'h********e', 'h*********i', 'f*****g' and they have been replaced with milder terms," as reported. Well, we are sure that this piece of news will definitely disappoint all their fans," the report further read. Meanwhile, Gully Boy recently premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival where it recieved a lot of love and appreciation. Cameron Bailey, the artistic director at the Toronto International Film Festival, too lauded the film and tweeted, "Watched the GULLY BOY world premiere tonight in a packed house with @RanveerOfficial, @aliaa08 & @ZoyaAkhtarOff present. Biggest cheers I've heard in 20+ years at the Berlinale." Recently, Ranveer opened up about how he prepped for the role of a street rapper in the film. The actor told Indian Express, Zoya, Atul Mongia and myself did acting workshops just to find the energy, the pitch of the character because this is a very different mode of performance for me and it's not my default. It is not my DNA. My DNA is Simmba. So, this is something I have learnt after becoming an actor and now I am able to adapt to it. First, I had tackled it during Lootera and then Dil Dhadakne Do and now Gully Boy. So, just to find that differently pitched character, we did acting workshops. And then to absorb the culture of it. It was about spending time with the boys. We had extensive workshops and we all were contributing. Somebody was writing lyrics, somebody's dropping verses. You got to be there with the authentic people on whose lives you are basing your character, and just absorb as much as you can. On set, this process is invaluable. Zoya is so good that she ensured that there were three or four of them on set every day overlooking this whole thing. There were no false notes. Stuff like this really goes a long way. Now that I have seen the film, it's like wow! Authenticity levels of this film are on a different level!" Gully Boy FIRST Reviews: Ranveer Singh's Career Best Performance, Alia Bhatt Is A Show Stopper! Kesari Teaser Reaction: Akshay Kumar | Parineeti Chopra | Anurag Singh | FilmiBeat After Gold and Padman, Akshay Kumar is back with yet another interesting story in the form of Kesari. The film helmed by first-time director Anurag Singh is based on the Battle Of Saragarhi where 21 Sikhs fought against 10,000 Afghans in 1897. The film also stars Parineeti Chopra. With the film's release date inching closer, Akshay Kumar recently took to his Twitter handle to share glimpses of the film. He captioned it, "It's an UNBELIEVABLE TRUE STORY. Presenting the first one from the #GlimpsesOfKesari. #KesariTrailer21Feb." Producer Karan Johar too shared this video and captioned it, "Presenting the first one from the #GlimpsesOfKesari. Get ready for an UNBELIEVABLE TRUE STORY!." Also check out this second glimpse of Kesari- Previously, the makers had also shared a new poster featuring Akshay Kumar. If you folks haven't seen it yet, check it out here- "Aaj meri pagdi bhi Kesari, jo bahega mera woh lahoo bhi Kesari, aur mera jawaab bhi Kesari." Get ready for #GlimpsesOfKesari from 2pm onwards. #Kesari @akshaykumar pic.twitter.com/RoMIJseCT6 Karan Johar (@karanjohar) February 12, 2019 Speaking about his working experience on this film, the actor had earlier said, "I've started shooting for my film Kesari, where I'm in the heaviest turban and beard I've ever had to wear. So I shaved my head to make my life a little easier. I'm known for hating wigs, prosthetics and so on, and Kesari is quite demanding. It's probably my favourite look, though it's taxing to fight and sweat in this avatar. But I wouldn't change it for the world." Kesari is slated to hit the theatrical screens on March 21, 2019. Luka Chuppi Song Photo: Kartik Aaryan & Kriti Sanon Tug Your Heartstrings With This Romantic Song! Alia & Ranveer Are Back From Berlin Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh's film Gully Boy just screened at the Berlin International Film Festival, and the two are back in India promoting the film Alia and Ranveer gave out really cool vibes during a promotional event of the film today. Stunning in a floral printed shimmering baby doll dress, Alia made heads turn. Ranveer, true to his style, sported a colorful zip up jacket with a white tee and green pants. His multi-colored shoes stole the show though. Zoya Akhtar Attends Gully Boy Screening At YRF Gully Boy director Zoya Akhtar too returned from Berlin today post the screening. A special screening of the film was held at Yash Raj Films today which Zoya was seen attending. She sported a casual look in a black t-shirt, white cardigan and denims. Ambanis Visit The Siddhi Vinayak Temple Nita Ambani and Mukesh Ambani visited the Siddhi Vinayak temple today to present the wedding invitation of their son Akash Ambani. Nita looked elegant in a bandhani style kurta and palazzos. Their son Anant Ambani accompanied them to the temple. Just in December, Nita and Mukesh Ambani's daughter Isha Ambani got married to Anand Piramal in a lavish ceremony which was attended by many stars from Bollywood. It was the talk of the town for a long time. Sonam Kapoor Is Hands Down The Boss Of Fashion In B-Town Sonam Kapoor is a bonafide fashion icon. Today, she looked absolutely chic as she was snapped by the paparazzi at a studio in Bandra. Sonam looked gorgeous in a maroon pant suit which she teamed with a matching blazer. Sonam has been reveling in the success of her latest movie, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, which also stars Rajkummar Rao, Anil Kapoor and Juhi Chawla. Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release SubCategory Select Sub-Category The 4:30 News email is sent out on business days at 4:30 pm. Items include links to new stories, calendar events, occasional banner ads and weather. FH Times Breaking News Breaking News alerts from The Fountain Hills Times. These emails will be delivered only when there is breaking news deemed important enough to be sent out immediately on an as-needed basis. 2020 was a year marked by hardships and challenges, but the Fauquier community has proven resilient. The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you for your continued support, wed like to offer all our subscribers -- new or returning -- 4 WEEKS FREE DIGITAL AND PRINT ACCESS. We understand the importance of working to keep our community strong and connected. As we move forward together into 2021, it will take commitment, communication, creativity, and a strong connection with those who are most affected by the stories we cover. We are dedicated to providing the reliable, local journalism you have come to expect. We are committed to serving you with renewed energy and growing resources. Let the Fauquier Times be your community companion throughout 2021, and for many years to come. Parsons, KS (67357) Today Scattered thunderstorms this morning, then partly cloudy and windy during the afternoon hours. High 96F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 90%.. Tonight Partly cloudy. Low 77F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. An employee at the store said he had not heard of any arrests of any employees and also did not know anyone who worked at the pizzeria named John, but did know the name Jay Vizzini Jr. The Welsh flag must be prioritised over the union jack flag when showcasing the country of origin on produce, meat promoters have urged. Meat Promotion Wales - Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC) told the BBC that the British brand has 'little traction' in key markets for Welsh farmers. Gwyn Howells, HCC's chief executive, said that instead of the British flag on produce, the Welsh dragon emblem should be put on Welsh agri exports after the UK leaves the EU. Mr Howells explained that the 'Welsh offering' had more recognition and was 'vastly more welcome' in certain markets. We must prioritise the Welsh dragon - it's much more than a logo. It's a promise of where it has come from, the landscape of Wales, the traditional methods used to produce food to the highest standards, which adds value, he said. Welsh food and drink exports reached over half a billion pounds for the first time in 2017. Within this, over three-quarters went to the European Union. The Welsh government is investing 1.5 million over the next three years to build on its red meat export trade. Global patterns of demand show Asia is likely to be a more important market over the coming years for Welsh farming businesses. Farmers have introduced a Tinder-style app, called Tudder, that lets them find breeding matches by viewing photos of livestock with details of location, age and owner. The app, based on popular dating app Tinder, is a new swipe-led matchmaking app, helping farmers choose breeding partners for their farm animals. It is designed by Hampshire-based farming start-up Hectare, who are also behind the website SellMyLivestock. The app seeks to 'unite sheepish farm animals with their soulmates', featuring data-profiles of farm animals from 42,000 farms across the UK. Playing the role of 'moo-pid', farmers can download the app, and through their phone swipe right for yes and left for no in the search for the perfect match. Selling livestock online can speed up a process which often involves the transportation of animals across long distances for breeding. Welsh farmer Marcus Lampard explains that it is more convenient to sell animals online. He told Bloomberg: Going to market is a nuisance. If I go to an open market with a bull, and then maybe bring it back, it shuts everything down on the farm for at least two weeks. A new campaign has been launched to tackle issues caused by irresponsible dog walkers, such as livestock worrying and dog foul on farmland. The Control Your Dog on Farmland campaign was launched at the NFU Scotland's AGM and Conference on Thursday (7 February). The 12-month campaign will focus on livestock worrying as well as on the increasing problem of dog fouling which can cause livestock to contract dangerous diseases. Livestock worrying and dog fouling are two of the biggest issues that farmers and landowners face through irresponsible access by dog owners. In early December, NFU Scotland surveyed farmers about the issues they have with irresponsible access, either through livestock worrying by dogs, or the impacts of owners failing to pick up after their pets on or near farmland. The survey had more than 340 responses, which showed that 72 per cent of respondents had an issue with livestock worrying on their land. 100 per cent of survey respondents said they have an issue with dog fouling on their land this included plastic bag pollution as well as instances where livestock have contracted diseases from eating dog poo and plastic bags. And 84 per cent of responses felt the outdoor access code requiring on a lead or under close control didnt provide sufficient protection to them or their livestock. Tougher penalties Over the last 12 months, NFU Scotland stepped up its action to tackle livestock worrying, such as giving its backing to a Members Bill by Emma Harper MSP seeking tougher penalties for those convicted of allowing their dog to chase or attack livestock. According to Police Scotland, a total of 338 incidents of livestock worrying were reported to them in 2018, with 131 incidents resulting in police conducting investigations. This included sheep, cattle, horses, and other less known species such as llamas and alpacas. However, this issue is still hugely under-reported, something which the campaign will seek to tackle. For livestock, it is not just the physical attacks by dogs that can cause damage; even allowing dogs to chase or play with sheep or cattle, for example, can cause untold damage from emotional issues to abortions to rendering the animal unable to be used for breeding in future. In addition, there are significant emotional issues for the farmers involved who work tirelessly to breed quality sheep to the highest welfare standards. 'Damage is underestimated' The campaign educates dog owners about responsible access when walking on or near farmland through national and regional events. It also seeks to educate walkers about the dangers of walking in fields with cattle and what to do if cattle charge at them or their pet. Andrew McCornick, NFU Scotland President said: It is clear that the industry can no longer tolerate the problem of dog owners who do not control their dogs on farmland. I would urge all farmers and crofters to work with us on this issue and to report each and every incident of livestock being attacked or chased or pet owners allowing their dogs to foul on their land. Many people underestimate the damage dogs can do to livestock whether that is attacking them when being off a lead or causing them to contract dangerous diseases through their poo we need dog owners to take responsibility for controlling their dogs whilst out enjoying the countryside. He added: You think your dog is just playing with the sheep but that could change in an instant and you will have no way to stop the dog when it starts to attack. Make sure your dog is on a lead when walking on farmland even if you cant see livestock they could just be over the hill or hidden in a dip. Its not worth the risk, to you, your dog or the livestock. 'Truly devastating' Inveraray farmer, Brian Walker has lost more than 32 sheep through attacks in 2010 and 2018 from dogs, as well as having many more seriously injured. In addition, this had a knock-on effect to his business as the flock were breeding sheep with many aborting lambs or unable to carry lambs following the attacks. Last year a man received just 80 hours community service for allowing his four dogs to seriously injure and kill 17 sheep on Brians farm, totalling damages of 4,100. Mr Walker said: Dog attacks on livestock are pretty much a daily occurrence on farms in Scotland. Having suffered multiple attacks, its not just the financial impact. When you arrive at a field and see sheep running around with parts of their faces torn off, that will be ingrained in my head for ever. Its truly devastating. My sheep that were attacked were all breeding animals that would have gone on to produce lambs for the next four to five years. That is taken from me within minutes. Can you imagine someone having money taken out of their salary over the next five years by their employer and having no control in the matter? Mr Walker added: Remember when you are entering land with livestock you are entering someones business premises; how would you react if someone came onto your premises and started destroying your possessions? We need dog owners to start taking responsibility and treating farmland and our businesses with respect. Moving away from the Common Agricultural Payments (CAP) means a move away from a 'complex and prescriptive' scheme, according to a Defra official. Farmers in England and Wales will see their EU direct payments phased out over a 7-year transition period, starting from 2021. Replacing them, the government's new environmental land management (ELM) scheme will pay farmers to deliver a raft of public benefits, such as environmental and animal welfare outcomes. According to James Grischeff, Defra principle advisor, the ELM will be more 'collaborative and outcome-driven'. Its about deploying measures that deliver outcomes using the land managers skills in problem solving and appropriate technical advice and guidance with much mess prescriptiveness, he said. Farmers wanting to prepare for the phasing out of CAP payments are encouraged by the government to think about some themes which will run through the new ELM, including its voluntary nature and valuation methods focussed on protecting natural capital and benefitting society, as well as payments for outcomes. In future, farmers and land managers will be encouraged to understand their own environmental potential and will be offered a choice how to achieve outcomes in what Mr Grischeff said is a 'more flexible model'. Defra's new vision is outlined as rewarding public goods with public money; building a thriving; self-reliant and resilient farming sector; nurturing a trusting and productive relationship between farmers and Government and ensuring world class animal welfare standards. The ELMs timeline roll out dates are: from 2019 21 develop a design and test new ideas; 2021 24 large scale pilot and 2025 2028 ELM full roll out. 'Similar level of support' When queried on the phasing out of the CAP after 2021, Mr Grischeff proposed that the government should maintain a similar level of support which will slowly transition into the ELMs. The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) said the government must continue to invest at least 2.2 billion a year - the current level of CAP spending in England - on the replacement scheme. The CLA wants to see the level of investment in rural businesses remain stable, the rural organisation said. Within England this will require the government continuing to invest at least 2.2bn a year in the English countryside, in real terms for the next 25 years. As English agriculture transitions away from the CAP, the government must make available the tools and support so farmers can adapt their farm businesses. It follows comments by Defra Secretary Michael Gove highlighting how Brexit means leaving behind the EU's 'environmentally damaging and socially unjust' CAP. He said outside the EU the UK can do 'so much better', especially with the advent of new technology and machinery, such as big data and drones. He also blamed the CAP for damaging natural habitats, biodiversity and wildlife, further pushing Gove's 'Green Brexit' credentials. Defra has called reports saying how the UK could lose Geographical Indication protection post-Brexit as 'completely untrue'. There has been coverage in The National over the weekend about the fate of Geographical Indications (GIs) schemes that legally protect the names of regional speciality foods should the UK leave the EU with 'no deal'. Food producers in the EU can currently protect the names of their products under GI regulations put in place by the EU. From Gloucester Old Spot to Scotch Whisky, there are currently over 80 GIs in the UK. Despite concerns that the UK will lose GI protection, Defra said that all UK GIs, and their unique heritage, will be protected in the event of a 'no deal' Brexit. However, no decisions have yet been made on how a UK GI system would work. A Defra spokesperson said: It is completely untrue to say GI protections will be lost when we leave the EU. Weve already set out how our schemes will work here and been clear existing UK products registered under EU GI schemes, from Scotch Whisky to Stornoway Black Pudding, will automatically get UK GI status. GIs are very important to the UK, both culturally and economically and by safeguarding GI status we will ensure that these brands, and the areas they evoke and represent, will maintain their global appeal. Defra said it will establish specific GI Schemes to protect UK product in the future. A parliamentary group which aims to protect the best interests of British hill farmers has launched today after disbanding back in 2015. Farmers marked the relaunch of the Hill Farming All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), which will work towards building a productive uplands farming sector post-Brexit. MPs heard about the contributions of upland farming in producing food for the nation, enhancing the environment and driving the rural community at a drop-in event in London today, hosted by the NFU and Tim Farron MP. Farming minister George Eustice spoke at the event. The group, which the former Liberal Democrat leader chaired for ten years, disbanded back in 2015. But now, with the uncertainty surrounding Britain's future relationship with the European Union and the government's new Agriculture Bill, it is felt that a group is needed now more than ever to stand up for hill farmers. NFU uplands forum chairman, Thomas Binns said: Upland farming is at the core of rural communities in Britain and plays a crucial role in producing high quality, safe and sustainable food for the nation. Farming this land also delivers a multitude of benefits for our cherished countryside, from grazing livestock to maintaining public footpaths. Caring for the environment and our iconic landscape is at the centre of all we do. As we look ahead to a future outside of the EU, it has never been more important that new policy decisions recognise the vital contribution of the uplands to the nation and ensure these agricultural areas are valued for all the public goods they deliver, long into the future, Mr Binns said. Tim Farron will chair the APPG. He said it is 'vital' that there is a group in parliament to speak up for the interests of British hill farmers. He said: With the government planning to remove direct payments which are a lifeline to so many hill farmers, and with the threat of leaving the European Union with no-deal still on the table, the future for hill farming has never been more uncertain. The NFU has produced a manifesto for the UK's uplands which outlines the public goods farmers deliver and the unique challenges they face. British growers have highlighted how they need more political certainty to trade in a post-Brexit world. Hundreds of British growers attended the Fruit Logistica, held in Berlin. The event is held every year for all sectors of the fresh produce business. One message that was clear was the need for British growers to continue working with European businesses once the UK leaves the EU. However, more certainty is needed. There was a concern around exports with many growers and seed producers from the UK questioning what the future holds for the industry once the UK leaves the EU. The AHDB attended the fresh produce event this month joining over 3,000 exhibitors and 78,000 trade visitors from around the world. And the AHDB Pavilion welcomed a number of growers from the UK, including Archie Gibson of Agrico UK, who deals in seed potatoes with customers and growers worldwide. He said UK government needs to make progress on post-Brexit bilateral agreements. One of the most immediate challenges we all face is the uncertainty around ability to export into European countries and North African countries where we have arrangements under European Union rules and regulations, Mr Gibson said. Well be looking for UK industry and officials to have permission to arrange bilateral agreements with these countries. Egypt, Israel, Morocco, the Canary Islands and so on. At the moment Defra is saying everything can come into the UK but the same is not true in reverse. We need to see some movement on that. My attendance at different meetings in Berlin, convinces me that industry wants solutions and we do not want the frustration of politics getting in the way of free movement of goods, he said. Despite concerns from many growers, Tim Elcombe, of Bedfordshire Growers, said Brexit can be a 'positive' to showcase British produce around the world. With Brexit happening at the end of March, we have got to try to turn it into a positive and look at opportunities where we can showcase British produce, he said. Fruit Logistica is held every year and offers a platform for growers and producers to network with key influencers across the globe. The UK's first grass-fed Pasture for Life organic cheddar has been launched, created by cows that have never eaten any grains or cereals throughout their entire lifetime. West Country cheese-maker Lye Cross Farm, based at Redhill near Bristol, launched its first 100% grass-fed cheddar cheese at Dairy-Tech 2019. The organic milk from the farm, who are members of the Pasture-Fed Livestock Association (PFLA), is certified Pasture for Life. This means it has been audited as being from cows that have been 100% grass-fed. According to the association, grass-fed dairy products have a healthier fat content, a more balanced omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid profile, and additional vitamins and minerals, than milk from cows fed grains, making it a 'healthier' choice. Lye Cross Farm's cheese, made from milk produced in spring 2018, has been maturing for nine months and is now ready to sell. This cheese, which was exported to America in January 2019, is also guaranteed antibiotic-free and hormone-free. We liked the idea of processing grass-fed milk separately from the other milk we collect, explains Lye Cross Farm Sales Director, Ben Hutchins. Lye Cross Farm will export its organic cheddar to the US We have now built the infrastructure at the dairy to do this, so we can produce the first organic 100% grass-fed cheddar in the UK. It is very early days, but we estimate sales worth 2 million this year. If demand is more than this, we can easily scale up production. He added: This is one of the first 100% grass-fed cheeses to be sold into America, using the A Greener World 100% grass-fed label which is equivalent to Pasture for Life here. Dairy farmers Mat Boley and Jonny Rider have been supplying the farm with milk for the past 20 years and have never fed grain or concentrate to their cows. We were very interested when the PFLA started thinking about certifying purely grass-fed dairy farms, as well as the beef and sheep farms they had already been certifying for a few years, said Mr Boley. We can see demand coming for this type of product from the educated consumer. We were delighted to be one of the first commercial-sized dairy farms in the UK to be certified Pasture for Life. The world's first autonomous orchard sprayer has been announced, using GPS, vehicle sensors and software to remotely monitor crops. California-based Crinklaw Farm Services has unveiled the Global Unmanned Spray System (GUSS), which has worked alongside engine company Cummins. GUSS is helping to ease the labour challenges facing agriculture, and provide gains in operational efficiency, precision and safety. Using a combination of GPS, vehicle sensors and software, a single employee can remotely monitor up to 10 GUSS sprayers at once across a variety of orchards. Gary Thompson, Marketing Director for Crinklaw Farm Services, said: GUSSs whole design philosophy is based around innovation, efficiency and performance building a machine that can spray row after row, day after day. Ann Schmelzer, Global General Manager of Agriculture at Cummins, added: As an incredibly innovative sector, agriculture provides a fantastic platform for autonomy, particularly when higher operational efficiencies and increased productivity are primary objectives. Integrating ultra-clean diesel engines with autonomous service vehicles is a great example of how the agriculture industry continues to move forward. We are excited to power such groundbreaking innovation, she said. So far, Crinklaw Farm Services has built seven Cummins-powered GUSS autonomous sprayers which operate as part of their custom spray application service for mid to large scale tree farms. In the UK, an increasing demand for home grown produce, coupled with concern about workforce shortages in the wake of Brexit, are leaving farmers across the UK facing a unique set of pressures. Its why initiatives such as the Hands Free Hectare, which harvests crops using automation and robotics only, have recently achieved major milestones. The Automated Brassica harvesting in Cornwall (ABC) is another example of British automation, which looks to assist growers with the challenges they face in harvesting crops. "It's putting us, the chefs, who are the ones who are cooking the food with those who are making, farming, producing the food," said Barrett. "It's a whole new experience you have a whole new appreciation for it." When it comes to soybean markets, 2019 is a year filled with risk and opportunity, says risk management expert, Ted Seifried, chief market strategist of brokerage firm Zaner Ag Hedge. The scope of outcomes between now and harvest are wide. There are so many unknowns and a wide range of possibilities to plan for. Anything from over $12 to under $7 is on the table, explains Seifried, a contributing analyst, who writes an Agweb risk management blog called The Ted Spread and is a regular analyst on Market to Market, AgriTalk and RFD TV. Seifried will discuss what those extreme possibilities are, and how soybean farmers should plan for them, during soy100 held in Brookings, March 13, and Aberdeen, March 14. Traders continue to operate in the dark on the Chicago Board of Trade. The information light is turned off, and prices vary in a narrow range based on the optimistic or pessimistic information flavor of the day. News and speculation is the life-blood of grain traders. Recently there has been limited news because we are still catching up reports from the time of the government shutdown of most USDA offices. There has been a steady stream of speculation, mostly about the progress of trade talks with China, which had been scheduled to last through the end of February. Talk this week is that the deadline for an agreement between the two largest economies of the world would not happen on time. It was reported that the heads of the two governments of the two nations would not meet until after the first of March. The speculated delay was met with reactions that varied from Oh, no, we are not progressing well! to This is a difficult thing to do in just three months. The reality is that the delay is probably a good thing, and it likely indicates that progress on a big deal takes a long time. I never expected an announcement until the last day, so, I guess it takes a few days longer. The meeting of President Xi and President Trump will just be a formality to do the diplomatic niceties and sign the darn thing. For the moment, we just wait and Xi what is coming. (I could have resisted, but what fun would that have been?) USDA reports Complicating trading has been the fact that our normal fundamental news link, the USDA reports, has not been flowing. The government got back to work, and we finally got three critical reports delayed since January. Friday, Feb. 8, USDA posted the Final Crop Production Report, the Winter Wheat Seeding Report, and the U.S. Grain Stocks Report. What we are not getting is a catch up of normal weekly reporting, especially export and sales reports. These are the numbers that get traded in the day-to day change of futures prices. USDA made the decision to report these slowly, catching up over a period of time. Traders view this as intentionally obstructive. They feel the numbers are available electronically and dont take that much work to catch up. The idea is expressed that USDA workers are creating a penalty for the shutdown and a threat for what will happen if we have another. The delayed Crop Production Report (link opens report as .pdf) confirmed what many traders had anticipated, that the soybean and corn crops were not, in the end, as big as had been reported. This feeling has been anticipated by observers who said the end of the harvest was delayed, with resulting heavy losses in areas such as Southern Minnesota. USDA did cut the crop size of soybeans a little, dropping the soybean yield a half-bushel to 51.6 bushels per acre. The trade was anticipating 51.8, so there was little surprise. The yield made the final crop come out at 4.544 billion bushels. There was more surprise in the corn, where USDA dropped the yield two and a half bushels from the December report, for a final 176.4 bpa and a crop of 14.42 billion bushels. Traders had been anticipating a yield drop of one bpa on the average, with some guessing more than two bpa. With a few more analytical gymnastics, the significant numbers for traders were a carryout of soybeans of only 910 million bushels and a carryout for corn of 1.735 billion bushels. That is a reduction since the December report of 45 million bean bushels and 41 million corn bushels. They are still huge carryovers, and limit the upside of any trade-changed market. They are still a lot better the round numbers of 1 billion and 2 billion that were bandied about in this recent negative market. Export rumors Export rumors continue to provide some fodder for traders to chew on. We keep talking about possible government restrictions on the export of Russian wheat. We also do our usual data dive into South American soybean weather. Current reporting has the Brazilian bean crop significantly decreased, but the Argentine crop improved. Then, we talk about the Argentine improvement being after a poor crop last year. The reality is that it is just talk, and we expect an average of a trend-line yield for South America as a whole. Selecting one of the suggestions will take you to results within menswear. Selecting one of the suggestions will take you to results within womenswear. Selecting one of the suggestions will take you to results within kidswear. by Loic Queguiner | Mon, Feb 11th 9:52pm EST Jordan McRae recorded 19 minutes off the bench during Monday's loss to the Pistons, contributing 10 points, four assists, one rebound, and one turnover. by Alex Murray | Lakers Correspondent | Mon, Feb 11th 8:02pm EST Markieff Morris (neck) met with his doctor on Monday and has been physically cleared to play. (Chris Haynes on Twitter) Fantasy Impact: Morris was already waived by the Pelicans but can now join a team where he can actually have some decent fantasy value. If you're rooting for Morris, he'll likely do best if he lands in Houston. Additionally, its no secret that the renaissance of craft beer has been a welcome shift in the landscape for Maryland farmers; many of whom had been looking for new ways to revitalize or repurpose their land. (Although others are simply excited for new opportunities to put their local Maryland agricultural products such as grain, hops and fruit in the hands of consumers.) The worst news for Democrats is not that President Trump warned them against embracing socialism, but that Cass Sunstein agrees with the president. But the bad news for Republicans is that Sunstein may just be smart enough to save Democrats from themselves and eventually bring about the social change they want. If you are not familiar with Sunstein, he was the regulation czar during President Obamas first term. In other words, he spent four years building up the left-wing regulatory framework that President Trump has spent his two years dismantling. To put it plainly, they are sworn enemies. Yet Sunstein has just published a column at Bloomberg that is headlined, Trump Is Right to Warn Democrats About Socialism.' Heres how Sunstein begins: In his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump was entirely right to reject new calls to adopt socialism in our country. He was right to add that America was founded on liberty and independence not government coercion, and to renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country. Yet to many Americans, the idea of socialism seems to have growing appeal. Later, Sunstein accurately depicts the difference between socialism and capitalism instead of taking the usual Democratic tactic of claiming that if you use the post office and get Social Security checks you are a socialist. According to a standard definition, socialism calls for government ownership or control of the means of production. By contrast, capitalism calls for private ownership and control for a robust system of property rights. In capitalist systems, companies and firms, both large and small, are generally in private hands. In socialist systems, the state controls them. If they are given room to maneuver, their rights are conditional; they can be taken away at any time. Sunstein even references economist Friedrich Hayek and acknowledges his analysis of why socialism is doomed to failure: Friedrich Hayek, socialisms greatest critic, showed that giving that authority to government is a recipe for disaster. The reason is that even if officials are well-motivated, they lack the necessary information. Unlike planners, free markets and the price system are able to encode the knowledge, the preferences and the values of dispersed people. Hayek rightly described the process as a marvel. Whether we are speaking of laptops or sneakers, coffee or candy bars, umbrellas or blankets, markets establish prices, levels of production and wages on the basis of the desires, the beliefs and the values of countless people. No planner can possibly do that. So whats all this about? Can Republicans really count on Sunstein as an ally of President Trumps economic policies? Far be it. In fact, Sunstein is trying his level best to wake up the Democrats that they are walking right into President Trumps trap. If they embrace socialism openly, they will be rejected by the marketplace of voters. But that does not mean Sunstein is not sympathetic to many of the socialist ambitions of his fellow Democrats; he is just smarter and therefore more dangerous than most of them. As you will learn by reading his book Nudge (co-authored with Richard Thaler), Sunstein believes that the most efficient way of effecting social change is by gradually nudging people to accept it rather than ordering it from above. Nationalized health care is a perfect example, and as we have seen, once society has been nudged past a certain point, it is very difficult to reverse course. I think of this as the slow boiling a frog method of social change. Sunstein knows that Americans would reject the impacts of socialism if they were applied at once, but would compliantly accept them if offered bit by bit. Unfortunately, most Republicans dont recognize this, which is why they vote for one after another social program that will eventually lead to socialism. They think they can go along to get along, but unfortunately if you are going along with boiling the water, you are committing suicide. A dead frog, by definition, cant jump out of the pot or decry socialism either! If Democrats adopt Sunsteins strategy for nudging social change incrementally, but reject his analysis of the impracticality of government planning, and are aided by the willful blindness of Republicans, we may just get a socialist disaster in the next few decades whether we like it or not. Frank Miele writes from Kalispell, Montana, at www.HeartlandDiaryUSA.com and is a columnist at Real Clear Politics. To see more of my columns about the Dishonest Media, the Deep Swamp, the failed presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and Trumps war to restore American greatness, read my Why We Needed Trump trilogy. The books are available at Amazon in paperback or Kindle editions.( https://www.amazon.com/Frank-D.-Miele/e/B07L4FWTDY) Also please considering leaving a review in support of my conservative commentary on one or all of my book pages at Amazon! Thanks! SolarWinds Corporation provides information technology (IT) infrastructure management software products in the United States and internationally. It offers products to monitor and manage network, system, desktop, application, storage, database, and website infrastructures, whether on-premise, in the public or private cloud, or in a hybrid IT infrastructure. It provides a suite of network management software that provides real-time visibility into network utilization and bandwidth, as well as the ability to detect, diagnose, and resolve network performance problems; and a suite of infrastructure management products, which monitor and analyze the performance of applications and their supporting infrastructure. It also offers suite of application performance management software that enable visibility into log data, cloud infrastructure metrics, applications, tracing, and web performance management; and service management software. In addition, the company provides cloud-based software solutions to enable managed service providers (MSPs) to support digital transformation and growth in small and medium-sized enterprises; and service management software that provides ITIL-compliant service desk solutions for various companies. Further, it offers remote monitoring and management solutions for the performance of networks and devices, and automation of policies and workflows; security and data protection products for network and systems infrastructure, applications, and end user devices; and business management solutions for professional services automation, and password and documentation management. The company markets and sells its products directly to network and systems engineers, database administrators, storage administrators, DevOps professionals, and managed service providers. The company was formerly known as SolarWinds Parent, Inc. and changed its name to SolarWinds Corporation in May 2018. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas. Read More Wall Street analysts have given iShares MSCI Austria ETF a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but iShares MSCI Austria ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys. View MarketBeat's top stock picks here. According to a preliminary investigation, Bailey and Reed had just gotten off a Metro bus at the bus stop and were walking north crossing Route 202 in the crosswalk when they were struck by a blue BMW 325i, police said. Water quality in the citys canals is in the best shape its been in since last spring, Utilities Director John Pearson told Cape Coral City Council on Monday. But that subject has remained a priority, especially given the news that blue-green algae was spotted this week at the Franklin Lock in the Caloosahatchee to the east. Mayor Joe Coviello said this discovery is not good news, but is not worrisome now since it is not coming down the river into Cape Coral. Were concerned for this summer, but the governor has attacked the water problems with the releases in Lake O. Weve been getting releases between 800 and 1,000 cfs (cubic feet per second), which is what we want, Coviello said. The real question is what the water quality is inside the lake. Councilmember John Gunter asked Pearson about the effectiveness of the bubble curtains that were used to keep algae out of the canals during last summers crisis. Pearson responded that a report was done on a similar pilot program in Key West, but no such study had been done here. He said the infrastructure is in place so when rainy season returns, everything can be plugged back in. Pearson added that by the time the city was able to get the bubble curtains operational, the algae threat had passed. We hope this year well have a better idea of its effectiveness. We hope we have no algae, though, Pearson said. We are working with Rep. Frances Rooneys office to give them information because hell be advancing legislation to research that. Gunter suggested the city do a feasibility analysis and cost study on putting the curtains in at canal entry points on the river. Coviello said water quality has improved in Bimini Basin since the pipe under the roadway was cleared and relined. He added the Army Corps of Engineers has increased the releases from Lake Okeechobee. Coviello spoke at an Army Corps of Engineers public hearing on Feb. 5 about the need for the releases to increase immediately and got in the ear of Gov. Ron DeSantis and convinced him to speak with the Corps to have more water released in the dry season. We want to keep the water levels lower in dry season so we dont have those huge releases during rainy season, Coviello said, adding he has asked the Corps to host a meeting in the city by the end of March. Helping also was DeSantis decision to change the makeup of the South Florida Water Management District governing board, which now will include Sanibel City Councilman Chauncey Goss. The old group had the agricultural industrys interests at heart and they wouldnt hear what we had to say, Coviello said. I believe the governor has the coastal communities and agriculture at heart, and I cant think of a better person for that board than someone from Sanibel. These are among the temporary fixes the city is undergoing before the long-term ones, such as the R-43 Reservoir, go into effect. The projects at the lake will take three to five years. We need to find solutions now that minimize the risk of the algae coming down the river, Coviello said. Sociedad QuAmica y Minera de Chile S.A. produces and distributes specialty plant nutrients, iodine and its derivatives, lithium and its derivatives, potassium chloride and sulfate, industrial chemicals, and other products and services worldwide. The company offers specialty plant nutrients, including potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, sodium potassium nitrate, specialty blends, and other specialty fertilizers for crops, such as vegetables, fruits, and industrial crops. It also provides iodine and its derivatives for use in medical, pharmaceutical, agricultural, and industrial applications comprising x-ray contrast media, polarizing films for LCD and LED, antiseptics, biocides and disinfectants, pharmaceutical synthesis, electronics, pigments, and dye components. In addition, the company offers lithium carbonates for various applications that include electrochemical materials for batteries, frits for the ceramic and enamel industries, heat-resistant glass, air conditioning chemicals, continuous casting powder for steel extrusion, primary aluminum smelting process, pharmaceuticals, and lithium derivatives. Further, it supplies lithium hydroxide for the lubricating greases industry, as well as cathodes for batteries. Additionally, it offers potassium chloride and potassium sulfate for various crops, including corn, rice, sugar, soybean, and wheat; industrial chemicals, including sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate, potassium chloride, and solar salts; and other fertilizers and blends. The company was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Santiago, Chile. Read More Nomura Holdings, Inc. provides various financial services to individuals, corporations, financial institutions, governments, and governmental agencies worldwide. It operates through three segments: Retail, Asset Management, and Wholesale. The Retail segment offers various financial products and investment services for individuals and corporations. As of March 31, 2020, this segment operated a network of 128 branches. The Asset Management segment engages in the development and management of investment trusts; and provision of investment advisory services for pension funds and other institutional clients. The Wholesale segment is involved in the research, sale, trading, agency execution, and market-making of fixed income and equity-related products. It also engages in underwriting various securities and other financial instruments, such as various classes of shares, convertible and exchangeable securities, investment grade and high yield debts, sovereign and emerging market debts, structured securities, and other securities; arranging private placements, as well as other capital raising activities; and the provision of financial advisory services on business transactions comprising mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, spin-offs, capital structuring, corporate defense activities, leveraged buyouts, and risk solutions. In addition, this segment offers various financial instruments. The company was formerly known as The Nomura Securities Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Nomura Holdings, Inc. in October 2001. Nomura Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1925 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Read More Conagra Brands, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a consumer packaged goods food company in North America. The company operates through Grocery & Snacks, Refrigerated & Frozen, International, and Foodservice segments. The Grocery & Snacks segment primarily offers shelf stable food products in various retail channels in the United States. The Refrigerated & Frozen segment provides temperature controlled food products in various retail channels in the United States. The International segment offers food products in various temperature states in retail and foodservice channels outside of the United States. The Foodservice segment offers food products, including meals, entrees, sauces, and various custom-manufactured culinary products packaged for sale to restaurants and other foodservice establishments in the United States. The company sells its products under the Birds Eye, Marie Callender's, Banquet, Healthy Choice, Slim Jim, Reddi-wip, Vlasic, Angie's BOOMCHICKAPOP, Duke's, Earth Balance, Gardein, Frontera, Chef Boyardee, and Alexia brands. The company was formerly known as ConAgra Foods, Inc. and changed its name to Conagra Brands, Inc. in November 2016. Conagra Brands, Inc. was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Read More STAMFORD A woman told police she was robbed Friday afternoon in Stamfords South End. Sgt. Sean McGowan said police were called to Ludlow Street at 5:30 p.m. on a report of a robbery. When police responded to the call, the woman told them that she was approached by an unknown black man, who asked her for some money near the corner of Pacific Street at Ludlow Street. The 56-year-old Stamford woman said she wanted to help the man and put her hand in her purse to pull out her wallet, but the man grabbed the purse from her grasp. As she tried to get the purse back, the man pushed her to the ground. She showed police where she scraped one of her knees, McGowan said. McGowan said as the woman kept talking to police, she began changing the account of the robbery. She described the man having a medium to heavy build, being 5-foot 10-inches tall, wearing a brown coat, dark-colored pants, dark-colored sneakers and a light backpack. She said she last saw him heading toward Pacific Street. jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com STAMFORD A city woman was charged with intentionally backing her car into another vehicle while her 4-year-old son was a passenger in the same vehicle, police said. On Friday at about 2:40 p.m., police were called to an escalating argument following a traffic accident in a parking lot on Austin Avenue, Sgt. Sean McGowan said. When police got there, they found two women were in the midst of a dispute that ended with one car being rammed into another. One woman told police that less than an hour before, she was driving north on Washington Boulevard and approaching Travis Avenue when a Nissan Altima pulled in front of her and slammed hard on the brakes. The woman said she didnt rear-end the Nissan. Instead, she drove around it and gave her passenger a drive home, McGowan said. She added that the woman driving the Nissan looked like the same woman who had been sending her boyfriend Snapchat messages for the past three weeks. The woman returned to see if she could find the car and confirm who she thought was behind the wheel. In the driveway behind 41 Austin Ave. she found the woman, Lara Agatstein, 23, with the Nissan. After an argument, the woman told police Agatstein jumped into her Nissan and violently reversed into her front bumper. The woman got into her car and Agatstein pulled the car forward before reversing it again and hitting it for a second time all while her young son was the rear passenger seat, McGowan said. Police quickly found Agatstein, who appeared highly agitated and refused to answer any questions. She was charged with risk of injury to a child, reckless endangerment and breach of peace and held her in lieu of a $5,000 court-appearance bond. jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com STAMFORDA New York City man was arrested coming off a train into Stamford with a gun on Saturday night. Capt. Richard Conklin said officers in the Narcotics and Organized Crime Unit heard that a man would be arriving at the train station with two friends while carrying a pistol. The narcotics officers rounded up some uniformed cops and officers from the detective bureau to watch the train station for the man. The Progressive Club of Lee County will hold its monthly membership meeting Wednesday, Feb. 20, at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theater, 1380 Colonial Blvd., Fort Myers. The evening starts at 6:30 with snacks and mingling, with the meeting starting at 7. The guest speaker, Bob Schaeffer, will discuss Election 2018: What We know So Far. Schaeffer is the head of Public Policy Communication on Sanibel. He works with national non-profit organizations, grassroots activist groups, political campaigns, foundations and socially responsible businesses seeking to deliver their messages to mass audiences more effectively and efficiently. Currently he is the president of FairDistricts Now, a Florida statewide redistricting reform organization, and treasurer of the Progress Florida Education Institute. The meeting is open to the public and free of charge. Snacks and water will be provided, and a pay bar will be available. GREENWICH Things are looking up at the Transportation Association of Greenwich, which is on firmer financial ground since it lost more than $1 million in state contracts last year and was forced to restructure. The Greenwich-based transportation service is no longer facing a budget crisis, thanks to the restructuring, TAG board member and treasurer Mike Miller said revenue is coming in and a profit is projected for the future. The steps that were taken have started to bear fruit, Miller said after he and TAG Executive Director Debra Vetromile spent more than an hour Monday briefing the Board of Estimate and Taxations Budget Committee. Those steps include shrinking the operations. TAG scaled back from a $1.3 million operation to less than $900,000. That involved cutting employees while increasing the cost for many riders as well as reducing the number of rides. We looked under every stone to find opportunities, Miller said. Quite honestly, it was quite a task but an important task. Now Miller and Vetromile are projecting a return to profitability with revenues creating a $42,000 profit for the second half of fiscal year 2019, giving them an overall profit of $8,000 or more when combined with losses from the first half. The projection calls for a profit of more than $50,000 for the 2019-20 fiscal year. TAG provides rides to seniors for medical appointments and social activities; to children for after-school programs; and food delivery for Neighbor to Neighbor to seniors and disabled residents. TAG also runs the Safe Rides program, which provides alternatives to Greenwich teens who need to get home safely after consuming alcohol. For the the proposed 2019-20 municipal budget, TAG is requesting $277,000 to partially fund its services. Five of TAGs seven vehicles all of which are past their prime to say the least with more than 100,000 miles on each need to be replaced, Miller said. Each vehicle will cost $70,000. The plan is to replace at least two by the end of the year, possibly paying for one of them with 80 percent state funds. Despite the rosier outlook, though, Miller said TAG would likely soon need its final quarterly installment of the its annual $293,000 allocation from the town. The release date is set for April 1, but TAG has needed early release on the previous three installments and will need to do so for the fourth. BET Budget Chairman Leslie Moriarty said she would work to put the release of funds on the BETs agenda for March. For the past two years, the BET has required TAG to present status reports before funds were released. In the 2017-18 fiscal year, the money was split into two allocations; in the 2018-19 fiscal year, that money was divided in quarterly releases. Miller told the BET Budget Committee that he hopes the funds can be available all at once in the 2019-20 budget. After Mondays hearing, Miller said that TAG prefers receiving the money at the start of the fiscal year. That would allow the organization to pay for services for the first half of the year and then fund the second half of the year from its revenue streams and fundraising efforts. Getting all of our money for the year at the start of the fiscal year would give us a lot more flexibility, Miller said. The full BET would make that decision, Moriarty said. Im sure our (committee) will discuss the alternatives, she said. kborsuk@greenwichtime.com BRIDGEPORT Its the stuff of cartoons. But Karina Gutierrez is not laughing. Shes suing over the serious injuries she sustained when she accidentally grabbed a stick of explosives, mistaking it for a candle. This is a terribly tragedy to happen to this family, said Gutierrezs lawyer, Paul Ganim. We are thankful, although the mother was tragically injured, that the young children were not physically injured. I am committed to pursuing all legal actions to adequately compensate this family for their horrible loss. Gutierrez and her husband, Abidias Martinez, are suing the former owner of their Lindley Street home, Oscar Aguirre, in Superior Court here. Aguirre could not be reached for comment. On Sept. 6, 2018, powerful thunderstorms swept through the area, knocking out power to hundreds of city residents, including those in the home where Gutierrez lived with her husband and two young children. Shortly after the power went out in her home, the lawsuit states, Gutierrez began to search the house for candles. During her search she found what she believed to be a candle in the basement. But when she lit the wick on top of the candle-shaped object it exploded, the suit states. As a result of the explosion the suit states that Gutierrez suffered serious injury to her face, eyes and hands and was treated first at Bridgeport Hospital and later transferred to Yale-New Haven Hospital. In the meantime, local police and the state police bomb squad evacuated the family and cordoned off the home as they investigated the explosion. The suit states that Gutierrez lost part of her left hand, suffered injury to her right eye and permanent scarring of her face, chest and arms as the result of the explosion. She will have to undergo continued medical treatment incurring significant medical expenses. Mrs. Gutierrezs injuries and losses were directly caused by the willful, wanton and reckless conduct of the defendant in that he knew of the existence of the explosive device but failed to remove it from the basement when he sold the property in deliberate disregard for the safety of the plaintiffs, the suit states. Theres no question the victim in David Mamets play, Race, wore a red sequin dress the night she was attacked, but it seems something is wrong with the details of the police report. Thats part of the mystery in this controversial and provocative drama, which will be performed by TheatreWorks New Milford. Race premiered on Broadway in December of 2009. It tells the story of what happens when a rich white man is accused of raping a younger African-American woman and looks to a multicultural law firm for his defense, the theater says. Even as his lawyers one of them white, another black begin to strategize, they must confront their own biases and assumptions about race relations in America, says TheatreWorks New Milford, which will stage Race Friday, March 1 through Saturday, March 16. Mamet, a playwright, essayist and screenwriter, has said Race is meant to be an exploration of race and the lies we tell each other on the subject. Danbury resident Francis A. Daley, who will direct the show, shared more via email. We were looking for a hard-hitting drama with a small cast, he said. Race came to our attention and grabbed us because it is fast-paced, topical, salacious, with a great twist and punch line. The play is challenging because of the casting, because it is Mamet, because of the topic(s). The setting, in a law office, allows us to be flies on the wall for conversation that we would never be privy to because it is a lawyer/client privilege, therefore the topic of race is addressed frankly. Along with its controversial themes, Race has very strong language, the theater said. The play was originally set to open Friday, Feb. 22, but the date was postponed until Friday, March 1 because of inclement weather which impacted rehearsal time. However, a free performance for senior citizens is still Thursday, Feb 21, and pay-what-you-can night is still on Thursday, Feb. 28. Doors open at 7 p.m. for these two shows and seating is first-come, first-served. TheatreWorks New Milford, 5 Brookside Ave. Friday, March 1 - Saturday, March 16. Friday, Saturday, 8 p.m., plus March 10, 2 p.m. $25 reserved seats. $20 students, military personnel and veterans with ID. Senior citizens invited to free dress rehearsal Thursday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m. Pay-what-you-can-night, Thursday, Feb. 28, 7 p.m. 860-350-6863 Turkish Airlines plans to increase its frequencies to a number of cities in the former Yugoslavia this summer as it prepares to fully move to its new hub in Istanbul on March 3. Notably, Turkish Airlines will maintain the greatest number of flights within the former Yugoslavia to Sarajevo this summer with three daily services planned from the very start of the 2019 summer season. The airline will maintain a total of 21 weekly flights from Istanbul. Furthermore, it will run over 220 regular charter flights from Antalya to the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from late May until mid-September. Services will be maintained by its subsidiary AnadoluJet. Turkish is also considering introducing a second destination in the country, to Mostar, but will do so only if it manages to negotiate subsidies with local authorities, similar to the ones enjoyed by Croatia Airlines and Eurowings, which maintain flights to the city. Turkish Airlines Zagreb ad in Singapore metro In Croatia, Turkish Airlines will operate double daily flights to Dubrovnik, up from eleven per week last summer. The additional frequencies will be launched at the end of June. The carrier handled a total of 70.339 passengers from Croatia's third busiest airport in 2018, up 27.1% on the year before. It accounted for 2.2% of all passengers and was Dubrovnik's sixth busiest. Turkish recently noted, "Our plan is to launch another route to Croatia so we can better connect the country to the world and bring even more tourists". In cooperation with the Croatian National Tourist Board, Turkish Airlines is currently promoting Zagreb and Dubrovnik across Asia. The Turkish carrier will also grow its operations to Podgorica by adding an additional flight to the Montenegrin capital for a total of fourteen per week. "Turkish Airlines currently flies to every capital city in the region such as Belgrade, Sarajevo, Podgorica and Ljubljana. Before we decide on introducing a new route or increasing frequencies within our destination network, our team of experts conducts a number of studies focusing on various aspects and taking into account the performance of our existing destinations, which also plays a deciding role in our network expansion. In addition, it is important to take note of various changes on the market and have initiative", the company's Country Manager for Croatia, Ugur Cantimur, said recently. Despite attempts to increase frequencies and capacity to Belgrade, Turkish Airlines will continue to operate doubly daily flights between its hub and the Serbian capital this summer. In 2018, the Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate rejected the carrier's application to operate one of its two daily services with a wide-body Airbus A330-200 aircraft throughout the entire summer season and later rejected the its request to add an additional four weekly flights between Istanbul and Belgrade as of September 2018. Lets consider some real news, for a change: Last year was officially proclaimed the fourth-warmest on record; scientists predict that melting ice in Antarctica and Greenland could not only raise sea levels but further destabilize weather patterns; and progressive members of Congress are proposing a Green New Deal, the first policy framework ambitious enough to meet the challenge of global warming. Please dont stop reading. I know that climate change isnt the sexiest of topics. I could be writing about President Donald Trumps latest tweetstorm, or the shade he was thrown by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the State of the Union speech, or the blackface and sexual-assault scandals that could force Virginias top three officials to resign, or Sen. Elizabeth Warrens ongoing racial-identity crisis, or the House Intelligence Committees new investigation of some anomalous Trump Organization deals that involved huge and unexplained amounts of cash. Those are all big and important stories, but climate change is the biggest, most important story of our time. Our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will judge us by how well we meet the challenge, and so far we are failing. Miserably. Scientists from NASA announced Wednesday that 2018 was the Earths fourth-warmest year since record-keeping began about 140 years ago. The warmest year of all was 2016, followed in order by 2017 and 2015; the fifth-warmest was 2014. Anyone who is not deliberately being obtuse can see the pattern. Why is it so hot? Because humankind has increased the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by a staggering 40 percent since the Industrial Revolution. There is now more of the heat-trapping gas in the air than at any time in at least the past 800,000 years. Researchers have looked in vain for any natural phenomenon or cycle that could explain the carbon buildup and the rapid warming. Yet global carbon emissions are at an all-time high. Anyone tempted to shrug or even cheer, given the brutal cold that much of the nation suffered last month is whistling past the graveyard. Sea-level rise, in part caused by the fact that warmer water takes up more space than cooler water, has already worsened coastal flooding around the world and threatened to erase low-lying islands from the map. Now attention has shifted to the polar regions, where the warming process is proceeding most rapidly and ice is melting at an unprecedented pace. Hardly a month goes by without some alarming new report about accelerated melting in Antarctica and the various apocalyptic scenarios that might come true. A paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature suggests that a phenomenon known as marine ice cliff instability might not produce as much additional sea level rise as a 2016 paper had predicted. But a second Nature paper warned that melting ice in Antarctica, Greenland and the Himalayas could seriously disrupt weather and temperature patterns worldwide. Thats the true nature of the scientific debate over climate change. Its not about whether global warming is taking place or whats causing it those questions are settled. The open question is whether the effects of human-induced climate change will be bad, catastrophically bad or threat-to-civilization bad. Enter the resolution, introduced Thursday by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., calling on Congress to create a Green New Deal. Pelosi has sounded skeptical. It will be one of several or maybe many suggestions that we receive, she said Wednesday, according to Politico. The green dream or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is, but theyre for it, right? Im more impressed than the speaker is, however. The point of the resolution is not to propose specific, detailed policy prescriptions. What it does accomplish, though, is lay out the enormous scale of the climate change problem and, as a commensurate response, call for a new national, social, industrial and economic mobilization on a scale not seen since World War II and the New Deal. The resolutions goal is to reduce net U.S. carbon emissions to zero through a 10-year national mobilization. Such a crusade, as envisioned, would create jobs and economic development while at the same time safeguarding the biosphere. Yes, proposals such as upgrading all existing buildings in the United States and spurring massive growth in clean manufacturing and overhauling transportation systems sound like pie in the sky. But thats the scale of the crisis. Sooner or later, were going to have to go big on climate change. So lets start thinking big. eugenerobinson@washpost.com Tuesday, February 12, 2019 at 3:28PM A new report from Strategy Analytics states that Google's Pixel line of smartphones is the fastest growing smartphone brand in the US with a 43 per cent growth year-over-year. Often considered the underdog brand way behind Apple's iPhone and Samsung's dominant Galaxy line of devices, Google Pixel has gained a reputation for its clean operating system, simple yet elegant design and for it's impressive photography capabilities despite having only one rear camera. While this report seems like a nice feather on Google's cap. It becomes more meaningful when considering that the entire smartphone market is struggling. Global smartphone sales have dived by 23 per cent in the past year. Both Apple and Samsung have been forced to adjust earning's expectations after missing their sales targets in Q1. Can Google ride this wave and generate consistent interest for the present and future Pixel 3 models? It remains to be seen, but consumers are starting to see that there's a viable alternative in the smarpthone space that brings innovation in areas they care about. Source: 9to5Google The $450 million project to re-imagine the Alamo and expand its plaza is facing an obstacle that could be harder to overcome than the controversial plans to encircle the shrine in a glass wall or relocate the Cenotaph. The San Antonio Missions Cemetery Association and the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation have asked the Texas Historical Commission to designate a portion the Alamo site as a historic Texas cemetery. The potential impact is unknown. But judging from the way it was summarily dismissed by the Alamos CEO, there may be trouble ahead. Submitted in October, the cemetery request was tabled by the commission last month. It wasnt rejected outright, however, indicating a willingness to consider evidence the site contains a historic cemetery. OnExpressNews.com: St. Mary's project seeks federal nod to interned German Americans The commissions staff has been instructed to work with stakeholders to better define the cemetery. The commission viewed the dimensions suggested by the Native American group as too large. The staff also will work to define the protocol for handling human remains at the site, said commission spokesman Chris Florance. The cemetery association also reached out to Mayor Ron Nirenbergs office. Since then, archaeologist Kay Hindes of the citys Office of Historic Preservation has been tapped to review archival and archaeological data to determine the cemeterys boundaries. What historians, other scholars and Native American groups know is this: Long before it was the site of a famous battle, the Alamo was where the citys earliest citizens lived, worked, died and were buried. They were the citys first Catholics and helped forge the city and states future. The Alamo Trust, the nonprofit managing the shrine for the Texas General Land Office, objected to the cemetery designation request. In a short letter, CEO Doug McDonald was curt and emphatic. A cemetery does not exist on Alamo property, he said in requesting that the designation be denied in all respects. McDonald referred questions to the GLO, which didnt respond to questions Monday. Ramon Vasquez, executive director of Tap Pilams nonprofit agency, the American Indians in Texas, prepared the application and has been accompanied before the commission by elder Ray Hernandez, anthropologist Alston Thoms of Texas A&M-College Station and, in a show of support, by members of the federally recognized Mescalero Apache Tribe of New Mexico. Vasquez presented evidence of an historic cemetery at the site, including copies of a Mission San Antonio de Valero burial book that documents 1,377 burials in the early to mid-1700s. Theres evidence, too, that remains were reinterred there from Valeros original site, as was Native American custom. The burial practices of the Spanish Colonial Missions, the application says, were to bury the baptized individuals underneath the floor of the churches and extend outward into the convent and/or plaza areas. OnExpressNews.com: Rosie Castro has been here before: on the precipice of the seemingly impossible Vasquez cited newspaper stories in the early to mid-1900s that referred to a two-acre burial site at the Alamo. A 2015 document from the Catholic Archives of San Antonio refers to a map of the battle plan of the Mexican army for the March 6, 1836 attack on the Alamo. Plainly marked is the cemetery and the ruined church. He referred to the labeling of burial grounds on renderings of the Alamo plan as inadequate. What is on a map, a pin someplace, is arbitrary, Vasquez said. The application admits the cemeterys boundaries have never been identified or recorded by the Texas Historical Commission. Vasquez speaks plainly about why the long-overdue historic designation is deserved: Because it was the first Catholic cemetery in the city of San Antonio. It was here before San Fernando Cathedral and before the Canary Islanders arrived. Theres 10,000 years of archaeological evidence of Native Americans on that site. He says the request for cemetery designation isnt about stopping the Alamo project, but about protecting the sites cultural assets. We see it as a gift to San Antonio and Texas, he said. It enhances the story of San Antonio de Valero. Its also the right thing to do. He wonders if the request would be opposed by the Alamo if the cemetery wasnt filled with Native Americans and the citys other early citizens, Spaniards, Mexicans and Tejanos. If Davy Crockett were buried there, he said, wouldnt you think this would be different? The Texas Historical Commission will revisit the proposal this spring. Greg Brockhouse got elected to the San Antonio City Council on June 10, 2017. Speculation about a possible Brockhouse run for mayor started sometime around the early morning hours of June 11. The District 6 councilman and former consultant to both the police and fire unions has been Mayor Ron Nirenbergs chief antagonist over the past two years and his Saturday announcement that he would challenge Nirenberg felt like the long-anticipated fulfillment of a preordained grudge match. During an interview on this weeks Puro Politics podcast, however, Brockhouse said he only decided a couple of weeks ago that he was ready to commit to a mayoral campaign. Sometimes in politics, timing is the overriding factor, so we took a hard look at it, Brockhouse said. But at the end of the day, it was my wife that ultimately let me make the call. On ExpressNews.com: Brockhouse prepares to make his big move Brockhouse has depicted Nirenberg as a mayor who does a poor job of consulting with his council colleagues and building consensus on the dais. This is a thorny issue for Brockhouse, however, because his own first term on the council often has found him on a political island, in opposition to his colleagues on big issues such as housing incentives (which he sees as outside the proper role of municipal government) and the fire unions 2018 charter amendment propositions (which he supported, and most of the council opposed). On ExpressNews.com: Fire union support a mixed blessing for Brockhouse Nonetheless, Brockhouse insisted that as mayor he would be able to work well with the council. Day one, if Im the mayor, Brockhouse said, Im going to each and every council member and Im sitting there saying, Lets lay out this plan. What makes sense for you and your district? What do I have to do? Along those lines, Brockhouse said he would flip the budgetary process to give council members more input at the beginning, rather than the end, of the process. Hear these and other comments from Brockhouse on this weeks Puro Politics podcast. Puro Politics is a weekly podcast with Gilbert Garcia and the Express-News political team as they take you for a spin inside the halls of civic power. Contributors include senior reporter Josh Baugh, investigative reporter Brain Chasnoff and government and politics reporter Dylan McGuinness. Listen and subscribe on: Apple Podcasts Stitcher TuneIn RSS All Episodes Gilbert Garcia is a columnist covering the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | ggarcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @gilgamesh470 Major crimes in San Antonio decreased across the board last year, with rape the only exception. The total number 71,310 declined 16 percent from the year prior, according to San Antonio police. That included homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny/theft, motor vehicle theft and arson. Those crimes are so-called Part I offenses, which are tracked by the FBI and considered the most serious. Police Chief William McManus credited the improvement to the departments continued efforts to apprehend known criminals and enhance community engagement. He said 2018 was the second consecutive year of an overall decline in crime. There were 107 homicides reported in San Antonio last year, a 16 percent reduction from the year prior. Homicides have decreased steadily since 2016, when the number reached 149, a 21-year high. On ExpressNews.com: After a long decline, homicides spiked to 21-year high The homicide count does not include justified homicides or officer-involved killings. The only offense that increased was rape, which has been on the rise since 2015. Last year, there were 1,346 rapes in San Antonio, a 6 percent increase from 2017. Property crimes decreased more than violent crimes last year. In a statement posted on Facebook, McManus said the Violent Crime Task Force, which includes several federal, state and local agencies, has drastically reduced crime. The task force was established in 2017 after homicides and violent crime skyrocketed the year before. The spike had police officials puzzled as to the causes. The task force focused on repeat offenders, not crime hot spots as the department had done before. On ExpressNews.com: SAPD unveils initiatives to combat homicides, violent crime Crime doesnt just happen in one section of the city, and we dont want to target one section of the city, McManus said in 2017 when the initiative was unveiled. We dont want to overpolice. We have our Intelligence Unit detectives talking about who we need to target people, not areas. He said task force agencies have made 16,533 arrests, including nearly 1,500 gang members, since its inception. It has also confiscated 2,181 firearms and 839,174 grams of illegal drugs. McManus said the decline in crime can also be credited to the work of officers in the SAFFE Unit, which works hand in hand with residents and businesses to prevent crimes. SAFFE, which stands for San Antonio Fear Free Environment, has added officers for two consecutive years, he said. While he is heartened by the decrease in crime, McManus said there is still much work to be done. While these numbers are strong, there is no finish line, he said. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated how much crime decreased in 2018 because of an error made by the San Antonio Police Department. This story has been changed to reflect the correct numbers. Emilie Eaton is a criminal justice reporter in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | eeaton@express-news.net | Twitter: @emilieeaton Feb. 12 is Election Day in San Antonio. If thats news to you, dont fret: Youre not alone. Voters on the West and Northwest sides will head to the polls Tuesday to decide their new state representative in an off-cycle special election that is sure to be defined by low turnout. Some 3,354 people already cast ballots during early voting for House District 125, which is about 3.3 percent of the slightly more than 100,000 people registered to vote in the district. That turnout is roughly on par with other special elections. In the citys most recent special election, 4.22 percent of registered voters cast ballots. In the November midterm elections, that number was 49.96 percent. Heres everything you need to know. Why is there an election in February? After West Side political icon Paul Elizondo died in late December, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff tapped then-state Rep. Justin Rodriguez to replace him on Commissioners Court. This election will determine who succeeds Rodriguez in the Texas House of Representatives. On ExpressNews.com: One seat is filled, another opens: County court pick will ripple through San Antonio politics In the meantime, the Bexar County delegation is down a member as the states 86th Legislature picks up steam. Lawmakers are expected to tackle heavy issues such as property tax and school finance reform, so San Antonio representatives have said its important for the delegation to get back to full strength. Where is the election? District 125 covers a diagonal swath of the city spanning from South Zarzamora Street on the West Side to the Loop 1604 on the Northwest Side. In between Loops 410 and 1604, the district loosely follows Bandera Road. An interactive map is available here. Can I vote? Voters can verify whether they live in the district, check their registration and polling places on the countys website, bexar.org/elections The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. What do I need to bring? Voters should have an acceptable photo ID, and elections officials also recommend bringing voter registration cards to expedite the process. Acceptable IDs include a passport, a Texas drivers license and a Texas Department of Public Safety-issued personal identification card, among others. These IDs are acceptable even if theyre expired, so long as theyre not more than four years out of date. For voters who are 70 or older, the date limit doesnt apply. To see a full description of the ID requirements, click here or go to bexar.org/elections If a voter doesnt have one of the approved photo IDs and cant reasonably obtain one, there are several other ways to establish identification, including a current utility bill with the correct address, a bank statement or government check, among other documents. But these voters must sign a reasonable impediment declaration. Visit sos.state.tx.us for more complete details. Whos running? Four Democrats and one Republican are running to represent the district. Steve Huerta, a Democrat, has branded himself as an activist lawmaker, but his unconventional background has come with questions about whether he is eligible to run. Huerta was arrested for having less than a gram of cocaine in 1999, a felony conviction that he said would give him unique insight at the Capitol. But state officials say the conviction bars him from taking the seat. Huerta disputes that claim. An Express-News investigation also revealed that Huerta likely does not meet the residency requirements to run for the office. State law requires candidates to live in the district theyre running to represent for at least a year before the election. When Huerta ran for a local position last August, he listed an address that was outside the district he now wants to represent. Huerta, 50, is on the ballot. He has long been an activist in the local Democratic Party and All of Us or None, a grassroots civil rights group. He has said his background in activism would allow him to leverage the seat beyond the few months of the legislative session. Ray Lopez, a Democrat, has the most recent electoral experience and the most money by far of all the candidates in the race. The former AT&T executive served the West Side on City Council for eight years until 2017, the maximum allowed by San Antonios term limits. Before that, he served on and was chairman of the Northside Independent School District in the 1990s. He has also chaired the Metropolitan Planning Organization and currently works for the San Antonio Mobility Coalition, advocating for transportation needs at the capitol. Lopez, 69, received financial support from some of San Antonios most recognizable business leaders, including executives from NuStar Energy, Frost Bank and Joeris General Contractors. He is also endorsed by several public safety unions. He has said he would bring education and transportation expertise to the position, and that he has the necessary relationships with power brokers in Austin to further the districts interests. Fred Rangel, a Republican, owns two businesses Adco Master Builders and Adco Professional Services and has served on various community organizations. He has also been involved in the local GOP. Rangel said he brings conservative values and a small business owners perspective to the race. He said his business experience will allow him to look for and rein in inefficiencies in state government. He has said his personal experience on the West Side informs his outlook on education, having attended schools in Edgewood ISD before sending his daughter to Northside. The funding formula must be made more equitable, he said. He also believes there are opportunities to cut overhead administrative costs. On other issues, Rangel, 63, breaks with his competitors on more predictably ideological lines. He supports state-funded vouchers to send kids to private schools, backs Gov. Greg Abbotts plan to cap property tax hikes at 2.5 percent and is backed by Texas Right to Life. Abbott and Sen. John Cornyn have also endorsed him. A Republican has not won election in this district since it was redrawn in 1992 to include more West Side voters. Coda Rayo-Garza, a Democrat, is a senior coordinator for San Antonio ISD and has previously been a staffer for City Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales and then-City Councilman Ron Nirenberg. She has also worked at an education nonprofit and as a political partner for the Truman National Security Project. Rayo-Garza has touted her policy chops on education in making her case to voters. She has proposed a number of ideas to help pay for schools, including using more revenue from the Texas Lottery and closing the so-called dark store loophole that allows businesses to cut their property tax bills. She has received backing from Annies List, the Texas Organizing Project and Planned Parenthood of Texas, among others. The 33-year-old is by far the youngest candidate and the only woman hoping to win the seat, which has been held by men for the last 22 years. Rayo-Garza said she thinks the district is ready for a fresh perspective along those lines. Art Reyna, a Democrat, held this Texas House seat from 1996 to 2002. The attorney has also served on the Leon Valley City Council. Reyna, 63, has framed that experience and the six years of seniority he would get to keep if elected as his primary advantage over the rest of the field. He knows the system, he says, and hed get the higher ranking to use it any of the others would be Number 150 out of 150 in the Texas House. He has said the state needs to close corporate tax loopholes to help finance the public school system. Reyna has also championed reform in other areas particularly criminal justice to reap savings that can then be used for education. He is backed by several local chapters of the American Federation of Teachers, an education union. Reyna, 62, has said the combination of his seniority and his experience would better position him to advocate for District 125 constituents than the other candidates. What else do I need to know? Heres everything the Express-News has written about the race since it officially began Jan. 14: - Meet the candidates who want to become San Antonios newest state representative - Candidates for San Antonios open Texas House seat agree that schools need more money but they differ on how to do it - Lopez has raised more money than his four Texas House competitors combined - Huerta disputes claim that hes ineligible for special election to fill San Antonios open House seat - Low turnout will be the decider in San Antonios Texas House District 125 Gilbert Garcias takes: - Lopez shaping up to be front-runner - GOP tries to re-create its special-election magic in Texas House race - Two San Antonio felons challenge state election law The Editorial Boards pick: - Rayo-Garza our choice in the 125th District Heads up! Political observers say the size of the field makes it likely a runoff election will be necessary. That would be triggered if no candidate garners more than 50 percent of the vote. If a runoff is needed, it likely would take place in March. Dylan McGuinness covers City Hall and local politics in San Antonio. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | dylan.mcguinness@express-news.net | Twitter: @DylMcGuinness Richard Coleman was the commander no one saw coming. He quit the 10th grade and joined the Air Force in 1956 with a friend, learning his trade from senior NCOs who had fought in World War II and Korea. Coleman served in Vietnam and later earned a college degree and became an officer. Now 79, Coleman was saluted Monday afternoon at the Security Forces Museum at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, where friends and family celebrated an unveiling of his portrait, to take its place along with other airmen in the buildings Hall of Honor. When he retired in 2000, he was one of only nine enlistees who had ever risen to general, closing out a career that ran 43 years, four months and two days at the time, the longest in Air Force history. But neither distinction was his most vital legacy. Talk with those who know, and theyll tell you that Coleman imprinted his character and ethos into the Air Forces Security Forces field. I think if you can capture everything we want to be, everything we should be, everything we are, would it be one person its him, Maj. Gen. Brad Spacy, 56, commander of the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center at Lackland said Monday. Now Playing: Brig. Gen. Richard Coleman started his career after quitting school in the 10th grade. Before retiring 43 years later, he'd led left his mark - and ethos - on the Security Forces career field. He wass honored with a portrait unveiling at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland on Feb. 11, 2019. Video: San Antonio Express-News When I met him here the first time I was a captain teaching base defense at the Security Forces Academy, Spacy said. And he lectured us instructors drawing from his experience in Vietnam and the Philippines and all around. And we were so held by that. Everything he said reached into us and resonated so clearly, and we thought, Yes! If only he was in charge. The ceremony, speeches and salutes from two Security Forces airmen who handed him a folded U.S. flag offered an opportunity for all to take stock of a career that went far beyond chevrons and stars. A military training instructor, small arms instructor, operations officer, five-time squadron commander and group commander, Coleman revolutionized Security Forces with the help of now-retired Gen. Ronald Fogleman, then Air Force chief of staff. They re-envisioned the career field by opening the Security Forces Center at Lackland, with leadership split between there and Washington, D.C. Coleman created the 820th Security Forces Group based at Moody AFB in Valdosta, Ga., a rapid-deployment unit that defends Air Force bases. A consolidated Security Forces saw changes in the way military working dogs and handlers were trained. The falcon that is the signature of the beret crest worn by every Security Forces member was Colemans invention. Thats the least significant thing he did, but it symbolizes how he drew us together as a force in a way we never had been, Spacy said of the crest, which is also called a beret flash. We needed it at that time and it made us ready for what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. Colemand imbued his command with all of the mental toughness, all of the pride found in the career field, Fogleman said. I think he appealed to a warrior spirit in the Security Forces people. I think thats what attracted people to it and he set very high standards, and people like to be in organizations that have high standards. Retired Chief Master Sgt. Jerry Nelson, the master of ceremonies, said Colemans footprint is all over Security Forces and clicked off achievements that included serving in combat as an enlisted man and officer, and helping lead the evacuation of Saigon in 1975. He was the officer in charge of Security Forces from March to May of 1975 at Tan Son Nhut Air Base as communist forces took over South Vietnam. What he does for Security Forces and what hes done for 44 years, that was the love of his life, and its hard to find somebody who did a job that long, said Nelson, 70, of San Antonio. He still gets emotional when he talks about it. That was clear as Coleman made his way to the lectern. Standing before him were his daughters, Christina and Shannon Lee, and a son, Dean. Both he and his daughters are cancer survivors. Colemans wife, Maggie, died of cancer two years ago. Dont let it define you. Be who you are, fight it and get on with your life, he said when asked in an interview about lessons learned from those health battles. In his speech, Coleman talked of joining the Air Force at 17. I was born to do what I did. Somebody asked me one time, Hey, how come you stayed there so long? I said, Thats the first family I had since I left home. I was so comfortable with it I thought Id stay for a while. But I didnt know it was going to be for so long. Sig Christenson covers the military and its impact in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | sigc@express-news.net | Twitter: @saddamscribe The National Butterfly Center, which straddles a levee where the Trump administration plans to build a wall, is seeking a restraining order against the federal government to block construction. The center wants to prevent the Department of Homeland Security from taking any more action to build a concrete-and-steel wall along the border until a lawsuit filed by the center has been resolved. If somebodys punching you, you ask them to stop. And thats what were doing, said Jeffrey Glassberg, president of the North American Butterfly Association, which owns the center. Read the restraining order: National Butterfly Center says Department of Homeland Security's 'constitutional violations are escalating' In November, the Department of Homeland Security awarded millions of dollars in a contract with SLSCO Ltd. to build 6 miles of levee wall that would slice through the butterfly center and elsewhere along the river. Customs and Border Protection recently announced that earthmovers and other equipment was on its way to the Rio Grande Valley. Construction is expected to begin later this month. The butterfly center is also asking for a preliminary injunction until the government has properly surveyed and assessed the land per the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act. Those two acts, along with 26 others, were waived by the Trump administration to expedite construction of the wall. On ExpressNews.com: First signs of border wall construction spotted at National Butterfly Center Through funding already approved by Congress from a previous budget cycle, 25 more miles of border wall is expected to go up in Hidalgo County. Overall, 33 miles are funded in the Rio Grande Valley. Surveyors staked out the wall route last week. If the government proceeds with construction as planned, 70 of the butterfly centers 100 acres would be placed between the wall and the river. It would also clear out some of the sanctuarys land for a 150-foot enforcement zone along the wall. On any given day, hundreds of species of butterflies flit through the nonprofit sanctuary, which is part of the North American Butterfly Association. Birders from across the country visit the refuge to spot and photograph birds unique to the Rio Grande Valley, and thousands of local schoolchildren take field trips to the center each year. On ExpressNews.com: Bulldozers to soon plow through National Butterfly Center for Trump's border wall Border wall construction is beginning on land adjacent to NABAs property and Defendants constitutional violations are escalating, reads the injunction filing. Immediate injunctive relief is necessary to prevent irreparable harm. We hope it stops the lawless behavior of the United States federal government, Glassberg said. The center filed a lawsuit in December 2017 after contractors with chainsaws arrived on the centers property to begin preparations for a border wall. The center accused the government of not following due process and invading private property. Its an intolerable situation, Glassberg said. If it was happening anywhere else in the country, people would be jumping up and down and pulling out their hair and screaming like crazy. Silvia Foster-Frau is a staff writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | sfosterfrau@express-news.net | Twitter: @SilviaElenaFF A passing Uber driver was the first to spot the abandoned Oldsmobile and sense that something was wrong. It was after midnight on Dec. 3, 2016, and the silver sedan was parked at the crest of the bridge that connects Belmar and Avon-by-the-Sea, New Jersey, two beachfront communities separated by the chilly Shark River that flows out into the Atlantic Ocean. There was no indication that the car had broken down before being deserted by its owner, and when police officers arrived, they found the keys still in the ignition. As police started looking for the missing driver, Michael Stern was becoming increasingly concerned that his 19-year-old daughter, Sarah, hadn't answered any of this texts. "Sarah, where are you?" he wrote, according to the Asbury Park Press. "Sarah, are you up?" "Sarah, what's going on?" At first, it looked like a suicide. Investigators quickly learned that the 1994 Oldsmobile belonged to Sarah Stern's grandmother, and that the teenager hadn't been seen or heard from since the previous afternoon. Coast Guard helicopters, rescue boats and dive teams searched the estuary but came up empty-handed, and the river's fast-moving current made it more than likely that a falling body would have been swept out to sea. When officials questioned one of Stern's oldest friends, the portrait that emerged was one of a troubled young woman desperate to get out of her small New Jersey town. "I just know she's been trying to get away, been telling me she's moving to Canada," Liam McAtasney told officers when they knocked on his door. McAtasney had been friends with Stern, an aspiring artist who had recently dropped out of community college, since elementary school. According to the Press, he told police that she had threatened to kill herself at least once before, and that she had "trust issues" with her father, who was "crazy" and had stolen money from her at least once. The two had been arguing continually for the past few months, he added, and Stern had been talking about needing to get away as their relationship deteriorated. Two months after Stern disappeared, however, police made an arrest that shocked the quiet seaside community where she had once played on the high school softball team and worked a local pizzeria. McAtasney, then 19, was charged with strangling his childhood companion and recruiting another friend, Preston Taylor, also 19, to help cover up the murder by staging it as a suicide. The two men had joined the search parties that combed the Jersey Shore in the wake of her disappearance, the Press reported. Taylor had taken Stern to junior prom, and the three had been part of a "big, happy group" at Neptune High School, Michael Stern told the paper in February 2017. "Don't know what happened," he said. "Something. I guess people change. . . . Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse." The reason for the change, according to prosecutors, was that McAtasney learned about a shoe box full of cash that Stern's mother had left behind when she died of cancer four years before. The dog-eared bills, totaling roughly $25,000, had been stashed in the family's second home in Avon-by-the-Sea, unbeknown to Stern's father. After finding the box, Stern had used the windfall to take trips to Florida and Canada, pay for surgery for her dog and buy a television for her grandmother. Then, at her aunt's urging, she had put $5,200 in a checking account and the rest in a safe-deposit box at a bank in Bradley Beach, New Jersey. Not knowing that he was secretly being recorded, McAtasney confessed to a friend in January 2017 that he had believed there was anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 in the shoe box. In the video, which authorities played in court Thursday, he complained that Stern had actually only had about $10,000, which appeared "burnt or something" and was so old-looking that he didn't even know that he could deposit it in the bank. The chilling tape, in which McAtasney appeared to describe plotting Stern's murder for six months before strangling her and faking her suicide, was the latest piece of evidence presented by prosecutors in the ongoing trial, which began last month in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Although Stern's body still has not been found, McAtasney, now 21, has been charged with homicide and faces life in prison. He has pleaded not guilty. To Stern's family and friends who testified in court, the idea that she could have killed herself or left for Canada without telling anyone had never made sense. She had been happy in the days leading up to her disappearance, they all agreed. Besides, her aunt testified, Stern would never have left behind her beloved dog, Buddy. But the key break in the case came when Anthony Curry, a horror film director and a friend of McAtasney's, told police about a conversation that the two had on Thanksgiving night in 2016, a week before Stern's disappearance. "He told me he was going to meet up with Sarah, she had found this money," Curry, 21, testified on Thursday, according to NJ.com. "They were going to count it together. He was going to choke her, choke her out. Bring her to the bridge, throw her off and Preston was going to drive the escape vehicle. And they were going to bury the money and leave the keys in the ignition and make it look like she killed herself." Police set up a hidden camera in Curry's car, and he made plans to meet McAtasney on Jan. 31, 2017, singing along to "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett and "Rock'n Me" by the Steve Miller Band on the way to calm his nerves. He parked on a residential street not far from the beach, and McAtasney hopped in the passenger seat, commenting that he was hiding from the cops. Later, he told Curry that he had "enough to live comfortably in my house and throw parties all the time," but that the haul hadn't been as much as he had expected. With no apparent remorse, McAtasney described choking Stern until she had a seizure, then stuffing a shirt down her throat while he covered her nose. After a half-hour, he said, he put her body in the passenger seat of the Oldsmobile, backing out of the driveway in the same way that he had observed her doing so that no one would notice that someone else was driving her car. "My biggest problem was the dog," he said. "Her dog laid there and watched as I killed her. Didn't do anything." Carlos Diaz-Cobo, McAtasney's defense attorney, had an explanation ready for the seemingly damning video. Earlier in the trial, NJ.com reported, he said his client had been auditioning for a role in one of Curry's slasher movies, not confessing to murder. The dialogue in the video was a script that had been made up to impress the young director, he claimed. But the details all matched previous testimony from Taylor, who in April 2017 pleaded guilty to charges including robbery, disturbing human remains and tampering with evidence. In exchange for a reduced sentence, he agreed to testify against McAtasney, his former friend and roommate, who he described as a "Manson-like person." The two had initially discussed burglarizing Stern's house, Taylor said in court last month, according to the Press. One night, he said, McAtasney had brought over a six-pack of Mike's Hard Lemonade and tried to get Stern drunk so that they could steal her money. But she told him that she had put the money in a safe-deposit box, forcing them to come up with a new strategy. Finally, he testified, McAtasney had convinced her to take the cash out of the bank by persuading her that he wanted to go on a trip or even move away from New Jersey with her. The plan from there was simple: McAtasney would strangle Stern, then call Taylor on a walkie-talkie. In exchange for helping dump her body off the bridge, he would get a $3,000 cut. The stories about Stern having a troubled relationship with her father and being emotionally unstable were all lies that McAtasney had cooked up to make it look like the 19-year-old had killed herself, Taylor told the court. The defense has tried to undercut the credibility of Taylor, the state's star witness, by pointing out that he lied to police by claiming that he had been sexually assaulted as a child in an apparent bid for sympathy, NJ.com reported. "His testimony is untruthful, it's false, it's imagined, erroneous and not credible," Diaz-Cobo said at the trial's start, according to the Press. In his own testimony, Taylor said that it had been McAtasney's idea to lie about a childhood rape in an attempt to gain pity. He also recalled the words that McAtasney had used when he first told him about the shoe box that their former classmate had found: "It's the type of money that somebody would kill for." Hollywoods traditional depiction of native Americans as either the noble savage or the murderous brave in feathers and warpaint has long been criticized as one-dimensional and racist. Therell be no such stereotypes in sight during the fourth annual Native American Film Series, which premieres Saturday at the Briscoe Western Art Museum, 210 W. Market Street. The three-film series will showcase a diverse selection of titles, shown one a month for three months. The series was curated by Julianna Brannum, a documentary filmmaker and member of the Comanche nation. Brannum said that filmmaking by Native American and indigenous peoples has blossomed in recent years as more move in front of, and behind, the camera. I hope the films will show people that we are still here, said Brannum, referring to Native Americans. That it will show there are indigenous people in every community, including San Antonio. On ExpressNews.com: Native Americans to get their Tricentennial moment Brannum was series producer and writer of the four-part documentary Native America, which aired last year on PBS and is now available on iTunes and Amazon.com. The style of indigenous films is changing, too. Before it was mostly historical stories being told, she said. Now were seeing more non-traditional films that are still steeped in the value system and culture of native and indigenous people. Showtime for all three films is 2 p.m. and tickets are free with the price of admission to the museum $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, military and students. The first film in the series, running Saturday, is INAATE / SE / (it shines a certain way, to a certain place. / it flies. falls.). A blend of documentary, narrative and experimental forms of filmmaking, it is described as a re-imagination of the ancient Ojibway story, the Seven Fires Prophecy, which both predates and predicts first contact with Europeans. On ExpressNews.com: Briscoe unveils a new River Walk landmark The second film, a documentary titled Warrior Women, runs on March 16 and tells the story of Madonna Thunder Hawk, a leader in the American Indian Movement, and her daughter Nancy, as they continue to fight for Native rights, according to the film schedule. The final film is In Times of Rain. Showing on April 20, its the story of a young indigenous boy named Jose who, according to the schedule, finds himself torn between living a traditional Mixtec life in his rural community with his grandmother, or joining his mother in Mexico City. Liz Jackson, vice president of the Briscoe, said hosting the film series helps fulfill the museums mission to educate and inspire the public through Western art. For decades, Hollywood reduced and diminished Native Americans on film, Jackson said. Through this showcase, we hope to allow Native American and indigenous filmmakers and actors to interpret their own stories in their own way. Richard A. Marini is a features writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | rmarini@express-news.net | Twitter: @RichardMarini Over the last year, longtime San Antonio lawmaker Carlos Uresti has lost his political career, his livelihood as a lawyer and his glamorous lifestyle. Now, hes about to lose his freedom. Senior U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra on Tuesday ordered Uresti, 55, to turn himself in to U.S. marshals by 2 p.m. next Tuesday to start serving a 12-year prison term. During a hearing in San Antonio federal court, Ezra sentenced Uresti to the maximum sentence of five years in prison for his guilty plea in conspiring to commit bribery in a public-corruption case out of Reeves County in West Texas. Uresti also was directed to pay $876,000 in restitution to Reeves County. Uresti, though, caught a break when Ezra agreed with prosecutors and defense lawyers, who recommended that the disgraced ex-state senator serve the sentence simultaneously with a 12-year prison term he received in an unrelated fraud case in June. It will be at least 2029 before Uresti is eligible for parole. He must serve three years of federal supervision following his release. Uresti, reading from a prepared statement during the roughly 30-minute proceeding, acknowledged becoming intoxicated with the power that came with his title as state senator in Senate District 19. I did what I promised myself I would never do and used my title for my benefit, a contrite Uresti told the judge. He admitted betraying constituents and family. It is my primary mission and my goal to redeem myself to my friends, my family and victims, he said. Uresti arrived at the courthouse surrounded by family and supporters, saying he was ready to accept responsibility for his actions. Im ready to put this behind me, and I just ask for all your prayers, he said. He later said his biggest regret was letting people down. While Im incarcerated Im going to continue to reach out to folks that I can help and help them rehabilitate themselves as well, rehabilitate myself and so when I come back, Im going to be a bigger and better and stronger person of character to continue to help my community, he said. Alicia ONeill, one of Urestis defense lawyers, asked Ezra to allow her client to self-surrender, but the judge gave Uresti only seven days to spend with his family and ill father. He was convicted in February 2018, Ezra said. It is now February 2019. Mr. Uresti has been out on bond for about one full year, which is extraordinary in a case like this. There comes a time when enough is enough, the judge added. This is no surprise. Ezra, who presided over both of Urestis criminal proceedings, called them among the saddest for him in his more than 30 years on the bench. Sad because it was so absolutely unnecessary, Ezra said. Had he had the need for funds, he simply should have given up his office and gone into another endeavor, the judge said. But he didnt do that. As he admitted, he used his office and the great prestige that goes with it to engage in illegal activities and to collect a substantial sum of money as a result of those illegal activities. That, unfortunately, placed him outside the norms of our society. About two dozen of Urestis friends and family members attended the sentencing, joined by media, courthouse personnel and other gawkers anxious to learn the longtime San Antonio Democrats fate. The proceedings, though, lacked the spectacle and drama of his earlier sentencing, where many of the roughly 40 Uresti supporters donned blue ribbons and blue rubber wrist bands bearing Urestis name and inscribed, Blue Ribbon Task Force, which he had a hand in creating while in the Legislature to combat child abuse. In October, Uresti pleaded guilty to directing bribes through then-Reeves County Judge Jimmy Galindo rather than stand trial. Galindo entered his own guilty plea in 2017 and is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 26. Uresti had been free on bond pending the sentencing. Lead prosecutor Joseph Blackwell told a swarm of media outside the courthouse after the sentencing that Urestis criminal cases show no one is above the law. The lawmakers are not above the laws of this country, Blackwell said. I think that is important. That should give us all optimism, frankly the fact that there is a check on the powerful. I think that is the message that should be known to everybody. Prosecutors obtained an indictment in May 2017 against Uresti and Lubbock businessman Vernon Trey Farthing II, charging them with conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to commit money laundering in a case out of Reeves County in West Texas. The money laundering charge was dropped as part of Urestis plea deal. He gave up the appeal of his conviction and sentence in the fraud case. A jury convicted him nearly a year ago of 11 felonies, including wire fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering for his roles at FourWinds Logistics, a now-defunct oil-field services company. Uresti surrendered his law license and resigned from the Senate following his conviction. Besides receiving a 12-year prison term, Uresti was ordered to pay $6.3 million in restitution to FourWinds victims. In the Reeves County case, Uresti and Farthing were accused of conspiring from January 2006 through September 2016 to pay and accept bribes to secure a Reeves County Correctional Center medical-services contract for Farthings company. Prosecutors alleged Farthing paid Uresti $10,000 a month as a consultant. Half of that amount allegedly went to Galindo for his support and vote to award the contract to Farthings company, according to the indictment. Prosecutors said Uresti and Galindo shared more than $800,000 in kickbacks. Galindo, who served as county judge from 1995 to 2006, subsequently pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery and failure to file a tax return. He is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 26. Farthing was acquitted by a San Antonio federal jury in November. Uresti said he will spend the next week reminiscing with family and friends, whom he expects will treat him to lunches and dinners. Guillermo Contreras covers federal courts in San Antonio and international legal issues. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland The nearly two-year saga in the criminal proceedings of state-senator-turned-felon Carlos Uresti reaches its final act today. Uresti, 55, is set to be sentenced for his guilty plea to conspiring with others to pay and accept bribes to secure a West Texas correctional medical-services contract for a company run by a Lubbock businessman. The longtime Democratic politician is facing a maximum of five years in prison. Urestis political and legal career unraveled after a federal jury nearly a year ago convicted him on 11 felony charges, including wire fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering for his roles at FourWinds Logistics, an oil field services firm. He served as the companys outside legal counsel, was a 1 percent owner and recruited investors. The FourWinds case is unrelated to his guilty plea for bribery. On ExpressNews.com: Uresti gets 12 years in prison Uresti subsequently gave up his law license and resigned from the Senate. As part of his sentence, Uresti also was ordered to pay $6.3 million to victims of the FourWinds fraud. He sold his former law office building at 924 McCullough in December and is selling his Helotes estate. Henry Cisneros, former mayor and U.S. housing secretary, said he is praying for Uresti to be strong physically and spiritually through this ordeal. Cisneros said he and Uresti were political friends but did not socialize. Its an American tragedy that a person who served our country as a Marine and who served and touched peoples lives in the Legislature through legislation he passed would find himself in these straits, Cisneros said. I feel for him as a human being and hope that the same strength he has shown other times in his life will carry him through this period in prison. Urestis legal team will argue that Uresti should serve whatever sentence he receives in the bribery case concurrently with the 12-year prison term he already has received in the FourWinds case, according to one of his lawyers, Mikal Watts. In October, Uresti pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery rather than stand trial. Prosecutors have said they will recommend that he serve the two sentences simultaneously. On ExpressNews.com: Uresti enters guilty plea in bribery case The guilty plea came as a surprise, given Uresti had protested his innocence for almost a year-and-a-half. Yet the plea made strategic sense because there was little for him to gain by going to trial again. Even if he prevailed, he was still looking at a long prison sentence for the FourWinds conviction. Uresti may have been hoping that accepting responsibility for his criminal conduct would spare him from having the two sentences stacked. As part of his plea, Uresti agreed to drop his appeal of his conviction and sentence in the FourWinds case. Watts declined to say anything more about the sentencing hearing. After Uresti entered the guilty plea, Watts called his friend a good man. He put his family first in deciding to put this all behind him, Watts said. Uresti has been free on bond pending sentencing before Senior U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra. It remains to be seen if Uresti will be taken into custody following todays proceedings or if he will request additional time to turn himself him. In the West Texas bribery case, Uresti was indicted along with Lubbock businessman Vernon Trey Farthing III in May 2017. They were accused of conspiring from January 2006 through September 2016 to pay and accept bribes to secure a Reeves County Correctional Center medical-services contract for Farthings company. Farthing was accused of paying Uresti $10,000 a month as a consultant. Half of that amount allegedly went to Reeves County Judge Jimmy Galindo for his support and vote to award the contract to Farthings company, according to the indictment. Prosecutors said Uresti and Galindo shared about $800,000 in kickbacks. Galindo, who served as county judge from 1995 to 2006, subsequently pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery and failure to file a tax return. He is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 26. Farthing was acquitted by a San Antonio federal jury in November. Uresti and Galindo should not second-guess their guilty pleas in this case because Mr. Farthing was acquitted, Ezra said after reading the jurys decision. The evidence, even though they were not on trial, was overwhelming as to their guilt. Patrick Danner is a San Antonio-based staff writer covering banking and civil courts. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | pdanner@express-news.net | Twitter: @AlamoPD Tuesday, February 12, 2019 By Scott Lorenz Westwind Communications If you are a Jewish author or specialize in writing about Jewish issues, you should consider visiting some of these book festivals in the Jewish community. As a book marketing specialist, I am the first to impress on authors the powerful marketing avenues open to all authors on the Internet from websites and book trailers to social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. While these are excellent tools when used properly, authors should take every opportunity to meet the reading public face-to-face. Book festivals are a terrific way to do just that. Columbus JCCs Jewish Bookfair and Author Series will host events on March 5, 6, and 28, 2019. These events will discuss Jewish-related books such as Sadness is a White Bird,." The Ruined House,." and Why Judaism Matters.." London International Literacy Festivals Jewish Book Week will occur March 2-10, 2019 in London. It will feature Jewish writers and themes and a number of interesting discussions. Alper JCCs Berrin Family Jewish Book Festival will host events until March 13, 2019 in Miami, FL. There will be various author presentations as well as an event for women that focuses on the book Husbands and Other Sharp Objects." by Marcy Hammer. Weinstein JCCs Fife-Davis Family Jewish Book Fair and Gift Shop will take place March 14, 2019 in Richmond, VA. Its purpose is to spark discussion and thought related to Jewish history, issues, literature, and poetry. Dallas Aaron Family JCCs BookFest will be host to a number of events until April 3, 2019 in Dallas, TX. Its mission is to celebrate Jewish authors and help attendees discover what inspires them. Gordon JCCs Nashville Jewish Book Series will take place until April 4, 2019 in Nashville, TN. It features books that revolve around Jewish themes and topics as well as books that are written from a Jewish perspective. Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival by the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples will host various events until April 8, 2019 in Naples, FL. There will be presentations from a number of Jewish authors as well as educational and social programs. The JCCs of West Bloomfield and Oak Parks Detroit Jewish Book Fair will take place in October 2019 in West Bloomfield, MI. Its an eight day event that features Jewish related books on serious topics as well as those that revolve around a few humorous ones. Authors will end their presentations with Q&A sessions. St. Louis Jewish Book Festival will be held November 3-17, 2019 in St. Louis. It will feature premier speakers as well as books related to cooking, business, economics, family, fiction, history, music, sports, religion, and more. Kaiserman JCCs Jewish Book Festival will occur November 11-December 5, 2019 in Wynnewood,, PA. There will be a book fair and a variety of events for adults and children. Book fairs typically seek out guest speakers. By volunteering to speak at a Jewish book fair, you will pique the interest of new readers and potentially gain a few new fans. Additionally, you can add the speaking appearance to your resume. Be sure to plan ahead because book fairs, speaking engagements and readings are all planned months in advance. For a complete list of book fairs and festivals visit https://www.book-publicist.com/ The bottom line: Reach out to the Jewish community and attend a book fair! You will be happy you did. About Scott Lorenz Book publicist Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with authors to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz works with bestselling authors and self-published authors promoting all types of books, whether its their first book or their 15th book. Hes handled publicity for books by CEOs, Navy SEALS, Homemakers, Fitness Gurus, Doctors, Lawyers and Adventurers. His clients have been featured by Good Morning America, FOX & Friends, CNN, ABC Nightly News, The New York Times, Nightline, TIME, PBS, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Family Circle, Womans World, & Howard Stern to name a few. Learn more about Westwind Communications book marketing approach at http://www.book-marketing-expert.com or contact Lorenz at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com or by phone at 734-667-2090. Follow Lorenz on Twitter @aBookPublicist Share this: UPDATE: Tuesdays session saw rising optimism around US-China trade talks soften the US Dollar (USD/$) in favour of riskier currencies such as the Euro (EUR/). From a session and three-month low of $1.12579, the Euro-to-Dollar exchange rates surged in afternoon trading, hitting an overnight high of $1.13414 before partially paring gains into Wednesdays European session. The Fiber as last seen trading at $1.132. Chief markets strategist, Michael McCarthy of CMC Markets commented on the Dollar impact of trade-talk progress We seem to have moved away from dollar dominance over the last two sessions...this weakness is directly related to the improving risk sentiment around trade, and with regards to the EURUSD cross McCarthy added The euro has bounced off an important support level and can extend its gains. Eurozone data for the session is sparse but headline CPI and core CPI releases are due for the US (1330 GMT) with the headline figure expected to return to positive territory at 0.1% while core CPI is forecast to remain unchanged from the previous, 0.2% printing. - The Euro to US Dollar exchange rate @ 1.12764 today. - EUR/USD is trading back in the 1.12s, and while the Euro has plenty of problems, both economically and politically, it may be undervalued according to ING. - It looks like another US government shutdown can be avoided as an amended agreement has been reached. But will Trump agree to the concessions? - More positive news from the trade talks, but the ceasefire deadline is fast approaching. Foreign exchange markets are higher in early Tuesday trading as it appears a budget deal has been reached to avert another US government shutdown. However, it is not yet clear how President Trump feels about the agreement as it falls way short of his requests. He told a rally in El Paso, Texas, Just so you know, were building the wall anyway, but as the agreement allocates only $1.4bn to border security, when $5.7bn was demanded, it isnt clear what he means. The funding will be used to construct 55 miles of new fencing, not the 215 mile concrete wall Trump promised to build. Perhaps he will claim victory anyway, but there is a risk he wont actually sign the deal and the government could still shut down at the end of the week. Expect more news today, either by Tweets or a more official statement. Currencies are flat, but the US dollar continued its rise on Monday and has pushed EURUSD to a low of 1.125, perilously close to the 2018 low. Data is on the light side today, so there may not be the catalyst for a break, but US Fed Chair Jerome Powell is speaking tonight at the Economic Development in High Poverty Rural Communities conference in Missouri and could cause some volatility. Also on the Fed roster are the two most hawkish members, Mester (2020 voter) at 2330 and George (2019 voter) an hour later. It is unlikely there will be a break from recent dovish communication, but at some point the Fed may have to acknowledge that US economic data is still strong and if they are truly data dependent they will not pause for long. The Euro is not attractive to investors for a variety of reasons, both economically and politically, but as EURUSD approaches 1.12, bargain hunters will start to get tempted. As ING reports, We note that the cross currently looks very cheap based on our financial fair value model, being 3.5% undervalued. While the catalysts for a material euro rebound dont seem to be in place, the misvaluation suggests that a further decline in the cross is unlikely in the absence of risk events such as trade wars, US tariffs on eurozone car imports or negative Brexit news. Should EUR/USD stabilise around current levels, this also suggests less downside to central and eastern Europe FX, which has been feeling the negative spillover from the falling EUR/USD. Trade Deal Sooner or Later? Markets have been supported by more positive signs from the ongoing trade talks between US and China. These are ongoing in Beijing and high level talks on Thursday and Friday will include Mnuchin and Lighthizer from the US delegation. White House Adviser Kellyanne Conway said yesterday that it 'absolutely' looked like a trade was close and that Trump 'wants to meet with Xi Jinping very soon'. How soon is not clear, though, as Trump himself said it will be next month, which is after new tariffs are due to come into effect on March 1st. Much depends on how talks go this week if a satisfactory deal is on the table then Trump could meet Xi to finalize it quite soon. US trade negotiator David Malpass said that the ceasefire agreement will not be extended beyond March 1st, but this may just be a tactic to get China to hurry up and agree a deal. Stock markets will continue to be sensitive to any trade headlines, although it seems currencies are much more focused on actual economic data and this is why the USD is strengthening so much, especially against the Euro. DARMSTADT, Germany and NEW YORK, February 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Not intended for US, Canada and UK-based media Merck and Pfizer Inc. today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has acceptedfor Priority Reviewthe supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for BAVENCIO(R)(avelumab) in combination with INLYTA(R)(axitinib)* for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The application has been given a target action date inJune 2019. "The combination of BAVENCIO with INLYTA builds on Pfizer's significant heritage in advancing standards of care for patients with advanced RCC and has the potential to make a meaningful impact for the lives of patients," said ChrisBoshoff, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Development Officer, Oncology, Pfizer Global Product Development. "We look forward to working with the FDA to bring this potential new treatment option to patients as quickly as possible." "Our alliance is focused on the development of potential new treatment options for patients with cancers that have high unmet medical needs, including the broad spectrum of people living with advanced RCC," said Luciano Rossetti, M.D., Executive Vice President, Head of Global Research & Development at the Biopharma business of Merck. "This regulatory milestone, which closely follows the acceptance of our application in Japan, represents an important step forward for science and for patients." The submission is based on data from the pivotal Phase III JAVELIN Renal 101 trial, which were presented in a Presidential Symposium at the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2018 Congress in Munich. In December 2017, the FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for BAVENCIO in combination with INLYTA for treatment-nave patients with advanced RCC. Despite available therapies, the outlook for patients with advanced RCC remains poor. [1]Approximately 20% to 30% of patients are first diagnosed at the metastatic stage.[2] The five-year survival rate for patients with metastatic RCC is approximately 12%.[1] The clinical development program for avelumab, known as JAVELIN, involves at least 30 clinical programs and more than 9,000 patients evaluated across more than 15 differenttumortypes. In addition to RCC, thesetumortypes include breast, gastric/gastro-esophagealjunction, and head and neck cancers, Merkel cell carcinoma, non-small cell lung cancer, and urothelial carcinoma. *The combination of BAVENCIO and INLYTA is under clinical investigation for advanced RCC, and there is no guarantee this combination will be approved for advanced RCC by any health authority worldwide. In the US, INLYTA is approved as monotherapy for the treatment of advanced RCC after failure of one prior systemic therapy. INLYTA is also approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for use in the EU in adult patients with advanced RCC after failure of prior treatment with SUTENT(R)(sunitinib) or a cytokine. About Renal Cell Carcinoma RCC is the most common form of kidney cancer, accounting for about 2% to 3% of all cancers in adults.[3],[4]The most common type of RCC is clear cell carcinoma, accounting for approximately 70% of all cases.[3]In 2019, an estimated 73,820 new cases of kidney cancer will be diagnosed in the US.[5] About BAVENCIO(R)(avelumab) BAVENCIO is a human anti-programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) antibody. BAVENCIO has been shown in preclinical models to engage both the adaptive and innate immune functions. By blocking the interaction of PD-L1 with PD-1 receptors, BAVENCIO has been shown to release the suppression of the T cell-mediated antitumor immune response in preclinical models.[6] -[8]BAVENCIO has also been shown to induce NK cell-mediated directtumorcell lysis via antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) in vitro.[8]-[10]In November 2014, Merck and Pfizer announced a strategic alliance to co-develop and co-commercialize BAVENCIO. Approved Indications in the US In the US, the FDA granted accelerated approval for BAVENCIO for the treatment of (i) adults andpediatricpatients 12 years and older with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (mMCC) and (ii) patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) who have disease progression during or following platinum-containing chemotherapy, or have disease progression within 12months ofneoadjuvantor adjuvant treatment with platinum-containing chemotherapy. These indications are approved under accelerated approval based ontumorresponse rate and duration of response. Continued approval for these indications may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials. BAVENCIO is currently approved for patients with MCC in more than 45 countries globally, with the majority of these approvals in a broad indication that is not limited to a specific line of treatment. Important Safety Information from the US FDA Approved Label The warnings and precautions for BAVENCIO include immune-mediated adverse reactions (such as pneumonitis, hepatitis, colitis,endocrinopathies, nephritis and renal dysfunction, and other adverse reactions), infusion-related reactions and embryo-fetaltoxicity. Common adverse reactions (reported in at least 20% of patients) in patients treated with avelumab for mMCC and patients with locally advanced ormUCinclude fatigue, musculoskeletal pain,diarrhea, nausea, infusion-related reaction, peripheraledema, decreased appetite/hypophagia, urinary tract infection and rash. About INLYTA(R)(axitinib) INLYTA is an oral therapy that is designed to inhibit tyrosine kinases, including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptors 1, 2 and 3; these receptors can influencetumorgrowth, vascular angiogenesis and progression of cancer (the spread oftumors). In the US, INLYTA is approved for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) after failure of one prior systemic therapy. INLYTA is also approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for use in the EU in adult patients with advanced RCC after failure of prior treatment withsunitinibor a cytokine. INLYTA Important Safety Information from the US FDA Approved Label In the study of advanced RCC after failure of one prior systemic therapy, the warnings and precautions for INLYTA include hypertension, including hypertensive crisis, arterial and venous thrombotic events,hemorrhagicevents, cardiac failure, gastrointestinal perforation and fistula, hypothyroidism, wound healing complications, reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome (RPLS), proteinuria, liver enzyme elevation, hepatic impairment, andfetalharm during pregnancy. Common adverse events (reported in at least 20% of patients) in patients receiving INLYTA werediarrhea, hypertension, fatigue, decreased appetite, nausea, dysphonia, hand-foot syndrome, weight decreased, vomiting, asthenia, and constipation. For more information and full Prescribing Information, visitwww.INLYTA.com [http://www.INLYTA.com ]. About SUTENT(R)(sunitinibmalate) (CONTINUA) Scientists discover key genes for mucosal melanoma in humans, dogs and horses that help prioritize targets for new cancer therapies Cancer genes in mucosal melanoma, a rare and poorly understood subtype of melanoma, have been compared in humans, dogs and horses for the first time by scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and their collaborators. Researchers sequenced the genomes of the same cancer across different species to pin-point key cancer genes. The results, reported in Nature Communications, give insights into how cancer evolves across the tree of life and could guide the development of new therapies. Mucosal melanoma is a rare form of melanoma, a tumour type usually associated with skin cancer. Of the 15,400 people diagnosed with melanoma in the UK each year*, around 1 per cent will be diagnosed with mucosal melanoma. The cancer arises from the cells that produce pigment, known as melanocytes, which are found not only in the skin but also mucosal surfaces of the body, such as the sinuses, nasal passages, mouth, vagina and anus. The risk factors for mucosal melanoma are unknown, and there is no known link to UV exposure or family history. Patients with the cancer often present late in the progression of the disease, and the main treatment for mucosal melanoma is surgical removal of the tumour. As well as humans, the cancer affects dogs and horses with varying outcomes for the different species. To uncover the genetics underpinning the cancer, researchers at the Sanger Institute and their collaborators sequenced the genomes of mucosal melanoma tumours taken from human, canine and equine patients that had been diagnosed with the disease. Analysing the genomic data from 46 human, 65 canine and 28 equine melanoma tumours, all at the primary stage of cancer, scientists revealed a handful of genes that were mutated in all species. Dr David Adams, corresponding author from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: "Genomics gives us a unique view into the hidden similarities and differences of cancer between species. The genetic changes, or mutations, we found in mucosal melanoma tumours across humans, dogs and horses suggests they are important enough to be conserved between species. These key mutations are likely to drive the cancer and could be targets for the development of new drugs." Immunotherapy, the stimulation of the body's own immune system to attack cancer cells, has been used to treat some people with melanoma, but has not been effective for people with the subtype, mucosal melanoma, and the reason was unknown. Researchers now suggest that unlike skin melanoma, mucosal melanoma tumours carry few mutations so they remain 'hidden' to the immune system and do not spark the immune response needed to target the cancer. Kim Wong, first author from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: "Understanding the genetic changes underpinning mucosal melanoma suggests why people with this particular type of cancer may not benefit from immunotherapies. Genomics can help identify who is at greater risk of developing mucosal melanoma and provide information to genetic counsellors and doctors advising patients on disease management." This study is the first to sequence horse tumours, and the first genomic experiment of this scale on dog tumours. Grey horses are genetically predisposed to getting melanoma. However, the cancer is very different in horses as it does not usually spread, unlike the disease in humans and dogs. Professor Geoffrey Wood, from the University of Guelph in Canada, said: "Spontaneous tumours in dogs are gaining recognition as 'models' of human cancers for the development of therapies that can benefit both species. This study shows the importance of understanding the genetic similarities and differences of cancers across species so that the most biologically relevant drug targets are prioritized." ### Notes to Editors: *https:/ / www. cancerresearchuk. org/ about-cancer/ melanoma/ about Find out more about mucosal melanoma: https:/ / www. melanoma. org/ understand-melanoma/ what-is-melanoma/ mucosal-melanoma Publication: Kim Wong et al. (2019) Cross-species genomic landscape comparison of human mucosal melanoma with canine oral and equine melanoma. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-08081-1 Funding: This study was supported by Wellcome, Cancer Research UK and the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC synergy grant agreement (319661 COMBATCANCER). Selected websites: About the University of Guelph The University of Guelph is one of Canada's top comprehensive and research-intensive universities. Recognized as Canada's food university and known for excellence and innovation across the physical and life sciences, business, arts, social sciences, and agricultural and veterinary sciences, the University of Guelph is committed to improving life. Spanning urban hubs and rural communities, U of G has nearly 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at campuses in Guelph, Toronto and Ridgetown, including 1,200 international students from more than 100 countries. Under our "whole student" approach to teaching and learning, we aim to develop leaders of tomorrow who possess creative and critical skills to meet challenges and seize opportunities in our ever-more complex and interconnected world. The Wellcome Sanger Institute The Wellcome Sanger Institute is one of the world's leading genome centres. Through its ability to conduct research at scale, it is able to engage in bold and long-term exploratory projects that are designed to influence and empower medical science globally. Institute research findings, generated through its own research programmes and through its leading role in international consortia, are being used to develop new diagnostics and treatments for human disease. To celebrate its 25th year in 2018, the Institute is sequencing 25 new genomes of species in the UK. Find out more at http://www. sanger. ac. uk or follow @sangerinstitute About Wellcome Wellcome exists to improve health by helping great ideas to thrive. We support researchers, we take on big health challenges, we campaign for better science, and we help everyone get involved with science and health research. We are a politically and financially independent foundation. New theory and understanding of how liquid nano-jets breakup into droplets Computer simulations of molecules show how droplets from a "nano-tap" would differ from those produced by a household tap 1 million times larger Researchers at the University of Warwick have re-written the classical 19th century text-book theory of breakup to capture dominant nanoscale physics Applications are to emerging 21st century nano-technologies: next generation ink-jet printing, drug delivery, and lab-on-chip devices that diagnose infections and diseases in situ Droplets emanating from a molecular "nano-tap" would behave very differently from those from a household tap 1 million times larger - researchers at the University of Warwick have found. This is potentially crucial step for a number of emerging nano technologies, e.g., manufacture of nano-sized drug particles, lab-on-chip devices for in situ diagnostics, and 3D printers capable of nanoscale resolution. Molecular simulations of liquid jets, akin to a stream of water pouring out of a nano-tap, have been used by researchers at the University of Warwick to probe the nanoscale production of droplets. The reduction in scale from the household jet is equivalent to that of Big Ben being shrunk to the size of a human hair! The breakup of jets has a classical theory, devised by Rayleigh and Plateau in the 19th century, but this was found to be inadequate at the nanoscale, where one cannot ignore the inherent jostling of molecules that produces nano-waves on the liquid's boundary. The new theory developed captures these nano-waves and can accurately predict the production of nanodroplets. This theory predicts that droplets are easier to produce at the nanoscale than from the household tap, with nano-waves acting to breakup jets that would be classically stable. Prof. Duncan Lockerby from the School of Engineering at the University of Warwick comments: "Our research is concerned with developing new understanding for emerging nanoscale technologies, using simulation for design techniques, and this research exemplifies this effort with potential applications in manufacturing and healthcare." Dr James Sprittles from the Mathematics Institute at the University of Warwick comments: "It has been wonderful to work on a problem whose classical solution I teach to 3rd year undergraduates and to develop a new updated theory for application at the nanoscale" The paper 'Revisiting the Rayleigh-Plateau Instability for the Nanoscale' has been published Open Access as a Rapid Communication in the prestigious Journal of Fluid Mechanics. It has also featured on the Front Cover of Volume 861 and is currently 4th Most Read Article. ### Notes for editors: High-res image available at: https:/ / warwick. ac. uk/ services/ communications/ medialibrary/ images/ february2019/ md_cylinder3. gif The paper 'Revisiting the Rayleigh-Plateau instability for the nanoscale' has been published in JFM Rapids and is available to view at: https:/ / www. cambridge. org/ core/ services/ aop-cambridge-core/ content/ view/ 3E1DF0F54F5C3BE949F510284A5F82DA/ S0022112018009503a_hi. pdf/ _div_class__title__Revisiting_the_Rayleigh_Plateau_instability_for_the_nanoscale__div_. pdf DOI: 10.1017/jfm.2018.950 The research is supported by grants from the Leverhulme Trust and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/N016602/1, EP/P020887/1 & EP/P031684/1). Chengxi Zhao is a PhD student funded by Warwick's Chancellor's Scholarship. About the Department of Maths: The University of Warwick's Mathematics Institute was ranked 3rd in the UK by the 2014 REF (Research Excellence Framework) - with more than 90% of research activity assessed as either internationally excellent or world leading. The research environment at Warwick is rated by REF 2014 as the very best in the UK for mathematical sciences (achieving the maximum possible score of 100% at 4*). About the School of Engineering: https:/ / warwick. ac. uk/ fac/ sci/ eng/ about/ For further information please contact: Alice Scott Media Relations Manager - Science, University of Warwick Tel: 02476 574 255 or 07920 531 221 E-mail: alice.j.scott@warwick.ac.uk Or Sheila Kiggins Media Relations Manager - Social Sciences, University of Warwick Tel: 02476550423 or 07876218166 E-mail: S.Kiggins@warwick.ac.uk Although moderately mobile, marine cone snails have perfected several strategies to capture prey. Some fish-hunting species release venom into the surrounding water. Within the plume of toxic venom, the fish succumbs to fast-acting insulin that renders it immobile. As the fish flounders, the snail emerges from its shell to swallow the pacified victim whole. Researchers at University of Utah Health detailed the function of cone snail insulins, bringing them one step closer to developing a faster-acting insulin to treat diabetes. The results of the study are available in the February 12 issue of the journal eLife. "These snails have developed a strategy to hit and subdue their prey with up to 200 different compounds, one of which is insulin," said Helena Safavi-Hemami, Ph.D., assistant professor of Biochemistry at U of U Health and senior author on the paper. "Every now and then, we learn something unique from nature and millions of years of evolution." Insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas to regulate blood sugar, consists of two segments called A and B chains. The B cluster forms dimers and hexamers that allow the pancreas to store the hormone for later use. This segment is also necessary to activate the insulin receptors that signal the body to take up sugar from the blood. Insulin must undergo several conversions to decluster before it can lower blood sugar. A person with type 1 diabetes is unable to produce insulin and requires daily injections to manage their blood sugar. Despite decades of research, the manufactured insulin continues to contain the B chain in order to activate the receptor to lower blood sugar, delaying the drug's effect by 30-90 minutes. Safavi-Hemami and her team examined the function of seven insulin sequences found in the venom from three species of cone snailConus geographus, C. tulipa and C. kinoshitai. Unexpectedly, each species produces insulin with slightly different structures. Despite these differences, each insulin is fast-acting because it lacks the sticky part of the B chain found in human insulin. "Evolution may be the driving force to increase the molecular diversity of the toxin molecules that the cone snail species use for hunting prey," said Danny Hung-Chieh Chou, Ph.D., assistant professor of Biochemistry at U of U Health and a co-author on the paper. The team tested how each of the insulin sequences lowered blood sugar in zebrafish and mice. The model animals were treated with streptozotocin to induce symptoms of type 1 diabetes before the animals were dosed with the different synthesized insulins. Safavi-Hemami found three of the venom-generated insulin sequences (Con-Ins T1A from C. tulipa, Con-Ins G1 from C. geographus and Con-Ins K1 from C. kinoshitai) lowered blood sugar effectively. Using cell lines, they found the cone snail insulin sequences were able to bind to and activate the human insulin receptor, despite missing the part of the B chain found in human insulin. These sequences, however, are 10 to 20 times less potent than human insulin. According to Safavi-Hemami, each unique configuration provides the research team a slightly different template to consider when designing new drugs that act quickly and effectively. "We are beginning to uncover the secrets of cone snails," said Safavi-Hemami. "We hope to use what we learn to find new approaches to treat diabetes." ### Safavi-Hemami and Chou were joined on this project by Peter Ahorukomeye, Maria Disotuar, Joanna Gajewiak, Santhosh Karanth, Maren Watkins, Samuel Robinson, Paula Florez Salcedo, Amnon Schlegel, Baldomero Olivera and Danny Hung-Chieh Chou at the U and U of U Health; Nicholas Smith and Brian Smith at La Trobe University, Melbourne; and Briony Forbes at Flinders University, South Australia. The work, titled Fish-hunting cone snail venoms are a rich source of minimized ligands of the vertebrate insulin receptor, was supported by a Margolis Foundation, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the National Institutes of Health (R01GM122869) and the Utah Science and Technology Initiative. University of Utah Health is the state's only academic health care system, providing leading-edge and compassionate medicine for a referral area that encompasses 10% of the U.S., including Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and much of Nevada. A hub for health sciences research and education in the region, U of U Health touts a $291 million research enterprise and trains the majority of Utah's health care professionals at its Schools of Medicine and Dentistry and Colleges of Nursing, Pharmacy and Health. Staffed by more than 20,000 employees, the system includes 12 community clinics and four hospitals -- University Hospital; University Neuropsychiatric Institute; Huntsman Cancer Hospital; and the University Orthopaedic Center. For eight straight years, U of U Health has ranked among the top 10 U.S. academic medical centers in the rigorous Vizient Quality and Accountability Study, including reaching No. 1 in 2010 and 2016. A recent NASA mission to the dwarf planet Ceres found brilliant, white spots of salts on its surface. New research led by The University of Texas at Austin in partnership with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) delved into the factors that influenced the volcanic activity that formed the distinctive spots and that could play a key role in mixing the ingredients for life on other worlds. The volcanoes on Ceres are cryovolcanoes, a type of volcano that forms on planetary bodies with icy shells and that moves salty water known as cryomagma from underground reservoirs to the surface. Scientists think that cryovolcanoes on Jupiter's icy moon Europa could help foster chemical mixing that could make complex molecules needed for life. Learning more about how these volcanoes work on Ceres--which is a simpler geological environment than Europa--could help scientists get a handle on the primary forces that drive their activity. "Cryovolcanism looks to be a really important system as we look for life," said lead author Marc Hesse, an associate professor at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences. "So we're trying to understand these ice shells and how they behave." The final version of the research was published online on Feb.8 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The research was co-authored by Julie Castillo-Rogez, a planetary scientist at NASA's JPL. At 585 miles across, Ceres is the largest planetary body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Forged billions of years ago from rock and ice and far enough from the influence of other planets, scientists had thought that Ceres' days of active geology had come to close. But the NASA Dawn mission changed that view when the space probe sent back pictures of bright, white spots at the bottom of impact craters. The spots turned out to be the remnants of cryomagma. The location of the spots at or near the center of crater basins suggests that the heat and energy generated by asteroid impacts could jumpstart geology on Ceres, creating reservoirs of cryomagma that were then brought to the surface by conduits such as fractures. The new research looked specifically at the deposits on the floor of the 90-mile-wide crater Occator, which was formed about 20 million years ago. However, the deposits here are as young as 4 million years old, indicating a relatively recent formation geologically speaking with respect to the crater itself. Earlier research conducted by other scientists found that the conditions on Ceres wouldn't allow for the cryomagma generated by the Occator impact to exist for more than about 400,000 years. The age discrepancy between salt deposits and impact timing raises a question: How could a reservoir of melt stay in a liquid state for millions of years after impact on an otherwise geologically stagnant world? In their new paper, Hesse and Castillo-Rogez were able to significantly extend the life of the cryomagma by including more up-to-date details on Ceres' crustal chemistry and physics. "It's difficult to maintain liquid so close to the surface," said Castillo-Rogez. "But our new model includes materials inside the crust that tend to act as insulators consistent with the results from the Dawn observations." The new calculations indicate that the cryomagma of Occator could last up to 10 million years--a value that doesn't close the time gap completely, but that indicates that the additional data helps make a more realistic cooling timeline. "Now that we're accounting for all these negative feedbacks on cooling--the fact that you release latent heat, the fact that as you warm up the crust it becomes less conductive--you can begin to argue that if the ages are just off by a few million years you might get it," Hesse said. Jennifer Scully, a planetary geologist at NASA's JPL who studies Ceres but was not involved with the study, said that the findings are a great contribution toward unpacking the geologic history of an alien world. "They used more up-to-date data to create their model," said Scully. "This will help in the future to see if all of the material involved in the observed deposits can be explained by the impact, or does this require a connection to a deeper source of material. It's a great step in the right direction of answering that question." ### The National Science Foundation and NASA funded the research. Chickadees with better learning and memory skills, needed to find numerous food caches, are more likely to survive their first winter, a long-term study of mountain chickadees has found. Enhanced spatial cognition and brain power evolves via natural selection, an elaborate study of hundreds of mountain chickadees in the Sierra Nevada has found. Using passive integrative transponder (PIT) tags in combination with radio frequency identification-equipped feeders, scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno have tracked feeding behaviors and measured learning and memory of these non-migratory birds that live year-round in the high-elevation forest northwest of Truckee, California. "This is a unique program, set in the wilderness, so we get unique results," Vladimir Pravosudov, lead researcher and biology professor at the University's College of Science, said. "Over the years, we've banded and tagged thousands of chickadees and observed their spatial cognition using custom-designed and built feeders that allow us to track how individuals learn and remember. And now we have tested whether individuals with better learning and memory performance are more likely to survive the winter." Ben Sonnenberg, a doctoral student in the laboratory of Pravosudov (as a part of the Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology Graduate program) is the lead author, and Pravosudov is a corresponding author, on a scientific paper, based on the research, published Feb. 7 in the journal Current Biology. 'We're looking at how natural selection can generate differences in the birds living in different environments, and we now have direct evidence that selection is acting on chickadees' spatial cognition, which is needed to find tens of thousands of previously made food caches required to survive the winter," Pravosudov said. "Our new evidence fully support our previous comparative studies showing that chickadees living in harsh winter conditions at high elevations have better memory and larger hippocampus, a brain structure associated with memory. Our new data show that better learning and memory in these birds at high elevations are due to strong natural selection." Pravosudov and his team of three graduate students visit their field sites near the University of California, Berkeley Sagehen Creek Field Station north of Truckee, California multiple times a week, year-round, including in some of the harshest Sierra Nevada winter weather. The field sites are about 40 miles from campus, so traveling during snowstorms is slow, and then they must use over-snow vehicles to go the last 10 miles to the high elevation site near Carpenter's ridge, at about 8,300 feet in elevation, often blazing a trail through four feet of new snow. "Results like these (about natural selection) make the long days of digging out snowmobiles, shoveling snow and programming our chickadee feeders from underneath a tarp in sleeting weather worth the effort twice over," graduate student Sonnenberg said. Four over-snow vehicles are used to transport the researchers and gear to their sites, and sometimes they have to ski to get there because their vehicles can't get through the deep snow. Their destination at high elevation is the centerpiece for this study, with two identical metal frameworks - arrays - that hold eight feeders each. Access to the feeders is regulated by RFID activated doors and the feeder arrays can be raised and lowered depending on the snow depth. The frameworks hang by cables between trees in the forest that reaches 8,300 feet above sea level. Two similar arrays are set up at their lower elevation study area about four miles away and a few thousand feet lower in elevation. Each bird has its own PIT tag ID and the feeder doors can be programmed to let in whichever birds Pravosudov and his team decide. The data, such as number of visits by an individual bird to each feeder, the time of day they feed and what other chickadees they share the feeder with, are automatically recorded by RFID boards and stored on memory cards which need to be regularly retrieved to download the data. By assigning each bird only one rewarding feeder, researchers are able to measure learning and memory by recording how many non-rewarding, or 'wrong,' feeders birds visit before they find their rewarding feeder. As birds learn, they are expected to stop visiting all but the rewarding feeder. "It's a simple system, we built it all in-house, with many design and build versions as we adapted them to the environment," Pravosudov said. "We collaborate with Dr. Eli Bridge from University of Oklahoma on RFID designs. Our feeders are field tested, needing to survive the elements and other animals - squirrels when the snow is deep, and bears all the time - who are looking to steal the bird seed from the experiment feeders. Bears have destroyed many feeders before we figured out how to avoid them." "We follow chickadees their entire lives; we get the whole big picture," he said. "Mountain chickadees have an average lifespan of one and a half years, but our oldest is seven years old. The highest mortality occurs in juvenile birds during their first winter. Survivability is higher in adults once they survived their first winter because they are the ones who have better learning and memory abilities, allowing them to find where their food is cached. As much as 50 percent of the population dies off each year in the mountain environment; if they can't remember well where their food is cached, they are not likely to survive." When comparing the juveniles who survived the first year to those who did not, learning and memory performance was better in those who survived. The research team also found that cognitive abilities remained stable as the birds aged. The wild food-caching mountain chickadees don't migrate, they stay mostly at the same sites they settled on after they dispersed from where they hatched. At the Sagehen forest, there are no birds that permanently moved between the researchers' low and high elevation sites, which are six miles apart. "We have banded several thousand chickadees over the years and we have never seen any birds permanently moving between elevations," Pravosudov, who teaches animal behavior and behavioral ecology, said. "These birds are easier to study because they are in one spot their entire life, dependent on food caches to make it through the harsh winters." "The ability to track individual mountain chickadees throughout their lifetime in the Sierra Nevada mountains has been extremely exciting and rewarding," Sonnenberg said. "I was drawn to UNR and Vladimir's lab because there is no other system like it." Vladimir has suspected for years that spatial memory is being shaped by natural selection and being able to take part in such a major step in confirming these ideas is extremely special, he said. "Our results provide the first direct evidence for natural selection on spatial cognition in wild food-caching mountain chickadees," he said. "Taken together, our results suggest that natural selection associated with environmental differences, like those in winter conditions between high and low elevations in the mountains, might be generating intraspecific differences in cognitive abilities. Our evidence suggests that natural selection, rather than some other potential variables that critics have said could be responsible for the results of earlier comparative studies inconclusive, is the main driver of such differences." The strongest supporting evidence comes from spatial learning and memory performance, as results from all three comparisons in the study are consistent with natural selection: Adults showed better spatial learning and memory performance than first-year juveniles; There was no significant difference in performance of the same cohort of chickadees that was first tested as first-year birds and then as adults, in other words they did not improve cognitive performance with experience; and Spatial cognitive performance was a significant predictor of survival in first-year juvenile chickadees; birds that survived their first winter season showed significantly better performance in the spatial learning and memory tasks compared to birds that died. Pravosudov received a National Science Foundation grant in 2014 to conduct this study. Two other NSF grants, one awarded to collaborator Eli Bridge and one awarded to Carrie Branch, were part of the funding for this project. Co-authors on the scientific paper in Current Biology are Benjamin Sonnenberg, University of Nevada, Reno; Carrie Branch, former doctoral student at the University of Nevada, Reno and now a postdoc at Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Angela Pitera, University of Nevada, Reno; and Eli Bridge, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Biological Survey. Pravosudov's is currently the only lab in the world that carries systematic study of spatial learning and memory in wild food-caching birds in extreme environmental conditions. He's been studying mountain chickadees in the Sierra since 1999 starting as a post-doc at the University of California, Davis. Before that, he studied European food-caching tits (related to North American chickadees) above the Arctic Circle in northern Russia and then in North Eastern Siberia. Pravosudov's lab has published 21 papers about chickadees since 2015, with more in the pipeline. His curiosity and drive to learn more continues today. "We now have DNA of all the birds we've banded, so next we are collaborating on genomics projects to investigate genomic bases of variation in learning and memory; maybe this summer we'll have a paper on our findings using full genomes of numerous chickadees with known learning and memory performance," he said. He is a fellow of the American Ornithological Society, recognizing his "exceptional and sustained contributions to ornithology" and an elected fellow of the Animal Behavior Society. ### CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Feb. 12, 2019 - Men hold nearly all primary breadwinning positions in top income households, and the glass ceiling that has hindered women's advancement in the workplace is more extensive than previously thought, a new study by University of North Carolina at Charlotte researcher Jill Yavorsky and colleagues finds. "Our results indicate that men control the majority of income resources in households in the top one percent of U.S. income distributions," Yavorsky said. "This matters because members in the one percent possess a great deal of political, economic, and social power and influence in our society. If men are primarily the ones who control these resources, it is likely that men, not women, exercise the majority of power and influence that comes with being in these households." The study, "Women in the One Percent: Gender Dynamics in Top Income Positions," is featured in the February issue of American Sociological Review, the flagship journal of the American Sociological Association. Yavorsky is an assistant professor in the Sociology Department and Organizational Science doctoral program at UNC Charlotte. Her co-authors are Lisa Keister of Duke University, Yue Qian of University of British Columbia and Michael Nau of The Ohio State University. The new study uses the 1995 to 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) to analyze gender income patterns in the one percent. To qualify for top one percent household status, the authors calculate that a household must bring in $845,000 in total income in 2016 dollars. The researchers' calculations from the 2016 SCF also indicate that top one percent households receive nearly one-fourth of all U.S. income, further highlighting the importance of studying this group. While the top one percent has garnered increased scholarly and media attention in recent years, little research has considered whether men's or women's income is primarily responsible for moving households into the one percent. Research also has been sparse on whether women have access to their own pathways to earning one percent status based on their income alone. This new study shows that women's income alone is sufficient for one percent status in only 5 percent of all elite households. Moreover, women's income is necessary in pushing a household over the one percent threshold in only 15 percent of all one percent households. In other words, women's income is largely inconsequential in most of these households for obtaining one percent status. "It is widely documented that most U.S. income gains since the late 1970s have gone to the top one percent of households," the researchers indicated in their article. "However, if women's income is trivial in the vast majority of these households, as our results show, rising inequality is largely due to a small group of men's income disproportionately rising compared with all others." Importantly, the study also indicates that the gender gap in personally earning one percent income has not narrowed since the mid- to late-1990s. This means that women's progress on this issue has stalled and women are no closer to earning elite-level income today than they were two decades ago. "We know that women face a lot of barriers reaching top executive and CEO positions," Yavorsky said. "However, we did not know the extent to which women are excluded from high income positions more generally. The previous studies of the glass ceiling have really looked at women being barred from leadership positions. This study shows that the glass ceiling is more extensive than we previously thought. It extends to nearly all elite positions, even self-employment." Notably, prior studies have identified that self-employment and higher education are two important factors that increase people's chances of earning exceptionally high income. While the findings by Yavorsky and her colleagues show that obtaining higher education and self-employment do increase the likelihood that women will reach one percent status via their own income, "higher education and self-employment are not enough to circumvent the institutionalized barriers of reaching elite status," Yavorsky said. Instead, their results show that women mostly enter one percent households through marriage by gaining access to their spouse's income. Meanwhile, due to men's labor market advantages, men's one percent status is most closely associated with their own characteristics, particularly with their own self-employment and higher education. Yavorsky points to a few reasons to explain these results. Women are less likely to be in really high-paying male-dominated fields such as elite finance and real estate positions, and they are less likely to make it to the top ranks of corporate America where income is particularly concentrated. "Women also experience a number of entry barriers into self-employment," she said. "And once they become self-employed or start their own business, they experience additional gender-based obstacles to growing their businesses. Such growth might otherwise enable them to earn high income. For example, previous research shows that women experience greater difficulties securing bank loans and venture capital funding for their businesses than men, which leads to a huge disadvantage for women entrepreneurs." As a researcher who studies economic inequalities, Yavorsky points out that this latest research is not meant to say that women in one percent households are marginalized and disempowered. "They reap a host of different social and economic benefits from being in one percent households," she said. "However, the broader implications of this research suggest that women likely do not have the substantive status and power within these households, which have significant implications for policy concerning the distribution of economic resources." ### Source: Jill Yavorsky, jyavorsk@uncc.edu UNC Charlotte media contacts: Lynn Roberson, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences 704-687-0082 | 704-497-2967 | lynnroberson@uncc.edu Buffie Stephens, External Media Relations Director 704-687-5830 | 980-355-3110 | buffiestephens@uncc.edu Jason Vaughan, Media Relations Manager 704-687-1750 | 330-421-5094 | jason.vaughan@uncc.edu The UK referendum vote to leave the European Union (EU) may have had as much to do with people's distrust of international organisations as it did fear of immigration. Researchers from the University of Kent's schools of Psychology and Politics and International Relations found that Euroscepticism is not only shaped by attitudes towards immigration and feelings of national identity but also by opposition towards UK involvement in transnational organisations such as the EU. Supranationalism is defined as the transfer of power from the national to the supranational level, leading to increased dependence on foreign political partners and increased social and cultural exchange. Led by Dr Kristof Dhont, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, the team considered study respondents' ideological predispositions, particularly preferences for cultural traditions and loyalty to national authority (termed right-wing authoritarianism) and a desire for group-based dominance and hierarchy in society (social dominance orientation) to see whether these predicted negative attitudes towards international institutions. They found that people with higher levels of both these characteristics in their ideological outlook were less supportive of supranationalism, were more Eurosceptic, and found it more important that the UK 'takes back control'. This manifested itself in a preference for 'prioritizing control' in any post-Brexit scenario among those with a negative attitude towards the concept of supranationalism. This included 'bringing back control of our laws to Parliament' and 'bringing back control of decisions over immigration to the UK'. Another indicator was age, with older respondents also more likely to have a negative attitude towards the concept of supranationalism. ### The study, entitled The Psychology of Supranationalism: Its ideological correlates and implications for EU attitudes and post-Brexit preferences (Linus Peitz, Kistof Dhont, and Ben Seyd) is published in the journal Political Psychology. See: https:/ / onlinelibrary. wiley. com/ doi/ abs/ 10. 1111/ pops. 12542 For more information or interview and picture requests contact Martin Herrema at the University of Kent Press Office. Tel: 01227 816768 Email: M.J.Herrema@kent.ac.uk News releases can also be found at http://www. kent. ac. uk/ news University of Kent on Twitter: http://twitter. com/ UniKent Notes to editors Established in 1965, the University of Kent - the UK's European university - now has almost 20,000 students across campuses or study centres at Canterbury, Medway, Tonbridge, Brussels, Paris, Athens and Rome. It has been ranked 22nd in the Guardian University Guide 2018 and 25th in the Complete University Guide 2018, and in June 2017 was awarded a gold rating, the highest, in the UK Government's Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).In the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2015-16, it is in the top 10% of the world's leading universities for international outlook and 66th in its table of the most international universities in the world. The THE also ranked the University as 20th in its 'Table of Tables' 2016. Kent is ranked 17th in the UK for research intensity (REF 2014). It has world-leading research in all subjects and 97% of its research is deemed by the REF to be of international quality. In the National Student Survey 2016, Kent achieved the fourth highest score for overall student satisfaction, out of all publicly funded, multi-faculty universities. Along with the universities of East Anglia and Essex, Kent is a member of the Eastern Arc Research Consortium (http://www. kent. ac. uk/ about/ partnerships/ eastern-arc. html ). The University is worth 0.7 billion to the economy of the south east and supports more than 7,800 jobs in the region. Student off-campus spend contributes 293.3m and 2,532 full-time-equivalent jobs to those totals. Kent has received two Queen's Anniversary prizes for Higher and Further Education. Artificial leaves mimic photosynthesis -- the process whereby plants use water and carbon dioxide from the air to produce carbohydrates using energy from the sun. But even state-of-the-art artificial leaves, which hold promise in reducing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, only work in the laboratory because they use pure, pressurized carbon dioxide from tanks. But now, researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago have proposed a design solution that could bring artificial leaves out of the lab and into the environment. Their improved leaf, which would use carbon dioxide -- a potent greenhouse gas -- from the air, would be at least 10 times more efficient than natural leaves at converting carbon dioxide to fuel. Their findings are reported in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. "So far, all designs for artificial leaves that have been tested in the lab use carbon dioxide from pressurized tanks. In order to implement successfully in the real world, these devices need to be able to draw carbon dioxide from much more dilute sources, such as air and flue gas, which is the gas given off by coal-burning power plants," said Meenesh Singh, assistant professor of chemical engineering in the UIC College of Engineering and corresponding author on the paper. Unhooking the pressurized carbon dioxide supply from these leaves means that they must have a way to collect and concentrate carbon dioxide from the air to drive their artificial photosynthetic reactions. Singh and his colleague Aditya Prajapati, a graduate student in his lab, proposed solving this problem by encapsulating a traditional artificial leaf inside a transparent capsule made of a semi-permeable membrane of quaternary ammonium resin and filled with water. The membrane allows water from inside to evaporate out when warmed by sunlight. As water passes out through the membrane, it selectively pulls in carbon dioxide from the air. The artificial photosynthetic unit inside the capsule is made up of a light absorber coated with catalysts that convert the carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide, which can be siphoned off and used as a basis for the creation of various synthetic fuels. Oxygen is also produced and can either be collected or released into the surrounding environment. "By enveloping traditional artificial leaf technology inside this specialized membrane, the whole unit is able to function outside, like a natural leaf," Singh said. According to their calculations, 360 leaves, each 1.7 meters long and 0.2 meters wide, would produce close to a half-ton of carbon monoxide per day that could be used as the basis for synthetic fuels. Three hundred and sixty of these artificial leaves covering a 500-meter square area would be able to reduce carbon dioxide levels by 10 percent in the surrounding air within 100 meters of the array in one day. "Our conceptual design uses readily available materials and technology, that when combined can produce an artificial leaf that is ready to be deployed outside the lab where it can play a significant role in reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," Singh said. ### This work was performed at UIC's Materials and Systems Engineering Laboratory. The chemical engineering department provided financial support to conduct this research. A part of the funding was provided through UIC's provost graduate research award. In one example, researchers uncovered an unexpected pattern of HIV infection among transgender women and cisgender men in Los Angeles County Every county in the United States tracks HIV cases, sequencing the virus' genome to see if it is resistant to current medications and looking for trends. More recently, local health departments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have begun using those HIV genetic sequences to trace the virus' transmission history. They can do that because the virus evolves quickly, with genetic variations arising frequently. This information allows researchers and public health officials to build transmission networks, clusters of people with genetically similar HIV. Transmission networks help determine which groups might be at increased risk for transmitting HIV, but they do not reveal who contracted the infection from whom. Working with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine recently used this data to look for HIV infection trends in the region. They expected to find many transmission clusters with men who have sex with men, a group that makes up 62 percent of new HIV cases each year in the U.S., but they were surprised to find more transgender women (people assigned male at birth, but who identify as female) and heterosexual cisgender men (people who were assigned male at birth and identify as male) in these clusters than they had anticipated. The findings, published February 11, 2019 in Lancet HIV, suggest transgender women are at higher risk of being in an HIV transmission network than men who have sex with men. In addition, cisgender men in these clusters should be considered at higher risk for HIV than previously thought. "This is a pattern of HIV transmission that we didn't know about before, and the information could help us slow the spread of the virus," said senior author Joel Wertheim, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at UC San Diego School of Medicine. "For example, this type of information could help public health officials tailor their efforts within the transgender community, hopefully allowing them to diagnose people living with HIV, connect more diagnosed people with the care they need, and help people at high risk get access to preventative medications." Wertheim led the study with first author Manon Ragonnet-Cronin, PhD, who was a postdoctoral researcher in his group at the time of the study. The proportion of transgender women with HIV is 27.7 percent in the U.S. and, in addition, transgender women are known to have high rates of undiagnosed infections. Yet, according to the Wertheim and Ragonnet-Cronin, HIV transmission networks for transgender women have never before been studied. The researchers found that transgender women in Los Angeles County were distributed across 126 HIV transmission clusters. These women were very likely to cluster with each other (i.e., be linked to at least one other transgender woman), indicating shared risk activities, such as sex with each other or with shared partners. Transgender women were also linked to more cisgender men than expected. This approach allowed the researchers to characterize the partners of transgender women across the entire county. "This is about prioritizing limited resources," Wertheim said. "If your goal is to improve public health, especially among the underserved and high-risk populations, these results provide a guide for a better way to do that." Now Wertheim is working with the CDC and public health departments in Chicago, New York City and Houston to employ this same molecular epidemiology approach to identify local groups at highest risk for HIV, and greatest need for intervention and support. Study co-authors include: Sheldon R. Morris, UC San Diego; Yunyin W. Hu, Zhijuan Sheng and Kathleen Poortinga, Department of Public Health, Los Angeles County. ### Disclosure: Joel Wertheim receives funding from the CDC and Gilead Sciences through grants and contracts awarded to UC San Diego. The detection of physical forces is one of the most complex challenges facing science. Although Newton's apple has long solved the problem of gravity, imaging the physical forces that act in living cells remains one of the main mysteries of current biology. Considered to play a decisive role in many biological processes, the chemical tools to visualize the physical forces in action do not exist. But today, researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) in Chemical Biology, Switzerland, have developed probes inspired by lobster cooking, they enable to enter into cells. For the first time, physical forces can be imaged live inside the cells. These results, a turning point in the study of life sciences, can be found in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Since its creation in 2010, one of the central objectives of the NCCR Chemical Biology has been to solve the problem of detecting cellular physical forces. "Our approach to creating tension probes was inspired by the color change of shrimp, crabs or lobsters during cooking," says Stefan Matile, Professor in the Department of Organic Chemistry at the Faculty of Science of the UNIGE and member of the NCCR. In live shrimp, the physical forces of the surrounding proteins flatten and polarize the carotenoid pigment, called astaxanthin, until it turns blue. "During cooking, these proteins are unfolded and the lobster pigment can regain its natural dark orange color," continues the Geneva chemist. Intrigued by these crustaceans, the development of fluorescent probes operating on the same principle of planarization and polarization required about eight years of research. External force probes have proven their worth Last year, the NCCR teams finally produced the first fluorescent probe capable of imaging the forces acting on the outer membrane, called the plasma membrane, of living cells. Requests for samples from more than 50 laboratories around the world came in immediate response to the release of these results, demonstrating the importance of this breakthrough for life sciences. To meet this demand, UNIGE's force probes were launched under the Flipper-TR brand at the end of last year. What about the internal forces of the cells? The study of forces that apply outside the cells is not limited to chemical tools for fluorescence imaging. Cellular surfaces are accessible to physical tools like micropipettes, optical clamps, cantilevers of atomic force microscopes, etc. "But these physical tools are obviously not applicable to the study of forces within cells," says Aurelien Roux, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Science of the UNIGE and a member of the NCCR. "Organelles such as mitochondria, responsible for energy production; endoplasmic reticulum, responsible for protein synthesis; endosomes, responsible for trafficking material to and within cells; or the nucleus, which stores genetic information, are simply beyond the reach of physical tools from outside." Until today visualization of the forces that operate and control these organelles inside the cells was still impossible, although essential to understand their function! This fundamental challenge in the life sciences is now being met. The NCCR team, led by Stefan Matile, Aurelien Roux and Suliana Manley, professor at the EPFL Institute of Physics, also member of the NCCR, succeeded in getting their force probes into the cells and selectively marking the various organelles. They are now able to show, for example, how tension rises in the mitochondria that are beginning to divide. "For the very first time, physical forces can be imaged live inside the cells," enthuses Aurelien Roux. This new chemistry tool finally allows scientists to achieve what they have wanted to do for a very long time. "These new probes now offer us the opportunity to tackle mechanobiology and revolutionize the study of life sciences," concludes Stefan Matile. ### Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Imperial College London and the University of Tokyo have demonstrated that physical coordination is more beneficial in larger groups. The researchers used robotic interfaces to test coordination in groups of two, three and four partners, and found that performance was improving with every additional group member. The researchers believe the findings can clarify how a group of people can work together, for example to move and maneuver a large table together. This may also lead to improving the outcomes of physical rehabilitation by training patients in groups. Scientists from Imperial College London, CNRS in France and ATR in Japan previously revealed the haptic communication in pairs in a task similar to partner dancing, and showed how performance at a physical task is improved and learned better when practicing with a partner, see https:/ / www. imperial. ac. uk/ news/ 177982/ robots-help-people-improve-physical-tasks/ . The new study, published today in eLife, extends this finding to trios and quartets by clarifying haptic communication in groups critical to society. Dr Atsushi Takagi, lead author of the study who resides at the Institute of Innovative Research at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), said: "We were shocked by how well and fast partners learned to coordinate as a group through touch. Imagine trying to move a banquet table at a crowded wedding venue. With verbal communication, it's immensely challenging to coordinate with others to ensure the table doesn't bump against something, and the more people there are, the longer it takes to reach verbal consensus. With touch, coordination emerges in a matter of seconds, and the time taken to reach consensus is the same, irrespective of group size." Professor Etienne Burdet of Imperial College, the senior author of this study, added: "We expected that the performance would deteriorate with the noisy force of each additional group member. However the performance improved with each group member, as each individual connects to a virtual collective hand which is the average of all partners' hands, so that the noise decreases with the number of partners". The researchers found that the key to physical coordination was the ability to infer the group's goal through touch. The same coordination mechanism was used in a previous study by Takagi and colleagues to design a "human-like" robot partner that coordinated with a human partner. In the new study, the researchers conducted computer simulations of the task to test what information was shared within the group through touch. Takagi believes that a deeper understanding of the coordination mechanism will yield an algorithm for a group of robots to carry out physical tasks together. The research was carried out in partnership with Imperial College London in the UK, and the University of Tokyo in Japan. ### | BY Kim Shaw | CB Exclusive Campaign Brief can reveal that David Nobay, founder and creative chairman of Marcel Sydney, is leaving the agency this month to launch Imperfect Circle with Fin Design & Effects. Nobay led the inception of the Publicis Groupe agency in November 2015; bringing along Tiger Beer as a foundation client, on the back of the closure of Droga5 Sydney. However, last year Tiger Beer announced it would be transferring its account within the Publicis Groupe from Sydney to Singapore. Commenting on Nobays pending departure, Nick Law, the Aussie expat global CCO of Publicis Groupe, told CB: Nobbys a great bloke, who has consistently created great work. Amazingly, after all the years Ive known him, hes managed to shed a ton of weight without losing his infamous talent and energy! I look forward to buying him a Perrier somewhere in the world as he continues his extraordinary career. Nobay told CB: Like most of us, I still cant claim to predict what the future looks like for advertising. But Im pretty sure what it doesnt: Its not rigid; not locked into geography or channel. To thrive again, it has to be more gymnastic. None of which is exactly rocket-science! The result is, what Nobay describes as, a Creative Consultancy model; designed to facilitate genuinely collaborative projects; primarily around Arts and Media. Over the last decade, Nobay has become increasingly known for his artistic forays outside traditional advertising; including penning his first stage play Moving Parts, directed for NIDA by Steve Rogers in 2012, as well as his painting exhibitions and, more recently, the project Artbreaks created for the ABC Arts Channel and built around his original poetry by Australian directors, including Warwick Thornton. He coined the new venture MyFavouriteChild late last year and was on the hunt for partners, when a chance meeting over Christmas with Emma Daines, founder of VFX powerhouse, Fin, quickly escalated the conversation. As Daines explains: Nobby and I have collaborated on film projects for years. Hes great fun to work with and we share an obsession with craft, too. For some time, Ive been musing about bringing in a Creative Partner to help Fin re-imagine a stand-alone creative group to work across our current offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Shanghai, as well as our upcoming offices in Singapore and LA. We wanted it focused on immersive technology, but with a very different creative slant. As soon as we started talking to Nobby, we knew we had found our partner. The result is Imperfect Circle; a name that nods to the new creative companys focus on imbuing their tech-driven creations with a transparently human touch. LA JOLLA--(February 12, 2019) What makes us human, and where does this mysterious property of "humanness" come from? Humans are genetically similar to chimpanzees and bonobos, yet there exist obvious behavioral and cognitive differences. Now, researchers from the Salk Institute, in collaboration with researchers from the anthropology department at UC San Diego, have developed a strategy to more easily study the early development of human neurons compared with the neurons of nonhuman primates. The study, which appeared in eLife on February 7, 2019, offers scientists a novel tool for fundamental brain research. "This study provides insights into the developmental organization of the brain and lays the groundwork for further comparative analyses between humans and nonhuman primates," says one of the senior authors of the study, Salk President and Professor Rusty Gage, who holds the Vi and John Adler Chair for Research on Age-Related Neurodegenerative Disease. Two important processes in brain development include neuron maturation and migration. Maturation involves neuron growth as the neurons increase their connections between each other for better communication. Migration is the physical movement of neurons into different parts of the developing brain. The authors sought to compare neuron maturation and migration between humans and nonhuman primates. To accomplish this task, the Gage lab devised a new method utilizing stem cell technology to take skin cells from primates and coax them, via a virus and chemical cocktails, to develop into neural progenitor cells, a cell type that has the ability to become multiple types of cells in the brain, including neurons. These new primate cell lines can then be perpetually propagated, allowing researchers new avenues to study aspects of neuronal development of live neurons without tissue samples from endangered primates such as chimpanzees and bonobos. "This is a novel strategy to study human evolution," says Carol Marchetto, a Salk senior staff scientist in the Laboratory of Genetics, co-first author and one of the study's senior authors. "We are happy to share these primate cell lines with the scientific community, so that researchers from around the world can examine primate brain development without the use of tissue samples. We anticipate this will lead to numerous new findings over the next few years about the brain's evolution." The researchers first explored the differences in gene expression related to neuronal movement, comparing human, chimpanzee and bonobo cells. They also investigated the migration properties of the neurons inherent to each species. They found 52 genes related to migration, and, interestingly, chimpanzee and bonobo neurons had periods of rapid migration, while human neurons were slow to move. In order to compare neuron movement and maturation outside of a dish, the scientists transplanted the neural progenitor cells from both humans and chimpanzees into the brains of rodents, enabling the neurons to thrive and providing additional developmental cues for the neurons to develop. The researchers then analyzed the differences in migration distance, shape and size of the neurons for up to 19 weeks after transplantation. They observed the length, density and quantity of extensions of the neurons called dendrites, as well as the size of the cell bodies, which house the nucleus and DNA. The chimpanzee neurons migrated a greater distance and covered a 76 percent greater area than the human neurons after two weeks. Human neurons were slower to develop but reached longer lengths than the chimpanzee neurons. This slower growth pattern may allow humans to reach more developmental milestones than nonhuman primates, which could account for differences in behavior and cognitive abilities. In the future, the authors hope to construct an evolutionary tree of multiple primate species, utilizing induced pluripotent stem cell lines, to better understand of the evolution of the human brain. In addition, the authors plan to use this platform to study gene regulation differences between primate species that underlie the differences in neuronal maturation and can potentially impact brain organization in humans. "We have limited knowledge about the evolution of the brain, especially when it comes to differences in cellular development between species," says Marchetto. "We're excited about the tremendous possibilities this work opens up for the field of neuroscience and brain evolution." ### Other researchers on the study were Krishna Vadodaria, Sara B. Linker, Inigo Narvaiza, Renata Santos, Ahmet M. Denli, Ana P.D. Mendes, Ruth Oefner, Jonathan Cook, Lauren McHenry, Jaeson M Grasmick, Kelly Heard, Callie Fredlender, Lynne Randolph-Moore, Rijul Kshirsagar, Rea Xenitopoulos, Grace Chou and Nasun Hah from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies; Branka Hrvoj-Mihic, Katerina Semendeferi and Alysson R. Muotri from the University of California San Diego; Bilal E. Kerman from at Istanbul Medipol University; Diana X. Yu from the University of Utah; and Krishnan Padmanabhan from the University of Rochester. The work and the researchers involved were supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (formerly the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression). About the Salk Institute for Biological Studies: Every cure has a starting point. The Salk Institute embodies Jonas Salk's mission to dare to make dreams into reality. Its internationally renowned and award-winning scientists explore the very foundations of life, seeking new understandings in neuroscience, genetics, immunology, plant biology and more. The Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark: small by choice, intimate by nature and fearless in the face of any challenge. Be it cancer or Alzheimer's, aging or diabetes, Salk is where cures begin. Learn more at: salk.edu. Cardiovascular disease and hypertensive disorders are leading causes of maternal morbidity and mortality. Two studies will be presented on February 14, 2019, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting, that address racial disparities in the postpartum period with a special focus on cardiovascular health. In one study, researchers will unveil findings that demonstrate that black women are more likely to be readmitted to the hospital in the postpartum period. Researchers analyzed 11.3 million birth records and compared postpartum readmission rates among white, black, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander, and Native American women, as well as women for whom race was unknown. They found that compared to white women, black women were much more likely to be readmitted postpartum and Hispanic women were less likely to be readmitted. Using the same data, the researchers found that black women were also more likely to suffer severe maternal morbidity, even after adjusting for income, age, and other socioeconomic factors that impact health outcomes. Furthermore, black women were the most likely to suffer significant life-threatening complications during readmission. More specifically, black women were 126% more likely than white women to experience pulmonary edema and acute heart failure. "The racial and ethnic disparities in obstetric outcomes are clear," said Aleha Aziz, MD, MPH, lead author of the abstract and maternal-fetal medicine fellow at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. "Obstetric care providers should be especially mindful of these differentials after delivery and consider closer surveillance of women, who may have increased risk for complications in the postpartum period." In another study that will be presented at The Pregnancy Meeting this week, researchers will unveil an innovative and effective way to reduce racial disparities in the postpartum period using text messages to monitor women's blood pressure. In this study, women with pregnancy-related hypertension were randomized to one of two groups after delivery. The first group received usual care for blood pressure monitoring (an in office visit 7 - 10 days postpartum). The second group was discharged with a blood pressure cuff and asked to submit their blood pressure readings daily via text message. Researchers found that text-based monitoring improved blood pressure ascertainment for black and non-black women. Further, text-based monitoring eliminated the racial disparities in blood pressure ascertainment. "For a variety of reasons, many women are unable to go to their postpartum visit," said Adi Hishberg, MD, lead author of the abstract and assistant professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. "When women cannot access care, they can end up sicker, in the emergency room and readmitted to the hospital. Our study demonstrates that there are other methods of engaging women after delivery and monitoring blood pressure, specifically text message, that can help women of all races, and may change the future of postpartum care." ### A new to science species of tarantula with a peculiar horn-like protuberance sticking out of its back was recently identified from Angola, a largely underexplored country located at the intersection of several Afrotropical ecoregions. Collected as part of the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, which aims to uncover the undersampled biodiversity in the entire Okavango catchment of Angola, Namibia and Botswana, thereby paving the way for sustainable conservation in the area, the new arachnid is described in a paper published in the open-access journal African Invertebrates by the team of Drs John Midgley and Ian Engelbrecht. Although the new spider (Ceratogyrus attonitifer sp.n.) belongs to a group known as horned baboon spiders, the peculiar protuberance is not present in all of these species. Moreover, in the other species - where it is - the structure is completely sclerotised, whereas the Angolan specimens demonstrate a soft and characteristically longer 'horn'. The function of the curious structure remains unknown. The new tarantula's extraordinary morphology has also prompted its species name: C. attonitifer, which is derived from the Latin root attonit- ("astonishment" or "fascination"), and the suffix -fer ("bearer of" or "carrier"). It refers to the astonishment of the authors upon the discovery of the remarkable species. "No other spider in the world possesses a similar foveal protuberance," comment the authors of the paper. During a series of surveys between 2015 and 2016, the researchers collected several female specimens from the miombo forests of central Angola. To find them, the team would normally spend the day locating burrows, often hidden among grass tufts, but sometimes found in open sand, and excavate specimens during the night. Interestingly, whenever the researchers placed an object in the burrow, the spiders were quick and eager to attack it. The indigenous people in the region provided additional information about the biology and lifestyle of the baboon spider. While undescribed and unknown to the experts until very recently, the arachnid has long been going by the name "chandachuly" among the local tribes. Thanks to their reports, information about the animal's behaviour could also be noted. The tarantula tends to prey on insects and the females can be seen enlarging already existing burrows rather than digging their own. Also, the venom of the newly described species is said to not be dangerous to humans, even though there have been some fatalities caused by infected bites gone untreated due to poor medical access. In conclusion, the researchers note that the discovery of the novel baboon spider from Angola does not only extend substantially the known distributional range of the genus, but can also serve as further evidence of the hugely unreported endemic fauna of the country: "The general paucity of biodiversity data for Angola is clearly illustrated by this example with theraphosid spiders, highlighting the importance of collecting specimens in biodiversity frontiers." Apart from the described species, the survey produced specimens of two other potentially new to science species and range expansions for other genera. However, the available material is so far insufficient to formally diagnose and describe them. ### Original source: Midgley JM, Engelbrecht I (2019) New collection records for Theraphosidae (Araneae, Mygalomorphae) in Angola, with the description of a remarkable new species of Ceratogyrus. African Invertebrates 60(1): 1-13. https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 3897/ afrinvertebr. 60. 32141 Additional information: About Baboon Spider Atlas: Co-author Ian Engelbrecht runs a citizen science project named the Baboon Spider Atlas that aims to discover and describe the diversity of baboon spiders in southern Africa, which remains largely unexplored and unknown. By bringing experts and novices together, the project is to lead to better appreciation for these amazing creatures and further steps towards their conservation. To achieve this goal the focus of the project is to assemble photographic records of baboon spiders in the wild alongside data about where and when they have been seen, and deposit them in an online database. The project is undertaken in partnership with the Animal Demography Unit of the University of Cape Town, and uses their Virtual Museum to store the data under the SpiderMap project. The ADU has a long and successful history of running atlas projects, such as for the birds, reptiles, frogs, and butterflies. OHSU study finds it's easy to get opioids but increasingly hard to get medication-assisted treatment for addiction Insurance industry cost-control measures may be worsening the nation's opioid epidemic by limiting access to a key medication that treats addiction, according to a research letter published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Despite the medical profession's growing acceptance of the need for medications for addiction treatment that give hope to people suffering with opioid use disorder, a study conducted by clinician-scientists at OHSU in Portland, Oregon, found that insurance rules increasingly limited the use of buprenorphine among Medicare beneficiaries between 2007 and 2018. "Buprenorphine is a safe and effective treatment that decreases deaths due to opioids and stops heroin and other opioid use. People on buprenorphine are able to get their lives back together," said co-author Todd Korthuis, M.D., M.P.H., professor of medicine (general internal medicine and geriatrics) and public health and preventative medicine in the OHSU School of Medicine. "Medicare insurance companies are making it increasingly difficult to prescribe buprenorphine while making it easy to prescribe opioid pain medications that contributed to the opioid epidemic." Researchers from OHSU and the OHSU/Oregon State University College of Pharmacy analyzed publicly available formulary files maintained by Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. They focused on evaluating the rate of pre-authorization requirements because it's a commonly used practice that insurance companies use to manage or limit access to certain drugs. "Prior authorization policies are commonly used to control costs or manage pharmacy utilization, however they can also disrupt or delay treatment for individuals who are vulnerable to relapse," said lead author Daniel Hartung, Pharm.D., M.P.H., associate professor in the OHSU/OSU College of Pharmacy. "Access to buprenorphine is vital within the Medicare program because Medicare has not historically covered methadone, which is the other opioid agonist indicated for opioid use disorder." In the case of buprenorphine, researchers found that the proportion of insurance plans offering buprenorphine without restriction plummeted from 89 percent in 2007 to 35 percent in 2018. By comparison, they found that access to opioids fueling the epidemic was comparatively easy: 93 percent to 100 percent of plans covered prescription opioids with no restrictions. "The reasons for restrictions on buprenorphine might reflect inaccurate perceptions of drug risk, societal norms related to the stigma of addiction, or financial considerations," the authors write. Buprenorphine, approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2002, relieves withdrawal symptoms and pain, and normalizes brain function by acting on the same targets in the brain as prescription opioids or heroin. It is one of three medicines approved by the FDA for treatment of opioid dependence, along with methadone and naltrexone. Insurance coverage for buprenorphine appears to be falling at exactly the time that medication treatment of opioid use disorder is becoming more widely embraced in the medical profession. The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recommends the use of medications such as buprenorphine as an effective response to opioid use disorder. In September, Oregon enacted a rule that prevents addiction treatment providers from refusing to treat people who are taking buprenorphine or other medication-assisted therapies. "Many people still believe that medication treatment isn't really recovery," Korthuis said. "Overwhelming scientific evidence supports that medicines like buprenorphine are far more successful and safer than abstinence-only approaches. Buprenorphine saves lives. Abstinence-based approaches don't." ### Hartung receives support from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (grant R18HS024227), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (grants 1R01DA044284, R01DA046468 and 1R01DA045745), and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (grant R011CE003008). Korthuis receives support from the CDC (grant U278601CE00) and from NIDA (grants UG1DA015815 and UG3DA044831). Co-author Kelsey Priest, M.P.H., receives support from NIDA (grant F30DA044700). Two tough, resilient, NASA spacecraft have been orbiting Earth for the past six and a half years, flying repeatedly through a hazardous zone of charged particles around our planet called the Van Allen radiation belts. The twin Van Allen Probes, launched in August 2012, have confirmed scientific theories and revealed new structures and processes at work in these dynamic regions. Now, they're starting a new and final phase in their exploration. On Feb. 12, 2019, one of the twin Van Allen Probes begins a series of orbit descent maneuvers to bring its lowest point of orbit, called perigee, just under 190 miles closer to Earth. This will bring the perigee from about 375 miles to about 190 miles -- a change that will position the spacecraft for an eventual re-entry into Earth's atmosphere about 15 years down the line. "In order for the Van Allen Probes to have a controlled re-entry within a reasonable amount of time, we need to lower the perigee," said Nelli Mosavi, project manager for the Van Allen Probes at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL, in Laurel, Maryland. "At the new altitude, aerodynamic drag will bring down the satellites and eventually burn them up in the upper atmosphere. Our mission is to obtain great science data, and also to ensure that we prevent more space debris so the next generations have the opportunity to explore the space as well." The other of the two Van Allen Probes will follow suit in March, also commanded by the mission operations team at APL, which designed and built the satellites. The Van Allen Probes spend most of their orbit within Earth's radiation belts: doughnut-shaped bands of energized particles -- protons and electrons -- trapped in Earth's magnetic field. These fast-moving particles create radiation that can interfere with satellite electronics and could even pose a threat to astronauts who pass through them on interplanetary journeys. The shape, size and intensity of the radiation belts changes in response to solar activity, which makes predicting their state difficult. Originally designated as a two-year mission -- based on predictions that no spacecraft could operate much longer than that in the harsh radiation belts -- these rugged spacecraft have operated without incident since 2012, and continue to enable groundbreaking discoveries about the Van Allen Belts. "The Van Allen Probes mission has done a tremendous job in characterizing the radiation belts and providing us with the comprehensive information needed to deduce what is going on in them," said David Sibeck, mission scientist for the Van Allen Probes at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "The very survival of these spacecraft and all their instruments, virtually unscathed, after all these years is an accomplishment and a lesson learned on how to design spacecraft." Each spacecraft will be moved to a new, lower perigee of about 190 miles above Earth through a series of five two-hour engine burns. Because the Van Allen Probes spin while in orbit, the dates of these burns had to be chosen carefully. The needed geometry happens just once or twice per year: for spacecraft B, that period falls Feb. 12-22 of this year, and for spacecraft A, it's March 11-22. The engine burns will each use about 4.4 pounds of propellant, leaving the spacecraft with enough fuel to keep their solar panels pointed at the Sun for about one more year. "We'll continue to operate and obtain new science in our new orbit until we are out of fuel, at which point we won't be able to point our solar panels at the Sun to power the spacecraft systems," said Mosavi. During their last year or so of life, the Van Allen Probes will continue to gather data on Earth's dynamic radiation belts. And their new, lower passes through Earth's atmosphere will also provide new insight into how oxygen in Earth's upper atmosphere can degrade satellite instruments -- information that could help engineers design more resilient satellite instruments in the future. "The spacecraft and instruments have given us incredible insight into spacecraft operations in a high-radiation environment," said Mosavi. "Everyone on the mission feels a real sense of pride and accomplishment in the work we've done and the science we've provided to the world -- even as we begin the de-orbiting maneuvers." ### Read more about what the Van Allen Probes have accomplished since 2012: http://vanallenprobes. jhuapl. edu/ News-Center/ newsArticles/ article. php?id= 20190210 For more on the Van Allen Probes: nasa.gov/vanallenprobes The 2019 Szent-Gyorgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research will be awarded to Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., of the Center for Cancer Research (CCR) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), one of the National Institutes of Health. The prize, awarded annually by the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR), recognizes Dr. Rosenberg's pioneering role in the development of adoptive immunotherapy to treat cancer. Dr. Rosenberg, chief of CCR's Surgery Branch, developed the first effective immunotherapies and gene therapies for selected patients with advanced cancer and was the first to successfully insert foreign genes--in this case, genetically modified T cells--into humans. His immunotherapy clinical trials have resulted in the regression of metastatic cancer in patients with melanoma, sarcomas, lymphomas, and other cancers. "Dr. Rosenberg's groundbreaking work has changed cancer research and what we know about treatment, but his findings have also immeasurably changed patients' lives," said NCI Director Ned Sharpless, M.D. "We are proud to see him awarded the Szent-Gyorgyi Prize, which recognizes work that has lasting impact while also honoring the importance of basic research in understanding cancer." Dr. Rosenberg's clinical trials of the protein interleukin 2 (IL-2) led to the first immunotherapy approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for cancer in 1992. When investigating the mechanism of IL-2 that causes cancer regression in patients with metastatic melanoma, Dr. Rosenberg identified immune cells that had cancer-fighting properties called tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). He and his team were the first to show in clinical trials that TILs extracted from a tumor, grown to large numbers in the lab, and then administered back to a patient, a treatment known as adoptive cell transfer (ACT) immunotherapy, could lead to tumor regression in patients with advanced melanoma. With his team, Dr. Rosenberg also initially developed a form of ACT immunotherapy in which a patient's T cells are removed, genetically engineered in the laboratory to bind to specific proteins on cancer cells and kill them, and then administered back to the patient. He was the first to use T lymphocytes genetically engineered to express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) to successfully treat patients with aggressive lymphomas. In 2017, the FDA approved the first CAR T-cell therapies for children and young adults with a form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and then for adults with advanced lymphomas. At the time, William Dahut, M.D., scientific director for clinical research in CCR, called the first approval of CAR T-cell therapy "a landmark moment for cancer immunotherapy." In his current research, Dr. Rosenberg is working to extend ACT to patients with common epithelial cancers. In June 2018, Nature Medicine published findings on a new approach he developed using a modified form of ACT that led to the complete regression of breast cancer in a patient whose cancer was unresponsive to all other treatments. Though still experimental, the new approach is dependent on targeting mutations, giving it the potential to be used for the treatment of many kinds of cancer. According to NFCR, the Szent-Gyorgyi Prize honors scientists "who have made an original discovery or breakthrough in scientific understanding that has had a lasting impact on the cancer field and a direct impact of saving people's lives." The prize was established in 2006 in honor of NFCR's cofounder, Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, M.D., Ph.D., who received the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his study of vitamin C and cell respiration. "I'm honored to receive the Szent-Gyorgyi Prize, and to be in the company of the scientists who have been recognized with this award," Dr. Rosenberg said. "We're still learning about what immunotherapy can do for cancer patients, and we're very excited about the advances to come." Last year's Szent-Gyorgyi Prize was also awarded to intramural researchers at NCI: Douglas R. Lowy, M.D., and John T. Schiller, Ph.D., for their work on the development of vaccines against the human papillomavirus (HPV). "For the NCI Intramural Program to be recognized twice in a row with this prestigious award is humbling," said Tom Misteli, Ph.D., director of CCR at NCI. "But it reflects the unique research environment of the NCI Center for Cancer Research, which has allowed Steve Rosenberg to not only envision the potential of immunotherapy, but also lead its practical implementation." The prize will be presented at a ceremony at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on April 27, 2019. ### About the Center for Cancer Research (CCR): CCR comprises nearly 250 teams conducting basic, translational, and clinical research in the NCI intramural program--an environment supporting innovative science aimed at improving human health. CCR's clinical program is housed at the NIH Clinical Center--the world's largest hospital dedicated to clinical research. For more information about CCR and its programs, visit ccr.cancer.gov. About the National Cancer Institute (NCI): NCI leads the National Cancer Program and NIH's efforts to dramatically reduce the prevalence of cancer and improve the lives of cancer patients and their families, through research into prevention and cancer biology, the development of new interventions, and the training and mentoring of new researchers. For more information about cancer, please visit the NCI website at cancer.gov or call NCI's Contact Center, the Cancer Information Service, at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237). About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit nih.gov. Up to one-third of primary care providers discussed breast cancer treatment options with patients but many report gaps in their knowledge ANN ARBOR, Michigan --The idea of team-based cancer care most often focuses on involving primary care physicians in the care of cancer survivors. But research has shown patients are discussing initial cancer treatment options with their primary care doctors. And now a new study finds that a significant number of these physicians report notable gaps in their knowledge of cancer treatment options. "Primary care physicians may be involved in cancer care earlier than we thought. If we are going to promote their involvement, we may need to start doing that earlier, around the time of initial treatment, and ensure PCPs have the information they need to effectively participate in the decision-making process," says Lauren P. Wallner, Ph.D., MPH, a health services researcher at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center. Wallner and colleagues from the Cancer Surveillance and Outcomes Research Team surveyed 517 primary care physicians who were linked to 1,077 women treated for early stage breast cancer. Physicians were asked whether they had discussed surgery, radiation or chemotherapy options with their patients. They were also asked how comfortable they were discussing these issues and whether they felt they had the knowledge to help with treatment decisions. Researchers found that 34 percent of physicians had discussed surgery options with their patients, 23 percent had discussed radiation and 22 percent had discussed chemotherapy. Physicians who reported more comfort with cancer treatment discussions were more likely to have these discussions. But, among those physicians who reported involvement in surgery decisions, 22 percent said they were not comfortable having that discussion and 17 percent said they did have the necessary knowledge. Similar findings played out for radiation and chemotherapy. Results are published in Cancer. "We found that among those involved, some PCPs felt they did not have the knowledge necessary to participate in these treatment decisions. If they're going to be involved, we need to find a way to make sure they have the knowledge to do so and we support them in a way that ensures they're confident and able to do so," says Wallner, an assistant professor of general medicine and epidemiology at U-M. The study follows up on a 2016 paper that found one-third of breast cancer patients said they consulted their primary care doctor about treatment options. "We were all quite surprised that many patients said PCPs were involved. This work stems from those findings. We wanted to understand what decisions providers were involved with and how they perceived their involvement," Wallner says. The study did not address what patients discussed or how detailed those discussions were. And as such, Wallner emphasizes that the nature of these conversations and how they influence treatment choices is not yet clear. But, she says, helping patients better understand the risks and benefits of treatment options is a good thing. For patients who have a longstanding relationship with their primary care doctor, that physician may have a good grasp of the patient's values and preferences and may be able to help the patient navigate these decisions. "This is an emerging challenge for primary care providers," Wallner says. "Inundating them with detailed information about all possible cancer treatments is not feasible. But these providers are likely to start becoming even more involved with the more prevalent cancers, such as breast or prostate cancer. They need to have sufficient resources and support to be prepared for these conversations." ### Additional authors: Yun Li, Ph.D.; Chandler McLeod, Ph.D., M.S.; Joan Gargaro, MPH, MBA; Allison W. Kurian, M.D., M.Sc.; Reshma Jagsi, M.D., D.Phil.; Archana Radhakrishnan, M.D., MHS; Ann S. Hamilton, Ph.D., M.A.; Kevin C. Ward, Ph.D., MPH, CTR; Sarah T. Hawley, Ph.D., MPH; Steven J. Katz, M.D., MPH Funding: National Cancer Institute grants P01CA163233, K07 CA201052; Rogel Cancer Center Disclosure: None Reference: Cancer, doi: 10.1002/cncr.31998, published online Feb. 1, 2019 A new innovative cross-university project in the field of computer science designed to further develop deep learning, the current engine of artificial intelligence, has won out in the third round of the Rhine-Main Universities (RMU) Initiative Funding for Research. The RMU Network for Deep Continuous Discrete Machine Learning (DeCoDeML) will combine the machine learning expertise of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), TU Darmstadt, and Goethe University Frankfurt, enabling them to tackle important unresolved issues in deep learning. Artificial intelligence (AI) is already an integral part of daily life where it plays a role in image recognition, voice control, and social bots through to self-driving cars and humanoid robots. One of the key problems is how to generate human perception and human activity in the form of "intelligent" computer programs. In the RMU Network for Deep Continuous-Discrete Machine Learning, or DeCoDeML for short, the participating researchers at the Rhine-Main Universities of Mainz, Darmstadt, and Frankfurt will examine the question of how the results of machine learning can be made more comprehensible or at least perceived in such a way that they can be related to human understanding. Expertise in different fields Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz has particular expertise in the analysis of complex structured data, such as sequences, time series, and images, as well as in the analysis of data streams. The particular focus of the team at TU Darmstadt is on machine learning using uncertain data and knowledge as well as the learning of intelligible prediction models in the form of rules. Core research areas of Goethe University Frankfurt involve the cognitive aspects of learning, such as the question of how learning is guided by expectations, and in taking a systems-oriented view of technical systems with machine learning components. Areas of application include the understanding and generation of images and films (Mainz, Frankfurt), the processing of texts and speech (Darmstadt), and the analysis of biological sequences (Mainz). Joint prior work has already taken place both within the universities and between the universities, as a result of work done by the researchers in earlier stages of their careers. Moreover, the two coordinators of the project, Professor Stefan Kramer of the Institute of Computer Science at JGU and Professor Kristian Kersting of the Computer Science Department at TU Darmstadt, are also currently active members of the Platform Learning Systems advisory committee of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), which deals with policy formation and potential funding for machine learning in Germany. One of the purposes of the new RMU project is to facilitate a lively exchange of ideas between the institutions to result in new joint projects. There are currently a total of eight professors involved from the three universities, three from Mainz, three from Darmstadt, and two from Frankfurt. The consortium can and may be extended. "We are very pleased that with support from the RMU Initiative Funding for Research we can create a platform here in the Rhine-Main area in the field of machine learning, on which further research networks will be able to build," commented the project coordinators. The kick-off meeting for the DeCoDeML project took place on December 18, 2018. Academics from all three universities outlined their existing research approaches and projects in the field, providing a basis for setting up and developing new collaborations. ### The RMU Initiative Funding for Research The Rhine-Main Universities (RMU) are strengthening their mutual networks through the RMU Initiative Funding for Research. From the last call for proposals comprising a total of 49 applicants, six new research projects in African Studies, Educational Research, Computer Science, Meteorology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Business Education will be funded over the coming two years, each with up to EUR 100,000 per year. About RMU: As outstanding research universities in the Rhine-Main area, Goethe University Frankfurt, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, and Technische Universitat Darmstadt have joined together to form the RHINE-MAIN UNIVERSITIES alliance. The universities have worked in close cooperation with each other for more than ten years, leading to an agreement to form a strategic alliance in 2015. The Rhine-Main universities are situated in close vicinity to one another in the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main metropolitan region and offer a wide range of disciplines from medicine and natural sciences to humanities and social sciences through to engineering. With over 100,000 students and 1,440 professors, they work closely in research and teaching, promote the mentoring of young researchers and participate in an exchange between academics, business and society. The strategic alliance between the three universities increases their collective academic capacity. By joining together, they are able to complement each other's strengths, promote strong research partnerships and expand the course and degree offerings for their students. This alliance not only strengthens the exchange of knowledge in the region, but also forms a strong network, shaping the Rhine-Main region into an academic hub that is globally visible and internationally attractive. Joseph Heitman, MD, PhD of Duke University is the recipient of the 2019 Genetics Society of America (GSA) Edward Novitski Prize. Heitman is honored for his work on human fungal pathogens and for identifying the molecular targets of widely-used immunosuppressive drugs. The latter work proved to be a seminal contribution to the discovery of the TOR pathway, which regulates cell growth and activity in response to nutrients. The Novitski Prize recognizes an extraordinary level of creativity and intellectual ingenuity in the solution of significant problems in genetics research. "Joe is an exceptionally imaginative geneticist, and his work has often been paradigm changing," says William K. Holloman, a Professor at Cornell University Weill Medical College and one of the scientists who nominated Heitman for the Novitski Prize. Heitman helped kickstart the study of the previously unknown TOR pathway with a series of inspired experiments during postdoctoral research at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, under the mentorship of Michael N. Hall and in collaboration with Rao Movva from the pharmaceutical company Sandoz (now Novartis). The story began with an unmet medical need. In the 1980s and 1990s, surgeons developing organ transplant procedures were finally starting to see success. Thanks to newly discovered immune-suppressing drugs isolated from soil microbes, the doctors were able to prevent transplanted organs from being rejected by the patient's immune system. Yet despite the success of these important drugs, it was not clear how they worked. Although they targeted specific cells of the immune system, the drugs had originally been identified as antifungal chemicals. Heitman and his colleagues reasoned that this ability to kill fungi could be the key to understanding how the drugs worked in humans. The microbes likely evolved to produce these natural product drugs to fend off fungal competitors in the soil. Perhaps, the team hypothesized, the mechanism by which they inhibited fungal growth would be the same by which they inhibited function of the immune system. After all, despite the obvious differences between fungi and ourselves, we all evolved from a common ancestor and share many components of our basic cellular machinery. That is why Heitman proposed an unconventional strategy for identifying the molecular targets of the new drugs: studying their effects on baker's yeast. As one of the best understood fungi, with many genetic research tools already available, yeast supplied a powerful method for honing in on targets of the drugs. The group investigated the effects on yeast of several transplant drugs, including a then-experimental compound named rapamycin. Rapamycin turned out to have a similar effect on yeast cells as it did on human immune cells--blocking progress of the cell cycle. This not only supported their hypothesis, it made it possible for them to screen for the chemical's molecular targets by looking for the yeast genes that made the cells vulnerable to rapamycin treatment. Their strategy paid off quickly. Heitman isolated rapamycin-resistant yeast mutants, and identified three genes needed to make the yeast sensitive to the drug. Among them were two previously uncharacterized genes that they named TOR1 and TOR2, for "Target of Rapamycin" and tor, the German word for gateway (in honor of Basel's medieval city gate Spalentor). The third gene encodes FKBP12, the cellular receptor that binds rapamycin to form a complex that inhibits TOR. Spurred by the discovery of the fungal targets of rapamycin, other research groups later confirmed that the human version of these yeast genes, mTOR, was also the target of the drug's immunosuppressive activity. "Joe exploited yeast genetics in a creative, clever, and unique way, which ultimately led to the appreciation that immunosuppressive drugs work through a pathway that is conserved from yeast to humans. His work was instrumental in understanding this important network," says colleague Sue Jinks-Robertson, a Professor at Duke University who nominated Heitman for the Novitski Prize. Thanks to the subsequent work of many researchers, including Heitman, Tor proteins are now understood to be at the center of a critical pathway for both biology and medicine. Animals, plants, and fungi all use Tor proteins to sense nutrient levels and set in motion appropriate physiological responses. Without Tor, cell growth and division become uncoupled from nutrient status, which is why dysfunction of the pathway is implicated in many human disorders, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, as well as the aging process. As Heitman established his own research group, linking fundamental insights in fungal biology to medically important problems became a recurring theme in his work. He has made many contributions to our understanding of fungal species that cause diseases, including findings on how such fungi sense their environment, what factors affect their virulence, and how antifungal drugs work. His studies have defined fungal mating type loci, including their evolution and links to virulence, and illustrated convergent transitions from outcrossing to inbreeding in fungal pathogens of plants and animals. He has led efforts to establish new genetic and genomic methods for studying pathogenesis in Cryptococcus species, which cause a range of life-threatening infections--and up to 15% of all AIDS-related deaths--but are of a quite different type than most other fungal pathogens of humans. Studying Cryptococcus has also produced broader insights into how many other fungal diseases evolve and cause outbreaks. For example, Heitman's work on Cryptococcus has contributed to a growing consensus that, contrary to previous assumptions, fungal pathogens have a robust sex life. His group even discovered an entirely new mode of fungal reproduction. Like many fungi, Cryptococcus occurs as two different mating types. In the lab, one cell of each type can pair up to mate and sexually reproduce. But one of these two mating types is extremely rare in the wild, so Cryptococcus was thought to mostly go without sex--if it ever occurred at all. The vast majority of cells were thought to reproduce by splitting into genetic clones. However, Heitman and colleagues found that Cryptococcus cells can mate with themselves by fusing with others of the same mating type or undergoing endoreplication to produce new offspring. This "unisexual reproduction" involves many of the same intricate series of steps as sexual reproduction, including the transition from haploid to diploid and the dividing up of chromosomes by meiosis to ensure offspring receive the correct final number. The main difference? Unisexual reproduction can occur between two genetically identical cells or genomes, such as "mother" and "daughter" cells that have just split by normal cell division. But why go to all this trouble? Why not just keep multiplying by asexual division? The main evolutionary benefit of sex is to shuffle genetic variants in a population into new combinations. In unisexual reproduction, mixing around the genomes of two parents with already matching variants would make no difference--the offspring would have the same combinations as their parents. Heitman's research suggests an answer: their evidence shows unisexual reproduction can generate new genetic diversity by triggering new mutations. This allows fungal species that rarely engage in bisexual outcrossing an escape mechanism from the evolutionary dead end of endless clonal division. Heitman and others are now studying the roles of sexual reproduction in the evolutionary dynamics of fungal pathogens to better understand how they spread, switch hosts, become more virulent, and a host of other important clinical questions, such as how the emerging pathogen Cryptococcus gattii expanded its geographic range to cause an ongoing outbreak in North America. Heitman has been a GSA member since 1998, served as an editor for the GSA journal GENETICS 2011-2017, and has served on the GSA Conferences Committee since 2017. He has also served as a member of the Fungal Genetics Policy Committee from 2013-2019 including as chair of the Committee 2017-2019. The Prize will be presented at the 30th Fungal Genetics Conference, which will be held March 12-17, 2019, at Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, CA. This will be the tenth consecutive Fungal Genetics Conference that Heitman has attended. The Novitski Prize recognizes a single experimental accomplishment or a body of work in which an exceptional level of creativity and intellectual ingenuity has been used to design and execute scientific experiments to solve a difficult problem in genetics. It recognizes the beautiful and ingenious experimental design and execution involved in genetics research. The Prize, established by the Novitski family and GSA, honors the memory of Edward Novitski (1918-2006), a Drosophila geneticist and lifelong GSA member who specialized in chromosome mechanics and meiosis through the construction of modified chromosomes. ### When influenza viruses that infect birds and humans meet in the same cell, they can shuffle their genomes and produce new strains that might have pandemic potential. Think of this process, called reassortment, as viruses having sex. In the last several years, public health officials have been monitoring two varieties of bird flu viruses with alarming properties: H7N9 and H5N8. Scientists at Emory University School of Medicine have been probing the factors that limit reassortment between these strains and a well-known strain (H3N2) that has been dominating the last few flu seasons in the United States. The good news is that "packaging signals" on the bird flu viral RNA genomes were often incompatible with the H3N2 viruses. That means it could be difficult for segments of the genome from the bird viruses to get wrapped up with the human viruses. Mix + match still occurred at a low level, particularly with H5N8. The results are scheduled for publication the week of Feb. 11 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "What we see is that sequence differences between the human and avian viruses limit the potential for reassortment," says Anice Lowen, PhD, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Emory University School of Medicine. "But the low level of compatibility could be more significant if reassortant viruses have an advantage, for example, because of pre-existing immunity. It highlights the continued need for surveillance." Graduate student Maria White, who conducted most of the experiments, emphasizes that she was not handling intact infectious avian flu viruses, which could be dangerous. Rather, she took just a bit of genetic information from them: the packaging signals for the hemagglutinin-encoding segments. Hemagglutinin is one of the main external proteins enabling the virus to bind and infect our cells. And packaging signals are parts of the viral RNA genome that tell an infected cell to wrap up that piece of RNA into a new virus. They're sort of like our chromosomes, but much smaller. White inserted only the packaging signals into H3N2 viruses, which are studied in the laboratory under biosafety level 2 conditions. Careful and rigorous, but no space suits needed. She found that the hybrid viruses still were able to replicate well. However, when she co-infected the hybrid viruses with standard H3N2, the hybrids were not taken up into newly produced viral particles as well as H3N2. A similar thing happened when White co-infected guinea pigs, and had those guinea pigs in the same cage with a healthy animal. Mostly regular H3N2 virus was transmitted, but she did detect transmission of viruses with H5 packaging signals. "These findings suggest that H5 packaging signals are sufficiently compatible with H3N2 viruses to allow a low level of transmission," the authors write. White says the packaging incompatibility could come from interactions between viral RNAs as well as between bird flu RNA and human flu protein. She adds that other factors could come into play in determining compatibility, such as differences in which tissues the viruses like to infect. Regular reports of H5N8 outbreaks come from poultry farmers around the world, but so far H5N8 has only been a problem in birds. The concern is that humans frequently come into contact with the birds, giving an opportunity for cross-species transmission and reassortment with seasonal flu viruses, Lowen says. Additional risk comes from the possibility of point mutations that could further alter the properties of reassorted viruses. ### White is in the Immunology and Molecular Pathogenesis graduate program. Research specialist Hui Tao and assistant professor John Steel, PhD contributed to the paper. This work was funded in part by the Emory-UGA Center of Excellence in Influenza Research and Surveillance (CEIRS), Health and Human Services Department contract HHSN272201400004C and by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (R01AI125268). A 30 million research and innovation investment in British manufacturing will ensure the UK can seize new opportunities in steel production, pharmaceuticals and the revolution in transport infrastructure. Three new 10 million Manufacturing Research Hubs will link major industry players including Tata Steel, Siemens, and Rolls-Royce to world-class research teams. The Hubs will pioneer new practices to ensure these established manufacturing sectors can meet evolving industry need, seize new opportunities and tackle key issues such as sustainability and productivity. The three new Hubs will focus on steel production, bio-manufacturing, and electrical machines and will be funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The Future Biomanufacturing Research Hub will receive 2 million co-funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). Their addition takes the total number of Manufacturing Hubs to 13 across the UK, building comprehensive research support for the Government's Industrial Strategy. Industry Minister Richard Harrington said: "This investment brings together world-class researchers and leading manufacturing firms to help revolutionise how key industries like steel operate in the future. "These developments will help us build a smarter, greener and more efficient manufacturing sector in the UK which is a key part of our modern Industrial Strategy to harness the opportunities of clean growth creating more high-skilled jobs. "We are determined to ensure the UK sets the global best standard for making our energy intensive industries competitive in the new clean economy." Professor Lynn Gladden, EPSRC's Executive Chair, said: "There's a real need to mesh fundamental research with our manufacturing industries. By doing so we can ensure that research is relevant to industrial need but also that UK businesses can be in touch with the latest developments in their fields. These three new Manufacturing Hubs cover industries that are important to the UK's future capacity to make products sustainably and improve the country's prosperity. " Summaries of the Hubs are below: The SUSTAIN Manufacturing Hub will be led by Professor David Worsley at Swansea University. It has been co-created by the five major UK steel producers (Tata, Liberty, British Steel, Celsa, and Sheffield Forgemasters) and the three principal Universities that have expertise in this area (Swansea, Warwick and Sheffield). It aims to provide academic leadership in steel innovation, influence policy, work with existing hubs and speed the implementation of research findings through to manufacture. The ambition is to radically transform the carbon intensity of the process of producing the world's most widely used advanced material and at the same time tailor its application to emerging manufacturing opportunities for electrification of transport, manufactured buildings and sustainable packaging. It will also look to embed the industry in communities essentially as energy hubs - an aspiration which is clearly applicable to other sectors such as glass, petrochemicals and cement. The Future Biomanufacturing Research Hub (FBRH) will be led by Professor Nigel Scrutton at The University of Manchester with spokes at Imperial, UCL, Nottingham, the UK Catalysis Hub, IBioIC and CPI. It will develop new underpinning technologies based on industrial biotechnology to enable efficient, sustainable and innovative bio-based manufacturing in three key sectors - Pharmaceuticals; Value-added Chemicals; Engineering Materials. The Hub will accelerate delivery of economically attractive, robust and scalable biomanufacturing processes to meet societal and commercial demand through industrial partnerships and co-created research programmes. Centred at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB), FBRH will connect the Hub and Spoke's strengths in interdisciplinary industrial biotechnology discovery science with industry to stimulate innovative and sustainable biomanufacturing capabilities and position the UK at the vanguard of economic Clean Growth. Future Electrical Machines Manufacturing Hub will be led by Professor Geraint Jewell at the University of Sheffield, with spokes at Newcastle University and the University of Strathclyde, This Hub aims to put UK manufacturing at the forefront of the electrification revolution. The Hub will address key manufacturing challenges in the production of high integrity and high value electrical machines for the aerospace, energy, high value automotive and premium consumer sectors. Partners that have helped create this Hub include Rolls-Royce, Siemens, GKN plc, Dyson Limited, Protean Electric Limited and Hoganas AB. Through delivering world-class manufacturing research and innovation, the Hub will assist UK manufacturing to capture significant value in the electrical machine supply chain, improve UK industrial productivity and deliver the environmental benefits and cleaner growth at the heart of the UK's industrial strategy. ### For further information please contact the EPSRC Press Office on 01793 444 404 or email pressoffice@epsrc.ac.uk Notes to editors: 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. The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is part of UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK government. BBSRC invests in world-class bioscience research and training on behalf of the UK public. Our aim is to further scientific knowledge, to promote economic growth, wealth and job creation and to improve quality of life in the UK and beyond. Funded by government, BBSRC invested 498 million in world-class bioscience in 2017-18. We support research and training in universities and strategically funded institutes. BBSRC research and the people we fund are helping society to meet major challenges, including food security, green energy and healthier, longer lives. Our investments underpin important UK economic sectors, such as farming, food, industrial biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Dating apps and websites could soon use computing algorithms that 'think' like humans to pinpoint fake profiles designed to con victims out of thousands of pounds. Algorithms with this capability have been developed as part of wide-ranging research into combating online fraud led by the University of Warwick and funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The new algorithms have been designed specifically to understand what fake dating profiles look like and then to apply this knowledge when they scan profiles submitted to online dating services. They automatically look out for suspicious signs inadvertently included by fraudsters in the demographic information, the images and the self-descriptions that make up profiles, and reach an overall conclusion as to the probability of each individual profile being fake. When tested, the algorithms produced a very low false-positive rate (the number of genuine profiles mistakenly flagged up as fake) of around 1 per cent. The aim is now to further enhance the technique and enable it to start being taken up by dating services within the next couple of years, helping them to prevent profiles being posted by scammers. With Valentine's Day fast approaching, the news that these Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities have the potential to help thwart so-called 'rom-con' scams will be very welcome to the millions of people who use online dating services in the UK and worldwide. In these scams, fraudsters target users of dating websites and apps, 'groom' them and then ask for gifts of money or loans which will never be returned. In 2017, over 3,000 Britons lost a total of 41 million in such incidents, with an average loss of 11,500. The work on the textual and other computer characteristics of online dating messages and profiles was led by Professor Awais Rashid (now at the University of Bristol, previously at the University of Lancaster) and Dr Gianluca Stringhini (previously at UCL and now at Boston University). It formed just one aspect of an overall research initiative that has also involved King's College London, Cardiff University and partners worldwide and has aimed at boosting efforts to detect and prevent mass fraud that exploits online channels. Other aspects of the initiative have, for example, focused on better understanding of the psychology of people most likely to become repeat victims of online scams. The project was primarily led by Professor Monica Whitty (now at the University of Melbourne) with Professor Tom Sorell of the University of Warwick taking over in the final stages. Professor Sorell says: "Online dating fraud is a very common, often unreported crime that causes huge distress and embarrassment for victims as well as financial loss. Using AI techniques to help reveal suspicious activity could be a game-changer that makes detection and prevention quicker, easier and more effective, ensuring that people can use dating sites with much more confidence in future." ### For media enquiries contact: Professor Tom Sorell, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick, tel: 02476 528 031, e-mail: T.E.Sorell@warwick.ac.uk; or the EPSRC Press Office, tel: 01793 444404, e-mail: pressoffice@epsrc.ukri.org Notes for Editors: The two-and-a-half-year project Detecting and Preventing Mass-Marketing Fraud received around 0.84 million in EPSRC support. Project partners included (UK unless stated): Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (Australia) Barclays Bank plc CIFAS City of London Police Federal Trade Commission (US) Fraud Help Desk (Netherlands) Fraud Womens Network Hampshire County Council My Mate Your Date Online Dating Association Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Canada) Scamalytics Western Australian Police (Australia) Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the field of computer science concerned with developing machines that 'think' in a human-like way. An algorithm is a sequence of instructions designed to carry out a specific task. 2017 UK figures on dating fraud are reported here. They are derived from data gathered by the City of London Police Economic Crime Directorate, which is recognised as the UK's national policing lead for fraud. Advance-fee fraud generally involves a victim being promised a share of a big sum of money in return for a small payment up-front. 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. Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is part of UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK government. ESRC is the UK's largest funder of research on the social and economic questions facing us today. It supports the development and training of the UK's future social scientists and also funds major studies that provide the infrastructure for research. ESRC-funded research informs policymakers and practitioners and helps make businesses, voluntary bodies and other organisations more effective. The University of Warwick has a total of over 26,000 students and performs consistently strongly in UK league tables. It was named among the top 20 'most international' universities in the world in a 2018 Times Higher Education report. The University of Bristol is home to over 24,000 students and is one of the most popular and successful universities in the UK. It was ranked within the top 5% of universities in the world in the QS World University Rankings 2019. University College London has more than 38,000 students and 13,000 staff from 150 different countries. It was the top-rated university in the UK for research strength in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) published in December 2014. Measurement of AHNAK2 helps physicians make challenging diagnostic decisions, according to a new study in The American Journal of Pathology Philadelphia, PA, February 12, 2019 - Label-free digital pathology using infrared (IR) imaging with subsequent proteomic analysis for bladder cancer (BC) has revealed the first protein biomarker (AHNAK2) for BC. AHNAK2 differentiates between chronic cystitis (inflammation of the bladder) and a non-muscle invasive-type BC (carcinoma in situ) which is challenging to diagnose. A report in the American Journal of Pathology describes this new diagnostic procedure, which is label-free, automated, observer-independent, and as sensitive and specific as established histopathological methods. Distinguishing benign inflammatory conditions in the bladder from low-grade and advanced cancers can be difficult, especially since some BC treatments induce inflammation. "We developed this label-free digital pathology annotation system by IR imaging to support the pathologist, similar to driver assistance in cars. This technique in combination with a proteomics approach allowed us to identify AHNAK2 as an important new biomarker for BC, and the results encourage us to transfer this label-free digital technique to other pathologies," explained Klaus Gerwert, PhD, Chairman of the Department of Biophysics and the PURE (Protein Research Unit Ruhr within Europe) consortium at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. Using label-free Fourier transform IR (FTIR) imaging, investigators were able to classify unaltered tissue thin sections by color to identify regions of interest. "The resulting index color images automates tissue classification, including cancer type, subtype, tissue type, inflammation status, and even tumor grading," noted Prof. Dr. Gerwert. In an analysis of 103 freshly-frozen samples that included confirmed diagnoses for 41 cystitis, 19 low-grade carcinoma, and 43 high-grade carcinoma, FTIR imaging showed a specificity of 95 percent, sensitivity of 95 percent, and an accuracy of 95 percent compared to stained images reviewed by a trained pathologist. The technique also differentiated cancerous from healthy tissue as well as low- from high-grade carcinoma. Laser capture microdissection was then used to obtain homogenous tissue samples for protein analysis by proteomics. By comparing tissue from patients with inflammatory bladder (cystitis) to samples from patients with invasive, high-grade urothelial carcinoma, the investigators identified three potential biomarkers, with the protein AHNAK2 found to be the best performing candidate biomarker. In a large cohort that included 310 freshly-frozen, paraffin-embedded tissue samples (51 high-grade cancers, 67 carcinoma in situ [CIS], 84 low-grade cancers, and 108 patients with severe cystitis), AHNAK2 measurement achieved 97 percent sensitivity and 69 percent specificity in differentiating between severe cystitis with reactive urothelial atypia (RUA) vs CIS. It also displayed high sensitivity in distinguishing low versus invasive high grades and low grades vs CIS. "In our study, AHNAK2 was identified and verified in two steps as a candidate biomarker for BC," said Barbara Sitek, PhD, Deputy Director, Medizinisches Proteom-Center (MPC), Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany. "AHNAK2 has already been proposed as a potential prognostic biomarker for clear renal cell and pancreatic cancers and is part of a urinary mRNA panel for the diagnosis of BC and prediction of tumor aggressiveness." The investigators believe AHNAK2 could be a very helpful tool for detecting CIS recurrence or persistence, particularly because misdiagnosis of CIS can delay treatment of an aggressive malignancy or could lead to unnecessary treatment or bladder removal. BC is the second most common urogenital malignancy, with about 430,000 new cases diagnosed worldwide in 2012. About 75 percent of newly diagnosed patients have non-muscle invasive, mostly low-grade BC, and about 25 percent have high-grade BC at the stage of infiltration of smooth muscle. The presence of acute or chronic inflammation (urocystitis) with RUA can complicate diagnosis, especially when patients with BC have been purposely treated with pro-inflammatory agents. The current gold standard for tumor grading and staging of BC is the visual inspection of stained tissue thin sections by a pathologist; immunohistochemistry is also used but can be difficult to interpret. ### For even the most stoic entrepreneur, facing a panel of potential investors can be like walking onto the set of 'Dragon's Den'. But a new study, co-authored by Cass Business School academic Dr Ruben van Werven, suggests there are ways to connect with even the most imposing investors. The study analysed the language used by entrepreneurs at an Amsterdam-based business incubator and has determined four interconnected language strategies found in the most influential pitches. 1) Let the audience complete the picture of the future The study found that entrepreneurs who successfully influenced their audience often implied a point without actually making it when talking about the future; they encouraged their audience to fill in the blanks. "The audience becomes engaged, they start becoming a part of the argument, they actually even complete it, so they're more likely to be convinced by it," Dr van Werven said. "Entrepreneurs would say 'In my market, globally, 90-billion dollars is earned every single year' and that's all they said. "In itself that doesn't mean anything and has no implications for the success of their business, but what they're hoping is that investors would think 'Wow, that's a big number. If this company is going to do well they might become very profitable'." 2) Present the imagined future as a reality The study found entrepreneurs whose pitches are well received by investors most often present their idea as if it already exists, even when the venture is only in the idea phase. The researchers' findings suggest that by presenting an idea or venture in the present tense entrepreneurs take away its sense of novelty and remove the audience's impression that it is yet to exist. "In our paper we call it a logical time gap, which basically refers to the idea that if someone pitches an idea to you and you start thinking about how it plays out in the future, then these things don't match because you don't know what the future looks like," Dr van Werven said. "But if you talk about the future in terms of the present, both the evidence and the claim are in the same time and space. "This can make the audience feel more secure, it helps them imagine that the idea being pitched is real." Dr van Werven said these first two strategies are important when pitching an idea because they help entrepreneurs sell something that does not actually exist. But to avoid being perceived as vague, influential entrepreneurs also incorporate a clear understanding of the current situation into their pitches and back them up with data, as detailed in the third and fourth linguistic strategies. 3) Be explicit about the current situation Most of the entrepreneurs studied made explicit claims about the present state of their target market and established links between their idea and its benefits for that market. Dr van Werven said presenting information about the current state of affairs shows knowledge and expertise, and increases the chances of the idea resonating with the audience. "If you're really clear and explicit about the market, the customers and any current problems or gaps then your audience will believe that you're an expert and that you've got it covered," he said. 4) Support your idea with data All of the influential pitches analysed in the study used selective data to support their arguments, and often changed the data they selected to support their idea more favourably. "For example, a gaming entrepreneur one week said there were 300 million gamers like the ones he meant to address, then the next week he said there were 1.2 billion of them," Dr van Werven said. "These numbers were both taken from research reports but, in the second instance, he picked the data that made his argument most convincing." Dr van Werven said the language strategies outlined in the study could be used by anyone pitching a new project, whether an entrepreneur pursuing investment, a manager proposing a new product, or an architect selling a new design, the language used when pitching the idea can be key to success. "It's important to note that none of these strategies are about lying -- it's just imagining that things that are yet to happen are already real and then being selective in the data you use to support your points," he said. ### HENNESSEY Funeral services for Irene Gabriel, 98, will be 10:00 a.m. Saturday, June 26, 2021, at Ladusau-Evans Chapel. Pastor Jimmy Berkenbile will officiate. Burial will follow in Waukomis Cemetery. Services are under direction of Ladusau-Evans Funeral Home. I am a retired Naval Officer and small business owner, outside of my work at the News & Eagle. My wife Tammy and I enjoy serving together at church and attending Gaslight and ESO. We have two daughters, three dogs and little free time. Follow James Neal | Religion/Health Reporter 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. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Campus News Forum for EV drivers on campus helps UB find its blind spots By DAVID J. HILL We have much more of a demand than we have supply for, so were sitting with you today to try to think about what are the next steps we can take to build greater infrastructure and capacity. A few years ago, Ryan McPherson was one of only a handful of guinea pigs on campus who experimented with owning an electric vehicle. Through a grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), along with funding from UB Facilities, the university installed EV charging stations on the North and South campuses about five years ago. Our objective was to see, is there a demand out there, McPherson, UBs chief sustainability officer, said during a forum UB Sustainability and Parking and Transportation Services held last week for electric vehicle drivers on campus as the university looks to expand its EV infrastructure. At first, the charging stations were used on occasion. And then we just saw a complete explosion. It kind of was an if-you-build-it-they-will-come strategy, McPherson said. The good news is, that strategy worked incredibly well, he added. The bad news is, that strategy worked incredibly well. So now we have much more of a demand than we have supply for, so were sitting with you today to try to think about what are the next steps we can take to build greater infrastructure and capacity. The university is looking to expand and upgrade its electric vehicle infrastructure at a time when EVs are gaining in popularity due to lower price points and greater awareness, as well as improvements that have increased the battery range to as much as 250 miles on a single charge. Electric vehicles are also one way, among several others, the university can reduce its carbon emissions, McPherson said, pointing out that 87 percent of UB employees commute to campus in single-occupancy vehicles, compared to 44 percent of students. While 35 percent of students use public transportation to get to campus, only 6 percent of faculty and staff do. Transportation at UB accounts for 21 percent of UBs carbon emissions, according to university figures. The university has a separate strategy for electrification of UBs buses, shuttles and facilities fleet. Weve got to change this dynamic, McPherson said during the forum, which was held in the Student Union Landmark Room and attended by about 20 EV drivers. When the charging stations were first installed, there were maybe a handful of electric vehicle drivers on campus. Now, however, there are 256 EVs and 140 hybrid vehicles registered via UBs parking tags for students and employees, according to Chris Austin, director of Parking and Transportation Services. Those numbers will continue to rise, which is why McPherson and Austin wanted to hear from current and potential EV drivers about the needs the university should consider going forward. And its definitely not a my way or the highway approach. We certainly know that things are not perfect right now and we want to think about how we get better, McPherson said. Its infrastructure, said Jason Lasker, associate director of Science and Engineering Node Services at UB. There are way many more cars here than a year and a half ago. When you put in new stations, do not put them in prime parking spots so that (internal combustion engine) vehicles will not be tempted to park there, said Maureen Milligan, who works in the Hunter James Kelly Research Institute in the New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences. Theres no reason to have them right up front and center, except for handicap accessible ones. UB is weighing a variety of options, including adding charging banks on each of its campuses, McPherson said. That was welcome news to Gunther Kohn, an EV driver and chief information officer in the School of Dental Medicine. Theres not enough charging stations and theyre all too slow, Kohn said. Fast chargers would be really awesome because then you could cut the time down. Thats another option the university is considering. High-speed chargers could be installed at the Center for Tomorrow on the North Campus. They would allow EV drivers to pull up and charge their vehicle for a half-hour or 45 minutes reaching an approximately 80 percent battery charge while they check email and have a cup of coffee. Then, they park their vehicle on campus for the day. Another alternative is setting up a bank of slower Level 1 chargers, which would trickle charge a vehicle over an eight-hour work day and wouldnt require moving it in the middle of the day once charged. John Atkinson, assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, has run into that very issue numerous times. I cant afford to lose an hour a day searching for a parking spot, he said. Atkinson asked what the university plans to do about parking overall, since that ties in to EV use on campus. Austin said the university is looking at the former construction staging area near the roundabout by Ellicott Complex as a potential location for additional parking. Before that, however, UB wants to make better use of open parking spaces along the peripheral areas of the North Campus. Other possibilities include creating a separate parking tag for EV drivers to use while charging, which is what other universities have done, McPherson said. Forum attendees had mixed views on whether to charge for charging. Right now, its free on campus. I sincerely believe that the university should no longer be subsidizing electricity for a bunch of people that own electric vehicles, said Atkinson, who suggested a transactional approach. Others, however, said theres an incentive to being able to charge an EV on campus, which could encourage more people to consider purchasing an electric vehicle. In December, UB created an EV working group that includes representatives from Sustainability, University Facilities, Capital Planning, Parking and Transportation Services and the Office of the Controller. The committee will make recommendations to UB leadership. John Timothy Hudson, 62, of Elkmont, Alabama, died Monday, June 21, 2021, at his residence. Visitation is from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Friday at Spry Funeral Home in Athens. There will be a private graveside service at Limestone Memorial Gardens. Mr. Hudson was born July 3, 1958, in Decatur, Al Elkhart, IN (46516) Today A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High around 85F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers after midnight. Thunder possible. Low 69F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Asuncion, Feb 12 (epa-efe).- President Mario Abdo Benitez issued property titles to some 500 peasant families during a ceremony here Tuesday where he spoke of the Paraguayan government's historical debt to "the working people of the countryside." With the titles, the new landowners will be able to borrow money to improve production and facilitate the purchase of livestock. The president decried Paraguay's persistent inability to create and maintain "sustainable social policy" and pledged to address that failure by developing new initiatives which would outlast his term in office. "It will take time to generate an impact in the countryside. We won't be able to solve all of the problems overnight, the historical debts of 50 years ago," he said at Government Palace. Abdo Benitez asked the farmers to be patient, despite "how much you have been lied to" and invited them to take part in the dialogue the government initiated in December with peasant and indigenous groups with the aim of creating a road map for rural policy. Those discussions are expected to address issues ranging from land tenure, production, food security and improving access to education and employment for indigenous people and the broader rural population. The president also looked ahead to next month's 26th annual gathering of peasants in Asuncion to press for land reform and other measures to aid family farmers. "There has to be mobilization," he said, calling it a "just tool for those think they have something to demand from the Paraguayan state." Abdo Benitez said he was ready to pay heed to the farmers' grievances. Also present for the ceremony was Horacio Torres, director of the National Institute of Rural Development and Land (Indert), who stressed the transformational potential of getting legal title to land. "The title makes of the farmer an entrepreneur, a boss and a producer ... which replaces his former status as an agricultural laborer," Torres said. Indert determined the demarcation of the properties for which titles were issued Tuesday and confirmed that all of them were suitable for agricultural, he said. Peasants make up about 35 percent of the population of Paraguay, the second-poorest nation in South America, where 90 percent of rural land is held by less than 5 percent of the landowners. Quito, Feb 12 (EFE).- The Galapagos Islands, the living laboratory where English scientist Charles Darwin developed his theory of evolution by natural selection, is making progress in its relentless struggle against a threat from the outside: plastic containers. Ocean currents carry plastics onto the eastern coasts of these islands, which is a "worrisome" situation, according to Galapagos National Park superintendent Jorge Carrion. According to the brand names on containers found during the cleaning of beaches in the archipelago, the trash arrives from Peru, Chile, Central America "and (there is) a significant amount of waste with Asian brand labels," Carrion told EFE. Although authorities do not know exactly how many tons of plastic might currently have accumulated along the islands' shorelines, Carrion recalled that in 2018 they collected 22 tons, while another 4.5 tons were picked just last week. "We are now classifying the garbage, which is very, very detailed work," he said referring to the recent collection effort. The municipality of Santa Cruz Island coordinates the transfer of collected waste that is in good condition and can be recycled to the Ecuadorian mainland, while the waste that cannot be recycled due to its being degraded by sunlight and salinity gets delivered to the sanitary landfill there. In the Galapagos archipelago, located about 1,000 kilometers (roughly 620 miles) off the coast of Ecuador, expanded polyethylene materials and certain plastic bags have been banned since 2015, a prohibition that was later broadened to include plastic straws. The fight against plastics could be ratcheted up further in March with a total ban on the use of non-returnable plastic containers for beverages. "The aim is to clean all the coasts of the Galapagos, and in doing that we've come quite a ways in the fight against plastics," said Carrion, insisting that the plastics found on the archipelago's coasts do not come from local production activities. As president pro tempore of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR), Ecuador works to further dialogue with representatives of other countries to broaden the fight against plastics and it tries to prevent waste of this kind from getting into the ocean. In Ecuador, work is progressing on devising a general strategy for the fight against plastics in the archipelago, famous for its high biodiversity and for being home to a number of unique species. For this reason, any precautionary measures to preserve the site are important. Along with the Charles Darwin research station, Ecuador is developing a monitoring program to assess the threat posed by plastic as a potential transporter of species that could endanger native species in the Galapagos, named a World Heritage Site in 1978. In this way, the presence of non-native species, which can float on plastic waste to the island's shores, can be detected early and action can be taken to reduce the probability of a secondary dispersion. Experts have identified potential invasive species from Costa Rica and Chile that could reach the Galapagos via the ocean currents. Thus, a preventative plan has been developed in case invasive species are detected in the area, but authorities are also collecting waste that can reach the archipelago in ships. The Environment Ministry, working through the National Park and the Galapagos Biosecurity Agency, maintains strict monitoring of cargo and tourism vessels because "we have the obligation to ask (ships) to withdraw from the reserve" if contamination from them is found, Carrion said. As part of its fight against pollution, 35,000 used tires were moved from the Galapagos to mainland Ecuador in 2012, and that process will be repeated as soon as the resolution for the transport of waste from the archipelago can be updated. Just as in the clean-up along the coasts, Galapagos authorities are also developing communication strategies. "We need to create environmental awareness among those who reside in the Galapagos and thus, little by little, we're going to be expanding this environmental awareness to mainland Ecuador and the whole world," Carrion said. The National Park superintendent also said that the Galapagos must be an example not only in conservation issues but as a "form of sustainable living," and the population has responded "well" to the efforts to avoid the use of plastics, an enemy that knows no borders. Effingham, IL (62401) Today Scattered clouds with the possibility of an isolated thunderstorm developing this afternoon. High 83F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Low 72F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%. When Kimberly Calhoun read through Baltimore City schools new curriculum, she found an assignment that surprised her: Her kindergartners were expected to podcast. The kids are [still] peeing their pants, and theyre supposed to be doing this crazy thing, Calhoun said, echoing a response that teachers across the county were sharing on social media. She had listened to podcasts before, but had never produced one herself, let alone had her students do so. But, after a colleague across the hall had her students try podcasting, and advised Calhoun on tools that make the process easier, Calhoun was inspired to do the same. Although it is unknown how many teachers use podcasting in the classroom, the medium has seen a general increase in engagement in the past few years. According to Nielsens Fanlinks survey data , in the fall of 2016, 13 million homes identified as avid fans of podcasts. This number increased to 16 million by the fall of 2017. In part, the rising popularity of podcasts may be due to new software and streaming services that make it easier to both create and listen to podcasts. LISTEN: Kindergarteners wrote and read sentences on what they liked best about themselves for The Best Part of Me podcast in Kimberly Calhouns kindergarten class in Baltimore. Some websites, such as Anchor and Audacity, are free to use. Anchor allows users to record and edit podcast episodes, all through an app on their cellphones. The service distributes and uploads episodes to streaming services, such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and provides analytics following publication. Other tools, such as GarageBand and Adobe Audition, can provide a more hands-on approach for creators, with each program ranging in cost and difficulty of use. Getting Acclimated Ryan ODonnell, a high school social studies and technology teacher, and Brian Briggs, a district-level director of innovation and instructional technology, host Check This Out , a podcast on education technology. They say they have seen more teachers interested in podcasting, both on their own and in the classroom. But they advise educators to get comfortable with the technology themselves before introducing it to their students. What got me started when I was exploring more, [was] the land of Twitter, Briggs said. A lot of podcasts have a Twitter presence, and [I was] reaching out to them and asking for their advice. Once teachers have mastered the basics, ODonnell recommends orienting students through a podcast walkabout, where students are each assigned a podcast, go for a walk as a class while listening to it on either a phone or a speaker, and then return to the classroom for a conversation about what they may have liked or disliked about the podcast. For Calhoun, podcasting served as a way for kindergartners to practice writing, reading, and using their strong voice for presenting. Throughout the project, each student wrote a sentence about a farm animal, practiced reading the sentence, and then recorded themselves reading the sentence. In future podcasts, she hopes to have students write and read up to three sentences. And shes changed her mind about her students ability to use podcast technology. The kids are better at the tablets than some of the adults that come in [the classroom], so if you cant beat them join them, Calhoun said. In higher grade levels, podcasting may be used as a tool to reinforce readings and lessons covered in class, in addition to developing writing and speaking skills. A Tool for Writing At University Liggett, an independent pre-K-12 school in Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., 6th and 7th grade English teacher Stevie Stevens and Nicholas Provenzano, the maker space director and technology coordinator at the school, have teamed up to launch a podcast where their 6th graders interview each other on the books that they read for class. Its a great way to allow some of those kids that may struggle with their writing to feel successful in discussing a book, Provenzano said. Traditionally, its write, write, write, write, write, and if youre not a strong writer, you may start to think youre not good at an English class in general. Podcasts that require scripts similarly encourage students to explore writing formats that stray from the traditional essay. "[Students] think Oh great, I can talk, but you really cant just talk, ODonnell said. Its a wonderful way to trick them into writing. By posting their podcasts online, Stevens and Provenzano have also seen students develop a better understanding of what writing for an audience is and overall feel more motivated to produce better work. When its just my eyes seeing it, its one-on-one and Im the safety net, Stevens said. Even when you open it up to their classmates, they realize OK, Im going to be judged by them, and then you open it up to the internet. Its a big deal. Last spring, cinematic arts and broadcast journalism teacher Michael Hernandez introduced his 11th and 12th graders to podcasting to teach them speaking skills that could be necessary for upcoming college or job interview. They could really hone in and focus on interview skills rather than focusing on video and lighting said Hernandez, who teaches at Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, Calif. Its going to somebody you may or may not know and asking them questions that potentially could be scary or embarrassing or challenging to ask. In one assignment, students created a series on love. One group asked elementary schoolers what love is, while another questioned high schoolers about their experiences. LISTEN: A high school student explores the meaning of love through interviews with young children in a podcast created for a class taught by cinematic arts and broadcast journalism teacher Michael Hernandez. In addition to producing the podcast, students design art work and consider marketing surrounding the project. But for Hernandez, such assignments are not just about sharpening interviewing skills, they are also about providing students with a voice while teaching them to listen and consider the perspectives of others. In another assignment, students were asked to seek out and interview unknown voices"individuals who students do not often encounter. Hernandezs students returned to the classroom with stories on immigrants, LGBTQ students, and students who choose to take unconventional paths following high school graduation. We just dont understand each other or other people in the world, Hernandez said. If we havent talked to people, and we havent listened to their stories, then we wont understand. Oakland, Calif. Fremont High School teacher Maya Brodkey is laying out the next building block in her students high school graduation projecta yearlong assessment oriented around a research question students have developed on a social issue like homelessness, war, or vaping. Theyve already conducted hours of online research and written essay drafts outlining their problems; the next step is to deepen their understanding and gain additional perspectives through field research, including an interview. Students can choose to use focus groups, which Brodkey points out can elicit great information about why people hold the beliefs they do, but can be hard to schedule. They can conduct a one-on-one interview with an expert, with the knowledge that any single anecdote or position is necessarily limited. Or they can draft a survey to get superficial feedback from a wide range of people, which sounds like a lot of fun to these seniorsuntil Brodkey explains that it also means collecting and analyzing the resulting data, and all those data are limited by how the students frame their questions. She references student Joanna Gonzalezs topic, which is on immigration policy and racism, clearly a front-burner issue in this diverse school system of 50,000. You cant just do a survey for immigrants. What does that mean? Are you asking people if they immigrated in a particular category? Are they a particular age? Did they immigrate and now have citizenship? Are they the children of immigrants? she points out. The students gather in groups to start thinking about what kind of field research they will choose. Only a handful have ever conducted a formal interview before, and most are a little nervous. Its no wonder: For most students, researching and writing about their topics represents the most sustained piece of writing theyve had to do in high school, and field research isnt even the last step. To graduate, theyll have to craft a presentation about their topic for their entire school and respond to questions posed by a panel of teachers, almost as if theyre defending a thesis. In High Demand Oaklands Graduate Capstone Project, as its called, provides a comprehensive look at how policymakers might think of structuring a yearlong performance test. Around 16 states have policies encouraging similar projects for high school graduation, but most of them dont require it, and implementation of the projects tends to be uneven. Theres nothing unique about the Oakland assessments individual pieces. Whats unusual is how theyre knit together comprehensively, with an eye toward making sure students mastery of research, writing, and oral skills matches the needs of what comes next for them. We really tried to learn from the mistakes of the past and think of this as not just a compliance policy, said Young Whan Choi, the districts manager of performance assessments. It gives us an opportunity to improve the quality of the learning experience for students and develop some shared understanding of what we mean by a high-quality research paper, and a high-quality presentation, and what it means to be an Oakland graduate. All those skills are in high demand not only by colleges but also by employers, who say that few young people have the requisite oral-presentation or writing skills they expect of new hires. I have had students who have come back years later and said, Having all these deadlines for different parts of the project helped me meet them for college, said James Barbuto, who teaches in nearby Skyline High School and oversees the capstone projects there. Ive never had a student whos not been successful in some way, or gotten something out of it. Oakland teachers like Brodkey have encouraged students to select topics theyve personally been touched by or feel passionate about. Partly, thats because students need something complex enough to sustain a whole year. More importantly, its simply more authentic to a post-high-school world than topics like dress codes or cafeteria food. It sets them up to have a strong argument, she said. And with regard to civic education and engagement, when you pick a real issue, its easier to have a sense of agency. Joannas classmate Vtee is examining problems faced by the Cambodian community here, many of whom are still suffering the aftereffects of the 1979 Khmer Rouge genocide. Another student, who fled from violence in Yemen a few years ago, has chosen to research the effect of the civil war there on youths. Tuuta Fili is among those students whove picked homelessness. I had a best friend in elementary school who lived in his car for half a year and a motel for a year. And he still made it to school and stuff, Fili said. Laptop computer in hand, he mulls over the fieldwork assignment, thinking about whom to interview. An idea occurs to him: Near one of the downtown Oakland subway stops, theres a new housing development for people experiencing homelessness. Maybe one of the developers would agree to be interviewed about the challenges and costs of creating affordable housing for his project, he thinks. A Renaissance Oaklands efforts constitute a renaissance of sorts for the program. District policy has required seniors to engage in a serious research project or exhibition since 2005. But until recently there was little consistency in student projects, according to Choi. Teachers treated oversight of the graduation project like a hot potato, a duty they passed off to one another in an its your turn rite of passage. In effect, Choi said, the requirement contributed to stratification in the district: Some students got an opportunity to write in-depth research papers, but others didntsometimes within the same high school. In 2012, the district latched onto the requirement as a lever to focus the senior year and improve student civic engagement. During the first few years Oakland first worked with students in career and technical education, but over the last few years grant support has expanded the capstone projects to the general curriculum. These evolutions have been implemented from the bottom up, rather than as a mandate. The Oakland district still gives high schools flexibility to decide whether to make the capstone a separate course or to work it into an existing one. And the district didnt initially use common scoring guidelines to judge students writing, field research, or oral-presentation skills. But as groups of teachers started adopting them on their own, they saw how it gave them a shared language for discussing student work, and improved equity by making sure each project was being judged by the same set of standards. Now, the district disseminates three sets of guidelines to allone for the written paper, one on conducting field research, and one on the presentationand offers teachers training on them. For now, actual scoring procedures differ from school to school. At Fremont High, drafts of student papers are shared among faculty, and final versions are blind-scored by at least two educators. Students know that their work will have to satisfy even their most finicky teachers. Not all schools have adopted the full Graduate Capstone Projectsome still do a less-formal project or use a simpler scoring system. But the culture around the capstones is growing. For the class of 2018, two-thirds of graduating seniors participated in the full project. Shaping Instruction For teachers like Brodkey and Barbuto, the capstone truly comes down to instruction, not testing. Its required them to rethink their own teaching approaches. Both teachers say one of the most challenging lessons they teach has to do with sourcing, especially in identifying skewed news articles and making sure students weigh multiple, conflicting perspectives on their topics. Barbuto has students read each source they turn up at least three times: once to weigh its credibility, including by looking at the publishers credentials and purpose; next, reading for background and context; and finally, synthesizing and seeing how it complements or alters their overall conclusions about their topic. Theres also the big task of simply keeping tabs on students progress and providing the right supports, like helping them identify and link up to experts for their interviews. Students feel the pressure, too. Senior Janeli Romero-Garcia describes the project as difficult, but doable. Were not doing it all in a rush, she said. There are pieces here and pieces there, and theyre all coming together. Teachers are also thinking about how they want to see the capstone project evolve next. Barbuto would like to see colleagues in earlier grades beginning to familiarize themselves with the scoring frameworks, so that its easier to help students build the foundational skills over time. When we first started doing this years ago, the immediate feedback from the students was that it was too much to expect them to master these skills in senior year. They needed to be practicing it every year, he said. Brodkey wants to double down on the social justice, community focus of her capstone teaching, inching the projects closer to action civics, in which students not only identify and research a problem but also try to use civic channels to help solve it. We continue to ask questions about: Should we keep capstone as a separate class? Should we fold it into English? she said. But there is not a question about whether we should do the project. Solar DC Inverterless Technology, pioneered by Indian Institute of Technology Madras Researchers, is lighting up homes in remote parts of the country where the terrain is so foreboding that they are beyond the reach of Electricity Grids. Cygni Energy Private Limited, an innovative Solar-DC solutions startup that was incubated by the Rural Technology Business Incubator (RTBI) of IIT Madras, is now installing 3,026 units in villages located high up in remote corners of Manipur and another 25,000 units Solar inverters and lights in the villages of Assam. Speaking about the importance of this Project, Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Institute Professor, IIT Madras, who lead the research on this technology, said, It is of great importance that we have played major a role in taking power to remote villages in Manipur, Assam, Meghalaya and J&K. Solar-DC system makes the equipment much smaller in size and cost. It has helped us in these difficult terrains where carrying anything would have been difficult. Powering homes with DC power-line reduces the power-consumption and would be increasingly deployed with solar in urban and rural India homes. The Manipur Project, taken up at a cost of Rs.11.5 crore, was funded by Manipur Renewable Energy Development Agency. Installation has been completed in 2,800 Homes. Most Beneficiaries are situated in remote, inaccessible mountainous regions of Manipur. This project resulted in electrthe ification of 96 villages in places such as of Senapati, Ukhrul, Churachandpur, Chandel, Phrezawl, Thoubal and Tamenglong. Speaking the project implementation, Venkat Rajaraman, CEO, Cygni Energy Private Limited, said, In 2018, India achieved its dream of electrifying every village and we are privileged to be a part of this challenging effort. Now, we have set our target on 100 per cent electrification of rural households. Our Solar-DC Inverterless product is a unique, disruptive product that is bringing about a paradigm shift in the way energy is generated and consumed. Our 48V DC was made a Standard for Low Voltage Direct Current (LVDC) electrification by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and also approved by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India, for on-grid and off-grid solar applications. With Solar-DC solution, people are able to use power for 8 hours t full load and close to 12-14 hours in reserve mode [only basic appliances like bulb and mobile chargers]. IIT Madras worked closely with Cygni to develop Inverterless technology. This product was built ground up with high efficiency and affordability in mind. The Challenges faced include: Last mile Transportation: This is one of the biggest challenges the implementation team faced while installing in the remote locations in Assam, Manipur and Jammu & Kashmir. This is one of the biggest challenges the implementation team faced while installing in the remote locations in Assam, Manipur and Jammu & Kashmir. Educating Customers to prevent System Tampering. The team is implementing Customer Training programs to counter it. The project does not stop with just installing the units. There is also a Customer Training Program to educate the beneficiaries on the usage of the product. The sessions are generally conducted at a commons place like Village Chiefs home or a community hall. A Cygni Authorized Trainer demonstrates the good practices and basic user instruction on how to handle the Inverterless system. This includes details on how to turn the System ON and OFF and what each LED and buzzer sound indicate. This also includes how to reach the Cygni helpline in case of any issues and how to provide information to Cygni Service Personnel for easy identification and resolution of the problem. The Solar-DC Inverterless technology, conceptualised and ideated by IIT Madras, uses complete DC solutions to remove AC to DC and DC to AC conversions. Removing the need of conversion helps in saving 30% to 40% of energy. This later provides more power backup with lesser size of batteries and solar panel which thus also contributes in reducing the cost of the system. The Solar DC products are designed and developed in such a way that it can be easily installed in off-grid or near off-grid homes. This solution can also be seamlessly integrated with the AC grid power supply providing 24x7 power backup. A large number of homes (some estimates are up to 60 million homes) are still off-grid, and taking power-lines to these homes may be just too expensive. Many more have long power-cuts and could be categorized as near off-grid. While decentralized solar at the roof-tops to generate power could be an option for such homes, the costs of a conventional solar PV system to provide basic light and fans (and cell-phone charger) have been high primarily because of (i) poor design, (ii) high AC to DC and DC to AC conversion losses associated with such solar and battery systems and (iii) high costs of batteries. Solar-DC systems would save about 35-40% of the power as compared to a solar-AC system. Add to it the energy-savings associated with DC appliances, huge gains in efficiency becomes possible. This efficiency gains translate to lower sized solar panel and smaller battery and therefore cost-savings when compared to a solar-AC system. Such a set-up offers an economical and affordable solution for off-grid/ near off-grid homes (homes with large power-cuts), and could also be useful for grid-connected homes in saving power-bills as well as providing back-up power. This is achieved by Solar-DC Inverterless technology, conceptualized by IIT Madras. The Institute has implemented such decentralized Solar-DC systems within its campus as well as outside locations. In a nutshell, Solar-DC Inverterless Technology will aid homes gradually move towards a more DC world tomorrow. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's sweeping Green New Deal resolution was never going to be embraced by her Republican foes, but she's taking the criticism in strideeven if the missives come from the very top. At his El Paso, Texas rally on Monday, President Donald Trump referred to her signature issue as a "high school term paper." "Last week they introduced a massive government takeover that would destroy our incredible economic gains. They introduced the so-called Green New Deal," the president said in his speech. "It sounds like a high school term paper that got a low mark." President Trump blasts 'Green New Deal' www.youtube.com The star Democrat from New York did not back down from the president's remarks. "Ah yes, a man who can't even read briefings written in full sentences is providing literary criticism of a House Resolution," Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter after retweeting Trump's quote from Breitbart News' Charlie Spiering. She then included a quote from a Washington Post report about how Trump skips written intelligence reports, which are usually dense and lengthy, and relies on oral briefings instead. That wasn't the problem the president had with the Green New Deal. Trump falsely claimed in his rally speech that the deal would "shut down" American energy and air travel. "It would shut down American energy which I don't think the people of Texas are going to be happy with that. It would shut down a little thing called air travel," he said. He claimed the resolution would "take away your car, reduce the value of your home and put millions of Americans out of work." Trump's comments are akin to his tweet on Saturday, where he also took a jab at the Green New Deal. The president was probably referring to a widely circulated FAQ section, in which Ocasio-Cortez's office quipped, "we aren't sure that we'll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes." But that statement was in reference to bringing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions "to net-zero, rather than zero emissions" within 10 years. Republican lawmakers and other critics have pounced on what has been called the "botched rollout" of the Green New Deal, which is also sponsored by Ed Markey (D-Mass.) in the Senate. The most prominent issue was language on a Feb. 5 blog post on the congresswoman's website that called for economic security "for all who are unable or unwilling to work." That information has since been retracted. Despite the naysayers, momentum for climate policy has been growing ever since its was popularized by Ocasio-Cortez as well as the young climate activists of the Sunrise Movement who staged a sit-in inside then-presumed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office not long after the midterm elections to demand a Green New Deal. Varshini Prakash, founder and executive director of Sunrise Movement, called the resolution "a litmus test for progressive leadership." As EcoWatch previously wrote, ideas outlined in the proposal include "unprecedented levels of prosperity and economic security" for all citizens and "meeting 100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources." The non-binding resolution calls for a wide-ranging mobilization of the U.S. economy and creating jobs through infrastructure and industrial projects, such as zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing; installing smart grids; updating or creating buildings that are energy efficient; expanding clean energy jobs (like solar, wind turbine, battery and storage manufacturing); cleaning existing hazardous waste sites; and restoration of damaged and threatened ecosystems. Along the same lines, the plan includes a significant social justice component because it aims to create millions of family-supporting and union jobs and will help protect disadvantaged communities on the frontlines of pollution and climate change. Ocasio-Cortez recently retweeted a string of praise for the Green New Deal from presidential contenders, including fellow progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders. A federal appeals court on Monday sided with the Trump administration's bypassing of numerous environmental laws to expedite border wall construction projects in southern California. In a 2-1 decision (pdf), the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed an earlier district court ruling that determined the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has broad authority under the Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to waive statutes such as the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act and many more environmental rules to build border barriers. "Because the projects are statutorily authorized and DHS has waived the environmental laws California and the environmental groups seek to enforce, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment to DHS," judge M. Margaret McKeown wrote in the majority opinion. A Justice Department spokesperson told The Hill that the ruling was "a victory for the Trump administration, for the rule of law, and above all, for our border security." The lawsuit was originally filed in 2017 by multiple conservation groups and the state of California in response to the federal government's waiver of 37 environmental regulations to build prototypes of the planned border wall in the Otay Mesa area of San Diego County, as well as a replacement for existing border infrastructure along a 15-mile stretch of the U.S.-Mexico boundary south of San Diego. The Center for Biological Diversity, one of the litigants, was disappointed by Monday's court ruling, especially as the challengers tried to take the case to the Supreme Court but was rejected in December. "Congress has ceded its authority to Trump, who has swept aside fundamental public safety and environmental laws to build walls that won't work," Brian Segee, a Center for Biological Diversity attorney, said in a statement to The Hill after the decision. "This lawlessness is destroying irreplaceable ecosystems and militarizing communities." The Center found in a 2017 study (pdf) that more than 90 endangered or threatened species would be threatened by proposed wall construction along the 2,000-mile border. Environmental concerns about the controversial border wall are on full display in Texas, where construction is imminent at the National Butterfly Centerthe most diverse butterfly sanctuary in the U.S. A planned 5.5-mile section of concrete and steel border wall that was funded by the the 2018 Omnibus spending bill will cut off 70 percent of the 100-acre property. Some 200 species of butterflies find a home there each year, including the Mexican bluewing, the black swallowtail and the increasingly imperiled monarch. On Monday, the nonprofit filed a temporary restraining order against the federal government to halt construction until a lawsuit filed by the center has been resolved, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The Trump administration also waived 28 environmental laws including the Endangered Species Act in order to build 33 more miles of wall in the lower Rio Grande Valley, including the section through the butterfly center. The Office of Public Affairs for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ran afoul of a law against campaigning when it made a resignation letter praising President Donald Trump available to the press, watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) said Monday. On Feb. 7, former Principal Deputy Administrator in the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation Mandy Gunasekara sent a letter to the president on official EPA stationary saying she was leaving to work educating the public about the successes of the Trump administration. This letter was then made available to reporters, the EPA confirmed to Government Executive. "Ensuring eight years of your leadership is of utmost importance," she wrote. PEER claims the press office's actions violated the Hatch Act, or An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities, which mandates that civil servants not campaign on official time or with official resources. The organization sent a letter Monday to the Hatch Act Unit of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) asking them to investigate the issue. "By all appearances, EPA is illegally using taxpayer dollars to promote political propaganda," PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch said in a press release. "Unfortunately, EPA's Office of Public Affairs now operates like a political war room and seems to have lost sight of its public service obligations." Gunasekara said in her letter to Trump that she was leaving to start an organization "built to defend you and the many energy, regulatory and economic successes of your administration." That organization, The Energy 45 Fund, is headquartered out of Gunasekara's home state of Mississippi, ThinkProgress reported. Both Gunasekara's letter and her organization's website criticize the Paris agreement and the emerging Green New Deal. Her letter warned of "dangerous rhetoric from the far-left supportive of Venezuelan-style socialism, government take-overs, and crony green new deals." In their letter to the OSC, PEER said that Gunasekara's use of official letterhead would have been a violation of the Hatch Act had she not resigned. As is, they want an investigation into whether other officials, including Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler, who is awaiting Senate confirmation to run the agency permanently, could be held accountable. The letter explains: "The employees within the EPA Office of Public Affairs who distributed or provided the letter to reporters also violated the Hatch Act because they are using official time and resources to engage in political activity. They remain on the federal payroll and are subject to penalties for Hatch Act violations. In addition, acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler issued a statement about her departure, praising her work. This suggests that he had advance knowledge of the resignation and may have played a role in distributing the letter." The EPA's press office defended itself in a statement to Government Executive, saying that it "has provided resignation letters and statements when asked by the press and with consent from former employees. Content of the resignation letters is the work of the former employees." A bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced a bill on Monday would block oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Reps. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) aim to repeal a little-known Arctic drilling provision that was quietly snuck into the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The new billcalled the "Arctic Cultural and Coastal Plain Protection Act"states that "oil and gas activities are not compatible with the protection of this national treasure." Inclusion of the drilling measure in the 2017 tax bill helped Republicans secure the vote of Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who has long sought to open part of ANWR for oil and gas development. Even though the majority of voters across the political spectrum oppose ANWR exploitation and the area was kept off-limits thanks to Obama-era policies, the tax law, which passed with only GOP support, allowed drilling for the first time the refuge's coastal plain. The 1.5-million-acre coastal plain, also known as the 1002 Area, is believed to hold a vast and untapped trove of oil. Debate over opening the area for fossil fuel exploration has been at the center of political debate for decades. Environmentalists worry that drilling would harm native wildlife. An analysis from the Center for American Progress and Conservation Science Partners describes the coastal plain as the "biological heart" of the Arctic refuge that hosts one-third of all polar bear denning habitat in the U.S. and one-third of the migratory birds that come to the Arctic Refuge. Fossil fuel development would also further stress a region that's already impacted by climate change. "The Arctic is being impacted by climate change at unprecedented levels," the bill states. "Temperatures are rising at twice the rate of the rest of the country, and wildlife and habitat that depend on the Arctic are being detrimentally impacted." The area is also considered sacred to the indigenous Gwich'in people, who sustain themselves from the caribou that migrate there. Repealing the drilling provision in the tax law "would best protect the unspoiled ecosystem of the Coastal Plain, the human rights of the Gwich'in, and the integrity of the National Wildlife Refuge System," the bill states. Northern Alaska National Wildlife Range (ANWR), Coastal Plain 1002 Area USEIA Last year, the Trump administration approved the first offshore oil drilling development in federal Arctic waters even though rising global temperatures have dramatically reduced the extent of sea ice. Case in point, Hilcorp Alaska's Liberty Energy Projectwhich involves building a 9-acre artificial drilling island in the shallow waters of the Beaufort Seawas delayed because there was not enough sea ice to build a foundation for the artificial island. The Sierra Club praised the new bill and noted that even major financial institutions, including Barclays, National Australia Bank, HSBC, BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Scotland and Societe General are rejecting financing for drilling or exploration in the Arctic refuge. "Drilling in the Arctic Refuge would threaten the food security and human rights of the Gwich'in people and permanently destroy one of the world's last wild places, all to dig up more oil that would worsen the climate crisis," Sierra Club lands protection program director Athan Manuel said in a press release. "That's why the overwhelming majority of Americans oppose drilling there, as do a growing number of investors and financial institutions." Manuel added, "Now Congress has a chance to undo the dangerous and short-sighted decision to sell off this special place to corporate polluters. We applaud Representative Huffman and the bill's co-sponsors for their leadership in protecting America's Refuge." Feline conservation group Conservation CATalyst released what it says is the first-ever trail camera footage of an endangered ocelot in Arizona on Sunday, at what the group said on its Facebook page is a "critical point" in the species' conservation. That is partly because of President Donald Trump's proposed border wall, which would restrict the ability of Sonoran ocelots to cross between the U.S. and Mexico in search of food, mates and territory. "One of the greatest single threats to ocelot recovery in the United States is the proposed expansion of the U.S.-Mexico border wall," conservation CATalyst senior researcher Chris Bugbee said on the group's Facebook page. "If there was ever a solid physical barrier that spanned the entire border, as is planned by our current administration, it would be 'game over' for both jaguar and ocelot recovery in this country. Such a fate is unacceptable." A 2017 study by the Center for Biological Diversity looking at the potential impact of the wall on 93 threatened or endangered species found that it could drive jaguars and ocelots to extinction in the U.S. The video, featured below, was picked up by several Arizona news outlets including Tucson News Now and the Arizona Daily Star. Amazing Arizona Ocelot Video by Conservation CATalyst www.youtube.com Ocelots have been documented in Arizona since the 19th century, and five have been spotted in the state in the last 10 years. Conservation CATalyst said they have been observed breeding just 30 miles south of the border in Mexico, and may be expanding their range northward. "I expect to see Sonoran ocelots continue to arrive in Arizona," Conservation CATalyst Executive Director Dr. Aletris Neils said. "As long as we protect the integrity of their habitat and maintain connectivity with Sonora, these cats have the capacity to naturally recolonize lost territory in Arizona." The ocelot in the video was recognized as a male that has made his home in the mountains of Southeast Arizona and has been photographed in the area for at least five years. Ocelots are identified by their spotted coats, which act as camouflage and are unique to each cat, much like our fingerprints. "We can tell all three video clips are from the same adult male ocelot; he is exquisite and is clearly thriving in the mountains of Arizona," Neils said. The male earned the honor of being the first Arizona ocelot to be officially named when a group of elementary school students at Manzo Elementary in Tucson, Arizona dubbed him Lil' Jefe (a.k.a. 'the Boss-elot') earlier this month. In addition to the border wall, ocelots are also threatened by poaching, poisoning, car accidents and other border disturbances. By Verner Wilson II 2018 was a breakthrough year for Arctic conservation work at the International Maritime Organization (IMO). I wrote partly about it in my previous blog. Aside from obtaining internationally recognized routing measures and shipping areas to be avoided (ATBA) in the Bering Sea, IMO also moved forward with regulations to ban the use of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) in the Arctic. The United Nations shipping agency also moved to regulate climate-change causing greenhouse gas emissions in the international shipping industry, which is one of the largest emitters of carbon and other atmosphere pollutants. I look forward to continuing that type of work into 2019. And there will be plenty of opportunity for that, as there are a number of IMO subcommittee meetings that will consider pollution reduction and prevention measures. The people who I believe made some of the most significant differences in this work in 2018 were able to come to IMO with me last fall. It's not every day that elder Alaska Natives are heard and respected by leaders from around the world. Historically Alaska Natives were discriminated against. But not last October, when my respected Alaska Native elders George Edwardson from Utqiagvik and Delbert Pungowiyi from Savoonga traveled to London, England to tell the world about their decades of life in the Arctic. Eager ears from every corner of the earth listened to their words of wisdom that week, when they attended the IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting as part of the delegation of my organization, Friends of the Earth. Representing the Native Village of Savoonga and Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope (or ICAS, a consortium of eight Native villages on Alaska's Arctic Slope), they told the international delegates from over 173 nations about why it is important to protect the fragile Arctic environment. They told them their stories of growing up hunting and fishing on the Arctic ice. They spoke of their people who have depended on the bountiful marine wildlife that has sustained them for thousands of years. Whales, walrus, polar bears, seals and other Arctic wildlife can't speak to international leaders, but my two respected elders who have been sustained by these creatures couldand they sure did! They spoke for the wildlife and fragile environment our indigenous people depend on amidst increased shipping in the region. Every time they eloquently spoke during that busy week, I heard not just thembut also myself. I heard my ancestors, and future generations of Alaska Native conservation leaders. I believe that our Native values and desire to protect our home allow us to speak collectively as one. Thus, our Arctic Indigenous voices rise as one. I heard our collective voices as my elders Delbert and George spoke at the many events we participated in that week. I was surprised that even for their older ages (Delbert is in his late 50s and George is in his 70s), they had such dedication to tell their story. And the stamina to carry them through from dusk until dawn each day after traveling more than 24 hours to get there. And it was an assiduous week for us. Together, we spoke to dozens of international leaders at two events: at the IMO plenary itself, and at an evening reception at United Kingdom's Parliament building. We woke up at 5 a.m. one day to take a two-hour train ride to Southampton, UK where we spoke to Carnival Cruise Line's top executives at their UK headquarters as we urged them to take responsibility in the Arctic by not using HFO. We also spoke to more than a hundred students at Imperial College during an evening event, and reporters throughout the week. My elders George and Delbert were eager and ecstatic to talk to everyone they could to help protect the people and places where they are from. If there is one thing I learned from that week, it was that I could count on my elders and people to continue their strong and passionate advocacy for our home. In 2018, Arctic indigenous voices stood up and began engaging in IMO deliberations. The Alaska Federation of Natives, Inuit Circumpolar Council, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (or NTI, a Native organization in Nunavut, Canada) and the government of Greenland all passed statements urging IMO to ban the use of HFO. In 2019 other issues will be discussed, including the regulation of other pollutants like greywater, initiatives for ships to avoid marine mammals, and more. As we move into 2019, I look forward to continuing this work at the IMO's Pollution, Prevention and Response (PPR) subcommittee meeting in February 2019, as well as the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) in May. Despite the long trip to London and busy weeklong meetings, I know it will be worth it. My elders George and Delbert reminded me of why our work is worth it. Verner Wilson II is a senior oceans campaigner with Friends of the Earth. Decode Your Future with an Online Computer Science Degree from Drexel Drexel University's online computer science programs are designed to prepare you for work on the cutting edge of technology. The curriculum is designed for students with any level of experience or previous knowledge. Choose the program thats right for you. Learn More. Authorities can't force people to unlock their biometrically secured phones or other devices, a federal judge in California ruled Thursday. "The Government may not compel or otherwise utilize fingers, thumbs, facial recognition, optical/iris, or any other biometric feature to unlock electronic devices," Magistrate Judge Kandis A. Westmore wrote in an opinion for the U.S. District Court for Northern California. An attempt by law enforcement authorities in Oakland, California, to force two suspected extortionists to unlock their mobile phones with biometrics violated Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination, Westmore found. Passcodes used to unlock devices already are protected by the Fifth Amendment, which prevents the government from forcing people to testify against themselves, she explained. "Biometric features serve the same purpose of a passcode, which is to secure the owner's content, pragmatically rendering them functionally equivalent," Westmore wrote. "It follows, however, that if a person cannot be compelled to provide a passcode because it is a testimonial communication, a person cannot be compelled to provide one's finger, thumb, iris, face, or other biometric feature to unlock that same device." More Than Physical Evidence While compelling someone to give up their fingerprints or DNA to law enforcement is an accepted practice, Westmore argued they're not the same as compelling someone to unlock a phone with a biometric security feature. "Requiring someone to affix their finger or thumb to a digital device is fundamentally different than requiring a suspect to submit to fingerprinting," she wrote. "A finger or thumb scan used to unlock a device indicates that the device belongs to a particular individual. In other words, the act concedes that the phone was in the possession and control of the suspect, and authenticates ownership or access to the phone and all of its digital contents," Westmore noted. "The act of unlocking a phone with a finger or thumb scan far exceeds the 'physical evidence' created when a suspect submits to fingerprinting to merely compare his fingerprints to existing physical evidence (another fingerprint) found at a crime scene, because there is no comparison or witness corroboration required to confirm a positive match," she wrote. "Instead, a successful finger or thumb scan confirms ownership or control of the device, and, unlike fingerprints, the authentication of its contents cannot be reasonably refuted," Westmore found. Step Forward for Privacy Rights The protection of personal phone data and control over biometric information are two of the most important emerging privacy issues in the criminal justice system, said Alan Butler, senior counsel with the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a civil liberties advocacy group in Washington, D.C. "The decision from the Northern District of California is an important step forward for constitutional privacy rights," he told TechNewsWorld. "The judge rightly recognized that traditional constitutional principles must be adapted as technology changes in order to preserve privacy and other rights ensured by the Fourth and Fifth Amendments," Butler said. "Law enforcement officials are charged with upholding the Constitution and cannot act contrary to its limitations, so there cannot be any legitimate law enforcement activity that violates these important Constitutional rights," he maintained. "The government must use legitimate means subject to proper judicial oversight if they want to obtain evidence for an investigation." Think Outside the Phone Although Westmore rejected law enforcement's reasoning for forcing suspects to unlock their phones by using a part of their anatomy, she wasn't insensitive to law enforcement's position. "While the Court sympathizes with the Government's interest in accessing the contents of any electronic devices it might lawfully seize, there are other ways that the Government might access the content that do not trample on the Fifth Amendment," she wrote. In the case before the court, Facebook Messenger was used in a suspected extortion attempt. Law enforcement officials could have obtained the information they wanted from Facebook under the federal Stored Communications Act or through a warrant based on probable cause, Westmore suggested. "While it may be more expedient to circumvent Facebook, and attempt to gain access by infringing on the Fifth Amendment's privilege against self-incrimination, it is an abuse of power and is unconstitutional," she wrote. "Law enforcement is creative and diligent," said Justin Kay, an attorney in the Chicago law office of Drinker Biddle & Reath. "Law enforcement will find a way to get in even when they can't get in through cooperation," he told TechNewsWorld. SCOTUS Bound? Although Westmore's opinion doesn't have the weight of a higher court decision, it could be very influential. "Defendants and potential defendants are going to be citing this," Kay said, "and other courts will invoke its reasoning." For the most part, the issue of passwords and unlocking electronic devices has been kicking around lower federal courts and state courts -- but that could change. "As the judge in this case acknowledges, there have been other decisions concerning compelled disclosure of passwords, and this decision is consistent with many earlier judgments," EPIC's Butler observed. "However, this issue does come up more frequently each year, given the widespread use of mobile devices with biometric locks," he observed. "So I would expect that courts of appeals -- and eventually the U.S. Supreme Court -- will weigh in on this in the near future." Legislative Inertia The reason the courts have had to take an aggressive stance on electronic device privacy is that lawmakers have failed to address the problem. "Our legislative system is not keeping up with the rate of technological change," said French Caldwell, CFO of The Analyst Syndicate, an IT research and analysis group based in Washington, D.C. "The courts are saying, 'We can't wait for the legislature to sort all this out,' so they're being forced into a position of creating new law because there's no law on this," he told TechNewsWorld. The issue eventually will land before the Supreme Court, Caldwell sid, and "it's going to take a long time before it gets to the Supreme Court, which gives legislators time to act." Aside from protecting citizens' rights, there may be a security lesson to be learned from Westmore's decision. "Biometric authentication is just one layer in what should be multifactor authentication," said Drinker Biddle's Kay. "The technology should be used with a passcode. It should be used to make sure that the person inputting the passcode is the person that should be inputting the passcode." John P. Mello Jr. has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy, e-commerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and consumer electronics. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Phoenix, Megapixel.Net and Government Security News. Email John. Decode Your Future with an Online Computer Science Degree from Drexel Drexel University's online computer science programs are designed to prepare you for work on the cutting edge of technology. The curriculum is designed for students with any level of experience or previous knowledge. Choose the program thats right for you. Learn More. The social media model has come under increased scrutiny following revelations of data misuse and news of executives reneging on some security commitments. People expecting to change the situation will need to address how social media works. This means changing not just the business model, which describes how a social media business makes money, but the fundamental technology model too. The Business Model You can trace some of social's troubles to the free use and advertising business model. Leveraging it, the social media companies have developed businesses dependent on easily collecting, dredging through, and analyzing user data. They then sell their insights to vendors eager to approach the public with enticing offers. Users more or less sign away rights to their data stored on social media systems in return for free use. However, promises made by some social media companies to maintain data privacy have been blithely ignored, even by the businesses that first made the promises. Free use and advertising are a potent combination that gives social vendors ample amounts of data to leverage. Much has been written about how social applications were used as designed to stir up strong passions during elections, and how unscrupulous parties used social platforms to target specific voter groups. Social media's troubles were baked in at conception, both in the business and technology models. It's doubtful that the situation will improve until social vendors change approaches, starting with these models. That will be difficult, because the current business and technology models are very lucrative. Still, what would new models actually look like if they're not based on selling insights into huge numbers of users' data, like the current ones? The most likely models, which also have some issues to address, likely would be some form of subscription coupled with a more targeted approach to the way users communicate, which I'll call a "notification model" (see below). Subscriptions: Back to the Future We're all accustomed to subscriptions, and some articles refer to the "Subscription Economy" when dealing with car leases, cellphones, shaving supplies and pet food, plus a lot more. However, moving from a model that's free to the user -- whatever you call it -- to one that requires even a modest payment would require a heavy lift by the vendor community. Luckily, the history of the software industry shows that instituting a payment model, while challenging, can be done. Back in the 1980s, PC software was considered a separate thing from software that ran on mainframe computers produced by big companies. PC developers were considered hobbyists, and their claims to copyrights were ignored consistently. On the other hand, many felt they were releasing applications to community members with similar interests who might, over time, help to improve their products and release those improvements back to the community. That model was unsustainable, though. As more people joined the PC revolution, fewer of them knew how to code. They needed help with bugs or just to understand how a given app worked. With little revenue for the developer, there was little or no documentation, and virtually no one to call for help. Bill Gates, cofounder and CEO of Microsoft, had a different vision. He promoted the idea of PC software licensing. Gates was right, but early. He could charge for a diskette containing his operating system, MS-DOS, but initially he couldn't do much about someone copying the diskette and simply distributing it to friends. The same was true for PC applications, though it was at least possible to ration service to users who had unique serial numbers. It would take years for software to reach a point where developers could be certain that they were receiving what was due. Eventually, key codes, cloud computing, and other approaches made it virtually impossible to steal access to applications. So, over time and with changes in business and technology models, software became secure and profitable. If this worked with PC software, something similar could work to make social media safer and more profitable, beyond using the free use and advertising model. For instance, schemes are already available to support different user types. Family plans first deployed in the cellphone industry could cover kids and others not able to pay for use. Why not in social media? A free service could still exist, though its functionality might be limited -- such as the number of connections a free user could make. Many downloadable apps for mobile devices operate this way. While we're at it, wouldn't it be good if you knew for sure who was posting what? Requiring people and organizations to use their real names and to identify themselves would be a great place to start. Denying access to people trolling and otherwise abusing the systems ought not be hard. It's not too much to ask who is riling up the populace. So, changing the business model to subscriptions and implementing a modicum of identification enforcement are the first things that social media companies could do to reduce or even eliminate data theft, bullying, and other abuses common in social media today. Another necessary change we can contemplate is replacing the use model. Notifications and Dunbar's Number The current social media use model celebrates generating large or even huge bases of followers. For instance, celebrities easily can have millions of followers, and while that's nice for personal gratification, it falls short of the original intent of social networking, which was maintaining real relationships through bidirectional communication with friends. In the 1990s, British anthropologist Robin Dunbar researched the issue of maximum human relationships and made an intriguing finding. Dunbar suggested that an average human being could maintain relationships with about 150 people. In colloquial terms, Dunbar described what would become known as the "Dunbar Number" or "Dunbar's Number" as "the number of people you would not feel embarrassed about joining uninvited for a drink if you happened to bump into them in a bar." Social media made reaching the Dunbar Number easy, but it also made pushing beyond that number trivial -- hence, the celebrities with millions of followers. Of course, even with good technology, there's no way to keep up a relationship with a million or even a thousand followers, and using social media for this purpose merely moves the goalposts and applies the technology unrealistically. Having an exaggerated following reduces social networking's use from two-way communication to one-way broadcasting. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but if what you really want is to foster a relationship through information exchange, it means that social communication is degraded. Therefore, if keeping a dialog going with your Dunbar buddies is a purpose for using social media, then there might be other approaches that can do the job better. One such alternative is notification apps. No matter what, you'll need to get more realistic about how many "friends" you keep. Think of notifications as similar to a post on Twitter or Facebook -- but with the difference being that your message is not limited to 280 characters, and only the people you target get to see your message. They're expected to respond, too. Notifications apps are used by individuals who want to keep a few people "in the loop" about an issue, a project, or a discussion thread. This could include business people engaged in a project, lawyers working on a case, a medical team working 24/7 on a specific patient, your softball team, or the people attending a wedding. You can do all that with email, Twitter or Facebook, but they have inherent limitations, such as privacy, content length, and something I'll call "asynchronicity." Social media, email and many other communications media all benefit from enabling individuals to interact in their own time, or asynchronously. However, without extra effort, none is a good channel for letting the rest of the group know that a message has been received. In all the examples above and many others, it's critical to know your message got through. While we're at it, let's add the idea of history -- as in keeping an easy-to-read message thread along with comments from other members of the group. So for reasons of privacy, group coherence, history and making asynchronicity work, subscribing to notifications apps might be a better approach than conventional social media. Combining Business and Technology Models Let's review. Free is never really free, and with social media we discovered that in exchange for free use of the medium, we became the product that vendors served up to advertisers. There's no judgment here -- advertising to the "right" demographic has been an art form for many decades. Still, the current technology and business model have made it far too easy for bad actors to target unsuspecting people. Communications needs have changed too. Social showed us what's possible, and intuitive users have been pushing the envelope. Other business and technology models already exist, and it's our job to select ones that better address our needs for things like privacy and security. Converting some of the market to those models will be the work of many years. In the end, multiple business and technology models will coexist, with users selecting the ones most appropriate for their needs. The subscription and notification models offer great promise in situations where it's less important to broadcast to thousands or millions of followers. Where individuals really want to manage relationships with groups that are more Dunbar-like, notifications might make more sense. These situations never were envisioned clearly by social media's pioneers. My Two Bits The story of technology for 50 years has been about enhancing a core idea that resulted in products for ever-more-refined uses as those uses are discovered. You can't deny that a modern mobile phone is a computer able to access the telephone system and the Internet. Further, it can make and receive content in a variety of file types like photos and music. Today's pocket-size mobile phone is a long way from the room full of gear that once was used just to manage the general ledger. Many of us now have multiple computers in our lives designed for discrete purposes. That's just the nature of a product lifecycle. The same evolution currently is taking place with social media. With social media, we once had a single technology model capable of doing many things, but we've learned that this model is better at some things than others. As a result, continuous innovation has spawned more product types (like notifications) and more refined ways to use them. Don't think that the current crop of social media products will disappear anytime soon. They've established an important niche. It's just that it is no longer the only viable niche. It's reasonable to believe that we're entering a new social communications era. We've solved the problem of communicating with the whole world, more or less. It's now time to turn our attention to communicating with just the changing list of special individuals who matter to us in a particular moment. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECT News Network. Denis Pombriant is a well-known CRM industry analyst, strategist, writer and speaker. His new book, You Can't Buy Customer Loyalty, But You Can Earn It, is now available on Amazon. His 2015 book, Solve for the Customer, is also available there. Email Denis. If you're interested in submitting a Letter to the Editor, click here. Submit Where are the best places to shop? Who gives the best haircut? Who cooks the best burger? Join our readers in selecting the "Best of Windham." Make your picks! Claremont, NH (03743) Today Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High around 80F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight A few passing clouds. Low 49F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Readers Survey As our valued readers, we want to hear from you. Please take a moment to fill out the survey below. - Thank you, Eastern Arizona Courier Click Here The Reserve Bank of Australias February Statement on Monetary Policy has shown that the NSW labour market has continued to strengthen despite a volatile economy. The statement, which was released on Friday, noted that employment in NSW was continuing to increase with the jobless rate currently at 4.3 per cent, just above the record low of 4.2 per cent. NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet said a strong economy was important because it means jobs and opportunity for people across the state. Emerging industries like advanced manufacturing which had its exports grow by an average of 11.8 per cent over the three years to 2017 are taking a foothold here in NSW, showing that our states future is bright, he said. Earlier this month CommSec rated our economy as number one in the nation, but thats not the number that matters its the 375,000 jobs that have been created for the people of NSW just in this term of government. Reserve Bank Governor Phillip Lowe noted the historical significance of NSWs low unemployment rate last week when he addressed the National Press Club. You have to go back to the early 1970s to see sustained lower rates of unemployment in (Victoria and NSW), he said. Mr Perrottet said all these new industries were contributing to the lower rates of unemployment as they create new jobs for Australians. Right now NSW needs to stay the course and remain a bastion of strength in an uncertain global economy. Leading partner TwynstraGudde of a consortium with Witteveen+Bos Indonesia, Akvo and the local Indonesian partner Bita, announced that the consortium has been commissioned for a project on integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) for the province of Central Java. The consortium is to advise the authorities on a long-term strategy that includes the principles of ICZM. A kick off meeting is planned for March and following a period of familiarisation, the principles are to be applied in two years time. Construction of permeable bamboo piled dams with brush wood holds many aspects of sustainable coastal zone management as it involves local communities. On top photo are the permeable dams at Rembang allowing sediment from the sea to pass and hold it back (right). Sustainable coastal development "We are delighted that we have won this tender", said advisor Susan Arts of TwynstraGudde Water Consultancy. "With this project we really hope to contribute to the future of Central Java." Arts: We will help the province of Central Java to familiarize itself with the principles of Integrated Coastal Zone Management." Ensure lasting effects In Java many people live and work at the coast. The rapid population growth and the increasing urbanization are taking their toll. This causes all sorts of problems on the north coast of Java, such as land subsidence, a decline in biodiversity and more vulnerability to flooding. The government of the Central Java Province wants to respond with a sustainable coastal development with a lasting effect, including a strategy, organisation and management plan. The Dutch-Indonesian consortium will assist the local authorities with knowledge development and capacity building to implement ICZM. Training for Trainers workshop in Semarang in January as part of the Building with Nature Indonesia programme, run by Deltares and Delft university of technology. Dutch-Indonesian partnership In 2016 the Dutch and Indonesian government signed a Letter of intent for cooperation in activities in coastal restoration and revitalization of the North coast of Java. One of the icon projects is the coastal restoration near Demak where local communities build wooden permeable dams to catch silt sediments for mangroves to return. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) tendered the ICZM-project so consultancy firms can assist the province of Central Java in stopping the erosion in a sustainable way. The consortium that won the tender includes consultancy firm TwynstraGudde, contributing with its experience in learning development. Consultancy firm Witteveen+Bos is an engineering firm with technical knowledge and experience with projects in Java. Foundation AKVO will develop a special section on its Akvodepia with information on integral coastal management for the province and all stakeholders involved. The content of the Wikipedia-based portal will be strongly visualised. This news item was originally published on the website of TwynstraGudde (in Dutch only). Read also on this website Egyptian-Dutch panel identifies next steps in integrated coastal zone management, 28 May 2018 Big steps forward on coastal restoration by Building with Nature consortium in Demak, Indonesia, 18 January 2018 Dutch-Indonesian support for Javanese communities to restore their coast line, 20 October 2017 Project: Mangrove restoration Java Country: Indonesia More information TwynstraGudde Amersfoort, the Netherlands +31 33 467 7777 www.twynstra.com Witteveen+Bos Deventer, the Netherlands +31 570 69 79 11 www.witteveenbos.com Akvo Amsterdam, the Netherlands +31 20 820 0175 www.akvo.org Icon ICZM-project is in Demak, Northern Java, where the Building with Nature approach is implemented to address the root causes of coastal integration, by integrating mangrove and river restoration, small-scale engineering and sustainable land and water use (with English subtitles). The Dundee team led by Professor Kevin Read from the Universitys Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research (WCAIR) will work with colleagues in Brazil to identify novel drug targets and develop new therapies for visceral leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. The Medical Research Council (MRC)/Newton Fund grant will enable Professor Reads team, alongside collaborators in Brazil, to explore how small molecules isolated from bacterial symbionts of Amazonian insects can be exploited as potential treatments for these devastating diseases. Specifically, the researchers will investigate the mechanisms by which these small molecules kill the parasites causing visceral leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. This information will then be used to develop more effective therapies. There is a severe lack of robustly validated and exploitable drug targets in the parasites that cause these diseases, said Professor Read. One way to hopefully address this gap in our knowledge is to identify the target of the more chemically diverse natural product molecules known to be active against the parasites. We will be working with a team from the University of Sao Paulo to utilise their skills and experience of working with natural products from the Amazon region. Here in Dundee we will bring our vast expertise in drug discovery to try and find novel drug targets and deliver new treatments for these two diseases. Visceral leishmaniasis kills tens of thousands of people every year, with some of the poorest countries in the world severely affected. The disease is caused by a parasite, which is spread through the bite of an infected sandfly. People infected with the disease suffer fever, weight loss and anaemia, and the disease is typically fatal unless treated. Chagas disease affects around 6-8 million people in 21 endemic countries across the Americas. The disease is one of the leading causes of heart failure in Latin America as it is responsible for life-threatening heart damage if not treated early. Professor Read added, At the end of this research project, our outputs are likely to be highly validated drug targets and chemical start points derived from natural products. There will still be a long way to go from that point to new treatments available for visceral leishmaniasis and Chagas disease being available but we believe this is a valuable approach to solving the challenges posed by these neglected diseases that kill tens of thousands of people each year and blight the lives of millions more. As well as Professor Read, the Dundee researchers who will work on this project include Dr Susan Wyllie, head of the Mode of Action group, and chemistry lead Professor Ian Gilbert. The WCAIR aims to help tackle the urgent unmet medical need and lack of drug discovery research for Neglected Tropical Diseases. By bringing together the world-leading expertise at Dundees Drug Discovery Unit, Mode of Action group and Parasitology research groups it provides an integrated pathway from fundamental science to pre-clinical candidate selection. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider subscribing to our ePaper and/or free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. The case of murdered Dundalk man Seamus Ludlow was highlighted in the European Parliament last week by Cllr Ruairi O Murchu as he joined members of the Time for Truth delegation hosted by Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson. Cllr O Murchu was joined by Mr Ludlows nephew, Jimmy Fox, and around 25 members of other families whose loved ones were killed directly by British forces and through collusion with loyalists. The Time for Truth campaign is seeking to garner support from Europe to put pressure on the British government to adhere to previously made promises to fund inquests and carry out investigations into these controversial deaths. The delegation also want the Dublin government to play a more robust role than it has done to date. The delegation in Brussels met MEPS from across Europe including Britain and Ireland. The MEPs represented various political groupings in the European Parliament and the meeting also included representatives of the 6 County Executive and the Dublin government. Cllr O Murchu said: We heard very moving and powerful testimony from families who had lost loved ones, including from Jimmy Fox. In Louth, there are two cases that of Mr Ludlow in 1976 and that of the Dundalk bombing of 1975 where members of the so-called British security forces carried out murders of Irish citizens in this State. Jimmy pointed out the pain caused to the Ludlow family was only compounded by the failure to properly investigate the murder and the lies that were peddled about Mr Ludlow in the wake of his death which included the entirely wrong assertion that he was killed by the IRA because he was an informer. To date, there has been repeated failure by the government to properly address the issues raised by the Ludlow family and that policy continues with the current administration, even to the point where the recommendations, made by a previous inquiry, have still not been implemented. Now, the family has been forced to go through a complex, legal process in an effort to get to the truth. The Ludlows continue to suffer the consequences of this murder 43 years after it happened. Rural Louth residents are set to benefit from 250,000 in funding for local access roads, according to Louth County Councillor John McGahon. The funds have been allocated to Louth County Council for a new round of Local Improvement Scheme funding. This funding assists the repair and resurfacing of non-public rural roads in the county. Cllr McGahon said the funding provided through the Local Improvement Scheme helps improve peoples quality of life in local areas. This scheme continues to be a lifeline for people living in rural areas because it directly improves their access to and from their homes and farms, he said. Its important to remember, the local councillor continues, that many people living in rural areas use these roads every day, so when these roads fall into disrepair, it has a significant impact on them. He continued: By investing in the improvement of these roads we are helping to improve peoples quality of life in Louth. The upkeep of these roads is a priority for people who live in Louth and this funding, in conjunction with the local community's own resources and the resources of Louth County Council will allow for the maintenance and improvement of many local roads in rural areas. Local Authorities are still completing projects approved under the last round of funding in October 2018, and now Fine Gael in Government is announcing additional funding for the scheme in 2019. Cllr McGahon continued: I am also conscious of the high cost of repairing some of the more remote rural roads and the impact this can have on the contribution which people living and farming along those roads can be asked to make. As part of the scheme in 2019, I am placing a cap of 1,200 on the amount that any individual householder or landowner will be asked to contribute towards the cost of repairs. This small but important change to the scheme will, I hope, facilitate the improvement of some of the more remote and sparsely populated roads in rural parts of Louth. I cannot overstate how important local connectivity is in order to enable rural Ireland to function well. The Action Plan for Rural Development prioritises the improvement of rural infrastructure and connectivity and continuing to support and develop an LIS scheme is just one of the measures we are taking in that regard. Members of a north Louth gun club have refuted claims made by a Louth County Councillor regarding game shooting on the Cooley Peninsula. At the January Louth County Council meeting, Cllr Peter Savage informed those present of his intention to introduce a motion that the north Louth area would be declared a game sanctuary. Cllr Savage also spoke of the pheasants in the area, saying that shooters, few of whom are even from the area, were going home with a [bunch] of them across their shoulders. Joe Mulholland, a member of Jenkinstown Gun Club spoke to The Democrat last week, refuting the claims made by Cllr Savage, saying that he could provide a very long list of locals who are all members of the many local gun clubs. Mr Mulholland spoke of the work himself and many others in local gun clubs do, to maintain the pheasant numbers and wildlife numbers in general in the area. Joe wondered if Cllr Savage was aware that pheasants are not a native bird and were introduced to Ireland in the 16th century. The only reason you see pheasants, Mr Savage, he said, is because they have been bred, fed and released by gun clubs. They are not a self sustaining species and would soon die out unless numbers are replenished each year. Joe also referred to the work done by local gun owners in terms of vermin control, talking specifically about the devastation caused by grey crows, magpies and foxes. I can give you many examples, he continues, of work done by members of the hunting/ shooting community to preserve the countryside. A classic example is the re-emergence of our native red squirrel, which has made a dramatic recovery in recent times. According to Joe, the red squirrel has made a return to the Cooley Peninsula, saying that at the back of his own house he sees up to five red squirrels on a daily basis, with them even coming up their back door to eat the seeds that he leaves out for them. He also sees the work they do as a factor in the return of the pine marten to the region. News that the UK Government has been investigating a number of sites in Northern Ireland, including the Mourne Mountains and Slieve Gullion, as suitable areas to store quantities of radioactive waste has been met with strong opposition from communities on both sides of the border. The report, which was published by the Radioactive Waste Management division in November 2018 and brought to light by the Love Your Lough Facebook page earlier this month, identifies granites and similar strong rocks around Newry in which the UK Government say they may be able to site a GDF (Geological Disposal Facility) deep underground. Whilst a spokesperson for the Radioactive Waste Management division has said that they would need to do more work in order to find out whether these rocks have suitable properties and thicknesses in the depth range of interest for a GDF the proposals have been met with anger by people living in the region. An online petition set up by Progressive Politics NI which will be sent to the Northern Ireland Executive to demand that no radioactive waste will be stored in the Newry area has been signed by over 10,000 people. A statement on GOV.UK accompanying the report states: "There are no plans to site a GDF in Northern Ireland. This screening report is purely a technical exercise. Any future policy decision on geological disposal in Northern Ireland would be a matter for the Executive, and would be subject to community agreement and planning and environmental consents." Louth reactions Local Green Party election candidate for Dundalk and Carlingford, Eoin Daly branded the proposal outrageous and wrote to the UK Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark to voice his concerns over recent UK Government moves on nuclear waste management that could affect north Louth. He said: The proposal is as outrageous as it is unlikely to happen...but nonetheless it was I believe important to register my objection to Greg Clark and to be vigilant on the issue of nuclear waste storage. It needs to be managed in perpetuity at the Sellafield site where the bulk of it already is, not shifted to a place with no nuclear industry or expertise. Daly, a Mechanical Engineer and Researcher in Water and Energy, has worked previously in the field of marine sources of renewable energy and is the Green Party Candidate for the Dundalk and Carlingford LEA. Louth Senator Ged Nash has also voiced concerns over the proposals and raised the matter in the senate last week. He told the Senate: I was extremely concerned to learn from residents in North Louth this week that an agency operating on behalf of the UK government has identified sites close to the border with Louth as a potential dumping ground for nuclear waste. This absolutely beggars belief. I am informed that the agency has shown a particular interest in areas of natural beauty such as the Ring of Gullion and an area known as Silent Valley in the Mourne Mountains. The agency responsible has described the area as having all of the attributes of a geological disposal site. This is a euphemism for a nuclear dump. The Louth Senator continued: My understanding of these matters is that legally the Irish government must be consulted on any issue to do with the development of nuclear sites that may impact on Ireland. The health, environmental and security fears associated with such a site should be plain for all to see. I appeal to the government to oppose any such moves and I am pleased that the Leader of the House, Fine Gael Senator Jerry Buttimer agrees that the government should oppose any such facility of this nature. Fianna Fail TD for Louth, Declan Breathnach, also branded the proposals as totally unacceptable to the communities on both sides of the border. Deputy Breathnach explained: Let me say in no uncertain terms, this will not be acceptable to me or to the people of Louth who regularly travel the half hour drive across the border to visit these magnificent sites. The potential health ramifications let alone the consequences for the wider environment dont bare thinking of, he concluded. ADA [ndash] Services for Virginia Ruth Spann, 73, of Ada, will be 10 a.m. Saturday, June 26, 2021, at the Byng Free Will Baptist Church, Rev. Roger Arter will officiate. Burial will follow at Oakman Cemetery. Mrs. Spann died Monday, June 21, 2021, at her home. See criswellfh.com website for This website stores cookies on your computer. These cookies are used to collect information about how you interact with our website and allow us to remember you. We use this information in order to improve and customize your browsing experience and for analytics and metrics about our visitors both on this website and other media. To find out more about the cookies we use, see our Privacy Policy. Cookie settings ACCEPT Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 8 at 9 a.m. According to the Alabama Securities Commission (ASC), Judy Morehead originally faced one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one count of sale of securities by an unregistered agent. Additionally, Morehead is charged with one count of engaging in an act, practice, or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person, and two counts of fraud in connection with the sale of securities, more specifically described as omitting to the state material facts and making untrue statements of material facts to investors. According to the ASC, Benjamin Morehead originally faced one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, one count of sale of securities by an unregistered agent, and one count of sale of unregistered Securities. Additionally, Benjamin Moreheads charges included one count of fraud in connection with the sale of securities, more specifically described as omitting to state material facts and making untrue statements of material facts to investigators. According to court documents Stan Morehead originally faced a charge of criminal conspiracy to commit security fraud, and two counts of security fraud. During her career, Morehead also served as the Navarre Beach Florida Area Chamber of Commerce CEO and president from October 2015 until she resigned in June 2017. Get Breaking News Alerts Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Career tech students and faculty from Coffee County, Enterprise City, and Elba City schools, including representatives from Enterprise State Community College, joined the Commission for a proclamation reading declaring February 2019 as Career Tech Education Month in Coffee County. Commissioner Jimmy Jones took the podium to read the proclamation and provide more information about the career tech programs available in Coffee County, Enterprise City, and Elba City high schools. The Alabama State Department of Education and National Education Organization have proclaimed Feb. 2019 as Career Tech Education Month, Jones read. Ensuring that employers have access to a qualified workforce is a crucial step in ensuring productivity among the business and industry community, as well as a fundamental element of economic development. Profound technological changes in our society are rapidly reflected in the structure and nature of work, thereby placing new, additional responsibility on our educational system; career and technical education provides students with a school-to-career connection and is the backbone of a strong, well-educated workforce, (giving) high school students experiences in practical, meaningful application of job skills, improving the quality of their education, and offering leadership and opportunities in their fields and in their communities. The career tech education programs in each of the school systems in Coffee County have become a rigorous, progressive, and vital part of the total educational system and are committed to helping students develop valuable career and life skills. This Friday has been designated a day of prayer for survivors of abuse. In each Catholic Cathedral is Ireland the Bishop will lead a ceremony of blessing and dedication of a candle of atonement. In the Cathedral of St Eunan and St Colmcille in Letterkenny, Bishop Alan McGuckian will lead the ceremony of blessing at the 10am Mass. The Bishop said: "It is very important we pray for the intentions of all those who have suffered abuse within the church and that we make atonement for the great wrong that has been done. We also recognise how difficult it is for people who have been abused to break the silence. "In the past year Fr Con Cunningham, a priest from the diocese, was sentenced to prison for child abuse. The diocese wants to reach out to anyone who was abused in the past by him or by any other priest or priest personnel. "I, as Bishop of this diocese want to ensure that anyone who has suffered abuse at the hands of a priest or church personnel will be supported and that all that all matters brought to the attention of the diocese will be referred to the relevant authorities." The diocese of Raphoe has appointed a new designated liaison person for child safeguarding. In making the announcement, Bishop McGuckian thanked both Kathleen Gallagher and Paddy McDaid who have served generously in the role for many years. The Bishop has appointed Margaret Northage, who also holds the role of diocesan safeguarding co-ordinator, as the new designated liaison person whose role is to support, encourage, advise and continue to raise awareness of safeguarding. The public are being encouraged to make contact with the liaison officer on 086 2183 011 or email at raphoesafeguarding@gmail.com or at Raphoe Safeguarding Services, Safeguarding Office, Diocesan Pastoral Centre, Letterkenny, County Donegal. If anyone has a child safeguarding concern or wishes to report an allegation directly to the statutory authorities they should contact the local HSE and ask to speak to the duty social worker or they may contact An Garda Siochana at one of the numbers below. Tusla (Donegal) Letterkenny 074 91 23672/074 91 23770, Donegal Town 074 97 23540 or Buncrana 074 93 20420. The number for the Gardai National Protective Services Bureau is 01 666 3430 or 01 666 3435. There is also a counselling and support service for survivors of abuse by clergy called "Towards Healing" and this helpline can be contacted for free on 1800 303 416. You can also access this service by going to www.towardshealing.ie. The Health Service Executive has said it is doing everything it can to restore normal services following the suspension of industrial action by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO). The HSE said it welcomed the decision taken by the INMO and The Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) to suspend industrial action planned for this week. The INMO had planned action for today, tomorrow and Thursday. At Letterkenny University Hospital and Sligo University Hospital all scheduled outpatient appointments will go ahead today as planned the HSE advises anyone with an appointment today, Wednesday and Thursday to attend. Surgical patients will be contacted by their hospital if their procedure is going ahead. Emergency departments are expected to be extremely busy and the public is asked to attend only if absolutely necessary. Minor Injury Clinics will be operating as normal from tomorrow. The INMOs elected Executive Council last night suspended the upcoming strikes, following a recommendation from the Labour Court. The INMO said the Labour Court recommendation makes progress across all areas of concern to the INMO, including the key areas of safe staffing and addressing recruitment and retention problems. Among other proposals, it includes: guaranteed multi-annual funding to maintain safe staffing levels; significant changes to salary scale and allowances; increased education and training opportunities; and an expert group to examine, in a short period of time, remaining pay and reform issues including those affecting senior management grades. Details of the recommendation will be presented to INMO members soon and will be subject to a ballot. INMO General Secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said: After over thirty hours of negotiations at the Labour Court, the Executive Council have agreed that sufficient progress has been made to suspend strikes and consider the Labour Courts recommendations. There is still more negotiation to be done, but we are at a point where we believe strikes can be suspended. Members will be kept fully informed and will have the final say in a ballot. Safe staffing along with recruitment and retention were key concerns for us, and we have made progress on both. We are immensely grateful for our determined nurse and midwife members, who are standing up for our patients and our professions. They have at all times worked to ensure patient safety during this dispute. Venezuela looks to Opec, friendly nations as US tightens grip Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has sought support from Opec and other friendly countries against US sanctions imposed on his countrys oil industry that in turn has impacted oil prices and production. The United States, on the other hand, declared humanitarian assistance to the country which it tried to throttle and offered support to Venezuelas self-proclaimed president, Juan Guaido, a US puppet who claimed he was the real leader of the country. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is reportedly planning to send $20 million worth of medical, food, and personal hygiene supplies which are currently being warehoused in the Colombian border city of Cucuta. The Venezuelan government has denied USAID personnel entry into the country, claiming that the aid is being used as cover for a foreign intervention to install Guaido in Miraflores presidential palace. Venezuelas oil minister and head of state-run oil producer Petroleos de Venezuela SA Manuel Quevedo, meanwhile, made a surprise appearance at an energy event in India, Petrotech 2018, as the beleaguered Opec producer sought closer ties with major crude customers in the face of crippling US sanctions. Quevedo said the US sanctions have brought about a $20 billion loss to his country in lost oil sales and production cuts and is now looking to friendly nations to ramp up oil production and sales. Following a ban on its crude by the Donald Trump administration and American refiners halted purchases, PDVSA is seeking to retain buyers in other big consuming countries such as China and India after. The US wants to get Maduro to cede power to an interim government led by Juan Guaido - a lawmaker who claims hes the countrys rightful leader. For cash-strapped Venezuela, India is a preferred customer as it pays in cash for crude unlike China, which follows an oil-for-loan agreement. Following the US sanctions, Venezuelas crude output nearly halved from 2016 levels to 1.3 million barrels per day in January. Quevedo, who met Indian oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday, said his countrys production is now at 1.57 million barrels per day. Venezuela, which currently holds the Opec presidency, has a healthy relationship with India, he said at the Petrotech conference. I have met the Indian oil minister, we are going to meet again, Quevedo said. We have a good relationship with India and we want to continue this relationship. Indias private sector refiner Reliance Industries Ltd that operates the worlds biggest processing complex, is taking some of Venezuelas synthetic oil Hamaca that was originally scheduled for delivery to a LyondellBasell Industries NV plant in the US, according to a Bloomberg report. More than 8 million barrels of Venezuelan crude is currently idling all over the Gulf of Mexico in an area that stretches from US coast to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, according to cargo-tracking and market intelligence company Kpler. Venezuela will need to make a lot more such sales to sustain its oil industry. Guaido said the US is trying to wrest ownership of PDVSAs Houston-based unit, Citgo Petroleum, away from the current regime. The move forms a key part of his strategy to topple Maduro and install an interim government that would call new elections. Guaido has said he plans to name a new board of directors for the state producer and its US subsidiary. The U.S. wants to steal Citgo from Venezuela, Quevedo said on Monday. Citgo is a Venezuelan-owned petroleum company. The United States is simply trying to eliminate competitors. NCLAT allows 22 IL&FS group companies to service debt The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has allowed 22 companies belonging to crisis-hit IL&FS group that are in sound financial health to service their debt irrespective of the groups debt woes. IL&FS has categorised group entities into three Green (firms that can meet all debt obligations), Amber (firms that can meet some debt obligations), and Red (firms that cant meet any debt obligations), while proposing a new repayment structure to the courts. On Monday, the NCLAT gave IL&FS the go-ahead to proceed with this repayment structure. According to the plan, 22 domestic subsidiaries have been classified as Green as they could service all their financial and operational debt, as per their repayment schedule; 10 companies have been classified as Amber as they can service only their operational debt obligations and payment to senior secured financial creditors while 38 others have been marked Red as they cannot meet any of their payment obligations, even those to senior secured financial creditors. A two-member bench of the appellate tribunal headed by Justice S J Mukhopadhaya approved the appointment of former Supreme Court judge Justice D K Jain as resolution professional to supervise the debt resolution process of IL&FS and its group companies. The appellate tribunal also lifted moratorium and allowed 133 IL&FS firms incorporated outside India to continue with the resolution process. "We allow the boards (of the green companies) to permit them to service debt obligations as per schedule," said NCLAT. The NCLAT's direction came during the hearing over government's plan for the resolution of IL&FS group companies. As per the terms and agreement, Justice Jain will get a monthly remuneration of Rs10 lakh per month and Rs2.5 lakh per sitting, besides other expenses, which would be paid by IL&FS. Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta appearing for the ministry of corporate affairs submitted a list of 302 subsidiaries of IL&FS, which are jointly controlled entities, group companies and associates forming part of IL&FS group companies. Out of 302 companies, 169 companies are incorporated in India, he added. Mehta sought permission from the appellate tribunal to allow the 'Green entities' to service their debt obligations as per scheduled repayment, to which the NCLAT agreed. However, over Amber and Red category, the appellate tribunal said that it would pass any order after hearing them in next hearing on March 12. "We want to know from the government and IL&FS as how they intend to resolve all entities particularly in 'amber' and 'red' group entities. Whether they would form a Committee of Creditor as normally done in the company insolvency resolution process," said the tribunal. It also said that moratorium against them "cannot continue for an indefinite period". During the hearing, senior lenders such as Indusind Bank, L&T Finance and Aditya Birla & Capital Fund opposed the government's plea to allow the Amber and Red companies to make payment necessary only to maintain and preserve their going concern status. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Indusind Bank submitted that any such payment would have a great cascading effect on the NPAs of the top five lenders of the group companies. Major IL&FS group companies which are in green list include: IL&FS Investment Manager, IL&FS Security service, IL&FS Paradip Refinery Water, Tamil Nadu Water Investment, IL&FS Asian Infrastructure Manager, IL&FS Urban Infrastructure Manager, IL&FS Infra Asset Management, North Karnataka Expressway, IL&FS Solar Power, Tadas Wind Energy, Khadke Wind Energy, Etesian Urja,Kaze Energy, Wind Urza India, Maytas Logiparks, Lalpur Wind Energy, Jharkhand Infrastructure Invest Company and IIML Asset Advisors and IISL Settlement & Transmission Services. Still over 100 IL&FS group companies remained under the assessment of the resolution consultants for classification, the affidavit further informed. The government will file another affidavit in next two weeks, classifying these remaining 100 companies, it added. On February 5, the NCLAT had asked the government to provide a list of IL&FS group companies along with their categorgorisation based on their respective financial positions. Subscriber content preview SEATTLE Raleigh Manor, at 12000 15th Ave. N.E., has sold for almost $12.3 million, according to King County records. The sellers were Raleigh Manor IR LLC and Park Place IR LLC, which acquired the property in 2015 for $7 million. . . . Highlights: Nubia may launch flexible smartphone wearable at MWC. Called Nubia Alpha, the device was first showcased at IFA 2018. ZTEs sub-brand Nubia has teased a device that could sport a flexible display. The company shared a poster on Chinese social media platform Weibo suggesting that it will showcase the device at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The poster says Flex Your Life, and given the trend of foldable phones, Nubia could also be looking to jump on that bandwagon by unveiling a flexible/foldable phone. The phone launch looks unlikely because there hasnt been any previous reports in which Nubia has been associated with a foldable phone, however, the company may launch the wearable phone with a flexible display that it launched at IFA 2018. Called the Nubia Alpha, the prototype of the wearable was showcased at the IFA event inside a glass case. The device can be slapped on the wrist just like a smartwatch. Nubia hasnt released any information such as the resolution of the display used in the device, the processor that powers the wearable, the memory or storage, or even the battery life. According to The Verge, the company intends to price the Nubia Alpha similar to the cost of a smartphone. Nubia will be holding a space at the Hall 1 in Fira Gran Via, the venue of the MWC, and will be displaying the tech throughout the event. Talking about the foldable and flexible displays, Samsung has confirmed that it will launch the highly-anticipated Galaxy F foldable smartphone along with the Galaxy S10 lineup on February 20 at the Unpacked event in San Francisco. The South Korean company made the announcement on Twitter, saying, The future of mobile will unfold on February 20, 2019. Nubias Chinese counterpart Huawei has also teased the launch of a foldable smartphone at MWC. Smartphone brand Energizer is also expected to launch phones with foldable displays. Related Read: Huawei P30, P30 Pro to have OLED displays: Report Highlights: Microsoft teases HoloLens 2 launch at MWC. The company may possibly only show the chip that will power the wearable. Company CEO Satya Nadella and HoloLens inventor Alex Kipman are also attending the event this year. Microsoft had already announced that it will be making an appearance at this years MWC. According to the official website, company CEO Satya Nadella and Alex Kipman, Technical Fellow for AI and Mixed Reality at Microsoft, will also be flying down to Barcelona for the Enterprise event. Just when the world was wondering what the company will announce at the event, Kipman published a video on his Twitter account teasing what look likes the HoloLens 2. The video is cryptic and does not clearly says that the device is the HoloLens 2 but it certainly drops hints about the Mixed Reality headset. The video shows things like a silicon square-sheet transforming into processors, and (supposed) rocks converting into carbon fibers interweaving into one thick wire suggesting a tough yet light substance. It is also possible that the company may only be showcasing the chip that will power the device. Kipman is the one who invented the HoloLens, and him sharing a video on social media may strengthen the general belief that Microsoft is launching the next version of its Enterprise-grade wearable. Also, it is obvious that if companys top brass including Nadella, Kipman, Julia White, Corporate Vice President (Azure) and Yousef Khalidi, Corporate Vice President, Product Management (Azure) are flying down to the event, it has to be a big announcement. HoloLens has been Microsofts one of the successful projects in the Enterprise industry, and the company has promoted the device as the tool that can shape the future of productivity and enable a new dimension of work. HoloLens has a custom multiprocessor called the Holographic Processing Unit (HPU), and its responsible for processing the information coming from all of the on-board sensors, including Microsofts custom time-of-flight depth sensor, head-tracking cameras, the inertial measurement unit (IMU), and the infrared camera. In 2017, Harry Shum, Executive Vice President of Microsoft Artificial Intelligence and Research Group, announced that the second version of the HPU will incorporate an AI coprocessor to natively and flexibly implement (Deep Neural Network) DNNs. The chip supports a wide variety of layer types, fully programmable by the company. Microsoft is reportedly holding a press event on February 24, one day before the start of the conference. Related Read: Windows 10 surpasses Windows 7 in market share for the first time: Report Highlights: OnePlus 5G smartphone working prototype to be showcased at MWC 2019. OnePlus is not launching any phones at MWC. OnePlus could unveil said 5G smartphone in May. OnePlus will be showcasing a prototype of its 5G smartphone at the Mobile World Congress 2019. In an announcement about its presence on the MWC show floor, the company has confirmed that it will be talking about 5G at the Qualcomm booth with a working prototype of its upcoming 5G handset. OnePlus announcement reads - OnePlus, at Qualcomms booth (Hall 3 Stand 3E10), invites all to connect and communicate with our community over a 5G network. Attendees will also be able to experience the capabilities of 5G gaming on a OnePlus 5G prototype. Keep an eye out for the limited-edition Qualcomm x OnePlus pin badge, only available at the OnePlus stand. OnePlus was one of the first companies to announce that it will be launching a 5G-ready smartphone powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset in 2019. Qualcomms booth at MWC is expected to host a functioning 5G network for attendees to experience its Snapdragon X50 modem on partner handsets. OnePlus 5G smartphone is expected to launch sometime in May 2019. It is said to be $200 - $300 more expensive than regular OnePlus flagship phones. We do not expect the OnePlus 5G phone to make an appearance in India this year since there is no network readiness in the country as of now. Even if OnePlus launches the device in India, its 5G services will not be functional in the country, atleast till 2020-21. Back in October, OnePlus prototype 5G smartphone successfully sent out a tweet on a 5G network. An image of OnePlus upcoming device, shot inside the companys boardroom, was also leaked on Twitter by a tipster back in December. The leak showed a OnePlus phone featuring a large circular camera module on the back panel. This could be the OnePlus 5G phone or the OnePlus 7, its really hard to speculate at this time. But whatever OnePlus is planning for its upcoming phone, we will definitely get a sense of it looking at the prototype of the phone at MWC. MWC 2019 starts on February 25. Stay tuned to Digit.in for all the latest coverage from the event. Related Reads: OnePlus 5G phone or OnePlus 7 possibly leaked in an image with circular rear camera setup All smartphones expected to launch at MWC 2019. Highlights: Google is hiring microchip engineers in Bengaluru It is speculated that the company is looking to expand its microchip portfolio Google has been hiring microchip engineers in Bengaluru, India for the past few months and is looking to expand. According to Reuters, Google has hired more than a dozen microchip engineers in Bengaluru, India, in recent months and plans to rapidly add more, according to LinkedIn profiles, job postings and two industry executives, as the search firm expands its program to design the guts of its devices internally. Google isn't the first company looking to design the internals of its own products. Infact, the company has already designed the internals of its data servers and the image sensor of the Pixel smartphone. So the search giant isn't new to the world of processors or semiconductors. The question is, what is Google working on? Google declined to comment when Reuters reached out to them. However, this does bring the question whether the hire is for consumer grade products or industry grade products? Companies like Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple, all have their own chip design and this helps them not only reduce the cost but also reliance on vendors when changes or updates need to be made to the chip. According to Reuters, In Bengaluru, Google has hired at least 16 engineering veterans and four talent recruiters for its gChips team from traditional chipmakers such as Intel, Qualcomm Inc, Broadcom Inc and Nvidia Corp, according to a review of LinkedIn profiles. The reuters report goes on to say that the staff can be increased to upto 80 people by the end of the year. Google has a portfolio of products in the market apart from the Pixel smartphones. The company has smart speakers, streaming sticks, routers and home security hardware available internationally. All these devices could benefit if they run on a chip specifically designed for them. Apple is a great example of the hardware and software optimization. The iPhones run on chips designed by Apple. Even though the chips are based on the ARM architecture, they are designed by Apple to run the iPhone in the most efficient and powerful manner possible. Apples current flagship, the A12X Bionic in the iPad Pro is more powerful than some processors running on laptops. Also read: Hackers are using Google translate to steal your data Google Assistant reportedly being updated with dark mode theme Microsoft asks people to stop using Internet Explorer Highlights: Human rights activists have criticised Apple and Google for hosting app that facilitates misogyny. The app called Absher, reportedly has a log of women in Saudi Arabia. The app enables men to keep a track of women. Several human rights activists have criticised Apple and Google for hosting an app that has been abusing the privacy of women in Saudi Arabia. The app that enforces gender apartheid against Saudi women and facilitates misogyny is called Absher and is available on Apple App Store and Google Play Store with high ratings (3.9 rating on App Store) and 4.6 rating on Play Store). It reportedly lets men in the country give women permission to travel, and provides them with SMS alerts to let them know when women use their passports at borders. Interestingly, the app description says that it allows citizens and residents of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to perform a wide range of eServices online, like paying parking fines, registering a newborn baby, or renewing a driver's license. Absher has been designed and developed with special consideration to security and privacy of user's data and communication. So, you can safely browse your profile or your family members, or labors working for you, the description read. The Absher system also contains a log of women in Saudi Arabia and the means to bar them from travel or catch them trying to leave without permission, reads the app's description. When we at Digit checked the app on respective platforms, we found the apps listed on them, however, the comments sections were found to be filled with negative reviews. We found some app-favouring reviews as well. Several human rights advocates, like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have expressed concerned about Google's and Apple's roles in hosting the app. Activists were able to find the tracking feature of the app after The Insider did a tete-a-tete with Shahad Al Mohaimeed, a Saudi teen refugee who evaded the system in 2017 to claim asylum in Sweden. Saudi law mandates every woman to have a male guardian, and the system has arguably digitised parts of the guardian system, letting Saudi men manage women's lives online. The Insider report says that the guardians can specify when and from which airports women can travel, which gives them power to trap them in the country. Absher includes a system that alerts men via a text message when women use their passports. If in case the women are not given permission to leave the country, this system enables men to catch women before they could leave. Reportedly, the system has existed for years, but it was exposed when Al Mohaimeed opened up about it. Apple and Google have rules against apps that facilitate threats and harassment. Apps like this one can facilitate human rights abuses, including discrimination against women, Human Rights Watch was quoted as saying. It also demanded that Apple and Google take note that the app is being used to harm women, and implement changes to stop the practice. Yasmine Mohammed, an outspoken critic of Saudi Arabia, said that the companies are facilitating the most archaic misogyny and help the Saudi government to enforce gender apartheid. There's a definite tragedy in the world's most technologically progressive platforms, Apple and Google, facilitating the most archaic misogyny. What irony. In the West these technologies are used to improve lives and in Saudi Arabia they're used to enforce gender apartheid, Yasmine Mohammed was quoted as saying. The Insider notes that Apple and Google have not responded to the request for comment. Related Read: Google will remove apps that require SMS and Call Logs permissions from Play Store, TRAI's DND App will remain Indias competition watchdog is investigating complaints that Google has been abusing the dominance of its Android ecosystem. Reuters reported that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) opened its investigation six months ago after several individuals collectively filed a complaint over the matter. The CCIs move follows a three-year European Commission probe into Googles affairs which resulted in the search engine giant being fine 4.3 billion in July last year. The investigation concluded that Googles practice of requiring Android device manufacturers to use its apps was illegal. It is on the lines of the EU case, but at a preliminary stage, reported Reuters, adding that executives from Google have met Indian authorities with regard to the investigation. The decision on whether to continue or scrap the probe rests with the CCI, but it would be difficult to shelve the investigation unless it can show that the problem has been addressed, claimed a Reuters source. After receiving the fine from the EC, Google stated that it would no longer bundle its own apps preinstalled on Android thereby encouraging their use and would instead begin charging a standard licensing fee to device makers. This is not the first time that Google has stood accused of exploiting Androids prevalence in India, having received a fine of INR1.36 billion ($19.3 million) from the CCI in February 2018 for allegedly abusing the its position in the search engine and advertising markets. Google appealed the penalty on the grounds that it could cause irreversible damage to its reputation. MTN is reportedly lining up an IPO for Nigerian online retailer Jumia, with a view to raising as much as $600 million. Bloomberg reports that MTN Group is considering the New York Stock Exchange for the listing although no timeframe has been suggested - with Jumia likely to be valued at around $1.5 billion. MTN would use the proceeds to cut its debt. Jumia has been a success story in the African start-up space, and has spread its footprint to several African markets. MTN is its majority shareholder, although the investment arms of Africa-focused groups including Millicom and Orange also hold stakes in the company. With a debt burden of ZAR69.8 billion ($5.1 billion), Jumias IPO could deliver MTN a much-needed cash injection. Additionally, the group faces the looming spectre of a $2 billion tax bill in Nigeria. The case has twice been deferred, miring MTN in uncertainty, although a new hearing is set for 26th March. This was not the only legal trouble for MTN in Nigeria, with the countrys Central Bank alleging that the group had illegally repatriated funds over several years. This dispute has now been resolved, but collectively MTNs issues in the market have held up its planned IPO of MTN Nigeria, which it has been planning since 2016. Malaysia-based MNO Axiata has entered the Nepal telecoms market having finalised its acquisition of the countrys leading operator Ncell for US$1.365 billion. The company completed the purchase through its wholly-owned subsidiary Axiata Investments, acquiring Ncell from TeliaSonera and Reynolds. The deal effectively secures Axiata an 80 per cent equity interest and controlling stake in Ncell. All terms of the sale and purchase agreement have been met for the completion of the transaction, Axiata said, including approvals from all relevant regulatory authorities in Nepal and Malaysia. The unique mix of a controlling stake of a well-managed number one player in a healthy, growing market presents Axiata the perfect expansion opportunity of its footprint. The addition of Ncell into the Axiata network of mobile operators marks yet another significant milestone for the Group, in terms of solidifying our strong hold in the South Asian region, said Axiata president and group chief executive officer Dato Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim. We are grateful for the approvals from all relevant government authorities involved in the acquisition exercise, both in Malaysia and Nepal. With our proven track record in contributing to national development in markets where we operate, and our extensive experience within the region, we look forward to working with the Nepali government and regulators to further improve the quality of lives of all Nepalese, in line with the countrys ambitions. He said one key ambition of the company is to effectively offer high-speed data connectivity, and exciting products and services to meet the demands of a young and maturing Nepali market. There are tremendous opportunities for us to grow with the nation for the longer term. As a Group respected for its commitment to corporate responsibility and governance, we will play an integral role with the Nepali government and civil society, and contribute towards the socioeconomic development of the country and her people, Ibrahim said. In conjunction with its entry into the Nepali market, Axiata with also launch two special edition voice and roaming products for Ncell customers. Roaming service Axiata Roam will be introduced for the first time in Nepal, offering discounted roaming prices to Ncell customers travelling within the Axiata footprint countries and roaming with operating companies and partners. Call Ayo Paisa Payo will also be made available, offering bonus balance to Ncell customers receiving international calls lasting more than five minutes from Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This Is How Makers Of Sonchiriya Found A Unique Technique To The Train The Cast The makers of Sonchiriya have left no stone unturned in doing justice to the characters and keep in sync with the dacoit era. The actors who are donning a rustic look also have gone out of their way to get into the skin of their characters. Each actor had to carry 5 kgs of backpack and walk on the sets to develop the body language and walking style of dacoits. Shot in the valleys of Madhya Pradesh, Sonchiriya presents an ensemble cast starring Sushant Singh Rajput, Bhumi Pednekar, Manoj Bajpayee, Ranvir Shorey, and Ashutosh Rana in lead roles, also with an intriguing storyline Recently the makers of Sonchiriya organised the special event wherein they have gone ahead to launch the extension of the trailer titled as 'The Rebels of Sonchiriya'. Sonchiriya is all set to release in next month, cast and crew is on a promotional spree and seen promoting the film on social media as well. The story of Sonchiriya is set in the 1970s showcasing a small town ruled and dominated by dacoits. Multiple gangs fight over the struggle to attain power. The cast dons fierce avatars in sync with the theme of the film. Sonchiriya promises to be a power packed action film giving a glimpse of the glorious years if dacoits in central India. Shot in the valleys of Madhya Pradesh, Sonchiriya presents an ensemble cast with an intriguing storyline. Directed by Abhishek Chaubey who has earlier presented 'Udta Punjab' and 'Ishiqiya', 'Sonchiriya' presents a rooted tale set in Chambal. The movie is slated to release on 1st March 2019. What's Included With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 814-368-3173 or email nfinnerty@oleantimesherald.com. Here Is Why We Will Chose Watching Gully Boy Over Everything Else, Even Our BAE, This Valentine's Day From being the anthem on the streets to being the toast of Berlin Film Festival, Gully Boy has become quite a phenomenon even before its theatrical release. With the chart-topping music, brilliant performance and surely the star power of Ranveer and Alia, Gully Boy is definitely one of the most awaited and talked about films of Bollywood. Releasing this Valentines Day i.e. 14th February, Gully Boy is almost a certain blockbuster. Here are our expectations from what looks like a masterpiece of a film. A Revolution In Music Ever since the trailer announcement of the film was dropped, the nation has been gripped by the Gully Boy fever and Apna Time Ayega has become an anthem. The makers of the film have collaborated with 54 individual artists from the age of 16 to veteran Javed Akhtar being the oldest of the lot. When they said, Asli hip hop se milaye Hindustan ko they were not kidding. The kind of hard work and love for hip hop that has gone into the film is surely going bring hip hop into the mainstream in India and probably revolutionize the way we look at film music. Ranveers and Alias Landmark Performance One is probably the most talked about the star at the moment with two back to back superhits and another is the actor that no one can stop raving about. One of the biggest USP of Gully Boy is the collaboration between Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt who looks pitch perfect as Murad and Safina. From the looks of it, Gully Boy is probably going to be a landmark performance in the career of both Ranveer and Alia. Zoya Akhtar Re-Inventing Her Style One of the common allegations against Zoya Akhtar is, she usually makes films with rich people problems. Apart from her directorial debut Luck By Chance, Gully Boy is miles away from her other films which include Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Dil Dhadakne Do. With this film, she is also launching her own production house, Tiger Baby films, with Reema Kagti. Thus, all the factors and the fact that Zoya is a brilliant director will surely make for a never before experience. An Underdog Story To Be Proud Of Although not a biopic, Gully Boy is closely based on the lives of Divina and Naezy. Coming from gullys of Mumbai, these two had made ripples in the indie music scene of the country, simply with their limitless talent. Ranveers character in the film, Murad, would be portraying this underdog story. Coupled with Zoya s directorial brilliance and Ranveer and Alias amazing acting chops and of course the chart-topping music, this is going to be one underdog story that will probably fill us with pride. The Mumbai Magic The film, like many other films in Bollywood, is like a directors ode to the city of Mumbai. From the infamous slums of the city to various other layers that make the tinsel town an unparalleled experience, the film sets out to the explore Mumbai and its many moods and pockets. The Mumbai magic in the film is evident in the songs and the trailer itself and it is something we surely do not want to miss out. Koffee With Karan 6: Kartik Aaryan Reveals He Will Date Sara Ali Khan After Fulfilling Saif Ali Khans Condition On Sundays episode of Koffee With Karan 6, the host and filmmaker Karan Johar kicked off the show on a sweet note. His guest for the night, actor Kartik Aaryan brought him a box of pinni, a small gesture of love from him and his family. Also making debut at the coffee couch was his co-star from upcoming film Luka Chuppi, Kriti Sanon. As they settled in their seats, Karan asked Kartik about Sara Ali Khans declarations of love for him, his dinner date with Ananya Panday and even a movie date with Shraddha Kapoor, as hinted by Kriti herself. Kartik denied there is anything cooking between him and the girls but he did say that he will ask Sara out on a date as soon as he earns enough money, a condition put forward by Saras father and actor Saif Ali Khan. He said he is simply friends with Ananya, with whom he will be seen in the remake of Pati Patni aur Woh. The recently announced film also stars Bhumi Pednekar. Also read: Alia Bhatt has responded to Kangana Ranauts grow a spine comment: I dont deserve reaction like this As for Kriti, Karan said in no uncertain terms that he knows she used to date Sushant Singh Rajput but the two have broken up now for whatever reasons. Kriti denied the rumours and said she was never dating Sushant. Karan still didnt believe her and called her out again on her lie, later in the episode. Karan then asked the two about their experience in Bollywood so far. Kartik talked about how he got admission in a college in Mumbai, which allowed him to skip classes and go to auditions instead. He said he lived in a two-bedroom apartment with 12 boys but he was still happy. He added that he used to skip classes so often that once his teacher told him shell pass him in the subject if he could say what her name was. Kartik didnt know her name and failed the subject. He said he completed his studies after Pyar Ka Punchnaama 2 because his mom didnt want him to be an uneducated actor. As for Kriti, she said she never thought about becoming an actor until she started doing ad films. It was then that she realised how much she likes to be in front of the camera and could also act. Kriti also talked about the apprehensions people had about her playing a small town girl in Bareilly Ki Barfi. She said after the film, however, she only got roles of a small town girl. When Karan asked her what makes her insecure, she said when she wants to do more interesting roles but no one gives her the opportunity. She said she believes she can do as well as Alia Bhatt or Deepika Padukone but doesnt get the opportunity. She even talked about nepotism, saying that a few actors with connections get a lot of exposure before even getting signed and an offer for a second movie before their first one hits theatres. In the Koffee Shots game, Kriti confessed crushing on a co-star, getting her heart broken and snooping into a partners phone. Kartik said he has only ever been in a relationship once with a girl who dumped him because he wanted to be an actor. Shot by the man behind the incredible yearly calendars! If youre watching the episode, answer this question with #KoffeeWithKriti and tag @starworldindia to win a Koffee mug autographed by @KritiSanon. pic.twitter.com/7VKFg2cyMB Star World (@StarWorldIndia) February 10, 2019 In the rapid fire round, Kriti said she would set Kartik up with Sara, had Hrithik Roshan posters in her room as a teenager and would like to have Alias body of work. On his turn, Kartik chose Sara over Janhvi as the one star to look forward to and even said he liked her sense of style when Kriti said she wouldnt want to raid her closet. Karan asked Kartik who he considered overrated in Bollywood, the actor said he would not consider anyone overrated. When Karan told him Badshah took his name as the overrated actor, Kartik said he liked Badshahs music and also revealed that the rapper had called him after watching Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety and said that he and his family liked his performance in the movie. Kartik ended up winning the hamper, which he said he would share with Kriti. SALT LAKE CITY Heres a look at the news for Feb. 12. Just four high schools competed in Utahs Ethics Bowl. Heres what the event could teach Washington. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert signed a replacement bill for Proposition 3 Medicaid expansion. Read more. The Millcreek City Council agreed to ask that the legislation in land dispute be withdrawn. Read more. Residents of a Utah apartment complex have been given three days to evacuate. Read more. A look at our education coverage: A look at most-read stories: News from the U.S. and world: SALT LAKE CITY Qualifying college students would pay no tuition or fees for two years under HB260, which creates the Access Utah Promise Scholarship program. On Monday, the House Education Committee unanimously supported the legislation, which would cover costs of tuition and general student fees where federal financial aid falls short for low-income students who take full academic loads. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Derrin Owens, R-Fountain Green, would be available to students statewide who attend state colleges and universities as well as state technical colleges. The scholarship program would be patterned after existing initiatives at Weber State University and Salt Lake Community College, said Owens. Funding appropriated for state scholarship programs, such as the merit-based Regents' Scholarship, would be phased out and would go toward this initiative, Owens said. The Regents' Scholarship encourages Utah high school students to prepare for college academically and financially. On average, Regents' Scholarship recipients have 3.9 GPAs and an average score of 29 on the ACT. They are students who readily qualify for other private scholarships, he said. "Meantime, we have another group of students who don't have access to higher education," said Owens, a retired high school counselor. The Access Utah Promise Scholarship would also be available to qualifying adults returning to college and in public-partnerships with industry, Owens said. All applicants must complete the application for federal financial aid. Owens read excerpts of a letter from the state's college and university presidents and Utah's Commissioner of Higher Education urging lawmakers' support of HB260. The letter said, in part, "Nothing has been proven to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty like a college education. Yet too often, financial barriers get in the way for the very students who would benefit from a college education the most. Utah consistently ranks near the bottom of the nation for state need-based aid. It's time to expand the programs already proven to work to all Utahns." The letter notes the success of Weber State's Dream Weber initiative, which pays the remaining college costs for qualifying students when federal grants fall short. "Dream Weber students graduate college at significantly higher rates than non-Dream Weber students at Weber State University 73 percent to 44 percent, respectively," the letter states. The program started in 2010 and provides free tuition and general student fees to students whose annual household incomes are $40,000 or less. Dream Weber is supported by federal and state financial aid and private giving. SLCC's Promise program requires students to take a full class load and maintain at least a 2.0 GPA. Qualifying students must also meet with an adviser to develop a two-year degree plan. SLCC Promise encourages students to take full class loads so they are more likely to complete their degrees, complete them sooner and at less expense. SLCC President Deneece Huftalin said the program "changes behavior," meaning students are motivated to apply for federal financial because they know the college will "fill in the gaps of tuition and fees not covered by Pell eligibility." She added, "For mom and dad to see that financial path makes all the difference in terms of access." Although the House Education Committee voted unanimously to support the bill, some member expressed concern about the scholarships only being offered for two years. Rep. Adam Robertson, R-Provo, said after two years, "it leaves people hanging." Higher Education Commissioner David L. Buhler said it will take time to devote full resources to the Access Utah Promise Scholarship program because the state will need to phase out the Regents' Scholarship, which has five years of eligibility. "You can see there's quite a long tail on this before it would eventually phase out," Buhler said. Others like Rep. Marie Poulson, D-Cottonwood Heights, spoke in support. Poulson said her father never made more than $10,000 a year. "A scholarship to BYU was one of the greatest gifts of my life," she said, her voice breaking with emotion. "I really love the intent of this bill." HB260 moves to the House for its consideration. SALT LAKE CITY A freshman representative pulled back Monday a proposed constitutional amendment that would have asked voters whether to change the elected State School Board to a nine-member board appointed by the governor. After more than an hour of testimony and debate on HJR13, Rep. Melissa Garff Ballard, R-North Salt Lake, asked the House Education Committee to hold the bill and refer companion legislation, HB242, to a task force. The resolution was supported by two former members of the State School Board, Spencer Stokes and Leslie Castle. Stokes said no one knows their elected State School Board member. "No one knows which bums to vote out," he said. He questioned whether the board is accountable if few people know the elected board members or attend their meetings. He noted that there were more people in the committee hearing than ever attend state school board meetings. Castle said she served two terms on the elected school board and learned that "a union" elected State School Boards, referring to the Utah Education Association. Rich Kendell, a former Utah Commissioner of Higher Education who worked with the appointed Board of Regents and a former associate state superintendent who worked for the elected Utah State Board of Education, said the appointed body "attracted some really exemplary people." Elected school board members, meanwhile, telephoned top administrators "three or four times a day, essentially trying to micromanage public education," he said. Ballard's proposal envisioned an appointed board of nine people one representative in each congressional district and five at-large positions with one of them representing charter schools. Their terms would be six years. The current State School Board took a vote of opposition to the bill last week. Board members Jennie Earl and Carol Lear both spoke in opposition to the bill. Lear said the State School Board is accountable to the Utah Legislature, voters and other constituencies. The "efficiency" of a governor's appointment would diminish democracy, she said. Chase Clyde, representing UEA, countered Castle's comments that state board elections are largely controlled by the teachers union. Despite spending "scary union money" to support candidates' campaigns, Clyde noted the presence of elected board members on the front row of audience who were not backed by the UEA. A similar resolution was considered by the Utah Legislature in 2018, which would have vested the board's powers in a governor-appointed state superintendent. The resolution, sponsored by Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, passed overwhelmingly in the Utah Senate but was soundly defeated by the House of Representatives in the waning hours of the session. Meanwhile, the board, lawmakers and others await a Utah Supreme Court's decision on whether a statute passed by the Utah Legislature in 2016 that calls for partisan State School Board elections is constitutional. A lower court ruled that the law conflicts with the Utah Constitution. That decision was appealed by state attorneys on behalf of Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, the lone defendant in the case. Correction: An earlier version misquoted Chase Clyde of the Utah Education Association saying "dirty" union money was being used to fund State School Board campaigns. He actually called it "scary union money." SALT LAKE CITY On Tuesday, the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee is scheduled to discuss SB151, which would amend the initiative procedure in the state. Among other things, SB151 requires an application for a statewide initiative petition to contain information relating to funding sources for the proposed law. The bill also proposes modifying public hearing and ballot requirements. Other issues expected to be discussed at the Statehouse during the day include: SB92, sponsored by Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, was approved 27-1 and now goes to the House. Yet to be decided is whether the $1.81 million cost of adding the new judges will be included in the final budget. Read More: Utah Senate approves bill adding 4 judgeships in 3rd District Court HB129, a bill allowing candidates for public office to use campaign funds to pay for child care, passed its final hurdle in the Utah Legislature Tuesday. The House voted, 64-4, to approve an amendment made in the Senate to allow use of funds during legislative duties as well as campaign duties. Read More: Utah House OKs allowing campaign funds to be used for child care SCR06,a resolution encouraging development of advanced nuclear reactor technology for Utah's future energy needs is on the docket, prompting a local watchdog organization to hold a press conference at the state Capitol to detail why small modular reactor technology is not financially viable. The event was held the same day as the Millennial Nuclear Caucus was hosted at the Capitol by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, both of which are pursuing a small modular reactor project at the Idaho National Laboratory. Read More: Legislative spotlight on nuclear power for Utah consumers draws criticism Read More: Utah House springs bill to add regulations for trampoline parks The House Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee will look at HB78 to address a political subdivision's official support of land use designations and propose a process for review, approval and disapproval by the Legislature. The House Transportation Committee is scheduled to hear HB15, which allows a driver at a red light on a highway with a speed limit of 55 mph or lower to go through the light when there is extremely low traffic and the intersection is clear of other vehicles and pedestrians. The Senate Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee will be discussing HCR7, a concurrent resolution recognizing the economic importance of outdoor recreation for Utah. The resolution expresses the intention to continue the legacy of supporting and growing the broad economic value of Utah's natural assets to benefit the people of Utah. Here's what happened on Feb. 11, the 15th day of the 2019 session: The GOP leadership-backed replacement for the voter-approved full Medicaid expansion ballot initiative easily cleared its final legislative hurdle Monday and was signed into law by Gov. Gary Herbert a few hours later. A bill that seeks to make sure that investigations centered on murders, missing persons and violent felonies do not languish moved forward at the Utah Legislature. A bill that would loosen requirements that legal notices be published in local newspapers has risen from the grave. The bill, which failed in the House last week as HB69, reincarnated as SB145, sponsored by Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, in a Senate committee Monday. Read More: Your up-to-the-hour look at Day 15 of the 2019 Utah Legislature Utah lawmakers are putting the state on a fiscally irresponsible path and undermining the will of state voters by repealing the Medicaid expansion ballot initiative. These lawmakers want to spend more state taxpayer dollars to cover fewer Utahns with health care coverage instead of accepting the proposal that was overwhelmingly approved by voters just 90 days ago. It does not make sense for the state to spend its Medicaid funds and still leave 80,000 people without insurance coverage. Proposition 3 provides Medicaid expansion which covers adults making $17,236 a year, and families of three making $29,435 a year, at a 90-10 match rate with the federal government paying 90 percent of the costs and states paying the remaining 10 percent. The repeal effort would mean fewer federal dollars under a 70-30 match rate, and require more in state funding. Utah legislators are also betting on a federal approval for a new Medicaid plan that is a long shot. They want Washington to give an OK to a partial expansion. That is not something federal officials can do under existing health care laws. Not only would the state get more federal funding for health care under Proposition 3, it would also be able to save state taxpayer dollars by expanding. That has been the experience in other states that have already adopted Medicaid expansion. Evidence from the last six years of expanding Medicaid shows us that Medicaid expansion generates budget savings and positive budget results for states from reduced costs in state-funded health care programs, to savings in a states traditional Medicaid program and correctional heath costs, among other areas. Depending on the state, savings generated from expanding Medicaid can offset or exceed the 10 percent state share of expansion costs that states will gain in 2020. Families USA reviewed state Medicaid expansion programs and found savings across the board in states with Republican and Democratic administrations. These included: Michigan: $306 million in revenue and savings attributable to Healthy Michigan reported by the House Fiscal Agency for fiscal year 2016-17. Montana: In 2017, the savings to the state budget outweighed the costs of the expansion. These savings included reductions in traditional Medicaid costs of $40 million in the first two years of expansion. Louisiana: In the 2017 calendar year, Medicaid expansion saved the state $199 million. For 2018, savings were projected to be $350 million. Ohio: In August 2018, Ohios Department of Medicaid issued a report on the states Medicaid expansion that concluded, Medicaid expansion is manageable and affordable now and into the future. Utahs legislature is moving quickly to repeal Proposition 3 which is the fiscally responsible and sustainable approach to expanding Medicaid. Rather than allowing more than 150,000 Utahns to receive care right now under the voter-approved Proposition 3, Utah lawmakers are pushing a strategy to pass a bill which would cover half the number of Utahns in need of health coverage, with greater financial burden to the state. Utahns should not be fooled: repealing Medicaid expansion is fiscally irresponsible. SALT LAKE CITY On Monday morning, residents of one Salt Lake apartment building received a shock when they learned they need to evacuate their homes within 72 hours. It wasn't for lack of rent payment, but because the owner of Georgia Apartments, 203 E. 2100 South in the Liberty Wells neighborhood, had ignored the fire marshal's repeated requests to get the building up to code, city officials said. Angela Moreno, who lives at the apartment with her two children, ages 13 and 14, said residents were given no earlier warning they might be forced to leave. "They could have told us at least 30 days prior so we could fill out applications at apartments, but we had no notice. Today was our first even inclination that this was going to happen," she explained. "It takes longer than three days to process an application for an apartment," Moreno said. "I have little kids, and it's awful. I can't take my kids out into the snow." At 11 a.m., according to resident Michael Cousert, police officers, firefighters, health department representatives and "everybody came knocking on my door giving me an eviction notice saying that everybody's gotta move." The 67-year-old has lived at the apartment for 15 years. On Monday, the Salt Lake City fire marshal deemed the apartment complex unsafe and issued the order for all to evacuate. City officials estimate that at least 42 units are occupied. The reason for the sudden displacement? The apartments contain a number of fire hazards including exits blocked by junk, a wet sprinkler system "due to missing windows, doors and nonfunctional heating system," electrical wiring not up to code, and missing fire extinguishers and smoke detectors, according to the city. The fire marshal is also concerned that cold weather has frozen the building's sprinkler pipes. The apartment building has also seen its share of crime-related issues recently. In 2018, Salt Lake police recorded 647 incidents at the apartments, which included drug problems, fights, domestic disturbances, trespassing "and a number of other criminal activities," according to a news release from city officials. That number was a "significant increase" from 213 calls in 2017. Matthew Rojas, Salt Lake City spokesman, said the situation is not the fault of the residents and the city is doing everything it can to help them, including putting together an outreach team to help them find housing and mediators to help them find out if they are owed money. "This is not an easy decision for the fire marshal," Rojas said, emphasizing officials are most concerned for the health and safety of everyone in the city. Moreno said she wishes residents had been told in advance, at least before Jan. 28, so they wouldn't have paid this month's rent money she says they will not get back. "We're not magic. We can't magically make an apartment appear. And you know, some of those people have been there for 30 years. How do you move 30 years of your life in three days?" she asked. For Cousert, who says he has cancer and is classified as "catastrophically disabled," the news is stressful. He also doesn't want to leave the area and his Latter-day Saint congregation. As of Monday afternoon, he hadn't yet found new housing but had an appointment to meet with the housing authority on Feb. 22. That, though, "is going to be too late," so Cousert is trying to meet with the authority sooner. In the meantime, "I'm hoping something opens up," Cousert said. When Kim Hawkins heard of the evacuation, her first thought was, "We're gonna be homeless," she said. And because of her fiance's felony past, she says, the housing authority was unable to help them. "There were a lot of doors that were just closed in front of us. So we're kind of put back, and we're gonna be homeless," Hawkins said. "Kinda stuck in a pickle right now." Despite the inconvenience to tenants needing to find a new home with little notice, city officials emphasized that the hazards in the building "result in extreme fire danger and potential injury and loss of life to all occupants of the building." Officials came up with an evacuation plan including 72 hours of around-the-clock fire watch to allow residents three days to get out. A housing outreach center has also been established at the Salt Lake County Government Complex, according to the city. Organizations providing services there include Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County Housing Authority, Utah Community Action, Salt Lake City Police Department's Community Connection Center, Department of Workforce Services and the Road Home. The Other Side Academy is also providing free moving services to residents. Moreno, however, said she went to the outreach center but that housing leads given to her at the center so far have come up empty. "I don't know what we're gonna do, we don't have any money and the landlord's not gonna give us any money back. Minority, poor people, they don't care where we go, just get out. If we weren't Mexicans and mixed minority, I'm sure they'd treat us a little better. But they don't care, they're offering no help at all. It's just 'Be out in three days or we're locking you out,'" Moreno said. Those who want to help displaced residents with money for rent and deposits can contact Tony Milner with the city housing department at 801-792-7395. SALT LAKE CITY A bill that would loosen requirements that legal notices be published in local newspapers has risen from the grave. The bill, which failed in the House last week as HB69, reincarnated as SB145, sponsored by Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, in a Senate committee Monday. While the new version of the bill included an amendment to address concerns raised in the House that the bill would hurt rural newspapers, newspaper publishers and the Utah Press Association still opposed the bill, expressing concerns about its impact on public transparency. Still, the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee endorsed the bill with a 4-2 vote. It now goes to the Senate floor for consideration. In response to concerns raised in the House chamber about its impact on small-town local newspapers, which may rely on legal notice revenue, McCay brought forward an amendment that would exclude counties of the third, fourth and fifth class from the bill. However, counties of the first and second class, Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, Weber, Cache and Washington counties, would still no longer be required to post the legal notices in newspapers under the new version of the bill. Instead, the bill would allow a person to serve a legal notice directly on all parties involved either by certified mail or in person rather than being required to post the notice in a newspaper. "This bill we believe is a solution in search of a problem," said Brian Allfrey, executive director of the Utah Press Association. "We believe our job as a press (association) is to make these notices available to as many people as possible," Allfrey said, arguing that loosening the requirement would limit how many eyes will see the notice, regardless the size of which counties the exemption is allowed in. McCay argued he didn't see the need to put a legal notice in the newspaper if all parties involved are notified more directly, calling that requirement "ludicrous." "Even worse," McCay suggested, some might use the newspaper requirement to "avoid" notifying affected parties by "putting it in the newspaper" rather than notifying parties directly. Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, questioned how his "94-year-old in-laws" would see the notice if they only get the newspaper and don't have internet access. McCay said if they were directly involved in a matter, they'd be given the notice directly in person or by certified mail. But Craig Conover, sales manager of the Daily Herald, said matters including zone changes, conditional use permits, or foreclosures may only directly affect certain parties but are still of interest to the general public, so he said the bill makes him nervous. "That scares me because a community has the right to know what's going on in their community," Conover said. SALT LAKE CITY The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came out against legislation Monday to allow the sale of heavy beer in Utah stores. "The church opposes SB132 in its current form. We, along with other community groups, oppose legislation which represents a 50 percent increase in alcohol content for beer sold in grocery and convenience stores," Marty Stephens, director of government relations for the church, said in a statement. Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, introduced a bill last week to raise the alcohol content by weight from 3.2 percent to 4.8 percent for beer in Utah stores. The Senate Business and Labor Committee voted unanimously to send the bill to the Senate floor for consideration. Stevenson said of the church that he would be "disappointed if they viewed it differently." He said he doesn't know how the church's opposition will impact the bill but he thinks it can pass in the Senate. He has yet to get a House sponsor. The state has been grappling with the issue for the past two years as national breweries phase out the production of 3.2 percent beer. Utah is one of only two states left selling the lower weight beer after laws in Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas have or will change in the next few months. The proposed law would still leave Utah with the lowest alcohol content for beer. Last month, Walmart launched a campaign urging customers to lobby Utah lawmakers to make full-strength beer available in stores. The retail giant is part of a group retailers, beer manufacturers and distributors, and trade associations calling itself the Responsible Beer Choice Coalition that is lobbying the Utah Legislature to raise the alcohol content for beer sold in grocery and convenience stores. The group has called the proposed change "modest." Only 1.8 percent of all beer brewed in the United States is 3.2 percent beer, with Oklahoma consuming 56 percent of it, followed by Utah at 29 percent. Utahns represent less than one-half of a percent of beer drinkers in the U.S. As state laws change, national brewers have to decide whether to continue what would be a specialty item for a shrinking market. Some products from major beer brewers, including Coors and Budweiser, are already disappearing from Utah shelves. SALT LAKE CITY Utah may one day be home to an airborne version of the I-15 freeway thanks to technology being developed right here in the Beehive State. Imagine tooling around the skies in vehicles that are human-guided or autonomous, much in the same way that we move about in our motorized four- and two-wheeled vehicles today. That time is approaching faster than some may realize. Ultra-cool technology was on full display at Utah's Capitol as part of 2019 Aerospace Day on the Hill. Various companies and organizations steeped in the industry participated in an event aimed at showing state lawmakers the economic importance of their sector and the innovations currently in development. Among the innovations of interest was aerial transportation, which could change the way people move about in their daily lives, explained UDOT Director of Aeronautics Jared Esselman. Similar to the transition to motorized horseless carriages that are in use today, the state is on the brink of the next major personal transportation advancement, he said. "We are inventing this as we go along. Nobody has ever done this before," he said. "Everybody's dreamed about it and it's very sci-fi, but we have the technology." UDOT already has the pieces in place, he said. "We've just got to put that puzzle together." Esselman said his agency is looking to the example of the nation's "high altitude" regulators the Federal Aviation Administration as well as ground transit regulators, to figure out "middle ground" standards for low-altitude (less than a mile high) aviation. He said the aeronautics industry is anticipating integration of low aviation by 2023. "That's not that long from now," he said. "(Right now) there is package delivery happening. The next logical step is, 'Now we're riding (in the air) to work.'" While some might worry about the potential hazards of everyday air transit compared to traditional motorized vehicles, he channeled his inner "son of Krypton" to make a point about safety. "As the famous Superman line goes, 'Flying in the safest way to travel,'" Esselman said. Meanwhile, two nearby northern Utah counties are hoping to become the test range for the next level of daily local commuter and business transit. "The overall mission would be to have what the Jetsons promised us decades ago come to fruition," said Shawn Milne, Tooele County Commissioner and Deseret Unmanned Aerial Systems board chairman. "It'll help alleviate (congestion) on our surface streets as our population grows and it'll help expedite small package delivery, along with a lot of other things that we don't even yet realize it can change." Deseret Unmanned Aerial Systems is a nonprofit corporation created jointly by Tooele and Box Elder counties in partnership with Ogden. The organization's mission is to facilitate rural economic development through the advancement of unmanned aerial systems and to elevate Utah's presence in the drone industry. The organization also supports the governor's 25,000 Jobs Initiative for Utah's 25 rural counties, said Box Elder Economic Development Director Mitch Zundel. Milne said future innovations in transportation development will include the state transportation department's aeronautics division, which will eventually regulate above-ground day-to-day travel the same way the agency monitors roadways today. Tooele and Box Elder counties are working with UDOT to develop closed testing ranges similar to the way test track facilities allow for vehicle practice and operation to mimic real-life driving situations. "We have this test site that is much like the former Utah Motorsports campus. It's a closed track where you test (the unmanned aerial technology) to make sure it's not falling out of the sky, the jets work when the pilot says, '(turn) right,' it goes right," Milne explained. "There are some human (operated) elements, but it's largely (artificial intelligence)." He said the technology for aerial flight could likely be operational in the not-so-distant future. Noting that the iPhone was first introduced in 2007 and today it has become ubiquitous to many people's everyday lives, so, too, will the innovation of aerial transportation. Utah's aerospace and defense industry account for more than 944 organizations and 31,390 jobs, according to the Governor's Office of Economic Development. The state's core aerospace and defense companies include design, composite manufacturing, software and control systems, sophisticated testing, as well as repair and maintenance, said GOED Executive Director Val Hale. Among the companies on hand for the Monday event were Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Albany Engineered Composites, ElectraFly, Hill Air Force Base and Fortem Technologies. Based in Pleasant Grove, Fortem Technologies builds airspace awareness systems for commercial and military applications that allow users to monitor airspace a mile into the sky, explained CEO Timothy Bean. The company has developed a system that uses small sensors equipped with radar that can identify movement of virtually any airborne machine or animal within a prescribed zone, he said. "You can definitely detect birds versus drones versus air taxis versus parachutists," he said. "You have a good understanding of what's happening in the airspace 24-7, day and night, because radar works well even at night and through clouds." He said implementing such technology can be helpful in numerous applications including low altitude traffic monitoring and public safety. "(This can help) finding people who are lost, helping with traffic situations or big events whether it's the Olympics or a parade," he said. "Making sure our society remains safe. These kinds of automation in the airspace really makes a difference." SALT LAKE CITY Coal-producing Emery County could become the global epicenter for research involving molten salt nuclear reactors and medical isotopes used in cutting-edge cancer treatment. The nuclear reactors that use thorium, which is widely occurring in the Earth, and concurrently produce electricity and medical isotopes had a brief run the 1960s at a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory. And more recently in the Netherlands in 2017. According to Mike McKee, executive director of the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition, a Utah startup company is developing a thorium reactor as part of a coalition project. McKee, in a presentation Monday to members of the Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environmental Quality Appropriations Subcommittee, said Utah has a chance to host a "premier research facility" to transform molten salt nuclear reactors into a reality, serving thousands of university students and creating thousands of jobs. "The first phase is putting in this research center," he said. Molten salt reactors do not use solid fuel, do not operate under high pressure and the waste is converted to products. In an addition, any leftover radioactive waste cannot be used to make weapons. Sen. Dave Hinkins, R-Orangeville, is requesting $10 million in one-time money to make upgrades to an existing building and to get the project started. The hope is to establish a 30-megawatt thorium reactor near the Hunter Power Plant, or at least foster Utah-based research in the field of thorium reactors in a project that has support from multiple universities and the U.S. Department of Energy. Brigham Young University's Matthew J. Memmott told the committee the federal agency has extreme interest in the commercial development of a viable molten salt reactor, and has "billion-dollar grants" available to make the technology happen. The global race to be first also includes China and India. "There are 13 companies trying to make molten salt reactors a reality," Memmott said, because of the promise of emissions-free nuclear energy technology that also comes with greatly reduced risk compared to traditional nuclear power plants. The committee will sift through the funding requests and prioritize them. SALT LAKE CITY Utah legislators Monday honored Matthew Burchett, the Draper fire chief who was killed while fighting a wildfire in California last August, during a moment of silence with Burchett's family and colleagues. "Words alone cannot properly express our feelings, but I hope in some that way we can impart to you the depth of our appreciation," said Sen. Daniel McCay, R-Riverton. Burchett served in the United Fire Authority for 20 years and joined the Draper Fire Department as battalion chief. "Throughout his career he served with honor and distinction and earned the trust and admiration of his fellow firefighters," McCay said. Legislators also honored other firefighters from along the Wasatch Front who were in the gallery and present in the Capitol for the yearly Fire Caucus luncheon. "I think it means a lot, for the various organizations around the valley, that they recognize the efforts that we put forth as unfortunate as it is we realize it's a dangerous job and it's nice to see that people understand the training, the work (and) the stress that goes on," said Salt Lake City Fire Department Chief Karl Lieb. Lieb said many of the firefighters at the Capitol had worked directly with Burchett, both at home and in California last summer. "It has an impact, not just on the firefighters but on the families of the firefighters," Lieb said. SALT LAKE CITY A bill that seeks to make sure that investigations centered on murders, missing persons and violent felonies do not languish has moved forward at the Utah Legislature. The House approved the measure in a unanimous vote Monday. It now goes to the Senate for approval. HB15 provides a path for victims and families of the deceased or missing to ask the investigating agency for a review one year after the crime if there has been no progress. "Sometimes a fresh look at the case can turn new leads and breathe fresh air into the investigation," the bill's sponsor, Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, told representatives in the House Monday. If the police department declines, victims could ask the county or district attorney to look at the case. Finally, victims could appeal to the Utah Attorney General's Office if the county or district attorney decides to not investigate further. Another great American political spectacle, the presidential State of the Union speech, is over leaving behind many political questions. President Donald Trump is a highly polarizing figure. Did his State of the Union speech help revive his political fortunes? Pignanelli: "State of Union speeches evaporate quickly. I predict that much of what we heard tonight will be forgotten by the end of next week. Bianna Golodryga, CBS News Pundits often describe the State of the Union as the cotton candy of American politics sweet, airy and unmemorable. Yet there were some distinctive differences last week. Commentators often deride presidential administrations who invite guests to bolster a theme of the presentation. However, I believe these introductions provide a unique opportunity for millions of Americans to learn about heroes living in our country, that we otherwise would not know. So I am grateful to Trumps advisers who exposed me to the brave men and women highlighted in the speech especially the war veterans and survivors of the Holocaust. Fortunately, their courage will not be forgotten. In the spirit of togetherness and healing, I hoped the president would have mentioned DACA dreamers, the LGBT community and others victimized because of violence, racial discrimination and personal characteristics an opportunity missed. The president solidified his base by drawing several lines but offered opportunities for compromise (trade, infrastructure, etc.). His political shelf life will not be determined by the speech but many other factors (economy, investigations, government shut down, etc.) The bottom line is the authors of our admired Constitution once again demonstrated their prescient greatness by inadvertently creating an event to block memories of a boring Super Bowl. Webb: When the real story of Donald Trump is written, at least from a Republican perspective, the headline may be: Lost Opportunity. The speech illustrated what could have been. I thought the speech was, in many ways, terrific. Trump outdid himself with lofty rhetoric and touching symbols. He outlined his significant accomplishments (the economy booms), presented a vision for the future, called for cooperation on issues of common interest and provided a clear differentiation with the increasingly left-leaning Democrats on abortion, socialism and border security. If Trump would stick to the issues, vision and demeanor displayed in the speech, he would still be plenty controversial, but he could be a very successful president. He would need to maintain focus and discipline which, so far, he has been incapable of doing. He would need to avoid inconsequential squabbles, not allow himself to be drawn into petty fights and end his mercurial behavior, incessant tweeting and name-calling. I like most of Trumps policies. The economy is booming; his tough trade stance seems to be working; China and Russia are much more respectful of America; and Trump might just reduce the threat of all-out war on the Korean peninsula. I like his boldness on many issues and that he is not a slave to conventional wisdom. If Trump acts more presidential, like he did in the speech, the Democrats and news media would still trash him at every opportunity, but the American people would see through it. Trumps approval ratings and chances for re-election would jump significantly. Utahs Republican members were generally pleased with Trumps speech, while Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams was more reserved. How should members of Utahs delegation navigate their delicate relationship with Trump? Pignanelli: Polls indicate Trump is a mixed bag in Utah with support hovering around 50 percent. But his dedicated supporters and ardent detractors are spread across the political and economic spectrums. Politicians who embrace, or distance, themselves too much risk alienating large demographic groups. The result is an incredible tight rope walk with acrobatic maneuvers many office holders must perform. However, they do have a safety net, exclusive to our state. Articulating responses to difficult questions regarding the president with "I concur with the concerns of Sen. Romney" is a guaranteed safe harbor. Webb: Trump-haters in Utah want our delegation to brawl with Trump at every opportunity. That would be foolish. Even though they have reservations about Trump, our delegation must work with him to achieve legislative goals and have any chance of fending off leftist policies that are far worse than Trumps policies. They have to separate Trumps impulsive character and temperament from his policies most of which make sense. Remember this sobering reality: If Trump loses, the Pelosi/Sanders/Ocasio-Cortez leftist complex wins. How does the state of Utah compare with the state of the union? Pignanelli: The Legislature is embroiled in a heated debate over Medicaid expansion, with external forces bombarding the air waves. But officials on either side remain cordial to each other. There is nervousness of an impending recession, yet Utahs diversified economy will absorb the bump. Momentum is evident to resolve clean air and growth issues. The Utah Way prevails. Webb: Just be glad you live in Utah, the land of common sense and problem-solving. Unfortunately, Utah is not immune from national maladies. What happens in Washington doesnt stay in Washington. Letter to the Editor: Why the Dem committee asked Sen. Leach to step down Chris Freind is an independent columnist and commentator. His print column appears every Wednesday. He can be reached at CF@FFZMedia.com VALENTINES DAY 2019 Seniors talk about how they met their true love editorial It's time to end towns' free ride on state police Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (L) praying inside the Kaaba (The Cube), Islams holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabias holy city of Mecca, during his inspection of expansions to the site. (Photo: AFP) Islamabad: Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to Pakistan is likely to bring $20 billion investment in the country. Deals with Saudi Arabia have been finalised to get oil on loan. The fellow Muslim country will provide oil worth $3 billion to Pakistan for three years. Meetings will be held with Mohammed bin Salman to hand over two power plants based on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to Saudi Arabia, with an expected investment of $2 billion. Saudi Arabia is also interested to invest $6 billion in Gwadar oil refinery. The refinery and oil complex in the strategic Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea is the ultimate destination for the massive multi-billion dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor, which lies not far from the Indo-Iranian port of Chabahar. Earlier, teams of security, media and doctors of Mohammed bin Salman reached Islamabad ahead of his two-day visit to Pakistan. Details suggest that the security teams visited several areas of the capital and reviewed the situation. Besides this, five trucks full of Saudi Crown Prince's personal amenities also arrived in Islamabad that include his exercise equipment, furniture and other personal belongings. Mohammed bin Salman will likely stay at the Prime Minister's House, however; two of the top hotels in Islamabad have been booked fully for members of his staff while two others have been partially booked. The Prince will reach Islamabad on February 16 as a result of an invitation extended to him by Prime Minister Imran Khan. This will be Prince Mohammed s first-ever visit to Pakistan as the crown prince. Meanwhile, former Pakistan army chief and incumbent Commander-In-Chief of Islamic Alliance against Terrorism led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Raheel Sharif on Tuesday called on Prime Minister Khan. The meeting discussed matters pertaining to the regional and international security, and effective measures taken by the coalition for countering terrorism. Prime Minister Imran Khan reiterated his commitment to bring enduring peace and stability in Pakistan while supporting all peace initiatives for regional peace. PM emphasised greater regional cooperation to eradicate violence and extremism. PM appropriated IMCTC charter for its efforts towards counter violent extremism. Mr Sharif assured the PM that the alliance would continue its efforts to eradicate terrorism. Earlier, general Sharif called on Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He apprised Mr Qureshi of the measures that were being taken by the coalition in order to combat terrorism, a statement issued by the Foreign Office read. Moreover, they analysed matters of mutual interest and significance of regional peace and stability. FM Qureshi lauded the efforts of the coalition force to establish peace and stability in the region, the statement added. General Sharif also met Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani at the latter's chambers at the Parliament House. The powerful heir to the oil-rich kingdom is expected to arrive in Pakistan this week. (File Photo) Islamabad: Personal amenities of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have reached Islamabad, ahead of his two-day trip to Pakistan during which investment deals worth billions of dollars are expected to be signed between the two decades-old allies, according to a media report on Monday. The powerful heir to the oil-rich kingdom is expected to arrive in Pakistan this week, but the exact date of his arrival has not been disclosed due to security reasons. The crown prince's belongings, including his exercise equipment and furniture, reached Islamabad in five trucks, the Dawn News reported quoting Saudi Embassy sources. His security team and Saudi media representatives also arrived in the capital ahead of his visit. This will be the first visit of Mohammed as the Crown Prince. He had earlier visited Pakistan as defence minister at the start of the Yemen conflict. While the Prince himself is expected to stay at the Prime Minister House, two of the top hotels in Islamabad have been booked fully for members of his staff, while two others hotels have been partially booked. The crown prince is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Imran Khan and other senior civil and military leaders. Defence, trade and energy security are expected to be high on the agenda when Mohammed bin Salman holds talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (File Photo) New Delhi: Defence, trade and energy security are expected to be high on the agenda when Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman holds talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his two-day visit to India next week. Accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising ministers, senior officials and leading Saudi businessmen, Prince Salman will arrive India on February 19 on his maiden trip to the country, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement here. During the visit, the Crown Prince will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on wide range of issues of mutual interest. He will also call on President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu. The visit by Prince Salman, who is also the vice president of Saudi Arabia's council of ministers, follows the highly successful trip of Prime Minister Modi to that country in April 2016, during which the two sides agreed to further elevate existing strategic partnership, the MEA said. In recent years, there has been significant progress in bilateral cooperation in key areas of mutual interest, including energy security, trade and investment, infrastructure, defence and security, it said. The bilateral trade was USD 27.48 billion during the last financial year 2017-18, making Saudi Arabia India's fourth largest trading partner. Saudi Arabia contributes significantly to India's energy security needs by supplying about 20 per cent of crude requirements of the country. Recently, Saudi ARAMCO in partnership with ADNOC of the UAE entered into a Joint Venture for USD 44-billion worth Ratnagiri Refinery and Petro-Chemical project Ltd. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also facilitates Hajj pilgrimage to over 1,75,000 Indians every year. Director Alfonso Cuaron poses with daughter Tess Bu Cuaron for photographers backstage with his Best Film and Best Director Award for his film Roma at the BAFTA awards in London on Sunday. AP London: Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarons semi-autobiographical black-and-white drama, Roma, and Yorgos Lanthimos' dark comedy, The Favourite, emerged as big winners at the 72nd edition of the BAFTA Awards. The Favourite, which had 12 nominations, dominated the ceremony with seven wins, including for leading actress (Olivia Colman), supporting actress (Rachel Weisz) and outstanding British film. Roma, Curaon's memoir of childhood set in 1970s Mexico City, claimed the top prize of best film, alongside director and cinematography honours. Roma also won the BAFTA for film not in the English language. Cuaron thanked Netflix for having the faith and courage to get behind a black-and-white film about a domestic worker, subtitled from Spanish, and bring it to audiences around the world. To see a film about an indigenous domestic worker embraced this way in an age when fear and anger propose to divide us means the world to me. Reverting back to a world of separation and isolation is not a solution to anything. It is simply an excuse to hide our fear within our basest instincts. Colman, who won best actress for her role as Queen Anne in The Favourite, drew some of the biggest laughs and applause of the ceremony from the audience for her speech. She started by thanking All the producers. We're having an amazing night aren't we? Were going to get so pissed later. The actor went on to thank her co-stars Weisz and Emma Stone, calling them the coolest honour guard anyone could have. Colman said they were all leads and it was weird only one of them could be nominated for lead. This is for all three of us. It's got my name on it but we can scratch in some other names, she said. Weisz, who claimed the best supporting actress trophy, defeated co-star Stone, Amy Adams (Vice), Claire Foy (First Man) and Margot Robbie (Mary Queen of Scots) in the category. I had the most extraordinary luck in that I played opposite two of the most glorious women: Olivia Colman and Emma Stone, she said following her maiden BAFTA win. First-time nominee Rami Malek took home the best actor award for his portrayal of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. Malek thanked Mercury, who he called the greatest outsider of them for being unwavering, unflinching and uncompromising in every way. The film also won the award for best sound. Mahershala Ali nabbed the best supporting actor trophy for Peter Farrelly's Green Book. The British premier is set to meet European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker again before the end of month. London: The British government is seeking to win more time to secure EU concessions on Brexit that could pass parliament and avert a chaotic split from the bloc on March 29. Businesses and governments are on edge because Britain is just weeks away from its scheduled departure from the European project after 46 years and still has no firm arrangements in place. The UK parliament last month roundly rejected a Brexit deal Prime Minister Theresa May had sealed with the remaining 27 EU leaders. MPs are set to vote again on Britain's Brexit options on February 14. But a member of May's cabinet pledged on Sunday to give parliament a further ballot two weeks later a measure meant to give the premier more time for talks with the EU. Her meetings in Brussels on Thursday made no breakthrough and fears of a no-deal scenario that gridlocks trade are running high. Mays housing minister James Brokenshire insisted on Monday that the government had a clear strategy and timeline aimed at getting an agreement that Britain's splintered parliament can pass. What gives certainty is a deal, and that's why we want to see people getting behind us, getting behind this process that we now have, Brokenshire told the BBC. He pledged to give parliament a fresh vote on Britain's options by February 27 if May does not come back with new concessions before then. In the vote this week lawmakers are set to have their say on amendments that could limit May's options and give parliament a broader say over the Brexit process. Brokenshire's promise of another vote two weeks later is designed to discourage lawmakers from binding the government's hands this week. It is also meant to postpone a revolt by cabinet ministers who want to take a no-deal Brexit off the table for good. The opposition Labour party has denounced May's strategy as time-wasting. We shouldn't be put in a position where the clock is run down and the prime minister says it's either my deal or even worse, Labour's Brexit pointman Keir Starmer told The Sunday Times. In a letter to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, May opposed his party's appeal for the country to remain in a customs union with Brussels. But in efforts to build cross-party support for a deal, she offered flexibility on Corbyn's calls to keep up with EU measures to protect the workers' rights, asking for further talks with Labour as soon as possible. The metropolitan that is Gaborone was a launch pad for one of the most creative recording artist, DJ, record producer and businessman namely Oscar Bonginkosi Mdlongwa popularly known as Oskido. Long before he became one of the most sought after and highly successful creative that he is today, he used to practice his craft in the streets of Gaborone. Last Friday, he shared with an audience at the Yarona FM Music Awards workshop held at Masa Hotel his humble beginnings in the music industry, and his journey in this cut throat industry. According to Oskido, his love for music dates back to the eighties. For him, he says that it was about passion and unlike some artists, it was not for reasons such as scoring points with girls, and other reasons. He narrates that in the late 80s, he watched the Beat Street movie, and it was then that he told himself that he would like to emulate the characters in the movie; to one day go into boardrooms, striking deals.In 1989, his life changed when he came upon house music. The music was not easily available, but was popular in taverns. A friend came up with this idea that they needed to come to Botswana, and that the music would be a hit this side. That is how his career started. He shares that they would hire equipment, and started playing the music in places such as Gaborone and Francistown. Botswana became the forefront of the movement of house music, he explains. It was about that when he met with Skizo. They would play in Gaborone and travel to Francistown. He notes that at one of the gigs in Francistown, a young boy came over with 4 or 5 records, and he started to touch their turntables. This young fascinated boy was later given a chance, and it turned out that it was none other than DJ Fresh. At that time, they were playing songs by artists such as Maxi Priest, Aaliyah, and Shabba Ranks. The public was hungry for this type of music, and they wanted access to it but it was not easily available. While working at Razzmatazz club, he started reproducing the music for one record label. Soon, he realised that the people who were selling the music were just like him, DJs. His cassettes were also big, and back then he was trading under the name Oscar the Big O, and was later called Oscar wa rona. The company later changed names to Kalawa Jazmee when (it joined hands with Trompies label, Jazmee). Always curious, he notes that an encounter with Don Laka changed his fortunes. Laka had a studio at home, and they decided to establish Kalawa Records, one of the record labels that has produced the most successful South African artists. The name Kalawa comes from the last two letters of their surnames. At the time Oskido often used Warona. The other founder of Kalawa is DJ Christos Katsaitis, who left the company in 1995. One of their first projects was Boom Shaka. The musical outfit released Its about time in 1993. This was during the era of bubble gum music, he explains, noting that it was not easy breaking through in the music industry. One of the record companies that they knocked on was EMI. After waiting for five hours, they were informed that their music would not work. They told us that we should throw away the music. But we believed in it, he says. He also notes that him, and Christos had already tested the music, and they had seen how the audience responded to it. We were playing it in the underground scene, and we knew that it was working, he explains. And so they decided that they would press the cassettes themselves. Despite threats from those who were controlling the music industry, he says that they soldiered on. The next step was to approach the Indian business people who were willing to sell the cassettes on their behalf. As for marketing the music, they ventured into university campuses, as well as taxi ranks. Soon their fortunes started to change, and the demand for their music grew. In 1994, the musical landscape started changing, and they were already working on the next artist. Prior to this, EMI called them for a meeting. Instead of giving them the middle finger, they decided to attend the meeting. Arriving at the meeting, they found a director of the company from abroad who wanted to sign them. They flatly refused the deal, which entailed royalties, marketing, and packaging. This, he says was something that they had been doing themselves, and it was nothing new for them. We told them to take out marketing as we had been doing that without radio. Royalties, we knew how to calculate them, and we didnt want that, he says. He also says as a team they realised that because their demand was high, they were eating into their profits when it came to distribution. For example, they would send a driver to come and deliver music to Botswana, and this would reduce their profits. That is how they became the first company in South Africa to sign a distribution deal with EMI. EMI got 20% and we got 80%, says Oskido. He also shared with the audience that in life when one door closes, they are opening a bigger door for you. He further advised that those who have a strong belief in something, should go for it. Quizzed on how he has remained relevant through the years, he says that he has mastered the ability to change. While working on one project, he says that the company was already thinking about their next project. For example, when Boom Shaka was riding high, they were picked up by Bongo Maffin, followed by Mafikizolo. You always have to be thinking about Plan B, says Oskido. He further says that they signed Black Motion, Maphorisa, Dr Malinga, and Uhuru as a combo, and started grooming them. With all this success, he explains that he strongly believes that the more one gives, the more God gives them. One of the people that he mentored, and showed him the ropes was none other Dj Tira. Today, Tira is trending, and his creation Gqom is setting ablaze clubs everywhere. Success must be measured by how people you have picked or helped are doing, he explains. Others that he has helped include Dj Black Coffee. The DJ who is one of the most successful DJ in the region playing at top venues across the world started off by always bothering Oskido. He went as far as following Oskido to his house, and the rest is history. The data leak, which included people's HIV status, names and addresses, has provoked an outcry, especially among the LGBT community and NGOs involved in the fight against AIDS. Singapore: Singapore vowed Tuesday it will bring back and prosecute an American man accused of leaking data on thousands of people with HIV, after the breach caused widespread anger. The health ministry announced last month that confidential information of 14,200 people diagnosed with the virus that causes AIDS had been dumped online, with foreigners a majority of those affected. Mikhy Farrera Brochez, an HIV-positive man who used to live in the city-state, is believed to have obtained the information from his Singaporean doctor partner, who had access to the ministry's HIV Registry. The data leak, which included people's HIV status, names and addresses, has provoked an outcry, especially among the LGBT community and NGOs involved in the fight against AIDS. Speaking in parliament Tuesday, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong described the release of the data as a reprehensible act and promised authorities will do all they can to bring him back to the city-state. Brochez is currently under police investigation for various offences, Gan said. The police are engaging their American counterparts and are seeking their assistance in the investigations against Brochez. The police will spare no effort pursuing all avenues to bring Brochez to justice.Singapore and the United States have an extradition treaty. Brochez was jailed in Singapore in 2016 for lying about his HIV status, drug-related offences and fraud. He was released and deported back to the US in 2018 after serving his sentence. Local media have traced his latest whereabouts to Clark County in Kentucky. Caracas: Venezuelas office of financial accountability says it has opened an investigation into opposition leader Juan Guaidos income. The agencys chief, Elvis Amoroso, said Monday that Guaido, who has been recognized as Venezuela's interim president by around 50 countries, allegedly ... received money from international and national bodies without any justification. Amoroso, an official close to the regime of President Nicolas Maduro, whom Guaido is trying to dislodge, said the parliament speaker is suspected of having hidden or falsified data in his declaration of assets. If found guilty by the state Comptroller, Guaido could face either a fine or be disqualified from public office. A lawyer said the public prosecutor could also open a criminal case against Guaido if it's decided that any of the accusations against him constitute a crime. The news came as Guaido steps up his challenge to Maduros authority with their power struggle playing out over the issue of humanitarian aid. Maduro has overseen an economic meltdown in Venezuela, where millions are suffering from a lack of basic necessities and failing public services. US lawmakers, Democrats and some of Trump's fellow Republicans, have sought a strong response by Washington to Khashoggi's murder. (File Photo) Washington/Budapest: The United States is still probing the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said today, as US lawmakers continued to demand stronger US action to punish the perpetrators. "America is not covering up for a murder," Mr Pompeo said during a visit to Hungary, adding that the United States would take more action to hold accountable all those responsible for the US-based journalist's death inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October. After initially denying his death, Saudi Arabia has confirmed that its agents killed Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the Saudi government. Riyadh denies its senior leaders were behind the killing. US lawmakers, Democrats and some of Trump's fellow Republicans, have sought a strong response by Washington to Khashoggi's murder and to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The Trump administration had faced a February 8 deadline to send a report to Congress on who was responsible for Khashoggi's death and whether the US government would impose sanctions on those behind the killing. Ahead of the deadline, a group of Republican and Democratic senators on Thursday renewed their push to penalize Saudi Arabia, unveiling legislation to bar some arms sales and impose sanctions. President Donald Trump has resisted such legislative efforts, viewing weapons sales as an important source of US jobs and standing by Saudi crown prince and Trump's ally, Mohammed bin Salman. Trump is also reluctant to disturb the strategic relationship with the kingdom, seen as an important regional counterbalance to Iran. Eleven suspects have been indicted in Saudi Arabia for Khashoggi's murder, and on Friday a top Saudi official rejected accusations that the crown prince ordered the killing. On Friday, a State Department representative said Pompeo had briefed US lawmakers on the murder investigation but gave no other details. Democratic US Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, on Sunday said the required report was not submitted and accused the Trump administration of complicity in covering up the killing. "This amounts to the Trump administration aiding in the cover-up of a murder," Kaine said in a statement. "America should never descend to this level of moral bankruptcy." Senator and Democrat Amy Klobuchar greets supporters with her husband John Bessler (L) and her daughter Abigail Bessler (R) after announcing her presidential bid at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis, Minnesota. AFP Washington: Senator Amy Klobuchar on Monday officially joined a crowded field of Democrats vying to challenge President Donald Trump in 2020 already shaping up to be one of the largest and most diverse ever. Klobuchar is now party of a group of White House hopefuls that includes other high-flying female US senators, charismatic veterans and a young gay mayor. And it is likely to grow before the US primary season gets underway a year from now. Here are some of first entrants in the presidential race, 21 months before the election. Amy Klobuchar: The 58-year-old granddaughter of an iron miner, Klobuchar is a former prosecutor with an unpretentious demeanor. She has quietly gained attention in Washington as a centrist. Klobuchar is known for putting partisanship aside to pass legislation. Elizabeth Warren: At 69, the US Senate's consumer protection champion from Massachusetts became the first high-profile Democrat to enter the race when she announced a presidential exploratory committee on December 31. Warren is on the party's left flank, and built her reputation by holding Wall Street accountable for its missteps. Kirsten Gillibrand: This New York senator made a name fighting the battle to end sexual assault, especially in military, before the #MeToo movement gained national prominence. The 52-year-old is a fierce Trump critic. Kamala Harris: The daughter of Indian immigrant medical researcher mother and a Jamaican economist father, Harris, 54, began her career as a district attorney in San Francisco before serving as California's attorney general. Barring the latest funding, San Francisco, California-based Reddit has raised more than $250 million in three other funding rounds. Social media network Reddit Inc said on Monday it raised $300 million in its latest funding round, led by Tencent Holdings Ltd, giving it a market valuation of $3 billion. The series D funding round saw a $150 million investment from Tencent and the companys former investors, including Sequoia, Fidelity, Tacit and Snoop Dogg. The investment from a China-based company, news of which started making the rounds around five days ago, quickly ignited censorship fears on Reddit, which calls itself the "front page of the internet." Reddit is banned in China under the country's censorship laws. Barring the latest funding, San Francisco, California-based Reddit has raised more than $250 million in three other funding rounds. Its last funding was on Aug. 1, at a valuation of around $1.8 billion. The company has over 20 investors, including Advance Publications, which owns Conde Nast, Reddits one-time parent company. The company recently faced a user data breach where a hacker broke into its systems and accessed data, including current email addresses and a 2007 database backup containing old encrypted passwords. However, Reddit largely shrugged it off, saying the attacker gained read-only access to some systems that contained the backup data. Reddit has more than 330 million average monthly active users, with 14 billion screenviews per month, as of Nov. 12, 2017, it said on its website. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. A much-hyped network upgrade called 5G means different things to different people. To industry proponents, its the next huge innovation in wireless internet. To the US government, its the backbone technology of a future that America will wrestle with China to control. To many average people, its simply a mystery. The technology is one of the issues expected to take centre stage at the MWC mobile conference in Barcelona, Spain, this month. The interest goes well beyond engineers: In Washington, there are fears that China could take the lead in developing the technology and sell equipment that could be used to spy on Americans. What, exactly, is 5G wireless and will you even notice when it comes online? WHAT IS 5G? 5G is a new technical standard for wireless networks the fifth, naturally that promises faster speeds; less lag, or latency, when connecting to the network; and the ability to connect many devices to the internet without bogging it down. 5G networks will ideally be better able to handle more users, lots of sensors and heavy traffic. Before we can all use it, wireless companies and phone makers have to upgrade. Phones need new chips and radio antennas. The phone you have today wont work with a 5G network. Wireless companies have been getting ready. Theyve been revamping their network equipment, buying up chunks of radio spectrum for carrying 5G signals, and installing new 5G antennas on cellphone towers, utility poles and streetlights. Wireless providers will invest USD 275 billion in 5G-related networks in the US, according to CTIA, an industry trade group. WHEN WILL IT BE AVAILABLE? A true US mobile rollout will start in 2019. It will take a few years to go national, and even then more rural areas of the country will not be covered in the millimetre wave frequencies that promise the highest data speeds and capacities, said Michael Thelander, CEO of wireless consultancy Signals Research Group. Thelander predicts that China may lag the US by a year in its initial rollout, but will ultimately have the biggest deployment, while European countries will build out more slowly. Beware of confusion, though. Wireless carriers have a history of rushing to slap the latest-and-greatest label on their networks, and this time is no different. AT&T has already applied the name 5G on a service thats not really 5G. (Sprint, upset, then sued its larger rival.) Once the network is ready, youll need a 5G-enabled phone to connect to it. The first ones should be available in the first half of 2019, but a 5G iPhone isnt expected until 2020. 5G phones will most likely be more expensive than current 4G phones. Dont worry, even when 5G turns on, you can keep using 4G phones, just not at 5G speeds. WHAT CAN 5G DO? Theres a considerable amount of hype over the promise of 5G. Industry groups say it will promote smart cities by connecting sensor networks that could manage traffic and quickly identify streetlight outages. 5G could connect self-driving cars and fuel new applications in virtual and augmented reality. Its high-speed connections could enable better remote surgery and other telemedicine, help companies automate their factories and offer businesses dedicated high-speed internet lanes. 5G speeds, and ever-faster home broadband will mean that existing applications will get richer, and also that new applications will emerge new Flickrs, YouTubes or Snapchats. We dont know what yet, Benedict Evans, a partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, wrote in a January blog post. The most immediate impact on consumers will be faster download speeds for movies and another video. Thelander says your phones internet will work better in crowded locations such as stadiums. WHAT ARE THE SECURITY CONCERNS? The 5G network is one front in rising tensions between the US and China. The US government has warned US companies not to use Chinese telecom technology in communications networks due to security concerns and is pressing other countries to ban Huawei, a Chinese telecom company, from 5G network buildouts. US officials have suspected for years that the Chinese government could use Huawei network equipment to help it, spy. Huawei has rejected such accusations. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Yous protagonist, Joe, showed just how easy it can be to track someone via a stolen device. (Photo: Netflix) Netflixs hit series You has got people discussing their online privacy and traceability. However, McAfee, the device-to-cloud cybersecurity company, discovered less than a fifth (17per cent) of Brits who lost or had their phone stolen (43per cent) made any attempt to prevent criminals from accessing data stored on the device or in the cloud. Only 17per cent said they remotely locked or changed passwords and a mere 12per cent remotely erased data from the lost or stolen device to prevent it from getting into the wrong hands. Yous protagonist, Joe, showed just how easy it can be to track someone via a stolen device still connected to the cloud and McAfee warns this is a stark reminder to change passwords, lock, and wipe a phone the moment it goes missing. In the show, this residual connectivity resulted in Joe tracking Becks live location and gaining access to her social media accounts and private messages. More than a quarter (26per cent) of Brits have had their social media and emails hacked, with one in 10 stating that an ex has logged into their accounts without permission. And less than half of Brits (44per cent) set their social media profiles to private to help avoid prying eyes. Yet, more than a third (36per cent) of people reported being concerned that images and information taken from their social media could be used against them, i.e. to intimidate or blackmail. Chief Scientist and McAfee Fellow, Raj Samani comments: Every day, people leave streams of information about themselves online without considering the risks of their digital footprint. Our research discovered that 60per cent of people disclose their location in some form when posting online, for example tagging the restaurant they are at on Instagram Stories. Even more concerning is that 15per cent has posted photos of the front of their house to social media. If this information gets into the wrong hands, it can be used to paint a detailed picture of someone and offer direct access into their lives. Although You is thankfully a fictional show, it served to highlight how information we share online can have scary repercussions if it ends up in the hands of criminals. With Valentines Day just around the corner, are we all at it? McAfees study revealed more than three quarters (76per cent) of Brits trawl through social media to find out more about people they are interested in. And if the first social media account they head to is private, more than half (53per cent) will search for another account to see if they can get access to information or updates. Brits also seem to be taking inspiration from Ariana Grande and saying, thank u, next, to their ex-partner. Respondents were twice as likely to look up someone they are romantically interested in more than once a week than their ex. That said, the findings showed men are three times more inclined to look up exes (16per cent) than their female counterparts (6per cent). People often find out more than they bargained for, with 15per cent saying they discovered where someone lived by looking them up online. Perhaps this is not entirely surprising, considering 15per cent of people has posted a picture of the front of their house online. Unfortunately, all this online searching can cause heartbreak too, as one in 10 (10per cent) Brits discovered someone was cheating on them and 16per cent discovered their ex had a new partner. Despite Instagrams growing popularity, Facebook is still the most popular way to look up an ex (53per cent) or romantic interest (63per cent), making it more than twice as popular as Instagram. Raj Samani added: Online dating has become the norm and its wise to attempt to verify a love interests identity before meeting them in a public place. Knowing this though, social media users need to consider what and how much information theyre sharing. Restricting whos able to view personal information, such as your date of birth, will help ensure that only people you know and trust are able to access details which can put your identity at risk and be used by cybercriminals to conduct fraudulent activity. Tips from McAfee about how to protect your information online: Watch out for geo-tagging. Many social networks will tag a users location when uploading a photo, as well as offering users the option to tag their location when posting. You should ensure this feature is turned off to avoid disclosing your location to criminals or people you would not want to know your whereabouts. Dont overshare on social media. Oversharing online can paint a picture of us very quickly. Keep sensitive data such as your date of birth, address, job, or names of family members private. Also, rethink whether you really want your relationship status made public. Sharing is not always caring. Only share photos and other social media posts with your intended audience. If you have blocked an individual, make sure they stay out of your social media feeds. Services like Facebook and Instagram have features that allow posts to be viewed only by confirmed connections. Check your privacy settings regularly, as they often change. Be careful who you befriend online. Only accept friend requests from people you know in real life. Often hackers or criminals will send requests so they can see the information you are sharing to help them in access to your private information. Set up unique logins for each app you are using. Setting up a different password for each app or account you use is a great way to protect yourself and your data online. If you no longer use a social media account, delete your information and deactivate your account Survey Methodology McAfee commissioned CensusWide to conduct a survey of 1,006 adults between the ages of 18-60 in the UK, into their habits when searching for people online and protecting their own data. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Three veteran investors -- Revathy Ashok, Ravi Kaushik and Shivam Shah explained the art and science of early stage investing to High Net-worth Individuals (HNIs) and potential investors in the stage. Twenty startups fifteen based in Kerala wooed a galaxy of seasoned angel investors from all over India, during the 3rd Seeding Kerala event in Kochi last week. They made their pitch at a day-long event organized by the Kerala State Startup Mission (KSUM), partnering Indias largest online investment platform, Lets Venture and the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDSC). But somewhat unusually for such investor melas, the Kochi get together, which one visiting investor called a speed dating session, had as its centrepiece a two-hour long master class where three veteran investors -- Revathy Ashok, Ravi Kaushik and Shivam Shah explained the art and science of early-stage investing to High Net-worth Individuals (HNIs) and potential investors in the stage. Potential investors were served a dose of reality by Ms Ashok who anchored the master class: This is a game of building, not just picking Winners. Be prepared to wait of 5-8 years before you can find an exit. But in Kochi yesterday, the over-100 investors did not have exits so much on their minds but an entry, hopefully profitable, into the states young, new startup ecosystem. Four funds in play: It is the first time we are trying to motivate Keralas own investors, explained the states IT Secretary M Sivasankar, Over three investor meets, we have seen sharply increased interest in the investor ecosystem in funding Kerala startups. When we first created 50:50 funds, with the state contributing equal share with investor consortia, we never expected this level of enthusiasm. Currently, Kerala had four startup funds in play, contributing a corpus of Rs 15 crores each, but investors have committed multiple times this amount taking the four funds to a total of over Rs 1000 crores. Unicorn India Ventures, Exseed Electron Fund, Indian Angel Network and Speciale Incept Fund are the financial entities the government has selected in response to a tender floated recently. Among the four, Exseed will invest solely in startups based in the fields of space and IT, Mr Sivasankar said. The state will also encourage funds for startups working in the sectors of cancer treatment and disaster management, he added. The state had expertise in fields like Space science thanks to a large group of experts flowing from ISRO and other Kerala based aerospace institutions and this is seeing significant startup traction KSUM CEO Dr Saji Gopinath said the selection of the four funds would help the state tide over its problem of insufficient funds. Startups anyway required decentralised operations, he added. Investment horizon 2019 What are the top trends investors should be aware of in 2019? Sanjay Jha, founder of online investment platform, Let's Venture, listed them at the 3rd Startup investor meet organised by the Kerala State Startup Mission in Kochi: 1. Get set for deep techs like AI and machine learning, across most sectors 2. In Financial technology, Insurance and Wealth Management look promising 3. Baby's Day Out! In consumer brands, baby products are an opportunity 4. Social + Commerce is the hot new combo 5.Cloud for SMEs and enterprise, a hardy annual. --IndiaTechOnline Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. The university will determine its own research topics and Ripple, which provides digital commerce services. A Silicon Valley company has donated USD 2 million to the University of Kansas to support research related to cryptocurrency and digital payments, such as Bitcoin. The university says in a news release that the donation from Ripple will provide USD 400,000 each year for five years. It will go to the Information and Telecommunication Technology Center at the Kansas School of Engineering. The university will determine its own research topics and Ripple, which provides digital commerce services, will collaborate with students and faculty and provide technical resources and expertise. The gift also will support the KU Blockchain Institute, a student-led organisation that promotes the use of blockchain technology. The blockchain is a digital record that is often used to track the use of cryptocurrency or digital money. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. The laptops will be customised to cater to the varied requirements across sectors. Coconics, a recently launched public-private laptop and server manufacturing company unveiled its first range of laptops. The range includes three models and aimed at government, enterprise and educational institutions. The laptops will be customised to cater to the varied requirements across sectors. The three laptop models introduced by Coconics include CC11B, CC11A and C314A. CC11B is an 11-inch tablet cum notebook, with a metallic casing and trendy look. This model is easy to carry around and specifically designed for frequent travellers. CC11A is an 11-inch lightweight laptop, designed specifically for the students. C314A is a drop and water resistant, 14-inch laptop specifically designed for businesses. All the laptop models have a long battery back-up of 8 hours. Coconics is Indias newest local OEM (original equipment manufacturer)/ODM (original design manufacturer), incubated by UST Global, Keltron, KSIDC and Acceleron labs (an Intel India Maker Lab accelerated startup) backed by Government of Kerala, through its business-friendly industrial policy. The company is formed with the guidance and support of Intel to manufacture IT products in India. Coconics expects its products to be available for distribution by Q2 2019 and will be priced competitively. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Faced with the decline of hard copy music distribution, the likes of CDs and their predecessors, the music recording industry is compelled to shift their traditional way of doing business contracts into what they have dubbed 360 deals, entailing a more intimate relation between record labels and artists. Oscar Bonginkosi Mdlongwa, popularly known as Oskido shared this information at the just ended YARONA FM Music Awards Artist Workshop held over the past week. Oskido was addressing a question from K Bos, born Kabelo Motlhatlhedi of HeartBeat Sounds who wanted to know how Oskido and his partners were managing to stay afloat amid a decline in physical sales. A 360 deal, according to Wikipedia, is a business relationship between an artist and a music industry company. The company, says Wikipedia, agrees to provide financial and other support for the artist including direct advances as well as backing in marketing, promotion, touring and other areas. In turn, the artist agrees to give the company a percentage of an increased number of their revenue streams, often including sales of recorded music, live performances, publishing and more. The website points out that during the first decade of the 21st century, revenues from recorded music fell dramatically and the profit margins traditionally associated with the record industry disappeared. The 360 deal reflects the fact that much of a musicians income now comes from sources other than recorded music, such as live performance and merchandise, it says. Elaborating further, Oskido highlights that the biggest chunk of money is now coming from performances, and that record labels want a share of that too. He says that as a company, they are doing almost everything for an artist including producing music video, marketing and more. And that the more the record gets popular, the music is downloaded online, and this translates into many bookings for an artist. The new contracts are making up for the physical sales decline, he says adding that they are getting close to 80% of their revenue from caller tunes. A song can have different revenue streams, he explains. Speaking in an interview with this publication on Tuesday, Seabelo Modibe, the Coordinator of the Botswana International Music Conference explains that in the past, contracts only looked at sales only, but that today the business model has changed ten folds. He explains that the digital migration has changed the landscape. Quizzed on whether local artist have embraced or are any where closer to leaning towards this new model he said this was presently not the case. He also points out that while other artists outside the country have different streams of income, the same cant be said about locals. Most, he says, are leaning heavily on government as a talent buyer. The industry is not thriving, he says. He further says that this was a different scenario in South Africa where for example some of their top festivals are owned by artists such as Black Coffee and Shimza. Artists must take responsibility for their careers instead of acting the role of arm chair critics, he calls. For his part, Massie Hule of So Hype Records points out that his company has long embraced this business model. He notes that they started as far back as 2008/09. He says that they split everything 50/50. Today, an artist has different streams of income including merchandise, royalty, tours, and endorsement, he explains. He also notes that they took this route amid the realisation that it is expensive to record an album. This is an incentive for record labels,says Hule, noting the model is embraced by all parties involved. The use of the National Security Act against five persons for alleged acts flouting laws protecting cattle in Madhya Pradesh is unwarranted. This is a brazen appeal to vote banks ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. The government in the state may have changed after the last Assembly polls, but little seems changed over cow-related issues. Such arrestsdetentions without bail using draconian anti-terror laws are, prima facie, undemocratic. The severity of any crime may be decided at the superintendent of police level, but the chief minister of the Congress, which made such a hue and cry over cow issues in the past few years and in the run-up to the Assembly polls, was silent about it. Silence is strange from a suave industrialist-politician who can't be unaware of the double standards involved. The BJP, the ruling party at the Centre, was never shy of disseminating its love for the cow as a key part of India's culture and vital element our rural economy, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself said on Monday. It's a moot point if this view, reflecting that of the majority, should extend to such forms of extreme protection as cow vigilantism. MP is a state where cow slaughter is banned, which means it can act to protect the animal. It's the excesses in terms of arresting those who transport cattle even for legitimate purposes that riles people who may see it as the imposition of majoritarian views. India's historical dependence on preventive detention, used freely in the 70-odd post-Independence years to curb political dissent, can't be a tool with which to beat offenders against cow protection laws too. Hyderabad: Strongly believing that the emotional bonding of the people of Andhra Pradesh with Telanganas capital of Hyderabad would play a crucial role in the ensuing parliamentary and Assembly elections in AP, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti leadership has decided to extend support to the main opposition party in AP, the YSR Congress. The party leadership, after apparently consulting with a cross section of people from Andhra Pradesh and also collecting inputs from other sources, decided to hold talks with YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for the proposed Federal Front at the national level. Soon after YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy and TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao met at Lotus Pond on January 16. Telugu Desam leaders in Andhra Pradesh accused YSRC chief of sacrificing Andhra pride before Telangana state Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao just so he could fulfil his ambition of becoming the Chief Minister of AP, and also for the money. The TD has intensified these att0acks on its main Opposition party since then. The TRS chief then sought inputs from various sources of the possible repercussions of supporting the YSR Congress. Sources in the party say the reaction has been positive, and that the emotional bonding between the AP people and Hyderabad would trump regional sentiment. TRS sources say that the feedback from people of AP shows that any strain on relations with Hyderabad will have an adverse impact on the younger generation of Andhraites who are studying or working in Hyderabad. . TRS leaders claim that Mr Rama Rao appeals to AP citizens, and that in the 2018 Assembly elections, he and his father conveyed their fondness for AP citizens, which is why the TRS won in the Hyderabad constituencies of Kukatpally, Sanathnagar, and Serilingampally where people of AP are greater in number. Mr Rama Rao has become a bridge between people of AP and the TRS. Hence, it makes sense for the Chief Minister to make common cause with Jagan Mohan Reddy. Chennai: Averring that the State government is taking appropriate steps to prevent the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh from constructing 30 new check dams across the Palar river, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has said his government will not compromise on States rights on the issue. Andhra Pradesh, he said has been asked not to take up the construction of the check dams without the consent of Tamil Nadu based on the 1892 Madras-Mysore Agreement. Stating that as per the 1982 agreement no check dams or diversion of river water should take place without the consent of the lower riparian States situated on the east, as Palar was a common river and belonged to all the States. Raising the issue in the Assembly House on Tuesday, the DMK and Congress Contended that the move by Andhra Pradesh to construct the new check-dams across Palar would affect parts of Tamil Nadu, including Vellore. After coming across reports of Andhra Pradeshs proposal to construct 30 new check-dams across Palar, a communication has been sent to its Water Resources Department, saying no sanction should be given for the same, he said. The Tamil Nadu government was disappointed that there was no reply from the AP government or the Union Water Resource Ministry, till date. Hence the State government moved the Supreme Court in 2016 to implead them. Mr. Palaniswami assured that his government was dealing with the issue carefully and was taking all steps to assert Tamil Nadus rights on the Palar river. The bench set aside the circular which enabled the police to invoke the PD Act. Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court expressed its anger over Telangana state police officials invoking Preventive Detention cases violating the rules. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice A. Rajasekhar Reddy while pronouncing the orders on a petition challenging the invoking of the PD Act on the person who was accused only in one case, was furious. The bench set aside the circular which enabled the police to invoke the PD Act. The bench said that the provision of the PD Act should apply to habitual offenders, not people who have only one case. The court also was furious with police personnel over brutally beating the detenue. The detenue S. Vinay Kumar was booked under Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, at Madhapur police station. The Cyberabad Police Commissionarate invoked the PD Act and detained him in Charlapally Jail. Aggrieved by that, his brother approached the High Court. As soon as Samajwadi Party members came to know about their national president, they tried to raise the matter during Question Hour in the assembly. (Photo:Twitter) Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday claimed he was stopped at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad University. Also Read: Akhilesh Yadav stopped at Lucknow airport, UP CM gives clarification The government is afraid of oath ceremony of a student leader and is stopping me at the airport to prevent me from visiting Allahabad, Yadav claimed. "I was stopped from boarding a flight to Allahabad to attend a students' union programme. I haven't been given a reason why but it seems the general impression was that I would create a law and order problem. Chief Minister has given a statement to this effect but they are using this as a cover to hide their nervousness because our youth have had enough," Yadav said. Yadav said the BJP has lost Uttar Pradesh, "but more than an election, they have lost the faith that the youth of this country reposed in them". He added that the BJP has betrayed the aspirations and hopes of crores of young people in their "blind pursuit" of creating a monochrome India. "This is what I hear from the youth - We are awake. We are aware. And we will never again be fooled by rhetoric that is designed to divide and conquer," Yadav said. "I stand with the youth of Uttar Pradesh and this country, and they stand with me. Today, I ask everyone to come forward and join hands not to win an election but to defeat, and forever stand vigilant against, an ideology that threatens to unravel the beautiful tapestry of our country," he added. He also posted photographs in his official Twitter handle in which he was seen talking to police officers inside the airport. He said he had to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad university. When asked, Airport Director AK Sharma said, I have no such information. The matter rocked the Uttar Pradesh legislature. As soon as Samajwadi Party members came to know about their national president being stopped at the airport, they tried to raise the matter during Question Hour in the assembly. The present regime is trying to kill democracy and stop our leader from visiting Allahabad, SP leader Narendra Verma said. The members also trooped into the Well of the House due to which Speaker Hriday Narain Dixit adjourned the proceedings for 20 minutes during the Question Hour. The matter was also raised in the Legislative Council, leading to the adjournment of the House for 25 minutes during the pre-lunch sitting. PM Modi said, 'those who are part of the 'mahamilavat' are in a competition among themselves to threaten the courts, the CBI and abuse Modi.' (Photo: ANI) Kurukshetra: In an apparent counter attack on Rahul Gandhi for his 'chowkidar chor hai' barb, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said while honest people reposed faith in the chowkidar, it is the corrupt who are feeling troubled because of him. Middlemen and those who loot the rights of poor have been eradicated from the system. Today all honest people have faith in 'chowkidaar', 'lekin jo bhrasht hain unko Modi se kasht hai' (Those who are corrupt have a problem with Modi)", PM Modi said while addressing a 'Swacch Bharat' event here. "Those who are part of the 'mahamilavat' are in a competition among themselves to threaten the courts, the CBI and abuse Modi, the prime minister said alluding to the grand alliance formed by the opposition parties. Hailing Haryana as the place from where he made several key promises and completed them, he said, I am grateful to the land of Haryana. Whatever targets we have set from here have been achieved. After being declared the PM candidate I had started my campaign from Haryana. One rank, one pension was promised from here and we have fulfilled it. "Beti Bachao- Beti Padhao, the scheme of education for daughters was also launched from here and it later spread across the country as a mass movement. The first beneficiary of Ayushman Bharat was also one of Haryanas daughters, the prime minister said. Outlining the Centre's various flagship schemes for women, Modi said , Beti Bachao Beti Padhao has improved the population of girls, our sisters have been freed from smoke( smoke from wood fired stoves) with the Ujjwala scheme. The National Nutrition Campaign and the Prime Minister's Safe Maternity Campaign have reduced the risk for expecting mothers. He further highlighted steps taken by his government for women's empowerment and said, Our government has also made provision for capital punishment for those accused of raping girls. It is also our decision to allot all houses in the name of women in the Prime Ministers Housing Scheme. Maternity Leave has been increased to 26 weeks so that women get adequate time to care for their newborns. "Women entrepreneurs have received about 75 per cent of the 15 crore loan under the Mudra scheme. Under 'Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana', about 60 million women were associated with self-help groups and more than Rs 75 thousand crores loan has been provided to Self Help Groups, Modi said. Sharing details of the Centre's 'Swacch Bharat' mission, the Prime Minister also criticised his opponents for allegedly making fun of him during the conceptual stage of this program. People who were in power previously made fun of the Swachh Bharat programme. However, I am never hurt by taunts of those born with silver spoon, he said. The Prime Minister also stated that the central government is spreading the network of large hospitals in the country and as many as 21 All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences are either working or there construction is in progress. Out of these 14 works on AIIMS started after 2014, said the prime minister. The Prime Minister in his speech also welcomed members of a team from Nigeria who were present in the audience, and who were in the country to learn about the Swachh Bharat mission and replicate it in the African country. The Prime Minister also distributed the Swachh Shakti-2019 awards and inaugurated and laid the foundation of many development projects including Jhajjar's National Cancer Institute, Ayush University, Kurukshetra, Health Science University, Karnal, Panchkula National Institute of Ayurveda, and ESIC Medical College and Hospital in Faridabad. Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress will finalise the list of the candidates for the Lok Sabha elections before February 25 after holding bilateral talks with the UDF allies on February 18. The only Congress candidate who has been given the nod by the KPCC is Konny MLA Adoor Prakash who will contest from Attingal. A meeting of the UDF held here on Tuesday did not discuss the seat-sharing among the allies. While the Kerala Congress (Mani) has demanded two more seats, Muslim League has sought one more. Those who attended the meeting included KC (M) chairman K. M. Mani, vice-chairman P. J. Joseph, former Rajya Sabha MP Joy Abra-ham, Muslim League general secretary K. P. A. Majeed and parliamentary party leader Dr. M. K. Muneer. UDF convener Benny Behanan told reporters that the UDF campaign committee will meet here on February 19. We will complete the bilateral talks with the allies on February 18, he said. The UDF will hold a slew of protests against the LDF governments 1,000 days in office as it has achieved nothing, he said. The UDF opined that Kannur district CPM secretary P. Jayarajan and T. V. Rajesh MLA involved in the Shukoor case should be arrested. It said CPM leader P. K. Kunjananthan implicated in the T. P. Chandras-ekharan murder case has been given undue consideration by the government. It also said adequate compensation has not been given to the Ockhi victims. The newly formed 26-member KPCC election committee will meet in Kochi on Sunday. Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithalas elder son is getting married that day. A still from a video grab shows smoke and flames rising from the hotel after a massive fire broke out at Karol Bagh area in New Delhi on Tuesday (Photo: AP) Hyderabad/Visakhapatnam: Two Telugus, one from Telangana state and another from Andhra Pradesh, were among the 17 people killed in a fire at Hotel Arpit Palace in New Delhi early on Tuesday. E. Chalapathi Raos mortal remains are scheduled to reach his home at Yendada on Wednesday and the cremation could take place on Thursday. His daughter has arrived from Hyderabad while his son is expected from the US on Wednesday evening. A case was registered against the owner of the hotel, under sections including culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The general manager and another employee of the hotel have been arrested and the case has been transferred to the crime branch. A massive fire swept through the four-floor hotel in central Delhis Karol Bagh early on Tuesday, killing at least 17 guests, including a child and two people who jumped off the building to save themselves, officials said. The blaze started on the second floor of the hotel around 3.30 am, trapping many guests who were asleep. There were 53 people in the 45-room hotel, officials said. A call about the fire was received at 4.35 am and 24 fire tenders rushed to the spot, a senior Delhi fire service official said. At least 35 people were injured in the blaze, said Madhur Verma, deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi), adding that one person was still missing. A 43-year-old woman suffered 45 per cent burn injuries, he told reporters, adding that 13 of the bodies had been taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, two to Lady Hardinge Hospital and one to BLK Hospital. A senior civic official said a suspected short circuit could have sparked the fire. While the Delhi government ordered a magisterial probe, home minister Satyendar Jain said he has directed the fire department to inspect buildings which are five-storied or more and submit a report within a week. Union minister K.J. Alphons said the emergency exit of the Arpit Palace hotel was too narrow and also locked. The minister said he was sure that there would be violation of norms. The Union tourism minister said there were a lot of wooden structures inside which may have helped the fire spread. Politicians and policemen have been targeted by the TikTok youth for mocking and trolling in recent months. The youth in Tamil Nadu may soon lose their favourite app, TikTok, as the government seems determined to have it banned. The Centre would be approached for a ban on TikTok, just like how the state government had taken effective steps when people were worried about the threat posed by the Blue Whale app, TN Information Technology Minister N. Manikandan told the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday. The minister was replying to a demand from the Manithaneya Jananayaga Katchi member Thamimun Ansari for a ban on the TikTok app. The Nagapattinam MLA alleged that the app was being used for spreading obscenity and also to create law and order problems. "TikTok offended our culture", he said. Conceding that the ban demand was justified, minister Manikandan said the government would urge the Centre to ban TikTok app, "just as we had taken steps against the Blue Whale app server functioning from Russia". The minister, however, did not specify any time frame for carrying out his promise. While it is debatable if TikTok, which mostly seems a fun thing resorted to by the youth, can be bracketed with the fatal Blue Whale, opinion is divided if the hugely popular app - one estimate is that it has over 500 million users across Asia -should be, and could be, banned. Created by ByteDance, a Chinese Internet technology company, TikTok is mostly used by the youth to upload and view lip-synced music, videos and such other performances - picking up funny scenes from popular movies. The app also has a variety of filters and edit features that make the sync-uploaded videos attractive for the viewers. Politicians and policemen have been targeted by the TikTok youth for mocking and trolling in recent months. There have been some cases of young men being arrested in different parts of TN for posting videos poking fun at the police. And there have been some more serious cases of the app being abused for harming unsuspecting girl students and housewives - for instance, there was a recent case of the Chennai police busting a flesh trade racket that had used morphed pictures of women downloaded from TikTok to lure customers. Last week, the Government Arts College at Salem suspended a few students for uploading a video that showed their Tamil lecturer like the Kollywood comedian Vadivelu. And recently, police in Salem issued advisories to schools and parents to guard against their wards logging on to TikTok after several complaints poured in that pictures of schoolgirls morphed with erotic content was posted on the app. In one tragic case, a youth died recently trying to enact suicide by slitting throat for a TikTok video while another young man had killed himself last October by throwing himself before a train at Vyasarpadi, a Chennai suburb, after friends ridiculed him for his TikTok videos dressed like a woman. Hyderabad: TRS senior MLA and former minister Talasani Srinivas Yadavs son, Saikiran Yadav, has been aspiring for the TRS ticket to contest from the Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat in the ensuing Parliament elections. Saikiran Yadav who completed his masters in Australia became active in politics after his studies and also campaigned for his father in the recent Assembly elections urging the voters to re-elect his father from Sanathnagar segment. Sources in the party disclosed that Mr Srinivas Yadav had reportedly broached the subject about introducing his son into politics with TRS working chief K.T. Rama Rao when he was touring Sanathnagar. Mr Rama Rao reportedly brought this to the notice of the Chief Minister and the party chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao. In turn, Mr Rao is believed to have discussed this with Mr Srinivas Yadav. Sources pointed out that as far as the Secunderabad seat was concerned, the TRS had been in search of a potential candidate as it could not succeed in the 2014 polls and in fact, stood in fourth position with 1.44 lakh votes while Bandaru Dattatreya, the candidate of BJP and the then TD ally won the seat. During the 2014 elections, the TRS fielded T. Bhim Singh, husband of former chief justice of Patna High Court Justice T. Meena Kumari, but this time it has been searching for a formidable leader to bag the seat. TRS leaders pointed out that the TRS had won only one Assembly segment in the Secunderabad Lok Sabha out of seven segments in the last elections. However, TRS leaders are confident of bagging the seat this time as its party candidates won in sex segments while friendly party MIM candidate won in one segment. Also, the decision of the MIM not to contest from the Secunderabad Lok Sabha would be an added advantage for the TRS. A vital document in the HIV response is the National Multisectoral HIV and AIDS Response Strategic Framework 2018 - 2023 which is currently on its third cycle - NSF III. The document serves to guide the national response and is reliant on international and regional frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the, 2016 United Nations Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS which sets out the 2030 agenda meaning that Botswana is intent on using a human-rights based approach, among others in its HIV response. The document is also informed by other frameworks addressing different components of the HIV response such as the, global Strategy for Womens, Childrens and Adolescents Health (2016-2030), the African Union agenda 2063 and the World Health Organisations technical guidance on treatment, care and support, elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV, voluntary medical male circumcision, and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among others. At the core of the document which is close to a hundred pages long is the need toenhance efficiencies through an integrated approach in order to end AIDS as a public threat by the year 2030. Dr. Boga Fidzani, a Demographer at the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships (ACHAP) who is also the Executive Officer for Programmes says the NSF III springboards off the SDGs for setting targets at national level because, this ensures synchronisation with global commitments associated with fighting the AIDS epidemic and associated socioeconomic challenges. Fidzani further explains that the policy is a roadmap that keeps targets on track and in check. The old saying if you dont know where you are going any road will take you there is still relevant, he says. Outlined in the NSF III are key institutions identified to lead the local HIV response such as the National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA) which is tasked with among other activities overseeing the coordination and management of the NSF III including the financial resource mobilisation and allocation. The Ministry of Health and Wellness has responsibilities including managing, implementing and strengthening the health sector HIV response. The Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs has to strengthen its leadership role in advocating for HIV and AIDS relevant policies and legislation addressing key sectors and populations (labour, women, immigration (non-citizens) and prisons. Other government ministries are also allocated specific tasks but all have the overall role of developing workplace interventions and conducting relevant HIV research. Fidzani expands on the issue of non-citizens and advocates for their inclusion in the national HIV response and other relating HIV interventions and access to such HIV services. He points out that Botswana is a destination of choice for immigrants from neighboring Zimbabwe as well as other countries and despite the arguments that laws do not permit free access to health services for this group that have been submitted and have won the day it is in fact self-defeating from a public health perspective to exclude non-citizens as they might end up being the key drivers of the epidemic as long as they live among and interact with citizens. Another critical aspect to the HIV response is data collection and ensuring that information collected reaches the appropriate institutions and informs the national response. The NSF III reads that, Strategic information management comprises of the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) surveys and surveillance and HIV research. This also means that the M&E of the HIV response in Botswana is dependent on the three ones principles. The one M&E framework is linked to M&E systems in all sectors that report on HIV indicators the public health information system, other government ministries, civil society and private sector M&E systems. In the early 2000s Botswana designed a multi-sectoral, multi-level national response with a corresponding coordination and reporting structure. All the sectors are represented at the National AIDS Council, where a national update on the national response is given on a regular basis. The report is based on a prioritised set of nationally agreed indicators, which are reviewed for relevance and accuracy from time to time, says Fidzani. Despite this, recent consultations have suggested that there is a need to strengthen M&E systems within Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) especially regarding their linkages to central government repositories, says Fidzani. A current agenda is to sustain the HIV response by identifying sustainable interventions and strengthening and capacitating local and indigenous CSOs in order for them to fulfil mandates previously handled by mostly international organisations. CSOs also need to be capacitated so they do not compromise the standards that have been set in terms of service delivery. Another reason civil society is considered a very important development partner to Government is because the latter uses a centralised service delivery approach, where facilities are established within a community and then people go to the facility to seek the service. This approach according to Fidzani is prone to accessibility challenges resulting from factors such as distance, and operating hours. CSOs act to extend these services closer to the community, making them more accessible thus improving uptake and by extension, impact. It is therefore important for them to have the right capacities so that quality of service is not compromised hence government plays a key role in defining the operational standards and requisite capacity, says Fidzani giving one example of the critical role of CSOs in the response to HIV. Co-infection between HIV and TB has long been acknowledged and interventions put in place. Civil Society has played a significant role in tracing contacts of TB patients and making sure they are screened for TB. Fidzani explains that it is difficult, unscientific even, to compare pre-2008 data with data from the Botswana AIDS Impact Survey (BAIS) series. Before 2008 all statistics on HIV and AIDS were based on Sentinel Surveillance results which collected data from pregnant women aged 15 to 49 years. By nature this was a biased sample of high risk people who by virtue of being pregnant had been exposed to infection and could therefore not be taken to represent the general population, explains Fidzani. This resulted in estimates which were disproportionately high. Fidzani explains that the Botswana AIDS Impact Survey BAIS II of 2004 corrected the data because the sample was drawn systematically from across the general population and yielded an estimate of 17.1 percent. This gave birth to a new generation of reliable statistics as the BAIS was repeated, with growing improvements in 2008 and 2013. Another one is on-going as we speak. Despite the significantly differing methods in collection of data the HIV expert explains that it does not change the fact that Botswana faced, and continues to face, very high levels of HIV infection. Reinforcing the need for accurate and coordinated data Fidzani explains that national targets would be near impossible to set without existing data as a guide. We collect data to assess whether we are on track towards achieving set future targets. Based on what the data tells us, we are able to make decisions on whether to intensify our interventions, make some changes or even totally abandon them, he says. The HIV expert notes some of the general trends from the data. Data shows that from around the age of 14 years HIV incidence is higher among females relative to males, a pattern which is maintained until the late thirties and early forties. For this reason, NSF III identifies adolescents and young people aged 10-24 as a priority population. An added factor according to the NSF III is that young people aged 15-24 years account for a third of new HIV infections (34 percent) of which 69 percent occur among young women. The framework goes on to pinpoint and target adolescent boys (10-19) and men specifically in a bid to address poor health seeking behaviours among this sub population. Recent estimates based on 2017/2018 data shows that the number of men who have sex with other men (MSM) is increasing in Botswana; from 2675 compared to about 700 in 2012. Fidzani partly attributes this to the changes in data collection methods. Much of this difference could be however largely due to methodological differences between the two surveys, notes Fidzani. Another factor could be that MSM are becoming more comfortable to come out in a slowly but surely more accepting social and legal environment. This leads the demographer to the matter of HIV stigma and its impact on the national response which he says is hard to quantify. Some people have even argued whether HIV-related stigma is still an issue in Botswana, that maybe self-stigmatisation is the problem. Generally Batswana have high awareness levels regarding HIV and AIDS and as a result attitudes towards those infected have been supportive. Treatment success has also contributed to the reduction of stigma over the years, says Fidzani. Similarly the NSF III explains that, There is insufficient data on the extent to which stigma hinders disclosure and HIV testing resulting to new infections nor the extent to which stigma contributes to AIDS related deaths through delayed initiation on ART. The NSF III explains that the public health information system used by the Ministry of Health and Wellness comprises of, the Integrated Patient Management System (IPMS), Patient Information Management System (PIMS), District Health Information System (DHIS) and the open Medical Records System (MRS). Despite this there aregaps and challenges in availability of data at district level (DHIS), availability of community data at district and community level, availability of data at the national level data warehouse including non-existence of HIV Research Agenda and inadequate capacity to carry out Research impacting negatively in projects planning and funding. Other challenges noted in the NSF III are to do with the quality of the data collected such as the use of a paper-based system which is said to compromise the data due to its lack of completeness, accuracy and timeliness. Another gap is the weak M&E system at times perpetuated by donor funding or lack thereof. Most M&E positions are donor supported and the M&E staff tend to leave their posts when programmes close. M&E audits and routine data quality assessments are not conducted regularly, states the policy document. To strategically manage this information the NSF speaks to strategies that have been put in place to strengthen, develop, implement, capacitate, allocate, disseminate, recruit, conduct, collaborate and integrate in attempts to circumvent the identified gaps and challenges. Fidzani agrees that Botswana based on the NSF is in gear to attain the international targets of ending AIDS in the community by the year 2020 at 90-90-90and 2030 at 95-95-95 but he also preaches the basics. Prevention is always far better than cure, it could avert massive costs related with treatment. However it hinges strongly on behaviour change regarding sexual practices, and this has proved a difficult undertaking, he says. Congress president Rahul Gandhi addresses press conference at AICC office, Tuesday. Party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala is also seen. (Photo: AP) New Delhi: Reliance Defence said on Tuesday said the proposed MoU mentioned in a purported email cit-ed by Congress president Rahul Gandhi had no connection with Rafale fighter jet contract. Mr Gandhi on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of treason and violating the Official Secrets Act by acting as Anil Ambanis middleman in the Rafale jet contract, citing an email to claim the businessman was aware of the deal days before India and France signed it. Purported email being referred by the Congress Party is regarding the discussion between Airbus and Reliance Defence regarding Civil & Defence Helicopter Programs under Make in India, said Reliance Defence in a statement. It said that discussion on proposed MoU was clearly with reference to co-operation between Airbus Helicopter and Reliance. It had no connection whatsoever to Government Agreement between France and India for 36 Rafale aircraft, it said. The statement said that it is in public domain that Airbus Helicopter has partnered with Mahindra for the Military Helicopter Program. Also, for the record, MoU for Rafale aircraft was signed between France and India on 25 January 2016 and not in April 2015. From the above, it is evident that the facts are being deliberately twisted and reality being ignored, said the company. Mr Gandhi released to the media an email dated March 28, 2015 purportedly written by Airbus executive Nicolas Chamussy to three recipients with the subject line Ambani. Hyderabad: Four children including two from Nepal who were employed at eateries in Medchal were rescued by Medchal police and sent to a rescue home at Saidabad. Police booked three cases against the employers under the Juvenile Justice Act and Child Labour Act. They were found by the Operation Smile Team on Monday. Two children are aged 14 years, one 10 years and the other is eight years. The SI said that the two Nepali nationals (aged 14 and 10) were also among the rescued children and the other two are from Nizamabad and Nagarkurnool. Their parents who migrated to the city were working as labourers. The smallest of temples, dargah and masjid will be protected in the city and state, said Telangana home minister Mehmood Ali. (Representational Image) Hyderabad: In an act that could have led to communal tension, a man named Amit Kumar, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, tied lemons to the wall of the Masjide-Nazaria at Patigadda, Begumpet and also left a palm print (in red color). The police team located the man within four hours, while he was digging a pit at a temple. With the things we found in the bag he was carrying, we could pin him with the offence and pulled him in for questioning. He was only responding to direct questions and was not able to comprehend properly otherwise, added the policeman, believing this was no planned conspiracy. Based on a complaint, cases were booked under Section 153-A (Promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and carrying out acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 505-C (with intent to incite, or which is likely to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community) of the IPC and placed him under arrest. When asked about whether there was a missing complaint from his family in Uttar Pradesh, in the context of his claim that he landed here by mistake, the police said that they took his fingerprints and ran it with the CCRB (City Crime Records Bureau) to check about missing persons but nothing came up. We will be running his prints in the national database on Wednesday. The case is still under investigation as we are not able to detect the motives behind the actions, concluded the officials. Meanwhile, Telangana home minister Mehmood Ali took serious note of the incident. He told Deccan Chronicle, These kinds of acts by a mentally unstable or even a stable person will not be tolerated in Telangana. The vigilance of the people and police has helped us nab this culprit and the investigation going to be carried out to ascertain the facts. The government is committed to maintaining harmony and peace in the state. The smallest of temples, dargah and masjid will be protected in the city and state. The police cameras are helping us to identify the culprits and sensitive areas are going to be further strengthened to ensure that there are no untoward incidents. Apparently a stranger to the city, he then proceeded to a temple at Rasoolpura and began digging but was arrested even before he completed the task. According to the Begumpet Police, the man, currently in custody, said that his name was Amit Kumar. Police said he was about 25-30 years old. He claimed that he intended to go to Surat but ended up in Secunderabad via train, police said. Kumar reportedly first visited the Masjide- Nazaria located on the left of the Spanish Mosque. He then went to a temple at Rasoolpura and began digging, the reason for which is still unknown. The Begumpet Police received a complaint from the administrator of the Masjide-Nazaria. According to the Union ministry of labour and employment, Telangana state was going to see a 50 per cent dip in migrant labour while Andhra Pradesh might bring it down by 20 per cent. (Representational Image) Hyderabad: The number of migrant labour travelling to 18 Emigration Check Required nations has fallen alarmingly since the bifurcation of the two Telugu-speaking states. According to the Union ministry of labour and employment, Telangana state was going to see a 50 per cent dip in migrant labour while Andhra Pradesh might bring it down by 20 per cent. This is happening because both states were successful in providing employment opportunities as they embarked on major infrastructure projects like Mission Bhagiratha, Polavaram and various other developmental activities. But both state governments disagree with the Centres report, even doubting its sanctity. They wondered how one could have accurate figures when several people migrate on a visiting Visa and end up with a job. The ministry of external affairs maintains data in respect of ECR passport holders travelling legally to any of the 18 ECR countries for overseas employment, namely the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Lebanon, Bahrain, Indon-esia, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sud-an, Syria, Thailand, Yemen, Libya and South Sudan. The data comprises immigration clearance taken by recruiting agents and project exporters. According to the ministry, 25,081 labourers from Telangana state emigrated to ECR nations in 2016; 16,470 in 2017 and 13,085 in 2018. The state government successfully prevented migration to these nations through its developmental activities. Telangana NRI affairs official, Mr E. Chittibabu, said most of the labourers have been migrating to Gulf countries from the erstwhile Nizamabad, Adilabad and Karimnagar districts. He said women from the Old City area in Hyderabad and Mahbub-nagar visit after marrying someone abroad. Mr Chittibabu differed with the Centres figures. He said over 10 lakh labo-urers have been working in the Gulf nations. He said the Centre has conveniently declared the numbers of fresh emigrants, without mentioning the number of existing labou-rers. He said the Centres employment guarantee scheme, too, minimised the number of emigrants. He was of the opinion that if migrant labourers were brought back to the state, the state could provide them employment opportunities thanks to ongoing mega irrigation projects like Kaleshw-aram, apart from infrastructure projects going on across Telangana. He wondered how the Centre was able to come up with such accurate figures, when most labourers migrate to other countries on a visiting Visa and then do illegal jobs. Even AP has brought down the number of migrant labourers from 27,005 to 15,528 in three years. Around 27,005 labourers had migrated in 2016, 16,216 in 2017 and 15,528 in 2018. These labourers migrated mostly from Kadapa and two districts in coastal Andhra Pradesh region, including East Godavari. The Centres report said 5,20,938 labourers migrated in 2016; arou-nd 3,61,276 in 2017 and 3,40,157 in 2018 from 29 states and seven Union territories. The assault rifles are being bought through the fast-track procurement (FTP) route and will be delivered within 12 months. New Delhi: Indian army is going to get modern assault rifles to replace the existing glitch-prone 5.56mm INSAS (Indian small arms system) rifles. India on Tuesday signed a contract with a US firm Sig Sauer for 72,400 assault rifles at a cost of around Rs 700 crore. These assault rifles will be used mainly by soldiers deployed along the borders with Pakistan and China. The assault rifles are being bought through the fast-track procurement (FTP) route and will be delivered within 12 months. FTP is being used to buy only limited number of arms which are critical for defence forces operational capability. Indian army will get 66,400 of these assault rifles, Indian Airforce will get 4,000 and Indian Navy 2,000. These rifles are used by US forces as well as several other European countries. The Indian Armed Forces are currently equipped with 5.56x45 mm INSAS Rifle. There is an urgent requirement of replacing the in-service 5.56X45 mm INSAS Rifle with a 7.62X51mm Assault Rifle which is compact, robust, modern in technology and simple to maintain in field conditions, the officials said. Indian security forces also use AK-47 assault rifles. As per reports, Indian ordnance factories in Ishapore and Kanpur stopped production of the indigenous INSAS rifle. Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman had earlier this month approved the procurement of the Sig Sauer rifles. A news agency report quoted Jaisalmer SP Kiran Kang saying no casualty has been reported so far, and a police team is in touch with Air Force officials. New Delhi: A MIG-27 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed Tuesday in Eta village in Pokharan tehsil of Rajasthans Jaisalmer district. A MiG-27 aircraft airborne for a training mission from Jaisalmer crashed at around 6.10 pm in the evening near Pokhran Range, said a defence official. He said that the pilot ejected safely. A Court of Inquiry will investigate the cause of the accident, said the official. A news agency report quoted Jaisalmer SP Kiran Kang saying no casualty has been reported so far, and a police team is in touch with Air Force officials. She said a police team rushed to the spot. Earlier this month Squadron Leader Samir Abrol and Sqn Ldr Siddartha Negi, both test pilots with the Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) died when Mirage 2000 trainer aircraft, which was just upgraded by defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), crashed soon after taking off at HAL airport, Bengaluru. The groundwater department has identified all the 65 overexploited villages in the districts of Nagarkurnool, Jangaon, Siddipet, Karimnagar and Sangareddy and construction of recharge shafts has started Hyderabad: The groundwater department of Telangana state has identified 65 overexploited villages where groundwater has been extracted by more than 100 per cent of the recharge capacity. The department is now developing about 181 recharge shafts in five districts in the state. Proposals have been sent to the government for constructing 700 recharge shafts across the state in the second phase. Recharge shafts send the water directly into the ground making absorption easier. The groundwater department has identified all the 65 overexploited villages in the districts of Nagarkurnool, Jangaon, Siddipet, Karimnagar and Sangareddy and construction of recharge shafts has started. Of the 181 shafts proposed, 42 have been completed. All the recharge shafts are being constructed at the existing check-dams in those areas where infiltration is difficult because of the black cotton soil, clay, and shallow basement areas. The groundwater department considers usage of 70 per cent or below of water from the full recharge as a safe zone, 70 to 90 per cent usage of groundwater makes the zone semi critical, 90 to 100 per cent usage is considered as critical stage and more than 100 per cent usage is considered overexploited. According to recent reports for the month of December, 2018, 9.3 per cent of the state's area has groundwater reserves available at 20 metres depth from the bed ground level. In only 13.7 per cent of areas is the groundwater found at less than five metres depth. Attention is thus concentrated on the 9.3 per cent area for the recharge shafts. V. Prakash, chairman of the Telangana Water Resources Development Corporation, told Deccan Chronicle, There was no activity to increase the groundwater level earlier. Importance was given to the groundwater department after Telangana was formed. Till 2016 there were about 1,600 overexploited villages in the state. As the pilot project in Nalgonda has been successful, we have included 65 villages in the first phase. The government has sanctioned budget allocation of `70 crore to continue the programme and we have sent proposals of `10.5 crore for the second phase to build 700 recharge shafts and now they are at the approval stage. GHMC is further eyeing February 14 for an official launch of the initiative across the city. Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporations Feed the Need initiative has been receiving overwhelming response from all quarters. City hoteliers and others have come forward to contribute 40,000 meals on February 14. With the aim of strengthening its drive to see that no person goes hungry in the city, the civic body has decided to invite NGOs to work on its Feed the Need initiative. GHMC is further eyeing February 14 for an official launch of the initiative across the city. The spirit of Hyderabad was to feed the needy. GHMC Mayor, Bonthu Rammohan, said while addressing a meeting with representatives of hotels, function halls, and NGOs in the GHMC head office, on Monday. GHMC commissioner M Dana Kishore said that NGOs would distribute food packets at railway stations, bus stations, auto stands, night shelters, slums, major hospitals and other busy stretches across the city. Mr Kishore urged citizens to come forward and make the programme a huge success. In order to donate, citizens can call Rajinikanth 9542188884, Vishal 9666863435 and Pavan on 9849999018. The other French aircraft to be on display are Airbus A330-900, Airbus C295 and Airbus H135 along with H145 helicopters. Bengaluru: Its official. Rafale jets will fly at Aero India 2019 commencing here on February 20. These jets will be flown by pilots of the French Air Force. Dassault Aviation would also display the business jet, Falcon 2000s. The other French aircraft include the Airbus A330-900, Airbus C295 and Airbus H135 along with H145 helicopters. France would have the strongest presence by any nation at the air show with 49 companies confirming participation in the five-day international show. All sectors would be represented civil and military aerospace, defence and space, according to a spokesperson for GIFAS, the French Aerospace Industries Association. The spokesperson said French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler and Lieutenant-General Thierry Carlier, Director for International Development of the Defence Procurement Agency (DGA), representing the Minister for the Armed Forces, would visit the show for official meetings with Indian authorities. They would make a point of exchanging views with the SME stand personnel on the French Pavilion. Besides Dassault Aviation, another French aerospace and defence major Thales would display cutting-edge capabilities across civil and defence aerospace sectors at the air show, including latest generation mini-UAS - SpyRanger; high-velocity missile - STARStreak; tracking and illumination radar - STIR; airborne rockets and a range of products from radio communications. Thales support to Make in India Thales has been in the vanguard of digitalisation of the defence, aerospace and space markets. At Aero India, the Thales stand would provide an insight into its extraordinary high-technology solutions across airborne solutions, air defence, radars, optronics, radio communications, among others through special digital experiences. Aero India is a prestigious event providing us with an opportunity to showcase how our word-class technology and solutions help our customers achieve their big ambitions. This year, we would also take a step further and present our efforts supporting the Make in India initiative of the Indian government. We would have solutions being manufactured in the country through our local partners global supply chain partners and joint ventures, among others. In addition, we will also be highlighting our hiring plans, and skilling and upskilling endeavours through our presence at the Aero Skills Pavillion this year, said Emmanuel de Roquefeuil, Vice President and Country Director, Thales in India. Airbus would also leverage the event to acquire talent. On February 23 and 24, it would offer visitors the opportunity to explore career prospects with Airbus India in Avionics Software, Aircraft System Simulation and Airframe Structures as well as in API Development, Full Stack Development, Big Data, Cloud and DevOps. Piggery owner Ravi Subbanna has filed a complaint with the police stating that 35 pigs, each weighing 60 kg, were stolen from his farm in Adur village near Anekal town. (Representational Image) Bengaluru: The Anekal police are searching for pig thieves who had stolen 35 pigs from a piggery in Anekal. Piggery owner Ravi Subbanna has filed a complaint with the police stating that 35 pigs, each weighing 60 kg, were stolen from his farm in Adur village near Anekal town. According to the complaint, Ravi reared 85 pigs in his farm. On Monday, when he went to check the animals, he found 35 pigs missing. I had been to the farm on Sunday to feed the animal. After feeding, I locked the farm and returned home. On Monday morning when I went to the farm as usual, I found 35 pigs missing. The thieves had broken the lock to gain entry," Ravi told police. The police have registered a case and suspect that the thieves knew about Ravi's routine. He sought to know from the opposition parties who was their prime ministerial face and the leader of their proposed grand alliance. (Photo: ANI | Twitter) Ahmedabad: Claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rock-solid support of people, BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday said the coming Lok Sabha poll will be an important step for India to become a global superpower. Attacking the opposition parties which were trying to forge an alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha election to take on Modi, Shah said the "mahagathbandhan" (grand alliance) was made up of only state-level leaders and that it will not affect BJP's poll prospects. He sought to know from the opposition parties who was their prime ministerial face and the leader of their proposed grand alliance. Addressing BJP leaders and workers from Gujarat after launching the 'Mera Parivar-Bhajapa Parivar' voter outreach campaign, he said a full majority government was required to enable PM Modi to continue serving the needy. "The 2019 Lok Sabha election is an important step for India to become a superpower in the world. I have travelled across the country, and I can see that people are standing like a rock with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I have seen love for Modi in people's eyes," Shah claimed. He said many party workers ask him about the 'mahagathbandhan'. "I want to tell them that it will not have any impact," he asserted. "What will happen if (former prime minister and JD(S) supremo) Deve Gowda gives a speech in Gujarat or (West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee in Maharashtra or (former UP chief minister) Akhilesh Yadav in Kerala? It will not have any impact whatsoever because they are only state-level leaders," the BJP president said. Urging the party workers to reach out to people, Shah asked them not to worry as, he claimed, the opposition parties "do not stand a chance" in the coming election. "I want people of this gathbandhan to declare their candidate for PM's post. Who is your leader? Who will run this country? We are very clear about it. Modiji will be the NDA candidate and he only will lead us," he said. Commenting on BJP's prospects in Uttar Pradesh, which accounts for the highest number of 80 Lok Sabha seats, Shah exuded confidence the party will win "nothing less than 74 seats". Earlier, he hoisted the party flag at his private residence here while launching the mass outreach campaign. The campaign is a strategy of the ruling BJP to connect to voters by hoisting party flags at their houses ahead of the polls. Based on a credible input about the presence of militants in Ratnipora area of Pulwama, a cordon and search operation was launched in the intervening night, a police spokesman said. (Representational Image) Srinagar: A Hizbul Mujahideen militant, who helped Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) commander Naveed Jatt escape from police custody at a hospital here last year, was Tuesday killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district in which a soldier also lost his life, police said. Based on a credible input about the presence of militants in Ratnipora area of Pulwama, a cordon and search operation was launched in the intervening night, a police spokesman said. He said that as the searches were going on, the militants fired upon the forces, who retaliated. In the ensuing encounter, one militant was killed and the body was retrieved from the site of encounter. The slain militant was identified as Hilal Ahmad Rather, a resident of Behgambagh Kakapora of Pulwama district, the spokesman said. He said as per police records, Rather was affiliated with the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM). Rather had a long history of terror crime and was wanted for his complicity in a series of crimes, including attack on security establishments and civilian atrocities, the spokesman said. "Several cases were registered against him for his involvement in terrorist activities, including a case pertaining to the terrorist attack inside the premises of SMHS hospital in which two cops were martyred and a Pakistani terrorist, Naveed Jatt alias Hanzalla, managed to escape," he said. Jatt was killed in an encounter in Budgam in November last year. The spokesman said incriminating material such as arms and ammunition was recovered from the site of encounter. "All these materials have been taken in the case records for the purpose of investigation. Body of the killed terrorist was handed over to his family after completion of medico-legal formalities," he said. He said two security personnel also sustained gunshot injuries in the encounter and were evacuated to a hospital for medical attention. One of them, Jawan Baljeet Singh, succumbed to the injuries, the spokesman said, adding the other soldier is being treated. He was stopped in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad to attend an oath-taking ceremony. (File Photo) Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday claimed he was stopped at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad University. "The government is afraid of oath ceremony of a student leader and is stopping me at the airport to prevent me from visiting Allahabad," Yadav claimed. He also posted photographs in his official Twitter handle in which he was seen talking to police officers inside the airport. He said he had to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad university. When asked, Airport Director AK Sharma said, "I have no such information." The matter rocked the Uttar Pradesh legislature. As soon as Samajwadi Party members came to know about their national president being stopped at the airport, they tried to raise the matter during Question Hour in the assembly. "The present regime is trying to kill democracy and stop our leader from visiting Allahabad," SP leader Narendra Verma said. The members also trooped into the Well of the House due to which Speaker Hriday Narain Dixit adjourned the proceedings for 20 minutes during the Question Hour. The matter was also raised in the Legislative Council, leading to the adjournment of the House for 25 minutes during the pre-lunch sitting. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath gave a clarification on the issue and said, "SP should refrain from its anarchist activities. Allahabad University requested that Akhilesh Yadavs visit may create law and order problem because of the dispute between student organisations. Hence the government took this step." According to the fire department 35 people were rescued from the hotel. (Photo: ANI) New Delhi: Union minister K J Alphons Tuesday said the emergency exit of the Arpit Palace hotel, where 17 people were killed in a fire that broke out early Tuesday, was "too narrow" and also locked. The minister, who visited the site of the tragedy in central Delhi's Karol Bagh locality, said he was sure that there would be violation of norms. The Union tourism minister said there were a lot of wooden structures inside, which may have helped the fire spread. "When I headed to the emergency exit, I found that it had been locked yesterday (last night). Also, it was too narrow," he told reporters. "Obviously, even if people came to the emergency exit, they could not have escaped as it was too narrow and it was locked anyway," he said. Alphons said he spoke to the mayor and asked him to check whether all regulations were in place and to take immediate action if there was any lapse on the part of the hotel management. A massive fire swept through a four-floor hotel in central Delhi's Karol Bagh in the early hours of Tuesday, killing at least 17 guests, including a child and two people who jumped off the building in a desperate bid to save themselves, officials said. The blaze, in which 35 people were injured, started in the second floor of the Arpit Palace Hotel in the heart of the national capital around 3.30 am, trapping many guests who were deep in sleep. There were 53 people in the 45-room hotel, which had a canopy on the terrace housing what appeared to be a restaurant, officials said. A call about the fire was received at 4.35 am and 24 fire tenders were rushed to the spot, a senior Delhi Fire Service official said. At least 35 people were injured in the blaze, said Madhur Verma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi), adding that one person was still missing. "A 43-year-old woman suffered 45 per cent burn injuries," he told reporters, adding that 13 of the bodies had been taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, two to Lady Hardinge Hospital and one to BLK hospital. Of the 13 bodies, five had been identified -- three from Kerala and two from Myanmar. A senior civic official said a suspected short circuit could have sparked the fire. While the Delhi government ordered a magisterial probe, Home Minister Satyendar Jain said he has also directed the fire department to inspect buildings which are five floors or more and submit a report on their fire safety compliance within a week. "Seventeen people have died, most of them of suffocation. Apparently, there were lapses (from the hotel administration's side). Action will taken against those found guilty," he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the loss of lives. "Deeply saddened by the loss of lives due to a fire at Karol Bagh in Delhi. I convey my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives," he tweeted. The hotel had a canopy on its terrace with chairs and tables laid out, indicating that there was an open restaurant operating there, fire officials said. Adding that there was wooden panelling in the rooms inside that could have helped the fire spread. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was among the many politicians and officials who visited the spot, announced Rs 5 lakh compensation for the next of kin of those killed. The Delhi government also cancelled its fourth anniversary celebrations in view of the tragedy. It was a nightmare without end, said Somshekhar, who had come to Delhi from Kerala with his family to attend a wedding Ghaziabad and was staying in the hotel. They were residents of Ernakulam district in Kerala and were getting ready to go to Haridwar when the fire started. "Ten of us were rescued by police and fire teams. We had booked four rooms in the hotel. We were all ready early morning to go to Haridwar when suddenly there was a power cut. They switched on the generator and there was heavy smoke and smell," he said. His sister, who is missing, alerted them to the smoke and rushed out to check what was happening, he said. "The entire pathway was full of smoke. My mother and brother were along with my sister at the time. I immediately came to the room and opened the room for fresh air and we managed to escape. We were at the second floor of the hotel," he said. The fire broke out in the second floor of the building, a North Delhi Municipal Corporation official said. The hotel was first granted a licence in October 2005 and was renewed every year. The last renewal was done on May 25, 2018 and was valid till March 31. "As per information gathered from the site, it reveals that the incidence of fire accrued at second floor at around 3.30 am on February 12 due to short-circuit," the official said. A fire department official said some used fire extinguishers were found, suggesting people trapped inside tried to douse the flames in a bid to escape. Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit expressed her grief over the incident. "I express my sorrow at the tragic death of several innocent people in a fire at #ArpitHotel in #KarolBagh. Our brave firefighters are working amidst extremely difficult circumstances to rescue those who are stranded in the building," she tweeted. The total number of inmates in this camp has now come down to 1,641 inmates, who include 630 men, 659 women, 168 boys and 184 girl children. (Photo: The Sydney Morning Herald) Rameswaram: At least 25 Sri Lankan Tamil families staying the in the largest camp for them at Mandapam camp near here for long years have petitioned the special deputy thasildar in-charge of the transit camp, Mr. Ramachandran, stating they wish to get back to Sri Lanka as early as possible. This is reflective of a wider trend found among over 7,500 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who have been staying in various camps across Tamil Nadu, with many of them voicing their preferences to get back to Sri Lanka on the ground that political normalcy is slowly but surely returning to the Island-Republic, a decade after end of the civil war between the Island's armed forces and LTTE in 2009. In Mandapam transit camp, the largest for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu, many of them have been frequently transiting between their home towns and native villages in Northern Sri Lanka and here. The total number of inmates in this camp has now come down to 1,641 inmates, who include 630 men, 659 women, 168 boys and 184 girl children. While some among them are in a position to obtain passports in Chennai for their return travel back home, those Sri Lankan Tamil refugees unable to take that route are urging the Tamil Nadu and Indian governments to make arrangements for a ship that could ferry refugees desiring to return home in larger numbers. These sentiments were expressed by some of the Tamil refugees spoken to by DC at the Mandapam camp. My family came here as refugees in 1990 and have been staying in Mandapam camp since then; my son is now in Sri Lanka and things are getting better there. Hence we want to return to our motherland. I am now planning to go to Chennai to get a passport, said Filomina, one of the refugees. Another woman Tamil refugee, Jyothi, has this tale to narrate: Recently, my husband passed away; my eldest daughter is in Sri Lanka and so I wish to get back to discharge my responsibilities towards her. Moreover we hear that things are returning to normal in Sri Lanka and the Island-government is constructing houses for Tamil returnees there, besides providing other types of assistance. Merina, a third Sri Lankan Tamil who came here as refugee in 2006 from Mannar, cited political changes taking place there which are creating a conducive atmosphere for us to return home; my mother and other relatives are there and only some of us are here; since we do not have the means to obtain a passport, we are ready to leave if the government helps to organise a ship to enable mass transit. Such is the mood among the Tamil refugees in the Mandapam camp. Based on a complaint by the manager of the financing firm, Thirumangalam police registered a case and arrested him. Chennai: The city police arrested a 60-year-old man who threatened three employees of a private finance firm with an airgun when they asked him to pay dues for a luxury car that he bought on loan. The accused has been identified as Sembarajan (60), resident of Anna Nagar, runs an LPG agency Ambattur-Oragadam. According to the police, Sembarajan bought a BMW car with the financing of a private firm. However, he did not pay dues on time. On Monday evening, three employees of the firm went to his house to ask him to pay the dues. But Sembarajan did not pay the dues and instead threatened them with a gun. The employees left the premises and informed their manager, police said. Based on a complaint by the manager of the financing firm, Thirumangalam police registered a case and arrested him. Investigation revealed that Sembarajan used an airgun to threaten them. However, he was booked under Arms Act and remanded in judicial custody on Tuesday. The alleged incident occurred on the intervening night of February 10 and 11, a police officer said. (Representational Image) Palghar: A 23-year-old man from Boisar in Maharashtra's Palghar district was arrested on Monday for allegedly holding his former lover captive in a lodge and raping her overnight, police said Tuesday. The alleged incident occurred on the intervening night of February 10 and 11, a police officer said. The accused, identified as Faisal Saifi, and the 21-year-old victim had been in relationship since 2017 until recently before the woman spurned him, he said. Saifi had secretly filmed their intimate moments and used to blackmail the woman into maintaining a physical relationship with him, the officer said. On Sunday night, he called the woman to the lodge under the pretext of deleting the video clippings, but raped her repeatedly by holding her captive, the officer said. Saifi finally allowed the victim to go on February 12 morning, the officer said. The woman then approached the local police station and lodged a complaint against Saifi. Police arrested Saifi under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for rape and criminal intimidation. Tlaib (centre left) proudly wore her thobe to her historic swearing-in as the first Palestinian American member of Congress. (Photo: AP) Jerusalem: The traditional brightly embroidered dress of Palestinian women known as the "thobe" was not the type of garment one would expect to become a pop political symbol. Now it's gaining prominence as a softer expression of Palestinian nationalism, competing even with the classic "keffiyeh", the headscarf donned by young stone-pelleting Palestinian men protesting Israel's occupation. The robe, adorned with elaborate hand-stitched embroidery, requires months of gruelling labour. Some thobes retail up to thousands of dollars. The traditional textiles call to mind a bygone era of Palestinian peasant women sewing on a break from the fields. Last month, Rashida Tlaib proudly wore her mother's thobe to her historic swearing-in as the first female Palestinian American member of Congress, inspiring masses of women around the world, especially in the Palestinian territories, to tweet photos of themselves in their ancestral robes. "The historic thobe conjures an ideal of pure and untouched Palestine, before the occupation," said Rachel Dedman, curator of a recent exhibit at the Palestinian Museum focused on the evolution of Palestinian embroidery. "It's more explicitly tied to history and heritage than politics. That's what makes it a brilliant symbol." The Palestinian thobe traces its history to the early 19th century, when embroidery was confined to the villages. Richly decorated dresses marked milestones in women's lives: onset of puberty, marriage, motherhood. The designs varied from village to village, special three-dimensional stitching for the upper class of Bethlehem, big pockets for the nomadic Bedouin women, orange branch motifs for the orchard-famous city of Jaffa, said Maha Saca, director of the Palestinian Heritage Center in Bethlehem. While Arab women across the region have worn hand-made dresses for centuries, the thobe has taken on a distinctly Palestinian character, particularly since the establishment of Israel in 1948. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians either fled or were expelled from their homes during the war surrounding Israel's creation. Many took only their dresses with them into the diaspora, Saca added. Along the way, the thobe has grown in popularity and evolved, with dress designs reflecting history's many dramas. During the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in the 1980s, the thobe bloomed with guns, doves and flowers. When Israeli soldiers confiscated Palestinian flags at protests, women wove forbidden national maps and colors into their dresses, according to the Palestinian museum exhibit. The care, toil, and skill that go into making a thobe prevent the garment from becoming everyday streetwear or protest-wear. But cheaper, mass-produced versions of the dress have sprouted up. Now, Palestinian women of all social classes wear thobes to assert national pride at weddings and special occasions. "It's a way of defending our national identity," Saca said. Although the robe shares potent patriotic subtext and roots in peasant life with the black-and-white checkered kaffiyeh, made famous by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the thobe is infused with nostalgic, almost mythical associations. Young Palestinian women, especially those in the diaspora, are adapting the ancestral dresses to modern tastes and trends. Girls are asking for shorter and less embroidered versions, said Rajaa Ghazawneh, a thobe designer in the West Bank town of al-Bireh. Natalie Tahhan, a designer based in east Jerusalem, produces capes from digital prints that replicate traditional embroidery stitches, "connecting tradition with what is new and stylish." Tlaib's now-viral Palestinian thobe, which the Michigan Democrat called "an unapologetic display of the fabric of the people in this country" and said it evoked memories of her mother's West Bank village, rekindled enthusiasm worldwide about the dress. "Rashida has become a model for Palestinian women everywhere, a strong woman proud of her national identity who can reach high," said Saca. Tahhan agreed, saying that "Tlaib's thobe spread a beautiful picture of Palestine, when usually the media only show the wars." For Palestinian women born abroad, and refugees barred from visiting their ancestral homes in what is now Israel, thobes are a tangible connection to the land and a way of keeping their culture alive. "These dresses are our link between the past and future," Saca concluded. US: Nearly half of all insect species worldwide are in rapid decline and a third could disappear altogether, according to a study warning of dire consequences for crop pollination and natural food chains. "Unless we change our way of producing food, insects as a whole will go down the path of extinction in a few decades," concluded the peer-reviewed study, which is set for publication in April in the journal Biological Conservation. The recent decline in bugs that fly, crawl, burrow and skitter across still water is part of a gathering "mass extinction," only the sixth in the last half-billion years. "We are witnessing the largest extinction event on Earth since the late Permian and Cretaceous periods," the authors noted. The Permian end-game 252 million years ago snuffed out more than 90 percent of the planet's life forms, while the abrupt finale of the Cretaceous 66 million years ago saw the demise of land dinosaurs. "We estimate the current proportion of insect species in decline, 41 per cent, to be twice as high as that of vertebrates," or animals with a backbone, Francisco Sanchez-Bayo of the University of Sydney and Kris Wyckhuys of the University of Queensland in Australia reported. "At present, a third of all insect species are threatened with extinction," he added. An additional one per cent join their ranks every year, they estimated. Insect biomass, sheer collective weight, is declining annually by about 2.5 per cent worldwide. "Only decisive action can avert a catastrophic collapse of nature's ecosystems," the authors cautioned. The study pulled together data from more than 70 datasets from across the globe, some dating back more than a century. By a large margin, habitat change deforestation, urbanisation, conversion to farmland emerged as the biggest cause of insect decline and extinction threat. Next was pollution and the widespread use of pesticides in commercial agriculture. The recent collapse, for example, of many bird species in France was traced to the use insecticides on industrial crops such as wheat, barley, corn and wine grapes. "There are hardly any insects left, that's the number one problem," said Vincent Bretagnolle, an ecologist at Centre for Biological Studies. Experts estimate that flying insects across Europe have declined 80 per cent on average, causing bird populations to drop by more than 400 million in three decades. Insects comprise about two-thirds of all terrestrial species and have been the foundation of key ecosystems since emerging almost 400 million years ago. "The essential role that insects play as food items of many vertebrates is often forgotten," the researchers said. Moles, hedgehogs, anteaters, lizards, amphibians, most bats, many birds and fish all feed on insects or depend on them for rearing their offspring. One-in-six species of bees have gone regionally extinct somewhere in the world. Dung beetles in the Mediterranean basin have also been hit particularly hard, with more than 60 per cent of species fading in numbers. Insects are also the world's top pollinators, with 75 per cent of 115 top global food crops depending on animal pollination, including cocoa, coffee, almonds and cherries. Vish Dhamija believes that at some point in life, everyone should decide what they really want. Writing drives me, says Vish, a digital marketer, who went on to become one of the popular Indian crime fiction writers in a span of nine years. His first book Nothing Lasts Forever was published in 2010. Now, his eighth book The Heist Artist has hit bookstores. Its been long, though not as long as it has been for some authors, he says. My first was kind of a bucket list thing, and I thought that was it. But the book didnt stop selling. I took up writing seriously only in 2014 with Bhendi Bazaar. Then on, its been an enthralling journey, he adds. The Heist Artist narrates the story of Vaga Pratap, a conman, who is on a mission to track down and steal the popular Vincent Van Gogh painting Poppy Flowers, which was smuggled to India after it went missing from a museum in Egypt in 2010. Vish says he got the idea during one of his visits to the Vincent Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Besides being wowed by his brilliant work, I paid attention to the guide who told us that Van Goghs paintings happen to be one of most stolen pieces of art. That put the worm in my brain, and the research started almost immediately, he says. Once he completed the research on art theft, he realised Van Goghs Poppy Flowers has been stolen twice. It hasnt been found since 2010, I thought it was a great piece of fact to plot a fictional narrative around, he adds. An admirer of crime fiction, he says venturing into the genre has been a natural progression. Since the beginning, Ive read crime fiction in various forms: Phantom and Mandrake comics were crime fiction; so were Adventures of Tintin, Enid Blytons Secret Seven, Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes. I somehow never got into romance or mythology or fantasy, so writing crime fiction was a logical choice, he says. He loves the dark psychological thrillers of James Ellory and Lawrence Sanders. The list of current authors is endless really I like authors and books where the narrative is as important as the storyline, explains Vish, who has authored eight books. Ask him about his biggest challenging book, he says, Each one of them have been equally challenging in their own distinct way. While some require extensive research about places and police procedures, some require a deep understanding of the law (for legal thrillers) and others, a fundamental understanding of the human mindset (and motivation) because at the end of it all, it needs to sound realistic. According to me, characterisation is the heart of storytelling. If you dont understand people, find some other vocation, he says. Vish has a book scheduled at the end of the year and one next year. Ive been approached for adaptations (for some books) for the screen, but lets see how the year pans out, fingers crossed, he concludes. According to Artery India, Amrita Sher-Gil is the artist with the second highest turnover, in the month of January. (Photo: ANI) New Delhi: The Indian auction market welcomed 2019 with five White Glove sales, where all consigned works found buyers. One of the artwork was auctioned by Saffronart and the four others by Story LTD. The 182 works sold in the month of January resulted in a total turnover of Rs 5.75 crores, with Pre-modern, Modern, and Contemporary art accounting for Rs 49.8 lakhs, 1.74 crores, and 3.34 crores respectively, reported Artery India, an art market intelligence and portfolio advisory firm. Held on January 18, in collaboration with the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF), Art Rises for Kerala by Saffronart raised Rs 3.7 crores towards the Kerala Chief Ministers Distress Relief Fund, in addition to Rs 36 lakhs previously generated from the 24 hour Story Ltd. auction held in August 2018. The single auction accounted for 64 per cent of the total turnover for January. Over the month, FN Souza appeared with the highest number of lots, his 7 paintings amounting to Rs 11.4 lakhs, followed by Lalu Prasad Shaw, with 6 paintings amounting to Rs 13.3 lakhs. Owed to the revived interest in Indian Contemporary art, new records were established by five artists within this category during the Saffronart sale. All time high prices were achieved for contemporary artists, Aji VN, Manish Nai, C Bhagyanath, Dayanita Singh, and Sujith SN. Dayanita Singhs photographs, which sold for Rs 22 lakhs, acquired her third position amongst the top 3 artists with the highest turnover. From the same auction, Anish Kapoors Untitled was the most expensive work sold, achieving a price of Rs 1.3 crores. The artist with the highest turnover in the month of January fashioned the 20-inch sculpture out of canvas, resin and pigment in a striking blue. Out of the 42 lots offered for sale, 32 were from the Contemporary section and accounted for 74 per cent of the total auction turnover. Pre-Modernist Amrita Sher-Gil contributed Rs 49 lakhs, with the sale of two small sized works on paper, which also constitute the second and third most expensive works sold at the Art Rises for Kerala auction. According to Artery India, Amrita Sher-Gil is the artist with the second highest turnover, in the month of January. After trying his hand at youthful entertainers, Viswant Duddumpudi is now eyeing an outright comic caper. The actor reveals that his forthcoming film, Crazy Crazy Feeling, directed by Sanjay Kartik, will leave the audience in splits. In my earlier films, Kerintha and Manamantha, I played roles that were high on emotions but Crazy Crazy Feeling is a fun ride throughout. This is my first tryst with comedy; I had a tough time getting my comic timing right, but I eventually pulled it off, says Viswant, adding, I play Abhi, a teenager who comes across as a very casual guy, but a twist in the end reveals how serious I am about my goals in life. Describing the debutant director Sanjay Kartiks writing as sharp and witty, Viswant adds, Sanjay worked as Creative Head for several game shows in television, apart from directing several ad films. He has vast experience and could easily execute what he envisioned. Meanwhile, Viswant is on a signing spree. He has already commenced shooting for two other films Jersey and Tholubommalata. With an acting career spanning over a decade, this actress has made a mark for herself by essaying some of the most intense characters on the silver screen. Not just that, most of her roles have been based on real life personalities. Actress Yajna Shetty is not only adept at such roles but she also inhabits them completely. First she was Ramabai, the wife of Dr BR Ambedkar, then she went onto portray Muthulakhsmi in Ram Gopal Varmas multilingual venture Killing Veerappan, which was based on the life of slain forest brigand Veerappan. She has yet again returned to RGVs camp as Lakshmi Parvathi in Lakshmis MTR, a biopic based on the life of Telugus most celebrated actor and politician, the late NT Rama Rao, told through the perspective of Lakshmi. She has another real life character on the anvil, where she plays the sister of a gangster in Nayeems Diary. She speaks to Bengaluru Chronicle about bringing real people and their stories to life on the big screen, and more. On the work front, I have RGVs Lakshmis NTR, then the bilingual Nayeem Diary, which will be made in both Telugu and Kannada, followed by Operation Nakshatra and Katha Sangama in Kannada. As far as portraying real life characters is concerned, I really do not know how they keep coming back to me. It is certainly a good thing as I enjoy living up to the challenges such roles offer, says Yajna Shetty. Ever since her brilliant portrayal as Ramabai, the wife of social reformer, politician, the chairman of the Indian Constitution Drafting Committee, Dr BR Ambedkar, she returned to play the wife of slain forest brigand Veerappan in Killing Veerappan. And, now all eyes are on her next portrayal as Lakshmi Parvathi in Lakshmis NTR, directed Ram Gopal Varma. This one is the second venture based on the life of a celebrated actor and politician NTR Rao, but its unique in that it is from the perspective of his wife Lakshmi Parvathi. I cannot reveal much about the project but it certainly gives a different take on the life of NTR, and the prominent role played by his second wife Lakshmi Parvathi and how it changed the political scenario, and his family. It is an emotional journey of a women and how she stood beside such a legendary personality in his most difficult times, she says. Even in her next bilingual Nayeem Diary, which is based on the life of a Naxalite and alleged criminal, she plays his sister Jareena. Ask her about her affinity for biopics and real life characters in tales webbed around true incidents, the actress explains that she does not necessarily need to ape them as they are already well-known in public life. I stick to the directors perspective of such roles. The onus is definitely on the artiste, but again imitating is not the only way forward. It is all about a different version to a character, Yajna feels. The actress reveals that she doesnt believe in prompting. Even if I am unaware of a language, like how I started with Telugu with no idea about it, I make sure I learn the language and deliver it by myself, says Yajna. On Operation Nakshatra, she reveals that it is a crime thriller, and in Katha Sangama which comprises of seven different stories, she portrays the female protagonist in one of them. As an artiste, travelling is a part of her life, and she dearly loves those jaunts. Her other favourite hobby is to read books which she says she is always hooked onto even when she is on the sets. Mumbai: The makers of Sonchiriya have left no stone unturned in doing justice to the characters and keep in sync with the dacoit era. The actors who are donning a rustic look also have gone out of their way to get into the skin of their characters. Each actor had to carry 5 kgs of backpack and walk on the sets to develop the body language and walking style of dacoits. Shot in the valleys of Madhya Pradesh, Sonchiriya presents an ensemble cast starring Sushant Singh Rajput, Bhumi Pednekar, Manoj Bajpayee, Ranvir Shorey, and Ashutosh Rana in lead roles, also with an intriguing storyline. Recently the makers of Sonchiriya organised the special event wherein they have gone ahead to launch the extension of the trailer titled as 'The Rebels of Sonchiriya'. Sonchiriya is all set to release in next month, cast and crew is on a promotional spree and seen promoting the film on social media as well. The story of Sonchiriya is set in the 1970s showcasing a small town ruled and dominated by dacoits. Multiple gangs fight over the struggle to attain power. The cast dons fierce avatars in sync with the theme of the film. Directed by Abhishek Chaubey who has earlier presented 'Udta Punjab' and 'Ishiqiya', 'Sonchiriya' presents a rooted tale set in Chambal. Produced by Ronnie Screwvala's RSVP, The movie is slated to release on 1st March 2019. Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in the still from My Name Is Khan. (Photo: Instagram) New Delhi: As My Name Is Khan completed 9 years today, ace filmmaker Karan Johar thanked the leading pair of the film, Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, for bringing the characters of Rizwan and Mandira to life. KJo took to his Twitter handle to share a heartfelt post expressing his emotions and thanking his team. #9YearsOfMyNameIsKhan ...I feel so blessed to have been able to tell this story....thank you for creating it @ShibaniWrites ....and thank you @iamsrk for living the role of Rizwan so beautifully and brilliantly... thank you @KajolAtUN for your eyes...your silences and more, he wrote. #9YearsOfMyNameIsKhan ...I feel so blessed to have been able to tell this story....thank you for creating it @ShibaniWrites ....and thank you @iamsrk for living the role of Rizwan so beautifully and brilliantly... thank you @KajolAtUN for your eyes...your silences and more.... pic.twitter.com/t1w7TdxF07 Karan Johar (@karanjohar) February 11, 2019 Actor Varun Dhawan, who worked as an assistant director on the film, also shared a throwback photo and opened up about his experience of filming. #9YearsOfMNIK a film I learnt soo much on. It practically changed my life. Also this is the only picture I have where @abhivarman is smiling. Thank u @karanjohar, Varun tweeted. #9YearsOfMNIK a film I learnt soo much on. It practically changed my life. Also this is the only picture I have where @abhivarman is smiling. Thank u @karanjohar pic.twitter.com/axg0n7GJxu Varun Dhawan (@Varun_dvn) February 11, 2019 Later, KJo replied to Varuns post and revealed that he has so many brilliant memories of Varun and actor Sidharth Malhotra, who was also a part of the films production team. So many brilliant memories I have !! Specially of you signing autographs when you were an AD ( not a star) and of SIDs stoic silences in the face of adversity!!! And ofcourse of @abhivarman smiling!! A rare sight, he wrote. So many brilliant memories I have !! Specially of you signing autographs when you were an AD ( not a star) and of SIDs stoic silences in the face of adversity!!! And ofcourse of @abhivarman smiling!! A rare sight!!!! https://t.co/ENPuXCVEdA Karan Johar (@karanjohar) February 11, 2019 SRK and Kajol had reunited for My Name is Khan after a span of 9 years and the film created magic. The film revolves around the life of SRKs character Rizwan Khan and showed his journey of meeting the president of America. The movie not only became one of the biggest hits of 2010 but was also appreciated by both the critics and the audience. In the film, Shah Rukh portrayed the role of a Muslim man named Rizwan who suffers from Asperger's syndrome. Kajol played the character of Mandira, a single mother who gets married to Rizwan. The couples life turns upside down when Mandira's son gets killed after being bullied for having a Muslim father post the September 11 attacks in New York City. The Modi government in its interim budget did not reduce levies of SUVs which are used by rich persons: Piyush Goyal. (Photo: File) New Delhi: Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said that the tax related proposals in the Finance Bill are aimed at helping the poor and the middle class people living on a tight budget. The Minister, while moving the Finance Bill for consideration and passage in Lok Sabha, also took a swipe at the Congress, saying unlike the previous UPA dispensation, the Modi government in its interim budget did not reduce levies of SUVs which are used by rich persons. In the Finance Bill 2019, the Minister proposed to raise tax rebate for people having annual income up to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 2,500 to Rs 12,500, which will effectively ensure that they don't have to pay any tax. Those having income of up to Rs 8-9 lakh too can take advantage of this if they invest in tax saving schemes. In the Bill, standard deduction has also been raised from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000,besides a host of tax benefits to home buyers. The tax proposals are aimed at helping "poor and middle class people living on tight budget", Goyal said while moving the Finance Bill which contains tax proposals of the government. The next government, which will be formed after the upcoming general elections, will come out with full budget in July. It will also come up with a Finance Bill containing the tax proposals for 2019-20. Elaborating on his tax proposals, Goyal said that decision to raise the rebate for people having annual income of Rs 5 lakh was to provide greater certainty about tax liability as salary payments to them is subject to Tax Deduction at Source (TDS). The proposal, Goyal added, was welcomed with euphoria within and outside the House and will provide requisite impetus to savings and boost economic growth. He said the Modi government during the last four-and-a- half years tried to benefit every section of society and tax payers. As a result, he said, the tax base in the country increased, the tax collection doubled in the last five years and India has become the fastest growing major economy in the world. Higher collections, he said, have enabled the government to earmark more resources for the socially and economically deprived sections of the society. The Minister said that the proposal to raise standard deduction from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 and hiking TDS limit on interest income from Rs 10,000 to Rs 40,000 will provide relief to senior citizens. The housing sector, he added, will too get a boost on account of the proposals including interest subvention, allowing capital gains tax exemption on purchase of two flats from proceeds of sale of a house and hiking rebate on repayment of home loans. The government, he added, was working to ensure a house for every citizen when India celebrates its 75th year of Independence. The government's policies have helped in keeping the property prices under check, he said, adding the non-performing assets (NPAs) too have remained low in the sector, probably because "housewives insist that the home loans are repaid in time". New Delhi: Capital markets watchdog Sebi on Monday came out with a new framework for utilisation of financial security deposits available with clearing corporations, warehouse development and regulatory authority in order to rationalise such deposits. At present, on the same goods, security deposits are required to be maintained with both WDRA (warehouse development and regulatory authority) and clearing corporations, putting additional financial burden on warehouse operators. In order to rationalise financial security deposit (FSD) and, after consultation with WDRA and clearing corporations, Sebi in a circular said clearing corporations having commodity derivatives segment would need to adhere to the new norms laid by the regulator for utilisation of such deposits. The new framework will be effective from 30 days. Under the framework, the clearing corporations after the accreditation will immediately provide the details of WDRA registered warehouses accredited by them with full details of warehouseman registration, warehouse service provider (WSP) to WDRA. WDRA will in turn, share the details of security deposit received from these accredited warehouses to the respective clearing corporations. Further, clearing corporations will inform the changes, if any, with respect to these warehouses to enable WDRA to provide the required information. Moreover, WDRA will also inform clearing corporations of any hanges, if any, in the security deposit placed by such warehouses with WDRA. According to Sebi, the accredited WSP will be liable for any losses resulting from any action or inaction on its part or on the part of its warehouses that prevents the buyer or seller from exercising, in whole or in part, their rights. The clearing corporation will have to compensate the aggrieved clients for any such losses that have been appropriately established by debiting the FSD of WSP held with the clearing corporation, in accordance with its applicable rules. In case the FSD available at clearing corporation is not sufficient to compensate for the loss, clearing corporation will have to make part compensation with the FSD available with it and, the security deposit available with WDRA will be made available to such corporation within seven days of the release request from such corporation to WDRA, for settlement of the remaining claims. The settlement of security deposit by WDRA originates only after the stocks stored, if any, are disposed off by the holder. This arrangement is only for stocks stored in WDRA or clearing corporation accredited warehouses for the purpose of delivery on exchange platform. The discrepancy noted by any agency (clearing corporation or WDRA) will be brought to the notice of other agency irrespective of invoking the security deposits. Following the complaints, Sebi found that the firm had collected at least Rs 43 lakh from 71 investors during 2012-13 by issuing the NCDs. (Photo: File) New Delhi: Markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday barred Ganga Sagar Foods and Beverages from raising funds from public with immediate effect. Besides, the regulator has asked the firm and its seven present and former directors not to buy, sell or deal in securities market either directly or indirectly with any listed company. The move comes after the regulator received complaints that the firm is not refunding the money to the investors raised through secured redeemable non-convertible debentures (NCDs). Following the complaints, Sebi found that the firm had collected at least Rs 43 lakh from 71 investors during 2012-13 by issuing the NCDs. As the number of investors were more than 49, the offer was prima facie a public issue for which the firm was required to register its prospectus with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), followed by compulsory listing, among other requirements. However, it failed to do so, the regulator said. Ganga Sagar is ''prima facie" engaged in a fund-mobilising activity from the public, through the issuance of NCDs, without complying with the necessary requirements, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said. Accordingly, Sebi directed the firm to cease mobilising fresh funds through offer and issuance of NCDs and ordered its directors -- Gopal Saha, Sachin Ray, Narayan Paul, Sekh Ranjan Ali, Somnath Santra and Sanatan Banerjee -- not to dispose of the assets acquired through the fund raised. The regulator also barred debenture trustee Madhumita Saha from dealing in markets either directly or indirectly for not registering with Sebi to act as debenture trustee for the offer of NCDs. The secretary also said the department has sent the proposed new industrial policy for consideration of the Union Cabinet. (Photo: Twitter) New Delhi: The National Productivity Council (NPC), an autonomous body under the commerce and industry ministry, needs to play a critical role in improving productivity of the domestic industry particularly MSMEs, a top official said Tuesday. Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Secretary Ramesh Abhishek said the Council will have to work closely with industry associations. "I have suggested that NPC (should) focus on MSMEs more in this process. NPC must play critical role in this exercise in improving productivity overall in Indian industry," he said here at a function. The secretary also said the department has sent the proposed new industrial policy for consideration of the Union Cabinet. "Our challenges today are different. We are looking at a USD 5-trillion economy going ahead around 2025 and USD 10-trillion in 2030 and a galloping progress in years after that," he said. The Cabinet also cleared proposals to increase the funding for cotton mills in the state. (Photo: File) Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday decided to draw Rs 2,000 crore from the state contingency fund for undertaking drought relief measures. The decision was taken at the state Cabinet meeting here chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. "It is a temporary arrangement made from time to time to draw funds to support the drought-affected people. The funds will be used for basic support like supplying water tankers and other programmes to be undertaken to tackle water scarcity till June," a government official said. The Cabinet also cleared proposals to increase the funding for cotton mills in the state. The decision is expected to benefit most of the cotton mills in Marathwada and Vidarbha regions. The Cabinet also decided to launch the Chief Minister Cattle Health Scheme under which 349 mobile veterinary hospitals will be set up. In the first phase, 80 such hospitals will be set up in remote and hilly areas of Maharashtra, a Cabinet note said. "The decision will have a wider impact as such medical support in the state was in demand since a long time, but nobody did anything. The Cabinet has now approved the proposal, which will help in saving the lives of cattle," the official said. The Cabinet also approved a proposal to implement the Centre-sponsored Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, for schemes including electrification, supply of LPG cylinders and providing insurance policies, among others, in rural areas. Gram Swaraj Abhiyan is a two-phase programme rolled out by the central government to deliver benefits to all poor households in 66,028 villages of the country. It covers benefits under seven flagship welfare programmes Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (for LPG cylinders, Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (electricity connection scheme), UJALA programme (provision of LED bulbs), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, Jan Dhan accounts and Indradhanush (universal immunisation programme). As a part of the agreement, India will get around 72,400 7.62mm rifles from US firm SiG Sauer in one year from this day. (Photo: ANI) New Delhi: India has signed a contract with a US firm for 72,400 assault rifles at a cost of around Rs 700 crore, Defence Ministry officials said on Tuesday. The rifles, being used by US forces as well as several other European countries, are being bought under the fast-track procurement procedure. India has signed the contract for Sig Sauer Assault Rifles with the US under fast track procurement (FTP) and as part of the agreement, India will get around 72,400 7.62mm rifles from US firm SiG Sauer in one year from this day, the officials said. These new assault rifles will come at a cost of around Rs 700 crore, they said. The Indian Armed Forces are currently equipped with 5.56x45 mm INSAS Rifle. There is an urgent requirement of replacing the in-service 5.56X45 mm INSAS Rifle with a 7.62X51mm Assault Rifle which is compact, robust, modern in technology and simple to maintain in field conditions, the officials said. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had earlier this month approved the procurement of the Sig Sauer rifles, which will be used by troops deployed along the nearly 3,600-km border with China. In October, 2017, the Army began the process to acquire around 7 lakh rifles, 44,000 light machine guns (LMGs) and nearly 44,600 carbines. Around 18 months ago, the Army had rejected an assault rifle built by the state-run Rifle Factory, Ishapore, after the guns miserably failed the firing tests. Following this, the Army started scouting for rifles from the global market. The ICAI ARF can outsource the assignment so that it is over within a reasonable period of time," an official statement said. (Photo: Twitter) New Delhi: ICAI Accounting Research Foundation (ICAI ARF) is all set to examine the process of reopening the books of crisis-hit IL&FS. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) said ICAI ARF has been assigned the task of 'reopening' of the books of IL&FS. "ICAI ARF being a not-for-profit entity would oversee the process of reopening the books of IL&FS along with the ministry. The ICAI ARF can outsource the assignment so that it is over within a reasonable period of time," an official statement said. This ETF sale would be for a single day, in which both institutions and retail investors can participate. New Delhi: The government will launch an additional offering of Bharat-22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) on February 14 to raise at least Rs 3,500 crore, officials said Tuesday. This ETF sale would be for a single day, in which both institutions and retail investors can participate, they said. "The additional offering of Bharat-22 ETF would be on February 14. This is an on-tap issuance. The base issue size has been fixed at Rs 3,500 crore, with an option to retain any additional subscription," one of the officials told PTI. The government has so far raised Rs 22,900 crore through the Bharat-22 ETF. While Rs 14,500 crore was raised in November 2017, another Rs 8,400 crore was raised in June 2018. The central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) that are part of the ETF include ONGC, IOC, SBI, BPCL, Coal India and Nalco. Other constituents include Bharat Electronics, Engineers India, NBCC, NTPC, NHPC, SJVNL, GAIL, PGCIL and NLC India. Only three public sector banks -- SBI, Indian Bank and Bank of Baroda -- figure in the Bharat-22 index. Also, the government's strategic holding in Axis Bank, ITC and L&T, held through Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India (SUUTI), has been put in the ETF basket. Swiggy Stores will give its merchant-partners unmatched access to a combination of core assets to reach more existing and new customers. New Delhi: Food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy on Tuesday said it has launched 'Swiggy Stores' moving beyond its core food delivery segment to provide access to consumers items across multiple categories. The company will deliver from these stores "in categories such as fruits and vegetables, kiranas and supermarkets, florists, baby care, health and supplements among others," Swiggy said in a statement. With the launch of these stores, Swiggy wants to become the one-stop delivery app that enables access to every store in the city, it added. "Today's announcement takes Swiggy to categories beyond food, where we hope to deliver the same level of delightful experiences to consumers for their everyday needs," Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety said. It is the first milestone in Swiggy's vision to elevate the quality of life for the urban consumer by offering unparalleled convenience, he added. Swiggy Stores will give its merchant-partners unmatched access to a combination of core assets to reach more existing and new customers, the statement said. For the delivery partners this will give them access to an additional avenue for income, it added. Founded in 2014, Swiggy currently connects consumers to over 60,000 restaurant partners across more than 80 cities. Tata Motors has reported that the global sales of all passenger vehicles were at 59,686 units, lower by 15 per cent. Pune: Tata Motors reported a 12 per cent fall in its global sales, including its British luxury car brand Jaguar Land Rover at 100,572 units. The firm, which sells popular models like Tata Harrier and Tata Nexon, has sold a total of 1,14,797 units in the same month last year, the company said. Also, global sales of all Tata Motors commercial vehicles and Tata Daewoo range fell by 9 per cent at 40,886 units. Tata Motors has reported that the global sales of all passenger vehicles were at 59,686 units, lower by 15 per cent. New-gen Civic likely to be launched in March 2019. Will get a diesel engine option for the first time. Petrol motor likely be the 1.8-litre i-VTEC engine. Could be priced between Rs 16 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. It will rival the Skoda Octavia, Toyota Corolla and the Hyundai Elantra. The Honda Civic is making a comeback in India, probably next month. Honda Cars India debuted the upcoming model at the 2018 Indian Auto Expo alongside the second-gen Amaze and the fifth-gen CR-V. If you are looking forward to the new Civic, here are 10 things that you should know: 1. Launch and bookings At the 2018 Auto Expo, Honda had announced that it will launch three models -- Amaze, CR-V and Civic -- in FY 2018-19. The Amaze and CR-V are already on sale and its time for the Civic now. Honda is expected to launch the Civic in March 2019. Honda dealers are now accepting bookings for the Civic at a refundable amount of Rs 51,000. Stay tuned to CarDekho for our first impressions as well be driving the Civic soon. 2. Prices and rivals The new, evolved and feature-rich Civic will be more expensive than the previous model. It is expected to be priced between Rs 16 lakh to Rs 22 lakh (ex-showroom). Once launched, it will renew its rivalry with the Skoda Octavia and Toyota Corolla as well as the Hyundai Elantra. Toyota has already introduced the next-gen Corolla overseas, and is expected to launch it in India in 2020. Hyundai will also launch the Elantra facelift this year. 3. We missed a generation Honda Cars India discontinued the eighth-gen Civic in India in 2013 due to low demand. One of the main reasons behind the downfall of the once-popular eighth-gen Civic was the rising price of petrol and lack of a diesel engine option in the mid-size sedan. India didnt get the ninth-gen Civic, but Honda is ready to bring back the Civic nameplate once again in its tenth-gen avatar. It will slot in between the City and the Accord. Honda had already unveiled the Civic's midlife update in late 2018, and that will make its way to India. In fact, India is likely to be among the first markets to receive the updated Civic. Pictured: India-spec eighth-gen Honda Civic 4. Brand new platform! With the tenth-generation Honda Civic, Honda has premiered its latest modular Compact Global platform, which also underpins the recently launched fifth-generation CR-V and the possibly India-bound new tenth-generation Accord. Honda claims that bending and torsional rigidity are increased 3.8 per cent and 25.8 per cent, respectively, and unibody weight is reduced by 68 pounds (~ 30kg) compared to the ninth-generation Civic, which was not on sale in India. 5. Coupe-like design In its tenth-gen avatar, the Civic has traded the conventional three-box profile in for a striking coupe-like roofline, which is the trend with sedans nowadays. In fact, the roofline swoops so dramatically, that the rear three-fourth actually looks like a proper coupe. The tenth-generation Accord too flaunts a similar roofline and it is safe to assume that the next-generation City will follow suit too. 6. Bigger than the previous model The upcoming Civic is significantly longer and sits even lower than the previous model. The overall boot space has also seen a noticeable increase compared to the last Civic that was on sale here. Dimensions Eighth-gen (Old) Tenth-gen (New)* Length 4,545mm 4,648mm (+103mm) Width 1,750mm 1,799mm (+49mm) Height 1,450mm 1,416mm (-34mm) Wheelbase 2,700mm 2,697mm (-3mm) Boot space 405 litres 519 litres (+114 litres) 7. Features will be shared with the CR-V The Civic not only shares its platform with the CR-V, but plenty of features as well. Expect the India-spec model to come with a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple Carplay, just like the CR-V. The fully digital instrument cluster will also be shared between the two, along with features like LED lighting, Honda Lanewatch camera, driver attention monitor, six airbags and dual-zone climate control among others. 8. First-ever diesel-powered Civic in India The Civic is finally getting a diesel engine in the country as Honda had confirmed at the Expo that it will be available with both petrol and diesel engine options. The Civic will share the 1.6-litre i-DTEC diesel engine, that Honda started manufacturing at its Tapukara facility from 2017, with the CR-V. The engine is rated at 120PS/300Nm. 9. Diesel automatic? Theres a possibility of a diesel-automatic Civic as well since this powertrain option is already offered with the CR-V here. The CR-V diesel packs a ZF-borrowed 9-speed automatic, which will soon be introduced with the Jeep Compass as well. In the UK, the Honda Civic diesel is offered with the same 9-speed AT as well. The Skoda Octavia and the Hyundai Elantra are the only two midsize sedans in India that come with a diesel-automatic option for now. A 6-speed manual will be standard with the Civic diesel. 10. 1.8-litre direct injected i-VTEC petrol on the cards The India-spec Civic is expected to carry forward the 1.8-litre i-VTEC petrol engine from the older model. However, expect it to feature significant updates to keep up with modern rivals. The 1.8-litre engine is now part of Hondas Earth Dreams series and features direct injection. Thanks to these updates, the engine is now rated at 141PS and 174Nm compared to 132PS and 171Nm. It will now be mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox instead of a 5-speed unit. Whereas the old Civic came with the option of a 5-speed torque convertor, the new model will feature a CVT. With the Civic, Honda looks set to bring its old charm back. A low-slung Japanese car with a revv-happy peppy engine and head-turning coupe-like silhouette - the Civic seems all set to regain lost ground. Disclaimer: This article has not been edited by Deccan Chronicle and is taken from a syndicated feed. Photos: CarDekho. Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription and are still unable to access our content, please link your digital account to your print subscription If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. Every summer students registered in a Faculty of Science SEASIDE course know theyre going to get their hands wet with experience studying the ocean and its life. This past summers Field Studies of Marine Mammals SEASIDE course was no different, but this year it was expanded to accommodate 15 international students interested in having a unique Atlantic Canadian experience learning marine biology. A lot of Dalhousie faculty and staff came together to create a special learning experience for students from all over the world, said Cindy Staicer, the SEASIDE Program Director. Funding from The Schulich Ocean Studies Initiative via the Schulich Foundation, Dalhousies Provost and Vice-President Academic, and the Office of International Relations helped us do that. A humpback whale breaches The field course brought together students from Norway, Sweden, Israel and Canada. Over three weeks, students attended lectures and workshops to learn the ropes of what theyd be seeing and doing during a five-day marine biology field trip to the Bay of Fundy region of Nova Scotia, known for its exceptional whale watching opportunities. While tourists go to marvel at the beauty of whales, SEASIDE students went to work in groups to collect data on marine mammals for a research project due at the end of the course. Marvelling at the beauty of whales just came with the territory. It felt like so much more than three weeks because we did a million different things, said Karoline Viberg, a visiting student from the University of Bergen in Norway (pictured left). A lot of our workshops covered things you would do if you had a job. I really liked the lectures too but going into the field was the highlight. A wealth of wildlife Viberg had seen humpback whales before but the experience she had in Nova Scotia was one shell never forget. Ive never seen humpbacks that close, she said. Ive never seen each and every baleen in their mouth! Tom Haran (pictured right), a student visiting from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, shared Karolines enthusiasm. This was an amazing experience. We saw an exceptional amount of wildlife this trip. Tons of whales, dolphins, seabirds, seals, said Haran. Its a very good thing to be outside of the classroom and on a boat. Thats not something I usually do back home. A global effort For Dalhousie marine biology student Laura Raposo, the Field Studies of Marine Mammals course highlighted the commitment and passion that those teaching it brought to their lesson plans. Their love for and experience with the topic truly deepened my knowledge about marine mammals and sparked a greater passion in me to pursue research, said Raposo, whos currently in her third year. Damian Lidgard was one of the instructors. For him, bringing students from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean together was one of the most thrilling aspects of teaching this course. It was very gratifying to be able to work with students from other countries and provide them with the opportunity to work with some of the remarkable marine mammal life that Canada is fortunate to have, said Dr. Lidgard, a part-time academic with the Department of Biology. It was especially rewarding to see how the international and Canadian students worked together as a team to tackle their research assignments. Working in groups allowed all students to tap into the unique knowledge and experience a class of people with an array of nationalities, ages and gender, has to offer, explained Raposo. Research and conservation efforts in area of ocean sciences will only succeed with the teamwork of scientists from around the globe, said Raposo. This is why classes that allow students to learn alongside their international peers are so important in giving students the proper tools to be able to work together to solve problems concerning the ocean. Xem them ... Tin bai cuoi cung Khong con du lieu e load Truth three, the alternative to putting the trash in the trash-to-energy facility (it is not a common incinerator by the way and calling it an incinerator is part of public relations negativity agenda) is going to be costly and problematic, hundreds of millions of dollars over the years. Is that going to help the tax situation in the city? No, that will lead to even more flight to the suburbs. And when the landfill is filled, whose land and water table are we willing to ruin for our trash? Truth four, does anyone think there is a cheaper source of the energy they produce, and who will replace the income stream Wheelabrator pays the city? These acts of implicit bias the unconscious attribution of particular qualities or stereotypes to members of a certain social group also run through Mr. Goldbergs analysis. His unselfconscious use of the term "non-white" is an example. Black, brown and other people of color are diminished and rendered invisible and "less than" whenever they are defined not by who they are but in reference to who they are not. (Lest I be accused of "political correctness," I refer back to those who long ago institutionalized social inequality.) Words really do matter, and the language we choose to use becomes either a conveyor belt of implicit bias that brings the past into the present, or a harbinger of a more equitable society to come. The editorial also says that the situation of abortions in the last three months are so very rare. Citing an unnamed landmark study, it states that only 1.3 percent of abortions are after 21 weeks. According to a Google search, there were 652,639 abortions in the United States in 2014 (based on statistics provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Multiply that figure by 1.3 percent and you have 8,484 which is a sizable number of late-term abortions. I am writing in response to a letter to the editor making the argument that the Confederate statues constitute a larger racial obscenity than what Gov. Ralph Northam did 30-some odd years ago (The Daily Progress, Feb. 3 online, Feb. 5 in print). First of all, I hope we have all grown up enough to realize that different people view these monuments differently, although we obviously haven't matured enough to respect each other's differing views. I don't think the governor should resign over something he did many years ago, but that is a letter for another time. I will say that, for instance, if Mr. Northam did something amazing in the future, such as cure cancer and saved millions of lives, it would be OK to erect a statue in his honor. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were military geniuses. Jackson created and supported the academic and religious education of African-Americans, which was against Virginia state law. There is a monument in the form of a stained-glass window at Roanoke's African-American Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church that honors his works. At least the Virginia General Assembly still has the wisdom to support all veterans in its law protecting war memorials. The motives for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan were questioned, for good reason, but we still honor our veterans. That's the true nature of the scientific debate over climate change. It's not about whether global warming is taking place or what's causing it those questions are settled. The open question is whether the effects of human-induced climate change will be really bad, catastrophically bad or threat-to-civilization bad. Enter the resolution, introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, calling on Congress to create a Green New Deal. Pelosi has sounded skeptical. "It will be one of several or maybe many suggestions that we receive," she said, according to Politico. "The green dream or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is, but they're for it, right?" I'm more impressed than the speaker is, however. The point of the resolution is not to propose specific, detailed policy prescriptions. What it does accomplish, though, is lay out the enormous scale of the climate change problem and, as a commensurate response, call for "a new national, social, industrial and economic mobilization on a scale not seen since World War II and the New Deal." At least 450 preorders must be received before the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles will make the plates. Approval by the General Assembly is then required before they can be issued. Kilgore said that he introduced the bill as a way to help attract more dentists and that the language could change. The bill is on the Senates health profession subcommittee for Tuesday. The bill would scratch the part in the state code that allows practitioners licensed in other states to temporarily practice in Virginia during charitable clinics. The language is replaced with a passage that is written to do the same thing, but uses the language all-volunteer, nonprofit organizations. Lambert said that could disqualify RAM and any other charitable clinic that has at least one paid employee. He also is concerned about two other language changes. Current law allows out-of-state practitioners to volunteer in Virginia for three days before notifying the Board of Medicine. Kilgores bill, he said, appears to give this only to dentists. Also, the rewrite to the legislation flips the language to say the board may issue a special volunteer license. Embattled Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam asked for forgiveness in a nationally televised interview Monday as he fights to stay in office in the wake of his admission that he wore blackface as a 25-year-old for a dance contest. "The man you're looking at and talking to right now is not who I was in my early 20s," said Northam, citing his background as an Army combat medic and a pediatric neurologist. "I have learned. I admit to my mistakes. And I'm gonna improve my life and do better and be in a position where I can help other people." Since the firestorm erupted over the revelation of a racist photo on his 1984 medical school yearbook page and his admissions that he darkened his face for a dance competition the same year, Northam told Gayle King of "CBS This Morning" that he's been confronting his white privilege. "I didn't realize really the powerful implications of that," said Northam. "And again talking to a lot of friends that has come crystal clear to me this week. I have also learned why the use of blackface is so offensive and, yes, I knew it in the past. But reality has really set in." RICHMOND The state agency that oversees qualifications for the Virginia State Bar will no longer ask students to disclose mental health treatment on their applications. In the spring, law students from across the state organized and sent letters to the Virginia Board of Bar Examiners asking it to eliminate a portion of the application that prompts the disclosure of mental health conditions, saying that students who need mental health counseling arent getting it out of fear that they will be denied admission to the state bar. It was a barrier to treatment, said Gray ODwyer, a University of Richmond law school alumna who helped lead the effort. It was reinforcing the stigma that if you seek treatment for any sort of mental health concern, it will come back to haunt you. The bar used to ask if applicants had any condition or impairment (including, but not limited to, a substance or alcohol use disorder, or a mental, emotional, or nervous disorder or condition) that might impact their ability to be a lawyer. That question has been entirely removed, said Catherine Hill, the boards secretary-treasurer. A dynamic city one that draws us to its intoxicating quirks and charms through the opportunities it provides for human interaction and cultural experiences is essential to the health and prosperity of the region. And there is much to admire in Baltimore, evident in the infusion of new and often youthful residents and entrepreneurs into city neighborhoods, followed by the businesses and services they patronize. But the continuing problems of our city stunt its well-being and stifle its growth. I think you get more bonding experiences, Carley said. According to Jim Battaglia, the CEO of Stonewall Jackson Regional Council, which serves 13 counties in Central Virginia, about 90 girls ages 5 through 17 have joined the Cub Scouts and Scouts program. There are currently three all-girl troops, with three more planned this spring. The interest is very, very high, Battaglia said. Girls want the program. In 2018, as Scouts BSA rolled out its new plans, it said in an announcement that it hoped to serve families and welcome girls and boys into Scouting in communities across the country. [The campaign] reinforces that the mission and core values in the Scout Oath and Scout Law are welcoming, inclusive and foundational for both young men and women. According to the most recent national membership numbers available, in 2017, the program had more than 2 million members. Both the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America have fought declining membership in recent years. The Girl Scouts organization condemned Scouts BSAs decision to admit girls, saying at the time that no one does girl leadership better than we do. This is just one element of that, the fact that we are making this history accessible and available is probably one of the more important things, she said. The group visited other historic sites in North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama on the way to Montgomery. What we know about this particular lynching, which is information we didnt have until after we got back from the trip, is that the train was stopped by a white man dressed as a woman who flagged down the train; that the mob included both white and African American people, the African American people hoping to deter ... the lynching, Douglas said. The group is working to get two historical markers placed in the community, one near the site of the lynching off of U.S. 250 near Farmington, and one near the courthouse. On one side of the marker, we describe the history of the lynching in the community and on the other side of the marker is the description of lynching as it relates to the racial history of America, Douglas said. Ultimately, the group will apply to claim a steel monument to James, identical to one hanging at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and install it locally. An Orange County man has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography. Ryan M. Champlin, 36, was arrested by the Orange County Sheriffs Office on Feb. 8 and charged with five counts of child pornography possession and two counts of failing to register as a sex offender, according to a news release. Champlin is a registered sex offender with convictions in Utah for sexual exploitation, police said. He is currently being held without bond at the Central Virginia Regional Jail. Send news tips to news@dailyprogress.com, call (434) 978-7264, tweet us @DailyProgress or send us a Facebook message here. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Energizer Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes household batteries, specialty batteries, and lighting products worldwide. It offers lithium, alkaline, carbon zinc, nickel metal hydride, zinc air, and silver oxide batteries under the Energizer and Eveready brands, as well as primary, rechargeable, specialty, and hearing aid batteries. The company also provides headlights, lanterns, and children's and area lights, as well as flash lights under the Energizer, Eveready, Rayovac, Hard Case, Dolphin, Varta, and WeatherReady brands. In addition, it licenses the Energizer and Eveready brands to companies developing consumer solutions in gaming, automotive batteries, portable power for critical devices, LED light bulbs, generators, power tools, household light bulbs, and other lighting products. Further, the company designs and markets automotive fragrance and appearance products, including protectants, wipes, tire and wheel care products, glass cleaners, leather care products, air fresheners, and washes to clean, shine, refresh, and protect interior and exterior automobile surfaces under the brand names of Armor All, Nu Finish, Refresh Your Car!, LEXOL, Eagle One, California Scents, Driven, and Bahama & Co; STP branded fuel and oil additives, functional fluids, and other performance chemical products; and do-it-yourself automotive air conditioning recharge products under the A/C PRO brand name, as well as other refrigerant and recharge kits, sealants, and accessories. It sells its products through direct sales force, distributors, and wholesalers; and through various retail and business-to-business channels, including mass merchandisers, club, electronics, food, home improvement, dollar store, auto, drug, hardware, e-commerce, convenience, sporting goods, hobby/craft, office, industrial, medical, and catalog. Energizer Holdings, Inc. is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Read More Rockwell Automation, Inc. provides industrial automation and digital transformation solutions. The company operates in two segments, Architecture & Software, and Control Products & Solutions. The Architecture & Software segment offers a portfolio of automation and information platforms, including hardware and software. Its products include programmable automation controllers; design, visualization, and simulation software; and human machine interface products, networking products, industrial computers, sensing devices, machine safety devices, motion control products, and independent cart technology products. This segment also offers manufacturing execution system and analytics software to enhance operational productivity and meet regulatory requirements. The Control Products & Solutions segment provides low and medium voltage electro-mechanical and electronic motor starters, AC/DC variable frequency drives, motor control and circuit protection devices, operator and signaling devices, termination and protection devices, relays and timers, and electrical control accessories. This segment also offers pre-configured line and load power solutions, packaged drives, motor control centers, and intelligent packaged power and engineered to order automation equipment solutions; and professional lifecycle services, such as safety, security, and digital transformation consulting, as well as automation and information project delivery capabilities, plant network, cloud, cybersecurity, asset management and predictive analytics, and remote, on-site, and managed support services. The company primarily serves a range of industries, which include the automotive, semiconductor, and warehousing and logistics; food and beverage, and life sciences; and oil and gas, metals, and chemicals through independent distributors and direct sales force worldwide. Rockwell Automation, Inc. was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Read More thyssenkrupp AG operates in the areas of automotive technology, industrial components, plant technology, marine systems, steel, and materials services in Germany, the United States, China, and internationally. The company's Automotive Technology segment develops and manufactures components and systems and automated production systems for the automotive industry. Its Industrial Components segment manufactures and sells forged components and system solutions for the resource, construction, and mobility sectors; and slewing rings, antifriction bearings, and seamless rolled rings for the wind energy and construction machinery sectors. The company's Plant Technology segment builds plants for the chemical, cement, and mining industries. Its Marine Systems segment provides systems in the submarine and surface ship building, as well as in the field of maritime electronics and security technology. The company's Materials Services segment distributes materials and offers technical services for the production and manufacturing sectors. Its Steel Europe segment provides flat carbon steel products, intelligent material solutions, and finished parts. thyssenkrupp AG was founded in 1811 and is headquartered in Essen, Germany. Read More And indeed, it took decades for the full perniciousness of the Plessy ruling to be recognized, which occurred only after much damage was already done: Separation had spread to every corner of the South (and parts of the North), and segregation had invaded every public space from water fountains to waiting rooms to swimming pools; a half-century of lynchings had gone unchecked and unprosecuted; and multiple court rulings had accumulated relying on Plessy as precedent. It wasnt until 1954 that the Supreme Court finally reversed itself and renounced separate but equal in the school segregation case known as Brown v. Board of Education, and even then, years would pass before real headway was made on integration. SunTrust Banks, Inc. operates as the holding company for SunTrust Bank that provides various financial services for consumers, businesses, corporations, institutions, and not-for-profit entities in the United States. It operates in two segments, Consumer and Wholesale. The Consumer segment provides deposits and payments; home equity and personal credit lines; auto, student, and other lending products; credit cards; discount/online and full-service brokerage products; professional investment advisory products and services; and trust services, as well as family office solutions. This segment also offers residential mortgage products in the secondary market. The Wholesale segment provides capital markets solutions, including advisory, capital raising, and financial risk management; asset-based financing solutions, such as securitizations, asset-based lending, equipment financing, and structured real estate arrangements; cash management services and auto dealer financing solutions; investment banking solutions; and credit and deposit, fee-based product offering, multi-family agency lending, advisory, commercial mortgage brokerage, and tailored financing and equity investment solutions. This segment also offers treasury and payment solutions, such as operating various electronic and paper payment types, which comprise card, wire transfer, automated clearing house, check, and cash; and provides services clients to manage their accounts online. The company offers its products and services through a network of traditional and in-store branches, automated teller machines, Internet, mobile, and telephone banking channels. As of December 31, 2018, it operated 1,218 full-service banking offices located in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia. SunTrust Banks, Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Read More WESCO International, Inc. provides business-to-business distribution, logistics, and supply chain solutions in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Electrical & Electronic Solutions (EES), Communications & Security Solutions (CSS), and Utility and Broadband Solutions (UBS). The EES segment supplies products and supply chain solutions, including electrical equipment and supplies, wires and cables, lubricants, pipes, valves, fittings, fasteners, cutting tools, power transmission products, and safety products, as well as assemblies and components; and provides various value-added services, such as supplier consolidation, design and technical support, just-in-time supply and electronic commerce, and supply chain management services to the construction, industrial, and original equipment manufacturing markets. The CSS segment provides copper and fiber optic cable and connectivity, access control, video surveillance, intrusion and fire/life safety, cabinets, power, cable management, wireless, professional audio/video, voice and networking switches, and other ancillary products; and value-added supply chain solutions, including inventory management, product packaging and enhancement, and customized supply chain services to the network infrastructure and security markets. The UBS segment supplies electrical transmission and distribution, power plant maintenance, repair and operations supplies, and smart-grid products; arranges materials management and procurement outsourcing services for the power generation, transmission, and distribution industries; and offers conductors, transformers, overhead transmission and distribution hardware, switches, protective devices and underground distribution products, connectors, critical components, and lighting and conduit products for the investor-owned utilities, public power companies, and contractors. The company was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Dover: ALMATEC Maschinenbau GmbH, Accelerated Production Systems, Advansor A/S, Advansor Dover International (Poland) sp. z o.o, Alfred Fueling Systems Holdco Ltd., Alfred Fueling Systems Inc., Alfred Fueling Systems Intermediate Holdco Ltd., All-Flo Pump Company Limited business, Anman LLC, Anthony Equity Holdings Inc., Anthony Holdings Inc., Anthony Inc., 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, Automatik Grundstucksverwaltung GmbH & Co. KG, Automatik Plastics Machinery (Taiwan) Ltd., Automatik Plastics Machinery Sdn. Bhd., BSC Filters Limited, Background2 Limited, Belanger Inc., Belvac Middle East FZE, Belvac Production Machinery Inc., BlitzRotary GmbH, Butler Engineering and Marketing S.P.A., CEP Liquidation LLC, CP Formation LLC, CPC, CPC Europe Inc., CPI Products Inc., Caldera, Caldera Inc., Canada Organization & Development LLC, Chief Automotive Technologies (Shanghai) Trading Company Ltd., Chippewa Square Captive Insurance 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., DFH Corporation, DSR BZ Holdings LLC, De Sta Co (Asia) Company Limited, De-Sta-Co Cylinders Inc., DeStaCo Europe GmbH, Delaware Capital Formation Inc., Delaware Capital Holdings Inc., Destaco Ema Industria e Comercio Ltda., 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 Finance LP, 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, Dover Energy UK Ltd, Dover Engineered Systems Inc., Dover Engineered Systems UK Ltd, Dover Europe Inc., Dover Europe Sarl, Dover Fluids Inc., Dover Fluids UK Ltd, Dover France Holdings S.A.S., Dover France Participations SAS, Dover France Technologies, Dover Fueling Solutions UK Limited, Dover Germany GmbH, Dover Global Holdings LLC, Dover Global Trading Pte. Ltd., Dover Holdings de Mexico S.A. de C.V., 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 Refrigeration & Food Equipment 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, Dressor Wayne Data Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Dressor 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 GmbH, Ettlinger Kunststoffmaschinen GmbH, Ettlinger Management Inc., Ettlinger North America LP, Ettlinger Vertrieb und Service GmbH & Co. KG, Ettlinger Verwaltungs-GmbH, Fairbanks Environmental Limited, Ferguson CO. S.A., Fibrelite Composites Limited, Fibresec Holdings Limited, Fibresec Limited, Finder, Finder Oriental (Beijing) Trading Co. Ltd, Finder Pompe S.R.L., Finder United Saudi Arabia Company, GAL LLC, GIIER LLC, Gala Industries Asia Limited, Gala Industries Incorporated, 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, Hydro Systems Europe Ltd., Hydronova Australia-NZ Pty Ltd, Industrial Motion Control LLC, Inpro/Seal LLC, International Trade and Equipment B.V., JK Group SPA, JK Group USA Inc., K&L Microwave DR Inc., K&L Microwave Inc., K. S. Boca Inc., KPS (Beijing) Petroleum Equipment Trading Co Ltd., KPS Asia Sdn. Bhd., 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, Lianyngang Jump Petroleum and Chemical Machinery Co. Ltd., Liquip, Liquip International Pty Limited, MARKEM FZ SA, MARKEM Holdings Inc., MARKEM International Inc., MARKEM S.A. de C.V., MARKEM Tag Inc., MARKEM UK Holdings 1 Unlimited, MARKEM UK Holdings 2 Limited, MIP Holdings Inc., MS Printing Solutions S.R.L., Maag Automatik GmbH, Maag Automatik Inc., Maag Automatik Plastics Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Maag Automatik Srl, Maag Pump Systems (US) Inc., Maag Pump Systems AG, Maag Pump Systems SAS, Marathon Equipment Company (Delaware), Markem Imaje Center of Competencies Spain S.L.U., Markem-Imaje, Markem-Imaje (China) Co. Limited, Markem-Imaje A/S, Markem-Imaje AB, Markem-Imaje AG, Markem-Imaje AS, Markem-Imaje Application Innovation Center Sarl, 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 Ltd., Markem-Imaje N.V., Markem-Imaje Oy, Markem-Imaje Pty Ltd, Markem-Imaje S.A., Markem-Imaje S.A. de C.V., Markem-Imaje S.r.l. a socio unico, Markem-Imaje SAS, Markem-Imaje Sdn Bhd, Markem-Imaje Software Development Centre Pvt. Ltd., Markem-Imaje Spain S.A.U, Markem-Imaje Unipessoal Lda (Portugal), Markpoint Holding AB, Midland Manufacturing LLC, Mouvex, Neptune Chemical Pump Company, Northern Lights (Nevada) Inc., Northern Lights Funding LP, Northern Lights Investments LLC, Nova Controls Inc., OK International (UK) Ltd., OK International Holdings Inc., OK International Inc., OPW Engineered Systems Inc., OPW Fluid Transfer Group Europe B.V., 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 Inc., PISCES by OPW Inc., PSG (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, PSG (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., PSG Worldwide Inc., Petro Vend Sp. z o.o., Pike Machine Products Inc., Piston OPW 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., Pump Management Services Co. LLC, RAV Equipment U.S.A. Inc., RAV Equipos Espana S.L., RAV France, Rav Equipment UK Limited, Ravaglioli Deutschland GmbH, Ravaglioli S.P.A., Reduction Engineering GmbH, Revod Corporation, Revod Finance Ireland Limited, Revod Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Revod SAS, Revod Sweden AB, Robohand Inc., Rosario Handel B.V., Rotary Lift Consolidated (Haimen) Co. Ltd, SE Liquidation LLC, SWEP A.G., SWEP Germany GmbH, SWEP Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., SWEP North America Inc., SWEP Slovakia s.r.o., SWEP Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Scheer Pelletizing Systems & Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Scheer Taiwan Machinery Co. Ltd., Seabiscuit Motorsports Inc., Simmons Sirvey Corporation, So. Cal. Soft-Pak Incorporated, Solaris Laser S.A., Space S.R.L., 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 Inc., TQC Quantium Quality S.A. de C.V., TTSI III Inc., TWG Canada Consolidated Inc., TXHI LLC, Tartan Textile Services Inc., The Curotto-Can LLC, The Heil Co., Tokheim Belgium, Tokheim China Company Limited, Tokheim GmbH, Tokheim Group, Tokheim Guardian Venture Sdn. Bhd, Tokheim Hengshan Technologies (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., Tokheim Holding, Tokheim Holding B.V., Tokheim India Private Limited, Tokheim Netherlands B.V., Tokheim Sofitam Applications, Trans - Logistic Group S.R.L., Tulsa Winch Inc., Unified Brands Inc., Val TemperBent Glass L.P., Vectron Frequency Devices (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Vehicle Service Group LLC, Vos Food Store Equipment Ltd., Warn Automotive LLC, Waukesha Bearings, Waukesha Bearings Limited, Waukesha Bearings Russia LLC, Wayne Fuel Management UK Ltd., 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 Pte. Ltd., Wayne Fueling Systems Sweden AB, Wayne Fueling Systems UK Holdco Ltd., Wayne Industria e Comercio Ltda., Wei Li Pump Shanghai Co. LTD., WellMark, and Wilden Pump and Engineering LLC. WestRock Company manufactures and sells paper and packaging solutions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company operates through Corrugated Packaging and Consumer Packaging segments. The Corrugated Packaging segment produces containerboards, corrugated sheets, corrugated packaging, and preprinted linerboards for sale to consumer and industrial products manufacturers, and corrugated box manufacturers. It also provides structural and graphic design, engineering services and custom, and automated packaging machines; offers a machinery solution that creates pouches to replace single-use plastics, including bubble mailers; distributes corrugated packaging materials and other specialty packaging products, including stretch films, void fills, carton sealing tapes, and other specialty tapes; operates recycling facilities that collect, sort, grade, and bale recovered paper; and provides lithographic laminated packaging products, as well as contract packing services. The Consumer Packaging segment manufactures and sells folding cartons that are used to package food, paper, beverages, dairy products, tobacco, confectionery, health and beauty, other household consumer, and commercial and industrial products; and express mail packages for the overnight courier industry. It also offers inserts and labels, as well as rigid packaging and other printed packaging products, such as transaction cards, brochures, product literature, marketing materials, and grower tags and plant stakes for the horticultural market; and secondary packages and paperboard packaging for over-the-counter and prescription drugs. In addition, this segment manufactures and sells solid fiber and corrugated partitions, and die-cut paperboard components principally to glass container manufacturers, producers of beer, food, wine, spirits, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, and the automotive industry. WestRock Company is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Read More Premium Brands Holdings Corporation, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes food products primarily in Canada and the United States. It operates in two segments, Specialty Foods and Premium Food Distribution. The company provides meat products and snacks, deli products, beef jerky and halal, sandwiches, pastries, specialty and gourmet products, salads and kettle products, entrees, panini, wraps, subs, hamburgers, burgers, muffins, breads, pastas, and baking and sushi products, as well as processed meat products. It is also involved in the distribution of food products, including meat, seafood, and halal food products, as well as operation of retail/convenience store and concessionary, and provision of food and seafood processing services. The company operates under the brand names of Harvest Meats, Hempler's, Grimm's Fine Foods, Piller's, Freybe, Isernio's, Expresco, SJ Fine Foods, McSweeney's, Made Rite, Fletcher's, Deli Chef, Belmont Meats, Conte Foods, SK Food Group, Oven Pride, Hygaard, Quality Fast Foods, HQ Fine Foods, Creekside Custom Foods, Stuyver's Bread, Bread Garden Express, Audrey's Patisserie, Duso's, Gourmet Chef, Island City Baking, Skilcor, Leadbetter's, Mclean Meats, Buddy's Kitchen, Raybern's, Partner's Crackers, Shaw Bakers, Oberto, Concord Meats, Country Prime Meats, The Meat Factory, and Golden Valley Farms. It serves chains and large format retailers, independent and specialty retailers, foodservice operators, foodservice distributors, and other food manufacturers and food brokers. The company was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Richmond, Canada. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of The 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 The AES: 25 Ashdown Road Solar LLC, AES (India) Private Limited, AES (NI) Limited, AES Abigail S.a.r.l., AES Accabonac Solar LLC, AES Africa Power Company B.V., AES AgriVerde Holdings B.V., AES AgriVerde Services (Ukraine) Limited Liability Company, AES Alamitos Development Inc., AES Alamitos Energy LLC, AES Alamitos L.L.C., AES Alicura Holdings S.C.A., AES Americas International Holdings Limited, AES Andres (BVI) Ltd., AES Andres BV, AES Andres DR S.A., AES Andres Holdings I Ltd, AES Aramtermelo Holdings B.V., AES Argentina Generation S.A. (1), AES Argentina Holdings S.C.A., AES Argentina Investments Ltd., AES Argentina Operations Ltd., AES Arlington Services LLC, AES Armenia Mountain Holdings LLC, AES Armenia Mountain Wind 2 LLC, AES Aurora Holdings Inc., AES Aurora Inc., AES BES Jordan B.V., AES Bainbridge Holdings LLC, AES Bainbridge LLC, AES Ballylumford Holdings Limited, AES Baltic Holdings BV, AES Barka Services Inc., AES Barry Limited, AES Barry Operations Ltd., AES Beaver Valley L.L.C., AES Belfast West Power Limited, AES Belleville Solar LLC, AES Big Sky L.L.C., AES Botswana Holdings B.V., AES Brasil Ltda, AES Brazil Inc., AES Brazil International Holdings Limited, AES Broadalbin Solar LLC, AES Bulgaria B.V., AES Bulgaria Energy Solutions EOOD, AES Bulgaria Holdings BV, AES Bussum Holdings BV, AES CC&T International Ltd., AES CLESA Y Compania Sociedad en Comandita de Capital Variable, AES Calaca Pte. Ltd., AES Calgary Inc., AES California Management Co. Inc., AES Caracoles SRL, AES Carbon Exchange Ltd., AES Carbon Holdings LLC, AES Caribbean Finance Holdings Inc., AES Caribbean Investment Holdings Ltd., AES Cartegena Holdings BV, AES Cayman Guaiba Ltd., AES Cayman Pampas Ltd., AES Central America Electric Light LLC, AES Central American Holdings Inc., AES Central American Investment Holdings Ltd., AES Central Asia Holdings BV, AES Ceprano Energia SRL, AES Changuinola S.R.L., AES Chhattisgarh Energy Private Limited, AES Chigen Holdings Ltd., AES China Generating Co. Ltd., AES Chivor & Cia S.C.A. E.S.P., AES Chivor S.A., AES Climate Solutions Holdings I B.V., AES Climate Solutions Holdings I LLC, AES Climate Solutions Holdings II LLC, AES Climate Solutions Holdings L.P., AES Climate Solutions Holdings LLC, AES Colon Development S. de R.L., AES Columbia Power LLC, AES Communications LLC, AES Communications Latin America Inc., AES Connecticut Management L.L.C., AES Coop Holdings LLC, AES Costa Rica Energy SRL, AES Costa Rica Holdings Ltd., AES DE AssetCo VI LLC, AES DE Class B Holdings LLC, AES DE Class B I LLC, AES DE Class B II LLC, AES DE Class B III LLC, AES DE Class B IV LLC, AES DE Class B V LLC, AES DE Class B VI LLC, AES DE Class B VII LLC, AES DE Construction LLC, AES DE DevCo I LLC, AES DE DevCo NC LLC, AES DE Holdings I LLC, AES DE Holdings III LLC, AES DE Holdings IV LLC, AES DE Holdings V LLC, AES DE Holdings VI GB LLC, AES DE Holdings VI GB Owner LLC, AES DE Holdings VI LLC, AES DE Manager LLC, AES DE RS IX LLC, AES DE RS VI LLC, AES DE RS VII LLC, AES DE RS VIII LLC, AES DE RS X LLC, AES DE RS XI LLC, AES DE RS XII LLC, AES DE Residential Holdings I LLC, AES DE Solar Access Holdings I LLC, AES DE-GIE LLC, AES DPL Holdings LLC, AES DPP Holdings Ltd., AES Deepwater LLC, AES Desert Power L.L.C., AES Development de Argentina S.A., AES Disaster Relief Fund, AES Distribuidores Salvadorenos Limitada, AES Distribuidores Salvadorenos Y Compania S en C de C.V., AES Distributed Energy Inc., AES Dominicana Cooperatief UA, AES Drax Financing Inc., AES Drax Power Finance Holdings Limited, AES EDC Holding L.L.C., AES ES Alamitos LLC, AES ES Deepwater LLC, AES ES Gilbert LLC, AES ES Holdings LLC, AES ES Tait LLC, AES Ecotek Europe Holdings B.V., AES El Faro Electric Light Ltd., AES El Faro Generating Ltd., AES El Salvador Electric Light LLC, AES El Salvador LLC, AES El Salvador S.A. de C.V., AES El Salvador Trust, AES Electric Ltd., AES Electroinversora B.V., AES Elpa S.A., AES Empresa Electrica de El Salvador Limitada de Capital Variable, AES Endeavor Inc., AES Energia SRL, AES Energy B.V., AES Energy Developments S.L., AES Energy Ltd., AES Energy Services Inc., AES Energy Solutions LLC, AES Energy Storage Arizona LLC, AES Energy Storage Holdings, AES Energy Storage Holdings LLC, AES Energy Storage LLC, AES Energy Storage UK Limited, AES Energy Storage Zeeland B.V., AES Engineering LLC, AES Europe Services EOOD, AES Finance and Development Inc., AES Florestal Ltda., AES Fonseca Energia Limitada de C.V., AES Forca Ltd., AES Foreign Energy Holdings LLC, AES GEI US Finance Inc., AES GEO Energy OOD, AES GPH Holdings Inc., AES Gabreski Solar LLC, AES Gas Supply & Distribution Ltd., AES Gener S.A., AES Generation Development LLC, AES Global Insurance Company, AES Global Mobility Services LLC, AES Global Power Holdings B.V., AES Globales B.V., AES Grand Dominicana Ltd., AES Grid Stability LLC, AES Griggs Solar LLC, AES Guaiba II Empreendimentos Ltda, AES Guayama Holdings BV, AES Hawaii LLC, AES Hawaii Management Company LLC, AES Highgrove Holdings L.L.C., AES Highgrove L.L.C., AES Hispanola Holdings BV, AES Hispanola Holdings II BV, AES Holdings B.V., AES Holdings B.V. - Vietnam Rep Office, AES Holdings Brasil Ltda., AES Honduras Generation Ventures Ltd., AES Honduras Holdings Ltd., AES Horizons Holdings BV, AES Horizons Investments Limited, AES Hungary Energiaszolgaltato Kft., AES Huntington Beach Development L.L.C., AES Huntington Beach Energy LLC, AES Huntington Beach L.L.C., AES IB Valley Corporation, AES Ilumina Holdings LLC, AES Ilumina LLC, AES Ilumina Member LLC, AES India Holdings (Mauritius), AES India L.L.C., AES Indiana Holdings L.L.C., AES Integrated Energy LLC, AES Intercon II Ltd., AES Interenergy Ltd., AES International Holdings II Ltd., AES International Holdings III Ltd., AES International Holdings Ltd., AES Investment Chile SpA, AES Italia S.r.l, AES James Baird Solar LLC, AES Johnsville Solar LLC, AES Jordan Holdco Cayman Limited, AES Jordan PSC, AES Jordan Solar B.V., AES Juniper Point Holdings LLC, AES K2 Limited, AES Kalaeloa Venture L.L.C., AES Kekaha Solar LLC, AES Keystone L.L.C., AES Keystone Wind L.L.C., AES King Harbor Inc., AES Kuihelani Solar LLC, AES LA FIT Dedeaux LLC, AES LA FIT Francisco LLC, AES LA FIT Sun Valley LLC, AES LATAM Energy Development Ltd., AES Landfill Carbon LLC, AES Latin America S. de R.L., AES Latin American Development Ltd., AES Laurel Mountain LLC, AES Lawai Solar LLC, AES Levant Holdings B.V., AES Levant Holdings B.V/ Jordan PSC, AES Lion Telecom Investments B.V., AES Lumos Holdings LLC, AES Maritza East 1 Ltd., AES Maritza East 1 Services Ltd., AES Mayan Holdings S. de R.L. de C.V., AES Merida B.V., AES Merida III S. de R.L. de C.V., AES Merida Management Services S. de R.L. de C.V., AES Merida Operaciones SRL de CV, AES Mexican Holdings Ltd., AES Mexico Farms L.L.C., AES Mexico Generation Holdings S. de R.L. de C.V., AES MicroPlanet Ltd., AES Mid East Holdings 2 Ltd., AES Mong Duong Holdings B.V., AES Mong Duong Project Holdings B.V., AES Monroe Holdings B.V., AES Mount Vernon B.V., AES NA Central L.L.C., AES NEXT Ltda. de C.V., AES Nejapa Gas Ltda. de C.V., AES Nejapa Services Ltda. de C.V., AES Next LLC, AES Nile Power Holdings Ltd., AES North America Development LLC, AES OPGC Holding, AES Oahu LLC, AES Oahu Wind Holdings LLC, AES Oasis Holdco Inc., AES Oasis Ltd., AES Oasis Mauritius Inc, AES Ocean Springs Trust Deed, AES Odyssey L.L.C., AES Ohio Generation LLC, AES Operaciones Laguna del Rey S. de R.L. de C.V., AES Operadora S.A, AES Orissa Distribution Private Limited, AES Overseas Holdings (Cayman) Ltd., AES Overseas Holdings Limited, AES Pacific Inc., AES Pacific L.L.C., AES Pacific Ocean Holdings B.V., AES Pak Holdings Ltd., AES Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd., AES Pakistan Operations Ltd., AES Panama S.R.L., AES Parana Gas S.A., AES Parana Holdings Ltd., AES Parana IHC Ltd., AES Parana II Limited Partnership, AES Parana Operations S.R.L., AES Parana Propiedades S.A, AES Parana Uruguay S.R.L, AES Pardo Holdings Ltd., AES Pasadena Inc., AES Peru S.R.L., AES Phil Investment Pte. Ltd., AES Philippines Power Partners Co. Ltd., AES Platense Investments Uruguay S.C.A, AES Puerto Rico Inc., AES Puerto Rico L.P., AES Puerto Rico Services Inc., AES Redondo Beach L.L.C., AES Renewable Power Group S.R.L., AES Renewables (India) Private Limited, AES Riverside Holdings LLC, AES SACEF Investment LLC, AES SEB Holdings (Delaware) LLC, AES SEB Holdings Ltd., AES Saint Petersburg Holdings B.V., AES San Nicolas B.V., AES SellCo III LLC, AES Services Inc., AES Services Ltd., AES Services Philippines Inc., AES Servicios America S.R. L., AES Servicios Electricos S. de R.L. de C.V., AES Servicos TC Ltda., AES Shady Point LLC, AES Silk Road Energy LLC, AES Silk Road LLC, AES Solar Energy B.V., AES Solar Energy Holdings B.V., AES Solar Energy LLC, AES Solar Espana S.L., AES Solar Holdings LLC, AES Solar Power PR LLC, AES Sole Italia S.r.L., AES Soluciones Limitada de Capital Variable, AES Solutions LLC, AES Solutions Management LLC, AES South America Holdings Cooperatief U.A., AES South America Holdings I B.V., AES South America Holdings II B.V., AES South American Holdings Ltd., AES South Point Ltd., AES Southland Development LLC, AES Southland Energy Company Holdings I LLC, AES Southland Energy Holdings II LLC, AES Southland Energy Holdings LLC, AES Southland Energy Investment LLC, AES Southland Energy LLC, AES Stonehaven Holding Inc., AES Strategic Equipment Holdings Corporation, AES Sul L.L.C., AES Summit Generation Ltd., AES Swiss Lake Holdings B.V., AES TEG Holdings I LLC, AES TEG Holdings LLC, AES TEG II Mexican Holdings S. de R.L. de C.V., AES TEG II Mexican Investments S. de R.L. de C.V., AES TEG II Operations S. de R.L. de C.V., AES TEG Management Inc., AES TEG Mexican Holdings S. de R.L. de C.V., AES TEG Mexican Investments S. de R.L. de C.V., AES TEG Operations S. de R.L. de C.V., AES TEG Power Investments B.V., AES TEG Power Investments II B.V., AES TEGTEP Holdings B.V., AES TEP Holdings I LLC, AES TEP Holdings LLC, AES TEP Management Inc., AES TEP Power II Investments Limited, AES TEP Power Investments Limited, AES Tamuin Development Services S. de R.L. de C.V., AES Texas Funding III L.L.C., AES Thames L.L.C., AES Thomas Holdings BV, AES Tiete Eolica S.A., AES Tiete Inova Solucoes de Energia I Ltda., AES Tiete Inova Solucoes de Energia II Ltda., AES Tiete Inova Solucoes de Energia Ltda., AES Tiete Integra Solucoes em Energia Ltda, AES Tonawanda Solar LLC, AES Transgas I Ltd., AES Treasure Cove Ltd., AES Trinidad Services Unlimited, AES Trust III, AES Tucano Holding I S.A., AES Tucano Holdings II S.A., AES U&K Holdings B.V., AES U.S. Holdings LLC, AES U.S. Investments Inc., AES U.S. Solar LLC, AES UCH Holdings (Cayman) Ltd., AES UK Datacenter Services Limited, AES UK Holdings Limited, AES UK Power Financing II Ltd, AES UK Power Financing Limited, AES UK Power Holdings Limited, AES UK Power L.L.C., AES UK Power Limited, AES US Distributed Solar Holdings LLC, AES US Generation Holdings LLC, AES US Generation LLC, AES US Services LLC, AES US Wind Development L.L.C., AES US Wind Generation Holdings LLC, AES Union de Negocios S.A. de C.V., AES Uruguaiana Empreendimentos S.A., AES Venezuela Finance, AES Volcan Holdings B.V., AES WR Limited Partnership, AES Waikoloa Solar LLC, AES Warrior Run L.L.C., AES West Oahu Solar LLC, AES Western Power Holdings L.L.C., AES Western Power L.L.C., AES Western Wind L.L.C., AES Western Wind MV Acquisition LLC, AES Wind Bulgaria EOOD, AES Wind Generation LLC, AES Wind Generation Limited, AES Wind Investments I B.V., AES Wind Investments II B.V., AES Yucatan S. de R.L. de C.V., AES Zephyr 2 LLC, AES Zephyr 3 LLC, AES Zephyr Inc., AES- IC Ictas Enerji Uretim ve Ticaret A.S., AES-3C Maritza East 1 Ltd., AES-RS Spanish Holdings LLC, AES-RS Sunshine Cooperatief U.A., AES-RS Sunshine Holdings LLC, AES-VCM Mong Duong Power Company Limited, AESCom Sul Ltda., AESEBA Trust Deed, AGV Solar IV Geradora de Energia S.A., AGV Solar V Geradora de Energia S.A., AGV Solar VI Geradora de Energia S.A., AM Solar B.V., AM Solar B.V. - Jordan Co., APR Walden Solar 1 LLC, ARNIKA Beteiligungsverwaltungs GmbH, AZ Solar I LLC, AZ Solar II LLC, AZ Solar Phase Zero LLC, AgCert Canada Co., AgCert Canada Holding Limited, AgCert Chile Servicios Ambientales Limitada, AgCert International Limited, AgCert Servicios Ambientales S.R.L., Agilion Energy Private Limited, Allis Medina Solar LLC, Altai Power Limited Liability Partnership, Alto Maipo SpA, Amaterasu LLC, Andes Solar SpA, Arizona B&GC Solar LLC, Assonet Solar 1 LLC, Atlantic Basin Services Ltd., B.A. Services S.R.L., Bakersfield Industrial PV 1 LLC, Bakersfield PV I LLC, Beals Medina Solar LLC, Boa Hora 1 Geradora De Energia Solar S.A., Boa Hora 2 Geradora de Energia Solar S.A., Boa Hora 3 Geradora De Energia Solar S.A., Bolton Solar I LLC, Brasiliana Participacoes S.A., Bridgeport Solar LLC, Buffalo Gap Holdings 2 LLC, Buffalo Gap Holdings 3 L.L.C., Buffalo Gap Holdings LLC, Buffalo Gap Wind Farm 2 LLC, Buffalo Gap Wind Farm 3 L.L.C., Buffalo Gap Wind Farm 4 L.L.C., Buffalo Gap Wind Farm LLC, Bullock Freetown Solar 1 LLC, Bosforo de Responsabilidad Limitada de Capital Variable, CCS Telecarrier, CDEC-SING Ltda, CIA.TRANSMISORA DEL NORTE CHICO S.A., CO-CA Wholly Owned LLC, Camille Ltd., Camille Trust, Cavanal Minerals LLC, Cayman Energy Traders, Cemig II C.V., Centrais Eolicas Ametista S.A., Centrais Eolicas Borgo S.A., Centrais Eolicas Caetite S.A., Centrais Eolicas Dourados S.A., Centrais Eolicas Espigao S.A., Centrais Eolicas Maron S.A., Centrais Eolicas Morrao S.A., Centrais Eolicas Pelourinho S.A., Centrais Eolicas Piloes S.A., Centrais Eolicas Seraima S.A., Centrais Eolicas Serra do Espinhaco S.A., Centrais Eolicas Tanque S.A., Centrais Eolicas Ventos do Nordeste S.A., Centrais Eolicas da Prata S.A., Centrais Eolicas dos Aracas S.A., Central Electricity Supply Company of Orissa Limited, Central Termoelectrica Guillermo Brown S.A., Cerulean Properties LLC, Clean Wind Energy Ltd., Coastal Itabo Ltd., Colon LNG Marketing S. De R.L., Compania de Alumbrado Eletrico de San Salvador S.A. DE C.V., Compass Circle Solar LLC, Compania Transmisora Angamos SpA, Compania Transmisora La Cebada S.A., Compania Transmisora del Norte Grande SpA, Costa Norte LNG Terminal S. de R.L., Cronin Road Solar 1 LLC, DPL Capital Trust II, DPL Inc., Daggett Ridge Wind Farm LLC, Delano PV1 LLC, Diamond Development Inc., Distribuidora Electrica de Usulutan Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, Domi Trading S.L., Dominican Power Partners, Dublin Solar I LLC, Dunstable Solar 1 LLC, EMLP Controladora S. de R.L. de C.V., ENERAB S. de R.L. de C.V., ENERGEN S.A., Eloy ESD Solar Holdings LLC, Empresa Electrica Angamos S.A., Empresa Electrica Campiche S.A., Empresa Electrica Cochrane II SpA, Empresa Electrica Cochrane S.A., Empresa Electrica Guacolda S.A., Empresa Electrica Ventanas S.A., Empresa Electrica de Oriente S.A. de C.V., Empresa Generadora De Electricidad Itabo S.A., EnerAB Cogeneracion I Laguna del Rey S. de R.L. de C.V., EnerAB Suministro Calificado S. de R.L. de C.V., EnerAB Tenedora S. de R.L., Energetica Argentina S.A., Energia Eolica Los Olmos SpA, Energia Eolica Mesamavida SpA, Energia Verde S.A., Energy Trade and Finance Corporation, Energia Eolica Curauma SpA, Energia Eolica Paposo SpA, Energia Natural del Este Enadom, Eolica Mesa La Paz S. de R.L. de C.V., FTP Power LLC, Finchville Solar LLC, Fluence Energy LLC, Founder's Homestead Farm Solar LLC, Fundacion AES Dominicana Inc., Fundacion AES Gener, GENERGIA S.A., GNRY Holdings & Investments Limited, Gas Natural Atlantico II S. de R.L., Gas Natural Atlantico S. De R.L., Gasoducto GasAndes Argentina S.A., Gasoducto GasAndes S.A., Gener Argentina S.A., Gener Blue Water Ltd., Genergia Power Ltd., Georgia Solar Holdings LLC, Georgia Solar Parent LLC, Global Energy Holdings C.V., Goller Enerji Uretim Ltd. Sti., Gray Springs Vista Solar LLC, Greenwich Solar 1 LLC, Guacolda Energy S.A., Guaimbe I Parque Solar S.A., Guaimbe II Parque Solar S.A., Guaimbe III Parque Solar S.A., Guaimbe IV Parque Solar S.A., Guaimbe Solar Holding S.A., Guaimbe V Parque Solar S.A., Health and Welfare Benefit Plans LLC, Hipotecaria San Miguel Limitada de Capital Variable, Hipotecaria Santa Ana Limitada de Capital Variable, INVERSIONES NUEVA VENTANAS S.A., IPALCO Enterprises Inc., Indianapolis Power & Light Company, Indimento Inversiones S.L., Instituto AES Brasil, InterAndes S.A., Inversiones Cachagua SpA, Inversiones Energia Renovable Limitada, Inversiones LK SpA, Inversiones Termoenergia de Chile Ltda., Inversiones Zapallar Limitada, Inversora de San Nicolas S.A., Itabo III S.R.L., Jemeiwaa KaI S.A.S., Johnstown Solar 1 LLC, KA Energy OOD, KMR Power Company, Kazincbarcikai Iparteruletfejleszt Kft., Kings Rooftop PV LLC, La Plata I Empreendimentos Ltda., La Plata II Ltd., La Plata III C.V., Lane Ave Solar LLC, Lemoore PV 1 LLC, MFP CO Holdings II LLC, MFP CO Holdings LLC, MFP CO I LLC, MFP CO II LLC, MFP CO III LLC, MFP CO Parent LLC, MM Solar Holdings I LLC, MM Solar Parent LLC, MSP Master Tenant I LLC, MSP Master Tenant II LLC, MacGregor Park Inc., Manteca PV 1 LLC, Maple Solar LLC, Maui 17-2 LLC, Mauka FIT Twenty LLC, Mercury Cayman Co II Ltda Agencia en Chile, Mercury Chile Co. II Ltd., Mercury Chile Holdco Ltd., Mercury Chile I Limitada, Mercury Chile II Limitada, Miami Valley Insurance Company, Miami Valley Lighting LLC, Mid-America Capital Resources Inc., Middletown Solar 1 LLC, Mong Duong Finance Holdings B.V., Motor EV LLC, Mountain Minerals LLC, Mountain View Power Partners IV LLC, Mountain View Power Partners LLC, Murcia Generation Holdings B.V., NY RNM Project1 LLC, NY RNM Project1A LLC, NY RNM Project2 LLC, NY RNM Project3 LLC, NY RNM Project4 LLC, Na Pua Makani Power Partners LLC, New Caribbean Investments SRL, Norgener Inversiones SpA, Norgener Renovables SpA, Norgener S.A., Nova Energia Holding S.A., Novus Barre Town Solar LLC, Nurenergoservice LLP, Oahu SPE 101-14 LLC, Oahu SPE 101-19 LLC, Oahu SPE 101-2 LLC, Oahu SPE 101-33 LLC, Oahu SPE 101-4 LLC, Oahu SPE 101-9 LLC, Odisha Power Generation Corporation Limited, Omega SpA, PARQUE EOLICO NOLANA SpA, PARQUE EOLICO TOPOLOA SpA, Parque Eolico Beata SRL, Parque Eolico Litueche SpA, Parque Eolico Campo Lindo SpA, Parque Eolico Los Cururos SpA, Parque Eolico Victoria SpA, Punta del Sol SpA, Quebrada Seca SpA, RMR Solar LLC, RT52 Walden Solar 1 LLC, Ransomville Solar 1 LLC, Remittance Processing Services LLC, Rep Office of AES Silk Road in Almaty, Rep Office of AES Silk Road in Tajikstan Republic, Richmond Solar Power 1 LLC, River Street Solar 1 LLC, Riverside Canal Power Company, Rosamond Solar LLC, Ryan Road Solar LLC, SD Solar I LLC, SEPV Imperial LLC, San Bernardino Solar LLC, Scituate Solar I LLC, Scottsdale Solar Holdings LLC, SeaWest Asset Management Services LLC, SeaWest Energy Project Associates LLC, SeaWest Properties LLC, SeaWest Wyoming LLC, Shazia S.R.L., Simple Energy Inc., Solar Access America LLC, Solar Access CA LLC, Solar Access California LLC, Southern Electric Brazil Participacoes Ltda., Store Heat and Produce Energy Inc., Stow Solar I LLC, Sudbury Ervin GMC Solar LLC, SunE Solar XVII Project5 LLC, SunE SunHoldings4 LLC, T&T Power Holdings I SRL, T&T Power Holdings II Ltd., TEG Business Trust, TEG/TEP Management LLC, TEP Business Trust, Tau Power BV, Tecnoma Energia Solar S.L., TermoAndes S.A., Termoelectrica Penoles S. de R.L. de C.V., Termoelectrica del Golfo S. de R.L. de C.V., Terneuzen Cogen B.V., The AES Barry Foundation, The Dayton Power and Light Company, Thermo Fuels Company Inc., Tozer Road Solar LLC, USVI Solar I LLC, University Solar LLC, Vientos Neuquinos I S.A., Village of Waterbury Solar I LLC, W. Orange RD Solar LLC, West Brookfield Boston Post Road Solar LLC, West Street Solar 1 LLC, Western Solar Parent LLC, Wilbur Woods Solar LLC, Wildwood Trust, Williamsburg East Street Solar LLC, Winchendon Ash Street Solar 1 LLC, Winchendon Lincoln Avenue Solar 1 LLC, Winchendon Lincoln Avenue Solar 2 LLC, Your Energy Holdings Limited, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-001 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-003 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-006 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-007 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-008 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-011 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-014 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-017 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-023 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-024 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-038 LLC, ZPD-PT Solar Project 2017-044 LLC, sPower, and sPower OpCo A Blocker LLC. There is good reason to question why Mr. Davis was able to show up at the school at all on Friday. In 2015, he cut the throat of an eight-year-old cousin, leading to a first-degree attempted murder charge and conviction on lesser counts. Police say he had been trying to find his cousin, Darelle Yancey, and followed three of the mans younger siblings asking for him. When they said they didnt know where Yancey was, he grabbed one of them and cut her across the neck with a knife. He served just three years in prison. Was there any reason to believe someone who would lash out in such inhuman violence against a little girl had been rehabilitated by three years in prison? The following companies are subsidiares of Lloyds Banking Group: A G Finance Ltd, A.C.L. Ltd, ACL Autolease Holdings Ltd, ADF No.1 Pty Ltd, Addison Social Housing Holdings Ltd, Alex Lawrie Factors Ltd, Alex. Lawrie Receivables Financing Ltd, Amberdate Ltd, Anglo Scottish Utilities Partnership 1, Aquilus Ltd, Automobile Association Personal Finance Ltd, BOS (Ireland) Property Services 2 Ltd, BOS (Ireland) Property Services Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland) No. 2) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland) No. 3) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland)) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 1 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 2 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 3 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 4 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 5 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 6 plc, BOS (USA) Fund Investments Inc., BOS (USA) Inc., BOS Edinburgh No 1 Ltd, BOS Mistral Ltd, BOS Personal Lending Ltd, BOSSAF Rail Ltd, Bank of Scotland (B G S) Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland (Stanlife) London Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Branch Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Central Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Edinburgh Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Equipment Finance Ltd, Bank of Scotland Foundation, Bank of Scotland LNG Leasing (No 1) Ltd, Bank of Scotland London Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Nominees (Unit Trusts) Ltd, Bank of Scotland P.E.P. Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Structured Asset Finance Ltd, Bank of Scotland Transport Finance 1 Ltd, Bank of Scotland plc, Bank of Wales Ltd, Barents Leasing Ltd, Barnwood Mortgages Ltd, Birchcrown Finance Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Financial Services Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Land Development Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Mortgage Services Ltd, Black Horse (TRF) Ltd, Black Horse Executive Mortgages Ltd, Black Horse Finance Holdings Ltd, Black Horse Finance Management Ltd, Black Horse Group Ltd, Black Horse Ltd, Black Horse Offshore Ltd, Black Horse Property Services Ltd, Boltro Nominees Ltd, British Linen Leasing (London) Ltd, British Linen Leasing Ltd, British Linen Shipping Ltd, C.T.S.B. Leasing Ltd, CBRail S.A.R.L., CF Asset Finance Ltd, CF1 Ltd, CM Venture Investments Ltd, Cancara Asset Securitisation Ltd, Capital 1945 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 12 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 3 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 5 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 9 Ltd, Capital Bank Property Investments (3) Ltd, Capital Personal Finance Ltd, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation 2018-1 Plc, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation 2019-1 Plc, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Cardnet Merchant Services Ltd, Cashfriday Ltd, Cashpoint Ltd, Caveminster Ltd, Cedar Holdings Ltd, Celsius European Lux 2 S.A.R.L., Central Mortgage Finance Ltd, Chariot Finance Ltd, Cheltenham & Gloucester plc, Cheltenham II Securities 2020 DAC, Cheltenham Securities 2017 Ltd, Chepstow Blue Holdings Ltd, Chepstow Blue plc, Chester Asset Options No.2 Ltd, Chester Asset Options No.3 Ltd, Chester Asset Receivables Dealings Issuer Ltd, Chester Asset Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Chester Asset Securitisation Holdings No.2 Ltd, Chiswell Stockbrokers Ltd, Clerical Medical Finance plc, Clerical Medical Financial Services Ltd, Clerical Medical International Holdings B.V., Clerical Medical Investment Fund Managers Ltd, Clerical Medical Managed Funds Ltd, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Guadalix Hold Co BV, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Guadalix Spanish Prop Co SL, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Megapark Hold Co BV, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Megapark Prop Co SA, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Property Company S.A.R.L., Cloak Lane Funding S.A.R.L., Cloak Lane Investments S.A.R.L., Conquest Securities Ltd, Corbiere Asset Investments Ltd, Create Services Ltd, Credit Card Securitisation Europe Ltd, Dalkeith Corporation, Deva Financing Holdings Ltd, Deva Financing plc, Deva One Ltd, Deva Three Ltd, Deva Two Ltd, Dunstan Investments (UK) Ltd, Edgbaston RMBS 2010-1 plc, Edgbaston RMBS Holdings Ltd, Elland RMBS 2018 plc, Elland RMBS Holdings Ltd, Eurolead Services Holdings Ltd, First Retail Finance (Chester) Ltd, Fontwell Securities 2016 Ltd, Forthright Finance Ltd, France Industrial Premises Holding Company, General Leasing (No. 12) Ltd, General Reversionary and Investment Company, Gresham Nominee 1 Ltd, Gresham Nominee 2 Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 1) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 10) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 11) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 12) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 13) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 14) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 15) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 16) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 19) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 20) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 21) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 22) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 23) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 24) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 25) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 26) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 27) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 28) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 29) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 3) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 30) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 31) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 32) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 33) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 34) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 35) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 36) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 37) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 38) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 39) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 40) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 41) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 44) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 45) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 46) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 47) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 48) UK Ltd, Guildhall Asset Purchasing Company (No 3) Ltd, Guildhall Asset Purchasing Company (No.11) UK Ltd, HBOS Covered Bonds LLP, HBOS Final Salary Trust Ltd, HBOS Financial Services Ltd, HBOS Insurance & Investment Group Ltd, HBOS International Financial Services Holdings Ltd, HBOS Investment Fund Managers Ltd, HBOS Social Housing Covered Bonds LLP, HBOS UK Ltd, HBOS plc, HSDL Nominees Ltd, HVF Ltd, Halifax Credit Card Ltd, Halifax Financial Brokers Ltd, Halifax Financial Services (Holdings) Ltd, Halifax Financial Services Ltd, Halifax General Insurance Services Ltd, Halifax Group Ltd, Halifax Investment Services Ltd, Halifax Leasing (June) Ltd, Halifax Leasing (March No.2) Ltd, Halifax Leasing (September) Ltd, Halifax Life Ltd, Halifax Loans Ltd, Halifax Ltd, Halifax Mortgage Services Ltd, Halifax Nominees Ltd, Halifax Pension Nominees Ltd, Halifax Premises Ltd, Halifax Share Dealing Ltd, Halifax Vehicle Leasing (1998) Ltd, Heidi Finance Holdings (UK) Ltd, Hill Samuel Bank Ltd, Hill Samuel Finance Ltd, Hill Samuel Leasing Co. Ltd, Home Shopping Personal Finance Ltd, Horizon Capital 2000 Ltd, Housing Association Risk Transfer 2019 DAC, Housing Growth Partnership GP LLP, Housing Growth Partnership LP, Housing Growth Partnership Ltd, Housing Growth Partnership Manager Ltd, Hyundai Car Finance Ltd, IBOS Finance Ltd, ICC Enterprise Partners Ltd, ICC Equity Partners Ltd, ICC Holdings Unlimited Company, Inchcape Financial Services Ltd, Intelligent Finance Financial Services Ltd, Intelligent Finance Software Ltd, International Motors Finance Ltd, Kanaalstraat Funding C.V., Katrine Leasing Ltd, LB Healthcare Trustee Ltd, LB Motorent Ltd, LB Quest Ltd, LB Share Schemes Trustees Ltd, LBCF Ltd, LBG Brasil Administracao LTDA, LBG Capital Holdings Ltd, LBG Equity Investments Ltd, LBI Leasing Ltd, LDC (General Partner) Ltd, LDC (Managers) Ltd, LDC (Nominees) Ltd, LDC GP LLP, LDC I LP, LDC II LP, LDC III LP, LDC IV LP, LDC Parallel (Nominees) Ltd, LDC V LP, LDC VI LP, LDC VII LP, LDC VIII LP, LTGP Limited Partnership Incorporated, Legacy Renewal Company Ltd, Leicester Securities 2014 Ltd, Lex Autolease (CH) Ltd, Lex Autolease (VC) Ltd, Lex Autolease Carselect Ltd, Lex Autolease Ltd, Lex Vehicle Finance 2 Ltd, Lex Vehicle Leasing (Holdings) Ltd, Lex Vehicle Leasing Ltd, Lime Street (Funding) Ltd, Lingfield 2014 I Holdings Ltd, Lingfield 2014 I plc, Lloyds (Gresham) Ltd, Lloyds (Gresham) No. 1 Ltd, Lloyds (Nimrod) Specialist Finance Ltd, Lloyds America Securities Corporation1, Lloyds Asset Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Branches) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Colonial & Foreign) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Fountainbridge 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Fountainbridge 2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (I.D.) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (International Services) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Stock Exchange Branch) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Asset Finance Ltd, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Ltd, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Scotland Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (HP) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.3) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.4) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets Wertpapierhandelsbank GmbH, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets plc, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds (LM) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds LLP, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 7) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 9) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Financial Services (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales, Lloyds Bank Foundation for the Channel Islands, Lloyds Bank General Insurance Holdings Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Insurance Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 11) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 17) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 20) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 3) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 5) Ltd, Lloyds Bank GmbH, Lloyds Bank Hill Samuel Holding Company Ltd, Lloyds Bank Insurance Services Ltd, Lloyds Bank International Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing (No. 6) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing (No. 8) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Bank MTCH Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 10) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 13) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 17) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No.16) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Offshore Pension Trust Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pension ABCS (No. 1) LLP, Lloyds Bank Pension ABCS (No. 2) LLP, Lloyds Bank Pension Trust (No. 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pension Trust (No. 2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pensions Property (Guernsey) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Properties Ltd, Lloyds Bank Property Company Ltd, Lloyds Bank S.F. Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Subsidiaries Ltd, Lloyds Bank Trustee Services Ltd, Lloyds Bank plc, Lloyds Banking Group Pensions Trustees Ltd, Lloyds Capital GP Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Properties Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Property Investments Ltd, Lloyds Corporate Services (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Development Capital (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Engine Capital (No.1) U.S LLC, Lloyds Far East S.A.R.L., Lloyds General Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Group Holdings (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Holdings (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Hypotheken B.V., Lloyds Industrial Leasing Ltd, Lloyds International Pty Ltd, Lloyds Investment Bonds Ltd, Lloyds Investment Fund Managers Ltd, Lloyds Investment Securities No.5 Ltd, Lloyds Leasing (North Sea Transport) Ltd1, Lloyds Leasing Developments Ltd, Lloyds Nominees (Guernsey) Ltd, Lloyds Offshore Global Services Private Ltd, Lloyds Plant Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Portfolio Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Premises Investments Ltd, Lloyds Project Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No. 3 Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No. 4 Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No.5 Ltd, Lloyds Secretaries Ltd, Lloyds Securities Inc., Lloyds TSB Pacific Ltd, Lloyds UDT Asset Leasing Ltd, Lloyds UDT Asset Rentals Ltd, Lloyds UDT Hiring Ltd, Lloyds UDT Leasing Ltd, Lloyds UDT Ltd, Lloyds Your Tomorrow Trustee Ltd, Loans.co.uk Ltd, London Taxi Finance Ltd, London Uberior (L.A.S. Group) Nominees Ltd, Lotus Finance Ltd, MBNA, MBNA Direct Ltd, MBNA Europe Finance Ltd, MBNA Europe Holdings Ltd, MBNA General Foundation, MBNA Global Services Ltd, MBNA Indian Services Private Ltd, MBNA Ltd, MBNA R & L S.A.R.L., MBNA Receivables Ltd, Mainsearch Company Ltd, Maritime Leasing (No. 19) Ltd, Membership Services Finance Ltd, Mitre Street Funding S.A.R.L., Molineux RMBS 2016-1 plc, Molineux RMBS Holdings Ltd, Moor Lane Holdings Ltd, NFU Mutual Finance Ltd, NWS Trust Ltd, Nominees (Jersey) Ltd, Nordic Leasing Ltd, Ocean Leasing (July) Ltd, Oystercatcher Nominees Ltd, Oystercatcher Residential Ltd, PIPS Asset Investments Ltd, Pacific Leasing Ltd, Penarth Asset Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Penarth Funding 1 Ltd, Penarth Funding 2 Ltd, Penarth Master Issuer plc, Penarth Receivables Trustee Ltd, Pensions Management (S.W.F.) Ltd, Peony Eastern Leasing Ltd, Peony Leasing Ltd, Peony Western Leasing Ltd, Permanent Funding (No. 1) Ltd, Permanent Funding (No. 2) Ltd, Permanent Holdings Ltd, Permanent Master Issuer plc, Permanent Mortgages Trustee Ltd, Permanent PECOH Holdings Ltd, Permanent PECOH Ltd, Perry Nominees Ltd, Prestonfield Investments Ltd, Proton Finance Ltd, R.F. Spencer And Company Ltd, Ranelagh Nominees Ltd, Retail Revival (Burgess Hill) Investments Ltd, SARL Coliseum, SARL Hiram, SAS Compagnie Fonciere De France, SCI Astoria Invest, SCI De LHorloge, SCI Equinoxe, SCI Rambuteau CFF, SW Funding plc, SW No.1 Ltd, SWAMF (GP) Ltd, SWAMF Nominee (1) Ltd, SWAMF Nominee (2) Ltd, Saint Michel Holding Company No1, Saint Michel Investment Property, Saint Witz 2 Holding Company No1, Saint Witz 2 Investment Property, Salisbury II Securities 2016 Ltd, Salisbury II-A Securities 2017 Ltd, Salisbury III Securities 2019 DAC, Salisbury Securities 2015 Ltd, Sandown 2012-2 Holdings Ltd, Sandown 2012-2 plc, Sandown Gold 2012-1 Holdings Ltd, Sandown Gold 2012-1 plc, Savban Leasing Ltd, Scotland International Finance B.V., Scottish Widows Administration Services (Nominees) Ltd, Scottish Widows Administration Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Annuities Ltd, Scottish Widows Auto Enrolment Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Europe, Scottish Widows Financial Services Holdings, Scottish Widows Group Ltd, Scottish Widows Industrial Properties Europe B.V., Scottish Widows Ltd, Scottish Widows Pension Trustees Ltd, Scottish Widows Property Management Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth (ACD) Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Wealth Holdings Ltd, Scottish Widows Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Trustees Ltd, Scottish Widows Unit Funds Ltd, Scottish Widows Unit Trust Managers Ltd, Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society, Seabreeze Leasing Ltd, Seaspirit Leasing Ltd, Share Dealing Nominees Ltd, Shogun Finance Ltd, Silentdale Ltd, St Andrews Group Ltd, St Andrews Insurance plc, St Andrews Life Assurance plc, St. Marys Court Investments, Standard Property Investment (1987) Ltd, Standard Property Investment Ltd, Sussex County Homes Ltd, Suzuki Financial Services Ltd, Swan Funding 2 Ltd, Syon Securities 2019 DAC, The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation Plc, The British Linen Company Ltd, The Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland, The Mortgage Business plc, Thistle Financing Holdings Ltd, Thistle Investments (AMC) Ltd, Thistle Investments (ERM) Ltd, Thistle Leasing, Three Copthall Avenue Ltd, Tower Hill Property Investments (10) Ltd, Tower Hill Property Investments (7) Ltd, Tranquility Leasing Ltd, Trinity Financing plc, UDT Budget Leasing Ltd, UDT Sales Finance Ltd, Uberior (Moorfield) Ltd, Uberior Co-Investments Ltd, Uberior ENA Ltd, Uberior Equity Ltd, Uberior Europe Ltd, Uberior Fund Investments Ltd, Uberior Infrastructure Investments (No.2) Ltd, Uberior Infrastructure Investments Ltd, Uberior Investments Ltd, Uberior Nominees Ltd, Uberior Trading Ltd, Uberior Trustees Ltd, Uberior Ventures Australia Pty Ltd, Uberior Ventures Ltd, United Dominions Leasing Ltd, United Dominions Trust Ltd, Universe The CMI Global Network Fund, Upsaala Ltd, Vine Street IX LP, WCS Ltd, Ward Nominees (Abingdon) Ltd, Ward Nominees (Birmingham) Ltd 1, Ward Nominees (Bristol) Ltd 1, Ward Nominees Ltd 1, Waverley Fund II Investor LLC, Waverley Fund III Investor LLC, Waymark Asset Investments Ltd, West Craigs Ltd, Wetherby II Securities 2018 DAC, Wetherby III Securities 2019 DAC, Wetherby Securities 2017 Ltd, Wood Street Leasing Ltd, and Zurich Insurance Group - UK Workplace Pensions and Savings Business. Wall Street analysts have given iShares MSCI EAFE ETF a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but iShares MSCI EAFE ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys. View MarketBeat's top stock picks here. Invesco Ltd. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm provides its services to retail clients, institutional clients, high-net worth clients, public entities, corporations, unions, non-profit organizations, endowments, foundations, pension funds, financial institutions, and sovereign wealth funds. It manages separate client-focused equity and fixed income portfolios. The firm also launches equity, fixed income, commodity, multi-asset, and balanced mutual funds for its clients. It launches equity, fixed income, multi-asset, and balanced exchange-traded funds. The firm also launches and manages private funds. It invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe. The firm also invests in alternative markets, such as commodities and currencies. For the equity portion of its portfolio, it invests in growth and value stocks of large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap companies. For the fixed income portion of its portfolio, the firm invests in convertibles, government bonds, municipal bonds, treasury securities, and cash. It also invests in short term and intermediate term bonds, investment grade and high yield bonds, taxable and tax-free bonds, senior secured loans, and structured securities such as asset-backed securities, mortgage-backed securities, and commercial mortgage-backed securities. The firm employs absolute return, global macro, and long/short strategies. It employs quantitative analysis to make its investments. The firm was formerly known as Invesco Plc, AMVESCAP plc, Amvesco plc, Invesco PLC, Invesco MIM, and H. Lotery & Co. Ltd. Invesco Ltd. was founded in December 1935 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia with an additional office in Hamilton, Bermuda. Read More It would be one thing if this particular pesticide derived as it was from a nerve agent was the only choice to keep farming afloat. But it clearly is not. Why take a chance when there are less dangerous alternatives available? Its bad enough that the Trump administration continues to resist the findings of its own scientists, but theres simply no excuse for state lawmakers to demonstrate similar reluctance. Is a state-level ban the best answer? Absolutely not. But its better than leaving the matter in limbo. At worst, the ban will protect only those children who come in contact with Maryland-produced products. And, yes, it might raise costs for farmers. But when doing nothing means continued harm to children (not to mention the Chesapeake Bay, where chlorpyrifos can negatively impact fish spawning), lawmakers have no reasonable choice but to side with human health and safety. Wall Street analysts have given ETFMG Prime Cyber Security ETF a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but ETFMG Prime Cyber Security ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys. View MarketBeat's top stock picks here. The following companies are subsidiares of Cummins: Anvl, Apollo FC Holdings Ltd., Atlantis Acquisitionco Canada Corporation, Atlantis Holdco UK Limited, Brammo, CIFC Worldwide Partner C.V., CMI Africa Holdings BV, CMI CGT Holdings LLC, CMI Canada Financing Ltd., CMI Canada LP, CMI Foreign Holdings B.V., CMI Global Equity Holdings B.V., CMI Global Equity Holdings C.V., CMI Global Holdings B.V., CMI Global Partner 2 C.V., CMI Global Partners B.V., CMI Group Holdings B.V., CMI Group Holdings Cooperatief U.A., CMI International Finance Partner 1 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 2 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 3 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 4 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 5 LLC, CMI Mexico LLC, CMI Netherlands Holdings B.V., CMI PGI Holdings LLC, CMI PGI International Holdings LLC, CMI Turkish Holdings B.V., CMI UK Finance LP, CMI UK Financing LP, Cherry Island Renewable Energy LLC, Consolidated Diesel Company, Consolidated Diesel Inc., Consolidated Diesel of North Carolina Inc., Cummins (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Cummins (Xiangyang) Machining Co. Ltd., Cummins Africa Middle East (Pty) Ltd., Cummins Afrique de l'Ouest, Cummins Americas Inc., Cummins Angola Lda., Cummins Argentina-Servicios Mineros S.A., Cummins Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Cummins Aust Technologies Pty. Ltd., Cummins BLR LLC, Cummins Battery Systems North America LLC, Cummins Belgium N.V., Cummins Botswana (Pty.) Ltd., Cummins Brasil Ltda., Cummins Burkina Faso SARL, Cummins CDC Holding Inc., Cummins CV Member LLC, Cummins Canada ULC, Cummins Caribbean LLC, Cummins Center of Excellence Singapore Pte. Ltd., Cummins Centroamerica Holding S.de R.L., Cummins Child Development Center Inc., Cummins Colombia S.A.S., Cummins Comercializadora S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Corporation, Cummins Cote d'Ivoire SARL, Cummins Czech Republic s.r.o., Cummins Deutschland GmbH, Cummins Diesel International Ltd., Cummins Distribution Holdco Inc., Cummins EMEA Holdings Limited, Cummins East Asia Research & Development Co. Ltd., Cummins Eastern Marine Inc., Cummins Electrified Power Europe Ltd., Cummins Electrified Power NA Inc., Cummins Emission Solutions (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Emission Solutions Inc., Cummins Empresas Filantropicas, Cummins Energetica Ltda., Cummins Engine (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine (Shanghai) Trading & Services Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine Holding Company Inc., Cummins Engine IP Inc., Cummins Engine Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Cummins Engine Venture Corporation, Cummins Enterprise LLC, Cummins Filtration (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Filtration GmbH, Cummins Filtration IP Inc., Cummins Filtration Inc., Cummins Filtration International Corp., Cummins Filtration Ltd., Cummins Filtration SARL, Cummins Filtration Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Filtros Ltda., Cummins Franchise Holdco LLC, Cummins Fuel Systems (Wuhan) Co. Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies Americas Inc., Cummins Generator Technologies Germany GmbH, Cummins Generator Technologies India Private Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies Italy SRL, Cummins Generator Technologies Limited, Cummins Generator Technologies Romania S.A., Cummins Generator Technologies Singapore Pte Ltd., Cummins Ghana Limited, Cummins Ghana Mining Limited, Cummins Global Financing LP, Cummins Global Technologies LLP, Cummins Grupo Comercial Y. de Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Grupo Industrial S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Holland B.V., Cummins Hong Kong Ltd., Cummins India Ltd., Cummins Intellectual Property Inc., Cummins International Finance LLC, Cummins International Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Cummins International Holdings LLC, Cummins Italia S.P.A., Cummins Japan Ltd., Cummins Korea Co. Ltd., Cummins LLC Member Inc., Cummins Ltd., Cummins Maroc SARL, Cummins Middle East FZE, Cummins Mining Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Mobility Services Inc., Cummins Mongolia Investment LLC, Cummins Mozambique Ltda., Cummins NV, Cummins Namibia Engine Sales and Service PTY LTD, Cummins Natural Gas Engines Inc., Cummins New Zealand Limited, Cummins Nigeria Ltd., Cummins Norte de Colombia S.A.S., Cummins North Africa Regional Office SARL, Cummins Norway AS, Cummins PGI Holdings Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (S) Pte. Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (U.K.) Limited, Cummins Power Generation Deutschland GmbH, Cummins Power Generation Inc., Cummins Power Generation Limited, Cummins PowerGen IP Inc., Cummins Research and Technology India Private Ltd., Cummins Romania Srl, Cummins S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Sales and Service Korea Co. Ltd., Cummins Sales and Service Philippines Inc., Cummins Sales and Service Private Limited, Cummins Sales and Service Sdn. Bhd., Cummins Sales and Service Singapore Pte. Ltd., Cummins Sinai ve Otomotiv Urunleri Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Cummins South Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Cummins South Pacific Pty. Limited, Cummins Southern Plains LLC, Cummins Spain S.L., Cummins Sweden AB, Cummins Technologies India, Cummins Trade Receivables LLC, Cummins Turbo Technologies Limited, Cummins Turkey Motor Guc Sistemleri Sats Servis Limited Sirketi, Cummins U.K. Holdings Ltd., Cummins U.K. Pension Plan Trustee Ltd., Cummins UK Global Holdings Ltd., Cummins UK Holdings LLC, Cummins Vendas e Servicos de Motores e Geradores Ltda., Cummins Venture Corporation, Cummins West Africa Limited, Cummins West Balkans d.o.o. Nova Pasova, Cummins XBorder Operations (Pty) Ltd, Cummins Zambia Ltd., Cummins Zimbabwe Pvt. Ltd., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Costa Rica S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica El Salvador S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Guatemala Ltda., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Honduras S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins S.A., Distribuidora Cummins Sucursal Paraguay SRL, Distribuidora Cummins de Panama S. de R.L., Dynamo Insurance Company Inc., Efficient Drivetrains, Efficient Drivetrains (Beijing) New Power Technology Co. Ltd., Efficient Drivetrains (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Hilite International, Hydrogenics, Hydrogenics Corporation, Hydrogenics Europe N.V., Hydrogenics GmbH, Hydrogenics Holding GmbH, Hydrogenics USA Inc., Markon Engineering Company Ltd., Nelson Burgess Ltd., Nelson Industries, Newage Engineers GmbH, Newage Ltd. (U.K.), Newage Machine Tools Ltd., OOO Cummins, Petbow Limited, Power Group International (Overseas Holdings) B.V., Power Group International (Overseas Holdings) Ltd., Power Group International Ltd., Quickstart Energy Projects SpA, Shanghai Cummins Trade Co. Ltd., TOO Cummins, Taiwan Cummins Sales & Services Co. Ltd., Worldwide Partner CV Member LLC, Wuxi Cummins Turbo Technologies Co. Ltd., Wuxi New Energy Automotive Technologies Co. Ltd., and ZED Connect Inc.. He liked to read about World War II and the history of Germany. He was an eclectic reader of nonfiction and fiction, said his wife of 65 years, the former Dr. Patricia Ann Warrington, who had been professor of epidemiology and preventive medicine at the University of Maryland Medical School. Altria Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells cigarettes, oral tobacco products, and wine in the United States. It offers cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; cigars principally under the Black & Mild brand; and moist smokeless tobacco products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands, as well as provides on! oral nicotine pouches. The company also produces and sells varietal and blended table wines, and sparkling wines under the Chateau Ste. Michelle and 14 Hands names; and imports and markets Antinori, Torres, and Villa Maria Estate wines, as well as Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte in the United States. In addition, it provides finance leasing services primarily in transportation, power generation, real estate, and manufacturing equipment industries. The company sells its tobacco products primarily to wholesalers, including distributors; and large retail organizations, such as chain stores. Altria Group, Inc. was founded in 1822 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Read More Then the next day, a Democratic senator said the governor should not have the right to stand on the schoolhouse steps and say: Students, you cant enter here before Labor Day. That drew a rebuke from Republicans who saw it as a comparison to southern governors who attempted to block public school and university integration during the Civil Rights movement. 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., 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., 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., Epylon, Evopro Group, Exactside Limited, 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., Global Public Firm S.L., GlobalView SAS, GoodFilm GmbH Filmproduktion Stuttgart, H.B. Maynard and Co. Inc., 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, 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., 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, 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., SALT Solutions GmbH, SEC Servizi, SEC Servizi S.p.A., SOPIA Corp., Sagacious Consultants, Sagacious Consultants LLC, 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 AG, SinnerSchrader Commerce GmbH, SinnerSchrader Content GmbH, SinnerSchrader Deutschland GmbH, SinnerSchrader Praha s.r.o., SinnerSchrader Swipe GmbH, Sinnerschrader, 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, 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., Weblinc Pty Ltd, Wire Stone, Wire Stone LLC, Wire Stone Sarl, Wolox, 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. STERIS plc provides infection prevention and other procedural products and services worldwide. It operates in three segments: Healthcare, Applied Sterilization Technologies, and Life Sciences. The Healthcare segment offers cleaning chemistries and sterility assurance products; accessories for gastrointestinal (GI) procedures, washers, sterilizers, and other pieces of capital equipment for the operation of a sterile processing department; and equipment used directly in the operating room, including surgical tables, lights, and connectivity solutions, as well as equipment management services. It also provides capital equipment installation, maintenance, upgradation, repair, and troubleshooting services; preventive maintenance programs and repair services; instrument and endoscope repair and maintenance services; and custom process improvement consulting and outsourced instrument sterile processing services. This segment offers its products and services to acute care hospitals and other healthcare settings. The Applied Sterilization Technologies segment provides contract sterilization and testing services for medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers through a network of approximately 50 contract sterilization and laboratory facilities. The Life Sciences segment designs, manufactures and sells consumable products, such as formulated cleaning chemistries, barrier and sterility assurance products, steam and vaporized hydrogen peroxide sterilizers, and washer disinfectors. This segment also offers equipment installation, maintenance, upgradation, repair, and troubleshooting services; and preventive maintenance programs and repair services. The company is based in Dublin, Ireland. Read More 23 hours ago | June 23rd | 2021 5:00 AM You Quit Your Job Good for You! But How Does that Impact Your Investments? As companies make plans to return employees back to the office, millions of workers have made a decision not to go back at all. In fact, the number of people who quit their jobs increased to four million in April and increased 2.7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The largest increases in employees leaving their jobs occurred in retail trade and professional and business services. Pugh said she spends long hours holding meetings during conferences and finds ideas to help improve the city. The mayor said that at last years Conference of Mayors meeting she learned the importance of Opportunity Zones, special tax areas created by the recent federal tax reform and designed to attract investment to struggling communities, and instructed her staff to focus on making the most of the zones. Knoll, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, markets, and sells commercial and residential furniture, accessories, and coverings for the workplace and residential markets in the United States, Canada, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Office and Lifestyle segments. It provides systems furniture, including integrated panels or table desks, work surfaces and storage units, power and data systems, and lighting products; office seating products comprising various work chairs; and files and storage products, such as lateral files, mobile pedestals and other storage units, bookcases, and overhead cabinets. The company also offers adjustable tables, as well as meeting, conference, training, dining, and stand-alone and table desks; conference furniture product platforms; height desks, tables, and ergonomic seating and accessories principally for individual home offices and small businesses; technology support accessories, desktop organizational tools, and lighting and storage products; seating and lounge furniture, as well as side, cafA, and dining chairs; conference, training, dining, and occasional tables; and lighting, rugs, textiles, fabrics, felt, leather, upholstery, drapery, and related architectural products. It serves Fortune 1000 companies, governmental agencies, and other medium-to-large sized organizations in various industries, including financial, legal, technology, entertainment, accounting, education, healthcare, and hospitality through its direct sales force and showrooms, distribution partners, and independent dealers and retailers, as well as online. The company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in East Greenville, Pennsylvania. Read More The Vidhan Sabha Speaker Prem Chand Agrawal directed the formation of a committee of Assembly members to inspect the site of the hooch tragedy to learn about the situation and present recommendations for effective solutions to the problem. However, Congress members were not satisfied with both the Speaker and State Government not considering the demand for raising compensation amount to Rs 10 lakh each for the families of those killed. The opposition members staged a walkout and protested on the staircase leading to the House. Following debate on the incident under rule 310, the Speaker directed formation of a House committee to look into the incident and submit its report. The members of the committee would be announced later. The committee would also submit recommendations for resolving issues that lead to such incidents. However, the opposition members objected stating that no mention was made about increasing compensation for the bereaved families and affected persons. They stressed that the compensation amount for the bereaved families should be raised to Rs After raising slogans for some time, they walked out of the House and staged a protest on the stairs leading to the House. Later, addressing media persons, leader of opposition Indira Hridayesh said that despite the seriousness of the incident, the State Government had remained insensitive. Even the Rs 2lakh compensation announced for each bereaved family will be paid after the viscera report is received. Stating that no Minister of the State Government had visited the area and met the affected families, she said that the stance of the Government had exposed its anti-Dalit face. Stating that the opposition was duty bound to pressure the Government in the interests of the public, she said that the Government had still remained silent, forcing the opposition to walk out of the House. In a major relief to Delhi University professor Nandini Sundar, Chhattisgarh police has cleared the charges pressed against her in connection with a murder case registered with Tongpal police station of Sukma district in the insurgency hit Bastar region. According to police, charges -against six others including a JNU professor, who were all wanted in the connection with the same case- have been withdrawn. Reports said that the previous BJP government was critical of Sundar, mainly for her frequent visits to violence-hit Bastar but the new Congress regime has now decided to woo right activists by dropping the case against Sundar. Notably, in 2016 armed Maoists had killed Shamnath Baghel at his residence in Nama village under Tongpal police station limits of Sukma district around 450 km south of state capital Raipur. Later, on complaint of victims wife an FIR was lodged against Sundar, JNU professor Archana Prasad, Vineet Tiwari, who is with Delhis Joshi Adhikar Sansthan, Chhattisgarh CPI(M) secretary Sanjay Parate, Manju Kawasi and Mangla Ram Karma. The police maintained that no clear evidence was found against them in connection with the case and hence the charges were withdrawn. "After investigation we could not find any direct evidence against Nandini Sundar and others in Tongpal murder case. So, we have withdrawn the charges pressed against them" Superintendent of Police Sukma Jitendra Shukla told The Pioneer over phone. The murder case was registered against them while infamous IPS officer SRP Kalluri was posted as Inspector General of Police (IGP) in Bastar. Minister for Urban Development and Housing Jaivardhan Singh said that besides preapring separate master plans of Bhopal-Sehore and Indore-Ujjain-Dewas, make a comprehensive master plan also by including these master plans. If required outsource the plans. Singh was reviewing the works of Town and Country Planning and various Development Authorities. Singh stated that a policy will be prepared to complete pending proposals of various authorities. He mentioned that before preparing a new proposal, prepare a viability plan by conducting a survey, then only start the work, he added. Singh said that staff should be rationalised. Make a commercial project too. He further mentioned that the master plan should be well thought. Moreover, make planning to fulfill the point of manifesto ie satellite township and development of residential area outside city. Principal Secretary Urban Development and Housing Sanjay Dubey said that a short note should be sent on difficulties being faced in completing projects. On this basis, thought will be given to prepare a new policy. Director Town and Country Planning Shobhit Jain informed about the works being carried out by the department and difficulties being faced in these works. CEOs of the Development Authorities were present at the meeting. These objections suggest that nonconsensual pelvic examinations on women under anesthetic are ethically acceptable on utilitarian grounds, in that they offer benefits either to the patient or to society, or on the grounds of triviality, in that consent is already presumed, or the practice is insignificant, Friesen wrote in the abstract of her article. Each of these objections is rejected and the practice is deemed indefensible. The issue of deaths caused by spurious liquor in Haridwar district dominated the Vidhan Sabha proceedings on the second day of the Budget Session. The Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Prem Chand Agrawal, allowed debate on the hooch tragedy under rule 310 during which the Opposition members sought resignation of the Chief Minister and Excise Minister on moral grounds. Bhagwanpur MLA Mamta Rakesh said that most of the victims were from poor backward families. The families of those who died and those who fell sick after consuming spurious liquor do not have enough money to even run their homes, she said. Chakrata MLA and Congress state president Pritam Singh said that even after 36 people died and many more fell ill, the State Government had remained insensitive. He said that locals had been complaining for long about illicit liquor business but effective action was not taken by the authorities concerned. Stating that such governmental insensitivity had not been witnessed in the State so far, he said that even the compensation money announced to the bereaved families is to be paid after receipt of the post mortem report. He demanded that compensation for bereaved families be raised from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. Stressing that the State Government is fully responsible for the incident, he demanded resignation of the Chief Minister and Excise Minister on moral grounds. Congress MLA Govind Singh Kunjwal said that illicit liquor had become a regular source of income for many across the State. The talk among the general public is that this business is thriving since bribes are paid to people from the bottom to the top in the Government. Another opposition MLA Karan Mahra questioned why action had been taken only against junior officials while the seniors had been left untouched. He also questioned why the district excise officer who had been transferred earlier due to questionable aspects was brought back to the district. He also said that some senior officials are busy more on social media than on taking effective actions to prevent such major incidents. He also sought proper resources for excise department staff to enable them to tackle elements involved in the illicit liquor business. MLA Harish Dhami said that truckloads of illicit liquor are being transported in all mountainous regions too across the State. Regarding the Haridwar incident, he questioned why only junior officials were suspended and stressed that action should also have been taken against the departmental director and district magistrate. Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs and Excise Minister, Prakash Pant, said that the State authorities had acted many times against illicit liquor business in Ballupur itself in the past too. He said that the root cause of this tragedy is a social evil and stressed that the Government will not allow the illicit liquor business to continue under any circumstances. As Congress MLAs are turning the heat on the State Government inside the Assembly during the Budget Session on the issue of a string of hooch tragedy death, the former Chief Minister Harish Rawat would stage a sit-in outside Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday. Rawat would also raise the issue of the pending payment of the sugarcane farmers during his sit-in. The spokesperson of Harish Rawat, Surendra Kumar ,said that the former CM would also hold a symbolic fast on the day to register his protest on scores of deaths caused by the consumption of spurious liquor. Rawat, with a large number of his supporters, would arrive at a hotel at 10 am and then march towards the Vidhan Sabha. It is pertinent to mention here that the former CM who is also the AICC general secretary had earlier announced his resolve to stage the sit-in outside Vidhan Sabha on February 11. But he later postponed it due to his participation in the road show of the newly appointed AICC general secretary and in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi in Lucknow on Monday. Preparations for Lok Sabha Elections-2019 are going on in the state in full swing and in this context, a two-day certification course for Collectors and District Election Officers (DEOs) of all the districts of the state was commenced on Tuesday. Chief Electoral Officer Subrat Sahoo, in his address to the inaugural session, congratulated all the district election officers for successfully executing the works under a two-phased state assembly polls held in November. Sahoo asked the officials to perform even better now to ensure peaceful and systematic Lok Sabha Election-2019. He said that in these two days, returning officials of all 11 Lok Sabha constituencies and district election officers will be provided necessary information for organizing peaceful, unbiased and independent elections. Meanwhile, District Election Officer and Returning Officer are being provided necessary information about their roles and responsibilities, voter-lists revision, model code of conduct and other important subjects. On the opening day of the training programme organized at the auditorium of new circuit house in Raipur had seven sessions. Second day of the programme comprises six sessions from 9 am onwards on February 13. In these two days, experts and master trainers will provide training on different subjects. On the first day, District Election Officers and Returning Officers would be informed about their roles and responsibilities, re-examination of voter IDs, withdrawal of nomination letters and allotment of election symbols, model code of conduct, election expenditure monitoring, voting and other subjects. On the second day, sessions on use of EVM and VVPAT, facilities for voting team and disable voters, paid news, media and media monitoring committee, vote counting and declaration of results, use of information technology, and various apps will be held. In a daring broad daylight robbery, unidentified miscreants looted cash worth Rs Rs 1.72 lakh from an ATM cash van after hurling bombs at the vehicle on the Khandapada-Nayagarh road on Tuesday. A person sustained critical injuries in the incident. Sources said that four miscreants coming by motorbikes hurled bombs at the ATM cash van near Kainthapalli under the Khandapada police station in the district. They looted Rs 1.72 lakh cash from the van and speeded away from the spot. The incident took place when the van was on its way to refill an ATM. On receiving information, police swung into action and launched a search operation by putting up blockades and frisking vehicles at several entry and exit points to nab the culprits. In the last assembly session before the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress-led Punjab Government, through the Governors Address, on Tuesday doled out assurances and promises to various afflicted sections, including the teachers, and the state government employees, while underscoring its achievements in controlling drugs, waiving of farmers loans, among others. On back-foot following the police action against the protesting teachers on Sunday at Patiala, Punjab Government conveyed through Governor VP Singh Badnore that the State Government was seriously concerned about the grievances of its employees, including the teachers, and their issues will soon be addressed effectively. My Government is seriously concerned about woes of teachers and it shall take all possible measures to redress their grievances. In fact, not only the teachers, the grievances of all employees of the state are receiving full attention of my government and these shall soon be addressed effectively as the government does not want its dynamic work force to suffer any disadvantage or handicap in any manner, said Badnore while addressing the legislators on the first day of the budget session. Notably, the Punjab Government has been under fire from the opposition over the use of water cannons, and lathi-charge on the protesting teachers at Patiala on Sunday to protest against the conditions for their regularisation leaving a dozen of them, including women, severely injured. Apart from that, the ruling regime is also facing severe criticism from its employees over the non-payment of dearness allowance and its arrears. Speaking at length about Capt Amarinder Singh-led State Government's policies and programmes intended for the peoples welfare, Bandore assured the House his government was committed to pursue and take to their logical conclusion the investigations into the sacrilege cases and the false cases registered during the previous regime. He said that action against those who registered false cases during the previous regime was continuing as per the recommendations of the Commission of Enquiry headed by Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and it shall be taken to its logical conclusion. Likewise, Badnore said that the government was committed to pursuing the recommendations of the Commission of Enquiry headed by Justice Ranjit Singh, who probed the cases of sacrilege in the State in the year 2015-16, and these will be taken to their logical conclusion, allowing the law to take its full course. Regarding the farming sector, the Governor noted that the farmers welfare remained the undeterred priority of his Government. My government has notified a farm debt relief scheme and it was being implemented with 5.83 lakh small and marginal farmers being provided loan relief to the tune of Rs 4,736 crore, he said. My government is fully convinced that farmers' income can be doubled with greater ease and speed only by assisting them in subsidiary occupations such as dairy farming, piggery, goat farming, poultry, he said in his 55-minute speech. Without mentioning the SYL canal, Badnore said that the Government had taken every possible administrative and legal measure to protect the state's river water. Punjab does not have surplus water and is, in fact, threatened with a water famine in not too far a future, he said while expressing hope that the Central Government would take a realistic view of the looming water crisis in Punjab and helps the state in avoiding the same before the state turned in a desert and millions of Punjabis lose their livelihood. While throwing light on the financial crunch and the poor fiscal situation Punjab is in, Badnore pointed at the improving financial figures with the state governments persistent efforts. Blaming the erstwhile SAD-BJP Government for financial imprudence resulting in outstanding liability of Rs 13,039 crore in March 2017, Bandore said that his government made every possible effort to revive State's economy. It has reduced the resource gap to Rs 4175 crore in 2017-18 and increased the revenue receipts by 23 percent in December 2018. It has brought down State's fiscal deficit to GSDP of 2.65 percent in 2017-18 as against 12.34 percent in 2016-17, he said. The Governor also patted the back of his government for neutralising gangsters and busting 19 terror modules, action taken against drug smugglers and peddlers in the last two years. Besides, he apprised the members of various programmes launched by the Government to mark historic 550th prakash purab of Guru Nanak Dev, while welcoming the historic laying of the foundation stone of a corridor to Sri Kartarpur Sahib (in Pakistan) on November 26, 2018. The state government shall spare no effort to make this corridor operational by the coming Maha Gurpurab on November 12, 2019, he announced while giving details of the programmes planned by his government to commemorate the Centenary of the tragic Jallianwala Bagh massacre, which falls on April 13, 2019, and the celebration of the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi. After the deadly fire in hotel Arpit Palace in central Delhi gobbled up 17 precious lives and left 35 baldy injured on Tuesday morning, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) questioned the negligence in safety measures and accused the municipal corporation for utter carelessness. Every time there is a horrific incident in Delhi killing innocent people, we talk about negligence by some departments, we speculate about fixing the responsibility, but there is hardly any change in situation. The hotel has five floors with fibre structure on the top floor. How did authority issued approval for such building plan? If there was no approval issued, how could such hotel operate? How could they get certificate to operate from MCD? Will Delhi ever see a Commissioner of MCD or chief of fire being suspended for such huge loss of innocent human lives?, said Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP spokesperson. Adding further, he said, recently petitions committee visited a private school named Indian School where school had constructed a totally illegal basement and fourth floor. As per records of MCD and fire department, the school does not have a basement or fourth floor. The fourth floor was made of exactly same fibre material which was used in hotel of Karolbagh. The fire department found not even single ventilation in basement because it was being concealed from authorities. Such is a sad state of affairs that no action could be taken against the school as the elected Government does not have a power to do so, but the Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) who have the power do not a have an accountability, added Bharadwaj. Delhi Congress president Sheila Dikshit also demanded the Delhi Government to constitute a committee to probe the fire incident at Karol Bagh in which 17 people including a women and a child died. Expressing shock over the incident, Sheila met the family members of the 18 people who died in the major fire broke out, demanded for special enquiry committee to be formed to find out the reasons behind the incident. The guilty must be punished, but the immediate task should be to console and join in the grief of those families who have lost their near and dear ones in the fire, she said. Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari said that the incident of fire and the deaths in Arpit Hotel Karol Bagh is very tragic and I express my condolences. May the souls of the deceased persons rest in peace and I pray to God that the injured persons recover soon. We will try to ensure that an impartial inquiry is held and the guilty persons are punished. Delhi BJP will keep an eye on the process of ensuring stern punishment to the guilty persons. Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta demanded judicial enquiry into the tragedy. Loss of 17 precious lives is a very serious matter. But CM Kejriwal is unfortunately, taking it lightly and doing only cosmetic exercise. It is evident from the fact that reached the place of tragedy six to seven hours after the incident occurred and assured only low key enquiry, said Gupta. Two Myanmarese Buddhist pilgrims were killed in a massive fire in a five-storey hotel in north Delhis Karol Bagh on Tuesday, while a woman guide accompanying them escaped death by jumping off its second floor. The two Myanmar nationals killed in the fire have been identified as Daw Hla May (66), from Tikegyi Township, and Daw Mya Mya Htwe (44). According to official at Myanmar Embassy, the two deceased were part of a seven-member tourist group who had come to India on a Buddhist trail. The official of Myanmar Embassy in New Delhi also said that the two pilgrims from Myanmar lost their lives and one was injured in the fire, which killed 15 other people. The...Team comprising seven Myanmar pilgrims was residing at the hotel. Officials from Myanmar Embassy in New Delhi and Myanmar monks are providing necessary assistance to the victims at the hospital, said the official. The group had hired a cameraperson from Bodh Gaya in Bihar who also perished in the blaze, the embassy official said. The injured person is receiving treatment at the Lady Hardinge Hospital here and the rest four Myanmar citizens are staying at the Hotel Metro View, it added. The embassy official said, Chan Chan, a 33-year-old tourist guide from Myanmar, who was part of the group, saved her life by jumping off the second floor of the hotel. Chan has suffered a fracture in her leg and is undergoing treatment at the Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital. The group had come to Delhi from Myanmar. Prior to visiting Delhi, they had gone to Bodh Gaya. The group was on a Buddhist trail. The families of the deceased have been informed and their bodies would be sent back to the country after completion of formalities, the embassy official said. Today, they were to leave for Varanasi, he added. Gyandeep, a monk helping the affected Myanamarese pilgrims, said they were also planning to visit the site of Ashokan Edict in Kailash Hills area near ISCKON Temple here. The massive fire swept through the hotel in the early hours, killing at least 17 guests, officials said. Preliminary investigation suggest a suspected short circuit could have sparked the fire, civic officials added. The contribution of ancient Indian academicians has been recognised by their modern counterparts across nationalities, particularly in contemporary inter-disciplinary researches where social work needs to borrow ideas from Indian philosophy through cross-pollination The conferment of Bharat Ratna to Nanaji Deshmukh is a great gift to academicians, professionals and students of social work discipline in India who have been celebrating his birth anniversary on October 11 as Indian Social Work Day or Bharatiya Samaj Karya Diwas and are dedicated to decolonising social work education in Indian universities. Since time immemorial, Indian academicians have been working for the integrated and holistic development of society. Although termed in different typology, the ancient Indian academicians have developed various methodologies and models to engage with and address the concerns of society, from individual to family, community to nation and the whole world. They were the first to present the philosophy of international peace by presenting the concept of a global family or Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. The contribution of ancient Indian academicians has been recognised by their modern counterparts across nationalities, particularly in contemporary inter-disciplinary researches where social work needs to borrow ideas from Indian philosophy through cross-pollination for negotiating functional deadlocks related to human behaviour. In our school days, we were taught a lot about the great Indians who had done great social service and also spearheaded reform movements from time to time. However, at the university level we were made to learn that social work as a practice was alien to the Indian sub-continent before establishment of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai by an American citizen during British colonial rule in 1936. This is because in the social work curriculum, there is hardly any mention of the social service and reforms of the great Indian philosophers, academicians and legendary personalities who flourished from the century before Christ. Students of social work are also compelled to swallow that it is because of TISS that social work was gradually included in university curriculum and that we received it as part of our colonial heritage. Till date, the curriculum related to social work in almost all universities follows a pattern set in the British colonial period import a template from Euro-American countries and implement them in Indian universities. Except some institutions with Indian academicians did design their curriculum on the basis of the Gandhian philosophy. This strategy of import and execute has been best explained by Kalyan Shankar Mandal in his research paper, American Influence on Social Work Education in India and its Impact, published in the Economic and Political Weekly on December 9, 1989. We are not against idea exchange but this intellectual import in the discipline of social work has been unidirectional. The idea to dismantle this intellectual cage imposed on us by the colonial government of British India was always on the mind of our free-thinking academicians. A ray of hope came when the Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindu Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha, invited social work academicians from across the country to design a new curriculum for the discipline in a two-day national workshop titled Bharatiyakaran of Social Work Curriculum last June. Over 40 social work academicians and practitioners from over two dozen Central and provincial universities participated. The academicians also adopted a 10-point action plan to decolonise the curriculum through an intellectual movement. During the workshop, they unanimously recognised the academic and professional contributions of Nanaji Deshmukh to social work and adopted a proposal to celebrate his birth anniversary as Indian Social Work Day. Bharat Ratna Nanaji Deshmukh was a multi-faceted personality, a social worker par excellence, educationist and development economist. He was also active in politics but perhaps the only politician who voluntarily proclaimed his retirement at the age of 60 and became a full-time social worker. He not only developed his own model of integrated and holistic development of the villages but also implemented them in practice. He single-handedly turned the fate of over 500 villages in the drought-affected areas of Chitrakoot in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. He also established the Mahatma Gandhi Chitrakoot Gramodaya Vishwavidyalaya on February 12, 1991. This is the first university in India dedicated to rural development and is a great centre of learning his social work models based on the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi and the integral humanistic philosophy of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhayaya. Social service models, practices, reform movements, rural reconstruction experiments and socio-developmental philosophies of Nanak Dev, Jyotiba Phule, B. R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda, Narayana Guru and all those who evolved from the Indic perspective should be given due space in the curriculum of social work at various levels. There is need for high quality research and experimentation in this direction for which the government agencies should provide required resources. The conferment of Bharat Ratna is a welcome step and indeed a landmark for social work discipline in India but there is a long way to go. (Dr Bishnu Modhan Dash is a Faculty in Social Work Department of Delhi Universitys B.R. Ambedkar College. Siddheshwar Shukla has been Fellow in Makhanlal Chaturvedi University, Bhopal.) Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) celebrated its annual Utkrishthta Utsav with great fervour, where Excel Awards were conferred on meritorious employees and Units. Anant Geete, Union Minister of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises graced the occasion as the Chief Guest and presented the awards in a glittering ceremony, in the presence of Babul Supriyo,Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises and AR Sihag, Secretary, Department of Heavy Industry (DHI). Atul Sobti, CMD, BHEL; Directors on the Board of BHEL, former Directors, senior officials from the Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, families of awardees and BHEL officials, were also present on the occasion. Suresh Prabhu,Union Minister of Civil Aviation inaugurated the Extension and Strengthening of existing runways of Vijayawada & Rajahmundry Airport and laid the foundation stone for Linear expansion of Terminal Building of Visakhapatnam Airport through a video link on Tuesday. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Wage Revision of Workmen has been signed between NHPC, Indias premier hydropower company and its Apex Level Union Representatives on Tuesday. NK Jain, Director (Personnel), Avinash Kumar, Executive Director (HR), Vijay Kumar, Executive Director (Finance) and other Senior Officers of NHPC signed the MOU on behalf of NHPC. Forum of Women in Public Sector (WIPS) under the aegis of SCOPE organised 29th Annual Day Celebrations on the theme Think Smart, Innovate for Change which was inaugurated by Governor of Manipur Najma Heptulla here on Tuesday In the 1970s, when we were in the roaring tornado of our teenage years, there was this one actor with an almost Buddha-like calm face, with the disposition of a charming simpleton. He was the quintessential middle-class hero, seen on screen working as a senior clerk in a government office, possessing the most awkward manners when it came to making conversation with the object of his affection (this is the pre-historic, pre-Tinder, pre-Ashley Madison era, closer to the dinosaurs that you see ambling about in a Steven Spielberg production). His name was Amol Palekar. What followed were timeless romantic classics such as Gharonda, Chitchor, Rajnigandha and Gol Maal. That Amol Palekar, now a septuagenarian 74-year-old, was told to shut up last Friday in a public event. Ironically, at that very time, I was having a sprightly conversation with noted author and former TV anchor Sagarika Ghose on her latest book, germane for our times, called Why I Am A Liberal. Veteran actor Amol Palekar's speech in Mumbai was cut short for being critical even if mildly of the government. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) Ghose would tell me during a lively interaction that the reason why illiberal democracies (Turkey, Russia, Philippines, Venezuela) are proliferating is that the Big State regurgitates at a fast pace. It is happening in a fast and furious mode in India right now. Usually, a societys disintegration happens imperceptibly, as the corrosive elements gradually ravage its once-solid foundations. There is a sleight of hand, but it is dressed up in a velvet glove, an optical illusion is created that has such dazzling refulgence that one is momentarily blinded. By the time one returns to normal vision, everything is changed. But what happened to the legendary film-maker, actor and producer Amol Palekar at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in Mumbai on February 9, 2019, had no pretensions of artifice (pun unintended). It was a visible manifestation, an unambiguous, in-your-face statement of intent Stop speaking what I dont want to hear. The startling interruption of Palekars speech by the function organisers had a hard bluntness about it as they read out the code of Omerta. Stick to your brief, Palekar was impertinently told, even as he protested with his usual dignified demeanour. And, ladies and gentlemen, this unfortunate episode happened in front of a distinguished audience of creative artists and afficionados, people who snigger at proscriptions and cherish artistic imperfections. Those who are constantly challenging themselves on bare canvases and instigating the imagination. They are natural-born iconoclasts who defy cast-in-iron fiats. But at the NGMA, Big Brother was watching and listening too. Homo sapiens can be bullied. The startling interruption of Palekars speech by the NGMA function organisers had a hard bluntness about it. (Photo: IANS) Thus, when Palekar brought up the issue of Nayantara Sehgal, who was similarly rebuffed from speaking at a literary event in Yavatmal, Maharashtra, and expressed apprehension about the future exhibitions strategy of NGMA that were critical of the government, he was told curtly to cut it short. He was the chief guest, incidentally. It was unconscionable. But, let me ask you this are you really surprised? Another brilliant artist, Naseeruddin Shah, had the mortification of being labelled an 'anti-national' for honestly expressing his angst. His illustrious colleague, Anupam Kher, himself a formidable talent, but now a celebrity right-wing fundamentalist who regularly markets hyper-nationalist hyperbole, belittled Shah for his criticism of the government. It was ridiculous, but it was real. Thought-policing is the core strategy of fascist regimes. It works remarkably well for once fear is injected into the body politic, it then becomes attenuated in its protests. At some point, we become paranoid about anything we say and end up eschewing our natural instincts. The fear of an FIR, of defamation suits, criminal charges, social media trolling and relentless hate-mongering can frighten the most intrepid soul. Author and former advisor to LK Advani, Sudheendra Kulkarni had his face blackened by the fanatical brigade. There has been a concatenation of gruesome killings too, from Narendra Dabholkar, MM Kalburgi and Govind Pansare to Gauri Lankesh. Thus, the ordinary individual imposes self-censorship and succumbs to the prevalent political narrative. Author and former advisor to LK Advani, Sudheendra Kulkarni had his face blackened by hardcore right-wing supporters. (Photo: PTI) I know of friends who tell me that they choose not to retweet content they passionately believe in, for being targeted by social media thugs. The deafening silence of Bollywood to attacks on Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Naseeruddin Shah and Amol Palekar now tell us that a repressive government is spreading its tentacles remorselessly in pursuit of an intolerant Hindutva agenda, cleverly camouflaged under cultural nationalism and patriotic fervour. After creating storm-troopers in social media, brutalising several TV channels (lap dogs notwithstanding), subsuming the print medium significantly (at least some are fighting back hard), the current authoritarian impulse is using 70mm cinema as a powerful vehicle for political propaganda. Hence, The Accidental Prime Minister and the commercial marketing of surgical strikes under #HowsTheJosh? It is methodically choreographed for brain-washing like a psychological detergent. A country that is a secular democracy (our Constitution thankfully still says so) does not need a government-sponsored ministry of culture that presupposes what citizens need. Liberalism is integral, part of the critical composition of a tolerant structure inherent in a democratic society. We are argumentative Indians, as Professor Amartya Sen so ingeniously put it. And so we must be. But never again should we take our freedom of expression for granted. Never again. As Palekar would say, it is not Chhoti Si Baat. Also read: Amol Palekar Interrupted: Why this should be a moment for the art world to introspect, rather than play blame games Maryland law requires schools to be open for a minimum of 180 days each year. Waivers to that requirement must be approved by the Maryland State Board of Education. In 2016, Gov. Larry Hogan issued an executive order requiring an all public schools in Maryland to open after Labor Day and end by June 15. Last week Hogan said in Annapolis he is staying firm in not undoing his order. Illinois attorney general has asked the states highest court to review what prosecutors consider a too lenient sentence for the white Chicago police officer who shot dead black teenager Laquan McDonald. Attorney general Kwame Raoul and the special prosecutor who won the conviction against Jason Van Dyke said they believe Judge Vincent Gaughan did not properly apply the law when he sentenced Van Dyke to six years and nine months in prison. In a rare move, Mr Raoul and Kane County states attorney Joseph McMahon filed a request with the Illinois Supreme Court seeking an order that would send the case back to Mr Gaughan for a new sentence. Without a new sentence and with credit for good behaviour, Van Dyke is likely to serve only around three years for firing 16 bullets into McDonald in 2014. Dashcam video of the shooting released by the city in 2015 showed Van Dyke continued to fire as the 17-year-old crumpled to the street and lie on the ground. The sentence was the first imposed on a Chicago police officer for an on-duty shooting in half a century. Mondays move is the latest chapter in an ongoing saga that has included massive demonstrations, the firing of the police superintendent by the mayor and the ouster of the countys top prosecutors by voters a few months later, the judges ruling to sentence Van Dyke to less than seven years in prison was met with anger and disappointment by activists. Jason Van Dyke shot dead Laquan McDonald (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool, File) Mr Raoul reacted quickly. In one of his first moves after taking office in January, he announced he would review the sentence Mr Gaughan had handed down just days earlier. A soldier who went on to take his own life said he wanted to be in a minor road crash to get some rest, an inquest has heard. Rifleman Darren Mitchell, 20, from London, was found hanged in his room at Abercorn Barracks in Ballykinler, Co Down on February 10, 2013. His death came three months after 30-year-old Lance Corporal James Ross, from Leeds, was also found hanged in his room at the base on December 8, 2012. Both men were serving with the Second Battalion the Rifles and had previously been on active service in Afghanistan. Lance Corporal James Ross whose inquest, along with Rifleman Darren Mitchell, is taking place (Liberty Human Rights/PA) An inquest at Ballymena court house is examining both the deaths. It heard from Rifleman Mitchells girlfriend Cher Kiff on Monday. She told the inquest that following a false alarm pregnancy, the pair had been talking about getting engaged and having children. Ms Kiff described Rifleman Mitchell as someone who radiated warmth and could cheer anyone up. She said she had noticed a change in him in the months before his death, describing him as exhausted due to courses he was taking to become an adventure training instructor and suffering from panic attacks. He made a remark about a car accident, wishing for a non-serious accident to be able to rest and build himself up, she told the inquest. Cher Kiff, girlfriend of Rifleman Darren Mitchell (Rebecca Black/PA) Ms Kiff told the inquest that she had urged Rifleman Mitchell to seek help for his panic attacks and asked him if he had ever had suicidal thoughts, but she said he brushed it off and said he would never do that because he loved his mother too much and because he was a Christian. He made a remark about a car accident, wishing for a non-serious accident to be able to rest and build himself up, she told the inquest. He was not acting himself while he was home, kept having panic attacks. The way he reassured me, I just thought he was feeling down but I didnt think he would do anything like that. She also revealed that in January 2013, a medic had told Rifleman Mitchells boss he might be depressed and to keep an eye on him. The inquest saw Whatsapp conversations between the pair in the 24 hours before his death. In one, Rifleman Mitchell said: I spend 90% of my time on my own, I hate my life. It also heard that Rifleman Mitchell posted a message on his Facebook page before he died saying, tonights the night. Ms Kiff was tearful as she recalled how he told her he loved her before he stopped responding to texts. Carol Mitchell (right), mother of Darren Mitchell, attends the inquest into his death (Rebecca Black/PA) Last week the inquest heard evidence from Rifleman Mitchells mother Carol Mitchell that a perfect storm of factors had led to her sons death. He thought everyone was leaving, he was exhausted, his back pay hadnt come through, he had had a row with Cher and he had just got back after being away for a long time, she told the inquest, adding that she did not blame the Army for his death, but felt more could have been done to help him. Earlier on Monday, the inquest heard from a soldier who had been based at Ballykinler in 2013, via video link from Leeds court house. Soldier D was a friend of Rifleman Mitchell and one of three who found him dead in his room. He later was one of several soldiers who were involved in self-harming in that period. The three were sent to another barracks in Lisburn for a week, twice, to help them cope with their loss. Soldier D claimed that Corporal Mark Farragher accused him and his two friends of bluffing to get out of work due to their trips to Lisburn. When asked how it had made him feel he replied: Horrible, they were meant to be there to help you, and talk to, when they are doing that, there is no one to talk to. He also detailed another incident during which he said Company Sergeant Major Roger Webb had called him a selfish dick in the guardroom after he had self-harmed. Philip Aldworth, counsel for the Ministry of Defence, put to Soldier D that other higher ranking officers had been supportive, and that he had received medical attention and support from the army. The inquest also heard about issues with paperwork within Second Battalion the Rifles. There is no record of whether Lance Corporal Ross or Rifleman Mitchell received the full post operational aftercare support following deployment in Afghanistan. Coroner Joe McCrisken told the inquest this underlines the importance of record keeping. The inquest continues. Hundreds of thousands of people, some of them chanting death to America, have poured onto the streets of Iran to mark the countrys 1979 Islamic Revolution. On February 11 that year, Irans military stood down after days of street battles, allowing the revolutionaries to sweep across the country while the government of US-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi resigned and the Islamic Republic was born. In Tehran, despite rain, crowds streamed in from the capitals far-flung neighbourhoods to mass in the central Azadi, or Freedom Square, waving Iranian flags and chanting death to America. There was strong anti-US sentiment among the crowds (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) Chants of death to Israel and death to Britain followed, and demonstrators burned US and Israeli flags. Iranian state TV, which said millions participated in the celebrations, ran archive footage of the days of the uprising and played revolutionary songs. It later broadcast footage showing crowds across the country of 80 million. The six-mile-long downtown Enghelab, or Revolution Street, was decorated with huge balloons as loudspeakers blared out revolutionary and nationalist songs. Every year, the anniversary festivities start on February 1 the day Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from France after 14 years in exile to become the supreme leader as Shiite clerics took power. The celebrations continue for 10 days, climaxing on February 11. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke from a podium in Tehran (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) This years anniversary comes as Iran grapples with the aftermath of US President Donald Trumps decision last May to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal and restore tough US sanctions. Speaking from a podium in central Tehran, President Hassan Rouhani addressed the crowds for nearly 45 minutes, lashing out at Irans enemies America and Israel and claiming their efforts to bring down the country through sanctions will not succeed. He said: The presence of people in this celebration means that plots by the enemies have been defused. They will not achieve their ill-omened aims. Plans to build 600 new homes in Glasgow have taken a step forward after 40 million of funding was secured. Queens Cross Housing Association aims to transform Hamiltonhill into an urban suburb after agreeing a deal with M&G Investments. It will build 300 affordable homes for rent in the north-west of the city, with the remaining half to be new builds for sale. Discussions are ongoing with developers in the hope ground and drainage work will begin in spring. Shona Stephen, Queens Cross chief executive, said: This is just the latest piece of the jigsaw that will deliver a real transformational change to this part of the city. Building a relationship with an asset management company for funding is a first for Queens Cross. M&G investments representatives with Queens Cross residents and management at Hamiltonhill (Craig Cowbrough/PA) This innovative approach to securing investment is a great demonstration of our commitment to explore all avenues to secure the funds we need to help improve the lives of our tenants and to build Queens Cross as an area people can be proud to call home. The development will also include a new park and green space with community and commercial developments. Glasgow City Council will also be a key partner in the project. Mark Davie, head of social housing at M&G, said: Queens Cross Housing Association is already providing much-needed housing across Glasgow, supporting the local community. This is our third deal with a housing association in Scotland, where good quality affordable homes continue to be in short supply. This transaction will deliver sustainable long-term returns to our pension fund clients, secured against residential property. M&G has now invested over 6 billion in UK social housing and we are always looking for more opportunities to invest, to help address the shortage of affordable homes across the country. A 12-year-old girl has been sprayed in the face with a substance police believe may have been antifreeze. The incident happened outside the Asda in Haddington Road, Tranent, East Lothian, between 3.45pm and 4pm on Friday. She was sprayed with the substance by one of a group of four males while walking with her friend. They are described as around 16 and all wearing hoodies. While she was uninjured, her clothes were discoloured and police are now appealing for witnesses of the incident. Detective Constable Mandy Cummings said: There was no interaction between the teenagers and the victim beforehand so this is believed to have been opportunistic and potentially thought of as a prank by those involved. The girl was sprayed with the substance by one of a group of four males while walking with her friend (David Jones/PA) However, this behaviour is absolutely unacceptable and this incident is being treated as an assault. Thankfully, the girl was uninjured but this understandably caused concern and upset to her and her family. Anyone who may have seen the teenagers in the area, or who has any information about this incident, is urged to come forward and report this. Those with information can call Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident number 4218 of 8th February, or contact the charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Manchester City have apologised to Chelsea for the music that rang out around the Etihad Stadium on Sunday following the hosts 6-0 victory, Press Association Sport understands. The Madness song One Step Beyond, which is regularly played at Stamford Bridge when Chelsea win, blasted out of the stadium speakers immediately after the final whistle. It is understood a City official swiftly contacted the member of staff in charge of the music when they heard the song, with it replaced by City anthem Blue Moon. An apology was offered to Chelsea for any offence caused. It is further understood the Blues, who were surprised by the choice of music, readily accepted the gesture. Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick, Raheem Sterling netted twice and Ilkay Gundogan was also on the scoresheet as champions City secured an emphatic victory that saw them return to the top of the Premier League, moving ahead of Liverpool on goal difference, albeit the Reds have a game in hand. The number of people travelling on the Harry Potter line to see the iconic Glenfinnan Viaduct has doubled in the last decade, according to new figures. Statistics published by the Office of Rail Regulation indicate an increase in the popularity of the Fort William to Mallaig train, which runs over the bridge that famously features in the series. The Hogwarts Express travels over the viaduct as it takes pupils to school in the film adaptation of JK Rowlings novels. With more than 1,000 visitors flocking to Glenfinnan Station in 2017-18, ScotRail has now announced it will build a new footpath to help handle the volume of people. We're upgrading the footpath to viewpoints around the Glenfinnan Viaduct to encourage more people to visit the iconic bridge by train. https://t.co/R65BQ4eG0T pic.twitter.com/fTjTJuveGg ScotRail (@ScotRail) February 11, 2019 Meanwhile, a walkway that crosses the hillside between the railway station and the viaduct will be upgraded to provide easier access to several new viewing areas, allowing tourists to capture the stunning scenery. The project will be a working partnership between ScotRail, the West Highland Community Rail Partnership (WHCRP), Glenfinnan Station Museum, Glenfinnan Estate, Network Rail and Transport Scotland. Work is underway on the walkway (ScotRail/PA) It is hoped the work helps to increase the proportion of visitors arriving by public transport by improving the facilities available. ScotRail project manager Anouska Chisolm said: The new footpath and viewing areas at the Glenfinnan Viaduct will be fantastic for tourism in the area and we hope it will encourage more visitors to travel here by rail instead of car. Its important that we continue to work with our key partners on how we can boost tourism and bring wider economic benefits along Scotlands most scenic railways. Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, MSP Kate Forbes, said: Its fantastic to see more people choosing to go on the Harry Potter line and experience the fantastic scenery at the Glenfinnan Viaduct, as well as the breathtaking views from Fort William to Mallaig generally. Ultimately, I would like to see more people using public transport instead of driving as it reduces congestion and its good for the environment. That means that public transport needs to be reliable, comfortable and regular. I would like to see ScotRail invest more significantly on this line and capitalise on the clear growth in tourism the area is experiencing. Strategically, especially given the frequent delays with Fort William traffic in the peak summer months, it makes sense to get more people off of the road and on to trains. A young soldier who had self-harmed while based at a Co Down army barracks said a senior officer called him a selfish dick afterwards, an inquest has heard. The incident took place at Abercorn Barracks in Ballykinler where two soldiers had taken their own lives within a three-month period from December 2012 to February 2013. Rifleman Darren Mitchell, 20, from London, was found hanged in his room at Abercorn Barracks in Ballykinler, Co Down, on February 10 2013. Lance Corporal James Ross, 30, from Leeds, was also found hanged in his room, on December 8 2012. Rifleman Darren Mitchell who was found dead at Abercorn Barracks in Ballykinler (Liberty Human Rights) Both men were serving with the Second Battalion the Rifles and had previously been on active service in Afghanistan. An inquest sitting at Ballymena courthouse is examining both deaths. On Monday the inquest heard from a soldier who had been based at Ballykinler in 2013, via video link from Leeds court house. He has been granted anonymity during the proceedings and is referred to as Soldier D. He was a friend of Rifleman Mitchell and one of three who found him dead in his room. He later was one of several soldiers who were involved in self-harming in that period. Lance Corporal James Ross whose inquest, along with Rifleman Darren Mitchell, is taking place (Liberty Human Rights/PA) Soldier D described finding his friend dead as heartbreaking. The three were sent to another barracks in Lisburn for a week, twice, to help them cope with their loss. Soldier D claimed that Corporal Mark Farragher accused him and his two friends of bluffing to get out of work due to their trips to Lisburn. He also claimed the senior officer had made sly comments to them on parade and the other soldiers had laughed. When asked by Karen Quinlivan QC, counsel for the Mitchell and Ross families, how it had made him feel he replied: Horrible, they were meant to be there to help you, and talk to, when they are doing that, there is no one to talk to. He also detailed another incident during which he said Company Sergeant Major Roger Webb had called him a selfish dick in the Guardroom after he had self-harmed. When asked how hed felt after that, he said: even worse. Philip Aldworth, counsel for the Ministry of Defence, put to Soldier D that other higher ranking officers had been supportive, and that he had received medical attention and support from the army. Soldier D named two senior officers who were supportive. Carol Mitchell (right), mother of Rifleman Darren Mitchell , attends the inquest into his death (Rebecca Black/PA) Giving evidence to the inquest last week, Rifleman Mitchells mother Carol Mitchell said it was a perfect storm of factors that contributed to her sons death. He thought everyone was leaving, he was exhausted, his back pay hadnt come through, he had had a row with Cher (his girlfriend) and he had just got back after being away for a long time, she told the inquest, adding that she did not blame the Army for his death but felt more could have been done to help him. The inquest continues. Senior Tories have warned Labours plans for a customs union with the EU are a dangerous delusion, after Theresa May offered fresh Brexit talks with Jeremy Corbyn. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said Labours proposals were not workable while Boris Johnson accused Mr Corbyn of trying to trap the Government in a toxic Brexit. The comments appeared to reflect concern among Conservative Brexiteers that the Prime Minister could concede too much ground to Labour in an attempt to win cross-party backing for a deal with Brussels. Downing Street meanwhile said Mrs May will make a Commons statement on the latest developments in the Brexit negotiations on Tuesday a day earlier than expected. The Prime Ministers official spokesman said it would give MPs more time to digest the content ahead of a series of expected Commons votes on Thursday. The move comes after Mrs May responded to Mr Corbyns letter last week setting out Labours terms for backing a deal, with an offer of further talks. In her reply, released on Sunday, the Prime Minister welcomed the Labour leaders agreement that the UK should leave the EU with a deal and his support for finding alternative arrangements to the Irish backstop. Theresa May has offered fresh talks with Jeremy Corbyn (Dominic Lipinski/PA) However she questioned his support for a customs union with the EU, saying it would prevent Britain from striking free trade deals with other countries around the world. Mr Fox, in Bern for the signing of a trade agreement with Switzerland, said Labour claims they would be able to influence EU trade policy showed they did not understand how EU policy worked. Of course we always want to work with the opposition but the opposition has put forward some ideas that are not workable, he told reporters. The idea that you can have a customs union with the EU and at the same time, as an outside country, have an effect on EU trade policy, is to not understand the EU treaties. It is very clear from the European Union that non-EU members do not have a say in EU trade policy so to pretend that you could do so is a dangerous delusion. Theresa Mays letter to Jeremy Corbyn (10 Downing Street/PA) His intervention came after Treasury Chief Secretary Liz Truss refused to rule out resigning if Mrs May backed a customs union. I absolutely do not think that should be our policy, she told Sky News on Sunday. Mr Johnson, who led the official Vote Leave campaign in the referendum, warned the Prime Minister against trying to do a deal with Labour to get her agreement through. I dont think that there is any mileage for the Prime Minister or the Government in trying to do a deal with Labour because they will just try to trap Theresa May, he said at a launch event at Westminster. They will just try to do a deal that is toxic. His comments were echoed by former Conservative chairman Grant Shapps who tweeted: No point winning Labour MPs, by losing Tories! Mr Johnson said Mrs Mays priority should be to secure a time limit on the backstop intended to prevent the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland before the next election scheduled for June 2022. .@Theresa_May's #Brexit letter to Corbyn woos Labour MPs with Workers' Rights. Coalition worked hard to create a dynamic UK jobs market & we enjoy half the unemployment rate of France by being a more attractive place to hire people. No point winning Labour MPs, by losing Tories! Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) February 11, 2019 I think it must be pretty obvious that if you are going to have a time limit to the backstop, and I think that would be a very good thing, its got to fall before the next election. The former foreign secretary warned simply including the changes in a codicil to the Withdrawal Agreement would not be sufficient. I dont think that would be good enough, he said. (PA Graphics) In the meantime, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay has been meeting members of the Alternative Arrangements Working Group of Tories drawn from all sides of the party who have been seeking a compromise solution to avoid the need for the controversial backstop. Mr Barclay will later travel to Brussels for talks over dinner with the EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier. Mr Barniers deputy Sabine Weyand made clear that the European Commission is not pinning its hopes on the UK eventually deciding to mount a second referendum, telling a conference in Germany that the only option was a structured exit. Warning that some on the Remain side were indulging in cakeism trying to have their cake and eat it Ms Weyand said she saw no majority for a referendum in the House of Commons. Her comments come after European Council president Donald Tusk said last week that it was unmistakable that a second referendum was out of reach due to the pro-Brexit stance of both Mrs May and Mr Corbyn. Meanwhile Mrs May welcomed the Maltese Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat, to Downing Street for talks on Monday evening. Transport Secretary Chris Graylings decision to award contracts to three ferry companies, including one with no ships, under no-deal Brexit plans, is being challenged at the High Court. Eurotunnel, which operates the Channel Tunnel, says the contracts totalling 108 million were awarded through a secretive and flawed procurement process. But the Department for Transport (DfT) argues that the extreme urgency of preparations for Britains departure from the EU on March 29 justified the process. At a hearing in London on Monday, Eurotunnels barrister Daniel Beard QC said the procurement process for additional capacity for transport of goods across the English Channel had been undertaken without any public notice being issued. Mr Beard said Eurotunnel only found out when contract notices were published three days after Christmas, adding that it was quite remarkable his client had not been informed given its recent history in running cross-Channel services. He submitted that Eurotunnel was an operator who actually ran a ferry service three years ago, and was therefore not speculating about its ability to run cross-Channel services but has actually done it. Seaborne Freight had won a contract to run services between Ramsgate and Ostend (Gareth Fuller/PA) He also said Eurotunnel had no knowledge of the advanced talks with a number of companies to secure additional freight capacity, which a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said the Government was already engaged in, despite the fact his client had taken legal action. Mr Beard told Mr Justice Fraser that two of the companies awarded contracts, French firm Brittany Ferries and Danish group DFDS, are already in the business of offering cross-Channel services. He said the third, Seaborne Freight, apparently intended to do so before the collapse of its contract with the DfT over the weekend. Seaborne Freights 13.8 million contract to run services between Ramsgate and Ostend in Belgium had attracted widespread criticism after it emerged the company had no ships and had never run a Channel service. The company was also accused of copying part of its website from that of a takeaway firm. Mr Grayling faced cross-party calls for his resignation late last week after the deal was cancelled. The DfT said it had decided to terminate the contract after Irish company Arklow Shipping, which had backed Seaborne Freight, stepped away from the deal. Ewan West, representing Mr Grayling, confirmed to the court that Seaborne Freights contract had been terminated. Mr West added that the procurement process was only for maritime freight services and, therefore, Eurotunnel could never have provided that capacity and could not have complied with the terms of the contracts. Mr Justice Fraser ruled that an expedited four-day trial will begin on March 1 given the obvious urgency of the case and the very important public interest matters involved. Szeliga, who represents eastern Baltimore County and western Harford County, sponsored the same bill during the 2018 Maryland General Assembly session, but it did not make it past a House Judiciary Committee hearing. She said, as the session neared its end last April, that she planned to reintroduce the bill in the next session and that it can take a couple of years before a bill is passed. Fire crews have tackled a blaze at a block of flats in Edinburgh. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) was called to the scene in Heron Place, Granton, on Monday morning. Several fire engines attended and the blaze on the seventh floor was extinguished. No casualties have been reported. A SFRS spokeswoman said: The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service was alerted at 9.28am on Monday February 11 to reports of a fire within a tower building in Edinburgh. Operations control mobilised a number of fire engines to Heron Place where firefighters extinguished the fire on the seventh floor. Several fire engines attended and the blaze on the seventh floor was extinguished (Rui Vieira/PA) There are no casualties. Crews remain in attendance checking the area to ensure it is made safe. A Police Scotland spokeswoman said officers were supporting the SFRS during the incident. She said: Police in Edinburgh were called to Heron Place by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service at 9.30am on Monday February 11 after reports of a fire at a block of flats. Officers remain in attendance to support the fire response. Theresa May continues to have full confidence in Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, the Prime Ministers official spokesman has said. The display of support came amid calls for Mr Graylings resignation from MPs across the Commons after a controversial no-deal Brexit ferry contract awarded to a firm with no ships was cancelled. The Transport Secretarys decision to award Seaborne Freight a contract worth 13.8 million to run services between Ramsgate and Ostend had attracted widespread criticism. The Department for Transport (DfT) said it had decided to terminate the contract after Irish company Arklow Shipping, which had backed Seaborne Freight, stepped away from the deal. But MPs including pro-EU Tories said Mr Grayling should take responsibility for the situation and resign. Anna Soubry (Jeff Overs/BBC/PA) Conservative former business minister Anna Soubry said Mr Grayling should be quietly considering his position. He has no grip on the very serious nature of his job, she told The Observer. The Prime Minister should also be considering whether there is not someone else who could do the job better. Labour said Mr Grayling has to go, with Jeremy Corbyn describing the situation as completely ludicrous. Jeremy Corbyn (Aaron Chown/PA) Asked whether Mr Grayling had the PMs confidence, Mrs Mays official spokesman told a regular Westminster media briefing: Yes. The spokesman added: In relation to Seaborne, we were clear that it would need to meet specific milestones in order to fulfil its contractual obligations. When it became clear that it would not reach these requirements without the continued support of Arklow Shipping, the Transport Secretary decided to terminate the contract. It is obviously ultimately important that we protect taxpayers money. The PMs spokesman said he understood that no taxpayers money had yet been spent on the contract. He added: We are already in advanced talks with a number of companies to secure additional freight capacity, including through the port of Ramsgate, in the event of no deal. There is no threat to contracts with DFDS or Brittany Ferries, who will be providing around 90% of additional capacity in the event of no deal. Mr Grayling last month defended the Seaborne Freight contract, insisting it was not a risk. It was one of three firms awarded contracts totalling 108 million in late December to lay on additional crossings to ease the pressure on Dover when Britain leaves the EU, despite having never run a Channel service. The department said it had been Arklow Shippings backing that gave it confidence in the viability of the deal, and that it stands by the robust due diligence carried out on Seaborne Freight. It added that no taxpayer money had been transferred to the company. Speaking in the Commons, shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said: What began as a debacle has now descended into a Whitehall farce. This minister is rewriting the textbook for ministerial incompetence in office. Andy McDonald (Peter Byrne/PA) He said Mr Grayling ignored warnings from MPs and industry, also claiming the Department for Transport took shortcuts in the procurement process with Seaborne Freight. Mr McDonald added: Isnt it the case that this Transport Secretarys approach to transport and wider Brexit contingency planning is off the Richter scale? And for the good of the nation, and for the sake of some semblance being restored to this shambolic Government, shouldnt he now do the decent thing and go? Mr Grayling replied to his Labour counterpart: I have to say that he brings a new meaning to the words utter hogwash. He clearly wasnt listening when I said weve spent no money on this contract. He defended his departments no-deal Brexit planning, adding that the Seaborne Freight contract was assured jointly by DfT and Treasury officials. Mr Grayling said the two alternative North Sea options to Seaborne Freight are longer routes which would be more expensive but they have been in reserve all along. Sarah, Duchess of York has compared the way women are pitted against each other online to the rivalry attributed to her and Diana, Princess of Wales. She did not mention the Duchesses of Cambridge and Sussex by name but her comments will also be seen as a reference to Kate and Meghans reported rift, that has seen their online fans at loggerheads. The Duke of Yorks ex-wife described much of social media as a sewer as she called for people to be kinder online. Writing an open letter in support of Hello! magazines #HelloToKindness campaign, promoting kindness on social media, Sarah spoke out against the treatment of women. Much of social media has become a sewer. Tech firms need to do much more to take a stand against online abuse, rather than shrugging their shoulders. My article backing #HelloToKindess https://t.co/HsQEzzaovQ Sarah Ferguson (@SarahTheDuchess) February 11, 2019 She wrote: Women, in particular, are constantly pitted against and compared with each other in a way that reminds me of how people tried to portray Diana and me all the time as rivals, which is something neither of us ever really felt. Kensington Palace staff are spending hours each week moderating online abuse aimed at Kate and Meghan, with some of the worst hate-filled personal messages said to be between rival fans of the duchesses. Sarah, Duchess of York has spoken out against the way women are portrayed on social media. David Mirzoeff/PA Wire The royal women have been the subject of a series of media reports claiming there is a rift between them. There have been allegations of a dispute over who reprimands staff, tensions during Princess Charlottes bridesmaid dress fitting and claims that Harry and Meghans move from London to Frogmore Cottage in Berkshire reflects a widening gulf between the women. Sarah and Diana were firm friends and a royal double act in the 1980s when they married into the Windsors. So thrilled to have @sarahtheduchess' support for #HelloToKindness - her open letter on the state of social media today is spot on: https://t.co/GVrsFDM0X8 pic.twitter.com/RI2BPue3tp HELLO! (@hellomag) February 11, 2019 But with the duchess seen at the time as an effervescent extrovert who had won over her in-laws while Diana was viewed as coolly self-contained, they were portrayed as competing against each other. Sarah wrote: Its time to confront head on the fact that much of social media has become a sewer. She welcomed the benefits of social media, but added: But the truth is, a lot about these sites terrifies me. I rarely if ever go below the line on social media or news websites and read peoples comments. I know that a lot say nice things, but theres a large minority who seem to think that all the normal rules of society dont apply to the internet. Prime Minister Theresa May is to give a statement to Parliament on Tuesday on the latest developments in Brexit talks, Downing Street announced. The PM had been expected to deliver her statement on Wednesday ahead of a Commons debate on Thursday, but her official spokesman said the earlier timing would give Parliament a couple of days to digest the content. Labour will use a vote on Thursday to attempt to force Mrs May to bring her Brexit deal back to the Commons for a showdown by February 26 to prevent her running down the clock to the UKs scheduled departure date of March 29. But the Prime Minister is expected to offer MPs a further chance to vote on non-binding amendments on February 27. The move is aimed at postponing a rebellion by ministers who are committed to removing the possibility of the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal on March 29. On Monday, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay was meeting members of the Alternative Arrangements Working Group of Tories drawn from all sides of the party who have been seeking a compromise solution to avoid the need for the controversial backstop to keep the Irish border open. Mr Barclay will later travel to Brussels for talks over dinner with the EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier. I am looking forward to meeting @SteveBarclay in Brussels on Mon evening. I will listen to how the UK sees the way through. The EU will not reopen the Withdrawal Agreement. But I will reaffirm our openness to rework the Political Declaration in full respect of #EUCO guidelines. Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) February 8, 2019 Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson indicated he would be willing to accept a time limit on the Brexit backstop as his price for backing the PMs Withdrawal Agreement. But Mr Johnson insisted that a separate codicil setting out amendments to the backstop plan would not be good enough, indicating that he is holding out for changes to the text of the agreement itself. The argument is now about how to get out of the backstop, Mr Johnson told BBC Radio 4s Today programme. And how to make sure that the UK isnt locked in that prison of the customs union. I think that you would need to have a time limit. Asked if changes to the backstop proposals could come in a separate codicil to the Withdrawal Agreement, Mr Johnson said: I dont think that would be good enough. Meanwhile, Mrs May has offered further talks with Labour in an attempt to secure cross-party consensus on Brexit. Theresa Mays letter to Jeremy Corbyn (10 Downing Street/PA) In a letter to Jeremy Corbyn, she questioned his call for a customs union with Brussels, but offered concessions in other areas and said she wanted talks between Labour and Tory teams as soon as possible. Mr Johnson accused Mr Corbyn of trying to frustrate Brexit by demanding a customs union, which he said would prevent the UK from striking its own trade deals. And there were signs of unease in Tory ranks at the idea of Mrs May exploring means of bringing the Labour leader on board in her search for a Brexit deal. (PA Graphics) In her letter, Mrs May rejected Labours demand for the UK automatically to follow EU rules on workers rights and environmental protection. But she said the Government is prepared to commit to asking Parliament if it wishes to follow suit if standards change. Former Conservative chairman Grant Shapps warned in a tweet: (The) coalition worked hard to create a dynamic UK jobs market & we enjoy half the unemployment rate of France by being a more attractive place to hire people. No point winning Labour MPs, by losing Tories! .@Theresa_May's #Brexit letter to Corbyn woos Labour MPs with Workers' Rights. Coalition worked hard to create a dynamic UK jobs market & we enjoy half the unemployment rate of France by being a more attractive place to hire people. No point winning Labour MPs, by losing Tories! Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) February 11, 2019 Responding to the conditions for a Brexit deal set out by the Labour leader in a letter last week, Mrs May told Mr Corbyn: It is good to see that we agree that the UK should leave the European Union with a deal and that the urgent task at hand is to find a deal that honours our commitments to the people of Northern Ireland, can command support in Parliament and can be negotiated with the EU not to seek an election or second referendum. The PM said she wanted the Tory and Labour teams to consider alternative arrangements to the Irish backstop. But she insisted her deal already met many of the conditions he had set, without tying the UK in to a customs union arrangement which would prevent Britain from striking its own trade deals. The existing Political Declaration the part of the Brexit deal setting out the goals for the future UK-EU relationship explicitly provides for the benefits of a customs union no tariffs, fees, charges or quantitative restrictions across all sectors and no checks on rules of origin, said the PM. We need to break the Brexit deadlock. Will @theresa_may listen to our five demands? pic.twitter.com/o5SuGI64zD The Labour Party (@UKLabour) February 10, 2019 Mr Corbyns demand is for a customs union that gives the UK a say on future trade deals the EU might strike something Brussels appears unlikely to accept. The Prime Minister said: I am not clear why you believe it would be preferable to seek a say in future EU trade deals rather than the ability to strike our own deals? She also questioned whether the call for completely frictionless trade would mean reneging on Labours commitment to end free movement by requiring single market membership. Treasury Chief Secretary Liz Truss refused to rule out resigning if Mrs May backed a customs union. She told Sky News: I absolutely do not think that should be our policy. Banking giant Lloyds has apologised after customers were locked out of their accounts and were unable to access online services. The high street lender did not specify the number of customers that were affected but said that services for the majority of its customers and for its Halifax and Bank of Scotland units were not affected. It also said the issue only affects customers accessing their accounts online via desktops and that customers were still able to log in to mobile and tablet apps. A Lloyds spokeswoman said: We are currently aware that some customers may be experiencing intermittent issues when trying to access their online banking service this morning. We are working to resolve the issue as a matter of urgency and we are sorry for any inconvenience for our customers. Several Lloyds customers used social media to complain about not being able to log in to their online accounts. A branch of Lloyds Bank on Oxford Street, central London. One Twitter user said: I still cannot log in to online banking app. My internet is perfectly fine. I need to check my balance and other things. @AskLloydsBank I still cannot log in to online banking app. My internet is perfectly fine. I need to check my balance and other things. vicky (@hearsumvicky) February 11, 2019 Another Twitter user was aggrieved by the banks apology. ETA when online banking will be up and running? Apologies are pretty useless to those trying to sort payments. Hi, I'm KC. I'm afraid we don't have a timescale; however we're working hard to ensure the issue is resolved as soon as possible. Apologies for any inconvenience. Lloyds Bank (@LloydsBank) February 11, 2019 IT outages have regularly hobbled UK banks, notably TSB last year following its botched migration, while others such as HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland have also struggled with glitches. Jamie George views Owen Farrell as a rugby genius whose presence has grown with his promotion to the England captaincy. While Jonny May brought Twickenham to its feet by grabbing a hat-trick of tries in Sundays 44-8 victory over France, it was Farrell who orchestrated the downfall of feeble opponents. The Saracens playmaker, assisted by half-back partner Ben Youngs, expertly exploited the acres of space available in the backfield through a variety of kicks as England registered their biggest win in the fixture since 1911. In the injury-enforced absence of co-captain Dylan Hartley, Farrell has taken over as sole leader of the team and his Saracens team-mate George believes he is thriving as a result. The blokes a genius. I never see him have a bad game and thats why hes one of the best players in the world, if not the best player in the world, George said. In my eyes, its amazing to be playing with a fly-half and captain who is as dominant as he is and who leads from the front in the way that he does. Owens been a captain and leader for a long time now. Its not a new thing for us but he does it really well and it brings the best out of him in terms of his game. Hes performing really well. May elevated his strike rate to 12 tries in as many Tests after breaching the fragile French whitewash three times inside the opening half hour. Two of the scores were touch downs of kicks made possible by his speed, but his remarkable pace was also evident in the second when he outfoxed wing Damian Penaud from a standing start. When asked if Mays form makes him unstoppable at the moment, George replied: Can no one tell him that please! We need to keep his feet on the ground! Were really happy for him because he works incredibly hard. People think hes just this fast kid who happens to be good at rugby, but he puts a huge amount of time into his preparation. He probably does more than anyone else in the squad, so he deserves all the praise he gets. England have dismantled Ireland and France on successive weekends in a majestic start to the Six Nations that has plotted a course to a showdown with Wales on February 23 that could emerge as a title decider. Wales are also unbeaten and George, now the teams first-choice hooker ahead of Hartley following another superb afternoon, knows Eddie Jones tournament favourites face a tough assignment in Cardiff. Jamie George is expecting a tough Test against Wales in Cardiff (Adam Davy/PA) We have to be aware that we did well against France but recognise that it wasnt the perfect performance, George said. We really did a lot of analysis. We focused on ourselves a lot this week and tried to make sure we put our best performance out there. We still didnt do that so an exciting thing for us is theres still a lot to come. The important thing for us is to keep the ball rolling. Liam Foxs trade department has secretly admitted to some of Britains biggest businesses that the 40 free trade deals the minister promised to have ready by Brexit day are unlikely to materialise. The admission, seen by the Press Association, is contained in the minutes of a meeting attended by senior figures at the likes of Burberry, Mulberry and Hornby at a behind-closed-doors event. At the meeting, Department for Trade officials were probed on the pledge by Mr Fox that he would sign free trade agreements to replicate the EUs 40 existing deals with countries around the world. However, the minutes read: A panel member asked whether it was true (as claimed by Liam Fox) that there were 40 FTAs ready to go, just awaiting a signature and that the only delay was the EU Exit date of 29 March. DIT said that there was confidence that some of those agreements could be signed ahead of exit date, although it was unlikely they would all be signed before the leave date. This being so, there would not be continuity from day one of EU exit. Mr Fox has previously said that hed have 40 trade deals ready for one second after midnight on March 29. He also said that a free trade deal with the EU should be the easiest in human history. Liam Fox is unlikely to keep his promise (PA) The private event was one of a number of sessions the Government is holding with businesses to assess their readiness for a no deal Brexit and to hear concerns. However, one company representative present said they felt left high and dry, adding that no real advice could be given because they havent got a clue what is going to happen. Among the countries the Department has signed a trade deal with include Switzerland, which guarantees future trading terms between the two countries following Brexit. The revelations come just weeks after Airbus chief executive Tom Enders branded the Governments handling of EU withdrawal a disgrace and said the company could pull out of the UK if Brexit undermines its ability to compete. British businesses are also stockpiling goods as March 29 draws nearer, when the UK will by default crash out of the block if a withdrawal agreement cannot be reached. The Queen has made the journey back to London by train after her traditional winter break at her Sandringham Estate in Norfolk. Wearing a grey coat, black gloves and no headwear, she was escorted into Kings Lynn station through a side entrance known as the Royal Gate on Monday. The monarch was not joined by the Duke of Edinburgh as she boarded a Great Northern service. The Queen boards the train back to London (Joe Giddens/PA) She made the journey after it was confirmed Prince Philip, 97, had surrendered his driving licence. He voluntarily gave up his credentials to Norfolk Police on Saturday. The Crown Prosecution Service is considering whether to bring charges over a crash that injured two women. Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson has indicated he would be willing to accept a time limit on the Brexit backstop as his price for backing Theresa Mays EU Withdrawal Agreement. But Mr Johnson insisted that a separate codicil setting out amendments to the backstop plan would not be good enough, indicating that he is holding out for changes to the text of the agreement itself. The Leave campaign figurehead was speaking as Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay prepared for talks with European Union chief negotiator Michel Barnier as the Government stepped up efforts to secure changes to the backstop, which is designed to keep the Irish border open after the UKs withdrawal. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Theresa May has offered further talks with Labour in an attempt to secure cross-party consensus on Brexit. In a letter to Jeremy Corbyn, she questioned his call for a customs union with Brussels, but offered concessions in other areas and said she wanted talks between Labour and Tory teams as soon as possible. Mr Johnson accused Mr Corbyn of trying to frustrate Brexit by demanding a customs union, which he said would prevent the UK from striking its own trade deals. Its clear that Jeremy Corbyn hes done a complete U-turn, Mr Johnson told BBC Radio 4s Today programme. He now wants to frustrate Brexit very largely by staying in a permanent customs union. On the Northern Ireland backstop, Mr Johnson said: The argument is now about how to get out of the backstop. And how to make sure that the UK isnt locked in that prison of the customs union. I think that you would need to have a time limit. Asked if changes to the backstop proposals could come in a separate codicil to the Withdrawal Agreement, Mr Johnson said: I dont think that would be good enough. Responding to the conditions for a Brexit deal set out by the Labour leader in a letter last week, Mrs May said she wanted the Tory and Labour teams to consider alternative arrangements to the Irish backstop. The letter to Jeremy Corbyn from Theresa May (10 Downing Street/PA) She insisted her deal already met many of the conditions he had set. The existing Political Declaration the part of the Brexit deal setting out the goals for the future UK-EU relationship explicitly provides for the benefits of a customs union no tariffs, fees, charges or quantitative restrictions across all sectors and no checks on rules of origin, said the PM. But she said it also recognises the development of the UKs independent trade policy. Mr Corbyns demand is for a customs union that gives the UK a say on future trade deals the EU might strike something Brussels appears unlikely to accept. Prime Minister Theresa May returns to Downing Street after spending the weekend in her Maidenhead constituency (Dominic Lipinski/PA) The Prime Minister said: I am not clear why you believe it would be preferable to seek a say in future EU trade deals rather than the ability to strike our own deals? She also questioned whether the call for completely frictionless trade would mean reneging on Labours commitment to end free movement by requiring single market membership. We need to break the Brexit deadlock. Will @theresa_may listen to our five demands? pic.twitter.com/o5SuGI64zD The Labour Party (@UKLabour) February 10, 2019 The Prime Minister has previously ruled out a customs union, which would restrict the UKs ability to strike trade deals, and could face Cabinet resignations if she changed her position. Treasury Chief Secretary Liz Truss refused to rule out resigning if Mrs May backed a customs union. She told Sky News: I absolutely do not think that should be our policy. Mrs May rejected Labours demand to automatically follow EU rules on workers rights and environmental protection. But she said the Government is prepared to commit to asking Parliament if it wishes to follow suit if standards change. She told Mr Corbyn: It is good to see that we agree that the UK should leave the European Union with a deal and that the urgent task at hand is to find a deal that honours our commitments to the people of Northern Ireland, can command support in Parliament and can be negotiated with the EU not to seek an election or second referendum. Mr Corbyn has repeatedly said there should be an election if Mrs May cannot get a deal through Parliament and he has faced concerted pressure from some in his party to push for a second public vote. (PA Graphics) There appears little prospect of an imminent breakthrough with Brussels, and Mrs May might not bring her deal back for a decisive vote this month. Labour will use a vote expected on Thursday to attempt to force the Prime Minister to bring the deal back for a showdown by February 26 to prevent her running down the clock before Brexit. But the Prime Minister is expected to offer MPs a further chance to vote on non-binding amendments which could influence her Brexit strategy on February 27. The move is aimed at postponing a rebellion by ministers who are committed to removing the possibility of the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal on March 29. A man has been charged after cannabis plants worth around 68,000 were recovered by police. Officers arrested a 51-year-old man in connection with the recovery from a flat in Byres Road in the west end of Glasgow. The plants were seized from the flat at around 11am on Friday. The man is expected to appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Monday. A report will be sent to the procurator fiscal. Police have seized a quantity of cannabis plants worth around 68,000 from a flat in Byres Road, Glasgow. A 51-year-old man has been arrested. https://t.co/PWmL1eWUBk Greater Glasgow Police (@GreaterGlasgPol) February 11, 2019 Meanwhile, cannabis with an estimated street value of 60,000 was recovered after a car was stopped on the A90 at Fordoun in Aberdeenshire. A general view of Cannabis plants (PA) The recovery, which was also made on Friday, led to two people being charged. A 41-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman are expected to appear at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Monday. Detective Sergeant Calum Bell said: We are committed to targeting the illegal supply of drugs in the north-east. This latest recovery has removed a significant amount of drugs from communities. Anyone with information about the illegal supply of drugs or associated antisocial behaviour is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101. All intelligence we receive, no matter how insignificant it may seem, helps us to build a bigger picture, which enables us undertake intelligence led operations and further disrupt the supply of drugs. As if to counter the mayors spin, Sgt. Mike Mancuso, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, came out the next day with his take on things, and it wasnt pretty. He said the city has no existing crime plan and staffing is so bad that, at night, Baltimoreans should only expect to see patrol officers in response to the most urgent calls or reports of violence. (The mayor and police brass say things will be better with a new shift arrangement worked out between the city and the police union.) Losing access to vital European security arrangements post-Brexit will only benefit criminals, Scotlands Justice Secretary has said. Speaking on BBC Scotlands Good Morning Scotland programme, Humza Yousaf suggested that regardless of what preparations are made for a no-deal outcome, nothing will prove as effective in bringing people to justice than what is currently utilised as a member of the EU. It follows comments from Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Richard Martin, who said that criminals could potentially exploit the UK no longer being a part of measures such as the European Arrest Warrant. Mr Yousaf said: Anything that is a move away from what we currently have, is a dilution of what we have, the only people that will benefit will be those that are trying to escape from the law. It doesnt matter how many preparations we make, the UK Government makes, the Met Police force or indeed Police Scotland make, it doesnt matter what we put in place, if you do not have access to something like the European Arrest Warrant, the only people that will benefit will be those who are able to evade justice for longer. Mr Yousaf indicated that in 2012, a foreign national who had committed a murder in Scotland and had absconded to Europe was apprehended due to a European Arrest Warrant within five hours. Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf MSP warned of the impact Brexit could have on European security arrangements (Andrew Milligan/PA) The Justice Secretary said that the process for apprehending criminals after the UK leaves the EU could take significantly longer. We can be as stringent as we want, we can be as robust as we possibly want, and we are doing that, but if we dont have an extradition treaty with a country, that could take over and above a year, said Mr Yousaf. If we have an extradition treaty with a third country, in a bilateral agreement, it would take months and months. Some countries do not have extradition treaties with the UK that are currently members of the European Union. Therefore you have to rely on previous extradition treaties that we have. Part one of these treaties alone would take months and months, and if somebody was absconding for some of the worst crimes, murder, rape or anything else, then that gives them plenty of time to evade the law. Mr Yousaf also said that although the UK would still be a member of Interpol, the organisation would not sufficiently make up for the loss of Europol membership. I dont doubt that countries will come with goodwill, and I would hope that, but even so, nothing is as good as the European Arrest Warrant, nothing is as good as Europol, he said. The fallback to Europol would be Interpol and Interpol is a great organisation to work with, but Im afraid its not as good a substitute for Europol. UK Minister for Policing and Fire Nick Hurd said: The continued safety and security of both UK and EU citizens is of paramount importance. The agreement reached with the EU would provide for an implementation period, during which wed continue to use all the EU security tools and data platforms we use now. This would smooth the transition to our new relationship and is in the UKs best interests. As you would expect, we are working intensively with operational partners on contingency preparations should they be necessary in a no-deal scenario, including funding the new International Crime Coordination Centre. The contingency plans involve moving cooperation with EU member states to tried and tested alternative mechanisms, including Interpol and Council of Europe Conventions. Whilst we have been clear that these would not be like-for-like replacements, they are already used for police and judicial cooperation with many non-EU countries. Our primary objective, however, remains to secure a deal that protects mutually beneficial capabilities for both the UK and the EU member states. Police could be powerless to arrest foreign crime suspects on the spot if Britain loses access to European databases and agreements after Brexit. Even when checks show an individual is wanted overseas, they could not be detained until a warrant is obtained from the courts, a senior officer warned. He raised concerns that suspected offenders could disappear if forces have to rely on measures that are slower and more bureaucratic than the existing arrangements. It was also revealed that police estimate the loss of EU tools will result in costs of around 20 million a year. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Richard Martin, the national policing lead for Brexit, said that currently if an officer carries out a name check on someone they encounter, it is automatically run through both UK and European databases. In the same scenario but without the EU tools, the officer would have to check a separate Interpol system. A senior officer warned that the UK could lose access to European databases and agreements without a deal (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Mr Martin said: If that comes back with what they call a red notice, which is where somebody is wanted, we would then have to go to a magistrates court to get a warrant to go and arrest that person. We could not arrest that person in front of us. There have been warnings that checks on an EU nationals criminal history could take 10 times longer in a no-deal scenario, rising from an average of six days currently to 66. Mr Martin suggested there is a real risk individuals could abscond. If they know they are likely to be incarcerated or charged, then I think thats a very real possibility, he said. Under the terms of the agreement struck by Theresa May last year, both sides committed to establishing a broad and deep partnership across law enforcement, criminal justice and security. But in a no-deal Brexit, UK agencies face being locked out of systems for exchanging data such as criminal records, alerts on wanted individuals, DNA, fingerprints and airline passenger information. They will revert to alternative conventions, international policing tools and bilateral channels to enable extradition of suspects, trace missing people and share intelligence. Mr Martin said: There is a tool behind any that we might lose but its not a one for one capability. Every fall-back we have is more bureaucratic, it is slower. Asked if the UK would be less safe, he said: Yes. I think there is a risk. Is the UK going to turn into criminal gangs running amok? No. I dont think we will become a country of choice for crime. Policing is not going to stop. We are going to build up the capability as best we can but we will be much more limited than we currently are. He said criminals are entrepreneurs of crime who could attempt to exploit any gaps. The International Crime Coordination Centre has calculated that the annual cost to policing of losing EU law enforcement tools will be 20 million. Mr Martin said there could be an impact on the work of frontline officers. If something takes two or three times as long as before, thats probably another couple of hours where you are not back on the streets, he said. In a no-deal departure, British authorities would lose access to tools including the Second Generation Schengen Information System (SIS II), a vast database of alerts which was searched by UK officers more than 500 million times in 2017, and the European Criminal Record Information System, which is used to exchange tens of thousands of pieces of information about criminal convictions. Extradition requests are also expected to take longer if Britain has to rely on a 1957 convention in place of the European Arrest Warrant. Policing Minister Nick Hurd said the agreement reached with the EU would provide for an implementation period during which the UK would continue to use all the security tools and data platforms as now, while contingency plans for a no-deal scenario involve moving to tried and tested alternative mechanisms. Whilst we have been clear that these would not be like-for-like replacements, they are already used for police and judicial co-operation with many non-EU countries, he said. Our primary objective, however, remains to secure a deal that protects mutually beneficial capabilities for both the UK and the EU member states. The continued safety and security of both UK and EU citizens is of paramount importance. Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott accused the Tories of showing nothing but contempt for our safety and security, warning: Losing our real-time access to EU security tools and measures will be catastrophic for our security. The President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, will begin a three-day visit to England with a series of engagements in Birmingham on Monday. Mr Higgins, accompanied by his wife Sabina, will attend a civic reception in his honour hosted by Birmingham City Council, and pay a visit to a memorial commemorating the 21 people killed in the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. The memorial near Birminghams New Street station was unveiled last November after a project involving the Justice4the21 campaign group, together with Network Rail and the Birmingham Irish Association. Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina are visiting Birmingham (Niall Carson/PA) Mr Higgins, who was first elected as Irelands head of state in 2011 and was re-elected last year, is due to meet trustees and staff of the Birmingham Irish Association and older members of the Irish community in the city. He will visit Merseyside on Tuesday and Wednesday, where he will be greeted by the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall. Tuesdays programme will see the President visit the University of Liverpools Institute of Irish Studies, and attend a lunch promoting business and cultural ties between Ireland and Britain. A 16-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of a man in north London. The teenager is the fourth to be charged in connection with the fatal stabbing of Portuguese national and keen boxer Wilham Mendes. The boy will appear in custody at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court on Monday. He has also been charged with robbery against Mr Mendes, as well as robbery and attempted robbery against two other men on the morning of December 22 last year. Mr Mendes was found injured in Albert Place in Tottenham at about 1.20am that day. The 25-year-old, who had lived in the UK since 2015, was taken to an east London hospital but was pronounced dead about an hour later. Wilham Mendes, 25, was killed in a stabbing in Tottenham, north London (Metropolitan Police/PA) Two 15-year-old boys and a 16-year-old boy have also been charged with the murder and robbery of Mr Mendes. They were remanded into custody and are next due to appear at the Old Bailey on March 28. Hundreds of files relating to contaminated blood were removed by Government officials and went missing, it has emerged. A Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) investigation conducted last year following the start of the Infected Blood Inquiry found around 950 files relating to blood policy had been checked out by staff going back years. The GIAA report seen by the Press Association has been released under Freedom of Information laws to campaigner Jason Evans, whose father died in 1993 having contracted hepatitis and HIV. The 29-year-old, who is suing the Government for negligence, said the removal of documents probably goes back decades and could form part of a Government cover-up. The contaminated blood scandal has been labelled the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS. Thousands of patients were infected with HIV and hepatitis C via contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s. Many had haemophilia, a blood-clotting disorder, and relied on regular injections of clotting agent Factor VIII, which was made from pooling human blood plasma. Britain was running low on supplies of Factor VIII so imported products from the US, where prison inmates and others were paid cash for giving blood. In September, the first UK-wide probe the Infected Blood Inquiry heard that more than 25,000 people could have been affected. Two previous inquiries have been branded a whitewash by campaigners. The GIAA report released to Mr Evans and dated November 6 2018, said almost 1,000 files relating to blood policy had been checked out by officials. These included around 450 files checked out by Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) staff and a further 500 by Department for Education staff. It said: DHSC staff can check out paper files they need from the archives, (they) should return these once finished. The records management (RM) team has identified that there are c.450 files relating to blood policy which have been checked out and not returned, and the RM team is currently working to recover these. The team has put up posters around the DHSC offices, asking staff to return any files that they have checked out, and through an item in the DHSC bulletin, the RM Team has reminded staff to return files to storage if they are no longer used. The RM team is planning a series of site visits to properties currently and previously held by DHSC, to identify any physical files located in these areas. The report said a separate group of 500 files was checked out from specific DHSC archives by officers from the Department for Education (DfE) in 2006, and have not been returned. It said that while the DfE has been co-operating with recovering the files, 45 files remain unaccounted for. The report was also critical of the fact files can be checked out with no trace on whether they are returned. It said: At present, there is no system in place to follow up on physical files which have been checked out from the archives by staff and which have not been returned in a timely manner. DHSC would not disclose the content of the files and does not record why they were checked out. It initially denied Mr Evans access to the report under Freedom of Information laws, but finally did so when pressed. The DHSC said the majority of files have now been accounted for and it is working to locate the remainder. It also said it has a complete understanding of what is in the files, adding that it was usual practice for DHSC staff to need access to records. A spokesman said: We are committed to being open and transparent with the Inquiry and have waived the usual legal privileges to assist the process. We have already sent thousands of documents to the inquiry, and will continue to send more when necessary. The inquiry has always been free to request any files they wish to review and we will ensure these are shared as soon as possible. Mr Evans, who runs the campaign group Factor 8, said ministers have for years said that all papers relating to the scandal had been made public or had been destroyed. Lord Owen has said there was a cover-up (John Stilwell/PA) He added: The revelations in this new report prove that the ministerial statements were not true. The undoubted question that arises now from victims and families is: why were the files removed, and was this part of a cover-up to prevent them knowing the full truth about what happened? He added: I had come across the odd file that had been removed in this way and thought it was suspicious, but I never would have imagined it could have been on this level. Were talking about at least tens of thousands of documents within these files. Mr Evans said the previous two inquiries into the contaminated blood scandal would not have had access to the files. And he said: Nobody would have thought to go asking the Department for Education if they had relevant files, why would they? Mr Evans solicitor Des Collins, senior partner at Collins Solicitors, which is representing more than 1,000 victims, their families and seven campaign groups, said: The sad fact is that despite 1,000 crucial files going missing, there is very little that will surprise me in relation to the facts in this important inquiry. We know that there has been a Government cover-up. We now have clear evidence that vast numbers of documents were removed and not returned. We need to get to the bottom of why this happened, exactly what was in the files and what the people who in effect made them disappear were trying to hide. In September, the Infected Blood Inquiry heard emotional testimonies from people infected with HIV and hepatitis. Eleanor Gray QC, acting for the DHSC, told the inquiry that the treatment of information surrounding contaminated blood products has been at worst, a cover-up, at best a lack of candour about past events. The inquiry has heard how some patients said their medical records disappeared or were doctored. Former health secretary Lord Owen has said there was a cover-up and incriminating evidence had been suppressed by the Government to prevent victims taking legal action. Theresa May has offered further talks with Labour in an attempt to secure cross-party support for a Brexit deal. The Prime Minister questioned Mr Corbyns key call for the UK to remain in a customs union with Brussels but offered concessions in other areas and said she wanted talks between Labour and Tory teams as soon as possible. Her offer came as Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay prepared for talks with European Union chief negotiator Michel Barnier as the Government stepped up efforts to secure changes to the Irish backstop measure in the Withdrawal Agreement. Theresa Mays letter to Jeremy Corbyn suggesting further cross-party talks (10 Downing Street/PA) In her letter to Mr Corbyn, responding to the conditions for a Brexit deal set out by the Labour leader, the Prime Minister said she wanted the Tory and Labour teams to consider alternative arrangements to the Irish backstop. In response to his demand for a customs union, Mrs May insisted her deal met many of the conditions he had set. She said the existing Political Declaration the part of the Brexit deal setting out the goals for the future UK-EU relationship explicitly provides for the benefits of a customs union no tariffs, fees, charges or quantitative restrictions across all sectors and no checks on rules of origin. But she said it also recognises the development of the UKs independent trade policy. We need to break the Brexit deadlock. Will @theresa_may listen to our five demands? pic.twitter.com/o5SuGI64zD The Labour Party (@UKLabour) February 10, 2019 Mr Corbyns demand is for a customs union that gives the UK a say on future trade deals the EU might strike something Brussels appears unlikely to accept. The Prime Minister said: I am not clear why you believe it would be preferable to seek a say in future EU trade deals rather than the ability to strike our own deals? She also questioned whether the call for completely frictionless trade would mean reneging on Labours commitment to end free movement by requiring single market membership. The Prime Minister has previously ruled out a customs union, which would restrict the UKs ability to strike trade deals, and could face Cabinet resignations if she changed her position. Treasury chief secretary Liz Truss refused to rule out resigning if Mrs May backed a customs union. She told Sky News: I absolutely do not think that should be our policy. (PA Graphics) Mr Corbyn called for UK standards to keep pace with evolving standards across Europe. Mrs May rejected automatically following EU rules on workers rights and environmental protection but in the interest of building support across the House she said the Government is prepared to commit to asking Parliament if it wishes to follow suit if standards change. In her response to the Labour leaders letter setting out his conditions to support a Brexit deal, Mrs May said: It is good to see that we agree that the UK should leave the European Union with a deal and that the urgent task at hand is to find a deal that honours our commitments to the people of Northern Ireland, can command support in Parliament and can be negotiated with the EU not to seek an election or second referendum. Mr Corbyn has repeatedly said there should be an election if Mrs May cannot get a deal through Parliament and he has faced concerted pressure from some in his party to push for a second public vote. I am looking forward to meeting @SteveBarclay in Brussels on Mon evening. I will listen to how the UK sees the way through. The EU will not reopen the Withdrawal Agreement. But I will reaffirm our openness to rework the Political Declaration in full respect of #EUCO guidelines. Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) February 8, 2019 There appears little prospect of an imminent breakthrough with Brussels, and Mrs May might not bring her deal back for a decisive vote this month. Labour will use a vote expected on Thursday to attempt to force the Prime Minister to bring the deal back for a showdown by February 26 to prevent her running down the clock before Brexit. But the Prime Minister is expected to offer MPs a further chance to vote on non-binding amendments which could influence her Brexit strategy on February 27. The move is aimed at postponing a rebellion by ministers who are committed to removing the possibility of the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal on March 29. Pro-EU Tories Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston both said ministers should step up this week to prevent a no-deal Brexit. And shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said Mrs May could not keep delaying. We will wait and see what the Government comes back with on Thursday, but we have got to put a hard stop to this running down of the clock, he said. The Prime Minister is pretending there is progress in the talks. However, the reality is that she is using up the remaining time to try and impose a binary choice between her deal and no deal. This week Parliament needs to say enough is enough -and take control of what happens next. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said a further delay was deeply insulting to the country and to Parliament. Mark Wood admitted he finally felt worthy of his England shirt after a barnstorming show of pace brought him a career-best haul in St Lucia. Wood hit the accelerator in a dazzlingly quick spell of bowling on day two of the third Test against the West Indies, inching towards 95mph on the speed gun and wrapping up a maiden five-wicket haul to help dismiss the host for 154. After a tormented tour of the Caribbean, Woods efforts ensured England were the days clear winners for the first time since arriving, 142 ahead with their openers 19 for no wicket. It was Woods best day in an England shirt (Ricardo Mazalan/AP) The 29-year-old seamers ability to hit express speeds has long been known but this was the first time he has channelled his gift to such consistently devastating effect. His previous 12 Tests, the last of which came in May, included 30 wickets at a disappointing average of 41.73 and had him pondering his own readiness for the top level. Nobody is asking those questions now. Ive had some horrible dark days with injuries and things like confidence and self-beliefI thought in my own mind I was an England player but I hadnt shown it, he said. Today I felt like I showed I am an England player. Its nice to show some people whove probably doubted me in the past, Ive even doubted myself that I can do it, but I wouldnt say Im out of the woods yet. Joe Roots decision to summon a weary Wood back with the West Indies nine down was a subtle but brilliantly effective piece of captaincy. The Durham man has long coveted a five-wicket haul in the Test arena and, after picking up four in his lightning first spell, he needed just two balls to scatter Shannon Gabriels stumps and complete the job. His previous high in an England shirt came in 2015 when he removed Nathan Lyon at Trent Bridge to ensure England reclaimed the Ashes. Everyone wants to take the winning Ashes wicket, dont get me wrong, but if I could trade that feeling in for a few more five-fors I would, he said. For me, this was better. That feeling was pretty awesome. The way the lads were afterwardsthey knew it meant a lot to me. I was a bit overwhelmed in the dressing room, a bit emotional. Wood was engulfed in a bear hug at the close by Steve Harmison his fellow Ashington native, long-time friend and bowling mentor. Harmisons Test best figures of seven for 12 came in Jamaica 15 years ago, but Wood was claiming bragging rights on one crucial statistic. A few seconds after an almighty bear hug from Harmison to Wood. pic.twitter.com/OaxLGiWYpX Rory Dollard (@thervd) February 10, 2019 Harmys really pleased and hes a guy thats done pretty well in the West Indies before, said . Im still a couple of wickets shy of what he did but somebody has just said to me Ive pipped his top speed so Im pretty happy about that. That 95mph was past expectations. I think it was the adrenaline coming through me but I wasnt really looking at the speed gun. Olivia Colman was queen of the Baftas as The Favourite scored seven prizes at the glittering ceremony. The Broadchurch star beat Glenn Close, Lady Gaga, Melissa McCarthy and Viola Davis to win the leading actress prize for her turn as a cantankerous Queen Anne in the spiky period drama. The movie was also named outstanding British film, with Rachel Weisz taking the best supporting actress prize, beating her co-star Emma Stone in the category. The film had led the nominations ahead of the ceremony, with 12 nods. (PA Graphics) Roma, Alfonso Cuarons black-and-white film about his childhood in Mexico City, was named best film and best film not in the English language, while he was also named best director and cinematographer. Taking to the stage after her name was called, Colman admitted, Im very shaky, sorry, and told the crowd she could not read her notes, before adding she thanked all the producers, obvs. Addressing the other winners from The Favourite, she said: We are having an amazing night arent we? We are going to get so pissed later. Rachel Weisz was named best supporting actress (Jonathan Brady/PA) Speaking about her co-stars Weisz and Stone, Colman said: As far as Im concerned all three of us are the same and should be the leads and its weird we cant do that. This is for all three of us. Its got my name on it but we can scratch on some other ones. (PA Graphics) The film also received accolades for its costume design, production design, make-up and hair, as well as for its original screenplay. Rami Malek scooped the leading actor category for his turn as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, while Mahershala Ali was named best supporting actor for Green Book, beating British favourite Richard E Grant in Can You Ever Forgive Me? Rami Malek (Jonathan Brady/PA) There was also success for British actress and Black Panther star Letitia Wright, who won the EE Rising Star award, the only Bafta voted for by the public. Appearing overwhelmed as she collected her gong, she said: I identify myself as a child of God and I cant get up here without thanking God. Letitia Wright (Ian West/PA) A few years ago I saw myself in a deep state of depression and I wanted to quit acting. The only thing that pretty much pulled me out of that was God, my belief, my faith and my family and an email from Bafta saying they wanted me to be a part of the Bafta Breakthrough Brits and I was like let me try again. So this wasnt an overnight thing, it wasnt a click-of-a-finger success and Im still a work in progress. She continued: I want to encourage young people, actually you can be any age actually, I want to encourage you anyone who has lost their light, I want to encourage you. God made you and you are important I want to say God loves you and let your light shine. A Star Is Born won for its original music, with the films writer, director, star and composer Bradley Cooper collecting the prize. I cant believe we just won Best Original Music @BAFTA s . I wish so much I was there but am at the Grammys to show them our love as well. We made a film about music. This means the world to me. Thank u to all our fans we love u so much, we wouldnt be here without u #BAFTAs pic.twitter.com/nD8QZgwySB Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) February 10, 2019 He thanked his co-star and fellow composer Lady Gaga and the other musicians who helped with the film soundtrack before saying: Most of all I have to thank Irina (Shayk, his partner) for putting up with me for all the music I was trying to make in our basement for a year. Bradley Cooper with his Best Original Music Bafta (Ian West/PA) The animation category was won by Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, while Free Solo, a film about the first person to climb El Capitan in Yosemite National Park without ropes, was named best documentary. Film editor Thelma Schoonmaker, who has made 23 films with Martin Scorsese, received the Fellowship, the Academys highest honour, from the Duke of Cambridge at the end of the ceremony. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Retaliatory tariffs caused a sharp downturn in American whiskey exports in the last half of 2018 as distillers started feeling the pain from global trade disputes, an industry trade group said Tuesday. Exports to some key overseas markets gyrated wildly last year for producers of bourbon, Tennessee whiskey and rye whiskey. Overall, U.S. spirits exports in 2018 stayed on another record-setting trajectory, due in part to surging whiskey sales in the months leading up to the tariffs as larger distillers stockpiled supplies, the Distilled Spirits Council said. Other categories including vodka, brandy and rum also had strong overseas sales. But exports would have been much higher without the trade war, it said. "For the first time, data can demonstrate the negative impact of retaliatory tariffs on what had been a booming export growth story," said Christine LoCascio, the council's senior vice president for international affairs. "The tariffs are making it more difficult to be competitive in key markets," she added. The export figures confirmed fears among industry leaders that tariffs would depress overseas sales. But whiskey industry officials have been muted in blaming President Donald Trump and others for the export headaches. FILE - In this June 20, 2018 file photo, Catoctin Creek Distillery whiskey is on display in a tasting room in Purcellville, Va. Retaliatory tariffs caused a sharp downturn in American whiskey exports in the last half of 2018 as distillers started feeling the pain from getting caught up in global trade disputes, an industry trade group said Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Catoctin Creek Distillery has a couple hundred cases of its rye whiskey sitting in a European warehouse. The inventory was built up in anticipation of growing European sales in 2018. But since the tariffs took effect, their sales in Italy and Germany have plunged, and its plans of expanding to the United Kingdom are on hold, said its co-founder and general manager, Scott Harris. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File) American whiskey exports to the European Union - the industry's biggest export market - fell by 8.7 percent from July through November of last year, compared to the same period in 2017, the group said in its annual report released in New York. In the first half of 2018, American whiskey exports to the EU surged by 33 percent, it said. Overall global American whiskey exports grew by 28 percent in the first half of 2018, then fell by 8.2 percent from July to November - compared to a year ago - once tariffs took effect, according to the trade group's export figures, based on numbers supplied by the U.S. government. "That suggests that the tariffs are starting to have a measureable impact on American whiskey exports," LoCascio said. Despite the volatility, exports for all U.S. spirits recorded another record at almost $1.7 billion through November, the council said. "It would have been a lot stronger if we hadn't had these tariffs" said council spokesman Frank Coleman. "If not for the tariffs, we would have been popping the corks on the best bottles in our liquor cabinet." American whiskey makers face retaliatory tariffs in Canada, Mexico, China and Turkey as well as the EU. Those duties amount to a tax, which producers can either pass along to customers through higher prices or absorb shrinking profits. Some large American distillers gained a short-term cushion from trade disputes by stockpiling whiskey supplies in countries ahead of the tariffs. But as the trade disputes continue, they are being hit, too. Smaller distillers didn't have the luxury of stockpiling. Catoctin Creek Distillery in Virginia has a couple hundred cases of its rye whiskey sitting in a European warehouse. The inventory was built up in anticipation of growing European sales in 2018. But since the tariffs took effect, Catoctin Creek's sales in Italy and Germany have plunged and its plans of expanding to the United Kingdom are on hold, said its co-founder and general manager, Scott Harris. About 11 percent of its overall 2017 revenues came from Europe. The distillery hoped its European business would increase to one-fourth of total revenues in 2018, but "that part just never materialized," Harris said in an interview. "If we were able to get the tariffs removed, I think we'd be in good shape to really just take off," he said. For now, Catoctin Creek is absorbing the costs of tariffs for the scaled-back European sales it's able to make in hopes of maintaining relationships with distributors and staying competitive, Harris said. "For European sales, it means we're losing money on every bottle," he said. Asked how long his distillery can afford to do that, he replied: "I don't even want to think about it. We might do it for another half of year and see. Honestly, it's hard to be optimistic at this point." While exports were a glaring concern, domestic sales of distilled spirits were strong in 2018. The council reported another year of record spirits sales and volumes in the U.S., resulting in continued market share growth. Supplier sales were up over 5.1 percent, rising $1.3 billion to a total of $27.5 billion, while volumes rose 2.2 percent to 231 million cases, it said. "These robust results show adult consumers are continuing to favor spirits over beer and wine, particularly among millennials," council President and CEO Chris Swonger said. Combined U.S. revenues for bourbon, Tennessee whiskey and rye whiskey rose 6.6 percent, or $224 million, to $3.6 billion in 2018, council said. Domestic volumes rose 5.9 percent to 24.5 million cases. NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy in New Jersey will soon be able to apply for compensation from a fund representing all five of the state's dioceses, one of the fund's administrators announced Monday. Camille Biros, who also is overseeing similar compensation funds in Pennsylvania and New York, said New Jersey's will be different because all five of the state's dioceses will follow the same protocols. Those will be posted on a website by early next week followed by a 30-day public comment period before they are finalized. The first phase will last at least six months, Biros said, and will focus on alleged victims who have made previous claims. A second phase will focus on new claims. "We are looking forward to working with the dioceses and are pleased about the fact this is a common protocol for the entire state," Biros said. A fund Biros oversees in New York has paid out more than $210 million to more than 1,100 victims in five dioceses, she said. Five months ago, New Jersey's attorney general announced a criminal investigation into clergy sexual abuse on the heels of a grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania that found more than 1,000 children had been abused by about 300 priests over a span of decades. Victims who accept compensation in New Jersey will give up their right to sue, which could be of particular importance because state lawmakers have proposed a bill that could eliminate the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse victims to file civil actions. Currently, adults have two years to sue from the time they first realize the abuse damaged them. The fund also won't cover abuses by religious order priests, such as Jesuits, who may serve in parishes or schools but are not ordained by the diocese. Gregory Gianforcaro, an attorney who has won civil settlements for numerous victims of clergy sexual abuse in New Jersey, said while compensation can be a welcome development for victims, it could preclude other redress they might seek. "Many of the victims want information," he said. "They're looking for the records, the personnel files to be disclosed, as well as other non-monetary relief, such as an apology. It would seem to me that this compensation package is the church's way to get around having to disclose information about their priests." Biros said there isn't a cap on the amount of compensation per individual victim, but said the highest amount paid out in New York has been $500,000. She also said a recently established fund in the Philadelphia archdiocese has paid out more than $7 million to 85 victims to date. All of the likes someone gets really does activate those reward centers [in the brain], Alinsky said. It's an area that needs more research to characterize and treat it. Phones and social media will probably only become more prevalent, so we need to better understand how to use these apps in a safe way. ISTANBUL (AP) - The Latest on the crash of a Turkish military helicopter (all times local): 7:20 p.m. A Turkish official says four soldiers who were on a military helicopter that crashed in Istanbul have died. Istanbul Gov. Ali Yerlikaya said no one else was hurt in Monday's crash. The helicopter went down in a residential area while trying to make an emergency landing on the grounds of a building complex on the Asian side of Istanbul. The soldiers were taken to a hospital with injuries but Yerlikaya told reporters at the crash site they did not survive. Yerlikaya said prosecutors and the Turkish military have launched separate investigations into the cause of the crash. ___ 6:50 p.m. A Turkish official says a military helicopter has crashed in Istanbul while trying to make an emergency landing, injuring four soldiers. Gov. Ali Yerlikaya says the helicopter went down Monday in a residential area on the Asian side of the city. It was not clear if anyone was hurt on the ground. Reports said several ambulances were sent to the area. The cause of the crash was not immediately known. NEW YORK (AP) - A much-hyped network upgrade called "5G" means different things to different people. To industry proponents, it's the next huge innovation in wireless internet. To the U.S. government, it's the backbone technology of a future that America will wrestle with China to control. To many average people, it's simply a mystery. The technology is one of the issues expected to take center stage at the MWC mobile conference in Barcelona, Spain, this month. The interest goes well beyond engineers: In Washington, there are fears that China could take the lead in developing the technology and sell equipment that could be used to spy on Americans. What, exactly, is 5G wireless - and will you even notice when it comes online? WHAT IS 5G? 5G is a new technical standard for wireless networks - the fifth, naturally - that promises faster speeds; less lag, or "latency," when connecting to the network; and the ability to connect many devices to the internet without bogging it down. 5G networks will ideally be better able to handle more users, lots of sensors and heavy traffic. FILE- In this Jan. 9, 2019, file photo a sign advertises 5G at the Qualcomm booth at CES International in Las Vegas. 5G is a new technical standard for wireless networks that promises faster speeds; less lag, or "latency," when connecting to the network; and the ability to connect many devices to the internet without bogging it down. (AP Photo/John Locher, File) Before we can all use it, wireless companies and phone makers have to upgrade. Phones need new chips and radio antennas. The phone you have today won't work with a 5G network. Wireless companies have been getting ready. They've been revamping their network equipment, buying up chunks of radio spectrum for carrying 5G signals, and installing new 5G antennas on cellphone towers, utility poles and streetlights. Wireless providers will invest $275 billion in 5G-related networks in the U.S., according to CTIA, an industry trade group. WHEN WILL IT BE AVAILABLE? A true U.S. mobile rollout will start in 2019. It will take a few years to go national, and even then more rural areas of the country will not be covered in the "millimeter wave" frequencies that promise the highest data speeds and capacities, said Michael Thelander, CEO of wireless consultancy Signals Research Group. Thelander predicts that China may lag the U.S. by a year in its initial rollout, but will ultimately have the biggest deployment, while European countries will build out more slowly. Beware of confusion, though. Wireless carriers have a history of rushing to slap the latest-and-greatest label on their networks, and this time is no different. AT&T has already applied the name 5G on a service that's not really 5G. (Sprint, upset, then sued its larger rival.) Once the network is ready, you'll need a 5G-enabled phone to connect to it. The first ones should be available in the first half of 2019, but a 5G iPhone isn't expected until 2020. 5G phones will most likely be more expensive than current 4G phones. Don't worry, even when 5G turns on, you can keep using 4G phones, just not at 5G speeds. WHAT CAN 5G DO? There's a considerable amount of hype over the promise of 5G. Industry groups say it will promote smart cities by connecting sensor networks that could manage traffic and quickly identify streetlight outages. 5G could connect self-driving cars and fuel new applications in virtual and augmented reality. Its high-speed connections could enable better remote surgery and other telemedicine, help companies automate their factories and offer businesses dedicated high-speed internet lanes. "5G speeds, and ever-faster home broadband, will mean that existing applications will get richer, and also that new applications will emerge - new Flickrs, YouTubes or Snapchats. We don't know what yet," Benedict Evans, a partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, wrote in a January blog post . The most immediate impact on consumers will be faster download speeds for movies and other video. Thelander says your phone's internet will work better in crowded locations such as stadiums. WHAT ARE THE SECURITY CONCERNS? The 5G network is one front in rising tensions between the U.S. and China. The U.S. government has warned U.S. companies not to use Chinese telecom technology in communications networks due to security concerns, and is pressing other countries to ban Huawei, a Chinese telecom company, from 5G network buildouts. U.S. officials have suspected for years that the Chinese government could use Huawei network equipment to help it spy. Huawei has rejected such accusations. FILE- In this Jan. 24, 2019, file photo Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group, unveils the 5G modem Balong 5000 chipset in Beijing. 5G is a new technical standard for wireless networks that promises faster speeds; less lag, or "latency," when connecting to the network; and the ability to connect many devices to the internet without bogging it down. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File) PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - Resistance is the theme when "The Handmaid's Tale" returns this summer with 13 episodes for its third season, but the Hulu drama is avoiding a collision with the final season of HBO's "Game of Thrones." The dystopian drama will debut three new episodes on Wednesday, June 5, streaming service Hulu said. Other episodes will follow on subsequent Wednesdays. The return date contrasts with the previous seasons' April debuts and puts the drama outside the eligibility window for this year's Emmy Awards. It also keeps "The Handmaid's Tale" out of the path of juggernaut "Game of Thrones," which starts April 14. The latter wasn't a consideration, Craig Erwich, Hulu's vice president for original series, told TV critics Monday. "We simply wanted to give the show as much time as possible to maintain the quality it has," Erwich said. As for the Emmys, he said, TV academy voters will be able to consider the series as a whole when it competes. The Hulu drama collected six Emmys for its first season, including best drama and best lead actress for Elisabeth Moss, who stars as June. Although it earned three awards in 2018, including for Samira Wiley, it lost the top trophy to "Game of Thrones," while Claire Foy of "The Crown" won the top drama acting trophy. This image released by Hulu shows a scene from the series, "The Handmaid's Tale," returning for a third season on June 5. (George Kraychyk/Hulu via AP) The new season of "The Handmaid's Tale" will focus on June's struggle against the repressive regime of Gilead, Hulu said in a release. Other characters will be forced to take a stand as well, with "blessed be the fight" the guiding prayer for rebels. Hulu also promised "startling reunions" and betrayals in the upcoming season. "The Handmaid's Tale" is based on Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel of the same name. Its cast includes Joseph Fiennes, Yvonne Strahovski, Alexis Bledel, Ann Dowd and Samira Wiley. NEW YORK (AP) - As people peer into DNA for clues to health and heritage, man's best friend is under the microscope, too. Genetic testing for dogs has surged in recent years, fueled by companies that echo popular at-home tests for humans, offering a deep dive into a pet's genes with the swab of a canine cheek. More than a million dogs have been tested in little over a decade. The tests' rise has stirred debate about standards, interpretation and limitations. But to many dog owners, DNA is a way to get to know their companions better. "It put some pieces of the puzzle together," says Lisa Topol, who recently tested her mixed-breed dogs Plop and Schmutzy. Plop was the top-scoring mixed-breed, and Schmutzy also competed, in Saturday's agility contest at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show . Judging toward the coveted best in show prize began Monday. A test by Embark - which this fall became Westminster's first DNA-testing partner - confirmed Topol's guess that her high-octane pets are more Australian cattle dog than anything else. But Schmutzy's genetic pie chart had surprise ingredients, including generous amounts of Labrador retriever and Doberman pinscher. Huh? Topol thought at first. And then: Maybe Schmutzy's love of water and fetching is her inner Lab coming out. And doesn't she walk a bit like a Doberman? In this Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019, photo Plop, a rescue dog owned by Lisa Topol is seen New York. Topol recently had the DNA tested on both her mixed-breed dogs. Genetic testing for dogs has grown rapidly in recent years, fueled by companies marketing kits that offer to decode dogs' heritage and health as simply, or laboriously, as owners can swab a canine cheek. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) "They are the dogs that they are ... They're unique, and they're special," said Topol, a New York advertising executive. But the testing "makes me understand them better." Canine DNA testing for certain conditions and purposes goes back over two decades, but the industry took off after scientists mapped a full set of dog genes and published the results in 2005. Wisdom Health, part of pet care and candy giant Mars Inc., launched a breed-identification test in 2007, added a health-screening option a few years later and says it has now tested over 1.1 million dogs worldwide. Numerous other brands are also available. Mass-market tests have fueled research and helped animal shelters attract adopters by providing more information about prospective pets. DNA can back up purebred dogs' parentage and help breeders try to eliminate certain diseases. The technology has been used to identify dogs whose owners don't pick up their droppings, to pursue accused biters and to free a Belgian Malinois from dog death row after he was accused of killing a Pomeranian in Michigan. And some veterinarians feel DNA testing enhances care. "I want to know as much about my patients as possible," says Dr. Ernie Ward, a veterinarian and TV personality in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. He recommends testing all puppies. But qualms about the dog DNA boom spilled into the prestigious science journal Nature last year. "Pet genetics must be reined in," a Boston veterinarian and two other scientists wrote. Their commentary opened with a troubling story: a pug being euthanized because her owners interpreted DNA results to mean she had a rare, degenerative neurological disorder, when in fact her ailment might have been something more treatable. "These (tests) should be used in a limited way until we get a lot more information," says co-author and vet Dr. Lisa Moses. One concern is that tests can show genetic mutations that are linked to disease in some breeds but have unknown effects in the breed being tested. It also may be unclear how often dogs with the mutation ultimately get sick. That means tests, in themselves, can't necessarily tell pet owners how much they should worry. Or tell breeders whether a dog shouldn't reproduce. Some in dogdom fear that DNA test results could keep animals from passing on otherwise good genes because of an ambiguous possibility of disease. "The risk for overinterpretation is great," but DNA testing can be useful along with other tools, says veterinarian Dr. Diane Brown, the CEO of the American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation. It has invested almost $20 million in genomic and molecular research and supports an international effort to promote standardization for dog DNA tests. The initiative, led by the nonprofit International Partnership for Dogs, provides searchable data on test labs' procedures and breed-specific health test information. Test companies say their work can help researchers address the unknowns and provides immediately useful information, such as whether a dog's genes suggest bad reactions to certain medications. Companies including Embark and Wisdom have veterinarians assigned to help people understand worrisome results. "We're here to help you care better for your dog," says Embark Veterinary Inc. CEO Ryan Boyko, whose company has breed-and-health-tested nearly 100,000 canines in its 3 years. The alliance with Westminster - for which Embark is paying an amount neither would disclose - stands to give the company exposure, particularly to breeders. Longtime Belgian sheepdog breeder Lorra Miller, who has had dogs compete at Westminster, was initially skeptical about consumer-oriented canine DNA tests. They struck her as a novelty for mixed-breed pets. Now she hopes they can help Belgian sheepdog fanciers build up a body of genetic data to spark more research on the protective herders. "Even if I don't get immediate benefit ... it's for the future of the breed," says Miller, who lives near Monroe, Washington. For Rennie Pasquinelli, the benefit is a new perspective on her dog, Murray. He was pegged as a border collie-Boston terrier mix when she adopted him. But an Embark test last month detected just a smidgen of border collie mixed with six other breeds, mainly American pit bull terrier. And no Boston terrier at all. "Obviously, I don't love him more, or less," said Pasquinelli, a graduate student in cognitive science at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. "It's like when you know something new about someone. That doesn't negatively or positively change your opinion on them, but you still look at them in a different way." ___ More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports In this April 2018 photo provided by Rennie Pasquinelli, Murray, a mixed-breed dog, lay on a sofa in Ann Arbor, Mich. Pasquinelli, who is Murray's owner, recently got the dog's DNA tested to learn what breeds are in his background. Genetic testing for dogs has grown rapidly in recent years, fueled by companies marketing kits that offer to decode dogs' heritage and health as simply, or laboriously, as owners can swab a canine cheek. (Rennie Pasquinelli via AP) In this Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019, photo Lisa Topol poses for a photo with her two rescue dogs, Schmutzy, right, and Plop, in New York. Topol recently had the DNA tested for both dogs. Genetic testing for dogs has grown rapidly in recent years, fueled by companies marketing kits that offer to decode dogs' heritage and health as simply, or laboriously, as owners can swab a canine cheek. More than a million dogs have been tested in little over a decade. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) In this Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019, photo Plop, left, and Schmutzy, rescue dogs owned by Lisa Topol, are seen in New York. Topol recently had the DNA tested for both dogs. Genetic testing for dogs has grown rapidly in recent years, fueled by companies marketing kits that offer to decode dogs' heritage and health as simply, or laboriously, as owners can swab a canine cheek. More than a million dogs have been tested in little over a decade. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) In this Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019, photo Lisa Topol is seen near ribbons won in competition by her rescue dog Schmutzy in New York. Topol recently had the DNA tested on her mixed-breed dogs, Plop and Schmutzy. Genetic testing for dogs has grown rapidly in recent years, fueled by companies marketing kits that offer to decode dogs' heritage and health as simply, or laboriously, as owners can swab a canine cheek. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) SEATTLE (AP) - The Latest on winter weather in the United States (all times local): 8:50 a.m. Schools and universities closed across Washington state and the Legislature cancelled all hearings Monday as the Northwest dealt with snow and ice and prepared for more as a series of winter storms socked the region. In northern Utah commuters faced icy roads and several traffic accidents were reported along the Wasatch Front. In parts of Washington state a winter storm watch is in effect through Tuesday afternoon. The greater Seattle area has already been hit by three snow storms this month and the National Weather Service reports that Seattle-Tacoma International Airport had received 14.1 inches (36 centimeters) of snow so far in February. In Olympia, Washington, state lawmakers cancelled meetings and the University of Washington in Seattle called off classes. Sue Horgan, of Tacoma, salts her driveway as neighbor Michael Dane helps with the shoveling, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, in Tacoma, Wash. Pacific Northwest residents who are more accustomed to rain than snow were digging out from a winter storm and bracing for more on Sunday. (Peter Haley/The News Tribune via AP) ___ 1:14 a.m. Snow-socked residents of the Pacific Northwest are finding themselves digging out yet again after a fresh round of storms, with an additional punch to come early this week. The sun came out Sunday afternoon, but snow returned in the evening across the Northwest. It was expected to taper off in time for the Monday morning commute in the Seattle area, but another storm bringing snow and the potential for freezing rain was on tap. A winter storm watch is in effect from Monday morning through Tuesday afternoon. The Seattle Times reports that storms have delivered more snow to Seattle in the first days of February than it usually gets in a year. In Northern California, the latest in a series of storms dusted beaches with snow and caused whiteout conditions on mountain roads. A City of Olympia sanding truck makes it way up a street on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, in Olympia, Wash. Pacific Northwest residents who are more accustomed to rain than snow are digging out from a winter storm and bracing for more. (Steve Bloom/The Olympian via AP) A tree rests on a vehicle, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, on a residential street in Tacoma, Wash. Pacific Northwest residents who are more accustomed to rain than snow were digging out from a big winter storm over the weekend and bracing for more snow forecast for Sunday. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) People participate in a snowball fight at Wright Park, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, in Tacoma, Wash. Pacific Northwest residents who are more accustomed to rain than snow were digging out from a winter storm and bracing for more on Sunday. (Peter Haley/The News Tribune via AP) KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - At an extraordinary moment in Pentagon history, a former business executive with little political stature and without military experience is making his international debut as the acting U.S. secretary of defense. After conferring Monday with Afghan leaders and American military commanders and diplomats in Kabul, Pat Shanahan was scheduled to attend a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels and an international security conference in Munich, Germany. It was Shanahan's first-ever visit to Afghanistan, where American troops have been at war for 17 years and the Trump administration is pushing for a peace deal with the Taliban. Shanahan's performance on the global stage could influence whether President Donald Trump elevates the longtime Boeing executive from his uncertain status as interim Pentagon leader to be the administration's nominee to replace Jim Mattis. The retired Marine general quit in late December in protest of Trump's policies. In his resignation letter, Mattis offered to stay on until after this week's NATO meeting to ensure that the Pentagon's interests were "properly articulated and protected." But three days after Mattis gave Trump that letter, the president on Dec. 23 told Mattis to leave the Cabinet on Dec. 31. This unusually sudden transition came at sensitive junctures in Syria, where Trump has ordered a U.S. troop withdrawal, and Afghanistan, where a potential troop pullout looms amid continued Taliban violence. The status of U.S. forces in Iraq also has been put in question as Iraqi leaders responded with anger to Trump's statement in early February that he would keep American troops in Iraq in order to watch neighboring Iran. Trump had earlier angered Iraqis by saying he would use Iraq as a base to strike Islamic State targets inside Syria. It is extraordinary for the Pentagon to be run by an interim leader and even rarer that the leader is a career defense industry executive. Shanahan is only the third person to serve as acting defense secretary and the first in 30 years. The last was William H. Taft, who served for two months in 1989 after President George H.W. Bush's first choice to be defense secretary, John Tower, became mired in controversy and ultimately failed to be confirmed by the Senate. Dick Cheney, the future vice president under President George W. Bush, then was nominated and confirmed. Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan, left, arrives in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday morning, Feb. 11, 2019, to consult with Army Gen. Scott Miller, right, commander of U.S. and coalition forces, and senior Afghan government leaders. The unannounced visit is the first for the acting secretary of defense, Pat Shanahan. He previously was the No. 2 official under Jim Mattis, who resigned as defense chief in December. (AP Photo/Robert Burns) Shanahan is the first to undertake an international trip while serving as acting secretary, according to Pentagon spokesman Chris Sherwood. No one has been nominated to succeed Mattis. Nor has anyone been nominated to succeed Shanahan in his previous role as deputy defense secretary. The Pentagon's budget chief, David L. Norquist, has been "performing the duties" of the deputy secretary since Jan. 1. Presidents typically take pains to ensure the Pentagon is being run by a Senate-confirmed official, given the grave responsibilities that include sending young Americans into battle, ensuring the military is ready for extreme emergencies like nuclear war and managing overseas alliances that are central to U.S. security. Trump, however, seems in no hurry to end Shanahan's limbo status. "I like acting," the president said Jan. 6. "It gives me more flexibility." He did not explain what he meant, but the implication was that he can keep Shanahan on a string and not immediately seek the advice and consent of the Senate. Mattis sought a certain independence from the White House, which seemed to irritate Trump. Shanahan told reporters on Jan. 29 he isn't thinking about how long he might keep his "acting" status, jokingly adding that his mother each morning sends him a "pray" emoticon. Trump has publicly praised Shanahan several times, suggesting he favors keeping him on. "Patrick has a long list of accomplishments" during his tenure as deputy defense secretary, Trump tweeted on Dec. 23. Mattis' resignation from three days earlier had implicitly criticized Trump's unwillingness to stand up to Russia and his inclination to disrespect America's longtime allies. "We have a wonderful man in there now," Trump said on Dec. 25 during a visit to Iraq when a reporter asked if he had a timeline for nominating someone to succeed Mattis. Trump praised Shanahan profusely, noting his reputation at Boeing for managing costs and rescuing a troubled Dreamliner 787 program. "He could be there for a long time," Trump said, adding, "I'm in no rush." Although Trump cites Shanahan's Boeing experience, Shanahan's link to one of the nation's biggest defense contractors is not universally praised. During Shanahan's confirmation hearing in 2017, Sen. John McCain, then chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sternly cautioned him about what McCain and others saw as the danger of an overly cozy connection between the Pentagon and its defense contractors. "I am concerned that 90 percent of defense spending is in the hands of five corporations, of which you represent one," McCain said. "I have to have confidence that the fox is not going to be put back into the hen house." Shanahan won confirmation by a vote of 92-7. One senator, McCain, did not vote. NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - Historians say they were "shocked" and "mystified" when Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam wrongly used the term "indentured servants" Sunday in reference to the first Africans to arrive in English North America 400 years ago. Most historians abandoned use of the term in the 1990s after historical records left little room for doubt that the Africans were enslaved, the scholars said. "The indentured servitude thing is really bizarre," said Davidson College professor Michael Guasco, who wrote the book "Slaves and Englishmen: Human Bondage in the Early Modern Atlantic World." ''He doesn't come across as being particularly informed." The embattled Democratic governor used the term on CBS's "Face the Nation" while discussing Virginia's painful history of race relations. Northam said the "first indentured servants from Africa" arrived in what is now Virginia in 1619. Interviewer Gayle King interjected to say "also known as slavery." Northam replied "yes." The Africans had come on two ships that had raided what's believed to have been a Spanish slave vessel in the Gulf of Mexico. Sailing into the Chesapeake Bay to what is now Hampton, the ships traded more than 30 Africans for food and supplies. English colonists took the Africans, who came from what is now Angola, to properties along the James River. Northam released a statement Monday to explain his use of the term. He said he spoke at a recent event about the arrival of the Africans "and referred to them in my remarks as enslaved." Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam talks during an interview at the Governor's Mansion, Saturday, Feb. 9, 2019 in Richmond, Va. The embattled governor says he wants to spend the remaining three years of his term pursuing racial "equity." Northam told The Washington Post that there is a higher reason for the "horrific" reckoning over a racist photograph that appeared in his medical school yearbook. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post via AP) "A historian advised me that the use of indentured was more historically accurate_the fact is, I'm still learning and committed to getting it right," Northam said. Guasco, the Davidson College professor, said some historians did use the term from the 1970s to 1990s. That's because a very small number of the first Africans became free decades later. But he said historians have since confirmed through records, including censuses, that most remained enslaved. The "indentured servant" remark is the governor's latest misstep in a blackface scandal that has shaken Virginia to its foundation. A racist photo recently surfaced from Northam's 1984 medical school year book. He denies being in the photo, but acknowledged wearing blackface at a dance party that same year. New York University history professor Rebecca Goetz was among those who chastised Northam on Twitter. She said in a phone interview that Northam's "indentured servant" remark is "shocking in light of his current political difficulties." MOSCOW (AP) - A senior policy adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin predicted that the nation's political system will live on for a century and serve as a model for others around the world. Vladislav Surkov wrote in a piece published Monday in the daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta that Russia's anti-globalist emphasis on strong national sovereignty is getting increasing traction worldwide. "The Russian-made political system is not only good for home, it has a significant export potential," he said. "Others study it and borrow from it." Surkov, who oversaw the Kremlin's efforts to tighten control over Russia's political sphere and currently serves as Putin's adviser on Ukraine, predicted that "Putin's big political machine is only starting to gain speed for a long, hard and interesting operation." Russia-West relations have sunk to their lowest levels since Cold War times after 2014 Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea, allegations of Moscow's meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the war in Syria and other disputes. The 54-year-old Surkov is not a typical Kremlin official. He famously decorated his Kremlin office with a portrait of American rapper Tupac Shakur along with that of Putin, wrote texts for a Russian rock group, penned a novel under an alias and published political articles full of literary allusions. Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Russian Sport minister Pavel Kolobkov during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) With surprising candor, Surkov acknowledged in his Monday's piece that Russia's political institutions just imitate those in Western democracies, while "military and police functions are decisive and the most important" and the entire system hinges entirely on Putin's authority. He mocked accusations by Washington and its allies of Russian interference abroad. "Foreign politicians blame Russia for meddling in elections and referenda all over the planet," Surkov said. "In fact, it's even more serious than that: Russia is meddling in their brains and they don't know what to do with their changed consciousness." Mixing sarcasm with bravado, Surkov wrote that "the foreign interest in Russian political algorithms is clear - no prophet is accepted in his home country, and Russia has prophesied what is happening to them now." He charged that Russia has run ahead of the curve with its anti-globalist stance and fierce defense of its conservative values - approaches that have increasingly spread to other countries. Surkov mentioned Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election, the British decision to exit the European Union, the rise of anti-immigration sentiments across Europe among signs of a growing nationalism. "Putinism is the ideology of the future," he said. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - The Russian and Turkish defense ministers have stressed the need to continue military and intelligence cooperation to ensure stability in Syria's Idlib province despite "provocations" there, Turkey's Defense Ministry said Monday. Russia's Sergei Shoigu held talks with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar in Ankara ahead of a meeting between the presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran scheduled to take place in Sochi, Russia, on Thursday. Russia, a key ally of the Syrian government, and Turkey, which supports the opposition, brokered a cease-fire in September for Idlib, the last major stronghold of Syria's rebels. The agreement averted a major government offensive, but has come under strain in recent weeks as al-Qaida-linked militants have seized towns and villages from rival insurgents. The Turkish statement said Shoigu and Akar "exchanged views on measures to ensure security in the de-escalation zone in Idlib." It also said the sides had a "mutual understanding" toward overcoming Turkey's security concerns stemming from the presence of Kurdish militia forces in Manbij and regions east of the river Euphrates. The Kurdish forces allied with the United States against the Islamic State group and helped drive the extremists from much of northern and eastern Syria. Turkey considers the Kurdish fighters terrorists because of their links to outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting inside Turkey. Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar, left, and Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu greet each other before their talks in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Shoigu said at the start of Monday's meeting with his Turkish counterpart Akar that the two countries' experts have done "a lot of work to coordinate on issues related to the stabilization in Idlib and issues related to the east bank of the Euphrates River." (Defence Ministry via AP, Pool) Earlier, Shoigu said the two countries' experts have done "a lot of work to coordinate on issues related to the stabilization in Idlib and issues related to the east bank of the Euphrates River." Akar hailed the talks as an "important contribution to the peace and stability of the region." Russia and Turkey share a strong opposition to the U.S. military presence in Syria and are coordinating their actions ahead of the planned withdrawal of American forces. Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar, left, and Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu inspect a military honour guard before their talks in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Shoigu said at the start of Monday's meeting with his Turkish counterpart Akar that the two countries' experts have done "a lot of work to coordinate on issues related to the stabilization in Idlib and issues related to the east bank of the Euphrates River." (Defence Ministry via AP, Pool) Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar, left, and Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu inspect a military honour guard before their talks in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Shoigu said at the start of Monday's meeting with his Turkish counterpart Akar that the two countries' experts have done "a lot of work to coordinate on issues related to the stabilization in Idlib and issues related to the east bank of the Euphrates River." (Defence Ministry via AP, Pool) Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar, right, and Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu speak in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Shoigu said at the start of Monday's meeting with his Turkish counterpart Akar that the two countries' experts have done "a lot of work to coordinate on issues related to the stabilization in Idlib and issues related to the east bank of the Euphrates River." (Turkish Defence Ministry via AP, Pool) KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says the Taliban are welcome to set up a political office in the capital but that his government must be included in any peace talks. In a speech Monday, he rejected the idea of an interim government, which has been embraced by the Taliban and some opposition figures, vowing that elections will he held as planned later this year. Ghani has appeared increasingly sidelined as the United States hold talks with the Taliban aimed at ending the 17-year war. A gathering last week in Moscow brought together the Taliban and a number of prominent Afghan figures but included no government representatives Ghani says Afghanistan should hold a loya jirga, or a grand traditional gathering of Afghan political and tribal leaders, to plot a course to peace. Jurors watched the police interview Friday and Monday. In it, Carter tells detectives he became fed up with the drug dealers hassling him and his girlfriend, and sitting on his car. He told detectives he was frustrated because police had failed to help, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - A court in Estonia on Monday found a former Estonian military officer and his father guilty of treason for spying for Russia, Baltic media reported. The Baltic News Service said the court in Tallinn ruled that 38-year-old Deniss Metsavas - a former major with the Estonian army - and his father, 65-year-old Pjotr Volin, sold classified information to Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU. The news service says the court found that Metsavas passed information along for a decade and sentenced him to 15 years in prison. Volin worked with the GRU for approximately half as long and received a six-year prison term. Metsavas, a fluent Russian-speaker, served with Estonia's armed forces for years in various positions including a mission with NATO troops in Afghanistan. He advanced to the rank of major in 2015 and was lately posted at the armed forces headquarters in Tallinn, the Estonian capital. Estonian media say Volin served with the Soviet military from 1971 to 1979. Estonia, a small Baltic nation of 1.3 million and current NATO member, borders Russia and was a former Soviet republic. It has had several high-profile spying cases since the country declared independence in 1991. Both Estonian and Russian citizens have been accused of providing sensitive information to Moscow. Russia has remained highly interested in the domestic affairs of Estonia and its Baltic neighbors Latvia and Lithuania, particularly on military and security matters, and especially after they joined NATO in 2004. There was no immediate comment from Moscow on the Estonian spying case. BEIRUT (AP) - Lebanon said Monday it will not take part in a Middle East conference in Poland this week that is widely seen as an effort to isolate Iran. Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil made the announcement during a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is on a two-day visit to the Mediterranean country. The two-day Warsaw conference begins Wednesday and will be co-hosted by the U.S. Some 80 countries have been invited, including Israel. Iran, which was not invited, has denounced the conference as a U.S.-led anti-Iran "circus." Lebanon has been following a policy of disassociation from regional conflicts. Iran enjoys wide influence in the country through the Hezbollah militant group, which along with allied parties holds a majority in parliament. Lebanon is technically at war with Israel, and Lebanese officials avoid conferences where Israelis are present. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, speaks during a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart Gebran Bassil, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Zarif extended an offer for Iranian military assistance to the U.S.-backed Lebanese army on Sunday, saying Iran is ready to assist in all sectors should the Lebanese government want it. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) Later Monday, Zarif met Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and discussed the latest developments in Lebanon and the region, the group's Al-Manar TV said. Zarif reiterated during his news conference with Bassil his country's readiness to offer Iranian military assistance to the U.S.-backed Lebanese army, adding that it is up to the Lebanese to choose what they want. Some Lebanese politicians have expressed reservations over the offer from Iran, which is under U.S. sanctions. They fear Western nations may punish Lebanon if it accepts arms from Tehran. Iran has also offered to help improve Lebanon's crumbling power sector. "I want to confirm again that the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to cooperate with the Lebanese government and the Lebanese army in any field they see suitable," Zarif said. "We don't want to embarrass anyone in Lebanon through the cooperation with the Islamic Republic," he said, adding that there is no international law that bans Iran from cooperating with any country. Zarif also said Iran would also help Lebanon with its refugee crisis. Some 1 million Syrian refugees have fled to neighboring Lebanon since the civil war broke out eight years ago. Iran has been one of the main backers of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who appears to be winning the war thanks to huge support from Tehran and Russia. Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, right, shakes hands with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Zarif extended an offer for Iranian military assistance to the U.S.-backed Lebanese army on Sunday, saying Iran is ready to assist in all sectors should the Lebanese government want it. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) BERLIN (AP) - Christian Bale says transforming himself into former Vice President Dick Cheney made him feel "like a bullfrog." Bale has been nominated for a best actor Oscar for his part in "Vice," which also has best movie and best director nominations. He and director Adam McKay presented the movie Monday at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it is screening out of competition. Asked how he felt in Cheney's body, which required an impressive physical transformation, Bale replied: "Like a bullfrog. Or sometimes he's been described as a walrus." He added: "I built up my neck so I felt like I could take anything ... I just felt like a bulldozer all day long." Bale said of the role that "it's lovely to have a challenge ... it seemed almost impossible." Actor Christian Bale poses for the photographers during a photo call for the film 'Vice' at the 2019 Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) Actor Christian Bale poses for the photographers during a photo call for the film 'Vice' at the 2019 Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) Director Adam McKay, left, and actor Christian Bale pose for the photographers during a photo call for the film 'Vice' at the 2019 Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) CULPEPER, Va. (AP) - Authorities in Virginia say no one was injured when a single-engine airplane made an emergency landing on a state highway. News outlets cite a Virginia State Police release that says the plane's engine failed after it took off from the Warrenton-Fauquier Airport on Sunday. After pilot Hyunju V. Ko made the emergency landing, the plane struck a utility pole and then a fence. The 47-year-old was uninjured, as were the two juvenile passengers. The crash remains under investigation. No further details were immediately released. JERUSALEM (AP) - A Palestinian man who allegedly killed a 19-year-old Israeli woman in Jerusalem has appeared in court for the first time. Israeli authorities arrested Arafat Erfaiyeh over the weekend in the death of Ori Ansbacher. Israel's Shin Bet security agency says the killing was politically motivated. Ansbacher was volunteering at a youth center in Jerusalem on Thursday when she disappeared after walking in the woods. Her body was found later that day. Most details of the case remain under police gag order. Erfaiyeh had cuts on his face and appeared to smirk during Monday's hearing. Israeli media say the court ordered Erfaiyeh, 29, to be remanded for an additional 10 days. Ansbacher's death has drawn widespread media coverage in Israel. Palestinian Arafat Erfaiyeh sits at a courtroom in Jerusalem, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Erfaiyeh who allegedly killed a 19-year-old Israeli woman in Jerusalem has appeared in court for the first time. Israeli authorities arrested Erfaiyeh over the weekend in the death of Ori Ansbacher. The Shin Bet security agency says the killing was done for nationalistic reasons. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean) Palestinian Arafat Erfaiyeh sits at a courtroom in Jerusalem, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Erfaiyeh who allegedly killed a 19-year-old Israeli woman in Jerusalem has appeared in court for the first time. Israeli authorities arrested Erfaiyeh over the weekend in the death of Ori Ansbacher. The Shin Bet security agency says the killing was done for nationalistic reasons. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean) FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 8, 2019 file photo, Israeli police officers are seen near the place where the body of an Israeli woman was found in Jerusalem. Israel's internal security agency said in a statement Sunday Feb. 10, 2019, the murder of a 19-year-old Israeli woman by a Palestinian suspect near Jerusalem last week was politically motivated. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean, FILE) SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - Bulgaria and Britain said Monday they will jointly investigate possible connections between a poison attack on a Russian ex-spy in England that has been blamed on Russian military intelligence and the poisoning of the Bulgarian owner of an arms factory in 2015. Britain's ambassador to Sofia, Emma Hopkins, said after a meeting with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and law enforcement officials that information about the possible poisoning of Emilian Gebrev had been discussed. "We are working in a joint team and a close partnership, and we are going to find out the facts in this case," Hopkins told reporters. "All questions about the national security of the U.K. and Bulgaria are of paramount importance to us, and we will continue this investigation even after Brexit," she said. Bulgarian Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov said that a Russian citizen, Sergei Fedotov, made three trips to Bulgaria in 2015, one of them in April, when Gebrev was poisoned. Gebrev survived. According to investigative group Bellingcat, Fedotov also was suspected of being involved in the Novichok nerve-agent poisoning of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in the English city of Salisbury. He arrived in Britain two days before the March 2018 attack, on the same day as the two suspected attackers. Tsatsarov said prosecutors had compiled "significant" data on Fedotov's trips to Bulgaria as part of an investigation into the poisoning that was reopened in October. "We are establishing all moments while he was on Bulgarian territory, the hotels, the vehicles he used, contacts with Bulgarian citizens," Tsatsarov said. "Since then, we have been working in full cooperation and coordination with the British services. They have full access to all documents and all the materials in the case and the results of all investigative actions," Tsatsarov said. Tsatsarov said Gebrev had written to him in October saying that he had reason to suspect he might have been poisoned by a substance from the same family as Novichok, the nerve agent used in the British attack. He acknowledged there was no scientific evidence, however. Gebrev had requested and paid for blood and urine tests at Finland's Verifin institute. They confirmed the presence of organophosphorus compounds, which are used in some pesticides, but the exact pesticide was not identified. The tested samples were not found to contain any substances figuring on the list of the Chemical Weapons Convention. The use of Novichok in the British attack has been confirmed by laboratories. Both Skripals survived after weeks in the hospital, and after their release they were taken to an undisclosed location for their safety, the British government has said. British officials have blamed the attack on the Russian military intelligence agency GRU and charged two Russian suspects. The men traveled under the names Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. Russian authorities have denied involvement and Moscow refused to extradite the men to Britain. BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union is launching action that could see it suspend Cambodia's preferential access to the EU market over the deterioration of human rights and the rule of law in the country. EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said Monday "there are severe deficiencies when it comes to human rights and labor rights in Cambodia that the government needs to tackle if it wants to keep its country's privileged access to our market." The move is allowed under the "everything but arms" arrangement the EU has with developing countries. It grants duty-free and quota-free access to the European market for things other than weapons. The Commission is starting six months of intensive monitoring and will report on its findings. It could decide in one year to withdraw Cambodia's trade preferences. MOSCOW (AP) - A senior Russian diplomat says Venezuela hasn't asked Russia for military assistance amid the South American country's political crisis. Alexander Shchetinin, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Latin America department, said Monday that Moscow hasn't received any such request from Caracas, according to Russian news reports. Asked to compare the situation in Venezuela to Syria, where Russia has waged a military campaign to shore up President Bashar Assad's government, Shchetinin said "there is a big difference" between Syria and Venezuela but wouldn't elaborate. At the same time, the Russian diplomat strongly warned the U.S. against making calls on the Venezuelan military to drop support for President Nicolas Maduro, saying it represented an "unthinkable meddling into foreign affairs of a sovereign nation." KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Ukraine's top prosecutor says the chief of a regional council is suspected of ordering an acid attack on an activist. Kateryna Handziuk, an anti-corruption activist who was also an aide to the mayor of the city of Kherson, died in November, three months after being doused with sulfuric acid in the city in southern Ukraine. Ukrainian human rights activists, as well as the European Union and United States, have called on Kiev to bring the attackers to justice. Ukraine's Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said Monday that Vladislav Manger, head of Kherson regional council, is suspected of ordering the attack on Handziuk. He said the suspicion was based on witnesses' testimony. Manger has denied the allegations. MINSK, Belarus (AP) - Belarus' Interior Ministry says a high school student has stabbed and killed his teacher and a classmate at a high school. The ministry said the tenth-grader attacked the history teacher before she started her lesson Monday. He also stabbed two classmates who tried to protect the teacher at a school in the town of Stolbtsy, 65 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of the capital, Minsk. The attacker then walked over to a neighboring class and stabbed another student. The teacher and one of the students he attacked died on the spot, and two others were hospitalized. Police arrested the attacker shortly after. Officials said his motives weren't immediately clear. There is no distinction between the department and the community, Harrison told the audience of several dozen residents and city leaders whod braved the snow and sleet to meet him. He shared the story of meeting his wife, C.C. Harrison, when they were just teenagers in New Orleans. She sat in the audience and, along with her husband, shook hands with community members both before and after the event began. SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - Macedonian authorities began Monday removing official signs from government buildings to prepare for the country's new name: North Macedonia. "Government of the Republic of Macedonia" signs were removed from the country's main government building in the capital Skopje. Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev is scheduled to speak at ceremony Tuesday at the site, where organizers said the NATO flag is due to be raised. Authorities well also preparing to replace signs at the country's border with Greece. The small Balkan country will change its name to North Macedonia after reaching a landmark agreement over the summer with neighboring Greece, which has a neighboring province called Macedonia. Macedonia is due to become a NATO member now that Greece's parliament approved a measure Friday that would allow the country to join the alliance. Greece had blocked Macedonia's accession to NATO for more than a decade. Macedonia will now publish the deal with Greece in its government gazette so that the agreement can take effect. Workers dismantle metal fencing from the front of the Macedonia's Government in the capital Skopje, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019. Dozens of workers have started dismantling the metal fence around the Macedonian government buildings, seen as symbolic move to eradicate divisions in the country and to devalue former conservative government extravaganza. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski) The Greek and Macedonian governments want to implement the deal swiftly, faced with strong opposition from their domestic political opponents and skeptical public opinion on both sides of the border. More than two-thirds of Greeks opposed the agreement, according to several recent opinion polls, while a referendum on the deal in Macedonia last year saw more than 60 percent stay away from the vote. "The government building has been left with no official sign - it's an embarrassing action by the prime minister," said Naum Stoilkovski, a spokesman for Macedonia's conservative opposition party VMRO_DPMNE. "The Republic of Macedonia has been dishonored and disfigured." With a struggling $11 billion economy, Macedonia has craved stability since gaining independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, but its integration with other European countries was held back by its dispute with Greece and international tension about Macedonia's future NATO membership, which is strongly opposed by Russia. ___ Boris Grdanoski in Gevgelija contributed to this report. CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's parliament is accelerating the process of passing constitutional amendments that would allow President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to stay in office well beyond the end of his current term in 2022. Lawmakers will decide Wednesday on whether to send the amendments to the legislative committee, a vote that was initially scheduled for Feb. 17, parliament spokesman Ahmed Saad el-Din said late Sunday. The legislative committee will have 60 days to discuss the amendments before a final vote. If approved, the amendments would be put to a national referendum. The move to extend presidential terms comes amid concerns that Egypt is slipping back into authoritarianism eight years after a pro-democracy uprising ended Hosni Mubarak's nearly three-decade rule. El-Sissi led the 2013 military overthrow of an elected but divisive Islamist president, and was elected the following year. He has presided over an unprecedented crackdown on dissent, and was re-elected last year after all potentially serious challengers were jailed or pressured to exit the race. The 596-seat parliament gave its preliminary approval to the amendments last week. The motion is virtually guaranteed to be approved by the legislature, which is packed with el-Sissi's supporters. A coalition of nearly a dozen opposition parties has come out against the proposed amendments, but on their own they would not be able to block them. The amendments also include the creation of the office of vice president, a revived Senate, and a 25 percent quota for women in parliament. They call for "adequate" representation for workers, farmers, young people and people with special needs in the legislature. The president would have the power to appoint top judges and bypass judiciary oversight in vetting draft legislation before it is voted into law. The amendments also give the military the role of guardian and protector of the state, democracy and the constitution. Pro-government figures and media have been lobbying for the amendments for months, saying two four-year terms are not enough for el-Sissi to fulfil his vision of modernizing the country, including overhauling its economy and defeating Islamic militants. Yasser Rizq, chairman of the state-owned al-Akhbar daily and a close confidant of el-Sissi, said he expects the referendum to take place before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to start in early May this year. Former Foreign Minister Amr Moussa on Saturday called for "a wide national dialogue" on the amendments. Moussa, who also served as Arab League secretary-general, chaired the panel that drafted Egypt's current constitution in 2014. He urged that all voices, advocates and opponents, should be heard "to enrich the political life in the country and guarantee credibility to the amendments." ___ This story has been corrected to say el-Sissi's current term expires in 2022. BERLIN (AP) - Kim Phuc, known as the 'Napalm Girl' in an iconic 1972 Vietnam War photo, is receiving a 10,000 euro ($11,350) award in Germany for her work for peace. Organizers of the Dresden Prize say the 55-year-old, who now lives in Canada, is being honored Monday for her support of UNESCO and children wounded in war, and for speaking out publicly against violence and hatred. Past recipients of the prize include former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and American civil rights activist Tommie Smith. Phuc was nine when a South Vietnamese plane dropped napalm bombs on her village, believing it harbored enemy North Vietnamese troops. The scene of Phuc running down a road crying, naked and with burns across her body was captured by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut , winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1973. In this Sept. 25, 2015 photo, Kim Phuc poses for a photo at a hotel in Miami. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) BEIRUT (AP) - The head of the Arab League says there has been no agreement so far for Syria's return to the group. The league's secretary-general, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, made the remarks on Monday in Lebanon, after meeting President Michel Aoun. Aboul Gheit says an agreement would lead to an Arab foreign ministers' meeting on the subject but "until now, I haven't felt such a development or understanding." Syria's membership in the 22-member Arab League was suspended in 2011 after the Syrian government's military crackdown on protesters calling for reforms. The protests later turned into an armed insurgency and a full-blown civil war, now in its eight year. Syrian President Bashar Assad is largely seen as having won the war, in part thanks to crucial political and military backing from Russia and Iran. MADRID (AP) - Spain is bracing for the nation's most sensitive trial in four decades of democracy this week, with a dozen Catalan separatists facing charges including rebellion over a failed secession bid in 2017. The proceedings, which begin Tuesday, will be broadcast live on television and all eyes will be focused on the impartiality of the Spanish Supreme Court. Catalonia's separatists have attacked the court's credibility in the run-up to the trial, saying it is a puppet of the Spanish government and any ruling will be a political one that has been decided in advance. "In reality, it's democracy itself that will go on trial," Oriol Junqueras, one of the accused, wrote from jail in reply to questions sent by The Associated Press. "We are before a trial which, through a partial investigation full of falsities and irregularities, criminalizes a political option and an ideology." But Supreme Court president Carlos Lesmes dismisses that notion, saying the trial is the most important since Spain's transition to democracy in 1977 after the death of dictator Gen. Francisco Franco. "This is a trial following the highest standards set by the European Union," Lesmes recently told a group of journalists. FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 2, 2017 file photo, Catalan regional Vice-President, Oriol Junqueras, left, and Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, attend a protest called by pro-independence supporters outside the Palau Generalitat in Barcelona, Spain. Spain's Supreme Court is bracing to hold the nation's most sensitive trial in four decades of democracy this week with all eyes focused on its ability to stand up to concerted campaign by Catalonia's separatists to attack its credibility. Twelve high-profile Catalan separatists will face charges including rebellion for their role in a failed attempt to achieve secession for the prosperous north-eastern region in 2017. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File) Lesmes says the outcome of the trial will reverberate beyond the political crisis in Catalonia, while recognizing that the Supreme Court's integrity is at stake. "I certainly believe that there is a huge campaign to discredit the Spanish judiciary, which forms part of a defense strategy," he said. Spanish authorities say that the separatists are guaranteed a fair trial by the very democracy founded on the rule of law that they allegedly violated. Lesmes rejected the idea that Spanish courts operate at the whim of the government, pointing to recent guilty verdicts for prominent members of the political and economic elite, including last year's graft conviction of former members of Rajoy's then-ruling party and the imprisonment, also on graft, of the king's brother-in-law. Junqueras, the former vice president of the Catalan regional government, and 11 others are being tried for their roles in holding an independence referendum on Oct. 1, 2017, after ignoring a ban by the country's Constitutional Court, and for the subsequent declaration of independence 26 days later despite more warnings from authorities. The conflict with Catalonia has been festering ever since, with a regional election on Dec. 21, 2017, showing that the 7.5 million residents of Catalonia remain divided by the secession question. Junqueras himself faces the largest possible sentence of 25 years for rebellion. He and eight other defendants have spent over a year in pre-trial custody because they were considered to be flight risks. For Junqueras, the reasons are instead "revenge and exemplary punishment." "This is a warning for future generations against questioning the state's status quo," he wrote, "even if that diminishes its own democracy." Junqueras' boss, former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, and seven associates fled Spain to other European countries and have succeeded in avoiding extradition. Proceedings are likely to last for at least three months. The verdicts, and any sentences, would be delivered months later. More than 500 witnesses have been called to testify in court, including former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Catalan and central government officials, police officers and ordinary citizens. The charge of rebellion will hinge on whether the prosecution can establish that the separatists employed violence during the breakaway attempt. They also face charges of sedition, which doesn't imply violence, disobedience, and the misuse of public funds. "Here they are accusing our clients of a crime of rebellion when they didn't go out on the streets with tanks, or in uniforms or with weapons," Jordi Pina, the defense attorney for Turull and two other defendants, told the AP. "The only thing they did was to allow ordinary citizens who wanted to take a ballot and put it in a ballot box to do so." Politically, the stakes are high. A harsh sentence would further alienate many Catalans, possibly even some who haven't been seduced by the idea of independence. The start of the trial coincides with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez needing the support of Catalan separatist parties to pass his national budget. Given that Europe will be closely observing the case, Sanchez paid a visit last week to the European Council and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. The case could eventually end up at that European court on appeal. Without directly mentioning Catalonia, Sanchez told the European Council that Spain protects "the differences and peculiarities of every one of its regions" as opposed to "those who sustain political projects based on false fictions that incite hate and division." ___ Joseph Wilson reported from Barcelona. FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018 file photo, pro-Independence demonstrators gather at La Diagonal, one Barcelona's main avenues, during the Catalan National Day in Barcelona, Spain. Spain's Supreme Court is bracing to hold the nation's most sensitive trial in four decades of democracy this week with all eyes focused on its ability to stand up to concerted campaign by Catalonia's separatists to attack its credibility. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File) FILE - In this Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018 file photo, pro-independence demonstrators wave "esteladas" or independence flags, as they sing in a field overlooking the Lledoners prison in Sant Joan de Vilatorrada, about 50 kilometres away from Barcelona, Spain. Spain's Supreme Court is bracing to hold the nation's most sensitive trial in four decades of democracy this week with all eyes focused on its ability to stand up to concerted campaign by Catalonia's separatists to attack its credibility. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File) FILE - In this Tuesday Oct. 3, 2017 file photo, a woman wearing an Estelada or independence flag, walks along a street covered with referendum ballots thown by pro-independence demonstrators, during a rally in Barcelona, Spain. Spain's Supreme Court is bracing to hold the nation's most sensitive trial in four decades of democracy this week with all eyes focused on its ability to stand up to concerted campaign by Catalonia's separatists to attack its credibility. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File) FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018 file photo, a woman shouts slogans from her balcony during the Catalan National Day in Barcelona, Spain. Spain's Supreme Court is bracing to hold the nation's most sensitive trial in four decades of democracy this week with all eyes focused on its ability to stand up to concerted campaign by Catalonia's separatists to attack its credibility. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File) CAIRO (AP) - An international rights group on Monday urged the United Nations to investigate alleged violations by Sudan's security forces against anti-government protesters. Sudan has been gripped by nationwide protests since Dec. 19. The demonstrations were triggered by rising prices and shortages but quickly turned to calls for autocratic President Omar al-Bashir to step down. Human Rights Watch called on the U.N. Human Rights Council to respond to the crisis at its March session. The New York-based group says it obtained video footage that shows "government forces' extreme violence and shocking abuses against protesters." "There is irrefutable evidence that Sudan is using ruthless violence and brutality against peaceful protesters and critics of the government," said Jehanne Henry, associate Africa director at HRW. "It is high time for the U.N. Human Rights Council to ramp up monitoring and reporting on the situation and to send investigators to the country at once." Authorities in Sudan have used tear gas, rubber bullets, live ammunition and batons to quell the unrest. They have imposed emergency laws and night-time curfews in some cities, and have suspended classes in schools and universities in others. They have arrested opposition leaders, doctors, journalists, lawyers and students along with some 800 protesters. Last month, authorities ordered the release of all protesters who were detained since Dec. 19. But Human Rights Watch said only 186 were reported released and that video evidence showed signs of torture on released detainees. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered Sunday in Sudan's capital and other cities calling for al-Bashir's ouster, according to an umbrella of independent professional unions which organizes the protests. Activists say at least 57 people have been killed in the protests. The government's latest tally stands at 30 killed, but figures have not been updated in days. Al-Bashir, who seized power in a military coup in 1989, insists that only elections, which he intends to run in, could bring change. RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - The Palestinian foreign minister is asking Arab countries to boycott or downgrade their representation at the upcoming U.S.-sponsored Mideast summit in Poland. Riad Malki says that, at the very least, Arab nations should have low-profile delegations, below the ministerial level, at the conference. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are sending foreign ministers. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be at the summit. Malki says the Palestinians "view the Warsaw conference as a plot against the Palestinian cause." He spoke on Monday to the Voice of Palestine as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was to visit Saudi Arabia. Most Arab nations have refrained from establishing relations with Israel without significant progress being made toward peace with the Palestinians. But many Gulf states share with Israel concerns over Iran's growing influence. BERLIN (AP) - Germany's governing parties sought Monday to put behind them long-running internal divisions on labor reforms and migration policy, but the results could deepen tensions in Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition. Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union leads an uneasy "grand coalition" of what were traditionally Germany's biggest parties with the center-left Social Democrats, who are trying to reverse a slump in poll ratings ahead of this year's European Parliament election. The Social Democrats' leadership Sunday endorsed a package of proposals aimed at revamping divisive labor market reforms the party launched 16 years ago, as well as calling for a hefty rise in Germany's minimum wage and a right to work at home. The reforms and benefit cuts introduced under former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder have been credited with strengthening the economy but alienated many of the party's voters. Party leader Andrea Nahles declared that the Social Democrats "are leaving behind us" an unpopular system of limited and conditional long-term unemployment benefits introduced under Schroeder. There is little chance of making the proposals reality in the coalition that the Social Democrats reluctantly entered last year. A deputy CDU leader, Volker Bouffier, charged that they "plan the burial of the social market economy." The Social Democrats appear to hope that a flurry of left-leaning proposals that also has included a call for boosting low earners' pensions could help them avoid a disastrous showing in the European election in May. There has been widespread speculation that a poor performance, or an already-agreed midterm review of the coalition agreement this fall, could prompt the party to leave the government. File---In this picture taken Tuesday, June 27, 2017 leader of Germany's Social Democrats Andrea Nahles is seen during a press conference of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) in Berlin, Germany, (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) "We want to govern, but we want to govern with ideas that are in tune with the times," the Social Democrats' general secretary, Lars Klingbeil, said on ZDF television. Separately, the CDU was holding a "workshop" Monday to address migration policy, a hot-button issue inside the party since Merkel allowed in large numbers of migrants in 2015 - annoying conservatives and helping boost the far-right Alternative for Germany party. New party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer convened the meeting after succeeding Merkel in December, in an effort to prevent the issue becoming the kind of running sore that labor and benefits have been for the Social Democrats. Merkel herself was not participating. BARTELLA, Iraq (AP) - In a story Feb. 11 about Christians in the northern Iraqi town of Bartella, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Ammar Shamoun Moussa is the head of the Nineveh Plain Protection Units, and that the force fled Bartella to Kurdish areas as Islamic State fighters captured the town. Moussa is the head of another Christian Assyrian Force known as the Nineveh Plain Guard Forces, which is the force that did flee Bartella. The story also quoted Bartella city council member Jalal Boutros as having pointed to worries that some Shiite militiamen known locally as the "Hashed" are just as extremist as Sunni militants in IS. Boutros did not make the specific comparison and was referring to extremist mentality in general. A corrected version of the story is below: Iraqi Christians fear returning home, wary of Shiite militia Few Christian residents have returned to northern Iraqi town of Bartella, 2 years after its liberation from IS By FAY ABUELGASIM Associated Press BARTELLA, Iraq (AP) - In the main square in the northern Iraqi town of Bartella stands a large cross, one of the few overt signs the town was historically Christian. Nearby, a massive billboard shows Shiite Muslim martyrs alongside a photo of Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini. Posters of Iranian-backed Shiite militiamen killed in fighting with the Islamic State group hang on streets all around the city, along with banners to revered historical Shiite saints. Thirty years ago, Bartella's population was entirely Christian. Demographic changes over the decades left the town split between Christians and an ethnic group known as Shabak, who are largely Shiites. When the Islamic State group overran the town and the rest of northern Iraq in 2014, Bartella's entire population fled - since both communities were persecuted by the radicals. But two years after Bartella was liberated from IS, fewer than a third of its 3,800 Christian families have come back. Most remain afraid, amid reports of intimidation and harassment by Shabak, who dominate the Shiite militias now controlling the town. Catholic priest Behnam Benoka claimed that the Christian community is being pushed out by the Shabak. He also said multiple cases of sexual harassment have been reported to him and even one robbery of a little girl whose gold earrings were stolen. At one point, Shabak men fired guns in the air front of the town's church for over an hour. Iqbal Shino, who moved back to Bartella with her family in November 2017, said a Shabak man grabbed her from behind in a market. She screamed and the man was caught by onlookers. She filed a complaint with the police but later dropped it to avoid problems. "I feel like because I was a Christian, he assaulted me so that they can scare us to leave Bartella," she said. The town's divisions point to the broader tensions around northern Iraq in the wake of the dispersal caused by the Islamic State group. Now that IS is gone, sectarian divisions are bubbling up the surface, and multiple political and armed groups are vying for power and influence, said Renad Mansour is a research associate at Chatham House, a think tank. "That's the main priority now: Who can carve out the most influence in the area and naturally that creates a precarious security environment," he said. Qusay Abbas, the Shabak representative in parliament in Baghdad, said incidents of harassment against Christians are just individual acts that don't represent the community of Shabak or the militias, which are part of the government-sponsored Population Mobilization Forces. "The security apparatus has a lot of factions so it's inevitable that some mistakes would happen. There are some violations, and a lot of things, sometimes stealing, misusing their position to get money, we know that," said Abbas, who is based between Bartella and the capital. "But that doesn't mean that everyone is bad." He said the Shabak suffered just as much as the Christians from IS. "They both suffered collectively, so I say to the Christians brothers, please don't rely on some rumors and sectarian speeches," he said. "We can solve these problems we just need to sit down together." The Christian community in Iraq has plummeted in the last 15 years because of attacks by Islamic militant groups, including al-Qaida and IS. An estimated 1 million Christians were living in Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion of 2003; today only a fraction remains. The Islamic State group takeover the north only worsened the disaster for the Christians, sending them fleeing for safety in the autonomous Kurdish region, where most remain. Bartella's demographic changes began around 30 years ago, when Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein nationalized farmland that used to belong to Christians and gave it to families of soldiers killed in the Iran-Iraq war. This brought an influx of Sunni Arabs. After Saddam was toppled in 2003, another batch of Bartella land was given to families of Shabak Shiite martyrs. Most of Bartella's Shabak population has returned, bringing life back to their neighborhoods. In contrast, the town's Christian districts are largely deserted. In one, called, Hay al-Muallimeen, many of the houses were destroyed in fighting, and only around one and four has anyone living in it. Security is now run by the Popular Mobilization Forces, known by the Arabic name "Hashed." Its fighters, who in Bartella are mostly Shabak, run checkpoints in the streets and act as police. One of the biggest points of contention in Bartella is the removal of the Nineveh Plain Guard Forces, a force made up mainly of Christians that guarded the town until the IS takeover. Its fighters have fled to Kurdish areas and have not returned. That is one reason Christian families have been wary of returning. Another Christian Assyrian Force called the Nineveh Plain Protection Units, or NPU, which was formed after IS took control of the town, is currently operating in Bartella, manning only two positions at the entry of the town. They are significantly outnumbered by the Shabak. "The Christian is the weakest link in the Iraqi society," said Ammar Shamoun Moussa, the head of the Nineveh Plain Guard Forces, speaking to the AP in Irbil, where the force is based. "When there is stability and there is a law in the land, I think a lot of families would come back." Bartella city council member Jalal Boutros said the Nineveh Plain Guard Forces are "part of our identity and protect it and validates our presence." He pointed to worries that extremist thinking still exists, even if IS has been eliminated. "Even if the Daesh weapons have gone, the thinking is still there," he said, referring to the group by its Arabic acronym. The trust between the communities is gone. Salim Harihosan, a Christian, returned to Bartella in 2017, and like many families found his house destroyed. An NGO helped him rebuild. But he regrets his decision to come back and said he is haunted by fears over lawlessness, sectarian splits and potential violence. He said he wakes up five times a night to check if his car is safe and is looking to rent an apartment in the Kurdish-zone city of Erbil, just in case. "It is a psychological situation ... I go to the market and I hear things, that maybe this or that happened," he said. "These things play with the mind of the person living here." In the church in the neighborhood of Ankawa, in Erbil, hundreds of Christians, many from Bartella prayed and sang hymns on a recent day. One of them, 72-year-old Habiba Kiyaqos, lived in Bartella all her life but doesn't see herself ever returning. Her house is wrecked, her possessions are gone, and she's afraid of becoming the victim of religious extremists - whether Sunni militants like IS or Shiite militiamen. "I really want to go to sleep in Bartella, but I am scared they will come and attack us." TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Waving Iranian flags, chanting "Death to America" and burning U.S. and Israeli flags, hundreds of thousands of people poured out onto the streets across Iran on Monday, marking the date that's considered victory day in the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. On Feb. 11 that year, Iran's military stood down after days of street battles, allowing the revolutionaries to sweep across the country while the government of U.S.-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi resigned and the Islamic Republic was born. In Tehran, despite the rain, crowds streamed in from the capital's far-flung neighborhoods to mass in the central Azadi, or Freedom, Square, waving Iranian flags and chanting "Death to America" - standard fare at rallies across Iran. Chants of "Death to Israel" and "Death to Britain" followed, and demonstrators burned U.S. and Israeli flags. Iranian state TV, which said millions participated in the celebrations, ran archive footage of the days of the uprising and played revolutionary songs. It later broadcast footage showing crowds across the country of 80 million. The 6-mile-long downtown Enghelab, or Revolution, Street was decorated with huge balloons as loudspeakers blared out revolutionary and nationalist songs. Every year, the anniversary festivities start on Feb. 1 - the day Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from France after 14 years in exile to become the supreme leader as Shiite clerics took power. The celebrations continue for 10 days, climaxing on Feb. 11. Iranians attend a ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, at the Azadi, or Freedom Tower, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Hundreds of thousands of people poured out onto the streets of Tehran and other cities and towns across Iran, marking the date 40 years ago that is considered victory day in the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) This year's anniversary comes as Iran grapples with the aftermath of President Donald Trump's decision last May to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal and restore tough U.S. sanctions. Speaking from a podium in central Tehran, President Hassan Rouhani addressed the crowds for nearly 45 minutes, lashing out at Iran's enemies - America and Israel - and claiming their efforts to "bring down" the country through sanctions will not succeed. "The presence of people in this celebration means that plots by the enemies ... have been defused," Rouhani said. "They will not achieve their ill-omened aims." In the backdrop to Monday's marches, the military displayed Iranian-made missiles, which authorities showcase every year during anniversary celebrations. The missiles have a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), placing Israel and U.S. military bases within range. Over the past decade, Iran has frequently test-fired and displayed missiles, sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and in 2013 launched a monkey into space. The ballistic missile tests have angered the United States, which fears they are part of an effort to develop a nuclear weapons capability, something Iran insists it has never sought. The 2015 nuclear agreement urged Iran to cease such missile tests, but did not forbid them outright. "We do not and we will not ask permission for producing any type of missiles from anybody," Rouhani said in his speech Monday, though he stressed that Iran would "continue constructive engagement" with the international community. Rouhani also promised that Iran would overcome its economic hardships, worsened by the restored U.S. sanctions. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, attended a rally in the southern city of Kerman. He is widely seen as the mastermind of Iran's extensive military activities across the region, which have also angered Washington. Iran supports the Lebanese Hezbollah and other militias in the region, and is closely allied with Syria's government. In Tehran, 27-year-old medical student Hossein Hosseinpour walked with his wife and their 18-month-old son. He said he wanted to teach his son to support the revolution. "I see a bright future for him and our nation," Hosseinpour said. Mahmoud Hemmati, 35, was pushing his 68-year-old mother, Parivash Fakheri, in a wheelchair. "My mother, despite her illness, asked me to bring her out," he said. Fakheri, who was one of the revolutionaries on the streets of Tehran in 1979, said she would defend the revolution all over again. "I know there are many economic problems today, but that is something different from our revolution," she said. "It has been moving forward over the past 40 years and making Iran stronger." Last week, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei defended the "Death to America" chants, saying they are aimed at America's leaders, such as Trump, and not its people. The Iranian people "will not stop saying 'Death to America' as long as the U.S. acts maliciously" toward Iran, Khamenei said. On Monday, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif took to Twitter to praise the turnout. "I bow in admiration to Iran's resilient people who - despite hardships & grievances - today poured into streets by the millions to mark 40th anniv of their Islamic Revolution, which some in the US wished would never come. US should take note: REAL Iranians never succumb to diktats." ___ This story was corrected to remove reference on when Iran was officially proclaimed as an Islamic Republic; this took place weeks later. An Iranian woman holds up a portrait of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as she makes the victory sign during a rally marking the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians poured out onto the streets of Tehran and other cities and towns across the country, marking the date 40 years ago that is considered victory day in the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi) An Iranian woman holds an effigy of US president Donald Trump, during a rally marking the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians poured out onto the streets of Tehran and other cities and towns across the country, marking the date 40 years ago that is considered victory day in the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi) A man holds a portrait of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during a rally marking the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians poured out onto the streets of Tehran and other cities and towns across the country, marking the date 40 years ago that is considered victory day in the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi) A man holds a placard that reads in Farsi, "Death to England," during a rally marking the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians poured out onto the streets of Tehran and other cities and towns across the country, marking the date 40 years ago that is considered victory day in the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi) Two boys hold up posters of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, and late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini,left, during a rally marking the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians poured out onto the streets of Tehran and other cities and towns across the country, marking the date 40 years ago that is considered victory day in the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi) Iranian women hold up portraits of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during a rally marking the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians poured out onto the streets of Tehran and other cities and towns across the country, marking the date 40 years ago that is considered victory day in the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi) Iranian women attend a rally marking the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, as two of them hold portraits of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians poured out onto the streets of Tehran and other cities and towns across the country, marking the date 40 years ago that is considered victory day in the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi) Iranians attend a ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, near the Azadi, or Freedom Tower, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Hundreds of thousands of people poured out onto the streets of Tehran and other cities and towns across Iran, marking the date 40 years ago that is considered victory day in the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) Demonstrators chant slogan in a ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, at the Azadi, Freedom, Square in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Hundreds of thousands of people poured out onto the streets of Tehran and other cities and towns across Iran, marking the date 40 years ago that is considered victory day in the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) Iranians attend a ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution as one of them holds a portrait of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, at the Azadi, Freedom, Square in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Hundreds of thousands of people poured out onto the streets of Tehran and other cities and towns across Iran, marking the date 40 years ago that is considered victory day in the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) Children wave Iranian flags during a ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, at the Azadi, Freedom, Square in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Hundreds of thousands of people poured out onto the streets of Tehran and other cities and towns across Iran, marking the date 40 years ago that is considered victory day in the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) Two women shelter from the rain during a ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, at the Azadi, Freedom, Square in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. In Tehran, crowds streamed in the rain from a dozen of the capital's far-flung neighborhoods to mass in central Tehran Azadi, or Freedom Square, waving Iranian flags and chanting "Death to America" - a chant that has been standard fare at anti-U.S. rallies across Iran. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) A demonstrator holds an anti-U.S. placard during a ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, at the Azadi, Freedom, Square in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Crowds streamed in the rain from a dozen of the capital's far-flung neighborhoods to mass in central Tehran, waving Iranian flags and chanting "Death to America" - a chant that has been standard fare at anti-U.S. rallies across Iran. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) Iranian demonstrators chant slogans during a ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, at the Azadi, Freedom, Square in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Crowds streamed in the rain from a dozen of the capital's far-flung neighborhoods to mass in central Tehran waving Iranian flags and chanting "Death to America" - a chant that has been standard fare at anti-U.S. rallies across Iran. Posters in Farsi read, "Death to Israel." (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) A group of Iranians listen to President Hassan Rouhani address the crowd during a ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, at the Azadi, or Freedom, Square, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Hundreds of thousands of people poured out onto the streets of Tehran and other cities and towns across Iran on Monday, marking the date 40 years ago that is considered victory day in the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) Schoolgirls wave Iranian flags during a ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, at the Azadi, or Freedom, Square, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Hundreds of thousands of people poured out onto the streets of Tehran and other cities and towns across Iran on Monday, marking the date 40 years ago that is considered victory day in the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) Iranians wave national flags during a ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, at the Azadi, or Freedom, Square, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. On Feb. 11, 1979. Iran's military stood down after days of street battles, allowing the revolutionaries to sweep across the country, and the government of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi resigned. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) We are certainly open, DeWees told the Times in January. Weve done it recently with coming in and assisting, from acting as the department chief until one is established [in Hampstead] or internal audits of whatever issues the departments having that they want us to look at so that we can give a good, independent audit. EDITOR'S NOTE: On Feb. 11, 1979, after days of running street battles and uncertainty, Iran's military stood down and allowed the Islamic Revolution to sweep across the country. The caretaker government left behind by the cancer-stricken Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who weeks earlier left the nation, quickly crumbled as the soldiers once backing it embraced the supporters of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Foreigners who hadn't fled, including a vast population of Americans, soon began trying to leave. President Jimmy Carter said "we stand ready to work with" Iran's new leaders, slowly loosening America's long embrace of the shah as its main Mideast ally. However, the revolution and Carter's decision to allow the shah to seek medical treatment in America would spark the U.S. Embassy takeover and hostage crisis, stoking the animosity that exists between Tehran and Washington to this day. Now, 40 years later, The Associated Press is making its story and historic photographs of Iran's Islamic Revolution available. The story has been edited for typographical errors, but maintains the AP style of the day, such as using "Moslem" as opposed to Muslim. ___ FILE - In this Feb. 15, 1979 file photo, a follower of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini holds a rifle containing a flower outside of Khomeini's headquarters in Tehran, Iran. Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 marks the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, which overthrew the caretaker government left behind by the cancer-stricken Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had left the country only weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Michel Lipchitz, File) By THOMAS KENT Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran - Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar reportedly resigned Sunday after Iran's military chief ordered troops back to their barracks and declared support for Moslem Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The 2,500-year-old Iranian monarchy appeared to be in its final hours. The government's news agency placed the death toll in Tehran at more than 200 with scores killed in other cities during two days of bloody street fighting. Khomeini's followers took over Tehran Radio and issued a series of directives from the Provisional Revolutionary Government. The broadcast said Bakhtiar's government had fallen and all members of parliaments had resigned. They also reported fighting continued in some cities but urged Tehran residents "to refrain from attacks on the armed forces now that the revolution has triumphed and the armed forces have surrendered." Gen. Abbas Gharabaghi, chief of staff of the armed forces, met with Khomeini's Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan, 70, and said he would support the government set up by Khomeini to establish a "revolutionary" Islamic republic. The withdrawal of troops appears to break the back of the constitutional monarchy that depended heavily on a loyal, united military. Insurgents took over Tehran, looting military posts of weapons and ammunition, occupying government buildings and police stations and racing through the street flashing "V for victory" signs. They raided several prisons and released "political" detainees jailed by the shah as common criminals. Early Monday, a huge explosion shook the western side of the city near Mehrabad International Airport. Tehran Radio said Jay Barracks, one of Iran's largest bank garrisons, was in flames. The radio reported heavy shooting there, in Majlis Square and two other areas of the capital. Ebrahim Yazdi, Khomeini's chief aide, said Bakhtiar had quit. This was confirmed by a Cabinet minister, but there was no comment from Bakhtiar, and his whereabouts were unknown. Sources said Bakhtiar, appointed by the shah Jan. 4, had written his resignation because he could not continue without military support, and said an announcement of his resignation would be forthcoming. In one of its first acts, the Provisional Operational Staff of the Islamic Revolutionary Movements closed Iran's borders and all airports for 24 hours beginning Monday, Tehran Radio said. In Washington, the Pentagon ordered a detachment of 69 Marines sent from the United States to Turkey in case they are needed to help 19 Marines protecting the U. S. Embassy in Iran. Six Air Force helicopters are being flown to Turkey in case the need to evacuate American from Tehran, said Defense Department spokesman Thomas Lambert. State Department spokesman Kenneth Brown said the 7,000 Americans in Iran are safe "to the best of our knowledge." In Marrakech, Morocco, sources close to Shah Mohamad Reza Pahlavi, 59, said he was in state of "anguished expectation" as he followed events in Iran from his "vacation" seclusion here. They said he was following (news from) U.S. and European Embassies. In a radio and television address, Bazargan said he was pleased to hear "the army will not interfere in political affairs and that they have supported the will of the people." The ayatollah appealed to his followers to remain calm. The military decision to follow "the will of the people" and return to their barracks came after two days of bloody rioting in which many soldiers joined the opposition. The violence left more than 200 dead and 800 wounded. The military defections to Khomeini's side exploded the notions that the armed forces were united behind the government. The 78-year-old religious leader, who returned to Iran Feb. 1 after 14 years in exile, declared in a statement "victory is near." The decision to pull back the troops followed a weekend of vicious fighting between Khomeini's followers and government troops for control of police stations, government offices and other landmarks in the city. Initial reports indicated heavy casualties in other Iranian cities as well, but no figures were available. A 25-hour battle was reported at the central police station in the southern city of Shiraz. In a recorded radio message, Khomeini asked his followers to "prevent any anarchy and chaos and not to allow ill-intentioned troublemakers to engage in plunder, arson, punishing the accused and destruction of private or public property . and make the movement look barbaric and reactionary." Khomeini said the enemy "still has resources for all manner of intrigues and plots." Tehran Radio, overtaken by insurgents, said the speaker of the Majlis, or parliament, announced all members of parliament resigned. Yazdi said the former chief of the shah's feared secret police force SAVAK, Gen. Nematollah Nassiri, had been taken prisoner along with former Prime Minister Amir Abbas Hoveida. Also arrested was Tehran's military governor, Lt. Gen. Mehdi Rahimi. Insurgents attacked Bakhtiar's office hours after the army pulled back its forces, but aides said the 62-year-old prime minister was not there but would not say where he was. "The armed forces with all its power supports the wishes of the people," said a statement broadcast by Iranian state radio. "The commanders of the armed forces held meeting at 10:20 this morning and decided in order to prevent chaos and further bloodshed to declare the armed forces' neutrality and therefore the units of the army were ordered to return to their barracks." The 430,000-man armed forces had been the Bakhtiar government's major source of support. The ayatollah, spiritual head of Iran's 32 million Shiite Moslems, demanded Bakhtiar resign so Iran could be transformed into a non-aligned Islamic republic. Khomeini leads the religious opposition that feels the shah's "westernization" of Iran has eroded Islamic values. Also opposing the monarch is a rising middle class which has demanded more say in the government. At 5:45 p.m. the state radio said it was in the hands of Khomeini followers. An announcer proclaimed the radio "the voice of the revolution, the real voice of the people of Iran," The radio earlier said insurgents occupied the historic Golestan Palace in Tehran, used as a guest house for visiting heads of state. Huge crowds jammed the narrow, winding streets around Refah School, Khomeini's headquarters. Reporters there were told 16 soldiers and a colonel were taken prisoner when insurgents stormed the Ministry of Commerce. Hundreds of Khomeini followers blocked streets around the Hotel Intercontinental, headquarters for most of the Western press. They refused to let anyone enter or leave. Fighting at the Eshratarb police compound in eastern Tehran stopped minutes after the military announcement and attackers poured from their positions, cheering and singing. Police handed weapons to the insurgents over the walls of the garrison. Armed rioters seized the northern section of the Doshan Tappeh air force base in eastern Tehran, the site of bloody armed clashes Friday and Saturday between mutinous air force cadets backed by armed civilians and imperial guard troops. Witnesses reported eight police posts were sacked by rioters during the right. Insurgents sacked the headquarters of the Israeli Trade Mission and erected a sign that said "Embassy of the PLO" - the Palestine Liberation Organization. PLO Chief Yasser Arafat in Beirut, Lebanon, sent a message to Khomeini saying: "I pray to Allah to guide your steps on the path of faith and jihad holy war in Iran." FILE - In this Feb. 18, 1979 file photo, Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat, right, kisses Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, during a meeting in Tehran, Iran. Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 marks the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, which overthrew the caretaker government left behind by the cancer-stricken Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had left the country only weeks earlier. (AP Photo, File) FILE - In this Feb. 13, 1979 file photo, a large picture of Ayatollah Khomeini hangs from tank gun barrel in front of Niavaran Palace in Tehran, Iran. Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 marks the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, which overthrew the caretaker government left behind by the cancer-stricken Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had left the country only weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Aristotle Saris, File) FILE - In this Feb. 12, 1979 file photo, armed rebels, one wearing a gas mask, ride in a truck near the headquarters of Ayatollah Khomeini, in Tehran, Iran. Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 marks the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. On Feb. 11, 1979, after days of running street battles and uncertainty, Iran's military stood down and allowed the Islamic Revolution to sweep across the country. The caretaker government left behind by the cancer-stricken Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who weeks earlier left the nation, quickly crumbled as the soldiers once backing it embraced the supporters of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. (AP Photo/Campion, File) FILE - In this Feb. 13, 1979 file photo, an Iranian woman sits at a heavy weapon in Tehran Street, Tehran, Iran. Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 marks the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, which overthrew the caretaker government left behind by the cancer-stricken Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had left the country only weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Michel Lipchitz, File) Forty years ago, Iran's military said it wouldn't stand in the way of revolutionaries and returned to its barracks, signaling the end of the rule of the shah. The effects of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, including the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and the ensuing hostage crisis, have reverberated through decades of tense relations between Iran and America. Here are the key moments leading up to Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and the hostage crisis. ___ UNREST AHEAD OF THE SHAH'S DEPARTURE -Jan. 7, 1978 -Religious riots break out in the holy city of Qom. Seven demonstrators are killed, setting off a cycle of anti-shah violence on each successive 40th day of mourning. FILE - In this Oct. 9, 1978 file photo, Iranian protesters demonstrate against Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in Tehran, Iran. Forty years ago, Iran's ruling shah left his nation for the last time and an Islamic Revolution overthrew the vestiges of his caretaker government. The effects of the 1979 revolution, including the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and ensuing hostage crisis, reverberate through decades of tense relations between Iran and America. (AP Photo, File) -Aug. 18 -Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi blames Soviet-backed Communists for mounting violence. -Aug. 19 -Hundreds die in an intentionally set fire at a cinema in the southern city of Abadan. Authorities and the opposition blame each other for the fire, which triggers unrest across Iran's oil-rich regions. -Sept. 8 -Martial law is imposed in Tehran and 11 other cities after 100,000 anti-shah demonstrators stage a protest march in the Iranian capital. Troops open fire on demonstrators in the capital's Jaleh Square, killing 121 and wounding 200. -Sept. 11 -President Jimmy Carter calls the shah to reaffirm the "close, friendly relationship" between the United States and Iran. -Oct. 2 -Civil service strikes spread throughout Iran. -Oct. 6 -Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini is forced to leave Iraq for France. He had lived in exile in Iraq since the failure of a religious revolt against the shah's 1963 land reform that deprived the clergy of its holdings. -Oct. 31 -Iran's petroleum exports are disrupted as oil workers begin wildcat strikes that ultimately reduce production from 5 million barrels daily to a trickle. -Nov. 5 -Anti-shah demonstrators rampage in Tehran. Ten demonstrators are reported killed. -Nov. 6 -Cabinet resigns and is replaced by a military government headed by Gen. Gholam-Reza Azhari, Iran's armed forces chief of staff. Several newspaper editors are arrested and censorship is imposed, prompting a two-month newspaper strike for two months. The shah pledges that "past mistakes of unlawfulness, cruelty and corruption will not be repeated." -Nov. 13 -Anti-Americanism intensifies. An exodus of Americans begins that reduces their number from 45,000 to 12,000 by January. -Nov. 25 -From Paris, Khomeini calls for resistance against the "illegal" military government. -Dec. 8 -Rioters burn down the headquarters of the U.S. Grumman Aircraft Corp. in Isfahan, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) miles south of Tehran. -Dec. 10 -Anti-shah demonstrations, estimated at between 300,000 and 2 million people, take part in a peaceful march. -Dec. 24 -U.S. Marines fire tear gas at a mob trying to storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. -Dec. 29 -The shah asks Shahpour Bakhtiar of the opposition National Front to form a new civilian government. -Jan. 1, 1979 -The shah appears before reporters for the first time in two months and concedes he "would love" to go on vacation "if the situation permits." -Jan. 4 -Bakhtiar is appointed prime minister. -Jan. 13 -The shah appoints a regency council to represent the crown during his absence, while Khomeini announces from Paris the formation of a revolutionary council to prepare for an "Islamic Republic." -Jan. 16 -The shah departs Iran at the controls of a jetliner, never to return. Demonstrators cheer his departure. ___ THE REVOLUTION TAKES HOLD -Feb.1 -Khomeini returns from exile. -Feb. 9 -Imperial guard troops are sent to quell a pro-Khomeini demonstration by air force cadets at a base in Farahabad, on Tehran's southern outskirts. -Feb. 10 -Islamist and leftist guerrillas battle imperial guard troops around the Farahabad base, forcing the shah's troops to retreat with heavy losses. Joe Alex Morris Jr., Middle East correspondent of the Los Angeles Times, is shot and killed during the battle. -Feb. 11 -Iran's general staff declares the neutrality of the armed forces and troops are ordered back to their barracks, guaranteeing the Islamic Revolution's success. The action dooms the Bakhtiar government and the prime minister flees Tehran, ultimately to take up exile in France. ___ THE HOSTAGE CRISIS LOOMS -Feb. 14 -The U.S. Embassy in Tehran is overrun, allegedly by leftist guerrillas who later are driven off by revolutionary guardsmen loyal to Khomeini. One Iranian is killed and 101 hostages are temporarily held by the attackers. The hostages include U.S. Ambassador William Sullivan and 19 Marines. A mass evacuation of Americans remaining in Iran is directed. -Feb. 16 -Revolutionary justice is inaugurated with the execution by firing squad of four top generals, including the former head of the secret police. More than 500 other people, many of them army officers, former ministers, secret police agents, Kurdish rebels and Arab dissidents are executed in the coming months. -Feb. 18 -Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat becomes the first foreign leader to visit Khomeini. -March 5 -Iran resumes oil exports for the first time since anti-shah labor strikes shut down oil production. -March 6 -Iran announces the shah will be tried in absentia. -March 19 -About 170 people are reported dead in two days of fighting in Sanandaj in fighting between Kurdish rebels and revolutionary guards. The Kurds step up demands for autonomy. -March 30 -Millions of Iranians heed Khomeini and vote "yes" in a referendum on replacement of the monarchy with an Islamic revolutionary regime. -May 13 -Ayatollah Sadeq Khalkhali, chief of Tehran's revolutionary court, calls for the assassination of the shah, some members of his family and former high-ranking officials who escaped abroad. -May 30 -Three days of heavy fighting in the southern port city of Khorramshahr between Arabs seeking autonomy and revolutionary guards kills 100 people, according to an Arab count. Iran later accuses Iraq of supporting the Arab rebels. -Aug. 3 -Iranians elect a clergy-dominated 73-member Assembly of Experts to formulate and ratify a new constitution. The election is boycotted by the National Front. -Sept. 4 -The Iranian government orders The Associated Press to close its Tehran bureau, complaining that reports of fighting between government troops and Kurdish rebels had been "basically untrue." Four AP correspondents are ordered to leave the country. -Oct. 23 -The shah is given permission to enter the United States and is admitted to a New York City hospital for removal of a gallbladder and to undergo treatment for cancer. -Nov. 4 -Militant Iranian students overrun the U.S. Embassy in Tehran after a three-hour struggle. They take hostages, including 62 Americans, demanding the extradition of the shah. FILE - In this October 1967 file photo, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi sits on the Peacock Throne in Tehran, Iran. Forty years ago, Iran's ruling shah left his nation for the last time and an Islamic Revolution overthrew the vestiges of his caretaker government. The effects of the 1979 revolution, including the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and ensuing hostage crisis, reverberate through decades of tense relations between Iran and America. (AP Photo, File) FILE - In this Nov. 15, 1977 file photo, then-first lady Rosalyn Carter, left, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, center, and then U.S. President Jimmy Carter, right, react to wafting tear gas as pro- and counter-shah demonstrators clash with police outside of the White House during a ceremony. Dozens would be injured in the violence. Forty years ago, Iran's ruling shah left his nation for the last time and an Islamic Revolution overthrew the vestiges of his caretaker government. The effects of the 1979 revolution, including the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and ensuing hostage crisis, reverberate through decades of tense relations between Iran and America. (AP Photo, File) FILE - In an undated photo from 1979, protestors burn an effigy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi during a demonstration in front of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran. Forty years ago, Iran's ruling shah left his nation for the last time and an Islamic Revolution overthrew the vestiges of his caretaker government. The effects of the 1979 revolution, including the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and ensuing hostage crisis, reverberate through decades of tense relations between Iran and America. (AP Photo, File) FILE - In this Oct. 9, 1978 file photo, demonstrators protest Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in Tehran, Iran. Forty years ago, Iran's ruling shah left his nation for the last time and an Islamic Revolution overthrew the vestiges of his caretaker government. The effects of the 1979 revolution, including the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and ensuing hostage crisis, reverberate through decades of tense relations between Iran and America. (AP Photo/Michel Lipchitz, File) FILE - In this Dec. 27, 1978 file photo, an overturned truck with a Pepsi soft drink logo burns during riots in Tehran, Iran. Forty years ago, Iran's ruling shah left his nation for the last time and an Islamic Revolution overthrew the vestiges of his caretaker government. The effects of the 1979 revolution, including the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and ensuing hostage crisis, reverberate through decades of tense relations between Iran and America. (AP Photo, File) FILE - In this Jan. 16, 1979 file photo, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Empress Farah walk on the tarmac at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, Iran, to board a plane to leave the country. Forty years ago, Iran's ruling shah left his nation for the last time and an Islamic Revolution overthrew the vestiges of his caretaker government. The effects of the 1979 revolution, including the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and ensuing hostage crisis, reverberate through decades of tense relations between Iran and America. (AP Photo, File) FILE - In this undated photo from 1979, a small Iranian girl stands on a captured tank at the entrance to Niavaran Palace where Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi once lived in Tehran, Iran. Forty years ago, Iran's ruling shah left his nation for the last time and an Islamic Revolution overthrew the vestiges of his caretaker government. The effects of the 1979 revolution, including the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and ensuing hostage crisis, reverberate through decades of tense relations between Iran and America. (AP Photo/Aristotle Saris, File) FILE - In this Feb. 1, 1979 file photo, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini has a heavy escort as he enters car to leave the airport in Tehran, Iran. Forty years ago, Iran's ruling shah left his nation for the last time and an Islamic Revolution overthrew the vestiges of his caretaker government. The effects of the 1979 revolution, including the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and ensuing hostage crisis, reverberate through decades of tense relations between Iran and America. (AP Photo/FY, File) FILE - In this Feb. 1, 1979 file photo, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, center, waves to followers as he appears on the balcony of his headquarters in Tehran, Iran. Forty years ago, Iran's ruling shah left his nation for the last time and an Islamic Revolution overthrew the vestiges of his caretaker government. The effects of the 1979 revolution, including the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and ensuing hostage crisis, reverberate through decades of tense relations between Iran and America. (AP Photo/Campion, File) FILE - In this Feb. 12, 1979 file photo, armed rebels, one wearing a gas mask, ride in a truck near the headquarters of Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran, Iran. Forty years ago, Iran's ruling shah left his nation for the last time and an Islamic Revolution overthrew the vestiges of his caretaker government. The effects of the 1979 revolution, including the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and ensuing hostage crisis, reverberate through decades of tense relations between Iran and America. (AP Photo/Campion, File) FILE - In this Feb. 13, 1979 file photo, a large picture of Ayatollah Khomeini hangs from tank gun barrel in front of Niavaran Palace in Tehran, Iran. Forty years ago, Iran's ruling shah left his nation for the last time and an Islamic Revolution overthrew the vestiges of his caretaker government. The effects of the 1979 revolution, including the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and ensuing hostage crisis, reverberate through decades of tense relations between Iran and America. (AP Photo/Aristotle Saris, File) FILE - In this Feb. 18, 1979 file photo, Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat, right, kisses Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, left, during a meeting in Tehran, Iran. Forty years ago, Iran's ruling shah left his nation for the last time and an Islamic Revolution overthrew the vestiges of his caretaker government. The effects of the 1979 revolution, including the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and ensuing hostage crisis, reverberate through decades of tense relations between Iran and America. (AP Photo, File) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - With snow falling steadily and the temperature well below freezing, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she's joining the group of Democrats running for president and would take her campaign - and her Midwest sensibilities - directly to parts of the region Donald Trump won and that her party wants to recapture in 2020. "For every American, I'm running for you," she told an exuberant, snow-covered crowd gathered Sunday at a park along the Mississippi River with the Minneapolis skyline in the background. "And I promise you this: As your president, I will look you in the eye. I will tell you what I think. I will focus on getting things done. That's what I've done my whole life. And no matter what, I'll lead from the heart." Klobuchar, who easily won a third-term last year, is the most prominent candidate from the Midwest to enter the race. She's pointed to her broad appeal across Minnesota - where she's drawn support from voters in urban, suburban and rural areas, including in dozens of counties Trump won in 2016 - and says that success could translate to other Midwestern states such as Michigan and Wisconsin, reliably Democratic in presidential races for decades until Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton. Klobuchar said she would travel next weekend to Iowa, home to the nation's first caucus, joking it's "a place where we in Minnesota like to go south for the winter." That trip will be followed by stops in Wisconsin, where Clinton was criticized in 2016 for not spending enough time. "We're starting in Wisconsin because as you remember there wasn't a lot of campaigning in Wisconsin in 2016. With me, that changes," Klobuchar told reporters after the event, noting her mother grew up in the state. "I'm going to be there a lot." Klobuchar, who has prided herself for achieving results through bipartisan cooperation, did not utter Trump's name during her kickoff speech. But she did bemoan the conduct of "foreign policy by tweet" and said Americans must "stop the fear-mongering and stop the hate. ... We all live in the same country of shared dreams." And she said that on first day as president, she would have the U.S. rejoin an international climate agreement that Trump has withdrawn from. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar wipes snow from her hair after announcing she is running for president of the United States, at Boom Island Park, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, in Minneapolis. Klobuchar joined the growing group of Democrats jostling to be president and positioned herself as the most prominent Midwestern candidate in the field, as her party tries to win back voters in a region that helped put Donald Trump in the White House. (Anthony Souffle/Star Tribune via AP) Trump responded to Klobuchar's announcement with a tweet mocking her stance on global warming, a phenomenon he has disputed in the past. He wrote that Klobuchar talked proudly "of fighting global warming while standing in a virtual blizzard of snow, ice and freezing temperatures. Bad timing. By the end of her speech she looked like a Snowman(woman)!" Trump often overlooks evidence of record global warming and conflates cold spells and other incidents of weather with climate, which is long-term. Asserting her Midwestern values, she told a crowd warmed by hot chocolate, apple cider, heat lamps and bonfires: "I don't have a political machine. I don't come from money. But what I do have is this: I have grit." She said the country's "sense of community is fracturing" today, "worn down by the petty and vicious nature of our politics. We are all tired of the shutdowns and the showdowns, the gridlock and the grandstanding." The list of Democrats already in the race features several better-known senators with the ability to raise huge amounts of money - Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Cory Booker of New Jersey, who welcomed Klobuchar to the race during a campaign stop in South Carolina. The field soon could expand to include prominent Democrats such as former Vice President Joe Biden of Delaware and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. A Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom poll conducted by Selzer & Company in December found that Klobuchar was largely unfamiliar to likely Iowa caucus-goers, with 54 percent saying they didn't know enough about her to have an opinion, while 38 percent had a favorable opinion and 8 percent had an unfavorable opinion. "She starts out perhaps with a better understanding of Midwestern voters, but I think she faces the same hurdles every one of them face, which is: Are Iowans going to find them either the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump or the candidate that most aligns with their ideologies and issues?" said John Norris, a longtime Iowa-based Democratic strategist. "I don't know that coming from Minnesota gives her any advantage with Iowans." Klobuchar, 58, is known as a straight-talking pragmatist willing to work with Republicans, making her one of the Senate's most productive members at passing legislation. Cindy York, a retired teacher who attended the rally, said she's always respected Klobuchar for her "ability to get at the hard questions in a polite and respectful way," adding "I think we need a lot more of that in this country." She said she has friends of all political leanings who have supported Klobuchar, and she sees that as an advantage over the rest of the Democratic field. "Many of the others are probably a little too liberally perceived or left-leaning," York said. "I think Amy is perceived as more of a centrist, always has been, and I have tremendous respect for that. She's a consensus builder and we need that." The rally took place not far from the Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi. The span was built after the previous bridge collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people. Klobuchar had worked with then Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., to help fund the new bridge and get it completed at a faster-than-usual pace. "We worked across the aisle to get the federal funding and we rebuilt that I-35W bridge - in just over a year. That's community. That's a shared story. That's ordinary people doing extraordinary things," she said. Klobuchar's focus in recent months has included prescription drug prices, a new farm bill and election security. She supports the "Green New Deal," a Democratic plan proposed this past week to combat climate change and create thousands of jobs in renewable energy. But her legislative record has drawn criticism from both the GOP and some fellow Democrats. Some Republicans say Klobuchar is able to get things done because she pushes smaller issues. Some progressives say she lacks the kind of fire and bold ideas needed to bring significant change and excite voters. Klobuchar on Sunday also responded to news reports that she has mistreated staff, saying she "can be tough" but has many staff members who've worked for her for many years. "I can push people. I know that," she told reporters after the event. "I have I'd say high expectations for myself, I have high expectations for the people who work for me, but I have high expectations for this country. And that's what we need. We need someone who is focused on getting things done for this country." Klobuchar, a lawyer and the former prosecutor in Minnesota's largest county, raised her national profile during a Senate Judiciary Committee last fall for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexually assaulting a woman when they were both in high school. When Klobuchar asked Kavanaugh whether he ever had had so much to drink that he didn't remember what happened, he turned the question around. He asked Klobuchar, "Have you?" Unruffled, Klobuchar continued as Kavanaugh asked again. Kavanaugh later apologized to Klobuchar, whose father is an alcoholic. "When you have a parent who's an alcoholic, you're pretty careful about drinking," she said. "I was truly trying to get to the bottom of the facts and the evidence." Among the other Midwestern lawmakers who could seek the nomination are Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who has been visiting early voting states, and Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who established an exploratory committee last month. ___ AP Polling Editor Emily Swanson in Washington contributed to this report. Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar addresses a snowy rally where she announced she is entering the race for president Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar waves to supporters gathered at Boom Island Park, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, in Minneapolis. Klobuchar joined the growing group of Democrats jostling to be president and positioned herself as the most prominent Midwestern candidate in the field, as her party tries to win back voters in a region that helped put Donald Trump in the White House. (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP) U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar greets supporters after her speech, as she is accompanied by her daughter Abigail and husband, John, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, in Minneapolis. Klobuchar joined the growing group of Democrats jostling to be president and positioned herself as the most prominent Midwestern candidate in the field, as her party tries to win back voters in a region that helped put Donald Trump in the White House. (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP) Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, center, her husband, John Bessler and daughter Abigail Klobuchar Bessler wave to the crowd after she announced she is entering the race for president Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) Supporters cheer as a DJ takes the stage before U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar's announcement to run for president, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, from Boom Island Park, in Minneapolis. (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP) Supporter of Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar wait for the start of a snowy rally where the Minnesota senator announced she is entering the race for president Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) Supporters brave a snowstorm as Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota announces she is entering the race for president during a rally Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) A young person holds a sign as Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota announces she is entering the race for president during a rally Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, laughs as she addresses a snowy rally where she announced she is entering the race for president Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar addresses a snowy rally where she announced she is entering the race for president Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, left, addresses a snowy rally where she announced she is entering the race for president Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, left, addresses a snowy rally where she announced she is entering the race for president Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar and her husband, John Bessler, wave to the crowd after her rally where she announced she is entering the race for president Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, left, arrives at a snowy rally where she announced she is entering the race for president Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. Behind her is daughter Abigail. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) Volunteer Tim Schumann grills his lunch over an open flame in one of the warming areas Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, prior to Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar's announcement of her decision in the race for president at a rally in Minneapolis. (Anthony Souffle/Star Tribune via AP) WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump is trying to turn the debate over a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border back to his political advantage as his signature pledge to American voters threatens to become a model of unfulfilled promises. Trump will hold his first campaign rally since November's midterm elections in El Paso, Texas, on Monday as he faces a defining week for his push on the wall - and for his presidency and his 2020 prospects. Weakened by the disastrous government shutdown and facing a fresh deadline Friday, Trump is trying to convince people that that he'll continue to push to build his long-promised wall, even though there's no way it would be anywhere near complete by the time voters have to decide whether to give him another term. A bipartisan group of lawmakers was negotiating ahead of Friday's deadline, but on Sunday people familiar with the talks said the mood among the bargainers had grown sour amid an impasse over migrant detention policies. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private talks. Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said during news show appearances Sunday that another shutdown remained on the table, although he also said Trump probably would be willing to compromise over how much of the $5.7 billion for wall construction he's demanded would be allocated. "Someplace in the middle," Mulvaney said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Even Trump's full demand is a fraction of the money he needs to complete the barrier he wants. His vision for the wall already has been substantially scaled down since the 2016 campaign, when it was to be built of concrete and span the length of the border and be paid for by Mexico. Now, he's looking to build "steel slats" along much of the 1,900-mile stretch, relying on natural barriers for the rest. The amount of federal funding he's seeking would pay for fewer than 200 miles of new barrier. The president, who feared a backlash from his most loyal supporters last year if he didn't use the last gasp of unified Republican control in Washington to fight for the wall, isn't expected to provoke another standoff with Congress. West Wing aides have acknowledged there is insufficient support among Republicans to sustain another shutdown fight. In this Feb. 7, 2019 photo, President Donald Trump speaks during the National Prayer Breakfast, in Washington. Trump is trying to turn the debate over a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border back to his political advantage as his signature pledge to American voters threatens to become a model of unfulfilled promises. Trump will hold his first campaign rally since November's midterm elections in El Paso, Texas, on Monday. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci) Still, Trump has publicly dismissed the work of congressional negotiators as a "waste of time" and on Sunday said he thinks Democrats want a shutdown to turn attention from the economy and other positive news for his administration. Trump also continued to threaten to flex his executive powers by trying to unilaterally tap into existing federal dollars to build the wall through a declaration of a national emergency or another presidential action. Any independent moves would face almost immediate legal challenges that even Trump's aides fear will be successful. Still, they reckon it will show Trump as determined to fight for the wall, and figure that voters will blame the courts and Congress rather the president. For some supporters, that's not enough. California-based conservative leader Mark Meckler, who helped found the tea party movement, said Trump's base voters are done waiting for him to deliver on the wall. He warned that the president risks alienating his strongest supporters unless he "goes to war" with Democrats. "A political crusade is not enough," Meckler said. "Politicians say stuff. He's either doing it or he's not doing it." The border debate has also proven to be a drag on the president's support among Republican lawmakers, many of whom don't share the president's zeal for the wall. Last month Trump was forced to surrender the shutdown fight after senators in his party broke ranks amid the increasingly painful impacts of the stoppage. It coincided with mounting intraparty disagreements over the president's policies for Afghanistan and Syria that led to a striking rebuke of them earlier this month led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. For all of that, though, Trump advisers on the campaign and inside the White House insist, that fulfilled or not, the promise of a wall is a winning issue for Trump. The president has already sought to rewrite the "Build the Wall" chants that were a staple of his 2016 campaign to "Finish the Wall," and will use his rally in Texas to go in-depth on the issue, aides said. Highlighting their differing view of the electorate, Democrats are likewise adamant that Trump's struggles for the wall are a political boon to them, believing their 2018 midterm election gains in the House proved that voters want to block Trump's agenda. An AP-NORC poll conducted during last month's shutdown found that more Americans opposed than favored building a wall along the Mexican border, 49 percent to 36 percent. Eight in 10 Democrats opposed building the wall and only about 1 in 10 were in favor. Nearly 8 in 10 Republicans favored the wall, while only about 1 in 10 were opposed. A Trump campaign adviser said the Trump team sees the El Paso rally as less about winning over voters ahead of the 2020 election and more an opportunity to reshape the debate around the wall. The campaign views the rally, which is to take place just a few hundred yards from El Paso's border fence, as an opportunity for Trump to make the case that border barriers work, said the adviser, who was not authorized to discuss campaign strategy by name and requested anonymity. Trump has repeatedly exaggerated the impact of El Paso's fencing on the city's crime rate, as well as statistics about crime committed by people who have entered the U.S. illegally. El Paso is home to one potential Democratic challenger to Trump, former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who unsuccessfully challenged Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018 and maintains an army of small-dollar donors and a large social media following. The campaign adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal thinking, insisted the venue had nothing to do with O'Rourke. But there was nothing subtle about O'Rourke's response: He'll be joining a march though his hometown to protest a border wall at the same time as Trump's rally. ___ Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Catherine Lucey contributed to this report. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - New Zealand's national carrier admitted a registration mistake turned back a flight to China over the weekend, prompting Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to say Monday that politics were not involved. She said the incident had no bearing on the relationship between the two nations and she wouldn't be seeking reassurance on that point from Chinese officials. "I see absolutely no need, given that Air New Zealand have said themselves that they know exactly what the issue was - that they did not meet requirements on behalf of China," she said. Ardern added, "I think it's important to be really clear and not confuse administrative and regulatory issues as issues to do with the relationship." In Beijing, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said failure to properly register was a breach of regulations. "They themselves noted this issue and made a U-turn," Hua told reporters at a daily briefing. FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2015, file photo, an Air New Zealand passenger plane flies past the moon on its way to the Los Angeles International Airport from London, in Whittier, Calif. New Zealand's national carrier admitted a registration mistake turned back a flight to China over the weekend, prompting Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to say Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, that politics were not involved. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File) Relations between China and New Zealand have been strained in recent months after New Zealand's spy agency in November halted mobile company Spark from using Huawei equipment in its planned 5G upgrade. The agency said the Chinese company's equipment posed a "significant network security risk." Under the previous conservative government, New Zealand had fostered much closer ties with China. New Zealand was the first developed nation to sign a free-trade deal with China in 2008, and China has since become New Zealand's largest trading partner. But New Zealand is also part of the "Five Eyes" security alliance that includes the U.S., Britain, Canada and Australia, which have also expressed concerns about Huawei. And under Ardern, New Zealand has embraced a warmer relationship with Japan. Since taking office in 2017, Ardern has yet to make a long-promised official visit to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. "Look, I have received an invitation from the Chinese administration to visit," she said Monday. "The outstanding issue simply is a matter of setting dates, and those have not been finalized yet." Air New Zealand Flight 289 from Auckland to Shanghai was about four-and-a-half or five hours into its journey Sunday when a "technicality" was discovered that meant the plane was not registered in China, the airline said. The flight returned to Auckland. "We know customers will be deeply disappointed and frustrated by this situation and we are very sorry for the disruption to their travel plans," the airline said. "These customers have now since arrived in Shanghai." Air New Zealand did not immediately respond to further questions on the incident. DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) - A public visitation will be held in Michigan to honor John Dingell, the longest-serving member of Congress in history, who died last week at age 92. The visitation will be Monday at Ford Community and Performing Arts Center in his hometown of Dearborn, a Detroit suburb. A funeral will be held Tuesday at a local church. His wife, Rep. Debbie Dingell, says another funeral will be held in Washington and that her husband will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery. Her office says former Vice President Joe Biden, Rep. John Lewis of Georgia and Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan will speak at the Tuesday service in Michigan. It says former President Bill Clinton, Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland and former House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio will speak at the Washington service Thursday. Dingell represented parts of southeastern Michigan in Congress for nearly 60 years before retiring in 2014. ___ FILE - In this May 7, 2014 file photo, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich. is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. Dingell, the longest-serving member of Congress in American history who mastered legislative deal-making and was fiercely protective of Detroit's auto industry, died Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019 at age 92, said his wife, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell. A public visitation will be held Monday, Feb. 11 at Ford Community and Performing Arts Center in his hometown of Dearborn, a Detroit suburb. A funeral will be held at a local church Tuesday. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke, File) See AP's complete coverage of John Dingell here: https://apnews.com/JohnDingell NEW YORK (AP) - Tory Burch was inspired by higher learning for her fall collection at New York Fashion Week. Specifically, she looked to Black Mountain College, a progressive school in North Carolina. "I'm amazed by how many people don't know about it," Burch said backstage. "It was founded in 1933, rural North Carolina and it's really where modern art started in America. Not started but really informed the trajectory of modern art." The collection shown Sunday featured an array of Burch's standard feminine dresses with sharp patterns and glitzy embellishments, but also straight-cut coats, shearling jackets layered over ruffled blouses and bold metallic accessories. She tailored trousers in herringbone and rolled out neutral sweaters, all with a back-to-school feel. The stars came out to see what Burch had to offer, including Zoe Saldana, Naomi Watts, Isabelle Huppert and Mindy Kaling. "I'm always looking forward to shopping. One hundred percent of the time," Kaling joked. Budding star Lana Condor of Netflix's "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" also attended during her very first fashion week. "This was on my bucket list - here, being here with Tory Burch is amazing. What else is on my bucket list? Go to Italy. Do an animation. Definitely. And I don't know. Jump out of a plane." BEIJING (AP) - A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves: ___ EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a weekly look at the latest developments in the South China Sea, the location of several territorial conflicts that have raised tensions in the region. ___ CHINA RESPONDS TO PHILIPPINE DEVELOPMENT ON THITU ISLAND Ships from the Chinese navy and coast guard along with fishing boats from its maritime militia have been deployed to keep watch on Philippine development work on the island of Thitu. In this Feb. 3, 2019, photo released by U.S. Marine's 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, an F-35B Lightning II with the F-35B detachment of Medium Marine Tiltrotor Squadron 262 (Reinforced) releases Guided Bomb Units on-target above the Pacific Ocean. The training mission demonstrated an "increase in lethality and integrated amphibious capability," it quoted Col. Robert Brodie, commanding officer of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit as saying. (Maj. Jesse Peppers/U.S. Marine Corps via AP) The appearance of the ships followed the start of work by Manila to build a new beaching ramp on the island that Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana says will be completed early this year, according to a report from think tank CSIS's Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative on Feb. 6. The island that is home to about 100 civilians and a small military garrison is the largest of the nine occupied by the Philippines in the Spratly islands and serves as its administrative center in the area. Thitu and is also claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam. The ramp will facilitate the delivery of construction equipment and material for upgrading the island's airstrip and other infrastructure, AMTI said. Bigger ships with deeper drafts would be able to offload supplies directly onto the island, rather than having to transfer them to smaller vessels as was the case before. Additionally, satellite imagery shows excavators depositing sand over a larger area to the north about the size of three city blocks, AMTI said. Lorenzana had earlier said there were plans to expand facilities on the island, including building a "fish port, desalination plant, solar power array, improved housing, and marine research facilities," AMTI said. AMTI says satellite photos show the number of Chinese vessels fluctuating from as high as 95 in December to just 42 by late January. It gave no word on any attempt by them to intervene in the ongoing work. "Manila appears intent on upgrading its facilities in the Spratlys despite any detente or objections from Beijing," AMTI said in its report. The Philippines' land reclamation efforts are much more modest than those of its neighbors in the Spratlys. Once completed, it will have created 3.2 hectares (8 acres) of reclaimed land in the island group in recent years, compared to about 49 hectares (120 acres) by Vietnam and 1,295 hectares (3,200 acres) by China. ___ US F-35B JETS TRAIN OVER THE PHILIPPINE AND EAST CHINA SEAS American F-35B Lightning II aircraft operating off the Navy's amphibious assault ship USS Wasp conducted "milestone flight operations" with weapons fully loaded in the Philippine and East China Seas, Jan. 26 through Feb. 6, the Marine Corps said. The training mission demonstrated an "increase in lethality and integrated amphibious capability," it quoted Col. Robert Brodie, commanding officer of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit as saying. The fifth-generation fighters carried CATM-9X air-to-air missiles and dropped 500-pound GBU-12 Paveway II and 1,000-pound GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munition bombs. "We achieved mission success by using the full capabilities of the F-35B at sea," Lt. Col. Michael Rountree, the F-35B detachment officer-in-charge was quoted as saying in a news release. Rountree said the planes engaged role-playing enemy aircraft and hit simulated targets before landing vertically on the Wasp. It was the first time such a level of training had been carried out by an operationally deployed F-35B detachment with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, Rountree said. While the area of operations was east of the South China Sea, the exercise illustrates the continuing U.S. military presence in the area, to which China routinely objects. ___ TOP CHINESE GENERAL STRESSES MARITIME LAW ENFORCEMENT FORCE A top Chinese general has emphasized the need for a "strong and modernized maritime law enforcement force" that has been a major participant in asserting Beijing's claims in the South China Sea. Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Gen. Xu Qiliang "required the officers and soldiers to be well-prepared for different cases, encouraging them to staunchly safeguard China's maritime rights and interests," the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing remarks he delivered at a Lunar New Year reception earlier this month at coast guard headquarters. Xu called for "solid practices to further develop the coast guard force, noting that it concerns the overall strategy of building China into a maritime power," Xinhua said. It said Xu's remarks specifically concerned ongoing patrols on the East China and South China Seas. China claims a group of tiny uninhabited islands in the East China Sea controlled by Japan and routinely sails coast guard vessels into the surrounding waters. In the South China Sea, coast guard vessels are used in lieu of navy ships to avoid outright confrontations and emphasize China's claim to virtually the entire waterway. Xu "also stressed steadily enhancing the coast guard's readiness to safeguard maritime rights and enforce the law on the sea and improving their capability to deal with related risks and challenges," Xinhua said. ___ This story has been corrected to show that it was the Marine Corps that was the source of information about the jet training. FILE - In this Oct. 22. 2018, file photo, China's Vice Chairmen of the Central Military Commission (CMC) Xu Qiliang waits for German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen before their meeting at the Ba Yi Building in Beijing. Xu has emphasized the need for a "strong and modernized maritime law enforcement force" that has been a major participant in asserting Beijing's claims in the South China Sea. (How Hwee Young/Pool Photo via AP, File) CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Australia's prime minister on Monday described his government as stronger on national security than the opposition after signing an agreement with the French government to deliver a fleet of submarines and ahead of federal elections expected to be held in May. Prime Minister Scott Morrison used a speech to Australia's National Press Club on the eve of Parliament's first sitting day of the year to detail his conservative coalition's record on a diverse range of security issues including military spending, stripping extremists of Australian citizenship, asylum seekers, contentious laws to prevent criminals from using encrypted communications, and domestic violence. Earlier, Morrison and French Defense Minister Florence Parly signed a new agreement to deliver the first of a fleet of 12 submarines to Australia in the early 2030s. French state majority-owned shipbuilder DCNS won the 56 billion Australian dollar ($40 billion) contract in 2016 to build the world's largest diesel-electric submarines. The partnering agreement was reached after months of heated negotiation. The agreement spells out details such as warranties for defects and how much Australia must pay if it cancels the contract. U.S. defense company Lockheed Martin Corp. has been contracted to design and fit the submarines' weapon systems. Parly hit out at critics of how long the negotiations had taken. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison holds a booklet as he delivers an address to the National Press Club in Canberra, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Morrison used the speech on the eve of Parliament's first sitting day of the year to detail his conservative coalition's record on a diverse range of security issues including military spending, stripping extremists of Australian citizenship, asylum seekers, contentious laws to prevent criminals using encrypted communications and domestic violence. (Lukas Coch/AAP Image via AP) "When I heard at some point ... whining about the length of negotiations, I thought: 'open your eyes. This is the deal of the century. This is a partnership for the century,'" Parly said. Morrison said his government was on track to boost defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product - a level demanded by President Donald Trump of U.S. allies - by 2020-21. When the center-left opposition Labor Party was last in office from 2007 to 2013, defense spending fell to 1.56 percent of GDP - Australia's lowest level since 1938. "Our government has demonstrated that we have the mettle to make the right calls on our nation's security," Morrison said. He said Labor's strength on border security could be tested this week when the opposition considers changing laws to allow doctors rather than bureaucrats to decide which asylum seekers held in Pacific island camps on Nauru and Papua New Guinea can fly to Australia for medical treatment. The conservative government has all but stopped asylum seekers from Asia, Africa and the Middle East coming by boat from Southeast Asian ports by insisting that no boat arrivals will ever be allowed to settle in Australia. The asylum seekers are banished to island camps where they face uncertain futures. But those allowed into Australia for hospital treatment typically get court injunctions that prevent their return to the islands. The government argues that if the law were changed, more than 1,000 asylum seekers, mostly males, would come to Australia from the islands within weeks, which would encourage thousands of new asylum seekers to head to Australia by boat from Indonesia. The change to legislation on medical evacuations was passed by the Senate with Labor's support in December. Morrison's government has lost its majority in the House of Representatives, where the change could become law as early as Tuesday. Morrison ruled out reaching any compromise with Labor on the change. "I know what compromise and poorly thought through changes can do to the borders," Morrison said. Eli Shakiba, an Iranian refugee on Nauru who will soon start a new life in the United States, urged lawmakers to change the system in which medical evacuation decisions are often argued in court. Shakiba is relocating after five years on Nauru under a 2016 bilateral deal for the United States to resettle up to 1,250 refugees rejected by Australia. "Please, I would like to ask you: Will you vote for this bill tomorrow in Parliament to bring sick people to Australia for treatment, or more of us will die here because of the Australian government ignoring doctors?" she told Australian Broadcasting Corp. in an appeal to lawmakers. Twelve asylum seekers have died on Nauru in the past five years. Senior opposition lawmaker Mark Dreyfus said Labor had decided late Monday to negotiate with independent lawmakers to amend the bill it had passed in the Senate to ensure the government has discretion to refuse medical transfers on security grounds. If the independents accept Labor's amendments, the government would become the first in 90 years to have a law passed against its wishes. Some in Labor fear the change would be perceived as a weakening of border security and result in a repeat of the 2001 election, in which a tough policy against asylum seekers helped the conservatives retain power. The conservatives were behind Labor in opinion polls in 2001 before Norwegian freighter MV Tampa rescued 433 Afghan asylum seekers from a sinking Indonesian fishing boat and attempted to deliver them to the nearest port, Australia's Christmas Island. Australia sent soldiers to stop the ship, which was diverted with its human cargo to Nauru under a new refugee policy. The conservative government was re-elected weeks later after a campaign that focused on a tough stance on asylum seekers. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The Pentagon's top official made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Monday to meet with U.S. commanders and Afghan leaders amid a push for peace with the Taliban. Pat Shanahan, the recently installed acting secretary of defense, said he has no orders to reduce the U.S. troop presence, although officials say that is at the top of the Taliban's list of demands in exploratory peace negotiations. Shanahan said he is encouraged that President Donald Trump's administration is exploring all possibilities for ending a 17-year war, the longest in American history. But he stressed that peace terms are for the Afghans to decide. Thus far the Taliban have refused to negotiate with the government of President Ashraf Ghani, calling it illegitimate. Washington is trying to break that impasse. "The Afghans have to decide what Afghanistan looks like. It's not about the U.S., it's about Afghanistan," Shanahan told reporters traveling with him from Washington. Later, Shanahan flew to a military base ringed by snow-capped hills where he met Afghan army commandos, who are regarded as the most capable element of the Afghan military. He told reporters the U.S.-trained commandos are increasingly on the offensive against the Taliban. Acting Secretary of Defense Pat Shanahan greets an Afghan commando at Camp Commando, Afghanistan on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. The unannounced visit is the first for the acting secretary of defense, Pat Shanahan. He previously was the No. 2 official under Jim Mattis, who resigned as defense chief in December. (AP Photo/Robert Burns) Zalmay Khalilzad, the administration's special envoy for Afghan peace talks, said Friday that although talks are in an early stage, he hopes a deal can be made by July. That is when Afghanistan is scheduled to hold a presidential election. Shanahan, a former Boeing executive who had never been in Afghanistan until Monday, was scheduled to meet with Ghani and other top government officials. Shanahan took over as acting secretary of defense on Jan. 1 after Jim Mattis submitted his resignation in December. Shanahan had been Mattis' No. 2. Shanahan's views on the Afghan war are not widely known. He said he would use this week's visit to inform his thinking and to report back to Trump. In testimony before Congress last week, Gen. Joseph Votel, the commander of U.S. Central Command, offered a largely optimistic view of Afghanistan, saying the current maneuvering between U.S. and Taliban negotiators is "our first real opportunity for peace and reconciliation since the war began." Votel noted that the Taliban are still capable of inflicting significant casualties on Afghan government forces. Just last week the insurgents killed some two dozen Afghan troops in an attack on an army base in northern Kunduz province. In addition to battling the Taliban, U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan are focused on an Islamic State affiliate known as ISIS-Khorasan, comprised of foreign fighters largely from Pakistan. "Left unchecked," Votel said in his report to Congress, ISIS-Khorasan "will continue to grow as a threat to our homeland." In his remarks to reporters during his flight to Kabul, Shanahan said that although the Islamic State presence in Syria "has been decimated," local Syrian security forces are needed to ensure stability. He said IS still has a global presence. "If something hasn't been completely eradicated, there is a risk of it returning," he said. Trump has taken an ambivalent approach to Afghanistan, saying his instinct upon entering office in 2017 was to withdraw. Yet he chose instead to add about 3,500 troops in 2017-2018 to bolster the U.S. effort to train and advise Afghan forces. After Mattis resigned in December, Trump insisted that he had been unhappy with how Mattis handled Afghanistan. Since then, the administration has said it achieved a tentative "framework" for fuller peace negotiations with the Taliban. "We do not know whether we will achieve an agreement," Trump said in his State of the Union address to Congress last week, "but we do know that after two decades of war, the hour has come to at least try for peace." Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan, center, arrives in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday morning, Feb. 11, 2019, to consult with Army Gen. Scott Miller, right, commander of U.S. and coalition forces, and senior Afghan government leaders. The unannounced visit is the first for the acting secretary of defense, Pat Shanahan. He previously was the No. 2 official under Jim Mattis, who resigned as defense chief in December. (AP Photo/Robert Burns) Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan, left, arrives in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday morning, Feb. 11, 2019, to consult with Army Gen. Scott Miller, right, commander of U.S. and coalition forces, and senior Afghan government leaders. The unannounced visit is the first for the acting secretary of defense, Pat Shanahan. He previously was the No. 2 official under Jim Mattis, who resigned as defense chief in December. (AP Photo/Robert Burns) If Hogans proposal goes through and the state pays the farmers dairy margin program premiums, Youve just put yourself at a profitable level for the year, Pyle said. You wont fall below that youll continue to be able to pay your bills, your employees, pay your taxes, manage your business and move on. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - From appearing in an R&B music video and trolling social media to vilify the new government, former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been combative before the start of his graft trial, linked to the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund that has battered the country's standing abroad. The trial was to start Tuesday, but Najib's lawyers won a delay of proceedings on Monday. Najib's lawyer, Farhan Read, said the Appeal Court allowed the delay pending an appeal over a technical issue that the defense says could impair the validity of the trial. No date has been set for the appeal hearing. Prosecutors couldn't immediately be reached for comment, but reportedly said it could delay the trial by up to two weeks. Anger over the 1MDB scandal led to Najib's spectacular election defeat nine months ago. U.S. investigators say more than $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB by associates of Najib between 2009 and 2014 and the ill-gotten gains were laundered through layers of bank accounts in the U.S. and other countries to finance Hollywood films and buy hotels, a luxury yacht, art works, jewelry and other extravagances. Some $700 million from the fund that Najib set up for Malaysia's economic development allegedly landed in his own bank account. One of only a few Southeast Asian leaders to be arraigned after losing office, Najib has denied any wrongdoing. He is charged with 42 counts of criminal breach of trust, graft, abuse of power and money laundering in one of Malaysia's biggest criminal trials. His wife Rosmah Mansor also has been charged with money laundering and tax evasion linked to 1MDB. She has pleaded not guilty and her trial has not been set. Instead of lying low ahead of his trial, Najib has fought back with a political makeover on social media that aims to transform his image from an out-of-touch elitist to a leader for the working class. FILE - In this Oct. 25, 2016, file photo, Malaysia's former Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, gives a press statement after his court hearing at Kuala Lumpur High Court in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is hardly lying low ahead of his corruption trial on charges related to the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund. (AP Photo/Yam G-Jun, File) A Malay-language catchphrase translating to "What's to be ashamed about, my boss?" was coined while he was campaigning in a by-election last month and has become his new rally cry. Expensive tailored suits have been replaced by hoodies and jeans. A picture Najib posted on social media showing himself posing on a Yamaha motorcycle with his new "'no-shame" meme resonated with many Malay youths disenchanted by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's new government. In another offbeat music video that he uploaded on social media, Najib slammed the new government as "liars" and crooned about the "slander and revenge" against him in a Malay-language rendition of the 1970's R&B soul hit "Kiss and Say Goodbye" by the American group, the Manhattans. He posts a dozen messages daily on social media, mostly mocking the new government and its policies, and touching on the plight of the needy. Last month while visiting vendors at a wet market, Najib jeered government leaders on Facebook: "Let the ministers sleep on this Saturday morning." Bridget Welsh, political science professor at the John Cabot University in Rome, said Najib is seeking to tap into anger from those who were displaced politically and those disappointed by the new government. "There will actually be two battles - that in the courtroom and that in the public - in which Najib has used a flush-funded social media machine to build support," said Welsh, a Southeast Asia expert. "He has fanned two sentiments - supposed political victimization and racial insecurity - stemming from the fact that Malay chauvinists do not have the same level of political power in the new government." Najib's online campaign isn't likely to extend beyond his Malay political base but it could split Malaysia along racial lines, she said. Ethnic Malays makeup about 60 percent of Malaysia's 32 million people, followed by large Chinese and Indian minorities. Despite his smiles and cool public persona, the patrician Najib - whose father and uncle were Malaysia's second and third prime ministers respectively - could face years in prison if convicted. Once a towering figure in politics and literally beyond the law, Najib has fallen from grace swiftly since his historic electoral loss last May 9, which led to the first change of government since Malaysia's independence from Britain in 1957. The new government soon after it took office reopened investigations into 1MDB that had been stifled under Najib. He and his wife were barred from leaving the country and grilled by anti-graft officials, and their properties were raided. Truckloads of luggage stashed with cash, jewelry and hundreds of expensive designer bags worth a staggering 1.1 billion ringgit ($270 million) were seized from their home and other properties. The trials for both Najib and his wife will be closely watched but are expected to be long-lasting as defense lawyers could appeals up to the top court. FILE - In this July 4, 2018, file photo, former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, arrives at a court house in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Najib is hardly lying low ahead of his corruption trial set to begin Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, on charges related to the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund. He's crooned about slander in an R&B video and vilified the current government on social media to counter portrayals of him as corrupt and out of touch. Najib denies wrongdoing and his lawyers are seeking delay.(AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File) FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2018, file photo, former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, walks out of courtroom at Kuala Lumpur High Court in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Najib is hardly lying low ahead of his corruption trial set to begin Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, on charges related to the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund. He's crooned about slander in an R&B video and vilified the current government on social media to counter portrayals of him as corrupt and out of touch. Najib denies wrongdoing and his lawyers are seeking delay.(AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File) WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - About 3,000 people who fled as a wildfire threatened a New Zealand town were allowed to return home Monday as firefighting conditions improved. Another 400 residents living in valleys near the fire aren't yet able to return, although officials hope they will be able to soon. Firefighters say they've gained the upper hand over the blaze thanks to favorable weather conditions. The forest fire began nearly a week ago on the South Island and burned 2,300 hectares (5,700 acres). It burned down one house and prompted evacuations beginning Friday. "It's a large fire, and the fact that we're able to get residents back into Wakefield this afternoon is extremely positive news," said Civil Defence Minister Kris Faafoi. He said residents who return need to be prepared to evacuate again if conditions change. But he added that he's hopeful valley residents will also be able to return home soon. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described the fire as "extraordinary" and "fairly unprecedented." In this Saturday Feb. 9, 2019 photo, rural firefighters battle a blaze at Teapot Valley near Nelson, New Zealand. About 3,000 people who fled as a wildfire threatened a New Zealand town were allowed to return home Monday as firefighting conditions improved. (Mark Mitchell/New Zealand Herald via AP) "The feedback that we've had from those who were at the frontline of this fire was that there was a real intensity to this fire, that the drought-like conditions they're experiencing contributed to that," Ardern said. About 190 firefighters, 10 helicopters and two planes were deployed to battle the fire. No significant rainfall is forecast in the area over the next two weeks, and authorities say they expect they will need to keep dampening down hotspots until March. Authorities believe the fire was started by sparks from farm equipment. Australia and New Zealand have been experiencing a hot Southern Hemisphere summer. Australia sweltered through its hottest month on record in January and there have been wildfires razing the south and flooding in the tropical north. New Zealand's weather hasn't been as extreme, although it did experience a heatwave over the last few days of January. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - When President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un first met in Singapore last year, there was pomp, there was circumstance, but there wasn't much substance. Before they meet again in Vietnam on Feb. 27-28, there's growing pressure that they forge a deal that puts them closer to ending the North Korean nuclear weapons threat. But what could that look like? Kim may be willing to dismantle his main nuclear complex. The U.S. may be willing to cough up concessions, maybe remove some sanctions. The question, however, is whether what's on offer will be enough for the other side. Here's a look at what each side could be looking for as Trump and Kim try to settle a problem that has bedeviled generations of policymakers. ___ FILE - In this June 27, 2008 file photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, the cooling tower of the Yongbyon nuclear complex is demolished in Yongbyon, North Korea, in a sign of its commitment to stop making plutonium for atomic bombs. When U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un first met in Singapore in 2018, there was pomp, there was circumstance, but there wasn't much substance. As they get ready to sit down again in Vietnam on Feb. 27-28, 2019, there's growing pressure that they forge a deal that puts them closer to ending the North Korean nuclear weapons threat. (Gao Haorong,/Xinhua via AP, File) DESTROYING A NUKE COMPLEX The North's Yongbyon (sometimes spelled Nyongbyon) nuclear complex, located about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Pyongyang, has facilities that produce both plutonium and uranium, two key ingredients in nuclear weapons. North Korea's state media have called the complex of a reported 390 buildings "the heart of our nuclear program." After a September meeting with Kim, South Korean President Moon Jae-in told reporters that Kim promised to dismantle the complex if the United States takes unspecified corresponding steps. Stephen Biegun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, recently said that Kim also committed to the dismantlement and destruction of North Korea's plutonium and uranium enrichment facilities when he met visiting Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last October. Since fresh diplomatic efforts began last year, the North has suspended nuclear and missile tests and dismantled its nuclear testing site and parts of its long-range rocket launch facility. But destroying the Yonbgyon complex would be Kim's biggest disarmament step yet and would signal his resolve to move forward in negotiations with Trump. There is worry among some, however, that the complex's destruction won't completely dispel widespread skepticism about North Korea denuclearization commitments. It would still have an estimated arsenal of as many as 70 nuclear weapons and more than 1,000 ballistic missiles. North Korea is also believed to be running multiple undisclosed uranium-enrichment facilities. "We could call (Yongbyon's destruction) a half-deal or a small-deal," said Nam Sung-wook, a professor at Korea University and a former president of the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank affiliated with South Korea's main spy agency. "It's really an incomplete denuclearization step" that matches past tactics meant to slow disarmament steps so it can win a series of concessions. ___ U.S. REWARDS To get the North to commit to destroying the Yongbyon complex, some experts say Trump needs to make important concessions. Those would likely need to include jointly declaring an end of the 1950-53 Korean War, opening a liaison office in Pyongyang, allowing North Korea to restart some economic projects with South Korea and possibly easing some sanctions on the North. Kim may most want sanctions relief to revive his country's dilapidated economy and bolster his family's dynastic rule. "For North Korea, abandoning the Yongbyon complex is a fairly big (negotiating) card ... so the North will likely try to win some economic benefits," said Chon Hyun-joon, president of the Institute of Northeast Asia Peace Cooperation Studies in South Korea. At the Singapore summit, Kim and Trump agreed to establish new relations between their countries and build a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. But they didn't elaborate on how to pursue those goals. North Korea has since complained about the lack of action by the United States, saying it already took disarmament steps, and returned American detainees and the remains of American war dead. The U.S. for its part suspended some of its military drills with South Korea, a concession to North Korea, which calls the exercises dress rehearsal for invasion. Kim and Moon agreed at the first of their three summits in 2018 to settle an end-of-war declaration. Moon said last month it could ease mutual hostility between Washington and Pyongyang, and accelerate North Korea's denuclearization. But some worry that a declaration ending the Korean War, which was stopped by an armistice and has yet to be replaced with a peace treaty, might provide North Korea with a stronger basis to call for the withdrawal of 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea. In his New Year's address, Kim also said he was ready to resume operations at a jointly run factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong and restart South Korean tours to the North's Diamond Mountain resort. Those are two of the now-dormant inter-Korean projects that supplied badly needed foreign currency for the impoverished North. ___ A BREAKTHROUGH? To make the Vietnam summit a blockbuster, Trump will likely need more than Yongbyon. A bigger deal would see a detailed accounting of North Korea's nuclear assets, and possibly shipping some North Korean nuclear bombs or long-range missiles out of the country for disabling. That would be costly. North Korea would likely demand a drastic easing of sanctions and a resumption of exports of coal and other mineral resources. A North Korean declaration of its nuclear program would provide invaluable information, if verified by U.S. intelligence, to Washington and others. It would offer looks at hidden nuclear fuel facilities and missile deployments, which is why Pyongyang has been reluctant to provide it. According to South Korean and other assessments, Yongbyon alone is estimated to have 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of weaponized plutonium, enough for six to 10 bombs, and a highly enriched uranium inventory of 250 to 500 kilograms (550 to 1,100 pounds), sufficient for 25 to 30 nuclear devices. Undisclosed uranium enrichment facilities would up the stockpile. Because of the difficulty involved, Trump may want to focus on the North's long-range missiles, which could, when perfected, pose a direct threat to the U.S. mainland. But such a partial deal would rattle many in South Korea and Japan, which are well within striking distance of North Korea's short- and medium-range missiles. If lower level officials can't lay the ground for a bigger deal ahead of the summit, the Kim-Trump meeting could be cancelled, said Lim Eul Chul, a professor at South Korea's Kyungnam University who has advised the Moon government on North Korea-related policies. FILE - This undated file image distributed Sept. 3, 2017, by the North Korean government, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at an undisclosed location. When U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un first met in Singapore in 2018, there was pomp, there was circumstance, but there wasn't much substance. As they get ready to sit down again in Vietnam on Feb. 27-28, 2019, there's growing pressure that they forge a deal that puts them closer to ending the North Korean nuclear weapons threat. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File) FILE - In this June 12, 2018, file photo, North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands at the conclusion of their meetings at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island in Singapore. When Trump and Kim first met in Singapore in 2018, there was pomp, there was circumstance, but there wasn't much substance. As they get ready to sit down again in Vietnam on Feb. 27-28, 2019, there's growing pressure that they forge a deal that puts them closer to ending the North Korean nuclear weapons threat (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool, File) FILE - This Aug. 29, 2017 file photo by the North Korean government shows what was said to be the test launch of a Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile in Pyongyang, North Korea. When U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un first met in Singapore in 2018, there was pomp, there was circumstance, but there wasn't much substance. As they get ready to sit down again in Vietnam on Feb. 27-28, 2019, there's growing pressure that they forge a deal that puts them closer to ending the North Korean nuclear weapons threat (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File) LONDON (AP) - When mysterious operatives lured two cybersecurity researchers to meetings at luxury hotels over the past two months, it was an apparent bid to discredit their research about an Israeli company that makes smartphone hacking technology used by some governments to spy on their citizens. The Associated Press has now learned of similar undercover efforts targeting at least four other individuals who have raised questions about the use of the Israeli firm's spyware. The four others targeted by operatives include three lawyers involved in related lawsuits in Israel and Cyprus alleging that the company, the NSO Group, sold its spyware to governments with questionable human rights records. The fourth is a London-based journalist who has covered the litigation. Two of them - the journalist and a Cyprus-based lawyer - were secretly recorded meeting the undercover operatives; footage of them was broadcast on Israeli television just as the AP was preparing to publish this story. All six of the people who were targeted said they believe the operatives were part of a coordinated effort to discredit them. "There's somebody who's really interested in sabotaging the case," said one of the targets, Mazen Masri, who teaches at City University, London and is advising the plaintiffs' attorney in the case in Israel. Masri said the operatives were "looking for dirt and irrelevant information about people involved." The details of these covert efforts offer a glimpse into the sometimes shadowy world of private investigators, which includes some operatives who go beyond gathering information and instead act as provocateurs. The targets told the AP that the covert agents tried to goad them into making racist and anti-Israel remarks or revealing sensitive information about their work in connection with the lawsuits. NSO has previously said it has nothing to do with the undercover efforts "either directly or indirectly." It did not return repeated messages asking about the new targets identified by the AP. American private equity firm Francisco Partners, which owns NSO, did not return a message from the AP seeking comment. The undercover operatives' activities might never have been made public had it not been for two researchers who work at Citizen Lab, an internet watchdog group that is based out of the University of Toronto's Munk School. In December, one of the researchers, John Scott-Railton, realized that a colleague had been tricked into meeting an operative at a Toronto hotel, then questioned about his work on NSO. When a second operative calling himself Michel Lambert approached Scott-Railton to arrange a similar meeting at the Peninsula Hotel in New York, Scott-Railton devised a sting operation, inviting AP journalists to interrupt the lunch and videotape the encounter. The story drew wide attention in Israel. Within days, Israeli investigative television show Uvda and The New York Times identified Lambert as Aharon Almog-Assouline, a former Israeli security official living in the plush Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Hasharon. By then, Scott-Railton and the AP had determined the undercover efforts went well beyond Citizen Lab. Within hours of the story's publication, Masri wrote to the AP to say that he and Alaa Mahajna, who is pursuing the lawsuit against NSO in Israel, had spent weeks parrying offers from two wealthy-sounding executives who had contacted them with lucrative offers of work and insistent requests to meet in London. "We were on our guard and did not take the bait," Masri wrote. Masri's revelation prompted a flurry of messages to others tied to litigation involving NSO. Masri and Scott-Railton say they discovered that Christiana Markou, a lawyer representing plaintiffs in a related lawsuit against NSO-affiliated companies in Cyprus, had been flown to London for a strange meeting with someone who claimed to be a Hong Kong-based investor. Around the same time, Masri found out that a journalist who had written about NSO was also invited to a London hotel - twice - and questioned about his reporting. "Things are getting more interesting," Masri wrote as the episodes emerged. ___ Like Almog-Assouline, the undercover operative the AP exposed in New York, the covert agents who pursued the lawyers made a string of operational errors. The attempt to ensnare Alaa Mahajna, the lead lawyer in the Israeli suit, was a case in point. On Nov. 26 he heard from a man who said his name was Marwan Al Haj and described himself as a partner at a Swedish wealth management firm called Lyndon Partners. Al Haj offered Mahajna an intriguing proposition. Al Haj said one of his clients, an ultra-rich individual with family ties to the Middle East, needed legal assistance recovering family land seized by Jewish settlers following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. "I believe you may be a good fit for this challenging task," Al Haj wrote. The request made sense. As a human rights lawyer based in Jerusalem, Mahajna has defended Palestinian activists and others at the receiving end of the Israeli government's ire. But Mahajna became suspicious as he tried to learn more about the case. Al Haj was cagey about his client and seemed unwilling to provide any paperwork, Mahajna told the AP. "Not even the basic stuff," Mahajna said. "Usually people flood you with documents and stories." Mahajna said he was unsettled when Al Haj suddenly offered him an all-expenses-paid trip to London; no one had even asked him whether the case had any hope of success. "At some point it was abundantly clear that this is not a bona fide approach," Mahajna said. Ten days later, Masri, the legal adviser in the Israeli lawsuit, received an email offering him a place on the advisory board of a Zurich-based company called APOL Consulting. Masri became skeptical after he checked out the company's website. Consulting firms typically trade on their employees' intelligence and skill, so Masri expected the company's site to prominently display the names, headshots and qualifications of its staff. "Here there wasn't even a name of one human," he said. When Masri turned down the position on APOL's board, the representative who'd contacted him - a man who called himself Cristian Ortega - pressed Masri to see him in London anyway. "I would consider it a privilege to have a chance to meet you in person for a friendly chat," Ortega said in a Jan. 7 email. "No strings attached of course." Masri said that by then he and Mahajna had come to believe that Ortega and Al Haj were fictions and that their companies were imaginary. But they didn't yet know how widespread the covert operations were. ___ The undercover agents got a little further with Christiana Markou, the lawyer who is pursuing the Cypriot case against NSO-affiliated entities. Her lawsuit, like Mahajna's, draws heavily on reports by Citizen Lab that found that NSO spyware had been used to break into the phones of the Mexican activists and journalists who are the plaintiffs in both cases. Markou told the AP she was approached over email Dec. 21 by a man who presented himself as Olivier Duffet, a partner at Hong Kong-based ENE Investments. Duffet was ostensibly interested in inviting Markou - a leading data protection and privacy lawyer in Cyprus - to give a lecture at a conference. Markou said she proposed discussing the lecture over Skype, but he insisted on an in-person meeting in London, eventually flying her out, putting her up in a fancy hotel and chatting for a little more than an hour. Most of the discussion revolved around the proposed lecture - but then Duffet suddenly pivoted to the NSO case, asking her whether she felt the lawsuit was winnable and who was funding it. Markou said she "gave either incorrect answers or expressly refused to answer" because she found his questions suspicious. Yet another target, Eyad Hamid, a London-based journalist who wrote a story about NSO, said he was also invited to a London hotel on two separate occasions to discuss his coverage of the Israeli company. The purported company used in the operation targeting him was Mertens-Giraud Partners Management, which was described as a Brussels-based wealth management firm. Neither MGP - nor any of the other companies - truly existed. The AP's searches of the Orbis database of some 300 million companies, local corporate registries and trademark repositories turned up no trace of a Swiss firm called APOL, a Swedish company called Lyndon partners, a Belgian company called Mertens-Giraud or a Hong Kong-based firm named ENE Investments. Local phone books didn't carry listings for a Zurich-based man named Cristian Ortega, a Hong Kong-based man named Olivier Duffet or anyone in Sweden bearing the name Marwan Al Haj. There was no hint of APOL when the AP visited its supposed office not far from Zurich's central train station; tenants said they'd never heard of the company. It was the same story in Hong Kong; a management representative at the Central Building, where ENE Investments was supposedly located, said he didn't know anything about the company. An AP journalist wasn't able to speak to anyone at Mertens-Giraud's alleged office on Brussels' Rue des Poissoniers; the entire building was boarded up for renovations. At the modern office block in downtown Stockholm where Lyndon Partners claimed to have its headquarters, service manager Elias Broberger said he could find no trace of the wealth management firm. "It says they are located here," Broberger said as he examined Lyndon Partners' professional-looking website. "But we don't have them in any of our systems: not the booking system; not the member system. We don't bill them; they don't bill us. "I can't find them." ___ Who hired the undercover agents remains unclear, but their operational and digital fingerprints suggest they are linked. The six operatives all began approaching their targets around the same time with individually tailored pitches. Their bogus websites followed the same patterns; all of them were hosted on Namecheap and many were bought at auction from GoDaddy and used the Israeli web design platform Wix. The formatting of the websites was similar; in at least two instances - MGP and Lyndon Partners - it was identical. Even the operatives' email signatures were the same - consisting of three neatly packed, colorful lines consisting of a phone number, web address and email. The operatives' LinkedIn pages were similar, too, featuring men in sunglasses shot from a distance, facing away from the camera, or at unusual angles - a tactic sometimes use to frustrate facial recognition algorithms. Despite the indications that the undercover agents are all linked, there is no conclusive evidence who they might work for. An Israeli television channel, Channel 12, broadcast a report on Saturday claiming that an Israeli private investigation firm, Black Cube, had been investigating issues around the lawsuits against NSO. The TV channel showed secretly shot footage of the Cypriot lawyer, Markou, and the London journalist, Hamid, which matched the pair's description of their encounters with undercover agents. The TV segment was critical of the lawyers suing NSO, and quoted NSO founder Shalev Hulio in an interview accusing Markou and her colleagues of pursuing the lawsuits as a "PR exercise." NSO has previously denied hiring Black Cube, and Black Cube in a letter sent last month to the AP said it was not involved in the effort to ensnare researchers at Citizen Lab. "Black Cube had nothing to do with these alleged events," the letter said, adding that no one acting on the company's behalf did either. Black Cube does have a possible tie to Almog-Assouline, the man who held the hotel meeting about NSO in New York. During a long-running Canadian legal battle between two private equity firms - Catalyst Capital and West Face Capital - one man caught up in the litigation said he recognized Almog-Assouline because he'd been approached by the same operative under a different identity several years ago. "I recognized the individual, down to the accent and the anecdotes," said the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. In court filings, Black Cube has acknowledged dispatching agents to meet with "various individuals" involved in in the private equity firms' feud. But it's unclear if other investigations firms might also have done work connected to the two companies' legal battle. Black Cube did not respond to repeated questions about whether it had ever employed Almog-Assouline. The firm previously drew international opprobrium for its unrelated work protecting the reputation of disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. Almog-Assouline himself denied working for Black Cube when two AP reporters confronted him in New York last month. He has refused to answer any questions since. When an AP reporter rang the door at his penthouse in Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Hasharon a week ago, a woman who identified herself as his wife said he wasn't home. When the reporter followed up with a phone call to Almog-Assouline, he said: "I have no interest in speaking to you." ___ Aron Heller in Ramat Hasharon, Israel, David Keyton in Stockholm, Sweden, Jamey Keaten in Zurich, Vincent Yu in Hong Kong, Sylvain Plazy in Brussels, Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Meneloas Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, contributed to this report. ___ Online: Documents related to the undercover operation: https://www.documentcloud.org/search/projectid:42174-Citizen-Lab-Undercover-Op ___ Raphael Satter can be reached on: http://raphaelsatter.com RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Republican U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. of North Carolina, a once-fervent supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq who later became an equally outspoken critic of the war, died Sunday on his 76th birthday. The congressman's office confirmed his death in a statement, saying Jones died in Greenville, North Carolina. His health declining in recent months, Jones entered hospice care in January after breaking his hip. He had been granted a leave of absence from Congress in late 2018 and was sworn in for his last term back home. Jones was a political maverick unafraid to buck his own party. He was one of the first Republicans to reverse direction on the war in Iraq, even as his North Carolina district included the sprawling Marine installation Camp Lejeune. His ultimate opposition to the Iraq war came with the irony that he instigated a symbolic slap against the French when their country early on opposed U.S. military action. Jones was among the House members who led a campaign that resulted in the chamber's cafeteria offering "freedom fries" and "freedom toast" - instead of French fries and French toast. Jones said he introduced legislation that would have required President George W. Bush's administration to begin withdrawing troops in 2006 because the reason given for invading Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, had proved false. "If I had known then what I know now, I wouldn't have supported the resolution" to go to war, Jones said in 2005. Jones took heat for his reversal from GOP colleagues. He ultimately signed well over 11,000 letters to the families of dead troops, describing that as a penance of sorts. FILE - In this Oct. 25, 2017, file photo, U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., points at a photograph of Marine Sgt. Michael Edward Bits of Ventura, Calif., the first military funeral he and his wife attended, and one of the many pictures of soldiers killed this century based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., along a hallway leading to his office on Capitol Hill in Washington. Jones, a once-fervent supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq who later became an equally outspoken Republican critic of the war, died Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, his 76th birthday. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) "For me, it's a sacred responsibility that I have to communicate my condolences to a family," Jones said in a 2017 interview with The Associated Press. "And it's very special to me because it goes back to my regretting that I voted to go into the Iraq war." Jones, who had served in Congress since 1995, had already announced his 2018 campaign would be his last. His death means Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper will schedule a special election to decide who will complete Jones' two-year term in the coastal 3rd Congressional District. State law requires the schedule include primary races as well in the GOP-leaning district. No specific dates are mandated in the law for the elections. Jones also was a relentless advocate for campaign finance reform and controlling the national debt. The fiscal and social conservative won unopposed in last November's general election after fending off Republican primary challengers stoked partly by Jones' willingness to dissent from the Washington leaders of his party. For example, he voted against the tax overhaul promoted by President Donald Trump and a "repeal and replace" plan for President Barack Obama's health care law. In a 2018 AP interview, Jones said that he wasn't afraid to oppose GOP leaders "when I don't think they're right." "It's absolutely about principle," he said. "When I leave Congress, I would rather have one thing said about me: 'I will never question Walter Jones' integrity.'" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a release that Jones' "relentless work on behalf of our men and women in uniform, veterans, military families and caregivers honored our American values and strengthened our country." "He will be long remembered for his tireless advocacy for eastern North Carolina, which he loved dearly, and for always following his convictions, no matter the political cost," added Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Either Jones or his father, Walter Jones Sr., represented eastern North Carolina in Congress for five decades. The elder Jones, a Democrat, represented the region from 1966 until his death in 1992. Walter Jones Jr., then also a Democrat, lost the party primary to succeed him. He became a Republican and was sent to Washington two years later. Walter Beamon Jones Jr. was born in Farmville in 1943. He attended Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia during high school and then graduated with a bachelor's degree from Atlantic Christian College - now known as Barton College - in 1966. He served in the North Carolina state House from 1982 through 1992, where he often clashed with Democratic leaders. He and Cooper were among 20 House Democrats who joined Republicans in toppling state Democratic Speaker Liston Ramsey from power in 1989. In a statement, Cooper on Sunday called Jones a longtime friend and "public servant who was true to his convictions and who will be missed." Survivors include his wife, Joe Anne, and a daughter, Ashley. Funeral arrangements weren't immediately announced. ___ Associated Press writers Jonathan Drew and Martha Waggoner contributed to this report. FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015, file photo, U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., R-N.C., holds up a copy of the Constitution while talking to reporters as House Republicans emerge from a closed-door meeting on how to deal with the impasse over the Homeland Security budget, at the Capitol in Washington. Jones, a once-fervent supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq who later became an equally outspoken Republican critic of the war, died Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, his 76th birthday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Latest on the blackface and sexual assault allegations involving Virginia's top three Democrats (all times local): 7:30 p.m. Virginia lawmakers on Monday will reluctantly face the unprecedented prospect of impeaching the state's second-most powerful leader as they struggle to address allegations of sexual assault leveled against the lieutenant governor. At least one lawmaker says he will try to pursue impeachment of Democratic Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax after two women accused Fairfax of sexual assault in the 2000s. Fairfax has vehemently denied the claims and called for authorities, including the FBI, to investigate. There's little sign of broad appetite for impeachment, with lawmakers set to finish this year's session by the month's end. But the Legislature is swirling with questions about lines of succession and the political fallout for Democrats should the governor, lieutenant governor or attorney general leave office, willingly or not. ___ Virginia Lt. Gov Justin Fairfax welcomes visitors to the gallery at the opening of the senate session at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019. A California woman has accused Fairfax of sexually assaulting her 15 years ago. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) 12:05 p.m. A Democratic Virginia congressman says Gov. Ralph Northam has lost too much credibility to remain in office after admitting that he wore blackface as a young man. Rep. Don Beyer called Northam's initial admission, and then denials, that he was in a racist photo "very bizarre." Northam later acknowledged he wore blackface at a separate event in the 1980s. Beyer tells CBS' "Face the Nation" that Northam has sacrificed too much of his ability to govern. Beyer also says he believes the two women who have accused Democratic Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault. Beyer says if you believe the women, there is "no choice" but to call for Fairfax's resignation. The congressman says Democratic Attorney General Mark Herring, who also admitted to wearing blackface, has been "very responsible" in owning up to his mistake. ___ 11:25 a.m. A Democratic Virginia congresswoman is standing by her call for Gov. Ralph Northam to resign after he admitted to wearing blackface in the 1980s. Rep. Jennifer Wexton spoke on CBS' "Face the Nation" after the network aired clips of an interview with Northam in which he expressed regret and said he wouldn't step down. Wexton says Northam, also a Democrat, has lost the confidence of Virginia voters and no longer can serve as an effective governor. Wexton also says she expects that Democratic Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax will "do the right thing for Virginia and resign," calling the allegations of sexual assault against him by two women "extremely credible." Wexton is withholding judgment on Democratic Attorney General Mark Herring, saying he came forward "proactively" in acknowledging that he, too, had worn blackface as a young man. ___ 11:10 a.m. After ignoring calls for his own resignation, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is declining to weigh in on whether the state's embattled lieutenant governor or its attorney general should step down. Northam said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation" that it's up to Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and Attorney General Mark Herring to make their own decisions. All three Democrats are embroiled in controversies involving race or sex. Northam said he supports Fairfax's call for an investigation into allegations of sexual assault by two women. Fairfax has vehemently denied the allegations. Herring admitted to wearing blackface in college. Northam said of Herring, that, "just like me, he has grown." The governor has ignored calls to resign since a racist photo from his 1984 medical school yearbook surfaced. He denies being in the photo. But he admitted to wearing blackface in 1984. ___ 10:50 a.m. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam says he thought about resigning in the days after a racist yearbook photo surfaced. The embattled Democrat told Gayle King of CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday that "Yes, I have thought about resigning." But he said he's in a position to lead and that "Virginia needs someone that can heal." He added: "That's why I'm not going anywhere." Northam said now is the time to take action and to employ government policies to address racial inequalities in the state. Northam has been ignoring widespread calls to resign. A photo of a man in blackface standing next to someone in Ku Klux Klan robes surfaced in his 1984 medical school yearbook. He denies he's in the photo, but has admitted to wearing blackface as part of a Michael Jackson costume that same year. __ 1 a.m. Virginia's embattled lieutenant governor is urging authorities to investigate sexual assault allegations made against him, but he is not heeding calls to resign and it's unclear what comes next for the once-rising star of the state Democratic Party. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax on Saturday issued a statement repeating his strong denials that he had ever sexually assaulted anyone. He also made clear he does not intend to immediately resign. At least one state lawmaker is calling for impeachment proceedings to begin, but there's little sign of a broad appetite for impeachment. Lawmakers are set to finish this year's legislative session by the end of the month. If an impeachment hearing does occur, though, an attorney for one of Fairfax's accusers says her client is willing to testify that Fairfax raped her while they were college students in 2000. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam talks during an interview at the Governor's Mansion, Saturday, Feb. 9, 2019 in Richmond, Va. The embattled governor says he wants to spend the remaining three years of his term pursuing racial "equity." Northam told The Washington Post that there is a higher reason for the "horrific" reckoning over a racist photograph that appeared in his medical school yearbook. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post via AP) Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam talks during an interview at the Governor's Mansion, Saturday, Feb. 9, 2019 in Richmond, Va. The embattled governor says he wants to spend the remaining three years of his term pursuing racial "equity." Northam told The Washington Post that there is a higher reason for the "horrific" reckoning over a racist photograph that appeared in his medical school yearbook. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post via AP) Virginia Lt. Gov Justin Fairfax looks over a briefing book prior to the start of the senate session at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019. A California woman has accused Fairfax of sexually assaulting her 15 years ago. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) FILE- In this Sept. 25, 2018, file photo, Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax gestures during remarks before a meeting of the Campaign to reduce evictions at a church meeting room in Richmond, Va. A California woman has accused Fairfax of sexually assaulting her 15 years ago, saying in a statement Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019, that she repressed the memory for years but came forward in part because of the possibility that Fairfax could succeed a scandal-mired governor. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, gavels the session to order at the start of the Senate session at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., Friday, Feb. 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, right, and his wife Pam, watch as the casket of fallen Virginia State Trooper Lucas B. Dowell is carried to a waiting tactical vehicle during the funeral at the Chilhowie Christian Church in Chilhowie, Va., Saturday, Feb. 9, 2019. Dowell was killed in the line of duty earlier in the week. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, Pool) FILE - In this Oct. 24, 2018 file photo, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announces a new Clergy Abuse Hotline his office is launching as he addressed a press conference at his office in Richmond, Va. Herring admitted to wearing blackface decades ago. In a statement issued Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019, Herring said he wore brown makeup and a wig in 1980 to look like a black rapper during a party as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia. (Bob Brown/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP, File) FILE-In this Saturday, Jan. 13, 2018 file photo, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring takes the oath of office during inaugural ceremonies at the Capitol in Richmond, Va. Herring, admitted Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019, to putting on blackface in the 1980s, when he was a college student. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) EL PASO, Texas (AP) - People walking over the Paso del Norte Bridge linking this West Texas border city to Mexico can watch President Donald Trump's border wall getting bigger in real time. Workers in fluorescent smocks can be seen digging trenches, pouring concrete and erecting rust-colored slabs of 18-foot-high metal to replace layers of barbed wire-topped fencing along the mud-colored Rio Grande, which is usually little more than a trickle. Most of the more than 70,000 people who legally cross four city bridges daily - to shop, go to school and work - pay the construction in the heart of downtown no mind. But on a recent weekday, one man stopped and pointed, saying simply "Trump." In his State of the Union address, the president said a "powerful barrier" had cut crime rates in El Paso. He's holding a rally here Monday to show why he's demanding more than 100 miles of new walls, costing $5.7 billion, along the 1,900-mile border, despite opposition from Democrats and some Republicans in Congress. But many in this city of dusty desert winds and blistering salsa, bristle at the prospect of their home becoming a border wall poster child. Trump said barriers turned El Paso from one of the nation's most dangerous cities to one of its safest, but that's not true. El Paso, population around 800,000, had a murder rate less than half the national average in 2005, a year before the most recent expansion of its border fence. That's despite being just across the border from drug violence-plagued Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. In this Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, photo, Mickie Subia gathers her laundry at her home in El Paso, Texas. Subia lives less than a block away from a border barrier that runs along the Texas-Mexico border in El Paso. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) Many residents say El Paso embodies a cross-border spirit that transcends walls rather than proving more are needed. "The richest of the rich, the poorest of the poor, we all have different reasons for wanting to cross, and people cross every day," said El Paso City Council member Peter Svarzbein. El Paso lays bare the mixed feelings the border inspires. Even native Beto O'Rourke, a former Democratic congressman now mulling a presidential run, says barriers are inevitable but that Trump's calls for an expanded wall are the "cynical rhetoric of war, of invasions, of fear." O'Rourke will help lead a Monday evening march opposing the wall with dozens of local civic, human rights and Hispanic groups at the same time Trump is holding his rally. Organizers expect thousands to turn out. "While some try to stoke fear and paranoia, to spread lies and a false narrative about the U.S.-Mexico border and to demand a 2,000-mile wall along it at a time of record safety and security, El Paso will come together for a march and celebration that highlights the truth," O'Rourke said in a statement. For centuries, virtually nothing but an often easily wadable Rio Grande stood between the city and Juarez. But worsening economic problems in Mexico increased the flow of immigrants into the United States in the 1970s, prompting Congress to approved chain-link fencing here and in San Diego dubbed the "Tortilla Curtain." More barriers were added in the 1990s and 2006. Public reaction to the security measures initially was positive in some quarters because it helped reduce vagrancy and petty crime. But many residents now complain that Trump's demands have gone too far, making their home sound like a war zone and offending both them and people from Mexico. "The border is fluid culturally, economically," said Cesar Blanco, a Democratic lawmaker who lives a stone's throw from the wall. "We are a binational community." Those who live near the wall say they see few people climbing the barriers now. In fiscal year 2017, about 25,000 people were apprehended in Border Patrol's El Paso sector, down from 122,000-plus in fiscal year 2006. Instead, those crossing illegally now tend to do so outside the city in desolate deserts where deaths from exposure have risen. Democrats argue that electronic sensors and patrols are a more effective answer for additional border security. The demand for more and bigger walls has become "the supreme symbol of racism," said Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights in El Paso. "Obviously he'll have some people attend his rally," he said of Trump, but "he cannot lie about what we're about.'" Many Republicans, though, insist the low crime rate here is not a coincidence. "There are regular shoot-outs near the border, dangerous narcotics trafficked," said recently elected Republican Congressman Chip Roy, who represents a district between Austin and San Antonio. "The good news is that we can stop this," Roy said in a post-State of the Union fundraising email championing a Trump-backed wall. The FBI's Uniform Crime Report shows that El Paso's annual number of reported violent crimes dropped from nearly 5,000 in 1995 to around 2,700 in 2016. But that corresponded to similar declines in violent crime nationwide and included times when the city's crime rates actually increased year-over-year, despite new fencing and walls. The towering barriers don't stop Juarez from almost seeming like another neighborhood in El Paso. From many places, you can see white city buses rumbling on the other side of the border and read green street signs marking that city's major thoroughfares in Spanish. Buildings more than a few stories tall in El Paso have sweeping views of downtown Juarez. Mickie Subia's single-story home in the historic, downtown Chihuahuita neighborhood is steps from the barrier, providing glimpses of Mexico through fencing and metal slats. She said the wall doesn't make her feel safer. "We don't have a problem with Border Patrol," Subia said. "We don't have a problem with anyone coming from over there, either." Dee Margo, El Paso's mayor and a former Republican state lawmaker, tweeted after the State of the Union that his city was "NEVER one of the MOST dangerous cities in the U.S.," adding that border walls are only partly the reason. "I'm really glad President Trump is coming here," he said in a subsequent interview. "I just hope we get chance to show him what it's really like on the border." ___ Associated Press writer Astrid Galvan contributed to this report. In this Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, photo, workers place sections of metal wall as a new barrier is built along the Texas-Mexico border near downtown El Paso. Such barriers have been a part of El Paso for decades and are currently being expanded, even as the fight over President Donald Trump's desire to wall off the entire U.S.-Mexico border. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) In this Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, photo, a new barrier is built along the Texas-Mexico border near downtown El Paso. Such barriers have been a part of El Paso for decades and are currently being expanded, even as the fight over President Donald Trump's desire to wall off the entire U.S.-Mexico border. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) In this Feb. 5, 2019 photo, President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, as Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., watch. In his State of the Union, President Donald Trump said a "powerful barrier" had cut crime rates and turned El Paso, Texas, from one of the nation's most dangerous cities to one of its safest. But many in El Paso, site of Trump's rally Monday night, say the city was safe for decades and embodies a cross-border spirit that transcends walls rather than prove they work. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) In this Monday, Jan. 21, 2019, photo, Mario Silva leaves his home on a bike in El Paso, Texas. Silva's home backs up to a border barrier that runs along the Texas-Mexico border in El Paso.n(AP Photo/Eric Gay) WASHINGTON (AP) - Bargainers clashed Sunday over whether to limit the number of migrants authorities can detain, tossing a new hurdle before negotiators hoping to strike a border security compromise for Congress to pass this coming week. The White House wouldn't rule out a renewed partial government shutdown if an agreement isn't reached. With the Friday deadline approaching, the two sides remained separated by hundreds of millions of dollars over how much to spend to construct President Donald Trump's promised border wall. But rising to the fore was a related dispute over curbing Customs and Immigration Enforcement, or ICE, the federal agency that Republicans see as an emblem of tough immigration policies and Democrats accuse of often going too far. Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, in appearances on NBC's "Meet the Press" and "Fox News Sunday," said "you absolutely cannot" eliminate the possibility of another shutdown if a deal is not reached over the wall and other border matters. The White House had asked for $5.7 billion, a figure rejected by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, and the mood among bargainers has soured, according to people familiar with the negotiations not authorized to speak publicly about private talks. "You cannot take a shutdown off the table, and you cannot take $5.7 (billion) off the table," Mulvaney told NBC, "but if you end up someplace in the middle, yeah, then what you probably see is the president say, 'Yeah, OK, and I'll go find the money someplace else.'" A congressional deal seemed to stall even after Mulvaney convened a bipartisan group of lawmakers at Camp David, the presidential retreat in northern Maryland. While the two sides seemed close to clinching a deal late last week, significant gaps remain and momentum appears to have slowed. Though congressional Democratic aides asserted that the dispute had caused the talks to break off, it was initially unclear how damaging the rift was. Both sides are eager to resolve the long-running battle and avert a fresh closure of dozens of federal agencies that would begin next weekend if Congress doesn't act by Friday. "I think talks are stalled right now," Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said Sunday on "Fox News Sunday." ''I'm not confident we're going to get there." FILE- In this July 11, 2018, file photo Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and Director of the Office of Management, listens during a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington. White House Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney isn't setting any lofty goals for this weekend's meeting with a bipartisan mix of legislators at Camp David, but he is trying to build relationships across the aisle. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who appeared on the same program, agreed: "We are not to the point where we can announce a deal." But Mulvaney did signal that the White House would prefer not to have a repeat of the last shutdown, which stretched more than a month, left more than 800,000 government workers without paychecks, forced a postponement of the State of the Union address and sent Trump's poll numbers tumbling. As support in his own party began to splinter, Trump surrendered after the shutdown hit 35 days without getting money for the wall. This time, Mulvaney signaled that the White House may be willing to take whatever congressional money comes - even if less than Trump's goal - and then supplement that with other government funds. "The president is going to build the wall. That's our attitude at this point," Mulvaney said on Fox. "We'll take as much money as you can give us, and we'll go find the money somewhere else, legally, and build that wall on the southern border, with or without Congress." The president's supporters have suggested that Trump could use executive powers to divert money from the federal budget for wall construction, though it was unclear if he would face challenges in Congress or the courts. One provision of the law lets the Defense Department provide support for counterdrug activities. But declaring a national emergency remained an option, Mulvaney said, even though many in the administration have cooled on the prospect. A number of powerful Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have also warned against the move, believing it usurps power from Congress and could set a precedent for a future Democratic president to declare an emergency for a liberal political cause. The fight over ICE detentions goes to the core of each party's view on immigration. Republicans favor tough enforcement of immigration laws and have little interest in easing them if Democrats refuse to fund the Mexican border wall. Democrats despise the proposed wall and, in return for border security funds, want to curb what they see as unnecessarily harsh enforcement by ICE. People involved in the talks say Democrats have proposed limiting the number of immigrants here illegally who are caught inside the U.S. - not at the border - that the agency can detain. Republicans say they don't want that cap to apply to immigrants caught committing crimes, but Democrats do. In a series of tweets about the issue, Trump used the dispute to cast Democrats as soft on criminals. He charged in one tweet: "The Border Committee Democrats are behaving, all of a sudden, irrationally. Not only are they unwilling to give dollars for the obviously needed Wall (they overrode recommendations of Border Patrol experts), but they don't even want to take muderers into custody! What's going on?" Democrats say they proposed their cap to force ICE to concentrate its internal enforcement efforts on dangerous immigrants, not those who lack legal authority to be in the country but are productive and otherwise pose no threat. Democrats have proposed reducing the current number of beds ICE uses to detain immigrants here illegally from 40,520 to 35,520. But within that limit, they've also proposed limiting to 16,500 the number for immigrants here illegally caught within the U.S., including criminals. Republicans want no caps on the number of immigrants who've committed crimes who can be held by ICE. As most budget disputes go, differences over hundreds of millions of dollars are usually imperceptible and easily solved. But this battle more than most is driven by political symbolism - whether Trump will be able to claim he delivered on his long-running pledge to "build the wall" or newly empowered congressional Democrats' ability to thwart him. Predictably each side blamed the other for the stall in negotiations. "We were, you know, progressing well," Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga., said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." ''I thought we were tracking pretty good over the last week. And it just seems over the last 24 hours or so the goalposts have been moving from the Democrats." House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth, D-Ky., countered by telling the same show, "The numbers are all over the place." "I think the big problem here is this has become pretty much an ego negotiation," Yarmouth added. "And this really isn't over substance." ___ Associated Press writers Hope Yen, Andrew Taylor and Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Julie Walker in New York contributed to this report. ___ Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire and Fram at http://twitter.com/@asfram WASHINGTON (AP) - The National Enquirer committed neither extortion nor blackmail by threatening to publish intimate photos of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, an attorney for the head of the tabloid's parent company said Sunday. Elkan Abromowitz, an attorney for American Media Inc. chief executive David Pecker, said on Sunday a "reliable source" well-known to Bezos and his mistress provided the story about the billionaire's extramarital affair. Bezos has said AMI threatened to publish the explicit photos of him unless he stopped investigating how the Enquirer obtained his private exchanges with his mistress, former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez, and publicly declare that the Enquirer's coverage of him was not politically motivated. Bezos also owns The Washington Post. Bezos' investigators have suggested the Enquirer's coverage of his affair was driven by dirty politics, and the high-profile clash has pitted the world's richest man against the leader of America's best-known tabloid, who is a strong backer of President Donald Trump. Trump has been highly critical of Bezos over his ownership of The Washington Post and Amazon, and the Post's coverage of the White House. Federal prosecutors are looking into whether the Enquirer violated a cooperation and nonprosecution agreement that recently spared the gossip sheet from charges for paying hush money to a Playboy model who claimed she had an affair with Trump, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday. The people weren't authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity. But asked during an interview with ABC's "This Week" whether he was concerned the Bezos matter could jeopardize the noncooperation agreement, Abramowitz said: "Absolutely not." FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2014 photo, David Pecker, Chairman and CEO of American Media, addresses those attending the Shape & Men's Fitness Super Bowl Party in New York. An attorney for the head of the National Enquirer's parent company says the tabloid didn't commit extortion or blackmail by threatening to publish Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' explicit photos. Elkan Abramowitz represents American Media Inc. CEO David Pecker. He defended the tabloid's practice as a "negotiation" in an interview Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, with ABC News. (Marion Curtis via AP, File) Abramowitz defended the tabloid's handling of the situation as part of a standard legal negotiation. "I think both Bezos and AMI had interests in resolving their interests," Abramowitz said. "It's absolutely not a crime to ask somebody to simply tell the truth. Tell the truth that this was not politically motivated, and we will print no more stories." Bezos' affair became public when the Enquirer published story on Jan. 9 about his relationship with Lauren Sanchez, who is also married. Bezos then hired a team of private investigators to find out how the tabloid got the texts and photos the two exchanged. Bezos' personal investigators, led by his security consultant Gavin de Becker, have focused on Sanchez's brother, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Michael Sanchez is his sister's manager, a Trump supporter and an acquaintance of Trump allies Roger Stone and Carter Page. Abramowitz would not comment when asked whether Michael Sanchez was the Enquirer's source but said that "Bezos and Ms. Sanchez knew who the source was." Michael Sanchez has declined to speak with AP on the record. In a Jan. 31 tweet, he said without evidence that de Becker "spreads fake, unhinged conservative conspiracy theories." Investigators working for Bezos have identified who they believe provided text messages to the Enquirer, the person familiar with the matter told the AP on Sunday. Bezos' investigators concluded their probe into the text message leak and turned over the results to attorney Richard Ben-Veniste for review and possible referral to law enforcement, the person said. Ben-Veniste had served as special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal. In his blog post on Thursday, Bezos alluded to a possible relationship between Saudi Arabia and AMI, but Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi Arabia's minister of state of foreign affairs, said he had "no idea" about such a relationship and doubted the kingdom played any role in urging AMI to run negative stories about Bezos. Last year, the tabloid produced a glossy magazine that included 97 pages saluting Saudi Arabia, ahead of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's arrival in the U.S. on a public relations blitz to transform his country's image. "It's like a soap opera," al-Jubeir said of Bezos' allegations during a roundtable on Friday with reporters in Washington. Asked about AMI's recent $450 million debt restructuring, Abramowitz said "not a penny" of that money came from the Saudi kingdom. The company had sought financing from the Saudis but never received any, he said. After Bezos on Thursday posted the exchanges with AMI in an extraordinary blog post on Medium.com, several celebrities and journalists posted on social media that they too had been threatened by AMI. Ronan Farrow said he and "and at least one other prominent journalist" involved in reporting on the tabloid had "fielded similar 'stop digging or we'll ruin you' blackmail efforts from AMI" and actor Terry Crews alleged the company tried to "silence him" by "fabricating stories of me with prostitutes." Abramowitz said he didn't know of any AMI employees blackmailing celebrities or journalists or "committing any crime at all." In recent months, the Trump-friendly tabloid acknowledged secretly assisting Trump's White House campaign by paying $150,000 to Playboy centerfold Karen McDougal for the rights to her story about an alleged affair with Trump. The company then buried the story until after the 2016 election. Trump's longtime personal attorney and fixer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty last year to charges that included helping to broker that transaction. As part of a nonprosecution agreement in that case, AMI promised not to break the law. The deal requires top executives, including Pecker and the Enquirer's editor, Dylan Howard, to cooperate with federal prosecutors. A violation of the agreement could lead to criminal charges over the McDougal payments. ___ Associated Press writers Zeke Miller in Washington and Michael R. Sisak and Jim Mustian in New York contributed to this report. MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Sunday joined the growing group of Democrats jostling to be president and positioned herself as the most prominent Midwestern candidate in the field, as her party tries to win back voters in a region that helped put Donald Trump in the White House. "For every American, I'm running for you," she told an exuberant crowd gathered on a freezing, snowy afternoon at a park along the Mississippi River with the Minneapolis skyline in the background. "And I promise you this: As your president, I will look you in the eye. I will tell you what I think. I will focus on getting things done. That's what I've done my whole life. And no matter what, I'll lead from the heart," the three-term senator said. Klobuchar, who has prided herself for achieving results through bipartisan cooperation, did not utter Trump's name during her kickoff speech. But she did bemoan the conduct of "foreign policy by tweet" and said Americans must "stop the fear-mongering and stop the hate. ... We all live in the same country of shared dreams." And she said that on her first day as president, she would have the U.S. rejoin an international climate agreement that Trump has withdrawn from. Trump responded to Klobuchar's announcement with a tweet mocking her stance on global warming, a phenomenon he has disputed in the past. He wrote that Klobuchar talked proudly "of fighting global warming while standing in a virtual blizzard of snow, ice and freezing temperatures. Bad timing. By the end of her speech she looked like a Snowman(woman)!" Trump often overlooks evidence of record global warming and conflates cold spells and other incidents of weather with climate, which is long-term. Klobuchar also spoke of the need to "heal the heart of our democracy and renew our commitment to the common good." Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar addresses a snowy rally where she announced she is entering the race for president Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) Asserting Midwestern values, she told a crowd warmed by hot chocolate, apple cider, heat lamps and bonfires: "I don't have a political machine. I don't come from money. But what I do have is this: I have grit." Klobuchar, who easily won a third-term last year, has pointed to her broad appeal across Minnesota as she has discussed a 2020 run. She has drawn support from voters in urban, suburban and rural areas, including in dozens of counties Trump won in 2016. She has said that success could translate to other Midwestern states such as Michigan and Wisconsin, reliably Democratic in presidential races for decades until Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton. She said the country's "sense of community is fracturing" today, "worn down by the petty and vicious nature of our politics. We are all tired of the shutdowns and the showdowns, the gridlock and the grandstanding." The list of Democrats already in the race features several better-known senators with the ability to raise huge amounts of money - Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. The field soon could expand to include prominent Democrats such as former Vice President Joe Biden of Delaware and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. A Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom poll conducted by Selzer & Company in December found that Klobuchar was largely unfamiliar to likely Iowa caucus-goers, with 54 percent saying they didn't know enough about her to have an opinion, while 38 percent had a favorable opinion and 8 percent had an unfavorable opinion. "She starts out perhaps with a better understanding of Midwestern voters, but I think she faces the same hurdles every one of them face, which is: Are Iowans going to find them either the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump or the candidate that most aligns with their ideologies and issues?" said John Norris, a longtime Iowa-based Democratic strategist. "I don't know that coming from Minnesota gives her any advantage with Iowans." Klobuchar, 58, is known as a straight-shooting, pragmatist willing to work with Republicans, making her one of the Senate's most productive members at passing legislation. The rally took place not far from the Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi. The span was built after the previous bridge collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people. Klobuchar had worked with then Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., to help fund the new bridge and get it completed at a faster-than-usual pace. "We worked across the aisle to get the federal funding and we rebuilt that I-35W bridge - in just over a year. That's community. That's a shared story. That's ordinary people doing extraordinary things," she said. Klobuchar's focus in recent months has included prescription drug prices, a new farm bill and election security. She supports the "Green New Deal," a Democratic plan proposed this past week to combat climate change and create thousands of jobs in renewable energy. But her legislative record has drawn criticism from both the GOP and some fellow Democrats. Some Republicans say Klobuchar is able to get things done because she pushes smaller issues. Some progressives say she lacks the kind of fire and bold ideas needed to bring significant change and excite voters. Klobuchar on Sunday also responded to reports in BuzzFeed and HuffPost that she has mistreated staff, saying she "can be tough" but has many staff members who've worked for her for many years. "I can push people. I know that," she told reporters after the event. "I have I'd say high expectations for myself, I have high expectations for the people who work for me, but I have high expectations for this country. And that's what we need. We need someone who is focused on getting things done for this country." Klobuchar, a lawyer and the former prosecutor in Minnesota's largest county, raised her national profile during a Senate Judiciary Committee last fall for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexually assaulting a woman when they were both in high school. When Klobuchar asked Kavanaugh whether he ever had had so much to drink that he didn't remember what happened, he turned the question around. He asked Klobuchar, "Have you?" Unruffled, Klobuchar continued as Kavanaugh asked again. Kavanaugh later apologized to Klobuchar, whose father is an alcoholic. "When you have a parent who's an alcoholic, you're pretty careful about drinking," she said. "I was truly trying to get to the bottom of the facts and the evidence." Among the other Midwestern lawmakers who could also seek the nomination are Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who has been visiting early voting states, and Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who established an exploratory committee last month. Klobuchar campaigned with Democrats in Iowa last fall, and in December spoke to progressive farmers and activists about the importance of bridging the divide between urban and rural areas. She said the lesson learned after the 2016 election was "we are not going to leave the Midwest behind." "This is the moment for the Midwest," she said, "and we don't want to be forgotten again in a national election." ___ AP Polling Editor Emily Swanson in Washington contributed to this report. ___ This story has been corrected to show the bridge Klobuchar referenced is the Interstate 35W bridge, not the Interstate 35 bridge. Rally goers attend a rally where Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota announced she is entering the race for president Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) FILE - In this Jan. 15, 2109 file photo, Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Volunteers Tim Schumann, left, and Chase Cushman move an "Amy for America" sign into place Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, prior to Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar's announcement of her decision in the race for president at a rally in Minneapolis. (Anthony Souffle/Star Tribune via AP) Volunteer Tim Schumann grills his lunch over an open flame in one of the warming areas Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, prior to Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar's announcement of her decision in the race for president at a rally in Minneapolis. (Anthony Souffle/Star Tribune via AP) Supporters cheer as a DJ takes the stage before U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar's announcement to run for president, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, from Boom Island Park, in Minneapolis. (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP) Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, left, addresses a snowy rally where she announced she is entering the race for president Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) Snow falls as rally goers wait at Boom Island Park for the arrival of Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar and her announcement of her decision in the race for president at a rally Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) The combined North and Patrick Henry High School drum corps keeps warm in the parking lot Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, before taking part in Sen. Amy Klobuchar's announcement to run for president from a snowy Boom Park, in Minneapolis. (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP) "Few historic structures remain at the western end of the community as a result of the expanding commercial and governmental activities of Towson, which is the county seat, the Maryland Historical Trust inventory says. "Large-scale housing with commercial space on the first floor and office buildings have been constructed on the now-joined building lots that were created as part of East Towson, thereby blurring the edges of the neighborhood with that of Towson-proper. Furthermore, many of the historic structures in this section of East Towson have been lost in favor of parking lots. It is the first time in decades that an Australian government has lost a vote on a substantive piece of legislation Australia's conservative minority government suffered a damaging political defeat Tuesday, becoming the first administration in nearly a century to lose a vote on major legislation and sparking calls for a snap election. Despite a bruising and highly personal lobbying effort, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was defeated by MPs who insisted refugees held in offshore facilities have the right to be transferred to Australia for medical treatment. It is the first time in decades that an Australian government has lost a vote on a substantive piece of legislation, sparking applause and cheers from observers in the parliamentary viewing gallery in Canberra. Morrison lost his parliamentary majority last year and has been relying on crossbenchers to keep control of the lower House of Representatives. But the 75-74 vote -- which came on the first sitting day of parliament this year -- in favour of the refugee bill opposed by the government is a blow to the already embattled prime minister and raised questions about whether he can remain in office. When the sitting government last lost a vote on substantive legislation in 1929, then prime minister Stanley Bruce immediately called an election, and lost it. The government of prime minister Arthur Fadden lost a symbolic budget vote in 1941 and immediately resigned. - No snap election - Morrison ruled out calling a snap election, saying the vote was not a no-confidence motion in his government and he was still planning for a national poll in May. "These are not matters that go to issues of confidence and I don't consider them in those terms," Morrison told reporters in Canberra. The bill passed with the support of the main opposition Labor Party and crossbenchers from the left-leaning Greens and independent MPs. Many of the independent MPs have indicated they want the government to serve its full term, which ends in May. The bill, which is an amendment to government legislation, was first passed by the upper house in December, and will return to the Senate for a vote on Wednesday after several changes were made to it. It is expected to pass as the coalition does not have the numbers in the upper house to block it. The push to speed up medical evacuations was first made by independent MP Kerryn Phelps last year after she won the Liberal Party stronghold of Wentworth when former PM Malcolm Turnbull was ousted in a party coup. Since then, the government had lurched from crisis to crisis, and a disastrous showing in elections in Victoria state intensified expectations it is heading for defeat in May. The vote in favour of the bill came amid growing concern about the wellbeing of asylum-seekers sent to Nauru and Papua New Guinea, with reports of abuse, suicide and lengthy detention periods. Under a harsh policy meant to deter asylum-seekers from reaching Australia by boat, Canberra sends arrivals to the camps for processing and barred them from resettling in Australia. Rights groups praised the vote, with the Human Rights Law Centre calling it a "watershed moment in refugee politics and Australian history". Libya has been torn between rival groups since dictator Moamer Kadhafi was overthrown in 2011 -- among them forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar like these on patrol in the southern city of Sebha The African Union on Monday called for a global conference in July to try to resolve the conflict in Libya, with the aim of holding elections in October. A statement said it would like to hold "an international conference on reconciliation in Libya under the auspices of the AU and the UN" during the first half of July. Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj leads Libya's internationally recognised Government of National Accord based in Tripoli It also requested the AU Commission "to take, jointly with the United Nations and the Libyan government, all the necessary measures for the organisation of presidential and legislative elections in October 2019." The AU's current chief, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has underscored the need for "African solutions to African problems." Libya has been torn between rival administrations and a myriad of militias since the NATO-backed overthrow and killing of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. Chief among them are an internationally recognised Government of National Accord led by Fayez al-Sarraj in Tripoli and a parallel administration in the east loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar. Map showing zones of control in Libya as of February 6, 2019 The political chaos and insecurity benefits jihadist groups, which have carried out numerous attacks in recent years, including more than 20 in 2018 against institutions linked to the GNA and Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army. A diplomat at the AU summit in Addis Ababa told AFP that African leaders viewed in a very bad light what they termed as "outside interference in Africa." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opens the weekly cabinet meeting at his Jerusalem office on February 10, 2019 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran on Monday that this year could be the last time it celebrates the anniversary of its Islamic revolution if it attacks Israel. "I do not ignore the threats of the Iranian regime but neither am I intimidated by them," Netanyahu said in a statement and video issued by his office as Iran celebrated the 40th anniversary of its revolution. "If this regime makes the awful mistake of trying to destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa, it will not succeed," the Israeli leader said. "However, this would be the last anniversary of the revolution that they celebrate. They should take this into account," Netanyahu said in a warning to his country's archfoe. Celebrations culminated in Iran on Monday for the February 1-11 period in 1979 when the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from exile and ousted the pro-Western shah. US House Democrat Ilhan Omar faced intensifying criticism after she tweeted on February 10, 2019 insinuating that US congressional support for Israel is fuled by funding from pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC Ilhan Omar, one of the first two Muslim women in the US Congress, drew stern rebukes from Republicans and fellow Democrats Monday after suggesting US support for Israel is fueled by money from the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC. The Minnesota freshman has faced criticism for weeks over her positions on the Jewish state, but it boiled over late Sunday after she reacted to a Republican critic in a tweet. "It's all about the Benjamins baby," Omar replied, referring to American $100 bills featuring the likeness of Benjamin Franklin. When a user asked who Omar believes is paying US politicians to support Israel, the former Somali refugee tweeted a one-word response: "AIPAC!" The exchanges triggered an uproar. Democrat Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee of which Omar is a member, said: "Anti-Semitism in any form is unacceptable, and it's shocking to hear a Member of Congress invoke the anti-Semitic trope of 'Jewish money.'" Liz Cheney, a top Republican leader in the House of Representatives, urged Democratic leaders to "condemn this anti-Semitism" and remove Omar from the committee. Two Democratic lawmakers circulated a letter addressed to Democratic leaders, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, urging them to take "swift action" against anti-Semitic language by members. The letter's authors, representatives Josh Gottheimer and Elaine Luria, who are both Jewish, did not mention Omar by name, but the target of their anger was clear. "We must speak out when any Member -- Democrat or Republican -- uses harmful tropes and stereotypes, levels accusations of dual loyalty, or makes reckless statements like those yesterday," they wrote. Omar has been critical of Israel's government over its treatment of Palestinians. She has supported the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement which aims to put economic and political pressure on Israel. Omar and fellow Muslim congressional freshman Rashida Tlaib's support for the boycott has opened a breach in the Democratic Party and threatens to create a fissure in the ironclad US-Israeli alliance. At least a dozen lawmakers have openly criticized Omar, including Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the first Jewish congresswoman elected from Florida. Omar's "tweets implying that American support for Israel is driven by money, rather than shared interests and values, are alarming, offensive and disturbing," Wasserman Schultz said. Last month Omar expressed regret for saying in a 2012 tweet that Israel "has hypnotized the world" while carrying out "evil." A woman claiming to be a 31-year-old from France who fled the Islamic State group's last pocket in Syria sits in the back of a truck, near Baghouz, eastern Syria, on February 11, 2019 Two French women who fled the Islamic State group's last pocket in Syria told AFP on Monday more foreigners were trapped inside, barred from leaving by Iraqi jihadists. The Muslim converts said they paid smugglers to take them out of the battered IS-held holdout of Baghouz to territory held by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. They said "massacres" had taken place in Baghouz, where others are still trapped with "nothing to eat". "There are many French, many muhajireen (foreigners who joined IS) and others who are trying to leave but they (IS) don't let us," said one. "They said only the Syrians and Iraqis can be smuggled out," said the woman, who said her first name was Christelle, from the city of Bordeaux. She spoke to AFP from the back of a pickup truck packed with women and wailing children who would be taken to Kurdish-run prison camps in northern Syria. Her two children, one and three, were laying on her lap, but she said her husband had died. "What do I ask the French government? Just let me keep my kids. I just want my kids," she said. Women and children huddle together in the back of a truck near Baghouz, eastern Syria, on February 11, 2019 France has said it is considering repatriating around 130 of its nationals currently held by Kurdish authorities in Syria, but Christelle was not keen to go home. "I would prefer to return to a different country where there is more Islam. We can't practise our religion (fully) in France," she said. Like everyone else in the truck, Christelle kept her black veil on but her skeletal, dirty hands were visible. She wore a cheap-looking silver ring. She told AFP that she converted to Islam and entered Syria in 2014 "for religion". Initially happy under the group, she now felt "tricked". "Propaganda. 'Come to us, look at this beautiful life.' We were robbed," she said. - No return? - "Of course we regret it. We lost everything by coming here," adding sourly of IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: "His family isn't being massacred in there." A group of unidentified women displaced from Deir Ezzor sit in the back of a truck after they fled the Islamic State holdout near Baghouz, eastern Syria, on February 11, 2019 She said she had never seen Baghdadi or senior French jihadists Jean-Michel and Fabien Clain, all of whom are still at large. But, she claimed, the group's Iraqi leadership "left a long time ago". "Daesh is Iraqis. It's not an Islamic state, it's an Iraqi state," she said, using a Arabic acronym for IS. A second French woman who escaped and was aboard the same truck said she also hoped to keep her two remaining children with her -- but not necessarily in France. "They don't let us live our religion (to the full) in France. We have no rights. You cannot wear the niqab," she said of the full veil. She kept hers on during the interview, with only her pale blue eyes visible. Also a Muslim convert, she said she left France in 2012 because of pressure by French authorities to assimilate or leave. "So we left," she said frankly. Drivers said a total of 18 foreigners were among dozens of civilians fleeing IS's last pocket in Syria on Monday About 10 other trucks packed with fleeing civilians were parked on a plain outside of Baghouz. Locals driving the trucks said a total of 18 foreigners were among the dozens of civilians there on Monday, including Russians, Turks, and Ukrainians. Journalists clamoured over the edges of the trucks to find non-Arabs among the fleeing civilians, shouting "France? France?" Closer to the front, coalition troops were seen standing over about two dozen men who were suspected IS fighters. Palestinian Arafat Irfaiya who is suspected of murdering a young Israeli woman appears in a Jerusalem court on February 11, 2019 An Israeli court Monday extended by 10 days the detention of a Palestinian over the brutal murder of an Israeli woman that has gripped the country, Shin Bet security services said. The body of 19-year-old Ori Ansbacher was found on Thursday south of Jerusalem and her suspected murderer Arafat Irfaiya, 29, was arrested on Saturday. The Israeli intelligence service Shin Bet has labelled it a "nationalist" attack, a phrase used to refer to violence related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Despite a court gag order, Israeli social media was abuzz over the weekend with what Yediot Aharonot newspaper called "graphic descriptions about the alleged nature of the murder". His hands and feet in shackles, Irfaiya was escorted by Israeli policemen into a Jerusalem court packed with photographers on Monday, an AFP journalist said. The room was cleared before the start of the closed door hearing. A Shin Bet spokesman said the court decided "to extend his detention by 10 days" but gave no further details. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Ansbacher's parents on Sunday at the Israeli settlement of Tekoa in the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel for more than 50 years. In response to the murder, which shocked and angered Israelis, Netanyahu, who is campaigning for re-election in April, vowed to block some funds to the Palestinian Authority. Israel collects around $127 million a month in customs duties levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports and then transfers it to the PA. Netanyahu said he would implement within days legislation passed by the Israeli parliament to withhold some funds in response to PA payments to families of Palestinians jailed by Israel for attacks against Israelis. Cambodia could be stripped of a valuable trade deal if an EU probe confirms 'systematic' rights abuses The EU launched a process on Monday that could temporarily strip Cambodia of its valuable trade privileges with the bloc over "serious and systematic" rights abuses. Brussels has repeatedly warned Cambodia it risks losing the highly preferential tariff arrangement it enjoys, known as "everything but arms" (EBA), a move that would cripple the country's billion-dollar garment industry, its largest formal employer. Cambodia's elections in July last year, which returned veteran strongman Hun Sen to power, were widely criticised internationally as undemocratic and prompted EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom to announce the start of punitive measures. The European Commission, which manages trade issues as the bloc's executive arm, said there was "evidence of serious and systematic violations of core human rights and labour rights in Cambodia, in particular of the rights to political participation as well as of the freedoms of assembly, expression and association". Monday's announcement begins a six-month period of intensive monitoring and after 12 months the commission will decide whether to suspend Cambodia's EBA deal -- which gives duty-free and tariff-free access to the EU market for all products except weapons and ammunition. "It should be clear that todays move is neither a final decision nor the end of the process. But the clock is now officially ticking and we need to see real action soon," Malmstrom said in a statement. "When we say that the EU's trade policy is based on values, these are not just empty words." In December, Cambodia said banned opposition members may be allowed back into political life and shuttered media outlets could reopen, in an apparent effort to appease EU concerns. Rights groups fear Cambodia is sliding towards authoritarianism with the help of China, which showers the government with loans and infrastructure while asking few questions about how Hun Sen runs the country. The leader has been in power for 33 years using a mix of wily political gambits and networks of alliances in the army and police. Saturday's election will see Nigeria's President Mohammadu Buhari stand for a second four-year term against former vice-president Atiku Abubakar in what is expected to be a close race Nigeria's ruling party on Monday hit back at the United States and other foreign allies for making "unguarded" public statements ahead of presidential polls this weekend. The US, Britain and the European Union have in recent weeks publicly warned against vote-rigging and election violence, and also expressed concern over President Muhammadu Buhari's suspension of Nigeria's top judge last month. Saturday's election will see Buhari stand for a second four-year term against former vice-president Atiku Abubakar in what is expected to be a close race. Buhari's re-election campaign spokesman Festus Keyamo called the statements from the US and others "notably off-key" and unwelcome. "Instead of encouraging our country toward credible elections, such statements undermine public confidence," Keyamo said. "It would appear that these envoys seem to have discredited the election before it has even taken place." Keyamo's comments come after a key Buhari ally, Kaduna state governor Nasir El-Rufai, said outsiders who intervened in the election "will go back in body bags". "Nobody will come to Nigeria and tell us how to run our country. We have got that independence and we are trying to run our country as decently as possible," he said. He later denied calling for violence against foreigners and instead said he only wanted Nigeria's sovereignty to be respected. Nigeria's last election in 2015 was considered free and fair, but state and local elections as well as earlier presidential polls have been marred by violence and fraud allegations. In recent weeks, tensions have risen between Buhari's All Progressives Congress (APC) and Abubakar's People's Democratic Party (PDP). The PDP has accused the government of seeking to rig the vote while the APC has said the opposition party is fomenting unrest. Last week the US State Department called for a vote "free from outside pressure and intimidation" and said anyone who incites election violence should be "held to account". The US and Britain have previously said they will impose a visa ban on anyone implicated in vote-rigging or violence. Last month, Washington, London and the European Union publicly expressed concern over Buhari's move to suspend Walter Onnoghen, the chief justice of the Supreme Court who would have ruled on any election dispute. Buhari justified the move as necessary given the judge was facing a corruption case before an oversight body. Compared to 2015, international interest in Nigeria's election has been muted as the US administration focuses on domestic issues and Britain wrestles with its impending exit from the EU. A British colony until 1960, Nigeria is an ally of both countries which are home to large Nigerian diaspora communities. Algerians look at the headlines of newspapers at a kiosk in the capital Algiers on February 11, 2019 Abdelaziz Bouteflika's decision to seek a fifth term as president despite his ailing health stirred mixed reactions on Monday in the Algerian press, with one newspaper describing it as risky as "Russian roulette" and another welcoming his pledge of reforms. The 81-year-old head of state, who uses a wheelchair and has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, on Sunday announced will run for another term in April polls. He spoke of an "unwavering desire to serve" despite his health constraints and pledged to set up an "inclusive national conference" to address political and economic reforms. "A frightening candidacy," headlined the French-language El-Watan newspaper on its front page. It compared Bouteflika's determination to stay in power to a game of "Russian roulette", running a cartoon of the ailing president as a single bullet in the chamber of a handgun. A fifth mandate for Bouteflika "will only serve to aggravate the woes resulting from his previous mandates", wrote El-Watan. It said his campaign chief Abdelmalek Sellal would have to work hard "to persuade Algerians to vote for a practically bedridden man" although his duties call on him to travel and work long hours. In contrast, Reporters, another daily, welcomed the president's pledge to bring in "deep reforms" saying it could accommodate opposition demands for change. The TSA news website said it was clear that Bouteflika "despite his age and his illness.. has no intention of" quitting as president despite a "thirst for change" in Algeria. "This fifth mandate is one too many," it said. The French-language Liberte said Bouteflika had dangled the promise of reforms as a payoff for staying on for another five years. Bouteflika's widely expected announcement also had a mixed reception on the streets of Algiers. Housewife Aicha Zaidi said she would vote for Bouteflika because "thanks to him I have decent housing for my family". But Hamid Bramimi, 75, said that Algeria had become "the laughing stock of the world with a president who is invisible". French Mirage 2000 warplanes struck the rebels several times last week A Chadian rebel group on Monday vowed to pursue its campaign against President Idriss Deby, despite suffering losses to government forces after being targeted by French air strikes. "A battle has been lost, but not the war," Youssouf Hamid, spokesman of the Union of Resistance Forces (UFR) told AFP. On Saturday, the Chadian military said it had captured more than 250 rebels, including four senior leaders, and seized more than 40 vehicles and "several hundred" weapons. The operation targeted a convoy of militants trying to cross into Chad from Libya that was also hit earlier in several French air strikes, it said. Hamid said the military's account was a "fantasy." He said "about 30" fighters who had taken shelter in a cave after the French attacks surrendered to the Chadian army "without fighting." Hamid added, "We didn't know that France would intervene. Normally, they do intelligence-gathering, which we knew about. We didn't expect them to carry out strikes." "It wasn't a fight between (UFR fighters) and the Chadian fighters. It was France which did the fighting, not Chadians," he said. The French jets, based near the Chadian capital N'Djamena, intervened at the government's request, France says. Chad, a vast and mostly desert country with more than 200 ethnic groups, has suffered repeated coups and crises since it gained independence from France in 1960. Under Deby, a former head of the armed forces, the country has taken a leading role in the fight against jihadism in the Sahel region. It is part of a West African coalition fighting the Boko Haram insurgency, and a member of the French-backed G5 Sahel anti-terror alliance, which also includes Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. The latest incursion follows several recent air strikes by the Chadian air force against Libya-based rebels in the far north. The UFR was created in January 2009 from an alliance of eight rebel groups. It is led by Timan Erdimi, Deby's nephew, who is also a member of the Zaghawa ethnic group. In February 2008, a tripartite insurgent group, moving in from the east, reached the gates of the presidential palace in N'Djamena before being repulsed. The Anne Arundel County Council in January 2018 passed a similar bill that would close schools to development at 95 percent capacity. The city is not affected by this legislation because it is a municipality with independent governance. The county does not have jurisdiction over zoning, development or permitting approvals in the city unless there is some explicit memorandum of understanding created ahead of time. An Emirati man stands at the Fujairah oil terminal, a dock for supertankers, on September 21, 2016 The energy minister of the United Arab Emirates said Monday supply and demand in the oil market should balance out in the first quarter of 2019, following weeks of output cuts. "My expectation is that we will see the balance during the first quarter unless something happens," Suheil al-Mazrouei told the three-day World Government Summit in Dubai. "We are removing enough oil to correct the market," Mazrouei said. OPEC cartel countries and other major oil producers in January began implementing a deal to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day to shore up sagging prices. Based on provisional figures of production levels in January, most oil producing nations were complying to the cuts, Mazrouei said. The oil market, however, remains highly volatile and prices hover just above $60 a barrel after recovering from as low as $50 a barrel. That figure remains far below the $85 a barrel oil hit in early October before beginning to slide. Mazrouei said producers were "doing our best" to stabilise the market. Khalid al-Falih, energy minister of the world's top supplier Saudi Arabia, said in mid-January he expected the oil market to rebalance within weeks. Oil prices crashed in mid-2014 to below $30 a barrel, down from over $100 a barrel, due to a glut in supplies and weakening global demand. That prompted the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cooperate with non-OPEC producers, mainly Russia, to trim output by 1.8 million barrels per day from the start of 2017. The cut helped prices to rebound but they dived again after the producers abandoned the production cuts in mid-2018. Election bitterness: Fayulu, left, and Tshisekedi The runner-up in DR Congo's controversial presidential election has proposed staging the poll again within six months. In a letter to the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Martin Fayulu restated his allegation that the vote result had been rigged, and suggested "holding the elections again within six months". Felix Tshisekedi was declared winner of the December 30 ballot with 38.5 percent of the vote, against Fayulu's 34.8 percent. Fayulu, whose letter was made public on Monday, said the DRC's Independent National Election Commission (CENI) had "quite simply fabricated the results it published". He pointed to reports from independent election monitors and observers from his own coalition, Lamuka, as well as to vote tallies by the CENI itself that have been leaked to the press. "(All) attest that I was elected president of the Democratic Republic of Congo with more than 60 percent of the vote," he charged. Fayulu suggested setting up an AU special committee to verify the results. The two-day AU summit, which was winding up on Monday, was attended by Tshisekedi, who was elected the organisation's second vice president for 2019. He also met UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the European Union's foreign relations chief, Federica Mogherini. Fayulu's bitterness over the election outcome has mingled with relief outside the country that the vote was calm by DRC standards and led to the country's first-ever peaceful transition of power. Tshisekedi succeeded Joseph Kabila, whose 18-year tenure was criticised for authoritarianism, rights abuses and corruption. Both Fayulu and Tshisekedi are from the ranks of the opposition. The election should have taken place at the end of 2016 but Kabila stayed in office for an additional two years, invoking a caretaker clause in the constitution. Authorities fear more Rohingya will try to take boats from camps in Bangladesh to Malaysia while the Bay of Bengal is calm until the end of March Bangladesh security forces stopped 22 Rohingya Muslims from being smuggled to Malaysia by boat, officials said Monday, the second group in three days prevented from leaving squalid refugee camps. Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) forces found 11 women, 10 children and a man at a village on the Bay of Bengal coast, near the border with Myanmar, on Sunday. The 22 had paid traffickers up to $1,200 each to get a place on a small boat for the dangerous journey, a BGB officer said. The people smugglers fled before security forces arrived. About 740,000 of the Muslim minority fled Myanmar for Bangladesh after a military clampdown in the Buddhist-majority nation in August 2017. There were already 300,000 Rohingya already in Bangladesh, where they are largely confined to the overflowing camps. "The traffickers took whatever they could from the refugees," Lieutenant Colonel Asadud Zaman Chowdhury, BGB chief for the town of Teknaf, told AFP. He added that it was possible many of the young women would have ended up in "forced prostitution". It is the fourth time since November that Rohingya have been intercepted attempting to get a boat to Muslim-majority Malaysia. On Friday, border guards stopped 30 Rohingya from boarding a boat and sent them back to their camps. Authorities fear that more Rohingya will try to take boats to Malaysia while the Bay of Bengal is calm up until the end of March. Bangladesh's refugee commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam said "an internationally organised racket" was preying on desperation in the Rohingya camps. "The refugees are lured by false promises. They simply don't have any idea how dangerous these sea journeys can be," he told AFP. The UN refugee agency urged the Myanmar authorities to address the root causes of the crisis in Rakhine. "Rohingya will continue to risk their lives on boats unless there are tangible solutions to their plight," UNHCR spokeswoman Caroline Gluck told AFP. People smugglers sent tens of thousands of Rohingya from the camps to Malaysia before Bangladesh launched a crackdown in 2015. The US President and North Korean leader are due to meet in Hanoi following their landmark first summit in Singapore last June The agreement for a second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un was a "remarkable breakthrough" for peace negotiations on the Korean peninsula, President Moon Jae-in said Monday, but he acknowledged doubts remained over denuclearisation. The US President and North Korean leader are due to meet in Hanoi from February 27 to 28 following their landmark first summit in Singapore last June. That meeting -- the first-ever between the leaders of the US and North Korea -- produced a vaguely-worded document in which Kim pledged to work towards "the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula". But progress has since stalled with the two sides disagreeing over it means and analysts say tangible progress on denuclearisation will be needed if the talks are to avoid being dismissed as "reality TV". With the high-stakes summit now two weeks away, Pyongyang has yet to provide any official confirmation of the meeting in the Vietnamese capital. "For us, the era of peace and prosperity on the peninsula has drawn closer," said Moon in his first comments since the summit was announced. The meeting was a "remarkable breakthrough in the peace process on the Korean peninsula", the South Korean president added. But he acknowledged there were "still many doubts about whether the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and peace process can be concluded successfully". The leaders of the two Koreas and the US have persisted in talks over the issue because of "strong confidence in the direction history should take", added Moon, who has taken on the role of middle man between Pyongyang and Washington, trying to bridge the gap on denuclearisation talks. Security allies Seoul and Washington have at times pursued divergent approaches toward Pyongyang, with the dovish South Korean leader pursuing engagement while the United States insists pressure must be maintained until the North denuclearises. But Moon expressed gratitude to both Trump and Kim for their "unprecedented, bold diplomatic efforts", saying they were "crossing a sea of deep mistrust". Uncertainty has coursed through Thailand since the Thai Raksa Chart party made the announcement that Princess Ubolratana would be their candidate for PM Thai Princess Ubolratana was on Monday formally disqualified for running for prime minister, ending her brief and ill-fated political union with a party allied to the powerful Shinawatra clan, just days after a stern royal command rebuking her candidacy was issued by her brother, the king. Uncertainty and conjecture have coursed through Thailand since Friday when the Thai Raksa Chart party made the explosive announcement of Princess Ubolratana, King Maha Vajiralongkorn's elder sister, as their candidate for premier after the March 24 election. Her tilt appeared to some to be a masterstroke of back-room dealings by Thaksin Shinawatra, the billionaire self-exiled ex-premier, just weeks before the poll. But just hours later it fell apart. A royal command from the king put a pin in her unprecedented political aspirations, insisting the monarchy was above politics and describing his sister's candidacy as "highly inappropriate". Thailand's incredibly wealthy and powerful monarchy is revered by Thais and protected by a draconian lese majeste law. The king's word is seen as final. On Monday the Election Commission formally scratched her candidacy. "The EC today has announced the name of candidates excluding Princess Ubolratana proposed by the Thai Raksa Chart party," it said in a statement, explaining "all royal family members are above politics." Despite its brevity, the princess's foray into politics has electrified the political landscape of the country, as speculation over who wins and loses from her tilt ricochets across the kingdom. - Coups and plots - Chatter of an impending coup against the ruling junta leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha and a major change in army top brass has billowed out, with the hashtag #coup trending in the top 10 on Thai Twitter. On Monday junta chief Prayut on Monday was forced to dismiss rumours of an impending coup as "fake news". Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-O-Cha, pictured here in November 2018, dismissed rumours of an impending coup as 'fake news' "Rumours...? We're investigating. Fake news," he told reporters at Government House. The gruff former general, masterminded a putsch against the government of Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin's sister, in 2014. Meanwhile, a chastened Thai Raksa Chart, a key pillar in Thaksin's election strategy, agreed to comply with the royal command. It may face censure by election authorities that could ultimately see it dissolved, although it was not clear if any ban could be in place before the election takes place. Thailand's generals have a penchant for coups, backroom plotting and factional struggles. They have grabbed power 12 times since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932, including against existing juntas seen to have over-stepped their mark. Prayut has agreed to stand for premier after the election and is aided by an army-scripted constitution. But critics say he has personalised power and outstayed his welcome with a public wearied by his finger-jabbing style. The king appointed a new army chief, Apirat Kongsompong, last year from a rival faction of the army to Prayut and his junta allies. Recent days have seeded unease, with the first election in eight years now seemingly dependent on behind-the-scenes power plays by the elite. Srisuwan Janya from a royalist activist group called on the Thai Raksa Chart leader to resign Meanwhile, the fate of Thai Raksa Chart hangs in the balance. The party, a second to the Thaksin political powerhouse Pheu Thai, was expected to help the Shinawatra machine secure a majority in the 350-seat lower house. But it is under intense pressure following its bid to bring in the princess. "I think the party leader and board should take a responsibility by resigning," said Srisuwan Janya of the Association for the Protection of the Constitution, a royalist activist group, who submitted a petition to election authorities Monday calling for the party's censure. burs-apj/je Crowds in Tehran in February 1979, several days after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's return From the return to Tehran of exiled revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to the fall of the shah's last government, Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution was over in 10 days. Here are the highlights of what has become known as the 10 Days of Dawn, or Daheh Fajr in Farsi, which ended 25 centuries of monarchy and are officially celebrated in Iran every year. - Khomeini returns - On February 1, 1979 Shiite opposition leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini makes a triumphant return to Tehran after more than 14 years in exile, mostly in Iraq. Iran's last monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, had fled on January 16 after months of protests against his regime. Jubilant crowds welcome Khomeini at the airport and line the road which leads to the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery where he gives his first major address. Khomeini challenges the legitimacy of the government headed by prime minister Shapour Bakhtiar, appointed by the shah on the eve of his departure in a bid to prevent clerics from taking power. - Islamic revolution 'council' - A demonstration in February 1979 in support of the government formed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, with banners calling for an Islamic republic On February 3 Khomeini announces at his first news conference that a council has been formed of key figures in the revolution movement to prepare for the establishment of an Islamic republic. A day later, in a show of support for the ayatollah while the shah's administration is still in place, there are hunger strikes within the air force. One-fifth of conscripts do not show up at their barracks. - Demonstrations, strikes - On February 6 a prime minister is appointed for a provisional revolutionary government: Mehdi Bazargan, a nationalist and Islamist engineer and long-time opponent of the shah's regime. Tehran is thus the seat of two governments: one revolutionary, the other imperial. In support of the revolutionary government, the clergy organises daily demonstrations that gather several million people. Strikes are followed in the key oil industry. On February 7 mullahs in the second city Isfahan establish a parallel authority to manage municipal affairs. On February 8 more than 1,000 soldiers in uniform march in Tehran in support of Bazargan's provisional government. - Uprising - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran on February 5, 1979, several days after his return from exile On February 10 mutinous air force soldiers take control of eastern Tehran aided by armed civilians. The neighbourhood is cut off by barricades and sandbags and political prisoners are freed. AFP journalist Pierre-Andre Jouve describes a capital in chaos with "gatherings of demonstrators armed with clubs" and "thousands of men claiming to be 'police of the revolution' at almost all the city's major intersections". - Revolution 'completed' - On February 11 an army barracks to the northeast of Tehran is stormed by several thousand civilians and falls to Khomeini's supporters. In the late morning, the centre of the capital falls under the control of armed civilians and army deserters. The radio, controlled by Khomeini supporters, announces parliament has been dissolved. Khomeini calls on military chiefs to not stand in the way of troops rallying to the revolution. "Tehran is practically in the hands of supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini," writes AFP correspondent Patrick Meney. "At nightfall, the centre of Tehran already had the appearance of a completed revolution: it is almost time for victory parades," his report says. "Mutinous soldiers are hailed by the crowd. Army soldiers join students in revolt on campus. People who were enemies only yesterday embrace." Overnight a statement from the revolutionary government declares the "revolution having won" with the military joining the popular movement. In two days the battle has left more than 200 dead and more than 1,000 injured. With the shah's government departed, Bazargan officially takes up his post in the offices of the prime minister. Xinjiang has come under intensifying police surveillance in recent years following repeated riots, bombings and attacks on Chinese security forces and civilians China hit back on Monday at Turkish criticism over its treatment of Uighurs and denied Ankara's claim that a renowned poet from the Muslim minority had died in custody, calling it an "absurd lie". Turkey's foreign ministry had released a statement on Saturday severely criticising China's mass detentions of its Turkic-speaking Uighurs, and claiming that poet Abdurehim Heyit had died serving an eight-year Chinese prison sentence imposed as punishment over "one of his songs". But China on Sunday released a video showing a man who identified himself as Heyit and saying that he was alive and well. "China has made solemn representations toward Turkey. We hope the relevant Turkish persons can distinguish between right and wrong and correct their mistakes," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said during a daily press briefing. She called the Turkish statement "vile" and urged Ankara to withdraw its "false accusations". "I saw his (Heyit's) video online yesterday, showing that he is not only alive but also very healthy," she said. A UN panel of experts has said that nearly one million Uighurs and other Turkic-speaking minorities had been herded into "re-education camps" in China's northwestern Xinjiang region, where most of the country's more than 10 million Uighurs live. Turkey had said China's treatment of Uighurs was "a great embarrassment for humanity" -- perhaps the strongest condemnation yet from a Muslim country. The Muslim world has been conspicuously quiet on the Uighur issue, possibly to avoid Chinese diplomatic or economic retaliation. The plight of China's Uighurs is closely followed in Turkey due to shared linguistic, cultural and religious links and the presence of tens of thousands of ethnic Uighurs there. - 'No abuse' - In its statement on Saturday, Turkey did not say how it had learned that Heyit died, but said the "tragedy has further reinforced the reaction of the Turkish public opinion towards (the) serious human rights violations" in Xinjiang. But state-controlled China Radio International (CRI) released a 26-second video on its Turkish service on Sunday. "My name is Abdurehim Heyit. Today is February 10, 2019," the man in the video says, according to the English subtitles. "I'm in the process of being investigated for allegedly violating the national laws," he added, in what appeared to be the Uighur language. Wearing a black and white sweater over a collared shirt, he said he was in "good health" and has "never been abused", according to the subtitles. AFP was unable to immediately verify the authenticity of the video or when it was shot. CRI said it was released to state media by Xinjiang's regional government. Xinjiang has come under intensifying police surveillance in recent years following repeated riots, bombings and attacks on Chinese security forces and civilians. Beijing at first denied any Xinjiang detention camps existed, but later admitted people were being sent to what it calls "vocational education centres". But critics say Uighurs are being pressured in the camps to assimilate with Chinese society and abandon religious and cultural practices that Beijing sees as potential sources of resistance. The Turkish foreign ministry statement said Uighurs were being "subjected to torture and political brainwashing in concentration centres and prisons". Hua, however, appeared to leave the door open to patching up the row, saying the two sides should endeavour to maintain "mutual trust and cooperation". Papua, one of Indonesia's poorest region, has seen several spasms of violence over the past year Indonesian authorities on Monday launched an investigation after a police force chief admitted an officer wrapped a live snake around a terrified suspect in a bid to force a confession. Shocking viral footage emerged online showing an alleged pickpocket -- handcuffed and sitting on the floor barefoot -- screaming hysterically as another officer shouts abuse at a police station in restive Papua province. "How many times have you stolen a mobile phone?" he yells at the unidentified suspected thief, who appears to be cowering in fear. "Only two times," the suspect says in response. At one stage, the officer appears to try to shove the snake into the man's mouth, while others are heard laughing in the background during the undated video. "An officer is now being questioned by Papua police internal affairs division," Papua police spokesman Ahmad Mustofa Kamal told AFP Monday. He did not identify the officer or say if others present would be investigated. Tonny Ananda Swadaya, the police chief in Jayawijaya district, where the incident took place, apologised in a statement Sunday. But he added that the suspect was not in physical danger from the snake. "The snake was tame and not poisonous or dangerous and the incident was their own idea so they could get admission of guilt as quick as possible," Swadaya said in a statement. "We will work more professionally in the future," he added. Police did not say what kind of snake was used. Indonesian security forces have been repeatedly accused of using excessive force and committing rights abuses against Papua's ethnic Melanesian population including extrajudicial killings of activists and peaceful protestors. Human rights lawyer Veronica Koman said the video confirmed what some jailed Papuan activists have reported in the past. "They have long known that snakes are being used by police and the military (in interrogations)," she said. "So they're not surprised" by the video. Papua, one of Indonesia's poorest region, has seen several spasms of violence over the past year, including in December when at least 16 employees of a state-owned company -- who were building bridges in a major infrastructure push for the impoverished region -- were killed by separatist rebels. Tony Mokbel was a central figure in Melbourne's violent criminal war which began in the late 1990s A notorious crime boss who was once Australia's most wanted man has been stabbed in prison, reports said Monday, months after revelations his lawyer was a police informant cast doubt on his criminal convictions. Tony Mokbel, who masterminded a drug trafficking empire, was a central figure in Melbourne's gangland war which began in the late 1990s. The violence claimed dozens of lives and was later immortalised in the hugely popular Australian TV series "Underbelly". Police said a man aged in his 50s -- widely reported to be Mokbel by Australian media -- was flown from the maximum security Barwon Prison southwest of Melbourne in a serious condition after a stabbing on Monday afternoon. A Victoria Police spokeswoman would not confirm the victim's identity to AFP. A second man aged in his 30s was also taken to hospital, police added. Mokbel skipped bail in Melbourne in early 2006 just before being sentenced for drug trafficking. He was later arrested while on the run in Greece and extradited to Australia. Monday's attack came several years after one of Mokbel's associates, mobster Carl Williams, was killed in the same prison. It followed the release in December of previously suppressed court documents that revealed one of the biggest legal scandals to hit Australia in years. The documents disclosed that a high-profile Melbourne barrister had for years been giving information to Victoria Police, while representing Mokbel and six of his associates. More than 600 cases could be tainted as a result, according to Australian media, meaning that the criminals might be able to appeal their convictions. Cheap, locally-made liquor is common in parts of rural India, where bad or adulterated batches can have deadly effects for poor consumers At least 99 people have died and scores have been hospitalised in northern India after drinking toxic alcohol, triggering a crackdown against bootleggers, officials said Monday. News of the deaths in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand has trickled in over the past three days, with police suspecting the moonshine had been cut with methanol. Authorities said many victims had complained of dizziness and were taken to hospital writhing in pain after consuming the illicit alcohol. Cheap, locally-made liquor is common in parts of rural India and bootleggers often add methanol -- a highly toxic form of alcohol sometimes used as an anti-freeze -- to their product to increase its strength. If ingested in large quantities, methanol can cause blindness, liver damage and death. In one district of Uttar Pradesh 59 people had died after consuming toxic alcohol, police spokesman Shailendra Kumar Sharma told AFP. In a neighbouring district a senior police officer said nine had died, adding that 66 suspected bootleggers had been arrested in the state and samples of the liquor sent to a laboratory for testing. Indian relatives of victims who died from toxic locally-made alcohol cry at Saharanpur Civil Hospital in Saharanpur in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh Police said at least 31 people died in neighbouring Uttarakhand state and that two had been arrested on suspicion of supplying the liquor. Four suspects have been arrested in the state. "We are trying to find out the main source of this illicit liquor. We will soon nab the main culprit behind this tragedy," Janmejay Khanduri, senior Uttarakhand police official told AFP. Newspaper reports said around 3,000 people linked with the illegal trade were arrested across Uttar Pradesh in the aftermath of the tragedy. Hundreds of poor people die every year in India due to alcohol poisoning, mostly from consuming cheap alcohol. In 2015, more than 100 people died in a Mumbai slum after drinking illegal moonshine. Of the estimated five billion litres of alcohol drunk every year in India, around 40 percent is illegally produced, according to the International Spirits and Wine Association of India. Ive always answered the what do you want for a gift question with homemade is the best made. I have been delighted time and again with something homemade from the heart. The gifts that werent edible are gently stored away or displayed for all the world to see on my refrigerator. Sometimes, a simple handwritten heartfelt note can be the perfect gift. Good luck with your gift choice and Happy Valentines Day! Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-O-Cha, pictured here in November 2018, dismissed rumours of an impending coup as 'fake news' Thailand's junta chief on Monday dismissed rumours of an impending coup as "fake news", as speculation ricocheted across a kingdom unsettled by the ill-fated political union between a princess and a party allied to the powerful Shinawatra clan. Conjecture has coursed through Thailand since Friday when the Thai Raksa Chart party proposed Princess Ubolratana, King Maha Vajiralongkorn's elder sister, as a candidate for premier after the March 24 election. Hours later, a royal command from the king appeared to put a pin in her unprecedented political aspirations. It said the monarchy was above politics and described his sister's candidacy as "highly inappropriate". The slapdown by an unassailable monarch - protected by some of the world's harshest royal defamation laws - who has never addressed the public in such strong terms, set off a chain reaction. A chastened Thai Raksa Chart, a key pillar in the election strategy of billionaire ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, swiftly agreed to comply with the command. Election authorities meeting Monday are expected to discuss whether the use of the princess's name was unconstitutional, a first step towards dissolving the party. Adding to the uncertainty, chatter of an impending coup against the ruling junta leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha and a major change in army top brass has billowed out, with the hashtag #coup trending in the top 10 in Thai Twitter. But on Monday the gruff former general, who masterminded a putsch against the government of Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin's sister, in 2014, tried to stop it short. "Rumours...? We're investigating. Fake news," he told reporters at Government House about the merits of the speculation. - Coups and plots - Thailand's generals have a penchant for coups, backroom plotting and factional struggles. They have grabbed power 12 times since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932, including against existing juntas seen to have over-stepped their mark. Prayut, a gruff ex-army chief turned junta head, has agreed to stand for premier after the election and is aided by an army-scripted constitution. But critics say he has personalised power and outstayed his welcome with a public wearied by his finger-jabbing style. The king appointed a new army chief, Apirat Kongsompong, last year from a rival faction of the army to Prayut and his junta allies. Recent days have seeded unease, with the first election in eight years now seemingly dependent on behind-the-scenes power plays by the elite. "Pls#NoMoreCoup WTF with this country," said one Twitter user, while another said "I wish we have only #election2019". Srisuwan Janya from a royalist activist group called on the Thai Raksa Chart leader to resign Meanwhile, the fate of Thai Raksa Chart hangs in the balance. The party, a second to the Thaksin political powerhouse Pheu Thai, was expected to help the Shinawatra machine secure a majority in the 350-seat lower house. But it is under intense pressure following its bid to bring in the princess. "I think the party leader and board should take a responsibility by resigning," said Srisuwan Janya of the Association for the Protection of the Constitution, a royalist activist group, who submitted a petition to election authorities Monday calling for the party's censure. burs-apj/dhc/je More than 3,000 people died on both sides of the Ivory Coast conflict after Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to Ouattara, his internationally backed rival Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara has refused to comment on the acquittal on crimes against humanity of his predecessor Laurent Gbagbo at the International Criminal Court while insisting investigations would continue. "No reaction from me, it's an ongoing trial...," Ouattara said in an interview with Radio France International in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa where he was attending an African Union summit. But he added: "Someone must be responsible for the 3,000 deaths. I hope that justice will shine a light on that, it is what the victims are asking for." ICC judges acquitted Gbagbo and his aide Charles Ble Goude on charges stemming from a wave of violence after disputed elections in the west African nation in 2010. More than 3,000 people died on both sides of the Ivory Coast conflict after Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to Ouattara, his internationally backed rival. Gbagbo, the first former head of state to stand trial at the ICC, is currently living in Belgium under conditions pending a possible prosecution appeal following the acquittal on January 15. He had been held in the Netherlands since 2011. The ICC's unwillingness to let Gbagbo return to Ivory Coast is thought to have been linked to the country's refusal to surrender Gbagbo's first wife, Simone, despite an outstanding ICC warrant for her arrest for her role in the post-election violence. She was convicted and jailed by the courts there in 2015, but Ouattara granted her an amnesty last year along with 800 others. "We are continuing our investigations in order to establish who is responsible (for the deaths)," Ouattara said in the interview to be broadcast Monday. And he denied that any pressure had been brought to bear on the ICC to prolong the detention or trial of Gbago. "Interfering with international or national justice, this is not how I manage my country... let justice take its course," he said, refusing to discuss any possible return of Gbagbo. "Let's wait and see." - 'No problem' with Soro' - Ouattara also returned to the subject of the resignation of the speaker of the National Assembly, Guillaume Soro, who headed rebel forces during the Ivorian war, and then joined the government under Gbagbo. Soro is a member of Ouattara's Rally of Republicans (RDR) and is rumoured to have fallen out with Ouattara and possibly to have his own presidential ambitions. Ouattara said he believed there were ideological differences between the two but "no problem" between them. "I'm not a man to force anyone (to resign)... Soro believed that we did not share the same ideology. We are a social liberal party and he considers himself a Marxist. I understand that this is not compatible with his beliefs," he said, adding: "He is a young man that I consider as one on my sons. I do not rule out that he will return." Nor did Ouattara rule out Soro standing for the presidency in 2020. "It's his choice, he can do as he wishes. The constitution authorises him to do so and it is not a question of me standing in the way of his candidature...." Gbagbo's release has come at a particularly tense time in Ivory Coast. With presidential elections due next year, Ouattara has not said whether he will seek another term, and the coalition he formed with Henri Konan Bedie, his former ally against Gbagbo, has collapsed. "It's very clear, I can run if I want. There's a new constitution (since 2016)," he said. "All the legal opinions that I have consulted have confirmed it. I will announce my decision in 2020. I can take a decision up until July 28, 2020," he said. The French tourist tried to fly a drone over the government building, which is illegal under Myanmar law A French tourist has been arrested for flying a drone near Myanmar's parliament in the capital Naypyidaw, the French embassy and local police confirmed Monday, under a law that could see him imprisoned for up to three years. The man, named by police as 27-year-old Arthur Desclaux, tried to fly a drone over the government building, which is illegal in Myanmar. Three journalists and their driver were jailed in 2017 for the same offence. Local media published photos of the French detainee, including his passport details, and his drone. "(He) was arrested late afternoon on Thursday 7 February for having flown a drone over the parliament," the embassy said, adding that the man was still in detention in Naypyidaw. His family had been informed of his arrest and embassy staff were trying to secure his release, it added. He has been charged under section 8 of the export and import law, police officer Min Tin told AFP. Desclaux faces "up to three years imprisonment" if found guilty, said Min Tin. It remains unclear why he was flying the drone. Journalists Lau Hon Meng from Singapore and Mok Choy Lin from Malaysia were making a documentary for Turkish state broadcaster TRT when they were detained in October 2017 along with Myanmar reporter Aung Naing Soe and driver Hla Tin. Expecting to receive a fine, they confessed to flying the drone over parliament but were instead sentenced to two months in prison under Myanmar's aircraft act. Senator Bernie Sanders announced that he is running for president again US Senator Bernie Sanders announced another bid for the White House on Tuesday, joining a crowded field of Democrats vying to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in 2020. The pool of Democratic candidates is among the largest and most diverse ever. It includes female US senators, African-Americans, Hispanics and a young gay mayor and is likely to grow before the US primary season gets underway a year from now. Here are the first entrants in the presidential race, 21 months before the election. - Bernie Sanders - Senator Bernie Sanders is promising to take on powerful special interests as he launches a second presidential run The 77-year-old Sanders, a self-described Democratic socialist, was an outsider when the 2016 Democratic primaries began. But he gave favorite Hillary Clinton a run for her money with his calls for a "political revolution" and battled her down to the wire. Sanders won passionate support among young liberals with his calls for universal health care, a $15 minimum wage and free public university education. - Amy Klobuchar - The 58-year-old granddaughter of an iron miner, Klobuchar is a former prosecutor with an unpretentious demeanor. Senator Amy Klobuchar announced her candidacy for president on a snowy day in Minnesota, joining an ever-growing field of contenders hoping to unseat President Donald Trump She has quietly gained attention in Washington as a centrist. Klobuchar is known for putting partisanship aside to pass legislation, something that has earned her a devoted following in Minnesota. Klobuchar has promised more stringent gun laws and set a target of universal health care. - Elizabeth Warren - Democratic US Senator Elizabeth Warren has officially launched her White House bid At 69, the US Senate's consumer protection champion from Massachusetts is on the party's left flank. She built her reputation by holding Wall Street accountable for its missteps. Warren is considered to have one of the best campaign organizations of any Democrat. Warren's campaign has been dogged, however, by her past claims of Native American heritage and Trump mockingly refers to her as "Pocahontas." - Cory Booker - US Senator Cory Booker cut his teeth as a community organizer and mayor Newark, New Jersey, often drawing comparisons to former president Barack Obama The 49-year-old US senator from New Jersey announced his candidacy February 1, evoking the civil rights movement as he promised to work to bring together a divided America. Often compared to former president Barack Obama, Booker began his career as a community activist and rose to prominence as mayor of Newark, New Jersey. A talented orator, he was elected to the US Senate in 2013, the first African-American senator ever from that state. - Kirsten Gillibrand - New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is making gender and women's issues a hallmark of her campaign The New York senator made a name fighting sexual abuse, especially in the military, before the #MeToo movement gained national prominence. The 52-year-old, a fierce Trump critic, is making gender and women's issues a hallmark of her campaign. - Kamala Harris - Senator Kamala Harris launched her presidential campaign with a rally in Oakland, California The barrier-breaking senator from California who aspires to be the nation's first black female president announced her candidacy on a day honoring slain civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. The daughter of an Indian immigrant medical researcher mother and a Jamaican economist father, Harris, 54, began her career as a district attorney in San Francisco before serving as California's attorney general. - Julian Castro - Julian Castro is a former Obama cabinet member and was a mayor of San Antonio, Texas A cabinet member under Obama and grandson of a Mexican immigrant, Castro announced his candidacy in English and Spanish on January 12 in the heat of the debate on immigration and border security. At 44, the former mayor of San Antonio, Texas hopes to become the nation's first Hispanic president. - Tulsi Gabbard - Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii would be America's first Hindu president At just 37, this congresswoman from Hawaii would be the first Hindu president if elected. A supporter of liberal Bernie Sanders in the 2016 race, military veteran Gabbard was criticized for meeting with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad during that country's civil war, and for anti-gay positions that she has since retracted and apologized for. - Pete Buttigieg - South Bend Indiana Mayor Peter Buttigieg is an Afghanistan veteran and would be the first openly gay nominee of any major party Nine months younger than Gabbard is the South Bend, Indiana, mayor who joined the race unveiling a resolutely future-looking and optimistic message to counter Trump's darker vision. A Rhodes Scholar, Buttigieg would be the first openly gay nominee of any major party. A US Navy reserve officer, he put his mayoral duties aside to serve in Afghanistan in 2014. - Andrew Yang - Entrepreneur and 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang launched his campaign with little fanfare in late 2017, warning against the dangers that automation presents to US workers The 44-year-old tech entrepreneur launched his campaign with little fanfare in late 2017, warning against the dangers that automation presents to US workers. He has advocated for a form of universal basic income as a way to reduce inequality. - John Delaney - Former US Representative and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate John Delaney was the earliest Democrat to officially launch a bid, back in July 2017 An affluent Maryland businessman who served three terms in Congress, Delaney was the earliest Democrat to officially launch a bid, back in July 2017. The 55-year-old Delaney has crisscrossed the early-voting state of Iowa seeking to boost his name recognition. - Waiting in the wings - Former vice president Joe Biden is one of several Democratic big guns yet to join the race Several big Democratic guns have yet to commit, including former vice president Joe Biden and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown. Former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke is also considering a run as is billionaire New York ex-mayor Michael Bloomberg. Current and former governors are in the mix, too: Washington's Jay Inslee, John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Steve Bullock of Montana and Virginia's Terry McAuliffe. burs-cl/jm Sheikh Hasina signs documents after being sworn in for her fourth spell as Bangladesh's prime minister Bangladesh faced widespread international criticism over the conduct of recent elections, but the United States looks set for business as usual as it sees strong common interests with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. As the eighth most populous nation in the world, with a moderate Muslim population that largely welcomes cooperation with the West, Bangladesh has a warming relationship with the United States -- yet not one so close as to give Washington significant leverage. Sheikh Hasina's Awami League won an incredible 288 seats in the 300-seat parliament in the December 30 election, with opposition leader Khaleda Zia -- her bitter nemesis for decades -- in jail on charges her opponents say are politically motivated while the press faces draconian new restrictions. The US State Department voiced concern ahead of the election, accusing Bangladesh of foot-dragging on letting in electoral observers and urging greater efforts to ensure a free vote. The United States followed up after the election with a letter by President Donald Trump that wished Sheikh Hasina success but asked her to "renew her commitment to protecting human rights, individual freedom of expression and democratic institutions," a US official said. Sheikh Hasina is a sworn enemy of Islamists, mounting a crackdown on the Jamaat-e-Islami party that included hanging five of its leaders over charges related to Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. She has also earned widespread praise in Washington for taking in more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees who fled from neighboring Myanmar in a brutal campaign the United States has called ethnic cleansing -- stopping the crisis from become more regional in dimension. Michael Kugelman, senior associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said that Bangladesh was effectively becoming a one-party authoritarian state -- but one whose orientation largely suits Washington. "I think the bottom line is that the US sees Sheikh Hasina as a useful partner. She's very tough on terror and she's presided over a remarkable degree of economic growth," he said. "I think, in that regard, the US sees her as a supporter and practitioner of stability in Bangladesh in spite of the tradeoff of having a very troubled domestic political situation in Bangladesh." - Seeking greater ties - Young Rohingya refugees play at Balukhali refugee camp in Ukhia, Bangladesh Bangladesh's government has shown no sign it takes seriously the concerns about the election, also voiced by the European Union. Sajeeb Wazed, Sheikh Hasina's US-based son who serves as her adviser on information and communications technology, said the pre-election US statement was "disappointing" and blamed it on what he called opposition supporters among local staff at the US embassy in Dhaka. But he saluted the relationship with the United States and voiced hope for further ties, saying a top priority was to draw greater US investment in an economy that has been growing by more than six percent annually. "We have a huge consumer market. You have almost 80 million people in the middle class," he said. He said that Bangladesh has been "phenomenally successful in combatting terrorism," calling it "one of the few Muslim countries that is considered relatively terrorism-free." Wazed added that the government felt a genuine empathy for fleeing Rohingyas in light of Bangladesh's plight at independence and noted that the refugees have not seen the type of backlash experienced by migrants to Europe. - Limited scope to criticize - Bangladesh's main opposition leader Khaleda Zia looks on as she is escorted back to prison from a hospital visit in Dhaka in November 2018 The United States see a friendly rapport with Bangladesh as vital to Washington's goal of an open, US-friendly Indo-Pacific region. Unlike neighbors such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh has not drawn high-profile infrastructure deals with China. Another country is even more critical to the US relationship with Bangladesh -- regional power and emerging US ally India, which has staunchly supported Sheikh Hasina, limiting the scope for Washington to take another approach even if it so chose. The opposition, however, is hopeful that US criticism can make headway. Humaiun Kobir, the international affairs secretary of Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party who met policymakers in Washington ahead of the vote, said the United States should make clear that relations will be limited "unless you show us you are democratizing." He said that Sheikh Hasina had turned Bangladesh into a country like Cambodia or Venezuela, where the United States to varying degrees had criticized strongmen. Kobir praised a US House of Representatives resolution that had urged free elections and noted the opposition's concerns. "The United States is the largest bilateral investor and largest trading market," he said. "The US will need to show that it is not business as usual, or otherwise it sends a totally wrong signal." While online plaforms such as Google and Facebook capture the vast majority of advertising revenue, they do not create any original news, Australia's competition watchdog says The head of Australia's competition watchdog warned Monday that tough new regulation of tech giants like Google and Facebook was needed to protect the future of independent journalism. Rod Sims, chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), said the market power wielded by Google and Facebook has had a devastating impact on Australian news media. While the number of journalists employed by Australian newspapers fell 20 percent from 2014 to 2017 as print advertising revenues dwindled, Sims said, Google and Facebook between them captured nearly 70 percent of all online advertising spend. "This shift in advertising revenue online, and to digital platforms, has reduced the ability of media businesses to fund news and journalism," Sims said in remarks prepared for delivery to Sydney's International Institute of Communications. "We cannot simply leave the production of news and journalism to market forces," added Sims, whose agency has been carrying out a lengthy probe of the impact of digital platforms on the news industry in Australia. While the platforms capture the vast majority of advertising revenue, they do not create any original news, Sims said. "Rather they select, curate, evaluate, rank and arrange news stories produced by third parties," he said, noting that this market power increased the "risk of filter bubbles and unreliable news on digital platforms". "Holding such critical positions in both the media and advertising markets results in special responsibilities," he said. The ACCC launched its inquiry into the power of digital platforms a year ago, and is accepting final submissions from industry players until the end of this week, before issuing its final report in June. But Sims signalled on Monday that the final recommendations would include calls for broad new regulations on the digital behemoths and the opaque algorithms they use in disseminating news and advertising. "Virtually no media regulation applies to digital platforms and this contributes to regulatory disparity between media sectors that would appear to provide the digital platforms with an unfair advantage," he said. A media regulator, he said, should have the power to compel platforms to reveal how news is ranked in search results, including whether advertiser-funded content is ranked higher than paid content, or if original news content is outranked by copycat stories and so-called clickbait. The ACCC could also recommend that platforms provide a "quality" badge alongside content produced by recognised news media as a counter to disinformation. Finally, Sims suggested a series of proposals to support local and independent journalism, including tax offsets for people who subscribe to news media which meet a set of quality standards. The new class of conventially powered submarines will be based on Naval Group's Barracuda nuclear subs Australia formally signed a Aus$50 billion "strategic partnership" with France to build 12 state of the art submarines Monday, a signal of Canberra's willingness to project power across the Pacific. Prime Minister Scott Morrison hailed the "very audacious plan" at a ceremony in Canberra as "part of Australia's biggest ever peace-time investment in defence". The partnership's main pillar is a contract for France's Naval Group -- a consortium with state backing -- to build 12 attack-class submarines and has been years in the making. At roughly US$35 billion this is Australia's largest ever defence procurement project and the largest ever foreign sales deal by French shipbuilder Naval Group. The first submarine is expected to be finished in the early 2030s, starting with sea trials around the first quarter of 2031 and operational testing in late 2032. Critics say that is too late: the waters to Australia's north and east are the scene of an intense struggle between the United States, China and regional powers, who are all vying for influence. Beijing has made territorial claims to much of the South China Sea -- a marine thoroughfare that is vital to maintain the supply of ores, minerals and crude that fuel the Chinese economy. Washington fears that China is becoming increasingly assertive over those claims to display its dominance over smaller Asian nations and become the prime regional power. Australian military analysts hope the subs will allow the country to maintain a credible deterrent against possible hostile actions. Visiting French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly cosigned the agreement in a ceremony that took place in the shadow of a memorial to US forces in front of the Australian defence offices in Canberra. "It takes a lot of confidence for Australia to bet on France and a lot of confidence for France to share with Australia the capability that is so close to the core of our sovereignty and our strategic autonomy and a result of immense investment over decades," Parly said. - 'Eyeless beasts' - Under the Strategic Partnership Agreement, 12 conventionally powered submarines derived from the Naval Group Barracuda nuclear design will be constructed in a new shipyard in South Australia. Parly hailed the agreement, which was negotiated and drafted entirely in English, as a long-term partnership between Australia and France and dismissed some "whining about the lengths of the negotiations". "Behind those masses of dark steel, behind those eyeless beasts" there was friendship and a common attachment to multilateralism and the rules-based order, she said. Visiting French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly (R) cosigned the agreement in Canberra Naval Group chairman Herve Guillou said Australia chose the French submarine design because of its endurance, long range and acoustic superiority. "We are bidding in the Netherlands today. That is one really important bid because they are looking as well for expeditionary submarines," he said, hoping the Australia contract would serve as a launchpad for contracts in other countries including India, Poland and Brazil. Guillou confirmed the first Australian submarine should be sailing in the early 2030s, the last in the early 2040s with the last decommissioned probably in the early 2080s. "We are looking at a very, very long-term partnership with Australia," he said. The agreement comprises two thick volumes with 23 schedules, with two more schedules to be added later. It sets conditions on what intellectual property Australia has access to and which it owns, and covers a range of provisions for contract termination or missed deadlines. Guillou also said an alliance with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri would permit the two companies to team up on research, development and procurement for some common projects, either bilateral or for export. "If we look at the change in the market, we need European players to unite more strongly to be able to face the new giants in this market, like CSCC in China, like OSK in Russia," he said. "We really want to take the initiative of being stronger before the others are stronger." Proposed laws to ensure political hopefuls complete a checklist proving their constitutional eligibility to sit in federal parliament are a step closer after passing the lower house. Ahead of the federal election, candidates will have to publicly provide a checklist outlining advice on how they meet the legal requirements to sit in parliament. "The reforms in this bill are important and are necessary to support the integrity of Australia's electoral system. Modernising and improving electoral processes will benefit the Australian public," Special Minister of State Alex Hawke told the lower house on Tuesday. Drug kingpin Tony Mokbel remains in hospital fighting for life after being viciously stabbed inside a Victorian prison. Aerial footage from Barwon Prison on Monday showed Mokbel bare-chested as paramedics rushed to his aid after reports the 53-year-old was stabbed in an exercise yard. He was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital by helicopter where he remains in a critical condition. The 53-year-old was originally considered to be in a serious but stable condition, but Royal Melbourne Hospital later upgraded his condition to critical. A 31-year-old inmate was also transported by road ambulance to hospital in a serious condition and no prison staff were injured. Mokbel hit headlines in recent weeks after news broke that his former lawyer had acted as a police informer, dishing dirt to detectives to help secure convictions. After fleeing Australia while on trial in 2006, Mokbel was captured in Greece in 2007 and was sentenced to a 30-year jail term for drug crimes, with a minimum of at least 22 years before being eligible for parole. But the lawyer informant scandal has opened a possible window of appeal to Mokbel. The stabbing comes a day after News Corp Australia ran an article "Tony the enforcer" about Mokbel's rise as a "feared prison big-wig". The Herald Sun reported that Mokbel intervened to stop an extortion attempt of a 19-year-old prisoner in jail for the first time. "When the Islanders were spoken to, on (Mokbel's) orders, the scared young prisoner was left alone immediately," the newspaper reported. He was stabbed at the same prison where fellow gangland identity Carl Williams was killed in April 2010 by another inmate, Matthew Charles Johnson. Williams' killing came on the same day as a newspaper report outlining that taxpayers paid for the multiple murderer, drug dealer and underworld figure's child to attend an exclusive private school through a deal with police. Investigations into Mokbel's stabbing are continuing, police say. Exhausted graziers have been left with a grizzly clean-up after receding floodwaters in north Queensland left behind hundreds of thousands of rotting cattle carcasses. But it's not the bodies lying in swampy paddocks or the plague of vermin that may come to feed on the dead livestock that concerns them most. It's the massive financial impact many flooded farmers are likely to be hit with after an unprecedented two-week weather event dumped more than a year's rain on large swathes of the state. On Eddington Station, near Julia Creek, where about 2000 cattle died, Rachael Anderson says the loss of so many animals will affect the station's ability to survive. "We (won't be able to) get loans because we've got nothing to borrow against, none of us have got anything left," she told AAP. "I can provide for my family right now. But in six months time or when the bank comes for their repayment, I don't know what I'm going to do." The rotten stench has well and truly set in on Ms Anderson's station, but what farmers will do with their dead livestock is still being worked out. "There are feral pigs that will come and eat that, there are feral cats that will come and eat that, and there will probably be a plague of them after this," she said. The financial hit to farmers in the state's northwest and the industry more broadly may not be known for weeks but it's expected to be hundreds of millions of dollars. Some rural properties remain underwater, making it hard for those graziers to get feed to their surviving animals. The federal government has noted the problem and will provide an immediate non-gratia payment of $1 million to affected shires, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told the National Press Club in Canberra. Meanwhile, the Insurance Council of Australia has defended the behaviour of insurers in flood-ravaged Townsville amid complaints they are not paying up. As of Monday, insurers had received 13,900 claims from Townsville, with losses estimated at $170 million. At Groper Creek, south of Townsville, police are still searching for a 35-year-old man who disappeared in floodwaters on Friday. We applaud Hopkins for retaining the former Baltimore Marine Hospital and continuing to put it to good use, said Johns Hopkins, executive director of Baltimore Heritage. It is a large and handsome historic building that has played an active and important role in the neighborhood for many years, and it's great to hear that it will continue to do so. WHAT'S ON IN CANBERRA AS PARLIAMENT RETURNS FOR 2019: * Church service in Canberra on Tuesday morning, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten expected to attend. * House and Senate sit Tuesday to Thursday. The following week is a House-only four-day sitting, with the Senate in estimates hearings. * Labor is expected to seek crossbench approval to add two sitting weeks in March, before the April budget and May election. * Medical approvals for asylum seekers likely to be debated. Independent MP Kerryn Phelps' bill is not listed for further debate in the House. However a government bill, amended in the Senate along the same lines of the Phelps bill, is due to be 'reported' to the House on Tuesday. While a debate is likely, parliamentary rules mean there can't be a vote on it in the House until 4.10pm that day. Coalition flatly refuses to support it. * Senate to consider laws arising from the banking royal commission's recommendations, ensuring superannuation fund trustees can face civil penalties for breaches of their best interests obligations. Labor has offered bipartisan support to fast-track reform. * House to consider a bill making it compulsory for all federal election candidates to lodge information, such as citizenship and bankruptcy papers, showing they are eligible to run for parliament. Also, laws to ensure foreign investors pay a fairer share of tax, and set up a Future Drought Fund. * The annual Closing the Gap report will be released on Thursday, with speeches by the PM and Opposition Leader. * Senate reports due on Wednesday: rehabilitation of mining and resources projects; the practice of dowry and dowry abuse in Australia; support for Australia's thalidomide survivors; jobactive; Great Barrier Reef 2050 Partnership Program. * Senate reports due on Thursday: mental health of first responders, emergency workers and volunteers; proposed parliamentary code of conduct; Franchising Code of Conduct and Oil Code of Conduct. * Retiring senators are due to give valedictory speeches on Wednesday afternoon. Detained asylum-seekers who need medical treatment could be banned from coming to Australia on "character" grounds if Labor can amend proposed new laws. A bill making it easier for asylum seekers to get medical treatment in Australia passed the Senate in December with Labor's support, but under pressure from the government the party wants to make more changes. Labor wants the proposed bill to only apply to people currently in offshore detention - not new arrivals - and set longer time frames for ministers to make decisions. The coalition warns that any changes to border protection policies will see refugee boat arrivals start again. In a caucus meeting on Monday night, Labor MPs agreed to negotiate with the crossbench on giving the minister power to reject a medical transfer on character grounds. Greens senator Nick McKim says any changes have to help refugees. "We're not going to vote for something that would either make no difference, or make life worse for refugees," he told Sky News on Monday. Labor will also push for transfer decisions "as soon as practicable", rather than within 24 hours, and the laws will only apply to people currently offshore. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten received a security briefing on the proposed changes on Monday morning before meetings with the shadow cabinet and Labor caucus. Security agencies have warned the changes could see up to 1000 asylum seekers brought to Australia within weeks. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the "unnecessary and counterproductive" changes would undermine offshore processing and restart the people smuggling trade. More than 4500 doctors have signed a petition in favour of medivac changes. Advocates say 60 asylum seekers are being held offshore are in critical conditions. Under the original proposed changes, the final decision on medical transfers of asylum seekers in offshore detention would shift from politicians and public servants to two specially appointed treating doctors. A minister would be required to review cases within 24 hours and, if they reject an evacuation, an independent health panel would scrutinise the decision. The minister would then only be allowed to reject the transfer on national security grounds - which the coalition and Labor now argue does not give the minister enough discretion. More support services are on the way for new and expectant parents struggling with mental health issues or grieving the death of a child, amid a $26 million funding windfall. The federal government is putting the money towards support and treatment services, to help reach parents doing it tough who might not be catered to by what is currently available. That includes some new fathers, and families grieving the loss of a child, from a range of cultural backgrounds. Promotion campaigns aimed at improving the mental health of new and soon-to-be parents will also be run through the funds. The funds will be distributed to organisations as grants from mid-2019. "The program aims to fill gaps in services to ensure the right supports are in the right place, at the right time," Health Minister Greg Hunt said. Some of the money will be used to help bereavement organisations ensure they have culturally-appropriate support and information for parents who have lost a child through stillbirth. Ensuring such support is available was recommended by a senate inquiry last year. Mr Hunt will announce the funding at a meeting focused on lowering Australia's stillbirth rate in Canberra on Tuesday, bringing together medical professionals, researchers, advocates, health officials and political leaders. The roundtable is the first of its kind and will focus on what research and public education is needed to prevent stillbirth, as six Australian children are stillborn each day. "The roundtable will provide an opportunity for all stakeholders to start working on a new plan and new approach to drive down the stillbirth toll, which far exceeds the road toll," Stillbirth Foundation Australia chief executive Kate Lynch said. "For too long stillbirth has lacked national leadership, but with commitments from both major political parties in Canberra to address stillbirth, this is finally changing." Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636 Today's Birthday February 12: Australian actor Angus Sampson ( 1979 - ) Actor Angus Sampson became a familiar face in a number of well-known Australian television shows before moving to the US to launch his international career. He appeared in Blue Heelers, The Secret Life of Us, Underbelly, Wilfred and Fat Pizza. But it was his roles on US television, the Insidious horror films and George Miller's popular Mad Max: Fury Road that made Sampson a face on the global stage. "Hopefully we can make a couple of more Mad Max's," he told The Daily Telegraph. He was born in Sydney in 1979 and attended Trinity Grammar School, before going to boarding school in Armidale in his last years at school. Sampson caught the acting bug when he was in a play at six years old. "I had to dress up as a nurse and I was hysterically screaming, 'I don't want to wear a dress and high heels!'" he told The Australian. "But when I was shoved out onto the stage and the whole audience broke into laughter, my sister says my whole face changed." He co-directed, co-wrote and starred in The Mule in 2014 as a naive guy travelling with 20 bags of heroin in his stomach. When he's detained by Australian Federal Police coming back from Asia he decides to "withhold the evidence". "It was inspired by a true story. We thought, "Wouldn't it be incredible to have the audience sympathise with someone who does something so morally reprehensible at the start of the film, someone who is complicit in doing something genuinely bad," he told The Australian. He was nominated for Best Actor in 2014 at the Australian Film Critics Association awards for his role in the film as well as Best Supporting Actor for 100 Bloody Acres that same year. Sampson became a recurring cast member in hit US television show Fargo as Bear Gerhardt in 2015. The series, which stars Kirsten Dunst, has won 51 of its 226 award nominations including eight Emmy awards. He's appeared in all three Insidious films as Tucker and his most recent film, the supernatural horror film Winchester, came out last year. The corporate watchdog says it's considering a decision to reduce the banning period on two former Macquarie advisers found guilty of misconduct from 10 years to 18 months. Mark Landau and Marcus Campbell were granted the reduction by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) after they were banned by ASIC from providing financial services for a decade from August 2018. The AAT found both advisors' conduct was misleading and dishonest on a number of occasions, including falsifying email exchanges with clients and entering false transaction records into Macquarie's system. But according to the AAT, none of Mr Landau's or Mr Campbell's clients or the bank suffered a loss, nor did the duo benefit from personal gain. The tribunal said it was "satisfied that neither of them will in the future engage in similar misconduct". "ASIC is considering the AAT decision," read a statement on their website. It comes just days after Kenneth Hayne's royal commission report into the financial sector called into question the effectiveness of Australia's regulators. ASIC said it had heard the message and is in the process of reviewing its enforcement tactics after the royal commission requested it become more active in denouncing and punishing misconduct. A Sydney man who fatally stabbed a close friend after they consumed a cocktail of drugs told police his companion made it clear "only one party was leaving the house alive", a jury has been told. Henry Walcott, 30, has pleaded not guilty - on the grounds of self-defence - to murdering Cameron Bradley, 34, on November 10, 2016, at an Airbnb they were staying at for a few days at Leura in the Blue Mountains. Opening the Crown case on Monday in the NSW Supreme Court, prosecutor Guy Newton said Walcott told police his friend made it clear he was far more keen on Walcott killing him than vice-versa. A recreational fisherman accused of a screwdriver stabbing murder on the shores of Perth's Swan River argues he was acting in self-defence when the intoxicated stranger charged at him and accidentally impaled his head on the tool. Andrew Doan had been fishing with a friend in East Fremantle in the early hours of December 23, 2017 when he became embroiled in an argument with Charles John McCarthy, who had been out drinking at a Christmas party with his wife and a male friend. Defence counsel Michael Perrella told the West Australian Supreme Court on Monday his client, who is Asian, became angered after Mr McCarthy's friend made a racist comment. A verbal argument and scuffle ensued, and Mr Doan was holding his arms up to protect his face - screwdriver in hand - when an enraged Mr McCarthy charged, impaling himself in a "freak and tragic accident", Mr Perrella said. The damage to Tasmania's forestry industry remains unknown as fires continue to burn in remote parts of the state, several weeks after they started. Hundreds of fire hotspots remained on Monday afternoon, although cooler weather has reduced the threat to lives and homes. A meeting of stakeholders determined more than 70,000 hectares of private and public production forest land has been lost in the fires, with the greatest impact hitting Tasmania's south. "The extent of the damage and potential to recover resource from these areas is yet to be assessed," Resources Minister Sarah Courtney said. "Of significant concern to the industry is the impact of bushfire damage to the Southwood forestry hub in the Huon Valley, where the Ta Ann and Neville Smith Forest Products mills operate and employ dozens of Tasmanians." Almost 500 personnel - including 175 interstate and New Zealand firefighters - remain on the ground and in the air, working to extinguish a series of fires. "There is still a lot of work to be done. It is a beast that is sitting calm with the favourable conditions," Tasmanian Fire Service public information officer Peter Middleton told AAP. "We still have lots of bits and pieces of the fire in the landscape. We cannot think it is completely over but (we are) on a better path over the containment. "The threat has reduced due to the weather." Three major fires are burning across the state, including the Riveaux River and Gell River fires in Tasmania's southwest and the Great Pine Tier blaze. Winds with gusts up to 40km/h are due to cross Tasmania into Tuesday, as two cold fronts increase the possibility of rain. "It will not be enough to put out the fires but at least (it) will help," Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Tristan Oakley told AAP. Seven homes and a near-century-old trapper's hut have been destroyed in a series of blazes across Tasmania since December. The startup that digitally cloned a Swiss bank's economist has produced an Australian digital home loan assistant to help manage online applications. National Australia Bank's digital-only arm UBank on Monday announced customers applying for a home loan will soon be able to talk to an artificially intelligent assistant that talks and interacts like a human. Called My Interactive Agent, or Mia, the assistant is part of the bank's preparation for the open banking regime when customers will be able to move their digital records between institutions to get the best deal. Mia's creator, Auckland-based start-up FaceMe, made global headlines in 2018 by cloning the chief economist of Swiss investment bank UBS to help answer client questions. This is the first time FaceMe has moved into Australian banking. "There are rates, there is information but ultimately how we often differentiate the brand is through customer experience," chief executive Danny Tomsett told AAP. "Often when you think about what AI and what this technology can bring, it's the ability to embody a brand ... and creating the experience that a customer truly values rather than just information." Customers will be able to speak to Mia around the clock and get answers to more than 300 questions. UBank chief executive Lee Hatton said while customers should in years to come be able to get a home loan in four clicks with no interaction, they would always be seeking information from the bank. She said Mia allowed UBank staff to focus on other areas. "What AI does is continually lift the bar on how knowledgeable you can be," Ms Hatton told AAP. "So it makes our people much smarter and it means that we're able to train and develop our people in new spaces while Mia is able to take care of the things that are route learning." But while a digital assistant may be helpful as a first-point-of-contact, Mortgage Choice chief executive Susan Mitchell said no current technology could replace the "valuable service and choice that mortgage brokers provide". "While we welcome all advancements in innovative technology, voice-activated applications can prove to be frustrating," Ms Mitchell told AAP in a statement on Monday. "Those home loan applicants who require the most guidance, such as first home buyers or those with complex financial needs, are unlikely to know which questions they need to ask these technologies in order to secure the right home loan for their situation." Mia is expected to be up and running by the end of February. A 17-year-old girl remains in a critical condition at Royal Perth Hospital after a speedboat accident during a race. She had been competing on Sunday in a West Australian Speed Boat Club event on the Swan River in Burswood. WA Department of Transport director of waterways safety Chris Mather said the department was working with police to investigate the incident. "The department approved the event, organised by the WA Speed Boat Club, on the condition a detailed safety management system was in place," he said. "A detailed review of this system will be undertaken as part of the investigation." Anne Arundel County could generate an additional $145 million every year by imposing the maximum local income tax rate 3.2 percent like neighboring Prince Georges, Montgomery and Howard counties, said policy experts from the Department of Legislative Services. That money could be used to bolster the countys education budget, experts said. Local delegates serving on Anne Arundel Countys education subcommittee discussed state aid at a Monday afternoon hearing. Anne Arundel has the third-lowest local income tax rate in the state at 2.5 percent. Del. Sandy Bartlett, committee chair, said the issue of tax hikes will be on the table for lawmakers in one of the states most fiscally conservative jurisdictions. Its going to have to be part of the conversation, Bartlett said. Eight jurisdictions, including Baltimore City and Caroline, Queen Annes, Somerset and Wicomico counties, currently impose the maximum local income tax rate. Anne Arundel County imposes some of the lowest income and property tax rates in Maryland, while maintaining a tax base that is 21 percent larger than the statewide average, according to data provided by the Department of Legislative Services. Under current state funding models, Anne Arundel County is slated to receive $447.8 million in total state aid in fiscal year 2020, or, $5,500 per pupil. That figure includes direct aid for salaries, operational costs and other expenditures and money for teachers retirements. Anne Arundel County is 22nd out of 24 jurisdictions when it comes to state funding because of its large tax base, said Hiram Burch Jr., legislative manager of Local Government Research and Analysis for the Department of Legislative Services. The county relies on local taxpayers for the majority of education funding 60 percent. Meanwhile, 37 percent percent of funding comes from the state. School districts with smaller tax bases, like Baltimore City and Somerset County, receive the most in state per-pupil funding $13,634 and $12,472, respectively. State education funding models are designed to make school districts equal, Burch said. Casino revenue saved in the lockbox for education funding thanks to an amendment Maryland voters passed in November will not affect those models. But, recommendations from the Kirwan Commission could. County Executive Steuart Pittman has said he will examine all options for increasing revenue, from maximizing revenue under the tax cap to upping income taxes. As the countys school board prepares to vote on Superintendent George Arlottos $1.2 billion proposed fiscal 2020 budget, teachers, students and parents still worry the budget wont cover all their needs. However state funding for Anne Arundel schools has grown steadily as enrollment numbers rise. The total amount of per pupil aid will be nearly 4 percent larger in fiscal year 2020 compared to last. The county will also see more state funds funneled into the school system as the number of low-income students, children with special education needs, and students with limited English proficiency continues to grow. Support local journalism. Subscribe to The Capital today CAPTION United States Naval Academy plebes crawl through trenches and clamber over obstacles in the annual Sea Trials, a roughly 14 hour challenge that is part of the culmination of their first year. United States Naval Academy plebes crawl through trenches and clamber over obstacles in the annual Sea Trials, a roughly 14 hour challenge that is part of the culmination of their first year. CAPTION United States Naval Academy plebes crawl through trenches and clamber over obstacles in the annual Sea Trials, a roughly 14 hour challenge that is part of the culmination of their first year. United States Naval Academy plebes crawl through trenches and clamber over obstacles in the annual Sea Trials, a roughly 14 hour challenge that is part of the culmination of their first year. CAPTION USMC veteran Clark Cavalier, who lost both legs in Afghanistan in 2011, is being honored by Ted Levitt's Faces of Valor this year at the organizations big fundraiser-car-show-bike-ride on June 23. The money raised will be used to build a new workshop for Cavalier. USMC veteran Clark Cavalier, who lost both legs in Afghanistan in 2011, is being honored by Ted Levitt's Faces of Valor this year at the organizations big fundraiser-car-show-bike-ride on June 23. The money raised will be used to build a new workshop for Cavalier. CAPTION The Eleventh Annual Planet Walk was held along the B&A Trail between Glen Burnie and Severna Park with NASA scientists, astronomers and other experts presenting information and activities about each of the planets at stations along the trail. The Eleventh Annual Planet Walk was held along the B&A Trail between Glen Burnie and Severna Park with NASA scientists, astronomers and other experts presenting information and activities about each of the planets at stations along the trail. CAPTION People attend a candlelight vigil at the Colonial Square Apartments in Glen Burnie for Tyrique Hudson who was killed at the complex. (Kenneth K. Lam, Baltimore Sun video) People attend a candlelight vigil at the Colonial Square Apartments in Glen Burnie for Tyrique Hudson who was killed at the complex. (Kenneth K. Lam, Baltimore Sun video) CAPTION The funeral procession for Michael Busch, speaker for the Md. House of Delegates. (Karl Ferron / Baltimore Sun video) The funeral procession for Michael Busch, speaker for the Md. House of Delegates. (Karl Ferron / Baltimore Sun video) twitter.com/lauren_lumps Student safety was compromised at the University of Sydney when a private security operator deployed "ghost guards" in a scam that cost the institution hundreds of thousands of dollars, a corruption inquiry has been told. The alleged fraud saw one senior Sydney Night Patrol employee, Emir Balicevac, paid for more than 500 hours work in one week in October 2016 on top of his standard 40 hours, the Independent Commission Against Corruption heard on Monday. "Many hundreds of thousands of dollars must have been paid by the university, unwittingly (for services never rendered)," counsel assisting Phillip English said in his opening statement. "The fraud occurred by security guards creating false entries on daily timesheets which were later used as the basis for rendering services." SNP provided security at numerous University of Sydney campuses from 2009 under a contract worth almost $30 million. Mr English on Monday said deploying "ghost guards" had "the capacity to create appreciable security risks at the university in terms of student and campus safety". They co-starred on the summer reality show Survival of the Fittest in 2018. And Georgia Cole and Georgie Clarke enjoyed a reality reunion as they joined forces for a night out in Mayfair, London on Tuesday. Georgia, 26, flaunted her toned curves in a glamorous snakeskin-print bodycon dress which teased her ample cleavage as she strutted down the street. Survival of the Fittest stars: Georgia Cole and Georgie Clarke enjoyed a reality reunion as they joined forces for a night out in Mayfair, London on Tuesday The scanty dress hugged her slender waist while also drawing the eye to her tanned legs. She boosted her height with leopard print stiletto sandals. Her caramel locks were styled sleek and straight while her pretty features were enhanced with metallic shadow, fluttery lashes and lashings of nude lipstick. Georgie, 21, flashed her lacy bra in a saucily unbuttoned powder blue shirt dress which cinched in at her waist with a Gucci belt. Reunited: The glamorous reality stars held hands as they prepared for the night ahead Wild side: Georgia, 26, flaunted her toned curves in a glamorous snakeskin-print bodycon dress which teased her ample cleavage as she strutted down the street Arrival: She boosted her height with leopard print stiletto sandals The dress showcased her tanned legs, with the ensemble completed with monochrome snakeskin print ankle boots. Her caramel flecked brunette locks were styled in soft waves while her gorgeous make-up look featured chestnut shadow, false lashes and taupe lipstick. Georgie was voted off Survival Of The Fittest after just five days in the lodge, but recently admitted she wouldn't rule out doing reality TV again. Glowing: Her caramel locks were styled sleek and straight while her pretty features were enhanced with metallic shadow, fluttery lashes and lashings of nude lipstick Eye-popping: Georgie, 21, flashed her lacy bra in a saucily unbuttoned powder blue shirt dress which cinched in at her waist with a Gucci belt Speaking to the Daily Star, she said she would jump at the chance to head into Love Island, adding: 'If they would have me on Love Island I would love to do that. It would be great. I wouldnt do anything differently all Id want to do is go in and be myself. 'I watched Love Island last summer and I was absolutely addicted. 'I find it fascinating to watch peoples relationships grow. I think the show is going to get even better this summer.' Leggy: The dress showcased her tanned legs, with the ensemble completed with monochrome snakeskin print ankle boots Georgie is also still good friends with her former Survival Of The Fittest co-star, Dani Dyer, daughter of EastEnders star Danny, who stormed to victory in the most recent series of Love Island. Dani became a fan favourite thanks to her romance with Jack Fincham, with the pair romance going from strength to strength since leaving the villa earlier this year. While Georgia hit the headlines after enjoying a brief romance with ex Love Islander Theo Campbell last Spring, with the couple seen smooching in the street. Josh Brolin's personal assistant-turned-third wife Kathryn Boyd celebrated his 51st birthday on Tuesday by sharing several candid pictures as well as a love poem. 'I came home to find you outside in the cold evening last night with our wide-eyed daughter, wrapped in your T-shirt, listening out for sounds of quiet nature,' the 31-year-old Midheaven Denim owner wrote on Instagram. 'Even a simple moment you make beautiful. And even just another birthday will be unique because it will be yours, and yours is always just a bit more colorful than the rest. How lucky I am to see you in this time of your life. Even dreams try and conjure the color you create. Happy birthday my love. Forever yours.' 'Happy birthday to my main squeeze!' Josh Brolin's personal assistant-turned-third wife Kathryn Boyd celebrated his 51st birthday on Tuesday by sharing several candid pictures as well as a love poem Kathryn was far less eloquent in her silly 'Roses are red, violets are blue' poem inside an Insta-storied slideshow consisting of mostly gratuitous, shirtless shots of the Oscar nominee. The Goonies alum kicked off his special day goofing around in his swimming pool, and he compared his life to an 'impending disaster turned into a raucous dance of giggles.' 'For the most part I have been blessed, deeply blessed by the people in my life,' Josh reflected on Tuesday. 'Those people who bring color and humor and passion and tap into a love that doesn't care what judgments may follow its manifestations. In 51 years I have learned one thing: life is short so live it wildly and deeply when you can.' The 31-year-old Midheaven Denim owner wrote: 'Even a simple moment you make beautiful. And even just another birthday will be unique because it will be yours, and yours is always just a bit more colorful than the rest. How lucky I am to see you in this time of your life. Even dreams try and conjure the color you create' 'Roses are red, violets are blue': Kathryn was far less eloquent in her silly poem inside an Insta-storied slideshow consisting of mostly gratuitous, shirtless shots of the Oscar nominee LOL! The Goonies alum kicked off his special day goofing around in his swimming pool, and he compared his life to an 'impending disaster turned into a raucous dance of giggles' Josh reflected: 'For the most part I have been blessed, deeply blessed by the people in my life. Those people who bring color and humor and passion and tap into a love that doesn't care what judgments may follow its manifestations. In 51 years I have learned one thing: life is short so live it wildly and deeply when you can' The Sicario action star continued: 'And when you can help someone live a moment that they might not be able, for whatever reasons, to see at that particular moment, help them. We are a blip in time. This blip has been kind to me. And I hope that, for the rest of my days, I do well in paying back my debt to its kindness.' Brolin's birthday festivities came two weeks after his stepmother - the legendary EGOT champ Barbra Streisand - shared a cute snap of herself cradling their three-month-old daughter Westlyn Reign. 'The kid has a great Jewish grandmother and she's appropriately manifesting like she should,' the SoCal native told ET back in June. 'She's into it, she calls every day, she follows the apps. It's amazing. It's amazing. Look, it could've been the opposite and it's not so we love that people are involved, family's involved, friends are involved. It's a good thing.' 'The most delicious thing!' Brolin's birthday festivities came two weeks after his stepmother - the legendary EGOT champ Barbra Streisand - shared a cute snap of herself cradling their three-month-old daughter Westlyn Reign (pictured January 28) Father-of-three: The SoCal native also has two grown children - son Trevor, 30; and daughter Eden, 25 - from his first marriage to Alice Adair, whom he divorced in 1994 Josh also has two grown children - son Trevor, 30; and daughter Eden, 25 - from his first marriage to Alice Adair, whom he divorced in 1994. Brolin resumes his motion-capture role as the Infinity Stone-powered Titan despot Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, which hits UK theaters April 25 and US theaters April 26. The directing duo the Russo Brothers announced via Twitter that they wrapped production on the highly-anticipated four-quel on October 12. They have been firm friends for years. And Jordan Barrett was reunited with Hailey Bieber (nee Baldwin) at New York Fashion Week on Monday. The pair, who are both signed to IMG, sat front row at the Zadig & Voltaire presentation in Manhattan. Friends in high places! Jordan Barrett (right) reunites with model pal Hailey Bieber (centre) at New York Fashion Week Jordan, 22, braced New York's freezing weather in a warm black sweater paired with casual blue pants and shiny dress shoes. Hailey, 22, rugged up in a pink turtleneck sweater, grey Zadig & Voltaire pantsuit and white pointed-toe pumps. The socialite, who changed her last name after marrying Justin Bieber last year, proudly flashed her diamond sparkler from Justin, which is estimated to be worth $560,000, according to the New York Post's Page Six. Winter fashion: Jordan, 22, braced New York's freezing weather in a warm black sweater paired with casual blue pants and shiny dress shoes. Hailey, 22, rugged up in a pink turtleneck sweater, grey Zadig & Voltaire pantsuit and white pointed-toe pumps Jordan and Hailey were first pictured together in 2015 at the Pat McGrath launch of Phantom 002, in New York. They have also worked together on various fashion campaigns and often attend the same events. While Hailey is happily married to pop star Justin, Jordan has been linked to a series of models including Bella Hadid, however she previously insisted on Twitter that he is 'like a brother' Party pals! Jordan and Hailey have known each other for years. Pictured in New York in 2015 Jordan, who is the son of convicted drug dealer Adrian Barrett, was first discovered at age 13 while shoplifting at a convenience store in 2010. He was trying to steal matches when he was approached by a model scout working for international agency IMG, which he eventually signed to in 2015. After booking his first modelling gig at 17 in Tokyo, Jordan, known for his symmetrical features and wavy blond hair, moved to the US - where he made his mark on the fashion world. She is flat out filming her new movie Birds of Prey, reprising the role of villainous Harley Quinn. And it seems busy actress Margot Robbie is just like the rest of us, as the Aussie star was spotted with notes scribbled on her hand while heading to a Los Angeles gym on Tuesday. Two reminders to make telephone calls were seen on the back of her hand as she chatted away with her personal trainer. Back at it! Margot Robbie showed off her taut tummy in a cropped T-shirt and tight leggings as she hit the gym in Los Angeles on Tuesday after attending the BAFTA Awards Margot looked ready for a gruelling workout, showing off her taut tummy in a cropped T-shirt and tight leggings. Wearing her hair in a high ponytail, she went makeup free and accessorised with a pair of gold hoop earrings. The Wolf Of Wall Street star looked somewhat downcast after losing out on a BAFTA Award over the weekend. She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Mary Queen of Scots, but the accolade was awarded to British star, Rachel Weisz. At the prestigious event, held at the Royal Albert Hall, London, Margot also managed to divide fans with her unusual Chanel frock. The gown - which featured an embellished bodice, black ruffled shoulder detailing and a matching hemline - sparked debate on social media. Don't forget! Two reminders to make phone calls were seen on the back of her hand as she chatted away with her personal trainer 'Margot Robbie is too beautiful to wear that ugly dress,' one fan tweeted. 'Didn't like her dress at all. She has a perfect body, too bad her stylist decided to hide her body in that ugly dress,' another wrote. Several fashion critics jokingly compared the outfit to a 'car wash', with one person adding: 'Quite a sparkly car wash, granted.' 'Margot Robbie looks like a flying fish. Albeit a very beautiful flying fish,' read a similar tweet. Elsewhere, one person said they 'didn't understand' the dress' statement sleeves. Despite the negative feedback, Margot received her fair share of compliments, with one fan writing on Twitter: 'There she is. How come Margot Robbie always looks so gorgeous and stunning?' The defining feature of the garment was its ruffled black shoulder detailing and matching hemline, which showed a peek of her strappy heels.. A petition calling for Married At First Sight 'expert' Mel Schilling to be sacked has accumulated over 50,000 signatures as of Wednesday morning. And according to former contestant Sean Thomsen, the public outrage against Mel and the show has been a long time coming. After announcing he'd signed the petition on Tuesday, the 35-year-old FIFO worker spoke about his experience on set in a lengthy Instagram video. Speaking out: Former Married At First Sight star Sean Thomsen (pictured) has revealed what 'relationship expert' Mel Schilling is REALLY like behind the scenes - as a petition calling for her to be sacked reaches 50,000 signatures 'Hopefully the petition gets 50,000 and they kick Mel out. Everyone goes, "Mel's awesome Mel's awesome!" She wasn't awesome to me,' Sean said. 'She ignored me the whole time, didn't say s**t because I didn't fit in that category,' he added. 'So, f**king kick her out. I don't give a f**k, get rid of her. Cancel the show. It's a f**king load of s**t so I'm pretty happy that it's gone the way it's gone.' Bitter experience: 'Hopefully they kick Mel out. Everyone goes, "Mel's awesome Mel's awesome!" She wasn't awesome to me,' Sean (pictured) said on Instagram on Tuesday 'I was losing my mind': Sean described his experience filming MAFS as overwhelming, and praised Australians for 'waking up' to the truth of reality television Remember this? Sean is pictured with Tracey Jewel on last year's Married At First Sight. They were originally matched with other people, but hooked up before filming the reunion Sean also described his experience filming MAFS as overwhelming, and praised Australians for 'waking up' to the truth of reality television. 'It kind of makes me realise that I'm not going insane,' he said, adding that he was 'losing [his] mind' during the social experiment. 'I know deep down in my identity and my core beliefs that I'm a good person. And I couldn't believe the way that they were trying to portray me,' he added. 'I'm pretty happy about Australia finally waking up and realising how crazy it was and hopefully it's just the start of it... It's just ridiculous how they've gotten away with it for this long. So I'm pretty happy.' Scandal: Mel (left) lectured Bronson Norrish (right) over his use of the C-word on Sunday's episode of MAFS but failed to address Ines Basic's 'abusive' behaviour, sparking a fan backlash The backlash against Mel began after Sunday's episode of Married at First Sight, which saw Bronson Norrish call his 'wife' Ines Basic the C-word during the first commitment ceremony. While Ines voted to leave the experiment, Bronson decided to stay, forcing her to endure another week with him. Explaining his decision, he said: 'When we did the questionnaire thing, Ines was amazing that night, like, really amazing. I loved her to pieces that night. 'Next morning, the Hulk came out. Straight back to a c**t. I'm not calling her a c**t, I'm saying she acts like a c**t'. Double standards? Bronson called Ines (pictured) the C-word during the first commitment ceremony. He was scolded by Mel, but Ines was let off the hook for her use of foul language A stunned Ines replied: 'I don't think this could get any worse.' Psychologist Mel was horrified by Bronson's slur, saying: 'Don't use language like that if you want any chance of a relationship with a woman.' The pair were then told they would be forced into counselling, with fellow expert John Aiken insisting that Bronson needed to learn 'respect'. While he was criticised on the show, Bronson was widely praised on Twitter for standing up for himself. He went there! Bronson's castmates, including Elizabeth Sobinoff (pictured), were shocked by his colourful language Many viewers claimed he was justified in calling Ines a 'c**t' after she had verbally abused him during their honeymoon in Port Douglas. 'She's been mouthing him off all week and she didn't even get told off?' one person tweeted, addressing the double standard. 'The "experts" didn't even mention her abusive tendencies but sure let's go off about the word c**t'. Another viewer wrote: 'So verbal abuse is okay if it's directed at a man, but it's not okay to call the abuser out as a c**t?' Going to ground: Following the backlash, Mel (pictured) locked down her social media accounts and Channel Nine restricted comments on the show's official Instagram page Justified? While he was criticised on the show, and sternly disciplined by Mel, Bronson was widely defended on social media After the episode aired, Mel was personally slammed by viewers for lecturing Bronson over his use of the C-word, while seemingly letting Ines off their hook for her shocking behaviour. A Change.org petition demanding that she is fired from the program rapidly gained momentum, receiving more than 50,000 signatures as of Wednesday. In a statement on Monday, Channel Nine publicly supported Mel. MAFS' executive producer John Walsh told Daily Mail Australia: 'There were 12 women in the room that night and a man used language that was highly insulting and inflammatory in reference to his wife. 'Mel acted in the only way appropriate by calling out the language - language that is not ever considered acceptable anywhere, anytime. 'We are shocked at the backlash Mel has received for defending another woman.' Following the backlash, Mel locked down her social media accounts and Channel Nine restricted comments on the show's official Instagram page. Married At First Sight continues Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel Nine She's been on a promotional trail with her co-star daughter for their latest drama film. And Tilda Swinton, 58, looked sensational as she joined her daughter Honor, 21, for the premiere of their movie The Souvenir at the 69th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday. The actress, who shares Honor and her son Xavier with her playwright ex John Byrne, maintained her quirky sense of style as she rocked a black structured midi dress for the event. Family affair: Tilda Swinton, 58, looked sensational as she joined her daughter Honor, 21, for the premiere of their movie The Souvenir at the 69th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin , Germany , on Tuesday Turning heads on the red carpet, the Trainweck star enhanced her height in a pair of pointed velvet ankle boots. The Okja actress opted for her signature make-up look as she complemented her beauty with peach-toned make-up, and wore her pixie 'do in chic waves. Meanwhile, I Am Love star Honor commanded attention in a cropped sweatshirt, tied in with a sequin midi skirt and patent kitten heels. Earlier that day, Tilda and Honor attended a photocall for the movie, with the screen star looking sensational in a black leather jacket with culottes while rocking matching gold boots to her daughter. Style maven: The actress, who shares Honor and her son Xavier with her playwright ex John Byrne, maintained her quirky sense of style as she rocked a black structured midi dress for the event Looking good: Meanwhile, I Am Love star Honor commanded attention in a cropped sweatshirt, tied in with a sequin midi skirt and patent kitten heels Golden girls: Earlier that day, Tilda and Honor attended a photocall for the movie, with the screen star looking sensational in a black leather jacket with culottes while rocking matching gold boots to her daughter Tilda and Honor play on-screen mother and daughter in the movie which follows Honor's character Julie, a young film student in the Eighties, who becomes romantically involved with a complicated and concerning man. As they continue to blaze the promo trail with the movie, the duo have been hitting red carpets to help launch the flick on to the silver screen. The pair sashayed into the carpet with Tilda sporting a high-necked black leather jacket with gold buttons and a long skirt. Giving a nod to their friendship, the stylish duo sported identical gold boots while dazzling in their contrasting yet complementary ensembles. Hey mama: Honor had learnt from the best so clung to her mum My mother, my friend: The rising star injected some youthful style into the red carpet as she went low-key in patterned jeans paired with a bold blue and white shirt Honor injected some youthful style into the red carpet as she went low-key in patterened jeans paired with a bold blue and white shirt. Her blonde tresses were styled into elegant waves which skimmed her shoulders in length and fell from a centre parting to frame her pretty face. She has been lauded for her appearance on-screen, with many praising her turn in the film opposite her superstar mother and esteemed cast. Here come the girls! The movie's director Joanna Hogg (pictured) continued: 'I wanted to do a lot of work with Honor in terms of connecting her with some of my own memories, and some of the artifacts of my past, my films, and my photography, and my diaries' Stunning: Tilda was gazing into the distance as she showed off her ageless complexion Stunner: Her blonde tresses were styled into elegant waves which skimmed her shoulders in length and fell from a centre parting to frame her pretty face Happy days: The mother-daughter pair chatted about the movie in depth Indie Wire said of her appearance: 'Despite the shadow cast by her famous mother who plays Julies own mom in the movie Swinton-Byrne stands on her own as a genuine talent to watch, but shes barely spoken a word about it in public.' The movie's director Joanna Hogg continued: 'I wanted to do a lot of work with Honor in terms of connecting her with some of my own memories, and some of the artifacts of my past, my films, and my photography, and my diaries... 'I was definitely looking for someone who connected deeply with myself, not even myself back then, but right now. With Honor, I certainly felt that when I first decided to cast her. But shes also her own person so she brings a lot of her own self to it.' Chatting away: Honor was laughing throughout the panel talk Heading off: She was happily posing for pictures with fans Here come the boys! Tom Burke also attended to help debut his new film He holds the title of the longest active run of hosting a late night talk show. And after 17 years in the top seat, Carson Daly is wrapping up Last Call With Carson Daly. The 45-year-old TV presenter revealed he would be stepping down to spend more time with his family. Scroll down for video Finishing up: Carson Daly announced on Tuesday that after 17 years he'd be stepping down from his NBC talk show Last Call 'If you had told me in 2002 I would be a part of the historic NBC late-night family for 17 years, I would have said you were crazy,' he said in a statement. 'Hard to believe it's been so long 2,000 episodes. It's time to move on to something new and let someone else have access to this incredible platform.' NBC has confirmed that the star will however continue to remain a prominent face of the network with the star continuing his hosting duties on The Voice and Today show. The 45-year-old TV presenter revealed he would be stepping down to spend more time with his family (L-R: wife Siri, London, four, Etta, six, Jackson, nine) pictured 2017 Carson added: 'My 20s was about finding a good job. My 30s was about taking on as many of them as I could. Now, in my 40s, I'm focused on quality over quantity.' 'I want to do more with my Today family and continue hosting and producing The Voice and explore new opportunities.' The TV star's 1:30am time slot is yet to be filled but THR predicts Chelsea Handler as a potential candidate. Time to move on: 'Hard to believe it's been so long 2,000 episodes. It's time to move on to something new and let someone else have access to this incredible platform (pictured 2009 with Masi Oka) Could it be? Carson's 1:30am time slot is yet to be filled but THR predicts Chelsea Handler as a potential candidate NBC are yet to announce when the last episode will air. By the time Last Call wraps, Carson would have recorded 2000 episodes - making him the longest running active host of the same late-night show. Last Call premiered in January 2002 and switched to a documentary style series with pre-taped and produced segments. Initially when it premiered it was a traditional talk-show style presentation. Carson got engaged to food blogger Siri Pinter in 2013 and the pair wed in December two years later. Together they have three children: son Jackson James, nine, and daughters Etta Jones, six, and London Rose, four. Zoe Marshall, 32, has revealed the reason she banned her 11-month-old son, Benjamin Fox, from watching popular children's cartoon Peppa Pig. Speaking on Mamamia's podcast The Baby Bubble on Monday, Zoe said she believes the show is unhealthy viewing because the main character is 'manipulative'. '[Fox] loves Peppa Pig,' she said before mimicking Peppa's British accent, '"Mummy, can I have chocolate for breakfast?" Listen Peppa, that is not what I'm teaching my child!' 'She's really manipulative': Zoe Marshall (left) has revealed why she banned her 11-month-old son Benjamin Fox (centre) from watching Peppa Pig. Right: Zoe's husband Benji Marshall 'She's really manipulative,' Zoe continued before returning to the British accent: '"Charlie, [I'll] do this for you if you do this." No, Peppa, this isn't how the world works. So [Fox] is not allowed Peppa Pig anymore.' Zoe also touched on the psychology behind the children's program. 'It must speak to the brain of a child, because the kids are glued. It must be the colours and the high-squeaky voices,' she said. Parenting: The couple welcomed their first child together in March last year The KIIS FM host shares baby Fox with her NRL player husband Benji Marshall, 33. In 2014, the creators of Peppa Pig were forced to defend the animated series after a couple from Wales accused the show of teaching their toddler the F-word. 'Any misunderstanding is unintentional,' a spokesperson said at the time. Controversy: In 2014, the creators of Peppa Pig were forced to defend the animated series after a couple from Wales accused the show of teaching their toddler the F-word The following year, the parents of British toddler Amari Black were horrified when the three-year-old's first words were, 'F**k you', after his malfunctioning Peppa Pig toy spouted swear words. In 2016, Sheik Shady Alsuleiman, who is the president of the Australian National Imams Council, called for an alternative to the western cartoon for Muslim children. 'These days, in this modern age, our children have been embedded and very well-occupied watching different cartoons on TV and it's our responsibility not to stop them from watching but give them another alternative,' he wrote on Facebook. EastEnders is certainly big on forgiveness. Or now so jaundiced all foundered on just one fundamental belief: that nothing anyone does really matters. It has so many characters whose moral compass is at best decidedly vague or highly flexible, its hard to tell what were meant to think of them. Drama: Mel Owen asked Jack Branning to help her and son Hunter get away with murder in Tuesday's episode of EastEnders Mitch for example is seemingly alright, and actually quite likeable just because he has a super-cute kid now. Its not a problem that last time the waster he stole 3000 from two pensioners, Ted and Patrick, who is surprisingly fine about it, implying the audience should be too. Between them, Hayley, Kat and Alfie racked up a string of grievances/sins that included infidelity, defrauding the bereaved, driving a Vespa into an OAP, and kidnapping a baby. But again, they werent really bothered and deep down all love their kids and are diamond geezers etc. Stuart Highway apparently shouldnt be judged too harshly for anything he did to the Carters either, given Mick, Linda, Shirley, and Tina appear to have forgiven him so uniformly youd think theyd been brainwashed by Derren Brown into forgetting it all. Sharon Mitchell is not necessarily to blame for any unseemly/immoral conduct affecting her young lover Keanu, her husband Phil, or her stepdaughter Louise. In fact her tremulous speeches and close-ups suggest we should see her more as the victim. Gritty: EastEnders is certainly big on forgiveness. Or now so jaundiced all foundered on just one fundamental belief: that nothing anyone does really matters As for the storyline about Mel Owen and her son Hunter, its obviously not an issue (or a problem) whether that the punishment for bigamy should be death in this case a teenage firing squad. They werent exactly stricken with remorse about killing Mels bigamist boyfriend/fiance/husband Ray Kelly. And theyd had no qualms about burying him in the woods (twice - the second time when he was actually dead after Hunter shot him). Hunter had enjoyed killing his surrogate father Ray Kelly so much hed been strutting around Albert Squares with his gun down the back of his trousers desperate to use it again, like a pretty version of Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry (Dirty Hunter). And we knew from years of seeing Mel in action that shes a hard-nosed, conniving, cow (actually a compliment in Walford) and that her son a total psychopath (ditto). She had ruthlessly tracked down and fitted up Ben Mitchell for example, when he nicked Aidans heist money. Killer instinct: As for the storyline about Mel Owen and her son Hunter, its obviously not an issue (or a problem) whether that the punishment for bigamy should be death in this case a teenage firing squad Now though Mels speeches were so impassioned you began to feel on their side, or at least the scriptwriters thought we were meant to be. I didnt know what to do! I didnt know what to say! Mel wailed to Jack Branning, after the Old Bill had taken her in for questioning when Rays body was discovered by a bloke with a metal detector and an Alsatian. Mel and the scriptwriters had already piled up the evidence for looking at her case sympathetically. Ray was angry so angry! she began her version of events on January 1st. All I wanted was my son. He had my boy. In other words, just a loving mother. We were about to get away then he was there, trying to smash his way in. Murder: They werent exactly stricken with remorse about killing Mels bigamist boyfriend/fiance/husband Ray Kelly. And theyd had no qualms about burying him in the woods (twice - the second time when he was actually dead after Hunter shot him) It was basically Rays fault. I panicked. I tried to bury him. It wasnt her fault. But with Ray it was never over and suddenly he was there again. Strangling me again. And then I heard the shot. Ray was dead and my boy, my little boy, was standing there, saving me. Hunter was a hero, not a psycho. Why didnt you just call 999? Jack asked, the inevitable question in every EastEnders murder. Ray was in the police! His friends would have twisted it! It was basically the polices fault. Rant: I didnt know what to do! I didnt know what to say! Mel wailed to Jack Branning, after the Old Bill had taken her in for questioning when Rays body was discovered by a bloke with a metal detector and an Alsatian Once he was in the ground it was over, but its never over is it? This is never going to be over is it? Poor Mel! As a friend, in your professional opinion, what chance have we got me and Hunter? What chance of getting away with murder. Not much said Jack: Theyve only just begun. Theyll find clues, something youve left. Curse those coppers. So unfair! Jack had already demonstrated his devotion to his ex, lying to the Filth to give her an alibi (without knowing she was facing a murder charge). This wasnt enough for Mel though. When the ex-copper advised giving themselves up, telling the rozzers there were mitigating circumstances (namely that Unter had seen his mum being strangled) Mel insisted: No, we need to run! All they needed, she hinted heavily, was someone who knows all the tricks. Someone who knows how the police work. Someone who can get us out of the country! She said: Ray was angry so angry! she began her version of events on January 1st. All I wanted was my son. He had my boy. In other words, just a loving mother She always was about as subtle as a brick. If I ever meant anything to you and if you ever had any feelings, please get me out of here! Save my boy! Viewers who assumed the show would be in favour of Mel and Hunter receiving justice for their crime had to think again. Only in EastEnders could trying to get away with murder be turned into something romantic. Hugh Jackman was just eight years old when his mother, Grace McNeil, abandoned her family in Australia and returned to the UK. The Hollywood star, 50, has previously described Grace's sudden departure as 'traumatic', but it appears time heals all wounds. Hugh was pictured grocery shopping with his mother in The Hamptons, New York on Tuesday in a rare public sighting together. Time heals all wounds: Hugh Jackman enjoyed a rare public outing with his mother Grace McNeil in the Hamptons, New York on Tuesday - after she 'abandoned' him aged eight The Wolverine star, who won his first Grammy over the weekend, wrapped up warm in a black zip-up hoodie featuring the words, 'All be happy'. He completed his look with a beanie hat, dark sunglasses and grey tracksuit pants. The sighting comes after Hugh told Australia's WHO magazine in January 2018 that his mother abandoning him as a child was 'traumatic'. Difficult childhood: The sighting comes after Hugh told Australia's WHO magazine in January 2018 that his mother abandoning him as a child was 'traumatic' The actor was an eight-year-old schoolboy when Grace left him without even saying goodbye. She left Australia and returned to her native England in the late '70s, leaving her husband Christopher Jackman to raise five children alone. After the couple divorced, Hugh's sisters Zoe and Sonia went to live with Grace in the UK. Hugh and his brothers, Ian and Ralph, stayed in Sydney with their father. 'It was traumatic,' Hugh said, recalling his difficult childhood. 'I thought she was probably going to come back. And then it sort of dragged on and on.' The Greatest Showman star added that after his mother left the family, he saw her about 'once a year'. Moving overseas: Grace (right, with Hugh) left Australia and returned to her native England in the late '70s, leaving her husband Christopher Jackman to raise five children alone In December 2012, Hugh told Australia's 60 Minutes program that he still vividly remembers 'the morning she left'. 'I remember her being in a towel around her head and saying goodbye, must have been the way she said goodbye,' he said. 'As I went off to school, when I came back, there was no one there in the house.' He added: 'The next day there was a telegram from England. Mum was there. And then that was it. Dad used to pray every night that mum would come back.' Divided family: After Grace and Christopher divorced, Hugh's sisters Zoe and Sonia went to live with their mother in the UK. Hugh and his brothers, Ian and Ralph, stayed in Sydney with their father. Pictured: Hugh and his father Fortunately, Hugh and his mother reconciled years later. He told The Sun newspaper in October 2011: I am 43 now and we have definitely made our peace, which is important. 'I was always quite connected with my mum. I have a good relationship with her.' She recently revealed the results of her none-surgical lower face lift. And, Cara De La Hoyde ensured she turned heads as she stepped out in an unusual sheer polka dot maxi dress on Tuesday, to attend the launch of Strawberry Lift - the new, non-surgical treatment from Laser Lipo - at Madame Tussauds in London. The former Love Island winner, 28, displayed her fantastic physique in the gown, which featured a plunging neckline and flirty cut-out section. Wow! Cara De La Hoyde, 28, ensured she turned heads as she stepped out in an unusual sheer polka dot maxi dress to attend the launch of Strawberry Lift at Madame Tussauds in London The floor-length number, from House of Gigi, comprised sheer panels between black panels with lace edging. Cara's unique dress also featured black gold discs around the centre, which drew attention to her slim waist. The former TOWIE babe donned simple black heels and carried her belongings in a classic black clutch bag. Cara styled her incredibly long raven hair extensions into dishevelled waves, and drew attention to her piercing brown eyes with eyelash extensions and well-defined brows. Daring: The former Love Island winner displayed her fantastic physique in the gown, which featured a plunging neckline and flirty cut-out section Flirty: The floor-length number, from House of Gigi, comprised sheer panels between black panels with lace edging Pretty: Cara styled her incredibly long raven hair extensions into dishevelled waves, and drew attention to her piercing brown eyes with eyelash extensions and well-defined brows Couple goals: Cara's fiance Nathan Massey opted for a more understated look as he teamed a pair of skinny jeans with a burgundy blazer and shiny boots Wow: Cara recently revealed the results of her Strawberry Lift, a non-surgical procedure, which has transformed the jawline she says was left 'bloated' by pregnancy Cara arrived at the bash with her fiance Nathan Massey, who opted for a more understated look, teaming skinny jeans with a burgundy blazer and shiny boots. Gail Porter, 47, looked stylish at the star-studded event, clad in a black and white print shirt dress, leggings and edgy biker boots. Taking to the stage at the Strawberry Lift launch party, the Scottish presenter - who developed alopecia in 2005 - broke down in tears as she revealed that having the treatment had changed her life. The Scottish presenter said: 'After losing my hair I lost my confidence, about even going to the gym. 'Once I got a double chin - that's when I was really knocked down, but having this chin lift changed by life.' Gorgeous: Gail Porter, 47, looked stylish at the star-studded event, clad in a black and white print shirt dress, leggings and edgy biker boots Life-changing: Taking to the stage at the Strawberry Lift event, the presenter - who developed alopecia in 2005 - broke down in tears as she revealed that the treatment has changed her life Emotional: She said: 'After losing my hair I lost my confidence, about even going to the gym. Once I got a double chin - that's when I was really knocked down, but having this chin lift changed by life' Meanwhile, Cara revealed the results of a non-surgical lift, which has transformed the jawline she says was left 'bloated' by pregnancy. The new non-invasive treatment uses a laser to zap away fat and produce collagen to tighten and lift the skin, and aims to reduce signs of a double chin and puffy face. The reality stunner says she was 'blown away' by how the 'Strawberry Lift' banished her double chin and gave her a 'supermodel' jawline. Along with giving her more contoured cheekbones, Kent-born Cara said it has helped her look her best for her upcoming wedding day. Chic: Yazmin Oukhellou looked chic in a knitted beige midaxi dress Designer duds: The TOWIE star slung a Gucci bag over her elbow as she posed for photographs Looking good: She was joined at the launch event by her boyfriend and co-star James Lock Simple does it: James cut a casual figure in jeans and a black T-shirt Cara and Nathan are now preparing for a low-key wedding, 15-months after they welcomed son Freddie, their first child. Speaking about the special day, she continued: 'I want to feel the best Ive ever felt for the wedding and I knew that if I still had my double chin I would feel self-conscious on the day... 'I just love that such a small change has made such a difference and doesnt look unnatural.' Pucker up: Yazmin pretended to kiss the waxwork of a Bollywood actor Good times: Meanwhile, James posed next to a waxwork of Nicole Kidman TOWIE reunion: Cara and Yazmin paused for a quick photo inside the launch event Cosy: Yazmin and James looked happier than ever as they cosied up in front of the camera The brunette recently admitted she wants to lose 'a few more pounds' off her 'mum tum' ahead of her big day, and plans to surprise everyone with an unconventional wedding dress choice later this year. She told FEMAIL: 'Im hoping to lose a couple more pounds and a bit more of my mum tum before the wedding. 'I want my skin to look its best so I will be getting facials and Im upping my water intake to three litres a day.' Sensational: Lisa Snowdon oozed elegance in a chic black pencil dress Stunning: The presenter dazzled in the figure-hugging gown as she made her way to the party Bronzed beauty: Lisa looked radiant with a healthy bronzed glow She added: 'Motherhood has changed my body majorly. I was a dancer and was always active, so when I had Fred that changed a lot. 'Like every mum I have days when I embrace my mum tum and then I have days when I miss my old body, but Nathan loves me this way so thats good enough for me.' Luckily for Cara, none of the latest wave of Love Island contestants were in attendance at the bash, after she slammed them as fame-hungry and fake, despite winning the show with fiance Nathan Massey in 2016. Edgy: Nadia Essex made a style statement at the bash, in thigh high red stiletto boots and an oriental print blazer Bold: The former Celebs Go Dating star slipped into a black bodycon dress beneath her pretty jacket, and accessorised with a smattering of silver necklaces Having fun: The reality star posed up to a waxwork of Brad Pitt at the launch event Speaking to HeartFM at the end of January, Cara claimed its increasing popularity over the last two years has resulted in people queuing up to land a place on the show so they can land big money deals when it comes to an end. Asked if contestants were being themselves on the show, she said: 'No. No I dont really watch anymore if Im honest because for me its a different show. 'We went on. We had no idea. I just didnt want to pay rent for six weeks so I was like right, Ill and sit in the sun. 'Now I think its a totally different. I think people are entering for different reasons. Its a totally different ball game.' She announced her split from Josh Denzel earlier this month, after six months of dating. But, Kaz Crossley appeared to be yearning for girl time on Tuesday, as she took to Instagram to share a sizzling throwback snap from her January girls' trip to Thailand. The Love Island star, 25, looked sensational in the photograph of herself, as she rocked a yellow and orange tropical print bikini that showcased her ample cleavage and toned abs. Sensational: Kaz Crossley, 25, took to Instagram on Tuesday, to share a sizzling throwback snap from her January girls' trip to Thailand Posing confidently whilst stood in aqua blue waters of Wang Long Bay in Koh Phi Phi, Thailand, the brunette beauty was a vision in the stunning pic. Kaz, who could be seen with her long glossy locks in braids, captioned the snap: 'Can I go back yet? 'Reversible bikini by @sianmariefashion my friend and fellow business woman @siangabbidon so proud of you.' Kaz's throwback photo comes a week after she admitted that still loves her former boyfriend Josh, 27, as she lifted the lid on their break-up on Capital Breakfast. Glam: Kaz celebrated her 25th birthday with a January trip to Thailand with girlfriends Over: Love Island star Kaz announced her split from co-star Josh Denzel, 27, earlier this month, after six months of dating Split: Kaz Crossley recently admitted she still loves her former boyfriend Josh as she lifted the lid on their recent break-up on Capital Breakfast Speaking to hosts Roman Kemp and Vick Hope, the Love Island star revealed the couple became 'different people' at the end of their relationship, but insisted she'd 'never rule out' rekindling their romance. The TV personality reflected on their whirlwind bond, which was formed on last year's edition of Love Island. Make-up artist Kaz told the hosts: 'Basically when we met each other on the show everything was so perfect. 'We were in this paradise and nothing else could interfere and when we came out into the real world we were different to the people we went in as', she added. Candid: The Love Island star revealed the couple became 'different people', but insisted she'd 'never rule out' rekindling their romance with the presenter 'Everything was so perfect': The TV personality reflected on their whirlwind bond, which was formed on last year's edition of Love Island Mutual: 'I definitely was in love. I'm still in love. We still have a lot of love for each other', Kaz explained Insisting her love for the presenter still lives on, Kaz explained: 'I definitely was in love. I'm still in love. We still have a lot of love for each other. 'Everything has changed. We're completely different people. I want to find out who I am now everything has changed for me.' Revealing the pair want to focus on their careers, the reality star detailed: 'The platform we've been given is too big an opportunity to not focus on everything we've been offered. 'I would never rule [getting back together] out. You just never know what's going to happen. You just need to look at what's happening now', she admitted. Details: 'Everything has changed. We're completely different people. I want to find out who I am now everything has changed for me', the blonde went on She went on to admit she's received some messages from admirers on social media, but insisted: 'But not from anyone exciting, just lots of slimy boys. Theres no one that could come into my DMs that I would reply to right now.' In her original break-up announcement, Kaz shared a sweet picture of herself looking loved-up with Josh on their recent holiday to Jamaica. She captioned it with: 'Sometimes things dont go the way you planned, but you have to be grateful for the journey. Thank you for everything especially showing me how to love myself again.' To which Josh commented on the post with an unhappy face and pray hand emojis, while the presenter's representative added: 'Josh and Kaz have sadly decided to part ways. They have asked for privacy in this difficult time and appreciate all the support they have received.' Rekindle? 'I would never rule [getting back together] out. You just never know what's going to happen. You just need to look at what's happening now', the make-up artist admitted The two reality stars met on the 2018 series of Love Island in July after the male contestants were moved to Casa Amor. At the time, Josh was partnered with Georgia Steel but he dumped the 20-year-old barmaid for the make-up artist after the two had an instant connection. And despite embarking in a romance halfway through the show, the stunning couple finished in third place on the popular ITV2 series. She likes to spend her days off from filming Modern Family perusing the boutiques in Beverly Hills. But Sofia Vergara still knows the value of a bargain - teaming her designer bag and artfully ripped jeans with a $29.50 top from Walmart. Of course this wasn't just any Walmart top - it was from the range Sofia designed for the bargain retail giant. Chic and casual! Sofia Vergara enjoyed some retail therapy around Beverly Hills on Monday in a pair of distressed denim jeans and a grey top The 46-year-old Colombian native accessorised her budget grey top with a large grey Chanel bag and a pair of tinted designer shades. Sofia styled her always luscious brunette tresses out naturally over her shoulders for the trip around 90210. The actress appeared to be wearing a minimal amount of makeup, complete with a sweep of blush and a nude pink toned lipstick. Sofia's appearance comes after she released her clothing line at Walmart last week. Affordable: Sofia opted for a $29.50 grey top from her new Sofia Jeans Walmart collection and rolled the sleeves up slightly Denim lover: Sofia's appearance comes after she released her clothing line at Walmart last week Dream come true: I love fashion, I love jeans, I love women. I like buying clothes and I have access to a lot of things, but I have always imagined what I could create at a lower price than what I already buy,' she began Something for everyone: Sofia's fashion line caters for women size 0-20 and includes skirts and tops Speaking to PopSugar, the Hot Pursuit star said she wanted to create a fashion line that was affordable for all. 'I love fashion, I love jeans, I love women. I like buying clothes and I have access to a lot of things, but I have always imagined what I could create at a lower price than what I already buy,' she began. 'I wanted to create a jean line because I think it's one of the most important pieces of clothing every woman owns in 2019.' Sofia's denim line caters for women between sizes 0-20 with every product retailed under $40. Professor Green has been forced to cancel his UK tour as he suffers from a fracture in his cervical vertebrae after falling during three horrific seizures. The 35-year-old rapper, real name Stephen Manderson, shared a candid Instagram snap of himself from his hospital bed in a neck brace on Tuesday. Monster hitmaker Professor revealed he's set to return to the stage in the winter season, after he was scheduled to kick off his string of performances on Tuesday at Cardiff's Globe venue. Injury: Professor Green has been forced his cancel his UK tour as he suffers from a fracture in his cervical vertebrae after falling during three horrific seizures Describing the shocking incident, the musician penned: 'I had seizure this morning which resulted in a fall while I was packing for tour 1/3.' 'Depending on how you look at this fall I was extremely lucky. I'm very fractured vertebrae in my neck and subsequently had to cancel my tour that was due to start today 2/3.' 'I'll be back in the winter with a bigger tour. I've had two further seizures and am lucky I didn't break my neck. Really f*****g lucky. Thanks for baring with me', the Hackney native told his fans. Stephen was set to perform across the UK this month, with his shows scheduled to start in Cardiff, before hitting the stage in Birmingham, Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and finally Brighton on February 21. Defiant: The 35-year-old rapper, real name Stephen Manderson, revealed he's set to return to the stage in the winter season, after he was scheduled to kick off his string of performances on Tuesday at Cardiff's Globe venue Details: 'I had seizure this morning which resulted in a fall while I was packing for tour 1/3', the musician told his Instagram followers A statement from Professor Green's spokesperson read: 'Due to a serious neck injury Professor Green has been forced to cancel his February 2019 tour. Tickets for all dates are refundable. Refunds will be made available at the point of purchase.' In November, Stephen released a new single called Photographs, and in a video about the song he reflected on his pain over not having enough images of his father, Peter, who sadly committed suicide. Breaking down, he said: 'Photographs conjure up so many different emotions. The ones I miss the most are the ones I never took. They are for me in many ways the memories I dont have especially the ones from my childhood. I wish I had more. 'I was having a conversation about photographs and how there are large parts of my life where there are no photographs. We live in an age now where we take way too many pictures. That was really when I started to incubate the idea for the single, Photographs.' What a shame: Stephen was set to perform across the UK this month, kicking off his shows in Cardiff, before hitting the stage in Birmingham, Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and finally Brighton on February 21 Opening up once again, Stephen revealed that the last words he said to his dad, Peter, before he died were 'I hate you'. Sharing his story, he said back in 2015 that the grieving process is still one he is trying to get a handle on as he hosted a mini-documentary as part of the BBC's Lifeline series. Speaking candidly, the Hackney born star said of his father: 'He was always the parent I favoured but as a child it was complicated. 'He was always in and out of my life; at 18 we stopped talking and after five years I decided to reach out to try and arrange a meeting.' Tribute: In November Stephen released a single called Photographs, and in a video about the song he reflected on his pain over not having enough images of his dad who committed suicide Troubled: His father took his own life in 2008 when Stephen was aged just 24 and he explained that the grief has never left him Talking about the last time he saw his dad added: 'Unfortunately we ended up arguing and the last words I said to him were "I hate you". The terrible thing is I never got to see him again because a few months later he killed himself.' Scarred by their last conversation, Stephen, also told how as of yet he still has not gotten over the grieving process as he struggles to deal with such a great loss to his family structure. He continued: 'The moment I found out my dad had taken his own life is still as clear today as it was the moment it happened. I kept wondering why no one had seen it coming. 'I still find it quite difficult to articulate how I felt... the weird thing about grieving is it never stops.' Kylie Jenner used to often share social media posts of her dog Norman as well as the other pooches like Bambi and Sophia she adopted years ago. But then along came Travis Scott and then baby Stormi. Norman's days as a social media star ended. And on Monday one of Jenner's Twitter followers demanded to know what has become of Norman, an Italian greyhound. Where is he? Kylie Jenner was asked what happened to her greyhound Norman who she used to feature heavily on social media Take that! Kylie's follower Rachel Beckett asked, 'I want to know what happened to Norman and I want to know now.' Kylie shot back, 'What makes u think anything happened to Norman? I don't post my dogs as much but that doesn't mean they aren't very much apart of my life still' Gang's all here! Responding to a fan who asked: '@KylieJenner do you still have Norman and the rest of the fam?' she said: 'Of courseeee!' Kylie's follower Rachel Beckett asked, 'I want to know what happened to Norman and I want to know now.' Kylie shot back, 'What makes u think anything happened to Norman? I don't post my dogs as much but that doesn't mean they aren't very much apart of my life still.' Earlier she responded 'Of courseeee!' to a fan who asked: '@KylieJenner do you still have Norman and the rest of the fam?' The Kardashian/Jenner family has a history of adopting then dropping their animals - think of Khloe's dog Bernard who was reportedly given to a friend when she split from Lamar Odom. She went nuts for these canines: Jenner with Norman and Bambi She made it crystal clear: Here the star held on to Bambi and Norman and made sure fans knew who was who There was also the death of Kim's cat Mercy and the star has also complained she doesn't like North's dog Sushi because the four-legged creature barks all the time. Kendall Jenner also had dogs named Louis and Vuitton that were seen in 2011, but it's not known what happened to them since. Kris Jenner's dog Gabbana, who Khloe took care of in his older years, died in September 2018. So in love: Travis Scott, left, and Kylie kiss at the 61st annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center on Sunday Norman's whereabouts have become of interest since Kylie announced on Monday she had adopted yet another dog. The billionaire got her daughter Stormi the cute little dog Wesley for her first birthday. The youngest of the Kardashian-Jenner clan introduced a brand new addition to the family, telling followers: 'You guys I adopted Wesley,' an adorable puppy. Puppy love! Jenner adopted a puppy named Wesley after a weekend of fun that included a grand birthday party for Stormi Stormi weather: The over-the-top party was for Stormi's first birthday Kylie's tiny puppy was black and tan with sweet floppy little ears. Doting on the dog on her social media, she captioned a playful video saying: 'Sorry, I just can't get over him!!!' The girlfriend of Travis Scott admitted wasn't sure of the breed, but told followers: 'They think he is a Chihuahua, Dachshund mix.' Jersey Shore: Family Vacation star Ronnie Ortiz-Magro sought professional treatment for alcoholism and depression after 'hitting rock bottom' and realizing he 'couldn't control my life anymore.' The 33-year-old reality star completed a six-week rehab stint Friday at HeadWaters Origins in West Palm Beach, which 'rivals a resort' with their amenities and 'lush, tropically-landscaped campus.' HeadWaters patients enjoy a swimming pool, five-star cuisine from an on-site chef, massage, frequent beach excursions, a fully-equipped gym, and full access to their cell phones/laptops/WiFi (after detox). 'I couldn't control my life anymore': Jersey Shore: Family Vacation star Ronnie Ortiz-Magro sought professional treatment for alcoholism and depression after 'hitting rock bottom' (pictured Monday) 'I decided to go to treatment because I wanted to be a better person, a better father for my daughter [Ariana Sky],' the Bronx-born, Las Vegas-based star told Us Weekly. 'Eventually, all the bad decisions I was making were going to lead me to places that I didnt want to be. I wanted to be led to the place that I am now thats happy, healthy and the best role model for my daughter.' Ronnie's 10-month-old princess with estranged ex-girlfriend Jen Harley triumphantly took her first steps last week. 'I was just making the wrong decisions, you know, and I was very depressed,' Ortiz-Magro explained to the mag. Setting: The 33-year-old reality star completed a six-week rehab stint Friday at HeadWaters Origins in West Palm Beach, which 'rivals a resort' with their amenities and 'lush, tropically-landscaped campus' Perks: HeadWaters patients enjoy a swimming pool, five-star cuisine from an on-site chef, massage, frequent beach excursions, a fully-equipped gym, and full access to their cell phones/laptops/WiFi (after detox) The Bronx-born, Las Vegas-based star told Us Weekly: 'I decided to go to treatment because I wanted to be a better person, a better father for my daughter [Ariana Sky]' (pictured January 30) He continued: 'Eventually, all the bad decisions I was making were going to lead me to places that I didnt want to be. I wanted to be led to the place that I am now thats happy, healthy and the best role model for my daughter' 'When I was depressed, I would turn to drinking. And then when I would drink, bad things would continue to happen because I wasn't reacting the way I should. 'I think it's a chronic disease. It's a progressive disease. I'm still struggling...You're just like, "Wow, I thought I had this under control," but at the end of the day, it has full control over you.' The half-Puerto Rican, half-Italian stallion added: 'I was very depressed, just very angry, resentful to myself about a lot of things that I've done over the last year or even years...I'm not really proud of a lot of stuff.' Ronnie was likely referring to his New Year's Eve fight at the Hustler Club in Las Vegas with his 31-year-old babymama, which ended in allegations of battery (her) and destruction of property (him) - according to TMZ. 'She wants to walk so bad its so cute!' Ronnie's 10-month-old princess with estranged ex-girlfriend Jen Harley triumphantly took her first steps last week Ortiz-Magro explained to the mag: 'I was just making the wrong decisions, you know, and I was very depressed. When I was depressed, I would turn to drinking. And then when I would drink, bad things would continue to happen because I wasn't reacting the way I should' He added: 'I think it's a chronic disease. It's a progressive disease. I'm still struggling...You're just like, "Wow, I thought I had this under control," but at the end of the day, it has full control over you' The half-Puerto Rican, half-Italian stallion continued: 'I was very depressed, just very angry, resentful to myself about a lot of things that I've done over the last year or even years...I'm not really proud of a lot of stuff' Harley was less than thrilled about the Hollywood Medium guest star's rehab stint as it lead to him reportedly being hired on a dating show and canceling their Valentine's Day plans. 'I'm sorry but if you go away for 6 weeks to become a better boyfriend, father, person, etc to work on your family but you choose to cancel all of our plans on Valentine's Day so you can appear on a dating show bc you need the money that bad over your family, [you're] a joke,' Jen Insta-storied last Wednesday. 'How did you better anything? You continue to put us back in the same position by doing the same things that put us there in the first place.' Bad romance: Ronnie was likely referring to his New Year's Eve fight at the Hustler Club in Las Vegas with his 31-year-old babymama, which ended in allegations of battery (her, pictured January 2) and destruction of property (him) 'How did you better anything?' Harley was less than thrilled about the Hollywood Medium guest star's rehab stint as it lead to him reportedly being hired on a dating show and canceling their Valentine's Day plans The Celebrity Fear Factor contestant had a similarly volatile relationship with his prior girlfriend Sammi 'Sweetheart' Giancola, whom he dated on and off between 2009-2014. On December 13, MTV renewed Jersey Shore: Family Vacation for a third season to premiere later this year, which will likely include Ronnie's rehab recovery. The original MTV reality series - which lasted six seasons (2009-2012) - surrounded hard-partying roommates sharing a New Jersey beach house as well as the mantra 'gym, tan, laundry.' Casey Batchelor is reportedly engaged to her boyfriend Dane Goodson, less than a year after welcoming their first child together. The former CBB star appeared to confirm the news when she stepped out in London on Monday night, flashing a coy smile and brandishing a diamond sparkler on her ring finger. The 34-year-old star wasn't shy about showing off her new bling as she strutted along the street, holding hands with a female pal. New bling! Casey Batchelor showed off her engagement ring when she stepped out in London on Monday after getting engaged to her boyfriend Dane Goodson Casey looked the picture of happiness as she offered onlookers a glimpse of the dazzling diamond. Clad in a skimpy silver top and wet-look leggings, the brunette model radiated happiness as she enjoyed a night out. Over the weekend, she shared a snap of herself appearing to toast her good news with her female friends, raising glasses of bubbly around the dinner table. She also uploaded an Instagram Story about her broken boiler, in which her ring could clearly be seen. A source confirmed to MailOnline that the star is engaged. Happy couple: Casey and Dane went public with their relationship in February 2017 and welcomed their first child together last May Over the moon: The 34-year-old star wasn't shy about showing off her new bling as she strutted along the street, holding hands with a female pal Casey previously admitted she can't wait to get engaged to boyfriend of two years Dane, branding him her 'best friend, soulmate and partner'. 'I didnt think any of this would happen for me. I thought all men were just idiots, but hes amazing', she told OK! magazine. She told MailOnline just last month she was 'waiting for the ring' and was hoping things would fall into place. 'We definitely want to get married. I'm waiting for the ring! Cough, cough! It's definitely going to happen. 'When you've got children and everything, it's just when really, when we fit it in. We definitely want to!' Proud mother: Casey welcomed Florence at the end of May 2018 and has been enjoying every minute of motherhood The model also confessed they were hoping to expand their family in future. She continued: 'Absolutely we want more kids. Not just yet, maybe in a year or so. If you asked me that in the first couple of months, I'd have said HELL NO!' Casey welcomed her first child, a baby daughter named Florence, with Dane at the end of May 2018. The duo first went public with their relationship in February 2017, choosing to initially keep their romance secret for 18 months. Dazzling: She also uploaded an Instagram Story about her broken boiler, in which her ring could clearly be seen She said at the time: 'There is someone new. I havent spoken to anybody about him yet. 'He owns a stationery and printing company, completely different to what I do.' Businessman Dane owns a stationery and printing company and is the former boss of pen salesman and Love Island champ Jack Fincham. MailOnline has contacted Casey's representatives for comment. Jonathan Cheban of Keeping Up With The Kardashians fame sure appears to be a good son. The FoodGod was seen taking his mother Galina to Philipp Plein fashion show in NYC for NYFW. This comes after the New Jersey native partied with Kim and Kourtney Kardashian at amFAR in NYC. Good boy: Jonathan Cheban of Keeping Up With The Kardashians fame sure appears to be a good son. The FoodGod was seen taking his mother Galina to Philipp Plein fashion show in NYC for NYFW Cheban wore a black suit with heavy shoes and a white shirt. His mother was nicely done up with a beige-and-brown fur coat over a black dress and black boots. The beauty wore her blonde hair down and added bright red lipstick as she carried a small black purse. The mom had her hand around her son's arm as they walked into the popular show. In style: Cheban wore a black suit with heavy shoes and a white shirt. His mother was nicely done up with a beige-and-brown fur coat over a black dress and black boots Last week the TV star was seen with his longtime Kardashian pals. They were seen at the amFAR gala in NYC. Kim tried her best to avoid a nip slip while her sister Kourtney has a bit of an issue with the slit on her dress as they were seen leaving the Mercer Hotel. Sexy time: Last week the TV star was seen with his longtime Kardashian pals. They were seen at the amFAR gala in NYC. Kim tried her best to avoid a nip slip while her sister Kourtney has a bit of an issue with the slit on her dress as they were seen leaving the Mercer Hotel Jonathan, 44, came up through the ranks as Kim's best friend on Keeping Up With The Kardashians. But over the years the former pr has been savvy about parlaying that TV fame into his own empire, which has resulted in the 2016 birth of FoodGod. And the charismatic star talked at length with the Los Angeles Times about his view on covering food. Money on his mind: Cheban has been savvy about parlaying that TV fame into his own empire, which has resulted in the 2016 birth of FoodGod Ca-ching: And the charismatic star talked at length with the Los Angeles Times about his view on covering food 'I would consider myself more of a modern-day food critic. I want to go to a place where somebody sends me this insane cotton candy burrito and I'm like, this is amaaazing,' the Spin Crowd vet told the publication. 'I can't believe people even read food reviews and even listen to somebody that is so dated. It is so 2000. Literally. I didn't even know that still exists. 'It's all, like, "It was dry, while the kitchen was backed up heavily during the maitre d' running around while the fish was not fully cooked with ratatouille on the side,"'he said. 'Like ratatouille: Are you serious? No. I want to know about how far the cheese pull was that day in the restaurant. No one cares about the texture of food.' Yummy: 'I would consider myself more of a modern-day food critic. I want to go to a place where somebody sends me this insane cotton candy burrito and I'm like, this is amaaazing,' the Spin Crowd vet told the publication Now his is shaping his empire. According to the Times, he will legally change his name to Foodgod; he is organizing a Foodgod awards show, a Foodgod Food Truck Frenzy video game, in which players trick out food trucks, is in production with Atari; and he is starting a Foodgod candy subscription club and a line of CBD edibles. He also got seven figures for being the face of BurgerIM. Three years ago he was smart to branch out. 'I was like, "I feel like this is the time for me," 'he told The Times. 'And then I was like, "What's my thing?" I eat all day. I love to eat. My whole day revolves around food,' he said. Miami heat: Jonathan and Kim in 2010 with Kanye West and Angie Martinez With the Bravo crowd: With Margaret Josephs, Melissa Gorga, Cynthia Bailey, Dorinda Medley and John Mahdessian at the DailyMail.com and DailyMailTV Holiday Party at Gramercy Terrace at The Gramercy Park Hotel in December And he has people listening. The star has 3 million Instagram followers, and asks for $30,000 appearance fee minimums according to the LAT. One of the top New York Times food critics has only 35K Instagram followers, the paper noted. 'I give the food with fun,' he says. 'It's not just like, here's a beautiful cheese souffle. Don't go to me for that. I want the cheese souffle to explode.' Kris Jenner also talked to the Times. 'When we started shooting our show there was barely Twitter,' she said. 'The way the social media platforms have evolved has given everybody a whole new set of opportunities.' Cheban says he buys his own food too. 'I drove 25 minutes to go get this cotton candy burrito. They don't pay me. I lose money for the $50 Uber back and forth plus the foot massage that I stopped for on the way there. So it's very, very authentic.' Jodie Whittaker has revealed that she was told to change her looks during the early days of her acting career before landing high-profile TV gigs. The 36-year-old Doctor Who actress recalled being told that she needed to fill a line on her forehead and that she should consider a lip wax. However the Broadchurch star added that she is now relieved that she wasn't easily influenced as a young girl and didn't make any alterations she may now regret. Harsh criticism: Jodie Whittaker has revealed that she was told to change her looks during the early days of her acting career before landing high-profile TV gig Discussing the frown line she was told to 'fix' by producers, during a chat on David Tennant's podcast, Jodie said: 'I wouldn't change it for the world and there are a lot of episodes where you're squinting and I think if I didn't have that frown line you wouldn't know it was sunny.' Jodie slammed any suggestions that she would get her line filled, adding: 'Would I heck! It's not even vanity and I'm too young. 'I also think it's an undeniable pressure on humanity at the moment to look your best a lot of the time and I'm lucky that my journey through the world of acting has been about screwing my face up and nagging my eyes out. Rude! The 36-year-old Doctor Who actress recalled being told that she needed to fill a line on her forehead and that she should consider a lip wax (pictured on the set of The Kid in 2009) 'It wasn't about being the ingenue; there wasn't that pressure to look a certain way. 'It has been asked though. There were certainly times when I was younger that in certain scenarios there were suggestions that "potentially you might want to think about certain stuff", and it fascinates me. 'I think I was doing a camera test for something and I will say something, because I can't be a***d with the repercussions of what it was and someone said (of her forehead line) "It is very deep".' Relieved: However the Broadchurch star added that she is now relieved that she wasn't easily influenced as a young girl and didn't make any alternations she may now regret (pictured in her current TV role as Doctor Who) She continued: 'I don't care, but I think 'Thank f*** I wasn't really impressionable. No, no I'm alright, thanks. 'I've never been asked to lose weight, maybe because I've always been a beanpole but I know that happens. 'I got asked to get my 'tache waxed and I didn't know I had one. It was translated to me in Hungarian, it was so funny. 'I said I would probably be allergic to the wax. I said "Sorry you will just have to colour it in".' Jodie slammed any suggestions that she would get her line filled, adding: 'Would I heck! It's not even vanity and I'm too young (pictured in Bounty in 2009) During the chat with David, Jodie also reminisced on being deterred from being an actress by somebody who was supposed to be advising her career choice at school. She said: 'My careers adviser at school, whoever that person was who I met for three hours, they said it was a ridiculous notion, in so much as it wasn't secure. Nine out of 10 don't make it. 'But I'm 15, shut up! I went home and my mum was furious.' Discouraged: During the chat with David, Jodie also reminisced on being deterred from being an actress by somebody who was supposed to be advising her career choice at school (pictured in play Enemies in May 2009) Along with encouraging her acting career, Jodie also encouraged her parents with bringing her up in a 'gender neutral household', despite it not being a topic of the time. She added: 'I was brought up totally gender neutral without it being a thing, I was brought up in quite a masculine house and without realising it. 'We credit women by complimenting them by telling them they are like boys which always fascinates me: 'ah I really like her, she's cool, she's a tomboy'. 'No, she's a girl, she's still a girl. I was very much in that terminology of 'you're a tomboy', but that was that I was good at sport and was perpetually lanky and I was physically able to do stuff.' Advertisement World On Fire filming kicked off for the the upcoming BBC programme on Monday as the cast and crew took over St Anne's Beach in Lancashire in an extravagant recreation of the Battle of Dunkirk. And shooting resumed on Tuesday for a second explosive day, as the cast trudged onto the beach in their wartime military uniforms to recommence another day of hard-hitting scenes. The BBC Drama series has been billed as an 'adrenalized, emotionally gripping and resonant' drama detailing the first year of World War II and has previously shot scenes in Prague and Paris. Day two! Shooting resumed on Tuesday for a second explosive day, as the cast trudged onto the beach in their wartime military uniforms to recommence another day of hard-hitting scenes Although A-list actors Sean Bean and Helen Hunt are set to star in the drama based on real-life events, they didn't appear to be on location as filming got underway for Peter Bowkers historical epic. Some actors who were spotted during filming sported head injuries and wore slings, no doubt a result of the gigantic explosion which took place and sent uniform-clad actors flying through the air and onto the ground. Billowing black smoke and flames could be seen filling the skies, as the cast filmed a scene where a bomb had been set off on the beach during the invasion. Kicking off: World On Fire filming kicked off for the the upcoming BBC programme on Monday as the cast and crew took over St Anne's Beach in Lancashire in an extravagant recreation of the Battle of Dunkirk Explosive: The BBC Drama series has been billed as an 'adrenalized, emotionally gripping and resonant' drama detailing the first year of World War II and has previously shot scenes in Prague and Paris Absent: Although A-list actors Sean Bean and Helen Hunt are set to star in the drama based on real-life events, they didn't appear to be on location as filming got underway for Peter Bowkers historical epic Injured: Some actors who were spotted during filming sported head injuries and wore slings, no doubt a result of the gigantic explosion which took place and sent uniform-clad actors flying through the air and onto the ground Dangerous territory: Billowing black smoke and flames could be seen filling the skies, as the cast filmed a scene where a bomb had been set off on the beach during the invasion Break time: Between takes the thespians took a break and enjoyed fruit as a snack, or sipped on a paper cup of coffee, or even puffed on a cigarette while others tapped away on their mobile phones Having a chat: Between scenes actors and extras grouped together to go over takes or simply have a chat Military men pushed rowing boats along the beach while others holding weapons, such as guns and rifles, sprinted along the length of the sandy stores. Between takes the thespians took a break and enjoyed fruit as a snack, or sipped on a paper cup of coffee, or even puffed on a cigarette while others tapped away on their mobile phones. An army camp appeared to have been set up on the beach and boats, army trucks and ambulances lined the shoreline. Strolling: A group of men and women strolled along the beach wearing their uniforms and protective headgear Run! Military men pushed rowing boats along the beach while others holding weapons, such as guns and rifles, sprinted along the length of the sandy stores On set: An army camp appeared to have been set up on the beach and boats, army trucks and ambulances lined the shoreline Out of place: One performer chatted on his phone which certainly appeared out of place in the 20th Centuary drama Heave ho! Men wearing waterproof gear pushed the boots along the beach towards the sea to be used for filming On location: Filming was underway for new BBC drama World On Fire on Monday morning as the cast and crew took over St Anne's Beach in Lancashire in an extravagant recreation of the Battle of Dunkirk WWII epic: There was no sign of the main cast members on location, A-list actors Sean Bean and Helen Hunt, as filming got underway for Peter Bowkers historical epic On the first day of filming men were spotted dressed in full military uniform as they sat around on the beach, perching on trunks as debris lay at their feet. Extras were seen performing stunts on the sand, with one man mimicking an explosion as he dived off a trampoline and onto a crash landing pad. There were also several tanks set up around the beach, as well as a makeshift camp with several tents flanked by vintage WWII vehicles. Surrounded by the grassy dunes, the beaches Lancashire could be mistaken for the very same shores of Normandy where the Allied forces took on Nazi Germany. On set: Men were spotted dressed in full military uniform as they sat around on the beach, perching on trunks as debris lay at their feet Picturesque: Surrounded by the grassy dunes, the beaches Lancashire could be mistaken for the very same shores of Normandy where the Allied forces took on Nazi Germany Makeshift camp: There were also several tanks set up around the beach, as well as a makeshift camp with several tents flanked by vintage WWII vehicles New drama: World On Fire has been billed as an 'adrenalized, emotionally gripping and resonant' drama detailing the first year of World War II A-list cast: Award-winning duo Sean Bean (left) and Helen Hunt (right) are fronting the historical drama, but it has not been revealed what roles they will play The drama follows the intertwining fates of ordinary people drawn from Britain, Poland, France, Germany and the United States, as they deal with the war's effect on their lives. Filming for the series kicked off in September last year in Prague, with other locations including Paris and Manchester. At the time that he was announced as a cast member, Yorkshire-born Sean said in a statement: 'I am thrilled to be part of this ambitious drama. 'Peter Bowkers study of the human stories that thread through this huge global conflict is fascinating and something I look forward to being part of on screen.' No expenses spared: The new drama is pulling out all the stops to recreate the Battle of Dunkirk as accurately as possible Peaceful: It was a beautiful day for filming, with extras enjoying the sunshine during a break from the camera Synopsis: The drama follows the intertwining fates of ordinary people drawn from Britain, Poland, France, Germany and the United States, as they deal with the war's effect on their lives Busy schedule: Filming for the series kicked off in September last year in Prague, with other locations including Paris and Manchester The show will see Sean and Helen share screen time with a number stars, Lesley Manville, Blake Harrison, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Ansu Kabia and Ewan Mitchell. Peter Bowker divulged more about the plot in his official statement when the BBC snapped up the rights. He explained: 'World On Fire tells the hidden human stories within the big historical events we think we know. 'From Harry, a young English translator in Warsaw caught up in negotiations with the Nazis and trying to smuggle his Polish lover Kasia out of the country, to Lois, the girl who is waiting for him at home, a young Mancunian factory worker who will come to take all the opportunities the war can offer to live a different kind of life. Cast: The show will see Sean and Helen share screen time with a number stars, Lesley Manville, Blake Harrison, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Ansu Kabia and Ewan Mitchell Brainchild: Writer Peter Bowker divulged more about the plot in his official statement when the BBC snapped up the rights Discussing the plot, he said: 'These are the stories of the ordinary people who shaped our world' He continued: 'Stories of loyalty and brutality, courage and fear, hopes, stories of love and loss, hopes and dreams forged in extraordinary times' In high spirits: Cast members gathered on the dunes as they filmed scenes for the upcoming programme 'To Nancy, a female US war correspondent who cant find peace unless her life is at risk, to the Rossler family in Berlin, worried for their soldier son and willing to do anything to protect their disabled daughter from the attentions of the ruling Nazi regime. These are the stories of the ordinary people who shaped our world. 'Stories of loyalty and brutality, courage and fear, hopes, stories of love and loss, hopes and dreams forged in extraordinary times.' The evacuation of Dunkirk was the largest military evacuation in history, taking place between May 27 and June 4, 1940. Known as Operation Dynamo, it saw an estimated 338,000 Allied troops rescued from northern France. 11,000 Britons were killed during Operation Dynamo, and another 40,000 were captured and imprisoned. History: Dunkirk was the largest military evacuation in history, taking place between May 27 and June 4, 1940 Military operation: Known as Operation Dynamo, it saw an estimated 338,000 Allied troops rescued from northern France Sad loss: 11,000 Britons were killed during Operation Dynamo, and another 40,000 were captured and imprisoned Landmark operation: Described as a 'miracle of deliverance' by wartime prime minister Winston Churchill, it is seen as one of several events in 1940 that determined the eventual outcome of the war Brendan Coyle enjoyed a warm reception from theatre-goers on Monday evening as Arthur Millers The Price settled into its new home in Londons West End. The Downton Abbey star has stepped back into the shoes of Victor Franz for the director Jonathan Churchs revival of Millers lesser-known play, some 31-years after it first launched on Broadway. Previewing at Wyndham Theatre, where it will run until April 27, cast-members Coyle, 56, David Suchet, Adrian Lukis and Sara Stewart won notable praise for this ongoing 50th anniversary relaunch. Well done: Brendan Coyle enjoyed a warm reception from theatre-goers on Monday evening as Arthur Millers The Price settled into its new home in Londons West End (pictured, left, with co-stars David Suchet and Sara Stewart) Dealing with complex family dynamics and the concept of price - both literally and figuratively - Miller's play tells the story of brothers Victor and Walter, who reunite in their former childhood home following the death of their father. The pair are immediately at odds due to their vastly different social standing, with Coyle's Victor an unpretentious police offer confronted with the affluence afforded successful surgeon Walter, played by Lukis. Meanwhile Suchet - perhaps best known for his role as Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot - plays aging furniture dealer Solomon, brought in to sell their father's household items. Popular: Previewing at Wyndham Theatre, where it will run until April 27, cast-members Coyle, 56, and David Suchet winning notable praise for this ongoing 50th anniversary relaunch Co-stars: (L-R) Adrian Lukis, Brendan Coyle, David Suchet and Sara Stewart bowed at the curtain call following the press launch on Monday evening New role: Suchet - perhaps best known for his role as Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot - plays aging furniture dealer Solomon in r Jonathan Churchs revival of Miller's 1968 play The only female in this four character play, Stewart plays Victors frustrated isolated and increasingly alcoholic wife Esther. Speaking to the Evening Standard on Monday evening, Coyle admitted he researched American history for his role as an embittered New York cop. 'I did do a lot of research about the 29 crash,' he explained. 'I had these amazing training videos from the NYPD in 1968 and I have 1950s jazz playing in my dressing room so we can tune into the sense and sensibility of the piece.' Married couple: Lukis plays successful surgeon Walter, while Stewart plays Victor's frustrated isolated and increasingly alcoholic wife Esther Say cheese: Coyle, Suchet, Stewart and Lukis posed for photos backstage after their press night performance on Monday evening Upbeat: Suchet and Stewart were in high spirits as they greeted photographers at the Wyndham Theatre in London's West End In attendance: Guests on the night included Michael Rudman and Felicity Kendal Follow my lead: Jonathan Church has directed the 50th anniversary revival of The Price The latest revival originally launched at Theatre Royal Bath, Main House, in August to unanimously glowing reviews before relocating to its new home at the Wyndham, where reviews have been equally positive. The Price made its theatrical debut at New York's Morosco Theatre on February 7, 1968 before moving to nearby 46th Street Theatre that November. It was later nominated for for Best Play and Best Scenic Design at the 1968 Tony Awards. She's revealed plans to start trying for a baby now her Dancing On Ice journey has come to an end. And Gemma Collins and James 'Arg' Argent looked more content than ever as they shared a giggle while strolling through London holding hands on Tuesday. The TOWIE personality, 37, and her co-star boyfriend, 30, appeared happy and relaxed as they ran errands in the capital after confirming their family plans earlier this week. Happy couple: Gemma Collins and James 'Arg' Argent looked more content than ever as they shared a giggle while strolling through London holding hands on Tuesday Both opted for comfortable lounge-wear for their day out, with 'The GC' choosing an oversize sweater with 'woman' printed across the chest and matching wide leg jersey trousers. Ensuring her off-duty look still had a touch of Essex glamour, Gemma wore fluffy, pink sliders. The boutique owner carried her belongings in a black, quilted Chanel handbag and hid her eyes behind an large pair of rhinestone encrusted sunglasses. Gemma wore her blonde locks tied up in a half up, half down do that was kept in place with a silky scrunchie hairband, while opting for a slick of candy pink lipstick. Casual morning: The TOWIE personality, 37, and her co-star boyfriend, 30, appeared happy and relaxed as they ran errands in the capital after confirming their family plans Essex girl: 'The GC' wore an oversize sweater with 'woman' printed across the chest and matching wide leg jersey trousers The reality star appeared to have picked up a few essentials on her day out in London, and was carrying a plastic bag from department store John Lewis. Arg sported a similarly relaxed look wearing black tracksuit bottoms, a matching top, and padded gilet over the top. The TOWIE original sported a medal around his neck that he scooped up for taking part in a charity ice plunge for Haven House children's hospice on the weekend. Showing off his designer wares, Arg carried a Burberry toiletry bag and a Gucci pouch. Glamorous: The boutique owner carried her belongings in a black, quilted Chanel handbag and hid her eyes behind an large pair of rhinestone encrusted sunglasses The pair's appearance comes after Gemma discussed her family plans during an appearance on Loose Women on Monday following her elimination from Dancing On Ice. The television star revealed she had lost two and a half stone as a result of the gruelling training regime for the ITV1 celebrity skating competition. Gemma said: 'Regarding having children and everything, I was told I needed to lose weight, that was why I agreed to doing Dancing On Ice, because it was going to help me long-term. 'Ive definitely struggled with it [questions about having children]. A lot of my friends that Ive been on TOWIE with have all gone on to have children and its just, everyones always like, "When are you going to have a baby?" Glowing: Gemma wore her blonde locks tied up in a half up, half down do that was kept in place with a silky scrunchie hairband, while opting for a slick of candy pink lipstick Low-key: Arg sported a similarly relaxed look wearing black tracksuit bottoms, a matching top, and padded gilet over the top 'I did have a few problems and did feel kind of, not fully whole, as a woman. Because it was, "Oh my god I cant have children, people are going to look down on me".' As well as losing the weight, Gemma said she will need to take a drug called Clomid which is a medication used to treat infertility in women who do not ovulate. Gemma also shared how she is planning to begin taking the medicine at the end of this year to 'start the process' after focusing on her career at the beginning of 2019. She added: 'Then I got two other second opinions. Everything is going to be OK. They just said I need to lose weight, they will put me on a drug called Clomid and we will start the process. That is something Ill be looking to do at the end of the year.' Shopping trip: The reality star appeared to have picked up a few essentials on her day out in London, and was carrying a plastic bag from department store John Lewis Family: Gemma revealed the couple plan to start trying for a baby in the not too distant future She went onto say: 'When I have my child, I want to give it my all. At the minute Ive been very busy with my career. 'I want, when that babys born, to love it so much I will never want to let it go. It gets me emotional talking about it. I want to give my life to that child.' The TOWIE star discussed how her long-term love wants to get married before they inevitably start a family together as he wants to 'do it properly'. She added: 'Arg is the one that keeps going on to me about it. Its like, "Come on Gem". Then he says, "I would like to be married first". 'Im like, "Arg, just go and get that yellow diamond and lets get things moving". Were definitely going to marry. We will marry. He wants to do it all properly.' They have one of the longest unions in Hollywood and have been together for almost 25 years. And Pierce Brosnan and his wife Keely Shaye Smith enjoyed a family dinner date with their sons Dylan, 22, and Paris, 17, at Nobu in Malibu on Monday. The actor, 65, looked stylish in a grey fedora and black leather jacket as he led his brood out of the upmarket coastal eatery. Family man: Pierce Brosnan and his wife Keely Shaye Smith enjoyed a family dinner date with their sons Dylan, 22, (C) and Paris, 17, (R) at Nobu in Malibu on Monday The former James Bond star added a pair of black trainers to his stylish outfit and accessorised with a polka dot scarf. Keely, 55, matched her husband by wearing a leather jacket over the top of her black knee-length dress, paired with flat, ballet pumps. The journalist finished off the look with a camel coloured scarf tied around her neck. Paris cut a causal figure in a black hooded sweater and leopard print trousers, while model Dylan sported rolled up jeans and a beige shearling coat. Stylish: The actor, 65, looked stylish in a grey fedora and black leather jacket as he led his brood, including Dylan's girlfriend Avery Wheless, out of the upmarket coastal eatery Also in attendance at the dinner was Dylan's girlfriend Avery Wheless. The model looked smitten as he protectively wrapped an arm around Avery's chest to protect her from the chill. Pierce and Keely have been together since 1994 and tied the knot at Ballintubber Abbey in County Mayo, Ireland, in 2001. The actor was previously married to Australian actress Cassandra Harris. The couple met in 1977 and married in 1980, but Pierce was widowed in 1991 when his wife passed away at the age of just 43 after a battle with ovarian cancer. Low-key: Keely, 55, matched her husband by wearing a leather jacket over the top of her black knee-length dress, paired with flat, ballet pumps Pierce and Cassandra had one son, Sean, 35, together; and the actor adopted his wife's two children, Charlotte and Chris, 46, when their father Dermot Harris died in 1986. Charlotte tragically died from ovarian cancer - the same illness that took the life of her mother - in 2013 at the age of just 41. The actor has often been vocal about how Keely saved him from depression following his personal tragedies, describing her as a ' strength I wouldnt be able to live without'. Carol McGiffin has revealed she secretly married long-term partner Mark Cassidy in south-east Asia 12-months ago. The Loose Woman star, 58, exchanged vows with Mark Cassidy, who at 36 is 22-years her junior, during a trip to Thai capital Bangkok in February 2018. The low-key ceremony was conducted privately, with no family members or friends present as they tied the knot after two previous attempts at marrying went awry. Cheers! Carol McGiffin has revealed she secretly married long-term partner Mark Cassidy in south-east Asia 12-months ago Speaking to Best magazine, the presenter admitted she was now ready to make the news public as they celebrate their first wedding anniversary. 'No one knew we were going to do it, but we've basically spent the last year having separate celebrations with different friends and family, telling them all in person,' she explained. 'Now they all know, we're ready for it to come out.' The happy couple have since returned to Bangkok in order to celebrate their anniversary by visiting some of the city's popular landmarks. I do: The Loose Woman star, 58, exchanged vows with Mark Cassidy, who at 36 is 22-years her junior, during a trip to Thai capital Bangkok in February 2018 The couple had originally planned to marry on two separate occasions, with Mark first proposing to the presenter in 2008. A decade later their second attempt at planning a wedding was put on hold after Carol suffered a devastating tragedy. 'We'd booked a register office in London for 19 January 2017, but sadly my sister died five days earlier so, of course, we cancelled it,' she explained, Third time lucky: The couple had originally planned to marry on two separate occasions, with Mark first proposing to the presenter in 2008 'We re-booked it but then changed our minds because it still didn't feel right - it was too soon.' Reflecting on her decision to have an overseas wedding, she added: 'Part of the reason it took us so long to get married was because every time we discussed having a traditional wedding day with guests, it ran out of control and became too much.' Mark was a tower of strength for Carol after she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer in 2015. Old times: Carol was previously married to radio and TV presenter Chris Evans. The couple exchanged vows in 1991 before separating three-years later Speaking to the Telegraph shortly afterwards, the presenter said her partner has been 'unbelievable' as she struggled to cope with the diagnosis. 'I think it has been tougher for Mark than me,' she said. 'When my hair started falling out, I thought there was no point hanging onto it. We bought a pair of clippers and Mark shaved it off.' Carol was previously married to radio and TV presenter Chris Evans. The couple exchanged vows in 1991 before separating three-years later, with their divorce finalised in 1998. He's the former Governor of California and remains an active member of his community. And Arnold Schwarzenegger was the guest of honour at the ACM Lifting Lives Presents: Borderline Strong Concert at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts in California on Monday night. The Hollywood star, 71, took to the stage to introduce the benefit concert, hosted by the Academy of Country Music to help the families and friends of the victims of the Borderline Bar and Grill shooting last November. Introducing the acts: Arnold Schwarzenegger was the guest of honour at the ACM Lifting Lives Presents: Borderline Strong Concert at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts in California on Monday Arnold sported a cowboy hat as he introduced the country music acts performing, who included Jimmie Allen, Trace Adkins and Cassadee Pope. All proceeds from the event went towards the Ventura County Community Foundations Conejo Valley Victims Fund. Schwarzenegger took to social media to praise everyone who took part in the charity concert, three months after the tragic shooting. Important cause: The Hollywood star, 71, took to the stage to introduce the benefit concert, hosted by the Academy of Country Music to help the families and friends of the victims of the Borderline Bar and Grill shooting last November Country music lover: Arnold sported a cowboy hat as he introduced the country music acts performing, who included Jimmie Allen, Trace Adkins and Cassadee Pope He wrote: 'I was inspired by how these fantastic artists and the community came together to support the victims and their families. This is America. #BorderlineStrong'. The concert was organised in memory of the 12 people who were tragically killed in the California bar shooting last year. Ex-marine Ian Long, 28, stormed into the Borderline Bar and Grill, shooting dead 12 before turning the gun on himself. Tragic loss: The concert was in memory of the 12 people who were tragically killed in the California bar shooting last year Long targeting people as young as 18 during the bar's weekly College Country Night where students from nearby schools line dance and listen to music. Among those killed was a Ventura County sheriff sergeant named Ron Helus, who was responding to the emergency call. Before SWAT teams entered the building, Long took his own life in an office inside. Raise money: All proceeds from the event went towards the Ventura County Community Foundations Conejo Valley Victims Fund Survivors used bar stools to smash windows to climb out of and some hid beneath pool tables. One woman ran into the kitchen and was told by staff to climb a ladder into the attic. Long served in the Marines as a machine gunner for five years between 2008 and 2013, during which time he was decorated with 10 medals and toured Afghanistan, but was alleged to be plagued with PTSD. Speaking out: Arnie encouraged his followers to the support the cause and to praise those who participated in the event Chris Brown has reportedly been visited by police after someone called to say they were worried for his welfare amid his feud with Offset, according to TMZ. The 29-year-old rapper sparked concern for his welfare after asking the Migos star for a fight and posting his address on social media during their ongoing dispute. Police sources told the publication that somebody contacted Los Angles Police Department because they were 'scared' and 'concerned' for Chris' well-being. Sparking concern: Chris Brown has reportedly been visited by police after someone called to say they were worried for his welfare amid his feud with Offset, according to TMZ After posting his San Fernando Valley address to his 50 million followers on Instagram, police apparently arrived at Chris' home and spoke to his security team. However his entourage allegedly told police that Chris was fine and there had been no troubles between him and Offset, following their social media spat. Chris' address has since been deleted from Instagram after he was reportedly advised by authorities to remove it amid concerns for his safety. MailOnline have contacted Chris' representatives for further comment. Feuding: The 29-year-old rapper sparked concern for his welfare after asking the Migos star for a fight and posting his address on social media during their ongoing dispute (pictured in January 2019) He has been arguing with Offset ever since he posted a meme of 21 Savage, after the rapper was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. During the feud, the 27-year-old reminded Chris and his fans about his arrest for beating up his then girlfriend Rihanna in 2009, after a pre-Grammy party in LA. He said in an Instagram post he shared on Thursday: 'Check my record and check yours only people you go toe to toe with is women. Oh and btw Ima smack the s**t out you when I see you!' Hitting out: During the feud, the 27-year-old reminded Chris and his fans about his arrest for beating up his then girlfriend Rihanna in 2009, after a pre-Grammy party in LA (pictured in September 2018) Offset - whose real name is Kiari Kendrell Cephus - continued: 'I aint really have too much rap for you on this social media s***, but since that's where you wanna take it tell the people why you hand your management reach out to squash the s***.' The Georgia native wrote in response, 'Memes ain't funny lame,' which seemed to trigger Chris' temper for the worse. He fired back in reply: 'F*** YOU LIL BOY. BETTER WORRY ABOUT WHAT U GOT GOING AND FOCUS ON YOU. CALL ME PERSONALLY. U WANT SOME CLOUT WHEN ALL U GOTTA DO IS PULL UP. IF YOU A REAL MAN FIGHT ME.' Unfiltered: Offset was unabashed in recalling Brown's past history of abuse with women Fire starter: The conflict between the men erupted after Chris posted about 21 Savage on Instagram, which Offset told him was 'lame' Chris added fuel to the fire with another shot, writing: 'Oh and another thing, 'SUCK MY D***!! 'If he dont get his EARTH WIND AND FIRE pootytang space suit WEARING CAPASS LIL BOY da f*** out my comments and off my d***.' Offset took to Instagram in his own stories, shorthandedly implying that Brown is a 'c*** head [who] dont want' marijuana. In Chris' attack on Rihanna, the R&B artist received a five-years probation sentence as well as a year of domestic violence education and community service for six months. Richard Madeley showed how to use a male breast pump but he admitted he thought the idea of men helping out with breastfeeding was 'absurd' on GMB. The Good Morning Britain presenters discussed the new prototype for a 'chest-feeding' kit which claims to make men lactate so they can breastfeed their newborn. During Tuesday's segment, the 62-year-old demonstrated how to use the kit by placing the cup over his chest but he ruled out 'breastfeeding' on television. Scroll down for video How to do it: Richard Madeley demonstrated how to use a male BREAST pump... but he branded the idea of men breastfeeding 'absurd' on Good Morning Britain The television personality explained how the prototype worked, although he flat out refused to 'breast' on morning television. Richard said on Good Morning Britain: 'Through hormone therapy [men] will be able to make milk. We've got nipples. 'If you think I'm breast-feeding on Good Morning television... This is the kit, it fits over the breast. I was going to say the t*t and sucks out the milk.' Ridiculous: The Good Morning Britain presenters discussed the new prototype for a 'chest-feeding' kit which claims to make men lactate so they can breastfeed their newborn While he participated in the demonstration, Richard freely voiced his opinion that he felt the idea was 'completely absurd'. Richard told his co-host Kate Garraway: 'I think its absurd to be honest with you. Its completely absurd. 'It's not what men are built for, it's what women are built for, and there have to be gender differences. We cant blur the differences to that extent.' London-based student Marie-Claire Springham, from Central Saint Martin's, designed the prototype for chest-feeding. No thanks: The television personality explained how the prototype worked, although he flat out refused to 'breast' on morning television After finding out his partner is pregnant, the man would have to commit to taking progestin, which is a version of the female hormone progesterone, once a day. This hormone would stimulate the milk producing glands which are triggered in a female body preparing to breastfeed. The dad will also need to take domperidone, a hormone which stimulates the production of prolactin and prescribed to mums struggling to feed their newborn. Domperidone would only need to be taken for the last six weeks of his partner's pregnancy, according to Marie-Claire. All views his own: While he participated in the demonstration, Richard freely voiced his opinion that he felt the idea was 'completely absurd' In October last year, 24-year-old Marie-Claire explained how she would ensure the dad's body is ready to release milk by the time the baby is born. She told The Sun Online: 'I was trying to create an empathy tool, something that could really help when a mum was struggling to breastfeed and could help a dad be of practical use. 'Those two drugs put together create three of the four hormones necessary for a man to produce milk. 'The last one is oxytocin which is what triggers the "let down reflex" and that's naturally produce when a man or a woman holds their child.' She was no stranger to strutting around in her swimsuit on season three of Love Island. And Georgia Harrison ensured all eyes were on her once again as she soaked up the sun on a winter holiday to Tenerife. The reality star, 23, showcased her slim figure as she slipped into a white star-print one-piece with a plunging neckline and a blue tie waist. Fun in the sun: Love Island's Georgia Harrison ensured all eyes were on her once again as she soaked up the sun on a winter holiday to Tenerife The former Love Island bombshell teamed her fun swimwear with red, retro-style sunglasses to keep the rays out of her eyes. Georgia wore her blonde hair in cute buns and opted for minimal make-up to display her naturally pretty features. The ex TOWIE star wore silver statement earrings in a dream catcher design, teamed with a matching watch and bracelet. The blonde beauty appeared relaxed as she basked in the Spanish sunshine and lazed about on a lounger. Taking the plunge: The reality star, 23, showcased her slim figure as she slipped into a white star-print one-piece with a plunging neckline and a blue tie waist Winter break: The former Love Island bombshell teamed her fun swimwear with red, retro-style sunglasses to keep the rays out of her eyes Georgia shot to fame on the hunt for romance on Love Island back in 2017, alongside the likes of Olivia Attwood, Camilla Thurlow and Amber Davies. While she left with Geordie Shore star Sam Gowland on her arm, their relationship was short-lived and they broke up just two weeks after leaving the villa. Sam quickly found love with Geordie Shore's Chloe Ferry and the couple have been going steady ever since they hit it off. Georgia briefly dated MTV star Stephen Bear after they first rubbed shoulders when the pair were filming in the States for the US show The Challenge. Golden girl: Georgia wore her blonde hair in cute buns and opted for minimal make-up to display her naturally pretty features On-trend: Keeping the sun out of her eyes, Stephen Bear's ex-girlfriend sported a pair or red-rimmed sunglasses and styled her hair in two cute buns Statement: Georgia wore bold silver earrings in a dream catcher design for her latest outing Cooling off: Georgia cooled down from the Spanish sun by taking a dip in the pool The US show sees a handful of stars of Are You The One?, US Big brother, Ex On The Beach and Geordie Shore fame compete. Stephen has a colourful relationship history, with some of his romances even playing out on two series of Ex On The Beach. The third series saw him find love with Vicky Pattison and series five saw him pair up with Gaz Beadle's ex Lillie Lexie Gregg. Stephen won Celebrity Big Brother, despite cheating on former love Lillie with Chloe Khan on national television. Book worm: The bombshell was was also spotted delving into a book while relaxing on a sun-lounger Reading between the lines: The TV personality looked engrossed as she topped up her tan Feeling reflective, she posted a heartfelt message insisting she will 'never forget' those who have helped her on her journey to success. 'Anyone who knows me will know I think gratitude is such an important part of living a happy life,' Georgia penned. 'It's so easy when you become successful to forget those that helped you a long the way, but that is something I will never do.' What's that? Something appeared to distract Georgia as she removed her sunglasses Christian Bale has reportedly ended his decade-long feud with his family. The actor, 45, was accused of assaulting his mother Jenny and his sister Sharon at his Dorchester hotel suite before the premiere of his film The Dark Knight in 2008, but the charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence and they subsequently withdrew their statements. The Hollywood star - who has always strenuously denied the allegations - cut ties with his loved ones in the aftermath of the incident, thought to have been caused by an argument over his wife Sibi Blazic. Family feud: Christian Bale has reportedly ended his decade-long feud with his family, which stemmed from a row with his mother Jenny over his wife Sibi Blazic (pictured all together in happier times) However, it seems things have finally thawed between Christian and his family. His mother Jenny told the Daily Mirror they were back in touch, saying: 'Yes, we are talking. I know Christian is in London.' Christian, who was born in Wales and grew up in England, was in the city to attend the EE BAFTAs on Sunday evening, missing out on the Best Actor prize for his role as Dick Cheney in political biopic Vice. The star has until now resisted making amends with his family, despite mum Jenny saying in 2014 she had tried to contact him 'nearly every day'. She said at the time: ''It would be lovely if we could meet up. The ball is in his court. Six years is long enough. Its sad for me. Its sad for him, too.' Falling out: The Hollywood star - who has always strenuously denied the allegations - cut ties with his loved ones in the aftermath of the incident, thought to have been caused by an argument over his wife Sibi (pictured together on Monday night in Berlin) Bale, who has always denied the allegations from July of 2008, was cleared of charges due to 'insufficient evidence' in August of that year. Bale was accused of lashing out at his mother, Jenny, and sister, Sharon, in front of Sharon's children in his suite at the Dorchester hotel, in Park Lane on July 21, 2008. The following day, the mother and sister decided to go to a police station in Hampshire and make a complaint of assault. Sharon told her friend: I asked them to talk to Christian before he left as we felt his verbal and physical actions especially in front of three children under the age of 12 and no show of remorse afterwards needed to be pointed out to him as wrong. The mother and sister did not elaborate on exactly what the physical actions entailed. Making amends: His mother Jenny told the Daily Mirror they were back in touch, saying, 'Yes, we are talking. I know Christian is in London' Bale voluntarily reported to Belgravia police station in London the following day to give his version of events and was released without charge. Sharon and her mother withdrew their statements two days after the incident. At the time, Bale asked for privacy on the 'deeply personal matter.' On August 14, 2008, a Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: 'We can today confirm that we have advised the Metropolitan Police Service that the actor Christian Bale should not face any charges following an incident which occurred in relation to his mother and sister at the Dorchester hotel on 21 July this year.' DailyMail previously reported the that confrontation that night stemmed from his mother allegedly hanging up the phone on Bale's wife, Sibi. Christian and former model Sibi have been married since 2000 and have children Emmaline, 13, and Joseph, four, together. Incident: Bale was accused of lashing out at his mother, Jenny, and sister, Sharon, in front of Sharon's children in his suite at the Dorchester hotel (pictured), in Park Lane on July 21, 2008 At the time, sources close to the actor told MailOnline he 'flew off the handle' at after Jenny Bale said 'some outrageous things' about his wife. He was also said to have been depressed over the death of close friend and co-star Heath Ledger. The source claimed: Christian was stressed, but he didnt lay a finger on anyone. Instead, he flew off the handle and cussed his mother. He just got very loud because his mother was saying some very outrageous things about him, and his wife. Christian's attitude is that this was his mother's fault because she became very provocative in an argument they were having, the source said, adding: Things got out of control and he now says he wishes he just left the room. Normally Christian would just call a friend and go out to a pub to cool off. But he was literally trapped into this confrontation with his mother and sister because there was an army of fans and paparazzi outside. MailOnline has contacted Christian's representatives for comment. Jessie Wallace was on hand to support screen husband Shane Richie as he took to the stage in flamboyant new musical Everybodys Talking about Jamie. The EastEnders star made a rare public appearance with current boyfriend Paul Keepin at Londons Apollo Theatre, where Richie and his co-stars entertained guests with a gala performance on Monday evening. Jessie, 47, was in high spirits as she made her way inside the venue with greengrocer Keepin, who runs a number of fruit and veg stalls across south-east London. Here she comes: Jessie Wallace was joined by boyfriend Paul Keepin as she supported screen husband Shane Richie in flamboyant new musical Everybodys Talking about Jamie on Monday evening The actress sported a monochrome dress and knee-length boots for her latest appearance in the capital with the father-of-five. Jessie was on hand to watch Shane take to the stage as Hugo, a shop owner with a colourful past as celebrated drag queen Loco Chanelle. Greeting his co-star in full costume as the gaudy, extravagant Chanelle, the actor, best known for his role as Alfie Moon, looked unreognisable as they posed for photos backstage after the show. Incoming: Jessie, 47, was in high spirits as she made her way inside the venue with greengrocer Keepin, who runs a number of fruit and veg stalls across south-east London I say: Jessie was on hand to watch Shane take to the stage as Hugo, a shop owner with a colourful past as celebrated drag queen Loco Chanelle Quite a difference: Greeting his co-star in full costume as the gaudy, extravagant Chanelle, the actor looked unreognisable as they posed for photos backstage Dressed in drag, Shane's fishtail gown trailed onto the floor with a feathery finish and was finished off with exaggerated shoulders. The actor wore a fiery red wig atop his head, which featured a mound of curls piled high. Shane takes to the stage with former Coronation Street stars Shobna Gulati and Hayley Tammadon in the new musical, an adaptation of BBC Three documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16. Popular: Shane's new musical is an adaptation of BBC Three documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16 Remember me? Shane is best known for Jessie Wallace's screen husband Alfie Moon in EastEnders Fancy meeting you here: Former Coronation Street star Hayley Tamaddon also has a role in the new musical, playing Miss Hedge Other stars to attend the press launch on Monday evening included Hollywood star Glenn Close, who appeared completely unfazed by recent Best Actress loss at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards. Laura Whitmore, Claire Sweeney and Louisa Lytton were also in attendance as the cast took to the stage. The musical makes its West End debut after a series of well-received performances at The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, where it debuted in 2017. EastEnders' Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) will be in for a huge shock next week after teenage daughter Louise Mitchell (Tilly Keeper) informs him she's pregnant with Keanu Taylor's (Danny Walters) baby. The drama unfolds when Phil's wife Sharon Mitchell (Letitia Dean), who previously had an affair with Keanu, persuades her husband to send the young mechanic on a dodgy job to Spain, falsely claiming that it's for Louise's sake. With Keanu out of the way, Sharon hoped his absence would create some breathing space for both her and her scorned step-daughter, unaware of just how dangerous the job really was. Baby bombshell: Louise Mitchell (Tilly Keeper) leaves dad Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) stunned by revealing she's pregnant with Keanu Taylor's (Danny Walters) baby Soon Keanu's mother Karen Taylor (Lorraine Stanley) comes knocking with concerns about the welfare of her son after not having heard a peep out of him. A guilty Sharon tries to get some information about Keanu from Phil, but the Walford hardman refuses to give her a straight answer. With Karen, who is aware of Sharon and Keanu's affair, increasing the pressure on her, Sharon turns to Louise in a desperate bid to get Phil to spill the beans. Secrets and lies: A guilty Sharon (Letitia Dean) tries to extract information about her former lover out of Phil, but the Walford hardman refuses to give a straight answer Out of the way: Sharon previously convinced husband Phil to send Keanu away to Spain for a dodgy job, unaware of the danger that lay ahead Manipulated by Sharon to get her father to crack, Louise soon stuns everyone by revealing she's having a baby and that she needs Keanu home to support her. Predictably, Phil loses his rag and an explosive row ensues, with the yells soon attracting an increasingly worried Karen. As the launderette worker bursts in on the drama, she initially thinks Phil's fury is down to him discovering the truth about his wife and his employee. Where's my son? Karen Taylor (Lorraine Stanley) demands to know where Keanu is after growing concerned about his welfare However, they are all silenced when Phil receives a picture of a badly beaten Keanu. Is Keanu's life in serious danger? And was Louise telling the truth about her pregnancy or was she just trying to manipulate the truth out of Phil? The explosive scenes air Thursday 21 February at 7.30pm on BBC One. She's reported to have been been axed from the America's Got Talent panel alongside fellow judge Mel B. But Heidi Klum wasn't letting things get to her as she got to work filming for the next season of her long-running show Germany's Next Top Model on Monday. The supermodel, 45, was putting on a glamorous display on location in a remote area in Los Angeles, before hitting the town for a post-Grammys bash. Moving on from America's Got Talent: Heidi Klum wasn't letting things get to her as she got to work filming for the next season of her long-running show Germany's Next Top Model in Los Angeles on Monday Partying the night away: The supermodel, 45, was putting on a glamorous display on location in a remote area in Los Angeles, before hitting the town for a post-Grammys bash The outspoken star was seen hitting the town in a lime green look as she partied the night away at Alicia Keys' post-Grammys party. Heidi embraced a low-key look in her neon sweater, teamed with jeans and matching ankle boots. Earlier in the day, Heidi was spotted hanging out in her GNTM trailer in a tiny crop top and sweatpants, highlighting her toned midriff. Eye-catching: The outspoken star was seen hitting the town in a lime green look as she partied the night away at Alicia Keys' post-Grammys party Her long, dark blonde hair was styled in loose waves and she sported minimal make-up for the occasion. Heidi was then spotted rocking a white fluffy coat and a white bohemian inspired dress. She set off the look with a pair of beige suede thigh-high boots and a pair of stylish tinted shades. On location: Earlier in the day, Heidi was spotted hanging out in her GNTM trailer in a tiny crop top and sweatpants, highlighting her toned midriff Heidi appeared in high spirits, despite the news she and Mel B will be replaced by Gabrielle Union and Julianne Hough on the AGT panel. There will be a shake-up in the all-star judging panel when the NBC reality competition series comes back for season 14, according to a Monday report from Variety. Gabrielle, 46, and Julianne, 30, will be joining returning judges Simon Cowell and Howie Mandel. Not bothered: Heidi appeared in high spirits, despite the news she and Mel B will be replaced by Gabrielle Union and Julianne Hough on the AGT panel Shake up: There will be a change in the all-star judging panel when the NBC reality competition series comes back for season 14 That is not the only big change coming as Terry Crews will take over hosting duties from 45-year-old Tyra Banks. The 50-year-old actor is currently the host of spin-off America's Got Talent: The Champions. Heidi, 45, and Mel, 43, joined the panel back in 2013 for season eight and have been on every season since including The Champions edition. Moving on: Heidi and Mel B are said to be out, while Howie Mandel and Simon Cowell will be staying on He recently launched his own unisex perfume, called Raygrance Number 1. And iconic Home and Away star Ray Meagher has revealed what his character, Alf Stewart, would smell like if he was a scent. 'Chilli,' the 74-year-old actor deliberated while speaking to Daily Mail Australia. 'A bit abrasive but a great taste': Home and Away's Ray Meagher revealed what his character Alf Stewart would smell like after sharing his top dating tips to Daily Mail Australia 'A bit abrasive but a great taste and a great addition to any occasion,' he comically added. Meanwhile, Ray explained that his new perfume 'Raygrance' is the ideal scent to wear on dates - especially with Valentine's Day fast approaching. 'You are bound to impress if you smell like success and with Raygrance, I am pretty sure I have created the only Eau de Entrepreneur on the market!' he said. 'A bit abrasive but a great taste and a great addition to any occasion,' he comically said, describing what his character Alf Stewart's scent would be like. Pictured in 2013 'The subtle notes of perseverance, hard work and ultimately triumph is what every would be romantic needs.' Revealing his top dating tips, Ray explained that nothing beats 'being yourself'. 'When it comes to dating, my best advice is to always be yourself, be polite and be honest. 'You are bound to impress': Meanwhile, Ray explained that his new perfume 'Raygrance' is the ideal scent to wear on dates 'Honesty goes a long way in a relationship, so it's important to be honest from day one,' he added. The Australian actor entered the $37 billion global perfume and fragrance market with the help of website-building brand GoDaddy. And it is all for a good cause, as all funds raised from sales of the unisex perfume will go straight to the Cure Cancer Australia charity. Bella Thorne has had a packed schedule for New York Fashion Week, but she made sure to attend Philipp Plein's Monday evening show. The 21-year-old former Disney Channel actress made the rounds with her older sister, Dani Thorne, 26. The Midnight Sun star, 21, arrived in a shiny black leather outfit that proudly displayed her toned tummy and cleavage. Stylish: Bella Thorne, 21, made the rounds at the Philipp Plein show for New York Fashion Week with her older sister, Dani Thorne, 26 She wore a pair of thigh-high suede boots with Philipp's name written in on the sides in sequins. Her black fur coat gave the outfit a glam rock feel. Baring it all: The Midnight Sun star, 21, arrived in a shiny black leather outfit that proudly displayed her toned tummy and cleavage Crimson coat: Dani's more modest outfit was obscured by her bright red fur coat. She wore a black top and short skirt and rocked a pair of tall leather boots Dani's more modest outfit was obscured by her crimson fur coat. She wore a black top and short skirt and rocked a pair of tall leather boots. Her multi-colored hair and Bella's striking orange hair added a splash of color to their mostly black outfits. Candy-colored hair: Her multi-colored hair and Bella's striking orange hair added a splash of color to their mostly black outfits Wow factor: Bella rocked black knee-high boots to round out her ensemble Earlier this week, Bella and her sister made the rounds at shows for Prabal Gurung, Jonathan Simkhai, and Sherri Hill. The Babysitter actress wore brighter and more conservative outfits for her earlier outings. In late January, Bella posed for a photo set and was interviewed for Gay Times. 'It seems like no one understands bisexuality at all. In this world it's like you're either gay or you're straight; there's no in between. If you f****d a guy once, you must be gay,' she said to the magazine. 'Like, what? No. That's just being fluid.' Khloe Kardashian and her niece Penelope Disick got matching haircuts on Monday - which was Penelope's first-ever. The Keeping Up with the Kardashians personality, 34, took to Instagram with a pair of images showcasing the new coifs, in which she posed with Penelope, six, and her father, Scott Disick, 35. 'So basically, P is obsessed with me (jk) lol how FREAKING CUTE is she with her hair cut???!!!?' Khloe said of the cut, which was done by stylist-to-the-stars Andrew Fitzsimons. Happy day: Khloe Kardashian, 35, and her niece Penelope Disick, six, got matching haircuts on Monday, as they posed with Penelope's father Scott Disick, 35 The reality star was earlier seen with the father and daughter in Sherman Oaks, California at the baby shop Sap and Honey while filming scenes for the family's E! series. The new 'do was a big hit as well with Penelope's mom (and Khloe's sister) Kourtney, who took to the social media site to commemorate the style milestone for her daughter. 'First ever hair cut in all of her enchanting six years,' said the 39-year-old mom-of-three, also to sons Mason, nine, and son Reign, four, with Disick. Fitzsimons posted a new shot of Penelope, saying it was 'pretty special' to handle the scissors on the occasion. Double trouble: Penelope matched her aunt Khloe in what was her first-ever haircut Peace out! Penelope's proud mom Kourtney proudly posted shots of her daughter on the milestone day Family-minded: Khloe has been something of the glue in the fast-moving Kardashian family over the years, usually maintaining strong relationships with most of her relatives Khloe has matched Penelope's hair before, as the pair got matching plait extensions with french braids while on a April 2016 vacation to Vail, Colorado. Family-minded Khloe has always maintained a strong relationship with Scott, revealing to Complex four years ago that they're the 'best of friends.' Khloe, who shares daughter True with Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson, noted that she 'hated [Scott] before' they came to an accord. 'Overall I love his progression and growth,' she told the magazine of Disick, who's been involved with model Sofia Richie, 20, closing in on two years. She usually favors sunnier-colored clothing to match her golden locks, but on Monday Paris Hilton opted for something a little darker and edgier. The 37-year-old celebrity heiress rolled up to the Philipp Plein show in a sheer black outfit. The reality TV star rocked a sheer dress with a black criss-crossing pattern that looked a bit like a spider's web. New look: Paris Hilton, 37, rolled up to the Philipp Plein show in a sheer black outfit on Monday The dress was adorned with black tassels and featured a cut-out over her cleavage. The 5ft8in Simple Life star wore a pair of black finger-less gloves to accompany the dark dress. Her golden tresses fell down over her shoulders and were done in elegantly loose waves. Spider queen: The reality TV star rocked a sheer dress with a black criss-crossing pattern that looked a bit like a spider's web All smiles: Once she was inside and out of the cold, Paris gave a sterling smile Sultry look: The 5ft8in Simple Life star wore a pair of black finger-less gloves to accompany the dark dress Family: Paris was spotted with her sister-in-law Tessa Hilton, 24, who wore a punk rock style leather outfit Edgy look: The dress was adorned with black tassels and featured a cut-out over her cleavage Back together: The mother of two cozied up to German designer Philipp Plein during his New York Fashion Week show Water under the bridge: Paris gave Philipp a kiss on the cheek Bella Thorne made a splash at the event when she arrived with her older sister Dani. The Midnight Sun star, 21, arrived in a shiny black leather outfit that proudly displayed her toned tummy and cleavage. She completed it with a set of thigh-high boots and a black fur coat, with her orange hair providing a shock of color. Dani, 26, arrived in a fluffy red fur coat that mostly obscured her dark outfit. Jonathan Cheban of Keeping Up With The Kardashians was also there. He took as his guest his mother Galina. Star power: Jonathan Cheban of Keeping Up With The Kardashians was also there. He took as his guest his mother Galina Wow factor: Bella Thorne, 21, made a splash at the event when she arrived with her older sister Dani Thorne, 26 Showing off her assets: The Midnight Sun star arrived in a shiny black leather outfit that proudly displayed her toned tummy and cleavage Red head: She completed it with a set of thigh-high boots and a black fur coat, with her orange hair providing a shock of color The Angel Heart star Mickey Rourke made an appearance on the runway in an alligator print jacket, silk shirt, and a feathered cap. He was also seen with a cute black and white Pomeranian. Thai actress Fonthip Watcharatrakul posed outside the venue in a black and white dress adorned with Philipp Plein's distinctive double-P logo in sequins. She cinched a belt around her midriff and donned a small glittering jacket and sunglasses. Outdoorsman look: The Angel Heart star Mickey Rourke made an appearance on the runway in an alligator print jacket, silk shirt, and a feathered cap Fierce canine: He was also seen with a cute black and white Pomeranian Cool: Thai actress Fonthip Watcharatrakul posed outside the venue in a black and white dress adorned with Philipp Plein's distinctive double-P logo in sequins Victoria's Secret Angel Jasmine Tookes was photographed at the show wearing a patched denim and leather shirt with a studded leather handbag. Magic Johnson's son EJ Johnson arrived at the fashion show in a fierce black sequined dress and thigh-high boots with a thick white fur coat. Canadian model Coco Rocha went with a more casual outfit featuring Philipp Plein's logo and a skull. Her long leather skirt featured interlocking golden stitching. Going casual: Victoria's Secret Angel Jasmine Tookes was photographed at the show wearing a patched denim and leather shirt with a studded leather handbag Contrasting styles: EJ Johnson opted for a sequined dress with a white feather coat, while Coco Rocha went with a more low-key T-shirt with a leather skirt Rock on: The models sported denim as well boots and silver colored accents on the runway Good times: Mickey rocked a cowboy hat with coordinating boots Catching up: The actor, 66, posed with Carine Roitfeld Having fun: Mickey also caught up with Julia Restoin-Roitfeld Ellen Page arrived in Los Angeles Monday after Chris Pratt issued a response to her assessment that his main church, the Hillsong Church, has been 'infamously anti-LGBTQ' in its beliefs. She was snapped at LAX airport Monday arriving back in La La Land clad in an off-white hoodie, black pants, black boots, a black beanie and dark sunglasses. The actress, 31, mentioned the place of worship of Guardians Of The Galaxy leading man, 39, after a tweet from The Hollywood Reporter advertised his appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Back in LA: Ellen Page arrived in Los Angeles Monday after Chris Pratt issued a response to her assessment that the Hillsong Church has been 'infamously anti-LGBTQ' in its beliefs The February 7 tweet read: 'Fresh from fasting, @prattprattpratt talks about his spiritual side on @colbertlateshow,' to which Page, replied, 'Oh. K. Um. But his church is infamously anti lgbtq so maybe address that too?' The Academy Award-nominated Juno star was speaking in reference to Hillsong Church, which counts Hollywood stars such as Pratt, Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin among its regular attendees. Page made clear in a subsequent tweet that she drew a clear line between right and wrong in the issue. 'If you are a famous actor and you belong to an organization that hates a certain group of people, don't be surprised if someone simply wonders why it's not addressed,' said the Halifax, Nova Scotia native, who celebrated her first anniversary with wife Emma Portner last month. 'Being anti LGBTQ is wrong, there aren't two sides. The damage it causes it severe. Full stop. Sending love to all.' Affable: The acclaimed actress carried a heavy coat in her hand Casual: Page was clad in an off-white hoodie, black pants, black boots, a black beanie and dark sunglasses Pratt took to Instagram Stories Monday with a detailed response set atop an image, and including a Bible verse from John 13:34. He wrote: 'It has recently been suggested that I belong to a church which "hates a certain group of people" and is "infamously anti-LGBTQ." Nothing could be further from the truth. I go to a church that opens their doors to absolutely everyone.' Pratt - a regular at Hillsong, who has also been linked to Zor Church in Los Angeles - referenced his split with Anna Faris, writing, 'Despite what the Bible says about divorce, my church community was there for me every stop of the way, never judging, just gracefully accompanying me on my walk. 'They helped me tremendously offering love and support. It is what I have seen them do for others on countless occasions regardless of sexual orientation, race or gender.' Where it began: Page mentioned Pratt's place of worship after a tweet from The Hollywood Reporter advertised his appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Retort: Pratt took to Instagram Stories Monday with a detailed response set atop an image, and including a Bible verse from John 13:34 For the record: Pratt said 'nothing could be further from the truth' that he belongs to a non-inclusive church The A-list actor clarified that he was not operating as 'a spokesman for any church or group of people' in making the statement. 'My faith is important to me but no church defines me or my life,' he wrote. 'My values define who I am. We need less hate in this world, not more.' The Lego Movie 2 performer wrapped up in calling himself 'a man who believes that everyone is entitled to love who they want free from the judgement of their fellow man.' Hillsong has been tied to anti-LGBTQ sentiment in the wake of an August 2015 blog titled Do I Love Gay People? from co-founder Brian Houston, which made clear where the institution stands on the topic. 'Hillsong Church welcomes ALL people but does not affirm all lifestyles,' Houston wrote. 'Put clearly, we do not affirm a gay lifestyle and because of this we do not knowingly have actively gay people in positions of leadership, either paid or unpaid. I recognise this one statement alone is upsetting to people on both sides of this discussion, which points to the complexity of the issue for churches all over the world.' Married At First Sight's groom Mick Gould reportedly wanted to leave the experiment and his TV bride Jessika Power 'multiple times' throughout filming. And footage from the early days of his marriage to 'wife' Jessika shows the farmer, 31, at odds with Jessika's behaviour. 'Would have been good to hang out with Jess, but not interested,' Mick said in a video, frustrated by the blonde's decision to sleep in until 6pm. Scroll down for video 'What does a bloke do?' MAFS' husband Mick is forced to sightsee around Sydney ALONE as bride Jessika Power sleeps in until 6pm Mick poked fun at his sleeping bride throughout the clip, taking to Sydney's top sights to show what she was missing in her slumber. '3.30pm, Hasn't even got out of bed. Adventure part two of Sydney by yourself,' he told the camera. 'Here with Jess... nah, Jess is asleep, Just enjoying this beautiful day by myself. Solo. how good's solo?' Mick joked, not losing his sense of humour. Sleeping beauty! Mick claims Jessika stayed in bed until 6pm while he explored Sydney and went to dinner by himself Enjoying a romantic sunset alone, he claimed his bride was still asleep and nowhere to be seen. 'What does a bloke do? It's 6pm now and I got home to have a shower and see what she wanted to do dinner-wise, and you picked it, she's still asleep... So going out for a bit of tucker by myself,' Mick said, ending the video by heading out to dinner solo. The video comes amid reports the plasterer couldn't stand to be around Jessika. 'She is actually a party girl and loves to be the center of attention and Mick can't handle it,' sources told New Idea. 'He wanted to leave multiple times. It got to a point where he just didn't even want to be around Jess or in the same vicinity as her': The recently-published footage comes after reports that Mick wasn't happy in the TV relationship from early on in their union The insider added: 'He wanted to leave multiple times. It got to a point where he just didn't even want to be around Jess or in the same vicinity as her.' Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Nine for comment. The farmer, 31, branded the part-time model, 27, a 'spoiled little brat' in Sunday's episode, while she begged him for a second chance. Married At First Sight returns to Nine from 7.30pm on Tuesday Bella Hadid is used to being in the spotlight. And the top model certainly had all eyes on her as she sauntered down the runway of Anna Sui's Spring/Summer 2019 fashion show in New York wearing a wild wig. On the catwalk the IMG beauty, 22, was joined by the stunning Kaia Gerber, 17. Wigging out! Bella Hadid and Kaia Gerber turned heads in colorful wigs while walking down the runway for Anna Sui's Spring/Summer 2019 show at New York Fashion Week Jewel tones dominated the runway of Anna Sui's Spring, where Bella and Kaia took center-stage wearing a range of 60s silhouettes in sparkling textiles. And though the outfits were certainly something to behold it was the models' wigs which really had people talking. Bella commanded attention while walking in a purple and bronze jacquard dress with a matching coat and choppy fuchsia wig. Completing the look, she added chunky costume jewelry and colored tights. Paisley park: She also slipped into a purple patterned ensemble that teamed a spotted pussy-bow blouse with a patterned paisley skirt Hair-raising: Though the outfits were certainly something to behold, it was the models' wigs which really had people talking Designing woman: Designer Anna Sui posed backstage with her team of models. Seen above is Kaia Gerber, Dilone, Anna, Taylor Hill, hairstylist Garren, and Bella Hadid (right to left) Then she transitioned into a purple patterned ensemble that teamed a spotted pussy-bow blouse with a patterned paisley skirt. A sequined velvet coat added an extra layers while an icy blue wig was topped off with a sparkling bow. Bella also donned a similar blue look Kaia wore a psychedelic version of a prim tweed suit, turning up Jackie O attitude with glittering lapels, bold tights and a fashion mullet. Taylor Hill also made her mark on the catwalk, looking mod in a turquoise dress with embellished pockets. Tight alright: Kaia's pink dress was paired with shimmering purple tights Purple people eaters: There were a range of fabulous purple looks at the show Retro: The model daughter of Cindy Crawford sat down to get her Twiggy-inspired makeup done backstage by makeup legend Pat McGrath using products from her eponymous line Double or nothing: Taylor Hill also made her mark on the catwalk A vision: Kaia headed out of the show with her wild make-up still in place but without her wig Chatting away: She was clutching a phone case with the words 'Social media seriously harms your health' - a tongue-in-cheek nod to a cigarette pack The Victoria's Secret Angel also donned a furry striped coat with emerald green, black, white and grey stripes atop a black cocktail dress. All of the models showcased vibrant makeup looks that came courtesy of beauty pro Pat McGrath, who used products from her own Pat McGrath Labs line in order to put together the striking look. 'To complement Suis collection, which drew inspiration from the psychedelic posters of the 60s and 70s, McGrath focused the makeup look on the eyes, using bold pops of color in the crease and heavy coats of the FetishEyes Mascara,' a statement from the brand explained. The vibrant purple shadow was created using shades from both the Mthrshp: Subversive La Vie En Rose and the Mothership I: Subliminal palettes, while the brand's Skin Fetish: Highlighter Balm + Duo was responsible for the models' beautiful glow. While the runway was packed with talent, the front row of the fashion show wasn't lacking its own starpower. Coco Rocha looked lovely in an eyelet dress with a patterned utility vest while Cara Santana's look was s bold spin of pajama chic worn with on-trend sneakers. Also in attendance were Karen Elson and Sophia Coppola, who donned designs from last spring's collection. Grace VanderWaal and Carlotta Kohl rounded out the famous crowd. In-vested: Coco Rocha looked lovely in an eyelet dress with a patterned utility vest Front row fashionistas: Grace VanderWaal, Cara Santana, Carlotta Kohl and Coca Rocha (left to right) sat front row Fan club: Sophia Coppola and Karen Elson sat in the front row together wearing looks from last spring's Anna Sui collection Danica McKellar isn't hopeful of a reboot of The Wonder Years. Amid reboots of popular 1980s series such as Roseanne, Full House and Magnum P.I., the 44-year-old actress said that her co-star on the ABC series, Fred Savage, 'really does not want to do a reboot' of the show and potentially damage its legacy. 'He makes a good point: The show was about a certain time in your life that you can't go back to and the bittersweet memory of that is what gave the show its flavor,' Danica, who played Winnie Cooper on the coming-of-age series, told US in Pasadena, California Saturday. Scroll below for video No wonder: Danica McKellar, 44, said that her co-star on The Wonder Years, Fred Savage, 'really does not want to do a reboot' of the show and potentially damage its legacy. She was snapped Saturday in Pasadena, California at the Hallmark TCA party The show was set between 1968 to 1973, telling the travails of a middle-class American family with narrator Kevin Arnold (Savage) as the youngest member, and Cooper as his childhood crush-turned-girlfriend. The actress, who was seen in the 2018 holiday movie Christmas at Grand Valley, spoke with the publication in Pasadena, California on Saturday at the Hallmark TCA party. She said she agreed with her co-star's assessment on how a reboot could sully the reputation of the original show, which ran on ABC between March 15, 1988 and May 12, 1993. 'If we went to back to it, we'd kind of be killing the integrity of the original intention of the show,' she told the magazine. 'I just don't think it would work.' In regards to a potential reboot without Savage involved, Danica said, 'I guess they're doing Roseanne without Roseanne [Barr], but I don't know if it would work in this case ... who would be the narrator? Feeling blue: The stunning actress attended the industry event in a jeweled blue gown Familiar faces: McKellar posed with co-stars Fred Savage and Josh Saviano in a selfie earlier this month Way back when: The show was set between 1968 to 1973, telling the travails of a middle-class American family with narrator Kevin Arnold (Savage) as the youngest member, and Cooper as his childhood crush-turned-girlfriend 'See, none of these ideas sound like they would work, but I've been wrong before.' The La Jolla, California native, who has a son named Draco, eight, with ex-husband Mike Verta, said she is 'open' to a potential ideas regarding the acclaimed show, joking about a possible hybrid with the cast of another 90s ABC staple, Hangin' With Mr. Cooper. 'I was like, Oh, Hangin' with Mrs. Cooper, and [we could] have Holly Robinson Peete from Hangin' with Mr. Cooper join in so we could do, like, a mashup,' she said. Jameela Jamil looked stunning in a little black dress while promoting The Misery Effect at the TCA Winter Press Tour on Monday. The Good Place star serves as host of The Misery Index, joined on stage by series creators Brian Quinn, James Murray, Joseph Gatto and Sal Vulcano, who previously created the hit series Impractical Jokers. Jamil was announced as host in late November, who will be offering, 'entertainingly cringeworthy questions to each team using her quick-witted humor and unwavering ability to call things as she sees them,' according to TBS. Stylish Jameela: Jameela Jamil looks stylish in a little black dress at the TCA Winter Press Tour Fashionable host: Jamil was announced as host in late November, who will be offering, 'entertainingly cringeworthy questions to each team using her quick-witted humor and unwavering ability to call things as she sees them' Jamil, 32, is wearing a strap-less black dress, which was cinched off with a black belt with a gold buckle. The host was wearing a pair of strawberry earrings and a pair of black heels during her panel appearance. The show will feature Quinn, Murray, Gatto and Vulcano, who form the comedy troupe The Tenderloins, with two teams comprised of one contestant and two Tenderloins apiece. TCA talk: Jamil, 32, is wearing a strap-less black dress, which was cinched off with a black belt with a gold buckle All smiles: The host was wearing a pair of strawberry earrings and a pair of black heels during her panel appearance The show will feature each team competing with each other by rating their own embarrassing and and miserable real-life experience on a scale of 1-100, a.k.a. The Misery Index. The Misery Index was created by a team of therapists, and Jamil said during the panel that the show was a good way of determining, 'who's a sociopath,' according to Deadline. Jamil also shared a number of crazy experiences shared by contestants, including a woman who had, 'explosive diarrhea every time she has an orgasm.' New host: The show will feature each team competing with each other by rating their own embarrassing and and miserable real-life experience on a scale of 1-100, a.k.a. The Misery Index Misery index: The Misery Index was created by a team of therapists, and Jamil said during the panel that the show was a good way of determining, 'who's a sociopath,' according to Deadline Another contestant reportedly pulled a two-inch leech that was still alive out of a man's nose. Jamil's favorite story from the show was a woman who found out her husband was cheating on her, so she cut off his penis. When a doctor re-attached it, she snuck into the hospital and cut it off again, but took an extra precaution. Contestant stories: Another contestant reportedly pulled a two-inch leech that was still alive out of a man's nose Favorite stories: Jamil's favorite story from the show was a woman who found out her husband was cheating on her, so she cut off his penis This time, the woman threw the penis out of the hospital window, and it was carried off by a raccoon. 'Were trying to sell a show here and we just told a story about a racoon stealing a mans penis,' said one of the Tenderloins. The show is inspired by the card game S**t Happens, which doesn't have a premiere date at this time. Cringe-worthy: This time, the woman threw the penis out of the hospital window, and it was carried off by a raccoon Tenderloins: 'Were trying to sell a show here and we just told a story about a racoon stealing a mans penis,' said one of the Tenderloins Premiere date: The show is inspired by the card game S**t Happens, which doesn't have a premiere date at this time Chic: Chloe Sevigny posed with AnnaSophia Robb while at the TCA's on Monday Beaming: The 44-year-old sported a black and white dress while AnnaSophia, 25, chose plaid Happy: Chloe and AnnaSophia star in The Act Catching up: They star alongside Joey King and Patricia Arquette in the crime anthology drama, which premieres on March 20, 2019 Beaming: They hit the stage to talk about the show It seems like Married At First Sight's Lauren Huntriss and Matthew Bennett have definitely split. Just a day after it emerged the couple were 'banned' from speaking to each other, Lauren was spotted without her wedding ring on Tuesday. The 31-year-old makeup artist looked downcast while running errands in Sydney, with her husband nowhere to be seen. Scroll down for video The honeymoon's over! Married At First Sight's Lauren Huntriss was seen without her wedding ring on Tuesday - after producers 'banned her from talking to husband Matthew Bennett' Lauren, who was last spotted wearing her wedding ring 10 days ago, seems to have given up wearing it. It's possible she is tired of keeping up appearances amid persistent rumours she broke up with Matthew, 30, months ago. During her outing, she wore a black slip dress over a white T-shirt and pulled her blonde hair back into a tight bun. The secret's out! The 31-year-old makeup artist looked downcast while running errands in Sydney, with her husband nowhere to be seen No ring, no problem! Lauren, who was last spotted wearing her wedding ring 10 days ago, seems to have given up wearing it The sighting comes after Channel Nine reportedly banned Lauren and Matthew from speaking to each other following an unspecified 'incident'. The claims surfaced on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Monday, when producer Sonia Jahshan interrupted a discussion to reveal the pair were 'not allowed' to contact each other. 'Something weird is happening, we've been told that they are not allowed to talk to each other, Lauren and Matt. They used the word "banned",' Sonia explained on air. Keeping casual: During her outing, she wore a black slip dress over a white T-shirt and pulled her blonde hair back into a tight bun Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Nine for comment. Matthew, who was a 29-year-old virgin at the start of the experiment, had his first ever sexual experience with Lauren during filming. The morning after losing his virginity, he said: 'It was worth the 29-year wait. Loz is just amazing. We are so close... I just want to be with her.' Ditching the ring: It's possible Lauren is tired of keeping up appearances amid persistent rumours she broke up with Matthew, 30, months ago Despite this promising start, a teaser trailer released on Monday hinted that Lauren and Matthew will struggle to connect sexually later in the experiment. In the promo, Lauren told Matthew that she has certain 'needs' in the bedroom. He seemed confused by her demands, however, saying: 'What does that mean? I don't want any part of it.' What happened, guys? The sighting comes after Channel Nine reportedly banned Lauren and Matthew from speaking to each other following an unspecified 'incident' During Monday's episode of MAFS, Lauren also admitted she has dated both men and women in the past, telling Matthew: 'I used to be a lesbian.' He was visibly shocked by the revelation and didn't quite know how to react. Married At First Sight continues Tuesday at 7:30pm on Channel Nine U.S. lawyer David Rudolf is known for representing Michael Peterson in true-crime documentary series, The Staircase. And the criminal defense attorney has revealed 75-year-old Peterson - who was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to time served in 2017 after taking an Alford plea - has plans to release an e-book about his story. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia ahead of a speaking tour Down Under, Rudolf said: 'He's getting ready to self-publish a book about his experience in prison and the case.' 'Getting his story out is important for him': The Staircase lawyer David Rudolf (left) has revealed Michael Peterson (right) is releasing 'a book about his experience in prison and the case'. Pictured on August 19, 2003 The Staircase follows the case of Michael Peterson (left), who was convicted of murdering his wife Kathleen (right), after she was found dead at the bottom of the staircase at the couple's home in Durham, North Carolina The Staircase follows the case of Michael Peterson, who was convicted of murdering his wife Kathleen, after she was found dead at the bottom of the staircase at the couple's home in Durham, North Carolina. Rudolf claims the North Carolina novelist is 'looking forward' to the release of the tell-all, which will be made available free of charge on the internet. 'I think he's looking forward to it, to be honest, he was a writer and it's how he's spent his life. He's a writer and getting his story out is important for him.' Peterson served eight years of a life sentence before being released on appeal due to flawed evidence in 2011. He was later convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to time served, at a retrial in 2017 after taking an Alford plea. The plea is treated as guilty by the court, but allows the accused to maintain their innocence while admitting that there was enough evidence to convict them. 'Getting his story out is important': Rudolf claims the North Carolina novelist is 'looking forward' to the release of the tell-all, which will be made available for free online as an e-book Peterson served eight years of a life sentence before being released on appeal due to flawed evidence in 2011. He was later convicted of manslaughter, and released with time served, at a retrial in 2017 after taking an Alford plea 'He felt like it was a well done and accurate portrayal of what happened': Rudolf said Peterson didn't watch the first eight episodes of the docu-series when it came out in 2004, and only reviewed the footage once the extended 13-part series hit Netflix in 2018 Rudolf said Peterson didn't watch the first eight episodes of the docu-series when it came out in 2004, and only reviewed the footage once the extended 13-part series hit Netflix in 2018. 'He didn't watch the entire series for a month or so. He called me one day to say he finished watching it and he thought it was very well done. He felt like it was a well done and accurate portrayal of what happened,' Rudolf explained. The defense lawyer went on to say his first reaction to The Staircase was far less accepting: 'When I first watched it in 2004, it was the most depressing few days of my life, It was very raw for me and watching it was very difficult.' 'When it came back out (in 2018), it was different for me. Now the ending is a lot happier. The first eight episodes weren't terribly depressing.' 'It was very raw for me and watching it was very difficult': The defense lawyer described his initial viewing of the documentary in 2004 as 'terribly depressing', but said watching it now is easier because he knows the ending is happier 'At the time it was just incredibly irritating': Looking back on the series, Rudolf joked that he regretted his 'camera tantrum' towards the power-point operator Rudolf said it was a 'leap of faith' to let the camera crew roll on every moment of Peterson's journey, but never had any doubts they would jeopardise the case. He admitted he had agreed on 'certain conditions' with the filmmakers, but ultimately he liked that they weren't American. 'Part of it was they weren't American. They werent glory seeking, they werent seeking the gory details and sensationalist angles. What they were really interested in was how the criminal justice system worked and what criminal defense lawyers actually did. It's why I agreed to do it.' Looking back, he joked of his one regret: 'I'm not sure I would change it, but certainly my camera tantrum at the power-point operator was not a highlight for me.' The moment in the true-crime series shows Rudolf becoming frustrated by a video operator, before a guard escorts them out of the building due to a fire alarm. 'At the time it was just incredibly irritating, but as I look back on it now and watch it it's sort of a comedy routine.' Rudolf praised how the rise in popularity of true-crime documentaries has helped people understand the criminal justice system better (Pictured: Netflix's Making A Murderer series) Rudolf, along with Making A Murderer's defense lawyer Laura Nirider (who represents Brendan Dassey in season two of the Netflix series), are touring Australia in March with their 'Inside Making a Murderer & The Staircase' event. 'I think a lot of people have a newfound understanding of the problems that can exist, of how wrongful convictions occur, of the importance of what criminal defence lawyers do,' the US lawyer said of the rise in popularity of true-crime series. However, Rudolf insists he won't star in any other true-crime documentaries, as he believes The Staircase is 'a wonderful piece of film making that captures the criminal justice system', adding: 'It cant get any better, only worse.' The lawyers will accept questions from fans and audience members at the upcoming functions in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane. She recently revealed that she would like to have children with boyfriend Sam Tucknott at some point in the future. And, Stacey Dooley eyed up a 1 engagement ring on The One Show on Monday night, after host Alex Jones presented her with a red heart-shaped box containing one. Clad in a stylish off-white knitted midi dress, The Strictly Come Dancing winner, 31, debated Poundland's new 1 rings with the Welsh BBC presenter, 41, and her co-host Matt Baker, 41. Thoughts? Stacey Dooley eyed up a 1 engagement ring on The One Show on Monday night, after host Alex Jones presented her with a red heart-shaped box containing one He mused: 'I think that's lovely. I don't think money should ever get in the way of a nice, generous, lovely gift.' However, Alex then admitted: 'If you found out 10 years later it was a pound, I'd be annoyed.' But ever the hopeless romantic, Matt insisted: 'For me, it's a celebration of the fact you've made this commitment to each other.' After taking the ring out of the box to better inspect it, Stacey appeared to be rather impressed with it, announcing: 'I sort of don't mind that at all, actually.' Closer inspection: After taking the ring out of the box to better inspect it, Stacey appeared to be rather impressed with it On the look out? Stacey looked chic as she left the studios after speaking out on Strictly and love during her appearance on the BBC show Perfect placement: Host Alex Jones looked cool in her olive green leather jacket The journalist also commented that she found the rings to look more expensive than their 1 price tag. Stacey's interest in the engagement ring comes after the Strictly star told The Times Magazine about her plans for a family. While discussing the television show One Born Every Minute, she told the publication: 'I close my legs and think, I'm never going to do that.' Action! Stacey looked in great spirits as she joked around with the crew before cameras started rolling on Monday's show Chic: Clad in a stylish off-white knitted midi dress, Stacey nailed casual chic Ever stylish: As she left the show, Stacey wrapped up with an oversized black coat Despite her fear of giving birth, Stacey later admitted: 'In the future, [having children] is something I would like, but work is so brilliant at the minute, it won't be too soon.' Following reports that her boyfriend Sam was 'jealous' of her Strictly professional dancer partner Kevin Clifton, 36, Stacey revealed: 'The truth is Kevin and I are brilliant friends and he'll be my pal for life. 'And Sam was probably the most supportive he has ever been.' Uma Thurman and her daughter Maya Hawke showed off their chic-casual looks when the duo attended Monday's gala for the Williamstown Theatre Festival in New York City. The 48-year-old Kill Bill star and her 20-year-old daughter celebrated the long-running Massachusetts-based theater program. The two were set to be entertained by the evenings special guest, Broadway legend Audra McDonald. Practically twins: Uma Thurman, 48, and her daughter Maya Hawke, 20, showed off their chic-casual looks when the duo attended Monday's gala for the Williamstown Theatre Festival in New York City The 5ft11in Pulp Fiction star wore an elegant black sequined frock, though she left her long black overcoat draped over her arms, possibly to guard against the chilly New York weather. She carried a jewel-encrusted black clutch and wore a pair of dark suede boots with sparkling buckles. The 5ft9in Little Women star went with a more androgynous look, favoring a black corduroy suit over a black and white striped turtleneck. She rocked a pair of black studded open toe heels and had her brunette locks done in a simple bob. The aspiring actress showed a remarkable resemblance both to her mother and to her father, actor Ethan Hawke. Stylish suit: The 5ft9in Little Women star went with an androgynous look, favoring a black corduroy suit over a black and white striped turtleneck Keeping warm: The 5ft11in Pulp Fiction star wore an elegant black sequined frock, though she left her long black overcoat draped over her arms, possibly to guard against the chilly New York weather Uma shares two children with her ex-husband Ethan Hawke. The two actors met on the set of the 1997 science fiction drama GATTACA and began a relationship shortly afterward. In addition to Maya, they have a 17-year-old son named Levon. The two actors were married from 1998-2005, though they separated in 2003. The House That Jack Built star was later in a relationship with the French financier Arpad Busson, from which she has a six-year-old daughter, Luna. The couple split up in 2014. Famous parents: Uma shares two children with her ex-husband Ethan Hawke. The two actors met on the set of the 1997 science fiction drama GATTACA and began a relationship shortly afterward In February of 2018, the golden-haired actress opened up to the New York Times about her abuse at the hands of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. She also revealed that her frequent collaborator Quentin Tarantino had pressured her into doing a dangerous car stunt while filming Kill Bill. She ultimately crashed the car and permanently injured her neck and knees. Uma later clarified that Tarantino had subsequently apologized to her for the incident and she had forgiven him. She left open the possibility of future collaborations. Rub a dub dub! Luther star Idris Elbas fiancee, former Miss Vancouver Sabrina Dhowre, likes to leave little to the imagination. The 29-year-old American, who is of Somali descent, took a break between fashion shows in New York at the weekend to stop by her room at Soho House for a cup of tea in the bath tub. However, despite apparently remembering to slip out of her little black dress, the 5ft 11in brunette kept on her 65 Prada black pop socks and heels. Luther star Idris Elbas fiancee, former Miss Vancouver Sabrina Dhowre, took a break between fashion shows in New York at the weekend to stop by her room at Soho House for a cup of tea in the bath tub Dont ask . . . she captioned the snap online taken by a girlfriend. It should be a welcome distraction from Idriss recent slip-up when he referred to her as his wife on social media. Sabrina swiftly clarified they werent yet married, adding: Our wedding is coming up soon and Im really looking forward to it. It should be a welcome distraction from Idriss recent slip-up when he referred to her as his wife on social media TV antiques king in court battle over broken deal His expertise and enthusiasm have made Charles Hanson a BBC stalwart of shows such as Antiques Road Trip, Bargain Hunt and Flog It! Other triumphs include his eponymous auction house, Hansons, identifying an 18th-century Qianlong vase used as a doorstop for decades and selling it for 650,000. But now Hanson, 40, who began his career in the glass and ceramics department at Christies, stands accused of treating a former business associate with what she describes as disdain and contempt. In a claim filed in court last week, Susan Haswell maintains that she helped Hanson whose headquarters are in Derbyshire, where he lives with his wife, Rebecca, and their two children establish his first base in the capital by finding him premises in Teddington, South-West London. His expertise and enthusiasm have made Charles Hanson (pictured) a BBC stalwart of shows such as Antiques Road Trip, and Flog It! Other triumphs include his auction house, Hansons, identifying an Qianlong vase used as a doorstop for decades and selling it for 650,000 The inaugural auction there was held in February last year, after which, claims Haswell, 54, the business flourished only for Hansons allegedly to alter the terms of their agreement six months later, unilaterally and without reason. Haswell alleges that, after making numerous attempts to meet or discuss their agreement, she issued a claim for fees and commission, but received only partial payment, which, she says, explains her return to the court, seeking a total of 6,810. It is very disappointing that my agreement with Charles Hanson, entered into in good faith by me and, I felt, by him has been treated with such disdain and contempt, she tells me. I gave everything to the new venture and invested time and energy in creating the new London auction department. Sadly, Charles took and took. Hanson has now further expanded his London business into Notting Hill. A spokesman for Hansons Auctioneers tells me: We acknowledge that there is a dispute which we are working hard to resolve. Eddies a fantastic beast of fashion He looked like a chequerboard, but then this was the latest fashion outing for actor Eddie Redmayne as the Oscar winner teamed up with supermodel Naomi Campbell to co-host a British Vogue & Tiffany Bafta after-party. The Fantastic Beasts star, 37, who sported a 2,595 Alexander McQueen black and white tailored jacket and black trousers, recently talked of his journey to becoming a fashionista. He looked like a chequerboard, but then this was the latest fashion outing for actor Eddie Redmayne as the Oscar winner teamed up with supermodel Naomi Campbell to co-host a British Vogue & Tiffany Bafta after-party (pictured together with Edward Enninful) Ive not always been a well-dressed person, he said. A lot of it came down to the Burberry campaign I did. I went for a fitting and the clothes were so tightly tailored I was like whoa!. But when I saw the photos I realised the suit looked so much better, which changed my take on tailoring. No competition for Naomi, 48, though, who was dressed in a sheer Alexander McQueen gown. Micks model girl is more than a match for a statue Sir Mick Jaggers youngest daughter, Georgia May, may not have been in her natural milieu, surrounded by film stars at a Bafta after-party on Sunday night, but at least her modelling skills didnt go to waste. The 27-year-old blonde, whose mother is Texan Jerry Hall, found herself in the ladies of private Mayfair club Annabels, where, in a 3,760 black Miu Miu dress with a red ostrich feather trim, she playfully emulated the posture of the classical statue. The sculpture has become an Instagram sensation ever since the Berkeley Square club reopened last spring, as guests regularly post pictures of themselves among the powder rooms plush fittings. Sir Mick Jaggers youngest daughter, Georgia May, found herself in the ladies of private Mayfair club Annabels, where, in a 3,760 black Miu Miu dress with a red ostrich feather trim, she playfully emulated the posture of the classical statue Neesons fork in the road Liam Neeson, who put his Hollywood future in jeopardy with bizarre comments about wanting to kill a black man, appears to be considering alternative careers. In an interview given before the recent furore, the Taken actor said: Some mornings you wake up and think: Gee, I look handsome today. Other days I think: What am I doing in the movies? I wanna go back to Ireland and drive a forklift. Careful what you wish for . . . Why Pike plays it cool . . . Gone Girl star Rosamund Pike blames her English rose looks for the perception that shes an aloof ice maiden. I wonder whether my pale complexion and hair colour dont contribute to a lack of warmth people feel, says Pike, who plays war correspondent Marie Colvin in the new film A Private War. I dont really care too much about how I am personally perceived. Its my characters that I value, and the desire to get their lives and their humanity down. Film isnt some sort of personality contest. Jenson Button, who quit Formula One last year, is still adjusting to the shock of leaving the pampered luxury circuit. He says: Its a lovely life, and youre spoiled. Now, I have to wash my own underwear. Hell soon be having to change nappies as well. Buttons fiancee, former Playboy model Brittny Ward, is pregnant with their first child. Environment minister Therese Coffey is never off duty. You threw your cigarette out of the car onto the road in front of the wrong person, she fumed at a rogue driver, publishing their number plate on social media. Im pleased the driver apologised when I challenged her, added Coffey, a green crusader who is not to be messed with. Jackie 'O' Henderson has defended Married At First Sight 'expert' Mel Schilling after a petition calling for her to be sacked drew more than 35,000 signatures. Mel had lectured Bronson Norrish over his use of the C-word on Sunday's episode but failed to address Ines Basic's 'abusive' behaviour, sparking a viewer backlash. But on Tuesday's Kyle & Jackie O Show, Jackie insisted Mel shouldn't be sacked over her comments because she wasn't fully aware of Ines' conduct on her honeymoon. 'She shouldn't be sacked over it!' Jackie 'O' Henderson (pictured) has defended MAFS expert Mel Schilling after more than 35,000 people signed a petition calling for her to be sacked 'The experts don't see what happens on the honeymoon. They only see the dinner parties and the commitment ceremony,' Jackie explained on air. 'I understand [Ines] deserved to be reprimanded, but at the end of the day all [Mel] has done is just call out a guy who's used the C-word.' 'She shouldn't be fired for that!' Jackie concluded. Scandal: Mel (left) had lectured Bronson (right) over his use of the C-word on Sunday's episode of MAFS but failed to address Ines' 'abusive' behaviour, sparking a viewer backlash On Sunday's explosive episode of Married at First Sight, Bronson called Ines the C-word during the first commitment ceremony. While Ines voted to leave the experiment, Bronson decided to stay, forcing her to endure another week with him. Explaining his decision, he said: 'When we did the questionnaire thing, Ines was amazing that night, like, really amazing. I loved her to pieces that night. 'Next morning, the Hulk came out. Straight back to a c**t. I'm not calling her a c**t, I'm saying she acts like a c**t'. A stunned Ines replied: 'I don't think this could get any worse.' Ouch! Bronson (right) said his 'wife' Ines Basic (left) was 'acting like a c**t' Psychologist Mel was horrified by Bronson's slur, saying: 'Don't use language like that if you want any chance of a relationship with a woman.' The pair were then told they would be forced into counselling, with fellow expert John Aiken insisting that Bronson needed to learn 'respect'. While he was criticised on the show, Bronson was widely praised on Twitter for standing up for himself. He went there! Bronson's castmates, including Elizabeth Sobinoff (pictured), were shocked by his colourful language Many viewers claimed he was justified in calling Ines a 'c**t' after she had verbally abused him during their honeymoon in Port Douglas. 'She's been mouthing him off all week and she didn't even get told off?' one person tweeted, addressing the double standard. 'The "experts" didn't even mention her abusive tendencies but sure let's go off about the word c**t'. Another viewer wrote: 'So verbal abuse is okay if it's directed at a man, but it's not okay to call the abuser out as a c**t?' After the episode aired, Mel was slammed by viewers for lecturing Bronson over his use of the C-word, while seemingly letting Ines off their hook for her shocking behaviour. A Change.org petition demanding that she is fired from the program has rapidly gained momentum, receiving more than 35,000 signatures in under 24 hours. Backlash: A Change.org petition (pictured) demanding that Mel is fired from the program has rapidly gained momentum, receiving over 35,000 signatures in under 24 hours In a statement on Monday, Channel Nine publicly supported Mel. MAFS' executive producer John Walsh told Daily Mail Australia: 'There were 12 women in the room that night and a man used language that was highly insulting and inflammatory in reference to his wife. 'Mel acted in the only way appropriate by calling out the language - language that is not ever considered acceptable anywhere, anytime. 'We are shocked at the backlash Mel has received for defending another woman.' Going to ground: Following the backlash, Mel locked down her social media accounts and Channel Nine restricted comments on the show's official Instagram page Following the backlash, Mel locked down her social media accounts and Channel Nine restricted comments on the show's official Instagram page. Mel also told 9Honey on Monday that she is 'gender blind' when it comes to giving relationship advice to Married At First Sight contestants. 'Abusive or harmful behaviour is something Im going to call out whether its men or women doing it,' she said. Meanwhile, the person who started the Change.org petition, Tyson Smith, confirmed to Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday that he has been blocked contacting Channel Nine on social media. Married At First Sight continues Tuesday at 7:30pm on Channel Nine Lindsay Lohan has encouraged her mother Dina to ditch her 'weird catfish' boyfriend after she revealed she had been dating a man for five years but has never met him. The actress' 56-year-old mum confessed during her stint on the US edition of Celebrity Big Brother, that she feels ready to marry a man who she speaks to every day. However she went on to admit that she has never actually FaceTimed the man, let alone met up with him in person during their five-year relationship. Watch out: Lindsay Lohan has encouraged her mother Dina to ditch her 'weird catfish' boyfriend after she revealed she had been dating a man for five years but has never met him Following the admission, the Canyons star urged her mother to watch out for a possible catfishing scheme, a term made famous following an MTV show of the same name where long-distance relationships are investigated. Responding to a post on Instagram about the reality show's finale this week, Lindsay wrote: '@dinalohan so proud of you mommy! But no more weird #catfish. Please.' The question of whether or not Dina was being duped by a trickster came up on Thursday's episode, when the celebrity mother revealed that she was serious about the man she'd never met in person. Putting it out there: The Parent Trap star showed her support by commenting on the official Big Brother Instagram account, which had posted about the finale week Dina told housemates Kandi Burruss, Tamar Braxton, and Natalie Eva Marie that she is confident she will wed her 'special someone', who lives in San Francisco and takes care of his mother. She said: 'I can't wait to tell you about this guy. I've been talking to him for five years. Like, every day. A lot. I feel like I know him. 'You know when you talk to someone on the phone, like you feel like you know them? Showing her support: '@dinalohan so proud of you mommy!' Lindsay wrote. 'But no more weird #catfish please'; shown in 2016 in New York City 'It's personal. He's real. I swear, it's crazy. But I'm going to marry him. It's really, really true. I talk to his ma.' And while Dina's 'CBB' housemates Kandi, Tamar and Natalie are concerned she is being catfished - which sees someone create a fictional online persona to lure another person into a relationship - she insists her man just doesn't have a phone suitable for video calling. She added: 'It's real. Some guys don't just use iPhones.' Yikes: 'I can't wait to tell you about this guy,' Dina then told her excitedly. 'I've been talking to him for five years, like every day, a lot. I feel like I know him ... You know when you talk to someone on the phone, like you feel like you know them?' We'll see: When Kandi asked if they had even met, Dina said: 'Oh, we will' The situation has even caught the eye of 'Catfish' host Nev Schulman, whose role on the show sees him help people who might be being tricked by potential lovers online. He recently said: 'YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME. Let's do this!' In September, Dina - who was married to Lindsay's dad Michael Lohan from 1985 until 2007, when their divorce was settled - reportedly filed for bankruptcy and was said to be more than $1.5 million in debt, with more than $1 million owed to PennyMac Loan Services. Talking to an expert: That didn't mollify Kandi, who said, 'Girl, that's straight up catfish. Five years but no FaceTime?' Considering that she co-wrote TLC's classic No Scrubs track, she presumably knew a thing or two about worthless men She always manages to nail her unique sense of style. And Rita Ora dazzled once again as she headed out and about in New York on Monday in a very eye-catching number. The songstress, 28, went head-to-toe in a range of Prada designs, keeping cosy in a knitted green hat while sporting a matching scarf around her neck. Radioactive: Rita Ora dazzled once again as she headed out and about in New York on Monday in a very eye-catching winter ensemble She covered up against the NY chill in a black leather jacket under which she wore a cream coloured dress. The Hot Right Now hitmaker donned black tights and showed off her rock chick side in a pair of heavy black boots. She toted her belongings in a quirky white Prada bag and covered up with large sunglasses. Hot Right Now: The songstress, 28, went head-to-toe in a range of Prada designs, keeping cosy in a knitted green hat while sporting the item's matching scarf around her neck Style: She covered up against the NY chill in a black leather jacket under which she wore a cream coloured dress Rita has been in the headlines recently amid rumours she had a secret romance with Brooklyn Beckham, 19, two years ago. His mother, Victoria, was reportedly concerned after discovering Brooklyn had been enjoying a brief fling with the songstress. The fashion designer, 44, apparently made it very clear she didn't approve of the romance, which sparked following a dinner in May 2017, an insider told The Sun. Fashion: The Hot Right Now hitmaker donned black tights and showed off her rock chick side in a pair of heavy black boots Keeping it real: She toted her belongings in a quirky white Prada bag and covered up with large sunglasses Something to hide? Rita's outing comes as rumours have been swirling that she had a secret romance with Brooklyn Beckham, 19, two years ago Brooklyn and Rita allegedly shared some steamy smooches before his parents banned him from seeing her again and sent him back to New York. A source said: 'Posh saw a couple of texts they'd been sending. She didn't want her boy being led astray, and didn't want them partying together. David and Victoria were adamant the pair shouldn't date and made it very clear they didn't approve.' The pair were spotted holding hands at The Electric in West London before exchanging a series of flirty text messages. A representative for Victoria declined to comment. MailOnline have also contacted representatives for Rita and Brooklyn for further comment. She's rumoured to be planning a romantic trip with new flame Pete Davidson. But for now Kate Beckinsale is keeping a low profile at home in Los Angeles, showing off her gym-honed figure as she headed out on Monday. The British actress, 45, flashed a glimpse of her toned stomach under a sheer white top layered under a cropped hoodie. Out and about: Kate Beckinsale, 45, showed off her gym-honed figure as she headed out in Los Angeles on Monday Kate added a touch of glam to her look with towering platform heels, while completing her casually cool ensemble with large shades and an up-do for her brunette locks. Kate has been in the headlines for the past month, amid her rumoured romance with SNL star Pete. The Sun reported last week that the two were planning on taking a trip to get to know each other better. Sporty cool: The British actress, 45, flashed a glimpse of her toned stomach under a sheer white top layered under a cropped hoodie The new couple were previously seen holding hands as they left the Largo comedy club in Los Angeles on February 2. Prior to that, they were spotted cozying up and flirting all night long at the Golden Globes on January 6. When TMZ photographers caught up last week with Pete's ex, Ariana Grande, she said the burgeoning couple were 'So cute.' Kate had a very cheeky response when a fan asked her about the rumours on Instagram recently. Romance: Kate has been in the headlines for the past month, amid her rumoured romance with SNL star Pete Davidson, 25 Sassy: The quick-witted actress had a very cheeky response when a fan asked her about the rumours on Instagram, where she had posted a photo of her model mother While the actress was sharing a glam photo of her model mother Judy on the social media platform, one follower was keen to know more about Pete, commenting: 'Dear heavens, Kate. Not Pete Davidson.' Kate, famed for her quick-witted Instas, sassily responded: 'No that's my mother. Easy mistake.' Pete is coming off a recent whirlwind engagement to pop star Ariana, while Kate was snapped kissing Jack Whitehall in a karaoke bar in November. Here she comes: Kate was seen leaving Craig's restaurant with a male friend on Monday Don't mind me: The actress kept a low profile as she made her way to her car Low profile: Kate appeared to be camera shy after climbing into the back seat look away please, nothing to see here: The British star shielded her features as they set off They may seem unlikely friends, since he is in fact her sister's ex. But Khloe Kardashian and Scott Disick looked thick as thieves as they stepped out to shoot a lunch scene for the family reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians at Santino's NY Pizza in Sherman Oaks Monday. Though usually a fan of formfitting fashion, the Good American jeans co-founder cut a noticeably more relaxed figure during the trip. Let's do lunch! Khloe Kardashian and Scott Disick got lunch together in Sherman Oaks, California on Monday while cameras followed them shooting scenes for Keeping Up With The Kardashians Khloe was comfortable in a black tee shirt, leggings, and a thick jacket. Matching her practical attire, the reality diva carried her things in a fanny pack. She dressed things up just a bit, adding silky thigh high boots into the mix along with big hoop earrings and a delicate crescent moon necklace. Square sunglasses were the finishing touch. While the mother-of-one's outfit was understated, she made sure her beauty was on point. Khloe smoothed her hair into a sleek shoulder-length style while sculpting the hollows of her cheeks with bronzer. Easy going: Though usually a fan of formfitting fashion, the Good American jeans co-founder cut a noticeably more relaxed figure during the trip She went with fierce orange nails for just the right amount of color. Meanwhile Scott was subdued in a furry stone grey hoodie worn with matching cargo pants and white Nikes. Khloe and Scott remain close even though he's no longer dating Kourtney. Talking to Complex in 2015, she called them the 'best of friends.' But she admitted it wasn't always that way, telling the magazine: '...But whats crazy is how much I hated him before. Overall I love his progression and growth.' Unlikely besties: Khloe and Scott remain close even though he's no longer dating her sister Kourtney. Talking to Complex in 2015, she called them the 'best of friends' Scott has three children with Khloe's older sister. After nearly ten years together the couple called it quits in 2015. Since then both have put the relationship in the past. Scott has been linked to 20-year-old model Sofia Richie for almost two years now. Kourtney appears to be playing the field. Following her split with Disick she dated model Younes Benjima. And after that she was linked to actor/influencer Luka Sabbat. But Luka denied any relationship in a profile by The Cut earlier this month, where he asserted: 'Were definitely not dating.' From chaotic honeymoons to a very tense commitment ceremony, the cast of Married At First Sight have certainly been put through the emotional ringer so far this season. So it's no wonder brides Jules Robinson, Jessika Power, Ning Surasiang, Heidi Latcham, Martha Kalifatidis and intruder Tamara Joy were itching to cut loose at a girl's night during a break from filming last year. Dressed in raunchy party attire, the women were hard to miss as they arrived at the Flamingo Lounge nightclub with several producers and a film crew in Potts Point, Sydney on November 21, 2018. Here come the girls! The brides of Married At First Sight, Jules Robinson, Jessika Power, Ning Surasiang, Heidi Latcham, Martha Kalifatidis and intruder Tamara Joy, were hard to miss as they arrived at the Flamingo Lounge nightclub in Sydney on November 21, 2018. The glamorous gaggle were seen laughing and joking as they strutted down Bayswater Road towards the popular hot-spot. Missing from the throng were brides Ines Basic, Cyrell Paule, Elizabeth Sobinoff, Melissa Lucarelli and Lauren Huntriss. Leading the procession was Ning, 32, who flaunted a generous glimpse of cleavage in a plunging red bodycon dress and stiletto heels. Bombshell alert! Heidi, 37, was spotted chatting to Jules, 36, as they ventured across the busy promenade hand-in-hand Saucy co-stars! Martha, 30, and Jessika, 26, sauntered towards the entrance arm-in-arm Red hot! Ning, 32, flaunted a generous glimpse of cleavage in a plunging red bodycon dress and stiletto heels Invitation lost in the mail? Missing from the throng were brides Ines Basic, Cyrell Paule, Elizabeth Sobinoff, Melissa Lucarelli and Lauren Huntriss Holding the Gold Coast hairdresser's hand was intruder Tamara, who is set to join the cast later this season. The brunette beauty certainly courted attention with her striking yellow frock, which feature curve-hugging ruched details at the side. Elsewhere, Heidi, 37, was spotted chatting to Jules, 36, as they ventured across the busy promenade hand-in-hand. Preened to perfection, Martha sported a sleek one-shouldered jumpsuit in black that accentuated her stunning frame Coming through! Martha and Jessika used the sidewalk as their private catwalk as they strutted their stuff in front of curious onlookers All that glitters! Leggy Heidi was dressed to impress, donning a gold sequin-covered mini dress with long sleeves Leggy Heidi was dressed to impress, donning a gold sequin-covered mini dress with long sleeves. She added height to her frame with a pair of grungy heeled boots in black leather. Meanwhile, Jules poured her curves into a plunging sweetheart midi-dress with lace detailing. Not so mellow in yellow! Intruder Tamara, who is set to join the cast later this season, was spotted leading the group towards the venue hand-in-hand with Ning Risque ensemble: The brunette beauty certainly courted attention with her striking yellow frock, which feature curve-hugging ruched details at the side Is everything OK? At one stage the aspiring model was spotted anxiously smoking a cigarette outside the nightclub, perhaps while contemplating her fraught marriage to Mick Gould Making them green with envy! Controversial bride Jessika opted for a risque look, wearing a skintight moss green frock and black stilettos The final duo to make an appearance were Martha, 30, and Jessika, 26, who also held hands while making their way to the entrance. Preened to perfection, Martha sported a sleek one-shouldered jumpsuit in black that accentuated her sensational frame. The Kim Kardashian lookalike allowed her voluminous brown mane to hang in loose curls by her shoulders and completed her look with a layered necklace and matching bangle. That's better! Luckily, the blonde's concerned expression turned to a smile when Martha joined her outside But first, let me take a selfie! The duo made sure to document the outing by pouting for a selfie All tressed up! Kim Kardashian lookalike Martha allowed her voluminous brown mane to hang in loose curls by her shoulders and completed her look with a layered necklace and matching bangle Always ready to help! Makeup artist Martha kept Jessica's tresses in check following a downpour of rain Controversial bride Jessika also opted for a risque look, wearing a skintight moss green frock and black stilettos. At one stage the aspiring model was spotted anxiously smoking a cigarette outside the nightclub, perhaps while contemplating her fraught marriage to Mick Gould. Luckily, the blonde's concerned expression turned to a smile when Martha joined her outside to take a selfie. Mic please! A crew member was seen attaching a microphone pack to the back of Ning's dress before she entered the nightclub Standing tall: Tamara added height to her statuesque frame with a pair of transparent block heels Painting the town red! The glamorous gaggle were seen laughing and joking as they strutted down Bayswater Road towards the popular hot-spot Raining on their parade! Later in the evening, the brides encountered a bout of rain and were forced to retreat inside Later in the evening, the brides encountered a bout of rain and were forced to retreat inside the building, Luckily, several well-prepared producers were at the ready to provide umbrellas to the women so filming could continue. Married At First Sight continues on Tuesday at 7.30pm on Nine. At the ready: Luckily, several well-prepared producers were at the ready to provide umbrellas to the women so filming could continue Are you filming? Jessika gave the camera crew a glance as she entered the building Party time! The brides were all smiles as they socialised on the balcony of the venue Just one day after the Grammys, Nicki Minaj has claimed that she was 'bullied' by Ken Ehrlich, the same Grammy producer Ariana Grande accused of lying. Author/podcaster Oloni mentioned that Minaj, 36, 'has been at the top of her game for way too long not to have a Grammy,' adding, 'I don't know what white man from the boards she pissed off. The rapper responded on Twitter with a bold accusation against Ken Ehrlich, promising fans she'll tell the whole story on the next episode of her podcast Queen Radio. Nicki calling out Ken: Nicki Minaj called out Grammys producer Ken Ehrlich, claiming she was 'bullied' by him, after Ariana Grande accused him of lying Bold accusation: The rapper responded on Twitter with a bold accusation against Ken Ehrlich (above), promising fans she'll tell the whole story on the next episode of her podcast Queen Radio 'I p**sed off the same man Ariana just called out for lying. Grammy producer KEN,' Minaj began. 'I was bullied into staying quiet for 7 years out of fear. But I'll tell my fans the REAL on the next episode of #QueenRadio they deserve the truth,' she added. 'Also, CONGRATS to everyone who won last night,' the rapper concluded, with the prayer hands emoji. Tweet: 'I pissed off the same man Ariana just called out for lying. Grammy producer KEN,' Minaj began Grande made headlines for pulling out of both performing at, and attending the Grammys, after clashing with producers over what song she would perform. While Grande wanted to perform her new single 7 Rings, the producers had other ideas, compromising and agreeing that 7 Rings would be part of a medley that Grande was to perform. But when the producers wanted to choose the second song of the medley, Grande pulled out. She initialy refused to comment publicly about her decision, but changed her mind when Ehrlich said she had run out of time to change her set. Grammys dress: Grande made headlines for pulling out of both performing at, and attending the Grammys, after clashing with producers over what song she would perform Ehrlich said they had been having conversations for a month with Grande, but then claimed Grande, 'felt it was too late for her to pull something together,' which Grande responded to. 'I've kept my mouth shut but now you're lying about me. I can pull together a performance over night and you know that, Ken,' Grande tweeted last week. 'It was when my creativity & self expression was stifled by you, that i decided not to attend. I hope the show is exactly what you want it to be and more,' she added. Grande's dress: Grande later shared several photos of herself wearing a custom Zac Posen gown, which she would have wore at the Grammys had she attended 'I offered 3 different songs,' Grande continued. 't's about collaboration. it's about feeling supported. It's about art and honesty. Not politics. Not doing favors or playing games. It's just a game y'all.. and i'm sorry but that's not what music is to me.' Grande later shared several photos of herself wearing a custom Zac Posen gown, which she would have wore at the Grammys had she attended. As for Minaj, she passed on attending the awards ceremony after her 2018 album Queen was snubbed from the Grammys, but she also made headlines during the Grammys for a series of tweets from BET. Not a fan of the Grammys: Minaj passed on attending the awards ceremony after her 2018 album Queen was snubbed After Cardi B won her historic Grammy for Best Rap Album, BET tweeted out that, while Cardi was winning her award, 'Meanwhile, Nicki is being dragged by her lacefront.' That tweet wasn't received well by Minaj's legions of fans, nor from Minaj herself, who later revealed on Twitter that her label Young Money is pulling out of the BET Experience. 'Young Money will no longer be apart of the BET Experience of award show,' Minaj said, adding, 'Summer tour dates dropping soon.' She also tweeted a message of thanks to her fans on Monday, stating, 'I can't thank you guys enough for all the love & support you continue to show me.' 'To everyone who said something sweet, thank you. Whether I read it or not, I felt it. From the bottom of my heart. I love you so much. So so so soooo much. Stay tuned,' she concluded. Pulling out: That tweet wasn't received well by Minaj's legions of fans, nor from Minaj herself, who later revealed on Twitter that her label Young Money is pulling out of the BET Experience Taking a stand: 'Young Money will no longer be apart of the BET Experience of award show,' Minaj said, adding, 'Summer tour dates dropping soon' Support: She also tweeted a message of thanks to her fans on Monday, stating, 'I can't thank you guys enough for all the love & support you continue to show me' She wowed with a chic look at the 2019 BAFTAs on Sunday night in London. But there was little time for rest for Lily Collins after her glam night out, as she jetted to Los Angeles on Monday. The actress daughter of Phil Collins, continued to show off her sense of style off the red carpet, looking casually cool as she touched down in the US. Leaving on a jet plane: Hours after wowing on the red carpet at the 2019 BAFTAs in London on Sunday, Lily Collins was touching down in Los Angeles on Monday Lily added some interest to her black leggings and hoodie ensemble by layering a chic electric blue coat over the top. The loose-cut piece was teamed with chunky black lace-up boots, adding to the quirky vibe. Fashion fan Lily completed her look with a pair of huge rounded sunglasses, cleverly disguising any sign of tiredness after her big night out at BAFTA. Chic: The actress daughter of Phil Collins, continued to show off her chic sense of style off the red carpet, looking casually cool as she touched down in the US Sunnies: Fashion fan Lily completed her look with a pair of huge rounded sunglasses, cleverly disguising any sign of tiredness after her big night out at BAFTA On Sunday Lily turned heads in her quirky midnight ensemble for BAFTA's star-studded night at London's Royal Albert Hall. Lily, 29, chose a dramatic sheer lace skirt for the big night, with an elaborate floral peplum detail. Her legs and towering black platform heels could be glimpsed through the sheer lace, while the fashion fan mixed up her fabrics by pairing the lace with a cropped satin jacket. Jet-set: Lily added some interest to her black leggings and hoodie ensemble by layering a chic electric blue coat over the top Back to it: The star has a number of big projects coming up and is back in LA in time for the Academy Awards later this month Simply stunning: Lily more than stood out among the A-list as she hit the red carpet for the 2019 BAFTAs on Sunday night Feeling blue: The actress turned heads in her quirky midnight ensemble as she posed up a storm at London's Royal Albert Hall Her hair was slicked back into a sleek up do, while a deep plum lip colour was the finishing touch to the gorgeous ensemble. Lily has got a whole host of impressive roles coming up, playing Ted Bundy's longtime girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer, aka Liz Kendall in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile alongside Zac Efron. And that's not all where Lily's portrayal of real-life characters end, she will next be seen in the film Tolkien opposite Nicholas Hoult, a biographical drama of The Lord of the Rings author J.R.R Tolkein. The beauty portrays Edith Bratt, Tolkein's wife and muse who inspired his characters, Luthien Tinuviel and Arwen Evenstar. Ready for her close up: Her hair was slicked back into a sleek up do, while a deep plum lip colour was the finishing touch to the gorgeous ensemble Standing out from the crowd: The stars turned out in force at the 2019 British Academy Film Awards with Lily wowing among a series of sleek gowns Presenting: Lily was on stage to present a gong with a very glam Olga Kurylenko Glow: Lily continued to look sensational as she wowed later that evening at the British Vogue and Tiffany & Co. Celebrate Fashion and Film Party at Annabel's in Mayfair Pals: She was joined by Naomi Campbell and Amy Adams as the trio dazzled in their party gear They were left brokenhearted after Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande embarked on a high-profile romance. And now it seems that the late rapper Mac Miller and actress Cazzie David forged a bond as a result of their respective breakups. 'Cazzie and Mac never met, but started speaking because of Ariana and Pete's relationship,' a source told UsWeekly Monday. '[They] leaned on each other.' Forged a bond: Mac Miller, left in March 2018, and Cazzie David, right in September, 'leaned on each other' after they were left brokenhearted by the end of their respective romances Not only that, but Cazzie, the daughter of Curb Your Enthusiasm's Larry David, has also become close to Miller's mom Karen Meyers after his untimely death from an accidental overdose in September 2018. 'Cazzie and Mac's mom have become extremely close and talk almost every day,' the publication's source explained. 'Mac's mom loves her.' On Sunday, David, 24, shared a photo of herself with Meyers ahead of the Grammys in Los Angeles. She posted it to Instagram Stories and added heart emojis. Friends: Actress Cazzie has also remained close to Miller's mom Karen Meyers after his untimely death in September. They attended the Grammys together on Sunday in Los Angeles A source told E! News: 'It's still a relatively new friendship, and primarily limited to social media, but Cazzie and Karen think very highly of each other. Cazzie reached out to Karen with her condolences after Mac died and since then she and Karen have been exchanging messages.' 'Through their chats the two have discovered they have much more in common than just Mac, Ariana and Pete. Karen thinks Cazzie is an intelligent and sweet person,' the source added. Miller received a posthumous Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album for Swimming and his family attended the ceremony, but he lost out to Cardi B's Privacy. The rapper, who was 26 when he died, was included in the telecast's In Memorian segment. Miller received a posthumous Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album for Swimming and his family attended the ceremony. The rapper was included in the telecast's In Memorian segment Gone too soon: Miller was 26 when he died from an accidental overdose at his home in the San Fernando Valley. He's pictured with mom Kar and dad Mark McCormick The way they were: Miller and Grande, pictured performing together in Paris in 2017, were together for almost two years before their breakup in May 2018 Exes: Cazzie, the daughter of Curb Your Enthusiasm's Larry David, was with SNL comedian Pete Davidson for nearly two years before they also broke up in May 2018 Brief romance: Just weeks after breaking up with their exes, Davidson and Grande confirmed their engagement in June 2018. They broke up in October, a month after Miller's death Cazzie and Davidson, 25, dated for almost two years before breaking up in May 2018, the same month that Grande split from Miller after nearly two years together. In June, the SNL comic and Ariana Grande confirmed they were engaged after meeting on the set of the NBC sketch show. However, their relationship ended in October, a month after Miller's death. Meanwhile, Grande, who won a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album for Sweetener, expressed disappointment and anger on social media that Miller did not win a Grammy for Swimming especially since the Recording Academy had encouraged his family to attend the event. 'Trash. F***. Bull****. Literal bull****,' Grande wrote in since-deleted tweets. 'They invited Mac's parents out for basically no reason.' Grande didn't attend the awards show following a rift with producers over what songs she would perform. Jackie 'O' Henderson asked a woman if she would be comfortable sharing her husband with her during an awkward on-air exchange on Tuesday. The 44-year-old asked a female listener named Tegan the question live on The Kyle & Jackie O Show after learning she was her husband Jay's 'hall pass'. However, the newly-single radio star clarified it was a purely hypothetical question as she's not interested in dating and certainly wouldn't sleep with a married man. Oh, my! On Tuesday, Jackie 'O' Henderson (left) asked a woman if she'd let her sleep with her HUSBAND live on air. Pictured right: Jackie's co-host Kyle Sandilands 'Tegan, don't worry I would never sleep with a married man! I just wanted to find out if you'd be cool with it,' Jackie said. Earlier in the conversation, Tegan confessed she hoped her husband wouldn't hook up with Jackie if the opportunity presented itself. 'As cheeky as he is, he's a super little loyal Italian guy so I'll leave it up to him - I'm sure he'll make the right decision,' she said. Bold move: The segment began when Jackie revealed a married man named Jay had sent her a private message on Instagram while she was holidaying with Roxy Jacenko (R) in Fiji last year Meanwhile, Jay was shamelessly flirting with Jackie during the phone interview. 'Next time you're in Watson's Bay having a few Chardys, give me a little tingle and I'll come down and say hello,' he said. When asked whether he has ever imagined what Jackie looks like naked, Jay didn't hesitate and swiftly responded: 'Yes!' Handsome fella! Jackie O's admirer, known only as Jay, is pictured here He's taken, Jackie! Jay is pictured with his wife Tegan, who saw the funny side of the situation The eyebrow-raising segment began when Jackie revealed Jay had sent her a private message on Instagram while she was on holiday in Fiji late last year. '[Jay] said, "My wife and I were talking about your picture and just so you know, you're my hall pass",' Jackie explained. 'I was flattered by that!' In a bizarre twist, Jackie later discovered that she and Jay actually have a mutual connection: Sydney publicist Roxy Jacenko. 'He was Roxy's builder!' she said. Making a splash: Jackie explained, '[Jay] said, "My wife and I were talking about your picture and just so you know, you're my hall pass"... I was flattered by that!' It comes four months after Jackie announced her split from husband-of-15-years, Lee Henderson. The former couple share custody of an eight-year-old daughter named Kitty. 'After 18 years together, we have made the decision to separate. We do so amicably, sharing many incredible memories and remaining best friends,' she said in October last year. Morgan Freeman made his first public appearance since the trial of his granddaughter's killer, as he attended an event in Los Angeles on Sunday. The 81-year-old actor hadn't been seen in months before the event, which was held to promote National Geographic's The Story of God With Morgan Freeman at the The Langham Huntington in Pasadena, California. The Shawshank Redemption star's appearance came less than a month after his step-granddaughter E'Dena Hines' killer Lamar Davenport received a 20-year sentence in his first-degree manslaughter conviction after fatally stabbing her in August 2015 in New York City. At the sentencing Davenport's mother yelled 'Morgan Freeman molested her and he caused this' in reference to past accusations Freeman had denied. Scroll below for video The latest: Morgan Freeman, 81, was seen in LA Sunday in what was his first public appearance in months in the wake of the murder trial for his daughter's killer, amid past accusations he had molested her During the trial, Davenport's attorney Beth Unger said that Hines, an actress who had appeared in Freeman's 2014 film 5 Flights Up, 'disclosed to Lamar Davenport and others that [Freeman] engaged in a sexually-inappropriate relationship with her.' In the January hearing, Davenport, 33, said he was sorry for the incident and didn't 'remember what happened' in the killing of Hines, who he had dated. Freeman was first linked to Hines in a 2009 National Enquirer report; he issued a statement in 2012 calling the allegations 'defamatory fabrications from the tabloid media designed to sell papers,' while Hines called them 'untrue' and 'hurtful' in a statement.' Stylish: The Driving Miss Daisy star wore an off-white suit with a purple button-down top while appearing on the panel Tough times: It was the first outing in months for The Shawshank Redemption actor, coming less than a month after his step-granddaughter E'Dena Hines' killer Lamar Davenport received a 20-year sentence in his first-degree manslaughter conviction On The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, the actor ventures to the world's holiest cities and speaks with various experts on the topic. On Sunday, Freeman was asked if he believed in God, according to Deadline, and responded, 'Yes: Why do I? Im God!' The Academy Award-winning actor expounded on the topic, saying, 'You laugh - I mean it. I believe the concept of God is the concept of human life. 'Either there is God or there isnt God' said Freeman, who played the role of God in both 2003's Bruce Almighty and the 2007 sequel Evan Almighty. 'I believe there is, because there is me I believe in me as having the power of God in me.' Opening up: Freeman answered questions on the panel alongside producer James Younger Ever-present: On the show, Freemnan ventures to the world's holiest cities and speaks with various experts on the topic of God Expert: Freeman has played the role of God in both 2003's Bruce Almighty and the 2007 sequel Evan Almighty Tragic end: Freeman in 2008 was snapped in NYC with his step-granddaughter E'Dena Hines, who was killed by her boyfriend in 2015 National Geographic temporarily had halted production on the series amid a probe of Freeman after accusations from eight women in a CNN report last May who claimed he'd past behaved inappropriately with them. In August, National Geographic said that they would continue to work with the actor after 'a thorough investigation led by our parent company Fox, executed through an independent investigator. 'The results of this investigation revealed no incidents of concern during any of our work with Mr. Freeman,' the company said. 'We have now made the decision to move forward with the production of season three of The Story of God ... as a company, we take all issues of harassment very seriously and were confidently assured by the results of the investigation.' The Story of God premieres March 5 on National Geographic. Kelsey Grammer has been open about his interest in reprising his iconic role as Dr. Frasier Crane in a Frasier reboot, broaching the subject as recently as last August. Us Weekly is now reporting that Grammer has made some headway and that there has been discussions about potential storylines and ideas to help push the narrative forward. 'We actually are talking to a few writers and discussing the options and where we might think it would be appropriate to put it,' the 63-year old actor revealed at a Steven Tyler's Grammy Award watch party on Sunday. 'So theres some movement; we'll see what happens.' Frasier reboot? Kelsey Grammer says there has been talk with writers about story options The actor hinted that process has been slow-going, due in part to his current role on the Fox legal drama, Proven Innocent. 'I just want to make sure its really good,' he said, adding that fans should expect a 'third act' of sorts. Grammer did give some insight into who may be apart of a potential reboot to the hit sitcom. 'Some of the folks probably most of the folks who were on the original show would be back, but we're someplace else,' which was a reference to the city backdrop of the proposed show. 'Something has happened. We're not going to pick up where we left off,' he noted. Teaser: If the project does move forward, Grammer said fans should expect a 'third act' of sorts' and that 'we're not going to pick up where we left off' During the 2004 finale, Dr. Fraser Crane (Grammer) moved to Chicago with girlfriend Charlotte (Laura Linney), choosing her instead of taking a step to further his career. 'It would be neat to see what happened to him, because clearly he never had any luck in love,' Grammer revealed in an interview with TV Guide in 2017. He added that he didn't think Frasier's relationship with Laura Linney's character Charlotte would have worked out. Successful run: The original series ran for 11 seasons from 1993 to 2004 Grammer made his first appearance as Dr. Frasier Crane in season three of the hugely successful sitcom Cheers in 1984. The series Frasier was created as a spin-off when Cheers ended in 1993, and also starred David Hyde Pierce, Jane Leeves, Peri Gilpin and the late John Mahoney. It ran for 11 seasons until 2004 and won 37 Emmy Awards, including five consecutive wins for Outstanding Comedy Series. Grammer won four Emmy's during the series run. Former Victoria's Secret Angel Karolina Kurkova glittered at the Zadig & Voltaire 'Chic Destroy FW/19' runway presentation during New York Fashion Week in Manhattan on Monday. Rather than walk in the show, the Wilhelmina Model - turning 35 this month - held court front row alongside Lions Model Toni Garrn inside Spring Studios' The Tunnel. Kurkova was slipped her towering 5ft11in figure into a silver-sequin turtleneck mini-dress, which was very likely crafted by the French designer. 'Bonjour!' Former VS Angel Karolina Kurkova glittered at the Zadig & Voltaire 'Chic Destroy FW/19' runway presentation during New York Fashion Week in Manhattan on Monday Spectators: Rather than walk in the show, the Wilhelmina Model - turning 35 this month - held court front row alongside Lions Model Toni Garrn (L) inside Spring Studios' The Tunnel The Czech-born blonde paired her sparkly frock with a clunky pair of black buckled boots. Hairstylist Rita Marmor coiffed Karolina's middle-parted flaxen bob for the fashion festivities. And make-up artist Eric Polito made sure the glamorous mother-of-two was ready for her close-up. Kurkova - who boasts 1.6M followers - later posted a snap congratulating Zadig & Voltaire artistic director Cecilia Bonstrom on her 'beautiful show.' Belled sleeves: Kurkova was slipped her towering 5ft11in figure into a silver-sequin turtleneck mini-dress, which was very likely crafted by the French designer Sensible flats: The Czech-born blonde paired her sparkly frock with a clunky pair of black buckled boots Strike a pose: Hairstylist Rita Marmor coiffed Karolina's middle-parted flaxen bob for the fashion festivities Kohl-rimmed eyes: Make-up artist Eric Polito made sure the glamorous mother-of-two was ready for her close-up 'Love what is coming!' Kurkova later posted a snap congratulating Zadig & Voltaire artistic director Cecilia Bonstrom (L) on her 'beautiful show' Pretty pair: Backstage, Karolina posed with IMG Model Taylor Hill wearing a black sweater with leopard-print pants Catwalker: The Illinois-born beauty - turning 23 next month - rocked the runway in a tuxedo-inspired outfit But the Zadig & Voltaire show wasn't the only presentation the Gryph & IvyRose co-founder attended on Monday. Karolina later changed into a navy off-the-shoulder dress to get 'tagged' at the Thief and Heist show inside the same building. The Project Runway All Stars guest judge later posted a snap of herself with designer Francesca Amfitheatrof, whose 'new jewelry concept' debuts in March. Let's roll: But the Zadig & Voltaire show wasn't the only presentation the Gryph & IvyRose co-founder attended on Monday 'Got tagged': Karolina later changed into a navy off-the-shoulder dress to get 'tagged' at the Thief and Heist show inside the same building 'Congratulations!' The Project Runway All Stars guest judge later posted a snap of herself with designer Francesca Amfitheatrof (L), whose 'new jewelry concept' debuts in March 'Congratulations @amfitheatrof on your new cool, affordable jewelry line concept of being tagged by your loved one, friend or family,' she wrote on Instagram. Missing from Kurkova's side was her husband Archie Drury, whose most recent acting gig was playing 'Advocate and Chauffeur' in Kevin Williams' ER-set dramedy Blood Type last year. The married couple of nearly a decade share nine-year-old son Tobin Jack and three-year-old son Noah Lee. Leading man: Missing from Kurkova's side was her husband Archie Drury, whose most recent acting gig was playing 'Advocate and Chauffeur' in Kevin Williams' ER-set dramedy Blood Type last year (pictured January 15) Australian house and techno producer Paul Fisher accidentally dropped the F-bomb during a red carpet interview at the Grammy Awards with Sunrise's Edwina Bartholomew, on Sunday. The vivacious producer seemed to forget he was live-on-air when the bubbly blonde asked him about his nomination. 'You're a superstar in the dance world,' Edwina, 35, said during the one-on-one chat. Well that's awkward! Australian producer Paul Fisher, dropped F-bomb live on morning TV interview with Edwina Bartholomew at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards 'I don't know about that. Not yet, I'm just pushing the buttons and going f***ing,' Paul replied. Swiftly realising what he'd done, he backed away from the cameras and covered his mouth with his hands, leaving Edwina to try and cover up his awkward mishap. 'He's also got very colourful language, which I didn't mention beforehand,' she joked. Fisher was up for Best Dance Recording for his smash hit Losing It, however Diplo and Mark Ronson won the category. He is really is the Greatest Showman! Hugh Jackman, 50, was stunned after winning his first ever Grammy Award on Sunday night. Pictured with his wife Deborra-lee Furness Meanwhile, it was good news for Australian actor Hugh Jackman, who took home his first Grammy. The 50-year-old was left stunned during Sunday night's ceremony when he was recognised for his musical film, The Greatest Showman. While he was unable to attend the ceremony in Los Angeles, the Wolverine star shared a video of himself watching the live broadcast. The Greatest Showman won the Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. Hugh captured his reaction after his win was announced, joining friends and family for a round of cheers. In the caption, he thanked the film's 'entire cast and crew'. Hugh portrayed P. T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman, which was released in late 2017, alongside the likes of Michelle Williams, Zac Efron and Zendaya. Carrie Bickmore always looks professional and polished while hosting The Project. But the 38-year-old TV presenter reminded her Instagram followers on Tuesday that life isn't always so glamorous behind the scenes. Carrie shared a rather unflattering candid photo of herself sleeping on the couch alongside her newborn daughter Adelaide. Scroll down for video 'Instagram vs reality!' Carrie Bickmore revealed the less-than-glamorous side of motherhood by sharing this candid photo of herself sleeping alongside her newborn daughter Adelaide The magic of Instagram! She contrasted this with a posed picture of herself and her baby girl to demonstrate that photos on social media don't always reflect reality She contrasted this with a posed picture of herself and her baby girl to demonstrate that photos on social media don't always reflect reality. 'Instagram versus reality,' she wrote in the caption. 'The first picture was taken on a flattering angle, with some props, some casual hand positioning, some clever cropping and a nice little filter added. 'The second was the real moment, captured without my knowledge, a couple of weeks after Adelaide was born before I woke up and suggested we take a nice shot.' Carries followers praised her for being so honest about motherhood, with one person writing: '[It can be] sheer exhaustion! Thanks for sharing this real life picture. I can definitely relate!' Motherhood: Carrie welcomed her third child, daughter Adelaide, with her long-term boyfriend Chris Walker in December. The couple also share a three-year-old daughter, Evie Carrie welcomed her third child, daughter Adelaide, with her long-term boyfriend Chris Walker in December. In addition to baby Adelaide, the couple share a three-year-old daughter named Evie. Carrie also has an 11-year-old son, Oliver, from her previous marriage to Greg Lange, who died of cancer in 2010. 'It's all a bit of a mystery to me': Carrie recently wrote about motherhood for The Daily Telegraph's Stellar magazine, admitting that she worries about juggling three children 'People still come up to me in the supermarket': The TV presenter also revealed that a lot of women see her as a role model, after she admitted to suffering two miscarriages in the past Carrie recently wrote about motherhood for The Daily Telegraph's Stellar magazine, admitting that she worries about juggling three children. 'I don't have a lot of friends with three kids, so it's all a bit of a mystery to me,' she confessed. The TV presenter also revealed that a lot of women see her as a role model, after she admitted to suffering two miscarriages in the past. 'People still come up to me in the supermarket to talk about it and share their experiences,' she added. Alicia Keys was spotted strolling with her mother Terria Joseph through JFK Airport in beloved hometown New York City this Monday. The 38-year-old singing star spent the previous night hostessing the Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. She also performed multiple musical numbers onstage that evening, dazzling the audience by playing two pianos simultaneously. Family time: Alicia Keys was spotted strolling with her mother Terria Joseph through JFK Airport in beloved hometown New York City this Monday Early in the evening, Alicia paid tribute to music and women in a speech she gave with Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith and Jennifer Lopez. Michelle earned a rapturous audience response and gave a warm nod to 'the Motown records I wore out from the southside' of Chicago. Alicia's solo musical performance, which featured the double pianos, was a medley ranging from Nat King Cole's Unforgettable to Coldplay's song Clocks. She also launched into a stirring rendition of her segment of Empire State Of Mind, a collaboration with Jay-Z she first sang a decade ago. Transcontinental: The 38-year-old singing star spent the previous night hostessing the Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles Staying hydrated: Alicia carried a bottle of mineral water as she strolled through the airport, all bundled up in Aviator Nation to ward off the wintry northeastern chill After her solo performance, Alicia was also one of the guest stars in Jennifer's controversial 60th anniversary tribute medley to Motown. Jennifer's gig gig attracted online backlash before it occurred, owing to the fact that she is not black and was never signed with Motown. She was defended by Motown icon Smokey Robinson, who slipped into a snappy scarlet and black suit and joined her onstage for the tribute. Prior to the Grammy Awards, Smokey had told Variety: 'I dont think anyone who is intelligent is upset. I think anyone who is upset is stupid.' Dazzling: Alicia also performed multiple musical numbers onstage that evening, dazzling the audience by playing two pianos simultaneously A-list: Early in the evening, Alicia paid tribute to music and women in a speech she gave with Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith and Jennifer Lopez The Since I Lost My Baby and The Way You Do The Things You Do songwriter maintained: 'Motown was music for everybody. Everybody.' Still more affirmation came from Motown founder Berry Gordy, who could be seen smiling in evident enjoyment in the audience. Alicia joined Jenny From The Block onstage during the medley to perform Motown hits Papa Was A Rollin' Stone, War and Square Biz. She is expecting her first child in the coming months. And over the weekend, The Vampire Diaries star Claire Holt and her husband Andrew Joblon hosted friends and family at their stylish baby shower. The Australian actress, 30, looked positively radiant in a floral frock that showcased her blossoming baby bump. Scroll down for video Not long now! The Vampire Diaries star Claire Holt celebrated her baby shower in Los Angeles over the weekend Claire and her American businessman beau announced they were expecting a child - a little boy - in October 2018, but have yet to confirm the baby's due date. The blonde beauty took to Instagram after the celebrations to thank her friends. 'Had the most beautiful time at my baby shower yesterday! So grateful to my wonderful friends and family who helped me celebrate,' she wrote. At the event, a large table dedicated to food, including an impressive assortment of desserts and a smorgasbord of antipasto. It's a secret! Claire and her American businessman husband Andrew (right) announced they were expecting their first child in October 2018, but have yet to confirm a due date for the little boy In one video shared to Instagram, Claire was seen cutting a cake with blue-icing, edible confetti and the words 'baby boy' piped in cursive on top. Opting for comfort on the day, The Originals star slipped on comfortable sandals as she made her way around the party and conversed with guests. Claire's blonde locks were worn down in loose waves, while her makeup appeared in neutral tones. The baby shower appeared to have been sponsored by Ava Women, as she thanked the brand in her Instagram post, along with the hashtag 'ad'. 'Special thanks to @avawomen for gifting my girls with the Ava Bracelet! Hopefully well be throwing a few more showers in the near future,' she wrote. Dessert time! In one video shared to Instagram, Claire was seen cutting a cake with blue-icing, edible confetti and the words 'baby boy' piped in cursive on top Beautiful mama! Claire blonde locks were worn down in loose waves, while her makeup appeared in neutral tones Claire announced she was expecting her first child on October 12, telling fans on social media that her 'heart [was] bursting' with happiness. She and husband Andrew married on August 18, 2018, eight months after their engagement. The actress was previously married to Matthew Kaplan, but the pair filed for divorce in April 2017. There was no shortage of drama during Monday night's episode of Married at First Sight. But many viewers were distracted by a rather embarrassing editing fail involving contestant Elizabeth Sobinoff. Eagle-eyed fans noticed the 27-year-old wearing a completely different outfit when she returned home after apologising to Ines Basic. 'The editing on this show is terrible!' Married At First Sight viewers were left baffled after Elizabeth wore two completely different outfits and hairstyles during the same scene. Pictured left: at Ines' apartment, and right: at her and Sam Ball's apartment 'moments later' The jewellery store manager wore casual clothes as she arrived at Ines' apartment, which is located in the same building as the one she shares with 'husband' Sam Ball. She was dressed in a black fur coat, a pink tank top and black sweatpants. Elizabeth paired the look with pink flip flops, studded earrings, and wore her long blonde hair extensions in a bun while carrying a slab of chocolate. Casual look: Elizabeth wore casual clothes as she arrived at Ines' apartment, which is located in the same building as the apartment she shares with Sam After Elizabeth apologised to Ines, a narrator explained that Elizabeth returned home to also apologise to Sam. 'Now that Liz has cleared her conscience with Ines, she's returned home to make amends with Sam,' the female voiceover said. However, in a rather confusing twist, Elizabeth was wearing a completely different outfit and hairstyle. Same day, different outfits! She then returned home from Ines' place wearing completely different clothes She was dressed to impress in a red coat, purple singlet and black pants, completing her look with gold flats. Her hair was styled loosely, and she clutched a large pink tote that she wasn't carrying beforehand. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Nine for comment. 'So terrible': On Twitter, viewers criticised the overall editing of the show On Twitter, fans criticised the overall editing of the show. 'Elizabeth comes home from apologising to Ines. Two different outfits... great editing, #MAFS australia,' one person tweeted. 'The editing in this show is actually so terrible,' another viewer wrote. 'You can tell so much of Ines and Bronson's stuff has been cut and pasted together to create drama.' A similar tweet read: 'This is fantastic splicing, #MAFS editing team!' Married At First Sight continues Tuesday at 7:30pm on Channel Nine Married At First Sight's Ines Basic refused to apologise to her 'husband' Bronson Norrish for her outrageous behaviour. The pair came to blows in Sunday night's commitment ceremony, with former stripper Bronson calling Ines a 'c***' after enduring a week of spats with her. And when Ines was asked if she 'regretted' any of her actions towards the 34-year-old in Monday's episode, the legal assistant firmly declared that she didn't. Stubborn: Married At First Sight's Ines Basic refused to apologise to her 'husband' Bronson Norrish for her outrageous behaviour Show 'expert' John Aiken asked her: 'Is there anything at the commitment ceremony that you feel you were responsible for?' Ines replied: 'Responsible for? No.' 'Anything you regret saying to him?' John probed further. 'I dont regret anything. I also am finding it really hard to empathise with this situation because I feel a lot of it was Bronsons doing,' Ines said firmly. No remorse: When Ines was asked if she 'regretted' any of her actions towards the 34-year-old former stripper in Monday's episode, the legal assistant firmly declared that she didn't Hmm: 'I dont regret anything. I also am finding it really hard to empathise with this situation because I feel a lot of it was Bronsons doing,' Ines said firmly She went on: 'He needs to be more responsible for his actions. Unless I feel genuinely sorry Im not going to say sorry just so we can get past this. It would be lying to Bronson.' John then asked if her volatile refugee past had affected her personal relationships. 'Ive never really had a strong family, Ive always had to rely on myself to get through anything,' Ines admitted. 'Ive never had emotional support, Ive always felt Ive had to protect myself, its hard work having to protect yourself all the time.' Not giving in: She went on: 'He needs to be more responsible for his actions. Unless I feel genuinely sorry Im not going to say sorry just so we can get past this. It would be lying to Bronson' John then asked what the couple want from each other if they're to continue taking part in the experiment. 'I need some fun and some laughter. Im one of those people who laughs at everything,' Ines said. Bronson offered: 'I guess more honest communication, please let me know things gently. I can take gentle criticism.' Despite Ines' lack of remorse, he then declared that he had no intention of quitting the show any time soon. 'Im 110 per cent in, Im in it for the long haul, I really am,' he said, prompting Ines to reply hesitantly: 'Im... definitely prepared to do some things.' Rachael Taylor has 'secretly married' rumoured fiance Mike Piscitelli, according to a report. Woman's Day magazine claims that the actress has been seen wearing what appears to be a wedding ring in recent photographs. The 34-year-old had already been wearing what is believed to be an engagement ring since 2017. 'Right now she's in a love bubble!' Claims Rachael Taylor (right) is 'secretly married' to rumoured fiance Mike Piscitelli (left) The new ring, on her same wedding finger, has sparked marriage rumours, with the weekly magazine claiming the pair have made it official. 'Right now she's in a love bubble,' the magazine quotes an unnamed source as saying. The source reportedly added: 'Word is that they got married over the holidays... She's found someone who makes her truly happy'. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Rachael Taylor for comment. Loved up: Woman's Day magazine claims that the actress has been seen wearing what appears to be a wedding ring in recent photographs Rachael first revealed she had been dating Mike two years into their relationship in 2015. 'It's one of the things I'm most proud of, my relationship with him,' Rachael gushed to Daily Life at the time. Rachael's happiness with Mike comes after she lodged an Apprehended Violence Order against then-fiance Matthew Newton in August 2010. The source reportedly said: 'Word is that they got married over the holidays... She's found someone who makes her truly happy' The couple ended their troubled relationship that same year after two years together. Their romance ended following 'two violent and unprovoked' attacks in Rome after he proposed to her, which prompted her to take out an AVO. Speaking to The Australian Women's Weekly in 2014, Rachael confessed she felt 'ashamed' and 'stupid' after being abused. Happy! 'Right now she's in a love bubble,' the magazine quotes an unnamed source as saying 'I was a victim of domestic violence. I don't think any woman thinks that they will become an addition to these statistics,' she wrote in a first-person essay. 'At first, my reasons for keeping my experience of domestic violence to myself were very simple. I felt ashamed. I felt stupid. I felt very sad.' Rachael did not name Matt in the essay, but their violent relationship has been well documented. Ines Basic has been crowned this year's Married At First Sight 'villain', thanks to her scathing remarks and her plot to seduce another bride's husband. And while the 28-year-old has attracted the ire of most viewers, she certainly has one very vocal fan. Dean Wells, who was a 'villain' on last season's installment of the hit reality show, has taken to social media to express his 'love' for Ines. 'I think she's funny and smart!' Former Married At First Sight star Dean Wells is gushing over new series 'villain' Ines Basic Polarising: While Ines has attracted the ire of most viewers, she certainly has one very vocal fan On Sunday night, Dean shared his admiration for Ines on Instagram, writing: 'I love her. She is having fun with it [the show]'. He added: 'I genuinely think she is funny and smart and the other people just don't get her and take it too seriously'. Meanwhile, another star from last season's MAFS also expressed his admiration for Ines. 'She is having fun with it': Dean shared his admiration for Ines on Instagram Chiming in! Matty Lockett also expressed his admiration for Ines. He is pictured on last year's season of MAFS 'Funny as f**k': Matty chimed in, offering his opinion on Ines Matty Lockett, who had an ill-fated union with Alycia Galbraith, wrote on Instagram: 'I actually can't believe I'm about to say this but that's something I agree with Dean. She [Ines] is funny as f**k!' Ines set social media alight on Sunday night, as she lashed out at her husband Bronson Norrish during a commitment ceremony. The Bosnian beauty voted to 'leave' her marriage and she now has her eye on tatooed co-star Sam Ball. 'I could really see us, like, hooking up': Ines is plotting to seduce co-star Sam Ball 'He's so hot. Like, I could really see us, like, hooking up,' she said on Sunday's episode. 'Well, it is an experiment and we are here to experiment, so, yeah, we'll see what happens,' she added. Meanwhile, an explosive preview shows Ines sending Sam a text that read: 'Hello,' accompanied by a smile emoticon. After getting an epic serving from Manu Feildel on Sunday, My Kitchen Rules villains Josh and Austin battled Karito and Ian in an elimination cook-off on Monday. The two teams were joined in the kitchen by celebrity chef Colin Fassnidge and were tasked with cooking for the second batch of MKR contestants. The homeschooled Christian brothers ultimately scored a narrow victory over their rivals and remained in the competition, but it was far from an easy win for the boys. Scroll down for video Winners are grinners! My Kitchen Rules villains Josh and Austin survived Monday's elimination cook-off, keeping them in the competition Both Josh and Austin and Karito and Ian got off to a rough start with their entrees, with the two teams struggling to get their dishes together in the allocated time frame. 'We are so frantic, it is a disaster zone!' remarked Josh as he struggled to fry goat's cheese. Ian and Karito received a warm reception for their empanadas, but Josh and Austin's goat's cheese and beetroot dish didn't fare as well. Kitchen wars: The homeschooled Christians battled married couple Karito and Ian (left) When it was time to cook their mains, both teams ran into trouble yet again, with Karito and Ian struggling to cook their beans properly while Josh and Austin had a problem with their cornbread. While the brothers managed to avert disaster with their cornbread, Karito and Ian's dish was a failure that amounted to little more than a plate of beans and rice. 'I'm looking at Karito and Ian's main,' said Josh dismissively. 'It looks like someone just opened a can of beans with the juices.' 'We are so frantic, it is a disaster zone!' Both Josh and Austin and Karito and Ian got off to a rough start with their entrees, with the teams struggling to get their dishes together in time Oh no! While the brothers managed to avert disaster with their cornbread, Karito and Ian's dish was a failure that amounted to little more than a plate of beans and rice Making things even worse was the fact that Ian and Karito hadn't cooked enough food for everyone, leaving one person with only half a meal. The diners were less than impressed, with many commenting that the rice and beans lacked flavour and needed salt. However, Josh and Austin's main didn't receive a great reception either, leaving both teams neck-and-neck. 'I'm looking at Karito and Ian's main,' said Josh dismissively. 'It looks like someone just opened a can of beans with the juices' The tie-breaker came down to desserts, both of which received mixed-to-positive reviews from the diners. In the end, Josh and Austin narrowly took out the win, keeping them in the competition and sending Karita and Ian home. 'You live to see another day!' laughed Pete Evans as he read out the final scores. The pair's victory is a huge turnaround compared to Sunday's episode, which saw Manu have the biggest meltdown in MKR history after the brothers took almost five hours to serve raw chicken to the table. My Kitchen Rules continues Tuesday, 7pm on Channel Seven Manu Feildel suffered a meltdown of epic proportions on Sunday night's episode of My Kitchen Rules, with 'villains' Josh and Austin taking four-and-a-half hours to plate up their main course. But the sibling contestants aren't about apologise for their cooking catastrophe. Instead, the brothers are blasting back, telling Daily Mail Australia that they are confused by the French judge's erratic behaviour. 'We didn't know how to take him!' Speaking with Daily Mail Australia, My Kitchen Rules 'villains' Josh and Austin hit back at Manu Feildel (pictured) following his MELTDOWN at their Instant Restaurant Austin claimed Manu was quite temperamental, saying: 'I struggled throughout the Instant Restaurant to understand Manu because one minute he's so loving and caring and fatherly and like 'Do well!'' Other times he's just like 'F**k you!' I just didn't understand!' Josh summed up: 'We didn't know how to take Manu!' During their Instant Restaurant, which aired on Sunday night, the homeschooled Christian brothers served chicken lollipops and garlic mashed potato for their main, but their chicken was raw and their mash was called 'watery.' 'We just didn't understand': Josh (left) and Austin (right) claimed that Manu's behaviour was erratic After taking a bite, a furious Manu laid down the law with a scowl. 'I'm so, so disappointed right now,' he said sternly. 'You've been sitting around this table, treating people like... telling them their food's terrible, and you're not even capable of coming back with the goods.' 'You've been sitting around this table, treating people like... telling them their food's terrible, and you're not even capable of coming back with the goods,' a furious Manu snarled 'I'm so, so disappointed right now': The homeschooled Christian brothers served chicken and garlic mashed potato for their main, but their chicken was raw and their mash was 'watery' He continued his tirade, saying: 'Well let me be honest with you. The mash is boiled potatoes with raw garlic and maybe 10mls of cream in there, no seasoning whatsoever. 'This is RIDICULOUS, and I've never expressed myself like this in ten years.' Josh and Austin's rivals on the program were delighted by Manu's smackdown. 'This is RIDICULOUS, and I've never expressed myself like this in ten years': Manu shocked viewers with his lengthy tirade 'I think Josh got a healthy serving of humble pie to be honest,' fellow competitor Romel said. However, the pair say they aren't bothered by negative commentary. Josh defiantly told Daily Mail Australia: 'I know some people are going to definitely hate us, but if I wanted people to like me, I would sell ice cream. It's a simple as that. My Kitchen Rules will continue on Channel Seven tonight at 7pm. She has recently been pictured in a series of skimpy bikinis while enjoying her 21st birthday celebrations in Mexico with a host of pals. However Lottie Moss swapped her sizzling two-pieces for a demure evening dress as she attended the American Airlines 2019 BAFTA after-party on Sunday. The 21-year-old model looked impossibly chic in the white satin thigh-split dress, which gave a flash of her toned pins at the event. Chic: Lottie Moss swapped her sizzling two-pieces for a demure evening dress as she attended the American Airlines 2019 BAFTA after-party on Sunday Lottie teamed her look with a pair of barely-there heels, which further elongated her sensational pins as she posed for snaps with American Airlines employees. The sister of Kate Moss worked her recently died locks up into a ponytail, while covering her pretty visage with light touches of make-up in rosy hues. Prior to showcasing her dramatically different look, Lottie recently posted an encouraging quote to her widely-followed Instagram account, which read: 'You can rise up from anything. You can completely recreate yourself. Hanging out: Lottie teamed her look with a pair of barely-there heels, which further elongated her sensational pins as she posed for snaps with American Airlines employees 'Nothing is permanent. You're not stuck. You have choices. 'You can think new thoughts. You can learn something new. You can create new habits. All that matters is that you decide today and never look back.' Taking time to reflect on her career, the rising model penned: 'Recently I have decided to completely reinvent myself as I wasnt happy in myself or where i felt I was going in life. 'Just a quick reminder that whatever point you are at in your life its never too late to pick yourself up and change', she added. Working it: Sai Bennett wowed in a purple dress while Lily Cole rocked a more casual look Lottie is the half-sister of supermodel Kate, 45, but she doesn't feel pressured by her legacy. She previously said: 'My sister and I are two different people and she is on her path and I am on my own.' Kate has worked in the modelling industry for almost four decades and has graced the cover of British Vogue over 30 times. Despite boasting a string of reality TV star pals, Lottie recently insisted she has no interest in fame and going on reality TV. Dapper: Ben Hardy looked handsome in a black tuxedo as he also attended the after-party Australian actress Elizabeth Debicki shone on the red carpet at the BAFTA Awards at London's Royal Albert Hall on Sunday evening. The 28-year-old dazzled in a glittering black Armani Prive gown, featuring a thigh high split. The blonde beauty boosted her already statuesque height by slipping on a pair of black pointed toe stilettos, and accessorised with stunning pearl drop earrings from Chopard. All that glitters! Australian actress Elizabeth Debicki shone in a glittering Armani Prive gown at she attended the BAFTA Awards in London on Sunday night Letting her natural beauty shine through, The Great Gatsby star had minimal makeup on her porcelain complexion and her golden locks swept up in a simple updo. While Elizabeth may be famous, she doesn't live like a typical celebrity. The thespian, who hails from Melbourne, is staunchly protective of her privacy, and has even said in the past that fame does not 'suit' her. She insists that her privacy is paramount to her, recently telling Vogue Australia: 'I've always been a private person.' Flawless: The blonde beauty looked elegant as she worked the red carpet, wearing dazzling jewels from Chopard The Man from U.N.C.L.E. actress added that she keeps her work and her life very much apart. 'I feel like the thing I want out in the world is my work and I've always believed, and it's the way I approach my work, that me and the work are separate,' she told the fashion magazine. Elizabeth added: 'I think that people with social media can blur it so beautifully, and I respect that, but it's not really how I am and I just want the work to speak and people to receive it the way they will without anything influencing it.' Elizabeth also does not use social media. Statuesque star: Elizabeth boosted her already statuesque height by slipping on a pair of black pointed toe stilettos, and accessorised with stunning pearl drop earrings Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald, she said: 'I also don't have social media or anything like that, which was a choice. 'At first, it wasn't a choice as I am technologically incompetent, so I was sort of like, "what is Instagram?" Then it was too late, everybody had it. I remember thinking, "I'm really not that interesting. What am I going to post?" 'Then it became a choice, because I think you just have to keep some things for yourself too in this business. Also, I am really daggy and boring' she joked. Elizabeth first garnered international attention after starring in Baz Lurhmann's 2013 adaption of The Great Gatsby. Her next project is new crime thriller, Widows, directed by Steve McQueen and co-starring Colin Farrell and Michelle Rodriguez. She is also currently promoting the new British biopic Vita and Virginia, in which Elizabeth plays Virginia Woolf. She welcomed her third child, daughter Adelaide, with boyfriend Chris Walker last month. And The Project's Carrie Bickmore, 38, celebrated her newborn's one-month 'birthday' with a heartfelt social media tribute on Tuesday. The beloved TV presenter shared a photo to Instagram of herself breastfeeding little Adelaide alongside Chris, which she captioned: '1 MONTH OLD TODAY!' 'I'm bursting with love and gratitude': Carrie Bickmore shared this tender photo of herself breastfeeding daughter Adelaide alongside her boyfriend Chris Walker on Tuesday She went on to describe the rollercoaster month she has experienced caring for her newborn, penning a list of memorable moments. Of the positive experiences listed, Carrie wrote: 'Sleep', 'boob time', 'late-night pram walks', 'cuddles', 'hours spent staring at Adelaide', 'feeling like it's all going to be OK', and 'tears of happiness'. However, there were some less desirable moments, too, which Carrie listed as: 'Googling "what is reflux" at 3am', 'arguments', 'conflicting advice given', 'struggle with existing three year old', 'feeling overwhelmed', and 'tears of exhaustion'. Ups and downs: She went on to describe the rollercoaster month she has experienced caring for her newborn, writing a list of memorable moments. Pictured after giving birth in December Carrie also revealed she had returned to hospital with mastitis, an inflammation of the breast often caused by breastfeeding. She concluded her post on a positive note, however, telling her followers she was 'bursting with love and gratitude'. It comes after Carrie praised her supportive partner Chris Walker for his hands-on approach to fatherhood. Taking to Instagram two weeks after giving birth, the Channel 10 star shared a black-and-white photo of little Adelaide's hand gripping her own, alongside a heartfelt message about the challenges of motherhood. 'While I rest. Chris looks after Adelaide': It comes two weeks after Carrie praised her supportive partner Chris for his hands-on approach to fatherhood 'While I rest. Chris looks after Adelaide, wrangles a [crazy] three-year-old, folds the clothes and entertains a bored 11-year-old,' she wrote in the caption. 'You can tell I am feeling grateful today... it would be so hard without support... grandparents helping out, and friends dropping off meals. Thanks to everyone helping us get through these early days.' In addition to baby Adelaide, the couple share a three-year-old daughter named Evie. Carrie also has an 11-year-old son, Oliver, from her previous marriage to Greg Lange, who died of cancer in 2010. Travelling means having to navigate cultural differences. And some are better at it than others, as a new internet thread has been revealing. Users have been recalling the most culturally insensitive things they've ever seen their fellow travellers do, from stealing bits from a Roman amphitheatre to taking selfies at former Nazi concentration camps. Tourists have been revealing some of the most culturally insensitive things they've ever seen their travellers do, which include taking pieces of the Colosseum The discussion, on US-based forum Reddit, was kick-started by someone posing this question: 'International travelers of Reddit, what is the weirdest or most culturally insensitive thing you've seen other travelers/tourists do in other countries?' And one of the first to reply was 'LeviathanGank', who recalled an incident in Nepal involving a cow, which are sacred creatures in the country. He wrote: 'I saw an American woman (drunk and like 40) kick a cow in Nepal. It took a while for me and my friends to convince the locals she wasn't worth beating up.' While for 'kingfoffi' the worst thing he has ever seen are tourists trying to take home banned souvenirs - parts of a certain Roman amphitheatre. He explained: 'When tourists take away literal PIECES OF COLOSSEUM just for the sake of it, to have a souvenir. Id really like to cut their hands off.' Meanwhile, a whole host of answers related to rude behaviour at particularly sensitive sites that tend to pull in tourists. 'OkeyDoke47' told of a disrespectful tourist he had encountered at the infamous Killing Fields in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He wrote: 'A lot of tourists walking through the site, most being very respectful - quiet and contemplative as befits the setting. Except this one Australian guy, who refuses to turn his mobile phone to silent mode and insists on taking phone calls. His ring tone is the opening bars to AC/DC's Thunderstruck.' 'Barelyaboveaverag3' had a similar experience in Cambodia and explained: 'I was meditating/praying at a temple in Cambodia. 'Some old American guy yells "hey a******, move, we're trying to take a picture!" at me while standing on delicate temple ruins. I was at a loss for words.' At a Buddhist cave in Thailand, 'MediocreAnchovies' said they had seen tourists wandering the holy site topless or wearing bikinis. One traveller said he saw many tourists not taking their shoes off inside holy temples in Thailand They wrote: 'You should have your shoulders and your upper legs covered but they were swanning around half naked with their shoes on (big no) inside a holy site, and then I saw two Russian morons try to carve their names into the cave wall. 'Guide quickly put a stop to it. This cave was a holy resting site for monks and followers of the Buddha and people were sitting on their graves. Made me sick.' 'Itsadenine' also complained about tourists not understanding that some sites are used for worship and quiet prayer. She explained: 'I'm Catholic and I go to mass every Sunday (even in other countries). I know that some churches are beautiful, and they're usually steeped in history, but please please PLEASE when a service is going on, have the respect to stay silent and to not take pictures and to follow the rules!' 'Travellingsaleslady' lashed out at tourists at the Vatican adding: 'People from all cultures talking loudly at the church, taking pictures with flash and even laying down on the floor to get the best angles. Its just really disrespectful and depressing to see so much disregard for any place of cult.' Several tourists also voiced their displeasure at seeing people snap selfies at places that are meant to be a place of contemplation. 'Falafelwaffle13' said: 'Tourists at Auschwitz-Birkenau taking smiling selfies in front of the gas chambers. The insensitivity was mind-boggling.' While one user wrote: 'Taking selfies at Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. I just find this so incredibly tacky and disrespectful. Its such a touching memorial, we dont need to see your selfies.' Several tourists also voiced their displeasure at seeing people snap selfies at places such as Auschwitz Another added: 'In the catacombs [of Paris], people touching the bones. This wasnt just Americans. I tried to do my part by telling them touchez pas! but I can only do so much. People actually steal bones from there.' Not respecting the differences in language were the biggest gripes for some other travellers. 'Blink2356' explained: 'In a few different countries I saw people just flat out being sh***y over people not being able to speak English. 'In Bosnia I saw one girl snap on this poor tram driver because he didn't know English and said something like "god, where the hell did you go to school?!" Completely ignoring that when this guy was school age he was probably, you know, dodging bullets in a civil war instead of caring about English.' One person commenting lashed out at tourists at the Vatican for talking loudly and taking pictures with the flash on Meanwhile 'TuesGirl' added: 'On a crowded train in Sydney during the 2000 Olympics. Two couples, with Texas twang accents taking VERY loudly about how they wish the Australians would just "speak normal English so they could understand them".' And 'akb9696' recalled: 'A girl I was with getting very angry on the train after realizing Poland didnt use Euros then asking if they would take her American dollars. 'She got even more p****d off when I pointed out that in America we wouldnt accept foreign money so why would anyone in Poland do it.' While 'BearDrivingACar' revealed the time he saw a bizarre tourist in a London history museum. He explained: 'There was this ancient Egyptian statue that at the least would have to be 2,000 years old and there was just this dumb f*****g tourist on his phone just leaning on this extremely old and probably fragile exhibit like its just a wall instead of an extremely valuable artefact.' The chief of British Airways has called queues at passport control at Heathrow Airport a 'border farce' because some passengers are routinely facing two-hour waits at immigration. Alex Cruz said Heathrow's queues were 'significantly worse' than elsewhere in the continent. He added tackling lengthy queues should be a priority for the government rather than a reported idea of designated lanes for UK passport holders post-Brexit. The chief of British Airways has called queues at passport control at Heathrow Airport a 'border farce' because some passengers are routinely facing two-hour waits at immigration Writing in the Times, Mr Cruz said: 'Two-hour queues are fast becoming the norm for those visiting from outside the European Economic Area (EEA), despite a target of no more than a 45-minute wait. 'Even EEA citizens wait almost an hour. This is unacceptable, yet Nick Jariwalla, the head of Border Force at Heathrow, said recently that things were unlikely to change and it was unreasonable for his team to be expected to meet their targets.' Mr Cruz, who succeeded Keith Williams as CEO of BA in April 2016, said the airport has missed its target for non-EEA arrivals more than 6,000 times this year. He added: 'Queues are significantly worse than at many other major world airports. 'What kind of message does this send, as we try to build links outside the EU.' A number of arriving passengers at Terminal 4 were forced to wait three hours before being processed because of what Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye previously said was a 'lack of staffing' during England's second-round game against Colombia on July 3. The Home Office said this was partially because of a computer failure and also officers having to deal with a high number of vulnerable adults and children. Mr Cruz (pictured), who succeeded Keith Williams as CEO of BA in April 2016, said the airport has missed its target for non-EEA arrivals more than 6,000 times this year A spokesman said: 'The vast majority of people who arrive at Heathrow get through the border within our service standards. 'But we understand the frustration for those who have experienced longer waits and remain fully committed to working with our partners to reduce waiting times as far as is possible. 'At the same time, we will not compromise the essential checks we carry out at the border which keep our country safe.' As corporate gaffes go, this takes some beating. Leeds-based Jet2 had been one of the main sponsors of hit ITV2 show Love Island. It promoted its holidays on it. It ran competitions on it. However, on Tuesday, when contestants including winners Dani Dyer and Jack Fincham returned to the UK from Palma, Majorca, following the show's grand final, they flew on rival budget carrier Ryanair. And Twitter has been quick off the mark to underscore the irony. Love Island contestants Dani Dyer, Jack Fincham and Laura Anderson emerge from a Ryanair aircraft at Stansted airport after returning to the UK from Majorca Winners Jack and Dani toast their success with a champagne in plastic cups on a Ryanair flight Fans of Love Island poked fun at show sponsors Jet2 after the contestants flew back to the UK on a rival airline The blunder came to light when the finalists landed at London Stansted Airport - they were snapped by fans and press photographers with the Irish-based carrier's branding in the background on countless pictures. This prompted eagle-eyed fans of the show, which has been keeping millions entertained over the summer, to take to Twitter to claim Jet2 had been 'mugged off'. Andrew Botterill wrote: 'Im not a marketing expert but if Id spent a fortune @jet2tweets sponsoring @LoveIsland Im fairly sure I wouldnt be happy with @Ryanair flying home all of the finalists #muggedoff.' Lauren Jade added: 'Kinda funny that Love Island is sponsored by Jet2 yet they all flew home with Ryanair' followed by a crying with laughter emoji. Eagle-eyed fans of the show, which has been keeping millions entertained over the summer, took to Twitter to claim Jet2 had been 'mugged off' Benan also noticed the gaffe and tweeted: 'How was the whole of Love island sponsored by Jet2 and yet they all took a Ryanair flight home?' Jordon Olivia Bee added: 'I dont understand.. #loveisland is sponsored by Jet2 but islanders had to fly with Ryanair?' While Safa wondered 'so #LoveIsland was sponsored by jet2 or somethin but sent the winners home with ryanair hmm'. However, a spokeswoman for Jet2 explained the reason why the islanders flew with a rival was that it had sold too many seats on its flight from Palma to Stansted on Tuesday morning to accommodate the contestants and the timescale of the schedules. Jet2 explained the reason why the islanders flew with a rival was that it had sold too many seats on its flight from Palma to Stansted on Tuesday morning to accommodate the contestants and the timescale of the schedules She told MailOnline Travel: 'Due to the logistics of schedules and the popularity of our award-winning flights, there were not enough seats remaining to fly the contestants back to the UK to meet the required timescales. 'We are absolutely delighted with our Love Island brand partnership this summer, which has really showcased the fantastic range of holidays that we have on offer for young people.' On their flight back to the UK, winners Dani and Jack were pictured quaffing champagne out of plastic cups while fellow contestant Lauren Anderson ate a lollipop. However, they were an hour and 20 minutes late in arriving back in the UK with Ryanair blaming bad weather for delaying their flight. Advertisement You'd think banning the laws of physics would be impossible, but there are a handful of places where officials have given it a go - by outlawing death. Over in Longyearbyen, one of the world's most northerly cities on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, bodies don't decompose in the permafrost so death is prohibited and those on the verge of passing away are flown to the mainland. Meanwhile in 1999 Jose Rubio, the mayor of Lanjaron in southern Spain, made death illegal because he felt the town's cemetery was too overcrowded for souls to get a decent eternal rest. Scroll down to learn more about the morbidly fascinating spots where the Grim Reaper is outlawed. Itsukushima, Japan To maintain its purity, death was apparently banned on the sacred Japanese island of Itsukushima until the late 19th century The Japanese island of Itsukushima, also known as Miyajima, is considered to be a sacred place and it is home to many ancient shrines and temples. To maintain its purity, death was apparently banned until the late 19th century, along with childbirth, and residents were shipped to nearby islands to be treated. There are still no cemeteries or hospitals on the small outcrop. Longyearbyen, Norway In Norway's Longyearbyen, one of the world's most northerly cities, located on the archipelago of Svalbard, permafrost and frigid temperatures prevent the dead from decomposing In Norway's Longyearbyen, one of the world's most northerly cities, located on the archipelago of Svalbard, permafrost and frigid temperatures prevent the dead from decomposing. To prevent disease from spreading, authorities decided to ban people from dying with the ruling enforced in 1950. Those who are nearing death are flown to the mainland of Norway to live out their final days. Lanjaron, Spain In 1999 Jose Rubio, the mayor of Lanjaron in southern Spain, banned death. It was reported that he felt the town's cemetery was too crowded for a soul to get decent eternal rest In 1999 Jose Rubio, the mayor of Lanjaron in southern Spain, banned death. It was reported that he felt the town's cemetery was too overcrowded for souls to get decent eternal rest. The area's 4,000 residents were advised to remain alive while municipal officials shopped for land to house a new graveyard. Rubio issued an edict ordering people 'to take utmost care of their health so they do not die until town hall takes the necessary steps to acquire land suitable for our deceased to rest in glory'. It's unclear if a new burial site was ever found. Sarpourenx, France In 2008, the mayor of the small French village of Sarpourenx issued a decree banning residents from dying in his territory unless they owned a spot in the overcrowded cemetery In 2008, the mayor of the French village of Sarpourenx issued a decree banning residents from dying in his territory unless they owned a spot in the overcrowded cemetery. Mayor Gerard Lalanne warned that there would be a 'severe punishment' for offenders. He told AFP that he decided to take the radical measure in protest against a legal ruling preventing him from enlarging the burial ground in the village of 260 people. There is no word on whether Lalanne's wishes were ever granted. Sellia, Italy In 2015, the medieval village of Sellia in Italy banned people from getting sick in a bid to save its dwindling and ageing population In 2015, the medieval village of Sellia in Italy banned people from getting sick in a bid to save its dwindling and ageing population. Davide Zicchinella, the town's mayor, signed a decree stating that residents were forbidden from getting sick and they should put their health first. In 1960, the town had 1,300 citizens, but by 2015 there were just 537 remaining with 60 per cent aged over 65. Biritiba Mirim, Brazil In 2005 officials in the Brazilian town of Biritiba Mirim, 45 miles east of Sao Paulo, proposed outlawing death because the local cemetery had reached full capacity In 2005 officials in the Brazilian town of Biritiba Mirim, 45 miles east of Sao Paulo, proposed outlawing death because the local cemetery had reached full capacity at 50,000 grave sites and crypts were starting to be shared. Mayor Roberto Pereira said the bill was meant as a protest against federal regulations that prevented him from creating a new cemetery. His request to extent the burial ground was denied under environmental rules as it ran over an area of rich farmland. Pereira's bill warned that offenders would be 'held responsible for their acts' but there was no word on what the punishment would be and if his proposal was ever pushed through. In the meantime, Pereira urged residents to take care of their health 'in order not to die'. Cugnaux, France In 2007, Cugnaux in south-western France banned death after it could not get permission to open a new cemetery In 2007, Cugnaux in south-western France banned death after it could not get permission to open a new cemetery. The town, which is home to around 17,000 residents, was subsequently granted permission to enlarge its local cemetery. The story inspired the small French village of Sarpourenx to take the same action the following year. The best pasta in New York is not in Little Italy. This is just one of the tips that's been aired on an internet thread that invited New Yorkers to share advice for tourists about what to see and do - and what to skip. Other subjects discussed include the best skyscrapers to scale and the top ferries to board. The view from the top of Rockefeller Center is not to be missed, say locals The lively discussion was started on forum Reddit where one member posed the question: 'New Yorkers of Reddit, what are the most overrated attractions in NYC and what are the hidden gems (skip this do that)?' And for 'PhreedomPhighter', the best place to get an all important shot of the city skyline was not at the top of the Empire State Building. They wrote: 'Top of the Rock is better than Empire State. Almost no wait time. Cheaper. And you see the skyline of New York with the Empire State included from up high.' Agreeing was 'astroK120', who added: 'Definitely. Empire is arguably too high. Top of the Rock is high enough that you have a great view, but not so high that it ruins the perspective.' The Staten Island Ferry (pictured) was recommended by many as a way of seeing Lady Liberty While 'nedheadinthebed' wrote that there are often cheaper ways of soaking in a rooftop view. They wrote: 'Meh, forget 'em both. There are roof top bars everywhere, no entrance fees, plus drinks. 'Went to one that was basically right next to the Empire State, super cool at sunset.' When it came to seeing the Statue of Liberty, taking an alternative route was recommended by many. One, 'sweethumbleboi' said: Take the Staten Island ferry! You get a great view of Liberty and the lower Manhattan skyline.' One person commenting on the thread says visitors should swap Manhattan's Chinatown, pictured, for Asian food restaurants in Flushing, Queens And eviljordan pointed out another perk saying: 'Not to mention its free. Also theres a Dairy Queen on the SI side.' While for an alternative view, 'lotsofbutts' said the East River Ferry is often overlooked. They said: 'It goes to some nice parks along the waterfront and you get great views of the city. Also its only $2.75 a ticket!' When it came to food, many commenting on the thread suggested venturing out of Manhattan for tasty treats. They included 'kollaps3', who wrote: 'Forget about Manhattan Chinatown, take the 7 train out to Flushing for the biggest array of East Asian food you can get on the east coast.' Another poster, 'jholland513', agreed, adding: 'Ditto on the food in Flushing. Stayed at the Sheraton there last time I was in NYC and the amount and variety of Asian food joints within walking distance was awesome.' Another New York native begged visitors not to miss out on a ride on the New York subway And 'Troaway1779' said: 'Youll find better Italian food outside of Little Italy. Infinitely better.' When it came to less well-known places to visit, 'woodrob12' suggested the Tenement Museum while 'Face-palmJedi' recommended the Irish Hunger Memorial. They said: 'It's near the water in Manhattan close to the WTC area. Sort of stunning to find something that beautiful in the midst of a huge city.' And Corotoro suggested: 'The Cloisters in Fort Tyron Park up in Washington Heights is amazing. 'Central Park is always worth a nice walk especially if you get there in the early morning - just don't do the carriage ride.' While user 'Yeah_i_grew_wings', begged visitors not to miss out on a ride on the New York subway. He said: 'One thing that surprises me when talking to folks who visit NYC, is that a lot of people dont end up taking the subway to get around... Make it a point to take the subway! 'Some of the most best street performers, and authentic New York experiences, can be found underground.' Industrial unrest shows no sign of abating at Ryanair, with its pilots in Sweden now voting to strike. The Swedish Airline Pilots Association today confirmed staff would walk out on August 10 claiming the management had failed to meet with union representatives for more than eight months. The announcement came as it was also revealed Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary has waived his yearly bonus following a raft of flight cancellations. Ryanair pilots in Sweden have become the latest set of flight crew to vote for strike action in continuing industrial unrest at the airline The Dublin-based carrier has experienced strikes in its bigger markets of Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy and Ireland. It also faces planned action in Germany and the Netherlands as the budget carrier struggles to reach collective labour agreements across Europe. In a statement, the Swedish pilots union said: 'No collective agreements have been agreed anywhere in Europe and Ryanair's hostile relations with its employees once again showed on several occasions, lately through intimidation and threats to Irish pilots after they used their legal right to strike.' Meanwhile a report released earlier in the week showed that despite Europe's largest low-cost carrier making record profits in the financial year 2017-2018, Mr O'Leary decided not to take the bonus he was entitled to. The bonus can be worth as much as a year's salary - about a million euros for Mr O'Leary. In the previous financial year, his bonus was 950,000 euros. However, O'Leary was paid 1.06 million euros (944,000) and was given 1.25 million euros (1.1million) worth of shares in the airline. The company said O'Leary waived his bonus due to the pilot scheduling mix-up in September 2017 that resulted in a serious labour dispute and some 20,000 flight cancellations. Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary has waived his bonus following a raft of flight cancellations The crisis led to a U-turn at Ryanair, which started negotiations with trade unions in several countries. The carrier has since struck agreements with several unions, though talks remain tricky in some territories. Ryanair said it had written to each of pilot unions in recent days and invited them to discuss their grievances. The company said in a statement: 'In the interim, we have requested these pilot unions to give us seven days' notice of any planned strike action so that we can minimise the disruption to our customers by cancelling flights in advance and offering them alternative flights or refunds.' However, the group has continued to denounce such actions and has warned that they could force it to suppress flights and jobs. Ryanair also announced last week that it was reducing flights from Dublin later this year, warning that up to 300 jobs - 100 pilots and 200 cabin crew - were on the line. Irish Ryanair pilots in the Forsa union form a picket line outside the airline's headquarters in Swords, County Dublin, last week And speaking yesterday at a press conference in Austria, Mr O'Leary said he was prepared to cut jobs 'in any market' if strike action harmed bookings. 'We are the ultimate opportunistic airline,' he told a news conference at its Austrian unit Laudamotion's offices. 'We have today - in Ryanair - 20 markets that need more aircraft. We're short of aircraft in almost every market in which we operate because of the demand for our prices, our services,' he explained, adding those included Poland, which is home to its Ryanair Sun unit. 'If some market is being damaged as the Irish market has been damaged in recent months by these activities, the Polish market is growing hugely strongly for us, the Ryanair Sun is very full, profitable, we need more aircraft in the Polish market - move aircraft to Poland. 'If we have people who just want to have strikes for the sake of having strikes then they can have strikes and they'll find themselves (with) jobs getting moved and aircraft getting moved.' Advertisement Not much is known about Thomas Bell until he turned 16 in 1854. Then his life became the stuff of page-turning adventure novels and Hollywood movies. Because in that year he left his native Yorkshire for New Zealand and ended up living on an uninhabited volcanic island 680 miles off its coast in near total isolation with his family for 36 years, amid cyclones and earthquakes. They survived by living off the meat of goats they killed on steep cliffs and cultivating a variety of food from bananas to regular vegetables. Its a castaway tale so extreme that its almost difficult to believe. Scroll down for video Mrs Frederica Bell and her children Freda, Roy and William 'King' Bell pictured on Sunday Island in 1908. Mr Thomas Bell had landed there with Frederica in 1878 The Bells were dropped off on the island by a captain who left them with rotten supplies. Their tale of survival over several decades is remarkable. Pictured is Frederica Bell in her DIY house This image shows supplies for the Bells being brought ashore in Denham Bay in 1908. Picture credit: Alexander Turnbull Library Thomas Bell pictured in 1908 on Sunday Island MailOnline Travel heard the jaw-dropping yarn via London-based author Lydia Syson. She is related by marriage to one of the Bell children through her Auckland-born husband, Martin Finn, and has used the incredible story of the family as the basis for her new novel Mr Peacocks Possessions. See, its the stuff of page-turning novels. The 11-square-mile island the Bells existed Robinson Crusoe-style on is called Raoul Island (it was named after Joseph Raoul, the quartermaster of the Recherche, when it was sighted on March 16, 1793), though when they arrived on December 9, 1878, it was more commonly known as Sunday Island (so named in 1796 by a passing British captain, who saw it on a Sunday). Thomas Bell, the son of a Leeds doctor, hadnt made a beeline for it straight-away from Yorkshire, though. While in New Zealand he met Frederica, the daughter of a Lancashire farmer, and married her in Hawkes Bay, in around 1866, and then had six children with her Hettie, the oldest, followed by Bessie, Mary, Tom, Harry and Jack. Lydia said: Thomas seems to have combined adventurousness, ambition and restlessness in equal measure. He moved his family around the North Island of New Zealand trying one not-quite-successful pursuit after another. He tried his hand at starting a flax mill, running hotels and a county store, and also farming. He ended up in Samoa in 1877, where he bought a hotel. While there, he heard about Sunday Island, part of the Kermadec archipelago, from a neighbour who had lived there for seven years and became hooked on the idea of moving there himself. Lydia said: He must have been extraordinarily tempted by Johnsons tales of an incredibly fertile subtropical island, where absolutely anything would grow, which was now empty of people and unclaimed by anyone. A schooner called the Norval was heading for Auckland, and its master, a Captain McKenzie, agreed to stop by Sunday Island so that the Bells could have a look, and stay if they decided it would suit them. This stunning image of Raoul Island (known as Sunday Island up until the early 20th century) was taken during a trip Lydia made there in April this year on HMNZS Canterbury. It was shot from the ship's helicopter This image was taken by an unknown photographer in 1908 that shows two buildings used as a camp by members of a scientific expedition to Raoul Island William 'King' Hill is pictured left with a turtle in 1908. Pictured right are goats clustered on steep terrain on Raoul Island, a picture that was also taken in 1908 The island is remarkable, and in a remarkable marine environment. It sits not a million miles away from the second-deepest ocean trench in the world the Tonga Trench, which reaches a depth of 35,702 feet and above the worlds longest chain of underwater volcanoes. The Kermadec area is home to over 150 species of fish, 35 species of whales and dolphins and three species of sea turtles. The Bells wouldnt have known any of this, though. All they knew when they came ashore on the islands Denham Bay was that theyd entered hell on earth. Thats because they were stitched up by Captain McKenzie, who had sold them rotten provisions. Before the ship dropped anchor they had paid him 200 to return with more and pick them up if they didnt take to life on the island. But they never saw him again. For the next few months they survived by eating oranges, fish, giant limpets and the roots of fern and cabbage trees. And they built houses from scratch. One of the Bell's thatched huts. Pictured in 1908. The Bells had to build these from scratch They hunted, too. Thomas would take his two eldest daughters (the eldest being only 11) on goat-killing expeditions (the goats were introduced by early whalers) 200ft up on the Denham Bay cliffs. For eight months, camped in Denham Bay, they endured plagues of rats (also introduced by whalers) and storms that made hunting and fishing almost impossible. The fear of starvation constantly lurked. Then an American whaler, the Canton, dropped anchor having seen smoke from one of their fires and gave them some desperately needed provisions, but it couldnt rescue them, because it was sailing to remote whaling grounds and had no spare room. Eventually, Lydia said, after nearly two years on the island, during which time they moved from Denham Bay to the other side, and escaped the rats and the high cliffs, they smoked in another passing schooner, called the Sissy. Fortunately this ship was Auckland-bound, and Thomas Bell went off in it leaving his wife and children alone on the island. He returned shortly with supplies iron tanks, timber, grass seed, clothing for the family - in another ship, called the Orwell. And then the Orwell went on to Niue - then called Savage Island thanks to Captain Cook - and came back with five labourers, and all that islands edible plant species most significantly, bananas which they showed him how to cultivate. Their arrival made all the difference to the family. A life on the island was now a much more attractive proposition - and the Bells stayed. This aerial image of Raoul Island was taken by Lydia from Canterbury's helicopter. The island lies 680 miles from New Zealand Raoul island is remarkable, and in a remarkable marine environment. It sits not a million miles away from the second-deepest ocean trench in the world the Tonga Trench, which reaches a depth of 35,702 feet and above the worlds longest chain of underwater volcanoes In the following years Thomas and his wife had four more children - Raoul (known as Roy) in 1882, Freda in 1884, Ada in 1886 and William (known as King) in 1889 and cultivated an impressive range of plants, including pawpaw, guava, custard apple, pomegranate, sugar cane and 14 varieties of banana. Even tea and coffee. Word about the family got around the whaling community and ships would stop by to give the Bells provisions - and buy produce the family had grown. They pretty much had the island to themselves a few settlers arrived in 1889 but gave up after five months, fed up with earthquakes and cyclones until they left in 1914, when war arrived. Lydia said: By then the Kermadecs had long been annexed by New Zealand. In fact there were a few other families settled on Raoul in 1913, and the older Bell children had already left. But in 1914 the Great War was not just on the horizon it was potentially on the doorstep of the Kermadecs because of German activities in the Pacific. It didnt seem safe to remain, and there was no guarantee Bell would be able to get his produce off the island anyway. They arrived back in Auckland on July 4, 1914, and on August 4, the Dominions declared war on Germany. Not long after arriving back on the mainland, the family went their separate ways. Lydia said: At first the family lived in Auckland, and Frederica stayed there for the rest of her life, but as ever, her husband failed to settle, and they parted. Thomas Bell kept wandering, a little Lear-like perhaps, ending his days living in Pahiatua on New Zealands North Island with his eldest daughter, Hettie, and dying in 1929. One of Raoul's volcanic crater lakes, taken from the air during Lydia's trip. It took the author and her group two days to reach the island from New Zealand Denham Bay on Raoul Island. This image was taken by Gareth Rapley who was formerly employed by New Zealand's Department of Conservation The island has the appearance of an enchanted paradise, but it's also treacherous. It's often hit by vicious storms and lacks a safe harbour King Bell met and married his wife in Waikaretu, on the west coast of the North Island, where she was working as a post mistress. He and his brother Roy both had reputations as wonderful nurserymen who could grow all sorts of then exotic species. And despite the fact that Kings mothers ashes were kept in a wardrobe in the spare room, as shed hoped to be scattered on Sunday Island, none of her children ever went back, and in the end they were buried with her son Roy when he died. This gripping tale came to life for Lydia earlier this year when she got the chance to actually visit Raoul Island, which is devoid of any permanent settlement. She was invited by an environmental group called the Sir Peter Blake Trust to be the expedition writer on a trip in April to the Kermadecs with young environmentalists and marine biologists. Her job was to help the youngsters with their blog posts and to provide something about the human history of Raoul Island (she'd done an awful lot of research about it for her novel), which they reached after two days sailing on the New Zealand Navys biggest ship, the HMNZS Canterbury. This image of Lydia swimming close to Raoul Island was taken by a crew member Student environmentalists on Lydia's trip take a dip in the ocean, using the cavernous HMNZS Canterbury as their platform HMNZS Canterbury pictured off the coast of Raoul during Lydia's April expedition The trip was organised by the environmental group the Sir Peter Blake Trust and Lydia was the expedition writer. This image shows the sheer size of their home, HMNZS Canterbury Lydia said: '[Raoul Island is] one of the most isolated places in the Pacific. From snorkelling there and swimming there and looking out, it seems incredibly pristine, but the researchers found micro-plastics in collections of plankton taken there. Theyre everywhere'. The author took this image of the island from the air, with HMNZS Canterbury anchored off-shore RAOUL ISLAND AND THE KERMADECS - THE FACTS Raoul Island is in the Kermadec area, north-east of New Zealand. It is one of the most pristine and unique places on earth. The Kermadec Islands are a group of subtropical islands in the heart of the region. It includes the worlds longest chain of underwater volcanoes. It is home to the second-deepest ocean trench in the world - the Tonga Trench, which is 35,702 feet (10,882 m) deep at its deepest point. The islands in the Kermadec area are uninhabited except for a New Zealand Department of Conservation field station on Raoul Island (pictured) Its waters are home to over six million seabirds of 39 different species, over 150 species of fish, 35 species of whales and dolphins, three species of sea turtles (all endangered) and many other marine species unique to the area such as corals, shellfish and crabs. Raoul Island was settled by Polynesians between 600 and 1,000 years ago. When the New Zealand government established a weather and radio station on the island in 1939 it made Raoul the official name, probably, says teara.govt.nz, to avoid confusion with a number of Sunday islands in Australia. Europeans discovered the islands in the area in the 1700s. Today the islands are uninhabited except for a New Zealand Department of Conservation field station on Raoul Island. Sources: Ministry for the Environment and teara.govt.nz/en/kermadec-islands/page-4. Advertisement Her verdict? Stunning. Though environmental problems are beginning to affect it. She said: Its one of the most isolated places in the Pacific. From snorkelling there and swimming there and looking out, it seems incredibly pristine, but the researchers found micro-plastics in collections of plankton taken there. Theyre everywhere. So few people have ever been to a place where theres a complete eco system thats as untouched as its possible to be. There are so few places like this left in the world. And that was impressive. The book is all about what it would have been like to live on the island. The extreme isolation. Its a novel for now but it wouldnt be a surprise if Hollywood came calling to put the Bells extraordinary tale on the big screen. Mr Peacock's Possessions by Lydia Syson (Bonnier Zaffre, 12.99) is set on Raoul Island and loosely based on the story of the Bell family. It's available from all good bookshops and online here For information about how to visit the island go to www.heritage-expeditions.com/destination/kermadec-islands. by Vladimir Rozanskij The visit of a bishop of the autocephalous Church fuels discussion in the monasteries. The need to take a position was solicited by Metropolitan Ilarion (Alfeev) of the Patriarchate of Moscow, who condemned all the monks favorable to Kiev as "schismatic". Moscow (AsiaNews) - For the first time a bishop of the Ukrainian autocephalous Church has celebrated a liturgy in a monastery of Mount Athos, the spiritual center of Orthodoxy. On February 8, the head of the Odessa diocese of the new Ukrainian Church, Bishop Pavel (Juristyj) presided at the Eucharistic rite at the monastery of the Pantokrator (in the photo), welcomed by the fraternity of the local monks. It is one of the few monasteries of the Sacred Mountain that accepted the invitation of the Patriarch Bartholomew, sending a delegation to Kiev for the enthronement of the metropolitan Epifanyj (Dumenko), last 3 February. Most of the other Athonite monasteries, however, explicitly declined the invitation; the cenobites of Filoteo and Karakal declared that they would "bar the gates" to Epifanyj and his representatives. Now the need to take a position was solicited by Metropolitan Ilarion (Alfeev) of the Moscow Patriarchate, who condemned all the favorable monks in Kiev as "schismatic". "It is an urgent choice for the entire monastic confederation and for every single community of Mount Athos", the metropolitan admonished in a statement released by the Orthodox Iisus portal, "we love Athos not for its antiquity, for architecture or the beautiful landscapes, but because the Mountain retains its importance as a column of ecclesiastical truth for millions of Orthodox believers ". Following Ilarions indications, the Russian archimandrite Evlogij (Ivanov) denied the entrance on February 9th to Bishop Pavel, who after the Pantokrator also intended to visit the monastery of Saint Pantaleon (the Panteleimon), closing the doors in his face. It is one of the 20 main monasteries, on which the administration of the entire Holy Mountain depends, also known as Rossikon or "the Russians" monastery. Despite being actually very close to the Russian Church (in the 19th century it was under the control of the Moscow tsar), the Panteleimon still remains under the authority of Constantinople, like all the monasteries of Athos. President Putin visited him in 2005; currently the community is composed of over 50 monks, mainly Russians and Ukrainians. Other convents, such as the Zografou of the Bulgarians and the idiorrhythmic monastery Dochiariou, denied the visit to Bishop Pavel of Odessa, and from Vatopedi, one of the major monasteries, seven monks left the community in protest against autocephalous Ukrainians, who had instead been welcomed in the cenobiod. The seven asked to move to the Panteleimon. For now only four monasteries have accepted the visit of the Ukrainians, while Patriarch Bartholomew has recommended to all the communities of Athos to welcome representatives of the autocephalous Church of Kiev. The prestigious convent of Simonos Petras was granted to the Ukrainians to venerate the relics of Saint Simon the Hermit, but not to celebrate the liturgy. The meeting of Protos, the assembly of the 20 major monasteries that administers the Athos monastic republic, also called the Holy Kinotes, called to evaluate the "Ukrainian question", is expected in the coming days. Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary has threatened to move more jobs to Poland if strikes continue to hurt its business. Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers pledged in December to recognise unions for the first time but it has struggled to reach collective labour agreements with some. Its pilots in Germany have voted overwhelmingly in favour of striking, adding to Ryanair's recent labour woes after strikes last week by Dublin-based pilots and stoppages by cabin crew in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Belgium. Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary, pictured today, has threatened to move more jobs to Poland if strikes continue to hurt his business Pilots in the airline's smaller market of the Netherlands added to the pressure today by backing industrial action in a vote it said was a necessary 'wake up call' in talks with the union there. Ryanair, which operates from 86 bases in 37 countries and carried 130 million passengers last year, has already said it plans to move crew and planes from Dublin, saying strikes there are harming bookings. O'Leary on Tuesday said he was prepared to cut jobs 'in any market' if necessary. 'We are the ultimate opportunistic airline,' O'Leary told a news conference at its Austrian unit Laudamotion's offices. 'We have today - in Ryanair - 20 markets that need more aircraft. We're short of aircraft in almost every market in which we operate because of the demand for our prices, our services,' he said, adding those included Poland, which is home to its Ryanair Sun unit. 'If some market is being damaged as the Irish market has been damaged in recent months by these activities, the Polish market is growing hugely strongly for us, the Ryanair Sun is very full, profitable, we need more aircraft in the Polish market - move aircraft to Poland.' Ryanair, Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers, pledged in December to recognise unions for the first time but it has struggled to reach collective labour agreements with some Pilots have been demanding more transparent systems for promotions and transfers to reduce what they say is excessive management discretion over their careers, while cabin crew want local contracts and better conditions. 'As long as there's common sense on their side then we'll reach agreements,' O'Leary said, speaking of unions and pilots in general. 'If we have people who just want to have strikes for the sake of having strikes then they can have strikes and they'll find themselves (with) jobs getting moved and aircraft getting moved.' O'Leary also said he wanted to grow Laudamotion and Ryanair Sun more quickly, which would require additional planes and crew - a challenge in today's environment. Ryanair passengers at Stansted Airport are suffering a fifth day of chaos with cancelled or delayed flights due to morning storms If an airline collapsed, however, that would make crew and planes more readily available. Mr O'Leary's comments came as Ryanair passengers at Stansted Airport were suffering a fifth day of chaos with cancelled or delayed flights due to storms that had battered the UK. As of midday on Tuesday, around 64 arriving and departing Ryanair flights were cancelled and a further 89 flights were delayed. At Stansted, passengers complained of long queues, a lack of information and sitting on planes that had not moved for several hours. Among those delayed were contestants of ITV's Love Island, who were flying back to Stansted from Palma Airport in Majorca. The airline blamed the disruption on thundery conditions. Flight delays are usually caused by bad weather, staff strikes or technical problems with aircraft. But sometimes the animal kingdom throws a spanner in the works, often birds. Other creatures have been known to cause havoc, too - from turtles to moose - by getting themselves onto the runway. An alligator at Orlando International Airport held up a Spirit Airlines flight Cloven traffic is common in Alaska - some 800 moose live in greater Anchorage alone. Here's one on a road near the city's airport At Orlando International it's alligators that officials have to watch out for, because around 230 of them live in the airport's 13,000 acres of water. Workers at the hub are always on the lookout to keep the reptiles away from the airfield, but can't always control the predators. Earlier this year, a gator's appearance alarmed passengers as it was seen lumbering across the tarmac toward a pond. A Spirit Airlines flight had to wait about five minutes before it could taxi to the gate. One of the passengers onboard says an airport truck arrived at the pond to make sure the alligator didn't return to the taxiway. At JFK Airport in New York, staff have to be extra cautious during diamondback terrapins' nesting season. Last year almost 40 of the critters were rounded up after wandering too close to the runway A box full of terrapins that were scooped up after venturing dangerously close to the runway at JFK Airport Elsewhere in the US, the waters around two New York airports have brought unwanted vistors that the Port Authority have had to remove. At JFK airport, staff have to be extra cautious during nesting season for diamondback terrapins. Last July almost 40 of the critters were rounded up after wandering too close to the runway and released to safer areas. The Port Authority had installed plastic tubing to act as a barrier, leading to a nearly 50 per cent drop in turtles on the airfield. Flippin' heck: Traffic had to be delayed at Utqiagvik airport in Alaska's northernmost city after a seal lolled on the runway But it was later discovered that the barriers are underwater during high tide - rendering them useless. Meanwhile at La Guardia Airport in New York, the Army Corps of Engineers had to be called in January 2017 when a 15ft dead whale washed up near the end of a runway. And in Utqiagvik, Alaska's northernmost city, airport authorities were faced with a huge seal, blocking any attempt at takeoffs. Traffic had to be delayed while animal control came in to remove it in October last year. While elsewhere in Alaska biologists and wildlife technicians are often brought in to airports to wrangle musk ox, caribou and moose that wander on to the airfield. And for Jackson Hole Airport, located inside Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, moose and elk hanging around the hub are a frequent site. Two wild hares bounce along Linate airport runway in Milan as they try to evade capture from handlers At Milan's Linate Airport, volunteers are employed to visit the airport grounds to blow whistles and wave to deter hares from affecting operations. The animals first played havoc with the radar systems at the Italian airport in June 2007 and have been known to wander on to the airfield on occasion ever since. At Manchester Airport, wildlife officers have to be on hand to keep sneaky foxes away from the aircraft. In 2012, one had a very near miss with a Boeing 757 cargo plane after it ran into the path of the jet as it hurtled down the runway. A fox had a very near miss with a Boeing 757 cargo plane at Manchester Airport in 2012 after it ran into the path of the jet as it hurtled down the runway Wildlife officers at Manchester Airport say they have to be on hand to keep sneaky foxes away from the aircraft While earlier this year, another one of the creatures was seen darting across a runway before being chased by security - which caused operations to momentarily stop. And in remote airports in Australia, keeping kangaroos away from the runway can prove a hard task. Recently a flight carrying nearly three dozen passengers had to be cancelled after hitting a stray kangaroo while preparing for take off at Mildura airport in south-eastern Australia. The Rex Airlines plane was in the initial stages of take-off, in the state of Victoria, when the bizarre collision occurred in darkness. A spokeswoman for the regional carrier, based in New Mascot, New South Wales, said the kangaroo was struck by the planes right propeller. Advertisement Sleeping under the stars doesn't have to mean lying on backache-inducing hard ground. That's because there are a host of hotels around the world that offer guests luxurious beds outside. Or in the case of the Cabriolet Suite at LAlbereta in Italy, under a retractable roof. Here MailOnline Travel presents incredible bedrooms where a comfy mattress, a breeze and a view of the heavens come as standard. Tinyeleti Treehouse, Kruger National Park, South Africa Built to match the height of the surrounding trees, you get an exquisite view of the Sabie River and the wildlife at Tinyeleti Treehouse in South Africa The deck itself is 50 square metres, and features a large double bed, a sofa, and a small table and chair for dining, plus toilet facilities. The cost per night is 226 Tinyeleti Treehouse is a hideaway on the Lion Sands Game Reserve in the Kruger National Park, South Africa, that will take your breath away. Built to match the height of the surrounding trees, you'll have an exquisite view of the Sabie River, which runs alongside. The deck itself is 50 square metres, and features a large double bed, a sofa, and a small table and chair for dining, plus toilet facilities. The cost per night is 226. Jamtara Wilderness Camp, Pench National Park, India Pillow talk: The Machaan star bed is inspired by the age-old tradition of farmers sleeping outside so they're handy for chasing away wildlife from their crops The Machaan star bed is inspired by the age-old tradition of farmers sleeping outside so they're handy for shoeing animals away from their crops. Located on the edge of the jungle, you'll be able to spot plenty of animals from your four-poster bed, including leopards, wild dogs and the odd tiger, too. There are small villages in the surrounding area and a swimming pool and main dining room, available to all guests. Prices vary depending on the camp package you choose, but start from 273 per night for an all-inclusive experience with an added cost of 81 for the star bed. L'Albereta, Bergamo, Italy L'Albereta's Cabriolet Suite features a retractable ceiling above the bed and views of the surrounding vineyards L'Albereta's Cabriolet Suite is the ultimate choice for those who want the pleasantries of a posh hotel, but want to stargaze too because the bedroom has a retractable ceiling. Step onto the balcony, meanwhile, and views open up of the surrounding vineyards and Lake Iseo. Other amenities include a hydro-massage tub in your room and a day spa, which is open to all guests. One night's stay for two people is 267. Amangiri, Utah In your private Mesa Pool Suite at the Amangiri hotel, you will have the luxury of two beds - one inside and one outside on the rooftop terrace The luxurious Amangiri hotel is hidden away in the Utah desert, a few hours' drive from the Grand Canyon National Park. In your private Mesa Pool Suite, you will have the luxury of two beds - one inside and one outside on the rooftop terrace. Downstairs there is a private terrace with a fireplace, plunge pool, rain showers and personal bar. Additional enhancements for a romantic evening include champagne and traditional campfire s'mores. The price starts at approximately 3,826 per room per night. It includes breakfast, lunch and dinner for two guests, as well as guided hikes and group fitness classes. Las Ventanas al Paraiso, Baja California Peninsula, Mexico Las Ventanas al Paraiso is located in San Jose del Cabo in Mexico, on the Baja California Peninsula The resort is on the edge of the beach and there are multiple open air beds to spend the night in Las Ventanas al Paraiso is located in San Jose del Cabo in Mexico, on the Baja California Peninsula. The deluxe resort is on the edge of the beach and there are multiple open air beds to spend the night in, including one that offers access to a private pool and incredible ocean views. Around the resort, there's a plethora of options for daytime fun, including a spa and fitness center, multiple pools and a special tequila and ceviche bar. Prices vary depending on which suite or villa you choose, and there are also private residences available. Loisaba Star Beds, Laikipia, Kenya The Loisana Star Beds in Laikipia, Kenya, feature hand-crafted four-poster beds on raised platforms Each bed has wheels underneath and can be rolled out from under a thatched roof and onto the terrace Incredible, mesmerising views come as standard at this suite - part of the Elewana Collection Part of the Elewana Collection, the Loisana Star Beds in Kenya feature hand-crafted four-poster beds on raised wooden platforms. Each bed has wheels underneath and can be rolled out from under a thatched roof and onto the terrace. Located in the middle of Laikipia county, upon arrival you'll be welcomed by Samburu and Laikipiak Maasai warriors. One night's stay for two people costs 357. For solo travellers it's 741 per night. The price is part of a full board package that includes alcoholic drinks, safari activities, guided bush walks, game drives and more. Forsthofalm, Austria Back to nature: At the Forsthofalm eco-hotel in the Austrian Alps, guests can stay in a forest suite, which features a bed in the middle of a wooded glade Forsthofalm is an eco-hotel located in the Austrian Alps, with a special add-on for guests who want to sleep outdoors. In the midst of a woodland glade is a double bed, a small table and two chairs. After a night in their forest suite, guests can return to the hotel and enjoy facilities including a heated outdoor rooftop pool and complimentary yoga classes. The experience costs approximately 124, and includes a bottle of champagne. Tswalu Kalahari, South Africa Located in the middle of a game reserve, this five-star stay has a raised platform with a thatched overhang for protection. Guests can sleep under the roof or further along the deck, with panoramic views of the vast plains of the Green Kalahari Tswalu Kalahari's sleep-out deck, Malori, which in the local language translates as 'dreamer', offers ample opportunity for stargazing - on a king-sized bed. Located in the middle of a game reserve, this five-star stay has a raised platform with a thatched overhang for protection. Guests can choose to sleep under the thatch or further along the deck under the night sky, with panoramic views of the vast plains of the Green Kalahari. The add-on experience, which is available to guests at the main Motse resort, costs approximately 374. Milaidhoo Island, Maldives A luxurious castaway experience: Guests on Milaidhoo Island can sleep on a sandbank - on a four-poster bed As part of their stay at Milaidhoo Villa, which is in a Unesco Biosphere Reserve, guests can book a night on Milaidhoo Island, living as castaways on a private sandbank. But, with the grandeur of sleeping in a canopied four-poster bed and having a private yacht with hotel amenities on standby. A phone is also provided if any issues occur during the night. The opulent experience even begins before you're marooned on the island, with a sunset dolphin cruise and champagne served by a personal butler. And in the morning there's an option for a workout with a Milaidhoo Yogi. Prices start from 1,236. Tubu Tree Camp, Botswana The Tubu Tree camp in Botswana has eight actual beds on private wooden decks Tubu Tree is part of a small camp site on the border of the Moremi Game Reserve, with eight beds available each on a private wooden deck. You can explore the reserve during the day and night by car or glide along the waters on a traditional mokoro canoe. There's also an outside bar and a pool. The cost for a nine-night safari adventure through Scott Dunn starts from 9,495 per person, which includes three nights at Tubu Tree, as well as six nights on two other camp sites. Star Bed Experience at Anantara Medjumbe Island Resort, Mozambique Heavens above: Guests at the Anantara Medjumbe Island Resort in Mozambique can nod off under the night sky if they opt for the 'Star Bed' experience The Anantara Medjumbe Island Resort is a slice of paradise that sits in a stunning marine environment Guests at the Anantara Medjumbe Island Resort in Mozambique can nod off under the night sky if they opt for the 'Star Bed' experience. The rate starts from 844 per room per night and includes helicopter transfers, full board and wine. Blissful tranquility awaits. A Ukrainian acrobatic duo has been criticised for posing underneath a low-flying aircraft and risking their lives and hundreds of others. Yuliia Nos, 25, did a one-handed handstand on the head of her partner, Oleg Kolisnichenko, on Maho Beach on the Caribbean island of St Maarten-St Martin as a cargo plane passed right overhead. It seems that she was just mere feet away from the planes wheels as it came into land at the adjacent Princess Juliana International Airport. Yuliia Nos did a one-handed handstand on the head of her partner, Oleg Kolisnichenko, on Maho Beach as a cargo plane passed right overhead. It seems that she was just mere feet away from the planes wheels as it comes into land at Princess Juliana International Airport on the Caribbean island of St Maarten-St Martin But instead of being impressed, some people reacted with fury when Mr Kolisnichenko posted the striking image to his Instagram page. One, ahmedissaam, wrote: Do not ever do that again. Please. Not only risking your life but also hundreds of others. And 505aircraftmechanic said: 'This beach is at risk of being shut down because of brainless antics like this.' However, Mr Kolisnichenko, 36, told MailOnline Travel that they were never in any danger. He said: 'We had distance between Yulia's feet and the airplane of around several meters. Everything was under control.' The pair live in Kiev and have been working together since August 2015. Maho Beach is one of the worlds best plane-spotting locations, with thousands of brave holidaymakers flocking there every day to stand directly under the flight path as jets buzz overhead. The blast from the engines of passing planes has been known to blow beachgoers hats off their heads and pelt them with sand and other debris. The last-ever hair-raising landing by a jumbo belonging to KLM on St Maarten, made in 2016 Signs warn visitors that jet blast from arriving and departing planes can cause serious injury or even death. Thrillseekers have been known to hold onto a chain-link fence when a jet is preparing for take-off so they are blasted by the engines and lifted off the ground. Princess Juliana, located on the Dutch side of the island (the other half is a French overseas collectivity), is the second-busiest airport in the eastern Caribbean region. Its runway is less than half the length of those found at many international airports. It was previously named one of the worlds most dangerous airports by the History Channel programme Most Extreme Airports. Holidaymakers are being urged to check vaping laws before their summer getaway after five more destinations banned e-cigarettes with punishment ranging from fines to prison. Last year MailOnline Travel reported that following a World Health Organisation study claiming that e-cigarettes may not actually help smokers give up their habit, several countries clamped down on them. Now India, the Philippines, Lebanon, Cambodia and Vietnam have followed suit. Holidaymakers are being urged to check vaping laws before their summer getaway after five more destinations banned e-cigarettes with punishment ranging from fines to prison In the past four years there has been a 48 per cent rise in vaping in the UK with 2.8 million Brits now regularly using e-cigarettes. But many may be unaware that some countries have strict controls on vaping with some even jailing those who vape. All travellers are being advised to urgently check local regulation before packing their device. In recent months, parts of India have effectively banned vaping. In one case a man was jailed for three years, based on a 78-year-old law. Vapers in the Philippines could face up to four months in jail due to a new ban on vaping in public spaces. Lebanon, Cambodia and Vietnam have also recently banned e-cigs, however the potential penalties for breaking the law are much more unclear.z But if the sanctions in Thailand, which welcomes more than one million Brits every year, are anything to go by, travellers would be advised to consider leaving their vape kit at home. Vapers face a 10-year jail sentence for bringing e-cigarettes or refills into the country and a number of British nationals having been arrested in recent years there. The UK Government describes Thai prison conditions as 'harsh' with 'limited access to healthcare'. While legal in the United States, the use of e-cigarettes is actually decided on a state and city level. In the past few weeks, San Francisco has banned flavoured e-liquids with reports that New York is preparing to do the same. In the past four years there has been a 48 per cent rise in vaping in the UK with 2.8million Brits now regularly using e-cigarettes WHERE VAPING IS BANNED Banned Argentina Austria Belgium Brazil Brunei Colombia Egypt Indonesia Jordan Malaysia Mexico Oman Panama Singapore Taiwan Tajikistan Thailand Turkey United Arab Emirates Uruguay Venezuela Restricted Australia Canada Denmark Finland Japan Hong Kong Hungary Iran New Zealand Norway South Africa Sweden Switzerland Newly banned Cambodia India Lebanon Philippines Vietnam Advertisement All national parks including the Grand Canyon and the Everglades have restrictions on vaping in force. It's a similar picture in Canada, with localised regulation in force. For example, in the province of British Columbia - laws restrict vaping in cars containing children and within six metres of doors and open windows. Vaping is also banned in the United Arab Emirates and Dubai Airport is well known for confiscating e-cigarettes and vape kits. Complete bans on e-cigarettes are also in place in Singapore, Indonesia, Jordan, Oman and Egypt. Meanwhile South Africa, Malaysia and the Australian states of Queensland and the Northern Territories ban the use of e-cigarettes that contain nicotine. James Dunworth, chairman, E-Cigarette Direct, said: 'As millions of people gear up for their summer holiday it is easy to forget that foreign laws are different to those in the UK. 'Don't let a nice get-away turn into a get-locked-away, and check before you travel. 'Vaping, which is completely legal and mainstream here and in most countries, is illegal in some popular destinations with penalties ranging from confiscation or fine to 10 years in prison. 'Another popular misconception is that you can vape on planes. While most airlines will tell you before takeoff that vaping is banned, some may not. 'It's better to be safe than sorry so keep the kit packed away and wait until you know it's legal to use.' Advertisement It has grown from a tiny hangar with a small runway to one of the the busiest airports in the UK. And vintage images have shown how Manchester Airport has been developed to become one of the world's major hubs welcoming almost 28 million passengers a year. The nostalgic images come as the airport marks the 80th anniversary of its opening in 1938 after several failed attempts to open an airfield in the north of England. Manchester Airport when it first opened in 1938 - 80 years ago. It has grown from a tiny hangar with a small runway to the busiest airport in the UK outside of London The hub was originally called Ringway Airport and the first flight was operated by KLM on a Douglas DC2 aircraft as it carried up to 14 passengers to Amsterdam's Schipol Airport The airport is marking the 80th anniversary of its opening in 1938 after several failed attempts to open an airfield in the north of England But little over a year after opening, the airport's passenger services were axed following the outbreak of the Second World War. It became a training centre for more than 60,000 parachutists, pictured Originally called Ringway, Manchester Airport opened in June 1938 with the first flight taking place two days later. It was operated by KLM on a Douglas DC2 aircraft and it carried up to 14 passengers to Amsterdam's Schipol Airport. But little over a year after opening, the airport's passenger services were axed following the outbreak of the Second World War. During the war, the airport became a hub of engineering activity as an aircraft manufacturing centre for Fairey Aviation and Avro, and acted as a training centre for more than 60,000 parachutists. The first flight to take off from Manchester Airport on a transatlantic crossing left in 1953. It was a Sabena Belgian World Airlines Manchester Premier service to New York In 1962, the Duke of Edinburgh, pictured, was invited to the airport to officially open Terminal 1 following a rapid expansion The development of Terminal 1 saw Grand Venetian chandeliers installed. They became familiar to generations of holidaymakers who used the airport to jet off to sunnier climes A couple enjoy coffee and cake at Manchester Airport. By the 1970s, the airport was officially renamed Manchester International Airport It was also attacked by the Luftwaffe in 1940 but there was no lasting damage or casualties. By 1946, passenger services were up and running once more, with Air France beginning to serve the airport. However, it was in the 1950s when the airport began to expand at a vast pace when it commenced 24-hour operations, handling 163,000 passengers every year by 1952. The airfield at Manchester Airport when airlines such as Dan Air and BOAC used to fly in and out of the northern hub A vintage image showing aircraft parked up on the airfield. Manchester Airport is currently marking its 80th anniversary Current airport CEO Andrew Cowan said: 'Looking back over the past 80 years has made us appreciate more than ever the important role Manchester Airport has played in the lives of so many people across the North' In the 1970s, the runway was extended, allowing aircraft to take off with a full payload and fly non-stop to Canada A year later, the first transatlantic flight left the airport with the introduction of Sabena Belgian World Airlines Manchester Premier service to New York, followed by BOACs Manchester to New York service. In 1962, the Duke of Edinburgh was invited to the airport to officially open Terminal 1 and a year later, BOAC introduced the first transatlantic air flight to originate at Manchester, beginning a thrice weekly Boeing 707 service to New York via Prestwick. By the 1970s, the airport was officially renamed Manchester International Airport and the runway was extended, allowing aircraft to take off with a full payload and fly non-stop to Canada. A vintage image showing the work that went into building Terminal 2 in 1993. It was officially opened that year by the Duke of Edinburgh The airfield at Manchester Airport pictured in the 1990s. The airport is now the third busiest in the UK behind Heathrow and Gatwick Further development of the hub took place in the 1980s, with Diana, Princess of Wales officially opening Terminal A, now part of Terminal 3 in 1989. Four years later, Prince Philip returned to launch Terminal 2. Recent milestones include Manchester welcoming the A380 in 2013, the worlds biggest aircraft that now operates three daily flights between Manchester and Dubai. The current day view of the airport's terminal one from the air traffic control tower. The airport now welcomes up to 107,000 passengers a day The view of Terminal 2 from air traffic control at Manchester Airport. The worlds biggest aircraft, the A380, now operates three daily flights between Manchester and Dubai And last year, the airport celebrated its busiest day with more than 107,000 passengers passing through the three terminals. Andrew Cowan, CEO of Manchester Airport, said: 'Looking back over the past 80 years has made us appreciate more than ever the important role Manchester Airport has played in the lives of so many people across the North. 'We have unearthed so many stories, from peoples first time on board an aircraft, special holidays and family reunions, to husbands meeting their wives and rock stars passing through our terminals.' Holidaymakers could be facing travel chaos after Ryanair pilots in Ireland have voted to strike. Members of the Irish Airline Pilots' Association (Ialpa) at the budget airline voted overwhelming (99 per cent) in favour of industrial action claiming the Dublin-based carrier failed to meet demands over new working practices. The strike is planned for Thursday July 12, for 24 hours. Holidaymakers could be facing travel chaos after Ryanair pilots in Ireland have voted to strike next week Europe's biggest budget carrier averted widespread strikes before last Christmas by deciding to recognise trade unions for the first time in its 32-year history, but has since struggled to reach agreement on terms in some countries. Ryanair, which flies in 37 countries and carried 130 million passengers last year, has so far signed agreements with pilots in Italy and Britain, two of its largest markets, but also experienced minor disruption in Germany and Portugal. The union, which said 94 of the 95 ballots returned were in favour of industrial action, has advised Ryanair that it will notify it of additional strike days in due course but also remains available and willing to engage on the issues. Previously, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary warned investors that he could not rule out the possibility of strikes and would face any action down A spokesman for Ialpa said: 'Our member pilots directly employed by Ryanair complain that there is no transparent system for the determination of important matters including voluntary/involuntary base transfer/allocation, command upgrade, allocation of annual leave and promotion. 'When a pilot receives notice of a mandatory base change, or is denied a request for a change of base, such management decisions can have a devastating effect on family life.' The union said it remained available and willing to engage on the issues identified in the notice of strike action. A spokesman for Ryanair was not immediately available for comment. Previously, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary warned investors in May that he could not rule out the possibility of strikes and would face any action down. News of the strike comes just hours after the airline revealed another month of travel misery as air traffic control strikes left more than 210,000 passengers with cancelled flights in June. It said more than 1,100 flights were axed for the second month running due to air traffic control strikes over four weekends in June, as well as staff shortages in the UK, Germany and France. Families in Leicestershire, Scotland and the far north of England could save as much 1,260 on package holidays thanks to school term times, new research has revealed. Those living in these areas of the UK can benefit from flying overseas from nearby airports in areas where children are either still in class or have already started their new school year. It comes as school children in Scotland enjoy their summer break between the end of July and mid August, while those in England are off from late July to early September. Families in Leicestershire, Scotland and the far north of England could save as much 1,260 on package holidays thanks to school term times, new research has revealed And research by consumer champion Emma Coulthurst from TravelSupermarket says that being smart about where you travel from and when could shave hundreds of pounds of the price of a package deal. She explained: 'With Scottish children having already started their summer holiday and Leicestershire schools breaking up a week earlier than most of the rest of England, families in these areas can get away for as much as 1,260 less by travelling to airports in areas where the children are not yet off school. 'Also, families in the north of England can benefit from some great prices from Scotland at the end of the summer, once Scottish schools have started their new school term on August 20.' For example, schools in Leicestershire break up for the summer holidays, on Friday July 13 and the research shows that families can fly away that weekend or the week up to Thursday, July 19 for cheaper prices. Miss Coulthurst added: 'With most children in Derbyshire and the West Midlands and the North West and South East still at school until at least July 21 or even later in the case of Nottinghamshire July 26, Leicestershire families can fly from virtually anywhere in England including airports local to them, Birmingham and the East Midlands, for a fraction of the price of holidays the week after, due to demand being less.' The study also showed that similarly, schools have now already broken up for summer in Scotland, meaning Scots can venture to England and fly from Newcastle airport for cheaper prices before the end of term for schools in the north east on July 21. School children in Scotland enjoy their summer break between the end of July and mid August, while those in England are off from late July to early September Meanwhile after August 20, Scottish schools start a new term, so according to the research, people in the north of England such as Cumbria or even Manchester, could take advantage of cheaper prices after then by flying from Glasgow. Similarly, Manchester and Lancashire schools break up by Saturday, July 21 but schools in areas such as Bradford and Leeds and Liverpool dont finish until Thursday, July 26. And the TravelSupermarket research says Manchester and Lancashire families can look for holiday bargains for those few days in between when there is less demand on airports such as Leeds Bradford and Liverpool. And Ms Coulthurst added that even families you dont live in one of these areas, there are still ways to benefit from more affordable holidays. She explained: 'If you want to get the best value overseas holiday this summer, our site pricing data shows that the first and last weeks of your childs school holidays are normally when you can find the most affordable holidays. 'Also, if youre able to be flexible on when you go, compare different days in the week; the lowest-priced deals will often depart mid-week. 'But, make sure you factor in the extra time and travel costs, to see whether the saving is worth it.' Advertisement These are the stunning images of some of the world's most famous landmarks as you've never seen them before. Created by Italian artist Pietro Cataudella, they see his super detailed sketches combined with photos of tourist sites including Tower Bridge and the Colosseum, to produce mind-boggling 3D images. Mr Cataudella started his project called CityLiveSketch in his home island of Sicily in 2014 and it sees him sketch the landmarks before taking snaps of them. He then merges them together to create the unusual images, which he likes to refer to as postcards. The artist told MailOnline Travel: 'The project is a combination of my passions for drawing, photography and travel. The goal is to show beauty in a different way, using only my skills, creativity and imagination. 'I never studied illustration, architecture or other related disciplines, my works are the result of hard work, passion and desire to improve myself.' Scroll down to see some of his breathtaking images... One of Pietro Cataudella's CityLiveSketch images which he posts to his Instagram account. This one shows the Santa Maria della Salute in Venice A sketch of the Eiffel Tower in Paris combined with a photo of the real thing looks as though the image is almost coming off the page Mr Cataudella started his project called CityLiveSketch in his hometown island of Sicily in 2014. Pictured is his version of Tower Bridge in London Mr Cataudella's intricate drawing of the bottom Houses of Parliament and the River Thames is brought to lofe with a real life picture on top Mr Cataudella also sketches bizarre drawings on top of well known landmarks such as the castle in Gaeta, Itay, left and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, right The Italian artist sketches the landmarks before taking snaps of them and merging them together. Pictured is the Colosseum in Rome Mr Cataudella says his project allows him to combine his passions of drawing, photography and travel. Pictured is the Duomo Cathedral in Milan Some of the other 3D illusions on CityLiveSketch. They include the Terme Tettuccio spa in Tuscany, left and Florence Cathedral, right The artist said: 'I never studied illustration, architecture or other related disciplines my works are the result of hard work, passion and desire to improve myself' Another shot showing Florence Cathedral. Mr Cataudella now has over 50,000 followers on his Instagram page The government has announced moves to offer extra protection for Brits booking package holidays, saving consumers tens of millions of pounds a year. The Business Department said it was closing loopholes which have emerged because of the growing trend for booking holidays online. A Package Travel Directive is being launched which ministers said will give new consumer protections for 10 million holidays a year and save people tens of millions of pounds. The government has announced moves to offer extra protection for Brits booking package holidays, saving consumers tens of millions of pounds a year Under the directive, people who book holidays online through travel sites will have the same rights as those using traditional travel agents. Business Minister Andrew Griffiths said: 'Britain is a nation of travellers and we each put aside around 23.10 per week to go towards package holidays. 'Given that commitment, when we are booking holidays it is reasonable for all of us to expect that if something goes wrong we are protected financially. 'The measures that come into effect today will ensure holidaymakers are properly compensated if things do go wrong, removing the risks for consumers and building on our long, proud history of high standards when it comes to travel protections.' And now travel industry body ABTA is reminding customers that these regulations apply to holidays booked on or after 1 July, holidays booked before then will be covered by previous regulations. Mark Tanzer, ABTA's chief executive said: 'Under the new regulations more holiday travel arrangements will be classified as packages which offers the best form of protection for customers. Holidaymakers booking a package will have financial protection meaning they are entitled to a refund or to be brought home if their travel company goes out of business. Under the directive, people who book holidays online through travel sites will have the same rights as those using traditional travel agents 'Their travel company will also be responsible for making sure that the customer gets the package holiday they paid for so if something isn't provided or isn't as expected, and the travel company or its suppliers is at fault, they will need to resolve the issue, whether it's offering an alternative or providing a full or partial refund. 'While the number of holidays financially protected isn't expected to significantly increase under the new regulations the level of protection will, as they will also be required to have legal protection. 'Whether a trip is covered by these regulations or not will depend on what is booked and how it is booked, so it is very important to check with the travel company at the time of booking. 'It's also important to remember that these regulations apply to holidays booked on or after 1 July, holidays booked before then will be covered by existing regulations.' The Internet is undermining religious education in families and traditional educational institutions. As many faithful abandon mosques, radical groups use them to spread their ideology. For experts, mosques should be revived to fight absolutism. Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies) Sermons via social media are reducing the influence of mosques in teaching Islam, this according to a 2018 study by the Centre for the Study of Religion and Culture (CSRC), at the Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic State University (UIN) in Jakarta. The study surveyed young Muslims aged 17 and 24 in 18 regencies and cities throughout the country. Its findings indicate that online sermons have undermined the hitherto pre-eminence of religious education taught in the family and other traditional educational institutions. Muslim scholars and leaders met in Jakarta recently to discuss how to bring young people to mosques. Masdar F. Mas'udi, from UIN, said that radical groups often rely on underused mosques to spread their ideology. "This is what happens at least in some mosques in Bogor, West Java province, where I studied the phenomenon," said the scholar. Recent reports have revealed that a number of mosques in the country are infiltrated by groups affiliated with the Islamic State group seeking to recruit militants for the terrorist network. According to experts, mosques need to reach out to stop the spread of radicalism. For CSRC director Irfan Abubakar, millennials must attend mosques to reach a deeper understanding of Islam. "Often the lack of religious literacy leads to absolutism, which threatens the countrys pluralistic society," he said. Irfan Amalee, founder and activist of Peace Generation, agrees that a transformation is needed to attract millennials to mosques. The changes could take place via "new sermons, with which it is possible to relate". The renewal should also involve mosque takmir (managers) and preachers. Mosque buildings should also be renovated. "We shall use new innovative approaches to draw people to our mosques," he explained. Finally, Amalee cites the example of several mosques in Bandung, which have achieved success among the faithful by providing free Wi-Fi and advertising in social media. Advertisement These wacky watering holes take the art of swimming pool design to a whole new level. MailOnline has scoured the world for some of the kookiest places to dip, with a number of gems floating to the surface. At the Sweet Escape vacation home near Orlando, there is an ice cream-shaped swimming pool which follows the resort's candy theme. Meanwhile, at the Apartelle de Francesca apartment rental in the Philippines, there is a pool shaped like a foot, after the owner's fashion brand logo. To see Texas in a different way - with no driving involved - the Marriott Marquis Houston hotel features a lazy river shaped after the U.S. state. Another travel-inspired pool can be found over at The Flying W Airport & Resort, with the swimming spot shaped like a aeroplane. Scroll down to see some of the funniest to make a splash... At the Sweet Escape vacation home near Orlando, there is an ice cream-shaped swimming pool which follows the resort's candy theme. There is even a little paddling pool with a red border to form a cherry on top At the Apartelle de Francesca apartment rental in the Philippines, there is a pool shaped like a right footprint, after the owner's fashion brand logo The Marriott Marquis Houston features a lazy river swimming pool shaped after the U.S. state of Texas The JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort & Spa in Vietnam boasts a shimmering swimming pool inspired by the shape of a shell At the Posthotel Achenkircht in Austria a yin-yang swimming pool separates the cool 17 degrees Celsius waters from the warm 34 degrees Celsius area The Flying W Airport & Resort in New Jersey features an airplane-shaped swimming pool, with a landing strip nearby The quirky piano pool at Disney's All-Star Music Resort in Florida features a deck of black and white keys Jay Dweck, a former head of equities strategies for Goldman Sachs from New York, said innovating brings him happiness. Money was no object for his $1 million pool, inspired by a Stradivarius violin he once owned. No detail is overlooked with a hot tub acting as the instrument's chin rest along with two thin koi ponds shaped like a bow. It was designed by New Jersey-based Cipriano Custom Pools and Landscaping A rather naughty-looking swimming pool looks suspiciously like the male anatomy. It's not known where the pool is located, but this image quickly became viral after a holidaymaker posted it to Imgur The cheapest all-inclusive holidays for Brits this summer have been revealed - and it's the Costa Brava that ranks No1. According to research by TravelSupermarket, which has seen a 13.5 per cent increase in all-inclusive bookings, it's possible to snag a seven-night stay there for just 323 per person. Bank managers will also be pleased if you book a similar type of holiday to Turkey, Malta or Majorca. Here TravelSupermarket's Emma Coulthhurst ranks the top seven places for all-in deals. No1 - Costa Brava, Spain All-inclusive holidays to Costa Brava resorts have dropped seven per cent in price this summer Seven night package holiday for Brits to the Costa Brava have dropped by around seven per cent in price this summer compared with last. TravelSupermarket reports that resorts including Lloret de Mar, Malgrat de Mar, Pineda de Mar and Calella offer good all-inclusive deals for families during the summer holidays. A week during the July/August school holiday for a family of four with school-age children starts from under 400 per person for seven nights. Holidaymakers could travel from Birmingham on August 25 for seven nights from 323 per person at the three-star Samba hotel in Lloret de Mar. Or fly August 23 from Gatwick from 356 per person, staying at the same hotel. Holidaymakers could go four star from Bristol on August 23 and stay at the H TOP Royal Star & SPA in Lloret de Mar (based on a family of four with two school-age children aged five and 10) from 403 per person. Or fly from Manchester on August 22 to stay at the same hotel from 426 per person. Ms Coulthurst explained: 'The Costa Brava is in the process of challenging peoples pre-conceptions and is becoming cool again. Some of the big tour operators stopped selling holidays there back in 2009, but have reintroduced it for this summer. The region offers wonderful sandy coves, pine woods and quaint towns to explore. 'The region is also the birthplace of Dali and you can visit his museum in Figueres. Because it hasnt been on tour operators' books for a while, there are some really good prices to entice people there this year. The area is also somewhere that the Spanish like to holiday, which is always a good sign.' No2 - Antalya, Side and Kusadasi, Turkey According to TravelSupermarket, some of the best prices on all-inclusive holidays in Turkey are in Antalya, pictured TravelSupermarket says there are some good deals from the UK this summer for all-inclusive holidays to Turkey and some of the best prices are currently available to Antalya, Side and Kusadasi. Turkey was the sixth-most-searched-for country for a package holiday for last summer via TravelSupermarket. For this summer, it is the fourth most popular and Antalya is the most-searched-for Turkish resort. Deals include flying from Newcastle on August 1, staying at the three-star Selge Hotel in Side for seven nights from 345 per person. Or from 409 per person from Manchester departing the same day. Passengers could pay 425 per person from Birmingham on July 30. For Kudasi, deals from start from 447 per person from Manchester or from 451 per person from Liverpool for seven nights, departing July 31 at the three star Club Scala Nuova. Ms Colthurst adds: 'Turkish holiday resorts as a whole are bracing themselves for a busier summer than last year. There has been a resurgence in interest from UK holidaymakers to take a summer holiday in Turkey. 'Both the holiday itself and resort costs are low. Also, the Turkish lira is currently down, year-on-year, against sterling so you get a lot for your money.' No3 - Malta The bay around the capital of Malta, Valletta. It is another destination for cheap all-inclusive deals Malta is another Mediterranean island where all-inclusive holidays are cheap. Three-star, seven-night all-inclusive deals to Malta for families during the school holidays start from under 400 per person. Flying from East Midlands airport on August 22 to the San Pawl in Bugibba costs from 354 per person. Or depart August 24 for seven nights at the Coral Hotel in Bugibba from 370 per person from Leeds airport. No4 - Majorca Currently, some of the lowest-priced deals to Majorca are from the North East and North West Currently in the limelight as the home of the Love Island villa, TravelSupermarket says Majorca is a good choice, price-wise, for a family holiday with the children this summer. Currently, some of the lowest-priced deals are from the North East and North West. Head on August 23 from Newcastle and stay at the three-star HSM Club Torre Blanca Apartamentos in S'Illot from 390 per person. Or from 421 per person from Gatwick at the same hotel. Prices are from 431 per person from Leeds or from 439 per person from Liverpool or from 466 per person from Manchester on August 21. Families could also fly from Bristol on August 22 and stay at the three-star Hotel Elegance Vista Blava in Cala Millor from 427 per person. Or travel from 433 per person from East Midlands airport on August 23 staying at the same hotel. No5 - Corfu, Greece The Greek island of Corfu, which is always popular with holidaymakers. The island was recently showcased on ITV drama The Durrells The Greek island of Corfu has both a craggy coastline as well as a historic centre. Travellers can depart August 23 from East Midlands and can stay at the four-star Alexandros Hotel in Kanoni from 376 per person for seven nights. Or travel to the same hotel from Leeds on August 22 from 430 per person. From the South East that day, expect to pay from 471 per person from Stansted. Ms Colthurst said: 'This summer for families, when it comes to good value in Greece, it is all about Corfu. 'The island has been showcased recently again on the popular ITV drama The Durrells. It is the North East corner where the Durrells is filmed and the four miles from Agios Stephanos to Avlaki is a recommended, lovely walk along this undeveloped coastline. 'Also, Corfu Town is regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in Greece. Its historic centre is Venetian and a Unesco World Heritage site. 'Dont be surprised to meet people on the island called Philip or Philippina. Prince Philip was born in Mon Repos, an elegant mansion on the southern edge of the city, which is now an archaeological museum.' No6 - Sunny Beach, Bulgaria The popular Sunny Beach in Bulgaria. TravelSupermarket says that resort costs are low there too All-inclusive package holiday prices to Sunny Beach for a family of four start from around 400 per person for seven nights during the school holidays. TravelSupermarket adds that if holidaymakers venture out of the hotel, they will find that resort costs are low, too. For example, depart July 30 and stay at the four-star Komplex Aquamarine Hotel in Sunny Beach from 402 per person from Luton. Prices are from 431 per person from Birmingham airport on the same day. Holidaymakers will pay from 415 per person from Cardiff. Or fly July 29 from Newcastle from 438 per person. On August 3, holidaymakers could stay at the four star Sun Palace from 428 per person from Manchester. No7 - Costa Dorada, Spain The best place for all-inclusive holidays to the Costa Dorada are to the Salou area TravelSupermaket says the best-priced all-inclusive holidays from the UK to the Costa Dorada for families this summer are to the Salou area. Holidays to Salou are now the fourth-most popular overseas holiday search for seven nights this summer via TravelSupermarket, going from 30th most popular in 2017, a 164 per cent increase. Prices include heading out on August 23 to the three-star HTOP Molinos Park in La Pineda from Stansted departing from 459 per person. Or from 491 per person from Liverpool. Note - the data for this story came from TravelSupermarket. Other price comparison sites are available. The BHA has ended the shutdown of British racing prompted by the outbreak of Equine Influenza at the Cheshire stable of Grand National winning trainer Donald McCain. The six-day blank period will end with four meetings on Wednesday at Kempton and Southwell on the Flat and Musselburgh and Plumpton, Southwell over the jumps. While testing of hundreds of racehorses is still ongoing, the BHA took a pragmatic approach after a risk analysis of the situation. The BHA has ended the shutdown of British racing prompted by outbreak of Equine Influenza The decision was made after a late-night meeting of the BHA's veterinary advisory committee and against a backdrop of increasing pressure to get the sport back up and running after a hiatus which has cost an estimated 25million. The decision to start racing again is expected to be followed on Tuesday by announcements over whether it is possible to reschedule Saturday's lost meeting at Newbury which would have featured a clash between Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Native River and King George VI Chase winner Clan Des Obeaux in the Denman Chase. Ten horses have tested positive to highly contagious EI - six from the McCain stable plus four from the Newmarket yard of trainer Simon Crisford which emerged on Sunday evening. But calls for the BHA to end the shutdown got appreciably louder on Monday as racing's body was pressed to come up with an exit strategy from the lockdown of the sport. Trainers including Nigel Twiston-Davies and Colin Tizzard had questioned the BHA shut-down policy while prominent owner Dai Walters said they had 'lit a fire they can't put out.' Authorities in Ireland, where there have been EI outbreaks but not in active racing yards, also lifted a temporary ban imposed on runners from Britain. The six-day blank period will end with four meetings on Wednesday with testing ongoing That had left the bizarre possibility that British runners could run in Ireland but not in their own country if the BHA had failed to end the shut-down. Explaining the decision to lift the ban on British runners, Lynn Hillyer, chief veterinary officer for the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, said: 'On Friday, we upped the requirements for runners here of a mandatory (booster EI) vaccination within eight weeks of the run and enhanced bio-security. 'Having seen how that went over the weekend, the Board re-convened and made the decision that provided British horses meet those extra requirements and they are coming from a yard that is not under any restrictions from the BHA, those horses are no further risk than our own horses.' Over the last three days around 2,100 tests for EI have been conducted the Animal Health Trust, as many as it would normally conduct in a year. Six horses owned by Donald McCain have been diagnosed with Equine Influenza They have prioritised horses and stables that appeared most at risk because they may have come into contact with runners from the infected stables. That included stables that had runners at Ayr last Wednesday where McCain's Raise A Spark ran and subsequently tested positive to EI. But critics of the BHA policy pointed out that the number of positives was a tiny percentage of the number of tests and a figure that would normally be expected if testing the racehorse population with Equine Flu endemic among the equine population. The stables of both Crisford and McCain still face a prolonged period of shutdown until they are given the all-clear. In the immediate future Crisford will have to exercise his horses in isolation on Newmarket heath. Crisford's stable had been identified for testing because he had run Sajanjl ran at Newcastle on February 5, a meeting which subsequently produced a 'suspicious' but ultimately negative test for a runner from the Rebecca Menzies stable. However, it was four stablemates rather than Sajanjl which tested positive. Crisford said: 'The swabbing occurred following Sajanjl's race at Newcastle last Tuesday and she has tested negative. There is no obvious connection between Sajanjl and the four identified horses.' Voice assistants made popular by Amazon and Google are seemingly everywhere in the home - from internet-connected refrigerators, to toilets and lightbulbs. They bring with them the benefit of convenience as a growing number of users can now complete everyday tasks, like locking their door or turning on the light, with just their voice. But the always-on nature of internet-connected devices has raised some concerns over just how much data these applications are collecting and what they're doing with it, according to Bloomberg. Scroll down for video A woman is seen controlling her Philips Hue smart lightbulb with her voice assistant. Concerns have grown around how much data these applications are collecting and how it's being used In the past, if users asked Alexa to turn on their smart bulb, Alexa would transmit code to the device to check if it was on or off, receive confirmation that it was off and then tell it to turn on, Bloomberg noted. However, increasingly, Google and Amazon are requiring devicemakers to make it so that their appliances are continuously transmitting data around whether they're off or on. It likely extends to many internet-connected devices around the home, like smart TVs, smart locks, smart thermostats and more. The practice has thrown into question whether or not users are totally aware of this. What's more concerning is that it raises the possibility of Google and Amazon using the data for the purpose of targeted marketing. Experts fear Google and Amazon could be collecting mass amounts of users' smart appliance data for targeted advertising purposes. As an example, if Amazon becomes aware of when your child goes to bed by looking at the time their smart light bulb is turned off, it could use that data to push related products to the user, such as an app for nursery rhymes As an example, if Amazon becomes aware of when your child goes to bed by looking at the time their smart lightbulb is turned off, it could use that data to push related products to the user, such as an app for nursery rhymes. HOW CAN YOU FIND OUT WHAT GOOGLE ASSISTANT IS RECORDING? What does Google's Voice Assistant record? Google's Voice Assistant could be recording everything you say. As part of this process, Google keeps copies of clips made each time you activate it, but it has emerged that background chatter could be enough to trigger recording. MailOnline has received a number of transcripts of conversations that show how Voice Assistant may be recording your conversations without you knowing. One example from an anonymous user appears to have registered the code to their back door entry system, while chatting with a friend. A written transcript of the conversation said: 'If you ever get booked down to my house for some reason the key safe for the back door is 0783.' How can I see what it has recorded? Your audio is saved to your account only when you're signed in and Voice & Audio Activity is turned on. Audio can be saved even when your device is offline. To see your saved audio, sign in with your Google account information. To delete info, click on the three dots in the top right corner and choose 'Delete activity by'. This will take you to a window where you can pick if you would like to delete any information. What does Google say about it? A spokesman for the firm said: 'We only process voice searches after the phone believes the hot word 'OK Google' is detected. 'Audio snippets are used by Google to improve the quality of speech recognition across Search.' They added that ambient recording is never transmitted to the cloud. Google's support site says that the firm records your voice and other audio, plus a few seconds before, when you use audio activation. This includes saying commands like 'OK Google' or tapping the microphone icon. Advertisement 'You can learn the behaviors of a household based on their patterns,' Brad Russell, a researcher for Parks Associates Inc., told Bloomberg. 'One of the most foundational things is occupancy. There's a lot they could do with that.' Additionally, Amazon and Google have each faced issues with user data privacy. In December, an Alexa user mistakenly accessed about 1,700 voice recordings from a stranger's device as a result of 'human error.' When Google first debuted Assistant in 2016, it raised fears of just how much data the company would need to be collecting on its users. Amazon and Google don't appear to have any limits on what they can do with the information gleaned about users from their devices, according to Bloomberg. Tech giants often justify this data collection by saying it improves the user experience, allowing the device to learn their preferences and make helpful suggestions accordingly. Still, some dispute whether or not it's necessary to collect mountains of data from users. 'Oversharing for the sake of oversharing is probably never a good thing,' Ian Crowe, a senior director from Logitech International, told Bloomberg. 'We should have a good reason, and our users should agree it's a good reason.' Some devicemakers have tried to establish greater controls around what kinds of user data is submitted to Amazon and Google, but so far, these requests seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Amazon told Bloomberg that data used in status updates isn't sold for advertising, but the firm didn't specify how long it's stored for. Google declined to comment to Bloomberg on how the data is used. In the meantime, neither firm gives users many controls around what data is being collected or ways to stop it from being collected, short of unplugging the devices entirely. 'There isn't an implicit permission of, "Go ahead and take all my data whenever [something] changes,"' Martin Plaehn, CEO of smart-home system firm Control4, told Bloomberg. 'And we think if the world really knew that was going on, it would create a real kerfuffle.' Egyptian archaeologists excavating the ruins of a pyramid 60 miles outside of Cairo have discovered the skeletal remains of a 13-year-old girl huddled inside a tomb. Exactly how or when she died is a mystery, though the experts say the site itself dates back to the end of the Third Dynasty roughly 4,600 years ago. The tomb was empty apart from the skeleton, which was buried in the squatting position, but the team also found two animal skulls and three ceramic vessels nearby that were likely placed as funerary offerings. Scroll down for video While the newly-discovered bones (left) indicate the remains belong to a girl who was around 13 years old when she died, much about the burial and the skull offerings (right) are still unclear, the researchers say The skull offerings appear to have come from bulls, according to Egypts Ministry of Antiquities. Researchers came across the burial during work on the partially-collapsed Meidum pyramid, where the team is excavating a cemetery built near the end of the Third Dynasty. Its thought that construction on the Meidum period began at the command of the Third Dynastys last pharaoh, Huni, and was continued by Sneferu, the first pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty. Previous efforts at the site uncovered the tomb of Prince Nefar-Maat, Sneferus oldest son. The latest burial was found surrounded by a partially intact brick wall, and the team is now working to restore and reinforce the structures Egyptian archaeologists excavating the ruins of a pyramid 60 miles outside of Cairo have discovered the skeletal remains of a 13-year-old girl huddled inside a tomb. Researchers came across the burial during work on the partially-collapsed Meidum pyramid While the newly-discovered bones indicate the remains belong to a girl who was around 13 years old when she died, much about the burial and the offerings are still unclear. Researchers do not know the identity of the buried teenager. The latest burial was found surrounded by a partially intact brick wall, and the team is now working to restore and reinforce the structures. Elsewhere, in the Sinai Peninsula, the Antiquities Ministry says it discovered an ancient workshop that was used to build and repair ships thousands of years ago. At a northern site, the researchers separately discovered an ancient Ptolemaic workshop where ships were once built and repaired The site dates back to the Ptolemaic era (332 B.C.-30 B.C), and was found during excavations in the Tel Abu Saifi archaeological site, which is said to have once been the location of the Roman fortress Silla. The find includes two dry dockyards where the ancient ships were worked on. Researchers say it dates to the Greco-Roman period in Egypt, which lasted from the arrival of Alexander the Great in the 4th century until the 7th century, when the Islamic conquest swept the region. Stonehenge is one of many megalithic monuments from prehistory dotted around Europe and scientists have now discovered the art form of giant rocks was a popular trend that started 6,500 years ago in France. The knowledge and expertise to create these monuments was then spread around Europe by sailors over the following millennia. Similar monuments to the original appeared in coastal regions around the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts via sailors on large ships using emerging sea routes. Scroll down for video The first monolith was found in Brittany dating back as far as 4,794 BC and other early monuments (red) were found in northwest France, the Channel Islands, Catalonia, southwestern France, Corsica, and Sardinia from a similar time period. The trend spread to the UK and the rest of Spain's Atlantic coast (orange) before reaching Scandinavia a 1,000 years later (yellow) and then eventually conquering the Mediterranean around 1,500 BC (blue) Stonehenge (pictured) is one of many megalithic monuments from prehistory dotted around Europe and scientists have now discovered it was a popular trend that started 6,500 years ago in France 'They were moving over the seaway, taking long distance journeys along the coasts,' Dr Schulz Paulsson, one of the study's co-authors from the University of Gothenburg, told New Scientist. This fits with other research she has carried out on megalithic art in Brittany, which shows engravings of many boats, some large enough for a crew of 12. Previous theories have suggested two explanations for how numerous megalith monuments have been found around Europe. The first is that they started somewhere and then were carried to different areas and cultures via sea, and the other states the became popular independently over time. The latest study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found the former to be correct. Northwest France is the only one which exhibits monumental earthen constructions before the megaliths (pictured). The Passy graves in the Paris Basin have no megalithic chamber yet, but are impressive labour-intensive structures with a length of up to 280 m Dolmen de las Ruines in Catalonia (pictured) is one of many monuments in Europe. More than 2,000 huge stones were analysed and dated and statistical analyses enabled them to map out when and where the monuments appeared 'They were moving over the seaway, taking long distance journeys along the coasts,' Dr Schulz Paulsson, one of the study's co-authors from the University of Gothenburg, says Havang dolmen, Sweden. Strikingly, the architectonic concepts of megaliths are similar or even identical all over Europe. They became popular and later appeared in coastal regions around the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts and travelled there via frequented sea routes More than 2,000 huge stones were analysed and dated and statistical analyses enabled them to map out when and where the monuments appeared. This also shed light on how early sea-faring communities conquered the water and provided a far earlier estimate of when man took the the seas. 'They were moving over the seaway, taking long distance journeys along the coasts,' says Dr Schulz Paulsson. Her previous research looked into megalithic art in Brittany found these early populations had the ability to house 12 seamen. It was previously thought that large cargo ships capable of traversing significant distance were only created in the Bronze Age, approximately 2,000 years later. Ordnance survey has unveiled a solar-powered drone that is capable of flying for 90 days in one stretch and will take higher quality images of Earth. It will circle at approximately 67,000 ft (20,400m) above the ground and snap images to sell to organisations and businesses. First tests of the Astigan unmanned aerial vehicle are scheduled to take place before the end of 2019. Scroll down for video The drone will will circle at approximately 67,000 ft (20,400m) high and snap the images and sell them to organisations and businesses First tests of the Astigan unmanned aerial vehicle are scheduled to take place before the end of 2019 Ordnance Survey is the majority stakeholder in Astigan, a firm based in Bridgwater, Somerset. The company works in the same factory that was once home to Facebook's Aquila internet drone project. This link to Facebook, is the only connection between the two drone projects, the company claims. It weighs 330 pounds (150kg), has a wingspan of almost 130 feet (40 metres) and is controlled remotely. Astigan says its mobility makes it far cheaper and more flexible than the alternative of using satellite imagery. Neil Ackroyd, a Co-Founding Director of Astigan and Acting CEO of Ordnance Survey, said: 'Astigan is another example of OS being at the forefront of geospatial technology. 'The platform has been designed to offer major cost and efficiency advantages over traditional methods. 'The company has produced a unique, British-made platform which can carry a range of interchangeable earth observation instruments such as high-precision cameras, atmospheric monitoring systems and multi-spectral sensors. 'Astigan supports Ordnance Survey in enhancing its capabilities to work in partnership with other nations across the globe. Astigan says the unmanned aerial vehicle's mobility makes it far cheaper and more flexible than the alternative of using satellite imagery The company works in the same factory that was once home to Facebook's Aquila internet drone project. This link to Facebook, is the only connection between the two drone projects, the company claims It weighs 330 pounds (150kg), has a wingspan of almost 130 feet (40 metres) and is controlled remotely WHAT IS THE OS ASTIGAN DRONE? Key facts Astigan was designed and manufactured in the UK by a team of aeronautic engineers, pilots, aviation pioneers and flight endurance world record holders The solar-powered aircraft is built from lightweight super-strong material It weighs 330 pounds (150kg), has a wingspan of almost 130 feet (40 metres) and is controlled remotely Advertisement 'By aligning this capability with our world-class geospatial production and mapping expertise, we hope to support organisations and countries in tackling major societal challenges including urbanisation, land management, environmental change and mapping to support emergency response in the case of natural disasters.' Brian Jones, Astigan Managing Director, headed the project and was previously involved in Solar Impulse, the first solar-powered plane to travel around the globe. He said: 'This remarkable aircraft has met every goal and passed all milestones in its ambitious development programme so far. Brian Jones, Astigan Managing Director, headed the project and was previously involved in Solar Impulse, the first solar-powered plane to travel around the globe Mr Jones said: 'This remarkable aircraft has met every goal and passed all milestones in its ambitious development programme so far' Neil Ackroyd, a Co-Founding Director of Astigan and Acting CEO of Ordnance Survey, said: 'Astigan is another example of OS being at the forefront of geospatial technology' 'We are excited about the year ahead as we increase our flights and move towards a fully operational high-altitude test. 'By the end of 2019 we aim to be completing endurance flight testing, building up to 90 days non-stop, which is the operational capability we're striving for. 'It's incredibly exciting that the UK has developed this kind of technology, delivering satellite capabilities, unparalleled flexibility and improved efficiency, all at a vastly reduced cost. 'We look forward to completing this project and seeing the aircraft deliver on its outstanding potential, which should provide a range of scientific and environmental benefits.' A medieval nun faked her own death and ran away from her convent to escape a life of celibacy and pursue a 'life of carnal lust'. Joan of Leeds was living at the house of St Clement by York in 1318 when she decided to enlist the help of her fellow sisters to create a dummy which would represent her corpse and slip away into the night. The ruse was foiled by the Archbishop of the time who ordered her to return to her life of 'poverty and obedience' and abandon her newly-adopted 'way of carnal lust'. It remains unknown if the nun returned to the institute or continued her renegade life of freedom, in what researchers called a 'frustrating outcome'. Scroll down for video Joan of Leeds was living at the house of St Clement by York in 1318 when she decided to enlist the help of her fellow sisters to create a dummy which would represent her corpse and slip away into the night. The saga was discovered as archivists translated Latin transcripts revealing the day-to-day activities of York's archbishops during the 14th-Century Researchers at the University of York discovered a note written in Latin buried within the pages of one of the 16 registers used to log the activities of the archbishops of York between 1304 and 1405. The comical charade was described by Professor Sarah Rees Jones, director for medieval studies at York University and lead researcher of the project, as 'extraordinary like a Monty Python sketch'. Archbishop William Melton penned a note in Latin to the runaway nun, which read: 'To warn Joan of Leeds, lately nun of the house of St Clement by York, that she should return to her house,' The Guardian reports. He also sent an additional letter to the dean of Beverley to tell him of the rogue nun's shenanigans. In his note he slandered the promiscuous nun and spoke of her 'scandalous behaviour'. Further assassination of her character included claims she 'impudently cast aside the propriety of religion and the modesty of her sex'. He added: 'Out of a malicious mind simulating a bodily illness, she pretended to be dead, not dreading for the health of her soul, and with the help of numerous of her accomplices, evildoers, with malice aforethought, crafted a dummy in the likeness of her body in order to mislead the devoted faithful and she had no shame in procuring its burial in a sacred space amongst the religious of that place'. He also spoke of the discovery of the nun's deceit and the outrage it caused. WHAT DID ARCHBISHOP MELTON SAY ABOUT THE RUNAWAY NUN? The story is recorded in the register an on 11 August 1318. William Melton issued a mandate to the dean of Beverley Minster in the archdeaconry of the East Riding. He informed the dean that a scandalous rumour had recently reached him that the Benedictine Joan of Leeds had arrived in Beverley. It read as follows: 'Having impudently cast aside the propriety of religion and the modesty of her sex, out of a malicious mind simulating a bodily illness, she pretended to be dead, not dreading for the health of her soul, and with the help of numerous of her accomplices, evildoers, with malice aforethought, crafted a dummy (quandam imaginem corporis sui similitudinem exprimentem) in the likeness of her body in order to mislead the devoted faithful, and she had no shame in procuring its burial in a sacred space amongst the religious of that place, and thus, she having faked her death and, in a cunning, nefarious manner, turning her back on the observance of religion that she previously professed, and having turned her back on decency and the good of religion, seduced by indecency, she involved herself irreverently and perverted her path of life arrogantly to the way of carnal lust and away from poverty and obedience, and, having broken her vows and discarded the religious habit she now wanders at large to the notorious peril to her soul and to the scandal of all of her order'. Advertisement Archbishop Melton continued: 'I a cunning, nefarious manner having turned her back on decency and the good of religion, seduced by indecency, she involved herself irreverently and perverted her path of life arrogantly to the way of carnal lust and away from poverty and obedience, and, having broken her vows and discarded the religious habit, she now wanders at large to the notorious peril to her soul and to the scandal of all of her order.' The texts recorded the unfolding of the events but did not include any information as to if the scandal was ever resolved. 'Unfortunately, and this is really frustrating, we don't know the outcome of the case,' said Professor Rees Jones. 'There are quite a lot of cases of monks and nuns who left their religious house. We don't always get the full detail or know what the outcome was.' The ruse was foiled by the Archbishop of the time who ordered her to return to her life of 'poverty and obedience' and abandon her newly-adopted 'way of carnal lust'. It remains unknown if the nun returned to the institute or continued her renegade life of freedom, in what researchers called a 'frustrating outcome' WHAT WAS BRITAIN LIKE IN THE 14TH CENTURY? During the 14th Century, Britain was in the depths of the Dark Ages. Child mortality was high, up to a third of all children did not survive past the age of five due to illness, disease and poor medical knowledge. Up to 20 per cent of women would die during child birth or because of post-birth infections. If a person survived a risky childhood and lived in a time without war, the average life expectancy peaked at around 40-45 years of age. The House of Plantagenet were the royals that oversaw the entire century; from Charles III through to the deposition of Richard II in 1399. In the middle of the century, a four year span between 1347 to 1351 saw one of the worst pandemics of all time - The Black Death. It killed an estimated 200 million people - between 30 and 60 per cent of the total European population. The Oriental rat flea was infected with the Yersinia pestis bacterium which spread the plague through the dirty streets and villages that were so popular during this era as hygiene and germs were not understood. As well as one of the worst cases of diseases in human history which killed millions of people, scores of people perished due to a lack of food thanks to The Great Famine which spanned from 1315 to 1317. Poor weather conditions saw a terrible yield of grains and caused a Europe-wide food shortage. Starvation accounted for millions of death and a rise in crime, cannibalism and infanticide during this time. If childbirth, diseases, plague or starvation didn't cause a premature death many people met their end in a more violent manner as conflicts were commonplace. The Hundred Years' War (which lasted 116 years from 1337 to 1453) was a series of conflicts waged between the kingdoms of England and France over the 'rightful' succession to the French throne. In 1381, the working-class people snapped back at the affluent rulers in the 'Great Rising' or the 'Peasants revolt' in which 1,500 rebels died in protest against poor living conditions and increasing taxes. Advertisement The comical charade of the promiscuous nun was described by professor Sarah Rees Jones, director for medieval studies at York University and lead researcher of the project, as 'extraordinary like a Monty Python sketch' (file photo) Researchers hope to translate the contents of all 16 books and make their contents available online in a bid to learn more about the church during the middle ages. Archbishop Melton is an intriguing character that the investigators want to learn more about as he spearheaded an army of priests and members of the public in a battle against the Scots in 1319, only a year after the saga with Joan of Leeds. Officials in the employ of the archbishop would carry the large sheets of parchment and reveal a turbulent time as the religious community recoiled from the outbreak of the Black Death. Priests at this time often read last rites to the infected and often became afflicted themselves, making the profession one of the most dangerous in the UK at the time. Professor Rees Jones said: 'Because so many priests had died, there weren't enough people trained in Latin, so delivering sermons in English had to be adopted as the new status quo. 'The registers may shed new light on what it was like to live through this period and will perhaps give us a sense of how the church reasserted its authority after such catastrophic events.' Rising popularity of 'broadcast' and video app Tik Tok is being blamed by a child protection charity for an increase in the sexual exploitation of youngsters online. Barnado's has warned of 'sophisticated groomers' who contact children using the apps' live comment functions and engage them in sexual behaviour. The charity also reported that the youngest users of its specialist online sexual exploitation support service are now eight-years-old, compared to 10 in past years. Scroll down for video Rising popularity of 'broadcast' and video app Tik Tok is being blamed by a child protection charity for an increase in the sexual exploitation of youngsters online. Barnado's has warned of 'sophisticated groomers' who contact children using the apps' live comment functions Live streaming sites like TikTok often have an age limit of 13 and some also require parental guidance for those under 18. But a YouGov poll conducted on behalf of the charity last year showed that many children are live streaming underage. The survey found that nearly 60 per cent of 12-year-olds and a quarter of those aged 10 had live streamed using apps with a 13-year-old restriction. Almost a quarter of 10 to 16 year-olds also said they or a friend regretted posting live content on apps and websites. Barnado's also cited a case of a 14-year-old using dating apps made for adults and sending explicit pictures and videos to respondents who 'targed' her online. Her activity led the teenager to her meeting someone online and having underage sex. TikTok lets users create and share short singing and dancing videos that are set to well-known songs. It's owners bought Musical.ly and merged the two apps. The Beijing based company behind the app has more than 500 million active users and is now worth more than 58 billion Most children who uses the app film themselves lip-syncing to chart hits. It offers users a raft if colourful modification and editing tools including overlaying music, sound, animated stickers, filters and augmented reality (AR) for creating short videos. Barnardos Chief Executive Javed Khan said: 'Without the right security settings, children broadcasting live video of themselves over the internet could be targeted by abusers in their bedrooms. 'Its vital that parents get to know and understand the technology their children are using and make sure they have appropriate security settings in place. 'We are also calling for a legal duty on technology companies to prevent children being harmed online.' Leaders are speaking far more simply and with more confidence than they did four score and seven years ago. Donald Trump's speech has accelerated that trend. A new study says Trump talks less analytically, and more confidently, than all past U.S. presidents. Psychologists at the University of Texas and Princeton University used a computer language program to study nearly 3 million texts going back to 1789, using speeches by leaders in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia, along with general stories in books and newspapers, movie subtitles and cable news transcripts. According to a new study, leaders are speaking more simply and with more confidence than they did four score and seven years ago. Donald Trump's speech has accelerated the trend. The study says Trump talks less analytically, and more confidently, than all past U.S. presidents Trump's speeches, debates and documents scored the highest among presidents on a scale that tries to measure confidence in language, more than twice that of low man William Henry Harrison. He ranks last in speaking analytically, scoring less than half of leader John Quincy Adams and substantially below recent presidents such as George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Kayla Jordan, a psychology researcher at the University of Texas and lead author of the study, said the nature of leaders' communication began to change around the time of Woodrow Wilson, when radio and then other mass media began to emerge and when the voting population expanded to women, minorities and young people. There's nothing wrong with being simple, she said: 'You want everyone to understand what you're saying.' The study is in Monday's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Jordan said the team looked at how leaders spoke, not at what they said. The study looked at all sorts of utterances - but not tweets - including presidential debates in part to try to minimize the effects of professional speechwriters and get more 'off the cuff' speech, Jordan said. They examined articles and prepositions - such as 'the' and 'of' as signs of more analytical thinking, because often those words signal a phrase that explains things. Personal pronouns and adjectives - 'I'' and 'beautiful' - are rated less analytical. Words like 'we' and 'you,' are rated more confident, while tentative and negative words, like 'not,' ''would' or 'should,' are rated as less confident, Jordan said. ATTITUDES TOWARD POLITICAL TRUTH VARY BY COUNTRY Australians care more about the truth from their politicians than people in other countries, scientists have found. Since the election of Donald Trump it has been claimed that we have entered a post-truth world and the findings of a new study say this is true, but only for the US. Experts from the University of Bristol asked 450 participant to taken part in an online test. They were shown statements made by Bill Shorten, then leader of the left-wing Labor party opposition, and Malcolm Turnbull, who was leader of the right-wing Liberal party and Prime Minister of the country at the time. Some volunteers were shown videos with equal amounts of speeches with both factually inaccurate and true statements. Others were shown an assortment of talks where the majority were false statements. Researchers then asked them about their opinions following the experience and how they felt about both the politicians and their voting intentions. They were then presented with a series of statements as well as fact-checking evidence and asked the same questions again. Advertisement A computerized system developed by one of the study's authors called Linguistic Inquiry Word Count spits out a score for analytics and complexity. 'We understand that Trump is very different in a lot of other metrics. We're focused on these two and in these two he's not outside of the norm,' Jordan said. 'This isn't capturing his intelligence or other traits.' Trump so far has averaged a 44 on a 1 to 100 scale for analytical thinking. The average presidential score was 90. Every president but Trump and Barack Obama scored over 70. John Quincy Adams topped the chart just a shade under 99. Trump hit an all-time low of 16 for analytic speech in a December 2015 debate. Before Wilson, a former president of Princeton, the average presidential analytical score was 97.7. Since then it's has been 79.5. Obama's 69 was almost 13 points below George W. Bush. When it comes to speaking with confidence, or what the researchers also call clout, Trump tops all the presidents with an 89 rating, far above the average of 64. Only four presidents averaged more than 80 on clout and they are all relatively recent: Trump's 89, Lyndon Johnson and Obama's 81 and George W. Bush's 80. 'The more simple a message is, the easier it is to be clear and certain about it. Complex messages don't lend themselves to high levels of certainty,' said Pennsylvania State University communications professor Mary Stuckey, who wsasn't part of the study. 'So as messages simplify certainty will go up.' Stuckey, who is editor of the Quarterly Journal of Speech, said the study was consistent with other, similar research, but that style of speech is only one component of political language. 'It does a good job of measuring what it does,' she said. Jennifer Mercieca, a professor of political rhetoric at Texas A&M University who wasn't part of the study was skeptical of the way that system scored. She doesn't think the study's system takes into account seemingly contradictory and even ironic statements Trump makes. Chaired by Pope Tawadros II, the Council held its sixth meeting since it was founded in 2013. Its goals include interfaith dialogue and greater Christian presence in politics and society. The fight against terrorism and constructive dialogue have had a positive feedback in terms of tolerance. Cairo (AsiaNews) The Council of Churches of Egypt held a meeting marking the sixth anniversary of its founding. For Fr Rafic Greiche, spokesman for the Egyptian Catholic Church, it was an "important" and "positive" event for Christians and their Churches, boosting "their unity of purpose in pastoral outreach" and interaction "with the Muslim majority and the government", underscoring the need to "speak and act with one voice". "Of course, six years are a still short period of time to gain experience and relevance, Fr Rafic told AsiaNews; however, the path undertaken is positive and, calmly, results will follow." Last Saturday, the Council of Churches held its annual conference on the theme "that all be one". Pope Tawadros II chaired the meeting, which saw the presence of the Coptic Catholic Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac, the leader of the evangelical community Rev Andrea Zaki, Episcopal Church President Archbishop Mounir Hanna, and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theodoros II, as well as delegates and dignitaries of their respective Churches. The Council, which met for the first time on 18 February 2013, seeks to foster interfaith dialogue and promote a single Christian voice on the most important political and social issues whilst safeguarding each members independence. In the closing statement, which was sent to AsiaNews for wider circulation, Christian leaders expressed their appreciation for President al-Sisi's efforts to uphold the principles of "equality, citizenship and coexistence". The inauguration of a new mosque and of the Cathedral of the Nativity were part of this. Christian leaders praised the governments efforts against terrorism and its law enforcement action as well as economic and social policies. The Council, which backs social peace and constructive dialogue between people within a framework of tolerance, also urged Christians to actively participate with their Muslim brothers in building a modern state. It goes on to say that it will continue to fulfill its mission in cooperation with Churches" and "spread the spirit of tolerance, love and unity". At the same time, it plans to "contribute to the growth and progress of Egyptian society and prepare new generations to serve their Church and the country." Christians, especially Orthodox Copts, are a substantial minority, about 10 per cent, out of a population of almost 95 million people, Between 2016 and 2017, it saw a wave of bloody attacks, with the Christian community itself targeted. Given the situation, the authorities tighten security around places of worship at holidays. But during the last Coptic Christmas, an imam thwarted an attack against Christians in an eastern suburb of Cairo. Theres no getting away from it the housing market is hard to read and worryingly tricky in places. Most surveys show prices roughly static, others reveal big falls in the number of buyers and predict yet more uncertainty ahead as a result of Brexit. With just 16 weeks until Christmas, anyone selling or buying needs to be poised for action this autumn and, most of all, well-informed. Wow factor: Its easier to sell an appealing home in uncertain times So whats going on in the marketplace? SELLERS: The number of properties on sale in England and Wales is up 10.3 per cent in a year, says home.co.uk, a website that monitors transactions. So make your home stand out from the crowd by sticking to the golden rules de-clutter, finish odd jobs, maximise wow factor inside and out, and most of all be realistic on the asking price. BUYERS: The market is softening with average UK asking prices 2.3 per cent lower (thats 7,000 for the typical home) now than in July, says Rightmove. In London, the falls are bigger at 3.1 per cent. Agencies everywhere are relaunching properties that didnt sell over the summer, so watch for bargains. Homes linger longer on sale at this time of year (up to 72 days on average in northern England or 67 days in Greater London), so sellers may be more willing to accept lower offers as autumn progresses. FIRST-TIMERS: Contrary to popular belief, first-time buyer numbers are at their highest since 2008 and in recent months have accounted for 51 per cent of all purchasers. The average UK deposit of 33,127 (or 114,952 in London) remains an obstacle, says the Halifax. High living: Six-storey Signature Mill is a new conversion near Manchester city centre. Theres 24-hour security for the 78 one and two-bedroom apartments But those who can buy should do so, to take advantage of deals which may not last for much longer. At the moment, for example, first-timers buying homes under 500,000 pay no stamp duty on the first 300,000. Meanwhile, over 80 per cent of people using Help To Buy where the Government lends up to 20 per cent of the price of a new home, meaning the purchaser has to find only five per cent deposit are canny first-timers. DOWNSIZERS: They still have advantages, mainly that theyre usually cash buyers so are popular with sellers, who often choose them above purchasers relying on uncertain mortgages. But high stamp duty and escalating moving costs, plus a shortage of purpose-built retirement flats and houses, can be deterrents for older movers. Waterside abode: This one-bedroom flat on the first floor of a modern canal-side development is part of the Help to Buy scheme. Near Leighton Buzzard railway station Many would-be downsizers choose Equity Release instead, allowing them to remain in their home, but enjoy some of the capital its built up. Owners aged 55-plus took 971million out of their homes this way between April and June a third more than during the same period in 2017. LANDLORDS: Government bids to level the playing field between landlords and first-time buyers in particular means buy-to-let properties now attract an extra three per cent stamp duty and there are far fewer tax breaks than in the past. Even so, the investment remains popular. You have to choose carefully to get the highest yields the proportion of the price of the property that you get back in rent over a year. Sunny spot: In semi-rural Thatcham, this two-bedroom cottage has exposed beams in the sitting room and white wood window shutters A league table from Simple Landlord insurance puts Durham at the top at 11.3 per cent; Warwick at 10.3 per cent and Manchester at 8.5 per cent. TENANTS: High demand and limited supply of homes to let means one thing rents are likely to rise in many places. Even so, lettings agency Hamptons International says rents across the UK rose a mere 0.2 per cent in the past year and in London they actually fell 1.6 per cent. At least some tenants have more choice: as well as buy-to-lets, many cities have purpose-built, build-to-rent blocks. These often have high-quality interiors and repair teams located on site, but do charge higher rents in return. Landlords are achieving attractive rentals yields of almost seven per cent on average in the East Midlands, new figures suggest. It has prompted landlords in the area to stick with their property investments rather than follow the national trend of selling up, according to lender Paragon Bank. It comes despite a number of tax and regulatory changes that has prompted some landlords to consider whether it is worthwhile continuing with their investments. This three-bedroom house in Glenfield, Leicester, is for sale for 145k via estate agents Spectrum Residential The survey by Paragon asked 680 landlords about their property investments and found that those in the East and West Midlands are still picking up new rental properties. A total of 13 per cent have bought properties in the East Midlands during the past month, compares to 11 per cent who have sold. In the West Midlands, the figures are 11 per cent and 10 per cent respectively, which also results in a positive net change. All other regions in the country saw more landlords sell properties than purchase them, with central London seeing the biggest negative net change at 16 per cent. This stems from two per cent of landlords buying in the capital during the past three months compared to 18 per cent who sold. The survey also found that landlords in the East Midlands are doing particularly well with relatively lower house prices helping to generate impressive average yields of 6.7 per cent. Those in the West Midlands are achieving typical yields of 6.2 per cent. Demand for rental properties in the Midlands remains high amid strong economic growth in the area, according to Pargagon. It says a thriving higher education sector and the regeneration of Birmingham, which has brought in big financial firms such as Deutsche Bank and HSBC, have boosted the area. Paragon declined to provide its exact methodology, but a basic rental yield calculation involves taking the annual rent collected and dividing this by the value of the property, before multiplying this number by 100. It means properties with lower values can produce higher rents, and the average value of a property in the East Midlands is 217,847, compared to 309,538 for Britain, according to property website Zoopla. This three-bedroom end of terrace house has an asking price of 165k and is available to buy via estate agents William H Brown John Heron, of Paragon Bank, said: 'These findings highlight a big regional difference in landlord experience and buying habits. 'Some central London landlords appear to be scaling back a little while landlords in the Midlands continue to invest on the back of a positive outlook.' It comes after it was revealed that the number of buy-to-let mortgages taken out by landlords buying a new rental property had dropped by 40 per cent since 2015. The decline goes hand-in-hand with tax and regulatory changes for landlords that include the reduction of tax relief on mortgage interest. The three-year decline figures are from UK Finance, which claimed that the full impact has yet to be felt and will continue to bear down on borrowing activity in the buy-to-let purchase market. Further pressure could be put on landlords amid a consultation on long-term tenancies, which could see three-year deals as standard. The lack of flexibility could unnerve some property investors and prompt them to also leave the industry. It follows similar measures already introduced in Scotland. Richard Lambert, of the National Landlords Association, said: 'The last quarter has seen the highest proportion of landlords selling properties in Scotland in any three month period since the Government first announced their tenancy reforms in 2016. 'We warned these changes would unnerve investors in private rented homes in Scotland, and it should serve as a clear sign of what to expect if similar reforms are introduced elsewhere in the UK.' Homeowners in London's wealthier borough are can be nearly twice as likely to have their planning applications approved than those living in cheaper boroughs, new findings suggest. The City of London, which has an average property price of over 800,000, has been found to be the London borough where planning applications are most likely to be given the green light, online architectural platform group Resi.co.uk said. A massive 95 per cent of project there are approved. Between January to March this year, 92 per cent of planning applications in Southwark were approved, while in well-heeled Richmond-upon-Thames 88 per cent were given the go-ahead. Map view: This map shows London boroughs and their planning approval rates At the other end of the scale, in Hillingdon, where average property prices are around 452,000, only 50 per cent of planning applications were given the green light over the period. Enfield and Barking and Dagenham had similarly low approval rates hovering below the 60 per cent mark. Alex Depledge, chief executive and co-founder of Resit, said: 'Planning applications are becoming a postcode lottery. Councils are under a great deal of pressure, not just as a result of funding cuts, but also from nimbys looking to block developments in their own area.' The figures come amid a cocktail of problems facing Britain's housing market, local councils and residents fed up with ever-expanding developments. London boroughs where planning applications are MOST likely to be approved 1. City of London - 95% 2. Southwark - 92% 3. Richmond - 88% 4. Westminster - 88% 5. Camden - 86% 6. Wandsworth - 86% 7. Croydon - 82% 8. Haringey - 82% 9. Merton - 81% 10. Waltham - 80% Advertisement London boroughs where planning applications are LEAST likely to be approved 1. Hillingson - 50% 2. Enfield - 53% 3. Barking and Dagenham - 53% 4. Redbridge - 61% 5. Harrow - 64% 6. Greenwich - 64% 7. Bromley - 64% 8. Lambeth - 65% 9. Newham - 66% 10. Kingston Upon Thames - 66% Advertisement The government is pushing ahead with plans to boost housebuilding levels across the country. Meanwhile councils claim they are facing budget cuts across the board and are often under-resourced to deal with the volume of planning applications coming in. Resi's findings suggest: 'The discrepancies across London boroughs could come down to the fact that councils across the UK, including the capital, have had their funding cut, with more cuts expected in the future. 'A lack of funding could be adding to strain on council services, including planning departments. Lucky: Wealthy homeowners in Richmond are likely to have their planning applications approved 'This could mean that when faced with more complex applications there is less time and resource to dedicate to the case and therefore the application is more likely to be denied.' Nick Stockley, Lead Designer & co-founder of Resi, said: 'The planning system feels broken in many London areas. 'Thanks to an imposed 8 week deadline, those councils without the resources to manage the level of planning applications coming in feel pressured to turn decisions around quickly. 'They dont have the time to liaise with the homeowners planning agent, whereas wealthier councils are able to help their applicants make changes that ensure plans go through first time. Postcode lottery: Whether or not your planning application will be approved can depend on where you live 'Its a self-defeating exercise, as homeowners who get rejected first time will simply come back again and again, until approval is given. Adding more work to a local authority unable to cope. 'This not only slows down the development in the area, but wastes money funding this maddening process.' Earlier this year, it was revealed that millions of households across England were being slapped with the biggest council tax hikes for 14 years in 2018. Properties in the popular Band D council tax category saw their bills rise by 5.1 per cent or 81 to 1,671, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government revealed. The hikes came as councils claimed they were facing spiraling social care costs, meaning the majority opted to levy an average additional 30 charge. Property hunters are increasingly searching for homes by the coast when looking to move away from big cities, according to new data from Zoopla. More and more city-dwelling Britons from London, Liverpool, Cardiff and Edinburgh, are searching for property on the coast with seaside destinations such as Margate, Angus, Swansea and Skegness proving to be some of the most highly sought-after options. Zoopla looked at property searches over the past 12 months and found that residents in nearly half of Britain's top 10 largest cities are looking at properties in seaside towns, either to buy or daydream over. This 7-bedroom terrace in Margate is going for 450k - just 150 feet away from the beach Top of the list for those in London is Margate, Kent - dubbed 'Shoreditch-on-Sea' - having benefited from the Dreamland reopening in 2015, the property hotspot continues to prove popular. It could be that Londoners are looking at what they may get for their money, with the typical home there nearly a quarter of that in the capital. WHERE IS THE COUNTRY LOOKING FOR PROPERTY? City of search origin Average Property Price Most Searched for area outside city Average Property Price London 804,500 Margate 231,506 Birmingham 175,035 Droitwich 287,364 Manchester 169,608 Wallasey 145,382 Liverpool 47,588 Skegness 168,010 Leeds 187,260 Bradford 132,524 Bristol 263,259 Bath 424,464 Cardiff 133,208 Swansea 173,763 Edinburgh 180,749 Angus 156,251 Glasgow 114,195 Lesmahagow 121,407 Newcastle 139,020 Peterlee 97,149 Sheffield 182,993 Pontefract 150,597 Elsewhere, Liverpudlians are most looking to relocate east to the holiday resort of Skegness, while those in Cardiff are looking west to Swansea. Further north, residents of Edinburgh are also considering a coastal move north to Angus in Scotland and those in Newcastle, south to Peterlee. Returning to the capital, movers in London looking to stay within the city want to move to the suburbs of Wimbledon or Docklands. Meanwhile, Brummies want to relocate to Droitwich or Stratford-upon-Avon. However, those looking at property within their existing city are focussing on Northfield, Erdington or Selly Oak. Mancunions and Liverpudlians - following Skegness and Warrington - are both considering a move west to Wallasey, on the Wirral. Meanwhile, those in Leeds are most keen to emigrate west to Bradford or Halifax. In Scotland, aside from an escape to the coast, househunters in Edinburgh are looking to move out to quieter Dunfermline and Leven, or further afield to Aberdeen. This detached house is going for 799,950 - sitting just 500 yards from Langland Bay, Swansea Lawrence Hall, spokesperson for Zoopla, said: 'This analysis paints an interesting picture of where in the country people are searching for property. 'In particular, it's interesting to see how the data indicates that many city-dwellers are keen to escape to the coast. 'It perhaps comes as little surprise that many people living in Britain's busiest cities are looking for a slower pace of life in the suburbs or countryside.' What's on offer in Margate, Skegness and Swansea? Margate Seven-bed terrace, 450k Three-bed detached, 500k Skegness Four-bed detached, 575k Six-bed detached, 475k Swansea Five-bed detached, 800k Four-bed detached, 495k An ultra-Orthadox Jewish grandmother has given birth to her 20th child in Jerusalem - but she still has a way to go before she beats the Guinness World Record. The unnamed 42-year-old was rushed to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem after going into labour on Wednesday. Nurses were left open-mouthed when the unassuming woman revealed she was already a mother to 20 and this was her 19th pregnancy. The grandmother has spent a total of 14 years of her life expecting and has given birth 19 times, including to one set of twins. An ultra-Orthadox Jewish grandmother has given birth to her 20th child in Jerusalem - but she still has a way to go before she beats the Guinness World Record (stock image) But she still has a long way to go if she wishes to beat the current world record which is held by an 18th century Russian peasant woman. The wife of Feodor Vassilyev (b. 1707c1782), a peasant from Shuya, Russia gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets. However this Jewish grandmother is giving her a run for her money, having already spent 14 years of her life pregnant. Speaking to hospital staff, she admitted her eldest children were now beginning to start families of their own. Midwife Aliza Altmark told The Times of Israel the woman in preparation for the birth when the mother revealed that she already had 19 children including one set of twins from 18 previous births. The unnamed 42-year-old was rushed to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem (above) after going into labour on Wednesday Altmark said the mother was calm and relaxed and the labor took a few hours, longer than the woman's previous births. 'She was very excited about every birth, every child, even the 19th and the 20th,' Altmark told the newspaper. 'It also gave me a good feeling. She has sons- and daughters-in-law, and of course she has a lot of help at home.' The hospital said the baby boy was born naturally and without complications. The most prolific mother according to the Guinness World Record website was Mrs. Vassilyeva, an 18th-century Russian peasant woman who produced 69 children. During 27 labors the Vassilyeva gave birth to a remarkable 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets. Fresh footage has emerged showing African migrants landing on a beach in broad daylight as stunned tourists look on. In the latest video, this time recorded in the beauty spot of Agrigento in Sicily, dozens can be seen clambering out of a small vessel and running up the beach before disappearing. An onlooker described the scene as like a 'D-Day style landing' or a military exercise. But in reality they were just some of the estimated 3,000 men who have sailed from Tunisia to Europe in the past two months in search of a better life. Fresh footage has emerged showing more African migrants arriving on tourist beaches as stunned holidaymakers look on It is the latest in a series of clips captured across the Mediterranean this summer which show migrants arriving on beaches in the middle of the day. In this video, the figures can be seen fleeing the small vessel after an estimated 125-mile trip before running up the beach and disappearing into the woods. Claudio Lombardo, the head of the Mareamico environmental group captured the moment on Wednesday morning. He said: 'In the past these boats came at night. When they came at night, all you saw was the abandoned boat on the beach the next day and the people were nowhere to be found, and that's why we called them ghost boats.' The latest video, recorded in Agrigento, Sicily on Wednesday, shows migrants abandoning a small vessel before paddling through shallow waters and running up the beach Scenes like this have become increasingly common with summer with the beaches on Italy's southern islands becoming a preferred landing spot for those coming from North Africa. People smugglers have changed their tactic, sending migrants over in the middle of the day instead of the night in a bid to miss officials. As departures from Libyan slowed up, boats from neighbouring Tunisia have picked up with their main route landing on secluded - but touristy - Sicilian beaches while tourists are out sunbathing. A police source said some 3,000 migrants, mostly men, have come from the North Africa country in the past two months, with between 1,500 - 1,800 landing on the south coast of Sicily. The rest have managed to land on the smaller islands of Lampedusa or Linosa. The island has already had an influx of 10,000 migrants from Libya in the last two months. Scenes like this have become increasingly common with summer with the beaches on Italy's southern islands becoming a preferred landing spot for those coming from North Africa Those who reached the smaller islands have almost all been identified by police, while between 20 to 40 percent of those who made it to Sicily vanished without trace, the official said. Almost all are Tunisians, and some had already been expelled from Italy in the past, the investigator said The 50 filmed by Lombardo were captured climbing up into the dry hills beyond the beach and headed inland, discarding T-shirts and shoes. 'They have a kit with them, which is a bag with a change of clothes, and bottles of water and milk,' Lombardo said. 'Within 30 minutes, they disappear. They're gone.' Police pick up many found walking along roads, the investigator said. On Thursday, one young Tunisian man was killed by a car in a hit-and-run near Agrigento. While some of the boats are big enough to make the more than 125-mile crossing from Tunisia, some are very small, raising questions about how they got there. 'We have not excluded the existence of mother ships,' the investigator said, referring to large fishing boats used in the past to ferry migrants close to the coast before putting them onto smaller boats for the last leg of the voyage.' This is the moment a drug dealer was arrested while sitting on the loo as police raided his home in Peru. The accused, identified as Jose Spencer Bilbao Rivers, was apprehended by police while he was sitting relieving himself in a small white bucket. Police had raided his home in the capital city of Lima, Peru, where they discovered large quantities of Class A drug cocaine. This is the moment a drug dealer was arrested while sitting on the loo as police raided his home in Peru The man, who is known by the alias Old Toad, 39, was discovered on the first floor of his home. He claimed that he was suffering from diarrhoea and did not know there were drugs being prepared for sale in his property. The man pleaded ignorance despite the fact that police had been recording him allegedly selling drugs. Cops claim he was preparing bags of cocaine on the ground floor and only fled upstairs when he heard them breaking in. Police had obtained a search warrant for the premises. At first, the accused denied that the drugs belonged to him, then he admitted to only selling what is left over from his personal use. He then finally admitted that he has been selling it for several months but claimed that for each bag he makes little more than 4.2 PEN (1 GBP). It is not known what exact charges the man is facing. The top Democrat on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee on Sunday criticized the administration of former President Barack Obama for not taking earlier and tougher action against Russia for its alleged hacks aimed at swaying the Nov. 8 election for Donald Trump. 'The Obama administration should have done a lot more when it became clear that not only was Russia intervening, but it was being directed at the highest levels of the Kremlin,' said Representative Adam Schiff on CNN's 'State of the Union' program. The Obama administration imposed sanctions in December on two Russian intelligence agencies over their alleged involvement in hacking political groups during the election, but those sanctions were too little, too late, Schiff said. Scroll down for video Adam Schiff said the Obama administration 'should have done a lot more' when it realised that Russia was intervening in the elections from the highest levels of the Kremlin Schiff and his Senate counterpart, Dianne Feinstein, issued an unusual public statement in September condemning Russia for the alleged hacks. 'We had to vet that with the intelligence community, but we took that step because we weren't succeeding in getting the administration to do it itself,' Schiff said. Schiff said that the Obama administration 'should have done a lot more' when it became clear that was Russia intervening and it was being directed at the highest levels of the Kremlin Donald Trump lashed out at his predecessor today, saying Barack Obama knew about Russia's election meddling but sat on his hands because he hoped it would benefit his party's presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton. And he asked for an apology from Democrats who have accused him of conspiring with Vladimir Putin's regime to swing the White House contest in his favor. 'The reason that President Obama did NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling is that he expected Clinton would win and did not want to "rock the boat",' the president wrote on Twitter. Donald Trump lashed out at Barack Obama, saying he knew about Russia's election meddling but did nothing because he hoped it would benefit Hillary Clinton. Leakers have claimed Obama knew that Putin had ordered election hacks, but he failed to act because he thought Hillary Clinton would win anyway. But amid confidence that Clinton still had the election in the bag and worries over Obama himself being seen as manipulating the election, the administration delivered warnings to Moscow but left countermeasures until after the vote. Chinese rescuers scoured through rocks today in a frantic search for more than 140 people feared buried after a landslide smashed through a mountain village in southwest Sichuan province. A couple and a baby were rescued and taken to hospital after more than 40 homes in the village of Xinmo were swallowed by huge boulders when the side of a mountain collapsed, according to the Maoxian county government. At least 141 people and 46 homes were buried, the People's Daily said, citing a Maoxian county government spokesman. The landslide blocked a two kilometre (one mile) stretch of river and 1.6 kilometre of road. Chinese rescuers scoured through rocks in a frantic search for more than 140 people feared buried after a landslide smashed through a mountain village in Sichuan province Rescuers used ropes to move a massive rock while dozens of others searched the rubble for survivors, according to videos posted by the Maoxian government on its Weibo social media account. Bulldozers and heavy diggers were also deployed to remove boulders, the images showed. Medics were seen treating a woman on a road. Wang Yongbo, one of the local officials in charge of rescue efforts, said the vital signs of one of the survivors 'are weak'. 'It's the biggest landslide in this area since the Wenchuan earthquake,' he said, referring to the disaster that killed 87,000 people in 2008 in a town in Sichuan. Scroll down for video. At least 141 people and 46 homes were buried, the People's Daily said, citing a Maoxian county government spokesman. The landslide blocked a 2km stretch of river and 1.6 kilometre of road Local police captain Chen Tiebo said the heavy rains that hit the region in recent days had triggered the landslide. 'There are several tonnes of rock,' he told the state broadcaster CCTV. 'It's a seismic area here. There's not a lot of vegetation,' Chen said. Some 40 homes in the village of Xinmo were swallowed by huge boulders after the side of a mountain collapsed, blocking a two kilometre (one mile) stretch of river Trees can help absorb excess rain and prevent landslides. Some 500 people were taking part in rescue efforts, according to CCTV. An emergency response 'to the first class catastrophic geological disaster' is under way, the local government's statement said, adding that the full extent of the landslide was at yet unclear. A report from the state news agency Xinhua said that the landslide came from a high part of a mountain in the Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Aba had collapsed. The landslide struck the village at around 0600 am local time (2200 GMT). President Xi Jinping called for rescuers to 'spare no effort' in their search for survivors, according to CCTV. A couple and a baby were rescued and taken to hospital after more than 40 homes in the village of Xinmo were swallowed by huge boulders when the side of a mountain collapsed China's national weather observatory said more heavy rain was expected in parts of Sichuan and other southwestern provinces. Landslides are a frequent danger in rural and mountainous parts of China, particularly at times of heavy rains. At least 12 people were killed in January when a landslide crushed a hotel in central Hubei province. A report from the state news agency Xinhua said that the landslide came from a high part of a mountain in the Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Aba had collapsed In October landslides battered eastern China in the wake of torrential rains brought by Typhoon Megi, causing widespread damage and killing at least eight. More than 70 were killed by a landslide in the southern commercial hub of Shenzhen in December 2015, caused by the improper storage of waste. One of the deadliest landslides took place in 1991, when 216 were killed in southwestern Yunnan province. A man who depicted Tayyip Erdogan as the 'Lord of the Rings' character Gollum was convicted of insulting the president on Thursday and warned he faced a year in jail if he committed another crime, the Hurriyet newspaper reported. A court in the southwestern province of Antalya sentenced Rifat Cetin - who likened Erdogan on social media to the 'small, slimy creature' immortalised in J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novels - to a year in jail, suspended for five years. Under Turkish law, the offence is punishable by up to four years in prison. Prosecutors have accused more than 1,800 people, including cartoonists and a former Miss Turkey, of insulting Erdogan, who has dominated - and polarised - Turkish politics for a decade and a half. Rifat Cetin likened Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan as the 'Lord of the Rings' character Gollum in a Facebook post in 2014 The court also stripped Cetin of his parental custody rights, Hurriyet said, without giving details. A court official declined to comment on the case when contacted by Reuters. Cetin posted an image on Facebook in 2014 in which he combined three pictures of Erdogan with Gollum, the newspaper said. Cetin told another newspaper, daily BirGun, he planned to appeal the verdict given that Erdogan was not president, but prime minister, at the time the image was posted. Cetin likened Erdogan on social media to the 'small, slimy creature' immortalised in J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novels Gollum appears in Tolkien's tale 'The Hobbit' and his 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, which have been turned into blockbuster movies. The creature is portrayed as both an antagonist of Tolkien's heroes, the hobbits Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, and a victim of the most powerful of the trilogy's eponymous rings, which has twisted his mind and body. Prince Salman will arrive in India on February 19 on his maiden trip to the country. Defence, trade and energy security are expected to be high on the agenda when Mohammed bin Salman holds talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (File Photo) New Delhi: Defence, trade and energy security are expected to be high on the agenda when Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman holds talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his two-day visit to India next week. Accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising ministers, senior officials and leading Saudi businessmen, Prince Salman will arrive India on February 19 on his maiden trip to the country, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement here. During the visit, the Crown Prince will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on wide range of issues of mutual interest. He will also call on President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu. The visit by Prince Salman, who is also the vice president of Saudi Arabia's council of ministers, follows the highly successful trip of Prime Minister Modi to that country in April 2016, during which the two sides agreed to further elevate existing strategic partnership, the MEA said. In recent years, there has been significant progress in bilateral cooperation in key areas of mutual interest, including energy security, trade and investment, infrastructure, defence and security, it said. The bilateral trade was USD 27.48 billion during the last financial year 2017-18, making Saudi Arabia India's fourth largest trading partner. Saudi Arabia contributes significantly to India's energy security needs by supplying about 20 per cent of crude requirements of the country. Recently, Saudi ARAMCO in partnership with ADNOC of the UAE entered into a Joint Venture for USD 44-billion worth Ratnagiri Refinery and Petro-Chemical project Ltd. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also facilitates Hajj pilgrimage to over 1,75,000 Indians every year. Cardinal George Pell refutes allegations that he attempted to bribe a victim of pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale. David Ridsdale, the nephew of Australia's worst pedophile priest, said at a royal commission hearing into child sex abuse on Wednesday that he told Cardinal Pell in 1993 about the abuse at the hands of his uncle. However, Cardinal Pell, who is a family friend, released a statement later that evening, denying that such a conversation ever took place and expresses his regret for the misunderstanding between the pair. Scroll down for video Cardinal George Pell (pictured) allegedly bribed the nephew of Australia's worst paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale Mr Ridsdale told the inquiry that Cardinal Pell asked him: 'I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.' Mr Ridsdale said Cardinal Pell then started talking about his growing family and that he may soon have to buy a car or house. He said his response was 'f*** you George and everything you stand for'. Cardinal Pell said the matter required an immediate response as it was important to correct the record, particularly given 'the false and misleading headlines.' 'At no time did I attempt to bribe David Ridsdale or his family or offer any financial inducements for him to be silent,' the statement said. 'At the time of our discussion the police were already aware of allegations against Gerald Ridsdale and were investigating. Then, and now, I supported these police investigations.' 'I was and remain extremely sympathetic to David Ridsdale who because of his uncle suffered horrible abuse,' he said. 'I continue to regret the misunderstanding between us.' The royal commission uncovered church documents that reveal Cardinal Pell helped move Ridsdale between parishes at the height of his reign of terror. But Cardinal Pell inisted that he never moved Ridsdale anywhere. 'I would never have condoned or participated in a decision to transfer Gerard Ridsdale in the knowledge that he had abused children, and I did not do so," he said. David Ridsdale (pictured) said at the royal commission on Wednessay that he told Cardinal Pell over the phone in 1993 that his uncle abused him from a young age Cardinal Pell allegedly said to David Risdale : 'I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet' when he told him that he was abused by his uncle Gerard Risdale (left) After he hung up, Mr Ridsdale said he told his sisters about the phone conversation. 'I remember saying to both my sisters: `the bastard just tried to bribe me',' Mr Ridsdale told the royal commission hearing in Ballarat. 'I have never stated that Pell offered me anything specific or tangible in our conversation, only that his attempts to direct the conversation down a particular path made me extremely suspicious of his motivations and what he was insinuating.' Following this phone conversation, Mr Ridsdale decided to phone the Bentleigh police station, the ABC reported. 'They said someone would return my call ... about an hour later, the police returned my call and said: "Are you aware your uncle was to be charged later today?",' he said. He said he told the police he wasn't aware and then he to the station for a long and 'ultra-specific' interview about his traumatic childhood ordeal. The following day, Gerald Ridsdale was charged with indecently assaulting David Ridsdale and several other boys. Commission chair Justice Peter McClellan says Cardinal Pell will be required to make a statement about the allegations. Church counsel Peter Gray SC said Cardinal Pell has publicly and repeatedly said his recollection of the conversation with Mr Ridsdale is quite different. Justice McClellan said he expected the commissioners would make a finding about what Cardinal Pell was told. Mr Ridsdale said Cardinal Pell (pictured) started talking about his growing family and that he may soon have to buy a car or house Mr Ridsdale described the years of abuse that began when he was 11 years old at a parishioner's farm in Edenhope during the school holidays. He said from that point on his uncle 'took every opportunity to initiate sexual interaction with me' up until he was 15 years old. He then went onto explain the the 'charismatic' priest was deemed the 'shining light' on his father's side of the family. 'As a priest, Gerald held an almost supernatural level of power in our family and exerted a great deal of control over the family,' he said. 'He was treated as being better than his siblings and took almost full advantage of his exalted status.' David (pictured) said his response to Cardinal Pell was 'f*** you George and everything you stand for' Another abuse victim, BAV, told the commission that after he had been abused by Ridsdale in a bedroom at the Ballarat presbytery, Cardinal Pell, who also lived there, arrived home. 'I saw the back of Father Pell but did not know if he saw me and Father Ridsdale or not,' BAV said. Cardinal Pell has previously denied Mr Green told him about the abuse, after the claims were made in the media. Cardinal Pell said in 2002: ' At a distance of 28 years, I have no recollection of any such conversation. If I was approached and thought the stories plausible I would have informed the Christian Brothers. ' Dowlan , 65, was in March ordered to serve at least three years of a six-year prison sentence for indecently assaulting 20 boys under his care at Victorian schools in the 1970s and 1980s. The royal commission uncovered church documents that reveal Cardinal Pell helped move Ridsdale (pictured) between parishes at the height of his reign of terror Cardinal Pell has been mentioned at the commission this week by several witnesses who claim he knew about the widespread abuse in Ballarat while he was a priest in the city in the 1970s. One abuse victim told the commission Pell ignored him and walked out after being told a Christian Brother was molesting children. Timothy Green, 53, said he told then Father Pell that Brother Edward Vernon Dowlan was abusing boys at Ballarat's St Patrick's College in late 1974. 'I said Brother Dowlan is touching little boys,' Mr Green said on Wednesday. 'Father Pell said `don't be ridiculous' and walked out.' Mr Green, who said he was 12 or 13 when he told Cardinal Pell, was himself a victim of Dowlan . 'Father Pell didn't ask any questions. He didn't say what do you mean or how could you say that,' he said. 'He just dismissed it and walked out. 'His reaction gave me the impression that he knew about Brother Dowlan but couldn't or wouldn't do anything about it.' 'I remember saying to both my sisters: `the bastard just tried to bribe me',' Mr Ridsdale told the royal commission hearing in Ballarat The former Archbishop of Melbourne, who is now based in The Vatican where he oversees the Catholic Churchs finances, was involved in at least one decision to move the pervert priest, the inquiry heard. Then Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns knew Ridsdale had abused boys 'so he was taken out of there' and again moved to another parish, the abuse royal commission heard on the opening day of three weeks of hearings in the city devastated by decades of abuse. Cardinal Pell supported Ridsdale at his first court appearance on child sex offences in 1993, but he has repeatedly denied knowing that any children at all were abused in Ballarat parish when he was working there. Senior counsel assisting the commission Gail Furness SC said relocating Ridsdale from a Ballarat parish was discussed at a meeting of the bishop's advisers - the College of Consultors - in September 1982, where Cardinal Pell was present. The meeting minutes say the bishop advised it had become necessary for Ridsdale to move from Mortlake parish, but do not disclose what reasons Bishop Mulkearns gave. 'There will be evidence that Bishop Mulkearns knew it was because Ridsdale had abused boys in Mortlake, and that he had offended in this manner in 1975,' Ms Furness said. 'I remember saying to both my sisters: `the bastard just tried to bribe me',' Mr Ridsdale told the royal commission hearing in Ballarat Cardinal Pell has been mentioned at the commission this week by several witnesses who claim he knew about the widespread abuse in Ballarat while he was a priest in the city in the 1970s Ridsdale will give evidence via videolink from jail during the three-week Ballarat hearing, while a nephew he abused will be one of 17 victims testifying. It was not until June 1988 that Ridsdale was suspended for 12 months, 13 years after the Bishop Mulkearns first knew that he was sexually abusing boys he met during his work as a priest. Ridsdale had been at nine parishes and other church locations during that time and abused more than 50 children, Ms Furness said. In May 1993 Ridsdale was charged on summons with 30 counts of indecent assault against nine boys between 1974 and 1980. He was found guilty and sentenced to 12 months jail. After he was found guilty, he was almost immediately put on trial again for the sexual abuse of 20 boys and one girl. He was found guilty of 46 charges and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment with a minimum of 15 years to be served cumulatively with the previous sentence. In 2006, Ridsdale pleaded guilty to 35 charges relating to indecent assault against 10 boys. In 2013, he pleaded guilty to 29 new charges after being charged with 84 offences. It should be a photograph filled with happy childhood memories, but instead it tells the tragedy of a community torn apart by horrific child abuse. The picture shows the 1973 Grade 4 class of St Alipius Christian Brothers School in Ballarat. In the second row from the front, standing fourth from the right with his head tilted is Philip Nagle. As he looks at the image today, instead of bringing a smile to his face, it only stirs up feelings of sorrow and rage, as he claims 12 out of the 33 pupils pictured went on to commit suicide because of the sexual and physical abuse that took place at the school. Scroll down for video Philip Nagle (circled) claims 12 out of the 33 of pupils in the photograph went on to commit suicide because of the sexual abuse that took place at the school But Mr Nagle believes that what happened to his dead classmates will not be forgotten. The 50-year-old was the first person called on Tuesday at the opening of the Royal Commission on Institutional Child Sex Abuse a paedophile ring involving Catholic clergy in Ballarat in the 1960s, '70s and '80s. At the end of his testimony he asked for a minute's silence to honour his 12 fellow classmates. His only hope now is that more people will go public about the heinous crimes that took place at St Alipius so that justice can still be done. If more of my classmates come forward, the less of them will commit suicide (in the future). Because the ones not coming forward are the ones who are killing themselves. Twelve in my class committed suicide, Mr Nagle told Daily Mail Australia. Mr Nagle said that some did it indirectly after years of alcoholism and drug use, because they couldn't deal with what was done to them. Mr Nagle, 50, was the first person called on Tuesday at the opening of the Royal Commission on Institutional Child Sex Abuse Some of them didnt even make it to 50 years of age, some didnt even make it to 40. They reach a breaking point and can't handle it anymore,' he says. Some of Australia's most notorious abusers, including Gerald Ridsdale, Robert Best and Edward Dowlan, were part of a paedophile ring operating at St Alipius and St Patrick's College. Mr Nagle, 50, was repeatedly sexually assaulted by disgraced Stephen Farrell who was a Christian Brother at the school. He was our teacher at the time. Because Risdale and others were such serial offenders the likes of Farrell flew under the radar,' he told Daily Mail Australia. Gerald Ridsdale was part of a paedophile ring operating at St Alipius and St Patrick's College Only three victims of Farrell have come forward myself, my brother and another victim. From this he has 10 convictions. But because the likes of Risdale and Best had many victims who came forward and Farrell didn't, he got off lightly.' Farrell didnt even go to jail. He was given a two years and three months suspended sentence for his offences. 'The likes of Ridsdale got much more because his offences were so bad and more people came forward. But Farrell was part of the paedophile ring too,' says Mr Nagle. He knows other victims of Farrell but he was warned by the police not to go victim hunting and is not allowed to name them. Ridsdale was jailed on paedophile charges in 1994 for molesting children between 1967 and 1987 Ive spoken to a few of them but theyre not ready to do anything about it, he says. What he had to endure at St Alipius is branded into his psyche. Nothing can erase the horrific ordeal he had to go through at the hands of Farrell. 'He was too strong for me. I was just a nine-year-old boy. Hed just get you alone, wrestle you down and sexually assault you,' Mr Nagle told Daily Mail Australia. Youve got to realise we were just little kids and they were full grown adults, so we had no chance. They were supposedly men of God in their black robes. Priests and Christian Brothers were held in higher esteem that your parents back in those days, they were beyond reproach. It all happened over a 12-month period. We were terrified. It ruined our lives. Gordon Hill told the inquiry he was taken to the St Joseph's Home in Ballarat in 1946 and was initially abused by a priest when only five years old He is still devastated that Farrell didnt go to jail, and believes that suspended sentences for these types of crime are just unacceptable. His comments came as Gordon Hill, 72, told the inquiry on Wednesday he was taken to the St Joseph's Home in Ballarat as a three-year-old in the 1946, and was initially abused by a priest at age five, in a place called 'the horror rooms'. But Nagle's struggle for justice still goes on. I dont know what the inquiry will achieve unless they start getting some of these perpetrators to take the stand, but I was very happy with the process,' he says. Two teenage boys reportedly stabbed a third to death after arguing about their mobile phones - then killed four girl pals they were with so they couldn't tell police about the murder. Sergey Burkaev, 16, and Konstantin Surkov, 17, are said to have raped their last victim before slitting her throat. The vodka-fuelled duo doused all five bodies in petrol and set them alight at a flat in south-west Russia, according to prosecutors. Scroll down for video Accused of murder and rape: Sergey Burkaev, 16 (left) and Konstantin Surkov, 17, could be jailed for life Slain at a party: Russian police released pixellated images of some of the victims, who were aged 16 to 22 The baby-faced pair apparently fled in a stolen car but were arrested by traffic officers, who saw the vehicle being driven erratically. If convicted, Surkov and Burkaev face life in jail. The police who quizzed them say both teenagers have confessed to the murders and rape. The only reason they have given for the carnage was that they were drunk, the officers added. The horrific crimes reportedly took place at a house party in the small town of Kumertau in Bashkortostan on Friday night. A friend of party-goers - 17-year-old Svetlana Frolova - said: 'I just can't believe this has happened. They were all so friendly with each other and always hanging out together. 'I had been invited (to the party) too, and had really wanted to go, but my mum said I had to stay in to do my homework. I'm so glad I did. I can't understand why they did this.' Arrested: One of the youths is told to lean face down on a police car after being stopped in a 'stolen' vehicle Boozed-up Surkov and Burkaev are said to have accused fellow party guest Sidor Fokine, 22, of stealing their mobile phones. When he denied it, they flew into a rage and pulled out their knives. Then they knifed him in front of the other guests - who were all female. But they feared that the young women would identify them as the killers. So they knifed them too, including 16-year-old Maria Sorokina, in whose flat they were partying, and her 17-year-old friend Anastasia Selezneva. Scene of carnage: Police officers at the apartment block in Kumertau where five young people were killed The other victims were aged 21 and 22. Anastasia was the last to be murdered - and she was raped before her brutal death. The five bodies were set on fire in the apartment. A police spokesman said of Surkov and Burkaev: 'They were apprehended while trying to escape in a stolen car. They were covered in blood and still drunk. It was an accident, we had a fight: Girlfriend arrested after chilling note is found next to police officer's body Tiniko Thompson, 46, is alleged to have killed her boyfriend Carl Patrick, 53, Mr Patrick was a 25-year veteran of the Miami police force Officers found his body under burned bedding in his Florida home They also found a note in the kitchen saying 'It was an accident...' Ms Thompson has appeared in court on second-degree murder charges She claims that Mr P atrick shot himself but a medical examiner said his injuries were not consistent with that assertion Police rev eal that they found another note in her car similar to the one left Suspect: Tiniko Thompson, 46, is alleged to have killed her boyfriend Carl Patrick, 53, a Miami police officer in his Pembroke Pines, Florida home on May 9 The girlfriend of a Miami police officer who was found shot to death in his home has been arrested. Tiniko Thompson, 46, is alleged to have killed her boyfriend Carl Patrick, 53, in his Pembroke Pines, Florida home on May 9. Police officers found a chilling note along with the body, reading, 'It was an accident, we had a fight.' According to officers, Mr Patricks' body was found earlier this month in his bedroom under burned bedding. They described the scene as being 'consistent with something being lit on fire' and reveal he was still dressed in his police uniform. Mr Patrick's former girlfriend, Ms Thompson has been arrested in connection with the murder, according to police. She made her first appearance in court on Thursday on second-degree murder charges. Ms Thompson is alleged to have killed Mr Patrick and left him to die at home while he fled the scene stealing his mobile phone and fleeing. Two days later, her mother reported her to the police after she threatened to commit suicide. It was then that Patrick's body was discovered in his Pembroke Pines home. When officers examined the house, they found a note in the kitchen that read, 'It was an accident, we had a fight.' However, it is not clear how Mr Patrick would have been able to shoot himself. The medical examiner determined that the bullet-wound didn't match up with how he would have shot a gun at himself, as he would have used his right-hand to fire the gun. Ms Thompson said she had left the scene and went to live in her car for the next several days. But police said that they found another note in her vehicle like the one found in the kitchen, which told how she was too scared to call police after what happened. According to a medial examiner, Mr Patrick's life could have been saved if he had received immediate medical attention. His death has been ruled a murder (homicide.) Arrested: Ms Thompson said that Mr Patrick had shot himself - she described him as abusive and said that she was scared of him Five Saudi men sentenced to 32 years in prison and 4,500 lashes for holding a Valentines Day party with unrelated women, drinking and dancing The men were arrested by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice All five have admitted to the charges of illicit seclusion with unrelated women, dancing and drinking A judge will decide the fate of the six women caught with the men Five Saudi men have been sentenced to 32 years in prison and 4,500 lashes by a criminal court in Saudi Arabia - for holding a Valentine's Day party. The law breaking men were caught at a rented rest house in the Al-Farouq area of Buraidah Qassim province and accused of holding a party with women who were unrelated to them, drinking and dancing. Police from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice ( CPVPV ) rounded up the men with the help of security patrols for their offences along with six women on February 14 . Banned: Saudi men were banned from using camera phones for a time over fears that men would use them to secretly photograph women and publish them on the Internet without the consent of the subjects The men have all admitted to the charges, which include illicit seclusion with unrelated women, dancing and drinking. A judge will decide the fate of the six women. The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice is the Saudi Arabian government's agency's religious police or mutaween (meaning pious) to enforce Sharia Law within the Islamic nation. Altogether, it has 3,500 to 4,000 police officers who enforce a strict religious code among citizens. Members patrol the streets checking dress code, strict separation of men and women, salat prayer by Muslims during prayer times, and other behavior it believes to be commanded by Islam. The mutaween ( CPVPV ) are known for having full beards and wearing their headscarves (ghutrah or shemagh) loose without an agal and often come from Saudi Arabia's lower classes. The body has widespread powers to detain and berate offenders and shut down businesses an d are employed directly by the King. The organization's 2013 budget was the equivalent of US$390million. In a separate case, Raif Badawi , a Saudi blogger recently fell foul of the authorities and faces ten years in jail, a thousand lashes and a million riyal fine for 'insulting Islam'. Mr Badawi' was arrested in June 2012 and charged with cyber crime and disobeying his father - a crime in Saudi Arabia - in relation to his Saudi Liberal Network website.. The site included articles that were critical of senior religious figures such as Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti, according to Human Rights Watch. He had originally faced seven years in jail and 600 lashes, but an appeal court overturned that sentence and ordered a retrial. Amnesty International called the new sentence 'outrageous' and said Badawi is a 'prisoner of conscience'. His website has been closed since his first trial. King Abdullah: The King employs a religious police to enforce behaviour that goes against strict Islamic rule and this has even hit bloggers like Raif Badawi, right, who faces ten years in jail for insulting Islam Citizens of Saudi Arabia are constantly encouraged to inform on others who break the law. Punishment for many offenses is severe, often involving beatings and humiliation and foreigners are not excluded from arrest. THE STRICT SHARIA LAW THAT MUST NOT BE BROKEN IN SAUDI ARABIA T he government-backed mutaween patrol the country to ensure that laws are upheld: T hey prevent the population from engaging in 'frivolous' Western customs such as Valentine's Day They ensure that drugs including alcohol are not being traded They check that women wear the abaya, a traditional all-enveloping black cloak They make sure that men and women who are spotted together in public are related They ensure women do not smoke in public A ban on camera phones was enacted in 2004 but later overturned that same year Middle East ally: David Cameron receives a, honour from King Abdullah. Human Rights Watch says Saudi Arabia, a staunch ally of the West in the Middle East, has a long history of suppressing free expression Philip Luther, director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at Amnesty International, urged Saudi authorities to quash blogger Badawi's conviction. 'The decision to sentence Raif Badawi to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes is outrageous,' he said. Man who shot his wife to death in front of their children in a crowded park found dead after Florida manhunt Mr Paris, 54, died from a single self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head He had been on the run since Wednesday for killing his wife in Florida His wife Liza, 34, called police just hours before her death The couple had been separated for a month before the murder Dead: Police were searching for Julian Paris, 54, who allegedly shot dead his wife at a crowded park in Florida The dead body of a man wanted by police in Florida for allegedly murdering his wife in front of their kids has been found. Julian Paris, 54, was wanted by police after he callously shot his wife Liza Nicole Adderly, 34, dead at Dr. Phillips Community Park in Orlando in front of their three children. However, Orange County officers confirmed that Mr Paris had been found dead by family members from a self-inflected gunshot wound, next to his late son's grave at Woodlawn Cemetery. Mr Paris had been on the run since May 7 after investigators said he fatally shot his wife at 4.20pm in broad daylight. Ms Adderly had taken her three children to a play date with another family when Paris showed up, officers said. He then shot and killed his wife in front of their shocked children who were standing next to their mother and are aged four, 13 and 15. Eyewitnesses said the suspect fled from the park in a white Kia Spectra compact hatchback, with the Florida number plate K259IV. The couples three children watched as their dad sped away from the parking lot wearing a red fedora and red T-shirt, according to a witness. Shocked onlookers along with the couple's children were among the first to dial 911 for emergency services to get help after the horror at the park unfolded. Murder scene: Police were searching for a Florida man who brazenly shot his wife to death at a crowded park in Orlando but he was later found dead Sheriffs spokesman Jeff Williamson said: 'It shows how brazen he was to come here in broad daylight and shoot this woman in broad daylight in front of multiple witnesses, including juveniles.' 'I think it says a lot about the person and the crime itself. Its heinous,' he added. Mr Paris had several aliases, but his given name was Rick Adderly, according to his family. The couple had a history of domestic abuse and officers were called out to an incident between the pair two hours before Mrs Adderly was killed. On Wednesday, the 34-year-old mother of three was shoved by Mr Paris during a meeting at his job as an irrigation worker, according to the Orange County Sheriffs Office. Ms Adderly was so distraught that she went back to her car, screaming for help, say police officers. She was shot to death just a few hours later. Orange County police officers launched a widespread manhunt for the 54-year-old but his daughter found him dead at 7.20p.m. on May 8. Investigators are still trying to determine why he killed himself. In happier times: Rick Adderly (also known as Julian Paris), his wife Liza Nicole Adderly and their children pose together in a group shot at the beach Police line: Julian Paris, 54, had fled the park in a white Kia Spectra watched by his three kids After more than 16 years of marriage, the couple separated a month before the killing. Relatives said that the graveside where Mr Paris was found dead belonged to their 17-year-old son - who was their eldest - but had been hit by a car and killed in January 2012. Jane Watrel of the Orange County Sheriff's Office said: ' You all know that he was going through a separation, but we do not know why he took this extreme drastic measure. 'We got the call around 7:25 p.m [from] family who called saying they found the body of Mr Paris at his son's grave.' The tragic couple married in 1998, when she was 18 and her husband 38. Deputies are still looking for the deceased man's car. Adrianna Adderlini, 23, a relative through marriage told The Orlando Sentinel: 'This is very surprising because they've been so good after the death of their son just holding their family strong.' Skipping, folk dancing and coming face-to-face with the Terracotta Army: Michelle Obama continues Chinese charm offensive while criticising Beijing at same time for lack of internet freedom U.S. First lady has bought her own brand of U.S. diplomacy to China She has been seen folk dancing, skipping rope and talking with Chinese officials The First Lady visited key cultural sites such as the site of the Terracotta Army and Great wall of China She briefly talked about politics - urging for more internet freedom for citizens But she avoided deeper political issues during her tour of China Advertisement U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama kept up her charm offensive in China by visiting the site of the terracotta warriors but briefly talked about politics calling on the Chinese government to open up the internet to all of its citizens. The First Lady, along with daughters Sasha 12, and Malia 15, watched a folk dance by local performers during her visit to the City Wall, in Xi'an, Shaanxi province and later joined in by dancing and skipping rope, much to the delight of her Chinese hosts. The family also came face-to-face with Chinas terracotta warriors on Monday on a week-long tour of several major sites while the First Lady carefully skirted political issues. Scroll down for video First mother: U.S. first lady Michelle Obama (C) hugs her daughters Malia (L) and Sasha (R) as they watch a folk dance by performers during her visit to the City Wall, in Xi'an, Shaanxi province Performance art: U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama (C) dances with folk performers as she visits the City Wall, in Xi'an, Shaanxi province Skipping: First Lady Michelle Obama (Center) shows off her skills as she skips while Chinese dignitaries and children applaud during a visit to the Xi'an City Wall Dancing: U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama (C) dances with folk performers as she visits the City Wall, in Xi'an, Shaanxi province Mrs Obama and her daughters stood in one of the largest pits at the site of the Teracotta army which is located outside Xian, in the northern province of Shaanxi to view the stunning ancient statues while a guide showed them around. The site houses 8,000 life-size warriors left by China's first emperor Qin Shi Huang who reigned in the 3rd century BC, a hugely popular tourist attraction that saw five million visitors last year. Since her arrival in Beijing on Thursday night Mrs Obama has focused on talking about soft issues. Enthusiastic guest: Mrs Obama, along with her daughters, throws herself into the occasion during the visit to the Xian City Wall Educating: The First Lady posed with schoolchildren during the trip. She is officially in China to help promote education and has widely steered clear of controversial issues Ancient: US First Lady Michelle Obama (L) and daughters Sasha (C) and Maila (R) look at the Terracotta Warriors in China's central Shaanxi province of Xian Monument: U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama (centre R) and daughter Sasha (C) are told about the history of the incredible Terracotta Warriors History: The First Lady listens intently as she is told about the Terracotta Warriors Fashion forward: Mrs Obama looked to have co-ordinated her wardrobe with that of her eldest daughter with both she and Malia sporting black skinny trousers and wearing their hair in loose curls Speaking to a mixture of 200 Chinese and American students, Mrs Obama spent much of her speech promoting the values of study-abroad programs. However, she was also keen to praise the power of the internet for its ability to spread freedom. She did not mention issues about censorship or the fact that the Chinese government blocks social-media sites like Twitter and Facebook. China has developed its own brand of social media sites like Weibo or Weixin which are extremely popular, in the absence of any other social media platforms. Mrs Obama also warned that a government should not shield itself from criticism. She said: Thats how we decide which values and ideas we think are bestby questioning and debating them vigorously, by listening to all sides of the argument and by judging for ourselves. Lesson: The family were told of the history of the The Terracotta Army or the 'Terracotta Warriors and Horses', a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China Up close: The family and their tour guides get up close to the world famous statues as their tour guide shows them around the historic site Educational visit: Mrs Obama, her mother and her two young daughters looked relaxed and were dressed casually as they made their way around the ancient models And believe me, I know how this can be a messy and frustrating process. My husband and I are on the receiving end of plenty of questioning and criticism from our media and our fellow citizens, and its not always easy but we wouldnt trade it for anything in the world. Because time and time again, we have seen that countries are stronger and more prosperous when the voices and opinions of all citizens can be heard, she said. While Ms Obamas trip has been largely successful, on Sunday, her motorcade was met with jeers from t wo people outside the U.S. embassy in Beijing. Police and men in grey sweatshirts hurried to subdue the protestors, and it was unclear why they were shouting. In addition to her trips to see the Terracotta army, Mrs Obama and her daughters strolled along the Great Wall of China to the north of the capital to view another breathtaking Chinese monument. Vendors at the tourist site appeared to have removed T-shirts that are typically on sale showing President Obama in a Mao hat, with one merchant revealing a boxful of the souvenirs stored in the back of her tent. CHINA'S TERRACOTTA ARMY: THE ANCIENT WARRIORS WHO CAME BACK TO LIFE FROM 3 BC The Terracotta Army or the 'Terracotta Warriors and Horses', is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210209 BC and whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife. The figures, dating from around the late third century BC, were discovered in 1974 by local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi province. The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses. Three pits containing the Terracotta Army hold over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried in the pits chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried in the pits near by Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum. Other terracotta non-military figures were also found in other pits and they include officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians. The Terracotta Army was discovered on 29 March 1974 to the east of XiAn in Shaanxi province by a group of farmers when they were digging a water well around one mile east of the Qin Emperor's tomb mound at Mount li (Lishan)a region riddled with underground springs and watercourses. For centuries, there had been occasional reports of pieces of terracotta figures and fragments of the Qin necropolis roofing tiles, bricks, and chunks of masonry having been dug up in the area. Army: Terracotta Soldiers line up in the Museum of Terracotta Warriors at the historic excavation site in china Fascinating history: US First Lady Michelle Obama (C) and daughters Sasha (centre R) and Malia (R) look at the Terracotta Warriors in China's central Shaanxi province of Xian and learn more about their past Fun: Michelle Obama (L) laughs as she visits the Museum of Qin Terracotta Warriors and enjoys spending time with her daughters Sasha and Malia Great wall: US First Lady Michelle Obama (L) walks with her daughters Malia (C) and Sasha (R) during a visit to the Great Wall at Mutianyu, northeast of Beijing, on Strolling: Michelle Obama looks at the wall as she walks with her daughters Malia, front, and Sasha, left, as they climb the steps at the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China in Beijing Exploration: Michelle Obama (C) walks with her daughters Malia (R) and Sasha (bottom) during a visit to the Great Wall at Mutianyu, northeast of Beijing Keeping guard: A Chinese police woman stands guard on the wall as U.S. First lady Michelle Obama and her daughters, Malia and Sasha, visit the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China in Beijing, China Sunday, March 23, 2014 Mystery wolf slayer who leaves the dead animals displayed in Tuscan villages has shot seven of them and STRANGLED one in bizarre vendetta Eight endangered wolves found dead since the beginning of November Killers left carcasses in village piazzas and on the steps of a theatre Sheep farmers thought to be behind the slaughters Decimated sheep flocks have ruined many farmers in the area Since being reintroduced, Tuscany's wolf population has grown to 230 Deaths have sparked a row between conservation groups and local farmers Repopulation: Wolves were reintroduced to Tuscany from the mountains of the Abruzzo in the 1990s, using EU funding Its medieval hilltowns, scorched valleys and free-flowing Chianti have made Tuscany a hit with British expats and tourists. But in recent weeks the peaceful vales have been rocked by a predatory serial killer. Eight endangered native wolves have been found dead since the beginning of November, with three fresh corpses emerging in the last week alone. In an apparently political gesture, the vigilante killer, or killers, have displayed the carcasses where they will be widely seen, in village piazzas, and, in one case, on the steps of a theatre. All but one of the protected animals was shot, while the others were strangled. The slaughters are thought to be the work of an exasperated sheep farmer carrying out a personal vendetta after attacks on his flock. Vet Marco Aloisi, director of a local wildlife recovery centre, said that placing the wolves' bodies on public display appeared to be 'a protest'. Wolves were reintroduced to Tuscany from the mountains of the Abruzzo in the 1990s, using EU funding. MFI furniture millionaire Paul Lister has similar plans to reintroduce wolves to his estate in Alladale, Scotland, despite the fact that they became extinct in the UK in the 17th century. Wolves in Italy have been growing in numbers, as illegal hunting by farmers has become less common, and there are now an estimated 230 in Tuscany. The packs usually live high in the Apennine mountains, but are driven down to farmland by cold weather or when they are unable to find enough prey. In the past two years they have ventured lower than ever before. Wolves were responsible for 1000 attacks on sheep, cattle and horses in 2012, according to official figures. Since then, a surge in the marauding attacks has decimated flocks in the coastal Maremma district. Growing problem: Wolves in Italy have been growing in numbers, as illegal hunting by farmers has become less common, and there are now an estimated 230 in Tuscany Activism: Conservation groups have organised protests, calling for swift justice for those behind the killings In some areas production has halved, bringing farmers to the brink of ruin. Regional projects to limit damage caused by wolves, including traps and specially trained dogs have largely failed. Many sympathise with the farmers' frustration. Local MP Luca Sani, chairman of the Agriculture Committee of the Lower House of Parliament, said: 'Killing wolves is a matter of great concern. However, it would be irresponsible to put our heads in the sand and not recognise that this action is a worrying sign of the exasperation felt by our farmers.' Conservation groups have organised protests, calling for swift justice. James Bottinelli, spokesman for the A law Against Vivisection group in Grosseto, said: 'Anyone who kills an animal is a criminal and must be stopped, but particularly in a case like this, where we are dealing with a serial killer.' Tens of thousands of wild horses face mass slaughter after mustangs breed too fast on the great plains Iconic horse of the American west threatens natural ecosystems Around 37, 000 mustangs roam the US ranges over ten states Another 50,000 held in temporary pastures Officials say populations have hit a 'critical mass' They are an icon of the American West and a symbol of the country's frontier history, but now hundreds of mustang horses face slaughter due to overpopulation. Under existing laws the government pays ranchers to take in thousands of these 'wild' horses a year in order to keep population numbers down. Mustangs are not an indigenous species to America and are known to have an adverse affect on natural ecosystems. The current system of managing these threats has been in place since 1971 but now rising feed costs has resulted in a growing number of American ranchers refusing to take on mustangs. Mustangs are regarded as a symbol of the frontier history of the American West The Government uses helicopters to trap mustangs and thin populations Campaigners say that helicopter herding is cruel and does not distinguish the fit horses from the old and young populations Pregnant mares and young foals are sometimes stampeded across miles and miles of rugged terrain, according to activists Officials have warned that the government's own holding pastures and short-term corrals are themselves reaching over capacity. The result could mean that thousands of this treasured breed will be slaughtered in order to contain overpopulation. Across ten western states in the US an estimated 37,000 wild horses and feral donkeys roam the ranges. Officials say this is 11,000 more than the manageable population, and it is expected that figures will double every four years. There are around 50,000 wild horses and donkeys currently held in temporary pastures, three times the amount held a decade ago. Despite the crisis in overpopulation, and the known effects of wild hoses on natural habitats of other native animals, activists continue to battle with the government over its management of mustangs in particular. To thin the populations of wild herds helicopters are used to chase mustangs into traps. Some campaigners think this is cruel and damaging to a species they think America should be protecting. Suzanne Roy of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign said that pregnant mares and foals are stampeded by helicopters over miles of rugged terrain. 'Helicopter's aren't discerning,' she said. 'They stampede the very old and the very young with the fit.' Authorities have been accused of managing mustangs into extinction. However, only 99 out of the 11,000 gathered from the plains last year died. That's less than 1%. Officials are now beginning to recognise that slaughter might be the only solution to contain the population. Government legislation has been criticised for favouring ranchers who prefer land to be freed of wild horses to make way for cattle Officials estimate that just under 50,000 wild horses are held in temporary pasture There remains a controversy over whether the mustang can be considered an indigenous animal in North America Ms Roy denies this and she questions the wisdom surrounding the belief that America's land cannot support mustang populations. She claims that the legislation is weighted heavily in favour of the ranchers who need the land freed up for cattle. The problem could be better addressed through contraceptive measures using fertility drugs. Tom Gorey, of the Bureau of Land Management, denied that this would provide an adequate alternative. He said: 'Logistically, [contraception] is very hard. It has not been demonstrated to be a magical solution.' The US Congress has recognised the mustang as ' a living symbol of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West.' The first Mustangs descended from Iberian horses brought to Mexico and Florida from Spain during the settlement of North America. Most of these horses were of Andalusian, Arabian and Barb ancestry and were domesticated animals tamed for human use. This has led to a dispute over whterh it is entirely accurate to call the mustang 'wild' since it is the descendent of a domestic breed which is not native to the natural habitat. Native Americans quickly adopted the horse as a primary means of transportation. They were also used in battles, trade, and hunts, particularly bison hunts. Some environmentalist claim that the mustang should be classed as indigenous because there is evidence that horses roamed North America in per-historic times. More than half of all Mustangs in North America are found in Nevada , with other significant populations in Montana, Wyoming and Oregon. The government says that the total manageable population in the wild should be 26,000 a figure that is significantly lower than the reality. 'We are reaching a critical mass,' Tom Gorey added. 'And we don't see any instant solution.' My snakes are so charming - I could cuddle them all day! Man wraps himself in Burmese Pythons This reveler gets a little tied up at celebrations in Manila to mark the coming of the Chinese Year of the Snake. The man is pictured dangerously cavorting with pythons, including the renowned Albino Burmese Python. These constrictors are recognised by their iconic patterned skin, and are a native species in the grassy marshes throughout Southeast Asia. Knot fun: Filipino reveler flirts with danger as he plays with Burmese Pythons Tight spot: The Burmese Pythons are known to grow as long 23 feet and grow girths as large as telephone poles Burmese pythons are among the largest snakes on Earth, and have been known to reach 23 feet or more in length. They can weigh up to 200 pounds with a girths the size of telephone poles. The snakes start their lives mainly as the inhabitants of trees. As they grow into fully fledged adults, however, they become ground-dwellers. They are naturally excellent swimmers, sometimes able to stay under water for as long at 30 minutes. Burmese constrictors feed largely on small mammals and birds. With poor eyesight, they rely on chemical receptors in their tongues and heat sensors in their jaws in order to track their prey. The Democrats and President Donald Trump have been clashing for weeks over funding a wall on the US-Mexico border. US lawmakers have reached an agreement in principle to avoid a new government shutdown. (Photo:AP) Washington: US lawmakers have reached an agreement in principle to avoid a new government shutdown at the end of the week, senators announced Monday, including $1.375 billion for a wall on the southern US border. "We've reached an agreement in principle between us on the Homeland Security and the other six bills," Senator Richard Shelby, a key Republican negotiator, told reporters. Senior congressional aides told AFP the agreement included $1.375 billion in funding for a wall on the US-Mexico border -- a key campaign promise of President Donald Trump, who had demanded $5.7 billion for his pet project. The agreed figure would fund approximately 55 miles (89 kilometers), all to be located in the Rio Grande Valley area of south Texas, the aides said. The deal still faces White House approval. The Democrats and Trump have been clashing for weeks over funding a barrier on the border. The gridlock prompted the longest government shutdown in US history -- lasting over a month -- that ended January 25 when Trump signed into law a deal giving lawmakers three weeks to come up with an agreement, or face further paralysis. As Monday's tentative deal was announced, the president was holding a campaign-style rally in the frontier city of El Paso, Texas -- a place where he claims walls have eradicated an out-of-control influx of criminals from Mexico. Nearly 200 dead and hundreds injured after Syrian airstrike targets people queuing for bread Bodies left piled on the streets among rubble and shrapnel latest reports say hundreds were also wounded in the strike Eye-witness videos show the bloodied bodies of women and children killed More than 100 people were queuing for hours when the air strike occurred Human rights groups accuse military of intentional attacks on civilians Up to 200 people were killed while queuing for bread in Syria yesterday, one of the deadliest air strikes in the country's civil war. Videos showed dozens of blood-stained bodies crumpled in the street among piles of rubble and shrapnel. Hundreds more were injured. "When I got there, I could see piles of bodies all over the ground. There were women and children," said Samer al-Hamawi, an activist in the town of Halfaya, where the strike hit a bakery. "There are also dozens of wounded." Relatives mourn the death of their family members killed in the strikes Rebels hold a funeral service for those killed in the military attacks New York-based Human Rights Watch condemned army air strikes on bakeries earlier this year, arguing that in some incidents the Syrian military was not using enough precision to target rebel sites, and in other instances it may have intentionally hit civilians. Hamawi, who spoke via Skype, uploaded a video of the scene that showed dozens of dust-coated bodies lined up near a pile of rubble by a concrete building, its walls blackened. Halfaya was seized by rebels last week in their 21-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. One video showed a man frantically trying to dig out a moaning woman, drenched in blood and covered by a pile of dirt and debris. Another showed a young boy flailing in the middle of the road. Both of his feet had been blown off in the blast. Hamawi said more than 1,000 people had been queuing at the bakery. Shortages of fuel and flour have made bread production erratic across the country, and people often wait for hours to buy loaves. "We hadn't received flour in around three days so everyone was going to the bakery today, and lots of them were women and children," Hamawi said. "I still don't know yet if my relatives are among the dead.' Rami Abdelrahman, of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said: 'It is still very unclear what the casualties are ... From looking at the videos I expect the death toll to be around or above 50, and not higher than 100. But for now I am keeping my estimate at dozens killed until we have more information." Another activist said residents picking through the bodies were still determining which were wounded and which were dead. Women and children were crying and screaming as some men rushed to the scene with motorbikes and vans to carry away the victims. The video showed a man stopping to pick up half a corpse lying in the street, wrapping it up in his own jacket and carrying it away. Frantic residents were using their bare hands to try to pick through blocks of concrete to reach a pile of bodies beneath them. Looking for someone to hang out with: Parents peg details of their children on a washing line in bid to find them a partner Singletons in China are being hung out to dry by their matchmaking parents, who are advertising details about them on a washing-line in a bid to marry them off. The bizarre dating ritual takes place at People's Park in Shanghai, where parents peg out information about their grown-up sons and daughters in the hope of finding them an eligible life partner. The adverts include details such as their child's age, height, educational background, profession and income. Good on paper: Parents in Shanghai are drawing up laminated adverts to promote their sons and daughters to potential partners Young wives' tales: Parents seeking the daughter-in-law of their dreams will find a selection of potential spouses on display With some of the adverts attached to small packages, it seems some parents find it hard to keep their child's qualities to just one sheet of A4 The typical requirement of a prospective groom is that he be a 'responsible man with stable income' or someone 'who owns an apartment and a car'. Women, meanwhile, are required to be 'kind, have a stable job and preferably hold a bachelor's degree'. The keen parents then scan the dating adverts and chat to other parents in an attempt to match their son or daughter with a potential spouse. Something for the weekend? The matchmaking parents gather on Saturdays and Sundays to survey the city's singletons High expectations: The advertisers generally want wives who are 'kind, have a stable job and preferably hold a bachelor's degree' When it comes to husbands, the ideal candidate is a 'responsible man with stable income' or someone 'who owns an apartment and a car' Narrowing the options: Keen mothers and fathers reckon they can help their child find a life partner by chatting to like-minded parents Vital statistics: The adverts include thoughtful details such as the son or daughter's height, job...and salary One parent, Ma Jianhua, 55, who was attempting to find his son a wife, told China Daily: 'I first came here six months ago after reading about the park's matchmaking activities in the newspaper. 'Since then I have been coming here almost every weekend. On days that I can't make it, my wife steps in for me. 'My son is too busy to date girls, so I am here on his behalf. 'Although my son and I have different tastes, I can at least narrow down some of the girls who meet his requirements, by speaking to the girl's parents. After all, a woman's manner and character are often influenced by their parents. ' Love letters: The parents don't have much to go on, but as one father put it, 'it's a good platform' Well, it's cheaper than a personal ad: The park's green spaces provide an healthy environment for partner-hunting Ma said his 28-year-old son was looking for a caring girl aged between 24 and 26, with a bachelor's degree. He hasn't had any luck so far, as while he has introduced his son to several girls, none have made the cut. He said: 'I will not give up, as a father, I will not feel comfortable if I don't do something for my son. 'I know very well that there are all kinds of people here, but it's a good platform. Nowhere else in the city can you find so many candidates. 'Besides, I believe matchmaking works. Some of the parents I used to see are no longer here. I think they must have found someone.' Stiff competition: The number of singletons may be high, but for these parents, that's an advantage Parents of woman who died when Irish doctors refused to perform abortion meet with Indian government to demand justice Savita Halappanavar, 31, was found to be miscarrying when she was admitted to Galway University Hospital The dentist, who was 17 weeks pregnant, was denied a medical termination, and died from septicaemia on October 28 Indian officials have promised parents Anadappa and Akka Mahadevi Yalgi all possible help Pro-choice campaigners plan mass rallies in Ireland calling for abortion to be legalised A tragic loss: Savita's parents have installed a shrine to her in their home, in accordance with Hindu tradition The parents of an Indian woman who died of blood poisoning after Irish doctors refused her an abortion have met officials to demand justice for their daughter. Savita Halappanavar, 31, was 17 weeks pregnant when she began miscarrying, and died of septicaemia a week later. Her husband Praveen Halappanavar, 34, has told how he begged doctors at Galway University Hospital to terminate the pregnancy, but they refused to do so because she was 'in a Catholic country' and the foetus's heartbeat was still present. The tragedy has provoked soul searching in the Republic of Ireland, where abortion is illegal, as well as considerable anger in some quarters. Campaigners are demanding a change in the law to allow abortion in the case where the mother's life is in danger. Savita's parents Anadappa Yalgi, 62, and his wife Akka Mahadevi Yalgi, 54, met with municipal government officials late on Friday afternoon at the family home in Belgaum, South West India. The grieving couple asked Belgaum's Deputy Commissioner, Anbu Kumar, to help ensure every possible assistance from the Indian government. Mr Kumar said of the encounter: 'I visited the house and offered our government's help where possible.' Seeking justice: Belgaum's deputy commissioner, Anbu Kumar (left) promised Savita's father Anadappa Yalgi all possible help Paying respects: The deputy commissioner paused for a moment of reflection before Savita's shrine Savita's mother, left, had asked her daughter to return to Belgaum to give birth, but Savita felt she would be safer in Ireland A photo of Savita now hangs in the family home covered in a garland, as is traditional in India's Hindu community after the death of a loved one. Echoing comments made by her parents, India's ambassador to Ireland said today that Mrs Halappanavar might still be alive today if she had been treated in India. Debashish Chakravarti told RTE radio that he hoped the Irish government would take steps to ensure the circumstances which led to her death never arose again. Abortion is not illegal in India when the mother's life is at risk, the ambassador noted. Meanwhile Ireland's ambassador to India, Feilim McLaughlin, was officially summoned by the Delhi government on Friday to discuss an inquiry into Mrs Halappanavar's death. Madhusudan Ganapathi, secretary (west) in the external affairs ministry, told the Irish envoy he hoped the inquiry into the tragedy would be independent. He also conveyed the sadness felt by people in India as 'a young life had come to an untimely end'. India's External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said of the tragedy: "Saving the life of the mother is of prime importance, if you can't save the life of the child." Devastated: Praveen Halappanavar (pictured with his wife Savita at their home in Galway) says he watched helplessly as she died from blood poisoning from a miscarriage after doctors refused to perform an abortion Savita Halappanavar, 31, died at Galway University Hospital, where doctors refused to perform a medical termination because she was 'in a Catholic country' and the foetus's heartbeat was still present Mr Halappanavar, Savita's husband, has described how he held her hand as she died. Reliving her final moments, he said: 'In the night, at around one o'clock, the nurse came running, as I was standing outside ICU. 'She just told me to be brave, and she took me near Savita, and she said: Will you be OK to be there, living her last minutes? 'I said: Yes, I want to. I was holding her hand, they were trying to pump her heart, there was a big team around. The doctor just told me they lost her.' Mr Halappanavar, who works as an engineer at Boston Scientific in Galway, came to Ireland from India with his wife four years ago to start a new life together. She had a job in Westport, Co Mayo and the pair lived in Galway city. Public outcry: The tragedy has provoked a huge amount of soul searching in the Republic of Ireland, where campaigners are demanding a change in the law to allow abortions when the mother's life is in danger Happy couple: Savita and her husband Praveen dancing at 2010 Diwali festival in Galway, video from YouTube They were so excited about the expected birth of their first child, which was due on March 20, that they had an early baby shower in recent weeks when Mrs Halappanavars parents were visiting. Pro-choice activists in Ireland have turned to social media networks to organise a mass protest against the country's abortion laws on Saturday. A rally in central Dublin is expected to attract several thousand demonstrators, and follows similar rallies on Thursday night in Belfast and on Friday in Derry. Is this the Michigan Sniper? Far-right activist who bragged about carrying a gun every day is arrested for shooting at TWO DOZEN cars Suspect arrested in Wixom, the Detroit suburb where shootings began Targets in 24 incidents were mostly cars on roads near Interstate 96 Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE Plea: Raulie Casteel, 43, has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of attempted murder on Friday after two dozens cars were shot on a Michigan highway [if gte mso 9]> The man accused of terrifying suburban Detroit, Michigan, for two weeks by shooting at two dozen cars on the highway ranted about far-right-wing politics for months before the attacks. Raulie Wayne Casteel, 43, bragged on his Twitter feed about carrying a handgun everyday and said President Obama should be arrested by the military and 'marched out of the White House in handcuffs.' Police arrested him Sunday night at his home in Wixom, Michigan, near the epicenter of the seemingly random shootings. His mother, who lives in Florida, has she her son is mentally ill and that she had tried and failed to get him help, but she never believed he would resort to violence. Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth called the attacks, which wounded one person, 'domestic terrorism'. He said: 'Why did he do it? I don't know. I don't know if we'll ever know.' Sheriff Wriggelsworth said a tip - one of close to 3,000 that have come in - led authorities to the man's home. He declined to disclose what the suspect told investigators. The shootings began on October 16 and stretched from Oakland County west to Ingham County. The targets in the 24 reported incidents were mostly cars traveling on roads near Interstate 96. Only a handful of shootings actually occurred on the interstate. The crime scene where the shootings took place is 100 miles long and slices through suburbia, shopping malls and farm pastures. Shootings have occurred during the day, at night, on weekdays and on weekends. Police say the shooter would drive along roadways and fire at vehicles traveling in the opposite direction. Only one person was wounded. Scott Arnold, 46, from Kalamazoo, shot in the buttocks as he drove along eastbound I-96 on October 27, heading to a World Series game in Detroit. He was rushed to the hospital, but did not suffer a life-threatening wound. Initial reports of shootings stirred panic. Wixom schools restricted recess and other activities that would take students outdoors. Drivers avoided main thoroughfares where they might be exposed and stuck to side streets. Janice Schumacher, 43, was pumping gas in Wixom when she heard that a suspect was in custody. 'I hope this is the guy,' said the Commerce Township resident who for the past several weeks has been using alternate routes to run personal errands and shuttle her three children to and from school. Stalking ground: The targets in the 24 reported incidents were mostly cars traveling on roads near Interstate 96 (pictured) 'For weeks, I haven't been able to breathe while driving with my kids in the car. If they finally got this guy, that would be a major relief.' Before the arrest, clues appeared to be few - slugs and bullet fragments embedded in cars, metal casings on roadways, a simple black-and-white sketch of the shooter and vague descriptions of the dark car he drove. Michigan State Police Lt Michael Shaw told Mail Online investigators have not been able to determine a motive because Casteel requested a lawyer shortly after his arrested. However, he said, detectives are looking into a possible connection between the shootings and his political posts on Twitter. ' It is something we are looking at as a possible part of the investigation were not sure whether that has any connection with the case or not, but it is something were aware of,' he said. Casteel began making frequent posts about politics on his Twitter account in April. He frequently cited conservative pundits, but other more right-wing sources, as well. Casteel, a married father, said he believed drivers were part of a government conspiracy against him He also talked about 'open carry,' the practice of carrying a non-concealed handgun. 'The 2nd Amend is an absolute - absolutely no compromises - I carry everwhere I go!' he wrote on September 28. He also frequently posted about the need to impeach the President. 'I want the arrest and impeachment of Barack Obamo. I've given the military the option of marching him out of the W.H. in handcuffs,' he wrote October 1. He also said he had purchased a book called 'Hostile Takeover: Resisting Centralized Governments Stranglehold on America' by Tea Party activist William Morrow. Lt Shaw said officers seized a 9mm pistol from Casteel's home. Pistol-caliber bullets were used in the highway shootings, though he could not confirm whether the bullets recovered were fire from Casteel's gun. Lana Hunt, 62, who lives in Florida, told the Detroit Free Press that her son is mentally ill. 'He trusted me, but I could not get him to see a doctor,' she said. Artist's impression: Police arrested the 43-year-old man on suspicion of being the sniper, pictured, who shot at random cars in four Michigan counties in two weeks Advertisement Eight-year-old girl who died 'after being tortured by her father was forced to eat her own faeces when his mistress locked her in toilet' Father and mistress charged with with torturing and imprisoning the girl and her sister Mistress admits to using hot irons to punish girls for being 'disobedient' Couple used metal bars and wires to systematically torture two daughters Police found stun guns and sticks in the flat where the children were abandoned An eight-year-old girl who died after being tortured with stun guns and hot irons was forced to eat her own faeces after her father and his mistress left her to starve in a locked toilet, a Dubai court heard. Wadeema al Sherawi had been deprived of food and was locked up as punishment for being 'naughty' on the night she died - and in desperation, she ate her own waste before vomiting as a result. Her father Hamad Saoud al Sherawi, 29, and his mistress Al Anood al Ameri, 27, have been charged with torturing and imprisoning Wadeema and her seven-year-old sister Mira, killing Wadeema and burying her illegally. A Dubai court heard how a father and his mistress tortured and abused the man's daughters and left them to starve The Emirati couple are said to have beaten the girls with electrical wires and metal bars, poured boiling water on them and burned them with hot irons and cigarettes. A policeman told Dubai Court of First Instance that Wadeema and Mira - who survived the abuse but was left with a permanent disability - were often left unfed and sometimes ate their own faeces. Emirati police officer Essam Obaid, 35, told the court: 'The girl and her younger sister were left unfed in the flat. 'On the night [Wadeema] died, she vomited a lot because she ate her own faeces. 'She and her sister used to eat mouldy food and sometimes their own faeces.' ' They left her until 5am in the toilet and when they went to check on her, she was dead. She vomited because she ate her own excrement.' A second witness in the trial, police corporal Mubarak Ahmed Taleb, 34, said the studio apartment where the couple lived with the two girls was filthy and 'not fit for humans to live in'. He told the court it reeked of stale urine: 'It smelled really bad and was dirty. There was only one bed and the furniture was turned upside down. The girls' clothes stank and there was mess everywhere. 'The fridge was full of food which was out of date. No one could live in it.' He said when his investigation team searched the flat, they found two irons with brown marks on them and said: 'They had used them to burn the girls.' He added they found some of the implements of torture, including metal bars, sticks and stun guns. Al Sherawi and Al Ameri, who have just had a baby boy called Saoud while being held separately in captivity, stood in court while judge Maher Salameh heard the case against them. Al Ameri clutched her sleeping newborn baby to her chest wrapped in a blue checked blanket. The pair were arrested after the girls' uncle visited the flat in International City, Dubai, and was told by Mira of the abuse. Al Sherawi and his mistress have been charged with torturing and imprisoning Wadeema and her seven-year-old sister Mira, and killing and burying Wadeema He initially blamed both of them for Wadeema's death but later changed his story, saying Al Sherawi was 'a great father who loved his children'. Al Sherawi has denied all the charges and only admits burying Wadeema in the desert while his mistress has pleaded guilty to all the allegations. Mr Obaid said today: 'When I questioned Al Anood, she claimed she saw Wadeema vomiting heavily and was very sick that evening so she called Hamad and asked him to come to the flat. 'They left her until 5am in the toilet and when they went to check on her, she was dead. She vomited because she ate her own excrement. 'Al Anood admitted heating the irons and torturing the girls. She said Wadeema was tortured because she did not listen and was disobedient.' The judge said: 'Was there no other way she could teach her children?' Mr Obaid said Al Anood told him they had washed and dressed Wadeema before burying her in the desert. He said he had not interviewed Mira. The little girl gave evidence in court yesterday but after Al Sherawi, who was clean-shaven for the first time in the trial, refused to carry on with proceedings unless reporters were banned, the trial was heard in chambers. Wadeema's body was found in June but was so badly decomposed, forensic experts could not tell how she had died. The girls' natural mother Salma Obaid had to give them up in November 2011 after losing custody and had not seen them for six months when Wadeema died. She married Al Sherawi in 2002 and divorced him in 2006. She previously told the court she tried to convince him to let her see the girls but was forbidden contact with them. A forensics expert said Mira had been lucky not to die from her injuries. The case was adjourned until November 25. Man, 43, arrested in hunt for Michigan sniper who fired at random cars in four counties in two-week campaign of terror Suspect arrested in Wixom, the Detroit suburb where shootings began Targets in 24 incidents were mostly cars on roads near Interstate 96 Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE [if gte mso 9]> A man has been arrested on suspicion of being the sniper who shot at random cars in four Michigan counties in two weeks. The 43-year-old suspect was taken into custody on Monday night in Wixom, the Detroit suburb where the shootings began. Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth called the attacks, which wounded one person, 'domestic terrorism'. He said: 'Why did he do it? I don't know. I don't know if we'll ever know.' Artist's impression: Police arrested the 43-year-old man on suspicion of being the sniper, pictured, who shot at random cars in four Michigan counties in two weeks Sheriff Wriggelsworth said a tip - one of close to 3,000 that have come in - led authorities to the man's home. He declined to disclose what the suspect told investigators. Police said the man drove a vehicle that matched the description of the suspect's car provided by a shooting victim. Authorities also seized potential evidence at his home, detectives said. At least one gun was seized, said Donald Dawkins, Detroit spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. RELATED ARTICLES Previous 1 Next Lawyer slaughters five of his colleagues as his... Gunman who executed two co-workers before killing himself at... Share this article Share The man had not been charged by last night, and it was not clear when charges might be filed. Local and federal authorities were discussing whether the case should be pursued in state court or federal court. Sheriff Wriggelsworth said he wanted federal prosecutors to take the case. The shootings began on October 16 and stretched from Oakland County west to Ingham County. The targets in the 24 reported incidents were mostly cars traveling on roads near Interstate 96. Only a handful of shootings actually occurred on the interstate. Stalking ground: The targets in the 24 reported incidents were mostly cars traveling on roads near Interstate 96 (pictured) Janice Schumacher, 43, was pumping gas in Wixom when she heard that a suspect was in custody. 'I hope this is the guy,' said the Commerce Township resident who for the past several weeks has been using alternate routes to run personal errands and shuttle her three children to and from school 'For weeks, I haven't been able to breathe while driving with my kids in the car. If they finally got this guy, that would be a major relief.' Before the arrest, clues appeared to be few - slugs and bullet fragments embedded in cars, metal casings on roadways, a simple black-and-white sketch of the shooter - a man believed to be in his late 20s or early 30s - and vague descriptions of the dark car he drove. The crime scene where the shootings took place is 100 miles long and slices through suburbia, shopping malls and farm pastures. Shootings have occurred during the day, at night, on weekdays and on weekends. Police say the shooter would drive along roadways and fire at vehicles traveling in the opposite direction. Only one person was wounded. Initial reports of shootings stirred panic. Wixom schools restricted recess and other activities that would take students outdoors. Drivers avoided main thoroughfares where they might be exposed and stuck to side streets. But police have been working hard to maintain calm. In Wixom - where ten shootings have been reported - police had special Halloween patrols to protect trick-or-treaters. From Oakland County, northwest of Detroit, to Shiawassee County, northeast of Lansing, authorities stopped cars resembling the shooter's vehicle. A $102,000 reward was offered. 'I've always felt safe here. But this has been very shocking,' said Karen Adams, 51, who lives one street away from the suspect. Advertisement Teacher duct tapes 11-year-old student's mouth shut for more than a half hour Clarence Williams, a Texas middle school math teacher, allegedly duct-taped his students mouth shut for 30 to 45 minutes Williams has been placed on paid leave for a week while the local school district reviews the incident Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE Devin Ortiz (right) had his mouth and nose taped shut by teacher [if gte mso 9]> A Texas middle school teacher allegedly duct-taped his 11-year-old student's mouth shut for 30 to 45 minutes, making it hard for him to breath. Clarence Williams, of Palo Alto Middle School in Killeen, Texas, has been placed on paid leave for a week while the local school district reviews a report of the incident. School officials did not provide details on what prompted the teacher to allegedly tape the boy's mouth shut on October 23. The incident is just one of thousands of such cases being reported across the US. Ernesto Ortiz, the student's father, is making sure the public hear the family's side. He told a local news channe l that it took the nurse about an hour to remove the tape with ice and Vaseline. Ortiz's son, Devin, said, 'Mr. Williams called me up to the classroom. I said, 'What Happened?' He said, 'It's not what's happening, it's what's gonna happen to you.' So then he grabs out the duct tape and tapes twice across my mouth and then once up here to my nose.' Yesterday it was announced that Tracy Drayton, a physical education teacher in Albany, Geogria., will keep her job after a 30-day unpaid suspension following surveillance footage that shows her slapping a student. The school board's unanimous decision to suspend was in line with a recommendation by Turner Elementary School Principal Gail Solomon, but against the superintendent's suggestion to terminate Drayton, according to WALB. The teacher will be required to attend an anger management course before being sent to another school on probationary reassignment. This is just one of a spate of incidents of teacher physicality across the country. Special education teacher Willie Swindle, named 2011 educator of the year in California's North Bay school district, was recently allowed to teach in the same classroom allegations that he physically struck Santa Rosa High School student Michael Delgado. Swindle reportedly would 'flick,' 'pinch' and 'pull' Delgado's ears. The teacher has denied the allegations. A Palo Alto Middle School where the duct tape incident occurred In Texas, Springtown High School student Taylor Santos received a spanking leaving her bruised and blistered. The process violated the school's corporal punishment policy, which dictates that the teacher giving the paddling must be the same sex as the student. Rather than issuing an apology, the district expanded its policy to allow opposite-sex paddling. Texas is one of 19 states allowing educators to spank students, but 97 of the nation's 100 largest school districts have banned corporal punishment. In recent months 8-year-old special needs child who allegedly suffered physical and mental abuse at the hands of his teacher in Mingo County. The reported cases of disabled children being allegedly abused inside the classrooms are skyrocketing across the nation, with many more falling through the cracks that are not brought to light. In 2010 the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that barred untrained teachers from using restraints or other techniques that could cause physical harm to children. The legislation follows a 2009 report from the General Accounting Office, which found thousands of instances where teachers allegedly injured disabled students by using inappropriate restraining techniques, abusive seclusion or striking the child with their hand or another instrument. GAO investigators found 84,354 instances of nationwide reported abuse in the classroom during the school year of 2010-2011 alone that included reports of inappropriate restraint, seclusion or what was defined by teachers and aids as other means of emergency interventions. Advertisement Hope she knows what she's letting herself in for! Sex-shame DSK takes new partner on vacation Former IMF did not wait long after a recent split with his wife Anne Sinclair The couple have already been seen traveling the Mediterranean Myriam Aouffir is 21 years younger than scandal-hit DSK Disgraced former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been spotted with his new girlfriend at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Myriam Aouffir, 43, is a high-profile press officer for French television. She has already been seen with her new boyfriend on the Mediterranean island of Corsica but now the couple have been pictured lapping up the sun in the holy city. Dominique Strauss-Khan seen with his new partner Myriam Aouffir spotted at Jerusalem's Wailing Wall The couple have been together only a matter of months DSK and his new girlfriend have already been spotted traveling in Corsica In May 2011, Strauss-Khan, 64, was arrested for assaulting a maid at the Sofitel, a midtown Manhattan hotel. Charges were later dropped but it led to revelations about the former IMF chief's sex life, in which he admitted attending swingers' parties. Anne Sinclair, Strauss-Khan's former partner, confirmed she has split from her scandal-hit husband at the end of last month. Ms Sinclair, 64, originally stuck by Mr Strauss-Kahn after he was embroiled in a catalogue of scandals last year. What is she letting herself in for? Disgraced Strauss-Khan's wife left him after a string of sex-scandals But the multi-millionaire heiress finally kicked her husband out of their Paris apartment in June, before immersing herself in a new job running an internet site in the French capital. The new relationship between Strauss-Khan and Ms Aouffir has been high profile even though they have been together less than a year. Like Mr Strauss-Kahn, Myriam Aouffir comes from a Moroccan background, and is also believed to be estranged from her husband, with whom she has two children. Ms Aouffir, who studied at Montpellier University, has been seeing Mr Strauss-Kahn for a number of months, according to close friends of the couple. The hunter becomes the hunted: 'Dead' bear shot with a rifle springs up and attacks its would-be killer Alex Machavo, 22, was attacked and repeatedly bitten by a bear after shooting it Machavo and the animal wrestled down a hill The hunter's injuries did not appear to be life-threatening A hunter has been viciously mauled after a miss-shot failed to kill a bear. Alex Machavo, of Medford, Oregon, was attacked by the injured animal near Shady Cove on Thursday. According to Andrea Carlson, a local sheriff's spokeswoman, t he hunter and his wounded target rolled down a 50-ft embankment with the bear biting 22-year-old Machavo all the way down. Black Bears number about 30,000 in Oregon and are North America's most common bear A second hunter, 24-year-old Nathan Shinn of Phoenix, Oregon, was eventually able to shoot and kill the wounded animal. Responding deputies found Machavo on a forest road and had him rushed to a Medford hospital. Machavo's condition wasn't available but Carlson says his injuries did not appear to be life-threatening. Shinn was unhurt. Carlson says the hunters had a tag that allowed them to shoot the bear legally. Chaos as Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital is evacuated amid mass floods The hospital lost power as Sandy hit and has not had full power since the superstorm struck 150 members of the National Guard took part in the evacuation procedure Millions of gallons had flooded the hospital basement Soldiers and rescue service workers had to carry children and patients to safety The National Guard was called in to help evacuate hundreds of patients and staff from New York's Bellevue Hospital on Wednesday as the flooded medical center in Manhattan struggled to operate while the power outage continued. The public hospital lost power when Hurricane Sandy hit on Monday and electricity was spotty as the facility relied on generators, with members of the Army National Guard hiking up to the hospital's roof with fuel throughout the week to power the generators. A chaotic rescue scene unfolded on Wednesday, as the medical staff carried infants down the stairs and soldiers took patients out on gurneys while the strong odor of fuel filled the air and emergency lights provided intermittent lighting to the rescue crews, according to local media reports. Chaotic: Hundreds of patients and staff were evacuated from Bellevue Hospital as the facility struggled to operate during the power blackout that continued to plague New York City Urgent transfer: The most critical patients were moved to nearby medical centers and other patients were discharged 'It's Katrina-esque in there,' a Bellevue nurse told ABC News about the conditions. One hundred and fifty members of the National Guard assisted in Wednesday's rescue effort to move the most critical patients to nearby medical centers, according to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Millions of gallons of water had flooded into the basement of the hospital, located near the East River on 1st Avenue and 27th Street. Always Ready, Always There: The National Guard was on hand to carry patients out of the flooded medical center in lower Manhattan Bellevue is the second Manhattan hospital forced to evacuate patients in the aftermath of the superstorm. NYU's Langone Medical Center had to move patients because the hospital's backup generators failed to kick in when the building lost electricity as the storm pounded the East Coast on Monday night. This project would be one of the first MW-scale Floating projects in India for the Indian Private sector. Vikram Solar, one of Indias leading module manufacturer and a prominent rooftop solar & EPC solutions provider has bagged the project order for a 1 MW Floating solar plant for Hindustan Zinc Limited. The plant will be located at Ghosunda Dam, Near Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. This would be Vikram Solars 2nd floating solar project after the company gave India its 1st floating solar plant in 2015 (located in Kolkata, West Bengal). This project would be one of the first MW-scale Floating projects in India for the Indian Private sector. The floating plant will contribute to saving water evaporation loss, thus resulting in conservation of water, reduce the development of algae, maintaining cleanliness of the water, and will obviously save land space. The installation will use Vikram Solars 330 Wp 72-cell ELDORA Polycrystalline modules. It is expected to be commissioned by July 2019. The solar plant is expected to have an energy yield of 1993 MWh/Year and would be able to power 1400 Houses/Year. Mr Ravindra Goyal, Head- EPC Sales, Vikram Solar, said on the occasion, We are honoured to be chosen by Hindustan Zinc Limited to execute this project. As a leading solar EPC player, it is our pleasure to once again contribute to the Indian solar revolution in a pioneering way. We congratulate Hindustan Zinc Limited for taking a step towards green energy transition and we look forward to participating in more such innovative projects in the country." Mr Arun Vijayakumar, Director Projects, Hindustan Zinc Limited has expressed, Hindustan Zinc Limited has always contributed to Indian green energy shift and Floating Solar plant is one such initiative. When we decided to take our first step towards an innovative solar installation, we thought it best to award the job to one of the established solution providers. We are hopeful of successful completion of the project by Vikram Solar Limited and we look forward to strengthening our business relation. Vikram Solar is spearheading Indias solar revolution with over 950MW EPC capacity portfolio including Commissioned and Under Execution, Rooftop and Ground-mounted projects. The Company has recently concluded a 130 MW for NTPC at Bhadla (Rajasthan), 80 MW for GIPCL at Charanka (Gujarat), 40 MW for IL&FS at Kachaliya (Madhya Pradesh), and is known for its innovative projects and airport installations. The company has delivered green energy solutions to Government entities such as- NTPC, APGENCO, GIPCL, BEL, BHEL, WBSEDCL, ISRO, IOCL, SBI, and AAI etc. Low politics as congressman is linked to child molester in TV ad put out by rival House Republicans launch TV ad linking Democratic Rep David Cicilline to a child molester, murderer and predator Cicilline worked as a defense lawyer twenty years ago, defending hardened criminals Ad designed to boost GOP hopeful Brendan Doherty, formerly head of state police, as he makes his first run for office What do a child molester, murderer and predator have in common? Democratic Rep David Cicilline, according to House Republicans who this week released a TV ad in Rhode Island linking them. The ad refers to the freshman's time as a lawyer two decades ago when he defended hardened criminals and is designed to boost GOP hopeful Brendan Doherty. Still from the advert linking David Cicilline with child molesters Formerly the head of the state police, Doherty is making his first run for office. The ad echoes an attack at Doherty's own campaign launched last week that shows a photo of Cicilline on-screen alongside the words 'rapists, pedophiles and murderers.' Nationally, Democrats are not expected to win back control of the House in Tuesday's elections. But Cicilline's seat in tiny, liberal-leaning Rhode Island would be a victory for Republicans, who haven't won a House seat representing the state since 1992. The GOP sees this year as their best shot since then, and both national parties have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into TV ads in the final week of the race. Republican congressional candidate Brendan Doherty, left, and incumbent U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., right, participate in a televised debate The NRCC ad is 'one of the harshest ads I've ever seen in Rhode Island politics,' said former Democratic congressman Bob Weygand. He said defense attorneys don't necessarily like their clients, but their job is to defend them, and that shouldn't reflect on them personally. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee called the ad 'the worst kind of gutter politics,' while Cicilline Campaign Manager Eric Hyers said voters deserve a debate on the issues. The Cicilline campaign put out an ad Wednesday focusing on the Republican ads and saying Doherty 'doesn't want to talk about his agenda.' Asked about the fairness of an ad attacking an attorney for defending those charged with crimes, NRCC spokesman Nat Sillin criticized Cicilline for choosing to 'fight for violent criminals' over victims. 'David Cicilline chose to represent convicted child molesters and murders. He chose to make a career out of doing that,' he said. It is 'one of the harshest ads I've ever seen in Rhode Island politics,' former Democratic congressman Bob Weygand told the Washington Post, adding that Cicilline's job shouldn't reflect on him personally. Police task force begins hunt for sniper suspect tied to 22 car shootings in two weeks Police are pursuing a male sniper suspect for nearly two dozen cars shootings in Michigan that began October 16 More than 100 local officers, sheriff's deputies, state troopers and federal agents are involved in the investigation Investigators and state police are pulling over local drivers and questioning them for details Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE [if gte mso 9]> Police are hunting a sniper in Michigan tied to 22 car shootings in two weeks, which have caused one injury so far. A task force of investigators has started questioning drivers in four Michigan counties in hopes of catching a man suspected of shooting at other highway motorists head-on. Police investigators are searching for anything out of the norm during their traffic stops in Oakland, Livingston, Ingham and Shiawassee counties. More than 100 local officers, sheriff's deputies, state troopers and federal agents are now involved in the investigation, which began with reported shootings in Wixom, about 25 miles northwest of Detroit on October 16. Artist's impression: Police arrested the 43-year-old man on suspicion of being the sniper, pictured, who shot at random cars in four Michigan counties in two weeks More than a hundred officers, deputies, state troopers and agents are on the hunt for the shooter A local male was shot in the behind Saturday while heading east along Interstate 96 in Livingston County, causing a nearby school to go into lockdown, according to United Press International . That victim has been the only person injured so far, but the suspect is believed to be shooting at people and not just their vehicles, said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard on Tuesday. 'It's been more of the grace of God than the guy intentionally missing people,' said Bouchard. 'We've had people who have been missed (by) inches. One bullet was lodged in a driver's seat.' 'The suspect is believed to be shooting at vehicles approaching from the opposite direction,' said Michigan State Police lieutenant Michael Shaw. 'Some motorists had not realized that their vehicles had been hit until they had driven a quarter-mile or more,' he said. The investigative task force has received more than 800 tips so far and has increased the reward money for any information that leads to an arrest to $102,000 from $12,000. Witnesses have described the suspect's vehicle as resembling a dark 1998 Oldsmobile Alero or a 1998 Toyota Camry. Those initial descriptions may not be correct, said Shaw. The I-96 Highway where the shootings took place On Monday police stopped the driver of a dark-colored Chevy Cavalier after a woman reported that something hit her car on U.S. 23 near Brighton, Michigan at 9.05am. No arrests have been made. Local officials say it's a must that they catch the suspect not only to protect lives, but also to stop the spread of fear among citizens in the area. 'For Halloween, we are going to do special patrols in each of our subdivisions so kids can have a normal Halloween,' said Clarence Goodlein, Wixom's public safety director. 'We're not going to be in the business of letting a thug and hoodlum bully us and change the course of our lives.' Advertisement 'You're going to heaven tonight': Last words babysitter said to son before stabbing him 100 times and killing girl, 5, and two dogs before fleeing to local church Victims, 5 and 7, stabbed dozens of times in Naperville, Illinois before murderer fled to church Police say babysitter Elzbieta M. Plackowska, 40, killed her son Justin and Olivia Dworakowski and left them in a pool of blood Two dogs were also found slain at suburban home Before she killed her son and the little girl she was supposed to be babysitting, prosecutors say that Elzbieta M. Plackowska, 40, told them they were going to heaven and to get down on their knees and pray. Police found Plackowska covered in blood inside a suburban Naperville, Illinois, home and after extensive questioning, she allegedly told police that she murdered her son Justin, 7, and his friend Olivia Dworakowski because they 'had evil inside of them.' Prosecutors before a judge this morning said that Plackowska was fighting with her husband and felt unappreciated as a babysitter, so she murdered the children in a fit of rage. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Murder charge: Elzbieta Plackowska and her son Justin (right), who was stabbed to death Justin was found stabbed 100 times. Olivia was stabbed 50 times. Plackowska was denied bail. 'She told Justin he was going to heaven tonight as she repeatedly stabbed him,' DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said to the court, according to the Daily Herald. 'He begged her to stop and said he loved her.' Mr Berlin described the scene that unfolded before the grisly murder, saying that the two children were jumping on their beds in Olivia's home, where Plackowska was meant to be babysitting her. The babysitter then ordered them to get down on the floor and pray before bed. 'The children had evil inside of them,' Plackowska allegedly told police. Mr Berlin said she 'was trying to drive the evil out of them. She said the devil was inside them.' Both children's throats were slit and Justin was found in a bed, Olivia on the floor. Prosecutors say that after Plackowska killed the innocents, she started frantically calling a local church, leaving numerous messages. Crime scene: The gruesome discovery of the bloody murders was made at this suburban home in Illinois She then went to a friend's house and claimed someone had robbed her. Her friend was suspicious of the story because the details kept changing, Mr Berlin said. Meanwhile, Olivia's mother Marta Dworakowski, a nurse, called police because when she returned home from her night shift, Plackowska's car wasn't there and she could not get into the house. Police were able to get inside the suburban home on Quin Court just after 10pm and found blood all over the hallway, leading them to the children's bedroom. 'Both victims had been stabbed numerous times,' Mr Berlin said. 'It appeared to police both victims' throats had been slashed.' Officers also found that the family's two dogs were also stabbed to death. When questioned by police, Plackowska told them several stories, including one in which a stalker attacked her own wrists. Eventually, they said, she admitted to killing the children. She told them that she had been fighting with her husband Artur, a truck driver, about his work schedule and felt taken advantage of as a babysitter. The pair has a college age son as well who has not been named. Sources told the Daily Herald that Plackowska had been stressed for several days following the death of her father and she was anxious to return to Poland, a decision her husband objected to. Olivia was a kindergartner from Brookdale Elementary School and Justin attended Scott School in Naperville District 203. Police say that Plackowska is on suicide watch at the jail after she was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. 'In all my years in law enforcement, this was the most horrific and gruesome crime scene I have seen,' Naperville Police Chief Robert Marshall said after the hearing today to the Chicago Tribune. The tragedy comes less than a week after a New York City baby sitter allegedly stabbed to death two young children who were in her care before slashing her own throat and wrists in an attempt to take her life. Police discovered the victims dead at Naperville home during a well-being check Local residents described their community as a safe and peaceful place to live Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames. Australia's richest woman to appear in court over control of 2.6bn family trust in legal battle with three of her children They want to remove her as sole trustee and accused her of serious misconduct She said the three children were lazy and spoilt Australia's richest woman, Gina Rinehart, lost a court bid on Wednesday to throw out a lawsuit brought by three of her children over control of a 2.6billion family trust. Justice Paul Brereton of the New South Wales Supreme Court ruled that the case should go to a full trial at a date yet to be determined. Rinehart's three eldest children are seeking to remove her as the sole trustee of the pool that holds an almost one-quarter share in Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd, one of the world's largest privately-owned mining companies. Court case: Gina Rinehart attempt to get the case thrown out has failed The case has captured public attention in Australia as it reveals details of the private life of Rinehart, the only child of Lang Hancock - a household name in the country - after being credited with discovering the world's largest deposit of iron ore in Pilbara, Western Australia. Rinehart had tried unsuccessfully to have the hearings held behind closed doors after her three elder children - Hope Rinehart Welker, Bianca Rinehart and John Hancock - accused her of serious misconduct in her role as trustee. In return, family emails made public as part of the case showed Rinehart describing the three as lazy and spoilt. Rinehart's youngest child, daughter Ginia, has sided with her mother in the dispute. The elder trio argued Rinehart was unfit to be trustee after she extended the trust's vesting date to 2068, well into their 80s and 90s, claiming they would face 'catastrophic financial consequences' from tax dues if she did not. After the lawsuit was launched last September, Rinehart changed her mind and vested the trust in April, meaning she gave up some of her discretionary powers. Support: Gina Rinehart (centre) has been backed by Ginia (right) in her battle against the other children 'Lazy and spoilt': Bianca Rinehart is one of the children fighting to remove Gina as the trustee She argued that meant the case should be thrown out, claiming the children's case was frivolous and an abuse of process given they could now call on their share at any time. But the judge ruled that she was still in control of the trust, holding the shares as trustee and having powers including the ability to distribute its income and to sell property and reinvest the proceeds. Brereton said it was possible that Rinehart, who has a long history of fighting bitter battles through the courts, could 'seek to extract some concession or benefit' if the children sought to take their shares. Brereton noted that to throw out the case he would have to find its prospects 'hopeless' or 'doomed to fail.' The children do not want the trust funds paid out, but want their mother replaced as the trustee. It is not clear what impact, if any, the removal of Rinehart as trustee would have on Hancock Prospecting and its iron ore, coal and media empire. Shares in the company can only be held by Rinehart and her direct descendants and cannot be pledged as collateral. The judge also allowed the three elder children to enter amendments to the original lawsuit to bring in actions by their mother since the case was filed in September last year. However, he denied a bid by the children to seek compensation on the grounds Rinehart's decision to vest the trust exposed them to tax risks, saying such a claim was 'vexatious and embarrassing.' Brereton will hear arguments on costs on November 7. No date was set for the full trial. The judgement comes a day after the Supreme Court of Western Australia dismissed an appeal from Hancock Prospecting to reclaim a 25 percent stake in the Rhodes Ridge iron ore deposit in Western Australia from rival miner Wright Prospecting Pty Ltd. Could Sandy postpone next week's presidential election? Yes, in theory White House still unsure about how the storm will affect next week's election The President doesn't set the date for elections, Congress does States must decide their own polling strategies in emergencies according to election regulations Contingency plans could lead to legal squabbles over final results in some states Some of the most competitive states, such as Ohio and Virginia have felt the impact of Sandy One week before a close election, superstorm Sandy has confounded the presidential race, halted early voting in many areas and led some to ponder whether the election might even be postponed. It could take days to restore electricity to more than 8 million homes and businesses that lost power when the storm pummeled the East Coast -leading experts to question whether the election can be put back from November 6th. While the answer is of course yes in theory, the probability of the choice between Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama being postponed is unlikely despite the devastating effect superstorm Sandy had on 60 million people across the north-east, or one-sixth of the population. U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about preparations for Hurricane Sandy during a briefing at the White House But as the storm left its trail of destruction behind, even some of those intimately involved in the election seemed in the dark about what options are available to cope with the storm. Asked Monday whether President Barack Obama had the power to reschedule the election, White House press secretary Jay Carney said he wasn't sure. However, constitutionally, the President doesn't set the date for the election, Congress does. Congress could act within the next week to change the date, but that would be tough because lawmakers are on recess and back home in their districts campaigning for re-election. Ground Zero: New Yorkers begin the clean-up after the devastation of Sandy Plus, it's likely that would mean changing the date for the entire country, not just those affected by the storm. What's more, Congress only selects the date for federal elections, so changing the date would wreak havoc for state and local elections also scheduled for Nov. 6. 'For those states that don't already have an election emergency process in place, any departure from the established election process could easily give rise to court challenges about the legitimacy of the election,' said Steven Huefner, professor at Ohio State's Moritz College of Law to ABC News. 'Even states with an emergency plan might find themselves facing litigation over specific ways in which they've implemented their emergency plan.' Some have asked if it is likely for the election to go ahead but to allow New Jersey and New York to vote at a different time afterwards. That is possible, but the legal issues get tricky. States, by and large, are in charge of their own elections. U.S. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney accepts relief supplies for people affected by Hurricane Sandy Each state has its own laws dealing with what to do if an emergency jeopardizes voting and who can make the call. Federal law says that if a state fails to conduct an election for federal races on the day Congress chooses, the state legislature can pick a later date. Nevertheless, experts told ABC News that even minor contingency arrangements, like keeping polls open longer in some precincts or moving polling locations, will probably lead to legal challenges and more provisional voting, which can delay election results. But state and federal laws don't always jive perfectly. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell has said his state's laws don't grant him authority to reschedule the presidential election. Despite no presidential election ever being postponed, some are pointing to past precedents where voting has been delayed. New York City was holding its mayoral primary when terrorists struck on Sept. 11, 2001, and the city rescheduled the election. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Louisiana's governor postponed municipal elections in New Orleans after elections officials said polling places wouldn't be ready. However, what is most likley is a compromise for those affected by the havoc caused by the storm. Voting hours could be extended at various locations and in places where electronic voting machines are in use, paper ballots could be used instead. Some areas also might choose to move polling locations if existing ones are damaged, inaccessible or won't have power on Election Day. But even amending election day to accommodate the affected would create problems in themselves. If poll hours are extended, under a 2002 law passed by Congress in response to the disputed 2000 presidential election, any voters who show up outside of regular hours must use provisional ballots, which are counted later and could be challenged. Crucial swing states such as Ohio have felt the impact of Sandy and could make all the difference in the election next week Sandy's impact was felt in some of the most competitive states in the presidential race, including Virginia and Ohio. The more provisional ballots that are cast, the greater the chances are that the winner won't be known until days or even weeks after the election. There's another issue if poll hours are extended in some areas - such as counties with the worst storm damage - and not in others. That could prompt lawsuits under the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause, said Edward Foley, an election law expert at The Ohio State University. Relocating polling places is also risky because it could drive down turnout, said Neil Malhotra, a political economist at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. 'If you disrupt their routine and the polling place they've always been going to, even if you don't move it very far, they vote less,' he said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's administrator, Craig Fugate, said Monday he anticipated the storm's impact could linger into next week and affect the election. He said FEMA would look at what support it could provide to states before the election. 'This will be led by the states,' he said. More than 120 people trapped on remote New York island after refusing to evacuate during Superstorm Sandy Rescue services have saved 14 people in aerial evacuation and are trying to work out how to save other stranded households 12 houses have been washed away and 80 per cent of remaining homes on the island damaged by storm Coastal service said the devastation was the worst since a 1938 hurricane Dunes have been flattened, beaches wiped out and coastline may have been permanently breached Power lines are down and water is several feet deep with another high tide expected this afternoon People are using canoes to get around At least 120 people remain trapped on an island off the coast of New York with no power and contaminated water after ignoring the mandatory order to evacuate before Superstorm Sandy hit. Twelve oceanfront houses were swept away and officials said there was damage to 80 per cent of the remaining homes on Fire Island, off the south shore of Long Island. There are no reports of injuries from the narrow barrier island, but its tiny population faces the worst devastation since Long Island Express hurricane pounded the Northeast in 1938. With rescuers unable to land because the island's marinas have been destroyed, the defiant residents of the popular summer resort are counting themselves lucky they survived the storm which has so far killed 50 people. Scroll down for video Devastation: A house is ripped from its foundations after Superstorm Sandy washed over the community of Atlantique on Fire Island Wreckage: The damage wreaked on a house on the one-mile island, where 120 residents refused to evacuate Shellshocked: Households on the tiny island are struggling to repair the damage and 14 have been rescued by helicopter 'We still have residents on Fire Island,' said Anthony Senft, a local Islp councilman. 'We know that we've lost some houses. All of the town docks are underwater at this point.' The Coast Guard has flown over the island to assess the damage and fire departments were planning how to take the stranded residents off. A spokesman for the U.S. National Parks Service said rangers are still trying to assess the damage but fear radical changes to the island's geography after sand dunes were leveled and beaches wiped out. Fire Island News' Facebook page reported today: 'Damage is extensive. Power lines are down. Houses are flooded. Standing water is several feet deep on every walk. There is still one high tide expected this afternoon. Violent storm: Men pass through a flooded walkway on Fire Island, assessing damage from fallen trees, overturned cars and downed power lines Abandoned: Residents are using canoes to escape their homes and get around the flooded island 'No one will really know the actual mount of damage until the water recedes enough to get around. Right now some folks are using canoes.' One of the residents who ignored the order to evacuate and remain with their property said she does not regret the decision to stay on. 'The winds were wild,' said Karen Boss. 'My house was rocking, we did head up towards the ocean - the waves were extremely high. 'When the high tide came into the bay, water gushed over the boardwalk.' By yesterday morning, rescuers had helped 14 people off the island, which is south of Long Island, said Vanessa Baird-Streeter, director of communications for Suffolk County. Permanent damage: The shoreline has been breached, with dunes flattened, beaches wiped out and coast eroded The superstorm has devastated the Eastern Seaboard and four immediate 'washovers' crashed across Fire Island. The Atlantic Ocean swell covered the Great South Bay and smashed across the island, which is less than one mile wide and had a population of just 310 in the 2000 census. Suffolk County fire and emergency services commissioner Joe Williams said it looked like most of the beaches and dunes were gone. Southampton councilman Chris Nuzzi said there was two to six feet of sand along one main road because dunes had been pushed back and flattened, and others were littered with debris. Much of the shoreline has been badly eroded, according to Newsday , but could come back in the spring as part of a natural cycle. Television footage surveys the havoc wreaked on the coast of Fire Island 'This is probably the worst one on my list in the extent of damage,' said Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto, who is 63 and has lived in town all his life. 'It's overwhelming. It's absolutely devastating. 'For the first time ever, we've had to have town personnel perform search and rescue missions to take people to higher ground.' In the village of Mastic Beach on Brookhaven's south shore, the air reeked of oil, a result of tanks that flooded as storm surge from Narrow Bay inundated area houses. In Long Beach, sewer systems were overwhelmed and officials were bringing in portable toilets for city residents. Kings Point saw a storm tide of more than 14 feet, third highest of all time. Flood damage on Fire Island: Helicopter teams plan to rescue trapped residents While authorities have still to assess the damage caused by the washovers, at least one was so deep that it may have permanently breached the island, causing an opening between the ocean and the bay. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Chris Gardner said local officials may call on his team for help if they are unable to repair one of the breaches. The Suffolk County Fire and Rescue team and the Air National Guard were flying helicopters over the island to assess the damage. The helicopter teams also will determine the best method for eventually removing the people from the island. Will global warming bring storm barriers to New York Harbor? Bloomberg and Cuomo blame Hurricane Sandy on climate change Governor Cuomo makes unprecedented suggestion of a possible levee being built for the city Despite a chorus of support for the climate change link, some experts deny there is sufficient evidence to blame global warming for the storm Hurricane Sandy may have seemed uniquely damaging to those caught in its path, but some have suggested that global warming could bring even more devastating storms to the U.S. in coming years. New York governor Andrew Cuomo and mayor Michael Bloomberg both pointed to climate change as the culprit for Sandy's ravages as they addressed the scale of the destruction on Tuesday morning. And Cuomo even raised the possibility of a levee being built in New York Harbor, an unprecedented move to protect the 400-year-old city. Both Andrew Cuomo (left) and Michael Bloomberg agree that climate change is a cause of the superstorm Many observers have pointed out that it is almost impossible to pinpoint climate change as the cause of specific weather events. Moreover, the U.S. has long been subject to hurricanes and other damaging storms which have been just as violent as Sandy. But the terrors wrought by Sandy, combined with last year's destructive Hurricane Irene, have led New York's top officials to raise the spectre of global warming. At a press conference in Manhattan on Tuesday, Cuomo said he had told President Obama that 'we have a 100-year flood every two years now'. He added: 'There has been a series of extreme weather incidents. That is not a political statement. That is a factual statement. 'Anyone who says there's not a dramatic change in weather patterns, I think is denying reality.' Bloomberg echoed the sentiment, saying: 'What is clear is that the storms we've experienced in the last year or so around this country and around the world are much more severe than before. 'Whether that's global warming or what, I don't know, but we'll have to address those issues.' When the governor was asked if officials were contemplating building a levee in the city's harbour, he replied: 'It is something we're going to have to start thinking about. 'The construction of this city did not anticipate these kinds of situations. We are only a few feet above sea level.' Since New York City's foundation in the early 17th century, the lower tip of Manhattan has been at the heart of metropolitan life - despite its vulnerability to flooding from the harbour. Al Gore predictably joined the climate-change chorus on Tuesday, describing the hurricane as 'a disturbing sign of things to come' in a post on his blog. 'We must heed this warning and act quickly to solve the climate crisis,' the former Vice President added. Two possible links between global warming and the damage wrought by Sandy are the raised sea levels which make it easier for the coast to flood, and warm air in the Atlantic Ocean increasing the fierceness of the storm. However, many experts have denied that climate change was behind Hurricane Sandy - Houston Chronicle science reporter Eric Bergen wrote that the connection was 'a stretch that is just not supported by science at this time.' The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has previously said that there is little evidence global warming worsens tropical storms and hurricanes. Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Advertisement Hurricane Sandy: Michael Bloomberg and Andrew Cuomo blame hurricane on climate change [if gte mso 9]> Radio journalist set alight live on air after men burst into studio and pour petrol over him Three men arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attack One studio technician also harmed in incident which may have been politically motivated A Bolivian radio presenter was set on fire by four masked men while hosting his show in the southern city of Yacuiba. Radio Popular journalist Fernando Vidal, 78, is being treated for burns after his attackers broke into the studio, poured petrol over him and set him alight. Studio technician Karen Anza was also injured in the attack which some eyewitnesses claim involved Molotov cocktails. Scroll down for video Ranch riders: Two farmers in Yacuiba, southern Bolivia, which was the scene of the shocking attack His son-in-law, Esteban Farfan says Mr Vidal has suffered burns to his face, arms and chest. Three people have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attack, report the BBC. According to relatives Mr Vidal was reporting on smuggling in the border area when the attack occured - Yacuiba is less than two miles from the Argentina. Mr Vidal and other journalists had recently been criticising an increase in smuggling, with particular regard to liquid petroleum gas. Smuggling issue: Yacuiba is only two miles from the border with Argentina Mr Farfan believes the attack was politically motivated although the police have not commented. He said Mr Vidal had spoken out against the provincial government live on air. The interior ministry of Bolivia told AFP they will be carrying out an 'accelerated and rigorous investigation'. This is not the first time a Bolivian radio station has come under fire in previous months. In June three dynamite attacks on local stations were made, at Radio Emisora Bolivia, Radio Vanguardia and Radio Cumbre. Video: Journalist set alight speaks after being taken to hospital Britons urged to leave Mali as rebel gunmen attack northern city of Gao ten days after claiming capital British citizens currently in Mali, in west Africa are being urged to leave. The Foreign Office has changed its travel advice, urging all but those who have urgent business there to leave. The new advice follows an attempted coup last week and specifically warns those in the capital, Bamako, to be cautious. The new advice follows an attempted coup last week and specifically warns those in the capital, Bamako, to be cautious In a statement, the Foreign Office said: 'We advise against all travel to Mali and you should leave if you have no pressing need to remain.' It said a curfew that had been imposed from 6pm to 6am had now been lifted, but added: 'We continue to advise British nationals in Bamako to exercise caution and stay away from crowds and demonstrations when travelling around the city. 'There have been reports of some shops beginning to run low on supplies and of long queues forming outside some banks. Soldiers walk through the looted presidential palace days after mutinous soldiers claimed power in a coup, in Bamako 'Given ongoing instability in the country, and now that the airport has re-opened, you should leave if you have no pressing need to remain.' Rebels have already attacked Mali's strategic northern city of Gao, a day after they took the provincial capital of Kidal . The two towns are major prizes for the Tuareg rebels, who launched an insurgency in January that was fueled by the flow of arms from the fall of neighboring Libya, where many of the rebels had been on the payroll of ex-Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi. A curfew that had been imposed from 6pm to 6am has now been lifted If Gao falls, the only other major city in Mali's north in government hands is Timbuktu. A soldier based in a military camp on the outskirts of Gao said he could hear the sound of heavy weapons being fired on Saturday. A resident in Gao said that he had seen the Tuareg fighters in the city and that there were brief gunbattles in the town. He said people had barricaded themselves at home. Rebels have already attacked Mali's strategic northern city of Gao, a day after they took the provincial capital of Kidal The soldier and the resident requested anonymity because they feared retribution. Mali is now facing severe economic sanctions over the coup. A representative of the military junta that seized control of Mali in a coup last week says the group is confident they will find a solution to the crisis after meeting with Burkina Faso's president. Col. Moussa Coulibaly told reporters after Saturday's meeting in Burkina Faso that the junta delegation is 'leaving feeling confident, and we hope that in the briefest possible period that we will reach a consensus on how to restore the institutions of the state in a way that will be acceptable to the world.l Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore is one of five regional leaders actively involved in trying to mediate a return to constitutional order after the March 21 coup. Furious father bites off six-year-old son's penis in China before spitting it out Passers-by were left horrified when a 'mentally-ill' father bit off his six-year-old son's penis and spat it out. Witnesses in Shenzhen, in the Guangdong province of China, said the 32-year-old father was walking with his naked son and four-year-old daughter on the street when he commanded the boy to lick his penis. When the boy refused, he then attacked him using his teeth to remove his son's genitals. Despicable: A picture of the six-year-old boy whose father bit off his penis in Shenzhen in the Guangdong province of China A shocking picture in the City Post newspaper shows the youngster laying on a hospital bed with the area bandaged. Editors at the paper obscured the boy's face to protect his identity. The paper reports doctors were able to successfully reattach the boy's genitalia, however it is too early to tell whether he will have normal use of the appendage. Shenzhen, China Police said the father is likely to have a mental illness as he was recently seen pretending to strangle his son on their balcony, according to witnesses. Investigations also found that the man, who was only identified by the surname Yu, was severely in debt after a failed business venture and was often seen gambling. Relatives will now care for the six-year-old boy and his sister. Virus has so far affected over 9,000 persons all over country. The health ministry has also recommended vaccination for healthcare workers and other priority groups. Mumbai: Swine flu (H1N1 virus) has claimed 17 lives in Maharashtra and affected 204 people. The death toll across the country due to H1N1 has soared to 312, with 86 deaths recorded in the last week, according to data released by the Union health ministry on Monday. The H1N1 virus all over the country has so far affected over 9,000 persons. With the number of swine flu cases rising, the health ministry has asked the state government to bolster their surveillance for early detection of the disease and also keep beds reserved in hospitals to deal with acute cases, which require the ventilator facility. A senior health officer from the central health department stated, States have also been advised to involve district collectors in enhancing public awareness and outbreak response. The guidelines for influenza vaccination and the details of manufacturers of vaccine provided by drug controller general of India have been shared with all states. Communication material for preventive measures has also been shared. Video conferences are also being held regularly to monitor the situation. The health ministry statement read as advisory for preparedness to seasonal influenza (H1N1) was issued and the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) and its state units have enhanced surveillance for influenza like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI). The drug controller general of India has been asked to coordinate with drug manufacturers and monitor the availability of Oseltamivir, the medicine recommended by WHO, in various states. The health ministry has also recommended vaccination for healthcare workers and other priority groups. The health advisory sta-tes that seasonal influenza (H1N1) is a self-limiting viral, airborne disease spread from person to person, through large droplets generated due to coughing and sneezing, indirect contact by touching a contaminated object or surface and close contact, including handshaking, hugging and kissing. Its the real-life birdman! Parachutist flies over the Alps in a wing-suit in world first Daredevil Remo Laeng traveled at 310 miles per hour Birdman covered 26km during his free fall from plane Four-minute flight over Alps is 'world first' say his team Hurtling over peaks at 500 km an hour (310 miles an hour), a Swiss man flew over the Alps in a wing-suit yesterday. His team said it was the first time the mountain range had been crossed in such a free fall. Parachutist Remo Laeng, 36, jumped from a plane 7,500 metres (24,600ft) up, near the Swiss ski resort of Verbier and sped south over the Alps. Winging it: Remo Laeng jumped from a plane 7,500 metres (24,600ft) up, near the Swiss ski resort of Verbier and sped south over the Alps Laeng flew for 4 minutes before crossing the 4,314 metre (14,153 feet) high Grand Combin peak in southwest Switzerland to mark the feat. Wing-suit flying, first developed in the 1990s, uses a special jumpsuit with webbing between the limbs to add surface area to the body and give it lift to enable to wearer to glide towards the ground before deploying a parachute. Laeng triggered his parachute after a seven-minute ride, covering 26 km (16 miles) horizontally, before landing safely in Aosta, Italy, Swiss news agency SDA reported. Diving right in: The daredevil used his wing suit to speed over the Alps from Switzerland to Italy One of his greatest challenges during the flight was judging whether he had enough altitude to get over the Grand Combin. Laeng jumped from above Verbier in temperatures approaching minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit, attaining air speeds of up to 310 miles per hour. 'My altimeter didnt work,' he was quoted as saying by SDA. 'The sky was so clear I saw the ocean off of Genoa.' He added: 'I don't run any risks. If I see that it is not enough I would break off the flight... I never had any doubts.' Grocery worker who handed out samples of semen-tainted yoghurt gets two years in prison Anthony Garcia has been jailed for two years for contaminating yoghurt with his semen and giving it to an unsuspecting customer to taste A man has been jailed for two years for contaminating food with semen. Anthony Garcia admitted adding a sample of the bodily fluid to a sample of yoghurt while working at a grocery story in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He then approached a female customer and offered her a sample of the yogurt. According to the court, the customer accepted the sample, tasted it, immediately spat it, and asked to speak to the store's manager. Garcia then threw the yogurt sample into the store's trash compactor. The 32-year-old admitted to charged of adulterating food and making false statements during a criminal investigation. He admitting lying to investigators by telling them he didn't know that the spoon he put into the yoghurt contain semen. The incident happened in January last year. Along with the jail term Garcia will be on supervised release for three years after completing his sentence. He was also ordered to pay restitution to the victim of his criminal conduct. According to court filings, the investigation revealed that Garcia targeted at least four other women in a similar way. In imposing sentence, the judge described Garcia's conduct as 'heinous'. Several customers at the supermarket where Garcia worked were targeted by the 32-year-old US Attorney Gonzales said: 'This conduct at issue in this case is not a joke, and it is not funny. It is criminal, and the sentence imposed on Garcia should serve as a warning to those who deliberately adulterate food for the purpose of causing harm to innocent consumers, or as malicious pranks, or for deviant sexual gratification. 'My Office will continue to work with the FDA to vigorously investigate and prosecute this type of criminal conduct.' Patrick J. Holland, Special Agent in Charge of the FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations, said: ' This sentence aptly reflects the seriousness of this crime.' Scientists behind Armageddon flu virus suspend their research because it 'could put world at risk of catastrophic pandemic' Suspension: Ron Fouchier is among a team of scientists who have ceased their controversial avian flu studies Researchers studying a potentially more lethal, airborne version of bird flu have suspended their studies because of concerns the mutant virus they have created could be used as a devastating form of bioterrorism or accidentally escape the lab. In a letter published in the journals Nature and Science on Friday, 39 scientists defended the research as crucial to public health efforts. But they are bowing to fear that has become widespread since media reports discussed the studies, and their possible fallout, in December. Fears were raised that the engineered viruses may escape from the laboratories - not unlike the frightful scenario in the 1971 science fiction movie The Andromeda Strain - or possibly be used to create a bioterror weapon. Among the scientists who signed the letter were leaders of the two teams that have spearheaded the research, at Erasmus Medical College in the Netherlands and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, as well as influenza experts at institutions ranging from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the University of Hong Kong. For the full letter, see below or click HERE . Fears: Worries that the avian flu could escape from laboratories and cause a pandemic or be used in bio-terrorism have led to the halt in research The decision to suspend the research for 60 days "was totally voluntarily," virologist Ron Fouchier of Erasmus told Reuters. The pause in their is meant to allow global health agencies and governments to weigh up the benefits of the research and agree on ways to minimize its risk. 'It is the right thing to do, given the controversies in the US,' Fouchier said. Terror: If it did escape, the mutant virus created by scientists could cause disaster on a global scale The US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity in December had asked Science and Nature to censor details of the research from the Erasmus and Wisconsin teams that was submitted for publication. Biosecurity experts fear that a form of the virus that is transmissible through airborne droplets - which the Erasmus and Wisconsin teams independently created - could spark a pandemic worse than the 1918-19 outbreak of Spanish flu that killed up to 40 million people. 'There is obviously a controversy here over the right balance between risk and benefit,' said virologist Daniel Perez of the University of Maryland, who signed the letter supporting the moratorium. 'I strongly believe that this research needs to continue, but that doesn't mean you can't call a time out.' The full open letter Below is the full open letter from Ron A. M. Fouchier, Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, Yoshihiro Kawaoka and 36 co-authors published in the journals Nature and Science on Friday . 'The continuous threat of an influenza pandemic represents one of the biggest challenges in public health. Influenza pandemics are known to be caused by viruses that evolve from animal reservoirs, such as birds and pigs, and can acquire genetic changes that increase their ability to transmit in humans. Pandemic preparedness plans have been implemented worldwide to mitigate the impact of influenza pandemics. A major obstacle in preventing influenza pandemics is that little is known regarding what makes an influenza virus transmissible in humans. As a consequence, the potential pandemic risk associated with the many different influenza viruses of animals cannot be assessed with any certainty. Recent research breakthroughs identified specific determinants of transmission of H5N1 influenza viruses in ferrets. Responsible research on influenza virus transmission using different animal models is conducted by multiple laboratories in the world using the highest international standards of biosafety and biosecurity practices that effectively prevent the release of transmissible viruses from the laboratory. These standards are regulated and monitored closely by the relevant authorities. This statement is being made by the principal investigators of these laboratories. In two independent studies conducted in two leading influenza laboratories at the University of WisconsinMadison and Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, investigators have proved that viruses possessing a haemagglutinin (HA) protein from highly pathogenic avian H5N1 influenza viruses can become transmissible in ferrets. This is critical information that advances our understanding of influenza transmission. However, more research is needed to determine how influenza viruses in nature become human pandemic threats, so that they can be contained before they acquire the ability to transmit from human to human, or so that appropriate countermeasures can be deployed if adaptation to humans occurs. Despite the positive public-health benefits these studies sought to provide, a perceived fear that the ferret-transmissible H5 HA viruses may escape from the laboratories has generated intense public debate in the media on the benefits and potential harm of this type of research. We would like to assure the public that these experiments have been conducted with appropriate regulatory oversight in secure containment facilities by highly trained and responsible personnel to minimize any risk of accidental release. Whether the ferret-adapted influenza viruses have the ability to transmit from human to human cannot be tested. We recognize that we and the rest of the scientific community need to clearly explain the benefits of this important research and the measures taken to minimize its possible risks. We propose to do so in an international forum in which the scientific community comes together to discuss and debate these issues. We realize that organizations and governments around the world need time to find the best solutions for opportunities and challenges that stem from the work. Pilot on Boeing 757 dies of heart attack mid-flight with 239 passengers on board A pilot onboard a plane flying from Bangkok to Novosibirsk in western Siberia died from a heart attack, transportation prosecutors said Friday. Sergei Golev, 44, suffered the attack in the cockpit and died despite all attempts at resuscitation - e ven a cardiologist, who was among passengers on the flight, failed to revive him. Fortunately the 239 passengers onboard t he UTair Boeing 757 landed safely in Novosibirsk despite Golev's death. Death in the air: Pilto Sergei Golev passed away onboard a UTair Boeing 757 from Bangkok to Novosibirsk The captain attempted an emergency landing in the Chinese city of Chengdu, but abandoned it because Golev died before the jet touched down. Senior investigator Anastasia Utochkina told Life News : 'The co-pilot died at 12.25am, Novosibirsk Time (5.25pm GMT), three hours after takeoff. 'The captain made a decision to descend, while the crew called over the tannoy for a female physician who happened to be among the passengers. 'However, her attempts to revive the man, who was lying on the cockpit floor, failed.' Safe landing: 239 passengers were taken to the final destination of Novosibirisk airport despite Golev's death Airport officials insist that the co-pilot was merely traveling as a passenger and in no way and at no point was in control of the aircraft. Irina Levit, a press officer at Novosibirsk airport: ' The deceased pilot was traveling as an ordinary passenger. 'The aircraft belongs to UTair airline, where Sergey Golev was employed. There was no threat to passengers.' Golev was a crew member a reserve pilot, tasked, ironically, with replacing a crew member in case they fall ill. Board of Olympus Corp signals they will all quit over $1.7bn accounting fraud Scandal: Olympus president Shuichi Takayama has said the company's entire board could quit over a $1.7billion accounting fraud Olympus Corp's board has signalled plans they will quit over a $1.7billion accounting fraud, sparking a battle for control of the firm with the former CEO who blew the whistle on the scandal. At a news conference today, Olympus said one director had resigned and the whole board could go once the firm submits its second-quarter earnings next week. An external investigative panel report, unveiled yesterday, concluded that several former executives spent 13 years running a complex scheme to hide huge investment losses on the company's balance sheet. Olympus president Shuichi Takayama said: 'Our corporate governance was severely criticised. As the representative of the company, I apologise sincerely.' Ex-CEO Michael Woodford, sacked in October after questioning murky deals, is campaigning to return to head up the 92-year-old maker of cameras and endoscopes and has called for an extraordinary shareholders' meeting to pick a new board. Mr Takayama, who took over after the scandal broke, said the earliest a meeting could be held was late February and the management would not resign before then. He said: 'We are still considering the plan (for a new president) that we will submit... we don't know what Mr Woodford is thinking, but he has said he will pursue a proxy fight, so we think there will be certainly be a proposal. Charges: Customers look at digital cameras at a shop in Tokyo. An independent report has revealed former executives spent 13 years covering up investment losses 'We will have the shareholders meeting decide,' he said, although he did acknowledge Mr Woodford for 'pointing out problems that the current board failed to do'. Olympus also set up an outside committee to advise whether to file criminal complaints or sue those responsible for the scandal, which has halved the value of the firm's shares. Announcing the new committee, which is to report its recommendations by January 8, the once-proud firm also said that senior executive director Makoto Nakatsuka had quit the board, the third to do so since the scandal erupted. Whistle blower: Michael Woodford, former CEO of Olympus, was sacked after questioning shady deals in the company Mr Nakatsuka was found yesterday to have helped the two main architects of the cover-up, former internal auditor Hideo Yamada and ex-executive vice president Hisashi Mori, to manage Olympus's financial assets in the late 1980s, when it embarked on risky investments that led to the losses. Olympus, which still risks being kicked off the Tokyo stock market and forced into a humiliating sale of core assets, said it would set up a second external panel to examine the responsibility of the firm's auditors. The damning report published yesterday, prepared by outside legal and accounting experts, said Olympus management was 'rotten to the core', ruled by a culture of absolute corporate loyalty and a desire to flatter financial performance. Takayama has already said Olympus will consider legal steps, including criminal complaints, against those found responsible. He has blamed Mori and Yamada for masterminding the cover-up, and the panel found that two former company presidents were also told of the concealment. Olympus faces a number of hurdles in its struggle to survive. It must meet next week's deadline for submitting its results for the six months to end-September - a task that requires combing through and sorting out decades of cooked books. Even if it meets that deadline, the Tokyo Stock Exchange could still delist Olympus shares depending on the scale of the previous financial misstatements. One of the few glimmers of hope from the panel report was its conclusion that there was no evidence of a much-rumored link between the scandal and organized crime. Motorcyclist dies after being dragged for quarter of a mile under truck of illegal immigrant 'drink driver' Matthew Denice was riding his motorbike when he was hit by a truck and became trapped under the wheel arch A motorcyclist was killed after being dragged for over a quarter of a mile trapped under the truck of a suspected drink driver. Horrified witnesses banged on the driver's window in an attempt to get him to stop. Others chased the vehicle along the road screaming at its driver Nicholas Guaman to stop. Police said the 23 year old victim Matthew Denice was still alive when he became trapped in the wheel arch of Guaman's truck. But he died from massive injuries from being dragged along the road. Guaman, a 34 year old illegal immigrant from Ecuador, showed no emotion when he was told the motorcyclist he hit was dead. He failed a roadside breath test after being stopped by police. The horrific accident took place as allegedly Guaman jumped a red light in Milford, Massachusetts. He hit Denice but failed to stop. Families grilling outside and sitting on their porches heard the crash and about a half dozen people chased the pick-up truck on foot and banged on the door trying to get the driver to stop," said Milford Police Sgt. Mike Pighetti. The victim's body was dragged for over quarter of a mile before Guaman ran off the road and the body dropped from the wheel arch. Witnesses said Guaman, who had his six year old son in the Ford pick up truck, then backed up over the body. Guaman attempted to flee from the scene was but arrested by police. Denice was alive when Guaman dragged him with his truck, said Worcester County District Attorney spokesman Paul Jarvey. He had recently graduated from Framingham State University with a computer degree and hoped to work in law enforcement His mother Maureen Maloney said he son had his whole life ahead of him. Asked if she was angry, she said: "I can't have anger. I'm just so broken-hearted to not have my son." Denice's stepfather, Michael Maloney, called the incident a "murder" and said Denice was a "great all-American kid." The family said they want Guaman to be prosecuted in the US and receive a lengthy sentence, rather than simply being deported. Milford Police Chief Thomas O'Loughlin said Guaman told police he was in the country illegally. Homeland Security is investigating and has issued a detainer warrant, which would become activated when the court process is completed. He could face up to 15 years in jail if he is found guilty of the vehicular homicide charge. Distraught mother speaks of devastation after 15-year-old son is stabbed to death in Spanish shopping centre A British teenager has been stabbed to death in a Spanish holiday resort. Andrew Milroy died from a single stab wound to the chest in Lloret de Mar during the early hours of yesterday morning. Police are thought to be hunting a gang of French youths of north African origin Andrew is said to have had an altercation with. The killing happened in the shopping centre of Lloret de Mar during the early hours of Sunday morning His mother Jackie, originally from Richmond, Surrey, has spoken of her devastation. She runs American diner, called Route 66, in the Costa Brave resort with her husband, Andy. Mrs Milroy, who emigrated to Spain 26-years-ago, said: 'I can't think straight at all, I'm just in so much shock. 'We haven't spoken to the police yet so we don't really know what happened. 'I'm hoping things will become a bit clearer later. 'All we do know they're still looking for the person who killed my son.' Andrew, who was born in Spain, was attacked around 4am in Lloret's central shopping district. A nearby hotel security guard called police after being alerted by the boy's friends. Ambulance workers found him lying in a pool of blood in an alleyway by a clothes shop. He died after being rushed to Sant Jaume Hospital in the nearby town of Blanes, 40 minutes drive north of Barcelona. A post-mortem was due to be carried out later today. A spokesman for the Mossos d'Esquadra, the local police force investigating the crime, said: 'An investigating judge has imposed a secrecy order over the case which prevents us from going into detail about what happened. 'All we can confirm is that a British 15-year-old who lives in Lloret de Mar was stabbed to death in the town around 4am on Sunday morning. 'An investigation is underway. There have been no arrests yet.' A spokesman for the British Embassy in Madrid added: 'We are aware of the death of a British national in Lloret de Mar and we are offering consular assistance to his family.' Tragic Andrew was born in Spain and attended a local school called Inmalucada Concepcion. A friend left a Twitter message which read simply, 'Rest in peace Andrew.' His parents used to run a pub popular with ex-pats and holidaymakers in the resort called Sergeant Peppers Fun Pub. They also had a bar called Braveheart's International Pub before opening their current business. The stabbing was the third involving a British youngsters in the past week in Spain. Scot Suzanne Cassidy was sucked into the propeller blades of a speedboat which had just pulled her through the water on an inflatable doughnut ring. The 26-year-old nursery worker only survived by grabbing on to the side of the boat and twisting her body round as the razor-sharp blades hacked into her leg. Lucky escape: Suzanne Cassidy was sucked into the propellers of a pleasure boat in Ibiza. She said she is lucky to be alive Friends saved her life by pulling her aboard and helping her get to hospital as she started haemorrhaging blood from a wound near her knee which required several stitches. She also suffered a badly broken leg. She is recovering after an emergency operation at Can Misses Hospital in Ibiza Town. Her tibia was left sticking out of her right leg in the accident and the broken bone had to be pinned back together. Suzanne, from Glasgow, only arrived in Ibiza 11 weeks ago to start a summer job in a bar. She said: 'I'm just glad to be alive. I really thought I was going to die. 'I knew immediately the danger I was in when I felt my leg being sucked towards the propellers by the force of the engine. 'Somehow I found the strength in my upper body to twist myself around and away from danger. 'My friends pulled me back on board the boat and that's when I saw the blood. 'I could feel the throbbing in my leg where it was broken but I was running on adrenaline by that point and I didn't want to look at it so I only found out the bone had been sticking out of my leg after I came to from the operation. 'It was a four-and-a-half-hour operation. Friends have asked me how many pins and stitches they've put in my leg but I just don't know.' Accident: Suzanne was saved by friends who pulled her aboard the boat in the party resort of San Antonio and got her to hospital quickly The accident happened around 4pm on Sunday in a pretty cove near the party resort of San Antonio called Cala Conta. Suzanne had jumped into the water to swim to a bigger boat anchored nearby after being dragged through the sea in an inflatable ring with friends. She said: 'We'd gone out as part of celebrations for a friend's 30th birthday party with other pals and my boss at the bar I'm working at. 'Five of us had just finished our turn on the ring and we were doing a changeover with other friends who were waiting in the bigger boat so they could go out for their turn. 'It all happened so quickly. I don't know if our boat moved or I jumped into the sea too near the engine but I don't remember hearing any warning. 'I've been told I'll be in hospital for another four or five days and I won't be able to fly for a while. 'I'll probably head back to Scotland at the end of September when I was due to fly back anyway. 'The doctors have told me I'll walk again without a limp. And I love dancing so with time I'll be looking forward to dancing again." Local Civil Guard officers have launched an investigation into the incident. The owners of the boat involved in the accident were not available for comment. Suzanne, who is working in Ibiza for the summer, was enjoying birthday celebrations on the island when the accident happened Chinese dissident released from jail after three years behind bars for criticising human rights laws But fears freed campaigner may be under house arrest Wife says Hu Jia is doing well and wants everything to be 'peaceful' Released: Chinese dissident Hu Jia was behind bars for three-and-a-half years Chinese Human rights campaigner Hu Jia was reunited with his family after serving three-and-a-half-years in jail on subversion charges. But activists across the globe fear the 37-year-old could face strict human rights controls and Mr Hu has made no public comment since his release on Sunday. Mr Hu, 37, was convicted in 2008 for inciting subversion of state power for criticising human rights restrictions in China, and was seen by some supporters as a potential recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize before it went to another jailed Chinese dissident, Liu Xiaobo, last year. 'He is back home with his parents and me,' his wife, Zeng Jinyan, told reporters in a brief telephone interview. 'I dont know if he can speak later. At the moment, I want everything to be peaceful. Im worried that doing interviews at this stage might cause problems.' Hus long-scheduled release followed this weeks abrupt freeing from detention of the prominent artist and activist Ai Weiwei, and has come while Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is visiting Europe including Britain. Hus wife, Zeng, and other advocates have voiced concern that Chinese authorities might also impose restrictions on him amounting to house arrest after his formal release. Zeng, a prominent activist in her own right, told reporters in late May that she was worried by the trend of rights activists coming under informal house arrest after their release from formal detention or jail. Freed: Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has also been freed but it is feared his bail conditions under conditions are likely to keep the outspoken critic of Communist Party controls silent for now 'If we are put under house arrest or disappear, I don't want our daughter to be with us when we endure life under house arrest,' she said. 'I have sent her to be with my relatives.' 'A sleepless night and Jia came home at 2:30. Peaceful. Very happy. Needs a period of time to recuperate,' Zeng, an activist herself, wrote in her latest Twitter entry in Chinese. Most Chinese people do not read Twitter as the government blocks with a censorship firewall. China often uses the broad charge of 'inciting subversion' to punish dissidents, and when Mr Hu was convicted, state media said that he had bowed to the accusations against him. Before he was jailed, Mr Hu pursued an energetic career as an environmental protection campaigner, advocate for rural victims of AIDS, and vocal critic of Chinas restrictions on political dissent. Leader: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's European visit coincides with the release Shaven-headed and wearing bookish spectacles, he was a familiar sight at activist gatherings in Beijing. Like other dissidents released recently from jail, Mr Hu might be kept under some sort of continued detention in his home, although such restrictions are illegal in China. His release comes several days after outspoken Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was released after nearly three months in detention. In a posting last week, Zeng said that upon his release, Mr Hu, who suffers from a liver ailment, would be deprived of his political rights for one year and will not be able to speak to the media. 'For this one year, the focus should be on treating his cirrhosis, caring for parents and child, to avoid being arrested again,' she wrote. In late 2008, Mr Hu won the European Parliament's top human rights award, the Sakharov Prize. Mr Hu was honored in Strasbourg, France, where because he was in prison, his name was placed in front of an empty seat. China's Communist-run government heaped scorn on the award, with Beijing calling Mr Hu a criminal. In recent months, hundreds of lawyers, activists and other intellectuals have been questioned, detained, confined to their homes or simply disappeared in the wake of online appeals calling for peaceful protests across the country similar to those in the Arab world. Though no protests took place, the calls spooked the Chinese government into launching the clampdown. There are concerns that extra-judicial tactics will be used against Mr Hu, including illegally detaining him, said Human Rights Watch senior Asia researcher Nicholas Bequelin. 'Of course we are happy to have him be released, the problem is that we are not sure he is going to be released to freedom, but rather that he is going be again under some form of limitations to freedom, such as house arrest or monitoring and harassment by the authorities,' Bequelin said before Hu's release. Another activist, Chen Guangcheng, and his wife have been kept under an unofficial house arrest in their village in eastern China since he was released from jail last fall, and reporters trying to visit them have been kept away by thugs who patrol the village. Intern makes incredible discovery of unknown papers written by Abraham Lincoln in 1844 Discovery: A university student stumbled across unknown papers written by Abraham Lincoln University student David Spriegel was in his second week of a summer internship when he made the discovery of a lifetime. The 21-year-old, who just finished his junior year at St. Marys University in Minnesota, was preparing a stack of old papers to be logged in a database and put into storage. As he was examining the documents at the aptly named Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois he noticed a tiny inscription that had been previously overlooked. It read: 'The above memorandum is in the inscription of Abraham Lincoln. M. Hay'. The 167-year-old documents are handwritten memos detailing parcels of land being bought and sold in Springfield, dating from the future president's days as a lawyer in that city. The intended recipient, Milton Hay, a clerk in the Stuart and Lincoln office, would have recognized his handwriting. Experts have now confirmed that the documents are authentic Lincolns, and will join the over 1,800 other original manuscripts by the president at the museum. Memorabilia relating to the 16th president of the United States can fetch thousands of dollars and even items relating to Lincoln's dog Fido are snapped up by enthusiasts. Lincoln, who was assassinated by well-known actor John Wilkes Booth on April 15 1865, was the first Republican president when he was elected in 1860. A spokesman told American newspaper the Daily Herald that such a find is very unusual indeed, especially for someone as green as Spriegel. 'Theyre a rare find, to be sure one or two such documents might pop up every year or so', said museum spokesman David Blanchette. 'That kind of discovery is seldom made by an inexperienced intern. Yogi Adityanath told reporters that Yadavs visit could have triggered violence between rival student groups at the university. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav being prevented by district officials from boarding a flight for Prayagraj at Lucknow airport on Tuesday. (Photo: PTI) Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav claimed on Tuesday that he was detained at Lucknow airport and not allowed to board a plane to Prayagraj on oral orders, triggering outrage by party lawmakers in Parliament, the state legislature and workers outside the airport. Mr Yadav, who was on his way to attend the oath-taking ceremony of a student leader at Allahabad University, lashed out at the Yogi Adityanath government saying this government believes in roko, thoko neeti (policy of stop and encounter). The government is afraid of oath-taking ceremony of a student leader and is stopping me at the airport to prevent me from visiting Allahabad, Mr Yadav claimed on Twitter and posted photographs in which he was seen talking to police officers inside the airport. Mr Yadav had reached the Lucknow airport on time but when he was about to board a special flight, he was stopped from climbing the stairs of the aircraft by the UP police and a man in plain clothes. Mr Yadav argued with the person and in a video put on his Twitter handle was heard warning haath mat lagao (take your hands off me) after which his security team pushed the man aside. Sources said the man was a UP government official. Amid all this high drama, Mr Yadav kept tweeting that he was prevented from boarding the airplane without any written orders. Currently detained at Lucknow airport, he claimed. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath told reporters that Mr Yadavs visit could have triggered violence between rival student groups at the university. The Allahabad University had urged the government to stop his visit and the government acted, he said. In December last year, Samajwadi Party backed candidate Uday Yadav had won the university union poll. The SP chief was also said to have had planned to visit the Kumbh Mela on Tuesday. Mr Adityanath said Mr Yadav visited Kumbh 10 days ago and had taken a holy dip at Sangam. The issue rocked the Rajya Sabha as SP and other Opposition parties protested over the incident, disrupting the proceedings of the House. The matter also caused an uproar in both Houses of the Uttar Pradesh legislature and SP workers clashed with police in several parts of Uttar Pradesh. Protests broke out in Allahabad, Jaunpur, Jhansi, Kannauj, Balrampur, Jalaun, Azamgarh and Gorakhpur, among other places, where SP supporters smashed windscreens of vehicles and clashed with the police. Roads were blocked in Gorakhpur. SP leader Indrajeet Saroj, who accompanied Mr Yadav at the airport, said, We have been stopped on oral orders. We are asking (airport authorities) to give in writing. Akhileshji had to attend several programmes in Allahabad. The administration did not follow protocol meant for a former CM. Principal secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar said the university administration did not permit any political programme on the campus fearing breach of peace. Due to Kumbh, there is a huge congregation in Prayagraj. The district administration had intimated the ex-CMs office and Lucknow DM about the university decision, he said. Addressing a hurriedly convened press conference, Mr Yadav alleged that the Centre was involved in stopping him at the airport here and preventing him from flying to Allahabad. I think the government at the Centre is also involved in stopping me. State police cannot enter airport as its security is in Centres hand, he claimed. He described Mr Adityanaths comments that his visit could have triggered violence as a cover to hide nervousness and said that stopping him showed how scared the government is. Extending support to Mr Yadav, BSP chief Mayawati said the incident was extremely condemnable and asked whether the ruling BJP was afraid of their alliance because of which it is resorting to anti-democratic methods. She described the episode as an example of total dictatorship of BJP government. This is very unfortunate and this undemocratic step will be fought at all levels, she said. Are the BJP governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh so afraid of BSP-SP alliance that they are resorting to anti-democratic methods to curb our political activities, she asked. The SP and the BSP recently forged an alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee condemned the arrogant attitude of the BJP leaders and said that those who stop a former chief minister from meeting students shouldnt give lessons to others. If under Yogi Adityanaths rule, a former Chief Minister is not allowed to attend a college event then there is rukawat. Rukawat ke liye khed hai. There is such a situation in the country today that people are not allowed to go to places, Ms Banerjee told a news agency. Did she commit 'suicide by snake'? Woman killed by African black mamba she kept in New York home along with 75 others A woman is feared to have committed 'suicide by snake'. Aleta Stacey is thought to have deliberately allowed herself to be bitten by a deadly black Mamba snake. The 56-year-old was found dead at the New York home she shares with 75 other snakes, most of them poisonous. Police initially believed she had been bitten accidentally while cleaning the glass aquarium where the five-foot long snake was kept. Deadly: The black mamba (example pictured) is one of the deadliest snakes in the world THE WORLD'S DEADLIEST SNAKE Black mambas are fast, nervous, lethally venomous, and when threatened, highly aggressive. Black mambas live in the savannas and rocky hills of southern and eastern Africa. Reaching up to 14 feet they are Africas longest venomous snake. Slithering at speeds of up to 12.5 miles per hour, they are also one of the fastest snakes in the world. They get their name from the blue-black color of the inside of their mouth, which they display when threatened. But friends and family believe Stacey could have deliberately allowed herself to be bitten. They said she was an experienced snake handler who knew the dangers of getting to close to the fast and venomous snake. They also pointed out that even after being bitten she failed to call the emergency services. Doctors have said she could have survived the bite with prompt treatment. Venom from the black Mamba is lethal unless treated with antivenon. Victims usually die within 20 minutes of being bitten. 'We cant understand why she didnt call 911 right away and things like that. Theres a lot of loose ends,' a friend told CBS News. Another said: 'She was an unhappy lady and a very nice lady, a very nice person.' When asked if its possible her death was intentional, 'It couldve been.' Stacey was found dead by her boyfriend 46-year-old Vito Caputo after he returned to their home in Putnam County, New York. He said the padlock on the black mamba's glass aquarium had been removed. Bite marks were found on Stacey's arm. Officials removed 75 other snakes from the home, of which 56 were poisonous. All 75 snakes were taken to the Bronx Zoo. Serial killer suspect 'murdered prostitute with wife's tights' and 'kept a macabre death wish list' Pensioner targeted women with matching initials -court documents allege By Daily Mail Reporter Suspect: New documents have revealed grisly details of why police arrested Joseph Naso A serial killer suspect targeted lonely prostitutes with matching initials and strangled one with his wifes tights, court documents claim. Photographer Joseph Naso, is alleged to be the infamous American alphabet killer, is said to have kept a numbered list of 10 women, including the four prostitutes he is charged with killing. Detectives had been silent on details in the ongoing investigation of the 77-year-old photographer. All four had matching initials, Roxene Roggasch, Carmen Colon, Pamela Parsons and Tracy Tafoya, and are unsolved murders. Authorities around the country are also looking at Naso as a suspect in more cold cases. In a probable cause statement released Thursday it states that Naso may have used his then-wife's panty hose to strangle Roggasch, a prostitute whose 1977 murder has been unsolved for decades. She was number three on Naso's list of 10 women, the documents state, referred to as 'Girl near Loganitas,' whose body was found about four miles east of Lagunitas, a small town in Marin County. 'DNA testing was done during which the DNA of Judith Naso ... was found on the panty hose around her neck,' wrote Ryan Petersen, a Marin County sheriff's investigator. Marin County District Attorney Ed Berberian, who is prosecuting the case, would not comment on whether investigators had made progress in looking at the six other women and locations mentioned on Naso's list. The probable cause statement is used to hold Naso in jail after a police arrested him without a warrant. It was only unsealed after a coalition of media groups led by news agencies challenged a judge's decision to close the files. Marin County prosecutors and Naso, who is representing himself at trial, both opposed unsealing the document. Investigators also said they found numerous nude photos of women who appeared to be dead or passed out, along with logs and journals. Documents also revealed that DNA collected from fingernail clippings of Colon could also tie Naso to her murder. Unsolved murder: Carmen Colon is one of four women Joseph Naso is suspected of killing She was number two on his list, referred to as 'Girl near Port Costa.' Colon's body was found naked and decomposed by a California Highway Patrol officer in 1978 in the Port Costa area of Contra Costa County. Authorities say she was also a prostitute, and that prior to her death she had told her sister she was having her photos taken. Naso acknowledged in an interview with authorities that he photographed a number of women, including prostitutes. The documents state that Naso had photographed at least one of the victims he is charged with killing: Parsons. In 1993, Parson's body was found in Yuba City near where Naso was living at the time, the documents show. She was working as a prostitute in the area at the time and had been strangled. Investigators said Parsons was number nine on the list, called 'Girl from Linda,' for the town in Yuba County where she was born. Detectives found photos of Parsons and articles about her murder in Naso's safety deposit box, among other items tying him to her killing. 'In addition to the photos, numerous writings, logs and a calendar from 1993 detailing his daily activity related to Parsons were found inside his residence as well as additional photos of Pamela Parsons,' Petersen wrote. Another Yuba City prostitute that prosecutors believe Naso killed was Tafoya, whose body was found on the side of Highway 70 near Marysville Cemetery in 1994. Investigators said they found writings, photos and news clippings of Tafoya and her murder in Naso's possession. 'The last entry on the list made reference to a girl from Marysville, with (cemetery) written next to it,' the documents state. Korea tensions over claims that warship was sunk by torpedo A South Korean navy ship was sunk yesterday in what was feared to have been a torpedo attack by a North Korean submarine. Several of the 104 crew were killed and others were missing last night. The drama, close to the disputed sea border between the two Koreas, raised concern that growing tensions between them could escalate into conflict. Torpedo strike: A South Korean naval coast defence ship patrols the country's northern coast (file picture) North Korea had earlier threatened ' unprecedented strikes', including nuclear attacks, against its neighbour and the U.S., claiming they were planning to topple the regime of Kim Jong-il. Relations between the two have also come under strain recently with disputes over cross-border tourism and a joint economic zone. There are fears in the South that the North is becoming increasingly erratic and dangerous. As ships and helicopters searched the scene of the sinking for survivors last night, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency meeting of security ministers in Seoul. The incident happened in the Yellow Sea near Baeknyeong Island, the westernmost point of South Korea and a key military post. The South Korean ship, the 1,200-ton corvette Cheonan, was on a routine patrol when it was hit by an explosion close to its stern. There were reports that it had earlier fired warning shots at an object to the north. But South Korean officials played down the initial reports of military action, saying they had no evidence of North Korean forces in the area. They said the Cheonan could have fired its warning shots at a distant flock of birds which had produced an image on its radar. Senior government officials later told South Korean media the ship could have struck a rock or been hit by an explosion on board. Six naval ships and two coastguard vessels rushed to the scene and the defence ministry said later that 58 of the corvette's crew had been rescued. Two had to be airlifted for emergency medical treatment. North Korea warned recently that it was increasing its defences in response to joint South Korean-US military exercises earlier this month. It had declared four naval firing zones near the sea border, deploying multiple rocket launchers. Two of the zones are in the Yellow Sea. Action: South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, centre, talks with officials today after the sinking of one of the country's naval ships North Korea has never recognised the sea border drawn unilaterally by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The Yellow Sea was the scene of naval battles in 1999 - when 17 North Korean sailors died - and 2002 when four South Korean sailors and at least 30 North Koreans died. Last November the two navies fought a brief gun battle that left one North Korean sailor dead and three others wounded. A North Korean ship was left in flames. In January North Korea fired artillery into the disputed zones at a time of mounting international pressure to re-start talks over its nuclear ambitions. Some analysts say the firing zones - and recent escalation of military activity - may be a way of strengthening its hand in any talks. In 2002, the then U.S. President George Bush named North Korea in an 'axis of evil' alongside Iraq and Iran. But the Pyongyang regime was defiant and the following year claimed it had enough plutonium for nuclear bombs. In 2006 North Korea test-fired a long-range missile and last year claimed it had carried out an underground nuclear test, prompting protests from the U.S., Russia and China. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visits the Daeheungsan Machinery Factory in North Korea yesterday KOREA, HALF A CENTURY OF CONFLICT At the end of the Second World War, Korea was a united country under Japanese occupation. But after Japan's defeat, the island was effectively split with Soviet troops occupying the north and American forces in the south. The stage was set for a long-running and bitter confrontation between the capitalist west and the communist forces of Russia. In 1948, leaders in the north proclaimed the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Soviets withdrew. Two years later, the south declared independence. North Korea invaded. The ensuing war lasted three years, left two million dead and laid waste to the country's economy and infrastructure. Hostilities finally ceased when the two sides agreed to a three-mile buffer zone between the two states. But despite the ceasefire, sporadic hostilities continued , the two tiny countries fighting a bitter offshoot of the Cold War in a remote and neglected corner of the world. The south - propped up by the Americans - thrived. However, the north has had a far rockier history. Originally ruled by Kim Il-song, the country's supreme leader is now his son Kim Jong-il. Whereas his father had abided by the terms of the 1953 ceasefire, his successor reneged. In 1996, against a backdrop of devastating famine, Kim Jong-il announced he was sending troops into the demilitarised zone In 2002, George W Bush named North Korea as part of an 'axis of evil' alongside other 'rogue' states such as Iraq and Iran. But Kim Jong-il was not deterred. Instead, Pyongyang made regular announcements on its arsenal and in July 2003 claimed it had enough plutonium to start making nuclear bombs. In 2006, North Korea test-fired a long-range missile. Relations with the West deteriorated again last year when neighbours accused the country of carrying out another long-range missile test. Pyongyang, however, claimed the rocket under scrutiny was carrying a communications satellite. Later last year, the country admitted it had carried out its second underground nuclear test, prompting protest from the US, China and Russia. And while the nuclear brinkmanship continued, there were regular spats with South Korea over border incursions and hostile intent. The sea boundary has been the cause of particular tension in the last few months. South Korea claims the north has designated four areas as military firing zone and deployed four rocket launchers close to the sea in response. Although South Korea still recognises the Northern Limit Line, which was drawn up in 1953, the north has never accepted the boundary. Let down by the NHS: Cancer victim Julie OConnor with daughter Sophie, 22 A damning report has laid bare the shocking extent of an NHS hospitals failure to diagnose a nurses cervical cancer. A smear test sample taken from Julie OConnor was plentiful with abnormal cells and it was a breach of duty of care that they were not noticed, an independent analysis found. Mrs OConnor, who worked in the NHS for 13 years, was wrongly told six times by Southmead Hospital in Bristol that she did not have cervical cancer. It was only when she went to see a private consultant three years after the original test that she learned the truth. By that time, the mother-of-two was told that she had a 4.5cm tumour and her illness was terminal. She died last week. Mrs OConnor and her husband Kevin condemned health chiefs at North Bristol Hospital Trust for the blunders that eventually cost the 49-year-old her life. They say a diagnosis should have been made as early as September 2014, when Mrs OConnor went for a smear test. The test results returned to her said that her sample was negative suggesting there was nothing of concern. However, an independent analysis of the original sample which the family paid for themselves after learning she did, in fact, have cancer paints a very different picture. The report was carried out by Dr Sanjiv Manek, who is a consultant gynaecological pathologist at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. It says there are plentiful abnormal cells all over this slide, adding it was unreasonable the sample was reported as negative. Mrs OConnor (left), who worked in the NHS for 13 years, was wrongly told six times by Southmead Hospital in Bristol that she did not have cervical cancer Mr and Mrs OConnor had been a couple since they were 18 years old and had two children, Sophie (centre left), 22, and Daniel, 19 (right) The report adds: It should have been straightforward to pick out these abnormalities and make a diagnosis. Experts concluded that had these abnormalities been detected, a colposcopy would have been carried out and a precancerous and in my opinion early cancerous lesion would have been detected. The report said that such action would have detected the problem at a stage when simpler treatment would have sufficed. Why women are put off screening By Kate Pickles, Health Correspondent for the Daily Mail Women are being put off cervical screening over fears the results could suggest they or their partners have been cheating, a survey has found. Experts from charity Jos Cervical Cancer Trust have warned that a sense of shame from being diagnosed with human papilloma virus (HPV) the virus responsible for most cervical cancer cases is adding to the anxiety of smear tests. They said the infection, which affects eight out of ten women at some point in their lives, must be normalised to encourage more women to attend life-saving screening. The survey of more than 2,000 women found nearly one in four said they would be worried about what people thought of them if told they had HPV and slightly more said they would worry their partner had been unfaithful. Seven in ten said they would be scared to hear they had HPV and two-thirds would worry it meant they had cancer. But the charitys findings also showed many respondents did not understand the link between HPV and cancer. A third said they did not know the virus, which can be dormant, could cause cervical cancer and almost all were unaware of its links to throat or mouth cancer. Campaigners said the findings were particularly worrying given the new HPV screening will replace the existing cervical cancer test later this year. It means samples will first be checked for high-risk strands of the virus before being sent for further examination if necessary. Robert Music, chief executive of Jos Trust, said: With the screening programme moving to testing for HPV first, which is to be celebrated, we must normalise the virus to ensure people fully understand what it means to have it. The report, revealed today at the Cancer Research UK Early Diagnosis conference, comes weeks after Public Health England launched a campaign to encourage women to go for screening, with rates at an all-time low. Attendance has fallen to just 71 per cent, with 5million women currently overdue for testing. This has fallen from a high of 75.7 per cent in 2011 two years after the death of reality TV star Jade Goody at the age of 27 and is at its lowest rate since records began. About 1,000 British women die from cervical cancer every year but experts say another 2,000 would be killed without the screening programme. Sara Hiom, a director at Cancer Research UK, said: Every woman has the choice whether to go for screening but busting the myths and removing the stigmas surrounding HPV is vital to ensure people feel more confident to book and turn up for their cervical screening appointment. Advertisement It concluded: There is a breach of duty of care in reporting this cytology sample given the obvious abnormal nature of the cells. There is, therefore, negligence in reporting this cytology, resulting in a delay in diagnosis of the cervical cancer. The family paid for the report in the hope of getting answers relating to Mrs OConnors missed diagnosis. Last night, her husband said of the report: Its just blatant negligence and incompetence. We contacted the trust to say that the root cause analysis they were doing at the time was flawed as it was based on factual inaccuracies as the report was being carried out on their own findings. We told them our analysis had proved them wrong and that they were wasting their time. But they chose to continue and ignore [the report]. Its criminal. All we were trying to do was help them. I told the board of directors Id paid for these reports and offered them to them. I said they could use them if it helped with the investigation but they wouldnt. Mr and Mrs OConnor had been a couple since they were 18 years old and had two children, Sophie, 22, and Daniel, 19. Mr OConnor said: Julie was my life. We cant replace Julie. Were all devastated. But I cant change the past. Julies gone shell always be in our hearts but what we can do is make some positives out of this. He is calling for a wide-ranging independent public inquiry into smear tests at Southmead Hospital dating back as far as 2012. Mr OConnor said: We dont think its isolated. We think there is a systemic problem there. No one person can be that unlucky to have a misdiagnosed smear, missed biopsies and all these clinical examinations and were talking senior members of staff. We want to look forward, but we also have to look back and work out if there are other victims out there thats what Julie wanted to do. Jackie Linehan, legal director of Enable Law, who represented Mrs OConnor in a medical negligence claim against the trust, said: Julie was keen that Southmead Hospital undertake a wider review of pathology services. Her concern was to ensure that other women who may have had false negative smear or biopsy results should be checked to prevent a wider spread of their cervical cancer and to see whether her case was a one-off or not. She also wished to remind women to attend their regular cervical cancer screening. It is welcome news that Southmead has agreed that an independent review of Julies care is necessary and, hopefully, as part of that review, the independent reviewer will consider whether the decision by Southmead Hospital not to undertake a wider review of pathology services is a decision which stands up to scrutiny. North Bristol NHS Trust medical director Dr Chris Burton said: We are extremely sorry to hear that Mrs OConnor has died. We have her family in our thoughts at this very difficult time and we send our deepest condolences. We are committed to understanding the full circumstances of the care we provided so we can improve our services for the future and we will be publicly open with the overall findings of the independent investigation we have commissioned. He added: I have met with Mr OConnor and will remain in contact with him. Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina was hauled off a plane at Barcelona Airport by Spanish police after an incident on a flight bound for Italy, according to reports. The 30-year-old Russian, who served prison time over a 2012 anti-Putin protest at a Moscow cathedral, is said to have been taken off the aircraft with another unnamed member of the punk activists' 'Riot Days' tour. They were on their way to Milan for a Thursday show following a performance in Barcelona. Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina was removed from a flight from Barcelona to Italy for being drunk, according to Spanish media Local reports said Civil Guard officers removed the female pair from the plane today when it was preparing for take-off after being asked to intervene by the pilot. They are understood to have left the plane voluntarily after being formally identified but not arrested -before being told they could board another flight to Italy. Respected Spanish daily El Mundo claimed in an initial report the pair had been arrested following an alcohol-related incident and the plane they were on had to turn round and return to the airport after leaving the terminal to head for take-off. It later toned down its report on the incident to confirm there had been no arrests. No-one from the Civil Guard was available tonight to comment. Spanish Airports Authority AENA were also unavailable for comment. The Spanish Aviation Safety and Security Agency (AESA), the state body that ensures civil aviation standards are observed in all aeronautical activity in Spain, are normally sent a police report where passengers are deemed to have misbehaved so they can determine whether further action should be taken. She was chucked off the plane with another member of the group while on their 'Riot Days' tour (pictured performing in Madrid last week) The agency normally works on the basis of formal complaints from airlines involved, and it was not clear tonight if any was made. Alyokhina, known as Masha, started a hunger strike while she was in prison over her Moscow Cathedral protest. In March 2014 she and fellow Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova, both jailed for hooliganism following the protest, were covered in paint and had pepper spray, green antiseptic and metal thrown in their faces in an assault while they had breakfast following their release. Riot Days is a mix of music, documentary footage and political commentary based on Alyokhina's memoir of the same name. In Spain performances have taken place in Bilbao, Madrid and Valencia with the last one happening on Saturday in Barcelona. A British ballet star has been detained in Moscow on suspicion of possessing cocaine, according to reports. Oscar Frame, 21, is a rising star of the world famous Bolshoi Ballet in Russia but has now been arrested, Russian media states. The Bolshoi confirmed last night that Moscow police had held the dancer but declined to give details. Pro-Kremlin media reports citing law enforcement sources alleged Frame had changed direction in the city when he saw a police patrol coming towards him. 'They approached him and asked if he had drugs with him. He confessed he had cocaine', stated REN TV. Oscar Frame, 21, seen performing at the ballet. The 21-year-old was arrested in Moscow, Bolshoi representatives said The dancer from Britain has been seen as a rising star and was picked to perform at the Bolshoi 'And they found a package with something looking like cocaine.' The alleged package was seized and has been sent for analysis, it was reported. Penalties for possession of drugs in Russia can be harsh and run between a 15 day arrest and a large fine, to years in prison. A Bolshoi spokeswoman said Moscow police had 'detained' the dancer but the troupe was 'not yet commenting on this situation' which was a matter for law enforcement. Police had informed the British Embassy after he was held, said reports in Moscow. He was held at Khamovniki police station in Moscow, according to reports. The dancer has enjoyed sensational success in Russia after completing his training at the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St Petersburg in 2017. He was taught by legendary Bolshoi star Nikolay Tsiskaridze. One account in melmoth.blog said: 'Oscar Frame found himself in a difficult, albeit enviable, position. 'The young Brit received job offers from both the Mariinsky and the Bolshoi a happy predicament very few Vaganova graduates, let alone foreign trainees, ever find themselves facing. 'After some deliberation, Frame settled on the Bolshoi, becoming one of the few foreigners to ever join the company.' He said: 'My dream role at the moment is Romeo because I'd really like to try and conquer it, and it feels as if it fits my abilities on stage.: He was born in Southwark in 1997 and trained at the Hampton Ballet Academy in London before winning a scholarship to the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington. He was twice rejected by the Royal Ballet Junior Associates, he said. Mr Frame has been taught by legendary Bolshoi star Nikolay Tsiskaridze in Moscow 'My interest in ballet only really sparked when I started the Russian training,' he said. 'After that, nothing really got to me except the Vaganova classes. 'It was addictive.' He said: 'I spoke no Russian before I left England. 'It was easy to pick up because I ended up being the only international student in my class.' Neither Frame nor his legal representative has commented. Moscow police had issued no statement on the case. It is understood British diplomats have been in touch with the Russian authorities. Hillary Clinton needled the Republican National Committee on Tuesday after Donald Trump slipped her 2016 campaign slogan 'Stronger Together' into his El Paso, Texas rally speech. The president, who defeated Clinton in the 2016 White House contest, told a capacity crowd Monday night that he has had 'a great romance' with Texas, 'and were only getting stronger together.' The RNC drove the slogan pilfering home on Tuesday, tweeting an image of Trump with the slogan overlaid. 'Now copy my plan on health care, a fairer tax system, and voting rights,' Clinton replied in a tweet, adding a link to her 2016 campaign platform. The Republican Party tweeted this image on Tuesday, recapping a line from President Donald Trump's Monday night rally speech in El Paso, Texas Trump's 2016 opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, used the phrase 'Stronger Together' throughout her campaign as a tagline opposite the future president's 'Make America Great Again' slogan Clinton jabbed the GOP for stealing her slogan, tweeting that they should copy her policies too 'Stronger Together' was Clinton's counter to 'Make America Great Again' as the two presidential hopefuls held dueling campaign events. 'Stronger Together' was the title of the 2016 campaign-year book Clinton wrote with her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine The words appeared in powder blue and white at nearly every Clinton speech, starting in late 2015. The phrase was the title of the election-year book she co-authored with Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, her vice presidential running mate. Their campaign also made ads based on the theme. The GOP fired back at Clinton on Tuesday, jabbing on Twitter: 'How about this: Well give you your slogan back if you run again.' Clinton has reportedly not ruled out a third run for the White House. She lost the 2008 Democratic nomination to Barack Obama eight years before falling to Trump in the general election. But an RNC spokesman told Fox News that her old tagline is fair game. 'When you lose your campaign, you lose your monopoly on any slogans,' Steve Guest said. The Republican Party sliced back in a tweet, saying she should run again if she wants her slogan back Trump told Texans during Monday night's rally that he has had 'a great romance' with the Lone Star State 'and were only getting stronger together' Former Texas Democratic congressman Beto O'Rourke held a counter-rally acros town from Trump's higher-profile speech 'As we saw at his packed rally, President Trump continues to unite the American people behind his pro-border security agenda.' Trump spoke to 6,500 people in El Paso on Monday night, with a throng estimated at 10,000 watching outside the El Paso County Coliseum on giant video screens. Former Texas Democratic congressman Beto O'Rourke held a counter-rally acros town attended by an estimated 7,000 people, blasting Trump for using the Texas border region as a prop to argue for his long-promised wall. Children as young as three have been hospitalised in Lincolnshire after taking Spice - a synthetic version of cannabis which is gripping the UK. Spice is known as the zombie drug because users often appear unconscious or incoherent and since first appearing in 2013 it has spread to prisons and schools. Figures have revealed that since 2015 there has been 363 people hospitalised in Lincolnshire, with 51 involving young people aged 18 and below Children as young as three have been hospitalised in Lincolnshire after taking Spice - a synthetic version of cannabis which is continuing to sweep across the UK. People pictured in Manchester in a zombie-like state after taking Spice Spice on the rise in Wales, with Public Health Wales revealing the synthetic drug has led to more hospital admissions and more deaths. A pack of spice is pictured The figures were released from a freedom of information request to United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust, and reveal admissions include a three-year-old girl to Boston Pilgrim Hospital in 2015, and a 3-year-old boy in 2017. To combat widespread use of the drug earlier this year, the City of Lincoln Council formed an intervention team comprising of the police, local businesses, and the Addaction charity. Lincolnshire Police said: 'We carried out a week-long enforcement action against drug dealers in August, at various locations across Lincoln. 'This followed a huge amount of work over several months to target those who deal drugs.' Experts say the spice epidemic spread from the North West but the drug has now made its way through central England and into Wales. NHS figures show there were 125,290 cannabis and spice-related hospital admissions in England from April 2013 to March 2018. Of these, 14,888 related those who are under-20s with nine admissions children aged under ten. In 2018, there were 7,258 hospital admissions for drug related mental and behavioural disorders - a fall of 16% over 2 years, from 8,621 in 2015/16. NHS figures show there were 125,290 cannabis and spice-related hospital admissions in England from April 2013 to March 2018. A man is pictured after taking Spice The figures were released from a freedom of information request to United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust, state the admissions include a three-year-old girl to Boston Pilgrim Hospital in 2015, and a 3-year-old boy in 2017 Spice on the rise in Wales, with Public Health Wales revealing the synthetic drug has led to more hospital admissions and more deaths. A report by Public Health Wales has found that hospital admissions related to cannabis and 'synthetic cannabinoids' such as Spice have increased from 518 in 2011-12 to 1,323 in 2016-17. The most recent figures showed that 123 people died in Wales and England in 2016 using the drug. Spice was originally manufactured to get around the illegal status of cannabis and was sold in some high-street shops as a legal high. But, since the Psychoactive Substances Act came in to force in 2016, it too is a Class B drug. Spice is considered to be addictive as heroin and crack, the drug costs just 5 per bag. Smoking a single Spice joint is akin to smoking up to 100 containing normal cannabis and addiction can take hold in just three days. Pictured people unable to stand or walk after taking the deadly drug Smoking a single Spice joint is akin to smoking up to 100 containing normal cannabis and addiction can take hold in just three days. It has left addicts suffering severe psychotic episodes, hallucinations, vomiting and even seizures. Ministers outlawed possession of the Class B drug, but there is confusion amongst police over whether those caught with it can be arrested. Officers also say the drug has become more potent since supply shifted from shops to streets. Last year, global drugs survey found that hospital admissions as a result of taking the herbal substance Spice have increased by over one-third since 2014. It is estimated that 96 per cent of the Manchester young homeless are hooked on the drug. It is also estimated that an ambulance is called to British jails every 42 minutes as a consequence of a spice epidemic in prisons. REI, This morning, here at our Kent headquarters, our Board Chair, Steve Hooper, announced that the REI board of directors has accepted my resignation as President and CEO of REI. My last day will be March 15. Eric Artz, REI Chief Operating Officer, will take on the role of interim CEO, effective immediately. Five years ago, I joined REI as CEO and started a new phase of my life. I feel incredibly fortunate to have been a part of and to have led this organization. I have learned a great deal and while it is hard to leave, its the right time. I am grateful that I can transition an organization that I love to a seasoned leader in Eric and a talented team at a time when the co-op has real momentum. Thats a rare privilege as a CEO and this change gives me the opportunity to pursue a lifelong dreamto go explore all the places that inspired me to join REI. I offered my resignation because in recent weeks the board of directors and I have had a series of tough conversations about my decision to keep private a personal and consensual relationship with the leader of another organization in the outdoor industry. The board oversaw a thorough investigation that was conducted by an external law firm. While there was no financial misconduct, I should have told the board because my actions created a perceived conflict of interest to the co-op. Looking back, I recognize I should have been transparent. REI expects high standards from its leaders. The board and I agree that, in this instance, my decisions did not meet them and the last thing I want is to damage REI. I deeply regret that my actions could impact the co-op. You deserve better. Looking ahead, both the board of directors and I are fully committed to ensuring that REI continues to thrive. I am confident that Eric will do a great job. I am grateful for his partnership during my tenure and fully support his stepping into the interim role. We have the right strategy, an excellent leadership team and REI is in a great place financially, so I know the co-op will continue to progress. I have huge admiration for you all, and I believe fiercely that the work the co-op has done for 80 years has had an unmatched positive impact on the outdoors and on peoples lives. Thank you again for all you do and for the opportunity to lead. See you outside, Jerry The White House condemned violence against journalists on Tuesday on behalf of the president after one of his supporters assaulted a cameraman during a rally. The BBC's Washington correspondent Gary O'Donoghue told the Today programme about the attack on his cameraman A Trump supporter wearing a 'Make America Great Again' hat laid hands on a BBC cameraman in what one correspondent for the network described as an 'incredibly violent attack' and another said took place as President Donald Trump whipped his crowd into a 'frenzy' against the media in El Paso, Texas. Washington correspondent Gary O'Donoghue, who is blind, said his cameraman Ron Skeans was filming the rally when the attack that was caught on camera occurred. He said a Trump supporter mounted the press gallery and pushed the camera into his colleague, then pushed Skeans, in the middle of the president's rally. 'It was an incredibly violent attack. Fortunately our cameraman is fine, he is made of stern stuff,' O'Donoghue said. Neither the White House nor the Trump campaign issued a public apology to Skeans, and it took more than 18 hours for the president to condemn the unidentified supporter's conduct. White Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said late in the day on Tuesday that Trump doesn't believe that violence against anyone, including journalists, is acceptable. 'President Trump condemns all acts of violence against any individual or group of people - including members of the press. We ask that anyone attending an event do so in a peaceful and respectful manner,' she said. 'For questions around security at Trump campaign events please contact the campaign directly.' Her statement followed a call by White House Correspondents' Association Chairman Olivier Knox for the president to apologize. Knox said: 'The White House Correspondents Association condemns the physical attack on our colleague at the presidents rally in El Paso, Texas. We are relieved that, this time, no one was seriously hurt. The president of the United States should make absolutely clear to his supporters that violence against reporters is unacceptable.' O'Donoghue posted footage from Skeans' camera to Twitter. The BBC camerman's shot was focused onTrump before jolting away. As the camera appears to visibly bounce around for around 10 seconds, the screen refocuses on a man in a red 'Make America Great Again' cap who is being restrained by another man in a black t-shirt. The Trump supporter is then led out of the press area and off the stage. 'This is a constant feature of these rallies - a goading of the crowds against the media,' O'Donoghue said of the attack on Tuesday. 'I have been spat at before, they hurl abuse at American colleagues, in particular.' President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the El Paso County Coliseum in El Paso, Texas on Monday Footage captured by a journalist in the press gallery shows the Trump supporter yelling obscenities at the media He is eventually escorted off the stage as members of the press try to rearrange themselves following his alleged attack O'Donoghue said Trump's 2020 reelection campaign will be as 'hostile and ill-tempered and divisive as the one we saw last time' based on his experience. He was referring to incidents in 2016 at rallies, which included a Trump supporter punching a protester and the president offering to pay his backers legal fees if they found themselves in similar situations. 'If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously, OK? Just knock the hell ...,' he said at a 2016 rally in Iowa. 'I promise you I will pay for the legal fees. I promise, I promise.' Trump said once that he wanted to punch a protester at Las Vegas rally. 'He's walking out with big high-fives, smiling, laughing,' Trump said. 'I'd like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you.' The president later supported and applauded a GOP politician running for Congress in a special election who punched a reporter. The Trump supporter was held back as he shouted 'F**k the media' at members of the press Former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke speaks to a crowd of supporters at a ball park close to where Trump's rally was being held following a 'March for Truth' in El Paso He has continuously encouraged his supporters at rallies, though the mid-term elections, to shout down the media, which he routinely refers to as the 'enemy' and 'fake news.' It was during one of those instances on Monday night that a Trump supporter attacked the BBC's cameraman. Speaking to a packed stadium that holds about 8,000 in El Paso, Trump slammed the 'dishonest media' in his remarks. BBC Washington editor Eleanor Montague was also standing in the press gallery when the attack happened. She said, 'The crowd had been whipped up into a frenzy against the media by Trump and other speakers all night.' A BBC spokeswoman said Skeans was 'violently pushed and shoved by a member of the crowd' as he covered the rally. 'The man was removed by security and Ron is fine. The president could see the incident and checked with us that all was OK,' she said, 'It is clearly unacceptable for any of our staff to be attacked for doing their job.' India has been dependent on oil-rich Saudi Arabia for its energy security New Delhi: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman will undertake a two-day official visit to India starting February 19, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) announced on Tuesday. India has been dependent on oil-rich Saudi Arabia for its energy security. Interestingly, according to reports in the Pakistani media, the Saudi crown Prince is also expected to visit Pakistan shortly. It may be recalled that the powerful and controversial Saudi Crown Prince who has taken several highly publicised steps to combat corruption and promote womens empowerment in his country has also been under the global spotlight ever since the murder of Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey a few months ago. This, although the Saudi royal family has denied having had any role in the killing. Britain's spy agencies want the Government to introduce a law that would force foreign lobbyists to register in the UK. MI5 is said to be demanding that figures working for Vladimir Putins regime and other hostile states disclose their actions in the same way they have to in the US. Such a move could see Kremlin-backed news outlets for example, forced to hand over information if suspected of activity linked to spying. MI5 is said to be demanding that figures working for Vladimir Putins regime disclose their actions Bill Browder, dubbed Putins public enemy number 1 after fighting to uncover Russian money laundering, will appear before the foreign affairs select committee today. Last night, the British financier said: There are all sorts of Russian influence polluting the political process. Last night British financier Bill Browder,said: There are all sorts of Russian influence polluting the political process' If you are a lobbyist or high-level lawyer and you are working on behalf of a foreign government, you should have to disclose that. Americas Foreign Agents Registration Act requires anyone acting on behalf of a foreign government to disclose their activities. Tory MP Bob Seely who is campaigning for the act to be introduced, said: Our system is too open to manipulation from those in and around the political system. Its now clear that we need a Foreign Agents Act, which lists those people and organisations, PR types, bankers, lawyers and reputation peddlers, etc, who act for foreign states or their proxies in influencing government and public policy. He also said politicians needed to be banned from undertaking paid lobbying for foreign governments or their agents and proxies in the UK. A new lawsuit claims that Les Moonves pocketed over $50 million from the sale of his personal stock in CBS after learning that he was being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department. The Hollywood Reporter was the first to report this and the claim that Moonves pocketed just over $155 million in his final two years as head of the network from selling stock. Both of those claims are being made by Gee Samit, who has filed a lawsuit against CBS Corporation, Moonves and acting CEO Joseph Ianniello, who sold $29 million of his own stock as well between 2016 and 2018 according to an amended court filing. 'By late 2017, Defendants were aware that Farrow was investigating and writing an article on CBS, defendant Moonves and the Companys culture of sexual harassment,' states the complaint. 'Defendants knew that the publication of this article could have a negative impact on the Company and its continuing operations yet they failed to disclose it in their SEC filings.' The suit is demanding compensatory damages. Lone ranger: Les Moonves cashes out over $155 million of his personal stock in that time, including over $55 million while he was under police investigation It is not just Moonves and Ianniello who are singled out in the lawsuit. 'CBS has in place clear policies and procedures relating to CBS stock sales by senior executives of the company. Executives who possess material information about CBS that has not been made public may not use that information in selling CBS stock,' said the company in a statement. 'The vast majority of sales mentioned in this complaint were made as part of pre-planned selling arrangements designed to comply with applicable securities laws. 'The remaining sales were subject to CBS customary pre-clearance policies and procedures and were properly disclosed. While it would not be appropriate to comment on ongoing litigation, we believe that our policies and procedures are fully in compliance with law.' Moonves is currently challenging the decision made by the CBS board to withhold his $120 million severance package. 'Also as previously reported, pursuant to the separation agreement between the Company and Mr. Moonves dated September 9, 2018, any dispute with respect to the determination of whether the Company has grounds to terminate the employment of Mr. Moonves for cause is subject to binding arbitration in accordance with the provisions of the separation agreement if Mr. Moonves makes a demand for binding arbitration within a specified period following the date on which the Board of Directors gives Mr. Moonves notice of the cause termination,' read an EC filing submitted by the company on Wednesday. Acting CEO Joseph Ianniello, sold $29 million of his own stock as well between 2016 and 2018 according to an amended court filing 'On January 16, 2019, Mr. Moonves notified the Company of his election to demand binding arbitration with respect to this matter. The Company does not intend to comment further on this matter during the pendency of the arbitration proceedings.' The disgraced executive was set to walk away with a $120 million golden parachute if an investigation into his allegations of sexual misconduct found that there were not grounds to terminate him for cause. Moonves would have also received a additional $65 million from vesting of long-term incentive rewards had he received the $120 million as well, but will also not get any of that money. That investigation found multiple reasons however according to the network. In a statement released in December, CBS said that Moonves' 'willful and material misfeasance, violation of Company policies and breach of his employment contract, as well as his willful failure to cooperate fully with the Companys investigation' justified the board's decision to oust the president and chairman earlier this year. There are few specifics at this time, but it was revealed last week that Moonves had given investigators' his son Charlie's iPad instead of his own when asked to hand over the tablet. The New York Times also revealed that investigators met with Moonves four times and found him to be 'evasive and untruthful at times and to have deliberately lied about and minimized the extent of his sexual misconduct.' Moonves can still fight the decision through arbitration, and in a statement on Monday his lawyer Andrew Levander said: 'The conclusions of the CBS board were foreordained and are without merit. Consistent with the pattern of leaks that have permeated this "process," the press was informed of these baseless conclusions before Mr. Moonves, further damaging his name, reputation, career and legacy.' CBS hired two law firms to look into the allegations being made about the 69-year-old executive, who was named president of the company in 1995 and in 2016 also became the chairman. In the wake of the scandal, his wife Julie Chen also left her spot as host of the network's daytime show The Talk while defending her husband. In the wake of the scandal, his wife Julie Chen also left her spot as host of the network's daytime show The Talk while defending her husband Moonves, who is worth an estimated $800 million, took home $69 million in 2017 for his work at the company. Moonves stepped down in September after multiple women accused him of either forcing himself on them or being sexually inappropriate. CBS hired two law firms to investigate Moonves following the allegations and now, a New York Times report has revealed the findings of those firms - as detailed in a draft report. In the report, investigators found that Moonves 'received oral sex from at least four CBS employees.' Investigators noted that the instances were 'transactional and improper to the extent that there was no hint of any relationship, romance, or reciprocity.' 'Though the lawyers were not able to speak directly with all of the women, they determined that 'such a pattern arguably constitutes willful misfeasance and violation of the company's sexual harassment policy'. The lawyers also wrote in their findings that they had received 'multiple reports about a network employee who was "on call" to perform oral sex' on Moonves. Moonves reportedly admitted to receiving oral sex from the woman but claimed it was 'consensual'. Moonves has denied having any non-consensual sexual relationships. The disgraced CBS boss' lawyer said that his client had 'never put or kept someone on the payroll for the purpose of sex.' It was also discovered over the course of the investigation that Moonves had destroyed evidence and misled investigators in an attempt to save his reputation and his severance package, according to the Times. Investigators said they found Moonves to be 'evasive and untruthful at times and to have deliberately lied about and minimized the extent of his sexual misconduct'. According to the report, Moonves' marriage to Julie Chen in 2004 appears to have caused the alleged sexual misconduct to stop. It is also revealed that in 2017, Gil Schwartz, the longtime head of communications for CBS, drafted a resignation letter for Moonves after learning one of his accusers had spoken with Vanity Fair. Moonves refused to sign the letter, but did start cashing out stock. Two Indonesian university students have fled Canberra after being attacked outside of a Target store because they were wearing headscarves. The women, understood to be Muslim, were walking to a bus stop when they were approached by two people at 6pm last Thursday. A woman yelled out to them: 'Why do you dress all in black? Why are you still alive?' and 'it isn't fair to us', president of the Indonesian Students Association in Canberra, Welhelmus Poek said. A woman yelled out to them: 'Why do you dress all in black? Why are you still alive?' and 'it isn't fair to us' (stock image) The Masters students from Indonesia were walking to a bus stop near the shopping centre when they were approached by two people about 6pm The pair ignored the remarked and continued walking when one of them was punched in the side of the head, damaging her ear. ACT Police responded to reports of the assault on the Cooyong Street side of the Canberra Centre and are investigating the incident. 'Investigations into this matter remain ongoing,' the ACT Police spokesman said. 'Anyone who witnessed the incident, or who has any information about this incident that could assist police is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.' Following the attack, one of the women returned to Indonesia while the other fled to Brisbane to stay with family members. The respective universities the students were attending, The University of Canberra and The Australian National University, are 'deeply concerned and saddened' hearing their students were victims of assault. 'We are all shocked and appalled that this has happened in Canberra, a city where incidents are very rare,' they said in a statement. 'We work closely with each other, with ACT Policing, the ACT Government, our student representative groups and community organisations to keep our campuses and communities safe and Canberra a place where our students can live, learn and grow safely.' The University of Canberra (pictured) and The Australian National University, are 'deeply concerned and saddened' hearing their students were victims of assault The women have since left Canberra with one of them staying with a friend in Brisbane and the other travelled back to Indonesia Mr Poek is speaking on behalf of the students who are too scared to reveal their identities. 'This is a safe city for us, Australia is also a safe country for us,' he said. 'We love Canberra, this state, this city is very welcoming to us. We can't use this as evidence to say that Canberra is not safe for us. We still love this city.' The Indonesian Embassy in Canberra has sent a diplomatic note to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and has also contacted ACT Policing and the ACT government on behalf of the students involved. More than 50 British East Asian directors, writers and actors wrote an open letter to CBBC boss Cheryl Taylor calling for the show to be axed BBC has been criticised for giving the go-ahead to the new children's show The BBC is facing a racism row over a children's show that 'perpetuates every racial stereotype' about the Chinese. The CBBC sitcom, Living With The Lams, centres on a Chinese family running a restaurant in Manchester. The father performs in a band called 'Wok and Roll'. Yesterday the BBC was criticised for giving the go-ahead to a show with 'regressively radicalised' stereotypes. The new CBBC sitcom, Living With The Lams, centres on a Chinese family running a restaurant in Manchester and has been accused of perpetuating 'every racial stereotype' The BBC has been criticised for giving the children's show the go-ahead due to its 'regressively radicalised' stereotypes It was also lambasted for its 'colonial mindset' after it suggested that the show's non-Chinese writers could try to avoid cultural insensitivity by 'buddying up' with lower-paid, uncredited Chinese ones. Critics claimed that proposals for the show refer to characters from East Asia as 'oriental' now considered to be an outdated term and wrongly show steamed dumplings being pulled out of an oven. The programme is also said to poke fun at the grandmother for spitting on the floor, use a 'mish-mash' of Chinese accents, and even feature an episode about the 'stinkiness' of Chinese food. More than 50 British East Asian directors, writers and actors have written an open letter to CBBC boss Cheryl Taylor calling for the show to be axed. They say it is 'regressive, and perpetuating rather than challenging racial stereotypes'. The show has no place on the BBC unless it is exclusively written by British East Asian writers, they added. Only two of the eight episodes are due to be written by British East Asians, the letter said. The programme-makers have brought in a 'cultural consultant' to help its white writers understand Chinese culture. More than 50 British East Asian directors, writers and actors wrote a open letter to CBBC boss Cheryl Taylor and called for the new show to be axed They are alleged to have said British East Asian writers could 'buddy up' and be 'mentored' by the white writers as long as they were prepared to accept lower fees and do not seek a writers' credit on the programme. Miss Taylor was unavailable for comment. But a BBC spokesman said: 'We're really proud of our track record in making diverse and culturally relevant output for our young audience. 'We always seek guidance, advice and expert input for culturally sensitive content. 'We're still in the development stages of Living With The Lams and so the editorial process is ongoing.' A spokesman for production company Twenty Twenty said the critics' letter did not 'accurately reflect key parts of the ongoing development process'. A driver who led police on a fiery high-speed chase made a miraculously getaway by racing through closing boom gates at a railway crossing - leaving officers no choice but to wait until the train passed. Incredible footage showed the white Landcruiser send sparks flying as it dragged a trailer with no wheels along a road in the Perth suburb of Maddington on Tuesday night. An unmarked police car followed the vehicle as it approached the train line crossing, but the boom gates began to close and the driver made it under with centimetres to spare. Officers were forced to wait for the train to pass and the gates to reopen, by which time the driver was gone. A driver who led police on a fiery high-speed chase made a miraculously getaway by racing through closing boom gates at a railway crossing Police had tried to pull over the vehicle at a random traffic stop when the driver fled - sparking the brief chase. 'The Landcruiser evaded police and during this time the wheels of trailer became dislodged and fell off, causing trailer to be dragged along the road,' a police spokeswoman said. 'The Landcruiser narrowly missed railway boom gates on Kelvin Road in Maddington and the trailer became dislodged. 'Police terminated following the vehicle and the Landcuiser was last seen travelling south on Tonkin Hwy.' Inquiries will continue to locate the driver. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers. Incredible footage showed the white Landcruiser send sparks flying as it dragged a trailer with no wheels along a road in the Perth suburb of Maddington Sam Little, 78, was arrested by police on Drug charges in 2012. DNA acquired during his detention connected him to three murders in the 1980s. Last year, he confessed to 90 more A convicted serial killer, who confessed to police he's murdered more than 90 people over nearly four decades, has started painting pictures of some of his victims - and the FBI needs help identifying them. Sam Little, 78, said he aimlessly murdered an innocent person in 1970 and repeated the act 92 more times over the next 35 years, before halting his sickening tirade in 2005. Historic DNA evidence resulted in him sentenced for the murders of three women in 2014, but by November last year Little told authorities he'd actually killed nearly 100 more women. If his claims are proven to be true, Little will go down as one of the most prolific serial killers in history. So far, investigators have managed to confirm 36 of his slayings, which span the length of the country from LA to Washington DC. Little has been doodling the faces of some of his victims in his cell, using watercolors, chalk and pencil Officers say he exhibits an eerie eye for detail, but the victims are proving to be difficult to identify because he preyed on vulnerable and maligned members of society, such as sex workers But in a bid to close a litany of long-cold cases, the FBI has started releasing the doodles Little has been painting of his victims in his cell. 16 pictures have so far been released by agency, which have been sketched from memory by Little and showcase an eerie eye for detail. Officers are said to be desperately scouring old case files and photographs to try and identify the Jane Does, but matching them up is proving to be a difficult task. The reason, they say, is because Little tended to prey on marginalized members of society who would leave the faintest trail in their wake when they disappeared. Most of his confirmed kills were identified to be drug addicts, prostitutes or transgender women - whom Little would strangle and often dump their bodies in dense wooded areas. With no trace of a gunshot or stab wound, police would often mistakenly rule the cause of death to be an overdoses or an accident, and failed to open a murder probe as a result. If his claims are corroborated, Little will go down as one of the most prolific serial killers in history (pictured: Little in a Texas court, in November 2018) So far investigators have managed to link Little to 36 of his claims, spanning the width of the US, from LA to Washington DC. 20 of those victims were murdered in Los Angeles Investigators are now said to be encouraging Little to continue with his twisted artistic endeavor in the hope of bringing retrospective justice to those whose brutal deaths were once drastically overlooked. According to police, Little has billed himself as a gifted artists and told them he'll be able to retrace the faces of his unknown victims feature by feature, using chalk, pastels and water colors. The victims are all captured in the final moments of their lives and most exhibit forlorn or petrified expressions, staring directly into the killer-come-artist's eyes. Some, however, display more specific detailing that may later prove to be crucial fragments of recollection: one, listed as 'Mary', has a blue and white striped headband holding her hair back. Another has purple streaks through her curled hair. All of the women have bright and plump, red lips. Three of the 16 portraits have been matched up to previously unsolved murders. Little had a history of criminal dealing before he began his alleged murder streak in the 1970s (pictured: Little is detained in Washington DC, 1972, for illegal possession of a handgun) Police say Little is in poor health and they're conducting daily interviews to extract as much information from him as possible (pictured: Little leaves court in Odessa, Texas, December 2018) One of the victims was from Prince George County, Maryland, one in West Memphis, Arkansas, and the third was from Pascagoula, Missouri. Little is currently serving three consecutive life sentences for three murders committed in Los Angeles. So far, police have managed to link Little to 17 other murders in the state. They're currently investigating other possible links to slayings in 36 different cities, across 16 different states. He was arrested in 2012 in a homeless shelter wanted on drug charges in California. Pearl Nelson, 38, left, is holding a photo of her mother, Audrey Nelson, who was killed by Little in LA, in 1989 Police tested his DNA and he was connected to three unsolved murders across 1987 and 1989, including the death of Audrey Nelson. Little is said to be in poor health and investigators are conducting daily interviews to extract as much information from him as possible. The FBI urged anyone with information about the victims to call on (800) 634-4097. The terrifying moment a father realised his car was stolen with his little boy inside has been captured on camera. Vaneet Bansal was standing just metres away from his vehicle when a brazen thief jumped into his car in Craigieburn, Melbourne, around 10pm on Monday, while the engine was still running. Not only had the opportunistic thief driven away in the silver Mitsubishi Outlander station wagon, but he had unwittingly taken four-year-old Rhonin, who was asleep in his car seat in the back, with him. CCTV footage outside Mr Bansal's Indian restaurant captures the devastating moment he realised his son had been taken. The panic-stricken father can been seen frantically chasing after the car, with two of his employees, but to no avail. 'I looked [and] my car is missing and I realise it got stolen, so I quickly jump within seconds and follow the guy the car but I missed him,' Mr Bansal told Yahoo!7. Just moments earlier, the video recording sees the shameless thieves seize the opportunity to steal the car. CCTV footage (pictured) outside the families Indian restaurant captures the devastating moment Mr Bansal realised his son had been taken While Mr Bansal was chatting with his employees, a car pulls up and an unidentified male gets out, jumps into Mr Bansal's car and drives away. For ten terrifying minutes Mr Bansal was none-the-wiser to his son's whereabouts. 'I was just thinking of the future and scared,' he said. Vaneet Bansal (pictured) was standing just metres away from his vehicle when a brazen thief stole his car A frantic search, including a police helicopter and the police dog squad, found the car deserted on the the corner on Cimberwood Drive, about 2km away, with little Rhonin safely inside. Police took Rhonin from the abandoned car and quickly reunited him with his anxious parents. Little Rhonin had no idea he'd been taken by a complete stranger. Rhonin (pictured) was rescued from his family's car after it was abandoned on the corner of Cimberwood Drive 'Yeah he was fine he doesn't even know what happened, he was sleeping' his father said. The carjacker is thought to have driven the vehicle for about three minutes before ditching it on the side of the street. After deserting the car the thief then jumped into a light-coloured hatchback driven by an accomplice and they were last seen driving on Cimberwood Drive about 10.20pm. The carjacker and his accomplice haven't yet been apprehended by police. Police appealed for dashcam footage from anyone who may have been travelling in the area at the time. A 65-year-old Argentinian man has been arrested for raping and impregnating his girlfriend's 11-year-old granddaughter. Eliseo Victor Amaya, 65,is accused of sexually assaulting the girl, who has not been named, around four months in her grandmother's home in Tucuman, a city in northwest Argentina. Her mother, Soledad Bazan, 36, is now set to petition the court to see if her daughter can get an abortion, according to Infobae. The practice is illegal in Argentina and can only be applied in rare circumstances. It is also risky considering the girl is already 22 weeks pregnant. Police in Tucuman, Argentina, have arrested Eliseo Victor Amaya, 65, and accused him of sexually abusing his girlfriend's 11-year-old granddaughter. The child's mother has been presented with the option of seeking permission from a court for an abortion but a hospital director said it could be risky since the girl is 22 weeks into her gestation Amaya is in custody waiting for his next appearance in court. There are two exceptions that would grant a waiver in the event the pregnant girl's family decides to appeal the court for help. The first law indicates the medical procedure can be carried out if there is danger to the life or health of the mother and if it can't be avoided by any other means. The second bylaw states that an abortion can be performed in the event the pregnancy is a result from rape or 'an attempt against the purity of a feeble-minded or demented woman.' The child, who is in the fourth month of gestation, visited a local clinic in late January before Bazan was referred to see specialists at Eva Peron Hospital. 'After doing all the corresponding studies and confirming that her life was not at risk, we told the mother that the law protected her to carry out an interruption of pregnancy, but she refused and told us she would take care of the baby,' hospital director Elisabeth Avila said according to Argentine newspaper Clarin. The doctor said an abortion on the girl, who is 22 weeks pregnant, could be a risky decision. A woman who has been accused of multiple burglaries in a New Jersey neighborhood flipped the bird with both hands for her mugshot. Shana Hilsman was arrested on February 1 after an officer witnessed her trespassing on a homeowner's property along Janice Drive in Spotswoods, New Jersey. According to Spotswood police, Hilsman was found to be in possession of several burglary tools, including a 'screw driver, hammer and a flashlight'. Scroll down for video Shana Hilsman (pictured) was arrested for burglarizing a New Jersey neighborhood While being booked into jail, she flipped the bird with both hands Before Hilsman's arrest, police said there had been numerous reports of burglaries and attempted burglaries in the Janice Drive neighborhood during late hours. She was then transported to Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center where threw up both of her middle fingers as she posed for her mugshot. Hilsman was booked on charges of burglary, criminal trespass and possession of burglary tools. Before Hilsman's arrest, police said there had been numerous reports of burglaries and attempted burglaries in the Janice Drive neighborhood during late hours. One resident was able to capture video surveillance of a female suspect attempting to break into their car on January 13 and again on January 27. In the video, a woman is seen wearing a hooded coat as she shines a light inside the vehicle. She then attempts to break into the driver's side of the vehicle with no success. The woman walks over to the passenger's side and again fails to break into the car. She is then seen walking away. Hilsman is being held at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center pending a court date. One resident was able to capture video surveillance of a female suspect attempting to break into their car on January 13 and again on January 27 Christian Steward Oscar Nichols is accused of dressing in a black and white dog costume while having sex with his Siberian husky before posting the disturbing videos online A Florida man is accused of dressing in a black and white dog costume while having sex with his Siberian husky before posting the disturbing videos online. Christian Steward Oscar Nichols, 21, has been charged with aggravated animal cruelty after police say he filmed himself molesting his pet. In the clip the dog is said to be in distress and tried to run away before its owner is then said to have hit it with a sex toy. The Pinellas County Sheriffs Office said: 'The costumed man is seen in the video using his penis and multiple penis shaped sex toys to have inappropriate sexual contact with a Siberian Husky dog. 'Detectives say the dog in the video was clearly in distress. At one point during the video, the dog tries to run away and the man responds by striking the dog with a sex toy.' Nichols admitted to detectives he made the video with his Siberian Husky, Ember, and shared it on the internet, according to officers. Police were alerted to the video by someone living in another state who reported seeing video and photographs of a man having sex with a dog online to Pinellas County Animal Services. Authorities say they were then able to trace the videos and images back to Nichols and say he admitted to making the footage. Ember and another dog were removed from Nichols' home in Oldsmar on Monday after the investigation began on January 25. Christian Steward Oscar Nichols, 21, has been charged with aggravated animal cruelty after police say he filmed himself molesting his pet Siberian husky (not pictured) The Sheriffs Office said additional charges are likely. The investigation continues. Nichols was booked into Pinellas County Jail on Monday and is being held on a $5,000 bond. Restrictions under Sec 144; Net services suspended across Manipur. Guwahati: Fearing violent protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, the authorities in Manipur on Tuesday imposed curfew in Imphal East and Imphal West districts for an indefinite period and shut down mobile and Internet services for five days across the state. The capital city of Imphal falls under both Imphal East and Imphal West districts. The problem escalated following the decision of the government to push the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. However, the Upper House was adjourned for Wednesday, The authorities in Imphal said that restrictions under Section 144 was imposed in the wake of ongoing 36-hour state-wide shutdown in response to a call by civil society groups under the banner of the umbrella body Peoples Alliance Manipur (PAM). The civil society groups also carried out black flag protests in Imphal on Monday, while women vendors of the Ima market also continued their protest against the Citizenship Bill even with the police using teargas to disperse the protesters on Sunday. While roads were deserted in both the districts, police personnel were seen informing people through loud speakers about imposition of the prohibitory orders and asking them to stay indoors. Security forces have also set up barricades on major roads. The Central government is contemplating to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, by relaxing the eligibility rules for an immigrant belonging to six minority (non-Muslim) religions, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan in getting Indian citizenship. Kentucky high school biology teacher Amy Hamilton, 40, has been charged with sexual misconduct with a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor A Kentucky teacher has been accused of having sex with her former middle school student after plying him with alcohol at her home across state lines in Indiana. Amy Hamilton, 40, of Corydon, Indiana, turned herself into police custody on Monday and was charged with one count of sexual misconduct with a minor and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Police launched an investigation into Hamilton, who has taught biology at Oldham County High School in Kentucky since December 2017, after receiving a tip in January about suspected inappropriate conduct, reported Louisville Courier-Journal. According to investigators, Hamilton used to work at Stuart Pepper Middle School in Brandenburg, Kentucky, where she first met the victim years prior. The pair reportedly have kept in touch via text messages. On March 2, 2018, Hamilton's former student, then aged 15, was staying at her home in Corydon when the alleged sexual encounter took place. Charging documents allege that Hamilton offered the underage boy nine beers and drank multiple bottle of wine, reported WDRB. Hamilton used to work at Stuart Pepper Middle School in Brandenburg, Kentucky (pictured), where she first met the victim years prior The 15-year-old was staying at Hamilton's home in Corydon, Indiana (pictured), on March 2, 2018, when the two allegedly had sex after a night of heavy drinking When interviewed by police, the teenager said that it was he who had 'initiated physical contact earlier in the day' with Hamilton, but at the time the teacher turned down his advances. As the evening - and the alcohol consumption - progressed, Hamilton 're-initiated the sexual contact' and led the 15-year-old to her bedroom to have sex. Hamilton later admitted that the boy spent the night at her home, but she denied plying him with alcohol, or having a sexual encounter with him. However, when police combed through the contents of the teen's phone, they reportedly discovered text message exchanges between him and his former teacher suggesting that the two had an intimate relationship. Hamilton has taught biology at Oldham County High School in Kentucky since December 2017 Oldham County Schools released a statement saying that Hamilton will not be returning to the school pending the outcome of the case. The 40-year-old woman was released from jail after posting $5,000 bond, reported WAVE3. She is due back in court next Tuesday. If convicted of the sexual misconduct count, which is a felony, Hamilton could face up to 12 years in prison. Advertisement Sydneysiders woke up to a red haze across the city on Wednesday after a dust storm swept across New South Wales due to hot and dry conditions. The east coast was struck by a heatwave on Tuesday with the mercury hitting 38C in Sydney. There were winds of up to 90km/h which caused dust storms in western NSW where the ground is dry after a period of drought. The dust then blew eastwards, engulfing Canberra on Tuesday evening and reaching Sydney overnight. Dust bomb: Sydneysiders woke up to a red haze across the city on Wednesday after a dust storm swept across New South Wales due to hot and dry conditions Stunning pictures taken by a Daily Mail Australia photographer show the dust over Sydney harbour Healths experts warn that during dust storms people should void outdoor activity. If you must go outside, spend as little time outside as possible. Pictured is Sydney harbour on Wednesday Health experts have warned people to stay in air-conditioned premises, if possible. Pictured is Sydney harbour on Wednesday The dust (pictured over Sydney on Wednesday) blew eastwards, engulfing Canberra on Tuesday evening and reaching Sydney overnight There were winds of up to 90km/h on Tuesday which caused dust storms in western NSW where the ground is dry after a period of drought. Pictured: Dust over Sydney on Wednesday 'Dust bomb' hits Sydney: A red haze descends on the city as the heatwave continues and temperatures hit 35C on the east coast. Pictured: Dust over Sydney on Wednesday Perth will be 33C and sunny with a possible shower in the evening while Adelaide will be 22C and partly cloudy. Pictured: Dust over Sydney on Wednesday The heatwave is continuing on the east coast of Queensland with the mercury hitting 36C in Brisbane. Pictured: Dust over Sydney on Wednesday The east coast was struck by a heatwave on Tuesday with the mercury hitting 38C in Sydney. Pictured: Sunrise host Sam Armytage shared these snaps on Instagram taken from Wagga Wagga, NSW The harbour bridge was overshadowed by dust clouds in Wednesday morning after hot conditions Explaining the phenomenon, Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Rebecca Farr told Daily Mail Australia: 'Strong and gusty winds lifted large areas of dust and it was transported by wind to the east. 'The dust is mostly aloft which means it is held in higher air. 'Because it is aloft and quite dispersed it means there is only a slight haze which will gradually clear as the day goes on.' Sydney is much cooler today with a maximum temperature of 26C. But fire warnings remain in place in the far north of the state where temperatures will reach 40C. Officers are fighting 43 fires across the north and west of the state. The heatwave is continuing on the east coast of Queensland with the mercury hitting 36C in Brisbane. The dust blew eastwards, engulfing Canberra (pictured) on Tuesday evening and reaching Sydney overnight A dust storm blankets Old Parliament House and Mt Ainslie on February 12, 2019 in Canberra The fire warnings remain in place in the far north of the state where temperatures will reach 40C. Pictured: Canberra in the dust Dust storm precautions Avoid outdoor activity. If you must go outside, spend as little time outside as possible. Cover your nose and mouth with a mask or damp cloth to reduce exposure to dust particles. Avoid vigorous exercise, especially if you have asthma, diabetes or a breathing-related condition. S Stay indoors, with windows and doors closed. Stay in air-conditioned premises, if possible. Source: NSW Health Advertisement Perth will be 33C and sunny with a possible shower in the evening while Adelaide will be 22C and partly cloudy. Hobart will be 18C with some showers, Canberra will be 24C and Darwin, as usual, will be 33C. Down south it's cooler with Melbourne reaching a maximum temperature of 19C on Wednesday. Meanwhile, there is more relief for families in flood-ravaged Townsville as the rains remain at bay for another day, with temperatures of 35C. Receding floodwaters following Queensland's once-in-a-century monsoonal deluge have left authorities racing to dispose of hundreds of thousands of dead animals that are posing a health risk. Cattle, sheep and wildlife perished in the unprecedented two-week rains, which left large swathes of the state under water. Their putrefying carcasses pose a health risk to clean up crews and to local water supplies in flooded communities. The growing hazard comes as Townsville health authorities warn residents to take precautions when cleaning flood-affected buildings. The NSW Rural Fire Service has implemented fire bans in the far north of the state. Pictured: Bondi Beach Down south it's cooler with Melbourne reaching a maximum temperature of 19C on Wednesday. Pictured: Melbourne One person has died and 10 people have been infected by melioidosis, which stems from floodwaters that are heavily contaminated with dirt and bacteria. Max temperatures on Wednesday Sydney 26C Melbourne 19C Brisbane 36C Perth 33C Aledaide 22C Hobart 18C Canberra 24C Darwin 33C Advertisement It's the third flood-related fatality, following the deaths of two Palm Island men who died at the peak of the floods in Townsville eight days ago. Farther south, police are still searching for a 35-year-old man who disappeared in floodwaters at Groper Creek on Friday. In rural communities, exhausted graziers are becoming increasingly concerned about the floods' likely financial impact, which is expected to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Prime Minister Scott Morrison told parliament on Tuesday he would ensure a recovery and restoration plan would restore north Queensland cattle farmers to the prosperity. The flood crisis was also discussed in the first sitting of Queensland's parliament on Tuesday. The opposition grilled Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk about a decision to open floodgates of the Ross River Dam at the peak of the floods, which inundated many houses. Ms Palaszczuk said the dam belonged to the Townsville Shire Council and it had acted on advice from various government agencies. Meanwhile, the mopping up in Townsville continues. Officials have deemed 2950 homes damaged of the 8000 assessed, as an appeal to raise funds for people affected climbed to $3.6 million. As of Tuesday, insurers had received 14,600 claims from people in Townsville with losses estimated at $175 million. Advertisement Britain is set to bask in glorious sunshine this Valentine's Day as temperatures continue to push closer to the 60F mark in the UK. Forecasters have said that some parts of the UK could reach up to 59F as loved up Brits prepare for the most romantic day of the year. Temperatures have become a lot more mild this week after cold snaps across the UK left many Brits de-icing their cars and wrapping up warm before braving the great outdoors. From this evening temperatures will start to climb, becoming milder just in time for Valentine's Day. Tonight we should see some rainfall over Scotland, as well as some small parts of fog across the south of the country. Into Wednesday we will see sunny skies across much of southern England, with the top temperature hitting 55.4F (13C). Away from the south the rest of the country will be a bit cloudier with some mild rain in Scotland. Speaking to the MailOnline, Met Office forecaster Becky Mitchell said that Valentines Day should be a nice day for those hoping to get outside and soak up the sunshine. Mild weather across the UK has caused an early bloom of the traditional spring flower, the Crocuses bloom in Victoria Park in Bath The three day weather forecast (pictured above) shows that the clouds tend to disperse from Wednesday, making room for sunshine from Thursday onwards A couple hold hands as they stroll through Christchurch meadows in Oxford as they enjoy milder temperatures Cloud seen across London earlier today (right) will disappear across the week as more and more people will flock outside to enjoy the mild weather, as some did earlier today on a boat trip in Oxford 'It will be dry and sunny across most of the country but a bit cloudier over Scotland and Ireland. There will be plenty of sunshine and it will be fairly mild. 'We could potentially see 57F on Thursday but we also aren't ruling out it hitting 59F. The areas which will be the mildest will be towards the southwest of the UK and north east Scotland, which is where we are most likely to see the 59F, which is a pretty decent temperature for this time of the year.' Looking forward to the rest of the week and it should be pretty mild and dry for most places in the UK, which is a far cry from last year's extreme weather conditions which saw parts of the country battered by the 'Beast from the East', which caused travel issues for many commuters across the country. A squirrel forages among purple crocuses in Royal Victoria Park, Bath, where mild weather has caused an early bloom of the traditional Spring flower Joggers jogging in St James's Park on a sunny and mild day in London earlier this afternoon. The joggers may not have to wrap up warm for much longer as temperatures are expected to increase The Met Office also highlighted that the rest of the week, and leading into next week, the weather would stay mild but said that they aren't ruling out colder snaps and that colder air could still bring bits of snow. The warmest Valentine's Day for those in the UK was recorded in 1988 in Trivington, Somerset, which clocked a sweltering 66.38F. The average temperature for this time of year is 44F n the north and 46.4F in the south, but as an early spring tries to push its way through, those heading out for Valentine's Day won't have to wrap up warm. A group of friends enjoyed the more mild weather earlier today and decided to take a boat ride in Oxford (pictured above) Pelicans in London are lit up by the mild sunshine which was seen across the capital earlier today The above average temperatures - arriving well ahead of the start of meterological spring on March 1 - will present a stark contrast to the sub-zero chill a fortnight ago that saw the mercury fall to -14.4C (6.1F) amid heavy snow. Last week gusts of up to 80mph hit the UK as Storm Erik blew across the country, causing deaths and delaying the transport network. On Saturday a kitesurfer died amid strong winds in an incident on the Saunton Sands beach in north Devon, although a spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police would not confirm whether the death was weather-related. On Friday morning a 50-year-old man died on the A384 in Buckfastleigh, Devon, and in Wales a van driver was killed after he collided with a fallen tree on the B4306 between Pontyberem and Llannon in west Wales. Road and rail users were faced with delays as a result of the weather with speed limits put in place on the East Coast Main Line and drivers advised to take extra care. Sen. Kamala Harris said in a radio interview she used to smoke pot to the sounds of Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur while in college but their breakthrough albums didn't come out until she had already graduated. The California senator who is exploring a White House bid made the comment while discussing her recreational marijuana when asked if she had ever smoked pot. 'I have and I inhaled,' she replied. She made the statement on 'The Breakfast Club' radio program, where host Charlamagne tha God wanted more details. 'What was you listening to when you was high? What was on? What song was on?' he asked during the Monday interview. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) revealed that she smoked marijuana, and said she listened to Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg while using the drug in college only those artists hadn't released their breakthrough albums by the time she graduated 'Definitely Snoop, Tupac for sure,' Harris said in the light-hearted exchange. But that claim doesn't quite add up, at least if she was smoking in college. Legendary rapper Tupac Shakur's debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, was released in 1991. As numerous online postings noted, Snoop Dogg's 'Doggystyle' debut came out in 1993, although he recorded with Dr. Dre in 1992. Harris, who was born in Oakland, graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1986, and later attended law school in California at the Hastings College of law, earning admission to the California bar in 1990. Legendary rapper Tupac Shakur's debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, was released in 1991 Snoop Dogg's 'Doggystyle' debut came out in 1993 Tupac's music career spanned just five years, and ended with his murder in 1996 at age 25. As Fox News noted, Tupac also recorded with the Digital Underground, but this work also was released after Kamala completed college. Harris, who launched her presidential campaign last month, said Monday morning that she wants marijuana legalized and remembers what it felt like to be high. 'I have. And I inhaled. I did inhale. It was a long time ago, but yes. I just broke news!' Harris said through a cascade of laughter on New York City's hip-hop radio program 'The Breakfast Club.' 'You know, I joke about it half joke but half my family's from Jamaica! Are you kidding me?' Sen. Kamala Harris said Monday morning during a New York City radio interview that she smoked marijuana in college Harris is the first 2020 presidential candidate to say she has smoked weed and call for its nationwide legalization Harris said her pot delivery method of choice in her college years at Howard University was a joint 'It was a joint,' Harris recalled, saying that she remember what it felt like to be high on the drug. 'Listen: I think it gives a lot of people joy, and we need more joy!' she laughed later in the interview. Harris said she has long been an advocate for states legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes, and now ants ot legalized in general. 'I think we need to legalize marijuana,' she said Monday, adding that 'we need to move it on the schedule so that we can research the impact of weed on a developing brain.' 'Not all drugs are the same,' she insisted, while suggesting that criminalizing weed has disproportinately affected black men in America's criminal justice system. Bill Clinton famously claimed in 1992 that while he had experimented with weed in college, he 'didn't inhale' it Barack Obama proudly declared during his first presidential campaign that he had smoked pot in his youth and inhaled because 'that was the point' Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (right) said during a September 2015 presidential primary debate that he had smoked pot, later tweeting: 'Sorry Mom'; President Donald Trump has said he never partook of drugs or alcohol other than communion wine 'We have incarcerated so many, particularly young men and young men of color in a way that we have not for the same level of use, other young men. And we've got to deal with that,' she said. Recreational marijuana use is legal in 10 states and the District of Columbia. Thirty-three states have legalized medical marijuana. But the drug is still illegal under federal law turning the pot trade into a volatile cash-only business that can't use FDIC-insured banks for deposits. It has been nearly 29 years since presidential candidate Bill Clinton admitted that he had smoked weed but insisted that he 'didn't inhale.' More than a quarter-century later, Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson, a former New Mexico governor, said he was a regular pot smoker but stopped during the campaign: 'I want to be completely on top of my game, all cylinders.' President Donald Trump has softened his 1990s-era view that states should legalize marijuana. He has said he has never taken an illegal drug or drunk alcohol, with the exception of communion wine. His predecessor Barack Obama was famously open about his drug use, recalling in a memoir his teenage friendships in a group he called 'The Choom Gang.' 'I inhaled frequently. That was the point,' he told NBC News in 2006. Top 2016 Democrat Hillary Clinton continues to insist, despite her interactions with the 1960s counter-culture, that she hever smoked marijuana; Bernie Sanders (right) was never is denial 2016 Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson, a former New Mexico governor, is a regular pot user but paused his smoking in order to be sharp on the campaign trail Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed in 2016 when she ran against Trump that despite surrounding herself with counter-culture figures in her twenties, she has never smoked marijuana. 'I didn't do it when I was young,' she said in a 2014 town hall. 'I'm not going to start now.' Other presidnetial hopefuls have admitted toking in the past, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. After letting the cat out of the bag during a 2015 primary debate, he tweeted: 'Sorry Mom.' Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential campaign told DailyMail.com in 2016 that 'when he was a teenager, he foolishly experimented with marijuana. It was a mistake, and he's never tried it since.' 'Teenagers are often known for their lack of judgment, and Sen. Cruz was no exception,' the spokesperson said. Eighty per cent of Vatican priests are gay and living in the closet, according to an explosive new book to be published next week. The 570-page expose, titled In the Closet of the Vatican, claims that four in five clerics in the Roman Catholic Church are homosexuals - but aren't necessarily sexually active. French sociologist and journalist Frederic Martel, who spent four years conducting 1,500 interviews for the book, found that some priests maintained discreet long term relationships, while others lived double lives having casual sex with gay partners and using male prostitutes. In the Closet of the Vatican claims Colombian Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo was was an arch-defender of the church's teaching on homosexuality while using male prostitutes He found that a number of clerics spoke of an unspoken code of the 'closet', with one rule of thumb being that the more homophobic they were, the more likely they were gay. The author, a former adviser to the French government, claims the late Alfonso Lopez Trujillo - a Colombian cardinal who held senior roles in the Vatican - was an arch-defender of the church's teaching on homosexuality and contraception while using male prostitutes, according to Catholic website the Tablet. The book is a 'startling account of corruption and hypocrisy at the heart of the Vatican', according to British publisher Bloomsbury. In its marketing material, Bloomsbury claims the book 'reveals secrets' about celibacy, misogyny and plots against Pope Francis. But critics of the book said 'it is not always easy to tell when Martel is trafficking in fact, rumour, eyewitness accounts or hearsay,' according to the Tablet. Publisher Bloomsbury claims the book 'reveals secrets' about celibacy, misogyny and plots against Pope Francis It's due to be released in eight languages across 20 countries next Wednesday, on the day that Pope Francis' holds a summit at the Vatican on sexual abuse attended by bishops from all over the world. Martel, a former adviser to the French government who is openly gay, claims he spoke with 41 cardinals, 52 bishops and monsignors, 45 papal ambassadors or diplomatic officials, 11 Swiss guards and more than 200 priests and seminarians as research for the book. The author spent around 200 weeks staying in residences inside the Vatican in Rome, according to the Tablet. Although the book doesn't conflate homosexuality with the child sex abuse in the church, Martel claims gay priests do not want to report abuse on children in case their on homosexuality is exposed - according to sources familiar with the book's contents. Theresa May scrambled to defuse a bitter row with Brexiteers today after her EU envoy was overheard saying she will put off a vote on her deal until the last moment - and then threaten to delay the UK's departure unless they approve it. Olly Robbins loudly told companions in a hotel bar that the 'week beginning end of March' would be critical, just days before the UK is due to leave the bloc. He suggested MPs will be confronted with a 'long extension' to the Article 50 process if they do not give the plan the green light at that point. The private conversation, which happened within earshot of an ITV journalist on Monday night, sent Brexiteers into meltdown. Mrs May has repeatedly insisted that the UK will leave on schedule on March 29 - despite growing doubts among ministers over whether that is realistic even if her package was passed immediately. She was grilled about the issue at PMQs this afternoon, with Tory Henry Smith asking her to reject the 'chatter'. Mrs May said the claims were based on what 'someone said to someone else, as overheard by someone else, in a bar'. However, she risked inflaming the situation by stopping short of ruling out a delay to the Brexit date, 'This House voted to trigger Article 50,' she told MPs. 'That had a two-year timeline. That ends on the 29th March. 'We want to leave with a deal and that is what we are working for.' Chief negotiator Olly Robbins was overheard talking in a bar about Mrs May and Brexit After the comments by Mr Robbins emerged, Tory hardliners accused the PM of 'ignoring the wishes of the British people'. Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage branded the senior civil servant part of a 'fifth colum' and said he should be sacked. The bitter row erupted as Mrs May braces for the latest round of crunch Brexit votes in the Commons tomorrow. There is anger that the government has tabled a motion endorsing the 'approach to leaving the EU expressed by this House' in a previous showdown on January 29. Those votes saw MPs pass a non-binding motion stating their opposition to leaving the bloc without a deal. Remainers have made clear they will hold off an all-out rebellion to rule out no deal at this stage - but ministers are threatening to join a revolt in two weeks' time if she has not made a breakthrough in talks with the EU by then. Who is Brexit envoy Oliver Robbins? Known as the mandarin's mandarin, Olly Robbins has been the PM's indispensable Europe adviser since she took personal charge of the negotiations over Britain's departure from the EU. Reputed to be the only person in Whitehall to grasp fully the complexities of the British negotiating position, Mr Robbins heads the Cabinet Office Europe Unit. However, the civil servant is widely distrusted by Brexiteers, who have accused him of trying to engineer the softest possible break with the EU. And while his mastery of the detail may be unrivalled, some have also questioned whether he has the required experience negotiating in the corridors and backrooms of Brussels. Mr Robbins originally worked under former Brexit Secretary David Davis in the Department for Exiting the EU, but moved to Downing Street in September 2017. Some in the Leave camp believe he was the true architect of the doomed Chequers plan, drawn up in the Cabinet Office while Mr Davis and other Brexit ministers were kept in the dark. Prior to his Brexit role Mr Robbins had a long Civil Service career, working under every prime minister since Tony Blair, when he served as the Labour leader's principal private secretary. Aged 43, the Oxford graduate has held senior roles in the Treasury and Home Office and was also deputy national security adviser under David Cameron. Advertisement Mr Robbins was overheard by ITV's Angus Walker following the meeting at the UK Ambassador's Residence between Michel Barnier and Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay. 'The issue is whether Brussels is clear on the terms of extension,' he was overheard saying by Mr Walker. 'In the end they will probably just give us an extension.' Asked whether the comments reflected Government policy, Mr Barclay said this morning: 'No.' Mr Barclay told BBC Radio 4's Today: 'The Prime Minister has been very clear that we are committed to leaving on March 29.' The Cabinet minister also tried to defuse Eurosceptic anger that the PM's motion effectively rules out no deal by endorsing the results of the votes held last month. Mr Barclay said that contingency planning for no deal was 'the agreed position of the Cabinet'. 'The agreed policy of Cabinet is to secure a deal. That's our priority and that's what we are working on.' Mr Robbins, the UK's chief Brexit negotiator, had been at the 'constructive' talks between Mr Barclay and Mr Barnier on Monday night before heading for the hotel bar. Angus Walker wrote for ITV: 'Robbins said that, in his view, he expects the choice for MPs to be either backing May's deal or extending talks with the EU. 'He expects MPs in March to be presented with backing a reworked Brexit deal or a potentially significant delay to Brexit... 'Robbins added that he thought the fear of a long extension to Article 50 might focus MPs' minds.' Theresa May has always denied she wants to remain in a permanent customs union with the EU - which is a key demand of Labour. But comments made by Mr Robbins suggest that may have been the original plan. The envoy apparently confirmed that the Irish backstop was designed not as a 'safety net' to avoid a hard border but as a 'bridge' to the long-term trading relationship. Mr Robbins was quoted saying: 'The big clash all along is the 'safety net. We agreed a bridge but it came out as a 'safety net'.' A furious row has erupted after Theresa May (pictured at PMQs today) tabled a motion for crunch Commons votes tomorrow seemingly accepting the UK must not crash out of the EU It was also suggested Mr Robbins and the Prime Minister will seek to have the Withdrawal Agreement amended so that the Good Friday Agreement would be less of an obstacle' on the backstop To do that they will attempt to have the European Commission 'agree that the word 'necessary' in the Northern Ireland protocol is defined as 'necessary subject to the future trade deal'.' Tory Brexiteer Andrea Jenkyns tweeted: 'If true, the PM should stop ignoring the wishes of the British people and disregarding her own red lines.' Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage said Mr Robbins was part of the 'Civil Service fifth column' and called for him to be sacked for his combination of 'treachery and incompetence'. Tory Eurosceptics accuse May of ruling out no-deal Brexit Theresa May is on a collision course with Brexiteers today after they accused her of a 'sneaky' bid to rule out leaving the EU without a deal. A furious row has erupted after the PM tabled a motion for crunch Commons votes tomorrow seemingly accepting that the UK must not crash out of the bloc. The spat centres on a Remainer-backed amendment that was passed by MPs two weeks ago rejecting the idea of no deal. Although that vote was not binding on ministers, the government motion due to be considered tomorrow endorses 'the approach to leaving the EU expressed by this House on 29 January'. That has been interpreted by Brexiteers as Mrs May admitting that no deal is off the agenda - despite her repeatedly insisting it is a possibility. The bitter row risks condemning the PM to a humiliating defeat in Parliament, as the Tory Eurosceptic ERG group refuses to join her in the division lobbies. Advertisement Steve Baker, the deputy chairman of the pro-Brexit Tory European Research Group, urged the PM to ignore Mr Robbins. 'Officials advise. Ministers decide. If the PM decides we are leaving on March 29, deal or no deal, that will happen,' he said. Mrs May is running short on time. More than a dozen ministers could join the revolt at the showdown on February 27 as pro-EU MPs told MailOnline the votes will finally be the crunch moment for no deal. Earlier, the PM urged MPs to 'hold their nerve' as she appealed for 'a little more time' to get concessions on the Irish border backstop in bitter Commons clashes. However, EU chief negotiator Mr Barnier emerged from the dinner with Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay in Brussels last night to insist the Withdrawal Agreement will not be renegotiated. The Tory leader tried to quell a mounting rebellion by Remainers by promising them another chance to influence the Brexit process by the end of the month if her renegotiation is not complete. But Mrs May fuelled anger that she is playing for time to reach March 29 by refusing to give a firm date by which a final vote on her deal will be held. She reportedly told the cabinet it is 'clear' more time is needed. Mrs May said: 'The talks are at a crucial stage. We now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this House has required and deliver Brexit on time. 'By getting the changes we need to the backstop; by protecting and enhancing workers' rights and environmental protections; and by enhancing the role of Parliament in the next phase of negotiations I believe we can reach a deal that this House can support.' In a rebuke to Jeremy Corbyn, Mrs May dismissed his call for a permanent customs union with the EU, saying the idea was 'less desirable' than her existing deal and the House had already voted against it in principle. Earlier this week she stopped short of ruling out a customs union in a letter to Mr Corbyn which caused angry ripples among the more hardlines Conservatives. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn faced off with Mrs May over Brexit at the PMQs session today With 45 days to go, former attorney general Dominic Grieve warned that time was running perilously short for ratification of any deal under the terms of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act. The Act, passed by the coalition government in 2010, requires 21 sitting days before the ratification of any international treaty. But Mrs May made clear the government would get rid of the requirement if necessary. 'In most circumstances, that period may be important in order for this House to have an opportunity to study that agreement,' she said. 'But of course, in this instance MPs will already have debated and approved the agreement as part of the meaningful vote. 'So while we will follow normal procedure if we can, where there is insufficient time remaining following a successful meaningful vote, we will make provision in the Withdrawal Agreement Bill - with Parliament's consent - to ensure that we are able to ratify on time to guarantee our exit in an orderly way.' A spokesman later explained that the process would be accelerated by a clause in the Withdrawal Agreement Bill itself, which would disapply the terms of the 2010 Act in this case. Mrs May sidestepped demands from several MPs to spell out whether she would ask the EU for an extension to the two-year Brexit negotiation process or allow the UK to crash out without a deal if she hit the March 29 deadline with no agreement. Earlier, Mrs May gave the Cabinet details of what had happened on her visit to Brussels last week, spelling out that she had suggested replacing the backstop with 'alternative arrangements', or inserting a time-limit or a 'unilateral exit mechanism'. What will happen next in the unfolding Brexit drama? Valentine's Day MPs will hold another round of votes on Brexit. They are not due to pass judgement on Theresa May's deal - instead debating a 'neutral' motion simply saying that they have considered the issue. However, a range of amendments are set to be tabled. They could include proposals to delay the Brexit date beyond March 29. Labour is pushing a change that would force another 'meaningful vote' on the PM's Brexit deal by February 26, regardless of whether she has finished renegotiating the package with the EU. February 24-25 Mrs May could have an opportunity to seal a new package with fellow EU leaders at a joint summit with the Arab League in Sharm el-Sheikh. However, it is not clear how many will attend the gathering - or whether she will have completed the deal by then. February 27 Downing Street is trying to head off a potential Tory Remainer mutiny by promising MPs will get another set of votes by this date regardless of whether there is a final deal. March 21-22 The PM will attend a scheduled EU summit in Brussels that would effectively be the last opportunity to get agreement. Some MPs fear that Mrs May is trying to delay for as long as possible, and might even try to hold a make-or-break vote in the Commons on March 26. That would be just 72 hours before Brexit, giving them a very stark deal-or-no-deal choice. 11pm, March 29 The UK is due to leave the EU with or without a deal, unless the Article 50 process is extended with approval from the bloc's leaders, or revoked to cancel Brexit altogether. Advertisement Two young brothers had the world at their feet before an alleged moment of madness at the hands of their father threw their lives into disarray. John, 18, and George Panagiotou, 22, were allegedly armed with metal poles when they stormed into a Melbourne home with their father, Tony, on Saturday. Police allege the trio - and others - burst into Duane Hutchings' property in Oakleigh East to recover DJ equipment, which they believed belonged to the family business. But the recovery turned deadly when Tony allegedly fired a single shot from a sawn-off shotgun to the back of Mr Hutchings' head, killing the 44-year-old father-of-five. John (right) and George Panagiotou (left) were allegedly armed with metal poles when they stormed into a Melbourne home with their father, Tony, on Saturday John (left) and George Panagiotou (right) are also accused of intentionally and recklessly causing injury to Mr Hutchings by assaulting him with batons Police allege a group of men burst into Duane Hutchings' (pictured) property in Oakleigh East to recover DJ equipment which they believed belonged to the Panagiotou business Tony, 56, has been charged with murder, while his sons, along with family friend Jonathan Atalalis, 24, are charged with trespassing with intent to assault. The three younger men are also accused of intentionally and recklessly causing injury to Mr Hutchings by assaulting him with batons. Melbourne Magistrates Court was told this week John Panagiotou operates a sound equipment hire company called Love It Loud - Dj Equipment & Party Hire. DJ equipment was dropped to a woman's home on Saturday, who then allegedly advertised it for sale on Gumtree, the court heard. Melbourne Magistrates Court was told this week John Panagiotou (right) operates a sound equipment hire company called Love It Loud - Dj Equipment & Party Hire The brothers (pictured together) are also charged with trespassing with intent to assault Tony, 56, has been charged with murder. Police are pictured at the scene on Saturday A man who went by the name 'Steven' contacted the woman and went to her home about 5.30am, saying he was happy with the equipment and would retrieve cash from his car. But 'Steven' allegedly returned with a group of about six other men, who assaulted Mr Hutchings with a metal pole before Tony Panagiotou allegedly shot him in the back of the head. Mr Hutchings died later that day in The Alfred Hospital. Three of the men then visited Doncaster Police Station, saying they had equipment stolen valued at up to $30,000. The brothers, along with Jonathan Atalalis (pictured), are charged with trespassing with intent to assault. Hutchings (pictured) died in hospital on Saturday after allegedly being confronted by a group of men inside a home in Oakleigh East and shot with a sawn-off shotgun John Panagiotou was refused bail on the basis the shotgun was still missing and two or three alleged co-offenders were still at large, the court heard. 'I don't know who's got that gun,' a concerned magistrate said of the missing firearm. John Panagiotou's 'very distressed' wife sobbed loudly in court, comforted by their daughter. George Panagiotou will return to court on March 7 to apply for bail. Atalalis did not apply for bail and his matter was adjourned along with those of Tony and John Panagiotou to June 3 for committal mention. John and George - whose social media profiles are filled with photos showing them wearing flashy suits and enjoying overseas holidays - will remain behind bars until their next court appearances. Forensic police are pictured at the scene of the alleged murder in Melbourne's south-east Donald Trump Jr has been slammed on social media after claiming 'loser teachers' are brainwashing young Americans 'from birth' with socialism. The president's eldest son spoke to a crowd of Trump supporters at a rally in El Paso, Texas on Monday night, encouraging young conservatives to 'keep up' the fight against leftist policies at their schools. 'Keep up that fight, bring it to your schools. You don't have to be indoctrinated by these loser teachers that are trying to sell you on socialism from birth. You don't have to do it,' Trump Jr said drawing cheers and applause from the crowd. Donald Trump Jr encouraged young conservatives to 'keep up' the fight against socialism in their schools saying they don't have to be 'indoctrinated by these loser teachers' President Trump drew an estimated 16,000 people to his rally in El Paso on Monday - claiming victory in his battle with Democratic upstart Beto O'Rourke. The arena held 6,500, but there was a large crowd outside which saw the speech on big screens Several teachers, including user @kybluebird77 hit out at Don Jr saying students are taught 'social responsibility' and 'civic duty' The 41-year-old also expressed his joy over seeing young Republicans standing up for their beliefs which he said 'is not easy.' Although he received praise at the rally, Don Jr's comments were quickly blasted on Twitter by Democrats and teachers who slammed him for criticizing 'hardworking' educators. 'Teachers do not indoctrinate kids. It's called learning. Academics, teamwork, social skills and - now - lock down drills. Not socialism, survival thru human compassion and kindness,' one Twitter user, Elizabeth Doyle said. Several teachers, including user @kybluebird77 blasted Don Jr's comments saying: 'Hey Jr., I've been teaching for 15 years and never once have I witnessed the teaching of socialism! I have however witnessed the teaching of RESPONSIBILITY, EQUALITY, AND CIVIC DUTY, as in it's our right to vote someone in that's not a complete idiot!!' Twitter user Brett Rose echoed those sentiments suggesting students are taught how to be socially responsible, not to subscribe to political beliefs. 'I think little Donald here is getting socialism confused with "social responsibility." One is a political theory, and the other is how decent people should act,' he tweeted. 'My hat is off to all the "Loser" teachers who spend their lives working hard to teach our children to be critical thinkers, to weigh the evidence before them, to recognize that #factsmatter, and to call bullsh!t on the bullsh!tters,' another said. Twitter user Brett Rose echoed those sentiments suggesting students are taught how to be socially responsible, not how to subscribe to political beliefs Don Jr has been a vocal critic of the new wave of 'democratic socialism' taking over the Democratic party. While on stage, he also took the chance to ridicule the Green New Deal which has been mainly supported by New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. 'I see the Green New Deal,' Don Jr said before pausing to laugh. 'We're gonna ban airline travel, we're gonna ban the internal combustion engine. We're gonna let people who just don't wanna work, we're gonna take care of them anyway. And it's all gonna pay for themselves,' he mocked. Police visited a woman at least 12 times before she was stabbed to death by her jealous boyfriend who was convinced she was seeing other men, an inquest heard today. Kevin O'Regan, 39, was jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years after he repeatedly stabbed Donna Williamson, 44, in the chest at her flat in Grove Park, south east London, on August 12 2016. Detective Inspector Lee Barnard, operational lead for the Mets Stalking Threat Assessment Centre, told Southwark Coroners Court that there were a number of occasions where Ms Williamson was not assessed properly by police. Kevin O'Regan, 39, was jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years after he repeatedly stabbed Donna Williamson (pictured), 44, in the chest at her flat in Grove Park, south east London, on August 12 2016 He said police were called to Ms Williamson's address at least a dozen times - including twice in one day - but failed to refer her to the Met's community safety unit, which is responsible for monitoring victims of domestic violence. DI Barnard explained: There were opportunities where Donna should have been referred. But it was unclear whether Ms Williamson was given access to domestic violence support services as the report filing system did not require officers to say whether the referral had been made. On one occasion in which ORegan was threatening and abusive the officer attending said Ms Williamson was at a low risk after she took back the claim. DI Barnard said: There should have been more checks however this was not done. The police knew that Kevin was jealous, violent and paranoid. The inquest was told the situation was complicated by Ms Williamsons alcoholism. Kevin O'Regan (pictured), of Kidbrooke, south east London, was jailed in February 2017 DI Barnard said: Police called back to the address six days later but when the police went back she was too intoxicated to engage. The officer concluded she was not vulnerable. The court heard that extensive training has been implemented by the Met Police since the murder. ORegan murdered Ms Williamson just four days after he was banned by a court from having any contact with her, the inquest heard. He was also stopped by police following a brawl at a Chinese restaurant near the victims home on they day she died but police were not able to see that he had breached his bail. Before she died, Ms Williamson, who was stabbed twice in the chest, once in the heart and once in the lung, dialled 999. The call was played out during ORegans trial in 2017, and he can be heard telling the victim he was going to get a knife, followed by the sound of her screams. ORegan then said: You are f****** dead. You are dying, you are dying mate, your life is slipping away from you. When officers later arrived on the scene, ORegan told them he had killed Ms Williamson and added: No other c*** is getting near her, shes dead. O'Regan, of Kidbrooke, south east London, was jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years for Ms Williamson's murder at the Old Bailey in February 2017. He will not be called to give evidence to the inquest. The inquest continues. DailyMail.com is picturing Beth Inabinett, 63, for the first time. She faces a March trial in Maryland for second-degree assault related to an alleged physical attack on White House counselor Kellyanne Conway The woman who presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway says physically assaulted her in October is married to the CEO of a $43 million environmental charity and manages volunteers for a nonprofit that boasts 'empathy' as 'a priority skill' for 'living and working together in this radically different world.' DailyMail.com is picturing Beth Inabinett, 63, for the first time. She faces a March trial for second-degree assault in Montgomery County, Maryland. Inabinett could also be charged with a federal crime, according to a Justice Department official. The case stems from an incident during a birthday party at a restaurant near Washington, D.C. Conway told DailyMail.com that Inabinett 'grabbed me from behind' and 'shook me repeatedly.' Inabinett is married to Andy Sharpless, a former executive vice president of Discovery.com who has served as CEO of Oceana since 2003. The celebrated environmental group works to preserve and restore ocean ecosystems worldwide. She describes herself in her LinkednIn profile as a former 'Alinsky-style community organizer in Maryland, Delaware, Philadelphia and Massachusetts' who now works as a volunteer recruiter at Ashoka, a Virginia-based nonprofit that supports more than 3,500 social entrepreneurs. Ashoka lists 'empathy' first among the planks in its platform for global success, describing it as 'the ability to understand and respond to the feelings of others.' 'In a changemaker world, empathy is as fundamental as reading and math,' according to the organization's website. Sharpless is a birthright Quaker. Inabinett has accompanied him to meetings of the Christian sect, which emphasizes pacifism and nonviolence in its teachings. A 2013 newsletter of the Third Haven Friends Meeting in Easton, Maryland, pictures them in a family reunion photo along with their daughters and Sharpless's parents. The same newsletter solicited registrations for a workshop of the Quaker meeting house's 'Alternatives to Violence Project.' Conway, pictured at right during President Donald Trump's Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, says Inabinett grabbed her from behind and shook her; witnesses said she yelled 'Shame on you' at the influential White House adviser This photo shows Inabinett (circled) and her husband Andy Sharpless (the tall man at center-right) during a 2013 family reunion at a Maryland Quaker meeting house that teaches nonviolence Conway first spoke about the altercation Friday on CNN, saying she had kept quiet about it in October because children were present Conway, who ran President Donald Trump's successful 2016 campaign, said Inabinett 'ought to pay' for getting in her face and assaulting her at a birthday dinner A police report says Inabinett yelled 'Shame on you' at Conway, and 'other comments believed to about Conway's political views.' Conway says she physically attacked her. 'This was not a social media spat or a publicity-hungry attempt by owners or activists in a restaurant to go viral,' Conway told DailyMail.com. 'This woman now facing criminal charges grabbed me from behind, shook me repeatedly, inches away from my teenage daughter, with many witnesses, and no denial from her at that time. I told her repeatedly to get her hands off of me.' Bill McDaniel Jr., a lawyer representing Inabinett, told DailyMail.com in a statement Tuesday that his client 'saw Kellyanne Conway, a public figure, in a public place, and exercised her First Amendment right to express her personal opinions.' 'She did not assault Ms. Conway,' McDaniel said. 'The facts at trial will show this to be true, and show Ms. Conways account to be false.' Inabinett answered her door in a Washington, D.C. suburb on Tuesday morning and said only: 'You know I really cant comment.' Sharpless referred DailyMail.com's questions to McDaniel. Ashoka did not respond to a request for comment. Uncle Julio's Restaurant in Bethesda, Maryland, is where Conway says she was grabbed and shaken by a woman late last year The altercation happened October 14, less than a week after Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's swearing-in. The Kavanaugh saga left many liberals in Washington dejected after allegations of past sexual misconduct were insufficient to help Senate Democrats derail his nomination. California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters made waves months earlier by encouraging opponents of the Trump administration to harass White House officials wherever they see them. 'Let's make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they're not welcome anymore, anywhere,' Waters said on June 23, 2018. She said on MSNBC hours later that her supporters were 'going to absolutely harass them until they decide that they're going to tell the president, "No, I can't hang with you".' Inabinett describes herself on her LinkedIn profile page as a former 'Alinsky-style community organizer' after her college years Saul Alinsky was a famed counterculture activist organizer in the 1960s who taught radicals how to isolate their foes and bait them into conflicts Waters is now chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee. Trump responded at the time by calling her 'an extraordinarily low IQ person.' A Justice Department official suggested Monday that Inabinett could be charged with a federal crime for physically attacking Conway, in addition to her state-level charge. Section 111 of U.S. Code title 18 makes it a misdemeanor to 'assault' or 'intimidate' an officer of the federal government 'while engaged in or on account of the performance of official duties.' Since physical contact was allegedly involved, the DOJ official said, the case could be prosecuted as a Class D felony. That would be unlikely unless the victim was physically harmed, the official said. Conway, like all senior-level White House aides, is a commissioned officer of the government. McDaniel responded Tuesday to a question about the possibility of federal authorities issuing a warrant for Inabinett's arrest, reiterating his insistence on her innocence. 'We stand by our statement: Conways story is false, no assault occurred, and the evidence at any trial will so prove,' he wrote in an email. Conway first spoke about the October altercation in a CNN interview last week, saying that Inabinett 'was grabbing me from behind, grabbing my arms, and was shaking me to the point where I felt maybe somebody was hugging me.' 'She was out of control. I don't even know how to explain her to you. She was just, her whole face was terror and anger. She was right here, and my daughter was right there. She ought to pay for that.' The October 14 altercation came in the days following the Senate confirmation and swearing-in of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a saga that polarized Washington and left many opponents of the Trump administration feeling frustrated and angry Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters said last summer that opponents of the Trump administration should harass the president's aides wherever they are seen in public Conway said she didn't discuss the harrowing blowup in 2018 because 'there were other peoples kids there.' 'I dont want it to become a thing, I just want it to become a teachable moment for everyone,' she said. Inabinett's description of herself as an 'Alinsky-style community organizer' aligns her with one of the left's most influential 1960s counterculture activists. Saul Alinsky wrote 'Rules for Radicals,' arguing that organizers should try to 'maneuver and bait the establishment so that it will publicly attack him as a "dangerous enemy".' 'Action comes from keeping the heat on. No politician can sit on a hot issue if you make it hot enough,' he wrote in the 1971 book, which became a template for much of the protest movement that inspired a young Hillary Clinton. Clinton wrote her undergraduate senior thesis on Alinsky's protest model, titling it: 'There Is Only the Fight.' The minister Manoj Kanti Deb declined to comment on the incident when contacted. Dhar said that video went viral on social media showing that Deb put his hand on the waist of Social Welfare and Social Education Minister Santana Chakma, a young tribal leader. (Video Screengrab) Agartala: In a video, a Tripura minister is seen groping a female colleague on stage in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has landed in a major controversy with opposition demanding that he be fires and charged with sexual harassment. On Monday, Tripuras opposition Left Front demanded that minister Monoj Kanti Deb be sacked for touching the owman in an indecnt manner during a rally in Agartala on Saturday that was also attended by Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb. The minister declined to comment on the incident. However, the ruling BJP dismissed the charge and called it character assassination. Modi ji2,9,2019 ku tripura pucha oha Ek udgatan pe tripura ki #bjpneta ki halat dekiye #santanachakma minister social welfare bar bar inki kamar par hat dalte #manojkantideb minister of youth affairs ek minister honeki bad khud suraksit nahi@abhisar_sharma @dhruv_rathee pic.twitter.com/oc0x2F8Aj8 Zakaria Ahmed (@zakariaahmed332) February 10, 2019 Left Front convenor Bijan Dhar said, Monoj Kanti Deb must be sacked and be arrested for touching the woman minister in an extremely indecent manner on the stage from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and others addressed the public gathering. Dhar said that video went viral on social media showing that Deb put his hand on the waist of Social Welfare and Social Education Minister Santana Chakma, a young tribal leader. "The male minister has publicly harmed the modesty, sanctity and dignity of the lone woman minister of Tripura at a public platform where the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister and other important personalities were present," Dhar added. Other local parties in Tripura are also planning protests soon to demand the resignation and arrest of the minister. However, BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharjee said Left Front is raising non-issueagainst BJP government and has now started character assassination of BJP ministers on false and non-issue matters. "The woman minister has never made any statement and complaint on the issue raised by the Left parties. Why are the Left parties doing this dirty politics?" Bhattacharjee asked. A controversial new film that features graphic depictions of self-harm and suicide has been approved for UK release - despite calls for it to be banned. Lords of Chaos, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018, focuses on the Norwegian black metal scene from the early 1990s. It is based on real-life band Mayhem, and includes scenes of murder - including the brutal killing of a homosexual man - and the burning of churches by satanists. One of the film's most shocking moments comes when one of the band members, known as Dead, cuts his arms and throat while home alone. Lords of Chaos, which is due for release on March 29, following the Norwegian black metal scene from the early 1990s (pictured is a scene from the film). During that time, there were numerous arson attacks on Christian churches by the black metal scene The new film (pictured) is based on real-life band Mayhem, whose early career was particularly controversial due to their notorious live-performances - which included band members self-harming on stage Dead, who would self-harm during the band's live performances, then shoots himself leaving behind a suicide note. Another of the band members, upon discovering the body, does not call the police but instead takes photographs for a future album cover - before collecting pieces of skull for a necklace. Graphic scenes such as these have led to calls for the film - which is directed by Jonas Akerlund and stars Rory Culkin, brother of actor Macaulay Culkin - to be banned from the UK. Church groups campaigning for its removal cite recent controversy over images of self-harm online on platforms including Instagram - and the case of 14-year-old Molly Russell who took her own life after viewing such material. Speaking to The Telegraph, Simon Calvert, deputy director of The Christian Institute, said he was 'surprised' the film had not been banned given the recent discussion about self-harm. He said: 'In the current climate of concern over self-harm and suicide, you would have thought there might have been more consideration of the risk that vulnerable people might imitate what they see. 'The distributors ought to be asking themselves if it is worth this risk.' The film is directed by Jonas Akerlund and stars Rory Culkin, brother of actor Macaulay Culkin, Emory Cohen, Jack Kilmer and Sky Ferreira It features a number of controversial scenes (one of which is pictured), including the burning of churches by satanists The film, which also stars the likes of Emory Cohen, and Sky Ferreira, and is based on a non-fiction book of the same name, is to be distributed in the United Kingdom by Arrow Films. The company refused to comment when approached by The Telegraph, but said the film would be distributed in certain cities next month. In a trailer released for the film, one of the band members can be seen harming themselves while performing - and in others setting fire to churches. The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), which gave the film an 18 certificate and noted it contained 'strong bloody violence, gore, [and] suicide', said it did not glamorise self-harm. Rory Culkin (pictured), brother of actor Macaulay Culkin, stars as Euronymous in the new film. Euronymous was a founder of and central figure in the early Norwegian black metal scene And that there was no reason to think the film would have a damaging effect on adults who chose to view it - although some might find it distressing. During the early to mid 1990s, Norway saw around 50 arson attacks on churches - with blackmetalers found to be behind many of these. Some of the buildings damaged in the attacks were seen as important historical landmarks - with one black metal band even using a picture of a destroyed church as an album cover. The film is due to be released on March 29 and, according to the BBFC, will see 'members of a Norwegian death metal band perform a series of increasingly shocking publicity stunts.' Aziz Ansari is finally addressing the sexual misconduct claims that broke last year and caused him to flee from the spotlight. The Master of None creator laid low following the allegations made by a 24-year-old New York photographer who accused the comedian of repeatedly pressuring her to have sex when they went on a date in September 2017. The comedian addressed the bombshell accusations during a pop-up show in New York on Monday saying he hasn't been talking about the ordeal because he wanted to process it and find the right words to say in response. 'It's a terrifying thing to talk about,' he said to the crowd of 200 people. About 18,000 signed up to try and nab a seat at his show at the Village Underground, the Comedy Cellar's sister venue in New York City. No filming was allowed inside and guests placed their phones in locked Yondr pouches. Aziz Ansari, 35, is finally addressing the sexual misconduct claims against him saying 'I felt really upset and humiliated and embarrassed, and ultimately I just felt terrible this person felt this way' The comedian spoke at a packed show at Village Underground in New York City on Monday night and touched on the sexual misconduct allegations for the first time. The 200 audience members had their phones locked in Yondr pouches during the performance 'There were times I felt really upset and humiliated and embarrassed, and ultimately I just felt terrible this person felt this way,' he said with a quivering voice, according to Vulture. 'But you know, after a year, how I feel about it is, I hope it was a step forward. It made me think about a lot, and I hope I've become a better person,' he said. Ansari said after the scandal, a friend told him he was forced to rethink every date he had ever been on. 'If that has made not just me but other guys think about this, and just be more thoughtful and aware and willing to go that extra mile, and make sure someone else is comfortable in that moment, that's a good thing,' he said. 'I think it also just gave me perspective on my life,' Ansari said. The allegations and scandal made the comedian fear for his career. 'There was a moment where I was scared that I'd never be able to do this again,' he said. Ansari shared this picture on Monday advertising his New York show where he addressed the sexual misconduct allegations made by a 24-year-old photographer last year Ansari is pictured above with Master of None co-creator Alan Yang (left) and co-stars Eric Wareheim and Alessandra Mastronardi after the Emmys. A woman has come forward claiming she met Ansari that night and later had a date that turned uncomfortable Ansari revealed that he'd always close out his stand-up shows saying 'Thanks so much!' but didn't really mean it. It was just the protocol. 'But now, I really mean it on a different level. You canceled whatever you were supposed to do tonight, and you came out in the cold, and you waited in line, and you put your phone in a stupid pouch,' he said. 'You did all this s**t just to hear me talk for an hour and some change, and it means the world to me, so thank you so much,' he added. Aziz was one of the most popular faces in comedy famous for his roles on Parks and Rec but fled from public view after women's newsite Babe published the account of a 23-year-old New York photographer. The woman spoke to the website on the condition on anonymity. She said she met Ansari at an after-party for the Emmys in Los Angeles on September 17, 2017 and they bonded over having the same type of camera. In September 2018 he was spotted out and about with Serena Campbell, from a PhD student at London's King's College from Denmark The following week they went on a date that started off with him ignoring her drink choice and allegedly escalated into him repeatedly pressuring her to have sex. 'He probably moved my hand to his d**k five to seven times,' she said. 'He kept doing it after I moved away.' 'It was 30 minutes of me getting up and moving and him following and sticking his fingers down my throat again. It was really repetitive. It felt like a f***ing game.' She said she couldn't say whether Ansari was just clueless or actively ignoring her signals. The next day Ansari allegedly texted her 'It was fun meeting you last night'. The woman responded: 'Last night might've been fun for you, but it wasn't for me. You ignored clear non-verbal clues; you kept going with advances. 'I want to make sure you're aware so maybe the next girl doesn't have to cry on the ride home.' Ansari allegedly replied: 'I'm so sad to hear this. Clearly, I misread things in the moment and I'm truly sorry.' Ansari is currently on a US tour and will head to Europe to tour in March. Netflix has said its open to a third season of Master of None but nothing official has been said yet. Naked academic Dr Victoria Bateman - who stripped off on Good Morning Britain and the Today programme was linked to a sex discrimination case involving her city high-flyer husband, MailOnline can reveal. A female lawyer at Fidelity Worldwide Investment complained when anti-Brexit campaigner Dr Bateman's husband James allegedly shared a nude portrait of his wife with colleagues. Margaret Rowe took her 'chauvinistic' former employers to tribunal for seeing her as a 'woman who did not know her place' and unfairly dismissing her from her 184,000-a-year job. Dr Victoria Bateman, (pictured) of Cambridge University, appeared naked on GMB and BBC Radio 4's Today programme Dr Bateman was once at the centre of a sex discrimination case when her high-flying city worker husband James Bateman sent colleagues a nude portrait of his wife Margaret Rowe (right), a lawyer at Fidelity Worldwide Investment, says she was sacked from her job when she complained about James Bateman (right) sending colleagues the portrait She claimed that Mr Bateman, the firm's Chief Investment Officer, was 'objectifying women' when he shared photographs of his wife's portrait to junior female colleagues. Ms Rowe's claim for sex discrimination was not upheld by the tribunal. Economist Dr Bateman shocked GMB viewers by going naked with the words ''Brexit Leaves Britain Naked'' written on her body. Host Richard Madeley tried to keep a straight face as he read a pro-EU slogan that the academic scrawled across her skin. It comes just three days after she surprised Radio 4's John Humphrys when she disrobed and then challenged Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg to a nude debate. Humphrys, who said, startled, 'oh, I see you're naked', told listeners that Dr Bateman had the words 'Brexit Leaves Britain Naked' painted across her body. It is not known whether the BBC was aware that Dr Bateman had intended to strip during the interview which saw her arrive wearing a coat and then disrobe in front of an unsuspecting Humphrys. Dr Bateman, an economist (pictured), told Good Morning Britain today that Brexit leaves Britain exposed on the world stage The Cambridge academic (pictured on this morning's show) scrawls the slogan 'Brexit leaves Britain naked' on her body to protest the UK's impending exit GMB had to blur her slogan that Brexit leaves Britain naked but she insisted that she was using visual power to make an important statement. 'As an economist I'm used to using words and equations in order to make an argument,' she told the show. Dr Bateman, pictured, said Brexit was Britain's 'Emperor's New Clothes' moment 'I thought what I would do is condense down those thousands of words in one simple message that Brexit leaves Britain naked.' She said that leading Leave campaigners would be unable to deliver the promises made to those who voted to exit the bloc and that Brexit was irrelevant to the daily struggle Britons face up and down the country in the form of foodbank use and poverty. Today she told presenter Richard Madeley that she had done 'nothing illegal' by disrobing in the radio studio. Richard - who is standing in for Piers Morgan this week - told her that he didn't think her display was particularly shocking but Penny Smith disagreed. Dr Bateman said that naked people are on display 'all the time', from 'scantily clad' models to the 'whole world of pornography'. Viewers did not seem impressed with Dr Bateman's display on Good Morning Britain's set today The campaigner (pictured on GMB this morning) said the only thing shocking about her nude display is that she has a voice unlike women in pornography She insisted that the only thing that was shocking about her protest is that she's a naked woman with a voice after years of a society controlled by men. But it isn't just Brexit that sparks naked protest from Dr Bateman, who stripped off in a gender equality protest last year. At a talk entitled Feminism Meets Economics, she covered her breasts and genitals with only a handful of 5 and 20 notes. The harrowing 911 call of a husband who shot his wife dead in Maine in 2016 was played at his murder trial on Monday and reveals how he told operators that he thought she was an intruder. Noah Gaston, 36, is on trial for the death of his wife Alicia, who he shot dead in their home in January 2016 He claims that he thought she was an intruder and that he had gone to check on his three children in their beds after waking up in his bedroom to the sound of what he thought were walkie-talkies. Noah Gaston, 36, is on trial for the death of his wife Alicia, who he shot dead in their home in January 2016 Prosecutors say he killed her intentionally but they have not yet offered a motive. The victim's sister testified that they were having financial troubles at the time of the killing and that her sister homeschooled her children and sold scarves to make extra money. Her brother-in-law had recently left a cooking job at the time. She was shot as she made her way up the stairs, he said, but it is not clear how far she had gotten when she was struck. In an initial interview, he said she was half-way up but his story changed later so say she was only a few steps up when he pulled the trigger. In his 911 call after shooting her, he told the operator: 'I just shot my wife in the stomach. I thought she was an intruder.' The call was placed at 6.17am. On Tuesday, Gaston wept as it was replayed at his trial. After telling the operator what he had done, he listened as they gave him instructions on how to perform CPR and can be heard counting 'one, two, three, four' as he performed chest compressions on her. Defense attorney Rob Andrews said he made a 'terrible mistake'. 'He caused a terrible accident, and there is no way that this is anything other than a tragedy. The mother-of-three had been downstairs in their family home and was climbing up the stairs when she was shot in the stomach by her husband Gaston, pictured in court in 2016, claims he thought his wife was an intruder 'But its not a crime,' he told the courtroom, according to The Press Herald. The jury was also shown photographs of the bloody stairwell where she was shot. The father-of-three had recently left a cooking job when he shot his wife and his sister-in-law says the pair were having financial difficulty There an EBT card found at the top of the staircase and a coffee in the living room which had fresh ice cubes in it. Prosecutors have rejected his claim that he thought she was an intruder. Assistant Attorney General Meg Elam said he knew that he was shooting her when he pulled the trigger and that he knew she would likely die as a result. 'He saw in the illuminated bedroom that she wasnt in the bed. 'He didnt hear walkie-talkies or multiple intruders. He saw her as she entered the stairway, and he saw her when she was no more than 18 inches from the muzzle of his shotgun. 'This was a killing without justification,' she said. Once police and paramedics arrived at the home, the man was briefly interviewed in the family's kitchen where he showed 'little emotion', prosecutors said. 'When he entered the room, he had no emotion on his face, just a blank look,' Windham police Officer Justin Hudnor testified. Dana Abdullah (pictured) inflicted fatal wounds on his wife - three days after she refused to support his application to remain in the UK An Iranian immigrant has admitted to murdering his wife by stabbing her multiple times with a kitchen knife - three days after she refused to support his application to remain in the UK. Dana Abdullah inflicted the fatal wounds on mother-of-four Avan Najmadeen before covering her body in a solvent and leaving her to die at her home in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, on October 1. The 35-year-old, who claimed to have been tortured in Iraq, then washed the weapon in the sink and put it back where he found it, Stafford Crown Court heard. Three days prior, Ms Najmadeen, 32, had asked the couple's shared solicitor not to co-operate with Abdullah's immigrant application. The court heard Ms Najmadeen had deliberately moved address on a number of occasions so the defendant did not know where she was living. Following proceedings through a Kurdish interpreter, Abdullah, of no fixed address, spoke only to confirm his name and his guilty plea. A previous hearing at the same court was told how Abdullah had claimed he suffered from PTSD after being tortured in Iraq. Mother-of-four Avan Najmadeen, 32, was found dead at her home in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, on October 1, after teachers at her children's school raised the alarm when she failed to pick them up On Tuesday, prosecutor Andrew Smith QC said: 'The Crown's case is this was a planned, pre-meditated killing - the reasons being she did not support his case in relation to immigration. 'A knife in the kitchen had been used, washed, and put back.' During the 30-minute hearing on Tuesday, Judge Michael Chambers QC said: 'The defendant had made a considered decision to murder his wife and had gone there to do that.' Abdullah's defence barrister Charles Miskin QC conceded it was not in dispute that it was a planned killing. The court heard Ms Najmadeen had deliberately moved address (pictured) on a number of occasions so the defendant did not know where she was living The turpentine-based substance and Ms Najmadeen's mobile phone were not recovered from the scene (pictured) Adjourning sentence until April 1 at the same court, the judge told Abdullah: 'You have had the courage to plead guilty to this matter and will get appropriate credit for that in due course. 'Sentence is going to be adjourned until 10am on April 1 - but in the meantime you must remain in custody'. The turpentine-based substance and Ms Najmadeen's mobile phone were not recovered from the scene. Police launched a murder probe after the body of Ms Najmadeen was discovered at her home after she failed to turn up at school to pick up her children. Teachers raised the alarm and officers forced their way into the property she shared with her four sons, believed to be between four and 11 years old. President Donald Trump came back to the on-again/off-again idea of organizing a parade in Washington saying Monday that an Independence Day display could 'become a tradition.' Trump referenced the idea during a meeting of his cabinet, where he took questions from the press about the possibility of a looming government shutdown and other topics. He did not make clear whether the idea was in its infancy or was actively being organized by his administration. 'We're thinking about doing on the Fourth of July or thereabouts a parade, a 'Salute to America' parade,' the president said. 'It'll be a, really a gathering as opposed to a parade I guess you'd have to say perhaps at the Lincoln Memorial, we're looking at sites.' President Donald Trump said a parade on July Fourth could be held near the Lincoln Memorial and become a tradition 'But we're thinking about doing something which would become perhaps become a tradition, Salute to America, on July 4th or July 4th weekend somewhere around that area.' Trump did not specifically call the parade or meeting a military display a concept which helped lead to the postponement of a grand plan brandish the nation's military might and honor servicemen and women. His earlier push for a parade to honor veterans got scrapped after the leak of a $90 million cost estimate. Trump said the parade could perhaps be located at the Lincoln Memorial and that it would 'become a tradition.' 'It could be an exciting day,' Trump said of the idea. For decades, the government has organized a fireworks display on the National Mall for July Fourth. It typically includes a concert at the Capitol and a fireworks display launched from near the Washington Monument. Trump mentioned the possible parade after backing down from a proposed parade to honor veterans that was to have been held last November. The idea met resistance from within the military, as well as from D.C. officials who feared heavy military equipment could damage D.C. roads. Trump said at the time the parade would be 'great for the spirit of the country'. The idea got nixed after leaked reports of Pentagon estimates that it could cost as much as $90 million, while the nation still had thousands of troops stationed in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. President Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Trogneux congratul the traditional Bastille day military parade on the Champs-Elysees on July 14, 2017 in Paris France. Trump said he was impressed with the parade and spoke of holding one in the U.S. Members of French Republican Guards during the international ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris as part of commemorations marking the 100th anniversary of the 11 November 1918 Armistice, ending World War I U.S. President Donald Trump shelters under an umbrella during the American Commemoration Ceremony at the Suresnes American Cemetery in Paris, France, on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018. Trump spoke at a military cemetery near Paris, a day after drawing sharp criticism for canceling a trip to a separate cemetery during centenary commemorations of the end of World War I Trump said the parade could be held near the Lincoln Memorial Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who resigned his post in protest citing disagreements with Trump, said whoever came up with that estimate was 'probably smoking something.' Trump tweeted about the parade last August, apparently without consulting Mattis. ''I missed having had a chance to review anything,' Mattis told reporters at the time. Trump made the comment at a meeting where he indicated he was looking at multiple ideas to provide border wall funding. Among the ideas that have been floated is reprogramming Pentagon funds, up to $4 billion of which could be available though congressional buy-in may be required. 'I'm considering everything,' Trump said. Shane Smith is still spending big in Las Vegas while his company goes through another round of layoffs. The New York Post reports that Smith is flown to Sin City free of charge on jets provided by the Mansion at MGM, where he gambles in private rooms with $25,000 chips known as 'pumpkins' because of their orange color. He not only gambles big but tips big as well according to the report, handing out as much as $100,000 after a successful outing from his chips or stacks of shrink-wrapped cash. This is no surprise given a report in 2015 that Smith dropped $300,000 on steak and sushi at Bellagio's Prime Steakhouse in Vegas for the company's board of directors after winning $100,000 on blackjack. When asked about that claim in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Smith responded by stating: 'It wasnt a $300,000 dinner, he tells me. It was three eighty, plus tip. I broke the Vegas tip record.' This latest report of Smith's decadent spending comes as Vice prepares to announce $50 million in losses and layoff 10 percent of its staff. Gambling man: The Mansion at MGM flies Shane Smith (above) to Las Vegas on private jets to gamble according to a new report Bellagio: Smith (above left) likes to use $25,000 tips referred to as pumpkin for their color, while his company prepares to layoff 10 percent of staff and report $50M in losses That same year Smith dropped over $400,000 on dinner, he also bought the property known as Villa Ruchello in Santa Monica. It is located on 3.35 acres of land and had been previously featured in the television series Entourage. He and his wife then put millions more into renovating the three homes on the property, which total 14,000 square feet and features 12 bedrooms, 12.5 bathrooms. a pool and stunning views. This spending all comes amid increasing complaints from employees inside his company. In December 2017, The New York Times released an expose on the company and its toxic work environment, interviewing multiple women who said that they were grossly underpaid. 'There is a toxic environment where men can say the most disgusting things, joke about sex openly, and overall a toxic environment where women are treated far inferior than men,' former Vice employee Sandra Miller told the Times. 'The misogyny might look different than you would have expected it to in the 1950s, but it was still there, it was still ingrained,' said Kayla Ruble, another former employee. 'This is a wakeup call.' Meanwhile, on Twitter, Robyn Kanner tweeted a list of what she claims are complaints about the company coming straight from past and present employees at Vice. Bros: Smith and producer Johnny Knoxville attend the Los Angeles Premiere of Being Evel in 2015 He not only gambles big but tips big as well according to the report, handing out as much as $100,000 after a successful outing Vice made a commitment to 'reaching gender pay parity by the end of 2018, expanded maternity and paternity benefits, and introduced mandatory respect and sensitivity training for all employees.' It was also reported by the Times that there were at least four settlements involving allegations of sexual harassment or defamation against Vice employees, including the current president, Andrew Creighton. The Times spoke with more than two dozen women who say they experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct at the company, which has grown from a fringe Canadian culture magazine to a major news outlet. The alleged episodes included groping and forced kisses. Smith and co-founder Suroosh Alvi sent a note to staff after the Times expose saying the company let people down in failing to create a safe and inclusive workplace. 'Listening to our employees over the past year, the truth is inescapable: from the top down, we have failed as a company to create a safe and inclusive workplace where everyone, especially women, can feel respected and thrive,' read the statement. 'Cultural elements from our past, dysfunction and mismanagement were allowed to flourish unchecked. That includes a detrimental boys club culture that fostered inappropriate behavior that permeated throughout the company.' The statement went on to say: 'It happened on our watch, and ultimately we let far too many people down. We are truly sorry for this.' That statement came five years after Smith said of the company's early days in an interview: 'I would be at the party and would just want to get wasted, take coke and have sex with girls in the bathroom.' Hours after President Trump said he was 'extremely unhappy' with the border security compromise, he hinted that he was likely to accept it. The president said in tweets that he had been presented with a deal by 'hard-working Senator Richard Shelby' and it indicates he 'will be getting' billions for border security. 'Looking over all aspects knowing that this will be hooked up with lots of money from other sources,' Trump tweeted. The president then claimed he will be getting 'almost $23 BILLION for Border Security'. 'Regardless of Wall money, it is being built as we speak,' he added vaguely. Trump did not acknowledge provisions in the bill that limit him to spending just $1.375 billion on 55 miles of fencing for his beloved wall. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he hoped the president would sign the compromise, saying 'I think he's got a pretty good deal here'. Scroll down for video Hours after President Trump said he was 'extremely unhappy' with the border security compromise, he hinted that he was likely to accept it Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (pictured speaking about the compromise on Tuesday at the US Capitol) said he hoped the president would sign the compromise, saying 'I think he's got a pretty good deal here' 'I have recommended that if it becomes what we think it is, I do recommend he sign it,' McConnell told reporters on Tuesday night. 'They've reached an agreement, they now have to put it on paper, we have to see if that reflects the principles and we're hopeful the president will conclude that it's a good idea to sign it.' But McConnell said he also wouldn't oppose Trump if the president decided to declare a national emergency to get the funds for his wall. 'I think he ought to feel free to use whatever tolls he can legally use to enhance his effort to secure the border,' McConnell said. 'So no, I would not be troubled by that.' Shelby said Trump was 'concerned that he didn't get everything he wanted' but that he hoped the president realized 'he was getting a good down payment'. Shortly after bragging that he had gotten '$23 billion in border security', Trump specifically and solely thanked Republicans for their work on the compromise. 'I want to thank all Republicans for the work you have done in dealing with the Radical Left on Border security,' Trump tweeted. Sen Richard Shelby said Trump was 'concerned that he didn't get everything he wanted' but that he hoped the president realized 'he was getting a good down payment' Just hours after Trump said he was 'extremely unhappy' with the border security compromise, he hinted on Twitter that he was likely to accept it The president then claimed he will be getting 'almost $23 BILLION for Border Security', although he did not specify if this money was coming from the deal Shortly after bragging that he had gotten '$23 billion in border security', Trump specifically and solely thanked Republicans for their work on the compromise 'Not an easy task, but the Wall is being built and will be a great achievement and contributor toward life and safety within our Country!' But sources told ABC News that even if Trump signs the deal, he will also likely take executive action to reprogram billions of funds for his border wall. And others believe Trump might still declare a national emergency. If he were to do both, he could accumulate far more than the $5.7billion he said he wanted for the wall. Sen Lindsey Graham said he thinks Trump will 'absolutely' still declare a national emergency despite the compromise and will also reprogram funds. 'This is well short of what he needs,' Graham said of the compromise deal. Democratic Sen Richard Blumenthal said Trump would be 'out of his mind and irresponsible' if he didn't sign the compromise. 'If the president illegally seizes power to reallocate money, he is violating the Constitution, his oath of office, and the Congress should act accordingly,' Blumenthal added. 'The president ought to lead or get out of the way.' McConnell is seen here walking to the Senate floor as negotiations to prevent a partial government shutdown reached the final stretch in the US Capitol on Tuesday Earlier on Tuesday, Trump suggested he was inclined to accept the deal that currently allocates only a quarter of the $5.7 billion he wants for the wall. The president said he did not want to preside over another government shutdown. 'Am I happy at first glance? I just got to see it. The answer is no. I'm not. I'm not happy,' he told reporters during a Cabinet meeting. 'But am I happy with where we're going? I'm thrilled because we're supplementing things and moving things around, and we're doing things that are fantastic.' Trump suggested that he could revise whatever deal comes to him to make it more palatable and would not not commit to signing the agreement as is, saying he needs to study it first. Still, he said, 'I don't think you're going to see a shutdown. I wouldn't want to see a shutdown. If you did have it, it's the Democrats' fault.' 'And I accepted the first one,' he asserted. 'I accept it. I've always accepted it. But this one, I would never accept it if it happens, but I don't think it's going to happen. But this would be totally on the Democrats.' A House Democratic source familiar with the accord said it currently includes $1.375 billion that Trump could put toward the construction of 55 miles of physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. 'We've always been for fencing but this doesn't allow for a concrete wall of any kind,' said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on Capitol Hill Tuesday. The bill explicitly keeps the president from building a wall by declaring that the fencing must be based on pre-existing designs that are already in service. The language functionally rules out a concrete wall and limits him to the bollard fencing design the administration has used before. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Trump got a 'pretty good deal' despite the lack of funding for the wall. 'I hope he signs the bill,' McConnell told reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday afternoon. He said he would not oppose the president if Trump decides to reallocate federal money in order to build his border wall, a move the White House is not ruling out. WHAT'S IN THE DEAL? $1.375 billion for 'physical barriers' along the U.S.-Mexico border 55 new miles of 'bollard fencing' Fencing is explicitly restricted to designs that are already in use Bars Trump from deploying his new border wall designs Funds 40,520 detention beds, which is the same as last fiscal year, even though 49,057 are in use now Democrats say it represents a '17.4 percent reduction in ICE beds' and' 'will provide a critical check on the Trump administration's mass deportation agenda' Bill is also said to include Alternatives to Detention and the Family Case Management Program Source: A Democratic House aide Advertisement ''I think he ought feel free to use what tools he can legally use to enhance his effort to secure the border,' McConnell said. Such a move would likely end up in the courts as Democrats are expected to challenge the president's authority to make such a move without approval from Capitol Hill. 'As for moving around the money he needs congressional approval to do it,' Schumer reminded reporters Tuesday. Trump himself did not rule out using 'using other methods' on Tuesday. Sen. Richard Shelby, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the lead GOP negotiator, said of the compromise plan: 'Nothing's perfect.' 'This is a down payment on where the president wants to go,' he noted. 'We made some concessions but we got done too.' Trump demanded $5.7 billion to build more than 200 miles of wall along the southern border but indicated in recent days that he's willing to take less to avert another government shutdown. 'I would hope that there won't be a shutdown. I am extremely unhappy with what the Democrats have given us. It's sad. It's sad,' he charged on Tuesday morning. 'They're doing the country no favor. They are hurting our country very badly. But we certainly don't want to see a shutdown.' Trump and lawmakers face a Friday deadline to put into law legislation to fund the government or face another partial government shutdown. Schumer urged the president to sign the compromise plan and not have another shutdown. 'The president should not make the mistake he made a few months ago when there was a bipartisan agreement and he wouldn't sign it and caused the shutdown,' he said. A partial shutdown that began in December and lasted into January became the longest federal closure in American history at 35 days. The bill on Capitol Hill does not include permanent residency for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) participants. Democrats had made the demand in response to Trump's proposal on January to extend the protections by three years each. They wanted a pathway to citizenship, or permanent residency, or bust. Trump was poised to win just a quarter of his wall money in the battle that started in the early days of his administration and made it clear that he was displeased as he spoke to reporters at a convening of his Cabinet. He said he'd build the wall, anyway, repeating his acting chief of staff's mantra over the weekend that Trump would reallocate other funds in the budget to the wall and had the option of unlocking others through a national emergency. 'I can't say I'm happy. I can't say I'm thrilled. But the wall is getting built, regardless. It doesn't matter. Because we're doing other things beyond what we're talking about here,' Trump said cryptically on Tuesday. Democrats lost a detention beds fight in the negotiation, nonetheless, conservative commentator Sean Hannity went ballistic over the deal at hand, calling it 'garbage' and a 'sewer' compromise on his radio program. He predicted that Trump would go through with plans to declare a national emergency. At his Cabinet meeting, Trump said he was 'considering' it and argued that it would not be 'unique,' if he did. House Appropriations Committee Chair Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters trying to negotiate a border security compromise in hope of avoiding another government shutdown Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (left), seen with fellow border security negotiators Rep. Nita Lowey and Sen. Patrick Leahy, said the next 24 hours are critical Rasmussen's poll had Trump at 46 per cent on the day the three-week government shutdown began; he dipped to a low of 43 per cent in mid-January, but is now at 52 per cent after his State of the Union address 'I consider everything. I'm considering everything. You know, we already have national emergencies out there,' he said. 'They've declared many national emergencies. Many, many. And you have some out there that we can use in addition to one that we can declare if we want to do it.' Democrats had demanded that the Department of Homeland Security cap its daily detention rate at 16,500 beds. The Trump administration demanded 52,000 but negotiators settled on 40,520 beds for illegal immigrants who have just arrived or have been taken into custody. As many beds were funded last year, although functionally more than 49,000 illegal immigrants are in custody currently. Trump characterized the demand that wasn't part of negotiations before as 'crazy' in a Monday morning tweet and unloaded on Democrats for raising the bar for a deal at an afternoon event. He claimed later that Democrats 'want to allow criminals into our society,' including convicted felons and 'people of tremendous, like big problems.' 'These are people who kidnap people. The Democrats want them to come into our society. I don't think so!' Trump raged. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell dubbed it an eleventh-hour, 'poison-pill demand' in a speech on the floor of the upper chamber. 'It's a new demand. And it is extreme,' he charged. This is a poison pill that no administration would -- or should -- ever accept. Think about the absurdity of this.' Bunk beds set up in a tent city to hold immigrant children separate from their parents He called Democrats' demand for a cap on beds 'crazy' Trump is slamming Democrats for behaving 'irrationally' He's complained about Democratic negotiators working on a deal to keep the government open Trump claimed after a meeting with sheriffs at the White House that 76,000 illegal immigrants who were detained last year had committed drug offenses. Another 20,000 committed larceny, 63,000 were charged with assault, 12,000 have robberies on their rap sheets. 'We're up against people that want to allow criminals into our society. You explain that one,' he said. 'Most things you understand, but if you want to allow criminals into our society, convicted felons, people of tremendous, big problems.' The deal was on the verge of collapse and Senate Appropriations chairman Richard Shelby admitted that he wasn't feeling too optimistic that lawmakers would make a Friday deadline fund DHS and other agencies or see 800,000 federal workers miss their next paycheck. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is coming to the defense of fellow congressional Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar after President Trump called on the first-term lawmaker to resign and Speaker Nancy Pelosi blasted her comments on Israel. Trump, Pelosi, the entire Democratic leadership, and prominent Jewish lawmakers all came down on Omar for her comments, with Trump upping the pressure Tuesday by demanding her resignation. But within minutes of the president's pronouncement, Ocasio-Cortez emerged online to offer relief in the form of a missive to her 2 million followers on Twitter. 'Unlike this President, Rep. @IlhanMN demonstrated a capacity to acknowledge pain & apologize, use the opportunity to learn abt history of antisemitism,+grow from it while clarifying her stance,' she wrote, referencing Omar's decision to say she apologizes 'unequivocally.' Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) defended fellow first-term lawmaker Rep. Ilhan Omar after President Trump called for Omar to resign. Here Ocasio-Cortez walks away from the front of the White House after addressing immigration rights activists during a rally calling for 'permanent protections for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders' in front of the White House 'I'm also inspired by Jewish leadership who brought her in, not push her out, to heal,' the Democratic socialist political phenomenon wrote. She was responding to Tweet by the Jewish Forward publication quoting from an article by Peter Beinart that said: 'If you denounce Ilhan Omar but support Donald Trump, you don't really oppose bigotry. You don't even really oppose anti-Semitism. What you oppose is criticism of Israel,' Beinart wrote. The voice of support came after Omar was rebuked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, her committee chairman, and President Trump. Trump on Tuesday demanded the first-term lawmaker resign over her Twitter comments that many of her own colleagues called anti-Semitic. Ocasio tried to turn the tabes on Trump, writing that 'unlike this President,' Omar has 'demonstrated a capacity to acknowledge pain & apologize' 'I think she should either resign from congress or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee,' Trump said stoking a controversy that prompted senior Democrats and party leaders blasting Omar's comments about Israel. Speaking at the top of a meeting with his cabinet, Trump said Omar's comments were 'deep seeded in her heart.' He also called her apology, issued Monday after the entire Democratic leadership issued a statement condemning her comments, 'lame.' President Donald Trump called on Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar to resign, and called her apology 'lame' 'Anti-Semitism has no place in the United States Congress. And Congressman Omar is terrible, what she said,' Trump began. 'What she said is so deep-seated in her heart that her lame apology -- and that's what it was; it was lame, and she didnt mean a word of it -- was just not appropriate. I think she should resign from Congress, frankly. But at a minimum, she shouldnt be on committees, and certainly that committee.' Omar apologized 'unequivocally,' she said. But she added: 'At the same time, I reaffirm the problematic role lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the fossil fuel industry.' One of the tweets that drew criticism was her one word tweet: 'AIPAC!' which referenced the powerful American Israel PAC. She also tweeted 'all about the Benjamins' in comments colleagues said made it seem Israel supporters adopted their positions for cash. Trump's determination to tee off on the issue was revealed on the bottom of his hand-written notes. They said: in all capital letters that 'Congresswoman Omar should be asked to resign or at least get off the Foreign Affairs Committee.' People leave post-it notes of support outside the office of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Capitol Hill, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, in Washington. Omar has 'unequivocally' apologized for tweets suggesting a powerful pro-Israel interest group paid members of Congress to support Israel. Trump also weighed in on the controversy swirling around Rep. Ilhan Omar Monday night, saying the first-term lawmaker 'should be ashamed of herself' for her 'all about the Benjamins' comment. 'I think she should be ashamed of herself. I think it was a terrible statement. And I don't think her apology was adequate, the president told reporters aboard Air Force Once en route to a Texas campaign rally. Trump spoke hours after the lawmaker apologized facing a flood of criticism, following a flood of criticism from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Asked what Ilhan should she say, Trump responded: 'She knows what to say,' without commenting further. It was the only part of a discussion with reporters the White House allowed on record reflecting the political potency of the clash and Trump's desire to weigh in. Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, apologized for using old anti-Semitic tropes about Jews and money in recent tweets - a move that comes after a phone call with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a statement from the entire party leadership team blasting the freshman lawmaker. 'Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes,' Omar said in a statement Monday afternoon. 'My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole,' she added. 'We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me for my identity. This is why I unequivocally apologize.' Powerful lawmakers including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hit back at Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. over her remarks about Israel Rep. Omar apologized Monday afternoon for her previous tweets People left post-it notes of support outside Rep. Omar's office 'You rock' and 'mazel tov' the notes read 'I think she should be ashamed of herself. I think it was a terrible statement. And I don't think her apology was adequate, the president told reporters aboard Air Force Once en route to a Texas campaign rally. Trump is pictured at the rally Omar, however, stuck to her guns in blasting the problems of lobbyists and their financial influence in politics. 'At the same time, I reaffirm the problematic role lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the fossil fuel industry. It's gone on too long and we must be willing to address it,' Omar said. She tweeted out her statement with the words: 'Listening and learning, but standing strong.' The freshman Democrat caused outrage with a tweet Sunday night linking support for Israel to financial contributions with her words: 'It's all about the Benjamins.' Pelosi and her entire leadership team issued a blistering statement after Omar, in her first months in office, penned successive tweets on matter. 'Anti-Semitism must be called out, confronted and condemned whenever it is encountered, without exception,' Pelosi and her team wrote. 'We are and will always be strong supporters of Israel in Congress because we understand that our support is based on shared values and strategic interests. Legitimate criticism of Israel's policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate that the United States and Israel share. But Congresswoman Omar's use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel's supporters is deeply offensive. We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments.' Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) sit during a photo-op with members of the House Democratic leadership team on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., November 30, 2018. All three signed a statement calling Rep. Ilhan Omar's 'use of anti-Semitic tropes' New York Reps. (and committee chairs) Jerold Nadler and Eliot Engel each issued statements criticizing Rep. Omar's comments Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. mentioned AIPAC and wrote 'it's all about the Benjamins' in tweets about support for Israel The statement was co-signed by Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Lujan, Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries and Caucus Vice Chair Katherine Clark the entire House Democratic leadership team. Pelosi also called Omar to speak with her one-on-one about the matter. The move from leadership followed Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jerold Nadler of New York, who issued his own scorching statement Monday. 'It is deeply disappointing and disturbing to hear Representative Ilhan Omar's (MN) choice of words in her exchange with a journalist yesterday, wherein she appears to traffic in old anti-Semitic tropes about Jews and money,' Nadler wrote. 'Her words are deeply hurtful and offensive, particularly as they build on a previous comment she made about Jews 'hypnotizing' the world in support of Israel another old trope born of hate-filled texts like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.' Multiple Jewish Democrats, including powerful committee chairs, called out freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar for using anti-semitic 'tropes' after her tweets linking support for Israel to money. 'It is deeply disappointing and disturbing to hear Representative Ilhan Omar's (MN) choice of words in her exchange with a journalist yesterday, wherein she appears to traffic in old anti-Semitic tropes about Jews and money,' wrote Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jerold Nadler, in a public rebuke of Omar, one of the two first muslim women elected to Congress and a member of his own caucus. Nadler continued: 'Her words are deeply hurtful and offensive, particularly as they build on a previous comment she made about Jews 'hypnotizing' the world in support of Israel another old trope born of hate-filled texts like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.' Rep. Max Rose, a Jewish combat vet who represents a district that includes Staten Island in New York, tweeted, 'When someone uses hateful and offensive tropes and words against people of any faith, I will not be silent. Congresswoman Omar's statements are deeply hurtful to Jews, including myself.' Omar on Sunday reacted to a Twitter post by journalist Glenn Greenwald, who slammed the Republican House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, for criticizing the Somali-American lawmaker and another anti-Israel critic, Rep. Rashida Tlaib Omar responded to Greenwald's thread by tweeting: 'It's all about the Benjamins baby.' The tweet is a reference to the title of a Puff Daddy song of the same name which was released in 1997 Rose continued: 'Implying that Americans support Israel because of money alone is offensive enough. But to go a step further, and retweet someone declaring their pain at her sentiment is simply unacceptable.' 'At a time when anti-Semitic attacks are on the rise, our leaders should not be invoking hurtful stereotypes and caricatures of Jewish people to dismiss those who support Israel,' Rose tweeted. Rep. Eliot Engel, who chairs the Foreign Relations panel on which Omar recently was awarded a seat, also called her out. 'I fully expect that when we disagree on the Foreign Affairs Committee, we will debate policy on the merits and never question members' motives or resort to personal attacks,' Engel said in a statement. 'Criticism of American policy toward any country is fair game, but this must be done on policy grounds.' Engel also said Omar had resorted to 'the anti-Semitic trope of 'Jewish money.'' The House Republican campaign arm jumped on the extraordinary brushback from leadership against one of their own members. The NRCC sent out the Pelosi statement, commenting: 'Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team have made clear there are no consequences for the anti-Semites in their caucus.' The barrage of criticism came after Omar suggested on Sunday that supporters of Israel in effect buy off political support from lawmakers to get them to back Israel. Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton also blasted the move, and also wrote Omar that she planned to 'reach out' to her directly. 'Democratic Leadership Statement on Anti-Semitic Comments of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar' 'Anti-Semitism must be called out, confronted and condemned whenever it is encountered, without exception. 'We are and will always be strong supporters of Israel in Congress because we understand that our support is based on shared values and strategic interests. Legitimate criticism of Israel's policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate that the United States and Israel share. But Congresswoman Omar's use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel's supporters is deeply offensive. We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments. 'As Democrats and as Americans, the entire Congress must be fully engaged in denouncing and rejecting all forms of hatred, racism, prejudice and discrimination wherever they are encountered.' - Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Lujan, Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries and Caucus Vice Chair Katherine Clark Advertisement Omar, of Minnesota, who is one of two Muslim women elected to Congress. On Sunday, she came under fire from Republicans and pro-Israel supporters for her Twitter post that some say advances anti-Semitic tropes about Jews and money. 'It's all about the Benjamins,' she wrote in reaction to a journalist's tweet remarking that it was 'stunning' how much time US leaders devote to defending Israel 'even if it means attacking free speech rights of Americans.'' Clinton responded that she was 'trafficking in anti-Semitism' by insinuating that members of Congress were being paid money - presumably by wealthy Jews - to maintain support for Israel. Rep. Ilhan Omar (left) of Minnesota, who is one of two Muslim women elected to Congress, came under fire from Chelsea Clinton (right), Republicans, and pro-Israel supporters for a Twitter post that some say advances anti-Semitic tropes about Jews and money Omar had reacted to a Twitter post by journalist Glenn Greenwald, which slammed the Republican House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, for criticizing the Somali-American lawmaker and another anti-Israel critic, Rep. Rashida Tlaib. McCarthy vowed to 'take action' against Omar and Tlaib, who is Palestinian-American, over their past comments allegedly criticizing Israel. The GOP leader said comments by Tlaib and Omar were worse than those made by Steve King, the Republican congressman from Iowa who was reprimanded by his colleagues for questioning why the term 'white supremacy' was considered offensive. Greenwald, the journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking the Edward Snowden NSA story, slammed McCarthy on Twitter for his comments. 'Equating @IlhanMN & @RashidaTlaib's criticism of Israel to Steve King's long defense of white supremacy is obscene (McCarthy said it's worse),' Greenwald tweeted. Omar was then asked on Twitter by Batya Ungar-Sargon, the editorial page editor of the Jewish Daily Forward: 'Would love to know who Omar thinks is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel, though I think I can guess.' Omar then responded to Ungar-Sargon: 'AIPAC.' AIPAC stands for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to Congress and the White House Ungar-Sargon replied: 'Please learn how to talk about Jews in a non-anti-Semitic way. Sincerely, American Jews.' 'In the US, we're allowed to criticize our own government: certainly foreign governments. The GOP House Leader's priorities are warped.' Greenwald wrote in a subsequent tweet: 'Sorry, but you're not going to turn the two first Muslim women to serve in the US Congress into overnight Jew-haters because of their criticisms of Israel. 'What's actually anti-Semitic is conflating the Government of Israel with Jews, so those of you doing that should stop.' Omar responded to Greenwald's thread by tweeting: 'It's all about the Benjamins baby.' 'Benjamins' is a reference to Benjamin Franklin, whose portrait appears on the $100 bill. So the term 'all about the Benjamins' implies money. The tweet is also reference to the title of a Puff Daddy song of the same name which was released in 1997. Omar was then asked on Twitter by Batya Ungar-Sargon, the editorial page editor of the Jewish Daily Forward: 'Would love to know who Omar thinks is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel, though I think I can guess. 'Bad form, Congresswoman. That's the second anti-Semitic trope you've tweeted.' Omar then responded to Ungar-Sargon: 'AIPAC.' AIPAC stands for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to Congress and the White House. Omar's implication that AIPAC was dictating to members of Congress what kind of speech is permissible when it comes to Israel is considered by some to be anti-Semitic. Chelsea Clinton then responded to Ungar-Sargon, tweeting: 'Co-signed as an American. We should expect all elected officials, regardless of party, and all public figures to not traffic in anti-Semitism.' In response to Clinton's post, Omar tweeted: 'Chelsea, I would be happy to talk. We must call out smears from the GOP and their allies. And I believe we can do that without criticizing people for their faith. 'I look forward to building an inclusive movement for justice with you.' To which Clinton replied: 'Hello Congresswoman! Completely agree. I will reach out to your office tomorrow. Looking forward to connecting about this thread and more, Chelsea.' Historically, anti-Semites have played on fears that nefarious Jews are 'pulling the strings' of government and the world finance system to sow chaos and unrest. Ungar-Sargon replied: 'Please learn how to talk about Jews in a non-anti-Semitic way. Sincerely, American Jews.' Chelsea Clinton then responded to Ungar-Sargon, tweeting: 'Co-signed as an American. We should expect all elected officials, regardless of party, and all public figures to not traffic in anti-Semitism.' When Clinton was criticized on Twitter for 'piling on' Omar, she replied: 'I will reach out to her tomorrow. I also think we have to call out anti-Semitic language and tropes on all sides, particularly in our elected officials and particularly now.' In response to Clinton's post, Omar tweeted: 'Chelsea, I would be happy to talk. We must call out smears from the GOP and their allies. And I believe we can do that without criticizing people for their faith. 'I look forward to building an inclusive movement for justice with you.' To which Clinton replied: 'Hello Congresswoman! Completely agree. I will reach out to your office tomorrow. Looking forward to connecting about this thread and more, Chelsea.' Omar has been criticized in the past for making statements deemed by some as anti-Semitic. Aside from her criticisms of Israel, she has come under fire for a tweet she posted in 2012 which read: 'Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.' The tweet, which is dated November 16, 2012, was posted during a period of open warfare between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. A Pennsylvania fugitive who was wanted on 865 counts of child rape has been arrested at a homeless shelter in Florida. Garrick Landon Bloom, 47, was taken into custody in Tallahassee on Thursday. Bloom has been on the run since a warrant was issued for his arrest in Clarion, Pennsylvania on January 16. He was wanted in connection with the rape of a child. Garrick Landon Bloom, 47, was taken into custody in Tallahassee, Florida on Thursday after a warrant for his arrest was issued on 865 counts of child rape Investigators said Bloom had allegedly been grooming and abusing the boy since they were five years old. Authorities found Bloom at the Kearney Center in Tallahassee - an emergency shelter for people on the verge of homelessness. He had been staying at the shelter for two days. 'That's a high traffic area for children getting off school buses,' U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force Deputy Commander Marty West told the Tallahassee Democrat. Authorities found Bloom at the Kearney Center in Tallahassee - an emergency shelter for people on the verge of homelessness. He had been staying at the shelter for two days 'Having a predator like that hanging around Tallahassee, it would have only been a matter of time.' Bloom is facing the following charges: 216 counts of rape of a child, 216 counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, 216 counts of aggravated indecent assault of a child, 216 counts of statutory sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child. He faces 216 counts of rape of a child, 216 counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, 216 counts of aggravated indecent assault of a child, 216 counts of statutory sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Bloom is set to be extradited back to Pennsylvania. The Lokayukta has to be equipped with more powers and mechanism to probe corruption complaints against public servants. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought the response of the Uttar Pradesh government on a petition for a direction to include the office of the chief minister under the ambit of the Lokaukta Act. A Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjeev Khanna issued notice on a petition filed by Shiv Kumar Tripathi pointing out that several institutions including the CMs office had been kept out of the purview of the Lokayukta Act. The petitioner alleged that the Lokayukta Act in the state is not effective and powerful to serve the purpose and object for which it was enacted. It was passed to make provision for investigation of the grievances and allegation against ministers, legislators and other public servants. However, the Lokayukta or Upalokayukta cannot conduct any investigation under this Act except on a complaint made in accordance with the provisions relating to filing of complaints. The Lokayukta is not competent to proceed against the chief minister for any corrupt action in which he has been found guilty of favouritism, nepotism or lack of integrity. There is a need to bring the CM under the purview of Lokayukta for proceeding against him for corruption. The Act is not effective in the matter of investigation against corrupt public servants. The Lokayukta has to depend on the police authorities, which are under the control of the State government, and there is no independent investigation mechanism. The Lokayukta has to be equipped with more powers and mechanism to probe corruption complaints against public servants. Further institutions like universities had been left out of the ambit of Lokayukta and these institutions should also be covered under the law and administrative control should be vested with Lokayukta for conducting independent and fair investigation. There is no time limit for Lokayukta to submit its report to the Governor. Hence the present petition for a direction to the State to amend the law to bring CM as well as various other institutions under the Lokayukta and also to grant more investigative powers. Upskirting has officially been made illegal after a Bill to criminalise the act received Royal Assent in the House of Lords. People convicted of taking an image or video of a victim's groin or buttocks under their clothing now face being jailed for two years and being put on the sex offenders register. Gina Martin, who campaigned for the law change after being upskirted at a festival in 2017, welcomed the move and said it was a 'long time coming'. Gina Martin (pictured), 27, has long campaigned for a change in the law to make upskirting a criminal act - having been a victim of such behaviour herself The issue was thrust into the spotlight by 27-year-old Gina Martin, who launched a petition to make upskirting a sexual offence after realising someone took a photo up her skirt at a music festival in Hyde Park in 2017 when she took a selfie (pictured right). The alleged perpetrators are obscured in black and ringed Prime Minister Theresa May said she was 'very pleased to see the degrading practice of upskirting become a criminal offence after the tireless work of victims and campaigners'. Victims called for the creation of a specific law after becoming frustrated with a lack of options to prosecute perpetrators. While some people were able to seek a conviction under harassment, voyeurism or outraging public decency laws, the creation of a specific offence means suspects can be prosecuted where they sought to obtain sexual gratification or cause humiliation, distress or alarm. The Government intervened last June to bring forward measures to tackle the behaviour after a Private Member's Bill (PMB) was blocked by Conservative backbencher Sir Christopher Chope. The veteran politician was criticised again last week after objecting to a PMB which sought to tackle female genital mutilation. His actions last summer were condemned by campaigners and Tory colleagues, prompting the Government to adopt the Bill. Tory MP Sir Christopher Chope (pictured) shouted 'object' when the draft law was raised in the Commons on June 15 last year. But the government later intervened and ensured the bill went through as part of its bid to eradicate sexual abuse The draft law came forward after Liberal Democrat Wera Hobhouse was backed by the Ministry of Justice to try and deliver it from the backbenches Ms Martin's campaign - aided by lawyer Ryan Whelan from Gibson Dunn - won political support from all parties and was backed by the likes of television presenters Holly Willoughby, Dermot O'Leary and Laura Whitmore. Ms Martin, 27, said: 'It's a bit surreal - Royal Assent is the final step in an exhausting amount of work. It's become part of my life.' She added: 'Chope took the campaign stratospheric - an objection made people even more angry than they were already. 'There's a lot of work still to do. A change in law is a huge thing, it sets a precedent but it doesn't change people's opinions. 'There's a huge job to do in creating narratives around this thing - we still see 'smaller' sexual assaults as not such a problem but it's a massive issue. 'It has been a long time coming but we are finally protected in every scenario - as we should always have been.' Ms Martin said she holds no grudge against Sir Christopher, despite initially thinking his objection scuppered the law. 'It was like watching a real-life troll in front of me saying 'you're an idiot' and everyone else saying 'no she's not',' she said. Reacting to the news in January that upskirting would be made illegal, Barnoness Anita Gale, a member of the Lords, said: 'Victims of upskirting will now get justice and the perpetrators will be brought to justice' 'I did feel sympathy for him - that was until he turned around and said he was a victim because his weekend was ruined (because of the backlash against his objection). 'For you to position yourself as a victim because you had some bad press for two days is really not that bad. I did feel sorry for him for a small period of time but then I got over that and focused on the campaign.' Ms Martin also described the difficult journey to get the change in law approved by parliament, including moments spent crying and doubting herself. She said: 'There have been a handful of times when I've been on the sofa or in the shower literally crying and saying I can't handle it any more. 'There were a lot of times when I thought I wasn't equipped for this - and then the media on top of that, the trolling on top of that, having a job, trying to have relationships, family, friends to see ... regular life stuff. Who is Gina Martin? Upskirting victim who was targeted at London music festival in 2017 Gina Martin, 27, spent nearly two years fighting to make upskirting a specific offence after two men took a picture up her skirt at a festival in 2017. While waiting to watch The Killers at Hyde Park a group of men had begun trying to chat her up. After she declined their advances, one of the men took a photo up her skirt and sent it to his friends. Gina Martin, 27, was the victim of upskirting but was stunned when she found out it was not a criminal offence Outraged Ms Martin grabbed the man's phone and confronted him before she alerted police - only to be told there was nothing that could be done about it. Since, the 27-year-old, who is a writer from Liverpool now living in London, fiercely campaigned for change in law. She spent 18 months campaigning with lawyer Ryan Whelan after her initial petition got 50,000 signatures. And in January this year a Bill to criminalise the act was approved in the House of Lords - receiving Royal Assent today. At times during her campaign, she claims there were times when she doubted would succeed. One such occasion was when backbench Conservative Sir Christopher Chope objected to a Private Member's Bill in the House of Commons last summer. But Ms Martin said she received hundreds of messages on social media from women who applauded her efforts. And now plans to celebrate the new law with a party. Advertisement 'The thing that kept me going in the moments when I wanted to hide in a cupboard for six months because I felt I'd let people down was due to the messages I received from people who had it happen to them. 'Those messages basically saying 'please don't stop' is the reason why I carried on. The new law means police will be able to arrest people on suspicion of upskirting from April. Justice minister Lucy Frazer said: 'Those who commit such a degrading act will face prison, and victims' complaints will be dealt with seriously. 'Gina Martin and other victims, charities and MPs supporting her should be immensely proud. 'Her efforts show how one campaigner can work with government to change the law for everyone.' Mr Whelan said he was 'truly thrilled' and never doubted the campaign. He said: 'On the day that I met her, I told a rather sceptical Gina that we'd succeed in changing the law. It has been a long road but we never lost faith that this day would come. 'Never doubt that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things. As to our politicians, the success of the upskirting campaign is a timely reminder of what can be achieved when parties from across the political spectrum work together constructively. 'I also hope that FGM campaigners take faith from this that when the Government say they'll stand behind you and find a way to overcome an objection from Sir Christopher Chope, they mean it and they will.' Sian Hawkins, head of campaigns and public affairs at Women's Aid, said: 'We hope that this new law will be another step forward in challenging the prevailing sexist attitudes and behaviours in our society that underpin violence against women and girls. Domestic abuse does not happen in a cultural vacuum. 'By making upskirting a criminal offence, we will send out the powerful message that this form of abuse is unacceptable and perpetrators of this crime will be held to account.' Clare McGlynn, a professor in law at Durham University who called for a specific upskirting offence since revenge porn was made illegal in 2015, described the law as a 'welcome step forward', but said it does not go far enough. She said: 'Urgent action is needed to criminalise all forms of image-based sexual abuse, including fake porn and threats to share sexual images, as well as granting automatic anonymity to complainants. 'The current law is out of date, piecemeal and inconsistent and failing victims.' The first official figures on upskirting, obtained by the Press Association last year, showed children as young as 10 complained to police. The information also highlighted that only one third of police forces in England and Wales had any data on the prevalence of upskirting. A nurse who worked on films such as Hot Fuzz and The Imitation Game was found dead in a hostel with a suicide note nearby after losing her job, home and struggling with alcoholism, an inquest heard. Morag Webster was described as a 'beautiful, caring and much loved' nurse who lost her job and home after financial troubles with her partner. The 48-year-old from west London had worked on TV series including Spooks and films such as Paddington 2, according to an IMDB profile. She was found dead in her single room on Wednesday October 31 last year, around a week from her birthday. Morag Webster (pictured above) was found dead at a hostel and her family and friends had previously set up a JustGiving page in her name Ms Webster (pictured with her dog Ruby) had fallen into financial troubles after losing her job Ms Webster, who lived with her dog Ruby had not been seen or heard from since the Sunday, the inquest at West London Coroner's Court heard. Her mother, aunt, brother and two friends attended her inquest in Fulham. Her mother Merlyn Ball described her in a statement as a 'beautiful, caring and much loved person' who was held in 'high esteem by her colleagues, friends and extended family'. The statement continued: 'Morag cared for people in need all her life. Ms Webster (pictured above) had appeared in various films such as Hot Fuzz 'Despite the love and support she received, she just could not cope with her circumstances. 'In the end I do not think more love or attention would have cured her. Her addiction was an illness. She was ill both mentally and physically.' Coroner Chinyere Inyama said a toxicology report did not provide a definite cause of death, meaning the only cause he could register was 'unascertained'. Mr Inyama said an open conclusion was 'the only conclusion I can record based on the evidence'. Her family attended the inquest at West London Coroner's Court (pictured above) He said it was possible Ms Webster took her own life, but he could not be sufficiently certain based on the evidence. Bafta also published a 'In Memory Of', of the nurse which read: 'A British set nurse who trained at the North London School of Nursing, Webster entered the industry in 1997 and was soon working on television productions including Spaced (1999-2001) and Black Books (2000-2002). She went on to work on films including The Cornetto Trilogy (2004-2013), Les Miserables (2012) and Paddington 2 (2017).' A Crowdfunding campaign set up to get Ms Webster into accommodation raised more than 17,500 and described her as 'the film industry's favourite unit nurse'. It said: 'There is no safety net if you are a freelancer in the film industry. 'Being a freelancer with no income, she was unable to pay to live, and now just a few months later, this proud, funny and fantastic lady is homeless, sleeping in abandoned cars, stations and hostels. We as an industry cannot let this happen.' Ms Webster offered to pay for the breakfast of a veteran eating alone on Remembrance Sunday before a stranger, noticing the kind act, paid for both hers and the ex-soldier's, The Telegraph reported in 2015. Police said there were no suspicious circumstances after attending the hostel in Southall, west London, which housed people with addiction issues, the inquest heard. If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article then you can call the Samaritans on 116 123, alternatively you can visit the website at by clicking here. Senior MEP Guy Verhofstadt (pictured last week in Brussels) compared hard Brexiteers to 18th Century French revolutionaries who lost their heads at the guillotine today A senior MEP compared hard Brexiteers to 18th Century French revolutionaries who lost their heads at the guillotine today. Guy Verhofstadt's latest incendiary intervention on the Brexit debate came as he met with Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay. Mr Verhofstadt - the European Parliament's representative in the Brexit talks - said Boris Johnson was similar to flamboyant and venal revolutionary leader Georges Danton, while Michael Gove was like counterrevolutionary Jacques Pierre Brissot. He compared Jacob Rees-Mogg to the uncompromising revolutionary purist Maximilien Robespierre. All three men were executed during the French Revolution. Mr Verhofstadt told reporters at the European Parliament: 'We must remember that the efforts of these men were not appreciated by the common man they claimed to represent. 'Because they all ended under the guillotine.' Following his meeting with Mr Barclay and Theresa May's deputy David Lidington today, Mr Verhofstadt warned there was not yet a proposal to break the deadlock. He said: 'Iask myself what are these negotiations at a ''crucial state'' raised in the House of Commons? 'The way forward is cross-party, not kicking the can towards a disastrous no deal.' Following his meeting with Mr Barclay and Theresa May's deputy David Lidington today, Mr Verhofstadt warned there was not yet a proposal to break the deadlock Guy Verhofstadt's latest incendiary intervention on the Brexit debate came as he met with Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay (pictured last week in Downing Street) The interventions came as Mrs May set up a 'high noon' on Brexit in two weeks - with Remainer ministers threatening to join a revolt. The PM urged MPs to 'hold their nerve' as she appealed for 'a little more time' to get concessions on the Irish border backstop in bitter Commons clashes. She tried to quell a mounting rebellion by Remainers by promising them another chance to influence the Brexit process by the end of the month if her renegotiation is not complete. But she also fuelled anger that she is 'running down the clock' towards March 29 by refusing to give a firm date by which a final vote on her deal will be held. Pro-EU MPs warned their patience is running out - with sources telling MailOnline that the next round of votes on February 27 will be 'high noon'. More than a dozen ministers - including some Cabinet members - are ready to resign if that is what it takes to stop the UK crashing out of the bloc. There is also little sign that the premier's battle to secure changes to the backstop - the insurance policy to avoid a hard border - is making progress. EU chief negotiator Mr Barnier emerged from a dinner with Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay in Brussels last night to insist the Withdrawal Agreement will not be renegotiated. A 19-year-old mother from Texas has been arrested after police said she refused medical treatment for her babys second-degree cigarette burn. According to a press release from the Harris County Precinct Four, constable deputies responded to the 12300 block of Northpointe Drive Lane in Tomball on Saturday to perform a welfare check. A witness told the deputies that a one-year-old boy had suffered a second-degree burn on his left arm that appeared to be days old. Grinning mom: Cybil Menard, 19 (left and right), has been charged with failing to seek medical treatment for her one-year-old sons's (pictured right with his parents) cigarette burn Menard (pictured with fiance during baby shower) admitted there had been prior cigarette burns on her son, but she always refused to seek treatment for him In the course of an investigation, the deputies learned that the babys mother, Cybil Menard, was aware of her sons injury. Menard reportedly admitted that there also had been prior cigarette burns on her son, but she always refused to seek medical treatment for him. Child Protective Services were contacted about this case, and Menards son was released to a guardian. Menard was then arrested and booked into the county jail on a count of injury to a child by omission. Her bond was set at $15,000. According to the womans Facebook page, she and her fiance welcomed their son in February 2018. The couple have been together since at least 2016, while Menard was still in high school. Police have arrested the ex-boyfriend of the 24-year-old woman whose murdered body was found stuffed in a suitcase on the side of a quiet Connecticut road, with her hands and feet bound. Cops arrested Javier de Silva, of Queens, on Monday night, a week after the grisly murder of 24-year-old Valerie Reyes. On Tuesday Greenwich Police Capt. Robert Berry released a statement saying a suspect 'believed to be involved' in her death has been arrested and later identified him as de Silva during a press conference. Authorities were led to de Silva when he fraudulently used Reyes' ATM card to withdraw money from a machine. Reyes had reportedly dumped her boyfriend de Silva a week before she went missing. De Silva is a Venezuelan citizen and is reportedly in the country illegally as he overstayed his visa, according to CBS. A source told the news outlet that Reyes was 'killed at her residence' and the ex-boyfriend allegedly confessed to the murder to investigators. Police arrested Javier de Silva, of Queens, New York, on Tuesday. He's the ex-boyfriend of Valerie Reyes, the 24-year-old New York woman whose murdered body was found stuffed in a red suitcase and left on an isolated Connecticut road The Greenwich Police Department shared this statement on Tuesday on the arrest The arrest followed the police investigation of multiple crime scenes, reviewing hundreds of hours of surveillance footage, and interviews multiple potential witnesses, the Greenwich Police Department said in a press release on Tuesday. 'New Rochelle Police Detectives accompanied by Greenwich Police Detectives, arrested a suspect in New York who had fraudulently used the ATM card of homicide victim Valerie Reyes. 'The arrested individual is also believed to be involved in the death of Valerie. 'We are confident that the pursuit of justice for Valerie will be successful and we continue to work with the family to provide closure to this tragedy,' the police statement said. In a press conference on Tuesday Greenwich Police said that de Silva confessed to playing a role in the murder when he was questioned following his arrest. He was described as being cooperative during his interview. The investigation into Reyes' death is ongoing as Capt. Berry said 'there's a lot of loose ends that need to be tied up' during the conference. De Silva was arrested in New York and the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan will reportedly handle the prosecution of the crime. Reyes was reported missing after she failed to show up to work on January 29 in New Rochelle, New York and her body was found on February 5 stuffed in a red suitcase. Reyes had reportedly dumped her boyfriend de Silva a week before she went missing The reddish-orange suitcase containing Reyes' body was discovered by highway workers in Greenwich around 8.15am Tuesday, one week after the 24-year-old was last seen on January 29 During a press conference Tuesday Greenwich Police Capt. Robert Berry said authorities arrested de Silva for fraudulently using Reyes' ATM card and during questioning he admitted to a role in her death The suitcase had been dumped in a wooded area (above) about 15 feet from Glenville Road The victim predicted her killing, telling her mother on the phone that she feared she'd be killed on January 28, a day before she disappeared. 'She was very scared, very frightened,' Sanchez told The Journal News. 'She didn't mention anything or no one specific. She just said, 'I'm scared. I'm paranoid, mommy. I'm getting anxiety attacks, She was having a hard time talking.' Sanchez says she desperately tried to pry for more information, but her daughter refused to specify why she felt that way. Reyes, a Barnes & Noble store clerk, had broken up with her boyfriend five days earlier, according to Sanchez. 'I asked her why do you feel this way? Was there someone at your house?' Reyes' mother said. She asked about her daughter's ex-boyfriend but still Reyes told her mother 'no, it wasn't him'. Reyes did however reveal that she didn't feel safe alone in her apartment, and expressed her concern at the murders of young women in the state. Glenville Road runs through a quiet and somewhat isolated area of Glenville, a wealthy suburb of Greenwich with a population of just over 2,200 people A vigil was held by family and friends on Thursday to mourn the loss Reyes, whom many have described as a 'sweetheart' 'I'm worried someone is going to murder me,' Reyes then allegedly blurted out. Her body was discovered six days later in a red suitcase on the side of a road in a wooded area of wealthy neighborhood Greenwich, Connecticut. It's 10 miles away from the New York border of her Westchester County home. The official cause of Reyes' death has not been confirmed as the autopsy is pending. Police said tips have been pouring in with leads in her horrific and sudden slaying. Police said previously that Reyes did not die at the location where she was found, but they did not know where she was killed. According to The Journal, Reyes had taken her iPad, iPhone, clothes and bed sheets with her when she disappeared. On Thursday a candlelit vigil was held in Reyes' memory and on Tuesday a service is scheduled in New Rochelle. Vice chancellors at more than 120 universities were paid a higher salary than Theresa May last year. Data from the Office for Students (OfS) shows that 1.5 percent of staff in the sector receive a basic salary of more than 100,000 a year - a rise of 1.3% in 2016/17. Altogether, 124 of the 133 universities across England paid their heads more than the 150,000 salary the Prime Minister earns - with one taking home almost 500,000. 'Theresa May (pictured) deserves a final chance, but after that she would be unpatriotic to cling on to office. If she is forced out of power, she should be offered the opportunity to leave with honour' The data looks at the pay of vice chancellors - or an equivalent role - and other senior staff for 2017/18 The proportion of vice chancellors , who are paid via university funding from student loans and taxpayer grants, receiving a basic salary of greater than 100,000 fell at 48 providers. The data looks at the pay of vice chancellors - or an equivalent role - and other senior staff for 2017/18. According to the figures, the University of Bath was at the top of the list, paying its head of provider a basic salary of 470,000. However, when other benefits were taken into account this rose to a total remuneration of 492,000. The University of Cambridge came second with a basic vice chancellor salary of 431,000, and total remuneration of 492,000. And third spot was taken by the University of Southampton, paying a basic salary of 423,000 and total sum of 442,000.. Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of the OfS, said: 'It is not for the Office for Students to set a vice chancellor's pay. 'We understand that running a university is a significant and complex task, and it is right that those who excel in their roles should be well rewarded. 'Despite this, where pay is out of kilter, or salary increases at the top outstrip pay awards to other staff, vice chancellors should be prepared to answer tough questions from their staff, student bodies and the public. 'It is good to see signs of pay restraint at some universities, with some vice chancellors refusing a salary increase.' The 10 highest vice-chancellor basic salaries for 2017/18: University of Bath, 470,000 University of Cambridge, 431,000 University of Southampton, 423,000 London Business School, 422,000 University of Birmingham, 386,000 Imperial College, 373,000 University College London, 368,000 University of Surrey, 364,000 Open University, 360,000 University of Oxford, 360,000 Advertisement She added that institutions receive significant funding, both in the form of direct grants drawn from public taxation as well as funding from student loans. 'Universities - and individual vice chancellors - need to be confident that they can justify the pay that they receive,' said Ms Dandridge. However, the report was criticised by the University and College Union (UCU), which branded the OfS a 'paper tiger'. The union said the report failed to look at the excessive and arbitrary rises still enjoyed by some vice chancellors, or tackle the expenses and other benefits in kind that have 'plagued universities in recent years'. UCU head of policy Matt Waddup said: 'With this lightweight report, the OfS has shown itself to be a paper tiger incapable of stopping the pay and perks scandals that have plagued universities. 'The report simply regurgitates some of the analysis done by UCU and others in recent years, but pulls its punches on how to address the problem. 'The OfS fails to ask why some vice chancellors are still picking up double-digit pay rises and doesn't even look at their expenses or other benefits in kind. Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of the OfS, said: 'We understand that running a university is a significant and complex task, and it is right that those who excel in their roles should be well rewarded' 'This report sends a message that those who accept such largesse have nothing to fear from the new regulator.' Education Secretary Damian Hinds said: 'While universities are autonomous institutions, around 45% of English institutions' income in 2016/17 came through upfront public funding, so they are rightly subject to public scrutiny. 'Of course salaries need to be competitive, but high pay must be justified by high performance on objectives such as widening participation for disadvantaged groups, low dropout rates, growing export earnings and pioneering innovative research. 'We set up the Office for Students to look out for students' interests and it is absolutely right that the OfS demands greater transparency from universities by requiring them to justify the pay and benefits of their vice chancellors. 'We have given the OfS powers to take action if universities do not do this and we expect them to be used where necessary.' Notre Dame wide receiver Javon McKinley was charged Monday with three misdemeanors after allegedly punching a pair of police officers who were helping him back to his dorm room when they found him unresponsive and with alcohol on his breath early Sunday morning. McKinley, 20, allegedly punched Notre Dame Security Police officers Adis Ibrekic and Lt. Laurie Steffen, who found the 6foot2, 215-pound junior unresponsive in the back of an Uber around 4am. McKinely 'required a series of (sternum) rubs to regain consciousness,' according to IndyStar.com. Javon McKinley, 20, allegedly punched two Notre Dame Security Police officers who found the 6foot2, 215-pound junior unresponsive in the back of an Uber around 4am The officers reportedly began helping him to his dorm room, but McKinley stopped, which is when officers noticed the smell of alcohol. McKinley became 'unsteady on his feet,' according to the report. He then 'tensed up' and tried to walk in the opposite direction, but was stopped by the officers who were concerned about him wandering off in the cold in his condition. At that point, McKinely allegedly punched both officers 'in a rude, insolent or angry manner.' Local firefighters helped restrain McKinley, who was booked at St. Joseph County Jail, where he stayed until Monday afternoon. A police spokesperson told the Daily Mail that records could not be accessed because the ongoing snowstorm in northern Indiana had disabled the station's computer system. His breathlyzer test was consistent with alcohol consumption, according to IndyStar.com. McKinley faces a count of illegal consumption of alcohol and has a February 28 court date. He was released on $250 bond. 'The incident is being handled by the criminal justice system,' Notre Dame spokesperson Dennis Brown said in a statement. 'As for internal discipline, we do not publicly discuss specific cases and impose sanctions as warranted.' A four-star recruit out of Corona, California, McKinley appeared in only six games in 2016 before suffering a broken left leg. He missed the entire 2017 season and appeared in four games in 2018. A New York man has been charged with manslaughter after he fatally shot his wife while he was cleaning his gun. Police said Eric Rosenbrock, 35, was 'performing maintenance' on his legally owned handgun in November 2018 when he shot 34-year-old Ashley Rosenbrock at their home in Corinth. She was pronounced dead at Saratoga Hospital. Eric Rosenbrock (center), 35, of upstate New York, has been charged with manslaughter after he fatally shot his wife, Ashley, while cleaning his gun Rosenbrock (right, on Monday) and wife Ashley (left) have three children, ages 10, five and two. Rosenbrock turned himself on Monday and pleaded not guilty to the charge during his arraignment The father-of-three turned himself on Monday and pleaded not guilty to the charge during his arraignment. His attorney, Kurt Mausert, said Rosenbrock has been released without bail to his family, including his in-laws, who fully support him. Mausert says the shooting was an accident. Rosenbrock and his wife have three children, ages 10, five and two. According to Mausert, Rosenbrock was preparing for a hunting trip and had just finished cleaning the gun in the living room on November 15. He was preparing to put it back together when it discharged, Mausert told WNYT. His attorney, Kurt Mausert, said Rosenbrock (pictured with his family) has been released without bail to his family, including his in-laws, who fully support him. Mausert says the shooting was an accident According to Mausert, Rosenbrock was preparing for a hunting trip and had just finished cleaning the gun in the living room of their home (pictured) on November 15. He was preparing to put it back together when it discharged Rosenbrock is a 7th grade science teacher at Lake George Junior High. A spokesperson for the school system said his employment status is currently 'undecided'. Prosecutors say in the complaint that Rosenbrock 'disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk' that his actions may cause a person's death. If convicted of second-degree manslaughter Rosenbrock could be facing a minimum prison sentence of one to three years and a maximum of five to 15. A High Court judge has issued an urgent appeal to find a three-year-old girl and her British yoga teacher mother who defied an Australian court and brought her to the UK where they are living in a camper van. Mr Justice Keehan said he is 'very concerned' about Ruby McKay-Uhd who is at the centre of a family court battle in Melbourne between her mother, Victoria McKay, 43, and father, 57-year-old Peter Uhd. The judge made an appeal for help at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London today. Mr Justice Keehan said Ruby McKay-Uhd (left) and her mother, Victoria McKay, 43, (right) are believed to be living in a camper van, and he is 'extremely concerned' about the girl Ruby was wrongfully brought to the UK by her mother in September and a family court judge in Melbourne ordered her to return to Australia. Mr Uhd is Australian, Ms McKay was born in Birmingham, but had been living in Australia for more than 20 years, and Ruby was born in Australia. At the High Court hearing in London, Mr Justice Keehan lifted an anonymity order on the case in a bid to track down the youngster and her mother. He also authorised the publication of photographs. Lawyers representing Ruby's father had asked the judge to allow Ruby's disappearance to be revealed as they admitted all other efforts to trace her and Ms McKay had failed. Rugby (pictured) was wrongfully brought to the UK by her mother in September 'I am extremely concerned about this young child, who has been abducted from Australia wrongfully by her mother,' said Mr Justice Keehan. 'It is believed she is living an itinerant lifestyle with her mother in a camper van.' He said he was concerned for the girl's health and that no-one knew anything about the circumstances in which she was living. The judge added: 'It is extremely important, and necessary for the welfare of this young child, that all possible steps are taken to locate her as soon as possible.' Barrister William Tyzack, leading Mr Uhd's legal team, told Mr Justice Keehan that evidence suggested Ms McKay had 'no desire to be located'. He said Mr Uhd and Ms McKay separated some time ago, but Mr Uhd had been spending time with Ruby in Australia until she vanished in September. 'Mr Uhd continues to have very real concerns as to Ruby's welfare and about the transient nature of her current life.' Lawyer James Netto, who is also representing Mr Uhd and is based at law firm Dawson Cornwell, said Ms McKay and Ruby were thought to be living in a blue Renault Trafic camper van, registration E527 HPC. He said Ms McKay had one relative in Birmingham and others in the Littlehampton area of West Sussex, and had also spoken of possibly travelling to Scotland. Mr Justice Keehan, sitting in the High Court, (pictured) said: 'It is extremely important, and necessary for the welfare of this young child, that all possible steps are taken to locate her as soon as possible' Ms McKay, who also uses the surnames Booty and Garrick, was a qualified yoga teacher and veterinary nurse, Mr Netto added. He said Ms McKay and Ruby might be living on campsites, caravan parks or farms, and that the mother was a 'country person' who liked organic food and might have visited farmers markets. It was also thought she might be visiting libraries. Mr Netto added: 'Ruby's father remains exceptionally concerned for her welfare as a result of Ms McKay's very transient lifestyle. 'He wishes to make it clear that Ms McKay is not in any sort of trouble. 'He is simply seeking for Ruby to be found safely, and for her to return to her home in Melbourne. He asks that anyone who sees her or Ruby to get in touch with us as soon as possible.' Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took her immigration reform plea directly to the White House on Tuesday morning, joining a group of migrants asking the U.S. government to grant them amnesty. The migrants fled their home countries after disasters on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) orders that allowed them to relocate to the United States. A lawsuit filed on their behalf this week includes 15,000 migrants affected by a 2015 earthquake in Nepal and 86,000 Hondurans who were displaced by a 1998 hurricane. They want U.S. lawmakers to make them 'permanent' residents as part of an immigration overhaul. 'We are fighting for the longstanding principle, and the longstanding that the people who built this country, stay in this country,' Ocasio-Cortez told the group protesting outside the Whie House amid light rain. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took her immigration reform plea directly to the White House on Tuesday afternoon, joining a group of migrants asking the U.S. government to grant them amnesty 'We are fighting for the longstanding principle, and the longstanding that the people who built this country, stay in this country,' Ocasio-Cortez told the group amid light rain Demonstrators participate in the March For TPS Justice as they rally in support of DACA recipients and temporary protected status holders during a protest for permanent residency outside the White House Ocasio-Cortez talks to immigration rights activists during the rally outside the White House Demonstrators participate in the March For TPS Justice as they rally in support of DACA recipients and temporary protected status holders during a protest for permanent residency outside the White House To cheering, the congresswoman from New York said, 'And we are part of the long, long fight for the people whose hands built this country be honored and respected in the United States of America.' She alternated between English and Spanish for the remarks that lasted approximately three minutes, according to a video captured by a reporter for the Washington Examiner. 'We need to make sure that we as a nation honor our promises, and that is what this is all about. From Nepal to Honduras,' she said.' We have made a promise to say that the United States will be a safe haven.' From disasters to war, Ocasio-Cortez argued that the U.S. has promised to be a 'lantern' for refugees around the world. 'We are a nation that turns peril into promise. We are a nation that builds from many. And we have to protect our basic character as a nation to be that,' she said. The Democratic congresswoman explicitly called for immigrants to become 'permanent' members of American society. To cheering, the congresswoman from New York said, 'And we are part of the long, long fight for the people whose hands built this country be honored and respected in the United States of America' President Trump included a three-year extension of the TPS recipients' status in a deal last month Democrats rejected. The opposing party said that the timeframe wasn't long enough. They believe the migrants, and illegal immigrants who were brought to the nation in their youth, should be able to remain in the U.S. indefinitely and have the ability to become citizens. Negotiators are on the brink of revealing another deal that does not resolve the TPS holders' situation. The spending deal addresses a dispute over detention beds and Trump's border barrier but doesn't go much deeper than that. The National TPS Alliance organized the protest outside the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue that Ocasio-Cortez showed up to before it was clear what was in the deal. A media advisory said the purpose of the rally was to send a message to President Trump and the new Congress. A second event is taking place on Capitol Hill later on Tuesday. The BJP contended that this order would affect free canvassing during the ensuing general elections in April/ May. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a petition filed by the West Bengal BJP challenging an order passed by the Mamata Banerjee government in 2013 imposing a blanket ban on the use of microphones in the state during February and March every year in view of examinations. The BJP contended that this order would affect free canvassing during the ensuing general elections in April/ May. A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Sanjeev Khanna rejected plea. The CJI told senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, You are challenging an order of 2013? Mr Rohatgi replied, Yes, but it is applied every year. Your lordships had passed an order disposing of the appeal with the direction that we procure the requisite permission. We are not saying that you are coming late... but the children are writing their exams around this time, remarked the Chief Justice. The counsel said, Yes, that is an important issue, but so is this. This is also the time when I have rallies and public meetings. If we do it in a maidan, there would be no problem. As Chief Justice Gogoi proceeded to dismiss the plea, the senior advocate wished to withdraw the petition, with a view to approach the high court. If you want to withdraw, withdraw it. But we are not giving any liberty to approach the high court, said the Chief Justice. The state government passed an order under the Environment Protection Act and Noise Pollution Rules to prevent any form of environmental pollution in the state, particularly to prevent any inconvenience to the students preparing for their annual examinations. The BJP in its petition said that the impugned government order is patently overboard and designed to create impediments in the activities of the Bharatiya Janata Party- a national political party which has a significant presence in the state of West Bengal for building up public support for the ensuing elections which have to be held no later than May 2019. According to the BJP, while the intention to check noise pollution appears to be a legitimate purpose, A blanket ban on the use of microphones in any residential area or near educational institutions virtually results in a complete ban on the use of microphones in any residential area or near educational institutions virtually results in a complete ban on the use of microphones during the said period. The BJP pleaded that the impugned notification should be stayed during the period proximate to elections, especially general elections. A cat was lucky to survive a machete attack that left her with a gaping head wound and gave vets no other option but to remove her left eye. The cat, named Titou, was found by a good Samaritan in Buiram, Thailand, after managing to escape her attackers, who had possibly targeted her for meat. She was taken to the Blue Dream Shelter, the home of the Sounds of Animals charity, where staff rallied round to get Titou the urgent care she needed after the attack had left her with a huge open wound, exposing her eye, nose, jaw and part of her brain. Titou the cat has recovered well from surgery after miraculously surviving a machete attack in Thailand The cat has now made an amazing recovery, despite losing her eye, and has been adopted by a loving family in the area. Michael Chour, the charity's founder, said: 'This cat's injuries were horrific, and we knew that she needed urgent veterinary care in order to save her life. 'It was apparent she would need urgent intensive care to survive. She was in a deplorable state. 'The machete had cut through her skull, her brain, the eye, the nose, and the jaw. 'We drove her nearly 19 miles to the nearest vet where she was assessed at the clinic and was immediately prepped for surgery. The wound has healed well after Titou's reconstructive surgery and although she lost her right eye she is now able to eat and drink by herself 'She underwent reconstructive surgery to salvage her breathing passages and repair to her mouth but unfortunately the eye had to be removed.' Titou remained under close watch as she came round from her extensive surgery before she was slowly able to eat and drink for herself, as well as receiving antibiotics, pain relief and IV fluids. 48-year-old Michael, who gave up his job as a doctor in France to open the charity, travelled to the clinic everyday to check on Titou's progress, before she returned to the shelter. Michael, 48, said: 'Miraculously the surgery was a success, and she remained under close watch at the veterinary clinic, whilst receiving all the care required. 'I made the journey to the veterinary clinic daily to check on Titou's progress. 'Within a couple of days she was able to eat and drink, her spirit was bright, considering what she had endured. 'The stitches were removed after 10 days and she remained under the veterinarian's care for some time, before I could take her back to the shelter.' A good Samaritan took her to the Blue Dream Shelter, the home of the Sounds of Animals charity, who then brought her to the vet for emergency surgery The cat has now been adopted by a loving family and is being kept safe from further attacks that are all too common in the area. Michael said: 'Titou would have definitely died from her injuries, had she not been rescued. 'It is terrible to think that human beings were capable of harming her in such a vicious manner, but also heartwarming that there were kind, compassionate people to help her. 'She has now been adopted by a loving family, and hopefully is safe from machete wielding monsters. 'Animals are frequently hatcheted here, It is a very rural area. 'Thailand made the dog meat trade illegal seven years ago, but this law is very difficult to enforce, people regularly try to kill dogs and cats for food, as it is very unlikely they will be caught. 'Thai law says you have to have proof, which is unlikely to ever happen especially in this very rural area.' Police are hunting for a knifeman after a double stabbing in east London today. A man in his 20s was found in Waddington Street, Stratford, with multiple wounds to his back at around 1.30pm. Another man, aged in his late teens, was found in nearby Cruikshank Road with stab wounds to his leg and buttocks. The Met Police confirmed they were called shortly after 1.30pm and are investigating. The victims have been taken to hospital and officers are awaiting updates on their condition. Police are investigating after a man in his 20s was found with stab wounds to his back in Waddington Road, pictured, Stratford, earlier this afternoon In what appears to be a double knifing, a man in his late teens was found with leg wounds yards away in Cruikshank Road, Stratford, just moments later A London Air Ambulance was also scrambled to the scene and landed in the playground of nearby Colegrave Primary School. Children in class watched on as it later left the site. The incident is the latest violent incident in London and comes on the same day two men were rushed to hospital after being 'splashed with acid' near King's Cross Station. Meanwhile a 19-year-old teenager reported having a noxious substance thrown at him in Romford at around 8.10pm yesterday. On Sunday, 39-year-old Dennis Anderson from Lewisham was stabbed to death in the early hours of Sunday morning. On Saturday afternoon, four people were arrested in Hayes - including two teenage boys - following the stabbing of a 16-year-old boy. The victim was rushed to hospital by air ambulance where his condition is described as 'not life-threatening'. A few hours later, a 17-year-old boy was shot in Isleworth, west London. He was taken to hospital where he is in a critical condition. Eleven people have been murdered in London so far this year, at least seven of whom have been fatally stabbed. It follows the deadliest year in a decade in the capital with 134 killings in 2018. Last Thursday, the Office for National Statistics revealed that the number of fatal stabbings is now at the highest level since records began in 1946. Some 285 people were stabbed to death in the year ending March 2018, with attacks 'most pronounced' in young men. Highlighting a worrying increase in violence plaguing Britain, there were 726 killings recorded overall - 20 more than the previous year. President Donald Trump suggested Sen. Elizabeth Warren should 'focus more on her heritage' than on investigating his companies in his latest snub of the Democratic presidential contender he calls 'Pocahontas.' The president was railing against letters he's received from congressional committees conducting investigations of his administration and business practices when he let loose on Warren, a favorite target of his. 'I got one from Pocahontas today where it said that Donald Trump, we want to investigate some company that - it's so disgraceful. I said, just write her back and say she's got a conflict of interest. OK? And she should focus more on her heritage and not being ashamed of what she is,' he complained to Fox News' Laura Ingraham on Monday night. President Donald Trump suggested Sen. Elizabeth Warren should 'focus more on her heritage' than on investigating his companies Sen. Elizabeth Warren took a shot at Trump while campaigning in Iowa on Sunday, hinting there could be jail time in his future He did not elaborate on the details of what investigators sought. The president is under the microscope from the special counsel on whether or not his campaign colluded with Russia in 2016, from the Southern District of New York about his business practices and from a slew of congressional committees on both matters. Warren, who sits on the Senate Banking, House and Urban Affairs Committee, took a shot at Trump and the numerous investigations against him while campaigning in Iowa on Sunday, hinting there could be jail time in his future. 'Every day there is a racist tweet, a hateful tweet - something really dark and ugly,' she said, adding: 'By the time we get to 2020, Donald Trump may not even be president. In fact, he may not even be a free person.' Trump has frequently taken digs at Warren by calling her Pocahontas, a reference to the native woman who lived in present-day Virginia in the 1600s and agreed to marry an English colonist to help ensure peace and protect her people. Warren has had to apologize for overstating her Native American ancestry. In January, Warren apologized to the Cherokee Nation after releasing the results of a DNA test that showed a tiny sliver of her ancestry was Native American. The liberal senator who is exploring a run for president 'reached out to us and has apologized to the tribe', said Cherokee Nation communications director Julie Hubbard. 'We are encouraged by this dialogue and understanding that being a Cherokee Nation tribal citizen is rooted in centuries of culture and laws not through DNA tests,' said Hubbard. 'We are encouraged by her action and hope that the slurs and mockery of tribal citizens and Indian history and heritage will now come to an end.' In apologizing, Warren took a course of action that her advisers had counseled after her release of the DNA test results drew criticism and mockery from rivals rather than put to rest her long-running spat with President Trump over her claim of having some Native ancestry. Warren's DNA analysis, conducted by a privately hired scientist who is an expert on Native American genomics, showed that her Native American ancestry was between 0.09 percent and 1.5 percent. Warren has apologized after releasing the results of a DNA test that showed a tiny sliver of her ancestry was Native American Trump has long targeted Warren over her claims about her ancestory The low end of that scale equates to 1/1,024th. In addition to failing to silence Trump, Warren's release of the information drew complaints from some native groups, who stress cultural heritage rather than scientific testing for tribal affiliation. Democrats blasted Warren in October for drawing attention to her biggest political liability in the middle of a tense midterm election cycle where Democrats were desperate to retake control of the House and break the GOP's lock on government control an effort that succeded. A landmark study published in 2014 in the American Journal of Human Genetics found that, on average, European-Americans have 0.18 per cent Native American blood twice as much. The Sri Lankan government has started advertising for hangmen with 'moral character' after the previous executioner quit with stress after seeing the gallows for the first time. President Maithripala Sirisena wants to resume the use of capital punishment for drug traffickers in the next two months as part of a new hardline policy. The last execution in Sri Lanka was 43 years ago but the government began advertising for hangmen this week in a bid to mimic the Philippines tactic of roaming death squads to combat drug trafficking. During a state visit to the Philippines in January, Sirisena had praised President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, despite international criticism of a campaign that has resulted in thousands of people being killed in encounters with police. A man reading an advertisement for the vacancy of hangmen in a newspaper in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo Visiting Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena (left) and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte shake hands following the welcoming ceremony last month Drug trafficking is a capital offence in Sri Lanka although no one has been executed for any crime in the country since 1976 as all death penalties have been commuted to life in prison since then. Sri Lanka's last hangman quit in 2014 without ever having to execute anyone, citing stress after seeing the gallows for the first time, while another hired last year never turned up for work. Anticipating that capital punishment could soon be used again, the prison service is hurrying to recruit two executioners. Thushara Upuldeniya, a spokesman for the prison service, said: 'We never know if the government will resume the death penalty, but we want to hire two hangmen to fill vacancies and be ready if the government wants to execute drug traffickers.' An advertisement published in the state-run Daily News u=yesterday put the monthly pay at 36,310 rupees ($203.99), which would be above the average for a government job. The advert for a hangman wanted candidates to be Sri Lankan, male, aged between 18 and 45, and have both 'excellent moral character' and 'mental strength' Candidates should be Sri Lankan, male, aged between 18 and 45, and have both 'excellent moral character' and 'mental strength', the ad said. Upuldeniya said the job interviews will be conducted next month. At least 25 people convicted for drugs offences, including two drug dealers, could be executed, Upuldeniya added. There were also 436 people including six women on death row for various crimes including murder, he said. He told parliament five drug convicts will be executed as soon as Sirisena signs the death warrants and a hangman is appointed. Government officials said that Sirisena has sought advice from the Philippines on how to combat drug trafficking, amid mounting concerns that Sri Lanka could become a transit hub for the narcotics trade in Asia. Bags of heroine seized by the Sri Lanka Narcotics Bureau in Colombo last month with value of more than $7 million More than more than 1,500 kg of cocaine was seized in 2017, the Sri Lankan government said. Police have arrested more than 50 people since the middle of last year after busting a drug smuggling ring last year. Official estimates put the number of dead from the Filipino president's widely-criticised war on drugs at 5,000, but a senator recently said it had claimed more than 20,000 lives. Last month senators in the Philippines launched a fight to stop President Duterte lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to nine. In the United Kingdom the age of criminal responsibility is ten, while in Scotland children as young as eight can be prosecuted. But in the United States there is no age barrier for prosecutions at state level, while at federal level the minimum age is 11. A Houston judge, who was elected in November as part of a 'Black Girl Magic' campaign along with 16 other women, has died of pancreatic cancer. Cassandra Hollemon, 57, passed away on Monday at around 1am, surrounded by family and friends, at Harris Health Ben Taub Hospital, Fox News reported. Her children said she only found out about the cancer last week. 'Once she found it (the cancer), it took her and it just progressed,' Brandon Hollemon, Cassandra's son, said. 'There was no time. It was very aggressive. Cancer sucks.' Hollemon presided over Harris County Criminal Court of Law 12 since January 1, when she was sworn in by newly elected Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. 'Finally reaching this, then getting this devastating news, its just heartbreaking,' her son said. Judge Cassandra Hollemon, 57 (pictured), who was elected in November as part of a 'Black Girl Magic' campaign along with 16 other black women in Houston's Harris County, has died 'She turned out to have blood clots in her lungs, pulmonary embolisms which was caused by the pancreatic cancer,' her daughter, Brandy Hollemon, said. Hollemon was told she had Stage 4 pancreatic cancer in early February, after being misdiagnosed with chronic bronchitis in December, her children said. 'We are saddened by the passing of Judge Cassandra Y. Hollemon,' her fellow Harris County misdemeanor Judge Darrell Jordan told the Houston Chronicle. 'She was a compassionate judge who treated one in a respectful manner.' Before her election, Holloman had been practicing law for over 22 years, according to her campaign materials, shared on Facebook. She graduated from the South Texas College of Law in 1994, after earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Legal Studies from the University of St. Thomas. One of Hollemon's campaign slogans was, 'Standing for fair, equal and unbiased justice for ALL,' and said she wanted to 'transform lives.' Her reasons for seeking an elected position included, 'fair treatment for the mentally challenged, seeking truth regardless of one's job or title, ruling without prejudice or bias,' and 'alternative sentencing terms that are manageable and purposeful.' Hollemon presided over Harris County Criminal Court of Law 12 since January 1, when she was sworn in by newly elected Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo Hollemon's reasons for seeking an elected position included, 'fair treatment for the mentally challenged, seeking truth regardless of one's job or title, ruling without prejudice or bias,' and 'alternative sentencing terms that are manageable and purposeful' During her brief time on the bench, Hollemon left a lasting mark on the community with her joint efforts to settle a landmark lawsuit over the county's cash bail system. She also served on the Community Supervision and Pretrial Services Committee. 'She was competitive; she was a fighter,' Court 4 misdemeanor Judge Shannon Baldwin said. 'It's really sad and humbling that she's not here with us now.' Hollemon was part of a group of 17 black women elected to Harris County judicial positions in the 2018 midterm elections. The 'Black Girl Magic' moniker has been used as a hashtag in recent years to highlight the accomplishments of black girls and women. In politics, it's been used to highlight the role black women have played in helping decide various races, including the highly contested Senate race in Alabama in 2017 in which Democrat Doug Jones beat Republican Roy Moore. Hollemon (fourth from left) was part of a group of 17 black women elected to Harris County judicial positions in the 2018 midterm elections. This photos shows the 17 women who won election and two others who were then judges in Harris County but lost bids in November to win seats on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals are pictured. Front row, leaning against the podium from left, are Maria Jackson and Ramona Franklin. Back row, from left, are Lucia Bates, Erica Hughes, Sandra Peake, Cassandra Hollemon, Germaine Tanner, Ronnisha Bowman, Linda Marie Dunson, Angela Graves-Harrington, Dedra Davis, Shannon Baldwin, Latosha Lewis Payne, Tonya Jones, Sharon Burney, Michelle Moore, Lori Chambers Gray, Toria Finch and LaShawn Williams. Maria Jackson and Ramona Franklin in front row are the two women who are currently judges but lost bids to win seats on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals The election of Hollemon and her colleagues had increased the number of black female judges in Harris County from eight to 25, according to the Harris County Democratic Party. Now, sadly, that number is 24 The victory by Hollemon and her 16 black female counterparts in November was part of a Harris County rout by the Democrats, who won almost all of the nearly 70 local judicial races and ousted a popular Republican from the county's top elected office. Even accounting for the women's success, more than three-quarters of US trial judges in the Houston area are white, according to 2016 report by a liberal legal organization, the American Constitution Society. The same data showed that less than one-third of state judges were women, less than one-fifth were people of color, and less than one-eighth - only about 12 percent - of its state court judges are women of color. Meanwhile, in Texas, women of color make up more than one quarter - about 28 percent - of the state's population. The election of Hollemon and her colleagues had increased the number of black female judges in Harris County from eight to 25, according to the Harris County Democratic Party. Now, sadly, that number is 24. Her successor will be appointed by county leaders. Hollemon is survived by a son and daughter, and a granddaughter. Her funeral services will be held on Saturday. A lawyer for a passenger sued by Lufthansa for not using the last leg of his plane journey has insisted his client will win in court - and revealed his legal reasoning. The German airline is pursuing the unnamed passenger for using a trick to get a cheaper fight by missing the final leg of the two-stop flight he booked. The airline claims the passenger exploited the ticketing system which places a premium on non-stop flights to get a bargain by buying a multiple-stop ticket. The man was supposed to fly from Seattle to Frankfurt and then to Oslo - but he failed to fly from Frankfurt to Oslo and flew to Berlin instead in April 2016. Lufthansa has been granted permission to appeal after an original ruling found in the passenger's favour. However, the man's Dusseldorf-based lawyer, Dr. Matthias Bose, has told MailOnline he is confident their legal arguments will eventually see the airline's case dismissed. The man booked a return ticket from Seattle to Oslo via Frankfurt, but instead took a separate flight to Berlin during the changeover in Frankfurt. Lufthansa jets are seen at Germany's largest airport in Frankfurt - a major hub which is hit hard by 'tariff abusers' The passenger saved 1,873 when he made the original booking by buying a multiple stop ticket rather than a single stop. He paid 6,224 Norwegian Krone (556) for his return ticket to Seattle. But Lufthansa claims that he should have paid 2,769 (2,429), and have demanded 2,112 (1,852) plus interest. According to German court documents, the case was thrown out because the airline failed to fully explain how it had arrived at the compensation figure of 2,112 (1,852). The court documents said the pricing was 'lacking in transparency' in a summary of their verdict. Lufthansa is taking a stand because it is hit harder than most other airlines by the practice. That is because so many of their flights are routed through the hubs of Frankfurt and Munich. Terms and conditions when buying tickets through Lufthansa do, however, make it clear the practice is not allowed. Dr Bose told MailOnline his client, who booked the Frankfurt-Berlin flight himself about a month after the initial Seattle flight booking - never suspected that his actions would land him with a legal case. He outlined a series of arguments each of which, he claimed, would see Lufthansa fail in their action against his client. Dr Bose claimed the terms and conditions referred to in the case were not legally binding in German civil law and that the lack in transparency by not showing the amount of the 'penalty' when making a reservation. He said this element of the terms and conditions was unreasonable because it would also apply when airlines had to skip a journey segment - for example if there was a delayed inbound flight. Dr Bose said the clause is 'surprising as no average passenger would expect having to pay more when flying less' adding that there were other clauses in the T&Cs which appeared to conflict with the retrocharging-clause. 'Every single argument would lead to a dismissal of action from our legal point of view,' he told MailOnline. 'The local court of Berlin-Mitte decided to go with the "missing-transparency"-solution. Lufthansa basically only repeated a federal supreme court (BGH) ruling according to which an airline is entitled to charge an extra, if a passenger fails to use the first segment of a flight. A Lufthansa Airbus A380 is pictured coming into land over Frankfurt 'Theses cases are not comparable: In the first-leg-case a passenger risks losing the air fare already paid. In "our" case, the passenger risks paying even more, than he ever did before, which could extremely endanger his financial plans.' There is an increasing market among passengers, with companies like Skiplagged helping customers to find deals, the Independent reported. Skiplagged's website even boasts: 'Our flights are so cheap, United (Airlines) sued us... but we won.' There is a risk to such travel, with seasoned 'tariff abusers' travelling with only cabin baggage, because hold luggage is often checked through to its final destination. Another risk is that if you miss the first leg of a flight you will be considered a no-show for the others. For example, if you booked a New York - London - Bangkok flight but tried to join the journey out of London, you would have already nullified the ticket by not boarding in New York. However, it is uncommon for passengers to be challenged and Lufthansa will be hoping to set a precedent, as well as deter other customers from trying the same technique. According to Forbes, Lufthansa is the third largest airline company in the world and made nearly $3bn (2.33bn) in profit in 2017. They are the largest European operator, surpassed globally only by American Airlines and Delta Airlines. A Lufthansa spokesperson told Simple Flying: 'As this is a running court case, we do not comment on this case at this stage.' Troy Hickey, 24, was arrested in Lilburn, Georgia, on Friday after he failed to stop under police instructions and crashed into a funeral procession. He was later found to be under the influence of alcohol and drugs One family's celebration of life ended in tragedy on Friday, after a DUI driver crashed into a hearse carrying their grandmother to her final place of rest and caused the vehicle to flip over three times. Troy Hickey, 24, was arrested by police in Lilburn, Georgia, on Friday after he allegedly ignored their instructions to come to a stop and ploughed directly into a funeral procession. The severity of the impact caused a hearse carrying 90-year-old Evelyn Mary Osborne's body to flip over three times, before crashing back down onto its wheels, witnesses said. Two funeral directors who were in the vehicle were badly injured and rushed to hospital. Pulling Hickey from the wreckage of his car, police noticed a visible pulse on the side of his neck and a trail of white froth emanating from the side of his mouth. The hearse carrying Evelyn Osborne (pictured), 90, rotated three times as a result of the impact, before crashing back down onto its four wheels. Two female funeral directors were rushed to hospital Norma Osbourne (right), says she pictures the crash every time she closes her eyes. She paid an emotional tribute to her mother (left) on Facebook When questioned, Hickey reportedly told police he had used the synthetic opioid methadone three weeks ago, but the arresting officer noticed 'fresh track marks' on his arms. Hickey failed several stages of a sobriety test and was arrested at the scene. 'He hit it so fast and hard, it sounded like he'd gone through a brick wall,' Pastor Virginia Holland Davis told WSB-TV. A family says it was like a movie after a car crashed into a hearse in a funeral procession, causing the hearse to flip 3 times with the body of their 90 year old loved inside. The story at 4. @wsbtv pic.twitter.com/vOwCpLr0cP Tom Jones (@TomJonesWSBTV) February 11, 2019 Police say a driver was under the influence when he slammed into a hearse in a funeral procession. Two funeral directors were taken to the hospital. The story at 4. @wsbtv pic.twitter.com/zSFJlYfz3a Tom Jones (@TomJonesWSBTV) February 11, 2019 Travelling behind in a limousine, the Osborne family watched on in horror as their mother's coffin hurtled through the air. 'Whenever I close my eyes, that's what I see - my mother tumbling,' Norma Osborne Stanley told the TV station. 'Every time I close my eyes'. Stanley says her mother even protected her family in death, insisting the incident could've 'been a lot worse', had Hickey's car struck the limo. Sharon Hackney, a friend of the family, recalled the incident in a dramatic Facebook post. 'On the way to the cemetery being escorted by police at our first intersection with all traffic stopped, a drugged/alcoholic driver and his girlfriend plows through at a high speed in into the hearse carrying the coffin and two ladies from the funeral home. 'The hearse went up in the air and flipped over 3x's before landing back on it's four tires. 'What additionally concerns me is why did it take 45 mins before the guy was handcuffed, why wasn't the car searched because he was arrested for drugs and alcohol, why was the girlfriend allowed to take things from the car before he was handcuffed, why was she not searched?' Hickey has reportedly been involved in a drug-fueled crash before. Police say he had a visible pulse in his neck and a white foam coming out of his mouth after the crash A family friend detailed the chain of events on Facebook. She says she wasn't happy with the officer's response to the offender Stanley paid tribute to her mother, who she said continuously defied doctor's expectations and is finally at peace. 'She made it into 2019, although doctors said she wouldnt see her 90th birthday in early November,' she wrote. 'Although my siblings and I are sad, we celebrate her life and we are very thankful to have had her with us for as long as we did. We are also grateful that she didnt suffer, is now in peace and with her heavenly father.' Norma described her mother as a woman who continuously defied expectation. She also thanked her for protecting her in death, as she and other family members were in the limousine behind the hearse Hickey has been charged with failure to yield to a funeral procession, and for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Documents show the landscape contractor has previously been in trouble with police after drugs were found at the scene of a different crash. He is currently being detained by the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office, and awaits a court date. Two men have been rushed to hospital after they were 'splashed with acid' in an attack near King's Cross Station today. Two groups of men were involved in a fight on Argyle Square, Bloomsbury, which is only a short distance from the railway station. Officers said the fight had broken up before they arrived at the scene. Meanwhile police are also hunting for a knifeman after a double stabbing in Stratford at around 1.30pm this afternoon. A man in his 20s was found in Waddington Street, Stratford, with multiple wounds to his back at around 1.30pm. Another man, aged in his late teens, was then found in nearby Cruikshank Road with stab wounds to his leg and buttocks. Fire crews have been called in following an apparent acid attack which injured two men The attack unfolded outside London's King's Cross station at around 1.30pm this lunchtime The incident happened on Argyle Square, which leads towards King's Cross Station Speaking about the King's Cross incident, a Met Police spokesman said: 'Police were called to reports of an altercation between two groups of males on Argyle Square, Bloomsbury. 'All parties had left the location before officers arrived at the scene. 'Two men were later found nearby with facial injuries reported to have been caused by a corrosive substance. 'They have been taken to a nearby hospital; we await an update on their condition. 'No arrests have been made. Inquiries continue.' Police are investigating after a man in his 20s was found with stab wounds to his back in Waddington Road, pictured, Stratford, earlier this afternoon In what appears to be a double knifing, a man in his late teens was found with leg wounds yards away in Cruikshank Road, Stratford, just moments later The two stabbings occurred just yards away from each other, pictured, and police believe they may be linked Meanwhile in Stratford, the Met confirmed they were called shortly after 1.30pm and are investigating. The victims have been taken to hospital and officers are awaiting updates on their condition. A London Air Ambulance was also scrambled to the scene and landed in the playground of nearby Colegrave Primary School. Children in class watched on as it later left the site. Today's attack follows a separate incident in Romford at approximately 8.10pm yesterday. The 19-year-old was attacked on South Street, Romford at approximately 8.10pm yesterday. The Metropolitan Police said the young man had a noxious substance thrown at him. The attack happened on South Street, Romford at around 8.10pm yesterday. The Metropolitan Police said no arrests have yet been made in connection with the investigation. Danniella Westbrook expressed her concern about the level of acid attacks in the city A 19-year-old man was attacked with a noxious substance outside Romford train station around 8.10pm yesterday. He was rushed to hospital for emergency treatment after the attack. The Metropolitan Police said they are appealing for witnesses to come forward A Scotland Yard spokesman said: 'Detectives from East Area CID are investigating after noxious substance thrown at man in South Street Romford. We were called at 20:10hrs Monday and the man was taken to hospital 'We await an update on his condition.' Anyone with information is asked to contact 101 quoting reference CAD 7004/11Feb. The incident is the latest violent incident in London. On Sunday, 39-year-old Dennis Anderson from Lewisham was stabbed to death in the early hours of Sunday morning. On Saturday afternoon, four people were arrested in Hayes - including two teenage boys - following the stabbing of a 16-year-old boy. The victim was rushed to hospital by air ambulance where his condition is described as 'not life-threatening'. A few hours later, a 17-year-old boy was shot in Isleworth, west London. He was taken to hospital where he is in a critical condition. This is the moment a young woman steals a poodle from a restaurant in China right under its owner's nose. Shocking CCTV images show the theft taking place during Chinese New Year, with the owner completely oblivious to the crime. The surveillance video, from February 8, in the city of Dengzhou, in Central China's Henan Province, shows the toy poodle wandering around its owner's restaurant as she sweeps the floor. The owner of the restaurant has to get busy cleaning the floor before customers arrive so lets her pooch wander around A young woman appears and gestures to the toy poodle to come towards her, but the dog does not budge The friendly animal eventually moves towards the young woman who starts to pet it on the head While the restaurant owner's back is turned the woman picks up the dog and disappears The female suspect can be seen approaching the pavement outside the restaurant entrances and crouching down on the ground in order to get the dog's attention. She then motions with her hands for the dog to come towards her and moves further into the restaurant doorway. The timid dog stands still at first but then slowly beings to walk closer and closer to the young woman. She briefly looks behind her and begins patting the adorable pooch on the head. With the owner's back turned towards the restaurant floor and the dog within touching distance of the suspect, the dog is suddenly lifted up and taken away. Footage of the incident shows the woman crossing a street with the pooch in her arms and walking out of camera shot. The clip was shared by the owner after she found her poodle missing. It is still unclear whether she has gone to the police about the dognapping. The poodle breed has three different varieties, the standard, miniature and toy poodle. Embattled Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is planning a 'listening tour' to meet with citizens in his commonwealth as his 'blackface' scandal continues and he vowed to remain in his post. Northam has resisted calls from powerful lawmakers in both parties to step down, after Northam's page on his 1984 medical school yearbook was revealed to show a man in blackface. His repeatedly stumbles in his response to scandal have led to further calls for his resignation although the conundrum for Virginia Democrats became even more complicated after Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax faced allegations from a woman claiming he assaulted her and another claiming rape. Fairfax denies the charges. READY TO LISTEN: Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and his advisors are planning a 'listening tour' as he seeks to avoid pressure to resign and dig himself out of the scandal that erupted after the discovery his 1984 medical school yearbook page had a photo of a person in blackface Now, Northam plans to reach out to his state's voters in a 'listening tour,' BuzzFeed News reported. Since he is limited to a single four-year term, Northam doesn't have to worry about getting reelected. But he apparently has concluded that he needs to reclaim trust of the voters. Asked about calls for him to go on CBS News, Northam told host Gayle King: 'You know, I don't live in a vacuum. And so yes, I have heard it.' 'I have thought about resigning, but I've also thought about what Virginia needs right now. And I really think that I'm in a position where I can take Virginia to the next level,' Northam said. Northam at first apologized for the photo, but later said he is not either of the people depicted in it Virginia voters are split 47-47 on whether Northam should step down Northam had better support from black voters than from white voters in a recent poll 'Virginia also needs someone who is strong, who has empathy, who has courage and who has a moral compass. And that's why I'm not going anywhere,' Northam added. A source close to the governor's office told the publication he would sign a bill granting authority to pull down confederate statues in the state if it was presented to him. Northam told the Washington Post in the first hours after his own saga unfolded he would take a tough line on the statues. If there are statues, if there are monuments out there that provoke this type of hatred and bigotry, they need to be in museums, A source close to the governor's office told the publication he would sign a bill granting authority to pull down confederate statues in the state if it was presented to him. The statue of a Confederate soldier and two Civil War cannons stand in front of the Albemarle County Court House on August 22, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia The Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville was the site of a clash between United the Right protesters who opposed its planned removal and counter-protesters. It culminated in the killing of counter-protester Heather Heyer. A Washington Post poll Feb. 9th revealed an even split in the state with 47 per cent wanting him to remain in office and 47 per cent who want him to step down. He had higher support among blacks than among whites, with 58 per cent of blacks saying he should not step down compared to 46 per cent of whites. During his CBS interview, Northam repeatedly expressed regret and said he is not the person he was during his youth, after attending a desegregated school in Virginia's rural Eastern Shore. 'I was born in white privilege and that has implications to it. It is much different the way a white person such as myself is- is treated in this country versus,' he said. 'Did you not know that you were born into white privilege?' King asked him. 'I knew I was. Ms. King. but I didn't realize really the powerful implications of that. And again talking to a lot of friends that has come crystal clear to me this week. I have also learned why the use of blackface is so offensive and yes I knew it in the past. But reality has really set in,' Northam said. 'I'm going to improve my life and do better and be in a position-- where I can help other people,' Northam vowed. But he also acknowledged: 'I have a lot of work to do. But I will do everything I can to regain Virginia's trust.' Northam is still reeling from last week's revelation of a photo of a man in blackface in his 1984 medical school yearbook. The man is at a Halloween party, holding a beer and standing next to another man dressed as a member of the KKK. He immediately apologized for appearing in the photograph, saying he could not 'undo the harm my behavior caused then and today.' The next day, however, in a bizarre press conference the governor reversed course and said he wasn't in the picture. He said he would remember dressing in that because he remembered he once dressed in blackface as Michael Jackson and noted the make up used to color his skin was difficult to remove. Making a suo moto announcement TN CM said the proposal was part of the state governments efforts to ensure inclusive growth. Chennai: Days after it announced in the state budget it would launch a comprehensive accident-cum-life insurance scheme for all the below poverty line (BPL) families in Tamil Nadu, the state government on Monday announced it would provide special fin-ancial assistance of Rs 2,000 each to about 60 lakh BPL families across Tamil Nadu. Considering the impact of Gaja cyclone in many districts and the prevailing drought condition, as well, the government will provide special assistance to each of the BPL families this year, chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami told the Assembly on Monday. Making a suo moto announcement he said the proposal was part of the state governments efforts to ensure inclusive growth. The initiative will benefit about 60 lakh BPL families including 35 lakh families in rural areas besides 25 lakh families in urban centres. To facilitate this, an allocation of about Rs 1,200 crore would be included in the supplementary estimates for 2018-19 fiscal, Mr Palaniswami said. The list of beneficiaries includes farm labourers, workers in the fireworks industry, power loom and handloom weavers, saltpans and fish workers, besides construction workers among others. Quoting a Tamil film song, he said late chief minister J. Jayalalithaa was always concerned about the welfare of people who lived below the poverty line and also economically weaker sections. Meanwhile, hailing Mr Palaniswamis announcement, PMK founder Dr. S. Ramadoss urged the government to ensure the financial aid for BPL families an annual feature in order to eliminate poverty. It will be a major milestone in poverty elimination if the state government announces monthly financial aid to such families, Dr Ramadoss told reporters here. Speaking to reporters here, fisheries minister D. Jayakumar flayed the opposition DMK for criticising the government on the announcement for BPL families and said the gesture was meant to alleviate the conditions of the poor. "The DMK is reacting to the announcement due to fear of defeat in the election. Already, that party went to the court to stop the government's initiative to provide a `2,000 gift during Pongal, in vain. They have always been narrow-minded to government's attempts to improve the quality of the lives of the people," Mr Jayakumar added. The wreck of the World War II aircraft carrier USS Hornet has been discovered in the South Pacific, 77 years after Japanese forces sunk the ship in a fierce battle. The research vessel Petrel, owned by the estate of late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, discovered the Hornet three miles under the ocean surface off the Solomon Islands late last month. The Hornet, the last U.S. fleet carrier to be sunk by enemy fire, lost 140 hands under a relentless Japanese air bombing attack at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on October 26, 1942. As Imperial Navy surface forces closed in, all hands were ordered to abandon ship, and the Hornet was finished off by enemy torpedoes and sent to its watery grave. Scroll down for videos The Hornet is seen under heavy attack by Japanese dive bombers at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on October 26, 1942, where it later sunk Inside the online room of the R/V Petrel as the team views the USS Hornet for the first time A sonar image of USS Hornet as researchers discover the wreck in the South Pacific last month Two of the 20 mm Oerlikons located on the port quarter of USS Hornet are seen The Hornet was a Yorktown-class carrier, best known for launching the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo and participating in the Battle of Midway. 'With the loss of Hornet and serious damage to Enterprise, the Battle of Santa Cruz was a Japanese victory, but at an extremely high cost,' said Rear Admiral (Ret.) Samuel Cox, director of Naval History and Heritage Command, in a statement. 'About half the Japanese aircraft engaged were shot down by greatly improved U.S. Navy anti-aircraft defenses. Asa result, the Japanese carriers did not engage again in battle for almost another two years,' Cox said. To locate the wreck, the 10-person expedition team on the 250-foot R/V Petrel pieced together data from national and naval archives that included official deck logs and action reports from other ships engaged in the battle. Researchers charted positions and sightings from nine other U.S. warships on a chart to generate the starting point for the search grid. An Army B-25 takes off from the deck of the USS Hornet on its way to take part in the first U.S. air raid on Japan, the Doolittle Raid Major General Jimmy Doolittle (third from right) with his bombing crew and some Chinese allies are pictured here in China, after the airmen bailed out following Doolittle's Raid on Japan, on April 1, 1942 A five-inch gun on USS Hornet is seen in the first images to be captured of the sunken ship A remote submarine captured this image of the signal horn atop the tower of the USS Hornet An international harvester aircraft tug is seen on the USS Hornet in images from the Petrel The researchers discovered the wreck on the first dive mission of Petrel's autonomous underwater vehicle Video footage from a remotely operated vehicle confirmed the wreck when the Hornet's designation, CV-8, showed up on camera. 'We had Hornet on our list of WWII warships that we wanted to locate because of its place in history as an aircraft carrier that saw many pivotal moments in naval battles,' said Robert Kraft, director of subsea operations for Vulcan, the organization that operates the Petrel. 'Paul Allen was particularly interested in historically significant and capital ships, so this mission and discovery honor his legacy,' Kraft said. Images from the sunken wreck show gun turrets and other images from the deck of the carrier, as well as pieces of Allied aircraft. Planes crowd the flight deck of the USS Hornet somewhere in the Pacific B-25 flown by a Doolittle's Raider takes off from the deck of the USS Hornet in April 1942 An F4F-4 Wildcat with its wings folded is seen on the ocean floor near the Hornet wreck A five-inch gun director on USS Hornet is captured by the remote sub's cameras Damage is seen on the hull of the USS Hornet, which sustained heavy bombing A station is seen on the Hornet's deck 77 years after the carrier sank to the ocean floor Richard Nowatzki, now 95, was an 18-year-old gunner on the Hornet, and watched via remote camera link as the remote sub discovered his old station at a gun turret. 'If you go down to my locker, there's 40 bucks in it, you can have it!' he told CBS News. Nowatski recalled the terror of battle, as Japanese dive-bombers and torpedo planes relentlessly pummeled the ship. Richard Nowatzki, now 95, was an 18-year-old gunner on the Hornet when it sank Elevated view of B-25 bombers on the deck of the USS Hornet aircraft carrier, April 1942. The planes were being prepared for a Tokyo raid to be led by Major Jimmy Doolittle 'They used armor piercing bombs, now when they come down, you hear 'em going through the decks plink, plink, plink, plink and then when they explode the whole ship shakes,' he said. 'When they left, we were dead in the water,' he recalled. Though most of the ship's crew of about 2,200 survived the battle, 140 perished. 'I know I've been a very fortunate man,' said Nowatzki. 'The actual fact that you can find these ships is mind boggling to me I want to thank you for honoring me this way.' Kyle Michael Teran, 17, has been charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor and sexual exploitation of a minor for allegedly taking nude photos of a three-year-old girl A 17-year-old boy from South Carolina has been arrested on sexual exploitation charges after authorities say he was caught taking nude photos of a three-year-old girl. This is just unfathomable to think anyone could take advantage of a small child such as this, said Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell. Many crimes are heinous in nature. But this is just beyond understanding. Kyle Michael Teran, 17, of North, was apprehended on Sunday and booked into the county jail on charges of criminal sexual conduct with a minor and sexual exploitation of a minor. During a hearing on Monday, Teran was formally presented his rights while any bond consideration was deferred to a circuit court judge. According to a statement from the sheriffs office, investigators were called to home in North at 8.40am Sunday for a report of a sexual assault. A babysitter told deputies she was looking after the little girl when she fell asleep for 15-20 minutes. Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell called the allegations against the teen 'unfathomable' and 'beyond understanding' When the babysitter woke up, she said she found Teran standing over the sleeping toddler and taking photographs of her naked body. The caretaker alerted her father, who yelled at Teran, took away his cellphone and sent him to his bedroom for the night, according to an incident report obtained by the Charlotte Observer. However, the teen sneaked out of a window and fled, prompting the man to call the authorities. Teran was eventually tracked down in Lexington County and brought back to Orangeburg, where he reportedly admitted to removing the toddlers pants and taking X-rated photos of her, which he then uploaded to a pedophile website. Teran claimed he only did it to gain the trust of the other pedophiles utilizing this application, in order to assist law enforcement with prosecuting these offenders, according to the incident report. If convicted of the sexual conduct charge alone, 17-year-old Teran faces up to 15 years in prison. I was recently told a rather sad story about Prince Harrys wedding to Meghan Markle. It came from someone who knows the couple well and involved the lavish party they threw after the televised nuptials, for just 250 handpicked guests at Frogmore House near Windsor Castle. Three of Harrys closest male friends werent invited. These guys arent just casual mates, they go back a very long way with him. I was recently told how three of Prince Harry's closest friends were hurt after they were not invited to the lavish, post-ceremony wedding reception, which was full of celebrities The lack of invitation was apparently wounding enough to them. But their dismay at the snub was somewhat exacerbated when they saw who HAD got the Willy Wonka lucky tickets instead a load of celebrities like the Beckhams, Elton John, James Corden, Idris Elba, Serena Williams, Priyanka Chopra, and George and Amal Clooney. Weve been ditched for people more famous than us, they observed, ruefully. This was a sentiment shared by Meghans entire family, none of whom with the exception of her parents was invited to either the wedding or the party. In the end, Meghans father Thomas didnt make the trip for health reasons after being caught posing for paparazzi pictures, meaning her mother Doria Ragland was the ONLY member of her family in a huge guest-list of 600 people. The Markle seats in church were taken by stars like Oprah Winfrey, a somewhat mystifying spectacle for anyone who believes weddings are supposed to be about family. The Clooneys made the wedding and the after party guest list, and Markle family seats in the church were taken by stars like Oprah Winfrey I wasnt entirely surprised though given my own bizarre ghosting experience with Ms Markle that suggested to me shes a ruthless social climber. No wonder then that her family feel less than enamoured towards the newly ennobled Duchess: shes dumped them all like a sack of rancid potatoes, lest they poison her perfect new privileged royal well. I thought of this today when I read George Clooneys impassioned defence of Meghan over recent negative headlines. He attacked the media: Theyre just chasing Meghan Markle, shes being pursued and vilified. Then he directly compared her to Harrys mother, Princess Diana: She is being pursued and hunted and chased in the same way that Diana was, and its history repeating itself. He ended with a chilling warning: And weve seen how that ends. I cant tell you how frustrating it is to see that. Hmmm. On Monday George Clooney attacked the media: Theyre just chasing Meghan Markle, shes being pursued and vilified. Then he directly compared her to Harrys mother, Princess Diana: She is being pursued and hunted and chased in the same way that Diana was' There is a certain irony in Clooney saying all this just days after Meghan directed five of her best friends to speak to People magazine and knife her poor father in the back. Just as there was when Diana harangued the media for intrusion, but would repeatedly collude with newspaper journalists (I know, I was one of the people she colluded with!) to get herself positive press coverage and settle scores with people she didnt like. Clooney at least is consistent; he furiously blamed the media entirely for Dianas death. To him, there is no correlation between using the press to promote or spin your brand, and then being scrutinised by the same press, sometimes critically. To me, there is. When she met Harry, Meghan wasnt some naive young 19-year-old virgin like Diana. She was a 35-year-old divorcee with a successful acting career who knew exactly what she was doing. She landed her handsome, much younger Prince, and now enjoys the spectacularly opulent lifestyle of palaces and servants that comes with marrying into the British royal family. She has milked all the global fame and attention thats subsequently come her way with obvious glee. Meghan wasnt a naive 19-year-old virgin, but a 35-year-old divorcee with a successful career when she landed her handsome young Prince. Diana was the biggest star on the planet; Meghan isnt even in the top three stars living at Kensington Palace And honestly, if this is the life Meghans always dreamed of, then good luck to her. But there is absolutely no comparison between the amount of media attention she gets and the amount Diana experienced. Diana was the biggest star on the planet; Meghan isnt even in the top three biggest stars currently living at Kensington Palace. And Clooney is not just wrong about that. Hes also wrong to blame the media for negative headlines driven largely by Meghans own family. They are the ones vilifying her because she has disowned them all, and they understandably feel hurt about that. Meghans letter to her father, that he only disclosed this week after the People magazine cover story came out, was a template in the modern scourge of celebrity victimhood. It was all about HER feelings, HER marriage, HER life, HER pain. But what about her dads feelings - HIS life, HIS pain? Meghans letter to her father was a template in the modern scourge of celebrity victimhood. It was all about HER feelings, HER marriage, HER life, HER pain Ive interviewed Thomas Markle twice, and get the impression hes a decent guy who hasnt had a clue how to handle the enormous media scrutiny that came when his daughter married a prince. Yes, hes made mistakes, like posing for staged photos with the paparazzi, and hes admitted to them. But hes also lost his little girl, the one he helped bring up, educate, nurture and succeed. The one who posted a touching Fathers Day card on Instagram just weeks before she met Prince Harry, telling Thomas how much she loved him. Meghan can try to pin all the blame on her dad for this mess, as shes now doing, but has she really been as blameless as she would have us all believe? Its staggering to me that Harry still hasnt met the man whose daughter he married. Its staggering to me that neither Meghan nor Harry has bothered to go see Thomas, even after he suffered a heart attack. Meghan can try to pin all the blame on her dad for this mess, but has she really been as blameless as she would have us believe? Its staggering that Harry never met the man whose daughter he married Its staggering to me that Meghan thinks the way to resolve this bitter dispute is to unleash her friends to attack her dad in People magazine. And its staggering to me that George Clooney now believes its a good idea to blame the media for everything, and compare Meghan to Diana. Clooney is a smart guy. He must have sat in the church at the big wedding and secretly shared everyone elses view that it was very odd to see just one person from the brides entire family there amid a sea of celebrities. The problem here isnt the media, which has largely given Meghan a very positive ride. The problem is Meghans incredibly toxic relationship with her family that shows no sign of abating and in fact, gets worse by the day. A real friend would tell her to get on a plane with her husband, and make peace with her ailing, flailing father before its too late. But is George Clooney a REAL friend, or just another famous person Meghans latched onto at the expense of those who until recently, she professed to care about most? The biggest problem here may lie in the answer to that question. A vegetarian sommelier and his wife are accused of stalking their neighbours after they moved out over a row about 'foul' meat smells. Christoph Hons, 50, who works as a wine expert at Park Chinois in Mayfair, and his wife Sylvia, 45, deny stalking Scott Lawrence and his wife Jessica Parker between January 15 and April 29 last year. Mr Lawrence and Ms Parker moved out of their house in Twickenham, west London after their neighbours filmed them while sitting in local cafes, a court was told. The couple re-located after multiple run-ins with the Honses, who often complained about late-night parties, loud banging, drilling and dog-walking next door. But the original feud started when the defendants complained of 'foul' meat smells coming into their home. Tracing the 'rotten meat' smell to a pipe that connected the two homes, Mr Hons called the police, sparking a furious row, Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court was told. Both couples ended up filming each other with their mobile phones and Go-Pros as tensions mounted, before the Hons pair and Mr Lawrence were each issued with harassment warnings by the police. Christoph Hons, 50, (left in an undated photo) and his wife Sylvia, 45, deny stalking Scott Lawrence and his wife Jessica Parker (pictured outside court, right) in London between January 15 and April 29 last year Describing the smell, Mr Hons told the jury: 'Your home is full of this bad smell, in the curtains, in your clothes, all over the place. 'It was very intense, foul meat, rotten meat. I am quite sensitive on taste and smell, it is a big part of my job. 'We called the police every time that happened. Every time it occurred.' Eventually they installed an insulation system that got rid of the odour, but the arguments continued, the court heard. Earlier Ms Parker told the jury: 'They tried to attract our attention to film us. I'd see them out of the corner of my eye. 'I knew they didn't want us to be in the garage area, but it was useful to us. We would throw a ball to the dogs and nobody else minded. 'Eventually they got a 'No Dog Walking' sign put up there. 'We had been exercising our dogs and Mrs Hons went back home to get her moped and drove it at us for half an hour, while filming. 'My heart was pounding, but what is the best thing to do with a bully? We had been subjected to aggression, but when someone is bullying you, do you just scuttle off?' Their neighbours Scott Lawrence and Jessica Parker moved out of their house in Twickenham, west London (pictured) over the row and set up elsewhere in the capital Mrs Hons claims Ms Parker was enjoying the confrontation and 'smiling' because one of her dogs was barking at her, but the complainant says her dog was agitated by the deliberate moped revving. The defendant recorded the incident, which was played to the jury, who heard Mr Lawrence shout: 'You and your husband are freaks. We know you have eight or nine cameras.' Mrs Hons claims Jessica told the dog: 'Get her,' and the jury were shown a doorstep confrontation the defendants filmed, while pointing their phone at Mr Lawrence. He can be heard saying: 'Call the police you voyeuristic p*****. You two have done nothing but harass me for the last six months while I'm walking my dogs. 'The pair of you are f****** idiots.' Mr Hons told the jury loud weekend parties began taking place in late 2015. 'We could hear the music through the walls up until two or three am. 'I complained, but I found them quite aggressive so reported the noise to their landlord. 'The parties stopped, but then they started throwing things at the walls and there was loud banging of doors up to midnight. 'There was also six weeks of continuous drilling. You could feel the vibration through the wall. It was getting very annoying.' Describing the smell, Mr Hons (pictured with his wife Sylvia outside court as he arrived for trial) told the jury: 'Your home is full of this bad smell, in the curtains, in your clothes, all over the place. 'It was very intense, foul meat, rotten meat. I am quite sensitive on taste and smell, it is a big part of my job. 'We called the police every time that happened. Every time it occurred.' Mr Hons told the jury he and his wife reported his neighbours to Richmond-upon-Thames's Environmental Health department because of the constant noise. He denied 'laughing and abusing' his neighbours as they walked past, giving them 'the finger' and damaging one of their vehicles. Mr Hons insisted he would go out of his way to avoid confrontation in the street: 'I would go behind a bush or a car to avoid contact with Mr Lawrence. 'By that stage I was in a kind of fear and anxious about him. My cameras were to monitor and prevent an incident because I did not know how far it would go. 'He once said: 'I'm going to get you, I'm going to slap you.' He was very aggressive. 'I was shocked. We never gave him a reason to do that. I feared for the safety of myself, my wife, my house and my cat. 'It was frustrating that the police really didn't do anything to resolve this situation.' The trial continues. Ceon Broughton arriving at Winchester Crown Court this morning, where he denies manslaughter A 'dazed and vacant' rapper refused to answer questions from festival staff before admitting his dying girlfriend had taken a lethal drug overdose, a court heard today. Ceon Broughton was repeatedly quizzed and told to 'cut to the chase' when asked what he and Louella Fletcher-Michie, 24, had been doing in woodland near Bestival in Lulworth, Dorset. Winchester Crown Court heard today how event organisers 'realised [it] could be much worse than a missing girl' when the 29-year-old rapper revealed they had been taking the party drug, 2C-P. It also emerged today how Louella's father, actor John Michie, cried out 'my daughter' when he saw police running to the spot where her body had been found. Jurors heard Broughton would initially only tell the event's night manager Andrew McGrory Louella had been 'not well' and 'cold' after he went to staff asking them to help find her on the site in Lulworth, Dorset. In a log of events kept by Mr McGrory, the senior festival manager said Broughton only admitted he and Louella had been taking the class A substances together when he was finally told to 'cut to the chase'. Louella Fletcher-Michie, left, died at Bestival in September 2017. Her father, John Michie, right, outside Winchester Crown Court today Louella with mother Carol and father John on holiday. Mr Michie cried out 'my daughter' when he saw police running to the spot where her body had been found, the court was told The festival's night manager revealed in his notes as soon as the rapper told him this he realised 'this could be much worse than a missing girl'. Broughton, of Enfield, London, denies manslaughter and supplying class A drugs. Junior prosecutor Simon Jones today read a section from Mr McGrory's log to Winchester Crown Court in Hampshire. Louella died over a period of around six hours The report the festival manager had kept throughout the night of September 10, 2017 detailed what happened after Louella was reported missing. Mr Jones said: 'At 12.35am, you say met boyfriend Ceon. He was dazed and vacant and appeared to be under the influence but not really agitated. 'I asked where he had last seen his girlfriend and he said in the woods. I asked what they were doing and got no response. Then he volunteered she was not well. 'I asked him if she was okay and got no response, I asked if she was breathing, he said yes. He said she was cold and he had given her his coat. 'I said cut to the chase and asked had they taken drugs. He said they had taken 2C-P. I realised this could be much worse than a missing girl'.' The court also heard today Holby City star Mr Michie, 62, who has been watching the trial from the public gallery with his family, cried out 'my daughter' as he saw police rushing to the location where her body had been found. A court today heard Louella's ex-boyfriend, Ceon Broughton, pictured with Louella above, gave her a 'bumped up' dose of the class A substance and 'failed to act' for six hours Louella's father John Michie told the court: 'I think Louella loved Ceon, but I'm not sure he loved her. I don't know how you can say love someone who you left to die in front of you' Officers discovered Louella's iPhone 'trodden' into mud, with a cracked screen. Giving evidence, PC Christopher Harrison said: 'On route to the scene, we saw the father of the deceased. He called out to us but the security staff tried to dismiss him because we were going to an emergency. 'He called out 'my daughter', and I said to him that was where we were going. When we got there she was on her back. She had a lot of bramble marks all over her hands. 'I found [Louella's] phone on the floor with a cracked screen but it had no battery life. It was sort of towards her feet, in the mud. I think it might have been trodden on.' Mr Michie, who has starred in Coronation Street, Taggart and Holby City, today gave evidence at Winchester Crown Court. He is pictured here with his daughter Louella on the beach in Spain 'after yet another ankle sprain', in August 2017, just days before she died The Holby City star cried out as he saw police rushing to the location where her body had been found The court heard that when police asked Broughton why a hallucinating Louella had shouted 'call my mum, I have had enough of this s**t' he dismissed it as her struggling with 'family issues'. The rapper told an officer he and his girlfriend had bought the 2C-P he is alleged to have supplied her, before going off into the woods because they were 'people of nature'. He said Louella had then gone 'mental' and had to be restrained as she tried to 'eat twigs' and rubbed thorns across her face. PC David Thompson, who took the first statement from Broughton after Louella's body was found, told the court when Carol Fletcher-Michie saw her daughter's boyfriend she started shouting at him. The officer told jurors Broughton shouted back: 'I kept looking for her.' The trial continues tomorrow. The trial continues. A Government minister warned Sir Philip Green (file image) was not 'worthy' of his Knighthood today amid mounting pressure for him to stripped of the honour A Government minister warned Sir Philip Green was not 'worthy' of his Knighthood today amid mounting pressure for him to stripped of the honour. Margot James said revelations about Sir Philip - made public after he dropped an attempt to silence newspaper reports about him - meant the 'forfeiture of his Knighthood must be a real possibility'. The Culture Minister said the Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) used to suppress allegations by former employees 'sounds like a cover for gross misconduct'. Sir Philip is accused of groping a female executive and making a racial slur at an employee. Five former employees signed NDAs and Sir Philip sought a court injunction against the Daily Telegraph to keep them confidential. Sir Philip strenuously denies the allegations and all unlawful conduct. Ms James told the Standard: 'I feel he is not worthy of a knighthood. 'The way he's tried to silence the Daily Telegraph and pay people off instead of being held to account sounds like a cover for gross misconduct. 'That, on top of the pensions debacle and sale of BHS, all adds up to a situation where I imagine the forfeiture of his knighthood must be a real possibility.' Yesterday, it emerged Labour MP Peter Kyle has written to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick asking for officers to investigate claims made by former members of staff against the billionaire Topshop tycoon. The letter detailed allegations previously published by the newspaper that Sir Philip groped a female executive and bought her silence with more than 1million. It also reported an allegation that Sir Philip referred to a black employee 'throwing spears in the jungle' while drawing attention to his dreadlocks. Mr Kyle, the Labour MP for Hove who sits on the business, energy and industrial strategy committee, wrote to Scotland Yard saying 'it is clear that some of his behaviour warrants criminal investigation'. Margot James (file image) said revelations about Sir Philip - made public after he dropped an attempt to silence newspaper reports about him - meant the 'forfeiture of his Knighthood must be a real possibility' 'Sir Philip Green is accused of monstrous acts which must have inflicted unimaginable fear into his subordinates, particularly women and people belonging to minority groups, who seem to have attracted the most vicious of his alleged attacks,' the letter continued. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss called for a change in NDA laws to prevent their abuse. 'I do think it is disgraceful that he (Sir Philip) has been able to use non-disclosure agreements to effectively silence victims of sexual and racial abuse,' she told Sky's Ridge On Sunday. 'I think we need to look seriously at those non-disclosure agreements and get changes to them because I think it's completely wrong that people like Philip Green have been able to flout the law.' The publication fought a long legal battle to report the allegations, after being banned by a court injunction sought when Sir Philip and an executive at his Arcadia firm were contacted for comment in July. Sir Philip's lawyers told the newspaper: 'It is further denied that any of Sir Philip's conduct towards employees amounted to any type of crime, or anything that would amount to gross misconduct, or a serious risk to health and safety. A lion dance performance in central China ended in tragedy when one of the dancers plunged six metres (19 feet) from an elevated platform. At least two performers were doing a lion dance routine on a small platform balanced by a ladder in front of a crowd on Monday in Dengfeng, Henan province when one of the dancers lost his balance and fell. The man, who was knocked unconscious, was immediately taken to hospital with injuries to his head, according to Chinese media. At least two performers were doing a lion dance on a small platform balanced by a ladder on Monday in Dengfeng, Henan province when one of the dancers lost his balance and fell Video footage of the horrifying incident shows the dancer performing the lion's head slipping and falling backwards off the small platform that was elevated by a lorry and several ladders. A witness told video news site Pear that the dancers were performing a challenging routine when the accident happened. 'The audience were so shocked. Several small children even started crying,' the man said. Video footage of the horrifying incident shows the dancer performing the lion's head slipping and falling backwards off the small platform that was elevated by a lorry and several ladders 'The dancer passed out from the fall and was bleeding from his head,' a witness said The lion dance, meant to bring viewers good luck and fortune, is a form of traditional dance in Chinese culture in which performers mimic a lion's movements in a costume 'The dancer passed out from the fall and was bleeding from his head,' he added. The incident remains under investigation, according to Henan Television. The performance on Monday coincided with the country's celebration of the Lunar New Year. The lion dance, meant to bring viewers good luck and fortune, is a form of traditional dance in Chinese culture in which performers mimic a lion's movements in a costume. The lion dance is usually performed on big occasions, such as the Lunar New Year. A German kindergarten run by Muslim parents has been shut down over its alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood and extremist ideology. The Al-Nur kindergarten in Mainz, western Germany, will have to shut its doors by March 31 after losing its licence to operate. The mosque which runs the kindergarten was accused of hosting extremist preachers and distributing dangerous materials. The kindergarten's leadership has hit back at the decision, calling it a 'mystery', SWR reported. The Al-Nur kindergarten (pictured) in Mainz, western Germany, has been ordered to shut its doors over alleged links to extremist ideology The state of Rheinland-Pfalz has now declared the Arab Nile-Rhine mosque to be 'no longer grounded in the German constitution' and ordered it to shut the kindergarten. Concerns about the mosque were first raised in 2012 when Muhammad al-Arifi, a controversial preacher banned from Britain, Denmark and Switzerland, spoke at the Islamic centre. In 2015 the mosque was accused of distributing written materials considered 'dangerous to young people'. Last October it was claimed the centre was working with traditionalist lecturer Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, who runs an Islamic online university and has also been banned from several countries. The 22 children currently at the kindergarten will be offered places elsewhere in the city. Announcing the decision, state official Detlef Placzek said: 'The only Muslim kindergarten in the state has to close. Concerns about the mosque were first raised in 2012 when Muhammad al-Arifi (pictured), a controversial preacher banned from Britain, Denmark and Switzerland, spoke there 'I regret that the licence is no longer valid - it's a step that's been properly legally considered but is now undoubtedly necessary. 'The association represents parts of Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist ideology and therefore is no longer rooted in the German constitution.' Responding to the announcement, head of the Muslim association Samy El Hagrasy called it a 'mystery' and insisted the group did adhere to the constitution. Responding last year when some of the claims emerged, parents at the mosque said in a statement: 'We're being judged based on reports from years ago. 'We don't accept that we and our children should be labelled as Salafists and extremists. 'We are a parents' initiative with a pedagogic background and reject every form of extremism.' A taxi driver's son has become the first in his family to go to university after winning an unconditional offer to Harvard. Yousuf Bakshi, 17, is also the first student from his school in a deprived area of Cardiff to get into the world-famous university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Year 13 pupil, who will study computer science and politics, said he was 'over the moon' after dreaming of going to university in the US since early in high school. Taxi driver's son Yousuf Bakshi, 17, is 'over the moon' after getting into Harvard University Yousuf is a student at Fitzalan High School, which is rated excellent by the Welsh education watchdog Estyn and got its first pupil into Oxbridge five years ago. He said: 'It feels like a dream come true. I had the US flag stuck to my bedroom wall for years and when I was in year nine I told my teachers I wanted to study there.' Yousuf, who got 13 A* GCSES at Fitzalan, asked his family not to watch when he logged on to his computer at midnight when the result of his application came in. He was concerned that he had not got in - but his mother Runa, herself a former pupil at Fitzalan High School, ignored him and captured his joy on her phone. The video shows Yousuf yelling 'I got in, I got in' as he jumps around the room - congratulated by tax consultant Runa, 40, and his father Nahed, 44, a taxi driver. Yousuf (left), with his father Nahed (back), mother Runa (right) and brother Isaac (front) The boy lives with his parents and 13-year-old brother Isaac in a 320,000 detached house on a modern estate in Cardiff. Yousuf, who starts at Harvard in August, said: 'I am the first person in my family to go to university. My mum went to Fitzalan and my dad went to Cardiff High. 'My mum is so happy to see how much the school has changed. My parents are overwhelmed and bursting with joy because they know this is what I wanted. 'But every day my mum says, 'you will Skype me every day won't you?' I told my mum I wanted to log into the portal to see if I'd got in by myself. 'But she secretly recorded me. I just saw the word 'congratulations' on the screen and couldn't believe what I was seeing.' The Fitzalan head boy, who wants a career in politics or technology, said the way university works in the US made him want to study there. At the Ivy League institution of Harvard, he can change what areas he studies and majors in, if different topics fire his interest during the course. Yousuf said the application process was gruelling and took a lot of work from his teachers. The Fitzalan head boy said the way university works in the US made him want to study there He added that it only happened thanks to the Sutton Trust and Wales' Seren Network programme which encourages top performing students to apply to the best universities. Through the Sutton Trust and Seren, Yousuf attended two summer schools in the US - one at Yale and one at a number of universities, including Harvard. Fitzalan assistant headteacher Jo Kemp also went to London for training to help the school's students apply to university in the US. Applications there depend far more on extra curricular activities as well as academic achievement, she said. The pupil said he had dreamed of going to university in the US since early in high school Around 60 per cent of Fitzalan High's pupils live in the 20 per cent most deprived areas of Wales - with 33 per cent eligible for free school meals, well above the 17 per cent national average. Yousuf said: 'Going to an American university has been a massive dream and now it's come true and actually happened. Doors are open. 'After my GCSEs, through the Seren Network I met a Yale alumni so applied to the Yale summer school through Seren and went out there last June. 'Then I went on a Sutton Trust programme for a week to the US last July going to Harvard, Brown, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Amherst. 'On the Sutton Trust programme they suggest you apply to these universities because you get 100 per cent needs based financial help.' Yousuf has an unconditional offer, meaning it doesn't matter what grades he gets in A levels maths, chemistry and computer science this summer. But he is still working hard and hopes he will inspire other pupils at the school including his own younger brother Isaac, 13, who also wants to study in the US. Ms Kemp said: 'For the last few years we have really looked at our high achievers. We are proud Yousuf has got into Harvard. The application process was quite extensive and we were desperate to get it right. 'In the USA universities want to know how you would help your community and look at your personality and extra curricular activities. 'The interview itself was a chat but the application included writing a story about your life. They want to know how you think and who you are and want teacher recommendations.' He will start in August at the Ivy League institution of Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts Famous ex-students of Harvard include former US presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush, John F Kennedy, FD Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt, as well as Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Yousuf's success comes five years after Fitzalan got its first ever pupil into Oxbridge when Mohamed Eghielieb won a place to read medicine at Oxford in 2014. Yousuf is among just 47 students from Britain accepted at US universities after taking part in the Sutton Trust US Programme, which is run in partnership with the US-UK Fulbright Commission. Of the 47 students accepted, more than half come from households earning less than 25,000 a year. The Sutton Trust US programme aims to encourage British state school pupils from low and moderate income homes to consider studying in the US. Andrew Michael, from Cheltenham, (pictured on November 18, 2018) set up a website business offering email and web services to companies for an A-Level project in 1997 A web entrepreneur has revealed how he stole 30,000 from his mother's credit card to create his first business aged 17 - the first step in the road to creating a 150million fortune. Andrew Michael, from Cheltenham, set up a website business offering email and web services to companies with his friend for their A-level project in 1997 - but needed fibre optic broadband to expand it. Back then this required paying for excavations to lay the cables, which Mr Michael did over the phone without his mother's knowledge - gambling that his future takings would be enough to cover the credit card bill. Thankfully it worked, and Mr Michael and his business partner Alex Wilding were soon cashing in. 'By the end of the month we had enough clients and money to pay for the internet line and the advertising,' Mr Michael told the BBC's The Boss. He insists his mother forgave him - although it is not clear exactly when she found out. Mr Michael attended St Edward's, a 8,270-per-year independent school that also has places for boarders, from 1990 to 1991. After leaving, he decided to skip university to focus on growing Fasthosts. Five years later it because a market leader in web hosting, Internet services for businesses and was listed as the second-fastest growing technology firm in the country. Mr Michael paid 30,000 with his mother's credit card, but the gamble paid off and Fasthosts was soon booming. He is seen with Richard Branson (left) and posing with a helicopter One Facebook photo shows Mr Michael beside a small plane in flying gear and riding on a flowrider - an artificial surfing machine Mr Michael standing alongside a small aeroplane in what appears to be flying gear The entrepreneur has a Facebook account, and earlier this month showed himself with two dogs his mother was trying to sell. He is pictured on February 1 (left) and December 24 2018 In 2006, aged 26, Mr Michael sold it for a whopping 61.5m, pocketing 46m from his 75% share. But he did not rest on his laurels, and in 2008 founded a cloud storage company called Livedrive, which grew to become the largest cloud storage and backup company in Europe. In 2014, he sold it for an undisclosed amount, thought to be in the tens of millions. Spurred on by his success, the entrepreneur regularly made the headlines for his lavish Christmas parties, which reportedly saw the likes of Sugarbabes, Girls Aloud and The Darkness in attendance. The self-confessed party animal also paid for Usher to sing at his girlfriend's birthday. Mr Michael was born in Cyprus and raised in Cheltenham where he still lives with his wife, Carolyne. They share a young girl and appear to have several dogs. The entrepreneur has posted numerous photos of his pets on Facebook, along with others showing him shopping and going on climbing expeditions with friends. He is also pictured standing beside a small plane in flying gear and riding on a flowrider - an artificial surfing machine. Earlier this month, he shared a picture showing him with two puppies, saying they were on sale as his mother could no longer keep them. Unsurprisingly, Mr Michael is a ferocious worker, and worked other jobs even as a schoolboy setting up Fastshosts. That includes selling advertising for Carfinder magazine, which allows members of the public to feature their cars for sale. Spurred on by his success, the entrepreneur regularly made the headlines for his lavish Christmas parties, which reportedly saw the likes of Girls Aloud in attendance. They are pictured in London on September 28, 2003 The self-confessed party animal also paid for Usher (seen at an LA gig on September 25 last year) to sing at his girlfriend's birthday Mr Michael also once invited The Darkness to a work Christmas party. The band are seen performing in Los Angeles on October 10, 2015 Mr Michael pictured in Facebook photos on February 11 (left) and September 27 last year The entrepreneur credits his father for passing on his strong business acumen. 'My father came over from Cyprus, and was very much a small business man,' he says,' he said. 'Like many Cypriots, he opened up fish and chip shops and cafes, and so some of my childhood was spent driving around those sites, collecting takings, and discussing business ideas.' Mr Michael's started his latest venture in April 2013. Bark.com is a platform for people to book local professionals such as music teachers and personal trainers. It now has 30 employees and more than 20million users worldwide. He advises other early-stage businesses as an investor with AM Share Trust, a role he has held from January 2007. Smt Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is now on Twitter. You may follow her at @priyankagandhi, a tweet from the Congress' official Twitter handle said. New Delhi: On the day of her maiden visit to Uttar Pradesh as an AICC general secretary, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday joined microblogging website Twitter and garnered a massive response, with her handle, @priyankagandhi, attracting 1.26 lakh followers on the social media platform within 10 hours. Smt Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is now on Twitter. You may follow her at @priyankagandhi, a tweet from the Congress' official Twitter handle said. The leader didn't post a tweet but followed seven people, including her brother and party chief Rahul Gandhi as well as party leaders Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, Ashok Gehlot Randeep Singh Surjewala, Ahmed Patel and the Congress's official account. The Gandhi family scion was also trending on Twitter for the most part of the day. Over 45,000 people followed her within hours of her joining the microblogging site. Priyanka Gandhi (47) and Scindia (48) took charge as AICC general secretary UP east and UP west respectively last week. The Congress seems to have learnt its lessons from 2014 and has been scaling up its operations on social media platforms to challenge the BJP on a front which has been the saffron party's forte. Mr Gandhi has also been using Twitter for his attacks on the government and analysts credit his aggressive social media campaign for the turnaround of his image among the people. An FBI employee who texted with her in-house lover about blocking Donald Trump's presidential ambitions wrote in 2016 of a 'quid pro quo' with the State Department to hide the fact that an email found on Hillary Clinton's home-brew email server was considered classified. Lisa Page fretted in the closing days of the presidential campaign about a pending Freedom of Information Act disclosure of a discussion between top State and Justice Department officials about the potential trade. Under the arrangement, the State Department would have given the FBI more legal attaches for its overseas division in exchange for altering the basis for keeping one of the Clinton emails from the public. At the time, the email in question was exempt from FOIA requests because it was classified a fact that was ultimately made public. The FBI had asked the State Department to 'change the basis of the FOIA withhold [decision] ... from classified to something else.' Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page warned her colleagues in late 2016 about a potentially embarrassing deal proposal that would have seen the State Department give the Bureau more liaison staff in exchange for changing the reason a classified Hillary Clinton email was withheld from the public Page wrote to her colleagues less than a month before the 2016 election, including her then-lover Peter Strzok Hillary Clinton, the the Democratic nominee for president, was in the middle of a pre-election scandal over classified material found on a home-brew private email server she used exclusively as secretary of state The plot was never consummated. But Page, an FBI lawyer, was worried enough about it at the time to alert her colleagues that other employees had told investigators about it. One of those colleagues was Peter Strzok, the married FBI agent she was having an affair with. 'Jason Herring will be providing you with three 302s [witness interview reports] of current and former FBI employees who were interviewed during the course of the Clinton investigation,' Page warned. 'These 302s are scheduled to be released to Congress in an unredacted form at the end of the week, and produced (with redactions) pursuant to FOIA at the beginning of next week.' 'As you will see, they describe a discussion about potential quid pro quo arrangement between then-DAD in IOD [deputy assistant director in the FBI's International Operations Division] and an Undersecretary at the State Department whereby IOD would get more LEGAT [legal attache] positions if the FBI could change the basis of the FOIA withhold re a Clinton email from classified to something else.' The email came to light on Monday as part of a raft of material released by Judicial Watch, a conservative government transparency group whose standard practice is to sue government agencies that slow-walk the disclosure of public records. Page and Strzok became poster children in 2017 for conservatives' claims that the Burean was biased against Trump and took actions to tilt the election in Clinton's favor despite the national security threats posed by classified material found on her unsecured private email server. Strzok was an FBI agent tasked to Robert Mueller's Russia probe until he was let go following public exposure of his texts with Page, in which they chatted about keeping Trump from winning the White House Page was an attorney for the FBI at the time she wrote the 2016 emails Clinton ultimately lost the presidency amid Trump campaign-trail cries to 'lock her up' over the national security breach posed by housing classified documents on an unsecured private server in the basement of her upstate New York house Text messages between the pair, both of whom worked on Special Counsel Robert Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, have given Republicans ample fodder to question the ongoing investigation. Strzok was a respected, veteran counterintelligence agent who helped lead the 2016 probe into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. That operation ultimately cleared her despite the presence of classified material among her messages and a conclusion that some of that material was accessed by foreign agents. Strzok was removed from the Russia probe in the summer of 2017 after the Justice Department found out about the texts. The furtive messages between him and Page included observations about the 2016 election and criticism of Trump using words like 'idiot,' 'loathsome,' 'menace' and 'disaster.' In one August 2016 exchange, Page wrote Strzok: '(Trump's) not ever going to become president, right? Right?!' Strzok responded: 'No. No he won't. We'll stop it.' The couple also discussed an unnamed 'insurance policy' against Trump's White House ambitions. A DOJ inspector general report released Thursday found that exchange 'is not only indicative of a biased state of mind but, even more seriously, implies a willingness to take official action to impact the presidential candidate's electoral prospects. This is antithetical to the core values of the FBI and the Department of Justice.' China is building technologies that will soon threaten US dominance in space, warned the Pentagon's lead intelligence agency. China is developing sophisticated space capabilities such as 'satellite inspection and repair' and debris clean-up - 'at least some of which could also function' as weapons against US satellites, according to the Defense Intelligence Agency in a report published on Monday. The increase in orbiting garbage has spurred the development of space debris removal technology - but the agency warns that such technology is 'dual-use because it could be used to damage another satellite'. A computer-generated image of objects in Earth orbit that are currently being tracked. The US Defense Intelligence Agency warned in a report published on Monday that China's space debris clean-up plan could be a cover to develop arms against US satellites The report, titled 'Challenges to Security in Space,' examines Chinese, Russian, Iranian and North Korean space capabilities. In particular, China and Russia are 'developing a variety of means to exploit perceived US reliance on space-based systems and challenge the US position in space,' the defense agency said. China likely will field a ground-based laser weapon that can counter low-orbit space-based sensors by 2020, and by the mid-to-late 2020s, it may field higher power systems that extend the threat to the structures of non-optical satellites, the agency warned. It adds that China 'possibly already has a limited capability to employ laser systems against satellite sensors.' China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said the US allegations were 'groundless', as cited by Bloomberg. A handout image issued by the University of Southampton shows space debris in lower Earth orbit. Of about the 21,000 large space objects that are least 10 centimeters (4 inches) in size, only about 1,800 are active satellites, according to the US defense agency 'We are aware that the US Defence Intelligence Agency has made reckless comments about China's space development. These are totally groundless,' spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a news briefing in Beijing on Tuesday. 'China has long advocated the peaceful use of outer space and opposes militarisation and an arms race in space,' Hua said, adding that if the US was serious about space security, then it should work with China to control arms development. Of about the 21,000 large space objects that are least 10 centimeters (4 inches) in size, only about 1,800 are active satellites. The rest is debris, including parts of spacecraft, according to the agency. The large objects are tracked and cataloged in Earth's orbit. China is second only to the United States in the number of operational satellites, the report added. US satellites play a critical role in navigation, weapons targeting and intelligence gathering, including keeping tabs on North Korea's nuclear weapons program and monitoring Russian and Chinese military activity. They also house sensors involved in detecting enemy missile launches, according to the CNN. According to Bloomberg, more than a third of all recorded debris is from two events: China's use of a missile in 2007 to destroy a defunct satellite and the accidental collision between a US communications satellite and a defunct Russian one in 2009. The Chinese government has been increasingly stepping up its space program, becoming the first nation to land a probe on the far side of the moon in January. The country is planning to land its first probe on Mars with the aim of sending a manned mission in the following years. Lebanese prosecutors have requested a death sentence against two Syrian men accused of the November murder of a British radio host. The pair, both in their twenties, were charged with the premeditated murder of Gavin Ford, a British national who had been a popular radio host in Lebanon for years. According to the Lebanese security forces, the two men have confessed to killing 53-year-old Ford. A Lebanese prosecutor is seeking the death penalty for the two men accused of the brutal murder of British radio presenter Gavin Ford (pictured) British radio host Gavin Ford's body was discovered at his apartment in the suburbs of Beirut They were detained in November in the Bekaa Valley area of eastern Lebanon. Ford was found bludgeoned and choked to death at his luxury home in the town of Broummana, east of the capital Beirut on Monday November 26. He had celebrated his 53rd birthday the previous night, uploading a video of himself inside his apartment along with two other men to social media. On Monday morning he then went to record his usual radio broadcast, which is Lebanon's most listened to drivetime show, before returning home. The two men who confessed to his murder said they arrived at his home on Monday afternoon intending to rob him. The suspects - identified by their initials as Aa.A. and H.B. and who are aged 27 and 23 - admitted strangling Ford and hitting him over the head with a sharp object. They then fled Ford's home using his stolen BMW and having taken his iPhone. Two Syrian men - identified only as Aa.A. and H.B., reportedly confessed to killing Mr Ford during a botched robbery They parked the car close to a busy market on the outskirts of Beirut and hid his phone and car keys at one of their homes. The suspects said: 'We went to the victim's [Gavin Ford] house on Monday afternoon on 26 November to commit a robbery. 'We choked him to death and hit him with a sharp object, knocking him unconscious. We left the area in his car.' Police body was discovered next to a four-poster bed after entering the apartment around 11.15pm that night. Colleagues at Beirut's Radio One had raised the alarm when Ford failed to turn up for work that morning. The prosecutor's request for the death penalty comes after Ford's step-mother said she would like to 'string up' his killers, who struck the day after the DJ's 53rd birthday. Tissy Ford, 77, told MailOnline: 'We don't know if it was random or whether these two knew who Gavin was. 'If it was up to me, I'd string them up.' Tissy and retired hairdresser Bob Ford, 79, live in Gloucester. They said they only learned of their son's death when they got a text from a friend which said 'condolences, so sad about Gavin.' His lifeless and bloodied body was discovered next to a four-poster bed after police arrived at the apartment 'The perfect way to spend a rainy Saturday': Gavin Ford last posted on his Instagram three days before he was found dead Tissy said: 'At that point we didn't understand the text which came from a friend in Australia. 'But minutes later Gavin's sister burst in looking like death and said: "Gavin's dead". The elite Information Divison unit of Lebanon's Internal Security Force, which is investigating the murder, issued a lengthy statement following the men's confession. It also released photographs of the suspects, but taken from behind. The statement said: 'Gavin Ford was found dead and tied up in the town of Broummana. Through examination of the body it was found that the cause of death was suffocation and him being beaten on the face with a sharp object. 'Within a few hours of the crime the Information Division of the Internal Security Force found the victim's car which had been stolen at the time of the crime. It was found outside the Sunday Market area, on the outskirts of Beirut. Friends and neighbours in the picturesque leafy mountain village of Broumana where Ford lived say he will be greatly missed 'As a result of investigations a Syrian man became a suspect. He is identified in this statement as Syrian, Aa. A born in 1991. 'On the 28 November following investigations the ID was able to arrest the suspect in the Beirut district Nabaa, where the suspect lives. 'During interrogation the suspect confessed to murder Gavin Ford in conjunction with a Syrian identified as H.B. born in 1995. Aa.A claimed he did not know where H.B. was. 'In less than five hours the second suspect was located and arrested in the Jnah area of southern Beirut. He also confessed to carrying out the crime. 'They said they went to the victim's house on Monday afternoon on 26 November to commit a robbery. 'The perpetrators of the crime are not the two people who featured in a video published by the victim in the hours before his death.' Neighbours at the time spoke of their shock that such a grisly murder had taken place in the luxury mountain enclave. 'This is just so horrible,' one told MailOnline. 'To live here when such as terrible thing has happened is so shocking.' Another neighbour told how Ford had lived in the apartment, which has a huge balcony with a view over the Mediterranean Sea for the past 15 years. She said: 'Gavin was a lovely guy, quiet and friendly. 'He left early in the morning for work but he was not trouble. There was never any noise or problems.' One middle-aged woman said she saw Ford arrive home at around 10.30am on the day he was murdered. She said it was 'the normal time he came back from the radio station.' She also claimed that she saw him walk from the car park where he left his black BMW and he was alone at the time. The police report confirms officers arrived at Ford's apartment at 11.15pm that night. One of the neighbours claimed officers hadn't needed to break down the front door before entering to find Ford face down in a pool of blood. A team of more than 20 officers arrived at the scene, including a pathologist and a doctor who specialises in crime scenes. The police report confirmed Ford was strangled and his body was found with his hands bound behind his back and his ankles also tied together. His body which was covered in bruises, according to the report was also covered with what appeared to be a curtain. Abdo Kahale, the director of Radio One, described Ford as a 'super guy' and a 'gentleman.' 'I can't replace Gavin. He was really a legend for 15 years and we'll truly miss him,' he said. A former colleague who knew Ford well for two decades added: 'He was just so incredibly gentle and kind and that's how I and many others will remember him, and also a little gullible. That was Gavin. Just too kind. 'He often would give up his time unpaid to help university students or chair panels for the Lebanese, people he loved, for a country he felt at home in. He's going to be really missed.' British Ambassador to Lebanon Chris Ramply said: 'I am shocked and deeply saddened by the death of Gavin Ford, one of Lebanon's most popular morning breakfast hosts. 'The thoughts of all at the Embassy are with his family, friends and colleagues at this terribly difficult time.' Beirut's Radio One paid tribute to the British presenter who had become part of city's fabric through his 20-year career in Lebanon. In a statement the radio statement said: 'We are heart-broken to announce the passing of our dear friend Gavin Ford, a member of our team for many joyful years. 'We extend our deepest sympathies to his family, friends and colleagues all over the world. 'Rest In Peace Gavin.' The producer of his show, Gavin In The Morning, Olga Habre, added in a FaceBook post: 'Yes it's true and I'm heart-broken. #ripgavinford.' Ford was buried in Lebanon. A former Kentucky Fried Chicken employee has won $1.5million in damages after she sued the fast food chain for gender discrimination, saying it was made impossible for her to pump breast milk during her shifts. On Friday a jury entered a verdict in favor of Autumn Lampkins, of Dover, Delaware, awarding her $25,000 in compensatory damages and $1.5million in punitive damages. Lampkins, 27, was hired by KFC a few months after giving birth to her son in 2014. She was allegedly told breastfeeding wouldn't be a problem at work. On Friday Delaware mother Autumn Lampkins, 27, won a lawsuit against KFC alleging the chain made it impossible for her to pump her breast milk during work. She won $25,000 in compensatory damages, $1.5million in punitive damages She claimed that her co-workers and supervisors only allowed her to pump once during a 10-hour shift, instead of once every two hours, and she had no privacy as she was asked to pump in a room with a surveillance camera that couldn't be turned off She claimed that co-workers and supervisors at KFC and KFC/Taco Bell restaurants in Kent County made it so difficult for her to pump breast milk during her shifts that her supply dried up, according to the Delaware News Journal. She said she was only allowed to pump once a 10-hour shift, instead of the once every two hours as recommended. Lampkins pumped in a single-stall bathroom then was asked to pump in the manager's office, but there was a surveillance camera in there that she was told could not be turned off, the lawsuit said. She claimed that she wasn't regularly able to pump at work and when she could, she rarely had any privacy because of the windows and surveillance cameras in the restaurant, according to the lawsuit. She was hired by KFC a few months after giving birth to her son in 2014 and was allegedly told breastfeeding wouldn't be a problem at work She worked at two KFC locations in Dover, Delaware where she claimed she suffered gender discrimination and harassment for trying to pump her breast milk She was hired and trained at one KFC in Dover then was transferred to another where she was demoted and said her co-workers tried to subordinate her, complaining that she got 'breaks' to pump her breast milk. As a result of not being free to pump as much as she wanted, Lampkins alleged she suffered physical pain and was forced to move her baby on to formula earlier than planned. She sued for gender discrimination and harassment experienced at two of the Delaware KFC restaurants she worked at. 'It's a great day for women's rights. The jury sent a message that employers cannnot treat lactating women differently in the workplace,' Lampkins' attorney Patrick Gallagher said. However, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, there's a limit on compensatory and punitive damages against employers with a cap of $300,000, as per the Journal. Ashanti Jordan was struck by a car in Fort Lauderdale on December 28 A 27-year-old Florida woman has been in a vegetative state for six weeks after she was hit by a car while riding a Lime rental scooter. Ashanti Jordan was struck by a car in Fort Lauderdale on December 28 near Broward Health Medical Center, where she worked in security. She now lays, unconscious, in the same center's intensive care unit. 'She's not doing good. It's heartbreaking to see her in these conditions. We're praying for her, hoping that the situation gets better over time,' her mother, Tracy Jordan, said to the Sun Sentinel. Ashanti, the oldest of five children and a graduate of Plantation High school, suffered a fractured skull, a severe brain injury and multiple broken ribs. She has also had a portion of her skull removed. 'I just want this nightmare to really be over with, but I understand it's a long process, so I'm trying to be patient and I'm leaning on hope,' Tracy added. Her family asserts, however, that scooter companies need to do their due diligence in clarifying where users can ride their scooters. Tracy stated: 'I just can't even stand to see those scooters. It's so traumatizing at this moment. It's like every time I see someone on the scooter, it's like they don't understand the danger behind driving these scooters.' Ashanti, the oldest of five children and a graduate of Plantation High school, suffered a fractured skull, a severe brain injury and multiple broken ribs. She has also had a portion of her skull removed Courtesy of WPLG Four scooter companies operate in the Fort Lauderdale area; Gotcha, Bird, Lime and Bolt. Since they first launched in November, approximately 4,000 people use the scooters on a weekly basis. Last week, city commissioners listened to complaints from residents but decided to let the scooters stay in use. Ashanti's family partially blames Lime and the company's policy that customers not ride on the sidewalk Scooter riders are regulated to sidewalks in the city, but the Jordan's lawyer asserts that Lime actually tells its customers the opposite. Lime's app tells riders not to ride sidewalks at least three times, according to attorney Todd Falzone. The lawyer also said that the company has writing on their scooters instructing customers not to use them on the sidewalk. 'Lime is telling these riders to break the law. They're telling them don't ride on the sidewalks and then, as a result, these poor folks are in the middle of traffic. They're riding down the roads,' said Falzone on Monday. In a statement, Lime said that 'our thoughts remain with Ms. Jordan and her family' but would not elaborate on where customers could ride. At the time of Ashanti's incident, city officials said that customers could ride their scooters in 'streets, parks, sidewalks, etc.' But on January 17, City Attorney Alain Boileau instructed commissioners that the only acceptable place for users to ride was on sidewalks. 'The language on the scooters is legally incorrect and something that obviously creates confusion and misinformation as it pertains to their use in Fort Lauderdale,' Boileau said in a statement. 'The language will have to change and this is just one of the issues that will be addressed with the scooter companies.' Ashanti works at the Broward Health Medical Center as a security worker Falzone said that traffic homicide detectives did investigate the scene, upon seeing the nature of Ashanti's injuries, but no charges have been filed against the car's driver. Under Florida law, scooters can not be user on the streets, in bike lanes or even on paths. State law also says that scooters can't be used on the sidewalk but that is also up to the discretion of individual cities. While many cities have blocked the scooters altogether, Fort Lauderdale allowed the companies to rent up to 1,700 scooters in the city. The lawyer is asking residents to call their legislators to speak out against a proposal that would allow scooters in traffic. Under Florida law, scooters can not be user on the streets, in bike lanes or even on paths. State law also says that scooters can't be used on the sidewalk but that is also up to the discretion of individual cities But commissioners in the city are worried about the speed of the scooters - they can go up to 15mph - and how that translates on sidewalks where pedestrians walk. According to Fort Lauderdale fire-rescue officials, there have been about 35 scooter injuries that they have had to respond to. They involved people ages 14 ro 62 and their were four that fell under the 'Level 1' trauma category. And the possibility of injury is something that Tracy Jordan hopes persuades other to distance themselves from the scooters. 'I just want everybody in the community to understand this is dangerous and this is wrong,' Tracy said. 'These things can ultimately end your life.' Chicago PD says Jussie Smollett gave investigators 'insufficient' cell phone data to prove that he was on the phone with his manager when he was attacked last month The Chicago Police Department has claimed that the records supplied to them by Jussie Smollett to prove he was on the phone with his manager when he was attacked are heavily redacted and insufficient as evidence of the call. In the latest development in a series of back-and-forths between the Empire star and the authorities, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said on Monday that Smollett, 36, had not given enough proof that he was talking to Brandon Z. Moore when he was jumped on January 29. 'We continue to investigate but the records are insufficient to corroborate some of the information. 'We appreciate the cooperation but will be following up for some additional data,' Guglielmi told DailyMail.com. TMZ reports that Smollett gave a redacted, PDF print-out of a bill but police would not confirm that detail on Tuesday morning. They also would not confirm whether or not they planned to ask the cell phone company for the records they say he is withholding. It comes a day after Smollett's representative hit out at the department for revealing that he had not, until yesterday morning, handed over any phone records to support his story. Any redacted information was intended to protect the privacy of personal contacts or high-profile individuals not relevant to the attack Jussie Smollett's representative On Tuesday, a spokesman for the star said he had redacted the phone records to 'protect the privacy of personal contacts or high-profile individuals not relevant to the attack'. 'Jussie has voluntarily provided his phone records from within an hour of the attack and given multiple statements to police.' He added that the star had not even been told that what he gave over was insufficient and that he would not be 'baited' into 'uncorroborated press reports' despite the department spokesman going on the record on Tuesday with his comments. The police department would not say what further proof of the call it needed. Smollett and his manager Brandon Z. Moore are pictured. Brandon claimed to have heard Smollett's attackers calling him 'Empire f****t n***r' and shouting 'This is MAGA country!' The Chicago Tribune Star reports that not only were the phone records that he provided redacted, but that Moore, the manager on the other end of the call, had only provided a screenshot of his phone which showed a record of it the conversation. Moore declined repeated offers to speak to DailyMail.com last month and did not immediately respond to inquiries on Tuesday morning. Yesterday, in his statement, Smollett's representative hit out at the suggestion that he was not cooperating by not giving unfettered access to his phone. 'Jussie is the victim here, which has been stated by the Superintendent of Police. These types of false stories are wrong and damaging to the investigation. 'Jussie has provided his phone records and multiple statements to police, and Chicago PD has repeatedly informed us that they find Jussies account of what happened that night consistent and credible. 'Any reports to the contrary are simply false and misrepresent the Chicago Police Superintendents remarks regarding the status of the investigation. 'Superintendent Johnson has been clear from day one that Jussie is a victim. We are continuing to work closely with the Chicago PD and remain confident that they will find Jussies attackers and bring them to justice,' they said in a statement. A week before the attack, Smollett received this threatening letter at the Fox studio where he works Chicago Police Department has said in repeated statements that he has been cooperative but that they have not been able to find video footage of the attack or confirm the phone call. Moore claims to have heard Smollett's attackers calling him 'Empire f****t n****r' and shouting: 'This is MAGA country!' after allegedly attacking him, hitting him, putting a noose around his neck and pouring bleach on him. Smollett was walking home from a Subway sandwich shop when he was attacked by two men. He said one was wearing a mask and he could not identify the other. The actor was picked up by surveillance cameras walking out of the Subway and was picked back up entering his building with a rope around his neck but so far no video of the attack has been found. His friend, 60-year-old Frank Gatson, was in his apartment when he got home and he was who called the police. Smollett did not want to involve the authorities but Gatson insisted. Four fired Miami firefighters have been charged over shocking abuse which targeted an African-American colleague a year-and-a-half ago. Six firemen were fired after penises were drawn on family photos and a noose hung over one of them at a 17-year African-American department veteran in September 2017. Robert S. Webster returned to his room at Station 12 to find the horrific scene. The case drew national attention because the sickening behavior took place just as Hurricane Irma was bearing down on Florida. Robert S. Webster, a 17-year veteran of the department, returned to his room at Station 12 to find his family photos scrawled with lewd imagery and a noose draped over one of the frames Harold Santana (left) and Justin Rumbaugh (right) have been charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief 'Every single one of us thinks of firefighters as heroes,' Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle told the Miami Herald. She continued: 'This is a very sad reality to see all this boorish, callous, abusive behavior that happened to a member of this special brotherhood.' The Miami Herald reports that none of the men are being charged in connection with the noose, which was placed over one of the framed family photos belonging to Webster. Detectives could not prove who placed the noose there or why. Kevin Meizoso (left) and Alejandro Sese (right) have also been charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief. Sese is further charged with tampering for trying to cover up the incident In addition prosecutors believe the sickening abuse was not motivated by racial hatred. The ex-firefighters Harold Santana, Kevin Meizoso, Justin Rumbaugh and Alejandro Sese have been charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief. Sese is further charged with tampering for trying to cover up the incident. A man has been charged with the murder of his elderly neighbour six days after he was found lying in a pool of his own blood. The victim, 82-year-old Allan Tom Pederson, was a retired ship's cook who had moved to Perth from Europe about a decade ago. His friend Margaret King had arrived at his house to take him to an eye appointment last Wednesday when she made the gruesome discovery. A man has been charged with the murder of his elderly neighbour six days after he was found lying in a pool of his own blood (pictured; police at the scene) 'His head was near the front door, there was a lot of blood. It wasn't very nice,' Ms King told Seven News. He was taken to hospital but passed away later that evening. Another neighbour, Susan Street, said that Mr Pederson has been battling cancer and was extremely frail. 'He wouldn't have been that steady on his feet, he'd probably get knocked down with a feather actually,' she said. 'I will miss him, think I'll be moving on actually, I don't feel safe here,' she added. The house, in the suburb of Orelia in Perth, is now a crime scene with forensic officers gathering evidence and Detectives door-knocking the area. On Tuesday, his neighbour, Andrew Dalton, 59, faced court and was charged with his murder, but did offer a plea. President Trump's former lawyer, John Dowd, says he doesn't expect the special counsel to release a report on his findings in the Russia probe. He told ABC News in a podcast that he would be 'shocked' if any of Robert Mueller's conclusions about the president became public. 'I don't think there'll be a report,' he offered. 'I will be shocked if anything regarding the president is made public, other than "We're done." ' Dowd characterized the entire probe of alleged collusion as 'a terrible waste of time' for everyone and 'one of the greatest frauds this country's ever seen.' President Trump's former lawyer, John Dowd, says he doesn't expect Special Counsel Robert Mueller to release a report on his findings in the Russia probe Dowd said in a podcast that he would be 'shocked' if any of Robert Mueller's conclusions about the president became public Dowd's take on the situation is contradictory of other legal experts, who have said that Mueller is not only likely to write up a report, but that he will almost certainly be compelled to turn it over to Congress. If that happens, it is all but assured to be come public, they argue, because someone on the committee will leak it to the press, as has often happened in the last two years with secret testimony. The president's current legal team has been preparing for the scenario for months. Rudy Giuliani says he and other Trump's lawyers are putting together a volume of work that they intend to publish, in response to Mueller's final report. Attorney Alan Dershowitz, who has taken Trump's side on the special counsel, has said the report will be most likely be politically 'devastating' for Trump regardless of whether Mueller clears of him of alleged criminal conduct. Dowd left Trump's legal team a year ago in March. He said that Trump's legal team had already interviewed many of the witnesses who spoke to Mueller by then. 'I know exactly what every witness said, what every document said. I know exactly what he asked. And I know what the conclusion or the result is,' he said. 'There's no basis. There's no exposure. It's been a terrible waste of time.' Trump did not speak to Mueller for the investigation. He provided written responses to a narrow set of questions, instead. Dowd told ABC that he was worried about the legal precedent it would set for a president to consent to being grilled by a DOJ appointee. 'You cannot treat the president like anybody,' he said. President Donald Trump has been touting the findings of a Senate Intelligence Committee as evidence that his campaign did not collude with Russian on 2016 election meddling. Committee Chairman Richard Burr reiterated last week that his panel has yet to find evidence of collusion between the president's 2016 campaign and Russia. The president has repeatedly accused the media, in turn, of ignoring Burr's findings. 'Senator Richard Burr, The Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, just announced that after almost two years, more than two hundred interviews, and thousands of documents, they have found NO COLLUSION BETWEEN TRUMP AND RUSSIA! Is anybody really surprised by this?,' he tweeted on Sunday. The president's current legal team has been preparing for Mueller's report to leak or otherwise be made public for months President Trump has been touting the findings of a Senate Intelligence Committee as evidence that his campaign did not collude with Russian on 2016 election meddling Trump first touted the findings last week after Burr, a Republican senator from North Carolina, gave a long interview to CBS News on Thursday where he said his committee staff has worked for two years, interviewed more than 200 witnesses from multiple countries and reviewed over 300,000 pages. 'Based on the evidence to date,' Burr said his panel could not definitively say there was collusion between Trump and the Russians. 'If we write a report based upon the facts that we have, then we don't have anything that would suggest there was collusion by the Trump campaign and Russia,' Burr told CBS. The senator was not officially declaring no collusion between Trump and Russia. He qualified his remarks by saying it was based on 'evidence to date.' He also told CBS his panel has a long ways to go in its probe and said the implications of the committee's findings could occupy lawmakers for the next decade. Burr said the committee has not begun drafting its final report. And he could not say how much of that final report would be declassified. The Senate Intelligence Committee is among several congressional panels investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, along with the special counsel's office, which operates out of the Justice Department. The House Intelligence Committee's probe was closed last year when the panel was under Republican control. But with Democrats now in charge, the committee has announced it will reopen its investigation. President Trump has long denied collusion and has blasted the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation as a 'witch hunt.' Moscow also has denied interference even though U.S. intelligence agency have concluded it meddled in the race between Trump and Hillary Clinton. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr gave a long interview to CBS News on Thursday where he said: 'If we write a report based upon the facts that we have, then we don't have anything that would suggest there was collusion' Burr's panel also is examining whether former President Barack Obama did enough to follow up on official government reporting of Russian election interference. Burr told CBS the committee is 'close to pushing out the door' an assessment of the Obama administration's response, saying it would be ready in a 'matter of weeks.' Trump complained Friday the 'mainstream media' has paid little attention to Burr's assertion. 'The mainstream media has refused to cover the fact that the head of the VERY important Senate Intelligence Committee, after two years of intensive study and access to Intelligence that only they could get, just stated that they have found NO COLLUSION between 'Trump' & Russia,' Trump tweeted. Trump spent the better part of an hour complaining about the probes on Friday morning, when he had little else to do, according to his public schedule, than rage at the television. The mother of a teenage girl who killed herself after looking at online 'suicide guides' has backed plans to fine social media companies 17.5million if they fail to remove images that promote self-harm. Social networks like Facebook and Instagram should have to forfeit four per cent of their annual profits or 17.5million - whichever is higher - the NSPCC claims. The charity's proposals would see Facebook fined 1.7billion based on its latest turnover of 43.3billion. Sophie Parkinson, 13, and Molly Russell, 14, are among several young people in Britain who have taken their lives after viewing content that promotes suicide and self harm. Sophie's mother Ruth Moss has today backed the NSPCC plans, saying parents cannot hope to stop their children accessing damaging content without the help of sites such as Facebook and Instagram. Sophie Parkinson, 13 (left) and Molly Russell, 14 (right) are among several young people in Britain who have taken their lives after viewing content that promotes suicide and self harm. Today the NSPCC is calling for social networks to be fined millions for failing to remove potentially deadly images and videos She said: 'I stumbled into a whole new area that I never thought as a parent that I'd have to be dealing with. 'The internet is so ubiquitous these days - in cafes, on buses, on trains - that it becomes very difficult to police children and adolescents as a parent. 'And I've often heard people say, 'But it's the parent's responsibility to keep their children safe online', and yes it absolutely is, parents need to do as much as they can, but my message today is parents cannot do that on their own because the internet is too ubiquitous and it's too difficult to control, it's become a giant. 'It has some hugely beneficial things for children but it comes at a cost - and it came at a cost to our family.' Sophie, who lived in Liff, near Dundee, had been looking at harmful content and chatting to older men online before taking her own life in 2014. Molly was exposed to similar content before her death in November 2017. Her father Ian Russell has campaigned tirelessly since then to get social networks to take greater responsibility for hosting potentially deadly content. Last week, Instagram announced it would ban graphic images of self-harm from its platform, following talks with Health Secretary Matt Hancock. The NSPCC also argues named directors should be held personally liable for upholding a legal duty of care to children, banning them from other directorial roles if they are found to be in breach. Sophie's mother Ruth Moss (pictured with her) has today backed the NSPCC plans, saying parents cannot hope to stop their children accessing damaging content without the help of sites such as Facebook and Instagram In addition, it wants social networks to be forced to disclose any information a regulator requires, proactively report when sites put children at risk, as well as risk assessing new products or services. The proposals come as a new survey commissioned by the charity shows that nine out of 10 parents of children aged 11 to 18 support calls to regulate social networks. 'Today we stand at an absolutely crucial moment in a long battle to protect children from harm, abuse and grooming online,' said Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC. 'Over the last decade, self-regulation has been tried and found wanting time and time again. Thirteen voluntary codes of conduct have each launched with warm words and good intentions. 'None have designed essential child protection properly into the online world. Instead, children have continued to face an unacceptable level of risk right across social networks, with devastating consequences. 'In the offline world, from toys to playgrounds, we take child safety regulations for granted. Yet online, the most basic child protection remains an optional extra.' For confidential support 24 hours a day in the UK call the Samaritans on 116 123 or email jo@samartians.org The mother-son duo arrived in Jaipur on Monday to be quizzed on an alleged land scam in Bikaner. Newly-appointed Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also flew to Jaipur from Lucknow last night to extend support to her husband and mother-in-law. (Photo: File) Jaipur: UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra and his mother, Maureen Vadra, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate here on Tuesday in connection with a money laundering case amidst heightened security. The mother-son duo arrived in Jaipur on Monday to be quizzed on an alleged land scam in Bikaner, the states border town. Newly-appointed Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also flew to Jaipur from Lucknow last night to extend support to her husband and mother-in-law. Priyanka dropped off the mother-son duo at the ED office and left soon after. On January 22, the Rajasthan High Courts Jodhpur bench had directed Vadra, Maureen, and his partners in Skyline Hospitality to appear before the ED on February 12 to respond to the allegations of money laundering levelled against his firm. In November last year, the ED had for the third time issued summons to Vadra and his mother - a partner in the firm- for questioning but none of them appeared. Instead, they moved the High Court seeking a no coercive action order and stay of their arrest. A money laundering case was registered by the ED in September 2015, claiming that Skylight Hospitality had acquired land in Kolayat village of Bikaner, which was meant for the rehabilitation of the poor villagers. It was alleged that Vadra bought 69.55 hectares of land at a cheaper rate and then sold the land to Allegheny Finlease for Rs 5.15 crore through illegal transactions. It is worth mentioning that in Bikaner land scam fraudsters in collusion with the state government officials got allotted land in the name of fictitious individuals, though the land was actually meant for the people who were displaced due to the creation of Mahajan Field Firing range. The fraudsters created forged allotment letters purportedly issued by the Colonisation Department of the state government and 1,422 bighas of land was recorded in revenue record in the name of fictitious allottees without due verification of the allotment letters from the concerned department. Amy Elizabeth Fleming (pictured), 60, has been charged with the murder of her young son, Francillon Pierre Police say they were able to charge a 60-year-old Florida woman with murder after her son went missing 33 years ago with the help of torn up jailhouse letters. Amy Elizabeth Fleming, 60, was arrested last month for allegedly killing her son, Francillon Pierre, when he was just three years old in 1986. North Las Vegas Police Chief Pamela Ojeda said the key to her arrest was uncovered in 2017 when detectives looked into fraudulent birth certificate application in the name of the missing boy. 'What happened was totally unintentional, I'm sorry, you know that,' Fleming wrote to her then-fiance, Lee Luster, while the two were jailed for several months in 1987 for obstructing the investigation, according to a police affidavit. Two witnesses in the affidavit told police they overheard Luster tell a woman during a prison visit that 'Amy had killed the baby.' Fleming was arrested January 29 at her marketing job in Boca Raton, Florida. Police said she was being transferred in custody to Nevada to face a murder charge. Francillon (left) was last seen at the Broad Acres Swap Meet in North Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 2, 1986. Francillon's age-progression photo is seen (right) The child's body hasn't been found, but Ojeda and the lead detective in the case, Steven Wiese, said new witness accounts also implicate Fleming in his death. 'We'd love to have the body of Francillon,' Wiese said, 'or DNA evidence that proves something. That's not what this case is. 'This is a case of a lot of little things that, put together, give us the knowledge that Amy Fleming was involved in the homicide of her child.' Wiese said. In another letter, Fleming told Luster, 'You're the only one I have left to care about. My family is not there, Yo is not there, I cannot face my friends for fear they will be implicated.' The couple told police the boy, nicknamed Yo-Yo, wandered away from them at a swap meet in on August 2, 1986. But investigators found no one who saw the child at the event, according to the 18-page affidavit. Neighbors in the apartment complex where the couple lived said they had not seen the boy with Fleming and Lester for more than a week. Fleming, was 28 at the time and divorced from Pierre's father, who lived in Haiti and was cleared as a suspect in 1986. She was living with and later married Luster, and the couple moved to Florida in 1987, police said. The year before Francillon disappeared, Amy and Lee Luster were charged with child abuse. They had allegedly beat Francillon so bad that they caused 30 to 40 welts to form on his body. The Lusters were awaiting trial when the little boy went missing, according to The Charley Project. At the time, the couple told police they believed the boy's father, Jean Pierre, took the child back to Haiti, as well as saying the boy had wandered off at the swap meet. Video courtesy of LasVegasNow.com North Las Vegas Police Department Chief Pamela Ojeda attends a press conference to discuss how detectives were able to crack the case after so long Chief Pamela Ojeda, from left, District Attorney Steve Wolfson, Detective Steven Wiese and Detective Sean Sprague discuss new discoveries in the case of the disappearance of three-year-old Francillon Pierre Authorities later searched Pierre's home in Haiti, but found no trace of Francillon. Pierre was then asked to fly to the US to take a lie detector test, which he passed. He was eventually ruled out as a suspect. Almost a year after Francillon's disappearance, Amy and Lee Luster moved to Florida, telling police that they still believed Pierre had taken the child and wanted to be closer to Haiti. The Nevada Department of Probation and Parole gave them a 30-day travel pass to find work and a home in Orlando or else return to Nevada. Amy and Lee were considered suspects in the case but had never been charged. Luster, now 62, has not been charged with a crime. Luster told investigators that several days before reporting the boy's disappearance, he took him camping for a couple of days at an unspecified desert location near the vast Lake Mead reservoir east of Las Vegas on the Colorado River. 'Although we're saddened today that we could not bring you good news that we found Pierre alive and well, we are fortunate that we can bring some closure to those affected by this 32-year-old cold case,' the police chief said. An American man has been physically dragged to a police press conference in Bali after he was arrested in a marijuana drug sting. Husein Ashadi Bahri was paraded by Indonesian police on Tuesday as they announced his arrest on the resort island. The 60-year-old, who was handcuffed and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, was pictured being carried by customs officers to the press conference. At one point, multiple officers were dragging him up stairs by his arms and legs. Husein Ashadi Bahri, 60, was physically dragged to a police press conference in Bali on Tuesday after he was arrested in a marijuana drug sting The 60-year-old was carried by his arms and legs after Indonesian officials announced his arrest on the resort island He was later spotted with his head bowed and holding a hookah in front of the press conference. Police said he was arrested after they discovered about 45 grams of marijuana stuffed inside a computer keyboard. The U.S. citizen faces a maximum of 15 years in prison if he is convicted. Also paraded in front of reporters on Tuesday was Tanzanian man Abdul Rahman Asman. He was arrested at Bali airport on January 30 after more than a kilogram of methamphetamine was found inside his stomach. Police said he was arrested after they discovered about 45 grams of marijuana stuffed inside a computer keyboard (pictured above) Bahri of the US is escorted by a police officer inside a custom office in Bali on Tuesday He was later spotted with his head bowed and holding a hookah in front of the press conference The U.S. citizen faces a maximum of 15 years in prison if he is convicted The 60-year-old was handcuffed and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit for the press conference An X-ray and CT scan turned up some 99 plastic baggies filled with white powder that Asman had swallowed, topping a kilo in weight, immigration officials said. Dozens of the baggies were displayed on a table at the customs office on Tuesday as the 42-year-old was paraded before reporters in an orange jumpsuit and restrained with hand and leg irons. It was not clear if prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Asman but Indonesia has some of the world's strictest drug laws, including execution by firing squad for traffickers. There are currently dozens of foreign drug smugglers on death row in Indonesia, including a cocaine-mule British grandmother, an American caught with crystal methamphetamine, and several west African inmates sentenced to death for drug crimes. Also paraded in front of reporters on Tuesday was 42-year-old Tanzanian man Abdul Rahman Asman who was arrested after more than a kilo of methamphetamine was found in his stomach An X-ray and CT scan turned up some 99 plastic baggies filled with white powder that Asman had swallowed. Dozens of those baggies were on display for reporters on Tuesday Polar bears have been filmed trying to break in to buildings and tearing through rubbish bags as they continue to terrorise a town in Russia. Officials are today starting an operation to sedate and remove dozens of the animals after they invaded Belushya Guba on Russia's Novaya Zemlya archipelago. But residents remain so terrified that many are refusing to venture out of their homes for everyday tasks like taking the rubbish out. Video has emerged showing one bear up on its hind legs attempting to pound its way into a building. Local eye doctor Ilya Mishin also posted a night video of bears scavenging for throwaway food at a waste facility. Polar bears have been filmed trying to break in to buildings (above) and tearing through rubbish bags as they continue to terrorise a town in Russia Local eye doctor Ilya Mishin posted a night video of bears scavenging for throwaway food at a waste facility in the town He asked: 'What is your answer when they ask you to take out the rubbish?' Another video posted by the Russian ophthalmologist shows a polar bear standing on two hind legs demanding entry to his eye clinic. 'How often do you get door knocks like that?' asked the medic. 'He came for an eye check,' commented his mother Natalia Mishina. A predator returns at night again seeking to get in through the door. 'The bear is not allowed in - again,' said Mishin, as reported by The Siberian Times. After failing to break open the door, the animal tries the window but without luck. More footage shows local stray dogs barking at bears which does nothing to deter them. 'The siege continues', he said Officials are today starting an operation to sedate and remove the 52 bears from Belushya Guba on Russia's Novaya Zemlya archipelago after they started 'chasing' frightened locals Residents remain so terrified that many are refusing to venture out of their homes for simple tasks like taking the rubbish out The reality of life in the town under siege from at least 52 polar bears was becoming clearer today as the Russian authorities flew in a team intending to sedate the predators and move them away from the stricken town. It is unclear how long the operation will take. As pictures from a previous operation show, this has been done before and involves airlifting the wild animals - but never on such a large scale. Novaya Zemlya was used for Soviet nuclear tests in the Cold War and is now the location of a Russian military base. Local woman Nadezhda Volf, 36, said the town of almost 2,000 residents was targeted by packs of polar bears from autumn. 'The bears couldn't make it to the shore on time to hunt so our dumps became the only option for them to eat,' she said. 'Before bears were not coming in groups and they were rare. From the beginning it was interesting to watch them, like in a zoo. Local woman Nadezhda Volf, 36, said the town of almost 2,000 residents was targeted by packs of polar bears from autumn 'Once I was taking my child to kindergarten, and a family of bears was walking along the other side of the lake. My five-year-old daughter was lost in admiration. 'Another time, also on the way to kindergarten, our bear patrol was scaring away a cub - and he jumped out of a snowdrift in front of us suddenly. 'I grabbed my daughter and started running, although I shouldn't have run, thank God, the patrol was near. 'I saw his little beautiful eyes but I had never been so scared before in my life. My daughter was terrified too.' In one recent case she was confronted with seven polar bears in front of her. 'They were in distance from us, but it still was scary because they can run really fast. 'Adult bears were just walking, cubs were playing in snowdrifts and sliding on ice on their bellies. 'I didn't notice them being aggressive, it seemed to me that they were hungry because they were somewhat slow.' During a period of 'polar darkness' when there is no winter light the bears 'started to blend together with the snow and terrify with their sudden appearance from around the corner or at the tip. 'There were attempts to scare them away - but they were not afraid, and older cubs thought it was a game.' She said that now a state of emergency has been declared in Belushya Guba 'it is prohibited to walk alone'. Special buses are taking people to work, school and kindergarten. Novaya Zemlya was the scene of the world's largest ever nuclear explosion when the Soviet Union detonated the 50 megaton 'tsar bomb' at the height of the Cold War. The man involved in the horrifying accident that killed a popular journalist has recounted the moment the helicopter smashed into his front cab. Joao Adroaldo, 52, was driving along a busy highway in northwestern Sao Paulo on Monday afternoon when the chopper suddenly smashed into his windshield. Brazilian TV anchor Ricardo Boechat, 66, was travelling inside at the time and was killed. The pilot also died at the scene. Adroaldo spoke from hospital covered in bruises, but admitted he is lucky to be alive. He also admitted Boechat was one of his favorite journalists. Ricardo Boechat, a TV anchor in Brazil, has been killed after the helicopter he was travelling in crashed onto a truck on a highway in Sao Paulo on Monday Joao Adroaldo told reporters hours after the shocking accident that he thought 'something' had fallen 'from heaven' Veteran Brazilian television newscaster Ricardo Boechat died Monday after a helicopter he was travelling in crashed directly into a truck. He is pictured here with his wife Veruska 'Out of nowhere, something falls from heaven upon your head,' a shocked Adroaldo told reporters Monday night. Adroaldo was driving a cargo truck loaded with wheat flour when the fallen aircraft almost destroyed the trailer on the left lane of the Anhanguera Highway. The aircraft, a Bell Helicopter, PT-HPG model built in 1975, tore apart the big rig's front hood and shattered its windshield. The chopper's tail was spotted on the ground near the trailer's right side. Adroaldo suffered head injuries and bruises on the body and was released from the hospital Monday night. 'It was simply [like you are] walking and out of nowhere you see that crash and you have no vision without knowing what happened. You do not know what happened,' Adroaldo said. 'You keep analyzing what might have happened. I was alone. Soon I'm standing there like that, all broken, trapped, the truck stopped. I only really saw what happened after I was out [of the truck].' Boechat, a married father-of-six children, was returning from a university in the city of Campinas when his helicopter crashed. The rest of the helicopter was engulfed in flames on the shoulder lane and on the highway median. Leilaine da Silva (pictured top right) attempts to pry open a jammed door and save a trapped Adroaldo moments after the harrowing accident The front of a truck is wrecked after a helicopter crashed into it on a busy highway in Brazil The helicopter is covered in flames and smoke shortly after it crashed into the front of a tractor-trailer travelling along a busy highway in northwestern Sao Paulo Boechat was born in Argentina. His father was serving a diplomatic mission for the Brazilian government before the family returned to Brazil, paving the way for the journalist to become a news star in Brazil. The veteran newsman anchored TV Band's main nightly news, as well as hosting a radio program and writing a column for IstoE magazine. Adroaldo had no idea who was inside the doomed helicopter until someone brought up Boechat, whom the driver consider to be one of his favorite journalists. He figured the accident could've been far worse had the helicopter crashed into a smaller vehicle. Part of the helicopter ended up in covered flames in the highway's median Investigators hold the tail of the helicopter that smashed directly into a truck. The tail was found on the ground to the right side of the truck 'I just thank God for being alive, it was not my time,' said Adroaldo, who has been driving trucks for 19 years. Alarming cell phone images capture the moment Leilaine da Silva, 29, and man, who has not been identified, are scrambling to clear the debris from the wrecked truck and pull Adroaldo to safety. 'When I stopped, she was the first one who tried to take me out, asked if I was okay, if I was feeling anything, if I had any cuts,' the truck driver recalled. 'I was just trying to leave. She helped me. She took some shards of glass [out] ... I had a lot of things, junk on top of me.' A pig chased after a fitness model as she relaxed on a beach on holiday and bit her on the bum. Michelle Lewin was at the beach during her holiday in the Bahamas when the cheeky swine chased after her and bit her left buttock. The Venezuelan stunner was walking along the sand being filmed when the pig launched its attack. As she twirled on the beach the group of four pigs walked up behind her. Michelle Lewin was bitten on the bum by a pig as she twirled on the sand in the Bahamas After one of the pigs bit the model, the pack continued to give chase and another launched itself at her The Venezuelan model shared the footage of the pig attack to her followers on Instagram One then jumped up and sank its teeth in to her behind as she turned her back to the pack, causing her to scream in pain. As the model ran away from the feisty drove of pigs, they followed and another pig tried to take a fresh bite. She shared the clip with her 13.3 million Instagram followers and over 4 million people have viewed it in the first 12 hours of publication. In the viral footage, the blonde model can be seen wearing a skimpy white bikini on the beach as she turned her back to the approaching pigs. The marauding gang of pigs walked up behind Ms Lewin and one bit her when she turned her back to them Ms Lewin showed a large red mark on her left buttock to the camera after the pig bit her Without hesitation, the saucy pig bit the 32-year-old hard on her bum and she then ran away screaming, saying: 'It bit me, it bit me.' In the next clip, Ms Lewin showed off the bite mark on her left buttock to the camera. She was left with a large red mark on her backside. According to local media, the fitness specialist is currently visiting the Bahamas on holiday. She reportedly had a tough upbringing as a youngster and became a fitness model and social media influencer through years of building up her profile to now command millions of fans. A drug using couple has pleaded guilty over the drowning death of their three-year-old daughter who wandered into their pool while they slept. Mother Susie Rehm and father Geoffrey Bussard pleaded guilty to child endangerment charges. Rehm also pleaded guilty Friday to involuntary manslaughter. Little Izabella was in the pool at her family's Pennsylvania home in April 2017 for more than an hour before her teenage sister went in and tried to save her. The child's older sibling usually watched her, but that day she asked her mother to do so. Rehm agreed, but both parents were asleep when the girl wandered into the pool. Susie Rehm, left, and Geoffrey Bussard, right, pleaded guilty to child endangerment charges Izabella Bussard ended up in the pool at her family's Manaheim home in April 2017 An alarm on the back door leading to the pool had been disabled because it's sound 'became annoying', Fox 43 reports. Investigators said the condition of the Manaheim home was 'horrendous' with trash in every room, dog feces over the living floor and the smell or urine throughout the house. There was not a place for Izabella to sleep and the couple's continued drug use and other issues supported criminal charges, authorities say. Authorities say Rehm fell asleep on the couch while Bussard slept upstairs. Izabella's sister jumped in to try and save the tot after hearing her mom screaming. Izabella's teenage sister usually watched her, but that day she asked her mother, left, to do that. Rehm agreed, but both parents were asleep when the girl wandered into the pool Izabella, right, was in the pool for more than an hour before her sister went in and tried to save her after her mom, pictured, fell asleep while looking after her Authorities will recommend Rehm, left, receives up to two years in prison. The girl's father, Geoffrey Bussard, right, faces up to five years of probation Rehm is said to have tried to reach her daughter from on the side of the pool, The Lancaster Online reports. Authorities say they will recommend Rehm receives up to two years in prison. Bussard faces up to five years of probation. Assistant District Attorney Amy Muller said Rehm was more culpable because she was supposed to be watching Izabella. A heartbroken father said he believes he 'failed' his four-year-old daughter after she died last month from flu complications. Ashanti Grinage died on January 31 from the flu and pneumonia just days after she started exhibiting signs of an illness, according to her family. 'I feel like I failed because I'm not even 30 yet, and I'm about to bury my little girl,' Ashanti's father, Martel Grinage said through tears. 'I feel like I failed because I'm not even 30 yet, and I'm about to bury my little girl,' Ashanti's father, Martel Grinage said through tears Ashanti Grinage died on January 31 from the flu and pneumonia just days after she started exhibiting signs of an illness, according to her family. 'That was my best friend. She was only four, but that was my best friend,' the devastated father said 'That was my best friend. She was only four, but that was my best friend,' the devastated father told ABC 13. Martel also recalled the moment he arrived to the hospital as doctors were trying to bring her back to life. 'I said, "Maybe if she hears my voice..." I know she's getting up. I'm praying, I'm praying, because I believe in God. So I'm just waiting for her to wake up,"' Grinage told the station. Tragically, Ashanti died from pneumonia, an infection that may develop during or after the flu. Martel told the station that doctors didn't check Ashanti for the infection when they brought her to the emergency room the first time with a 103-degree fever on January 29. Ashanti (left and right) was rushed to the hospital on January 29. She was given medication and sent home. On January 31, her family rushed her back to the hospital where she later died Ashanti's death is the seventh pediatric flu death to be reported in Dallas County this flu season 'She wasn't even running fever at this time, we just knew she was very sluggish and she wasn't eating,' Martel told KTVT last week. Instead, she was given medicine and sent home. Two days later, the family rushed Ashanti to the hospital again because her symptoms had continued. He said he wished he would've asked the doctors to check his little girl for pneumonia. 'I'm mad at myself. I'm mad at everyone. I'm mad at the hospital. I'm mad at God. I can't lie to you,' Martel told ABC. The heartbroken father continued: 'I'll never have the privilege to take her to prom, to teach her how to drive her new car, to be there for her when somebody breaks her heart.' Martel now hopes another dad hears his message so they might save their own child. 'They don't want this feeling because I'm going to hate myself until I die.' 'When I think about my baby, that tears me down man. That's what I was living for. I told her I wasn't gonna let nothing bad happen to her. I used to preach that to her,' Martel said. Ashanti's death is the seventh pediatric flu death to be reported in Dallas County this flu season. According to the girl's family, she had not received a flu vaccination. According to the girl's family, she had not received a flu vaccination. Ashanti's mother was also found to have similar symptoms like her daughter 'We cannot predict the intensity, severity or duration of the flu season from year to year,' said Dr Christopher Perkins, Director of the Dallas County Health and Human Services. 'The best way to protect yourself and others is to get your seasonal flu shot.' According to the girl's aunt, Ashanti's mother also ended up in the ER with similar symptoms as her daughter. Ashanti's mother has spent the last week recovering, Nereida Adrian Olivarez said on GoFundMe. The family has raised more than $18,000 for funeral expenses. 'From the bottom of my heart which feels so deep, dark, and empty at this time I am asking you to please provide prayers for our family,' Olivarez stated. A man was injured after a glass door fell on him at a bank lobby in south-west China. The victim, a doctor at a nearby clinic, was seen walking through the door as it came off its hinges and collapsed on him shortly before 2:23pm on Monday. Shocking CCTV footage from Chengdu Rural Commercial Bank in Sichuan province shows the door hitting the doctor on the head and pinning his leg on the floor. The victim, a doctor at a nearby clinic, was seen walking through the door as it came off its hinges and collapsed on him shortly before 2:23pm on Monday in Sichuan, south-west China Witnesses and security guards in the bank rush to his aid and help lift the door off him Witnesses and security guards in the bank rush to his aid and help lift the door off him. He was immediately transported to hospital with minor injuries, according to Cover News. The bank told reporters it was still handling the aftermath of the accident and did not reveal what sort of injuries that the man sustained. It is unclear whether the police were alerted to the scene. The bank is expected to pay for the man's treatment. He was immediately transported to hospital with minor injuries, according to Cover News Retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who rocketed to the national spotlight when his congresswoman wife Gabrielle Giffords was shot in a failed assassination attempt, announced Tuesday he's running to finish John McCain's last term in the U.S. Senate. Kelly, 54, declared his intentions in a video posted on Twitter that highlighted his marriage to Giffords and his long service to the country - as a pilot in Desert Storm and as an astronaut. Giffords is featured in the announcement video seated on a couch along side her husband as they discuss her marriage and the January 8, 2011, assassination attempt where she was shot in the head. Mark Kelly said Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, that he's running to finish John McCain's term in the U.S. Senate. He's seen here with wife Gabby Giffords in l2017 Giffords spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention with Kelly at her side 'You nearly lost your life serving your country,' Kelly told her. 'Yeah,' she responded. What the couple does not mention in the video is the gun-control initiatives they have championed in the wake of Giffords' shooting nor do they mention President Donald Trump, who won Arizona in the 2016 presidential race and played an huge role in the 2018 Senate campaign. Their political action committee, Americans for Responsible Solutions, promotes responsible gun ownership and "keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people like criminals, terrorists, and the mentally ill." The gun control issue could be a divisive one in Arizona, a gun-friendly state. The couple state they support Second Amendment rights but advocate for universal background checks. Kelly is a top Democratic recruit to take on Republican Martha McSally in what will now be one of the most closely contested Senate races of the 2020 election. McSally was appointed to McCain's seat last year after she narrowly lost to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in the 2018 election. McSally joined political life when she won Giffords' House seat in 2012, defeating Ron Barber, Giffords' district director who was also wounded in the shooting and ran for the seat when Giffords stepped down. In the 2018 Senate contest, McSally leaned heavily on her record as the first woman to fly a combat mission as a fighter pilot, but she was hurt by her embrace of President Trump. If Kelly is nominated, the race would pit a Navy veteran and astronaut against a trailblazing Air Force pilot in the contest to replace McCain, a legendary Navy flyer who was famously shot down and held captive. In the 4-1/2 minute announcement video, Kelly sits on a sofa next to Giffords, discussing his mother's history as a police officer as well as the attack on his wife. 'I thought that I had the risky job. It turned out that you were the one who had the risky job,' said Kelly, a former U.S. Navy combat pilot and former space shuttle commander. Kelly shot to national stardom in the wake of the shooting, when he became a voice for his wife who had to undergo major physical rehabilitation in order to speak and walk again. The couple collaborated on a book 'Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope.' And Kelly became a familiar TV presence after shootings in America, when he would go on television to talk about the need for stricter gun laws. Mark Kelly and Gabby Giffords together in his announcement video The announcement video heavily featured his military service Kelly's twin brother Scott endorsed him right away The video also features playful images like Kelly in a bar Mark Kelly and Gabby Giffords at the commissioning of the USS Gabrielle Giffords in June 2017 There was a heavy focus on his military duty, including photos of his time as a Navy pilot and his serve on the space shuttle. 'I always knew I was going to serve this country in some way,' Kelly's voice said over images of his medal-filled white navy uniform. He also discussed how his wife's shooting affected him. 'I remember the first time I saw her. Within in minutes there was a bloody tear coming out her eye. It didn't even look like her. You know, it was her,' he said. He talked about how he had to be an advocate for Giffords during her recovery. 'One thing I realized early on was that Gabby needed me to help her through this,' he said. 'She needed an advocate. And the thing I have to do for my wife is to be able to think clearly and make good decisions.' He praised his wife's service to the country. 'What I learned from my wife is how you use policy to improve people's lives,' he noted. 'Solving some of the hardest problems requires one thing, and that's teamwork. Partisanship and polarization and gerrymandering and corporate money have ruined our politics, and it's divided us.' Hillary Clinton joins Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly to help commission the ship named after her on June 10, 2017 in Galveston, Texas Martha McSally campaigned with President Trump in 2018 Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego is also considering a run and it would make a tough nomination fight for Kelly The video also features some more playful images - Giffords and Kelly going for a bike ride together, the couple drinking beers in a bar with friends, and stunning shots of Kelly in the Arizona desert. Democrats are eagerly watching the Arizona contest, having already defeated McSally in a Senate race just a few months ago. Kelly and Giffords have for years pushed Congress to enact gun control measures with little success. They shifted their focus to state legislatures in recent years, helping to strengthen background checks and domestic violence protections, among other modest protections. Giffords was severely wounded in a mass shooting on Jan. 8, 2011. The shooting at a Giffords meet-and-greet event outside a grocery store in Tucson left six dead and 13 injured. Shooter Jared Loughner was sentenced to life in prison. Gov. Doug Ducey appointed McSally to McCain's Senate seat after his first appointee, former Sen. Jon Kyl, resigned after only a few months in office. The seat is a top target for Democrats because McSally just lost a Senate race in November and Democrats posted a strong showing in the November election, winning three statewide contests and picking up legislative and congressional seats. The 2020 election will decide who finishes the last two years of McCain's term. The winner would have to run again for a full six-year term in 2022. Kelly may not have a clear shot to the Democratic nomination. Rep. Ruben Gallego of Phoenix is also considering a Senate run, which would likely set up a tough fight for nod. Gallego tweeted after Kelly's announcement that he is still considering a run. 'I've made no secret of the fact that I'm looking seriously at running for the U.S. Senate in 2020, and that hasn't changed. I'll be making a final decision and announcement soon. #AZSEN,' he wrote. Former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods, a lifelong Republican who became a Democrat and a fierce critic of Trump, announced last week that he won't run, saying he didn't want to fight in a contested Democratic primary. ISIS militants have a secret war chest of up to $300 million (230 million) which could be used to sustain its operations and fund new attacks on the West, according to a United Nations report released yesterday. The terror group is assessed to have 'bulk-stored' some of the money in its stronghold area, while the rest has been smuggled abroad or invested in legitimate businesses. Even if ISIS militants are forced out of their last holdout this week, the group has concealed the majority of its financial assets 'with a strategic view to funding larger-scale attacks once the opportunity arises again,' the report says. Smoke from an airstrike is seen over buildings near the front line on February 10, 2019 in Bagouz, Syria. ISIS are losing geographical ground and are facing elimination on the ground, but a new U.N report claims they have stashed funds of up to $300 million (230 million) The terror group is assessed to have 'bulk-stored' money in its stronghold area, smuggled cash abroad and even invested in legitimate businesses A U.S-backed international coalition including the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has driven ISIS from its core areas of Mosul and Raqqa so that only a small enclave in the eastern city of Baghouz remains under its control. Around 600 militants are left battling the coalition and U.S. President Donald Trump said they may declare victory over the terrorist organisation within days. Tens of thousands of people, mostly women and children related to ISIS fighters, have fled the shrinking jihadist holdout to opposition territory, many of them claiming they were not supporters of the terror group. But the U.N report also warns that foreign fighters and the extremists' dependents will still pose a threat even after the ISIS is defeated. The report also warns that ISIS have up to 18,000 members still in their ranks and that recycled propaganda use has increased online Tens of thousands of people, mostly women and children related to ISIS fighters, have fled the shrinking jihadist holdout to opposition territory 'Foreign terrorist fighters leaving the conflict zone, or prior returnees becoming active again on release from prison or for other reasons, will increase the threat,' the report says. 'The handling of dependants is particularly challenging. Radicalized women and traumatized minors may also pose a serious threat,' it continues. And the report notes that despite losing physical ground, ISIS still has up to 18,000 loyal members in its ranks in Syria and Iraq - including 3,000 foreign terrorist fighters. Although direct propaganda from ISIS has been steadily decreasing, alarmingly 'recycled material, online messaging and implausible claims of responsibility for attacks' have increased in the last six months. 'Military losses have forced ISIL to relinquish the idea of ruling a geographical caliphate for now, but the group retains that long-term aspiration and continues to proclaim it online,' the report says. The report also confirmed that the group is still led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi - who has not been seen in public since 2014, and has been pronounced dead on several occasions. Rubbishing the allegation against him, Mr Kumar said furiously that either the person making it should quit politics or he would. Bengaluru: Acting on the suggestion of speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar, chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy announced on Monday that the matter of the tape on which state BJP chief, B.S. Yeddyurappa is allegedly heard trying to lure a JD(S) MLA to his party, would be handed over to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for inquiry. The chief minister made the announcement in the legislative Assembly following a heated debate between the opposition and ruling parties on the contents of the tape. It was Mr Ramesh Kumar himself who broached the subject in response to Mr Kumaraswamys letter bringing the tapes contents to his notice. As he prepared to give his ruling in the matter, rural development andpanchayat raj (RDPR) minister Krishna Byregowda interrupted to insist that the issue merited a detailed discussion. He then went on to read the transcript of the tape in the House to strong objections from BJP members, who alleged that the chief minister had masterminded the audio clip and released it to the media. But overruling their objections, the speaker requested the state government to form a SIT to inquire into the tape and reveal the identity of those, who are heard claiming that he too had been bought over with Rs 50 crore, within a fortnight. Rubbishing the allegation against him, Mr Kumar said furiously that either the person making it should quit politics or he would. If someone feels he can remove me from this House by provoking me, he is mistaken. We must know who this person is. Did he approach me directly or one of my family members? What denomination of money was paid to me? I was unanimously elected speaker with members reposing faith in my integrity and I have never acted in any way to attr-act such claims, he said. Although BJP members pleaded with him to reconsider his decision, Mr Kumar stuck to his guns saying an inquiry by a House committee or a judicial inquiry would take too long and once the chief minister had agreed to his suggestion on a SIT inquiry into the tape, adjourned the House for the day. The family of a severely disabled woman have spoken of their devastation after a caregiver at a Florida facility was arrested accused of getting her pregnant. Willie Shorter, 58, was arrested Wednesday on charges of lewd and lascivious battery on a disabled person after Dawn Blanchard, now 43, gave birth in 2015. Her dad Robert said Dawn - who has the 'mental capacity of a small child' - would call from a Bridges group home in tears, USA Today reports. Robert said: 'My feelings inside me are pain. A lot of hurt. I expected my daughter to be taken care of, most of all by professionals. 'He's a filthy, vile rat. My daughter got assaulted by an individual who felt he could take a young lady and use her like a piece of meat. I'm extremely angry. 'I don't know how many times she was assaulted before he slipped up.' Dawn broke down in tears at a press conference where she did not speak except to say she 'hated' Shorter, of Rockledge. Dawn Blanchard, who gave birth to her son in 2015, is comforted by her mom Janet after Willie Shorter was arrested Wednesday Shorter was arrested on charges of lewd and lascivious battery on a disabled person after Dawn Blanchard, now 43, gave birth in 2015 Dawn's dad Robert, right, now cares for her three-year-old son, Robert III, left, after Dawn's brother adopted him Dawn - who suffered brain damage as a young girl due to measles and also has epilepsy - still lives at the center in Rockledge as her family could not afford to move her, WPBF reports. They say she cannot consent to sexual conduct. Her dad Robert now cares for her three-year-old son, Robert III, after Dawn's brother adopted him. Robert added: 'He hugs on me like an octopus holds on to fresh food, because he knows his Pop-Pop. He has a smile that will brighten the world.' Shorter had worked for Woodsmere Estates Group Home for eight years when he was arrested and had stayed there despite suspicions about his conduct as far back as four years ago, police said. There was not enough evidence to make him to submit DNA in 2015, according to authorities. In 2018 Dawn accused Shorter of assaulting her and he was asked to provide a sample. The test results showed there was a 99.99 per cent chance Shorter was the child's father. Family attorney Kevin C. Smith said: 'It's very troubling and disturbing for us. We're interested in safety for Dawn and making sure we obtain some measure of justice for this family. 'On a couple of occasions, she had a black eye and had suffered physical injuries in addition to the assault she claimed.' A spokesman for the Woodsmere Estates Group Home said 'we are absolutely devastated' The family of severely disabled woman Dawn, right, have spoken of their devastation after a caregiver at Florida facility was arrested accused of getting her pregnant David Cooke, CEO of Bridges, which owns the home, said: 'We'll absolutely look back through our reports once we have more details. 'We followed our procedures and immediately contacted authorities, and followed through on all investigations, with regard to the Rockledge Police Department, the (Florida) Department of Children and Families and the Agency for Persons with Disabilities. 'We've been in Brevard for 62 years serving people with disabilities. We are absolutely devastated. This is devastating for the client, for the family. It's devastating for the staff who work so hard everyday, working for our clients with significant disabilities.' The Big Bang Theory actress Mayim Bialik is calling out the United Airlines employee who refused to let her on board her flight and shut the boarding gate in her face. The 43-year-old actress, who plays Amy Farrah Fowler on the CBS sitcom, was flying from Houston to Los Angeles on Sunday when she was denied entry on the flight. She claims the employee took one look at her carry-on suitcase and refused to let her on board, despite Bialik having a first class seat. 'To the @UnitedAirlines flight attendant who shut the boarding gate in my face. I made my connecting flight in Houston. It was a tight squeeze but you said there were plenty of open seats. When you saw my carry-on suitcase you said there was no room and shut the door in my face,' the actress said in a heated tweet on Sunday evening. Big Bang Theory actress Mayim Bialik, 43, says a rude United Airlines employee shut the boarding gate door in her face after seeing her carry-on suitcase on Sunday as she was catching a flight from Houston to Los Angeles. Bialik vented about it on Instagram (above) Bialik shared a picture of her carry-on bag with a large expander that got her in trouble, even though she had purchased a first class seat on the flight and there were empty seats on board The 43-year-old actress vented about the incident on Twitter saying the flight attendant 'shut the boarding gate in my face' She added that the employee told her there were plenty of empty seats on board which could have potentially held her carry-on 'Maybe she doesn't like The Big Bang Theory?' Bialik said that the employee denied her entry, then proceeded to let five other people with their carry-on bags on board Bailik was left furious and in shock, asking why she couldn't fit her suitcase in one of the alleged empty seats on board. 'Why couldn't my little suitcase somehow fit? Maybe the first class seat I was supposed to sit in could have held it and I would have gladly sat in all of the open seats anywhere on that plane,' she added. The Blossom star revealed the flight attendant let five other people who also had carry-on bags and were standing with her on the flight. Bialik wondered if the flight attendant had a bone to pick with her. 'Maybe she just doesn't like the Big Bang Theory,' she reasoned. The star also took to Instagram to vent about the aggravating experience. United Airlines told DailyMail.com that agents helped book Bialik on the next flight from Houston to Los Angeles and the incident is being reviewed United Airlines responded to her tweets saying: 'This is very disappointing to hear, Mayim. Please DM with more information on this situation.' Bialik also took to Instagram to vent about the rude employee and share a picture of herself looking disgruntled and running through the airport. She also shared a picture of the carry-on that got her in trouble, that had an expander engaged. 'Ok @united airlines. I know I barely made my connecting flight. But I made it despite your delays making me late. And you turned me away as you let five other people on from my connecting flight because I had a carry-on suitcase. They had carry-ons too,' she wrote. 'I understand everything was shut but that lady stewardess didnt have to shut the boarding door like she did in my face without even saying she was sorry. Or with 7 min left she could have made a small effort to try harder since she said there were "plenty of seats open,"' she added. She plays Amy Farrah Fowler on the popular CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory The actress says the employee refused to help her despite being on the verge of tears. 'Maybe she hates the Big Bang Theory. Maybe she was having a bad day. Maybe she hates women who look like theyre going to cry,' she said. Bialik said her suitcase broke from running so frantically and aggressively through the airport to catch the fight and her asthma started acting up. Despite her heated social media spree bashing the airline, the actress insisted she wasn't be a 'Prima Donna'. 'Random people think Im a prima donna because as she shut the door I said "I have a first class seat!" I didnt mean I deserve it more, I meant can my suitcase sit in my first class seat and Ill sit anywhere else?' she said. United Airlines told DailyMail.com agents helped book Bialik on the next flight from Houston to Los Angeles. 'We were able to get Ms. Bialik on the next flight to Los Angeles and we are reviewing what happened with our team in Houston,' spokesperson Jonathan Gueron said. According to her social media she was in Pittsburgh over the weekend where she visited a Jewish community center. An Ohio woman has discovered that her IUD had been in her abdomen for 11 years despite a doctor telling her years earlier that the birth control had just fallen out. Melinda Nichols, 40, made the disturbing discovery when she went to have an x-ray in December for a back muscle injury. The doctor carrying out the x-ray informed the mother that her IUD was now floating in her abdomen instead of her cervix. An x-ray image that she shared on Facebook showed the small t-shaped metal bar sitting near her spine rather than her uterus. Melinda Nichols, 40, made the disturbing discovery that her IUD was in her abdomen when she went to have an x-ray with an Ohio doctor in December for a back muscle injury Nichols circled where the IUD was supposed to be to show just how far the birth control device had traveled. Somehow, the IUD managed to get through her cervix and move into the abdomen. 'It's been in me 11 years. The doctors told me it fell out,' she wrote alongside the x-ray image. Her post has been shared more than 51,000 times with thousands of people saying it served as a warning for other women. Nichols told the New York Post she was baffled as to how the IUD got into her abdomen given a doctor told her in 2007 that it had simply fallen out. She had decided to have the IUD inserted several weeks after her youngest son's birth. Nichols initially had the IUD inserted in 2007 just weeks after giving birth to her youngest son. Several weeks later, a doctor informed her during a routine check up that the IUD had simply fallen out An x-ray image that she shared on Facebook showed the small t-shaped metal bar sitting near her spine rather than her uterus. She circled where the IUD was supposed to be to show just how far the birth control device had traveled Nichols went back to the doctor weeks later for a routine follow up. The doctor said an x-ray was showing the IUD was no longer in place. 'It fell out,' she said the doctor told her. When she pointed out that she probably would have noticed it the t-shaped bar had fallen out of her body, the doctor told her it could happen. Instead of getting a second IUD, Nichols said she opted for another form of semi-permanent birth control. She said if she hadn't gone to see a doctor a decade later about her back issue, there was no way to know how long the IUD would have been in her body. Movement of an IUD to the abdomen is extremely rare, according to a report for the National Center for Biotechnology Information. An IUD is a small t-shaped metal bar that sits in a woman's uterus. Once inserted, it works as birth control for five years before needing to be replaced. Some women say having the IUD inserted is very painful, while others say it's nothing and some suggest that it's mildly uncomfortable, or the pain is just a pinch. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasted Donald Trump as a semi-illiterate fool on Monday, minutes after the president slammed her 'Green New Deal' proposal as juvenile and poorly conceived. 'It sounds like a high school term paper that got a low mark,' Trump said of the sweeping outline that the New York Democrat unveiled last week. The president was speaking at a raucous rally in El Paso, Texas. 'Ah yes,' Ocasio-Cortez sliced in a tweet, 'a man who cant even read briefings written in full sentences is providing literary criticism of a House Resolution.' The 29-year-old democratic socialist has become a regular thorn in Trump's side. He has largely dismissed her as a noisy upstart, but began pledging last week that 'America will never become a socialist country.' New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed Donald Trump on Monday night for belittling her 'Green New Deal' proposal The president said during a rally in El Paso, Texas that Ocasio-Cortez's sweeping environmental proposal read like a 'high school term paper that got a low mark' She added a line that she attribute to The Washington Post: 'Reading the intelligence book is not Trumps preferred "style of learning," according to a person with knowledge of the situation.' That left out two words: 'traditionally dense,' which the Post used to describe the daily briefing book that presidents have oten perused during their morning hours. The Post reported on Trump's intelligence consumption habits a year ago, in February 2018. It reported that the president 'has opted to rely on an oral briefing of select intelligence issues in the Oval Office rather than getting the full written document delivered to review separately each day.' The Green New Deal itself has become the subject of mockery online as conservatives lampooed Ocasio-Cortez for a communications rollout guide, produced by her chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti, that argued for a range of environmental remedies including phasing out all air travel and eliminating 'farting cows' from U.S. agriculture. It also proposed to guarantee economic security for Americans who are 'unwilling to work.' Ocasio-Cortez has since disclaimed that stated goal. Ocasio-Cortez claimed in a tweet, based on a year-old Washington Post story, that Trump has no standing to criticize her office's written products because he seldom reads intelligence briefing books the so-called 'Green New Deal' had a chaotic rollout, plagued by the premature release of a list of talking points that included advocating for the gradual elimination of airline travel and 'farting cows,' along with a promise of economic assistance for those Americans who are 'unwilling to work' On Monday night she appeared careful to cite the narrowly drawn Green New Deal 'House Resolution' rather than the more chaotic planning document which Chakrabarti later said was 'mistakenly' published online. That resolution, which has not attracted enough support to pass, would be non-binding. it consists of a series of 'whereas' statements and a conclusion that 15 broad actions are needed. No details or action plans are included. These six pages are the since-retracted talking points for rolling out the 'Green New Deal' Below is the vageuly worded House Resolution Ocasio-Cortez defended Monday night. It is more aspirational than practical. The teenage girl who was pushed off a bridge by her friend last summer in a horrifying video which left her with six broken ribs and two punctured lungs has spoken out to tell of her long recovery and her conflicted feelings towards the girl who shoved her. Jordan Holgerson, 16, was pushed by her friend Taylor Smith from the Moulton Falls Bridge in Washington state last August. Holgerson was standing on the ledge and had planned to jump but backed out at the last second. Her friends were recording a video of her at the time. Jordan Holgerson is still recovering after being pushed from a 60ft bridge in Washington State last August by a friend. The 16-year-old suffered two broken ribs and punctured both her lungs when she landed on the water chest-first There are new developments in the story of a teenager seriously injured after being shoved off a tall bridge in Washington state last August, @joefryer reports. pic.twitter.com/W6noNKlvGP TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 12, 2019 She fell 60ft, smacking the water with her chest-first, and was rushed to the hospital. The speed at which she fell meant that when she hit the water, she would have suffered the same impact as if she had been hitting concrete, according to experts. Smith, who at 18 was two years older than her friend at the time, was charged with reckless endangerment afterwards and her case has dragged on since. This week, prosecutors said they had reached a plea deal with her attorneys. It is not clear how much prison time she would serve under the deal, if any. The maximum term she was facing was one year behind bars. In an interview with Today on Tuesday, Holgerson said she had mixed feelings about how she wanted her friend to be punished. 'Certain days I kind of want her to be put in jail but some days I think that might be a little too harsh,' she said. Holgerson was standing on the ledge with a group of friends, deliberating whether or not to jump, when her friend Taylor Smith pushed her Holgerson, shown above in the hospital not long after the attack, said on Tuesday that she still suffers rib pain Some of the teenager's painful injuries are shown above. Experts said the fall would have been similar to landing on concrete at the speed and height she plummeted at She said she had been hoping for 'justice' but that she is now eager for the case to draw to a close. 'So in court I was kind of hoping for justice and her being sentenced and everything just kind of being over because it's been a long process,' she said. The teenager added that she still suffers pain in her ribs as a result of the incident. 'Because ribs take so long to heal, every once and a while I'll turn and they'll pinch and hurt,' she said. Her family said earlier this week in court that they were 'OK' with the offer prosecutors had put forward. Taylor Smith, 19, is who pushed the teenager. She said last year that she never intended to hurt her friend and that she was sorry Smith is shown above in court recently. She was facing a maximum of one year in prison for reckless endangerment but has been offered a deal from prosecutors. The details of that deal have not yet been released Smith, who is now 19, previously spoke out to say she was sorry for hurting her friend and that she had never intended to cause her pain. 'I never intended to hurt her ever, nor would I intend to hurt anyone, ever. I'm sorry it worked out that way. 'I accept the charges maturely and all I can do is hope for the best for Jordan and myself,' she said last year. In the video, Jordan is filmed standing on the ledge, shaking with nerves as her friends count down for her to jump into the water. She backed out at the last minute and stood nervously, saying nothing, as they encouraged her. A young woman's voice can be heard saying 'I'm going to push you,' at one point. It is not clear if that voice was Smith's. The push was not a forceful one but was enough for the teen to lose her balance and fall as the others gasped in disbelief. Advertisement Unsteady on her feet and heading to a nightclub with her friends, these are the last confirmed pictures of missing student Libby Squire before she disappeared. The 21-year-old is seen walking towards The Welly Club in Hull trying to negotiate a slippery path from snowfall earlier that evening. She arrives at the club's student night at 11.18pm accompanied by three friends. Doormen, however, believe she may have had too much to drink and turn her away. This is the last confirmed sighting of missing student Libby Squire as she walks towards The Welly Club, in Hull, at 11.18 on January 31, trying to negotiate a slippery path from snowfall earlier that evening Libby is wearing a black dress as she is joined by three friends trying to get into the club. She seems unsteady on her feet in the CCTV footage obtained by MailOnline Having been turned away from the club by doorman who believed she was too drunk, Libby is seen less than five minutes later being led away by friends who make sure she is ok and wait with her until she is put into a cab and driven home Libby (left and right) arrived home two miles away on Wellesley Avenue at 11.29pm, although it's not believed she entered the property. She was seen on Beverley Road at 11.40pm near to a bench when a motorist stopped and offered her help A map of Hull shows the second year philosophy student's movements on the night of August 31 in Hull before she vanished Less than five-minutes later, her friends make sure she is ok and wait with her until she is put into a cab and driven home. The footage - taken on the evening of January 31 - was recorded by a camera on a business next to the club, who have allowed these images to be published by MailOnline to help find the second year philosophy student. She is 5ft 7ins tall with shoulder length brown hair and can be seen wearing a black long sleeved top, leather jacket and black denim skirt with lace. The owner of the CCTV, property agent Lukasz Rybus said: 'I want Libby to be found, to be back with her family and friends. 'This footage shows that she was dressed all in black and seems to be wearing lighter coloured trainers or boots. 'I just hope that this footage helps jog someone's memory, if it helps someone remember seeing her, that can only be a positive thing.' Libby and her friends were last seen trying to get into The Welly Club (pictured) which was holding a student night Libby arrived home about two miles away on Wellesley Avenue around 11.29pm, although it's not believed she entered the property. She was seen on Beverley Road at 11.40pm near to a bench and close to the junction with Haworth Street, when a motorist stopped and offered her help. Humberside Police believe she may have been in this area until around 12.09am. Detective Superintendent Mathew Hutchinson said: 'We are still treating Libby's disappearance as a missing person's enquiry. 'I have said previously that we are keeping an open mind as to her whereabouts and that is still very much the case. Owner of the CCTV Lukasz Rybus (pictured) said: 'I want Libby to be found, to be back with her family and friends' 'Our number one priority is to find Libby Squire and we are still conducting extensive searches and appealing for any information from the public.' Police searching for missing Libby Squire today revealed how hundreds of uniformed officers and 50 detectives are working around the clock to try and find her. So far three specialist search advisors are overseeing the operation, which includes nearly a dozen underwater officers, dog teams, support officers from neighbouring forces as well as assistance from Humberside Fire and Rescue, the Coastguard and from NPAS. Police arrested 24-year-old Polish-born butcher Pawel Relowicz, 24, a married father-of-two, last Wednesday, on suspicion of abduction. He was questioned by detectives until Sunday night when he was bailed but he remains a suspect. In a bizarre twist, Relowicz appeared at Hull Magistrates Court yesterday where he pleaded not guilty to five charges of voyeurism, burglary and outraging public decency - all unrelated to Libby's disappearance. He is accused of carrying out a sex act on himself on Wellesley Avenue, Hull, on January 19 this year - the same street where Libby lived and was last seen 12 days later. It is also alleged Relowicz burgled a house near his family home in Raglan Street between January 25 and January 28 this year and stole sex toys, condoms, knickers and photographs from inside. He is also accused of stealing three vibrators, a PS4 console and 20in cash in two other robberies in 2017. And on January 23, 2018, Relowicz allegedly observed another person doing a private act knowing that person had not consented for his own sexual gratification. He was remanded in custody by district judge Fred Rutherford. The court appearance came as police cordoned off an area of parkland close to Libby's student digs and searched what is believed to be a derelict boathouse as part of their ongoing investigation into her disappearance. Police arrested Polish-born butcher Pawel Relowicz, 24, (left and right) a married father-of-two, last Wednesday, on suspicion of Libby's abduction. He was questioned by detectives until Sunday night when he was bailed but he remains a suspect In a bizarre twist, Relowicz has since been charged with several sex offences around Hull - including one just 12 days before Libby vanished. The alleged crimes (pictured) date back to Christmas 2017 up until the eve of the student's disappearance Detectives are still searching Relowicz' terraced home in Raglan Street, which he shared with his wife and two children Officers are still searching Relowicz's rented terraced home using heat-seeking infra-red cameras and have forensically tested his silver Vauxhall Astra car. They are also examining CCTV footage, taken a few metres away from the bench where Libby was last seen which shows a male driver rolling a cigarette before helping an unseen passenger, possibly Libby, get into the car just after midnight on February 1. The man is then seen walking around to the driver's side where he gets in and pulls away. Libby's bereft parents Lisa and Russ, from High Wycombe, Bucks, are in Hull anxiously waiting for news and attended a church vigil in the city on Sunday. Relowicz's mother Marzena, meanwhile, says she has been left devastated after being told her son was remanded in custody on sex charges and burglary. The mother of eight said she was desperate to travel to England to see her son, but said she could not afford the air fare. Police search a cordoned of section of woodland next to an abandoned building at the Oak Road playing fields and a forensics officer takes away evidence in a bag Teams of Humberside Police officers have been searching the student area of Hull where she lived including the Oak Road playing fields next to her house where they have been lifting drains An electronic billboard van was parked near to where Libby lives in Hull pleading for information about the missing student 'I so want to see Pawel to find out what has been going on. I want to go to England, but do not have the money', she said. 'I was told by my daughter we had to get 2,000 for bail money but we do not even have those means. I do not have that money.' Marzena, 52, said she had only spoken briefly to her daughter in law since her son's arrest. Speaking at the family home in the village of Warszewice, Marzena said she did not understand why her son was charged with voyeurism and public indecency. She added: 'I am a Catholic. I do not understand what he has done. 'It's the first time in my life I have even heard of someone doing something like that. I have children, I know what they get up to, never in my life did I see anything like that in my son. 'That's not my boy. I don't recognize anything about that behaviour.' Advertisement Crystal-clear mugshots of Scots criminals from the 1880s are set to go on display for the first time - including a thief who was imprisoned for stealing a book of Burns' poetry. The black-and-white photographs show criminals just before they were released from HM General Prison in Perth, and give a vivid insight into their state of mind. More than 900 convicts were pictured, around a third of them women, to help police track them as they moved around Scotland. Before the days of DNA testing or fingerprinting, the only way police could identify criminals was by taking photographs and writing a description of their crimes. Robbers, housebreakers and petty thieves were caught on camera, with many wearing frayed clothes indicating their lowly social status. But others included the director of the City of Glasgow Bank, James Fleming, who was convicted for his part in 'notorious' bank frauds of 1878. He was imprisoned for eight months, with his crimes affecting up to 100 families. And drunken Jane Paul, of Dundee, was jailed for ten months after stealing a Free Church hymn book and a book of Robert Burns' poems. Also featured in the album was Catherine O'Hara, who was described in the papers as 'an exceedingly miserable old woman' after she appeared in court in February 1882 to plead guilty to stealing from a bleaching green. The mugshots are set to go on show as part of the Granite Noir crime writing festival in Aberdeen this month. Margaret Robertson, 35, (left) was jailed for stealing 18 bottles of porter from a cellar in Strathbungo, Glasgow. James Nicol Fleming, director of the City of Glasgow Bank, (right) was convicted for his part in a series of bank frauds in 1878. He was imprisoned for eight months, with his crimes affecting up to 100 families Helen Duffy received six months for leading a gang of women who assaulted and robbed Archibald Duncan, a Glasgow-based chief mate (the top officer on a merchant ship). Catherine O'Hara was described in the papers as 'an exceedingly miserable old woman' after she appeared in court in February 1882 to plead guilty to stealing from a bleaching green (an outdoor area where clothes were kept to dry). O'Hara, who had ten other convictions for offences committed over a two-year period, was sentenced to nine months in HMP Perth Alexander Thompson was imprisoned for nine months in 1880 for stealing a library book. A drunken Jane Paul, of Dundee, was jailed for ten months after stealing a Free Church hymn book and a book of Robert Burns' poems. City archivist Phil Astley said mugshots were a new technology at the time. He added: 'The photography of prisoners may have been given impetus by theories of criminal physiology, such as individual criminals sharing certain facial or cranial characteristics' Matilda Brown, was found guilty of the assault and robbery of Italian seaman Angelo Moracen in a house in Lawson's Wynd, Leith, Edinburgh, in August 1881. A story in a newspaper detailed how Mr Moracen was robbed of a sovereign, two shillings, a matchbox and a sleeve line. For this, Brown was sentenced to 12 month's imprisonment. Margaret Robertson pleaded guilty to stealing eighteen bottles of porter from a cellar in Matilda-place, Strathbungo Euphemia Cameron, or Osborne, was remitted to the Sheriff charged with three separate acts of theft aggravated by previous convictions. She burgled several houses in the suburbs and stole various items of clothing, such as coats, plaids, shawls, jackets and ulsters, which had been left hanging in the lobbies of the houses. Mary Reilly was convicted of theft by housebreaking and sentenced to seven years imprisonment Luke Gillon and James Ferguson were convicted of stealing a tartan plaid, a silk plaid, and a pair of trousers from a saleroom in Park Street, Plantation, Govan. Archivist Phil Astley said: 'The frayed clothes of many of those featured hint at their low social status. At a time when portrait photography was in its infancy and most pictures of people were formal, studio images, this collection is a glimpse of a section of society that otherwise rarely features in images of the time' The glamorous world of Barbie just became a whole lot more welcoming for children with disabilities, after Mattel announced the launch of new disabled dolls, one of which has a prosthetic leg, while the other is in a wheelchair. Set to debut in the fall, the new diverse Barbie dolls will join the ever-expanding 'Fashionistas' collection - a range that includes characters of different shapes, sizes, and races. 'Over the years, the #Barbie #Fashionistas line has evolved to be more reflective of the world girls see around them,' a post on Barbie's official Instagram account explained. The wheelchair and prosthetic leg Barbies will be added to the Fashionistas range in the fall The company previously released a disabled doll in the form of Becky the Paralympic champion, which debuted in the 1990s 'Were excited to expand our offerings as the most diverse and inclusive doll line in the world. Shop the new Fashionistas this Fall!' Mattel's vice president Kim Culmone told Teen Vogue: 'Were going to be introducing a doll in a wheelchair and a doll representing physical disabilities. She has a prosthetic limb.' She added that there will also be 'additional body sizes' added to the Fashionistas range a Barbie with a smaller bust and one with a less-defined waist. However, it was noted that a wheelchair accessory or a doll in a wheelchair 'was one of the most requested items through our consumer hotline'. 'It's important to us to listen to our consumers,' Kim added. The Fashionistas line of dolls which the disabled dolls will join feature 'even more skin tones, body types, hairstyles and fashions'. The range of Barbies was launched in 2009 and introduced new body types; as of today parents can buy their children Original, Tall, Curvy and Petite dolls. Prices range from $10 up to $30. Trend setters: The Fashionistas line of dolls includes characters of different heights, skin tones, body shapes and sizes Way back when: In 1997, Mattel introduced Share a Smile Becky, who was also in a wheelchair, however the toy was discontinued after ongoing issues with design In addition they advertised how there were more than a hundred 'diverse' looks at launch, with those numbers growing with the addition of the disabled Barbies. Mattel - which owns the iconic doll - said: 'The Barbie brand has always reflected the times.' 'Shero': Hijabi fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad had a doll created in her image back in 2017 And it's not just Barbie who has been given something of a makeover; the Ken doll - Barbie's longtime boyfriend - has also been revamped with three new body types: Original, Broad and Slim. It is not the brand's first foray into making disabled Barbies, with a Paralympic champion named Becky having been launched in the 1990s. In 1997, the company also launched Share a Smile Becky, a brown-haired doll that sat in a wheelchair. However, the product was discontinued not long after because of ongoing issues with its design. Mattel has also been trying to immortalize inspirational women from many different professions and walks of life; in 2017, Barbie launched a hijab-wearing doll that was based on Olympic bronze medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad of the US fencing team. The hijab Barbie can be bought for $30.99 and accessories such as Nike shoes can be added to her look. Plus-size model Ashley Graham has also received her own Barbie doll, as has gymnast Gabby Douglas. The father of a six-year-old girl whose naked body was found dumped in woodland has told a court he was watching porn with his girlfriend the night she disappeared. Alesha MacPhail was found dead near a house where she was staying with family on the Isle of Bute in Scotland last July. A 16-year-old boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, denies taking her from her bed, raping and murdering her and is on trial at Glasgow High Court. Today her father Robert, 26, who split up with her mother Georgina when Alesha was just three months old, told a jury she had been staying with him at his parents's flat and he last saw her when he put her to bed with a Peppa Pig DVD and told her 'see you in the morning'. He then went to his room and watched porn with his girlfriend Toni-Louise McLachlan, and only learned Alesha was missing the next morning when his parents alerted him. Alesha's grandfather Calum MacPhail, 49, had to compose himself in court during questioning as he spoke about the last time he saw little Alesha. It was he who alerted the family to her being missing. The tearful grandfather told the court the last time he saw the girl was when she came in and jumped on his bed the night before she was discovered. He told the court her last words to him were: 'Goodnight, grandpa.' The next morning he got up for work at around 6am but could not find Alesha in bed. He alerted the family and told the court: 'We searched under beds, in wardrobes, but there was no sign of her anywhere.' The grandfather soon hit the streets of Bute to look for Alesha. Alesha's grandparents Calum MacPhail, 49, and Angela King, 47, pictured, also told the court about the horror moment they realised she was missing from their home Robert MacPhail, 26, left, told a court he last saw his daughter Alesha, right, the night before she was found dead on the Isle of Bute in Scotland, telling her he would 'see her soon' and putting her to bed with a Peppa Pig DVD He eventually spotted police tape at an area cordoned off. An officer was keeping guard at a stairs heading towards the island's former Kyles Hydropathic Hotel. Mr McSporran: 'Did you assume anything?' He said: 'On seeing a paramedic running up and down stairs, I assumed they had found something...Alesha or someone else.' Alesha's father also revealed to the jury he knew the accused and claimed he had previously sold him cannabis, telling the court he had sent him a Facebook message asking for drugs on the night in question. Alesha was staying with her father, pictured outside Glasgow High Court, at his parents' home in Scotland but disappeared overnight while he was 'watching porn with his girlfriend' A teenage boy, 16, is accused of raping and murdering Alesha and Mr MacPhail, left, admitted he knew him and had 'sold him cannabis'. The court also heard he had split up with the girl's mother Georgina Lochrane, right, three months after she was born Mr MacPhail said the teenager was 'messaging him asking for drugs on the day she was abducted'. He said his daughter had been enjoying a summer holiday with her grandparents on Rothesay and had attended a party in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, before returning to the island. A series of messages were then sent by the accused to Mr MacPhail at around 1.39am, which the father said he was 'not aware of' until later in the day. Mr MacPhail added the teen had never been in the house but 'might have been at the front door of the flat'. He said: 'He sent messages from his Facebook account and he tried to call me. 'There was messages from him and his sister's accounts that night.' Asked if he received the messages while awake, sent around 1:39am on July 2 last year, Mr MacPhail replied: 'No, I wasn't aware of getting them at that time.' Mr McSporran said: 'Why would he contact you?' Mr MacPhail said: 'He wanted cannabis.' Ms Lochrane, pictured, was among family members who left the court briefly today as graphic photos of Alesha's body were shown to the jury He admitted having sold cannabis to the accused's sister, but said he stopped selling drugs to the teenage boy three months earlier after intervention from the boy's mother. When asked about reports by a neighbour of domestic abuse occurring between him and his girlfriend, Mr MacPhail denied the claim. Mr MacPhail, who told the court he met Toni when she was 16 and got back together with her six weeks before his daughter's death, said: 'We were arguing all the time. 'But there wasn't any abuse.' He said Alesha was only allowed out by herself to play on a trampoline in the garden. Mr MacPhail later recalled the moment he realised she was missing and said he had searched the taxi rank and ferry port with his girlfriend. His mother posted a message on Facebook asking for information, while Mr McPhail and his girlfriend went out on foot. The search came to an end when they saw an ambulance near the scene. He told the court police refused to tell them anything and escorted them to a police station. Mr MacPhail added his daughter 'loved' spending time on his home island, going to the beach and playing at the park. Asked about Alesha's relationship with Ms McLachlan, he said it was 'great'. 'They both loved each other to bits,' he said. Alesha's body was found in woodland on the Isle of Bute, pictured, and forensic teams found a knife and men's clothing nearby The family begged for information before being told to go the local police station. An emotional Mr MacPhail then told the court how the news of Alesha's death was delivered by officers. He said: 'We were put into a room. Five minutes later, a police officer said: 'We have found her, but that she had passed.'.' At that point, prosecutor Mr McSporran told Calum: 'Take a moment to compose yourself.' His wife Angela King, 47, later described the child as a 'beautiful, beautiful happy girl'. She remembered her husband pleading with police during the hunt for the girl. She said: 'Calum said: 'If that's my granddaughter up there, I want to know'.' She was later asked in cross examination by the boy's QC Mr McConnachie of being aware of her son Robert's apparent drug dealing. Mrs King said: 'He never admitted it, but I had my suspicions.' The 16-year-old accused of Alesha's murder has lodged a special defence blaming Ms McLachlan for her death. It came after members of the jury were shown the horrific pictures of her body, with members of her family leaving the court before they were revealed. The court heard forensic officers, pictured, found a kitchen knife nearby at the scene Photos also showed a kitchen knife and several items of male clothing, including a pair of men's boxer shorts, jogging bottoms and a hooded top, which were discovered near her body. Images showed an inside-out pair of men's grey jogging bottoms with a pair of men's boxer shorts inside. They were found on a stretch of shoreline a short distance from the place where Alesha's body was discovered. The jury was shown images from inside the accused's kitchen, and advocate depute Iain McSporran told the court that the knife found on the beach resembled those found in the house. Shots of inside the stairwell leading up to the MacPhail's third floor flat showed a child's pushchair and a doll. Brian Ferguson, a scene examination supervisor, said a black hooded top was also found by a member of the public further along the beach from where the trousers and briefs were found. Mr Ferguson first visited the island on July 4 and was tasked with taking photographs of items of clothing in the early hours of July 5. Mr Ferguson said: 'Garments were found on the beach by near the shore road by a member of public. 'I believe the top had been had been taken in possession by the police.' He added: 'It was found in a bin area behind Rothesay police office.' The teenager denies taking the child from her bed before assaulting and murdering her. He also denies attempting to defeat the ends of justice by disposing of clothing and a knife. The trial continues. A serial offender who kept a crime diary of all his thefts was finally arrested for stealing alcohol - and Missouri police couldn't resist adding their own entry. Ballwin Police Department shared a photograph of the journal, which features a list of stolen items next to their values, in a weekly roundup on Facebook. But where the entry should have been for February 6, officers had written 'ARRESTED - MUAHAHAHAHA'. Ballwin Police Department shared a photograph of the journal, which appears to feature a list of stolen items next to their values, in a weekly roundup report on Facebook The man, who was not identified, was arrested last Wednesday after numerous reports of stolen alcohol in Ballwin. He was then identified as the 'serial thief' mentioned in previous posts and the journal was found among his possessions. The book detailed apparent thefts from December 13 - when five bottles of Jose Cuervo and two bottles of Grey Goose were noted - to the day of his arrest. On Christmas Eve, the thief named eight bottles, including three half-gallon bottles of Grey Goose. A Ballwin Police Department spokesperson said: 'Officers responded to numerous reports of stolen alcohol from businesses in Ballwin. 'The suspect was located and arrested after officers observed him and his backpack full of alcohol clanging down the sidewalk alongside Manchester Road. 'The suspect was identified as the serial thief featured in previous weekly roundups, who keeps a journal of his crimes. 'His entry for February 6th was left blank, so we filled it in for him.' Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Congress leader in the House Mallikarjun Kharge levelled the allegations against the BJP leadership. New Delhi: The Karnataka horse-trading allegations resonated in the Lok Sabha on Monday with the Congress citing a purported audio clip of BJP state unit chief B.S. Yeddyurappa to accuse the BJP of trying to lure ruling coalition MLAs. However, the charge was firmly rejected by Union minister Sadananda Gowda. Congress MPs including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, staged a wal-kout from the House over the issue but returned a few minutes later. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Congress leader in the House Mallikarjun Kharge levelled the allegations against the BJP leadership. Mr Kharge, who is an MP from the state, claimed that there are references that the Speaker of the state assembly and even a judge could be managed.At this point, BJP members from the state, including former law minister Sadananda Gowda, objected. Former prime minister and JD(S) leader H D Deve Gowda who was also present in the house said that things like Operation Kamala should not happen in the country. Operation Kamala is a reference to win over MLAs from rival parties into the BJP. South Africa: Parliament hosts 4th Industrial Revolution exhibition The exhibition to showcase South Africa's readiness for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIR) kicks off in Parliament this morning. Held under the theme 4th Industrial Revolution: Demonstrating South Africa's Readiness, the exhibition will see the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and its entities, including the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), showcasing research and development done as part of 4IR. Other government departments and industry leaders will feature with projects such as the Wheat Breeding Platform based at the University of Stellenbosch and technologies involving 3D printing, robotics, artificial intelligence and big data on full display. South Africa's response to the 4th Industrial Revolution is informed by the country's socio-economic imperatives. Parliament says it has noted that the national system of innovation (NSI) has been active in developing a range of technologies designed to address real-life South African problems. The exhibition will culminate in a roundtable discussion on Friday. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-02-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. More festivals could get axed after a new legislation requiring organisers to spend more money on paramedics and police presence is introduced. A 'user-pay' bill will be handed to organisers for mandatory police, medical and ambulance services as part of the changes introduced in New South Wales next month. Festivals will also be placed into low-risk and high-risk categories, with more expensive fees to be given to festivals deemed high-risk. 'Unless the festival agrees to the police bill, they will be denied their festival licence,' a leaked slide from the meeting read. The new legislation, to be implemented on March 1, could cost festival organisers hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to news.com.au. More festivals could get axed after a new legislation requiring organisers to spend more money on paramedics and police presence is introduced Festivals will also be placed into low-risk and high-risk categories, with more expensive fees to be given to festivals deemed high-risk (stock image) A representative of state music body Music NSW presented the new legislation to festival stakeholders in a meeting in Redfern on Monday night. Organisers will be required to apply for a license no less than 90 days from the event, which can also be cancelled at any point during the 90-day period. Aside from approving a festival's liquor license, Liquor and Gambling NSW will now have full control over the management of music festivals in the state. Festival organisers will have to provide 'extensive detail on all operation components of their festival including security and harm minimisation' in their application to apply for a license, as stated in the slides. Liquor and Gambling NSW will also give each festival a profile, in addition to mandatory conditions that will be given once a festival has been placed in a risk category. The New South Wales government imposed the changes after it had been in the spotlight following the overdose deaths of many young people attending music events. Six revellers have died over the past several months - five of which from suspected drug overdoses. The new laws were said to be 'infinitely worse' than the state's tight lockout laws, according to an industry insider. Large-scale music festivals could acquire massive fees reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars, on top of a proposed additional fee that would cover the cost of 'administration fees' of 60 cents and two dollars per ticket sold. However, Music NSW voiced out their group's concern, saying that the governments changes went ahead without industry consultation. The group also pointed out that the changes give market advantage to concerts over festivals, which could be detrimental to the festival business. Festival organisers will have to provide 'extensive detail on all operation components of their festival including security and harm minimisation' in their application to apply for a license, as stated in the slides (pictured) One of the concerns pointed out was that the new legislation gives market advantage to concerts over festivals, which could be detrimental to the festival business 'Unless the festival agrees to the police bill, they will be denied their festival licence,' a leaked slide from the meeting read (pictured) The state government also went ahead without completing a Regulatory Impact Statement. Any event with a capacity of over 2000 people, with multiple music acts occurring over a five-hour period, will be classified as a festival and will be subject to the new laws. The announcement comes after two festivals in the state, Mountain Sounds and PSYFARI, cancelled their 2019 events after it cited a 'war on festivals' by the state government. Byron Bay festival Bluesfest also announced it will move out of the state if the government continues with plans to slap extra licensing fees. In a scathing open letter, Bluesfest Director Peter Noble accused Premier Gladys Berejiklian of being 'hell-bent' on destroying festivals. 'I charge the government with a systemic failure in fairness here, and implore all politicians from all parties to quickly become involved with what is a serious injustice,' he wrote. A 'user-pay' bill will be given for mandatory police, medical and ambulance services as part of the changes that will be introduced in New South Wales next month The New South Wales government imposed the changes after it had been in the spotlight following the overdose deaths of many young people attending music events (stock image) 'Why do you seem to be hell-bent on destroying our industry? We provide culture to the people of this state, and Australia, through our good works.' Mr Noble said most festivals had no drug deaths and were not recognised for presenting well-run events that contribute to society. 'It seems the new policies are poorly thought-out and through their implementation will decimate our industry should our government not see good sense,' he wrote. 'I have in my 50 years in presenting music never experienced such poorly thought out, unbalanced legislation. 'Surely a professional governing body could do better. It's the Lockout Laws Version 2 for festivals.' Owners of multi-million pound flats overlooked by the Tate Modern have lost their High Court bid to stop 'hundreds and thousands of visitors' seeing into their homes. The leaseholders of four apartments at the Neo Bankside development on London's South Bank claimed the gallery's 360-degree viewing platform 'unreasonably interferes with their use of their flats'. Five claimants sought an injunction demanding the Tate prevent visitors from being able to see inside their flats by 'cordoning off' parts of the platform or 'erecting screening'. But lawyers for the world famous art gallery advised they simply 'draw the blinds and put up curtains' and their nuisance and privacy claims were thrown out by the judge. Owners of multi-million pound flats (pictured right) overlooked by the Tate Modern (left) have lost their High Court battle to stop 'hundreds of thousands of visitors' seeing directly into their homes when visiting its viewing platform Passing judgement in London today, Mr Justice Mann dismissed the claim, saying: 'I have rejected the claim in privacy and I have rejected the claim in nuisance. 'These properties are impressive, and no doubt there are great advantages to be enjoyed in such extensive glassed views, but that in effect comes at a price in terms of privacy.' Residents were fighting against the viewing platform built as part of the multi-million Tate Modern extension in 2016. The enclosed walkway that goes round all four sides of the Blavatnik Building offers '360-degree views of London' After the ruling a Tate spokesman said the viewing platform is fundamental to the gallery's public offering, but it would be mindful of its neighbours in the future. They said outside court: 'The Level 10 viewing platform is an important part of Tate Modern's public offer and we are pleased it will remain available to our visitors. 'We continue to be mindful of the amenity of our neighbours and the role Tate Modern has to play in the local community. 'We are grateful to Mr Justice Mann for his careful consideration of this matter.' A photograph taken from the viewing platform in 2016 shows how visitors can see into the apartments at Neo Bankside The extension to the Tate Modern, which opened in 2016, features an enclosed walkway around all four sides of the building offering '360 degree views of London' (pictured) In a statement after the ruling, a solicitor for the residents said they were considering an appeal against the decision. Natasha Rees, partner and head of property litigation at Forsters said: 'Whilst we are pleased that the law of nuisance has been expanded permitting a breach of privacy to lead to a nuisance claim, we are extremely disappointed with today's result. 'The limited steps taken by the Tate to prevent visitors viewing into my clients' apartments are ineffective and both my clients and their families will have to continue to live with this daily intrusion into their privacy. 'We are considering an appeal to the Court of Appeal.' Mr Justice Mann added: 'It is unusual for a nuisance claim to be met by the defendant saying that the claimant could take remedial steps to avoid the consequences of the act, but this is an unusual case.' 'Susceptibilities and tastes differ, and in recognition of the fact that privacy might sometimes require to be enhanced it has become acceptable to expect those wishing to enhance it to protect their own interest. I refer, for example, to net curtains.' At a hearing in London in November, Guy Fetherstonhaugh QC, for the Tate, argued the residents were demanding the closure of a well-valued public resource. He added that London's Southbank 'will no doubt have contributed to the value' of the flats at Neo Bankside, which sell for between 2million to 19million. He also said residents 'cannot pick and choose' which aspects of local developments they do or do not like. Lindsay Urquhart who lives in the block said: 'It breaks my heart to think that on the rare occasion that I have forgotten to draw the blinds, and my daughter has been in the kitchen or living room, that people have been able to film and photograph my little girl in her own home and to upload the images onto the internet for anyone to see. 'I feel as though my life revolves around the viewing platform's opening hours.' Her neighbour Gerald Kraftman, said: 'I worry where the images [taken by visitors] will end up, particularly when I have children and grandchildren in the apartment, so I tend to always keep the blinds closed.' Mr Kraftman said that 'if this claim is unsuccessful, I feel, very regretfully, that I will have no option but to try to sell my apartment'. The viewing platform seems to give a perfect view of Neo Bankside apartments (pictured) Today a London Judge threw the privacy and nuisance claims out of court. Pictured is the inside of flats as seen from the viewing platform A picture shows the central London location of the multi-million pound apartments (left), which sit on the other side of the River Thames to St Paul's Cathedral (right) The residents' legal team argued visitors 'subject the flats to an unusually intense visual scrutiny', with some 'using binoculars and zoom lenses' to look into residents' homes. One claimant said in written evidence to the court: 'When our blinds are open and the viewing platform is in use, we are more or less constantly watched, waved at, photographed and filmed by people on the viewing platform.' Another said that 'on one occasion, he counted 84 people photographing the flats over a period of just over one-and-a-half hours'. He also 'discovered that a photo of himself had been posted on Instagram to 1,027 followers', their lawyer added. He submitted that 'the use by the public of the viewing platform makes, at most, only a modest contribution to [the Tate's] performance of its statutory objects'. He also claimed that 'very little of value would be lost' if visitors were excluded from the overlooking parts of the platform. Mr Fetherstonhaugh, for the Tate, said 'the claimants' remedy for what they perceive to be a nuisance lies in their own hands'. He added that the claimants complained about having to draw the blinds or put up curtains, but pointed out that 'there is no right to a view'. Visitors are pictured looking out across London from the 360-degree viewing platform A photograph taken from the viewing platform shows how visitors can look directly into the flats at the Neo Bankside development on London's South Bank A promising young student studying neuroscience at university has admitted to trying to smuggle over 100 MDMA capsules into a Sydney dance festival in her underwear. Tracey Nguyen, 20, pleaded guilty to trying to bring the 114 capsules, held in a yellow condom, into the Defqon. 1 festival in September last year. The court heard she had texted a friend 'Gurl I'm so scared' before she was caught and had become nervous and erratic after a police sniffer dog focused on her at the gates to the event. A promising young student studying neuroscience has admitted to trying to smuggle over 100 MDMA capsules into a Sydney's Defqon. 1 festival (pictured) in her underwear Nguyen was strip searched and placed under arrest, telling authorities 'I'm innocent, I didn't do anything,' according to The Daily Telegraph. However, in subsequent police interviews she said the capsules contained 'M,' a street name for MDMA, and that she found them in a park. Police say that messages found on her phone included one she sent which read, 'Gurl would u be able to get off someone else inside. I'm alrdy brining 12.34g. Im soo scared coz its my first time for dq. But ive done a few indoor before. And everyone says dq has 30 dogs. And 100 polices.' They say the contact wrote back: 'I don't know if he has more that's the thing. There's like 2-3 dogs max. But yes there's heaps of cops.' The event has become notorious after two attendees of the festival died after ingesting substances. Daily Mail does not suggest Ms Nguyen's smuggling was in any way connected to the fatalities. The 20-year-old pleaded guilty in Penrith Local Court on Tuesday to drug supply and will be sentenced in March. A man has been arrested after he shocked neighbors by projecting porn onto his garage door on their leafy Virginia street as kids played nearby. Antonio Smallwood, 41, was hauled in on Wednesday evening after he gave the outdoor screening of an adult film in a leafy Newport News street around 7pm. The police tried to serve Smallwood with a summons when they saw the explicit content beaming out of the projector. But he refused to sign the document and was arrested. Antonio Smallwood, 41, was arrested at around 7pm last Wednesday when police discovered him projecting pornography onto his garage door 79th Street in Newport News Virginia - a family neighborhood which was shocked by Smallwood's obscene display One neighbor, Marquita White told ABC: 'Very disappointing and very unbelievable that somebody would be that bold to show something like that, openly, in a family neighborhood with kids playing around.' Parents reported that the pornography was not only of a professional standard but also audible. Residents told the broadcaster that Smallwood had exhibited bizarre behavior on other occasions, shouting random words. One neighbor described how Smallwood recently had a massive bonfire on his front driveway. Smallwood's projector has been left lying in front of the garage since his arrest. He is being held at the local jail and is charged with obscene sexual display and obstructing justice. A teenager was rushed to hospital after an acid attack outside an Essex train station last night. The 19-year-old was attacked on South Street, Romford at approximately 8.10pm yesterday. The Metropolitan Police said the young man had a noxious thrown at him. A 19-year-old man was attacked with a noxious substance outside Romford train station around 8.10pm yesterday. He was rushed to hospital for emergency treatment after the attack. The Metropolitan Police said they are appealing for witnesses to come forward The attack happened on South Street, Romford at around 8.10pm yesterday. The Metropolitan Police said no arrests have yet been made in connection with the investigation. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: 'Detectives from East Area CID are investigating after noxious substance thrown at man in South Street Romford. We were called at 20:10hrs Monday and the man was taken to hospital 'We await an update on his condition.' Anyone with information is asked to contact 101 quoting reference CAD 7004/11Feb. The incident is the latest violent incident in London. On Sunday, 39-year-old Dennis Anderson from Lewisham was stabbed to death in the early hours of Sunday morning. On Saturday afternoon, four people were arrested in Hayes - including two teenage boys - following the stabbing of a 16-year-old boy. The victim was rushed to hospital by air ambulance where his condition is described as 'not life-threatening'. A few hours later, a 17-year-old boy was shot in Isleworth, west London. He was taken to hospital where he is in a critical condition. Paige and her boyfriend William (pictured) were baffled to be given sweetcorn in a bread roll in the Midlands A couple who ordered a corn on the cob from their local takeaway were baffled to be served a bread roll filled with sweetcorn. Paige Hart, 24, and boyfriend William Maddock, 32, popped into a local takeaway in the Midlands, where a bread roll is known commonly known as a 'cob'. They placed a 14 order - including a 3.50 dish of corn on the cob - before returning to their flat in Carlton, Nottingham. But when Page got home she discovered she'd been given sweetcorn on a bread roll. She said: 'Me and William wanted something to eat before we got home and couldn't be bothered to cook. 'It's a bit like Nando's so we ordered our chicken. 'I turned to William and said I fancied I corn on the cob so I asked the guy behind the counter if he did it. 'At first he looked at me a bit weird and said "of course darling" and bagged it up. Paige was stunned when she opened her takeaway packaging to discover sweetcorn on bread (pictured) 'We were just gobsmacked. We were both in stitches as he took it so literally. What some people call baps we call cobs so he took it literally.' Last year a YouGov study revealed how more than 50 per cent of people in Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire use the word 'cob' for a bread roll. 'The thing is it didn't even have butter on,' said Paige. 'And I still was really craving a corn on the cob. 'It's not nice without butter. We didn't eat it in the end. We took a few pics and put it in the bin.' More than 200 Southern Baptist Church officials and volunteers have been found guilty of sex abuse over the past two decades, a report said. Ministers, pastors, deacons, volunteers and Sunday school teachers were among those named by the Houston Chronicle in an expansive investigation of abuse in the church. Around 250 church leaders and volunteers have been charged - but roughly 380 have faced allegations of sexual misconduct since 1998. Ministers, pastors, deacons, volunteers and Sunday school teachers were among those named in an expansive investigation of abuse in the Southern Baptist Church There are believed to be as many as 700 victims, with some of them as young as three years old, a year-long investigation found. 'Many of the victims were adolescents who were molested, sent explicit photos or texts, exposed to pornography, photographed nude, or repeatedly raped by youth pastors,' the report said. 'Some victims as young as three were molested or raped inside pastors' studies and Sunday school classrooms.' But while the majority of those convicted of sex crimes are now registered offenders, the report also discovered that 35 pastors, employees and volunteers suspected of predatory behavior still found work at churches. Church leaders had also failed to alert authorities about complaints or allegations of misconduct in some cases, the report said. JD Greear, the 62nd president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said he was 'broken' over Sunday's report. He wrote: 'I am broken over what was revealed today. The abuses described in this Houston Chronicle article are pure evil. J D Greear, the 62nd president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said he was 'broken' over Sunday's report 'I join with countless others who are currently "weeping with those who weep." 'The voices in this article should be heard as a warning sent from God, calling the church to repent. 'As Christians, we are called to expose everything sinful to the light. The survivors in this article have done thatat a personal cost few of us can fathom. 'We must admit that our failures, as churches, put these survivors in a position where they were forced to stand alone and speak, when we should have been fighting for them. 'Their courage is exemplary and prophetic. But I grieve that their courage was necessary.' Pastor Wade Burleson, 57, proposed the creation of a sexual predator database for the second time in June last year. There are believed to be as many as 700 victims, with some of them as young as three years old, a year-long investigation found The Southern Baptist Convention, a fellowship of more than 47,000 Baptist churches, then passed a resolution condemning predators in support of the victims, NBCNews reported. It said: 'We call on all persons perpetrating and enabling abuse to repent and confess their sin to Jesus Christ and to church authorities and to confess their crimes to civil authorities.' Speaking of the new report, Burleson said: 'The thing that makes me saddest is that we didnt do it ourselves. 'Thats why you need a free press in America.' Drug lord Tony Mokbel was walking past a 21st birthday party when he was allegedly stabbed in a prison brawl. Mokbel was allegedly ambushed by a group of Pacific Islanders and stabbed in the upper-body in the yard of Victoria's Barwon Prison on Monday afternoon. He had earlier been offered to move into protection, after a report he was embroiled in a feud with Islanders, but refused. Drug Kingpin Tony Mokbel (pictured in 2007) was allegedly ambushed by a group of Pacific Islanders and stabbed and stomped Mokbel was allegedly bashed and stabbed while walking past a 21st birthday party One of the two men charged is believed to be the inmate whose birthday was being celebrated, The Herald Sun reports. He and the other 21-year-old accused will appear in Geelong Magistrates Court for a filing hearing on Friday. Mokbel was allegedly set upon by the group as he was returning to his cell after seeing a visitor. Many of the 53-year-old's alleged attackers are said to have stood over and mocked him as he bled on the ground. He was allegedly stabbed with crudely-made shivs - one of which was allegedly hidden inside a zucchini - and stomped in the head. He remains in the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a critical condition after undergoing emergency surgery. Guards at Barwon Prison (pictured) reportedly offered Mokbel protection, which he declined The 53-year-old gangland figure was allegedly set upon by two inmates on Monday afternoon at Victoria's Barwon Prison and airlifted to hospital (pictured) Mokbel's stepdaughter says the drug kingpin is a 'soldier' and will survive the alleged jail yard stabbing that has left him fighting for life in hospital. Brittany Lee McGuire, 22, who is the daughter of Mokbel's ex-partner Danielle, told the Herald Sun on Tuesday: 'He is fine. He is a soldier... We just want him to get better.' The maximum-security prison, near Geelong, remained in lockdown following the alleged stabbing as new details about the incident emerge. It's understood three inmates came to Mokbel's aid, where Steven Logan, 31, was also injured in the alleged attack. Victoria Police said the injured man was released from Geelong Hospital on Tuesday morning and has since returned to Barwon Prison. A pair of 21-year-olds were with charged with attempted murder, intentionally causing serious injury and causing serious injury intentionally in circumstances of gross violence. Mokbel (pictured) underwent emergency surgery on Monday night following the alleged attack Seven News also claims prison management knew Mokbel's life was potentially in danger, where staff were recently briefed on intelligence that an attack was likely. A close friend of Mokbel's, who wished to remain anonymous, questioned the timing of the alleged attack. 'Tony's done several years in prison now, many years without any problems or issues and all the sudden within a few days of the Royal Commission starting, he gets attacked and viciously almost killed,' she told Seven News. 'So you've really got to wonder about the timing of this all.' Mokbel is seen in 2008 arriving at the Supreme Court in Athens, where he unsuccessfully fought his extradition to Australia Corrections Commissioner Emma Cassar said good quality security camera footage of the alleged incident showed Mokbel walking towards a unit in the mainstream compound of the jail when he was allegedly attacked. 'He was approached by two prisoners who assaulted him, knocked him to the ground and you can see the footage very clearly, showing a number of stabbing actions,' she told 3AW on Tuesday. 'Another prisoner did come to Tony Mokbel's aid it seems, and he was also injured. In terms of the relationship between those two people, it's too early to tell.' Brittany McGuire (pictured), 22, is the daughter of Mokbel's ex-partner Danielle Brittany McGuire was seen on Tuesday at LA Hair & Salon in Port Melbourne as her stepfather fought for life in hospital Dr Cassar said authorities separated the alleged attackers within moments and placed them in a high-security unit. They will be interviewed by police and prison authorities, who will also investigate who else is involved. Three homemade weapons were recovered nearby and have been handed to police. Brittany Lee McGuire, 22, who is the daughter of Mokbel's ex-partner Danielle, said on Tuesday: 'He is fine. He is a soldier... We just want him to get better' Corrections Commissioner Emma Cassar said good quality security camera footage of the incident showed the moment Mokbel (pictured in 2007) was attacked 'These sort of incidents are unacceptable and for me, it's a real worry this has occurred,' Dr Cassar said. 'We're doing everything we can. We'll certainly wait for the Victorian police investigation and then my team will investigate, and there'll be an external review into this.' Dr Cassar said it is too early to tell if the alleged incident related to a 'powerplay' within the jail. A police source said it was understood the alleged attack was in response to a front page report, which suggested Mokbel had 'lost none of his power' in jail. Corrections Commissioner Emma Cassar (pictured) said authorities separated the alleged attackers within moments and placed them in a high-security unit Mokbel was airlifted to Royal Melbourne Hospital and was originally considered to be in a serious but stable condition, but deteriorated Before the stabbing, Mokbel was said to be getting under the skin of fellow inmates by talking about his plans to walk free from prison amid the Informer 3838 saga. Informer 3838 was a high-profile Melbourne barrister who had for years been giving information to police while representing Mokbel and six of his associates, potentially bringing their convictions into question. Dr Cassar was asked on Tuesday morning if Mokbel had been bragging about being released. 'He was very confident he'd get out of jail,' she said, adding that was 'probably' annoying other inmates. Matthew Lynn Jansen, 46, from Blaine, Anoka County, told police he shot and killed his wife A Minnesota man who called 911 and admitted to shooting his wife dead has been charged with her murder. Matthew Lynn Jansen, 46, from Blaine, Anoka County, called police late Friday evening, and told police he had shot his wife of 23 years in their home . The couple had been going through divorce proceedings, and Mary Jo Jansen, 46, had been due to move out the following day, local media reports. When police arrived at the scene on Friday evening, Jansen calmly exited the house when ordered. 'I can't believe I did it,' Jansen told officers according to KSTP.com 'I guess I don't have to worry about a divorce now.' Officers found Mrs Jansen shot dead in the couple's bedroom. Family members told police that they had 'removed firearms from the home and from Matthew after an incident in December', the website said. The Anoka County Medical Examiner determined that Mrs Jansen died from gunshot wounds to the neck and chest Jansen has been charged with second degree murder. Allowing asylum seekers held offshore to seek medical treatment in Australia will leave Australia's borders open to people smugglers, Peter Dutton has warned. The Home Affairs minister appeared on ABC's 7.30 after the government failed to block the new laws - becoming the first in 78 years to lose a vote on its own bill. The refugee transfer laws were passed in the House of Representatives by 75 votes to 74 after Labor was joined by the Greens and all independents except Bob Katter. In a fiery ten-minute exchange with presenter Leigh Sales, Mr Dutton described the unravelling of his government's border protection policies as a disaster for Australia. Asylum seeker laws passed in a historic defeat for the federal government on Tuesday have left Australia's borders open to people smugglers, Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton (pictured) has warned He also claimed Opposition leader Bill Shorten had failed his test in leading the country on border protection. While Mr Dutton said his government will abide by the legislation passed, he expressed concerns for the consequences of the deal struck between Labor, the Greens and independents. 'This puts Australia back on the map for people smugglers and Bill Shorten has that on his shoulders,' he said. 'I think Mr Shorten doesn't yet understand the full consequence of his decision tonight, but I think the Australian public do.' 'This puts Australia back on the map for people smugglers and Bill Shorten has that on his shoulders,' Dutton said 'I believe we will see boats. I think there is no question that people smugglers will be hearing very clearly that the policy in Australia has changed and I think we need to be very cognisant of that. He also claimed the new bill would allow people being held at Manus or Nauru, who have been charged with serious crimes such as murder and child sex offences, to come to Australia. ' Mr Shorten took to Twitter on Tuesday night to say the bill only applies to people who are already on Manus and Nauru. 'This means the people smugglers don't have a product to sell and can never again resume their trade in human misery,' he tweeted. 'The Australian people understand our nation can be strong on borders and still treat people humanely. We can preserve our national security and still look after people to whom we owe a duty of care. This legislation gets that balance right.' Opposition leader Bill Shorten and Prime Minister Scott Morrison have differing views over asylum seekers Mr Dutton refused to answer Sales' questions on the number of asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus charged with serious offences, adding he would only release those details if appropriate. But later in the evening details concerning four men held offshore who are charged with serious offences and could be transferred to Australia were revealed. One man suspected of being charged with murder in Iran has a violent history on Manus Island, including the alleged assault of a psychiatrist, The Daily Telegraph reported. Another man remains in custody in association with a rape of a minor on the island. A third man on Manus Island allegedly had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl, while a fourth man charged with an indecent act involving a child under the age of 16 is yet to appear in court. Mr Dutton refused to answer Sales' questions on the number of asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus charged with serious offences, adding he would only release those details if appropriate But Mr Shorten said the bill ensures the government has the power to deny criminals and national security risks entry to Australia. The amendments passed the lower house on Tuesday evening, and will go to the Senate for approval on Wednesday. 'Today is such an important day for sick people needing medical care they are unable to receive on Manus Island and Nauru,' independent MP Dr Kerryn Phelps, tweeted. 'Thank you to all of the many people who contributed to this remarkable community campaign. Senate tomorrow.' Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed the laws will be given royal assent in the normal way, but he had some parting words for the opposition leader. Presenter Leigh Sales (pictured) clashed with Home Minister Peter Dutton several times in a heated exchange when he appeared on ABC's 7.30 on Saturday night 'The Australian people have looked at Bill Shorten today and they have found him weak, and he is,' Mr Morrison told reporters. Mr Morrison is already promising 'contingency' measures to ensure the new laws don't undermine Operation Sovereign Borders. 'The Labor Party have failed to learn their lessons of failure when they had responsibility for border protection in this country,' Mr Morrison said. But Mr Shorten said borders can remain strong while the nation also looks after people in Australia's care. 'I believe we can keep our borders secure, we can uphold national security, but still treat people humanely,' Mr Shorten told parliament. The amendments passed the lower house on Tuesday evening, and will go to the Senate for approval on Wednesday (pictured are asylum seekers on Manus) The company says it will emerge as another Accenture and will have $1 billion in revenues by 2022. Bangalore: Tholons Digital, a global leader in digital strategy and transformation consulting, founded by Avinash Vashishtha, former chairman and geography managing director for Accenture India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, is all set for a game-changing action in the global IT marketplace. The company says it will emerge as another Accenture and will have $1 billion in revenues by 2022. The year 2019 is a game changing year for us. We are building an Accenture kind of business model. We want to be a unicorn in the next three years. Tholons provides digital (AI) transformation solutions, designs customised platforms/products and hosts, implements, manages and maintains everything for the clients, said Vashishtha in an exclusive interaction with Financial Chronicle. The traditional outsourcing is almost dead. Twenty years ago, it was about moving work and tech onshore and human workers offshore. Today, the opportunity is moving from human workers to digital workers (bots). That means, intelligent automation is going to impact the existing business models of Indian IT/ITES sector, he said. Under this changed market scenario, global firms like Accenture are offering end to end transformation, including strategy, consulting, digital solutions, implementation and systems integration. The likes of IBM focus on implementation and digital capability, but sadly Indian companies have only implementation capabilities (the commoditisaton of digital) at this point of time and as a result they are yet to get mandate for digital transformation from global customers, he commented. Tholons that started in Bangalore as an offshore consulting and advisory firm a decade ago has now evolved into a full-fledged digital transformation and strategic consulting partner for corporates and works with Fortune 500 and global 2000 clients across North America, the US, Europe, Australia, Singapore and the UAE. So far the IT industry has been supporting and maintaining big applications (Microsoft, SAP, Oracle, SalesForce, etc) of clients but these applications are rapidly changing and becoming numerous, with a new breed of small and boutique companies coming out with hundreds of new applications that are driven by deep technology, said Vashistha, who was once responsible for Accentures strategic direction, growth and development in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Advertisement The three-bedroom home where Jeff Bezos started Amazon has gone up for sale for the first time in ten years - and it would set you back nearly $1.5 million. The property, in West Bellvue, Seattle, contains the garage cited as the birthplace of Amazon - which became the world's second $1 trillion company in September. Bezos and his soon-to-be ex-wife MacKenzie rented the one-story house in 1994 and based his fledgling company there for 'only a few months' before it moved to a small office in Sodo, the Seattle Times reported. The property, in West Bellvue, Seattle, contains the garage cited as the birthplace of Amazon - which became the world's second $1 trillion company in September Bezos rented the one-story house in 1994 and based his fledgling company there for 'only a few months' before it moved to a small office in Sodo Back in the days: Mr and Mrs Bezos, who are now set to divorce, are pictured at an unknown date in the early days of their marriage Where it started: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos lived in the modest home with soon-to-be ex-wife MacKenzie Bezos at the time when he set up his company in 1994 But since the entrepreneur lived at the 1,540 square-foot property, it has undergone a great deal of renovation work and was rebuilt in 2001. The garage has also been remodeled and may not resemble the original Amazon headquarters, John L. Scott real estate agent Pat Sullivan said. An oversized mailbox installed at the home by Bezos so he could receive catalogs is still in place. Mr Sullivan said a friend who works at Amazon, which still owns more than 40 buildings in Seattle, was planning to post the listing on the company's internal site. He said: 'I think there's a good chance an Amazon exec might buy this for bragging rights'. But since the entrepreneur lived at the 1,540 square-foot property, it has undergone a great deal of renovation work and was rebuilt in 2001 The garage has also been remodeled and may not resemble the the original Amazon headquarters, real estate agent Pat Sullivan said The John L Scott property listing describes the home as 'a slice of history - Jeff Bezos started Amazon in the garage in the 1990's' Jeff Bezos left his job as vice-president of an New York investment firm in 1993, soon after marrying MacKenzie, and they moved to what was then a one-bedroom home in Seattle. The following year, in 1994, Bezos set up Amazon in the garage in their rented home. The book The Everything Store, which documents the history of the company, claims Amazon was based at the garage for a few months before Bezos was able to expand, and moved to a small office. But Mr Sullivan said the current owners only mentioned the connection in passing when they were discussing the sale. He said: 'And they said, "Oh by the way, I dont know if this would matter at all, but Jeff Bezos used to live here and he started Amazon in the garage. 'I said, "Yes, that would totally matter."' Mr Sullivan said the current owners of the three-bedroom property only mentioned the connection in passing when they were discussing the sale The Everything Store, which documents the history of the company, claims Amazon was based at the garage for a few months before Bezos began hiring and moved to a small office Bezos is worth an estimated $132 billion and is currently the world's richest man, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index Bezos is worth an estimated $132 billion and is currently the world's richest man, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He is also the country's 28th largest landowner according to a report given last year - with six properties across the US. The technology mogul now lives in a $10million nearly 29,000-square-foot estate in Medina, Washington, the Wall Street Journal reported. He also owns property in Beverly Hills, California, a 30,000-acre ranch in Van Horn, Texas, a former textile museum in Washington DC and three condos in Manhattan, New York City. However, he is soon set to move several places down the ranking as he and MacKenzie did not have a pre-nuptial agreement and she is entitled to half of his fortune. Billions: Bezos is worth an estimated $132 billion and is currently the world's richest man, however his wife MacKenzie is entitled to half of his fortune as the couple had no pre-nup Announcement: Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos announced their separation just hours before news broke of his affair Private investigators working for Bezos concluded that Lauren Sanchez's brother Michael, pictured together, leaked the couple's intimate text messages to the National Enquirer Bezos announced his divorce from MacKenzie in January, just hours before news broke that he was having an affair with TV presenter Lauren Sanchez. Since then, it has emerged that Ms Sanchez's own brother - who is also her manager - had leaked intimate text message exchanges between the pair, who are now officially a couple, to the National Enquirer who exposed their relationship. Private investigators working for Bezos concluded that Michael Sanchez leaked the couple's intimate text messages to the National Enquirer, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Monday. Bezos' investigators have suggested the pro-Trump Enquirer's coverage of his affair was driven by dirty politics, as the President has been highly critical of Bezos over his ownership of The Washington Post and Amazon, and the Post's coverage of the White House. Michael Sanchez is a supporter of President Donald Trump and an acquaintance of Trump allies Roger Stone and Carter Page. The investigators have not said how they believe Michael Sanchez came into possession of his sister's intimate messages. Michael Sanchez responded to the allegations in an interview with the Fox News show MediaBuzz, where he defended his actions and said he had in fact been trying to 'soften the blow' of the Enquirer's piece outing the relationship. He claims he did so by by telling Bezos to get ahead of the story and announce that he an his wife MacKenzie were separating after 26 years of marriage before it was published. He then went on to accuse Bezos' longtime security consultant, Gavin de Becker, of being 'very powerful bully,' and blamed him for details of his sister's affair being made public. Jeffrey Lendrum was stopped by custom officials at Heathrow Airport on June 27, 2016, wearing this sling (pictured) stuffed with rare eggs beneath a heavy coat A rescue centre has hatched vulture, eagle and sparrowhawk chicks from 100,000 worth of rare bird eggs found strapped to the chest of a now-jailed smuggler known as the 'Pablo Escobar of the egg trade'. The International Centre for Birds of Prey hand-reared 17 chicks after their eggs were seized from smuggler Jeffrey Lendrum by customs officers at Heathrow Airport on June 27, 2018. He had attempted to smuggle them from South Africa strapped to his chest in a sling hidden beneath a heavy coat. His haul included three Cape vultures, which became an endangered species in 2015, five African fish eagles, eight African black sparrowhawks and two African hawk-eagles. Conservationists at the rescue centre in Newent, Gloucestershire, have now successfully raised them into young adults. They plan to breed them with the aim of releasing their offspring back into the wild. Director Jemima Parry-Jones said: 'On June 26 we had a call from customs saying they had stopped someone at Heathrow with 19 fertile eggs strapped to his body. 'Two had already hatched by the time we got there and one black sparrowhawk had broken in Lendrum's body pouch. 'An African fish eagle died three days after hatching due to a yolk infection so we were left with 17 birds altogether. 'We collected them in a portable incubator and brought them back to an incubator at the centre until they started to hatch.' Eight African black sparrowhawks after being hatched from the eggs found in Lendrum's possession. They are pictured this week The eggs (seen shortly after being taken from Lendrum in June 2018) included those from three Cape vultures, five African fish eagles, eight African black sparrowhawks and two African hawk-eagles. One black sparrowhawk egg had broken so is not pictured here The African black sparrowhawk chicks (pictured) were fed three times a day after they first hatch. This has now gone down to just once a day Mrs Parry-Jones said the chicks were fed three times a day and constantly weighed until they were large enough for the number of meals to be cut to one. 'We had to hand-rear them which means they cannot go back into the wild because they are too habituated to humans meaning it's not safe,' she said. 'We will try breeding from these birds and then their young will be parent-reared rather than hand-reared. This means the offspring will be viable to go back to the wild.' Mrs Parry-Jones, the daughter of late British bird expert Phillip Glasier, was a witness at Lendrum's trial. He was jailed for three years and one month after pleading guilty to four offences on the second day of his trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in January. Lendrum, who has Irish and Zimbabwean citizenship, has a series of bird smuggling convictions spanning decades. He is a former member of the Rhodesian SAS. The African cape vulture chicks nibbling on raw meat for one of their thrice-daily meals at the International Centre for Birds of Prey The cape vultures (pictured) are now fully grown, and staff at the centre hope they will soon begin breeding An egg in a special incubation unit at the International Centre for Birds of Prey in Newent In October 2015 he was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for theft and smuggling after being caught carrying four rare falcon eggs in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He was released on bail pending appeal and fled the country. In 2010, he was caught trying to smuggle 14 rare peregrine falcon eggs out of the UK after being intercepted at Birmingham airport when a cleaner noticed him acting suspiciously. Lendrum has always insisted he is motivated by compassion - and accuses the media of vilifying him. He told author Joshua Hammer, who is writing a book about his exploits, that he 'must have climbed to a thousand nests' but insisted there was 'no money in it' and that he only retrieved dead eggs for research. 'The whole media has portrayed me as the Pablo Escobar of the falcon-egg trade,' Lendrum said. The cape vultures (like this one) are expected to need five or six years before they can breed Lendrum arriving at Snaresbrook Crown Court in January (left) and in an undated police mug shot Police described him at the time as 'the highest level of wildlife criminal'. Mrs Parry Jones was awarded an MBE in 1999 for services to bird conservation. She said the birds are fully grown but some could take years to breed. She said: 'The African fish eagles are fully grown but they won't be at adult plumage until they are five years old so we must wait. 'It will take the Cape vultures five or six years to reach the point where we can breed them.' The birds belong to the Crown following Lendrum's conviction - but Mrs Parry-Jones believes the centre will continue to care for them. She added: 'Customs officials are going to visit to discuss the birds future because once court case like this is over the birds belong to the Crown. 'They are coming down to discuss the future but I suspect they will stay here.' The International Centre for Birds of Prey is home to more than 60 species of owls, eagles and hawks. A German army officer who plotted to blow up Adolf Hitler and was executed along with the Catholic priest he confessed to will have his bravery medals put up for sale. Commander Ludwig von Leonrod was court-martialled and hanged in August 1944 following the unsuccessful attempt to blow up the evil Nazi dictator. The plot, codenamed Operation Valkyrie, involved members of the German military who were horrified by what their country had become under the Fuhrer. On July 20, 1944, one officer - Claus von Stauffenberg, played by Tom Cruise in the 2008 film Valkyrie - left a bomb under a table at a military conference Hitler was hosting at his Wolf's Lair base in Poland. Ludwig von Leonrod who was in Cavalry Regiment 17 alongside fellow Operation Valkyrie plotter Colonel Count Claus von Stauffenberg Claus von Stauffenberg (right) placed a bomb in a brief case under a table during a conference Adolf Hitler (left) was hosting at his Wolf's Lair base in Poland Although the device went off and killed four people, Hitler survived as only one of the small bombs in the brief case was armed. After von Stauffenberg placed the brief case under the conference table it was moved behind a solid oak table leg, which shielded Hitler from the blast. Nazi traitor, von Stauffenberg, lost his left eye, his right hand, and two fingers on his left hand during and air strike on German tanks in north Africa, which made his attempts to arm the bombs harder. Von Leonrod was a liaison officer for the Nazi resistance unit but was not actively involved in the July 20 coup. But he had prior knowledge of the plot as his old friend, von Stauffenberg, had tried to get him to participate in the killing. A silver breast eagle pin, with a four-part orders clasp with the Iron Cross 1939 and the Wehrmacht Long Service awards for 12 and four years and the West Wall medal awarded to Ludwig von Leonrod Von Leonrod's medals include the Iron Cross and decorations for long service and are now being sold as part of the estate and archives of his family On the day of the assassination attempt, von Ludwig was on a training course in Berlin and was arrested the next day by the Gestapo. But because the officer, who was a devout Catholic, had previously mentioned the plot in a confessional with a priest, he was found to have known about what von Stauffenberg was planning and so was executed. The priest who heard his confession was also executed for having knowledge of the scheme. Von Leonrod's military medals for bravery were given back to his relatives, a noble Bavarian family whose ancestors included Barons and Lord Chamberlains to Bavarian Kings. Ludwig von Leonrod with his brother Maximilian in their younger days. He was executed aged 37 for his role in the plot to assassinate Hitler Von Leonrod's (left before WWII) officer's cross medal with the swords of the Order of the Crown of Romania (right) that is up for sale in Germany Von Leonrod's medals, which include the Iron Cross and decorations for long service, are now being sold by German auction house Hermann Historica as part of the estate and archives of the von Leonrod family. A spokesman for Hermann Historica of Munich said: 'Of rather tragic nature is the contribution of the last in the male line, Ludwig Freiherrn von Leonrod. Ludwig von Leonrod in his Wehrmacht uniform 'A large batch of photographs and documents detailing the life of a nobleman, executed by his Nazi henchmen in 1944 as a conspirator to the failed assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler in July of the same year. 'Hermann Historica is proud to offer the well documented but untouched family archives. The group includes a number of exceptionally rare awards that would assured grace any museum collection. 'Medals and decorations linked to the youngest member who gave his life after July 20th of 1944.' Born in Munich in 1906, von Leonrod was the elder son of Lord Chamberlain Wilhelm Freiherr von Leonrod and his wife Clara. From 1926 he served in the 17th Cavalry Regiment Bamberg. The cavalry was composed of noblemen who were wealthy and had their own riding school. Von Stauffenberg served in the regiment which is how he came to know von Leonrod. He rose to the rank of major and was awarded the Iron Cross as commander of an intelligence unit in 1941. A year later von Leonrod was severely wounded by a landmine and was subsequently transferred to take command of military district VII in Munich. The German aristocrat and army officer who led a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler Tom Cruise as von Stauffenberg in the 2008 film Valkyrie Colonel Count Claus von Stauffenberg was born in Stauffenberg castle into a noble family in what was then the Kingdom of Bavaria. In 1926, he joined the family's traditional regiment, the Kavallerieregiment (Cavalry Regiment 17). Although Stauffenberg agreed with the Nazi's nationalistic and racist views and supported the German invasion of Poland, as well as making extremist remarks about Polish Jews, he never became a member of the party. As von Stauffenberg remained a staunch Catholic he switched between a strong dislike of Hitler's racist policies and a respect for his military prowess. But von Stauffenberg became even more disaffected with the party after The Night of the Long Knives - in which Hitler purged the army of his rivals and Kristallnacht - which saw Jewish business vandalised and synagogues set on fire. To von Stauffenberg these incidents proved Hitler had no intentions of pursuing justice. He supported the invasion of Poland and, as many of the German aristocracy believed, he saw the eastern territories surrendered after World War I was rightfully belonging to Germany. After taking part in Operation Barbarossa in 1941, he went to Tunisia to fight in the Afrika Korps where he was directing tank units when an air strike took out his column of vehicles. Von Stauffenberg lost his left eye, his right hand, and two fingers on his left hand during the attack. After D-Day on June 6, 1944, he saw the war as lost and wanted Hitler to surrender to save Germany being damaged any further. But his plot to assassinate the Fuhrer failed when he only armed one of the two bombs in a brief case and the device was moved from being near Hitler and placed behind a solid oak table leg. Hitler suffered minor injuries including a perforated ear drum and von Stauffenberg and some of his co-conspirators were said to have been hanged with piano wire for treason. Advertisement He was approached by von Stauffenberg to become the resistance's liaison officer for the same district and was aged 37 when he was executed at Plotzensee Prison in Berlin. Both von Stauffenberg and his fellow conspirator, von Leonrod, served in the Cavalry Regiment 17. His medals are being sold for 1,000 on March 15. Aimee Spencer, a 27-year-old glamour model, had previously appeared on Geordie Shore The lavish lifestyle of a drug dealer jailed after the death of Geordie Shore star Aimee Spencer was paid for by a trust fund set up by his grandfather Labour peer Lord Gus Macdonald, it can be revealed. The 27-year-old reality star and porn actor, who had taken cocaine and ketamine, fell two storeys to her death at Daniel Lewis's drug-strewn flat in Brighton in July 2016. She died in hospital a week later after her distraught parents made the harrowing decision to allow her life-support machine to be switched off. Lewis, 30, was arrested but never charged in connection with her death. He received a suspended sentence in November 2018 after he admitted drug offences, including possessing LSD and cocaine with intent to supply. But on January 16, three senior judges in London ruled his punishment 'unduly lenient' - and jailed him for three years. Daniel Lewis (left, pictured outside Brighton Magistrates' Court last year) is the grandson of former STV managing director Lord Gus Macdonald (right) The former bodybuilder is the son of Jean Macdonald, the daughter of Lord Macdonald of Tradeston, 78, who was the former managing director of Scottish Television (STV), a Labour peer and a transport minister under Tony Blair from 1999 to 2001. It has now emerged that Lewis's lifestyle was supported by a trust fund from his grandfather, who retired from the House of Lords in April 2017. It is not known exactly how much Lewis was given, however he enjoyed a party lifestyle - and was hosting an event at his flat on the night Miss Spencer died. She was there with him and his girlfriend Helen Dawson at the event, which featured 'party platters' of class A drugs. Police eventually recovered 15,000 worth of drugs. A new ITV documentary on the case airing this week features footage of Lewis being arrested Lewis, whose rehabilitation treatment following Miss Spencer's death was supported by the trust fund, was also known to be selling mail order drugs to high-end clients. Lord Macdonald was brought up in Scotland and worked in the Glasgow shipyards alongside Billy Connolly and Alex Ferguson while leading apprentices' strikes. He then worked in the media before he was made a life peer by Labour in 1998 and held a series of positions, including transport minister and Cabinet Office minister. Miss Spencer's mother, Jean, had previously claimed the soft sentence Lewis initially received last November was due to his wealthy family helping him in rehabilitation. Lewis is also featured in the documentary during a police station interview after the incident Mrs Spencer has searched for answers about how her daughter came to fall, naked, from the window ledge of the building three years ago. Now, a new documentary about the police investigation into Miss Spencer's mysterious death will be presented by Katie Piper on ITV this Thursday. The programme will feature interviews with detectives, bodycam footage from officers at the scene and footage of key developments during the probe. It reveals Lewis had sent Miss Spencer a message saying: 'Get in, get your kit off, get Helen making balloons while I'll make a line under your nose as long as a yeti's leg.' Bags of prescription drugs were found at the scene, in another image from the documentary It also shows the moment police arrived at Lewis's flat and found him dressed in just boxer shorts. He said: 'I've used some drugs, I've used some cocaine and Diazepam.' Miss Spencer fell from the kitchen window having consumed cocaine and ketamine. Lewis was charged with eight counts of drug possession with intent to supply but no charges were brought against supplying Miss Spencer with the drugs in her body. An inquest in May 2017 found Miss Spencer's death was caused by injuries in the fall - but the exact circumstances surrounding what happened remained unclear. The view from kitchen window of the flat from which Miss Spencer fell to her death in 2016 Miss Spencer, who was living in Basildon, Essex, had appeared on Babestation TV, worked at lap dancing club Spearmint Rhino and starred in several adult films. Her father Richard, 69, told the Sun her death is still shrouded in mystery, saying: 'There are more questions than answers. We will never know what happened.' Mrs Spencer added: 'She told me, 'I like sex so what's the difference? If I get money for it, fine'. She saw it as easy money. Aimee never hid anything she did. 'It wasn't necessarily something we condoned but we couldn't stop her. Aimee was a free spirit.' Mr Spencer added: 'People will judge her but we were proud of her.' Former Geordie Shore star Miss Spencer (pictured) fell to her death at Lewis's flat in July 2016 Speaking last month after Lewis was jailed, Miss Spencer said: 'He was actually there, he turned up. We were all looking at each other going 'Bloody hell, we've done it'. He was told he had to present himself at 4pm to go to jail. 'I got a text message from the police to say he had handed himself in at 4.10pm at the police station at Brighton and they took him into custody. 'I suppose, it was never going to be about Aimee and we understood that, but he's never shown any remorse or apologised. At least this goes some way to showing he hasn't got off scot free. There was hugging and tears.' Miss Spencer was found naked lying on a patio below the first-floor window with serious head injuries and taken to Royal Sussex County Hospital but died on July 18. Miss Spencer (left) appeared in Geordie Shore and shared a bed with Vicky Pattison (right) The inquest heard that witnesses told police they heard a man scream but there were no signs of an argument or 'significant disturbance' at the party. A toxicologist said the cocktail of drugs could have put her in a dream-like state, which might explain why she was in such dangerous position on a window ledge. The court heard a statement from a neighbour who said he heard a single, male scream then saw a body falling from the open window. Miss Spencer, was was known on screen as 'Carla Mai' starred in adult sex films and briefly appeared on the MTV reality show Geordie Shore with Vicky Pattison. Miss Spencer fell from the kitchen of the flat on Chichester Terrace in Brighton three years ago She also featured in BBC Three's 2014 documentary The Truth About Webcam Girls, which followed three women who performed online for paying customers. A self-confessed fitness fanatic, she had a black belt in martial arts, but was also planning to release a cookbook with health conscious recipes. Her food blog Gym Kitchen was described as a resource for tasty and healthy recipes to help her Instagram followers achieve fitness and body-building goals. Her career in the adult entertainment industry started as a dancer at the Spearmint Rhino Club in London before she appeared on a string of adult websites. Katie Piper will present the documentary, The Death Of Aimee Spencer, on ITV this Thursday Miss Spencer's Geordie Shore appearance came when she was invited to a party at a villa occupied by the TV show's cast in Magaluf. She joined Miss Pattison in bed before passing out while her friend slept in a bed with fellow reality star Jay Gardner. Attempts have been made by MailOnline to contact Lord Macdonald for comment. The Death Of Aimee Spencer will be shown on ITV this Thursday at 9pm A female driver was arrested after appearing to drive into a group of people with her car after claiming it was hit by a snowball. The clip was filmed in the Capitol Hill neighbourhood, in Seattle, on Sunday at around 8pm. The person who captured the footage, Joey Wieser, said a large group of more than 20 people were having a snowball fight when a blue jeep drove past the group. The furious driver returns to the scene of the snowball fight after claiming one hit her car The blue jeep appears the accelerate towards the people engaged in a snowball fight The livid driver gets out the car and is hit by a snowball, she then attacks the man that threw it before the fight it broken up Snowballs were flying across the street as people took advantage of the chilly weather to have some fun. Approximately five to 10 minutes later the vehicle returned and the driver started to shout that a snowball had hit her car. Footage captured by Mr Wieser, then shows the jeep turn around in the snow and appear to accelerate towards a group of people. The onlookers, standing off the street, move rapidly to slightly higher ground. The woman. clearly livid, then gets out of her car and starts ranting. But as she is shouting a man throws and successfully hits her with a snowball. She then attacks the snowball thrower as onlookers quickly race in to break up the skirmish. The woman picks up her hat, which fell off during the incident, and moves to get back into her jeep, but then continues arguing. Seattle Police confirmed they arrested the woman for Reckless Driving and Driving Under the Influence (DUI), according to Komo News. Advertisement Fascinating pictures have revealed a glimpse into the life of 19th Century fisher girls who abseiled down huge cliff faces to fetch mussels and limpets. Rare photos have emerged from the collection of Victorian diarist Arthur Munby, who chronicled the lives of women and girls doing punishing jobs in the 1860s. Mr Munby befriended fisher girls in Scarborough, Flamborough and Filey in Yorkshire and others in Tyneside, visiting them several times and eventually photographing their efforts. The mussels and limpets were collected and then passed on to local fishermen to be used as bait on their boats at sea, which kept the trade thriving. The women and girls, some aged as young as 11, would come from towns and villages in Yorkshire and displayed great bravery, with Mr Munby writing they were fearless while descending down cliffs, while he said they also claimed they could walk dozens of miles from town to village over near 24-hour days. In a diary dated 1867, he wrote: 'The men clung to the rope with both hands in climbing, while the girls used only one hand, steadying their baskets with the other.' The diarist, who died in 1910 aged 82, was from a very different social class to the women and studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, which led to him making some judgmental comments in his notes on their exploits. In one passage on Sally, he wrote: 'Spitting on her hands (vulgar creature!) and rubbing them together, she firmly grasped the rope and stepped over the edge.' Fishergirls Molly Nettleton, left, and Sally Mainprize, right, are pictured on Flamborough beach in Yorkshire after collecting mussels and limpets, with Sally shown balancing a full basket on her head in an impressive display of strength. Fisher girls would take the shellfish they collected back to their towns and villages to be used as bait by their fathers' and husbands' Molly, left, and Sally, right, are pictured at Flamborough in 1867 with an unidentified woman after collecting baskets of shellfish. The women are wearing sturdy shoes which helped them avoid slipping on the rocks, although the diaries of Arthur Munby, who commissioned the photos, revealed they frequently did fall. He also revealed Molly would scale down cliff faces hanging on to a single rope, sometimes by just one hand Fisher girls Annie Born, far left, and Hannah Hunter, are pictured left in Filey, Yorkshire, in 1867 posing for Mr Munby while right are two unidentified fisher girls next to a boat on a beach at Cullercoats, Tyneside, where another close knit fishing community existed. Girls would often start working on the cliffs aged 11 to help their families, with duties including attaching hooks and gutting and cleaning fish brought back from sea Molly is pictured here with some of her colleagues in Flamborough in 1867. The women are all wearing a similar outfit, with their baggy leggings worn above their boots to avoid getting caught underfoot. They also wore shawls over their shoulders to keep warm on cold and windy days. It is unknown exactly how much fisher girls like these were paid but many would not have been if they were doing the work to help their families fishing trade They included Molly Nettleton, who had been working on the cliffs since she was 11 years old and would often descend 200ft down slippery rocks secured by just a single rope. Mr Munby also wrote about how resilient the fisher girls were, including one in Flamborough called Sally Mainprize. He said: 'Even Sally's practised foot was not always safe on the slippery weed: looking up, and raising her arm to wave me a salute, she slipped and fell sideways into a pool; but was up again in not time, uninjured.' Who was Arthur Munby? The poet, barrister and philanthropist who took a special interest in the work of women Born in York in 1828, Arthur Munby was a member of high society in the 19th century and worked in a number of prestigious jobs. After graduating from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1851, he became a barrister four years later and was called to the bar. Then in 1858 he began a 30-year job with the Ecclesiastical Commissioners as a civil servant, retiring in 1888. But it was his extracurricular exploits that he has been remembered for, including his fascination with working women. He was particularly interested in their bodies, writing in diaries about how fisher girls and miners had 'very large arms and hands' and were 'sturdy'. A passionate photographer, he took hundreds of pictures of working class women over the decades including kitchen maids, milkmaids and even acrobats. He was also an amateur artist and would include sketches of working women in his diaries. Mr Munby's interest in working women also extended to helping them improve their standing, and he helped set up an adult education school in north London in 1864. It came after he spent the previous decade teaching Latin at a similar school for working men. Mr Munby was also well known for his relationship with Hannah Cullwick, a maid from Shropshire. They married secretly in 1873, but their relationship is said to have been more 'master and servant' than husband and wife. The marriage ended four years later and was only revealed by Mr Munby to his brother months before his death. Advertisement Describing watching Sally and her friends in action, he wrote: 'Sally, who was most picturesquly dressed, adjusted her short red petticoat. Gathering the hinder part in between her knee, she converted the loose, cumbersome skirt into a pair of easy serviceable breeches. 'Then she stood up, and shook herself, ready for the plunge, and nothing could be more striking in its way.' He added: 'Without stopping she seized the rope and gaily danced, as it were, letting it slip through her hands, as far as the foot of the incline, where it meets the summit of the main wall of cliff. 'Here, at the corner of the jutting craig, is a ledge, on which before now I have seen this very girl sit at ease, and whistle to the waves.' On Molly, he added: 'Hand over hand, sticking her toes into the crevices of the chalk wall, she went up as easily as one might walk upstairs.' He added: 'I, the man of the party, was left in a ridiculous position; a useless spectator of these vigorous athletics.' On meeting the girls at a railway station, he wrote about how out of place they looked compared to other women. He said: 'The well-dressed mobs on the platform looked astounded at the strange dress and stalwart forms of the barbarian fisher girls.' Mr Munby had a fascination with the bodies of working women and showed this in his diaries, writing about how the fisher girls had 'very large arms and hands' and were 'sturdy' and how they were just as important as men in their villages. He wrote: 'They work harder than the men ashore. Poor things. But then the men are almost always afloat, you see. 'They are big, strong lasses, with hands and arms "very large".' Fisher girls would tailor their outfits to suit their trade, wearing cushioned hats to help balance their baskets and soften the weight. They also wore strong shoes to avoid slipping on rocks and woolen stocking for warmth, with a frock 'kilted up' to avoid getting trapped under foot. The women were able to use special fisher girl train tickets to get to the coastal areas, costing 3p, or around 3.30 today. But Mr Munby said those tickets were only introduced in the late 1860s and previously the fisher girls would have worked long and arduous days, walking from town to village. He wrote: 'Before that [the tickets] the women used to walk to Cloughton and also to Robin Hood's Bay for bait, and back the same day - 44 miles! (or so they protested), starting at 12.30am or 1am.' Even after the train tickets were introduced, one of his diary passages reveals groups of 20 women walked at least eight miles back from Scarborough to Filey on the Yorkshire coast with their full loads. He added: 'In the late autumn and early spring they go in troops to Scarborough to gather flithers [limpets] for bait, travelling thither by rail. 'Then they walk on, fill their creels or sacks and walk back loaded all the way to Filey.' Pictured left are two unidentified women fixing a fishing net in Scarborough in 1876, proving their duties extended beyond the dangerous cliffs. Another unidentified women pictured right in Scarborough in 1875 is seen balancing what appears to be rope on her head, which may have been used in abseiling down the cliffs. Although some fisher girls were able to take advantage of special rate train tickets to get to coastal towns, which cost 3p in the 1860s, around 3.30 today, many more would have walked instead and had to be strong and fit to take their loaded baskets back Mr Munby, pictured right in 1873, travelled the country to observe working women and is pictured here with female miner Ellen Grounds in Wigan. He wrote extensively about their different professions and also helped set up an adult education college for women in north London in 1864. Mr Munby was also a published poet and a civil servant for 30 years Pictured left is 15-year-old Janie Crawford, a fisher girl in Filey, Yorkshire, in 1871 posing on a style while two unidentified women are pictured right knitting in Scarborough in 1876. After visiting Scarborough, Flamborough and Filey in Yorkshire several times during the 1860s and 1870s, Mr Munby was able to strike up several friendships with the local fisher girls and eventually persuaded them to pose for a local photographer, although he said they would only agree if they got a copy An unidentified woman is pictured posing for a picture by standing on a rock on the beach at Filey in 1873. Mr Munby's diary describes fisher girls as 'big and strong lasses' who had 'very large' hands and arms to be able to carry the heavy baskets, which could weigh more than a stone when full, with some women carrying up to eight baskets by fastening them to their shoulders and hips Describing the women as they set off on a journey, Mr Munby wrote they walked with seven or eight baskets which would weigh more than a stone when full. He added: 'They [the baskets] were fastened with ends on her back and shoulders and all resting on a pad on the hips. The baskets [were] all empty except one or two which held food and knitting. Folks stopped to look at 'em, boys shouted "flitherlasses".' Despite their hard work, fisher girls were living in poverty and Molly told Mr Munby she could not afford to replace one of her ropes after it was taken by 'lads' to be used in a net. He wrote: '[She] cannot afford another; whereby they cannot at present go...and get flithers which they should share. And so I offered to buy a new rope, on condition that Molly should keep it as her own.' Mr Munby added: 'Molly chose a stout well-tarred rope, and it was weighed, and came to eight and threepence, being 14 pounds' weight. 'Molly joyously took up the tarry coil and carried it home on her arm, I going with her. She thanked me as if 24 fathoms of ship's rope were the prettiest present a woman could have.' Pictured left are Lizzie Holmes, 16, left, an unidentified woman, centre, and Alice Simpson, 18, right, in Filey in 1869 posing for one of Mr Munby's photos. Pictured right are two two fisher girls from Cullercoats, North Tyneside. Mr Munby's diary described the women he met as 'sturdy' and he wrote that some claimed to have walked 44 miles to get bait in a single day, starting at 1am Pictured left are fisher girls Elizabeth Jenks, left, and Fanny Scales, right, in Filey in 1871 while right is an unidentified woman preparing bait in Scarborough in 1876. Mr Munby also said the girls caused a storm when they arrived at railway stations in the late 1800s because higher class passengers looked at them like 'barbarians' due to their 'strange dress'. But their efforts were well appreciated by those in their towns for keeping the local fishing trade thriving Mr Munby teamed up with a local photographer to capture their portraits, which they would pose for readily so long as they received a copy. Others posed up in a studio still wearing work-gear. In some of the pictures the women grin and appear relaxed, which was unusual for the time. Mr Munby worked as a civil servant but was a dedicated philanthropist, teaching Latin at one of the world's earliest adult education schools, the Working Men's College in north west London after it was set up in 1854. A decade later he helped set up a sister college for women, while he was also a published poet. Fisher girls were common throughout the UK in coastal towns and often worked long hours while also caring for large families. Fishing communities were tight knit and fisher girls would often supply bait for their fathers and husbands boats. But catching bait was not their only task as they would also chip in with maintenance tasks like cleaning nets and lines and then attaching the bait. Each fisherman would typically use one or two lines on their boat, to which as many as 1,300 hooks might be added by hand by the women. Once fish were brought back in, women would then help gut and clean them for hours at a time, and large groups could sometimes get through as much as 20,000 fish in a single day. Prince Charles (right) bankrolled the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (pictured inset, and left with Prince Charles) by a 'substantial sum' in the months following Megxit, despite Harry claiming his family 'literally cut me off financially'. Royal accounts made public for the first time yesterday show that the future king continued to fund Harry and Meghan until the summer of last year from a 4.4million Clarence House pot used to support his two sons and their families. This contradicts Harry's remarks when he told Oprah Winfrey that he stopped getting financial support from his family in the 'first quarter' of last year. He even claimed he and his wife were reduced to living off what 'my mother had left me'. Details of Charles's continued financial support for his estranged younger son came as both Clarence House and Buckingham Palace opened up their yearly financial accounts. Clarence House's annual review revealed that Charles's bill for the activities of both the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex - plus other expenditure including the prince's capital expenditure and transfer to reserves in 2020/2021 - was 4.4million. This was a fall of 1.15million - around 21 per cent - from 5.6million in 2019/2020 - the last year the Sussexes were working royals. The report provided no detailed breakdown of the figures and royal aides declined to elucidate further. But what is clear from the independently audited accounts is that Harry and Meghan were still listed as receiving money from Charles's Duchy of Cornwall income, despite quitting the monarchy at the end of March last year. Alastair Inglis (pictured) is suing the Ministry of Defence for 1.3million over claims they are responsible for his hearing loss A Royal Marine veteran is suing the Ministry of Defence for more than 1.3million after years on the front line left him almost deaf. Alastair Inglis, 39, blames the MoD for his chronic hearing loss and tinnitus, which forced him to quit the armed forces after 14 years in 2012. Mr Inglis, of Plymouth, says Army bosses did not do enough to prevent hearing damage from years of putting up with the deafening sound of weapons and tanks in training and in Afghanistan. His lawyer Ronald Walker QC told the High Court there are 1,700 other veterans considering similar legal action against he MoD and 200 already in the process. Mr Inglis's case has huge implications for the UK armed forces, as military bosses are traditionally immune from legal action within war zones. But lawyers for the affected veterans insist that more should have been done to safeguard hearing - even in the most extreme battlefield situations. Outside court, Mr Inglis' solicitor Simon Ellis said: 'In his situation, it was a combination of both training and combat exposure. 'Essentially, we say he was not given the right protective equipment to mitigate against noise exposure. Mr Inglis, 39, blames the MoD for his chronic hearing loss and tinnitus, which forced him to quit the armed forces after 14 years in 2012. File image used 'We also say that hearing tests he had in the Marines did not pick up the level of hearing loss from which he now suffers.' He said the 210 veterans currently suing the MoD come from all three branches of the services. 'They've all been exposed to excessive noise, either from weapons systems ranging from pistols and rifles to the big artillery pieces, or from items such as military vehicles, tanks, ships and aircraft,' he explained. 'The criticism made is that individuals were not provided with adequate ear protection. 'The majority of their exposure occurred in training but some also occurred in combat. 'There is protection available which is specifically designed for combat situations. 'The problem is that the military was not always very good at getting it,' he claimed. Mr Inglis, of Plymouth, says Army bosses did not do enough to prevent hearing damage from years of putting up with the deafening sound of weapons and tanks in training and in Afghanistan. File image used Mr Inglis now works as a health and safety consultant, specialising in maritime security. Mr Walker added: 'It affects his everyday life to the extent that he needs hearing aids.' Mr Inglis's claim totals 1,275,899 in damages - with the trial fixed for March. His case reached the High Court in a brief pre-trial stand-off between lawyers over the preparation of expert evidence. The MoD is hotly disputing the extent and precise cause of Mr Inglis' hearing loss, the court heard. One of the major issues at the trial will be the level of damage done to his hearing. Some of the expert evidence will focus on the effectiveness and cost of the hearing aids available to him. Lynsey Delaforte, 36, gave up seven-and-a-half crucial years of her dancing career when she moved in to make sure Joan Flood received the best possible care A ballet dancer who gave up her promising career to provide 24-hour care to her dementia-stricken grandmother has won a share of her 650,000 estate, following a legal battle with her wealthy uncle. Lynsey Delaforte, 36, gave up seven-and-a-half years of stage time when she moved in to make sure Joan Flood received the best possible care. Mrs Flood died in 2016 but Miss Delaforte was left with nothing after Mrs Flood failed to update her will, which left her estate to her two children, Miss Delaforte's mother and uncle. Under the 2006 will, all of Mrs Flood's cash and her 550,000 Twickenham home were split between Paul Flood, and Annette Dargue. At Central London County Court, her mother backed Miss Delaforte's claim to a payout from the estate, but her 60-year-old uncle - who the court heard is the financially 'comfortable' member of the family - said she was due nothing. Disputing her claim, Mr Flood's lawyers insisted that, as his niece had been paid for the care she gave his mother, she was not a 'dependent' of the pensioner. However, after a three-day hearing, Judge Alan Johns QC ruled the Royal Academy of Dance graduate should receive 110,000 from her beloved grandmother's estate. 'That is not a reward for her plainly meritorious conduct in caring devotedly for her grandmother,' said the judge. 'It simply represents reasonable financial provision for her maintenance.' During the trial, Miss Delaforte's lawyers claimed that, having moved in to be her grandmother's carer, she had been financially dependent on the widow. She cooked and cleaned for the 'challenging' pensioner, dressed her, made sure she ate and looked after her in the most 'loving and devoted' way, a court heard. 'This is a case where a grand-daughter provided 24-hour care to her grandmother at least six days a week in return for receiving modest state benefits and 100 per month,' said her barrister, Sarah Harrison. She added: 'The devoted care provided by Miss Delaforte to the deceased placed a moral obligation on the deceased to provide for her.' But Mr Flood claimed his niece only moved into the 550,000 house in Whitton, because she had taken redundancy from a 'dull and energy-sapping' marketing job and had nowhere to go. In his defence to her claim to a share of Mrs Flood's fortune, his barrister Simon Hunter argued that his niece caring for his mother had been a 'commercial arrangement'. Under the 2006 will, all of Mrs Flood's cash and her Twickenham home were split between Paul Flood (pictured), and Annette Dargue However, Mrs Harrison said what Miss Delaforte did for her grandmother went far beyond what a professional carer would have done. 'It is quite obvious the care she was providing could only be explained by love and devotion to her grandmother,' she told Judge Johns. Giving evidence, Mrs Dargue, a teaching assistant and cleaner, said her daughter had stepped in to look after the frail pensioner when they were 'desperate'. 'This was an all-consuming job on a daily basis,' she told the judge. 'We had numerous problems, hospital admissions, hospital appointments.' Giving evidence, Mr Flood, who is a workshop manager for an engineering firm, said that his niece had provided good care in difficult circumstances. He said his mother was 'one of the most challenging characters' he had ever met and Lynsey 'did a very good job' looking after her. It had not been a 'commercial arrangement', he eventually admitted under cross-examination. His barrister, Mr Hunter, conceded that Mr Flood's admission that Miss Delaforte had cared for her grandmother not for money but for love meant she was due a payout from the estate. He told the court: 'There was no written contract. He would have refused a contract, because Miss Delafonte was a trusted family member. 'I accept that the will doesn't provide for Miss Delaforte and, therefore, does not make reasonable financial provision.' Judge Johns said Miss Delaforte will get 66,000 from her uncle's share of the estate and 44,000 from her mother's. The court heard she intends to use the money to support herself while she establishes a freelance dance teaching business. Parents have demanded publishers withdraw a GCSE textbook in schools across the UK because it shows a woman with a porn star Brazilian pubic hair wax. The science revision book has been met with outrage from parents who say it 'looks like it comes straight out of a porn film'. Publisher Pearson has been asked to withdraw the 2017 textbook after parents branded the image 'seriously disturbing and disgusting'. The diagram showing a pregnant woman with 'porn star' Brazilian-style public hair in the science revision book has been met with outrage One Twitter user said Pearson Edexcel were 'utterly disgraceful' to have used the 'landing strip' illustration in its International GCSE Human Biology textbook and 'should formally apologise'. One mother said: 'It depicts a woman with pubic hair that looks like it comes straight out of a porn film.' Another added on a Mumsnet forum: 'It may appear trivial, but it is definitely unhealthy. 'This is part of the learning that gets drummed into girls about how disgusting they are, how they should be ashamed of themselves, how their discomfort is irrelevant to others.' James Mannion wrote on Twitter: 'It's just so unnecessary for the diagram. Somebody sat there and drew this. What were they thinking? And who signed off on it?' One Twitter user described the image as 'seriously disturbing and disgusting' Vivienne Porritt, co-founder of education movement #WomenEd, feared 'it may encourage boys to ask girls if they have had a Brazilian'. She said: 'There is much evidence that girls are already victims of sexual harassment in schools and this image would add to that.' But other Twitter users were less offended and said people needed to 'get a grip'. Jamielisa Jacquemin said: 'Its a human body! Get over it...we all have one! Different shapes...some people are so ridiculous, more things to worry about in the world!' Pearson said the image had been replaced when the textbook was reprinted in May last year. A spokesman said: 'Clearly, we did not mean to cause offence with the original version and we would be happy to provide the updated version free of charge to any student or teacher who would like a replacement.' Pearson Edexcel are now facing calls to withdraw the 2017 textbook Last year, the Biff, Chip and Kipper books were misinterpreted by adults with mischievous minds. A Twitter user found what he thought could be construed to be an al fresco sex scene in the book belonging to his friend's child. Ed Brody tweeted a photo of the book with a scene that showed a group of adults disappearing into a bush while children innocently played around them. Oxford University Press said its books were 'created with the utmost thought and consideration.' Ed Brody tweeted a photo of the book with a scene that showed a group of adults disappearing into a bush while children innocently played around them the Biff, Chip and Kipper books were misinterpreted by adults with mischievous minds And last October, publishing house AQA and Hodder temporarily stopped selling a textbook which claims men in Caribbean families are 'largely absent' after it was dubbed racist. The GCSE Sociology textbook, which was officially approved by the AQA exam board, was accused of enforcing negative stereotypes. The passage can be found in the textbook AQA GCSE (9-1) Sociology by Rosie Owens and Ian Woodfield - which was originally published in 2014 by Hodder Education. Concerns about the textbook were raised by freelance photographer Eddie Olaleye, who challenged the exam board provide 'the empirical data' backing up the statement. Corporation bank had posted a net loss of Rs 1,240.49 crore in October-December 2017-18. Total income of the lender came down to Rs 4,112.32 crore in the latest quarter as against Rs 4,841.37 crore in the same period of 2017-18. (Photo: Twitter) New Delhi: Corporation Bank has swung into the black with a profit of Rs 60.53 crore in December quarter 2018, as provisioning for bad loans saw a sharp decline, the lender said on Monday. The bank had posted a net loss of Rs 1,240.49 crore in October-December 2017-18. Total income of the lender came down to Rs 4,112.32 crore in the latest quarter as against Rs 4,841.37 crore in the same period of 2017-18, it said in a regulatory filing. The bank said its provisioning for non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans was reduced to Rs 842.28 crore for the latest quarter as against Rs 2,494.71 crore in the same period a year ago. However, the bank's assets worsened with gross NPAs growing to 17.36 per cent of gross advances as at December-end 2018, against 15.92 per cent by December 2017. In value terms, gross NPAs were at Rs 21,921.42 crore as against Rs 21,817.96 crore earlier. Net NPAs surged to 11.47 per cent (Rs 13,521.22 crore) from 10.73 per cent (Rs 13,853.90 crore). The bank said it is maintaining higher provision in terms of NCLT (list 1 and 2 of RBI) and is holding a total provision of Rs 6,412.45 crore against outstanding amount of Rs 9,075.69 crore (or 70.66 per cent) on these accounts as on December 31, 2018. Provision coverage ratio of the bank as at December-end 2018 is 66.13 per cent, Corporation Bank said. Stock of the bank closed 0.80 per cent lower at Rs 24.75 on BSE. A man has been jailed for eight months under Tunisia's anti-gay laws after reporting that he had been raped by two male robbers, it has been claimed. The 22-year-old is said to have gone to a police station in the southern Tunisian town of Sfax to report the alleged assault and robbery - only to be arrested himself. A gay rights group in the North African country said he was accused of homosexuality and forced to undergo an invasive anal examination. A 22-year-old is said to have gone to a police station in the southern Tunisian town of Sfax (pictured) to report that he had been raped by two male robbers - only to be arrested himself A court has now ordered the man to serve a total of eight months behind bars for homosexuality and bringing a 'false allegation' after he was deemed to have consented to sex, according to reports. His alleged attackers, meanwhile, were handed eight month sentences for homosexuality, physical assault and theft, the Independent reports. Shams, a gay rights group in Tunisia, said the man and his supporters would appeal the court ruling. The group president Mounir Baatour told The Independent that the man's family had been left reeling after the judgement. A petition has been launched on the Allout website calling for the man's release. In November Human Rights Watch claimed that men suspected of being gay were being forced to undergo anal tests in Tunisia. Addressing the latest alleged case, the NGO said: 'These unscientific and invasive "exams", in which doctors penetrate a victim with a finger or an object to assess whether they "habitually" engage in anal sex, violate international law and can be traumatic for anyone who undergoes them let alone a rape victim.' It added: 'Tunisia should uphold its commitment to human rights and stop subjecting its citizens to such brutal indignities.' Under article 230 of Tunisia's penal code, those guilty of same-sex sexual relations face up to three years in prison. The steps of a plane suddenly collapsed, sending six passengers plunging around 12ft onto the tarmac below this morning. The passengers were boarding a flight from the Siberian city of Barnaul to Moscow in the early hours when the accident happened. A CCTV camera showed the moment the Ural Airlines travellers fell to the ground due to a 'hidden fault'. Three of the six people were rushed to hospital after the Airbus A320 nightmare, said airport officials. One has a suspected broken leg and another a back injury. The moment six passengers fell around 12 feet from the Ural Airlines stairs as the top platform of the steps collapsed A representative of Barnaul airport in Siberia said the accident was due to a 'hidden fault' on the steps which was 'impossible to detect' during the regular pre-flight check A passenger said: 'They all fell at once, it was like watching a computer game. 'I was about to go up the steps when it happened. I was the first who ran to help.' One man had broken his leg, and others were injured but it was not immediately clear how badly, he said. 'A young woman was lucky as she wasn't injured at all, she just got a shock, we all got quite a fright', he added. Passengers and airport staff rushed to help those who fell. The victims were the only passengers on the steps when the collapse happened - the rest were queuing on the tarmac in temperatures of -15C. A Barnaul airport representative said the accident was due to a 'hidden fault' on the steps which was 'impossible to detect' during the regular pre-flight check. A passenger said 'they all fell at once, it was like watching a computer game' as the steps collapsed during boarding Three passengers were taken to hospital after falling on to the frozen tarmac which hit minus 15C at Barnaul airport in Siberia But Western Siberia Transport Prosecutor's official Oksana Gorbunova said inspectors were now working at the airport examining what went wrong. Three passengers were taken to a city hospital and the flight left for Moscow after a delay of several hours. The airline insisted the steps were provided by the airport and it would not compensate the injured passengers. Confirming the accident, Ural Airlines said it did not bear responsibility. 'The airport equipment is the airport's responsibility', said the airline's press secretary. A second video from the Russian Investigative Committee showed new steps being taken to the plane ahead of the delayed departure as checks were made on the cause of the accident. A three-year-old boy died after his mother's boyfriend pushed his car seat back in a 'fit of childish temper', a court heard today. Stephen Waterson, 25, son of ex-minister Nigel Waterson, allegedly crushed Alfie Lamb during the car journey to Croydon, South London, because he wanted more leg room or was annoyed, it was said. Former Conservative MP Mr Waterson, 68, was at the Old Bailey with his wife Barbara Judge to hear today's evidence. Former minister Nigel Waterson and his wife Barbara Judge arrive at the Old Bailey today (left) where their adoptive son Stephen Waterson (right, with Nigel) is on trial for manslaughter Adrian Hoare, 23, denies the manslaughter of three-year-old Alfie Lamb (pictured together) Prosecutors claim Alfie's mother Adrian Hoare, 23, failed her son 'fundamentally and fatally' in the car on February 1 last year. The court has already heard during the trial that Hoare allegedly ignored her son's cries of 'mummy' as he sat in the back footwell of the car, between her legs. Waterson and Hoare are on trial at the London court accused of Alfie's manslaughter. Today, prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC said Alfie was a 'happy, active, smiley child'. In a closing speech, he warned jurors that they should guard against an emotional response to his death when they decide their verdicts. He said: 'No one is going to suggest either of these defendants wanted Alfie to die. In text messages between them they just wanted their 'little fatty' back, they just wanted him home. Stephen Waterson (left), 25, allegedly deliberately pushed a car seat back against Alfie (right) The Metropolitan Police issued this picture of the interior of the Audi convertible car involved 'Each of them may have called him a 'little s***' but neither of them set out to hurt him in the way that they did. 'The question for you is whether Alfie died because without any thought for the consequences, Stephen Waterson moved his chair back, whether because he wanted more room or because Alfie was annoying him, putting Alfie at risk, lashing out at him with his car seat in a fit of childish temper. 'The further question is whether the person Alfie was most entitled in the whole world to rely on when that happened, and had a duty to protect him from such harm, failed him fundamentally and fatally. 'Failed him by putting him in such a dangerous place which is why children have car seats, which is why you would never think of putting a child in a footwell.' The lawyer told jurors they must look at whether Hoare's failing to act was such a 'fundamental dereliction of duty to her son' that she too could be held responsible for his death. He said: 'Alfie did not have enough room to breathe and that became the case after he was in the footwell and he was compressed in that way either for a short period followed by another period but in any view long enough to cause those irreversible injuries.' Mr Atkinson said it was not only the pathology evidence which suggested Alfie died of compression during the journey in Waterson's Audi convertible from Sutton to Croydon. The lawyer reminded jurors of the evidence of the other occupants of the car, Emilie Williams and Marcus Lamb. He said: 'Emilie and Marcus each has much to be criticised for on any view, each could have done more for Alfie by refusing to get in the car at all, by insisting on car seats, by insisting Alfie was not on the floor. Adrian Hoare (left) and Stephen Waterson (right) are on trial for manslaughter at the Old Bailey 'You may think their failings cannot absolve any of these defendants for their responsibility for what happened.' Waterson's three previous convictions for battery also indicated the defendant would 'lash out violently' when challenged, the court heard. Mr Atkinson said Waterson orchestrated and developed a series of lies, all designed to protect himself and avoid blame. 'You may think there is clear evidence of him seeking to manipulate those who were in the car with him and others, including his adopted mother, getting them to lie or blaming them,' he said. Waterson lied in an initial 999 call, at the hospital and again as he was quizzed about an incident in Crystal Palace Park when he allegedly put his foot on Mr Lamb's head, accusing him of being a 'grass', jurors heard. Alfie's death came after Waterson, Hoare, her son and two others travelled in this Audi car The prosecutor said: 'Mr Waterson has everything to hide and everything to play for in that interview.' On his co-accused, he said: 'All it would have needed was for Adrian Hoare to pick him up. That's all. 'When he started to cry, when he said he did not have enough room, when he coughed as if he was about to be sick, when he was screaming, when she could see he did not have enough room. All she needed to do was pick him up and she didn't and he is dead.' Mr Atkinson added that neither of the defendants had explained the expert findings about Alfie's injuries 'because they cannot admit what Stephen Waterson did and Adrian Hoare failed to stop'. Hoare, who is originally from north Kent, denies manslaughter, child cruelty and common assault on Emilie Williams, who was in the car. Waterson has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and intimidation of the driver Marcus Lamb. The couple and Williams have pleaded guilty to conspiring to pervert the course of justice by making false statements to police. Tana Adkin QC, defending Stephen Waterson, told the jury in her closing speech her client was 'easy to dislike' but that the prosecution case against Waterson was based on a convenient lie. She said: 'It is not a balancing exercise of who you like. 'He is someone who it is easy to dislike and easy to blame, you may think, frankly.' But she said a fundamental flaw in the prosecutions case was that the car seat was designed with a safety mechanism to stop it from crushing someone. 'The safety mechanism was designed to stop anyone from being crushed behind it.' She asked them how Adrian Hoare could have escape without a bruise if Alfie was crushed to death in her footwell. Ms Adkin said: 'There was someone else there who did not even get a bruise. 'If it had the force sufficient to kill him why is there not a mark on her knees. 'The evidence from doctors was that a child is a lot more flexible, their ribs expand a lot more easily.' The trial continues. Christina Curtis, pictured with her husband Steve and their children, Max, five weeks and Logan, two, were visiting the Wat Tyler park in Pitsea, Essex when she was ushered behind a curtain so she could breast feed her infant boy A family has been left outraged after a mother of two was forced to breastfeed her newborn son behind a curtain in a picturesque country park. Christina Curtis, 31, was visiting the Wat Tyler Park in Essex along with her two sons and husband Steve, 35, when she needed to feed their four-week-old boy. The cafe at the country park in Pitsea, Basildon was closed at the time so staff at reception directed Mrs Curtis to an area under the stairs before shielding her from view with a curtain. Staff claimed the curtain was necessary to avoid offending other visitors who might object to a woman breastfeeding her child. Mr Curtis, from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, said: 'The cafe was closed so my wife asked reception staff if there was anywhere she could sit. 'They pulled up a blue chair at the bottom of a staircase which was not in use at the time and then put up this makeshift curtain in case the sight of her breastfeeding our son offended anyone. 'When I came inside, I couldnt find her so had to ring her phone which is when I discovered she had been put aside like she was doing something wrong. He added: 'She said to me: "All I wanted to do was feed my son," and she was left feeling ashamed for doing it. Mrs Curtis said she was highly embarrassed to be forced to feed her child in these conditions The family were visiting the Wat Tyler park in Pitsea, Basildon in Essex, named after one of the leaders of the Peasants' Revolt 'We were told it was for the sake of everyone else - it wasnt a nice feeling at all. 'I just cant believe that in 2019 this is still treated as a taboo thing to do and is not accepted. It makes us feel like we cant go out anywhere because were constantly worried that we cant feed our own son. 'Everyones told that breastfeeding is the best way but then youre made to feel like youre doing something wrong if its done in public.' Basildon Council, which operates Wat Tyler Park has apologised and has pledged to retrain staff. A spokesman said: 'We were shocked to receive a complaint in regards to an incident in the Wat Tyler Centre which goes against the values of Basildon Council. 'We have responded directly to the complainant to apologise for this. 'We will be speaking to all staff and reminding them of our working practices regarding breastfeeding in our leisure facilities.' The 125-acre country park is named after the leader of the Peasants' Revolt, Wat Tyler who led a mass march to London in opposition to the Poll Tax in 1381. During a meeting with the teenage King Richard II in Smithfield, Tyler was slashed across the neck by the Lord Mayor of London, Sir William Walworth. Tyler, who was brought to St Bart's Hospital later had his head chopped off. An 80-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of being a killer after the dismembered body parts of her male tenant were found by children. The silver-haired retired pig farm slaughterer is also being checked for two historic unsolved cases of missing people in Berezovska, a suburb of Khabarovsk city in eastern Russia. A judge ordered the woman - who has not been named - to be held in detention for two months as a murder investigation was launched. Internal organs of the tenant including his bowels were found in her fridge, stated news reports that cited law enforcement sources. She denies killing the 52-year-old street cleaner, according to reports. The 80-year-old woman (circled) was arrested on suspicion of killing her 52-year-old male neighbour Bin bags of dismembered body parts were found by police in in Berezovska, a suburb of Khabarovsk city in eastern Russia Children playing near the apartment building of the suspect found a man's severed arm The case came to light after shocked children playing near their apartment block found a man's severed arm. Police soon discovered more dismembered remains in a number of plastic bags that had been dragged around the streets by dogs. Fingerprints from the body parts led to the identification of the 52-year-old Ukrainian tenant of the retired slaughter woman, say reports. There were local claims that the woman is suspected of cannibalism but these have not been confirmed by the Russia Investigative Committee. Despite this a law enforcement source told local news outlet DVHab: 'The bowels and other inner organs of the man were found in her fridge - and she threw away the bones. 'But the dogs smelled the blood and carried the body parts all around the area.' Traces of blood were found in her flat, according to police sources. The apartment block in Khabarovsk city where the suspected murder and disembowelling took place Rubbish bins near the apartment block in eastern Russia where the body parts were found by police Neighbours reported hearing 'loud knocks in her apartment until almost midnight, as if somebody was using an axe'. Another female tenant went missing some years ago, along with a large sum of her money, and her passport was found by police in the woman's flat, it was claimed. And a teenage neighbour disappeared in another unsolved case which is now being reexamined, according to local media reports. Neighbours had alleged previously complained of the pensioner 'torturing cats'. The committee said: 'For the sake of the investigation we cannot disclose more information.' The green door of the flat where the victim's body parts were allegedly found in the 80-year-old woman's fridge The suspect is known to have worked at the local pig farm, but she was also invited by local farmers to slaughter their animals. Newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets reported: 'She had a firm hand. Besides, she was not sentimental.' Leading Russian psychiatrist and criminologist Mikhail Vinogradov was quoted by the newspaper saying: 'She worked for many years as a slaughter woman. 'So she had no regrets that she kills living beings. This was her job.' Theresa May is facing 'high noon' on Brexit in two weeks as Remain MPs launched a new attempt to avoid no deal. More than a dozen ministers could join the revolt at the showdown on February 27 as pro-EU MPs told MailOnline the votes will finally be the crunch moment for no deal. Earlier, the PM urged MPs to 'hold their nerve' as she appealed for 'a little more time' to get concessions on the Irish border backstop in bitter Commons clashes. She tried to quell a mounting rebellion by Remainers by promising them another chance to influence the Brexit process by the end of the month if her renegotiation is not complete. But Mrs May fuelled anger that she is playing for time to reach March 29 by refusing to give a firm date by which a final vote on her deal will be held. Labour MP Yvette Cooper tonight published the fourth version of a Remainer plan to avoid no deal Brexit and vowed to force it through on February 27 if there is still no deal. The new draft sets a deadline of mid March for a decision on pursuing no deal or delaying Brexit. It is backed by a raft of former Tory ministers including Oliver Letwin, Nick Boles, Dominic Grieve and Caroline Spelman. But it is also an acknowledgement the Remain rebels do not have the votes to force Mrs May's hand when MPs vote on Valentine's Day. Despite Mrs May's diplomatic push, there is also little sign her battle to secure changes to the backstop - the insurance policy to avoid a hard border - is making progress. EU chief negotiator Mr Barnier emerged from a dinner with Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay in Brussels last night to insist the Withdrawal Agreement will not be renegotiated. Theresa May used a Commons statement to urge politicians to 'hold their nerve', promising Remainer MPs another chance to influence the Brexit process by the end of the month if her renegotiation is not complete After publishing the new plan, Ms Cooper said: 'This bill would require the Prime Minister and Parliament to take crucial decisions by the middle of March at the very latest on whether the UK is leaving with a deal, without a deal or seeking an extension to Article 50. What is the new Remain plan? Labour Yvette Cooper published a new plan to derail no deal Brexit tonight setting up a showdown on February 27 if Theresa May has not won a vote on her deal. If backed by MPs, the plan would try to change the law to force the Government to hold votes on whether to approve no deal or delay Brexit by mid-March. The choice would kick in if Mrs May has not secured backing for her deal by March 13. A similar plan was defeated by MPs at the last round of Brexit votes on January 29. But the group hopes by the end of February fears of no deal will be so high more Tory rebels will back the plan. Advertisement 'It forces the Prime Minister to tell us whether she wants to leave with no deal or to extend Article 50 if she still hasn't got a deal in place by the middle of March. 'This bill creates a Parliamentary safeguard to prevent us drifting into No Deal by accident, and to prevent those crucial decisions being left until the final fortnight.' Sir Oliver added: 'Any MP who genuinely wants to prevent an under-prepared no deal Brexit will need to vote for this bill at the end of February. 'It is the only way of giving the House of Commons the time to produce a consensus about a positive way forward if the PM cannot get her deal through by mid-March.' Downing Street said Mrs May's statement had been brought forward by a day to give MPs more time to 'digest the content' ahead of the Valentine's Day votes. Mrs May said: 'The talks are at a crucial stage. We now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this House has required and deliver Brexit on time. 'By getting the changes we need to the backstop; by protecting and enhancing workers' rights and environmental protections; and by enhancing the role of Parliament in the next phase of negotiations I believe we can reach a deal that this House can support.' In a rebuke to Jeremy Corbyn, Mrs May dismissed his call for a permanent customs union with the EU, saying the idea was 'less desirable' than her existing deal and the House had already voted against it in principle. With 45 days to go, former attorney general Dominic Grieve warned that time was running perilously short for ratification of any deal under the terms of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act. What will happen next in the unfolding Brexit drama? Valentine's Day MPs will hold another round of votes on Brexit. They are not due to pass judgement on Theresa May's deal - instead debating a 'neutral' motion simply saying that they have considered the issue. However, a range of amendments are set to be tabled. They could include proposals to delay the Brexit date beyond March 29. Labour is pushing a change that would force another 'meaningful vote' on the PM's Brexit deal by February 26, regardless of whether she has finished renegotiating the package with the EU. February 24-25 Mrs May could have an opportunity to seal a new package with fellow EU leaders at a joint summit with the Arab League in Sharm el-Sheikh. However, it is not clear how many will attend the gathering - or whether she will have completed the deal by then. February 27 Downing Street is trying to head off a potential Tory Remainer mutiny by promising MPs will get another set of votes by this date regardless of whether there is a final deal. March 21-22 The PM will attend a scheduled EU summit in Brussels that would effectively be the last opportunity to get agreement. Some MPs fear that Mrs May is trying to delay for as long as possible, and might even try to hold a make-or-break vote in the Commons on March 26. That would be just 72 hours before Brexit, giving them a very stark deal-or-no-deal choice. 11pm, March 29 The UK is due to leave the EU with or without a deal, unless the Article 50 process is extended with approval from the bloc's leaders, or revoked to cancel Brexit altogether. Advertisement The Act, passed by the coalition government in 2010, requires 21 sitting days before the ratification of any international treaty. But Mrs May made clear the government would get rid of the requirement if necessary, 'In most circumstances, that period may be important in order for this House to have an opportunity to study that agreement,' she said. 'But of course, in this instance MPs will already have debated and approved the agreement as part of the meaningful vote. 'So while we will follow normal procedure if we can, where there is insufficient time remaining following a successful meaningful vote, we will make provision in the Withdrawal Agreement Bill - with Parliament's consent - to ensure that we are able to ratify on time to guarantee our exit in an orderly way.' A spokesman later explained that the process would be accelerated by a clause in the Withdrawal Agreement Bill itself, which would disapply the terms of the 2010 Act in this case. Mrs May sidestepped demands from several MPs to spell out whether she would ask the EU for an extension to the two-year Brexit negotiation process or allow the UK to crash out without a deal if she hit the March 29 deadline with no agreement. Earlier, Mrs May gave the Cabinet details of what had happened on her visit to Brussels last week, spelling out that she had suggested replacing the backstop with 'alternative arrangements', or inserting a time-limit or a 'unilateral exit mechanism'. Mrs May told Cabinet it was 'clear that these discussions with the EU will need a little more time to conclude and so we will not be bringing forward a meaningful vote this week, but will table an amendable motion for debate on Thursday'. 'We will also commit to laying another amendable motion for debate by 27th February if a meaningful vote has not been passed by then,' the spokesman added. Fevered speculation has been sweeping Westminster in the absence of any firm developments, with claims Mrs May is planning to quit in the summer if her package is finally passed by MPs. Michel Barnier (pictured in Luxembourg yesterday) emerged from a dinner with Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay in Brussels last night to insist the divorce deal will not be renegotiated Home Secretary Sajid Javid (left) and Justice Secretary David Gauke (right) were at the Cabinet meeting this morning Aid Secretary Penny Mordaunt, a Brexiteer, was also in Downing Street for Cabinet today There is also fresh chatter about a snap general election, fuelled by a YouGov poll suggesting the Tories could win a small effective majority. Talks are continuing apace between the UK and EU, with Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay and Mrs May's de facto deputy, David Lidington, meeting MEPs in Strasbourg earlier. But the European Parliament's Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt tweeted afterwards: 'Despite meetings w/ UK reps, incl PM May, Lidington & Barclay I'm yet to hear of a proposal to break Brexit deadlock. 'I ask myself what are these negotiations at a 'crucial state' raised in the HoC? The way forward is cross-party, not kicking the can towards a disastrous no deal.' Leadsom warns Brexiteers not to be 'purist' on backstop Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom today appealed for Brexiteers not to be 'purist' about the type of deal the PM can secure on the Irish backstop. The Cabinet minister, a strong Brexiteer, said there would be legally binding guarantees on the temporary nature of the mechanism. But asked if there would need to be changes to the Withdrawal Agreement, the prominent Leave supporter told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'The point is to ensure that the UK cannot be held in a backstop permanently. 'How it's achieved is not something to be purist about.' Advertisement Mrs May's dodging on the timescale for a final Brexit deal vote drew anger from political opponents. Labour Brexit spokesman Paul Blomfield said: 'This plan shows contempt for our democracy. 'The Government is trying to avoid proper scrutiny and run down the clock in order to force through its bad Brexit deal. 'Labour will oppose this change, which would deny Parliament full scrutiny.' And Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, a supporter of the Best for Britain campaign for a second referendum, said: 'May will stop at nothing to crowbar through her botched Brexit deal even if that means ripping up the statute book and subverting parliamentary scrutiny and process. 'This cynical and undemocratic move must not be allowed to happen.' But the PM's official spokesman pointed out that by the time the 21-day period to consider the Brexit treaty kicked in, MPs would already have passed judgment on it in the 'meaningful vote' and the Withdrawal Agreement Bill. 'It's very hard to see a circumstance where having voted to pass the deal and then voted to enshrine its provisions in law, Parliament could hold up our exit in order to allow MPs to read the treaty,' said the spokesman. The process would be accelerated by a clause in the Withdrawal Agreement Bill itself, which would disapply the terms of the 2010 Act in this case, he said. Mrs May sidestepped demands from several MPs to spell out whether she would ask the EU for an extension to the two-year Brexit negotiation process or allow the UK to crash out without a deal if she hit the March 29 deadline with no agreement. In stormy exchanges in the Commons, the SNP's Westminster leader Ian Blackford risked being thrown out of the chamber after shouting 'liar' at the PM. In stormy exchanges in the Commons, the SNP's Westminster leader Ian Blackford risked being thrown out of the chamber after shouting 'liar' at the PM Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested the PM was 'running down the clock' on Brexit in the hope that MPs will be 'blackmailed' by the fear of a no-deal outcome into supporting 'a deeply flawed deal' And Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested the PM was 'running down the clock' on Brexit in the hope that MPs will be 'blackmailed' by the fear of a no-deal outcome into supporting 'a deeply flawed deal'. 'This is an irresponsible act,' said Mr Corbyn. 'She is playing for time and playing with people's jobs, our economic security and the future of our industry.' Mr Corbyn accused Mrs May of refusing to listen to his alternative deal, involving permanent customs union membership, a close alignment with the single market and matching EU workplace and environmental protections. But Mrs May insisted that she was listening to voices outside the Government, adding that ministers would have further talks with Labour on Wednesday on its list of five demands if it is to support a deal. She was heckled as she denied running down the clock, telling Mr Corbyn that she 'wanted to have this sorted before Christmas'. Labour MPs loudly retorted that she had pulled a 'meaningful vote' in December because of fears she would lose. Mr Barclay was said to have held 'constructive' talks last night with the EU's Mr Barnier in Brussels. After dining on pan-fried North Sea sole with Scottish scallops, the pair agreed to further meetings in the coming days, while their teams will continue to work to find a way forward. However, Mr Barnier said: 'It's clear from our side that we are not going to reopen the withdrawal agreement but we will continue our discussion in the coming days.' Meanwhile, Sky News reported the former president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, had dinner with Mr Lidington in Brussels on Monday night. Mr Van Rompuy has been tipped as a potential 'influencer' to break the Brexit deadlock, the broadcaster reported. Negotiations of a kind have also been taking place back in Westminster, with an exchange of letters between Mrs May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom today appealed for Brexiteers not to be 'purist' about the type of deal the PM can secure on the Irish backstop. Asked if there would need to be changes to the Withdrawal Agreement, the prominent Leave supporter told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'The point is to ensure that the UK cannot be held in a backstop permanently. 'How it's achieved is not something to be purist about.' Boris Johnson (pictured in Westminster yesterday) gave the PM a glimmer of hope by saying he could support her deal if there was a time limit on the backstop The BBC's Washington correspondent Gary O'Donoghue told the Today programme about the attack on his cameraman A BBC cameraman was assaulted in an 'incredibly violent attack' as President Donald Trump was accused of whipping his rally into a 'frenzy' against the media in Texas. Washington correspondent Gary O'Donoghue, who is blind, said his cameraman Ron Skeans was filming the rally in El Paso. Describing what unfolded, he said a Trump supporter mounted the press gallery and pushed the camera into his colleague, before continuing to push Skeans. 'It was an incredibly violent attack. Fortunately our cameraman is fine, he is made of stern stuff,' O'Donoghue told the Today programme. Footage captured from Skeans' camera was posted to Twitter by O'Donoghue and shows the shot focused on Trump before jolting away. As the camera appears to visibly bounce around for around 10 seconds, the screen then focuses on a man in a red 'Make America Great Again' cap who is being restrained by another man in a black t-shirt. 'This is a constant feature of these rallies - a goading of the crowds against the media,' O'Donoghue added. 'I have been spat at before, they hurl abuse at American colleagues in particular.' President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the El Paso County Coliseum in El Paso, Texas on Monday Footage captured by a journalist in the press gallery shows the Trump supporter yelling obscenities at the media He is eventually escorted off the stage as members of the press try to rearrange themselves following his alleged attack O'Donoghue said Trump's 2020 election campaign, which he thinks has begun, will be as 'hostile and ill-tempered and divisive as the one we saw last time'. The BBC's Washington Editor Eleanor Montague was also standing in the press gallery and said: 'The crowd had been whipped up into a frenzy against the media by Trump and other speakers all night.' A BBC spokeswoman said Skeans was 'violently pushed and shoved by a member of the crowd' as he covered the rally. 'The man was removed by security and Ron is fine. The president could see the incident and checked with us that all was OK,' she said. 'It is clearly unacceptable for any of our staff to be attacked for doing their job.' Speaking to a packed stadium that holds about 8,000 in El Paso, Trump slammed the 'dishonest media.' He had a field day ripping into Beto O'Rourke - the former south Texas Democrat - who was holding a counter demonstration nearby. Trump mocked the size of O'Rourke's crowd and called the 46-year-old 'a young man who's got very little going for himself, except he's got a great first name.' The President, speaking on a stage flanked by two large red 'Finish the Wall' signs, made it clear why he came to the border. The Trump supporter was held back as he shouted 'F**k the media' at members of the press Former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke speaks to a crowd of supporters at a ball park close to where Trump's rally was being held following a 'March for Truth' in El Paso 'A wall is a very good thing, not a bad thing,' he told Fox News host Laura Ingraham in an interview after his rally. 'It's a moral thing, to put it in the opposite terms. We don't even say build the wall anymore. 'We say finish the wall because we built a lot and we are renovating a tremendous amount of stuff that was really in bad shape but it had good structure. So we are saying finish the wall. Walls are very important.' In freewheeling remarks at his rally, Trump also trashed the 'Green New Deal,' but didn't single out its most prominent backer, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez although he bashed Democrats generally. An ISIS bride has pleaded not to be 'judged too harshly' after escaping the terror group's last remaining territory in Syria. The 46-year-old Canadian woman, Kimberley, said she 'didn't know all the politics' when she travelled to Syria as a 'humanitarian'. She said she had been imprisoned by ISIS and escaped their last holdout in Baghouz, where tens of thousands of civilians have fled to opposition territory. Syrian fighters backed by the United States are battling to force ISIS out of Baghouz in a final push this week. Kimberley, a 46-year-old Canadian woman who travelled to Syria claiming she 'didn't know all the politics', at a Kurdish-controlled camp after fleeing the terror group's remaining territory Speaking to ITV News at a Kurdish-controlled camp, she said: 'I knew that they were fighting but I didn't know all the politics. 'I came as a humanitarian, I came wanting to help to offer the skills that I had to help mainly women and children here. 'It's constant bombings, it's constant people fleeing, it's people fleeing, it's pulling bodies from houses, it's pulling children from houses as they collapse. 'I would say that for the women that are still there and for the children, that if you want to leave, come, you'll be OK. 'And I would say for the families back home, don't judge too harsh. 'These people have been through an awful lot and they actually need your support and they need your help and they need their countries to back them up or you run the risk of them, some of them, becoming the very problem by pushing them away.' She said she wanted to be reunited with her family in Canada, where her sister said Kimberley had 'not acted rationally'. Syrian fighters are battling a fierce jihadist counteroffensive as they push to take the last scrap of land from ISIS in the east of the country, which may fall within days. A diagram showing the last remaining ISIS territory in Syria in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, where U.S.-backed coalition forces have launched a bid to push them out Smoke from an airstrike is seen on the front line in Baghouz as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stepped up their final campaign to oust the remaining ISIS fighters The Canadian woman who fled ISIS is seen inside a Kurdish-controlled camp. She has said she wants to be reunited with her family in Canada The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by artillery fire from a U.S.-led coalition, launched the final push on the Iraqi border on Saturday. Up to 600 jihadists as well as hundreds of civilians are believed to remain inside the ISIS patch. Tens of thousands of people, mostly women and children related to ISIS fighters, have fled the shrinking jihadist holdout, many of them claiming they were not supporters of the terror group. On Monday the U.S.-led coalition maintained a steady beat of bombings on the area as the SDF faced ferocious resistance. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 12 SDF fighters and 19 jihadists were killed in the fighting on Monday. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that the coalition may declare victory over IS in the region in the coming days. The alliance has been battling to oust the jihadists from the eastern province of Deir Ezzor since September. Wreckage: A Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) armored vehicle drives through destroyed streets near the front line in Baghouz A truck factory electrician whose wife died of lung cancer after inhaling asbestos dust from his moustache when they kissed 40 years ago has won the right to up to 1m in compensation. Lydia Carey died aged 60 in November last year after repeated contact with toxic asbestos fibres left on her husband John's body and work overalls while he worked for Vauxhall Motors in Dunstable, near Luton during the 1970's. The lethal fibres were transmitted from husband to wife during the rituals of daily life, London's High Court heard - such as when Mrs Carey washed his dust-soaked clothes and when the young couple kissed and hugged. John Carey has won the right to compensation after his wife Lydia (who he is pictured with in this undated photo) died from lung cancer after inhaling asbestos of his work overalls The dust and fibres lay dormant in Mrs Carey's body from the 'window of exposure' - 1976 to 1979 - until they triggered the cancer that killed her. Mrs Carey was diagnosed with mesothelioma - a cancer of the lining of the lungs - in October 2017, and her husband duly sued the car giant over her premature death. Mr Carey, of Bedfordshire, claimed he was exposed to large amounts of asbestos fibres principally while working at Vauxhall's truck and bus factory in Dunstable, which he then transferred to his spouse. The factory 'crawled' with asbestos, he claimed, adding that it felt as if 'the whole factory was held together with asbestos'. The dust and fibres lay dormant in Mrs Carey's body from the 'window of exposure' - 1976 to 1979 - until they triggered the cancer that killed her. Pictured left: Mr Carey in an undated photo outside the High Court in London Killed by a HUG: How family won a 250,000 payout after a groundbreaking asbestos case The case of John and Lydia Carey comes after a groundbreaking case which saw the family of a mother who died from cancer after giving her husband a hug every day win 250,000 from a judge. Adrienne Sweeney regularly handled her husband Bills work clothes in the 1960s and 1970s when he was employed at a boiler-making factory. Adrienne Sweeney washed her husband Bills work clothes in the 1960s and 1970s when he was employed at a boiler-making factory dealing with asbestos (pictured together) She died in 2015 of mesothelioma but not before giving a statement about her exposure to asbestos to a lawyer based on her loving daily routine with Bill. In July last year, a judge has awarded her family a total of 247,000. It is the first case in Scots Law to deal with secondary exposure to the harmful substance but legal experts believe many more could follow. Mrs Sweeney, from Paisley, Renfrewshire, told a lawyer before she died that she would shake out her husbands dust- covered overalls and put them in her twin-tub washing machine. She told how he would cuddle her and their children while still wearing his work clothes. Advertisement He worked on the site as a maintenance electrician, explained Judge Karen Walden-Smith. 'He described that they would sometimes have to walk through, kneel or even lie in dust in order to work,' she added. What is mesothelioma and how common is it? Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops in the lining that covers the outer surface of some of the body's organs. It's usually linked to asbestos exposure. It mainly affects the lining of the lungs (pleural mesothelioma), although it can also affect the lining of the tummy (peritoneal mesothelioma), heart or testicles. More than 2,600 people are diagnosed with the condition each year in the UK. Most cases are diagnosed in people aged 60-80 and men are affected more commonly than women. Unfortunately it's rarely possible to cure mesothelioma, although treatment can help control the symptoms. The symptoms of mesothelioma tend to develop gradually over time. They typically don't appear until several decades after exposure to asbestos. Mesothelioma is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos, a group of minerals made of microscopic fibres that used to be widely used in construction. These tiny fibres can easily get in the lungs, where they get stuck, damaging the lungs over time. It usually takes a while for this to cause any obvious problems, with mesothelioma typically developing more than 20 years after exposure to asbestos. The use of asbestos was completely banned in 1999, so the risk of exposure is much lower nowadays. However, materials containing asbestos are still found in many older buildings. Source: NHS Choices Advertisement Vauxhall Motors denied liability to compensate Mr Carey for his wife's death, disputing that the Dunstable factory was the source of her deadly exposure. Lawyers for the company suggested her exposure stemmed from contact with her fathers clothing while a youngster, as he also worked with asbestos in the 1960s. Vauxhall also disputed that Mr Carey was exposed to substantial amounts of asbestos on a 'routine basis' at its factory, said Judge Walden-Smith. But the judge ruled that, between 1976 and 1979, 'there was still a considerable amount of dust in the Dunstable factory'. Although Mr Carey had not worked directly with asbestos he would still have been working in 'close proximity' to the dust and fibres, she said. His exposure was 'significant', said the judge, and although his company operated an overalls washing scheme, Mr Carey had not used it. 'While the description of being covered in dust might be an exaggeration, I am satisfied that there was dust in the factory, and that during the period 1976 to 1979 that included asbestos fibres which would be picked up onto clothes, hair and skin, and transferred home,' said the judge. 'There would then be further contact of the dust and fibres through the laundering of clothes and normal personal contact. I am satisfied that, on this preliminary issue, liability has been made out.' With the issue of liability established, the court can now go on to assess compensation at a future hearing. Mr and Mrs Carey had just celebrated 40 years of marriage when she died. Mr Carey earlier explained that her diagnosis had come 'completely out of the blue'. 'We were together since our teens,' he said. 'She was my world, she meant everything to me. She was a lovely lady, very bubbly. 'We have four grandchildren and she was so much looking forward to seeing them grow up. She had everything to go on for.' Workers at the Vauxhall factory in Dunstable, as seen in a 1967 publicity brochure released by the company Women are being forced to have sex in return for Ebola vaccinations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it has been claimed. Fears of exploitation by frontline workers in the fight against the deadly disease were also highlighted as the death toll from the latest outbreak in the country passed 500. The claims surfaced just days after the DRC's health minister said a vaccination programme has prevented thousands more deaths. Women are being forced to have sex in return for Ebola vaccinations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it has been claimed (file picture) Detailed map reveals how Ebola has spread through the Democratic Republic of Congo According to The Guardian, studies have revealed concerns by 'multiple respondents' that some people are asking for sexual favours in return for Ebola treatments - including vaccinations. The matter was raised as officials gathered for a national taskforce meeting in the city of Beni. They were told how research by NGOs had found there was widespread mistrust in health workers in DRC. On Saturday, officials revealed that more than 500 people had died from the latest outbreak of Ebola in the country, but a vaccination programme had prevented thousands more deaths. 'In total, there have been 502 deaths and 271 people cured,' said a health ministry bulletin, reporting on the outbreak in the east of the country. Health workers move a patient to a hospital after he was cleared of having Ebola at a Doctors Without Borders supported treatment center in Butembo, DRC in November The rate of infection and death from Ebola has been rising since the outbreak began in August last year it took more than two months (August 5 to October 21) for the first 200 cases to be confirmed, then 272 people were infected between November 4 and December 25 THE HISTORY OF EBOLA IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO SINCE THE KILLER VIRUS WAS FIRST DISCOVERED THERE IN 1976 CASES DEATHS DEATH % STRAIN AREA 1976 318 280 88% Zaire Yambuku (Equater) 1977 1 1 100% Zaire Tandala 1995 315 250 79% Zaire Kikwit 2007 264 187 71% Zaire Luebo/Mweke 2008/09 32 15 47% Zaire Luebo/Mweke 2012 36 13 36% Bundibugyo Orientale 2014 69 49 71% Zaire Equater 2017 8 4 50% Zaire Likati 2018 (May) 54 33 61% Zaire Kinshasa 2018-ongoing 785 484 62% Zaire North Kivu/Ituri But Health Minister Oly Ilunga Kalenga said that, for the first time, a vaccination programme had protected 76,425 people and prevented 'thousands' of deaths. 'I believe we have prevented the spread of the epidemic in the big cities' in the region, he said. 'The teams also managed to contain its the spread of the epidemic to neighbouring countries,' he added. 'The biggest problem is the high mobility of the population,' the minister added. The outbreak started last August in the North Kivu region, which borders Uganda and Rwanda. The Spanish wing of the aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported on Twitter that there had been a surge in cases since January 15. Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan, further north, were all now on alert, it added. The security situation in the east of the country, where armed rebels have terrorised the population for years, has made treating the disease difficult. Skodas upcoming compact SUV to make its global debut at Geneva Motor Show next month. The Kamiq gets the same interior as the Scala, albeit without the wooden finish. It also misses out on the flat-bottom steering wheel seen on the hatchback. Skoda had officially revealed the first sketches of its upcoming SUV, the Kamiq, last month. And now, we have got our hands on a few spy shots which show it undergoing testing on public roads in Europe. Based on the VW Groups modular MQB A0 platform, the Kamiq looks a like scaled down version of the Kodiaq, which means it has a more crossover appeal to it rather than a tallboy SUV. Although the unique body-coloured camouflage makes the test mule look disproportionate and unflattering, a closer look reveals familiarity in design with the Skoda Vision X concept from last year. We expect the final design of the Kamiq to be a more watered down version of the concept. Spied in Czech Republic, the test mules are also bigger and larger than the China-only version of the Kamiq that was revealed last year. We are likely to get a version which is much more closer to the Euro-spec model than the one for China. While there is no new info available on the interiors of the Kamiq from the spy shots, Skoda has already revealed that the interiors will be carried over from the Scala hatchback, the first MQB A0 car from Skoda. The Kamiq gets the same interior as the Scala, albeit without the wooden finish. It also misses out on the flat-bottom steering wheel seen on the hatchback. The 10.25-inch Virtual Cockpit digital instrument panel along with a 9.2-inch infotainment display will occupy most of the space on the dash, giving the cabin a premium appeal. While there is no official information regarding the powertrains yet, the Kamiq could get the 2.0-litre TDI diesel motor along with the 1.4-litre TSI petrol option in India. We expect it to be offered with both manual and automatic variants as well. The Kamiq is set to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show that kicks off on March 5. The SUV is likely to make it to our shores as early as next year, with a debut at the 2020 Auto Expo. With MQB A0 platform being currently localised in India, the SUV will take on established rivals such as the Hyundai Creta and the Renault Duster. With its premium appeal, it will also face stiff competition from the likes of the Tata Harrier, Nissan Kicks and Jeep Compass in India. Source: ZigWheels Queensland's once-in-a-century monsoonal deluge has claimed another life. In Townsville, where floodwaters inundated thousands of homes and businesses, melioidosis has infected 10 people, killing one, Queensland Health says. The disease stems from floodwaters heavily contaminated with dirt and bacteria, Julie Mudd said in a statement on Tuesday. 'Given the scale of the flooding we are expecting to see increasing numbers of a range of infections, not just melioidosis,' Dr Mudd says. Townsville Hospital is dealing with a recent spike in melioidosis cases in the wake of floods Two Palm Island men died at the peak of the floods in Townsville eight days ago. Further south, police are still searching for a 35-year-old man who disappeared in floodwaters at Groper Creek on Friday. The receding floodwaters have also left authorities racing to dispose of hundreds of thousands of dead animals that are also posing a health risk. WHAT IS MELIOIDOSIS? Melioidosis, also called Whitmore's Disease, is an infectious diseasei. The bacteria can be found in contaminated water and soil and spreads to humans and animals through direct contact with the source. Source: medicinenet Advertisement Cattle, sheep and wildlife perished in the unprecedented two-week weather event, which left large swathes of the state under water. State Agriculture Minister Mark Furner won't say how much livestock has been lost but warned people to take precautions against bacterial infections when disposing of the decomposing animals. 'As the weather heats up it's becoming a biosecurity matter,' he told reporters on Tuesday. The rotting carcasses pose a health risk to clean up crews and to local water supplies in flooded communities. One person has died while 10 others have fallen ill following the floods in Townsville The growing hazard comes amid concerns from exhausted graziers about how they will make loan repayments when banks come knocking in the coming months. The full financial impact on farmers may not be known for weeks but it's expected to be hundreds of millions of dollars. Prime Minister Scott Morrison told the parliament on Tuesday the government was working closely with rural communities to help flood-affected graziers. 'The one thing that we will do is ensure that there is a recovery and restoration plan for north Queensland cattle farmers to be able to return to the prosperity,' he said. The flood crisis was also discussed in the first sitting of Queensland's parliament on Tuesday. Townsville Public Health physician Dr Julie Mudd urged people who are elderly, have low immune systems or with existing chronic conditions to not assist with the clean up The opposition grilled Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk about a decision to open floodgates of the Ross River Dam at the peak of the floods, which inundated many houses. Ms Palaszczuk said the dam belonged to the Townsville Shire Council and it had acted on advice from various government agencies. Mopping up in Townsville continues. Officials have deemed 2950 homes damaged of the 8000 assessed, as an appeal to raise funds for people affected climbed to $3.6 million. Deputy Premier Jackie Trad will meet with insurance firms and the Insurance Council of Australia on Friday to discuss recovery efforts. As of Tuesday, insurers had received 14,600 claims from people in Townsville with losses estimated at $175 million. The manager of a bakery has hit back at a customer who took to social media to complain about the price and taste of her shop's croissants. After picking up the pastry from Sydney-based Flour and Stone bakery, the upset woman let her feelings be heard on the businesses' Facebook page. 'Not the best croissants I have eaten, they're too buttery. $6 the croissant is a joke,' she wrote. However, Bakery manager Nadine Ingram wasn't going to take the negative review lying down and hit back at the customer through the bakery's Instagram page. The manager of a bakery has hit back at a customer who took to social media to complain about the price and taste of her shop's croissants (pictured) After picking up the pastry from Sydney-based Flour and Stone bakery, the upset woman let her feelings be heard on the businesses' Facebook page (pictured) 'Thank you for your feedback. It's true $6 is a lot for a croissant and you're not the only one to raise an eyebrow or two at the price increase. So I will address all concerns here and now,' Ms Ingram wrote. 'The $6 croissant pays for the training, the ingredients, [and] the purpose.' 'We recently implemented a price increase to facilitate a pay rise across the board for my whole team.' Ms Ingram said the price increase was also introduced on products to 'facilitate' a pay rise for the staff, as well as covering the costs she previously listed. 'My "why" is to train the bakers of the future so I can get an overly buttery croissant in my retirement. Call it selfish but my purpose goes beyond,' she continued. She said her bakers had asked for three training sessions a week to help them continue to improve their craft, specifically asking for extra training on croissants. 'In addition I have a career mentor program where my staff go and spend the day with one of my peers making coffee, cheese, bread or chocolates,' she wrote. Bakery manager Nadine Ingram (pictured) wasn't going to take the negative review lying down 'Flour and Stone pays for this and I add, this type of scheme is almost unheard of in hospitality.' Ms Ingram said while other small businesses were turning to more automated kitchens, she was not going to do so and had a deep desire to help develop the skills of her loyal staff. 'Because I don't believe this is a sustainable way for Australia to move forward,' she wrote. 'As for the croissant having too much butter in it. I apologize wholeheartedly.' A number of other Instagram users were quick to jump in and defend the bakery. 'I used to live across the road and waking up for an early 'flour and stone' croissant was always the highlight of my day. Best croissants I've ever had!' one customer wrote. 'Well, you have my support and complete understanding. Standing strong and building a real business that meets its commitments, especially when the playing field is not level, is hard work. Well done!' another added. Richard Madeley has been ridiculed for going 'full Alan Partridge' while interviewing a naked anti-Brexit economist today. The presenter was determined to keep a straight face as he read a pro-EU slogan that Cambridge academic Dr Victoria Bateman scrawled on her bare flesh. But his matter-of-fact reading of the words 'Brexit leaves Britain naked' left Good Morning Britain viewers in stitches. In a reference to the comedy character's often mocked football commentary, Twitter user Jack Seale shared the clip, writing: 'Oh this is LIQUID MADELEY.' Richard Madeley's exchange with Dr Bateman was likened to Steve Coogan's comedy character Alan Partridge (pictured, the interview on Good Morning Britain) Richard Madeley (left) told Dr Bateman (right) that he didn't find her nakedness particularly shocking Jack Seale branded the presenter's interviewing technique 'LIQUID MADELEY' in a nod to Partridge's clueless football commentary Dr Bateman (pictured on Good Morning Britain today) scrawled an anti-Brexit slogan on her naked body It came after he carefully read out the anti-Brexit message while staring at his guest's naked body and assuring her he didn't find it 'shocking'. Not for the first time, he was compared with Steve Coogan's classic talk show host parody. One social media user said using Madeley as a stand-in for regular presenter Piers Morgan was a 'stroke of genius', adding: 'Give him a second series you s****.' Another complained that his similarity to the character made this morning's episode 'hard to watch'. The economist (pictured) told Good Morning Britain today that Brexit leaves Britain exposed on the world stage The Cambridge academic (pictured on this morning's show) scrawls the slogan 'Brexit leaves Britain naked' on her body to protest the UK's impending exit Dr Victoria Bateman appeared nude on the set just four days after she disrobed for an interview with John Humphrys on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Good Morning Britain had to blur her slogan that Brexit leaves Britain naked but she insisted that she was using visual power to make an important statement. 'As an economist I'm used to using words and equations in order to make an argument,' she told the show. 'I thought what I would do is condense down those thousands of words in one simple message that Brexit leaves Britain naked.' She said that leading Leave campaigners would be unable to deliver the promises made to those who voted to exit the bloc and that Brexit was irrelevant to the daily struggle Britons face up and down the country in the form of foodbank use and poverty. Viewers did not seem impressed with Dr Bateman's display on Good Morning Britain's set today The campaigner (pictured on GMB this morning) said the only thing shocking about her nude display is that she has a voice unlike women in pornography It comes just three days after she surprised Radio 4's John Humphrys when she disrobed and then challenged Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg to a nude debate. Humphrys, who said, startled, 'oh, I see you're naked', told listeners that Dr Bateman had the words 'Brexit Leaves Britain Naked' painted across her body. It is not known whether the BBC was aware that Dr Bateman had intended to strip during the interview which saw her arrive wearing a coat and then disrobe in front of an unsuspecting Humphrys. Dr Bateman (right) challenged Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg (left) to a naked debate on the UK's impending departure Today she told presenter Richard Madeley that she had done 'nothing illegal' by disrobing in the radio studio. Richard - who is standing in for Piers Morgan this week - told her that he didn't think her display was particularly shocking but Penny Smith disagreed. Dr Bateman said that naked people are on display 'all the time', from 'scantily clad' models to the 'whole world of pornography'. She insisted that the only thing that was shocking about her protest is that she's a naked woman with a voice after years of a society controlled by men. But it isn't just Brexit that sparks naked protest from Dr Bateman, who stripped off in a gender equality protest last year. At a talk entitled Feminism Meets Economics, she covered her breasts and genitals with only a handful of 5 and 20 notes. Five years ago she posed nude for a portrait shown at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters exhibition at the Mall Galleries in A man who broke into an empty Texas home to smoke marijuana ended up coming face-to-face with a caged tiger. The 350lb tiger was found in Houston in the Harrisburgh/Manchester area of the city. An anonymous tipster contacted the city's authorities to let them know about the unusual find and said that at first they believed they were hallucinating when they first saw the big cat. Police say someone who went to an abandoned home in southeast Houston to smoke marijuana, ended up discovering a tiger inside Houston Police Department's Major Offenders, Livestock Animal Cruelty Unit arrived at scene and found a 350-pound tiger inside The tiger was found in a 'rinky-dink' cage in the garage, which was not locked, police said. The garage had been secured with a screwdriver and nylon strap, according to the police. 'It was a pretty small cage inside basically a garage in a house that didn't look like it was in the best shape. So it was important that we get it out of that situation,' Lara Cottingham, with the city of Houston, said. Animal welfare officers found the tiger on Monday and called the Houston police in order to secure a warrant and remove the tiger. The home was abandoned but several packages of meat were found with the animal The tiger was tranquilized in order to move it out of the house, officials said. The animal was be taken to an animal shelter temporarily before being moved to a permanent home. 'There's an incredible network all across the United States and here in Houston and here in Texas. It's just finding the right combination and then transporting,' Cottingham said to Click2Houston. In a statement, the Houston Zoo said it will not be able to take the tiger. The cage that kept the animal enclosed was not large or sturdy enough for such a creature of that size so it had to be taken away The man told police he thought he was hallucinating when he first saw the overweight female tiger in the property's garage (Pictured, BARC's Animal Enforcement Officers with the animal) 'The Houston Zoo is aware of the tiger found in southeast Houston today, Feb. 11; however, the Houston Zoo is not involved in this case, and is not receiving the tiger, as incorrectly reported,' it said. 'The Houston Zoo is home to two Malayan tigers, Berani and Satu, and does not have capacity to receive additional tigers.' Video of Prince William and Prince Harry talking about healthy disagreements within the Royal family has resurfaced - sparking speculation of a Royal rift. However, while some believe the footage shot last year reveals real tensions, others say the princes were just joking. When asked if they ever have disagreements, William says 'oh yes' and Harry chips in 'healthy disagreements' The video was shot when William and Kate appeared with Harry and Meghan for the first time as part of a Royal Foundation Forum charity event. Social media commentators have now reposted the video and say the comments are a reference to disagreements between the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex. But others have dismissed that theory saying the princes are joking. Prince William and his brother admitted they have disagreements while they were being interviewed at the Royal Foundation Forum (above) The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (left) and Prince William and Kate Middleton (right) have been rumoured to be rowing since before last year's Royal wedding The four are quizzed while they were promoting the Heads Together initiative. A journalist asks: 'Working together as family, do you ever have disagreements about things?' Kate Middleton (far right) and Meghan Markle (second right), pictured with their husbands at Westminster Abbey for an Armistice service, reportedly had a row before the royal wedding Prince William responds, 'oh yes' and his brother adds they 'healthy disagreements'. But then the Duke of Sussex admits that 'they come so thick and fast' that it's difficult to pinpoint how they resolved their last row. His brother then says: 'Is it resolved? We dont know.' Harry steered the topic back towards the serious message, adding: 'I think it's really good we have got four different personalities and we all have that same passion to make a difference. 'We have different opinions and they work really well [together]. Working as family does have its challenges; of course it does. '[I think] the fact that everybody is laughing shows they know 'exactly' what's it like. But we are stuck together for the rest of our lives.' Meghan added: 'Togetherness at it's finest.' But Ms Daheley summed it up when she said: 'Well you're putting on a great show if [your last argument] is not resolved!' There has been a series of claims of a rift between Meghan (pictured left on the carriage procession after her wedding in May last year) and Kate (pictured right in the chapel) In December it was claimed that Kate had a furious row with Meghan Markle after the former actress 'b******ed' a member of her staff. The Duchess of Cambridge allegedly told Meghan it was 'unacceptable' to target her aides before May's royal wedding in Windsor. The Sun reported that Kate told Prince Harry's then-fiancee: 'They're my staff and I speak to them. Kate is also claimed to have been left crying in a stressful dress fitting in the lead-up to the wedding in May last year. In addition sources have also told the Mirror that insiders are concerned about Meghan's 'authoritative' and 'abrupt' style. It comes after claims from royal sources that Meghan clashed with Buckingham Palace over the smell at St George's Chapel, where she married Prince Harry. Insiders claimed that Meghan wanted air fresheners to be used in the 15th-century chapel but was told it was not appropriate. The Palace is said to have told her that the chapel was a regular place of worship for the Queen and that it would be good enough for Meghan. News then emerged that Meghan and Harry was to move away from Kensington Palace to make their home 25 miles away from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in Windsor. Royal insiders have insisted that there has been no falling out between the Cambridges and the Sussexes, but admitted the pair are 'very different people'. Advertisement Britain is set to enjoy an early hint of spring this week as temperatures rise to 15C (59F) in parts of the country. After a chilly start to the week that saw the mercury drop to -4.2C (24F) in Yorkshire yesterday, temperatures should hit double figures most days this week with Thursday expected to be the warmest in southern England. And there are signs that the milder weather is here to stay for the moment, with the Met Office forecasting temperatures to be 'around or just above normal' next week - apart from in the North West. The above average temperatures - arriving well ahead of the start of meterological spring on March 1 - will present a stark contrast to the sub-zero chill a fortnight ago that saw the mercury fall to -14.4C (6.1F) amid heavy snow. A squirrel forages among purple crocuses at Royal Victoria Park in Bath today after a bloom of the traditional spring flower Mist sits over the trees in the Berkshire village of Lambourn today, as Britain is set to enjoy an early hint of spring this week Crocuses bloom at Royal Victoria Park in Bath today as the country prepares to enjoy milder temperatures this week St Mary's Lighthouse at Whitley Bay in North Tyneside prior to sunrise this morning as temperatures become milder Joggers enjoy an early morning run around the perimeter of Sefton Park in Liverpool next to daffodils yesterday England and Wales will enjoy a bright start today after a few patches of mist clear, while Scotland and Northern Ireland will be mostly cloudy with some rain. It will also be wet in some parts of the West this evening. Through the night, the North will become cloudy and wet, but clear spells will develop across southern regions before tomorrow brings a dry day with sunny spells for many, especially in Wales, central and southern England There will be more cloud in the North with patchy rain in Scotland and northern England, mostly in the morning. On Thursday, most areas will be dry, mild and sunny but there will be cloud and rain in North West Scotland. Friday will start dry and sunny but a band of rain will affect western areas in the afternoon. The band of rain will south-eastwards on Saturday, but the rain becomes increasingly light and patchy. Temperatures will rise today following a chilly start and should get into double figures in most areas by the afternoon Temperatures will become milder as the week goes on - with the best day likely to be Thursday in southern England Last week gusts of up to 80mph hit the UK as Storm Erik blew across the country, causing deaths and delaying the transport network. On Saturday a kitesurfer died amid strong winds in an incident on the Saunton Sands beach in north Devon, although a spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police would not confirm whether the death was weather-related. On Friday morning a 50-year-old man died on the A384 in Buckfastleigh, Devon, and in Wales a van driver was killed after he collided with a fallen tree on the B4306 between Pontyberem and Llannon in west Wales. Road and rail users were faced with delays as a result of the weather with speed limits put in place on the East Coast Main Line and drivers advised to take extra care. An accomplished Australian chef has has taken his own life, the second in less than a week. Celebrity chef Colin Fassnidge, who is a judge on the reality show My Kitchen Rules, took to social media on Tuesday to pay tribute to former co-worker Matt Crandon. Fassnidge's post comes only a day after he appeared on national television to discuss depression in his industry following the death of Russell Crowe's personal chef, Justin Bull. Scroll down for video Celebrity chef Colin Fassnidge shared the devastating news on social media Tuesday Sharing a photo of the sous chef of popular Sydney restaurant 4Fourteen, Fassnidge wrote that his mate would be missed. 'RIP mate, you will be missed.' Fassnidge lamented the fact he had only just been discussing mental health issues in the industry a day earlier. In the interview, he spoke of another friend who had taken his own life two years ago, saying it 'rocked' him and compelled him to advocate for chef's mental wellbeing. Fassnidge lamented he had spoken on the importance of mental health in chefs a day ago 'I grew up in the Irish society of "you don't say anything, everything's okay, you're a strong man",' Fassnidge said. 'And it's taken me a lot of time to just express yourself to other men, and that's what we do to our younger chefs. 'Tell them it's okay to talk and it's okay to cry.' Fassnidge and Mr Crandon worked together at 4Fourteen before it closed its doors last August. Mr Crandon also worked at Wine Banc in Sydney and Chur Burger in Brisbane. He had shared a number of posts to social media detailing a battle with depression and anxiety, saying mental health issues were not a sign of weakness. Mr Crandon also followed Beyond Blue and R U OK Day on Facebook. Mr Crandon's death comes days after world-renowned chef Justin Bull (pictured) was found dead in a cafe under non-suspicious circumstances Fassnidge's interview with Seven's The Daily Edition came after world-renowned chef Justin Bull, 46, was found dead in in Bronte, Sydney, on Friday morning. Mr Bull, who left behind six-year-old son Felix, travelled the world working for actor Russell Crowe and billionaire casino magnate James Packer. His death, which shook the industry, was not treated as suspicious. Globe-trotting chef Anthony Bourdain was also found dead in non-suspicious circumstances in a French hotel room last June. For confidential support call the Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on 13 11 14 Two inmates have been charged with attempted murder over the alleged stabbing of drug lord Tony Mokbel in a prison brawl. The two 21-year-olds were charged with attempted murder, intentionally cause serious injury and causing serious injury intentionally in circumstances of gross violence. The pair will appear in Geelong Magistrates Court for a filing hearing on Friday. Drug lord Tony Mokbel (pictured) is in a critical condition after Monday's alleged stabbing Tony Mokbel's stepdaughter says the drug kingpin is a 'soldier' and will survive the alleged jail yard stabbing that has left him fighting for life in hospital. Brittany Lee McGuire, 22, who is the daughter of Mokbel's ex-partner Danielle, told the Herald Sun on Tuesday: 'He is fine. He is a soldier... We just want him to get better.' He underwent emergency surgery on Monday night and remains in a critical condition at Royal Melbourne Hospital. CCTV footage captured the moment the 53-year-old was beaten to the ground by two Pacific Islander inmates at Barwon Prison southwest of Melbourne on Monday, before he was repeatedly stabbed with homemade weapons. The 53-year-old gangland figure was allegedly set upon by two inmates on Monday afternoon at Victoria's Barwon Prison and airlifted to hospital (pictured) He suffered multiple stab wounds to his upper body with bleeding from his mouth, head and chest. The maximum-security prison, near Geelong, remains in lockdown following the alleged stabbing as new details about the incident emerge. It's understood three inmates came to Mokbel's aid, where a second man, 31, was also injured in the alleged attack. Victoria Police said the injured man was released from Geelong Hospital on Tuesday morning and has since returned to Barwon Prison. He's believed to be Steven Logan, who's serving time for drug trafficking, Seven News reported. Mokbel (pictured) underwent emergency surgery on Monday night following the alleged attack Seven News also claims prison management knew Mokbel's life was potentially in danger, where staff were recently briefed on intelligence that an attack was likely. A close friend of Mokbel's, who wished to remain anonymous questioned the timing of the attack. 'Tony's done several years in prison now, many years without any problems or issues and all the sudden within a few days of the Royal Commission starting, he gets attacked and viciously almost killed,' she told Seven News. 'So you've really got to wonder about the timing of this all.' Mokbel is seen in 2008 arriving at the Supreme Court in Athens, where he unsuccessfully fought his extradition to Australia Corrections Commissioner Emma Cassar said good quality security camera footage of the incident showed Mokbel walking towards a unit in the mainstream compound of the jail when he was attacked. 'He was approached by two prisoners who assaulted him, knocked him to the ground and you can see the footage very clearly, showing a number of stabbing actions,' she told 3AW on Tuesday. 'Another prisoner did come to Tony Mokbel's aid it seems, and he was also injured. In terms of the relationship between those two people, it's too early to tell.' Brittany McGuire, 22, is the daughter of Mokbel's ex-partner Danielle Brittany McGuire was seen on Tuesday at LA Hair & Salon in Port Melbourne as her stepfather fought for life in hospital Dr Cassar said authorities separated the attackers within moments and placed them in a high-security unit. They will be interviewed by police and prison authorities, who will also investigate who else is involved. Three homemade weapons were recovered nearby and have been handed to police. Brittany Lee McGuire, 22, who is the daughter of Mokbel's ex-partner Danielle, said on Tuesday: 'He is fine. He is a soldier... We just want him to get better' Corrections Commissioner Emma Cassar said good quality security camera footage of the incident showed the moment Mokbel (pictured in 2007) was attacked 'These sort of incidents are unacceptable and for me, it's a real worry this has occurred,' Dr Cassar said. 'We're doing everything we can. We'll certainly wait for the Victorian police investigation and then my team will investigate, and there'll be an external review into this.' Dr Cassar said it is too early to tell if the incident related to a 'powerplay' within the jail. A police source said it was understood the alleged attack was in response to a front page report which suggested Mokbel had 'lost none of his power' in jail. Corrections Commissioner Emma Cassar (pictured) said authorities separated the attackers within moments and placed them in a high-security unit Mokbel reportedly disrupted an extortion racket being run in the prison by Pacific Islanders, who had targeted a teenager locked up on assault charges. Before the stabbing, Mokbel was said to be getting under the skin of fellow inmates by talking about his plans to walk free from prison amid the Informer 3838 saga. Informer 3838 was a high-profile Melbourne barrister who had for years been giving information to police while representing Mokbel and six of his associates, potentially bringing their convictions into question. Mokbel was airlifted to Royal Melbourne Hospital and was originally considered to be in a serious but stable condition, but deteriorated A prison van carrying Mokbel arrives at Barwon Prison, 70km west of Melbourne in May, 2008 Two inmates have been charged with attempted murder over the alleged stabbing of drug lord Tony Mokbel (pictured) in a prison brawl Dr Cassar was asked on Tuesday morning if Mokbel had been bragging about being released. 'He was very confident he'd get out of jail,' she said, adding that was 'probably' annoying other inmates. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Tuesday said the government would consider making any necessary changes to prison security. Mokbel was stabbed at the same jail where his mate Carl Williams was murdered nearly a decade ago 'It doesn't matter what we might feel about that particular person, we want our prisons to operate properly and that means they need to be safe for everybody involved, and that includes staff,' Mr Andrews said. After fleeing Australia while on trial in 2006, Mokbel was captured in Greece in 2007 and was sentenced to a 30-year jail term for drug crimes, with a minimum of at least 22 years before being eligible for parole. Mokbel was stabbed in the same prison where fellow gangland identity and friend Carl Williams was murdered in 2010 by another inmate, Matthew Charles Johnson. California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced he's abandoning a plan to build a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco, a project with an estimated cost that has ballooned to $77 billion. 'Let's be real,' the Democrat Newsom said in his first State of the State address on Tuesday in Sacramento. 'The current project, as planned, would cost too much and respectfully take too long. There's been too little oversight and not enough transparency.' The idea long championed by Newsom's predecessor, Jerry Brown, is years behind schedule. The latest estimate for completion is 2033. High-speed rails have been in the news lately after freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, proposed building a rail network extensive enough to eliminate air travel. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he's abandoning a plan to build a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco in his State of the State speech on Tuesday Concept art shows the planned high-speed train that was to have run from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The project had ballooned in cost to $77B and was running years behind Freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, believes that a massive network of high-speed rail could eliminate the need for air travel Ocasio-Cortez called for the high-speed rail network in her 'Green New Deal,' an ambitious environmental, social and economic master-plan to transform the U.S. Newsom, though, said he wants to finish construction that's already under way on a segment of the high-speed train through California's Central Valley, arguing it will revitalize the economically depressed region. He's also replacing Brown's head of the state board that oversees the project and pledged more accountability for contractors that run over on costs. Newsom also said the state faces 'hard decisions that are coming due' on clean water, housing and homelessness. He rebuked President Donald Trump once again on border security, highlighting his decision to withdraw most of the state's National Guard troops from the Southern border. 'Last week, we heard (Trump) stand up at the State of the Union and offer a vision of an America fundamentally at odds with California values,' he said. California Governor Gavin Newsom delivers his first State of the State address before a joint session of the California Legislatureat the State Capitol in Sacramento on Tuesday 'He described a country where inequality didn't seem to be a problem, where climate change didn't exist, and where the greatest threat we face comes from families seeking asylum at the border,' Newsom continued. Brown had agreed to deploy troops at the Trump administration's request last year, although he said they couldn't participate in immigration enforcement. Newsom, though, said there's been a 'gray area' in the troops duties that may have allowed some to inadvertently participate in immigration activities, although a Guard official said the state's troops have not helped detain anyone. Newsom disputed Trump's claim there is a crisis on the border and any need for National Guard troops was eliminated when Trump chose earlier this month to add 3,750 more U.S. troops at the border. But Newsom's speech went beyond immigration and other disagreements with the White House to his own ambitious policy goals for the state. Newsom has laid out his vision for California twice already, in his inaugural address and through his first crack at the state budget. He spent his first month in office traveling to different parts of the state promoting his ideas on housing, juvenile justice and the environment. Christi College students said they were told to rip out fake eyelashes A principal at a girls' private school has rubbished claims students were forced to 'tear off' fake eyelashes ahead of school photos last week. Mary Fitz-Gerald, the principal of Mater Christi College in Melbourne's east, also dismissed talk that Year 12 pupils were threatened with suspension if they didn't remove the false eyelashes. 'Students and parents were reminded of our expectations regarding false eyelashes and extensions last year and again this year via email and directly with Year 12 students prior to the photo day,' she said in a statement on the school's website, the Herald Sun reported. The prestigious Mater Christi College in Melbourne's east (pictured) - staff members have denied forcing students to 'tear off' fake eyelashes ahead of school photos Mary Fitz-Gerald, (pictured) the school principal of Mater Christi College, has rubbished claims students were forced to 'tear off' fake eyelashes ahead of school photos last week 'A small number of students chose to disregard our policy and were presented with options including seeking professional removal immediately in the local area. 'One student opted to trim her eyelash extensions and sought the assistance of a staff member.' Ms Fitz-Gerald's claims are at odds with what a student told The Age. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, she said photo day on February 4 was memorable - for all the wrong reasons. 'Girls were in tears,' she claimed. Another student claimed she was forced to cut her eyelash extensions at school after her attempts to pull them out at home the night before 'hurt way too much'. A third claimed girls were being made to remove make-up with antibacterial wipes, 'the kind that are used to clean tables.' Eyelash extensions best work when they are left to grow out naturally - they should only be removed in a salon by a beauty therapist (stock image) A concerned mother couldn't believe the lengths the school went to to enforce the uniform policy. 'It could have been dealt with in a safer way,' she said. 'Eyelash extensions either need to grow out naturally or be removed by a beauty therapist. 'I certainly would not want any staff member to go near my daughter's eye with a pair of scissors.' North Korea has produced enough bomb fuel to build seven more nuclear weapons since talks began with the United States, a study has revealed. The regime is said to have used spent fuel from a nuclear plant in Yongbyon to produce up to 18 pounds of weapons-grade uranium since May 2018. Combined with production of 330 pounds of highly enriched uranium, it would allow Kim Jong-un to add between five and seven weapons to his nuclear arsenal. The finding comes ahead of a second planned summit between the North Korean leader and U.S. President Donald Trump. Donald Trump meets Kim Jong-un in the first summit between the two countries, in Singapore last June. They are set to meet again in Vietnam later this month The study by Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation estimated the size of Pyongyang's arsenal at 30 nuclear weapons, bringing the possible current total up to 37. Researchers said a pause in testing since 2017 had limited North Korea's capability but that its weapons posed a real threat to nearby Japan and South Korea. Siegfried Hecker, a former director of the U.S. Los Alamos weapons laboratory and one of the report's authors, said satellite imagery showed North Korea's production of bomb fuel continued in 2018. The production came in spite of nuclear talks with the U.S. led by the historic summit in Singapore last June. U.S. intelligence is not certain how many nuclear warheads North Korea has, with estimates between 20 and 60. The Stanford report said that North Korea was likely to have continued work on warhead miniaturisation and to ensure they can stand up to delivery via intercontinental ballistic missiles. But the freeze in nuclear and missile testing greatly limited its ability to make such improvements, the research found. North Korea is said to have used spent fuel from a nuclear plant (pictured) in Yongbyon to produce up to 18 pounds of weapons-grade uranium since May 2018 'They have continued the machinery to turn out plutonium and highly enriched uranium,' Hecker said, 'but it also depends on weaponization - the design, build and test and then the delivery. 'When they ended missile testing, those things rolled backwards. 'So when I look at the whole spectrum, to me North Korea ... is less dangerous today than it was at the end of 2017, in spite of the fact that they may have made another five to seven weapons worth of nuclear material.' The Stanford experts said it was their assessment that 'North Korea cannot deliver a nuclear warhead with any measure of confidence to the U.S. mainland.' However Hecker said the regime's nuclear weapons were a real threat to Japan and South Korea. Officials are preparing for the second Trump-Kim summit due to be held in Hanoi on February 27 and 28. Kim pledged during the first summit with Trump June to work towards denuclearization of the Korean peninsula but there has been little concrete progress. In September Kim hinted he could dismantle nuclear facilities at Yongbyon in return for 'corresponding measures' by the United States. An aunt of the teen who killed himself after his girlfriend encouraged him to says his family believe justice has been served. Conrad Roy III's aunt spoke to reporters Monday after 22-year-old Michelle Carter was taken into custody to begin serving her 15-month jail sentence for an involuntary manslaughter conviction. 'We're happy that this is the end of the process for us. We feel justice has been served,' his aunt Becky Maki said. Maki said it was painful to hear the details of Roy's death over again in the media and that his family is grateful this is the end. Conrad Roy III's aunt Becky Maki said she and the family feel 'justice has been served' Michelle Carter is seen in her booking photo after being taken into custody on Monday Michelle Carter, 22, was taken into custody on Monday after a top court last week upheld her manslaughter conviction in the 2014 death of her 18-year-old boyfriend Conrad Roy III Joe Cataldo, an attorney for Carter, said after that the 'legal fight is not over.' Carter's lawyers plan to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Carter was taken into custody on Monday after a top court last week upheld her manslaughter conviction in the 2014 death of her 18-year-old boyfriend Conrad Roy III. Carter was sentenced to 15 month in prison in 2017 after a judge ruled that she caused Roy's death after telling him to 'get back in' his truck that was filling with toxic gas after he told her he was scared. The judge had allowed her to remain free while she appealed, but Massachusetts' highest court upheld her manslaughter conviction last week. Carter's lawyer had urged the judge to allow the young woman to stay out of jail while they take her case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Her attorneys said in court documents that she has no prior criminal record, hasn't tried to flee, and has been receiving mental health treatment. Carter, who was sentenced to 15 month in prison in 2017, showed no discernible emotion as she was taken into custody on Monday But a judge ruled on Monday that she should start her sentence. Carter, who was sporting a new cropped hair cut, showed no discernible emotion as she was taken into custody but her shoulders did sag as she stood and prepared to be led away. Earlier in the day, Massachusetts' highest court denied an emergency motion filed by her lawyers to keep her out of jail. Carter was 17 when her 18-year-old boyfriend took his own life in Fairhaven, a town on Massachusetts' south coast in July 2014. Her case garnered international attention and provided a disturbing look at teenage depression and suicide. Carter and Roy both struggled with depression and Roy had previously tried to kill himself. Carter's lawyer on Monday had urged the judge to allow the young woman to stay out of jail while they take her case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Her mother Sandra sat behind in court as she was taken into custody The judge had allowed her to remain free while she appealed, but Massachusetts' highest court upheld her manslaughter conviction last week. She pictured above being taken into custody Michelle Carter's parents Gail and David Carter looked down as they departed court after their daughter was taken into custody They both lived in Massachusetts but met in Florida in 2012 while both were on vacation with their families. Their relationship consisted mainly of texting and other electronic communications. In dozens of text messages revealed during her sensational trial, Carter pushed Roy to end his life and chastised him when he hesitated. As Roy made excuses to put off his plans, her texts became more insistent. 'You keep pushing it off and say you'll do it but u never do. It's always gonna be that way if u don't take action,' Carter texted him he on the day he died. 'I thought you wanted to do this. The time is right and you're ready - just do it babe,' she wrote. 'You're finally going to be happy in heaven. No more pain. It's okay to be scared and it's normal. I mean, you're about to die,' Carter wrote in another. But the juvenile court judge focused his guilty verdict on the fact that Carter told Roy over the phone to get back in his truck when it was filling with carbon monoxide. The judge said Carter had a duty to call the police or Roy's family, but instead listened on the phone as he died. Carter was 17 when Conrad Roy III was found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning in July 2014. The judge said Carter had a duty to call the police or Roy's family when she knew the 18-year-old was killing himself Conrad's father, Conrad Roy Jr., embraced the teen's aunt Becky Maki outside court on Monday after Carter was jailed Carter, pictured above during her sentencing in 2017, sported a new shorter haircut when she was taken into custody on Monday 'After she convinced him to get back into the carbon monoxide filled truck, she did absolutely nothing to help him: she did not call for help or tell him to get out of the truck as she listened to him choke and die,' Supreme Judicial Court Justice Scott Kafker wrote in the court's opinion affirming her conviction. At trial, Carter's lawyer argued Carter had initially tried to talk Roy out of suicide and encouraged him to get help. Her attorney said Roy was determined to kill himself and nothing Carter did could change that. Her appellate attorneys said there was no evidence that Roy would have lived if Carter had called for help. They also argued there wasn't enough evidence to prove that Carter told Roy to get back in his truck. Her phone call with Roy wasn't recorded, but prosecutors pointed to a rambling text that Carter sent to a friend two months later in which she said called Roy's death her fault and said she told Roy to 'get back in' the truck. Daniel Marx, who argued the case before the Supreme Judicial Court, said last week that the court's ruling 'stretches the law to assign blame for a tragedy that was not a crime.' 'It has very troubling implications, for free speech, due process, and the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, that should concern us all,' he said. Officials say a 54-year-old man has died after falling into vat containing sulfuric acid at a manufacturing facility in suburban Detroit. Michigan Seamless Tube confirmed that the man died following the 'serious industrial accident' on Saturday at its facility in South Lyon. Police Chief Chris Sovik told The Detroit News that the man fell into a 'chemical solution' and was pulled out. He was taken to a hospital with severe burns. Michigan Seamless spokesman Mark Hommel said the company is conducting an investigation and is cooperating fully with authorities. A a 54-year-old Michigan man died after falling into vat containing sulfuric acid at the Michigan Seamless Tube (above) manufacturing facility in suburban Detroit The man's name wasn't immediately released. Fire Chief Robert Vogel told The Oakland Press of Pontiac that the vat of sulfuric acid had been heated to about 160 degrees as part of the manufacturing process. Fire Chief Robert Vogel (above) said the vat of sulfuric acid had been heated to about 160 degrees as part of the manufacturing process Michigan Seamless Tube released a public statement regarding the tragedy. 'A valued Michigan Seamless Tube employee was involved in a serious industrial accident on Saturday afternoon,' it said. 'The employee was taken to The University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor. He did not survive his injuries and passed way at the hospital. 'The employee was 54 years of age. The Company is conducting a comprehensive investigation of the accident and is cooperating with the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration.' Sydneysiders have flocked to the beach as the city swelters through one of its hottest February days on record with temperatures soaring to a sweaty 38 degrees. Down in Melbourne it was a different story as temperatures reached a high of just 21.5 degrees at 10.39am before plunging to 14 degrees by 11am and dropping to 12.7 degrees at midday. According to Weatherzone, the increase in wind at times made the temperature feel like just 10 degrees. Sydney has sweltered through one of the city's hottest February days as temperatures soared to a sweaty 38 degrees Down in Melbourne it was a different story as temperatures reached a high of just 21.5 degrees at 10.39am before dropping to just 12.7 degrees at midday According to Weatherzone, the increase in wind at times made the temperature feel like 10 degrees down in Melbourne The Bureau of Meteorology issued a weather warning due to high winds with gusts expected to reach 89km/h There will also be winds of up to 100km/h and temperatures as low as -3C come nightfall 'As the cold front comes through, precipitation and strong gale force winds could whip across Alpine areas and there could be widespread showers,' Sky News forcaster Tom Saunders said. The Bureau of Meteorology issued a weather warning due to the winds. A statement read: 'Damaging winds, averaging 50 to 70km/h with peak gusts of around 100km/h are expected to develop during Tuesday morning over Alpine areas of the North East, East Gippsland and West and South Gippsland districts.' Brisbane is also boiling as they endure 35C on Tuesday and 36C on Wednesday. Meanwhile, north Queensland is set to see temperatures of 36C and sunshine - a huge relief after the area was hit by 1.4 metres of rain in two weeks. Residents are still recovering after an unprecedented two-week weather event dumped more than a year's rain on large swathes of the state. North Queensland is set to see temperatures of 36C and sunshine - a huge relief after the area was hit by 1.4 metres of rain in two weeks Brisbane is also due to boil, enduring 35C on Tuesday and 36C on Wednesday Sydneysiders sweltered through scorching temperatures of 38 degrees on Tuesday The NSW Rural Fire Service has implemented a total fire ban across the state There is serious danger of bushfires across New South Wales because of the combination of 90km/h winds, low humidity and high temperatures. There are also fears lightning strikes could trigger fires as danger levels are upgraded to severe. The dry winds are expected to cause dust storms in western New South Wales where the ground is dry due to the recent drought - and they may blow eastwards. The NSW Rural Fire Service has implemented a total fire ban across the state. A tweet from the service read: 'A statewide Total Fire Ban is now in force. 'There are difficult and dangerous fire conditions across NSW today so remember: No fires out in the open. 'All fire permits are suspended. Don't throw lit cigarette butts. Report any unattended fires quickly to Triple Zero (000)' Newcastle will be even hotter than Sydney with the mercury hitting 39C. Perth will be sunny and 27C at peak temperature on Tuesday while Hobart will be 20C. A reveller who allegedly stole a young girl's horse from a showground was caught on camera riding it through a pub and down a street. Eleven-year-old Libby Corbet tied her horse to a float after competing in junior barrel racing at a showground in Gympie, Queensland on Saturday night. About 20 minutes later, the youngster was horrified to see her $10,000 registered quarter horse named Max had vanished without a trace. Libby spent 45 panicked minutes searching the streets with her mother Louisa before finding the distressed horse tied up in the dark around 10pm. The next day Mrs Corbet was shown footage posted on social media of a man riding the horse through the veranda of the Jockey Club Hotel. The video shows the man guiding the horse between chairs and tables before picking up pace and riding down a street. Mrs Corbet was shocked by the footage and informed police. A Queensland Police spokesman told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday that officers are investigating but no arrests have been made. Shocking: Video shows the man guiding the horse between chairs and tables on a pub veranda before picking up pace and riding down a street Libby spent 45 panicked minutes searching the streets with her mother Louisa (right) before finding the distressed horse roaming the town in the dark around 10pm Recalling the harrowing incident to Daily Mail Australia, Mrs Corbert said: 'My daughter tied up her horse for 20 minutes while we watched other people compete in the rodeo. 'When we went back we saw Max was not there - but I told Libby not to panic because he may have just become untied and roamed off a bit. Libby was crying so hard she couldn't catch her breath 'After a while of searching I began to get that sinking feeling in my stomach because I knew something wasn't right. 'My daughter became so upset - she was crying so hard she couldn't catch her breath. 'Eventually we found Max tied up to a float. Since then many people have told me they saw him being left in the middle of a busy road - and someone sent me the Snapchat video. Mrs Corbet said she was shocked to learn that 'someone had taken my horse for a joyride.' 'One witness told me the man rode Max with no saddle down concrete stairs - Max could have slipped over and really hurt himself,' she said. 'Or worse, he could have been killed by traffic in a crash that may have been deadly for the driver too. 'What happened is simply wrong - you can't do that, you can't take someone's property like that, especially not a live creature.' Luckily Max is now safe and well back at home - but Mrs Corbet is determined to see justice. President Donald Trump ridiculed potential 2020 rival Beto O'Rourke, the 'Green New Deal,' and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam at his first campaign rally of the new year. Speaking to a packed stadium that holds about 8,000 in El Paso, Trump referred to the former south Texas Democrat, 46, as a 'young man' and mocked the size of his counter-protest. Trump took on O'Rourke, who held a march and counter-rally just miles from where Trump spoke to thousands of his supporters. The president called him 'a young man who's got very little going for himself, except he's got a great first name. President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the El Paso County Coliseum in El Paso, Texas on Monday Trump supporters wait for the president to arrive before the rally in El Paso on Monday A Trump supporter is seen above dressed up as a wall before the rally in El Paso on Monday Workers prepare a banner for the rally which reads 'FINISH THE WALL' in El Paso on Monday Beto O'Rourke, the Democratic former Texas congressman, greets supporters following an anti-Trump march in El Paso, close to Trump's rally A crowd waits for O'Rourke to arrive on stage at an outdoor rally across from where President Donald Trump was holding a rally Trump also mocked ORourkes claim to fame he lost a Senate race against Sen. Ted Cruz, although he kept the margin close in a normally red state. But he suffered a great defeat! Trump told the crowd using obvious sarcasm. O'Rourke didn't mention presidential politics in his remarks, but he took plenty of shots at Trump's immigration policies and made his feelings clear on the president's border barrier. 'We stand for America and we stand against walls,' he said. O'Rourke, who has said he'll make a decision on a 2020 bid by the end of the month, did implore his supporters to make sure 'our leaders reflect our values and who we are.' Trump, speaking on a stage flanked by two large red 'Finish the Wall' signs, made it clear why he came to the border. 'A wall is a very good thing, not a bad thing,' he told Fox News host Laura Ingraham in an interview after his rally. 'It's a moral thing, to put it in the opposite terms. We don't even say build the wall anymore. 'We say finish the wall because we built a lot and we are renovating a tremendous amount of stuff that was really in bad shape but it had good structure. So we are saying finish the wall. Walls are very important.' In freewheeling remarks at his rally, Trump also trashed the Green New Deal, but didnt single out its most prominent backer, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez although he bashed Democrats generally. It sounds like a high school term paper that got a low mark, Trump said. It would shut down American energy, which I dont think the people in Texas are going to be happy with, the president continued. It would shut down a little thing called air travel. How do you take a train to Europe? Trump said, mocking the plans goal of making air travel obsolete in a matter of years. Former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke speaks to a crowd inside a ball park across the street from where Trump was holding his rally on Monday O'Rourke speaks to thousands of people gathered to protest a U.S./Mexico border wall Trump spoke flanked by giant 'Finish the Wall' signs His speech included red meat for the crowd, including attacks on Democrats They want to take away your car, reduce the value of your home, and put millions of Americans out of work, Trump said. Trump updated his 2018 campaign-attack on Democrats, when he called them the party of crime and open borders. Theyre becoming the party of socialism, late term abortion, open borders and crime, Trump said. Then he took on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who during a widely-panned press conference responding to the blackface photo in his medical school yearbook admitted that he had once applied shoe polish to his face while portraying Michael Jackson. He almost moonwalked. His wife stopped him, Trump said, to laughs, referring the moment when Northam turned to his wife when a reporter asked him if he could still do the moonwalk. This would not have been a good scene. His wife saved him. Darling this would be inappropriate. I think she was right, Trump said. The president also mentioned a possible breakthrough on budget talks including his beloved border wall, but indicated he was more interested in the rally. They say that progress is being made with this committee, Trump said, acknowledging the news that broke shortly before he landed in south Texas. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill reached a tentative agreement on border security that would prevent a government shutdown if the president signs it. The proposal, which the White House still must agree to, calls for $1.375 billion for physical barriers at the southwestern border - enhanced fencing measures - but no where close to the $5.7 billion Trump demanded to build his border wall. Supporters held 'finish the wall' signs 'We're building the wall,' Trump reassured the crowd Just so you know, were building the wall anyway, the president said to laughs and cheers. Describing the call where he got an update, Trump said: I say, wait a minute I have to take care of my people from Texas. Ive got to go I dont even want to hear about it. And when his supporters yelled 'build the wall,' Trump corrected them to 'finish the wall.' He's argued that part of his wall his built already. There is some 600 miles of border fencing already on the 2,000 mile U.S.-Mexico border. Trump accused the the media of trying to 'pull the wool over everybody's eyes' with reports about the actual impact of the wall in El Paso. The president mentioned the city in Tuesday's State of the Union address, claiming it used to 'have extremely high rates of violent crime one of the highest in the country, and considered one of our nation's most dangerous cities.' 'Now, with a powerful barrier in place, El Paso is one of our safest cities,' Trump said. Fact-checkers soon reported data revealing that crime in the city had reached historic lows by 2006, when Congress authorized border fencing. Crime increased slightly during and after construction of the fence, then dropped again beginning in 2010. It is below the national average on crime despite being across from Juarez, Mexico, which experiences drug related gang violence. Trump also went on a long, bizarre tangent on how it would be politically good for him to get a dog, but he wasn't that type of person. 'By the way, there is nothing better than a good old-fashioned German shepherd,' he told the crowd as he waxed on about how good the animals are at police work. 'You do love your dogs, don't you you? I wouldn't mind having one honestly but I don't have any time. How would I look walking a dog on the White House lawn?,' he said. 'Right? I don't know. I don't feel. Feels a little phony, phony to me. A lot of people say oh, you should get a dog. Why? It's good politically. I said look, that's not the relationship I have.' Then he mentioned his predecessor's dog, Bo. Trump went on a bizarre tangent about dogs He mentioned President Obama and his dog - the Obama family is seen here with Bo and Sunny Supporters cheer for President Trump 'Obama had a dog,' Trump said. He also rallied the Texans by invoking their love and pride in the Lone Star state. 'The Lone Star state embodies the spirit of Independence like maybe no other place anywhere in the world. And you have always embraced the cause of American freedom like no one else. This is the state where William Travis, James Bowie, and Davy Crockett made their last stand at the Alamo,' he said. 'This is the state where a small band of patriots half the battle of Gonzales, armed with a single cannon, stared down a four and powerful army and declared, and take it. Come and take it. Come on. Take it. And Texas is the state where generations of farmers, ranchers, oil workers, and pioneers, helped build up the most extraordinary nation in all of human history,' he added. 'That's where we are. We were losing track. We didn't lose track anymore. We are straight on that track. Now, just like generations of Texas patriots who came before, you are going to make your stand. That's what we've done. We've made our stand, and we've made it together,' he noted. A serial dine-and-dasher who ran out of restaurants without paying for meals will be stuck eating prison food for some time after being sentenced to two years in jail. Perth Magistrates Court heard Lois Loder, 45, went on a crime spree that saw her rack up thousands of dollars in unpaid bills between May 2017 and April 2018, ABC reported. At one time, she skipped out of upmarket restaurant Zafferano in Crawley, Perth without paying the $763 cheque. CCTV footage from a Henley Brook restaurant caught Loder leaving the premises with her partner without paying the $290 food and drinks bill. Perth Magistrates Court heard Lois Loder, 45 (pictured), went on a crime spree that saw her rake up thousands of dollars in unpaid bills between May 2017 and April 2018 Loder had just spent five hours getting extensions and hair colouring when she tried to pay the bill with a stolen credit card Her escapades took her across other restaurants in East Perth, Floreat, Scarborough and East Victoria Park. Though Loder's biggest fraud was not committed at a restaurant, the court heard. Instead it was at a city hair salon. Loder had just spent five hours getting extensions and hair colouring when she tried to pay the bill with a stolen credit card. After the card failed to pay the $1,180, Loder said she would come back to the premises with the necessary funds. She didn't return. Loder pleaded guilty to 80 charges overall for the offences. She also admitted to holding credit cards that were not in her name, 7 News reported. Loder confessed she made fraudulent transactions using the stolen cards over a six-day window in August 2017. Lawyer David Manera put down the motive of his client to her drug and alcohol addiction. Loder appeared in court via video link from Bandyup prison on Tuesday, where she has been held since September 2018 when she breached her bail. Loder confessed she made fraudulent transactions using the stolen cards over a six-day window in August 2017 She was was sentenced to two years in prison with a parole period of 12 months. Her sentence was backdated to August 2018, which means she could be released this coming August. This is not the first time Loder has been ordered to serve time after a run in with the law not too long ago. She was given close to a two year jail sentenced in January 2013 after she stole a $90,000 cheque and blew it all. She also used stolen credit cards to book luxury hotel rooms. A man has walked away from court with no criminal conviction after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual assault he committed at his partner's birthday party. Kellie David Kay, 35, appeared in Gladstone Magistrates Court, north of Brisbane, on Monday with CCTV footage showing him assaulting a man and later the same man's girlfriend. The court was told Kay was celebrating his partner's birthday at the Mount Larcom Royal Hotel south-east of Rockhampton on November 2. Kellie David May (pictured) appeared in court on Monday after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual assault The Mount Larcom Royal Hotel (pictured) where Kellie David May sexually assaulted a man and a woman last November Kay was said to be intoxicated when he groped a man's testicles during the celebrations. When the agitated man asked him what he was doing, Kay responded 'just having fun'. Less than an hour later, Kay struck again. The female partner of the first victim was playing pool when she noticed Kay was standing directly behind her. The woman forcefully moved Kay out of the way before leaning forward to take a shot. Kay then put his hand between the woman's legs and touched her vagina, causing the woman to jump in the air due to shock. Both incidents were reported to police and on November 15 officers attended the pub to request CCTV footage. Later that day police executed a search warrant at Kay's address. Allanah Patron, Kay's defence lawyer, said her client 'doesn't remember a lot' and is 'extremely disappointed in himself'. Magistrate Dennis Kinsella was handed several references describing Kay as 'hard-working', a 'family-man' as well as 'someone was highly regarded in the community.' The magistrate fined Kay $1200 but did not record a conviction. The owner of a dog that viciously mauled a two-year-old girl claims her pet should be saved as the girl's mother was warned of the risk. Amelia-Jayne Johnson had to be rushed to hospital after a dog attacked the toddler's face outside her home in Christchurch on New Zealand's south island. The dog, which is believed to be a Staffordshire-cross, is now facing the possibility of being put down. However his owner, who wished to remain anonymous, told NZME he is a good dog who only attacked because he was afraid. Amelia-Jayne Johnson had to be rushed to hospital after a dog attacked the toddler's face outside her home in Christchurch on New Zealand's south island (stock image) The dog attack happened in Quinns Road (pictured) in the Christchurch suburb of Shirley She is now begging for her pet to be saved. Her friend had been walking her two dogs when she had stopped by Amelia's house to visit her mum Keri that is when the attack happened, the woman said. The woman had left the dogs outside tied to a pram as she went inside the house. 'That was where the critical error was She noticed that [Keri] was taking Amelia outside...and she raced out and said: 'Please don't go near the dogs, this dog in particular, he has not been raised around children, he's not used to children' but sadly Amelia had already got up to the dog and had gone to pat him.' She said the incident has nothing to do with breed and had everything to do with a dog being put in a situation where he was afraid. A two-year-old girl suffered shocking facial injuries after she was mauled by what's believed to be a Staffordshire-cross (stock image) However, Amelia's mother Keri thinks the dog is too dangerous and needs to be put down. She told Stuff her daughter had not touched the other dog when out of nowhere it attacked the toddler. 'I was scared, I couldn't stop shaking, there was just so much blood gashing out. I tried to grab the dog off her, but it just wouldn't go. 'I just ran and got what I could to get the bleeding to stop, then got on the phone to the ambulance.' She said her daughter has an extensive list of injuries and has suffered nightmares since the attack. Christchurch City Council is investigating the attack and will decide whether the dog will be put down. Todd Perkins (above), 56, was arrested on Monday after police identified him as the architect of an explosion at a Denver apartment in August. He's been charged with attempted first-degree murder and first-degree arson A Colorado handyman who was let go from his job at a residential complex has been arrested on suspicion of attempted first-degree murder, after police say he's responsible for intentionally causing an explosion at the building last August. Todd Perkins, 56, allegedly orchestrated the blast after he became embroiled in a dispute with residents at the 365 Santa Fe Drive address, in Denver. The explosion left one woman trapped beneath a pile of rubble and injured seven others. Two were said to have been left in a critical condition as a result of the blast - one of whom was the defendant. Perkins was arrested on Monday at a therapeutic medical facility and now faces one charge of first-degree arson, and one charge of attempted first-degree murder. Authorities say the 56-year-old disconnected gas pipes to a furnace, water heater and a stove, and left the valves open to fill the building's basement with gas on August 14. Nine people were injured in the blast, according to authorities. Two were left in a critical condition, including Perkins (pictured: the front of 365 Santa Fe Drive is completely destroyed by the explosion, on August 14) Court documents reveal that Perkins has a criminal history spanning back to 2009, including criminal mischief, assault and driving under the influence He then poured gasoline on the floor to 'further fuel an explosion', Denver Fire Department spokesman, Greg Pixely, said yesterday. Perkins is then said to have turned to furnace up to 82 degrees to act as an ignition for a fiery explosion. However, the furnace's temperature accelerated the fire quicker than the accused had anticipated and it exploded as he reached the top of the basement stairs. The defendant was thrown through the front wall of the building and buried in a pile of rubble in the street. Police were able to identify Perkins as a suspect after investigators smelled gasoline on his clothing as he was being transported to the hospital. Perkins is alleged to have broken into the building where he once worked, disconnect engaged gas pipes and pour gasoline onto the basement floor. However, police say Perkins' over estimated his measurements and failed to flee the scene before the explosion erupted Prior to the explosion, Perkins had been released from his duty as the building's handyman after a series of disputes with the owner and tenants of the property. Authorities haven't revealed exactly when Perkins was fired, or what the arguments entailed. It's believed he inadvertently splashed fuel over himself as he was pouring it over the basement floor. Court documents reveal that Perkins has a criminal history spanning back to 2009. The charges include driving under the influence, criminal mischief and assault. A corporate industry watchdog has spent $100,000 of taxpayers' money on a slightly different logo. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) began a rebrand weeks after the banking royal commission was announced in late 2017. The diamond-shaped symbol filled with blue blocks and black and white boarders remains the same but the font is slightly larger and has been bolded. The new ASIC logo (left) has a larger font that has been bolded in comparison to the older logo (right) Nearly $60,000 was spent on 'design and asset development', which includes new stationary templates, banners and the online home page. More than $43,000 has been spent on 'creative development', excluding GST. A web design update cost just under $3,000. The regulator has been working alongside inner-Sydney design firm Folk. 'This is a bold move by ASIC to focus on what sort of fonts it wants to use instead of actually applying scrutiny to the people we need scrutiny applied to,' Labor's Matt Keogh told the ABC. Royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne has slammed ASIC for not coming down harder on financial misconduct. ASIC had been tasked to investigate nearly 20 possible breaches of the law during the banking royal commission. Nearly $60,000 was spent on 'design and asset development', which includes new stationary templates, banners and the online home page Corporate affairs boss Matthew Abbott said the existing brand and font had not been changed in over 20 years and 'was not always suitable for use in digital channels such as social media and online'. The new design has been implemented on ASIC's website, social media and will be used in their publications and presentations. A photo of two white Louisiana officers going undercover in blackface has resurfaced after 25 years. Crimestoppers coordinator Lt Don Stone and now-retired police Capt Frankie Caruso appeared in blackface for a 1993 narcotics operation and posed for a photo in their disguises which appeared in the Baton Rouge Police Department yearbook that year with the caption 'Soul Brothers'. Police Chief Murphy Paul was quick to address the photo after it resurfaced this week, amid the recent controversy in Virginia involving politicians appearing in blackface. Two officers posed for a picture, which was put in the 1993 Baton Rouge Police Department yearbook with the caption 'Soul Brothers' Crimestoppers coordinator Lt Don Stone (left) and now-retired police Capt Frankie Caruso (right) dressed in blackface for a 1993 undercover narcotics operation 'Blackface photographs are inappropriate and offensive,' Chief Murphy Paul said in a statement. 'They were inappropriate then and are inappropriate today. The Baton Rouge Police Department would like to apologize to our citizens and to anyone who may have been offended by the photographs.' Caruso and the police chief at the time, Greg Phares, defended the decision to have the white officers appear in blackface for the purpose of the undercover mission. According to The Advocate, they said it was only done to get drugs off the street, and not meant to be offensive toward black people. Several officers were reportedly involved in the operation, but Stone and Caruso were disguised as African Americans because two of the black officers were easily recognizable in the community, The Advocate reports. However Paul said the current department will not accept the use of blackface 'under any circumstances,' whether on- or off-duty. The photo resurfaced this week and the current Police Chief spoke out against it East Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome, the first black woman elected, spoke out against the photos Monday. 'While this may have been department-approved 25 years ago, that does not make it right. Blackface is more than just a costume,' she wrote. 'It invokes a painful history in this country and it is not appropriate in any situation.' Meanwhile in Virginia, governor Ralph Northam is still refusing to step down over a photo that surfaced in his medical school yearbook showing a man in black face next to another man in Klan garb. Northam has denied it was him in the yearbook photo, but did admit to dressing in blackface to impersonate the late Michael Jackson. Beto O'Rourke, the former Democratic congressman mulling a 2020 presidential bid, and President Donald Trump traded political blows in dueling rallies at the border Monday night as the younger Democratic slammed the president's call for a border wall and Trump mocked O'Rourke's reported presidential ambitions. 'Walls do not save lives. Walls end lives,' O'Rourke told his cheering crowd that rallied a mere two hundreds yards away from Trump's gathering. 'We are making a stance for the truth, against lies, against hate, against ignorance, against intolerance,' he said as supporters yelled 'Beto, Beto, Beto.' As O'Rourke spoke, behind him, in the distance, Trump filled a giant big screen set up outside his event for the overflow crowd and the president addressed his supporters from a stage flanked by two huge signs reading 'Finish the wall.' Beto O'Rourke held an outdoor rally touting the benefits of immigration O'Rourke, the Democratic former Texas congressman, greets supporters following his rally held in a ball park, close to Trump's President Trump held a competing event demanding his border wall be finished The two men traded political zingers in what could be a preview of a presidential match to come. 'The president describes Mexican immigrants as rapist and criminals. We have the chance to tell him and the county immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than Americans who were born in this country,' O'Rourke told his screaming crowd. He made clear his feelings on Trump's border wall. 'We stand for America and we stand against walls,' he said. O'Rourke did not mention presidential politics in his 20 minutes of remarks at his counter rally but Trump did. The president took shot after shot at the rising Democratic star. 'A young man who's got very little going for himself except a great first name,' he said of O'Rourke. He then mocked the former lawmaker's crowd size compared to his own rally and said: 'We have, let's say, 35,000 people tonight. And he has 200 people, 300 people - not too good. What I would do is I would say that may be the end of his presidential bid.' He also poked fun of O'Rourke for losing his Senate bid against Republican Ted Cruz in the 2018 midterm contest that turned the young congressman from Texas into a social media star and got his name mentioned in presidential circles. 'You're supposed to win in order to run,' Trump said. O'Rourke's outdoor rally had 10,000 to 15,000 attendees, according to El Paso police. Trump's rally was at the El Paso County Coliseum, which has a capacity of 6,500 but there were overflow areas outside. Earlier in the day, at the White House before he left on his trip, Trump claimed 75,000 people signed up for the event. 'We have a tremendous crowd, tremendous. They have 75,000 people signed up. I think the arena holds like 8,000 people, unfortunately. I like the old days when I was allowed to make outdoor speeches. It was a lot easier because you could have very big crowds,' he said. The closet O'Rourke came to mention politics in his remarks was his call for the country's leaders to reflect its values. 'Let's make sure that our laws, our language and our leaders reflect our values and who we are,' he said. 'I know that we can do it and I know that we must do it.' He told Oprah Winfrey earlier this month he would make a decision on the 2020 race by the end of February. O'Rourke kept his rally focused on the immigration issues and implored the crowd to show the world an integrated community could be safe. 'With the eyes of the country upon us, all of us together are going to make our stand here in one of the safest cities in the United States of America. Safe not because of walls but in spite of walls,' he said. O'Rourke did not mention 2020 politics in his speech but did take shots at Trump's immigration policies O'Rourke made an impassioned speech to thousands of people gathered to protest the wall Trump mocked O'Rourke's small crowd size A member of the crowd holds a sign calling Trump a 'Fat Liar' across the street from the President's rally 'Secure because we treat each other with dignity and respect,' he added. 'Here in the largest bi-national community in the Western hemisphere, two and half million people, two countries, speaking two languages, with two cultures and two histories who come together, joined, not separated by the Rio Grande River, forming something far greater and more powerful,' he said in a speech filled with soaring rhetoric. The friendly crowd of a few thousands waved signs that read 'Beto 2020' and repeatedly screamed his name. O'Rouke spoke to the crowd in both English and Spanish and implored them to show America a town on the border can be safe. 'We can show the rest of the country as we stand here tonight walls do not make us safe but walls require us to take someone's property,' he said. 'I'm glad the country is here to see us,' he told the crowd. Trump mentioned El Paso in Tuesday's State of the Union address, claiming it used to 'have extremely high rates of violent crime one of the highest in the country, and considered one of our nation's most dangerous cities.' 'Now, with a powerful barrier in place, El Paso is one of our safest cities,' Trump said. Fact-checkers soon reported data revealing that crime in the city had reached historic lows by 2006, when Congress authorized border fencing. Crime increased slightly during and after construction of the fence, then dropped again beginning in 2010. O'Rourke and others claim Trump is giving misleading information. 'Let's show the country there is nothing to be afraid of at the U.S.-Mexican border,' O'Rourke said on Monday night. He argued there is no need for Trump to declare a national emergency to build his wall - an option the president has yet to rule out. Law enforcement estimated 7,000 attended O'Rourke's rally The crowd hold up anti-Trump placards as they wait for O'Rourke to speak at the ball park Donald Trump Jr. tweeted a pic of the large Trump crowd Beto O'Rourke also participated in an anti-Trump march 'We stand for the constitution of the United States of America and against emergency national security declarations that would allow the president to subvert an equal branch of government and build a wall when we do not need it,' he said. The dueling rallies came as lawmakers on Capitol Hill reached a tentative agreement on border security that would prevent a government shutdown. The proposal, which the White House still must agree to, calls for $1.375 billion for physical barriers at the southwestern border - enhanced fencing measures - but no where close to the $5.7 billion Trump demanded to build his border wall. The president referenced the news a deal was made and told his own cheering crowd: 'Just so you know, we're building the wall anyway.' When the crowd at Trump's rally shouted 'Build that wall!,' the president corrected them to say: 'Finish that wall.' He claims much of it has already been built. The tone of the two rallies could not be more different. And much of the concerns of the Trump team seemed to be on O'Rourke's event across the street, a mere two hundred yards away and where, reports indicate, music from the president's event could be heard even as the crowd cheered for O'Rourke. 'Beto trying to counter-program @realdonaldtrump in his hometown and only drawing a few hundred people to Trumps 35,000 is a really bad look. Partial pic of the Trump overflow crowd below! #AnyQuestions,' Donald Trump Jr. tweeted with a photo of Trump supporters wearing red 'Make America Great Again' caps and waving blue 'Build the wall' signs. The younger Trump spoke before his father and got in his share of digs at O'Rourke. O'Rourke, meanwhile, called for immigrants to be welcomed with 'open arms' as the crowd cheered 'Beto, Beto, Beto.' He also called for America to allow in asylum seekers and argued Dreamers should be made American citizens. His message was one of hope and togetherness. 'El Paso has been one of the safest countries in America not in spite of immigrants but because we are a city of immigrants,' he said. A new law is to give tenants the power to sue their landlords over cold and mouldy homes. When the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act comes into affect on March 20, If properties in England and Wales don't meet a certain standard, tenants can take their landlord to court. According to Shelter, a homeless charity, there are currently almost one million rented homes with hazards that pose a serious risk to health and safety - affecting around 2.5million people. It is hoped the new regulations will force landlords to carry out repairs or rectify problems. When the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act comes into affect on March 20, If properties in England and Wales don't meet a certain standard, tenants can take their landlord to court. Stock picture shows damp in a home Shelter said in a blog post: 'Crucially, the bill will help private and social renter's voices to be heard, by giving them the right to take their landlord to court over unfit and unsafe conditions like these in their home. 'The Bill could help to prevent another tragedy like the Grenfell tower fire. This was the starkest reminder of the dangers of unsafe accommodation.' If landlords don't carry out the work when the act comes into play - those who have a tenancy of less than seven years will be given the right to take them to court. The court then has the power to grant an injunction against the landlord which would force them to carry out the work. Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter told The Sun: 'The Fitness for Human Habitation Act will give all types of renters the power they need to tackle bad conditions which is why Shelter campaigned hard for it to be passed as law. 'With more and more families renting privately, we desperately need more protections and security for renters. 'The Act will help enforce best practice for landlords and agents, act as a deterrent for bad behaviour, and provide a legal lever for renters to pull if their landlord isn't complying.' Minister for housing and homelessness, Heather Wheeler MP, added the new law is a 'further step to ensure that tenants have the decent homes they deserve'. Landlord associations currently advise that an issue should be resolved within 24-hours if there is 'significant risk of danger to the health, safety or security of a tenant'. They are then given three working days to rectify the problem and up to 28 days for less urgent repairs. There are different rules for renters in Scotland and Northern Ireland. An award-winning music festival will move out of NSW 'for its survival' after the state government slapped it with massive licencing fees. Bluesfest is scheduled to hold its 30th edition in Byron Bay over the Easter weekend with 100,000 patrons - but next year's event is in doubt. Director Peter Noble said the festival couldn't afford the extra hundreds of thousands of dollars for 2020 unless the government backed down. Bluesfest will move out of NSW 'for its survival' after the state government slapped it with massive licencing fees In a scathing open letter, director Peter Noble accused Premier Gladys Berejiklian (pictured together in 2017) of being 'hell-bent' on destroying festivals 'We have no choice, it's a matter of survival. Will the last festival to leave NSW please turn out the light of culture in this soon to be barren state?' he said. He said despite being named the best major event in NSW three years in a row, the festival was declared a 'high risk' event. Bluesfest is the third in a week to buckle under proposed legislation to crack down on music festivals after five revellers died from drug overdoses this summer. Organisers would from March 1 face huge extra costs for bigger police presence and medical facilities, and bear liability for anyone who overdosed at the event. Mr Noble said he and every other festival organiser had no say in the new rules and no notice to prepare for the massive extra costs. Bluesfest is scheduled to hold its 30th edition in Byron Bay over the Easter weekend with 100,000 patrons Mr Noble said despite being named the best major event in NSW three years in a row, the festival was declared a 'high risk' event Mr Noble said most festivals had no drug deaths and were not recognised for presenting well-run events that contribute to society In a scathing open letter, he accused Premier Gladys Berejiklian of being 'hell-bent' on destroying festivals. 'I charge the government with a systemic failure in fairness here, and implore all politicians from all parties to quickly become involved with what is a serious injustice,' he wrote. 'Why do you seem to be hell-bent on destroying our industry? We provide culture to the people of this state, and Australia, through our good works.' Mr Noble said most festivals had no drug deaths and were not recognised for presenting well-run events that contribute to society. 'It seems the new policies are poorly thought-out and through their implementation will decimate our industry should our government not see good sense,' he wrote. 'I have in my 50 years in presenting music never experienced such poorly thought out, unbalanced legislation. Bluesfest focuses on blues and soul music with acts like Paul Kelly and Iggy Pop on the list for this year's edition. Angus and Julia Stone (pictured) has also played there John Mayer played at a previous festival alongside numerous other international acts 'Surely a professional governing body could do better. It's the Lockout Laws Version 2 for festivals.' Bluesfest focuses on blues and soul music with acts like Paul Kelly and Iggy Pop on the list for this year's edition. It does not have a history of drug deaths. Premier Gladys Berejiklian later denied Bluesfest was a high risk event and claimed it wouldn't be seriously affected by the new laws. 'Our changes from March are for the high risk events where we've seen death or serious injury,' she said on Tuesday afternoon. 'That festival has been going for 29 years, it's a fantastic festival, it's low risk so they don't have anything to worry about I don't want anyone who's holding a festival for a long time to be worried, this is not aimed at you.' However, organisers told Daily Mail Australia they were still in the dark about what new requirements would be placed on them next year. Under new rules, organisers would face huge extra costs for bigger police presence and medical facilities, and bear liability for anyone who overdosed at the event Mr Noble said most festivals had no drug deaths and were not recognised for presenting well-run events that contribute to society Mr Noble's announcement was hot on the heels of two other festivals cancelling their 2019 editions because of the impending legislation. Mountain Sounds, which was to run at the Mount Penang Parklands in NSW Central Coast this weekend, buckled under a $200,000 security bill. Organisers said increasing police from 11 to 45 and other measures demanded by the government made the fee far in excess of the $16,000 it paid last year. 'This is yet another example of the government's war on festivals,' organisers wrote in a Facebook post announcing the cancellation. Days earlier, dance music festival Psyfari was also cancelled, blaming excessive rules, bans on BYO alcohol, overly heavy police presence and a general lack of freedom. 'We are unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when festivals are the new scapegoat of a failed government and their failed war on drugs,' organisers wrote. PICTURED: SIX YOUNG REVELLERS WHO DIED FROM SUSPECTED PARTY DRUG OVERDOSES IN JUST FIVE MONTHS MARLI CARTMER-CONGIU Marli Cartmer-Congiu took liquid ecstasy for the first time at a house party in Sydney's inner-east on Saturday night, her friends said. A short time later, she collapsed. Her friends called an ambulance and she was rushed to hospital, but she couldn't be saved. ALEX ROSS-KING Alex Ross-King, 19, died in hospital on January 12 after attending the FOMO festival at Parramatta Park. The Central Coast teenager's family have pleaded with the NSW government to introduce pill testing reigniting the debate over its effectiveness. JOSHUA TAM Joshua Tam, 22, died in hospital on December 29 after attending the Lost Paradise music festival near Gosford. His family have helped set up a clothing label in the young rugby league player's memory with proceeds going towards drug education for young Australians. CALLUM BROSNAN Callum Brosnan, 19, died after attending the dance music festival Knockout Games of Destiny on December 9. He was found at a train station near the festival at Sydney Olympic Park but later died in hospital. JOSEPH PHAM Callum Brosnan (pictured left) and Joseph Pham (pictured right) both died after suspected drug overdoses at festivals late last year Joseph Pham, 23, from western Sydney died in hospital from a suspected drug overdose on September 15 after the Defqon.1 festival. Weeks before his death he shared a Facebook post from a group called 'Sniff Off' who advocate for no sniffer dogs, pill testing and drug legalisation. DIANA NGUYEN Diana Nguyen, a 21-year-old from Melbourne, also died after Defqon.1 on September 15 from a suspected drug overdose. Ms Nguyen was engaged after her finance had proposed in Hawaii during her 21st birthday in April. A coronial inquest has been launched to investigate the five deaths which occurred at music festivals. Two more deaths may be examined at the inquest. Advertisement An Australian Federal Police officer has failed to convince a court he shouldn't have been jailed for accessing child pornography because most of the images were cartoons. Gregory Paul Edwards' offending came to light when he submitted an AFP internal integrity report in January 2017, saying he had accidentally viewed explicit material while in a public chat room. However, an analysis of his computer found he had also used the internet to access child pornography 31 times over a four-month period earlier that year. An Australian Federal Police officer has failed to convince a court he shouldn't have been jailed for accessing child pornography because most of the images were cartoons He pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to access child pornography in the Brisbane District Court late last year, and was ordered to serve two months of a 15-month jail term. Edwards took his case to the Court of Appeal, arguing he shouldn't have served actual jail time because most of the images were graphic representations or cartoons of children. His lawyer argued the material was a "victimless crime" because no children were used in depicting them. However, the Court of Appeal on Tuesday rejected this argument, saying the cartoons still normalise exploitative behaviour and fuel the demand for such material. The court also noted that 33 images and videos viewed by Edwards involved real children being abused. "The sentence imposed on the applicant cannot be demonstrated to be manifestly excessive," Justice Philip Morrison wrote in his judgment. A shake-up of foreign aid spending rules could free up 1.54billion for cash-strapped departments, a report has claimed. Britain currently spends far more than its 0.7 per cent target of national income on aid-related projects, according to the study. The Global Britain report said a broader definition of international development would lead to savings of up to 1.54billion. Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson said that with the UK committed to spending 0.7 per cent more than 13billion that money needed to work more in tune with Britains interests [File photo] Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, who wrote a foreword to the report, backed calls for a radical overhaul of the overseas aid budget. Money spent which does not meet the criteria of aid includes 270million on peacekeeping missions. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy spent 575million on overseas projects in 2017/18 but that did not count towards the 0.7 per cent. The report was drawn up by Tory MP Bob Seely. Mr Johnson said that with the UK committed to spending 0.7 per cent more than 13billion that money needed to work more in tune with Britains interests. Theresa Mays official spokesman said: She has been repeatedly clear that we will honour our commitment to meet the 0.7 per cent target. Australian motorists could soon pay manufacturers a monthly fee to access many vehicles instead of buying a single car outright. The so-called 'Spotification' system, under which customers can pay a monthly subscription to access a range of vehicles in the same way music fans pay to access many artists on services like Spotify, could be hitting Australian shores soon, according to an expert. Royal Automobile Club of Queensland's head of public policy, Dr Rebecca Michael, has told parliament that the transport technology is already popular overseas. Royal Automobile Club of Queensland's head of public police, Dr Rebecca Michael, told parliament that the transport technology is already popular overseas 'When you look at the running costs of vehicles ... it doesn't make sense to actually own a vehicle,' Dr Michael told parliament 'It's a shift from ownership to access,' Dr Michael said on Monday. 'When you look at the running costs of vehicles, particularly in those more densely populated systems overseas in Europe that have good-quality public transport, it doesn't make financial sense to actually own a vehicle - however, you might want to access one for a weekend trip.' Customers will be able to pay a monthly subscription directly to the manufacturer to access a range of vehicles with all costs covered. Dr Michael said the scheme is an important shift for motorists who would rather not incur the extra costs of owning a car. Speaking to The Courier Mail, Dr Michael said luxury manufactures such as Mercedes, BMW and Porsche, are already running the Spotify-like system overseas. She predicts that the service will be introduced to Australia at 'any time now'. Speculation over a snap election was thrown into overdrive today by a shock poll suggesting Theresa May would stay in power and win more seats. Amid Brexit deadlock at Westminster, research by YouGov found the Tories would currently boost their standing in the Commons. Using the same model that correctly predicted the 2017 hung parliament, the firm estimated that Labour would lose 12 seats and the Tories would gain four. That would give the Tories a wafer-thin effective majority even without support from the DUP - and dash Jeremy Corbyn's hopes of seizing the keys to Downing Street. A separate poll this morning gave a further boost to Mrs May, showing a five point lead for the Tories. Kantar said the Conservatives are up five to 40 per cent, with Labour down three on 35 per cent. Using the same model that correctly predicted the 2017 hung parliament, YouGov estimated that a snap election now would see Labour lose 12 seats and the Tories gain four The YouGov poll is a blow for Jeremy Corbyn (pictured giving a speech over the weekend) Such a result would take the Tories from 317 seats at the last general election to 321 just enough for a working majority. Labour would drop from 262 to 250 seats. The poll shows that the Lib Dems would gain four seats, giving them a total of 16. The SNP would also see their numbers increase by four, according to the research conducted for The Times. There are 650 seats in the Commons but Sinn Feins seven MPs do not take their seats. The Speaker is also not counted. YouGov polled 40,119 adults between February 2 and 7. The results were combined with the demographics of individual constituencies in England, Wales and Scotland to work out how each seat would swing. The results do not take into account the effect of campaigning in an election. The same approach was used for the 2017 election when a hung parliament was predicted. Most forecasts had predicted a substantial Tory majority. A separate poll this morning gave a further boost to Mrs May, showing a five point lead for the Tories. Kantar said the Conservatives are up five to 40 per cent, with Labour down three on 35 per cent (pictured) Theresa May would stay in power and win more seats if a general election was held today, a new poll shows. The figures will be a blow for Mr Corbyn, who earlier this month repeated his calls for a general election [File photo] The figures will be a blow for Mr Corbyn, who earlier this month repeated his calls for a general election. Speaking in Glasgow while meeting organisations tackling poverty, the Labour leader said people suffering from austerity policies need a general election now. A total of 321 seats for the Tories would increase Mrs Mays power but she would still struggle to push through Brexit policies. She could be thwarted by MPs on either side of her party. A 630,000 study funded by the taxpayer is to investigate whether putting healthy food broccoli, apples and bananas near the front of supermarkets boosts sales. The three-year research project will involve re-designing the layout of some Iceland stores to see if shopping and eating habits can be changed. The project is being paid for with a grant from the National Institute for Health Research, which gets its funding from the Department of Health and Social Care. The investigation forms part of the Government's strategy for combating childhood obesity and associated illnesses in later life, such as Type 2 diabetes and heart disease. The study is the largest of its kind in the world. It will invite 1,620 women aged 18-45 years who regularly shop at one of 36 Iceland stores in England to take part. It is being led by Dr Christina Vogel (pictured) and a team from the University of Southampton It is being led by Dr Christina Vogel and a team from the University of Southampton who will work in partnership with Iceland, which has taken a lead on ethical issues such as plastic pollution and removing palm oil from products. The study is the largest of its kind in the world. It will invite 1,620 women aged 18-45 years who regularly shop at one of 36 Iceland stores in England to take part. Dr Vogel said: 'With the publication of the Government's childhood obesity plan in June, the race is on to find innovative ways to curb it.' A 630,000 study funded by the taxpayer is to investigate whether putting healthy food broccoli, apples and bananas near the front of supermarkets boosts sales The academics will quiz the women before the stores change, and three times afterwards to find out about the food they and their children usually eat. Matt Downes, of Iceland, said: 'We know childhood obesity is a growing issue and the retail industry has its part to play in tackling it.' A grazier who has lost almost half her cattle from flooding has demanded the government put farmers before foreign aid. Jane McMillan took aim at politicians after a fortnight of heavy rain caused her to lose 40 per cent of her cattle near Cloncurry in remote, north-west Queensland. 'We need to support our own. We need to work out a system where we support our own first and then we look at foreign aid,' she told Sunrise host Samantha Armytage on Monday. 'For years now, we've neglected rural and remote Australia.' The flood crisis affecting north-west Queensland, from Cloncurry to Julia Creek, has killed 500,000 cattle, following five years of drought. Ms McMillan said Australia's major parties were 'playing politics' as farmers like herself struggled from a natural disaster that has caused an estimated $2.5 billion worth of damage to the region. 'It's really bad. I struggle to explain the enormity of the situation,' she said, adding Australia had lost an 'essential industry' overnight. Grazier Jane McMillan (pictured) who has lost almost half her cattle from flooding has demanded the government put farmers before foreign aid Jane McMillan took aim at politicians after a fortnight of heavy rain caused her to lose 40 per cent of her cattle near Cloncurry in remote, north-west Queensland After 14 days of heavy rain, floodwaters are now reaching the Gulf of Carpentaria, as the Flinders River swelled well beyond its normal size to be 80km wide in some areas. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has announced she would move a Senate motion on Wednesday for the federal government to prioritise Australian victims of natural disasters over foreign aid. 'I will be calling on the Government to divert the allocation of foreign aid in the upcoming 2019 budget to relief assistance for drought, fire and flooding victims from across Australia,' she told her 249,000 Facebook followers on Tuesday. The Australian government pledged $4.2 billion towards foreign aid in the 2018/19 budget, with $410 million of that for overseas humanitarian disasters. The flood crisis affecting north-west Queensland, from Cloncurry to Julia Creek (pictured), has killed 500,000 cattle, following five years of drought Since the May budget, another $6.3 million was last year dedicated towards farmers and farm communities in drought, following complaints from agricultural groups. In the 2015/16 budget, the government set aside $35 million over four years to help drought-affected areas in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. The latest disaster in north-west Queensland is set to intensify calls to help farmers affected by natural disasters, following heavy rain which flooded Townsville before bad weather moved inland and devastated cattle stations as several years' of rainfall poured down in a matter of days. Nannyu Olluremi Adeleye, 73, was convicted Monday of murder for the 2016 death of infant infant girl Enita Salubi in Maryland A nanny accused of fatally force-feeding an eight-month-old because the crying child disturbed her nap has been convicted of murder in Maryland. The Washington Post reports 73-year-old Oluremi Adeleye was convicted Monday after a judge found her guilty of child abuse and second-degree murder in Enita Salubi's 2016 death. A nanny camera captured the incident. Footage showed Salubi pulling on the nanny's dress and patting her leg from a bouncer while Adeleye was lying on the couch. Prosecutors say Adeleye eventually poured nearly eight ounces of milk down Salubi's throat in less than 30 seconds. The footage aired in court showed the nanny remove the nipple from the nearly full bottle emptying it into the child's mouth. Video shows Adeleye squirm and then Salubi pick her up after she falls to the ground and trying to give her another bottle. The infant eventually went limp. Adeleye says she was merely trying to ensure the baby didn't go hungry. Footage showed Adeleye removing the nipple of a nearly full bottle and force feeding the child until she went limp Her attorney, Douglas Wood, argued that the infant's death 'tragic accident.' 'All she wanted to do was feed the child,' Wood said. 'She wanted to make sure the baby was healthy and the baby was well fed.' It was reported that Adeleye initially lied to detectives and told them she had not removed the nipple of the bottle when she fed the baby. She later, however, admitted to removing the cap after a detective told her there was a video, testimony showed. Court Judge Karen H. Mason said the act was 'cruel and inhumane'. Prince George's County State's Attorney Aisha Braveboy said: 'You have two loving, caring parents who did everything right. They interviewed the sitter, they got references and they did their homework and research by all accounts . . . but she abused this young child and the reason we were able to prove it is because the parents had the foresight to install a camera.' The baby's mother, Nikia Porter, said the family misses their 'beauty.' Video courtesy of 11Alive A father who took to drinking alone in his car as his marriage broke down raped a random woman he spotted from the driver's seat. Daniel Peter Moore ambushed the woman and bundled her into a cubicle at a park toilet in Waihola, near Dunedin, New Zealand, on April 20. The 34-year-old plumber, who had just drunk three bourbon and coke cans, grabbed her around the throat to stifle her screams. Daniel Peter Moore, 34, was jailed for raping a random woman he saw while drinking alone in his car to avoid his marriage breakdown During the 30-minute ordeal he told her it was the first time he had ever raped someone. When it became clear she wouldn't get away, the victim stopped resisting and tried talking to Moore to 'humanise herself' in a desperate attempt to save her life. 'She believed he would kill her when he had finished with her,' police told the Dunedin District Court, according to the Otago Daily Times. Judge Michael Crosbie outlined the devastating impact Moore's 'violent sexual acts' over a long period of time had on the victim. 'The effects on her are as profound as any I've ever read... You preyed on her with devastating consequences,' he said. The victim turned from a cheerful and optimistic person into a one who was too terrified to go anywhere alone. He ambushed the woman and bundled her into a cubicle at a park toilet in Waihola, near Dunedin, New Zealand, on April 20 Her sick mother died never knowing what happened to her because she couldn't bring herself to cause her more suffering in her final months. Moore told her to stay in the toilet until he drove off so she couldn't see his number plate, but police found it on CCTV anyway. He claimed the sex was consensual, but later pleaded guilty to rape and was sentenced to six and a half years jail on Monday. 'His marriage is over, relationship with his kids is over, his professional life is over and he's going to jail for a very long time,' his lawyer told the court. Samantha Holt (pictured) says she was followed along the beach by a man, and two of his friends exposed themselves and masturbated behind her as she walked her dog along the beach on Monday afternoon A woman said she feared for her life after a group of men began following her along a beach and exposing themselves. Samantha Holt was walking her dog along Kewarra Beach in far north Queensland on Monday, when she realised she was being followed. 'As I sat in the sand a man crouched beside me and stared at me in a very intimidating way,' she said. 'I went further up [the beach] and two other men at the bbq area who were with him stood behind me and exposed themselves.' Adding to Ms Holt's anxiety was the fact that the beach was the same area where Toyah Cordingley, 24, had been raped and murdered in October last year. Ms Corginley's killer has never been found. In a later post to social media, Ms Holt said she believes the first man had followed her along the beach from a distance, and that of the two men who exposed themselves, one was masturbating and the other had his phone out. Ms Holt said she was reminded of what had happened to Madeleine Weinmann, who was grabbed by a man on the street in the same suburb last week, and to Ms Cordingley, who was brutally raped and murdered on a beach less than 20 kilometres away, so she ran to her mother's house for safety. 'It was 3pm,' she said. 'I should be able to just walk my dog... I thought I was safe.' Ms Holt said when a family member headed to the beach to see if the men were still there, they were with police, and had allegedly been reported for similar acts before. Ms Holt said she was filled with fear after thinking back to another young woman who was nearly kidnapped in the same suburb just a few weeks ago, and of 24-year-old Toyah Cordingley, who was raped and murdered while walking her dog on a beach less than 20km away The photographer said she is trained in Jiu-Jitsu, but had been so consumed with fear when the incident took place she could only run. 'It has been a sad realisation that we just have to be more careful,' she said. 'I just had no worries at all - especially in the afternoon.' Ms Holt isn't the only woman in far north Queensland to feel afraid walking around alone. After she shared her story, one woman revealed she had stopped going to the gym alone at night entirely, while another said she looks for populated places to walk her dogs. Madeleine Weinmann, 28, was also walking through Kewarra Beach when she was approached by a man who she claims had tried to grab her earlier this month. On January 23, in the same suburb, a 19-year-old girl was nearly dragged into a vehicle by a man 'believed to be in his 50s or 60s'. On October 21, Toyah Cordingley went missing after walking her dogs along Wangetti Beach, about 20 kilometres north of where Ms Holt had been walking her dog. The 21-year-old's body was found by her father the next morning. She had been raped and brutally murdered, and her killer has not been found. A spokesman for Queensland Police said officers attended only one incident at Kewarra Beach on Monday, and a man was issued with an infringement notice for public nuisance after allegedly urinating near the barbecue area. In the same suburb, 28-year-old Madeleine Weinmann says she was grabbed by a man on the street while walking alone George Soros has called for pro-Europe voters to wake up before the continent 'sleepwalks into oblivion' ahead of the looming European elections. Writing in an article for business website MarketWatch, billionaire businessman Soros said the EU faced going the way of the Soviet Union if people didn't act to save it. 'Europe is sleepwalking into oblivion, and the people of Europe need to wake up before it is too late,' Soros wrote. Scroll down for video Soros, pictured at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, has vehemently voiced his opposition to Brexit 'If they dont, the European Union will go the way of the Soviet Union in 1991. Neither our leaders nor ordinary citizens seem to understand that we are experiencing a revolutionary moment, that the range of possibilities is very broad, and that the eventual outcome is thus highly uncertain.' Soros continued to say that he believes the impending elections for the European Parliament in May this year will be pivotal for the future of the continent, but he argued anti-Europe parties will 'enjoy a competitive advantage'. He also stuck true to his previous opposition of Brexit, calling Britain's imminent departure the 'defining event for the country for decades to come'. 'In the United Kingdom, too, an antiquated party structure prevents the popular will from finding proper expression,' Soros added. 'The situation is so complicated that most Britons just want to get it over with, although it will be the defining event for the country for decades to come.' Mr Soros, a major sponsor of the US Democratic Party, is a champion of global liberal causes and has poured thousands into a campaign against Brexit, earning him a controversial status in right-wing circles. Even President Donald Trump has spoken of conspiracy theories about Soros, including that he funded the caravan of Central American migrants trying to enter the US. Asked if he thought Soros could be funding the Caravan, Trump said: 'I wouldnt be surprised. I wouldnt be surprised. I dont know who, but I wouldnt be surprised.' The Saturday before, on October 27 2018, a gunman walked into a synagogue in Pittsburgh and shot dead 11 worshippers. He didn't agree with the president's policies, but his online activity showed him spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Soros and the caravan. That same month, Soros was among a dozen Democrats to receive a mailed pipe bomb sent by a Trump supporter, an incident that convinced his son, Alexander, to accuse the president of encouraging violence. But the president also claimed Soros funded protesters to disrupt Brett Kavanagh's contentious Supreme Court confirmation hearing in October last year. Soros has previously been accused of trying to derail Brexit and said people in Britain 'just want it over with' Soros has previously said: 'I have been painted as the devil. The fact that extremists are motivated by false conspiracy theories about me to kill hurts me tremendously.' 'I'm blamed for everything, including being the anti-Christ,' Mr. Soros, 88, told the FT during an interview in December in Marrakesh, Morocco. I wish I didn't have so many enemies, but I take it as an indication that I must be doing something right.' The Financial Times named him as their Person of the Year in 2018 for being the 'standard bearer for liberal democracy as it comes under siege from Putin's Russia and Trump's America'. The newspaper said it was honouring the billionaire financier not for his achievements but for 'the values he represents' in the face of rising 'nationalism and populism' in the face of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and threats of violence. Soros has also faced controversy in the UK by ploughing at least 700,000 into Best for Britain, which wants MPs to vote down Theresa May's deal and stop Brexit. The news of his involvement riled anti-EU campaigners, including former Cabinet minister Owen Paterson, who accused Soros of a 'disgusting' intervention to undermine a popular vote. Elsewhere, Soros has funded pro-democracy groups in Hungary, where individual rights and freedom of expression have come under strain from the authoritarian regime of Prime Minister Victor Orban. His fortune now stands at $8billion (6.3billion) - a total depleted by an $18bn (14.2bn) donation to his philanthropic organisation, the Open Society Foundation. JCIO spokesman said the judge, who is based in the Family Division of the High Court in London, had been given formal advice Mrs Justice Parker, pictured, 'momentarily' dozed off during a family hearing at the High Court A senior judge has expressed remorse after momentarily falling asleep during a hearing. Mrs Justice Parker, who is based in the Family Division of the High Court in London, was the subject of a complaint to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office by parties in a case. A JCIO spokesman said the judge had been given formal advice after Lord Chancellor David Gauke and Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett concluded that her conduct had the potential to undermine public confidence in the judiciary. Tony Mokbel's stepdaughter (pictured) says the drug kingpin is a 'soldier' and will survive the brutal jail yard stabbing that has left him fighting for life Tony Mokbel's stepdaughter says the drug kingpin is a 'soldier' and will survive the brutal jail yard stabbing that has left him fighting for life in hospital. CCTV footage captured the moment the 53-year-old was beaten to the ground by two Pacific Islander inmates at Barwon Prison on Monday, before he was repeatedly stabbed with homemade knives. Brittany Lee McGuire, 22, who is the daughter of Mokbel's ex-partner Danielle, told the Herald Sun on Tuesday: 'He is fine. He is a soldier... We just want him to get better.' Corrections Commissioner Emma Cassar said good quality security camera footage of the incident showed Mokbel walking towards a unit in the mainstream compound of the jail when he was attacked. 'He was approached by two prisoners who assaulted him, knocked him to the ground and you can see the footage very clearly, showing a number of stabbing actions,' she told 3AW on Tuesday. 'Another prisoner did come to Tony Mokbel's aid it seems, and he was also injured. In terms of the relationship between those two people, it's too early to tell.' Mokbel is seen in 2008 arriving at the Supreme Court in Athens, where he unsuccessfully fought his extradition to Australia Ms McGuire, 22, is the daughter of Mokbel's ex-partner Danielle She was seen on Tuesday at LA Hair & Salon in Port Melbourne as her father fought for life in hospital The other injured man is in Geelong hospital in a stable condition. Dr Cassar said authorities separated the attackers within moments and placed them in a high-security unit. They will be interviewed by police and prison authorities, who will also investigate who else is involved. Three homemade weapons were recovered nearby and have been handed to police. The 53-year-old gangland figure was set upon by two inmates on Monday afternoon at Victoria's Barwon Prison and airlifted to hospital (pictured) Brittany Lee McGuire, 22, who is the daughter of Mokbel's ex-partner Danielle, said on Tuesday: 'He is fine. He is a soldier... We just want him to get better' Corrections Commissioner Emma Cassar said good quality security camera footage of the incident showed the moment Mokbel (pictured in 2007) was attacked 'These sort of incidents are unacceptable and for me, it's a real worry this has occurred,' Dr Cassar said. 'We're doing everything we can. We'll certainly wait for the Victorian police investigation and then my team will investigate, and there'll be an external review into this.' Dr Cassar said it is too early to tell if the incident related to a 'powerplay' within the jail. A police source said it was understood the attack was in response to a front page report which suggested Mokbel had 'lost none of his power' in jail. Dr Cassar (pictured) said authorities separated the attackers within moments and placed them in a high-security unit Mokbel is pictured left at the Supreme Court in Melbourne in 2012, and right in 2007 in Athens Mokbel reportedly disrupted an extortion racket being run in the prison by Pacific Islanders, who had targeted a teenager locked up on assault charges. Before the stabbing, Mokbel was said to be getting under the skin of fellow inmates by talking about his plans to walk free from prison amid the Informer 3838 saga. Informer 3838 was a high-profile Melbourne barrister who had for years been giving information to police while representing Mokbel and six of his associates, potentially bringing their convictions into question. Mokbel was airlifted to Royal Melbourne Hospital and was originally considered to be in a serious but stable condition, but deteriorated A prison van carrying Mokbel arrives at Barwon Prison, 70km west of Melbourne in May, 2008 Dr Cassar was asked on Tuesday morning if Mokbel had been bragging about being released. 'He was very confident he'd get out of jail,' she said, adding that was 'probably' annoying other inmates. After fleeing Australia while on trial in 2006, Mokbel was captured in Greece in 2007 and was sentenced to a 30-year jail term for drug crimes, with a minimum of at least 22 years before being eligible for parole. Mokbel was stabbed in the same prison where fellow gangland identity and friend Carl Williams was murdered in 2010 by another inmate, Matthew Charles Johnson. Mokbel was stabbed at the same jail where his mate Carl Williams was murdered nearly a decade ago The NSPCC said the plans were needed to embed regulatory compliance after the death of Molly Russell, 14 (pictured) The NSPCC is calling for social media sites to face criminal sanctions and fines if they breach statutory duty-of-care laws. Ministers are to publish a White Paper setting out legislation that could make Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter more accountable for stopping children setting up accounts. Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England, has already demanded that the web giants fulfil a duty of care towards children and stop making social media platforms deliberately addictive to young users Now the NSPCC has drawn up plans that go further to improve online safety for children the first time a scheme for criminal rather than civil sanctions has been spelt out. The charity said this was needed to embed regulatory compliance after the death of Molly Russell, 14, who took her own life after viewing self-harm images. Her father blamed Instagram for the death. The NSPCC said legislation should be modelled on corporate manslaughter laws, allowing social media firms to be prosecuted if they fail to prevent harm to children on their sites. YouTube stars, who often have millions of young fans, have posted videos of themselves promoting mystery box games and apparently winning hi-tech prizes The charitys intervention came as the childrens commissioner said social media firms that failed to tackle so-called influencers who lure children into gambling should face fines or be forced out of business. YouTube stars, who often have millions of young fans, have posted videos of themselves promoting mystery box games and apparently winning hi-tech prizes. Users pay to open a box without knowing its contents, which range from cheap toys to expensive phones. Childrens commissioner Anne Longfield Childrens commissioner Anne Longfield said social media firms had done very little to tackle selling and promotion by influencers, and urged the Government to legislate. She said: If companies chose not to follow the legal requirements, there could be fines and shutdowns. It makes those platforms responsible for what goes on them in a way that they havent yet been to date. YouTube said content creators should make any payment to promote brands clear, and warned it could remove unsuitable content. A sharia marriage law will be introduced to ensure that all weddings of Muslim couples celebrated in mosques are properly registered. Ministers want to give legal protection to tens of thousands of Muslim women whose marriages have no official status and who can be denied divorce or lose all they have in the event of a break-up. The plan follows an inquiry last year by Islamic expert Mona Siddiqui, which said that women who marry in mosque ceremonies can face discriminatory practices. The new law is expected to say that mosques must ensure a civil marriage ceremony is conducted alongside the Islamic wedding. The plan will go ahead despite objections, during a consultation, that regulation of Muslim marriages will infringe upon the rights of faith groups [File photo] Some are presented with bills for thousands of pounds by husbands they want to leave, it said. A rule that Islamic marriages must be registered may also help investigations into terrorist incidents because it would ensure the availability of marriage details on those who figure in inquiries. Details of a new law are to be made public in the spring, says a paper from Communities Secretary James Brokenshire. The plan will go ahead despite objections, during a consultation, that regulation of Muslim marriages will infringe upon the rights of faith groups. Some mosques are registered so that weddings can be held there with official recognition, after the couple have been issued with a licence. But other mosques are not registered and the marriages contracted there can remain unofficial. The new law is expected to say that mosques must ensure a civil marriage ceremony is conducted alongside the Islamic wedding. Advertisement This is the scene of devastation after an inferno ripped through a hospital ward. Images taken today of the George Bryan Centre - an inpatient unit providing medical treatment to people with mental health issues - at the Sir Robert Peel Hospital in Tamworth, Staffs show mangled metal and plastic after flames enveloped the building last night. Police confirmed no one was injured but eyewitnesses at the scene speculated a patient could have been involved in the blaze. These are the scenes of devastation after a fire broke out at the George Bryan Medical Centre, part of Sir Robert Peel Community Hospital, in Tamworth, on Monday night The building, pictured, suffered extensive damage from last night's inferno Staffordshire Police are continuing their investigation into the blaze. A 43-year-old man from Tamworth has been arrested on suspicion of arson Plumes of smoke rose high into the night sky as flames licked out from the building's windows. 10 fire engines were needed to battle the fire which left burned out shell this morning This morning Staffordshire Police said a 43-year-old man, from Tamworth, has been detained on suspicion of arson. Callum Horne, 22, said: 'I was about three miles away and we could see it from there. 'We came down after practice and there was a blazing fire - I don't think this was an accident.' Tara Shemsin, 34, said: 'My mum has been a patient here for the last month due to mental health issues, she was in the west wing where the fire happened. 'All the staff and patients are fine but she's really upset because all her stuff has burnt - she's already lost her home due to mental health and now this. She's really distressed.' Bradley Stokes, 24, said: 'I ran down, and when I got here it was worse than I imagined. 'I could see it from the town centre, I live half a mile away and I could see the flames. There were 40 or more people here, the blaze was chaotic and huge. 'I thought there would have been a few deaths it was that bad.' As many as ten fire engines were called to deal with the blaze at the hospital in Tamworth on Monday night Midlands Partnership Foundation NHS Trust who run the centre confired that all staff and patients were evacuated without injuries. At the time of the fire there were 18 patients in the West Wing unit which was destroyed. All of the patients have been found alternative accommodation. The facility cares for adults who are acutely mentally unwell. The East Wing of the hospital is still occupied although this is 'subject to an ongoing review based on assessment of the building'. A full investigation into the cause of the blaze is underway. Neil Carr, Chief Executive said, 'I would like to pay tribute to the staff who dealt with this emergency with great professionalism and ensured everyone was evacuated in a safe and timely way. 'We have robust emergency evacuation procedures in the Trust which are regularly tested, in fact the George Bryan Centre had carried out a fire drill just last week and I am confident this was an important factor in the excellent response to this situation. 'We recognise this was a traumatic and distressing event for all involved and we will now ensure that all those affected receive whatever help and care they need to support their emotional well being.' Any relatives or friends who are concerned about patients from the George Bryan Centre should contact the hospital site manager via the Trust switchboard on 0300 790 7000. Ten units of the fire brigade raced to the scene in an effort to save the hospital unit Some 10 crews from Staffordshire, West Midlands and Warwickshire fire services were deployed as fire took hold at the facility, prompting the evacuation of nearly a dozen occupants and staff. A spokesman from Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service said that there was 'quite a lot of the building involved' in the blaze. 'We're trying to sacrifice part of the building and let that burn to prevent it from spreading to the rest of the hospital,' he added. Staffordshire Police said they were called to the incident at 9.15pm. There are no reported casualties. Fire crews managed to halt the spread of the blaze into the main hospital unit, left, but could not save the George Bryan centre, right, which suffered extensive damage Witnesses claimed they could see the blaze from three miles away following the fire which broke out around 9pm on Monday Two firemen spray their hose in through the charred wreckage of the building which appeared to have been significantly damaged in the fire Authorities said the institution treats people suffering from mental health illnesses A spokesman from Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service said there are reports of one of the patients absconding Fire crews said 11 occupants and staff were evacuated from the centre and were being transferred to other local medical centres The council already requires the organisations it funds to meet diversity targets Arts Council England will to 'put pressure' on arts groups to reveal personal data Arts groups will face renewed 'pressure' to release data about the sexuality of their staff in return for financial support, their funding body has announced. The Royal Shakespeare Company and the English National Ballet are among dozens of institutions that will be told by Arts Council England to disclose details about their employees as part of a bid to increase diversity. The council already requires the organisations it funds to meet diversity targets to receive cash from its publicly-funded 1.45billion pot. The report added that while providing the breakdown won't be a 'legal obligation', it is 'in line with best practice guidance' following advice from LGBT charity Stonewall. However, the move has been slammed as 'unacceptable' by data protection campaigners [File photo] It demands information about the ethnicity, age, gender, and sexual orientation. However, in its most recent survey the funding body found that staff's sexuality was 'unknown' in 58 per cent of cases, and that 9 per cent of employees preferred not to say. The council said in its annual diversity report: 'In future, we will put pressure on organisations which consistently report high levels of 'unknown' data, reminding them of their obligations under their funding agreements.' The report added that while providing the breakdown won't be a 'legal obligation', it is 'in line with best practice guidance' following advice from LGBT charity Stonewall. However, the move has been slammed as 'unacceptable' by data protection campaigners. A spokesman for Privacy International said the data is personal and 'staff should be clearly told that providing information about their sexual orientation is not required'. The report also found the drive to improve diversity had stalled, with proportional representation of black and minority staff still below the average across the population. The heartbroken friends and family of a beloved tradie who died after he was electrocuted on a worksite have paid tribute to him. Joel White, 24, tragically died after he brushed a metal polie against live wires while carrying out asbestos removal works at an industrial site in Moorebank, in the south west of Sydney, at about 2pm Monday. There has since been an outpouring of tributes to the young labourer from his devastated friends and family. Joel White (pictured right), 24, tragically died after he brushed against live wires while carrying out asbestos removal works 'Honestly no words right now all I can say is we both know the type of friendship we had and I couldn't have [been] more [grateful] to have known you since a young age,' one heartfelt post read. 'I know you will be looking over all of us and saying them one liners in heaven, if only I could hear them one more time. 'You will forever be in my heart Joel White fly high my brother,' it said. Since Mr White's (pictured) death, there has been an outpouring of tributes to the young labourer on social media 'Rest In Peace Joel White. Never forget the memories we made growing up together, one of a kind. May god bless your soul,' another friend said. In another tragic post, one friend said the world had got 'a little bit darker' without Mr White. 'It still feels like a dream [and] you have left us all lost for words with this tragic news but the person you were to many should not go unspoken. 'If anyone was to ever to call your phone, you would never answer it but if anyone ever needed you to be there at a time of need, you would be there in a heartbeat,' the post said. A friend described Mr White (pictured right) as 'generous, caring and humble' and added he had a 'heart made of pure gold' The friend described Mr White as 'generous, caring and humble' and added he had a 'heart made of pure gold' and spoke of their 'amazing memories' they had shared together. 'You will be in our hearts forever. You were like a brother to me. You had the best heart and I will never forget you! Love you so much,' another devastated friend added. Mr White's sister changed her profile picture yesterday, to what is believed to be an adorable image of the pair when they were much younger. Mr White's sister changed her profile picture to what is believed to be an adorable image of the pair when they were younger She simply captioned the picture with a series of red heart emojis. In response to the post, many well-wishers sent Ms White and her family their condolences. 'My condolences go out to [you] and your family .. [I'm] in shock right now. Thinking of you all in this devastating time,' wrote one person. Friends took to social media to share their grief and pay tribute to the beloved tradesman One friend said Mr White would be 'forever' in his heart in a heartbreaking post on Facebook Another friend said Mr White was 'one of a kind' and said he would never forget the memories they shared 'My heart has sunk for you and your family, deepest condolences,' another added. 'We are beyond devastated about this I can't imagine what you're all feeling my deepest condolences to you and your [family]. What an absolute tragedy. May he RIP stay strong,' a third wrote. Mr White's mother shared a post on social media in 2017 expressing how much she loved her children. 'I am a mom. That means I'm far from perfect. I make mistakes, I lose my sh*t often, I sometimes forget things, and I have days I just want to quit,' it read. In 2017 Mr White's mother had shared a post (pictured) on social media expressing how much she loved her children 'But that's okay, because in the end, no one could love my children more than me,' it concluded. It's believed five men were on the metal roof of the construction site at the time of the incident, with four men needing to be examined by paramedics. New South Wales Fire and Rescue Services freed four of the men from the roof of the factory, while Mr White remained, unable to be freed until the power was turned off because he was still holding the conductive metal pole. New South Wales Fire and Rescue Services freed four of the men from the roof of the factory He was recovered after power to the building was disconnected, however, he was unable to be revived and pronounced dead at the scene. Mr White's family was seen at the factory a short time later. A crime scene has been established and Work Cover NSW officers will assist with police inquiries. A report with be prepared for the Coroner. Jeremy Corbyn called for the European Union to be 'defeated' in an explosive rally speech, it was revealed last night in previously unseen footage. The Labour leader lumped the EU in with bankers, describing them as 'united in suppressing the economy and creating unemployment'. In comments which may give an insight into his real views, he told a Left-wing rally in 2010 that he would not be 'silenced by these people' but would 'defeat them'. Jeremy Corbyn called for the European Union to be 'defeated' in an explosive rally speech (file photo) It comes after previous footage showed Mr Corbyn condemning the EU as a 'European empire of the 21st century' and a 'military Frankenstein'. In the new footage unearthed by talkRADIO, he is shown saying: 'They, the world's bankers, International Monetary Fund, European Union, they are utterly united in what they want. 'Utterly united in deflation, suppressing the economy, and creating unemployment. Utterly united in that. We need to be equally united, not just across every union in this country and every community in this country and every social demand in this country, but all across Europe and internationally to show the voice of those campaigning for peace, justice and socialism. A Labour Party spokesman said: 'Jeremy was speaking out against the austerity that the IMF, the EU and the world's bankers were forcing on the people of Europe' (file photo, Donald Tusk) 'We will not be silenced by these people. We will win through. We will defeat them and we will win that decency that we want in this world.' Mr Corbyn's remarks made at the Durham Miners' Gala, a trade union gathering which he attends annually, will infuriate many Labour MPs and members who want to stay in the EU. A petition urging him to back a second referendum reached 50,000 signatures but Labour MP Angela Smith was turned away from the party's HQ when she tried to hand it in yesterday afternoon. Brexit grief advice - for civil servants! Civil servants have been issued with advice on how to cope with grief caused by Brexit. The Toolkit for staff during EU Exit is designed to help officials struggling with the emotional consequences of leaving the European Union. Across 13 pages, it advises staff at the Department for Health and Social Care that they should seek to understand their reactions to change and to develop personal resilience. At one point, the document urges officials to kill your Automated Negative Thoughts (ANTS). Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: Forty-seven years of having our sovereignty eroded by the EU has clearly hollowed out the confidence and courage of our Civil Service. A spokesman for the department said: It is normal practice for organisations to issue advice to staff... during times of change. Advertisement Mr Corbyn previously refused to call Miss Smith as she repeatedly attempted to ask him about a second vote during a Brexit debate. His precise views on the EU have long been the subject of speculation, given his past Euro-scepticism. The earlier footage from 2009 taken during a speech to Irish activists has been seized on by Mr Corbyn's own MPs as evidence he was always going to 'facilitate Brexit'. Obtained by Left-wing website The Red Roar, it shows Mr Corbyn mocking the concept of holding repeated votes on the same issue the year after Ireland rejected the Lisbon Treaty. A Labour Party spokesman said: 'Jeremy was speaking out against the austerity that the IMF, the EU and the world's bankers were forcing on the people of Europe. 'He is proud of his longstanding record of campaigning for internationalism, social justice and for an investment-led economy.' Liberal Democrat spokesman Tom Brake said: 'This is the true Jeremy, spouting absurd conspiracy theories about the EU. 'If he wants to secure British jobs, stopping Brexit through a People's Vote is the best way to do it.' Former White House aide Cliff Sims sued Donald Trump on Monday in his official capacity as president, claiming he used the weight of his office and the convenience of a campaign organization at arm's length to intimidate him as his tell-all book went on sale. 'Team of Vipers' quickly achieved bestseller status two weeks ago by lifting the lid on chaos, infighting and double-dealing. Trump's campaign quickly announced that it would take Sims to court. That, he says, was 'subterfuge' an end-run around the First Amendment 'undertaken under express authorization and instruction, and certainly with the blessing of, President Trump.' Sims filed suit Monday in Federal District Court in Washington, claiming Trump used his campaign to accomplish what he can't legally do as president: pressure an author to squelch a book he doesn't like. SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE COMPLETE LAWSUIT Cliff Sims worked for 18 months as a communications aide to President Donald Trump on his 2016 campaign and in the West Wing; he sued the president on Monday for using his campaign organization to interfere with his book rollout Michael Glassner, the chief operating officer of Trump's campaign, announced on the day the book was published that the campaign not the White House would take Sims to court Sims' lawsuit argues that Trump used his campaign as a cudgel to put pressure on Sims in a way that a president can't do without violating his First Amendment free-speech rights The president himself wrote on Twitter that Sims was '[a] low level staffer that I hardly knew,' claiming his book was 'boring' and 'based on made up stories and fiction.' 'He pretended to be an insider when in fact he was nothing more than a gofer. He signed a non-disclosure agreement. He is a mess!' Trump tweeted. Less than 20 minutes later, Trump campaign Chief Operating Officer Michael Glassner announced that his organization was 'preparing to file suit against Cliff Sims for violating our NDA.' The campaign required most employees to sign non-disclosure agreements, and Sims acknowledges that he may have signed another one when he reported to work at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But legal analysts disagree about whether they are enforceable. Sims' lawsuit argues that writing based on observations from his 18 months working at the White House are beyond the reach of any promises of confidentiality he may have made to the campaign. He also claims Trump is illegally using the power of the presidency 'to impose civil liability' against him. Sims argues that the campaign's threat to sue him, twenty minutes after President Trump himself launched a tweeted attacked, was 'not a coincidence,' but was directed by the president St. Martin's Press, which published 'Team of vipers,' is not named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit. But the company said Monday in a statement that it supports its arguments. 'When presidents or their political campaigns seek to silence a voice, it is especially important that we maintain our steadfast commitment to free speech,' the statement read. 'Recent attempts to selectively prevent former government employees from speaking and writing about their experience as public servants call for our scrutiny, and illustrate how essential the First Amendment is to the preservation of democracy.' The New York Times first reported onthe lawsuit filing. Sims' role in the White House was director of message strategy. He helped the President with his weekly video and radio addresses. Trump now dismisses him as 'The videographer.' 'Team of Vipers' is full of embarrassing anecdotes about the administration and Trump's campaign. Trump considered refusing to accept the results of the 2016 election if he were to lose, Sims writes. And when he realized he won, his first thought was retribution against former Ohio governor John Kasich, one of his Republican challengers who tried to turn the Republican Party against him from the inside. Trump, according to Sims, said: 'When I get to Washington I'm gonna shove it up Kasich's a**.' Presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway comes away with more tar and feathers than most in Trumpworld, courtesy of Sims' pen. He describes one scene where Conway was engaging in multiple online chats with reporters about her conversations with the president which he watched zoom by via her iCloud account while he wrote a statement on her laptop denying she was a serial leaker. Sims' book calls Conway a 'cartoon villain brought to life.' And he recounts former White House Chief of Staff John kelly confiding that his months inside Trump's inner circle were the 'worst f***ing job' he had ever had. A police video on the laws of lane filtering for motorcyclists has sparked debate online. The video, released by New South Wales Police last week, explains that riding in between two lanes of traffic is allowed if the motorcycle is travelling under 30km/h. In comments on the video, many viewers said they didn't realise the practice is legal, while others said they were aware of the rules but wanted them to be changed. A police video on the laws of lane filtering for motorcyclists has sparked debate online One driver commented: 'Shouldn't be allowed period... it opens up a can of worms and people abuse this. Plenty of riders filter at 70+km.' Another driver similarly suggested that the law makes sense but many riders don't abide by it. He wrote: 'Have almost had quite a few accidents since this rule came in. I'm all for it if done legally. Pity most don't.' It wasn't only car drivers who complained about the law. One motorcyclist said it didn't work because riders 'can't trust drivers behind the wheel'. He wrote: 'Too many are entitled and don't know this (lanesplitting) is legal. 'They get aggressive when you do this, thinking you're being selfish. Rather you are creating space and letting traffic flow. Filtering is illegal between traffic and an adjacent kerb, between traffic and parked vehicles, in bicycle lanes, in school zones, and between lanes of traffic travelling in opposite directions In New South Wales, lane filtering is legal at low speeds of up to 30km/h for fully licensed motorcyclists, where and when it is safe to do so 'Maybe it should be included in the general knowledge section of the road user guide for all drivers.' In New South Wales, lane filtering is legal at low speeds of up to 30km/h for fully licenced motorcyclists, where and when it is safe to do so. It is illegal between traffic and an adjacent kerb, between traffic and parked vehicles, in bicycle lanes, in school zones, and between lanes of traffic travelling in opposite directions. He warned that British democracy will suffer for years to come unless the topic is discussed openly The BBC and ITV were too scared to tackle the 'taboo' subject of immigration in news bulletins, John Sergeant has claimed. The former political correspondent, who has worked on both channels, said TV news tended to avoid the issue as it is too 'controversial'. This led to a lack of serious debate on the topic as 'sensible discussion' was shelved for fear of provoking outcry. Former political correspondent John Sergeant, pictured, said discussing the 'extremely emotive' topic can lead to attacks 'by decent, well-meaning people'. Sergeant was the BBC's chief political correspondent for eight years from 1992 before moving to ITN to become its political editor for two years 'In my years [at] the BBC and ITV, I was fully aware of the immigration taboo,' he wrote in Radio Times. 'There is an old journalistic rule that says 'if in doubt, leave it out' and, looking back, we were guilty of not encouraging more serious debate on this subject.' The veteran journalist, 74, warned that British democracy will suffer for years to come unless the topic is discussed openly. He said of introducing a new immigration system: 'I am not suggesting that this can be done without a high level of controversy. That is inevitable. 'But at least we could try to reduce personal attacks on the integrity of those who put forward the case for a proper system of immigration control. It is not racist to talk openly about this subject. 'It is yet another difficult issue that we have to grapple with. And if we fail to do so, this country and our democracy will suffer for many years to come. But as with all serious political issues, brushing it under the carpet is also dangerous and it leads to widespread misunderstandings that we fail to address at our peril.' 'I blame Enoch Powell (pictured above),' John Sergeant added. 'It's 51 years since he gave his notorious 'Rivers of Blood' speech as a Conservative MP, warning of the dangers of mass immigration [File photo] Sergeant, pictured, said discussing the 'extremely emotive' topic can lead to attacks 'by decent, well-meaning people'. 'I blame Enoch Powell,' he added. 'It's 51 years since he gave his notorious 'Rivers of Blood' speech as a Conservative MP, warning of the dangers of mass immigration. 'He intended to open up discussion about the issue, but he did so in a deliberately provocative way that had precisely the opposite effect. There was such an angry reaction from supporters of all the main political parties that sensible discussion about immigration has been held back, even up to the present day.' Sergeant was the BBC's chief political correspondent for eight years from 1992 before moving to ITN to become its political editor for two years. He later returned to the BBC ... for Strictly Come Dancing. Police were accused of treating drivers like cash cows yesterday after the number of speed awareness courses taken since 2010 passed ten million. An investigation has revealed a surge in the number of motorists who have paid to attend a course rather than incur a fine or points on their licence. Analysis of data from the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (Ndors) found 1.45million completed a course after committing a motoring offence in 2018. Police were accused of treating drivers like cash cows yesterday after the number of speed awareness courses taken since 2010 passed ten million (stock photo of a course) This is up 36 per cent from 1.07million in 2013. This means the courses, mostly for speed awareness, have been attended more than ten million times since 2010. Given that they typically cost between 75 and 99, the courses are likely to have raised hundreds of millions for the police. The Treasury feeds this cash back into police budgets to cover the costs of catching speeding motorists. Police said they do not make money from the courses, which they say are designed to educate drivers and reduce deaths. However, the surge in attendees has fuelled unease among motoring groups. The RAC said it was astonishing that as many as one in four drivers had been sent back to the classroom. Howard Cox, founder of FairFuelUK, said: Surely such speeding offences are not increasing at the same rate, so why are police taking advantage of drivers? Simple, they are pure cash cows. Eight Ndors courses, including speed awareness, motorway awareness and safe and considerate driving schemes, are provided by private firms on behalf of the police. An investigation has revealed a surge in the number of motorists (pictured, stock photo) who have paid to attend a course rather than incur a fine or points on their licence They are offered to drivers who commit a minor offence as an alternative to penalty points and a fine. Drivers cannot attend more than one course within three years. Steve Gooding, of the RAC Foundation, expressed support for the courses but stressed more needs to be done to educate drivers who commit more serious crimes. He said: As many as one in four drivers has now been sent back to the classroom for breaking road traffic law. While the logic of sending drivers who commit minor transgressions back to the classroom is clear, it begs the question of what should be done in a similar vein to tutor those found guilty of more serious breaches of the rules of the roads before they injure or kill themselves or others? A spokesman for the National Police Chiefs Council, said: More drivers are attending these courses as an alternative to prosecution ... [they]are offered to people who commit low-level traffic offences. Police forces do not make money from the courses; they only receive processing costs. A heartbreaking video of a woman announcing her family has been forced to close their farm has revealed the shocking state of Australia's dairy industry. Casey Treloar created the emotional video to share her story about the troubles her family has been facing since the dairy crisis struck. Ms Treloar, who is a third-generation dairy farmer in South Australia, brought others to tears as she said farewell to the industry she has grown up in. 'The clock has run out and it's time to say goodbye,' she said. Treloar, who is a third-generation dairy farmer in South Australia, posted the tearful video sharing her story about the troubles her family has been facing 'We are getting 38 cents a litre across the year and it's completely unsustainable. We can't really afford to keep going anymore. 'We're forever the optimist that the industry will get better - but for our family, we've come to a point where we can't do it anymore. 'Dairying is something my dad has done his entire life, and I have done my entire life, but it has come to the point where our family has had to say ''that's it for us''.' The 26-year-old said their product had been devalued by dollar-a-litre milk, which had added to the problems facing the industry. Supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles decided in 2010 to sell milk for a dollar a litre, sparking a sharp cut to the viability of farming dairy. Dairy farmers have hit back ever since, claiming the price drop was devastating the industry. Ms Treloar's video, which was posted on Saturday, has struck a chord with social media users who were left saddened after watching it. 'You made me cry this is so sad,' one person said. The 26-year-old said their product had been devalued by dollar-a-litre milk, which had added to the problems facing the industry 'My heart breaks for you Casey! Those beautiful girls were lucky to have such a caring family,' another person said. 'This makes me so angry. Im not much of a milk drinker myself but I never buy supermarket brand milk because of this. Milk is valuable. We should be paying for it,' said another person. 'Such a powerful and moving post and live video. So sorry for you and your family to have to make such a difficult decision.' Australia's dairy industry has been battling for the past few years with milk prices being cut and the drought that has wreaked havoc for farmers across the country. Confidence in the future of farming has been dropping over the past three years, with less than half of the 8000 farmer's surveyed last year feeling positive about the industry. Figures dramatically dropped by 75 per cent from 2014 to 2018, the annual national farmer survey showed. The Federal Government has been looking at a mandatory code of conduct for the way processors and retailers deal with issues in the dairy industry. Millions of low-income households could have access to unlimited NBN broadband for half the current average cost. Telco consumer advocate group the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) has proposed a $30 plan for financially struggling families to receive 50Mbps of unlimited broadband - which currently has a starting price of $59.90. The cheapest wholesale price offered by NBN Co is $45. Low-income households could have access to unlimited NBN broadband for just $30 a month, which is almost half the average cost ACCAN is proposing for the Federal Government to fund a $20 concession payment to wholesale broadband provider NBN Co for every discounted plan sold. NBN Co would then distribute their discounted plans to Telco providers, who would sell it it to eligible customers for $30. Eligible customers must show a concession card to retailers or would apply a one-use concessional code from Centrelink at the point of sale. Households would need to be on government financial assistance in order to be eligible for discounted broadband. Telcos would have to be responsible for collecting the proof of eligibility from consumers. The network believe the strategy would take 12-18 months to roll out. ACCAN boss Teresa Corbin said the cheaper product would not be funded through additional taxpayer's money but through offsets within the federal budget. 'Broadband is no longer a luxury service: it is an everyday essential that we use for everything from connecting to government services and paying bills, to keeping in touch with family and friends,' an ACCAN spokeswoman told 9News. 'Without a reliable and affordable broadband connection, low-income Australians are at risk of being left behind as we move into a digital-first world.' Eligible customers must show a concession card to retailers or would apply a one-use concessional code from Centrelink at the point of sale An electrician claims he is still owed more than a million dollars two years on for work done at a government airbase. Dan and Leisa Tobin took on two big contracts worth almost $3 million for work on the Amberely Airbase at Ipswich, Queensland in 2016, Gold Coast Bulletin reported. While work began smoothly and the pair were paid on time for their work, several months later Mr Tobin said things went south. He said weeks from completing one of their jobs their civil electrical company Civex was accused of multiple safety breaches. The contract was subsequently terminated in what Civex claims was a tactical move to avoid having to pay for their work. Scroll down for video Dan and Leisa Tobin (pictured) took on two big contracts worth almost $3 million for work on the Amberely Airbase at Ipswich, Queensland in 2016 While work began smoothly and the pair were paid on time for their work, several months later Mr Tobin (pictured) said things went south The Tobins say they have already poured $250,000 into legal fees, fallen into debt and had to move into a shed. The pair even have to buy food on credit (stock picture) 'We went in fairly tight on that job and every scrap of material weve put in the ground theyve claimed,' Mr Tobin said. The Tobins say they have already poured $250,000 into legal fees, fallen into debt and had to move into a shed, with the couple saying they have to buy food on credit. What's more, they've had to downsize their business from 30 to five staff. 'Its impacted every area our home life and business life,' Mr Tobin said. In a letter to the Attorney-General Christian Porter, Ms Tobin said the financial strain meant she and her partner could no longer afford to pursue IVF treatment to start a family. The letter also revealed the pair had been close to taking their own lives. Mr Porter's office said a response had been made to the letter, though the matter was not for the Attorney-General's office. The Tobins say the Department of Defence, Australian Federal Police, Queensland Building and Construction, Attorney-General and Queensland Police Service have also either ignored or rejected their pleas. Even so, the Tobins are determined to see their case through. 'We cant just write it off or well go bankrupt its my whole lifes earnings,' Mr Tobin said. The Australian Building and Construction Commission and the Australia Competition and Consumer Commission are investigating the case. The Tobins say Fredon Qld Pty Ltd had subcontracted Civex for the job. The Australian Building and Construction Commission and the Australia Competition and Consumer Commission are investigating the case (stock picture) Fredon Qld Prty Ltd is a subsidiary of national building giant Fredon Group - a subcontractor to Lend Lease and Laing O'rourke for two RAAF base jobs. Civex was taken on as part of a $1.5 billion Defence Department expansion of the Ipswich airbase. The electrical engineering company claimed its contract was terminated via a 'convenience' clause - Fredon also cancelled the second air base contract. If that were so, the contractor would have to pay the subbie any outstanding payments. The Tobins added claims were lodged before the contract was terminated and were not paid. Fredon Qld denies all the claims from Civex and said it was driven to terminate the contract because of safety breaches. 'Fredon denies that it has exaggerated or fabricated safety breaches, or that the issue by Fredon of nonconformance reports identifying safety breaches is frivolous or constitutes harassment,' lawyer Christopher Rowden said. Mr Rowden went on to say Fredon did not believe Civex was owed any more payments. Police in Pennsylvania say they believe a home was deliberately set on fire in an attempt to cover up the deaths of an elderly woman and her son whose bodies were found tied up in the basement. Roger Houck, 59, and his mother Virginia Houck, 97, were found dead on January 4 inside the woman's home in Palmer Township. Roger had been bound at his feet and died as a result of 'homicidal violence.' Investigators found the bodies of 97-year-old Virginia Houck and her son Roger, 59, in the basement of her home in Palmer Township, Pennsylvania Police say it appears someone started the fire in an attempt to hide what happened Virginia, meanwhile, who was under hospice care and bedridden, had binding around her head and died from smoke inhalation and burns. The bodies were so badly burned, they needed to be identified by dental records. Mystery still surrounds the case and authorities said they did not want to release too much information for fear of hindering the investigation. Police have said that they believe it was not a random act and that the mother and son may have been targeted. After nearly a month of investigation, detectives said they have a person of interest in the double homicide and arson that happened in early January The bodies of Virginia and Roger Houck were so badly burned, they needed to be identified by dental records The blaze did 'immense' damage to the house, but investigators were able to find enough evidence to label the fire as suspicious and rule the deaths as homicides, authorities said. The fire, which destroyed the home, spread quickly because of an accelerant such as gasoline. Authorities do not yet have a motive for the crimes but have identified a person of interest. They have not yet released information on that person. 'We are confident that this particular household and the occupant or occupants were targeted for this event,' District Attorney John Morganelli said. 'We have not been able to determine what that motive may have been in that matter but we are working on that angle as well.' The fire occurred in January but the investigation was slowed by the extensive fire damage to the house and bodies According to the Morning Call Virginia Houck had lived in the home for decades and was well-liked in what neighbors described as a close-knit neighborhood. In recent years, despite growing more frail as she entered her late 90s, she remained sharp-witted and tough. Roger, meanwhile, had worked for Boeing in Washington State and was preparing to move back to the Seattle-area later in the year. Mystery still surrounds the case and authorities said they did not want to release too much information for fear of hindering the investigation The home remains boarded up and sealed shut following the blaze Almost 500 cashpoints are being axed each month, leaving millions of Britons struggling to withdraw money from their banks. The cash crisis has led to demands for ministers to set up a watchdog to protect access to withdrawals as the machines are a financial lifeline to much of the population. The elderly in particular rely on them to pay their bills. The nations 63,000 hole-in-the-wall machines process more than 50million transactions a week with a total value of more than 2.2billion adding up to more than 100billion a year. Almost 500 cashpoints are being axed each month, leaving millions of Britons struggling to withdraw money from their banks However, almost 3,000 were lost in the six months to December 2018 more than half of which had been free to use, according to research by the Which? consumer group. At the same time, banks are closing more branches to cut costs, with more than 3,300 being axed since 2015. Consumer campaigners and small businesses say that despite the increased popularity of digital payments using contactless cards or mobile phone apps such as Apple Pay, having access to cash remains a necessity for more than 25million Britons. Which? said repeated IT problems and systems failures linked to internet banking and electronic payments affecting millions of customers showed the importance of access to cash for vital household bills. Almost 3,000 were lost in the six months to December 2018 more than half of which had been free to use, according to research by the Which? consumer group Recent problems involving TSB, Visa and other financial firms left people unable to pay for petrol, groceries or restaurant meals. Some Lloyds customers faced intermittent issues yesterday when trying to log on to its online banking system, while last month, hundreds of thousands of Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers were unable to make payments from their online accounts. The Which? research shows most Britons still use cash and object to the idea of it being phased out. But banks are killing off cash as it is cheaper for them to process electronic payments rather than having to handle, count, transport, and guard notes and coins. Travel organisations such as Transport for London refuse to take cash, making it impossible to buy a ticket with coins or notes. Jenni Allen, of Which? Money, said: The alarming rate of cashpoint and bank closures risks leaving people facing an uphill battle to access the cash they rely on. Cash is also a vital back-up as fallible digital payments grow in popularity. So the Government must appoint a regulator to oversee these changes and ensure no one is excluded. Mike Cherry, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: The rapid pace of bank and cashpoint closures is hurting small businesses. At the same time, banks are closing more branches to cut costs, with more than 3,300 being axed since 2015 Millions of small firms have customers who want to pay using notes and coins. The majority of shoppers either use cash frequently or want to see access to it maintained. Bank branches and cashpoints create a natural draw for high streets. They give shoppers a reason to visit. When bank branches and cashpoints are lost, local growth often takes a hit. Its time for a regulator to be given responsibility for protecting access to notes and coins. Natalie Ceeney, chairman of the Access To Cash Review an independent probe into the future of money said: For millions of people in the UK, cash is not a choice, its a necessity. If we dont plan for a world of lower cash if we sleepwalk into a cashless society millions of people will be left behind. The ATM network is run by the Link organisation, which has a duty to ensure all communities have access. It said: We agree with Which? free access to cash is vital for consumers. As payment habits change, the UK needs to work out how to maintain cash access. The Payments Systems Regulator an offshoot of the City watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority has a role in policing electronic payments. A spokesman said: We are holding Link to account for its commitment to preserve the geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs. Tension was once again palpable on the set of The View on Monday as liberal co-host Joy Behar accused conservative colleague Meghan McCain of throwing a hissy fit. The tense exchange took place during a panel discussion about Senator Amy Klobuchars announced candidacy for the presidency. The Minnesota senator made the announcement during a snowy outdoor appearance in her home state. The image of Klobuchar hosting a rally during heavy snowfall prompted President Trump to chime in on Twitter. Trump mocked her for talking about global warming in her speech while giving it in the snow. Joy Behar (left), 76, accused The View co-host Meghan McCain (right), 34, of throwing a 'hissy fit' during Monday's broadcast 'Well, it happened again, the president tweeted. Amy Klobuchar announced that she is running for President, talking proudly of fighting global warming while standing in a virtual blizzard of snow, ice and freezing temperatures. Bad timing. By the end of her speech she looked like a Snowman(woman)!' On the ABC talk show, Behar, 76, began reading Trumps tweet about Klobuchar. When she started reading the tweet, McCain, 34, appeared to say something which irritated Behar. Can I get through this, please? Behar said. Behar read the tweet and shared her opinion, as did fellow hosts Abby Huntsman and Sunny Hostin. When it was finally McCains turn to speak, she appeared exasperated and annoyed. Can I say something now? McCain asked. Is that okay, Joy? Do I have permission to speak now on Amy Klobuchar? Were all good? Behar and McCain got into an argument during a discussion about President Trump's reaction to Senator Amy Klobuchar's announcement on Sunday that she was running for president Trump tweeted that Klobuchar's outdoor rally in the snow undermined her argument about the need to combat climate change McCain then began to voice her opinion, but she paused mid-sentence and looked up at Behar as if to cede the floor to her once again. Nope, by all means, keep going, Joy, McCain said. Behar then shot back: No, if youre going to have a hissy fit, we cant continue. McCain crossed her arms and shook her head. She did not speak for the rest of the segment. This is the second time in recent weeks that the two, whose political views are diametrically opposite, have clashed on air. McCain and Behar got into a heated shouting match during a December 3 show which paid tribute to the late former president, George H.W. Bush, who had died just days earlier. The show appeared to be moving along smoothly until Behar brought up Trumps name. Behar accused Trump of rolling back environmental bills that the elder Bush and his successors signed into law. McCain and Behar got into a heated shouting match during a December 3 show which paid tribute to the late former president, George H.W. Bush, who had died just days earlier 'Can we focus on the president, please. I don't want to talk about Trump, we're honoring a great president,' McCain interjected. Behar shot back: 'Excuse me a second, please. I want to talk about - ' before McCain cut her off again saying: 'We're honoring a great president who passed and I'm not interested in your one-issue voting.' Behar fired back: 'I don't care what you're interested in. I'm talking!' McCain countered: 'Well I don't care what you're interested in either, Joy!' before Whoopi quickly called for a commercial break. Behar was then seen slamming her cue cards on the table and turning to sound off on McCain just as producers cut to break. Producers muted Behar's microphone so that her expletives would not be heard on air. But the source told DailyMail.com that Behar threw her hands in the air, yelled 'My God!' and 'Get this b***h under control.' 'If this s**t doesn't stop I'm quitting this damn show. I can't take this much more,' Behar allegedly fumed. A few days later, McCain posted a photo on her Instagram account showing her and Behar in Christmas sweaters. Well fight again in 2019! Merry Christmas ya filthy animal! McCain wrote in the caption Producers ran to the stage in an attempt to deescalate the situation, but Behar continued to rant, the source said. 'I've tolerated a lot of s**t on this show but I'm at my wits' end with this entitled b***h. Enough already! Enough already! I'm not playing nice any longer,' Behar shouted, despite the studio audience being able to hear it all. A few days later, McCain posted a photo on her Instagram account showing her and Behar in Christmas sweaters. McCain has her right arm on Behars shoulder. The two smile for the camera after apparently making peace. Well fight again in 2019! Merry Christmas ya filthy animal! McCain wrote in the caption. The former boyfriend of a teenage girl who mysteriously vanished more than 20 years ago has been heard referring to her as a 'dead chick' in an unearthed recording. The ex-boyfriend of Belinda Peisley, who vanished from her home in Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains in 1998, is thought to be chatting to his mother in the intercepted phone call. A summary of the tapped phone was presented to an inquest into Ms Peisley's death in 2012 and 2013, and it's believed the conversation in question took place at some point in 2011. Scroll down for video Belinda Peisley (pictured) vanished from her home in Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains in 1998 In the conversation, obtained by Unravel, the ex-boyfriend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is thought to be talking about his brother. 'If he says something silly about the dead chick from Sydney he'll sink me,' he said. The telephone call was part of the brief of evidence handed to the inquest, but was not explicitly mentioned at the hearing. Neither the ex-boyfriend nor his parents were questioned on the matter when giving evidence. Ms Peisley (pictured) who had two young sons (both pictured) aged one and three at the time she disappeared The inquest found that the former boyfriend and his father were both persons of interest and said Ms Peisley, who had two young sons aged one and three at the time, was likely to have been a homicide victim. Ms Peisley's former boyfriend was the last person to see her alive. He claimed the night she disappeared he went over to her house but they had an argument and so he left. Ms Peisley had been suffering withdrawals from heroin at the time, and the ex-boyfriend's father is thought to have been unimpressed with his son dating a person from the 'junkie' crowd. However, when the conversation transcript was put to him by police, the ex-boyfriend denied the woman he was discussing was Ms Peisley. He claimed the conversation was about another women his father had advised him to stop seeing. He also refuted the claims he'd said 'dead chick' and stated he'd thought he had said 'dead sh*t'. And referring to the phrase 'he'll sink me' the ex-boyfriend said he'd used it as his brother didn't know what he was talking about. The inquest found that the former boyfriend and his father were both persons of interest in the inquest for Ms Peisley's (pictured) disappearance A summary of the tapped phone was presented to an inquest into Ms Peisley's(pictured) death in 2012 and 2013 When asked why the recording hadn't been used at the inquest, the counsel assisting the coroner, Phil Strickland, has since said in 'retrospect' the phone tap should've been bought up. But he added that judgments had to be made on the relevance of evidence due to time constraints. New South Wales police has not released the telephone intercept audio or transcript publicly. A spokesman said they were unable to issue a comment regarding the intercepted phone call but added the inquest found a number discrepancies in the evidence. State coroner Paul McMahon found that the ex-boyfriend was unlikely to have been involved in the disappearance and suspected death of Ms Peisley. A dress and woman's underwear have been discovered buried at the former home of Ms Peisley, in December last year He added that although he had made mistakes he was honest and therefore was found to have a good character. The coroner was also satisfied that there was no evidence implicating the ex-boyfriend's father and nor was there an opportunity or motive. Ms Peisley was reported missing a few days after her disappearance, but it took police seven years to open an investigation into her suspected murder. The new details have been unearthed just months after police made another discovery in connection to the case. A dress and woman's underwear have been discovered buried at the former home of Ms Peisley, in December last year. The discovery was made during an excavation of a weatherboard property in Katoomba, west of Sydney The revelation came during an excavation of a weatherboard property in Katoomba, west of Sydney. 'Yesterday's find is of great interest... the undergarments are consistent with Belinda's clothing size,' Detective Chief Inspector Grant Taylor said at the time. 'We will await the results of the forensic analysis, which includes DNA testing, to determine whether new lines of inquiry can be explored. 'While we remain focused on the excavation under the house, we are renewing our appeal to the community for information that may assist our investigation,' he added. A renowned Australian DJ act has called for NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian to stand down after a music festival that was due to begin this weekend was cancelled due to inflated security costs. Adam Hyde and Reuben Styles have been performing as popular electronic duo Peking Duk since 2010. They made no attempt to hide their frustration when the Mountain Sounds festival on the NSW Central Coast was canned shortly before it was supposed to start this Friday. Peking Duk (pictured) have called for a boycott against the Liberal party in NSW after a number of music festivals were forced to shut down Shattered event organisers had no choice but to walk away last week after they were issued a massive $200,000 quote for heightened police presence at the event. The fee in 2018 was $16,000, representing a 1250 per cent increase. Taking to social media, Hyde and Styles unleashed an astonishing Instagram attack on Berejiklian and her under-fire Liberal government. 'Gladys get your head out of the sand, your policies and viewpoints need a reality check,' they wrote. 'We don't force roads to close because of road fatalities, we don't ban alcohol due to (much higher) deaths from alcohol, we don't shut down casino's because of the trauma and grief they cause to the addicted. So why are you targeting music festivals like this? Why are you targeting the events that give so much back to the community?' 'Vote. Gladys & Liberal. Out.' The passionate post quickly went viral, with over 10,000 shares by Tuesday morning. Despite frequent pleas for pill testing to be legalised in NSW following five drug-related deaths at music festivals in recent months, the government has so far stood firm on the controversial issue. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) has attracted criticism after the Mountain Sounds music festival was cancelled The message still doesn't seem to be getting through to people who keep choosing to carry illegal drugs into music festivals Berejiklian has publicly stated there is 'no evidence' that testing works and for every expert who supports it, there are more who don't. She has also given the green light for increased police presences at music festivals. The NSW Premier said young people needed to be better educated and to seek medical attention if they feel unwell after taking illegal drugs. Eight immigrant families demanded millions of dollars in damages Monday from the Trump administration for separating them, including a Guatemalan woman who alleged an officer said her five-year-old son would be taken and then taunted, 'Happy Mother's Day.' In claims filed with the U.S. government Monday, the parents accused immigration officers of taking their children away without giving them information and sometimes mocking them or denying them a chance to say goodbye. The claims allege that many children remain traumatized even after being reunited with their parents, including a seven-year-old girl who won't sleep without her mother and a six-year-old boy who is reluctant to eat. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment. The Trump administration has acknowledged it separated more than 2,000 families last year through the implementation of a zero-tolerance policy intended to crack down on Central American migration at the U.S.-Mexico border. Central American immigrants walk between a newly built Bollard-style border fence, right, and the older 'legacy' fence after crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico on February 01, 2019 in El Paso, Texas. Eight immigrant families demanded millions of dollars in damages Monday from the Trump administration for separating them Immigrant children read and play at an aid center after being released from U.S. government detention on November 3, 2018 in McAllen, Texas Government watchdogs have also said it's unclear how many families were separated in total because agencies did not keep good enough records as the policy was implemented. In her claim, the Guatemalan woman alleges she was detained in May with her son in a type of temporary detention facility nicknamed a 'hielera,' or icebox in Spanish. The immigration officer who taunted her and three other women told them the law had changed, that their children would be taken away, and that they would be deported, the claim alleges. The woman says another immigration officer woke her up at about 5 a.m. days later, ordered her to bathe and clothe her son, and then took her son into another room. The woman says she begged not to have her son taken, then asked that the two be deported together to Guatemala rather than separated. Her son only spoke the indigenous Guatemalan language of Mam. Illegal border crossers, who were detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents, are seen in a jail at the Central Processing Center in McAllen, Texas, USA on June 17, 2018 'The officer laughed,' the claim says. 'He made fun of her indigenous accent and said, laughingly, 'it's not that easy.'' They were reunited in July, but then placed in a family detention center. They were released in November. Stanton Jones, a lawyer for the families, said the families were entitled to monetary damages because of the government's 'inexplicable cruelty.' Stanton Jones, (above) a lawyer for the families, said the families were entitled to monetary damages because of the government's 'inexplicable cruelty' 'The government was harming children intentionally to try to advance what it viewed as a policy objective,' Jones said. 'It's heinous and immoral, but it's also a civil wrong for which the law provides a claim for relief.' The claims were submitted to the departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The act gives government agencies six months to respond before a potential lawsuit, Jones said. HHS spokeswoman Evelyn Stauffer said the department couldn't comment on the claims, but that HHS 'plays no role in the apprehension or initial detention' of children referred to its care, including children who were separated from their parents by immigration authorities. Negotiators in Congress say they have reached an agreement in principle to fund the government and avoid another partial government shutdown. The emerging agreement was announced by a group of lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Richard Shelby and Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey, after a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill. The talks had cratered over the weekend because of Democratic demands to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities, but lawmakers apparently broke through that impasse Monday evening. Now they will need the support of President Donald Trump, whose signature will be needed ahead of the deadline at midnight Friday. Rep. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., speaks to reporters as he leaves a closed-door meeting at the Capitol as bipartisan House and Senate bargainers trying to negotiate border security Three people familiar with Congress' tentative border security deal tell The Associated Press that the accord would provide $1.375 billion to build 55 miles of new border barriers. That's well below the $5.7 billion President Donald Trump demanded to build over 200 miles of wall along the Mexican boundary. The money will be for vertical steel slats called bollards, not a solid wall. Democrats dropped their proposal to limit the number of detained immigrants caught inside the U.S. to a daily average of 16,500. Republicans opposed that demand. There is currently no such limit. Bargainers agreed to fund 40,520 beds to detain immigrants entering or in the U.S. illegally. That's the same number funded last year, though the actual figure held is around 49,000. The sources described details of the still-secret agreement only on condition of anonymity. House Appropriations Committee Chair Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters trying to negotiate a border security compromise in hope of avoiding another government shutdown If lawmakers don't act, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed for a second time this year. Trump spoke to reporters Monday at the White House at an event attended by local sheriffs. He says construction on a border barrier is already underway, but he says of Democrats: 'We're up against people who want to allow criminals in our society.' Border security negotiations stalled over the weekend over Democratic demands to limit the number of migrants whom federal authorities can detain. The two sides also remain separated over how much to spend on Trump's border wall. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (left), seen with fellow border security negotiators Rep. Nita Lowey and Sen. Patrick Leahy, said the next 24 hours are critical Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., has been meeting with other senior bipartisan House and Senate negotiators top try to negotiate a border security compromise in hope of avoiding another government shutdown Rasmussen's poll had Trump at 46 per cent on the day the three-week government shutdown began; he dipped to a low of 43 per cent in mid-January, but is now at 52 per cent after his State of the Union address Republicans say Democratic demands to limit immigrant detentions are a deal breaker, eclipsing the border wall issue for now. Democrats want to introduce a 16,500 cap in beds for illegal residents who are detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the U.S. They see as a way to rein in the administration's aggressive deportation policies. Trump characterized the demand that wasn't part of negotiations before as 'crazy' in a morning tweet and unloaded on Democrats for raising the bar for a deal at an afternoon event. Talks to keep the government open beyond Friday took a nosedive as negotiators and the president clashed over the number of beds the administration wants Congress to authorize in detention centers. Trump is pictured holding a fact-sheet on crimes committed by illegal immigrants The president suddenly called reporters into the Diplomatic Reception Room before his trip to El Paso, Texas, to witness him blast Democrats, who 'want to allow criminals into our society,' including convicted felons and 'people of tremendous, like big problems,' he claimed. 'These are people who kidnap people. The Democrats want them to come into our society. I don't think so!' Trump raged. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell dubbed it an eleventh-hour, 'poison-pill demand' in a speech on the floor of the upper chamber. Bunk beds set up in a tent city to hold immigrant children separate from their parents He called Democrats' demand for a cap on beds 'crazy' Trump is slamming Democrats for behaving 'irrationally' He's complained about Democratic negotiators working on a deal to keep the government open 'Its a new demand. And it is extreme,' he charged. This is a poison pill that no administration would -- or should -- ever accept. Think about the absurdity of this.' Trump claimed after a meeting with sheriffs at the White House that 76,000 illegal immigrants who were detained last year had committed drug offenses. Another 20,000 committed larceny, 63,000 were charged with assault, 12,000 have robberies on their rap sheets. 'Were up against people that want to allow criminals into our society. You explain that one,' he said. 'Most things you understand, but if you want to allow criminals into our society, convicted felons, people of tremendous, big problems.' It was a total turnabout from last Thursday, when Senate Appropriations chairman Richard Shelby claimed after a meeting with Trump that a deal was on the horizon. A U.S. Border Patrol agent speaks with Central American immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso; Trump held a rally in the Texas border town Monday evening Trump is holding a rally in El Paso, Texas, on Monday night and says he's going there 'to keep our country safe.' The rally took place just a few hundred yards from El Paso's border fence. Trump has repeatedly exaggerated the impact of El Paso's fencing on the city's crime rate, as well as statistics about crime committed by people who have entered the U.S. illegally. President Donald Trump slammed Iran's Islamic revolution as a complete failure for the country in tweets written in both English and Farsi Monday on the 40th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution. In the tweets Trump said: '40 years of corruption. 40 years of repression. 40 years of terror. The regime in Iran has produced only #40YearsofFailure. 'The long-suffering Iranian people deserve a much brighter future,' he added. President Trump and his National Security Adviser John Bolton went after Iran Monday as it celebrated the 40th anniversary of its revolution An Iranian man carries an effigy depicting President Donald Trump carrying a sign reading in Persian 'I am not bound by any commitment' People attend a rally marking the 40th anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution Earlier, Trump's chief foreign policy advisor John Bolton issued a similar statement, tweeting that 'it's been 40 yrs of failure. Now it's up to the Iranian regime to change its behavior, & ultimately up to the Iranian people to determine the direction of their country.' Bolton said Washington would support 'the will of the Iranian people, & stand behind them to ensure their voices are heard.' Bolton, a leading hawk in the Trump administration's attempt to weaken Iranian influence, was tweeting as a huge crowd in Tehran gathered to celebrate the 1979 revolution, in which Muslim leader Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini ended the centuries-old rule of the royal dynasty. In the 1979, the country overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, a Western-installed monarch - an action that paved the way to clerical rule. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told Iranians who had gathered in Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square they should resist a 'conspiracy' involving Washington. And he vowed to overcome U.S. efforts to isolate Tehran. 'We will not let America become victorious ... Iranian people have and will have some economic difficulties but we will overcome the problems by helping each other,' Rouhani said. He vowed to boost Iran's military and ballistic missile program. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani makes a speech during a rally marking the 40th anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution at Azadi Square Both President Trump and National Security Adviser John Bolton took to twitter to chastise Iran on Monday 'Iran will continue to expand its military might and missile program,' Rouhani said. The Trump administration has pushed hard to weaken Iran and what it says is Tehran's 'destabilizing' influence. The two countries have not had diplomatic relations since 1980, and Trump has pulled the United States from an international agreement meant to reward Iran for giving up nuclear weapon ambitions. He claims the country is a threat although his intelligence chiefs testified differently before the Senate Intelligence panel. Laurie Holt, a Utah woman who struggled for nearly two years to get her Mormon missionary son freed from a Venezuelan jail, died on Sunday. She was 50 and died less than a year after her son returned to the U.S. Holt died unexpectedly at her home in the Salt Lake City suburb of Riverton, former U.S. Rep. Mia Love said Monday. Laurie Holt's husband Jason Holt went to wake her for church at about 11 a.m. and found her unresponsive, Love said. The cause of death is unknown and Holt had no known illnesses, said Love, who became Holt's friend while working with other politicians to help win freedom for Josh Holt. Laurie Holt, a Utah woman who spent nearly two years pushing to get her son freed from a Venezuelan jail, has died at age 50 Holt died unexpectedly Sunday at her home in the Salt Lake City suburb of Riverton President Donald Trump welcomed Joshua Holt to the U.S. at The White House last May. He had been imprisoned in Venezuela for two years and was released following diplomat efforts by the Trump and Obama administrations Utah native Josh Holt and his wife Thamy spoke exclusively to the DailyMail.com after they were released from a Venezuelan prison The couple had only been married for a few days when they were arrested by Venezuelan cops The entire Holt family gathered for a photo shoot at their Utah home when Josh returned home Much fanfare was made about Josh's release and his return back to the United States Laurie Holt's husband Jason Holt, left, went to wake her for church and found her unresponsive He returned to the U.S. with his Venezuelan wife, Thamara Caleno, in May 2018 after he was imprisoned in June 2016 on weapons charges that the Holts and U.S. politicians said were invented. Holt went to the South American country in June 2016 to marry Caleno, who he met online while looking for a Spanish-speaking Mormons to help him improve his Spanish. He had planned to spend several months in Caracas with his new wife and her two daughters to secure their visas so they could move with him to the U.S. Instead, the couple was arrested and accused of stockpiling weapons. Venezuelan authorities suggested the case was linked to unspecified U.S. attempts to undermine President Nicolas Maduro's rule amid deep economic and political turbulence. Maduro is currently an embattled socialist leader and is holding strong and defying predictions of an imminent demise. Laurie Holt vehemently denied the accusations on her son's behalf and raised awareness about her son's incarceration by hosting rallies and fundraisers and doing media interviews. Laurie Holt, right, and Jason Holt. Laurie Holt famously championed her sons innocence and drew attention to his case with rallies, fundraisers and media interviews Holt and Caleno were held in a notorious Caracas prison and Laurie Holt said her son suffered numerous health problems in jail, including kidney stones and respiratory problems. Their release came after secret backchannel talks between an aide to Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and close allies of Maduro. President Donald Trump hosted the Holts at the White House to commemorate the release. Upon arriving back in the U.S. Josh Holt and his wife Thamy spoke exclusively to the DailyMail.com after they were released. They recounted the horror of their time spent in captivity. The couple spent two years in squalid conditions in a Venezuelan prison after police arrested them following a search of their apartment, during which the cops claimed to have found 'weapons of war'. The couple had married just a few days before the arrest. Joshua Holt's father Jason Holt (left), daughter Marian Leal (2nd left), mother Laurie Holt (2nd right) and spouse Thamy Holt listen during a meeting with Holt and U.S. President Donald Trump upon his return to the U.S. at The White House last May Laurie and Josh Holt (back) Thamy Holt and Jason Holt (middle) and Marian Holt (front), smile and wave as they return to Utah at the Salt Lake City International Airport last May Holt died unexpectedly at her home in Salt Lake City-she had no known illnesses Laurie Holt is survived by her husband and four adult children. 'We are devastated to announce the tragic passing of our sweet Mama Bear Laurie Holt this morning,' the family said in a statement on her Facebook page. 'She had a gigantic heart and we will miss her dearly.' Love said Josh Holt's imprisonment took a major emotional and financial toll on the family, leaving Jason Holt with debts to lawyers they hired to try to win Josh Holt's freedom. Love has launched an online fundraising drive to help raise funds for the funeral. Love said Laurie Holt was relieved and happy to have her entire family back together, and was very excited about the August due date for Josh Holt and Thamara Caleno's baby. 'It's sad to me that she really only had a few more months with her family and her son,' Love said. 'She's going to be missed dearly.' A judge has overturned the drug convictions of 10 more men who were framed by a disgraced former Chicago police sergeant, bringing the number of people cleared in the scandal to 63. A Cook County judge granted motions Monday filed by prosecutors to vacate the men's convictions. Dozens of others have already been exonerated after alleging they had drugs planted on them or were otherwise framed after refusing to pay former Sgt. Ronald Watts or his tactical team a 'protection tax'. Sean Starr, an attorney for the Chicago Law School's Exoneration Project, tells the Chicago Sun-Times that 63 defendants have now been exonerated after being charged with crimes in cases tainted by Watts. A judge has overturned the drug convictions of 10 more men who were framed by a disgraced former Chicago police sergeant, Ronald Watts, bringing the number of people cleared in the scandal to 63. Watts is seen in Chicago in 2013 Watts was sentenced to 22 months in prison in 2013 after pleading guilty to stealing money from an FBI informant. The informant recorded Watts and another officer, Kallatt Mohammed, stealing $5,000 from him. Watts, Mohammed, and other members of his unit allegedly targeted dozens of residents of the Ida B. Wells housing projects for false arrest. Watts and Mohammed were the only policemen charged for stealing from the FBI informant. The Chicago Police Department placed 15 officers who worked on his unit on desk duty in November 2017. Watts has since moved to Las Vegas, where he lives as a free man. One of those exonerated on Monday is Derrick Lewis. Lewis was sent to prison twice after officers working for Watts planted drugs on him. In total, he spent more than seven years in prison 'When the system fails one of us, it fails every single one of us,' Starr said. 'Their stories are just the latest examples of a calculated, feigned ignorance on behalf of the Chicago Police Department of the victimization of black and brown, lower-income communities in Chicago. 'As citizens of the city, we need to demand more, we need to demand accountability.' One of those exonerated on Monday is Derrick Lewis. Kim Wilbourn (left) and Zarice Johnson (right) also had their convictions vacated by the courts on Monday Lewis was sent to prison twice after officers working for Watts planted drugs on him, according to WLS-TV. In total, he spent more than seven years in prison. Lewis told the Sun-Times that when he was convicted and sent to prison, his then-fiance left him for another man after she doubted his character. 'We lost things that you can never get back,' said Lewis, who maintained his innocence from the moment he was arrested. 'We have a right to feel how we feel, now that its coming out that we were actually telling the truth.' In many cases, prosecutors discovered police misconduct that made them doubt the validity of the convictions, and judges have followed their recommendations to vacate them. Watts and other members of his unit allegedly targeted dozens of residents of the Ida B. Wells housing projects (seen above in 2008) for false arrest. The housing projects have since been demolished Since early 2016, there have been at least 63 felony drug convictions tied to Watts vacated. Fifteen were tossed in a single day in November 2017 during what was then the largest mass exoneration in memory in Chicago. That total was eclipsed last year when 18 men had their Watts-related convictions vacated on the same day. The Cook County state attorney's office continues to investigate cases involving Watts. One defense attorney estimates that in the decade before Watts was arrested in 2012, he was involved in more than 500 convictions. 'We've got 100 more cases that we have already submitted to the state's attorney for review... that we believe they were framed,' said Joshua Tepfer, an attorney for the University of Chicago's Exoneration Project, which is handling many of the cases. 'And we still have a lot more to go through.' Watts and his team operated at a now-demolished public housing complex on the city's South Side. When they refused to pay Watts or his crew, they were arrested, sometimes after Watts or members of his crew stuffed drugs in their pockets. One woman released last November said she was framed after she and her sister filed an official complaint against Watts' crew. Bill Cosby rape survivor Janice Dickinson has lashed at Eminem after learning his new hit song includes explicit lyrics referencing sticking a 'd**k' in her. The former supermodel - who is one of the dozens of women drugged and raped by jailed comedian Cosby - was shocked when she discovered her name was used on 'Rainy Days' track by LA rapper Boogie featuring Eminem. On the song on Boogie's new album, 'Everything's for Sale', Slim Shady raps: 'But when you got nothing to say except for the hand your d**k is in / 'And if your plan's to stick it in Janice Dickinson / Imagine if the Temazepam is kickin' in, it's havin' you panic-stricken.' The song, released on January 24, is currently at No 13 in the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop chart. In an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV Janice, 63, said she was 'absolutely offended' by the lyrics, called Eminem a 'little pr**k', and says she did consider legal action but has since decided against it. Bill Cosby rape survivor Janice Dickinson hit out at Eminem after learning his new hit song includes explicit lyrics referencing sticking a 'd**k' in her The former model, 63, is named on 'Rainy Days' track by LA rapper Boogie featuring Eminem, which is currently at No 13 in the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop chart Eminem raps: 'But when you got nothing to say except for the hand your d**k is in / 'And if your plan's to stick it in Janice Dickinson / Imagine if the Temazepam is kickin' in, it's havin' you panic-stricken' 'When I first heard those lyrics I was taken aback. It's referring to the recent Bill Cosby sexual abuse trial that I went to for Andrea Constand back in Philadelphia and that I too was raped without consent back in 1982 by Bill Cosby and all of those things came in to my head. 'I'm thinking, am I hot, or am I being put down for being a sexual abuse survivor. 'It took me years to go through that with therapy and now all of a sudden this huge number one song, with a bullet, is on the radio. 'Don't get me wrong I'm a die hard Eminem number one fan, but when I heard the lyrics, I didn't know how to think or feel and then I was offended. 'I was taken aback and offended. Offended because I have children, because I have four grandchildren and I thought what are my grandkids gonna think about me being in an Eminem song.' Janice added: 'I have survived cancer, I've been to the Bill Cosby trial and faced my abuser, so when I heard this lyric, yes I was f**ing offended, but I won't let it bring me down, I'm Janice Dickinson.' The reality star said she received frantic calls from her son Nathan and daughter Savannah after they'd heard the shocking lines. And her husband Rocky was 'pi**ed' and said he wanted to 'punch Eminem on the nose.' Janice told DailyMailTV she was 'absolutely offended', called Eminem a 'little pr**k', and says she considered legal action but decided against it. She said: 'When I first heard those lyrics I was taken aback. It's referring to the recent Bill Cosby sexual abuse trial that I went to for Andrea Constand' But while Janice was offended by her inclusion in the song she's since decided to rise above it, now believing it's a high honor for her to feature in Eminem's lyrics 'I called my husband right away and I said, 'Rocky, you're not gonna like this,' and I know Rocky, if he ever sees Eminem he will probably punch him on the nose, truly, like an old fashion boxer. 'He was pi**ed and Rocky can box, even at his age in his 70s, he's not bad, you can use it or lose it. He's very protective.' In a message to the superstar rapper Janice added: 'Eminem don't put somebody's d**k inside of me, you grow a d**k, it's probably a little wiener anyway. 'Come on you grow a d**k.' But while Janice was offended by her inclusion in the song she's since decided to rise above it. She now believes it's actually a high honor for her to feature in Eminem's lyrics. 'I was sitting on the edge of the abyss, do I go down with it or do I take the high road. I am Janice Dickinson. 'It's not nice to be dropped into a song in this context but it's phenomenal to be associated with Eminem in any way possible, in my psyche, because he's a God. I've taken a higher road on being offended by the snarly way he referred to me.' Dickinson (pictured in the early 1980s) claims that Cosby sexually assaulted her in 1982 after giving her an unknown pill. Dickinson said in that 2014 interview that Cosby invited her to dinner to discuss a role on The Cosby Show and at one point offered her a glass of wine and a pill Dickinson previously revealed dated-looking photographs of a robe-wearing Cosby she says she took in the hotel room where she claims he sexually assaulted her in Lake Tahoe She added: 'Who knows what's in Eminem's mind when he's writing these lyrics. He should put me in the video.' Cosby, once known as 'America's Dad,' was sentenced in September last year to three to 10 years in a state prison for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home 14 years ago. Janice, who turns 64 next week, says the stress of the trial and recovering from breast cancer has meant she's had a roller coaster past 12 months with her health. Following her cancer scare in 2016 during which she completed a course of radiotherapy and underwent two lumpectomies, she said her breasts were heavily cauterized leaving severe scarring. The star said she recently underwent more surgery to reduce the scarring and reduce the size of her breasts. Janice said she received frantic calls from her son Nathan and daughter Savannah after they'd heard the lines. And her husband Rocky (pictured) was 'pi**ed' and said he wanted to 'punch Eminem on the nose' She explained: 'They had to go in and cut out the scar tissue, my breasts were asymmetrical. Oh my God, I would never have had breast implants inside of me in the first place if I had known what they would do to me.' Since the surgery last month she says she has used a special hemp cream to help reduce the visibility of the scars. 'I've been using Luminous CBD skin repair cream to help clear up the scar tissue, it's amazing, it really works, the scars are barely visible.' Janice says she's now proud of her breasts once again and feels back to her best. She's also ready to get her showbiz career back on track. The star reveals she has two new shows in the pipeline and also a new book which will follow on from No Lifeguard on Duty but include her experiences around the Cosby trial. 'I'm gonna be 64 soon and I'm so excited to be in this good of a condition and to be able to go back to work because I haven't felt this good in years, it's amazing how far I've come. 'This has been a really tough year so I'm excited about some new projects coming up, I've got a couple of shows, they're gonna be as good as my old shows, the modeling agency show and Top Model, they're gonna be much bigger and better and brighter. So stay tuned.' One-year-old William Mead (pictured with mother Melissa) died from the condition in Treliske Hospital, near Truro in Cornwall after GPs and other staff missed the warning signs A text message warning system which alerts doctors to cases of sepsis is revolutionising the fight against the killer disease. Pioneered by a leading teaching hospital, the system has led to a seven-fold increase in the number of patients getting life-saving drugs. The alerts have proved so successful during a two-year pilot that NHS bosses plan to expand the system to other hospitals. Only last Friday new figures showed the number of patients dying from 'silent killer' sepsis in English hospitals had jumped by a third in two years. Researchers blamed over-crowded wards and staffing shortages, but NHS officials insisted the rise was mostly down to better classification. Sepsis occurs when the body over-reacts to an everyday infection or virus. It is commonly triggered by a skin infection, chest infection, pneumonia or the flu. The illness is notoriously difficult to diagnose and patients' risk of death significantly increases for every hour they are not given antibiotics. The alert system developed by Cambridge University Hospitals works by constantly analysing patients' observations, as recorded by staff on handheld devices. These include temperature, pulse, blood pressure and level of consciousness which are taken at various stages as patients are assessed in A&E. If the observations suggest a patient might have sepsis, a text-message warning appears on the hand-held device of the doctor or nurse looking after them. Doctors at Cambridge University say the system is undoubtedly saving lives. They are now working alongside NHS England to roll it out in other hospitals. There are 250,000 cases of sepsis in the UK each year and it claims 44,000 lives, meaning one in six patients will die. The Mail has been campaigning to improve the care of patients with sepsis since 2016, following the tragic case of one-year-old William Mead. He died from the condition in Treliske Hospital, near Truro in Cornwall after GPs and other staff missed the warning signs. Sepsis occurs when the body over-reacts to an everyday infection or virus. It is commonly triggered by a skin infection, chest infection, pneumonia or the flu (stock image) His mother Melissa Mead praised the alert system's potential to save lives. 'If you've got a seven-fold increase in patients receiving antibiotics within an hour, that speaks volumes,' she said. 'It's a wonderful thing. The blueprint has been written by clinicians and people on the front-line and they know what works.' The only way for doctors to diagnose sepsis is to closely monitor patients' breathing, temperature, blood pressure, blood oxygen and alertness. But many patients who go to A&E are seen by different doctors and nurses who take different measurements. This means no one health professional is looking at all the measurements together, and checking to see if they have worsened. Cambridge University Hospitals Trust introduced the system in the A&E unit of its main hospital Addenbrookes in August 2016. In July 2015, only 11 per cent of patients with possible sepsis were given antibiotics within an hour of arriving at A&E. This had increased to 76 per cent by August 2016. Since then the figure has ranged from 72 to 86 per cent. Dr Sian Coggle, an infectious diseases consultant who is the trust's clinical lead for sepsis, said: 'It's not just lives saved, it's the whole morbidity associated with severe sepsis. It's going to intensive care and then it having a much bigger impact on somebody's life.' Dr Ron Daniels, chief executive of the UK Sepsis Trust charity, said: 'It's fantastic that Addenbrookes are building a system that draws clinicians' attention to the warning signs of sepsis according to accepted national scoring systems.' Symptoms of sepsis include a high or low body temperature, chills and shivering, rapid breathing and a fast heartbeat. Children under five may also have blue or mottled skin and be difficult to wake. Without antibiotics and other treatment, sepsis can lead to multiple organ failure and death. A patient is 8 per cent more likely to die if they wait more than one hour before being given antibiotics after arriving in A&E. If they wait more than three hours, their risk of death goes up by 24 per cent. Professor Tony Young, of NHS England, said: 'We are working harder than ever to spread the learning from cutting-edge local solutions further across the NHS.' Figures compiled by Imperial College London showed sepsis was the cause of 15,722 deaths either in hospital or within 30 days of discharge, between April 2016 and April 2017. Thousands of other patients die in the community, in their own homes or care homes. A man complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation on behalf of himself, his mother and his sister, that MailOnline breached Clause 9 (Reporting of Crime) of the Editors Code of Practice in an article published on 3 November 2017. The article reported that the complainant was alleged in a relationship with a famous heiress. The article stated that the complainants family had a colourful past, and that his father had been jailed for fraud and that his brother-in-law was an international drug smuggler. The article detailed the circumstances of the two mens crimes and their sentences. It also reported the name of the complainants mother and sister and details of the businesses they had run. The complainant said that the article breached Clause 9 (Reporting of Crime) as it identified himself, his mother and his sister as relatives of individuals convicted of crime. He said that the inclusion of these convictions was used to portray himself, his sister and his mother in a negative and distorted light. He believed this unjustifiably identified them as relatives of individuals convicted of crime. The publication did not accept that Clause 9 was engaged in the article, as it said it was not a report of crime but a report of who the complainant was. It said that Clause 9 was intended to ensure that family members and friends of those accused of crime are not unnecessarily referred to when the press is reporting on a persons arrest, charge or trial. It said this did not prevent a publication from including, in a story about a persons background, the fact that their family member had a conviction. In its consideration the Committee had regard for the purpose of Clause 9, and the harm it was trying to prevent. Clause 9 offers protection to family and friends of individuals allegedly involved in crime, and aims to ensure that these individuals are not unjustifiably tainted by their association to alleged criminals. The wording of Clause 9 does not state that it applies only to reports of legal proceedings; it focuses on the nature of the link being made between individuals, rather than the nature of the reporting. The Committee ruled that Clause 9 was engaged by the circumstances of this case. The article had identified the complainant, his mother and his sister as the relatives of persons convicted of crime. The publication had sought to argue that the article had not breached the Code as his family members criminal records were a part of the story of his life and therefore relevant. The Committee acknowledged that there will be circumstances where, in giving an account of an individuals background, there will be a justification for referring to family members criminal convictions, because they have a specific relevance. However, Clause 9 sets a high bar, and this relevance needs to go further than the mere fact of a relationship. In this case, the publication had not argued that the criminal convictions had any specific relevance to the article in question, or to the complainant, his mother and sister. There was no suggestion that any of these individuals were relevant or connected to the crimes reported, and therefore identifying these individuals was in breach of Clause 9. To report an inaccuracy please email corrections@ dailymail.co.uk. To make a formal complaint under IPSO rules go to www.dailymail.co.uk/readerseditor. You can also write to Readers Editor, Daily Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or contact IPSO directly at ipso.co.uk. A new flight perk is bound to make lengthy international journeys fly by more smoothly however it comes at a cost. Virgin Australia announced their newest solution to curing dreaded boredom on long-haul flights to America. Wi-Fi will be available for passengers flying from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane to Los Angeles for the journey. Scroll down for video A new flight perk is bound to make lengthy international journeys fly by more smoothly however it comes at a cost (stock image) Virgin Australia announced Wi-Fi (pictured) would be their newest solution to curing dreaded boredom on long-haul flights to America Despite the luxury being free on domestic flights, it will cost $20 for passengers to use for the entire flight, Australian Business Traveller revealed. For shorter routes including Sydney to Melbourne or Brisbane to Sydney, Wi-Fi will cost $9 a flight. The data will be approved for internet browsing, emails and messaging however is not allowed for voice calls or streaming videos due to restricting connection speeds. Interruptions while connecting to Wi-Fi are also likely to occur during the flight. '(Service) is currently impacted by satellite availability and typically has two services interruptions during the flight,' a Virgin Australia spokesperson told the publication. 'These interruptions are likely to occur at four and one-and-a-half hours prior to landing at LAX and may result in a 30 to 60 minute outage.' Wi-Fi will be available for passengers flying from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane to Los Angeles for the journey (stock image) Four of Virgin's jets have been fitted with the technology after testing the service in late 2017 as a free service on domestic flights. 'Most of us use our phones on a daily, if not hourly, basis, meaning it can be incredibly disruptive to have extended periods of time when you can't connect with friends, family, colleagues or what's going on in the world,' Virgin Australia Airlines' group executive Rob Sharp told News Corp. Qantas is reportedly not expected to introduce Wi-Fi on international flights until 2019. Pupils caught taking plastic water bottles into school could be punished in the same way as if they were caught smoking cigarettes behind the bike sheds. Under strict new rules any pupil found taking a plastic water bottle in to Brighton College could face a formal warning or worse. The move is part of radical new measures brought in by headmaster Richard Cairns as part of an environmental drive at the 12,000-a-year Brighton College, East Sussex. It is the first school in Britain to brand single-use plastics like water bottles, plastic straws or non-biodegradable cups as 'anti-social' and ban them from the premises. The move is part of radical new measures brought in by headmaster Richard Cairns (second from left) as part of a environmental drive at the 12,000-a-year Brighton College, East Sussex Mr Cairns will make the announcement at an education conference at the school tomorrow. And Mr Cairns warned all teachers and staff at the school to follow the new school rule as well. To ensure pupils have enough water, the school is currently installing more water fountains and water stations. It is also commissioning refillable bottles, each etched with key environmental messages, for all pupils. Mr Cairns said: 'We will treat plastic bottles, straws and non-biodegradable cups as anti-social, in the same way that for decades we have banned cigarettes. 'Initially, we will enforce the changes with a system of formal warnings for pupils breaking the rules but there is also the appetite, if it proves necessary, to use sanctions - in large part, because the potential for sanctions highlights the significance of the issue'. Mr Cairns (pictured middle) warned all teachers and staff at the school to follow the new school rule as well. The new environmental measures may eventually include banning parents and teachers who drive polluting diesel cars from from driving onto school premises. The move comes after sixth formers at the coastal school started campaigning for the use of less plastic after watching the BBC's Blue Planet series. Mr Cairns will say: 'Many pupils were really shaken by the terrible images on David Attenborough's Blue Planet 2 of marine animals being strangled by plastic. 'In 2016, more than 480 billion plastic drinking bottles were sold across the world, with millions ending up in our oceans. A recent survey by Plymouth University found that plastic was found in a third of all UK-caught fish, and the effect on humans of eating fish containing this plastic is still largely unknown.' Mr Cairns will also use his speech to condemn those manufacturers putting plastic straws in drinks aimed at children. The Marine Conservation Society has reported that plastic straws are blighting our beaches and seas. The plastics used take hundreds of years to decompose. Under strict new rules any pupil found taking a plastic water bottle in to Brighton College (pictured) could face a formal warning or worse The headmaster also plans to address the use of diesel at his school. He will tell gathered heads at the conference: 'The World Health Organisation has classified diesel as a class one carcinogen and the cause of thousands of premature deaths in Britain yet nearly all school minibuses are powered by diesel'. He will call on motor manufacturers pioneering electric vehicles to focus on producing electric vehicles for schools and has written to all major manufacturers seeking their support. He said: 'I have asked the school's science department to establish a research group of sixth formers, all able scientists, to research the evidence and advise me of possible ways forward. 'Educationally, this makes great sense for those individuals. It also flags up to the whole community that we are serious about this matter. In the meantime, we are incentivising the drivers of electric or hybrid cars by installing electric chargers in our school car park.' A millionaire gambler went on a shopping spree after winning big at an Adelaide casino - cleaning out a vineyard to the tune of $190,000. The Chinese gambler snapped up dozens of bottles of some of the most expensive and rare vintages held at the Magill Estate's retail shop last weekend. Along with three friends from Shanghai, the businessman purchased more than 200 bottles of Grange and other fine drops. The final bill came to an eye-watering $187,750 paid entirely with crisp $100 bills after a night out at the casino's high roller room. Witnesses told of their shock when the businessman, aged in his early 50s, pulled 18 bundles of green notes from a plain black plastic bag, just after midday last Sunday. Penfolds is one of the best-known winemakers in Australia and is famous throughout the world A bottle of Penfolds famous Grange 2009 vintage - of which the exuberant gambler bought 40 The anonymous Chinese gambler had been betting big on the high-roller tables at the Adelaide Casino (pictured) Wine experts said the haul of mostly heritage-listed Grange, included some of the best wines produced this century. It is understood the gambler had won big playing baccarat but he didn't want to send the money home as mounts above $10,000 have to be declared by law. 'They were very big piles of cash, it just kept coming,' one witness said. 'We were then wondering at what point was he going to stop spending. 'It took four people to count the money. It was a nice day out.' His collection included 40 bottles of Penfold's 2009 Grange vintage, which received extensive international acclaim, as well as cases of its popular 2012 and 2013 years. He purchased a collection of 'vertical vintages' dating back to 1963 or what winemakers describe as bottles from consecutive years. Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall visited the famous vineyard on their recent tour of Australia Wine experts said the haul of mostly heritage-listed Grange, included some of the best wines produced this century. The haul is reportedly on its way to Hong Kong having been packed up and shipped to the gambler's home His batch, understood to be en route to Hong Kong, also included 16, Grange 1500ml magnums, or double its normal size. He also splurged on a smaller collection of highly regarded Penfolds icon reds including 2004 Block 42, which retails for $1200 each and 1945 Grandfather tawny port. For good measure he threw in several of the finest vintages of St Henri bottles made over the past 50 years. Tourism Minister David Ridgway last night said there was 'huge potential ... to capitalise on the lucrative Chinese tourism market'. 'We know they have an insatiable appetite for ... premium food, wine and tourism offerings,' he said. A casino spokesman declined to speak about specific clients but added: 'International business brings millions of dollars into the state's economy and that's good news for tourism. It's great to see our customers enjoying themselves.' Struggling dairy farmers are being forced to send their cattle to 'the choppers' rather than be milked because they are being paid less than it costs to produce the milk. The price of the raw product has plunged since May and farmers, many having to repay their co-operative sellers like Murray Goulburn and Frontera tens of thousands of dollars, have been drastically reducing stock by selling to abattoirs along with suffering serious mental health issues. Victoria is the state which has been hardest hit by the milk crisis sparked when industry giants slashed the raw milk price by up to 10 per cent. At one sale yard alone up to 700 dairy cows are offered to abattoirs each week, according to a report to be aired on the ABC's Four Corners on Monday. Scroll down for videos Dairy farmers are having to sell up their stock to abattoirs because of falling milk prices with many cows now valued only for their weight by sale yards not milk The ABC program Four Corners reveals how truckloads of dairy cattle are arriving at sales yards bound for the abattoir as the milk crisis cripples parts of the industry across Australia Fonterra and Murray Goulburn announced they would slash the gate-price of raw milk by up to 10 per cent in early May impacting farmers across the country Truckloads of cows are being taken to yards for a quick sale while some farmers are even forced to walk their small herds many kilometres to offload them. Many farmers, locked into long-term contracts, are incurring heavy monthly debts after the 'farm-gate prices' dropped by up to 10 per cent earlier in the year. South Australian farmer Lorraine Robertson was asked how much money she'd 'received' in the past four weeks. 'It's minus $16,000. That's the debt to Fonterra. So I can't leave, even if I did have somewhere else to go,' she said. There are revelations that the cuts to raw and solid milk prices have led to big and small farmers selling up their dairy cattle Dairy farmers are walking off the land because of price cuts that mean their milk is selling for less than the cost of making it Cuts announced earlier this year means that in many cases farmers will have to repay hundreds of thousands of dollars because their milk did not sell at the same high price it was bought by processors NZ-based Fonterra was founded in 2001 and is the world's largest dairy exporter and has 1200 Australian dairy farmers. Murray Goulburn co-operative was formed in 1950 and is Australia's biggest dairy producer with 2600 dairy farmers The cuts they announced earlier this year means that in many cases farmers will have to repay hundreds of thousands of dollars because their milk did not sell at the same high price it was bought by processors. Struggling dairy farmers have revealed how they are losing thousands of dollars each month as a result of the significant drop in the price of raw milk Struggling Australian dairy farmers say they are receiving less money from sellers than what it costs for them to produce the milk, according to ABC TV's Four Corners Despite a $555 million rescue package announced by the federal government earlier this year, which some farmers claimed forced them to repay loans at almost double the 1.5 per cent rate the federal government would access the funds, many are selling up to avoid going to the wall. With concerns over the stress and mental health of farming communities, $900,000 was set aside under the federal government's package to establish nine new counsellors across Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Tasmania. Kathleen Johnston from the southern NSW town of Deniliquin reveals to Four Corners that her farm will lose at least $70,000 a year if they remain in the industry. And she fears that the price of raw milk will drop again next year. Chloe Scott, 16, pictured on her family's Boorcan dairy property in Victoria. The teenager revealed to Daily Mail Australia in May that mounting debts because of the milk price crisis had severely impacted her father Brendan's business and he ultimately decided to end his 25 years in the dairy industry Chloe Scott, 16, told Daily Mail Australia in May that she and her mother Melissa had been forced to move out of the family's Boorcan home, leaving her father Brendan to work the property alone and deal with mounting costs. But after 25 years the Scott dairy farm business in rural Victoria found the burden of increasing debts from its milk payment contract with co-operative Fonterra too much. The teenage girl who became the voice of the dairy farmers last month revealed her father Brendan, a third-generation farmer, had made the 'tough decision' to leave the industry. Four Corners reports on the dairy crisis at 8.30pm on ABC TV The drop in the price of raw milk has led to many farmers selling their stock to abattoirs Tui shares fell today after the holiday company reported its losses widened in the first quarter. Like its competitors, Tui blamed unusually warm weather over the summer and a weaker pound for the loss, which rose to 111.9million in the three months to the end of December, from 68.3million a year earlier. Most losses came from its tour operator business and airlines, but this was partly offset by profits in its cruises division and holiday 'experiences'. Deepening losses: The mostly came from Tui's tour operator business and airlines However, Tui, which slashed its annual profit forecast just last week, said its growth strategy is still 'intact', and anticipates profits to be largely stable in 2019. Turnover in the quarter rose 4.4 per cent to 3.7billion. Tui shares fell 3 per cent to 927p, after plunging 20 per cent than last week following the profit warning. Tui said a weaker pound was making it difficult to improve margins on holidays sold to UK customers. It also said that it had seen less demand for Nordic countries and the Canary Islands. Tui said it remained concerned about whether its airlines will continue to have access to the EU airspace after Brexit and that it was having 'regular' exchanges with authorities about finding a 'special agreement'. 'We continue to develop scenarios and mitigating strategies for various outcomes, including a 'hard Brexit', depending on the political negotiations, with a focus to alleviate potential impacts from Brexit for the Group,' Tui said. Emma-Lou Montgomery, associate director at Fidelity Personal Investing said: 'Brexit uncertainty, the weak pound and presumably hopes of a repeat of last year's long, hot summer all mean holiday company Tui is struggling to get holidaymakers to book their fortnight in the sun. Tui said that it had seen less demand for holidays to Nordic countries and the Canary Islands 'It has already warned that contrary to earlier expectations for at least 10 per cent earnings growth, that's now not going to happen. Zero growth is now on the cards. 'Holidaymakers are staying away from the Nordic region and the Canary Islands and worries that the winter season would be affected has now also crept into the summer season, with lower margins and flat sales showing signs that Tui isn't going to get the break it needs any time soon. 'It's pinning its hopes on cruises and holidaymakers being prepared to fork out extra for 'experiences' while away to keep the good ship Tui afloat.' Apple boss Tim Cook paid an unscheduled call on Frances president Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in October. But only now, four months later, has the true purpose of that meeting become clear. The head of the worlds biggest company which has a market value of more than 700billion was finally willing to resolve a long-standing confrontation between the French government and his Californian digital behemoth over tax avoidance. Tax chat: Apple boss Tim Cook paid an unscheduled call on Frances president Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in October The Paris government has long been an outspoken critic of the failure of Silicon Valley companies to pay their proper share of taxes, and was one of the main supporters of the Brussels efforts to impose a turnover tax on the digital giants. In August 2016 the European Commission alleged that Ireland had granted undue tax benefits of up to 13billion to Apple and said that Ireland must recover the illegal aid. The money is currently in an escrow account and the ruling is being appealed by both Ireland and Apple. To stop the digital giants avoiding tax on income in this way, France has been a major advocate of an EU plan to impose a 3 per cent tax on the turnover of the European operations of the FAANGS: Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google and Spotify. This proposal has, however, met with resistance from low-tax EU countries such as Ireland and Luxembourg. Apple insists it pays all that we owe according to tax laws in the countries where it operates. They have prospered on the back of the tech giants, which use them to maximise their profits. In the meantime, France has been particularly outspoken about the iniquitous behaviour of Apple and co. Cook no doubt met Macron with a view to persuading France to turn down the volume of its complaints about tax avoidance, and to try to slow the EU march towards a tax based on company turnover. The end result was a victory for France, with Apple agreeing to pay back taxes of some 500million (440million) in return for closing the book on a dispute dating back ten years. The tough-minded approach by the French could not be in greater contrast to the velvet glove treatment the FAANGS have received in Britain. Apple, however, says that the tax bill paid to France and that agreed with Britain are not strictly comparable. The tax settlement in the UK covered the years 2011 to 2015, whereas the settlement in France covered the years 2008 to 2017, a spokesman noted. But Silicon Valley was aggressively courted by the Cameron government. Google, among others, was granted open access to Downing Street. The fact is that in their efforts to woo the tech giants to Britain, our own politicians turned a blind eye to tax avoidance. Indeed, the digital giants were so impressed with the Governments forbearance that Facebook decided that former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg was just the person to hire as communications director last year to deflect critics of the companys misuse of data and exploitation of tax loopholes. Apple finally acknowledged it had a back-taxes problem in the UK and entered into negotiations with Her Majestys Revenue and Customs. The companys accounts, published in January 2018, record that HMRC reached a settlement under which Apple UK would pay 81million in unpaid taxes and Apple Europe Ltd 137million. The settlement followed a five-year period when the company handed over just 22.6million in tax to the Exchequer, in spite of making profits of 289.5million. What is particularly galling about Apples low tax burden in the UK is that it comes during a period when HMRC has become far more aggressive in clamping down on tax wrongdoing. Philip Hammonds October 2018 Budget revealed that by taking action against tax avoidance, tax evasion, aggressive tax planning and non-compliance, the Exchequer had secured an astonishing 185billion of revenues which would otherwise have gone unpaid. But it is not just in the UK that Apple has lived a charmed tax life. Before the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House, the US had some of the highest corporation taxes in the Western world, at up to 37 per cent. To avoid paying its fair whack Apple acknowledges that it has held earnings from foreign operations in tax shelters outside the United States. It was only after Trump slashed the corporate tax rate to 21 per cent in his first year in office that Apple announced it would be repatriating up to $200billion from these tax havens. Britain is fearful of coming down too hard on Apple. It employs 6,500 staff here directly, but it is estimated that Apples iOS or iPhone Operating System is responsible overall for as many as 242,000 jobs in the UK, the highest of any European country. Because of its cult-like status among users, Apple is regarded with awe by politicians. And until the European Commission challenged Apple over its Irish tax arrangements, the company looked untouchable. The raids on Apple, led by the EC and France, demonstrate that doggedness and willpower can eventually frighten Silicon Valleys juggernauts into submission. The UK's automotive industry faces a potentially difficult period in the build-up and aftermath of Brexit, but a review of the 2016 referendum shows that most car manufacturing communities voted to leave the European Union. Nissan's announcement that it had decided to cancel production of the next X-Trail SUV at the Sunderland plant is the latest bump in what has been a turbulent run up to Britain's divorce from the EU. The North East region, which historically is one of the quickest to count election votes, hit headlines in 2016 having posted a 61.3 per cent vote in favour to leave. However, a new review of data shows that 91 per cent of communities with car factories in their local areas voted in favour to leave. Nissan's decision to pull the next-generation X-Trail from the Sunderland assembly line is a painful blow for the UK's biggest single vehicle factory. The Wearside facility currently produces the popular Qashqai and Juke SUVs as well as the Leaf electric car and sister-brand Infiniti's Q30 hatchback. With 7,000 workers employed at this one facility alone, thousands more across the North East are tied to the supply chain that feeds it. Motoring Research, which conducted the analysis of regional referendum votes, described Sunderland as 'an area affected by the decline of traditional industries' and that Nissan was 'not just part of the economy but central to the financial lifeblood of the region'. Despite the threat of increased taxes and difficulties moving British-built products across borders, more than six in 10 living in the North East city who voted believed the nation would be better off independent from the EU. However, Sunderland wasn't alone. Car-making communities: How they voted in the 2016 EU referendum Factory Manufacturer Voting District 2016 Vote Result Plant Oxford BMW (Mini) Oxford 70.3% Remain Woking McLaren Woking 56.2% Remain Longbridge MG Motor SAIC Birmingham 50.4% Leave Castle Bromwich Jaguar Land Rover Birmingham 50.4% Leave Ellesmere Port Vauxhall Cheshire West & Chester 50.7% Leave Goodwood Rolls-Royce Chichester 50.9% Leave Crewe Bentley Cheshire East 51.2% Leave Gaydon Aston Martin Stratford-on-Avon 51.6% Leave Halewood Jaguar Land Rover Knowsley 51.6% Leave Hethel Lotus South Norfolk 51.7% Leave Malvern Morgan Malvern Hills 52.2% Leave Bridgend Ford Bridgend 54.6% Leave Honda of the UK Honda Swindon 54.7% Leave Plant Swindon BMW (Mini) Swindon 54.7% Leave Whitley Jaguar Land Rover Coventry 55.6% Leave Solihull Jaguar Land Rover Solihull 56.2% Leave Deeside Toyota Flintshire 56.4% Leave Luton Vauxhall Luton 56.5% Leave Burnaston Toyota UK South Derbyshire 60.4% Leave Sunderland Nissan UK Sunderland 61.3% Leave Dagenham Ford Barking & Dagenham 62.4% Leave Wolverhampton Jaguar Land Rover South Staffordshire 64.8% Leave Plant Hams Hall BMW North Warwickshire 66.9% Leave Source: Motoring Research Sunderland is home to the biggest car factory in the UK. Nissan employs 7,000 workers at the site Despite Nissan being one of the biggest employers in the area and possibly impacted by Britain's divorce from the EU, more than 3 in 5 locals voted leave Data shows that districts linked to no fewer than 21 other car factories and sites across the UK also voted to leave. This includes all five Jaguar Land Rover factories in the UK, the Burnaston Toyota UK plant currently building the all-new Corolla hatchback and the Honda UK's Swindon facility that produces the Civic hatchback for the global market. JLR - Britain's biggest car maker, which produced almost 450,000 units in 2018, confirmed last month that it is to make 4,500 job cuts, mainly in the UK, following 1,500 job losses last year. The manufacturer has been hammered by the fall in demand for diesel cars, though some fear production could gradually be moved away from the UK and to the new 1billion facility in Slovakia following Brexit. JLR said the 4,500 global redundancies will start will voluntary redundancies as unions promised to 'scrutinise the business case' for the cuts. Some 56.2% of voters in Solihull - one of Jaguar Land Rover's main UK locations - chose to leave the EU With the car maker being hammered by the drop in demand for diesel cars, the firm has been forced to cut around 4,500 jobs Those who voted in South Derbyshire, where the Burnaston Toyota factory is located, chose leave by over 60% Just two voted remain. This included Oxford, which is home to the Mini car plant. It was one of the first to announce - through owners BMW - that it will cease production immediately after Britain leaves the EU in March in order to 'minimise the risk of any possible short-term parts-supply disruption in the event of a no-deal Brexit'. Residents in Oxford voted 70.3 per cent in favour for Britain to continue to be a member of the EU. Woking, which is the home of supercar-maker McLaren, also voted 56.2 per cent to remain. Voters in Oxford - the home of the BMW Mini plant - had the highest percentage of remain voters of all car-making communities Woking, where the McLaren Technology Centre is based, was the only other region with a substantial car factory to vote in favour of staying in the EU Which car-building communities voted to leave? Nine voting districts, covering eight separate car production facilities, voted with a marginal swing towards leave. These various companies accounted for a combined total of more than 12,000 employees at the time of the vote, with Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port facility alone producing more than 118,000 cars in 2016, Motoring Research said. A third of the 1,900-strong workforce at the factory is being axed to cut costs and make the plant more efficient, it was confirmed late in 2018 and earlier this year. There were seven stronger leave-voting areas accounted for a staggering 22,000 automotive jobs, including Sunderland Nissan's Sunderland plant employs around 7,000 workers, many of them being locals Motoring Research said the automotive sector - even those deeply linked with the local economy - had little affect on how people voted There were seven stronger leave-voting areas accounted for a staggering 22,000 automotive jobs, including Sunderland, Burnaston and JLR's Solihull facility. The final set of five factories are spread across a wide geographic area, with more than 15,000 employees split between them. John Redfern who undertook the vote analysis for Motoring research said: 'The 2016 EU referendum is a deeply polarising topic, with the reasons for how individuals voted often complex and multifaceted. 'What our research does show is that despite local economies often being deeply linked to the local automotive sector, for most areas this did not affect how they voted.' Boris Johnson is a man of many talents so eloquent and distinctive that he is famously said to reach parts of the electorate which other Tories cant. But even if we take at face value the Foreign Secretarys protestations of loyalty to Theresa May, the timing of his 4,000-word Brexit opus is, to say the least, questionable a hand grenade through Downing Streets window, in the words of one of his allies, just hours after terrorists struck London. It is hard to view this as anything other than a hostile act, coming less than a week before Mrs May sets out her own Brexit vision in a speech in Florence. Theresa May cannot allow Boris Johnson to drive the country to a cliff-edge Brexit, the Mail On Sunday says The presses were already rolling on Friday evening when his officials informed Mrs May about the newspaper article, giving her less than an hours notice of what was about to befall her. The Prime Minister, distracted by all-day crisis meetings on the Tube bomb, was completely blindsided. Mr Johnson has clearly thrown down the gauntlet. He denies he is firing the starting gun for a leadership challenge. But remember, this is the man who, as this newspaper has chronicled, was texting his support for the Prime Minister after her General Election catastrophe while his allies were briefing that it was Go, go, go! for him to take over if she fell. Margaret Thatchers biographer Charles Moore, writing in the same paper as Mr Johnsons article, describes it as Boriss leadership bid, couched in such a way that he need not unsay anything if it goes wrong. At the very least, it amounts to a pugnacious bid to influence the content of Mrs Mays speech and not in a way which would advantage the country. The Prime Minister needs to put down this revolt by reasserting her grip on the Government As talisman of the Leave campaign, and promulgator of the hugely controversial pledge to return 350 million of Brussels money every week to the NHS, Mr Johnson has simmered with frustration as the Cabinet forms a settled view on the Brexit negotiations: that if we want to unlock talks over trade, we will need to hand over around 15 billion a year to Brussels over a two- to three-year transition period, while protecting jobs by retaining access to the single market. Mr Johnson is now virtually alone in Cabinet in advocating a damaging hard Brexit, in which we would pay only a modest divorce bill as we crash out of the EU. The Prime Minister needs to put down this revolt by reasserting her grip on the Government and making clear that Mr Johnson will not be allowed to back-seat drive this country towards a catastrophic, cliff-edge Brexit. The Parsons Green bomb is a reminder that the police and intelligence services are fighting a constant battle to detect below-the-radar plots by bedroom jihadis. Despite foiling dozens of plots over the past couple of years, the threat continues to mushroom, as radicalised Islamists assemble DIY bombs by using instructions on the internet. Although, thankfully, the device did not fully detonate, the incident showcased the resilience and forbearance of the British people qualities which we will need in abundance as we tackle this insidious threat together. Edna OBrien is furious. The veteran Irish novelist has written a novel that many critics consider her masterpiece, the crowning glory of a long life, but the judges of the Man Booker Prize have chosen to ignore it. I am inflamed, says the author of The Little Red Chairs in her deep voice, sitting straight-backed in the library of her home near Londons Sloane Square, choosing her words very carefully but with an obvious anger. I was surprised not to be included and one day I might learn why. With those low, controlled tones and the way she tilts her head, OBrien sounds strangely like an Irish Margaret Thatcher. Shed really hate that, as a lifelong Labour voter, but imagine Maggie as a bookish bohemian from County Clare in a long, pleated skirt, a black knitted top and with bright turquoise beads at her throat. These were made by Native Americans. The life of Edna OBrien has been full of such extraordinary moments. Her debut novel The Country Girls was banned and burned in Ireland in 1960 for being immoral in its description of teenagers leaving their village as she had for the big city Now 86, she still has the fine features and quick mind that dazzled Richard Burton and Marlon Brando in the Seventies, when she was a famously fiery feminist, breaking taboos with her rollocking, beautifully written stories about how real women felt about life, love and sex. She reaches for a volume that quotes her friend, the late Samuel Beckett, and reads the words with relish as if they are a curse on the Booker judges. Let me say before I go any further, that I forgive nobody. I wish them all an atrocious life and then the fires and ice of hell. Then a slow, wicked smile creeps across her face, because although OBrien is righteous in her anger, she is also making mischief. She has nothing to prove, this woman the critics have recently elevated to a place among the greatest writers of all time, comparing her with Joyce and Solzhenitsyn. The American literary giant Philip Roth declares her the most gifted woman now writing in English. A new generation of readers has been transfixed by The Little Red Chairs, a story about a notorious war criminal fetching up in disguise as a healer in an Irish village and capturing the heart of a lonely local woman until he is found out. Based on the real-life Butcher of Bosnia, Radovan Karadzic, The Little Red Chairs feels hugely topical at a time when millions are on the run from war. Yet it was not on the longlist for the Man Booker announced in late July. Its too easy to say there is a feeling of rejection, because of course there is, says OBrien. It was an omission that I did not expect and neither did many people. Other authors and other publishers have confirmed that to me, so Im not behaving as the wronged diva. As a former Booker judge herself, OBrien is sure of her own talent and willing to say so. I am not going to be the modest violet about that. I work so hard, so passionately, so relentlessly on the words. There are many good writers. I happen to be one of them. We both laugh, but its true. These things hurt, and inflame, but sweet are the uses of adversity they do not stop one writing. No way! So now she is working on a new novel whose plot she will not describe, because then it would lose its power, as dear old Sam Beckett used to say. The author of Waiting For Godot was a fellow exile from Ireland who once sat at the foot of her bed in a hotel in Paris saying very little, waiting for her to recover from the effects of her one and only trip on LSD, which had been given to her by the famous therapist RD Laing. OBrien with Michael Caine and his wife, Shakira, 1990 The life of Edna OBrien has been full of such extraordinary moments. Her debut novel The Country Girls was banned and burned in Ireland in 1960 for being immoral in its description of teenagers leaving their village as she had for the big city. It was a huge hit here, though. Some of her early books were made into films, including Zee & Co in 1972, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Caine, and OBrien fell in with the movie crowd. I was a country gal who by accident, chance, luck and my own vivid personality entered into a world of glamour. I was the one who was giving the parties, and everyone came. Jane Fonda was a friend, Judy Garland dropped in to one of the Saturday-night revelries at her home in Putney. Very famous people were quite different then they were not surrounded by bodyguards in dark glasses. They were not as pretentious. She had married and given birth to sons but was on her way to divorce by then. The Hollywood star Robert Mitchum came to visit her alone and danced in the parlour to her favourite records. We danced all the way up the stairs to the tiny bedroom, she wrote in her autobiography of 2012, Country Girl. Marlon Brando came to see her too his whole being taut, like an animal, ready to spring but they stayed up all night talking instead of making love. Before leaving in the morning he asked, are you a great writer? She answered, I intend to be. Richard Burton was hurt when she turned down his advances, but like Brando she saw him as a bard and a brother rather than a lover. Paul McCartney dropped by and sat in her kitchen playing the guitar for her boys Sasha and Carlo and making up a song on the spot: Edna OBrien, shell have you sighing, shell have you crying, hey, shell blow your mind away... But then she had a dream about throwing burning oil over all the people who came to her parties, and stopped them immediately. I began to feel they were drawing out my working, serious, ruminative, writing self, she says now. It was seeping away from me. She has worked very hard ever since, producing a total of 17 novels to date, as well as biographies of Byron and Joyce and collections of short stories. Faber is putting out new editions of her early work, with the novel August Is A Wicked Month next in line. Edna OBrien in 2003. A new generation of readers has been transfixed by The Little Red Chairs, a story about a notorious war criminal fetching up in disguise as a healer in an Irish village and capturing the heart of a lonely local woman until he is found out First published in 1965 and banned in several countries, it is described as a simmering tale of a woman rediscovering herself on the French Riviera. The book was used against her in the battle for custody of her sons, when the court was told it was indecent and obscene. She won custody anyway. By the end of the Seventies she was an outspoken political figure too, commentating on the Troubles and womens rights and more than holding her own against Sir Robin Day and Michael Foot on the first- ever Question Time in 1979. She delved into international politics with The Little Red Chairs, going to see Karadzic on trial in The Hague and interviewing many survivors of conflict. But couldnt Edna OBrien put her feet up now? I think I should be putting my feet up, but that aint the mathematics of life! I live by my writing. I have no other money. Ive no capital. I rent this place. Ive never had a fortune. I never got the big money. Those windfalls never came my way, and that does at times infuriate me. Yes. As 90 looms, does she think about the end of her life? I do, yes, because Im alone. I have children but they have their wives and their children. I think about death, often. Sometimes with great anxiety and apprehension, which isnt the actual death itself but a long illness and helplessness and a dependency and I ask, on whom can I depend? She is ambiguous about the possibility of life after death, but does know where she will be laid to rest. My grave is on an island in County Clare in a graveyard where my mothers family are buried. The walls of the monastery ruins are bleached, with big medallions of white lichen. So its very stark and beautiful. Water birds and sky birds, wheeling in and out. I think about it as if I am alive after death, seeing it all and writing about it. Thats a rather happy thought. She has plans for her own funeral to include music by Van Morrison, a signed copy of whose album Moondance I notice on a rack. Id like it to be a good show but not too long, as if it was a party I was giving. Full of life, full of generosity. Not yet, though, because OBrien is off to the Edinburgh Festival to talk about The Little Red Chairs. Im very glad Im a writer. Wouldnt be anything else. If I were born again Id like an income though. Theres that wicked smile again. Shes a hoot and she knows it, a dry wit with a gleam in her eye. I was born in the year of the horse, 1930. A horse just keeps going until it falls down and dies. Edna OBrien intends to keep on going like that horse, whether she is shunned by the Booker judges or showered with praise. I thank God and the gods for the talent I have been given and I thank my mother for my perseverance, otherwise I would have given up at 40 or 50 or 60, says this wise, witty, salty voice that still has so much to say. Never give up! e At The Mail on Sunday we take great pride in the quality of our journalism. All our journalists are required to observe the Editors Code of Practice and The Mail on Sunday is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), the new regulatory body for the Press set up in response to the Leveson Inquiry. We aim to correct any errors as promptly as possible. On January 17, 2016, we suggested that, despite reaching an out-of-court settlement with her stepson, Viscount Hambleden, Lady Lesley Hambleden, had failed to pay all the money she owed to him. Lady Hambleden has pointed out that she did pay the full amount agreed. We are happy to make this clear and apologise for the error. If you wish to report an inaccuracy, please email corrections@mailonsunday.co.uk. To make a formal complaint under IPSO rules please go to www.mailonsunday.co.uk/readerseditor where you will find an easy-to-use complaints form. At The Mail on Sunday we take great pride in the quality of our journalism. All our journalists are required to observe the Editors Code of Practice and The Mail on Sunday is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), the new regulatory body for the Press set up in response to the Leveson Inquiry. We aim to correct any errors as promptly as possible. An advertisement feature about UK travel showed a picture of Mont St Michel, in France, rather than St Michaels Mount, in Cornwall. A report of the Mental Health Taskforce that highlighted underinvestment and poor management was described as an audit of the UK. In fact, the report was by NHS England. Devolved health services in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland were not covered. If you wish to report an inaccuracy, please email corrections@mailonsunday.co.uk. To make a formal complaint under IPSO rules please go to www.mailonsunday.co.uk/readerseditor where you will find an easy-to-use complaints form. Jo and Sarah answer real questions from readers: to put your query, go to beautybible.com Q My partner has discovered moisturiser (quite late in life) and now wants one with an SPF as he spends a lot of time outdoors. What are the best options which I might use as well? A Well, hats off (or rather on.) to him. We don't know enough British men whove really got the message about sun protection unlike Aussies, who are watching their older counterparts dealing with skin cancers. And thinking of that, please make sure your partner dabs it on his ears and also eyelids, both commonly missed and very vulnerable to UV. For more information follow Beauty Bible online here or on Facebook and Twitter There is a range of mens moisturisers with an SPF, including American Crew Al-in-One Face Balm Broad Spectrum SPF15, which is currently on special offer at feelunique.com, 15 for 170ml. A colleagues husband is keen on this one. Murray Clark, Digital Style Editor at Esquire, recommends Aesop Facial Hydrating Cream SPF15, 27 for 40 ml. Heavy-duty sun products dont translate well from body to face. Aesops facial hydrating cream is a little more delicate on the old mug, and wont leave pores feeling clogged or oily afterwards. But since your partner is outside a lot, he might be better with a higher SPF, either 30 or 50. Ultrasun products come in unisex packaging, are long-lasting (although every sunscreen should be reapplied after swimming or umm sweating) and combine sun protection with great moisturisation. Ultrasun Face Mineral is an ultra-light sunscreen, based on a physical mineral screen. It comes in SPF30 or 50 versions, at 26 for 40ml. If your chap is really into natural products, we suggest award-winning Green People Facial Sun Cream Scent Free SPF30, 18 for 50ml. And finally, for chaps with less hair, a brush on powder works well, eg Susan Posnick Brush On Block SPF30, currently 22.50. Beauty Bible loves ESPA Beauty Explorer Collection, 65. All travel kits are not created equal. (Although to be fair, most travel kits prove to be an excellent way of trialling products before swinging for the full size. Or, importantly, NOT as the case may be.) But we're going to stick our (nicely-moisturised) necks out, here: this is one of the best travel kits we've ever seen/swooned over/used. It helps that it's from ESPA and at some point or other, we've probably individually reviewed everything in this really well-designed grey zip-up travel bag, on the site. ESPA Beauty Explorer Collection , 65. We're going to stick our (nicely-moisturised) necks out, here: this is one of the best travel kits we've ever seen/swooned over/used These are generous sizes definitely enough for over a week away. And there's not one thing that we feel is superfluous to requirements, or a waste of packing space that's how well edited it is. So, inside, find... Purifying Shampoo and Nourishing Conditioner (50 ml each) Jo happens to keep full sizes of this at our hairdresser in her own private 'stash'. (Sssssshh.) Pink Hair and Scalp Mud (30 ml) what can we say? A legend and a Beauty Bible Award-winner several times over. Energising Shower Gel (30 ml) we love the eucalyptus and peppermint zing of this, which would be brilliant after a long flight. Skin Rescue Balm (15 ml) - you might want to take this out of the grey bag and stow it in your hand luggage, actually, as a great multi-tasker. Smooth and Firm Body Butter (30 ml) super-rich, wonderfully nourishing, an excellent after-sun skin quencher as well as an all-round fab body treat. Optimal Skin ProCleanser (30 ml) a three-in-one effective cleanser, scrub and mask. Hydrating Flora Spafresh Spritzer (12 ml) one of the only facial spritzes we'd give shelf-space to, frankly. Optimal Skin ProSerum (10 ml) powered by omega 3, 6 and 9 oils, and wonderfully replenishing. Optimal Skin ProMoisturiser (15 ml) that drink of water holiday (and in-flight) skin really needs. You could cram it all into one of those plastic in-flight bags (just) but we'd recommend keeping out the moisturiser and Rescue Balm. The afternoon of 14 February 2018. Marni Bellavia was in her office at the Humane Society of Broward County, Florida, home to between 80 and 100 unwanted animals; mainly dogs, but also cats, rabbits, ferrets and guinea pigs. I turned on the TV news and saw there had been a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, just 45 minutes away. There were reports that children and adults had been killed [the final death toll was 17]. My response was, How do we get our dogs in there? Marni has worked at the shelter for almost 25 years and runs the Animal Assisted Therapy programme. Healthy animals with the right temperament are trained by Marni to become therapy animals, then taken into the local community where they are needed. They give comfort to patients in hospitals, reduce anxious outbursts in those with Alzheimers, and in schools, where theyve proved to be a big hit, they are particularly helpful with children struggling with literacy. The kids read to the dogs, boosting their confidence, knowing they will not be judged if they hesitate or get a word wrong, says Marni. So, as soon as she heard the news of the school shooting, she called the Broward County Public School Board. They said, How soon can you get here? Anyone who has owned a dog knows that even without training, they instinctively know when to push a nose into a hand when youre upset The next morning, she set off with 20 therapy dogs plus her own therapy dog Karma, a mini Australian shepherd, and 20 volunteers. The high school was on lockdown, so they set up in a school nearby. We had kids who had hidden under desks; who had been evacuated in that scary way with hands on the shoulders of the one in front; who had siblings inside. Cousins. Neighbours. As soon as the traumatised children saw the dogs they gravitated towards them, says Marni. It was a great way to take the children out of the situation. I didnt have to say, Are you OK? It was just, Hey, heres my dog. Can she snuggle with you? The dogs instinctively climbed on to the childrens laps and lay there for hours, letting them cry into their fur, whatever the child needed. There are no breed restrictions for therapy dogs. As long as the dog has a suitable disposition and is able to tolerate whatever situation we put them in, they qualify. We have different dogs for different needs, explains Marni. Therapy dog Karma, pictured below, has brought relief to students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after a shooting left 17 dead Therapy dog Karma, left with owner Marni; police officers who were first responders at the scene (right) The dogs that were rushed to help with the school shooting are extra special, though, as they have undergone exposure training, using desensitisation techniques to enable them to be present in traumatic situations. They are taught to focus on anyone who needs them, and are able to adapt and cope with the physical and emotional stress of critical incidents. The dogs have to be able to deal with a range of emotions: people who are screaming; people who are crying; people whose physical movements are unpredictable. We had kids who were sobbing over the dogs, kids who wouldnt speak: they just wanted the dogs to lie down with them. Over the days and weeks following the shooting, we worked with the grief counsellors and psychologists, and the dogs bridged the gap when the kids didnt want to talk. There were other victims, too. I stopped to talk to some of the police officers and it was like a brick to the face: who is supporting the first responders? Soon after that we started taking the dogs into police and fire stations, 911 dispatch centres and emergency rooms. Upon seeing the motley collection of mutts, the faces of hardened police officers, call operators, paramedics and nurses immediately softened: They would bend down, fuss over the dog, smile. Heart rates would slow. It was incredible. Left: college chaplain Wendy with Jonah, who provides stress relief for students at Oxford; right: Maisy, the therapy dog at Townley Grammar School But how did the dogs cope with spending so much time with the traumatised children? They are sensitive to whats happening, but they can, to some degree, still separate. They understand their job is to help heal, to be strong and supportive. In the first week, we were doing 24-hour days, but we gave the dogs breaks for snacks and play. They worked two days on, two days off. Dogs will push themselves far harder than any human. It was amazing to see how when a dog walked over to a previously silent child, they started talking to the dog about how their best friend was killed or the last text they sent to their mother because they thought they were going to die. The dogs were helping them deal with that pain. Anyone who has owned a dog knows that even without training, they instinctively know when to push a nose into a hand when youre upset. They seem able to empathise. Gregory Berns, author of What Its Like to Be a Dog, who has studied how dogs brains work, agrees: They were the first animal to share houses with humans. Through co-evolution, we have mutually selected traits that make dogs and humans well adapted for living with each other. In many ways, dogs have more in common with us than we do with chimpanzees. Its amazing to watch the dogs at work, says Marni. When Karma and I walked into the classroom [the morning after the school shooting], I set off in one direction and she looked up at me and nudged my hand with a look that said, I think we need to go here. I said, OK, go find. And in a back corner was a sobbing child. Karma couldnt possibly have seen the kid. You cant train a dog to do that. They choose to comfort someone. They just know when someone needs them. The children and families of the victims of the shooting became so bonded with the dogs that they were invited to every funeral and memorial service. The dogs have continued to comfort children with post-traumatic stress disorder, and walked alongside them on their first day back to school. Our dogs have been back inside that school every day since it happened, says Marni. In the UK, therapy dogs are also on the rise as emerging research proves that interacting with an animal activates the love hormone oxytocin, reduces stress, improves the immune system and lessens the impact of pain. Schools, hospices and even seats of learning and the criminal justice system are opening up to the power of the pooch. At Townley Grammar School in Southeast London, children can take Maisy the cockapoo for walks if they feel stressed, or cuddle her while they talk to a counsellor. Meanwhile, at Wadham College, Oxford, a golden cockapoo called Jonah was introduced to stressed students by the Rev Wendy Wale, and the Canine Concern Scotland Trust offers university students therapy sessions to reduce stress levels during exam time. While its difficult to quantify the exact effect a dog is having is it a walk in the fresh air thats helping? Wendy believes an animal allows an informal way for anxious students to ask for help. Jonah has even gone along as a gooseberry on a few first dates, helping to break the ice. Erin and her dog Ruby, who is helping her adjust after witnessing the Manchester Arena attack (left); Liz Jones with her dog Mini (right) Perversely, a wagging tail greeting you when you turn up at court to be fined for speeding makes the process seem far more human. In 2016, therapy dogs were allowed in a UK court of law for the first time through a scheme at Chelmsford County and Family Court in Essex, where seven dogs each spent a couple of hours sitting with children during adoption ceremonies and helping calm witnesses. Now the idea has been picked up by Truro Crown Court, Cornwall, with dogs comforting young or vulnerable witnesses. Earlier this year, a beagle called Basil became the UKs first official funeral therapy dog, helping bereaved families, in particular children, cope with grief at Clive Pugh Funeral Directors in Shrewsbury. And we could soon see therapy dogs moving into the workplace. After seeing the health benefits of dog companionship when she volunteered at the Blue Cross Animal Hospital, PR Dawn Bartlett set up Cuddlemutts (cuddlemutts.co.uk) to provide sessions for businesses large and small, as well as working in my community. Dogs can help with anxiety and depression, and really improve productivity, she says. Any dog has the potential to become a therapy dog in the UK and doesnt need specific training (theyre not to be confused with highly trained assistance animals such as guide dogs or hearing dogs for the deaf), but they do need to be assessed and accredited first. If you want your pet, usually a dog or cat, to become a therapy animal, a home visit is required by the charity Pets as Therapy to make sure the animal is healthy, vaccinated, insured and has the right temperament: no boisterous jumping up from dogs, for example. The owner is also vetted and must supply personal references. Its important, too, Matthew Robinson from Pets as Therapy tells me, that if youre going to register your pet to visit others, you are committed to regularly taking the dog into a hospice, say, for as long as its needed. Patients look forward to the visits enormously. If you want your pet, usually a dog or cat, to become a therapy animal, a home visit is required by the charity Pets as Therapy But whatever label you place on an animal, however much training they are given, anyone who is lucky enough to have a pet in their lives knows they make us feel better. Erin McNeil, now 12, from Preston, went to see Ariana Grande at the Manchester Arena on 22 May last year. She walked through the area where the bomb exploded and was unable to speak about what she saw, even to her mum Annette, dad Mal or sister Caitlin, 15. She has, though, found comfort in Ruby, the familys three-year-old springer spaniel-collie cross. Cuddling Ruby calms me, says Erin. She makes me feel braver because Im not on my own. Shes sensitive: she always knows when Im down or anxious. After the attack, I would often wake in the night and struggle to get back to sleep. While Ruby has always preferred her own bed, after what happened she would curl up next to me. It was as if she was encouraging me back to sleep. Ruby has helped me to get over what happened, to feel normal again. Creature comforters Therapy dogs and cats go into care homes, hospitals and hospices in the UK to provide comfort and support to those in need. Dogs need to be calm, good on a lead and shouldnt jump up or bark. If you would like to register your pet, contact the charity Pets as Therapy (petsastherapy.org). Assistance dogs help people who are blind, deaf or have physical disabilities, children with autism and anxiety, and to warn those with medical conditions such as epilepsy that they are about to have a seizure. Charities that train them include Guide Dogs (guidedogs.org.uk), Hearing Dogs for Deaf People (hearingdogs.org.uk); and Canine Partners (caninepartners.org.uk). Emotional Support Animals are pets whose owners believe are essential to their health. ESAs are recognised by law in the US, but not in the UK. All that is needed for an animal to qualify is a letter from a mental health professional, which permits the owner to live in a home where pets are not usually allowed and for the pet to travel on public transport, including planes, for free. Celebrities with ESAs include Miley Cyrus and Ryan Gosling. Advertisement Likewise Kate*, from Nottingham, who is 22, and has suffered from anorexia for three years, credits her two-year-old cocker spaniel Bess with helping her to stay alive. When you have an eating disorder, people watch you, whisper, gossip. Even when they touch you, you know they just want to feel your bones. Bess doesnt care. She doesnt criticise me. I have often willed her to speak, but her being is her language: the mutual sigh; the proffered paw. Caring for her has helped care for me, too: we walk every day, but its gentle, whereas before, exercise was an act of oblivion, wanting to fade away. We often talk about rescuing pets, but Ive found the reverse is true. My rescue dog Hilda, who I found on a rubbish tip in Romania, aged 13, woke every day full of joy. She didnt chew over the past, she just bounced with her front paws in the air, even the day before she died. I credit her with helping me move on after a decade of disasters. I simply learned to be more dog. Its important, though, not to lean too heavily on our animal companions. Having read new research that found horses can read human emotions, are wary of people who frown and respond more positively to those they remember smiling last time they saw them, Ive tried to be cheerful around my super-sensitive young border collie Mini. Over the past month or so, Ive noticed that every time I answer my mobile she hides. If it rings in the car, she will burrow frantically into the footwell, covering her ears with her paws. I realised with shame that for the past three years she has sat by my side, stoic, solid and reassuring while Ive sobbed and pleaded with people, and she cant take any more. Emotional support, it turns out, is a two-way street. We have to be there for each other. Settling into a couch in a house close to his home in Malibu, Jonathan Rhys Meyers is chatting about John Hurt, the co-star of his latest movie, Damascus Cover. It was to be the last movie Hurt made before his death in 2017 from pancreatic cancer, and Rhys Meyers poignantly recalls meeting Hurt when he was 16 after being cast in the 1996 film Michael Collins. Did Hurt give him any advice on coping with the industry? Yeah, laughs Rhys Meyers. He said, Give up drinking. Were just minutes into our interview and Rhys Meyers has immediately let it be known that he wont be shying away from a difficult conversation. We meet just a few days after he made headlines for being detained by police at Los Angeless LAX airport for using an e-cigarette on a flight. Moreover, onlookers also saw the actor, who has had well-publicised issues in the past with alcohol, getting into a drunken altercation with his wife, Mara. Jonathan Rhys Meyers speaks candidly to Event about his personal struggles and his battles with booze Many celebrities in his position would have had a phalanx of publicists at our interview to bat away awkward questions, or simply not shown up, yet Rhys Meyers is sitting here, on his own, trying to explain what happened. Last week on a plane back from Peru, after eight months of sobriety, I decided to have a few drinks, he says. My wife was upset at me, and I learned my lesson. I got off the aeroplane, went straight back to my meetings and got sober immediately. He is clearly sorry for what happened. And you know, I can speak all the words, but my actions tell the difference. So my action was to go home, apologise to my wife, call who I needed to call and explain to them exactly what had happened. My responsibility is not to take the first drink... and I failed, but I realised that I failed and I got back up. Rhys Meyers, known for his electrifying performance as Henry VIII in The Tudors and for films including Bend It Like Beckham and Woody Allens Match Point, has had a very public struggle with alcohol. In 2007, just before his mothers death, he was arrested at Dublin Airport for drunkenness, and in 2011 he received a suspended sentence and was fined 860 for a similar meltdown at Pariss Charles de Gaulle airport. Most worryingly, three years ago he was photographed drinking vodka on the street in London looking, by his own admission, quite dreadful after a three-day relapse. Rhys Meyers is held at Los Angeles Airport earlier this month. Rhys Meyers has had a very public struggle with alcohol This latest incident follows a trip to South America, where, ironically, he had been receiving therapy for his issues. He explains that while giving up alcohol is the first stage in recovery, youve got to work on the reasons why you did it in the first place. Sometimes when you go through therapy, it opens up emotions that you havent felt for a few years and you leave yourself vulnerable. He adds: People who go through this, they look for things in their life that trigger them. And airports are a trigger for me, because they make you sit there for three hours, you cant smoke and youre surrounded by alcohol. That is not an excuse however... Theres never an excuse for me to drink. But sometimes there are triggers that make you more vulnerable. Ive relearnt that vulnerability and its now fresh in my mind again. Its the first time that Rhys Meyers has been this candid about his alcohol problem, and its clear that hes decided to open up as never before. Ive let myself down by relapsing, and its my responsibility. Nobody else is to blame. Its the first time that Rhys Meyers has been this candid about his alcohol problem, and its clear that hes decided to open up as never before Despite his recent travails, today Rhys Meyers is looking healthy and younger than his 41 years. His wife Mara Lane, a co-producer on his latest film, is nearby, along with their 19-month-old son, Wolf no doubt one of the factors in Rhys Meyers decision to assume responsibility for his actions (Im a father and so when I fall down, I immediately get back up. Im a man. Thats what men do). Far from being guarded, he is engaged and attentive, fixing me with those penetrating blue-green eyes and speaking in a soft Irish accent, his words precise and considered. Ive been to a lot of rehab centres in my life... I went to three in one year and I talked to my therapist, he says. I would be known as somebody who relapses with problem drinking, not alcoholism. I dont suffer from alcoholism I suffer from an allergy to alcohol every time I drink it. But once I stop, I never think about it again. That doesnt mean that the problem is any less, it just means I have a different version of it. But when I drink, the consequences are so devastating that it is a problem. But I never need a drink. Its not something that I crave. Rhys Meyers says he didnt start drinking until the age of 26, then I stopped at 27 till [I was] 30, and then its just been a few day relapses from then on. But Ive never continuously drunk for any long period of time I actually dont like the taste of alcohol. Rhys Meyers with Olivia Thirlby in new film Damascus Cover. Rhys Meyers admits that filming brought up certain things So why does he do it? To fill a void? No. It never filled an emptiness. It was more about... Im not quite sure what it was about. First of all, Ive never liked drugs, so alcohol was legal. You could go to a bar and have a drink, the same as everybody does. Was it a confidence-booster? No, it puts you to sleep. You just have a drink and you go to sleep. You can forget about whatever was bothering you. Certainly, there have been events in Rhys Meyers life where one can understand his need to blot out painful thoughts, not least last September, when his wife miscarried their baby daughter and he suffered a relapse. Its also an episode that has eerily similar echoes in his new film, Damascus Cover, in which his character, Ari, talks about losing his young son. Watching the film, it feels incredibly close to the bone, and Rhys Meyers admits that filming brought up certain things. But he adds: As an actor you have to take all the experiences you have from life and then transform those experiences into something wonderful, something that people can understand. The film is an old-school spy thriller by Israeli writer-director Daniel Zelik Berk. Rhys Meyers stars as Ari Ben-Sion, an undercover Israeli spy living under a fake German identity in Eighties Berlin, who fails in his mission to bring a double agent back alive. Keen to make amends, he is given the dangerous assignment of smuggling a chemical-weapons scientist and his family out of Syria by his Mossad boss Miki (John Hurt). While in Damascus, he meets an American photo-journalist (Olivia Thirlby) with whom he shares an immediate chemistry. But, as the mission starts to go wrong, it dawns on Ari that he is a pawn in a much larger game. The film has already won several awards, including one for Rhys Meyers at last years Boston Film Festival. Its especially moving seeing Hurt in his final on-screen role, and although Rhys Meyers was aware that Hurt was suffering from cancer at the time, if you had sat and talked to him, hed have said: Oh, Ill get over it. He was incredibly strong. Rhys Meyers won plaudits for his portrayal of the shifty, murderous Chris Wilton opposite Scarlett Johansson in Woody Allens Match Point Rhys Meyers dazzled in the 1998 movie Velvet Goldmine as bisexual glam rock star Brian Slade Hurt had his demons too, and while his advice to his friend to stop drinking was sound, Rhys Meyerss upbringing was ragged enough to partially explain his subsequent problems. His father, folk musician John OKeeffe, walked out when Jonathan was three, taking his two youngest sons, Jamie and Paul, and leaving their mother Geraldine to raise Jonathan and his brother Alan in a council house in Cork, Ireland. She, too, had issues with alcohol, and Rhys Meyers has previously said that she would spend her dole money on drink, leaving him at times with no option but to steal food to survive. When asked if he could attribute his drinking problems to hereditary reasons, Rhys Meyers is adamant: I dont believe that. Ive got three brothers and they have no problems, so its not hereditary. After being expelled from his Catholic school for truancy, he spent most of his time in the local pool hall, where he was spotted by agents casting for the David Puttnam film War Of The Buttons. Though he didnt get the role, he ended up in a Knorr soup commercial and since then has barely stopped working. He dazzled in the 1998 movie Velvet Goldmine as bisexual glam rock star Brian Slade, starred opposite Keira Knightley in the 2002 smash Bend It Like Beckham and in 2006 out-swaggered Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible III. But it was his lead role in TV drama The Tudors, as the criminally charismatic Henry VIII, that made everyone take note, even though Rhys Meyers initially had his doubts about playing the monarch. When they first asked me to do it, I said, You must be insane! And they said, We have to make this part of English history palpable to a modern-day audience and no ones going to watch a 300lb guy run around the screen having sex. Watching Rhys Meyers run around the screen having sex was a different story entirely, however. Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry VIII with Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn in The Tudors He won plaudits too for his portrayal of the shifty, murderous Chris Wilton opposite Scarlett Johansson in Woody Allens Match Point (Allen was so taken with his performance that he gave him a first-edition copy of Byrons Poetical Works as a gift). Yet unlike other actors such as Colin Firth and Rebecca Hall, who have rushed to distance themselves from Allen after allegations that he sexually abused his daughter, Rhys Meyers says: I have no opinion, because I was very proud to work with him. But at the same time, I think people should be proud of people like Ronan Farrow [the journalist who broke the Harvey Weinstein scandal and, coincidentally, Allens son] for bringing up all the things that he did and [taking] those risks, because people should never be abused in that way. Given that Rhys Meyers started in the industry as a teenager, did he ever encounter abuse? I was a bit tougher than that, he says. You get moments where youll be at a party or an audition and somebody would put their hands in certain places. And that happened to him? Of course, because youre a young actor. But it depends on how tough you are, and from the moment you look at somebody, they know who they think they can do it to and who they cant. If anybody had put their hands on me, Id have knocked them out. Rhys Meyers with his wife Mara Lane in 2016. Rhys Meyerss upbringing was ragged enough to partially explain his problems On todays evidence Rhys Meyers has nothing if not a fighting spirit. It cant have been easy to discuss the issues hes faced with alcohol, but he does so without complaint. Sometimes you have to stand there and take it, and if you cant, you shouldnt have joined the sport. Ive been at meetings with politicians, high-court judges, one of the richest men in the world and a homeless man. They are all very different in their walks of life, except for one thing that makes them all the same they have to deal with whatever they have to deal with. He knows many who havent survived Ive been to a lot of funerals but says he never thought it could happen to him. No. I will not let it be me. And is he confident that he will succeed? I am confident. I will always get through. The one thing Ill never do is give up. Damascus Cover is out on Friday During the early Twenties, scores of aristocrats, film stars, millionaires and deposed heads of state decided that the South of France was the nearest they were likely to come to heaven on Earth. Piling into Bugattis and Lagondas, they headed for the Cote dAzur to drink champagne cocktails by the bucketful, soak up the sun and have sex with one another. Everyone slept with everyone, one of the early settlers proclaimed. It was amusing, it was practical. Maybe so, but there were other practicalities to be attended to as well. These new settlers needed places to live. A lot of them turned to a rather strange gay couple to help realise their dreams of paradise. The Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson (pictured) were both regular visitors to the opulent mansions on the French Riviera Barry Dierks was a wavy-haired twentysomething from Pennsylvania whose alumnae yearbook from the Carnegie Institute of Technology noted presciently: Women bore him. Eric Sawyer, ten years older, came from Aldershot, had served in the Army during World War I and, on the surface at least, looked like the picture of crusty conformity he even insisted on being referred to as The Colonel. In Britain, homosexuality remained illegal until 1967. In America, it was legal just about but classed as a clinical mental disorder. France, though, had a much more enlightened attitude: Napoleon had decriminalised homosexuality more than a century earlier. No wonder, then, that so many gay men chose to settle there. Having recouped the fruits of some shrewd investments, the unromantically named Barry and Eric set about cornering the market in bespoke villas. Barry came up with the designs while Eric, a qualified engineer, took care of the construction side of things. Couple Eric Sawyer and Barry Dierks (pictured) saw an opportunity and built new homes in the South of France for the rich The first house they built was their own. For 3,000 francs, they bought a 6,000 sq m peninsula west of Cannes where they put a white, quasi-baronial mansion overlooking the sea. The writer Somerset Maugham then engaged Barry and Eric to build him a house nearby they ended up transforming the house that was already on the site, adding vaulted ceilings, black tiled floors and shady courtyards. The notoriously grumpy Maugham was so thrilled with the result that he promptly invited friends and acquaintances to go and spend their summers there. As Maureen Emerson puts it: Beautiful but obscure young men were part of the scenery. While Barry was the charming extrovert, Eric was more withdrawn and dour although he could be a fount of risque jokes if the occasion was right. But both were brilliant at buttering up potential clients and pandering to their vanity. When the American socialite Maxine Elliott announced that she, too, wanted a house on the Cote dAzur, she was adamant there should be a 30 m slide from the house down to the sea. There was just one snag: in her youth, Elliott had been a slim beauty, but in middle age shed filled out to an alarming degree. It would be disastrous if Elliott were too large to fit into the slide, or even worse if she became stuck half-way down. Their story is covered in great deal by the book, Riviera Dreaming (pictured), which is written by Maureen Emerson Barry and Eric sprang smoothly into action. While Barry engaged her in conversation, Eric whipped out his tape measure and surreptitiously measured her backside. The result was a perfectly fitting slide down which a shrieking Maxine Elliott would plunge into the sea, often accompanied by her pet lemur, Kiki. Soon the area became so popular that there was barely a rocky outcrop that didnt have one of Barry and Erics white mansions perched on top of it. The only thing the new owners had to do was find suitably glamorous house guests to come and stay. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Errol Flynn, Noel Coward, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor . . . they drift through these pages, cocktails in hand, stepping down to a secluded cove for another afternoon of sun-worshipping. Theres a photograph here of Lord and Lady Cholmondeley lying on their inflatable sun-beds, both of them so tanned they look as if theyve been dipped in gravy browning. Writer Maureen Emerson (pictured) plainly knows her stuff, having lived in Provence for 25 years Given the amount that everyone drank, and Provences notoriously twisty-turny roads, its hardly surprising that car crashes feature prominently in Riviera Dreaming. One evening, Barry and Eric were driving home from a dinner in Cannes in their huge Chevrolet when they narrowly missed hitting an oncoming car. After Eric told him to be careful, Barry replied: Good God, am I driving? I thought you were. But all the time, war clouds were gathering. When Mussolini invaded Abyssinia in 1935, Wallis Simpson took it as a personal affront. You would think Mussolini had planned this mess just to break up our yachting trip, she complained to one of the few people in the South of France who she hadnt already alienated with her peevish high-handedness. Five years later, after the Nazis had taken control of France, they tried to smarten up peoples morals as well as their dress sense. After Mussolini invaded Abyssinia, Wallis Simpson said: You would think Mussolini had planned this mess just to break up our yachting trip Another American socialite, Beatrice Cartwright, wrote in agonised tones to a friend: Pyjamas and shorts are now forbidden in public. However, she soon perked up, adding: The weather is divine. As their owners fled or were imprisoned homosexuals were rounded up and put in the same detention camp as prostitutes villas were abandoned. In the final entry in their visitors book, Eric and Barry wrote: End of an Epoch exeunt Eric and Barry. Eric escaped over the Pyrenees. However, Barry decided to stay put and, at considerable personal risk, started helping the then fledgling French Resistance. After the war was over, they tried to take up where they had left off, but it wasnt the same. The smart set had flown; their once-immaculate white mansions had been looted and smashed. It wasnt long before the couple traded in their mighty Chevrolet for of all things a Vauxhall Viva. Having lived in Provence for 25 years, Maureen Emerson plainly knows her stuff. While her cast of characters may not be the most sympathetic bunch most of them were as shallow as they were snobbish she has a forgiving eye for their foibles and adroitly conjures up the milieu they moved in. Barry Dierks died in 1960, while Eric Sawyer soldiered on for another 25 years. Aptly enough, he was driving home in his Vauxhall Viva from yet another party when he crashed into a metal barrier and died a few days later. Now the two of them lie together in the same grave dramatically sited high above the Mediterranean. Even in death, they never lost their eye for a picturesque spot. Minnesota parents are overjoyed to finally be hearing their three-year-old daughter's voice for the first time. Zoey Ellis, of Coon Rapids, was born in March 2015 with an extremely rare disorder that blocked off her windpipe and left her unable to speak. For the past three years, Zoey used sign language, squeaks and clicking her tongue to communicate with her parents, Amberlee and Jeremy. This past summer, doctors in Ohio approved Zoey for a surgery that would widen her windpipe using cartilage from her rib cage so she could speak. Now, not only is Zoey surviving and thriving, she's speaking. In an interview with DailyMail.com, her mother described the heartbreak of thinking her daughter would never say a word and the overwhelming joy of hearing 'Mama' and 'Dada' for the first time. Zoey Ellis, three (left and right), was born in March 2015 with a rare disorder known as CHAOS, or Congenital High Airway Obstruction Syndrome. It is a condition in which her windpipe was blocked and voice box was fused while she was in utero, leaving her unable to speak When doctors first told Zoey's parents, Amberlee and Jeremy, about the condition, they said she had no chance of survival. Pictured: Zoey as a newborn 'I was 20 weeks pregnant and we went in to find out she was a girl,' Amberlee told DailyMail.com 'They told me over the phone they thought she had a disorder, but they were going to have to send me to a specialist.' Zoey was diagnosed with CHAOS, or Congenital High Airway Obstruction Syndrome, a rare disorder in which a fetus's windpipe and voice box are blocked. Scientists are unsure of what causes it, but believe it may be from the airway being narrowed or part of the trachea is missing, according to UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital. Fetuses with the disorder have enlarged lungs, fluid in their stomaches and potential heart failure due to airway obstruction. Treatment depends on how severe the condition is. If the blockage is minimal, minor surgery is needed to correct it. If the blockage is severe, babies need a trach tube - a breathing tube placed through directly into the windpipe - inserted after birth and several surgeries to correct the condition. According to Benioff Children's Hospital, in extreme cases such as where the swelling of the lungs could damage the heart, doctors may perform surgery before birth. 'Every doctor we saw said she had no chance of survival,' Amberlee said. Of the 50 cases that have been reported since 1989, doctors told her that only seven had survived. 'They told me she would need surgery right when she was born, she would have no quality after she was born,' Amberlee said. 'I was just devastated.' Amberlee and Jeremy were prepared to go visit specialists out of state at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia when a doctor from Minneapolis reached out to the couple and asked to talk to them. Right before Zoey was delivered, doctors inserted a trach tube so she could breathe. However, she was unable to make any noises. Pictured: Zoey in the hospital Zoey (left and right) couldn't laugh, cry or say any words. Additionally, having the trach tube meant Amberlee and Jeremy had to suction the airway hundreds of times a day He told the Ellises he would make sure Zoey was monitored each week so she would have the best chance of survival. Amberlee said her pregnancy had been so difficult, with constant nausea and vomiting, and she had fought to make sure her daughter lived. 'We fought so hard together through the pregnancy that, to me, we were both kind of in it together,' Amberlee said. In March 2015, when Amberlee was 36 weeks pregnant, she was put under anesthesia. Doctors paused the delivery, pulled Zoey's head and shoulders out and inserted a trach tube so she could breathe outside of the womb, and then finished delivery her. Zoey couldn't laugh, cry or say any words - and having the trach tube meant Amberlee and Jeremy had to suction the airway hundreds of times a day to clear fluid out. 'I knew going into it that it was a possibility,' Amberlee said. 'The picture [doctors] painted for me was so horrible that I was kind of prepared for everything.' After months of research, Amberlee and Jeremy found a program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital in Ohio, which specializes in airway reconstruction surgery that would repair Zoey's blockage. After being tested and evaluated in July, surgery was scheduled for November. In July, Zoey was approved for surgery at Cincinnati Children's Hospital in Ohio. The procedure involved cutting Zoey's windpipe and widening it using pieces of cartilage from her rib cage as a graft. Pictured: Zoey with mom Amberlee and dad Jeremy In mid-December, Zoey (left and right) began saying 'Mama' and 'Dada'. She is currently in speech therapy and will be able to attend pre-school in the fall Surgeons cut Zoey's windpipe and widened it using pieces of cartilage from her rib cage as a graft, according to the GoFundMe page. None of this was covered by insurance - but her parents had some help, including one fundraiser that raised nearly $50,000. Amberlee said it was a long road to recovery but, in December, Zoey began laughing and crying. In mid-December, she began saying 'Mama' and 'Dada'. 'It still just makes me cry. It's something I never knew I wanted so much,' said Amberlee. Zoey is currently in speech therapy, but her mother encourages her to still use her sign language along with her words. Amberlee says Zoey had a six-year-old's level of vocabulary in sign language so she doesn't want her daughter to lose that. The toddler will also need regular check-ups every month or so at Children's Minnesota in Minneapolis and at least one more surgery to close the skin where her trach used to be. However, Zoey will now be able to attend pre-school in the fall instead of being home-schooled. Amberlee said she hopes her daughter's difficult - yet incredible - journey inspires hope in others. 'The biggest thing is not to give up even when you think the worst is possible,' she said. A family friend started a GoFundMe page to help the Ellises raise money to cover the costs of the surgery. So far, they've raised more than $10,200 out of a $20,000 goal. Campaigners fear they will influence the European Commission to protect sales Industry lobbyists disagree, and say there is not enough robust evidence Titanium dioxide is 'a substance suspected of causing cancer' if it is inhaled Suncreams and cosmetics could contain cancer-causing chemicals, but the warnings may be hidden after manufacturers have hit back. Campaigners and health officials are concerned the threat of titanium dioxide, 'a substance suspected of causing cancer' if it is inhaled, is being watered down. The chemical is used globally as a brightening agent in a range of products, including some sweets, chewing gum, cake icing and plastics. It is also used in toothpaste, some makeup to lighten skin tones and sunscreams because of its ability to reflect ultraviolet (UV) rays. Various health bodies have classified titanium dioxide as possibly carcinogenic to humans, mainly based on animal studies. But their recommendations to warn customers on labelling may be ignored by the European Commission sharing the industries' view that there isn't enough robust evidence. Campaigners fear that warnings of cancer-causing chemicals in suncream could be 'watered down' after manufacturers hit back against world health officials The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has classed the chemical titanium dioxide, a whitening agent, as 'a substance suspected of causing cancer', backed by others, including the World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer. In November, France said it was banning the use of titanium dioxide in food in light of studies suggesting it may cause cancer. But European environmental campaigners say intensive lobbying by industry and some EU states, including the UK - worth millions of pounds - could interfere with the production of warning labels on some products. WHAT IS TITANIUM DIOXIDE? Titanium dioxide is a fine white powdered form of the metal element titanium. The chemical is not thought to occur naturally inside the human body. It is commonly used around the world because it is brilliant white and can be used to colour a huge range of objects. Everyday items which are likely to contain titanium dioxide as a colourant include toothpaste, suncream, makeup in which it is used to brighten the skin, plastics, paper, wall paint, ink and white medicine pills. The US Food and Drug Administration says the chemical is safe to use, and that consumers' risk of exposure to high levels is low. Researchers say the chemical may enter the human bloodstream if it is inhaled or eaten. Source: ChemicalSafetyFacts.org Advertisement The European Environmental Bureau (EEB), a group of around 150 environmental organisations in more than 30 European countries, said unprecedented lobbying meant the European Commission may ignore the ECHA's recommendations. The EEB said the commission accepts that products with the substance in powder form should carry the warning 'suspected carcinogen'. But that it now wants labels to only say 'warning, droplets may be formed when sprayed' for liquid products, such as some spray-on sunscreens. The EEB said that if such a move is approved, 'it would be a flat rejection of the science for commercial reasons' and will 'set a dangerous precedent'. EEB chemicals policy manager Tatiana Santos said: 'It's obvious that spray paint, hair colouring and sunscreen can end up being inhaled. 'Yet the commission wants to dodge this reality. Hiding health warnings to maintain sales of a toxic product is wrong. 'We are seeing this because industry has spent millions on spin doctors and expensive lawyers when it should have spent that money making its products safer.' The ECHA reached its conclusion that titanium dioxide is suspected of causing cancer if it is inhaled after examining data on how the substance causes tumours in animals, including rats. It said that while there are no human studies showing a link, there is 'not sufficient justification to consider the carcinogenic effects as not relevant to humans'. A UK/Slovenia position paper on the issue, submitted to the European Commission, questions the basis for regulation, saying consideration needs to be made of the 'regulatory, environmental and socio-economic consequences' of classifying titanium dioxide as a potential carcinogen. It saidd: 'In our opinion TiO2 (titanium dioxide) has no intrinsic or extrinsic property to cause cancer', adding that tumour formation was a 'secondary non-specific effect' of inflammation that may come from 'exposure overload' to the substance. The Titanium Dioxide Manufacturers Association (TDMA), which has been contacted for comment, says on its website that 'robust, scientific evidence shows that titanium dioxide is safe and does not cause cancer'. It adds that the opinion that it is a possible carcinogen 'relates to inhalation of titanium dioxide' and 'has low relevance to food products'. With food products, titanium dioxide 'is incorporated in the finished product and there is almost no risk of inhaling it', the website says. 'Likewise, the TiO2 in finished products such as paints and plastics is either insoluble or solid and cannot be inhaled.' The commission's proposals are due to be voted on by government officials meeting in Brussels on April 14 and 15. Helen Callard, from Cancer Research UK, said: 'Titanium dioxide has previously been linked to cancer in animals, but so far there is no good evidence it causes cancer in people. 'But we do know that cancer risk can be reduced by protecting our skin from sun damage. 'So, rather than ditch the sunscreen, use it as a last line of defence alongside spending time in the shade and covering up.' US cities are offering free STD tests for Valentine's Day to ensure that the only thing couples are sharing is love. Cities in Alaska, New Hampshire and South Carolina will be offering free testing for sexually transmitted diseases, HIV and hepatitis C up to Thursday. Organizers say they're hoping the events can break the stigma surrounding STDs and start open conversations about prevention efforts. It comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported an increase in chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis across the country for the fourth year in a row. Cities in Alaska, New Hampshire and South Carolina will be offering free testing for STDs, HIV and hepatitis C in the days leading up to Valentine's Day (file image) The town of Nashua, New Hampshire, is hosting its free testing on Valentine's Day for the second year in a row. 'Setting the stage for a romantic Valentine's Day requires more than flowers or chocolates - a sexually healthy celebration of love requires education, testing and communication,' reads a post on the Nashua government website. 'Perhaps the best gift for this February 14th is getting tested for STDs, HIV and Hepatitis C.' Event organizers say they want to remove the stigma surrounding STDs, and promote awareness. 'We basically try to tell the community that it can happen to anyone,' Courtney Ellison, a health promotions specialist at the Nashua Department of Public Health and Community Services, told DailyMail.com. 'We don't want them to feel ashamed or that it's like a moral failing, and we don't want to make them feel like they can't reach out for help.' One May 2016 study funded by the CDC found that most adolescents between ages 15 and 25 have never been tested for an STD. About 42 percent said they didn't think the were at risk while others were considering about cost and confidentiality. Ellison said that they will be handing out goody bags with information on sexual safety, water bottles and condoms. There will even be a place where kids can play with toys if they're brought to the center. Meanwhile, in Anchorage, Alaska, the local health department partnered with the Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association and Identity Inc to provide free testing on February 9. 'Show your love, know your status,' a tagline for the event read. In Columbia, South Carolina, the Palmetto AIDS Life Support Services is inviting couples to come in and get tested from February 11 to February 13. The organization says that couples who are tested or receive counseling services will be entered in a raffle to win a gift basket, reported ABC Columbia. According to GoHealth Urgent Care, most people pay an average of $50 to $100 if insurance is accepted by their providers. If insurance is not accepted or they don't have insurance, patients can pay upwards of $250. In August, the CDC released a report that said STD infections hit a record high in 2017. About 2.3 million Americans were diagnosed, which is 200,000 more than the year before. Chlamydia remained the most commonly reported STD with about half of new cases occurring in women between ages 15 and 24. Between 2013 and 2017, cases of gonorrhea and syphilis saw dramatic spikes with cases jumping by 67 percent and 70 percent, respectively. According to the National Council for Home Safety and Security, the state with the highest rate of infection is Alaska, followed by Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina and New Mexico. Patients with Alzheimer's could have their memory improved by unblocking blood vessels in the brain, scientists believe. Alzheimer's is known to reduce blood flow to the brain and research has now found this could be caused by white blood cells sticking to the inside of blood vessels. And, in a study on mice, memory and brain performance were quickly improved when scientists removed these blockages. It could be a 'game-changer' if the same mechanism can be applied to the millions of people suffering with the disease worldwide, experts say. Patients with Alzheimer's could have their memory improved by unblocking blood vessels in the brain, scientists hope on the back of a mice model study The researchers stumbled across the finding by accident, when Nozomi Nishimura, an associate professor in the Meinig School, Cornell University, was attempting to put clots in the blood vessels of Alzheimer's mouse brains to see their effect. 'It turns out that the blockages we were trying to induce were already in there,' she said. 'It sort of turned the research around this is a phenomenon that was already happening.' Professor Nishimura worked with Professor Chris Schaffer over the next decade to find that only about two per cent of brain capillaries had these blockages or 'stalls'. But the cumulative effect of that small number of stalls was an approximately 20 per cent overall decrease in brain blood flow, due to the slowing of downstream vessels by the capillaries that were stalled. Recent studies suggest that brain blood flow deficits are one of the earliest detectable symptoms of dementia, suggesting this could also be useful for diagnosis. To test their theory that it was white blood cells stuck to the inside of capillaries, the smallest blood vessels in the brain, the team 'unblocked' the vessels. They gave an antibody to the mice with Alzheimer's which interfered with the adhesion of white blood cells to the capilary walls. WHAT IS ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE? Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, degenerative disease of the brain, in which build-up of abnormal proteins causes nerve cells to die. This disrupts the transmitters that carry messages, and causes the brain to shrink. More than 5 million people suffer from the disease in the US, where it is the 6th leading cause of death. WHAT HAPPENS? As brain cells die, the functions they provide are lost. That includes memory, orientation and the ability to think and reason. The progress of the disease is slow and gradual. On average, patients live five to seven years after diagnosis, but some may live for ten to 15 years. EARLY SYMPTOMS: Loss of short-term memory Disorientation Behavioral changes Mood swings Difficulties dealing with money or making a phone call LATER SYMPTOMS: Severe memory loss, forgetting close family members, familiar objects or places Becoming anxious and frustrated over inability to make sense of the world, leading to aggressive behavior Eventually lose ability to walk May have problems eating The majority will eventually need 24-hour care Source: Alzheimer's Association Advertisement This increased the blood flow to the brain, the findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, said. This improved memory function within a few hours, even in aged mice with more advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease. Although it worked in mice, the team are yet to figure out if it could work with humans. An antibody couldn't be used in humans, and interfering with white blood cell adhesion would affect an individuals immune system. 'What we've done is identify the cellular mechanism that causes reduced brain blood flow in Alzheimer's disease models, which is neutrophils [white blood cells] sticking in capillaries,' Professor Schaffer said. 'We've shown that when we block the cellular mechanism [that causes the stalls], we get an improved blood flow, and associated with that improved blood flow is immediate restoration of cognitive performance of spatial- and working-memory tasks. 'Now that we know the cellular mechanism, it's a much narrower path to identify the drug or the therapeutic approach to treat it.' Approximately 20 drugs, many of them already FDA approved for human use, have been identified as having potential in dementia therapy. Some of them, however, were designed to be taken in high doses for short periods of time to treat sepsis, or in the immediate aftermath of a heart attack or stroke. Although they aren't ideal to take long-term, Professor Schaffer said they are still testing these drugs in Alzheimer's mice now. Professor Schaffer said he's 'super-optimistic' that, if the same capillary-blocking mechanism is at play in humans as it is in mice, this line of research 'could be a complete game-changer for people with Alzheimer's disease'. Alzheimer's disease is thought to be caused by the abnormal build-up of proteins in and around brain cells. Research has shown that many people with Alzheimers have blood vessel damage in their brains as well, leading to the belief that this damage to blood vessels may affect the progression of the disease at its very early stages. Research has found that a reduction in blood flow prevents brain cells from receiving the oxygen and nutrients they need, possibly impairing memory further. Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia, affecting 62 per cent of the 850,000 people diagnosed in the UK. A woman who thought she had a bruise on her shoulder for six years was actually suffering from a rare form of skin cancer. The 31-year-old who has not been named noticed a 1cm purple mark on her left shoulder had not faded in more than half a decade. After finally seeing her GP, she was referred to the department of dermatovenereology which treats STIs that have led to skin disease at the Hospital de Braga in Portugal. A biopsy revealed the woman did not have a sexually transmitted infection but dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP); a rare type of cancer that develops in the deep layers of skin. Surgeons removed the blemish, with the woman reported to be doing well two years on. A woman who thought she had a bruise (left) on her shoulder for six years is actually suffering from a rare form of skin cancer. When doctors took a biopsy, they discovered streaks running through the blemish (right), which suggested the abnormal growth of cells The woman, who was otherwise healthy, noticed her 'bruise' had gotten bigger over the years, according to BMJ Case Reports. She also could not recall ever having accidentally 'bumped' herself to get the mark in the first place. When it was examined by medics at the Hospital de Braga led by dermatovenereologist Dr Filipa Tavares Almeida the blemish turned a deeper shade of purple. The doctors also noticed the mark had blue-white streaks running through it, which suggested the abnormal growth of cells. A biopsy led to the woman being diagnosed with a Bednar tumour, which makes up just five per cent of DFSP cases. The tumour which usually affects the midriff, back or shoulders rarely spreads, with patients having good survival rates after treatment. Bednar tumours are made up melanin, which gives cells their colour, and causes DFSP blemishes to be red or brown. Marks caused by the cancer are often misdiagnosed as the harmless skin growth dermatofibroma. They can also be mistaken for cancer of the cells that produce fibrous tissue, known as fibrosarcoma, or deadly melanoma. The authors urge any lesion that does not get better on its own should be biopsied. Insurers have been making medications for treating opioid addiction more expensive and harder to access, even as more and more Americans suffer and die, a new study suggests. The most effective way to treat opioid addiction is with so-called medication-assisted treatment (MAT), which addiction specialists widely use and recommend. In recent years, the drug has been more widely accepted by doctors and policy-makers as it becomes a clear and crucial clear to combating the opioid epidemic. Yet, since 2007, insurers have been creating increasingly strict rules around the prescription of the medication, making it difficult - if not impossible - for patients in dire need to access, a new Oregon science and Health University study found. While prescription opioids like OxyContin are covered by almost all insurers, now just 35 percent covered medication to treat addiction without restrictions in 2018, a new study found About 130 Americans die of opioid overdoses every day. While harm reduction efforts - like handing out clean needles and naloxone - are helping to save lives from HIV infections transmitted through shared needles and by reversing overdoses, these are not necessarily long-term solutions. Quitting powerful, addictive heroin, fentanyl or prescription opioids brings on intense withdrawals. The symptoms - nausea, vomiting, intense anxiety, insomnia, excruciating body aches, tremors and sweating - can become very severe, but aren't life-threatening. Nonetheless, the nightmarish process pushes many to seek relief by relapsing and taking opioid drugs again. Although it is not itself addicting, buprenorphine acts on opioid receptors in the central nervous system, quelling the symptoms of withdrawal without providing a high. Still, its chemical similarities have made some wary of the drug, and want to keep it closely controlled. Under the auspice of this concern that the drug could be abused, or that doctors are prescribing unnecessary, expensive drugs, insurance companies may require pior authorization for certain prescriptions. This means that the even after a doctors has prescribed a drug, like buprenorphine, a patient has to wait to fill it until the insurer has agreed that it's necessary. That waiting period varies in length depending on the drug and the insurance company. Blue Cross Blue Shield, for example, says that its waiting period is about 24 hours for an urgent request, or as long as 15 days for a standard one. Withdrawal from heroin can start with in six to 12 hours of the last time someone used the drug. So no matter if a doctor puts in an urgent or standard request, that's plenty of time for withdrawals to begin, potentially driving someone to use opioids again. 'Prior authorization policies are commonly used to control costs or manage pharmacy utilization,' said lead study author Daniel Hartung, an Oregon Health and Science professor of pharmacy. 'However they can also disrupt or delay treatment for individuals who are vulnerable to relapse.' Furthermore,'the reasons for restrictions on buprenorphine might reflect inaccurate perceptions of drug risk, societal norms related to the stigma of addiction, or financial considerations, the authors wrote. About 15 percent of Americans are insured by the publicly subsidized Medicare, which doesn't cover the alteernative MAT drug, methadone. Now, fewer insurers are offering unrestricted buprenorphine, too. In 2007, 89 percent of insurance companies covered the drug without delays, according to the new Oregon Health and Science study. Now, just 35 percent cover it. The prescription opioids responsible for the genesis of 75 percent of addictions, on the other hand, are covered by between 93 and 100 percent of insurers - without restrictions. Oregon passed a law in September making it illegal for addiction treatment doctors from refusing to prescribe MAT, but much of the country as not followed suit. 'Many people still believe that medication treatment isn't really recovery,' Korthuis said. 'Overwhelming scientific evidence supports that medicines like buprenorphine are far more successful and safer than abstinence-only approaches. Buprenorphine saves lives. Abstinence-based approaches don't.' Federal health officials have identified more measles cases, bringing the total nationwide number to 101. So far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says there are confirmed cases in 10 US states since January 1. The first measles vaccine was introduced in 1963 and, by 2000, it was considered to be eradicated in the US. But the highly infectious disease has been spreading among people who are unvaccinated or live in states that allow non-medical exemptions for vaccines. Doctors say these states, have become 'hotspots' of the anti-vaccine movement and that the only way to curb the crisis is to ban non-medical exemptions completely. Since 2018, there have been measles outbreaks in Washington, Texas and New York totaling 265 cases Cases have been confirmed in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas and Washington. Of those states, four - Colorado, Oregon, Texas and Washington - allow exemptions for philosophical and/or personal beliefs. Washington and New York, particularly, have been struggling to contain the disease that was considered eliminated 20 years in ago. Last month, Washington declared a public health emergency after a measles outbreak that has affected 53 people in Clark County. STATES THAT ALLOW PARENTS TO OPT OUT OF VACCINES BASED ON PHILOSOPHICAL BELIEFS Arkansas Arizona Colorado Idaho Louisiana ( except no religious exemptions ) Maine Michigan Minnesota ( except no religious exemptions ) Missouri ( only for daycare, not public school ) North Dakota Ohio Oklahoka Oregon Pennsylvania Texas Utah Washington Wisconsin STATES THAT RECENTLY REVOKED THIS ALLOWANCE: Vermont California Missouri West Virginia Advertisement Forty-seven of the cases are in residents who have not been vaccinated. Thirty-eight cases are in children aged 10 and under. State records show that 77.4 percent of all public students in Clark County received all their vaccines, making it among the worst in Washington state, according to The Oregonian. Meanwhile, for the 2017-18 kindergarten school year, the median vaccination rates nationwide were 95.1 percent for DTaP, 94.3 percent for the MMR vaccine and 93.8 percent the chicken pox vaccine, the CDC reported. In Washington, nearly eight percent of children in the county were exempt from getting vaccines required for kindergarten for the 2017-18 school year. A mere 1.2 percent were for medical reasons, while the rest were for 'conscientious objector' or 'philosophical/personal beliefs'. This makes the area a 'hotspot' of the anti-vaccine movement, Dr Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, told DailyMail.com in an interview last month. He says the best way to stop this spread of cases is to get rid of non-medical vaccine exemptions. 'Having all these unvaccinated children in Clark County is like pouring gasoline over a fire...and the gasoline is measles,' said Dr Hotez. 'It's this horrible self-inflicted wound that never should have happened.' Last week, Clark County state representative Monica Stonier presented a bill that would ban vaccine exemptions. The bill would have 'every child at every public and private school in the state and licensed day care center' receive the mumps, measles and rubella vaccine unless they have a legitimate medical or religious reason not to. In New York, there have been at least 204 confirmed cases in Brooklyn, Monroe County and Rockland County since October 2018 - all in Orthodox Jewish communities. Measles is a highly contagious infection caused by the measles virus. When someone with measles coughs, sneezes or talks, infected droplets are sprayed into the air, where other people can inhale them and are then infected. Symptoms present themselves between 10 to 14 days after infection and include fever, cough, runny nose and a total-body skin rash. Once common, the disease is now rare due to the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine. The CDC recommends children receive the first dose at 12 to 15 months old and the second dose at four to six years old. As of January 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified 101 confirmed cases in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas and Washington The vaccine is about 97 percent effective. But those who are unvaccinated have a 90 percent chance of catching measles if they breathe the virus in, the CDC says. Before the measles vaccine was available, more than 500,000 cases were diagnosed in the US every year, with about 500 annual deaths. In 2018, 372 cases of measles were confirmed in 26 states and the District of Columbia, the CDC reported. It is the second-greatest number since measles was considered eliminated in the US in 2000. A report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) last month said measles has seen a 30 percent increase in cases around the world. Between September 2017 and August 2018, WHO reported more than 41,000 cases with 40 deaths in EU member states. Several recent news reports have come out about teenagers finally receiving the vaccinations they should have had as young children. Ethan Lindenberger, 18, from Norwalk, Ohio, has now had shots to immunize him against six diseases including mumps and hepatitis, reported Undark. His parents refused to give them to him because they are part of the anti-vaxxer movement which believes that vaccinations cause illnesses such as autism. Meanwhile, 18-year-old Mayci, from Augusta, Georgia, told NBC News that she went to Reddit for advice on vaccines after her mother refused to immunize her as a kid. Cannabis regulations could be relaxed around the world as evidence builds of its medicinal benefits. The World Health Organization is proposing downgrading its controlled status after reviewing evidence of potential health-giving uses. The WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence has proposed to re-list the substance as a schedule I drug, rather than schedule IV, which is the same classification as heroin. They may also strike non-THC products, such as CBD oil, from global drug controls altogether. UN officials are expected to vote on the issue in March, just months after the UK legalised medicinal cannabis in November. Revision? The World Health Organization is proposing the change after reviewing evidence which substantiates its long-touted medicinal benefits 'The Committee recognized the public health harms presented by these substances, as well as their potential for therapeutic and scientific use,' the WHO said in a statement. 'As a result, the Committee recommended a more rational system of international control surrounding cannabis and cannabis-related substances that would prevent drug-related harms whilst ensuring that cannabis-derived pharmaceutical preparations are available for medical use.' Currently, cannabis is legal for medicinal use in 30 countries around the world, including Denmark, Finland, Canada, Germany, Australia and parts of the US. However, a host of other countries, such as Bulgaria, Greece, Iceland, Romania, Ireland, Sweden and Hungary, still forbid it. The United Nations' Commission on Narcotic Drugs is expected to vote on the recommendation next month. 'These recommendations are of monumental importance as they may lead to the overcoming of barriers to research, enhance access of patients to cannabis-based medicine, and allow free commerce of cannabis products internationally,' Ethan Russo of the International Cannabis and Cannabinoids Institute told Newsweek. Currently, cannabis is legal for medicinal use in 30 countries around the world, including: Denmark, Finland, Israel, Argentina, Canada, Mexico, Germany and Australia Last year, the British Government made a landmark move to allow doctors to prescribe cannabis products to UK patients for some conditions. The Home Secretary announced in October that cannabis could be prescribed from November 1 for medicinal use in England, Scotland and Wales. These products will only be prescribed on a case-by-case basis by specialist doctors not GPs after all other treatment options have been exhausted. The dramatic change to policy followed a review into several high profile cases of patients who were denied products containing THC - the psychoactive compound in cannabis that causes a 'high'. Early signs of lung cancer could soon be detected by a simple blood test. British researchers have created a new type of screening which can identify early stages of the disease and even predict where pre-cancerous tumours may develop. The 'promising' and 'exciting' findings published in the journal Disease Models and Mechanisms could be crucial in beating the disease, the experts claim. Lung cancer is the world's leading cause of cancer-related deaths because it is notoriously difficult to diagnose and often appears later when it's harder to treat. Discovery: New test has the power to measure the circulating levels of DNA in the blood, which cancer cells shed as they grow and multiply (stock) If a lung tumour is detected early, it may be easily removed in surgery to prevent it spreading to other parts of the body and becoming more difficult to stop. Dr Mariana Delfino-Machin, programme manager for cancer at the Medical Research Council (MRC), which funded the study, said: 'This is a really promising piece of early-stage research. 'Lung cancer is incredibly difficult to diagnose at the stage where it can be successfully treated, leading to a poor rate of survival. 'Developing early detection strategies to improve survival rates is key, and if this can be achieved using only a blood sample it would greatly benefit patients and the NHS. 'We look forward to the results of the next stages of this research.' Scientists at the MRC's Toxicology Unit at the University of Cambridge analysed the blood tests of mice with a genetic mutation known as KRAS, which replicates the early signs of lung cancer. Lung cancer is officially the world's leading cause of tumour-related deaths, with 46,400 cases diagnosed in Britain each year - resulting in 35,500 deaths (stock) With the help of scientists from the University of Leicester, the researchers discovered the new blood test has the power to measure circulating levels of DNA in the blood, which cancer cells shed as they grow and multiply. The mice were closely monitored with regular computed tomography (CT) scans and blood tests. CHEMO MAY CAUSE BREAST CANCER TO SPREAD TO THE LUNGS Chemotherapy may cause breast cancer to spread, alarming research suggests. The commonly prescribed chemo drugs paclitaxel and doxorubicin cause breast tumours to release proteins that then circulate in the blood until they reach the lungs, triggering the disease's onset in a new part of the body. When scientists - from the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research - blocked this protein in a lab model, the cancer did not spread. They hope their findings - released last December - will help make chemotherapy more effective Advertisement It was soon discovered the mice with higher levels of DNA shed from cancer cells in their blood reflected the growth of the tumours seen on the scans. After the DNA was analysed, it was revealed the KRAS mutation which causes tumours to develop was still being detected in the later stages of tumour development. Study lead author Dr Miguel Martins said: 'This observation is exciting because it suggests that tumour-causing mutations may be detectable in circulating DNA from patients with early-stage cancers or with pre-cancerous tumours.' But he added more research is needed to examine mice with pre-cancerous tumours in other parts of the body before the test can accurately be applied to humans. British Lung Foundation's medical director, Nick Hopkinson, said: 'This is an early study in mice, but it is a very interesting area of research. 'A blood test for lung cancer would be a big step forward as long as it is sensitive and specific so that there are not a lot of false positive or false negative results. 'In the meantime the most important message is, if youre a smoker, the best thing you can do to lower your cancer risk is to quit smoking. 'Its also important not to ignore symptoms like getting out of breath doing things you used to be able to do, or a cough lasting more than few weeks.' After 28 years of injecting himself up to ten times a day with insulin, Tim Street was convinced there must be an easier way to manage his type 1 diabetes. He was diagnosed with the autoimmune condition where the pancreas doesnt produce the hormone insulin, needed to control blood sugar levels at the age of 13. Like all of the 460,000 Brits with type 1 diabetes, Tim has to constantly monitor his blood sugar levels and inject insulin many times a day to stay alive. Traditionally, this involves a finger-prick test. Based on the readings, patients then give themselves enough insulin to keep their blood sugar levels stable, either by injection or by manually pressing a button on a pump a matchbox-sized electronic device that administers the insulin through a tube attached to the abdomen. Fact: Too much insulin will cause blood sugar levels to drop dangerously low (hypoglycemia) leading to cold sweats, confusion, trembling hands and seizures Another option is a continuous glucose monitoring device, such as the FreeStyle Libre, the patch-like sensor worn by Prime Minister Theresa May (who was diagnosed with type 1 in 2012). This sends glucose readings 24/7 to a mobile phone or reader. Although it has been available on the NHS since November 2017, a third of local health authorities refused to fund it. However, last November, NHS England announced that all eligible patients will get access to these devices from April. Tim had a continuous glucose monitoring device and an insulin pump, but even these arent without their problems. Doing diabetes maths is difficult, as day-to-day management of the condition involves a lot of numbers. Administer too little insulin and blood sugar rises, causing increased thirst and headaches in the short term. Long term, it can result in blindness, kidney failure and damage to blood vessels and skin, leading to amputation. Too much insulin will cause blood sugar levels to drop dangerously low (hypoglycemia) leading to cold sweats, confusion, trembling hands and seizures. Scientists have been working on an artificial pancreas for decades, but progress has been slow. Last October, doctors from the University of Cambridge revealed theyd trialled such a system on 46 patients for 12 weeks. Those using the system had healthy blood sugar levels for almost 65 per cent of their time, compared with 54 per cent for patients using the existing technology. The first commercial medical device to automatically deliver insulin to a patient was launched in the UK that month. A small number of NHS patients are now using it, but fed up with the wait, others such as Tim have taken matters into their own hands. Did you know? Its estimated that between 200 and 300 people with type 1 in the UK are now using some kind of DIY artificial pancreas Three years ago, Tim, 43, a specialist in electronic financial trading, adopted a DIY approach. He worked out that if you could create computer software that allows the glucose monitoring device and insulin pump to talk to each other via an app on a smartphone, you could create a DIY artificial pancreas. This would allow the pump to dispense the right amount automatically. Searching online Tim found information to create such a system, and has been using it since 2016. It constantly monitors his blood glucose levels, works out the diabetes maths, and then automatically sends the correct dose of insulin, via the pump, freeing him of testing and injections. Before I set up the DIY artificial pancreas, I was sugar surfing checking my blood sugar levels every 20 minutes, says Tim. I was able to get good blood glucose levels, but it was time consuming. Now, I dont have to worry or think about my sugar levels anywhere near as much as I did. For patients wanting to set up their own DIY artificial pancreas, there are free tools online. Tim adds: All you need is a continuous glucose monitor, insulin pump and the computer coding. All sorts of people have been able to do it. Its estimated that between 200 and 300 people with type 1 in the UK are now using some kind of DIY artificial pancreas. Libby Dowling, senior clinical advisor at Diabetes UK, says these devices are not endorsed by the charity, but its aware people are using them. These are people who are familiar with the technology and extremely motivated to control their diabetes, she says. But it doesnt take the diabetes away; you have to be certain the technology is working, make sure you have enough insulin and the pump is not blocked. Professor Roman Hovorka, director of research at the Institute of Metabolic Science at the University of Cambridge, adds: This tech hasnt been through the regulatory approval. If something goes wrong, theres no recourse. Tim admits that, although he was initially nervous using the device, its transformed his life. I no longer have to spend so much time thinking and making decisions about diabetes, so I can focus on other things, he says. A baby has been born with no arms or legs because of a rare condition which affects just a few families worldwide. RJ Wilson's mother Jasmine Self, 24, was five months pregnant when an ultrasound scan revealed her little one's limbs were not developing. The four-month-old suffers from tetra-amelia syndrome defined as the absence of all four limbs, as well as severe malformations of the face, heart, nervous system, skeleton and genitals. After being advised to terminate her pregnancy, Ms Self and her boyfriend Rondell Wilson decided to not to give up on their baby, with RJ being born at 29 weeks on September 29. The youngster arrived weighing just 2lb 4oz (1kg) and spent the first two months of his life in intensive care. Against all the odds, the youngster is now thriving at his home in Florence, South Carolina. Baby RJ Wilson (pictured left and right, with his mother Jasmine Self, aged four months) was born with the rare condition tetra-amelia, which causes him not to have his arms or legs After being born via an emergency C-section at just 29 weeks when his mother's placenta detached from her uterus wall, RJ spent the first two months in intensive care (pictured) 'I found out I was pregnant in April,' Ms Self said. 'I didn't go to the doctor until August, so it was really late. 'When I finally decided to go I could tell there was something wrong.' Ms Self's ultrasound technician told her to make an urgent appointment with her doctor. 'I was sitting in the waiting room of my family doctor's office when he came out to get me,' Ms Self said. 'I could see him take a deep breath and my anxiety just went through the roof. My doctor told me my baby didn't have any limbs. 'I just stared and him and he asked me if I understood, then I just started crying. 'I asked him if I did something wrong. I asked him if it was my fault because I didn't go to the doctor for a few months.' Ms Self's doctor reassured her she was not to blame for her baby's condition. RJ (pictured left and right with his mother) has managed to escape with relatively few complications, however, his parents struggle to find clothes that fit, as well as a safe car seat Ms Self initially considered terminating her pregnancy when she discovered her son's syndrome during a five-month scan. Refusing to give up on her son, the hotel receptionist went on to have a relatively smooth pregnancy, before her placenta detached from her uterus 'I was sent for follow-up appointments where they explained the condition to me and told me he could have other malformations,' Ms Self said. Ms Self who works as a hotel receptionist then faced the difficult decision of whether to continue with her pregnancy. Tetra-amelia syndrome is a very rare disorder in which a baby is born without any of its limbs it has only been recorded in a few families around the world, according to the US's National Institutes of Health. The condition is caused by a genetic mutation in a section of DNA which plays a critical role in development. Most babies die before or shortly after birth. 'My doctors explained my options to me, and told me there was a possibility I wouldn't be able to carry him to term, or that he might be stillborn,' she said. 'My boyfriend and I talked about a termination and actually booked a procedure in Washington but we I decided to go on with the pregnancy.' Although her pregnancy went relatively smoothly, things took a turn for the worse when Ms Self was forced to deliver RJ via an emergency C-section when her placenta detached from her uterus wall. This can lead to severe internal bleeding in the mother, as well as cutting off the baby's supply of oxygen and nutrients. RJ (left) will one day require a specially adapted wheelchair. Ms Self (pictured left with her son as a newborn) was forced to wait several days before she could hold RJ through armholes in his incubator. The little one was immediately rushed to intensive care for blood transfusions After RJ was born, the youngster was immediately rushed to intensive care for blood transfusions. 'I remember seeing a head full of hair before they whisked him away,' Ms Self said. The new mother was only able to hold her son on October 1, three days after he was born. 'I put my hands into the incubator and held him in my hands,' she said. 'It was a happy moment.' WHAT IS TETRA-AMELIA SYNDROME? Tetra-amelia syndrome is a very rare disorder where a baby is born without any of its limbs. The condition can also cause severe malformation of other parts of the body, including the face, heart, nervous system, skeleton and genitals. The lungs are often also underdeveloped, which can make breathing difficult or impossible unaided. Due to the severity of a sufferer's condition, many patients are stillborn or die shortly after birth. Tetra-amelia syndrome's prevalence is unclear, however, it has only been reported in a few families worldwide. It is caused by a genetic mutation in a section of DNA that plays a critical role in development before birth. Sufferers require life-long assistance with specifically designed wheelchairs. Management otherwise depends on the severity of other malformations. Source: US National Library of Medicine Advertisement Despite the severity of RJ's condition, Ms Self counts herself lucky her son has escaped without too many complications. But the new mother admits she worries about RJ's future and is speaking out to encourage people not to be embarrassed to ask about her son's condition. 'He's a normal baby in every way except he doesn't have any arms or legs,' Ms Self said. 'He tried to grow his little legs but they didn't develop I call them his gumdrops. 'He has shoulders but doesn't have arms. 'Adults never ask me questions but kids always speak their mind which I appreciate. 'They ask me where are his arms and legs, and I answer them.' Ms Self recalled a sweet moment when a little girl who attends her church asked her how RJ will learn maths at school. 'I told her we'll find a way,' Ms Self said. 'I'd prefer if people are just up-front and ask me the questions they want to.' Despite her optimism, Ms Self and her partner a store supervisor struggle to find clothes to fit RJ and had to hunt for a car seat that ensured he stayed safe. The couple also accept their son will need special help in the future, such as an adapted wheelchair. But they still insist their little one's future is 'bright'. 'RJ's personality is great,' Ms Self said. 'He makes the funniest facial expressions. He definitely understands what you're saying. 'I think RJ's future will be bright. I think he could be a public speaker and share his condition with the world.' A mother has claimed doctors branded her 'inhumane' for not aborting her twins after her waters broke 16 weeks into pregnancy. Hannah Morris, 27, from Washington, Tyne and Wear, was devastated when she lost her amniotic fluid, medically named preterm prelabour rupture of the membranes (PPROM). She claims an E. coli infection that a midwife decided not to treat may have caused her waters to break 24 weeks early. The mother-of-three acted on a 'gut instinct' and refused to follow the doctors' advice to abort despite allegedly being told her babies would die or be disabled. Hannah Morris, 27, from Washington, Tyne and Wear, claims doctors branded her 'inhumane' for not aborting her '100% goner' twins, George and Alife, now two-years-old Ms Morris was devastated when she lost her amniotic fluid, medically named preterm prelabour rupture of the membranes (PPROM) at 16 weeks pregnancy Ms Morris believes the NHS would have rather have 'got rid' of her babies, pictured, for ease than treat them when they were born with potential disabilities For the remainder of her pregnancy after being diagnosed with PPROM, Ms Morris drank eight litres of water a day and stayed in bed to avoid losing any more fluid. At 34 weeks, she gave birth to George and Alfie King via C-section, and both are now healthy two-year-olds. Ms Morris, who had her children with partner, Mark King, a healthcare professional, 30, said: 'The negativity from the NHS was absolutely abominable. 'A lot of the doctors had not got a clue what to do with me. 'It was like it was their get out clause to say "have a termination" because it was easier to say get rid of the babies than to actually treat PPROM.' Women's waters normally break around the time labour is due, at 37 weeks, but in around two per cent of pregnancies they break early for various reasons. This triggers early labour in many women, but around six per cent of women do not give birth straight away. But the risk of maternal and foetal infection increases the longer the time between membrane rupture and the onset of labour. WHAT IS PPROM? Pre-term pre-labour rupture of the membranes happens in expectant mothers who are less than 37 weeks pregnant. Most women will go into spontaneous labour within 24 hours of rupturing their membranes. But six per cent of women do not go into labour within 96 hours. The earlier into the pregnancy the rupture occurs, the less likely it is that the onset of labour will be within a specified time period. The condition affects six to 19 per cent of term pregnancies and occurs in two per cent of all pregnancies. The condition is associated with 40 per cent of preterm deliveries and can lead to high morbidity and mortality. An expectant mother may describe feeling a 'popping sensation' of a 'gush' with continuous watery liquid draining. A woman will be taken into hospital immediately and admitted in many cases for the at least 48 hours. In most cases delivery should be considered at 34 weeks. It is recommended that women diagnosed with PPROM should not exceed 96 hours after their membrane has ruptured. The risk of maternal and fetal infection increases the longer the time between membrane rupture and the onset of labour. Source: patient.co.uk Advertisement Ms Morris said: 'The compassion that they had in that situation was so cold and so negative that when I was trying to fight for my babies' lives it felt like they didn't care. 'I understand the NHS is under massive strain and they're trying to make savings, but I was trying to save my babies. 'They completely failed me. If I had listened to these people I would have terminated my pregnancy and my sons wouldn't be here today. It's devastating.' Ms Morris, a stay-at-home mother who also has a six-year-old daughter, and Mr King were over the moon when they found out they were going to have twins in January 2016. A urine sample taken at Ms Morris's 12-week scan revealed that she had an E. coli infection. But Ms Morris claims the midwife opted not to offer antibiotics because she didn't have symptoms, instead believing the infection would go away on its own. Ms Morris said: 'At the beginning, if that midwife would have just given me three days of antibiotics then my waters would not have broken. 'As a midwife told me that, I'm going to take her word for it and that was that, I didn't think anything else of it. 'Everything just comes back to that one midwife not treating me for the infection. 'I think she made a massive error in judgement, but the NHS in itself has such a negative outlook on PPROM and they also don't know what the protocol is.' Then, Ms Morris' waters broke a few weeks later, and she was rushed to hospital in Bolton. The couple were heartbroken when they were warned that neither child had any chance of surviving because they were vulnerable to infection. Ms Morris said: 'I had an internal examination and the doctor told me that my waters had broken, and he was really sorry but there was nothing they could do for us. 'I asked a million questions can the other baby survive? Can it reseal? 'They said, "No, there was a 100 per cent chance that this baby won't survive and you need to have to have some medicine to induce labour. It's your only option".' Ms Morris claims an E. coli infection found by a midwife at her 12 week scan (picture), which was decided not to be treated, may have caused her waters to break 24 weeks early Alfie and George were born via C-section at 34 weeks old and spent four days in a neonatal intensive care unit. Alfie was born with holes in his heart and George suffered a weakened immune system due to his premature birth Doctors continuously urged Ms Morris and her partner, Mark King, 30, to abort their children because their vital organs would not develop properly and their limbs would be stuck together Ms Morris said: 'For some reason, I don't know why, I didn't want to do that [abort]. My gut was telling me not to follow the advice. 'I knew nothing about PPROM. I didn't know it was a thing before then. I just rejected all the medical advice. 'I said if I am going to lose them I lose them naturally and I'll let nature take its course. 'The doctor left me in this side room and not one single doctor or nurses or healthcare professionals came in this room for 48 hours. They just left me and my partner to miscarry our children.' But, after two days of waiting in hospital to miscarry, a scan revealed that both babies appeared healthy and the couple were sent home. Ms Morris said: 'A week after I was first in hospital I had a follow-up appointment and we met with a doctor who put a care plan in place for us but told us if they got to 24 weeks, which is viability, their limbs would be stuck to their bodies. '[They told us] their lungs won't be developed and their kidneys won't be developed. 'Choosing to carry on was immensely inhumane and was the worst thing I could do because my babies were 100 per cent goners. '[They said] I was only causing them more pain by carrying on with the pregnancy. 'We were considering at this point terminating the pregnancies because this was coming from top consultants.' The couple went home and decided to do their own research. Ms Morris turned to voluntary organisation Little Heartbeats for support and decided to put herself on bed rest to give her babies the best chance of survival. Acting on 'gut instinct' Ms Morris and her partner did their own research at home. Ms Morris rested in bed for the remainder of her pregnancy, avoiding any more fluid loss Ms Morris said: 'They completely failed me. If I had listened to these people I would have terminated my pregnancy and my sons wouldn't be here today. It's devastating' She would lose water every time she moved and found even simple tasks such as going to the toilet extremely difficult. She avoided baths and swimming pools and drank up to eight litres of water a day to keep her water supplies as replenished as possible. The situation was extremely challenging for the family, who say they felt isolated during the pregnancy. Each week they were reassured by a scan that showed that the babies were healthy, pushing them to carry on. But Ms Morris claims the doctors repeatedly told her it was unlikely the babies' vital organs would develop properly and their limbs would be stuck together. Abortions can be carried out after the usual 24 week cut off point in certain circumstances for example, if the mother's life is at risk or the child would be born with a severe disability. Against all the odds, Ms Morris made it to 34 weeks and planned a C-section with her doctors. George was born first weighing 5lbs 4oz and Alfie at 4lbs 1oz, and both spent four days in a neonatal intensive care unit. The twins, Alfie, left, and George, right, are now healthy and two-years-old Despite Alfie being born with holes in his heart and George suffering a weakened immune system due to his premature birth, both toddlers are now healthy and thriving. Ms Morris said: 'Taking our boys home was amazing. Just to know that we were right and that we had made the right decision by our children. 'They had defeated all the odds and they were strong, healthy little boys. They are now so cheeky and you look at them and think, wow, you nearly weren't here.' Ms Morris is now speaking out to call for better education for doctors and awareness for the public on the pregnancy complication. She said: 'I wasn't given a leaflet, I wasn't given any advice or counselling. Nothing like that was provided. I had to sort out help on my own. 'You trust your doctor and what they say to you think is going to be the right option. You trust the medical professionals that are looking after you. 'There just needs to be more awareness. So if a parent does find themselves in a situation like mine then they know where to turn. 'They might not necessarily get a positive outcome - they might lose their child. 'But if they have support from other parents who know what they've been though it's going to make the experience easier for them.' Ciara Curran, founder of Little Heartbeats, said: 'Hannah and her little surviving PPROM babies are living proof these babies can survive with little to zero fluids. 'These babies clearly demonstrate why we need to raise awareness of PPROM, and that terminating the pregnancy is not the only option, as these are just a few of the many babies who have survived. 'We are seeking to ensure our families have access to the information required to make informed decisions about their PPROM pregnancy. 'All too often they are told there is no hope and that their only option is to terminate, but babies can and do survive this.' A spokesperson for Bolton NHS Foundation Trust said: 'We are really sorry to hear about this. We do not comment on individual cases. However, we would be happy to meet with Hannah to discuss directly with her.' Shortly after having a bowel operation I discovered that both my little fingers were numb the one on the right being particularly bothersome. The orthopaedic doctor examined the nerves of the elbow regions for a possible cause, promising further appointments. Is the numbness Im referring to common, and can it be put right? Brian Woods, Manchester. I suspect that this numbness relates to damage done during your operation. Your description fits with a diagnosis of ulnar neuropathy, the second most common form of tingling fingers (after carpal tunnel syndrome). It occurs when the ulnar nerve which runs the length of the arm and, among other things, conveys sensation to the little finger, part of the ring finger and the palm becomes pinched. Typically, the nerve becomes compressed in a groove close to the elbow causing tingling and numbness of the little finger and half of the adjacent ring finger. Did you know? Ulnar neuropathy is the second most common form of tingling fingers after carpal tunnel syndrome. It occurs when the ulnar nerve becomes pinched. This is in contrast to carpal tunnel syndrome, which is also caused by a pinched nerve but in this case it is the median nerve the other main nerve supplying the hand. It becomes trapped close to the wrist joint, causing symptoms in the thumb and index finger. The ulnar nerve can be damaged at the elbow by acute trauma, such as a fracture, or it can be irritated by compression from leaning on the elbow or, most commonly, by keeping the elbow flexed for a prolonged period of time. I suspect this is the cause in your case. During your recent abdominal operation, it is likely that once you were anaesthetised and on the operating table your arms were flexed at the elbow and laid on your chest, away from the area of the surgery. Nerve damage is not uncommon after an operation. According to the Royal College of Anaesthetists, minor symptoms as a result of peripheral nerve damage (the nerves that run between the spinal cord and the rest of the body) may occur in 1-in-1,000 people who have a general anaesthetic and the ulnar nerve and the peroneal nerve in the leg are the most commonly affected. This damage may occur, for example, as a result of positioning such as lying on your front, or if (as in your case) a limb is flexed, or if a tight tourniquet is needed to stem bleeding (and the pressure irritates a nerve). Your symptoms should improve within weeks and resolve fully within a year. In the meantime, anti-inflammatory painkillers may help with discomfort, and avoiding prolonged elbow flexion by wrapping a towel around each elbow at night may hasten the resolution of the symptoms. For the past two years Ive had tinnitus a continuous hissing and whining in my ears, of varying loudness and intensity. It began with a build-up of wax in my left ear. What amazes me is that there is nothing the medical profession can do about it. David McLachlan, Oundle, Peterborough. At least 15 per cent of us will experience tinnitus at some point. For many, it is a temporary problem that clears within weeks or months. But for a minority, it becomes a permanent symptom that adversely affects the quality of life. Tinnitus is where you hear sounds such as whooshing or whirring (the word tinnitus is derived from the Latin for ringing) without there being any external cause of the sound. Its thought to occur as a result of a change in the amount of sound-related information reaching the brain that may result from age-related hearing loss, or damage to the ear caused by noise exposure. Write to Dr Scurr To contact Dr Scurr with a health query, write to him at Good Health Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email drmartin@dailymail.co.uk including contact details. Dr Scurr cannot enter into personal correspondence. His replies cannot apply to individual cases and should be taken in a general context. Always consult your own GP with any health worries. Advertisement It is believed extra information is sent through, resulting in the noise of tinnitus. Other possible triggers include a build-up of earwax, an ear infection, some medications that may lead to ear damage, and a head injury. Im afraid there is no straightforward cure: the goal of treatment is to reduce the impact of tinnitus on your life. The human brain is hugely complex and tinnitus, is, for the most part, a brain problem. I am reminded of Charles Bonnet syndrome, when people with partial or complete blindness see things that arent there, due to the brain creating hallucinations, which to the individual are very real even though there is no input from the eyes. Tinnitus is similar. We know that anxiety and fatigue worsen tinnitus. So relaxation techniques such as meditation and antidepressant drugs (such as nortriptyline) can help. Cognitive behavioural therapy can also be effective by altering negative thought patterns to ease the impact of the condition, though I accept that it requires much practise. The more an affected individual focuses on the unwanted noise, because its so insistent, the worse and more intrusive it becomes. Short-term measures such as simply having background noise on for example, the radio can help. The more you learn to ignore the tinnitus, the more it recedes into the background. Boys whose teachers find them antisocial in kindergarten may have lower incomes as adults than their classmates who don't have behavior problems, a new study suggests. Those who paid less attention in class or didn't interact well with classmates earned at least $1,300 less than their peers in adulthood. Misbehaving in school has long been linked to lower levels of academic achievement and income, the researchers from the University of Montreal noted in JAMA Pediatrics. But the new study offers a unique snapshot of this connection by examining behavior assessments done by kindergarten teachers and then looking at students' earning on tax returns three decades later. A new study has found that boys who are not social and don't pay attention in kindergarten earn less money as adults than their peers who don't have behavior problems (file image) 'Kindergarten teacher assessments are good predictors of problems which accumulate over time - behavior problems with peers and adults, school failure, delinquent behavior, substance abuse, etc - and lead to poor job market integration,' said senior study author Dr Sylvana Cote, a public health researcher at the University of Montreal. For the study, researchers looked at 920 boys who were age six beginning in 1984 through 2015. All of the boys were from low-income neighborhoods in Montreal, so researchers controlled for factors that might impact future earnings such as parents' income and education levels, family structure and neighborhood poverty levels. Their kindergarten teachers were asked to rate them on five behaviors: hyperactivity, inattention, opposition, physical aggression and pro-social behavior. Pro-social behavior is behavior for the interests of others including helping and sharing. The boys earned an average of about USD $28,866 a year by the time they were in their mid-30s, with annual income ranging from zero to $142,268. Rising levels of inattention in kindergarten assessments were associated with $1,295 less in annual income, the study also found. Over a 40-year career, the financial effect could amount to about $70,533 in lost income. Teacher ratings of hyperactivity, opposition, and aggression didn't appear to influence earnings later in life. However, pro-social behaviors were linked with an average increase of $406 in annual earnings. These results suggest that school-based programs designed to help students improve behavior when they're young may have lifelong economic benefits, Dr Cote said. 'If the school provides adequate support to these children from kindergarten onwards, they will succeed in school and have less problems with substance use and delinquent behavior,' she said. But it's not clear whether results would be similar for students growing up in more affluent neighborhoods or for girls. Teachers may also be biased in their assessments of behavior, said Dr Caroline Kistin, a pediatrics researcher at Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, who wasn't involved in the study. 'Prior research has demonstrated significant differences in how teachers rate child behavior based on child race, gender, and socioeconomic status,' Dr Kistin said. 'There are also known disparities in how students are treated in school, including who gets placed in separate special education tracks, who is required to repeat a year of school, and who gets suspended.' Disparities in how students of color are treated in school can also start before kids even reach kindergarten, particularly for black males, she added. To succeed in school and later in life, students need support that goes beyond the classroom. 'Parents, teachers, and medical providers should work together to improve communication around child development and social skills, with a focus on early, supportive interventions when there are concerns,' said Dr Kistin. Ebola has now killed more than 500 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including almost 100 children, according to the latest figures. As of February 11, 816 people have been infected, 755 confirmed and 61 probable, and 513 have died a death rate of 61 per cent. The outbreak, the second worst in history, has ravaged the country since officials confirmed the return of the virus in August. Aid workers on the ground warned in January that the outbreak is expected to rage on until at least the middle of the year. Thousands of lives have been saved by vaccinations, according to the country's government, which is administering them in high risk areas. But efforts to slow the spread are being hampered in the unstable region, where conflict and mistrust of government and health workers is rife. More than 500 people have now died in the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo 97 of them have been children, according to Save the Children Health workers assist a possible Ebola patient into her bed at an Ebola treatment center supported by the Doctors Without Borders group in Butembo, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo A health ministry bulletin reported on Friday: 'In total, there have been 502 deaths and 271 people cured.' Of these, 97 have been children, with the majority under the age of five, according to figures from the non-profit organisation Save the Children. The organisations fears the death toll among children will rise, considering the number of new cases spiked in January, from around 20 per week to more than 40. Heather Kerr, Save the Children's country director in the DRC, said: 'We are at a crossroads. If we don't take urgent steps to contain this, the outbreak might last another six months, if not the whole year. 'The DRC is a country suffering from violence and conflict and an extreme hunger crisis some 4.6 million children are acutely malnourished. 'The main concerns for many people are safety and making sure they have enough to eat. But Ebola has to be a priority too.' But Health Minister Oly Ilunga Kalenga said that, for the first time, a vaccination programme had protected 76,425 people and prevented 'thousands' of deaths. 'I believe we have prevented the spread of the epidemic in the big cities,' he said. 'The teams also managed to contain its the spread of the epidemic to neighbouring countries.' Front-line responders in high-risk areas of South Sudan including the capital Juba started receiving vaccinations in mid-January. Merck the pharma giant behind the vaccine delivered 2,160 doses to the African nation. Official data on the vaccines efficacy is still not available, but World Health Organisaition experts believe its been highly effective 90 per cent or higher. The vaccine protects against the Zaire strain of the virus, which is the strain behind this tenth outbreak in history. 'The biggest problem is the high mobility of the population,' the minister said. Neighbourhoods in the region are densely populated and regular migration could spread the virus 300,000 refugees have fled to Uganda since the outbreak began. The outbreak is also taking place near the country's Western border near major trade routes, which also increases the risk, experts have warned in the past. Health workers move a patient to a hospital after he was cleared of having Ebola at a Doctors Without Borders supported treatment center in Butembo, DRC in November 2018 Non-contact thermometers check the temperature of DR Congo visitors at the border Ebola screening point in Mpondwe, western Uganda A group of world health experts wrote in British medical journal The Lancet this week and said the outbreak is 'not under control'. They said 'bold measures' are needed to stop it and called on the World Health Organization to take 'drastic action'. The outbreak - second only to the 2013/2014 West African epidemic which killed 11,000 - started in the North Kivu region, which borders Uganda and Rwanda. The Spanish wing of the aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported on Twitter Saturday that there had been a surge in cases since January 15. Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan, further north, were all now on alert, it added. The security situation in the east of the country, where armed rebels have terrorised the population for years, has made treating the disease difficult. When Im giving a university lecture about dreaming I often start by asking if anyone would be willing to share a dream that I will interpret on the spot. Here is a typical example from a student Ill call Kyle. He says that in his dream hes running through an underground car park to get to his car. He doesnt know why hes running, just that he has to find his car. When he finds it, he tries to start it, but each time he turns the key nothing happens. His mobile phone rings and he wakes up. Big question: Neuroscience gives us the chance to nibble away at the most fascinating question in sleep science - why do we dream? I look knowingly at Kyle and say, I know exactly what your dream is about, Kyle. Its about time, and more specifically, about not having enough time to do the things you really want to do in life. A wave of recognition, almost relief, washes over Kyles face, and the rest of the class appear equally convinced. Then I come clean. Kyle, I have a confession. No matter what dream anyone ever tells me, I always give them that generic response, and it always seems to fit. Thankfully, Kyle is a good sport and takes this with no ill grace. I explain that the reason I do this exercise is to show that Sigmund Freud, who believed that dreaming was a way for our unconscious mind to deal with whatever thoughts our conscious mind was repressing, was wrong. This entirely nonscientific belief dominated psychiatry and psychology for a century. By interpreting a students dream, I can vividly demonstrate the dangers of generic interpretations that feel very persona, yet scientifically hold no specificity whatsoever. I realise this all sounds rather dismissive, but I am in no way suggesting that reviewing your dreams yourself, or sharing them with someone else, is a waste of time. Freud got it wrong! He believed that dreaming was a way for our unconscious mind to deal with whatever thoughts our conscious mind was repressing, but was incorrect On the contrary, I think it is a helpful thing to do, because dreams have a function indeed, writing down your waking thoughts, feelings, and concerns has a proven mental health benefit, and the same appears true of your dreams. Nevertheless, the psychoanalytic method built on Freudian theory is nonscientific and holds no repeatable, reliable, or systematic power for decoding dreams. To be fair, the field of neuroscience was in its infancy when Freud was thinking about dreams. Science was simply not up to the task of deconstructing them. Today we have the benefit of a much more informed, neuroscientific view of REM or rapid eye movement sleep, which is the principal sleep phase during which we dream. As a result, we now have scientifically testable theories of how we dream, and what it is that we dream about. Neuroscience even gives the chance to nibble away at the most fascinating question in sleep science: WHY do we dream? Some of the earliest rudimentary evidence came from my colleague Robert Stickgold at Harvard University who designed an experiment that would determine the extent to which dreams were a precise replay of our recent waking experiences. For two weeks, he had 29 healthy young adults keep a detailed log of daytime activities, and their emotional concerns. In addition, he asked them to write down any dreams they recalled when they woke up. He then had external judges systematically compare the reports of the participants waking activities with their dream reports. Of a total of 299 dream reports collected, a clear rerun of prior waking life events was found in just 1 to 2 per cent. Dreams are not, therefore, about simply rewinding the video of the days recorded experience and reliving it at night. But the researchers did find one strong daytime link with night-time dream reports: emotions. Between 35 and 55 per cent of emotional themes and concerns that participants were having while they were awake during the day powerfully and clearly resurfaced in their dreams. If there is a red-thread narrative that runs from our waking lives into our dreaming lives, it is that of emotional concerns. But contrary to Freudian assumptions, the scientists had shown that there is no censor or disguise. Dream sources are transparent clear enough for anyone to identify and recognise without the need for an interpreter. It is said that time heals all wounds. Several years ago I decided to scientifically test this age-old wisdom, as I wondered whether an amendment was in order. Perhaps it was not time that heals all wounds, but rather time spent in dream sleep. I had been developing a theory based on the combined patterns of brain activity and the brains chemical messengers during REM (dreaming sleep) and from this theory came a specific prediction: REM-sleep dreaming offers a form of overnight therapy. Sleep, and specifically REM sleep, is clearly needed in order for us to heal emotional wounds That is, REM-sleep dreaming takes the painful sting out of difficult, even traumatic, emotional episodes you have experienced during the day, offering emotional resolution when you awake the next morning. At the heart of the theory was the astonishing change in the chemical cocktail of your brain that takes place during REM sleep. A key stress-related chemical called noradrenaline is completely shut off within your brain when you enter this dreaming sleep state. In fact, REM sleep is the only time during the 24-hour period when your brain is completely devoid of this anxiety-triggering molecule. Noradrenaline is the brain equivalent to body chemical adrenaline. I wondered whether the brain during REM sleep was reprocessing upsetting memory experiences and themes in this calm (low noradrenaline), safe dreaming brain environment creating a perfectly designed nocturnal soothing balm that removes the emotional sharp edges of daily lives? If so, we should awake feeling better about distressing events that had happened before we dreamt. Think back to your childhood and try to recall some of the strongest memories. Youll notice almost all of them will be of an emotional nature: perhaps a particularly frightening experience of being separated from your parents, or almost being hit by a car. Also notice, however, that your recall of these detailed memories is no longer accompanied by the same degree of emotion that was present at the time. They are no longer emotional memories. Instead, they are memories of an emotional event, but lack the original emotional charge. My neurobiological theory of dreaming as therapy is that we have REM-sleep dreaming to thank for this dissolving of emotion from experience like stripping the bitter rind off an orange. We can therefore learn and usefully recall salient life events without being crippled by the emotional baggage that those painful experiences originally carried. That was the theory; next came the experimental test. We recruited a collection of healthy young adults and randomly assigned them to two groups. Each group viewed a set of emotional images while inside an MRI scanner as we measured emotional brain activity. Then, 12 hours later, they were placed back inside the MRI scanner and we presented those same images, while again measuring emotional brain activity. During these two sessions participants also rated how emotional they felt in response to each image. Importantly, half of the participants viewed the images in the morning and again in the evening, being awake between the two viewings. The other half viewed the images in the evening and again the next morning after a full night of sleep. Those who slept in between the two sessions reported a significant reduction in how emotional they felt in response to seeing those same images again. In addition, results of the MRI scans showed a large and significant reduction in activity in the amygdala, the emotional centre of the brain that creates painful feelings. Moreover, there was a re-engagement of the rational prefrontal cortex of the brain after sleep that was helping maintain a dampening brake influence on emotional reactions. In contrast, the deep emotional brain reactions in those who remained awake across the day without the chance to sleep remained just as strong and negative, if not more so, at the second viewing. Those participants also reported a similarly powerful re-experiencing of painful feelings. Since we had recorded the sleep of each participant during the intervening night between the two test sessions, we could answer a follow-up question: is there something about the type or quality of sleep that an individual experiences that predicts how successful sleep is at accomplishing next-day emotional resolution? As the theory predicted, it was the dreaming state of REM sleep and specific patterns of electrical activity that reflected the drop in stress-related brain chemistry during the dream state that determined the success of overnight therapy from one individual to the next. It is not, therefore, time that heals all wounds, but instead time spent in dream sleep that provides emotional convalescence. To sleep, perchance to heal. Dreaming is emotional first aid. Sleep, and specifically REM sleep, was clearly needed in order for us to heal emotional wounds. But was the act of dreaming during REM sleep, and even dreaming of those emotional events themselves, necessary to achieve resolution and keep our minds safe from the clutches of anxiety and depression? This was the question that Dr Rosalind Cartwright at Rush University in Chicago elegantly dismantled. She decided to study the dreams of people who were showing signs of depression as a consequence of incredibly difficult emotional experiences, such as devastating breakups and bitter divorces. Right around the time of the emotional trauma, she started collecting their nightly dream reports and sifted through, hunting for signs of the same emotional themes emerging in their dream lives. She then performed follow-up assessments up to one year later to find out whether the patients depression and anxiety were resolved or persisted. She found that patients who expressly dreamed about the painful experiences soon after the events who went on to gain resolution from their despair, mentally recovering a year later. But those who did not dream of the painful experience itself could not get past the event and still being dragged down by a strong undercurrent of depression. Fact: Deprive an individual of their REM-sleep dreaming state, and the emotional tuning of the brain loses its razor-sharp precision Cartwright had shown that it was not enough to have REM sleep, or even generic dreaming, when it comes to resolving our emotional past. Instead, we require REM sleep with a very specific kind of dreaming: which expressly involves dreaming about the emotional themes and sentiments of the difficulties we experience when we are awake. In other words, it was only that content-specific form of dreaming that allowed these patients to move forward and not be enslaved by that traumatic past. Just when I thought REM sleep had revealed all it could offer to our mental health, we discovered a second emotional brain advantage gifted by REM sleep one that is arguably even more essential to survival. Facial expressions represent one of the most important signals in our environment. They communicate intent of an individual and influence our behaviour in return. There are regions of your brain whose job it is to read and decode the value and meaning of emotional signals, especially faces. And it is that very same essential network of brain regions that REM sleep recalibrates at night. Deprive an individual of their REM-sleep dreaming state, and the emotional tuning of the brain loses its razor-sharp precision. A dream-starved brain cannot accurately decode facial expressions, which become distorted. You begin to mistake friends for foes. We made this discovery by doing the following. Participants came into my sleep centre and had a full night of sleep. The following morning, we showed them many pictures of an individuals face. Each image was subtly different. Participants viewed the faces in a random fashion while we scanned their brains in an MRI machine, and they rated how approachable or threatening the images were. Having had a full night of sleep their brains had no problem deftly separating one emotion from another. But when those same participants were deprived of sleep, including REM sleep, they could no longer distinguish one emotion from another with accuracy. The sleep-deprived participants slipped into a default of fear, believing that even gentle or somewhat friendly faces were menacing. The outside world had become a more threatening place untruthfully so. By removing REM sleep, we had, quite literally, removed participants level-headed ability to read the social world around them. Now think of occupations that require individuals to be sleep-deprived, such as military personnel, doctors, nurses, and those in the emergency services not to mention the ultimate caretaking job: new parents. Without REM sleep and its ability to reset the brains emotional compass, those same individuals will be inaccurate in their social and emotional comprehension of the world around them, leading to inappropriate decisions and actions that may have grave consequences. Adapted from Why We Sleep: The New Science Of Sleep And Dreams by Matthew Walker, published by Penguin Books at 9.99. Matthew Walker 2018. To buy a copy for 7.99 (20 per cent discount), call 0844 571 0640 or go to mailshop.co.uk/books. P&P is free on orders over 15. Offer valid until August 11, 2018. Always looking on the bright side of life can be bad for you, according to new research. Feeling under stress helps us cope better with bad news, say scientists. The discovery adds to increasing evidence that pressure is sometimes a good thing and sheds fresh light on depression. Experiments in the laboratory and real world found stress combats the human tendency to be over-optimistic. The findings published in JNeurosci provide a potential mechanism by which levels of optimism are adapted to the relative safety or danger of the environment. University College London psychologists asked people what their risk was of experiencing something bad. Then they gave them good or bad news. The pessimistic people took the news better In general people tend to be overly optimistic but the opposite is true in psychiatric conditions. Some patients with depression for instance place a premium on negative information. In the first study of its kind the US team showed the ability to flexibly shift between these two patterns can be a healthy, adaptive response to changing environmental demands. They first induced stress in a controlled laboratory experiment by telling 36 young men and women they had to give a surprise public speech. They then asked them to estimate their likelihood of experiencing 40 different aversive events in their life - such as being involved in a car accident or becoming a victim of card fraud. Participants were then given either good or bad news - being told their likelihood of experiencing these events was lower or higher than they had estimated, respectively. When the volunteers provided new estimates the control group showed the well-known optimism bias - a tendency to take more notice of good news compared to bad news. In contrast participants with higher levels of the stress hormone in cortisol in saliva samples showed no such bias and became better at processing bad news. The researchers obtained similar results in a study of 28 Colorado firefighters who naturally experience fluctuating periods of stress as part of their job. Lead author Dr Neil Garrett, a psychologist at University College London, said: 'Humans are better at integrating desirable information into their beliefs than undesirable. 'This asymmetry poses an evolutionary puzzle, as it can lead to an underestimation of risk and thus failure to take precautionary action. 'Here, we suggest a mechanism that can speak to this conundrum. 'This pattern of results was observed in a controlled laboratory setting, where perceived threat was manipulated and in firefighters on duty where it naturally varied. 'Such flexibility in how individuals integrate information may enhance the likelihood of responding to warnings with caution in environments rife with threat, while maintaining a positivity bias otherwise, a strategy that can increase well-being.' Dr Garrett and colleagues said the tendency to be overly optimistic has mystified scholars and lay people for decades. He said: 'Here, we demonstrate a mechanism generating the optimism bias, namely asymmetric information integration, evaporates under threat. 'Such flexibility could result in enhanced caution in dangerous environments while supporting an optimism bias otherwise - potentially increasing well-being.' People readily incorporate favourable news into their existing beliefs - yet tend to give less weight to unwanted information. Ignoring it can lead to being ill prepared. Stress is nothing new and in fact our body's stress response is beneficial to us as it keeps us alert in times of danger. This physiological response to stress is the same now as it was when our ancestors were hunting and gathering. Back then, the 'fight or flight' response to stress was very important. When faced with a predatory lion for example our ancestors needed to be as strong as possible to either run or counter-attack. In this sense, stress is a good thing as it has helped us survive as a species. Even now in everyday life, our bodies are very good and fast at dealing with difficult situations. If someone swerves in front of your car, your body will immediately switch on its stress response to allow you to instantly react. To help us react this quickly and almost unthinkably, vital neurochemicals and hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, will pump though our brains and bodies. The problem we have now is this same cascade is triggered when we are faced with a difficult situation at work or needy family member and if you think about it, we can come across such 'stresses' many times a day. If we don't cope with these stresses well, our bodies don't get the opportunity reset themselves physiologically. This is why constant stress that pushes us beyond our limits can be bad for our health. A cancer survivor has beaten incredible odds by surviving an internal decapitation that leaves most people paralyzed - or dead. In January, Brock Meister, 22, of Plymouth, Indiana, was being driven home by his cousin after a late dinner with friends when the vehicle hit a patch of black ice. The truck tipped over to the passenger's side, where Meister was sitting and he was thrown towards the door. His head hit and shattered the window, and the impact caused his skull to separate from his spine. Emergency responders had to carefully transport Meister to Memorial Hospital of South Bend, part of the Beacon Health Group, and make sure not to move his head a millimeter. It was the second time that Meister was forced to overcome a medical obstacle, having survived brain cancer when he was just 16. The doctor at Memorial Hospital who fused the skull and spine together told Daily Mail Online that Meister was essentially like 'a bobble-head doll' and that he is likely part of just one percent of people who are able to walk again after such a serious injury because his head wasn't moved. Brock Meister, 22, of Plymouth, Indiana, has beaten incredible odds by surviving an internal decapitation that leaves most people paralyzed - or dead. Pictured: Meister in physical therapy In January, Meister was being driven home from a dinner when the vehicle hit a patch of black ice. Pictured: Meister, left, with a friend in the hospital The truck tipped over to the passenger's side, where Brock was sitting and he was thrown towards the door. His head hit and shattered the window, the impact of which caused his skull to separate from his spine. Pictured: the truck after the accident Dr Kashif Shaikh, a neurosurgeon at Beacon Medical Group, told Daily Mail Online that he was at home when he received a page at 2am on Saturday, January 13. He was sent x-rays, where it was discovered that Meister had suffered an atlanto-occipital dislocation, a complete separation of the skull from the spine and also known as an 'internal decapitation'. 'I was looking at the scan at home and it's such a rare injury to see on a CT scan, because so many either die on the field or die in transport,' said Dr Shaikh. A 2009 study published in the Journal of Research found that those with this type injury immediately die in 70 percent of cases while 15 percent make it to the emergency room but die at the hospital. 'There are different forms of surviving. Even if you're able to realign everything, some people never really leave the hospital or leave in a very dependent state,' said Dr Shaikh. Dr Shaikh said that Meister was essentially like 'a bobble-head doll' and he was very lucky that his friends didn't try to move him and waited until emergency responders could arrive. 'One wrong move and he is a quadriplegic and the emergency responders were amazing too because they have to get him out of the car without moving his head a millimeter the wrong way,' said Dr Shaikh. 'The amazing part is not the surgery itself but getting Brock to the hospital to perform surgery.' The first question the neurosurgeon said he faced was whether to transfer him to a larger center in Indianapolis or to treat him at Memorial Hospital in South Bend. 'A few hours after he arrived at the hospital, he developed a lot of neck swelling and start to lose an airway path so he needed a breathing tube.' Dr Shaikh said. 'It was too dangerous to transfer because if his airway closes during transfer, he dies. People had to drive to Indianapolis to get the equipment and we were in surgery by noon.' For the procedure, Dr Shaikh needed another neurosurgeon and called on his colleague, neurosurgeon Dr Neal Patel, who came in on his off day to help perform the operation. Emergency responders had to be careful to not move Meister a millimeter the wrong way so he was not left paralyzed as they transported him to Memorial Hospital of Beacon Health Group. Pictured: Meister, right, before the accident For the surgery, Dr Kashif Shaikh and Dr Neal Patel had to carefully realign the skull with the spine. Next, a skull plate was inserted and screws were placed above and below the fracture. Finally, titanium rods were placed on either side to stabilize everything. Pictured: Meister's x-ray after his surgery, left, and his surgery scar, right 'The first that happens after the IV is put in is anatomic alignment. We carefully have to work to realign his head with his skull,' Dr Shaikh said. 'Dr Patel held Brock's body while I held the head and looked at an x-ray to slowly make adjustments. The surgery was about five hours but I think it took longer to get him positioned in alignment than the actual surgery.' Next, the surgeons made incision from the middle part of Meister's skull to the middle of his neck so that his cervical spine was exposed. Then they placed a skull plate and spinal screws both above and below the fracture point. Once the fracture is realigned, titanium rods are placed on each side to hold everything together. 'Normally you have a joint that allows you to look way up and way down,' said Dr Shaikh. 'In this surgery, you have to fuse the joint because the fracture is so unstable. So he won't have same degree of motion a normal person would have.' Interestingly enough, this wasn't the first time that Dr Shaikh had crossed paths with Meister. Back in 2012 when he was just 16 years old, Meister was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor at the center of his brain, a grade III germinoma. At the time, Dr Shaikh was a second-year resident at Riley Hospital where Meister received radiation to shrink the tumor. 'I think it's fairly possible that I saw him when I did my rounds, and it was a nice little path that helped everybody relax,' he said. Meister was put into physical and occupational therapy where he learning how to sit up in a chair and walk as well as how to eat and turn his head. He was released from the hospital in February and wore a neck brace until late spring. Pictured: Meister, left, with his mother, and right Dr Shaikh said this is the second time Meister has overcome a medical obstacle, beating brain cancer when he was just 16 years old. Pictured: Meister, left, and Dr Shaikh The neurosurgeon says Meister has made incredible progress to the point where he was able to pull his brother, who fell off a jet ski, out of the water. Pictured: Meister, center, and his family this summer At first, Meister was not able to speak because of the trach tube and communicated with his family with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down and a dry erase board, according to Beacon Health's blog. From there, he was put into physical and occupational therapy where he learned how to sit up in a chair and walk as well as how to eat and turn his head. Meister was in the inpatient rehab unit at Memorial Hospital until February, when he was released, and continued wearing a neck brace until late spring. Dr Shaikh said that it's amazing to see the progress that Meister has made since the accident. 'He's recently, in the last month or so, really started to turn the corner,' he said. 'He suffered some neuropathic pain - because the spinal cord gets stretched - and had weakness in his right arm but he's regained most normal function. 'A couple of weeks ago, his brother fell off a jet ski, suffering a spinal fracture and a torn ACL and Brock was able to reach in and pull him out.' The neurosurgeon said he is pretty confident that Meister will go on to live a relatively normal life. 'Even with this injury, to have a good outcome it take a lot of work,' Dr Shaikh said. 'Brock works so hard in rehab and just the way he perseveres is amazing.' Lyme disease is now in all 50 states of America and the District of Columbia, a new study reveals. The chronic tick-borne illness has long been rampant across the North East, which has historically accounted for 95 percent of cases. But a new report by Quest Diagnostics, a New York-based database of clinical lab results, reveals Lyme is now prevalent across the United States. In particular, new inroads are being made in California and Florida, where the risk was previously thought to be negligible. Meanwhile, the typical Lyme disease hot spots are only getting riskier: New England and Pennsylvania have respectively seen increases of 50 percent and 78 percent in the last two years. Since 2010, the rate of positive tests for Lyme are up 11.2 percent nationwide, the report shows Lyme disease has become more prevalent in the US in recent years, according to the report. Since 2010, the rate of positive tests for Lyme are up 11.2 percent. Numbers remained steady between 2010 and 2014, before shooting up dramatically in just three years. Florida and California, which are not historically associated with Lyme disease, drove that spike. The Sunshine State reported 483 positive test results in 2017 - a 77 percent increase from 2015. Meanwhile, the Golden State on the other side of the country reported 501 - an increase of 194.5 percent. New highs were also seen in Georgia, Arizona, Ohio, Texas, Tennessee, and Virginia. Among those infected are Bella Hadid and her mother Yolanda, who often speak out about the debilitating condition. During an eight-year surveillance period from 2010-2017, positive test results identifying infection with B. burgdorferi that causes Lyme disease were found in each of the 50 states and in Washington, District of Columbia The Sunshine State reported 483 positive test results in 2017 - a 77 percent increase from 2015. Meanwhile, the Golden State on the other side of the country reported 501 - an increase of 194.5 percent The typical Lyme disease hot spots are only getting riskier: New England and Pennsylvania have respectively seen increases of 50 percent and 78 percent in the last two years It is an infection transmitted from ticks to humans and animals through bites. Ticks carrying the disease spread a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi to their victims. They typically pick up the bacterium from infected animals, like deer or mice. Many people who are bitten by ticks dont contract Lyme disease. The infection is carried by deer ticks, also known as black legged ticks. This particular type of tick is prevalent in the north eastern and mid-Atlantic United States, according to the CDC. Per the NHS, deer ticks can be found all across the United Kingdom, but are especially common in grassy and wooded areas in southern England and the Scottish Highlands. The CDC recommends checking for ticks after coming inside from areas you may come in contact with them. Ticks should be removed within 48 hours to lessen your chances of contracting Lyme disease, Cleveland Clinic infectious disease specialist Alan Taege, MD told WebMD. To safely remove a tick, the NHS recommends using fine-tipped tweezers or a tick removal tool. Grab the tick as close to the skin as you possibly can and slowly pull upward. Hadids fighting Lyme: Bella (right) pictured at an event for the Global Lyme Alliance with her fellow supermodel siblings Gigi and Anwar Do no squeeze or crush the tick and be sure to dispose of it once its been removed. Clean your tick bite with antiseptic or soap and water. Unless you begin to feel unwell after removing a tick, there is no need to seek further medical treatment. Perhaps the most well-known and obvious sign of Lyme disease is a red bulls-eye rash that will appear around the tick bite site. Other early signs include fever, chills, headache, fatigue, and aches in both muscles and joints. If Lyme disease is left untreated, sufferers may begin to experience severe headaches and/or neck stiffness, body rashes, arthritis, loss of muscle tone on one or both sides of the face, heart palpitations, inflammation of the brain and spinal cord and shooting pains, numbness or tingling in the hands or feet. There are blood tests for Lyme disease, however theyre not immediately effective. According to Mayo Clinic, blood tests arent considered reliable ways of diagnosing Lyme disease until a few weeks after the infections been contracted. Early stage Lyme disease is treated with antibiotics. Patients are generally prescribed doxycycline for between 10 days and three weeks. A doctor may instead prescribe amoxicillin or cefuroxime for two to three weeks. In many cases, antibiotics can help people with Lyme disease feel better. Those for whom prescriptions dont work are referred to a hospital or clinic where they can receive stronger antibiotics intravenously. Chronic Lyme disease, however, is a term used to describe 'the attribution of various atypical syndromes to protracted Borrelia burgdorferi infection,' according to NCBI. The only way to prevent Lyme disease to is prevent tick bites. There are several ways to do that. You can prevent tick bites by covering up appropriately with pants and tall socks when entering wooded areas and spraying your body or clothes with a tick repellent that contains DEET. Lemon oil and eucalyptus are also thought to prevent tick bites. Sir Richard Branson's healthcare firm has won NHS contracts worth 2 billion over the past five years making it one of the leading providers in the UK. Virgin Care and its subsidiaries hold at least 400 contracts across the public sector ranging from school immunisation programmes to running GP practices. It won 1 billion of NHS contracts in 2016/17 as 3.1 billion of health services were privatised, sparking concern that profit-driven companies are increasingly becoming involved in NHS care. The latest figures come after the Mail revealed the firm was handed 2 million of public money after suing the NHS when it missed out on one contract in Surrey. Dr Robert Harwood, chairman of the British Medical Association's consultants committee, said NHS services should remain public. Sir Richard Branson's healthcare firm has won NHS contracts worth 2 billion over the past five years making it one of the leading providers in the UK He said: 'We firmly believe that the NHS should be publicly funded and publicly provided, and that ultimately the introduction of a competitive procurement framework has been, and will continue to be, detrimental to the health service. 'Patient care simply cannot take second place to finances nor damaging legislation. 'At a time when the NHS is facing huge financial pressure, it is vital that taxpayers' money is used to support overstretched NHS services to provide high-quality, safe care to patients, not to fund multimillion-pound private contracts.' Virgin's healthcare arm is now involved in sexual health services in the north-east of England, runs some GP surgeries in Essex, school flu vaccinations in Devon and healthcare at a number of low-category prisons. Sara Gorton, the head of health at the trade union Unison, told The Guardian: 'The company has been so keen to get a foothold in healthcare, it's even been prepared to go to court to win contracts, moves that have cost the NHS dearly.' The NHS awards thousands of contracts every year and private firms are entitled to bid for many of them. JUST HOW PRIVATE IS THE NHS? Various medical groups and policymakers have pounded the alarm over the 'creeping privatisation' of the health service in recent years. The NHS, battling unprecedented financial pressure, awards thousands of contracts every year and private firms are entitled to bid for many of them. But campaigners argue taxpayer money would be better used in supporting overstretched NHS services - not funding multi-million pound firms. Labour claims some of the contracts have wasted 'millions of pounds of public money' amid the 'biggest funding squeeze in NHS history'. The Government remains adamant the NHS will never be for sale, but fears still remain as to the growing reliance on private contractors. Virgin Care and its subsidiaries are just a handful of firms awarded contracts by the NHS, alongside controversial security firm G4S and others. Recent analysis of the Department of Health's published accounts by the King's Fund shows the share of spending by NHS commissioners on the private sector was 7.7 per cent of the budget in 2016/17. Virgin Care and its subsidiaries won 1 billion of NHS contracts in 2016/17 as 3.1 billion of health services were privatised. Advertisement Recent analysis of the Department of Health's published accounts by the King's Fund shows that the share of spending by NHS commissioners on the private sector was 7.7 per cent of the budget in 2016/17. Labour's shadow health minister Justin Madders said: 'The Tories' expansion of the internal market has led to one third of contracts being awarded to private providers since the Health and Social Care Act. 'Some of these contracts are vast and their failures have wasted millions of pounds of public money. 'After the biggest funding squeeze in NHS history it is essential that every penny is going to frontline services and to improving patient care, rather than padding out private profits.' A Downing Street spokesman said: 'As the Prime Minister has said many times in the chamber, the NHS is not for sale and it never will be. 'As spending on the NHS has increased, private sector spending remains proportionately low and we remain clear that the NHS will remain free at the point of use both now and in the future. 'Any decisions about use of the private sector are taken locally by local doctors who know their patients best.' A spokesman for Virgin Care said: 'For more than 10 years we have been supporting the NHS and local authorities to deliver health and care services; we have saved the taxpayer millions and delivered the plans asked for by the NHS- 93 percent of people rating our services say they'd recommend them. 'We have not made a profit to date, investing all money in delivering and improving the services we run and supporting a free, efficient NHS.' Drug deaths in England and Wales have jumped by nearly half in just five years, official figures reveal. Some 3,756 fatalities involving legal and illegal substances occurred last year - the most since records began in 1993, in the wake of the acid house scene. This equates to 66.1 deaths per one million people, 41 per cent higher than 2012's rate of 46.6. Officials have repeatedly warned use of the powerful painkiller fentanyl is soaring because it is readily available on the dark web and is cheap. It is also often cut with heroin, leading to accidental overdoses in some addicts. Cocaine deaths have also hit record highs as low prices is believed to be behind increasing numbers of users. Users of the recreational drug have also warned it is easier to get than takeaway pizza. Drug policy campaigners claim 'savage' funding cuts in treatment are to blame for the sharp increase in overall deaths revealed in the latest batch of data released by the Office for National Statistics. Cocaine deaths have also hit record highs as low prices is believed to be behind increasing numbers of users Some 3,756 deaths involving legal and illegal substances occurred last year - the most since comparable records began in 1993. This equates to 66.1 deaths per one million people, 41 per cent higher than 2012's rate of 46.6, statistics showed today There were 75 fatalities linked to fentanyl in England and Wales last year, an increase of 29 per cent from 2016, when there were 58. Fentanyl, originally developed in Belgium in the 1950s to aid cancer patients with their pain, is also partly behind a growing opioid crisis in the US. Even a tiny amount of the painkiller, which can be up to 10,000 times stronger than heroin and often sold on the dark web, can prove fatal. Carfentanyl, often used as an elephant tranquilliser because of its strength, was mentioned in death certificates in 2017 for the first time. The number of cocaine deaths rose from 371 in 2016 to 432 last year - but it is unsure whether these were down to the powder or crack. Deaths involving heroin and morphine are 10 times higher than they were in 1993, when just 115 fatalities were recorded. However, deaths involving both opioids decreased by four per cent last year to 1,164, the first decline since 2012. Fentanyl, originally developed in Belgium in the 1950s to aid cancer patients with their pain, is also partly behind a growing opioid crisis in the US And fatalities from so-called 'legal highs', such as spice, reduced by more than a half in 2017, from 123 in 2016 to 61. The reduction follows the Governments strict introduction of a blanket ban on new psychoactive substances. But statisticians argued last year's death rate remains similar to 2016, when there were 3,744 deaths related to drug poisoning. ONS health analysis statistician Ellie Osborn said: 'The figures published today show that the level of drug poisoning deaths in 2017 remained stable. 'However, despite deaths from most opiates declining or remaining steady, deaths from fentanyl continued to rise, as did cocaine deaths.' Last year, there were 2,521 male drug-related deaths and 1,235 female. Most were from drug misuse, which accounted for 67 per cent of the total number of drug poisoning deaths. Ian Hamilton, a drug researcher at York University, told MailOnline: 'More people now die due to drugs than as a result of fatal car accidents. Last year, there were 2,521 male drug-related deaths and 1,235 female, according to ONS 'Unfortunately, these people are dying in their forties and fifties, decades before the average person. WHAT DRUGS WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATHS? Heroin or morphine: 1,164 Methadone: 367 Tramadol: 185 Codeine not from compound formulation: 156 Dihydrocodeine not from compound formulation: 94 Fentanyl: 75 Other specified opiate: 9 Unspecified opiate: 190 Cocaine: 432 Any amphetamine: 150 Ecstasy/MDMA: 56 Cannabis: 29 Any new psychoactive substance: 61 Any benzodiazepine: 391 Zopiclone/Zolpidem: 126 Any antidepressant: 484 Any antipsychotic: 120 Paracetamol: 218 Advertisement 'These deaths are largely preventable but would require investment in drug treatment. 'But treatment budgets have been savagely cut since 2010, and we are now seeing the horrific impact of these cuts on the record number of people dying.' He added that young people dying from ecstasy often makes the headlines - But Mr Hamilton argued it is 'middle-aged people using heroin and diazepam that make up the majority of these deaths,.'. Martin Powell, from Transform Drug Policy Foundation, accused politicians of not funding measures proven to save lives across the world. He told the BBC: 'The UK government has nowhere left to hide. They are responsible for vulnerable people dying in droves.' Karen Tyrell, executive director of alcohol and drug charity Addaction, said: 'The truth is that most drug-related deaths are preventable. 'People who use opioids often have cumulative physical and mental health problems. 'Most of them have had very difficult, often traumatic lives and were letting them down if we dont give them the best care that we can.' Ms Tyrell added: 'Nobody wakes up in the morning and decides to become dependent on drugs. 'Everyone deserves help, and we know every person can recover with the right support.' Banking is universally known for being a gruelling profession. But doctors warn that increasing numbers of young financiers are being worked into a state of potentially-fatal ill heath. Medics across London have reported a shock surge in bankers under forty being admitted to hospital with heart complaints since 2008. And, worryingly, many are using illegal drugs to succeed in stressful environments, where long working hours and stress are commonplace. Working themselves into an early grave? Medics in central London have reported a rise in bankers being admitted to hospital with heart complaints over the past decade A number of cardiologists told Business Insider, this week, that there's been a ten per cent increase in patients from the sector over the past ten years. 'Its so common now young people getting a heart attack. This is common enough not to be shocking Its not "Oh my god, theyre only 25!",' Dr. Ahmed Elghamaz, a consultant cardiologist at London North West University Hospital said. 'We are not shocked anymore.' The unlikely patients, who are believed to consume cocaine and other perfromance-enhancing stimulants, regularly present themselves with two types of heart conditions: cardiac arrhythmia and myocarditis. The former is commonly referred to as an irregular heartbeat, while the latter is inflammation of the myocardium - the heart muscle. Both can develop into a fatal heart attack and are exacerbated by stress. Professional risk: The unlikely patients regularly present themselves with two types of heart conditions: cardiac arrhythmia and myocarditis WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF MYOCARDITIS? - A stabbing pain and/or tightness in the chest which may spread across the body - Shortness of breath when lightly exercising or walking - Difficulty breathing when resting - Flu-like symptoms such as a high temperature, tiredness and fatigue - Palpitations SOURCE: British Heart Foundation Advertisement Dr. Syed Ahsan, a cardiologist with a clinic in Canary Wharf, recently treated a banker with heart problems in his late-20s. 'He was using increasing amounts of cocaine working 12 to 14 hour a day, barely sleeping and he came in with episodes of blacking out and palpitations,' he said. Together, the doctors called for more research to be done and action to be taken. Their comments come just five years after the death of Bank of America intern, Moritz Erhardt, in 2013. Friends of the 21-year-old claimed he had been forced to work through the night eight times in a two week period in an effort to secure long term work with the firm. Many banks are known to encourage their young students to work late into the night and, previously, there have been claims those keen to impress have put in long hours with very little sleep. Meanwhile, in other research, it was recently claimed that women are more likely to die from heart failure. Their chances of dying from the condition, which affects one million Britons, within a year of being diagnosed are 14 per cent higher than men. The Canadian study also found that women were more likely than men to be admitted to hospital with the condition. And while hospital admissions had fallen for men due to better care, they were continuing to rise in women. The researchers could not say why the death rates and hospital admissions for heart failure are so much higher for women. But previous studies have shown women are much more likely to die from heart attacks than men as they do not receive as good care. Gendered issue? Recent research found that women are more likely to die from heart failure Experts say there is a perception among doctors and even among women themselves that heart conditions are a mans disease, which leads to them being missed. Heart failure occurs when the heart muscle is too weak to pump blood round the body and it gradually worsens. Patients commonly develop the condition after a heart attack or due to another problem such as an irregular heart rhythm or high blood pressure. Researchers from the University of Ottawa Heart Institute looked at 90,707 patients who had been diagnosed with heart failure between 2009 and 2014. The UK is harbouring a 'hidden crisis' of prescription drug addictions. That's the stark warning coming from medical experts, who say increasing numbers of patients are seeking help for misuse of anxiety medicines. And, worryingly, millions of people could be affected. It comes as Scottish government data shows a dramatic spike in deaths related to branded tranquilisers, such as Xanax. Rise: The number of benzodiazepine deaths in Scotland, relating to drugs such as Valium and Ativan, rose from 192 in 2015 to 555 in 2017 According to official figures by the National Records of Scotland, there were 99 fatalities related to the drug in 2017 - up from two in 2015. Meanwhile, general benzodiazepine deaths, relating to other drugs such as Valium and Ativan, rose from 192 in 2015 to 555 in 2017. Typically, those affected were men over the age of 35. However, medical professionals believe the problem likely goes beyond this profile to affect countless others from numerous demographics. This is despite the fact benzodiazepines are only available via doctors and are usually only prescribed for short-term use. Users circumvent this by illegally purchasing the products online. Harry Shapiro, the director of DrugWise, told The Guardian that he believes the trend in Scotland is likely to be replicating itself across the UK. Illegal trade: Users circumvent the need for a prescription by purchasing the products online BENZODIAZEPINES: HOW TO USE THEM Benzodiazepines should only be used to treat severe anxiety or severe insomnia that is having a significant impact on your day-to-day life. There are some situations when their use may not be appropriate. After a bereavement, for example, tranquillisers may numb your emotions and prevent you from grieving properly. But if you are unable to sleep because of grief and anxiety, a sleeping pill may help you to relax and start to recover. Benzodiazepines are likely to be most effective if you take them as a one-off dose for one occasion, and not as continuous treatment. The usual advice is that they should not be taken for longer than four weeks, and should not be taken every day. However, depending on individual circumstances, some doctors may prescribe them at low doses for long periods and this does not always cause a problem this could be the best treatment for some people. Source: Mind.org.uk Advertisement 'There is no data for it, but if you add up all the clinical reports, anecdotal evidence bearing in mind number of prescriptions there are millions of prescriptions written every year, for a range of drugs. 'I cannot believe the toll this takes doesnt go into the millions,' he said. His warning comes just a few months after it was revealed that millions of people are taking the highly-addictive gabapentinoid (GABA) drug, a group of medicines developed for epilepsy, but which act on a nerve receptor thought to be key to sending pain signals in the brain. GABA drugs are increasingly being used to treat nerve pain such as diabetic neuropathy (a complication of diabetes), shingles pain and trigeminal neuralgia (severe facial pain). Over the past ten years, the use of these drugs in the UK has rocketed; prescriptions of gabapentin have risen fivefold (from 1 million in 2006 to 6.5 million in 2016), while those for the GABA drug pregabalin, also licensed for anxiety, have risen tenfold (from just under 500,000 to 5.5 million). Around 1.3 million Britons now take GABA drugs, according to figures from the Public Health Research Consortium (PHRC), a research organisation funded by the Department of Health. This is a huge rise from the 100,000 or so taking them in 2000. A fresh Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is feared to have killed at least 33 people. Officials in the African nation have confirmed three deaths so far but believe the virus - considered one of the most lethal pathogens in existence - is responsible for scores more. A mass vaccination campaign will begin this week to stem the outbreak, which comes two weeks after the DRC declared the end of another one, considered a 'public health emergency'. Virologists feared that outbreak was 'reminiscent' of the 2014 Ebola pandemic, which decimated West Africa and killed 11,000 people. But the new outbreak in the East of the DRC is on track to dwarf the one that sparked international panic in earlier this summer in the North West. The Ministry of Health has confirmed 13 cases of Ebola in North Kivu Province which borders Uganda and Rwanda. Another 25 are probable. Officials in the African nation have confirmed three deaths so far (pictured: Doctors Without Borders team members walk through an Ebola security zone at the entrance of a hospital in DR Congo, where a fresh outbreak of the virus was declared in the east of the country) A further five probable cases have been noted in Ituri Province which also borders Uganda and shares a crossing with South Sudan. Officials are currently testing 33 other suspected cases in the laboratory to either confirm or exclude EVD. EVD, caused by the virus with its namesake, kills around 50 per cent of people it strikes but there is no proven treatment available. Three healthcare workers have been struck down by Ebola, of whom one has died. The unsafe burial of a 65-year-old Ebola sufferer triggered the latest outbreak in the DRC, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). After she was buried members of her family began to display symptoms of the virus 'and seven of them died'. Most of the cases have been recorded in the district of Mangina, 18 miles (30km) west of the city of Beni. HAS THE DRC HAD AN EBOLA OUTBREAK BEFORE? DRC escaped the brutal Ebola pandemic that began in 2014, which was finally declared over in January 2016 - but it was struck by a smaller outbreak last year. Four DRC residents died from the virus in 2017. The outbreak lasted just 42 days and international aid teams were praised for their prompt responses. The new outbreak is the DRCs tenth since the discovery of Ebola in the country in 1976, named after the river. The outbreak earlier this summer was its ninth. Health experts credit an awareness of the disease among the population and local medical staff's experience treating for past successes containing its spread. DRCs vast, remote geography also gives it an advantage, as outbreaks are often localised and relatively easy to isolate. Advertisement But healthcare workers have been told they will have to navigate their response among more than 100 armed groups. A WHO spokesperson said: 'This is an active conflict zone. The major barrier will be safely accessing the affected population.' The outbreak earlier this summer Vaccinations will begin this week, following the success of the jabs in Equateur province, which two weeks ago declared the end of an Ebola flare-up. Some 33 people were also feared to have died in that outbreak, which began in the poorly-connected region of Ikoko-Impenge and Bikoro. It travelled 80 miles (130km) north to Mbandaka, a port city on the river Congo an essential waterway - with around 1.2 million inhabitants. There was a concern it would spread to Kinshasa 364 miles (586km) south on the river, which has an international airport and 12 million people residents. Dr Derek Gatherer, a virologist from Lancaster University, warned the outbreak earlier this summer was 'reminiscent' of the 2014 Ebola pandemic. All neighbouring countries were alerted about the outbreak of Ebola, which can cause severe bleeding. Experimental vaccine Officials hailed the use of an experimental vaccine called as rVSV-ZEBOV in stemming the Ebola outbreak in northwestern Congo in July. More than 3,000 doses remain in stock in Kinshasa, allowing authorities to quickly deploy it to the affected areas near the Ugandan border. Barthe Ndjoloko, who oversees the health ministry's Ebola response, said officials are working round-the-clock to identify those who may be infected. He revealed the vaccination campaign will focus on healthcare workers and those who have come into contact with confirmed cases. The 2014 international response to the Ebola pandemic drew criticism for moving too slowly and prompted an apology from the WHO. But international aid teams have moved much quicker in response this time - with vaccination campaigns already underway in several regions. Pregnant women have been urged to ensure that they are protected against measles as cases of the infection continue to rise. Midwives from Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust are encouraging expectant mothers to get up-to-date on their jabs, with previous research linking measles to stillbirths, miscarriages and premature labours. Janet Cairns, head of midwifery at the Trust, said: 'Now is the time to check if you are vaccinated against measles. 'If you are pregnant and have been in contact with someone with measles, please contact your GP or midwife'. This comes just weeks after the Royal College of Nursing urged European holidaymakers to ensure they are up-to-date before their travels, with Greece, Italy, Romania, Germany, France and Serbia all experiencing unusually high measles rates. In the UK, 781 confirmed cases occurred between the start of the year and July 22, compared to just 274 throughout 2017, according to Public Health England (PHE). Pregnant women have been urged to ensure that they are protected against measles (stock) WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF MEASLES DURING PREGNANCY? AND IS IT SERIOUS? Measles is a highly contagious virus that spreads via contact with an infected person. If a pregnant woman who has not been vaccinated becomes infected, she is at greater risk of suffering a miscarriage, stillbirth or premature labour. Infected pregnant women suffer the same symptoms as other measles patients. These include fever, cold, cough and rashes, which are characterised by red spots and bumps on the skin. Pregnant women showing symptoms of measles, or those who have been in contact with an infected person, should contact their GP or midwife immediately. They will then undergo a blood test to determine if they are immune to measles. If not, they may require an injection to boost their immune-cell counts, which should help to reduce their measles symptoms and the impact of the infection on their babies. Advertisement 'Now is the time to check you are vaccinated against measles' Janet Cairns, head of midwifery at the Trust, said: 'Now is the right time to check if you and your family are vaccinated against the risk of measles. 'GPs can advise, and give vaccines to anyone who has not been adequately protected. Two doses of the MMR vaccine can prevent more than 95 per cent of cases of measles, mumps and rubella. 'If you are pregnant and have been in contact with someone with measles, which is infectious from a few days before the rash appears, please contact your GP or midwife, who can request a blood test to check whether you are immune.' Pregnant women who have not been vaccinated against measles experience the same symptoms as other sufferers. These include fever, cold, cough and rashes, which are characterised by red spots and bumps on the skin. If women suspect they have measles or have come into contact with an infected person, they should contact their GP or midwife immediately. Such women will then undergo a blood test to determine if they are immune to the infection. If not, they may require an injection to boost their immune-cell count, which will help to reduce their measles symptoms and the infection's impact on their pregnancy. MEASLES DECLARED 'ELIMINATED' FROM THE UK JUST FOUR MONTHS AGO The 'elimination' of measles has been achieved in the UK, global health leaders said in September. The elimination of measles or rubella can be verified once a country has sustained 'interruption of endemic transmission' for at least 36 months, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The European Regional Verification Commission said the UK achieved elimination status for measles as of 2016. Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at Public Health England, said: 'We are delighted that the WHO has confirmed that the UK achieved measles elimination in 2016 and that rubella elimination continues to be sustained. 'In addition, national vaccine coverage of the first MMR dose in five year olds has hit the WHO's 95 per cent target. 'This is a huge achievement and a testament to all the hard work by our health professionals in the NHS to ensure that all children and adults are fully protected with two doses of the MMR vaccine. 'We need to ensure that this is sustained going forward by maintaining and improving coverage of the MMR vaccine in children and by catching up older children and young adults who missed out.' Advertisement WHAT WERE THE MEASLES, MUMPS AND RUBELLA VACCINATION RATES IN TWO-YEAR-OLDS ACROSS ENGLAND IN 2015-TO-2016? Region of England % vaccinated North East North West Yorkshire & Humber East Midlands West Midlands East of England London South East South West Source: NHS immunisation statistics 95 92.9 94 94.1 93.1 93.5 86.4 91.9 92.9 Some 781 confirmed cases occurred between the start of the year and January 22 (stock) Officials urge people to get vaccinated Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at PHE previously said: 'The measles outbreaks we are currently seeing in England are linked to ongoing large outbreaks in Europe. 'The majority of cases we are seeing are in teenagers and young adults who missed out on their MMR vaccine when they were children. 'Anyone who missed out on their MMR vaccine in the past or are unsure if they had two doses should contact their GP practice to catch-up. 'This serves as an important reminder for parents to take up the offer of MMR vaccination for their children at 1 year of age and as a pre-school booster at three years and four months of age. She added: 'We'd also encourage people to ensure they are up to date with their MMR vaccine before travelling to countries with ongoing measles outbreaks. 'The UK recently achieved World Health Organization (WHO) measles elimination status and so the overall risk of measles to the UK population is low, however, we will continue to see cases in unimmunised individuals and limited onward spread can occur in communities with low MMR coverage and in age groups with very close mixing.' To prevent a measles outbreak, it is recommended that 95 per cent of the population is immunised against the infection. Only 91.9 per cent of children were vaccinated against measles between 2015 and 2016 compared to 94.2 per cent in 2014-to-2015 and 94.3 per cent in 2013-to-2014, according to NHS immunisation statistics. The World Health Organization claims people's fear of vaccines, along with complacency, means many, particularly young children, are unprotected. To prevent a measles outbreak, 95 per cent of the population should be vaccinated (stock) Epidemics in Europe Earlier this year, the WHO warned measles was spreading across Europe in regions where vaccination rates are low, such as Poland, Switzerland and Ukraine. Data published in November 2017 by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in the Communicable Disease Threat Report show that from January 2016 to November 2017, more than 19,000 measles cases were reported in the EU, including 46 deaths. The highest number of cases in 2017 were reported in Romania, where 7,759 people suffered, followed by Italy with 4,775 cases and Germany with 898 sufferers. Greece also experienced a measles outbreak, with at least 368 cases, and one death, since May 2017. Dr Ramsay said: 'Due to ongoing measles outbreaks within Europe, we will continue to see imported measles cases in the UK in unimmunised individuals. 'This serves as an important reminder for parents to take up the offer of MMR vaccination for their children when offered at one year of age and as a pre-school booster at three years, four months of age.' WHAT IS MEASLES, WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS AND HOW CAN YOU CATCH IT? Measles is a highly contagious viral infection that spreads easily from an infected person by coughing, sneezing or even just breathing. Symptoms develop between six and 19 days after infection, and include a runny nose, cough, sore eyes, a fever and a rash. The rash appears as red and blotchy marks on the hairline that travel down over several days, turning brown and eventually fading. Some children complain of disliking bright lights or develop white spots with red backgrounds on their tongue. In one in 15 cases, measles can cause life-threatening complications including pneumonia, convulsions and encephalitis. Dr Ava Easton, chief executive of the Encephalitis Society told MailOnline: 'Measles can be very serious. '[It] can cause encephalitis which is inflammation of the brain. 'Encephalitis can result in death or disability.' Treatment focuses on staying hydrated, resting and taking painkillers, if necessary. Measles can be prevented by receiving two vaccinations, the first at 13 months old and the second at three years and four months to five years old. Source: Great Ormond Street Hospital Advertisement ARE AUTISTIC CHILDREN MISSING OUT ON VACCINATIONS? Autistic children are missing out on life-saving vaccinations, research suggested in March 2018. Only 81.6 per cent of those on the autism spectrum have received all the recommended vaccinations for children aged between four and six years old, a study found. For those without the developmental disability, 94.1 per cent have had the necessary jabs, including diptheria, polio, and measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), the research adds. Lead author Dr Ousseny Zerbo, from Kaiser Permanente, California, said: 'These findings suggest that children with autism and their younger siblings may be at greater risk of vaccine-preventable diseases. 'Vaccine hesitancy or refusal may play a role in children not getting properly vaccinated.' Results further suggest just 89.1 per cent of children with autism have been vaccinated against diptheria, tetanus and whooping cough, compared to 96.6 per cent of youngsters without the disorder. Only 84 per cent of autistic children are protected against MMR versus 95.9 per cent who do not suffer such developmental and behavioural challenges. The younger siblings of autism sufferers are also missing out, with 6.8 per cent receiving fewer vital jabs than their peers. Dr Nicholas Wood, from Sydney University, who was not involved in the study, added: 'Parents of autism spectrum disorder kids may be worried; they may still feel that the MMR vaccine led to autism. 'And that a second dose may cause a regression.' Advertisement Is Andrew Wakefield's discredited research to blame for low vaccination rates? In 1995 the gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield published a study in The Lancet showing children who had been vaccinated against MMR were more likely to have bowel disease and autism. He speculated that being injected with a 'dead' form of the measles virus causes disruption to intestinal tissue, leading to both of the disorders. After a 1998 paper further confirmed this finding, Wakefield said: 'The risk of this particular syndrome [which he termed autistic enterocolitis] developing is related to the combined vaccine, the MMR, rather than the single vaccines.' At the time, Wakefield had a patent for single MMR vaccines and was therefore accused of having a conflict of interest. Nonetheless, MMR vaccination rates in the US and UK plummeted, until, in 2004 the then-editor of The Lancet Dr Richard Horton described Wakefield's research as 'fundamentally flawed', adding he was paid by attorneys seeking lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers. The Lancet formally retracted Wakefield's research paper in 2010. Three months later, the General Medical Council banned Wakefield from practicing medicine in Britain, stating his research had shown a 'callous disregard' for children's health. On January 6 2011, The British Medical Journal published a report showing that of the 12 children included in Wakefield's 1995 study, at most two had autistic symptoms post vaccination, rather than the eight he claimed. At least two of the children also had developmental delays before they were vaccinated, yet Wakefield's paper claimed they were all 'previously normal'. Further findings revealed none of the children had autism, non-specific colitis or symptoms within days of receiving the MMR vaccine, yet the study claimed six of the participants suffered all three. The Prince of Wales met young starts earlier today as he toured the Royal Ballet School to help mark his 70th birthday year. Charles attended a world premier at The Royal Opera House in London which was presented in honour of his birthday. The production, called The Cunning Little Vixen, was created by Liam Scarlett for The Royal Ballet School. Charles was greeted by the school's chairman, the Duchess of Wellington, and Alex Beard, the chief executive of the Royal Opera House before being presented a programme by one of the school's dancers, Krista, who was dressed in a traditional red tutu. Following the performance he met cast and crew members of the show. who seemed both delighted and excited to meet the royal. The Prince of Wales (left) is greeted by Krista (right) , a 12-year-old dancer at the Royal Ballet School, watched by the Duchess of Wellington (centre) Krista waited patiently to meet Prince Charles (left) and curtsied (right) when being introduced Staff and Krista were all smiles at the Opera House as they met Prince Charles The Prince of Wales meets cast members as he attends the world premiere of the ballet, The Cunning Little Vixen The performers, from the Royal Ballet's dancer training schools, White Lodge and Upper School, took on the roles of lively woodland creatures. The double bill also included a production of Frederick Ashton's 'The Two Pigeons', which featured two live birds flying across the stage. Liam Scarlett is the current Artist in Residence at the school, having joined The Royal Ballet in 2006 and eventually retiring from dancing in 2012 to focus on choreography. Charles has been the President of the Royal Ballet since 2003 and Patron of the Royal Opera House since 2009. After the performance Charles was pictured being introduced to the stars of the show on stage who were still dressed in various costumes following the performance. The cast and crew members seemed excited to have performed for the Prince of Wales A firm handshake: cast members smiled and looked delighted to be meeting Prince Charles (left and right) Cast members dressed as animals and toy soldiers (pictured above) looked delighted to meet the Prince of Wales The Prince of Wales (right) shakes hands with choreographer Liam Scarlett (centre in black suit) as cast members watch Earlier today Prince Charles and Camilla were in Liverpool for a day of engagements. Charles and Camilla arrived in the county just over a month after and Meghan conducted a string of engagements in Birkenhead. The couple were totally coordinated both opting for an apt royal blue as they arrived in Liverpool on Tuesday morning. Camilla looked typically elegant in a blue wool coat with an embroidered cuff as she and her husband met with Ireland's President Michael D Higgins during a day celebrating the culture, history and people of the city. She could be seen carrying a small navy handbag by Aspinal of London and opted for a pair of knee high black boots, a look that Kate would surely approve of. Meanwhile Charles, 70, also chose a blue colourway for his engagement today in the form of a pin stripe indigo suit. Dozens of students lined crash barriers to catch a glimpse of the royal couple as they began a day of marking the city's culture, history and people by celebrating the university's Institute of Irish Studies. Charles and Camilla have arrived in Liverpool in coordinating blue ensembles for a day of engagements Camilla, 71, stood in front of Paul Curtis' Liver Birds mural in the city's Baltic Triangle while photographers snapped away on Tuesday When Bec Lancaster-Scully visited the hospital with a headache two months ago, she never expected to be diagnosed with two aggressive brain tumours. But now, the 36-year-old mother-of-two from the Gold Coast has been given just 'four weeks' - or perhaps months if she's lucky - to live. Despite having the first tumour successfully removed on January 29, Bec's second tumour has quadrupled in size, causing excruciating pain, swelling and partial blindness. When Bec Lancaster-Scully visited the hospital with a headache two months ago, she never expected to be diagnosed with two aggressive brain tumours (pictured with her family) Despite having the first tumour successfully removed on January 29, Bec's second tumour has quadrupled in size, causing excruciating pain, swelling and partial blindness This tumour cannot be removed as it is on her brain stem. However, doctors are set to try to 'chip away' at the grade 4 primary glioblastoma on Thursday in Benowa, reports The Sunshine Coast Daily. Bec's sister Sally Kulig has set up a GoFundMe page to help to raise funds for 'the strongest woman we know'. 'Only two months ago my sister Bec Lancaster-Scully was a happy and healthy 36-year-old woman living on the beautiful Gold Coast with her husband Joel and two beautiful boys Will, 5 and Kit, 1,' Bec's sister Sally wrote (Bec pictured with her son Kit) 'Only two months ago my sister Bec Lancaster-Scully was a happy and healthy 36-year-old woman living on the beautiful Gold Coast with her husband Joel and two beautiful boys Will, 5 and Kit, 1,' Sally wrote. Otherwise fit and healthy, she enjoyed bike rides, Pilates and playing with her two boys - until a bad migraine sent her to the doctor where she was given the fateful news. 'She has since been diagnosed with Grade 4 - primary glioblastoma with a rhabdoid subtype AKA brain cancer,' Sally wrote on the GoFundMe page. 'The average survival time is 12-18 months with only 25 per cent of glioblastoma patients survive more than one year, and only 5 per cent of patients survive more than five years.' However, the reality could be far worse, as the delicate operation she is about to undertake carries a high risk of death or severe brain damage. 'If she pulls through and gets well enough to have radiation, then she might live for six months, otherwise she has four weeks,' Sally told the Sunshine Coast Daily. Bec's close-knit family are inevitably devastated by the news, especially after so much heartache and so many 'challenges' that she and her partner Joel have faced Now, Sally said they are facing a 'horrible uncertain future'; Bec's fundraising page has already raised an impressive $57,000 'Bec is the strongest woman we know and if we can make this fight a little bit easier, we're going to do whatever we can for her and her boys' future,' her sister Sally wrote Bec's close-knit family are inevitably devastated by the news, especially after so much heartache and so many 'challenges' that she and her partner Joel have faced over the past six years. 'Their son Will was born in May 2013 with a heart condition that required heart surgery,' Sally wrote. What is Glioblastoma? * Glioblastoma is the most aggressive cancer that begins within the brain or spinal cord. * Glioblastoma can occur at any age, but tends to occur more often in older adults. It can cause worsening headaches, nausea, vomiting and seizures. * Glioblastoma, also known as glioblastoma multiforme, can be very difficult to treat and a cure is often not possible. Treatments may slow progression of the cancer and reduce signs and symptoms. * Glioblastoma treatment options include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, clinical trials and palliative care. Source: Mayo Clinic Advertisement 'He spent seven weeks in hospital until he was strong enough to undergo the surgery. 'Then in February 2016 their little boy Jasper was born sleeping at 9 1/2 months. Bec and Joel welcomed Kit into the world in October 2017, born at 34 weeks which kept Bec and Kit in hospital for six weeks.' Now, Sally said they are facing a 'horrible uncertain future'. The GoFundMe page has already seen friends, family and strangers donate to help raise funds for Bec, and the funds will help to fund flights to Sydney to see renowned neurosurgeon Charlie Teo. Some $57,211 of the $100,000 goal has been raised, including pledges from anonymous donors of up to $1,600. 'Bec is the strongest woman we know and if we can make this fight a little bit easier, we're going to do whatever we can for her and her boys' future,' Sally wrote. Glioblastoma is the most common form of brain cancer in adults, and it has a five-year survival rate of 4.6 per cent, against 25 per cent for other brain cancers, according to the Australian Cancer Research Foundation. It kills around 1,500 Australians. The Duchess of Sussex revisited a favourite fashion formula as she joined Prince Harry at the Natural History Museum on Tuesday night. Meghan, 37, wore a cream dress under a cream coat for the outing - an ensemble that looked strikingly similar to the one she wore for a visit to the Mayhew animal welfare charity in London last month. However while she dressed her baby bump in a 24.99 ($32) H&M maternity dress for the event in January, her dress tonight was custom Calvin Klein - and cost more than 60 times as much. The 1,495 ($1,900) dress is believed to be a shorter version of a maxi dress released as part of the Calvin Klein 205W39NYC Resort 2019 collection, and features a turtleneck design. The Duchess of Sussex looked stunning tonight in a cream Calvin Klein dress and and a cream Amanda Wakeley coat, but her look was very similar to when she visited the Mayhew dogs home last month Tonight's look was very similar to what she wore when she visited the Mayhew dogs home last month The Duchess of Sussex's growing baby bump was on show as she wore the tight fitting Calvin Klein dress, which had a turtleneck design It is a similar length, shape and colour to the H&M version worn last month. Meghan wore the figure-flattering Calvin Klein dress under an Amanda Wakley Sculpted Tailoring Crombie Coat, priced at 895, which she previously wore to a Commonwealth service last year. At Mayhew, Meghan wore the H&M dress with a similar Armani coat worth 2,000 ($1,556). Tonight the royal matched her look with Ralph Lauren Olive Green Heels and their Olive Green clutch to match and Vanessa Tugendhaft clover earrings priced at 660. She also wore classic jewelry, with rose gold clover leaf styled earrings from Vanessa Tugendhaft, priced at 660. As Meghan arrived for the gala tonight she wore a Calvin Cream Turtleneck Dress, likely to be from his bespoke 2019 Resort Collection Meghan and Harry arrived at the Natural History Museum looking happy as they were greeted by staff She went full glam with her make-up tonight, with a contoured and bronzed look. While her lipstick was a lighter shade of brown. Her hair was worn up off her face, partitioned to the side and her fringe swept back. For her Mayhew dogs trust visit she paired her look on the day with a Stella McCartney bag and 24.99 ($32) and finished off her nude ensemble with Dean Davidson earrings and a pair of towering slingbacks. But Meghan isn't shy about reusing what's in her wardrobe, as her look tonight has been worn before. Meghan, 37, was joined by husband Prince Harry, who looked smart in a classic dark blue suit, as they arrived at the Natural History Museum for a gala performance of theatre production The Wider Earth The Duchess of Sussex's growing baby bump was on show as she wore the tight fitting Calvin Klein dress and was given flowers The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive at the Natural History Museum in London they were welcomed warmly by staff With the Amanda Wakeley Crombie Coat worn at the Commonwealth Celebration Service in 2018, while she wore her Ralph Lauren Olive Green Heels and clutch at Prince Louis christening. As the arrived at the Natural History Museum tonight they stopped to talk to those involved in the theatre production, presenting her with flowers. The Wider Earth is a theatre production about a young Charles Darwins expedition on HMS Beagle, written by David Morton. The performance is being held to celebrate the 210th birthday of Charles Darwin, and will be hosted by Julia Bradbury. When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attended the Commonwealth Day observance service in March 2018 she wore the Amanda Wakeley Crombie Coat The Duchess also wore her Ralph Lauren Olive Green Heels and clutch at Prince Louis christening The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended the gala performance as His Royal Highness is President of the QCT. The Queens Commonwealth Canopy is a unique network of forest conservation initiatives that marks Her Majesty The Queens service to the Commonwealth and conserves indigenous forests across the globe. During their tour of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga, Meghan and Harry unveiled six dedications to The Queens Commonwealth Canopy (QCC) and welcomed commitment to the initiative by its latest member, Kiribati. It's no secret that break-ups usually end in tears, with one or both partners often wanting to remove every aspect of their ex from their life. But people are beginning to take things to another level, as an online marketplace has noticed a growing trend in the number of people selling things belonging to their ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends on the internet. OfferUp - a website that allows people to sell things online - noticed that more and more people are selling jewelry, stuffed toys, clothing and other miscellaneous items once owned or gifted to them by an ex. Ruthless! Online marketplace OfferUp noticed a trend in what people were selling recently, after they spotted several instances of people selling items from their exes on the site Savage: Dozens of people are selling jewelry owned or given to them buy an ex-partner, including one user, who is selling a necklace (pictured) that was intended for her 'cheating' ex Out with the old: Another user is selling a watch for $70 that she bought for her ex-boyfriend for $120 before he cheated on her Resell! One user revealed that she is selling a Michael Kors watch that her ex bought for her before they broke up. She wrote: 'I no longer want it due to us breaking up' Woah! A user, who paid more than $1,300 for a three-carat engagement ring for his ex, who he said he 'didn't get far' with, is now selling the ring on OfferUp for $800 According to a spokesperson for the website, almost one million dollars worth of ex's items have been posted on the website since roughly this time last year. One user posted a photo of the engagement ring that her ex-fiance had given her. She revealed in the post that she was selling the ring for just $40, as she isn't sure about its actual value. Sold! Another user on the site successfully sold her one-carat diamond ring for $300, revealing that she wanted to get rid of it after she discovered that her ex cheated on her She wrote: 'Don't really know the true value of this since my ex husband got it for me but I just want it gone. Because I don't know the true value I'm giving it at a low cost so I don't accidentally over charge!' Similarly, another user sold her engagement ring that was given to her by her 'cheating ex'. The ring, which she sold for approximately $300, features a one carat diamond, according to its description. The product description read: 'Trying to get rid of it due to cheating ex.' A third user of the online marketplace decided to sell her ex-boyfriends watch, that was originally purchased for $120, for $70. Writing beside the photos of the watch she posted, she said: 'Bought it for my ex for $120 but he cheated on me so screw him.' 'My ex boyfriend bought me this watch and I no longer want it due to us breaking up,' wrote another user who was selling a Michael Kors watch. 'Its brand new still has tags and is beautiful! Perfect for a Valentines Day gift for a gf or spoil yourself!' Another person decided to sell a white gold blue sapphire diamond ring that was given to her by her ex-boyfriend before they broke up. The ring, which the poster describes as 'beautiful' was originally purchased for $2,500, and is now being sold by the owner for $600. Karma: A gigantic stuffed unicorn toy is being sold for $80 on the website, as the owner of the toy said she and her partner are no longer together, and therefore she wants to get rid of it Revenge: Another scorned user on the site decided to sell a bra that her ex-partner bought for her before she discovered that they cheated on her Yikes! One user is selling a 'brand new' Michael Kors backpack that she says she 'hates' looking at because it was given to her by her ex-boyfriend Bye! Someone is also selling a pair of Jordan sneakers on the site for $20. The shoes were given to the user by her ex-boyfriend, who she says she doesn't want to be reminded of And jewelry isn't the only thing being auctioned off online. Others are selling stuffed toys and clothing that once belonged to their ex. One user, who bought a bear made of red roses for his ex-girlfriend before they broke up, is now selling it on the website. Originally purchased for $80, according to the poster, it is now being sold for $75. Beside the photos of the bear, its description reads: 'Perfect for a last minute valentines gift. Me and my ex broke up I paid 80 for it so my loss is your gain.' Another user is selling a gigantic unicorn teddy bear for $80. 'My ex boyfriend bought it for me as our first month anniversary but we are no longer together so I dont want to keep it but its been sitting on my bed for 2 weeks now and I dont sleep on it or anything like that,' they wrote. 'I have only moved it once. It looks and smells brand new. 'I feel like it would be a GREAT Valentines Day gift or just for any special date because when I got it I was in shock it made me so happy!' they added. Some others decided to sell clothing. One user posted photos of a Raider's jacket that she is selling for her mother. 'Leather raiders jacket. My mom got it for her ex, and he didnt take it when they split. We arent Raiders fans so his loss is your gain,' the description reads. Another user is even selling a bra that was given to her by an ex-boyfriend. Beside the photograph of the bra, which is being sold for $20, the user has written: '42B Cacique bra new with tags plunge style bra. Ex bought for me, must of been thinking about the girl he cheated on me with when he bought it not my style.' Bizarre! In a more bizarre scenario, an OfferUp user is offering a pile of their ex-partner's random things, including books and clothing, to someone for $20 Dumped: Another user is so desperate to get rid of her exes belongings that they are selling a backpack for just $5 on the website Break up: One user is selling a Kate Spade clutch purse that she said her ex-boyfriend bought for her before dumping her Wow: A user on the site is selling a Raiders jacket that was purchased by her mother for her ex-boyfriend who she said didn't take the jacket with him when the pair broke up Random! A Kitchen Aid is also being sold on the online marketplace after the user purchased it for their partner as a gift before the pair broke up Making money! Another user on the site uploaded a photo of her ex-boyfriend's Xbox, which she says she purchased for him, before she realized he cheated on her Random! Someone is selling a brand-new keyboard that was left behind in their house by their ex. The user intends to use for $400 he will get from the sale to pay for his rent Some others are selling backpacks and handbags that were given to them, or remind them of, their ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend. One user is selling a Kate Spade clutch purse that was given to her by her ex before they broke up. Selling for $120, the user explained the background story to the bag, saying: 'My ex boyfriend bought this for me then dumped me... I cant look at it anymore.' 'Nothing wrong with it. Ex boyfriend gave it to me and I'm cleaning out all his baggage. #BoyBYE,' another user wrote beside a photo of a backpack they are selling for $5. And although most people are selling pretty standard items, others have opted to auction off some bizarre objects. One user is selling a 'lot of random items' that once belonged to her ex. The pile of things, which is being sold for $20, consists of several different items including books, shoes, a backpack and several pieces of clothing. Written in the description box, the user said: 'Random items left behind by my lying, cheating, stealing, no good ex. No hold No delivery. Please meet during the daytime. Thank you.' Other bizarre things being sold on the website include a Kitchen Aid, a keyboard and an Xbox console. Advertisement The Duchess of Sussex was the picture of elegance as she joined Prince Harry at the Natural History Museum on Tuesday night. Meghan, 37, who is expecting her first child in April, plumped for a custom cream roll-neck dress by Calvin Klein and a 895 coat by royal favourite Amanda Wakeley as she joined Harry, 34, to watch a play about Charles Darwin. It is the first time the duchess has been seen in public since her father, Thomas Markle Sr, revealed the contents of a letter written by Meghan last summer in which she accused him of breaking her heart 'into a million pieces' by giving interviews to the press, fabricating stories and publicly attacking her new husband. The letter was shared in response to allegations made by five members of Meghan's inner circle in an explosive People magazine article last week. Today the saga continued when the Duchess' close friend George Clooney spoke out in defence of the royal, saying she is being 'pursued and vilified'. However any concerns appeared far from Meghan's mind as she arrived at the venue, with the Duchess flashing a broad smile for the cameras outside. Scroll down for videos Meghan, 37, who is expecting her first child in April, plumped for a custom cream roll-neck dress by Calvin Klein and a 895 coat by royal favourite Amanda Wakeley as she joined Harry, 34, to watch a play at the Natural History Museum on Tuesday The Duchess of Sussex looked radiant as she and Harry arrived at the event in the back of a chauffeur driven car, pictured Mother-to-be Meghan dressed her blooming baby bump in a cream dress as she arrived at the Natural History Museum in London The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were greeted by officials as they arrived at the Natural History Museum on Tuesday night. Meghan received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from 12-year-old girl Sage, pictured right, and appeared delighted The elegant dress, a shortened version of a dress from Calvin Klein's resort collection, gently hugged Meghan's baby bump The Duchess of Sussex opted for an Amanda Wakeley coat that she wore for a Commonwealth Celebration Service last year The couple are on hand to watch behind The Wider Earth, a critically acclaimed theatrical production about the young Charles Darwins expedition on HMS Beagle. The performance is being held in support of the Queen's Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and the production's official charitable partner, The Queen's Commonwealth Canopy (QCC). As they arrived for the performance, Meghan, 37, was given a bouquet by Sage Saunders, from London, whose father is American and mother is Canadian - which gave them much to talk about. The duchess was born in California and spent several years working in Toronto as an actress. They were also introduced to the shows producer Trish Wadley and the director of the National History Museum, Sir Michael Dixon. Inside the historic London landmark museum they met donors and children as well as taking a peek at some of the exhibits on show, including a preserved common octopus collected by Darwin in 1832, a first copy of On The Origin of Species, and a collection of wasps he made on The Beagle and other voyages. Meghan Markle, who has her hair sweeped back into a bun, spoke to well wishers and looked at pictures on their phones, which the Duchess seemed intrigued by The Duchess of Sussex laughed and spoke to those at the event tonight and even looked at pictures on their phones Meghan looked on as Prince Harry was given a present. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended a gala performance of The Wider Earth at the Natural History Museum Prince Harry and Meghan Markle inside the Natural History Museum before the gala performance of The Wider Earth Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex meet children as the arrive to attend a gala performance of The Wider Earth Prince Harry and Meghan Markle bend down to greet five children at the Natural History Museum tonight. Meghan was wearing a Calvin Klein dress and a Amanda Wakeley coat The couple are on hand to watch behind The Wider Earth, a critically acclaimed theatrical production about the young Charles Darwins expedition on HMS Beagle The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were shown small puppets like those used in family-friendly show The Wider Earth The outing comes a day after Clooney's dramatic intervention, in which he compared Meghan's struggles to those of the late Princess of Wales. Speaking at an event in Los Angeles this week, Clooney, 57, claimed that history was repeating itself in the case of Meghan and Diana, warning: 'we've seen how that ends'. After laughing off a report suggesting he would be chosen as godfather to Harry and Meghan's baby, Clooney said: 'They're just chasing Meghan Markle everywhere, she's been pursued and vilified. The Duchess of Sussex brought a splash of colour to her outfit with a pair of Manolo Blahnik heels for the occasion The Duke and Duchess of Sussex both looked thrilled to be attending the event at the Natural History Museum on Tuesday Meghan was gifted a beautiful bouquet of flowers on her arrival, left, and smiled as she was greeted outside the museum The Duchess appeared typically gracious as she spoke to 12-year-old Sage, with one hand resting on her baby bump Seeing double duchess! Meghan steps out in a custom Calvin Klein dress that looks VERY similar to an H&M one she wore last month Look similar? Meghan's look tonight (left) was very similar to what she wore last month to visit the Mayhew Dogs home when she wore an Armani coat worth 2,000 ($1,556) and a 24.99 ($32) polo neck dress from high street store H&M's maternity range (right) The Duchess of Sussex looked stunning tonight in a cream Calvin Klein dress and an Amanda Wakeley coat as she arrived Natural History Museum for a gala performance of theatre production The Wider Earth. The Duchess of Sussex's growing baby bump was on show as she wore the tight fitting dress, which was paired with the Cream Amanda Wakley Sculpted Tailoring Crombie Coat, priced at 895. Meghan's Calvin Klein dress, which had a polo neck design, kept her warm as it silhouetted over her bump. But her look was very similar to what she wore last month to visit the Mayhew Dogs home when she wore an Armani coat worth 2,000 ($1,556). In January Meghan wore a similar outfit of a tight fitting polo neck dress and a long beige coat, finished off her ensemble with Dean Davidson earrings and a pair of towering slingbacks She paired her look on the day with a Stella McCartney bag and 24.99 ($32) polo neck dress from high street store H&M's maternity range. In January Meghan finished off her nude ensemble with Dean Davidson earrings and a pair of towering slingbacks. But tonight she went for a more glam look in a longer designer version of the dress and paired it with Ralph Lauren Olive Green Heels and its Olive Green clutch to match. She also wore classic jewelry, with rose gold clover leaf styled earrings from Vanessa Tugendhaft, priced at 660. She went full glam with her make-up tonight, with a contoured and bronzed look. While her lipstick was a lighter shade of brown. Her hair was worn up off her face, partitioned to the side and her fringe swept back. The Duchess of Sussex's growing baby bump was on show as she wore the tight fitting dress, which was paired with the Cream Amanda Wakley Sculpted Tailoring Crombie Coat, priced at 895 Advertisement 'She's a woman who is seven months pregnant and she is being pursued and vilified and chased in the same way that Diana was, and it's history repeating itself. 'And we've seen how that ends. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to see that.' Former Suits actress Meghan, 37, is understood to have distanced herself from her father following a string of high-profile incidents since she became engaged to Harry. The Duchess of Sussex's baby bump was in full view in the dress, which is a custom version of a longer Calvin Klein piece The royal teamed the roll-neck, knee-length frock with a cream coat from Amanda Wakeley that she has previously worn The Duchess of Sussex wore her hair swept back into a low bun to create an overall sleek look for the outing Prince Harry and Meghan looked engaged as they spoke to guests ahead of the gala performance on Tuesday night Meghan carried her essentials in a simple green Ralph Lauren suede clutch, which she previously used last year The Duchess of Sussex looked relaxed and radiant as she made her way inside, with her cream coat blowing in the breeze The Duchess of Sussex highlighted her natural beauty with a touch of bronzer and highlighter for the evening engagement She paired her updo with a pair of rose gold clover leaf styled earrings, she opted for simple make up with a light pink lip gloss and a tan blush swept across her cheeks Just days before his daughter was due to marry into the royal family, Mr Markle was caught staging paparazzi photos of himself. He has repeatedly complained that his relationship with his daughter has broken down and made numerous public appeals for her to get in touch with him, including an appearance on Good Morning Britain. An unnamed friend of Los Angeles-born Meghan told US magazine People: 'He's never called; he's never texted. It's super painful.' Five unnamed friends of the duchess spoke to People last week in an effort to counter the 'global bullying' directed at her. But Mr. Markle this weekend shared 'devastating' details of a letter sent to him by his daughter last summer with the Mail on Sunday. The letter shows how Meghan begged him to stop his 'painful' public attacks on her 'kind and patient' husband. Meghan also admonishes her father for siding with her half-sister Samantha who has attacked her in the press while she silently suffered at the hand of her vicious lies. She goes on to complain that Mr Markle has made no attempt to contact her and chastises him for falsely telling journalists he is the one who has been shunned a criticism her father refutes. Meghan also accuses her father of snubbing her and Prince Harrys offers to help when he pulled out of attending their wedding following two heart attacks and accuses him of being ungrateful for money she has given him. The former Hollywood lighting director, who lives in Mexico, said that he never intended to make the handwritten letter public out of respect for Meghan but says he has been forced to do so now because its contents have been falsely portrayed. Queen Mathilde of Belgium appeared elegant in emerald today as she became an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Brussels. The Royal, 46, paired a sleek belted green dress with matching court heels for a polished look as she received the honour, which has previously been given to two other queens. The mother-of-four who wore the same chic outfit to an exhibition in October, gave the look a fresh appeal by accessorizing with dazzling emerald drop earrings, a selection of bangles and a jewelled ring. Queen Mathilde of Belgium, 46, (pictured) appeared elegant in emerald as she attended a ceremony in Brussels today The Belgian Royal became an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Medicine in a ceremony held at Palais des Academies Queen Mathilde followed royal tradition by delivering an inaugural speech on mental health during the ceremony in Brussels Queen Mathilde was given a diploma and a medal of the two Academies as part of the honoury ceremony for the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium Wearing a classic make-up look and berry lips, her hair swept into a side-parting, the Belgian Royal beamed as she met with attendees at the capital's Palais des Academies. Queen Mathilde was given a diploma and the medal of the two Academies during the honoury ceremony. Following in the royal footsteps of Queen Elisabeth who received the honor in 1954, and Queen Fabiola who was honoured in 1976, Queen Mathilde delivered an inaugural speech on mental health. The Royal Academy of Medicine in Belgium has been a centre for exchanging scientific medial ideas for the past 175 years. The Academy advises citizens and authorities alike on medical sciences related to humans and animals. The Belgian Queen wore minimal make-up teamed with her hair swept back for an effortlessly elegant appearance as she met with attendees of the ceremony Queen Mathilde has previously worn her glamour green dress and court heels duo to an exhibition in Vienna, today she refreshed the look with the addition of a geometric handbag Queen Mathilde who is married to King Phillipe has four children Princess Elisabeth, Princess Eleonore, Prince Emmanuel and Prince Gabriel. The Royal, who often stuns in shades of green, is a former speech therapist with a psychology degree. Mathilde has a busy week of engagements ahead of her with a visit to Brussels Book Fair on Valentine's Day and a visit to the music-recovery project of the Fernand Philippe Maternal Home in Wanfercee-Baulet. As an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium, Queen Mathilde follows in the footsteps of Queen Elisabeth and Queen Fabiola The Belgian Royal accessorized with silver drop earrings and a selection of gold toned bracelets in addition to a jeweled ring In an interview with DailyMail.com, Sara admitted wearing lingerie doesn't just have to be for when someone is in a relationship Victoria's Secret Angel Sara Sampaio has revealed what she has planned for Valentine's Day - and it potentially involves putting on her favorite lingerie while drinking red wine. With the holiday coming up, Sara admitted single women should not be afraid to pull out their lingerie and confidently wear it for themselves. 'I say who needs a man when you have lingerie?' the 27-year-old model told DailyMail.com, while celebrating the launch of a new line at Victoria's Secret. Sara has been dating her boyfriend for more than three years, but she insists that wearing sexy lingerie should never require a relationship. Stunning: Sara Sampaio, 27, modeled the new LIVY lingerie line launching in specific Victoria's Secret stores around the US and UK starting on Wednesday Just a peak! In an interview with DailyMail.com, Sara admitted wearing lingerie doesn't just have to be for when someone is in a relationship Confident: 'There's something very amazing about just putting really sexy lingerie on for yourself,' the Portuguese model said 'When I put some sexy lingerie on, even when my boyfriend isn't necessarily in the same city, I just feel kind of confident,' Sara continued. 'There's something very amazing about just putting really sexy lingerie on for yourself.' Slipping into lingerie is not the only thing that makes Sara feel confident and sexy in her daily life. The Portuguese model admitted being around people she loves influences that attitude. '[My boyfriend] makes me feel sexy because we love each other,' Sara said. 'It's just nice to be able to dress up for someone you love. I always like to try different lingerie and always make sure you can see a little bit in my outfit for the night. 'Just a little peak.' But her outfit for Valentine's Day remains uncertain as Sara is unsure if she will be able to see her boyfriend for the holiday. Revealed: The new line, created by Paris-based designer Lisa Chavy (right), features a number of lingerie pieces that combine vintage designs with modern trends Happy together: 'It's just nice to be able to dress up for someone you love,' Sara said about wearing lingerie for her boyfriend Oliver (pictured) 'We're still figuring that out because we might not be in the same city, so hopefully we'll commute somewhere,' Sara said. '[We might] have a nice dinner, have a nice red wine. Red wine is key. Lingerie and red wine. That is all you need for Valentine's [Day].' Creative: One new lingerie piece Sara raved about from the LIVY collection was a bra with a lace tiger (pictured middle) across the back Sara said she tends to reach for lace style that feel comfortable against her skin when picking out lingerie. 'I always tend to go for lace, no padding,' she said. 'Just very delicate lingerie that feels like you're wearing nothing, but you can also show it if you want.' Sara attended an in-store appearance at Victoria's Secret on Tuesday to celebrate the launch of a new line by French brand LIVY. Later, Sara changed out of her leather pants and back shirt to attend a cocktail party celebrating the launch of the new line. She wore a sparkly mini dress that showed off one of the new bras. The lingerie line, which will be for sale on Wednesday in select Victoria's Secret stores, was created by Paris-based designer Lisa Chavy. It combines vintage designs with modern trends. 'It's really cool to see the old and the new put together and becoming something so modern for women, inspired by women,' Sara said about the new line. Fierce: Later on Tuesday, Sara attended a cocktail party to celebrate the launch of the new lingerie line with Victoria's Secret Staying busy: Sara, pictured with Maia Colton, Lisa Chavy, and Devon Windsor, changed from her leather pants and shirt into a sparkly mini dress for the event Beautiful: Recently, Sara shared an Instagram post of unretouched images from a Victoria's Secret Valentine's Day lingerie shoot Proud: 'I am not ashamed of my stretch marks or my scars,' the model said about the unretouched pictures One bra Sara was drawn to from the line featured a black lace tiger across the back. 'It's so unique, so different from everything I've seen,' the model said. 'It's kind of edgy and sexy at the same time. It's like [wearing] a tattoo but you don't have to be with it forever.' She continued: 'Lingerie is becoming so pretty to hide it. So I tend to choose my wardrobe based on the lingerie. 'It used to be the opposite.' Recently, Sara shared an Instagram post of unretouched images from a Victoria's Secret Valentine's Day lingerie shoot. The message she sent with the post was to be proud of ones body, stretch marks and all. 'I am not ashamed of my stretch marks or my scars,' Sara said. 'I just liked the photos and if I can empower other women that those little details are more than fine then that's the bonus.' Tomi Ungerer has died at the age of 87. Heres the obituary by Agence France Presse. And heres the lede: The renowned French cartoonist, author and illustrator [was] a lifelong activist who protested against racial segregation, the Vietnam war and the election of US President Donald Trump . . . And heres the Washington Post obit. Ungerer speaks: I have the full respect of a piece of white paper, which I then shall rape with my drawing or my writing. When I draw, its the real me. A woman has revealed that she regularly carries a number of different items around in her bra just in case she or her friends need anything. Appearing on The Ellen Show on Friday, February 8, 33-year-old Arnetta Lawrence, from Merrillville, Indiana, told Ellen that she stores different supplies underneath her clothing on a regular basis. Deodorant, a bottle of tequila, tater tots and a pair of shoes were just some of the items she had stores beneath her clothing. Bizarre! Arnetta Lawrence, 33, who appeared on The Ellen Show last week has revealed that she carries things around in her bra in case she or her friends need anything Stocked-up! The first thing the Indiana-native revealed that she was carrying was a bottle of body spray, which she says she keeps 'for the girls who needs a little freshening up' Fresh! Next up, Arnetta, who lives in Merrillville, Indiana, took out a roll-on deodorant that she and her friends can use to prevent them sweating during a night out Multi-purpose: Arnetta, who works as a medical assistant, also took a packet of tater tots out that she had been carrying, as she said 'sometimes I get a little hungry' Working as a medical assistant is Arnetta's day job. However, when she's not helping patients, she's helping her friends out. After being asked 'what do you do?' by talk show host Ellen Degeneres, Arnetta responded, saying: 'I carry things.' 'I have the spray for the girl who needs a little freshening up,' she revealed, as she produced a bottle of scented body spray from her bra. Multitasking: Speaking to Ellen before she revealed her talent, Arnetta said that she works as a medical assistant She also revealed a roll-on deodorant, and a small purse. Next, Arnetta took out a pair of sandals, saying: 'For the girl who can't stand in her heels all night.' She then took out a small box of tater tots, and said: 'And sometimes, you know, I get a little hungry.' 'I love those tater tots,' she added. As Ellen and the audience laughed at the bizarre talent, she continued to surprise them with more and more random items she had been carrying around with her. 'I have the makeup bag, too,' she said, revealing a pink bag full of beauty products. She then produced a flat iron from her clothing, and she said: 'Got to keep these curls.' Arnetta also revealed that the was carrying a hairbrush, before producing a bottle of Don Julio. As she took the bottle of tequila out she said: 'We don't pay for nothing in the club.' The audience erupted into laughter as Arnetta's hilarious talent continued to amaze them. And it wasn't just Ellen and the audience members that found her talent entertaining. Woah! The medical assistant even revealed that she carries around a flat iron that she and her friends can use to curl their hair while on-the-go Practical! She also keeps a pair of flat sandals stored in her bra in case any of her friends wear uncomfortable heels that they choose to ditch during a night out Go-to! A makeup bag full of products that she and her friends use to keep their faces 'fresh' was also stored in the woman's bra Priorities: Last, but not least, she took out a bottle of liquor from her bra. As she produced the alcohol, she said: 'We don't pay for nothing in the club' Result: Arnetta stood proudly beside the table she had placed each item she stored in her bra after she finished showing the audience what she was carrying Since the video clip was shared to Ellen's Instagram page, it has received more than 10 million views, and almost 60,000 comments. The video was accompanied by a caption that read: 'I wish I had a friend like this when I hit the club.' Impressed! Ellen laughed and applauded Arnetta as she concluded showing off her talent of storing things in her bra Many users have commented on the video to praise the woman's efforts for keeping her friends stocked up with supplies. Others simply thought her talent of storing things in her clothing was hilarious. One Instagram user commented on the video, saying that Arnetta would be the perfect friend to take to the movie theater. 'This is like my grandma, saves everything in her breast,' another user added. One user joked, saying: 'Now everybody gonna be pat down when going to clubs.' Another user took inspiration from her tactical approach, saying: 'She keeps alcohol in there I shouldve done that at the club for us.' 'The friend we all want around us!!! Great sense of humor,' a different user added. Prince Andrew spent much of his life as the second in line to the throne, but according to Prince Charles this was not enough for him. In Jeremy Paxman's new Channel 5 documentary, which delves into the early lives of the Queen's children, new reports have emerged claiming that The Prince Of Wales, now 70, thought his younger brother The Duke of York, now 58, wanted to 'be him'. When asked about Andrew's place in the royal family and his relationship with Charles, the Daily Mail's own Richard Kay describes him as the 'spare part', in scenes due to air this evening. Speaking about Prince Charles' feelings towards his brother, Richard recalls a past incident and tells Jeremy: 'Charles said "the trouble with my brother Andrew is that he wants to be me".' Scroll down for video In Jeremy Paxman's new Channel 5 documentary, which delves into the early lives of the Queen's children, new reports have emerged claiming that The Prince Of Wales, now 70, seen right, thought his younger brother The Duke of York, now 58, left, wanted to 'be him' Prince Andrew spent much of his life as the second in line to the throne, but according to Prince Charles, pictured this month, this was not enough for him Richard goes on to describe Prince Andrew as in a 'curious' position, explaining: 'Andrew was the spare, for a good bit of his life he was very important. 'He was the number two, the Queen's second son and if anything had happened to Charles, it was going to be Andrew who took over.' Explaining how he was increasingly pushed to the side as Prince William, Harry, and then William's children came into the picture, slipping down to seventh-in-line to the throne, Richard added: 'Personally I wouldn't wish for [the role of being spare]. 'However it is a role of great privilege and great perks with not too many responsibilities.' Speaking about Prince Charles' feelings towards his brother, Richard recalled a previous incident, telling Jeremy: 'Charles said "the trouble with my brother Andrew is that he wants to be me".' L-R: The Queen, Prince Andrew and Prince Charles are seen in the 1960s Meanwhile speaking of youngest brother Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, now 54, his biographer Ingrid Stewart says: 'Charles is 16 years older than Edward and they weren't close.' Recalling a past incident when Charles asserted his family ranking, she remembers: 'He probably only saw him in the summer at Balmoral. 'On one of those occasions Prince Edward went upstairs and found some of the Duke of Windsor's old kilts which of course were all the tartans that The Prince of Wales is entitled to wear, and he thought 'ooh those look rather fun'. So he put one on, and it fitted. Charles reportedly told his youngest brother Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, now 54, pictured, that he should take off the tartan he was trying on as it 'is a kilt for the Prince Of Wales' 'He went down to dinner in a tartan which was that of the Duke of Rothesay, and as he went into the dining room Charles went apoplectic and said "what are you doing wearing that? I am the only one entitled to wear that kilt. It is a kilt for the Prince of Wales. Go upstairs and take it off". 'Edward being such a calm person just went 'okay', went upstairs and took it off and never mentioned it again.' She continues: 'The Prince of Wales recognised all of his own tartans. And the Rothesay tartan is particularly nice'. Prince Charles, seen at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, in 1978, reasserted his position and told youngest brother Edward that he was not allowed to try a particular tartan, pictured, as it was reserved for him Seen in 1972: Queen, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, HRH The Prince of Wales, HRH The Prince Andrew, HRH The Prince Edward and HRH The Princess Anne at Balmoral Castle Describing the Queen's youngest child as isolated, she adds: 'At Buckingham Palace he [Edward] was lonely. 'One year on his birthday he went to have breakfast with the Queen and nothing was said. No card no present. She didn't know it was his birthday'. And Richard Kay tells Jeremy Paxman: 'His royal aides once told me that the trouble with Prince Edward is that he can never decide whether he is His Royal Highness or Edward Windsor. 'He couldn't tell whether he was one of us or a member of the royal family.' The second of the two-part series sees journalist Jeremy explore the lives of Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward across two episodes. Paxman on the Queen's Children, airs on Tuesday, 9pm, on Channel 5 The second of the two-part series sees journalist Jeremy explore the lives of Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward across two episodes The Duchess of Cornwall couldn't resist posing for a souvenir photo during her visit to Liverpool today. Camilla, 71, stood in front of Paul Curtis' Liver Birds mural in the city's Baltic Triangle while photographers snapped away on Tuesday. The artwork, which pays homage to the bird symbol of the city, makes the photo subject appear as though they have wings and a halo. The Duchess looked positively angelic posing next to the graffiti which reads 'For all Liverpool's Liver Birds.' Merseyside welcomed its second royal visit of 2019 as the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall visited Liverpool on Tuesday. Charles and Camilla arrived in the county just over a month after Prince Harry and Meghan conducted a string of engagements in Birkenhead. Camilla, 71, stood in front of Paul Curtis' Liver Birds mural in the city's Baltic Triangle while photographers snapped away on Tuesday The couple were totally coordinated both opting for an apt royal blue as they arrived in Liverpool this morning. Camilla looked typically elegant in a blue wool coat with an embroidered cuff as she and her husband met with Ireland's President Michael D Higgins during a day celebrating the culture, history and people of the city. She could be seen carrying a small navy handbag by Aspinal of London and opted for a pair of knee high black boots, a look that Kate would surely approve of. Meanwhile Charles, 70, also chose a blue colourway for his engagement today in the form of a pin stripe indigo suit. Dozens of students lined crash barriers to catch a glimpse of the royal couple as they began a day of marking the city's culture, history and people by celebrating the university's Institute of Irish Studies. Charles and Camilla have arrived in Liverpool in coordinating blue ensembles for a day of engagements One excited student reached out to give Camilla a hug when she joined her husband on a brief walkabout meeting the young people. Moonsun Kim, from Korea, who is studying supply chain management, said: 'I'm so excited, I've never seen a member of the royal family before. 'I was passing and heard the prince and his wife were coming and decided to stay. I hope I wasn't wrong to give her a hug.' The royal pair posed for photos President Higgins and his wife Sabina Coyne outside the Victoria Gallery and Museum where they attended a reception. The couple met with Ireland's President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina Coyne at the Victoria Gallery and Museum where they attended a reception Camilla, 71, appeared to be in good spirits today, beaming at the crowds as she arrived in the city on Tuesday The event at the museum aims to formally cement the prince and president's roles as joint patrons of Liverpool University's Institute of Irish Studies. University of Liverpool Vice Chancellor, Professor Dame Janet Beer, said: 'The Institute of Irish Studies plays a huge role in shaping the relationship between our islands, through its research, events, student programmes and expertise. 'This visit provides an excellent opportunity for us to showcase this important work.' The Irish president is mid-way through a three-day visit to the UK and at Birmingham Town Hall on Monday he said 'the deep friendships which have grown between Britain and Ireland' will be more important than ever in the wake of Brexit. The Duchess of Cornwall seemed delighted as she was handed floral tributes by well-wishers who had gathered outside the museum on a hope to catch a glimpse of the royal A cheerful Charles also dressed in blue, gave a wave to crowds as he arrived for a day of engagements The royal couple could be seen embracing the president and the first lady before heading inside for the reception During Charles and Camilla's visit to Merseyside he will meet Nelson Mandela's daughter Makaziwe Mandela who has donated a set of her father's drawings for permanent display at the city's St George's Hall. Ms Mandela is also on a short trip to the UK and began her visit on Monday, the 29th anniversary of her father, who led the movement to end South African apartheid, being released from prison after 27 years. Charles will also visit Liverpool's Royal Albert Dock to celebrate its new royal status ahead of the 175th anniversary, in 2021, of its opening by Prince Albert. Designer Brandon Maxwell has spoken of his pride at seeing the Duchess of Sussex wear his designs, calling her 'a great example for young girls'. The American designer, who has also dressed the likes of Michelle Obama, has enjoyed phenomenal sales success after Meghan wore his clothes at a string of high-profile royal engagements over the past year. She first stepped out in a headline-grabbing mustard yellow dress in July last year, before choosing his designs in Sydney and during a recent visit to London's National Theatre. Speaking in Vanity Fair this week Maxwell, who is based in New York City, insisted he was more interested in her Meghan's humanitarian credentials than her wardrobe. Scroll down for video Designer Brandon Maxwell (pictured in New York City in September) has enjoyed phenomenal sales success after Meghan wore his clothes at a string of high-profile royal engagements Last month, Meghan wore a Brandon Maxwell dress and matching blazer during a visit to the National Theatre (pictured). The US designer has praised the royal He said: 'The cornerstone of the brand, when I started it, was women like my mom, and when I'm able to dress women like that, it's really not about, does everyone love the dress? 'Ultimately, I'm happy if [Meghan] wears our dress, but I'm happy if she wears any dress because it's the idea of what she's doing in that dress that excites me. 'For me, I just think that I'm proud of that. And I think that Meghan Markle, in particular, is such a great example for young girls to see and I'm proud to be any part of her day, honestly.' Maxwell added: 'There is a very common thread between every woman I've been fortunate enough to dress,'I think they are good women, setting great examples, and ultimately inspired to help others.' Maxwell has enjoyed something of a sales boom thanks to Meghan's endorsement, with the famous yellow dress reportedly selling out in just 24 hours. Last month, Meghan wore a Brandon Maxwell dress and matching blazer during a visit to the National Theatre in London. Meghan wore a headline-grabbing mustard yellow dress at a Commonwealth event in London in July last year (left), before choosing one of his designs in Sydney in October (right) Maxwell this week put on his runway show in New York where his mom accompanied him on the runway for his bow. Pam Woolley was diagnosed with breast cancer after her son's show last season and Maxwell dedicated the show to her and strong women everywhere. 'It really is sort of the physical manifestation of, I think, the strength that I saw her display over the past few months,' Maxwell told The Associated Press, alluding to her health struggles. Maxwell said it had been an 'unbelievable joy' to see high-profile women, such as Duchess of Sussex and Michelle Obama, wear his clothing, along with Lady Gaga. 'When I see those women. ... they're wearing the clothes to do good things for others,' he said. 'Any time I'm able to dress a woman like that and be part of her day, it's a blessed day for me.' George Clooney has said the Duchess of Sussex is being 'pursued and vilified', comparing her struggles to those of the late Princess of Wales. Speaking at an event in Los Angeles this week, Clooney, 57, claimed that history was repeating itself in the case of Meghan and Diana, warning: 'we've seen how that ends'. The Hollywood star is a close friend of Harry and Meghan, and he and his human rights lawyer wife Amal attended their wedding last year as well as reportedly visiting the couple at their Cotswolds home. His dramatic intervention comes amid continued reports of a rift between Meghan, who is seven months pregnant, and her father, Thomas Markle Sr. It comes after he revealed the contents of a letter written by Meghan last summer in which she accused him of breaking her heart 'into a million pieces' by giving interviews to the press, fabricating stories and publicly attacking her new husband. Scroll down for video Clooney was speaking on a panel at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour at The Langham Huntington, California (pictured) when he made the comments about Meghan The Duchess of Sussex (pictured at the Endeavour Fund Awards in London last week) is being 'being pursued and vilified and chased' according to close friend George Clooney Clooney was speaking on a panel at the Television Critics Association's Winter Press Tour at The Langham Huntington, California, on Monday when he made the comments, which were first reported by Australia's WHO magazine. After laughing off a report suggesting he would be chosen as godfather to Harry and Meghan's baby, Clooney said: 'They're just chasing Meghan Markle everywhere, she's been pursued and vilified. 'She's a woman who is seven months pregnant and she is being pursued and vilified and chased in the same way that Diana was, and it's history repeating itself. 'And we've seen how that ends. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to see that.' Asked if he was going to be godfather to the royal baby, Clooney replied: 'No, I'm now a father of twins, I've got enough s***. Literally, literally s***.' George Clooney is a friend of Harry and Meghan and he and his human rights lawyer wife Amal attended the royal wedding in May last year (pictured) as well as visiting the couple at their Cotswolds home. The Hollywood actor has claimed Meghan is being 'pursued and vilified' Clooney was speaking on a panel at the Television Critics Association's Winter Press Tour with Grant Heslov (left) and Christopher Abbott (right) when he made the remarks Meghan is said to have her father of snubbing her and Prince Harrys offers to help when he pulled out of attending their wedding (pictured at their nuptials at Windsor Castle, May 2018) At the royal wedding last May, Clooney is reported to have jumped behind the bar and poured tequila during the couple's lavish reception at Frogmore House. Sources said the Ocean's Eleven star, who attended the ceremony and party with his wife Amal, was playing bartender at the bash while also promoting his own booze brand, Casamigos. Former Suits actress Meghan, 37, is understood to have distanced herself from her father following a string of high-profile incidents since she became engaged to Harry. Just days before his daughter was due to marry into the royal family, Mr Markle was caught staging paparazzi photos of himself. Meghan pictured with her father Thomas Markle in happier times. A recently unearthed letter reveals she accused him of breaking her heart 'into a million pieces' after her wedding He has repeatedly complained that his relationship with his daughter has broken down and made numerous public appeals for her to get in touch with him, including an appearance on Good Morning Britain. An unnamed friend of Los Angeles-born Meghan told US magazine People: 'He's never called; he's never texted. It's super painful.' Five unnamed friends of the duchess spoke to People last week in an effort to counter the 'global bullying' directed at her. But Mr. Markle this weekend shared 'devastating' details of a letter sent to him by his daughter last summer with the Mail on Sunday. The letter shows how Meghan begged him to stop his 'painful' public attacks on her 'kind and patient' husband. Meghan (pictured with her husband in Tonga in October) is estranged from her father after a string of high-profile incidents since she became engaged to Harry Meghan (pictured with Harry in Sussex in October 2018) revealed in January that her child is due around the end of April or beginning of May, making her around seven months pregnant Meghan also admonishes her father for siding with her half-sister Samantha who has attacked her in the press while she silently suffered at the hand of her vicious lies. She goes on to complain that Mr Markle has made no attempt to contact her and chastises him for falsely telling journalists he is the one who has been shunned a criticism her father refutes. Meghan also accuses her father of snubbing her and Prince Harrys offers to help when he pulled out of attending their wedding following two heart attacks and accuses him of being ungrateful for money she has given him. The former Hollywood lighting director, who lives in Mexico, said that he never intended to make the handwritten letter public out of respect for Meghan but says he has been forced to do so now because its contents have been falsely portrayed. Victoria Beckham has become the latest designer to ban exotic animal skins from her collections. The British fashion maven, 44, confirmed this week she would be following in the footsteps of Chanel by cutting exotic pelts from her eponymous fashion line from Fall 2019 onward in a bid to 'reflect the wishes' of her customers. Despite never using fur in its designs, Beckham's luxury label currently sells python shoes on its website, and has previously touted snakeskin bags. Animal rights campaigners told MailOnline her decision would save the lives of 'countless crocodiles, lizards, snakes and other reptiles who suffer for the fashion industry'. Scroll down for video Victoria Beckham, pictured at the British Fashion Awards in London, December 2018, has become the latest designer to ban exotic animal skins from her collections A pair of 845 python heels currently available on Victoria Beckham's website. The designer has announced she will no longer sell products made from exotic animal skins A python and leather tote designed by Victoria Beckham, now sold out on Net-A-Porter. Python is believed to be among the animals that will now be banned from her collections A spokesperson for Victoria Beckham told WWD: 'As a business, we have been looking to action the use of more ethically sourced products that have less environmental impact for some time. 'We are happy to confirm that we will cease using exotic skins in all future collections as of our main fall 2019 ready-to-wear presentation. 'This decision reflects the wishes of not only the brand, but also that of our customers.' Responding to the move, HSI UK Executive Director Claire Bass told MailOnline: 'Victoria Beckham's decision to drop exotic skins from her collections will save the lives of countless crocodiles, lizards, snakes and other reptiles who suffer for the fashion industry. 'These animals are typically intensively farmed in atrocious conditions, and brutally killed including being beaten and skinned alive, all for a handbag or belt. Victoria Beckham wearing her own design 845 python shoes. She announced this week her brand was cease manufacturing products using exotic animal skins from Fall 2019 'Victoria's designs are already fur-free in acknowledgement of the inherent cruelty of that trade, and now adding exotic skins to the list of murderous materials she refuses to use, she is really sending out a boldly compassionate message to her peers. 'The growth in fabulous luxury and eco-friendly fibres that don't involve harming animals is rapidly driving forward an exciting new era of ethical fashion, and designers like Victoria Beckham who take cruelty off the catwalk are blazing a trail.' PETA director Elisa Allen told MailOnline: 'Champagne corks are popping at PETA following Victoria Beckham's pledge to stop using the skin of crocodiles, snakes, and ostriches. 'For years, PETA has called on Victoria to drop exotic skins from her collections pointing out that consumers don't believe in tormenting beautiful animals for fashion and now, it's time for other companies, like Louis Vuitton, to follow her business-savvy example.' Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel's longtime creative director (pictured in Paris in October 2017) said that he used fur so rarely at Chanel that he couldn't remember when it last featured on the catwalk This vintage Chanel 2.55 shoulder bag is cut from crocodile skin, now banned in the label's collections, and was listed for an eye-watering 22,000 on FarFetch In December, Chanel announced it would no longer use exotic animal pelts in its collections, making it one of the first major luxury labels to turn its back on crocodile and lizard skin. Chanel's new policy will also see the French label ban fur from animals such as raccoon dog, mink and rabbit. Handbags, coats and shoes made from snake, crocodile and stingray skin command premium prices, with vintage Chanel handbags made from pelts selling for upwards of 20,000 online. Vivienne Westwood and Diane von Furstenberg are among the labels that have banned exotic animal pelts from its collections. Although top fashion brands have been under heavy pressure to renounce fur - with Gucci, Armani, Versace and John Galliano all deciding to go fur free - Chanel's decision to stop using exotic skins was an unprecedented move. Historically, campaigns against the use of crocodile and snake skin products have not attracted the same attention as similar crusades against fur, with some luxury brands even investing in reptile farms so they can guarantee that skins are sourced ethically. A woman has revealed that her boyfriend took a picture of her every time they went out to eat for an entire year in order to create a sweet photo album in honor of their anniversary. Maggie Emory, 21, from Tucson, Arizona, took to Twitter in June to share pictures of the album, admitting that she never knew why her boyfriend Cameron Dwan, 22, always insisted on taking photos of her on their dates. 'My boyfriend has taken a picture of me on every single date weve been on in the last year. I didnt know why but for our anniversary he gave me this book,' she tweeted. Nearly eight months later, the pictures are still being circulated online. Look of love: Maggie Emory, 21, from Tucson, Arizona, and her boyfriend Cameron Dwan, 22, celebrated their one-year anniversary in June Too cute: Maggie revealed on Twitter that Cameron took a picture of her every time they had a food date and created a photo album in honor of their anniversary Boyfriend of the year award? Cameron titled the album 'A Year of Food Dates' Cameron titled the album 'A Year of Food Dates,' and each photo includes the name of the restaurant and a short memory from the outing. A snapshot from Zinburger shows Maggie sitting in front of a plate of burgers. 'I convinced you to get the smaller happy hour burger. Won't make that mistake again!!' Cameron wrote. In another image, Maggie is taking a sip of her fountain drink at the Arizona sandwich shop Baggin's. Looking back: Each photo in the album includes the name of the restaurant and a short memory from the outing. Fun times: One snapshot shows Maggie taking a sip of her fountain drink at the Arizona sandwich shop Baggin's Poking fun: Cameron couldn't resist teasing Maggie when commenting on a photo of her eating at the Mexican restaurant Rubio's Realization: Maggie admitted she never knew why her boyfriend Cameron Dwan always insisted on taking photos of her on their dates 'I believe this was the only Baggin's trip ever, that I didn't end up eating your cookie,' her boyfriend recalled. Cameron couldn't resist teasing Maggie when commenting on a photo of her eating at the Mexican restaurant Rubio's 'One day, you'll eat a burrito and it will stay intact the whole way through...one day,' he joked. Maggie's post quickly went viral, with people praising Cameron for being such an amazing boyfriend. Now that's love! Cameron joked that he knew things were 'real' between them after she got him three containers of ranch Cheeky messages: Cameron served up plenty of compliments for his beloved girlfriend in the album Humble pie: The doting boyfriend said he is 'one humbled man' because he has a 'perfect girl' like Maggie Going viral: Maggie's tweet about the album has received more than 43,000 retweets and 245,000 likes, with plenty of people praising Cameron Can't get enough: Some fans begged Maggie to see more pictures from the album Something to hope for: One woman asked: 'Men like this exist?' A way with words: One person joked: 'My heart just pooped its pants' It's a joke: One man couldn't resist asking if Cameron was single Warning: Many people told Maggie that she should never break up with Cameron Feeling lucky: Maggie agreed that she 'definitely got a keeper' 'Excuse me who is this Best Boyfriend and where can I find one [?]' one woman asked, while another added: 'My heart just pooped its pants.' Others begged to see more of the album and Maggie obliged, sharing a few more pictures of the pages. 'Thanks for all the love, I definitely got a keeper,' she added. Since Maggie tweeted about the album on June 19, her post has received more than 43,000 retweets and 245,000 likes. 'When he gave it to me I just started crying,' she told the Press Association at the time. 'I just feel like the luckiest girl in the world.' Throwback: Maggie posted this photo of herself with Cameron on their anniversary in June Next step: Nearly eight months later, the two are still together and planning the next chapter of their lives 'This will be home!' Maggie shared a scenic photo of Cameron in Vancouver, Washington, this week, revealing they are moving there together Maggie said she and Cameron have been on 'way too many food dates to count.' 'At first he just took the pictures because he liked having them,' she explained. 'But after they started building up, he thought of the idea to make me a book so we could always remember each date!' Nearly eight months later, the two are still together and planning the next chapter of their lives. Maggie shared a scenic photo of Cameron in Vancouver, Washington, this week, revealing they are moving there together. 'In less than five months, this will be home!!' she wrote. '@camerondwan Im so proud of you and I cant believe all our dreams are becoming a reality. I love you and I cant wait for our biggest adventure yet.' Meghan Markle and Prince Harry haven't even been married two months yet, but the Duchess of Sussex is so comfortable with her new life, it appears as though she may have already adopted a British accent. Twitter user Aya El Zeiny shared a video of Meghan, 36, greeting fans at her first big solo engagement with Queen Elizabeth II in Cheshire, England, last month, and the resurfaced footage has people buzzing about the change in the Los Angeles native's accent. 'We all had a great day, I think,' Meghan said in the clip, after a woman gushed that she looked 'gorgeous' on her wedding day in May. 'The sun was shining for us.' Say what? People are debating whether Meghan Markle is speaking with a British accent after a Twitter user shared a video of her greeting fans in in Cheshire, England, last month Hmm: The Duchess of Sussex's posh way of speaking has some saying she has adopted a British accent, or at the very least losing her American one There is no doubt that the Duchess of Sussex comes off as regal in the clip, but the audio has launched an international internet debate about whether or not she is using a British accent. 'Meghan Markle speaking with a British accent now is WILDDDDD to me,' a woman named Meg wrote, and she wasn't the only one to take to Twitter to weigh in on the viral footage. 'I just watched a video that showed Meghan Markle starting to have a British accent and I'm so here for it you have no idea,' another person tweeted. Some said Meghan was taking after Madonna, who famously adopted a temporary British accent when she moved to England with her then-husband Guy Ritchie. All smiles: The event was Meghan's first big solo engagement with Queen Elizabeth II Debate: Some people called Meghan a 'phony' for using a British accent, while others insisted it is natural for her manner of speaking to change. Then there were those who didn't hear it 'Madonna's fake British accent crashed into a bush so that Meghan Marke's could fly,' Molly Mulshine joked. Others brought up Lindsay Lohan, who made headlines in 2016 for adopting a bizarre European accent after spending the summer in Greece. 'New flash of course #Meghan Markle [is] going to start sounding British. [She] is married to Prince Harry. Lindsay Lohan has an accent and she's just Lindsay Lohan,' a woman named Sophia said. Poll Do you think Meghan Markle is speaking with a British accent? Yes No Do you think Meghan Markle is speaking with a British accent? Yes 3244 votes No 5461 votes Now share your opinion However, for all those who accused the new royal of being a 'phony,' there were people who argued it was natural for her to take on a British accent, or at the very least start to lose her American one. 'People who are rolling their eyes have likely not moved or stayed long term in another country before,' Teri Fikowski commented. 'This isn't that crazy & I doubt it's phoney [sic].' 'I don't understand why it's a big deal if Meghan Markle develops a British accent,' a woman named Heather added. '1. She's married to one. 2. She's an actress and has probably taken lessons in accents. And 3. It's a subconscious form of empathy. There were also people who insisted that they didn't hear any difference in Meghan's manner of speaking, and they may be correct. Royal couple: Meghan, 36, and Prince Harry, 33, attended the Your Commonwealth Youth Challenge reception at Marlborough House in London on Wednesday Dennis Preston, a regents professor of linguistics at Oklahoma State University, told Yahoo Lifstyle that he didn't detect a British accent when he watched the video. 'I did a very careful listen, paying specific attention to her vowels, a big giveaway with British accents, as well as the intonation. I just didnt find anything resembling a British accent,' he said. 'Theres nothing there.' According to the linguistics expert, the brain tells us what to hear, so people hear what they expect to hear rather than what they actually do. 'She married an Englishman, she lives in England, shes hanging with the queen, and people think, "Gosh, she must be doing something with her language,"' he explained. 'Its your brain playing a trick on you.' A St. Louis police officer caused a flurry among women on Facebook after a post was shared imploring people to use a seat belt when riding in a vehicle. Officer Adam posed with his seat belt in his police car on Monday to encourage everyone in the St. Louis, Missouri, area to wear their own when in a car. But the police department didn't expect to get a wave of commenters joking about breaking the law just to meet the handsome officer. The St. Louis County Police Department captioned the photo: 'Thats one good looking seat belt! Are you buckled up?' Scroll down for video Safety first! The St. Louis County Police Department shared a picture of Officer Adam to promote people wearing their seat belts Handsome: But the post quickly took off as people commented on the good looking officer Hilarious: Comments flooded in as people wanted to know how they could meet Officer Adam Frisky: One woman asked if she should bring her own handcuffs when meeting him Commenters quickly responded to the image, but they were more focused on the person wearing the seat belt instead of the safety message. One person wrote: 'Can I please request this deputy come show me the proper procedure of buckling up.' While another woman joked about the increase in speeding this photo might cause in the St. Louis area. 'Saint Louis County is about to have an influx of speeders today, especially in his area. So should we bring our own handcuffs or?' The woman commented on the picture. One woman was more suggestive in her comment when she wrote, 'It's so hard to find a man in a uniform who likes to be restrained.' But the police department took the funny (and sexual) comments lightheartedly and even responded with hilarious gifs before encouraging people to still follow road-safety laws. Funny: The police department updated their post by joking that citations were up 'predominately to female motorists' Sexual: Some commenters decided to take the hilarity to the next level with their responses Adorable: Officer Adam even joined in on the joke by reading some of the comments on video After the picture was posted, it was more than 300 times as people commented on how much they wanted to get pulled over by Officer Adam. The police department updated its caption by jokingly saying that they issued 372 citations 'predominantly to female motorists' for seat belts, but all of them were disappointed because Officer Adam wasn't behind the wheel. 'While the comments are funny, please remember to buckle up, put down your phones and arrive alive this 4th of July holiday week,' the post continued. Officer Adam even joined in on the fun by reading some of the comments on video to show the public his reaction to their brazen suggestions. 'I volunteer as tribute to be stopped, frisked and cuffed,' one commenter wrote to the surprise of Officer Adam. In response, he said: 'Wow, that escalated pretty quickly.' 'I appreciate the comments, everybody,' he said at the end of the video. 'But the most important thing is during this holiday as were celebrating our great country and the things we're blessed with just remember to buckle up and drive safe.' Thought of the week There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable. Mark Twain (U.S. novelist, 1835 1910) Advertisement Dear Bel, Im 65 and have been married three times. I wasnt a good wife, as I cheated on my last husband constantly. He left and started a new relationship and they are very happy. Five years after divorcing, I met my current partner and decided to give it a go. But, four weeks in, a note in his letterbox said this woman missed him. He protested that she was just a married fling. After six months, he asked if he could move in with me, as he was hopeless with money and his landlord had asked him to leave. I was reluctant, but lonely. I thought: At last, I have someone to come home to. He had a professional job working from home. I worked full-time. Suspicious, I bought a mini tape-recorder to pick up his conversations. I discovered he was still in contact with the married woman and he told her he didnt love me. Heartbroken, I confronted him. In the end, I wrote to her husband at his workplace and informed him exactly what had been going on. Later, my partner was made redundant. I then discovered that he was still contacting women on sex websites (I put spyware on the laptop) and arranging to meet others. Our arguments were extreme and I began to lose feeling for him. I was offered redundancy and the main reason for taking it was to keep an eye on him. But I regret it. My payment was 25,000, which Ive blown in four years. I feel desperately sad about this and I know I need a kick up the backside. We bought an old motorhome to renovate. Up to now, its cost us about 6,000 and Ive maxed out two credit cards just to make him happy. Ive now taken charge of the finances and have just 6 in the bank. Hes treating me like a leper and we havent had sex for two years because of the hurt hes caused me. He ignores me when I speak, is verbally abusive at times and I cant please him with anything I do. I dont like him and I wish he would leave, but I dont want to be alone. My friends have all but disappeared (they only met him once in seven years) and Im a recluse in my own home. I have no ties with my family. My partner suffers from two serious conditions, which are predicted to end his life within the next ten years. His mother, 83, is very rich woman. I dont want to split with him yet, as I am going to squander his inheritance like he squandered my money. I feel wicked, but this is my karma. Am I truly evil? LEAH This week, Bel Mooney advises a woman who fears she is being unfair by staying with her partner for all the wrong reasons While I have no idea whether you are evil, my goodness, are you ever stupid! Is that the sort of kick up the backside you reckon is needed? Tell me, are you his karma or is he yours? To be brutal, it sounds as though you deserve each other. In your longer letter, you say youve had a traumatic life, but give no details about your childhood. So who knows what led you to the destructive path youve followed. You had three husbands who, you admit, you treated badly, and then bounced into the relationship with this man because you were lonely. Having already gone through three men to come home to, you must have forgotten the way you treated them. You also ignored the fact that your man had been sleeping with a married woman, but then later punished her innocent husband by blowing the whistle. That must have been traumatic for the poor guy. It might have made you feel better, in a noble pursuit of truth, but it wasnt kind. And the story gets worse. Your mans a liar and a cheat, so you spy on him yet allow him to spend your money. You give up your job to become a (rather pathetic) detective then blow your redundancy payout, with nothing to show for it but a clapped-out camper van. You let your friends go, perhaps because you were so focused on spying on your man that you had no time for them. Now you fight constantly (when youre not being ignored) and dislike the man you live with, yet stay with him so that you can get your mitts on his mothers money. Nice. You first condemned yourself to misery because you didnt want to be alone, which, in my book, is like submitting yourself to torture because you cant stand your own company. Whats the point? And now youre hanging in there for the sake of more vengeance spending an inheritance that isnt yours. Nor, for that matter, necessarily his. His mother might leave it to an animal shelter, which sounds like a brilliant idea to me, given all the squandering thats gone on. Isnt it time to wonder why you dislike yourself so much that you take out your rage on men? Was it inadequacy that made you unable to love or sustain relationships? Did you feel so guilty at the way you treated husband No 3 that, subconsciously, you hooked up with someone who would give you hell? This all sounds harsh, I know, but you said you needed it. So think about who you are, what you want and what youre doing and, please, consider having some counselling to sort yourself out while theres time. Our granddaughter's dad is so different Dear Bel, We have two beautiful granddaughters, aged three and 12. They live with our daughter, but without either father. Our daughter has physical and mental challenges, so we are very hands-on and we love the close relationship we have with them all. Our youngest granddaughters dad is great he loves his daughter dearly and gets on with us. But the elder granddaughters father has always been a problem. He threw our daughter and their nine-week-old baby out because he didnt like having a baby around. When our granddaughter was a toddler, he saw her every other weekend, but then he remarried. Now, he only sees her two or three times a year and fails to phone her, pays a small amount of maintenance and is rude to us. We carry on nurturing our clever, bubbly and confident granddaughter. The problem is that her father originally obtained her passport and now wont allow us to have it to take her abroad. Wed planned a trip of a lifetime to America, to show her theres a big world out there. But he wouldnt hand over the passport without sight of the confirmed booking. We refused because he has a history of breaking his word and the thought of telling her she couldnt go was intolerable. So the trip is off until she can get an adult passport at 16. My daughter wants to go to court, with our support, but our granddaughter doesnt want this. Were concerned about the effect all this is having on her. Advice? VANESSA Nobody could ever put a value on grandparents like you your daughter and her two girls are infinitely blessed to have you as the stalwart framework from which the little family tree can grow. I suspect its been far from easy and that youve had to bear events that have made you very sad. Your raison detre is simple: to give the three of them the best life possible. With that end in mind, surely you have no choice but to listen to the wishes of your granddaughter? At 12, she is old enough to know her own mind. Ever since she was a baby, she has experienced family stress the emotions of an unhappy mother will impact on her child. It would be astonishing if she had not already compared her bad luck with the happy experience of her little sister. She will surely have witnessed her mothers anger . . . and yet the man is still her dad. So she will cherish a residual loyalty to him, perhaps until shes old enough to make her own judgments. Even when that time comes, I hope she escapes resentment and clings to whatever love there is. Because, no matter how inadequate and obstructive he is, that will be better for her heart. It was generous of you to plan the trip of a lifetime and, in four years time, you can make it happen. Of course, shell have friends, so you may find yourself funding a two-week trip instead, when shes old enough, so she can take a pal. You could let her know youre starting a travel fund so that when she leaves school, she can see something of the world. In the meantime, why do you have to take her abroad? As I said in last weeks And Finally, theres a wealth of wonderful things to do in Britain. (By the way, thanks to all those in the Midlands who were thrilled I praised their region!) Why not devise your own magical mystery tour, taking in as many of her interests as you can? Lets say she likes wildlife and history . . . you could take her to Warwick Castle, where they have daily shows, mock battles, birds of prey displays and lots more. Edinburgh has masses to see and do. If she likes books, check out childrens literary festivals (Bath, Henley, Barnes or Brentwood, to name but four) and buy her books, so she can have them signed. Does she like fashion? Bath also has a fashion museum. Look for childrens activities near you or (much better) choose two or three things in a new part of the country and make it all happen. Let her learn horse-riding. Bird-watching. Jewellery-making. So much to do! You can have quality time with her without breaking the bank. And when she gets her adult passport, she can send her dad a postcard. And finally... Letters I love to share with the world Sometimes, I receive a problem with content so horrible, so disturbing, that I want to lock it away. This happened recently (about a husbands shocking sexual behaviour) and left me wondering how one man could do so much damage to so many. Then I turn to a sad, but interesting, family problem that I think might be relevant to other readers only to come to the last line: Please dont print this, but thank you for reading. Ah. A little later, Im fascinated by another long, complicated saga, realise it will take me an age to paraphrase, but never mind . . . then, yet again, reach the end to read: I feel so much better to have written this, but please dont print my letter. At that point, my feelings are mixed. Im really glad that this column works as a pressure cooker valve and people can exorcise some stress just by setting the problem down. The act of writing is useful, which is why I sometimes suggest keeping a notebook. Bel answers readers questions on emotional and relationship problems each week. Write to Bel Mooney, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT, or email bel.mooney@dailymail.co.uk. A pseudonym will be used if you wish. Bel reads all letters but regrets she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Advertisement Oh, but I wish all letters were for publication. I prefer the one, for example, that says: If you choose my letter, please make it anonymous and leave out key details that make us recognisable, as my mum and sulky sister read the paper. Theres trust there, which I value. But its also a lot of responsibility to put on my head, because what if they do recognise the author of the letter and that causes trouble? This has happened a couple of times in the past . . . and caused some grief. Best of all like gold dust is the thoughtful reader who, despite his or her own worries, sends a long screed containing all the details, but also a short version (500 words maximum) with details changed and a pseudonym, so I dont have to make one up. On that subject, I once chose a pseudonym for a teenager whose problem I printed only to receive a delighted email afterwards, thanking me for helping, but also accidentally choosing her favourite name in the whole world! A Massachusetts mother-of-two has given others battling cancer hope after having a dance party in the hospital just moments before her mastectomy. Lindsey Bubar from Longmeadow discovered she has breast cancer nearly a year ago, just after her 35th birthday, according to CBS8. But while there have been moments when she has been overcome with fear and sadness, she's made a decision not to let those emotions rule her life. Focusing her energy on remaining positive, Lindsey kept her spirits up even while she was in the hospital for a mastectomy, enjoying an upbeat dance party so fun that even the surgical team felt swayed to join in. Wonder Woman! Lindsey Bubar from Longmeadow, Massachusetts was diagnosed with cancer just after her 35th birthday, but has stayed positive throughout her battle Upbeat: In the hospital on the day of her mastectomy, she had a dance party with the surgical team Of course, Lindsey didn't immediately have a smile on her face after finding out she had cancer. The week she turned 35, she found a lump in her breast. After a biopsy, her doctor told her she had breast cancer, and she and her husband Brett cried in disbelief. 'There are moments, especially in the beginning, where the fear of it all was just so overwhelming that I got visions of my funeral service,' Lindsey said, recalling the aftermath of the diagnosis. But she's generally a positive person, and was determined to stay that way during the process: 'When I caught myself in that thought I just got out of it. I said, "Absolutely not." Like, what the heck are you doing?' 'There are just too many good things around me. I'm just choosing to be happy. 'm choosing joy.' Brave: While undergoing chemo, she decided to shave her head and had a party for the occasion The mother-of-two said: 'Im not emotionally attached to my breasts... Im more emotionally attached to my family and my children and living to be 80 plus years old' Staying positive isn't always easy, but Lindsey finds it important to stay in control. After her first chemotherapy treatment, before her hair even started falling out, she decided to shave her own head. In fact, she had a head-shaving party, and calls the experience empowering. After a lumpectomy in March of 2018, tests determined that she still had cancer inside of her, and needed to undergo a mastectomy as well. Even in the fact of that, Lindsey was able to look on the bright side. 'Im not emotionally attached to my breasts. I mean, theyre good and theyre part of my femininity but Im more emotionally attached to my family and my children and living to be 80 plus years old,' she said. 'Take my hair, take my eyebrows, take my breast, leave me here.' Attitude: She admitted she's been scared and sad but has decided to stay upbeat Making it fun: On the day of her mastectomy, her cousin Nicole asked the surgeon if they could have a dance party Best patient: They played I Want to Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston and danced and sang, and the entire surgical staff joined in Making the most: Lindsey held her IV bag and danced in her hospital gown Still, on the day of the procedure she was feeling nervous. When her surgeon walked in, Lindsey's cousin Nicole asked if they could have a dance party. The surgeon was on board, and cued up Whitney Houston's I Want to Dance with Somebody at their request. Video recorded by Nicole shows the moment the music begins blasting in the pre-op room. Lindsey is wearing a hospital gown and hair net, and gets out of bed to groove to the music. She smiles and sings along, holding onto her IV bag for more mobility. Within moments, the entire surgical team has joined in. Positive: 'Its just a great way to go into an otherwise really scary, c***py situation and if you get your mindset in the right place, then everything is going to be fine,' she said She added: 'And it kind of introduced who I was to the rest of the people in the room so they understood like, "Okay this girl has got it. Shes positive. Shes moving forward' Inspiring: Lindsey said she has received messages of thanks since the video went viral, from people who say she gives them hope 'Its just a great way to go into an otherwise really scary, c***py situation and if you get your mindset in the right place, then everything is going to be fine,' she said. 'It was fantastic. Everyone in the room was moving and shaking and singing 'And it kind of introduced who I was to the rest of the people in the room so they understood like, "Okay this girl has got it. Shes positive. Shes moving forward. Lets take care of her."' Since the video has gone viral, Lindsey who is just now finishing up radiation said she has received messages from people who thank her and say it gave them hope. Iskra Lawrence has opened up about her struggle to feel confident while wearing a swimsuit in public in honor of National Bikini Day. The 27-year-old curvy model took to Instagram on Thursday to share a sultry photo of herself showing off her famous hourglass shape in a navy blue Aerie crochet bikini while recalling how self-doubt and insecurities once kept her from feeling comfortable in a swimsuit. 'I used to pretend to be super confident in a #bikini especially as it was my job as a model for the last 14 years,' she wrote of her past battle with body acceptance. Strike a pose: Iskra Lawrence took to Instagram on Thursday and shared a sultry photo of herself in a navy Aerie two-piece in honor of National Bikini Day Opening up: In the candid post, the 27-year-old model explained that her self-doubt and insecurities kept her from feeling comfortable in a swimsuit when she was younger 'However when I was a younger I remember the constant self-doubt and comparisons with others & the ideal of "perfection" I tried to hold myself to, then feel like I constantly wasnt good enough.' Iskra, who is a spokesmodel for Aerie, said she used to strive to be 'perfect' while trying to seek approval from the fashion industry and make a name for herself as a straight-sized model. She struggled with disordered eating and worked out as much as she could to keep her now-famous curves at bay. Although she can't remember the exact moment she became fully aware that 'perfect does not exist,' it made her realize that trying to be something she wasn't was holding her back from being her best self. 'Maybe it was after the straight sized modeling industry for years had told me I was too big to make it then hearing from the plus-size industry I would never make it because I was too small, so instead of believing I was the problem I decided these "ideals" were,' she said. The body positivity activist explained that she wanted to be valued for 'so much more' than her size and no longer wanted to focus on body. Living it up: The curvy model proudly showed off her figure in bikini selfies that she shared on her Instagram Story Body positive message: 'Life gets so much easier when you are kind to yourself - and kind to others,' she told her 4.1 million followers Iskra said changing her priorities and working out for her health and falling in love with food again finally allowed her to be 'happy, healthy and confident' in who she is. 'Even though our stories may not be the same, I know that millions of you may have thoughts of self-doubt and insecurities that are holding you back,' she wrote. Iskra urged her 4.1 million followers to understand that there is more to life than this because it is possible to learn and practice how to love yourself for who you are. 'Life gets so much easier when you are kind to yourself - and kind to others,' she explained. 'Maybe you wont be able to wear a bikini just yet, but know that you are never alone in how youre feeling. 'You are #imperfectlyperfect and thats enough,' she added. 'The people who [love] you love you for who you are and so should you - because youre one of a kind, limited edition & meant to be you!' The Aerie spokesperson ended her post by encouraging her fans to share their own unretouched swimsuit photos using the hashtag #AerieREAL,revealing the brand will donate $1 (up to $25,000) to the National Eating Disorders Association. The post has received more than 248,000 'likes,' and fans took to the comment section to praise her for being such a wonderful role model. Self-care: Iskra (pictured at a yoga event in June) said working out for her health and falling in love with food again finally allowed her to be 'happy, healthy and confident' in who she is Great figure: Iskra showed off her amazing physique in a Fourth of July themed shoot for Aerie a few weeks before the holiday The photo Iskra shared shows her proudly modeling her bikini while posed in front of a hydrangea bush in New York City. Her string halter top highlights her cleavage and her bottoms are worn high above her hips to accentuate her curves. The English beauty's long blond hair is loose around her shoulders, and she has her hand to her head while she looks off into the distance with a smile on her face. Iskra liked the unretouched photo so much, she went on to share a second one. 'And another one. Because I why not?' she wrote. Although she grew up in England, Iskra wished her U.S. friends and family a happy Fourth of July on Wednesday by sharing a photo of herself modeling a patriotic red, white, and blue jumpsuit. A couple of weeks before the holiday, she posted a Fourth of July-inspired photo of herself wearing a white Aerie Binding Perky Triangle Bikini top and matching bikini bottoms that have red and light blue lining. ''Reddy, white and blue for July 4th in my new @aerie #tigerstripeslookingfire #realskin #imperfectlyimperfect #aerieReal #everyBODYisbeautiful,' she captioned the image. With the rise of social media nifty mothers have been able to showcase exactly how to redecorate your home without breaking the budget. Adding to the list of success stories is an Australian mother-of-two who revealed that you don't need to shop at designer stores to get that high quality aesthetic. Using luxury-looking products from Kmart, AliExpress and Big W, Amanda Bray, 31, was able to completely transform her humble abode. The stay at home mother from Ballarat, Victoria, has always loved interior design and has dabbled in product styling on Instagram for small businesses. 'I would have saved thousands of dollars shopping on a budget. I change my mind and what I like so much so therefore I just can't justify spending lots of money on home decor items,' she told FEMAIL. Amanda Bray, 31 (pictured), a stay at home mother from Ballarat, Victoria, revealed that you don't need to shop at designer stores as she bought most of her home's possessions from Kmart 'I would have saved thousands of dollars shopping on a budget. I change my mind and what I like so much so therefore I just can't justify spending lots of money on home decor items,' she told FEMAIL Slide me Ms Bray and her husband's room has an on-trend grey, white and blush colour palette that is minimal in its design but has gorgeous accent pieces Ms Bray and her husband's bedroom has an on-trend grey, white and blush colour palette that is minimal in its design but has gorgeous accent pieces. Although the entire room looks designer, it only cost them $342 to redecorate it, which is primarily thanks to the $200 bedhead from Adairs. The rest is made up of even more affordable pieces, like the $20 lamp from Kmart, the prints from AliExpress which were $30 for both and the $29 marble bedside table also from Kmart. The space proves that you don't need to spend a chunk of change to have a room that is stylish and a few small additions, like a variety of pillows, can make it feel inviting. Slide me The most expensive room in the house belongs to her two-year-old daughter Chloe, as it cost the family $1,043 Slide me The most expensive room in the house belongs to Ms Bray's two-year-old daughter, Chloe, which comes down to $1,043 Ms Bray has created chic rooms for both of her children, Cooper, four, and Chloe, two, with the most expensive room in the house belonging to her daughter, which comes down to $1,043. This is because she has designed the room in such a way that she can still enjoy the room as she gets older and can move from the cot to her bed with ease. Ms Bray bought the array of items from Adairs, Cotton On, AliExpress, Bell and co Living, Isla Dream Prints and Aldi, but most of the pieces come from Kmart. Notable items include a $60 Miffy lamp from AliExpress, a faux fur rug from Kmart for $29, the wallpaper from AliExpress for $160 and the $150 dresser from Aldi pack a huge interior punch. Slide me The living room is filled with stylish touches that amount to know more than $393 in total Slide me 'Never pay full price for items at the more expensive shops - wait as most have sales regularly,' Ms Bray explained The living room is filled with stylish touches that amount to no more than $393. The contemporary styling has created a space that allows the occupants to relax in comfort and the room isn't crammed with too many decorations. 'Never pay full price for items at the more expensive shops - wait as most have sales regularly,' Ms Bray explained. 'Sometimes too much affordable decor can look a bit tacky so just make sure you mix it up.' The mother-of-two has been using shoe racks from Kmart to create decorative displays Ms Bray also added some special touches to the laundry, using her label maker to label the jars she uses to wash the clothes The sophisticated rug only cost her $29 from Target and she decorated the living room table with a variety of trinkets from Kmart, ranging from $2 to $10. In the nook of the room Ms Bray has also created a reading corner, where she incorporated the popular Occasional chair from Kmart in the blush shade, which only set her back $49. This space is decorated with a $29 Target throw, a $12 glass tray from Kmart and faux flowers. The dining room has been brought to life by Ms Bray's Kmart buys as well, with the whole room costing $241. Slide me The dining room has been brought to life by Ms Bray's Kmart buys as well, with the whole room costing $241 Not only does the room feature a dining table but it also has another corner where guests or members of the household can choose to unwind Not only does the room feature a dining table but it also has another corner where guests or members of the household can choose to unwind, with the Occasional chair from Kmart making another appearance. The stand out items include the $12 DIY letter board from Kmart, the faux flowers for $8 from Kmart and the prints that only cost her $60 from Society 6. The kitchen, which stems off from the dining room has also had the Kmart touch with everything costing $96. Slide me The kitchen has also had the Kmart touch with everything she bought costing $96 'Lots of Simple cheap items can be turned into something totally different with a little bit of 'TLC,' Ms Bray said The grey and charcoal salt and pepper shaker from Aldi only cost them $30 for the set and the brown set from Kmart cost $8, with added DIY labelling that cost $2. Ms Bray explained that she was a fan of the occasional DIY job as it can add something special to run-of-the-mill pieces. 'Lots of simple, cheap items can be turned into something totally different with a little bit of 'TLC,' she said. The budget items don't stop there as she included other Kmart products like the serving board ($10), vase, ($6), canister ($4), tray ($16), tea pot ($8) and plate ($2). Slide me 'Decorating your house does not have to cost a fortune there are so many affordable shops to buy amazing decor items to brighten up any space,' Ms Bray said The backyard is the final area of the house Ms Bray decorated and takes out the prize for the overall area where the most money has been spent. This is thanks to the cubby house the family bought, which cost them $1,000 from Big W. The final touch was a $39 Kmart bench chair and a $10 cushion from Kmart. 'Decorating your house does not have to cost a fortune there are so many affordable shops to buy amazing decor items to brighten up any space,' Ms Bray said. She also recommends that people spend time shopping around and where they can shop online as this is where she has uncovered big savings. Australian cosmetic giant Mecca announced on Thursday they would be giving away $28 lipsticks to customers in Sydney and Melbourne. The lipsticks, to celebrate 'International Kissing Day', will come from the chain's stores in Bondi Junction and Melbourne Central on July 6. And while customers will be able to get their hands on a tube from the store's kissing booth - they have to first locate the booth which is located outside of the Mecca Maxima store. Customers also have to fill in a form to sign up to the company's loyalty membership scheme before receiving their lipstick. On Thursday it was announced that Australian cosmetics giant Mecca would be giving away free lipsticks to customers in Bondi Junction (one customer pictured on Friday morning) They will then be asked to reach in for a lucky dip once they've filled out the form. The promotion was designed to coincide with National Kissing Day, which is why the beauty giant was offering a free lipstick and lip mask. The two lipsticks on offer include a Mecca Max A-Lipster Liquid Lipstick and a Kiss & Tell Lip Mask. Customers have to first locate the booth in the Westfield in Bondi Junction (pictured) or Melbourne Central (Victoria), which is outside the Mecca Maxima store They also have to fill in a membership card before they then get to pick the lipstick out of a box (pictured) The retailer is offering beauty fans a free Mecca Max A-Lipster Liquid Lipstick (pictured) A Kiss And Tell Plumping Lip Mask (pictured) is also part of the freebie deal The lipsticks normally retail for $28 and are available in shades ranging from pale pink through to deep plum when you buy them. The Melbourne Central kissing booth will be open from 10am - 6pm (or until stocks last). The Bondi Junction kissing booth will be open from 9.30am - 6pm (or until stocks last). Last year's giveaway by MAC Cosmetics saw thousands of people line up for hours at stores in Australia and New Zealand. An 11-year-old girl who used to try and hide her insulin pump has now become a positive face for type 1 diabetes. Macey Kinnane, from Sydney, has had to wear one for the last seven years and although she hasn't always been proud of her pump, a recent impromptu photo has helped her embrace it. Her mother, Sharyn Kinnane, 45, said the spontaneous photo was taken a four hour dance practice that left her daughter 'hyped'. 'She has bumps on her belly from the set changes and carries her pump - but now instead of trying to hide it like she did for so many years it is all out proud and a part of who Macey is,' Ms Kinnane told FEMAIL. Macey Kinnane, 11, has had to wear one for the last seven years and although she hasn't always been proud of her pump, a recent impromptu photo has helped her embrace it 'It wasn't at all about the pump really, it was about her self-confidence and a moment in time,' she said. Macey saw this sandstone pylon, jumped up and posed. Ms Kinnane said it was so her daughter that she had to take a snap. The mother explained that there is a Facebook page called Parents of Aussie Kids with Type 1 Diabetes that has been a huge resource and comfort to her. She knew she could post the photo in the group and not be judged by other parents or receive negative comments. It was from here that the image was picked up by Diabetes Goodies who wanted to inspire young ones transitioning to the pump. 'She has bumps on her belly from the set changes and carries her pump - but now instead of trying to hide it like she did for so many years it is all out proud and a part of who Macey is,' Ms Kinnane said 'It wasn't at all about the pump really, it was about her self-confidence and a moment in time,' she said What is type 1 diabetes? Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong autoimmune disease caused by the immune system mistakenly turning on itself, destroying beta cells within the pancreas and removing the body's ability to produce insulin. Insulin allows the body to process sugar to create energy - without insulin, the body literally starves as it cannot process food. Advertisement 'Macey is so thrilled that her spontaneous, random, quirky personality has been able to generate so much awareness and discussion about type 1 diabetes and positive body image in general,' Ms Kinnane said. 'The nurturing of any child is crazily hard but those with special needs sometimes go misunderstood.' The mother-of-two said that her daughter's school and her friends offer an amazing amount of support, which has helped build resilience and a lifelong understanding of friendships. Macey's love of dance and performing has also built up her confidence and positive body image. When people meet the young dancer they can't often tell that she was diagnosed with diabetes on the 13th August 2010, two days before her fourth birthday. Macey's love of dance and performing has also built up her confidence and positive body image When people meet the young dancer they can't often tell that she was diagnosed with diabetes on the 13th August 2010, two days before her fourth birthday 'Macey hadn't been unwell, she was just consuming copious amounts of water litres and litres and literally screaming for more,' Ms Kinnane. 'This gradually got worse along with frequent toilet visits. For some reason in the back of my mind I knew this could be symptoms of type 1 diabetes, but it wasn't in our family nor did we know anyone with the illness.' When they made a trip to their doctor the family hoped for the diagnosis of a bladder infection but it soon turned into their worst nightmare. They were rushed to Westmead Children's Hospital and within an hour she received the diagnosis. 'Macey is so thrilled that her spontaneous, random, quirky personality has been able to generate so much awareness and discussion about type 1 diabetes,' Ms Kinnane said What is an insulin pump? An insulin pump is a small battery-operated electronic device that holds a reservoir of insulin. It is about the size of a mobile phone and is worn 24 hours a day. The pump is programmed to deliver insulin into the body through thin plastic tubing known as the infusion set or giving set. The pump is worn outside the body, in a pouch or on your belt. Source: Diabetes Australia Advertisement 'We were devastated to say the least. Our poor baby having to be insulin dependent for the rest of her life she has a life-threatening illness and we could potentially at any time lose her,' she said. 'She was so little she didn't understand why strangers were pricking her fingers constantly and sticking needles in her tummy. 'The worst day in hospital was when she yelled at us "mummy and daddy why are you letting them do this to me". Tears still well in my eyes thinking about it.' Ms Kinnane said they had a couple of ambulance trips when Macey had a gastro bug and needed to have hospital care. At this stage they haven't had a life-threatening Hypoglycaemia, which where she could seizure and go into a diabetic coma Ms Kinnane said they had a couple of ambulance trips when Macey had a gastro bug and needed to have hospital care Apart from events like this, at this stage they haven't had a life-threatening hypoglycemia, which where she could seizure and go into a diabetic coma. 'I live every day and night in fear of something happening to her. Hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) would have to be the worst,' she explained. 'If her blood glucose levels (BGL) is low and is not treated with something as simple as a juice popper she can collapse and potentially die,' Ms Kinnane continued. Ms Kinnane said that the pump is a god-send and she hopes the federal government will continue its funding. 'I live every day and night in fear of something happening to her. Hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) would have to be the worst,' Ms Kinnane explained Macey's pump is programmed to her specific insulin needs and all through the day the pump delivers a tailored does of insulin. If her blood glucose levels (BGL) is low and is not treated with something as simple as a juice popper she can collapse and potentially die However, every time she consumes a carbohydrate she needs to enter the grams of carbohydrates contained in that food into her pump so is delivers another dose of insulin to cover the carbs. For the first six months of diagnosis she was having multiple needles of fast acting and low acting insulin every day in her stomach but now her pump set is changed every three days. Macey was able to meet her Federal MP, Alex Hawke, on a recent excursion to Canberra (pictured) 'Macey amazes us every day. She's a school debater, a competent flutist and a talented dancer,' Ms Kinnane said. 'She adores her bunny and budgies and loves digging in the mud. She faces every day with gusto and doesn't let anything get in her way of what she achieves. 'We are just proud of the young lady she is becoming and embracing the fact that she does have type 1 diabetes but that's not going to stop here!' her mother added. Macey explained that she enjoys being able to wear the pump because it means she doesn't have to have a variety of needles every single time, which affected her when she was younger. 'We are just proud of the young lady she is becoming and embracing the fact that she does have type 1 diabetes but that's not going to stop here!' Ms Kinnane said 'Macey amazes us every day. She's a school debater, a competent flutist and a talented dancer,' Ms Kinnane added 'I remember in pre-school going into sick bay and having my needles before recess and lunch. I'd miss out on some play time with my friends, which I hated,' she said. I just want kids with type 1 to know that you can achieve anything you want 'Now I just put it in my pump and can join in with my friends. It's good because I can eat what I want when I want and just enter it in my pump and I get the right dose of insulin.' In Australia seven people a day, usually aged between zero to 14, are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, with 127,000 people living with this life threatening illness currently. In August Macey will be going to Canberra to represent their federal electorates, informing politicians of the importance of remembering clinical research into the sickness. 'The most important things for me as that people understand the difference between type 1 diabetes and type 2. My body killed by pancreas where type 2 is genetic, or lifestyle related,' Macey said. 'I just want kids with type 1 to know that you can achieve anything you want. Just because you have a chronic illness doesn't mean you can't be a warrior and fight for everything,' she said. For Sydney-based chef Naomi Lowry, opening her own restaurant was a dream come true. But just twelve short weeks after opening Culina et Vinum, her life was turned upside down when she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. Ms Lowry was dealt perhaps a greater blow three months later when she lost her sense of taste to chemotherapy. This situation might have signalled the end of a career for many, but not for Ms Lowry - giving up on a lifetime of work because of her illness was not an option. Speaking to FEMAIL, the culinary extraordinaire shared her inspirational story of passion, determination and the invaluable support of friends. Ms Lowry has worked at a vast range of restaurants, including Michelin star kitchens and fine dining favourites such as Pilu at Freshwater and Biota, both in New South Wales Ms Lowry created a dedicated Instagram account 'Chef vs Cancer' to document her fight with stage 3b her2+ breast cancer 'My love of food started at a very early age - as soon as I could reach the stove top I wanted to cook with my Grandma and my mother,' Ms Lowry, 38, said. Enjoying a diverse career path, the London-born culinary talent cut her teeth in cafes, pubs, casual eateries and fine dining restaurants before putting her wealth of learning into her own venture. 'I guess I'm like a mum - Culina is my baby and cooking is my passion,' she said. It was this deep love for her work that spurred Ms Lowry on in the face of her cancer diagnosis, and part of what kept her going when she was warned her taste may disappear as a side effect of chemotherapy. The gifted chef refused to let her diagnosis halt her career The beautiful interior of Ms Lowry's Culina et Vinum in Elizabeth Bay, Sydney 'I wasn't going to just give up on everything that I have worked for just because I had cancer. Yes, it is very hard at times - in fact it sucks! 'But the restaurant lets me feel 'normal' - I come to work and its all about food and business - no time to think about my illness.' The second half of Ms Lowry's humbling strength comes from those closest to her. 'I have the most amazing support network - my family, friends and the industry. They have all being amazing and I will never forget everything that everyone has done for me,' she said. The gifted chef drew on these relationships to overcome the heartbreaking challenge of losing her sense of taste, with her chef de partie and other colleagues acting as her temporary taste buds. 'Every Monday when I have chemo my taste goes and then it gradually comes back during the week. 'By Sunday its okay - but then I get "plugged in" again the next Monday and its gone again. It is a massive challenge, but I'm lucky to have such amazing staff!' Ms Lowry with her mother at the Chef of the Year 2018 competition, which she competed in days after undergoing chemotherapy Ms Lowry described the fare at Culina et Vinum as 'finessed, not fine dining'; her innovative chocolate cigar and toasted marshmallow dessert (left) and a more-ish pea risotto from Culina (right) 'I can still come up with dishes, you still remember flavours, but its the finessing that's hard for me now. The front of house staff have also taken over more responsibility, and I now have a restaurant manager. Everyone here at Culina really is awesome, and I am incredibly lucky to have such great staff! The determined cook even signed up for Australia's Chef of the Year competition during the height of her chemo sessions and achieved the incredible honour of placing as one of three runners up. 'I wanted to prove to myself, and everyone else, that I am tough, chefs are tough, and not even cancer can stop us - It was my way of saying I'm going to be okay and this me letting you know,' she said proudly. The resilient cook started a dedicated Instagram account to document her journey from diagnosis through treatment in a bid to show others in similar situations they are not alone. Ms Lowry's final chemo session is scheduled for July 9th, after which her taste should gradually return to normal. Ms Lowry and a Chef of the Year judge John McFadden - 'It's my favourite picture. I had just finished the grand final and he came and gave me a big hug - I think this sums up the hospitality industry pretty well!' A flat lay of delicious offerings at Culina et Vinum Asked what message she would give to anyone diagnosed with cancer, Ms Lowry spoke of hope and the strength she derives from the solidarity of loved ones. 'Don't give up. Even though you want to, trust me I know - there are days when staying in bed forever seems like the best thing and shutting out the world is the answer. 'It's not! There are people who love you and want to help you. 'Always look for that silver lining, no matter how small. For example- I now save time showering as I have no hair to dry or legs to shave - chemo perk! 'I may have cancer but it will not defeat me or define me - don't let your illness do that to you.' Well-heeled Hermes fans are splashing out twice the original price for second-hand bags thanks to a booming cottage industry targeting those who are 'fed up' with waiting for the real thing. If you want to buy one of the brand's much-coveted bags, having 6,000 to spare is only half the battle, as they're so exclusive you can't walk into a store and buy one thanks to limited supplies. The 'snooty' French brand is extremely discerning about who it sells the bags to and will even turn down requests to join its infamous waiting list, creating a surge in demand in the second-hand market. Recently, the New York Post reported that the 'cottage industry' in pre-loved Hermes bags has taken $200 million in the past few years, and in the UK, business is also booming. Second-hand retailers buy bags from celebrities and wealthy women, who like to 'flip' their older model for the latest colour, and they sell them online and via Instagram for up to twice their original price tag. Reece Morgan, head of handbags and accessories at Xupes.com, one of the UKs leading pre-owned retail platforms, told Femail that anyone can now buy the elusive arm candy. The catch is, however, that you'll have to pay up to twice the original price for a second-hand bag due to high demand. 'The second-hand market has grown incredibly over the last five years alone,' he said. We see record traffic each week as visitors come to purchase their dream pre-loved handbag that they just cant obtain in the brand boutiques. Fans are turning to second-hand retailers on Instagram to buy Hermes bags such as this blue Birkin, which costs 7,500 new and 9,295 second-hand, according to Xupes.com A pre-loved Kelly in a classic colour can cost more than 15,000, more than double the original price of 7,200. This Birkin would cost 6,400 new but is on sale for 15,999 second hand because it's a sought-after colour 'I dont blame clients for not wanting to wait to find the bag they are looking for directly from the brand, when they can order online and have the handbag arrive directly to them the next day.' Handbag expert Claudia Valentin from Prestige Pawnbrokers told Femail that even A-list clients can struggle to get their Hermes fix. 'They are probably one of the most exclusive luxury brands in the world which only the wealthy and famous seem to get hold of,' she explained. 'If youre one of the lucky few Hermes invite their VIP customers to order a new bag on a yearly basis, and are even then they are often limited to one bag per year. Think Victoria Beckham and the Kardashians for example. How much does a second-hand Hermes bag cost? Birkin 35cm in a classic colour New: 7,500 Second hand: 9,295 For a non-exotic skin Birkin 35cm crafted in a classic colour, the approximate retail price is 7,500.00. This will fluctuate depending on the type of leather used to make the bag. Birkin 35cm in a seasonal colour New: 7,500 Second hand: 9,499 For a non-exotic skin Birkin 35cm crafted in a seasonal colour the price will generally be no more expensive than a bag crafted in a classic colour, with the exception of Limited Edition designs the approximate retail price is again 7,500.00. Kelly 35cm in a classic colour New 7,200 Second hand: 15,312 For a non-exotic skin Kelly 35cm crafted in a classic colour, the approximate retail price is 7,200.00 - this will fluctuate depending on the type of leather used to craft the bag. Kelly 35cm in a seasonal colour New: 7,200 Second hand: 14,200 For a non-exotic skin Kelly 35cm crafted in a seasonal colour the price will generally be no more expensive than a bag crafted in a classic colour, with the exception of limited edition designs the approximate retail price is again 7,200.00. This will fluctuate depending on the type of leather used to craft the bag. Birkin 35cm or Kelly 35cm in crocodile skin New: 39,000 Second hand: 50,000 Crocodile skin Birkin 35cm/Kelly 35cm prices fluctuate the most depending on the species and the colour. The approximate retail price is 39,000 for a less diverse style but can increase up to approximately 55,000 for a rarer piece, including handbags crafted in the infamous Himalayan Crocodile. Figures according to Xupes.com Advertisement This Hermes Kelly 35 Togo Capucine Ghw Bag and Strap will set you back more than 14,000, despite costing 7,200 brand new 'It takes around 20 hours to make one Hermes Birkin, which would be in leather, so far more time and expertise for an exotic skin. 'If you wanted to purchase a Birkin or Kelly in crocodile skin you would expect to buy new in the region of 45,000 upwards again this would depend on the hardware and finish. 'For example the Himalayan crocodile skin Hermes could cost in the region of 200,000. There was one sold recently at auction in Hong Kong for 250,000 which was a Himalayan Birkin, encrusted in diamonds with palladium plated hardware. Crocodile skin models such as this burgundy porosus crocodile palladium Birkin sell for up to 50K on eBay. A new Kelly in a seasonal colour costs 7,200 but you'll face paying for than 9,000 to buy it second-hand 'Reputable used handbag sites are popping up everywhere and as long as they can guarantee the authenticity you can bag yourself a bargain. 'Unfortunately the exclusive brands such as Birkin and Chanel never really lose their value because they tend to be classed as a heirloom making them more desirable and wanted. 'Instagram in particular proves easy access to bag lovers, however it can also be a prime place for individuals selling counterfeit goods yet selling them at unrealistic prices so do your research before you make the purchase. 'A Wise investment can see a fantastic return in years to come.' Explorer Sir David Hempleman-Adams, 61, shared the items of personal significance in the office of his family home in Bath 1 A HEAD FOR ADVENTURE There is no evidence of expeditions in this house except here, in my room. I was given this hat in 1998 when I was the first person to complete the Adventurers Grand Slam climbing the highest peak on each continent, including Everest and Kilimanjaro, and getting to the geographic and magnetic North and South Poles. When I was returning on my successful third attempt from the North Pole, I arrived at the tiny Canadian village of Resolute Bay. A local Mounted Police guy asked for the smelly hat Id been wearing for 60 days and gave me his gleaming hat in exchange. 2 MY DEVIL DAUGHTERS This photo was taken with my daughters Alicia, Camilla and Amelia, now 28, 25 and 23, in the Brecon Beacons in December 2016. As we came down the mountain, Id just told them I was going to be knighted. This photo is of Sir David and his daughters in the Brecon Beacons in December 2016, shortly after he told them he was going to be knighted It was there that I had my first adventure as a 13-year-old, and it was the scariest thing Ive done it was the first time Id been away from home. It was for my bronze Duke of Edinburghs Award, a scheme which should be compulsory for young people, as you learn so much. 3 MOUNTAIN MAN I first climbed Mount Everest in 1993 on the route Edmund Hillary took, then in 2011 I did it a second time, but this time on the north side, which is tougher. I led that trip and wasnt supposed to climb to the summit, but there was a bit of oxygen left so I went up. These oxygen masks and regulators are from my climbs. As a boy, I read about explorers but never thought Id ever climb Everest. This painting of the north face by the British landscape artist Alan Cotton is very beautiful and a great reminder. He is a big fan of polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and this book is signed by the explorer and the members of his 1914 Endurance expedition to the Antarctic 4 HEROIC FAILURES The polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton has always been a hero of mine, he was a real maverick and all his men loved him. Although, like Captain Scott, he also failed on his trips, Ive always been a huge admirer and I think he was a great leader. This book is signed by Shackleton and his team on his 1914 Endurance expedition to the Antarctic. I bought it at Christies a few years ago for a stupid amount of money. 5 DARTING TOWARDS DANGER A Norwegian friend asked me to help him find the source of the Orinoco River in South America. But I hated it and came back early. This is a knife used by Inuit women to skin animals, it is known as an ulu and Sir David says he uses his to chop parsley I like cold weather, not humidity and bugs. While there, we came across a village where they were using blow pipes. I brought these ones leaning against the mantelpiece home, with the poison darts on the desk. One day I showed them to a friend and his daughter she puffed on the pipe, a dart hit him in the head and he collapsed, but luckily he recovered. 6 ON A KNIFE EDGE Inuit women use knives like this one I collected, an ulu, to skin animals. I use mine to chop parsley. Also on the desk in front of me is the Harmon Trophy, which is an international award for achievements in aeronautics. I was given it for being the first to fly solo from Spitsbergen in Norway to the North Pole and back in a hot air balloon, in 2000. People had tried before and died, but I was lucky. If it goes wrong on that trip, theres no rescue. Behind every well-dressed man is a great wardrobe. But when it comes to fashion, most men will tell you that they hate going shopping - or they never know where to go for style inspiration. And so Melbourne stylist Cheyenne Scott came up with a solution by specialising in revamping men's wardrobes from drab to fab. The concept is simple - the 25-year-old sends out a questionnaire to the client before she hand picks all the items based on their specific clothing tastes and needs. The idea to launch her own styling service came to mind after a friend enlisted her help to provide some much-needed sartorial tips. The personal stylist had noticed a growing number of men struggling with confidence to dress themselves when she was working in the retail industry. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, she revealed her client Michael's transformation - as she shared the must-have essentials every man should own. Melbourne stylist Cheyenne Scott specialises in revamping men's wardrobes from drab to fab From drab to fab: Michael enlisted in the help of the personal stylist who helped provide some much-needed sartorial inspiration Five must-have items every men should own White linen long sleeve shirt Denim jacket or black bomber Good fitting pair of black jeans Pair of dress pant chinos Basic cotton tees in black, white and grey Advertisement 'I explored different elements of women's styling for years, but only really began styling men about a year ago,' she said. 'I had worked in a menswear store prior and it became very apparent to me that there were a lot of men that weren't confident in how to dress themselves, or simply hated shopping. 'I had a friend reach out to me and tell me that she knew a guy who was interested in being styled. 'At this point I had only really played around with styling male friends and what not, so I sat down and designed a process and a rough package idea that would incorporate the general needs of a male being styled, with a bit of a unique flare to it.' Cheyenne said she charges $500 for the 'Wardrobe Reconstruction' package, which includes a brief style questionnaire and three one-on-one in-depth consultations in an effort to help them break out the fashion rut. 'The package includes a brief, built from thoughtful and relevant questions that would give me a solid understanding of the type of man my client is before even meeting him,' she said. 'The questionnaire includes topics regarding budget, lifestyle, current wardrobe, upcoming events and current shopping characteristics. 'The idea behind my packages is to remove what men hate about shopping. I do all the behind the scenes work, so he is able to simply meet me in a cool, calm and organised environment, everything is already on hold for him, and he only needs to deal with me - I act as the buffer between him and the shopping madness. 'He also has the confidence in that setting to say if he doesn't like something, which eliminates the risk of "unnecessary purchases".' 'What I enjoy most about my job is being able to at times, restore someone's self confidence. I like to delve deeper than just telling someone what I think they should wear, I like to be able to educate them throughout the process so they feel confident in continuing this long after the styling sessions have been completed.' Before the overhaul began: Michael's wardrobe was mostly filled with mix-and-match items and out-of-fashion clothes SESSION ONE - THE WARDROBE OVERHAUL In session one, Cheyenne meets her client at his home for their first consultation. 'We sit down and talk through the brief, covering each area in a little more depth. This gives the client the opportunity to speak comfortably about what he is after or any concerns he may have about his body type, style and budget,' she explained. Next, she goes through his entire wardrobe taking them through each item. 'I designed a process for this part of the session called "Isolate, Eliminate and Cleanse",' she said. 'I get the client to talk me through his wardrobe, and pull out his favorite pieces. This is the easiest way for me to isolate his go-to-pieces and identify his style a little better. I pull these off to the side and begin the 'Yes' pile. 'By doing this I'm able to gain the trust of the client, and reiterate that I'm not there to completely strip him of who he is in the sense of clothes, but instead to simply rebuild his wardrobe based around a set of what I consider to be essentials, and make getting dressed in the morning a simple task. 'I give him scenarios and ask him to show me what he would wear. For example, "footy with the guys" or "a dinner date" or "an engagement". This also assists with educating me on what area of styling he may need most support in, whether that be casual, neat casual or dressy. The 25-year-old said she charges $500 for the 'Wardrobe Reconstruction' package, which includes a brief style questionnaire and three one-on-one in-depth consultations 'Once we have isolated these pieces, we move on to "eliminate". We go through the wardrobe piece by piece and begin sorting it into a "Yes" pile and a "No" pile. 'These are decisions however we make together, as this is usually the time I reiterate that I'm there to guide not dictate. When we decide something is a "No", I educate the client as to why that particular piece is not going to remain in the wardrobe. 'Once everything has been organised into its appropriate piles, the "Yes" pile goes back into the wardrobe and the "No" pile goes to a charity or an op shop of their choice. 'As we are going through the wardrobe, I am constructing essentially a "shopping list" of both "new opportunities" and "replacement opportunities". 'The new opportunities are areas I believe weren't ever existent in the original wardrobe and the replacement opportunities are areas that need to be replaced from the "No" pile. 'We then move onto accessories, completing the same three step process. I then take the measurements of my client, have a final discussion about any questions or concerns, and gather any other information I need.' In session three, Michael met with Cheyenne at his local shopping centre where he tried on all the garments she had put on hold during session three Shopping spree: Once she takes Michael through each item, educating him on how the clothes can be styled, he makes the purchase if he's happy with her hand-picked garments SESSION TWO - PUT CAREFULLY-CHOSEN ITEMS ON HOLD Next, Cheyenne heads to the shopping centre of her client's choice where she goes from store to store, hand-picking clothes based on his taste. 'Based on session one, I have constructed an in-depth list comprising of the opportunity areas and other essentials,' she explained. 'I do a clockwise sweep of the centre, avoiding backtracking or excessive store options, I tend to go to David Jones, where there is a number of stores under the same roof. 'This also means the client isn't having to get in and out of a number of change rooms. I introduce myself to the employees, and roughly explain to them what I do. 'As a number of retailers work on commission, they are usually very helpful in these situations. I begin putting on hold products in his size that correspond with the opportunities list. 'I make a new list of what's on hold and where, and the price so I can keep in mind the budget. Session three needs to take place a day or so after session two to ensure the product is still on hold.' Before the shopping spree begins, Cheyenne gets the client to fill out a questionnaire so she can hand pick all the items for them based on their specific clothing tastes and needs The big reveal: Michael's wardrobe is now filled with stylish outfits for every occasion THE VERDICT Michael, from Melbourne, explained he turned to a personal stylist because he hated shopping for clothes. 'The convenience of having someone shop for me for the big attraction,' the 30-year-old told Daily Mail Australia. 'I hate shopping I'm no good at it, I get decision fatigue and am highly influenced and misled by charming young female retail assistants working on commission.' He said Cheyenne helped him save a lot of time and money. 'A lot of people would think it would cost you more having a personal stylist or shopper but she finds good deals and actually saves me money,' he said. 'She goes through the entire wardrobe and covers everything so there's no need for me to go shopping for months.' Advertisement SESSION THREE - SHOPPING SPREE The following day, Cheyenne meets with her client at the shopping centre where she takes him to all the stores where she specifically put products on hold for him. 'We do a clean clockwise sweep of the centre, trying on all of the on-hold products,' she explained. 'Each time the client tries something on, I educate him on why I chose it, the importance of quality fabrics, opposed to high price points or designer labels. 'I also educate him on what this can be styled back with in his wardrobe. Mixing old and new is very important in wardrobe reconstructions. Providing he too likes the products, he then purchases it and we move onto the next store on the list. 'The goal of the session is to ensure we stay within budget, cover all areas of opportunities and educate the client on not just why he is purchasing the product but how to style it when he gets home. 'I aim to complete this session in under three hours as I understand and appreciate how most men feel towards shopping centres. 'Once the day is over, he has an opportunity to ask me any questions, before packing his car full of his new wardrobe.' Her questionnaire includes topics regarding budget, lifestyle, current wardrobe, upcoming events and current shopping characteristics TOP FIVE ITEMS EVERY MEN SHOULD OWN 'Personally, I think the top five items all men should have in their wardrobe is, a good white linen long sleeve shirt. I consider linen to be everyone's best friend, it is breathable and easily converted from summer to winter,' she explained. 'A "casual" jacket, whether that be a blue denim, or a black bomber. A good fitting pair of black jeans. 'A pair of dress pant chinos - these also come in the style of shorts for the warmer months. These are a great alternative when jeans are too casual, and suit pants are too dressy. And a few basic cotton tees in black, white and grey. 'Everyone needs a solid representation of some basics in their wardrobe.' To follow Cheyenne Scott, please visit her at cheyennerosescott. Chris Grayling, pro-Brexit Secretary of State for Transport Sea dogs know the type: the rickety rust-bucket that looks, in high sea, as though it can never survive. Waves engulf its bows, water frothing white over its toiling flanks. How can the battered tub crest the next mountain of angry ocean? On the bridge, struggling at the helm, is that a Popeye pipe the skipper has clamped in his teeth? Or, more useful, a snorkel? Behold the stricken coaster Grayling, soon to go glug glug glug, so laughing snoots would have us believe. I refer to Chris Grayling, pro-Brexit Secretary of State for Transport. All right, I have myself loosed the odd torpedo at him from time to time, for he is such a wonderfully juicy target, all flapping flippers and a gumbys repartee, that tall head somehow attracting attention like Duncan Goodhew in a shampoo advert. Mr Grayling was in the Commons facing an urgent question yesterday. Labour said he had again boobed big-time, this time over no-deal Brexit contingency planning and trying to book cargo ships to cover any trading shortfall if the EU, our supposed friends, play nastily after we leave their club. Just when the contract was about to be signed, its backers, Arklow Shipping, scuttled the deal. The nationality of Arklow Shipping? Irish, mlud. As yesterdays action began, Mr Grayling certainly looked capable of sinking. His fingers were shuddering and his voice had gone hoarse and echoey. Resign! cried Labour MPs the moment he stood to answer shadow minister Andy McDonalds question. A twitch danced a little hornpipe at Mr Graylings left temple. He gave the smile of a goat with colic. He opened his mouth and for a moment nothing came out. Or was that a dribble of yellowy-green fluid? The P&O doctor in me said, that man needs Kwells, pronto. Mr Grayling was in the Commons facing an urgent question yesterday. Labour said he had again boobed big-time But Grayling survived. Recently I read a terrific and largely forgotten novel, The Sea and the Shore, by Jacland Marmur, in which a freighter ploughs through a hideous storm. Same with Grayling yesterday. Mr McDonald and his friends were partly to blame. They attacked hard, accusing Mr Grayling of being completely useless, a king of incompetence, a prize numpty, a political calamity. They cackled with glee. They rejoiced in their indignation. Thats no way to get rid of a minister. The surer way of forcing a Cabinet resignation is to criticise with apparently reluctant sorrow the minister is an honourable person, as we all know, but he will recognise that this is a matter born of severe shortcomings, etc. In the Commons, you more often kill with kindness. It was to Mr Graylings advantage that he had not committed any public money to the unsigned contract. He was also able to read a letter from those elusive backers, Arklow Shipping, who did indeed sound as if they had been well on board. What happened to change their minds? It was to Mr Graylings advantage that he had not committed any public money to the unsigned contract Jim Shannon (DUP, Strangford) wondered if there was any truth to reports that the Republic of Ireland and the EU are doing all they can to frustrate Brexit. Jacob Rees-Mogg (Con, NE Somerset) accused Arklow of being eccentric (!!) and asked if there was any question of the Irish governments involvement. A Scots Nat asked Mr Grayling if he really felt he had conducted himself to the best of his ability. Kevin Brennan (Lab, Cardiff W) picked up on that remark and said he very much feared Mr Grayling had performed to his top capability. That was just the trouble. Nicely done. Far more effective than shadow minister McDonalds foghorning. Tom Brake (Lib Dem, Carshalton) worried that Whitehall may have broken EU procurement rules. Good grief, who cares? The whole reason were leaving is to escape such infringements. Hes an odd fish, Grayling. Each time he sits down, he folds his arms with a that told em manner. He twists his neck from left to right. He is a gulp in a drainpipe. But on this particular occasion he looks less culpable than the mockers claim. ROME - Spain's finance minister Maria Jesus Montero said Tuesday in the lower house of parliament that the government would not ''give in to any blackmail''. The message was implicitly addressed to Catalan pro-independence parties on the eve of a parliamentary vote on the budget law. ''It isn't that the pro-independence movement and the right perhaps thrive most in clashes rather than in solutions,'' she said. ''Independence supporters dreamed that the government would have agreed to something unacceptable in exchange for their support. They made a big mistake.'' In the Spanish parliament, the finance minister asked parliamentary groups to make it possible to debate the budget law drawn up by the Pedro Sanchez government. The law is progressive and includes such things as a rise in minimum wage, the fight against gender-based violence, an increase in pensions and housing aid, as well as an increase in taxes on the highest income levels. ''Everything leads us to believe that independence supporters will vote against a budget law good for Catalonia,'' the minister told the MPs, ''and the right against a budget law good for Spain. Both will vote to reject the regaining of rights that citizens are waiting for.'' ''The obligation of a government,'' she continued, ''is for things to go as well as possible and a similar proposal is radically incompatible with asking for the impossible, like asking for measures and positions to be adopted that are alien to our constitutional competencies, or that there is an attempt to divide powers or against the founding principles of our constitutional structure.'' She concluded by saying that ''this government will under no circumstance allow that the right to self-determination for Catalonia be on the agenda. we cannot and we do not want to. we have been loyal and we have always placed our faith in political dialogue so long as it is along the lines of our constitution. this has always been our limit when we sit down to talk.'' Montero then said that she would have preferred that the debate on the budget law not end up coinciding with the trial against pro-independence leaders over the incidents in October 2017 and that she rejected ''any type of interference''. The judiciary, she stressed, ''as an independent power, organizes its activities in the timeline and ways it sees best''. The minister addressed right-wing parties in criticizing ''the intolerable escalation of tension'' that in her opinion, the Partido Popular and Ciudadanos parties, ''along with the formation that they are allowing themselves to be dragged along behind'', she said in implicitly referring to the far-right Vox party, are generating ''in an absolutely irresponsible form''. Caln Developer to host Q&A with residents about proposed development Developer to host Q&A with residents about proposed development in Caln Lieutenant Gov. John Fetterman talks with state Rep. Patty Kim on stage in Harrisburg at the beginning of his first stop on a statewide listening tour to explore the issue of legalizing marijuana for recreational use. Marc Friedenberg, of State College, has been nominated by the Pennsylvania Democratic Party to run for election for the U.S. House seat in the 12th Congressional District during a special election on May 21. Spain has put 2.3 mn Catalans on trial, says Torra 'Move forward with independence, Sanchez must accept referendum' (by Monica Uriel) (ANSAmed) - MADRID, FEBRUARY 12 - In the trial opening on Tuesday of Catalan separatists, ''there will be the 2.3 million citizens who voted'' in the 2017 referendum ''on trial, and not just the 12 political leaders'', said the head of the Catalan separatist government Quim Torra in an interview on Tuesday with five European media outlets including ANSA. The referendum was declared illegal by the Spanish government. Torra called on Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez be ''brave'' and agree to a referendum on Catalan independence. ''Why were the Scottish able to decide their future and Catalans cannot? Why is all the pressure on the separatists and not on Madrid to find a democratic solution? Do we Catalans,'' Torra said, ''have to resign ourselves to Spain's veto on our legitimate right to self-determination?''. The solution to the problem, the Catalan leader said, ''should be political and put to a vote'', since ''80% of Catalans support the referendum and over 50% want independence''. Torra said that this is why he is once again calling on the Socialist prime minister Sanchez - who rejected the referendum, as did his predecessor Mariano Rajoy - to ''be brave. In the 21st century, people should be given the right to vote because the crime is not voting, it is being beaten when you go to vote''. The reference was to the October 1, 2017 referendum in which about a thousand people were injured by policemen sent by the Rajoy government, according to its Catalan counterpart. It is for organizing that referendum, declared illegal by the Spanish judiciary, and for the unilateral declaration of independence proclaimed by the Catalan president at that time Carles Puigdemont on October 27, 2017 that the 12 political leaders including former vice president Oriol Junqueras are starting on Tuesday on trial at Madrid's Supreme Court, accused of the crimes of rebellion (which carries a sentence of up to 30 years of jail), sedition and embezzlement. ''Democracy and the right to vote are being put on trial,'' Torra said, who clearly hopes for an acquittal. But if this were not to happen, he warned, ''I have pledged to go to Parliament to propose a democratic response based on the right to self-determination''. In the meantime Torra, the successor of Puigdemont - who has sought refuge in Belgium - said that ''the Catalan independence process is moving forward. The republic has been proclaimed and even if it has not gone into force it is there. There is a declaration of independence.'' Torra stressed that he would push for the setting up of a Catalan republic in this legislature. (ANSAmed). featured Ulster County Rider gives up campaign for exec Marc Rider drops out of Ulster County executive race, backs Pat Ryan Kingston Dems kick off campaign push with fundraiser RABAT - Mystery looms large over a visit to Morocco by Spanish King Felipe and Queen Letizia scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, because the wife of King Mohammed VI of Morocco, Princess Lalla Salma, was not mentioned in the official statement announcing the visit and the protocol of meetings. The princess consort has been officially absent for more than a year, in what is rumoured to be a marital separation that official sources have never confirmed. Princess Lalla Salma has not appeared at inaugurations and has no official appointments, not even for the foundation she was president of, which was dedicated to children with cancer and appears to have disappeared into thin air. The visit by Spain's royal couple, after being postponed four times, may be the occasion in which the Moroccan Royal Court decides to make the separation announcement official. King Felipe and Queen Letizia will visit Rabat, the Royal Court, and Casablanca for the SIEL international publishing and book fair, taking place through February 17, where Spain is the guest-of-honour country. The press in Morocco hasn't dared to write anything about the rumoured separation, but King Mohammed's sister, Princess Hasna, in situation without precedent, has de facto assumed the role of first lady. Ethos is a nationally recognized, award-winning independent student publication. Our mission is to elevate the voices of marginalized people who are underrepresented in the media landscape, and to write in-depth, human-focused stories about the issues affecting them. We also strive to support our diverse student staff and to help them find future success. Ethos produces a quarterly free print magazine full of well-reported and powerful feature stories, innovative photography, creative illustrations and eye-catching design. On our website, we also produce compelling written and multimedia stories. Ethos is part of Emerald Media Group, a non-profit organization thats fully independent of the University of Oregon. Students maintain complete editorial control over Ethos, and work tirelessly to produce the magazine. Since our inception as Korean Ducks Magazine in 2005, weve worked hard to share a multicultural spirit with our readership. We embrace diversity in our stories, in our student staff and in our readers. We want every part of the magazine to reflect the diversity of our world. Staff reports The Daily American Windber Area High School graduate Kortney Lampel is helping low-to-moderate income families with their taxes as a volunteer for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program at the YWCA Pittsburgh. Lampel is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Point Park University in Downtown Pittsburgh. Additionally, she is secretary of the Student Accounting Association and treasurer of United Student Government at Point Park. She is the daughter of Renee Potts and Brian Lampel, both of Windber. As an accounting major, its exciting to apply what Ive learned in the classroom to real tax returns. Not only am I gaining first-hand knowledge of the tax field, but Ive also had the opportunity to meet so many amazing people in the Pittsburgh community. Getting to interact one on one with various clients has been my favorite part of the experience, Lampel said. * * * Sarah Hope Leiford, daughter of Mr and Mrs. David Leiford of Boswell, was named to the presidents list by Dr. Troy Shoemaker, president of Pensacola Christian College, for academic achievement during the 2018 fall semester. This was a result of earning a semester grade point average of 3.90 or higher. * * * Miranda Berkebile, Friedens, was named to the fall term deans list at the University of Pittsburgh Greensburg. She is the daughter of Catherine and David Berkebile. * * * Allison Shaffer, Windber, was named to the John G. Rangos Sr. School of Health Sciences deant list for the fall semester at Duquesne University. * * * Thirty-one seniors were awarded Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees Dec. 9, during ceremonies marking Juniata Colleges Celebration of December Graduates. Whitney Miller, of Somerset, child of Stephen and Jill Miller, received a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice with a secondary emphasis in accounting. Miller is a 2015 graduate of Somerset Area Senior High School. Hope Victoria Brock, of Somerset, child of Jeffrey Brock and Linda Miller, received a Bachelor of Science in biopsychology. Brock is a 2015 graduate of Somerset Area Senior High School. * * * The following students from this area have been named to the deans list at Waynesburg University for the fall 2018 term: Cole G. Booth, junior exercise science major from Berlin (Berlin Brothersvalley High School) Dillion D. Charlton, junior early childhood/special education major from Stoystown (North Star High School) Logan W. Eller, senior exercise science major from Somerset (Somerset Area High School) Allison B. Eutin, senior psychology major from Stoystown (North Star High School) Teagan R. Jenner, junior mathematics major from Fairhope (Berlin Brothersvalley High School) Cassandra K. Kemp, senior middle level education major from Confluence (Turkeyfoot Valley High School) Ashley E. Lape, freshman biology (pre-dental/medical/veterinary) major from Friedens (Somerset Area High School) Brock J. Leazier, sophomore early childhood education major from Friedens (Somerset Area High School) Rebecca A. Lytle, junior nursing major from Fort Hill (Rockwood Area High School) Taylor M. McCall, junior forensic accounting major from Somerset (Somerset Area High School) Samantha R. Pero, sophomore early childhood/special education major from Somerset (Somerset Area High School) Emily D. Schafer, freshman nursing major from Meyersdale (Meyersdale Area High School) Hannah M. Sembower, junior early childhood/special education major from Somerset (Somerset Area High School) Olivia R. Zuchelli, junior early childhood/special education major from Jennerstown (North Star High School) * * * Anna Bennett, of Berlin, earned academic recognition at West Virginia Wesleyan College for their classroom performance during the 2018 fall semester being named to the deans list. She is the daughter of Dawn Bennett and the late Kim Bennett of Berlin. * * * Charleston Southern University has named Wesley A. Myers of Somerset to the deans list for the fall 2018 semester. Myers is a junior majoring in communication studies. * * * Bethany Seifert, of Somerset, recently received a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary/middle school dual certification from Frostburg State University, Frostburg, Maryland, during its 153rd commencement ceremonies. FSU President Dr. Ronald Nowaczyk conferred nearly 400 undergraduate and graduate degrees at this December commencement. Photojournalist Micalizzi lost vision in one eye in Syria Being treated at US hospital in Baghdad (ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, FEBRUARY 12 - Italian photojournalist Gabriele Micalizzi, who was injured on Monday in eastern Syria while reporting on the front lines of the battle between ISIS and Kurdish forces, has lost vision in one eye, said sources in contact with Micalizzi's family. Micalizzi, who is currently being treated at a US hospital in Baghdad, was hit by an RPG rocket shard while he was following fighting on the eastern shore of the Euphrates River. The photojournalist was rescued at the location where he was injured, together with a Brazilian colleague from CNN, Gabriel Chaim. He arrived in Baghdad on Monday night, after several hours of uncertainty over his destination.(ANSAmed). Kankakee, IL (60901) Today Scattered thunderstorms, especially during the afternoon hours. High 81F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Scattered thunderstorms. Low around 70F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected. Eugene Crow, age 91, of Cullman, went home to be with his Lord on Saturday, June 19, 2021. He was born June 13, 1930 to Felix and Pearl Stowe Crowe. He was preceded in death by his loving wife Irene, his parents, two brothers and a sister. Mr. Crow served his country and is a veteran of The The #MeToo movement is causing many employers to reconsider their views and practices related to employee relationships, specifically dating relationships and the extent to which organizationsincluding credit unionsshould take steps to monitor or manage them. Some have asked employees to sign consensual relationship (or love) contracts. Others take a hands-off approach. But in this environment, where media reports seem to crop up almost daily with new allegations of inappropriate behavior, employers that previously looked the other way are now beginning to take notice, and some are changing their minds about the role they should play in overseeing the potential impacts of office romances. Mark Kluger is founding partner of the employment law firm Kluger Healey LLC in Fairfield, New Jersey. While Kluger has worked with clients on sexual harassment issues for many years, lately he has been focused on the topic of consensual relationship contracts. He was not a fan initially, recalling that he used to brush off the idea of relationship contracts as being an ineffective tool. But more recent interactions with clients have changed his view, he says. When I had a client make a compelling pitch to me to try using them and it worked out a few years ago, I changed my tune. I am now a believer. James Perna, a 42-year credit union president/CEO, claims the NCUA owes him more than $300,000 after he lost his long-held job when state regulators conserved Detroits Health One Credit Union in 2014 and named the independent federal agency as the liquidating agent. The NCUA asked a Michigan federal judge last week to dismiss Pernas lawsuit claiming it is based on misplaced legal arguments, false claims and misleading statements. The NCUA acted within its authority, the federal agency argued, by repudiating his employment contract and firing him in May 2014 when state regulators conserved the credit union for unsafe and unsound practices. Throughout Pernas four-decade tenure, the $14.5 million Health One CU did not appear to have any financial challenges until 2013 when the cooperative posted a net income loss of more than $1.3 million at the end of that year compared to a net income gain of more than $139,000 at the end of 2012, according to NCUA financial performance reports. In 2014, the credit union continued to lose money and recorded a net income loss of $651,309 at the end of the third quarter. Cooperativas, SACCOs, credit unions and financial cooperatives may have different names around the worldbut our DNA shines through collaborative initiatives like World Council of Credit Unions Global Classroom. This unique platform for professional exchange brings together dedicated professionals from around the world through a variety of face-to-face learning opportunities designed to highlight impactful strategies for improving cooperative financial services. For two weeks in December 2018, our collaborative DNA was on full display as the Global Classroom traveled coast to coast in the United States and explored how the digital transformation of credit unions is improving financial services for members. Credit union organizations in Southern California hosted a diverse delegation from Ecuador, Guatemala and Peru. In the D.C. metro area, a delegation of executives and directors from Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizationsor SACCOs, as credit unions in Kenya are knownbraved the first gusts of winter to see how financial cooperatives are emphasizing a personalized approach to connecting with members across all service channels. Those gatherings provided insights on the realities facing credit unions in those nations. The average salary for secondary school teachers in Kenya is $300-500/month. Credit unions in Ecuador are subject to the same income taxes that for-profit businesses pay. In Guatemala, credit unions have come together under the MiCoope brand in a national network, sharing back office services and a core banking platform. The three largest credit unions in Peru were established to serve the community of Peruvians of Japanese descent Thats a lot to unpackcredit unions addressing income disparity, defending the cooperative model for financial services, increasing awareness through collaborative initiatives and finding strength through a focus on community. After the visits, our hosts often ask what the visiting delegation found most surprising about credit unions in the United States. They repeatedly are struck by one thing in particularcollaboration. From chapter meetings to shared branching, credit unions in the United States recognize the value in collaboration and gain strength from it. We see it in the diversity of CUSOs improving access to services and improving the sustainability of credit unions, big and small. Working together, we are stronger. In 2019, the Global Classroom will continue to explore strategies for collaboration to assist financial cooperatives with the process of digitization. As we look forward to another year of travel and exchange, I hope you will consider making your mark and being marked by connecting with your peers around the world through the Global Classroom. PARIS - Anti-semitic acts in France increased 74% in 2018, according to Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, who made the announcement following a wave of acts against Jews in recent days in Paris and the banlieues. Castaner said anti-semitic acts went from 311 in 2017 to 541 in 2018. "Anti-semitism is spreading like a poison," Castaner said, speaking at a visit to Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, where a young Jewish man named Ilan Halimi was kidnapped and tortured for three weeks in 2016, eventually dying from his wounds. "It attacks, it rots minds, it kills," Castaner said. On Monday morning, at the place of Halimi's death where two trees were planted in his memory, the trees were found vandalised and damaged. In recent days, outrage was sparked after a graffiti tag with "Juden" was found on a grocery store in the Marais district of Paris, as well as vandalism on two works of street art dedicated to French Jewish philosopher and writer Simone Weil. There is No doubt that the 1950s Korea War was the one that New China stood firmly up in the eatern Asia when the China volunteer army had signed a peace agreement with the UN troops led by the most powerful US Amy General Clarke. He acknowledged that this war was not a winning one first time in the US army history. The China General Peng DeHuai said that the end of the Anti-US and Assisting-Korea war (i.e. the Korea War) would send a clear message that China has firmly stood up in the eastern Asia. This war has brought up over half century of peace in the region. Now the Korean Penisula is towards to reuinification between the North and South Koreas because they are the same people that were divided by the two superpowers - the USA and the Soviet Union after the World War II. Congressional Republicans are very angry with President Donald Trump for blowing off their demands for a report on the Saudi role in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Politico reports. They say they are going to act - no, really, they mean it this time - to compel Trump to supply that report, in accordance with a law requiring him to deliver such an assessment to Congress, now that they've solicited it from the administration. Which raises an interesting question: Just how far are Republicans willing to go in holding Trump accountable for his ongoing protection of the Saudis, anyway? What will they say when House Democrats begin digging into Trump's finances, to try to determine whether financial motives help explain it? Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff - the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee - told me that Trump's refusal to issue a report on the killing of Khashoggi underscores the need to push forward with Congressional scrutiny of Trump's ties to the Saudis. "We have already planned to do a deep dive on Saudi Arabia, and this further underscores the importance of doing so," Schiff said. U.S. intelligence agencies have reportedly concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman ordered the Khashoggi killing. But Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on whether the crown prince was responsible. In the face of that disconnect, Schiff had told The Washington Post that he intends for the House Intel Committee to do a "deep dive" on the Khashoggi killing, on Trump's response to it and on the larger questions both raise. This would entail nailing down what the intelligence community has concluded about the killing, and how firm the basis for that conclusion is. That, in turn, would give members of Congress a clearer sense of whether Trump is publicly misrepresenting or glossing over what his own intelligence agencies have concluded, to protect the crown prince. A House Intel probe, Schiff told me at the time, could also look at Trump's possible financial ties to the Saudis to determine whether there are any "conflicts of interest" that are shaping U.S. policy toward Saudi Arabia, including the U.S. response to the Khashoggi killing. All this has suddenly become pressing once again. That's because last week, the White House declined to submit a report documenting the administration's conclusions about the Khashoggi killing to senators who had requested it. Under the law, the White House has 120 days to submit a report after Congress requests one to determine whether human rights violations have occurred, in considering whether to undertake punitive action. Senators had asked the administration to make a determination of responsibility for the killing, including on the question of whether the Saudi royal family was behind it. Schiff now tells me there is a reason the administration has probably blown off this deadline to produce the report. "I presume that they haven't produced one, because we know what the conclusion would be," Schiff said. "Apparently they don't want to put that in writing to the Congress." Schiff said an investigation into this matter might also probe why the administration is dragging its feet on divulging its public conclusion on the killing. "The broader question is, why does the administration continue . . . to try to cover for the Saudi royal family?" Schiff told me, as well as, "why does the president continue to dissemble about the role of the crown prince in the murder of Khashoggi?" "The concern that we have always had is whether this president is acting in the national interest, or because of some hidden financial motivations," Schiff continued. "I think we need to find out." The Post recently documented that Trump's businesses have extensive financial dealings with the Saudi government going back many years. After Trump won the election, Saudi lobbyists shelled out for about 500 nights at Trump's hotel in Washington over three months. Schiff noted that all this also becomes more pressing in light of the news that Trump kept negotiating a Trump Tower Moscow deal far longer than previously known, deep into the 2016 GOP presidential primaries. Once caught, Trump justified this by saying, in effect, that he had every right to do it, because he might lose the election, and he wanted to keep his businesses going. "He might lose his re-election - has he taken the same approach now with Saudi Arabia and Russia?" asked Schiff, who also recently announced a wide-ranging investigation of the Russia matter that also would include a look at Trump's financial dealings. Theoretically characterizing Trump's possible thought processes, Schiff said: "Why shouldn't he pursue business opportunities with both, because at some point he'll be a businessman again?" "We're going to be looking at whether there are business dealings of any kind," including "past financial dealings that the president's denied, that a foreign power could expose," Schiff said. "We will use what tools we have to make sure that the president of the United States is acting in the national interest, and not because he or his family have business dealings with other countries." Schiff added that this could include subpoenaing records from Trump's businesses. By all indications, Republicans appear genuinely angry that Trump blew off their demands for an accounting of the Khashoggi murder. It'll be interesting to see how interested they remain in getting to the bottom of what's driving Trump once the examination of his finances gets underway in earnest. My fellow residents, friends and neighbors, First, thanks for allowing me the opportunity to govern this great state. It doesnt matter to me for whom you voted in November. From the day I was elected, I began focusing on governing the best way I know how transparently, openly, and in a way that encourages debate, dialogue and discussion on all sides of an issue. Thats why its important that you hear from me directly about my vision for Connecticuts future and how it shapes the budget that I will be submitting to the Legislature in just over a week. I believe our state is poised for success, with new jobs on the rise, unemployment rates at historic lows, and the growth of established and emerging sectors from wind energy to biotechnology on the horizon. I also believe that delivering on those opportunities requires a sustained commitment to fiscal stability that will allow Connecticut to turn the page on whats been holding it back and give you, your employers, and your local governments the confidence you need to thrive. We are expected to end the fiscal year with a surplus. While that sounds like great news, I ask you to temper your enthusiasm for a few reasons. First, our economy has still not fully recovered from the Great Recession more than a decade ago, and we must be prepared for the possibility of another economic downturn. Second, we cannot allow the fact that we are expecting a surplus and the likelihood of a significant deposit to the Rainy Day Fund lull us into a false sense of security and sap the urgency we need to confront our fiscal crisis head-on. In fact, a significant portion of the anticipated surplus must, as required by the recently enacted volatility cap, be deposited to the Rainy Day Fund and therefore cannot be used to address the budget gap. Although we could use that surplus to balance next years budget, our fixed costs the true culprits behind our continued deficits are growing by hundreds of millions of dollars per year. That growth eats into our ability to make much-needed investments in our future- things like a 21st century transportation system, education and workforce and economic development. These fixed costs are not something that we can simply cut, as they are contractual obligations, similar to your mortgage or credit card debt. So where do we go from here? In my proposed budget, Ill suggest a path forward to finally address those fixed costs and reduce the rate of increase. Ill also hold the line on the operating budget, while increasing investments in technology which, over time, will streamline our citizens interface with state government and produce real long-term savings. These savings wont happen overnight, but we cant continue to put off to tomorrow what we should have begun a decade ago. People expect an Amazon Prime experience and our state governments capabilities, namely its technology, simply arent there. In terms of revenue, the sales tax used to be the revenue workhorse, supporting most of our states budget. But today, the sales tax is not applied to the fastest growing sectors of our economy including the digital and service economy. If you go to a store to buy a DVD, you pay sales tax. But if you download that same DVD from a streaming service, you dont. What sense does that make? There are many similar examples in our states current sales tax exemptions list and we need to streamline our system and ensure fundamental fairness. Next week, I plan to start a discussion with the legislature about how we can reform the sales tax without raising rates. My job on Feb. 20 is to share with you a realistic and thoughtful budget that will jump-start the Connecticut economy, and work for everyone leaving no one behind. But my proposal is just the beginning of the conversation not the end. I look forward to sitting down with your legislative representatives, with our friends in labor and business, and with other stakeholders, as we push toward an honestly balanced budget which we will pass in the light of day and before the end of the legislative session in June. Our budget will be posted online, and I encourage you to take a look and share your thoughts with my office via email or social media. Over the coming weeks and months, I, the lieutenant governor and key commissioners will also be traveling around the state to talk to you in person about my proposal. We need to hear from you, and so do your legislative representatives. Its my job to make sure that you understand the tenuous reality that we face, as well as the cost of doing nothing at such a critical juncture. But its also my job to make sure we work together to pass a budget that represents and supports the values we hold dear. Lets work together and make our state the place we know it can be. Teddy Roosevelt once said Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. This is hard work. But its worth it. I look forward to doing it with you. Ned Lamont is governor of Connecticut. 7,113 migrants arrived via sea and 216 died trying, IOM In 2019 as of 10/2, most in Spain (ANSAmed) - GENEVA, FEBRUARY 12 - A total of 7,113 migrants and refugees entered Europe via the Mediterranean Sea from January 1 to February 10, 2019. The number was a significant drop on the 8,234 in the same period of 2018, reported the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM), which noted the figures on Tuesday. The number of migrants who died at sea while trying to arrive in Europe also dropped significantly compared with 2018. A total of 216 people lost their lives on the main Mediterranean routes in the period in question, compared with 403 in the same period of 2018. The vast majority of those that arrived since the beginning of the year did so in Spain (4,646), while 215 arrived in Italy compared with 4,731 in the same period of 2018. (ANSAmed). Greece saw record-high tourism in 2018 with 33 mn arrivals December especially, +43% Salonika and +20.6% Athens airports (ANSAmed) - NAPLES, FEBRUARY 12 - A record high 33 million tourists passed through Greek airports or arrived on cruise ships in 2018, according to figures released by Fraport, the company managing most of the airports in the country. The figures were included in the December report and showed a 23.6% increase on the same month of the previous year. On the last month of 2018, some 418,552 people arrived in Greece compared with 338, 515 in the same month the previous year. Salonika's ''Macedonia'' airport welcomed 130,277 travelers in December, a 43% rise on 2017, and the Athens airport saw a 20.6% rise with 279,785 arrivals. The Greek agency ANMA reported that 2018 was the best year for tourism in the country ever both in terms of arrivals and in terms of revenue. (ANSAmed). NEWTOWN For years following the killing of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook School, extremist media figure Alex Jones questioned whether one of the worst crimes in modern Connecticut history actually happened. Now some of the families that lost loved ones in the 2012 shootings would like to question Jones. Lawyers for eight victims families who filed defamation lawsuits against Jones and his Texas-based internet business InfoWars have asked a judge for permission to interview Jones under oath as part of the pre-trial phase. In essence, the families attorneys want to put Jones on trial before the judge orders a trial. Just as in any other case, questioning of relevant witnesses especially the defendants is essential for discovering relevant evidence, the families attorneys argue in court papers. A state Superior Court judge in Bridgeport could rule at a hearing on Thursday whether to grant the families request. The families and an FBI agent who investigated the shooting are claiming defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress against Jones, who has been labeled a conspiracy profiteer by one of the families attorneys. Jones attorney has already moved to have the lawsuits dismissed. On Monday, Jones attorney argued in court papers that the families request to depose Jones is only meant to harass, burden, and oppress him. At the same time, Jones attorney has asked to have the cases moved as far away from Sandy Hook as possible, in the hopes of getting a fair trial. The lawsuits are separate from three other defamation suits filed in Texas against Jones by parents who lost children in the Sandy Hook shootings. In January, a Texas judge ordered Jones to turn over marketing and business records to the parents. Locally, the families are asking the judges permission to question Jones under oath for seven hours, to prevent him from long, nonresponsive answers (that) would allow him to run out the clock. The families also want permission to question Jones without bench restrictions about the subject matter, because of Jones behavior during his 2017 child custody trial, and his behavior outside the courtroom. Jones also has a long history of outrageous confrontational behavior, including attempting to gain access to non-permitted spaces, aggressively ambushing and confronting public officials, private citizens, and other media personalities, and threatening a member of Congress, the families attorneys argue. He has also displayed a disregard for the obligations of the oath and the requirement that litigants act in good faith ... at deposition and trial in his custody proceeding, the families attorneys said. [H]e allowed his attorneys to represent in court that he was a performance artist, only to broadcast a video later that day in which he expressly disclaimed that representation, claiming [t]he media is deceiving everywhere. Jones attorney Jay Wolman disagrees, writing to the judge on Monday the law requires people to have admissible evidence supporting their claim before they file the complaint. (The) Plaintiffs memorandum makes clear that they filed first and are asking questions later, the very type of practice the law was intended to prevent, Wolman writes. An unbounded, seven-hour deposition of Mr. Jones is an improper request under the statute. BRIDGEPORT - A local mans vacation with his family became a nightmare when he was mistaken for an accused killer being sought in a nationwide manhunt. Benjamin Morales, in his notice of intent to sue the city of New Britain, claims on Feb. 5, he was handcuffed and pulled out of the motel where he was staying with his wife and two young children and held for several hours at the New Britain Police Department before finally being released. 3 1 of 3 New Haven Museum / Contributed photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 New Haven Museum / Contributed photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3 A set of shackles and an original issue of a Green Book are among the items that will be passed around when the New Haven Museum hosts Jeffrey Fletcher and objects from his collection, Images of America, on Tuesday, Feb. 26, at 5:30 p.m. The artifacts and memorabilia reflect the African-American experience, with items and images from periods of slavery, the Jim Crow era and the civil-rights movement, according to a museum news release. Items on view will include a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe, and, in counterbalance, a flight jacket and photos from the famed Tuskegee Airmen. CATANIA - The University of Catania is aiming to increasing its international enrolment, in particular with non-EU students from countries in the Mediterranean area. The university will offer 110 places during the 2019-2020 academic year to non-EU students residing abroad who wish to enrol in one of its five English-language master degree programmes: Physics (10 places), Chemical Engineering for Industrial Sustainability (20 places), Automation Engineering and Control of Complex Systems (20 places), Electrical Engineering (20 places), and Global Politics and Euro-Mediterranean Relations (40 places). The university will also provide 15 two-year scholarships worth 1,500 euros each, which will be awarded to the top three candidates in each degree programme. Once the selection process is complete, any remaining places will be reissued or made available for selections reserved for Italian citizens, EU citizens, and non-EU citizens residing in Italy. Graduates with degrees obtained abroad and eligible for admission, as well as those who are expected to graduate by July 15 of this year, who also have a good level of English and the necessary pre-requisites for the relevant degree programme, can apply by March 15 at www.unict.it/en. Italy's fractious populist leaders finally reached an agreement after quarreling about the Venezuelan crisis, calling for new presidential elections but still stopping short of recognizing National Assembly leader Juan Guaido as interim president. Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi briefed the lower house on the Rome administration's stand, shortly after the two coalition partners, the rightist League and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, worked out a compromise. "The government believes that the last presidential elections did not attribute democratic legitimacy to the winner, that is Nicolas Maduro," Moavero Milanesi told lawmakers. "The Italian government demands new, democratic presidential elections in Venezuela as soon as possible." "The situation is complex, we need to prevent new violence and it is important to favor dialog, if possible national reconciliation," Moavero Milanesi said. Unlike other European countries such as Germany, France and Britain, the Italian government has not recognized Guaido as interim president. The League of Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has sided with Guaido, calling for fresh elections, while fellow Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio of Five Star has refused to recognize Guaido. A delegation sent to Rome by Guaido took Five Star to task for its refusal to recognize him. "We tried to meet Five Star but it was not possible, they don't understand the suffering also of Italian nationals who don't even get a pension," Francisco Sucre, head of the National Assembly's foreign committee, told reporters. "This is about protecting a population in a tremendous crisis, we have the worst refugee crisis in the history of Latin America." At talks in the Vatican, Edgar Pena Parra, a senior official in the Secretariat of State, pledged to support efforts for free elections, according to Rodrigo Diamanti, in charge of humanitarian aid from Europe and part of the parliamentary delegation. Pena Parra expressed "the will to do everything so that this year we can have free elections in Venezuela," Diamanti told reporters. Guaido had sent an open letter to the Italian people to express his dismay at the populist government's divided position, and to appeal for Rome's support, newspaper Corriere della Sera reported earlier Tuesday. "With deep dismay we don't understand the reasons for the Italian political position," Corriere cited Guaido's letter as saying. "I am certain that the Italian people are on our side, on the side of democracy and of justice." The delegation sent by Guaido met Salvini and officials at the Foreign Ministry on Monday. STAMFORD Aircraft-leasing firm Aircastle reported Tuesday rising revenues for the past quarter and year, as it benefited from growing demand and an expanded fleet. Fourth-quarter revenues jumped nearly 50 percent year-over-year, to $293 million. Quarterly profits came to about $104 million, nearly double the bottom line in the same period in 2017. For the year, Aircastles revenues increased 5 percent, to about $890 million. Profits soared by nearly 70 percent, to about $248 million. The successful execution of our active fleet management strategy enabled us to achieve strong financial results, Aircastle CEO Mike Inglese said in a statement. We enhanced and expanded our fleet of in-demand modern aircraft and realized substantial gains from opportunistic sales throughout the year. Aircastle shares closed Tuesday at $20.87, up 1.3 percent from their Monday finish. In 2018, the firm acquired 39 aircraft, including 10 Airbus A320neo planes, for a total of $1.4 billion. It sold 14 planes last year, for a combined $339 million. At the end of 2018, Aircastles owned 248 aircraft, with an average age of about nine years. Narrow-body aircraft remain in high demand globally, and we continue to benefit from the broad operator base and liquidity these aircraft afford, Inglese said. The company has seen much of its growth in emerging markets. In Brazil, Aircastle is appealing a judges order to extend until April a stay on repossession of aircraft used by bankrupt Avianca Brasil, the countrys fourth-largest airline. The decision also required Avianca to resume making leasing payments. Our aircraft being operated by Avianca Brasil are modern, desirable aircraft and we expect the aircraft to be placed in a timely manner after repossession, Inglese said. We believe the judges decision will negatively impact Brazils civil airline industry with higher costs and less funding. At the same time, Aircastle has committed to buy nearly $1 billion in next-generation, regional jet aircraft made by Brazilian aerospace conglomerate Embraer. In October 2017, the company announced it had relocated its headquarters to 201 Tresser Blvd., from the First Stamford Place complex. In addition to its main offices in Stamford, it maintains centers in Dublin and Singapore. pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; twitter: @paulschott TUI Group today reported its first quarter earnings, including what it said was strong demand for TUI, Marella and Hapag-Lloyd products. TUI Groups start to the new financial year 2019 was in line with its own expectations: turnover growth, volume growth, but lower margins, the company said. "We have paved the way with our investments in hotels and ships, our IT and digital strategy and the acquisition of the Italian digital platform Musement in 2018, said Fritz Joussen, CEO TUI Group, at the presentation of the Groups Q1 results on the day of the Annual General Meeting held in Hanover. The Holiday Experiences segment with Hotels & Resorts, Cruises and Destination Experiences, which accounted for around 70 percent of the Groups operating result in the completed financial year, again delivered a strong operational performance in the reporting period, the company said. At 111.0 million euros, the segments underlying EBITA was down year-on-year (125.9 million euros) on a constant currency basis. TUI's cruise division saw increased EBITA driven by increased earnings from Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, while TUI Cruises earnings were up due to the launch of the new Mein Schiff 1, and good performance across the fleet. Marella also saw a positive increase due to additional capacity in the form of the Marella Explorer. "Hapag-Lloyd Cruises earnings increased significantly, with increased rates across the fleet and the non-repeat of drydock days in the prior year," the company said. Edward "Ed" G. Day, 76, of Fairfield Glade, passed away June 11, 2021, at Cumberland Medical Center in Crossville. He was born Aug. 29, 1944, in Detroit, MI, son of Marie (Stalski) Weber. Ed worked as a photocopy salesman and retired from Panasonic in 2001. He was a member of Shepherd of the BEIRUT - Italian photojournalist Gabriele Micalizzi, who was injured on Monday in eastern Syria while reporting on the front lines of the battle between ISIS and Kurdish forces, has lost vision in one eye, said sources in contact with Micalizzi's family. Micalizzi, who is currently being treated at a US hospital in Baghdad, was hit by an RPG rocket shard while he was following fighting on the eastern shore of the Euphrates River. The photojournalist was rescued at the location where he was injured, together with a Brazilian colleague from CNN, Gabriel Chaim. He arrived in Baghdad on Monday night, after several hours of uncertainty over his destination. The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of our partner offers may have expired. Please review our list of best credit cards , or use our CardMatch tool to find cards matched to your needs. If youve ever rented a car, chances are you used a credit card to make your reservation. But what if you dont own a credit card or prefer to pay using a debit card? While renting a vehicle with a credit card is preferred, most U.S. car rental companies will accept a debit card as a payment form in some cases. They dont make it easy, though. Renting a car with a debit card can involve several extra steps and may depend on which location you rent from. The process is much less convenient. Heres what you need to know about renting a car with a debit card. See related: What are the differences between a credit card and a debit card? Can you rent a car with a debit card? Yes, many car rental companies let you rent a car with a debit card. Using a debit card to rent a car isnt as simple as using a credit card, but its an option for most renters who meet a rental companys qualifications and requirements. Keep in mind that if youre looking for a quick and straightforward process, youre better off using a credit card if you have one. Rental companies prefer credit cards over debit cards but will accept debit cards. Thats because accepting debit card payment puts rental companies at greater risk. Nobody plans to damage a rental vehicle when they leave the rental lot, but it happens. If a renter returns a vehicle with extra scratches or dents not covered by the insurance, there may not be much the rental company can do. The same applies to other expenses like tolls and parking fines. Companies can charge a renters credit card for the damages without them being present. Debit card purchases work differently and require the cardholder to be present and enter a PIN number. See related: Do you need a chip-and-PIN credit card? What do you need to rent a car? Renting a car with a debit card requires jumping through a few more hoops than using a credit card. Rental companies have varying requirements regarding debit card payments. Here are some extra steps you may see if you decide to pay by debit card. Credit check: Because of the added risk involved, some car rental companies run a credit check before approving a car rental with a debit card. They determine if youre a rental risk based on your creditworthiness. Because of the added risk involved, some car rental companies run a credit check before approving a car rental with a debit card. They determine if youre a rental risk based on your creditworthiness. Deposit: Another way rental companies protect themselves is by requiring a deposit when paying with a debit card. Youll get your funds back after you return the car, and the final charges are Another way rental companies protect themselves is by requiring a deposit when paying with a debit card. Youll get your funds back after you return the car, and the final charges are Disclose travel plans: Some rental companies go as far as requiring proof of return travel plans. Some rental companies go as far as requiring proof of return travel plans. Extra ID: You may be asked to provide more than one form of identification when you pay with a debit card. You might need a current utility bill or nongovernment form of ID in addition to a drivers license. Other restrictions may apply depending on the car rental company. For example, some rental companies only accept debit cards featuring the Visa, Mastercard or Discover logo. Prepaid debit cards or other debit cards are rarely accepted . Rental companies may also restrict when you can pay by debit card. Some Budget locations dont accept debit cards when picking up a rental but will accept debit card payment when you return the vehicle. Most car rental companies already enforce age requirements, but many have tighter restrictions when paying by debit card. You must be at least 25 years old to rent a car from Avis using a debit card. If you want to rent a luxury car, you will likely need to use a credit card instead. Rental companies restrict which vehicles you can rent with a debit card. Car rental companies that accept debit cards The good news is that most major U.S. car rental companies accept debit cards under certain circumstances. Check out our list below of popular car rental companies that accept debit cards when renting vehicles: Alamo Avis Budget Dollar Enterprise Fox Hertz National Payless Sixt Thrifty Individual rental locations often determine debit card policies. Always check ahead of time with the specific location to determine if they allow debit cards to rent a car. In certain parts of the country, car rental companies are required to allow debit card use. New York prohibits car rental companies from refusing to rent to adults 18 and older for a variety of reasons, including not having a credit card. Benefits of using a credit card instead While you can rent a car with a debit card, but you might be missing out on significant benefits youd have with a credit card. Yes, rental companies prefer credit cards, but there are also plenty of perks for renters who choose to pay with a credit card. Rental insurance coverage: Several rewards credit cards come with car rental insurance perks. Some cards even offer primary car insurance, which means it kicks in before your own insurance. To activate the perk, pay for the rental with your credit card and decline the rental companys insurance. Several rewards credit cards come with car rental insurance perks. Some cards even offer primary car insurance, which means it kicks in before your own insurance. To activate the perk, pay for the rental with your credit card and decline the rental companys insurance. Earn rewards points: Credit cards like Chase Sapphire Reserve earn extra points for travel spending, including car rentals. Credit cards like Chase Sapphire Reserve earn extra points for travel spending, including car rentals. Use rewards points: Many credit card rewards programs allow you to use points to book car rentals. Many credit card rewards programs allow you to use points to book car rentals. Access to other car rental perks: In addition to auto insurance, some credit cards give you access to rental vehicle upgrades or elevated car rental rewards program. In addition to auto insurance, some credit cards give you access to rental vehicle upgrades or elevated car rental rewards program. Fraud protection: Credit cards typically offer better fraud protection than debit cards. If you opt to rent a car using your credit card, be sure to pay off the balance on time and in full by the payment due date to avoid costly interest charges. See related: How do credit card APRs work? Bottom line Using a debit card to pay for your next car rental may not be worth the extra work and stipulations youll face. Youre better off using a credit card if possible. If not, do your homework before renting a car so youre familiar with rental company policies. Contact the specific car rental location in case its requirements differ from corporate policies. And be prepared to spend additional time at the rental office because of the extra steps required. NAPLES - A record high 33 million tourists passed through Greek airports or arrived on cruise ships in 2018, according to figures released by Fraport, the company managing most of the airports in the country. The figures were included in the December report and showed a 23.6% increase on the same month of the previous year. On the last month of 2018, some 418,552 people arrived in Greece compared with 338, 515 in the same month the previous year. Salonika's ''Macedonia'' airport welcomed 130,277 travelers in December, a 43% rise on 2017, and the Athens airport saw a 20.6% rise with 279,785 arrivals. The Greek agency ANMA reported that 2018 was the best year for tourism in the country ever both in terms of arrivals and in terms of revenue. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Submit Community News Editor's note: This "Words from Wiechers" series considers the many lessons the cosmetics R&D industry can learn from the late Johann Wiechers, Ph.D. He was a critical thinker, advisor, colleague and leader in the industry until his unexpected passing. Presenting Wiechers's insights is IFSCC Education Chair, Anthony J. O'Lenick, Jr. In chapter 47 of his book, Memories of a Cosmetically Disturbed Mind, Wiechers reminds us: Mechanisms of action may be very complex and seem chaotic but you can create your own order in this chaos and only then [does] this chaos come to life. Strangely enough, I would describe the physical world as something strictly regulated with low margins of error; yet chaos theory rules by seemingly random processes. Biology may seem very chaotic (e.g., survival of the fittest and that type of stuff) and is typically characterized by much higher margins of error that we conveniently call biological variability; but it is, in fact, strictly regulated." Log in or Subscribe for FREE to read the full story. I suspect that often, systems appear to be chaotic because there is more than one process at work and this complicated interaction of systems make several predictable processes appear chaotic when combined. Johann continued: ...recently, I finished writing a chapter for the book Aging Skin: Contemporary Knowledge and Future Direction, so I looked at all the different mechanisms [in skin whitening] from various angles; from a physical side; from a chemical perspective; from an enzymatic side; from a physiological angle. . . but never did I get a clear answer. From whatever viewpoint I looked at the mechanism of skin whiteners, a clear-cut subdivision was not possible. "We all know only too well that tyrosinase inhibition is involved in skin whitening. Tyrosinase is the enzyme that catalyzes the rate-limiting first two steps of the skin melanogenesis process. Both eumelanin and pheomelanin production are reduced when blocking this enzyme. This is clearly an enzymatic mechanism and you dont have to look too long to find a few more, such as TRP-1 and 2 (tyrosinase-related proteins 1 and 2). "Another mechanism of action of skin whiteners is a hormonal one, involving different hormones of which melanocyte-stimulating hormone (-MSH) is probably the most well-known representative. A third mechanism of skin whiteners is a strictly chemical one, where copper ions are extracted from the tyrosinase enzyme, rendering them inactive. A fourth mechanism of skin whiteners is a biochemical or molecular biological one, where a whole series of growth factors is involved in inducing changes in skin melanogenesis. "But when we come to the fifth mechanism of skin whiteners, my beautiful ordering of the various mechanisms of skin whiteners is starting to fall apart. This is the physical mechanism of skin whiteners. A sun tan, for instance, is nothing more than an inflammatory reaction to sunlight. It comes from a physical effect (sunlight), resulting in a biochemical effect (the up-regulation of interleukin-1 (IL-1)), which induces enzymes (tyrosinase) to work harder and steers a physiological effect (melanin being transported to the dendritic ends of the melanocyte and taken up by neighboring keratinocytes) to create a sun tan. Although this may all sound rather chaotic, these processes are all strictly regulated and definitely not random! "Melanin is not the only chaotic process that is highly regulated. As we look more and more at skin barrier formation, we also find that there is a lot of order in that chaos, too. In June 2009, I [published] an article in Cosmetics & Toiletries magazine in which I described a new mechanism of skin moisturization: the stabilization of the orthorhombic skin lipid phase. But again, this biophysical mechanism is only one aspect of skin moisturization. "You can also improve skin barrier function and therefore skin moisturization via enzymes, chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology. By this time, I am starting to ask myself whether chaos is the right word. The borderline between chaos and order is very slim." Chaotic Behavior and Chaos Theory Chaotic behavior exists in many natural systems, such as weather and climate.1-3 This behavior can be studied through analysis of a chaotic mathematical model, or through analytical techniques such as recurrence plots and Poincare maps. Chaos theory has applications in several disciplines, including meteorology, anthropology,4, 5 sociology, physics,6 environmental science, computer science, engineering, economics, biology, ecology and philosophy. This theory has formed the basis for such fields as complex dynamical systems, edge of chaos theory, and self-assembly processesand now, by Wiechers, to cosmetic science. Just because we do not have a clear understanding why some system works does not mean we cannot study it and learn at least some predictive models that will allow us to make modifications. If a multi-component formulation were studied until it became fully understood, the amount of work would be enough for a full doctoral thesis. This is because the ingredients do not exist alone but in complicated interactions with other ingredients. These interactions are the crux of cosmetic products. In fact, we can make small changes to our formulations and observe changes to properties by adding surface active polymers. This concept of "Minimally Disruptive Technology" was published in 2015, and adapts the concept of minimally disruptive medicine (MDM).7 MDM seeks to advance patient goals for health, health care and life using effective care programs designed and implemented in a manner that respects the capacity of patients and caregivers and minimizes the burden of treatmentthe healthcare footprintthat the care program imposes on patients' lives. Minimally Disruptive Formulation Applying this concept, in what we now refer to as "Minimally Disruptive Formulation," is an effective approach to product development. The approach depends upon the ability of personal care formulators to provide products that have consumer-perceptible differences that meet a market need. Since aesthetics are a key attribute of personal care products, the ability to alter these aesthetics to provide a different consumer perception with minimal change to the formulation is a cost-effective way to develop new products. The fact is a polymer, properly chosen at a concentration of 10% or less, will provide to the formulation: 1) a lowering of surface tension, 2) an alteration of feel, 3) a change in cushion and playtime, 4) a change in gloss, and 5) a perceived difference to consumers that the product is different from the formulation not including given additives. This makes silicone polymers valuable at low concentrations, to create formulas perceived as new products. To put it another way, If a personal care product is compared to a gourmet meal,8 polymeric additives would be the spice, not the meat or potatoes.7 This means small amounts of the polymer added to great formulas will bring out the desired properties to a consumer, to amaze and delight them. Thus, formulators can make small but major modifications to formulas in a very efficient way by modifying well-known formulations with different aesthetics. The Lesson Let me end as Wiechers started, Mechanisms of action may be very complex and seem chaotic but you can create your own order in this chaos and only then [does] this chaos come to life." Perhaps the creation of his own order is, in fact, by why Johanns order is still as fresh in 2019 as it was when he wrote this, in 2009. References 1. Chaos theory (accessed Feb. 11, 2019). Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory#cite_note-Lorenz1961-8. 2. Lorenz, E.N. (1963). Deterministic non-periodic flow. J Atmospheric Sci 20 (2) 130141, doi:10.1175/1520-0469(1963)0202.0.CO;2. 3. Ivancevic, V.G., and Ivancevic, T.T. (2008). Complex Nonlinearity: Chaos, Phase Transitions, Topology Change and Path Integrals. Springer. ISBN 978-3-540-79356-4. 4. Mosko, M.S., Damon, F.H. (eds.) (2005). On the order of chaos. Social Anthropology and the Science of Chaos. Oxford: Berghahn Books. 5. Trnka, R., and Lorencova, R. (2016). Quantum Anthropology: Man, Cultures and Groups in a Quantum Perspective. Prague: Charles University Karolinum Press. 6. Hubler, A. (1989). Adaptive control of chaotic systems. Swiss Physical Society, Helvetica Physica Acta 62 339342. 7. Minmally Disruptive Medicine (accessed Feb. 11, 2019). Retrived from https://minimallydisruptivemedicine.org. 8. O'Lenick, A.J., Jr., et al. (accessed Feb. 11, 2019). Silicones in personal care products: Polydimethyl siloxanes, organosilicone polymers and copolymers. Retrieved from https://plasticsurgerykey.com/silicones-in-personal-care-products-polydimethyl-siloxanes-organosilicone-polymers-copolymers/. Venator is set to make a colorful splash with its range of pigments with at in-cosmetics Global. Applications for the companys products from daily-use skin care to bold color cosmetics. They include: Hombitan Titanium Dioxide PigmentsMeant for use in general cosmetic and personal care applications, these pigments can be used to create opacity and in whitening applications, including foundations, concealers and corrective creams with consistent coverage. They are available both uncoated and coated, and are miscible in water and oil. UV-Titan Ultrafine Titanium Dioxide UV FiltersFor daily-use skin and sun care formulations, these mineral-based products are meant to filter UVA and UVB rays while providing photo and chemical stability. Color-cosmetic OptionsVenators Ferroxide, Sicovit, Trupure and Ultramarine pigments reportedly offer dramatic, long-lasting payoff in color applications such as mascaras, eye shadows, blushes and lipsticks, crated with batch-to-batch consistency. Venator can be visited at stand L40 at in-cosmetics Global, to be held in Paris from April 2-4, 2019, at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. We are analyzing the site. Please wait a few seconds.. 100% Website 24kg.org uses latest and advanced technologies like: JQuery. It supports HTTPS and GZIP compression. The main html page has a size of 69721 bytes (68.09 kb uncompressed) and 13529 bytes (13.21 kb compressed). This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-04-01, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. (ANSA) - Rome, February 12 - Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Manlio Di Stefano said Tuesday that the ruling majority had a motion ready regarding Italy's stance on the crisis in Venezuela. "I don't understand all this turmoil," said 5-Star Movement (M5S) member Di Stefano. "There is no problem with the majority's motion. It has been ready since yesterday". Self-proclaimed interim Venezuelan president Juan Guaido on Monday voiced "deep dismay" at Italy's stance on the crisis pitting him against President Nicolas Maduro. The opposition leader said "we do not understand why the European country closest to us foes not take a clear and marked position against the dictator Maduro and does not ask, strongly, for free elections under the aegis of the international community and the freeing up of humanitarian aid," he said in a letter to Italians. "I am sure that the Italian people are on our side, on the side of democracy, freedom and justice". WiTricity, which specializes in wireless power transfer, has acquired Qualcomm's Halo assets, including over 1,500 patents and patent applications related to wireless charging. Under the deal, Qualcomm will become a minority WiTricity shareholder. The combined assets will streamline technology development that enables automakers to deliver an EV charging experience that is seamless and efficient. The acquisition also will simplify ratification of a standard and help ensure interoperability across automakers. With wireless charging, EV EV drivers will be able to recharge hands-free, without the need for any bulky cables, virtually eliminating the need to ever plug in. Additionally, electrified autonomous vehicle (AV) fleets will require wireless charging since there will be no human drivers present to plug in. WiTricitys wireless charging technology is key to the future of mobility which is clearly electric, and increasingly shared and autonomous, said Alex Gruzen, CEO of WiTricity. EV drivers and fleets demand a simple, effortless charging experience. Bringing the Qualcomm Halo technology into the WiTricity portfolio will simplify global interoperability and significantly accelerate commercialization. This is an exciting day for WiTricity, for automakers, for prospective EV buyers, and ultimately for any company deploying fleets of autonomous vehicles. With Qualcomm technology and expertise, we have been able to deliver innovative automotive solutions, like Qualcomm Halo wireless electric vehicle charging (WEVC), not only to support the shared vision of a more efficient, safer and cleaner urban mobility, but also to transform the automotive experience, said Steve Pazol, advisor, and former vice president and GM, Wireless Charging, Qualcomm Incorporated. Qualcomm is confident that combining WEVC under WiTricitys leadership will create accessibility to and demand by customers for this exciting technology. WiTricity also noted that its recently signed several new licensing deals including Mahle in Germany and Anjie Wireless in China. Earlier this year, Honda and WiTricity demonstrated their wireless vehicle-to-grid charging model at CES in Las Vegas, leveraging WiTricitys DRIVE 11 wireless charging system. 2018 also saw the introduction of the worlds first vehicle that is factory equipped with wireless charging, the BMW 530e iPerformance sedan. WiTricity's global corporate investors now include Qualcomm, Toyota, Intel Capital, Delta Electronics Capital, Foxconn, Haier, and Schlumberger. WiTricity is also collaborating directly with leading carmakers to drive global standards for wireless charging systems. Standards initiatives include the SAE International, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), STILLE, China Automotive Technology & Research Center (CATARC), China Electricity Council and the Chinese Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI). 02/12/2019 Photo (c) Ricpe - Getty Images The Pennsylvania state government says that a major oil and gas pipeline company, currently building a network of pipelines in the state to transport fracked gas and chemical byproducts from the fracking, has failed to take responsibility for an explosion that destroyed a house and other property last year. Energy Transfer Partners is the Texas-based pipeline magnate that built its crude oil pipeline through the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota. The Standing Rock Sioux and other tribes who descended on the reservation in late 2016 famously convinced the Corps of Engineers to halt a key construction permit, though the move was only temporary. The Dakota Access Pipeline went back online under Trump and has been in operation for two years. Energy Transfer Partners has also kept busy building new pipelines in Louisiana, Texas, and Pennsylvania over the past few years. Lawmakers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere had been welcoming of the projects, granting permits even over the objections of local activists who cited environmental concerns similar to those that the Standing Rock Sioux raised. But things went downhill in Pennsylvania on September 11 last year. The Revolution Pipeline, a project run by Energy Transfer Partners subsidiary Sunoco, had only been in operation for a week when a fire erupted in Beaver County, destroying a home 500 feet away from the blast. An initial site assessment reveals evidence of a landslide in the vicinity of the pipeline, a Sunoco spokesman told a local newspaper. Failure to meet state laws Because oil and gas pipelines are known to cause landslides, state officials said that it was up to Sunoco to find a way to stabilize the areas that had been disturbed during construction. Sunoco needed to prevent further erosion, per state government instructions. The state even gave Sunoco an October 29 deadline to fix the erosion problems. But Energy Transfer Partners failed to meet the deadline, the state says. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced last Friday that the company had failed to control erosion or stabilize the problematic areas. As a result, Energy Transfer Partners is suspended from obtaining new permits in the state, though its projects that are already permitted remain unaffected for now. There has been a failure by Energy Transfer and its subsidiaries to respect our laws and our communities, Governor Tom Wolf said in an uncharacteristically critical statement. This is not how we strive to do business in Pennsylvania, and it will not be tolerated. Energy Transfer Partners spokesman Lisa Dillinger responded with a statement to the Daily Local newspaper that the company is committed to bringing this project into full compliance with all environmental permits and applicable regulations. This action does not affect the operation of any of our in-service pipelines or any areas of construction where permits have already been issued, she added. The Prime Ministers demeanour, during her frequent statements to the House on Brexit, is that of a teacher who refuses to make her lessons any less repetitive. Some of us cannot help feeling a reluctant admiration for Theresa Mays pedagogical methods. Her willingness, despite signs of restiveness in the Brexit Studies class, to stick to tried and tested cliches commands our involuntary respect. If she has said it once that if you do not want no deal you must vote for her deal, she has said it a million times. That is how rote learning works. Here is a leader who is prepared to bore for Brexit. And yet behind her impermeable facade of double negatives, change can be detected, and even an understanding that she needs to make what she is offering less repugnant. So today she told Jeremy Corbyn, I welcome his willingness to sit down and talk with me. And she went on to suggest that she and the Leader of the Opposition are united in their determination not to allow any lowering of standards in workers rights when we leave the EU. Corbyn leant over to consult Sir Keir Starmer, the Shadow Brexit Secretary. Perhaps he wished for advice on how to deal with this implausible claim, or perhaps he just wanted to check what Labour policy is. May meanwhile suggested that under the Conservatives, the UK has a proud tradition of leading the way in workers rights. This led to an outbreak of hilarity among the Opposition. Chi Onwurah, sitting on the bench behind Corbyn, laughed with particular delight. May had said something so absurd that the Conservatives are the workers friend it was impossible for Labour not to burst out laughing. The Prime Minister proceeded to say, less humorously, that we now need some time to complete the Brexit negotiations, and we now all need to hold our nerve. Corbyn said he had only received the prior copy of her statement to which he is entitled as he left his office: I can only assume she entrusted it to the Transport Secretary to deliver. That joke went down well. Corbyn proceeded to accuse her of more excuses and more delays while she runs down the clock, plays chicken with peoples livelihoods, engages in the pretence of working with Parliament, and claims to care about workers rights, although for many Conservatives, ripping up workers rights is what Brexit is all about. Ian Blackford, for the Scottish Nationalists, was ruder. He said the Prime Ministers deal is a fraud, and a catastrophe for Scotland, and called on her to put an end to this economic madness under which the Scots are being dragged out of the EU against our will. As May began, in a somewhat patronising tone, to correct these assertions, Blackford could be heard shouting thats not true, and then liar. The Speaker, John Bercow, made him withdraw the word. Vince Cable, for the Liberal Democrats, said that after reaching out to the trade unions and to Corbyn, May was no doubt better informed on how Trotsky might have dealt with the Brexit crisis. So the Opposition are divided into Trotskyites and anti-Trotskyites. For May, this is promising. She has no need to plunge an ice pick into the back of Corbyns head. She can just hope to separate some of his MPs from him by indicating that she is in a better position than he is to produce economic benefits for the workers in their constituencies. On her own benches, she got mixed reviews. Ken Clarke said we could do a better trade deal with Japan by remaining in the EU, and Anna Soubry accused her of kicking the can down the road yet again. But Owen Paterson thought what she had said was really encouraging, and Sir Nicholas Soames declared: Can I reassure the Prime Minister that Im holding my nerve like anything. So the Prime Minister can still hope to bore her way through to an implausible victory. She remains, one might say, the only game in town, which is exactly what she set out to demonstrate when she stood up today. Andy Street is Mayor of the West Midlands, and is a former Managing Director of John Lewis. As the cradle of the industrial revolution, the West Midlands left its mark on the globe. In the 19th and 20th centuries the factories and furnaces of Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country forged much of the modern world, exporting goods from ACME whistles to BSA motorcycles, from Cadburys chocolate to Birds Custard. Even the ships that carried produce and people to far-flung new markets were anchored by huge chains wrought in our land-locked furnaces. Now, as the first UK region to finalise a Local Industrial Strategy, we are once again leading the way. The West Midlands has always been a hotbed of innovation and invention, driving advances in engineering, manufacturing, transport, marketing, social change and more. It was the workshop of the world. Industrial decline began in the 1960s and, by the end of the last century, our region bore the scars of decay empty, abandoned factories that once employed thousands. All of that has now started to change. The West Midlands is undergoing a renaissance of growth and investment. New start-ups are choosing our region as the place to be. Nowhere else outside of London has seen the level of growth witnessed in the West Midlands. Output here has risen by 27 per cent in the last five years. Our productivity growth was twice the rate of the rest of the UK in 2017-18. The innovation and invention that once made us the workshop of the world is back. Like other post-industrial regions in the UK, we must carve out a new strategy for the West Midlands in an increasingly global 21st century. With the uncertainty around Brexit, we need to think about how we build a globally-competitive economy. Thats why the West Midlands agreed to be a trailblazer, creating the UKs first Regional Industrial Strategy, leading the way for others to follow. This strategy sets out the priorities we believe will enable local growth to continue, as well as ensuring that the success of our region is felt by all the communities within it. This success must be inclusive and accessible to all. With this ground-breaking document now agreed within the region, we are awaiting the endorsement of Government so that, together, we can start turning strategy into action. With the uncertainty over Brexit, that endorsement would mean we can begin this important work soon and share our message of confidence. The West Midlands Combined Authority worked with our universities and the regions three Local Enterprise Partnerships, from Greater Birmingham, the Black Country and Coventry and Warwickshire, to ensure the strategy not only provides a united vision, but that it also reflects the differing needs of our constituent members. This spirit of inclusivity also included a wide-spread consultation, which asked regional networks, business groups and 350 different organisations for their input. They wanted a clearer definition of the West Midlands unique selling points, expanded opportunities for a broader cross-section of business sectors and more focus on the huge supply chains that link the conurbation. Respondents also wanted our strategy to engage with all the different kinds of places where business flourishes in the region, from the big cities to the towns and more rural areas. By fully understanding the successes and challenges in our own backyard, we have created a strategy that will help sell the West Midlands to the rest of the world. This meant identifying four major national and global strategic opportunities: The UK centre for mobility: From driverless cars to light rail and aerospace, we have the supply chains and transport pedigree to steer huge investment to our region. We have a renowned automotive sector, ranging from world-famous brands like JLR and BMW to innovative smaller development firms. We also have the foundation industries that make the metals and materials that underpin vehicle manufacture at more than 20 sites. With our own transport system becoming more and more integrated, and the West Midlands pioneering the roll-out of the 5G network, mobility could bring billions of pounds. Creative commerce: We have a wealth of nationally-important gaming, TV, film, VR and design firms. By connecting our universities and creative businesses we can design, develop and deploy new products and services. Evidence shows that Birmingham and Solihull alone have the potential to add nearly 4,000 new creative enterprises and 30,000 new related jobs, with the opportunity to scale this across the West Midlands as a whole. Business services: As we move more towards a service-based economy, we expect to see large-scale growth across this sector. Business, financial and professional services already employ 400,000 people across the conurbation with 125,000 more jobs forecast by 2030. Here in the West Midlands we have the full suite of services available, from huge international financial brands such as HSBC to an ambitious construction sector that is well placed to grow in strength with the building boom. Data-driven healthcare: With our diverse and growing population, there are huge opportunities here for biomedical research, linking NHS patient records through 5G and enabling real-life testing of innovative new treatments. Our expertise and ability to work with patient data in an inclusive, collaborative way is a major UK and West Midlands strength. We have a growing cluster of both large and small firms and an associated supply chain, raising at least 35 million of investment in the last 12 months. Crucially, this innovation will be anchored in partnership with the NHS, translating directly into better health care for our citizens. Our diverse region has the research facilities and expertise. It has the population of Scotland and the genome of the world. It could be a global laboratory for data-driven translational medicine. These four areas allow us to champion our specialist sectors in a way that will create growth and investment to benefit the entire regional economy. Of course, all this industrial ambition requires a strong foundation in improved skills, transport, housing and land delivery. We are already making huge strides in all these areas but more remains to be done. Our strategy lays out ideas to affect real change, from doubling the number of good-quality apprenticeships by 2030 to delivering 3.4 billion of investment in trams, road and rail over the next decade. In housing, we will increase the rate of housing delivery with a 350 million housing plan, investing 250 million in land remediation and developing the skills required through the National Brownfield Institute in Wolverhampton. This is a great start but more will be needed to serve our growing population. The strategy will also push for post-EU growth funding to be targeted on the West Midlands and devolved to local decision makers. We must make the case for continuing to invest in us as a resilient and successful economy. The former workshop of the world needs a world-class strategy to continue its remarkable economic renaissance. It needs to be distinctive to compete with likes of Berlin, Boston and Barcelona. But in creating this new strategy, we have confirmed that this diverse, ambitious and inventive place still has an energetic, innovative outlook that makes it a powerhouse on the world stage, just as it did during the Industrial Revolution. With this confident new vision, the West Midlands wants to lead the way in showing the Governments Industrial Strategy can make a real difference. Chris White was Special Adviser to Patrick McLoughlin, when the latter served as Chief Whip, as well as to Andrew Lansley and William Hague when each served as Leader of the House. He is now Managing Director of Newington Communications. The clock is ticking. Were running out of runway. Whatever metaphor you wish to use, Parliament has an awful lot of legislating to do before 29th March if it wishes to complete the passage of the seven Brexit Bills, along with a large amount of secondary legislation. Today, the Prime Minister will update the Commons, setting out the Governments progress in negotiating with the EU following the passage of the two advisory amendments last month. They instructed, though not mandated, the Government to seek to both remove the backstop (Brady) and avoid a No Deal scenario (Spelman/Dromey). Since then, the negotiations have been less than productive, revealed in striking language in the Prime Ministers letter to the Leader of the Opposition over the weekend. In it, she stated that she was still seeking alternative arrangements to the backstop without specifying in detail what they were, and that negotiating a free trade deal as a third party outside of the Single Market was a negotiating challenge, which is somewhat of an understatement. A month on from the meaningful vote on 15th January, whilst significant column inches are dedicated to the possibility of the Malthouse Compromise we are no closer to knowing if the EU is prepared to alter the existing deal. Parliament is running out of time before 29th March, either to pass a Bill implementing an agreed deal, or to pass legislation ensuring the UK is ready for a No Deal Brexit. The scale of the challenge On 31st January, the Leader of the Commons quite rightly cancelled the February half-term recess, yet also scheduled a range of business in the Commons that, whilst important, didnt progress No Deal legislation in any way. This risk-averse programming is almost certainly down to the fact that, with negotiations ongoing with the EU, the Government doesnt wish to give any opportunities in the House to amend legislation to include unhelpful and challenging amendments. For example, there have been strong hints that amendments could be tabled to the Trade Bill in the Lords that would seek to keep the UK in a Customs Union. If this is the case, and with reports suggesting that the next meaningful vote is in around three weeks, in the week commencing 25th February, we may not see any more progress in the Commons on much needed No Deal legislation until a deal is reached that the House can agree on. In terms of readiness, a number of No Deal preparation Bills have already received Royal Assent, including the Customs Act, the Nuclear Safeguards Act, the Road Haulage Act and the Sanctions Act. However much more needs to be done. For a start, winning the meaningful vote is only the first step the Government must then pass a European Union Withdrawal Agreement Implementation (EU WAIB) prior to 29th March to give legal effect to the Withdrawal Agreement. However the Government must not put all its eggs in one basket, and in order to provide security in the event of No Deal should pass a further six Bills, and additional secondary legislation. These Bills range from allowing the UK to enter into trade deals, creating a domestic agriculture and fisheries market, maintaining our healthcare agreements, giving powers to implement financial services regulations, to bringing EU citizens under UK law. The current state of play is as follows: As you can see from the above table, agriculture, fisheries, and immigration are well behind schedule and will need considerable work to pass before 29th March. Equally, Trade has its own issues as outlined above. The Government also has to pass around 600-700 statutory instruments, or secondary legislation, before 29th March to be ready, in addition to the above Bills. The timetable for their consideration has increased in recent weeks and the Government might just be on track, but around 200 still have to be considered in the next few weeks. Certainly the SI committees are working overtime, and have significant reading ahead of them. The Timess Esther Webber reported one SI from BEIS was 636 pages long, weighs 2.54 kilos and covers 11 matters that would be expected to go in separate documents. Will the UK be ready in time? There are 45 days left until 29th March, and Parliament will sit for 26 of them (not counting sitting Fridays), unless it chooses to add more sitting days to the calendar or change the business on Fridays from Private Members Bills to Government business. If the deadline of 29th March remains in place, it is unlikely that the Government will be able to pass both the EU WAIB and the six remaining No Deal preparation Bills. This will mean uncomfortable decisions about which Bills it has to prioritise, and whether workarounds can be found through alternative means. The Trade Bill is probably the highest priority for the Government aside from the EU WAIB, but failing to set up domestic agriculture and fisheries markets prior to exit day, for example, will cause severe concerns and uncertainty in those sectors. If Government, Parliament and the EU reach consensus about an amended deal, or agree to the existing deal, then its likely that there will need to be a short extension to Article 50 as passing the EU WAIB inside a month, whilst technically possible, would be extremely challenging. However, the Government must continue to progress with the No Deal Bills over the next few weeks, or the UK faces running out of runway before 29th March. (ANSA) - Pordenone, February 12 - A child died in a house fire at Pinzano al Tagliamento near Pordenone in the north of Italy on Tuesday. The child suffered extensive burns, sources said. He was taken out of the blazing house by a fireman. Stephen Greenhalgh was the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime in London, and has also served as Leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Council. After yet another bloody weekend in the capital, Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced another in his long line of timid pilot projects. This one to tag, using the Global Positioning System, only 100 habitual knife-crime criminals in just four London boroughs when they leave prison in order to reduce their re-offending. In The Times, Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, has called for collective action to prevent violent crime from scarring our society, terrorising our communities, and, most devastatingly, destroying the lives of our next generation. The Home Secretary has made a commitment to do everything in his power to give those on the front line of the fight, the tools they need to end the bloodshed. He has backed this up with the announcement of the knife crime prevention orders in response to the police wanting more powers to help them divert young people away from the dangers of knife crime. So why is the London Mayor not using GPS tagging in combination with these new civil orders? Perhaps the Home Secretary can put this to the Mayor, in the cross-party serious violence taskforce that he is convening today. This is yet another example of the Mayor focusing on PR rather than the measures that will do something to stem the bloodshed on Londons streets. GPS tagging has been around for years and should be rolled out far more widely not just to reduce re-offending but also with preventative measures such as these new knife crime prevention orders, gang injunctions, and criminal behaviour orders. With the murder rate and knife crime at a 10 year high, Londoners deserve a Mayor who prioritises the prevention of knife crime. However, we also need more police officers in our capital city. This Home Secretary has risen to the challenge and is providing the biggest increase in police budgets since 2010. Police and Crime Commissioners all over the country are planning to recruit thousands more officers. However, the Mayor of London has let police officers fall to below 30,000 from at or around 32,000 when Mayor Johnson left office in 2016. This is despite receiving a flat cash settlement from the Home Office. The Mayor needs to have a budget plan to increase officer numbers dramatically and this will not emerge with more pointless PR. Under Mayor Johnson we had a plan to release under-utilised police buildings, reduce overhead, and reform the policing model to keep police officer numbers high in spite of having 100 million less to spend each year. Finally, if we are going to stem this mindless violence, our candidate for Mayor, Shaun Bailey, should pledge to bring in the technology developed by British scientists that allows frontline officers to carry scanners which enable them to detect knives and guns beneath clothing. These portable scanners can differentiate knives from everyday items such as keys. A widespread roll-out of this technology will give the police another tool that will enable the Met to ramp up intelligence-led and targeted stop and search so that we can get the knives off the streets of our capital city. Letwin and fellow Remainers demand a chance to delay Brexit in return for time to renegotiate The PM will try to convince the Commons on Tuesday to give her another fortnights grace for talks with Brussels for changes to the Irish backstop. She faces a fresh vote on Thursday for Parliament to authorise her plan to offer MPs another say on February 27 if there is still no deal One minister told The Sun: Just kicking this down the road another two weeks to give us another vote on February 27 is not going to be enough. The latest rebellion has been devised by former Tory minister Sir Oliver Letwin. Under his plan, rebel Remainer Nick Boles will agree not to re-table his amendment with senior Labour MP Yvette Cooper for a Brexit delay to avoid No Deal on Thursday. Their revised plot would see a new law rapidly passed that allows Parliament to order the Government to ask for an Article 50 extension Around 25 Tory ministers who have vowed to block a no-deal Brexit met in secret in the Commons on Monday afternoon to agree a joint line ahead of the showdown. None pledged to resign on Thursday if their demand is refused But Industry Minister Richard Harrington is one who is still determined to resign then if Mrs May hasnt offered the reassurance, telling allies that its now a matter of personal credibility for him. The Sun >Today: Chris White on Comment: Time is getting extremely tight to pass all the required withdrawal legislation >Yesterday: MPsETC: Boles fights back against rulebook warfare with a loophole of his own Brexiteers warn the Prime Minister not to negotiate with Labour over customs union Senior Conservative Brexiteers warned Theresa May yesterday that she must never negotiate with Labour on the partys proposal for Britain to remain in a customs union with the European Union. Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, described Labours plan as a dangerous delusion and warned that it was not workable, while Boris Johnson accused Jeremy Corbyn of trying to trap the government in a toxic Brexit. Other Brexiteers accused the prime minister of grinding miserably on with a rubbish Brexit deal that could leave Britain unable to forge meaningful new trade deals with the rest of the world. The comments reflect concern among Leave-supporting Tories that Mrs May is preparing to concede too much ground to Labour in an attempt to win cross-party backing for her deal with Brussels. The Times >Today: The Moggcast. He is very concerned delaying Brexit would allow Tommy Robinson to win the European elections. May plans to go in the summer She would win a working majority if there was an election today, YouGov finds The Times Beware an election would reunite Labour Tom Harris, Daily Telegraph Any activist thinking about deselecting Boles needs their head examining William Hague, Daily Telegraph Under the suspected plan, Mrs May would call time on her Premiership shortly after finally delivering Brexit. She will then set out a timetable for a new Tory leadership contest to end at the partys annual conference in October. At least two senior figures in the Cabinet have come to that conclusion from hints the PM has personally given them, The Sun has been told. Mrs Mays suspected thinking is that by going at a time of her own choosing and in a position of relative strength, she will be able to have some say over who the next Tory leader will be. Her move will widely be seen as a plan to stop Boris Johnson, her long standing enemy, who wants a significantly different future trade deal with the EU with less links to Brussels. The Sun >Today: ToryDiary: Conservatives should take their Scottish colleagues fears about Johnson seriously Rudd concedes that Universal Credit problems increased food bank use Welfare reforms are partly to blame for greater use of food banks, Amber Rudd admitted yesterday. After years of official denials, the Work and Pensions Secretary said the roll-out of Universal Credit was one of the causes of growing hunger Miss Rudd replied: Were committed to a strong safety net where people need it. Its absolutely clear there were challenges with the initial roll-out of Universal Credit and the main issue that led to an increase in food bank use could have been the fact that people had difficulties accessing their money early enough. We have made changes to accessing universal credit so people can have advances. Pushed again on the issue by Labours Stephen Timms, Miss Rudd added: I have acknowledged that people having difficulty accessing the money on time as one of the causes of the growth in food banks, but we have tried to address that. Daily Mail Capitalism is the best weapon against poverty Mark Littlewood, Daily Telegraph The economy is slowing Britains economy has stalled due to the paralysis over Brexit, Philip Hammond admitted yesterday. Grim new official figures out yesterday revealed growth went into reverse in December as output declined by 0.2%. All four major sectors services, manufacturing, construction and agriculture shrank, as worried companies sit on their money. With just 45 days to go until Brexit and still no deal in place, bosses are waiting to see what happens with EU talks before investing, analysts said. Growth also slumped in the final three months of 2018, leaving the economy to expand by just 0.2%, with more grim figures for January expected. The disappointing end to the year meant growth for 2018 was down to just 1.4%. The Sun Extensive curbs on media giants proposed to give traditional and local media a leg-up The BBC, Facebook and Google face new curbs on their power over news online following a landmark review to safeguard quality journalism. The economist Dame Frances Cairncross suggested limits on the BBC website to stop it competing with commercial outlets on soft stories which are not clearly in the public interest. She also said Facebook and Google should be regulated with a news quality obligation to ensure they give more prominence to public interest news, to improve trust in the media and public engagement in democracy. Dame Frances review was commissioned by Theresa May, the Prime Minister, amid concerns about the future of quality journalism in the face of declining newspaper sales and the stranglehold of Facebook and Google over online advertising. She recommended that the tech giants should face detailed examination of their commercial clout by competition watchdogs. Daily Telegraph Editorials Useful proposals, which should be acted upon The Times Leader Newspapers are under siege, and ministers should protect them The Sun Says A cautious welcome Daily Telegraph Leader Wallace: British politics is remarkably resilient just look at France and Italy Salvini surpasses Five Star in regional election The Times Gains for Eurosceptic parties could paralyse the European Parliament Daily Telegraph Germanys economic plan wont solve the fundamental problems Matthew Lynn, Daily Telegraph Hunt: The battle against ISIS is not over Even Germany, Europes solid, dull, but technically competent heart, with its solid, dull but technically competent Chancellor, has started to wobble. The Greens on the left and the AfD on the far right are jostling their way up the poll ratings. The German economy avoided recession by the alarming margin of just a single day last quarter. In this country, we love a dose of self-doubting miserablism. Isnt Britain just awful, we think to ourselves in a mixture of performative wokeness and tantalising masochism. We are always eager to beat anyone else to the punch when bemoaning our own performance on the world stage. Sure, the UK isnt perfect. It has all the challenges I listed above and more. But when you consider how quickly things have unravelled for several of our neighbours, a thought presents itself. Whisper the heresy, but maybe we arent doing all that badly after all. The i paper Islamic State has not been defeated and Britain must press on with fighting it in Syria, the foreign secretary has said. Jeremy Hunts position places him at odds with President Trump, who announced last year that he would pull US forces from Syria, declaring: We have won against Isis we have beaten them, and we have beaten them badly. Mr Hunt warned yesterday that the world should not mistake territorial defeat for final defeat and that forces fighting Isis should not claim victory too quickly. The Times RAF to get drone swarms The Sun Cargo vessels will be converted into warships The Times The UK does essential work preventing children from becoming soldiers John Lamont, The Times Williamson is rightly ambitious for our country, but do his colleagues agree? Daily Telegraph Leader >Yesterday: Grayling faces the Commons over ferry contract The CBI criticises anachronistic GCSEs Taxpayers face a bigger No Deal bill after the humiliating collapse of a 14million ferry contract, Chris Grayling signalled yesterday. The Transport Secretary admitted a contract with Seaborne Freight to bring essential NHS supplies into Ramsgate had collapsed meaning the Kent port is unlikely to play a role. And the Government will instead likely have to rely on longer North Sea routes from the Continent to make up the capacity meaning higher costs. It came as Labour MPs lined up to demand Mr Grayling resign over the disastrous Seaborne deal. The Department awarded Seaborne a company with no ferries one of three deals to ship supplies into the UK in the event of border chaos at Calais in December. But over the weekend an Irish backer pulled the plug on financing the business. The Sun GCSEs have come under attack, with big businesses asking whether the exams are even necessary any more. Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the CBI, told The Times that GCSEs were intrusive and intensive and left little space to teach the broader skills that employers looked for. In a speech today at the Royal Society Business Forum, she will ask: In a world where few employers even ask for GCSE results and there are better ways of assessing schools, why should we require pupils to cram for a set of exams which feel increasingly anachronistic? Venki Ramakrishnan, president of the Royal Society, will use the event to call for an independent review of A levels, which he says are far too narrow. The Times New aid definition could free up 1.5 billion Only 12 expulsions from 700 alleged cases of anti-semitism in the Labour Party Britain currently spends far more than its 0.7 per cent target of national income on aid-related projects, according to the study. The Global Britain report said a broader definition of international development would lead to savings of up to 1.54billion. Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, who wrote a foreword to the report, backed calls for a radical overhaul of the overseas aid budget.Money spent which does not meet the criteria of aid includes 270million on peacekeeping missions. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy spent 575million on overseas projects in 2017/18 but that did not count towards the 0.7 per cent. The report was drawn up by Tory MP Bob Seely. Daily Mail Almost 700 Labour members have been reported for antisemitism in the past ten months, with 12 expelled from the party. Another 44 quit when presented with evidence of the allegations against them, Jennie Formby, the partys general secretary, said last night. Dame Margaret Hodge, a senior Labour MP who has been a victim of antisemitism, said that she did not believe the figures and that she had submitted nearly 200 complaints of serious abuse by party members since October. Other members said the data showed that the leadership had been too slow to deal with the crisis. The figures were released hours before a parliamentary Labour Party meeting that MPs had set as a deadline for more information. One MP accused Ms Formby and Jeremy Corbyn of cowardice for failing to attend the meeting. The Times Chope: Why I did it He appalled Truss The Guardian His office is festooned with dinosaur bunting Daily Mail New legal protection for Muslim brides Daily Mail Were building the wall anyway, Trump declares The sponsors of most bills to which I have objected have understood the importance of requiring debate at a Second Reading. Indeed, last Friday the Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) (Amendment) Bill and the Rivers Authority and Land Drainage Bill were debated and approved at Second Reading and will now go to Committee. Supporters of two other government-approved bills which I blocked on similar grounds have chosen to vilify me, using social media to orchestrate a campaign of intimidation against my family and staff. ..I fear for the future of my party as a champion of free speech and open debate. The Private Members Bill process faces sustained challenges from single issue pressure groups, each of which wants their own bill to take priority. One way of ensuring that this does not come at the expense of proper scrutiny would be to give top priority each session to the PMBs which attracted greatest support among MPs. Yet this recommendation from the Procedure Committee, of which I am a member, has so far been rejected by the Government. Christopher Chope, Daily Telegraph A deal that would finance new barriers on Americas southern border and avert another US government shutdown was agreed in principle by Congressional leaders last night. Negotiators were said to have signed up to a tentative agreement that falls far short of funding President Trumps border wall but which, if supported by the White House, would finance the government from Friday when temporary funding lapses. Appearing at a rally last night after the deal was struck, Mr Trump gave no firm indication of whether he would back it. They said that progress is being made with this committee, he told a crowd in El Paso, Texas. Just so you know, were building the wall anyway. He said he had had no time to study the details. The Times News in Brief Slack announced last week that it is preparing for a public listing, capitalizing on huge growth in the six years since its launch. But could the popular workplace collaboration software company get acquired even before it hits the stock market? The fact that Slack is heading for a stock market listing indicates that its investors are looking for an exit/ROI opportunity, so its not beyond the realms of possibility that theyd consider an acquisition instead, said Angela Ashenden, principal analyst at CCS Insight. It would be very appealing as an acquisition, particularly for a company that wants to compete more directly/effectively with Microsoft in the digital workplace, she said. Slack is a good acquisition target for companies who want to win the collaboration market, said Wayne Kurtzman, research director at IDC. Winning that market is arguably winning the future digital workplace. It wouldn't be the first time like this occurred. There are a handful of examples in recent years of tech firm buy-outs taking place prior to a public listing (which is sometimes referred to as a dual-track process). Qualtrics was acquired last year by SAP for $8 billion a few days before its IPO at a valuation of approximately $5 billion, while Cisco acquired AppDynamics for $3.7 billion in 2017 as the latter was prepping for a public listing. And a similar situation occurred last year with PayPal's $2.2 billion acquisition of iZettle. There is little to suggest that Slack has intentionally undertaken a dual-track process, where it actively courts would-be suitors while heading for a public listing. But it is no stranger to such speculation; the companys success has led at times to tech chatter that Amazon, Google, Microsoft or perhaps even Apple would make suitable buyers. Danville, IL (61832) Today A mix of clouds and sun early, then becoming cloudy later in the day. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 82F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Scattered thunderstorms, especially overnight. Low near 70F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%. (ANSA) - Rome, February 12 - Envoys from Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido on Tuesday thanked Italy for its request that fresh elections be held as soon as possible after July's allegedly rigged ballot. "We thank the Italian people, the parliament, President (Sergio) Mattarella and (Foreign) Minister (Enzo) Moavero (Milanesi) for their support for the demand for presidential elections as soon as possible and the recognition of the national assembly as sole legitimate organ in Venezuela," said one of the envoys, Francisco Sucre, at the foreign press club in Rome. "This support is (a source of) strength for our people's struggle, to restore democracy". Sucre is the chair of the Venezuelan parliament's foreign affairs committee. Columbia, MO (65201) Today Variably cloudy with showers and thunderstorms likely. Some thunderstorms may be severe in the afternoon. Damaging winds and large hail with some storms. High 88F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight Scattered thunderstorms. A few may be severe. Damaging winds and large hail with some storms. Low 74F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%. 15 SHOWS February 22, 2021 10.00 am 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. Planes are de-iced at La Guardia Airport during a winter storm on February 2, 2015 in the Queens borough of New York City. The snowstorm, which is effecting an area stretching from New York to Chicago, is disrupting travelers both on the road and in the air. A winter storm bringing a mix of snow, sleet and heavy rain from the Midwest to the East Coast grounded more than 2,000 flights and created hourslong delays at some of the busiest airports in the Northeast on Tuesday. New York's LaGuardia Airport was the most affected with 500 flights scheduled to fly in and out of the airport called off, or about 40 percent of the day's schedule, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. More than 800 flights were canceled at Toronto's Pearson International Airport, Chicago's O'Hare and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The weather delayed flights at Newark Liberty International Airport and at Boston Logan International Airport by more than three hours and a ground stop was put in place for J.F.K., a measure that would prevent flights from departing for the New York airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. tweet American Airlines said it would waive fees to change dates tickets to or from 32 airports across the Northeast and in southern Canada if customers can fly a different date through Saturday. Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and JetBlue Airways issued similar waivers. Southwest Airlines doesn't charge fees for changing travel dates but said it would waive fare-difference charges for travelers affected by the storm. Tuesday's flight disruptions come after a snowstorm canceled hundreds of flights in Seattle during the weekend. WATCH: Why Airbus and Boeing dominate 99% of the large plane market Airport personnel work to de-ice an Alaska Air plane during snowfall at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) in Seattle, Washington, U.S., on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. A winter storm sweeping across the Midwest took aim at the East Coast overnight, bringing rain, ice and potentially as much as two feet of snow to some areas. The snowy blast could cause havoc for commuters from Illinois to Maine, where winter storm warnings and advisories were in effect through Tuesday morning and into Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. Highway pileups and other weather-related accidents had been reported in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, while inbound flights to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport were delayed by more than four hours as of Monday night, according to the flight tracking site Flightaware. NWS Chicago Tweet Joliet Weather Center Tweet In New Jersey, where forecasters were predicting a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain, Gov. Phil Murphy imposed a state of emergency from midnight Monday.The declaration authorizes the state to restrict travel and provide access to government assistance, among other things. In Dallas County, Iowa, the sheriff urged drivers to slow down after a deputy at the scene of an accident was struck by a car zooming past emergency vehicles on a snow-covered road. Dash-cam video of the incident showed a deputy leaping off the road before a car barrels into an SUV, and then hits the officer. "He has some apparent minor injuries, but as you can tell from this video, it could have been a whole lot worse," the sheriff's office said in a post accompanying the video. "Slow down for all first responders and be safe!" A video from outside Eau Claire, Wisconsin, showed cars, trucks and SUVs spun out on a snowy highway median, while in neighboring Wayne County, Indiana, a twin-engine airplane skidded off the runway at an airport east of Indianapolis on Monday morning. No injuries were reported in the incident, according to NBC affiliate WTHR. NWS DC/Baltimore Tweet In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that some upstate areas could see ice, 35 mph winds, freezing rain and as much as two feet of snow on Tuesday. One to four inches were forecast for New York City, the governor's office said in a statement. The state's Department of Transportation was ready with more than 1,500 plows and hundreds of trucks, snow blowers, tractor trailers and graders, the statement said. The Pacific Northwest, meanwhile, was preparing for more winter weather and rain after an unusual storm dumped more than a foot of snow in some areas last week. NWS Seattle Tweet "We are not done with this #wasnow for the forseeable future," Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee said Monday in a post on Twitter. "Caution is the best approach for everyone. Thank you for sharing your shovels to keep sidewalks clear, for helping your elderly neighbors and for reducing your traffic to get us safely through the next couple days." The American solar power workforce shrank for a second consecutive year in 2018, as U.S. tariffs prompted developers to delay projects and policy shifts in top solar states slowed renewable energy growth. The U.S. solar industry shed nearly 8,000 jobs last year, according to an annual survey from the Solar Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for solar power. The 3.2-percent drop in employment puts the industry's total headcount at roughly 242,000. The decline marks a setback for an industry that nearly tripled its workforce in the seven years since the Solar Foundation issued it first National Solar Jobs Census in 2010. U.S. solar employment peaked at roughly 260,000 in 2016. "Despite two challenging years, the long-term outlook for this industry remains positive as even more Americans turn to low-cost solar energy and storage solutions to power their homes and businesses," Andrea Luecke, president and executive director at The Solar Foundation, said in a press release. The drag on 2018 hiring began the previous year, as the market braced for tariffs on imported solar panels and modules after the U.S. Commerce Department determined cheap imports had hurt U.S. manufacturers. President Donald Trump ultimately authorized a 30-percent import tax on imported solar equipment. Without clarity on pricing, many developers hit pause on projects, especially large solar farms, over the last two years. The solar tariffs, along with the Trump administration's import taxes on steel and aluminum, have made hardware more expensive. The duties on solar equipment last for four years and drop by 5 percent each year. Over the last two years, firms that install solar equipment saw the biggest declines, shedding about 10,000 jobs or 6 percent of the workforce. At the state level, solar power leader California and other parts of the country with mature markets experienced a pullback in employment. California alone lost 9,576 positions, seven times the decline in Massachusetts, the next biggest job cutter. The Golden State experienced the weakest growth in solar capacity in six years during the third quarter of 2018. The Solar Foundation points to trouble getting community solar projects off the ground and uncertainty over rate structures. But solar deployment also slowed at least in part because utilities face less pressure after brisk progress hitting California's clean energy goals in recent years. In Massachusetts, a delayed release of the state's new solar incentive program curbed new deployments, according to the Solar Foundation. Still, 29 states added solar power workers in 2018. Florida led the job growers with 1,769 new positions to overtake Massachusetts as the nation's second biggest solar employer. This year, the Solar Foundation forecasts hiring will pick up again, rising by about 7 percent to 259,000 jobs, based on responses to the 2018 census. New utility-scale projects are expected to drive the growth, with solar farm construction anticipated in California, Texas, Florida and South Atlantic states. However, the Solar Foundation warns its forecast could be undercut by economic conditions, barriers to capital and changes in policy. The 2018 census also finds companies in the solar industry are having a harder time hiring as the U.S. labor market tightens. The census was conducted by BW Research Partnership, a research consulting firm. BW's results come from a survey of 3,493 solar power companies, out of a universe of 13,945 employers, conducted in September and October 2018. Researchers at the University of Manchester have designed flags that can produce energy via wind and solar power. In a statement Monday, the university said that the flags used "flexible piezoelectric strips and flexible photovoltaic cells." Photovoltaic refers to a way of directly converting light from the sun into electricity, while piezoelectric strips enable the flag to generate power via movement. The university added that the flags were able to power remote sensors and small-scale portable electronics that can be used for tasks such as pollution, sound and heat monitoring. "Wind and solar energies typically have intermittencies that tend to compensate each other," Andrea Cioncolini, a co-author of the study and senior lecturer in thermal hydraulics, said in a statement. "The sun does not usually shine during stormy conditions, whereas calm days with little wind are usually associated with shiny sun," he added, explaining that this made wind and solar "particularly well suited for simultaneous harvesting." The research was published in the journal Applied Energy, and represents the latest novel and interesting way of producing energy. In 2014, for example, researchers in Canada designed a headset with a chinstrap manufactured from piezoelectric fiber composites that was able to harvest energy as the jaw moved. A year later, researchers in the U.K. announced the development of a wearable energy generator powered with urine. At the time, the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol described how miniaturized microbial fuel cells (MFCs) had been "embedded" into a pair of socks. When a user walks, their urine is pumped, fueling the fuel cells and powering a wireless transmitter that sends a signal to a PC. The UWE said that MFCs contained bacteria that "generate electricity from waste fluids." President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he would consider postponing the March 2 deadline for tariffs if the U.S. and China can reach a trade deal soon. Trump softened his stance on the trade battle with China, saying he's open to letting the deadline slide, but "would prefer not to." He also said Beijing "very much wants to make a deal," and he has "a big team" in China trying to reach a resolution. When asked if he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of March, Trump said, "Not at this point." The March 2 deadline is crucial in the negotiations as U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods will increase if a deal is not struck before then. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin along with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer headed to Beijing this week for another round of talks with Vice Premier Liu He. The trade talks still seemed far apart as the two sides have not even drafted an accord specifying the matters they agree and disagree on. White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said Thursday that there is a "pretty sizable distance to go" before China and the U.S. reach a deal. Kudlow also indicated, however, that Trump is "optimistic with respect to a potential trade deal." Mnuchin said last week the talks have been "very productive," although he noted that a "wide range of issues" remains to be worked out. Billionaire investor and liberal political activist George Soros has issued a call for Europe to "please wake up" and recognize "the magnitude of the threat" it faces from what he said were its enemies, both internal and external. Europe "is sleepwalking into oblivion," the legendary investor warned in an opinion piece published by Project Syndicate on Monday, "and the people of Europe need to wake up before it is too late." "If they don't, the European Union will go the way of the Soviet Union in 1991," he said, alluding to the dramatic dissolution of the USSR and the fall of Communism in 1991. The European Union (EU) is experiencing a "revolutionary moment" and the eventual outcome is "highly uncertain," Hungarian-American investor Soros added. Worse still, Soros believed that neither Europe's leaders nor ordinary citizens appreciated this fact. The current leadership is reminiscent of the politburo (the principal policy-making committee in the Soviet Union) when the union collapsed, Soros said, "continuing to issue ukazes (orders) as if they were still relevant." European Parliament elections in May 2019 were the next inflection point for the bloc. Anti-establishment, euroskeptic parties are expected to perform well. "Unfortunately, anti-European forces will enjoy a competitive advantage in the balloting. There are several reasons for this, including the outdated party system that prevails in most European countries, the practical impossibility of treaty change, and the lack of legal tools for disciplining member states that violate the principles on which the European Union was founded," he said. Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio proposes changing the capital gains tax as a way to discourage corporate buybacks, a position that could spook the stock market if other prominent Republicans get behind the idea. The capital gains tax is a new twist on the assault on corporate buybacks, which had been mainly under fire by just Democrats until now. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont have proposed legislation that would force companies to raise wages and provide more worker benefits as a condition on buybacks. Some legislators have been bristling that the GOP tax overhaul encouraged companies to buy stock instead of investing in plants and equipment, or workers. The tax plan cut the corporate rate to 21 percent from 35 percent and included incentives to spur capital spending, but critics say it has fallen short. "It's disconcerting that we start making decisions for companies ... I think it gets a little frightening," said James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Leuthhold Group. "It's one thing to have the far left suggesting some of these things, but if you start to get the right wing doing it, it's a little bit of a game changer."' Rubio's plan would eliminate the preferential tax treatment of capital gains on buybacks as a way to discourage companies from engaging in that behavior. Rubio heads the Small Business Committee, which released a report on the issue that argues equal rates would remove companies' incentives to buy back stock in the first place. Instead, Rubio wants to tax buybacks as if they were dividends, which are subject to a wide range of rates. "Tax policy changes to end this preference might, on their own, increase investment by shifting shareholder appetite for capital return," the report says. Instead, it suggests using the revenue from a higher capital gains tax to encourage capital investment. The current tax law passed by Republicans in 2017 with Rubio's reluctant support allows businesses to fully and immediately deduct their expenses, but that provision phases out after 2022. Paulsen said altering capital gains changes the whole decision making process for investors and companies. Limiting buybacks is more intrusive than some government oversight that impacted the stock market, like accounting regulations or the uptick rule that permitted short selling a stock only on an uptick. "This seems like it's a little step further when you get into how you're going to use your capital structure," he said, adding it could then influence debt levels and other aspects of corporate finance. "It just seems like you could right down the list." President Donald Trump has championed his economic achievements and the stock market's performance since his election. But buybacks, an engine of the stock markets gains, risk becoming a victim of the backlash during the upcoming presidential election season, even if companies just reduce them to stay out of the line of fire. The S&P 500, even with its recent correction, is up 28 percent since the November 2016 presidential election. Source: Goldman Sachs Brian Reynolds, asset class strategist at Canaccord Genuity, said the proposal to curb buybacks is simply the latest volley in a war on wealth that will continue during the election, and the stock market and buybacks are just the latest target. "I would say it's the beginning of the more public phase against the stock market. The stock market has has been under attack since Dodd Frank 10 years ago and since the push back against Worldcom and Enron. I would view this as another escalation in the war against the stock market," he said. Dan Clifton, head of policy research at Strategas, disagrees, and says Rubio entering the debate may be a contrarian sign. "It is significant that a Republican who once proposed reducing the capital gains tax is now saying we need to increase the capital gains tax. It will embolden Democrats to continue to push this fight. My sense is this is a contrarian indicator and that we are at the end of this war on wealth and that wages for working Americans are finally going up," Clifton said. Clifton also said the criticism that companies are buying stock and not investing is misguided and the amount they invest will likely change, once Trump strikes a trade deal with China and removes uncertainty. "The premise is just wrong. 2018 had the fourth largest increase in capex in U.S. history despite a trade war. The idea that companies are not making investments is ludicrous," he said. Source: Strategas He said companies were not using funds they would have used for capex, and instead were using the cash hordes they had kept overseas until the tax law change. "The money came from repatriation. It was a one-time boost that was leading to this increase in share repurchases. They have have no understanding of what's driving the dynamics of a bill they voted for," he said. Reynolds said banning buybacks would surely backfire, and companies may instead be encouraged to do total buybacks of their stock and take themselves private. He said legislation is unlikely to be passed with a Republican Senate and Trump in office, so it would be at least two years before it has a chance of becoming law. Tom Block, Washington strategist at Fundstrat, however, said Trump could fall behind an idea if he thought it was expedient. "Donald Trump can turn on a dime and can be against the stock market as easily as he was for the stock market," he said. But he too said the plan to limit buybacks would backfire. "The government does poorly when they micromanage corporate finance If they wanted to say something is illegal, they could do that, but it just means that bright CFOs are going to find ways of achieving the same benefit," Block said. "It just never works when they try to manage corporate buyback behavior." Rubio's staff explained that under the plan, any money spent by companies on buybacks would be considered, for tax purposes, a divided paid to shareholders even if investors did not actually sell their stock. Every shareholder would receive an imputed portion of the funds equivalent to the percentage of company stock they own. The plan is expected to result in fewer companies pursuing buybacks. But if they do, the proposal could raise revenue by both broadening the base by increasing the funds that can be taxed, and it could result in higher rates if shareholders are subject to ordinary dividend rates. CNBC's Ylan Mui contributed to this report The Republican chairman and ranking Democrat of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Tuesday blasted President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen for missing a planned appearance before that committee due to purported medical issues, less than a month before he is due to begin serving a three-year prison sentence. Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said any "good will" that committee had toward Cohen is gone after reports that Cohen has been out in New York at night socializing despite claiming he needed to postpone Tuesday's scheduled hearing because he is still recovering from shoulder surgery. The Intelligence Committee, which last month issued a subpoena to Cohen compelling his testimony Tuesday in a closed session, had granted that requested delay, Cohen's lawyer Lanny Davis had said Monday. Davis said the committee would announce a "future date" for testimony from Cohen, who pleaded guilty last year to lying to Congress, financial crimes, and campaign finance violations related to hush-money payments to two women who claim to have had affairs with Trump. The president denies having sex with either woman. "According to the press we still have Michael Cohen to interview one more time, but I can assure you that any good will that might have existed in the committee with Michael Cohen is now gone," Burr fumed to reporters Tuesday. Asked if there was a chance the committee will not get to interview Cohen before he begins serving a three-year prison term on March 6, Burr said, "I don't know, you'd have to ask him about it." Mark Kelly, retired NASA astronaut and husband of former Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords, announced Tuesday that he will run in 2020 for the Arizona U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Martha McSally. Kelly, 54, announced the bid in a video posted to his Twitter account. Mark Kelly TWEET My next mission... FullSpeedAhead ForArizona "I always knew that I was going to serve this country in some way," said Kelly, who served in the Navy during the Gulf War and was tapped to become a NASA pilot in 1996. Kelly, a Democrat, highlighted his career as an astronaut in the four-minute video, which he captioned as "my next mission." It begins with him recounting his first experience witnessing a sunrise from a space shuttle. "It becomes pretty obvious pretty early when you get into space that we're all in this together," he said. That soft, shuffling sound you hear is Congressional Republicans stepping away from President Trump. It's hard to hear above the din from the Oval Office. But through their new spending compromise, GOP leaders signaled clearly that they, like Congressional Democrats, will no longer play border-wall make-believe with President Trump. Trump sought the White House promising to build a "great wall" along the U.S. border with Mexico. Assailing previous presidents as ineffectual, he vowed to make Mexico pay for it. GOP leaders always understood that pledge as fanciful, even as they cautiously avoided saying so out loud. Last December, when Trump changed his mind and chose a government shutdown over a bipartisan spending compromise, they reluctantly went along. But 35 days of political pain, ending with Trump's initial surrender last month, changed their calculations. Conservative Republican negotiators Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama and Rep. Kay Granger of Texas struck the deal with Democrats last night even as Trump roared about the wall in El Paso. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised swift action with a presidential endorsement. "You've got to govern," explained Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee. He acknowledged it as an "incremental" deal that does not match Trump's grandiose 2016 pledge. When Trump launched his 2016 campaign, the U.S. government had constructed nearly 700 miles of barriers along the 2,000 mile border. That number remains unchanged today. The new compromise adds another 55 miles. Those new barriers financed by American taxpayers will be limited to the same kinds of fencing built under Trump's predecessors, not the new concrete wall or other "impenetrable" structure he had promised. American taxpayers will finance the $1.375-billion cost, well below the $5.7-billion the president had demanded. Stuck between hard-core supporters and the majority Americans opposed to the wall and another shutdown, Trump today pronounced himself "not happy" but didn't threaten a veto. He lacks good choices. Conservative commentator Ann Coulter accused him of cowardice, calling the compromise his "Yellow New Deal." Trump confidant Sean Hannity, the Fox News anchor, denounced the "garbage compromise" Republican negotiators struck. It won't be the last one. The Pentagon's inspector general filed a notice on Monday that it will began evaluating the Air Force's certification process for SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. The review will begin this month at the Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles. Addressed to Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, the memo said the Pentagon will look at "whether the U.S. Air Force complied with the Launch Services New Entrant Certification Guide when certifying the launch system design for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle-class" SpaceX rockets. The Pentagon's Michael Roark, who is serves as Deputy Inspector General for Intelligence and Special Program Assessments, signed the letter. SpaceX declined CNBC's request for comment. The letter does not explain why the Pentagon is performing this review. The Launch Services New Entrant Certification Guide was created more than six years ago "to reintroduce competition" into the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. The Air Force started EELV in 1995, to give military and intelligence contracts to reliable launch companies. However, in 2006 the only two EELV contractors -- Boeing and Lockheed Martin -- consolidated their launch businesses into a single joint venture called United Launch Alliance (ULA). SpaceX sued the Air Force in 2014 for the right to compete with ULA, arguing that the joint venture had a monopoly on national security launches. Reusing rockets is a key advantage for SpaceX, which the Air Force sought to understand and adapt to through its certification guide. SpaceX dropped that lawsuit in January 2015 and won Air Force certification for its Falcon 9 rocket later that same year. Since then, SpaceX has won six EELV missions, including certification for its Falcon Heavy rocket to launch a $130 million Air Force satellite into orbit. Elon Musk's rocket company completed its first EELV mission in December, when a Falcon 9 rocket launched a new GPS satellite for the Air Force. SpaceX has also completed two Department of Defense missions, launching a satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office as well as an experimental spacecraft called X-37B. The Pentagon's evaluation could look to the Air Force's certification of SpaceX as a matter of precedent. In October, the Air Force announced about $2 billion in awards to Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman and ULA for further development of U.S. based heavy rockets. As these three companies' rockets come online in the years ahead, the Air Force will need to certify them if they are to compete for national security launch contracts. Congressional negotiators said they reached a tentative deal Monday to fund the government and avoid another shutdown. As always, President Donald Trump will hold the fate of any potential border security agreement in his hands. The announcement came only minutes before the president took the rally stage in the Texas border city of El Paso to argue that "walls save lives" as he made the case for his proposed border barrier. The top four congressional appropriators emerged from a meeting on border security funding Monday night and announced an agreement in principle to fund the government past a midnight Friday deadline. The group, including Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., did not immediately give details of the deal or say when they would release bill text. A congressional source told CNBC it would put about $1.4 billion toward physical barriers, but not a wall. It would include about 55 new miles of bollard fencing. The agreement would also reduce the cap for Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention beds by about 17 percent from the current 49,057 to 40,520, according to the source. Drew Hammill, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said Tuesday that "there is no wall money" in the tentative deal. It includes the same amount of money for physical barriers as a spending bill passed last year, he said. A bill could get unveiled late Tuesday or early Wednesday. But that timing could change. Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said "I look forward to reviewing the full text as soon as possible and hope the Senate can act on this legislation in short order." Making remarks shortly after McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the "tentative agreement represents a path forward for our country, away from another round of fraught negotiations up against a government funding cliff. Away from a dreaded government shutdown." If passed, the measure would avoid reopening fresh wounds from a 35-day partial closure in December and January. About 800,000 federal workers were furloughed or worked without pay, missing two paychecks during the funding lapse.They face the prospect of more financial hardship if nine federal departments, or about a quarter of the government, close again. The measure's passage depends on Trump's support. The president said during Monday's rally that he'd heard about a developing deal before he took the stage but did not hear the details. He contended that the agreement did not matter because "we're building the wall anyway." WATCH: These virtual walls could be the cheaper and more effective answer to Trump's border wall Any remaining political support for former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak could "collapse" once a corruption trial related to the scandal-ridden state fund 1MDB gets underway despite the ex-leader's recent attempts to shore up his popularity on social media, an analyst said on Tuesday. Najib, ousted in an election in May last year, is facing more than 40 charges, including criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of power in relation to 1MDB. The former leader has pleaded not guilty, and the trial for 10 of those charges was supposed to start on Tuesday, but was postponed pending an appeal. The delay could be seen as a "victory" for Najib, whose recent social media activity which includes releasing a music video is widely seen by observers as an attempt to engineer a political comeback, said James Chin, director of the Asia Institute Tasmania at the University of Tasmania. But those efforts may be futile because the trial when it eventually starts will remind Malaysians of the scale of 1MDB's alleged money laundering scandal, Chin added. No new date has been set for the trial, but Reuters reported that a Malaysian prosecutor said the delay could last one or two weeks. "Very often, the followers on social media and the likes you get on social media [do] not necessarily mean that you can translate that into broad political support in the real world. And also, I suspect that once the trial gets going, once people find out the amount of money involved and also how the money was misused, I suspect the political support will collapse after that," Chin told CNBC's "Street Signs" on Tuesday. Najib Razak, Malaysia's former prime minister, gestures as he leaves the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex in Malaysia, on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. A Malaysian court on Monday postponed the corruption trial of former prime minister Najib Razak over charges related to a multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB pending an appeal, his lawyer said. Najib was ousted in an election in May last year amid public fury over the alleged theft of $4.5 billion from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). He has pleaded not guilty to ten charges of criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of power and his trial was originally set to begin on Tuesday. His lawyers, however, filed an application last week to stay the trial pending an appeal over a lower court's ruling to transfer some of the charges to Kuala Lumpur High Court, media reported. Harvinderjit Singh, one of Najib's lawyers, told Reuters in a brief text message that the Court of Appeal had agreed to postpone the trial "until the appeal is heard". No new date for the trial or the appeal has been set, he said. The United Kingdom may be careering toward a no-deal Brexit with only six weeks to its official deadline, but Luxembourg's finance minister has offered some confidence on a deal still being reached. The U.K. and the European negotiating teams agreed Monday to have further talks on how to overcome the current impasse. U.K. lawmakers rejected last month a deal that Prime Minister Theresa May had reached with the other 27 European countries after nearly two years of negotiations. The main stumbling block is the Irish backstop, a safety policy that aims to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The pressure is mounting given the scheduled departure date of March 29. If the impasse continues, the U.K. could leave the EU without any agreement, which would bring huge uncertainty for businesses and citizens as well as fears in financial markets. "You know in diplomacy it's never too late, so one should continue to discuss," Pierre Gramegna, the Luxembourg finance minister and former diplomat, told CNBC's Willem Marx in Brussels Tuesday. "Obviously, we are coming very close to a dire strait, but when you have been partners for more than 40 years You're trying to find the best possible solution," he added. May will update the U.K. parliament on Tuesday and is set to ask for more patience as she tries to get some new compromises from the EU. She has promised to give U.K. lawmakers another chance to vote on the Brexit process by February 27. California Senator Kamala Harris arrvies for a rally launching her presidential campaign on January 27, 2019 in Oakland, California. Noah Berger | AFP | Getty Images Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., is running for president as a self-described "progressive prosecutor" whose chief goal will be raising incomes for working people. Pundits quickly dubbed Harris the Democrats' front-runner in a crowded primary field that features four of her Senate colleagues already. Still, in polls she lags behind former vice president Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, who are both expected to jump into the race before long. Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016, and before that served as attorney general of California, one of the most important law enforcement positions in the country. She was the first black person to hold the role, as well as the first woman, according to her campaign. The California senator's liberal bona fides have come under scrutiny from progressives, who say that Harris supported tough-on-crime policies as a prosecutor that disproportionately hurt minorities and the poor, such as criminalizing truancy. Harris has defended her record. Raising incomes Her positions as a presidential candidate are clearly to the left of center. Harris' No. 1 priority is her plan to "give working and middle class families up to $500 more per month," according to spokesman Ian Sams. In a post on Twitter, Sams said the campaign "is about raising incomes for people." The senator introduced her $500-a-month proposal in October 2018, citing a survey that found that a majority of Americans did not have enough saved to cover an unexpected $500 expense. Her proposal would grant $6,000 a year to families earning less than $100,000 a year, and $3,000 annually to individuals earning less than $50,000. The funds would come in the form of tax credits, and workers could choose to receive the payments in monthly installments or in one lump sum. About half of American families would receive a tax cut, with nearly all of the cuts going to those making less than $87,000, according to the Tax Policy Center. The nonpartisan think tank said it was not clear how Harris would pay for her plan and that her current proposals to do so, including rolling back the GOP tax cuts passed in 2017, "would fall far short." Indeed, the plan is one of the most costly Democratic proposals introduced by a contender for the presidency. Over 10 years, it would reduce federal revenue by about $2.8 trillion, according to an analysis from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. The bill would primarily benefit the middle and working class. It would lift 9 million people out of poverty, including 3 million children, according to a calculation by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Progressives have argued that the plan neglects the poorest Americans in order to provide assistance to those "who are on the rung just above them." But the campaign has said more proposals are on their way. "She will continue to outline big ideas to help more Americans throughout this very long primary campaign," Sams said in an email. Harris has also proposed legislation that would make access to housing easier for many Americans. She proposed legislation in 2018 that would enable those making less than $100,000 a year and spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent to claim tax credits to help ease their housing costs. Medicare for All Harris is a supporter of Medicare for All and was one of the first lawmakers to sign on to the sweeping proposal introduced by Sanders in 2017. Last December, Harris wrote an article in The New York Times detailing her mother's struggle with and eventual death from cancer. She wrote that she was "so grateful my mother had Medicare, and I will fight for it to be guaranteed to all." Multiple Democratic contenders have backed "Medicare for all" in some form, and how far each is willing to go will be a key policy question during the primary process. Harris made waves by saying during a CNN town hall last month that she would support eliminating private insurers entirely. Aides later clarified that she would continue to back more moderate proposals as well, even if her first choice was the elimination of insurers. At least four of Harris' fellow senators running or likely to run for president including Sanders, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have also backed "Medicare for all" proposals. Criminal justice reform "There's no way he could," Dowd said. "I mean we'd have to script it." "What I was worried about is that he really couldn't do it. He couldn't do it," Dowd said Tuesday on "The Investigation" podcast on ABC News Radio when asked why he did not recommend that Trump submit to in-person questions from Mueller. Dowd also apparently was concerned that a sit-down interview with Mueller could end with Trump getting accused of making false statements to federal investigators, just as former Trump advisors have been criminally charged with doing by the special counsel's office. Donald Trump's former lawyer, John Dowd, advised the president against being interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller because he feared Trump was incapable of pulling it off, Dowd says on a new podcast. "Matter of fact," Dowd added, "I told Bob [Mueller]. I said, 'Why don't you just let us script it?'" Dowd said on the podcast that Trump each day reviews a "staggering" amount of information and is dealing with international issues whose signficance dwarfs the importance of the Mueller probe. Both of those facts, Dowd argued, would put Trump at a disadvantage at being questioned in detail about items of concern to the special counsel's team. "In my questioning of him, or talking to him ... first question, easy, second question, easy, third question, he wasn't sure. Dowd said. "And he doesn't like being unsure. So he'll guess. There's your trap right there." "It's not whether he lies, or not. Everybody wants to get into this you know, this integrity business. It's not a matter of integrity, it's overload." Dowd noted that Trump and the rest of the president's legal team, including Rudy Giuliani and Jay Sekulow, ended up following his advice, by having the president answer questions from Mueller in writing, as opposed to in person. "They never disagreed with me," said Dowd, who resigned last March as Trump's lead lawyer for Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The special counsel also is investigating possible collusion by Trump's campaign in that interference, along with possible obstruction of justice by the president himself. Dowd suggested that if Trump spoke to Mueller's team in person he would be putting himself at risk of the special counsel alleging he made false statements. "Because Flynn, Papadopoulos, Gates," Dowd said, referring to former national security advisor Michael Flynn, and ex-Trump campaign advisors George Papadopoulos and Rick Gates, all of whom have pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators. "I mean, look what Bob's doing, what I call nickel-dime process crimes," Dowd said. "I ran big corruption cases. I didn't go around, picking scabs and just making any case I could make. If there was a petty case, I shifted it to someone else. I didn't do it. And that's where I disagree with Bob." Trump's current legal team in November gave Mueller's office written responses from Trump to questions by the special counsel. The White House, Giuliani and a spokesman for Mueller did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC. The special counsel's office declined to comment. Dowd told ABC Radio that he does not believe that anything will be made public from any eventual report by Mueller about Trump other than a statement that the investigation is concluded. There has been speculation that Mueller will submit a report soon to the Justice Department, and debate over how much or how little of such a report would become public. "I don't think there'll be a report. The rules of the [Justice] department say, no report," Dowd said. "I will be shocked, if anything regarding the president is made public, other than, 'We're done.'" Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing by himself or his campaign. And he has railed against Mueller's probe. When his written answers to Mueller's questions were being submitted, Trump told reporters: "The lawyers have them. The written answers to the witch hunt that's been going on forever." He added: "No collusion, no nothing." GMC's 2020 Sierra Denali HD pickup truck Paul Eisenstein | CNBC Buyers with money to burn can find plenty of upscale products at this week's Chicago Auto Show, the event filling the Windy City's McCormick Place convention center with offerings like the Maserati Levante, BMW 745i and Mercedes-Benz S-Class. But more than a few high-line buyers are looking in places you might not expect like the more plebian Ford stand. Among the mainstream-priced Fusion sedans and Edge utility vehicles, Ford is also showing off the latest version of its Super Duty pickups. That includes the Limited model that, when fully loaded, can nudge up to around $100,000, the first factory pickup to break into six-figure territory. Ford F-150 Ford's F-Series line-up which includes a mix of light to heavy-duty models is the country's best-selling nameplate, with General Motors' Chevrolet Sierra and Fiat Chrysler's Ram pickups close behind. They're also among the industry's most profitable products, according to industry analysts, Ford last month noted that sales of the F-Series offset the automaker's overseas losses during the fourth quarter. While pickups, in general, deliver substantial profit margins, it's the heavy-duty models that really give a lift to the bottom line. Data from J.D. Power and Associates puts the average price at $44,000, though well-loaded models routinely climb to as much as twice that. A Ford Motor Co. F-150 Raptor pick up truck stands on display at the Auto Shanghai 2017 vehicle show in Shanghai, China. Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images Analyst George Peterson, head of AutoPacific, Inc., notes that profits on models like the Ford Super Duty Limited can push "well into five figures." It's no wonder, then, that all three of the domestic manufacturers are putting so much emphasis on the Heavy Duty versions of their full-size pickup lines. That includes all-new 2020 HD models, short for heavy duty, from both GM and Ram, as well as a major update of the Ford models. Bullish on trucks General Motor's GMC brand jumped into the fray last month with an all-new version of its Sierra truck. Sibling Chevy followed last week with the Silverado HD unveiled to the public at the Chicago Auto Show. "We are so bullish about (these) trucks this year (that) we predicted stronger than expected earnings for 2019," GM President Mark Reuss said during a sneak peek presentation for journalists at the Flint, Michigan plant building both Sierra and Silverado HD models. General Motors President Mark Reuss introduces the Chevrolet 2020 Silverado HD pickup truck at the GM Flint Assembly Plant in Flint, Michigan, February 5, 2019. Rebecca Cook | Reuters The Detroit automaker has invested $1.5 billion in the Flint plant in recent years, much of that to boost overall capacity which also includes light and medium-duty trucks by about 25 percent, said factory manager Michael Perez. A war Overall, American buyers purchased 2.7 million full-size pickups last year. Heavy-duty versions accounted for 660,000 of those, according to data from IHS Markit. That was down a little less than 3 percent from 2017, in part due to the phase-out of outgoing models. The research firm anticipates sales will get off to a slow start this year due to factory changeovers but then gain momentum as production picks up. It forecasts sales of around 656,000 for all of 2019. The problem is that GM isn't the only HD truck maker looking to increase its sales. And that, said analyst Peterson, is triggering "a war" for market dominance. The challenge for manufacturers is figuring out what buyers want. That's not as easy as it might seem, as the average heavy-duty buyer has changed over the past several decades. Where they once were largely made up of commercial users contractors, delivery services and builders, for example non-commercial buyers now make up two-thirds of the market, according to Duncan Aldred, the vice president of the GMC brand. 2019 GMC Sierra SLT truck is unveiled during an event at Russell Industrial Complex in Detroit, Michigan, on Thursday, March 1, 2018. Jeff Kowalsky | Bloomberg | Getty Images Towing is priority Yet, these buyers all appear to have several things in common. They want their trucks to look bold and aggressive but the "absolute, number one priority is towing," said Jaclyn McQuaid, the chief engineer for both of GM's HD models. The 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 3500 HD version, equipped with a diesel V-8, has a maximum towing capacity of 35,500 pounds, a 52 percent increase from the outgoing model. At its own preview of the Sierra Denali HD last month, GMC unveiled the truck at the San Diego waterfront where the dually, outfitted with a diesel engine, pulled a yacht and life boat weighing 225,000 pounds. Officials said they made no modifications to the truck other than to the tow hitch itself. Fiat Chrysler's new HD line adds an updated Cummins diesel engine that is the first ever to top 1,000 pound-feet of torque. It only narrowly falls short of the GM HD models when it comes to a towing capacity of 35,100 pounds. But it also can haul 6,570 pounds of cargo in its bed. Upscale accoutrements While function wins out over form, HD buyers do have some things in common with buyers of light-duty trucks and, indeed, luxury car buyers. They're increasingly interested in upscale accoutrements, such as the heated, cooled and massaging leather seats found in the Ford Super Duty Limited. A Ford Motor Co. F-150 Raptor pick up truck stands on display at the Auto Shanghai 2017 vehicle show in Shanghai, China. Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images While GM isn't pushing quite as far up-market as Ford, it is adding new, high-line versions of its HD trucks, including the Silverado High Country, and the GMC Sierra Denali. The carmaker has not yet revealed pricing, but Chevy's High Country is expected to top out somewhere in the $80,000 range, a source at the division told CNBC, while the Sierra Denali should come even closer to the Ford Limited. Heavy duty buyers also want more technology, including better infotainment systems. But, again, the focus is on functionality. The Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra both add new camera systems for 2020 that help a driver get a better view of the world around the vehicle. Among up to 15 different possible views, the Transparent Trailer feature lets the driver see the road behind a boat or RV as if it were invisible. The 2019 Ram Heavy Duty pickup truck unveiled at the Detroit auto show on Monday, Jan. 14, 2019. Mack Hogan/CNBC High tech adds Ford is countering with its Pro Trailer Backup Assist system. It also uses a camera to let the driver see behind the truck, but it adds a small dial on the instrument panel that can be used to point where the trailer has to go. Then the Super Duty will steer itself into the correct spot, such as a boat ramp or loading dock. "The manufacturers are getting good at taking their tech from their pass(enger) car segments and applying to the HD truck segment, but not doing it in a gimmicky way," said IHS principle auto analyst Stephanie Brinley. It shows they truly know these customers." How much these updates will matter is uncertain, Brinley said. "It's a segment that's extremely brand loyal," though she added that "The best way to win over buyers is with new features." Halo trucks Beyond shoring up the bottom line of their respective manufacturers, these HD trucks serve another purpose: putting a halo around their individual brands, especially the light-duty trucks they offer. And that has proven critical. A 2019 Toyota Motor Corp. Tundra TRD Pro pickup truck sits on display during the Chicago Auto Show in Chicago. Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images The pickup market is now the only place where Detroit's so-called Big Three can still claim dominance, outselling their two import rivals by over to-to-one last year. Ford alone sold 909,330 full-size pickups in the U.S. in 2018, while Toyota moved just 118,258 of its Tundra trucks. Nissan's Titan lagged even further behind, with sales of just 50,459. Nissan does sell a medium-duty version of the Titan, but it's barely an asterisk on the sales charts. Neither import offers a heavy-duty model. And that's the way Detroit's automakers hope it will stay. Without pressure from the imports they can maintain hefty prices and the big margins that keep their balance sheets in the black. Iran is funding militias throughout the Middle East while turning its own people into paupers, Saudi Arabian Prince Turki Al-Faisal told CNBC Tuesday. "I've described Iran in the past, and I think the description still fits, the leadership in Iran has developed into a paper tiger with steel claws," he told CNBC Tuesday. "The 'steel claws' are the militias that they have established throughout the Middle East, whether it's Hezbollah (in Lebanon) or the Houthis (in Yemen) or the al-Abbas (a Shia militant group in Syria) or the various militias operating in Iraq and Syria whose main purpose is to further Iran's influence and its domination of the areas in the Middle East," he said, speaking to CNBC's Hadley Gamble at the Milken Institute summit in Abu Dhabi. Iran and Saudi Arabia are rival religious and political powers in the Middle East. Relations between the Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia and Shia-dominated Iran have hit rock-bottom in recent years with civil wars in Yemen, Syria and Iraq seen as proxy battlegrounds between the two countries. Iranian support for the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon and even, sporadically, to the Taliban in Afghanistan, in the form of weaponry and military training, has also made Iran a pariah on the global stage. Economic tailspin A sluggish economy, made worse by re-imposed U.S. sanctions, and rising food prices have also fueled civil unrest and demonstrations against the government. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said last month that Iran was facing its toughest economic situation "in 40 years." The International Monetary Fund has predicted the country's growth contracted by 1.5 percent in 2018 and will slump by 3.6 percent in 2019. Al-Faisal likened Iran to a "paper tiger" because he said poverty and protest were rising in the country with a "dysfunctional" government. He said he didn't know whether there would be regime change in Iran but hoped U.S. sanctions would change the leadership's conduct. Win McNamee | Getty Images "I think it would be premature to try to predict anything of that sort but ... they're (the Iranian administration) is turning its people into paupers instead of providing them with health services, with food and with things people look forward to ... I hope with President (Donald) Trump's sanctions we're going to see a change in the conduct in the leadership in Iran. The Iranian people are the first victims of this leadership." Ahead of the Trump administration's re-imposition of sanctions last fall, hundreds rallied to demonstrate against hyperinflation caused by the anticipated restrictions and economic mismanagement on the part of the regime. Demonstrators in some towns attempted to set fire to buildings, with scores detained and reports of at least one person killed. Censorship in the Islamic Republic, however, makes it hard to verify the actual size of demonstrations. But while some in the Trump administration have alluded to regime change as an aim of the punitive sanctions, the domestic fallout is unlikely to shake the government's hold on power, Iran experts say. Iranian security forces are powerful and highly loyal to the government. Amid national celebrations of the 40th anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution, officials in Tehran have issued public statements insisting that sanctions will not hinder the country's progress. In January, European countries established a trade mechanism to facilitate non-dollar transactions with Iran and effectively skirt the U.S. restrictions, though its success is uncertain. Middle East arms race? A gas tank and shipping containers obstructing passage to Venezeula are seen on the Tienditas International Bridge in an aerial photograph taken over Cucuta, Colombia, on Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019. Ivan Valencia | Bloomberg via Getty Images Venezuela's opposition supporters will take to the streets for nationwide anti-government protests on Tuesday, ratcheting up the pressure on embattled President Nicolas Maduro. It comes at a time when tensions in Venezuela are reaching boiling point, with the South American country in the midst of the Western Hemisphere's worst humanitarian crisis in recent memory. The anti-government demonstration, organized by opposition leader Juan Guaido, takes place on Youth Day in Venezuela. The day commemorates young people who fought and died in the Battle of La Victoria in 1814 during Venezuela's war for independence. It is widely recognized as a day to recognize the role that the youth play in shaping the country's economic and social future. A boy waves a Venezuelan national flag, as supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro gather at Bolivar square in Caracas to take part in a signature campaign to urge the United States' to put a halt to intervention threats against Maduro's government, on February 6, 2019. YURI CORTEZ | AFP | Getty Images Millions of students are reportedly expected to mobilize as part of a broader movement to protest the country's government. Diego Moya-Ocampos, principal political analyst for Latin America at IHS Markit, told CNBC via telephone on Tuesday that the Youth Day demonstration is unique for one overarching reason: "humanitarian aid." "This new wave of street protests is taking place at the same time as humanitarian aid is being placed on border areas while Maduro is blocking it," Moya-Ocampos said. "It could force a rupture of the armed forces loyal to Maduro because it puts the dilemma of what to do with food and medicine on them. What we have to watch out for is whether the military continues to block humanitarian aid or splits to let some through," he added. Supplies stockpile at the border Late last week, Venezuela's armed forces barricaded a bridge on the country's Western border with Colombia, in a dramatic attempt to prevent a delivery of food and medicine. Guaido had said previously the National Assembly was preparing to deliver tens of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to help with a devastating shortage of basic products. Supplies donated by the U.S. and others have been stockpiled in warehouses near the border in recent days. Juan Guaido, President of Venezuela's National Assembly, reacts during a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government and to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the end of the dictatorship of Marcos Perez Jimenez in Caracas, Venezuela January 23, 2019. Carlos Garcia Rawlins | Reuters However, only a limited amount of emergency supplies has made it into the country thus far. The opposition's proposed move is widely seen as an attempt to undermine Maduro's authority. And major international relief organizations have said they are reluctant to assist with a delivery effort of humanitarian supplies, fearing the situation has become too political sensitive. It has made getting basic products into Venezuela, past Maduro's allied security forces and to those that need it most, extremely challenging. Guaido tweeted a picture of himself surrounded by stacks of white pots of vitamin and nutritional supplements on Monday. He claimed his team had successfully delivered the first cargo of humanitarian aid, but did not explain where it came from. Tweet 1 "If Maduro can block humanitarian aid from coming into the country and keep the loyalty of security forces then he will move to shut down the National Assembly and put Guaido into jail or force him into exile," IHS' Moya-Ocampos said. Uncharted territory Online platforms including Google, Facebook and Apple should be regulated in how they distribute news content, according to a new U.K. government report. The report, published Tuesday, said a state regulator should ensure tech firms are taking steps to help users identify trustworthy, reliable news on their platforms. It said the regulator would require companies like Facebook and Google to build on initiatives they have already established to weed out fake content. "This task is too important to leave entirely to the judgment of commercial entities," the report said. Online sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have been under fire for allowing fake content to spread on their platforms. The companies have been investing in security measures to eliminate false accounts and misinformation, but the U.K. government report said these efforts should be enforced by a government agency. It also said they should sign a "code of conduct" to govern their commercial agreements with publishers. "The experience of the last decade has shown that it is perfectly possible for social media platforms to be immensely profitable while simultaneously carrying a large quantity of fake news," it said. Google will invest even more in sales for its cloud business, said its new chief, former Oracle executive Thomas Kurian, in his first appearance in his new role on Tuesday. "You will see us accelerate the growth even faster than we have to date," Kurian said at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco. Previously, he said, Google nearly quadrupled its sales and distribution functions. The comments come as Google looks to challenge the cloud market leaders, Amazon and Microsoft. "We are hiring some of the best talent from around the industry to grow our sales organization, and you will see us competing much more aggressively as we go forward," said Kurian, who in September left Oracle as its president of product development and in November was named as the new Google Cloud CEO to replace Diane Greene. At Oracle Kurian was in charge of a 35,000-person team focused on software development across 32 countries, according to his LinkedIn profile. Now he's in charge of Google's overall cloud business, including the Google Cloud Platform public cloud and the G Suite productivity apps for business. At the conference, Kurian highlighted several products and pointed to several Google cloud customers using those products, including BNP Paribas, the city of Los Angeles, Home Depot, KeyBank and Telegraph Media Group. Now the company will focus more on individual industries like financial services and work more with channel partners, Kurian said. The company is also introducing a Cloud For Life program to keep existing customers and bring in new ones. "I talked to some of largest companies and said, 'Why did you choose Google?' And uniformly, the feedback I got is, 'By far the best technology in the market, the technology is amazing, I've never seen anything like it.' This is what I heard over and over again," Kurian said. It's not clear how much revenue comes from each half. "In terms of growth, cloud does continue to deliver sizable revenue growth, driven by GCP; and GCP does remain one of the fastest growing businesses across Alphabet," Alphabet's chief financial officer, Ruth Porat, said on the company's fourth-quarter earnings call. "We've doubled the number of GCP contracts greater than $1 million. We're also seeing early nice uptick in the number of deals that are greater than $100 million and really pleased with the success and penetration there." But unlike market leader Amazon, Google hasn't specified exactly how much revenue it gets each quarter -- just that it gets more than $1 billion per quarter, between the public cloud and the cloud apps, combined. Amazon's cloud revenue was $7.43 billion last quarter, the company reported. In a question-and-answer session, one person asked for a financial update, and Kurian declined to elaborate. He said that Porat and Google CEO Sundar Pichai will disclose more "if they choose to." WATCH: Google Cloud CEO Greene being replaced by Oracle exec Thomas Kurian Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, speaking at the New York Economic Club on Nov. 181128. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the U.S. economy looks strong, but the central bank is continuing to find ways to fight poverty. Speaking on Tuesday in Mississippi, Powell said the central bank is looking at a number of ways to help rural communities, with a particular focus on banking and finance for areas of need. "Today, data at the national level show a strong economy. Unemployment is near a half-century low, and economic output is growing at a solid pace. But we know that prosperity has not been felt as much in some areas, including many rural places," he said in remarks to the Hope Enterprise Corporation Rural Policy Forum in Itta Bena. As he has in the recent past, the Fed chair focused on the importance of getting more Americans involved in the working population. His remarks did not touch on monetary policy. The U.S. labor force participation rate is at 63.2 percent currently, about half a percentage point above where it was at the beginning of 2019, but lags behind most other industrialized countries. The nation ranked 101st in the world in that category, according to 2018 World Bank statistics. Distributors have come under fire for their role in the opioid crisis. McKesson and Cardinal Health are the subject of numerous lawsuits alleging they flooded communities with opioids. Specifically, the FDA is accusing McKesson of failing to identify, quarantine and investigate drug shipments that had been tampered with. Some of the bad shipments were discovered at three Rite Aid pharmacies in Michigan. This is the first time the FDA has issued a warning letter under the 2013 Drug Supply Chain Security Act. The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it has sent a warning letter to drug distributor McKessson for allegedly shipping "illegitimate" opioid products and failing to properly handle and investigate the incidents. "A distributor's failure to have systems in place to investigate and quarantine suspect and illegitimate products within their control is a violation of the law. But this is even more concerning given that we're in the midst of a widespread opioid crisis," FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement. The warning letter was dated Feb. 7. McKesson in a statement said it takes this situation "very seriously." "We have been in communication with the FDA over the past several months to respond to their questions and we are in the process of providing additional procedural detail and documentation, including enhancements recently made in response to the FDA's initial feedback," the company said in a statement Tuesday. "We are committed to the security of the supply chain and are taking steps to help ensure we comply fully with FDA's track-and-trace laws for all pharmaceutical products." In its warning letter, the FDA cited three examples where McKesson shipped prescription drugs that were supposed to be opioids and pharmacies discovered the opioid pills were removed and replaced with other products. "This is simply unacceptable," Gottlieb said. In September and October 2016, three Rite Aid pharmacies in Michigan reported receiving bottles oxycodone hydrochloride that were instead filled with naproxen and in one case, a combination of naproxen and ciprofloxacin hydrochloride, the FDA said. Though McKesson investigated the incidents, the FDA said the company did not demonstrate that it identified all illegitimate products and notified its other customers who might have received products from the same batch. In December 2016, Albertsons pharmacy submitted illegitimate product notifications for divalproex and losartan potassium and hydrochlorothiazide it received from McKesson because the packages allegedly did not contain lot numbers or expiration dates, the agency said. The FDA also said in June 2016, drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline notified McKesson that a pharmacy reported receiving two sealed bottles of a product labeled as Triumeq that actually contained gemfibrozil. In this case, McKesson was unable to provide records showing it identified illegitimate product or other requirements, the FDA said. Warning letters serve as the first step in any regulatory action the FDA may take against a company. The FDA floated taking possible legal action, including seeking an injunction. McKesson has 15 days from the time it receives the letter to outline the steps it has taken to correct the violations flagged by the FDA and to identify and conduct investigations related to other reports of suspicious or illegitimate shipments. Correction: This story was revised to correct that it's the first time the FDA has issued a warning letter under the 2013 Drug Supply Chain Security Act. WATCH: U.S. life expectancy drops as opioid deaths and suicide rates rise The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed provisionally up by around 0.5 percent, with most sectors in positive territory. Auto stocks led the gains on the back of earnings and optimism over U.S.-China trade talks. Michelin was the top performing stock across Europe, up by 13 percent, after giving a strong outlook for 2019. Randstad rose 4.7 percent after reporting its fourth-quarter results which beat market expectations. The Dutch staffing firm said the slowdown in some European markets at the end of last year had not carried over into 2019. Meanwhile, British travel and tourism firm Tui dropped over 6 percent after reporting a widening loss for its first quarter. Stateside, stocks surged at the open following news that lawmakers reached a tentative funding deal that would avoid another U.S. government shutdown. Overall the positive market sentiment was linked to trade talks between the United States and China. Both countries continue to discuss a possible agreement over trade ahead of a self-imposed deadline in early March. This week's talks are focused on intellectual property. In Europe, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May updated lawmakers on the latest Brexit developments on Tuesday. May said she needed some time to complete the process with the EU but that lawmakers will be able to vote on the Brexit process by February 26. The EU's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said Monday that time is running out to find a compromise over the Irish backstop. The U.K. remains scheduled to leave the EU on March 29. Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris will not invest in Saudi Arabia as he says he does not believe there's rule of law in the country, and has some concerns about human rights there. Asked by CNBC's Hadley Gamble if he would invest in the kingdom, Sawiris said: "No, I would not." "Personally, I can invest anywhere in the world, why would I go somewhere where I am not convinced there is a rule of law and order. And that there is real democracy, and that people are free," Sawiris said Tuesday at the MENA Summit 2019 in Abu Dhabi organized by the Milken Institute. Saudi Arabia has been under intense scrutiny in recent months, especially after the high-profile killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared last October after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The Saudi journalist, who also wrote for the Washington Post, was a prominent critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Turkish officials said he was killed by Saudi agents, but Riyadh denies those allegations. After more than two weeks of denying that he was kidnapped and murdered, Saudi authorities finally admitted he was killed inside the consulate. Khashoggi's death prompted the U.S. Treasury to impose economic sanctions on 17 Saudi officials, including the crown prince's former top aide Saud al-Qahtani, who was fired as a result of the investigations. "I think it goes together political stability and economic stability, they go together. And also, you need to be somewhere you are comfortable," Sawiris said, adding that Riyadh needs to "come straight on human rights." The kingdom of 33 million has seen steady drops in foreign direct investment flows over the last decade, something it needs for its ambitious Vision 2030 initiative to diversify the country's economy and grow private sector jobs. Obstacles remain in the form of skills shortages, lower oil prices and rising unemployment in the kingdom. An Egyptian youth walks past a polling station in the capital Cairo's western Giza district on March 25, 2018 ahead of the vote scheduled to begin the following day, decorated on the outside with giant privately-sponsored electoral posters depicting incumbent President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and giant pieces of cloth stacked together to show the colors of the Egyptian flag. Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is likely to win constitutional changes allowing him to dramatically extend his tenure in power just over a year after telling CNBC that he would never pursue such a thing. Discussing the political developments while at the Milken Summit in Abu Dhabi Tuesday, Egyptian billionaire businessman Naguib Sawiris told CNBC's Hadley Gamble that he expected the controversial move would be pushed through. Asked whether he believed it was the right or wrong step for Egypt, the country's second-richest man simply replied, "We'll see." Egyptian lawmakers are pushing ahead for a change to the country's constitution that would enable Sisi to stay in power until 2034. Currently, the former armed forces chief is due to stand down after completing two four-year terms in 2022. Just last week, a parliamentary committee in Cairo approved proposed constitutional amendments that would increase presidential terms from four to six years and essentially reset the clock, allowing Sisi two additional terms. In an exclusive interview with CNBC in November 2017, Sisi said he was committed to the limits set out by the current constitution. "I am with preserving two four-year terms and not to change it ... I am not for any amendments to be made to the constitution in this period," Sisi told CNBC. "The constitution grants the right of the parliament and the president to request amendments. I am talking about the four-year terms. We will not interfere with it." Below is the transcript of a CNBC interview with Saudi Arabian Prince Turki Al-Faisal. The interview was first broadcast on CNBC's Capital Connection on 12 February 2019. HADLEY GAMBLE (HADLEY): I'm with PRINCE AL FAISAL. Thank you so much for joining us. PRINCE AL FAISAL It's always a pleasure. HADLEY: I want to follow on that because there are still a lot of questions in spite of the fact that you have enormous interest in getting involved in Vision 2030. There have been a lot of bad headlines over the last year for the kingdom and there are investors who were saying like Mr Sawiris that they're not ready to get inside the kingdom yet. They're not ready to put their money inside them yet because there hasn't been in their minds enough accountability. What's your take? PRINCE AL FAISAL: I think they are mistaken. The kingdom has come a long way in providing the right atmosphere for people to invest in the country not just on issues of accountability but also on issues of transparency, on issues of rule of law, the fact that we are members of the World Trade Organization. We're bound by these issues to make life easier for investors. And Mr Sawiris is missing a great opportunity that others have already come and put their money in the Kingdom. In the past year or two I think there have been an increase in the Foreign Investment in the kingdom rather than a decrease in spite of the negative media hype that we've seen around the world and that is because the kingdom has a solid foundation of all of these things that I mentioned. HADLEY: In terms of what happens next there, there have been a lot of questions not just about the death of Jamal Khashoggi but also of but also of course about what happened at the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh when we had the crackdown just several months ago now. And also of course what happened with Saad Hariri. There are questions about leadership. Now I know you're no longer in government but you are a member of the royal family. What can we expect to see coming from Saudi Arabia in the next year. Because there has been a bit of tunnel vision there . PRINCE AL FAISAL: When you know as I said the accountability and transparency is a growing industry in Saudi Arabia. It's not diminishing, it's increasing. And on the issue of the Ritz Carlton affair, in the kingdom that was a very welcome step because it showed the people that the government was concerned about corruption. And it brought in the high and not so high for questioning for accounting for their actions and literally reach accommodations with some of them and some of them I think have been transferred to the courts etc. so that's a sign of accountability. HADLEY: Your Royal Highness, I'm going to have to toss to the break. But we're going to have you back in just two minutes we'll be back in two on Capital Connection with His Royal Highness. HADLEY: Welcome back to Capital Connection. We are live at the Milken Institute MENA Summit. I'm joined once again by His Royal Highness Turki Al Faisal. We were just saying how many strides the country has made frankly since all of the negative headlines that we've been seeing over the last month talking about investment, talking about the fact that you feel that investors like Sawiris are missing out on opportunities in the kingdom. But I want to take a step back here and ask you about more broadly what's happening in the region itself. We've seen heightened rhetoric again and again coming from Iran who said that they won't listen to anyone if they decide to develop ballistic missiles themselves. There have been reports that Saudi Arabia is developing missiles at sites in the desert. Do you think that this is going a bridge too far? PRINCE AL FAISAL: I don't know about these news because I have not seen any official comment on them. So I can't really comment on whether missiles are being developed but I've described Iran in the past and I think that description still fits. The leadership in Iran has developed into a paper tiger with steel claws, the steel claws are the militias that they have established throughout the Middle East whether it is Hezbollah or the Houthi or the al-Abbas or the various militias operating in Iraq and Syria whose main purpose is to further Iran's influence and its domination over the areas in the Middle East. And it's a paper tiger because look what's happening in Iran. There are bread lines. There are demonstrations, spontaneous demonstrations in all of the cities in Iran. We've seen huge protests that have taken place with people chanting why are we helping Syria why are we helping Lebanon. Let us concentrate on Iran. It is that kind of government it is a dysfunctional government. HADLEY: Do you think that we are close to seeing a regime change in the country? PRINCE AL FAISAL: I don't know. I think it would be premature to try to predict anything of that sort. But definitely listen to Rouhani he's saying that Iran has never faced such a difficult economic situation as now and their currency is in the pits. So that is the administrative capacity of the leadership in Iran that they are turning their people into paupers instead of providing them with health services, with food, with all of the things that people look forward to. So I hope that with Mr. Trump's sanctions against Iran we're going to see a change of the of the conduct of the leadership of Iran. The Iranian people are the first victims of this leadership. HADLEY: When you take a step back and look at what you've seen over the last 10 to 15 years coming from the United States in terms of their foreign policy what's happening in Afghanistan with the withdrawal of troops. What's happening in Syria as well. Is the United States getting it right in the Middle East? PRINCE AL FAISAL: Unfortunately I think the U.S. has made wrong decisions when they invaded Iraq for example. I think that was the wrong decision. And I remember at the time I was ambassador in the U.K. and I was interviewed about that situation. I said I hope that the U.S. will not be as precipitous in leaving Iraq as it was in getting into Iraq. Unfortunately the Bush administration and then the Obama administration and now we see Mr. Trump taking out American influence and troops from Iraq, Syria is the same. I think it is wrong especially at this juncture when we see other ambitious and if you like malevolent forces trying to take advantage of that particularly Iran. HADLEY: And what about Turkey? PRINCE AL FAISAL: Turkey. You know it's a big puzzle to me. What Turkey wants. They seem to have a very confused policy in our part of the world. Initially, if you remember when events erupted in Syria and so on they were very much into helping the Syrian people overcome the difficulty of the Assad regime. Now we see Turkey aligning itself with Iran which is the major supporter of Assad and joining with them in a common activity in Syria. For me it is not clear what the Turks want and I wish they would be more amenable to clarifying where they stand on these issues. HADLEY: What do you say to those particularly in Europe who condemn Saudi Arabia's involvement in Yemen? PRINCE AL FAISAL: Well I think they're again misinformed and misguided in that the kingdom is in Yemen because the legitimate Yemeni government asked for help against the Houthi who tried to takeover militarily in Yemen. The kingdom's action was supported by a coalition of countries not just from the Middle East but from around the world. And that action was further supported by United Nations Security Council resolution 2216 under Chapter 7, which allows for military support to go to the legitimate government. The war in Yemen was started by the Houthis not by Saudi Arabia and the humanitarian aspects of that war are influenced by what the Houthis are doing. They are denying access for example to the grain silos in Hodeidah port that could be used to help the starving people of Yemen. And the kingdom is providing the largest amount of humanitarian aid to the people of Yemen. HADLEY: Your Royal Highness, my final question would have to be about the challenges you see on the horizon more globally. I understand that there are problems continuing here in the region. There are questions about leadership in the United States a lot of polarization, and also of course. You were former head of intelligence. You understand that AI and technology is making us even more vulnerable. What do you see as the challenge facing us? PRINCE AL FAISAL: The challenge is in providing a future for young people in the area and I think in many parts of the world people under the age of 30 make up huge segments of the population and to be able to meet the challenges of peace and prosperity, these young people have to find jobs. And it's not just in our part of the world but if you look at Africa if you look at Latin America if you look at even some parts of Europe itself, the issue of employment is an important issue. HADLEY: Employment, inequality. PRINCE AL FAISAL: I think education and acquisition of skills they are the tools by which we can meet that challenge. Hadley: Your Highness thanks so much for joining CNBC PRINCE AL FAISAL: Thank you Ms Gamble. ENDS About CNBC CNBC is the leading global broadcaster of live business and financial news and information, reporting directly from the major financial markets around the globe with regional headquarters Singapore, Abu Dhabi, London, and New York. The TV channel is available in more than 410 million homes worldwide. CNBC.com is the preeminent financial news source on the web, featuring an unprecedented amount of video, real-time market analysis, web-exclusive live video and analytical financial tools. CNBC is a division of NBCUniversal. For more information, visit www.cnbc.com Below is the transcript of a CNBC interview with Egyptian billionaire, Naguib Sawiris and CNBC's Hadley Gamble. The interview was first broadcast on CNBC's Capital Connection on 12 February 2019. HADLEY: Thank you so much for joining us First on CNBC from Milken. My first question to you: Take a step back where we were just several months ago you were talking to me about your prospects in terms of investing in gold. Have you been proven right? NAGUIB: I think not. Not as much as I would love to see. I think now we're seeing a comeback for gold. I had predicted that at the beginning of the year and I explained the reasons why you know. And most of these reasons are happening now including a shortage in supply. So we're seeing a nice rise and going above the fifteen hundred buried which was a psychological barrier you know. And my prediction that before the end of the year will reached fourteen hundred. That's my prediction you know but even at this level now you've seen a lot of consolidation going on. People understand that it's a good place to be safe. You know just as I said so. I'm still very optimistic even for further upside. HADLEY: And when you talk about that safety certainly what's happening with the U.S. China trade spat that is impacting markets. Worries about Chinese growth as well impacting prices. What are some of the challenges you see on the horizon this year for markets? NAGUIB: I think it's the political situation in the whole world has never been worse. We have tons of autocratic leaders where everybody with an ambition to build an empire. We want a Russian empire a Chinese empire a Turkish Empire you know. HADLEY: But that's something that's not new in the Middle East. NAGUIB: And then we have your President putting spies on everything. Go back to Twitter.So I think the environment really has never been worse than that you know people expect wars if we don't come to a trade war or a war because we have also China meddling in the Chinese sea with Taiwan and we don't know of North Korea would come to terms. And you have the Middle East still in disarray. You know we are still on the way. Iraq. So everywhere is just not like a very stable world today. HADLEY: And when you look at what's happening between the U.S. and China specifically there have been a lot questions about Huawei and whether or not people should be using their technology. You of course hold a telecom license in North Korea. What's your take on that? NAGUIB: I think there is a genuine concern. And I think it's justified. So it's actually taking us very long to. I mean you know telecom was my domain to get worried. I think that they should be worried. I now I don't know how we remedy that because that will apply to everyone. If I were Chinese. I might not take any equipment from Motorola for example so nobody knows what's going to go on you know. And there has to be. It will only be resolved as all the security agencies somehow swear on the Bible that they will not be spying on each other which I doubt they'd do. And if they do, who was going to believe them. So it's a serious situation. I don't know what is going to happen. HADLEY: When we last spoke you were optimistic cautiously optimistic about the potential for President Trump and leader of North Korea to come to the table and.. NAGUIB: I'm still optimistic because. You know I work in North Korea and I understand the mentality very well and I think a President Trump is doing the right steps now and talking. I mean it's all about talking you know because when you talk to someone, 0you have to hear his point of view. He's right it's something you need to give him comfort about once President Trump does that give some comfort that. It's give and take you know it's not just give. I think we will see some good news. HADLEY: Do you think that there will be results after this. Because obviously there are a lot of concerns in the United States certainly Congress as well about whether or not anything is going to really come out of these conversations. Will they come to the table? NAGUIB: I'll explain again to you what I said before because it's important. People don't like to be threatened or bullied. And you know me personally if you do that with me oh my god. As my meeting and discussion will resolve it because that's [what] the leader in North Korea [whether] he is right or wrong, he wants respect. And once he gets that, he will abandon these weapons are no good for anyone including his own people because if there's a war then everybody will pay the price you know. So I'm optimistic here because you know many times they have actually dissolved that weapons and you know blew up their nuclear facilities. Some of it you know. So I think they want to show that they're willing to come to a resolution in exchange for prosperity, commitments not to invade them in regime change all that. HADLEY: When you look at this China U.S. conversation more broadly of concern that there isn't much progress being made in terms of coming to a deal. Where do you think we're headed? NAGUIB: Because China was again this you know again President Trump is right about that has been a long time where we we closed eyes on China ripping us. So by the time you come and tell me you need to change I mean it used to be so comfortable and do whatever they want. And I would tell them we need to change. But I think their leadership is smart. So they will change what they can change. You tell them you need to change your whole system. They won't be doing that. So we need to see what we can get without disrupting their system because everybody is happy with this system. I think there's lots of things they can do so they import a lot of things they should import to make a balance between both. Tariffs work both ways. I think they've come to a conclusion too. China has more ambition than to start now another aggravation HADLEY: I'm joined once again by Naguib Sawiris. Naguib, I have to ask you just a year or so ago I sat with President Sisi. I asked him whether or not he would be willing to extend his term he said he would do whatever it is that the constitution demanded whatever the Egyptian people demanded. Do you think that we're going to see a change to the Constitution in terms of his term limits? NAGUIB: Yes I think so. HADLEY: And that's pretty controversial isn't it? NAGUIB: It is. HADLEY: And is it the right decision or the wrong decision? NAGUIB: We'll see HADLEY: When you take a step back and look at the progress Egypt has made in terms of the economy where do you think they're getting it right and getting it wrong? NAGUIB: Well they're getting it right that they were not stubborn and they executed all the demands of the IMF because this was for the good. They were right with the foreign currency policy. So we have maintained a higher reserve and stability in the exchange. Right now trying to privatize many of the public sector entities while it's not done in the way I believe it's the best way which is like full privatization. But it's a step in the right direction. They are not right when they increase government competition against the private sector which is happening right now HADLEY: This is a result of the military or? NAGUIB: Both. Look I mean but it's also the government investing and building new or being a developer instead of leaving private sector to be to developer. The army also has a lot of activity so in that respect I don't think this is good for their private sector. In their defense maybe investing in the infrastructure and roads and bridges and so on like electricity has been very good. It has also stimulated the economy because maybe they think the private sector is hesitating which is not we're just looking for opportunities. So they were right in a lot of things. And this one I don't think you are right about when they compete with the private sector. HADLEY: And when you look at what's happening today in the region Saudi Arabia there was a lot of positivity going in to the announcement of Vision 2030. A lot of positivity behind his Royal Highness. The Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. And over the last year obviously the bloom has faded from the rose. There are a lot of investors at this conference looking for some kind of accountability from the government whether it be on the conviction of people surrounding the death of Jamal Khashoggi or what exactly happened at the Riyadh Ritz Carlton. There are a lot of concerns about people investing would you invest inside Saudi Arabia? NAGUID: No. I would not. HADLEY: Why? NAGUIB: For all the reasons you say. HADLEY: Do you think that they are missing the boat in terms of what they could be doing? NAGUIB: Well I think first of all we hear stories about people being repressed you know. HADLEY: But you also have that in Egypt. NAGUIB: Yes. Doesn't make it right you know. So personally I can invest anywhere in the world and why would I go somewhere where I'm not convinced that there is a rule of law and order you know and that there is a real democracy and that people are free. I think. It goes with the political stability and economic stability they go together. And also you need to be somewhere where you are comfortable. I encourage what His Royal Highness has done in terms of women liberalization, in terms of allowing music and singing and young people to have a normal life like everywhere in the world. Not this. Excessive fundamentalist ideas that they used to have. I encourage also his vision for the economy but he needs to come straight on human rights and all the other stuff. HADLEY: OK finally question Europe you've been a big proponent of investing in Italy in the past that government is questionable to many investors these days particularly with what they're doing with regards to the French protests getting involved in other countries affairs. What's your take on the Italian government today? NAGUIB: I have to be honest I'm very biased to Italy. I love Italy. I love Rome. I think I'm the single largest investor as an individual in Italy. I'm still very big in the Internet era. And I still want to invest in Italy. Actually when they announced that they going to sell some assets you know I'm quite interested. I'm going to write to the prime minister and try to see him. And I would always still invest. Even though they have a populist government because the government still realizes without investment without foreign investment without being reasonable they won't solve their economic problems. You know that they are not fully complying with the European Union requirements and so on. So they need people like us so who is better than someone who loves Italy. ENDS About CNBC CNBC is the leading global broadcaster of live business and financial news and information, reporting directly from the major financial markets around the globe with regional headquarters Singapore, Abu Dhabi, London, and New York. The TV channel is available in more than 410 million homes worldwide. CNBC.com is the preeminent financial news source on the web, featuring an unprecedented amount of video, real-time market analysis, web-exclusive live video and analytical financial tools. CNBC is a division of NBCUniversal. For more information, visit www.cnbc.com WHEN: Today, Tuesday, February 12, 2019 WHERE: CNBC's "Squawk Alley" Live from the IBM Think Conference 2019 in San Francisco, CA The following is the unofficial transcript of a CNBC EXCLUSIVE interview with IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and CNBC's Jon Fortt on CNBC's "Squawk Alley" (M-F 11AM 12PM) today, Tuesday, February 12th. The following is a link to video from the interview on CNBC.com: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/02/12/watch-cnbcs-full-interview-with-ibm-chairman-and-ceo-ginni-rometty.html. All references must be sourced to CNBC. JON FORTT: Carl, thanks. Yes, I'm here at the IBM Think Conference. 26,000 attendees. Lots of focus on the cloud, hybrid cloud. IBM CEO, Ginni Rometty. Thanks for having us. GINNI ROMETTY: Thank you for coming. JON FORTT: Two pieces of news to break here. One on Watson. GINNI ROMETTY: Yes. JON FORTT: Watson Anywhere now. You'll be able to run Watson in Amazon's cloud, in Microsoft's Cloud, as well as in IBM's cloud. Why do this? And kind of percentage wise, how much do you think it can grow the cognitive solutions group? GINNI ROMETTY: Yeah. So look, there's more than two big pieces of news at this conference. As you said, 26,000 people, 2,000 business sessions here. And what Watson Anywhere is about, it's really demand of clients, and it's got to do with data. You know, we talk about how much data everyone has, and where is the data? And do you have to protect it? Do you want to move it? And so this is really in response to that. And so it says, Watson can run on your premise -- you didn't mention that -- on your premise, it can run in any cloud, and it can connect between them. And so that's really what clients are asking for. They may say, 'You know what, I want to train Watson with my own data on my Prem, and then I will run it on a cloud somewhere else,' or 'I want to experiment somewhere, but then when it comes to production, my trading algorithms, I want to run it here.' And so it has to do with both size, location, protection of data, and then the ability to run anywhere. And the run anywhere comes, you say 'Why now?' We actually -- we had to do a lot of work around the IBM Cloud Private which is what Watson runs on. That's Kuberentes-based, it is container based, which has everything to do with our hybrid position. As you know, Red hat is coming up. And so this allows it to move anywhere out there. So this will be a big growth JON FORTT: How much does this grow the Watson GINNI ROMETTY: This is a big piece, not just of Watson, a big piece of hybrid cloud. Which, you've heard me say, we think that's a trillion dollar market and we'll be number one in it. So that gives you a good feeling. JON FORTT: You're announcing this cloud integration platform, hitting on that same theme you were just talking on. And we've heard it from other companies, too. Businesses are demanding to be able to get data out of various silos, get them ready to move to the cloud. How is IBM's approach different with this different than say Salesforce MuleSoft? They told the same story around: Hey, we need to get data out of all of these places so customers can put it to work. GINNI ROMETTY: Yeah. Very big difference. So first, back up. This conference is about chapter two: scaling AI and now the cloud becomes hybrid. And the reason it becomes hybrid is because the first chapter of the cloud, a lot of customer facing new apps went on the public cloud. But now chapter two is you've got mission critical. That's all on Prem that's got to move, and it's going to take containers, Kuberentes, open technologies to then move those. And what you start to have to happen is people end up with, in fact we've done studies, 40% in private cloud, 60 public. If you're regulated, the other way around. And then you move data between and amongst those. And then have to manage them. That's what we're doing. And so the integration platform that you just mentioned that's being announced is to allow you to manage data, services and apps, moving between these places and communicating between them. JON FORTT: When do we start to see if your setup is correct about IBM being differently positioned from a Salesforce, When do we see acceleration of IBM pulling ahead of others telling who are a similar story? GINNI ROMETTY: First off, Salesforce is a partner of ours, too. Right? And remember, they work with Watson. We've got a lot of things. We're the number one implementer of Salesforce. But when it comes to integrating apps and modernizing them, because chapter two here is going to driven by modernization of mission critical apps. That's in our sweet spot. And so when you say 'When do we see that?', you saw last quarter our cognitive solutions, you saw that return to growth, you saw that hybrid cloud, very strong. IBM cloud private, very strong. And you actually saw in services business things like BNP Paribas, the biggest bank all to the cloud. You'll see us announce another big financial services to the cloud while we're here at this conference. And so you saw that with services backlog, 30% cloud. And so these are indicators that this is moving. JON FORTT: Tell me about CEO confidence. Last time we talked, it was a couple of days after the Fed Chair Jerome Powell made comments about being patient. The market really took an upswing after that. Have you seen the confidence of CEOs who you're trying to get to continue to buy with IBM on a trajectory since then, have things improved sentiment wise or has it been steady? GINNI ROMETTY: I think it has been fairly steady. And I hear from all of my colleagues that everyone is still planning as I say both ways. On one hand, they've been planning down. You know, you can look at growth or efficiency. I would if I just you know, in a curve over time, as I've said, you would have seen more toward the growth side. I see that balance now between growth and efficiency initiatives. And I actually see that staying very firm. And they're one foot in both camps. JON FORTT: The White House, along the theme we have been talking about here on AI, just put out this executive order on AI. Are we behind? GINNI ROMETTY: You know, I've heard people talk about, 'Is America behind on AI?' And sometimes they liken it to 'Well, other countries have more data. They can train, they have less policy around it.' I want to remind, a lot of data for technology matters. But the AI we are working on is to train with less data. I mean the next state of the art rev on AI is less data. In fact, one shot learning gets called. And so, I don't believe data is the only determinator determinate, you know what I meant. And so to that point, 'Do I think America is behind?' No. And I actually think, you mention that executive order on AI, it's a good step forward here. JON FORTT: We need more of that. GINNI ROMETTY: We need more of it, yes. JON FORTT: Because you've worked with other countries who have done this sooner. GINNI ROMETTY: I'll bet we've worked with almost 20 countries on their AI policies. And in fact, many countries have national policies around an industrial way that they're going to go. So this is, I think, long overdue, but a great step in the right direction and calls out the right areas to be worked on. Part of it are the core technologies, R&D. You know, our department of energy that hosts our national labs which have the IBM super computers for AI in them, and those are a great bed to open up to learn. Skills that are out there. You want to have standards policies that are out there. And you want to use federal data so you start training ethical AI. So anyways, all good steps. JON FORTT: Speaking of these labs, IBM has been a big employer in New York State for a long time. Amazon is now trying to move into New York City, facing some push back. Queens might just say, 'Thanks but no thanks.'If that happens, if Queens says 'No thanks" to Amazon, what is the message to business? GINNI ROMETTY: Well, I can tell you what we've learned over the years, right? Because as you know, we are in 170 countries. And I have always said what I learned out of that, you have to be of the country you're in. And so for us, we aligned ourselves with the agenda of the country, the city, no matter what it is, and really prided our self in being a great citizen of each of those places. And when you do that, you're welcome everywhere. JON FORTT: So what does it say about the process you need to go through to pick where you go and how you engage with constituents there? GINNI ROMETTY: Our lesson has always been to engage, understand what's important, and some of the basics are important about skills, about jobs, and align to what you're going to do with those. And I think that's a lesson for everybody. JON FORTT: Finally, as we look out at what you're doing at Think in the multi-cloud kind of hybrid environment, what's a win for IBM coming out of this? What is different about IBM's approach that you want people who are here who might also be at Dreamforce, Open World, et cetera, to come away with? GINNI ROMETTY: Yeah, look, in order -- chapter two of the cloud is move to hybrid. That means you are going to go through a journey to take the applications you have today and modernize them. We give them both the services. We're going to announce 23 end-to-end services for that journey today. The second thing we give you is, the software and cloud, public and private cloud, and all of the connection for any cloud, including our own, and on Prem, and then as well, software services, public cloud and we're also announcing today the most secure public cloud. You will see an announcement later today that it is the most secure public cloud, something called Hyper Protect, that's out there. So they would walk away and say: If I have to modernize mission critical apps, IBM is the only partner to do that. JON FORTT: Alright. You heard here first, Watson Anywhere able to run now on premises and on any other cloud and also IBM cloud integration platform. Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM from Think in San Francisco. Thanks. Guys, back to you. GINNI ROMETTY: Thank you, Jon. For more information contact: Jennifer Dauble CNBC t: 201.735.4721 m: 201.615.2787 e: jennifer.dauble@nbcuni.com Emma Martin CNBC t: 201.735.4713 m: 551.275.6221 e: emma.martin@nbcuni.com The parent company of British Airways and Iberia has stopped the sales of its stock to investors outside of the European Union. EU-ownership rules dictate that more than half of an airline's stock must be held by shareholders that are based within the economic bloc. International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) was at risk of breaching that level with 47.5 percent of shares now held by non-EU citizens. Qatar Airways holds almost half of the non-EU allowance with its 22 percent stake in the group. The filing to the market was released late Monday. Shortly before midday London time on Tuesday, AIG's stock was languishing toward the bottom of the FTSE 100, more than 1 percent lower. The restriction on British Airways is likely to become even more complicated when Brexit is enacted at the end of next month. After the U.K. leaves the European Union, U.K. shareholders in airlines will no longer count toward the required 50 percent minimum EU ownership. IAG, Ryanair and easyJet could reportedly attempt to comply with the ownership rules by ensuring that when British investors sell stock, it is immediately bought by EU investors. BP has invested more money in Egypt in the last two years than anywhere else, the oil giant's Chief Executive Bob Dudley told CNBC. "Today (the scale of our operations) is very big," Dudley told CNBC Monday. "We produce oil in the Gulf of Suez but really our focus in the last five years has been this big push for natural gas. All across from the Nile Delta, to the east, to the west of the Nile Delta, it's helping power the country and other companies are here as well." "In the last two years we've invested more money in Egypt, in both of those years, than in any other country in the world for BP, so it's a really important place for us," he told CNBC's Dan Murphy. Egypt might lack the oil producing clout of its OPEC neighbors to the west (Libya and Algeria) and east (Saudi Arabia) but it's pushing to become a Mediterranean energy hub, particularly in the natural gas sector. Cairo is expected to become a net gas exporter by the end of 2019 and the country has seen widespread interest in its natural gas potential particularly after the success of Egypt's Zohr gas field, an offshore natural gas field in the Mediterranean Sea operated by Italian energy firm Eni. Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Egypt's oil and gas sector reached $10 billion in the full fiscal year of 2017/18, the country's Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla told an Egyptian newspaper last August, and expects at least the same in 2018/2019. In December, El Molla said Egypt had signed over 12 exploration and production agreements with international oil companies (IOCs) during 2018. The petroleum minister told CNBC in January that Egypt's gas reserves could even be a catalyst for peace in the region. The Egyptian economy has been on an upward turn since the political tumult brought on by civil unrest during the Arab Spring of 2011 and the overthrow of then-President Hosni Mubarak. In 2016, Egypt was forced to request a three-year, $12 billion loan from the international Monetary Fund (IMF). As ever, the IMF aid came with strings attached, requiring the government to embark on a reform program that included cutting fuel subsidies, introducing VAT and floating its currency, the Egyptian pound. Egypt has been praised by the IMF for adhering to the program and the Fund sees its budget deficit and unemployment rate declining further this year; the IMF predicts GDP growth of 5.5 percent in 2019. "In terms of revenue collection, you wouldn't want to just focus on the ordinary income rate, because people who are wealthy have a rounding error of ordinary income," Gates, one of the richest people in the world, told The Verge . "They have income that just is the value of their stock, which if they don't sell it, it doesn't show up as income at all, or if it shows up, it shows over in the capital gains side. So the ability of hedge fund people, various people they aren't paying that ordinary income rate." "If you focus on that, you're missing the picture," he said without mentioning the Democratic socialist congresswoman by name. Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has pushed raising the top marginal tax rate to 70 percent on income over $10 million. The top marginal rate is currently 37 percent. In an interview in The Verge, Gates said such an approach is "a misfocus." Bill Gates says he supports "more progressive" taxes on the rich, but proposals targeting high income brackets, like a plan from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are missing the point. Instead, he said, lawmakers should focus on things like the estate tax, taxes on capital and Social Security. His view may be more closely aligned with Sen. Elizabeth Warren's proposed tax policy that focuses on taxing net worth on households worth more than $50 million. "Now, you finally have some politicians who are so extreme that I'd say, 'No, that's even beyond,'" Gates said, an apparent reference to Ocasio-Cortez. "You do start to create tax dodging and disincentives, and an incentive to have the income show up in other countries and things. But we can be more progressive without really threatening income generation what you have left to decide how to spread around." Gates, who held the title of the richest man on Earth on and off for decades before Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos unseated him last year, also ripped the increasingly popular modern monetary theory. The school of thought has received backing on the left from politicians such as Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is likely to run for president in 2020. President Donald Trump has expressed views that align with it, too. "First of all, you never have to default because you print the money. I hate to tell you. So there's never a default," Trump said while campaigning in 2016. The theory, also known as MMT, dismisses concerns about sovereign debt since countries that print their own currency can't really run out of money. "That is some crazy talk," Gates told The Verge. Listen to the full interview at The Verge. Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. Watch: Bill Gates and the return on investment in vaccinations Apple hosted its first health-focused event at its Union Square store in San Francisco on Monday evening. It started with a panel on the topic of heart health and ended with an walk around the block to demonstrate the activity features on the Apple Watch. Apple has not previously hosted any dedicated health events at its Apple Stores, but it has scheduled three this month, including in Chicago and New York. The events are in support of Heart Month, as heart health is a big area of focus for the Apple Watch, which includes an optical sensor to measure the user's heart rate and (in the new version) an electrocardiogram to measure the heart's rhythm. These events are yet another signal that the company is positioning health care is key to its future. Its executives have said as much, with the Tim Cook noting to CNBC's Jim Cramer that health will be the company's "greatest contribution to mankind." As it scales back in other departments, like self-driving cars, the company is growing its team and making some big investments in health. The company's CEO Tim Cook even tweeted about the event on Tuesday: [tweet] At the event, Apple Health's Sumbul Desai spoke alongside the celebrity fitness trainer Jeanette Jenkins and the American Heart Association's president-elect Robert Harrington. Apple's Julz Arny, who works on special projects for fitness at Apple, moderated the session. Here were a few of the highlights: Apple vice president Sumbul Desai shared a few of her reasons for joining Apple from Stanford, where she worked as a physician and digital health executive director: "I went to medical school to have an impact and now I have the opportunity to be able to do that at scale," she said. Desai, alongside Harrington from the American Heart Association, revealed they plan to release the results of the Apple Heart Study at the American College of Cardiology meetings on March 16. The study, which enrolled more than 400,000 people, is designed to research whether the Apple Watch can pick up a heart rhythmic disorder called atrial fibrillation. Also on the topic of the Apple Heart Study, Harrington made a few interesting points on what he hopes to find. He noted that the medical field still doesn't know the incidence of atrial fibrillation, a condition that puts people at risk for strokes, in a population. It's uncommon for such a large population of people to be studied, as most clinical research is limited to a few thousand people. Apple's Desai added that the study is also looking at behavior, and not just population health trends. She noted that the findings might also reveal how doctors manage this new information, gleaned via an Apple Watch, and how consumers are responding to it. Both the Apple employees talked about how they'll take time to read the health-related letters that Apple users send in to the company's CEO Tim Cook. "It drives the work we do at Apple," said Desai. As the event broke up, everyone walked around the block with Jenkins, the famous fitness trainer. A few people cheered when they closed their rings, and then dispersed. WATCH: How to use the Apple Watch's new ECG feature Activision Blizzard reportedly plans to announce job cuts when it posts fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday afternoon. Its shares sank to their lowest level in two years on Monday following the report, the latest piece of news to rock the stock. Last Wednesday, shares of the video-gaming giant dropped more than 10 percent after competitors Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive posted disappointing earnings. The company has lost more than half its value in the last four months with shares dropping roughly 52 percent from their recent high in October. The drastic move in the stock has the Street divided on whether this represents a bargain buy, or if investors should steer clear. Oppenheimer's Ari Wald warned on CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Monday that Activision Blizzard is in a "bearish trend," and investors should "stay away from this stock." From a technical standpoint, Wald noted that the stock hasn't been able to break above its 50-day moving average in the last month, and also that it dipped below its key support level of $45. He also said Activision Blizzard doesn't look great compared with rivals especially Electronic Arts. That stock fell more than 13 percent on Wednesday after the company reported disappointing earnings, but just two days later it surged 16 percent after early success of its new "Apex Legends" game. Wald's point is that while Electronic Arts has managed to rebound above its pre-earnings levels, Activision Blizzard is still stuck in a rut. "EA has snapped back, Activision has continued to sell off, so that's relative weakness right there. Overall, timing lows is a poor long-term strategy. This is one to wait for it to stabilize," he said. Michael Bapis, managing director of Vios Advisors at Rockefeller Capital Management, is bullish on Activision Blizzard in the long term, saying the company's diversified business channels makes it an especially compelling buy in a sector that's shown exponential growth. "We think it's a classic restructuring of a rapidly growing company in a growth space," he said Monday on "Trading Nation." "They have one of the most diversified business lines relative to the competitors: They have the console gaming, and they have the mobile gaming and in the mobile gaming space they haven't even started to touch advertising revenue." Traditional video-game makers like Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive have all struggled to keep up with free-to-play games like the popular "Fortnite." But Bapis believes Activision's turnaround strategy, which includes plans to focus more on mobile, will drive future gains. "There's going to be some turmoil. You're going to have to wait it out, but 12-18 months, we're long this space and long Activision because this [gaming] is just taking over society right now," he said. Shares of Activision Blizzard have dropped 40 percent in the last year. Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive are down 19 and 14 percent, respectively. View of a demonstration in support of Brazilian right-wing presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro at Paulista Avenue, in Sao Paulo, Brazil on September 30, 2018. Cris Faga | NurPhoto via Getty Images Investors thinking about betting in emerging markets should look at Brazilian stocks, Mexican bonds and banks in the space, according to strategists and analysts. Brazilian stocks are off to a high-flying start this year as investors bet newly minted President Jair Bolsonaro will push through key reforms. In Mexico, relatively high yields make their bonds attractive. Strategists are also betting that a dovish U.S. Federal Reserve, constructive outlooks for 2019 and a possible resolution to the U.S.-China trade war can bolster emerging-market banks. Emerging markets have been one of the hottest trades of the year. The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets exchange-traded fund (EEM) is up 7.6 percent. EEM fell 17.1 percent last year and was in bear-market territory, trading 20 percent from its 52-week high. "This is one of the best times to diversify into emerging markets," said Luca Paolini, chief strategist at Pictet Asset Management. "Everything is pointing to outperformance in emerging markets." Brazilian stocks Brazilian stocks are up sharply this year. The Bovespa index, Brazil's benchmark index, hit an all-time high recently and the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF (EWZ) is up more than 10 percent in 2019. Brazilian stocks are also outperforming the broader EEM fund this year. EWZ vs EEM this year Source: FactSet Investors around the world have been cheering Brazilian stocks on hopes the new presidential administration can pass push through major changes to the country's pension system this year. Brazil's generous pension system enables most working citizens to retire in their 50s. This led to massive debt levels in Brazil and contributed to the country's recent economic troubles. Bolsonaro signaled last month the minimum retirement age for men and women could be raised to 62 and 57, respectively. This would be a weaker proposal than the one raised by former President Michel Temer, which would have hiked the retirement age to 65 for men and 62 for women. The average retirement age in Brazil is around 55. "Confidence levels have increased steadily since October, backed by the government's liberal agenda," Larry Brainard, chief economist for the EM team at TS Lombard, wrote in a note. "The confidence boost is crucial to sustain the rebound but it must be followed by concrete progress on reforms. Longer-term, sustainable growth is possible only if structural reforms are made." Mexican bonds Mexican bonds are another investment strategists like. They are trading around their lowest levels in nearly decade. The 10-year Mexican yield broke above 9 percent for the first time since the financial crisis in late November. On Tuesday, the benchmark yield traded around 8.5 percent. "Mexican bonds are under-loved and pricing in the worst-case scenario," said Amr Abdel Khalek, emerging markets strategist at MRB Partners. "We don't see peso bonds as the strongest outperformer in a universe of EM local-currency denominated bonds, but the combination of peso undervaluation and the relatively rich yields mean that they can outperform the benchmark on a 6-12 month basis." Investors are fretting over some of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's fiscal measures, including pulling the plug on a partially built $13 billion new airport in Mexico City. Lopez Obrador, better known by his initials AMLO, also said last week he would announce measures supportive of Pemex, a giant state-run oil company. AMLO did not provide specifics in his comments from last Tuesday, however, leaving investors worried about how sweeping his proposals could actually be. AMLO's comments came after ratings agency Fitch cut Pemex's rating to BBB-, the lowest investment-grade rating, from BBB+. Still, Pictet Asset Management's Paolini thinks Mexican bonds remain attractive given their valuations. "If you're looking at Mexican bonds, unless you're expecting something bad happening on the political front, there is some real value there." EM banks One of the most attractive sectors within emerging markets is banks, according to UBS. UBS reiterated its overweight rating on emerging-market banks last month, noting external risks like the U.S.-China trade war and tighter monetary policy from the Fed are "beginning to recede." U.S. and Chinese officials are trying to strike a deal on trade before an early March deadline. If a deal is not reached by then, additional tariffs could be imposed by each country. At the same time, the Fed signaled at its most-recent meeting it will be patient in monetary tightening, bringing down expectations of future rate hikes. According to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, no rate hikes are priced in for 2019. This, along with improving fundamentals, should boost emerging-market banks, said Philip Finch, global banks strategist at UBS. "We currently forecast loan growth at 10.5% in 2019, up marginally from 10.2% in 2018 with [net-interest margin] expanding slightly to 3.06% from 3.03%," Finch wrote in a Jan. 18 note. He added that he expected EM bank earnings to grow by 13.7 percent this year and loan growth to reach double digits. UBS also seven banks in its Top 40 EM stocks list, including Banco do Brasil, OTP Bank in Hungary, Peru's Creditcorp and Hong Kong's China Construction Bank. Illinois residents looking to save on taxes may want to start by getting estimates on a move to Alaska. At least that's the recommendation from personal finance website GOBankingRates, which published a study Tuesday that rates the most and least tax-friendly states for the middle class. The study compared total sales tax, property tax and personal income taxes paid by the middle 20 percent of households. GOBankingRates compiled data from the Institution of Taxation and Economic Policy's 2018 "Who Pays" report. Top 10 most tax-friendly states: Alaska Delaware Nevada Wyoming Montana Florida Tennessee Idaho South Carolina North Dakota It's not surprising that states with no income tax, such as Alaska, Nevada or Florida, fare better, said Andrew DePietro, study researcher and data analyst. However, states that don't levy individual income must find revenue from other sources. This also factored into the rankings. New Hampshire, for example, ranked 12th on the list. Although the state doesn't tax incomes, New Hampshire does have higher property and state taxes. Getting more women involved in the U.S. economy could generate a $1.6 trillion boost, S&P Global President and CEO Doug Peterson told CNBC on Monday. "In our research the last couple years, we've been looking at what would be the impact on markets if women had a higher participation rate? And we used Norway as kind of the benchmark," Peterson told CNBC's Jim Cramer on "Mad Money." "In the United States, if we were operating [at] the same level of women's participation as Norway, our economy would be 8 percent bigger, $1.6 trillion larger, than it is right now," the CEO said. Better yet, having women enter and stay in the U.S. workforce could add some $5.8 trillion to the total global market cap, he said. Besides presiding over the index, S&P Global offers a host of financial analytics services to market-watchers, industry bodies and other organizations. Since becoming CEO in 2013, Peterson has introduced several initiatives focused on gender equality, including this study and a hashtag highlighting the benefits of closing the gender gap: #ChangePays. "What inspired us is that, as we saw the women in our organization flourishing and we see the kinds of opportunities there are for people coming to the workforce, [it] really, really required us to take a stand," Peterson told Cramer, acknowledging that he and his company can also do more to hire and promote women. "It starts with the tone at the top, and we believe that starts with our board, it starts with me, and we also have a lot more to do ourselves," he said. S&P Global's stock inched up Monday, ending the day 0.28 percent higher at $194.13. LOS ANGELES Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom tore into President Donald Trump's policies Monday during a press conference where he spoke about his decision to pull the majority of the state's National Guard troops from the U.S.-Mexico border. "This crisis on the border is a manufactured crisis," Newsom told reporters. "We are not interested in participating in this political theater." The decision to pull 260 of the state's 360 troops from the border follows Trump's State of the Union address last week in which he repeated concerns about a border crisis. Newsom's action is another sign the new governor, after just over a month in office, is taking a more activist approach when it comes to Trump's policies than California's previous governor, Jerry Brown. Last April, Brown agreed to send about 400 of the state's troops to the border at the request of Trump, who cited "a crisis" at the border due to a "combination of illegal drugs, dangerous gang activity, and extensive illegal immigration." Newsom signed an order Monday to withdraw 260 troops in a challenge to Trump's original request. The remaining 100 troops will conduct operations primarily around ports of entry, supporting federal efforts to combat drug and gun trafficking. California's current agreement with the Pentagon for National Guard troops at the border is set to expire at the end of March. Newsom said the state intends to secure a new agreement with the federal government for just 100 troops. The 100 soldiers who will stay at the border have special training in narcotics search and seizures as well as expertise in transnational criminal organization intelligence. Newsom said the drug and gun trafficking concerns are real, but he dismissed the president's claims of a crisis due to undocumented immigration. There have been reports the state's troops helped arrest undocumented immigrants as part of work with U.S. Border Patrol agents. The governor conceded some of the state's troops may have indirectly been in operations that involved some undocumented immigrants. "When you have National Guardsmen and women doing, for example, surveillance with cameras," he said, "it's hard to distinguish between those that are participating in gun and drug activity versus those that may be just crossing the border illegally." He called it "a gray area that we will no longer participate in." The governor also said the border duty for the state's troops has been "getting in the way of the National Guard being prepared for being redeployed overseas." He said the troops "are doing work that precludes them from getting the training and the skills and the time off that is necessary to make sure that they're prepared for more appropriate deployments. So this is actually hurting our readiness." Newsom said a number of the National Guard soldiers getting pulled from the border will help Cal Fire to focus on fire prevention efforts. He also said there's a need for the troops to assist in fighting illegal cannabis grows in Northern California that are not part of the state's regulated market. In challenging Trump's claims of a border crisis, Newsom said border crossings are at the lowest levels since 1971. He said undocumented immigrants commit crimes at a significantly lower level than native-born citizens. And he said California has about 550,000 fewer undocumented immigrants in the state than it did a decade ago. "This is pure politics," the governor said. Newsom also commented on Trump asking the Pentagon to deploy an additional 3,750 troops to the southern border. "If you're going to add 3,750 troops to the border, why do you need the National Guard?" Newsom said. The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Newsom also has been critical of Trump on the president's threat to cut off federal funds to the state for wildfire relief. The threat from Trump followed the Camp Fire last year that killed 86 people in Northern California and destroyed most of the town of Paradise. The governor also blamed Trump for the recent government shutdown and was quick to offer unemployment insurance benefits to Californians affected by the shutdown. "Gavin Newsom has nothing to worry about as governor of this state by confronting Donald Trump," said Garry South, the veteran Los Angeles-based Democratic strategist who advised former Gov. Gray Davis. "That's what most Californians want him to do. Many Democrats didn't think Jerry Brown did it enough and that included acceding to the president's request that the border-state governors send National Guard troops to the border." South added, "People are going to see a lot more proactivity from Gavin Newsom than they ever saw from Jerry Brown during the whole last eight years he was governor." Clinton, IA (52732) Today Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. A few storms may be severe. High 79F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight Scattered showers and thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low 68F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected. Beachwood, OH (44122) Today Rain showers this morning with some sunshine during the afternoon hours. High near 85F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Mostly cloudy. Low 68F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. COLUMBUS, OhioHundreds of businesses wrongly continued to get state contracts under a small-business assistance program because program officials didnt track whether they were still eligible, according to a new report from the Ohio Inspector Generals office. The report found that 357 businesses currently involved with the states Encouraging Diversity, Growth and Equity (EDGE) program have violated the programs 10-year participation time limit. In addition, the manager overseeing the program told investigators from the Inspector Generals office that the state doesnt look to see whether businesses become too big to qualify for the program. Under the EDGE program, state agencies are given a goal of awarding 5 percent of their work contracts to businesses with revenue of less than $15 million (in most cases) and with an owner with a personal wealth of less than $250,000 initially. In fiscal 2016, $93 million worth of state construction work was provided by program-certified companies. But the Inspector Generals report concluded that the program hasnt enforced the 10-year eligibility restrictions and found no evidence that program employees investigated the size of participating businesses. One business highlighted in the report is CTL Engineering, Inc. of Columbus, which as of 2018 was still certified by the program as a disadvantaged business even though the company billed $35.5 million in 2016. The company was recertified multiple times for more than 10 years, even though it didnt provide required information about the finances of the business and its owner. Todd McGonigle, the states Equal Employment Opportunity Program manager, told Inspector General investigators that program staff has been repeatedly cut in recent years, leaving four employees to cover the entire state. He also said that the program has had to use different computer systems over the years that dont talk to each other. As a result, McGonigle said the program has to rely on the information reported by participating companies. If the applicant chose to lie to us um, we wouldnt be able to really identify, you know, that they have a summer home in Florida you know, he was quoted as saying in the report. The report recommended that the Ohio Department of Administrative Services Equal Opportunity Division, which runs the EDGE program, revise its policies to make sure companies participating in the program are still eligible. It also said state officials should strongly consider a review of staffing levels, the programs budget, and system upgrades to help boost enforcement. DAS spokesman Tom Hoyt stated in an email that the first group of companies to exceed the 10-year limit are now being graduated based on their size, though participants are being given a 9- to 12-month grace period to adjust their business model. I have made it a priority among my team to identify and improve areas such as this program, said Matt Damschroder, the new DAS director, in a statement. We will continue to review the EDGE program and update our procedures to be in compliance with state law and program guidelines. WASHINGTON, D. C. - The U.S. Senate on Tuesday adopted a sweeping package of public lands and natural resources bills that includes provisions to fund the Ohio & Erie Canalway National Heritage Area, as well as a migratory birds conservation program sponsored by Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman. The Canalway measure, sponsored by Portman and Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, lifts a federal funding cap that was mistakenly left in place when Congress last reauthorized money for the waterway that stretches between Cleveland and New Philadelphia. From Tuscarawas County to Cuyahoga County, the Ohio & Erie Canalway National Heritage Area draws millions of dollars to our state each year, supporting thousands of jobs," said a statement from Brown. "We owe it to all Ohioans and visitors to continue to support this treasure. The bird measure promoted by Portman will spend $6.5 million each year through 2024 on conservation. Portman said said hundreds of bird species migrate through Ohio each year, making Lake Erie a popular bird watching destination. The Senate approved the bill in a 92 to 8 vote. The House of Representatives has not yet taken it up. Protecting and conserving these bird populations is critically important and I am pleased the Senate approved this bipartisan legislation, said a statement from Portman. "Im looking forward to this legislation being signed very soon. AKRON, Ohio -- A new partnership between the University of Akron and Barberton schools will allow students to take classes in cybersecurity, a rapidly-growing field with plenty of job opportunities. There is a worldwide shortage of cybersecurity professionals, and North America is among the regions with the greatest need, according to a 2018 report by ISC. The cybersecurity nonprofit estimates a shortage of nearly 500,000 employees. The salary range for a "cyber security analyst in Ohio ranges from approximately $60,869 per year for Intelligence Analyst to $96,479 per year for IT Security Specialist, according to data from jobs website Indeed.com. Cybersecurity is a relatively new field, and one which high schoolers may not even encounter until they reach college. Barberton students will now be able to earn up to 15 hours of college credits in UAs cybersecurity program before high school graduation or earn CompTIA Certifications and Network+ certifications to allow them to find a job immediately after high school. Barberton Middle School formed a Cyber Club, where more than 35 students are exploring ciphers and network encryption. High school students enrolled in the cybersecurity program will also visit preschool through fourth grade students to read them books about Internet awareness. UAs cybersecurity program launched in fall 2017. About 68 students declared cybersecurity as their major in spring 2018, with about 74 declaring last fall. The school is the second site for Ohios cybersecurity range, which offers practical training for students and professionals on cybersecurity. CLEVELAND, Ohio Cuyahoga County Council members on Tuesday approved $3.5 million to hire enough corrections officers to end the practice of locking inmates in their cells when they have done nothing to warrant that treatment. The money will be used to pay for 60 additional corrections officers and the supervisors needed to manage them, bringing the total number of corrections officers approved to work in the jail from 615 to 675. At that staffing level, Sheriff Pinkney said jail administrators will no longer need to lock inmates down for hours at a time, a practice known in Cuyahoga County as red-zoning, according to Council President Dan Brady. Brady and Vice President Pernel Jones committed to spend $3.5 million on more officers last month. Brady deemed the need an emergency, and said he would introduce legislation authorizing the increased staffing levels if the administration of County Executive Armond Budish failed to do so. The administration ultimately complied with Bradys request, and introduced the legislation ahead of Tuesdays meeting. Red-zoning was one of several problems identified by the U.S. Marshals Service in a scathing Nov. 21 report that found inhumane conditions at the county jail. Eight jail inmates died in 2018. The marshals determined that some inmates were locked down for 27 hours straight, or for several days in a row. Interim jail director George Taylor said last week that lockdowns have been shortened since the release of the marshals report and inmates now receive four hours free from the lockdowns each day, but the practice continues due to a shortage of officers. While red-zoned, inmates have less access to showers, phone calls and dayrooms where they can stretch their legs. Inmates and corrections officers have told cleveland.com that the practice makes inmates restless and feeds tensions inside the jail. CLEVELAND, Ohio Cuyahoga County plans to sell the Board of Developmental Disabilities Forest Hill Center to senior care provider McGregor PACE for $2.5 million. Cuyahoga County Council members are expected to vote on the sale at Tuesdays council meeting. Staff currently working out of the Forest Hill Center in East Cleveland will be moved to other Board of Developmental Disabilities buildings. The move will allow the board to save on maintenance and other expenses associated with the property, board Superintendent & CEO Kelly Petty told a Cuyahoga County Council committee last week. The 42,000 square foot facility on Private Drive in East Cleveland was built by the board in the early 1980s as a school for children with disabilities. It was later converted into an early childhood center, and has been used since 2012 as office space for board employees, Petty said. McGregor PACE was the only entity that responded to the countys request for proposals seeking a buyer for the facility. It plans to use the building for outpatient therapy services and office space, Petty said. CLEVELAND, Ohio A Cleveland firefighter was arrested for the third time in 24 hours, the most recent time for going back to the airport and arguing with JetBlue employees, according to police. Battalion Chief William Graham, 55, was arrested at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport about noon Tuesday, Cleveland police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia said. Ciaccia said Graham was released from the hospital after his second arrest on Tuesday and went back to the airport. He walked into the drop-off area for JetBlue, went inside and became belligerent towards employees, she said. He was arrested on suspicion of aggravated disorderly conduct, Ciaccia said. He was taken back to an area hospital after complaining of chest pains, Ciaccia said. Hell be booked into the Cuyahoga County Jail after hes released. Graham has been on restricted duty since his arrest about 1 p.m. Monday at the airport. Graham was drunk and hostile toward airport passengers and employees, according to court records. He was not allowed to fly on his scheduled JetBlue flight to Boston because he was drunk, according to court records and a statement from the airline. The customer was rebooked on a later flight pending crewmember evaluation, JetBlues statement says. After their removal, the customer became disruptive in the gate area and local law enforcement responded. Graham returned to the airport about 7 a.m. Tuesday for a flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, according to police and the airlines statement. Ciaccia said police noted it appeared Graham was drunk. Airport staff evaluated Graham before allowing him to board the plane, the airline said. Graham boarded the plane, which began taxiing the runway. During the taxi, Graham failed to follow safety instructions and caused a disturbance, the statement said. The plane returned to the gate, Graham was kicked off the flight, arrested and refunded his money, the statement said. He was taken from the airport to an area hospital after complaining of chest pains, Ciaccia said. No other details have been released on the incident. Graham is a 30-year veteran firefighter, who makes $90,542 annual salary. He is scheduled to appear Wednesday in Cleveland Municipal Court for his arraignment. CLEVELAND, Ohio Case Western Reserve Universitys campus was placed on an emergency lockdown for 30 minutes early Tuesday as police investigated reports of shots being fired near campus, according to a tweet from the university. The tweet was sent out at 12:15 a.m. Tuesday and directed the campus to shelter in place as campus and University Circle police investigated. CWRU Alert: There have been reports of shots fired near campus. Officers are investigating. Updates to follow. Shelter in place until further notice. Please only call 216.368.3333 in an emergency. Case Western Reserve (@cwru) February 12, 2019 Another tweet at 12:44 a.m. lifted the lockdown and said police investigated and found that a threat no longer existed for campus. University officials said in a statement that a university security officer and a Safe Ride staff member reported hearing three gunshots coming from the area around the intersection of Euclid and Mayfield avenues, just off campus. That prompted the school to issue its first of three alerts, the statement said. Campus and University Circle police searched the area and found no one with a gun, the statement said. The campus sent out their final tweet lifting the lockdown, the statement said. Police continued to pay close attention to the area overnight and, thankfully, it remained quiet, the statement said. CWRU Alert: CWRU and University Circle police have investigated and determined a threat to campus no longer exists. All clear. Resume normal activities. Case Western Reserve (@cwru) February 12, 2019 To comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments page. MANSFIELD, Ohio A female student was abducted Monday morning from the parking lot of Ohio State Universitys Mansfield Campus, likely by a person she knows, authorities say. A news release from the OSU Department of Safety says Skylar Williams was standing in the parking lot at about 11:45 a.m. when she was approached by a male armed with a handgun. The suspect, identified as Tyrell Pounds, forced Williams into a vehicle and drove off. The vehicle was later located but both Williams and Pounds were gone. Authorities say Pounds reportedly stole another vehicle at gunpoint, a dark-colored 2019 Dodge Caravan with the license plate FMZ 9621. The news release does not offer details on the relationship between Williams and Pounds. Mansfield police and the State Highway Patrol are investigating the abduction. Authorities say its believe Pounds is armed and dangerous. Anyone with information can call the Mansfield Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol at 419-756-2222. To comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments page. MEDINA, Ohio -- Owner Chris Pappas had wanted to open his Twiisted Burgers & Sushi for lunch in 2018, but wasn't able to because of the restaurant's other time commitments. For him, 2019 was going to be the start of lunch hours for the restaurant. Then, when it was announced that the Eat'n Park down the road was closing, things changed. With the nearby chain known for its breakfast Smiles shutting down, another possibility opened up. "I said well, let's give the breakfast thing a shot, too," Pappas said. Twiisted -- formerly only open for dinner throughout the week and for lunch and dinner on the weekends -- will now be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days a week, starting Feb. 18. Breakfast isn't the only thing being added. More than a dozen Eat'n Park employees have already agreed to come down the road -- that is, Boardman Alley -- to work at Twiisted. Eat'n Park had a been a fixture on North Court Street for more than 20 years. The parent company is closing five Northeast Ohio Eat'n Park restaurants. Pappas said capitalizing on breakfast as well as the lunch market is a great opportunity for Twiisted, located at 985 Boardman Alley, just west of North Court Street at Northland Drive. Being an Eat'n Park regular himself, he said the idea first came up when he was eating breakfast there, where he sparked a conversation with the employees. "I would not be able to do what we're doing without them," he said. "And for them to accept us the way they did, obviously that was pretty cool for them to do so." His original plans weren't to open up for lunch until the spring, but with events unfolding the way they did, Pappas said the restaurant will open for breakfast Feb. 18, the day after Eat'n Park closes. He said given the restaurant industry, having dedicated and trained employees was essential. "It is so hard to find good people to work, let alone find anybody to work in this industry," Pappas said. "So the opportunity was really great for us so that we were able to find almost an entire family willing to kind of move over and consider working with us." While they haven't opened their doors any earlier yet, Twiisted has already been trying out its new breakfast items on the weekends during regular brunch hours of 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pappas said each of the three weeks before the big opening, they'll prepare a third of their new menu items. "Just so that we can kind of work the kinks out a little bit and make sure that come Feb. 18 when we open at 7 a.m., that we're able to execute," he said. The new breakfast menu will bring a lot of ingredients from Twiisted's current menu to breakfast. The smoked salmon from their Philadelphia rolls will be making it into their new smoked salmon eggs benedict. They'll also take their pork rib-eye and pound it out, covering it with panko crust before frying it for a country fried pork rib-eye, with house-made gravy over top of it. Pappas said he'll also be using whole-grain brown rice flour, making their pancakes and biscuits gluten free. Many of the ingredients will just come down to ordering more of what they already use. "We already go through 10 cases of bacon a week," he said. "To add another 10 cases of bacon for breakfast isn't that big of a deal for us." Even before breakfast became part of the menu, Pappas said the restaurant had been working hard to rebrand itself, starting to highlight some of the dishes they serve other than sushi. "Our kitchen is way more efficient than it ever was," he said. "We're able to execute a really great menu a lot faster, and a lot of Medina really knows that we're overall a full-service restaurant that offers a full menu for everybody." Efficiency is a must in what Pappas described as a small kitchen in his restaurant. He said to add breakfast, he's purchased cast-iron flat tops to convert Twiisted's charbroil grill into a flat-top stove. He's also using the egg pans the restaurant already has, which they have used to cook eggs to put on their burgers. "That's going to be a little bit of a challenge for the kitchen coming from Eat'n Park, because they're not used to that," Pappas said. While the employees coming to Twiisted all still currently work for Eat'n Park, Pappas said they've been able to come train during their off time, speeding up their transition. The menu is also going to show some partnerships between Twiisted and some other businesses in the county. Sherry's Classic Cuisine already bakes the restaurant's brioche hamburger buns, and will be baking the French toast for breakfast. The coffee will be coming from Create Living Coffee. Twiisted will start opening from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and will stay open later -- until 10 p.m. -- Friday and Saturday. Pappas said he stills plans for the restaurant to close at 8 p.m. on Sundays. MEDINA, Ohio -- The Medina City Council voted no to detaching land to Lafayette Township at their finance meeting. Several council members said the city wouldn't gain enough to make the detachment in the city's interests. The request for action was submitted by Stanley Scheetz, who is representing Greenhaven Development Co, who own the land and have built cluster homes butting up against it in Lafayette Township. Medina has the land zoned as industrial, but if it was detached, Lafayette's zoning code would make it easier for the development to expand. The request was first heard at the Jan. 14 finance meeting, but was deferred twice to give council and the city administration time to research what the detachment would entail. Councilperson-at-large Bill Lamb said at the finance meeting that Medina has always been cooperative with the townships, but that the detachment would have no gain for the city. He said detaching would mean Medina giving up a piece of industrial property for no gain. "Why would you give away a piece of industrial property," Lamb said. The parcel of land does not currently have road access, but is directly adjacent to the land owned by Sealy Mattress. The land also contains part of the Medina City railroad, and an inactive rail spur that leads into Sealy's property. Council expressed that detaching the land would stop Sealy or any other company that owned Sealy's land in the future from expanding. Scheetz stated to council that in the 16 years his client has owned the land, they haven't received an inquiry to buy it. He said while the development wouldn't have a direct positive impact for the city, it would have a positive impact for the county. He said to council that homes built on the property would bring tax dollars to the Medina City School District, and that the development would also donate land to the Medina County Parks District to be used as a parking lot for its bike trail. "Your only looking at your city," Scheetz said to council. "It's supposed to be about the whole county and the synergy of everything going on." The issue was also raised that the built homes would be bordering industry lots in Medina. Ward 1 councilperson Bob Starcher addressed this issue, saying he did not want to risk the potential of industry moving into the land around the development, leading to noise complaints by the residents. Starcher used a personal example to illustrate how problems of this nature already exist in his ward. "When I moved in my house in 1978, Progress Drive wasn't there," Starcher said. "And everything I heard after that was 'There's nothing that can go in there because of the Columbia Gas line, so they can't put in anything heavy. Well you fast forward to now, I have not one but two concrete crushers in my backyard in Patriot's Way Development." While the proposed housing would be in Lafayette Township, Mayor Dennis Hanwell said that since the Medina Police Department serves Lafayette Township, the city would ultimately be using its resources to deal with the complaints. Congressperson-at-large Paul Rose said that while the land has gone a long time without being developed as industry, future plans by the county to extend Wycliff Drive into Lake Road would give the land access to the roads, making it more valuable since it will not be landlocked. "I don't think we should be giving away potentially valuable industrial land," Rose said. City council also voted to keep their salaries the same after 2021. The current ordinance passed in 2017 set the salaries for council until 2021, but did not formally say what would happen after. Council voted at the finance committee to amend the ordinance, making it so that the 2021 salaries would carry over until amended. For 2019, the Ward 1, Ward 3 and Paul Rose's At-Large seat will make $7,920, while the Ward 2, Ward 4 and Bill Lamb's At-Large position is set at $6,000 a year. The 2017 ordinance made it so all council members will make the same, making $8,760 in 2020, and $9,180 in 2021. The council president will make $9,000 in 2019, $13,140 in 2020 and $13,776 in 2021. SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio -- City Council President Dennis Fiorelli said Monday that he is looking for his council colleagues to determine "by budget time" the percentage by which the city's income tax credit could be reduced. Council has been considering for some time reducing the .75-percent income tax credit now afforded to residents who work outside the city as a means to raise needed revenue. City leaders say $2.8 million per year will be needed to make ends meet, and a reduction of the tax credit to 0 percent would yield about $2.27 million annually. Council has considered having residents pay for their own trash collection to make up the difference. It was earlier thought that council would make a decision on the amount of the tax credit rollback by its Jan. 28 meeting, but that date went by without a vote on the matter. "I'm not as interested in the timing as making the right decision," Fiorelli said. As council considers the rollback, it also has begun the process of determining the city's 2019, which must be turned in to the state of Ohio by April 1. "We still have to talk to the department heads about their budgets," Fiorelli said. "I'd like to hear what they want before deciding on what we need (after a tax credit reduction)." Council members have mixed opinions as to how much they should reduce the tax credit. Council can reduce the tax credit percentage without a vote of residents. Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Frank, who chairs council's Finance Committee has recommended reducing the tax credit to 0 percent. "(Reducing to 0 percent) doesn't get us where we need to be, but it gets us a lot closer," Frank said. Frank said that of the 343 communities serviced by the Regional Income Tax Agency (RITA), 134 have a 0 percent tax credit. Fiorelli, however, said that in Greater Cleveland, South Euclid, at 0 percent, would join only East Cleveland as communities with no tax credit and an income tax rate of at least 2 percent. Many of the communities with a 0-percent tax credit, have a lower income tax rate. Ward 3 Councilwoman Sara Continenza has urged council to not reduce the credit to 0 percent, but to .125 percent. At .125 percent, the city would take in about $1.87 million of the $2.8 million needed. Continenza reasons that, at .125 percent, residents would not have to see the credit reduced to nothing. Meanwhile, Ward 1 Councilwoman Ruth Gray, suggested that, before deciding on a percentage, that the city should look again at the cuts Mayor Georgine Welo said would be necessary if more revenues were not raised. In early January, Welo said that if more money were not gained, 10 firefighters and four police officers would lose their jobs, while another three officers that should be hired won't be added to the SEPD. Additionally, Welo said, a stop would be put to curbside leaf pickup. "I don't like the proposed cuts," Gray said. "If we're cutting the budget, we're cutting the safety forces. "I would like to see other cuts in other areas, so everybody feels the pain." Frank said that cuts are heavily slanted towards safety forces because those employees, in total, account for 70 percent of the budget. "We don't have many other employees," said Ward 4 Councilwoman Jane Goodman said of other possible job cuts. "I'm not liking 0 percent, but we have to do what's best," Fiorelli said. At Monday's regular council meeting, resident Dennis Silsby urged council to approve now the reduction in tax credit to 0 percent. "I feel there's a need for urgency on this whole matter," Silsby said. "We need the money. The sooner you do it, the sooner the money starts coming in." Resident Linda Pagon agreed that council should reduce the tax credit to 0 percent, while fellow resident Steven Zilber was against the tax credit reduction. Fiorelli expressed concern that, if council reduces the tax credit, voters may respond in November by voting down the upcoming safety levy renewal. In November, 2020, voters will be asked to approve a road levy renewal. In its committee meeting, council did agree on ordinance language that would ensure the tax credit would be fully restored if, in the future, voters pass an income tax increase that generates the same or more revenue as the rollback. Council's Committee-of-the-Whole will next meet to discuss reducing the tax credit at 6 p.m. Feb. 18 on the second floor of city hall, 1349 S. Green Road. Regulating nicotine sales Council's Safety Committee will meet at 7 p.m. March 11 to discuss the city's regulations pertaining to the sales of nicotine products. SEPD Chief Kevin Nietert asked that council look over and amend the city's ordinances at a time when many alternative nicotine products are for sale in local stores. A proposed change in the ordinance states that an alternative nicotine product is defined as "an electronic cigarette or any other product or device that consists of or contains nicotine that can be ingested into the body by any means." Electronic cigarettes are those that produce "a vapor that delivers nicotine or any other substance to the person inhaling from the device to simulate smoking." Another ordinance concerning nicotine reaffirms the ordinance that makes it illegal to sell cigarettes individually. CLEVELAND, Ohio Pastina in Mentor and Blue Canyon Kitchen & Tavern in Twinsburg have wine dinners coming up, Heinens is featuring Niagara Peninsula wines, National Margarita Day is set, and many other events are planned in Northeast Ohio. Deadline to send info on wine events is Thursday; email me. Most dinners do not include tax & tip. Always check on availability. Related coverage: 29 memorable Valentine's Day dining experiences in Greater Cleveland February Tuesday, Feb. 12: L'Albatros Brasserie will hold a six-course dinner featuring Domaine Chanson wines at 6:30 p.m. The winery is located in a region about 170 miles southeast of Paris. Vincent Wallays, export director for the winery, will guide the tasting. Cal 216-791-7880. It's at 11401 Bellflower Road, Cleveland. Tuesday, Feb. 12: Rozi's Wine House offers $2 off wine by the glass. It's at 14900 Detroit Ave., Lakewood. Tuesday, Feb. 12: Rosewood Grill in Strongsville offers half off all bottle selections under $100, excluding sparkling and featured selections. It's at 16740 Royalton Road. Tuesday, Feb. 12: The Wine Spots Bottle Days allows customers to buy and drink a bottle of wine off the shelf with a flat $5 corkage fee if drunk at the store, which is at 2271 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights. Wednesday, Feb. 13: Spice Kitchen + Bar's Wine Wednesday Dinner series on Napa Valley is sold out. Wednesday, Feb. 13: Rosewood Grill in Westlake offers half off all bottle selections under $100, excluding sparkling and featured selections. It's at 2033 Crocker Road. Wednesday, Feb. 13: M Italian offers half price bottles under $100. It's at 22 W. Orange St., Chagrin Falls. Thursday, Feb. 14: The Galaxy's Circle L Steakhouse offers discount bottle night. It's at 201 Park Center Dr., Wadsworth. Thursday, Feb. 14: Spice Kitchen + Bar will hold its first four-course Galentine's Day Wine Dinner 6:30-9:30 p.m. It will feature the three Cs: Caviar, Champagne and chocolate. Cost is $75. It's at 5800 Detroit Ave., Cleveland. Thursday, Feb. 14: Heinen's will hold Valentine's Day Wine Social at 5:30 p.m. Five special Valentines Day-inspired wines will be poured. Cost is $15. It's at 900 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. Thursday, Feb. 14: West Shore Wine Co. will feature wine and chocolates 6-8 p.m. Cost is $10 and includes six wines and food. It's at 21629 Center Ridge Road, Rocky River. Call 216-712-6400 to reserve a spot. Friday, Feb. 15: Delmonico's Steakhouse offers half off all Italian wines. It's at 6001 Quarry Lane, Independence. Friday, Feb. 15: Ten Vines and Wines Trail wineries will hold their annual Chocolate, Cheese and Wine celebration noon to 6 p.m. At each participating Northeast Ohio winery, travelers sample wines and munch on cheese or chocolate. At one designated winery, they will receive a box of Cleveland's Malley's Chocolates and a glass. Wineries will mark trail tickets, so travelers can stop during any (or as many) of the event's four days to complete the trail. This is the third of four days. Cost is $50 (couple), $40 (single). Reservations required; the event sells out. Call 440-466-4417 or go online for details on participating wineries. Friday, Feb. 15: Nuevo Cleveland will hold a Five-Course Bubbly Tasting and Food Pairing at 7 p.m. Cost is $60. It's at 1000 E. 9th St., Cleveland. To be poured: Marques de Gelida Brut Reserva Cava Rose. Marotti Campi NV Spumante Rosato Brut. 2015 Llopart Brut Rose Reserva. Champagne Collet NV Brut Rose. Elio Perrone Bigaro Rose. Friday, Feb. 15: Regency Wine Sellers and Bars weekly tasting is 6-8 p.m. Prices vary. Its at 115 Ghent Road near Ohio 18, Akron. Friday, Feb. 15: The Olde Wine Cellar will feature a blind tasting at 5 p.m. Cost is $15 and includes samples, tasting notes and cheese. It's at 7932 Main St., Olmsted Falls. Call 440-427-1222. Saturday, Feb. 16: Gervasi Vineyard will offer exclusive pairing tours at 3 and 4:30 p.m. Take a close-up tour of the winery and taste four 1-ounce pours paired with small bites. Cost is $19. Check in at The Crush House tasting bar 15 minutes prior to tour. Note: Winery temperatures are kept low. A jacket or sweater is recommended. Gervasi is at 1700 55th St. NE, Canton. Saturday, Feb. 16: Gervasi Vineyard will hold free 30-minute winery tours at noon, 1 and 2 p.m. beginning at The Crush House tasting bar. Gervasi is at 1700 55th St. NE, Canton. Saturday, Feb. 16: Ten Vines and Wines Trail wineries will hold their annual Chocolate, Cheese and Wine celebration noon to 6 p.m. At each participating Northeast Ohio winery, travelers sample wines and munch on cheese or chocolate. At one designated winery, they will receive a box of Cleveland's Malley's Chocolates and a glass. Wineries will mark trail tickets, so travelers can stop during any (or as many) of the event's four days to complete the trail. This is the fourth of four days. Cost is $50 (couple), $40 (single). Reservations required; the event sells out. Call 440-466-4417 or go online for details on participating wineries. Saturday, Feb. 16: Heinen's will hold a France vs. California wine battle at 1:30 p.m. The tasting will pit France's Nomine-Renard Champagnes against California's Schramsberg Vineyards. Cost is $30. It's at 900 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. Saturday, Feb. 16: The Olde Wine Cellar will feature a blind tasting at 11 a.m. Cost is $15 and includes samples, tasting notes and cheese. It's at 7932 Main St., Olmsted Falls. Call 440-427-1222. Saturday, Feb. 16: West Shore Wine Co. will feature wine and chocolates 3-6 p.m. Cost is $10 and includes six wines and food. It's at 21629 Center Ridge Road, Rocky River. Call 216-712-6400 to reserve a spot. Saturday, Feb. 16: Western Reserve Wines' regular Saturday tasting 2-5 p.m. will be focus on natural wines. Certified Wine Specialist Maggie Harrison will guide the tasting and talk about the natural-wine phenomenon. Cost is $10 and includes nibbles. It's at 28300 Miles Road, Solon. Sunday, Feb. 17: Murano - Modern Italian Cuisine & Social Wine Bar will hold its first Whiskey Class at 3 p.m. Learn about the history of bourbon, scotch and rye and how to make several cocktails. Small plates will be included. Cost is $60. Its at 1852 E. 6th St., Cleveland. Sunday, Feb. 17: Urban Farmer offers $25 bottles. Its at 1325 E. 6th St., Cleveland. Monday, Feb. 18: RSVP deadline for the M Cellars-Rennick Meat Market wine and dessert pairings tastings on Saturday, Feb. 23. Monday, Feb. 18: Rosewood Grill in Hudson offers half off all bottle selections under $100, excluding sparkling and featured selections. It's at 36 E. Streetsboro St. Tuesday, Feb. 19: The Wine Spots Bottle Days allows customers to buy and drink a bottle of wine off the shelf with a flat $5 corkage fee if drunk at the store, which is at 2271 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights. Wednesday, Feb. 20: North Coast Wine Club will feature Amarone/Appassimento for its monthly tasting 6:30-8 p.m. Cost is $30. The event is open to members and guests of members. It's at 30700 Bainbridge Road, Solon. Wednesday, Feb. 20: M Italian offers half price bottles under $100. It's at 22 W. Orange St., Chagrin Falls. Thursday, Feb. 21: Spice Kitchen + Bar's will hold its Winter Supper Club featuring a four-course dinner with its neighbor, Flight Cleveland wine bar. European wines will be poured. Cost is $100. It's at Flight, 5712 Detroit Ave., Cleveland. Thursday Feb. 21: The Little Birdie Wine Nest and CLE Cookie Dough Co. are holding a tasting and wine pairing 6-7 p.m., 7-8 p.m. and 8-9 p.m. Cost is $25 via eventbrite. It's at 6060 Broadview Road, Parma. Thursday, Feb. 21: The Galaxy's Circle L Steakhouse offers discount bottle night. It's at 201 Park Center Dr., Wadsworth. Thursday, Feb. 21: Blue Canyon Kitchen & Tavern will host a Copper Cane wine dinner at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $70. It's at 8960 Wilcox Dr., Twinsburg, 330-486-BLUE. To be served: Brut sparkling wine from California's Russian River Valley and four 2016 vintages of Chardonnay, two Pinot Noirs and Cabernet Sauvignon. Thursday, Feb. 21: The Galaxy will have a five-course dinner featuring Anderson's Conn Valley Vineyards of California at 7 p.m. A rep for the winery and Amy Arida of Cutting Edge Selections will guide the tasting. It's at 201 Park Center Dr., Wadsworth. Thursday, Feb. 21: Heinens will hold a Niagara Peninsula Wine Social at 5:30 p.m. Taste five wines from the Niagara Peninsula. Cost is $15 via eventbrite. Its at 900 Euclid Ave, Cleveland. Friday, Feb. 22: Mustard Seed Market & Cafe will offer a tour through Italy by tasting 20 wines 7-9 p.m. Cheeses, breads and apps with an Italian flair will be served. Cost is $35 via eventbrite. It's at 3885 West Market St., Akron. Friday, Feb. 22: The Olde Wine Cellar will feature Australian wines at 5 p.m. Cost is $15 and includes samples, tasting notes and cheese. It's at 7932 Main St., Olmsted Falls. Call 440-427-1222. Friday, Feb. 22: National Margarita Day. The Great Margarita Toast at Margaritaville takes place at 5 p.m. Also: A.J. Rocco's, Wilbert's, City Tap, Harry Buffalo, Corner Alley, Zocola and Wild Eagle will hold a winter warmer bar hop. Cost is $25 and includes a Gateway Margarita Day hoodie plus Margarita and food specials. Friday, Feb. 22: Rozis Wine House will hold a tasting featuring wines from Rutherford Ranch of California and beer from Masthead Brewing Co. of Cleveland 6-8 p.m. Cost is $25. Its at 14900 Detroit Ave., Lakewood. Friday, Feb. 22: A Bourbon and Whiskey Tasting at Vault is set for 6 p.m. The three-hour tasting will cover an array of bourbon and whiskey brands, and masterfully crafted small bites. Cost is $50 (VIP is sold out). It's at 2017 E. 9th St., Cleveland. Saturday, Feb. 23: The Olde Wine Cellar will feature Australian wines at 11 a.m. Cost is $15 and includes samples, tasting notes and cheese. It's at 7932 Main St., Olmsted Falls. Call 440-427-1222. Saturday, Feb. 23: Gervasi Vineyard will offer exclusive pairing tours at 3 and 4:30 p.m. Take a close-up tour of the winery and taste four 1-ounce pours paired with small bites. Cost is $19. Check in at The Crush House tasting bar 15 minutes prior to tour. Note: Winery temperatures are kept low. A jacket or sweater is recommended. Gervasi is at 1700 55th St. NE, Canton. Saturday, Feb. 23: Gervasi Vineyard will hold free 30-minute winery tours at noon, 1 and 2 p.m. beginning at The Crush House tasting bar. Gervasi is at 1700 55th St. NE, Canton. Saturday, Feb. 23: Royal Park Fine Wines will hold a tasting of California wines from Beringer 5-7 p.m. Teresa Budinsky of Beringer Vineyards will guide the tasting. Cost is $25. It's at 12700 Royalton Road, North Royalton. Call 440-582-8766. To be served: Napa/Carneros Chard, $20.99 Distinction Luminus, $29.99 Private Reserve Chardonnay, $45.99 Sonoma Pinot Noir $24.99 Knights Valley Cab, $29.99 Quantum Red Blend, $45.99 Private Reserve Cabernet, $169.99 Brothers Bourbon Barrel Aged Red Blend, $14.99 Saturday, Feb. 23: M Cellars will hold a wine and dessert pairing with Rennick Meat Market at 11 a.m. Cost is $35. It's at 6193 S. River Road, Geneva. To be served: Passion fruit and meringue tart with Brut Rose. Fruit "minestrone" with Gewurztraminer. Chocolate black-pepper pastille with Pinot Noir. Saturday, Feb. 23: Western Reserve Wines' regular Saturday tasting 2-5 p.m. will be focus on new French finds. Barbara Kelly from Vanguard Wines will guide the tasting. Cost is $10 and includes nibbles. It's at 28300 Miles Road, Solon. Sunday, Feb. 24: Urban Farmer offers $25 bottles. Its at 1325 E. 6th St., Cleveland. Monday, Feb. 25: Edwins Restaurant will hold The Butcher Goes to Bordeaux, a five-course exploration of all things beef paired with wines from France's Bordeaux region at 6 p.m. Complimentary valet available. Tickets are $125. Call 216-921-3333 to reserve. It's at 13101 Shaker Square, Cleveland. Monday, Feb. 25: Deadline for Pastina's five-course wine dinner on Feb. 25. Call 440-255-3117. It's at 9354 Mentor Ave., Mentor. Tuesday, Feb. 26: The Wine Spots Bottle Days allows customers to buy and drink a bottle of wine off the shelf with a flat $5 corkage fee if drunk at the store, which is at 2271 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights. Wednesday, Feb. 27: M Italian offers half price bottles under $100. It's at 22 W. Orange St., Chagrin Falls. Thursday, Feb. 28: The Galaxy's Circle L Steakhouse offers discount bottle night. It's at 201 Park Center Dr., Wadsworth. Saturday, Feb. 28: Western Reserve Wines' Pop-Up tasting features the wines of Enoteca de Rham of Florence with Barbara de Rham. Cost is $15. Reservations are not necessary. Stop in anytime between 5 and 7 p.m. Cheeses, crackers and nibbles will be served. It's at 28300 Miles Road, Solon. Thursday, Feb. 28: Pastina is hosting a five-course wine dinner in partnership with The Ohio Grape Industries Committee (Ohio Wines) at 6:30 p.m. with Urban Vintner. Cost is $75. Call 440-255-3117 for pre-paid reservations until Monday, Feb. 25. It's at 9354 Mentor Ave., Mentor. March Saturday, March 2: Gervasi Vineyard will offer exclusive pairing tours at 3 and 4:30 p.m. Take a close-up tour of the winery and taste four 1-ounce pours paired with small bites. Cost is $19. Check in at The Crush House tasting bar 15 minutes prior to tour. Note: Winery temperatures are kept low. A jacket or sweater is recommended. Gervasi is at 1700 55th St. NE, Canton. Saturday, March 2: Gervasi Vineyard will hold free 30-minute winery tours at noon, 1 and 2 p.m. beginning at The Crush House tasting bar. Gervasi is at 1700 55th St. NE, Canton. Sunday, March 3: Urban Farmer offers $25 bottles. Its at 1325 E. 6th St., Cleveland. Wednesday, March 6: M Italian offers half price bottles under $100. It's at 22 W. Orange St., Chagrin Falls. Saturday, March 9: Gervasi Vineyard will offer exclusive pairing tours at 3 and 4:30 p.m. Take a close-up tour of the winery and taste four 1-ounce pours paired with small bites. Cost is $19. Check in at The Crush House tasting bar 15 minutes prior to tour. Note: Winery temperatures are kept low. A jacket or sweater is recommended. Gervasi is at 1700 55th St. NE, Canton. Saturday, March 9: Gervasi Vineyard will hold free 30-minute winery tours at noon, 1 and 2 p.m. beginning at The Crush House tasting bar. Gervasi is at 1700 55th St. NE, Canton. Wednesday, March 13: Spice Kitchen + Bar's monthly Wine Wednesday Dinner Series celebrates Spanish wines 6:30-9:30 p.m. The five-course meal will pair half-glasses of wine. Cost is $125. It's at 5800 Detroit Ave., Cleveland. Wednesday, March 20: North Coast Wine Club will feature Gewurztraminer for its monthly tasting 6:30-8 p.m. Cost is $20. The event is open to members and guests of members. It's at 30700 Bainbridge Road, Solon. Thursday, March 21: Spice Kitchen + Bar's quarterly Seasons of Change dinner series will focus on seasonal cuisine 6:30-9:30 p.m. The four-course tasting menu will be paired with wine. Cost is $75. It's at 5800 Detroit Ave., Cleveland. Thursday, March 21: Forage Public House is holding More Than A Whiskey Dinner at 7 p.m. It's whiskey and barrel-aged beer paired with food. Cost is $75. It's at 14600 Detroit Ave., Lakewood. Friday, March 22: Greater Cleveland Aquarium's Adult Swim will feature Ohio wines and beer 7-10 p.m. Cost is $40 ($30 for aquarium passholders, $20 for designated drivers). Includes light hors doeuvres, 20 tasting tickets and souvenir tasting glass. Tastings sell out. It's at 2000 Sycamore St., Cleveland. April Tuesday, April 9: Pier W. will hold a dinner featuring wines of Macedonia at 6 p.m. Wines from Chateau Kamnik Winery will be served. Cost is $95. Call 216-228-2250. It's at 12700 Lake Ave., Lakewood. All the wines to be poured are from Macedonian capital, Skopje: 2014 Sparkling Rose, Pinot Noir/Montepulciano/Sangiovese. 2017 Temjanika. 2013 Grand Reserva Terroir. 2013 Euphoria, Late Harvest Temjanika. Wednesday, April 17: Spice Kitchen + Bar's monthly Wine Wednesday Dinner Series celebrates wines of the Loire Valley 6:30-9:30 p.m. The five-course meal will pair half-glasses of wine. Cost is $115. It's at 5800 Detroit Ave., Cleveland. Wednesday, April 17: North Coast Wine Club will feature Sangiovese for its monthly tasting 6:30-8 p.m. Cost is $20. The event is open to members and guests of members. It's at 30700 Bainbridge Road, Solon. May Saturday, May 11: The Wine Spot will hold a Rose tasting part one 1-4 p.m. It's at 2271 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights. Wednesday, May 15: North Coast Wine Club will feature Rose for its monthly tasting 6:30-8 p.m. Cost is $20. The event is open to members and guests of members. It's at 30700 Bainbridge Road, Solon. Saturday, May 18: The Wine Spot will hold a Rose tasting part two 1-4 p.m. It's at 2271 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights. Tuesday, May 21: The Wine Spot will hold a vertical tasting of six wines from L'Ecole Ferguson Vineyard of Washington State 6:30-8:30 p.m. Jeff Von Bargen from L'Ecole will guide the side-by-side tasting. Cost is $60 ($50, Wine Spot club members). It's at 2271 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights. Wednesday, May 22: The Wine Spot will hold a tasting of wines from L'Ecole Ferguson Vineyard of Washington State 6:30-8:30 p.m. It's at 2271 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights. June Wednesday, June 12: Spice Kitchen + Bar's monthly Wine Wednesday Dinner Series will focus on the Finger Lakes region of New York 6:30-9:30 p.m. The five-course meal will pair half-glasses of wine. Cost is $115. It's at 5800 Detroit Ave., Cleveland. Thursday, June 13: Thirsty Dog Brewing Co. will hold a dinner-pairing series 6-8 p.m. Tonight: Dewar's Aged Scotch Dinner. It's at 587 Grant St., Akron. Wednesday, June 19: North Coast Wine Club will feature Sauvignon Blanc for its monthly tasting 6:30-8 p.m. Cost is $20. The event is open to members and guests of members. It's at 30700 Bainbridge Road, Solon. July Wednesday, July 24: Spice Kitchen + Bar's monthly Wine Wednesday Dinner Series celebrates Australian wines 6:30-9:30 p.m. The five-course meal will pair half-glasses of wine. Cost is $115. It's at 5800 Detroit Ave., Cleveland. August Saturday, Aug. 10: Thirsty Dog Brewing Co. will hold a dinner-pairing series 6-8 p.m. Tonight: Tequila. It's at 587 Grant St., Akron. Wednesday, Aug. 14: Spice Kitchen + Bar's monthly Wine Wednesday Dinner Series celebrates wines of France's Rhone Valley 6:30-9:30 p.m. The five-course meal will pair half-glasses of wine. Cost is $115. It's at 5800 Detroit Ave., Cleveland. September Friday, Sept. 20: Greater Cleveland Aquarium's Adult Swim will feature fall wines 7-10 p.m. Cost is $40 ($30 for aquarium passholders, $20 for designated drivers). Includes light hors doeuvres, 20 tasting tickets and souvenir tasting glass. Tastings sell out. It's at 2000 Sycamore St., Cleveland. October Wednesday, Oct. 9: Spice Kitchen + Bar's monthly Wine Wednesday Dinner Series celebrates wines of Burgundy 6:30-9:30 p.m. The five-course meal will pair half-glasses of wine. Cost is $125. It's at 5800 Detroit Ave., Cleveland. Saturday, Oct. 26: Thirsty Dog Brewing Co. will hold a dinner-pairing series 6-8 p.m. Tonight: Four Roses Bourbon. It's at 587 Grant St., Akron. November Thursday, Nov. 21: Thirsty Dog Brewing Co. will hold a dinner-pairing series 6-8 p.m. Tonight: Calling All Bourbon Lovers. It's at 587 Grant St., Akron. Saturday, Nov. 23: Greater Cleveland Aquariums Adult Swim will feature Christmas ales and ciders 7-10 p.m. Cost is $40 ($30 for aquarium passholders, $20 for designated drivers). Includes light hors doeuvres, 20 tasting tickets and souvenir tasting glass. Tastings sell out. Its at 2000 Sycamore St., Cleveland. BEACHWOOD, Ohio - Students at Beachwood High School had an opportunity to play along side members of the touring Miss Saigon orchestra, as well as cast members, Tuesday morning at the high school. Lisa Goldman, orchestra director at the school, brought in the Miss Saigon cast and orchestra to work with her students and talk to them about life as a musician, especially that of a touring cast member. Goldmans daughter, Molly, plays viola in the touring orchestra and was instrumental in getting the members to join her in working with the students. Miss Saigon is currently playing through February 17th at the State Theater in Cleveland before heading to Charlotte and beyond. The show is based on Puccinis opera Madam Butterfly and takes place in Saigon during the Vietnam War. MANSFIELD, Ohio An Ohio State University student and the man suspected of abducting her at gunpoint from the universitys Mansfield campus were found dead after a car chase and officer-involved shooting in Kentucky. Skylar Williams, 20, of Mansfield, and Tyrell Pounds, 24, of Mansfield, each died in the shooting that occurred about 3:30 p.m. along Interstate 71 in Oldham County, located just northeast of Louisville, Kentucky State Police said in a news release. A trooper heard a gunshot as he approached the car Pounds was driving. The trooper then shot into the car and struck Pounds, killing him, the news release says. The news release did not specify who shot Williams. Oldham County EMS took her to University of Louisville Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the news release says. Williams and Pounds had a child together, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said. The child was safe with family members when Williams was abducted. A witness in Kentucky called 911 just before 3:30 p.m. Monday to say that she saw a man forcing a distressed woman into a dark-colored Dodge Caravan at a gas station in Gallatin County, located northeast of Oldham County. The woman appeared to be asking for help before the car sped away toward I-71. Troopers spotted the Caravan in the nearby Henry County and tried to stop it. Pounds refused to stop and led troopers on a chase into the neighboring Oldham County. Troopers also tried to use stop sticks, but Pounds avoided them. Pounds exited the highway at Exit 14 to Pee Wee Valley and Crestwood, then crossed Highway 29 and tried to re-enter I-71. A Kentucky State Police cruiser performed a legal intervention stop to prevent Pounds from getting back onto the highway. The trooper got out of his cruiser to apprehend Pounds when he heard a gunshot. The trooper drew his own gun and fired into the Caravan. The news release does not say how many gunshots the trooper fired into the Caravan. The Kentucky State Polices Critical Incident Response Team is investigating the officer-involved shooting, the news release says. Pounds and Williams were spotted in Kentucky roughly four hours after he abducted her at gunpoint from OSUs Mansfield campus, authorities said. Williams was standing in a parking lot about 11:45 a.m. when Williams approached her. He forced her into a car at gunpoint, OSUs Department of Safety said in a news release. Pounds later abandoned that car and stole the Caravan, authorities said. To comment on this story, visit Tuesdays crime and courts comments page. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A retired Summit County judge who oversaw the 2014 domestic assault case of disgraced former Cuyahoga County judge Lance Mason has been appointed to oversee the cases of three people indicted in an ongoing corruption investigation. Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen OConnor on Monday appointed Patricia Cosgrove to take over the cases of the countys Chief Talent Officer Douglas Dykes, former Director of Corrections Kenneth Mills, and former IT administrator Emily McNeeley. The move comes after Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Nancy Fuerst stepped aside from the case late Friday and requested that Administrative Judge John J. Russo ask the states high court to appoint a visiting judge to avoid appearance of any conflict with the judges of the general division of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, and in the interest of justice," she wrote in a journal entry. Fuerst drew scrutiny after she took the random assignment to oversee the cases. She reversed her decision after a review of the case," she wrote. Cosgrove has been tapped as a visiting judge in a number of cases around Ohio after she retired from the Summit County Common Pleas Court bench in 2011. She is currently overseeing two other active cases in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. She sentenced Mason to two years in prison in 2015 for brutally attacking his wife at the time, Aisha Fraser. She also granted his release from prison in 2016, after he served about nine months of his sentence. Mason is now charged with aggravated murder in Frasers November stabbing death at his home in Shaker Heights. He has pleaded not guilty. Cosgrove told WKYC Channel 3 that Fraser had no opposition to her decision to grant Masons early release. Cosgrove will be the second outside judge connected to the Cuyahoga County corruption investigation. Peter Handwork, a judge in the Ohio 6th District Court of Appeals in Toledo, has been overseeing the special grand jury that has been conducting the investigation and handed up last months indictments of Dykes, McNeeley and Mills. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael OMalley handed oversight of the criminal case over to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yosts office due to a conflict between his duties to investigate criminal activity, and to represent the county against a civil lawsuit filed in federal court over conditions in the Cuyahoga County Jail. To comment on this story, please visit Mondays crime and courts comments page. CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- With formation of a new municipal Community Improvement Corporation in the works, Vice Mayor Melissa Yasinow is already looking into a student loan assistance grant program as a potential spinoff. Yasinow has asked the administration to research the possibility of attracting young professionals to buy homes here, using the newly-enacted program in Newburgh Heights as a model. Village officials in Newburgh can use their Community Improvement Corporation as a conduit through which half of a homeowner's student loans can be paid off -- good for up to $50,000, as long as the home remains owner-occupied for 15 years, or an 80 percent payout for 10-year occupancy. Yasinow would like to see terms and requirements along those lines, although she has also suggested a "tiered" model similar to Cleveland Heights' citywide Community Reinvestment Area, enacted by council and approved by the state last year. Under that proposal, the payout could potentially be higher in targeted neighborhoods where the city wants people to invest, such as Taylor and Noble roads. However, the operative word for the basic student loan incentives would still be "citywide" -- just like the CRA. "We have such a large number of college students in town," Yasinow noted. "I'd like to see how it might be applicable here as a long-term investment and a means to attract and retain young professionals who move into Cleveland Heights with student loan debt." Newburgh Heights officials expect the program to pay for itself with the money collected from local income taxes, as well as improve the village's housing stock -- strategic goals shared by the much larger Cleveland Heights. But without getting ahead of themselves, Cleveland Heights city officials will still need to establish their own Community Improvement Corporation. Proposed legislation has already been drafted and could be approved as early as Feb. 19 in order to augment the acquisition efforts of the city's Community Development Corporation that was formed last year with the local nonprofit Future Heights. "The CIC will help to facilitate the transfer of properties to our partners with greater flexibility and frequency," a recent administrative outline to council stated. In addition to Future Heights, which will receive $70,000 annually from the city in a two-year deal running into next year, those "CDC" partners include the Home Repair Resource Center and Start Right Ministry. As part of its contract with the city -- separate from the roughly $30,000 it has been receiving through federal Community Development Block Grants in recent years -- Future Heights agreed to rehab 12 homes over two years. If approved, the new Community Improvement Corporation would "help to facilitate the transfer of vacant or tax delinquent properties to our partners with greater flexibility and frequency," a recent update to council states, also mentioning assistance from the Cuyahoga County Land Bank. In the draft legislation, the Community Improvement Corporation would be governed by a five-member board consisting of the city manager (president), mayor (vice president), the chair of council's Planning and Development Committee, the city housing director, and an appointment by the city manager. Along with researching a student loan assistance grant program, Yasinow has also asked city staff to consider making Election Day in November a paid holiday for city employees. This could encourage voter participation among Cleveland Heights city workers, Yasinow reasoned. She noted that Sandusky recently switched from having Columbus Day as a paid holiday in the city to Election Day. The problem in Cleveland Heights is that city workers do not get Columbus Day off, City Manager Tanisha Briley noted, calling council's further discussion of other aspects in the proposal an "interesting rabbit hole." Another request from Yasinow on Feb. 4 involved a study of extending a universal paid family leave policy to all city employees, not just the union members who have it in their collective bargaining agreements. CLEVELAND, Ohio City Council approved two labor contracts Monday with unions representing Cleveland workers, bringing to 25 the number of city unions that now have a $15 minimum wage in their contracts. The agreements approved Monday cover chief dispatchers and civilian personnel in the Cleveland Police Department. Approval of these agreements leaves five more to be completed for the city to reach Mayor Frank Jacksons goal of a minimum hourly wage of $15 for all city employees. Jackson set a $15 hourly minimum for non-union employees last year. What is Jacksons plan? The mayor announced in 2017 that the city should establish a $15 minimum hourly wage as an effort to help lower-wage workers better make ends meet. "There's been more and more tax relief on the affluent and more and more tax burdens on the poor, particularly the working poor," Jackson said at the time. "When you don't have a lot of money ... just a few dollars can make a big difference." Jacksons plan was to offer the $15 minimum to lower-pay classifications in exchange for commitment by the unions to accept three-year contracts with no raise in the first year and 2 percent raises in each of the subsequent years. Among the city workforce of more than 7,000 employees, about 500 workers will be affected by the policy change. What about a citywide minimum wage? Jacksons announcement raised some eyebrows because he had opposed a hotly debated proposal by Raise Up Cleveland and the Service Employees International Union to establish a $15 minimum wage for both public and private employers citywide. The mayor and City Council President Kevin Kelley argued that requiring employers across the city to all pay $15 an hour, when the same laws would not apply outside of Cleveland, would hurt the city economically. Jackson has supported raising the minimum wage statewide, though. CLEVELAND, Ohio The Cleveland Clinic in January raised its minimum wage for employees, known as caregivers, to $14 per hour. By 2020, the health system will increase that to $15 per hour. But that raise doesnt apply to all Clinic workers. A small group of unionized employees at Cleveland Clinic Lutheran Hospital and Cleveland Clinic Childrens are excluded. The Clinic says any talks about raising hourly rates for those represented by SEIU District 1199 will need to be addressed when their contract is reopened for negotiation in early 2020. The SEIU, however, argues that its members should receive equal compensation. Destiny Bates, who works as a housekeeper at Cleveland Clinic Lutheran, saw her coworkers at the hospital get a raise in January and expected to get one, as well. When the extra money didnt come, she started asking questions. I thought it did apply to us at first. When I had noticed that it didnt apply to us, I went straight to my union reps, Bates said. I just felt like it wasnt fair. Everybody should be involved in the raises. Dr. Tom Mihaljevic, Clinic president and CEO, announced the plan to raise the health systems minimum wage via an op-ed column in The Plain Dealer in December. The Clinic raised the hourly rate for about 1,900 employees in January and plans to increase it to $15 for 2,900 employees in 2020. About 90 employees of the SEIU who make less than $14 are not included in those figures. We welcome the discussion about a wage increase with them but those are not standalone negotiated items, said Eileen Sheil, executive director of corporate communications for the Clinic. Sheil said raises cant be done in isolation because they are tied into benefits and salary schedules, all of which have to be negotiated. We absolutely expect that that will be on the table, Sheil said. But employees like Bates dont want to wait to get the same compensation as their peers; a raise would be helpful now. That would be great right now. Im trying to get my own place, said Bates, who supports, with the help of her mom, her two children, her younger sister and her grandmother on her $13.85 hourly wage. With me and my mom, it goes a little ways, but we still struggle, said Bates. Anthony Caldwell, director of politics, policy, communications and research for SEIU District 1199, said its hypocritical of the Clinic to raise its wages for one group of employees and not another. It is generally understood that the Cleveland Clinic is doing well financially, especially with recent news of their expansion in Abu Dhabi, London and other places around the globe. Yet, they refuse to do the right thing and lift up a small group of their caregivers to the minimum standard, Caldwell said. The Clinic had operating income of $328 million in 2017, an increase of 35 percent from the previous year. The systems 2018 numbers havent yet been released. The Clinic in 2015 raised its minimum wage to $12 per hour. The federal minimum wage is $7.25. Nationwide, there has been a push to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour, including in the healthcare industry. Allegheny Health Network and UPMC in Pittsburgh both will raise their minimum wage to $15 by 2021, and Duke University Health System in North Carolina will increase its minimum wage to $15 by 2019. CLEVELAND, Ohio Allegiant Air will start flying between Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and Nashville starting May 16. The flight will run twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays. The carrier is celebrating the announcement with an introductory fare of $49 one way, on some dates. (Fare sales must be purchased by Feb. 13; for details: allegiant.com.) This is the second announcement in the past month for Allegiants Cleveland service. In January, the carrier announced new routes between Cleveland and Charleston, South Carolina, and Norfolk, Virginia. Those routes start in June. The new flights to and from Nashville dont have consistent departure times; depending on the date, some leave in the morning and some in the afternoon. Nashville will be Allegiants 11th destination from Cleveland. The carrier has added and subtracted numerous destinations since it started flying from Cleveland Hopkins in 2017. Among the recently dropped routes: service to Austin, Texas, and Fort Lauderdale. We are thrilled that Allegiant continues to grow in Cleveland, said Robert Kennedy, Cleveland Hopkins airport director. Their new service connects the city of Rock and Roll with Music City, giving residents of both cities a chance to immerse themselves in rich musical culture and history. Southwest Airlines also flies between Nashville and Cleveland Hopkins. Allegiant is considered an ultra-low-cost carrier, with low base fares and extra fees tacked on for amenities including advanced seat assignments, carry-on bags and beverages. The carrier targets leisure travelers, with flights geared toward weekend travel. The carrier recently phased out its fleet of aging MD-80 planes, replacing them with newer Airbus aircraft, and has been in expansion mode as it adds airplanes. In recent years, the carriers safety record has been the subject of media reports, which largely focused on the age and maintenance of Allegiants aircraft. BRECKSVILLE, Ohio - The mayor of Brecksville will earn $115,000 starting in January 2020, an increase of 4.5 percent over the mayor's current salary of $110,000. The mayor will receive an additional increase of $2,000, or 1.7 percent, in January 2022, under legislation City Council approved in January. However, it's uncertain who will hold the office of mayor when the raises take effect. Mayor Jerry Hruby told cleveland.com last week that he hasn't decided whether he will seek re-election this November. Hruby is one of the longest-serving mayors in Greater Cleveland, having first taken office in 1988. A 2015 cleveland.com series on mayoral salaries found that he was also among the higher-paid suburban mayors. Council President Michael Harwood, in an email to cleveland.com, said the Brecksville charter requires council to review the mayor's salary periodically. He said council's review included a look at what mayors earn in "similar communities." According to a spreadsheet council used in its review, 2019 base salaries are $90,000 for Bay Village Mayor Paul Koomar; $155,000 for Beachwood Mayor Martin Horwitz; $111,292 for Broadview Heights Mayor Sam Alai; $169,139 for Middleburg Heights Mayor Matthew Castelli; and $72,500 for Pepper Pike Mayor Richard Bain. In 2018, base salaries were $75,000 for Independence Mayor Anthony Togliatti; $150,000 for Strongsville Mayor Thomas Perciak; and $155,250 for Westlake Mayor Dennis Clough, according to the spreadsheet. Brecksville officials were unable to determine 2019 base salaries for Togliatti, Perciak and Clough. Brecksville council also looked at what Brecksville department heads are earning when considering the mayor's salary. According to city Finance Director Laura Starosta, base salaries are $106,121 for Police Chief William Goodrich, $104,040 for Fire Chief Nikola Zamiska, as well as for Starosta; and $98,291 for Purchasing Director Rebecca Riser. In addition to an annual salary, the city of Brecksville provides other benefits for the mayor, including: AKRON, Ohio -- Akron City Council voted Monday to approve Mayor Dan Horrigans plan for capital investment and community development, which totals $337 million, up from $330 million last year. The capital budget, formally known as the 2019 Capital Investment and Community Development program, provides a plan for investments in Akrons streets, sidewalks, parks, public facilities, police and fire services, economic development, housing and water and sewer infrastructure over the next year, the city said in a press release. The 2019 capital budget reflects $337 million in new investment in our infrastructure, neighborhoods, and public facilities that will enhance safety, transportation, housing, and quality of life and set the stage for job creation and population growth, Horrigan said in a statement. By efficiently leveraging state and federal funds, we will be able to make a significant impact in 2019, including our catalytic project to completely renovate Main Street downtown. The budget includes $187 million in state funding, $43 million in federal funding and $10 million in regional and private monies, the city said. Local funds of $97 million include $15.4 million generated from Issue 4, the .25% income tax increase passed in 2017. Issue 4 funds will be exclusively invested in police, fire and roadway improvements, the city said. The largest expenditure is $60 million in transportation projects, including $13.5 million for the TIGER grant-funded Main Street Corridor Project, $7.6 million for the Evans Avenue Bridge and $7 million to address deteriorated streets under the local resurfacing program. The 2019 capital budget also includes: Economic development projects: $11.4 million to reconstruct Romig Road and $3.1 million for the new Firestone Business Park Public safety: $5 million for the completion of Fire Station #2 and Fire Station #4, $4.3 million in new vehicles for police, fire and public works, including $1.2 million for a new 100-foot fire ladder truck Federally-mandated environmental enhancements including $91 million for combined sewer upgrades and $43 million in improvements to the Water Reclamation Facility $250,000 for additional snow and ice removal equipment $900,000 for housing and commercial building demolitions $550,000 to establish a fund for a new Akron police station to replace Stubbs Justice Center $300,000 to continue engagement of Akron residents through the Akron Parks Challenge competitive grant program. Grant awards from 2018 went to Cadillac Triangle, Chestnut Ridge and Reservoir Park $250,000 of community development funds to construct two water splash pads in North and South Akron neighborhoods $900,000 in support of Great Streets Akron, including capital improvements and facade grants to eligible businesses Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.coms Rubber City Daily, an email newsletter delivered at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. William Russell Allton was born in Dewey, Oklahoma on April 25, 1931 to Russell Frank and Alice Mae (Steffens) Allton. He attended school in Claremore and graduated with the class of 1948. On August 26, 1949 Bill married Jimmie Louise Reed and the couple made Tulsa home for the first 25 year The warning couldnt have been clearer. As PG&E Corp. plunged into bankruptcy last month, S&P Global Ratings slashed credit grades almost to junk status for Californias two other big electric utilities, owned by Sempra Energy and Edison International, and said they could go lower. The reason: inverse condemnation. Under the states view of this legal doctrine, utilities can be held liable for any fires sparked by their equipment, even if they follow every safety rule. With deadly blazes getting bigger and more common, Californias two remaining big power companies could be just one fire away from ruin. Now theyre urging lawmakers to do something about it, and fast. This is a really serious issue that could absolutely impair the health of utilities in this state, Pedro Pizarro, Edisons chief executive officer, said in an interview. I dont want to speculate about bankruptcy, but this is serious. And the current approach is just not sustainable. So far, a fix has proved elusive. But there are potential routes out of the morass. Legislation California lawmakers spent much of last year hunting for a solution. In August, they passed a bill designed to help utilities cover liabilities from a wave of fires in 2017. But it doesnt offer aid for 2018 fires, a critical issue after Novembers Camp Fire, the deadliest in state history. With PG&Es equipment seen as a possible ignition source, the company estimated it was facing $30 billion in wildfire liabilities when it filed for bankruptcy. Californias new governor, Gavin Newsom, assembled an advisory panel and told them to fast-track their efforts; he wants a report before July. Utilities and legislators are all offering ideas, but theres no guarantee theyll find a solution that will help the power companies without becoming a financial burden to the state, or raise the ire of ratepayers and voters. The inverse condemnation doctrine is rooted in Californias constitution, so any direct changes would require a constitutional amendment, according to the states legislative counsel office. An amendment would need to win two-thirds majorities in both the state Assembly and Senate, and then be approved by voters. Given the public anger at PG&E, that avenue is closed, legislators say. Theres no sense of anyone planning to do that, at least in the Democratic caucus, said state Senator Jerry Hill. New Standard The utilities say another option is for the legislature to change the way inverse condemnation is applied. Instead of using a standard of strict liability, the state could instead look at whether the utility acted reasonably in running its equipment. Theres a precedent for this: a 1997 state Supreme Court ruling that used this standard in a water-district case. Weve actually looked at this really closely, and we believe that under the law, yes, the legislature has the power to change that standard, Pizarro said. Were not looking to get off the hook here if were negligent. If were negligent, we should be held accountable. However, utilities already pitched this idea to Sacramento last year, with no success. Lawmakers said electric utilities and water districts were too different to make this a plausible connection. Compensation Fund Some legislators are focusing on alternative ways to compensate fire victims, easing the financial pressure on utilities. Assemblyman Chad Mayes in January introduced a bill to create a California Wildfire Catastrophe Fund. Utilities would pay into the fund annually, and a public authority would oversee it. The money would back bonds, and utilities could use the proceeds to settle wildfire claims. Many of the details need to be worked out, Mayes said. Can utilities pass on some of the costs to customers? If so, how much? Should the state seed the fund with money from its greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program? Still, Sacramento is committed to resolving the issue, because weve got to keep the lights on, he said. The idea is to pre-fund the disaster, not post-fund the disaster, said Mayes, a Republican representing desert communities around Palm Springs. With the law passed last year, we tried to post-fund the disaster. No Action Of course, theres always the chance the state could end up doing nothing at all. Nobody knows what Newsom will do, and when PG&E said it was preparing to file for bankruptcy, he took no public steps to stop it. But inaction would have a significant effect on the utilities and their customers. The ever-present risk of more fires means the companies credit ratings could be headed toward junk status, making it more expensive, or even impossible, for the companies to access capital. And higher borrowing costs would almost certainly lead to higher monthly bills. The rating agencies are looking at California now and saying, Theres just too much risk here, Pizarro said. Copyright 2021 Bloomberg. Louisianas largest auto insurer will cut its rates starting in April by an average of 3.2 percent for its roughly 1 million Louisiana policyholders. Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon announced the rate decrease for State Farm on Thursday. Its the companys third rate decrease in the past nine months, totaling a drop of 7.7 percent. The change, which will vary by policy, will go into effect April 1, and be applied to policies as they are renewed, The Advocate reported . These decreases are directly attributable to competition in the auto insurance marketplace and again demonstrates that competition is truly the best protection for policyholders, Donelon said in a statement. These reductions are welcome news for one-third of our states auto policyholders who are insured by State Farm and this action will pressure other insurers to take similar steps. State Farms latest move will have a $48 million total impact, according to a rate request filed with the insurance department. Last year, the company cut rates by 2.7 percent in July and again by 1.8 percent in September. The decreases come after State Farm raised rates by an average of 13.5 percent in 2017, and by 8 percent the year before. Louisianas high auto rates caused the Legislature to set up a task force to address the issue and make recommendations on how to lower consumer premiums. Donelon appointed the members of the task force, which include legislators, insurance company representatives, the trucking industry and trial lawyers. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. U.S. health officials are telling doctors to be on the lookout for a rare cancer linked to breast implants after receiving more reports of the disease. The Food and Drug Administration sent a letter Wednesday to family doctors, nurses and other health professionals warning about the form of lymphoma that affects breast implant patients. In suspected cases, the FDA recommends laboratory testing to confirm or rule out of the disease. Its the first time regulators have issued a direct warning to doctors other than plastic surgeons. The disease is not breast cancer, but usually forms in the scar tissue that forms around implants. The earliest signs of the disease are usually lumps, swelling and pain around the breasts. Patients will often seek care from their primary physicians, gynecologists or other health practitioners, rather than a plastic surgeon, FDA noted. Having everyone informed about this is in the best interest of the patient, said FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Caccomo. The cancer usually grows slowly and most patients are treated with surgery to remove the implant. The FDA has been tracking reports of the cancer for years and officially confirmed its link to breast implants in 2017. The latest update comes as health experts around the world attempt to gauge the cancers frequency and whether extra restrictions are warranted on certain types of breast implants. The FDA is holding a two-day meeting next month on the safety of breast implants. FDA officials said they have identified 457 likely cases of the cancer since 2010, including nine patient deaths. In each of these cases the disease was diagnosed by a physician or through laboratory testing. The FDA also said it received nearly 250 new reports of the disease in the last year, though many were duplicate reports or missing key information. The updated numbers still reflect a rare disease, considering 400,000 U.S. women receive implants annually. There is no firm agreement on the exact frequency of the disease, known as breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Published estimates ranging from 1 in 3,000 patients to 1 in 30,000 patients. The FDAs efforts to monitor problems with breast implants have long been hampered by its system for tracking injuries and malfunctions with medical devices. The decades-old electronic database relies on hand-typed submissions from companies, doctors, patients and lawyers that often include incomplete, unverified information. As a result, the FDA data is generally understood to be an incomplete snapshot of problems. The FDA warning applies to all types of breast implants; they contain either saline or silicone. Experts in the U.S. and abroad have focused on a particular style known as textured implants. They have a sandpaper-like coating, designed to keep the implants from shifting out of place. Those are a small segment of all breast implants used in the U.S., said Dr. Alan Matarasso, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. The vast majority if not all of the cases have been in patients that at some point had some form of a textured implant, Matarasso said. In November, French health regulators recommended surgeons stop implanting textured implants until more is known about their links to the lymphoma. They are meeting this week to discuss textured implants. Breast implants have long been subject to high rates of complications, including wrinkling, scarring, pain, swelling and implant rupture. The FDA estimates 1 in 5 women getting them for cosmetic reasons need to have them removed within 8 to 10 years. (The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.) Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. As North Dakotas Health Department enters the final stages of implementing a statewide distribution system for medical marijuana, state lawmakers are considering proposals that would make it easier for patients to get doctor approval for the drug. Medical marijuana advocates are applauding, especially after more than two years of waiting for the drug approved by voters in November 2016. At this point, well take anything that makes it easier for providers to certify any patient that they feel would benefit, said Anita Morgan, spokeswoman for North Dakota Compassionate Care, which pushed for legalization of medical marijuana. A proposal that appears headed for a floor vote in the House would add physician assistants to the list of medical professionals who can certify patients. The list currently includes physicians and advanced practice registered nurses. Another important proposed change would help ease the concerns of doctors who must give their approval before patients can get state-approved medical marijuana cards. The Health Department hopes to have medical marijuana dispensaries operating in the states eight major cities by fall. Medical marijuana grown at a state-approved Bismarck manufacturing facility could be available at either the Grand Forks or Fargo dispensary within weeks, according to Jason Wahl, director of the departments Medical Marijuana Division. The state estimates that as many as 4,000 residents will legally be using the drug by summer 2021. But so far, it has issued fewer than 100 medical marijuana cards to patients and caregivers. Applications have been accepted since late October. Medical marijuana advocates say finding doctors willing to certify patients has been a struggle. As somebody who worked really hard to get this approved, this is not what we wanted, said Sheri Paulson, who has multiple sclerosis. We were looking for something to help patients, and we still feel that was not obtained, and that breaks my heart. It shouldnt be such an uphill climb. The concerns of the medical community are many, including that marijuana can be addictive and can have adverse side effects, according to the American Medical Association. Medical marijuana also is still illegal under federal law. Doctors are largely protected from losing their Drug Enforcement Administration licenses to prescribe controlled drugs if they recommend marijuana to patients in good faith, but some doctors still dont want to deal with even the remotest risk of certifying a Schedule 1 drug, said Chris Meeker, chief medical officer in Bismarck for Sanford Health. The drugs status also has made it difficult to conduct medical research, he said, and a lot of the evidence is lacking in some of these areas for the efficacy of marijuana. Current state law requires doctors who certify a patient to assert that medical marijuana will help that person. Meeker and North Dakota Medical Association Executive Director Courtney Koebele say that puts many doctors in an uncomfortable ethical position. Theres not enough studies to ensure that it will be beneficial for a lot of people, Koebele said. The Legislature is considering removing that requirement, and allowing doctors to simply state that a patient has a medical condition that qualifies under the law. The less you require physicians to say about marijuana, the more likely they will be to certify patients, Meeker said. Wahl said the state Health Department supports removing the requirement, which Morgan called a poison pill. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Joan Heckaman, one of the sponsors of the legislation two years ago, said there was nothing nefarious about it. That provision and one requiring a continuing-care relationship between the certifying doctor and patient were added to protect patients, and were similar to what other states were doing, she said. Most medical marijuana states require certifying doctors to make some sort of statement about patient benefit, according to Marijuana Policy Project State Policies Director Karen OKeefe and National Conference of State Legislatures Behavioral Health Director Karmen Hanson. The whole point of getting the certification is that the doctor believes, yes, this may help, Hanson said. Other proposals in the North Dakota House would add edible products to the list of approved medical marijuana forms and would add to the list of approved medical conditions. Meeker said he would rather see the state list treatable symptoms rather than conditions, because this list will do nothing but continue to grow. Every two years, theres going to be an advocacy group at the Legislature saying, this should be added. Advocates would prefer that the Health Department be given some sort of authority to add qualifying illnesses as research advances, according to Morgan. You cant wait every other year for things to be added, she said. Lawmakers have killed a proposal to allow patients to grow their own marijuana, and theyre backing off on a proposal that would have removed the state requirement that a doctor who certifies a patient also be responsible for the patients continued treatment. Meeker said such a change could lead to marijuana mills, with transient doctors setting up temporary shops for the sole purpose of doling out patient approvals. It would be one step short of recreational marijuana, he said. OKeefe and Hanson said most medical marijuana states require some type of doctor-patient relationship, though Hanson said the level of North Dakotas requirement is on the high end. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. After Superstorm Sandy pummeled the New Jersey coast, then-Gov. Chris Christie set out to build protective sand dunes along most of the states 127-mile (204-kilometer) shoreline. Despite lawsuits from homeowners throughout the shore seeking to block the project, the state prevailed and much of the work has been done. But two recent jury awards in cases seeking compensation for beachfront property owners for the loss of part of their sand and oceanfront views have environmentalists worried that a wave of similar payouts could make it too costly for the state and federal governments to finish and maintain the dunes. Damage from Sandy was demonstrably less in areas that had sand dunes than in areas without them. In recent months, the owners of two homes in Point Pleasant Beach were awarded over $590,000 by juries. The most recent verdict came Thursday when a couple was awarded $330,000 for the loss of beachfront property and oceanfront views. Its extremely alarming, said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, which along with most of the states environmental groups has strongly supported the dune project. We as taxpayers are paying millions of dollars to restore beaches and build dunes to protect lives and property, and now we have to pay them for the privilege. I almost feel like we should take the sand away and let them get wiped out by the next noreaster, he said. If those dunes werent there and these houses were destroyed, theyd be the first ones running to FEMA for a bailout. Tittel said he worries that the state and federal governments could be forced out of the dune building business by a flood of similar jury awards; there are numerous similar cases pending in the courts. Ralph Coscia, founder of the Citizens Right to Access Beaches, also fears a slew of homeowners filing similar cases. It could stop these dune projects in their tracks, even though we know that the dunes have done so much to mitigate storm damage, he said. A spokesman for the state Attorney Generals Office would not say Friday whether New Jersey plans to appeal the recent jury awards. On Thursday, a jury in Ocean County gave $330,000 to Dennis and Catherine LaPlante, who lost about 60 percent of their oceanfront lot to the dune project, according to their attorney, John Buonocore Jr. They had an area that was in effect their yard, and now they dont, Buonocore said. A similar case was decided last fall in which the owner of another home in Point Pleasant Beach was awarded $260,260 for the loss of part of his property and its now-decreased value. They were the first jury awards in dune compensation cases since a 2013 state Supreme Court ruling requiring that the protective benefits of a sand dune on a propertys value be considered against the decreased value from loss of land and ocean views. The high court ruling involved homeowners in Harvey Cedars on Long Beach Island. The elderly couple was awarded $375,000 for the decreased value of their property and lost ocean views caused by dunes that were built before Sandy. Ironically, those dunes are what protected the couples house during Sandy while other areas without dunes sustained major damage. After the New Jersey Supreme Court ruling vacated the award, the couple accepted a $1 settlement from the state. The attorney who represented them in the Harvey Cedars case, Peter Wegener, is also the attorney for the owner of the other house in Point Pleasant Beach that received $260,260. What is clear is that two different juries understood that it is absurd for the state to take the position that pumping sand onto the beach raises everyones value by 15 percent, Wegener said. In some places, they need storm protection; in other places, they dont. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. On Saturday morning, a team of 20 journalists gathered at the Brooklyn offices of The Trace, a nonprofit outlet for gun-related news in the US. They were there to work on final edits for Since Parkland, a collection of 100-word profiles of nearly 1,200 children killed by gun violence in the year since the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The reporters were teenagers, gathered from all over the country. Allie Kellyan 18-year-old high school senior from Denver, Colorado, and a student leader on Since Parklandsat at a large conference table with Beatrice Motamedi, a senior editor on the project. Kelly showed Motamedi a new profile whose subject, 18-year-old Kamal Jackson, had died in October from injuries sustained in a drive-by shooting. Kelly and two other students had found a Facebook page that purportedly belonged to Jackson and included photos in which Jackson and his friends posed with guns or posed with cash. Then the students discovered something they thought might reveal more of their subjects identity: a write-up of a person who seemed to be Jackson, published seven years earlier, when he won his fifth-grade science fair. The story showed a young man who had Jacksons name, smiling in front of a presentation poster that read The Effects of Soda. Kelly, scanning the piece on her laptop, said, This is why I love local papers. Motamedi tempered Kellys enthusiasm with skepticism. Its not enough that they have the same name and look the same, Motamedi said. Youll have to call the school to confirm. ICYMI: I was plagiarized by Jill Abramson Sign up for weekly emails from the United States Project Since May 2018, a group of 215* student journalists have researched and written memorial profiles for Since Parkland, which went live this morning. (A print component of the project will run this weekend in the Miami Herald, Parklands regional paper, which houses the project on its site.) The Trace trained and paid high-school reporters to research and write profiles of young gun-violence victims, using a dataset obtained from the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive. The project omits child and teen suicides, which total more than 900 in the past year. According to Akoto Ofori-Atta, The Traces managing editor, the Gun Violence Archive data on suicides is less comprehensive, and many families wish to keep their childrens suicide private. In cases of murder-suicide, Since Parkland does not include profiles of gun-related suicide victims who killed someone else. We havent changed anything, covering this as adult reporters, Motamedi says of gun-violence reporting. These teens are the ones experiencing the phenomenon. They have a front row seat. Theyve got better sources. Katina Paron, another senior editor for the project, says the direct connection to school shootings gives young reporters an extra layer of buy-in. Motamedi, a former poetry fellow at Stanford who is based in Oakland, California, drew inspiration for the project from an obituary she remembers reading in the Chicago Tribune, for a soldier killed during the Vietnam War. I didnt know it was an obituary at first, because it was a blind lede, she says. It said what his nickname was, that he liked black t-shirts and Philly cheese steaks. Only at the end of the piece did the article say that the soldier had died a day earlier in Vietnam. I was devastated by that obituary, Motamedi says. I also read it with fresh eyes. She and Paron teach their student reporters brevity, compression, and the close reading of artifacts. Profile details are sourced from press coverage of the fatal shooting, social media profiles of the victim, the online archive gunmemorial.org, and, occasionally, interviews with family members. Kelly and her fellow editors say it can be impossible to find the details necessary to fully honor a life. Newspapers sometimes misspell the names of minority victims in multiple variations, they say, as in the case of Delametric Fairley, or else the press does not cite a name at all. Age, gender, and the location of the shooting may be all that is published. Thats when I start with Google Maps, Kelly says. If it has to be Unknown Boy or Girl, at least we can start with what the location looked like. Any children for whom adequate details cannot be found are placed in a special category on the projects website called Stories Left to Tell, where the work will continue. The Trace offered a training on emotional health for their young reporters, as supervisors were mindful of the potential effects of the subject matter. Ive worked with students in high-poverty schools, and I know they can be very difficult stories to report, says Motamedi, particularly when the victim, suspect, and the reporter are all in the same algebra class. Even veteran reporters havent had that experience. Students involved in the project say they draw inspiration from Parkland activists, and remember exactly where they were when they heard about the attack. They also describe relief that the project offers a way to take action against a threat they have felt in their own lives. Kelly remembers a May 4, 2017, active-shooter threat at Denver East, her high school. She can sing the tune of the lockdown chime that plays over the PA system for drills. I get an ache in the pit of my stomach every time I hear it, she says. I always pray it happens when Im in my journalism classroom, where theres a closet that locks. My calculus room has a glass door and big glass windows. By Saturday night, Motamedi, Kelly, and a few other editors regrouped with their laptops in the lobby of their hotel, a few blocks from The Trace offices. JJ Hennessy, a 16-year-old from Elmhurst, Illinois, continued a grim vigil hed held all weekend; three days earlier, a bullet hit Dijon Chase Walker, 1, as he sat strapped into his car seat on Chicagos South Side. Anxious not to leave Walker off the project, Hennessy had been trying to reach the nurses station at the hospital where Walker was last reported to be on life support. Joe Meyerson, an 18-year-old from Los Angeles, California, ended a phone interview with a mother whose 17-year-old had been shot and killed 3 weeks earlier, and went outside to call his own father. Other editors reached out to reporters who had not yet filed. Kelly sat cross-legged in the corner of a sectional, sipped tea, and kept writing. Citizenship doesnt begin at 18, Motamedi says. Neither does the First Amendment. These kids arent afraid of the responsibility. ICYMI: Meet the 26-year-old who has been laid off three times A previous version of this story incorrectly put the number of student-journalists involved at 238. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Amanda Darrach is a contributor to CJR and a visiting scholar at the University of St Andrews School of International Relations. Follow her on Twitter @thedarrach. 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 Ad revenue is not coming back to journalism, at least not any time soon. If publishers want to maintain a business, theyre going to have to make up some part of the shortfall from readers. But bringing in reader revenue requires new organizational structures that allow product teams and newsrooms to cooperate. Inside consolidated media businesses, those structures and workflows are difficult to create. In the early results of our investigation into newsroom revenue strategies, as part of research for the Tow Center for Digital Journalism and the Shorenstein Center, we have seen that consolidated publishers may have trouble fostering the kinds of collaboration that can earn readers engagement, loyalty, and, ultimately, their dollars. Getting the editorial, business, and product teams of a news organization to work together is difficult for any publisher. But our data suggest that the uphill battle is particularly steep for legacy publishers, many of which have made decisions to centralize their product and analytics teams in ways that dont serve the cause of reader-driven revenue. Those teams would be better able to help newsrooms attract paying readers if they were instead working much closer to the reporters, editors, and communities their newsrooms serve. To highlight this, we offer insights from two ongoing studies. The first is an offshoot of the Tow Platform Press study, in which we are tracking workplace changes in mainstream digital and legacy newsrooms as they navigate third-party distribution platforms. That study began in January 2018 with 23 interviews across six newsrooms. The second is the Single Subject News study at the Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics, and Public Policy. That study is an 18-month investigation into the audience development work of nine topically focused, digital newsrooms. Consolidation in legacy commercial news publishing is exceptionally common. Just 238 companies own the 2,247 newspapers in the US and Canada, according to the Alliance for Audited Media. In the magazine industry, 376 titles are owned by 159 companies. In a world of paper-based production, these kinds of structures make sense: the huge fixed costs of printing and delivery can be spread over many titles in a consolidated corporation. The same is true for sales teams, circulation management, and support functions like human resources. Similarly, the digital infrastructure required to support a set of publisher websitesand to track analyticscan be centralized with huge savings across a consolidated media organization. But perhaps not all parts of this infrastructure should be centralized. This configurationin which decentralized newsrooms are supported by centralized production, sales, marketing, and distribution teamswas suited to a business model largely reliant on advertising revenues. Yet as print advertising continues to shrink, and digital advertising fails to replace it, many newsrooms in the last year have made a push to boost and diversify reader revenue in its various forms: subscriptions, donations, and memberships. Indeed, a growing body of research is emerging that describes how best to configure meters and paywalls, set up conversion campaigns, and engage and retain digital supporters. Sign up for CJR 's daily email READ: In the Fyre Festival documentaries, who is being scammed? In some publishers, the push to reader revenue is paying off. In the third quarter of last year, subscription revenue at The New York Times accounted for two thirds of total revenue, more than doubling its share since 2008. As of 2017, The Guardian reportedly earns more revenue from its readers than from ads. Poynter recently referred to this as the stories as a service business model (an analogy to the software as a service business model). Reader revenue does indeed represent a new paradigm of value creation in the news business. Savvy consumer-funnel marketing, the linchpin of a reader revenue strategy, relies on directing readers to sticky editorial products like newsletters and podcasts, which build regular engagement outside of social feeds. Producing those products, managing their marketing, and getting readers down the funnel from simply engaging with the news organization to opening their wallets, requires tight integration between product designers, audience growth managers, social media producers, and editors and reporters in the newsroom. Yet our data suggest that publishers whose corporate structures house product and analytics functions in centralized parts of the organization, even while their newsrooms are decentralized, have difficulty fostering the kind of on-the-ground, close-to-the-reader collaboration between disciplines needed to make a reader revenue strategy really work. Collaboration between disciplines is difficult on its own. For example, product teams play a vital role in the execution of a reader revenue strategythey build the paywalls, tune the meters, enable the pop-up calls to subscribe or donate, and make sure that email newsletters are formatted and delivered properly. But product teams are often misunderstood inside newsrooms. The language they usedevelopment cycles, user testing, requirementsis foreign to many editors and journalists. In addition, product teams often have to bridge the business interests of the publication (in advertising formats, campaign timing, and paywalls) with its editorial interests (in storytelling formats and space on the homepage), which can put them in awkward positions. In an integrated organizational structure, leaders can put in place regular touch points between product and editorial functionsmeetings, roles, and lines of accountability can all be tuned to encourage collaboration. In fact, our data suggest that the organizational position of product teams inside newsrooms helps determine how much strategic priority their considerations are given. In news outlets in which a senior-level product person sits on the executive team, we found that product team members reported they are better able to understand and act on both editorial and business needs. In these kinds of publishers (which are often digital-native) product teams are getting the money and resources they need to support a robust reader revenue strategy. Their product leads have a hand in both crafting the revenue strategy and responding to editorial needs. Consolidated legacy publishers have to work harder to create this kind of context for collaboration because it means they have to work against their organizational structures. In our data, we saw some consolidated publishers opting for centralized product teams that serve a variety of their subsidiary publishing brands with what can feel to their newsrooms dealing with unique and disparate audiences like off-the-rack software. While centralized structures can economize on the costs of developing and maintaining software, centralized product teams often sit too far from the end-users of their workthe journalists and editors in newsrooms who are trying to connect with readers, and the audience growth and monetization teams that need to raise revenue. In these kinds of organizational structures, product teams can struggle to connect with both editorial and business needs, and can sometimes make important user experience decisions that dont match up with local needs. This push and pull, between customization and scalability, between centralization and decentralization, determines the outer limits of the strategic flexibility of conglomerate publishers to pursue a successful reader revenue program. ICYMI: A new group devoted to transparency is exposing secrets Wikileaks chose to keep And the organizational location of product teams is just one dimension of difficulty. Our data also suggest that conglomerate publishers are doubly disadvantaged when pivoting to reader revenue because of where their social media teams sit in their newsrooms workflow. We observed in our Tow study that social media teams fit into two types of workflows: promotional or integral. (These are both our analytic terms, constructed for coding and analyzing the data and are not used inside newsrooms to our knowledge.) Many of the digital-only newsrooms we studied adopted an integrated approach to social media: the social media team was deeply involved in story creation from the beginning of the story cycle, often working closely with both assignment editors and reporters. Conversely, we found that social media teams devoted entirely to story promotion were more common in the consolidated publishers we studied. Their social media leads tended to be brought in at the end of a story production cycle to post and promote already-written stories. For these kinds of newsrooms, social media platforms functioned as just one more distribution channel. This was often a source of frustration for social media managers, who could see the potential of social media tools and norms for new types of storytelling, engagement, and audience growth but had trouble getting further upstream in the story development process. These differences in structure and workflow can add up to significant barriers to a consolidated publisher executing a successful reader revenue strategy, and not just on the web and social media. For example, consider the case of email newsletters. Many publishers are finding that newsletters are better than paywalls and better than pop-ups at convincing readers to subscribe or donate. But making a good email newsletter is a complex, collaborative process. Data from our Single Subject Newsroom study at the Shorenstein Center, which focuses on email newsletters as a tool for audience growth, suggests that some organizations are spending up to 40 hours per week producing an array of newsletter products, with multiple handoffs between different teams. Newsletters that go beyond a simple collection of links require not just editorial care and feeding but synchronized production, testing, and analytics work to be useful for converting casual readers to paying readers. A small digital organization can rely on a single employee to work closely with an editor or journalist on the product. In a larger organization, pulling off such collaboration when some of the teams serve many parts of the organization is much more difficult. So what can legacy publishers to do to create structures that drive reader revenue? Structure doesnt have to mean just relationships on an org chart. Sometimes rethinking existing roles and workflows can be a solid first step towards larger structure changes. For example, we were impressed by the work the Miami Herald did to redefine its online producer role into a growth editor role. Not only were their set of new responsibilities more audience-focused, but the Heralds growth editors became new leaders in a redesigned story workflow that helped ensure that the content coming out of the newsroom was used to build audiences in line with the papers mission. This kind of change lines up with what we saw among the (more nimble) digital-first publishers we spoke with, whose editorial workflows integrated other disciplines like product, social media, and audience growth. For large legacy publishers, while decentralizing functions can be a daunting and long-term endeavor, shifting the existing set of roles and routines in the newsroom can lay the groundwork for long-term success. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Elizabeth Hansen and Elizabeth Anne Watkins are researchers on the Tow Centers Platforms and Publishers project. Hansen leads the Business Models for Local News research at the Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics and Public Policy. She directs the Single Subject News study, funded by the Knight Foundation, which examines the potential for revenue sustainability in a set of topically-focused, nonprofit digital newsrooms. Watkins is a doctoral student in Communications at Columbia University, a member of the Center on Organizational Innovation, and a research analyst at Data & Society. She studies how work changes in the integration of new technologies. Yesterday, Gavin Newsom, Californias Democratic governor, redeployed nearly 400 members of the National Guard away from his states border with Mexico, explicitly rebuking a manufactured border crisis and the Trump administrations political theater of the absurd. Indeed, in recent months, Trumps border rhetoric has become increasingly theatrical, conjuring a violent, lawless scene whose details often lean towards pure fantasy. While Trump and the reporters who cover him often make general references to the border, specific sections of its 1,933-mile span have occasionally come into focus. Recently, El Paso, Texas, has taken center stage. Trump officials and boosters have long touted El Paso as proof that walls work, but it stuck with Trump as an example following his exchange, last month, with Ken Paxton, Texass Republican attorney general. During his State of the Union address last week, Trump said that El Paso used to have extremely high rates of violent crime, but now, with a powerful barrier in place is one of our safest cities. ICYMI: In the Fyre Festival documentaries, who is being scammed? This was not true. As the El Paso Times pointed out afterward, the crime rate in the city declined steeply long before the installation of border fencing in 2008 and 2009. Though the crime rate nudged up on either side of its construction, it has since dropped again. Local officials vocally called Trump out on his SOTU lie. Yesterday, as Trump prepared to visit El Paso, local politicians cited the presidents words as a threat to the citys reputation as a cohesive, multiracial community. At a press conference, officials decried Trumps falsehoods about their fence, while on CNN, Dee Margo, the citys Republican mayor, called Trumps SOTU remarks erroneous and not correct. Later on, Jake Tapper picked up on Margos remarks, telling his audience, The president is lying to you to get his wall. At his El Paso rally last night, Trump doubled down on his border-security demands, flanked by banners that screamed FINISH THE WALL. According to the Toronto Stars Daniel Dale, Trump did not reiterate his falsehood about the citys pre-fencing crime rate. Instead, Trump seemed preoccupied with his crowd size, claiming that the local fire department squeezed 10,000 of his supporters into a 6,500-capacity venue. (It did not.) Just across town, Beto ORourke, an El Paso native and former Congressman, held a rally of his own, where he announced, We are not safe because of walls but in spite of walls. Who was the bigger draw? Online, the debate raged all night. Yesterdays more important news occurred off-stage, in Washington, where House and Senate negotiators reportedly reached a deal on border funding one day after talks were said to have foundered. While details werent publicly announced, the package apparently offers $1.375 billion for physical barriers on the bordera total that falls far short of Trumps requested $5.7 billion. Its unclear if Trump will take legislators cue. Senior Republicans sound optimistic that he will. In El Paso, however, Trump was noncommittal. I dont even want to hear about it, he told rally attendees in response to the news. And he told Foxs Laura Ingraham hed blown off a full status update to go onstage and do an interview with her. It was between the deal and you, and I had to choose you, he told her. Well see what happens. Sign up for CJR 's daily email One thing is certain: if Trump does not sign off some sort of funding package before Friday, the federal government will shut down again. If it does, it will have severe, and very real, effects on federal employees and service-users. Amid all the theater, thats worth thinking about. Below, more from the theater of the absurd: Other notable stories: ICYMI: I was plagiarized by Jill Abramson Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop. In September 1862, Otto von Bismarck, the new prime minister of Prussia, went to the Prussian Chamber of Deputies to confront the Budget Committee. His face still sunburned from a trip to the south of France, he urged the lawmakers not to waste time in political debate while Germany remained ununited. It is not to Prussias liberalism that Germany looks, he said, but to its power. . . . It is not by means of speeches and majority resolutions that the great issues of the day will be decidedthat was the great mistake of 1848 and 1849but by Eisen und Blut (iron and blood). Across the Atlantic, Abraham Lincoln reached a similar conclusionor so Edmund Wilson argued in his 1962 book Patriotic Gore. In Wilsons reading, Lincoln, too, had used iron and blood to achieve his goals: both he and Bismarck had established a strong central government over hitherto loosely coordinated peoples. Lincoln kept the Union together by subordinating the South to the North; Bismarck imposed on the German states the cohesive hegemony of Prussia. Other scholars have made the same argument more recently. Was Wilson right to find a similarity of method and purpose in the two greatest statesmen of their age? Bismarck carried out his policy by going to war with neighboring states and using fighting words to stimulate German nationalist sentiment, the chauvinism that enabled him to unite the German Reich in January 1871. He himself pronounced the definitive judgment on the morality of the first of these wars, against Denmark in 1864. A French diplomat called on him in the Wilhelmstrasse and struggled to express his disapproval of Prussias conduct without violating the canons of diplomatic politeness. Dont put yourself out, Bismarck told the Frenchman. Nobody but my king thinks that I acted honorably. No less devious were the Bismarckian machinations that led to the war with Austria in 1866 (a manufactured dispute over the administration of the conquered Danish duchies of Schleswig and Holstein) and the war with France in 1870 (which had its origin in the Hohenzollern candidature for the Spanish throne, which Bismarck himself secretly promoted). All of Bismarcks victims shared the frustration of Austrias Franz Josef. How can one avoid war, the Habsburg emperor asked, when the other side wants it? Underlying Bismarcks policy of blood and iron was the belief that a nation is a quasi-biological organism with a morally unconditional right to live and to breathe, and that in order to become a nation, a people may, on one spurious pretext or another, prey upon other peoples. The right of conquest, Bismarck said, was sacred, and never more so than when undertaken in order that Germany might live. Prussias actions, he declared in 1866, followed from the right of the German nation to exist, to breathe, to be united; it is the right and the duty of Prussia to give the German nation the foundation necessary for its existence. The argument that Lincoln, like Bismarck, was a blood-and-iron statesman rests on the notion that his statecraft was a variation on the Bismarckian theme. Lincoln, in this interpretation, believed that in order to survive, or even to vindicate its founding ideals, a nation has a morally unconditional right to make war on those citizens who reject either the nation itself or its ideals. But this was not what Lincoln believed. The thinking that led him to wage the Civil War was quite different from Bismarcks. The question of Lincolns responsibility for the Civil War turns on his policy toward the seceding states. According to historians such as Lord Acton, if Lincoln had really been the freedom-loving statesman he claimed to be, he would have recognized the right of the secessionist populations to choose their own destinies. More recently, bloggers have taken up Actons argument and in breezy and inaccurate blog posts distorted what Lincoln did and the sequence in which he did it. The record needs to be set straight. In deciding where his moral duty lay, Lincoln had first to determine the criteria by which he was to judge the morality of secession. Was it a matter of numbers, and if so, how large did the numbers have to be? I, a lone citizen of the United States, may announce that I am seceding from the Union and attempt to make off with such federal property in my neighborhood as I fancy. If I do this, I will almost certainly be seized, tried, and jailed. No president would judge my act of secession legitimate. But does secession become legitimate if, say, 51 percent of a particular population approves it? Sixty-seven percent? One hundred percent? May particular segments of the populationblacks, for example, or slavesbe excluded from the calculus of legitimacy? By what procedure is popular approval of secession to be manifested? Must its expression take the form of a plebiscite, or is it sufficient that conventions composed of notable citizens decide? Lincoln could have pronounced a purely personal judgment on the moral legitimacy of secession, but that was not his job. He had his station and knew its duties: when he became president, he swore to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. The only criterion, he supposed, that he could reasonably use in judging the legitimacy of secession was that of the Constitution itself. James Buchanan, Lincolns predecessor, had concluded that the Constitution forbade secession; Lincoln reached the same conclusion. Yale constitutional scholar Akhil Amar argues persuasively, in Americas Constitution: A Biography, that Lincolns interpretation was correct and that the Constitution prevents subunits from unilaterally bolting whenever they became dissatisfied. When the war came, it came not because of Lincolns predilection for blood and iron, but because of his interpretation of the law of the landa fundamental expression of its moresand his application of it to a particular case. One can, as in a law-school exercise, split hairs ad infinitum. Was the Constitution itself a legitimate law, given that it was a by-product of treason and rebellion? Can a charter that recognizes, as the Constitution does, a right of withdrawal from an older instrument (the Articles of Confederation), foreclose the same right of exit from the compact that it has established in its place? And even if Lincoln was right about the letter of the Constitution, was he not, in prosecuting the Civil War, violating the spirit of freedom that gave birth to it? Did a point not come, after quantities of blood had been spilled and the Confederacy had given so many proofs of devotion to its Cause, when Lincoln ought to have concluded, as William Gladstone did, that the Southern people had made a nation, and to heck with the Constitution? Here was the larger moral problem. Lincoln believed that if the United States were broken up by internal dissension, the result would be a setback for the cause of free democratic government from which it might not soon recover. The question, he said, was whether a constitutional republic, or a democracya government of the people, by the same peoplecan, or cannot, maintain its territorial integrity, . . . whether discontented individuals, too few in numbers to control administration, according to organic law, . . . [can] break up their Government, and thus practically put an end to free government upon earth. . . . When ballots have fairly, and constitutionally, decided, there can be no successful appeal, back to bullets; . . . there can be no successful appeal, except to ballots themselves, at succeeding elections. Lincolns point was that if you can opt out of a democracy whenever you lose an election, democracy will never work. The moral case for the Union was even stronger, he believed, given that those who were trying to break out were doing so not because their liberties had been violated, but because they insisted on a perpetual right to take slaves out of their own states and into the national territory. Its true that Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus. Its true that under his leadership, his secretary of state arrested persons obnoxious to the regime. But if there were Bismarckian touches in Lincolns statecraft, he was not, on the whole, a Bismarckian statesman. Bismarck himself sensed this; he disliked Lincoln. The two men were on different sides of the struggle between liberty and coercion. An earlier generation had a better sense of this than ours does. We have been at war with Metternich and Bismarck, the British historian George Macaulay Trevelyan wrote after World War I. Cavour and Garibaldi gave us Italy for an ally, while Washington and Lincoln gave us America. Trevelyan, like his great-uncle Macaulay, Americas founders, and Lincoln himself, was Whiggish in his approach to history: he focused on the moral choices statesmen made and how those choices enlarged or restricted individual liberty. By contrast, our contemporary approach to history is almost Darwinian. Edmund Wilson anticipated this trend in Patriotic Gore, in which he urged historians to interest themselves in biological and zoological phenomena. In a recent Walt Disney film showing life at the bottom of the sea, a primitive organism called a sea slug is seen gobbling up smaller organisms through a large orifice at one end of its body; confronted with another sea slug of an only slightly lesser size, it ingurgitates that, too. Now, the wars fought by human beings are stimulated as a rule primarily by the same instincts as the voracity of the sea slug. If Bismarck offered a sea-slug apology for his statesmanship, others have attributed a sea-slug vision to Lincoln himself, who (in their view) differed from Bismarck only in the way that he veiled the Darwinian Machtkampf with a spare but poetically appealing rhetoric of idealism. Paraphrasing the thesis of a recent study of Lincoln and Darwin, the critic Richard Eder pointed to the larger tragedy at the root of Darwins and Lincolns work: Universal death as the necessary agent of natural selection; vast death as the agent of emancipation. Nature has rarely shown a greater sense of humor than when she arranged for the assembly of the genetic material that became Abraham Lincoln at roughly the same time the fertilized egg that was Charles Darwin first leaped into the womb. Both men were born on February 12, 1809. But attempts to find correspondences between the very different, in some ways antithetical, types of evolution in which each man specializedbiological evolution in Darwins case, historical evolution in Lincolnsare problematic. The difficulty lies in comparing the actions of organisms that have developed a conscience and a moral imagination to the actions of organisms that lack such conscientious power. It is one thing if your cat playfully torments a wounded animal, another if you do. Conscience enables its possessor to sit in judgment on the characteristics that have won him a spot in the race for genetic victory: it enables its possessor, at times, to reject naturally selected traits that have helped pay for the winning ticket he holds in the lottery of life. History is the record of the moral acts of morally conscientious organisms; biology is the record of the biological acts of morally unconscious organisms. The confusion of the two realms is a symptom of our time. From the perspective of history and morality, Bismarcks attempt to formulate a crude form of social Darwinism, a Prussia-as-sea-slug style of statesmanship, was a step backward. A selected traitfinesse, for example, in preying on the weakis not necessarily one worthy of moral approval. It might, for example, be some day proved that the capacity for crime is a selected trait, that the deviousness, the bold badness, of the criminal intellect has resulted in genetic mutations that have contributed to the evolutionary fitness of the human organism. Stupidity, too, might prove to be such a trait. If intelligence has at times served an evolutionary turn, so undoubtedly has the stupidity that is, after all, far more commonthe stupidity that shields the mind from lifes horrors and so enables the unintelligent person to thrive and reproduce, in contrast to the too-sensitive perceptiveness, the acute nervous delicacy, of his intelligent brother, who often makes a hash of things. Yes, nature is ironical, Hippolite says in Dostoevskys The Idiot. Why does she create her very best human beings only to make fools of them later? A Darwinian can, of course, argue that our conscientious morality is itself an evolutionary artifact, and that our moral imagination is simply a higher expression of the natural imagination. Thus Shakespeares Polixenes, in The Winters Tale, tells Perdita: Yet nature is made better by no mean But nature makes that mean: so, over that art, Which you say adds to nature, is an art That nature makes. You see, sweet maid, we marry A gentler scion to the wildest stock, And make conceive a bark of baser kind By bud of nobler race: this is an art Which does mend nature, change it rather, but The art itself is nature. The moral art that mends our merely instinctual, biological, genetically striving nature may itself, paradoxically, be a natural one. But if so, it only proves that the law of evolution can transcend the motives in which it began, and develop, in its highest evolutionary forms, an ethos of moral purpose that at times turns its back on the primitive methods that midwifed it. Let us have faith that right makes might, Lincoln said in February 1860. We cannot Darwinize Lincoln, who insisted that biological might is not necessarily the same as moral right. Still less can we Bismarckize him. Yet it may be that once an organism has developed a moral imagination, what is Darwinian and Bismarckian in its mental organization can be Lincolnized. Such, at any rate, is a thought that gives comfort on the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincolns birth. Photo: Library of Congress/Getty Images You will receive 5-day a week delivery of the Citizen Tribune newspaper to your home or business, plus full, ad-free access to CitizenTribune.com as well as full access to the Electronic Edition of the newspaper. ONLY $13.99 per month for the first 3 months! Only $16.00 per month after promotional period. Or ONLY $169.99 for a full year Only $198.95 per year after promotional period. Andhra Man Kills Himself Near Babu's Protest Venue For Special Status:- Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu staged a day-long protest in the national capital against the Centre for ignoring Special status for AP. A man from Andhra Pradesh killed himself yesterday near AP Bhavan in New Delhi where Chandra Babu took his fast. The man has been identified as 40-year-old D Arjun Rao and is a native of Srikakulam district. He was found dead in a wheel chair. The cops shifted his body to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in the city. A suicide note has been recovered from Arjun Rao's pocket after which the cops came for a confirmation about his death. Arjun Rao mentioned he is ending his life after Centre refused to grant Special Status for his state Andhra Pradesh. Chandra Babu Naidu announced Rs 20 lakhs ex-gratia for the family of the deceased. His last rites will take place with official state honours said Chandra Babu. He requested people to fight for their rights instead of ending their lives. Several crucial national leaders who opposed Narendra Modi's rule in the country supported Chandra Babu and his protest yesterday. Rahul Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Arvind Kejriwal, Yashwant Sinha, Shatrughan Sinha, Sanjay Raut visited Chandra Babu and extended their support. While plenty of foreign tourists are still coming to the United States, the country is not benefiting as much as other nations from an overall boom in international travel and tourism. A new study also finds that while Mexico remains the number two source of foreign visitors to the U.S., those numbers have dropped significantly in the Trump era; and San Jose has seen the greatest percentage increase in foreign arrivals of any U.S. city. Bayut.com, a Dubai-based real-estate database that helps buyers and renters from around the world get settled in new homes, did a data dive into statistics from the U.S. government's National Travel and Tourism Office to create a portrait of international visitations to the U.S. in recent years, and found that our nation is not keeping pace with much of the rest of the world. For example, in 2017, 1.3 billion travelers worldwide visited another country, a substantial 7 percent gain from the previous year. However, "the United States has yet to benefit from this trend," the study noted. "Blame the strong dollar or tougher visa vetting procedures, but the numbers are undeniable: As places like Canada and the U.K. welcome tourists in droves, the U.S. is receiving fewer foreign visitors. Even students around the world are shying away, with international enrollment at U.S. colleges and universities dropping 4 percent during the 2017-2018 school year." The vast majority of foreign arrivals in the U.S. come from Canada and Mexico. From January 2017 through May 2018, Canadian visitors totaled 28.8 million, and Mexicans numbered 10 million. But the Mexican market has been shrinking. "While some experts anticipated a 'Trump Slump' resulting from recent trade tensions, Canadian tourism to the U.S. has remained relatively robust of late," the study said. "Conversely, tourism from Mexico has dropped substantially since 2016, a trend that could cost the U.S. more than a billion dollars per year according to some estimates." Other than that, most visitors to the U.S. were from the U.K., with almost 6.2 million arrivals, followed by Japan (5 million) and China (4.4 million). Nations rounding out the rest of the top 10 visitor sources (other than Canada and Mexico) were South Korea, Germany, Brazil, France, India, Australia and Argentina. "China represents a particularly compelling case," the study noted. "While 4,399,250 tourists is a substantial figure, far more are likely to set foot in America in the years to come. While just 7 percent of Chinese citizens have a passport currently, they're projected to account for a quarter of all global travel by 2030." The researchers also detected a shift in the arrival patterns of foreign visitors, with West Coast gateways increasing in numbers while East Coast ports are showing a decline although they still dominate in total numbers. From 2015 to 2017, New York (not counting Newark) averaged 6.8 million arrivals a year, a decline of 1.9 percent during that period. Second-place Miami, at 5.2 million a year, was down 4.6 percent. But Los Angeles total arrivals increased by 2.3 percent, to an average of 4.6 million per year, and San Francisco arrivals jumped 7.2 percent, to 2.3 million a year. Although its total foreign arrivals number was relatively small at just over 100,000, San Jose showed the biggest percentage increase at 121 percent, "likely because Mineta San Jose International Airport has dramatically expanded its nonstop routes to and from foreign countries," the study said. (However, some of those airlines, such as Lufthansa and Air China has since left SJC- more about that here.) NARINDER NANU/AFP/Getty Images California attracted more than 16 million foreign visitors from 2015 to 2016, the third most popular among all U.S. states, behind New York (20.4 million) and Florida (19.2 million). "International visitors are a big boon to the Golden State's economy. While foreigners represent just 6 percent of all tourists to the Golden State, they account for 22 percent of total tourism spending," the study observed. While the Asia-Pacific nations as a region provided the greatest number of U.S. visitors in 2017 -- 18.5 million vs. Europe's 15.4 million the Europeans significantly outspent the Asians at $41.9 billion vs. $26.7 billion. However, the biggest spenders among all U.S. visitors on a per capita basis were from Africa and the Middle East ($4,976 and $4,224 per person respectively). How could this be? "Africa and the Middle East experience tremendous income inequality, suggesting only a limited number of wealthy people can afford to visit America at all," the study noted. "No matter which part of the world they hail from, however, international tourists tend to spend far more than Americans do. Among visitors to New York City, for example, international tourists spend four times as much as travelers from other parts of the U.S." Click here to see the full study results. Read all recent TravelSkills posts here Get twice-per-week updates from TravelSkills via email! Sign up here Chris McGinnis is the founder of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here by permission. You can reach Chris at chris@travelskills.com or on Twitter @cjmcginnis. Edwardsville, IL (62025) Today Isolated thunderstorms in the morning. Cloudy skies late. High around 85F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 30%.. Tonight Scattered showers and thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low 73F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%. AUSTIN A major property tax reform bill that proposes to diminish city and county government coffers while reining in homeowners' tax bills is heading to the state Senate for a vote. Gov. Greg Abbott and the state's Republican leaders have made property tax and boosting funding for schools top priorities, but the latter is moving at a much slower pace. All four Republicans on the five-member Senate Property Tax committee voted to advance the property tax bill Monday, less than a week after a lengthy hearing when city officials warned the change would hamper their ability to pay for police and fire protection. Under the proposal known as SB2 voters would need to approve a property tax increase over 2.5 percent for cities, counties or school districts. The change would result in an estimated $1.1 billion in revenue loss for Texas counties, and $1.2 billion in revenue loss to city governments by 2024, according to the bills fiscal note. The measure next will go to a vote of the full Senate. The House has yet to have a hearing on the bill. For subscribers: Senators hush critics at first property tax reform hearing State lawmakers have pledged to boost their investment in education, in part to offset losses in property tax revenue for local school districts. But where that money would come from remains to be seen. I think maybe we're putting the cart before the horse, said McAllen Sen. Chuy Hinojosa, the Senate Property Tax Committees lone Democrat. But state Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, said its clear state leaders are committed to bolstering education funding. There's every intention within the state to make sure we put billions of additional revenue into that, he said. The proposal includes a complete overhaul of the appraisal process, said Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, one of its chief architects. Texas Take: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox Bettencourt said he does not plan to ask Senators to vote on the full bill this week, adding he wanted to give lawmakers time to take up related school finance legislation. The bill, which has elements aimed largely at about 100 municipalities, advanced Monday with some changes. Now, property owners in smaller municipalities could vote to opt in, a request Bettencourt said he heard from residents of those smaller cities and counties. Local governments with less than $15 million in annual property and sales tax collections combined were initially exempted from the bills revenue caps. EL PASO The border fence in El Paso isnt just stopping crime, but preventing gruesome decapitations and hangings in the city, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told a national television audience on Monday night. Patrick, a Republican from Montgomery County, told FOX News Channels Laura Ingraham during an interview that the border wall is preventing the kind of horrendous murders he says are going on in Juarez, the city across the Rio Grande River from El Paso that has at times been known as the murder capital of the world. FOR SUBSCRIBERS: Trump goads Beto O'Rourke at El Paso rally, only on HoustonChronicle.com If this fence were not here, that violence of decapitating people, of hanging people from bridges, of cutting off their heads and rolling them in pool halls and down the street that violence would be here in El Paso, Patrick said. Patrick said last year, Juarez had 1,100 murders, while El Paso had just 23. Patrick was in El Paso on Monday, as part of President Donald Trumps rally in support of building more border walls and barriers along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. About 1,200 of those miles are in Texas, which already has about 112 miles of borders, including more than 42 miles in the El Paso area. Trump made a similar plea to supporters at the El Paso County Coliseum where he said the wall in the city has improved life along the border. Walls save lives, Trump told thousands at the rally. The fencing in El Paso started being built in 2008 under the President George W. Bush administration. Some El Paso residents and critics of the administration have taken issue with Trump making it sound like El Paso was a dangerous city before the fencing was put up. In a counter rally across the street from Trump on Monday, former U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke told thousands of his supporters that the city was safe long before a wall was built here in 2008. The White House has turned to Patrick as a key adviser on border issues. Last month, the White House flew Patrick to D.C. to consult with senior advisor Jared Kushner as Trump prepared a prime time address on border security. Later, Patrick joined Trump in McAllen for a discussion with border patrol officials about the need for a wall. A San Antonio man accused of killing his wife sent her pictures of a rifle and bullets, and text messages that alternately indicated he loved her, hated her and wanted to end his life, according to evidence presented Monday in the trial of Gabriel Martinez. I just want to kill myself so (expletive) bad, prosecutor Ryan White read aloud from a text message, as San Antonio police crime scene investigator Robert Rackley testified in the second day of the trial. Martinez also apologized for pointing a gun at her in one text, testimony showed. Martinez, 37, is charged with murder in the May 18, 2016, death of his common-law wife, Lori Lee Ortiz, 35. Hes accused of shooting her three times then turning the gun on himself. On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio man charged with murder in wifes death Cellphone downloads established that Martinez was angry at Ortiz and also desperately wanted her to stay with him, witnesses said. He sent numerous text messages and pictures eight days before her death. A photograph of a rifle was accompanied by a text that said, Im putting it to my heart, and done, White read aloud to the court. Earlier Monday, a San Antonio Fire Department captain testified that Ortiz barely had a pulse when firefighters arrived after receiving a 911 call from the couples distraught daughter. Capt. Ramon Casanova said firefighters arrived at the home in the 7000 block of Myrtle Valley on the Southwest Side to find Ortiz and Martinez both injured. By the time emergency medical technicians arrived minutes later, however, Ortizs pulse was no longer discernible. No pulse was ever discovered by medics, he testified. They were never able to find a palpable pulse. They continued working on her all the way to the hospital. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox Ortiz, 35, was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at University Hospital. Martinez, who was critically injured with a gunshot to the abdomen, underwent surgery. He was booked by proxy while he was hospitalized. Jurors on Monday afternoon saw numerous photographs taken by San Antonio police crime scene investigators of the master bedroom where the shooting occurred. The pictures depicted at least six bullet holes at the foot of the bed, in the mattress, comforter, sheets, the bathroom mirror and a shower curtain that acted as a door to the bathroom. Jurors also heard testimony from Bexar County Deputy Medical Examiner Kimberly Molina, who gave details of Ortizs three wounds one in the right upper arm, another in the left upper chest near the breast and the last wound on the right side in the middle of her back. In that last one, the bullet traveled across her body and hit both kidneys, her aorta, stomach and spleen before it exited on the left side of her back. All of these were potentially lethal, she testified. Martinez pleaded not guilty before Judge Ron Rangel as his trial began Friday morning. On the first day of the trial, jurors heard testimony from the couple's daughter, Brianna Martinez, now 18, who told the panel her father accused her mother of having an affair in the days before her death, and the night before the shooting, she said she saw her father point a gun at her mother while the pair sat at the kitchen table. Related: Jurors hear terrified teen on 911 tape saying her father shot her mother The panel also heard a chilling 911 call in which the sobbing teen, 15 at the time, told a 911 operator to send an ambulance, because her parents had been shot. When asked who shot whom, Brianna Martinez replied, my dad shot my mom. If found guilty of murder, Gabriel Martinez faces up to life in prison. The trial is being held in the 379th state District Court. Elizabeth Zavala covers county and state courts in San Antonio. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863 Two westbound lanes of Interstate 10 remained shut down late Monday following a barge striking a bridge in east Harris County, authorities said. The accident occurred around 4 p.m. Monday at the San Jacinto River Bridge. District Attorney Kim Oggs request for 102 new prosecutors is likely to dominate the budget discussion at Harris County Commissioners Court Tuesday, even as the spending plan is poised to cross the $3 billion threshold for the first time. The court is expected to approve $3.07 billion in general fund spending for the fiscal year that begins March 1. Most county departments will see increases of about 7 percent in the coming year, but four are seeking large budget hikes for the coming year: district attorney, 31 percent; public defender, 91 percent; public library, 22 percent; and the Institute of Forensic Sciences, 15 percent. Oggs prosecutor proposal, which would cost $20 million and also fund 42 additional support staff, has divided the court along party lines. The two Republican commissioners, Jack Cagle and Steve Radack, have signaled support. Oggs fellow Democrats commissioners Rodney Ellis and Adrian Garcia and County Judge Lina Hidalgo have questioned whether the money should be spent elsewhere. Ellis on Monday said he would vote against Oggs proposal because he feared it would perpetuate a system that too heavily prosecutes low-level, nonviolent crimes committed by poor and mentally ill defendants. Given the countys finite resources, we should be investing in reforms like pre-arrest and pre-charge diversion programs that, unlike pre-trial diversion programs, will divert the person before they enter or re-enter the criminal justice system to services and treatments, Ellis said in a statement. In an op-ed published in the Houston Chronicle last week, Ogg said existing prosecutors are burdened with unreasonable caseloads that have grown steadily since Hurricane Harvey struck 18 months ago. More prosecutors does not simply mean more prosecution rather, our charge is to seek justice, Ogg wrote. In fact, we believe a reasonable workload will increase our diversion numbers, keeping individuals in the workforce and out of jail. Ogg and Chief Public Defender Alex Bunin are the county department heads asking for the largest year-to-year budget increases. Bunin has asked Commissioners Court to nearly double his appropriation, to $20.5 million, which would fund 60 new lawyers and support staff. The group of Democratic judges who were elected in November have signaled they wish to assign public defenders to a greater share of cases. County Budget Officer Bill Jackson said last week that the county can afford the staff increases for the district attorney and public defender, though he said they would leave the county less flexible during mid-year budget review in September, or should another natural disaster befall the region. None of this is out of my comfort zone, Jackson said. Anything more, and Id be a little more cautious. At $3.07 billion, the proposed fiscal year 2019-20 general fund budget represents a 10 percent increase over the current year. That sum excludes the county hospital district, whose budget will increase 7 percent to $1.55 billion; and flood control district, which will have a budget of $120 million, the same as current levels. The court is expected to approve those spending plans. In past years, the flood control district typically spent its appropriation evenly between capital projects and operations. Since voters approved the $2.5 billion flood bond for capital projects this past summer, the district now plans to spend three-quarters of its annual budget on operations. zach.despart@chron.com twitter.com/zachdespart Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday rejected Kim Oggs request for 102 new prosecutors, a stinging public defeat for the first-term Democratic district attorney by members of her own party. The rejection appeared even more pointed a little later when the court voted to nearly double the budget for the county public defenders office, the most significant investment in that offices nine-year history. It also came less than 24 hours after a former assistant district attorney filed paperwork to challenge Ogg in next years primary, a sign criminal justice reformers may have lost patience with the self-described progressive after helping elect her in 2016. The three Democratic members commissioners Rodney Ellis and Adrian Garcia and County Judge Lina Hidalgo supported increasing the district attorneys budget by 7 percent, in line with increases for other county departments. Ogg had asked for a 31 percent increase, which would grow her prosecutor corps by a third and include 42 additional support staff. This is not the only way, and certainly not the most cost-effective way to decrease prosecutor caseloads, Hidalgo said. The Republican commissioners, Steve Radack and Jack Cagle, said last week they were swayed by Oggs pitch and agreed more prosecutors are needed to reduce workloads and process cases more quickly. The pair were unusually taciturn during the two-hour discussion, an acknowledgement they lacked support. In an effort to compromise, Cagle proposed providing funding for 25 prosecutors. The three Democrats said no. The final vote was 4-1 Cagle was a yes only because he said Ogg needs a budget also directed the county to hire consultants to study how to make the criminal justice system more efficient. A parade of prosecutors spoke of unrealistic caseloads that leave them overextended, unable to properly serve defendants, find witnesses and protect victims. Heather Marshall, a junior felony prosecutor, described working 70 hours weekly and said her caseload has more than doubled since moving to Houston from the district attorneys office in Queens County, N.Y. Nathan Beedle, who leads the misdemeanor division, invited court members to shadow his prosecutors in court to gain a better understanding of their reality. If they were to work seven days straight, working 24 hours a day, they could not get all their tasks done, Beedle said. Ogg, who did not attend the court meeting, issued a statement after the vote. We will continue to fight every day to ensure that justice is done in every case for every crime victim, every defendant and the community, she said. Harris County must have a district attorneys office with sufficient resources to ensure that all cases are resolved fairly and in a timely manner. Audia Jones, the former prosecutor who on Monday filed paperwork to challenge Ogg, spoke against the proposal. Jones said she left the district attorneys office in December in part because she said Oggs administration has been too reluctant to offer jail diversion to defendants of color, in contrast with their white counterparts. She said temporary court closures caused by Hurricane Harvey are not a driver of increasing caseloads, as Ogg contends, but rather are a result of her administrations policies. The discussion over the public defenders budget fell along the same party lines. Chief Public Defender Alex Bunin requested a 91 percent increase, since the new criminal court judges have said they wish to hire fewer private attorneys for indigent defendants. This office that has been touted, and we are very proud of, only handles 8 percent of cases, Ellis said. I hope this will lead our judges particularly our new judges to use the public defenders office more. Cagle proposed giving the same 7 percent increase the court approved for the district attorney, but was overruled by his Democratic colleagues. The final vote was 3 to 2, along party lines. The budget boost was a remarkable change of fortune for Bunin, who eight months ago was sparring with commissioners who accused him of leaking juvenile records to a team of lawyers challenging Harris Countys cash bail system. At a heated meeting in June, court members considered firing him. After a wave election that swept Hidalgo and Garcia into office, Bunin now will have the funding to hire 60 new attorneys and support staff. I appreciate the support of Commissioners Court in expanding the public defenders office, Bunin said. The court approved the public defender and district attorney budgets along with those of the entire county, including a 15 percent increase for the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, and an extra $2.5 million for the county library system to purchase new books and materials. The $3.07 billion approved general fund budget marks the first time the county spending plan has eclipsed $3 billion. Court members also approved the budgets of the Harris County Flood Control District, at $120 million, and Harris Health System, the county hospital district, at $1.55 billion. Each of those has its own property tax rate, which is set by Commissioners Court. Zach Despart covers Harris County for the Chronicle. You can follow him on twitter or email him at zach.despart@chron.com . When his car turned up missing, Charlie Jones called the police. Then he called them again, and again and again. In each call, he demanded authorities investigate the alleged theft. But police suspected his car had simply been towed, and told him they couldnt do anything. So Jones kept ringing, dozens of times. One day later, the Houston Police Department filed charges against the 55-year-old for telephonic harassment. Now, Jones attorney is fighting back by arguing that law is an unconstitutional damper on free speech. Hes been charged for asking the cops to do their jobs, said defense attorney Mark Bennett. Police saw it differently, saying they tried to work with Jones, letting him speak to multiple supervisors even though repeated calls ate up time that could have been used to respond to other cases. It wasnt like we got tired of the phone calls and filed on him, said Houston police spokesman Kese Smith. Every effort was made to work with this individual for hours and hours at a time before taking this step and filing these charges. SHOT BY OFFICER: Galveston to pay nearly $500K to family of woman killed It all started last May, when Jones was staying at a friends place on Hiram Clarke. At some point, the home went into foreclosure, and Jones never moved his car from the property. The vehicle disappeared from outside the house sometime on May 25, and Jones started calling police the following day. Between the eviction and the fact that a bystander reportedly spotted the car being taken away by a dump truck, police viewed it as a civil matter. They suspected his car had been legally removed; he believed it had been stolen. Unsatisfied with their reluctance to investigate, Jones called repeatedly at one point 12 times in two hours, demanding police list the vehicle as stolen. He was argumentative and irate and said he didnt plan to stop calling, according to charging documents. Eventually, police warned him not to call back, but he ignored them. By May 27 one day after hed started calling prosecutors accepted charges. After police looked into Mr. Jones concerns, and even spent hours meeting with him in person, he called over and over again to the point that it was harassment under Texas law, said Harris County District Attorneys Office spokesman Dane Schiller. Even after authorities charged him, Jones kept looking for help, and eventually showed up at a City Council meeting to complain. When security there went to remove him, they realized he had a warrant and instead arrested him. It wasnt until that day that an investigator finally figured out what had happened to the vehicle, according to Bennett. It was not, in fact, stolen but simply towed by a company that failed to report the tow like theyre supposed to. When charges were filed, Bennett said, the police had no idea what had happened to that car. But now the misdemeanor case has blossomed into a broader legal issue, as Bennett a Houston attorney best known for defending free speech is challenging the constitutionality of the telephonic harassment statute both in general and as applied to Jones case. HARRIS COUNTY BUDGET: Ogg pitch for prosecutors likely focus of discussion The state law at issue bans making repeated calls in a manner reasonably likely to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, embarrass, or offend another. But it doesnt define how many calls that requires, which makes it too vague. And it restricts certain speech based on the content, which Bennett says makes it too broad. But aside from arguing that its unconstitutional in general, Bennett also contends that its unconstitutional in this situation because Jones was simply asking the government for help which is an explicitly protected type of speech. Mr. Jones is being prosecuted for calling the Houston Police Department Auto Theft Division, to list the vehicle as stolen and pursue criminal charges. Listing vehicles as stolen and pursuing criminal charges is the Houston Police Department Auto Theft Divisions job, Bennett wrote in a January court filing. Sometimes the people they work for will have different opinions of how the police should be doing their jobs than the police themselves have. They may be annoyed, they may feel harassed or abused, but the police cannot be allowed to use the power of the state to silence the people. Now, Jones is out on bond and the case is set for a hearing in March. AUSTIN A pair of conservative lawmakers want Texans to help pay for President Donald Trumps border wall and plan to ask lawmakers to take $2.5 billion out of its rainy day fund to cover the costs. Reps. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, and Kyle Biedermann, R-Fredericksburg, told Breitbart, a conservative news publication, they plan to file legislation that would cover costs to design, test, construct, and install physical barriers, roads, and technology along the international land border between the State of Texas and Mexico to prevent illegal crossings in all areas. Texans and Texas-owned companies would be given preference on all bids and contracts, the publication reported. "If Congress refuses to keep Americans safe, then Texas will answer the call," Cain said in a statement. "Our office is receiving many calls in support of this effort. We've even received calls from citizens of other states offering to help fund the wall." The two legislators are not the first to suggest Texas help build a border wall. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick had offered Texas help in building the wall, Trump said during a roundtable discussion with Texas officials in McAllen last month. Cain and Biedermann are among the most conservative members of the Texas Legislature and belong to the Texas Freedom Caucus, a tea party-aligned group in the House. Several state leaders have vowed to focus attention on costly measures like property tax reform and changing how the state funds schools this year, making the push for the costly expenditure an uphill battle. FOR SUBSCRIBERS: Trump goads Democrat Beto ORourke in El Paso rally Texas now spends about $400 million a year on border security. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott suggested that lawmakers will renew that commitment over the next two years. The proposal from Cain and Biedermann would spend $2.5 billion by Aug. 31, according to Breitbart. The promise of legislation comes as tensions continue to mount over funding for Trumps border wall. The president was in El Paso for a campaign-style rally Monday to make his case for a wall, although he was met with a counter rally led by Democrat and El Paso native Beto ORourke. STATE POLITICS: Get the most out of what's going on politically through our Texas Take newsletter. Sign up here. AUSTIN State Rep. James Talarico remembers teaching in San Antonio and feeling that some of his sixth-grade students needed more adults watching out for their well-being, but there werent enough services. Personally speaking, I had a lot of students who slipped from my fingers, said Talarico, a former teacher. Its more than political its personal to me. Talarico a Democrat from suburban Austin who wants school districts to hire four counselors for every security guard is one of several lawmakers proposing bills to make schools safer in light of the prevalence of school shootings. After a student opened fire inside Santa Fe High School last May, killing eight students and two teachers and wounding 13 others, lawmakers say they are committed to improving school safety this year. Here are five things to know about school safety improvements that will be considered by the Legislature in the coming weeks: 1. GOP legislators are unlikely to approve gun control While some students clamor at the state and national levels for gun control measures and universal background checks, Texas Republican lawmakers who control both chambers and the governors office have signaled they have little appetite for new restrictions. One measure considered by lawmakers is a red flag law that would allow families and law enforcement to seek a court order to temporarily take firearms away from those found by a judge to be a danger to themselves or others. Nine states have passed red flag laws since the Feb. 14 shooting in Parkland, Fla. that left 17 students and staff dead. Now, 14 states have red flag laws and more states are expected to follow in the coming months, according to the Associated Press. 2. Instead, Texas response focuses on security Expect lawmakers to emphasize hardening schools, a new term that refers to making our schools more difficult targets with measures like installing security equipment such as metal detectors and security cameras, and building vestibules to keep people from entering school buildings without approval. It also includes adding law enforcement, school resource officers or teachers with firearms to both deter possible shooters and to react quickly during a crisis. The Senate wants to spend $100 million on school safety and hardening over the next two years, according to budget documents. For example, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has said he is interested in helping schools to limit the number of campus entrances. Dr. Robert Long III, a principal at Wells Middle School in Spring ISD, said parents in his district want a mix of physical improvements to make campuses more secure and a focus on mental health. Students at his school only wear clear backpacks and will soon walk through metal detectors on campus. Should something happen, Long said he can lockdown the building and make school announcements from his cell phone. Texas Take: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox 3. Some say arming teachers would help Arming more teachers is one of the most divisive issues in the school safety debate. Some say it makes sense in rural school districts where it can take police longer to respond to a school shooting, while others say that puts too much responsibility on teachers. Teachers can already choose from one of two programs allowing them to carry guns on campus. One is a marshal program that trains teachers to become an additional layer of security on campus in the event of an active shooter situation. To participate, teachers must have a license to carry a handgun and participate in an 80-hour training course that includes improving security on campus, use of force, active shooter response and weapon proficiency. Another, referred to as the guardian program, lets school staff with a handgun carry license bring a weapon on campus. School boards can dictate how the program would work in their schools, such as how much additional training staff should have and how the weapons should be stored on campus. Expect some lawmakers to talk about how to increase participation in these programs. 4. Others say the focus should be on mental health Long, a seven-year principal in the Houston area, said hardening helps keep schools safe, but its even more important to build a school culture that makes students feel comfortable communicating with their teachers and school staff about potential dangers. That always trumps any kind of hardening mechanism that you ever have, said Long, who sits on the board of directors of the Texas School Safety Center. He said hes looking for the state to find sustained funding specifically to add counselors trained in mental health and on the effects of trauma. Lawmakers and advocates agree mental health has to be part of the equation to make schools safer. For some, that means making sure school counselors have time to talk to students about their well-being instead of being bogged down with administrative work or giving state exams. The House proposes spending $109 million on school safety this year, $54 million specifically for schools, much of it aimed at improving mental health services. Funds include $20 million to pay for programs addressing mental health and school cultures across Texas, and $10 million for services like mental health first aid. The House plan, according to budget documents, also includes $10 million in matching grants for school hardening. The Senate has its own mental health plan that would assemble a consortium to leverage the expertise of professionals at a dozen universities and a handful of Texas mental institutions to suggest ways to improve care. 5) School counselors say lawmakers need to go further School counselors are worried that lawmakers could focus more on school hardening than on ensuring schools have counselors with enough time with students, according to Jan Friese, executive director of the Texas Counseling Association. Texas averages one counselor for every 469 students, she said, although that varies widely by school. The American School Counselors Association recommends a rato of one counselor for every 250 students. The nation averaged a 1-464 ratio in the 2015-16 school year, according the latest data available in the group. The association is pushing several bills, including one to ensure every school has a counselor. Given several schools often share counselors, You have to hope the kiddo has a crisis when the counselor is on the campus, she said. The school counselor is not just there for hugs and kisses but to support the academic, social and emotional development of all students, said Friese. Five family members among them a 15-month-old child were found dead of gunshot wounds Monday morning at a Polk County ranch, according to authorities. Polk County Sheriff's Office deputies found the two men inside a home and three women, including the child, outside in the 3600 block of FM 3126 around 10:30 a.m. after receiving a call of an assault. Each of the victims were suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. A sixth person had been locked inside a bedroom during the killings and woke up around 5:30 a.m. to a commotion that police described as popping noises, said Byron Lyons, chief deputy of the sheriffs office. She called her son, who then called the authorities. DOUBLE TRAGEDY: Houston families reeling after two die in Virgin Islands The woman was not hurt. The slain were identified as Ashley Delaney and her husband, Randy Horn, as well as their child. The great-grandparents of the child, Carlos and Lynda Delaney, were also those killed, Lyons said. The chief deputy declined to say whether or not the shooting was a murder-suicide. A firearm was recovered from the home, which is about 75 miles northeast of Houston, and no suspects are outstanding, he said. At HoustonChronicle.com: Solutions to gun violence from an NRA lifer [Opinion] "This has been a rough day," Lyons said during a press conference Monday night. "This is a horrible, horrific crime. I ask that the community pray for this family. This is something Polk County is not used to." The Texas Rangers is also investigating the shooting. 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. Theres a chance the roses you receive on Valentines Day have already been held by someone else. Its not a regift. U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspects thousands of flowers each week, making sure that the shipments from foreign countries dont carry over any invasive bugs or diseases to the American agriculture market. The days leading up to Feb. 14 are a busy time for Customs at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, with the number of roses double or triple what the office usually receives, said Gisel Medina Bobe, a Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialist. We have to be very careful, Medina Bobe said on Tuesday, inspecting a bouquet of red roses for insects at the airport's Air Cargo Center. I call them undercover passengers. LEADING THE PACK: Texas airports dominate top 10 list where TSA found guns in baggage in 2018 Bobe was searching a box of flowers from Colombia, which ultimately didnt have any pests or disease. By hand, she sifted through three bouquets of red roses and one bouquet of ivory. She first held a bunch by the stems, shaking them upside down. Any insects that might be hidden between the roses would have fallen, where Medina Bobe could separate them and send them to an entomologist for identification, she said. Anything not native to the area could be flagged by the entomologist - such a larva from a foreign type of moth - and then the roses would be fumigated or destroyed. Medina Bobe also checked the stems and leaves for any spots that would indicate disease. Were trying to keep them away from our landscape, Medina Bobe said. Something that we introduce to our country that we dont have here could be a devastation for the industry. NEW RECORD: Houston airports report 58M travelers in 2018 During a regular time of year, the office might receive two or three shipments of 3,000 stems from top importers - or 250 dozens of flowers, she said. Before Valentines Day, that number could triple, meaning workers have to pull overtime hours to make sure the flowers can be cleared to release to flower shops and grocery stores. The pink roses are Medina Bobes favorite, but theyre all gorgeous, she said. She pulled out a bouquet of ivory roses to inspect, filling the air with a sweet scent. Theyre so beautiful, she said. samantha.ketterer@chron.com Twitter.com/sam_kett A chubby tiger rescued from a ramshackle Houston home all thanks to a pot-smoking 311 caller was given a kingdom of his own at a North Texas wildlife refuge as law enforcement spent Tuesday searching for his owner. The apex predator whose unexpected discovery in an abandoned home Monday made international headlines as he arrived at the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch, where he may continue to live among a menagerie of horses, reptiles, primates and bison on the 1,400-acre property. The male cat rolled up to the Murchison ranch about 24 hours after a woman who requested anonymity from authorities dialed the city's 311 service with an animal welfare concern from a vacant home in the 9400 block of E. Avenue J in the Manchester neighborhood, according to officials. Houston police spokesman Kese Smith said the woman was at the vacant home in hopes of lighting up her marijuana stash. But she and a pal realized they were not alone. The woman found the exotic feline locked in a cage too small for a beast of his stature. "I'm not lying," the woman told a perplexed 311 dispatcher, according to a recording reviewed by the Houston Chronicle. "I don't know how he got it in there," she said. "It's not a baby tiger. It's pretty big." "How do you even get a tiger," the dispatcher wondered. Authorities have honored the 311 caller's request to remain anonymous, even to late night comic Jimmy Kimmel, whose representatives had hoped to bring the marijuana-toting good Samaritan on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" The woman's call was soon patched through to BARC, who then dispatched an animal control officer to the home. An HPD officer joined him. The officers could hear the striped animal and smell the unmistakable aroma associated with cat urine that followed it to the shelter. It was enough to obtain a search warrant. MUGSHOTS: See who was arrested in last week's raid that netted guns, drugs in southwest Houston The feline they found inside was trapped inside a 4x8-feet cage, resting on a bed of hay. He had eaten recently but was dehydrated. "It wasn't well cared for," said Lara Cottingham, of the city's Administration & Regulatory Affairs Department which oversees BARC and 311. She said the tiger woke up Tuesday morning in "good spirits" after spending the night at BARC's animal shelter in a tranquilizer-induced cat nap. "It was snoring adorably," she said, adding that he was well behaved, too. The tiger posed regally for photographs and picked up its food bowl with his mouth in an apparent attempt to request a meaty nosh. "It was really Instagram friendly," Cottingham said. Neighbors shocked As the sun went down Monday on Avenue J, neighbors were shocked to hear they were sharing a block with a tiger, whose counterparts in the wild are an endangered species, "Maybe they had it like a pet," said Pablo Briagas, whose guard dogs were roaming his driveway. "You know people these days." He was worried that the tiger they never knew about could have escaped and hurt someone. "I have my kids here," Briagas said alongside his 8-year-old son. "It's dangerous." His son Isaac was certain their dogs would have protected them if the tiger had broken free of its cage. How the planet's largest cat species ended up at the east Houston home is a mystery to law enforcement. Tigers are not a permitted pet in the city limits unless the handler, such as a zoo, is licensed to have exotic animals. "They're adorable kittens, but they grow up into very big, very hungry, very expensive and potentially very dangerous animals," Cottingham said. Investigators with HPD's Major Offenders' Animal Cruelty Squad have leads into who owned the tiger but it may not be the same person who owns the property, said Jodi Silva, a police spokeswoman. The house changed ownership at some point from 2018 to 2019, according to Harris County records. The dilapidated wood framed home went into foreclosure after its resident of two decades died, according to records and a man whose phone number was spray painted on the crooked garage. The man, who declined to be identified, was trying to purchase the property last year but the deal fell through, he said. The tiger was not a fixture in the home when he toured it. The animal's presence Monday was a surprise to him. "I had a good laugh. I didn't think you could have a tiger in Houston," he said. The lot in the Manchester subdivision was the subject of a 2016 tax delinquency lawsuit. The former owner's daughter had been living at the property but took residence in a nursing home when she developed medical issues, according to court documents. The woman whom records show currently owns the property could not be reached for comment. 'A better life' The tiger looked to be in good health after his 200-mile journey to Cleveland Armory Black Beauty Ranch, about 70 miles southeast of Dallas. A five-acre habitat has the potential to become his forever home, depending on the outcome of the police investigation. Ranch director Noelle Almrud said that while the tiger is fairly young, he's "a little overweight." "But probably because he wasn't getting any exercise," Almrud said. The cat will remain there for at least two weeks, while it's in quarantine. Should he remain for good, he will join two other tigers out of more than 800 animals in their care. "We feel we can provide him a better life," Almrud said. "We currently have the space. It's not a hardship for us." But requests to house tigers come frequently, she said. Their other tiger, Charlie, came to the refuge from a Colorado breeder who retired and relinquished his big cats in 2016, while Alex came to them from a pet trade operation in Kansas in 2014. During his initial two-week stay, Almrud said he will have access to a proper tiger diet they require 10 to 22 pounds of meat daily and veterinary care. Back in Houston, his rescuers settled on a name. He will be known as Tyson, named for the professional boxer Mike Tyson who had a tiger in the movie "The Hangover." Jay R. Jordan and Michela Garcia contributed to this report. Nearly 400 people gathered at La Torretta Lake Resort & Spa to honor George Waggoner as the immediate past chairman and welcome Brent Wunderlich into the leadership role at the Conroe/Lake Conroe Chamber of Commerce nautical-themed annual awards gala. The man of the hour was roasted by none other than the President of the Chamber, Brian Bondy, who was full of kind-hearted jokes about the longtime businessman and Texas A&M graduate. But all jokes aside, Bondy had nothing but praise for Waggoners commitment not only to the chamber, but his family, his career with First National Bank of Texas, and the community he has called home for over 32 years, including through also serving the Conroe Noons Lions Club, Conroe Symphony Orchestra, Education for Tomorrow Alliance, Montgomery County Food Bank, Conroe Economic Development Council, the Conroe Industrial Corporation. I think youll agree that George has made a real difference in the Conroe area, Bondy said. As past treasurer and now as a past chairman on the board, George has seen a lot happen with the chamber over the past 4-5 years. His leadership in the community speaks volumes about who he really is, but its with his family Sheila, Randall, Rachel and his granddaughters that help make George the great family man that he is. Waggoner and his family were presented with gifts for their service and dedication throughout the past year, including a gavel from state Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Conroe, a Texas House of Representatives Chair from the Chamber, a Congressional Commendation and U.S. Flag flown over the U.S. Capitol by U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, and a special video message of congratulations from U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. He also assisted the Chamber in presenting awards to the 2018 Small Business of the Year, Sergios Landscaping, the two Large Business of the Year awards presented to HCA-Healthcare-Conroe, formerly known as Conroe Regional Medical Center, and Gullo Dealerships; the Diplomat of the Year Award to Bears Etc. Co-Founder Kati Krouse; the Chairmans Horizon Award to Dr. Rebecca Riley of Lone Star College; and, of course, the Chairmans Most Valuable Person Award to Brent Wunderlich with McKesson who will now steer the S.S. Chamber into 2019. Before passing the gavel, Waggoner reviewed the memorable year in a farewell address that highlighted the chambers partnership with Synergi Partners on the heels of Harvey to educate chamber members on the availability of employee tax credits as a result of lost time during and after the storm. He also discussed the historic event turnout of Tastefest, the new Athena Leadership Award recognizing an outstanding woman in the community, the most successful Lobsterfest event in 32 years and the chambers trip with 20 people to Washington D.C. to build relationships with elected officials, including Brady, Cornyn, and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz that he hopes has started a new tradition to continue to build business and relationships. Waggoner shared the year ended with the achievement of a top goal, the creation of a capital expenditures account to address the needs of the chambers largest asset, its building in downtown Conroe. The designated fund, which has $35,000 set aside, aims to maintain the building for the future. I am proud of the work we accomplished this past year and want to especially thank the Board of Director for allowing me the honor of being Board Chair, said Waggoner who thanked the Chambers talented team and staff for the support. 2018 was a great year for our community and the (chamber) and we are starting this year off even stronger and better than ever. Our momentum is great and I am excited to be able to pass the gavel. Waggoner introduced Wunderlich, who presented him in return with a Past Chairmans Plaque. While Wunderlich acknowledged it would not be easy to follow in a legends footsteps, he outlined his own goals for the year, including growing membership and market presence through both traditional and social media as well as upcoming events to keep business members informed and to ensure the area stays business friendly. All are goals he believes can be accomplished by working together. The chamber of today is far different than the chamber of 85 years ago and 85 years from now, it will be different than it is today, Wunderlich said. But, the one variable that transcends time is people. You, we, are the chamber and your involvement is what makes the organization tick. In the coming year, I want to challenge each of us to become more active in the organization and help us bridge to the next 85 years. mellsworth@hcnonline.com Cy-Fair ISD voters face a $1.76 billion decision on May 4. CFISD board members on Monday called for a bond election to pay for projects in the district through 2025. According to a district press release, passage of the bond would result in a tax increase of 3 cents per $100 valuation over a seven-year period. By 2025, the tax increase for owners of a $200,000 home would be a maximum of $40.50 per year by 2025. The call for a bond election follows a presentation earlier this month by the districts long-range planning committee comprised of students, staff and community members, where they recommended improvements to security, two new schools and a performing arts center. Plans call for Middle School No. 20 in Bridgeland and Elementary School No. 59 in the southwest section of the district. More than 50 percent of the proposed recommendation is to maintain and protect assets that currently exist, community planning co-chair Julie Hinaman said during Mondays meeting. Our business members (of the planning committee) also provided valuable insight into issues like cybersecurity and the need to invest in workforce development, like CTE courses.. Other highlights include a performing arts center, Hinaman said. Seating capacity for the center will be 1,500 and would be home to more than 1,612 performances a year, according to the presentation Hinaman gave on Feb. 4. The recommendations also included the addition of a bus replacement program, a northwest transportation center and additional panic buttons in schools. Community member Jason Skufca, father of a CFISD student in the band program, said he is excited for the performing arts center and the potential it has for students, comparing the center to large concert halls in Houston like the Hobby Center of Performing Arts. Cy-Fair ISD will be able to spotlight its student bodys talents. as well as expand the accessibility of the arts to the surrounding community, he said. I do believe that the performing arts center will provide a long-lasting return on investment for the school district, its students and the community. Several members of the planning committee commented on the possible election before the board voted on the election, including Anthony Torres, a senior at Cypress Falls High School. Ive had the privilege of serving on the LRPC and Ive learned a lot about the district over the past several weeks, he said. As a student, or as a community member, you may not realize how much goes into running a school district, but this opportunity has opened my eyes. chevall.pryce@chron.com A Sealy man is in the Montgomery County Jail for allegedly distributing child pornography featuring children between 2 and 10 in multiple videos and photos after authorities say he admitted to being sexually active with a 12-year-old. Michael Anthony Jack, 36, is charged with five counts of promotion of child pornography, which is a second-degree felony, according to charging documents. Jack sent three videos and five photos containing child pornography to a detective working undercover through the Montgomery County District Attorneys Internet Crimes Against Children division. Jack had unwittingly started communicating with the investigator in early November on social media and eventually via text. Jack sent the investigator photos of his face, which helped identify him, according to charging documents. On Nov. 26, the investigator asked Jack if he was sexually active with a minor. In response, Jack told the investigator he was messing with a 12-year-old, documents show. The following day, the investigator received a video and three photos from Jack. The video was of a nude girl, approximately 4 or 5 years old, her face visible as a man engages in oral sex with her. Two photos show a girl of about 6 or 7 years old exposing herself, according to documents filed. 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 third photo sent that day includes two nude girls between around 5 and 7 years old participating in oral sex with a young boy, the documents state. On Dec. 3, Jack sent the investigator a photo and a video. In the photo, two girls approximately 3 or 5 years old can be seen exposing themselves. In the video, an adult man is seen having sex with a young girl about 6 or 8 years old, according to charging documents. Via text on Jan. 30, Jack sent one new photo and one new video to the investigator. The photo was of a girl approximately 2 to 4 years old with exposed genitals. The male voice is audible in the video and an unidentified mans hand and mouth make contact with a 10-year-old girls bare breasts, according to documents. The investigator was able to locate Jack by subpoenaing his internet subscriber once his internet protocol (IP) address a unique identifier for internet connection was found. This IP address was determined to be the same one he used on the social media platform where he communicated with the investigator and the same one used at the time and date child pornography was sent to the investigator, documents show. MONTGOMERY: Man faces charges for fatal head-on wreck on Texas 105 Montgomery County District Attorneys Office Special Victims Chief Tyler Dunman said the investigation remains ongoing. Jack was arrested on a warrant Thursday and is being held on a $150,000 bond. jose.gonzalez@chron.com twitter.com/jrgzztx Capping the size of property tax increases may become law after Senate Bill 2 also known as the 2019 Property Tax Reform and Relief Act was passed by the Senate Committee on Property Tax on Monday. More than 100 people testified on the bill which now heads to the full Texas Senate for consideration. According to Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), The testimony was clear as ordinary Texans turned out from across the state to testify for property tax reform and relief. In fact, our major amendment, allowing Texans to opt-in to vote for a lower rollback rate, now known as the voter approved rate, was requested by many from rural and smaller towns across Texas that testified. In fact, no private citizen testified against SB2, only those who were elected officials or taxpayer funded lobbyists spoke against, Bettencourt said. As an example of those who could benefit from the bill, Bettencourt used fellow Sen. Pete Flores experience. Sen. Flores escrow account went up $900 per month because of higher taxes, even he worries he cant keep his home because of rising property taxes, Bettencourt said. Flores is a freshman Republican senator from Pleasanton, south of San Antonio. He is not a committee member. Before a 4-0 vote with one present vote from Sen. Juan Hinosa members of the committee approved 15 amendments to SB2, which were mostly technical corrections. Among the items in the nearly 100-page bill are provisions relating to transparency, appraisal review board requirements and automatic triggers for rollback elections. The proposed rollback rate is 2.5 percent, which will require voter permission to set a tax rate increase that exceeds that number. An amendment to the bill would change the name of rollback rate to voter-approved rate to help taxpayers better understand what it means. One amendment would allow smaller entities to hold elections to determine if voters want to put the limits on their governments. If a city or village collects less than $15 million in combined sales and property tax revenue, voters would be asked whether they want the taxing authority to fall under the provisions of SB 2. Making its way through the House and currently in the House Ways and Means Committee is the identical HB 2, sponsored by State Rep. Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock). rkent@hcnonline.com 3 1 of 3 Harris County Constable Precinct 5 Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Harris County Constable Precinct 5 Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Part of being in law enforcement is dealing with the unexpected. Add pig rescue to the list of duties for Harris County Precinct 5 Constables Office deputies. Deputies with Precinct 5 Constable Ted Heaps Office worked with Harris County Public Health Animal Control officers to help relocate a 3-year-old potbelly pig from a Bear Creek home when his owners were evicted and left him behind, the constables office reported. A nearly $10 million hotel-like home in the Rivercrest neighborhood was the number one most expensive home sold in the city last month, according to data provided by the Houston Association of Realtors. Equipped with a resort-like pool, huge second-story terraces and its own full-service bar, the mega-mansion sold at twice the listing price than the other nine most expensive homes that sold during the same time period. Located at 3 West Rivercrest, the mansion sold within a $9 million to $10 million price range, while the second most expensive home that sold during that same time was closed in the $3.8 million and $4.4 million price range. With an eye on the 2020 elections, the Liberty County Republican Party hosted the top GOP leader in the state to view the strategy for the fast-approaching presidential and statewide contests. We looked at the numbers and its easy to see that the U.S. Senate contest was won on the strength of the rural counties, said Liberty County Republican Party Chairman Ryan Daniel. Party officials packed the Generations Coffee Shop in Liberty to hear from James Dickey, chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. As Republican Party Chair, I try to visit as many of our great counties as possible, he said. Joining the Liberty County party was a contingent from Orange County. Its a fantastic group, Dickey said of the two counties. They are an integral part of the Republican Party and an important part of the turnout and our results in November and I want to show them that we appreciate and respect that. Dickey reminded the volunteers and party leaders that the Texas House turned Republican only 16 years ago. People assume that its always been that way, but Texas was strongly Democrat for 100 years, he said. Loss of Republican leadership, institutional knowledge A scrutiny of the 2018 election almost had Dickey to the point of almost saying, I told you so. The party leader had been warning his constituents to beware. Ive always taken seriously the need for Republicans to earn every single vote that we can get. I always preach to anyone that can listen that we can never Texas for granted, he said. A lot of those within earshot had a hard time believing him when he delivered his warning. The one good thing about the Senate race last fall is that people are much more receptive to that message, and thats good. We need an appropriate level of energy of commitment to Texas to earn fellow Texans vote. Dickey blamed an infusion of money, a record $80.1 million by Democratic candidate Beto ORourke to Republican Senator Ted Cruzs $37.1 million, nearly broke through what most assumed was an impenetrable field of the Grand Old Party. The infusion of money, the field staff, and their training people to vote a straight Democratic ticket hurt us on the down ballot and thats unfortunate, he said. Dickey said emphatically that there was no doubt that the straight-ticket party vote ousted decades of institutional knowledge. Two significant losses included that of Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and the expulsion of Fort Bend Countys Judge Bob Hebert. Between the two was decades of experience and knowledge handling government affairs, both praised for their hands-on approach and centrist views as Republicans from both sides of the aisle. Emmett spent 11 years at the helm of Harris County guiding residents through flood after flood and preserving the historic Astrodome for future generations. The judge began his public life at the young age of 29 in the state legislature and served numerous terms before taking a 20-year hiatus and ascending to the countys top job in 2007. Hebert spent 15 years leading one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the nation in Fort Bend County. His civic service dates back to 1969 when he began public life as a school board member. As the former Travis County party chair (that includes the city of Austin), Dickey said he was very sensitive to the fact that the overwhelming vote coming out of the states urban clusters was Democratic. Were committed to making sure we do the right blend of supporting and appreciating our base in the rural counties while no longer ceding to the Democrats the inner cities. Dickey said he believed that the Republican policies produce a better result for all. We owe it to the voters in the inner city to be there and to build relationships with them to let them benefit from the same policies that have benefited other Texans, the chairman said. Of the top 10 most populated cities in the state, only Collin County, with No. 9 Plano gave Cruz a narrow win. All of the other most populated cities including Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, El Paso, and Laredo delivered overwhelming losses to the incumbent Cruz. Of the other cities, only in Tarrant County, with Fort Worth and Arlington, did ORourke win with a slight victory. Cruz eked out a state-wide win by virtue of the combined rural counties across the state by the slightest margin of 50.89 percent (4,260,553) of the vote to ORourkes 48.33 percent (4,045,632). A mere 214,921 votes separated them in the final tally. Republican strongholds like Chambers, Liberty, Montgomery, and San Jacinto counties delivered the win for the GOP. 2020 election Energized more than ever, Dickey said the party is ready to deliver another stunning win for Trump and the down ballot candidates. But this will not be the sweep of the past. Weve been working on it at a party level. Weve got more field staff deployed than weve ever had before and were going to work hard to register more of our fellow Texan Republicans who have never registered before, he said. Then, their focus will be on turnout. Were going to work for turnout numbers that the state has never seen before, the chairman said. An immediate target is the Hispanic, African-American, and Asian-American communities whose values align with those of the Republican Party, he said. Weve recruited from those communities and supporting them and working with volunteers and voters in those districts to lead those great candidates who share their values to victory, he said. In the past, the state party has mostly been a federalist type structure but has now changed their rules that allow them to participate in school board and municipal races like they never have before. Thats a very important area. Half of Texans property taxes are school taxes, he said, and we need those organizations to benefit from Republican leadership just as we have all benefited from Republican leadership at the state level. The days of straight-ticket voting will be gone in 2020. Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 25 in June 2017 and the legislation removes the straight-ticket option from Texas ballots after September 2020. One of the things Dickey said conservatives know is it is impossible to predict the unintended side of the facts of any major government change. We dont know what the unintended consequences will be from removing straight ticket voting. What we do know is that we wont see any more of the kind of wholesale wipeout of experienced candidates that we saw in Harris, Dallas and other counties (in previous elections), he said. Dickey said his job was a wonderful thing, helping move the party in a real way into the next generation. It is an honor and privilege to work with our great elected officials and its a wonderful thing to be looking forward to meeting and recruiting new candidates across the state. dtaylor@hcnonline.com Travis Scott fans in Tulsa, Oklahoma, set to attend the Houston-born rapper's sold-out performance at BOK Center concert venue on Monday, were not thrilled when the concert was abruptly postponed. The announcement came at approximately 6:10 p.m. CST via a tweet by BOK Center that reads: "Due to technical production issues, tonight's sold out Travis Scott show in Tulsa will be moved to March 26th. All tickets purchased for tonight's show will be honored at the rescheduled show on March 26th." RELATED: Kylie Jenner, Travis Scott paint the town red at Clive Davis' Pre-Grammy Gala A little over an hour later, Scott tweeted an apology to his fans, also citing technical production issues as the reason for the Monday night's canceled show. The social media posts, along with a marquee outside of BOK Center that flashed "postponed," notified ticket holders, many of whom were already lined up outside the venue, of the situation. The news did not go over well, as the crowd began chanting "Let us in!" KTRK reported. A video (see above) shared by Twitter user aaron.wav, shows one fan throwing a water bottle at the venue's door, cracking the glass. Another fan opened a door at BOK Center after realizing it was unlocked, resulting in the masses rushing the entrance and Tulsa police shooting pepper balls into the crowd, Fox23 reported. Aaron.wav told KTRK that people were so upset because some drove for hours to attend Scott's concert, with some even flying in from out of state. The chaos ensued for hours as some fans refused to leave, KTRK reported. FOR HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUBSCRIBERS: Houston's Robert Ellis trades his guitar for a piano Let's hope for a better outcome at Scott's forthcoming Houston show, scheduled for Wednesday night at downtown's Toyota Center. Marcy de Luna is a digital reporter specializing in social media, the famous, and food. You can follow her on Twitter @MarcydeLuna and Facebook @MarcydeLuna. Read her stories on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com. | Marcy.deLuna@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message U.S. sanctions that have effectively blocked American imports of Venezuelan oil are leading to a crude-price surge thousands of miles away in China. State-run energy giant PetroChina Co. is selling Venezuelan Merey oil at a premium of about $5 a barrel to benchmark U.S. West Texas Intermediate, according to an offer document seen by Bloomberg. The grade was sold at a discount in the Asian nation before the Donald Trump administration began targeting the OPEC producer late last month in a bid to oust autocrat Nicolas Maduro. The U.S. measures have sparked speculation over whether Venezuela will be able to sustain exports of its dense and sulfurous heavy-sour crudes. Meanwhile, American refiners are scouting for alternatives, squeezing supplies of similar oil varieties across the globe. Booming demand for infrastructure in China has made such grades prized in the Asian nation because they are suited for making bitumen -- a residue of refining also known as asphalt. PRODUCTION: Report: Texas crude oil production breaks 1970s record China almost doubled imports of Venezuelan oil in January from a month earlier, tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. That means its state oil companies have supplies that now fetch higher prices because of the uncertainty surrounding heavy-sour grades in the global market. The Merey grade accounted for 80 percent of the Latin American nations shipments to China last year, according to the data. PetroChina sets a monthly offer price for Merey crude sales to its customers -- mostly smaller privately owned refiners -- based on its own formula. Its selling the oil at a premium of $5.0272 a barrel to WTI for February, with an additional $2.70 per barrel of agent fees, according to the offer document seen by Bloomberg. For January, the company offered the grade at a $3 premium, three traders who participate in the market said. Heavy grades across the globe are showing stronger pricing. The premium of the Gulf of Mexicos Mars crude to the U.S. benchmark has jumped to a five year high. While Middle East exports are typically not as heavy as Venezuelan supplies, they are more so than light varieties such as U.S. shale and European North Sea oil. Swaps for regional marker Dubai has strengthened to its strongest level in nine years against Londons Brent. --With assistance from Ann Koh. 2019 Bloomberg L.P. WASHINGTON - FERC Commissioner Richard Glick said Tuesday that the commission was ignoring a federal appellate court decision on climate change. In 2017 the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had erred in not considering greenhouse gas emissions in their granting of a permit for a 515-mile pipeline though Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Speaking at a state utility regulators' conference in Washington, Glick, a Democratic appointee by President Donald Trump, said under his reading of the ruling FERC should consider greenhouse gas emissions on all LNG and pipeline projects. That breaks with Republic commissioners who argue emissions should only be considered for projects with gas supply contracts already in place whereby emissions can be determined precisely. "The D.C. Circuit has already told us we're not doing our job, and I suspect they'll do it again," Glick said at a meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. "The commission has essentially ignored the D.C. Circuit's decision." LNG BACKUP: FERC delays on LNG decision frays nerves The comment comes as FERC has twice postponed a decision on the $4.5 billion Calcasieu Pass LNG export terminal in Louisiana, driving speculation commissioners are at odds over climate change. Since the death of Commissioner Kevin McIntyre last month, the commission has been split 2-2 between Republican and Democrats. Earlier this month Charlie Riedl, executive director of the trade group Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, said the pulling of a project from an agenda, happened with Calcasieu Pass in January was "incredibly uncommon." "The fact the projects haven't gotten a vote are indicative the politics have changed. That's the only logical conclusion you can draw," he said. Much of the attention has been focused on Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur, another Democratic appointee and considered the swing vote between Republicans and Glick, who formerly served as general counsel to the Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Glick said LaFleur, like him, was concerned with other commissioners' interpretation of the D.C. Circuit ruling, saying they essentially were "putting blinders on" in regards climate change. "That's caused a lot of consternation. It's caused me to dissent on a large number of pipeline certificate applications. Commissioner LaFleur has likewise dissented for the very same reason.They're not addressing greenhouse gas emissions," he said. Hidden Treasures: Nature morte de peches et poires by Paul Cezanne During his lifetime Cezanne would come to be hailed as the father of modern art. This work offered on 27 February hails from a critical moment in the artists career when he was striving to bring a new objectivity to painting Allen Ginsberg coined a phrase to describe the experience of looking at a painting by Paul Cezanne (1839-1906): eyeball kicks. What the beat poet was referring to was the visionary spasm created by looking from one complementary colour to another. It happens most notably in the artists still lifes, where greens and reds pulsate with a rhythmic force. The effect is deliberate Cezanne spent hours selecting and arranging fruit. He brought to this task the greatest care and many precautions, observed the artist Louis Le Bail. One guessed that it was a feast for the eye to him. Nature morte de peches et poires is one of many still lifes that Cezanne produced over his career. His desire was to create paintings that were active and full of life, rather than inert and passive. To this end he would use coins to wedge the fruit in place, so that they tipped forward. As the poet W.S. Di Piero explains, The objects are not in repose; they press themselves forward, ingenuously disposed, at once defiant and inviting. Offered in the Hidden Treasures sale on 27 February at Christies London, Nature morte de peches et poires marks a critical moment in the artists career. It was painted between 1885 and 1887, when he was living in self-imposed exile in Aix. I fully approve of your idea of coming to work in Paris and then withdrawing to Provence, wrote his closest friend, the novelist Emile Zola (1840-1902). I think thats one way of escaping the influence of the schools and of developing some originality if one has it. Cezanne in Auvers, circa 1874. Photo RMN-Grand Palais (musee dOrsay) / Adrien Didierjean The Provencal town the artists birthplace liberated Cezanne from the critical gaze of the Paris establishment that mocked him as a barbarian. Here he was free to pursue a new style, one that engaged with the world through geometry. Wrestling with tones, colours and shapes, Cezannes critical and inquiring eye sought to bring a new objectivity to painting through a series of landscapes and still lifes. When you see a Cezanne, its like seeing the moon theres only one moon, theres only one Cezanne Max Weber But this ascetic life was not without its sacrifices. He was lonely having abandoned his mistress (later wife) and son in Paris and poor. He exhibited little and sold very few paintings, and this Spartan existence continued until an astute young dealer came calling. Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939) recognised in Cezanne a misunderstood genius. Buying up much of the artists work, including Nature morte de peches et poires, he staged a large solo show in 1895 in which he presented the artist as a paradox unknown but infamous in artistic circles, the painters painter. Maurice Denis Hommage a Cezanne, 1900-1901, in which the great painter is represented by a still life of a bowl of fruit. Artists and critics crowd round the picture, from left to right: the painters Odilon Redon and Edouard Vuillard, the critic Andre Mellerio, the art dealer Ambroise Vollard behind the easel, the painters Maurice Denis, Paul Serusier (in front of the canvas), Paul Ranson, Ker-Xavier Roussel, Pierre Bonnard (smoking a pipe) and Denis wife, Marthe. Photo: Musee d'Orsay, Paris Many, including the eminent critic Gustave Geffroy (1855-1926), agreed, describing the artist as a truth seeker who was haunted by the demon of art. At the age of 56, Cezanne was heralded as a master, inspiring a younger generation of radical artists who anointed him the founding father of modern art. Sign up today The Online Magazine delivers the best features, videos, and auction news to your inbox every week Subscribe Happy #DarwinDay: How to read the Bible and not worry about evolution It's Darwin Day, when we honour the man and his theory of evolution. Not all of us, though, apparently. A survey released yesterday found that only 50 per cent of Brits are 'certain' of the truth of evolution, while 12 per cent believe in creationism rather higher than the proportion who actually go to church. The company responsible has declined to release the data tables, so a deeper dive into all this isn't possible. However, while not directly comparable, it chimes with Pew research showing a substantial number of Americans 18 per cent reject evolution entirely, believing humans have always existed in their present form. Only a third say that humans evolved due to processes like natural selection with no involvement by God or a higher power. Outside America, Pew says, there are other countries where even more people reject evolution: in several Latin American countries four-in-10 or more say humans and other living things have always existed in their present form. For someone like me, who thinks the evidence for an ancient earth and the formation of different life-forms through a process of mutation and natural selection is irrefutable, this is rather depressing. And I suspect that Christians cling to creationism despite the evidence because they believe rejecting it means rejecting the Bible. It doesn't. It means reading the Bible in the way it was meant to be read. So here's an example of how that works, from Genesis 1. When God has created the world and furnished it with plants and animals, he makes people 'in his own image', it says (verse 27). What does this mean? Certainly not that we are like God in any physical sense. It's helpful to think about what we know about God so far: not much, other than that he is a creator. He brings order out of chaos. So at this point, we know that people are creators too. We are part of creation, but set aside from it; we can make things, and change the world. So creativity, the ability to affect our environment, is built into us. This has all sorts of implications. It says something about our political systems: dictatorships which deny people freedom or justice are attacking the image of God. If you have no autonomy, you are less God-like. It says something about poverty: if people are so poor that they lose any sort of choice about how to live, the image of God is destroyed; if we have no way of affecting outcomes, we are not creators any longer. It says something about work: if people have to toil at a job they hate because they need the money, and can't go home at the end of the day satisfied that they have done something worthwhile, the image of God is denied. All of these things take away freedom and joy. There is a deep desire in us for freedom. We are made in God's image, and denying freedom is denying our nature. Churches are not very good at this. We tend to over-control what people think and do. But perhaps God worries less than church leaders and theologians. So the idea that God creates human beings in his own image is a very rich one, especially in this Genesis context, and even more especially compared with the sort of ideas about God which were around at the time. In one version of the Babylonian creation myth of Marduk and Tiamat, Tiamat was the primordial chaos-monster who gave birth to sea-serpents and storm demons. Marduk kills her by smashing her skull and cuts her in half. From her ribs he makes heaven and earth, her weeping eyes become the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates, and her tail the Milky Way. In Greek mythology, the Titan Cronos devoured his children, fearing that they would overpower him. The infant Zeus was spirited away and raised to adulthood, returning to vanquish his father. In Norse mythology, Odin killed the giant Ymir and created the world from his dead body. His blood was the sea, his flesh the earth and his skull the sky. So in many creation stories, the world is made in hatred, through violence. These things are built into the fabric of life, and into the earth itself: it is how the people who told these stories saw their own nature and the nature of the world. In Genesis 1, people are made through God's word. No one dies, and we're told 'God blessed them'. The refrain throughout the chapter is 'God saw that it was good', and at the end of his creating it says, 'God saw that it was very good.' Stories shape us. Stories about origins shape whole cultures. Imagine the difference between a culture that believes, right down at its deepest roots, that human beings came into existence because of an act of murder, and a culture that believes human beings came into existence because of an act of love. Genesis 1 isn't scientific truth. It's much truer than that: it's a passionate statement of God's intention for the world, his desire for human flourishing and his joy in creation. We ought to be free to read the Bible as it was meant to be read. Happy Darwin Day. Mark Woods is the author of Does the Bible really say that? Challenging our assumptions in the light of Scripture (Lion, 8.99). Follow him on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods Governments must act on promises to end human trafficking - Cardinal Vincent Nichols The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has called on world governments to step up their commitment to stamping out human trafficking and supporting victims. Cardinal Vincent Nichols told a conference of bishops and police chiefs in Latin America this week that world governments are failing to live up to their obligations under the UN Palermo Protocol which calls on them to catch and prosecute traffickers while providing help to victims in the form of jobs, education and rehabilitation. 'Most countries in the world have signed this protocol and ratified the measures to assist victims. However, they have turned their backs on this responsibility and are not acting upon this agreed commitment,' he said. Cardinal Nichols singled out the UK for particular criticism, saying that it had broken its promise to support victims. 'In the UK a hostile environment towards migrants has been created and victims of trafficking have been criminalised, despite promises to support victims of this horrendous crime which sees so many kept in slavery.' he said. He was speaking at the Santa Marta Group Conference held in Buenos Aires this week and attended by church leaders from across Latin America as well as members of the Argentinian federal police force, which has made tackling human trafficking one of its priorities. In addition to the conference, Cardinal Nichols met with ministers of the Argentinian government, who he praised for showing global leadership on human trafficking by getting the issue onto the agenda of the G20 group of leading nations. He said that he would be raising the issue with Pope Francis when he meets him next week in a bid to increase cooperation between the Church, police and civil society 'to end this scourge'. 'This is an international crime, which is one of the most lucrative crimes in the world, and it requires an international response as well as the local care of the victim,' he said. Cardinal Nichols is the president of the Santa Marta Group, which was instituted by Pope Francis in 2014 to fight human trafficking and modern day slavery. According to the International Labour Organisation, there are 40 million people trapped in modern day slavery at any one time, including many women and girls forced to work in the commercial sex industry. Last month, the UN warned that human trafficking has risen steadily since 2010 and increased in brutality as a result of armed conflict and terrorism. Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of UNODC, said: 'Human trafficking has taken on horrific dimensions as armed groups and terrorists use it to spread fear and gain victims to offer as incentives to recruit new fighters.' The UN said that sexual exploitation was the main driver of trafficking, with children now accounting for 30 per cent of those being trafficked. Within that group, the UN said girls accounted for 'far more' of the victims than boys. Ex-transgender woman says sex change 'couldn't solve the underlying issues' of his gender dysphoria A man who lived as a woman named 'Laura' for eight years says that transitioning to the opposite sex could not resolve the underlying issues of his gender dysphoria. Writing in USA Today, Walt Heyer said that his gender dysphoria was triggered by childhood trauma caused by his grandmother dressing him as a girl and abuse at the hands of an uncle. 'That abuse caused me to not want to be male any longer. Cross-dressing gave me an escape,' he said. 'I lay awake at night, secretly begging God to change me into a girl. In my childlike thinking, if I could only be a girl, then I would be accepted and affirmed by the adults in my life. I would be safe.' The cross-dressing and desire to be a woman continued into his adult years as a married man and at the age of 40, he was diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Two years later, he went ahead with surgical procedures to become a woman, including genital reconfiguration and breast implants. He also changed his birth certificate to be 'Laura Jensen'. Despite the initial excitement, he says the change came with a lot of personal pain and loss. 'At first, I was giddy with excitement. It seemed like a fresh start. I could sever ties with my former life as Walt and my painful past. But reality soon hit,' he said. 'My children and former wife were devastated. When I told my employer, my career was over.' He also found that his emotional pain and confusion had not abated. 'The reprieve I experienced through surgery was only temporary. Hidden underneath the makeup and female clothing was the little boy hurt by childhood trauma,' he said. 'I was once again experiencing gender dysphoria, but this time I felt like a male inside a body refashioned to look like a woman. I was living my dream, but still I was deeply suicidal.' He says it was only when he confronted the trauma of his childhood and received expert psychological help from counsellors that he was able to find healing for his gender dysphoria. 'It wasn't easy, but it was the only way to address the underlying conditions driving my gender dysphoria,' he said. He began his medical detransition back to being male at the age of 50, starting with the removal of his breast implants. He also changed his birth certificate back to his original male gender and resumed his identity as Walt Heyer. Now happily remarried for 21 years, he is warning others against rushing into a medical gender transition as a way to resolve their gender dysphoria. Looking back, he feels that he was 'misled' by a combination of 'success stories' in the media and bad advice from medical practitioners who presented gender transition as the answer to his problems. He says that over the years, he has been contacted by many transgender people experiencing regret and desiring to detransition. 'After de-transitioning, I know the truth: Hormones and surgery may alter appearances, but nothing changes the immutable fact of your sex,' he said. His warning comes as the first legal non-binary person in the US, Jamie Shupe, announced that he had returned to his original male birth sex and now believed gender identity to be a 'fraud'. He said he had come to feel that medical transition was not a cure for gender dysphoria. 'In my thirty plus year marriage, I am the husband. To my daughter, I am her Father. I no longer identity as a transgender or non-binary person and renounce all ties to transgenderism,' he said. He added: 'I will not be a party to advancing harmful gender ideologies that are ruining lives, causing deaths and contributing to the sterilization and mutilation of gender-confused children.' Chris Pratt denies belonging to 'infamously anti-LGBTQ' church Social media was alight this week after actor Ellen Page posted several tweets denouncing Chris Pratt's church as being 'infamously anti-LGBTQ'. In an Instagram story on Monday that has since expired, the Guardians of the Galaxy actor hit back at the claims saying 'nothing could be further from the truth'. Pratt's church came under scrunity from Page, who is married to Emma Portner, after his Christian faith came up during an interview with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show last Thursday. Following the interview, Page posted to Twitter, 'Oh. K. Um. But his church is infamously anti lgbtq so maybe address that too?' she said. In a follow-up post, she said: 'If you are a famous actor and you belong to an organization that hates a certain group of people, don't be surprised if someone simply wonders why it's not addressed. Being anti LGBTQ is wrong, there aren't two sides. The damage it causes is severe. Full stop. Sending love to all.' The posts divided opinion, with some Twitter users criticising Pratt while others defended his right to believe what he wanted. In a lengthy response on Instagram, Pratt has come out to deny that his church 'hates a certain group of people'. 'I go to a church that opens their doors to absolutely everyone,' he wrote. He continued by saying that 'despite what the Bible says about divorce' he received a lot of support from his church community after splitting from his wife Anna Faris in 2017. 'They helped me tremendously offering love and support,' he said. 'It is what I have seen them do for others on countless occasions regardless of sexual orientation, race or gender.' He continued by pleading for 'less hate, not more', adding, 'I am a man who believes that everyone is entitled to love who they want free from the judgment of their fellow man.' Pratt, 39, is believed to attend celebrity favourite Hillsong Church, which has in the past made clear that it maintains a traditional understanding of sexuality. In 2015, senior pastor Brian Houston clarified his belief that God's word and in particular Paul's writings on homosexuality made it 'clear that marriage is between a man and a woman'. 'Hillsong Church welcomes ALL people but does not affirm all lifestyles,' he said. 'So if you are gay, are you welcome at Hillsong Church? Of course! You are welcome to attend, worship with us, and participate as a congregation member with the assurance that you are personally included and accepted within our community. But (this is where it gets vexing), can you take an active leadership role? No.' Charity Commission launches inquiry into Birmingham archdiocese over safeguarding failings The Charity Commission, which regulates charities in England and Wales, has opened an inquiry into the Roman Catholic Birmingham Diocesan Trust over safeguarding failings. The Archdiocese of Birmingham was selected as a case study last year by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). Details emerged at the hearings in November of how senior figures in the archdiocese failed to handle reports of abuse adequately. The archdiocese had faced 'scores of allegations' of child sexual abuse by priests and others since the 1950s and had paid out thousands of pounds in damages and millions in legal fees. Among those named were Samuel Penney, James Robinson and Fr John Tolkien. The inquiry also heard from former pupils of Croome Court school in Worcestershire of sexual abuse by a priest and brutal beatings by nuns. Before the hearings began the archdiocese had commissioned reviews of its safeguarding policies, procedures and practices, which the Charity Commission said 'highlighted some serious failings and concerns over how the charity was handling safeguarding matters'. However, though the Commission requested further information, the archdiocese's responses were 'not sufficiently timely or adequate to satisfy the Commission, given the gravity of the issues raised by the reports nor did it provide adequate reassurance that the key risks were being swiftly and effectively managed'. Spokeman Harvey Grenville said: 'The public rightly expect charities to ensure safeguarding is an absolute priority, so when anyone comes into contact with people representing a charity, they are protected and the risks managed.' He said the archdiocese's trustees were 'fully cooperating with the inquiry, and have confirmed that they are committed to resolving matters as soon as possible. They have taken some further actions to respond to the reports issues, including the appointment of two additional assistant safeguarding coordinators, a reorganisation of how safeguarding matters are reported to the trustees and the commissioning of external consultants to work with statutory agencies to ensure all live safeguarding risks are being managed appropriately. These will be relevant when considering our next regulatory steps.' A statement from the archdiocese said it was 'fully committed to co-operating with the Charity Commission as the Inquiry unfolds, and to the resolution of any and all issues associated with safeguarding. 'Following IICSA the Archdiocese took immediate action to improve its approach to safeguarding, and this work is continuing with additional resources in place to support this.' Governments must act to stem 'worrying increase' in internally displaced people across Africa African leaders have been urged to turn rhetoric into action to address the urgent migrant and refugee problem across the continent. Heads of state from across Africa were in Addis Ababa over the weekend for the African Union summit, which made 2019 the year of refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons. The issue dominated the talks as leaders from across the region discussed 'durable solutions' to the problem. The theme is timely as this year's summit coincided with the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Organization of African Unity (OAU) Convention on Refugees and the tenth anniversary of the 2009 AU Convention on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), known as the Kampala Convention. Addressing the summit on Sunday, director general of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Antonio Vitorino, told heads of states that a good model for addressing internal displacement could be seen in the Regional Migrant Response Plan (RMRP) for the Horn of Africa and Yemen. RMRP is a three-year partnership between the IOM and the UN Migration Agency supporting around 80,000 people on the move between Somalia, Djibouti and Ethiopia, and Yemen. In addition to urgent humanitarian interventions, RMRP has the longer-term aims of addressing the drivers of migration and building sustainable socioeconomic infrastructures. Another effective partnership, he said, was the AU-EU-UN Taskforce on Libya, the destination for thousands of African migrants each year trying to reach Europe. The EU said last December that the joint taskforce had helped more than 39,000 migrants return voluntarily to their countries of origin. 'There is an urgent need to address root causes as we will continue to see an increase in both mixed and complex flows, which includes regular migrants, displaced people, as well as refugees who face sometimes similar vulnerabilities that make them prone to the activities of criminal networks and terrorist organizations,' said Vitorino. At the end of the summit, Christian Aid said it was 'time to translate rhetoric into action' as it warned of a 'worrying increase' in internal displacement on the African continent. Christian Aid is working in many African countries, including Nigeria, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, to support displaced people who it said were often driven from their homes by armed conflict and violence. 'These people lost everything their homes, livelihoods, and in many cases their relatives,' said Christian Aid CEO Amanda Mukwashi . She warned that 'unless African leaders work harder to prevent forcible displacement, we will remain in fire-fighting mode'. 'It's time for the AU and its member states to translate rhetoric and good intentions into laws, policies and action on the ground to protect everyone forcibly displaced in Africa, including finding durable solutions for those displaced within national borders,' she said. 'Respect for international law, including the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and the Kampala Convention, and enabling IDPs and community organisations working with them to help shape national and regional policy must be key elements in this effort.' A special place in hell.and the road to heaven This article appears on ViaMedia News and is used with permission. In perhaps the most metaphysical intervention of the Brexit debate thus far, suddenly Hell has become part of the debate. It arrived with the suggestion from one European leader that it contains a special place for those who advocate solutions without sufficient planning. Maybe the next stage of the negotiations will be to determine whether the infernal realm can simultaneously have a frictionless border with both the EU and UK. But, at least, it got me thinking about Hell. Contrary to the famous quote from Jean-Paul Sartre, Hell is not, as far as I would see it, other people. Hell is the absence of others, the absence of friends and companions, and of God. Hell is to be isolated, alone, cut adrift from the rest of eternity, with only one's own demons for company. Heaven, by contrast, is the place of intimacy, of being known as one truly is, and yet accepted and loved by both God and our companions. In Heaven we shall nurse no shameful secrets, all shall be understood and forgiven. Apologies if that all sounds a bit abstract, but it's something that affects how I behave here and now. I need it to maintain my Christian values in the teeth of a culture of individualism that tries to make everything about 'me'. The more I submit to that societal norm, viewing everything from the perspective of my rights, my aspirations, and my ability to choose and enforce my understanding of myself over against any other, the more it feels I am preparing myself for the loneliness of Hell rather than the intimacy of Heaven. In Hell, mine is the only and unchallengeable perspective. In this sense, a lot of what currently passes for political discourse in Britain, including Brexit, is pretty hellish. And sadly, many religious debates are conducted in a tone not much better. But it doesn't have to be like that. I was recently in a small meeting, dealing with a conflicted issue, where we laughed and cried, shared pain and hurt and hope, and emerged with a way forward that none of us could have imagined an hour and a half earlier. That was truly heavenly. Nor was it unique. Again and again, I find that when I, and others, move away from defensive positions, and try to see things through other eyes, something marvellous happens. Especially as a person of privilege, I am having to learn that the pathway to Heaven is not found by seeking my own rights and flourishing, let alone the interests of my own tribes and factions, but by attending to the needs and nurture of those who are deeply different from me. To do so is not to abandon the belongings and affiliations that sustain me and my kind, but to enrich them, and me, through a wider empathy. Thirty years ago, I began my journey into Franciscan community. We're a mixed bunch, one that cuts across age, class, gender, background and personality, as well as most of the major divisions in churchmanship and theological stance. My vows commit me not merely to follow the example of Francis in my own private fashion, but to journey alongside my brothers and sisters within the Order. The fact that perhaps the only common characteristic of Franciscans is a never articulated belief that being well organised is a sin, simply adds to the challenge of rubbing along together. The original disciples whom Jesus gathered around himself were a similarly unlikely group, diverse and prone to dispute. Yet I wonder whether the fact that we have only partial and contradictory lists of their names, men and women, is because it is what they are together that matters far more than their individuality. Modern minds want to distinguish Peter from Thomas, James from John, in ways perhaps inimical to the gospel. Jesus, after all, sent them out in pairs, never alone. It wasn't of course Sartre who said that Hell was other people, it was one of the three main characters in his play, No Exit. Sentenced to share eternity in a room, it is their inability to move beyond their own self centred perspectives, and to see their companions as anything beyond instruments for their own use, that makes each other's presence torture. The self obsession that has been at the heart of their earthly lives has become their condemnation. The life long Christian process of sanctification is about rejecting that road to Hell and instead finding our belonging, our true identity, through the intimacy of membership in the Body of Christ. That is the road to Heaven. Rt Rev David Walker is Bishop of Manchester. Spain's evangelicals back campaign that wants to confront the 'tyranny of gender ideology' Evangelical leaders in Spain are getting behind a global campaign that wants to give control back to parents over what their children believe Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A global campaign aiming to reassert the control of parents over what values their children embrace, particularly when it comes to gender identity, has spread to Spain - and the country's evangelical church leaders are keen to get behind it. 'Con Mis Hijos No Te Metas', which translates as 'Don't Mess With Our Kids', originates in Latin America but is gaining ground elsewhere as more people become increasingly concerned about attempts to assert gender fluid ideology and new rights and regulations spanning bathrooms and classrooms to ID cards and social media posts. When the movement launched in Spain at the Bethel Center in Madrid last month, some 250 evangelical leaders from all over the country turned out to hear one of its leaders speak, Evangelical Focus reports. Christian Rosas, spokesman for the movement in Latin America, didn't waste any time making his point as he urged those gathered to defend the right and responsibility of parents over and above the state in instilling values in their children. In particular, he said there was a need to push back against the 'tyranny of gender ideology, which lacks true foundations but aims to impose itself globally as the only accepted worldview'. While the movement isn't a defense of Christian morality, per se, it is a defense of the family, he clarified, and as such it is prepared to partner with all those who share the same concerns about freedom of conscience and the reach of the state into families, particularly where it concerns the education of children. He told Evangelical Focus that the movement was not extremist but seeking to 'eradicate' the dominant ideology that gender is a choice 'because it is false'. '#CMHNTM does not present anything new, we are just [presenting] the same and only truth that has always been there. We are calling the church to join the truth, which is in Christ, without getting lost in its own ways,' he said. In Spain, #CMHNTM is working closely with the church. Its national coordination group includes members of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Fraternity of Spain and the Spanish Evangelical Alliance. As a first step, evangelical churches will be holding a day of prayer on February 28. After that, training sessions will be held and churches will start reaching out to political leaders and institutions at both the local and national level. They will also take part in a march through Madrid planned by the movement for September. American missionary falsely accused of genocide caught in fight over indigenous tribes Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment An American missionary in Brazil is under investigation and may be charged by authorities with genocide for making illegal contact with a remote indigenous tribe, potentially exposing them to diseases. Brazils National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) have asked authorities to look into an incident that took place in December involving missionary Steve Campbell and the Hi-Merima tribe. FUNAI notified federal prosecutors and the police in early January about the alleged encounter. Campbell and his wife are based in Rondonia, Brazil and work with the Jamamadi Indians in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. He has lived with the Jamamadis since 1963, when he arrived in the region as a child brought by his parents. Steves work is to help with medical, mechanical and countless other ministry opportunities with the Indians and missionary families, according to the Greene Baptist Church in Maine, one of the Campbells partnering churches. His sending agency is the Baptist Bible Fellowship International. While Campbell lived among the Jamamadi, he entered the more isolated Hi-Merima tribes area by accident while teaching the Jamamadi how to use GPS devices, according to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo. In the 1970s, indigenous Indians in Brazil were placed under the protection of FUNAI through the passage of the Indian Statute. Since then, there have been political battles between those who favor integration of the groups into society and others who believe they should remain isolated and protected from modernity. Powerful mining and agricultural interests that want the indigenous reservations open to development have also influenced the direction of government policies. Gold and diamond hunters paid FUNAI in recent years to conduct explorations in the Palimi-u River area until November 2018, when the army stepped in and arrested 900 people and confiscated 350 kilos of gold. For most of the last 30 years, FUNAI has maintained a policy of non-contact with the isolated tribes after several of them lost up to two thirds of their population when they contracted diseases like measles. Some of the groups also faced adverse consequences when they were forced to relocate due to major highway construction projects. Bruno Pereira, who coordinates FUNAIs study of isolated groups in the region, takes a harsh view of Campbells (and other missionary) activities. If it is established in the investigation that there was an interest in making contact, using his relationship with other Indians to approach the isolated, he could be charged for the crime of genocide by deliberately exposing the safety and life of the merimas, he noted in a statement to Brazils media. Their immunological memory is not prepared for a simple flu or conjunctivitis, Pereira noted. Another point is contacts conducted by people who do not respect the self-determination of these peoples and their ways of life. Historically, this has led to violent interference in their vital relationships with the environment, with family relationships, with what they believe. However, since Brazils President Jair Bolsonaro assumed office January 1st the policies regarding indigenous tribes are changing, which has ignited a heated debate. President Bolsonaro is a conservative sometimes compared to President Trump. Raised Roman Catholic, he and his family have regularly attended a Baptist church in Rio de Janeiro. Bolsonaro has said there will be changes in the current policy of not contacting isolated Indians. He infuriated protectionists by appointing an anthropologist and evangelical pastor, Damares Alves, to a newly created position: Minister of Women, Family, and Human rights which will oversee the countrys 900,000 indigenous people. President Bolsonaro has ordered a study to determine how best to integrate the indigenous groups into society and Alves has stated she supports that goal. She will oversee FUNAI and her new position will be under the Agriculture Ministry, rather than the Justice Department. Alves has an adopted indigenous daughter and is one of the founders of Voice For Life, a group combating the infanticide of disabled and unwanted children, which is still practiced in some indigenous communities. The groups Facebook page also shows its members preaching in indigenous villages and contains a link to YWAM. The appointment of an anthropologist who happens to be an evangelical pastor prompted outcry from feminist groups, indigenous activists and LGBT campaigners, who want the tribes left alone from outside influences especially Christian ones. MORE Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment What does Matthew 10:34 say? Which things are forbidden according to Christianity? Can you describe the sacraments? If these questions seem hard even unanswerable to you, you're lucky not to be a Christian asylum seeker in Sweden. Since many years back, the Swedish Migration Board tries to differentiate between "real" converts from Islam to Christianity that risk persecution in their countries of origin, and "fake" ones who only seek a cheap way to gain asylum, by asking various questions. Sweden being a very secular country, most officials who come up with these questions are not Christians themselves. Furthermore, they don't have much knowledge about Christianity even though they might think so themselves. Me and some friends decided to conduct an experiment. We designed a test called "Am I a Christian" based on real questions the Swedish migration board had been asking converts the last couple of years. Apart from the three mentioned above, the test included questions like "How many parts does the New Testament have?", "What's the difference between the Protestant church and the Orthodox church" as well as the inflammatory "What are your thoughts on the New Testament being very anti-women?" The test went viral. Pastors, priests, bishops, theologians, celebrities... all kinds of people answered the questions and shared their results on social media. Within four days, over 100,000 people had participated. Only 300 of them scored more than 60 % correct answers. "Am I a Christian" sparked a huge debate. Most people agree that the questions converts face are too hard and do not really say anything about whether someone's faith is genuine or not. Several questions display a secular bias and an ignorance of what true Christian faith is about. As the Swedish Council of Churches has pointed out, priests and pastors have far better competence to recognize genuine Christian faith. Thus, their testimonies should weigh heavy in these types of investigations. The Migration Board themselves gave contradictory replies. Their representatives both defended the usage of these types of questions, and on the very same day denied that they are being used at all. During the last couple of weeks, many more examples of ridiculous questions have been unearthed. In December 2018, a convert was labeled as disingenuous because he could not account for what All Saints Eve was about. Earlier, another convert was told he does not need to evangelize because "the Church of Sweden does not do missions". Even more absurd, one convert was asked to recite the Lord's prayer. His interpreter mistranslated one line to "deliver us from traffic accidents", which made the Migration Board condemn the convert to deportation since him "only praying for protection against traffic accidents" was treated with suspicion. This is a full-blown catastrophe. Genuine Christians are being deported to countries where Christians are persecuted simply because Swedish government officials are incompetent and hostile towards Christianity. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The recent Arctic air and freezing temperatures from the Polar Vortex killed at least 21 people. In contrast, we do not see people dying as quickly as this during the summer heat waves. It is a well-known fact that cold snaps kill more people per day than heat waves. But why do we remain susceptible to cold weather in spite of possessing reasonably advanced weather forecasting systems and enough financial infrastructure to handle weather emergencies? Cold kills. This is no secret and for centuries our human civilization has been wary of this. However, there has been a colossal shift in our attitude towards cold winters, preparation for them, and our choice of energy systems to keep us warm. One major trigger for this shift is the belief that global warming has made our world warmer and that winters wont be as cold as they used to be. The global warming theorists also led us to believe that snow will be a thing of the past. Unfortunately, their efforts to brainwash the masses have resulted in a world where people are left unprepared for cold weather. The winter of 20172018 and the ongoing impact of the polar vortex in the Northern Hemisphere left millions in danger of succumbing to freezing temperatures. Moreover, there has been no significant reduction in snowfall over the Northern Hemisphere. Although the global warming hype has rendered our society vulnerable to cold winters in a number of ways, the most detrimental is its war on coal and how it has influenced energy policies in various countries. Imagine freezing to death because you cannot afford heating. It may sound like an unlikely scenario, but it has occurred, to thousands of people, in cold countries that have shunned coal in recent years. As Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation President E. Calvin Beisner reported four years ago, drawing from government data, in the winter of 20142015, because of fuel poverty driven by skyrocketing electric rates resulting from the United Kingdoms drastic switch from coal to wind energy, an estimated 40,000 excess winter deaths (EWDs) occurred in England and Wales, the most since 19992000 (48,440) and topping the flu-induced spike of 20089 (36,450). In each of the five winters leading up to that, England and Wales recorded an average of about 27,860 EWDs. Research by the World Health Organization concludes that from 30 to 40 percent of EWDs in Europe and Great Britain over that period are attributable to fuel poverty. If that is so, then fuel poverty caused an average of 8,358 to 11,144 deaths in each of those winters in England and Wales alone. Chinas winter fuel crisis in 2017 was a classic example. The Chinese government, in order to please the climate crusaders in Brussels and Paris, had introduced various green reforms. One was Beijings decision to force millions of households to abandon coal for natural gas. The country imposed heavy restrictions on coal-use in the northern villages. When winter arrived, thousands of families were left without heating. This year, Beijing has scrambled to make sure there is enough coal to avoid a repeat of 2017. Chinas fall-back to coal is a reminder that any anti-coal solution is likely to be a short-lived fantasy, detached far from the reality of practical energy demand. Some of the highest electricity prices in the U.S. are found in states like California that rely heavily on renewables and have been phasing out conventional energy sources like coal and nuclear. A repeat of the Chinese debacle could have played out in the Midwest if states there had espoused an anti-coal stance like Californias. An analysis of electricity prices in the U.S. suggests that both wind and solar do cause an increase in electricity prices. Moreover, wind and solar do not function well in freezing conditions. This means that in winter, when both wind and solar fail, there is greater pressure on the energy sectors that rely on them to generate enough electricity to meet increased demand. Unlike renewables, coal is a reliable energy source that has stood the test of time. More importantly, the coal energy sector has evolved drastically in recent decades. Most of the developed countries now use clean-coal technology, with significantly lower emissions and less dust. In fact, their safety and efficiency are so recognized that Japan is currently exporting its clean coal technology to other countries. Fortunately, the Trump Administration in the U.S. has ended the Obama Administrations war on coal. Consequently, the country was not pushed to its limits to meet energy demands during the winter. Moreover, the rapid development of the shale gas sector meant that the U.S. energy sector didnt have to make foolish investments in less-reliable, more-expensive, highly-intermittent, and volatile renewable energy sources like wind and solar. It also meant electricity prices were kept in check. Climate-obsessed policy makers have put millions in danger because of their anti-fossil fuel, and especially anti-coal, mindset. The dangers from winter weather are likely being made worse by so blinded by their policies. The American Midwest and the rest of the country can relax for now. But in coming years, the countrys energy affordability will be determined by the energy policies of the next administration. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment I made a comment on our daily radio program recently that Christians should be very thankful that Donald Trump was elected president of the United States and not Hillary Clinton. The Democratic Party of yesteryear, made of patriotic Americans who just had policy differences with the Republican Party, is gone forever. The Democrats have spent the past four decades or so evolving into a party that now works against almost everything our country was built upon. The Bible. The Constitution. The family. The free-enterprise system. I could give countless examples of this hostility, but I dont have enough space here. This is not to say the Republican Party has always defended these institutions. But generally speaking, it has. That is why the vast majority of Christians vote Republican. Before 1980, Christians voted for both Democrats and Republicans. President Trump, while running in the GOP primary, reached out to the Christian community to try to better understand who we were and what we wanted to see in a presidential candidate. I know that for a fact. Initially I was skeptical of his sincerity. Some would say it was a political move, since he knew he could not win the GOP nomination if he did not have a significant percentage of the evangelical vote. So perhaps it was a calculated move on Trumps partbut so what? Republicans and Democrats both pander to groups all the time. But today, Christians alone are not a large enough voting bloc to elect a presidential candidate by themselves. But Trump wanted to be our friend and he stood for a lot of the same things we stood for. Yes, he was a flawed man who had a playboy reputation, and he had no real Christian testimony other than speaking fondly of his mother taking him to the Presbyterian Church when he was young. But still, he was not embarrassed to be seen with or stand with the evangelicals, as he called us. (I joked with some of my friends during the campaign that Mr. Trump didnt know enough to understand that we conservative Christians are considered unclean by the elites. Serious presidential candidates are not supposed to be seen in public with us.) In hindsight, it was probably a blessing that Mr. Trump didnt get that, and it was also a blessing that if he didhe didnt care. He was going with what he believed, and he was going to listen to whoever wanted to join him. One of the reasons President Trump has taken unrelenting, incoming fire from the liberal eliteseven before he was sworn inis precisely because he is not ashamed of the Bible, the Constitution, the family and the free enterprise system. Yes, I understand what I just said is open to mockery. It goes something like this: So the president of the American Family Association supports a man who has been married three times and has lived a playboy lifestyle. What a joke. I have to say, I did wrestle with these things. However, I did not believe him to be the same man he was in the past. I thought he was an old school patriot who saw what the progressives and the globalists were doing to our country and wanted to stop it. But in the end, it was Trump or Clinton who would take over the most powerful office in the free world. Did I want someone who wanted to be our friend or someone who considered us to be deplorable and who represented a political party bent on the destruction of our country (as we have known it) and the criminalization of Christianity? There was no third option. I have been somewhat hesitant to state things in such a dramatic fashion. But Ive been in this culture war every day since 1986. The political progressives in this country are secular humanists. They have taken over one of the two major political parties in America. They have open disdain and in some cases hatred for the God of the Bible, His morals, values and His people. This is becoming more apparent. The path they are going down will lead to the persecution of Christians. Even physical persecution. Does President Trump always exhibit the fruits of the spirit? No. Are there tweets he sends out from time to time that I wish he would not send? Yes. But you know what? The man is fighting these same people who want to destroy our country and who want to ruin our lives unless we bow the knee to Baal. And they are vicious and they are ruthless. And they, the God-haters, are after President Trump because in many respectspolitically speakingto them he represents us. We need to pray for President Trumpevery day. Young evangelicals souring on Israel because of 'social justice,' media deception: theologian Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Correction Appended WASHINGTON A leading Anglican theologian is arguing that the reason younger evangelicals are distancing themselves from supporting Israel, including the theological underpinnings for doing so, is in part because of mass media derision of their "immoral" parents. Before a small crowd of journalists, Christian and Jewish thinkers, and Israel advocates at a gathering at MindSpace in The Washington Post building on Monday, sponsored by the Christian foreign policy journal Providence, Gerald McDermott, Anglican Chair of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama, recounted his experiences as one of only two pro-Israel voices at the Christ at the Checkpoint conference, which is usually held in Bethlehem, Jesus' birthplace, but occurred last fall in Oklahoma City. With its strong pro-Palestine bent, critics say the conference is aimed at turning younger Christians away from the pro-Israel theological paradigm that presently dominates American evangelical Christianity. Yet millennial evangelicals are increasingly distancing themselves from modern Israel, the Anglican theologian said, in part because they want to distance themselves from their parents, who tend to support Israel enthusiastically, he said in response to a question from The Christian Post about why recent polling data indicates waning support for the Jewish state among younger Christians. CP asked if this trend is a reaction against what they see as uncritically blind, total support for Israel through figures such as San Antonio pastor John Hagee, an outspoken Christian Zionist and the founder of Christians United for Israel. "Their parents are roundly criticized in our culture for being uneducated, and for being, now, at this point in our culture, immoral. For their opposition to gay marriage, that's sort of a leading reason. And young people don't want to be thought of as bad people," McDermott explained. Survey data from LifeWay that was published in December 2017 revealed that 77 percent of evangelicals ages 65 and older said they supported the existence, security and prosperity of Israel, whereas only 58 percent of evangelicals ages 18 to 34 said the same. "For the most part, younger evangelicals are indifferent about Israel," said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research, observed at the time. The shift is not just political but theological, as younger Christians don't see a biblical connection between the land of Israel and the modern nation-state, in addition to the ongoing role of the Jewish people in salvation history. University and college professors have played an important role in this, McDermott said Monday, adding that millennial evangelicals are also more concerned with social justice than their parents. Their parents recognize that there are many types of "social justice" and some of what is passed off as justice is not, he continued, as some forms actually hurt rather than help the poor, and the form many millennials support is inextricably linked to left-wing politics. During their formative university years, he continued, "what little media they take in, and it's mostly social media, rather than The New York Times or The Washington Post, but The New York Times and The Washington Post trickle down into social media. And what they hear there over and over again is the standard Palestinian narrative." "I'm for Palestinians," he stressed, distinguishing that from the storyline pushed in much of the mainstream media that Israel is the bad guy and that Palestinians are helpless victims of an evil Israeli state. That narrative is "wrong from beginning to end", he argued, and many millennials have simply never heard a cogent pro-Israel case; when their parents start talking about the rapture and end-times theology that often centers around Israel, "they just roll their eyes and say: 'Yeah, mom. Sure, sure.'" He recounted a journey he took to the Holy Land several years ago during one of his sabbaticals. During his trip he stayed with both Jews and Arabs, interviewing them about what day-to-day life was like in Israel. McDermott talked with countless people Arab Muslims, secular Jews, religious Jews, Arab Christians, Messianic Jews who lived in Galilee, asking them their opinions on Jesus and a variety of other things. "And you know what happens when you ask an average person what they think about something? They are really thrilled to tell you," he said. "What I found, whenever I talked to Arab Christians, to a person," he recounted, "they'd pull me aside, and take me around a corner where we couldn't be overheard. And the first thing they'd say was 'Don't use my name.'" He emphasized: "And then they would sort of lean over and whisper: 'Don't believe what you read in the media, that our enemy is the Israeli government. It is not. We wish the Israeli government would do more to protect us from our real enemy, which is our Muslim cousins. They are out to destroy us." McDermott heard a version of that same story all over Israel but they were afraid to say so publicly because if they did there would have been repercussions for them and their families, he explained. Those personal accounts strike at the heart of what is wrong with the Palestinian narrative, he stressed. Asked to elaborate on increasing millennial distaste for Israel, McDermott explained in a follow-up interview with CP that what is known as the theory of intersectionality the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage is influencing young minds, and it is in this system where Israel is routinely referred to as an "apartheid" state. "And apartheid immediately raises the specter of racism. And recalling the, I believe it was the 1975 UN Declaration that said Zionism is racism, these days, particularly because of our very tense national conversation on race, now Jews are portrayed as racists, as the new Nazis. And the Palestinians are sort of the perfect victims, and everyone who cares about justice ought to care about victims. The Palestinians are the quintessential victims and thus, obviously, the Jewish Israelis are the cruel, Nazi-like oppressors," McDermott said. He does not believe that critiques from Christians who are otherwise supporters of the Jewish state when it does indeed err will matter much. "I think a whole generation has so bought into the leftist approach to Israel into so-called social justice that these little attempts at atonement by Israel supporters by criticizing the government of Israel, I don't think it will make any difference." For Christians who care about standing with Israel, he urges them to visit and speak with the natives like he did. Unfortunately, reporters are plentiful who work for purportedly mainstream new outlets who, despite knowing better, churn out stories the feed the master narrative line, that Israel is the bad guy and the Palestinians are these poor victims who can't do anything to help themselves, he said, adding that if they write a story that deviates too much from those predetermined characterizations they will not get promotions as major newsroom editors will accept nothing else. McDermott is the author of Israel Matters: Why Christians Must Think Differently About the People and the Land and is the editor is of The New Christian Zionism, a volume of Christian scholarship on Israel released in 2017. His latest book, Everyday Glory: The Revelation of God in All of Reality, was published in November. Correction, February 10, 2019. A previous version of this article stated that McDermott was the only pro-Israel voice at the Christ at the Checkpoint conference. He was one of two pro-Israel speakers. Widely used in the Netherlands, Denmark and parts of Canada, CDC schemes have long been debated in the UK. However, following months of campaigning for an official framework by the Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) who have adopted the scheme, CDCs will now be available for all as an alternative option to the traditional choice of either Defined Benefit (DB) or Defined Contribution (DC) schemes for both employers and employees. Martin Strevens, a consultant for Quantum Advisory, said: For a number of years now employers have been turning their backs on DB schemes for their employees in favour of the more economical DC scheme. This puts a cap on the costs for the employer and removes the requirement to value the pension liabilities in the company accounts. However, there has been a noticeable shift in opinion within the pension industry that traditional DC arrangements may not fulfil all members requirements for an income in retirement. Following the introduction of pensions freedoms in 2015, the traditional route of purchasing an annuity with a DC pot has become significantly less attractive. The alternative of accessing a DC pot via a flexi-access drawdown payment can potentially leave people with a large sum of money and no real idea how long they will need the money to last or how to reinvest it in the meantime. CDCs are an alternative pensions vehicle that work by pooling the collective employee and employer contributions together in a combined fund more akin to a DB arrangement. The difference here is that in a CDC scheme, members get to choose how their funds are invested and the investment choices are available at a lower charge than a non-pooled arrangement. The pension benefits available at retirement are calculated by the Scheme Actuary who considers the rate that pension members can reasonably expect to receive, given the rate of contributions promised to the scheme. The answer then drives the rate at which pensions are paid. From an employer funding perspective, it would remain a DC scheme. The key point to note, is that if investment returns do not achieve the expected level of return, then the benefit payable to the member is reduced accordingly. This point is crucial, and clearly if CDCs are to provide a truly viable alternative, communications with members will be critical. The consultation asked a number of questions of the pension industry to gauge the appetite for CDCs, to understand the problems and complexities of CDCs and to seek views as to how these problems could be overcome. Issues include the possible minimum size for a CDC to enable it sufficient scale to effectively pool longevity risk, if CDCs should be legislated as a DC scheme, the best ways to manage risk, any additional communications and information requirements for CDCs and how CDCs would fit within the automatic enrolment regime. As part of the consultation, it has been confirmed that in order to protect the investments and to ensure costs are controlled, the DWP is proposing that all CDC pension schemes will be subject to a charge cap of 0.75%, set at the same level as DC schemes. From within the industry, reaction to the consultation has been positive, with the acknowledgement that a new method of pension provision can provide a sound and reasonable solution, whilst acknowledging that there are many hurdles to overcome before a final path is set. CDCs are not without their critics. Some argue that they are inter-generationally unfair, as if a scheme overestimates the amount its assets will return, it must adjust its liabilities by cutting its pensions promise for some or all future members. Other argue that CDCs are untested in the UK and against the spirit of pensions freedom. The result of the consultation will be presented to parliament as soon as parliamentary time allows, but it is clear that the government has thrown some real backing behind the CDCs as a viable alternative to the traditional DB and DC arrangements and so the pension industry awaits further developments with great interest. Iranian judges sending Christians to 'torture factory' must be sanctioned by Trump admin., NGO urges Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment On the 40th anniversary of the Islamic revolution in Iran, a prominent Christian persecution watchdog group is calling on the U.S. Treasury to sanction the Iranian judges who are responsible for sending Christians to a torture factory. International Christian Concern, a nonprofit advocacy organization that highlights human rights and religious freedom abuses against persecuted Christians worldwide, has submitted the names of three Iranian Revolutionary Court judges and the infamous Evin Prison to be subject to punishment under the Global Magnitzky Act. The legislation, signed into law in 2012, allows the U.S. Department of the Treasury to target perpetrators of human rights abuses by seizing U.S. assets or issuing travel bans. The Global Magnitsky Act is a monumental piece of bipartisan legislation that empowered the fight for human rights around the world in a brand new way, ICC's Advocacy Director Matias Perttula said in a statement. This legal tool empowers the U.S. government and the civil society community to target individuals and entities guilty of oppressing people and violating their God-given human rights with the full force of the United States sanctions capabilities. The judges recommended by ICC for sanctions are Mashallah Ahmadzadeh, Mohammed Moghiseh, and Ahmad Zargar. February 11 marks the 40-year anniversary of the founding of the modern Islamic Republic of Iran, an ICC report states. Since then, Iran has been ruled by elites who have fused hardline Islam with governance. Christians are viewed as a national security threat and prosecuted under these judges and then imprisoned in the infamous Evin Prison, commonly referred to as the torture factory. As Christianity is illegal in Iran and Christians can be arrested for just having a Bible, Christians are regularly arrested for standing strong in their faith. Some Christians are sentenced to years in prison after being accused of charges like trying to establish an underground church network. Many of them are sent to Evin Prison. Evin Prison is located at the foot of the Alborz mountains in the outskirts of Tehran and has become notorious for being where the regime holds its political prisoners. Officials at the prison have been accused of torturing political dissidents and religious minorities. Evin Prison was where American pastor Saeed Abedini, a former Muslim convert who became a naturalized U.S. citizen, was held in prison for more than two years before his release in 2016. Abedini was charged with compromising national security. He said he was physically and emotionally abused during his time in Evin Prison. Last year, the U.S. government called out Evin Prison for what it said were brutal tactics inflicted by prison authorities that include sexual assaults, physical assaults, and electric shock. Some prisoners were beaten to death. According to ICC, the Revolutionary Court judges recommended for sanctions are responsible for convicting Christians on trumped-up charges. ICC accuses the judges of using Irans legal system as a tool of repression against religious minorities. For the last 40 years, Iran has sought to control the souls of its citizens through hardline Islamic judges and the threat of incarceration at Evin Prison, ICC Regional Manager Claire Evans said in a statement. Christians have faced degrading and inhumane treatment for no other reason than their faith. Yet, despite this intense persecution, they firmly held onto their faith. In response, these judges have only strengthened their resolve to further crack down on all practice of Christianity. Last month, it was reported that two Iranian Christians who were sentenced to prison on charges of spreading propaganda against the regime" were ordered by Zargar and another presiding judge to renounce their faith. The two Christians, however, refused to do so. Iran ranks as the ninth-worst country in the world when it comes to the persecution of Christians, according to Open Doors USAs 2019 World Watch List. Last May, the Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Evin Prison and the Ansar-e Hezbollah, a conservative group linked to the government for serious human rights abuses. Also sanctioned was the Hanista Programing Group, which is accused of providing technology that facilitates computer or network disruption, monitoring, or tracking that could assist in or enable serious human rights abuses by or on behalf of the government of Iran. The Iranian regime diverts national resources that should belong to the people to fund a massive and expensive censorship apparatus and suppress free speech, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said in a statement at the time. Those who speak out against the regimes mismanagement and corruption are subject to abuse and mistreatment in Irans prisons. The Iranian regime has regularly rejected claims of human rights abuses in Evin Prion. Retiring NAE pres. details changing face of evangelicalism, how mov't is evolving Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The retiring president of the National Association of Evangelicals, Leith Anderson, says he's stepping down at a time in which evangelicalism is in the midst of a really good day, thanks to the incredible growth brought to the movement by immigrants. Anderson says he's planning to step down as soon as a search committee find his replacement to lead the association of over 40 denominations and 45,000 churches. And the 74-year-old former Minnesota megachurch pastor said he's happy to report that there's a changing face of evangelicalism in the United States. At a time in which there are prevailing media narratives about evangelicals that link the movement to some sort of pro-Trump Christian nationalism, Anderson says that narrative doesnt represent reality. It is increasingly a face of immigrants, particularly from Latin America and parts of Asia, Anderson told The Christian Post in a phone interview, adding that they are immigrants coming from places in the world that are witnessing the greatest growth in evangelism. They are bringing a dynamic faith to this country that is changing the face of evangelicalism, he added. It is significant and sometimes amazing. The growth of evangelicalism has been a post-World War II phenomenon that continues to this day, according to Anderson. However, the way the movement is growing now is a bit different from decades ago. According to Anderson, the world is experiencing a tremendous growth in evangelicalism in Latin America, Asia and Africa. He added that most of NAEs 40 member denominations have more people living outside of the U.S. than in it. But as immigrants migrate to the U.S. from the areas throughout the world where evangelicalism is experiencing explosive growth, they are starting to launch their own churches. The things that I see happening are the positive influence of immigrant churches and families in evangelicalism and the starting of new churches, Anderson said. I get to travel a lot. When I am in a rental car, I like to get off the interstate and just go through towns and see America. I will stop at a nonfranchise restaurant and just talk to people. Virtually everywhere I go, there is a new church, there is a new church in a school, there is a new church in a storefront, there is a new church sign somewhere. If you go back 25 years, that just wasnt true, Anderson continued. Most of those churches are evangelical churches. Those are seeds that are being planted. They wont all survive but there are a lot of seeds that are out there that are going to have massive influence into the future. To better reflect the changing face of evangelicalism, leadership within the NAE has adapted to become more diverse. The history of the NAE, if you go back 75 years, was less diverse in terms of ethnicity, race and gender, Anderson, who has been NAE president since 2006, told CP. That has been a high priority to better reflect evangelicalism in America. We have made good progress but we are not there yet. The Public Religion Research Institute found in polling last year that most white evangelicals say that Americas increasing racial diversity and immigrants harm America or threaten its values. That is not the people I talk to. The people I talk to are thrilled when anybody from anywhere comes to faith in Jesus Christ and are delighted to bring the immigrant Christians, the diversity, the new churches into their association, Anderson said in response to the PRRI poll. They are actually thrilled. A number of evangelicals have spoken out about what they have seen emerge as a common public misconception that people have about evangelicals. Considering that exit polls show that 81 percent of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, the term evangelical has taken on a more political connotation that is linked to social conservatism. In reality, the terms evangelical and evangelicalism are theological in meaning, not political. While some conservative evangelical leaders have taken to the media to voice their opinions as if they are speaking on behalf of all evangelicals, Anderson believes that evangelicalism is too broad of a movement to be defined by a group of evangelicals political opinions. In 2015, NAE and LifeWay Research partnered to come up with a set of four basic theological beliefs that define what it means to be evangelical. Evangelicals are defined by our belief in the Bible, Jesus, salvation, outreach, Anderson contended. There are many millions around the world, many of whom wouldnt even be familiar with U.S. politics. Its interesting and challenging to be identified by something that is not central to who we are. Part of the reason that there might be a political narrative about evangelicals in the common culture is due to the types of evangelicals who make themselves available to the media and those who dont, Anderson opined. He recalled an off-the-record conversation he once had with a reporter who told him that there was easy access to interviewees willing to express extreme positions. However, the journalist said he had a hard time getting evangelical leaders who will express more moderate positions to do so on the record. I thought about that for a long time and wondered why that is, Anderson recalled. I think part of the answer is most of the leaders I know and work with are focused on what they do. They are concerned about drilling wells for people that dont have clean water in Africa. They are concerned about starting new churches in the United States. They are concerned about refugees and the poor and the vulnerable and evangelism. That is where they want to focus. They dont want either themselves or their organizations to be identified in terms of public statements that they are going to make on political or other issues. Anderson said that he could empathize with such a reason but understands how unwillingness by moderate leaders to speak their views in the media could lead to a skewed view of what evangelicals are doing. Evangelicalism is a movement. It is not a centralized location or hierarchy, which gives individuals who want to self-identify the ability to speak as if they are speaking on behalf of all evangelicals, Anderson said. That is just not true. It is too many people and it is too broad. We needed to let people understand that there may be some who identify as evangelicals who have various different opinions and they certainly have the right to express themselves but not to project them on all evangelicals, because it is just not true, Anderson added. It is a desire to keep to the core of who we actually are. Anderson said that he plans to stay on as president until the end of 2019 or however long it takes for a search committee to find his replacement. Anderson is mulling over going into international ministry following his retirement. Anderson also served for 35 years as the senior pastor of Wooddale Church, a megachurch in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Following his recent retirement announcement, a number of evangelical leaders from both sides of the political aisle voiced their appreciation for the work that Anderson has done. Leiths years of service to the NAE, have not only strengthened the organization, but they have contributed invaluably to evangelicalism at a time in history when our community has grown to become at least the third largest segment of Christianity in the globe, and maybe soon, the second, Johnnie Moore, an author and a prominent evangelical communications executive, told CP in a statement. Leith is probably too humble to ever acknowledge it, but many of us recognize clearly that God himself entrusted to his servant leadership a critical moment in 2000 years of Christian history in a nation that has played an indispensable role in the advance of Gods mission. North Carolina could outlaw abortion after 13 weeks Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Republican North Carolina legislators have proposed a bill that could outlaw abortion after 13 weeks as New York State Democrats made headlines last month for passing a bill that allows abortion up to birth if the health of the mother is threatened. "We need to work together towards eliminating abortion not expanding it to the point that we kill infants in the hospital beds," Rep. Keith Kidwell, R-Beaufort, who sponsored House Bill 28, said in a statement cited by WRAL last Thursday. "Lax laws have resulted in nothing short of genocide, so today we're here to send a message." Kidwell told WRAL that because the U.S. Supreme Court won't decide when life begins, he wants to set it at "quickening," or the first fetal movements. North Carolina currently bans abortion after 20 weeks, except when the mothers life or physical health is threatened. If House Bill 28 is passed, the new law would go into effect on Dec. 1, 2019. The law would also make North Carolina the state with the earliest abortion ban in the U.S., according to Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Alison Kiser. "This is a medically unnecessary and arbitrary cutoff to a woman's ability to access safe and legal abortion care," Kiser told WRAL. North Carolina Republican legislators also proposed House Bill 22, which would require doctors to tell women that abortions induced by taking the drug mifepristone can be reversed halfway through. Kiser argued, however, that the reversal isnt supported by reliable science. "To be clear, the proposed course of treatment in this bill has not been proven by any credible research or medical evidence to be effective or even safe," she told WRAL. "This is just more of the same from anti-abortion legislators in North Carolina who will really stop at nothing to shame a woman's decision to end a pregnancy and whose ultimate aim is to ban all safe and legal abortion," Kiser added. Contrary to Kiser's comments, many women have given birth to babies after initially taking an abortion pill. Heartbeat International has reported that hundreds of babies have been saved thanks to abortion pill reversal. While Republicans are working to protect unborn babies, top Democrats in North Carolina such as Rep. Graig Meyer, Sen. Jay Chaudhuri and Sen. Terry Van Duyn have already proposed legislation called the Whole Womans Health Act that would legalize abortions up to birth, as long as it is conducted by a physician, according to Longleaf Politics. The bill would reportedly remove the requirement that abortions be limited to medical emergencies after 20 weeks. The only requirement for a late-term abortion would be that a physician must carry out the procedure. Doctors would not be required to record a reason for an abortion after 20 weeks. On Jan. 22, New York State legislators passed the Reproductive Health Act to codify federal abortion rights guaranteed under the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision and remove abortion from the state's criminal code. Shortly after that decision, Virginia Democrat Delegate Kathy Tran proposed a now tabled bill that would remove barriers to late-term abortions. Soon after, Democratic Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia defended that bill with comments that some interpreted as support for infanticide. In his State of the Union speech last Tuesday, President Donald Trump called out lawmakers in New York and Virginia for their support of late-term abortion and urged Congress to enact a law against the practice. There could be no greater contrast to the beautiful image of a mother holding her infant child than the chilling displays our nation saw in recent days. Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb moments before birth, the president said. These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world. And then, we had the case of the governor of Virginia where he stated he would execute a baby after birth. To defend the dignity of every person, I am asking Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother's womb. Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life. And let us reaffirm a fundamental truth all children born and unborn are made in the holy image of God. Christian grocery store owner receives death threat for Hell has open borders ad Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The Christian owner of a grocery store chain received a death threat in response to a message on his weekly ad mailer that featured a statement about Heaven, Hell and border walls. Macs Cash Savers, which has grocery stores in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, sent the weekly ad, which in addition to noting prices for certain products also included the statement Heaven has a wall, a gate and a strict immigration policy. Hell has open borders. Let that sink in. Reggy McDaniel, owner of Macs, told The Christian Post in an interview Monday afternoon that the chief purpose of the ad was to get people to thinking about their salvation. The mailer has garnered national headlines by media outlets that are drawing attention to the few who've voiced their objections to the ad's message. Please remove me from any mailers. I will no longer shop in your store. I find your mixture of religion and politics disgusting, one person lamented, according to Fox News. McDaniel explained to CP that each week's mailer ad includes a message "to get [people] to thinking about how they are going to get in them Pearly Gates up there, in Heaven. And the only way they are going to get in them is through Jesus Christ. McDaniel noted that the statement was not meant to be political, saying that it was a coincidence that it was published in an ad running at a time when the border issue was a deal, adding that I saw that statement around for a long time. One weekly mailer ad released last month had the statement Today, spend some time alone with Christ and experience joy that is full of pleasures that are eternal. Another weekly ad from last year read It is possible to pollute the water of the source, through rebellion. Obedience to God is a key to true satisfaction. I thought it was a really good Christian statement that Heaven has gates and borders and it does have a strict immigration policy: youve got to believe in the Son, Jesus Christ, or you dont get there, McDaniel said. McDaniel also took issue with the claim that the statement was racist or xenophobic, telling CP that there nothing racial about it. It aint talking about one color getting to Heaven, added McDaniel. I dont care what color you are. As a matter of fact, Jesus wasnt white come to think of it. Regarding backlash, McDaniel estimated that 85 to 90 percent of the feedback he's received was positive in nature. He said he had gotten one death threat, but brushed it off, saying weve had them before. Bible experts Eric Mason, James White clash over racist history of abortion Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Two leading Bible experts and prolific writers, Eric Mason and James White, have clashed over the racist history of abortion. The controversy erupted Saturday when Mason, who is the founder and lead pastor of Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and author of four books: Manhood Restored, Beat God to the Punch, Unleashed, and most recently Woke Church, blamed the creation of the mass abortion culture on racism. When white (sic) say speak out on abortion like you do other atrocities against AAs Im waiting for them to speak out on all of the history of racism in this country. What nerve to say that w/ the history they deny that created the environment for mass abortions in the AA community, Mason wrote in a tweet. Mason, who is Southern Baptist and a proponent of Critical Race Theory, further argued that white evangelicals , particularly reformed white evangelicals have to stop reading in their theological ghettos and learn more! Like the false prophets in Jeremiah 23 yall preach to each other but not from the Lord! Repent! Critical Race Theory, holds that race is a socially constructed concept that functions as a means to maintain the interests of the white population that constructed it. Racial inequality, according to the theory, emerges from the social, economic, and legal differences that white people create between races to maintain elite white interest in labor markets and politics which create the environment that give rise to poverty and criminality in many minority communities. White, a scholar and director of Alpha and Omega Ministries in Phoenix, Arizona, who previously criticized Masons latest book that calls on Christians in America to confront racism and injustice, argued in his reply to his black counterpart that whites should not be blamed for abortion in the African-American community. Are you kidding? Now whites are to blame for mass abortions in the AA community? Pray tell us, Dr. Masonhow does this not communicate 1) constant victim status, and more amazingly, 2) a denigrating view of the responsibility of black men and women morally and sexually? he asked. Masons statement triggered many other reactions supporting and criticizing his position. Christian hip-hop artist Derek Johnson Jr., better known by his stage name Derek Minor, challenged White about the historical truth behind Masons point. Eugenics in America wasnt started and funded by whites (sic) people? It wasnt initially pitched from Margaret Sanger as a good thing to the US population because it killed off the most ignorant and diseased of the population (blacks and the ill)? PP didnt evolve from that lie? he asked. Surely were not gonna detach ourselves from our past are we? Blacks absolutely have personal responsibility to do our damndest to Free our community from THAT lie (as many of us are) even tho many of us ar still duped, he added. White argued that Masons point is identity politics which shouldnt be a part of the Church. Brother, I reject identity politics, and I will shout from the rooftops that the only identity that matters in the church of Jesus Christ is whether you are in HIM or not. Period. All the tribalism and ethnocentricity of the past is *wiped out* when it comes to the CORE, White said. Data cited by The Wall Street Journal notes that nationally, black women have abortions at far higher rates than other women. In 2014, 36 percent of all abortions were performed on black women who make up just 13 percent of the female population. Asia Bibi stuck in Pakistan, frustrated and afraid amid threats Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A Pakistani Christian woman who was recently acquitted of all blasphemy charges after being imprisoned on death row for over eight years is still unable to leave Pakistan. Asia Bibi, 54, has been transferred from a secret location near Karachi after having been previously hidden away at another location near Islamabad, the nation's capital, The Associated Press reported Saturday. Aman Ullah, who has been a liaison between Bibi and European diplomats, spoke with Bibi Friday and said she is afraid and frustrated, unsure about when she will be able to leave the country. She told him that she's locked in one room of a house. The only time the doors open are during "food time." She is permitted to make phone calls in the morning and again at night. Bibi's husband is reportedly with her. "She has no indication of when she will leave ... they are not telling her why she cannot leave, said Ullah, who fled Pakistan Friday following threats from extremists who were angry about his longtime assistance to Bibi. Bibis plight started approximately 10 years ago when two fellow field workers accused her of drinking from the same container as them and refused to drink after her because she is a Christian. After a conflict of some sort, two Muslim women accused Bibi of insulting the Islamic prophet Muhammad. In Pakistan, being charged with committing blasphemy against Islam is punishable by death. The Supreme Court of Pakistan ultimately said there were many inconsistencies in the testimony against Bibi, who has always said she was innocent, and was eventually acquitted. According to Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Bibi is "living with her family and given requisite security for safety, and the government is taking all possible measures to protect her and her family, and she is a free citizen after her release from jail and can move anywhere in Pakistan or abroad. Ullah said that Bibi told her that her security detail will not tell her why she is still hidden away. "In recent months, he has been physically assaulted, gunmen have opened fire on his home, and several religious radicals attacked his home. Ullah said he fears being attacked again or charged with blasphemy," the AP reported. Bibi's daughters live in Canada where Bibi has been granted asylum and is hoping to join them. Rimmel Mohydin of Amnesty International said in a Jan. 29 statement that with the Supreme Court's ruling refusing to reverse their decision, Bibi must finally get her freedom and an end to her ordeal. After nine years behind bars for a crime she didnt commit, it is difficult to see this long overdue verdict as justice. But she should now be free to reunite with her family and seek safety in a country of her choice, he said. Mohydin and other human rights activists have repeatedly called for the Pakistani government to scrap their blasphemy laws as soon as possible, in addition to any other policies that discriminate against and endanger religious minorities. The Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News collect 380 allegations spanning 20 states in an unprecedented look at sexual misconduct across the denomination. | Image: Houston Chronicle A landmark investigation into hundreds of cases of sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches opened with a collage of pictures of the offenders, row after row of headshots and mugshots of men who had been accused of abusing a total of 700 victims over the past 20 years. In Sundays report, the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News were able to do what victims say the nations largest Protestant denomination has failed to for years: provide a picture of the extent of the abuse within the Southern Baptist Convention and a database of those found guilty of their crimes. With allegations against 380 church leaders in 20 states (a majority of whom were convicted or took plea deals), its believed to be the biggest report on sexual abuse among Southern Baptists in the movements history. The report confronts the longstanding defense that the organization can only do so much to monitor abuse since affiliated congregations operate autonomously. Another set of pictures captures a sense of the impact of abusers in Southern Baptist congregations. In response to the investigation, Southern Baptist women and fellow Christians shared childhood photos on Twitter from the age when they first suffered abuse. Dozens joined a thread started by Living Proof Ministries founder and popular Bible teacher Beth Moore, including advocate and abuse survivor Jules Woodson and other ministry leaders. Over the past couple years, the #MeToo campaign has raised awareness about abuse within the SBC and galvanized official efforts to improve the denominations response. Last December, as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram rounded up more than 400 allegations among independent Baptists, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission ... Most Christians today agree that human evolution is realand that God had a hand in it. The findings are part of a new study released this month by the Pew Research Center, which surveyed more than 2,500 Americans. Fifty-eight percent of white evangelical Protestants and 66 percent of black Protestants selected Humans have evolved over time due to processes that were guided or allowed by God when asked, Which statement comes closest to your view? Only four percent of white evangelical Protestants and six percent of black Protestants said that natural selection is real but God had no role. The remaining 38 percent of white Protestants and 27 percent of black Protestants said humans have always existed in their present form. But when asked the same question differently, the results varied. When forced to choose between evolution or creationism, 66 percent of white evangelical Protestants select the creationist stance. Fifty-nine percent of black Protestants chose creationism too. According to Pew, the results show that, perhaps, we have been posing the evolution question all wrong. When given the opportunity to say that God played a role in evolution, many Christians will reject the classic creationist viewpoint. Pew adds that people should not be forced to choose between science and religion but encouraged to share their beliefs on both science and Gods role in it. Similarly, in a 2013 study by Jonathan Hill, a sociology professor at Calvin College, a third of creationists said that being correct about the creationism theory wasnt important. The way you ask someone about human origins will play a substantial role in the type of response you receive, said Hill in an interview responding to the Pew study. Querying the public about origins is not the same as asking their opinion on photosynthesis. Its safe to assume that much of the American public, religious or not, does not have detailed knowledge about evolution or the mechanisms which drive it. So, when people approach these questions on surveys they are signaling more about their own moral position and group identity, rather than trying to find the view which best fits with established prior beliefs. Research in the 2017 book Religion vs. Science: What Religious People Really Thinkshows similar results. The book is based on extensive surveys and interviews, which divulge the variety of views on how life on Earth beganand how, for many, the line between evolution and creationism is blurred. Along with Hills research, the bookand now the Pew studygive a fuller picture than the Gallup poll numbers released in 2017, which concluded that 50 percent of Protestants and other Christians hold a creationist view of origins, believing that God created humans in their current form less than 10,000 years ago. In Religion vs. Science, Elaine Ecklund, at Rice University, and Chris Scheitle, at West Virginia University, add to the body of work indicating that the issues of creationism and evolution are far more complex than a single survey question and that the divides on creation arent as deep as we once thought. Due to the long history, current state, and high profile of the evolution-creation debate in the United States, we are led to believe religious people writ large simply do not accept evolutionary theory, wrote researchers Ecklund and Scheitle. But when social scientists dig deeper, we almost always find that positions on an issue are much more varied and nuanced than it might appear from looking at picket signs. Evolution is no exception. For their analysis, Ecklund and Scheitle conducted an online survey of more than 10,000 Americans asking, among other questions, what religious Americans think about science and how life on Earth began; more than 7,000 of the participants identified as Protestant, Catholic, or just a Christian. Article continues below Participants were given six narratives about human origins, ranging from the young-Earth creationism theoryGod created the universe, the Earth, and all of life within the past 10,000 yearsto the concept of natural selection and evolutionthe universe and Earth came into being billions of years ago; all life, including humans, evolved over millions of years from earlier life forms due to environmental pressures to adapt; there was no God or Intelligent Force involved in either the creation or evolution of life. Participants were asked to select the narrative they thought was true and how confident they were in the theory. If they werent certain, they could select more than one explanation. Many Christians surveyed were uncertain about the beginning of life on Earth; 39 percent of evangelical Protestants were unwilling to say that any of the theorieseven Creationismwere absolutely, without a doubt, true. Similarly, 64 percent of mainline Protestants and 60 percent of Catholics also said none of the narratives were definitely true. The sociologists followed up with 200 in-depth interviews with Christians in Houston and Chicago, asking participants questions like: Do you think evolution offers the best explanation for life on Earth? Can evolution be compatible with the teachings of the Bible? Should the Bible be taken literally? For Ecklund and Scheitle, these conversations revealed that Christians care more about the hand behind evolution or creationism, not exactly on the details behind how Earth began. For example, a Catholic who believed in evolution told them, For me, its ultimately [that] all evolution goes back to God. Its Gods work. Thats why the world is evolving and people are evolving. Another said, You can think of all different kinds of theories, but they have to have come from somewhere. Something had to happen first. Or something had to be put into motion. Speaking of the recent Pew study, Hill said: Again, this suggests that people do not oppose evolution so much as oppose the idea that God was not actively involved in the creation of our species. To the extent that (respondents) automatically associate evolution with an atheistic viewpoint, they will appear to reject evolution when all they really want is to signal their belief in divine involvement in the process. These beliefs fit with a recent survey of National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) leaders, 90 percent of whom said it was okay to have differing views on creation as long as Christians maintain that God is the ultimate creator of Earth. How God chose to create is important, but it is secondary, explained Leith Anderson, president of the NAE. Roy Taylor, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church in America, agreed. The non-negotiable is that God created the universe ex nihilo [out of nothing]. As one church leader of an evangelical congregation told Ecklund and Scheitle: I took a group [of youth] to a science center and they had this great exhibit on the big bang theory, and [the youth] were really upset about it. And I said well what if it was a big bang? Im OK with that. Im OK with there being a big bang. I think as a believer, though, we know who lit the fuse. Christians troubled by which theory is right can move forward by trusting not in how but in God. Nadia Whitehead is a freelance journalist and science writer. Her work has appeared in Science, The Washington Post and NPR. Find her on Twitter @NadiaMacias. Swedish Government Tests Asylum Seekers to See If They Are 'Real' Christians Share Tweet The questions the Swedish Migration Board uses to assess whether an asylum seeker is genuinely Christian are too hard and are ignorant to what true Christian faith is about, says Micael Grenholm, editor in chief for Pentecostals and Charismatics for Peace Justice. Grenholm, who is also a pastor in Uppsala, Sweden, wrote in an opinion piece for ChristianPost.com that he and friends create a test called Am I a Christian, which is based on real questions the Swedish migration board asks of Christian asylum seekers. The test went viral with more than 100,000 people, including pastors, priests and bishops, trying the test. Grenholm says that only 300 scored more than 60 percent. The Am I a Christian test asked questions such as, "How many parts does the New Testament have?", "What's the difference between the Protestant church and the Orthodox church" and "What are your thoughts on the New Testament being very anti-women?" Most people agree that the questions converts face are too hard and do not really say anything about whether someone's faith is genuine or not, Grenholm continued. Several questions display a secular bias and an ignorance of what true Christian faith is about. Grenholm noted that in the past the Migration Board has mistakenly denied access to true Christian asylum seekers. In December 2018, a Christian was said to be disingenuous because he could not explain All Saints Eve. In another case, a Christian convert was asked to recite the Lords Prayer, but his interpreter accidentally mistranslated one line from deliver us from evil to deliver us from traffic accidents. The man was deported. This is a full-blown catastrophe, Grenholm said in the column. Genuine Christians are being deported to countries where Christians are persecuted simply because Swedish government officials are incompetent and hostile towards Christianity. Photo courtesy: Pixabay New Amazon Documentary Theorizes Jesus Is Actually a Greek Philosopher, Sparks Outrage Share Tweet An Amazon Prime documentary has made claim that Jesus Christ was not a Jew from Nazareth, but rather a Greek philosopher named Apollonius, born in the Anatolia region of Turkey. The theory proposed by Bible Conspiracies, released in 2016, has drawn attention from several news sources after Sputnik News published the article, Jesus Wasnt a Jew, Bombshell Documentary Claims, as The Independent observed. The film is peppered with dated computer animations and stock images in the place of interviews with experts or original footage, all accompanied by a monotone voiceover, The Independent described. What about this person, Jesus? Was he real? Was he created? Was he alien? asks the films narrator. There is, in fact, a man who can be found in text outside of the Bible after the church failed to eradicate him from history, the film claims. Born around the same time as Jesus, Apollonius became a disciple of Pythagoras renouncing flesh, wine and women. He wore no shoes and let his hair and beard grow long. He soon became a reformer and fixed his abode in the Temple of Aesculapius, the narrator describes. The film claims that Jesus did not exist, and instead has been mistaken for this philosopher. Like Jesus, Apollonius preached, and supposedly performed miracles and amassed a number of followers. He reportedly restored life to the dead and spoke of things beyond the human reach. And, unlike Jesus, there is evidence to prove that Apollonius actually existed, the documentary says. Nobody can say with any conviction that Jesus was a real person. As The Independent points out, academics overwhelmingly agree that Jesus was a real person. The online newspaper reports that Simon Gathercole, senior lecturer in New Testament Studies at Cambridge University explained that Apollonius was well-known in the ancient world, and was often compared to Jesus, but Gathercole dismissed the theory as crackers, telling The Independent, There was no doubt in the ancient world or now over whether Jesus existed. There is no doubt in the evidence from the first sources that Jesus was Jewish and not Greek. Bible Conspiracies proposes other theories such as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by a nuclear explosion, and poses the question, did an alien race known as the Annunaki destroy the tower of Babel? The majority of responses to the low-budget film have been critical, with one viewer saying Does not live up to its name - doesn't reveal any Bible 'conspiracies' only tries to cast doubt on the Bible with no historical evidence or interviews with trustworthy experts, just pure conjecture. Other viewers wrote with similar criticism, The writers of this film not only have NO actual Biblical knowledge, they quote many myths that have been not only been disproved, but are laughed at in theological circles. In this video, there are no experts, no theologians, only many rhetorical lies that are often spewed by evolutionist and atheist. Photo courtesy: Pixabay Resources Rising Stars Investor Presentation Perth, Feb 12, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Intermin Resources Limited ( ASX:IRC ) ( FRA:I6R ) provides the Resources Rising Stars Investor Presentation.Intermin Summary:- High quality gold projects in the heart of the WA goldfields- 100% ownership of 890km2on Bardoc, Abattoir, Ida, Kunanalling, Menzies and Zuleika shear zones- JORC 2012 Resource of 609,600oz grading 2.05g/t- Pipeline of development projects, with the Teal gold mine recently completed generating cash to fund organic growth- Significant resource growth and new discovery potential with walk up drill targets for drilling in 2019- Assets close to infrastructure, services and labour- High grade open cut and underground potential- Significant opportunity for further consolidation at asset and corporate levelTo view the presentation, please visit:About Horizon Minerals Limited Horizon Minerals Limited (ASX:HRZ) is a gold exploration and mining company focussed on the Kalgoorlie and Menzies areas of Western Australia which are host to some of Australia's richest gold deposits. The Company is developing a mining pipeline of projects to generate cash and self-fund aggressive exploration, mine developments and further acquisitions. The Teal gold mine has been recently completed. Horizon is aiming to significantly grow its JORC-Compliant Mineral Resources, complete definitive feasibility studies on core high grade open cut and underground projects and build a sustainable development pipeline. Horizon has a number of joint ventures in place across multiple commodities and regions of Australia providing exposure to Vanadium, Copper, PGE's, Gold and Nickel/Cobalt. Our quality joint venture partners are earning in to our project areas by spending over $20 million over 5 years enabling focus on the gold business while maintaining upside leverage. Christian Mother from Somalia Beaten, Raped in Kenya Share Tweet NAIROBI, Kenya, February 12, 2019 (Morning Star News) Somali Muslims who beat and raped a Christian mother of four last month began sending threatening messages more than a year ago at a refugee camp in Kenya, she said. The 41-year-old Somali woman was a Muslim living in Somalia with her husband when he sent her and their four children to Kenyas Ifo refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Somali border, in February 2016. She put her faith in Christ a year later, though it remained a secret until Somali Muslims saw her coming from church worship at Dadaab International Worship Centre in February 2018. We have known that you are a Christian, and one of us saw you come out of a church on Sunday, read one threat, sources said. If you continue attending the church, then we shall come for your head soon. She stopped attending the church services and relocated nearby. But it looks like we had already being marked, the woman (name withheld) told Morning Star News. Soon four of my children converted to Christ, and I cut all links with my husband in Somalia. When she stopped attending the church, the pastor visited the family and began praying with them in their house, an area source told Morning Star News. I think the enemies of Christ might have being monitoring their movements, the source said. On Jan. 2, four Muslims from Somalia forced their way into her home. I was beaten and then raped by four men who threatened me, telling me not to say anything about the ordeal that I went through, she told Morning Star News. As they left the house at 1 a.m., one of them said, We could have killed you for being a disgrace to Islam and joining Christianity, which is against our religion, but since you are a single mother, we have decided to spare your life with the condition that you should not mention our names. The woman is in dire need of trauma counseling, the source said, adding, We as the underground church in Dadaab need prayers and support for our persecuted believers in Christ. Somalias constitution establishes Islam as the state religion and prohibits the propagation of any other religion, according to the U.S. State Department. It also requires that laws comply with sharia (Islamic law) principles, with no exceptions in application for non-Muslims. Somalia is ranked 3rd on Christian support group Open Doors 2019 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian; Kenya is ranked 40th. If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit http://morningstarnews.org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved. If you or your organization would like to help enable Morning Star News to continue raising awareness of persecuted Christians worldwide with original-content reporting, please consider collaborating at https://morningstarnews.org/donate/? Article originally published by Morning Star News. Used with permission. Photo courtesy: Morning Star News Actor Chris Pratt credits his Christian faith with saving him from Hollywood's "lion's den" of fame a a force, he said, that has the power to "kill" its victims. During an interview on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," Pratt was asked: "Do you ever feel like you're in the lion's den by being a celebrity in the public eye?" The actor responded with a quote from his pastor about the pressures of fame and struggle to maintain humility: "If the spotlight that is shining on you is brighter than the light that's within you, it will kill you." "And you see it all the time," he said, calling stardom "a real bright spotlight." "Sometimes just having a self to share is what kills you, because there's nothing left," Pratt continued. "So you have to have a light to share. A light that's just as bright as any of these lights. Then you can survive and then you can save some of yourself and not give it all away. It's true." "The Lego Movie" actor also revealed that he has just completed a 21-day Daniel Fast that he participated in through his church. "Daniel was a guy who only ate fruits, vegetables and grains," explained Pratt, adding that he was inspired by his pastor to complete it. Pratt has been linked to Zoe Church in Los Angeles, California, which is pastored by Chad Veach. According to the church's website, Veach and his congregation completed the Daniel Fast, and the pastor extensively documented his own experience on his Instagram page. Pratt, who regularly uses his platform to share his faith, previously revealed that Veach's books have been helping him keep his faith strong. "I read books by my pastor, Chad Veach, in Zoe Church LA," he said in a home video posted in December. "I find his book Faith Forward Future to be very helpful!" The 39-year-old actor recently announced his engagement to Katherine Schwarzenegger, declaring, "I'm thrilled to be marrying you. Proud to live boldly in faith with you. Here we go!" The duo plans to have a "religious wedding" and want to keep God at the center of the marriage, according to People magazine. "They're going to want a religious wedding," a source close to the couple said. "I know that Chris does, and I assume that she does too. God is going to be a part of this marriage." The same source also added that Pratt appreciates how Schwarzenegger isn't afraid to discuss her beliefs openly. "He's constantly around other people who have no faith or are apologetic about it, but not her. She is willing to talk about it to anyone who will listen," the source said. Another source told the magazine that the couple would wed soon, possibly in the upcoming summer months. "They are one of those rare couples that you root for from the beginning. It won't be a long engagement a Katherine has already talked about having a summer 2019 wedding," the source said. Courtesy of The Christian Post A Pakistani Christian woman who was recently acquitted of all blasphemy charges after being imprisoned on death row for over eight years is still unable to leave Pakistan. Asia Bibi, 54, has been transferred from a secret location near Karachi after having been previously hidden away at another location near Islamabad, the nation's capital, The Associated Press reported Saturday. Aman Ullah, who has been a liaison between Bibi and European diplomats, spoke with Bibi Friday and said she is afraid and frustrated, unsure about when she will be able to leave the country. She told him that she's locked in one room of a house. The only time the doors open are during "food time." She is permitted to make phone calls in the morning and again at night. Bibi's husband is reportedly with her. "She has no indication of when she will leave ... they are not telling her why she cannot leave," said Ullah, who fled Pakistan Friday following threats from extremists who were angry about his longtime assistance to Bibi. Bibi's plight started approximately 10 years ago when two fellow field workers accused her of drinking from the same container as them and refused to drink after her because she is a Christian. After a conflict of some sort, two Muslim women accused Bibi of insulting the Islamic prophet Muhammad. In Pakistan, being charged with committing blasphemy against Islam is punishable by death. The Supreme Court of Pakistan ultimately said there were many inconsistencies in the testimony against Bibi, who has always said she was innocent, and was eventually acquitted. According to Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Bibi is "living with her family and given requisite security for safety," and the government is taking "all possible measures" to protect her and her family, and "she is a free citizen after her release from jail and can move anywhere in Pakistan or abroad." Ullah said that Bibi told her that her security detail will not tell her why she is still hidden away. "In recent months, he has been physically assaulted, gunmen have opened fire on his home, and several religious radicals attacked his home. Ullah said he fears being attacked again or charged with blasphemy," the AP reported. Bibi's daughters live in Canada where Bibi has been granted asylum and is hoping to join them. Rimmel Mohydin of Amnesty International said in a Jan. 29 statement that with the Supreme Court's ruling refusing to reverse their decision, Bibi "must finally get her freedom and an end to her ordeal." "After nine years behind bars for a crime she didn't commit, it is difficult to see this long overdue verdict as justice. But she should now be free to reunite with her family and seek safety in a country of her choice," he said. Mohydin and other human rights activists have repeatedly called for the Pakistani government to scrap their blasphemy laws as soon as possible, in addition to any other policies that discriminate against and endanger religious minorities. Courtesy of The Christian Post Former go-cart owner's wild ride is over: Merrill sentenced to six years for drug, gun deals Chinese Festivals and Events Chinese New Year Firecrackers It is an important custom to set off firecrackers and fireworks during the Chinese New Year period. Chinese New Year celebrations would not be complete without them. Why Light Firecrackers on Chinese New Year? In traditional Chinese culture, firecrackers were originally used to scare away evil spirits. As the legend goes, a monster called Nian would come out to eat villagers and destroy their houses on each New Years Eve. The villagers discovered that burning dry bamboo to produce an explosive sound scared away the monster. Since then, it has become a tradition at Chinese New Year. Click to learn more on Legends of Chinese New Year. Today, lighting firecrackers and fireworks is a major custom to celebrate the coming of the New Year, and also a way to enhance the festive atmosphere. So, even though lighting firecrackers produces a loud noise nuisance and piles of red paper shreds, Chinese people not only take it in their stride, but also they generally enjoy firecrackers. The History of Firecrackers Baozhu in Chinese, literally meaning "exploding bamboo", was the predecessor of firecrackers. In the Tang Dynasty (618907), gunpowder was discovered by chance, which led to the invention of firecrackers in China. People found that a loud blast could be produced by inserting gunpowder into the hollow of a bamboo stick and then throwing it into a fire. The first firecrackers were born. In the Song Dynasty (9601279), paper tubes came to replace the bamboo stalks. Wrapped in red, a lucky color for Chinese, firecrackers became increasingly popular to enhance celebrations and religious ceremonies. The red paper is left around (for at least a day) after letting off firecrackers, so as not to "sweep away good luck". Setting Off Firecrackers During Chinese New Year It is a countrywide tradition to set off firecrackers during the Chinese New Year period. But the time to set them off differs from region to region. It is popular to set off firecrackers at the following times: The moment the new year arrives, there is a cacophony of fireworks and firecrackers all around, accompanied by thick smoke, the shaking of buildings, and the noise of hundreds of car alarms. In large cities, fireworks are set off continuously for one to two hours. Before New Year's Eve dinner: When the reunion dinner is ready, many families light firecrackers to invite ancestors to celebrate the festival together. It is also a way to add a jubilant atmosphere to the festival and it brings great happiness. When the reunion dinner is ready, many families light firecrackers to invite ancestors to celebrate the festival together. It is also a way to add a jubilant atmosphere to the festival and it brings great happiness. At the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day: It is customary to stay up until midnight after the reunion dinner. Firecrackers and fireworks are set off at the stroke of midnight to scare away evil spirits and celebrate the coming of the new year. It is customary to stay up until midnight after the reunion dinner. Firecrackers and fireworks are set off at the stroke of midnight to scare away evil spirits and celebrate the coming of the new year. On New Year's Day morning: In some places, families first set off firecrackers when they open the door or before they go out. It symbolizes good luck throughout the whole year. In some places, families first set off firecrackers when they open the door or before they go out. It symbolizes good luck throughout the whole year. Many families will not sweep the red paper left by firecrackers immediately because they believe that the act of sweeping on this day is associated with sweeping wealth away. left by firecrackers immediately because they believe that the act of sweeping on this day is associated with sweeping wealth away. The Lantern Festival: It marks the end of the celebration of Chinese New Year. People set off firecrackers and fireworks to ward off misfortune and bring good luck. Click to see What Chinese Do to Celebrate Chinese New Year. Other Occasions to Light Firecrackers Firecrackers are commonly used in celebrations of holidays or festivals. There are many other occasions where firecrackers are used, such as wedding ceremonies, seniors' birthday parties, house warming parties, and the opening of a business. They are used to bring blessings and happiness. Setting off firecrackers is not always used for celebrations. In the Qingming Festival and at funerals, the use of firecrackers is to honor the dead. Bans or Restrictions on Firecrackers and Fireworks For the sake of safety and environmental protection, many cities across China have imposed bans or restrictions on the use of fireworks and firecrackers during festivals and holidays. In these cases, it's illegal for individuals to set off fireworks and firecrackers. People can only set them off at designated venues. If you would like to see a show of firecrackers and fireworks in a city, you need to check the designated venues and time frames in advance.Hong Kong is a great place to see fireworks. During Chinese New Year, there is an annual fireworks show over Victoria Harbor. Click to learn the 4 Best Cities for Chinese New Year. A private family graveside service will be held for Wayne Robnett at the Marlow Cemetery in Marlow, OK. Wayne passed away on June 18, 2021 at the age of 83 in his home in Chickasha, Oklahoma with his family at his side after battling cancer. Wayne was born on June 4, 1938 in Oklahoma City, O Second Pilot Plant Study Exceeds Recovery Performance Sydney, Feb 12, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Hastings Technology Metals Limited ( ASX:HAS ) has successfully taken another step in the process to develop the Yangibana Nd-Pr Rare Earths Project, with the successful completion of a second beneficiation pilot plant at ALS Metallurgy's laboratory facility in Balcatta, Western Australia.The Yangibana Nd-Pr Rare Earths Project is located in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The Company plans to construct a processing plant to produce a Mixed Rare Earths Carbonate product, through the process of mining, beneficiation and hydrometallurgy. The beneficiation and hydrometallurgical circuits have previously been successfully tested at pilot scale. This second beneficiation pilot plant has further validated the beneficiation circuit as well as providing information and samples for detailed engineering design."Confirming and exceeding the results of the first pilot study is another important milestone in the development of the Yangibana Project. These results provide us the confidence to push ahead with final financing leading to construction", said its Executive Chairman, Charles Lew.Pilot Plant SummaryThe simple and effective flowsheet developed in the laboratory test work program has translated into a 100kg/hr pilot processing circuit, operating 24 hours per day continuously over 8 days at ALS Metallurgy in Balcatta, Western Australia. ALS, with a specialist team dedicated to pilot plant operations, is a global leader in metallurgical testing and consulting services for minerals process flowsheet development and optimisation.The flowsheet consisted of milling, rougher flotation, regrind and cleaner flotation stages. The flotation circuit selectively concentrates the rare earths-bearing mineral monazite into a final product whilst discarding 95% of the original rock waste mass.Flotation process design was reconfirmed, as the performance output of the pilot plant improved over the course of the 8 days. A waste-diluted feed grade to the pilot plant of 1.02% TREO, simulated real mining effects of drilling and blasting, in the process testing the robustness of the process flow sheet equipment under less than ideal conditions.Over 700kg of REO concentrate was produced of which 400kg of concentrate contained 8.6% Nd2O3+Pr6O11 upgraded from 0.43% by 20 times. This concentrate will be used to validate the design of the acid concentrate mixer and selection of other critical equipment in the detailed design.Results of 12-hour shift composites gave 80.1% TREO recovery at 19% TREO, including 7.8% Nd2O3+Pr6O11. Maximum concentrate grades of 25.9% TREO, including 10.6% Nd2O3+Pr6O11 were achieved during the operation. The maiden pilot plant test achieved a maximum recovery of 70.8% at a concentrate grade of 23% TREO, including 9.8% Nd2O3+Pr6O11.Key areas of the engineering design were tested during the pilot plant campaign, with lead engineers involved in the front-end engineering design phase visiting the operation. Vital data was obtained, including updated findings for slurry pulp, solid liquid separation steps and concentrate properties, all of which can be applied for engineering design optimisation.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. Food Network fans have known and loved Ree Drummond for years. Shes better known as The Pioneer Woman, and thanks to her hit program, viewers have gotten to see what life is like living on a ranch in Oklahoma. Not only do her fans love the food she cooks, but they also enjoy her stories of home life, family life, and of course, how she met her cowboy husband, Ladd. And thanks to her Food Network program, weve all gotten insight into what Rees life is really like. Ree has a more interesting back story than many would initially suspect, too and the reason shes called The Pioneer Woman is particularly fascinating. Heres how she got the name. Ree wanted to stay in the city when she was in her college years If theres one thing for sure, its that Ree never imagined her adult life being anything like how it turned out. People notes she grew up in the small town of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, which just an hour away from her current town of Pawhuska and she always had big dreams of leaving. I always thought, Theres a big, huge world out there beyond this. When I was young, I wanted to be an actress. I had no idea what that meant, but I just thought it sounded fun, she told the publication. Once it was time for college, Ree put her plan into action and attended school at USC in Los Angeles. I just wanted non-stop action when I was young. I just wanted to go, go, go, she told People. And before she met her husband, she was even planning on moving out to Chicago though of course, we know everything changed once Ladd entered the picture. She moved out to the country to stay with her now-husband, Ladd During her college years, Ree made a pitstop home that changed everything. Country Living notes she explained in The Pioneer Woman Magazine that she couldnt wait to get back into the world of the big city while visiting Oklahoma. Based on my brief time at home, I knew that an urban environment was where I belonged, she wrote. I missed the anonymity of living in a citythe ability to run to the market without running into my third-grade teacher. I missed the nightlife, the culture, the shopping. I missed the restaurants. Once she met Ladd in a smokey hometown bar, though, her plans to get back to the city were nearing their end, however. After their initial meeting, Ladd didnt contact Ree for months but when they finally went on a date, Rees plans to move were out the window. At the end of the evening, riding in a Ford F-250 diesel pickup with a cowboy, I knew there was nowhere else on earth I wanted to be, she wrote. And while she admitted to always being boy crazy, she knew Ladd was the one for her. Just a few years later, they were married and Ree agreed to Oklahoma living for good. Her friends coined the term Pioneer Woman for Ree Ree calls herself an accidental country girl on her Food Network show all the time and it turns out her friends never expected her to stay in the country, either. I didnt even know any cowboys growing up. When my friends heard that I was marrying a cattle rancher and moving to the country, they literally could not believe it, she told People. And she also mentioned that it was her friends who originally came up with her iconic name. They started calling me the Pioneer Woman as a joke. It turns out the jokes on them, as The Pioneer Woman stuck and catapulted Ree to fame. She first attained notoriety through her award-winning blog, and we all know she now has her famous Food Network show. Also under her brand, the Drummonds own their restaurant and general store, The Mercantile, as well as The Boarding House, which is a boutique eight-room hotel. Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! They might have their royal feuds, the royal family is ultra-close. After all, no one else understands the royal lifestyle better than each other. But, when we talk about the royal familys bond, we arent just describing the relationships between the queens grandchildren and their wives. Case in point: Prince Charles has a close connection to both Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle. That said, he might have a tighter bond with one over the other. Is Prince Charles closer to Kate Middleton or Meghan Markle? Take a look at the Prince of Wales relationships with his daughters-in-law, ahead. Prince Charles and Meghan Markles relationship Prince Charles attends royal engagements with his daughters-in-law.| PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images Prince Charles and Meghan Markle share an undeniably close bond. The Prince of Wales has shown the Duchess of Sussex a great deal of support in her first year as a royal (and even in the months leading up to her royal wedding to Prince Harry). And, although he has another daughter-in-law, he has referred to Meghan Markle as the daughter he never had. Take a closer look at Prince Charles and Meghan Markles relationship, below. Prince Charles walked Meghan Markle down the aisle Just days before her royal wedding, Meghan Markles father backed out of his duties and the Duchess of Sussex was left without someone to walk her down the aisle. Prince Charles stepped up and gladly accepted her request after she asked her new father-in-law to do the honors. He even escourted her mother, Doria Ragland, out of the chapel following the nuptials. They spend a lot of time together Prince Charles walked Meghan Markle down the aisle. | Jonathan Brady-WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are reportedly very close to the Prince of Wales. And while they are often seen on royal engagements together, the three especially Prince Charles and Meghan Markle are allegedly super close outside of the public eye, too. Prince Charles is proud of Meghan Markle While she might have a troubled relationship with her own father, Meghan Markles relationship with Prince Charles is very true to a father and daughter bond. Prince Charles has nothing but great things to say about his newest family member and is reportedly very proud and impressed by her commitment to charitable causes. Prince Charles and Meghan Markle are very close. | Chris Jackson/Getty Images Prince Charles has the sweetest nickname for Meghan Markle Accoring to The Daily Mail, Prince Charles called Meghan Markle Tungsten. The name is inspired by a type of metal known for its strength. Prince Charles admires Meghan for her strength and the backbone she gives Harry, who need a tungsten-type figure in his life as he can be a bit of a soft. Its become a term of endearment, a source told the publication. Prince Charles and Kate Middletons relationship The spotlight might be on Prince Charles and Meghan Markles relationship, but thats not to say that he and Kate Middleton are also close. That said, he and Kate Middleton allegedly have their differences. Heres a closer look at their relationship. Prince Charles was disappointed after her first overseas trip Following her royal wedding, Kate Middleton joined Prince William overseas for their first royal trip. However, Prince Charles was apparently irked at his son and daughter-in-law for treating the trip like a personal vacation. He also felt there were too many photo opps and they werent there for the right (read: diplomatic) reasons. They have a complicated relationship Although they might spend quality family time together and occasionally attend the same royal engagements together, Kate Middleton and Prince Charless relationship isnt as easy as it is with Meghan Markle. Much of their complications stem from Prince Williams issues with his father and Camilla Parker Bowles. And while some suggest the Duke of Cambridge has a warmer relationship with his father and step mother now, things are a bit complicated between the royal family members. Who is Prince Charles closer to? Prince Charles and Kate Middleton might get along, but it is clear that he has a deep fondness for his new daughter-in-law, Meghan Markle. While he likely doesnt choose favorites, his relationship with Meghan Markle proves the father-daughter-in-law duo have a close relationship. Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! Meghan Markle and Princess Diana |Twitter via MeghansMirror There is no shortage of stories about Meghan Markle in the media, with plenty of criticism in the mix about the Duchess of Sussex. This is concerning to one of Markles famous friends, George Clooney, who recently pointed out similarities to the tabloid coverage Princess Diana endured back in the day. How George Clooney knows Meghan Markle When George Clooney and his wife Amal attended Meghan Markle and Prince Harrys wedding, many wondered how these couples knew each other. E! News reported that the four of them had become quite close, having dinners together and hanging at the Clooneys Berkshire home, as well as the royal couple jetting off to the Clooneys waterfront Italian villa in Lake Como. An insider told E! News: They all have a lot in common, so it just clicked as a four. A palace source shared: When he started getting serious with Meghan, Harry introduced her to George and Amal and the couple quickly started hanging out regularly. Clooney draws comparisons to Princess Diana During a press panel while promoting his Hulu series Catch-22, Clooney addressed how Markle has been treated by the media since she joined the royal family. According to reports, the actor noted: Theyre just chasing Meghan Markle everywhere, shes been pursued and vilified. He added, Shes a woman who is seven months pregnant and she has been pursued and vilified and chased in the same way that Diana was and its history repeating itself. Weve seen how that ends. Clooney continued, addressing how Markles family matters have become public: I cant tell you how frustrating that is, just seeing them broadcast a letter from a daughter to a father, shes getting a raw deal there and I think its irresponsible and Im surprised by that. Will George Clooney be godfather to Prince Harry and Meghan Markles baby? Clooney was also asked about the rumor that he would be godfather to Prince Harry and Markles baby and he had a bit of a laugh over the piece of gossip. Clooney told reporters, Oh yes, Ill be godfather of the royals apparently, before explaining No! Im a father of twins, I have enough sh*t to deal with literally! The Clooneys are busy raising their kids, Ella and Alexander, who were born in June 2017. Markles friends offer their support Five of Markles close friends recently spoke with PEOPLE, with one friend noting it was an effort to stand up against the global bullying we are seeing and speak the truth about our friend. Another of Markles former co-stars added: Meg has silently sat back and endured the lies and untruths, explaining, we worry about what this is doing to her and the baby. Its wrong to put anyone under this level of emotional trauma, let alone when theyre pregnant. Markle recently remarked, when asked if she and Prince Harry are expecting a boy or girl, that they wouldnt be revealing the gender. She explained: We dont know. Yes, we decided to keep it a secret, adding, That way well have something And its one of those things, like, no matter what it is, its still going to be a surprise. Jenelle Evans from Teen Mom | Getty Images/Matt Winkelmeyer If it looks to you as if Teen Mom Jenelle Evans is always in trouble, youre not imagining things. Its hard to surf the Internet without coming across published reports of Evans numerous scrapes with the law. Why cant she stay out of trouble? Heres what we found out. Teen Mom catastrophes Personal and legal troubles involving cast members of Teen Mom and its derivative shows date back to the inception of the franchise. Teen Mom OG alumnus Ryan Edwards was arrested more than once in 2018. Both times, he bailed out of jail, but he may not be so lucky after a January 2019 arrest for theft and possession in Hamilton County, Tennessee. Another star of Teen Mom OG is no angel, either. The first time Amber Portwood was arrested, it was for attacking a castmate as cameras rolled. Despite being handcuffed and booked at least twice more, Portwoods police record is nowhere near as complicated as Evans rap sheet. How many times has Jenelle Evans been in trouble? People who know her say that the mother of three has been in one sort of trouble or another trouble for as long as anyone can remember. In fact, Evans has been arrested more times than anyone else whos ever appeared on any version of Teen Mom. The first time she got in big trouble with the law was in 2011 when she was simultaneously charged with breaking and entering as well as paraphernalia possession. Within months of that arrest, she was charged with attacking a woman she perceived as a romantic rival. Since that time, the North Carolina native has been arrested again and again on charges of cyberstalking, disturbing the peace, and probation violation. A recent Washington Post article offered an outline of Evans numerous legal woes, including her long-standing custody battle with her own mom, Barbara Evans. The pair have argued -often to the point of screaming- over Jenelles son, Jace. Rap sheet a mile long When Evans was taken into custody for driving without a license in South Carolina in 2015, it was her 11th run-in with the law in fewer than five years. In February 2015, E! News confirmed the arrest, reporting that the then-23-year-old Evans was booked into the J. Reuben Long Detention Center in Myrtle Beach at approximately 2 p.m. A spokesperson for the South Carolina Highway Patrol explained, It was a traffic stop but then it was determined that she was driving with an invalid drivers license. Drama, drama, drama Even when shes not being cuffed and arrested, Evans cant seem to keep herself out of exceedingly dramatic situations. Evans, who now goes by the name Jenelle Eason, is the mom of three kids by as many baby daddies. Her eldest son, Jace Vahn Evans, was born August 6, 2009. He is the child of her first ex-bf, Andrew Lewis, whom she dated from 2006 to 2009. In December 2012, Evans married Courtland Rogers, but she terminated a pregnancy and divorced him about a month later, according to her bio at IMDB. Evans second son, Kaiser Orion Griffith, was born June 30, 2014 while she was engaged to Nathan Griffith. The pair never married. In 2017, Evans married David Eason in an outdoor ceremony after a relatively brief engagement. Two years later, the couple share parenting duties of their daughter, Ensley Jolie Eason, who made her arrival into Jenelles always-exciting life on January 24, 2017. Married motherhood does not equal a drama-free life for Jenelle Before the last calendar page of 2017 was flipped, Evans managed to get into a very public Twitter feud with Kailyn Lowry. So, has she stayed out of trouble since marrying Eason? Hardly. As 2018 unfolded, Evans-Eason changed her relationship status on Facebook and unfollowed her husband on Twitter and other social media accounts. As you are well aware, thats a huge dis in the 21st century. Does it mean that Mrs. Eason is about to make her personal life a public scene yet again? Its a pretty sure bet she will. Drama seems to be what she does best. Jeff Lima as Leon Cruz and Joe Minoso as Joe Cruz on Chicago Fire | NBC Another familiar face will be seen on Feb. 13s episode of Chicago Fire. Thats because Leon (Jeff Lima), Joe Cruzs (Joe Minoso) brother, is returning to handle some important business. Fans may remember the character from his appearances in Season 1, 2, and 6. So what can they expect from the upcoming episode and what does it mean for Joe? The Cheat Sheet talked to Jeff Lima over the phone on Jan 30. This is what he had to say about the return of his character and what could be coming next. Jeff Lima said Leon is back to give Joe a message Joe Minoso as Joe Cruz, Taylor Kinney as Kelly Severide on Chicago Fire | Elizabeth Morris/NBC Leon used to be involved in a gang until his brother, Joe stepped in to protect him. Joe let his gang leader die in a fire and eventually, Leon went into the witness protection program. Fans got to see Leon in a much better place in Season 6 when he surprised his brother. In Season 6 he is definitely much lighter and its an energy that we havent seen from Leon ever because were just naturally used to seeing Leon caught up in some mess or another, Jeff Lima told The Cheat Sheet. in Season 6 Leon is flown to Chicago from Florida to surprise his brother and Leon and Joe share a great relationship and they actually finesse the surprise. But the tone of Leons newest appearance will be different. We see Leon in Season 6 and its very mellow and lax, said Lima. In Season 7, Leons coming with an objective. Leon is coming to warn his brother against imminent dangers that he foresees. He added, Hes on a mission and hes warning the person he loves most in the world against danger. Joe will come across new people after the message Joe Minoso as Joe Cruz on Chicago Fire | Parrish Lewis/NBC The actor didnt reveal what the message is but he did tease what kind of things will come from it. His firefighter brother will come across new people that could lead to danger. Joe Minoso, Joe Cruz on the show, hes about to take on something that hes never really dabbled in explained Lima and hes dealing with folks who arent in his regular network. So this is really about Joe and I think for Joe to have someone thats close to him as Leon deliver the message it makes the moment that much more significant. He then added, what will come hereafter is a lot of stuff that Joe doesnt know how to navigate and so it could go one of two ways that we hope it goes the right way, the safe way. But again, Leon is warning against Joe embarking on it period. Will Leon ever become a bigger part in the Chicago Fire universe? Jeff Lima as Leon Cruz on Chicago Fire | NBC It seems like Leon has officially left his criminal past behind him and wants to do good. So could he ever become a firefigher , police officer, or medical professional and become a bigger part of the Chicago Fire universe? Everybody in my corner is rooting for Leon to become a firefighter on this, or a medic, or just something. Look, I dont know. These writers and producers again they do a great job at just keeping it under wraps but I dont see why not, said Lima. He continued, He meets the minimum requirements at least the entry level stuff at the firefighter house. But as a human being, I think weve seen Leon evolved and just grow to be this very sympathetic human being. Something we didnt see in him in Seasons 1 and 2. And so I think to see Leon in the light of really rescuing people its the complete antithesis of Leon when we see him in Season 1. Fans may wonder what would protective brother, Joe Cruz think of something like that. Jeff Lima took a guess on how Joe would react to his brother coming a firefighter himself one day. If Leon walked into the firehouse in all of the garb of a fireman I think Joe would be brought to tears because as brotherly, and I say this loosely manly as Joe Cruz is, Joe has a very soft heart, said Lima. I feel that Joe might cry for all the right reasons. Fans will have to watch the Feb. 13 episode of Chicago Fire to find out what Leons message will be for Joe, and how the firefighter will have to deal with a different type of danger in the future. Read more: Chicago Fire: Do the Actors Ever Do Their Own Stunts? Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! Its a new year which means the British Royal Family already has a ton of events and tours lined up on their schedules. Duchess Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are headed to Morocco in late Feb. 2019, and Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla Parker Bowles are planning a royal tour to Cuba. The future King of England and his wife will be the first members of the British Royal Family in over 50 years to visit Cuba. No member of the royal family has stepped foot on the island since it came under communist rule. Though Prince Charles is an avid traveler it looks like Parker Bowles is nervous about their upcoming travels to the northern Carribean island. Why are Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla Parker Bowles visiting Cuba? Rumors have been swirling about the royal couples historic visit to Cuba since November 2018. Though Clarence House has yet to officially confirm the royal tour during a visit the U.K. Supreme Court, the Duchess of Cornwall did chat about the upcoming visit. Typically, royal tours are planned by the United Kingdoms Foreign Office. Members of the British Royal Family are seen as ambassadors who visit with a countrys leaders and engage with its citizens. Though former American President Barack Obama visited the country in 2016 no British Prime Minister has ever visited communist Cuba. The prince and the duchess visit could be a way of testing the waters. Are Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla Parker Bowles excited about visiting Cuba? According to Baroness Lucy Hale, the President of the Supreme Court the prince and duchess are very much looking forward to their trip to Cuba, Hale told Daily Mail, They are going to visit the Caribbean. They are not only going to the Anglo Caribbean, they are going to Cuba as well. [Camilla] is very much looking forward to going to Cuba. It will be quite an event for members of the royal family to visit Cuba. She said she loved the music and was interested in the architecture. Prince Charles loves to travel in style, bringing along his butler, two valets, a private secretary, typist, chef, and handful of bodyguards wherever he goes. Therefore, we think the trip will be as plush and stress-free as the royals can make it. The real reason Camilla Parker Bowles is nervous about visiting Cuba Unlike her husband, the Duchess of Cornwall is a homebody and she actually has a pretty bad fear of flying. In 2018, the duchess pulled out of a trip to accompany Prince Charles to Australia at the last minute. A spokesperson for Clarence House told Express U.K., She decided a few weeks ago to firm up her plans. We were always looking at the Duchess coming. There are no health reasons. She is as fit as a flea. The Duchess does not like flying, but I think she sometimes has to embrace that fear and get on with it. However, the duchess fear of flying isnt the only reason why shes nervous about visiting Cuba. Apparently, shes also a bit apprehensive about the food. Baroness Hale told Daily Mail, She did make a remark about she wasnt so sure about the food. Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! The East Ridge detective who for years looked into a 2000 murder in which a woman was strangled and put in a garbage can said he never heard from a woman who is now a star witness for the prosecution. J.C. Johnson, who retired last year, said when asked about Mary Ruth Boyd, "That name does not sound familiar." Ms. Boyd testified Tuesday in the first-degree murder trial of Jason Sanford that she contacted East Ridge Police twice with her information and never heard back. Detective Johnson also said years ago he felt he had enough proof to convict Sanford, but he said the district attorney at the time declined to prosecute. Sanford, who had returned to his home state of Michigan shortly after the body of his girlfriend was found stuffed in a trash can in Spring Creek in mid-June 2000, is standing trial in the courtroom of Judge Tom Greenholtz. The Cold Case Unit formed by District Attorney Neal Pinkston revived the case in 2016 and soon made the arrest of Sanford in the strangulation death of 21-year-old Sarah Davis Perry. DA Pinkston is one of the prosecutors at the trial. Mary Ruth Boyd told the jury that she was cleaning out her car when an older model white truck drove by very slowly. She said at first she thought it was her brother because he had a similar truck. She said there was a garbage can in the back of the truck with the lid partly off. Ms. Boyd said she got a good look at the driver because she said he stared at her as he passed and went on to a dead end, then again as he drove back by slowly. She said, "Something didn't seem right." The witness said after the truck passed she proceeded on to the grocery store and spotted the truck again. She said it was pulled off the side of the road where a bridge crosses Spring Creek. She said the garbage can was no longer in the truck, but she could see marks where it had been dragged under the bridge. Ms. Boyd said when she heard there had been a murder in East Ridge she called East Ridge Police "and told them what I had seen. But no one ever contacted me." She said she was haunted by the incident and felt guilty not telling what she knew, so she called East Ridge Police again in 2004. She said once again no one called or came to interview her. She said at the time "I wanted to know if they had ever caught the man." Ms. Boyd said it was only within the past few months that someone contacted her about the case -investigator Kay Baker. She told her the story and was shown a photo of Sanford. She said she told the investigator, "You've got your man." In the courtroom, Ms. Boyd said she could make a positive identification of Sanford as the man at the creek with the garbage can. She said, "It's the gentleman sitting right there." She said, "I'm upset that he got by with it for 18 years. What did the kids get? What did the mother get?" Ms. Perry had children ages one and four. Detective Johnson said marks were found in the creek that matched that of a two-wheeled garbage can being wheeled under the bridge. He said there was also a spot that had foot prints. He said a cast of the prints was made and sent to the FBI, but did not yield any usable information. He said when he and another East Ridge officer went to Michigan to interview Sanford "he did not admit to any involvement, but he didn't adamantly deny it either." Questioned by defense attorney Johnny Houston, he said the victim had earlier lived in Georgia with Sanford and his cousin. He said it may have been correct that the cousin disliked Ms. Perry because he wound up getting charged with drugs in Georgia. It was also testified that Ms. Perry was at Valley Psychiatric Hospital until just a few days before her death. She left the facility over the advice of staff, the records showed. Prosecutor Crystle Carrion told the jury that a cousin of Sanford had given a statement that around the time of the murder that Sanford asked him for money and told him, "I've killed Sarah and I need to get out of town." She said Sanford got on a Greyhound bus and left to return to Michigan on a Greyhound bus the night after he allegedly killed her. Defense attorney Amanda Dunn said the cousin, who has since died, gave four different versions and they were all different. She said Sanford returned to Michigan, but detectives had no trouble finding him when he was interviewed in the wake of the murder and then by the Cold Case Unit. Attorney Dunn also said there had been multiple suspects, not just Sanford. The jury was told that Ms. Perry had some mental health and drug use issues. Peggy Ferguson, who lived next door to Ms. Perry at the time, said she often heard the couple arguing. She said on a night around the time of the murder she saw Sanford outside the house pacing back and forth nervously. Dusty Fine said the garbage can came from his family's nearby auto body shop. He said he worked late on a personal vehicle and forgot to bring the can in. He said it was gone the next morning. Justin Weathers said he was 12 at the time and was hunting crawdads, fishing and riding bikes at "The Whoops" with a friend when they found the body in the trash can. He said it was the friend who went up to the garbage can under the bridge at Springvale Road. He said when the friend lifted the lid and saw the body of a woman who was naked from the waist up "he immediately started to holler. We took off running. Then I made him go back and get my bike." He said they raced back to the friend's grandmother's house and she called police. Businesses and industries will be represented during the annual Career Fair on Thursday, March 21, in the Chattanooga State Community College gymnasium. Representatives will meet, greet and discuss employment opportunities with students, alumni and the general public interested in their companies between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. With commencement less than three months away, spring is the ideal time for employers to meet with eager upcoming graduates, and other job seekers, to fill positions in their companies. Business and industry employers representing the fields of engineering, finance/banking, government, communications, broadcasting, tourism, automotive, non-profits, real estate, hospitality, food and beverage, human resources, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, education, insurance, transportation, marketing, management, construction, sales, law and recreation will be at the event this year. Students should dress appropriately and have resumes ready. For more information call the office of Career Services at (423) 697-4421 or email careers@chattanoogastate.edu. Governor Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe and FedEx Logistics announced on Tuesdayday that the company will move its headquarters to downtown Memphis, where it will invest $44 million and create 689 jobs. With FedEx Logistics creating more than 680 jobs, and investing more than $44 million in Shelby County, they are once again showing that Tennessee is a great place to do business, Governor Lee said. FedEx and its subsidiaries have been a true Tennessee success story, and we as a state are proud to see this company continue to grow and call Tennessee home. I congratulate FedEx Logistics on its decision to move its headquarters to downtown Memphis, Commissioner Rolfe said. FedEx Logistics has been located in Memphis since its creation in 2000, and it means a great deal that this company continues to call Memphis home. I appreciate FedEx and FedEx Logistics for choosing to create nearly 700 high quality jobs in downtown Memphis and for its continued commitment to Tennessee. FedEx Logistics, headquartered in Memphis, is a subsidiary of FedEx Corporation and provides worldwide freight forwarding services that can help increase supply chain efficiency and drive down costs by replacing a maze of channels with one global distribution command and control center. FedEx Logistics integrates international freight forwarding, customs brokerage, trade and customs advisory services, and other cross-border service to create comprehensive solutions to international trade. The company has approximately 22,000 employees worldwide. Formerly known as FedEx Trade Networks, Inc., the company was rebranded as FedEx Logistics in January of this year. This is a moment of dynamic growth and transformation for both the City of Memphis and FedEx Logistics, and we are thrilled to be a part of this investment in our downtown community, said Richard W. Smith, president and CEO of FedEx Logistics. This campus will provide a collaborative environment for our team members and a true home for this growing FedEx company as we continue to attract top talent for the future. I cant imagine a better place to work and be a part of than the vibrant, thriving downtown Memphis business community. FedEx Logistics will be consolidating its Memphis operations into the former Gibson Guitar Factory building in downtown Memphis. The new facility will include its 120,000-square foot office space. FedEx currently employs more than 30,000 people in the Memphis area. The FedEx Express hub in Memphis is the largest sort facility in the FedEx Express global network. In March 2017, FedEx announced it would make a capital investment of more than $1 billion to modernize its Memphis Hub and improve operational efficiency and reliability. The importance of FedEx to Memphis cannot be overstated, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said. With this move, were bringing life back to the Gibson Guitar Factory with one of the strongest brands in the world and continuing to bring more jobs and people to our downtown. I couldnt be happier with this announcement and look forward to working with Richard and his team to continue moving our city forward. It is great to see FedEx continuing to invest in Memphis, especially in our urban core. FedEx Logistics headquarters will add a financial boost and vibrant new energy in a key downtown location, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said. Our strategic plan encourages facilitating and accelerating downtown real estate development and incentivizing that development when necessary, Jennifer Oswalt, president and CEO, Downtown Memphis Commission, said. Supporting FedEx Logistics relocation to downtown is absolutely mission-aligned and we couldnt be more excited to welcome them to the neighborhood. We look forward to the 600-plus jobs they will bring and the energy those individuals will add to our growing and thriving office campus. TVA and Memphis Light Gas and Water congratulate FedEx Logistics on its decision to locate in downtown Memphis, said TVA Senior Vice President of Economic Development John Bradley. TVAs mission of service is to attract and retain quality jobs for the region, and we are proud to partner with Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, Memphis Chamber, EDGE, city of Memphis and Shelby County to help further that mission and look forward to FedExs continued business success. Memphis and Shelby County are represented by Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D Memphis), Sen. Brian Kelsey (R Germantown), Sen. Sara Kyle (D Memphis), Sen. Katrina Robinson (D Memphis), Rep. Karen Camper (D Memphis), Rep. Jim Coley (R Bartlett), Rep. Jesse Chism (D Memphis), Rep. Barbara Cooper (D Memphis), Rep. John DeBerry (D Memphis), Rep. G.A. Hardaway (D Memphis), Rep. London Lamar (D Memphis), Rep. Tom Leatherwood (R Arlington), Rep. Larry Miller (D Memphis), Rep. Antonio Parkinson (D Memphis), Rep. Dwayne Thompson (D Cordova), Rep. Joe Towns (D Memphis), Rep. Kevin Vaughan (R Collierville) and Rep. Mark White (R Memphis) in the Tennessee General Assembly. Unity Dance Troupe presents The Veil: The Story of Creation, a love story depicting the creation of the world, the fall of man and its redemption through grace. "The Veil will open your heart and mind to see our Creator like never before," officials said. "From the gentleness with which life was formed to the strength instilled into creation, Gods character and love is revealed through this broadway-style production that has been described as 'mesmerizing, captivating and Inspiring.'" Unity Dance Troupe endeavors to communicate the beauty of creation through dance, theatrics, and artistic effects such as videography, theatrical lighting, drama, music and hand-crafted costumes and set. Show dates are March 30-31; Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. General admission is free, and no ticket is required. A love offering will be taken after each performance Preferred seating is available for purchase at unitydancetroupe.com. Unity Dance Troupes company, which tours domestically and internationally, is trained professionally in-house at Unity Dance Studios in Cleveland and trains each week to portray their roles with excellence. "Unity is known for its creative beauty and designs in costuming and theatrical sets," officials said. The Veil features over 150 hand-painted costumes and handmade masks and incorporates a wide array of dance styles including ballet, pointe, ballroom, modern, jazz, contemporary, hip-hop and lyrical. The role of The Spirit of God will be played by Unitys Founder and Director Alexis Ziarkowski Burleson. His dream of bringing the story of The Veil to life became a reality in 2013. "Now in her seventh year of performing The Veil, she never ceases to lose the energy that filled its very first showing. She carries this challenging role with strength and grace," officials said. The Veil portrays what it means to be one with Christ. Gods relationship with Adam and Eve was that of working together in relationship through everyday life. My hope is to portray Gods deep understanding of humanity and His tangible nearness as a reality we can all experience today, said Ms. Burleson William Moore and Allison Barnes will be returning for their second season portraying the roles of Adam and Eve. Mr. Moore is in his fourth season with Unity and has performed for Unitys domestic and international audiences. I hope the audience is most impacted by God's endless love for Adam and Eve and that people see it's ok to be perfectly honest and authentic with God. It's not shameful to fall at the feet of God with all the weight of darkness on your shoulders and admit to Him you can't lift your head. In the show, God lifts my face and looks me in the eyes as if to say, I've got you; I always have. I've never left you. I love you," said Mr. Moore Ms. Barnes is in her sixth season with Unity Dance Troupe. "Allison is an irreplaceable member of the company and fills the stage with the beauty, grace and excellence she lives out in her everyday life," officials said. My hope is for the audience to receive a fresh wind, a renewed sense of the passionate and unyielding love our God has for creation... Im impacted in a new way every season by this show. It is a gorgeous, raw and exciting picture of Gods heart, said Ms. Barnes A new lead dancer with the company, Christin Smolinski, will be taking on the role of Satan. Now in her fourth season with Unity, Ms. Smolinski fills a plethora of roles including teaching at Unity Dance Studios Ooltewah and developing graphic designs for the company. "The role of Satan is extremely challenging and requires the dancer to portray intense acting as well as dance talent," officials said. One of the most challenging and heart-wrenching parts to portray is when I, as Lucifer, lead humanity to crucify Jesus. As my character, I cannot show any sign of sadness, only pride and hatred. The amount of love Jesus has for us as His creation is overwhelming, willing even to die in order to conquer death, said Ms. Smolinski. Unity was founded by Ms. Burleson in 2010 and now operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose sole mission is to "open eyes and mend broken hearts around the world with a refreshing and clear view of the Gospel." At the end of each show, Unitys director will be revealing the companys brand-new, original production that will premier December 2019. Abilene, KS (67410) Today Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 101F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph.. Tonight Cloudy. A stray severe thunderstorm is possible. Low 73F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) today released priorities and action steps for improving student achievement in Tennessee in a new report, Priorities For Progress: 2018-19 State of Education in Tennessee.SCORE, a nonpartisan education policy and advocacy nonprofit founded by Senator Bill Frist, M.D., each year conducts a series of discussions with educators, policymakers and partners to compile a report that examines recent successes in K-12 public education and identifies research-supported opportunities to continue Tennessees recent record-setting progress in academic achievement.The state has been among the fastest improving on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, although the report notes the pace of growth has slowed since 2015.Tennessee can have fast student achievement improvement again, Senator Frist said. To do that we must work collaboratively toward preparing all students for success after high school by addressing the priorities in the State of Education report. We must be innovative, and we must be bold to help our students be the best in the nation.The State Of Education In Tennessee report identifies these priority areas for 2019:1. Reimagine College And Career Readiness. Every Tennessee student should discover successful routes to college, career and opportunity in high school, the report says. It calls for better coordination between K-12, higher education and workforce development at the state and local levels and more options for career exploration and work-based learning across the state. The report also recommends redesigning high school with more rigorous college and career preparation courses and a personalized approach to career and college advising.2. Tennessees Foundations For Student Success. After a decade of student achievement progress, Tennessee should continue to champion and maintain student-focused policies and practices that have driven student achievement, with more emphasis on equity for all students, the report says. That begins with demanding the best in assessment delivery while continuing the multiple-measure accountability system for schools and educators.3. Teachers, Teaching And School Leaders. All Tennessee schools should offer excellent teaching, learning opportunities and leadership, the report says. It recommends providing teachers high-quality instructional materials, meaningful professional development, more teacher leadership opportunities and better compensation. The report identifies better preparation for school leaders, both in higher education programs and on the job, as a key strategy to adopt. The report emphasizes that these steps and others are needed to address another critical need, recruiting and retaining more educators of color.4. Innovate For Improvement. Tennessee should foster innovation to accelerate student achievement and address long-standing disparities, the report says. It specifically recommends expanded access to high-quality schools that support innovation to drive school improvement, particularly public charter schools, and continuous improvement of school turnaround efforts. It also calls for innovation in school funding, including increasing transparency for education funding and spending to identify opportunities for streamlining, expanding and improving school finance.The priorities were developed in collaboration with the SCORE Steering Committee and after feedback from teachers, school and district leaders, policymakers, students and community and education advocates from across the state.These priorities come from the people of Tennessee and are for the benefit of the students of Tennessee, SCORE President and CEO David Mansouri said. Our states educators and new leaders will be integral to addressing these priorities, but we call on all Tennesseans to add their support in helping students be ready to achieve the American Dream after they graduate.SCORE presented the report findings and priorities to educators, policymakers and community and civic leaders during a Nashville event. A panel of Deputy to the Governor Lang Wiseman, Clarksville-Montgomery County School System Director Millard House II and Hamilton County Schools teacher Carrie Bishop discussed the importance of the priorities to stakeholders and students across the state. Senator Ted Cruz just proposed a constitutional amendment to limit senators to two terms and congressmen to three terms. This was at his own expense as he is in his second term. He however, knows this will never pass. I have opinions about Congress. Why dont we treat the congressmen like we treat our military? You have to start as a state representative. After two terms you can run for state Senate. If successful after two terms you can run for Congress. Two terms in Congress you are either kicked out or elected senator. Two terms as senator if you arent up for president you are done. Since none of the current Congress other than Dan Crenshaw have a clue what starting from the bottom and doing your time is, this wont fly either. I am only proposing a system where a 29 year old bartender doesnt get paid $175,000 a year to be literally stupid and most senators are actually qualified to lead the country. Very few (read as zero) people have gone from college to CEO and most privates or second lieutenants dont become generals at age 29. There is some wisdom to the military system even though I got out because it was too restricting. But it did keep totally retarded people from becoming generals. Mark Maynor * * * I just read Mark Maynor's outline of a plan that would require a reasonable and orderly and logical progression of personal achievement and accomplishment and experience at lower levels of government before a person could be considered for promotion to any higher level of government. It does seem reasonable enough; shucks, I remember when school actually worked that way. Most of us would agree that when school worked that way, it really did tend to work, considering what it had to work with. But even way back then, it seemed that politics offered even the village idiot a different chance at success. This new plan for government is an interesting and useful suggestion. Seldom would anyone suggest using the military as a model of logic and efficiency, but we could argue that the military method does tend to work -- if logic and efficiency and expense aren't always the most critical factors in the equation. We all know that such a new plan for government will never become a fact, simply because the existing government stands in its way. A large percentage of those already in government could not qualify under the new plan. They have certainly 'paid their dues' to get where they are, but not in the open and aboveboard way suggested by Mr. Maynor, so they'll never vote for any such change. Then I proceeded to read Roy Exum's daily essay, Mr. Lincoln Never Quit. As I followed his list of line items where Mr. Lincoln failed time after time, the general impression truly is that Honest Abe's major accomplishment seemed to be getting back up, dusting himself off, and starting all over again. As I read all of that and mentally reviewed the suggested new plan for government, it was obvious that Mr. Lincoln never would have managed to become President of anything, had the new plan been in effect 150-plus years ago. So, as usual, I find myself confused. I'm impressed by a reasonable sounding plan for government, and I'm impressed by Abraham Lincoln's exceptional accomplishments, and I see that the two are contradictory. The first would have prevented the second from happening. Of course, my impressions of those two current opinions do nothing to confirm or negate either of them. But I'll throw another name into today's arena: Charles Darwin. Mr. Darwin was born on the same day as Mr. Lincoln, February 12, 1809; both famous men would have been 210 years old today, if things worked that way. Interestingly, their mothers died in 1817 and 1818, but the contrast between Darwin and Lincoln is more obvious than any similarities. Darwin was born well-off, he was well educated in the traditional ways, he was generally successful in his work, he wrote several complex books, and he died a natural death. Mr. Lincoln, on the other hand, was born poor and tended to stay that way; he was not well educated in the usual sense, he was profoundly unsuccessful in many ways, and he managed to write just a few very short works such as The Emancipation Proclamation and The Gettysburg Address before being murdered. Oh, Darwin was thoroughly English, and Lincoln was thoroughly American. Ignoring that last detail, and based on each man's personal preparation and achievements, which one seems most likely to have become President of the U.S.A.? Which one seems most likely to have been the better President of the U.S.A.? Sometimes I have to remind myself of this statement by H.L. Mencken: "An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup." And I believe we did pretty well in having Mr. Lincoln as President, really I do! Larry Cloud Lookout Valley Amy Jo Osborn and Jackson Love were named Hamilton Countys winners of the 2018 Governors Volunteer Stars Awards. They were honored yesterday along with winners from other Tennessee counties at the Annual Governors Volunteer Stars Awards Program in Franklin. According to state generated statistics, 1.6 million Tennessee volunteers give more than 137 million hours of service, contributing the equivalent of $3.3 billion to Tennessees economy. "They are the backbone of our great state giving their time and talents to fulfill needs; they truly embody the spirit of giving. We were honored to have both of these outstanding volunteers represent Hamilton County," officials said. Adult Winner: Amy Jo Osborn, Austin Hatcher Foundation "Hamilton Countys Austin Hatcher Foundation Co-Founder and President Amy Jo Osborn is the adult winner for the Governors Volunteer Stars Awards," officials said. "Amy Jo serves the foundation with a minimum of 40 volunteer hours per week. Under her leadership, the Foundation improves the quality of life for younger cancer patients and their families through a variety of innovative programs and services, provided at no cost. "Since the Foundations inception in 2006, it has assisted approximately 72,000 children and family members in 28 states. She has built numerous relationships with local businesses that have resulted in unique fundraising initiatives that have benefited both the businesses and the Foundation, making her a vibrant contributor to Hamilton County." Youth Winner: Jackson Love, Humane Educational Society "Jackson Love with the Humane Educational Society is Hamilton Countys Youth Honoree," officials said. "While volunteering at the shelter, he can be found walking dogs or working with them in the play yards, which is extremely important in enriching their lives, both physically and mentally. He has volunteered at numerous adoption events and worked at their monthly vaccine clinic. "Jackson is an impressive young man that shows great compassion and love for the animals in need throughout our community. What a great example he has set for our youth in Hamilton County." Mayor Jim Coppinger acknowledged their voluntary achievements by stating, These generous citizens embody the spirit of giving, and selflessly helping fulfill needs that would otherwise go unmet. I am grateful they live in our community. Randy L. Williams was called as the Bishop of the Ooltewah ward (congregation) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. James McGrath and Darryl Wilkerson are serving as first and second counselors, respectively. Bishop Williams graduated from Texas A&M University-Commerce with a degree in accounting. He holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Tyler and is a certified public accountant. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not have a paid clergy. No bishop is compensated by the Church for his work as a bishop. Members volunteer their time. Bishops are selected locally, approved by the First Presidency in Salt Lake City, and sustained locally. "A bishop watches over and nurtures the members of the congregation, both temporally and spiritually," officials said. "A bishop is also responsible to care for the poor and needy, and he oversees finances, records and the use of the meetinghouse. The bishop is assisted by two counselors, an executive secretary, clerks and the leaders of other organizations in the ward. A bishop holds the Melchizedek Priesthood, which is the authority from God to perform sacred ordinances and to lead in the Church. Bishop Williams and his family moved to Chattanooga from Texas 21 years ago. Bishop Williams has served in many capacities in the Church including stake clerk, ward clerk and stake high councilor. He and his wife have been married for 22 years. They have six children and five grandchildren, with twins on the way. The Ooltewah ward, 3067 Ooltewah-Ringgold Road, meets from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. each Sunday. Visitors are welcome. Congressman Scott DesJarlais, a conservative member of the House Freedom Caucus, has introduced legislation to continue federal operations at reduced spending levels in the event of lapsed appropriations. House and Senate negotiators are currently attempting to craft a Homeland Security funding bill that improves border security and avoids another a partial government shutdown on Friday. If negotiations fail, it would be the second partial shutdown in a month.Rep. DesJarlais said he supports building additional physical barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border to deter illegal immigration, drugs and gang crime.He said his legislation would pressure negotiators to fulfill promises both parties have made for decades. Bad deals to end shutdowns have typically resulted in even higher levels of wasteful spending, while the border problem has become worse and worse. In Washington, supporters of the failing status quo get everything they want, while in Tennessee, my constituents continue to demand safe borders and spending discipline.The Prevent Future Shutdowns Act increases the penalty for those who resist and obstruct common-sense solutions to transnational crime, the drug epidemic, and illegal labor depressing Americans wages. It would force negotiators to approach these issues in good faith or face consequences.The Preventing Future Shutdowns Act (H.R. 1124) would enact automatic appropriations at reduced spending levels in the event of a lapse. To continue normal operations, national security-related departments, including the Department of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs, would receive 100 percent of previously approved funding. Other departments would see a five percent reduction from previously enacted levels. Only discretionary funding would be affected.Social Security and other mandatory programs would remain untouched. If the disruption were to cause real spending discipline, radical proposals such as a recent one to release foreign criminals into the U.S., would never see the light of day, said Rep. DesJarlais, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. There would be a penalty for bad-faith negotiations. In fact, we would achieve a desirable short-term goal, and true border security would be attainable.I will always fight for safe and secure borders, and I will always fight for spending discipline. This bill would help to achieve both at a critical moment. A number of speakers at a public hearing before the Planning Commission on Monday said allowing accessory dwelling units could bring needed infill development, promote diversity and boost affordable housing. However, some speakers said they fear the units would mainly be put into use for short term vacation rentals, bringing possible undesirables into their neighborhoods. Many said if ADUs are allowed, it should just be for on-site owners. The issue is expected to come before the Planning Commission in April for a vote before going to the City Council in May. Officials said it is likely there will be an additional public hearing, perhaps in front of the City Council. Ethan Collier, a builder who is chairman of the Planning Commission, said, "Diversity makes for great neighborhoods. Right now we are building monolithic developments where everyone looks exactly alike and everyone has the same jobs." He said, "Just a small, small percentage of the community can afford the houses that are being built now." Mr. Collier said neighborhoods like North Chattanooga, Highland Park and Ridgedale "do have that kind of diversity." He said ADUs can be helpful. "You just have to do it right." Mary Kay Hyatt, Planning Commission member, also spoke in favor of ADUs, saying, "Face it, the world is changing. There are a lot of collaborative living methods." She said "We Baby Boomers didn't save a lot of money, and this could be a tool that would really help." She also said, "All renters are not dangerous bad people." City Councilman Darrin Ledford said ADUs "are a wonderful idea if done right." He said it would allow families to remain together on the same compound. However, Planning Commission member Jason Farmer said he was concerned about "the property rights of neighbors." He said the units may start out for family members, then shift to short term rentals. He said, "This impacts a lot of people." Suhir Morehead said she owns a house with a large lot in Highland Park, but she found that she could not build a small home for her on the lot. She said she ended up buying a triplex next door and converting it for her mother. She said with the ADUs there could have been five people living next to one another, but now it is just two. Lisa Floden said she came before the Planning Commission six years ago asking for ADUs. The resident of the Hilltop community said she was told that the only way under the current regulation is to have an attached garage that can be fixed into a separate residence. She said ADUs should be allowed citywide. Several Highland Park speakers were in favor of the idea, while two from North Chattanooga were not. John Rowe said there are already short term rentals near his home. He said, "The influx of random people makes us uneasy." Another woman said the concept was not for North Chattanooga with its "postage size lots" and use of streets for parking, but might better be tried in East Chattanooga, saying that was an area that needs a boost. It was noted that ADUs are already allowed within the Form Based Code area. Some six or seven have been built in the almost two years with no complaints, it was stated. The kitchen will double as a living and dining area. The guest Murphy bed folds up into the wall to create a desk space under the shelves. All homes will be built to the same layout with a small selection of styles. Established in the 1880s on the Gulf of Mexico and Sarasota Bay, Cortez is a National Register of Historic Places community in Manatee County that takes pride in its heritage as one of the few remaining "old Florida" fishing villages in existence. In a modern-day plot twist, Cortez may soon make history under the direction of climate-concerned PEARL Homes builders who view the sunny, beachside village as the keyholder to sustainable, solar-powered living.PEARL Homes aims to introduce the first "net-zero" energy households in the United States. That is homes that generate asmuch, or possibly even more, energy than they consume. Allocated for 148 units in historic Cortez, Hunters Point will be the first community of its kind in Florida and one of the only communities in the U.S. powered by the sonnenBatterie, a lithium-based solar energy storage system engineered by the German company sonnen."There's so much talk about how solar is going to be the solution. The problem is: You generate all this power, but what are you going to do with it?" says PEARL Homes President Marshall Gobuty.PEARL Homes' award-winning Mirabella community, established in west Bradenton in 2015, was among the first LEED Platinum-certified housing communities in Florida."We're trying to lead by example. What we did in Mirabella, where we created 150-plus LEED Platinum homes, is not the industry norm -- and now we're looking at what's next in Hunters Point. Consider the idea of how terrible plastic is for the environment and how industries are looking at ways to reduce plastic use. It's the same for homebuilding: we as an industry are saying that we care; that we need to do better," Gobuty says."Meeting sonnen put us into a situation where we're not just able to use the sun's power -- we're able to manage it. And that means homes that make a difference," he adds.A few minutes south of the Sunshine Skyway, a quiet industrial park in Manatee County houses one of the most tech-savvy model homes on the market. The Hunters Point model operates like an Alexa-equipped research lab: souped up on solar power stored by a sonnen battery, and smart-connected through Google Home.Gobuty says that while a fully net-zero home, in the sense that a home creates more energy than it generates, is not yet a guarantee, the Hunters Point research and design center gets closer by the day to achieving its goal of harnessing the potential for solar surplus -- especially as solar panel hardware being made available shrinks in size, while growing mightier in capacity."In California, they have peaker plants that only operate during peak times, during which they're running on diesel and gas. That's a disaster in terms of sustainability. We're more well-managed out here because of our smaller population and size. People in California are looking to us and saying 'Can we replicate [Hunters Point]?' My answer is: 'Of course you'll be able to -- but first, we have to really figure it out, here'," says Gobuty.Enter the sonnen -powered As Gobuty explains it: The sonnen battery system is designed to optimize the use of solar panel-generated power by storing excess solar energy that is produced during the hours when it cannot be used. The average household uses the most electricity during the morning and evening, with midday usage bottoming out during the hours when the sun is at its peak. By storing this excess of midday-generated solar energy for later use, the sonnen system greatly reduces the home's reliance on the public power grid during peak consumption times.Hunters Point homes marry sonnen's innovative storage system with Google Nest tech to create smartly sustainable homes. These Google Energy Smart Homes include Nest thermostats, WiFi smoke detectors, indoor and outdoor cameras, Nest-aware alarm systems, and remotely controlled door locks that are controlled by the Google Home Hub, which works with the sonnen battery to optimize each individual home's energy use."Sonnen is working with Google to make a seamless experience. The Nest system creates your pattern. It knows when you come home, so it's an intelligence inside the home that will pull power at certain times based on your needs," Gobuty explains.The Hunters Point project -- named after the 1800s village that would become Cortez -- calls for 86 homes and a complex of 62 hotel-style lodgings, a 48 boat docks, a clubhouse and a hook-to-plate bistro, which Gobuty notes will beoperated by Cortez's historic A.P. Bell Fish Company.Hunters Point homes will start at $400,000 and are pre-furnished in four interior design schemes that range from modern to nautical. Each design centers eco-sustainability and space efficiency, because Gobuty says he doesn't want to build McMansions -- nor does he believe today's homebuyer wants them.The 3,000-square-foot properties provide ample living space without being ostentatious and are designed to encourage open-air living. Hunters Point homes include a two-car "Florida basement" garage, a second-level living space with 800-square-feet of covered deck, and 600-square-feet of sky deck. Although the homes will be connected to the public power grid, they will be built to maximize solar power and thus significantly reduce homeowners' energy footprint.Gobuty describes the homes as eco-minded, contemporary interpretations of the "Florida Cracker" style structures that were originally built on Cortez, and encourages homebuyers to learn about the value of clean solar energy because, he believes, "the more you know, the more you'll want one.""It's all about education. It's the idea: 'I'm making a conscious decision, not only to have a great home and location but to do something good.' I think we're putting our money where our mouth is -- we stipulated the kind of homes we're building, and we stipulated they're going to be energy efficient, net-zero homes -- is an important promise," Gobuty says.Addressing traffic concerns, Gobuty notes that PEARL Homes is currently working with Tesla to offer cars in a pooling system for Hunters Point homeowners' use. sonnen an electric battery charging station that can send excess energy back to the FP&L grid. Hunters Point has also earmarked one of the community's boat slips to be used for a water taxi service. Both efforts aim to reduce automobile traffic on Cortez.At Hunters Point, Gobuty envisions an opportunity to change the way not just homes, but entire communities are built in Florida, and around the U.S., by looking toward the future of solar energy: from the vantage point of historic Cortez and with the help of green-savvy European tech."This isn't a time for McMansions. The state of Florida is so dependent on home-building -- it's a huge part of our culture -- but I wanted to show that we can do something different. Hunters Point is just the start of what we hope will eventually be the standard in sustainable homebuilding," Gobuty says. Map of the Plant System of railway steamer and steamship lines. The Inn at Port Tampa in the early 1900's. The Ybor Channel and Channel District looking south in the mid 1980's. Dredges are once again scooping up enormous swaths of the Tampa Bay seafloor, as part of a $63-million project to deepen and widen Tampas Big Bend channel. This operation is the most expensive dredging project in Tampa history. But it is far from the first.The bay bottom just off Port Tampa City, located on a southeast corner of the Interbay Peninsula, was where modern dredges first reengineered Tampa Bays waterways. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged a 19-foot deep, 240-foot wide channelthere in the 1880s, which motivated Henry Plant to extend his railroad to the port. This rail-channel combination lurched Tampa into the industrial era.At the site where the rails met the waters of the bay, workers constructed two roughly mile-long piers, the Port Tampa Inn, and other buildings. The inn and other structures rested on pilings and appeared to hover over the bay. Boosters declared the facilities an engineering marvel, and Tampas Morning Tribune declared the port magnificent, marvelous, and magic, and labeled it the Wonder of Florida.Soon steamships were transporting landlubbers from Port Tampa City to Key West, Havana, and other distant ports of call. Alongside these vessels, oranges, phosphate, cattle, and other Florida commodities were crammed onto transporting ships at the bustling port. Port Tampa City also became an immigrant entry point by 1890, complete with quarantine facilities. Thanks to the channel, Port Tampa City became the regions Ellis Island and maritime hub.Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders deployed from the port to fight the Spanish-American War in 1898. They steamed off into the bay to face their destiny, which for many was disease-induced death in Cuba.In roughly its first 10 years of operation, the newly dredged channel linked booming Tampa to an increasingly connected world of goods, services, and global empires. But not everyone was content.Businesses and politicians in Tampa proper argued that the city needed a channel just south of downtown. In the mid-1880s, the federal government had dug a narrow and crooked 8-foot channel in and around the lower Hillsborough River. But this rickety underwater snake only accommodated shallow drafts vessels, and Tampas business community wanted more.In December 1898, Tampas Weekly Tribune reported that Tampa mayor F.C. Bowyer told a pro-dredging group that a new channel south of downtown would make Tampa a commercial center, and that the prosperity that would follow would excel that of any time during the history of Tampa, and in a few years we would have a flourishing city of 100,000.Seven years and a $350,000 U.S. Congressional appropriation later, dredging began south of Tampa proper.At first, a 20-foot deep, 300-foot wide channel was dredged. But in the coming decades this channel would be repeatedly deepened, widened, and lengthened, and the dredged earth used to build Seddon Island, now Harbour Island. A bridge and railroad tracks were built, linking Seddon to the mainland, and it became home to phosphate loading and shipping operations. Other port industries also set up shop and took advantage of the new channel. Downtown Tampas modern-port era had begun. And it was soon shaped by war.During World War I, Tampas waterfront was an important shipbuilding center. Later, the Great Depression nearly sunk the citys maritime economy, but World War II breathed new life into Tampa shipbuilding and repair operations.A year after the surprise Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, businessman Matthew H. McCloskeys factories were building concrete ships for the Merchant Marine, and in 1944 the Tampa Shipbuilding Company employed 16,000, many of them women. Some women at first met resistance at the shipyards, but ultimately women workers were accepted, and welder Alma Brown even christened the U.S.S. Advocate. Over the course of the deadliest war in human history, the Tampa Shipbuilding Company constructed 76 naval vessels.These shipbuilding operations were shuttered after the war, but the port still hustled and bustled during the second half of the twentieth century. This was due, in large part, to increased phosphate exports.Between 1941 and 1953, Florida companies mined and manufactured more phosphate than they had from 1890 to 1940. By the late 1970s, Tampa-area phosphate was shipped to Canada, Korea, the Soviet Union, and other faraway locales.This phosphate was accompanied by a bounty of other goods. In 1969, nearly 40,000 tons of both citrus and meat were shippedout of Tampa. That same year approximately 4,000 vessels entered the citys port.And all along, Tampas channels were deepened. By the early 1960s the main channel stretched down to 34-feet, and the following decade it was dredged to 43 feet deep. This deepening allowed the port to accommodate ever-growing transport vessels and, by the end of the 20th century, cruise ships.The dredged channels of Tampa Bay have been an artery of Tampa's industry since the late 1800s. Immigrants, cattle, oranges, tourists, soldiers, phosphate, and more have been sent through the channels. All have linked Tampa to a wider world than mayor Bowyer could have ever thought possible in 1898, and perhaps now -- once again -- a new chapter of dredging will create a new Tampa.Brad Massey, Ph.D., is the Saunders Foundation Curator of Public History at the Tampa Bay History Center. He can be reached via email at this address . Images with this story are provided by the Tampa Bay History Center. The Plant System map is part of the History Centers Touchton Map Library . Support for publication of this column comes from the Tampa Bay History Center The American Birding Association celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year and one aspect of its celebration was a reprint of the first issue of the publication now known as Birding. What is apparent from the reprint, as well as other accounts of the ABAs early years, is that the ABA was founded in large part to address information and communication shortcomings in the birding community. As Claudia Wilds wrote: If you ask the founding fathers what the birding scene was like before ABA, they present a world heavily dependent on friends and friends of friends and marked by a lack of information available to most birders about finding birds or identifying the difficult ones. Thus, at that time, birding information was scarce and local, distributed, if at all, by individuals or rudimentary networks of birders. In that world, a mimeographed newsletter was a giant leap forward. Of course, that world no longer exists. The internet has been game-changing for birding, just as it has been for other fields. There are also countless field guides, birding tour companies, birding festivals, birding books and magazines, and bird-related conservation organizations. There is now an abundance of high-quality easily-accessible information for birders. And communication among birders is easy and instantaneous. To the extent there is an informational problem for todays birders, it is too much information. This has consequences for the ABA as it plans its future. Numerous well-funded organizations now provide enormous quantities of authoritative information for birders. Although some of these organizations existed five decades ago, increased resources and the internet have greatly expanded their scope and reach. Perhaps most significant is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The Lab operates All About Birds, which has free and authoritative information on identification and bird biology, as well as Birds of North America. Its Macaulay Library contains a wealth of photos and audio recordings for approximately 10,000 species. For example, there are more than 900 photos and 700 audio recordings of Golden-cheeked Warbler alone and all are accessible from any computer or smartphone in the world. It offers a bird academy and much much more. Contributors to the Lab also receive Living Bird magazine, which features excellent content and photography, primarily about bird biology and conservation. (Much of that content is freely available online as well.) But it is eBird that has particularly transformed birding. Managed by the Cornell Lab, eBird tracks a users life life, as well as lists for regions, countries, states, counties, and the ABA Area. It allows users to submit photos and recordings and provides detailed information on bird species, including sightings, distribution, identification tips, photos, and recordings. It has profile pages, pages to explore hotspots, and rarity alerts, among many other features. The days of listing anywhere other than eBird are likely numbered. (The 10,000 Birds collaborative list is maintained exclusively on eBird, for example.) My impression is that most young birders are eBirders, a trend that will surely continue due to its convenience, accessibility, and contribution to science. Also, it is free, easy to use, and continuously updated with new functionality. The rise of the Cornell Lab is reflected in its budget, which was approximately $10 million in 2003 and $30 million in 2018. Of course, all of this has been highly beneficial to birders. There has been an explosion in field guides as well, with many excellent guides for North America (and virtually anywhere else on the planet) as well as comprehensive volumes dedicated to specific types of birds such as raptors, warblers, hummingbirds, owls, gulls, waterfowl, and seabirds, among others. Several field guides have related apps, including Sibley, and many of those apps feature audio recordings for each species. The market for field guides has never been deeper or more diverse. Field guides are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to birding-related books. There are numerous volumes on bird identification, places to go birding, bird feeding, rare birds, big years, and even bird sounds. Theres an excellent History of American Birding. Many birders carry a library of electronic field guides in their pocket, not to mention other apps, such as eBird, Song Sleuth, Larkwire, and Merlin. There are even a handful of region-specific birding apps, including for southeast Arizona. Many of these apps utilize GPS, allowing a birder to determine location to within a few yards. Others record and identify bird songs. The development and rapid proliferation of powerful apps has changed birding. Smartphones, let alone apps, were unimaginable fifty years ago. There are also at least two U.S. birding magazines, Birdwatching and Bird Watchers Digest. Both have high-quality articles on a broad range of birding-related topics as well as fine photography. Both operate websites that provide useful content, including lists of major birding festivals and birding hotspots. Even the ornithological literature is readily available to birders. In addition to eBird and All About Birds, there are multiple online birding forums, listservs, and countless online birding resources, including 10,000 Birds. Birding festivals abound: among them are the Biggest Week in American Birding in Ohio, Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival in Florida, Winter Wings Festival in Oregon, Audubons Nebraska Crane Festival, Southeast Arizona Birding Festival, Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in Texas, to name just a few. There are now dozens of birding festival across North America throughout the year. No birder could possibly attend even a tiny fraction of these festivals. There are also numerous birding tour guide companies that arrange dedicated birding trips throughout the world, even to the most remote areas on the planet. And there are pelagic birding outfits on both coasts. Naturally, many are active online. For example, Brian Pattesons Seabirding offers pelagic trips from Hatteras, North Carolina, and those sightings are reported on its blog and by Tweet. There are also many well-funded conservation organizations that focus on birds. The National Audubon Society is a non-profit behemoth and its many chapters are vibrant. The American Bird Conservancy also works to conserve birds, and there are many others (e.g., The Peregrine Fund). Birder communications are instantaneous and sightings of rare birds are quickly disseminated. For example, a recent appearance of a Red-flanked Bluetail at UCLA was quickly posted to the California listserv, eBird, and other places. It made the Los Angeles Times and UCLA even issued a press release. It is a truly golden age of birding information and birder communication. Again, to the extent there is an informational problem for birders, it is too much information and too many options. Even a dedicated birder cannot hope to consume even a sliver of todays birding information. Of course, the fact that technology and the passage of time have radically changed birding is hardly a unique insight. And the ABA is part of this golden age. It is online, with its website, blog, podcast, rare bird alerts, Facebook pages, and Twitter feed. It also offers tours, supports young birders, and publishes Birding as well as state birding guides. But because of this explosion of birding-related information and the rise of instant communication among birders, the ABA is an ever smaller part of the overall birding community. One can be an devoted birder, with a constantly updated life list, actively involved in discussions of local, regional, and national birds and birding, all without ever joining the ABA. Given the supposed number of birders (up to 10 million active birders) and the membership numbers of the ABA (about 12,000), that is seems to be exactly what most birders do. As the ABA develops a strategy for the next 50 years, it should carefully consider its place in this crowded and vibrant birding community, assessing where it can provide unique and valuable information or services to birders. QNCC meets demand after commissioning new plant 12 February 2019 Qatar National Cement Co (QNCC) has succeeded in meeting demand levels in the country following the companys 5000tpd Plant 5 entering operation, according to Salem bin Butti al Naimi, chairman and MD. "The company is supporting the massive construction boom in Qatar by meeting 100 percent market demand for all types of cement and washed sand successfully from the companys own production maintaining the high quality standards, and at a reasonable price for all products," said Mr Naimi in an interview with Qatar Tribune. After meeting domestic supply, the company now expects to turn to exports. "Today, we are in a position to export cement, clinker and white cement. Now we are looking for markets around us. We see some countries today that might need cement in future. Especially countries like Yemen and Iraq. Some countries in GCC also need clinker and cement. We are willing to export our products to them," added Mr Naimi. QNCC produced 2.9Mt of OPC and SRC in 2018 and is also expecting to diversify by adding new products to its range. The companys total sales revenue reached QAR848m (US$232.9m), while net profit increased 6.4 per cent YoY to QAR348m. Published under Siam Cement Group plans to expand products and services in Cambodia ICR Newsroom By 12 February 2019 Siam Cement Group (SCG) plans to expand new service solutions and retail operations in Cambodia to tap opportunities in the country's growing construction industry and changing consumers' behaviour. According to, SCG's Managing Director of Kampot Cement plant, Somwang Manpimonchai, Our target this year in Cambodia is to maintain existing businesses which produce and sell our products, and to add new service solutions and introduce retail or B2C to the market." As part of a five-year plant, roofing solutions and interior decoration will be introduced to the Cambodian market by SCG. "Consumers behaviours have changed now," Mr Manpimonchai said. "They need something comprehensive." Mr Manpimonchai conceded that his firms products are more expensive than the same products by its competitors, but says the companys product quality is far superior. "People here in Cambodia care more about quality and strength than the price. They use stronger and better quality construction materials. So the cost [using SCG's materials] is 30-40 per cent higher and some materials are imported," he added. Roofing solutions for residential houses will undergo a trial starting in March, he said. As for the retail market, SCG will offer online and offline services for retail B2C for home construction, renovation and decoration. The construction market is also gaining momentum in Cambodia. New projects are being approved, such as a new expressway that will connect Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville. The expressway will stretch over 190km and will be built on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis by state-owned Chinese Communication Construction Co Ltd, with construction costs estimated at nearly US$2bn. "Construction has commenced, requiring about 500,000-600,000t of cement for three years of work. As leader in the market, we will supply the bulk of the materials ," Mr Manpimonchai said. Another expressway project involves the construction of a 160km stretch of road connecting Phnom Penh to Bavet in Svay Rieng province, which will be linked to an expressway from the border gate at Moc Bai, on the Vietnamese side, to Ho Chi Minh City. "The government also has plan to expand its airports to facilitate the boost of tourism," he added. Kampot Cement now produces around 2Mta of cement at its factory in southwestern Cambodia. The company is studying whether to set up more factories. Published under Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription, or activate your access, to continue reading. Kristina Stratton ran into the two-story house to rescue her children, pastor and family friend Angelo Frazier said. For Tesla Inc. investors, the last year was all about whether the company could make enough cars at a stable rate. This year is going to be all about who would buy those cars. As Tesla gears up to expand into Europe and China, investors and analysts are now focused on the demand trends experienced by the company in all of its markets. Tesla has now shifted from a production story to a demand story, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives wrote in a note to clients on Monday, adding that Norway, the Netherlands, and Germany are front and center as the countries with strong pent-up demand for Model 3s in Europe. The big question for investors will be watching this Model 3 demand trajectory throughout Europe to gauge the pace of unit deliveries and how quickly can it reach the 100,000 units delivery barometer over the next 12 months in this key region, with China also a demand driver/potential wild card, the analyst wrote. Tesla chief Elon Musk visited Europe over the weekend, stopping in Norway, which is the companys third-biggest market, helped by generous incentives for low-emission vehicles and high taxes on gas-fueled cars. Separately, Chinas state-run newspaper Global Times tweeted on Monday that the first shipment of the Model 3 had arrived at the Port of Tianjin, ready for delivery to Chinese customers. The electric-vehicle maker kicked off this year on a dull note after fourth-quarter deliveries slightly lagged expectations, and multiple price cuts have followed for the Model 3 sedan to compensate for the gradual elimination of federal tax incentives. Teslas quarterly profit, reported in late January, also missed estimates and failed to inspire investor confidence. Tesla stock had fallen more than 8 percent this year through Friday, before Mondays gains. The S&P 500 Index gained 8 percent over the same period. Yet despite the shaky numbers and a lackluster outlook, some say the company is on the right path. We believe the last two quarters and recent guidance for first quarter have removed significant concerns for both production capability and profitability of the critical Model 3, Canaccord Genuity analyst Jed Dorsheimer wrote in a note. As such, we see a more stable 2019 with far fewer concerns for investors in the company. Dorsheimer also upgraded Tesla to buy from hold, and raised his price traget to $450 from $330, saying the Street underappreciates the companys progress in the electric vehicle market. The steady advance of global automakers into the electric car market has weighed on Teslas valuation over the past twelve months, with Morgan Stanley calling Teslas 80 percent U.S. electric vehicle market share in 2018 unsustainable. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said he expected the next serious competition to come from a clean sheet start-up with access to talent & capital focused on the fastest growing segments of pickup trucks & SUVs. Tesla has long been a far-from-stable story. While the stock gained as much as 4.2 percent on Monday, investors should brace for a choppy ride this year. The profitability picture for 2019 and the all-important Model 3 demand trajectory in Europe for Tesla looks encouraging for Musk & Co., but there is clearly heavy lifting ahead around Europe logistics/cost-cutting/driving incremental U.S. demand that will remain overhangs and thus make Tesla a prove me story the next few quarters, Wedbushs Ives said. Copyright 2021 Bloomberg. Chubb promoted from within to fill a newly created position covering continental Europe. A former AIG executive is joining AXIS Capital Holdings Limited as head of Underwriting and Portfolio Optimization, also a newly created role. *** Chubb appointed Peter Graswinckel as segment leader for Major Accounts in continental Europe. Graswinckel was previously global client executive for Chubb in Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg, and he has worked in the insurance industry for more than 20 years. In this newly created role, Graswinckel will be responsible for delivering tailor-made products and services for clients and business partners in continental Europe. He will also oversee Chubbs Major Accounts segment leaders across 17 countries and continental Europes Global Client Executive Practice. In addition, Graswinckel will work closely with Chubbs regional management team and other Major Accounts teams around the world to ensure alignment and consistency. Graswinckel reports to Suresh Krishnan, head of Major Accounts for Chubb in Europe, with a matrix reporting to Adrian Matthews, chief operating officer and head of Property and Casualty, continental Europe. *** AXIS Capital Holdings Limited hired veteran AIG executive Robert Quane as head of Underwriting and Portfolio Optimization, a newly created role. Quane will be responsible for leading the companys Group Underwriting function while working in partnership with its business segments. This will include establishing and maintaining AXISs groupwide underwriting framework, guidelines and policies, in addition to overseeing its portfolio optimization process. Quane will also manage AXISs groupwide exposure-management and underwriting risk frameworks and chair its peril/product boards. Quane will report to Eric Gesick, group chief underwriting officer at AXIS, and will be based in the companys New York office. Quane joins AXIS following a 22-year career at AIG, where he held several underwriting management and actuarial positions. Most recently, he was head of Global Commercial Property at AIG, following time spent serving as the companys head of Global Group Personal Insurance and chief operating officer for International Personal Lines. He started his insurance career in actuarial roles for Allstate Insurance. The commercial drone industry could be torpedoed if there were a serious accident involving a drone and a commercial aircraft, the chairman of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee warned on Friday. Representative Peter DeFazio, a Democrat, said at a speech in Washington that regulators had to take the threat seriously. This is really serious when these things are flying around and it could kill the commercial drone industry, DeFazio said, adding that if a toy drone takes down a plane there would be public outcry to ground the devices. The issue of threats by drones to commercial air traffic came to the fore after Londons second busiest airport, Gatwick Airport, was severely disrupted in December when drones were sighted on three consecutive days. Last month, 43 flights into New Jerseys Newark Liberty International Airport were required to hold after drone sightings at a nearby airport, while nine flights were diverted. In January, U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao proposed rules that would allow drones to operate over populated areas help speed their commercial use. There are nearly 1.3 million registered drones in the United States and more than 116,000 registered drone operators. Officials say there are hundreds of thousands of additional drones that are not registered. DeFazio added the government should also facilitate the growth of the drone industry, because the benefits are potentially phenomenal. Were worried about the 2 million people who bought or got toy drones for Christmas the last couple of years who are regularly flying in violation of the law, DeFazio said. Last week, the FBI said authorities confiscated six drones that violated a temporary order not to fly the devices in the area ahead of the NFLs Super Bowl. Alphabet Inc and Amazon.com Inc are among a growing number of companies hoping to make package delivery by drones a reality. The Federal Aviation Administration is also working on rules to set remote identification requirements for drones for tracking them. The FAA noted last month that some drones can fly at 10,000 feet or more and accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than one second and is assessing possible performance limitations, such as airspeed and altitude, to mitigate potential hazards. Congress last year gave the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security new powers to disable or destroy threatening drones after officials raised concerns about the use of drones as potential weapons. Were not certain yet what the best technology is, DeFazio said. Weve got to get a handle on those who are operating improperly and then we also have to facilitate the growth of the (commercial drone) industry itself, because the benefits are potentially phenomenal. The companies that run the Channel tunnel are suing the British government over its award of ferry contracts to handle freight shipments in a no-deal Brexit, just days after one of those contracts, with a startup company that doesnt own any ships, fell through. Channel Tunnel Group Ltd. and France-Manche SA accuse the government of a secretive and flawed procurement exercise for the backup ferry service in the event of a no-deal Brexit, their lawyer Daniel Beard said in court Monday. The companies together form Eurotunnel, which operates the link between the U.K. and mainland Europe. The lawsuit challenges the governments award of ferry contracts to Brittany Ferries of France, Danish shipping firm DFDS and U.K.-based Seaborne Freight for additional freight services between Britain and continental Europe. The 13.8 million-pound ($17.8 million) Seaborne contract was scrapped when it became clear the company, which doesnt own any ships, wouldnt meet its requirements, the Department for Transport said Saturday. The lawsuit is a fresh setback for U.K. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, who faced calls to resign over the weekend after the Seaborne contract fell through. It comes just weeks before the U.K.s planned departure from the EU on March 29, as Prime Minister Theresa May seeks to buy time to renegotiate her Brexit agreement with the bloc. Extreme Urgency The contracts were awarded without a publicized competition and relied on extreme urgency provisions, the tunnel companies said in their court filings for Mondays hearing. The contracts also amounted to an unfair subsidy for companies, they said. A spokeswoman for the Department for Transport said, however that the government had carried out a competitive procurement process to secure additional ferry capacity between the U.K. and the EU, which is in line with proper procedures. Eurotunnel has previously provided ferry services under the MyFerryLink brand, Beard said. That line was shut down, however, after a U.K. court in 2015 upheld a competition regulators decision blocking it from running cross-channel sailings between Dover and Calais. Its remarkable that Eurotunnel hadnt been told about the ferry contracts, since it had run cross-Channel services in the past few years, Beard said. Eurotunnel says the first time it heard about the three Brexit ferry contracts was when the Department for Transport announced they had been awarded in December, judge Peter Fraser said as he summarized the case at the hearing. A four-day trial on the dispute will start March 1, Fraser said, because the urgency of the matter is in my judgment somewhat obvious. Fraser said he found it unsatisfactory to be overseeing the case and only to discover that the government was in advanced talks to secure additional no-deal freight capacity, in the wake of the Seaborne contract collapse, by reading a BBC News article Saturday. The talks dont mean that the government is running a fresh procurement exercise, the Department for Transports lawyer Ewan West said. The case is Channel Tunnel Group LTD & Anr v. The Secretary of State for Transport, High Court of Justice, Case No. HT-2019-000028 Copyright 2021 Bloomberg. Long-Serving KY Inmate Dies Behind Bars By The Associated Press LOUISVILLE, KY - A Kentucky prison inmate has died behind bars after serving 54 years for a 1960 murder conviction in the shooting death of a store clerk.Department of Corrections spokeswoman Lisa Lamb told WRDB-TV that William Gaines Smith died last month at University Hospital in Louisville.The station reports he was among the longest-serving inmates in the state when he died at age 76.He was convicted of killing 62-year-old Olin Alexander, a liquor store clerk in Lexington.On the Net: Do you have an athlete in mind that contributes to the team or sport, holds sportsmanship and team spirit, has epic playmaker moments and/or in general makes the the sports fun? If yes, please make your nominations for our edition of Athlete Spotlight. CLICK TO NOMINATE Everything you need to know about South Dakota government Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in his Jerusalem office, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2015. Israel's premier says he will go "anywhere" he is invited to speak about the country's stance regarding Iran's nuclear program. PHOTO:AP Photo/Baz Ratner, Pool Rhetoric Over; Iran Warns Israel Via US By The Associated Press TEHRAN, IRAN - Iran said Tuesday it has sent a warning to Israel through the United States over the recent killing of an Iranian general in an alleged Israeli airstrike, the official IRNA news agency reported. The report quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian as saying, "We told the Americans that the leaders of the Zionist regime should await the consequences of their act.'' He added, "The Zionist regime has crossed our red lines.'' Iranian Gen. Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, a senior commander in the Revolutionary Guard, was killed along with six Lebanese Hezbollah fighters in a Jan. 18 airstrike in the Syrian-controlled part of the disputed Golan Heights. Both Iran and Hezbollah blamed Israel for the strike; the Israeli government refused to comment. Amirabdollahian says Iran delivered the message to U.S. officials via diplomatic channels. He did not elaborate. Iran and the U.S cut diplomatic ties after militant Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran during the 1979 revolution and held a group of American diplomats for 444 days. The two nations normally exchange diplomatic messages through the Swiss embassy, which looks after U.S. interests in Iran. But diplomats from both countries also meet directly on other occasions _ such as the current negotiations to limit the scope of the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for easing harsh international sanctions against Tehran. Amirabdollahian's remarks came during a commemoration ceremony in Tehran for the slain general and the Hezbollah fighters. In the same ceremony, Gen. Hossein Salami, acting commander of the Guard, said Iran will retaliate soon. "We tell (Israel) to await retaliation, but we will decide about its timing, place and the strength,'' he said, according to the IRNA report. Allahdadi is one of the highest ranking Iranian officers known to have been killed abroad in decades. Another senior Guard commander, Brig. Gen. Hamid Taqavi, was killed during a battle against the Islamic State group in Samarra, Iraq last month. Majority Shiite Iran acknowledges it has sent military advisers to both Iraq and to Syria, where they are aiding embattled President Bashar Assad. But Tehran denies the presence of Iranian combat forces. * Username This is the name that will be used to identify you within the system. Choose wisely! * First name * Last name Your real name will be displayed next to your photo for comments, blog posts, and more! * Email Your e-mail address will be used to confirm your account. We won't share it with anyone else. * Password Create a password that only you will remember. If you forget it, you'll be able to recover it using your email address. remaining of Thank you for reading! This is your last free article before you will be asked to subscribe. Already have a paid subscription? Sign in news, latest-news It's rare for a single case to be so revealing about so many topics as was the Fair Work Commission's recent decision in the enticingly named KB v The Agency (2018). It's also rare for a commissioner to be so scathing about an employer as was Nicholas Wilson in his decision. Then again, it's also rare for a single employer to fall into so many pitfalls, and to make so many mistakes, as did The Agency in this matter. So what exactly did we learn from this case? As I see it, the decision has three key lessons. First, it sheds light on how the commission will approach cases concerning an employee's failure to disclose information about past criminal convictions that could be adverse to their employment. Second, the case sheds light on the role of support people in employment discussions. Finally, Wilson gave us a timely reminder of what happens when an employee no longer meets the inherent requirements of their job. But first, what was the case about? "KB", who worked for a contracting company engaged by the Australian Public Service, lost her job with The Agency after a police check revealed a previously undisclosed criminal conviction. Before she began full-time employment with The Agency, KB was convicted of welfare fraud. This conviction followed what the commissioner described as "a profoundly challenging adult life". Shortly after KB started working full-time, The Agency brought in a "zero-tolerance" policy for any employee with a criminal conviction after it entered into a new agreement with the Commonwealth to provide labour services. KB initially resisted providing her consent for a police check to occur, knowing it would reveal the conviction. Ultimately, she was unable to keep resisting providing her consent, with predicable consequences for her employment. All this may sound quite reasonable to you. So how did such a scathing decision emerge? As is often the case, the success of any attempt to terminate someone's employment no matter how much it would seem the employee's conduct might merit that course of action depends substantially on the integrity of the process followed by the employer. In this instance, The Agency failed in multiple respects to follow proper processes, leading to the finding that KB was unfairly dismissed. Let's start with possibly the most egregious of The Agency's shortcomings: its approach to the disclosure of potentially adverse information. The starting point for Wilson (the commissioner) was assessing whether the "zero-tolerance" policy was, as The Agency said, warranted on the basis of its agreement with the Commonwealth. No prizes for guessing Wilson's conclusion. Having dispensed with The Agency's contention that it needed to adopt a "zero-tolerance' policy on employees' criminal convictions, Wilson considered whether KB's failure to disclose her conviction, including her resistance to consenting to a police check, merited her sacking on the grounds of a breach of trust. This is where his decision became particularly illuminating. Wilson held he was "unable to find that [The Agency] held a valid reason for her termination of employment, irrespective of whether or not it may said that the [zero tolerance policy was] operative and binding on KB". This is a particularly interesting development for lawyers representing clients whose employers have accused them of failing to disclose adverse information. The decision suggests that a mere failure to disclose such information does not necessarily merit a sacking, even if there is a policy in place to that effect. This decision is also a warning to employers: policies without reasonable justification will not shield them from unfair-dismissal claims. The second lesson in Wilson's decision concerns the proper role and function of a support person during employment discussions. The Agency argued that KB's manager acted as her support person during the meetings between KB and The Agency before she was sacked. Though nothing ultimately turned on the issue, this argument brought the most scathing rebuke from Wilson. He found that the "proposition that, in the absence of a request from the employee concerned, that their manager could be a support person of the nature envisaged by the Fair Work Act is as unworthy as it lacks credibility". Wilson ultimately concluded that The Agency would have served its "cause better by simply saying that the offer [of a support person] was never made, rather than looking somewhat silly by suggesting that the person's manager ... was the support person for the employee in the matter". Wilson also shed some light on the actual function of support people, noting they "may suggest things to say ... or even advocate when the employee is unable to". The take-away message from this part of the decision is that, as Wilson said, support people are not merely there to "offer tissues when bad news is communicated". They perform a substantive role for employees during disciplinary processes, and employers wishing to defend unfair-dismissal claims would be wise to treat their role as such. The final lesson from this decision is the timely reminder that, even when an employee no longer fulfils an inherent requirement of their job, their employment does not automatically cease. Rather, it remains a positive act of their employer to terminate the employment. This could have interesting implications for public servants and certain contractors in the APS if, for example, they lose the requisite security clearance to perform their position. Though it seems like a simple, if semantic, distinction the employee loses their job either way the distinction could have potentially far-reaching consequences for former employees and employers alike. Overall, cases such as KB v The Agency form important elements of the tapestry that makes up employment rights and responsibilities. Employers, employees and their lawyers would do well to learn from this one. John Wilson is the managing legal director of BAL Lawyers and an accredited specialist in industrial relations and employment law. He thanks his colleague, Robert Allen, who helped prepare this article. ballawyers.com.au /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/4e9d385b-1a87-44ce-baa5-427203a506a7/r480_0_11099_6000_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg Graves County Jail Inmate Arrested on Drug Charges By West Kentucky Star Staff MAYFIELD - Police charged an inmate at the Graves County Jail with drug offenses on Friday.The Mayfield Police Department says an officer responded Friday morning to a report of contraband being found on an inmate at the jail. The on-duty supervisor told officers 31-year-old Gregory Morris of Mayfield was acting strangely in his cell. Jail staff reportedly found baggies of meth and other illegal drugs on Morris during a search.Morris was charged with first-degree promoting contraband. news, federal-politics When John "Wacka" Williams first told Barnaby Joyce he wanted to make a run for Parliament, the two were travelling between Inverell and Moree in northern New South Wales. "I remember driving in his old, second-hand Nissan Patrol," Joyce says. "I thought, 'this is just what we need in politics. Someone who has a real understanding of the world the voters live in'." Williams had been a shearer, truck driver, farmer and small business owner before he took on sitting member Sandy Macdonald to win preselection for the Nationals in 2007. He'd been a member of the party since the 1980s, but when he came to Canberra, made it clear to then-leader Warren Truss he had no desire for frontbench promotions. "I just wanted to be me." True to his word, during his eleven-year career in the Senate, Williams' name has never been suggested as a frontbench contender, despite the innumerable reshuffles in that time. His most senior parliamentary position has been as Nationals whip in the Senate. But as Joyce (who sensationally quit the Nationals leadership last year) notes, "you can be a minister and a nobody really easily. Getting yourself on to the blue carpet [of the ministerial wing] does not mean you've had great political success". On Wednesday, Williams will give his final speech to Parliament, before his retirement on July 1. The timing of the 64-year-old's departure is poetic. As one of the driving forces for a royal commission into banking, the Nationals senator leaves just as Commissioner Kenneth Hayne's final report sends shockwaves through the financial sector. In a sign of the impact the NSW backbencher has had, Commonwealth Bank chief executive officer Matt Comyn will be in the public gallery to see Williams' valedictory, along with his children, grandchildren and good friend Kamahl. Williams, who lost his family farm in the 1980s after dud financial advice from the Commonwealth Bank, was the first parliamentary voice to call for a royal commission - years before the Coalition or Labor supported the idea. While he says he didn't enter Parliament to take on the banks, seven months into his first term, he was deeply affected by meeting a group of retirees who had lost their savings in the Storm Financial collapse. "It was just something I couldn't take," he says. "Life's about fairness." Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson, a former Wall Street banker, has worked alongside Williams on Senate inquiries into the financial sector for more than five years. Whish-Wilson had not been in Canberra long - and didn't even know who "Wacka" was - when Williams bailed him up in a parliamentary corridor and insisted he join an inquiry that would ultimately back a royal commission in 2014. (The nickname "Wacka" was earned as a young child, when he would do nude runs after bath time and his father would say, "Wacko!".) "He said, 'I know you've got a background in banking. We're going after ASIC'," Whish-Wilson says. Whish-Wilson says the moment has stuck with him because it is unusual for colleagues in Canberra to want you involved if they think you're an expert lest you show them up. But Whish-Wilson says Williams was always more interested in the actual issues, than squabbling over territory. "I always trusted him," the Tasmanian Greens senator says. Williams' crusade against the banks has been long and often lonely. In Parliament, it has meant doing unpopular things like crossing the floor to vote with the Greens. Tellingly, it was Williams who finally took Commonwealth Bank whistleblower Jeff Morris seriously, when the former financial planner got in touch looking for action in 2013. While the royal commission is his headline achievement, Williams says his real victories have happened behind closed doors - mediating between victims and the banks. For years, the NSW senator has also been inundated with calls from victims of bad advice, looking for help. Beyond the financial sector, Williams interests have ranged far and wide. He has also been an advocate for country of origin labelling for food and speed limits for mobility scooters after his wife was hit and injured by a speeding "gopher". A devout Catholic, Williams was one of 12 senators to vote against same-sex marriage in in 2017. He was also one of the key voices to shoot down Tony Abbott's "signature" paid parental leave scheme after the 2013 election, threatening to cross the floor to defeat it. Since 2010, the NSW senator has sponsored a $4800 dental scholarship for regional students, based on funds from an electoral allowance increase given to all MPs. But Williams has also become involved in issues that are not so close to his heart. Whish-Wilson remembers Williams once drive nine hours in a day to get to Byron Bay to make sure the Greens senator's committee had a quorum, so a hearing into shark protection could go ahead. Williams consequently "copped it from greenies all day". "He did it for me. He knew the issue was important to me," says Whish-Wilson. Labor's Deborah O'Neill, who has sat on the Corporations and Financial Services Committee with Williams for seven years, says she will miss Williams' "colourful turn of phrase," which cuts through "pomposity" in the political world. O'Neill points to a recent committee hearing into the franchising code of conduct, when Williams was questioning former Retail Food Group executives about events leading up to a $427 million write-down in assets. It's not often that "tits up" appears in the parliamentary Hansard. Williams laments that all most voters see of politics is TV grabs of MPs throwing "hand grenades" at each other, when often, behind-the-scenes, people are working hard at working together. As Nationals whip he insisted the party's senators meet every Wednesday afternoon for tea and lamingtons. He has maintained the same four full-time staff in his Inverell office during his entire time in politics. Last week, Williams was talking to his wife Nancy about life after politics. Over a beer at their farm in Inverell, she asked him, "come July 1, how are you going to feel about being Citizen Wacka instead of Senator Wacka?". Thinking it over, Williams insists he will just be grateful for the opportunity. "I'm not going to weep and wail in sympathy for myself," adding there is plenty on his retirement bucket list. The fence needs fixing on his farm and there is an ongoing battle to be fought against weeds. He wants to ride in a Lancaster Bomber, in honour of his father, Reg, who was a rear gunner during World War II. He also plans to travel with Nancy to Canada, the United States, Ireland and France, in search of bush, battlefields and family history. If he can, he also wants to help Parkinson's Australia. In 2017, Williams revealed he was suffering from the disease, but says he can report good news. A recent consultation with his neurologist revealed the disease is progressing very slowly. "I've drawn the lucky card." /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/d78ecf5b-fd9c-4997-b1f2-b476a46e1be9/r0_986_3264_2830_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg comment What is in a name? Whilst residential development in Civic continues to be welcome and brings greater life to the city, it seems entirely inappropriate to call the estate planned for the south west sector of City Hill, The Barracks or One City Hill at the Barracks. The Macquarie dictionary confirms the obvious connotations of barracks as a garrison or fort for soldiers, or a large, plain building. The well known Hyde Park Barracks in the centre of Sydney, now a museum and Francis Greenway masterpiece, was a notorious male convict dormitory during the worst colonial days. There are designated areas in Canberra where the potential lies to display symbolic, inspirational and representational qualities of the national capital. City Hill is the municipal node of the National Triangle with all its intended significance. At present City Hill Park is neglected, although the National Capital Authority is proposing to amend the National Capital Plan to incorporate a higher City and Gateway Urban Design, including Northbourne Avenue, Civic and City Hill. Who is responsible for nomenclature in Canberra such as The Barracks on City Hill? There are high level Commonwealth and ACT memorials and place names committees and urban design review panels. There is an ACT government architect, the developer and the architects (the latter Sydney-based in this case). It could well be too late to change this name because the project has been in the planning system for some time, avoiding official and public scrutiny. Brett Odgers, Swinger Hill The City Renewal Authority has Professor Ken Maher spruiking their West Basin Development proposal. This comes hot on the heels of the page on West Basin included in the final City and Gateway report but not present in previous report iterations a disingenuous move by the planners to imply consultation. It is hoped that the review promoted by Maher will fully involve the public, protect the heritage significance of Lake Burley Griffin and its parklands as a national iconic heritage feature, recognised internationally. There is not 40km of natural lakeshore remaining as stated by Maher but West Basin has the longest strip of natural lakeshore within the three basin complex and the longest strip of beach in the entire lake. It is hoped that the review will consider West Basin as publicly owned landscape space (with great landscape potential) that now with climate extremes and excessive city apartment living, is needed more than ever not infilling the lake bed, not blocking significant vistas, not chopping out over 100 hundred trees, and not covering the West Basin lakeshore with heat generating concrete. Calling Stage 2 the extension of the Stage 1 boardwalk notes the intention to destroy the beaches and riparian wildlife habitat with a mind numbing concrete boardwalk while removing possibilities for a diverse walking route sensitive to wildlife habitats that now include platypus. Yes, improve the crossing of Parkes Way but make West Basin a state-of-the art example of a landscape area with ample social recreation uses for all ages within its inherited space rather than packing the area with apartments to create a dollar trough for the ACT government. Juliet Ramsay, Burra, NSW The ACT has a very dark history in management of brumbies in the Namadgi National Park. Around 30 years ago the entire Namadgi brumby population, descended from the horses of early settlers in the area, was destroyed by ACT government authorities through a cruel aerial cull which involved lingering deaths for many horses, including foals. Some would call this an effective cull many others, for whom the small original brumby population had value, mourned the loss of a bit of the ACT's heritage, and were outraged by the cruelty of the shootings. Meanwhile 30 years on, the corroboree frogs and wetlands in our brumby-free hills are apparently still struggling. This suggests other threats to the Namadgi, such as feral pigs and the impact of climate change should be the focus of concerns in the ACT. Mick Gentleman should allow NSW to further develop plans for humane management rather than decimation of the Snowy brumbies and not undermine these efforts largely on ideological grounds. Colleen Krestensen, Googong, NSW Enlightened cities are realising the efficiency of metropolitan rail transport, and those that dismissed their original networks belatedly reinstall them (Sydney). It is encouraging to have this form realised in Canberra before delay would increase the difficulty. Rail travel was in the initial plan, but development lapsed in the economic slump of the 1930s and post WWII our population became overwhelmed by individual car ownership that signified enhanced personal status. Original planning was lost and the corridor parallel to Northbourne Avenue was blocked. Our current administration, in a determined step forward, is ignoring the lingering car prestige to construct the beginnings of a modern city transport system. It is fitting that the first stage boldly proclaims the entrance to the city. Despite constructional inconvenience, Northbourne Avenue is emerging as a spectacular entry, with the avenue of trees bordering the tram route which boldly proclaims our contemporary modern status in a sophisticated manner. Inevitably, growing up can be painful, but as we emerge, the protests of the peasantry will gradually diminish. Jack Palmer, Watson The article ("Claims migrants forced to join union", February 7, p.1) suggests there was illegal behaviour on behalf of the unions in apparently pressuring some migrant workers to join the union. If this indeed did happen it is really the fault of the employer who obviously demonstrated a lack of responsibility in supporting the workers. Why did the employer allow the unions to talk to workers who apparently had little command of English? They should have arranged for a translator to be present, so that the workers were given a full explanation. Have the workers been given proper information about their wages and entitlements by the employer? If anyone should be reported to the Australian Building Construction Commission it should be the employer. Geoff Barker, Flynn To date there's been a lot of correspondence about the impact of Labor's proposed changes to franking credits on retirees and superannuation funds. However there's been little concern raised about the impact of the proposed changes on the thousands of small businesses that operate via private companies and family trusts, that latter will also be targeted by Labor's proposed 30 per cent tax grab. We're all missing the fact that companies, both public and private, are ultimately owned by their shareholders. Unless "Jack and Jill", the shareholders of their small private company extract all of their company's net profit by way of salaries instead of fully franked dividends they could end up paying thousands of dollars more in tax. The same will apply to family businesses operating via a family trust where Labor is proposing a minimum tax rate of 30 per cent on trust distributions to adult beneficiaries. For those who believe that family trusts are dodging tax by distributing profits to their kids, you're sadly mistaken. Children under 18 can only receive $416 tax free. Income between $416 and $1307 is taxed at 66 per cent and then the top marginal rate on income above $1307. So while there may be some dubious merit in reviewing the franking credit situation relating to superannuation funds, thousands of small businesses will be impacted along with all those employed therein. Be careful in what you wish for by voting Labor at the next election. Peter Toscan, Amaroo I have read articles about the fallout from the banking royal commission and the growing ruckus over franking credits with great interest. Greed does seem to be the driving force behind both topics. It seems to me that part of the problem behind corporate greed is the obscenely large salaries paid to CEOs. If your income is well in excess of a million dollars a year you are hardly likely to be bothered by your staff members conning people out of the odd five or $10,000. Salaries paid to CEOs are ridiculous. No one can possibly earn (or certainly need) more than perhaps $1 million a year. Franking credits should definitely be stopped. Like a lot of people, I bought shares during the "mum and dad floats" of the 80s and 90s. I mean, buying shares in banks and insurance companies what could be more respectable? I preferred shares that paid fully franked dividends when buying, being quite happy with the argument that dividends were tax-free to me "because tax had already been paid on the company profits". Now I realise that this is a specious argument. Money that I invested to earn money should be taxed, just as rents from money invested in a rental property are taxed. Getting rid of this rort and negative gearing should provide funds to shore up pensions and provide funding for schools and hospitals. If companies stop paying such ridiculous salaries to their top brass, there should be a lot more to distribute among the shareholders. Barbara Fisher, Cook Another day and another opinion piece arguing against Labor's franking credits changes ("Labor is exploiting to be frank", February 7, p19). There are two major flaws in the arguments used by Tony Dillon. First he completely fails to mention company tax. In Australia tax is paid by companies on their profits. So in his example, Person A has not paid $3000 in tax, rather the company has paid $3000 in tax. When Person A receives their $7000 dividend, the imputation credit is acknowledged to ensure that the income is not taxed again as personal income. The system was designed to avoid double taxation, not to permit zero taxation. Secondly, Mr Dillon uses the tactic of comparing two people who use different investment strategies and claims that each should achieve the same outcome. Sounds fair, but it is not the way the world works. Indeed the whole financial advisory business is based on the fact that how you invest determines the outcome. An obvious example of planned difference in outcome is that income earned within a superannuation stream is treated differently to that earned outside of super. Imagine the outcry if Labor tried to abolish the differential treatment of superannuation income. The people arguing against Labor's plans do not really believe that all income should be treated the same way. John Hutchison, Coombs John Vincent is correct to observe that there are better targets for revenue raising at the big end of town than stripping refundability of imputation credits from retirees (letters, February 5). However this does not alter the fact that a refund of tax should not be payable to those who have paid no tax. When Paul Keating introduced dividend imputation in 1987, the credits constituted a tax rebate. The thing that all rebates had in common was that they could directly reduce the tax payable on taxable income, but never below zero, so they could not result in a refund. It took John Howard in his endless pursuit of pork barrelling to change this. When Howard introduced his "A New Tax System (Mess)" tax rebates were something which had a change of name, to tax offsets, to make things appear different when they were actually the same other examples are PAYG and provisional tax, both of which became PAYG. It is entirely appropriate that imputation credits should return to their original status. A reversion to the non-refundability of excess imputation credits is decidedly not a reversion to double taxation. A company which issues fully franked dividends has paid the correct amount of tax. The shareholder having excess imputation credits has paid no tax. T. J. Marks, Holt It is hard to believe that someone would bother to hack the parliament house computers in the search for intelligence. Good luck with that. M. Moore, Belconnen PYNE'S EXAMPLE Christopher Pyne complains that politics is trapped in a "self-obsessed and panic-prone spiral". He should know. Pyne's hi-octane interview on ABC's Insiders program on Sunday, conducted in Barrie Cassidy's low-key style, was a perfect example of the problem. During a 10-minute declamation in which he barely paused for breath, Pyne repeatedly dodged Cassidy's questions and heaped ordure on his opponents. Dr Ray Edmondson, Kambah ECONOMIC CLAPTRAP The economic drivel being spouted by shadow treasurer Chris Bowen confirms he attended the same school for economic clowns as Wayne Swan. Mark Sproat, Lyons PETROL PRICE PAIN The ACT government may already have laws on the statute book which allows it to set petrol prices so what is the rationale for another inquiry. Successive governments have allowed petrol station sites to be redeveloped. Cook, Macquarie, Scullin and Jamison reduced from three to one comes to mind. The high prices in the ACT are called gouging. Maybe the threat to actually use the laws may get a response for the oil companies. R. Goyne, Evatt SITTING STRUT Pyne's claim all 1000 refugees in offshore detention are so crook they would get medical transfer to Australia shows he can strut when sitting down. T. Puckett, Ashgrove, Qld PATHETIC STANCE The outburst by Morrison and Dutton concerning the remaining detainees from Manus Island flooding into Australia is pathetic. If Australian doctors says they need hospitalisation here in better facilities in Australia that it is sensible. This will not cause more boat people to try to get to Australia. The government still has the turn-back policy in place. A. Jackson, Melbourne, Vic. WHERE THERE'S SMOKE ... The sneaky way that Phillip Morris is trying to circumvent the legislation on tobacco advertising cannot be ignored. They are using a different brand with effectively the same message as previously to sponsor a racing team in the Australian Grand Prix. The government should ensure that this cannot happen. Dr Alan Shroot, Forrest HELPING HAND? Wouldn't it be nice if those banks badly affected by the royal commission change their greedy culture and pass on some of that profit by giving to their customers badly affected by drought and floods. Col Whittaker, Torrens MATTER OF INTERPRETING Roger Quarterman questions the background to this year's rates notice (Letters, February 11). In most aspects of my adult life, I have had to be mindful to not wrongly interpret incompetence as malice. With this particular government I have had to be mindful to not wrongly interpret malice as incompetence. Gordon Fyfe, Kambah Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message eld, not as an attached le. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610. Keep your letter to 250 or fewer words. References to Canberra Times reports should include date and page number. Letters may be edited. Provide phone number and full home address (suburb only published). /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/a8137755-706c-4d09-a8fc-ef5417a115c7/r0_190_3306_2058_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg news, latest-news Icarus. Created and performed by Christopher Samuel Carroll. Sound designer: Kimmo Vennonen. Lighting designer: Jed Buchahan. The Street Theatre. February 27 to March 3. thestreet.org.au. In Greek mythology, Icarus, on wings made of wax and feathers, flew too close to the sun. The wax melted and he fell from the sky into the sea and drowned. The Street Theatre's first 2019 production, Icarus, takes its inspiration from the ancient story as well as the modern refugee crisis. Irish physical theatre performer Christopher Samuel Carroll created and performs this one-man piece. It was seen as a work in development in The Street Theatre's First Seen program last year. "The story of the show is essentially that of an Everyman whose life is turned upside down by civil war," Carroll says. The man is forced to flee his home and embark on an epic journey that sees him stow away in the landing gear of an aeroplane, a very risky action he sees as his only means of escape. It is based on the true story of a refugees journey, stowed away in the landing gear of a plane, before he fell to his death on a London street. "The subject matter is quite intense, with dark emotions," Carroll says. But, he says, "The style of performing is quite light, quite comic, almost in the style of a silent movie - Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton." Carroll says there are moments of slapstick woven throughout the show, offsetting its darker moments. "The main character is quite naive and playful," he says. "I've done a couple [of one-man pieces] before - Early Grave, Fashionably Late and Paradise Lost. "They're very physical shows." And Icarus - performed without dialogue - is also highly physical, with lighting by Jed Buchanan and sound design by Kimmo Vennonen to help bring the audience into the story. Carroll, 33, trained as an actor at Trinity College, Dublin and underwent further training at Ecole Internationale du Theatre Jacques Lecoq,in Paris, where Geoffrey Rush and Steve Berkoff also studied. He's lived and worked in a number of places and came to Canberra in 2016 with his partner Hannah Cormick, who was from the nation's capital. Since coming here he has created his own shows and appeared in the productions by others. He developed a Butoh adaptation of Paradise Lost during a five-week residency at Belconnen ArtsCentre, before touring to Adelaide and Perth and Early Grave,Fashionably Late sold out at Smiths Alternative after a week-long run at The Butterfly Club in Melbourne as part of their curated summer program in December 2016.He's appeared in Everyman Theatre Companys The NormalHeart at The Courtyard Studio, Body Ecologys Anthems and Angels at Ainslie and Gorman Arts Centres and in The Mermaid, a performance art piece with Cormick, at the Art, Not Apart festival in New Acton. Carroll was also cast as Malvolio in Shakespeare by the Lakes' 2019 production of Twelfth Night. Over the past year he and Cormick have been developing a large-scale work aroundillness and disability through The Street Theatre's Hive script development program, working with dramaturg Peter Matheson. It sounds like he will be part of Canberra's creative community for some time to come. /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/d86170bb-0e29-4f0b-ae32-953857cd90e6/r0_345_6300_3905_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg comment A few years ago, a friend told me about a lurk one of his wealthy business mates was engaged in. They took some of their professional services income, and routed it through a family trust. Then the trust paid out $30,000 to each of his parents. Because the parents were retired, the trust distributions attracted a low tax rate. The guy then had his parents pay the primary school fees for his two children, and voila! Tax-free private school fees. This is the kind of lurk that Labor's income-splitting policy is designed to avoid the use of trusts to capitalise on multiple tax-free thresholds across family members. What Peter Toscan (Letters, February 12) calls a "tax grab" is in fact just putting more fairness into the system. When a regular pay-as-you-go taxpayer can't split their income across family members, why should an affluent professional be able to do it? Our reform does not apply to charitable trusts, farm trusts, disability trusts, unit trusts and deceased estates. As Associate Professor at University of NSW, Dale Boccabella, has pointed out, "the income tax treatment of trusts is way out of kilter with the tax treatment of other entities and other taxpayers". In fact, by applying a minimum 30 per cent tax rate to trust distributions to mature-aged beneficiaries, we're simply building on John Howard's changes in 1980, when he raised the tax rate on trust distributions to children. If we don't close tax loopholes, Australia won't be able to invest in better roads and rail networks. We won't be able to raise literacy and numeracy standards in schools. We won't be able to reduce elective and emergency surgery waiting lists. Do we want Australia to have the biggest tax loopholes in the world, or the best public services? I know which I'd prefer. Andrew Leigh, shadow assistant treasurer, Canberra Brad Hinton's letter "Income inconsistencies" (Letters, February 11) contains some interesting thoughts but his final idea abolishing income tax deductions needs rethinking. The Australian income tax is not a tax on income at all but a tax on profit. The profit is worked out by deducting from the income the costs incurred in earning it. If we abolished deductions, income tax would become seriously unfair. Employees would be largely unaffected (because most of them have few deductions) but businesses would be crushed. Imagine the effect on a shop owner who was taxed on the $100 earned for selling a widget without receiving deductions for the $50 spent to buy it or for the $20 paid to an employee to sell it. Greg Pinder, Charnwood It is disappointing that letters are still coming through with misgivings about my article "Labor is exploiting misunderstandings about franking credits" (canberratimes.com.au, February 7). Doubts include "the article is flawed because individuals and companies are different entities" and "how can someone who does not pay tax receive a refund?". If I could just dispel these doubts. A company pays 30 per cent tax on all profits, whether distributed as dividends or retained. When a company pays dividends to shareholders it becomes individual income for tax purposes. That is, the company tax is imputed to the shareholders, the imputation effectively rendering the company tax as an investor withholding tax. That enables the grossed up dividends to then be taxed at the investor's marginal tax rate. The franking credit (or company tax paid and withheld), is then partially returned to the shareholder, depending to what extent their marginal tax rate is less than the company tax rate. If the marginal tax rate is zero, the franking credit is returned in full. The principle of the imputation system being, therefore, that investors are taxed on company earnings at their marginal tax rate. And clearly, tax has been withheld in respect of a shareholder's dividend, independent of the shareholder's marginal tax rate. They have paid tax. A taxation system that enables high taxable income investors to utilise excess franking credits while low taxable income investors are unable to fully utilise theirs, is a regressive tax system. Where is the sense in a system that allows franking credits to reduce the tax payable by some investors, but does not refund those investors who have paid excess tax? You can't selectively allow some investors to use franking credits and others not. It is unfair and discriminatory. This is an ill-conceived, inequitable policy proposal by the Labor Party. Tony Dillon, retired actuary, Melbourne Many years ago we recognised that our children were vulnerable and took steps to protect them. It became mandatory for those involved with them to report any abuse, or suspected abuse. We are now taking steps to protect those at the other end of the vulnerability scale, our older people. As we become more co-ordinated in states and territories in defining abuse, isn't it time we took a similar path with older people, making it mandatory for those involved with them to have the same reporting requirements? This would put the onus on those involved with this group to take action, both in nursing homes and in the community, thus giving older people a level of protection not currently available. We would then be less likely to see a repetition of the events seen on the Four Corners program last year. Just a reminder that older people form an increasing part of society, and voters. Audrey Guy, Ngunnawal Residential aged care [in the ACT and elsewhere] is a Commonwealth government responsibility, unless the ACT government decides to become an aged care provider. Aged care providers, both not for profit and for profit, apply to the Commonwealth government for approval to provide aged care and for funding. Once that is approved the provider seeks land from the ACT government. The land is provided as a last step in the approval process. The current lack of aged care places is caused by either a lack of willingness of providers to take up providing new places, lack of staff to do so due to low wages or insufficient funding provided by the government to enable new places to be provided. It would be good to know which. Either way, we need to ask all candidates standing in the ACT for the federal election what is their plan, if elected, to address this shortage of care places. I haven't heard of any policies that would stop this shortage of places from any of the major parties or other candidates. Gina Pinkas, Aranda I waited 18 months for a response to a Freedom of Information request regarding the planning for apartments in West Basin, only to receive more than 100 pages of mostly redacted and mostly meaningless correspondence from the City Renewal Authority. But some light cracks did appear. For example, the calculation that the ACT government can obtain 232,000 square metres of saleable commercial and residential floorspace from West Basin if they fill in part of Lake Burley Griffin to create six city blocks of development sites. The calculations, which were buried deep in the ACT response to the FOI, were for almost 2000 apartments in three- and seven-storey buildings. About 20 per cent of the gross floor area also would be commercial. Based on current sales in upscale developments in Canberra this could be worth $2.5 billion in sales, plus rates and land taxes of course. But to achieve this, 2.8hectares of Lake Burley Griffin has to be filled in, and 6000 square metres will have apartments built on top of the existing lake bed. What the documents reveal is that the West Basin development really is about the money that can be made from apartment sales. A major side benefit of building a public promenade over the existing lakebed is that it does, of course, make more room for the apartment estate behind. As a frequent user of this part of West Basin, which is on my doorstep, I would love to see some sympathetic development which provides a substantial public benefit befitting the national prominence of this site, while retaining the landscape values inherent in Menzies' lake, but not at the expense of creating a new urban heat sink over six city blocks. Mike Lawson, New Acton My wife and I support the views expressed by H. R and J.Zimmermann (Letters, February 9) in relation to the high standard of care and treatment received at Canberra Hospital. I owe my life to the skill of the surgical team and the follow up treatment I received during a stay of almost two weeks. On New Year's Eve, I required ambulance transport to Canberra Hospital after suffering severe abdominal pains and cramps. I was immediately admitted to the Emergency Unit where I was given pain relief medication. A series of tests established that I had suffered a bowel blockage. I subsequently underwent major surgery after which I was transferred to Ward 10A. I was most impressed with the professionalism of the doctors, nurses and ancillary staff during a recuperation which was at times stressful but was eased considerably by their compassion and cheerful attitude despite the long hours they were required to work and, as I understand, the reduced staffing during the holiday period. I find it rather sad that most of the recent publicity which Canberra Hospital has received has been on the failings of management with respect to bullying and other problems which, while extremely serious, do not recognise the dedication and professionalism of the clinical staff. In 2014 my wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer requiring chemotherapy as an outpatient in the oncology unit. At that time we also were impressed with the professionalism of the clinical staff and can report that subsequent regular tests have not shown recurrence of any cancer. We consider ourselves very fortunate to live in Canberra with access to what we would rank as world-class health services. Alan Burdon, Mawson Governments are elected to develop and prosecute policies which advance the interests of Australia. This means focusing on national issues like climate change, migration, energy provision and pricing, establishing a fair and efficient taxation system, resolving water usage in the major river systems and so on. What has the Morrison government actually done? Certainly no progress has been made on any of these national issues. In fact they closed parliament early on two occasions to actually prevent discussions about several. Instead, we now see Morrison funding a second bus tour around marginal electorates, promising tax cuts. These are in reality voter bribes rather than a serious examination of the tax system. We also see a steady loss of senior ministers who hold on to their portfolios, and to their ministerial privileges, though they are to retire at the next election. No further action on the national issues can now be expected from them. We have a government which is spending its time and energy on electioneering rather than actually governing. The honest approach would be to acknowledge that they are unable to further their policy agenda and call an election to enable voters to cast their judgment on what has really been achieved under Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison. Chris Aulich, Giralang Large areas of public land in Griffith, Lyons and Narrabundah are about to be sold to developers for high-density residential housing ("ACT government to auction former public housing blocks", canberratimes.com.au February6 ). No mention is made of any parts of these blocks being given over to innovative social and affordable housing projects, despite the ACT government's relatively new Housing Strategy including a new target of setting aside 15 per cent of all government land releases for public, community and affordable housing, including infill development in urban areas. Nor is there any mention of an expected inclusion of accessible green spaces or community facilities. Yet the population is growing around these areas. Surely it is time any permanent handover of public land also includes retention of a sizeable component as an easily accessible land bank for public use and benefit. Community, cultural and recreational spaces and facilities cannot be left up to chance. Sue Dyer, Downer NOTHING TO FEAR One of the great mysteries in life is how the conservative side of politics is able to use unsubstantiated fear to frighten their flock when an election is imminent. With the next election just around the corner the fear campaign is being unleashed on their died in the wool followers irrespective of how fanciful their claims are. D. J. Fraser, Currumbin, Qld FRIGHTFUL CAMPAIGN Morrison's running so many scare campaigns that he may start appearing at campaign events dressed in a ghost costume. T. Puckett, Ashgrove, Qld LIFE IN THE COUNTRY We can assume, from Smoky Dawson's Breaking in Brumbies, that breaking in wild brumbies is a core cultural activity for country folk. Obviously this essential thread in the rich tapestry of country life with associated material culture such as fixing old saddles and ropes must not be lost and therefore there have to be some wild brumbies. S. Davey, Torrens DO YOUR JOBS Here's a way to save millions of dollars on royal commissions. Get the relevant government ministers to do the bloody jobs they are paid for. Tom Lindsay, Monash PM'S SHALLOW BOASTS Scott Morrison clearly supports mortgage brokers despite their rubbishing by the banking royal commission. Fits with his recent shallow speech at the Press Club, in which he boasted of his spending on flood relief, for heaven's sake; and putting "the government" before doctors on the health of off-shore detainees. A lot of the time Bill Shorten is no better. Jack Kershaw, Kambah HEY BIG SPENDER Great address by our big spending prime minister to the National Press Club. It had all the ingredients. Pity about the missing great wall. John Rodriguez, Florey COMMONSENSE A WINNER The release of Hakeem al-Araibi from a Thai prison is welcome news. It is a victory of community pressure and if I may add, commonsense. The request of extradition by the Bahrain government should have been rejected by Thailand out of hand in the first place. Sankar Kumar Chatterjee, Evatt SMUGGLING HUMBUG Whatever happens in Parliament, Prime Minister Morrison's public statement that Phelps's bill will undermine national security and encourage people smugglers is absolute humbug. Trevor Wilson, Chifley CASH FOR LEFT AND RIGHT Unions should give money to conservative political parties as well, since some union members must surely be conservative. Rod Matthews, Melbourne, Vic Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message eld, not as an attached le. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610. Keep your letter to 250 or fewer words. References to Canberra Times reports should include date and page number. Letters may be edited. Provide phone number and full home address (suburb only published). /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/935de1a9-1080-4284-8c17-4e36f4fceae9/r0_83_2000_1213_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg news, latest-news "Absolutely whopping." That's how Australian National University Drill Hall Gallery & University Art Collection director Terence Maloon described Sidney Nolan's mural Eureka Stockade (commissioned by the Reserve Bank of Australia in 1962, completed in 1966). The Reserve Bank of Australia has made a gift of the mural to the ANU, it was announced on Monday during the opening of the university's new Kambri precinct, replacing Union Court. Maloon said Eureka Stockade, installed in Kambri's Cultural Centre, was conservatively valued at $1.8 million. Eureka Stockade was commissioned during the period when H.C. "Nugget" Coombs was the RBA's governor (1960-68) and was located in the bank's main Melbourne building, which was sold in 2018. The new premises were too small to accommodate the mural. Maloon said Eureka Stockade, a depiction of the 1854 rebellion of gold miners in Ballarat, was 20 metres wide and 3.8 metres high. Nolan created it using a mosaic of nine copperplate panels nicked with nitric acid. He then applied jewellers' enamel with the help of two expert British enamellists, Robin Banks and Patrick Furse. "It does sit in a very significant way in the history of Australian art," Maloon said. The style, he said, anticipated the work of later artists such as Imants Tillers (born in 1950). "Nolan looks like an ancestor of his." He said, "It's slightly goofy drawing that also looks like more recent Australian art." The RBA's curator, John Murphy, said Eureka Stockade could not be accommodated in a publicly accessible place in the bank's Sydney headquarters. He said a committee created a shortlist of places where the mural could be installed in its entirety in an accessible public venue where there was suitable viewing distance and where it would be well preserved. Murphy said, "We looked at a series of suitable places - for example, the National Gallery of Victoria, Parliament House in Victoria, the National Gallery of Australia and the National Museum of Australia." They chose ANU because the university had special links to Coombs. As director-general of post-war reconstruction, he was a member of the ANU Interim Council and then of Council. Coombs served as deputy chair from 1952 and pro-chancellor from 1959 to 1968. From 1968 to 1976 he was chancellor of ANU. Not only did Coombs have a long association with the university but there was another Nolan work with an important Coombs connection in the ANU Drill Hall Gallery. While pro-chancellor, Coombs instigated the H.C. Coombs Creative Arts Fellowship. Nolan was the first Creative Arts Fellow in 1965 and the university acquired his work Riverbend (1964-65) the same year. Maloon said, "Now the university has two really, really, really major Nolan works on the campus. "It's an incredible quantum leap for our art collection." Maloon said, "I think Canberra's a great place for seeing Nolan's work - at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Museum and Gallery and here, "Anyone interested in Nolan's work could spend a good weekend in Canberra." /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/ccadb7c5-f813-4777-8756-b579c11691c3/r10_0_4553_2567_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg Become A Subscriber A subscription opens up access to all our online content, including: our interactive E-Edition, a full archive of modern stories, exclusive and expanded online offerings, photo galleries from Caledonian-Record journalists, video reports from our media partners, extensive international, national and regional reporting by the Associated Press, and a wide variety of feature content. Diana Olick at CNBC has an interesting article: As more older Americans 'age in place,' millennials struggle to find homes With more seniors than ever aging in place and choosing not to sell the family home, an estimated 1.6 million fewer properties are now available in a market already experiencing a critical shortage, according to Freddie Mac. "We believe the additional demand for homeownership from seniors aging in place will increase the relative price of owning versus renting, making renting more attractive to younger generations," said Sam Khater, chief economist at Freddie Mac, who estimates that the current market needs about 2.5 million more homes to meet demand. CR Note: If the Boomer's follow the behavior of the previous generations, many will stay in their homes ("age in place") until they are in their '80s (some until they pass away). Since the leading edge of the Boomer generation is only about 75 right now, it will still be a number of years before a large number of older people will move to retirement communities.And, even when people move to retirement communities, many will not sell their homes. They will rent them instead - especially in the higher priced areas with significant capital gains - since they have to pay capital gains if they sell (above $250K exclusion for single, $500K for married), but the property steps up in value when they pass away. So they can leave the property to their kids with no taxes.This could be fixed with policy changes. Either eliminate "step up" basis (take away the incentive to hold), or give older homeowners a one time unlimited exclusion (so they can sell while they are alive).Aging in place is great for the senior, but what frequently happens, is a four bedroom house is occupied by just one person (inefficient). This is another area where zoning changes could help - let the senior sell her larger family home without tax consequences, and move to a smaller home in the same community (so they can keep their local ties). Shop Local Florists Find the perfect arrangement for your loved one. We have a local listing below that is on click away... Heart To Heart Floral and Gifts 110 South Mitchell Street Cadillac, Michigan, 49601 (888)770-0306 Email Us Family Owned For Over 25 Years. Delivering Creative Sympathy Arrangements & Tributes To The Cadillac & Surrounding Area With Complete Satisfaction Guaranteed. Call Toll Free Or Click On Our Logo To View Our Website. Pattersons Flowers 107 N. Mitchell St. Cadillac, Michigan, 49601 (231)775-8782 (800)822-0559 515 S. Higbee St. Reed City, Michigan, 49677 (231)832-2236 Pattersons Flowers family owned since 1952 and proudly serves the West Central Michigan area with locations in Reed City, Big Rapids, and Cadillac. We go the extra mile to make your floral gift perfect. All of our products are backed by our guarantee. Call us today or click on our logo to visit our website. 'My fight is far from over' Social Entrepreneurs Ireland (SEI) today launched a call-out for people across the country with ideas and initiatives that address social issues in Irish society to apply for support. Their new programme Dont let a good idea go to waste! is looking for people with early-stage ideas as well as those who are ready to grow and scale their existing projects. Supported by DCC plc, SEI wants to find the 50 best ideas from people who are passionate about social change in Ireland to support them in putting the ideas in motion with financial and other critical support. There are two ways that social entrepreneurs and aspiring social entrepreneurs can apply for support from SEI - The Academy and The Awards Programme. The Academy for Social Entrepreneurs is a six-month programme, 45 people with early-stage ideas will win a place in the Academy for Social Entrepreneurs where they will receive training, mentoring and support along with an opportunity to pitch for seed funding, to spark their idea into action. For the Awards Programme, six winners will be chosen in this category, to support people with projects tackling social problems, providing both direct funding and targeted support. Applications for the Awards Programme and the Academy open today, February 12 and close at 5pm on 19th March. Interested candidates can apply or find out more at www.socialentrepreneurs.ie Commenting on the programme, CEO of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, Darren Ryan said, "We are looking for passionate people who have new ideas to make a difference in our communities. We are not looking for the perfect ideas - even if your idea is just getting started we want to hear it. We can help get the idea started or increase the impact you are having. Social Entrepreneurs Ireland is uniquely placed to back these early-stage ideas, with support from DCC plc and all our partners, to have a positive impact on lives across the country. We are excited to see what ideas 2019 will bring." Source: www.businessworld.ie Finance ministers from smaller European Union states on Tuesday opposed a plan to limit governments' power to block EU reforms on tax matters, in a move that further reduces the chances of introducing an EU levy on large digital firms. EU countries with smaller populations have for years blocked efforts to narrow loopholes that allow tax evasion and in some cases even money laundering in the bloc. Many of them defend their right to decide their own tax laws and attract foreign business by offering sweeteners. In an attempt to break the deadlock, the EU executive commission proposed last month to gradually remove the veto power that states wield on the overhaul of tax rules. But at the meeting in Brussels, Luxembourg, Malta, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Sweden called for maintaining their veto power. The opposition of only one of them would be sufficient to block the planned overhaul in the whole 28-nation bloc. The Commission had proposed to gradually move to majority voting on some minor tax issues, but crucially permitted states to decide on this structural reform by unanimity. The Commission, led by Luxembourg's former prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker, declined to use a neglected rule that would allow tax reforms to be adopted by a majority, a move that could have effectively ended the veto power when competition is distorted. Luxembourg's Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna was among the most vocal of those against the reform proposed by the Commission. He told reporters that to preserve the unanimity on tax decisions was "extremely important." The tiny state wedged between Germany and France for years blocked EU anti-tax evasion rules that require the exchange of information on bank accounts held by foreign citizens. It is also one of the staunchest opponents to the introduction of a common tax base in the EU that would limit countries' power to offer sweeteners to large corporations. Other smaller states, led by Ireland, have blocked a common tax on digital revenues. This has pushed several countries, including France, Italy and Spain, to adopt similar levies at national level, despite risks this could weaken the EU market. A new attempt for a watered-down EU-wide digital tax could be made in coming weeks, but has little chance of succeeding. In proposing an EU-wide digital tax last year, Brussels said the levy was needed to restore fair competition in the bloc and end practices that allow large multinationals such as Google , Facebook or Amazon to cut their tax bills by moving their continental profits to low-tax countries such as Luxembourg or Ireland. Germany and France, the two largest states in the EU, supported the commission's plan to decide by majority on some tax matters. In a joint news conference with his French peer, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said the reform was needed to improve decision-making in the EU. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie An Tanaiste, Simon Coveney yesterday officially opened Glandore's latest flexible workspace in Cork City. Glandore has invested 1.5million in this flexible workspace and coworking space at City Quarter at Lapps Quay, Cork City Centre. The additional 300 desk spaces in Cork brings their capacity to almost 3,000 desks, across 9 locations in Cork, Dublin and Belfast. Glandore say their aim is to create a dynamic, supportive and friendly community in which every individual and company can grow. Their mission is to provide the very best start to a companys business operations and facilitate their growth by offering flexibility, scalability and accelerating their business network of like-minded peers through the Glandore Network. Some of Ireland's most dynamic and celebrated multinationals began their life in Glandores workspaces, including Facebook, Twitter and Dropbox. Speaking this week, An Tanaiste, Simon Coveney said, "I am delighted to welcome Michael Kelly and the Kelly family to Cork. The choice of Cork City for Glandores latest flexible office space expansion and investment is a key part of ensuring that spaces such as these drive Irelands foreign direct investment growth. I commend Glandore for contributing to Corks business ecosystem and their new offices in City Quarter, Lapps Quay will greatly help to meet the needs of growing businesses in Ireland.." Glandore Founder, Michael Kelly added, "As our company name suggests, we have always had a love for Cork having spent many family holidays in West Cork. In terms of business, it has been our vision to bring our experience, professionalism, care and hospitality to local and international firms seeking a base outside of Dublin, and Cork was the natural location for our expansion, and is set to become the fastest growing city in Ireland over the next 20 years." Source: www.businessworld.ie The Parliamentary panel on Information Technology has summoned Twitter head Jack Dorsey to appear before it on February 25 and refused to meet "junior officials" of the microblogging site during its meeting on Monday. After the meeting on 'Safeguarding citizens rights on social/ online news media platforms' here, the committee's chairman and ruling BJP MP Anurag Thakur said the Twitter head and senior officials have been "summoned" to appear before it on February 25. Also Read: Mobile wallet transactions in India increased 40 times in five years, says Gulshan Rai The panel decided to call Twitter officials against the backdrop of growing concerns about safeguarding citizens' data privacy and the possibility that social media could be used to interfere in elections. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the government has been warning social media platforms of strong action if any attempt was made to influence the country's electoral process through undesirable means. Sources said the committee refused to meet junior officials from Twitter's India office, who was present at the meeting venue. The panel passed a unanimous resolution that the microblogging site's CEO should make himself available to show the company's seriousness in safeguarding rights of Indian citizens online, they added. As per the resolution, the panel would hear only the Twitter CEO or senior member of its global team "who has decision-making authority regarding Twitter's operations in India," one of the sources said. There was no immediate comment from Twitter regarding the panel's latest decisions. Also Read: Kerala launches IBPMS for Ease of Doing Business According to the sources, senior BJP leader L K Advani, who is also a panel member, was of the view that the committee must take serious note of senior Twitter officials' refusal to accept the panel's invitation on such an important matter of national interest. On Saturday, Twitter in a statement had cited "short notice of the hearing" for its CEO Dorsey not being able to attend the Monday meeting. The panel was scheduled to hear the views of the representatives of the Ministry of Electronics and IT and Twitter on 'Safeguarding citizens rights on social/ online news media platforms'. During Monday's meeting, the panel members posed several questions to officials of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on their preparedness to safeguard rights of citizens online. They have been asked to submit their replies within seven days, the sources said. Earlier scheduled for February 7, the meeting was postponed to Monday to give more time to Twitter CEO and other senior officials to make themselves available, sources said last week. On Monday, sources said the panel would be meeting next on February 25 and might again meet the next day. The heads of social media platforms like Facebook might also be asked to appear before it but a final call is yet to be taken, they added. Also Read: Finance Commission notifies panel to resolve Rs 31,000 crore food account On February 7, the panel received a letter from Twitter's global lead for legal, policy, trust and safety Vijaya Gadde saying, "No one who engages publicly for Twitter India makes enforcement decisions with respect to our rules for content or accounts in India". Facing heat over allegations of political bias in the country, Twitter last week said it was committed to remaining unbiased and that its product, as well as policies, are never based on political ideology. The government has been taking a strong view of the misuse of social media platforms and is also proposing to amend IT rules to curb fake news and increase accountability of such apps. Over the last few months, Facebook, Twitter and Google have promised to infuse more transparency into political advertisements on their platform, and have since announced a slew of measures as part of election integrity efforts. Also Read: HAL registers profit of Rs 7,334 crore from 2015-16 to Sept 2018 Former deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and Pronab Sen, former chairman of National Statistical Commission have both disagreed with the observation of NITI Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar that Planning Commission, Niti Aayog's predecessor entity, was itself involved in the release of statistical data during the UPA regime. Responding to Kumar's interview published by Financial Express today, Ahluwalia said that "it is simply not true that I or the Planning Commission ever cleared or approved Statistical reports". "The whole point of setting up an independent system was to get the government out of clearance and to fix a time by which the report is released. The recent practice of bringing in the Niti Ayog into the clearance function ignoring the Commission is totally retrograde. It reduces the credibility of our official statistical system," Ahluwalia said. Niti Aayog was in the eye of storm after two of the technical members of the National Statistical Commission (NSC), including its acting chairman P C Mohanan resigned from their posts in protest against the delay in publishing the findings of the jobs survey carried out by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). While reports based on the job survey later suggested a fall in employment generation in the country after the government's demonetisation move in 2016, Niti Aayog had tried to play down the leaked numbers by stating the report was not yet final, but just a draft. In the FE interview, Kumar had stated that Niti Aayog will try to seek a more formal role for the think-tank to improve the quality of government data collected, collated and released by the NSSO after approvals from bodies like NSC today. Pronab Sen said any formal role for Niti Aayog will set a bad precedent. "It is pretty serious. At the end of the day, the kind of statistics the government put out cannot be cross-checked by anybody. Because you cannot replicate that. So the credibility of the government statistics depends upon giving people the assurance that this data has not been subjected to any political interference. If that image is lost, then you are looking at a serious credibility issue," Sen said. According to him, Niti Aayog's attempt "is extremely dangerous and should be strongly resisted". Sen also pointed out that the the statistical system, the way it is run in India and anywhere else today, brings in domain expertise whenever it is needed for any particular data point. "If you look at the expert committees that are set up by MOSPI (ministry of statistics and programme implementation), there will always have an economist there. They will have technical experts. If it is health, you will have health experts. The impression that Rajiv Kumar is trying to build, that statistical system doesn't have the expertise, is completely wrong," he said. The 15th Finance Commission has notified the committee to examine and resolve the food account of Rs 31,000 crore which the Congress government inherited from previous SAD-BJP regime. Commission chairman N K Singh gave approval to the issuance of the notification for the constitution of the committee on Monday, an official release of Punjab government said. Also Read: Kerala launches IBPMS for Ease of Doing Business The Chief Minister Amarinder Singh while welcoming the move, expressed the hope that it would lead to early resolution of the issue related to the legacy debt of Rs 30,584 crore, which was threatening to cascade into a major financial crisis for the state. The committee, to be led by Member 15th Finance Commission and Member NITI Aayog Ramesh Chand, has been asked to submit its report within six weeks. Also Read: Mobile wallet transactions in India increased 40 times in five years, says Gulshan Rai The Committee has been mandated to look into all aspects of the food account legacy debt of Punjab government arising out of accumulated CCL (Cash Credit Limit) gap with reference to Food Corporation of India/Department of Food and Public Distribution. On current accumulation of CCL gap, the Committee has been asked to examine the current issues related to the CCL Gap in order to ascertain the root causes for such gap. It would also recommend appropriate measures to overcome the causes identified, so as to ensure the CCL gap does not exist in the successive procurement seasons. On January 30, the 15th Finance Commission, during Punjab visit, had announced the formation of a committee to find ways to settle the food account of Rs 31,000 crore. During the Commission's recent visit to Punjab, the Chief Minister had brought to its notice the seriousness of the potential outcome of the legacy debt, triggered by accumulated CCL gap in a span of more than a decade related to procurement of food grains for the Central pool in Punjab. The legacy debt was created by the erstwhile SAD-BJP government which, in the last leg of its tenure, had persuaded the Centre to convert the CCL gap into a clean long term loan for the state. Also Read: Parliamentary House panel asks Twitter CEO to appear before it in 15 days This inflated the state's fiscal deficit to 12.34 per cent of GSDP in 2016-17, and the debt servicing of this amount would alone amount to Rs 3,240 crore per annum till September 2034. This will result in a total outflow of Rs 57,358 crore during the repayment tenure of the loan. The food account arose because of the mismatch between cash credit availed for procuring wheat and paddy and foodgrain stocks in the account books of the state procurement agencies since 2004. The Rs 31,000 crore included Rs 12,000 crore principal and Rs 19,000 crore interest and Punjab has been paying Rs 3,240 crore interest per annum on it which it has to pay for 20 years. Also Read: HAL registers profit of Rs 7,334 crore from 2015-16 to Sept 2018 The Axis Bank share price fell in early trade after the government announced the sale of part of its stake in Axis Bank held through SUUTI to raise up to Rs 5,316 crore starting today. The stake sale is part of the government's disinvestment programme through which it aims to raise Rs 80,000 crore in the current fiscal. The Axis Bank share price has been falling for the last three days and lost 3.38% during the period. The Axis Bank share opened lower at 700.75 today compared to the previous close of 710.35 level on the BSE. The Axis Bank stock is trading 4.21% away from 52 week high of 734.35. The Axis Bank stock has lost 25.26% during the last one year and gained 13.74% since the beginning of this year. The stock hit an intra day high of 707.15 on the BSE. 31 of 48 brokerages rate the stock "buy" or 'outperform', 10 "hold" and five "underperform" and two "sell", according to analysts' recommendations tracked by Reuters. Also read: Govt plans to sell 3% stake in Axis Bank to raise up to Rs 5,316 crore The Axis Bank share price was trading below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages of 663 and 621 levels, respectively. "The Specified Undertaking of the United Trust of India (seller) proposes to sell up to 50,759,949 (1.98 per cent) equity shares of Axis Bank (base offer size) on February 12, 2019," Axis Bank said. The floor price for the offer for sale has been fixed at Rs 689.52 per share. It is lower than the Monday closing price of Rs 710.35 apiece on the BSE. Shares held by SUUTI, a promoter entity of Axis Bank, would be offloaded through the sale. The sale would be open for non-retail investors on Tuesday and retail investors can put in their bids on Wednesday. As per the filing, the government would also have the option to sell an additional 26,337,187 shares or 1.02 per cent stake in case of over subscription. SUUTI, which was created to take over part of the assets and liabilities of the now defunct Unit Trust of India (UTI), owned 9.56 per cent stake in Axis Bank at the end of December 2018. In the 10 months of the current fiscal, Rs 36,000 crore has been raised through stake sale in CPSEs, as well as through tranches of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and share buybacks. Edited by Aseem Thapliyal Samajwadi Party President and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, on Tuesday claimed that he was "detained" at the Lucknow airport and "prevented" from boarding a chartered plane to attend an event at Prayagraj. He was on his way to attend the oath-taking ceremony of the Allahabad University Students' Union on Tuesday afternoon. Akhilesh was there to attend an event organised by the student wing of the Samajwadi Party, the Samajwadi Party Chatra Sabha. As per a PTI report, Airport Director AK Sharma said that he had no information about Yadav's detention. Akhilesh said the airport officials did not have any written orders and failed to explain the reason behind his detention. I was prevented from boarding the airplane without any written orders. Currently detained at Lucknow airport. It is clear how frightened the govt is by the oath ceremony of a student leader. The BJP knows that youth of our great country will not tolerate this injustice anymore! pic.twitter.com/xtnpNWtQRd - Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) February 12, 2019 "I was prevented from boarding the airplane without any written orders," he wrote on Twitter to announce this development. "It is clear how frightened the government is by the oath ceremony of a student leader. The BJP knows that youth of our great country will not tolerate this injustice anymore," he twitted. My statement on the negative and undemocratic politics behind my detention at Lucknow Airport. pic.twitter.com/dP7MvdjOcT - Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) February 12, 2019 This development came a day after the registrar of Allahabad University wrote to Yadav's personal secretary, informing him that politicians are not allowed to attend university programmes, ANI reported. Edited by Chitranjan Kumar Sharpening his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of Rafale deal, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said he had a copy of an email that proved the Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani knew he would get the Rafale deal even before it was signed. "Dear students & the youth of india: everyday there are new revelations about RAFALE that make it clear that the PM helped his friend Anil Ambani, steal 30,000 crore of your money," he said on Twitter. During his press conference, Rahul said earlier there was "one axis of corruption, second axis of procedure. This is the third, and frankly a serious one, where PM Modi has compromised national security." Alleging corruption at all the levels on the issue, Rahul said: "Defence Minister says he doesn't know about the new deal, whereas Anil Ambani is sitting in the French Defence Minister's office saying PM will sign an MoU with him involved. This is the breach of the Official Secrets Act." He added that the PM was under oath to protect secrets. "He has given these secrets to Anil Ambani, who knew about the biggest defence deal in the world 10 days before. This itself is criminal. This itself will put the Prime Minister in jail," he said. Sharing the document, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said: "It seems Airbus, French Government, Anil Ambani all knew that the PM will sign an MOU on his visit to France between 9th and 11th April, 2015." It seems Airbus , French Government , Anil Ambani all knew that the PM will sign an MOU on his visit to France between 9th and 11th April , 2015 . This Government's lies exposed. pic.twitter.com/rJGNNycaRH - Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) February 12, 2019 The email, dated March 28, 2015, quotes an Airbus representative who claimed that "Anil Ambani visited" then French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian's office in Paris, which it claimed was "confidential" and "planned". The email is dated March 28, 2015, which is just a few days before Prime Minister announced the procurement of 36 Rafale jets from France. The Congress president asked how much more evidence does the government want on the Rafale deal, and that there will be more revelations soon. He even raised objection over the SC verdict, saying: The "Supreme Court judgement is open to question. It does not have jurisdiction and has quoted the CAG report which does not exist." The government is scheduled to table the CAG report on Rafale jet fighter deal in Parliament today. The whole issue of the Rafale deal has become a controversial political issue, with the main opposition party Congress levelling allegations of corruption and impropriety, and the ruling dispensation defending the move. The Rafale issue was even raised before the Supreme Court, which did not find any substance in the allegations. However, the issue has continued to rock Parliament with Congress President Rahul Gandhi directly accusing the Prime Minister of benefiting industrialist Anil Ambani. Edited by Manoj Sharma Reliance Communication (RCom) Chairman Anil Ambani appeared before the Supreme Court on Tuesday in a contempt plea filed by the Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson India over non-payment of dues worth over Rs 550 crore. This is Ericsson India's second contempt plea against the Anil Ambani company, which filed for bankruptcy before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on January 3. Before this, RCom had failed to comply with the Supreme Court December-15 deadline on the payment of dues. The apex court had warned RCom would have to pay 12 per cent interest per annum if it failed to comply with the order. Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for RCom, requested Ericsson counsel to accept Rs 118 crore of the total amount, but the proposal was declined, as reported by The Indian Express. The Supreme Court later asked RCom to deposit a demand draft worth Rs 118 crore in the registry. Ambani had previously given a personal guarantee in the court, backing a prompt payment of Rs 550 crore to Ericsson. In 2018, RCom had managed to avert three insolvency petitions filed by Swedish networking company Ericsson, citing strategic debt restructuring plan as per which it was supposed to sell assets worth over Rs 25,000 crore to Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio. But, the deal failed to fructify due to a delay in approval from the Department of Telecom (DoT). Also read: Ericsson row: RCom says relief from TDSAT, can proceed with spectrum sale sans bank guarantee Thereafter, RCom filed a contempt of court plea against DoT in the apex court, blaming it for delaying the RCom-Jio deal that would have enabled it to meet its debt obligations to Ericsson as well as other lenders. After failing to cope with the overall pressure to reach a consensus on the asset sale with 40 of its lenders, RCom decided to move the NCLT for resolution. Adding to its woes, lenders last week resorted to panic selling of shares in four Reliance Group companies, including Reliance Capital, Reliance Communications, Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Power. This has also led to the promoter's stake in Reliance Communications and Reliance Capital slipping below 50 per cent. Also read: Tariff war with Jio, Rs 46,000 cr debt, pressure from lenders force RCom to go for bankruptcy By Elias BiryabaremaKAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandans will be able to buy government securities through a mobile money platform in a move by the east African country to become less dependent on commercial banks and institutional investors for its funding.The government said in a statement on Tuesday that the measure, which was approved at a cabinet meeting on Monday, would boost savings and investment among ordinary Ugandans as well as driving economic growth.Ugandans with mobile money accounts, many of whom had limited access to banks, will now be able to directly buy government debt. The move ... By Steve Holland and Ben BlanchardWASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he could let the March 1 deadline for a trade agreement with China "slide for a little while," but that he would prefer not to and expects to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping to close the deal at some point.U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of imports from China are scheduled to rise to 25 percent from 10 percent if the two sides cannot reach a deal by the deadline, increasing pain and costs in sectors from consumer electronics to agriculture.Trump's advisers have ... By Sanjeev Miglani and Drazen JorgicNEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is expected to announce investments in energy and infrastructure during a visit to India and Pakistan in coming days as part of his efforts to wean the Saudi economy off oil exports.He is also expected to visit China, Malaysia and Indonesia during a tour that will be his first through the region since the storm over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.Prince Mohammed is expected to sign agreements, mostly ... By Alex LawlerLONDON (Reuters) - OPEC said on Tuesday it had cut oil production steeply under a global supply deal, although it flagged headwinds confronting its efforts to prevent a glut this year including weaker demand and higher rival output.In a monthly report, OPEC said its oil output fell almost 800,000 barrels per day in January to 30.81 million bpd. That is still slightly more than the demand OPEC expects for its crude on average in 2019.Worried by a drop in oil prices and rising supplies, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies including Russia agreed in ... By Laila KearneyNEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose more than 1 percent on Tuesday after OPEC figures showed it cut production sharply in January, and as lead member Saudi Arabia said it would reduce its output in March by an additional 500,000 barrels. Growing investor optimism for a breakthrough in the latest round of U.S.-China trade discussions also boosted futures as members of both sides met in Beijing. Brent crude futures gained 91 cents, or 1.5 percent, to settle at $62.42 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures rose 69 cents, or 1.3 percent, to settle at ... YOKOHAMA, Japan (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co said it had booked around $84 million in charges related to under-reported compensation for ousted chairman Carlos Ghosn, and slashed its annual profit outlook on weaker global sales.Ghosn, arrested and detained in Tokyo since Nov. 19, has been indicted in Japan on charges of under-reporting his salary at Nissan over 2010-2018. He has denied the deferred pay was illegal or required disclosure. Nissan said on Tuesday that it had recognised around 9 billion yen ($84 million) in additional expenses linked to payments to Ghosn. The statement was part of ... ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Egyptian billionaire businessman Naguib Sawiris said on Tuesday he sees opportunities for mining, telecoms and hotels in North Korea if a summit between its leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump later this month is successful.Trump said last week he would hold his second meeting with Kim in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on Feb. 27 and 28 after an unprecedented first meeting between the leaders in Singapore last June.Sawiris, whose telecoms business operates the Koryolink mobile phone network in North Korea in a joint venture, said the impoverished country ... (Reuters) - U.S. battery makers Energizer Holdings Inc and Duracell International are eyeing a controlling stake in Eveready Industries India Ltd, the Economic Times reported https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/warren-buffetts-duracell-energizer-in-race-to-charge-up-eveready/articleshow/67951743.cms on Tuesday, citing people involved in the negotiations.Energizer is likely to face competition from rival Duracell International, owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, the report added. Energizer already owns the Eveready brand of batteries in the United States and ... By David Milliken and Andy BruceLONDON (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Mark Carney warned on Tuesday of the potential shock to Britain's economy from Brexit which could serve as an "acid test" for countries around the world trying to respond to the challenges of globalisation.The United Kingdom is on course to leave the European Union on March 29 without a deal, unless Prime Minister Theresa May can convince the bloc to amend the deal she agreed in November and then sell it to sceptical British lawmakers."We shouldn't be under any illusions," Carney said, answering audience questions ... Amazon.com Inc said on Monday it has signed an agreement to buy eero, a startup company that makes home routers, to help customers better connect smart home devices. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Eero, was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in San-Francisco. It has raised $90 million from First Round Capital, Menlo Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, Initialized Capital, Homebrew Ventures and others, according to a TechCrunch report. President Xi Jinping has signed China's first-ever decree on training of the country's two million-strong military, the world's largest, to improve the combat readiness of armed forces, official media reported on Tuesday. Xi, 65, regarded as the most powerful Chinese leader after Mao Zedong heading the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), the military and Presidency, has signed an order to release a trial regulation on the supervision of military training, the first of its kind in the country. The regulation, which will take effect on March 1, focuses on improving the combat readiness of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), state-run Xinhua agency reported. It formulates measures to rectify practices that are inconsistent with the requirements of actual combats. It also details the criteria for identifying malpractices and discipline violations during military training. The regulation also states the responsibilities, power and priorities of military training supervision and regularises the methods and procedures for carrying out such work. The regulation is expected to consolidate the strategic role of military training under the new circumstances, strengthen the management of military training, and deepen military training under combat conditions, the report said. Since coming to power in 2012, Xi has been carrying out aggressive reforms of the military, which included real time combative training, reorganisation of the command structures as well as downsizing the army, ramping up Navy and Airforce to enhance China's strategic global outreach. The Chinese military which has an annual budget of over USD 175 billion is investing heavily in modernisation of the navy. While the navy is being expanded with aircraft carriers, observers say battle ships and submarines are being added on almost monthly basis. China has one aircraft carrier, another undergoing sea trial and the third one is being constructed at a feverish pace. Official media reports say China plans to have four to five aircraft carriers in the near future. A recent report said Beijing plans to have four nuclear aircraft carriers. In terms of aircraft, China is building new jets for the aircraft carriers, besides stealth planes. President Xi has also been pushing the military into real time military exercises emulating battle conditions. The new decree on training came amid reports of criticism on lack of rigorous training of the PLA troops with new hardware which could prove costly in real battle conditions. Training, not hardware, is key to military preparations and size is not everything in modern warfare and it is the people who use these weapons that count, Wang Yunfei, a retired Chinese naval officer said in a rare public appraisal of the levels of training of PLA Navy and Air force which he said were inadequate compared with Japanese troops. Comparing the skill training put in by Japanese pilots flying new generation aircraft, Wang said he saw them training even in murky and overcast conditions. "In China, [our military planes] would not have taken off [for training] if the cloud was lower than 400 metres above ground," he told Hong Kong- based South China Morning Post on Tuesday. "Such conditions are dangerous (for military aircraft to take off) but they (Japanese pilots) were able to carry on training despite the weather," he said. Wang, now a naval armament expert, pointed out that size was only one determining factor in modern warfare, and hardware could only answer part of the question as China raced to catch up with leading powers like the US and its top allies, including Japan. "Doubling the number of our warships would not make our military twice as strong strategically," he said. "It is the people who use these weapons that count, and that essentially boils down to our level of training. Some people hold the view that our military planes are more advanced than others. But if we look at the level of training of our forces ... We are not at the same level [as others] yet," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Tuesday asserted his Hindustani Awam Morcha must get a number of seats that was not less than what would be offered to former Union minister Upendra Kushwahas Rashtriya Lok Samata Party a late entrant into the Mahagathbandhan. Manjhi made the statement at a press conference here, after a meeting of his partys core group. Under no circumstances would we agree to a number of seats that is less than what is given to Kushwaha. We are not demanding any specific number but our contention is we must not get less than RLSP. Rather, we should get more, the HAM founding president said. Asked whether he would consider returning to the NDA if his demand went unheeded, Manjhi said the question does not arise. Why would I have left NDA if I were to go back. When I joined Mahagathbandhan I had vowed that I will strengthen the hands of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad. I am going to meet him shortly. To a pointed query as to what alternatives he had in mind in case he did not get a favourable deal in the opposition alliance, Manjhi cryptically replied not fighting the polls could also be an option. A meeting of Mahagathbandhan constituents is also proposed on February 18. I am hopeful that things will be ironed out by then. The opposition alliance will be able to finalize its seat-sharing formula before the ongoing assembly session ends on February 20, he said. He also said the resignations of HAM national spokesman Danish Rizwan and state president Vrishan Patel have been accepted and there is no possibility of their return to the party. Manjhi also rubbished Patels allegation that the HAM president was in touch with NDA leaders, exploring the possibility of a return in the event of the Grand Alliance not coming up with a good offer. He also deplored the recent comment by Rizwan, who had termed as a flop the Patna rally of Congress president Rahul Gandhi with whom Manjhi had shared the stage on February 3. About Rizwans allegation that Patel had siphoned off party funds, Manjhi said we will get it investigated. But the party spokesman should not have gone public with such accusations. It is an internal matter of the party. Manjhi had floated his outfit in 2015 after quitting the JD(U) in protest against having been made to step down as Chief Minister to make way for the return of Nitish Kumar. His party fought the assembly polls as an NDA constituent but performed dismally, with only Manjhi achieving a victory in one of the two seats he contested. He, however, quit the NDA in February last year, less than a year after Nitish Kumars return to the BJP-led coalition, and joined the opposition alliance comprising RJD and Congress. Two months later, his son Santosh became a member of the legislative council with the help of the RJD which has the largest number of MLAs. Kushwaha, whose RLSP was an NDA ally since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls when it won all the three seats it contested, resigned from the Union council of ministers and severed ties with the BJP-led coalition in December last year. Although there has been no formal announcement with regard to the number of seats each party in Mahagathbandhan would be contesting, RLSP sources have claimed that an agreement has been reached wherein the party would be getting four Motihari, Ujiyarpur, Gopalganj and Kushwahas Karakat. The bloated, loosely-knit Mahagathbandhan at present has about half a dozen constituents a couple of these being fledgling outfits and the alliance also seeks to have an electoral understanding with the Left parties in a state that has 40 Lok Sabha seats. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A woman attempted to set herself and her six-year-old son on fire at a police station here Tuesday but police foiled her bid. The 30-year-old woman doused herself and her son with kerosene in front of the Korukkupet police station but moments before she could light a matchstick, two women police personnel overpowered her and threw away the match box. The woman attempted to end her life due to an alleged threatening phone call from her sister, police said. She was also allegedly intimidated by her sibling's lover. Chennai city police commissioner A K Viswanathan later honoured the police sub-inspector and constable at his office for rescuing the duo. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : The Tamil Nadu government Tuesday asserted that it would not compromise on its rights on the inter-state Palar and said it has asked Andhra Pradesh not to take up construction of 30 new check-dams on the river. Chief Minister K Palaniswami said the state has asked the Andhra Pradesh government not to approve the construction of 30 check-dams, pointing out that court cases on similar issues were pending in this connection. According to the Madras-Mysore Agreement of 1892, Palar is an inter-state river and the upper riparian state cannot take up such activities without the consent of the lower riparian ones, he said. The DMK and Congress raised the issue of Andhra Pradesh's reported move to construct 30 new check-dams across Palar in the state assembly, saying that if it materialised, it would affect parts of Tamil Nadu, including Vellore. "After coming across reports of Andhra Pradesh's proposal to construct 30 new check-dams across Palar, a communication has been sent to its Water Resources Department, saying no sanction should be given for the same," he said. Referring to the Tamil Nadu government's earlier pleas in the Supreme Court against a similar proposal by Andhra Pradesh, Palaniswami said they had also asked that state not to go ahead with the construction of any check-dams till the case concluded. He recalled that the government led by the late chief minister J Jayalalithaa had moved the apex court in 2006 against a similar proposal by Andhra Pradesh, besides protesting raising of the height of a check-dam on Palar in 2016. Both cases were pending before the Supreme court, the chief minister pointed out. The government was "carefully" dealing with the issue legally and taking all steps to assert Tamil Nadu's rights on the Palar river, Palaniswami said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Opposition parties on Tuesday accused the Modi government of not fulfilling its promise of ushering in 'achche din' (good days) as they attacked it in Lok Sabha over issues like unemployment and farm distress. The treasury benches countered the charge, saying the macro-economic fundamentals are better than before and the poorest people are the biggest beneficiaries of this government's policies, but the Congress party does not see good in anything. The Modi government has "not done anything" in the last four-and-half years and now it was making promises for the future," Congress member K C Venugopal said while initiating discussion on the Finance Bill 2019. "What happened to the 'achche din aayenge' slogan?" he questioned, and wanted to know why the promises made by the NDA government have not yet been met. He also charged that Finance Minister Piyush Goyal as member of the Rajya Sabha was not aware of what was happening on the ground, especially with regard to farm distress and unemployment. Accusing the Congress of suffering from "selective amnesia", Nishikant Dubey (BJP) said Venugopal should know that Indira Gandhi and Manmohan Singh were members of Rajya Sabha when they were prime ministers. Venugopal, Dubey lamented, spoke on the budget though the discussion was on the Finance Bill. "Those in the wrong, see wrong in everything," he said, alleging that the Congress-led UPA destroyed the Indian economy in the 10-year long rule from 2004 to 2014. Dubey also accused the Congress of batting for Eurofighter in the Rafale jet purchase controversy. Earlier, in his address Venugopal claimed that under the NDA government unemployment has increased, agrarian crisis has worsened and people suffered from general price rise. The demonetisation of high value currency notes in 2016 had destroyed the small businesses, he alleged, adding the decision of the government created difficulties in all spheres of economy. "It has been nightmare for people during the last four-and-half years," the Congress member said. None of the objectives of demonetisation which included curbing black money, checking terrorism and elimination of fake notes, were met. Instead "all (Vijay) Mallaya and (Nirav) Modi escaped the country", he alleged. Ridiculing the farmer income scheme, he said, the government was giving Rs 3 per day to a farmer, whereas the MNREGA, introduced by the UPA government, ensured Rs 200 per day to a labourer. Venugopal also accused the government of suppressing the unemployment report of NSSO, claiming it showed that joblessness has hit a 45-year high. He alleged that the Pradham Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana has provided "undue benefit" to the insurance company owned by industrialist Anil Ambani. Raising the Rafale jet deal issue, Venugopal said that government should set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to look into it. He regretted that Prime Minister's Office (PMO) initiated "parallel negotiations" with the French government undermining the negotiations being conducted by the Defence Ministry. The Prime Minister, he added, ought to answer questions being raised with regard to the Rafale jet deal. Intervening in the discussion, Minister of State for Tourism K J Alphons said the economy is in better condition than ever before. The macro-economic fundamentals are better than before and price rise is at its lowest, the minister said and stressed that the poorest people are the biggest beneficiaries of the government's policies. As many as 1.392 crore jobs were created in the tourism sector during the 2014-18 period, the minister said. Referring to Rafale deal, Alphons, who was a civil servant, said former defence secretary G Mohan Kumar was his batchmate. Without mentioning any detail, the minister said it was the job of the political executive and not bureaucrats to take decisions. The controversy over Rafale deal has sparked off a political slugfest between the ruling BJP and the Congress. Participating in the discussions, TMC leader Saugata Roy said the current government is that of "tax terrorism" and that he has not seen any other government that has used the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate as "wantonly". "This is a government of jumla (rhetoric)," Roy alleged. Flagging concerns, BJD member Kalikesh Singh Deo said that "credibility of data has to be above politics" and wanted to know why sops were being given if the country is one of the fastest growing economies. He also said that persecuting the innocent in tax matters would destroy trust. While noting that fiscal deficit could go up, Deo also wondered whether doles would continue to be given to farmers without addressing their problems. As K J Alphons reacted to his observation about jobs, Deo quipped, "How does a minister disturb the House when I am complimenting him. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Targeting the Gandhi family, BJP chief Amit Shah Tuesday said India had embraced democracy and discarded monarchy but "some people" continue to practice it. Addressing BJP workers at Godhra town of Panchmahal district, Shah also claimed that the prime minister's seat is reserved "by birth" in the Congress, wondering if a worker from that party could ever think of occupying the top post. "In a monarchy, the son or daughter of a king gets the throne. Even his son-in-law could become a king. Though our country has adopted democracy and discarded monarchy, some people continued to practice it. They have made a mockery of democracy," Shah said, without naming the Gandhi family. In the BJP, party workers do not need to take birth in a particular family to occupy higher posts, the BJP chief said, continuing his attack on the Gandhis. "Can a Congress worker ever think of becoming a prime minister? No. Because that seat is reserved by birth in that party," Shah said. In the BJP, a worker can become a chief minister or even a prime minister, he added. In the BJP, a common booth worker like him could rise to the rank of the party president and a 'chaiwala' (Narendra Modi) could became the prime minister, he said. "I was a booth worker of the BJP. I rose to become the party president. The chaiwala has become the prime minister of the country, rising through the ranks," he said. Priyanka Gandhi was last month appointed AICC general secretary and in-charge of Uttar Pradesh East by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, ahead of the ensuing Lok Sabha polls. Speaking at the BJP workers' 'Cluster Sammelan', Shah also said Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra must clear their stand on the Ram temple issue. "I want to make it clear that the BJP is committed to construct a grand Ram temple at the earliest and at the same place. However, Congress sends its men, like Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, to delay the hearing in the Supreme Court," the BJP chief said. "Our government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also approached the court to remove the status quo and get back 42 acres of land in Ayodhya. We have already said that the temple must be built in Ayodhya. Now, Rahul baba and Priyanka should clear their stand and tell us if they agree to it or not," he said. On the National Register of Citizens (NRC) row, Shah said the BJP was committed to make India free of illegal immigrants, as they are a "threat" to the national security. "There are over 40 lakh illegal migrants in Assam alone. The NRC is a system to identify them. But, Rahul Gandhi came in their support. Why? Are they your relatives? These illegal settlers are like termites. They pose a threat to the national security," Shah said. "You should not worry about Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee or Akhilesh Yadav. Just ensure BJP's victory in all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat. Our government will send back each and every illegal migrant. It is BJP's dream to make India an illegal migrant-free country," Shah said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The WBBSE on Tuesday lodged a complaint with police against unknown persons for sharing purported image of Bengali question paper of the Class 10 Board examination, a top official said. A total of 10,66,000 students are appearing in the class 10 examination conducted by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education. The examination started on Tuesday with the Bengali paper. WBBSE president Kalyanmoy Ganguly told PTI that the board lodged a complaint at Bidhannagar police commissionerate Cyber Crime cell after a senior government official got the image of the Bengali question on his Whatsapp number which purportedly resembled one page of the original Bengali question paper of Tuesday. "We lodged the police complaint as we want to find out who had clicked the photo and forwarded the same among others to create mischief," he said. Asked about report of purported image of Bengali first paper question paper circulated on Whatsapp, Ganguly said "the images were taken and forwarded on Whatsapp after the exams began. By that time candidates were already writing their papers inside the centre. So there has been no leak." He asserted there was no question of holding the Bengali first paper exams again. He said "we do not have report of any question paper leak and the first day examinations passed off smoothly everywhere in the state, including the hills. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Delhi court Tuesday sent Rajeev Saxena, arrested in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland money laundering case, to judicial custody till February 18 and directed the Tihar jail authorities to take him to AIIMS for medical check up. Special Judge Arvind Kumar ordered the Director AIIMS to file a report regarding the medical condition of Saxena by 2 pm tomorrow. "Considering the submissions by both the parties and record regarding medical condition of the accused, the jail authority is directed to take the accused to AIIMS immediately for his necessary check up and admission/ treatment," the court said. "The Director, AIIMS shall file report regarding the medical condition of the accused on February 13 by 2 pm. The accused is permitted to take with him all his medical records copy of which shall be sent by jail authorities to AIIMS for perusal. The jail authorities shall permit the accused to take with him Sleep apnea (sleep disorder) machine and necessary medicines," it added. The order came after the court was informed that Saxena's health had worsened last night following which he was taken to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital at 1 am after he complained of chest pain. Saxena was sent to Tihar jail after the agency informed the court that it does not require his custody and the accused may be sent to 14 days judicial custody. "We are not seeking further remand," said the ED, through lawyer D P Singh. Saxena, a Dubai-based businessman, was deported from Dubai on January 31 and sent to four-day custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) the same day. The probe agency said that last night Saxena's health worsened following which he was taken to LNJP hospital at 1 am where his blood test reports stated that his white blood cell count has shoot up to 14,500. "Saxena was having severe chest pain and was medically examined and it was detected that there was steep rise in his WBC count. ED is not opposing the bail application of Saxena considering his medical condition," ED said. Senior advocate Geeta Luthra, appearing for Saxena, told the court that he has cooperated with the investigating agency during investigation. "He is ready to join the investigation as and when directed," Luthra said while seeking immediate medical check up of his client. She had further submitted that Saxena was suffering from advanced stage leukemia, radiating back pain, numbness and heaviness in leg, neck pain and muscle spasms. During the hearing in the morning, Saxena had sought to talk to the judge in private for 15-20 minutes, without the presence of lawyers from both the parties, which the court had allowed. He told the court that he was not feeling well and has cooperated with the investigating agency and disclosed true facts. The court listed the matter for hearing on February 13 when his bail plea would be considered. Last Friday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had sought his custody from the court, saying the probe is at a crucial stage. Saxena is one of the accused named in the charge sheet filed by ED in the case. Christian Michel, former AgustaWestland and Finmeccanica directors Giuseppe Orsi and Bruno Spagnolini, former Air Force chief SP Tyagi and Saxena's wife Shivani have also been named by the agency in the charge sheet. The court had earlier allowed ED's plea seeking extension of his custody on the ground that he was required for confronting with Gautam Khaitan, a Delhi-based lawyer and a co-accused, who was earlier arrested in the case and is in the agency's custody in another case. ED had said that both Saxena and Khaitan provided global corporate structure to launder money. The ED alleged that in connivance with Khaitan, Saxena provided a global corporate structure for laundering illegal proceeds of the crime for payment to various political persons, bureaucrats and Air Force officials to influence the contract to supply 12 VVIP helicopters in favour of AgustaWestland. Saxena, a director of two Dubai-based firms - UHY Saxena and Matrix Holdings - was picked up by Dubai authorities last Wednesday in connection with the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP choppers money laundering case and deported to India in the evening. He was residing in Palm Jumeriah, Dubai and has been living in the UAE for last 26 years. Maintaining that AgustaWestland had paid Euro 58 million as kickbacks through two Tunisia-based firms, ED's advocate Samvedna Verma alleged that "these companies further siphoned off the said money in the name of consultancy contracts to M/s Interstellar Technologies Limited, Mauritius and others which were further transferred to M/s UHY Saxena and M/s Matrix Holdings Ltd, Dubai and others". Saxena is one of the accused named in the charge sheet filed by the ED. Michel, former AgustaWestland and Finmeccanica directors Giuseppe Orsi and Bruno Spagnolini, Tyagi and Saxena's wife Shivani were also named by the agency. It was alleged by the probe agency that the two Dubai-based firms were the entities "through which the proceeds of crime have been routed and further layered and integrated in buying the immovable properties/ shares, among others" in this case. On January 1, 2014, India had scrapped the contract with Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland for supplying 12 AW-101 VVIP choppers to the IAF over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of kickbacks of Rs 423 crore paid by it to secure the deal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vietnam's foreign minister arrived in North Korea on Tuesday ahead of a planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam's capital later this month. Pham Binh Minh is expected to stay until Thursday. No further details of his schedule have been released by his North Korean hosts. Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, is to host the summit between Trump and Kim on February 27-28. The two leaders held their first summit last June in Singapore. The United States is hoping to get a firm commitment on denuclearization from Kim. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Venezuela's office of financial accountability says it has opened an investigation into opposition leader Juan Guaido's income. The agency's chief, Elvis Amoroso, said Monday that Guaido, who has been recognized as Venezuela's interim president by around 50 countries, "allegedly ... received money from international and national bodies without any justification." Amoroso, an official close to the regime of President Nicolas Maduro, whom Guaido is trying to dislodge, said the parliament speaker is suspected of having "hidden or falsified data in his declaration of assets." If found guilty by the state Comptroller, Guaido could face either a fine or be disqualified from public office. A lawyer told AFP that the public prosecutor could also open a criminal case against Guaido if it's decided that any of the accusations against him constitute a crime. The came as Guaido steps up his challenge to Maduro's authority with their power struggle playing out over the issue of humanitarian aid. Maduro has overseen an economic meltdown in oi-rich Venezuela, where millions of people are suffering from a lack of basic necessities and failing public services. Guaido is trying to bring in desperately-needed food and medicines currently stored just over the border in Colombia, while his aides announced on Monday that agreement has been reached to open a second collection center in Brazil. So far, Venezuela's military, which has repeatedly pledged loyalty to Maduro, is preventing the Colombian-based aid from entering the country. Analysts have said Guaido's position would be strengthened if he successfully brings in aid and he has frequently called on the military to switch sides. He is trying to force out Maduro so he can set up a transitional government ahead of new elections. Amoroso said the investigation into Guaido following numerous complaints against the National Assembly president, without specifying who made them. He said Venezuela's constitution "establishes that National Assembly deputies are full-time, they cannot receive any type of payment from other work, either public or private." The Supreme Court, dominated by regime loyalists, stripped the National Assembly of its powers in 2016, effectively sidelining the opposition-controlled legislative body. Venezuela lurched into a political crisis when Guaido proclaimed himself acting president on January 23 after parliament declared Maduro a "usurper." A week later, the Supreme Court banned Guaido from leaving the country and froze his assets, accusing him of "usurping" Maduro's functions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Robert Vadra, Congress president Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law, was interrogated for nine hours Tuesday by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an alleged land scam in Rajasthan's Bikaner district. The questioning will resume at 10.30 am Wednesday, his lawyers said. His mother Maureen was also questioned for some time, but Vadra remained at the ED's zonal office till about 8.30 pm, except for a lunch break during which he was allowed to leave the premises for an hour. AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra dropped Vadra and his mother off at the ED office, taking time off from her four-day Uttar Pradesh trip in a show of solidarity with her husband. Congress workers shouted slogans when Vadra arrived for the questioning and when he left for his hotel at night. The interrogation lasted for nearly nine hours. He has given answers to the questions from the ED officers. He will once again appear before the ED zonal office in Jaipur at 10.30 am, Vadra's lawyer Suman Jyoti Khaitan told reporters. Vadra's lawyers said his mother has not been called for questioning as she is not keeping well. She has, however, assured full cooperation in the probe, they said. On Facebook, Vadra accused the Narendra Modi government of being vindictive ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, and putting his mother through harassment. This was Vadra's first appearance before the ED in Jaipur in connection with charges of money laundering through land deals made by a company linked to him. Vadra was asked by the Rajasthan High Court to cooperate with the agency. His Jaipur appearance follows soon after he faced ED questioning for three days in Delhi on a different set of charges relating to property allegedly purchased in London. Vadra is also facing accusations of irregular land deals in Haryana's Gurugram district. Vadra and his mother reached the ED's zonal office at Bhawani Singh Road, amid tight security. Near the ED office, some Congress workers shouted slogans in support of Priyanka Gandhi, and also repeated the slogan given by her brother Rahul Gandhi, calling Modi a thief. Chowkidar chor hai, they shouted. Several hoardings were put up nearby showing pictures of Priyanka Gandhi and Robert Vadra, and saying that people wanted Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to come to power this time. "Jan Jan ki hai yehi pukar, Rahul ji-Priyanka ji abki baar, the banners said. Rajasthan Congress vice president Archana Sharma, however, claimed she was not aware of such posters. "The party has not put up any such hoardings," she said. Before the questioning started, Vadra accused the government of harassing his elderly mother by putting her through it. As I always have adhered to rules and overall being a disciplined person, I have the ability to sustain any amount of hours of questioning and having nothing to hide, I will answer every question with respect and dignity. This too shall pass and will make me stronger, he said. "So here we are my 75-year-old mother and me in Jaipur to depose in front of the Enforcement Directorate. Not understanding the lows of this vindictive government to be harassing a senior citizen, who the world knows has lost her daughter in a car crash, her ailing son to diabetes, and her husband as well," he posted. In the Bikaner case, the agency had summoned Vadra thrice but he failed to appear before it. The Rajasthan High Court asked him and his mother to cooperate with the agency after they approached it, seeking directions that no coercive action is taken against them by the ED. The ED had registered a case in connection with the deal in 2015, taking cognisance of a clutch of FIRs and chargesheets filed by the Rajasthan police after the Bikaner tehsildar complained about alleged forgery in land allotment. It is understood that the agency wanted to question him on the operations of Skylight Hospitality Private Limited, allegedly linked to him, which purchased land in the area. It also wanted to confront Vadra with the statements of those said to be linked to him. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Trump administration wants to ensure that Afghanistan is never used as a safe haven for terrorists, Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has told President Ashraf Ghani during his surprise visit to the war-torn country to lead a push for peace talks with the Taliban. Shanahan held talks with Ghani at the Presidential Palace on Monday to reaffirm his commitment to Afghanistan through implementation of President Trump's South Asia strategy. "The leaders discussed a broad range of defence issues, including the importance of the US-Afghanistan security relationship and of achieving a political settlement to the war that ensures Afghanistan is never again used as a safe haven from which terrorists can plan and launch terrorist attacks against the United States, our interests, and our allies," said Pentagon Spokesperson Cmdr Sean Robertson. During the meeting, Shanahan praised the sacrifices made by Afghan and Coalition troops, and reaffirmed America's continued support to Afghan forces as they lead the fight to defend their country. Shanahan made a surprise trip to Afghanistan on Monday, his first-ever visit to the country where US troops have been stationed for 17 years. President Donald Trump reportedly wants to cut in half the 14,000 American troops in Afghanistan, and the Taliban leaders have made a US withdrawal a key condition in peace negotiations. Shanahan told reporters on Monday that he had no orders to reduce the American troop presence. He said that while the US had a key role to play, it is ultimately up to Afghans to find peace. "The Afghans have to decide what Afghanistan looks like. It's not about the US, it's about Afghanistan," he said. The Acting Defense chief's visit comes after the US held major talks with the Taliban officials in Qatar last month in an attempt to end the 17-year conflict. US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who is leading the talks, has expressed hope of finding a deal before Afghan presidential elections scheduled for July. In a series of tweets after six days of talks with the Taliban representatives in Doha last month, Khalilzad said the US has made "significant progress" in its peace talks with the Taliban. "We have a draft of the framework that has to be fleshed out before it becomes an agreement. The Taliban have committed, to our satisfaction, to do what is necessary that would prevent Afghanistan from ever becoming a platform for international terrorist groups or individuals," Khalilzad said at the time. Since being appointed in September, Khalilzad has met with all sides in an attempt to end America's longest war in which the US has lost over 2,400 soldiers. The US is expected to start a second round of talks with Taliban officials on February 25 in Qatar, where they have their political office. The Afghan Taliban, however, has said that despite the ongoing talks with the US and other regional powers, it had "not yet reached" any conclusion that would entail an immediate end to hostilities against America and its allies. The Taliban are holding talks with the United States "on their own initiative", Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid was recently quoted as saying by a TV channel. The Taliban control nearly half of Afghanistan, and are more powerful than at any time since the 2001 US-led invasion after the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001. Meanwhile, Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna said that the US should continue supporting the Afghan government financially and diplomatically after leaving and include them in the peace process. "We should continue supporting the Afghan government financially and diplomatically after leaving and include them in the peace process. The Afghans must eventually earn domestic legitimacy themselves, though," he said in an op-ed in USA Today. Khanna said the biggest threat to democracy was not the Taliban, but staying economically competitive with authoritarian superpowers like China. Responding to critics who argue that after the US withdrawal the Taliban might steamroll the Afghan government and then harbour terrorists, Khanna said preventing that outcome did not require a permanent US troop presence. "Deterrence works. The Taliban should understand that the United States will use overwhelming force again if they harbour terrorists who directly threaten our homeland. Moreover, other 'ungoverned territories' exist where terrorists can operate. There, we conduct counterterrorism from the air without troop deployment," Khanna said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two minor sisters from Uttar Pradesh, one of them mentally challenged, were reunited with their parents after they inadvertently came to Maharashtra by boarding a wrong train, police said. The two girls, one aged 17 who, according to police, is mentally unstable and the other around 4 years old, are residents of Ghazipur district in UP. They had last month gone to their aunt's house in the neighbouring Chandauli district, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Deepak Deoraj told reporters here on Monday. However, while returning home, the girls, instead of boarding a train to Ghazipur, wrongly got into another train headed to Mumbai, he said. The girls, who spoke in Bhojpuri language, were found sitting on a platform of the Thane railway station on January 15, but they were unable to tell the police their address or home town, he said. The police took custody of the girls and presented them before a local court which ordered that the elder sibling be admitted to the Thane Mental Hospital for treatment and theyounger one be lodged at an orphanage in Dombivali town, Deoraj said. The court also asked the Thane police to search for their parents. Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajendra Tambe personally helped the girls by arranging clothes and other essential items for them, the official said. The anti-human trafficking cell of Thane police took assistance of a woman well-versed in Bhojpuri language to interact with the elder sibling at the hospital. After some interactions, the police came to know that the two girls were residents of Dildarnagar area in Ghazipur, the official said. The police then posted information about the girls on several WhatsApp groups and one such message was seen by the siblings' parents, who immediately contacted the Dildarnagar police station in Ghazipur, he said. The parents later got in touch with the Thane police who helped them in identifying the siblings, Deoraj said. Subsequently, the parents came to Thane where the police handed over the girls to them on Monday, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court Tuesday expressed displeasure over a civil rights group, which has sought probe into incidents of alleged police encounters and killings in Uttar Pradesh, saying it has come unprepared to argue its case. The apex court, which dubbed the PIL filed by People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) on the alleged encounter killings as a "serious matter", was not happy as it did not get satisfactory answers on some of the questions from its counsel. "Please get yourself better arranged. How to present the case is not our business. It is your business. Prepare yourself better and organise yourself better," said a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi. PUCL has sought a court-monitored CBI or SIT probe into incidents of alleged police encounters and killings in Uttar Pradesh. The remarks by the bench came as PUCL's counsel Sanjay Parikh faced some difficulty in locating some submissions from the documents and affidavit about the cases in which the FIRs have been registered and later the cases were closed. In one case, the bench, also comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and Sanjiv Khanna sought to know where in the averments was the family version on the killing of a person. "What is in the complaint. Is the complaint containing the family version. Where is the affidavit. How can we understand," the bench said before adjourning the matter and asking the counsel to come prepared with the case. "In this serious matter, we want to know about the cases as we have to be satisfied," the bench said, adding that it wanted to know about eight or nine cases of encounter which was in the list of the NGO. The bench said between March 2017 and March 2018 Uttar Pradesh Police made three lakh arrest and had talked about 48 alleged encounters and the cases have been closed in 25. The bench wanted to know from the PUCL about the developments that had taken place in the cases of 48 FIRs. Parikh submitted that those cases are closed in which the accused have died. He said the Uttar Pradesh Police was not proceeding with the cases in accordance with the guidelines laid by the apex court. During the hearing, an application was also heard in which issue of some independent cases was raised. However, the bench declined to hear it asking the counsel to approach the Allahabad High Court. While agreeing to examine the issues raised by the PUCL, the apex court on January 14 a "serious consideration" was required in the matter. The top court had said it would also decide date of hearing the plea of organisation 'Citizens against Hate', represented by lawyer Prashant Bhushan, seeking to be made a party to the petition filed by the PUCL. The court will also decide whether to seek a report from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the alleged encounter killings in the state. Uttar Pradesh government on last hearing maintained that norms and procedures were followed by the state administration. Earlier, the apex court had sought response from the state government on the PIL filed by the NGO, alleging that there were about 1,100 encounters in 2017 in which 49 people were killed and 370 injured. It, however, had not agreed to the submission of lawyer Sanjay Parikh, appearing for PUCL, that a notice be also issued to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) as it had already taken note of alleged statements of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on the encounters in the state. The NGO, in its plea, has referred to reports quoting the chief minister, his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya and ADG Law and Order Anand Kumar, justifying the encounter killings of criminals in the state. It has sought a probe into the encounters by an independent agency, that is the "Central Bureau of Investigation or a Special Investigation Team comprising police officers of integrity and who have not served in the state of Uttar Pradesh." "The monitoring committee should also inquire into the role played by all authorities/persons who directly/indirectly supported the encounter killings by abdicating their legal duties/responsibilities," it said. The plea said the families of those killed or injured be also granted compensation. Facts available in the public domain state that over 1,100 encounters have taken place in the past year, wherein 49 people were killed and 370 were injured, the plea claimed. Quoting the figure provided by the state to the NHRC, it said that 45 persons had died between January 1, 2017, and March 31 last year. It referred to the binding guidelines laid down by the apex court in a judgment delivered on one of the PILs filed by the PUCL and said "each such encounter is required to be investigated on the basis of FIR, followed by a magisterial inquiry and thereafter, a criminal trial in accordance with law". The chief minister had on November 19, 2017 said that "criminals will be jailed or killed in encounters", the plea submitted. The plea also quoted the observation of the NHRC which had said that it seemed that "the police personnel in Uttar Pradesh are feeling free, misusing their power in the light of an undeclared endorsement given by the higher ups... (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An unborn baby in the UK has had a successful "foetal repair" surgery on her spine while she was still in her mother's womb. Bethan Simpson, 26, from Essex, was told her unborn daughter Eloise had spina bifida, a birth defect in which a developing baby's spinal cord fails to develop properly, at her 20-week scan. Simpson has become one of the first mothers in the UK to undergo the pioneering "foetal repair" surgery. During a four-hour operation her womb was opened and her baby's bottom exposed, allowing surgeons to "sew up" a tiny hole in her lower spine. Simpson said she "couldn't justify terminating a child I could feel kicking". The procedure has been deemed successful and the baby is now due in April, the BBC reported on Tuesday. Simpson said she and husband Keiron were advised to terminate her pregnancy after the condition was diagnosed, but the decision to opt for foetal repair was a "no brainer". "I'm being told she's paralysed, but she very much wasn't," Simpson said. She was approved for surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital in December after a series of tests and scans, and described the ensuing weeks as a "rollercoaster". The operation at 24 weeks involved opening her womb and lifting her baby into position to repair the hole, as well as repositioning the baby's spinal cord. Great Ormond Street Hospital's lead neurosurgeon, Dominic Thompson, described the operation on Mrs Simpson's baby as "an incredible journey". "Until now, when people got this devastating there were two options - continue with the pregnancy or termination. This now offers a third option," he said. The elated mother said, "I came out of surgery at one o'clock and could feel her moving that evening." "It was reassuring to feel that first kick after the anaesthetic wore off. She's bigger now, of course, and her kicks are stronger." Simpson said she remembered the surgeon telling her on the ward later: "I've held your baby."Simpson is thought to be the fourth patient to undergo the surgery in the UK, with the procedure mostly carried out in Belgium and the United States. From April, the procedure will be available on the government-run National Health Service in England. Two-hundred babies are born with spina bifida in the UK every year, the report said. "It is not a cure. But there is quite clear evidence through critical trials that the outlook can be a lot better with surgery early on," Dr Thompson said. Simpson urged parents in her position to consider surgery and "give every option a go". "There are unknowns - it's major surgery, and the biggest decision you'll make in your life," she said. "But remember most children born with spina bifida today are walking and reaching normal milestones," she added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress-led UDF Tuesday boycotted proceedings on the last day of the Assembly session after the Speaker declined to allow discussion on the CBI charge sheet filed against CPI(M) leaders P Jayarajan and T V Rajesh. Despite protests by the opposition parties, the Assembly was adjourned sine die. The opposition party members, led by Ramesh Chennithala boycotted the session, saying their adjournment motion should have been allowed as a person accused in a murder case was present in the House. "A sitting MLA has been named in the charge sheet. How can a political party functioning in a democratic manner get involved in a mob killing?" Chennithala asked. He alleged that 27 political murders had taken place in the state since the Pinarayi Vijayan government came to power four years ago. "If we can't present this issue in the assembly, then why are we coming here? Is this democracy? it is a serious issue.. We decided to protest.. We express our strong protest," he said. Speaker Sreeramakrishnan said the matter was not related to the government. "This matter doesn't relate to the government as per the Assembly rules on the adjournment motion. This is an issue which happened some years ago. If the Opposition wants, they can bring it before the house as a submission," the Speaker said. However, the Opposition refused to agree and protested inside the house before boycotting the session. Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader M K Muneer claimed that the issue was relevant as the charge sheet was filed Monday. "Jayarajan is involved in many cases registered in Kannur. The witnesses are living under threat. We want the case to be shifted from Thalassery. Now Rajesh (MLA) is under the protection of this Assembly. We fear that CPI(M) might field Jayarajan for the Lok Sabha elections. This is fascism," Muneer told reporters later. Noting that the adjournment motion sought to prevent such crimes in the future, Chennithala said, "Such crimes must never happen. Government and police should take necessary action to prevent such issues in the future." "When a person accused in murder case is sitting inside the Assembly, we are supposed to question it. If we can't question this, then what is it? What mockery is it? We gave notice, which the speaker denied, he said. The Congress leader also alleged that the CPI(M) welcomed the CBI action against Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata, but were now against the central agency. The CBI had on Monday slapped murder and conspiracy charges against Jayarajan in a case relating to the murder of a 22-year-old Muslim Students Federation activist in 2012. The supplementary charge sheet filed in a sessions court here, had also charged party MLA T V Rajesh in the conspiracy related to the killing. The CBI has charged Jayarajan with murder and conspiracy under Sections 302 and 120 B of the IPC, court sources said. According to the prosecution, Shukoor, a worker of the youth wing of IUML, was killed on February 20, 2012, for attacking a convoy in which Jayarajan and Rajesh were travelling. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The regional air connectivity scheme has been a game changer for the aviation sector and 1 crore people will be travelling under the scheme after one year, a senior civil aviation ministry official said Tuesday. The scheme -- Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) -- seeks to connect unserved and underserved airports as well as make flying more affordable for the masses. As many as 675 routes have been awarded under three rounds of UDAN. Out of them, 138 have been operationalised, according to data compiled by the ministry. Speaking at an event here, Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said UDAN has become a game changer for the aviation industry and 23 new places have been connected. "After one year, we will almost have 1 crore people travelling under UDAN...," he added. He was speaking at a gathering organised for MPs to thank them for their support to UDAN and it was also attended by representatives from various airlines, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Pawan Hans, among others. Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said the aviation industry stakeholders should give highest priority for concerns that are raised by the members of Parliament. "In your own airlines, you must have a separate desk to deal with issues raised by members of Parliament," the minister said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A two-day event to provide an opportunity for participants to meet founders of various start-ups and understand its functioning will be held here from February 14. Some of the companies that are participating in the city-wide open office event are SPI Cinemas, Orangescape, FlintoBox, NotionPress, InkMonk etc, The StartUp Centre, the organisers, said in a statement. Participants will get an opportunity to meet founders of various StartUp companies on the first day, the Centre said. The second day on February 15 involves a visit to the Centre for Artificial Intelligence at IIT Madras followed by a visit to the student incubator at Anna University. This is the Fourth edition of the annual event, Start-up Walk, an attempt to nurture the startup culture in the city. CEO and Founder of The StartUp Centre Vijay Anand said, "The event provides a platform to facilitate new opportunities in career. There are a lot of people who work for the services sector who use this as an opportunity to evaluate moving over to SaaS (software as a service). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Canada's public broadcaster said Tuesday it found in a trove of Twitter messages evidence of possible foreign actors trying to sow divisions between Canadians on pipelines, migrants and other hot-button issues. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) said it identified roughly 21,600 malicious tweets targeting Canadians, mostly sent in 2017, out of 9.6 million scanned. The troll accounts -- which have since been deleted by Twitter -- are suspected of originating in Russia, Iran and Venezuela. They retweeted messages from Canadian activists, politicians and media reports highlighting opposition to pipelines after Washington approved construction of a conduit from Alberta's oil sands to US Gulf Coast refineries -- in an apparent attempt to whip up tensions between pipeline proponents and opponents. They also stoked immigration fears, disseminating strong reactions to the Quebec City mosque shooting and US President Donald Trump's travel ban on Muslim countries, as a wave of asylum seekers showed up at Canada's southern border. Scholar and Middle East expert Sami Aoun told CBC that Iran, for example, has a strategic interest in seeing North American pipeline projects fail. "The Iranians are trying to short-circuit American sanctions by selling their oil in Asia. To keep a certain advantage in China and India, they might be trying to prevent Canada from developing pipelines that could give the country better access to those markets," he explained. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President said Tuesday he would consider extending the deadline for a trade deal with China beyond March 1. "If we're close to a deal ... I could see myself letting that slide for a little while," said at the The comments came as the third round of trade negotiations were set to resume in to avert more than doubling tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Japanese automaker Nissan and its French partner Renault have jointly set up an automobile R&D company in Shanghai, local media reported on February 11. The new joint venture, dubbed Alliance Automobile Company, was established on February 4, 2019, involving a registered capital of RMB55 million. Its business scope extends to cover the design and R&D of vehicles' (including new energy vehicles and intelligent-connected vehicles) software and auto parts as well as relevant technology consultation and services, according to the record from Tianyancha, a Chinese business data search platform. As part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance 2022 mid-term plan, the alliance forecasts annual synergies of more than 10 billion by the end of 2022. No fewer than 40 vehicles with different levels of autonomy and 12 electric vehicles will be launched during the plan. Nissan saw its China sales edge down 0.8% year on year to 133,934 units in the first month of 2019. Passenger vehicle business sector came across a slight drop of 1.4% with 113,700 vehicles sold last month. Of that, Dongfeng Nissan (including Nissan-branded imported models), delivering 100,234 vehicles, gained a growth of 2% compared with a year ago, also hit a new high in terms of Jan. sales. Besides, Donfeng Venucia had a sales volume of 13,466 units. Two light commercial vehicle subsidiaries, Dongfeng Automobile Co., Ltd. and Zhengzhou Nissan, sold 17,259 vehicles in total, achieving a year-on-year increase of 4.5%. US President Donald Trump language, perceived by many as unconventional, is actually similar to the simple, straightforward speeches of the past and present world leaders that exudes confidence, a study has found. The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that the recipe that likely helped Trump become a successful presidential candidate was set in motion almost 100 years ago. "The findings confirm that President Trump and leaders like him did not emerge out of nowhere, but rather are the most recent incarnation of long-term political trends," said Jamie Pennebaker, a professor at University of Texas at Austin in the US. "Taken together, the trends suggest that voters may increasingly be drawn to leaders who can make difficult, complex problems easier to understand with intuitive, confident answers," Pennebaker said. For linguists, function words -- such as prepositions, pronouns and conjunctions -- say a lot about how people think. Prior research has linked high rates of pronouns, negations and auxiliary verbs to low analytic, or more intuitive, thinking. The heavy use of the pronouns "you" and "we" has been shown to indicate higher status, confidence or clout than the use of impersonal pronouns or "I" and "me." Using the text analysis programmes, researchers measured the evolution of analytic thinking and clout in presidential language since 1789, focusing on the use of function words in past inaugural addresses, public papers, debates and speeches. Researchers found that analytic thinking remained high throughout the 18th and 19th centuries but began declining around the time of Woodrow Wilson's presidency. By the time Dwight Eisenhower took office in the 1950s, presidential language had struck a new tone of confidence. Mapping this, researchers determined Trump only deviated from the trend in one setting -- debates, where his speech was less analytic than that of any previous president. "Donald Trump was, by and large, not an outlier, psychometrically speaking," said Kayla Jordan, a psychology doctoral candidate at UT Austin. "These results strongly suggest that the recipe that likely helped Trump become a successful presidential candidate was set in motion almost 100 years ago," said Jordan. Researchers also examined the language of other English-speaking world leaders. They found that low analytic thinking and high clout have also become more common in Canada and Australia. British leaders have maintained higher analytic measures, but evidence shows their language, too, has begun to convey more confidence. Although these trends are similar to those seen in the US, they developed later, around the 1980s, researcher said. "The results from non-American leaders provide evidence that the simple, confident rhetorical style observed in recent American presidents is an increasingly important marker of leadership globally," said Ryan Boyd, a postdoctoral researcher at UT Austin. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prominent Indian-American attorney Neomi Rao, nominated by President Donald Trump for the powerful DC Circuit Court of Appeals, has apologised for the "insensitivity" in her college days articles on date rape and sexual assault. Rao, who could replace Brett Kavanaugh on the the US' second-most powerful court, came under fire during her confirmation hearing last week over op-eds she wrote as an undergraduate at Yale, the Politico reported. In an article on date rape, Rao, 45, wrote that if a woman drinks to the point where she can no longer choose, well, getting to that point was part of her choice." In a letter to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Lindsey Graham and its ranking member, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Rao wrote that she had failed to recognise at the time how her remarks could be viewed as offensive, and she described herself as a "sheltered" college student. "I particularly regret the insensitivity demonstrated in my remarks on rape and sexual assault, she wrote. While responding to events and debates on campus, I failed to recognise the hurt that my words would cause a survivor of such crimes. I recognise now the arguments I made might discourage a victim from coming forward or from seeking help. Rao, head of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which reviews executive branch regulations, also touted her parents' history working with organisations that combat domestic abuse. In her letter, Rao wrote that her late mother had been on the board of First Step, a woman's centre in Michigan that seeks to combat domestic and sexual violence. She added that her father continued this work on the board of Mai Family Services, which focuses on preventing domestic abuse in the South Asian community. As a society we should create an environment where survivors feel empowered and comfortable coming forward, Rao wrote. I am sorry for anything in my college writings to the contrary. Born to Zerin Rao and Jehangir Narioshang Rao, both Parsi physicians from India, Rao grew up in Michigan. During her confirmation hearing, Rao came under particular scrutiny from Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, one of two Republican women on the Judiciary Committee and the only woman in Republican leadership. Ernst told Bloomberg last month that she was raped in college. Although Rao emphasised at her hearing that she had matured since college, Monday's letter offered a more forceful apology. If I were to address these issues now, she wrote, I would have more empathy and perspective. If the Senate confirms Rao, she would be the second Indian-American judge in the DC Circuit Court after judge Sree Srinivasan, who was appointed during the previous Obama regime. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Canada's former justice minister has quit Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet amid allegations Trudeau's office pressured her to avoid prosecuting a major Canadian engineering firm. Veterans Affairs Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould released a letter Tuesday announcing her resignation. She was demoted from the post of justice minister last month. The Globe and Mail newspaper reported last week that Trudeau or his staff pressured her to arrange a deal with Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin that would let it avoid criminal prosecution on allegations of corruption involving government contracts in Libya. Wilson-Raybould has hired a former Supreme Court justice to advise her on what she can say publicly about the matter. Her resignation is a potential blow to Trudeau as he faces re-election this year. He has denied directing Wilson-Raybold to arrange such a deal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A politically charged trial of a dozen Catalan separatist leaders got underway Tuesday in Spain's Supreme Court amid protests and the possibility of an early general election being called in the country. The defendants are being tried on rebellion and other charges stemming from their roles in pushing ahead with a unilateral independence declaration in October 2017. The declaration was based on the results of a divisive secession referendum that ignored a constitutional ban. The trial, arguably Spain's most important in four decades of democracy, began as the future of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's minority government hinges on last-minute negotiations with Catalan pro-independence parties to back his 2019 budget. Sanchez could be forced to call an early election if the Catalan separatists, whose support brought the Socialists to power last year, don't change their current position of voting against his spending plan on Wednesday. The separatists want Sanchez to agree to talks on self-determination for their region, but the government argues that Spain's constitution doesn't allow it. Opening the parliamentary debate on Tuesday, Spanish Budget Minister Maria Jesus Montero told Catalan lawmakers that the government would "not give in to any blackmail by anybody." "Under no circumstance will we agree to include the right to self-determination in Catalonia in any talking points," she said. Meanwhile, Sanchez appeared to put more pressure on his opponents by tweeting that "the right-wing and the separatists will vote against a budget that helps social causes." "They both want the same thing: a Catalonia that is divided and a Spain that is divided," he wrote. Tensions between regional and central authorities peaked with the 2017 breakaway attempt but the conflict has been festering ever since. The 7.5 million residents of Catalonia remain divided by the secession question. On Tuesday, pro-independence protesters briefly blocked highways in the northeastern region and roads in its capital. A sit-down demonstration outside the Barcelona office of the state prosecutor was cleared by the regional police without incident. In Madrid, right-wing protesters carrying national flags shouted as lawyers and three defendants who were free on bail entered the 18th-century convent that houses Spain's Supreme Court. Former Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras, the regional parliament's former Speaker Carme Forcadell and the other 10 defendants weren't expected to testify Tuesday, but they sat on four benches in the middle of the courtroom. Holding papers in their hands and smiling to each other at times, the defendants sat facing a seven-judge panel headed by Supreme Court magistrate Manuel Marchena, who moderates the proceedings. Junqueras' lawyer, Andreu Van Den Eynde, was the first to speak, arguing that the cause goes "against political dissidence." "We are before an exceptional trial," he told the judges, adding that "self-determination is the formula to avoid conflicts in the world." Catalan President Quim Torra, a fervent separatist who has had to apologize for anti-Spanish comments, followed the proceedings from the back of the courtroom, where 100 seats were reserved for the defendants' relatives, journalists and members of the public who lined up for hours to get one of the limited spots. Among those not on trial is Carles Puigdemont, Torra's predecessor who fled Spain. He called for the 12 separatists to be absolved for their alleged crimes and called the trial "a stress test for the Spanish democracy." Addressing reporters at a conference in Berlin, the former Catalan leader added: "I trust, however, that the Spanish state will take advantage of this chance to issue the correct sentence, which is absolution." Puigdemont successfully avoided extradition to Spain when a German court refused to send him back on charges of rebellion last year. Those who stayed behind and showed up in court are the ones facing trial. Junqueras, Puigdemont's No. 2 at the time, faces up to 25 in prison if found guilty of rebellion, while others charged with sedition or misuse of public funds could get shorter sentences if convicted. The proceedings were broadcast live on television in a display of transparency that aims to fight the separatists' attack on the court's credibility. Authorities in Spain have dismissed the notion that the trial is political and say it follows the Europe Union's highest standards. Proceedings were likely to last for at least three months. The verdicts, and any sentences, will be delivered months later. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The top Pentagon official arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday to consult with American military commanders and Iraqi government leaders on the future US troop presence in Iraq. Pat Shanahan, the acting secretary defense, said before his unannounced trip that he wanted to hear first-hand about the state of Iraq's fight against remnants of the Islamic State group. Shanahan, who is on his first visit to Iraq, is also to meet with Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi. In remarks to reporters after leaving Washington on Sunday, Shanahan declined to say whether he would propose that additional US special operations troops be brought to Iraq to, in effect, compensate for a pullout from Syria to begin within weeks. The U.S. has about 5,200 troops in Iraq to train and advise its security forces, 16 years after the US invaded to topple Saddam Hussein. President Donald Trump upset Iraqis by saying earlier this month that US forces should use their Iraqi positions to keep an eye on neighbouring Iran. That is not the stated US mission in Iraq, and Iraqi officials have said Trump's proposal would violate the Iraqi constitution. Trump also has angered Iraqi politicians by arguing that he would keep US troops in Iraq and use the country as a base from which to strike extremists in Syria if necessary, after the 2,000 troops now in Syria depart in coming weeks. Curbing foreign influence has become a hit-button issue in Iraq after parliamentary elections last year in which Shiite politicians backed by Iran made significant gains. Meanwhile, Shiite militias that fought alongside US-backed Iraqi government troops against IS in recent years, gained outsized influence along the way. This political tension formed the backdrop to Shanahan's visit, which marks his first time in Iraq. He took over as the acting Pentagon chief after Jim Mattis resigned as defense secretary in December. It's unclear whether Trump will nominate Shanahan for Senate confirmation. On Monday, Shanahan was in Afghanistan, where he met with US troops and President Ashraf Ghani amid a US push for peace talks with the Taliban. Trump has indicated he would like to get US troops out of Afghanistan after 18 years of war, but Shanahan said he has no orders for a troop drawdown. Although Afghanistan is America's longest war, fighting in Iraq has taken a heavier toll on American lives. President Barack Obama pulled troops out of Iraq in December 2011 but sent them back in smaller numbers in 2014 after the Islamic State group swept across the border from Syria and took control of much of western and northern Iraq. Since the height of its self-proclaimed caliphate that included a third of both Iraq and Syria, IS-held territory has now shrunk to a sliver of territory in eastern Syria where remaining Islamic State militants are fighting back. Trump has not publicly called for a US withdrawal from Iraq, although he often calls the 2003 invasion a colossal mistake and has said the US should have taken Iraq's oil as compensation for getting rid of Saddam. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A top leader of the banned CPI (Maoist) in Jharkhand, carrying a cash reward of Rs 1.25 crore on his head, has offered to surrender before Telangana police along with his wife, also a maoist, official sources said Tuesday. The surrender of B Sudhakar, a native of Telangana, who is now a central committee member of CPI(Maoist) and the chief of CPI (Maoists) in Jharkhand was in process, they said adding Sudhakar's wife Nilima carries a reward of Rs 10 lakh on her head. "They expressed their desire to surrender.. Discussions are underway.. We are expecting the duo's surrender soon," a senior Telangana Police official told PTI. Sudhakar carries a reward of Rs 1.25 crore on his head in Jharkhand region and Rs 25 lakh in Telangana, the official said. In 2017, following the arrest of Sudhakar's brother B Narayana (also a maoist from Telangana) near Ranchi, police "probed" the alleged investment links of CPI(Maoist), especially in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, sources added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Thailand and the United States have hosted the opening ceremony for the annual Cobra Gold military exercise, the biggest activity of its type in the Asia-Pacific region with 29 nations taking part as participants or observers. Seven nations in addition to Thailand and the United States are active participants: Singapore, Japan, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea. The acting head of the US diplomatic mission in Thailand, Peter Haymond, said at the ceremony Tuesday in northern Thailand that the aim of the exercise, first held in 1982, is to strengthen cooperation and inter-operability. There are three major components of the exercise, which ends February 22: military field training, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief training. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said that the tax related proposals in the Finance Bill are aimed at helping the poor and the middle class people living on a tight budget. The Minister, while moving the Finance Bill for consideration and passage in Lok Sabha, also took a swipe at the Congress, saying unlike the previous UPA dispensation, the Modi government in its interim budget did not reduce levies of SUVs which are used by rich persons. In the Finance Bill 2019, the Minister proposed to raise tax rebate for people having annual income up to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 2,500 to Rs 12,500, which will effectively ensure that they don't have to pay any tax. Those having income of up to Rs 8-9 lakh too can take advantage of this if they invest in tax saving schemes. In the Bill, standard deduction has also been raised from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000,besides a host of tax benefits to home buyers. The tax proposals are aimed at helping "poor and middle class people living on tight budget", Goyal said while moving the Finance Bill which contains tax proposals of the government. The next government, which will be formed after the upcoming general elections, will come out with full budget in July. It will also come up with a Finance Bill containing the tax proposals for 2019-20. Elaborating on his tax proposals, Goyal said that decision to raise the rebate for people having annual income of Rs 5 lakh was to provide greater certainty about tax liability as salary payments to them is subject to Tax Deduction at Source (TDS). The proposal, Goyal added, was welcomed with euphoria within and outside the House and will provide requisite impetus to savings and boost economic growth. He said the Modi government during the last four-and-a- half years tried to benefit every section of society and tax payers. As a result, he said, the tax base in the country increased, the tax collection doubled in the last five years and India has become the fastest growing major economy in the world. Higher collections, he said, have enabled the government to earmark more resources for the socially and economically deprived sections of the society. The Minister said that the proposal to raise standard deduction from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 and hiking TDS limit on interest income from Rs 10,000 to Rs 40,000 will provide relief to senior citizens. The housing sector, he added, will too get a boost on account of the proposals including interest subvention, allowing capital gains tax exemption on purchase of two flats from proceeds of sale of a house and hiking rebate on repayment of home loans. The government, he added, was working to ensure a house for every citizen when India celebrates its 75th year of Independence. The government's policies have helped in keeping the property prices under check, he said, adding the non-performing assets (NPAs) too have remained low in the sector, probably because "housewives insist that the home loans are repaid in time". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Taliban have announced a 14-member negotiating team ahead of talks this month with US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who has been meeting with the insurgents to try to end America's longest war. Mullah Abbas Stanikzai heads the Taliban team announced Monday, which includes five former inmates of the US prison in Guantanamo Bay who were released in 2014 in exchange for a captured American soldier. The team also includes Anas Haqqani, the jailed younger brother of the leader of the Haqqani network, a powerful Taliban faction. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Haqqani, who is being held in Kabul, "should be released to start work on the negotiating team." The Taliban refuse to meet with the US-backed government in Kabul. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) / -- The newest programme of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's SPJIMR, the Post Graduate Management Programme for Women (PGMPW), has won the 'MBA Innovation Award' at the 2019 edition of the Association of MBAs (AMBA) Excellence Awards. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/688342/SPJIMR_Logo.jpg ) The PGMPW is a 11-month course designed in partnership with industry leaders. It is the only programme tailored to the needs of women who seek to return to work after a career break. The programme prepares and positions mid-career women professionals and at the same time helps industry hire top talent and build a more gender diverse workplace. The PGMPW is into its second year at SPJIMR and is regarded as one of the Institute's notable innovations. AMBA said, "The prestigious award is a celebration of innovation and radical thinking in MBA delivery across all areas of the Business School and has been developed to recognise and reward brilliant new practices. It promotes the value of risk-taking in pursuit of the new." Some 200 B-School leaders representing 46 Business Schools across the world attended the glittering awards ceremony held earlier this month in London, the headquarters of AMBA. SPJIMR's PGMPW Chairperson and Professor of Marketing Dr. Ashita Aggarwal was at the ceremony to receive the award. Dr. Aggarwal later said, "SPJIMR positions itself as an institute that is known for two key attributes - courage and heart. Both of these words are at the heart of the PGMPW, and its unique positioning and purpose. The programme stands testimony to the fact that business decisions can be very courageous and can be taken from the heart. It takes a lot of perseverance for our participants to do a one-year, rigorous, fully-residential programme, leaving their kids and families back home." Among the first graduating cohort, 90 per cent of PGMPW students were placed with reputed organisations in roles higher than their most-recent positions. The candidates achieved an average salary increase of more than 50 per cent. SPJIMR Dean Dr. Ranjan Banerjee said, "The PGMPW is the beginning of a larger effort to support the cause of bringing talented women back to the workforce. While we are pleased to receive early global recognition, this is a long and difficult journey, and we have only just begun." Andrew Main Wilson, CEO of AMBA, said: "On behalf of the AMBA and Business Graduates Association (BGA) team, I would like to congratulate the Finalists and Winners of this year's AMBA Excellence Awards." "The quality of Award entries was once again very high this year and we are proud to celebrate the achievements and innovation so clearly evident in AMBA's network of Schools and their students," he added. SPJIMR's mission is to 'Influence Practice' and 'Promote Value-based Growth'. The School aspires to be Asia's most innovative and socially-responsive school of management. The finalists list was shortlisted by AMBA's senior management team who reviewed 76 entries. The judges reviewed 27 shortlisted entries. The judging panel was made up of AMBA board members, business experts, Deans, and management leaders. About SPJIMR: S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR) (http://www.spjimr.org ) is a constituent of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and is ranked among the top ten business schools in India. As a premier school of management, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's SPJIMR is noted for pedagogic innovations and pioneering programmes, which have helped the Institute stand out for its unique and distinctive path in management The mission of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's SPJIMR is to 'Influence Practice' and 'Promote Value-based Growth'. The Institute currently operates from its 45-acre campus in Andheri, Mumbai, and a campus in New Delhi. To avoid confusing us with any other institution, look for the five strokes logo and the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan association. Source: S.P. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Our spinal cord is able to process and control complex body movements, say scientists who suggest that the organ may be 'smarter' than previously thought. Our brains are thought as being at the centre of complex motor function and control. It is well known that the circuits in the spinal cord control seemingly simple things like the pain reflex in humans, and some motor control functions in animals. Research from Western University in Canada has shown that the spinal cord is also able to process and control more complex functions, like the positioning of your hand in external space. "This research has shown that a least one important function is being done at the level of the spinal cord and it opens up a whole new area of investigation to say, 'what else is done at the spinal level and what else have we potentially missed in this domain?'" said Andrew Pruszynski, assistant professor at Western University. This kind of hand control requires sensory inputs from multiple joints -- mainly the elbow and the wrist -- and these inputs was previously thought to be processed and converted into motor commands by the brain's cerebral cortex. Using specialised robotic technology, a three degree of freedom exoskeleton, subjects were asked to maintain their hand in a target position and then the robot bumped it away from the target by simultaneously flexing or extending the wrist and elbow. The researchers measured the time that it took for the muscles in the elbow and wrist to respond to the bump from the robot and whether these responses helped bring the hand back to the initial target. By measuring the latency, or 'lag', in the response, they were able to determine whether the processing was happening in the brain or the spinal cord. "We found that these responses happen so quickly that the only place that they could be generated from is the spinal circuits themselves," said Jeff Weiler, lead researcher of the study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience. "What we see is that these spinal circuits don't really care about what's happening at the individual joints, they care about where the hand is in the external world and generate a response that tries to put the hand back to where it came from," said Weiler. This response generated by the spinal cord is called a 'stretch reflex,' and has previously been thought to be very limited in terms of how it helps movement. "Historically it was believed that these spinal reflexes just act to restore the length of the muscle to whatever happened before the stretch occurred," said Pruszynski. "We are showing they can actually do something much more complicated -- control the hand in space," he said. This findings add to our understanding of neuroscience and neurocircuitry, researchers said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Samajwadi Party workers went on a rampage across Uttar Pradesh Tuesday after the government clipped the wings of their national president Akhilesh Yadav, preventing him from flying to Allahabad on grounds of law and order. Yadav claimed he was stopped by authorities at the Lucknow airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad, triggering outrage by party lawmakers in the state legislature and workers outside the airport. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said he was to fly to Allahabad from Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport to attend an event at Allahabad University. He posted photographs on his official Twitter handle in which he was seen talking to police officers inside the airport. Protests broke out in Allahabad, Jaunpur, Jhansi, Kannauj, Balrampur, Jalaun and Gorakhpur, among other places, where SP supporters smashed windscreens of vehicles and clashed with the police. SP leaders said party MP Dharmendra Yadav was injured in Allahabad in cane charge by the police. The issue rocked both the Houses of the Uttar Pradesh legislature. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Samajwadi Party workers clashed with police in several parts of Uttar Pradesh Tuesday after the state government clipped the wings of their president Akhilesh Yadav, preventing him from flying to Allahabad on the grounds of law and order. Protests broke out in Allahabad, Jaunpur, Jhansi, Kannauj, Balrampur, Jalaun, Azamgarh and Gorakhpur, among other places, where SP supporters smashed windscreens of vehicles and clashed with the police. Roads were blocked in Gorakhpur. Yadav said he was stopped by authorities at the Lucknow airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad, triggering outrage by party lawmakers in the state legislature and workers outside the airport. The issue rocked the Rajya Sabha as SP and other opposition parties protested over the incident, disrupting the proceedings of the House. The matter also caused an uproar in both Houses of the Uttar Pradesh legislature. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told reporters that Yadav's visit could have triggered violence between rival student groups at the university. "The Allahabad University had urged the government to stop his visit and the government acted," he said. As soon as Samajwadi members came to know that Yadav was stopped at the airport, they raised the matter during the Question Hour in the assembly. "The present regime is trying to kill democracy and stop our leader from visiting Allahabad," party leader Narendra Verma alleged. The members also trooped into the Well of the House, prompting Speaker Hriday Narain Dixit to adjourn proceedings for 20 minutes. It was later extended for the entire Question Hour and then for the day. BSP leader Lalji Verma also supported the SP members, saying, "There is an anarchic government in the state which wants to suppress the voice of opposition." Responding to the issue, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna said, "The district magistrate informed him (Yadav) not to visit Prayagraj as it could create law and order problems." He alleged SP and BSP members "throttled democracy by not allowing the House to function". Amid all this high drama, Yadav kept tweeting that he was "prevented from boarding the airplane without any written orders". "Currently detained at Lucknow airport," he claimed. "It is clear how frightened the government is by the oath ceremony of a student leader. The BJP knows that youth of our great country will not tolerate this injustice anymore!" Yadav tweeted. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said he was to fly to Allahabad from Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport to attend an event at Allahabad University. He posted photographs on his official Twitter handle in which he was seen talking to police officers inside the airport. The issue also generated heat outside the Vidhan Bhavan. Agitated SP workers gathered outside the assembly complex in the heart of Lucknow to protest. Many of them, wearing red caps, also rushed to the airport. Agitated SP legislators also sat on dharna outside Raj Bhawan against the "undemocratic behaviour" of the BJP government after staging a noisy protest in the UP legislature. They relented when Governor Ram Naik sent a message to them that he would meet their delegation tomorrow. SP leaders said party MP Dharmendra Yadav was injured in Allahabad in cane charge by the police. Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar said the university administration did not permit any political programme on the campus fearing breach of peace. "Due to Kumbh, there is a huge congregation in Prayagraj. The district administration had intimated the ex-CM's office and Lucknow DM about the university decision," he said. Addressing a hurriedly convened press conference, Yadav alleged that the Centre was "involved" in stopping him at the airport here and preventing him from flying to Allahabad. "I think the government at the Centre is also involved in stopping me. State police cannot enter airport as its security is in Centre's hand," he claimed. He described Adityanath's comments that his visit could have triggered violence as "a cover to hide nervousness" and said that stopping him showed how "scared" the government is. In a statement earlier, he said the BJP has lost Uttar Pradesh, "but more than an election, they have lost the faith that the youth of this country reposed in them". Extending support to Yadav, BSP chief Mayawati said the incident was extremely condemnable and asked whether the ruling BJP was afraid of their alliance because of which it is "resorting to anti-democratic methods". She described the episode as "an example of total dictatorship of BJP government". "This is very unfortunate and this undemocratic step will be fought at all levels," she said. "Are the BJP governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh so afraid of BSP-SP alliance that they are resorting to anti-democratic methods to curb our political activities," she asked. The SP and the BSP recently forged an alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Samajwadi Party legislators Tuesday sat on dharna outside the Raj Bhawan after staging a noisy protest in the UP legislature, agitated over party chief Akhilesh Yadav being denied permission to fly out of the state capital to Allahabad. The SP legislators relented when Governor Ram Naik sent them a message that he would meet their delegation Wednesday. Earlier, they raised the matter vociferously in both the state Assembly and the Council and shouted anti-government slogans, prompting the chair to adjourn the proceedings. Then, they reached the Raj Bhawan to register their protest against "undemocratic behaviour" of the BJP government and sat on the dharna. Yadav was stopped from taking a special flight to Allahabad on ground that law and order would be vitiated there. "We strongly condemn this dictatorial attitude of the Yogi Adityanath government. SP workers will not tolerate such action. Not only us, people of the state will give a befitting reply in the Lok Sabha elections," SP MLC Rajpal Kashyap said. Another SP MLC Sunil Yadav Sajan claimed, "We had to reach here as the governor is oblivious to the jungle raj of Yogi Adityanath government. He should be aware of what is going on in the state and intervene. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday claimed he was stopped by authorities at Lucknow airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad, triggering outrage by party lawmakers in the state legislature and workers outside the airport. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said he was to fly to Allahabad from Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport to attend an event at Allahabad University. "The government is afraid of oath-taking ceremony of a student leader and is stopping me at the airport to prevent me from visiting Allahabad," Yadav claimed on Twitter. He posted photographs in which he was seen talking to police officers inside the airport. But the airport director A K Sharma said, "I have no such information." The issue rocked the Uttar Pradesh legislature. As soon as Samajwadi Party members came to know about their national president being stopped at the airport, they raised the matter during Question Hour in the assembly. "The present regime is trying to kill democracy and stop our leader from visiting Allahabad," SP leader Narendra Verma said. The members also trooped into the Well, prompting Speaker Hriday Narain Dixit to adjourn proceedings for 20 minutes. It was later extended for the entire Question Hour. When the House reassembled, agitated SP members again rushed to the Well and sat on a dharna, shouting slogans against the Yogi Adityanath government. "Yogi teri tanashahi nahi chalegi (Yogi government's anarchy will not be tolerated)," they shouted. BSP leader Lalji Verma also supported the SP members, saying "there is an anarchic government in the state which wants to suppress the voice of Opposition." Responding to the issue, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna said, "I have sought a report on this incident". "The SP leader had to attend a programme in Prayagraj. The district magistrate informed him to not visit Prayagraj as it could create law and order problems." Khanna said Yadav was informed about it yesterday, a day before his scheduled visit. "Law and order is our top priority and we will maintain it at any cost and whatever step is needed for this, we will do... He (Yadav) should abide by law. It is his responsibility. He should not have dishonoured the DM's orders," he said. Khanna said Samajwadi Party only knows shouting and does not want the House to run. He said SP and BSP members "throttled democracy by not allowing the House to function." As the matter refused to die, the Chair adjourned the House for the day at 12.50 PM. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath later told reporters that Yadav's visit could have triggered violence between rival student groups at the university. The SP chief was also said to have had planned to visit the Kumbh Mela on Tuesday. Adityanath said Yadav visited Kumbh 10 days ago and had taken a holy dip at Sangam. "The Allahabad University had urged the government to stop his visit and the government acted," the chief minister said. The issue was also raised in the Legislative Council, leading to the adjournment of the House for 25 minutes during the pre-lunch sitting. Amid all this high drama, Yadav kept tweeting that he was "prevented from boarding the airplane without any written orders". "Currently detained at Lucknow airport," he claimed. "It is clear how frightened the govt is by the oath ceremony of a student leader. The BJP knows that youth of our great country will not tolerate this injustice anymore!" Yadav tweeted. SP leader Indrajeet Saroj, who accompanied Yadav at the airport, said, "We have been stopped on oral orders. We are asking (airport authorities) to give in writing. Akhileshji had to attend several programmes in Allahabad. The administration did not follow protocol meant for a former CM." The issue also generated heat outside the Vidhan Bhavan. SP workers gathered outside the assembly complex in the heart of Lucknow to protest the alleged detention. Many of them, wearing red caps, also rushed to the airport. Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar said the university administration did not permit any political programme on the campus fearing breach of peace. "Due to Kumbh, there is a huge congregation in Prayagraj. The district administration had intimated the ex-CM's office and Lucknow DM about the university decision," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A short circuit is suspected to be the cause of the fire that broke out in Karol Bagh's Arpit Palace hotel in the early hours of Tuesday, a senior civic official said. The fire, which killed at least 17 people, initially broke out in the second floor of the building, an North Delhi Municipal Corporation official said. The hotel was first granted a licence in October 2005 and was renewed every year. The last renewal was done on May 25, 2018 and was valid till March 31. "As per information gathered from the site, it reveals that the incidence of fire accrued at second floor at around 3.30 AM on February 12 due to short-circuit," the official said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore Tuesday said the state government was "seriously concerned" about the grievances of its employees, including teachers, and their issues will soon be "addressed effectively". Addressing the state assembly on the opening day of the budget session, he said that the government did not want "its dynamic workforce" to suffer any disadvantage. The governor spoke at length about the Amarinder Singh-led Punjab government's policies and programmes intended for the welfare of the people. Addressing the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Badnore said his government was concerned about the woes of teachers. "It shall take all possible measures to redress their grievances. In fact, not only the teachers, the grievances of all employees of the state are receiving full attention of my government and these shall soon be addressed effectively as the government does not want its dynamic work force to suffer any disadvantage or handicap in any manner," he said. Notably, the Amarinder Singh government has been under fire from the opposition over the cane charge of teachers at Patiala on Sunday. Many were injured when police lathi-charged a group of teachers marching towards the chief minister's residence to protest against the conditions for their regularisation. The state government has also faced severe criticism from its employees over the non-payment of dearness allowance and arrears. Noting that farmers' welfare remained the "undeterred priority", Badnore said his government has notified a farm debt relief scheme and it was being implemented with 5.83 lakh small and marginal farmers being provided loan relief to the tune of Rs 4,736 crore. "My government is fully convinced that farmers' income can be doubled with greater ease and speed only by assisting them in subsidiary occupations such as dairy farming, piggery, goat farming, poultry," he said. The governor further said that his government was committed to pursue the recommendations of the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission, which probed the sacrilege and police firing incidents. Asserting that the government had taken every possible administrative and legal measure to protect the state's river water, he said, "Punjab does not have surplus water and is, in fact, threatened with a water famine in not too far a future." The governor also talked about the success achieved in neutralising gangsters and busting 19 terror modules and the action taken against drug smugglers and peddlers in the last two years. Akali MLAs, led by Parminder Singh Dhindsa, raised slogans against the government over issues such as farmer suicides and staged a walk out. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court Tuesday quizzed the Madhya Pradesh High Court as to why a woman judicial officer, seeking reinstatement after having resigned following inquiry into her allegations of sexual harassment against a sitting high court judge, was not allowed to meet the then Chief Justice. The judge was given a clean chit in December 2017 by a Rajya Sabha-appointed panel which had probed the allegations. A motion of impeachment was admitted against the high court judge after 58 members of the Rajya Sabha supported the woman's case. The top court told the registrar general of the high court that "there were too many strange coincidences" in the arguments put forth by him. A bench of Justices A K Sikri, S Abdul Nazeer and M R Shah said that the high court will have to explain the circumstances in which the trial judge was transferred to Sidhi from Gwalior on the ground of pendency of cases as the Judges Inquiry Committee (JIC) have opined that it was not the valid ground. Senior advocate Ravindra Shrivastava, appearing for Registrar General of the high court, said that the apex court has to see the scope and jurisdiction of the JIC. The bench said it agrees that JIC's recommendation were not binding on the high court but it was a high powered committee and, therefore, it may have some persuasive powers. Shrivastava contended that the woman in her plea is seeking judicial review of the full court's administrative decision which cannot be done. To this, the bench said, "Judicial review of the administrative decision of the full court can be done. Role of a judge and role of an administrator are two different things. In Supreme Court, there are cases when two judges support the motion in full court but when they sit on judicial side, they have adjudicated it accordingly. That's the beauty we have". The senior counsel said all the high courts draw their power from the Constitution and administrative decisions of transfer, resignation and seniority fall within its purview. The bench asked him to respond to the submissions made by the petitioner's counsel, senior advocate Indira Jaising, that there were several calls made by the sitting judge to the staff of the Chief Justice of the high court and to the chairman of the JIC. "Let us be honest. Why she was not allowed to meet the Chief Justice to tell her side of the story. She sought time for meeting with Chief Justice," the bench asked Shrivastava. Earlier, Jaising said that petitioner after being transferred was left with no other option but to resign due to the circumstances. The hearing remained inconclusive and would continue tomorrow. On January 11, the high court had told the apex court that the woman judicial officer cannot be reinstated. The woman has moved the apex court seeking that the administrative order of January 11, 2017 passed by the high court, dismissing her application for reinstatement into the state Higher Judicial Services, should be set aside. The registrar general of the high court also said that high court had not compelled her to tender resignation. In her plea, the former trial judge has said that her fundamental rights granted under the Constitution for employment, to work and to carry on her profession needs to be secured. She has said that high court had ignored the categorical finding in the report of the JIC dated December 15, 2017 terming the petitioner's resignation dated July 15, 2014 from her post of Additional District Judge as "unbearable circumstances having no other option". The plea has said that Madhya Pradesh High Court had dismissed her application "without assigning any valid reasons for the rejection and in utter disregard of the findings of fact arrived by the Judges Inquiry Committee in its report". "After the inquiry proceedings conducted against the respondent judge on three charges relating to sexual harassment, consequent victimisation and transfer of the petitioner, the JIC held that the charges were not proved and hence cleared him of all charges," the petition has said. It, however, said the JIC took note of the arbitrary and sudden transfer of the petitioner from Gwalior to Sidhi which was done "in complete violation of the transfer policy, not on administrative exigencies and concluded that the transfer of the petitioner was in violation of the transfer Policy - punitive, irregular, unjustified, arbitrary and hurried". The woman in her plea has added that the JIC had opined that "the petitioner be reinstated in service since her resignation was tendered under coercion". The report of the panel comprising Supreme Court judge R Banumathi, Justice Manjula Chellur (then Bombay High Court judge) and jurist K K Venugopal (now Attorney General for India) had given a clean chit to the high court judge was tabled before the Rajya Sabha on December 15, 2017. The panel was set up in April 2015 by then Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari after admitting a motion supported by 58 members to impeach the judge. On July 7, 2014, the woman trial judge was transferred to Sidhi from Gwalior which she termed as "illegal", "unjust" and "punitive transfer" as their was no vacancy in Sidhi nor any administrative exigencies. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court Tuesday adjourned for tomorrow the hearing on a contempt plea filed by Ericsson India against Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) Chairman Anil Ambani and others for not clearing its dues of Rs 550 crore and asked the alleged contemnors to be present. Ambani, Reliance Telecom Ltd Chairman Satish Seth and Reliance Infratel Ltd Chairperson Chhaya Virani, who have been issued contempt notices by the apex court on January 7, were present in the courtroom. A bench of Justices R F Nariman and Vineet Sharan said that due to the paucity of time the hearing on the plea would continue tomorrow. The bench said that a special bench would assemble in the post-lunch session and therefore hearing on the plea would not be possible. During the brief hearing, senior advocate Dusyant Dave appearing for Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson said that Reliance has committed contempt a number of times and they have not purged themselves. He said RCom violated two orders of the top court and even committed perjury by concealing information under oath. Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Kapil Sibal, appearing for Reliance said that no contempt was made out as our attempt to save the company did not go well. Rohatgi said the deal worth Rs 25,000 crore to sell assets of the telecom company to Reliance Jio has fallen through and now they are in the insolvency. "They (Ericsson) wanted proceedings under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and now we are under it," he said. Ericsson's counsel Dave countered the arguments and said: "They (Reliance) wrote to us on January 21 saying that they wanted to clear the dues and demand drafts are ready but we have to withdraw our contempt petition from this court". He said Ericsson replied to them that the case cannot be withdrawn as apex court has already issued notice. "To our surprise, on February 1, they made a public statement that they have decided to opt for insolvency proceedings. Now we have come to square one," he said. Dave claimed that in its BSE filings Reliance has claimed that they have received Rs 3,000 crore and Rs 2,000 crore from sale of assets to different firms including Reliance Jio recently. "This information was not revealed to the court by them in the affidavit and hence committed perjury. They are not candid. They have pocketed all the money," he alleged. Rohatgi said that money has not been received by Reliance. The bench after perusing the two letters given Dave said that no where it has been written that the money has been received by Reliance. Dave replied that Ericsson is in complete darkness as various lenders are taking their money back directly. The hearing remained inconclusive and would continue tomorrow. At the fag end of hearing, Rohatgi enquired from the bench whether Ambani and two others would be present in the court room, to which the bench said, "Yes Yes". Ambani, in navy blue suit, arrived in the courtroom at around 10 AM and along with Satish Seth and Chhaya Virani had to wait for nearly two and half hours for their case to be taken up at 12.45 PM. On January 7, RCom had said that it would deposit two demand drafts of Rs 118 crore to establish its bona fide with the apex court registry and told the court that it would pay the remaining outstanding amount in due course. Besides seeking contempt proceedings against RCom chairman and two others, Ericsson had also sought that they be "detained in civil prison" unless they purge themselves by making the payment. It had also sought directions to the Ministry of Home Affairs to prevent Ambani, Satish Seth and Chhaya Virani from leaving the country. The apex court had on October 23 last year asked RCom to clear the dues by December 15, 2018 saying delayed payment would attract an interest of 12 per cent per annum. The plea by Ericsson had sought that the court direct Ambani and the lenders forum to hand over the Rs 550 crore with interest from sale proceeds as per the October 23, last year order. In its first contempt plea, Ericsson had sought action against Ambani and others for failing to pay Rs 550 crore towards settlement to the company by September-end last year. The company had alleged that RCom has "wilfully and consciously" defied the order dated August 3, 2018 of the top court and the undertaking given before it to pay up by September-end last year. Ericsson India, which had signed a seven-year deal in 2014 to operate and manage RCom's nationwide telecom network, had alleged that it had not been paid the dues of over 1,500 crore and challenged the debt-ridden firm before National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). The top court had perused the May 30 last year interim order of the NCLAT and noted that Ericsson India was willing to settle its debt of over Rs 1,500 crore for a sum of Rs 550 crore which was to be paid by RCom within 120 days. It had on August 3 last year allowed RCom to sell assets covering spectrum, fibre, telecom towers and certain real estate assets for an aggregate value of approximately Rs 25,000 crore. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) / -- Global provider of artificial intelligence and intelligent automation solutions, AntWorks powered by fractal science, has today announced a joint venture with SBI Neo Financial Services Co., Ltd., to supply AntWorks' integrated intelligent automation platform to East Asia and South East Asia markets. SBI Neo Financial Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SBI Holdings Inc, headquartered in Tokyo, today announced it has entered into an agreement with AntWorks, Head Quartered in Singapore, to establish SBI Antworks Asia. This joint venture is designed to support the sale and introduction to East Asia and Southeast Asia of AntWorks' operational automation platform, which integrates Cognitive Machine Reading and RPA capability with artificial intelligence (AI). The SBI Group will hold a 60-percent interest in SBI Antworks Asia. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/819568/AntWorks_and_SBI_Logo.jpg ) In August 2018, SBI invested US$15m in AntWorks through the SBI AI&Blockchain Fund managed by SBI Investment. In stark contrast to more traditional OCR tools, the Generation 2.0 intelligent automation platform developed and provided by AntWorks leverages Cognitive Machine Reading as the basis of its data ingestion engine. This allows data to become ingested in any form (including structured, semi-structured, unstructured, inferred and images) which radically transforms the quality and accuracy of data being used at the start of the automation process. This is just one of the platform components which AntWorks believes enables them to deliver significantly improved results than traditional RPA and OCR tools (now increasingly becoming referred to in industry as Gen 1.0 technology). AntWorks' Gen 2.0 solutions integrate a full suite of AI technologies, including machine vision, machine learning, deep learning and natural language modelling (NLM), natural language processing (NLP) and natural language generation (NLG). The principles of the platform are all underpinned by fractal science, spearheaded as breakthrough alternative to neural science for the deployment of process automation by AntWorks. AntWorks solutions are designed to tackle even difficult challenges which conventional technologies cannot, as evidenced by the fact that the firm's fractal theory-based AI technology allows even non-unified format documents to be read. SBI Antworks Asia will enter into an exclusive business alliance agreement with AntWorks on operations in East Asia and Southeast Asia, thereby assisting the sale and introduction of its products. Japan must pursue operational rationalization urgently as a nation that is now beset with labor shortages against the backdrop of a shrinking working-age population. In this respect, by leveraging AntWorks products, SBI Antworks Asia will provide solutions for such social challenges, while assisting customers who want to rationalize operations. SBI Neo Financial Services Representative Director, Yoshitaka Kitao, commented, "AntWork's platform uses AI for CMR and RPA on their platform which enables the machine to recognize unstructured data. This Intelligent AI is the next generation RPA technology. It will realize the true automation in the office just like it happened in factories in Japan in 1950's and 1960's. Japan is now facing the labor shortage because of the decrease in population. Intelligent RPA is the solution to this situation. SBI Neo Financial Services is going to deliver this technology not only to the regional banks but also other companies in Japan. Moreover we are ready to bring this intelligent RPA to Asian countries through our bases in the region. This will accelerate the growth of Asian countries by increasing the productivity of operations in companies." AntWorks CEO and Co-Founder, Asheesh Mehra, commented, "I am very excited with signing of this Joint Venture as it strengthens the relationship between SBI and AntWorks. This partnership will enable the accelerated penetration of the East Asia and Southeast Asian marketplaces for AntWorks and will bring to the forefront the strength of the AntWorks' ANTstein Enterprise Intelligent Automation Platform." Mr. Mehra also added, "With the deep relationships SBI hold, this partnership will enable AntWorks to be part of the significant change that will take place, both at an enterprise-level, and in future back office operations, in delighting its customers in the region using a digital workforce."About SBI Neo Financial ServicesSBI Neo Financial Services is an affiliate company of SBI Holdings, and aims to drive further diffusion of innovative technologies towards various users, such as regional financial institutions of Japan through SBI Group's experience and insight on online finance. SBI Neo Financial Services' objective is to contribute to regional revitalization through relationships developed between regional financial institutions and the SBI Group, by utilizing innovative services of SBI Group companies and Fintech companies from around the world. About AntWorks AntWorks[TM] are a global, artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligent automation company; creating new possibilities with data through digitization, automation, and enterprise intelligence. As the World's only platform that understands every data type, ANTstein digitizes every bit of information for a diverse range of industries. By creating human-like bots in a low-code / no-code environment, ANTstein innovates new ways to automate complex processes. AntWorks' solutions power up enterprises with accurate insights through an integrated, intelligent, technology stack that automates and learns independently. Put simply, it accelerates the new, constantly. ANTstein is also the first and singular Enterprise Intelligent Automation Platform powered by fractal science principles and pattern recognition. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan's former army chief Gen Raheel Sharif, who is heading a Saudi Arabia-led Islamic military coalition, on Tuesday called on Prime Minister Imran Khan and exchanged views on regional peace and stability besides discussing matters of mutual interest. Saudi Arabia acquired the services of Gen. Raheel, who retired in November 2016, as head of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) in 2017. The IMCTC was cobbled together in December 2015 to combat terrorism. Sharif, who is considered to be close to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, is leading a delegation of IMCTC - the 41-nation military coalition - to Pakistan. During the meeting, Khan and Sharif "exchanged views on regional peace and stability besides discussing matters of mutual interest", state-run Radio Pakistan reported. Sharif, who arrived in Islamabad Sunday ahead of the Saudi crown prince's maiden two-day trip starting February 16, has been busy meeting political and military bigwigs since then. He has met Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa. Sharif apprised Qureshi of the measures that are being taken by the coalition in order to combat terrorism, said a statement by the Foreign Office. The foreign minister "lauded the efforts of the coalition force to establish peace and stability in the region". The two also talked about the importance of regional peace and stability and other matters of mutual interest. A press release issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media arm of the army, said "matters of mutual interest including regional peace and stability" were discussed during Gen Sharif's meeting with Gen Bajwa. The former army chief has said the basic objective of IMCTC was to fight against the menace of terrorism until its eradication. The Saudi government had surprised many countries by announcing that it had forged a coalition for coordinating and supporting military operations against terrorism in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan. Iran, Saudi Arabia's arch rival for influence in the Arab world, was absent from the states named as participants, as proxy conflicts between the two regional powers rage from Syria to Yemen. In December last year, Gen. Raheel dismissed the notion that the military coalition was aimed against any particular country, nation or sect without any mentions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Defence, trade and energy security are expected to be high on the agenda when Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman holds talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his two-day visit to India next week. Accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising ministers, senior officials and leading Saudi businessmen, Prince Salman will arrive India on February 19 on his maiden trip to the country, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement here. During the visit, the Crown Prince will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on wide range of issues of mutual interest. He will also call on President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu. The visit by Prince Salman, who is also the vice president of Saudi Arabia's council of ministers, follows the highly successful trip of Prime Minister Modi to that country in April 2016, during which the two sides agreed to further elevate existing strategic partnership, the MEA said. In recent years, there has been significant progress in bilateral cooperation in key areas of mutual interest, including energy security, trade and investment, infrastructure, defence and security, it said. The bilateral trade was USD 27.48 billion during the last financial year 2017-18, making Saudi Arabia India's fourth largest trading partner. Saudi Arabia contributes significantly to India's energy security needs by supplying about 20 per cent of crude requirements of the country. Recently, Saudi ARAMCO in partnership with ADNOC of the UAE entered into a Joint Venture for USD 44-billion worth Ratnagiri Refinery and Petro-Chemical project Ltd. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also facilitates Hajj pilgrimage to over 1,75,000 Indians every year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Soviet authorities themselves condemned the USSR's bloody occupation of Afghanistan, but 30 years later some in Vladimir Putin's Russia are coming to see the operation in a more positive light. After a decade of military intervention to bolster Kabul's embattled Communist government against Islamist fighters, the USSR finally pulled out its last units on February 15, 1989. The withdrawal, ordered by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, was a humiliating defeat for the Union and helped lead to its collapse. Mikhail Kozhukhov, who covered the conflict as a correspondent for the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, remembered how the final Russian troops left without joy or bitterness. "The soldiers were dreaming only of one thing: getting home safe and sound," Kozhukhov, now 62, told AFP. The reporter remembered crossing the "Friendship Bridge" across the Amu Darya river separating Afghanistan from then-Soviet Uzbekistan in the second-last armoured vehicle of the last Soviet convoy, flying red flags. One of the armoured vehicles carried the body of 20-year-old Igor Lyakhovich, who was killed a day earlier and is officially the last of more than 14,000 Soviet war dead in a conflict that killed more than one million Afghans. "Along the route you could see the 'ghosts' who had come down from the mountains to watch our retreat from a distance," said Kozhukhov, using a Russian term for elusive Afghan partisans. "The eyes of the inhabitants of the snowy village were full of hate or spite because they were being left to the mercy of fate," Kozhukhov said. The journalist, who briefly served as Putin's press secretary in 1999 and 2000, says that "the intervention in Afghanistan was always a tragic and senseless escapade." The intervention was extremely unpopular with the Soviet public and was officially condemned in 1989 at the height of Gorbachev's policy of "glasnost", or transparency. But this judgement is now being reassessed, under pressure from veterans. Putin in 2015 appeared to back the intervention, saying that the Soviet leadership was trying to confront "real threats" even though he acknowledged "there were many mistakes." In late January, Russia's parliamentary defence committee backed a draft resolution saying that "the moral and political condemnation of the decision to send in Soviet troops" was "against the principles of historical justice."The Soviet troops helped the Afghan authorities fight "terrorist and extremist groups" and curbed the growing security threat facing the USSR, the draft resolution says. The draft resolution, however, has yet to be voted on in full session, reflecting the authorities' reluctance formally to revisit this traumatic episode. Historian Irina Shcherbakova of Memorial rights group says that amid heightened tensions with Western powers in recent years, "Russia is reviving its Soviet past to justify its new opposition to the West." For political analyst Pyotr Akopov from pro-Kremlin site Vzglyad, "the ex-combatants and the whole of Russian society need vindication for this war." "We have nothing to apologise for, we didn't use napalm... and we even managed to leave Afghanistan with our supporters replacing us, which the Americans have never managed to do." Alexander Kovalyov, president of the association of ex-combatants for the CIS region including most ex-Soviet countries, insists the invasion of Afghanistan was justified and says Gorbachev "betrayed all the dead" by condemning it. "Without our troops, the Americans would have installed their missiles to target Moscow," he said. "Gorbachev was right to finish this war but we should have kept on supporting Kabul with the necessary arms for it to resist," said Kovalyov, who served as a deputy commander in charge of political indoctrination of an army regiment sent in to secure the withdrawal. Konstantin Volkov went to Afghanistan in late 1981 as a conscript at the age of 17, full of enthusiasm after following Soviet media reports. He was responsible for radio communications, taking part in 70 missions and was decorated for intercepting correspondence between the Mujahideen. Demobilised in 1983 in good physical health, he says the war haunted his dreams for 15 years. He was ordained as a Russian Orthodox priest and is now Father Konstantin. At his church in a village outside Moscow, around 30 of his fellow "Afghans" (Soviet veterans) gather every February 15. "I suggest to my former comrades that they express penitence and don't think any more about what happened in that war," he told AFP. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rajya Sabha proceedings were Tuesday adjourned till 2 PM following uproar by Samajwadi Party members after party chief Akhilesh Yadav was allegedly stopped at Lucknow airport while on his way to Allahabad. Trouble started after as many as 15 members made zero hour mention on issues of public importance. SP members were up on their feet trying to raise their issue but nothing could be heard and Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu ordered that nothing would go on record. Naidu said he cannot allow them to raise the issue as they have not given notice and no member can raise issue without the permission of the Chair. SP members said they have received information that Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav was stopped at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow by police in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad University. "Please go to your seat. Please don't spoil the atmosphere. This is not the way. We have lost so much of valuable time," he said before adjourning the proceedings till 2 PM. In a tweet, Akhilesh Yadav said, "The government is so afraid of oath ceremony of a student leader that it is stopping me at the airport to prevent me from visiting Allahabad". Unlike the trend during the current Budget session, the House functioned when it met Tuesday. Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad (Cong) said there are constitutional responsibilities on part of both the government and the opposition. These include passing a motion of Thanks to the President for his address to the joint siting of Parliament at the start of the Budget session, and approving the budget. He suggested that the discussion on Motion of Thanks on the President's Address can be taken up on Tuesday and the debate on the Interim Budget 2019-20 on Wednesday. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel said the government was agreeable to the suggestion. "We can extend the tenure of the House if there is an agreement in the House" to discuss the six bills that are listed for taking up after the Motion of Thanks is passed and the Budget approved, he said. However, his suggestion did not seem to have found favour with members. The House then took up zero hour mentions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rock-solid support of people ahead of the coming Lok Sabha election, BJP president Amit Shah claimed on Monday. Launching the 'Mera Parivar-Bhajpa Parivar' voter outreach campaign from Gujarat, Shah said the general election is an important step for India to become a global superpower. "I travel the country... I can see that people are standing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi like a rock and one can see the support in their eyes," Shah said addressing BJP workers. Hitting out at the Opposition, he said, "The 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) is made up of only state-level leaders. It will not affect BJP's poll prospects." Shah launched the outreach campaign by hoisting the party flag at his residence here. The BJP intends to hoist the party flag at the houses of voters under this mass outreach drive. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Robert Vadra, Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law, and his mother Maureen Tuesday appeared before the here in connection with a probe into an alleged land scam in Rajasthan's Bikaner district. AICC general secretary Vadra dropped them off at the ED's zonal office, taking time off from her four-day Uttar Pradesh trip in a show of solidarity with her husband. On Facebook, Vadra accused the Narendra Modi government of being vindictive ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. This was Vadra's first appearance before the ED in in connection with charges of money laundering through land deals made by a company linked to him. Vadra was asked by the High Court to cooperate with the agency. His appearance follows soon after he faced ED questioning for three days in on charges of money laundering, allegedly through property purchased in London. Vadra is also facing charges of irregular land deals in Haryana's Gurugram district. Vadra and his mother reached the ED's zonal office at Bhawani Singh Road, amid tight security arrangements. Maureen Vadra was allowed to go after some time. Vadra was permitted to leave around 1.30 pm for an hour-long lunch break. Near the ED office, some workers shouted slogans in support of Priyanka Gandhi, and also repeated the slogan given by her brother Rahul Gandhi, calling Modi a thief. Chowkidar chor hai, they shouted. Several hoardings were put up nearby showing pictures of and her husband Robert Vadra, and saying the people wanted and to come to power. Jan Jan ki hai yehi pukar, Rahul ji-Priyanka ji abki baar, the banners said. vice Archana Sharma, however, claimed she was not aware of such posters. "The party has not put up any such hoardings," she said. Before the questioning started, Vadra accused the government of harassing his elderly mother by putting her through it. As I always have adhered to rules and overall being a disciplined person, I have the ability to sustain any amount of hours of questioning and having nothing to hide, I will answer every question with respect and dignity. This too shall pass and will make me stronger, he said. "So here we are my 75-year-old mother and me in to depose in front of the Not understanding the lows of this vindictive government to be harassing a senior citizen, who the world knows has lost her daughter in a car crash, her ailing son to diabetes, and her husband as well," he posted. In the Bikaner case, the agency had summoned Vadra thrice but he failed to appear before it. The High Court asked him and his mother to cooperate with the agency after they approached it, seeking directions that no coercive action is taken against them by the ED. The ED had registered a case in connection with the deal in 2015, taking cognisance of a clutch of FIRs and chargesheets filed by the Rajasthan police after the Bikaner tehsildar complained about alleged forgery in land allotment. It is understood that the agency wanted to question him about the operations of Skylight Hospitality Private Limited, allegedly linked to him, which purchased land in the area. It also wanted to confront Vadra with the statements of those said to be linked to him. (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.) Globalisation has flattened the cultural landscape and the world is facing a challenge from "mono-culturalism", American historian and political scientist Mark Lilla has said. The professor of humanities at Columbia University said people were beginning to feel that they are like elementary particles floating in space and not part of the narrative of one particular culture or country. "The challenge of our time is not multiculturalism, but mono-culturalism," Lilla said. "Due to the internet culture, our children are much more alike than the people in this audience, and this will become more and more the case with time," he said. Lilla's remarks came at a session titled 'The Interplay of Politics and Society' at the seventh World Government Summit (WGS 2019). The summit, which runs until February 12 in Dubai, has convened more than 4,000 participants from 140 countries, including heads of state and governments, as well as top-tier representatives of 30 international organisations. "A lot of the identity politics that we see in the world, in conflictual terms, does not come from hatred or distrust of the other, but from the anxiety in the face of a monoculture that no longer roots us in one place," Lailla said. To counter this, the governments need to create a strong political identity by focusing on civic education as the glue that binds citizens together. "Civic duty has to be inculcated at an early age and based on a political idea, not just a cultural one," he said. Laill was in discussion with other academics to share his views on the state of the world's politics, political tribalism and the need for governments to promote civic education. Building on Lilla's point of identity politics, Amy Chua, American professor of Law at Yale Law School said human beings were like "tribal animals". "We are hardwired that way and it's biological. We need to belong to groups. And once we connect to a group, we tend to cling to it and defend it," she said. Cautioning against political tribalism, Chua said it was on the rise across the political spectrum from left to right. Political tribalism is particularly dangerous as members start seeing everything through the lens of their respective groups with disregard to facts, she said. To combat political tribalism, Chua said that countries should look at becoming a 'super group' by satisfying two conditions: develop a strong overarching collective national identity capable of inspiring patriotism and allow sub-groups, whether ethnic, religious or cultural, to flourish freely. "The concept of a 'super group' can be very helpful for many multi-ethnic nations around the world, including in the Middle East," she said. In his session 'Why Nations Fail', British economist, political scientist and author James Robinson discussed rising income inequality in countries such as the US and the UK, and the detrimental effects of separating elites from the rules. "I don't think inequality is causing populism, I think inequality is caused by populism," Robinson said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das Tuesday said he had an interactive meeting with foreign investors in Hong Kong. This is his first interaction abroad with investors after taking over as the RBI's governor in December last year. "Held an interactive meeting with FPIs in Hong Kong today (Tuesday). Good participation and discussion," he said in a tweet. Since he took over as 25th RBI Governor, he has hold a series of meeting with various stakeholders including heads of public sector banks, private sector banks, non-banking financial services, and industry chambers. The RBI last week proposed removal of 20 per cent foreign portfolio investor (FPI) restriction on the corporate debt market. It was stipulated that no FPI should have an exposure of more than 20 per cent of its corporate bond portfolio to a single corporate, including exposure to entities related to the corporate. This was decided as a part of the review of the FPI investment in corporate debt undertaken in April 2018. FPIs were given exemption from this requirement on their new investments till the end of March 2019 to adjust their portfolios. While the provision was aimed at incentivising FPIs to maintain a portfolio of assets, market feedback indicates that foreign investors have been constrained by this stipulation. To encourage a wider spectrum of investors to access the corporate debt market, the RBI in its sixth bi-monthly policy on February 7 said that it is now proposed to withdraw this exposure limit. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday said the summoning of Robert Vadra and his mother Maureen by the Enforcement Directorate for a probe into an alleged land scam "is nothing but political vendetta ahead of the Lok Sabha polls". Vadra, who is the brother-in-law of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, and his mother appeared before the ED in Jaipur during the day in connection with an alleged land scam in Rajasthan's Bikaner district. Banerjee was speaking to reporters at the Kolkata airport on her way to Delhi where she is scheduled to participate in a mega rally of non-BJP leaders convened by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on February 13. "They (BJP) are doing it everywhere, this (questioning by ED) is nothing but political vendetta ahead of Lok Sabha polls. Narendra Modi is aware that he is not coming back to power after the elections. "Within 15 days we will go for polls (elections will be announced). This government has passed its expiry date," said Banerjee, who is one of the prime figures in the anti-BJP movement ahead of the polls. Banerjee had last week slammed the Centre for the interrogation of Vadra by the ED. The West Bengal chief minister had organised a mega opposition rally on January 19 at the Brigade Parade Ground here and had called for ousting the Modi government. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A pro-government campaigner was killed in eastern Senegal Monday, in the first fatality from a string of pre-election clashes between supporters of President Macky Sall and the opposition. A police official told AFP the individual was stabbed during "scuffles" between the Unity and Assembly Party (PUR), which is led by opposition leader Issa Sall, and pro-government campaigners. The body was taken to a hospital in Tamboucounda, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) east of Dakar, the source said. A police source said a motorcyclist was killed by a vehicle speeding away from the scene of the stabbing. A journalists' association meanwhile said eight reporters were also injured in the violence. President Sall told an election meeting that the stabbing victim was a member of his governing Alliance for the Republic (APR) and called for "light to be shed (on the killing) so that the electoral campaign does not become a pretext for violence." Violence has buffeted Senegal ahead of presidential elections on February 24, despite appeals for calm from religious leaders. Sall urged his supporters not "to succumb to provocations" and called upon political rivals to issue similar appeals. "This is a result of a call to violence issued by certain politicians," the president said of the death. "They will have to answer for their actions in court," he added, On Sunday at least two people were "seriously injured" in Fatick, a presidential stronghold in Senegal's centre-west, in clashes with supporters of rising opposition candidate Ousmane Sonko, local media reported. Four people, all Sonko supporters, were badly hurt on February 4 in the northern city of Saint-Louis, Sonko's campaign said. Senegal, a former French colony, is seen as a beacon of democracy and relative prosperity in West Africa. But its election campaigns are often marred by accusations of corruption, influence-peddling and misinformation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) It may not be clear as yet how Vadra joining Congress would impact its electoral fortunes, but it would help the party reduce its funding and resource gaps with the ruling BJP, an influential American foreign policy magazine has said. The Congress Party's newest campaigner may not actually contest elections, but she will likely narrow a funding gap in a country where winning votes costs serious money, Milan Vaishnav from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace wrote in his latest article for the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine. Congress president Rahul Gandhi last month made his sister party's general secretary in-charge of crucial eastern having 40 seats in the Lok Sabha. She made her maiden road show Monday in Lucknow along with her brother. Her formal entry into politics, Vaishnav said, has imparted the much-needed enthusiasm to the party, which lost power in 2014 amid a historic victory of the BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Headed into the 2019 general election, the Congress starts from a position of weakness, he said, adding "reports suggest that Congress state units have been starved of funds from the party high command due to the fiscal crunch. "Priyanka Gandhi's entry into active politics comes at a time when the Congress needs all the help it can get. The party has seen few victories since a disastrous 2014 general election performance, and Gandhi provides a much needed morale boost to the Congress rank-and-file," wrote Vaishnav, co-author of a recent book Costs of Democracy: Political Finance in India. "Just last month, the Congress was unceremoniously excluded from a pivotal opposition alliance in Uttar Pradesh, India's most electorally consequential state. With heading the Congress party's campaign in eastern -- home to the parliamentary seats of her mother, brother, and Prime Minister Modi of the ruling BJP -- the party may gain new leverage with fellow opposition forces," he said in his write-up. "But the play is not only about winning allies and lifting spirits; it's also about cash. The party is short of it, and Gandhi substitutes for the political finance that the Congress desperately needs," he said. Stating that "Vadra, unlike Modi, is just a campaigner; there is no indication that she will contest elections herself", he said, "In 2014, the Congress faced three insurmountable deficits - of leadership, ideology, and resources." "There is no short-term fix for the first two, but the third problem just got a little easier, he said, arguing that she would help her party meet the resource crunch and would "partially offset her party's lackluster coffers." "Lacking a sizable advertising budget, the Congress can ensure wall-to-wall television coverage of any event in which Gandhi even remotely figures... in a country where dynastic politicians are often revered as deities," said Viashnav. Vaishnav notes that the Priyanka Gandhi buzz will also challenge the BJP's dominance on social media. In less than 24 hours after joining Twitter, she had more than 13,000 followers. Elaborating upon the role of social media in modern electoral arena, he said Modi had already mastered the social media game, using Twitter and Facebook to circumvent traditional media gatekeepers and communicate directly with his online followers even before 2014. "Five years ago, Rahul Gandhi did not even have a Twitter account to his name," he said. While the Congress has invested heavily in upping its social media presence, it still lags far behind. (Modi currently has 45.4 million Twitter followers to Rahul Gandhi's 8.45 million.) But the same fascination with Gandhi that will suck in traditional media outlets is also likely to catch eyeballs online, Vaishnav said. Will the Priyanka-Gandhi-as-political-finance strategy tip the scales? The arrival of a new Gandhi family member on the political scene will not fix the organisational infirmities that ail the party overnight. But those things that money (or, in this case, Gandhi) can buy have never guaranteed victory: They earn you a seat at the table, concluded the Foreign Policy columnist. A day after making her debut in Uttar Pradesh's political arena as Congress's general secretary, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Tuesday got down to business, holding strategy sessions to script her party's victory in the upcoming parliamentary polls. Returning to the state capital after a short visit to Jaipur, where her husband Robert Vadra and his mother Maureen appeared before the ED in connection with a probe into an alleged land scam in Rajasthan's border town of Bikaner, Gandhi got cracking at the UP Congress headquarters. The party office here buzzed with activity as enthusiastic Congress workers gathered outside the UPCC building, even before she returned from an overnight stay in Jaipur. Immediately after reached the party office, she was closeted with senior leaders and office bearers of Lucknow, Mohanlalganj, Prayagraj, Ambedkar Nagar, Sitapur, Kaushambi, Fatehpur, Bahraich, Phulpur and Ayodhya Lok Sabha constituencies to galvanise the party's preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Priyanka Gandhi is slated to continue this exercise Wednesday and Thursday with leaders of other constituencies which she has been asked to take care of in eastern Uttar Pradesh by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, party sources said. In an adjoining room, the newly appointed Congress general secretary incharge of western UP, Jyotiraditya Scinda, held deliberations with leaders from the constituencies he has been asked to groom. Scindia too will hold strategy sessions over the next two days to ensure victory of candidates of the Congress, which has decided to go alone in all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state, they said. Priyanka Gandhi and Scindia, along with Rahul Gandhi, had held a grand roadshow here on Monday, raising hopes of a turnaround in the party's fortunes. Virtually launching the party's Lok Sabha poll campaign, Rahul Gandhi asserted that it was the time to uproot the BJP and form government in the state. Asserting that the party would "play on front foot", Rahul Gandhi Monday said, "Till a Congress ideology government is installed here (UP), we will not rest, and ensure justice for farmers, the youth and the poor." "Their (Priyanka and Scindia) aim is definitely the Lok Sabha elections, but it is also to bring a Congress government here," he had said, adding, "the Congress began its journey from Uttar Pradesh and it cannot remain weak in the state... the Congress has to improve its performance in UP in the LS polls and from government in the next assembly elections". Giving a sense what her entry means to the party workers in UP where the Congress has been struggling electorally for years, posters showed Priyanka Gandhi in 'Durga Mata' (Hindu Goddess) avatar riding a lion. "Maa Durga ka roop behen Priyankaji (Sister Priyankaji is Maa Durga's incarnation)", said one poster, while some others highlighted her resemblance to Indira Gandhi, her grandmother. Priyanka Gandhi's entry into active has been at a time when the party is not only witnessing one of the most difficult times electorally but has also been sidelined by prospective allies for 'mahagatbandhan', with the Samajwadi Party and BSP totally ignoring it while forming their alliance. "An alliance is also in the contest here and I have clearly said that I respect Mayawati ji and Akhilesh Yadav ji...but the Congress will fight with all its might for its ideology to change Uttar Pradesh," Rahul Gandhi had said. The Congress had fared miserably during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections by winning just two of 80 seats in the state. The eastern UP, Priyanka Gandhi's area of responsibility, has Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency Varanasi. The region is also seen as a stronghold of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. On the day of her political debut in UP, Priyanka Gandhi also joined Twitter and garnered a massive response with tens of thousands following her on the social media platform within hours. A day before her maiden visit to Uttar Pradesh as Congress general secretary, Priyanka Gandhi had said that together with the people of the state she hopes to start a "new kind of politics" in which everyone will be a stakeholder. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi government is playing " of deception" on the issue of electoral rolls and action needs to be taken, BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi said in the Lok Sabha Tuesday. "Many people are getting calls that their names have been deleted from the voter list. To their surprise it turns out to be false when they check," she said during the Zero Hour. This kind of "fraud" is taking place and police have filed a case but no action is being taken, she said. "How the of deception is being played by Delhi government is for everyone to see...I urge police action in such incidents," she added. The Election Commission on Sunday asked Delhi Police to take "necessary action" against people making "misleading" phone calls about electoral rolls in the capital. A BJP delegation had met the Chief Election Commissioner and alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had been making such phone calls. AAP national convener and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had retorted that the Election Commission "must not be allowed to become agent of a political party". On Saturday, Delhi's Chief Electoral Officer had cautioned people about calls claiming that their names had been deleted from the electoral rolls. The officer had made it clear that only the electoral registration officer can add or remove names from the rolls. Besides the issue of electoral rolls, M B Rajesh (CPM) raised the issue of stopping of light and sound show at the historical Jallianwalla Bagh in Amritsar. He said since this comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture, necessary steps should be taken to restore it. Bhartuhari Mahtab (BJD) and TMC's Saugata Roy said they supported the issue. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Forty-three Mexicans duped in immigration scams have been freed after being forced to work for almost nothing in Canadian hotels, police said Monday. The workers, mostly men, were lured to Canada by traffickers. Once the Mexicans paid a large sum of money, they were promised they could study in Canada, or get work visas and permanent resident status. But once in Canada, they were housed in "squalid conditions" in cities in central and eastern Ontario, and forced to work as housekeepers in hotels, Ontario Provincial Police said. "Human trafficking is modern-day slavery," OPP Deputy Commissioner Rick Barnum told reporters in Barrie. "Exploitation is the key element of this offence." Two cleaning company officials in the Barrie, Ontario area who worked with hotels there are suspected of involvement but so far have not been arrested. Human trafficking is "modern-day slavery," said Barnum. Barrie police chief Kimberly Greenwood added: "it is inconceivable that this was taking place in our community. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will Wednesday address a real estate conference organised by realtors' apex body CREDAI in the national capital. The prime minister will address the CREDAI YouthCon-19 on February 13 at Talkatora Stadium here, an official statement said. "The Prime Minister will also visit the exhibition organised by CREDAI," it added. YouthCon is the annual youth conclave of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Association of India (CREDAI), held to bring together the future of the real estate Industry in India. Earlier, CREDAI had said in a statement that Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal and Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri are also scheduled to address the two-day event. "CREDAI's initiatives towards the development of the Indian real estate know no bounds and aim to create an extremely conducive environment to spearhead the growth of the Indian economy," Jaxay Shah, national president at CREDAI, said. Established in 1999, CREDAI is the apex body representing real estate developers from over 200 cities in the country. It has more than 10,000 members. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah Tuesday pooh-poohed attempts by the opposition parties to cobble a grand alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, asserting it will not hurt the prospects of the BJP to return to power. The comments by Modi and Shah come a day after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu's daylong fast in Delhi became a rallying point for opposition unity for the second time in less than a month to take on the BJP at the hustings. On January 19, 22 opposition parties came together at a rally in Kolkata convened by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee. Delhi's ruling AAP is also planning a mega rally of non-BJP leaders Wednesday against the Modi government in the national capital. While Modi mocked the planned 'mahagathbandhan' as "maha-milawat"(highly adulterated), saying all the faces in this grouping are only indulging in competition in threatening and abusing him, Shah dubbed the alliance as coming together of state-level leaders "not standing a chance" in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Shah also claimed that Modi has rock-solid support of people. Modi said his government will speed up the campaign to rid the country of the corrupt, claiming that only such people had a problem with him while the honest trusted the 'chowkidar'. Modi sought people's support in the campaign in his address at the "Swachh Shakti 2019", an event to recognise the leadership role played by rural women in the Swachh Bharat Mission towards achieving a clean and open defecation free country by October 2 this year. "In 2014, you gave your votes for an honest and transparent government. Middlemen and those who snatched the rights of the poor have been thrown out of all the systems," he said. "Every honest person in the country trusts this 'chowkidar' (watchman) but those who are corrupt, have a problem with Modi," he said. Modi said some people in Haryana are worried over the ongoing investigations by probe agencies against them. "Even in Haryana, you are witnessing how some people are worried because of probe by investigating agencies," he said without naming anyone. There are investigations against former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Congress president Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra for alleged irregularities in land deals in the state. "All the faces of this 'maha-milawat' are indulging in competition of threatening and abusing investigating agencies, court and Modi," the prime minister said. "But you rest assured, this 'chowkidar' will neither be threatened or browbeaten with their threats and abuses, will neither stop nor bow down. Our 'safai' campaign to rid this country of the corrupt and the dirt is going to be further accelerated. For this campaign, your blessings should continue,"he added. Shah sought to know from the opposition parties their prime ministerial 'face' and leader of their proposed grand alliance. Addressing BJP leaders and workers from Gujarat after launching the 'Mera Parivar-Bhajapa Parivar' voter outreach campaign in Ahmedabad, Shah said a full majority government was required to enable Modi to continue serving the needy. "The 2019 Lok Sabha election is an important step for India to become a superpower in the world. I have travelled across the country and I can see that people are standing like a rock with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I have seen love for Modi in people's eyes," he said. Shah said BJP workers ask him about the 'mahagathbandhan'. "I want to tell them that it will not have any impact," he said. "What will happen if (former prime minister and JD-S supremo) Deve Gowda gives a speech in Gujarat or (West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee in Maharashtra or (former UP chief minister) Akhilesh Yadav in Kerala? It will not have any impact whatsoever because they are only state-level leaders," the BJP president said. Asking party workers to reach out to people, Shah said they need not worry as the opposition parties "do not stand a chance" in the coming election. "I want people of this gathbandhan to declare their candidate for PM's post. Who is your leader? Who will run this country? We are very clear about it. Modiji will be the NDA candidate and only he will lead us," he said. On BJP's prospects in Uttar Pradesh, which accounts for the highest number of 80 Lok Sabha seats, Shah said his party will win "nothing less than 74 seats" there. The Modi government has worked to end corruption and to support 22 crore people through various programmes in its maiden term in office. "I would like to tell all party workers that the Modi government has not done anything to make BJP workers hang their heads in shame. Meet people with pride, they are ready to welcome Modiji," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday launched six projects related to health and education in Haryana, including a cancer institute in Jhajjar and a medical university here Modi was here to participate in 'Swachh Shakti 2019', an event to recognise the leadership role played by rural women in Swachh Bharat Mission towards achieving a clean and open defecation-free country by October 2 this year. The event was attended by woman sarpanchs and women associated with the 'Swachhta' campaign from across the country. Modi distributed the 'Swachh Shakti 2019' awards at the event. He inaugurated the Rs 2,035-crore National Cancer Institute (NCI), Badhsa in Jhajjar district, through video conferencing. The NCI is a state-of-the-art tertiary cancer care-cum-research institute, constructed at the AIIMS Jhajjar campus. The 700-bed hospital will have facilities such as surgical oncology, radiation oncology, medical oncology, anaesthesia, palliative care and nuclear medicine, besides hostel rooms for doctors and attendants of cancer patients, an official statement said. Modi also inaugurated the ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad. This is the first ESIC Medical College and Hospital in north India and it has 510 beds. The prime minister laid the foundation stone for National Institute of Ayurveda, Panchkula, being set up at Shri Mata Mansa Devi temple complex there. It will be a national-level institute for Ayurveda treatment, education and research. The foundation stone for Sri Krishna Ayush University, Kurukshetra, first varsity related to the Indian system of medicine in Haryana as well as first-of-its kind in the country, was also laid. Modi also laid the foundation stone for the 'Battles of Panipat Museum'. The museum will honour the heroes of the battles of Panipat. Besides, the PM laid the foundation stone for Pandit Deen Dayal Uadhyay University of Health Sciences, Karnal. Before inaugurating and laying foundation stones for projects, Modi visited the 'Swachh Sunder Shauchalay' (neat and clean toilet) exhibition. The government is encouraging use of 'Swachh Sunder shauchalays' to fight practice of open defecation in rural areas of the country. TheUnion Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation had instituted a competition aimed at promoting toilet usage, and mobilise rural households to beautify their toilets. Modi congratulated the 'Swachh Shakti award' recipients and the villagers who worked shoulder-to-shoulder with the awardee women. "I visited the exhibition here. Within one month 1.25 crore paintings on toilets is a big achievement. For the first time, toilets are being beautified and are being called as 'izzat ghar'." In Europe, there is a place which attracts lot of tourists because people there have beautifully painted and decorated front walls of the houses, he said. May be, a day will come when tourists will flock a village in our country to see beautifully painted toilets, he said. Describing Kurukshetra as the land of "dharma and karma", Modi said it is the same land where Lord Krishna delivered the celestial message of Karma. "Today, the thirdedition of Swachh Shakti 2019 has been launched from Kurukshetra," he said. He congratulated the winners of the Swachhta Shakti Award for making outstanding contribution under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. He touched upon several developmental initiatives undertaken by his government. "Be it the network of hospitals, setting up of 1.50 lakh health and wellness centres in villages or giving free medical health service to poor-- Ayushman Bharat, several works are going on," he said. There are 21 All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the country of which work has been started on 14 AIIMS after 2014, Modi said. He said that in the recent Union Budget, another AIIMS has been sanctioned for Haryana, which would be set up in Manethi village in Rewari district. Earlier, the Prime Minister honoured 12 'Swachhtagrahi', including Sarpanch of Dharala village in Panchkula district, with 'Swachh Shakti Award 2019'. Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Uma Bharti said at present, 5.5 lakh villages, 28 states and 600 districts have been declared ODF. She said the central government under the leadership of PM Modi has resolved to make the country ODF by October, 2019. Haryana Urban Local Bodies Minister Kavita Jain said the state government has effectively implemented Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in the state. She said that while 31 lakh toilets have been constructed in rural areas, 67,000 toilets have been constructed in urban areas. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and state BJP chief Subhash Barala were among those present on the occasion. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A plea has been moved in the Delhi High Court questioning whether national award recipients, like Sachin Tendulkar, can be allowed to participate in private advertisements for commercial gains. The petition, challenging a single judge order declining to entertain the issue, came up for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao which on Tuesday indicated that it was not inclined to hear the matter. The bench, however, did not pass any adverse orders as the petitioner nor his lawyer was present in court and listed the matter for February 26. Justice Menon said a bench headed by him in the Madhya Pradesh High Court had dismissed a similar plea against Tendulkar, who was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2014, and the decision was later upheld by the Supreme Court. He asked the lawyers for the central government to examine the apex court judgement in the other matter and ascertain whether it would be applicable in the present case as well. The petitioner,Kamal Dey, has challenged the single judge's December 11, 2018 order dismissing his plea which had wanted a bar on national award recipients taking part in commercial advertisements for personal gain. His petition contends that such acts of the awardees "hits the dignity of the national award and the nation". "The government should not allow such awardees to participate in any private commercial advertisements," it has said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ashok Piramal Group's realty firm Peninsula Land Tuesday said it will invest Rs 160 crore to develop 600 apartments in the second phase of its affordable housing project in Pune. The Mumbai-based real estate firm had in April last year launched 900 units in the first phase of the 50-acre project -- addressOne -- located at Gahunje, Pune. The project cost was Rs 200 crore. The company has launched the second phase named 'addressOne Central Park' to develop 600 apartments, Peninsula Land said in a statement. The project received a good response in the first phase, Vice Chairman and MD Rajeev Piramal said. "We plan to invest a further Rs 160 crore in developing 600 apartments in the second phase. At Peninsula Land, we believe in providing homes that are affordable and yet offer luxurious amenities to our customers," he added. Peninsula has tied up with Home Capital that will provide home buyers interest free loan on stamp duty and registration. The project is also PMAY (Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana) approved which will help home buyers get up to Rs 2.67 lakh in the form of interest subsidy. "With growing urbanisation, India has a huge demand for affordable homes and to give the necessary fillip to this sector, the government too has provided several initiatives for the affordable housing sector," Piramal said. Peninsula Land has delivered more than seven million sq ft of real estate. Over 10 million sq ft is under construction and in the pipeline in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Goa, Nashik and Lonavala. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will lay the foundation stone of the much awaited Subarnerekha port in Balasore district on Wednesday, Chief Secretary A P Padhi said. The Subarnarekha port project is being developed by Chennai-based Creative Port Private Ltd (CPPL) which will own 49 per cent stake and Tata Steel with 51 per cent stake. "We have already handed over 692 acre of land to the port developer and remaining 150 acre of land under the ownership of some private persons and the government, will be given soon," Padhi said adding that the developers will start construction work as soon as they get 27 acre required for the approach road to the proposed port site. Tata Steel Managing Director T V Narendran said: "We will soon start construction work for the project and the chief minister will lay foundation stone tomorrow." The proposed port is expected to be built in 4-5 years. Narendran said the Subarnarekha project will be beneficial for the steel plants in Jharkhand, West Bengal and northen parts of Odisha. "The proposed port at Subarnarekha will be helpful for our Jamshedpur steel plant," Narendran said adding that all the ports located in the state are useful for Tata Steel. "While Dhamra Port is suitable for our Kalinga Nagar plant, Paradip Port will be good for our Angul plant," Narendran said adding that the company would invest around Rs 3,000 crore in the project. The construction of Subarnarekha port project is expected to be smooth as it has already got clearance from the Defence Ministry. The Chennai-based CPPL had proposed construction of an all-weather deep-draft commercial port at Subarnarekha river. CPPL had signed an MoU with the Odisha government on December 18, 2006 to develop the project. Later, the revenue sharing agreement was inked between the two sides on January 11, 2008. According to the revenue-sharing agreement signed originally, the port would have an initial capacity of 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), which is to be raised to 40 MTPA over 10 years. Odisha already has three operational ports at Paradip, Dhamra and Gopalpur. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prompt action by a CISF official saved the life of a Mumbai-bound passenger who suffered cardiac arrest at the airport, a senior official said Tuesday. Manoj Singh (48) suddenly fainted and fell in the terminal area of the Varanasi airport on Monday noon when he was placing his luggage on the x-ray scanner, he said. On-duty CISF Inspector Niraj Kumar saw the man collapsing and he immediately rushed to help, he said. "The man suffered a cardiac arrest. Without losing any time, Inspector Kumar started administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) medical procedure to the passenger. The passenger soon regained his senses and was rushed to a hospital," the official said. The man is now reported by the doctors to be stable, he said. He was supposed to travel to Mumbai. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) is designated as the lead force to guard 60 civil airports in the country and it has trained a number of its personnel in conducting CPR and similar medical procedures. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An opinion piece in the International New York Times criticising Pakistan's powerful army was censored by its local publisher Tuesday, replaced by a blank space in a country where it can be dangerous to reprimand the military. The article by Manzoor Pashteen, the leader of a movement which calls for an end what it says are enforced disappearances and extra-judicial murders of ethnic Pashtuns by security officials, was widely available online, however. It was headlined "The Military Says Pashtuns Are Traitors. We Just Want Our Rights". In it, the former veterinary student detailed how the impoverished northwest, along the Afghan border, has been "desolated" in Pakistan's long fight with militancy. He described his group, the Pashtun Protection Movement (PTM), as "peaceful". "We held numerous sit-ins and protests and continued to hope that Pakistan's leaders would try to address our concerns. Instead, they responded with intimidation and violence," he wrote. "After every major protest, police arrests and charges PTM activists and supporters with rioting, treason or terrorism," he continued. He also accused the security establishment of ensuring that "almost nothing is reported about our movement in the mainstream Pakistani newspapers and television networks". The piece was "removed for print by our publishing alliance in Pakistan. The New York Times and its editorial staff had no role in its removal," a note at the bottom of the empty-single column on the front page said. The New York Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP. The paper is printed in Pakistan by the local English-language Express Tribune, which regularly censors NY Times articles, including a 2017 piece on an anti-gay crackdown in Chechnya and a piece from 2016 entitled "Sex Talk for Muslim Women". The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a report last year that the army had "quietly but effectively, set restrictions on reporting" in Pakistani media. Last week, the country's top court warned the military and intelligence agencies to stop manipulating the media. The PTM has rattled the military since it burst onto the scene early last year, unleashing festering anger over the alleged abuses against Pashtuns, who account for roughly 15 percent of Pakistan's population. The movement remains peaceful, but has been notable for its direct verbal attacks on the armed forces in a country where such criticism is largely seen as a red line. The military warned PTM last year that its patience is wearing thin. "We realise their grief, their hardships, but (they) should not cross those lines, where the state has to use its force to control the situation," spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said in December. Last week, over a dozen PTM protestors were detained including prominent rights activist Gulalai Ismail. She was released a day later, but several others remain in detention. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A tree planted in a Paris suburb in memory of a young Jewish man who was tortured to death in 2006 has been chopped down, authorities have said, confirming the latest in a series of anti-Semitic acts in France. Ilan Halimi was kidnapped by a gang that demanded huge sums of money from his family, believing them to be rich because he was Jewish. After being tortured for three weeks, the 23-year-old cellphone salesman was found dumped next to a railway in the southern suburb of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois. He died while being brought to hospital. On Monday, municipal workers sent to prepare a memorial site for an annual remembrance ceremony this week discovered that a tree planted in his honour had been chopped down and a second one partly sawn through, local officials told AFP. The police are investigating the incident, which the French government's special representative on racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination, Frederic Potier, described as "ignominious". It is the latest in a series of anti-Semitic acts and attacks that have raised fears of a new wave of anti-Jewish violence in a country that is home to Europe's biggest Jewish population. Anti-Semitic acts surged by 74 percent last year, from 311 in 2017 to 541 in 2018, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said Monday. "Anti-Semitism is spreading like poison," the visibly moved minister said near the spot where the tree was chopped down. "By attacking... Ilan Halimi's memory, it's the Republic that's being attacked," he added, vowing that the government would take action. In two separate incidents in the past two days, swastikas were drawn on Paris postboxes containing portraits of late Holocaust survivor Simone Veil and the word Juden (German for Jews) was sprayed on the window of a bagel bakery in the capital. The incident involving the postboxes was reported by artist Christian Guemy, who painted the portraits of Veil on the boxes in the city's 13th district to mark her burial last year at the Pantheon, final resting place of France's most illustrious figures. A former justice minister, Veil was a hugely respected figure whose death in 2017 caused a national outpouring of emotion. "Shame on the despicable person that disfigured my tribute to Simeon Veil, Holocaust survivor," Guemy tweeted Monday along with pictures of the boxes. Reacting to the tweet, European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau expressed consternation over the "desecration". Meanwhile on Sunday, one of the founders of French bagel bakery chain Bagelstein said vandals had sprayed the word "Juden" in yellow paint on the window of an outlet in the Ile Saint-Louis island in central Paris. Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux drew a line between the graffiti and an arson attack last week on the home of parliament speaker Richard Ferrand, over which the "yellow vest" protest movement has come under suspicion. But Gilles Abecassis, co-founder of Bagelstein, said he did not believe that anti-government demonstrators, some of whom have shown support for a comedian convicted of anti-Semitism, were responsible. "They wrote it in yellow but that could be for the Star of David," he said, adding that he had received thousands of messages of solidarity from around the world. In November, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe warned that France, whose pro-Nazi regime deported Jews during World War II, was "very far from being finished with anti-Semitism". In recent years, French jihadists have targeted Jews in a number of attacks. In 2011, an Islamist gunman shot dead a rabbi and three children at a Jewish school in Toulouse and in 2015 an extremist claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group killed four people at a kosher supermarket in Paris. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Tuesday accused legislators of the Shiromani Akali Dal and Lok Insaaf Party of misbehaving during the Governor's address on the opening day of the Budget Session. As the Governor read out his address, the SAD and LIP staged vociferous walkout on separate issues. "The opposition walkout was a clear case of 'badtameezi' (misbehaviour) with the head of the state", the chief minister told reporters outside the House after the Governor's address. Earlier, when Governor V P Singh Badnore commenced his address, Akali MLAs led by Parminder Singh Dhindsa stood up and spoke against the government over issues such as farmers' suicides and "non-fulfilment" of poll promises. Later, they staged a walkout. Lok Insaaf party MLAs Simarjeet Singh Bains and his brother Balwinder Singh Bains protested the Governor's speech in English and then walked out of the House. "The problem with the opposition was that it had no issues to raise in the House and were thus trying to divert public attention by making noise on non-issues," Amarinder Singh told newsmen. The opposition needed to function in line with the democratic principles on which the parliamentary institution was founded if the Constitution of the country was to be upheld, the chief minister said. He urged the Akalis and other opposition parties to play a constructive role in the interests of the people of the state. Responding to a question, the CM said the SIT set up on the recommendation of the House was probing the Behbal Kalan police firing case and any action by his government would depend on the conclusion of its investigations. The SIT last month arrested former Moga SSP Charanjit Singh Sharma, who led a police team which opened fire at protestors at Behbal Kalan, Faridkot in 2015 during the SAD-BJP government's term. Whoever is found guilty of the crime against innocent people would be punished as per the law, he said, adding that nobody would be spared, irrespective of their status or political affiliations. On the Ludhiana gang-rape case, Amarinder said the police were investigating the matter and some suspects had been detained. The case will be cracked soon, he said. A 21-year-old woman was allegedly raped on Monday by 10 men near Issewal village on the banks of Sidwan canal, about 15 km from here, after the car she was travelling in with her friend was stopped and she was dragged out. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Fluctuation in oil prices, yield indiscipline and airport infrastructure constraints remain three main challenges for Indian aviation market, Chairman and MD said. Yield is the measure of average revenue paid by each passenger per mile. "The largest risk, of course, is oil...From an airlines perspective, what we can do and what we are trying to do is to try and get more fuel efficient aircraft," said Singh. Because of the spike in oil price to up to 86 dollars, airlines were forced to relook at their models and examine where they can make or save more money, he added. "Second (risk) is the indiscipline on yields. I think the massive dumping of the capacity and the ones we saw last year, and that capacity was going into the same markets (sectors or routes) where there were already large number of flights and there was this whole strategy of squeeze out other player from the markets. "...that remains the risk though I think it is moderating a bit. In last few months, I have seen some moderation happening," he said. "The CEOS that I speak to in the aviation sector are all trying to chase profitability and if we can retain that over the next year or two, this (India) is going to be a terrific market," the CMD said. He also pointed out that infrastructure constraint related to metro city airports is a major concern. "In terms of infrastructure, which remains a large concern, of course, (airports in) Delhi and Mumbai will remain a challenge," he said. Many airlines have complained to the Ministry of Civil Aviation regarding lack of slots at airports in metro cities. Singh said the company is trying to stay out of flight sectors or flight routes where there is stiff competition. "We find that there is still enough space to be in markets that are not hugely competitive. We are trying naturally as a strategy to stay out of great deal of competition and try and focus on yield and trying to up our fares. "The benefit of flying on Udan routes is that we would be flying to destinations that would remain exclusive to us for a period of three years....So far, Udan routes, barring one or two, have done very well," he said. flies on multiple routes under Udan scheme, largely using its Q400 aircraft. "We have tried to bring down the costs of Q400 operations over the years. We have a plan to convert 78- seater Q400 aircraft to 90-seater aircraft, and that should be done by July...so by adding more seats to the plane, we are bringing down the costs. "I think some issues around the new aircraft - the ones of Pratt and Whitney engines and the restrictions being imposed by DGCA - should slow down the pace of induction for aircraft in the country," CMD said. This will be a good sign for the industry as the inherent demand remains incredibly strong. If pace of induction slows, it will push up yields. That will be something very positive, Singh added. The name of the chairperson of the Odisha Lokayukta has been finalised by the selection committee on Tuesday, a top state government official said. Chief Secretary A P Padhi said the selection committee at its meeting on Tuesday presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik unanimously finalised the name of the Lokayukta chairperson. Asked about the name of the Lokayukta chairperson, Padhi said: "The state government will announce the name after getting the governors approval." The selection meeting was held under the chairmanship of the chief minister which was attended by Assembly Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat, Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra, High Court Chief Justice Kalpesh Satyendra Jhaveri, chief secretary AP Padhi and General Administration department secretary, AK Meena at the State Guest House here. Padhi said that the selection committee will finalise the name of the other five members of the Lokayukta Committee in its next meeting. The chief secretary had on Monday submitted an affidavit before the Supreme Court stating that the selection process of Lokayukta will be completed by March 31 and it will start functioning in the state from April 8. Odisha was the first state in the country to pass the Lokayukta Bill in the state Assembly on February 14, 2014. As the state government did not take steps to make Lokayukta functional, the Supreme Court on July 10, 2019 had directed the Odisha administration to complete the process for appointment of the Lokayukta. The state government had constituted a seven-member search committee on December 10 for finalising name of the Lokayukta chairperson and its members. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chris Pratt has hit back at actor Ellen Page, who had called out "Guardians of the Galaxy" series star for attending an "infamously anti-LGBTQ" church. Pratt, who identifies as a non-denominational Christian, had advocated about his church Hillsong during an appearance on Stephen Colbert's "The Late Show". After Page's criticism on Twitter, Pratt posted a long message on Instagram Stories, saying that "nothing could be further from the truth". "It has recently been suggested that I belong to a church which 'hates a certain group of people' and is 'infamously anti-LGBTQ.' Nothing could be further from the truth. I go to a church that opens their doors to absolutely everyone," he wrote. Pointing to his split from ex-wife Anna Faris, Pratt said his case is an example of the church opening its doors to "absolutely everyone" "Despite what the Bible says about divorce my church community was there for me every step of the way, never judging, just gracefully accompanying me on my walk, Pratt said. "They helped me tremendously offering love and support. It is what I have seen them do for others on countless occasions regardless of sexual orientation, race or gender," he added. The actor, however, made it clear that though "faith is important" to him, he is not a "spokesman for any church or any group of people". "My values define who I am. We need less hate in this world, not more. I am a man who believes that everyone is entitled to love who they want free from the judgment of their fellow man," Pratt said. "Jesus said, 'I give you a new command, love one another.' This is what guides me in my life. He is a God of Love, Acceptance and Forgiveness. Hate has no place in my or this world," he added. In her criticism, Page had reacted to Pratt's advocacy of Hillsong, which had infamously made headlines in 2015 after it said that it does not support the LGBTQ lifestyle. The church's global pastor Brian Houston had said that he "holds to traditional Christian thought on gay lifestyles and gay marriage" and "God's word is clear that marriage is between a man and a woman". A day later, Page, who came out as gay in 2014 and is married to choreographer Emma Portner, had tweeted, "If you are a famous actor and you belong to an organization that hates a certain group of people, don't be surprised if someone simply wonders why it's not addressed." "Being anti LGBTQ is wrong, there aren't two sides. The damage it causes is severe. Full stop. Sending love to all," she added. A number of other Christian celebrities like Justin and Hailey Bieber, Kylie and Kendall Jenner and Selena Gomez, are also closely associated with Hillsong. The church was founded in Australia but now has locations in New York City and Los Angeles. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior BJP leader Ram Madhav on Tuesday said the NDA government has given India a "sense of security" and there has been "no terror incident" in the country in the last five years. The BJP national general secretary said the surgical strike carried out by the Indian Army in 2016 had conveyed a strong message to terrorists. "We have given a sense of the security to this country. We have ensured a strong security setup in the country," Madhav told reporters on the sidelines of an event here. " ...there has been no terror incident in this country in the last five years," he said. Comparing the NDA with the previous governments, Madhav said, "Earlier Pakistani terrorists used to come inside (our country), engineer terror attacks and kill civilians." He added that no terrorist was allowed to enter India and carry out an attack during the NDA government's tenure. "Instead we entered their country and taught them a lesson," Madhav said. "By undertaking the surgical strike, we have conveyed a strong message to them. (We told them) what can happen if they indulge in any mischief," he said. The BJP leader asserted that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government had a strong policy against terrorism and was committed to moving in the direction of neutralising the last terrorist in the valley. Madhav said the NDA government has ensured security, honour and dignity for the country. He also hit out at the Opposition, accusing it of obstructing Modi from moving towards realising the dream of a New India. Madhav said the government's report card was before the people and it had put in place such security measures that no riot took place in the last five years. On the economic front, he claimed, India was the only developing nation with a growth rate of 7.2 percent. He said India would emerge as one of the world's three biggest economic powers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A massive fire broke out at a hotel in central Delhi's Karol Bagh area early Tuesday, leaving nine persons dead and two critically injured, Delhi Fire Service said. The fire broke out at Arpit Palace Hotel located on Gurudwara Road in Karol Bagh. A call about the fire was received at 4.35 am and 24 fire tenders were rushed to the spot, a senior officer from Delhi fire service said. Nine persons are dead and two critically injured. 35 people have been rescued, he said. Cooling process is underway and the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Mumbai unit of the NCP Tuesday staged a protest here against "rising unemployment" in the country and slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his "unfulfilled" promise of creating two crore jobs per year. The Sharad Pawar-led party also attacked the government over the recent National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) report on job data, that has been withheld. As per reports, the NSSO survey had pegged the current unemployment rate as the highest in the last 45 years. "The Modi government had promised two crore jobs a year, but the promise has not been kept. In fact, the NSSO report has said that the unemployment rate is the highest in 45 years," NCP spokesperson Clyde Crasto said. He said the protesters were stopped by police from marching towards the office of the Mumbai district collector, but were later allowed to submit a memorandum to authorities. The protest was organised by NCP's Mumbai unit youth wing head Nilesh Bhosale and South Mumbai district president Vijay Wadkar. The party plans to stage such protests across the state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) Tuesday granted a week more time to Ahmedabad to decide over the Rs 42,000 crore resolution plan submitted by for the debt ridden Essar Steel. A two member bench headed by Justice S J Mukhopadhaya has directed the Ahmedabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to decide over the matter by February 19. During the hearing, NCLAT was informed that Ahmedabad bench has completed hearing on operational creditors plea and is scheduled to hear suspended Essar directors later in the day Tuesday. Earlier on February 4, the NCLAT has asked Ahmedabad to decide by February 11, failing to which it would call records and pass order. The NCLAT direction came while hearing an application filed by ArcelorMittal, whose Rs 42,000 crore takeover proposal of the indebted steel-maker has been approved by the committee of creditors (CoC) and is pending before the for approval. Earlier, on January 29, NCLT Ahemedabad had rejected the debt settlement proposal put forth by the shareholders of Essar Steel saying the offer violates Section 12A of the Insolvency and Code. The NCLT had said that Rs 54,389-crore offer by Essar Steel Asia Holding, which is much higher than the ArcelorMittal's Rs 42,000 crore bid, is not maintainable as the only way to make a proposal is through Section 12A. Essar Steel owns a 10-million-tonne steel mill in Gujarat. NATO is planning for "more Russian missiles" after the collapse of a landmark Cold War arms treaty, but will not deploy new nuclear warheads in Europe, the organisation's chief said Tuesday. Fears are growing of a new arms race in Europe after Washington started the process of exiting the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty claiming that Russia violated the pact with a new missile system. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would beef up its defences but insisted this did not mean "mirroring" any Russian build-up of missiles. The fate of the INF treaty, signed by the US and the Soviet Union in 1987 to ban ground-launched mid-range missiles, will be high on the agenda as NATO defence ministers meet in Brussels on Wednesday. Western capitals want Russia to return to compliance with the treaty by abandoning its new 9M729 missile system. "We are both urging Russia to come back in compliance but at the same time we are planning for a world without the INF treaty and with more Russian missiles," Stoltenberg said. "We don't have to mirror what Russia does but we need to make sure we have effective deterrence and defence." Stoltenberg repeated warnings that the new Russian missiles made nuclear conflict more likely because they are mobile, hard to detect, and give little warning time. The US Ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey Hutchison, said the Pentagon has already started looking at how best to defend against the new missiles. "America felt it was time for us to have a defence and not be left without a defence with Russia having missiles that were in violation," she said. "What is going to happen going forward? First of all, the defence we would be working on is conventional, not nuclear." The INF treaty banned ground-launched missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres (310 to 3,400 miles), ending a dangerous build-up of warheads on mainland Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the US pullout by saying Moscow would also leave the treaty, and his defence minister announced plans for new missiles -- prompting Trump to vow to outspend Moscow. While pointing the finger at each other, both Washington and the Kremlin have voiced concern that the bilateral INF treaty does nothing to constrain China, whose rapidly growing military relies on medium-range missiles as a core part of its defence strategy. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) NASA's atmosphere-sniffing MAVEN Mars mission is tightening its orbit around the Red Planet to prepare for the US space agency's rover which is scheduled to launch next year. The operation will reduce the highest point of the MAVEN spacecraft's elliptical orbit from 6,200 to 4,500 kilometres above the surface and prepare it to take on additional responsibility as a data-relay satellite for the Mars 2020 rover. "The MAVEN spacecraft has done a phenomenal job teaching us how Mars lost its atmosphere and providing other important scientific insights on the evolution of the Martian climate," said Jim Watzin, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Programme. "Now we're recruiting it to help NASA communicate with our forthcoming Mars rover and its successors," said Watzin. While MAVEN's new orbit will not be drastically shorter than its present orbit, even this small change will significantly improve its communications capabilities. "It is like using your cell phone. The closer you are to a cell tower, the stronger your signal," said Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN principal investigator from the University of Colorado, Boulder. A strong telecommunications antenna signal is not the only benefit of a tighter orbit. Coming in about 1,500 kilometres closer also will allow the MAVEN orbiter to circle Mars more frequently -- 6.8 orbits per Earth day versus 5.3 previously -- and thus communicate with the Mars rovers more frequently. While not conducting relay communications, MAVEN will continue to study the structure and composition of the upper atmosphere of Mars. "We're planning a vigorous science mission far into the future," Jakosky said. The MAVEN mission was designed to last two years in space, but the spacecraft is still operating normally. With the mission managing its fuel to last through 2030, NASA plans to use MAVEN's relay capability as long as possible. The MAVEN orbiter carries an ultra high-frequency radio transceiver -- similar to transceivers carried on other Mars orbiters -- that allows it to relay data between Earth and rovers or landers on Mars. The MAVEN spacecraft already has served occasionally as NASA's communication liaison with the Curiosity rover. Over the next few months, MAVEN engineers will use a navigation technique known as aerobraking -- like applying the brakes on a car -- to take advantage of the drag of the Red Planet's upper atmosphere to slow the spacecraft down gradually, orbit by orbit. This is the same drag you would feel if you put your hand out of the window of a moving car. Based on the tracking of the spacecraft by the navigation team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and at Lockheed Martin in Littleton, Colorado, engineers will begin carefully lowering the lowest part of the spacecraft's orbit into the Martian upper atmosphere over the next couple of days by firing its thrusters. The spacecraft will circle Mars at this lower altitude about 360 times over the next 2.5 months, slowing down slightly with each pass through the atmosphere. While it may seem like a time-consuming process, aerobraking is the most efficient way to change the spacecraft's trajectory, said Jakosky. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Police fired rubber bullets into a crowd of several thousand demonstrators in eastern Myanmar on Tuesday, activists said, as protests mount over a new and controversial statue. The bronze structure depicts the father of de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi -- Aung San -- on horseback and was unveiled early this month in the capital of Kayah state despite strong opposition. Aung San is widely revered by the majority ethnic Bamar (Burmese) population as an independence hero for his role in the struggle against British colonial rule. But the general, who was assassinated before independence in 1948, is viewed less favourably among many ethnic minority groups, who see him as a symbol of Bamar domination. On Tuesday, several thousand people marched to the Kayah state parliament only to be blocked by police in riot gear who were lined up behind rolls of barbed wire. One protest leader, Myo Hlaing Win, told AFP by phone that 10 people had been injured after police fired rubber bullets into the crowd. "They attacked unarmed people," he said. "This should not happen under a democratic government." Images showed medics cleaning up blood streaming from rubber bullet wounds of dazed-looking protesters, many dressed in local traditional red woven garments. Statues of Aung San have been defaced in border states and the Suu Kyi-led government's plan to rename a bridge after him triggered mass protests in eastern Mon state in 2017. "We want to build statues of our own heroes, not of the General (Aung San)," Myo Hlaing Win said. Local police in Kayah state, located on the border with Thailand, could not be reached for comment. The protest was symbolically held on Union Day, a public holiday meant to celebrate the nation's unity. The statues of Aung San are a flashpoint in a larger debate over autonomy. His daughter, Suu Kyi, swept to power in 2015 elections after nearly half a century of junta-rule, vowing to end decades of conflict between the military and ethnic armed groups fighting over resources, territory, and local control of government. But peace talks have achieved little and resentment over the lack of progress has festered. So far 82 protesters have been arrested in Kayah state since last July, when plans for the statue were first announced. Most of those have been detained in the last fortnight. If convicted, they could face up to six months in jail while the protest leaders could be sentenced to up to two years with hard labour. "These protests were peaceful and lawful," said CEO of Fortify Rights Matthew Smith in a statement over the weekend, calling for the government to end the crackdown. "No one should spend any time in court or behind bars for exercising their human rights," Smith said. A further protest was due to take place in downtown Yangon on Tuesday afternoon. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US lawmaker Illhan Abdullahi Omar, one of the first two Muslim women in the US Congress, has "unequivocally" apologised for her remarks which sparked an anti-Semitism row and drew widespread condemnation including from President Donald Trump who termed it a "terrible statement". Omar, who was elected to the House of Representatives last November, on Sunday in a tweet questioned the financial relationship between the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and members of the Congress. While reacting to a Republican critic, Omar, 37, said "It's all about the Benjamins baby," referring to American USD 100 bills featuring the likeness of Benjamin Franklin. "Anti-Semitism is real, and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes," Omar, the first Somalian American lawmaker, said Monday. "My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole. We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me for my identity. This is why I unequivocally apologise," she said, after top Democratic leaders sought an apology from her on her tweets. On Monday, Trump told reporters abroad Air Force One that the apology was not enough. "I think she should be ashamed of herself. I think it was a terrible statement and I don't think her apology was adequate," he said. Asked what she should say, Trump replied, "she knows what to say". Democratic leaders led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described her tweets as highly offensive. "We are and will always be strong supporters of Israel in Congress because we understand that our support is based on shared values and strategic interests. Legitimate criticism of Israel's policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate that the United States and Israel share," they said. "But Congresswoman Omar's use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel's supporters is deeply offensive. We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologise for these hurtful comments," Democratic leaders said. Congressman Dean Phillips had an impassioned, face to face conversation with Omar during which he expressed offense to her recent anti-Semitic tropes and extended an invitation for future discussions aimed at fostering a better understanding between Jewish and Muslim members of Congress. "I strongly condemn anti-Semitism in all its forms, including comments made by my colleague that - purposefully or not - have propagated dangerous and destructive stereotypes of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. "As elected leaders, it is our collective responsibility to set standards of respect and elevate understanding between the communities we represent," he said. Omar and her Democratic colleague from Minnesota were the first two Muslim women elected to the House of Representatives during the last November mid-term polls. "As Americans and Jews, we expect our politicians to condemn bigotry, not to fuel it. Words matter. At a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise in the US and abroad, Rep Omar is promoting the ugly, anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that Jews have an outsized influence over politics," said Jonathan A Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League. Omar was elected to the House of Representatives from Minnesota on a Democratic party ticket last November. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rock-solid support of people, BJP president Amit Shah Tuesday dubbed the proposed "mahagathbandhan" of opposition parties as an alliance of state-level leaders "not standing a chance" in the coming Lok Sabha polls. Attacking the opposition parties' bid to forge the 'grand alliance' ahead of the election to take on Modi, Shah said it will not affect BJP's poll prospects. He sought to know from the opposition parties their prime ministerial 'face' and leader of their proposed grand alliance. Addressing BJP leaders and workers from Gujarat after launching the 'Mera Parivar-Bhajapa Parivar' voter outreach campaign, Shah said a full majority government was required to enable Modi to continue serving the needy. "The 2019 Lok Sabha election is an important step for India to become a superpower in the world. I have travelled across the country and I can see thatpeople are standing like a rock with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I have seen love for Modi in people's eyes," he said. Shah said BJP workers ask him about the 'mahagathbandhan'. "I want to tell them that it will not have any impact," he said. "What will happen if (former prime minister and JD-S supremo) Deve Gowda gives a speech in Gujarat or (West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee in Maharashtra or (former UP chief minister) Akhilesh Yadav in Kerala? It will not have any impact whatsoever because they are only state-level leaders," the BJP president said. Asking party workers to reach out to people, Shah said they need not worry as the opposition parties "do not stand a chance" in the coming election. "I want people of this gathbandhan to declare their candidate for PM's post. Who is your leader? Who will run this country? We are very clear about it. Modiji will be the NDA candidate and only he will lead us," he said. On BJP's prospects in Uttar Pradesh, which accounts for the highest number of 80 Lok Sabha seats, Shah said his party will win "nothing less than 74 seats" there. The Modi government has worked to end corruption and to support 22 crore people through various programmes in its maiden term in office. "I would like to tell all party workers that the Modi government has not done anything to make BJP workers hang their heads in shame. Meet people with pride, they are ready to welcome Modiji," he said. Earlier, he hoisted the party flag at his private residence here while launching the mass outreach campaign. The campaign is a strategy of the ruling BJP to connect to voters by hoisting party flags at their houses ahead of the polls. Shah said the BJP will hold four major programmes in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls to mobilise and expand its voter base. As part of the 'Mera Parivar-Bhajapa Parivar' campaign, the party plans to reach out to five crore families by unfurling its flag and garner support of around 20 crore voters in these households. "If more than 20 crore voters express their support to Modji, it means that the BJP will return to power with more votes compared to the last election," Shah said. "The programme is meant to express the power of the organisation and to convert it into victory. I am sure crores of party workers will ensure victory for the party," he said. The BJP also plans to contact 22 crore beneficiaries of various government programmes as part of its 'Sampark Abhiyan', Shah said. "There are 22 crore such families who have benefited from programmes launched by the Modi government an BJP-led governments in 16 states," he said. The central government has also connected 50 crore people through its Ayushman Bharat scheme, he said. "We will reach out to them and tell them that the party feels there are still many people who are yet to get these basic benefits that you have been offered by the Modi government. The party appeals to you to express your support for Modi so that no one is left behind," he said. The BJP will also organise the 'Kamal Jyoti' programme wherein party supporters will light up their houses and fire crackers to express their support for Modi, Shah said. The party will also conduct motorcycle rallies, involving over three crore bikes, across the country on March 3 as part of its voter outreach programme, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) president on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra of "treason" and violating the Official Secrets Act by acting as Anil Ambani's "middleman" in the Rafale jet contract, citing an email to claim the businessman was aware of the deal days before India and France signed it. BJP, however, rejected the charge, saying the email purportedly by an Airbus executive referred to a helicopter deal and not Rafale. Gandhi released to the media an email dated March 28, 2015 purportedly written by Airbus executive Nicolas Chamussy to three recipients with the subject line "Ambani". He claimed the email showed Ambani visited then French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian's office and mentioned an "MoU in preparation and the intention to sign during the PM visit (to France)". The president asked how Ambani knew about the deal and mentioned it in the French defence minister's office when even then foreign secretary S Jaishankar and then defence minister Manohar Parrikar had no information on it. "This is a breach of the Official Secrets Act. The prime minister who is the only other person who knows about the deal has informed Anil Ambani about the deal. The Prime Minister is acting as Anil Ambani's middleman," Gandhi alleged and called for a criminal investigation into the matter. The government and Ambani have repeatedly denied all allegations related to the According to Gandhi, it was earlier an issue of corruption, of procedural inconsistencies but was now a matter related to the Official Secrets Act which he said was "much more serious'. "This is now treason, nothing less. Mr Narendra is doing what spies do. He is informing somebody of defence matters, he is under oath to protect these secrets. "He has now given this secret to Mr Anil Ambani who knows that the biggest defence deal in the world is going to him 10 days before the deal...this itself is criminal, this itself will put the prime minister in jail," the chief said. Rebutting Gandhi's allegations, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said his party had serious differences with former prime ministers, who came from the Gandhi family, over several "murky" defence deals signed during their term but had never accused them of treason. "He (Rahul Gandhi) has thrown muck at his own face by abusing our honest prime minister... We will expose his lies before the public," he said. Addressing a press conference, Gandhi reiterated that there will no doubt in anybody's mind that the prime minister is a "corrupt man" and he has helped Anil Ambani, Gandhi alleged. He read out the email at the press conference, quoting it as saying that Ambani visited the defence minister's office and "told them he intends to work with AH (Airbus Helicopters) on commercial helos and then on defence. Mentioned (an) MoU in preparation and the intention to sign during the PM visit". "This is literally handing over a defence secret...The prime minister has compromised security. He has done what a spy does. He has given defence information to a person who is not supposed to have it," Gandhi alleged. "Why don't you allow a JPC...you can investigate us as much as you want," he said in response to a question. The Congress president also rejected the Comptroller and Auditor General report on the Rafale deal, and dubbed it "Chowkidar Auditor General" report. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 32-year-old RTI activist, who went missing last month, was found dead in Pune district of Maharashtra, a police official said on Tuesday. Police suspect that the deceased, Vinayak Shirsath, was killed by someone, a senior official Bharti Vidyapeeth police station here said. The decomposed body was found near Mutha village on Lavasa road on Monday evening, he said. Shirsath, a resident of Pune city, went missing on January 30 following which his family members had registered a police complaint on January 31. "We later registered a kidnapping case on February 5 after his family raised suspicion that he might have been abducted as he had raised voice under the Right to Information (RTI) Act against illegal constructions in some parts of the city," the official said. Shirsath's family pointed fingers at several people linked to the real estate sector, but during the probe, all of them were found to be close friends of the deceased, he said. A case has now been registered under Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and a probe is underway, he said. The body has been sent for post mortem and its report is awaited to ascertain the exact cause of death, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Kenyan human rights activist who went missing a week ago has been found dead at a city mortuary after a botched abortion, police said Tuesday. Caroline Mwatha was reported missing last week, prompting Amnesty International to raise the alarm over her disappearance, given her work lobbying against extra judicial killings by police. However investigations showed Mwatha, who is married, had been communicating with a boyfriend who sent her money for an abortion, a police statement said. The probe "revealed communications relating to an intended abortion of a five-month old pregnancy", said Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti in the statement. "Investigators believe Caroline died in the clinic" and her body was taken to the mortuary under an alias last Thursday. A police source earlier told AFP that the owner of the clinic, and a doctor, had come forward and admitted that "they took the body to the mortuary and booked her under a different name and indicated she died of diarrhoea". Kinoti said five people have been arrested, including the clinic owner, a doctor, the "boyfriend" and an Uber driver. Abortion is illegal in Kenya unless the mother's life is in danger, however government statistics show that over 400,000 abortions are carried out annually. In November 2018 authorities banned British charity Marie Stopes International over adverts deemed to promote abortion. The ban was lifted a month later. Marie Stopes estimates some seven women die a day in Kenya in so-called backstreet abortions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A militant and an army jawan were killed while another soldier was injured in an encounter in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir Tuesday, police sources said. "One militant has been killed in an ongoing operation in Ratnipora area of Pulwama," the sources said. They said an armyman also lost his life in the encounter, while another soldier was injured. The injured soldier has been taken to a hospital for treatment, the sources said. Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Ratnipora area in south Kashmir during the night following specific information about the presence of militants there. The search operation turned into an encounter after militants fired on the forces who retaliated. The operation is on and further details were awaited. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Michelle Rodriguez has regretted the "choice of words" she used to defend actor Liam Neeson, who has been embroiled in a controversy over his revenge remarks. On the red carpet at the amfAR Gala New York, the 40-year-old actor had come out in defence of Neeson, claiming that he is not a "racist" because of the way the veteran actor shot an intimate scene with Viola Davis in their film "Widows". After a swift backlash, Rodriguez posted an apology on Instagram to her over 4.7 million fans. "To my friends and colleagues and my fans and community: I want to deeply apologize for my recent choice of words, and poor use of example," she wrote. "In a pressure-filled situation, I defended a friend in the wrong way. I now realize how insensitive it was, and I had no intention of invoking such a terrible historical comparison. I have learned from this, and will grow from it," she added. Neeson, 66, who has starred in multiple revenge dramas over the years, recently said in an interview that he once wanted to kill a black man with a cosh after a friend of his was raped. He added that he feels ashamed of the thought now. He had recalled his days wondering on the streets with a weapon hoping a black man would approach him and he would kill him. The actor's comments did not go down well on social media. He was slammed by many people, particulary by those from the black community. After backlash, Neeson on Tuesday appeared on ABC's Good Morning America and insisted that he is "not racist". "I was trying to show honour, to stand up for my dear friend in this terrible, medieval fashion. I am a fairly intelligent guy and that's why it kind of shocked me when I came down to earth after having these horrible feelings," Neeson had said. Following the controversy, the red carpet at the world premiere of Neeson's new movie "Cold Pursuit" was cancelled by Lionsgate. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Iran's president insisted "enemy" plots against the country would fail as vast crowds marked 40 years since the Islamic revolution at a time of heightened tensions with the United States. "The presence of people today on the streets all over Islamic Iran... means that the enemy will never reach its evil objectives," a defiant President Hassan Rouhani told those thronging Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square Monday, decrying a "conspiracy" involving Washington. Chador-clad women, militia members in camouflage fatigues and ordinary citizens marched through the capital in freezing rain to commemorate the day in February 1979 that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ended millennia of royal rule. The routes leading up to the square were packed with people as loudspeakers blared revolutionary anthems and slogans. Life-size replicas of Iranian-made cruise and ballistic missiles stood in a statement of defiance after the US last year reimposed sanctions following its withdrawal from a deal on Tehran's nuclear programme. Rouhani lambasted calls from the United States and Europe for a fresh agreement to curb Iran's missile programme. "We have not, and will not, request permission from anyone for increasing our defensive power and for building all kinds of... missiles," he told the crowd. Speaking from a flower-festooned stage overlooking the square, the president warned that Iran was now far stronger than when it faced off against Saddam Hussein's Iraq in a devastating 1980-1988 war. "Today the whole world should know that the Islamic Republic of Iran is considerably more powerful than the days of the war," Rouhani said. Seemingly reaching out to his political critics within the country, the president added: "The more we allow different ideas, beliefs and (political) factions the stronger our system will be." A pre-prepared resolution was read out ahead of his speech that proclaimed "unquestioning obedience to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei" and called US President Donald Trump an "idiot". Trump's chief foreign policy adviser said on Monday the Islamic revolution inflicted four decades of "failure and broken promises" on the country. "It's been 40 yrs of failure. Now it's up to the Iranian regime to change its behavior, & ultimately up to the Iranian people to determine the direction of their country," John Bolton tweeted. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran that this year could be the last time it celebrates the anniversary if it attacks his country. "If this regime makes the awful mistake of trying to destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa, it will not succeed," he said. "However, this would be the last anniversary of the revolution that they celebrate." The events Monday were the culmination of official celebrations called the "10 Day Dawn" that marks the period between February 1, 1979 and February 11 when Shiite cleric Khomeini returned from exile and ousted the shah's last government. The state has played up this year's anniversary as 40 is symbolic of maturity in the Islamic tradition and the age at which Prophet Mohammed received revelations from God. But despite the official festivities today's Islamic republic faces acute economic challenges as it struggles with a mix of domestic hardships and US sanctions. State television offered blanket coverage of the commemorations, showing marches in cities ranging from Abadan in southwestern Iran to Mashhad in the northeast. Banners held by marchers or hung along the streets bore slogans including "Death to America", "Death to Israel", "we will trample on America", "forty yeas of challenge, forty years of US defeats". A number of Israeli and American flags were set on fire by the crowds. An anchor on state television warned of hostile foreign media trying to downsize the participation of Iranians in the march but expressed confidence that "they would be confounded by the unprecedented level of attendance". Those who took to the streets were bullish despite the economic problems in the country, made worse by Washington's punitive measures. Former public servant Saaghi insisted that it remained paramount for Iranians to stick by the revolution. "We are here to support the revolution," the 57-year-old pensioner, who refused to give his first name, told AFP at the event in Tehran. He compared the US sanctions and economic hardships to "riding a bicycle when someone puts a stick in the wheels" but pointed to advances in other fields as more than making up for them. "On the revolution's 40th anniversary we are at the top for scientific achievements like nanotechnology or accurate missiles," he said. Cleric Hossein Firouzi told AFP Iran's revolution had achieved everything it set out to in terms of military power, political identity and scientific achievements. "Iran has changed from a backward nation to a world power," said the 50-year-old. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) They were ready to leave for Haridwar but suddenly the power went out. Before Somshekhar and his family could understand what had happened, plumes of thick smoke running through their floor at Arpit Palace Hotel made them suspicious. A foul smell created fear. Soon, they realised the planned visit to Haridwar was in jeopardy. Other than Somshekhar, 11 members of his family were staying at the hotel in central Delhi where a massive fire killed 17 people, including a child. He said three members of his family are missing since the fire broke out on the second floor, the floor on which they had booked rooms, at around 3.30am. He suspects the child dead in the accident was his younger sister. The family had come from Ernakulam district in Kerala to attend a wedding in Ghaziabad, which comprises the National Capital Territory of Delhi. "We have come to attend the wedding of a relative in Ghaziabad. We were planning to go to Haridwar today," he said. "We were all ready early morning when there was a sudden power cut. They switched on the generator and there was heavy smoke and smell. My sister, who is missing, first spotted the smoke and informed us. "The entire pathway was full of smoke and smell," Somshekhar said. His mother and brother were with his sister that time and Somshekhar had rushed to his room to open the windows to allow the smoke to pass and to find a possible exit route. "Yesterday, we went to Vrindawan and returned late last night. Today, we had to go to Haridwar. We had also planned to visit Amritsar and leave for Kerala on 15th," he said. Somshekhar said he has no knowledge what started the fire. But, he stressed, he believes negligence on part of the hotel management must have triggered the tragedy. There were more than 50 guests at the hotel, which had a canopy on the terrace, housing what appeared to be a restaurant, officials said. At least 35 people were injured in the fire. A senior civic official said a suspected short circuit could have sparked the fire. A video of the incident showed two people jumping from the fourth floor of the building. A senior civic official said short-circuit is suspected to be the cause of the fire. Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain, who visited the hotel, told reporters he has directed the fire department to inspect buildings which have five floors or more and submit a report on their fire safety compliance within a week. Babu Panikar, head of Delhi Malayali Association, said, "I got to know that Malayali's were trapped inside. I rushed to the spot to check on them. It's a group of 13 members belonging to same family who came from Ernakulam to attend a wedding in Ghaziabad. "Around 10 of them were rescued safely while three bodies have been identified. They are are ready to go to Haridwar this morning at around 6 am. Two of them family members left for Mumbai yesterday," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 45-year-old man has been booked for allegedly sexually harassing a 14-year-old daughter of his neighbour here during an altercation, police said Tuesday. The alleged incident occurred on February 10, following which the teenager's mother approached police on February 11, a police officer said. An FIR was registered under sections 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on February 11, the officer said. No arrest is made so far. Further investigation is underway. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a major success, security forces shot dead Hizbul Mujahideen militant Hilal Ahmed Rather, who had helped dreaded LeT terrorist Naved Jhatt escape, during an encounter in South Kashmir Tuesday in which an Army jawan was also killed, officials said. Rather, 21, was killed in the encounter in Ratnipora area of Pulwama, a district highly infested by militants, after a tip-off was received by the Jammu and Kashmir Police about his presence during the intervening night. A cordon and search operation was launched by the police along with the Army and the CRPF. As it was going on, the militants fired upon the security forces, who retaliated effectively, a police spokesman said. In the ensuing encounter, one militant was killed and his body was retrieved from the site of encounter. "Rather was the main accused in the escape of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant Naved Jhatt from a Srinagar hospital," Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Range) Swayam Prakash Pani said. His body was handed over to family members after completion of all legal formalities. The name of Rather, a class 12 passout, first surfaced when a Special Investigation Team, formed to crack Jhatt's escape, found that he was the main conspirator. He had hatched a conspiracy with other militants to secure the release of Jhatt when he was taken to SMHS hospital for a routine check-up in February last year. Jhatt was killed in an encounter with the police on November 28 last year in Budgam district of Central Kashmir. The spokesman said Rather was affiliated with the banned Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and had a long history of terror crimes, including attack on security establishments and civilian atrocities, the spokesman said. He said incriminating materials, including arms and ammunition, were recovered from the site of encounter. "All these materials have been taken in the case records for the purpose of investigation," he said. He said two security personnel also sustained gunshot injuries in the encounter and were rushed to a hospital. One of them, Jawan Baljeet Singh, succumbed to injuries, the spokesman said, adding the other soldier is being treated. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Maharashtra government on Tuesday decided to draw Rs 2,000 crore from the state contingency fund for undertaking drought relief measures. The decision was taken at the state Cabinet meeting here chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. "It is a temporary arrangement made from time to time to draw funds to support the drought-affected people. The funds will be used for basic support like supplying water tankers and other programmes to be undertaken to tackle water scarcity till June," a government official said. The Cabinet also cleared proposals to increase the funding for cotton mills in the state. The decision is expected to benefit most of the cotton mills in Marathwada and Vidarbha regions. The Cabinet also decided to launch the Chief Minister Cattle Health Scheme under which 349 mobile veterinary hospitals will be set up. In the first phase, 80 such hospitals will be set up in remote and hilly areas of Maharashtra, a Cabinet note said. "The decision will have a wider impact as such medical support in the state was in demand since a long time, but nobody did anything. The Cabinet has now approved the proposal, which will help in saving the lives of cattle," the official said. The Cabinet also approved a proposal to implement the Centre-sponsored Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, for schemes including electrification, supply of LPG cylinders and providing insurance policies, among others, in rural areas. Gram Swaraj Abhiyan is a two-phase programme rolled out by the central government to deliver benefits to all poor households in 66,028 villages of the country. It covers benefits under seven flagship welfare programmes Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (for LPG cylinders, Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (electricity connection scheme), UJALA programme (provision of LED bulbs), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, Jan Dhan accounts and Indradhanush (universal immunisation programme). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Madras High Court on Tuesday ordered the concerned authorities to immediately close all illegal bars across Tamil Nadu and file a report by February 20. Expressing surprise over a submission made on behalf of the state government, which stated that 3,326 FIRs had been against illegal bars, the court directed the home, prohibition and excise department secretary to shut them all forthwith. The division bench comprising Justice S Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad passed the order after a petition from a Coimbatore resident, D Prabakaran, sought a direction against fraudulent acts in Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) with regard to issuing and collection of license fees from bars. It was submitted before the bench that during April-December 2018 surprise checks were conducted by senior divisional manager and district managers of TASMAC and they found that 2,505 illegal bars were being run. The head office squad detected 20 illegal bars and the deputy collectors and the flying squad detected 801 bars. The petitioner alleged fraud in issuing purchase bills, rendering periodical accounts to the government, collection of license fees from the TASMAC bars, charging of excess rate, all of which cause loss to the exchequer. He submitted that TASMAC allows illegal bars to run without maintaining hygiene and alleged that these bars do not display the price list of the eatables, which are sold at exorbitant rates. Besides, the bars don't have basic amenities like water and toilet facilities. The petitioner said he moved court after his representations to authorities did not receive any response. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The commander of US forces in South Korea said Tuesday that he had seen "little to no verifiable change" in North Korea's military capabilities. President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last June in a bid to resolve tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear program, and the two signed off on a vaguely worded document in which Kim pledged to work towards "the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula." General Robert Abrams, the new head of US Forces Korea, said the summit had helped dial down tensions on the Korean peninsula, but had not led to substantive changes. "Little to no verifiable change has occurred and North Korea's military capabilities," Abrams told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Further, North Korea's conventional and asymmetric military capabilities along with their continued development of advanced conventional systems remains unchecked. These capabilities continue to hold the United States, the Republic of Korea and our regional allies at risk." Abrams added that North Korea was continuing its winter military training at historic norms. Trump and Kim are set to meet in Hanoi from February 27 to 28 for a second summit, following their historic first meet in Singapore last year. Abrams noted that it had been 440 days since North Korea's last "provocative action" and credited diplomatic efforts and international sanctions for leading to a "significant reduction in tension." Despite the bonhomie of Kim and Trump's first meeting, progress has since stalled with the two sides disagreeing over what Kim's pledge means. Analysts say tangible progress on denuclearization will be needed if the talks are to avoid being dismissed as "reality TV."After that first summit, Trump called off large-scale joint exercises with South Korea. Abrams said "it is necessary to maintain a postured and ready force to deter any possible aggressive actions," but stressed that the two allied militaries continue to train together at a lower level. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Odisha government will start distributing financial assistance to landless farmers under the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme on February 15, a senior official said Tuesday. Agricultrure secretary Saurav Garg said this after Chief Secretary A P Padhi reviewed the Kalia scheme. "An amount of Rs 5,000 each will be credited to the bank accounts of around 4.5 lakh landless farmers on February 15 through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode under KALIA scheme", Garg told reporters. The agriculture secretary also informed that the state government will provide second phase assistance to about 14 lakh small and marginal farmers on February 22. As many as 12.45 lakh small and marginal farmers have availed Rs 5,000 each in the first phase. Under the provision of KALIA scheme, the small and marginal farmers, share croppers, landless agricultural labourers and farmers in distress were likely to get financial assistance for agumenting their income. Kalia scheme also has provision of giving financial assistance of Rs 25,000 per farm family over five seasons will be provided to small and marginal farmers so that farmers can purchase inputs like seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and use assistance towards labour and other investments. This scheme was implemented from current Rabi Season 2018-19 onwards. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has claimed that about 92 per cent households linked to cultivation will get benefit from Kalia scheme. A landless agriculture worker will be eligible to get Rs 12,500 in three installments for livelihood activities like goatery, backyard poultry, poultry, apiculture, mushroom cultivation, duckery and fishing kit, the official said. Three installments would be provided in phases of Rs 5,000, Rs 3,000 and Rs 4,500 respectively to landless farmers. The first installment of Rs 5,000 through direct benefit transfer under Kalia scheme for landless agriculture workers will be initiated on February 15 by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at a convention in Kendrapara. The second and third installments would likely to be released subsequently. While the second installment of Rs 3,000 will be given after the beneficiary undergoes Gram Panchayat-level orientation and block-level training, the last installment of Rs 4,500 would be released once the Gram Panchayat Nodal Officers (GPNOs) verifies the progress of the livelihood projects and the beneficiary having proper asset under the assistance. The GPNOs will post the geo-tagged images of the projects of the beneficiaries at appropriate sites. The state government will organize a trainer of trainers (TOT) or master trainers programme at Krushi Bhawan on February 14 in order to impart quality training to propagate livelihood activities among landless agricultural workers, who will get financial assistance under KALIA scheme. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kunal Ghosh, who was jointly questioned with Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar by the CBI in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam, wrote to the probe agency on Tuesday, accusing the top police officer of tampering with the new evidence that has emerged in the case in Shillong. Ghosh, whose two-day questioning ended on Monday, demanded that he should jointly be interrogated with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mukul Roy as it might be helpful for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). "I have written a letter to the CBI, where I have categorically accused Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar of tampering with the evidence that has emerged in the chit fund case during the joint questioning with me in Shillong. "Kumar is leaking whatever I had said during the joint interrogation with him (at Shillong) and is instructing his subordinate officers to tamper with that evidence. I have received information regarding it. I request the CBI to take immediate action so that the tampering of evidence is stopped," Ghosh told PTI. When contacted, Kolkata Police officials said they were yet to receive any query from the central probe agency. "If we get any (query from CBI), we will answer it," a senior Kolkata Police official said. Ghosh claimed that several key persons were still out of the purview of the CBI investigation into the multi-crore-rupee scam. "I am always ready to cooperate with the CBI. I think I should be interrogated jointly with Mukul Roy. It will throw some light on the investigation," he said. Ghosh was arrested by the special investigation team headed by Kumar in November, 2013, when he was a Rajya Sabha MP of the TMC, in connection with the scam. He was granted bail in 2016. When contacted, Roy said he was ready to be quizzed by the CBI. "If the CBI calls me for interrogation, I am ready to go. I have no problems, I am ready to help the investigating agency," he told PTI. Roy, a former TMC general secretary who joined the BJP in November, 2017 following differences with party supremo Mamata Banerjee, has been interrogated once by the central probe agency in January, 2015. Ghosh had on Monday urged political parties not to politicise the CBI probe into the ponzi scheme case. "I request all political parties not to politicise the matter. The steps that are being taken now for the sake of investigation should have been taken long back - during the time of investigation by the SIT set up by the West Bengal government. Unfortunately, it did not happen. However, better late than never," he had written on his Facebook page. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union minister K J Alphons Tuesday said the emergency exit of the Arpit Palace hotel, where 17 people were killed in a fire that broke out early Tuesday, was "too narrow" and also locked. The minister, who visited the site of the tragedy in central Delhi's Karol Bagh locality, said he was sure that there would be violation of norms. The Union tourism minister said there were a lot of wooden structures inside, which may have helped the fire spread. "When I headed to the emergency exit, I found that it had been locked yesterday (last night). Also, it was too narrow," he told reporters. "Obviously, even if people came to the emergency exit, they could not have escaped as it was too narrow and it was locked anyway," he said. Alphons said he spoke to the mayor and asked him to check whether all regulations were in place and to take immediate action if there was any lapse on the part of the hotel management. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian-origin US Senator Kamala Harris, who officially kicked off her 2020 presidential campaign, has directly confronted critics who questioned her black heritage, saying she was not going to spend her time trying to educate them about who black people are. Harris, 54, became the first Indian American and the second black woman to serve in the US Senate when she took office in 2017. In an interview on Monday with New York-based The Breakfast Club radio, the show's hosts asked the California Democrat to address a series of derogatory memes circulating on social media, questioning her black heritage, her record of incarcerating minorities as a prosecutor and her decision to marry a white man. One of the hosts cited a meme that said Harris is "not African-American" because her parents were immigrants born in India and Jamaica and she spent her high school years in Canada. "So I was born in Oakland, and raised in the US except for the years that I was in high school in Montreal, Canada," the CNN quoted Harris as saying. "And look, this is the same thing they did to Barack (Obama). This is not new to us and so I think that we know what they are trying to do. "They are trying to do what has been happening over the last two years, which is powerful voices trying to sow hate and division, and so we need to recognise when we are being played," she said. When one of the hosts followed up by asking Harris how she responds to people who question "the legitimacy of your blackness", she said "I think they don't understand who black people are". "I am not going to spend my time trying to educate people about who black people are... I am black, and I am proud of being black... I was born black. I will die black, and I am not going to make excuses for anybody because they don't understand," the California senator said. Harris was born in Oakland, California, to a Tamil Indian mother and a Jamaican father in 1964. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, was a breast cancer scientist who immigrated to the US from Madras (now Chennai). Her father, Donald Harris, was a professor of economics at Stanford University and emigrated from Jamaica in 1961. Harris, a former California state attorney general, also said that she makes no apologies for pursuing violent criminals to keep communities safe, but added that she wished she could have done more to affect change. About the criminal justice system, she said it is deeply flawed but she would not make apologies for pursuing violent criminals. "Let's not buy into the myth that black folks don't want law enforcement. We do," Harris said. "We don't want excessive force. We don't want racial profiling -- but certainly if somebody robs, burglarises my house, I'm going to call the police," the CNN reported. When asked about the criticism she faced on social media for marrying a white man, the Senator said, "Look, I love my husband, and he happened to be the one that I chose to marry, because I love him - and that was that moment in time, and that's it," "And he loves me," the report said. She also expressed her support for legalising marijuana, saying she has smoked -- a joint, to be specific, adding with a laugh, "I did inhale. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, who was mulling contesting the Assembly bypoll from Sausar seat, is most likely to fight it from his home turf Chhindwara, his aide said on Tuesday. According to the aide, Nath also wants his eldest son Nakul to fight the upcoming general elections from the Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency. "Nath, a nine-time MP from Chhindwara, has almost made up his mind to contest from Chhindwara Assembly seat. Earlier, he was thinking of contesting the by-election from Sausar," his aide said on the condition of anonymity. The chief minister changed his mind as he thought that if he contests from Sausar, a little known assembly seat in Chhindwara district, the BJP may run a campaign to defame him saying that he was running away from his home turf, he added. "Nath wants Congress to field his son Nakul (37), a graduate from Boston University, as the party's candidate from Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat in the upcoming general elections," the aide added. Congress leader and Chhindwara MLA Deepak Saxena said, "As soon as Nath ji decides to fight from my seat, I will resign to clear the way for him. We all want him to fight from here." According to him, Nath has represented Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat nine times since 1980, except once. Madhya Pradesh Congress spokesperson Narendra Saluja said, "People and Congressmen of Chhindwara parliamentary constituency want Nakul to fight elections from their Lok Sabha seat. The will of people was respected in our party." In the state elections held in November, the Congress had won all the seven assembly constituencies in Chhindwara district. Nath took oath as the chief minister on December 17 last year. As per rules, he will have to get elected to the Assembly within six months. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Jharkhand government Tuesday banned the Popular Front of India (PFI) in the state to curb its anti-national activities and for keeping links with terror outfits like ISIS, a government notification said. According to the government notification the PFI is banned with immediate effect under the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1908. The notification says that becoming a member of PFI, giving donation or keeping literature of its extremist policy or publishing them is illegal. The decision to ban PFI has been taken after a review that its activities have increased and is dangerous to the state and the nation and it has the power to disrupt peace, communal harmony and secular structure, an official said. The PFI has been involved in spreading social division, anti-India and pro-Pakistan slogans, links with ISIS and JMB. There are several cases against the PFI in the state at different places for indulging in violent activities and anti-national slogans. Earlier, the Jharkhand government had on February 12, 2018 banned the PFI. However, the Jharkhand High Court on August 28 set aside the government notification saying it had not been published in the gazette after PFI member Abdul Badud challenged the order banning the organisation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hundreds of college students in Jammu boycotted classes and held protests in parts of the city on Tuesday, a day after a group of stranded Kashmir-bound passengers allegedly raised "objectionable" slogans. The students alleged that the passengers raised "pro-Pakistan" and "anti-India" slogans and demanded that they be booked for sedition. On Monday, a scuffle broke out between a group of students and some of the passengers outside the Gandhi Memorial Science College here, but timely intervention by police brought the situation under control. The passengers allegedly raised the slogans during a protest against the administration. They alleged that the administration had failed to help them in the hour of crisis. Students of various colleges in Jammu boycotted their classes and assembled in Canal Road, Jewel Chowk, Tawi Bridge and Bikram Chowk areas. They staged sit-ins on roads, which led to traffic snarls. Carrying the tricolour, the students raised slogans of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" and "Vande Mataram". They also raised anti-Pakistan slogans. A students' leader Vijay Chaudhary said a case should be registered against the stranded Kashmir-bound passengers involved in raising "anti-India" and "pro-Pakistan" slogans and they should be arrested. This will not be allowed in Jammu, he added. The protesters said they will continue to boycott their classes till action is not taken against those who raised the slogans. Few hundred Kashmir-bound passengers, including students, have been stranded in Jammu as the Jammu-Srinagar national highway has been closed for the past seven days due to heavy snowfall and multiple landslides triggered by rains. On Monday, they had come for registration at a hostel to be airlifted by the Indian Air Force to the valley, when they demonstrated outside the Gandhi Memorial Science College after blocking the Canal Road. Senior superintendent of police, Jammu, Tejinder Singh, said action would be taken if anyone was found involved in raising "anti-national" slogans. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Launching a scathing attack on President Rahul Gandhi, Union minister Tuesday accused the party of peddling "lies" on the to save a "sinking dynasty" and manufacturing a new falsehood every day. Jaitley, in a Facebook post, rejected allegations of conflict of interest of CAG Rajiv Mehrishi saying he never dealt with any file or paper relating to the fighter jet deal during his tenure in the Finance Ministry in 2014-15. "How many more lies will be peddled to sustain a sinking dynast? India, certainly deserves better," Jaitley said in a Facebook post titled 'How Many Lies Need to be Peddled to Sustain a Sinking Dynasty?'. Stating that the contagion effect of falsehood is fairly large, Jaitley said the lies spread by the have spread to other colleagues in the "Mahajhootbandhan". "In relation to the where thousands of crores of public money has been saved, a new falsehood is manufactured on a daily basis. The latest is in relation to the present CAG and his participation in the decision making process of Rafale," Jaitley said. In 2014-15, present CAG Mehrishi was Economic Affairs Secretary in the Finance Ministry, and being the senior most bureaucrat was also designated as the Finance Secretary. "I say this without fear of contradiction that no file or paper relating to the Rafale transaction ever reached him nor was he in any way, directly or indirectly, associated with the decision making on defence purchases. Expenditure to be incurred on purchases by various departments of the Government needs the approval of Secretary (Expenditure)," he said. Asking as to why then a lie in relation to the CAG having a non-existent conflict of interest is being raised, Jaitley said "the dynast knows that his 500 crore vs 1600 crore kindergarten argument was a fictional story. No one would ever buy it because facts don't support it. Even before the contents of CAG report are known, a Peshbandi' attack on the institution of the CAG is launched," Jaitley said. Without naming Gandhi, Jaitley said "the dynast" and his friends have in the past even attacked the Supreme Court when it rejected the writ petition on Rafale. He said the entire pricing argument of the was factually wrong and the procedure argument that there was no Defence Acquisition Council, no CCS, no Contract Negotiation Committee was a blatant lie. "The Rs 30,000 crore favour to a private company is non-existent. The use of sliced document by a newspaper is unprecedented in the history. The use of an incomplete document is certainly not in consonance with the spirit of free speech. "The no integrity pact' argument is belied by the fact that even in earlier purchases through inter-governmental agreement with Russia and the United States, such pacts were not there. Now without a shred of evidence, a fictional conflict of interest of the CAG is invented," he said. Jaitley said truth is both precious and sacrosanct and in mature democracies those who deliberately rely on falsehood are banished from public life. "In modern world dynasties inherently have their limitations. Aspirational societies abhor kingdoms. They insist on accountability and performance. But the grand old party of Indian has sadly become a captive of a dynasty. Many of its senior leaders lack the courage and moral authority to advise the dynasts to change course. "This trend started in early 1970s; climaxed during the Emergency and has continued ever since. The 'slave' mentality of senior leaders convinces them that they must only sing the song scripted by the dynast. A contrarian opinion will cost them their political career. When the dynast speaks lies, they all join the chorus," Jaitley said. The Judicial Commission probing the multi-crore chitfund scam in Odisha on Tuesday said it will take another two to three years to identify all the bonafide small investors who were duped by several ponzi scheme firms. This was stated by retired judge of the Orissa High Court, Justice M M Das, who is heading the one-man panel, after the commission submitted its sixth interim report to the state government. The Odisha government had set up the commission on February 5, 2015 to take up the inquiry into the unauthorised collection of public deposits in the state, sources said Das said the Commission initially had received over six lakh affidavits from small investors of which some four lakh affidavits have already been scrutinised. "From the scrutinised affidavits, 3,61,817 investors so far have been identified as genuine and from them, only 1,714 investors have got back their invested money", the Commission said. The Commission, in the meantime has received another 6.5 lakh affidavits from small investors and the state government has been requested to digitize the additional affidavits so that the genuineness of the investors will be established. "Scrutiny of the additional affidavits will take another two-to-three years and after that, the Commission will begin the exercise to identify the large investors, (invested more than Rs 10,000)", he said. Odisha government had on February 2 extended the tenure of Justice M M Das Commission of Inquiry, probing into the multi-crore chit fund scam by another six months. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Israeli army tank shelling hit Monday the southern Syrian province of Quneitra that borders the occupied Golan Heights, state media in the war-torn country said. "The Israeli aggressor has targeted a destroyed hospital in Quneitra and monitoring stations," the official SANA agency reported. A military source cited by the agency said the shellfire caused only material damage. Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights war monitor said seven shells struck regime positions in Quneitra, including a surveillance post. The Britain-based monitoring group said the attack caused casualties, without giving any figures. The Syrian army regained control of the southern part of Quneitra in mid-2018, five years after rebel fighters had overrun it. Israel seized 1,200 square kilometres (460 square miles) of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Israeli President Reuven Rivlin flew in to Cyprus Tuesday to mark 70 years since the closure of British detention camps on the island for Jews trying to reach Palestine after World War II. He was to visit a monument in Nicosia dedicated to the 2,200 children of Holocaust survivors who were born in the British colonial camps between 1946 and 1949. Rivlin also held talks with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades. Cyprus and Israel aim to upgrade relations, "especially on energy, security, economy, tourism, research and innovation", tweeted Anastasiades. Britain, the colonial power in Cyprus and Palestine at the time, detained about 52,000 illegal immigrants on Cyprus, mostly young orphans, and housed them in tents. The monument is situated at a present-day army camp that was known as the British Military Hospital. Those detained had been intercepted at sea by British mandate authorities as they approached Palestine, and they were held in 12 camps on the nearby island. The camps were closed a year after the 1948 establishment of the state of Israel. "Some of the babies born in Cyprus... are now Israeli citizens in their early 70s... Today, there is a very active organisation of 'Cyprus babies' in Israel," the Jerusalem Post said Monday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hitting out at the BJP after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav was stopped at the Lucknow airport, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday took a veiled dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying though he advise everyone on democracy but was running a "dictatorship" himself. Talking to reporters at state secretariat 'Nabanna', Banerjee said the country has never witnessed such a "dangerous situation" before. Yadav said he was stopped by authorities at the Lucknow airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad, where he was scheduled to take part at an event in Allahabad University. Without naming the prime minister, the Trinamool Congress supremo said "though he is giving advice to everyone on democracy but was running a dictatorship and not allowing opposition parties to hold their programme". Referring to BJP president Amit Shah's rally in West Bengal just after he recovered from swine flu, she said, they came from outside and talked on issues like swine flu, but they are not allowing others to speak on democracy in states where they are ruling. Later at the airport, Banerjee said the BJP is aware that it would not return to power and that is why it is resorting to such "tricks". "The BJP is very well aware that it won't return to power, that is why they have resorted to tricks of stopping opposition leaders from moving freely. Is this democracy? That we are not allowed to move freely," the chief minister said. Banerjee was at the airport on her way to Delhi where she is scheduled to participate at the rally of non-BJP leaders convened by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday. "I've already spoken to @yadavakhilesh. We all condemn the arrogant attitude of the so-called #BJP leaders who didn't allow Akhilesh to address the students. Even @jigneshmevani80 was not allowed," Banerjee wrote on her Twitter handle just after the incident was reported. "Where is the democracy in our country? And they are giving lessons to everybody!" she added. In a separate incident on Monday, Mevani's college cancelled its annual day function after the institution's trustees got protest calls against the Dalit leader being the chief guest. The Trinamool Congress chief also alleged that the RSS and the BJP have been indulging in " of killings". "RSS workers along with the BJP have taken up the of killings... this is totally changing my idea about them," she said. "Police are getting murdered while conducting investigations into matters. People are not being able to give witnesses and the accused are getting away because of the absence of proofs," she said, apparently referring to the alleged killing of inspector Subodh Kumar Singh in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr last December. Predicting BJP's rout in the upcoming elections, Banerjee said, "When you are nearing end, you start losing your intelligence and that is what happening with the BJP. They will finish at the bottom (in the Lok Sabha elections). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hours after Samajwadi Party chief claimed that he was stopped at Lucknow airport on Tuesday while on his way to Allahabad, BSP supremo said it was extremely condemnable and asked whether the ruling BJP was afraid of their alliance because of which it is "resorting to anti-democratic methods". described the episode as "an example of total dictatorship of BJP government". "This is very unfortunate and this undemocratic step will be fought at all levels," she said. "Is the BJP government at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh so afraid of BSP-SP alliance that it is resorting to anti-democratic methods to curb our political activities," she asked. The SP and the BSP recently forged an alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Akhilesh claimed he was stopped at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad University. "The government is afraid of oath ceremony of a student leader and is stopping me at the airport to prevent me from visiting Allahabad," Yadav claimed. He also posted photographs on his official Twitter handle in which he was seen talking to police officers inside the airport. The matter rocked the Uttar Pradesh legislature. Iran's Islamic revolution four decades ago has been a complete failure for the country, President Donald Trump has said. In a tweet written on the anniversary of the upheaval that was also sent out in Farsi, Trump said: "40 years of corruption. 40 years of repression. 40 years of terror. The regime in Iran has produced only #40YearsofFailure. "The long-suffering Iranian people deserve a much brighter future," he added. Earlier, Trump's chief foreign policy advisor John Bolton issued a similar statement, tweeting that "it's been 40 yrs of failure. Now it's up to the Iranian regime to change its behavior, & ultimately up to the Iranian people to determine the direction of their country." Bolton said Washington would support "the will of the Iranian people, & stand behind them to ensure their voices are heard." Bolton, a leading hawk in the Trump administration's attempt to weaken Iranian influence, was tweeting as a huge crowd in Tehran gathered to celebrate the 1979 revolution, in which Muslim leader Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini ended the centuries-old rule of the royal dynasty. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told Iranians they should resist a "conspiracy" involving Washington. The Trump administration has pushed hard to weaken Iran and what it says is Tehran's "destabilizing" influence. The two countries have not had diplomatic relations since 1980, and Trump has pulled the United States from an international agreement meant to reward Iran for giving up nuclear weapon ambitions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu will hold bilateral discussions on trade issues with US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on February 14 here. The Indo-US CEO Forum will also held its meeting on the same day, the commerce ministry said in a statement. "Representatives of the US and Indian governments will share outcomes of the 2018 commercial dialogue work plan, including the three work streams: standards, business climate and investment and travel and tourism," it said. Discussions will be held on the 2019 commercial dialogue priorities, identification of new areas of cooperation based on the new CEO Forum recommendations, it added. The co-chairs for the US- India CEO Forum are Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, and James Taiclet, Chairman, President and CEO of American Tower Corporation. It said that during the CEO forum, working groups will give presentations and recommendations related to their sector. This forum was reconstituted by the Trump and Modi Administrations. It is an effective platform to highlight key market access issues that impact the ease of doing business and to identify areas for closer collaboration, it said. Annual bilateral trade in goods and services between the countries doubled over the last decade, from USD 58 billion in 2007 to USD 126 in 2017. "Both countries are resolved to remain engaged and take measures for further enhancement of bilateral trade. Bilateral trade in 2018 continued in spite of uncertain global economic conditions. Bilateral investment flows have also grown appreciably over recent years," it added. The talks assumes significance as officials of both the sides are negotiating a trade package to boost bilateral commerce. India is pressing for exemption from high duty imposed by the US on certain steel and aluminium products, resumption of export benefits to some domestic goods under their Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) as well as greater market access for its products from sectors like agriculture, automobile, auto components and engineering. On the other hand, the US is demanding greater market access through cut in import duties for its agriculture goods, dairy products, medical devices, IT and communication items, the official added. However, 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. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An IndiGo flight that was heading from Bengaluru to Bangkok on Tuesday was diverted to Yangoon in Myanmar after it "experienced oil pressure warning in one of its engines". The flight carrying 129 passengers and 6 crew members landed safely in Yangoon, the airline said in a statement. "An IndiGo flight 6E075, operating Bangalore-Bangkok route experienced an oil pressure warning on one of its engines. The aircraft is a A320 aircraft powered by V2500 engine. Our pilot followed the laid down procedure and landed the aircraft safely in Yangoon," it said. The aircraft had not reported or observed any snag on the earlier flight, the airline added. "IndiGo has already rebooked all 129 passengers to Bangkok on other airlines and initiated rebooking of all the passengers on the flight from Bangkok back to Bangalore. IndiGo will provide accommodation to passengers as required," the airline said. "The affected engine is currently being investigated and the further course of action will be determined accordingly," IndiGo added. Meanwhile, shortage of pilots continued to hamper operations of IndiGo with the budget carrier Tuesday cancelling as many as 30 flights from across major airports and passengers allegedly being forced to buy last minute tickets at high fares. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shortage of pilots continued to hamper operations of with the budget carrier Tuesday cancelling as many as 30 flights from across major airports and passengers allegedly being forced to buy last minute tickets at high fares, a source said. The airline said flight cancellations will continue for some more days, affecting around 30 flights per day. On Monday also, the airline had pulled out 32 flights from its network at short notice inconveniencing tens of hundreds of passengers. Acknowledging the disruption in its services, the airline said, it will "slightly adjust" its schedules in the coming days, impacting about 30 flights per day. Meanwhile, a senior official said aviation regulator DGCA is looking into the "issue." " is slightly adjusting its flight schedule in the coming days by around 30 flights per day to stabilise the network and operations impacted due to various ongoing Notams and likely bad weather in the coming days," the airline said in a statement after the PTI story went on wire. Notam, or notice to airmen, is given to pilots and include information on potential hazards on a flight route. has cancelled 30 flights Tuesday due to the on-going pilot shortages. Most flights have been cancelled from Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai, a source told PTI earlier in the day. While eight flights were not operated from Kolkata, another five flights were cancelled from Hyderabad and four each from Bangalore and Chennai among others,the source added. The source also alleged that IndiGo was forcing passengers to either buy last minute tickets on its flights or offering them alternate flights with one-stop connectivity with a long layover time. "To avoid inconvenience, these adjustments are being made in advance, enabling adequate notice to passengers. They are being accommodated close to their original flight schedule. These adjustments amount to 1-2 percent of the originally planned flights," IndiGo said in the statement. An airline official said the disruption in the flight operations emanated from the heavy rains and hailstorm that hit the Delhi-NCR region last week and subsequent FDTL issue. Both the pilots and cabin crew are governed by DGCA mandated flight duty and time limitation (FDTL) norms and they can't fly beyond the FDTL. The airline had Sunday blamed bad weather for disruptions in operations across its network. Shortage of pilots continued to hamper budget carrier IndiGos operations with the cancelling as many as 30 flights Tuesday from across stations and passengers allegedly being forced to buy last minute high fares for its flights, a source said. On Monday also, the Gurugram-headquartered had pulled out 32 flights from its network. On the other hand, there was no indication of any probe by the regulator into the cancellation of such a large number of flights by the since last Saturday. has cancelled 30 flights for Tuesday due to the on-going pilots issue. Most of the flights have been cancelled from Kolkata, and Chennai, the source said. While eight flights are not being operated from Kolkata, another five flights are cancelled from and four each from Bangalore and Chennai, among others, he added. The source also alleged that was forcing passengers to either buy last-minute fares or offering them alternate flights with one-stop connectivity with a long transit time. Response to the queries sent to and Directorate General of Civil on this issue was awaited. In a statement on Sunday, the airline had blamed on weather for disruption in operations across its network. "As part of recovering our schedule, positioning of the crew and aircraft had to be readjusted. As a result, a number of flights were cancelled, it had said without giving any specific number of flights were cancelled. Here's what some hassled passengers had to say about the cancellations: #Indigoairline sucks! Why on earth you would cancel my flight twice #Indigo? Alternate options you propose are horrible. Why harass a loyal customer? Just a refund won't do, you should be punished for issues at your end, why just the customers? #Pathetic Bikramaditya Singhal (@bikramsinghal) February 12, 2019 @IndiGo6E rubbish service by Indigo ... changed my flight wothout informing me... now delayed stuck at Delhi airport ... no intimations about any delays ... worst service #worstairline #indigo6e Kaustubh Solanki (@KaustubhSolanki) February 12, 2019 @IndiGo6E I received a call on 2nd Feb.. saying my flight on 3rd Feb is cancelled.. unable to get refund so far. Poor service from your office at mangalore. CA. Shantharam Shetty (@CaShantharam) February 12, 2019 I've been stranded at #Chennai airport for the last 9 hours. Disappointing start to my trip. Don't fly #IndiGo / @IndiGo6E. Terrible #airline, cancelled more than 100 flights since Sat due to unexplained "pilot shortage". No thanks to @kiwicom247 for selling me these flights too. pic.twitter.com/XVRxy3t7n2 David Chau (@ChauDave) February 12, 2019 @IndiGo6E needs to be awarded for most number of cancellations and most profitable airline by unethical means in the form of cancelling aircrafts and not providing refund if you have a connecting flight with them. Also award for most unpleasant customer care. #flightawards Prithvi (@prithvikc11) February 12, 2019 @IndiGo6E i had booked a seat in flight no. 6E 985 WAS CANCELED BY YOU AND RESCHEDULED TO NEXT DAY, PLEASE REIMBURSE MY HOTEL STAY FOR 1 DAY AND TRAIN TICKET RE BOOKING FROM DELHI.. ramnik gupta (@ramnikgupta) February 12, 2019 An Indian-origin robber who dressed up in a burqa to steal from a jewellery store while threatening a shop worker with a knife in the city of Leicester has been jailed for over four years behind bars. Imtiaz Patel, 42, had pleaded guilty to the knife-point robbery and possession of a bladed weapon. He was sentenced to four years imprisonment for the robbery and a concurrent nine-month imprisonment for possession of the weapon at Leicester Crown Court on Monday. Patel was also sentenced to an additional two months imprisonment for breaching a community order, with the total jail time adding up to four years and two months. "It was thanks to the quick-thinking and excellent response of the officers on patrol that Patel was detained so quickly. Their actions of catching Patel as he left the scene of the crime left him with no choice but to admit the offence," said Detective Constable Anna Thorpe of Leicestershire Police. The court was told how Patel was wearing a burqa and had a scarf across his face when he had entered the jewellery store in Haymarket area in the heart of Leicester last month. He was looking at a Rolex watch, valued at around 7,000 pounds, when staff became concerned about the way he was acting. Patel asked to see another watch, leading to the member of staff saying she would have to put the first watch back. Patel then produced a knife and made threats to another staff member who was standing near the shop door before running off with the watch. A police constable and police community support officer (PCSO) were in the area on patrol in a car when they saw Patel running down Church Gate in Leicester.Their attention was drawn to Patel and they followed him and saw the watch in his hand before detaining the suspect to carry out a search. He was arrested soon after on January 5. The knife, which Patel had dropped as he fled the shop, was picked up by another member of the public and taken to the shop.Further investigative work, including CCTV analysis, led to Patel being charged the same day of the offence, Leicestershire Police said. "I'd like to thank the victims of this offence for being fully co-operative with our investigation following what must have been a terrifying incident. Patel showed no concern for anyone else when he carried out this crime and the consequences of his actions could have been far worse," added Thorpe. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Defence sales between India and the US are at an all-time high and bilateral strategic partnership continues to advance at an historic pace, a top Pentagon commander has said. Admiral Philips Davidson, Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, during a Congressional hearing said the the inaugural 2+2 Ministerial in New Delhi last September and signing of the COMCASA in 2018 were pivotal moments in the bilateral relationship. Last year, India and the US signed the COMCASA (Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement) to facilitate interoperability between the two militaries and sale of high end technology. "The US-India strategic partnership continues to advance at an historic pace as we continue to increase our interoperability and information-sharing capabilities," he said. The USINDOPACOM expects this trajectory to continue and that 2019 will be a significant year in bilateral relations, he said and asserted that the two largest democracies of the world are natural partners on a range of political, economic and security issues. "With a mutual desire for global stability, support for the rules-based international order, and a Free-and-Open Indo-Pacific region, the United States and India have an increased agreement on interests, including maritime security and maritime domain awareness, counter-piracy, counterterrorism, humanitarian assistance, and coordinated responses to natural disasters and transnational threats," Davidson said. Over the past year, the United States and Indian militaries participated in five major exercises, executed more than fifty other military exchanges, and further operationalized the 2016 Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), he informed the lawmakers. "The LEMOA enables the US Navy to replenish supplies from Indian navy logistics platforms, he said. Davidson said that the US Indo Pacific Command is working with the Indian military to operationalise the COMCASA. "Defence sales are at an all-time high, with India operating US sourced platforms such as P-8s, C-130Js, C-17s, AH-64s, CH-47s, and M777 howitzers," the top American admiral said. "Additionally, India recently agreed to a USD2.1-billion purchase of MH-60R multi-role sea-based helicopters and is considering a number of additional US systems for purchase,"Davidson said. The US Indo Pacific Command fully supports the purchase of US systems, F-16 and F/A-18E aircraft, a reorder of 12-15 P-8Is, and a potential purchase of Sea Guardian UASs, he told members of the US pacific Command. Observing that the goal of the US Indo Pacific Command in South Asia is to create and seize opportunities to broaden critical partnerships to ensure shared domains remain open to all, he said in conjunction with India's contributions to regional security, these actions will prevent adversaries from establishing an effective military presence in the Indian Ocean that threaten the security of vital commerce and continued economic growth and development. "As a result, the regional states will be able to reduce internal conflicts, respond to regional security challenges, and resist adversaries' military and economic coercion," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India has signed a contract with a US firm for 72,400 assault rifles at a cost of around Rs 700 crore, officials said Tuesday. The rifles, being used by US forces as well as several other European countries, are being bought under the fast-track procurement procedure. India has signed the contract for Sig Sauer Assault Rifles with the US under fast track procurement (FTP) and as part of the agreement, India will get around 72,400 7.62mm rifles from US firm SiG Sauer in one year from this day, the officials said. These new assault rifles will come at a cost of around Rs 700 crore, they said. The Indian Armed Forces are currently equipped with 5.56x45 mm INSAS Rifle. There is an urgent requirement of replacing the in-service 5.56X45 mm INSAS Rifle with a 7.62X51mm which is compact, robust, modern in technology and simple to maintain in field conditions, the officials said. Defence Minister had earlier this month approved the procurement of the Sig Sauer rifles, which will be used by troops deployed along the nearly 3,600-km border with China. In October, 2017, the began the process to acquire around 7 lakh rifles, 44,000 light machine guns (LMGs) and nearly 44,600 carbines. Around 18 months ago, the had rejected an built by the state-run Rifle Factory, Ishapore, after the guns miserably failed the firing tests. Following this, the started scouting for rifles from the global market. India's has acquired an Israeli company, Light and strong Ltd, specialising in and military carbon fibre and glass fibre composite components production, with the aim of becoming a leading supplier for global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the and The Group's director, Anurag Lohia, told PTI that the acquisition would help "establish a firm international footprint for the group and in further growing new markets". "We believe this marks the beginning of our growth in this sector on a global scale. We will continue to look at other synergistic opportunities in this space towards our aim to be a key participant in the global defence and domain, Lohia added. The Israeli company specialises in giving alternative solutions in the field of construction and engineering in the domain of UAVs in particular as well as in various other fields. It already has an established track record with Israel's Ministry of Defence, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Elbit systems, Rafael and several other defence from the fields of optics, simulation and UAV integrators as its clients. The company's CEO, Uri Orbach, said that it has about 60 people working at its manufacturing unit in Ashdod. "The firm's established pedigree in military technology manufacturing is a synergistic fit with Lohia Group's decades long expertise in large scale manufacturing across sectors," Lohia noted. "The acquisition allows to dovetail its considerable engineering experience with cutting edge technologies and deliver high quality products and services to its customers. The Group aims to become the leading supplier of choice for global OEMs in the aerospace and defence sector," he stressed. With its operations in India supporting its Israeli facilities, the Group looks at strengthening the initiative as well as making Israel a key export hub to the American and European markets. "With these facilities serving as a strategic base for customers in those markets, the Group will utilise Israel's well-known prowess in aerospace R&D and engineering to leverage its expertise globally," Lohia said. The Group's Indian facility located in Kanpur will be part of the Uttar Pradesh government's defence corridor and also help establish India as an exporter for customised composite products, he noted. All existing customers will now also be ably supported from the Group's India facilities, Lohia emphasised. The Group also aims to become a successful vehicle for executing offset obligations of global through this endeavour and will also explore other opportunities in the sector which align with its experience and expertise. The Lohia Group, headquartered in Kanpur, is a diversified conglomerate with its flagship company being one of the world's largest manufacturer of machinery and equipment for the plastic woven sack industry providing end-to end solutions to customers in 85 countries. It employs more than 5,000 people. Youth of the two countries could play a role in transforming the quality of the Indo-Pak relations, Pakistan's envoy said here Tuesday, and urged them to be the "ambassadors of peace". High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood made the remarks during an interaction at the embassy, with a delegation of over 30 students, pursuing post-graduate degree programme in political leadership and government at Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT), Pune. Mahmood particularly stressed the role that the youth in India and Pakistan could play in "transforming the quality of bilateral relations". "He urged them to be the 'ambassadors of Pakistan-India peace' as they go forth in life and pursue their professional careers in diverse fields," the embassy said in a statement. Commenting on the historical evolution of Indo-Pak relations, Mahmood stressed on the importance of "changing the conflictual pattern of the past to a cooperative pattern in the future," the statement said. He also stressed on the imperatives of "sustained engagement, a result-oriented dialogue process, resolution of outstanding disputes, enhanced regional cooperation, and collective endeavours for shared prosperity". "The need for more exchange between intellectuals, academics, artists and sportsmen of the two countries was underscored," the embassy said. The envoy expressed hope that the historic Kartarpur Initiative, would be "instrumental in further facilitating and fortifying people-to-people bonds". Besides highlighting Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah's vision of Pakistan as a modern, progressive, democratic, Islamic welfare state, the envoy also outlined the national priorities of the new government including economic turnaround, improved governance, and accelerated socio-economic development. "The High Commissioner added that free media, independent judiciary, and vibrant civil society were distinct features of contemporary Pakistan," the statement said. The delegation was presented books containing pictorial overview of the Hindu, Sikh and Christian heritage in Pakistan. Their visit was hosted as part of the High Commission's outreach efforts and engagement with the youth, the statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and Maldives on Tuesday exchanged diplomatic notes for the implementation of a visa facilitation agreement to boost people to people contacts between the two countries. The agreement was signed during Maldivian President Ibrahim Solih's visit to India in December within a month after taking charge of the high office. The visit was seen as an effort by his government to repair ties with India which came under severe strain during the presidentship of Abdulla Yameen, who was known to be close to China. During Yameen's rule there were several diplomatic issues with many Indians being reportedly denied visas. The exchange of diplomatic notes follows signature on the Agreement by the President after the Union Cabinet's approval. The Agreement will be effective from March 11, 2019 after all formalities including information being provided to all Immigration Offices, Border points and Customs Authorities have been completed. This Agreement provides a very liberal visa regime for Maldivian nationals to visit India for tourism, business, education & medical purposes. It also makes it easier for Indians to travel to Maldives for business purposes. This Agreement will facilitate greater people to people contacts which was one of the decisions taken during the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Solih in December. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The has issued expression of interest to shortlist potential Indian strategic partners and foreign original equipment manufacturers for the procurement of 111 Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH), an official statement Tuesday. These choppers will replace the Chetak model and will be utilised for search, rescue and evacuation of casualties by air and torpedo drops. Ninety-five helicopters out of the 111 will be manufactured in India by the selected Indian strategic partner. The multi-billion dollar proposal was approved by the Defence Acquisition Council in August last year. The project is likely to provide major boost to the government's 'Make in India' initiative and fillip to the manufacturing capability for helicopters in India. The original equipment manufacturers (OEM) have been mandated to set up dedicated manufacturing line, including design, integration and manufacturing processes for NUHs in India and make the Indian Manufacturing Line a global exclusive facility for the NUH platform. "Whilst Indian companies have been given two months to respond to the EoI, the foreign OEMs have been given three months for responding due to the nature of inputs required. High-level of indigenisation, ie., about 60 per cent, of the helicopter is desired through the NUH project. "The request for proposal (RFP) for procurement is likely to be issued towards the end of third quarter of this year to the shortlisted Indian companies," the statement added. India and China are leading the global greening effort, which is quite contrary to the general perception worldwide, a latest study said Monday, observing that the world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago. The study based on data received and analysed from its satellite said that India and China are leading in greening on land. "China and India account for one-third of the greening but contain only 9 per cent of the planet's land area covered in vegetation," said lead author Chi Chen of Boston University. "That is a surprising finding, considering the general notion of land degradation in populous countries from over exploitation," he said. The study published on February 11, in the journal Nature Sustainability said that recent satellite data reveal a greening pattern that is strikingly prominent in China and India and overlaps with croplands world-wide. China alone accounts for 25 per cent of the global net increase in leaf area with only 6.6 per cent of global vegetated area. The greening in China is from forests (42 per cent) and croplands (32 per cent), but in India it is mostly from croplands (82 percent) with minor contribution from forests (4.4 per cent), the study said. China is engineering ambitious programmes to conserve and expand forests with the goal of mitigating land degradation, air pollution and climate change. Food production in China and India has increased by over 35 per cent since 2000 mostly owing to an increase in harvested area through multiple cropping facilitated by fertiliser use and surface- and/or groundwater irrigation. When the greening of the Earth was first observed, we thought it was due to a warmer, wetter climate and fertilization from the added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, said Rama Nemani, a research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and a co-author of the study. This study was made possible thanks to a two-decade-long data record from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites. Now with the MODIS data, we see that humans are also contributing, she said. Observing that once people realise there is a problem, they tend to fix it, Nemani said in the 1970s and 80s in India and China, the situation around vegetation loss was not good. In the 1990s, people realized it, and today things have improved. Humans are incredibly resilient. That's what we see in the satellite data, she said. According to the paper, how the greening trend may change in the future depends on numerous factors. For example, increased food production in India is facilitated by groundwater irrigation. If the groundwater is depleted, this trend may change, it said. The researchers also pointed out that the gain in greenness around the world does not necessarily offset the loss of natural vegetation in tropical regions such as Brazil and Indonesia. There are consequences for sustainability and biodiversity in those ecosystems beyond the simple greenness of the landscape, the research study said. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who will arrive here on Tuesday night to take part in the mega opposition rally at Jantar Mantar, will be visiting Parliament on Wednesday and participate at an official event in the city, sources said. Banerjee will address the AAP's 'Tanashahi Hatao, Desh Bachao' (Remove Dictatorship, Save Country) rally at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday. She will then visit Trinamool Congress' office at Parliament where she is expected to meet party lawmakers and MPs from other parties, the sources said. Banerjee will also participate at an official event in the city, details of which were yet to be shared. She is likely to be in Delhi till Thursday, according to a party leader in Kolkata. "As per the schedule Banerjee will leave for New Delhi on February 12 and attend the opposition rally convened by AAP on February 13. She will also meet leaders of various opposition parties," the leader had said. Banerjee has emerged as one of the most formidable voices of the opposition and her visit to Delhi assumes significance after the protest she led in Kolkata over CBI's attempt to interrogate the city police chief in chit fund scam cases created a political storm. She has been at loggerheads with the ruling BJP, which is eyeing to garner at least 22 of 42 seats from Bengal in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Last month, Banerjee organised a rally of opposition parties in Kolkata, where she called to oust the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, claiming its "expiry date" has passed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A waiter at a banquet hall in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district was shot at as a group of alleged drunk guests opened fire after a fight over food, officials said Tuesday. The incident happened at a party in a banquet hall in Logate Morh area on Monday night when some guests, who were apparently drunk, fought over food and fired three-four rounds in which the waiter was injured, police said. The man was taken to a nearby hospital and is said to be out of danger, they added. The accused fled the spot after the incident, police said. A case has been registered and a hunt is on to nab them, they said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Allahabad High Court has ruled that in a case where the accused has been charged under both under the POCSO Act and SC/ST Act, the bail application will be decided by the special POCSO court. Justice JJ Munir on Monday also held that in case a special POCSO court passes an order declining bail to the accused charged under both the acts, an application under section 439 of the CrPC would alone be maintainable before the high court. The court passed the order while hearing a bail plea filed by a man accused of rape where the government counsel raised a preliminary objection that as the accused is charged under both the acts, therefore bail application under section 439 of the CrPC was not maintainable. The applicant was required to file an appeal under section 14 A of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities ) Act, the counsel contended. The judge held that the bail application of Rinku, accused of raping a girl of Scheduled Caste community, is maintainable. It fixed February 22 as the next date of hearing to decide on merit the accused's bail plea. Rinku was accused of raping the girl along with his friends on July 7, 2017. Police had allegedly refused to lodge an FIR on a complaint of the victim's mother. They registered it only after an order of the chief judicial magistrate on August 26, 2017. The accused claimed that he was falsely framed in the case and said that even in the past seven false cases had been filed against him on complaints of the victim's family. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Muslim cleric was booked on Tuesday for allegedly sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in Kerala, police said. Shafeeq Al Qasimi, who was serving as the Imam of a rural mosque at Tholicode in Vithura, over 30 km away from here, was removed after the incident came to light, they said. A case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was registered against him based on the mosque committee's statement. According to the statement, he had lured a 15-year-old girl to an isolated forest area in Vithura and allegedly sexually assaulted her last week. The incident came to light after a group of local women confronted the cleric after seeing him with the school-going girl in the forest. "An FIR was registered as per the statement of the mosque committee," a police official said, adding that the victim or her family was yet to file a formal complaint. Qasimi was removed as Imam of the mosque after the issue surfaced, police added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian Air Force helicopters have airlifted more than 80 tonne materials for construction of a vital bridge over Kumney river in Kurung Kumey district of Arunachal Pradesh bordering China, Defence sources said Tuesday. IAF MI-17 helicopters airlifted the materials on Monday, Shillong-based IAF PRO Wing Commander Ratnakar Singh said Tuesday. The bridge which is being executed by the Border Roads Organisation, would connect the settlements of Huri outpost with Damin circle of the district bordering China. Owing to its strategic importance, the bridge would play a crucial role in easing out inconvenience caused to local people and troops deployed in this remote part of the state. The IAF is assisting the BRO in carrying the load to expedite the process. With the aim to connect inaccessible areas of Arunachal Pradesh, the Border Roads Organisation is undertaking massive construction of roads and bridges in such areas of the state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will host the first annual conference of media units under it on Wednesday, during which Information Service officers will deliberate on emerging areas of evolving communication paradigm. The opening session of the conference will be chaired by Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore. The conference aims to give a unique platform to the officers of the Indian Information Service working under different media units to converge at an all-India level, where they can discuss and deliberate upon the emerging areas of the evolving communication paradigm, an official statement said. Through the conference, the ministry aims to strengthen the synergy between the media units in order to ensure last mile delivery, while simultaneously brainstorm the use of new technology in communication, it said. The participants will also discuss the ways of using social media to reach target audience groups and push the boundaries of communication outreach in terms of geographical and cultural barriers, the statement added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The hooch tragedy rocked the Uttarakhand Assembly for a second day on Tuesday, with the Congress staging a walkout over the government's "insensitivity" even as the speaker announced that an in-house panel will be set up to probe the incident. Over 70 people were killed in Uttarakhand and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh after consuming spurious liquor. At least 36 people died in Uttarakhand alone. Opposition leaders rushed into the Well of the House and raised anti-government slogans. They also sought resignations of Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and Excise Minister Prakash Pant over the issue. The Opposition also alleged that Rawat and his cabinet colleagues did not deem it important to visit the families of the victims, who were mostly Scheduled Caste labourers. Leader of Opposition Indira Hridayesh said the ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh announced by the state government for kin of the deceased was not enough. "In some cases, poor women have lost both their husbands and sons and don't know how to keep their hearths burning. They are in need of immediate financial help. If the ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh reaches them after the viscera report, wouldn't it defeat the purpose?" she asked. Senior Congress MLA Govind Singh Kunjwal criticised the state government for suspending only "small fries" in the excise department in the name of action. Echoing similar sentiments, Ranikhet MLA Karan Mahra said senior excise officers had been allowed to go scot-free. Mahra said a tragedy of this proportion could not have taken place without the involvement of the bigwigs and demanded Pant's resignation on moral grounds. Defending the government, Pant said as many as 17 excise department and police officials were suspended immediately after the incident. "Showcause notices were also served to officials who could have been responsible for the incident and if their replies are not satisfactory, stern action will be taken against them as well. No one will be spared, I assure the House," the excise minister said. Collective effort is needed to uproot the social evil of alcoholism, Pant added. He said a special investigation team (SIT), led by inspector general, Garhwal, had also been constituted to get to the root of the hooch deaths and to suggest measures to prevent a repeat of such incidents in future. However, Pant's reply failed to assuage the agitated Congress members, who had returned to their seats to hear him. They again rushed into the Well, reiterating the demand for the minister's resignation. Speaker Prem Chand Aggrawal intervened to announce that an in-house committee will be constituted to look into the incident and suggest long term measures to end illicit liquor trade. He said the members of the panel will be announced later. Alleging that the government had done nothing to offer immediate help to the victims' families, the Congress staged a walkout. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Hizbul Mujahideen militant, who helped Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) commander Naveed Jatt escape from police custody at a hospital here last year, was Tuesday killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district in which a soldier also lost his life, police said. Based on a credible input about the presence of militants in Ratnipora area of Pulwama, a cordon and search operation was launched in the intervening night, a police spokesman said. He said that as the searches were going on, the militants fired upon the forces, who retaliated. In the ensuing encounter, one militant was killed and the body was retrieved from the site of encounter. The slain militant was identified as Hilal Ahmad Rather, a resident of Behgambagh Kakapora of Pulwama district, the spokesman said. He said as per police records, Rather was affiliated with the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM). Rather had a long history of terror crime and was wanted for his complicity in a series of crimes, including attack on security establishments and civilian atrocities, the spokesman said. "Several cases were registered against him for his involvement in terrorist activities, including a case pertaining to the terrorist attack inside the premises of SMHS hospital in which two cops were martyred and a Pakistani terrorist, Naveed Jatt alias Hanzalla, managed to escape," he said. Jatt was killed in an encounter in Budgam in November last year. The spokesman said incriminating material such as arms and ammunition was recovered from the site of encounter. "All these materials have been taken in the case records for the purpose of investigation. Body of the killed terrorist was handed over to his family after completion of medico-legal formalities," he said. He said two security personnel also sustained gunshot injuries in the encounter and were evacuated to a hospital for medical attention. One of them, Jawan Baljeet Singh, succumbed to the injuries, the spokesman said, adding the other soldier is being treated. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hizbul Mujahideen militant Hilal Ahmed Rather, the main accused in planning the escape of Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Naveed Jhutt last year, was gunned down by Jammu and Kashmir police on Tuesday, officials said. An army jawan also lost his life in the encounter in Ratnipora in south Kashmir's Pulwama district. "Rather was the main accused in the escape of Lashker-e-Taiba militant Naveed Jhutt from a Srinagar hospital," Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Range) Swayam Prakash Pani said. Jhutt, who was under arrest, escaped from a city hospital last year on February 8 after shooting down two policemen. He was killed in an encounter with police on November 28 last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur Tuesday said the Himachal Pradesh Assembly is the first-ever high-tech paperless Assembly implementing e-Vidhan system and a role model to other state Assemblies to follow this practice. Thakur said this while addressing the participants of the 34th International Training Programme in Legislative Drafting and Officers of Lok Sabha here. The Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and Training, Lok Sabha, is organising this training programme under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation, in which about 43 representatives from 27 countries are participating. The chief minister said that the initiatives made by the state Vidhan Sabha is appreciable in saving huge expenses of the government on paper and unnecessary plying of vehicles during Assembly session. The implementation of e-Constituency Management will prove a pragmatic step towards empowerment of members of legislatures using information technology. The CM said such workshops and programmes go a long way in better understanding the functioning and working of State Legislative Assemblies in different parts of the world. Thakur said that Himachal Pradesh has no pre-constitutional history as the state itself was a post independence creation. Assembly Speaker Rajiv Bindal said all the participants were here for an attachment programme with Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha, Judicial Academy, Indian Institute of Advance Study and Himachal Institute of Public Administration (HIPA), Shimla. Most of the participants are judicial officers, legal advisors, officers of legislative assemblies and Member of Parliament from South Sudan, he added. Under Secretary, Lok Sabha Secretariat, Puneet Bhatia was also present on the occasion. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Centre to apprise it of steps taken to ensure the safety and well-being of Indians abroad and asked whether it has taken effective steps to set up an Indian maritime casualty investigation cell. The court also asked the government to find out the fate of the four men from Tamil Nadu, who were allegedly missing since September 10 last when their ship met with an accident, and file a report by February 14. The Madurai bench comprising justices N Kirubakaran and S S Sundar took note of incidents involving Indians getting stranded, exploited, cheated, jailed or even killed in various countries and asked the Centre to submit information on how many Indians were working overseas and how many received assistance from Indian missions. It also wanted to know from the External Affairs Ministry secretary and Home Secretary, among others, as how many Indians died overseas in the past decade and whether their bodies were brought to India. Having posed these questions, the judges asked the government how many people had been helped by the Indian embassies in the wake of issues like exploitation, unlawful detention or seizure of travel documents etc. The bench was hearing a petition of R Sahayaraj Vinoth of Kanyakumari who sought steps to trace the four people from Tamil Nadu, all engineers, who were missing since September 10 last when their ship met with an accident. It was stated that the three were rescued and the fourth had died, but their whereabouts were since not known. Hence, the petitioner moved the court which asked the government to find out the fate of the four and file a report by February 14. The court asked, "If the government has taken effective steps to set up an Indian maritime casualty investigation cell, if amendments have been made in rules to ensure the life of seafarers is made more secure and safe and in case of loss of life, their kith and kin are paid adequate compensation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Madras High Court Tuesday dismissed a PIL seeking action against the Tamil Nadu chief secretary for not playing the national anthem at a recent function in which the prime minister participated, noting that even the petitioner had not said it was mandatory. When the plea came up before a division bench comprising justices S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad, the petitioner said neither Tamil (an invocation song to mother Tamil) nor the national anthem was played when Narendra Modi took part in the event to lay the foundation stone for the AIIMS at Madurai on January 27. Citing a Union Home Ministry circular that outlines state events where the national anthem should be played, the petitioner said and submitted that neither the Tamil nor the national anthem was played despite the presence of Constitutional authorities like Governor Banwarilal Purohit in the function. Though the circular outlined events where the national anthem should be played, punishments for violations were not prescribed, the petitioner Selvi Vembu, who claimed to be a social activist, said. She sought a direction to the Home Affairs Ministry to frame guidelines and prescribe punishments for violations. After hearing her plea, the bench said the petitioner had not disclosed any particulars to support her contention that she is a social activist. The court dismissed the petition, pointing out that even according to her, the Home Ministry circular on events where the national anthem should be played was not mandatory. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court on Tuesday declined to entertain a PIL opposing the practice of ministers, at state as well as national level, using the government machinery and funds in election campaigns for their parties. A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao dismissed the petition saying it pertained to guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India (EC)and asked the petitioner to approach the poll panel. "Go to the Election Commission. We are not entertaining it. Dismissed," the court said. The order came on a plea by B R Harish Babu who had contended that once elected to power, the ministers, whether at the Centre or in states, owed allegiance to the citizens of the country and not to their respective political parties. In his petition, he had also claimed that the EC's "Model Code of Conduct guidelines specifically provide that the state and central governments shall not misutilise any public funds nor make use of government machinery for the purpose of election rally and campaigning". "The use by the party in power of public places for holding election meetings or use of helipads for flights in connection with election campaigning incurs additional expenditure on the public exchequer," the petition had said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Gujjar community agitation for five per cent reservation in jobs and education continued on the fifth day Tuesday even as some Congress leaders claimed that the state government will announce a proposal Wednesday to break the deadlock. The agitators continued to block rail tracks and highways, causing inconvenience to common people. On Tuesday, they blockaded Chaksu town, about 40 km from here on National Highway 52, police said. The blockades on the Agra-Jaipur-Bikaner National Highway-11 in Dausa district, state highway in Nainwa of Bundi district, Malarna road in Sawai Madhopur and the Karauli-Hindaun road at Budla village in Karauli district continued. "Apart from the routes that were blocked till yesterday, agitators have laid a blockade at Chaksu town of Jaipur district. No untoward incident has been reported so far. The law and order situation is under control," Director General of Police (Law and Order) M L Lathar said. The North Western Railway informed through a bulletin that three trains were cancelled and two diverted on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot chaired two meetings Tuesday at the state secretariat to discuss the quota issue with ministers and other Congress leaders. Though the deliberation of the meeting was not briefed officially, some Congress legislators indicated that the government will announce a proposal in the state assembly Wednesday, seeking to break the impasse. "The chief minister is serious and the issue was discussed to find a solution and end the deadlock. There is unrest in the state and the country," Khetri MLA Jitendra Singh said. Sports minister Ashok Chandna said, "Gujjar community members are on rail tracks and people are suffering. Definitely, a major solution will come up in the Assembly tomorrow." A Congress legislator from Gujarat, Himmat Patel, also met Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla at the protest site on Malarna Dungar rail track to express his party's commitment in resolving the issues. But the Gujjar leaders have refused to back-off from the tracks and roads. "We have not received any communication from the state government so far. Dharna will continue and we will not go back until the government hands over 5 per cent quota order," Vijay Bainsla, son of Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, said. Gujjar agitation leader Kirori Bainsla and his supporters began their indefinite sit-in on railway tracks in Malarna Dungar of Sawai Madhopur on Friday evening. Bainsla has stuck to the demand for five per sent reservation to the Gujjar, Raika-Rebari, Gadia Luhar, Banjara and the Gadaria communities, and has to refused to move from the tracks until the same is met through an official announcement. A state government delegation, including Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh and IAS officer Neeraj K Pawan, had held talks with the protestors on Saturday but failed to come to an agreement. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Observing that the Central Goods and Services Act was enacted with the laudable object of "one country one tax", the Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed the anticipatory bail applications filed by nine persons apprehending arrest under the provisions of the Act. Justice Anand Venkatesh, in his order, said, "Where the accused persons are charged of violations of the CGST Act, involving colossal loss of revenue to the exchequer and the investigation is at a very nascent stage, prudence demands that this court should lay off its hands from investigation and allow complete independence to the prosecuting agency to proceed further with the investigation." According to the prosecution, various organised firms and people have involved themselves in issuing fake invoices, without actual supply of goods or services, and are also receiving fake invoices without receipt of goods and availing input tax credit to cheat the exchequer. In the present case, the companies concerned had involved in issuing fake invoices without the supply of goods and received fake invoices without receipt of goods and thereby, committed offences under the CGST Act, 2017, it said. In the process, the exchequer had suffered huge loss, running to several thousand crores of rupees, it added. The department (Goods and Service Tax Network) must be given the complete independence to investigate the cases since it involved the national interest, the court said. "This court, by entertaining the petitions and by imposing certain conditions, should not tie the hands of the department in proceeding further with the investigation since what has been unearthed till now is only the tip of the iceberg and there is a long way to go for it to find out how long these fake invoices have extended their tentacles," the judge said. It was true that the entire issue was borne out by documents and once the petitioners co-operated for the investigation by submitting all the relevant documents, they should not be unnecessarily arrested, the judge said. "However, it is a settled proposition of law that this court, while considering a petition for advance bail, has to necessarily take into consideration the nature and gravity of the accusation. "When a case involves serious offences, grant of the relief by itself will cause prejudice to the investigation," he added. Wherever the department found that certain provisions of the Act were misused by creating fake invoices and input tax credit was being availed without any movement of goods, it had to be curbed and nipped in the bud to ensure that it did not grow into another mega scam, having a direct impact on the economy of the nation, the judge said. Since the department had collected some prima facie materials, it wanted to act fast before it became a huge racket, failing which the entire economy of the country would weaken and collapse, the judge said and dismissed the advance bail pleas. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) / -- Growatt, a Shenzhen, China-based manufacturer of PV inverters, announced that it donated one unit of its inverter, Growatt 20KTL3-S, to the Indore Cancer Foundation Charitable Trust (ICF), a not-for-profit charitable organization in central India, for its rooftop solar power plant project. The ICF was established in 1988, with its focus on head & neck cancers, the most common cancers among Indian male adults, promoting medical education to the public and conducting clinical researches. To reduce carbon footprint and power the facility with clean solar energy, the ICF initiated the installation of a 20kW solar power plant on the rooftop. After learning about the initiative, Growatt donated a 20kW inverter and worked with other parties to finish the project. Growatt has been committed to corporate social responsibility ever since its foundation. It applies responsible practices in the workplace and has been awarded the SA8000 certification. Growatt supports social and charitable causes through donations and has contributed to many photovoltaic projects that are aimed at poverty reduction, as well as those in schools in remote areas with limited access to the grid. The donation to ICF is another example of Growatt's commitments to the society. The plant has now been commissioned and connected to the grid. This 20kW rooftop project is expected to produce an energy output of approximately 32,000kWh annually, which will provide electricity power for the whole facility and help cut the bills. The ICF expressed their special thanks to Growatt for donating the inverter. "Growatt entered the Indian solar market in 2011. After years of growth we are now one of the top inverter brands in the rooftop solar market. With great power comes great responsibility. Growatt is committed to social responsibility and we are honored to make this donation and contribute to the rooftop solar plant of the ICF," says Frank Qiao, Growatt co-founder and sales director. "Its annual power generation will help reduce CO2 emissions equivalent to 400 to 500 trees planted. This is definitely another achievement of the ICF in their noble work they've been doing for decades." Photo- https://photos.prnasia. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Turkey issued detention warrants for 1112 people over their suspected links to the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO), TGRT reported. The nationwide simultaneous raids conducted across 76 provinces are ongoing, TASS reported. According to the Turkish government, FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016 which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured. Congress leader K V Thomas Tuesday demanded a proper inquiry into the deadly fire incident in a hotel in Central Delhi's Karol Bagh area. A fire broke out at Arpit Palace Hotel located on Gurudwara Road in Karol Bagh in the early hours of Tuesday, killing 17 people. A large number of people of my constituency were staying in the hotel and 10-15 persons are missing, Thomas, who represents Ernakulam, said in Lok Sabha during the Zero Hour. "I would urge the government to order a proper inquiry into the incident," he said. Thomas also demanded adequate compensation for those affected by the fire. The blaze, in which 35 people were injured, started in the second floor of the hotel around 3.30 am, trapping many guests who were deep in sleep. There were 53 people in the 45-room hotel, which had a canopy on the terrace housing what appeared to be a restaurant, officials said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Arunachal Pradesh Governor Brig (Retd) B D Mishra on Tuesday urged the Centre to expedite the process for setting up of song, dance and music centres in every district of the state. The governor met Union Minister for Culture, Mahesh Sharma in New Delhi and told him that song, dance and music centres would provide the youth, the elders and future generation a platform to interact, teach and learn the age-old cultural heritage, a Raj Bhavan release said. "It will also promote the talented and god gifted artists, performers and hobby seekers towards the creative arts and will also provide a means of sustenance and livelihood," he said. The governor further emphasised that such multi-purpose centres would also facilitate in bringing back from unlawful activities and drug abuse, the weaned away youth, men and women to the mainstream of the society. The Union minister assured the governor that he would direct his team of officers to do the best for the state in this regard, the release added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy on Tuesday handed over a Rs 3.5 lakh cheque to the SOS childrens village officials for corrective surgery of a 14 year-old boy, a Raj Bhavan statement said. The governor handed over the cheque to a representative of the SOS Childrens Village at Umiam in Ri-Bhoi district for treatment of Heimon U-ru Mukhim, 14 years of age for surgical intervention to correct sideward curvature of his spine, it said. The assistance has been provided from Discretionary Grant of Governor and Heimon will be treated at the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS), near here, the statement said. Roy, who personally handed over the cheque, enquired about the well-being of the boy and wished him speedy recovery, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Information Technology Secretary R Chandrashekhar Tuesday defended the move of the Parliamentary panel on IT to summon the head of Twitter, saying the meeting would help the committee understand the issues and the microblogging site to explain their position. The former President of NASSCOM told PTI it was a good decision because the committee needed to first understand the "issues and problem" before deciding. "I would personally view it as a positive thing that they are trying to understand from these guys (Twitter) directly what exactly the issue is and what their challenges are etc. What conclusion they (the panel) come to is a different matter but at least to my mind it's the right step and for Twitter also it's a good thing if they can explain to them what the issues and challenges are and what they can and can't do and then can come to their own conclusion", he said. The panel had on Monday summoned the the head of Twitter to appear before it on February 25. Committee members took a serious note about the Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey not appearing before the panel. On Saturday, Twitter in a statement had cited "short notice of the hearing" for its CEO Dorsey not being able to attend the Monday meeting. The committee was scheduled to hear the views of the representatives of Ministry of Electronics and IT and Twitter on 'Safeguarding citizens rights on social/online media platforms'. While representatives from Twitter's India office reached the meeting venue, they were not called in for deliberations by the panel, according to sources. The panel decided to call Twitter officials against the backdrop of growing concerns about safeguarding citizens' data privacy and possibility that social media could be used to interfere in elections. Chandrashekhar, also former Telecom Commission Chairman, said those broad concerns had been there for some time. Summoning Twitter officials was "not very unusual", he said, noting that representatives of Indian IT industry, startups and multinational companies had also earlier given their views on the subject in a similar exercise. On the possibility that social media could "unfairly" influence the country's election process, he said that's something people should be concerned about in a democracy. "There are many, many methods and techniques (by social media to influence polls through undesiable means) involved but that's a separate issue; it's a global phenomena, that's not something peculiar to India. Obviously the scale is much larger in India but the problem is the same", he said. "And just in normal course also, no body can prevent two people from talking. Beyond a point, you can't put a complete curb or a ban on social media. Some dialogue will go on. What's allowable and not allowable is a matter which needs a careful thought," Chandrashekhar added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) German police on Tuesday raided and shuttered two publishing companies linked to banned militant group the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The interior ministry declared bans against Mezopotamien Publishing and MIR Multimedia, based in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony states. They had used the "disguise of publishing companies" to benefit the PKK, which Germany banned as a terrorist group in 1993, the ministry said. The website of Mezopotamien Publishing advertised Kurdish political texts, including by jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, while the site of MIR Multimedia said it mainly promoted Kurdish music. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a lingering row with Berlin, has accused Germany of doing too little to crack down on his opponents, including the PKK. German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said that "because the PKK is still active despite the ban in Germany, it is necessary to put the PKK in its place and enforce the law". The ministry said that the PKK is "by far the largest foreign extremist organisation in Germany", with an estimated 14,500 followers. German law enforcement had launched thousands of proceedings against the PKK, prosecuted more than 90 people since 1992 and banned over 50 PKK-linked groups, the ministry said. About three million people with Turkish roots, many of them ethnic Kurds, live in Germany, making them the largest immigrant group in the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa Tuesday offered prayers at the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala here. He arrived here last night and offered worship to the presiding deity of Lord Venkateswara early this morning, a temple official told PTI. He said it was a sudden visit and there was no advance official communique about Rajapaksa's arrival to the officials ofTirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) that governs the ancient shrine. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Bihar Congress president Ram Jatan Sinha on Tuesday joined the ruling Janata Dal (United) and lavished praise on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the party. After joining the JD(U) at an auditorium in presence of top leaders like national vice president Prashant Kishor and state unit chief Vashishth Narayan Singh, Sinha was felicitated at the party office by Kumar. Sinha is not an ordinary leader and his joining our party will have immense consequences, Kumar told reporters on the occasion. Today, we see doors of political parties are closed on talented young people, which is regrettable. Our party, however, is different as it is not controlled by a family. And, therefore, there is hardly any social segment which is not duly represented in the JD(U), the Chief Minister said. Earlier, at the party function in Bapu Sabhagar auditorium, Sinha had said Nitish Kumar is a leader who thinks of Bihars development all the time. And the state has prospered under his leadership since he has eradicated social strife along the lines of caste and religion. A known baiter of Lalu Prasad, Sinha also took potshots at the RJD supremos heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav, whom he did not mention by name but remarked people without any formal education worth the name have the temerity to raise questions on the state of universities in Bihar. Sinha had severed his ties with the Congress ahead of the 2015 assembly polls which he unsuccessfully contested as an Independent candidate. A three-time MLA from Makhdumpur assembly segment in Jehanabad district, now a reserved constituency, Sinha had served as the BPCC president in 2003. Speculations are rife that he may be fielded by the JD(U) from Jehanabad Lok Sabha segment, which has a sizeable population of Bhumihar community to which Sinha belongs. Sinha is the second former state unit chief of the Congress to have joined the JD(U) in a year. In February last year, three Congress MLCs including former BPCC president Ashok Choudhary had crossed over to Nitish Kumars party. Besides, another former state Congress president Mehboob Ali Kaiser is with Ram Vilas Paswans Lok Janshakti Party, a partner in the states ruling alliance. However, Tariq Anwar who had served as a BPCC president in the 1980s but went on to co-found the NCP along with Sharad Pawar returned to the party last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Five Nepalese women rescued from a brothel in India have been reunited with their families with the help of an anti-trafficking organisation. The five women had been living in a heinous atmosphere in a brothel in Agra for 17 months. They were kept in the state protection shelter of the Government of India for 12 months for fulfilling legal procedures after they were rescued last year, according to the police. Maiti India, the NGO, helped them in reuniting with their families. Police conducted their DNA test for their safety. "They were sold to the brothel in India through Nepalese brokers. After completion of their DNA test they have been handed over to their families," said the police. "The DNA test was conducted to ensure that they were not taken back to the brothel by the brokers pretending as their relatives," a statement issued by Nepal Police said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A massive fire swept through a four-floor hotel in central Delhi's Karol Bagh in the early hours of Tuesday, killing at least 17 guests, including a child and two people who jumped off the building in a desperate bid to save themselves, officials said. The blaze,in which 35 people were injured, started in the second floor of the Arpit Palace Hotel in the heart of the national capital around 3.30 am, trapping many guests who were deep in sleep. There were 53 people in the 45-room hotel, which had a canopy on the terrace housing what appeared to be a restaurant, officials said. A call about the fire was received at 4.35 am and 24 fire tenders were rushed to the spot, a senior Delhi Fire Service official said. At least 35 people were injured in the blaze, said Madhur Verma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi), adding that one person was still missing. "A 43-year-old woman suffered 45 per cent burn injuries," he told reporters, adding that 13 of the bodies had been taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, two to Lady Hardinge Hospital and one to BLK hospital. Of the 13 bodies, five had been identified -- three from Kerala and two from Myanmar. A senior civic official said a suspected short circuit could have sparked the fire. While the Delhi government ordered a magisterial probe, Home Minister Satyendar Jain said he has also directed the fire department to inspect buildings which are five floors or more and submit a report on their fire safety compliance within a week. "Seventeen people have died, most of them of suffocation. Apparently, there were lapses (from the hotel administration's side). Action will taken against those found guilty," he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the loss of lives. "Deeply saddened by the loss of lives due to a fire at Karol Bagh in Delhi. I convey my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives," he tweeted. The hotel had a canopy on its terrace with chairs and tables laid out, indicating that there was an open restaurant operating there, fire officials said, adding that there was wooden panelling in the rooms inside that could have helped the fire spread. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was among the many politicians and officials who visited the spot, announced Rs 5 lakh compensation for the next of kin of those killed. The Delhi government also cancelled its fourth anniversary celebrations in view of the tragedy. It was a nightmare without end, said Somshekhar, who had come to Delhi from Kerala with his family to attend a wedding Ghaziabad and was staying in the hotel. They were residents of Ernakulam district in Kerala and were getting ready to go to Haridwar when the fire started. "Ten of us were rescued by police and fire teams. We had booked four rooms in the hotel. We were all ready early morning to go to Haridwar when suddenly there was a power cut. They switched on the generator and there was heavy smoke and smell," he said. His sister, who is missing, alerted them to the smoke and rushed out to check what was happening, he said. "The entire pathway was full of smoke. My mother and brother were along with my sister at the time. I immediately came to the room and opened the room for fresh air and we managed to escape. We were at the second floor of the hotel," he said. The fire broke out in the second floor of the building, a North Delhi Municipal Corporation official said. The hotel was first granted a licence in October 2005 and was renewed every year. The last renewal was done on May 25, 2018 and was valid till March 31. "As per information gathered from the site, it reveals that the incidence of fire accrued at second floor at around 3.30 AM on February 12 due to short-circuit," the official said A fire department official said some used fire extinguishers were found, suggesting people trapped inside tried to douse the flames in a bid to escape. Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit expressed her grief over the incident. "I express my sorrow at the tragic death of several innocent people in a fire at #ArpitHotel in #KarolBagh. Our brave firefighters are working amidst extremely difficult circumstances to rescue those who are stranded in the building," she tweeted. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former CBI interim chief M Nageswara Rao looked pensive throughout Tuesday when the Supreme Court awarded day-long courtroom detention to him for "brazen" contempt of its orders. Rao, the 1986 batch Odisha cadre IPS officer who became the interim CBI Director twice in recent past, came to the crowded courtroom of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) well before 10.30 AM and was seen engaged in discussions with the lawyers and CBI's legal advisor S Bhasuram, a co-contemnorin the case. Rao and Bhasuram, both wearing blue suits, went near the dais after the lawyers asked them to come forward moments after the bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi started hearing the contempt case. Both the officers had some anxious moments when the bench indicated that it may sent them to jail for 30 days for the "brazen" contempt. Minutes after they were pronounced guilty, the CJI pronounced the quantum of sentence and said that they will have to sit in the courtroom till the rising of the court. "Go to one corner of the court and sit down till the rising of this court," the CJI thundered. Both the officers, who were followed by curious lawyers and media persons, quickly rushed to the visitors' gallery in the CJI's courtroom and remained seated till 4 PM on chairs in a corner. They did not even leave the courtroom during the lunch recess. Later in the day, the apex court did not allow plea of Attorney General K K Venugopal at 3:40 pm that the contemnor officers be allowed to leave. The top court responded angrily to the plea seeking permission for Rao to leave. "What's this? Do you want us to sentence him till the rising of the court tomorrow? Go and sit where you were," the CJI said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russian President Vladimir Putin offered condolences to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the Istanbul building collapse, which claims the lives of 21 people, the Russian Embassy in Ankara wrote on its Twitter page. "Vladimir Putin offered sincere condolences to Tayyip Erdogan, to relatives and friends of those killed as a result of the collapse of a residential building in Istanbul, and wished a speedy recovery to the injured," TASS cited the statement as saying. The death toll in Wednesday's building collapse in Istanbul has risen to 21, 14 people more were injured. The building collapsed on February 6 while 30 residents were inside. The cause of the collapse is yet to be determined. The investigation is underway. An encounter broke out between militants and security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, police said. Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Ratnipora area of Pulwama in south Kashmir during the night following specific information about the presence of militants there, a police official said. He said the search operation turned into an encounter after militants fired on the forces who retaliated. The exchange of fire was on, the official said, adding the area has been cordoned off and further details were awaited. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The NIA has registered seven terror-related cases in Punjab which were aimed at reviving the Khalistan-linked terrorism in the state, the Lok Sabha was informed Tuesday. Union minister of state for home Hansraj Ahir said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered five cases related to murder and two cases related to attempt to murder in Punjab during 2016-17. "The objective of which was to destabilise the law and order situation in Punjab and to revive Khalistan linked terrorism in the state," he said, replying a written question. Ahir said in order to avert terror incidents in the country, there is a close and effective coordination mechanism between intelligence and security agencies at the Centre and the state level. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi government has ordered a magisterial probe into a massive fire at a hotel in central Delhi's Karol Bagh area on Tuesday in which at least 17 people were killed, its Home Minister Satyendar Jain said. Jain, who visited the Arpit Palace Hotel where the fire broke out in the early hours of the morning, told reporters that he has also directed the fire department to inspect buildings which are five floors or more and submit a report on their fire safety compliance within a week. "We have ordered for a magisterial inquiry into the case. Seventeen people have died, most of them of suffocation. Apparently, there were lapses (from the hotel administration's side) and action will taken against those found guilty," he said. Generally, four floors are allowed for such establishments, the minister said. "We saw a canopy was put up on the terrace and tables and chairs were laid out. Inside in the rooms, wooden panels were there on the walls," Jain said. "So I have also directed the fire department to inspect such multi-storeyed buildings which have five floors or more and submit a report in a week's time," he said. The blaze that swept through the hotel in Gurudwara Road in central Delhi's Karol Bagh killed at least 17 people, police said. A call about the fire was received at 4.35 am and 24 fire tenders were rushed to the spot, a senior officer from the Delhi Fire Service said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Delhi court on Tuesday said it would pronounce the order on the bail plea of Rajeev Saxena, arrested in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland money-laundering case, after perusing his medical report on Wednesday. Special Judge Arvind Kumar, who sent Saxena to jail till February 18, ordered the AIIMS director to file a report regarding the medical condition of the accused by 2 pm on Wednesday. Saxena sought bail on medical grounds and told the court that he was suffering from a "heart disease" and "advanced-stage leukaemia". The Enforcement Directorate (ED) did not oppose Saxena's bail plea provided he did not leave Delhi. Saxena, a director of two Dubai-based firms -- UHY Saxena and Matrix Holdings -- said in his bail application that he was an extremely sick person with advanced terminal diseases and had coronary heart disease with four stents in his heart and hypertension. "The present application is being filed in grave urgency, keeping in mind the medical condition of the applicant (Saxena), as any further custody will have grave and irreparable damage on his medical condition, which is fragile, and there is likelihood of contracting other diseases because of his low immunity level," the plea said. The court had, while sending Saxena to judicial custody for two days, directed the Tihar jail authorities to take him to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for a medical check-up. The plea said Saxena had advanced-stage leukaemia (blood cancer) and was terminally ill. "He is suffering from a radiating back pain, numbness and heaviness in legs, neck pain and muscle spasms. He suffers from severe lumbar osteo discogenic spinal canal stenosis, disc bulge and nerve root irritation, bilateral facet joint osteoarthritis, multi-level disc protrusion and osteoarthritis of cervical facet joints with secondary cervical spinal canal stenosis with suspicion of radiculopathy in his left hand," the bail application said. It further said the medicines for leukaemia were administered on a daily basis and were available only by special order at the American Hospital in Dubai, UAE and the tests were administered weekly at the said hospital. "Saxena's back condition, which is precarious, has worsened," the plea said. Saxena, who is in custody since January 31, also said when all the other accused in the case, including Gautam Khaitan, Ritu Khaitan, S P Tyagi, and others were out on bail, there could be "no justification" to deny his plea. He said in his plea that since his passport is with the ED, there was no likelihood of him absconding. Saxena, a Dubai-based businessman, was deported from Dubai on January 31 and sent to a four-day custody of the ED the same day. He is one of the accused named in the chargesheet filed by ED in the case. Christian Michel, former AgustaWestland and Finmeccanica directors Giuseppe Orsi and Bruno Spagnolini, former Air Force chief SP Tyagi and Saxena's wife Shivani have also been named by the agency in the chargesheet. The ED had earlier sought extension of Saxena's custody on the ground that he was required for confronting with Gautam Khaitan, a Delhi-based lawyer and a co-accused, who was earlier arrested in the case and was in the agency's custody in another case. The central agency had alleged that in connivance with Khaitan, Saxena had provided a global corporate structure for laundering the illegal proceeds of the crime for payment to various political persons, bureaucrats and Air Force officials to influence the contract to supply 12 VVIP helicopters in favour of AgustaWestland. Saxena was residing in Palm Jumeriah, Dubai and was living in the UAE for the last 26 years. Maintaining that AgustaWestland had paid 58 million euros as kickbacks through two Tunisia-based firms, the ED has alleged that "these companies further siphoned off the said money in the name of consultancy contracts to M/s Interstellar Technologies Limited, Mauritius and others, which were further transferred to M/s UHY Saxena and M/s Matrix Holdings Ltd, Dubai and others". It was alleged by the probe agency that the two Dubai-based firms were the entities "through which the proceeds of crime have been routed and further layered and integrated in buying the immovable properties/shares, among others". On January 1, 2014, India had scrapped the contract with Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland for supplying 12 AW-101 VVIP choppers to the Indian Air force (IAF) over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of kickbacks of Rs 423 crore paid by it to secure the deal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced Rs 5 lakh compensation to the next of kin of those killed in a massive fire that swept through a hotel in central Delhi's Karol Bagh area in the early hours of Tuesday. At least 17 people, including a child, were killed in the fire that broke out in the Arpit Palace Hotel on Gurudwara Road in Karol Bagh. Kejriwal announced the compensation after visiting the spot. The city government has ordered a magisterial probe into the tragedy. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three Myanmarese Buddhist pilgrims, including two women, were killed in a massive fire in a five-storey hotel in north Delhi's Karol Bagh Tuesday, while a woman guide accompanying them escaped death by jumping off its second floor, a Myanmar embassy official said here. Two victims had been identified earlier, while a 32-year-old man, Htumhla Sein, was later also identified as a Myanmarese national, a police official said. The two deceased were part of a seven-member tourist group that had come to India on a Buddhist trail, the embassy official had said earlier. In a statement issued in Burmese on its Facebook page, the Myanmar Embassy in New Delhi also said, the two pilgrims from Myanmar lost their lives and one was injured in the fire, which killed 15 other people. "The...team comprising seven Myanmar pilgrims was residing at the hotel. Officials from Myanmar Embassy in New Delhi and Myanmar monks are providing necessary assistance to the victims at the hospital," the statement said. The group had hired a cameraperson from Bodh Gaya in Bihar who also perished in the blaze, the embassy official said. The two Myanmar nationals killed in the fire are: Daw Hla May (66), from Tikegyi Township, and Daw Mya Mya Htwe (44), it said. The injured person is receiving treatment at the Lady Hardinge Hospital here and the rest four Myanmar citizens are staying at the Hotel Metro View, it added. The embassy official said, Chan Chan, a 33-year-old tourist guide from Myanmar, who was part of the group, "saved her life by jumping off the second floor of the hotel". Chan has suffered a fracture in her leg and is undergoing treatment at the Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital. "The group had come to Delhi from Myanmar. Prior to visiting Delhi, they had gone to Bodh Gaya. The group was on a Buddhist trail. The families of the deceased have been informed and their bodies would be sent back to the country after completion of formalities," the embassy official said. "Today, they were to leave for Varanasi," he added. Gyandeep, a monk helping the affected Myanmarese pilgrims, said they were also planning to visit the site of the Ashokan Edict in the Kailash Hills area near the ISCKON Temple here. The massive fire swept through the hotel in the early hours, killing at least 17 guests, officials said. Preliminary investigation suggest a suspected short circuit could have sparked the fire, civic officials added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two Myanmarese Buddhist pilgrims were killed in a massive fire in a five-storey hotel in north Delhi's Karol Bagh Tuesday, while a woman guide accompanying them escaped death by jumping off its second floor, Myanmar embassy official said here. The two deceased were part of a seven-member tourist group who had come to India on a Buddhist trail, the official said. In a statement issued in Burmese on its Facebook page, the Myanmar Embassy in New Delhi also said, the two pilgrims from Myanmar lost their lives and one was injured in the fire, which killed 15 other people. "The...team comprising seven Myanmar pilgrims was residing at the hotel. Officials from Myanmar Embassy in New Delhi and Myanmar monks are providing necessary assistance to the victims at the hospital," the statement said. The group had hired a cameraperson from Bodh Gaya in Bihar who also perished in the blaze, the embassy official said. The two Myanmar nationals killed in the fire were: Daw Hla May (66), from Tikegyi Township, and Daw Mya Mya Htwe (44), it said. The injured person is receiving treatment at the Lady Hardinge Hospital here and the rest four Myanmar citizens are staying at the Hotel Metro View, it added. The embassy official said, Chan Chan, a 33-year-old tourist guide from Myanmar, who was part of the group, "saved her life by jumping off the second floor of the hotel". Chan has suffered a fracture in her leg and is undergoing treatment at the Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital. "The group had come to Delhi from Myanmar. Prior to visiting Delhi, they had gone to Bodh Gaya. The group was on a Buddhist trail. The families of the deceased have been informed and their bodies would be sent back to the country after completion of formalities," the embassy official said. "Today, they were to leave for Varanasi," he added. Gyandeep, a monk helping the affected Myanamarese pilgrims, said they were also planning to visit the site of Ashokan Edict in Kailash Hills area near ISCKON Temple here. The massive fire swept through the hotel in the early hours, killing at least 17 guests, officials said. Preliminary investigation suggest a suspected short circuit could have sparked the fire, civic officials added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An indefinite curfew was imposed in Manipur capital Imphal on Tuesday and mobile internet services suspended till February 16 across the state in view of the continued protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, officials said. The state capital straddles Imphal East and Imphal West districts. The authorities clamped curfew in the state capital amid reports that the contentious bill will be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The legislation was, however, not presented in the Upper House. Security was strengthened at the residences of MLAs and ministers, including that of Chief Minister N Biren Singh, officials said. While roads were deserted in both the districts, police personnel were seen informing people through loud speakers about imposition of the curfew and asking them to stay indoors. Security forces have also set up barricades on major roads. Markets, schools, colleges and offices were closed, officials said. Political parties in the Northeast, including BJP allies, are vehemently opposing the bill that was passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8. The Centre had said it will try to get it passedd by the Rajya Sabha during the Budget Session. Notwithstanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attempts to assuage the concerns of various political parties that the proposed law will not compromise the interests of people of the region, Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma has threatened to pull his National Peoples Party out of the BJP-led NDA if the Rajya Sabha passes the Bill. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu and his Manipur counterpart N Biren Singh met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday and requested him not to table the bill in the Rajya Sabha. Both Khandu and Singh are BJP chief ministers. The bill seeks to provide citizenship to non-Muslim minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who fled persecution, after six years of residence in India, instead of 12 years, which is currently the norm, even if they do not possess any document. The indigenous people of the region are apprehending that if the law is enacted, it will endanger their livelihood and identity. No major incident of violence was, meanwhile, reported from any part of Manipur on Tuesday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congressional negotiators have reached an agreement to prevent a government shutdown and finance construction of new barriers along the US-Mexico border, overcoming a late-stage hang-up over immigration enforcement issues that had threatened to scuttle the talks. Republicans were desperate to avoid another bruising shutdown. They tentatively agreed Monday night to far less money for President Donald Trump's border wall than the White House's $5.7 billion wish list, settling for a figure of nearly $1.4 billion, according to congressional aides. That means 55 miles of new fencing constructed through existing designs such as metal slats instead of a concrete wall but far less than the 215 miles the White House demanded in December. The fencing would be built in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. "We reached an agreement in principle," said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., appearing with a bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers who concurred. "Our staffs are just working out the details," said House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N Y. Details won't be officially released until Tuesday, but the pact came in time to alleviate any threat of a second partial government shutdown this weekend. Aides revealed the details under condition of anonymity because the agreement is tentative. The agreement also includes increases for new technologies such as advanced screening at border entry point, humanitarian aid sought by Democrats, and additional customs officers. This weekend, Shelby pulled the plug on the talks over Democratic demands to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities, frustrating some of his fellow negotiators, but Democrats yielded ground on that issue in a fresh round of talks on Monday. Asked if Trump would back the deal, Shelby said: "We believe from our dealings with them and the latitude they've given us, they will support it. We certainly hope so." The border debate got most of the attention, but it's just part of a major spending measure to fund a bevy of Cabinet departments. A collapse of the negotiations would have imperiled another upcoming round of budget talks that are required to prevent steep spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic agencies. Trump travelled to El Paso, Texas, for a campaign-style rally Monday night focused on immigration and border issues. He has been adamant that Congress approve money for a wall along the Mexican border, though he no longer repeats his 2016 mantra that Mexico will pay for it. Democrats carried more leverage into the talks after besting Trump on the 35-day shutdown but showed flexibility in hopes on winning Trump's signature. After yielding on border barriers, Democrats focused on reducing funding for detention beds to curb what they see as unnecessarily harsh enforcement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The agreement yielded curbed funding, overall, for ICE detention beds, which Democrats promised would mean the agency would hold fewer detainees than the current average of 49,000 detainees held each day. Democrats claimed the number of beds would be ratcheted down to 40,520. The war of words between the Congress and the BJP over the Rafale issue turned uglier Tuesday as Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "treason" and acting as Anil Ambani's middleman, prompting the ruling party to claim that he worked as a lobbyist for foreign firms. The Gandhi family has a history of "looting" the country, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a counter-attack, adding that it was height of "shamelessness and irresponsibility" that the Congress president "abused" the "honest" prime minister Modi. Firing a fresh salvo at Modi, Gandhi released to the media an email dated March 28, 2015 purportedly written by Airbus executive Nicolas Chamussy to three recipients with the subject line "Ambani". Quoting from the email, Gandhi claimed that Ambani was aware in advance of the Rafale deal before India and France announced it in 2015 during Modi's visit to the country and said that it was in violation of the Official Secrets Act. Modi's action "puts him in jail", he said. Dubbing Gandhi a "lying machine", Prasad asserted that the email referred to a chopper deal and not the Rafale purchase and also put Airbus in a dock by saying that it is under a needle of suspicion in several deals signed during the UPA era. Reacting to Gandhi's claim, Ambani's Reliance Defence said the "proposed MoU" mentioned in the email cited by him was a reference to its cooperation with Airbus Helicopter and had "no connection" with the fighter jet contract. In its response to Prasad's remarks against Airbus, its spokesperson said, "We do not comment on any ongoing investigation. We have cooperated with the Indian authorities in the past and will continue to do so." At his press conference, Gandhi claimed the email showed Ambani visited then French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian's office and mentioned an "MoU in preparation and the intention to sign during the PM visit (to France)". The Congress president asked how Ambani knew about the deal and mentioned it in the French defence minister's office when even then foreign secretary S Jaishankar and then defence minister Manohar Parrikar had no information on it. "This is a breach of the Official Secrets Act... This is treason and this is what spies do. The prime minister is the only other person who knows about the deal and has informed Anil Ambani about the deal. The Prime Minister is acting as Anil Ambani's middleman," Gandhi alleged and called for a criminal investigation into the matter. Hitting back, Prasad said, "Let Rahul Gandhi explain where did he get internal email of Airbus. Who is supplying him? ...There cannot be a bigger thing than this that he is working as a lobbyist for foreign firms." The firm is also linked to a corporate lobbyist, who was recently deported from the UAE and is being probed on money laundering charges, he alleged. He also took strong exception to the Congress leader charging Modi with "treason", saying his party had serious differences with former prime ministers coming from the Gandhi family over several "murky" defence deals signed during their term but it never accused them of treason. "He (Rahul Gandhi) has thrown muck at his own face by abusing our honest prime minister... We will expose his lies before the public," he said. Gandhi has repeatedly levelled allegations against the government over baseless claims, he said. "This is treason. He (Modi) is doing what spies do," Gandhi said. Ambani had met the French defence minister days before the signing of the deal during Modi's visit to France in 2015, Gandhi said, quoting from the email written by an Airbus executive to a French official. The Congress president also rejected the Comptroller and Auditor General report on the Rafale deal, and dubbed it "Chowkidar Auditor General" report. Prasad said the Congress has a tendency to target institutions when their stand does not suit them. In its comments, Nationalist Congress Party alleged that Ambani negotiated the Rafale contract on behalf of Modi. NCP national spokesperson Nawab Malik called the controversial fighter jet deal as "pre-planned loot of the country's money". Reliance Defence spokesperson said the discussion on proposed the MoU was clearly with reference to cooperation between Airbus Helicopter and Reliance. "It had no connection whatsoever with Government to Government Agreement between France and India for 36 Rafale aircraft," he said, adding that it is in public domain that Airbus Helicopter has partnered with Mahindra for the Military Helicopter Programme. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The OSCE will monitor the Azerbaijan-Armenian contact line in the Goranboy district tomorrow, according to the press service of Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. The monitoring will be held under the mandate of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Personal Representative. On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring will be held by the field assistants of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Mikhail Olaru and Simon Tiller. The monitoring on Azerbaijani territory occupied and controlled by the Armenian armed forces will be held by the Personal Representative's field assistants Ghenadie Petrica and Ognjen Jovic. Chhattisgarh Police have cleared Delhi University professor Nandini Sundar, Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Archana Prasad and four others of the charges of murdering a tribal in Sukma district in 2016, for lack of "concrete evidence", an officer said Tuesday. Police also gave clean chit to activist Vineet Tiwari, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sanjay Parate, and Manju Kavasi and Mangla Ram Karma, Sukma superintendent of police Jitendra Shukla told PTI. The tribal, identified as Shamnath Baghel, was allegedly killed by naxals with sharp weapons on the night of November 4, 2016 in Nama village under Tongpal police station limits. As per the complaint lodged by Shamnath's wife Bimla, the ultras had accused her husband of disobeying Sundar and five others who are their "well-wishers", a police officer said. The complainant had claimed that Sundar and others had visited Nama village and asked Shamnath to support the naxal cause, the officer said. Based on Bimla's complaint, a case was registered against Maoists, Sundar, Prasad and four others under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 302 (punishment for murder), 450 (house trespass in order to commit offence) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of IPC and the Arms Act, he said. Sundar and others were never arrested. Shukla said a special team led by Sukma Additional Superintendent of Police Shalabh Kumar Sinha was constituted to investigate the murder. "During the investigation, no concrete evidences were found against Sundar and five others. As per the villagers' statements and eye-witnesses, these six were not present at the spot at the time of murder. Hence, because of lack of evidence, we have taken back the charges against them," the SP said. Police are yet to file chargesheet in the case and may file it later this week, he said. Shukla said Sundar and five others are being given a "clean chit", as no evidences were found against them during a probe. "Efforts are on to trace the naxals involved in the incident. The chargesheet in the case will be filed in the court this week," he said. The then BJP government had drawn flak from activists and educationists, after the murder case was registered against Sundar and others. Rights activists had alleged that the then Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) SRP Kalluri was trying to falsely implicate them in various cases. The murder case was later handed over to state Crime Investigation Department (CID). Sundar has welcomed the development. "We are happy that all charges have been dropped. This was a vindictive case that was filed immediately after SPOs (special police officers) were chargehsheeted in Tadmetla incident. An incident in which SRP Kalluri (IPS officer) had also been involved," Sundar told PTI over phone. In Tadmetla area in Bastar, houses of locals were allegedly set ablaze during an anti-Naxal operation in 2011 by police personnel. "We hope that all the other people who are in jail in Chhattisgarh and elsewhere on false charges will also be released soon," she added. SRP Kalluri didn't respond to calls. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indicating violation of civic norms including running a makeshift restaurant on the rooftop, municipal officials Tuesday ordered a probe into the fire incident at the Karol Bagh hotel in which at least 17 people including a child were killed. Suggesting that a short-circuit may have led to the incident, North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) officials said as per the records, the building had faced "intermittent partial demolition" or other civic action under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act from mid-June 1993 to January 1994, for unauthorised constructions. Officials said the report of the probe is expected to come in three days. "A probe has been ordered and its report is expected in three days. The probe will seek to find if there were any lapses from the civic officials' end, or Delhi Fire department's end and also talk about ensuring that such incidents do not recur," North Delhi Mayor Adesh Gupta said. Action will be taken against civic employees if they are found guilty of committing any lapses, he said. The mayor also visited the site of the fire that broke out in the early hours of Tuesday at Hotel Arpit Palace and took stock of the situation. "As per preliminary information gathered from the site, it reveals that the incidence of fire occurred on the second floor around 3.30 am today due to short-circuit," a senior official said. The official said, there are apparent civic norms violations, including running a makeshift restaurant on the rooftop, adding that the probe will take into account all of that and previous violations if any. As per the preliminary report by the NDMC, the fire, initially broke out on the second floor of the building. The hotel was first granted a licence in October 2005 and was renewed every year. The last licence renewal was done on May 25, 2018, which is valid till March 31, the official said. "However, no unauthorised construction has been reported in the recent past. The entire structure is under protection within the provisions of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act," the official claimed. The National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second (Amendment) Bill gives immunity to slums and some unauthorised constructions until December 31, 2020. The immunity under the exisiting Bill ends on December 31. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The and the Tuesday strongly opposed before a Delhi court the bail plea of Christian Michel, arrested in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case, saying he may abscond from India if released. and the ED, in their separate replies, told special judge Arvind Kumar that Michel is accused of serious economic offences and there is ample evidence against him to prove his guilt. The court has posted the matter for hearing on Wednesday after Michel's lawyer sought time to argue. ALSO READ: VVIP chopper case: Michel moves Delhi court seeking bail, hearing on Feb 12 said Michel is a British and has no roots in India and there is "every likelihood that if he is granted bail, he may abscond from India, evading the process of law and may not return to face the trial." "The apprehensions of CBI about his absconding from the process of law gets support from his past conduct. Keeping in mind the facts and circumstances, there also exists a security threat for the applicant accused, if enlarged on bail," CBI said while seeking dismissal of his bail plea. It said the accused has acted as middleman in a defence deal of government of India and such "shady and nefarious defence deals sometime create hurdles even in implementing the fair and transparent decisions taken by the governments for procurement of defence equipments in order to strengthen the defence line of the country". "There is ample evidence on record to link the applicant accused to the commission of such offences, and his release on bail would adversely affect further investigation to unearth the deep-rooted multi-layered conspiracy in the instant case. The conduct of the applicant-accused till date has been evasive," it said. It said that the agency is taking all possible steps to conduct an effective and fair further investigation which would be hampered if he is released on bail. Michel had moved the court seeking bail in cases by the CBI and the ED, saying the charge sheet against him was not filed within the stipulated time frame of 60 days. "Since, the charge sheet was not filed against him within the stipulated 60-day period under section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). Probe is complete. I'm in custody since December 22, 2018," Michel had said in the petition. With regard to Michel's submission that charge sheet has not been filed in 60 days, ED said that he was remanded to judicial custody on January 5 and the period of remand commences from December 22, 2018 and therefore the period of 60 days prescribed under section 167 CrPC does not expire in the case. CBI also said that the provisions of Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure are not applicable in the case as charge sheet has already been filed against him and 11 others. Opposing his bail, ED said Michel's past conduct makes it amply clear that there exists a reasonable apprehension of him evading the process of law. He is also closely linked to ceratin influential people and there exists a reasonable apprehension of applicant tampering with the evidence of the case. "The investigation of the case is at very crucial stage and the instant application is an attempt to adversely affect an effective investigation of the case," ED said. Michel, extradited from Dubai, was arrested by the (ED) on December 22 last year. On January 5, Michel was sent to judicial custody in the ED case. He is also lodged in judicial custody in the CBI case related to the scam. Michel is among the three alleged middlemen being probed in the case by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The others are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa. Amid the ongoing Beijing visit of a high-powered US delegation led by its Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to hammer out a deal with the Chinese, President Donald Trump has said China wants a trade deal with the United States very badly. "Things are going well with China. China wants to make a deal very badly. I want it to be a real deal, not just a deal that makes (it) -- you know, cosmetically look good for a year. We have a chance to make a real deal with China, Trump told reporters Tuesday after his Cabinet meeting at the White House. A high-powered American delegation led by Lighthizer is currently in China for negotiations with his Chinese counterparts on a bilateral trade deal, which, the US says, needs to bring down the bilateral trade deficit, stop Chinese theft of intellectual property and end coercion of American companies in China. Trump said he has no plans to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in the immediate future or at the end of March. Not at this moment. We have our people over there now. I just got a report, he said in response to a question. The United States, he said, is talking from a position of strength. We've never been in this position before. We've always been a lame duck. We're not a lame duck anymore. We've gone up tremendously in value as a country, in economic value. Tremendously, he said. China, he said, has the worst performing stock market right now in the world, he said, adding it is because of the United States, which has one of the best performing stock markets. But we are the best performing country and we have a lot of potential for further growth, he said. Referring to the ongoing trade negotiations, Trump said the US is doing very well over negotiations in China and he is happy with possible results of the talks either way. I'm happy either way. I could live receiving billions and billions of dollars a month from China. China never gave us 10 cents. It was always the opposite. Now they're paying billions of dollars a month for the privilege of coming into the United States and, honestly, taking advantage of our country. So we'll see how it works out, he said. During their dinner summit on December 1, Trump and Jinping had agreed to give a temporary pause to the trade war till March 1. Trump said the new tariff would kick in after March 1 in the absence of a trade deal. We have a big team over there in China right now, and they are working very hard, dealing with the Chinese. We want very much to make a deal. We'll see what happens. But the tariffs are bringing a tremendous amount of money to our Treasury... The number would be 25 now, on the areas that are taxed at 25. China is paying for 21, and we're paying for 4. So that's pretty good, he said. We are bringing billions and billions of dollars into our Treasury right now. We'll see what happens, but they very much want to make a deal. Their economy has been hurt by the tariffs. And our economy is thriving like, really, never before. I mean, we're doing incredibly well, Trump said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China and Russia have developed robust and capable space services and the two countries pose a challenge and threat to the space capabilities of the US, the Pentagon has said. Chinese and Russian military doctrines indicate they view space as important to modern warfare and counterspace capabilities as a means to reduce US and allied military effectiveness, the Pentagon said in a report released by the Defense Intelligence Agency. The report "Challenges to Security in Space" examines the space and counterspace programmes that could challenge the US or partner interests in the space domain. Noting that both countries have developed robust and capable space services, including space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, the report said China and Russia were making improvements to existing systems including space launch vehicles and satellite navigation constellations. "These capabilities provide their militaries with the ability to command and control their forces worldwide with enhanced situational awareness, enabling them to monitor, track and target US and allied forces," it said. Running into more than 40 pages, the report mentions India a few times and describes China and Russia as a major challenger to the US, Iran and North Korea as other space challenges. The Pentagon lists India as one of the nine countries and one international organisation which can independently launch spacecraft: China, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Russia, North Korea, South Korea, the United States, and the European Space Agency (from French Guiana). While the European Union, Russia and the US' satellite navigation constellations offer global coverage, Japan and India operate regional systems, it said. China operates both a regional and worldwide satellite navigation system. In its report, the Pentagon said Chinese and Russian space surveillance networks were capable of searching, tracking and characterising satellites in all orbits. This capability supports both space operations and counterspace systems, it said. "Both states are developing jamming and cyberspace capabilities, directed energy weapons, on-orbit capabilities and ground-based antisatellite missiles that can achieve a range of reversible to non-reversible effects," said the report. The report is intended to support a deeper public understanding of key space and counterspace issues and inform open dialogue and partner engagement on these challenges. "Beijing and Moscow will continue to see space as integral to winning modern wars. They are developing systems that pose a threat to freedom of action in space. Both will continue their efforts to enhance their space and counterspace capabilities, and better integrate them into their respective militaries," the report said. The report notes that some actors will seek counterspace capabilities that target the perceived United States and allied reliance on space, including the ability to use secure satellite communications, precision strike capabilities, and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance or ISR assets. Globally, the space industry will continue to expand as technological and cost barriers fall and international partnerships for joint production grow. State, non-state and commercial actors increasingly will have access to information from space. "The number of satellites and debris on orbit will grow concurrently, making tracking satellites, discriminating threats from non-threats, and predicting and preventing collisions a greater challenge," it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China on Tuesday played down media reports that Beijing plans to sell its first aircraft carrier 'Liaoning' to Pakistan, saying it follows certain principles while exporting its naval ships to other countries. A Pakistani newspaper on February 10 cited the Chinese and Russian media reports as stating that "the Chinese government has decided to sell its first and only aircraft carrier to Pakistan...for a yet-undetermined price in order to upgrade the Pakistan Navy's capabilities." Such a move will make the Pakistan Navy more competitive against India, which has an operational aircraft carrier, the report said, adding that 'Liaoning' will be resold to Pakistan after a "large-scale upgrade." When asked for her comment on the report, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, "I have not seen the report you mentioned.""But China has always followed principles regarding exports of its naval ships to other countries," she said, without elaborating. Earlier report said China, which shares close linkages with the Pakistan military, is currently building four modern naval ships for the Pakistan Navy. Chinese military experts, however, termed the media report of the sale of the Liaoning to Pakistan as false. The Chinese government has never disclosed any plan regarding such a deal, state-run Global Times here reported. It also said that its reporter could not find the Chinese media report regarding the sale cited by the Pakistani newspaper. It is a groundless allegation and complete falsehood, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and commentator, told the Global Times. As China's first-ever aircraft carrier, the Liaoning acts as both training vessel and combat warship, that there is a zero possibility of reselling it, and China does not have spare carriers to sell to Pakistan, Song noted. The Liaoning is the only Chinese aircraft carrier in active service, and the country's first domestically developed carrier, known as the Type-001 A, is still undergoing sea trials. Song said that "such reports have no credibility even judging from Pakistan's perspective, as the country's navy pursues an onshore defense strategy, which means it does not need a carrier. And its defense budget cannot afford an aircraft carrier or maintain one. Pakistan's main focus is to maintain its own strategic nuclear capabilities rather than to promote the improvement of conventional capabilities, especially the improvement of offshore capabilities. (Buying China's carrier) does not meet the actual needs of Pakistan, Song said. China is reportedly building a third aircraft carrier. Although it has been widely speculated that China will have at least five aircraft carriers, including two nuclear-powered ones by 2030-2035, China's defence ministry has not yet revealed a plan for future carriers, the Global Times said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Ministry on Tuesday found supporters in international organisation Bloomberg Philanthropies and Delhi-based think-tank TERI on resolving air quality issues under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP). An initiative launched at the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS), organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), would help mitigate air pollution -- both at the national level and in a group of Indian cities -- a press note issued by the TERI said. The government has collaborated with the TERI, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, aiming to bring together research and civil society organisations to offer technical assistance on air quality issues in support of the NCAP. "The joint project will help address and mitigate air pollution, both at the national level and in a group of Indian cities, by working to develop better understanding and awareness of the sources of air pollution through emissions inventories and source apportionment studies," the statement said. It added that the initiative would formulate policy recommendations and action plans to address air pollution on the basis of data, evidence and consultations and increase capacities of key stakeholders to address the challenge through exchange of experiences and good practices. Speaking at the event, CK Mishra, Secretary at the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, said, "We are delighted to be working with the Bloomberg Philanthropies, TERI and other partners on the National Clean Air Programme. Air pollution is a difficult and multi-dimensional challenge and we need to work together across the government, multiple stakeholders and citizens to address this." Michael R Bloomberg, UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and founder of the Bloomberg Philanthropies, said, "Air pollution is one of the biggest global problems of our times. India has the unique opportunity to leapfrog and follow a sustainable development pathway, demonstrating solutions to the air pollution challenge that can have relevance all over the world." The initiative will work in tandem with the NCAP, launched last month with the goal of reducing particulate matters by 20-30 per cent by 2024 from 2017. Lauding the initiative, TERI Director General Ajay Mathur said, "Region-specific actions are needed and this initiative brings together the interested groups to accelerate these actions." Bloomberg Philanthropies works in 480 cities in more than 120 countries around the world in areas including arts, education, and public health, the press note said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Centre of Excellence in agriculture and horticulture with Israeli help is likely to come up in Chinsurah of Hooghly district, six years after the idea was first conceived, a state government official said Tuesday. State food processing industries and horticulture secretary Nandini Chakravorty said the centre will come up by end-2019, but did not give further details. Chakravorty was addressing a seminar on food processing organised by the Merchants' Chamber of Commerce here. In 2013, an Israeli envoy had first expressed interest to set up a Centre of Excellence in the state. Israel was then involved in preparing action plans in 11 states in India based on an agriculture cooperation agreement in 2006. As of now, more than two dozen centres of excellence have come in the country with Israeli cooperation. When the original plan was submitted for the West Bengal centre, it talked of focusing on potato cultivation. The centre would have also adopted Israeli technology in horticulture mechanisation, protected cultivation, nursery, micro-irrigation, and post-harvest management. All these technological interventions were aimed at increasing the farmers' income in the state. Chakravorty said West Bengal wants to create three packaging houses in each district under the public-private partnership mode. The minister of the department Razzak Molla said that adopting participatory farming model is the only way for investors to get large tracts of contiguous land in the state. Participatory farming is a tailor-made solution for allowing private investors to tie up with the farmers for contract farming. The main difference is that the state government is also a party to such agreements along with participatory farmers' organisations to ensure transparency. Officials said there is demand for fruit pulp from multinational companies and large brands and investors should look into this area seriously. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The CBI has arrested Indian Oil Corporation - Assam Oil Division general manager(sales) after catching him red handed while taking Rs two takh as bribe here and registered a case against him. Dibyajyoti Datta, the IOC official, had demanded Rs five lakh from a person called Lalchand Choudhary alias Lalaram of Auto Centre Agent of IOC at Jharnapani in Nagaland for selection/allotment of petroleum retail outlet at Tuli, the CBI said in a release Tuesday. Datta was caught while accepting the first tranche of Rs two lakh of the bribe on Monday at private hotel here, it said, There were allegations against the accused of demanding and accepting illegal gratification habitually from different private businessmen, who own petrol pumps and kerosene oil dealerships. The CBI release named Dutta for his alleged "connivance with private conduits for showing them favour in allotment of new retail outlets all over North Eastern states, including Assam". The CBI release said its Guwahati office anti-corruption branch had registered a case on Sunday under Indian Penal Code section 120b (criminal conspiracy) and sections of Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 against the five persons, including a woman. The five against whom the cases were registered were Dutta, Lalchand Choudhary, Bendangnaro Ao, an associate of Choudhary from Dimapur in Nagaland who was caught handing over the money, Laxmi Narayan Sogani alias Lichu Babu of Athgaon in Guwahati and Tony alias Ankeet of Hindustan Tyre Corporation in Guwahati. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Cambodian premier Hun Sen warned against interference in the country's affairs Tuesday, his first comments since the European Union launched steps to cancel trade benefits that would hammer the local garment industry. The bloc announced Monday it would begin a process of intensive monitoring to decide whether to suspend duty-free preferences under the "Everything But Arms" (EBA) deal. The move would deal a crippling blow to Cambodia's robust garment and footwear industry, which exports more than USD 4 billion worth of products to the bloc. It comes after repeated warnings from Brussels and in response to elections in Cambodia last year held without the opposition after the Supreme Court dissolved the party in the run-up to the vote. Cambodia is the EU's sixth largest garment supplier and the industry currently employs more than 700,000 workers, according to the country's factory association. Analysts say Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for more than 34 years, is eager to retain the trade preferences, but does not want to be seen bending to international pressure. In recent months he has requested pardons for dozens of activists and opposition members arrested ahead of the July vote, but he has also lashed out at trade threats in defiant speeches. Cambodia "cannot exchange its independence and sovereignty for anything", he wrote on his official Facebook page, which has more than 10 million followers. "We want to be good friends with other partner countries that want to see Cambodia progress without interference in the country's internal affairs," he added. He did not explicitly mention the EBA deal, but the country's ministry of foreign affairs issued a statement the same day calling the decision from the bloc an "extreme injustice". The EU is still at least a year away from making a decision on whether to scrap the preferences. Union leaders and businesses said the loss would have a disastrous impact on the industry. "The competitiveness of our sector will unduly be put at risk, the reputation of our industry will be harmed, and Cambodia's development will be halted," the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia said in a statement in response. Tariffs on garments will rise by 12 per cent and it will more than double for footwear exports from eight to 17 per cent, the statement added. The loss of EBA could cost Cambodia up to USD 700 million a year, said union leader Pav Sina. "We fear that investors might move to other countries that have EBA, so it will affect the jobs for Cambodians." The US embassy in Phnom Penh said in a statement that it "shares the EU's concerns" and called for the charges against Kem Sokha, the leader of the now dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party, to be dropped. It also called on Cambodian leaders to restore a "true, multi-party democracy". Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party won all seats in parliament in the election, effectively turning the country into a one-party state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) OPEC cut its forecast for 2019 world oil demand due to slowing economies and expectations of faster supply growth from rivals, underlining its challenge to prevent a surplus even as it starts new production cuts. OPEC said it now expects the world's appetite for oil to grow by 1.24 million bpd, or 50,000 bpd less than its last estimate. The revision is just a fraction of global demand, which is expected to hit 100 million bpd in 2019, but OPEC has already cut its forecast several times in recent months. Meanwhile, OPEC increased its forecast for non-OPEC production by 80,000 bpd to 2.18 million bpd, citing higher-than-expected output from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, CNBC reported. In the report, OPEC said its oil output fell by 797,000 bpd month on month to 30.806 million bpd in January. That amounts to 86% compliance with pledged cuts, according to a Reuters calculation. A report tabled in Parliament Tuesday said the did not have information about PAN of 95 per cent of the real estate companies. (RoC) maintains database of all companies that register at the time of incorporation. Companies are required to file annual returns with RoCs. Form MGT-7, prescribed in the Companies (Management and Administration) Rules, 2014, requires a company to file its annual report mentioning its Permanent Account Number (PAN) compulsorily. said it could obtain the details of companies dealing in real estate sector from RoCs in 12 states only. "RoCs did not have information about PAN in respect of 51,670 (95 per cent) of a total of 54,578 companies for which data was made available to Audit," said the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report. ALSO READ: CAG points out irregularities in process of sharing GST revenue The report contains significant results of the performance audit on 'Assessment of Assessees in Real Estate Sector' completed by Department of Revenue (Direct Taxes) during financial years 2013-14 to 2016-17. The official auditor further said it "was difficult" for Audit to ascertain from the information obtained from RoCs whether the companies were in the tax net of Income Tax Department (ITD) or not except in case of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana where Audit could identify PAN in respect of 147 companies. It said the Audit attempted to ascertain whether the companies in RoC data with PAN were regular in filing their income tax returns (ITRs). In respect of 840 companies with PAN coming under selected assessment charges, "we noticed that 159 companies (19 per cent) were not filing their ITRs," it added. said it "can be concluded" that there is no mechanism with ITD to ensure that all the registered companies have PAN and are filing their ITRs regularly. CAG recommended that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and corporate affairs ministry may have an arrangement "where there is an interface between ITD and RoC so that when a company is registered with RoC, the application for PAN is submitted automatically with ITD". Also when PAN is issued to the newly incorporated company, it should be automatically sent to RoC Systems for updation. "Further, the companies should be compulsorily required to submit a copy of acknowledgement of ITR while furnishing their annual reports in Form MGT-7. This will ensure that companies file their ITRs and at the same time the data of RoC will be in sync with that of ITD," the CAG recommended. The report said CBDT has stated that system of applying for PAN at the time of applying for registration of a company is already in vogue. CBDT agreed (in July 2018) to examine the feasibility of requiring a company to compulsorily submit a copy of acknowledgement of ITR while filing annual report in Form MGT-7, it added. As per the report, total number of assessments relating to real estate sector completed by ITD during 2013-14 to 2016-17 was 78,647 with assessed income of Rs 1,76,990 crore in 5,001 assessment charges. Out of total 78,647 assessments, the CAG checked 17,155 assessment records (about 22 per cent) with assessed income of Rs 1,02,106 crore during this performance audit. "We noticed 1,183 mistakes (approx seven per cent of the audited sample) having tax effect of Rs 6,093.71 crore, thus causing loss of revenue to the government," it said. CAG said since a sample of 22 per cent has yielded errors of Rs 6,093.71 crore, ITD needs to have the remaining 61,492 cases audited internally. The tax department also needs to try to pin down the reasons for why there is such a substantial proportion of errors and fix the identified systematic faults and responsibility where the errors have happened as an act of commission, it added. CAG also said the system in ITD to ensure compliance of filing of ITRs by the sellers of high value immovable properties was not effective. Also ITD was not effectively using other third party data to widen its tax net. The 12-day-long International Kolkata Book Fair has registered a record sale of Rs 21 crore, the organisers said. It was Rs 1 crore more than the sales figure at the book fair in 2018, according to data available till Monday evening. Curtains came down on the annual event on Monday. Altogether 23 lakh people had visited the book fair, since its inauguration on January 31. Russia will be the focal theme country of the 44th International Kolkata Book Fair to be held in 2019, the organising body, the Publishers and Book Sellers Guild, said. Delegation of writers from Russia had attended the Book Fair and the literature festival in past editions and the two countries share cultural ties, Guild general secretary Tridib Chatterjee said. The next edition of the International Kolkata Book Fair will therefore fittingly make Russia as the theme country which will be in sync with the tradition to name one theme country every year to create awareness about that nation among the people and boost cultural ties, Chatterjee said. He was addressing the closing ceremony of the 43rd International Kolkata Book Fair. Guatemala was the theme country of the 43rd International Kolkata Book Fair in 2019. The guild has felicitated a teacher from Chakdah in Nadia district for buying books worth Rs 2.42 lakh from this edition of the book fair as "such people should be brought to the limelight for setting an example for the new generation of book lovers," Chatterjee said. Four winners of a lottery, held to promote buying of books, were also gifted a designer book shelf each by the organisers. The shelf was filled with books of their choice, worth Rs 1 lakh. Several countries from across the world attended this edition of International Kolkata Book Fair which witnessed participation of authors from Russia, Costa Rica, Spain, Scotland, Australia, Argentina, Bangladesh and Guatemala. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bombay High Court Tuesday pulled up the National Investigating Agency (NIA) for employing "delay tactics" on a bunch of appeals filed by the accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. A bench of justices AS Oka and AS Gadkari cautioned the agency that if it didn't change its conduct, the high court will be forced to stay the trial in the case before the special court. "You realise that a stay on the trial will end up benefiting the accused. However, if you continue your delay tactics, this court will be left with no choice," the bench said. The observations came after NIA repeatedly justified the use of photocopies of some statements of witnesses and confessions of accused persons in the case. On the previous hearing, the bench had observed that the special court should not have allowed the use of photocopies since there was no evidence to prove that the photocopied documents were authentic copies of the original, certified statements. It had told NIA counsel Sandesh Patil that the agency should have pointed out the problem to the special court then and there and taken the correct legal stand by not relying on photocopies. However, Patil said Tuesday that since the special court had approved the use of the photocopies, the high court must dismiss the appeal challenging the special court order. The bench was hearing an appeal filed by Sameer Kulkarni, a co-accused in the case, challenging a 2017 order of the special court that permitted the use of photocopies of statements of witnesses and confessions of accused as secondary evidence in the case. It is likely to continue the hearing next Monday. Kulkarni and his co-accused in the case, Prasad Shrikant Purohit, have filed several appeals in high court challenging various interim orders of the special court. Six people were killed and over 100 injured when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off on September 29, 2008 near a mosque in Malegaon, about 200 kilometres from Mumbai. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Gujjar community agitation for five per cent reservation in jobs and education entered its fifth day on Tuesday, with protesters blocking Chaksu town, about 40 km from here on National Highway 52, police said. The blockades on the Agra-Jaipur-Bikaner National Highway-11 in Dausa district, state highway in Nainwa of Bundi district, Malarna road in Sawai Madhopur and the Karauli-Hindaun road at Budla village in Karauli district continued from the previous day. "Apart from the routes that were blocked till yesterday, agitators have laid a blockade in Chaksu town of Jaipur district. No untoward incident has been reported so far. Law and order situation is under control," Director General of Police (Law and Order) M L Lathar said. The North Western Railway informed through a bulletin that three trains were cancelled and two diverted on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Gujjar leaders have refused to back-off from the tracks and roads. "We have not received any communication from the state government so far. Dharna will continue," Vijay Bainsla, son of Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, said. Gujjar agitation leader Kirori Bainsla and his supporters began their indefinite sit-in on railway tracks in Malarna Dungar of Sawai Madhopur on Friday evening. Bainsla has stuck to the demand of five per sent reservation for the Gujjar, Raika-Rebari, Gadia Luhar, Banjara and the Gadaria communities, and has to refused to move from the tracks until the same is met through an official announcement. A state government delegation, including Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh and IAS officer Neeraj K Pawan, had held talks with the protestors on Saturday but failed to come to an agreement. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP leader Mukul Roy Tuesday filed an anticipatory bail application before the Calcutta High Court after being named in an FIR in the killing of a Trinamool Congress MLA in Nadia district. Roy claimed that he was booked out of "political vendetta" and was in no way linked to the murder of Krishnaganj MLA Satyajit Biswas on Saturday. Biswas (41), who represented Krishnaganj constituency in the West Bengal Assembly, was shot dead from point-blank range by unidentified assailants on Saturday evening inside a Saraswati puja marquee at Phoolbari area in the district, bordering Bangladesh. Roy's lawyer Subhasish Dasgupta said the anticipatory bail plea is likely to come up for hearing on Wednesday before a division bench presided over by Justice Joymalyo Bagchi. Roy has been charged with "criminal conspiracy relating to the murder", his lawyer said. "Roy has been implicated in about 25 criminal cases since he changed his affiliation from Trinamool Congress to BJP," Dasgupta said. The BJP leader is one of the four persons named in the FIR relating to the killing of Biswas. Two accused -- Kartik Mondal and Sujit Mondal -- were arrested on Sunday and have been remanded to 14 days' police custody. Roy, a former number two in the Trinamool Congress, joined the BJP in November 2017 following differences with party supremo Mamata Banerjee. Roy has denied the allegation of his involvement, saying the decision to name him in the FIR was "politically motivated". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP's Andhra Pradesh unit Tuesday hit out at Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu over his protest in Delhi seeking special status for the state. Naidu appears to be interested in gaining public sympathy as he rejected a package worth Rs 16,000 crore while insisting on special status which gave only a paltry benefit (towards tax incentives) to north-eastern states, BJP's state unit spokesperson Sudhish Rambhotla alleged. Naidu should stop such "fake fasts", he told reporters here. The chief minister has taken a 'U-turn' after accepting and even welcoming a package for assistance, in lieu of the special status, when the TDP was part of NDA, he claimed. Slamming Naidu over the protest in Delhi, the BJP leader said, "He (Naidu) has understood that there is lot of anti-incumbency against state government. What is to be done? Attention can be diverted by showing a new object of fear by doing all this. Let us put all this on Central government's shoulders... let's gain sympathy by projecting to be good." Should not the Centre ask for details on how funds given by it were spent, Rambhotla asked. BJP leader V Dinesh Reddy, who served as DGP in undivided AP, alleged that the governmental machinery created hurdles to the public meeting addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday. Naidu observed a daylong fast in Delhi on Monday demanding that the Centre grant special category status for his state and fulfil the promises made before its bifurcation in 2014. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government will launch an additional offering of Bharat-22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) on February 14 to raise at least Rs 3,500 crore, officials said Tuesday. This sale would be for a single day, in which both institutions and retail investors can participate, they said. "The additional offering of Bharat-22 would be on February 14. This is an on-tap issuance. The base issue size has been fixed at Rs 3,500 crore, with an option to retain any additional subscription," one of the officials told PTI. The government has so far raised Rs 22,900 crore through the Bharat-22 While Rs 14,500 crore was raised in November 2017, another Rs 8,400 crore was raised in June 2018. The central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) that are part of the ETF include ONGC, IOC, SBI, BPCL, and Other constituents include Bharat Electronics, Engineers India, NBCC, NTPC, NHPC, SJVNL, GAIL, PGCIL and NLC India. Only three public sector banks -- SBI, Indian Bank and Bank of Baroda -- figure in the Bharat-22 index. Also, the government's strategic holding in Axis Bank, ITC and L&T, held through Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India (SUUTI), has been put in the ETF basket. Bangladesh on Tuesday summoned Pakistan's acting high commissioner here to lodge a strong protest against insulting remarks posted on a Pakistani government website against Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. A note verbale was issued by the foreign ministry to acting high commissioner Shah Faisal Kakar. "We summoned him (envoy) and handed him a strongly worded protest note, expressing our discontent over the issue," director general of the foreign ministry's South Asia wing Tareque Muhammad told newsmen. He said the foreign ministry found some derogatory remarks about Bangabandhu at the comments sections of a government website which "could have been barred by the concerned Pakistan authority". He did not elaborate on the content published but another official familiar with the development said the derogatory comments appeared on the website of defence.pk, which is run by the Pakistani government. Pakistan's envoy evaded questions over the issue while coming out of the Foreign Office and said he was there to discuss several matters. Diplomatic relations between Dhaka and Islamabad have soured since the beginning of the trial and execution of war criminals in Bangladesh. Despite Dhaka's repeated calls to Pakistan not to interfere in the internal matters of Bangladesh, Pakistan opposed Bangladesh's initiatives to bring to justice war criminals. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The African Union on Monday called for a global conference in July to try to resolve the conflict in Libya, with the aim of holding elections in October. A statement said it would like to hold "an international conference on reconciliation in Libya under the auspices of the AU and the UN" during the first half of July. It also requested the AU Commission "to take, jointly with the United Nations and the Libyan government, all the necessary measures for the organisation of presidential and legislative elections in October 2019." The AU's current chief, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has underscored the need for "African solutions to African problems." Libya has been torn between rival administrations and a myriad of militias since the NATO-backed overthrow and killing of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. Chief among them are an internationally recognised Government of National Accord led by Fayez al-Sarraj in Tripoli and a parallel administration in the east loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar. The political chaos and insecurity benefits jihadist groups, which have carried out numerous attacks in recent years, including more than 20 in 2018 against institutions linked to the GNA and Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army. A diplomat at the AU summit in Addis Ababa told AFP that African leaders viewed in a very bad light what they termed as "outside interference in Africa. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Using ultra light Howitzers and indigenous Swathi weapon-locating radar, Indian Army Tuesday demonstrated its artillery firepower at the annual 'Exercise Topchi' held near here. The event took place at the vast firing ranges at Deolali Camp in the morning. It not only showcased the artillery firepower, but also the aviation and surveillance capabilities. In addition to the gun fire, the display of rockets, missiles, surveillance and target acquisition radars, remotely piloted aircraft and hi-tech equipments was awe-inspiring. The precision of delivering the explosives in the target area, the coordination and timings of the firepower stunned all those present. Latest ultra light Howitzer M-777, self-propelled gun K-9 Vajra and indigenous Swathi weapon-locating radar is testimony to the increasing lethality and technical threshold of our Army, a defence release said. The Army's aviation assets included the indigenous advanced light helicopter, light combat helicopter, Cheetah & Chetak helicopters, it added. Lt Gen YVK Mohan, Commandant of Defence Service Staff College (DSSC), Wellington, near here, Lt Gen R S Salaria, Commandant, School of Artillery and Colonel Commandant Regiment of Artillery and other Army officials were present on the occasion. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A meeting between Russian and U.S. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump is not being discussed now, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Earlier, the U.S. leader made a decision to cancel his meeting with Putin, which had been scheduled to be held on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, the Kremlin spokesman recalled, adding that in this case Moscow has nothing more to initiate here, TASS reported. "The ball is in Washingtons court," Peskov said, answering a question if Russia plans to initiate new talks between the two leaders. The NCP on Tuesday alleged that industrialist Anil Ambani negotiated the Rafale contract on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and cited an e-mail to drive home its point. NCP national spokesperson Nawab Malik called the controversial fighter jet deal as "pre-planned loot of the country's money". Malik also charged Modi with being the "main person who got everything done" as he referred to media reports of the Centre dropping the anti-corruption clause from the deal. He cited the e-mail written by an Airbus executive to a French official to allege that Ambani had met the French defence minister days before the signing of the deal during Modi's visit to France in 2015, and that the industrialist was aware of the MoU that India and the European country signed. "Now, the Modi government has been completely exposed. The entire deal was negotiated by Anil Ambani on behalf of Modi and the e-mail has exposed everything," Malik said. "It is a pre-planned loot of the country's money. Modi was the main person who has done everything. And Anil Ambani was working on behalf of Modi," the NCP leader added. The government, as well as Ambani, have strongly denied any wrongdoing in the fighter jet agreement with France. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP president Amit Shah will attend the Kumbh in Prayagraj on Wednesday, during which he will take a dip in the holy Sangam and meet various congregations of saints, a BJP statement said. First, Shah will go to the Sangam, which is the holy confluence of rivers Ganga and Yamuna, and offer his prayers, the statement issued on Tuesday said. He will be visiting various holy places and meet saints during his one-day visit, it added. Shah's visit assumes significance amid demands by various Hindutva groups for the government to bring in a law for the early construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. The BJP chief has reiterated on multiple occasions his party's commitment to the cause of temple construction. The Ram temple title case is presently being heard in the Supreme Court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) All arrangments have been made to bring to Kerala the bodies of three people from the state who perished in the fire that swept through a four-storeyed hotel at Karol Bagh in central Delhi early Tuesday. The bodies will be brought to Kochi by an Air India flight at 5.10 am Wednesday, a press release from the Chief Minister's office (CMO) said. The three deceased from Kochi were identified as Naliniamma, around 70, her son Vidyasagar and daughter Jayshree, in their late thirties, it said. The three were part of a 13-member team of family members who had gone to Delhi for a relative's wedding. They were to leave for a sightseeing trip to Amritsar Tuesday morning. The blaze had claimed 17 lives and left 35 others injured. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rajya Sabha proceedings were disrupted Tuesday following protests by the Samajwadi Party and other opposition parties over alleged stopping of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav at Lucknow airport to prevent him from visiting Allahabad. The trouble started in the first half after as many as 15 members had made Zero Hour mention on matters of public importance. Samajwadi Party members were up on their feet trying to raise the issue but Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu ordered that nothing would go on record. Naidu said he cannot allow them to raise the issue as they have not given notice. SP members said they have received information that Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav was stopped at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow by police in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad to attend an oath-taking ceremony of a student leader at Allahabad University. "Please go to your seat. Please don't spoil the atmosphere. This is not the way. We have lost so much of valuable time," Naidu said before adjourning the proceedings till 2 PM. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had told reporters in Lucknow that the step was taken on the request of the university as their was apprehension that Yadav's visit could trigger violence on the campus. But Yadav claimed the CM's statement was "a cover to hide nervousness" and its action showed how "scared" the BJP government is. When the Rajya Sabha re-assembled at 2 PM, members of SP, Bahujan Samaj Party, Trinamool Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) continued their protests following which the House was adjourned till 2:35 PM. As soon as the House met again at 2:35 PM, members from various opposition parties trooped into the Well protesting against the incident involving Akhilesh Yadav. Deputy Chairman Harivansh tried to pacify the members saying that the Chairman did not receive any notice regarding the issues being raised by them and therefore a discussion on them cannot be allowed. He asked the members to go back to their seats so that the discussion on Motion of Thanks on President's address can continue and later the one on interim budget is taken up. "This is our constitutional duty. We are not even being able to discuss over the budget speech," he said. However, opposition members refused to relent and continued their protests, following which he adjourned the house till Wednesday. Meanwhile, the government introduced two bills - the International Financial Services Center Authority Bill 2019 and Cinematography (amendment) Bill 2019. International Financial Services Center Authority Bill 2019 was moved by Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla. The Cinematography (amendment) bill 2019 was moved by Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. Earlier this morning, the proceedings went on smoothly for some time, unlike the past six days, before the protests by the SP and other parties started. Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad (Cong) said there are constitutional responsibilities on part of both the government and the opposition. These include passing a motion of Thanks to the President for his address to the joint siting of Parliament at the start of the Budget session, and approving the budget. He suggested that the discussion on Motion of Thanks on the President's Address can be taken up on Tuesday and the debate on the Interim Budget 2019-20 on Wednesday. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel said the government was agreeable to the suggestion. "We can extend the session if there is an agreement in the House" to discuss the six bills that are listed for taking up after the Motion of Thanks is passed and the Budget approved, he said. However, his suggestion did not seem to have found favour with members. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Opposition Shiromani Akali Dal on Tuesday held a protest march here along with the families of debt-ridden farmers who committed suicides, accusing the Congress government of going back on its promise of a complete farm loan waiver. SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and senior party leader Bikram Singh Majithia led the protest march, which began from the MLAs hostel here. The march coincided with the first day of the Punjab Assembly's Budget session. Police stopped the protesters about 500 meters from the assembly complex. Barricades had been erected to prevent them from proceeding towards the assembly. The workers of SAD and family members of the deceased farmers then staged a sit-in. They demanded a complete farm loan waiver, government jobs and Rs 10 lakh compensation for families of each of the deceased farmers. Some of the protesters carried photographs of the deceased farmers and narrated their hardships. "My father, who had taken a loan of Rs 5 lakh, ended his life," said 11-year-old Manmeet Singh, resident of Bathinda district's Ganga village, with tears running down his face. A Class 6 student, Manmeet was unable to talk further. Suvinderpal, a resident of Ajnala, claimed that in the suicide note his father, Major Singh, had blamed the state government. Another farmer, Harjeevan Singh, claimed his brother, Sukhdev Singh, a resident of Ferozepur, had also held the state government responsible for his suicide. The family was "completely ignored" by the government, he added. Satnam Singh said his uncle Bachan Singh, who hailed from Qadian, committed suicide as he could not get the dues for his sugarcane crop procured by the state. "The dues are yet to be paid to his family," he added. Family members of the farmers claimed that they were still receiving recovery notices from banks. SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal accused Chief Minister Amarinder Singh of betraying farmers. He also asked Amarinder to either honour his promise of complete farm loan waiver or quit. "The chief minister has not only back-stabbed the poor and bereaved families of the farmers, but also gone back on the oath he took on the holy 'Gutka Sahib'," Badal said. Sukhbir Badal said the party will take the farmers' plight to the governor and then, if need be, it will launch a statewide agitation to ensure that the promises made to them are honoured. Amarinder Singh hit back at the SAD, dubbing its protest march as a "petty political stunt" undertaken with an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. He alleged that the erstwhile SAD-BJP government had "failed" to do anything for the farmers during its tenure. He added that the SAD was now resorting to all kinds of "cheap tactics" in a bid to mislead people. Amarinder Singh claimed his government had already helped 5.83 lakh farmers with its debt relief scheme and would soon cover all 10.25 lakh small and marginal farmers in the state. He said the SAD's attempts to undermine these efforts would backfire. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav Tuesday alleged that the Centre was "involved" in preventing him from flying to Allahabad from the airport here. At a hurriedly convened press conference here, Yadav claimed Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's remark, that the visit could have triggered violence, is a cover to hide nervousness and the incident shows how "scared" the government is. "I think the government at the Centre is also involved in stopping me. State police cannot enter airport as its security is in Centre's hand," he claimed. The former chief minister claimed that the state government could not have stopped him inside the airport. "This is work of the Centre. I think government at the Centre is also involved in stopping me. The state police cannot enter airport as its security is in Centre's hand. Despite this police reached there and stopped me without any written order," he said. Yadav said he was stopped from boarding a flight to Allahabad to attend a students' union programme. "I haven't been given a reason why but it seems the general impression was that I would create a law and order problem. The CM has given a statement to this effect but they are using this as a cover to hide their nervousness because our youth have had enough," he claimed. The SP chief said that had there been a genuine problem, the police would have objected, or asked for a change in his schedule and he asserted he would never do anything to endanger the safety of people and property. Yadav said his programme had been finalised on December 27. "When the event came near, three bombs exploded where the stage was set. Neither government nor administration took any action against those involved in it. In a democracy, it never happens that government helps in throwing of bombs when an event is about to take place," he claimed. Earlier, Adityanath told reporters outside the state Assembly, that Yadav's visit could have triggered violence between rival student groups at the Allahabad University. "The Allahabad University had urged the government to stop his visit and the government acted," he said. On being asked to comment on Adityanath's claim, Yadav said, "I was told I will spread hatred and violence. I challenge them to show even one such charge against me, compared to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who has so many charges against him. It is the beauty of our democracy that we are seeing a sitting CM with so many cases against them." Yadav also showed placards in which cases against Adityanath were mentioned and claimed, "He must be the first chief minister who withdrew his own cases." Alleging that the BJP and its supporters were considering Allahabad University elections as their own polls, the SP chief claimed, "The government and all the ministers were contesting the student union polls. Whenever the CM went to university, he must have ordered his people that they should not lose the polls."In a statement earlier, he said the BJP had lost Uttar Pradesh, "but more than an election, they have lost the faith that the youth of this country reposed in them". The former UP chief minister said the BJP had betrayed the aspirations and hopes of crores of young people in their "blind pursuit" of creating a monochrome India. "Their attack on institutions by filling them with people, whose loyalties lie with an organisation that harbours those who celebrate the Mahatma's murderer, is an attack on our democracy. "These are people who have taken two oaths (of government and RSS) but are only loyal to one. These are people who have never accepted or celebrated our Constitution," he claimed. He said he stood with the youth of Uttar Pradesh and this country, and they stand with him. "Today, I ask everyone to come forward and join hands not to win an election but to defeat, and forever stand vigilant against, an ideology that threatens to unravel the beautiful tapestry of our country," Yadav added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Legislators belonging to the opposition AIADMK here Tuesday broke helmets on the premises of the Assembly to protest against the rule making wearing of the headgear mandatory without creating awareness on its use. The MLAs staged the protest to also condemn Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi's action to implement the rule and flayed her style of functioning which, they said, was arbitrary. Leader of the legislature wing of the AIADMK A Anbalagan and his colleagues in the Assembly A Baskar and Vayyapuri Manikandan brought a helmet each and smashed them on the floor. The party has a strength of four members in the House. The other legislator K A U Asana was away in his native place of Karaikal, and hence could not be present during the agitation. On Sunday, Bedi said the territorial law secretary had requested the Madras High Court to deploy a mobile magistrate traffic court here to ensure motorcyclists wear helmets. A day after DGP Sundari Nanda said the rule regarding helmet use would be enforced from February 11 in the Union Territory, Bedi in her WhatsApp message to mediapersons had said, "It is now time and opportunity for relentless adoption of the rule by law enforcement agencies to bring down fatalities on roads." "There shall be no relaxation, exceptions and interference regarding enforcement of the helmet rule," she had said. Chief Minister V Narayanasamy at a press conference had said, "Awareness on the importance of helmet use may be created through a month-long drive. The directive of the Supreme Court on compulsory wearing of helmets should be honoured by all without exception. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An elderly couple died Tuesday after a cooking gas cylinder exploded in their house near Pollachi, about 40 KM from here, police said. A spark from a burning heap of dry leaves outside the house is said to have triggered the explosion, they said. The deceased have been identified as Shanmugavadivel, a retired teacher, and his wife Krishnaveni, police added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has told the Delhi High Court that persons involved in large-scale money laundering and serious financial frauds have made it a practice to challenge various provisions of the PMLA, including the agency's power to arrest. The ED contended that a subterfuge was craftily designed by the "unscrupulous litigants" to bypass the exercise of filing a regular bail plea before the court concerned by directly seeking a habeas corpus writ or bail or anticipatory bail under the garb of challenging the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). A habeas corpus petition is a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or in court, especially to secure his release, unless lawful grounds are shown for his detention. The submissions were made before a bench of justices Siddharth Mridul and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal by the ED in an affidavit filed in response to a habeas corpus plea moved by alleged lobbyist Deepak Talwar, challenging his detention by Indian agencies after he was deported from the UAE on January 31 in connection with a money-laundering case. The ED has alleged that Talwar, who is in its custody, acted as a middleman in negotiations to favour foreign private airlines, causing loss to national carrier Air India. The court listed the matter for further hearing on February 18 as senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Talwar, was not available on Tuesday. The ED, in its affidavit filed through Centre's standing counsel Amit Mahajan, claimed that Talwar was abusing the august forum of this court by seeking a habeas corpus writ to bypass the only available remedy of seeking bail. In his habeas corpus plea, Talwar has claimed that his arrest and custody from January 30 onwards was illegal detention. He has alleged that his fundamental rights have been violated by the authorities. However, the ED said Talwar was arrested by its competent officers under the PMLA and he was in custody pursuant to a valid remand order passed by a competent court, the jurisdiction of which was not in question, and that the habeas corpus writ was "not maintainable". "With a view to justify the prayer for habeas corpus and directly approaching the high court, Talwar has challenged the constitutional validity of sections 19 and 24 of the PMLA, a practice which is recently developed amongst accused involved in large-scale money laundering as well as in serious financial frauds and other related offences," the ED said in the affidavit. It said it clearly appeared that being conscious of the fact that in regular bail proceedings, factors like gravity of the offence, the amount involved in the offence, the antecedents of the accused etc. would be examined by a competent court in detail, "a subterfuge or a device is craftily designed by the unscrupulous litigants to bypass the said exercise by directly seeking a writ of habeas corpus or by seeking bail/anticipatory bail under the garb of challenging the constitutional validity of some provisions of the Act". It said the constitutional validity of sections 19 (power of arrest) and 24 (burden of proof) of the PMLA were also challenged before the Delhi High Court in another matter of Rajbhushan Omprakash Dixit, which was then referred to a larger bench by a division bench as there was a difference of opinion with the judgment of another division bench of this court in the Moin Akhtar Qureshi and Vakamulla Chandra Shekhar cases. While the matter was pending in the high court, an appeal was filed by the agency before the Supreme Court in one of the matters against an interim order and the apex court had transferred all such matters to itself. It said that since the same question, which was challenged here, was pending before the apex court, it was in the interest of justice that the high court should await the final verdict of the Supreme Court. Talwar has claimed in his plea that when he was in Dubai, a travel ban was imposed on him by a court there in a commercial dispute, due to which he could not return to India despite repeated requests. His counsel had earlier contended before the court that the Government of India had "abducted" Talwar, adding that when there was a summons for him to appear on February 4, he was picked up and there was no extradition. He has sought quashing of the FIR against him under the PMLA and also to declare some provisions of the Act as unconstitutional and in violation of fundamental rights. The ED had earlier told a trial court that it needed to interrogate Talwar to get the names of officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, National Aviation Company of India Ltd and Air India, who favoured foreign airlines, including the Qatar Airways, Emirates and Air Arabia. The agency had claimed that entities directly or indirectly controlled by the accused received exorbitant amounts from the Qatar Airways, Emirates and Air Arabia and submitted a chart of total USD 60.54 million received by firms directly or indirectly owned by Talwar between April 23, 2008 and February 6, 2009. Talwar has been accused of criminal conspiracy and forgery under the IPC and under various sections of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) for allegedly diverting foreign funds worth Rs 90.72, meant for ambulances and other articles, received by his NGO from Europe's leading missile manufacturing company. His role in some aviation deals during the previous Congress-led UPA regime is also under the scanner. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has confirmed that four Oscars presentations have been set for commercial breaks of the 91st awards ceremony. According to Variety, awards in the categories - best cinematography, film editing, live action short and makeup and hairstyling will be announced during the ads. The winning speeches will edited to remove the winners' walk from their seats to the stage and each speech will be aired separately later in the telecast. Academy president John Bailey informed the membership of the plans in a letter emailed on Monday. He also explained that the four delayed presentations will be streamed live online via Oscars official website. He said that the board of governors has committed to a three-hour show this year. At the annual nominees luncheon last week, this was one of the focal points emphasised by Bailey and the show's producers, Glenn Weiss and Donna Gigliotti. "When you head to the stage, move quickly. Show us how eager you are to get up there," Bailey said. He added the winners will have 90 seconds from the moment their name is called to reach the stage and complete their speech. This year the ceremony will be livestreamed, which is a first for the Oscars. "And, with the help of our partners at ABC, we also will stream these four award presentations online for our global fans to enjoy, live, along with our audience. "Fans will be able to watch on Oscar.com and on the Academy's social channels. The live stream is a first for our show, and will help further awareness and promotion of these award categories," Bailey said in the letter. Gigliotti and Weiss also announced 13 more names as round two of star line-up as presenters at the awards. "Black Panther" stars Angela Bassett and Chadwick Boseman, best actress nominee Melissa McCarthy, "Game of Thrones" star Emilia Clarke, Javier Bardem, Laura Dern, Samuel L Jackson, Stephan James, Keegan-Michael Key, KiKi Layne, James McAvoy, Jason Momoa and Sarah Paulson are part of the list. "The array of talent anchoring the show this year has brought some of the most indelible moments in recent cinematic memory to audiences around the world. They join together to reconnect us with the nominees, their tremendous movies, and outstanding performances," the duo said in a statement. In addition to performances of all five nominated songs, the show will feature Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic playing during In Memoriam, as part of their own centennial celebration. Final voting for the Oscars begins Tuesday. The ceremony will air Sunday, February 24. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Russian State Duma has passed the first reading of legislation that is designed to ensure the operation of the Internet in Russia if access to servers located abroad is cut off. The legislation is co-authored by chair of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Andrey Klishas, his deputy Lyudmila Bokova and MP Andrey Lugovoy. It proposes creating a centre to "ensure and control the routing of internet traffic" and requires that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) install "technical measures to withstand threats". The rules for using this system will be determined by Roskomnadzor, which will also be responsible for registering the persons authorized to form domain names included in the national domain zone. Prohibited information will be blocked by Roskomnadzor itself, not by telecom operators. Proponents say the bill aims to make what they call the Russian segment of the Internet - known as the "runet" - more independent. They argue that it is needed to guard Russia against potential cyberattacks. A note attached to the proposed amendments to the Law on Communications cited what it said was the "aggressive nature" of the U.S. cybersecurity strategy released in September 2018, in which, the note said, "Russia directly and without any evidence is accused of cyberattacks." At the same time, Bokova stressed that this initiative "has nothing to do with the Chinese path of developing the Internet." The United Russia party supported it, while LDPR chief Vladimir Zhirinovsky said that party members would not back it. The Communist Party also criticized it. The AAP government Tuesday opposed in Delhi High Court a parole plea by a convict serving life term in the Jigisha Ghosh murder case, and facing trial in the sensational 2008 murder of TV journalist Soumya Viswanathan, saying there was a threat that he may misuse the relief and abscond. Murder convict Ravi Kapoor, in custody since March 2009, has approached the high court seeking parole for three months to take proper medical treatment as he was suffering from life threatening disease HIV and for surgery of chronic sinus. Highlighting Kapoor's record in jail, the state government said in its report that his conduct in prison is not good and he has been given 41 punishments on various counts including misbehaviour with officials and fights. The status report of the authorities was filed before Justice Mukta Gupta who listed the matter for further hearing in April after the convict's counsel sought time to file reply to the report. In the report filed through Delhi government standing counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra along with advocate Jamal Akhtar, the government sought dismissal of the parole plea claiming that Kapoor was a "dreaded criminal". It said that he should not be released on parole as he was a hard core criminal and threat to society. There is an imminent danger and real threat that he may abscond by misusing the parole, the report said. It added that besides serving life term in 2009 business executive Jigisha Ghosh's murder case, Kapoor was also facing trial for allegedly murdering Soumya and several prosecution witnesses are yet to depose against him in the matter. The authorities also informed the court that the high court had in June 2018, granted parole to Kapoor for filing an appeal in the Supreme Court and re-establishing social ties with family and society. However, the parole was set aside by the apex court after the state filed an appeal against the high court order. In his plea, the convict claimed that he was infected with Immuno Deficiency Virus (HIV) during the custody and was under treatment of a doctor in jail. Later, he was being treated at RML Hospital here but his condition was not improving. Kapoor was convicted and awarded death sentence by a trial court in the Jigisha Ghosh case. The capital punishment was commuted to life term by the high court in 2018. The trial in the 2008 Soumya murder case is pending before a lower court here. She was shot dead on September 30, 2008 when she was returning home in her car from office in the wee hours. The police had earlier claimed robbery as the motive behind the killing of both Jigisha and Soumya. On January 4, 2018 the high court had reduced to life sentence the death penalty awarded to two of the three convicts in the Jigisha case, saying the crime did not qualify as "rarest of rare" warranting capital punishment. The high court, while modifying the death penalty awarded to convicts Ravi Kapoor and Amit Shukla, had also confirmed the life sentence to the third convict, Baljeet Malik, in the murder case. 28-year-old Jigisha Ghosh, an operations manager in a management consultancy firm, was abducted and killed on March 18, 2009 after she was dropped by her office cab around 4 am near her home in Vasant Vihar area of South Delhi. Her body was recovered three days later from a place near Surajkund in Haryana. Recovery of the weapon allegedly used in Jigisha's murder had led to cracking of the murder case of Soumya. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Describing Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's comments that his Allahabad visit could have triggered violence as "a cover to hide nervousness", Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav Tuesday said that stopping him shows how "scared" the government is. "I was stopped from boarding a flight to Allahabad to attend a students' union programme. I haven't been given a reason why but it seems the general impression was that I would create a law and order problem. Chief minister has given a statement to this effect but they are using this as a cover to hide their nervousness because our youth have had enough," Yadav said. "If there was a genuine problem, the police there would have objected, or asked for a change in my schedule. I understand the need to ensure the safety of people and property and would never do something to endanger either knowingly," he added. He said the BJP has lost Uttar Pradesh, "but more than an election, they have lost the faith that the youth of this country reposed in them". The former UP chief minister said the BJP has betrayed the aspirations and hopes of crores of young people in their "blind pursuit" of creating a monochrome India. "Their attack on institutions by filling them with people whose loyalties lie with an organisation that harbours people who celebrate the Mahatmas murderer, is an attack on our democracy. These are people who have taken two oaths (of government and RSS) but are only loyal to one. These are people who have never accepted or celebrated our Constitution," he said. "This is is what I hear from the youth - We are awake. We are aware. And we will never again be fooled by rhetoric that is designed to divide and conquer," Yadav said. "I stand with the youth of Uttar Pradesh and this country, and they stand with me. Today, I ask everyone to come forward and join hands not to win an election but to defeat, and forever stand vigilant against, an ideology that threatens to unravel the beautiful tapestry of our country," he added. Speaking to reporters, Adityanath said Yadav's visit could have triggered violence between rival student groups at the Allahabad University. "The Allahabad University had urged the government to stop his visit and the government acted," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As many as 1,431 cases of swine flu have been reported from across Gujarat between January 1 and February 10 this year, with 55 patients dying due to the H1N1 virus, the state government told the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday. In 2018, 2,164 cases were reported in the state and 97 persons had died, the government told the division bench of Acting Chief Justice A S Dave and Justice Biren Vaishnav. The bench was hearing a PIL filed by advocate K R Koshti, seeking a direction to the state government to take measures to prevent the spread of the disease. The government told the court that it is taking several measures to tackle the disease and had put in place infrastructure like nine laboratories for free of charge diagnosis and had approved eight private laboratories to conduct tests. The state government also told the court that apart from setting up and approving 17 laboratories equipped to test swine flu cases, it had also set up 489 isolation wards, which can be scaled up to 1,500. Masks and other necessary items have also been provided and kept ready, it added. As many as 2,800 healthcare providers serving in ICUs and isolation wards have been vaccinated, the government said. Close kin of people who tested positive for the virus are being traced and ICUs and isolation wards of private hospitals are being audited, it said. A team of physicians and anaesthesiologists has been trained in ventilator care management, it added. The government said the cases had been reported from Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Bhavnagar, Kutch, Rajkot, Amreli, Gandhinagar and Banaskantha, among other areas. It added that mass media was being used to spread awareness about the disease. In 2017, a total of 431 persons had died due to swine flu in Gujarat. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Five policemen were killed on Tuesday when militants attacked their van in northwest Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said. The incident occurred in Paroha tehsil in Dera Ismail Khan district, bordering South Waziristan. The terrorists, hiding behind bushes, attacked the police van with heavy firing. Four policemen were killed in the attack and the Station Head Officer (SHO) was injured, they said. The injured SHO was rushed to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, they added. The security forces have cordoned off the entire area and a search operation has been launched to nab the terrorists. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At 3.30 am on Tuesday, Somshekhar and his family were preparing to leave their hotel for Haridwar. Suddenly, the power went out and their rooms plunged into darkness. Before they could understand what had happened, plumes of thick smoke ran through their floor at the Arpit Palace hotel and a foul smell triggered panic. Besides Somshekhar, 12 persons were in the group staying at the hotel in central Delhi, where a massive fire killed 17 people, including a child, on Tuesday. Somshekhar said his sister Jayashree (53), mother Naliniamma (84) and brother Vidhyasagar (59) died in the early-morning fire. The family had come from Ernakulam district in Kerala to attend a wedding in Ghaziabad on February 8. "We had come to attend the wedding of a relative in Ghaziabad. We were planning to go to Haridwar today," the 57-year-old said. "We were ready to leave when there was a sudden power cut. They switched on the generator and there was a heavy smoke and a foul smell. My sister first spotted the smoke and informed us. The entire corridor was full of smoke and the smell," Somshekhar said. His mother and brother were with his sister at that time and Somshekhar had rushed to his room to open the windows to allow the smoke to pass and find a possible exit route. "Yesterday, we went to Vrindavan and returned late at night. We had also planned to visit Amritsar and leave for Kerala on the 15th," he said. Vijayamma, a relative of Somshekhar, said, "I met the entire family at the wedding. I was meeting Naliniamma after about three years. She was finding it difficult to cope with the winters here. I took her to a room after the wedding. I did not know that I would be seeing her the last time." Shivanand Chand, an advertising professional from Mumbai, was on the fourth floor of the hotel when the fire broke out. "I was woken up around 3.30 am by the smell of smoke. I saw a blaze on the corridor and could not find a fire extinguisher. People were running on the corridor and the hotel staff was trying to put out the fire with extinguishers," he said. Chand said they were choking and stayed by the window to be able to breathe, adding that some people chose to jump out of the window. A relative of Rabia Jusafbhai, a 52-year-old lawyer who died in the tragedy, said the deceased was here with a male colleague on an official work. Tulsi Ram said his younger brother Lal Chand had been working at the hotel for the last 25 years and he was a supervisor. He had left for work at 8 pm on Monday and it was his son Himanshu who first got to know about the incident. Since then, they have been looking for Lal Chand at various hospitals. Himanshu Thakur (20), son of Lal Chand, said he was going to college when he got to know about the incident. He tried calling his father but his phone was switched off. "We went to at least five hospitals, but still could not trace him," he said. A 58-year-old man from Ahmedabad woke up to see smoke entering his room from the corridor. "At around 4 am, I heard people screaming for help. When I opened the door, I saw a dense smoke on the corridor and rushed out of the room," Dilip Trivedi, who had come to Delhi for a business deal, said. "I had booked another hotel, but as there were no rooms there, they had shifted me to this hotel. I was staying in room number 101 on the first floor," Trivedi said. Bhupendra Rajput, an eyewitness who assisted in the rescue operations, said, "We were in my room at a hotel nearby when the incident took place. People were shouting and we immediately rushed to the spot." "There was a stampede as the stairs were narrow. We pulled them out and helped to clear the way for others. Pillows were used to give support to those coming out of the hotel windows," he said. According to Rajput, the roads near the hotel were blocked, due to which the fire tenders took time to reach the spot. "The first fire tender to arrive did not have adequate water. If that had adequate water, it would have taken less time to bring the blaze under control," he said. Neelam Krishnamoorthy, whose two young children were among the 59 people who were killed in a fire accident at the Uphaar cinema hall here in 1997, said, "No lessons have been learnt from the Uphaar tragedy." There were over 50 guests at the hotel, which had a canopy on the terrace housing what appeared to be a restaurant, officials said. At least 35 people were rescued. A senior civic official said a suspected short circuit could have sparked the fire. A video of the incident showed two persons jumping off the fourth floor of the building. Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain, who visited the hotel, told reporters he had directed the fire department to inspect the buildings that had five floors or more and submit a report on their fire-safety compliance within a week. Babu Panikar, head of the Delhi Malayali Association, said, "I got to know that Malayalis were trapped inside. I rushed to the spot to check on them. There were 13 members of a family who had come from Ernakulam to attend a wedding in Ghaziabad. "Ten of them were rescued safely, while the bodies of the remaining three have been identified. They were supposed to leave for Haridwar at around 6 am on Tuesday. Two of the family members had left for Mumbai on Monday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Researchers have identified almost 2,000 unknown bacterial species in the human gut, an advance that could help understand human health better and even guide diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. The bacterial species discovered by researchers at European Molecular Biology Laboratory and the Wellcome Sanger Institute in the UK are yet to be cultured in the lab. The team used a range of computational methods to analyse samples from individuals worldwide. The results, published in the journal Nature, demonstrate that although researchers are possibly getting closer to creating a comprehensive list of microbes common in the microbiomes of North American and European people, there is a significant lack of data from other regions of the world. The human gut is home to many species of microbes, collectively referred to as the gut microbiota. Despite extensive studies in the field, researchers are still working on identifying the individual microbial species that live in the gut and understanding what roles they play in human health. There are many reasons that some microbial species among the gut microbiota have remained unknown for so long, such as a low abundance or an inability to survive outside it. By using computational methods, researchers were able to reconstruct the genomes of these bacteria. "Computational methods allow us to understand bacteria that we cannot yet culture in the lab," said Rob Finn from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. "Using metagenomics to reconstruct bacterial genomes is a bit like reconstructing hundreds of puzzles after mixing all the pieces together, without knowing what the final image is meant to look like, and after completely removing a few pieces from the mix just to make it that bit harder," said Finn. The research highlighted the composition of gut bacteria differences between people around the world, and how important it is for the samples under study to reflect this diversity. "We are seeing a lot of the same bacterial species crop up in the data from European and North American populations," said Finn. "However, the few South American and African datasets we had access to for this study revealed significant diversity not present in the former populations," he said. "Computational methods allow us to get an idea of the many bacterial species that live in the human gut, how they evolved and what kind of roles they may play within their microbial community," says Alexandre Almeida, postdoctoral fellow at Wellcome Sanger Institute. In the study, the researchers leveraged the most comprehensive public databases of gastrointestinal bacteria to identify bacterial species that have not been seen before. "Research such as this is helping us create a so-called blueprint of the human gut, which in the future could help us understand human health and disease better and could even guide diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases," said Trevor Lawley, group leader at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Leaders and representatives from across political parties met Tuesday for a round-table conference to discuss 'People's Progressive Agenda for India' (PPA). The PPA builds on the Common Minimum Programme of 2004 in collaboration with an independent organisation - Samruddha Bharat Foundation- to reassert the fundamental principle of one person-one vote, one vote one value and to reclaim constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and rights, as well as a life of dignity and security, a statement issued by the foundation said. The meeting, held at the Constitution Club here, saw participation from 12 parties including the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Loktantrik Janata Dal(LJD), Communist Party of India (CPI), Samajwadi Party and Swabhimani Paksha, it said. The PPA aimed to address the needs and aspirations of the vulnerable and marginalised sections like scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, other backward classes and overcome divisive that attempts to pit caste against caste, class against class, and community against community, the statement said. Samruddha Bharat Foundation claims to be an independent organisation established as a follow up to the B R Ambedkar International Conference held in Bengaluru in July 2017. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Immense curiosity has arisen after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plans were made known to address a pre-election rally on February 16 in the small village of Pandharkawada in Yavatmal district, one of the poorest in Vidarbha. Twenty-five years ago, this was from where the tragic story of farmers' suicides was first brought to the global stage. Yavatmal district is considered the place where farmer suicides have been the highest. It is here that local engineer-turned-farmers leader Kishore Tiwari set the proverbial cat among the pigeons by demanding that Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari replace Modi if the party was to survive the 2019 elections. He also said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah should be replaced. It is from this very Pandharkawada village that Modi had in March 2014 promised to implement a 2006 report by eminent scientist M.S. Swaminathan on improving the lot of farmers if the BJP was elected to power at the Centre. On March 20, 2014, Modi had organised a special, high-profile "Kisanon ke Saath, Chai Pe Charcha' with the farmers of Vidarbha, including from Pandharkawada. It was at that meeting Modi suddenly pulled out the long-forgotten M.S. Swaminathan Commission Report and promised to implement it - if voted to power - something that later proved to be easier said than done, Tiwari recalled. Tiwari, who is the Chairman of the Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavalamban Mission (VNSSM) with ministerial status, had categorically demanded that the BJP "get rid of both Modi and Shah" for their "anti-farmer and anti-people policies". As the entire direction of national political debate changed, Shah was forced to make a statement in Mumbai stating "there would be no leadership change". A week later, Tiwari dropped another bombshell by writing to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on the same issue. Significantly, Tiwari, Gadkari and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis are all stalwarts from the Vidarbha region of eastern Maharashtra, and coincidentally, the RSS is headquartered in Nagpur, the state's second capital. All this was crowned by appreciation from none other than UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi. Party sources reveal that Tiwari's suggestions on Gadkari were reportedly "received positively" both in the BJP, RSS and other sections of the saffron parivar. When asked, Tiwari sought to downplay the issue, saying: "The PM's visit to Pandharkawada is indeed a very welcome development and has raised the aspirations of the local farmers, tribals and women's organisations, all reeling under huge debts. "Sentiment is running high that the PM may announce a package to provide relief even to the tribals and women's groups and his visit may spur the farmers' aid to be released on priority before the elections," Tiwari told IANS. "No, there are no attempts to gag me. I am merely highlighting the private opinions of many in the BJP," Tiwari claimed to a direct query on whether he encountered problems after his December assertions. A BJP source said this time, five years later after becoming the Prime Minister, Modi was expected to "provide a convincing account" of what exactly the NDA government has done for the farmers and the future plans for the still-distressed farmlands across the country. With a population of around 40,000 tribals-farmers, Pandharkawada has another distinction. It was the first tribal village in the country selected under the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's historic Integrated Tribal Development Plan of 1976. Modi will become only the second Prime Minister to visit Pandharkawada. Manmohan Singh come calling in 2006 when he spent two full days in Vidarbha. Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had received a delegation of Pandharkavada's farmers in 2009 in Nagpur. Then a young leader, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited the place in 2008, besides Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar and many other dignitaries. Vowing to make "an everlasting, vote-catching impression" in the suicide-sullied soil of Vidarbha and rest of India, the BJP is chalking out massive plans to get farmers from adjoining districts like Wardha, Chandrapur, Nanded and even neighbouring Telangana, which ranks high on farmland suicides. (Quaid Najmi can be reached at q.najmi@ians.in) --IANS qn/vm/am/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Citing rising unemployment, the widening social and communal rift and curbs on freedom of speech, a score of opposition leaders on Tuesday appealed to the youth to vote out the BJP government in the upcoming general elections "to save the country". At a youth rally organised by Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal here, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Patidar leader Hardik Patel and Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav, among others slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for its divisive and failing to generate employment. Some of them demanded that the age bar on contesting Assembly and Parliamentary elections be lowered. Farmers and labourers in the country are distressed due to lower remuneration and the youth due to unemployment but the government is busy in publicity, said Ahmed Patel. "The BJP government is hiding the unemployment report and manipulating the statistics. We heard the unemployment rate is the highest in the past 40-45 years. "For Modi, (jobs in) Ola, Uber, and (selling) pakoras is employment. Labourers, farmers are distressed. Young people are committing suicide due to unemployment. However, the government only knows 'eating, meeting, sitting and advertising'," he said. Yechury said the country wanted a policy and vision and not a leader. Noting that there are enough resources in the country, he said there was inequality due to "loot", and this can be stopped by the youth in the country. Accusing the BJP of trying to divide the society on communal lines and destroy the Constitution, Sharad Yadav said: "They are unleashing terror in the name of cow. They are trying to subvert the Constitution. They want to keep caste system alive. The youth has to make efforts to save the country." Appealing to the youth to protect Muslims and Dalits in the country from the brunt of divisive politics, he urged people not to cast votes on the basis of caste and religion. Hardik Patel said he was a Hindu but not a RSS Hindu, and he came from the Gujarat of Sardar Valabhbhai Patel, the first Home Minister of India. "The youth is demanding answers from the government over the work it has done in past five years. We need to save the country from the BJP," he said. He said he wanted to contest the Gujarat elections but he could not since he was not 25 and demanded a law in this regard. At this, Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh said that his party will support any such legislation. In a dig at Modi, he said: "He has been told that he is the most eligible Prime Minister as of yet. He does not want to talk about employment." Majid Memon of the Nationalist Congress Party, Ghanshyam Tiwari of the Samajwadi Party, Danish Ali of the Janata Dal (Secular), and Jayant Chaudhary of the RLD were also among those who addressed the youth rally. All the leaders also remembered former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, the father of RLD chief Ajit Singh, for his contribution to India's development. --IANS spk/vd/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The next big step in space will be the landing of human beings on Mars, and any Indian can do this, said Charles Duke, the youngest spaceologist to walk on the moon at the age of 36. Duke, now 83, was in Jaipur on Tuesday to address the students of Gyan Vihar University. Sharing his experiences, the American astronaut said he along with his two companions had landed on the moon in 1972 via Apollo 16, the 10th manned mission in the US Apollo space programme, and the fifth and penultimate to land on the moon, and the first to land in the lunar highlands. Duke and stayed on the moon for about 20 hours and 15 minutes. Talking to students, he said: "I completed my education from MIT and then started working in NASA. I got involved with the Apollo programme from the very beginning. During Apollo 11, I was given the responsibility of the control room and was later selected for Apollo 16." Duke, who retired as a Brigadier General in the US army, shared the emotional moments of putting his foot on the moon with students. He had travelled in a rocket named 'Saturn', and was the youngest scientist to visit the moon. Duke said he joined the Mission as a Lunar module pilot in the Apollo 16 campaign. Apollo 16 was a big, and one of the most important scientific initiative being taken on the moon. "Whenever I recall those thrilling moments, I become emotional," he said. He spoke about how his hammer fell on the moon's surface while collecting rock and soil samples, and how much difficulty he faced to lift it up. Understanding the difference of gravity is not at all easy, he said citing this example. Duke said he weighed just 27 kg and travelled around 5 km at a speed of 17 km per hour. He left a photo of his family on the moon for remembrance. "Maintaining body temperature on the moon was a big challenge and I had to make many efforts to save myself," he said. On the occasion, university Chairman Sunil Sharma said the conference hall would be named after Charles Duke. (Archana Sharma can be contacted at arachana.g@gmail.com) --IANS arc/pgh/pcj (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The U.S. bill that might expose OPEC to antitrust lawsuits could be harmful to the global economy, Saudi Arabias energy minister and chairman of state oil company Saudi Aramco Khalid al Falih told Financial Times. But he expressed his hope that the United States would do the right thing. According to Saudi Arabias energy minister, the world would suffer irreparably from the loss of Saudi Arabias ability to quickly raise or cut oil production to balance the market. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza has said that the government led by President Nicolas Maduro is ready to sit down with the opposition without preconditions and seek a solution to the political crisis. "How can there be preconditions between Venezuelans? The government has been saying: you are Venezuelan, I am Venezuelan. Let's sit down together. We have our Constitution. Let us sit down and engage in dialogue. Let us try to find a solution without any kind of strings attached, or any kind of preconditions," Xinhua quoted Arreaza as saying to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday. "This kind of arrogance (by insisting on preconditions) would just hinder dialogue. That's why we say we are waiting for the opposition to get through its pursuit of independence from the US government ... and then we can sit down with the opposition and agree and negotiate in line with the Constitution, and find a Venezuelan solution." Venezuela has been in political tension since January 23 when National Assembly President Juan Guaido declared himself interim president and was recognised by the US and some other countries. --IANS vin/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ahead of deposing in front of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday, Congress President Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra wrote an emotional Facebook post expressing his firm belief in God which will help him tide over tough times ahead. Vadra, along with his 75-year-old mother, Maureen Vadra, was in Jaipur to depose in front of the Enforcement Directorate. "Not understanding the lows of this vindictive government to be harassing a senior citizen," Vadra said, describing how his mother had lost her daughter in a car crash, her ailing son to diabetes, and her husband as well. "Three deaths and all I did was to ask her to spend time with me in my office, so I could look after her and we both could grieve on our losses," the 50-year-old businessman said, adding that now his mother was paying the price of "spending time in my office" by "being accused, maligned and called to be interrogated". Vadra was earlier interrogated for three days in the ED headquarters in Delhi for over 24 hours in a separate money laundering case on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. "If there was any issue or any illegality, which was found by the government, why did it take them four years and eight months to call me a month before campaigning begins for the general elections," said the husband of Priyanka Gandhi, who was launched as the Congress General secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh east just days back. "Do they think people in India do not view it as an election gimmick?!" said Vadra, whose wife accompanied him to the Jaipur ED office earlier in the day before leaving for Uttar Pradesh to meet party workers, after a roadshow in Lucknow on Monday. Vadra said: "I always have adhered to rules and overall being a disciplined person, I have the ability to sustain any amount of hours of questioning and having nothing to hide, I will answer every question with respect n dignity. "This too shall pass and will make me stronger." He ended his post with: "What goes around comes around. God is with us." --IANS arc/in/ab (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Democrats and Republicans have reached an agreement in principle over border security to fund the US government and avert another partial shutdown, media reports said. Lawmakers said the deal had been struck in a closed-door meeting in here on Monday, the BBC reported. No details have been released yet, and it was unclear whether President Donald Trump would back the agreement. He is due to address a political rally in Texas. Talks had previously stalled on the detention of undocumented immigrants and funding for Trump's border wall. Funding will run out for some agencies if deal is finalised. The previous shutdown lasted 35 days and was the longest in US history. --IANS in/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US House and Senate legislators have reached an agreement "in principle" to provide $1.375 billion for barriers at the Mexico border, a figure far lower than the $5.7 billion that President Donald Trump had demanded, to avert another government shutdown. The agreement which was reached on Monday night, is going to stave off a second partial government shutdown at midnight on Friday. The first shutdown that began on December 22, 2018, and ended on January 25, was the longest US government shutdown in history. The deal however, still needs to pass the House and Senate and secure Trump's signature, reports The New York Times. The framework would allow for 55 miles of new bollard fencing, with some restrictions on location based on community and environmental concerns, according to Congressional aides. The negotiators announced they had reached the agreement after three private meetings on Monday. It is expected to be finalised as early as Tuesday, well before the Friday deadline when funding would again lapse for a number of federal agencies. "The fact that it looked like there was going to be another shutdown imminently brought renewed efforts on Monday," The Washington Post quoted Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard C. Shelby as saying after announcing the deal. Asked if the White House would support the agreement, Shelby, a Republican from Alabama, told the media: "We think so. We hope so." House Appropriations Committee Chairman Nita M. Lowey, who was in Monday's meetings, said she hoped the negotiators would have a finished product by Wednesday. The California Democrat said she ran the proposal by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and she signed off on it. "Some may be happy, some may not be happy," said Lowey, assessing how Democrats would receive the deal and saying she hoped the agreement would have the votes needed to pass the House. "We did the best we could." Besides Shleby and Lowey, Vermont Democrat Patrick J. Leahy and Texas Republican Kay Granger participated in the Monday meetings. They are part of a bipartisan conference committee charged with striking a border security deal. The White House and congressional leaders have struggled for months to reach an agreement on a government funding bill because of major differences between Democrats and Republicans over immigration policy. Trump called for using $5.7 billion in taxpayer money to construct more than 200 miles of a wall along the US-Mexico border. Democrats objected to this and Trump forced the first partial government shutdown to try to exert pressure on Congress to act. The White House and Republicans eventually backed down, agreeing to a short-term spending bill for a number of agencies that was meant to give congressional negotiators more time to reach a longer-term deal. Asked by the media if the government would shut down again for the second time, he responded: "That's up to the Democrats." Meanwhile, Trump has readied a plan to declare a national emergency on the southern border, which he believes will allow him to redirect taxpayer money from other projects to build parts of a wall - without approval from Congress. --IANS ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday accused the state government of preventing him from taking a flight to Prayagraj where he was to attend the oath-taking ceremony of the Students Union at Allahabad University. Yadav had to take a private plane but was stopped by a senior district official who reportedly said that the Samajwadi Party leader did not have permission to take the flight. Akhilesh Yadav said the Uttar Pradesh government was so scared of him that they stopped him from attending the event. As the news spread, scores of his party workers and leaders rushed to the airport. --IANS md/pg/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) UK Defence Minister Gavin Williamson has revealed that the country will send its largest and most powerful aircraft carrier to the Pacific on its first operational mission. In a speech to the Royal United Services Institute think tank here on Monday, Williamson said the 65,000-tonne carrier Queen Elizabeth - which was commissioned in 2017 - would also make appearances in the Mediterranean and Middle East along the way, reports CNN. "The UK is a global power with truly global interest... We must be prepared to compete for our interests and our values far, far from home," the Minister said. The carrier will ferry its contingent of state-of-the-art F-35 stealth fighter jets as well as US Marine Corps F-35s as it ventures into a region where "China is developing its modern military capability and its commercial power", he added. According to Williamson, the combined US-UK air wing aboard the carrier will improve "the reach and lethality of our forces" while "reinforcing the fact that the US remains our very closest of partners". He did not give a date for the deployment. However the Queen Elizabeth is scheduled to become operational in 2020. Williamson said Britain would consider permanent new bases in the Asia-Pacific and Caribbean to exert power globally. Last month, British and American warships conducted six days of coordinated drills in the South China Sea. --IANS ksk/ab (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Neomi Rao, US President Donald Trump's Indian American nominee for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals judgeship has apologised for her controversial college writings about date-rape victims, which had come under scrutiny. Rao would replace Brett Kavanaugh on the nation's second-most powerful court as the latter was elevated to the Supreme Court. But she came under fire during her confirmation hearing last week over op-eds she wrote as an undergraduate at Yale University. In an article on date rape, Rao wrote that if a woman "drinks to the point where she can no longer choose, well, getting to that point was part of her choice". In a letter on Monday to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Rao condemned "sexual assault in all forms" as "abhorrent" and said that she "particularly regret(s) the insensitivity demonstrated in my remarks on rape and sexual assault", the Washington Post reported. Rao, who serves as the White House's regulatory czar, described herself as a "sheltered" college student and said that her perspective on the issue evolved as she grew more mature and became a mother to two children. "I particularly regret the insensitivity demonstrated in my remarks on rape and sexual assault," she wrote. "While responding to events and debates on campus, I failed to recognise the hurt that my words would cause a survivor of such crimes. "No woman or man should be subject to sexual violence, regardless of the clothes they wear or how much alcohol they consumed. Non-consensual sexual activity is never appropriate or excusable," Rao wrote to the committee. "Victims should not be blamed for the terrible things that have happened to them... We should create an environment where survivors feel empowered and comfortable coming forward." Senator Joni Ernst, a new Republican member of the Judiciary Committee, who recently disclosed that she had been raped in college, earlier told Rao that her writings "do give me pause" and that she was concerned about the message Rao's columns send to young women. At the time, Ernst said she was undecided on whether to support Rao's confirmation, according to the Post. The Senator said on Monday evening that she met Rao privately last week, where the nominee again explained her early writings as the work of someone who lacked the perspective she has now. "I would say, just sitting down with her one-on-one and just her expressing herself, I feel a lot better about where I am now," Ernst said. "I haven't made that firm commitment yet (on her nomination), but I'm just glad to know where she stands and it allayed a lot of fears." The DC Circuit is considered as a pipeline for future Supreme Court justices. --IANS soni/ab (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is said to have made a tight case of money laundering against Robert Vadra, brother-in-law of Congress President Rahul Gandhi who is being probed in a land deal in Bikaner in Rajasthan. According to the ED, which is investigating a web of controversial land transactions in Bikaner allegedly involving Vadra's company Skylight Hospitality LLP, is believed to have collected documents pertaining to the purchase and sale of land in the border town. ED officials claim that Vadra had started creating a land bank near power sub-stations in Bikaner from June 2009, almost a year before the then Congress-led UPA government announced the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (NSM) Policy under which huge subsidies (nearly 40 percent) were offered for setting up grid-tied solar power plants. After the Centre's announcement, Vadra's land value located near power sub-stations skyrocketed. And the land bought by the state government had practically no takers because most of it was not close enough for easy grid connections. An ED official said Vadra's Skylight Hospitality bought this plot in Kolayat in March 2010. And two years later, in May 2012, it sold off 29.36 hectares of land in Kolayat for nearly Rs 2 crore to a French joint venture without adding any value to it. He said the ED has zeroed on Mahesh Nagar, an authorised representative of Skylight Hospitality owned by Vadra and his 75-year-old mother Maureen Vadra. Nagar is the person who links Vadra's company with the person named Ashok Kumar who was named in the chargesheet filed by the Rajasthan Police in the case. In December 2017, the ED had arrested Ashok Kumar, a close associate of Nagar, and another person, Jaiprakash Bagarwa. The ED had searched the premises of both Kumar and Nagar in April 2017. According to ED officials, Nagar was the authorised representative in four cases of land purchase in Bikaner. Kumar, the agency alleged, had purchased land in the same area, using the "power of attorney" of others. The ED has been probing the alleged scam in the purchase of land in Kolayat area in the border town of Bikaner in Rajasthan which was meant for those displaced due to the Army's field firing range. According to the ED officials, Skylight Hospitality had purchased 69.55 hectares of land for Rs 72 lakh and then sold it to Allegeny Finlease for Rs 5.15 crore, earning a profit of Rs 4.43 crore. The agency registered a criminal case under the Money Laundering Act in 2015, taking cognizance of the case filed by the Rajasthan Police after forgery allegations. The agency had earlier issued notices to Skylight Hospitality but had not mentioned Vadra's name or any company linked to him in its FIR. According to the ED, during investigation it found that Allegeny Finlease as a company was "not involved" in any "real business activities" and many of its shareholders were found to be dummy or non-existent. The government had cancelled the mutation (transfer of land) of 374.44 hectares of land after allotments were found to have been allegedly made in the names of "illegal private persons". Revenue officials had said in the complaint that government land in 34 villages of Bikaner that was meant to be used for expanding the Army's firing range was "grabbed" by the land mafia by preparing "forged and fabricated documents" in connivance with government officials. ED suspects that a huge amount of money was laundered in this case by people buying land at cheaper rates through forged documents. The ED is also probing the loan which the Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd gave to a company that bought land owned by Skylight Hospitality at seven times higher than the acquisition cost. --IANS aks/vsc/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hundreds of tribals from six districts of Gujarat gathered here at the Sabarmati riverfront and took out a rally demanding implementation of Forest Rights Act (FRA), Food Security Act (FSA) and MNREGA. They handed over a memorandum to the Ahmedabad collector, seeking land ownership under Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006. Leading the protest march of around 7,000 to 8,000 tribals, who came from the eastern belt districts of Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Aravalli, Mahisagar, Dahod and Panchmahals, the Eklavya Sangathan threw light on the protesters' demands. According to Eklavya Sangathan, only 40 per cent or 73,921 tribals have been given Jamin Adhikar Patras (land rights certificate). Whereas, the rightful claims under Forest Rights Act of as many as 1,08,948 others have been rejected for various reasons. A total of 73921 (40.4%) farmers have been given such Adhikar Patras, according to the Gujarat government data. "They cannot reject a claim, when an application is already verified by the Gram Sabha and submitted at block office," Bansi Solanki, the convener of the Eklavya organisation, told IANS. The protesters also demanded their rights under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MNREGA) and Food Security Act (FSA). "The tribals are being denied their rights under MNREGA and FSA also in tribal regions for years. We have been demanding our rights for several years but to no avail. We are giving Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani a last chance and hope he takes action. Otherwise, we will show our strength in the forthcoming general elections," Paulomee Mistry, general secretary of Eklayva Sangathan asserted. --IANS desai/vin (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The global wholesales of the Tata Motors Group including Jaguar Land Rover declined 12 per cent in January 2019, on a year-on-year basis, the company said on Tuesday. The group sold 1,00,572 units of vehicles last month, Tata Motors said in a statement. Global wholesales of all Tata Motors' commercial vehicles and Tata Daewoo range in January 2019 were at 40,886 numbers, lower 9 per cent over the corresponding month last year, it said. "Global wholesales of all passenger vehicles in January 2019 were at 59,686 numbers, lower 15%, compared to January 2018," the statement said. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) recorded global wholesales of 41,676 units, which included 12,904 Jaguar vehicles and 28,772 Land Rovers. The JLR numbers for January 2019 includes CJLR volumes of 2,712 units. CJLR is a joint venture between JLR and Chery Automobiles and is an unconsolidated subsidiary for JLR. --IANS rrb/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The veteran of the Afghan War, Commander of the 177th Special Forces Squadron, retired colonel Boris Kerimbayev passed away in Almaty today, according to the press service of the Kazakh Defense Ministry. Boris Kerimbayev was born on January 12, 1948 in Almaty region. In 1973 he was appointed a commander of a reconnaissance troop. In 1975, he was sent to the Red Banner Central Asian Military Unit as a reconnaissance troop commander. In 1977, he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff and later as a commander of a motorized rifle battalion at the military unit No.52857 in Temirtau. In January 1981, Boris Kerimbayev was appointed a commander of the 177th special forces squadron established on the ground of the 22nd separate special mission brigade. Kerimbayev got his Kara Major nickname in Afghanistan when he was a commander of the Muslim Battalion, Kazinform reported. The Lok Sabha was adjourned for 15 minutes on Tuesday, after the Congress disrupted the session over its demands for a JPC on the Rafale jet deal, prompting Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to slam them for "dropping their levels to a new low". Within half an hour after the House met on the day, the Congress members trooped to the Speaker's podium demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the defence deal. Mahajan requested them to maintain decorum as she wanted to get on with the Question Hour. When they did not relent, Mahajan made a clean brest with: "You are not being a responsible Opposition. Have you forgotten your own days in power?" "This House is for debate and discussion and what you are doing is actually misusing the opportunity given to the members... This is a new low even for you," Mahajan said adjourning the House till 11.45 a.m. --IANS rak-in/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A soldier and a militant were killed in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Monday, the Army said, denying earlier reports that two soldiers died. Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said the operation against the militants in Ratnipora village had ended. "One terrorist has been killed and one soldier has been martyred in this operation," he said, adding that a weapon was recovered from the slain terrorist. Earlier reports quoting police sources said two soldiers were killed in the gunfight and that one was injured. The injured soldiers were taken to the Army's 92 Base Hospital in Badamibagh cantonment area of Srinagar. The slain militant, identified as Hilal Ahmad Rather, was a local Kashmiri working for the Hizbul Mujahideen outfit. Police sources said Hilal Ahmed Rather joined the Hizbul as an active militant after he was spotted in a CCTV footage helping the escape of Naveed Jatt, a Pakistan militant of LeT, from Srinagar's S.M.H.S. hospital on February 6, 2018. Naveed Jatt, believed to be responsible for the murder of senior Kashmiri journalist Shujaat Bukhari, was killed by security forces in Badgam district on November 8. The fighting in Ratnipora village began on Tuesday when a group of militants fired at the security forces. "In the initial firing exchanges, three soldiers were injured. They were immediately shifted to Army hospital," the officer said. As news about the fighting spread, youths in the area clashed with the security forces in a bid to disrupt the operation. Mobile Internet services in the district were suspended. Rail services between Bannihal town of Jammu region and the Kashmir Valley were also suspended for the day. --IANS sq/mr (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A short film, "Kaun Saab", backed by a former commando of the National Security Guard (NSG), raises a question on how dreadful criminals and terrorists are given VIP treatment in jail. Lucky Bisht, the ex-commando, has produced the short film along with Kashwi Productions. A satire, the film brings several challenges being combated by police personnel and highlights their plight. Explaining the film's title, Bisht told IANS: "The film features a back-to-back fleet of cars running on roads which stuns people around. Out of inquisitiveness, they ask if any VIP is coming in their city. They exchange their query saying 'Kaun saab' (Who is it?) and get to know that it is a terrorist who is going to jail, escorted by a huge police convoy. Hence, the name 'Kaun Saab'." The film is an attempt to draw the government's attention towards challenges being faced by police personnel in police stations as a big amount is being spent on insignificant things but basic facilities have still a long way to go, added Bisht. The story deals with the problems of governance and lack of modern infrastructure at police stations, among many issues. "We stand dedicated for a cause and hence we are trying to bring a difference to the short film industry by bringing up this burning issue," he added. "Kaun Saab" is directed by Mukul Sharma, who has earlier written and acted in a short film "Soul in Sole". According to Sharma, directing a short film comes with several challenges and a lot of preparation. "It requires hard work, dedication and a whole set of skilled crew members to get the right mood and the perfect casting," he said, adding that the result of the effort behind "Kaun Saab" is "humorous and powerful performances from the very talented actors". The film cast includes Sanjay Tripathi, Tarun Kapur and Sahil Patel. Bisht, after serving the Indian Army, aims at producing films with a strong message. He has been working to bring out a biopic on the legendary tale of Gabbar Singh Negi, a World War I hero who sacrificed his life at the age of 19 in 1915. "Negi, a resident of Garhwal (Tehri district), lost his life while fighting in World War I. He stunned Britishers with his act of bravery, valour and fearlessness and hence was awarded the Victoria Cross honour posthumously. It was the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. He was the youngest soldier (19) from Garhwal Rifles to receive this highest British honour," Bisht said. (Archana Sharma can be contacted at archana.s@ians.in) --IANS arc/rb/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman will travel this weekend to Pakistan where he is expected to announce multi-billion dollar investments to help the Kingdom's traditional ally tide over financial crisis amid declining foreign exchange reserves. An official in the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, requesting anonymity, told Efe news on Tuesday that the Crown Prince will arrive in Islamabad on Saturday afternoon, accompanied by a 630-member delegation. He will leave the country on Sunday night. The Prince will meet Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and the two sides will sign economic agreements worth $20 billion, according to the official, who did not elaborate in which sectors or projects the investments will be made. However, Prime Minister's Adviser on Commerce and Investment Razak Dawood told reporters on Monday that the two countries will sign agreements on oil, renewable energy and mining. "It is very likely that an agreement for $3 billion oil facility on deferred payments will also be signed during the visit," Dawood said. Pakistan is facing an economic crisis with a budget deficit that has escalated to 6.6 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, a trade deficit and a shortage of foreign currencies. It is in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a loan of up to $12 billion. In October last year, Saudi Arabia promised to give Pakistan a $3 billion loan for a year as well as oil on deferred payment. The United Arab Emirates also announced in December that it would deposit $3 billion in Pakistan's central bank. Mohammad Bin Salman also known as MBS comes to Pakistan as his global image has taken a hit after the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Istanbul. The journalist visited the consulate to collect some documents needed to marry his girlfriend. Turkish authorities alleged that a team of 15 Saudi agents, who travelled to Istanbul, strangled the journalist and dismembered his body before boarding a flight back to Riyadh. After initially refuting the accusations, Saudi Arabia admitted that Khashoggi was killed at its Embassy but continues to deny the involvement of the royal family. Several people linked to the case have been arrested. However, none of this seems to weigh on the Crown Prince's upcoming visit to Pakistan, whose Foreign Ministry appreciated the commitment of the Saudi government to initiate indictment proceedings against those responsible for Khashoggi's murder. --IANS soni/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Even as the Supreme Court is looking into numerous review petitions on its September 28 verdict on entry of women into Sabarimala temple, the temple opened amidst tight security at 5 p.m on Tuesday for the five-day-long Kumba pooja functions. Speaking to the media, the chief priest of the Sabarimala temple, V.N. Vasudevan Nampoothiri, said that all of them expected the apex court to come out with a verdict before the temple opens on Tuesday. The apex court, which heard the review petitions on February 6 and gave time till Wednesday to those who need to give in writing if there are any more issues that should be brought before the court, before it gives its ruling. The temple town has witnessed protests by Hindu groups since September 28 when the Supreme Court delivered the verdict allowing women of all ages to enter the temple, including those from the hitherto banned age group of 10 to 50 years. Incidentally, this is first time since the verdict came that prohibitory orders have not been clamped. But the administration is leaving nothing to chance and has posted close to 2,500 police officials at various places in and around the temple town. Had it not been for the verdict, during the monthly opening of the temple, there would have been only around 50 police personnel. However, the Sabarimala Karma Samithi activists, who have been in protest mode since the verdict, chased away a large number of women who tried to pray at the temple and vowed that they would not allow temple traditions to be broken. State Devasom Minister Kadakampally Surendran informed the Kerala Assembly last week that so far only two women in the hitherto banned age group have offerd prayed at the temple. However, speculations are there that quite a few "women" will arrive to pray at the temple before it closes for the month on February 17 at 10 p.m. --IANS sg/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A new Pentagon report has warned that China and Russia were both developing space capabilities to threaten the US, including lasers that could target and destroy American satellites. "China and Russia, in particular, are developing a variety of means to exploit perceived US reliance on space-based systems and challenge the US position in space," the Defence Intelligence Agency report said on Monday. The report titled, "Challenges to Security in Space", examines Russian, Chinese, Iranian and North Korean space capabilities, CNN reported. US satellites play a critical role in everything from navigation, weapons targeting and intelligence gathering, including keeping tabs on North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and monitoring Russian and Chinese military activity. They also house sensors involved in detecting enemy missile launches. The report has detailed a variety of Russian and Chinese anti-satellite weapons, including electronic warfare systems, directed-energy weapons and "kinetic" anti-satellite missiles. It said both Beijing and Moscow were "likely" pursuing "laser weapons to disrupt, degrade, or damage satellites and their sensors". "China likely will field a ground-based laser weapon that can counter low-orbit space-based sensors by 2020, and by the mid-to-late 2020s, it may field higher power systems that extend the threat to the structures of non-optical satellites," the report said. President Donald Trump's administration is actively considering placing advanced sensors in space as part of its recent Missile Defence Review, which was unveiled last month. The report warned that China also has an operational missile capable of hitting satellites in low-Earth orbit while Russia is in the process of developing one. --IANS ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Robert Vadra, husband of Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and his mother Maureen Vadra on Tuesday arrived at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office here for questioning in connection with a money laundering case involving a Bikaner land deal in Rajasthan. Vadra was accompanied by his wife Priyanka Gandhi, who was recently appointed as Congress' in-charge for eastern Uttar Pradesh. They reached the ED office here around 10.40 a.m. The 47-year-old sister of Congress President Rahul Gandhi left the premises after dropping Vadra and his mother. She had flown in to Rajasthan after a hectic roadshow in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow late on Monday. According to Congress sources, Priyanka Gandhi left for Lucknow again, as there were meetings lined up at the party office for her. Robert Vadra had reached the Rajasthan capital on Monday afternoon along with his mother. As soon as the Vadra family reached the ED office, a few Congress workers standing outside started raising slogans 'Chowkidaar chor hai'. The questioning of Vadra in the Bikaner land deal case comes after the Rajasthan High Court directed the mother and son to appear before the ED officials in connection with the case on January 21. Vadra and his mother are partners in the Skylight Hospitality LLP, the company probed by the ED in a money laundering case registered in 2015. The case was filed by the Rajasthan government on complaints made by the Bikaner tehsil office about alleged forgery in the land allotment. The alleged scam relates to 275 acres of land in the Kolayat sub-division. Vadra and his mother's statements shall be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). This is for the first time that the two were being questioned by the ED officials in the Bikaner land deal case. Earlier, Vadra was questioned for over 24 hours in a separate money laundering case on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday in Delhi. --IANS aks-arc/in/ab (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In what could spell more trouble for the Shiromani Akali Dal, Punjab Governor V.P. Singh Badnore on Tuesday declared the government's "commitment to pursue and take to their logical conclusion" investigations into the sacrilege cases and the false cases registered during the previous regime. "The government is committed to pursuing the recommendations of the commission, headed by Justice Ranjit Singh, which probed cases of sacrilege in 2015-16, and these will be taken to their logical conclusion, allowing the law to take its full course," the Governor said in his address to the budget session of the Punjab Assembly here. While claiming that the Amarinder Singh government is maintaining its policy of zero political vendetta or intolerance against anyone, irrespective of political affiliations or ideologies, the Governor asserted that action against those who registered false cases during the previous regime was on as per the recommendations of the Justice Mehtab Singh Gill-headed probe panel. "The government believed in fair and equitable treatment to all and has ensured that no false cases were registered against anyone," he said. The government had set up an SIT, as recommended by the House, which is expected to complete its task soon, the governor said. Citing the success of the Punjab government in neutralising groups of gangsters in the state, Badnore said 1,414 gangsters/members of various criminal groups had been arrested or neutralised. It included 10 category-A gangsters, he added. The Governor said 19 terrorist modules had been busted and 101 terrorists and 22 foreign handlers arrested. The Nirankari Bhawan attack accused were also being brought to book, he added. --IANS js/rs/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actress Priyanka Chopra has praised actress Rebel Wilson and said that it is amazing to see a woman in Hollywood, star in a movie of her dreams. Priyanka on Tuesday took to Twitter where she shared a photograph of herself along with the cast of "Isn't It Romantic" and her husband Nick Jonas. "Happiness and love all around. So proud of you Rebel Wilson. It's so amazing to see a woman in Hollywood literally make and star in a movie of her dreams. 'Isn't It Romantic'," she captioned the image. "Isn't It Romantic" tells the story of a New York architect Natalie (Wilson) who works hard to get noticed at her job, but is more likely to be asked to deliver coffee and bagels than to design. Priyanka essays the role of a yoga ambassador. "Isn't It Romantic" will release on all Netflix territories outside of the US and Canada -- where it will open in theatres. The romantic-comedy, also featuring Wilson, Liam Hemsworth and Adam Devine, will premiere on February 28 in India. --IANS dc/nn/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Minister for Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu opened extended runways at Vijayawada and Rajahmundry airports and laid foundation stone for linear expansion of Visakhapatnam airport terminal building on Tuesday. The minister inaugurated these projects from New Delhi through video conferencing. The runaway at Vijayawada airport was extended from 2,286 meters to 3,360 meters, which will allow wide-bodied aircraft to land. Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman Guruprasad Mahapatra said the project cost Rs 145 crore. The runway at Rajahmundry airport was extended from 1,750 meters to 3,165 meters at a cost of Rs 182 crore, he said. The terminal area at Visakhapatnam airport will be increased from 19,800 square meters to 29,050 square meters. With this, the terminal's peak-hour handling capacity will go up from 700 to 1,050 passengers. On completion of the project, the airport will be able to handle four million passengers per annum. Speaking on the occasion Prabhu said: "The country has 103 airports and another 100 airports may be added in the next 10-15 years with an estimated investment of $65 billion." Stating that volume of air passengers had doubled in the last four-and-half years, the minister said expansion of cargo handling facilities would attract more investment in the sector. The air cargo policy, unveiled on January 15, would further boost the aviation sector, he added. Prabhu said a meeting with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) was held on Tuesday to create integrated logistics for the country. Over 100 top global players attended the meeting. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said the number of airports that has increased from 75 to 103, in few years would soon cross 150, including airstrips. Former Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, K. Haribabu, Murali Mohan and Gokaraju Gangaraju (all MPs) were also present. --IANS ms/rs/pcj (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A statement issued by the spokesman of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Hami Aksoy, on late Feb. 9, that accused China of imposing torture and political brainwashing in internment camps and prisons on Uighur Turks was a surprise to many, even to members of the Uighur diaspora. Hurriyet Daily News reports in its article Turkey hits China hard over Uighur. Why now? that a Uighur academic and activist, Tahir Imin, speaking to the New York Times, expressed his satisfaction with the Turkish reaction against China, saying Many of us have criticized the Turkish government for its stance on the subject, but today many Uighurs expressed their happiness and joy thanks to the Turkish authorities. He also expressed his hope that the Turkish government can lead the way for the other Muslim nations to bring some more pressure on the Chinese government. There is a reason why the Turkish governments move against China has been interpreted as a surprising development. The well-being and comfort of the Uighur Turks in China have always been a concern to Turkey and the Turkish public opinion due to strong ethnic and religious bonds. Turkey has never hesitated to confront China at times when Beijing imposed new restrictions and regulations on Uighur Turks. The governments moves have always been accompanied by a mass street protest against the Chinese administration. However, for a while, the Turkish side was keeping quiet on the same matter even after China started to implement the Sinification of All Religions and Beliefs policy in 2017. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, which has been aiming to further improve economic and trade ties with China, has been deliberately low-profile on the developments. Turkish diplomats, who have been attending UN-led meetings on Uighur Turks, were preferring a rather softer language on China. It was the ruling AKP which had rejected a parliamentary motion tabled by the Good Party in late 2018 in a bid to investigate the recent human rights violations by the Chines government on the Uighur Turks. This stance of the government has kicked off reactions both in the international arena and inside Turkey. The ultra-nationalist Great Union Party (BBP), the nationalist Good Party and other minor parties were bashing the AKP for not raising its voice on the ongoing oppression of the Uighur Turks. The BBP held a massive protest on Uighur Turks on Jan. 24 calling the government to act on the state of their kin in eastern Turkistan. Scores of similar protests and meetings have long been taking place in different corners of the Anatolia in recent months, increasing the pressure on the AKP. The AKP, with a strong political Muslim identity, has always been very vocal and active to protect the rights and the lives of Muslims under oppression in practicing their religions and other freedoms. So, its silence on recent developments has been regarded as inconsistency and its soft spot, which was leaving the AKP officials uncomfortable and troubled when this issue was raised. Another reason, perhaps, was about the passing away of the distinguished folk poet Abdurehim Heyit, in his second year of imprisonment in China, a tragedy that was regarded as final straw by Ankara which prompted this statement. Although, of course, that would be too unfair to suggest that this strong-worded action against China has merely domestic political drives, its hard to speculate about other reasons. The move comes as Turkey is trying to develop ties with China almost on every field and as President Erdogan has invited President Xi Jinping for an official trip to Turkey in 2019. Plus, as recalled by the NYT, Turkish criticism comes after receiving a $3.6 billion loan for Turkeys energy and transportation sector from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, a state-owned bank. At a time when Turkey is developing new alliances in the East, along with Russia and other major partners, this spat with China contradicts with this vision. Whatever the reason behind this move is, Turkeys statement should be seen as a new position on China adopted by the AKP government The fact that the statement by the Turkish spokesman is unprecedentedly very strong as it describes the policy of systematic assimilation against Uighur Turks as a great shame for humanity will sure have consequences on Ankara-Beijing ties. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on the second day of her Uttar Pradesh visit met party workers from various constituencies falling under eastern UP and took feedback from them about the ground situation, a senior party leader said on Tuesday. Having cut short her visit on Monday soon after the road show, to fly to Jaipur to be with her husband Robert Vadra, being questioned about a land deal by the Enforcement Directorate, Priyanka arrived in the state capital shortly after noon and drove straight to the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) office, where she had lunch with select party leaders and met party workers. Sources say Priyanka Gandhi was closeted with a small team of UPCC office during her stay in Lucknow after which she met party leaders from various districts. Aware that the party's organisational structure was weak and not geared to take on the BJP cadre, she is learnt to be focussed on the "goodwill" that the grand old party still enjoys in many pockets. "To start with she met many party workers who have been slogging it on the ground in very tough and challenging conditions over the past three decades," a senior party leader told IANS, adding the morale of party workers was very high and that they hoped they would be battle-ready very soon. On Monday, she had, along with brother and Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia, led a successful road show in the state capital. --IANS md/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid raging controversy over India waiving off clauses pertaining to anti-corruption penalties and sovereign guarantee in the Rafale deal, a top Indian Air Force official on Tuesday said that no integrity pact or sovereign guarantee was given by Russia in the Rs 40,000-crore S-400 missile system deal. "There is no sovereign guarantee or integrity pact signed with Russia in the S-400 deal," Air Marshal V.R. Chaudhary, Deputy Chief of Air Staff, said in response to a media query. India signed the S-400 air defence system deal with Russia in October last year despite threats of sanctions from the US under the CAATSA (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act). Vice Chief Air Marshal Anil Khosla added that while with countries like Russia and the US, the processes have been streamlined after long years of dealings, with others the same is "evolving". "We have had a lot of acquisitions from Russia and the US earlier. The process of the government-to-government agreement with Russia and the US are already streamlined," Khosla said. Some senior officials, who wished not to be named, also said that such clauses have not been there in any inter-governmental agreements (IGA) with Russia or the US in the last few decades. The controversy erupted after The Hindu reported on Monday that "major and unprecedented concessions" were conceded by the Narendra Modi government in the with critical provisions for anti-corruption penalties and making payments through an escrow account dropped. Reports also said that the government also chose to do away with a sovereign or bank guarantee from France and settled for a letter of comfort, which is not legally binding. The Congress has been attacking the Modi government asking why it did not insist for a sovereign guarantee from the French government in the Rafale deal, given that Dassault Aviation is a private company. After 22 years of one of the deadliest fires in the capital, the authorities have still not learnt their lesson and have shown to be committing same mistakes which had then led to choking death of 59 people at the Uphaar cinema hall in the posh south Delhi area, say survivors of that tragedy. It was on Friday 13, 1997, when a short-circuit led to a massive fire inside the upmarket south Delhi cinema hall, which was showing blockbuster "Border" to a house packed to its capacity. People, who for a second thought smoke to be part of some special effect, soon realised it wasn't so and ran for their lives. Exit gates locked from outside, a mad scramble, and noxious smoke led to asphyxiation of 59 people and injured over 100 in a disaster which shook not just the city but the entire country. "We have not learnt anything from our past mistakes. And this is after 22 years of Uphaar. This is same, now the blame game begins -- MCD blames the DFS (Delhi Fire Service), DFS blames the DJB... Even in this case, the exits were not functional. Didn't the DFS see that the exists were not there and there was wooden panelling all across hotel which aggravated the fire?," Neelam Krishnamoorthy, one of the litigants who lost a son and a daughter in the Uphaar tragedy told IANS. "What we need is a nodal agency which has people from all other agencies and acts as a sole body answerable for any such mishaps. The problem is that there is no deterrence among people. Look what happened in Uphaar case, even when the conviction came, the culprits got away by building a trauma centre in way of compensation," she added. Gopal and Sushil Ansal, owners of the cinema hall, were found guilty by the Supreme Court and were asked to pay Rs 30 crore each. Both brothers were found guilty of "death by negligence" and awarded one year's sentence each, however Sushil Ansal's sentence was partially suspended considering his old age (79). Navin Sahni, who lost his only daughter Tariqa in the tragedy, concurred with Krishnamoorthy and slammed the "chalta hai" attitude, which he said is ingrained in the Indian system. "This is same thing all over again. There is not an act in our system which has some stringent punishment for any man-made tragedy. There should be a much heavier pay-off for such incidents. Otherwise the businessmen, the industrialists will keep getting away from law's reach like the Ansals did," Sahni said. Both survivors say that the Karol Bagh hotel fire - in which 17 people were killed -- were reminiscent of the Uphaar and the authorities have not changed in terms of enforcement of laws. The Tuesday's blaze, erupting at the Arpit Palace hotel, was one of the deadliest since Uphaar in terms of body-count. -- IANS vn/nir/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India, which saw a tremendous growth in the startup space in the last couple of years, is now witnessing a growth in the business-to-business (B2B) tech startups coming up with innovative ideas to deal with local problems, says a top Microsoft executive. "The Indian startup ecosystem is on a growth trajectory, riding on an innovative fleet of young entrepreneurs who are building products that can help solve real-life issues," said Annie Parker, Global Head of Microsoft for Startups, here. The Australian startups pioneer who joined Microsoft last year to help scale the company's startup dreams is bullish on India when it comes to innovation in the B2B space led by incredible engineers and technologists. "We have seen the rise in B2C startups in India and now is the time for more B2B tech solutions with country-specific problem in focus. The local startup community in India is thriving," Parker told IANS on the sidelines of the Microsoft 'Imagine Cup' Asia Regional Finals 2019. When it comes to finding right a mix of talent for B2B startups, Parker said India has no dearth at all. "You can't really walk in Bengaluru without bumping into a software engineer," chuckled Parker, adding that there were tremendous growth opportunities in the country. Regarding Microsoft's startup programme, she said the company can help B2B startups in two key ways. "The first way we can help is by providing technical support as we have extraordinary engineers all over the world who are leaders in the field. "The second way we can help is within Microsoft 'ScaleUp' and the startup team more broadly," she informed. The Microsoft ScaleUp programme (previously known as Microsoft Accelerator) is designed for Series A startups and offers access to sales, marketing and technical support. It helps enterprise-ready companies gain access to top Microsoft partners and customers, make valuable business connections, and access a strong network of technical knowledge. Microsoft last month announced its corporate venture fund M12 will invest in Indian startups with a funding size of $2 million to $10 million. Rashmi Gopinath, partner at M12, is leading the fund's investment portfolio in the country. M12 also announced its first India investment in the healthcare SaaS (software-as-a-service) startup called "Innovaccer". According to reports, venture capital investments in Indian tech B2B startups have been trending upwards, with over $3.09 billion raised in equity funding across 415 deals in 2018 -- 28 per cent more than $2.41 billion in 2017. Parker said that eligible startups partake in the immersive programme at Microsoft's eight global locations (including Bengaluru), followed by structured help from a dedicated team of success managers. "We nurture B2B startups for their customers. Our focus is to support late-stage startups and help them with right set of technical and go-to-market approach so that these can flourish further," said Parker, adding that creating the start-ups of tomorrow will finally lead to having innovative future partners for Microsoft. (Nishant Arora can be reached at nishant.a@ians.in) --IANS na/ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday laid the foundation stones of various projects in the health and sectors in Haryana. The Prime Minister laid the foundation stones of the National Institute of Ayurveda, Panchkula, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya University of Health Sciences, Karnal, Shri Krishna Ayush University, Kurukshetra, and 'Battles of Panipat' Museum, Panipat. He also inaugurated the National Cancer Institute in Jhajjar district and the ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad. Modi arrived here on Tuesday to launch the Swachh Shakti-2019 programme from the Mela Ground of Brahma Sarovar, Kurukshetra, around 100 km from Chandigarh. The Shri Krishna Ayush University, the first of its kind in the world, will provide the facility of and treatment through Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathic medical systems. It would be constructed on about 94.5 acres of land at an estimated cost of about Rs 475 crore. The National Cancer Institute, which has been constructed in Badhsa in Jhajjar district at a cost of about Rs 2,035 crore, has 710 beds. It will provide treatment of all stages of cancer. Apart from doctor rooms, about 800 rooms have been constructed for the attendants of patients in the institute. The National Institute of Ayurveda will provide medical facilities in the field of Ayurveda. It would be constructed on 19.87 acres of land with funding from the Central government. About Rs 270.50 crore would be spent on its construction. --IANS js/mag/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Reiterating the People's Party's stand on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, Chief Minister on Tuesday said the NPP will severe ties with the Democratic Alliance (NDA), if the government tabled the Bill in the Rajya Sabha. "We have to reconsider our ties with the NDA, if the Bill is passed in the Rajya Sabha. We are still hopeful and are talking to various parties that this kind of situation should not happen," Sangma told journalists after a meeting with the North East Students' Organisation (NESO) delegation. Home Minister was to present the Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. However, the Deputy Chairman adjourned the House till 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday following uproar by Samajwadi Party (SP) members. SP members disrupted the proceeding after party chief was allegedly stopped by the police from boarding a special flight at Lucknow airport on way to Allahabad to attend a function. "We are getting support from different corners and are hopeful that will be able to stop the Bill from being passed in the Rajya Sabha," Sangma said. Sangma said: "They (the BJP) also understand our sentiments... We have been clear and have decided that if such situation arises, we will take a political decision at an appropriate time." "There is no politics in this. We all are here as residents of north-east. We have come together because it is an issue that affects us. I am hopeful that political parties across the country will realise that this is not an issue of just the northeast but of the whole country," he said. Meanwhile, NESO Chairman Samuel Jyrwa has appealed to political parties to stall the Bill from being passed. "We have met several leaders from different political parties and requested them not to vote for the Bill as it goes against the indigenous people's interest in the northeastern states and India as a whole," Jyrwa told IANS. He said students belonging to indigenous groups have been opposing the Bill from the day one. The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8. It seeks to remove hurdles for eligible migrants from six minority groups from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan in getting citizenship of India. At least 70 people, mostly children under four years of age, have been confirmed dead due to measles outbreak in the Philippines and the authorities are blaming vaccine hesitancy for the health crisis. The deaths occurred since the beginning of the year but the Health Department in a statement on Monday said the outbreak intensified last week and over 4,300 people were taken ill with symptoms of measles - a very contagious disease transmitted through air, Efe news reported. The authorities put five regions on alert, although the highest number of affected people were reported from Manila and its suburbs. An intensive vaccination programme was launched for children in the National Capital Region to prevent further proliferation of the disease which infects respiratory system of its victim and can result in severe diarrhoea, pneumonia, blindness and even death. "Regions with high reported cases are NCR (1,296 cases and 18 deaths) Calabarzon (1,086 cases and 25 deaths), Central Luzon (481 cases with 3 deaths), Western Visayas (212 cases and 4 deaths) and Northern Mindanao (189 cases and 2 deaths)," the Health Department said. The outbreak of the disease was being attributed to the lack of vaccination among children in recent years. Around 2.5 million Filipino children under the age of five didn't receive the necessary immunization shots. Many Philippine parents refused to vaccinate their children due to the scandal surrounding Dangvaxia, an anti-dengue vaccine which was used in the country between 2014 and 2017, until its manufacturer, the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur, admitted that it carried adverse effects and the vaccinated people who contracted dengue for the first time suffered more severe effects. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III appealed to the public to repose their trust and confidence in immunization programmes. --IANS soni/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Centre on Tuesday said a proposal of the Gujarat government to deploy four Marine Indian Reserve Battalions is under consideration to protect the 1,640 km of coastal areas of the state bordering Pakistan. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of States for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said the Gujarat government had submitted the proposal. His response came to a question raised by Devusinh Jesingbhai Chauhan, a Bharatiya Janata Party member from Gujarat's Kheda constituency. --IANS rak/pg/mr (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 Tuesday condemned the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh for preventing Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav from taking a flight to attend an event in Allahabad University. "I've already spoken to yadavakhilesh. We all condemn the arrogant attitude of the so-called BJP 'leaders' who didn't allow Akhilesh to address the students," Banerjee tweeted. She said Gujarat Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani was also not allowed, questioning the sense of democracy in the country. "Even @jigneshmevani80 was not allowed. Where is the democracy in our country? And they are giving lessons to everybody!" Yadav wanted to take a private plane here, but was told by a senior district official that he did not have the permission to do so. A fuming Yadav, a former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, who returned home after arguing with the airport officials for about two hours, said the state government was so scared of him that they stopped him from going to Allahabad University. --IANS mgr/ssp/pgh/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) and the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) were involved in the November 2018 grenade attack at a weekly congregation of the Nirankari sect in Punjab's Amritsar district, Parliament was told on Tuesday Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir told the Lok Sabha, in a written reply, that the Punjab Police has arrested two persons in the case so far and filed a case against three other persons residing abroad. "Open dated warrants of arrest have been procured in their cases," Ahir told Communist Party of India-Marxist's Anirudhan Sampath. Two masked men came on a motorcycle to the Nirankari congregation at Adliwal village on the outskirts of Amritsar on November 18, 2018. Forcing their way in by brandishing a pistol, they lobbed a grenade into the prayer hall killing three people and injuring 20. Ahir also said that in order to avert terror incidents in the country, there was a close and effective coordination mechanism between intelligence and security agencies at the Centre and the state level. "A Multi Agency Centre has been strengthened and re-organised to enable it to function on a 24x7 basis for real time collation and sharing of intelligence with other intelligence agencies and state governments." With a view to enhance the capacity of state forces, the Central agencies have been conducting training programmes for the states' forces to collect, collate, analyse and disseminate intelligence from a counter-terrorism perspective and investigate terror cases, Ahir added. --IANS rak/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) One of the promising hotspots for oil and gas exploration drilling this yearSouth Africas offshorehas just yielded a massive natural gas and condensate find that could open a new exploration province for oil majors and change the energy fortunes of South Africa. Oil Price reports in its article South Africa Oil Discovery Could Be A Game-Changer that Frances major Total said this week that it had made a significant discovery on the Brulpadda prospects off the southern coast of South Africa. With this discovery, Total has opened a new world-class gas and oil play and is well positioned to test several follow-on prospects on the same block, said Kevin McLachlan, Senior Vice President Exploration at Total. According to Totals chief executive Patrick Pouyanne, the discovery could hold 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent of gas and condensate resources. The operator of the license, Total, and its partners Qatar Petroleum, CNR International, and South African consortium Main Street, now plan to acquire 3D seismic data this year, followed by up to four exploration wells on the license. It is exciting for our country that this discovery has been made. It is potentially a major boost for the economy, and we welcome it as we continue to seek investment to grow our economy, South Africas Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe said, commenting on the major gas discovery. The African Energy Chamber (AEC) also hailed the first major deepwater discovery off South Africa, saying, This is a great first step for the country which still relies on imports of oil and gas despite the great reserves believed to be in its soil and waters. According to AEC, the discovery could change the course of South Africas economy and help to reduce the countrys dependence on oil and natural gas imports. While South Africa is currently drafting new legislation on oil and gas resource development, the offshore regions around the whole African continent has recently seen growing interest from oil and gas majors willing to explore what they believe is the next exploration hotspot in the world. BP and Shell are expanding their African presence, while ExxonMobil is focusing on western and southern Africa, amassing stakes in prospects in Ghana, Mauritania, Namibia, and South Africa, hoping to strike a discovery containing no less than a billion barrels of crude, also known as an elephant. South Africa was one of the hotspots of promising exploration drilling that WoodMac had identified for this year, alongside Guyana, Brazil, Mexico, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Cyprus, and the Barents Sea in Norway. Totals major deepwater discovery offshore South Africa is now opening a potential new wave of majors drilling in the area, hoping to find the next billion-barrel discovery. US Senator Kamala Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican descent, has directly confronted critics who questioned her black heritage, her record of incarcerating minorities as a prosecutor and her decision to marry a white man. In an interview on Monday with New York-based The Breakfast Club radio, the show's hosts asked the California Democrat to address a series of derogatory memes that have circulated on social media, CNN reported. One of the hosts cited a meme that said Harris is "not African-American" because her parents were immigrants born in India and Jamaica and she spent her high school years in Canada. "So I was born in Oakland, and raised in the US except for the years that I was in high school in Montreal, Canada," Harris responded. "And look, this is the same thing they did to Barack (Obama). This is not new to us and so I think that we know what they are trying to do. "They are trying to do what has been happening over the last two years, which is powerful voices trying to sow hate and division, and so we need to recognise when we're being played," Harris said. One of the hosts followed up by asking Harris how she responds to people who question "the legitimacy of your blackness". "I think they don't understand who black people are," Harris replied. "I'm not going to spend my time trying to educate people about who black people are... I'm black, and I'm proud of being black... I was born black. I will die black, and I'm not going to make excuses for anybody because they don't understand." Harris became the first Indian American and the second black woman to serve in the US Senate when she took office in 2017. Harris, a former California state attorney general, also said that she makes no apologies for pursuing violent criminals to keep communities safe, but added that she wished she could have done more to affect change. Harris said the criminal justice system is deeply flawed but makes no apologies for pursuing violent criminals. The Senator was also asked about criticism she has faced on social media for marrying a white man, CNN said. "Look, I love my husband, and he happened to be the one that I chose to marry, because I love him - and that was that moment in time, and that's it," Harris said. "And he loves me." Last month, Harris officially kicked off her 2020 presidential campaign from her hometown Oakland. She is part of a rapidly expanding Democratic White House field that includes Senators Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand and Amy Klobuchar. Also expected to join the race is Vermont Senator and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. --IANS ksk/ab (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Reliance Jio topped in terms of 4G availability among the telecom service providers with 98.8 per cent availability during the second half of 2018, an Ookla report said on Tuesday. Jio was followed by Airtel with 90 per cent availability, said the report titled, "Analyzing India's 4G Availability: Including a Look at the 15 Largest Cities". "At country-level, Jio shows an impressive 98.8 per cent 4G availability. That means that a Jio customer has access to LTE service at 98.8 per cent of surveyed locations. Airtel is second at 90.0 per cent, followed by Vodafone (84.6 per cent) and Idea (82.8 per cent)," it said. Vodafone and Idea merged last August, but the brands continue to operate independently. "If that (Vodafone Idea operations) were to change, we'd expect to see better general availability for all customers as the two brands' coverage areas are complementary," the report noted. In terms of speed, Airtel turned out to be the fastest mobile operator in India during the period under review, regardless of whether a customer was on LTE or not, said the Ookla report. The ranking of the other operators does not change based on LTE use with Vodafone taking second fastest, Jio third and Idea fourth. Airtel's speed score for 4G LTE was 11.23, that of Vodafone was 9.13, as per the report. Jio registered a score of 7.11, while that of Idea was 7.02. "Until 5G is rolled out, LTE is the fastest connection type available to consumers. India shows us, however, that 4G availability does not automatically equate to fastest service. To compare which of India's largest mobile operators is fastest, we have used Speed Score, a combined measure of download and upload speed that incorporates several tiers of performance," the report added. --IANS rrb/ksk/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An officer from the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), who hailed from Panchkula town in Haryana, Suresh Kumar, was among the 17 people who died in the fire that engulfed a five-storey hotel in Delhi's Karol Bagh area before dawn on Tuesday. Kumar, aged around 45 years, is survived by his wife Monika and a college-going son who is studies in Bengaluru, his neighbours in Sector 21 of Panchkula town, adjoining Chandigarh, said. Kumar was posted as Assistant Commissioner in the GST (Goods and Services Tax) wing of the Revenue Department in Delhi. The police said in Delhi that Kumar was one of the persons who jumped from the five-storey hotel building in Delhi's Karol Bagh area to escape the fire but succumbed to injuries sustained from the fall. Kumar, who sustained head injuries following the jump from the fourth floor of the building, was rushed to a nearby hospital in Delhi where he died. "Kumar's wife is in a state of shock. His son was flying from Bengaluru to New Delhi to collect the body and bring it to Panchkula for the last rites," a neighbour said. "He (Kumar) was posted in Delhi for the last nearly three years. He used to come to Panchkula on Friday evening and leave on Monday. We saw him last on Sunday," a neighbour said. At least 17 people were killed when a major fire engulfed a five-storey hotel in the heart of the national capital before dawn on Tuesday, leaving some survivors in critical condition and others dazed and shaken. The dead included at least two women and a child who could not escape the leaping flames and thick smoke in Hotel Arpit Palace in the commercial-cum-residential district of Karol Bagh. Three persons jumped from the blazing structure before two dozen fire tenders joined the battle against the flames. --IANS js/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India on Tuesday signed an agreement with US-based defence firm Sig Sauer for procuring 72,400 assault rifles, at a total cost of Rs 647 crore, through the fast track mode. The 7.62x51 mm Sig Sauer rifles would replace the 5.56x45 mm Insas rifles being used by the Indian defence forces. The time frame for the supply of the whole consignment is 12 months from the signing of contract, officials said. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), headed by the Defence Minister, had accorded the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for the rifles on January 16 last year. Looking for a rifle that would be "compact, robust, modern in technology and simple to maintain in field conditions", the Army had rejected the assault rifle made by the state-run Ishapore Rifle Factory after they badly failed in the firing tests. Of the new rifles, the Army would get the bulk of 66,400, while the Navy will get 2,000 and the Air Force 4,000. --IANS mak/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India on Tuesday signed the much-awaited contract for the purchase of 72,400 new assualt rifles for the armed forces, government sources said. US firm Sig Sauer will supply these 7.62x51 mm guns which are urgently required to replace the INSAS 5.56x45 mm rifles, the mainstay of Indian infantry troops. The purchase is being made under the Fast Track Procurement (FTP) route because of the urgency in getting the guns. Though Indian Army alone requires around 8.16 lakh rifles, only restricted numbers can be procured under FTP. The replacement for INSAS rifles had been pending for many years. INSAS, short form for Indian Small Arms Systems, are produced by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB). There were many complaints about the INSAS rifles by the troops. Out of 72,400 assault rifles, Indian Army will get 66,400 while 2000 will be given to the Navy and another 4,000 are meant for the Indian Air Force. All the rifles are expected to be delivered within a year. The new rifles are said to be compact, robust, modern in technology and simple to maintain in field conditions. --IANS gd/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India has asked the UN to take special measures to protect peacekeepers from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that are a major hazard for the Blue Helmets. "We should have dedicated counter-IED resources for missions facing such threats," India's Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin told the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations on Monday. He also called for "concerted efforts to upgrade the security infrastructure of camps". Two peacekeepers from Sri Lanka were killed by IEDs in Mali last month in the most recent case of attacks using them. The UN Office of Disarmament Affairs had identified IEDs as "the largest single threat" to peacekeepers. It had pointed out that "the contingents of many countries that make up the bulk of UN peacekeeping missions use unarmoured pick-up trucks that are highly vulnerable to IEDs". A UN panel of experts on technology and innovation in peacekeeping had as far back as 2014 recommended a series of anti-IED measures ranging from deploying "mine-protected" vehicles to using drones to survey the routes ahead of peacekeepers' travels. It also recommended using "bolt on" armour for vehicles, ground penetrating radars and hand-held detectors for IEDs. However, the measures have not been fully implemented and fatalities from IEDs continue. Akbaruddin also suggested improving the system used to select the troops for peacekeeping to ensure transparency and maintain the level of skills required for operations. "The basis of selection should include training standards, equipment, and individual and collective skills that would best suit the requirements of specific mission's operational environment. "The mission-specific training, if any, after troops deployment, could focus on coordination and collective training based on specific threats of the mission," he added. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis) --IANS al/ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Authorities imposed an indefinite curfew in Manipur's Imphal West and East districts on Tuesday amid an ongoing strike against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. The orders for the curfew were issued on Monday night by N. Praveen Singh, the Deputy Commissioner of Imphal West, and Chitra Devi, the Deputy Commissioner of Imphal East. Praveen asked local TV channels to refrain from telecasting any report or image which will lead to deterioration of the law and order situation in the state capital. The 36-hour strike was called by activists on Sunday night. Shops, business establishments and offices remained closed. Police teams were moving around the city using loud speakers asking people to remain indoors. --IANS ib/mag/ksk/ab (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Defying curfew, hundreds of women vendors on Tuesday continued their sit-in protest here demanding withdrawal of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016. This forced the authorities to partially block internet service in the state. Besides, a group of young men also protested naked in front of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office near the Manipur University. In a bid to rein in the worsening situation, the District Magistrate of Imphal West ordered to ban circulation of images and reports of the movement via internet. The police had to fire teargas shells and mock bombs to disperse people and prevent them from coming out of their houses to join the sit-in protest. Many of the protesters also burned effigies of the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister, while women took out torchlight marches in various many parts of the state. Meanwhile, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, who is camping in Delhi, appealed to the people to remain calm as everything possible is being done to halt passage of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. --IANS il/rs/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday accused the BJP of playing "dirty politics" in Assam and urged the Union government to ensure the safety of Bengali people in the state. Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs Dinesh Trivedi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that the Bengalis living in the northeastern states are feeling unsafe. "We have seen how Bengalis residing in Assam have been brutally killed in broad daylight. You will appreciate the fact that our delegation had gone and seen first hand how the Bengalis have been murdered there," Trivedi said. "This dirty of the BJP has to stop. You must stop killing Bengalis in Assam," he added. Chowdhury said Bengalis move out of West Bengal in search of livelihood but are not feeling safe in Assam. "They are being killed. The Centre should ask the state to ensure their safety," he said. --IANS bns/pg/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Trinamool Congress and the Congress on Tuesday accused the BJP of playing "dirty politics" in Assam and urged the Union government to ensure the safety of Bengali people in the state. Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, Trinamool Congress (TMC) member Dinesh Trivedi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress said that Bengalis living in the northeastern states were feeling unsafe. "We have seen how Bengalis residing in Assam have been brutally killed in broad daylight. You will appreciate the fact that our delegation had gone and seen first hand how the Bengalis have been murdered there," Trivedi said. "This dirty of the BJP has to stop. You must stop killing Bengalis in Assam. I demand that from you," he added. Chowdhury said Bengalis move out of West Bengal in search of livelihood but were not feeling safe in Assam. "They are being killed. The Centre should ask the state to ensure their safety," he said. --IANS bns/pg/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Dubai woman who fled to Macedonia has made a desperate plea for help after her asylum request was rejected by the Balkan state, the media reported on Tuesday. In a video posted online and obtained by CNN, Hind Mohammad Albolooki, 42, said she fled Dubai after her family threatened her when she sought a divorce from her husband, reports CNN. Her request for asylum in Macedonia was rejected on February 4 by the country's Interior Ministry, saying there "was no evidence of persecution on the grounds of her race, religion, nationality or political affiliation". The Ministry said it had since granted Albolooki a 15-day grace period to voluntarily leave the While awaiting a decision, Albolooki is being held in immigration detention, where she has been since December 7. Albolooki's friend Nenad Dimitrov, who lives in Kochani, Macedonia, and has been running her Twitter account since she was detained, told CNN that he met her on a cruise ship and has been in contact with her since. He said Albolooki escaped her family on October 2 after being allowed to go to the toilet. From there, Dimitrov said, she ran -- without her shoes -- and hid in a nearby construction area before finally hailing a taxi that took her to a friend's place in Sharjah. He said from there she fled overland to Bahrain. "When she asked for help she was in Bahrain and said 'I don't have anyone to go to, can you help me get tickets?'" Dimitrov told CNN. Albolooki eventually flew through Turkey to Serbia before entering Macedonia on October 4. She applied for asylum two weeks later. Albolooki's story comes after the Dubai ruler's daughter, Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum, made headlines last year for reportedly trying to escape her family after claiming she was tortured and detained for three years. --IANS ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Delhi court on Tuesday allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to quiz corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar for two more days in a money laundering case. Special Judge Bharat Parashar extended Talwar's ED custody after the probe agency told him that he is required to be confronted with two people in connection with the case. Talwar was presented before the court on expiry of his ED custody. Talwar was deported from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on January 30. He was presented before a court on January 31 which sent him to seven days ED custody. The ED said Rs 200 crore was allegedly received in one of the bank accounts of a company of Talwar in Singapore and that he is being probed for his suspected role in the irregular seat sharing on Air India's profitable routes with some international airlines. Talwar had fled to Dubai after the Indian agencies started probing his role in concealing the income of over Rs 1,000 crore as well as facilitating aviation contracts during the UPA regime. He is accused of brokering aviation sector deals, getting government approval for foreign companies, and securing favours for clients due to his ties with UPA functionaries. --IANS akk/mag/ab (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday accused the Congress of misleading people by raking up the Rafale fighter jet deal issue repeatedly. The Minister's remarks during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, prompted the Congress to criticise the government and stage a walkout from the House. "The issue has been discussed in detail in the House and the Supreme Court has also put the matter to rest. The Congress has been raking up the issue every now and then. But the truth will remain true," he said. is not done by by misleading the people. A person should have the guts to speak the truth, Singh added. To this, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge reiterated his party's demand to constitute a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the deal. "The Prime Minister does not have the courage to constitute a JPC. You constitute a JPC, we will prove the misdeeds," he said. Kharge had earlier said that if the Prime Minister has nothing to hide, then he should come forth and announce the JPC probe for a detailed inquiry into the matter. --IANS rak-bns/ksk/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government on Tuesday said various provisions related to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 have been clarified to political leaders and some Chief Ministers of northeastern states. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha on reports of protests in the North-East, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said several steps have been taken to preserve the cultural, social and linguistic identity, and the heritage of the northeastern people, in the Bill. He said the protests are due to certain "misplaced apprehensions" over the issue. The Minister said the Central government has also apprised the representatives of northeastern states of the steps. "Political leaders from northeastern states including some Chief Ministers have met the Home Minister on various issues related to northeast including the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Various provisions of the bill have been clarified to them," Rijiju said. Rijiju's response came to a question by All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP Asaduddin Owaisi and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) MP V. Elumalai. The Bill, which was passed in Lok Sabha in the Winter Session of Parliament, is pending in the Rajya Sabha. However, it was listed for discussion and passage in the Upper House on Tuesday but could not be taken up due to continued protest by the opposition members on several issues. The Bill seeks to enable Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who fled to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh without valid travel documents, or whose documents expired in recent years to acquire Indian citizenship through the process of naturalisation. --IANS rak/pgh/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Central Board of Secondary (CBSE) has been using digital technology to create as much of a level playing field as possible for students who feel unduly penalised by a disproportionately difficult question paper or a stray ambiguous question, a senior official said. The official said that the Board started using the Theory Evaluation Trend Analysis (TETRA) software - written by its own team - last year for studying the trend of marks being obtained by the students across the regions. The software displays the live trend of average marks scored across the centres and can be used for moderation of marks in case there's an unfair degree of ambiguity or difficulty in the question paper. "We analyse the trend of marks being obtained by students across the regions and centres. Whenever we spot any deviation from the norm, we call up that centre and probe if there were complaints about the question paper," a senior CBSE official told IANS on condition of anonymity. "We look for complaints regarding any ambiguity or difficulty in the question paper. A team then sees if and how much moderation is needed to account for these difficulties," the official added. Asked about previously instances of some boards spiking marks, the official emphasised that the Board has never happened as it was "unethical" and quite different from moderation, "which is done by boards across the world" and is a just way of compensating students". Another official insisted that moderation is not a matter of policy for the Board and is done only when needed under pressing circumstances. This official likened the software with "CCTV camera" with the help of which the officials oversee the mammoth evaluation execise that the board exams are. The CBSE had also used the TETRA software last year when it weathered opprobrium from all quarters after the Maths and Economics papers for class 10 and class 12, respectively were leaked. Board officials saw the trend for both the papers and found that students from class 10 had not benefited from the Maths paper leak because the graph of their scores matched the general trend. Such was not the case with Economics paper, which was reset. The Board has since fortified its exam system, the official assured, but refused to divulge the details of the changes brought citing risk of their getting compromised. The official also debunked reports that the Board is conducting exams early this year due to general election, saying it's "completely wrong" and that early exams have nothing to do with the elections. "We are conducting exams a little early this year at the instruction of the Delhi High Court, which had said that the schools results should coincide with the Delhi University admission. To that effect, the results also this year will be announced early in May," the official said. (Vishal Narayan can be contacted at vishal.n@ians.in) --IANS vn/vm/am/ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday opposed bail plea of British national Christian Michel, the middleman accused in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case. The CBI told Special Judge Arvind Kumar Kumar that charge-sheet in the case has already been filed against the accused persons including Michel and the court has already started proceedings against them. Michel has sought bail, saying he has been in custody since December 4, 2018, and as per Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the probe was supposed to be completed by February 3. But, the charge-sheet was not filed against him within the stipulated 60-day period, so he should be released on bail, Michel's defence counsel told the court. However, the CBI said that that the provisions of Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure are not applicable in the instant matter. On its part, the ED said that rather than filing various prosecution complaints in piecemeal, the agency is in the process of filing a detailed and comprehensive prosecution complaint. The court has listed the Michel's bail plea for further hearing on February 13. However, the court allowed Michel to meet his lawyer Rosemary Patrizi on condition that she will meet Michel as a general visitor, as per the jail manual of Tihar Jail. Michel was extradited to India on December 4 from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He is one of the three middlemen being investigated by the CBI and the ED in the VVIP chopper deal. The Directorate arrested him on December 22, 2018. In January 2018, the ED had lodged a request with the UAE authorities seeking extradition of Michel. Both the ED and the CBI had filed charge-sheets in the bribery cases in Indian courts and non-bailable warrants had been issued against the accused. In its charge-sheet, the CBI had named former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi alias Julie, then IAF Vice Chief J.S. Gujral and advocate Gautam Khaitan as the four Indians involved in the scam. Others named in the charge-sheet included Giuseppe Orsi, the former chief of Italian defence and aerospace major Finmeccanica, and Bruno Spagnolini, former CEO of AgustaWestland, apart from middlemen Michel, Haschke and Gerosa. --IANS akk/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Under pressure due to serious competition from from foreign competitors at home and abroad , the Indian cashew industry has sought government intervention to create a "level playing field" and revision of the minimum import price (MIP)." On the eve of the Kaju India 2019, a global cashew buyer-seller meet beginning here on Wednesday, which will kick off celebrations to mark 100 years of Indian cashew exports, the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India Chairman R.K. Bhoodes said on Tuesday in view of issues being faced by the sector, the CEPCI has urged the government to revise the MIP for cashew kernels and allied products, as well as provide support to exporters. "The surge in import of low quality finished and semi-finished cashew kernels using loops in the policy and also unfair methods is a serious threat to the cashew processors," he said. These imports must be restricted for the survival of the industry, he added. The situation has compelled cashew producers to seek import duty hike on broken and whole cashew to 70 per cent from 45 per cent to bring it on par with the tariff for other category of nuts, he added. According to Bhoodes, India is the world's largest producer, processor and consumer of cashew. While 70 per cent of the produce is consumed in India, the rest is exported. India processes 17 lakh tonnes of raw cashew nuts per annum. Of this, around 9 lakh tonnes are imported mainly from African countries. The CEPCI has also urged upward revision of MIP for cashew, which was set in 2013 at a much lower level than current market prices. "The lack of modernisation and high wages are making Indian exports uncompetitive as the cost of processing is lower in other exporting countries," he said. To deal with competition from Vietnam, Brazil and Africa, Indian producers are asking for export support. "We have asked the government to raise the support level of 5 per cent under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) to 10 per cent," Bhoodes said. --IANS bc/pgh/pcj (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday hit out at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for preventing him from going to Prayagraj where he was scheduled to attend a students' union event at Allahabad University and slammed him for the "language being used in the assembly and on the streets." Interacting with media at the party office on Vikramaditya Marg after failing to board a chartered flight, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said the ruling BJP had deliberately precipitated the crisis out of fear that he would further expose the state and the Central governments. "I had informed the university about my programme in December last year. A letter was sent to the district administration on February 2 as I did not want any inconvenience during the ongoing Kumbh. But I was not informed about the problems that the government is now citing," he said. He accused the government of putting his "house under surveillance, plotting blasts near the event venue in Allahabad and burning down the office of the students union president". "When all this failed to create apprehension of disruption to law and order, they stopped me to board the Prayagraj-bound flight," he said. Refuting the Chief Minister's charge the SP is a "party of hooligans," Yadav said the Chief Minister should "explain whether I have ever been booked for any crime, or, if I have a bad track record in the books of the Election Commission." Yadav said as Chief Minister, Adityanath is probably the first person in the country who has got himself exonerated in several criminal cases against him. Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party legislators created a ruckus in the Assembly over the episode involving their party chief. They later marched to the Raj Bhawan. --IANS md/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Five workers were untraceable even after 24 hours of the massive fire at a factory outlet in West Bengal's Sodepur town in North 24 Parganas district, officials said on Tuesday. The government has assured stringent action against the owner for flouting rules. "The fire is now under control and a team is being formed to trace the five missing workers. Once the team is inside, they will try to locate the missing people," West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra said at the spot. He said with the help of 25 fire tenders, the remaining pocket fire and smoke is being gradually arrested. Mitra assured they are ready with all required equipment for the rescue. Also, the "government will provide full assistance to the injured and support to the family members of the deceased". The factory outlet of the chair-making unit had explosive materials inside, and still lacked proper fire security measures, the workers and relatives alleged. "This time, we will strictly look into the matter to see why there was no provision of fire exit and other required measures. The step will be taken by filing an FIR against the responsible people," Mitra added. --IANS bnd/ssp/pgh/ab (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Barring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), every other political player seems to want simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Regional parties like the National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been demanding Assembly election together with the coming Lok Sabha polls to end the political uncertainty in the state. NC Vice President and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said the real test for Governor Satya Pal Malik and the Centre would be whether the Assembly elections are held with the Lok Sabha battle or not. The PDP leadership has said that deferring Assembly elections to a later date and holding the Lok Sabha elections on schedule could only be justified to benefit the BJP as security reasons cannot justify the move. "How can anyone argue that it is safe and possible for the voters to go to the polling stations for Lok Sabha elections and not for Assembly elections? "The only difference between holding the two separately is that instead of two EVMs, there would be only one in the same polling station," said a senior PDP leader. Although Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Governor Malik have said things are in place for holding both the elections together in Jammu and Kashmir, state leaders of the BJP seem to believe that holding them separately would give them an edge. "How can so many candidates be provided security if these elections are held together? Securing a few Lok Sabha candidates is much easier than providing security to scores of candidates likely to be in the fray for the Assembly election," said a BJP leader who refused to accept that there were political reasons behind his statement. The Congress strongly believes that any deferment of Assembly elections beyond the Lok Sabha polls would be detrimental to the state's interests. G.A. Mir, President of the state Congress, told IANS: "How can the Governor say the Assembly polls should be deferred when the panchayat and urban local bodies elections were held peacefully and successfully? "It would be detrimental to the interests of the people of J&K who want Assembly elections held as soon as possible because they have more stakes in the establishment of an elected government in the state rather than who represents them in Parliament. "The real test for the Election Commission would be whether they decide to hold these two elections together or not. "The Governor is fulfilling the BJP agenda through the back door and that is why the BJP would like to have the Assembly contest deferred as long as possible," a visibly upset Mir added. Jammu and Kashmir is now under President's Rule after the six-month Governor's rule ended after it was imposed in June last year. The state has six Lok Sabha constituencies: three in the Kashmir Valley, two in Jammu region and one in Ladakh. There are 87 Assembly constituencies: 46 in the Valley, 37 in Jammu region and four in Ladakh. (Sheikh Qayoom can be reached at sheikh.abdul@ians.in) --IANS sq/vm/mr/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Australian government on Tuesday lost a major vote on a bill to help evacuate critically ill refugees from offshore processing centres to get treatment in the country, in a major blow to Prime Minister Scott Morrison's minority government's highly controversial immigration policy. The ruling Liberal National coalition was firmly opposed to the legislation, which it said would endanger national security, but it passed Australia's lower house by a vote of 75 to 74. Morrison had said that the bill would "take control from the government" and "unleash a world of woe". The opposition Labour Party and a group of independent MPs supported the legislation. It is the first time an Australian government has lost a substantive vote in the House of Representatives since 1929, the Parliament's website stated. Under the legislation, asylum seekers detained on Australia's controversial offshore detention centres can more easily be evacuated to the mainland for medical assistance if they become critically ill, the BBC reported. Since 2013, Australia has sent asylum seekers arriving by boat to detention centres on Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Critics say it has harmed the welfare of detainees, including children. Doctors have long warned of inadequate medical facilities on the islands, while the UN has previously described the camp conditions as "inhumane". "There is no form of this bill that does not weaken our border protection," Morrison said, adding that it could help criminals and terrorists enter the country. Australia has long defended its offshore detention policy by arguing that it stops deaths at sea and disrupts the trade of people smuggling. The bill is expected to sail through the Senate later this week where it will become law. The legislation seeks to provide more power to medical professionals in deciding whether to transfer detained refugees in need of medical attention to Australia. It also permits the Home Affairs minister to reject transfers on national security grounds or in the case of patients with substantial criminal records deemed to pose a risk to the Australian community. The minister will have up to 72 hours to decide whether to agree or reject the transfer after it is approved. If it is refused, the decision would be referred to the eight-member Independent Health Advice Panel. The Prime Minister's government had tried to gather last-minute support against the bill by presenting the argument of Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue, who considered it to be unconstitutional. In 2012, Australia resumed its policy of detaining undocumented immigrants in third countries. Under the widely criticised government migration policy, asylum seekers trying to enter Australia by sea are blocked from entering the country and sent to offshore processing centres. The conditions under which these migrants are held have been repeatedly denounced by international organisations, including the UN. --IANS soni/ab (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was on Tuesday prevented from taking a flight to attend an event organised by the Students Union at Allahabad University, triggering a political storm. Yadav had to take a private plane here but was told by a senior district official that the Samajwadi Party leader did not have the permission to do so. A fuming Akhilesh Yadav, who returned home after arguing with the airport officials for about two hours, said the Uttar Pradesh government was so scared of him that they stopped him from going to Allahabad University. Calling it "remote control of two-and-a-half men", Yadav alleged that he was detained at the airport on the premise that his presence at the Allahabad University could lead to law and order issues. The 45-year-old leader said that the ruling BJP, by committing such acts, had not only lost the upcoming Lok Sabha elections but also earned the ire of the youth. The development triggered a war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party. As the news spread, scores of Samajwadi Party workers and leaders rushed to the airport and raised anti-government slogans. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati denounced the action against Yadav. She wondered if the central and state BJP governments were so afraid of the BSP-SP alliance that they were resorting to such "anti-democratic methods". The 63-year-old Dalit leader accused the BJP governments of trying to "curb our political activities". "This is very unfortunate and undemocratic. It will be fought at all levels." The state government dismissed the allegations and said the university authorities had on February 2 asked Yadav not to visit as the university disapproved of "political participation in campus events". Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the decision was taken by the district administration based on the threat assessment of violence. "SP has a history of lawlessness and his visit could have created problems. There was a fear of student groups creating law and order problem," he said. After staying put at the airport for more than two hours, the former Chief Minister left for his residence in a huff. --IANS md/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Delhi court on Tuesday sent Dubai-based businessman Rajiv Saxena to judicial custody till February 18 in the AgustaWestland deal case. Special Judge Arvind Kumar sent Saxena to judicial custody after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) told him that it did not require his further custodial interrogation. The court has also asked the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here to file a medical report of Saxena by Wednesday. Saxena has sought bail on medical grounds, saying that he is suffering from radiating back pain, numbness and heaviness in legs, neck pain and other ailments. He also told the court that he has been co-operative with the investigation in the case. The court has listed the matter for hearing his bail plea on February 13. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) security authorities picked up Saxena from his residence in Dubai on January 30 and extradited him to India later that night, along with corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar. According to the ED, in connivance with lawyer Gautam Khaitan, Saxena provided corporate structure across the globe to the laundered money for payment to various political persons, bureaucrats and Indian Air Force officials to influence the contract for supplying 12 VVIP helicopters in favour of AgustaWestland. A Delhi court had earlier issued a non-bailable warrant against Saxena after it surfaced that he did not join the investigation despite repeated summons. Saxena's name was mentioned in a chargesheet filed against his wife, Shivani, who has been out on bail after being arrested by the Directorate. --IANS akk/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Tuesday asked all stakeholders to adopt the Kerala method to boost rubber production in Tripura. The northeastern state is the second largest rubber producer in India after Kerala, with 85,000 hectares of land under plantation, producing 65,330 tonnes of rubber annually. "We should adopt the Kerala technology in our state. During the rainy and odd weather seasons, we must be able to collect the entire production of latex and other produces without any loss. "That will boost production and productivity of natural rubber in Tripura," Deb said while addressing a seminar here. He said that all stakeholders associated with rubber cultivation and production should make all out efforts so that Tripura's contribution in India's natural rubber production increases to at least 30 per cent. The Tripura Forest Development and Plantation Corporation (TFDPC), a state-owned company, organised the seminar on "Enhancement of Quality Production of Rubber and Allied Products". TFDPC's Senior Manager Alok Paul said that based on Chinese, Taiwan and German technologies, the corporation with an annual turnover of Rs 50 crore, was currently running a rubber wood treatment plant at its Anandanagar industrial estate. It has been producing international standard solid rubber wood board, doors and hundreds of varieties of furniture. The TFDPC has 9,000 hectares under rubber plantation across Tripura and produces 3,200 tonnes of rubber and allied products annually. The Kerala-based Rubber Research Institute of India has identified 450,000 hectares of land suitable for rubber cultivation in the northeast, with 200,000 hectares in Tripura. --IANS sc/in/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A total of 70 civilians were killed or wounded by a US-led airstrike in eastern Syria, state agency SANA reported on Tuesday. The airstrike targeted a camp for displaced people in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour on Monday evening, according to the report. Airstrikes have intensified on Islamic State (IS)-held areas in the eastern Euphrates river region. On Saturday, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) started the final stage of attacks against the IS in the eastern Euphrates river region in eastern Syria. Following the evacuation of over 20,000 civilians from the town of Baghouz, the SDF started the operation against the remaining IS-held pockets in the eastern Euphrates region, according to Mustafa Balli, the head of the SDF media office. Balli said that the battle aims to eliminate the last IS militants in the town of Baghouz. The US-backed SDF has been on a crushing offensive to root out the IS from the eastern Euphrates region since last September. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said over 37,000 civilians, including IS militants, have fled the last IS-held pocket to areas controlled by the SDF in the eastern Euphrates area since last December. --IANS soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Stocks gyrated in a small range in early afternoon trade. At 12:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 29.22 points or 0.08% at 36,365.81. Metal and mining stocks gained sharply. Domestic stocks eked out small gains in early trade ahead of release of key domestic macro economic data. Key indices reversed direction to sink in negative zone in morning trade. Key indices hovered in a small range in mid-morning trade. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.05%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.41%. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On the BSE, 992 shares rose and 1230 shares fell. A total of 142 shares were unchanged. Metal and mining stocks gained sharply. Vedanta (up 3.81%), JSW Steel (up 4.75%), Tata Steel (up 3.24%), Steel Authority of India (Sail) (up 6.58%), Hindustan Zinc (up 1.28%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 9.41%), Hindalco Industries (up 1.1%), NMDC (up 1.49%) and Hindustan Copper (up 5.64%) edged higher. National Aluminium Company (down 0.19%) fell. Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals lost 9.67% after net profit fell 27.3% to Rs 165.72 crore on 23.4% decline in net sales to Rs 1,219.16 crore in Q3 December 2018 over Q3 December 2017. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 11 February 2019. On the macro front, data of Consumer Price Index (CPI) for January and Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for December 2018 is slated to be released after maket hours today, 12 February 2019. India's industrial production growth slowed sharply to 0.5% year-on-year in November 2018 from an upwardly revised 11-month high of 8.4% in the previous month. Overseas, most Asian stocks rose with investors looking to a new round of Sino-US trade talks as the world's two largest economies try to resolve a tariff dispute that has put a dent on global growth and corporate earnings. US stocks closed mostly higher Monday after a choppy session as a round of US-China tariff negotiations in Beijing commenced and as the threat of another partial government shutdown loomed. The latest round of trade negotiations between the US and China began Monday with working-level talks in Beijing, while Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are reportedly due to arrive Thursday for more high-level discussions. In Europe, the UK, meanwhile, is bracing to exit the European Union on March 29 with or without a trade agreement in hand. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Key benchmarks hovered in a small range in negative zone in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 39.07 points or 0.11% at 36,355.96. The Nifty 50 index was down 2.90 points or 0.03% at 10,885.90. Domestic stocks eked out small gains in early trade ahead of release of key domestic macro-economic data. Key indices reversed direction to sink in negative zone in morning trade. Key indices hovered in a small range in mid-morning trade. Key benchmarks trimmed losses after hitting fresh intraday low in afternoon trade. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.11%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.22%. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On the BSE, 1030 shares rose and 1379 shares fell. A total of 141 shares were unchanged. Coal India (up 1.87%), Tata Steel (up 1.85%), and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 1.13%) edged higher from the Sensex pack. HDFC (down 1.85%), HCL Technologies (down 1.72%), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.72%), Infosys (down 1.59%) and ONGC (down 1.26%) edged lower from the Sensex pack. Hindalco Industries was up 0.51% after the company reported Q3 December 2018 results during trading hours today, 12 February 2019. The company's profit after tax rose 47.31% to Rs 713 crore on 8.09% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 11,938 crore in Q3 December 2018 over Q3 December 2017. Total EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation) rose 3.49% to Rs 1,926 crore in Q3 December 2018 over Q3 December 2017. The financials include relevant numbers of Utkal Alumina International (100% subsidiary of Hindalco), from its accounts, to present a comprehensive view of the business. For this purpose, standard principles of consolidation have been applied by elimination of inter-company transactions and unrealised profit or loss in the inventory. For comparison purposes, previous period numbers have also been presented in a similar manner. The company said that Q3 numbers were backed by supporting macros, improvement in operational efficiencies and better realisations. This was despite increase in input costs, mainly of coal and furnace oil. Interest expense was lower by 12% at Rs 477 crore, mainly due to re-pricing of long term project loans and loan re-payments. The rise in profit after tax was driven by higher EBITDA and lower finance costs. Net Debt to EBITDA (on TTM Basis) at end December 2018 improved to 2.36x from 2.67x at end March 2018. Under its continuous deleveraging focus, the company has prepaid another Rs 1,575 crore in October 2018. On the macro front, data of Consumer Price Index (CPI) for January and Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for December 2018 is slated to be released after market hours today, 12 February 2019. India's industrial production growth slowed sharply to 0.5% year-on-year in November 2018 from an upwardly revised 11-month high of 8.4% in the previous month. Overseas, stocks in Europe moved higher Tuesday as investors monitored trade and political developments. The UK, meanwhile, is bracing to exit the European Union on March 29 with or without a trade agreement in hand. UK Prime Minister Theresa May will update lawmakers on the latest Brexit developments. Most Asian stocks rose with investors looking to a new round of Sino-US trade talks as the world's two largest economies try to resolve a tariff dispute that has put a dent on global growth and corporate earnings. US stocks closed mostly higher Monday after a choppy session as a round of US-China tariff negotiations in Beijing commenced and as the threat of another partial government shutdown loomed. The latest round of trade negotiations between the US and China began Monday with working-level talks in Beijing, while Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are reportedly due to arrive Thursday for more high-level discussions. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) organized a Regional Conference on MSME Financing under National SC/ST Hub Scheme in New Delhi today. Minister of State (I/C) for MSME, Giriraj Singh, in his inaugural address stressed on the need for financial inclusion of small entrepreneurs, without whom the country cannot develop. While appreciating the banking sectors concerns about the Non-Performing Assets and bad debts, he pointed out that where there is need based financing from the banks the recoveries have been more than 99 per cent. He urged the banks to set their priorities in line with the policies and financial guarantees of the Government and provide loans to youth and small entrepreneurs. The MSME Minister said Government is keen to bring SC/ST entrepreneurs at par with their counterparts in the industry, dedicating financial schemes exclusively for them. Talking about the 12 initiatives of the Government for the MSME sector announced by the Prime Minister on 2nd November 2108, Giriraj Singh urged MSMEs to take full advantage of the 59 Minute Loan Sanction portal. He said the resources are limited but the Government, during last 4 years, have done a lot for the development of MSME sector. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter Around 200 activists from different groups such as Muslim Manch, Jamiat Ulema Hind, Dalit Yuva Andolan and others protested in front of the Yeruda Jail, Pune demanding the cancelling of the bail of Dhananjay Desai, the main accused in the lynching of Mohsin Shaikh in 2014. They also submitted a petition to the DCP to re-arrest Dhananjay Desai. Desai had appealed for bail on January 17, 2019, in the Bombay High Court which was granted to him following which he was released on February 9, 2019. The court had granted Desai a conditional bail and had undertaken a statement from him that he will not make any public appearance or give speeches or run any organisations. No sooner had he come out his supporters and the members of Hindu Rashtra Sena (HRS) carried out a huge rally from the jail till his residence waving the saffron flag, bursting firecrackers and chanting Jai Shri Ram. And this rally was also posted on social media thus violating the orders of the court which had taken from this undertaking: I undertake not to publish/broadcast any speeches or interviews or bytes on any social media namely WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. in any manner whatsoever organisation till the conclusion of the trial, he had said in an undertaking. A movement demanding justice for Mohsin is also in place in many talukas of Maharashtra. After the news of Desais release came out, memorandums were submitted to the concerned authorities in nearly 173 Talukas demanding cancellation of the bail and the re-arrest of Desai by the youth who are fighting for justice. On June 2 2014, a mob of HRS instigated by a hate speech by Desai had lynched 28-year-old Mohsin Shaikh, a software engineer and lone earner of his family. Despite several protest marches, hearing in the court trial, petitions, change in the public prosecutors not a single person was convicted. Mohsins father Sadiq Shaikh after a long lone battle fighting for justice for his son and a job for the other surviving son died 2 months back on December 17, 2018. Those signing the petition were Anjum Inamdar, President Muslim Manch; Gafur Shaikh, Corporator, Pune; Idris Ansari, President Jamiat Ulema Hind, Pune; Shyam Gaikwad, President Dalit Yuva Andolan; Pradeep Kambade, Khawaza Shaikh, Rafeeque Quraishi, Hari Bhao Borse and others. US President Donald Trump has announced that he would be "building the wall anyway", while referring to setting up a barrier on the US-Mexico border, on Monday night at a rally in El Paso here. "We'll be building the wall anyway. They (Congressmen) say that progress has been madeI said: 'Wait a minute, I gotta take care of my people from Texas, I've got to go, I don't even wanna hear about it.' So I don't know what they mean (when they say) 'progress has been made," Trump said, according to Sputnik. This comes after Congressional negotiators announced that "an agreement in principle" had been reached on funding for border security, with more than USD 1.3 billion allocated for the barrier alone, reports Fox News. Trump had previously asked for a budget allocation of USD five billion to build the US-Mexico border wall. An impasse between the US Congress and Trump over funding for the wall had earlier triggered the longest-ever partial government shutdown in the United States, which lasted for 35 days and left scores of federal workers without pay for the period. A stop-gap measure is currently in place until February 15, during which negotiators are trying to finalise a deal that would avoid plunging the United States back into the state of shutdown again. Trump has kept up his demand for the wall, despite Democrats labelling the fence as wastage of money. He has also indicated declaring a national emergency to get the barricade built - a claim which is strengthened by the US President's remarks at the 'Make America Great Again' (MAGA) rally here on Monday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vietnam's Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Pham Binh Minh, will be in North Korea for an official two-day visit from February 12 to 14. His visit comes just a few weeks before the landmark second US-North Korea summit, which is slated to take place in Hanoi on February 27 and 28. Pham is travelling to Pyongyang at the invitation of North Korea's Foreign Minister, Ri Yong-ho, reports Yonhap News Agency. His delegation consists of five government officials, including his ministry's protocol chief. Experts have speculated that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may pay a state visit to Vietnam either before or after his scheduled meeting with US President Donald Trump. Through the probable visit, Kim will be the first North Korean leader to pay a state visit to Vietnam in over 50 years. Kim's grandfather, Kim Il-sung had last visited Hanoi in October 1964. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The United States sailed two of its warships, USS Spruance and USS Preble, close to the disputed Spratly Islands on Monday. The movement was carried out as part of what the US Navy labels as a "freedom of navigation operation". "(The Operation was carried out) to challenge excessive maritime claims and preserve access to the waterways as governed by international law," the spokesman for the US Navy's 7th Fleet, Commander Clay Doss told CNN. "All operations are designed in accordance with international law and demonstrate that the United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows. That is true in the South China Sea as in other places around the globe," he added. The USA had, in January this year, sailed another warship, USS McCampbell, within 12 nautical miles of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. China, in retaliation, had deployed missiles "capable of targeting medium and large ships," accusing the United States of trespassing its territorial waters. Beijing is yet to respond to Monday's event. "The US action violated the Chinese laws and international laws, infringed China's sovereignty, damaged regional peace, security, and order. China will take necessary actions to protect state sovereignty," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang had said after the January incident. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) American diplomat Stephen Biegun has put forth that the United States and North Korea are yet to narrow their differences on denuclearisation, after the first round of preparatory talks were held in Pyongyang last week. The remarks were made by the US Special Representative for North Korea during a meeting with a visiting South Korean parliamentary delegation, reports Yonhap News Agency. "With only two weeks until the summit, it will be difficult to resolve all the tricky issues, but there's a chance if we can agree on a timeline (for denuclearization)," a member from delegation quoted Biegun as saying. Chong Wa Dae, or South Korea's Presidential office, had earlier announced of a second preparatory meeting in the coming week between Pyongyang and Washington in an unspecified Asian country. US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are expected to discuss the latter's progress of dismantling its nuclear weapons programme later this month, as agreed to in the first US-North Korea summit held in Singapore's Sentosa island in June 2018. The expectations from the second US-North Korea summit in Hanoi are high, as the second meeting comes as a break in the prevailing stalemate between Pyongyang and Washington over sanctions. North Korea has repeatedly pushed for relief in sanctions for the steps it has taken towards denuclearisation after the first summit. The United States, however, has reinforced that sanctions would be given only after complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula is achieved, leading to an impasse. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Five Sri Lankan refugees were on Monday arrested by the Customs officials after they tried to illegally return to their native country. They were living in Aanayoor Refugee Camp in Madurai. The arrest was made at Ooththtathalai Seashore. The arrested people after interrogation were handed over to Danuskodi police. Investigation in the case is underway. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Shiv Sena on Tuesday held BJP government responsible for UP hooch tragedy, and slammed Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for politicising the death of poor people. Shiv Sena, which shares power with BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra, said that "one should not make such issue a political one." The observation of Shiv Sena comes close on the heels of Chief Minister Adityanath's allegation that the Samajwadi Party was responsible for "such mischievous acts." It is worth mentioning that the hooch tragedy claimed over 60 lives in Saharanpur and Kushinagar districts of Uttar Pradesh recently. "One should not make such issue a political one. However, the Chief Minister of UP recently made a derogatory remark in which it held the SP responsible for the incident," said an editorial in 'Saamna,' which is Shiv Sena's mouthpiece. "Instead, the whole responsibility of the tragedy lies with the BJP government because when people were consuming illicit liquor, the state Chief Minister Adityanath was on a trip to West Bengal to make political statements," further says the editorial. Referring to Gorakhpur's tragedy last year in which several children were killed due to the unavailability of oxygen cylinders in the hospital, the Shiv Sena said: "Even after such failures, the BJP claims of good governance." Around 100 poor people lost their lives in the hooch tragedy in UP's Saharanpur and Kushinagar districts, and Haridwar district in Uttarakhand. Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday constituted a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the hooch tragedy. The state government has also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of the victims of hooch tragedy. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have been imposed in East and West Imphal districts ahead of the tabling of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. As per the orders of the district magistrate, "Section-144 is imposed in Imphal till 12 February 2019 until further orders due to the situation arising out of intense agitation launched by various civil society organisations against the passing of Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha." The bill will be tabled in the Rajya Sabha by Union Minister for Home Affairs Rajanath Singh. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which was passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8, aims at granting citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014. Earlier on February 10, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had stated that his party, People's Party (NPP), has decided that if the central government passes the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Rajya Sabha, then they will break ties with the NDA. Addressing media persons in Guwahati, Sangma had said: " People's Party (NPP) has decided if the Bill (Citizenship Amendment Bill) is passed in the Rajya Sabha, then the party will break its ties with the NDA. This decision was taken in the party's general body meeting." BJP, on the other hand, has said the government wants to resolve the problem of illegal migrants. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged the people to not be carried away by the rumors. He urged the political parties to stop playing with the emotions of the people of Assam for political gain and vote bank. "Assam will not be harmed through the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill," he said. The BJP had won eight Lok Sabha seats from the region during the last Lok Sabha polls in 2014 out of which seven were from Assam, and one from Arunachal Pradesh-Kiren Rijiju, who is Union Minister of State for Home Affairs. BJP president Amit Shah has set the target of winning 21 seats out of 25 in the coming Lok Sabha polls in the region-Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim, and Nagaland. Several organisations have been staging massive protests over the Bill asserting that the legislation will create law and order problems in the North East. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman will embark on a two-day visit to Islamabad on Saturday (February 16), Saudi Ambassador to Nawaf bin Said Al-Maliki said on Monday. Geo News reported that a large delegation comprising of the former's security team has already arrived in on Monday to review security arrangements in Islamabad ahead of the Prince's visit. "A team of doctors and a delegation of Saudi media persons who will cover Mohammed bin Salman's tour have also reached Islamabad," sources added. The visit of the Saudi prince comes amid reports that Saudi Arabia will sign an agreement on oil refinery project, worth $10 billion, in the port city of Gwadar. Gwadar is a port city located in the southwestern region of Balochistan in Pakistan, featuring the famous China- Economic Corridor (CPEC) project in which Saudi Arabia is desperately seeking to become a major strategic stakeholder. Apart from finalising the deal, the Saudi Prince is further expected to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries and issues focusing on the ongoing crisis in Yemen and the Afghan peace and reconciliation process. Quoting sources, Saudi Arabia is also expected to a trade deal with Pakistan worth $14 billion, marking the biggest deal ever signed in the history of Pakistan. During Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to Riyadh, last year in October, Saudi Arabia had already pledged a USD six billion packages for Pakistan to get rid of its balance-of-payments crisis and to uplift its plunging economy. Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince, will embark on a maiden two-day visit to India beginning from February 19 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Saudi Crown Prince will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including ministers, senior officials and leading Saudi businessmen. During the forthcoming visit, the Saudi Crown Prince will hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister on a wide range of issues of mutual interest. He will also call on President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, said a statement from Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). "The visit follows the highly successful visit of Prime Minister Modi to Saudi Arabia in April 2016, during which the two countries agreed to further elevate existing strategic partnership," it added. India and Saudi Arabia have historically enjoyed close and friendly relations anchored in mutually beneficial partnership and extensive people to people contacts. In recent years, there has been significant progress in bilateral cooperation in key areas of mutual interest, including energy security, trade and investment, infrastructure, defence and security. "Our bilateral trade was USD 27.48 billion during the last financial year 2017-18, making Saudi Arabia our fourth largest trading partner (bilateral trade during April - November 2018 reached USD 23.24 billion). Saudi Arabia contributes significantly to India's energy security needs by supplying about 20 per cent of crude requirements to India," the statement said. Recently, Saudi ARAMCO in partnership with ADNOC of UAE has entered into a joint venture for USD 44 billion worth Ratnagiri Refinery and Petro-Chemical project Ltd. About 2.7 million strong and vibrant Indian community forms the largest expatriate group in Saudi Arabia. "Their positive and highly-appreciated contribution to the development of their host country has been an important anchor of our excellent bilateral engagement. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also facilitates Hajj pilgrimage to over 1,75,000 Indians every year," the statement further said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ahead of questioning in Jaipur by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Robert Vadra on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Centre for 'harassing a senior citizen' -- his mother Maureen Vadra. Vadra, along with his mother, is scheduled to appear before the ED in Jaipur in connection with a probe into an alleged land scam in Rajasthan's Bikaner on Tuesday. In a Facebook post, Vadra, the son-in-law of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, also questioned why the "vindictive government" did not act in the past four years and 8 months and why he was called before the campaigning commenced for the Lok Sabha elections. He said, "So here we are my 75-year-old mother n me in Jaipur to depose in front of the Enforcement Directorate. Not understanding the lows of this vindictive government to be harassing a senior citizen, who the world knows has lost her daughter in a car crash, her ailing son to diabetes, and her husband as well. Three deaths n all I did was to ask her to spend time with me in my office, so I can look after her and we both could grieve on our losses while spending time together. Now she is being accused, maligned and called to be interrogated, for spending time in my office." "Since I have already been interrogated for 3 days in Delhi' headquarters, of the Enforcement Directorate. If there was any issue or any illegality, which was found by the government, why did it take them 4 years n 8 months, to call me a month before campaigning begins for the General elections? Do they think people in India do not view it as an election gimmick ?! As I always have adhered to rules and overall being a disciplined person," Vadra wrote on Facebook. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) High ranking officials and decision-makers from the refining and petrochemical sectors will take part in a major downstream event taking place in Abu Dhabi this month. The prestigious Middle East Technology Forum for Refining and Petrochemicals (ME-TECH) is being held at the St Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Abu Dhabi, from February 26 to 28. The attendees will include representatives from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), Bapco Duqm Refinery and Petrochemicals Industries Company, KPC, KNPC, KIPIC, Orpic, Saudi Aramco and Sabic among others. The event will also welcome large delegations from the Middle East, Europe, North America, Far East and South East Asia. We are honoured and privileged to welcome Adnoc as strategic partner for ME-TECH 2019. We look forward to hearing from senior representatives of regional refiners and petrochemicals producers as well as almost all of the leading licensors and technology providers active in the GCC. The event will include several high level panel discussions focused on key issues in the downstream sector, which will be moderated by Suleyman Ozmen, leading independent expert consultant, said Stefan Chapman, vice president at Euro Petroleum Consultants, the event organisers. Many key oil and gas players are taking part to discuss their latest technical achievements as well as trends in the downstream sectors. Daniel Carter, director, global consultancy, at industry heavy weight Wood, who is a major sponsor of the event, shared his views on some of these trends. The changes in bunker fuel sulphur through the IMO legislation are rapidly approaching. We see a number of customers looking at how to tackle this challenge through residue upgrading projects. Many national oil companies are also looking to diversify their portfolio across the refining and petrochemical value chains to balance crude oil exports as economic drivers. There remains to be large incentives to improve profitability in the Middle East, as well as driving the best practice in operations and maintenance. Since ME-TECH was launched by leading oil consultancy Euro Petroleum Consultants (EPC) in February 2011 the oil and gas industry, not to mention the economy in general, has experienced many changes. Fluctuations in the oil price had a knock-on effect on budgets affecting service providers involved in the provision of training and conferences. However throughout this time, the ME-TECH conference has managed to retain its high standard, size and loyal following - never veering from its objective of presenting the latest technology developments in order to help refiners and petrochemical companies keep up-to-date with the latest technology developments that can assist them to remain competitive and produce higher quality products, the statement said. Tamimah Dhaher, general manager of EPC in the Middle East, explained how the ME-TECH event has managed to achieve this. "Our key differentiator is that EPC is primarily a technical consultancy. We have always said that ME-TECH is a conference designed by chemical engineers for chemical engineers. We work hard to drive the quality of our events in terms of knowledge sharing and information exchange and to ensure a positive experience for our attendees by creating a platform for technology companies and other service providers to engage meaningfully with their target audience." - TradeArabia News Service Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi's husband Robert Vadra and his mother Maureen Vadra will appear before the office of Enforcement Directorate (ED) here on Tuesday in connection with a money laundering case related to an alleged land scam in Bikaner, the state's border town. As per the sources, they are likely to appear before the central probe agency's team for questioning at about 10 am at its zonal office on Bhiwani Singh Road. Police have tightened the security in and around the ED office. On January 22 this year, the Rajasthan High Court's Jodhpur bench had directed Vadra, his mother Maureen, and his partners in Skyline Hospitality to appear before the ED on February 12 to respond to the allegations of money laundering involving his firm. In November 2018, the ED had for the third time issued summons to Vadra and his mother, a partner in the firm, for questioning but none of them appeared. Instead, they moved the High Court seeking a 'no coercive action' order and stay of their arrest. A money laundering case was registered by the ED in September 2015, claiming that Skylight Hospitality had acquired land in Kolayat village of Bikaner, which was meant for the rehabilitation of the poor villagers. It was alleged that Vadra bought 69.55 hectares of land at a cheaper rate and then sold the land to Allegheny Finlease for Rs 5.15 crore through illegal transactions. It is worth mentioning that in Bikaner land scam fraudsters in collusion with the state government officials got allotted land in the name of fictitious individuals, though the land was actually meant for the people who were displaced due to the creation of Mahajan Field Firing range. The fraudsters created forged allotment letters purportedly issued by the Colonisation Department of the state government and 1,422 'bighas' of land was recorded in revenue record in the name of fictitious allottees without due verification of the allotment letters from the concerned department. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Dalit police personnel's wedding procession was allegedly attacked on Saturday in Dugar village here. A police case in this regard was registered on Sunday. The police has detained some people and are on a lookout for a few more in connection with the incident. The groom, Sawai Ram informed that the attack took place when his wedding procession was about to enter Dugar village. He claimed that people belonging to the Rajput community attacked his procession and humiliated him. When people interrupted them, the perpetrators hit back with sharp weapons leaving many injured. Police inspector Ajit Singh, said, "We recorded his statement on Sunday and have registered a case under relevant sections against more than 12 people. The matter is being investigated. Action will be taken against the culprits. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil several development projects during his visit to Kurukshetra on Tuesday, where he will be participating in Swachh Shakti- 2019 programme. According to official sources, Prime Minister Modi will unveil and lay the foundation stone for several development projects through digital links. In Kurukshetra, he will distribute the Swachh Shakti-2019 awards, and will also visit the Swachh Sundar Shauchalay exhibition at Kurukshetra and address a public gathering. Swachh Shakti-2019 is a event to be attended by women Panches and Sarpanches from across the country. It is expected that 15,000 women will take part in the Swachh Shakti event this year. The event is aimed at empowering women. Prime Minister Modi will also dedicate to the nation the Cancer Institute (NCI), Bhadsa, Jhajjar. NIC is the state-of-the-art tertiary cancer care-cum-research institute, constructed on the AIIMS, Jhajjar campus. The 700-bed hospital will have different facilities like surgical oncology, radiation oncology, medical oncology, anesthesia, palliative care, and nuclear medicine, besides hostel rooms for doctors and attendants of cancer patients. He will also inaugurate ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, through video conference. This will be the first ESIC Medical College and Hospital in north India. The 510-bed hospital will have state-of-the-art-facilities. ESIC, under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the government of India provides social security to the insured persons and their beneficiaries, especially to worker population and their dependents. Prime Minister Modi will also lay the foundation stone of Institute of Ayurveda (NIA), Panchkula, which is being set up at Shri Mata Mansa Devi Temple Complex. It will be a national level institute for Ayurveda treatment, education, and research. Once completed, it will be highly beneficial for the residents of Haryana and other nearby states He will also lay the foundation stone of Sri Krishna Ayush University, Kurukshetra. It is the first university related to the Indian system of medicine in Haryana as well as the first university of this kind in India. He will also lay the foundation stone of 'Battles of Panipat Museum' at Panipat through a digital link, and of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay University of Health Sciences at Karnal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday paid rich tributes to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the Central Hall of Parliament. A life-size portrait of Vajpayee, who passed away on August 16 last year, was installed in the Central Hall of Parliament today. Speaking at the event, President Ram Nath Kovind said, " Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee offered decisive leadership under challenging circumstances. The 1998 nuclear test in Pokhran and the Kargil War of 1999 are classic examples. These decisions were taken in the interest of the nation." "Atal ji will always be remembered as a great politician of India. His spontaneity and dignity in accepting victory and defeat are exemplary. He will be remembered for being patient in the tough situations," the President said. "Atal ji made initiatives so that the rivers and other water resources can be utilised properly by the people. With the help of Golden Quadrilateral Highway network, Atal ji eased the linking of the states within the country. He (Atal Ji) also provided homes to basic-income people by encouraging housing schemes. The I-T sector also boomed during his tenure," Kovind. "In addition, he also implemented schemes for the uplift of brave soldiers, hard-working farners and committed scientists," he added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also lauded Vajpayee, saying, "Atal ji had a long political career, a large part of which was spent in the Opposition. Yet, he continued raising issues of public interest and never ever deviated from his ideology." "There was power in Atal Ji's speech and there was equal power in Atal Ji's silence. His communication skills were unparalleled. He had a great sense of humour," the Prime Minister said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and Maldives on Tuesday exchanged diplomatic notes for the implementation of the visa facilitation agreement with an aim to boost people-to-people ties between the two countries. The agreement was signed during Maldivian President Ibrahim Solih's visit to India on December 17 last year. The exchange of diplomatic notes follows the signature of the agreement by President Ram Nath Kovind after the Union Cabinet had given its approval, read a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The new agreement will be effective from March 11 after all formalities including information being provided to all immigration offices, border points and customs authorities have been completed. The agreement provides a very liberal visa regime for Maldivian nationals to visit India for tourism, business, education and medical purposes. It also makes it easier for Indians to travel to the Maldives for business purposes, the statement said. Relations between New Delhi and Male came under strain during former President Abdulla Yameen's five-year rule, which saw him cosying up with China for various development projects, cracking down on dissent and imposing a state of emergency by jailing opposition leaders. Moreover, there were several diplomatic issues under the Yameen government with many Indian nationals being reportedly denied visas. Solih's surprise victory in the Maldives presidential elections in last September came as a major diplomatic victory for India, after New Delhi repeatedly warned the Yameen government to respect democratic institutions and free the jailed opposition leaders. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited the island nation for Solih's swearing-in ceremony in November last year. During the visit, Solih briefed the Prime Minister about Maldives' fragile economic situation. The two leaders discussed ways in which India can continue development partnership in various sectors, particularly to help the new government in meeting its pledges to the people of the Maldives. During Solih's visit to India, New Delhi announced financial assistance of USD 1.4 billion to Male in the form of budgetary support, currency swap and concessional lines of credit to fulfill the socio-economic development programmes of the island nation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra and his mother, Maureen Vadra, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate here on Tuesday in connection with a money laundering case amidst heightened security. The mother-son duo arrived in Jaipur on Monday to be quizzed on an alleged land scam in Bikaner, the state's border town. Newly-appointed Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also flew to Jaipur from Lucknow last night to extend support to her husband and mother-in-law. Priyanka dropped off the mother-son duo at the ED office and left soon after. On January 22, the Rajasthan High Court's Jodhpur bench had directed Vadra, Maureen, and his partners in Skyline Hospitality to appear before the ED on February 12 to respond to the allegations of money laundering levelled against his firm. In November last year, the ED had for the third time issued summons to Vadra and his mother - a partner in the firm- for questioning but none of them appeared. Instead, they moved the High Court seeking a 'no coercive action' order and stay of their arrest. A money laundering case was registered by the ED in September 2015, claiming that Skylight Hospitality had acquired land in Kolayat village of Bikaner, which was meant for the rehabilitation of the poor villagers. It was alleged that Vadra bought 69.55 hectares of land at a cheaper rate and then sold the land to Allegheny Finlease for Rs 5.15 crore through illegal transactions. It is worth mentioning that in Bikaner land scam fraudsters in collusion with the state government officials got allotted land in the name of fictitious individuals, though the land was actually meant for the people who were displaced due to the creation of Mahajan Field Firing range. The fraudsters created forged allotment letters purportedly issued by the Colonisation Department of the state government and 1,422 'bighas' of land was recorded in revenue record in the name of fictitious allottees without due verification of the allotment letters from the concerned department. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) MGF Developments, one of India's leading real estate companies, has drawn up ambitious plans to launch commercial and residential projects in Delhi NCR. These will be the company's first steps post their demerger from the joint venture Emaar MGF. The Company is in the process of getting all required statutory approvals for the said projects. MGF Developments is promoted by Shravan Gupta, a well-known and highly respected name in the real estate sector. The erstwhile Vice-Chairman of Emaar-MGF, Mr Gupta was instrumental in bringing the largest FDI in real estate in India through the joint venture with Emaar. For inorganic and organic growth opportunities in real estate businesses the partners mutually decided to demerge in 2016. Gupta has spent long hours in the two years since the demerger on creating a synergy between his vision for MGF Developments, and the evolving Indian real estate scenario. Expanding on his future-forward vision for MGF Developments, Gupta says, "I have no doubt that we will continue developing and creating structures that constantly and consistently breaks ground. Constant reinvention is key, and I believe we have what it takes to reach newer heights of greatness." He adds, "In real estate, one needs to redefine oneself constantly. There's a massive evolution in what the consumer wants now from a piece of real estate he or she owns. As developers, we have to be tuned to customer needs." "We identify and acquire key land locations and through use of international best practices offer premium real estate products across various categories using of our dedicated and experienced professional workforce. We further endeavour to use the latest technological advances and techniques for continuous growth of the organisation, its performance and excellence in service quality to create value for our customers''. MGF development is a debt-free company, with a land bank of over 3000 acres of with prime land spreading across Delhi, Gurugram, Mohali, Chail, Dehradun, Lucknow, Amritsar, and Delhi. As a pioneering name in the retail development market, MGF planned, executed and launched 7 major retail destinations across Delhi NCR and Jaipur. MGF is one of India's leading retail developers with about 5 million square feet of retail space. Shopping malls developed by MGF include The Metropolitan, The Metropolis and Megacity Mall in Gurugram; City Square and MGF Metropolitan Mall in Delhi; and MGF Metropolitan Mall in Jaipur. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As 'My Name Is Khan' completed 9 years today, ace filmmaker Karan Johar thanked the leading pair of the film, Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, for bringing the characters of Rizwan and Mandira to life. KJo took to his Twitter handle to share a heartfelt post expressing his emotions and thanking his team. "#9YearsOfMyNameIsKhan ...I feel so blessed to have been able to tell this story....thank you for creating it @ShibaniWrites ....and thank you @iamsrk for living the role of Rizwan so beautifully and brilliantly... thank you @KajolAtUN for your eyes...your silences and more," he wrote. Actor Varun Dhawan, who worked as an assistant director on the film, also shared a throwback photo and opened up about his experience of filming. "#9YearsOfMNIK a film I learnt soo much on. It practically changed my life. Also this is the only picture I have where @abhivarman is smiling. Thank u @karanjohar," Varun tweeted. Later, KJo replied to Varun's post and revealed that he has so many brilliant memories of Varun and actor Sidharth Malhotra, who was also a part of the film's production team. "So many brilliant memories I have !! Specially of you signing autographs when you were an AD ( not a star) and of SID's stoic silences in the face of adversity!!! And ofcourse of @abhivarman smiling!! A rare sight," he wrote. SRK and Kajol had reunited for 'My Name is Khan' after a span of 9 years and the film created magic. The film revolves around the life of SRK's character Rizwan Khan and showed his journey of meeting the president of America. The movie not only became one of the biggest hits of 2010 but was also appreciated by both the critics and the audience. In the film, Shah Rukh portrayed the role of a Muslim man named Rizwan who suffers from Asperger's syndrome. Kajol played the character of Mandira, a single mother who gets married to Rizwan. The couple's life turns upside down when Mandira's son gets killed after being bullied for having a Muslim father post the September 11 attacks in New York City. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two persons were arrested for selling illicit liquor in Roorkee on Monday. J Khanduri, SSP Haridwar told the media, "They have accepted that they sold illicit liquor in Saharanpur too. They have named another accused in the case, further investigation is underway." Earlier on Monday, the Haridwar police had arrested the prime accused Sardar Hardev and his son Sukka in Jhabrera in connection with the deaths that occurred due to consumption of illicit liquor in Uttarkhand's Roorkee. DG Law and Order Ashok Kumar told ANI that so far four people have been arrested in the region. Consumption of spurious illegal liquor has claimed the lives of more than 70 people in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, forcing government officials to launch a major crackdown to nab those responsible for distribution of illicit liquor in the states and its neighbouring regions. Meanwhile, two persons have been arrested in connection with hooch tragedy in Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh, which claimed eight lives, said Superintendent of Police Rajeev Narayan Mishra on Sunday. The Uttar Pradesh government had on Sunday constituted a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe recent deaths due to consumption of illicit liquor in the state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid discordant notes from different political quarters and massive backlash in northeastern states, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will table the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which was passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8, seeks to provide citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014. In view of the volatile situation in the northeastern state Manipur, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have been imposed in East and West Imphal districts. As per the orders of the district magistrate, "Section-144 is imposed in Imphal till 12 February 2019 until further orders due to the situation arising out of intense agitation launched by various civil society organisations against the passing of Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha." Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu and his Manipur counterpart N Biren Singh voiced their opposition to the Bill during their meeting with Union Minister Singh here recently, and urged him to not press for the Bill in the Upper House. Replying to the debate on the Bill in the Lok Sabha on January 8, Singh had said: "The Act will not be confined to Assam, migrants can reside in any State; burden of these persecuted migrants will be shared by the whole country." Moving the Bill, the Union Home Minister had clarified: "The beneficiaries of Citizenship Amendment Bill can reside in any state of the country. The burden of these persecuted migrants will be shared by the whole country." "Assam alone would not have to bear the entire burden and the Government of India is committed to giving all help to the State Government and people of Assam," Singh had said. Dispelling the misgivings, Singh had highlighted the discrimination and religious persecution faced by these communities in these countries. They have no place to go to, except India, he said. "The Act will provide relief to persecuted migrants who have come through western borders of the country to states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and other states," he had said. Addressing a rally in Guwahati recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also dispelled apprehensions about the Bill, saying that the rights of the people of Assam and that of other northeastern states would remain intact. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) German automaker Audi AG delivered around 144,650 cars to customers worldwide in January, with sales performing positively in the two largest markets China and Germany. In China the company achieved its best January result in its history, with sales up 5.1 per cent to 64,000 units sold. In the German domestic market the Ingolstadt-based carmaker handed over 23,359 cars (+1.5 per cent). Despite the government shutdown, demand in the US is virtually on par with the strong prior-year level (14,253 sold automobiles, -1.8 per cent). Worldwide deliveries were down 3.0 percent year-on-year due to the decrease of sales in European region. 2019 will also be dominated by the switch to the WLTP test cycle and preparations for the next stage of the test procedure, as well as by many new highly compelling models of our brand, said Martin Sander, currently in charge of operations at the Marketing and Sales division of Audi AG. At Audi the topic of electrification in particular will take centre stage. We will be starting three all-electric models and substantially expanding our PHEV portfolio. In addition to the Audi e-tron, the all-electric models include the e-tron Sportback and the Q2 L e-tron for the Chinese market. The company will be unveiling new plug-in hybrid models at the Geneva Motor Show in March. Audi achieved its best January result ever in China. The locally produced models remained a very strong growth driver: Demand for the A3 (+20.4 per cent to 8,748 cars) and A4 L (+21.3 per cent to 16,668 cars) rose above-average. 2,693 customers opted for the long version of the Q2, which was launched in China in November. The new A6 L, which is also manufactured in China, has just arrived in dealerships. The model is also at the centre of a new ride-hailing service, which Audi is piloting together with a local partner in five cities in 2019. Customers can already use the premium service in Xian and Chengdu. In Europe the impact of the limited portfolio due to the switch to the new WLTP test cycle continues to be felt, with a knock-on effect in terms of deliveries. On the home continent the Ingolstadt-based carmaker delivered 8.5 percent fewer cars than in 2018. To date Audi has homologated 129 engine/transmission variants according to WLTP and is extending its portfolio in the configurator on a weekly basis. While major European markets such as the UK (-27.5 per cent) or Spain (-14.6 per cent) were down year-on-year, Audi in Germany started the new year positively, up 1.5 percent with 23,359 models sold. In Russia the company benefited from the dynamic market and the market launch of Q8 with sales up more than a fifth (+24.0 per cent to 900 cars). Audi of America closed January down 1.8 percent, with 14,253 models sold. Here the government shutdown along with transport problems and the winter weather played their part. In the US, the new full-size models are now available in dealerships, generating high levels of growth: 1,889 customers received their keys for an Audi A6 (+151.5 per cent), the A7 increased 198.1 percent to 620 models, sales of the A8 were up 153.6 per cent to 284 cars. In the North America region the company delivered around 16,900 premium automobiles, 5.2 per cent less than a year ago. TradeArabia News Service Posters featuring businessman Robert Vadra along with his wife Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Congress president Rahul Gandhi have been put up outside the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office here on Tuesday, ahead of Vadra's questioning in a money laundering case. A slogan saying that this time, Rahul-Priyanka duo will come to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections, has also been inscribed in the poster. Vadra and his mother Maureen will be questioned in ED's Jaipur office in connection with the Bikaner land case probe. The mother-son duo arrived in Jaipur on Monday. On January 22 this year, the Rajasthan High Court's Jodhpur bench had directed Vadra, Maureen, and his partners in Skyline Hospitality to appear before the ED on February 12 to respond to the allegations of money laundering involving his firm. In November 2018, the ED had for the third time issued summons to Vadra and his mother, a partner in the firm, for questioning but none of them appeared. Instead, they moved the High Court seeking a 'no coercive action' order and stay of their arrest. A money laundering case was registered by the ED in September 2015, claiming that Skylight Hospitality had acquired land in Kolayat village of Bikaner, which was meant for the rehabilitation of the poor villagers. It was alleged that Vadra bought 69.55 hectares of land at a cheaper rate and then sold the land to Allegheny Finlease for Rs 5.15 crore through illegal transactions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government which is keen to get parliamentary approval for the Triple Talaq Bill, will table it in the Rajya Sabha later today. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will move The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill. The Triple Talaq Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on December 27 last year with 245 votes in favour and 11 against the Bill. The opposition parties want the Bill to be sent to the Select Committee of Parliament for further vetting, a demand rejected by the Centre. However, an ordinance was re-promulgated in January this year as the revised Bill could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha where the government lacks majority. The Bill criminalises the practice of instant triple talaq with a provision of three years imprisonment to the erring husband. The issue of triple talaq was taken up in the Parliament in August last year after a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court ruled "unconstitutional" a practice that allows Muslim men to divorce their wives simply by uttering "talaq" three times in quick succession. In a landmark 3-2 verdict, the apex court found the practice un-Islamic and "arbitrary", and disagreed that triple talaq was an integral part of religious practice. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Assam Congress MP Ripun Bora has given zero hour notice in Rajya Sabha to discuss in the house 'circumstances which led to late Bhupen Hazarika's son refusing father's Bharat Ratna'. Bora, who is also the president of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee, told ANI, "I fully appreciate the concern and sentiments of the son of Bhupen Hazarika. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is working against the idea supported by Bhupen Hazarika. Bhupen Hazarika stood for unity, integrity, culture, and identity of the North East. Citizenship Bill is going to destroy the ideology of Bhupen Hazarika. His son's decision to turn down the award is the right step. On being asked about Hazarika's family being divided on the matter, Bora asserted that he is the real legacy of Bhupen Hazarika and not the stalwart's brother. Responding to the reported statement of Tez Hazarika, who is settled in the US that he is against accepting the coveted award to protest against the Citizenship Bill, which seeks to give citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants in Assam, Bhupen's family members sounded a discordant note on Monday. Talking to media persons here, Samar Hazarika, brother of Bhupen Hazarika said: "We have not recently spoken to Tej. Today I have heard that he has refused to accept the Bharat Ratna on behalf of his father. I am of the view that Bhupen deserved Bharat Ratna, which he should have been conferred upon a long time back." "It is a government decision, which is certainly belated one. The award has been given to Bhupen Hazarika. However, I do not know whether his son should accept the award on behalf of his father or not. Bhupen Hazarika is a pride of the entire nation," he said. Bhupen Hazarika's sister-in-law Manisha Hazarika told ANI: "On behalf of our family, I am saying that Bharat Ratna is such an award that belongs to India. Bhupen Da is a legendary figure. He is above politics. I am happy that though belated Bhupen Da has been chosen for the Bharat Ratna award." Bhupen Hazarika was posthumously honored with the highest civilian award this Republic Day along with former President Pranab Mukherjee and late social activist Nanaji Deshmukh. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav was allegedly prevented from boarding an airplane without any written orders on Tuesday. The former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh was on his way to attend the swearing-in ceremony of a student leader in Allahabad. Taking to Twitter, Akhilesh said the incident clearly shows how "frightened" the government is by his presence at the oath-taking ceremony of a student leader. "I was prevented from boarding the airplane without any written orders. Currently detained at Lucknow airport. It is clear how frightened the government is by the oath ceremony of a student leader. The BJP knows that youth of our great country will not tolerate this injustice anymore!" Yadav tweeted. The SP leader also said authorities failed to cite reasons for stopping him from boarding the flight. "The sole purpose of preventing me from attending the student union's program is to suppress socialist ideas and voices among the youth," Yadav added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Four soldiers lost their lives after a military chopper during an emergency landing here on Monday evening (local time) crashed in the residential area of Turkey's Cekmekoy region. Sputnik quoted Istanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya confirming the number of dead in the accident, and adding that the aircraft was facing technical problems while practising an emergency landing. However, firefighters and rescue operations quickly arrived at the accident site, the Governor added. Turkish National Defense Ministry, Milli Savunma Bakanlg, also confirmed the death toll on its official Twitter handle and said that an investigation into the matter was initiated. "Our UH-1 type helicopter from Istanbul / 4th Land Aviation Regiment Command has suffered an accident in Cekmekoy for an unknown reason. In the accident, 4 heroic gunmen were martyred. An investigation into the incident was initiated," the Ministry said. "We extend our condolences to the saintly martyrs and to our noble nation." "The Presidency of the Board of Inspectors of the Ministry of National Defense has been appointed to examine the helicopter crash in Istanbul where four of our heroic comrades were killed. Following the comprehensive review, the result will be shared with the public," the Ministry added. Turkish Parliament Speaker, Binali Yildirim, also expressed sadness and extended condolences to the families of the martyred soldiers on Twitter. "I wish God's mercy from the Mehmet the Lord, I wish the families of martyrs," the Speaker said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In July 2010, Vishwavir Ahuja, who had spent his entire professional life at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch a decade of it in the biggest sea-facing room on the 16th floor of Express Towers in Mumbai went over to helm the 64-year old Kolhapur-based Ratnakar Bank (RBL). Out went the memberships of Taj Chambers, Oberoi Belvedere and the gymkhanas, says Ahuja, who had, until then, inhaled only the rarefied air in the higher echelons of India Inc. 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 UAE is one of the happiest countries in the world, according to a new report compiled by global management consultancy Boston Global Consulting Group (BCG). Titled Towards A Broader View of National Performance, prepared in collaboration with the 2019 World Government Summit, the report includes an assessment of income and happiness dynamics, stated Emirates news agency Wam. The data shows that the UAE has managed to increase happiness. The UAE is placed above markets such as the USA, Canada, Belgium and France in terms of the happiness indicator. This is a strong reflection of the nations efforts and investments to improve peoples happiness, albeit slower economic growth during the period. It shines light on the need to go beyond the widely-used Gross Domestic Product (GDP) metric as a sole indicator of societal well-being and economic performance. "As an advocate for enhancing lives across the world, we are proud to be part of conversations that help to shape government agendas which reflect a drive towards achieving societal well-being an area that the UAE leadership continues to lead the world in through its happiness agenda," said Dr Leila Hoteit, partner and managing director at Boston Consulting Group Middle East. "To encourage further thought-leadership, this research draws upon BCGs experience working with country and regional leaders on national strategies and from the work on the objective measure of well-being used in BCGs Sustainable Economic Development Assessment (SEDA)." While GDP is the most common national performance metric, its narrow scope bypasses critical societal factors, including education, health and the distribution of wealth. By incorporating well-being metrics to complement GDP, the policies of government can be tuned to monitor socioeconomic dynamics, providing an early warning system to trigger course corrections. The lens of Subjective well-being, often referred to as happiness metrics, has seen a slow uptake from global policy makers and does not show a direct correlation with GDP. However, these metrics provide opportunities for future policy design, policy monitoring and policy assessment to leverage insights related to the human welfare of the societies we live in. The under-strength Indian Air Force (IAF), already making do by extending the life of its MiG-29, Mirage 2000, and Jaguar fleet, is now evaluating an unexpected windfall from Moscow for a brand new squadron of upgraded MiG-29 multi-role fighters. These 21 fighters were built in the 1980s by Russian firm, RAC MiG, for the Russian Air Force, which eventually could not muster up the money to pay for them. For three decades, these aircraft have lain unused; their wings stored separate from their bodies. Now, the IAF has been invited to buy them at the price they were built ... The Vedanta group, that won the maximum number of blocks in the first round of oil and gas auctions under Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), said production at the blocks will start by 2022. We should be able to bring the first oil before 2022, said Sudhir Mathur, chief executive officer at Cairn Oil & Gas, Vedantas oil and gas subsidiary. The Union government has launched the third round of auctions under OALP, in which 23 blocks were put on bidding for global oil and gas majors on Sunday. Of the 55 blocks that were on offer during the first round, Vedanta has got ... We are opening up only those stores - 270 so far - where 100 per cent of our staff has been vaccinated 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 Bryan, OH (43506) Today A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. High 86F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers after midnight. Low 69F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Aerospace Turbine Services & Solutions (TS&S), a leading maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider for aero engines and industrial gas turbines, has signed an agreement with European carrier TAP Air Portugal for Trent 700 engine repair. Abu Dhabi-based TS&S is wholly owned by Mubadala Investment Company. Announced in Dubai, UAE, at the MRO Middle East, the regions leading conference and trade show for commercial aircraft maintenance, the agreement pertaining specifically to Trent 700 engines is the first of its kind between the MRO and a European carrier. Repairs of the Trent 700 engine, which power the Airbus A330 aircraft, will be carried out at TS&Ss state-of-the-art facilities at Abu Dhabi International Airport, said a company statement. TAP Air Portugal operates a modern fleet of aircraft which includes 17 Airbus A330 with an average age of 13.2 years. Rolls-Royce recently announced the delivery of its 2000th Trent 700 engine since its introduction in 1995. There are currently 1,710 aircraft globally that are operating Trent 700 engines which is set to grow to 1,738 by 2020. TS&S - currently the worlds only independent Trent 700 MRO facility - works in partnership with major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) including Rolls-Royce, GE Aviation and International Aero Engines and provides a variety of engine maintenance services across multiple engine platforms, including Airbus, Boeing and light aircraft. Mansoor Janahi, acting chief executive officer, TS&S, said: We greatly value this milestone agreement with TAP Air Portugal signifying an expansion of our customer base in the European market with one of the continents fastest growing airlines. This agreement is testament to the quality delivered by our workforce and were thrilled that renowned European airlines, such as TAP Air Portugal, are confident in Abu Dhabi service providers for their MRO requirements, he said. As part of its business strategy, TS&S works closely with airlines, OEMs and lessors and is an independent service provider delivering state-of-the-art, tailored solutions for the industry, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Etihad Cargo, the cargo and logistics arm of Etihad Airways, said it has once again been selected by EEM World, a global leading organiser of equestrian events, to transport a special consignment of show jumping horses from Belgium to Hong Kong. The horses are being transported for the annual Longines Masters of Hong Kong taking place on February 15 to 17, said a statement. This is the third consecutive year that Etihad Cargo has been entrusted with the transport of these elite horses for the worlds most prestigious show jumping event, it said. The dedicated charter flight from Liege Airport to Hong Kong International Airport will deliver 68 horses accompanied by professional grooms and a veterinarian for the round-trip journey, it added. Wiam Al Qamshui, business development manager responsible for Etihad Cargos Equine product SkyStables, said: We are honoured to have been chosen again to look after this very important shipment of prized animals. In the five years since our SkyStables product was introduced, we have become one of the industrys most experienced specialist equine carriers. We move horses all around the world from places like Barbados, Bogota and Japan, as well as the key Europe and Middle East equine markets. Todays announcement comes on the back of a record 2018 that saw us transport over 2,000 horses for the first time, Al Qamshui added. Christophe Ameeuw, founder and chief executive officer of EEM, said: The horses flying to Hong Kong are the stars of our show and without them there would be no Longines Masters of Hong Kong. We are delighted to entrust the safety and care of these world class show jumping horses to Etihad Cargo this year again. We look forward to their arrival at Hong Kong airport on February 11 and kick off of the Masters and the Asia Horse Week, he said. Etihad Cargo achieved a number of milestones with SkyStables in 2018, including its largest transportation of 90 horses in one day, as well as the transportation of 99 horses from MIA-AMS, as they returned from the horse racing season in Miami, US. The horses for the Longines Masters of Hong Kong will be transported on a Boeing 777 freighter equipped with a specially designed ventilation structure and temperature control system, two vital components when transporting horses. It is also equipped with EASA and FAA certified - horse air stalls. Designed with non-slip floors which are covered with absorbent materials, the stalls are stocked with hay and water for the horses to remain fed and hydrated throughout the flight. A team of professional grooms and veterinarians will handle the horses during loading and throughout the duration of the flight to ensure they remain comfortable and calm, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Latest News Queensland has Australias fastest growing property market They might be losing State of Origin, but there might be some good news for Queensland MFAA reveals top brokers, lenders in Victoria and Tasmania Check out the list of winners in this years MFAA VIC/TAS State Excellence Awards Lend Wright director Michelle Milsom-Wright shares her professional - and personal - advice for a successful career Q: Who or what inspired you to become a broker? A: When I bought my first home Aussie Home Loans had just launched, and I met a lovely lady called Kathy, who was to be my broker. She conducted meetings out of hours to suit my schedule and, when she delivered the news that we had got the loan, thats when I knew what I wanted to do in my working life. Delivering such life-changing news is an amazing feeling. I have no regrets about that decision. The memory has not faded over time, and it keeps me motivated whenever challenges arise. Q: What are your top survival tips for working in finance? A: I personally believe a sense of humour is imperative. Without this we could easily take ourselves too seriously and cave under pressure. My clients enjoy the fact they are able to relax, while I remain professional throughout. Also, never underestimate the value of networking; it can deliver an abundance of business introductions. Q: What is your business philosophy and what inspired it? A: Loyalty is given; trust is earned. This is true in everyday life also. We offer our loyalty to our clients, producing beneficial results for them. In turn they trust us with their personal and confidential information. My client base is mostly in the nonconforming market. This is challenging, but to me it is the most rewarding. Ours is not to judge where our clients are or have been; it is simply to work out a strategy to benefit them in their financial future. Clients need to feel comfortable and confident with me, enabling me to do my best work for them. Q: What is one piece of advice you often give mentee brokers? A: Listen, look, learn! Look for yourself in five years time. Dont just jump in with the first person or group; find the person who most inspires you. Enjoy the experiences with your clients, and show gratification for the privilege of learning from those who have walked the walk. When you are involved for the right reasons, you will enjoy the journey. Finally, remember yourself. Find what you enjoy, learn to relax, and, importantly, invest in yourself by spending time enjoying you. Wellington: New Zealand's government is denying its relationship with China has frayed after what opposition politicians say is a series of snubs by Beijing. New Zealand's business ministry on Tuesday confirmed it was postponing the launch of a much-touted "China-New Zealand Year of Tourism" project because "changes of schedule on the Chinese side" meant a visiting delegation couldn't make it to the opening ceremony in Wellington. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Credit:AAP Officials insist the promotional event - agreed to by the previous Kiwi government two years ago - is still going ahead and hope to confirm a new launch date. But the claims of a timetable clash echo closely the government's explanations of why Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has yet to make a long-promised trip to Beijing and have raised questions from the opposition about whether diplomatic relations are falling apart. Lincoln, Nebraska: A Republican senator who's among President Donald Trump's most vocal critics within the party blamed technology for the country's divisions during a discussion with University of Nebraska-Lincoln students this week. Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse on Capitol Hill. Credit:AP Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska spoke to more than 600 students Monday at an event called Why Don't We Get Along? How Huskers Can Change the Future. The first-term senator said technology has undermined traditional community structures, and people try to replace them with ideology or "political tribes." Political parties aren't adequate replacements for communities, according to Sasse, who has said he regularly considers leaving the GOP and becoming an independent. "Republicans and Democrats are crappy tribes," Sasse said during the panel discussion. "These aren't people who love you and are going to comfort you in your old age. They're just political parties." The image of Bahraini footballer Hakeem al-Araibi barefoot, shackled, and surrounded by guards shocked many across the world, and reinvigorated the resolve of his supporters. This contrasts wildly with the moment Araibis release was announced on Monday. The feeling of injustice drove the global pressure on Thailand to drop Bahrains vendetta against a young man who had escaped torture and imprisonment to continue his football career in Australia. Hakeem al-Araibi leaves the criminal court in Bangkok earlier this month. Credit:AP As we celebrate Araibis safe return to his home, wife, and regular life in Melbourne, we must remember those who have the misfortune of languishing in Bahrains prisons. Hours after hearing about Araibis release resulting from Bahrains decision to finally withdraw its extradition request my brother-in-law, Sayed Nizar, suffered a miscarriage of justice. Bahrains top court upheld his sentence to three years imprisonment. All in all, he will be spending 11 years in prison. Buddy Omohundro, Apex's chief services officer and general counsel, says in an email that his company strives to ensure it's creating the best possible work experience. "Apex provides multiple avenues for employees to raise concerns, both directly and anonymously, and to have those concerns addressed," he wrote. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Apex is one tiny part of a sprawling global network of staffing firms working with Apple; it is not even the only firm staffing the facility at Hammerwood Avenue. For Apple Maps alone, workers are spread across several locations in Silicon Valley, as well as in Austin, Texas; London; the Czech Republic; and India, according to people who worked on the project. The operation involves thousands of contractors. At Hammerwood, the population has exceeded 250 at times, although the number fluctuates and Apple declined to give a current count. Places like Hammerwood undermine the mythology of Silicon Valley as a kind of industrial utopia where talented people work themselves to the bone in exchange for outsize salaries and stock options. A common perception in the Bay Area is that its only serious tech-labour issue is the high cost of living driven by the industry's obscene salaries. But many of those poorer residents work in tech, too. For decades, contractors and other contingent workers have served meals, driven buses, and cleaned toilets at tech campuses. They've also built circuit boards and written and tested software, all in exchange for hourly wages and little or no job security. In different forms, temporary labour as an alternative to full-time employment has grown across the US economy. Companies in many industries now use staffing firms to handle work once done by full-time workers. The technology industry offers one of the starkest examples of how the groups' fortunes have diverged. While companies aren't required to disclose the sizes of their contingent workforces, there's ample evidence that tech companies use large numbers of contractors and temps. Last year, Bloomberg News reported that direct employees at Alphabet's Google accounted for less than half its workforce. Loading Tech worker activism The treatment of these workers is emerging alongside sexual harassment and military contracting as a principal target of the wave of tech worker activism that's been building over the past two years. When Google employees staged a walkout last November, many contingent workers didn't learn about it in advance because they don't have access to internal mailing lists. A month later, Googlers sent an open letter to the company's management demanding better working conditions for temporary workers, vendors and contractors. The Apple Maps operations staffed by Apex provide a dim view of contract work, according to current and former Apex workers. Some took jobs there with the hope of landing full-time work at Apple a possibility they said Apex played up only to find the chances were small. As Apple has faced headwinds in recent months, it has further reduced the practice of converting any contract workers to full-time positions, according to a person familiar with Apple's operations. Other Apex workers took the job just to put Apple on their resume. Even that benefit was tenuous. Apex managers initially distributed specific wording they could include on their LinkedIn profiles referring to their employer as Apple, via Apex Systems. Last summer, Apex said they had to remove the word "Apple", describing their employer only as "a majort tech company via Apex Systems", according to two former employees. The restrictions were just one of many reminders of the contractors' inferior status, right down to the apple design on their ID badges. For direct employees, the apples were multi-coloured; contractors got what one described as "sad grey". It's common for companies to distribute different badges to contractors, a practice that discontented workers across the industry have seized on as evidence of a caste system. An architectural drawing of Apple's "spaceship" headquarters in Cupertino, California. Amber Lutsko, who worked for Apple through Apex in 2017 and 2018, described an opening-day pep talk that aimed to make her feel both honoured and excluded. "You work at Apple now! You have made it!" she recalls being told. "You're not allowed to use the gym." The companies of Silicon Valley have created vast fortunes with far fewer employees than the corporate behemoths that came before them. In part, this is because you can replicate software infinitely in a way you can't with, say, a Model T. But the tech industry was also an early adopter of offloading core functions to contract workers. Tech was quick to embrace contractors because of rapid advancements requiring constant adjustments in the composition of the workforce, according to Louis Hyman, author of the 2018 book Temp. All those changes helped nurture Silicon Valley's ideology of flexibility and speed, first in hardware, then in software and business operations. Hyman quotes a 1993 issue of Apple's internal magazine that describes the transition away from direct employees to contractors and outsourcing firms as both a "predictable evolution" and "the future". Loading Conflict is inevitable in a two-tiered workforce. As far back as the 1990s, Microsoft contractors challenged their employment status in court and attempted to unionise. In 2014, a group of Microsoft bug-testers won the right to bargain with their employer, a staffing agency called Lionbridge Technologies. Within a few years, Lionsbridge had eliminated all their jobs. Apple, which has about 130,000 full-time employees, also accepts workers from about three dozen staffing firms, according to OnContracting, a website providing market information to staffing companies. Contracting firms work on iTunes and server infrastructure, handle customer support, and select articles for Apple News. Apex, the largest division of ASGN, a staffing company based in suburban Los Angeles, has provided Apple with a steady stream of mapping technicians, whose jobs consist of checking to make sure that Apple's software is drawing roads in the right places, or responding to reports of inaccuracies in existing maps. They're largely in their early- to mid-20s, and have often just graduated from college. Wages are generally about $US25 ($35) an hour, which some workers consider generous and others see as stingy. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 2017 median hourly wage for mapping technicians nationwide was $US20.84, while the median per-hour rate for the same jobs in California was $US30.61. Apex employees have access to health insurance, although the premiums are high enough that some people opt not to take it. Because the workforce is young, Apex workers often stay on their parents' health insurance rather than figure things out on their own. Apex has also changed aspects of employment suddenly. In November, it cut the maximum amount of paid sick time employees could take annually from 48 hours to 24 hours, saying the policy would go into effect in two days, according to two current employees and an internal email viewed by Bloomberg. The email, which Apex workers received on a Thursday afternoon, inspired a rare moment of collective action. A group of over a dozen workers said they had suddenly fallen ill, and left, according to one current Apex employee who participated in the protest. It sounds good when you say you work at Apple, but when you're not being paid the same amount, and you're not treated the same way, it gets old quickly. "At all times, Apex has provided as much paid sick leave as required by applicable law," says Omohundro, adding that the company worked to find exceptions in individual cases. Many Apex employees first heard about the company through LinkedIn. The company trawls the website for people with proficiency in skills for map making like geographic information systems or geography, then messages them repeatedly. Lutsko had worked as an archaeologist and was in between jobs in 2017 when, as she describes it, she basically gave in. "They're pretty aggressive, so it was easy to take the job," she says. At the beginning of the interview process, Apex doesn't mention the company where people will work. But the revelation can tip wavering candidates over the edge. "They said it was with Apple they were super hush-hush originally and I was like, Oh my God!" says a former Apex worker who started in 2017. "That will be on my resume? Bang!" Secrecy part of the allure The secrecy just made the job seem sexier. Many Apex workers assumed discretion was required because Hammerwood had some connection to self-driving cars. Their own work turned out to be drudgery. Still, they gossiped about the mysterious group of direct Apple employees who also worked on the site. They never knew for sure what those people were up to, since they say managers at Apex kept them from communicating with Apple employees unless it was necessary to do their immediate jobs. One former Apex worker says the contractors weren't allowed to use the bathrooms on the direct employees' side of the building. Complaints about the bathrooms were common. Lines formed outside the men's rooms, especially around lunchtime, according to former employees. (Because the workforce was predominantly male, the women's rooms had ample capacity.) Anonymous complaints about inadequate facilities were scrawled on white boards around the office. Twice in 2017, Hammerwood workers filed complaints against Apple with the state's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Cal/OSHA. Apple told Cal/OSHA it had examined the situation and determined it was in compliance with the law. There was no mention of Apex workers being discouraged from using certain bathrooms, according to records obtained by Bloomberg News through a public records request. The agency did not pursue the issue. The working environment was uncomfortable in other ways, according to current and former contractors. Apex managers sometimes broke up unauthorised water-cooler socialising. Several workers say their managers would get notifications if their workstations were idle for too long. "Being monitored like that is super dehumanising and terrifying," says one former Apex mapping technician. Mutual distrust If Apex seemed not to trust its workers, the feeling was mutual. They described a hiring process that was misleading in several ways. For one, Apex failed to explain the one-year assignments started with several weeks of training followed by a test, many say. Anyone who didn't pass was terminated immediately. The company recruited nationwide, so some workers showed up in California, signed leases in one of the most expensive housing markets in the country, and lost their only source of income within a matter of weeks. There are no reliable numbers on how common such firings were; Omohundro says the "vast majority" of employees complete their assignments. But they loomed large even for those who passed the test. Lutsko says watching colleagues suddenly lose their jobs soured her on her new employer. "I couldn't handle the arbitrariness of everything," she says. "The starry-eyed kids straight off the bus from Iowa thinking they'd made it in Silicon Valley straight out of college. The bait-and-switch. The, 'Oh you didn't make it through training, please give us your badge now.' " Lutsko quit before her contract was up. The LinkedIn messages from Apex recruiters persisted. This was common. Two people who Apex had fired said the company periodically pitches them on jobs. "You got rid of me because of my quote-unquote performance, and every three months I get these emails," says one of them. "It's insulting, honestly." Worker bonds Like any group of people in shared circumstance, workers at Hammerwood bonded. Several former contractors say it was fun to be around people their own age, and say the odd atmosphere only made them closer. Because many of them were young, new to the area, and not making enough money to live on their own, they ended up pooling resources to rent apartments or houses nearby. Many people simply moved to similar contracting jobs with other tech firms once their positions at Apple ended, so their homes ended up having a mixture of Facebook, Google and Uber contractors. Several people described the geographic information systems contracting workforce almost as if it were a resource the big tech companies shared. People who left Apple would join the GIS staff at another company and find it was staffed primarily by Apex veterans. Those who left Apple often say their lives improved. Facebook's management put signs up around campus reading "Contractors Are People Too", and contingent workers participated in on-campus arts and crafts activities. Google paid more than competitors and let everyone use the gym, says Nick Wilson, who worked at Apple through Apex, then worked at Facebook, and is now a contractor doing mapping work at Google. Moving between companies didn't feel like advancement, says Wilson. "None of the skills I learnt at Apple could be carried over," he says, adding that his managers were indifferent to any attempts by employees to distinguish themselves. 'Depressing and quiet' "There were many people who took initiative and made things, increased the efficiency. They weren't rewarded in any way," he says. "There were people who had abandoned any hope. They'd come in late, leave early, and just do nothing all day. They were treated the same as everyone else." (Both Lutsko and Wilson declined to discuss the exact nature of their jobs or the building at which they worked, citing their non-disclosure agreements.) The mood at Hammerwood dimmed late last year, after the changes in benefits and after Apex suddenly fired about two dozen people, according to two current Apex employees. One described the workplace as depressing and quiet, with everyone on edge. "I'm afraid of being too social because they might see that as not working hard enough," he says. "Apex handles all terminations in a sensitive and confidential manner," says Omohundro. "The company does not share the details of employee terminations, regardless of whether they are for cause or not for cause." Activists associated with the burgeoning labour movement in the tech industry say the contracting workforce is ripe for organisation, but acknowledge it's been challenging to organise white-collar workers. "It's a new concept," says Yana Calou, an organiser at Coworker.org. Information workers have been more reticent than security guards and cafeteria workers to confront tech companies because they're angling for full-time work, says Calou. "I think there's the tiny idea of, 'I'll be the exception that squeezes through.' " That feeling eventually wears off. One former Apex worker, a 32-year-old who lives in the maid's quarters of a house with eight roommates, says years of uncertainty have left him worn out. Booted Liberal National Party member Jason Costigan is missing in action as the first sitting of the Queensland Parliament begins for 2019. Parliament resumed on Tuesday after an 89-day break and Mr Costigan was due to spend his first days on the crossbench as an independent. Newly independent MP Jason Costigan, pictured with LNP leader Deb Frecklington, will miss the first sitting week. The backbencher was kicked out of the party earlier this month following allegations of "disgusting behaviour" towards an 18-year-old, which he strenuously denied. Speaker Curtis Pitt said he had received a notification from Mr Costigan that he would be absent this week, which complied with Parliament rules. Labor is squaring up for a pre-election fight on national security, firmly signalling it will oppose a law allowing the government to more easily strip Australian terrorists of their citizenship. After six years in which the opposition has backed national security and anti-terrorism legislation - normally after securing changes - senior frontbenchers Penny Wong and Mark Dreyfus have both indicated they have significant concerns with the latest move by the government and lean towards rejecting it. Labors opposition would leave the laws unlikely to pass Parliament as the government would struggle to win enough crossbench support. Mr Dreyfus, the shadow attorney-general, said constitutional lawyers had told a parliamentary committee as well as Labor directly that the laws were likely unconstitutional. "Were not very happy with this bill. Were not interested in giving terrorists a win in the highest court in the land, which is what this would do if the law was struck down as unconstitutional," Mr Dreyfus said. Raising the stakes further, Professor Twomey said that if the government was now asserting that the bill was a money bill, the government would be exposed to claims it should lose power if it lost a vote on the bill. "If the government is now asserting that this is a money bill, then, if the bill actually gets passed, against the wishes of the government, that would be an indication that the government has lost control over the finances of the country," she said. "That's criticial in terms of confidence and loss of government." Adding to these comments, Professor Twomey said the medical transfer "raises the stakes considerably" over the government's fate. "Once a government loses control of government finances, it is obliged to resign or seek a dissolution," she told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. "See, for example, the fall of the Fadden Government in 1941 when the budget was amended to reduce it by the nominal sum of 1 pound. So there are risks involved." Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has made a series of concessions to improve the chances of gaining support from the Greens and the crossbench for amendments that could be passed by the lower house on Tuesday afternoon. The vote is on a bill that was amended in the Senate by Labor, the Greens and crossbenchers in early December, triggering the question over whether the upper house has made an appropriation and flouted the constitution. Attorney-General Christian Porter wrote to Mr Smith on Sunday to tell him of the legal questions and to ask him to choose the appropriate course of action in line with previous decisions where the House of Representatives has rejected amendments from the Senate. Mr Porter also provided legal advice from the Solicitor-General, Stephen Donaghue, but told Mr Smith he would appreciate the Speaker not circulating the advice. Mr Smith took a different view, however, and chose to table the letter and the advice in Parliament, making it public to all. I have advised the Attorney General that, as Speaker, it is important that I ensure in this instance all material available to me is also available to all members of the House, Mr Smith said. The Attorney-General says in his letter that this is no mere technicality because the Senate cannot appropriate public funds. Were the House to ignore the requirements of Sections 53 and 56 of the constitution, the Senate would be given the power to dictate the expenditure of public revenue, with potentially crippling effects on public finances, Mr Porter wrote. This would be all the more perverse given that the government of the day, whatever its political complexion, rarely enjoys majority support in the Senate. The Solicitor-General advice was dated February 7 and Mr Porter's letter to the Speaker is dated February 10. In his advice, Dr Donaghue acknowledges the bill may not clearly, necessarily and directly result in additional expenses because the cost of the additional panel members might be covered by the reallocation of funds from elsewhere. Dr Donaghue rejects this because the amendments themselves would be sufficient to constitution a charge or burden on the people and, in any case, the government might not cut funding elsewhere to cover the new costs. Indeed, I have been instructed that the government has no intention of proceeding in that way, he wrote, in advice dated February 7, last Thursday. A crucial element of his advice is that the bill in its current form, as amended by the Senate, could not have been introduced in the Senate because that would breach Section 53 of the Constitution. Senator Michaelia Cash's chief of staff Ben Davies was the source of a controversial leak to media about imminent police raids at Australian Workers' Union offices. David de Garis, a former media adviser to the senator who admitted passing on leaked details to journalists, was ordered to name his source by the Federal Court's Justice Mordecai Bromberg on Tuesday. Senator Michaelia Cash. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The union is taking legal action against the Registered Organisations Commission, arguing the federal police raids on the union's Melbourne and Sydney headquarters in October 2017 as part of a commission investigation were politically motivated and therefore unlawful. The AWU believes it was instigated by Senator Cash in a bid to hurt the union and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed) said it is integrating data-based operational intelligence software across its network of district cooling plants to monitor and improve overall plant performance and reliability. Created by OSIsoft, a leader in operational intelligence, the PI System will collect, analyse, visualise and share the large amount of data produced by Tabreeds network of plants. With this move, Tabreed has become the first district cooling company to integrate OSIsoft PI System into its operations as part of digital transformation strategy. A leading UAE-based regional district cooling utility company, Tabreed said it now tracks approximately 30,000 data streams or tags, monitoring metrics such as real-time and historic power consumption, cooling energy production and equipment status. With 74 district cooling plants located throughout the region, Tabreed currently delivers over one million refrigeration tonnes to key developments in the region including iconic infrastructure projects such as Abu Dhabis Al Maryah Island, Yas Island, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Dubai Metro, Dubai Parks and Resorts, and the Jabal Omar Development at Makkah in Saudi Arabia, it added. COO Jean-Francois Chartrain said: "Tabreed is a partner of choice for organisations across the GCC in providing eco-friendly district cooling solutions that support the regions energy sustainability. "The PI System integration gives us real-time insight into our systems, which plays a key role in enhancing customer satisfaction and our services provided to them," he noted. "This kind of immediate application of such world-class technology is the cornerstone of digital transformation and we hope to leverage technology like the PI System to predict equipment malfunctions and proactively enhance our operations. Data analytics solutions will increase our ability to deliver affordable and reliable chilled water to our customers," he stated. A highly efficient and cost-effective form of air conditioning, district cooling relies on centralised cooling plants to produce chilled water, which then gets circulated through underground insulated pipes to buildings and campuses within a network. District cooling consumes up to 50 per cent less energy than conventional individual air conditioning, reduces maintenance and capital costs, and lowers carbon dioxide emissions, said the statement from Tabreed. In facilities, the PI System is used to manage power consumption for over 135 million sq ft of building space at leading universities, research hospitals, data centres, national laboratories, stadiums, government centers and corporate campuses. The PI System is also used to optimise district heating networks across France. J. Patrick Kennedy, founder and CEO of OSIsoft, said: "We are incredibly excited to be working with Tabreed, which has been a regional leader in demonstrating the power of district cooling." Data is the one commodity in the world that gets more valuable the more people use it. In Tabreeds case, digital transformation can help improve the companys performance, enhance the comfort of its customers and ultimately benefit the greater community. We look forward to seeing what they accomplish, he added.-TradeArabia News Service The ACT government's budget is heading for a $27 million deficit next financial year, due to lower land sales revenue and an extra $22 million in spending promises wiping the forecast $36 million surplus to just $1.5 million this year. Chief Minister Andrew Barr on Tuesday released his mid-year budget review, also showing the government has delayed some school expansions and the rapid bus network funding, as it boosts funds to a Gungahlin school and the justice system. ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr says despite a deficit forecast next year, his budget is still 'balanced'. Credit:Karleen Minney The budget review showed the government's budget balance may return to positive figures in 2020-21, with a $5 million surplus forecast, before rising to about $77 million in 2021-22; though that is contingent on improving economic circumstances and no change in government in 2020. It showed the value of the territory's large-scale renewable energy generation certificates fell $61 million this fiscal year, with land sales and deferred site releases in Taylor, Throsby and North Wright sending land revenue down $20 million. Perths infamous dine and dasher has been sentenced to two years behind bars and fined $3850 for a brazen and deceitful crime spree, the details of which unravelled after a restaurant posted CCTV footage of the woman skipping out on her bill. Lois Loder at times cried as Deputy Chief Magistrate Elizabeth Woods read the details of her 80 offences in the Perth Magistrate Court on Tuesday. Lois Loder has been jailed for two years. Credit:Facebook The court heard the 45-year-old ran out on bills at multiple restaurants including Elmars in the Valley, The Royal, The Floreat Hotel and Bistro Bellavista, racking up bills ranging from $83 to $763. Loder also pleaded guilty to a string of charges related to credit card fraud, stealing and minor drug and traffic offences. Police are investigating a car being set on fire in the Perth suburb of Koondoola, just north of Mirrabooka, on Tuesday morning. The Mazda CX7 was parked in the driveway of a home on Koondoola Avenue when it was deliberately set alight, about 3.30am. Police are investigating. Credit:File photo/Justin Rake The fire gutted the vehicle and extensively damaged a Hyundai LM wagon parked beside it, causing an estimated $40,000 damage. The Department of Fire and Emergency Services extinguished the fire. The Victorian government made amendments to the Bail Act in 2017 and 2018 to tighten the bail system. The impetus for change was sparked by the revelation that James Gargasoulas had been released on bail only a few days prior to him driving a car through Bourke Street Mall, killing six people and injuring another 30. However, it comes as no surprise to see that those caught in the net of the new legislation are not necessarily violent men, but rather a group of highly vulnerable women. We have seen this before. Christina, a former prisoner, used drugs and experienced violence and repeated trauma. Credit:Jason South The 2005 Victorian legislation on defensive homicide was designed to provide a halfway option between murder and complete acquittal to juries and women living with intimate partner violence who killed their partners in self-defence. "Tony was certainly knocked unconscious ... within seconds, and certainly I can say confidently under 10 seconds, the first staff member responded," Dr Cassar told ABC radio. She also said Mokbel was "very confident he would get out of jail" over the Informer 3838 scandal and she suspected that would have probably been annoying to other prisoners. Tony Mokbel shakes the hand of a paramedic at Royal Melbourne Hospital. Credit:Nine News Corrections staff had conducted security assessments but kept Mokbel in the mainstream area of the prison, with Dr Cassar saying it would be investigated whether the gangland criminal was attacked over the report he had intervened in a standover scheme being run by Pacific Islander inmates. "We have strict procedures in place following articles like the one that appeared on Sunday in terms of welfare checks [and] security reassessments," she said. "All those processes were done. "Some of the information [in the article] was of interest to us. Was it a surprise? No." Premier Daniel Andrews said changes would be made to prison security if necessary. "It doesnt matter what we might feel about a particular person; we want our prisons to operate properly and that means they need to be safe for everybody involved, particularly staff," Mr Andrews said. "If changes need to be made, of course they will be." Mokbel suffered multiple stab wounds to the upper body and was left bleeding from the mouth, head and chest. He underwent surgery and was in a critical but stable condition at Royal Melbourne Hospital on Tuesday evening. The second inmate, aged 31, also suffered stab wounds when he rushed to Mokbel's aid. He was taken to hospital in Geelong and released on Tuesday morning before being transported back to prison. Dr Cassar did not detail what sort of weapons were used to stab Mokbel, but said prisoners went to great lengths to fashion shivs from everyday objects. "We've seen instances in the past where they use tree sticks, toothbrushes, hair combs and pens. Those are the type of implements that were used," she said. Tony Mokbel arrives at Royal Melbourne Hospital. Credit:Nine News Mokbel is serving a lengthy sentence for serious drug crimes. He was sentenced to 30 years' prison in 2012, to serve a minimum of 22 years. He is one of a number of criminals whose conviction is now in doubt after it was revealed a gangland criminal barrister, known as Informer 3838 and Lawyer X, acted as a police informer and gave up information about her own clients. The explosive legal scandal has led to the Premier announcing a royal commission into Victoria Police's mismanagement of some of the state's most high-profile criminal investigations. Mokbel is known for skipping bail and fleeing to Greece before he was due to face trial for trafficking amphetamines in March 2006. We're logging off - have a lovely day everyone. Transport network and traffic aren't looking too bad, and it'll stay cool all day, so dust off your winter jacket. Also, it's world radio day today, which UNESCO says is the anointed day to "celebrate radio as a medium". So pull out your wireless and take part in one of our favorite pastimes: listening to half-baked complaints from grumpy individuals on AM, and enjoying (?) what can loosely be described as 'music' on AM. If you think we arent heading, quite rapidly, towards a major budget crisis it simply shows you havent done the math. Big picture stuff first. Lets begin with the funding envelope, the taxes raised by government. So over to Prime Minister Scott Morrison who, as treasurer, insisted hed never let taxes rise above 23.9 percent of gross domestic product. Great! ScoMo loves glib phrases like these, plucked from thin air. Totally meaningless (nearly half Peter Costellos budgets failed this arbitrary marker) but marketing genius. Prime Minister Scott Morrison addresses the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen He may also have a problem with his facts. Last month the conservative, Washington-based Heritage Foundation asserted that over the past three years [Australian] government spending has amounted to 36.5 percent of GDP and puts our public debt at 41.6 percent of GDP. This means leaving aside Morrisons flawed understanding of economics even by his standards theres a lot of budget repair yet to be done. A jury has retired to determine if a Queensland man who admits causing his wife's death during an argument and burying her twice is her murderer. Edmund Ian Riggs, 60, is on trial in Brisbane Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to the 2001 murder of his wife of 17 years, Patricia Anne Riggs. Patricia Anne Riggs' remains were discovered at the family home. Credit:AAP/Supplied Mr Riggs testified last week she died after he pushed her as they fought at their home in Redcliffe, north of Brisbane, where her skeletal remains were found buried in 2016. He claimed she hit her head on the bed, and he panicked when he realised she was dead. "We just had no idea of the amount of rain that was going to come, we didnt have time to prepare," she said. The scale of the floods in the state's north-west. Credit:Laine Keough "Even if we did know, there would have been nothing we could have done. "Julia Creek area is essentially flat, there is no higher ground. Its a flood." Ms Curr believed she had lost 8000 cattle, half of her herd. "Most of the cattle died from exposure - because it was raining for too long they jammed themselves on top of each other trying to get warm and they just couldnt handle it any more," she said. "They are traumatised, weak and still dying even though rain is over." Ms Curr pleaded for governments at state and federal levels to help flooded regional communities. "We have to save our rural communities and families, we have to look after our own country first, priority number one," she said. "We cant play politics, we just have to get the job done. Please, no politics, just save our area." Interstate road trains carrying hay continue to arrive in north-west Queensland as aviation fuel supplies flown in by the military give a glimmer of hope to farmers. However, the promised bulk military airdrop of fodder for the surviving cattle has been put on the backburner, nearly a week after it was promised. Up to 50 road trains are heading to north-west Queensland with fodder to help struggling farmers. Most are coming from South Australia and have been organised by Rural Aid. Credit:Buy a Bale of Hay - Facebook Rachael Anderson's western Queensland cattle station is strewn with the bodies of thousands of cattle that died in floodwater a week after sweltering in drought. But her immediate concern after flood killed half her herd is not the 2000-odd carcasses now rotting in swampy paddocks. It is the banks. "I can provide for my family right now. But in six months' time or when the bank comes for their repayment, I don't know what I'm going to do, none of us know what we are going to do," Ms Anderson said. "We can't get loans because we've got nothing to borrow against, none of us have got anything left." "ONE corner in ONE paddock on ONE property": Traeger MP Robbie Katter posted this image on Facebook. Credit:Robbie Katter The federal government would provide an immediate ex gratia payment of $1 million to affected shires, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday. "This payment will be for them to use on priorities they deem most urgent - whether that be rate relief for impacted properties, infrastructure, or the disposal of cattle which have perished," he said. Meanwhile, the Insurance Council of Australia defended the behaviour of insurers in flood-ravaged Townsville amid complaints they are not paying up. Both the Queensland Labor government and LNP opposition have called on insurers to ensure they give claimants a fair go. Deputy Premier Jackie Trad said there had been 14,600 insurance claims worth $175 million lodged in Queensland following the flood. "For locals, this has been unlike anything experienced before," she said. "Almost twice London's annual rainfall was dumped on Townsville in less than two weeks." I dont think theres anyone in Sydney who was surprised to learn that our night-time economy is important but underdeveloped. The analysis by Deloitte Access Economics (released yesterday) which showed that economic activity after dark in Sydney is worth $27 billion a year, supports more than 230,000 jobs but could be far bigger, reflects what weve been saying at the City of Sydney since well before the lockout laws were introduced. The fact is NSW is not doing nightlife right in Sydney. Weve gone from one extreme to another. From one short-sighted policy to the next. "Keep Sydney Open" rally to protest against the recently renewed lockout laws in 2016. Credit:Peter Rae Short-sighted policies that at one time left police officers needing spare clothes to deal with the blood soaked brawls on their shift and thousands of people stranded at 3am in Kings Cross, drunk and unable to get home because trains stopped running before the clubs and pubs shut down. Hong Kong: Link properties should serve public Chief Executive Carrie Lam said she shares public concern over the way the Link conducts its business, adding Link properties are supposed to serve public housing residents. Responding to media questions before the Executive Council meeting today, Mrs Lam said the Government has been trying to provide more public facilities to residents. Apart from reviewing the provision of parking spaces, she said the two public market projects announced in the Policy Address last October have gained support from the relevant district councils. The Government will speed up the projects implementation. On some lawmakers plan to regulate the Links business by means of a private members bill, Mrs Lam said the move is understandable as there is continuous concern over the way the Link conducts its business and manages its assets. But using legislation to regulate business activities, after all, is very unusual. I am sure we need to look at it in detail, and the members of the Legislative Council will also need to examine and study this idea very thoroughly before we go down this route, she added. This story has been published on: 2019-02-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. The squabbling members of this countrys minor parties inevitably seem to fling themselves into electoral oblivion, dragging down even those who have a shot, for their own petty personal crusades. And, after Pauline Hanson's (original) One Nation and Clive Palmer's PUPs, it seems the Liberal Democrats are no different: another salutary reminder that no political outfit lacks its share of low aspiration party animals. One email said David Leyonhjelm was just an old man yelling at clouds. Illustration: John Shakespeare Credit: The partys sole elected official of any note, David Leyonhjelm, has departed its national executive after a nasty spat between various state-based apparatchiks, but not before reading out the most high-quality of slurs sent his way by fellow executives. Were told it all went down last Sunday at the Batmans Hill Hotel in Melbourne. Doctors are demanding public and private hospitals submit to an independent audit of trainee doctor work hours, as fresh claims of junior doctor exploitation continue to emerge. The case of Dr Yumiko Kadota - who was hospitalised for sleep deprivation after working up to 24 consecutive days on-call at Bankstown Hospital - ignited outrage among senior and trainee clinicians across Australia. Plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr Neela Janakiramanan ignited calls for an audit of junior doctor work hours. On closed social media sites for doctors, and through intermediaries, junior doctors have described working beyond exhaustion, contemplating suicide and being actively discouraged from accurately recording their work hours. The Australian Salaried Medical Officers' Federation (ASMOF) and the Australian Medical Association (AMA) have backed calls for external national audits to reveal the extent of unconscionable rostering and expose the hospitals that demand registrars fudge their timesheets. Victoria is being urged to consider a radical revamp of the states wagering industry to allow more than one company to operate retail betting shops, as is permitted in other jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom and Ireland. Global gambling giant Paddy Power Betfair, the London-listed parent company of Australias Sportsbet, is making the case to the Andrews government that fierce competition in the fast-growing online betting landscape has led to greater consumer choice, product innovation and a better overall experience for wagering customers. Tabcorp's exclusive licence to run off-course retail betting in Victoria is due for renewal in 2024. Credit:AAP It is logical that the same benefits could be enjoyed by retail wagering customers if there was a liberalisation in the retail licence structure, Sportsbet said. Online betting is exploding in popularity in Australia growing 15 per cent a year with many of the worlds biggest and best-known bookmakers such as Ladbrokes, Bet365 and Paddy Power Betfair having acquired licences to provide online gambling sites here. The Bendigo and Adelaide bank headquarters in Melbourne's Docklands will be the first major test of this year's office market after its Singapore-connected owner offered it for sale with hopes of $80 million. The fully-leased tower at 120 Harbour Esplanade is the first of an expected wave of deal making as peak prices and heightened investor interest prompt institutional and private landlords to re-examine their portfolios. Bendigo Banks headquarters is owned by Wharf Street Family Investments. Credit:CBRE Diversified property giant GPT this week underscored the tight focus on Australia's office sector when it reiterated its planned sale of its $800 million share of Sydney's MLC Centre would significantly strengthen the group's already brawny balance sheet. Chief executive Bob Johnston said his focus would remain on increasing the group's exposure to office and logistics in the gateway cities of Sydney and Melbourne. Administrators picking through the wreckage of one of the country's largest online broking houses Halifax Investment Services, have found that $57 million in money invested by clients has been mixed up with funds belonging to the company. Halifax collapsed before Christmas, freezing $210 million invested by its 12,000 plus clients as Ferrier Hodgson was brought in by the company to review its books and records. Administrators are trying to figure out how and why the funds were "co-mingled". Credit:Jessica Shaprio The collapse is so large, administrators liken it to high profile stockbroker collapses including Opes Prime, BBY and Sonray. Ferrier Hodgson is also trying to pinpoint the amount of investor funds that has gone missing. The administrators said they had located around $185 million of the $210 million of investor funds. Macquarie Group chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake has backed mortgage brokers' claim that they are important for competition in the home lending market but says how they get paid may need to change. As Macquarie reaffirmed its guidance for a record profit, Ms Wikramanayake said it was "important" that brokers continue to operate, given their role in distributing loans for smaller competitors to the big four, such as Macquarie. Macquarie Bank CEO Shemara Wikramanayake. Credit:Louie Douvis The royal commission last week recommended scrapping brokers' commissions, which are paid by banks, and replacing them with an upfront fee. Brokers have vowed to fight the proposed change, which has also divided the banks. Macquarie has about 2 per cent of the $1.6 trillion mortgage market. Ms Wikramanayake said the bank used brokers "principally" for selling loans, and 57 per cent of the market also used the service of brokers. While there may be changes in how brokers were paid, she said it was important the industry continued to operate. Want to praise someone or get something off your chest? Darts and Pats is the place to do it. Vampire Weekend are returning to Ireland as the band have confirmed that they will be playing at the Summer Series in Trinity College on July 1. Last month, the New York band released the songs Harmony Hall and 2021" from their upcoming fourth album, Father of the Bride, to critical acclaim with The Guardian, The Times, The New York Times and Rolling Stone all praising the group. Multi-Grammy award winning artist Lauryn Hill has announced that she will play the Musgrave Park, Cork on June 26. She will bring The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 20th anniversary tour to Cork where she will play hits from the iconic album. The album, which won a record-breaking five Grammy Awards, launched her solo career and is considered by many to be one of the best albums of the last 25 years. The commercial and critically acclaimed album cemented is still as fresh as it was when it was first released 20 years ago and fans will be treated to some new variations of the classic hits. Tickets, priced from 49.90, will go on sale this Friday at June 26 at 8.30am. Also playing Musgrave Park this summer will be Liam Gallagher who has announced a gig on June 23. The ex-Oasis and ex-Beady Eye frontman took to Twitter - of course - to express his delight at returning to the Rebel county. Im absolutely over the Keith, to be going back to County Cork to headline Irish Independent Park on 23rd June LG x Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) February 12, 2019 Tickets, priced at 49.90, will go on sale at 8.30am this Friday. A woman told the High Court her father sexually abused her between the ages of four and six and also facilitated similar abuse by neighbours and others. The woman, now in her 30s, claimed the abuse happened in the 1980s until her mother took her and her sister to a woman's refuge. The children were later put into foster care after the woman told social workers her mother also abused her. Her mother was admitted to a psychiatric institution three years later. The woman is suing her father for damages for sexual abuse and assault. He denies her claims. The court heard that two years after they left the family home - when she was eight - she gave a statement to gardai outlining the alleged abuse. A file was sent to the DPP who decided not to prosecute. The woman told the jury of two women and 10 men that using male and female dolls, she showed a garda and social worker what had happened to her. She did not remember at this stage much of the abuse she had outlined in her statement but remembered some of the surrounding environment including the places where it occurred. It happened in a particular room of their home which her father brought her to at night; in their sitting room where she was forced to watch pornographic videos; in his car and in nearby houses. She said she was abused by others including the next door neighbour and his wife. She said she was threatened and beaten with a bamboo stick and her father also threatened he would hurt her sister and mother "if you don't be good". She remembered him holding her by the hand as "he brought me to other men's houses" where he introduced them to her as "uncle" and to women as "aunt". She remembered photographs and videos being taken while the abuse occurred. Her father used to call her "the Smurf" and to this day she cannot watch the Smurfs cartoon. She remembered being in pain as a result of the abuse and being unable to go to the toilet because of it for days afterwards. She remembered lying naked on a sheepskin rug in the sitting room where a pornographic video was being played. She said she was forced to watch it and every time she turned her faced away, the neighbour slapped her face to make her watch. She remembered being driven by the neighbour's wife in a van when she was abused and then brought back to the neighbour's house where she continued to abuse her. She remembered telling the garda and social worker that her mother had also abused her in the room where her father took her. Her mother also hit her, she said. Earlier, Sasha Gayer SC, for the woman, said this was a case with "horrendous detail of horrific sexual abuse". As well as denying all the claims, the father argues the action is statute-barred because she did not take it until many years after she became an adult. Counsel said she was so traumatised by her experience, she was unable to cope with looking after a son she had when she was 18. The care of that child was taken over by her foster parents and she and her son drifted apart. She suffered further tragedy when a young man she had been in love with died suddenly from sudden adult death syndrome, counsel said. After seeing her father by chance in 2009, she decided to go to the gardai and make a complaint. But again the DPP decided there would be no prosecution, counsel said. At that stage, she decided the only way to make her father responsible was to bring the High Court civil proceedings. The case continues. The well-known political activist and pro-life campaigner Nora Bennis is to be laid to rest in her native Limerick on Thursday after a short illness. The 78year-old mother-of-four, from the North Circular Road, was known as a formidable political opponent who championed traditional Catholic values. Ms Bennis, whose late husband Gerry was a member of the legendary Bennis hurling dynasty from Patrickswell, died peacefully in University Hospital Limerick, on Monday according to her obituary notice. She secured 18,000 first preference votes in the 1994 European elections but failed to be elected. She also unsuccessfully sought a seat in the Dail in 1997, in the 1998 by-election, in 2002, and in 2016. She formed the Solidarity Movement in 1994 and was a prominent voice of opposition to divorce ahead of the 1995 referendum. In 1995 Ms Bennis led solidarity movement members in 24-hour fast and day of prayer in their homes, calling for a boycott of a Limerick sex shop. In 2016 she opposed the Adoption (Amendment) Bill. A determined anti-abortion campaigner she also founded the National Party, later renamed the Christian Democrats, as well as starting the Irish Mothers Working at Home Association. Offering his condolences to Ms Bennis family, Limerick Fianna Fail spokesman on Justice Niall Collins, said: Shell be a huge loss to her family and her community as she was an outstanding campaigner. She had strident views, and she left a very positive impression on so many peoples lives. Ms Bennis remains will lie in repose in Griffins Funeral Home, Johns Gate, Limerick, from 5pm to 7pm on Wednesday, followed by her removal at 7pm to Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Ennis Road, Limerick. Requiem Mass will take place at 11am, on Thursday with burial afterwards in St Marys (New) Cemetery, Patrickswell. A female worker at a dental lab left her job in distress after she discovered that a secret camera had been placed by her employer in a smart lever arch-folder to snoop on her. Now, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has ruled that the dental technician was entitled to resign and claim constructive dismissal and has ordered the dental lab, run by a husband and wife team, to pay the worker 5,000 for unfair dismissal. The dental technician told the hearing that she was extremely upset and concerned to discover the concealed camera especially in light of the fact that she had previously received inappropriate messages via WhatsApp from the husband. In her ruling and upholding the womans claim for unfair dismissal, WRC Adjudication Officer, Maire Mulcahy rejected the employers argument that the camera was installed to protect the worker. Ms Mulcahy said that no adequate reason had been put forward as to why the device was concealed. She said: I cannot accept that it was merely there to protect the complainant. Ms Mulcahy said that the installation of the camera was a breach of trust and confidence resulting in a fundamental breach of contract that entitled the worker to resign and claim constructive dismissal. Ms Mulcahy stated: I find that the employers actions, though a once off, were sufficiently damaging to the relationship of trust to which both parties are entitled. Ms Mulcahy stated that the Whats App messages stray somewhat off course from the professional employer- employee relationship. Ms Mulcahy asked: If the camera was to protect her from intruders or unwelcome visitors, why did it need to be hidden? That is the most puzzling aspect of this. Why was it not positioned on a wall like most security devices? A device does not need to be covert to record unwelcome visitors or offer protection. In the case, the dental technician said that on her return from leave in September 2017, she discovered the hidden camera, called a 'Clever Dog Smart Camera', in a smart lever arch folder placed at the reception desk. The covert camera was taped to the wall, and pointed in the direction of her desk with an intermittent flashing light. She detected that the lens was positioned behind a hole in the folder. The technician - who commenced work for the couple in June 2016 - confronted her employers over the installation of the camera and her employer told her that the camera was installed so that they wanted to see couriers and patients coming in and out. The dental technician told the hearing that this seemed illogical to her as the camera was pointed at her desk and not at the entrance to the office. The employee said that her male boss called her a stupid idiot for getting upset about the camera. Her female boss disclaimed all knowledge of the installation of the camera. The employee said that she was shocked at her employers reaction and the absence of an explanation as to why the camera was concealed. The dental technician worked for the remainder of the day quite upset, stressed and shocked by the events. On returning home and consulting with her family, the dental technician reflected and felt she could not return to work the following day to work. She felt belittled by being called stupid and was not comfortable continuing to work with her employers and concluded that her relationship with them was beyond repair. The womans doctor certified that she was suffering from work related stress and she went on sick leave. The woman said that the relationship of trust and confidence with her employers had been irreparably damaged and she handed her notice to her employers on September 22nd 2017 on advice from her GP and family. On March 2018, the woman lodged a complaint with the Data Protection Commissioner. The woman was claiming a loss of 6,000 and confirmed that she secured alternative work with a higher salary in March 2018. In response, the employer told the hearing that the camera was installed to monitor the comings and goings of unidentified strangers as the employee would be by herself when they were away. The employer stated that it had become concerned about the security of the premises as the only other tenant had vacated its premises. The husband told the hearing that he trusts the dental technician, was very happy with her work performance, left her on her own to run the business while his wife and himself were abroad and had lent her their own Spanish apartment to her. He stated that he regretted that he did not advise her of the installation and apologised to her. He offered many times to meet the worker, to engage a third party to see how she could continue to work with them. He stated that the camera never functioned while he was on leave and he understand that the flashing red light meant it was on standby. He stated that no images were captured of the complainant. The trial of a man alleged to have intimidated a woman into getting married to a stranger has collapsed on its opening day. Yasir Ali (31) of Lighthouse Apartments, East Wall, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to coercion in apartments in Ballinrobe and Hollymount, both in Co. Mayo, on a date between January 1, 2015, and July 7, 2015. Judge Patricia Ryan discharged the jury on the afternoon of the trial's opening day after the barrister for the State received instructions to end the prosecution. At the beginning of the trial, Maurice Coffey BL, prosecuting, told the jury that the prosecution's case was not that Mr Ali was the brains of the operation, but that he played an important part in intimidating the complainant. Gabriele Bielyjyte told Mr Coffey that she came to Ireland from Lithuania in 2015 after a man promised her she could work in his takeaway. She said she peeled potatoes in the restaurant but she was not paid for her work. Ms Bielyjyte said that the man took away her birth certificate and the national identification card she had used to travel to Ireland. She said she lived in the apartment that the man had brought her to along with other girls from Lithuania. She said that Mr Ali would visit the apartment in the evenings and bring her food. She said she was told by Mr Ali and the other man that she was not allowed to leave the apartment because they did not want the neighbours to see her. Ms Bielyjyte said that after a few weeks of living in Ireland the man who brought her to Ireland said there was a person she had never met who wanted to get married and that he would pay her to marry this stranger. She said she was confused and shocked and that she cried a lot. She said she told both the man and Mr Ali that she did not want to get married. She said that the man and the girls she lived with pressured her into getting married, but she did not recall if Mr Ali did so as well. Ms Bielyjyte said that Mr Ali talked about her getting married to the stranger, but that she did not remember what he said. She said that she had been in a relationship with Mr Ali that had come to an end when he started seeing another woman. Shortly after lunch, Mr Coffey told the judge that he had received instructions from the office of the Director of Public Prosecution to enter a nolle prosequi. Judge Ryan explained to the jury that meant the case was no longer going ahead and she discharged the jury. The pay deal between the Government and nurses to end the nationwide hospital strike action will cost up to 50m over the next two years. Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe confirmed the price of peace, which came just hours before a potentially damaging three-day strike was due to begin this morning. "My anticipation is that the agreement that the Labour Court has brokered that the additional cost for this year will be approximately 10m-15m and the additional cost for next year will be approximately 30m-35m. "When we go through the work that we have planned in relation to contracts we have with the nursing union, which was laid out by the Labour Court,... the recommendation issued by the Labour court (is based on) four different areas of productivity savings. "They are, in addition to re-allocation of funding, making a significant contribution in this agreement," he said. Asked if the deal is "bullet proof" from other unions making claims, Mr Donohoe said "that is a matter for those unions, and it wouldn't be appropriate for me to comment". He added that despite the Government initially hinting at forcing financial penalties on nurses who joined the picket line as they were technically in breach of the existing pay deal, he is "currently not planning to take that decision". A 20-year-old man accused of seriously assaulting a 10-week-old baby girl has pleaded guilty at Dundalk Circuit Court. The defendant this morning admitted recklessly or intentionally causing serious harm to the infant at a location in County Louth on 13 March 2017. The court heard a significant number of reports would have to be prepared for the sentencing hearing. Judge Patrick Quinn adjourned the case until the end of April for mention and remanded the accused on continuing bail. More to follow. A jury has failed to reach a verdict in the trial of a doctor accused of sexually assaulting a teenage patient over 20 years ago. Kevin Mulcahy (61) of Creggane, Lombardstown, Mallow, Co Cork had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexually assaulting a woman in his surgery in Mallow, Co Cork on a date in February 1995. He also denied a second count of sexual assault at the same location on a date between May 8, 1996, and December 31, 1996. The jury had heard that in early 1995 the complainant's brother took her to Dr Mulcahy and that he allegedly touched her breasts and it didn't feel right. The woman alleged that in the summer of 1996 she went back to Dr Mulcahy and he exposed his penis and put her hand on it. The jury failed to reach a verdict after deliberating for over five hours. Judge Pauline Codd thanked the jurors for their care and attention during the trial. She adjourned the case for mention on February 26, next. During the trial Maddie Grant BL, prosecuting, told the jurors that the State's case was that the woman was an honest and truthful witness who had never resiled from her allegations since first making them in 2005 to doctors treating her for a psychiatric condition. She said the woman was very forthcoming about her bipolar disorder and her efforts to manage it. Ms Grant told the jurors they heard expert evidence that the complainant's illness did not contribute to her allegations and were not the result of mental illness. In his closing speech Blaise O'Carroll SC, defending, said there was no evidence to corroborate the allegations. He said after attending Dr Mulcahy the woman made no disclosure to her older brother. He said within a year she began seeing another GP, a woman, but never told this woman about her allegations. He said it was bizarre that the woman subsequently went back to Dr Mulcahy for treatment when he allegedly sexually assaulted her a second time. He said that this evidence doesn't have the ring of truth. In a statement to gardai, Dr Mulcahy said he didn't recall carrying out any physical examination of the complainant. Mr O'Carroll said that the allegations emerged out of a state of acute psychotic disorder where the complainant at one point believed she was pregnant by immaculate conception with the baby Jesus. That would be a red flag that would make somebody extraordinarily cautious, he said. Latest: The INMO leadership will meet tomorrow to decide when its members will vote on a pay deal for nurses. Strike committees are being briefed on the Labour Court recommendation, which suggests a new grade with higher pay, ranging between 2.5% and 7%. The union will spend the next three weeks trying to convince members to endorse the deal. Surgeries and outpatient clinics are going ahead following the suspension of this week's planned strikes. Law Professor at Maynooth University, Michael Doherty says the Labour Court proposal is a technical way of increasing nurses pay: "What it is saying is, we will put in place a new pay scale for nurses and nurses with specific qualifications will move to this pay scale from the one they are on and essentially the new pay scale will have higher rates. It is a technical way of saying nurses will earn more money but they won't get a pay rise, they will do something slightly different and that will justify this new pay scale. Health Minister Simon Harris says the suspension of this week's nurses' strike is welcome news for patients across the country. He says he realises it is also welcome news for nurses and midwives who did not take the decision to strike 'lightly'. "A huge amount of work has gone into getting to this point by both teams in both our departments and also by the unions in conjunction with the Labour Court," said the Health Minister. "I certainly hope that this will signify an end to the dispute but obviously we need to be very respectful of the processes that need to be gone through in the coming days." As the industrial action has been suspended we will endeavour to do everything we can to restore normal services. However, this will not be possible in all areas. Outpatient appointments will go ahead as planned. For more see: https://t.co/kqbM7VMY9U pic.twitter.com/BzuVR1ax5w HSE Ireland (@HSELive) February 11, 2019 HSE working to resume normal service following suspension on nurses' strike The HSE says it will do everything it can to restore normal service following the suspension of this week's nurses strike. Outpatient appointments are set to go ahead as planned and patients with appointments for today, tomorrow and Thursday are advised to attend as scheduled. Surgical patients will be contacted by their hospital if their procedure is going ahead. Nurses could get pay rises of around 7% as part of the Labour Court deal which will be balloted on within the next month. Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe refused to be drawn on the details before briefing his Cabinet colleagues but he confirmed he would be recommending acceptance. "I know at the moment many unions will be considering this issue and I think it's more appropriate to speak on that matter once I've briefed Cabinet on it first," said Minister Donohoe. Health Minister Simon Harris is confident the HSE can quickly restore services to the country's hospitals: "I know our hospitals will be very eager to get people back in as quickly as they possibly can and that will obviously be done on a hospital by hospital basis now that our hospitals have certainty that our nurses and midwives will be in a position to work this week." The INMO's Phil Ni Sheaghdha, says more negotiation is needed on some aspects of the deal: "There is a lot in it and we will have to give a full briefing on Wednesday." She said the recommendation makes progress across all areas of concern to the INMO, including the key areas of safe staffing and addressing recruitment and retention problems. Among other proposals it includes: Guaranteed multi-annual funding to maintain safe staffing levels; Significant changes to salary scale and allowances; Increased education and training opportunities; Also, an expert group will examine, in a short period of time, remaining pay and reform issues including those affecting senior management grades. Members' update: The INMO's elected Executive Council have just received the recommendation by the Labour Court. They have suspended the upcoming strikes at the request of the Court to consider the wide-ranging recommendations. (1/3) Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation (@INMO_IRL) February 11, 2019 The deal is also understood to include the editing of existing salary levels to increase basic pay levels, increasing expenses/ allowances by up to 20% and expanding the expenses/allowances system to ensure thousands of more nurses can access it. Meanwhile, patient representatives say the industrial relations system has failed the people of Ireland with the length of time it has taken to get to this point, and lessons should be learned to ensure it does not happen again. The Minister for Finance has revealed how 99m is to be deferred from other public expenditure projects this year as a result of the children's hospital overspend. Speaking today the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD, outlined how the 99m necessary this year for the timely provision of the National Childrens Hospital will be accommodated with a minimum of disruption to the scheduled rollout of key infrastructure projects under Project Ireland 2040. The Minister also detailed reforms designed to ensure world class project management across the whole of Government. Speaking after a cabinet meeting today the Minister said the National Childrens Hospital remained a vital and much needed project. "It is the most significant healthcare investment ever undertaken by the State, one that will have an impact on children, young people and their families in Ireland for decades to come. "In meeting these funding pressures we have examined all our projects and programmes across government. Where projects are, due to external issues, paused such as in the case of A5 Motorway in Northern Ireland, we moved those currently unused funds to where they are needed now. "Where the timing of draw down of payments could be updated without jeopardising the pace of project planning, design and delivery, we have made adjustments to ensure that the much-needed National Childrens Hospital will be delivered.' Minister Donohoe revealed that in Health the scheduled draw-down of 24m across both 2019 and 2020 will be amended to facilitate delivering the overall investment programme, as set out in Project Ireland 2040 but said this adjustment will still leave a year-on-year increase of 25% in capital investment in the Health sector in 2019. The Minister then revealed how the remaining 75m will be met by: - Re-scheduling of 27m arising in relation to the A5 Motorway in Northern Ireland; - Re-scheduling of 10m arising in relation to the National Forensic Science Laboratory; - Advance payment of a sum of 10m from the Department of Education and Skills in respect of higher education facilities at the National Childrens Hospital; - An updating of the scheduled draw-down of 16m from the two Project Ireland 2040 Regeneration Funds, which are being profiled for expenditure throughout the course of both 2019 and 2020 without delays in project planning, design and delivery; - Re-profiling of payments of 4m under certain programmes of investment in Communications, Climate Action & Environment; - 3m from the re-profiling of investment under the Flood Risk Management Programme of the Office of Public Works to allow for capacity to be built up over the course of the NDP period; - revision of the schedule of drawdown of funding in the PER and Finance Groups of Votes totalling 3m; - 2m through changes to the timing of payments relating to certain capital works by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, with full project delivery scheduled across both 2019 and 2020. Cuts and delays announced by DPER to help pay for national childrens hospital costs #iestaff via @Junomaco pic.twitter.com/8y0cQKM0oL Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) February 12, 2019 The Minister went on to say Project Ireland 2040 had already delivered major projects including the Luas Cross City and the M17 Gort to Tuam motorway which had dramatically improves road access along the western coast. "We are continuing important investment programmes for roads and light rail, improving our environment, with 90 new schools under construction in 2019 and 700 benefiting from minor improvements. Investment will provide 10,000 social housing units and support better health outcomes with primary care facilities to be opened or upgraded in 18 locations nationwide. "We are undertaking enormous investment and we have made much progress delivering projects on time and on budget but it is clear that the experience of the National Childrens Hospital must be drawn upon, and lessons learned, to ensure that this type of cost overrun is avoided in future and so our project management procedures keep pace and are world-class. The Minister also listed the reforms to the public procurement process which were put in train as part of Project Ireland 2040: - Government will now no longer pre-commit to major bespoke projects until there is clarity on tendered costs. The Government will approve major projects to be evaluated and designed, but there will no final commitment until after the tendering process is complete. - In the future, the budgets for large bespoke projects will include a significant premium for risks so that these indicative costings more adequately reflect the holistic total for the entire project over its lifecycle. - Government will link payments to advisory firms to clear performance standards. A number of high profile projects have highlighted issues with the performance of advisory firms. Therefore, we will bring in performance standards linked to payments in future contracts with those firms; - Government will explore new mechanisms for the management and recording of performance on projects. Therefore we will investigate mechanisms that can be used to ensure that companies who fail to meet those performance metrics can be used to penalise firms in future tender evaluations; and - Government will develop new measures for tender evaluations to minimise the risk associated with abnormally low tender prices. Mr Donohoe concluded: "We must have the right people working on the right projects. Internally, we need to be more flexible, have a broader toolkit and more diverse skillset. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is commencing a Capacity and Capability Review of public sector bodies. In responding to those findings, we will ensure that the States delivery practices are to the highest standards. "In addition we need a robust, dynamic and productive construction sector, continually adapting to keep pace with advances in technology and through the Construction Sector Group - which met again last week - we are working with Industry to ensure this. " Gardai have renewed their appeal for witnesses after a 32-year-old man died following an alleged assault in Killorglin in Co Kerry. The assault took place in the early hours of Sunday morning. Businessman Denis OBrien has told a High Court jury the Sunday Independent had not apologised to him over an article it published in 2012 concerning borrowings of himself and others from Anglo Irish Bank. Mr OBrien remains under cross-examination in his action against Post Publications Ltd, publishers of the Sunday Business Post, in which he is seeking substantial damages over separate articles published in the SBP in March 2015 relating to the exposure of Irish banks in 2008 . Asked today about his earlier evidence last week he believed he had received an apology over coverage from Independent group managing editor Michael Denieffe, Mr O'Brien said he had said a number of times last week he wasnt entirely sure about that and would check. Having had the opportunity later last Friday to check correspondence, he said there was an apology bit that had nothing to do with the Sunday Independent article of April 2012, written by journalists Tom Lyons and Nick Webb and published with a strapline, Anglos Top 13 Buccaneer Borrowers. He said he apologised for the confusion. Mr OBrien was also asked today about other evidence last week that he believed he had received a letter from Conor Killeen, a former owner of the Sunday Business Post, in which Mr Killeen had said he, Mr Killeen, had some control over editorial content of the newspaper. Mr OBrien said he had been unable to locate such a letter but he did remember there was one. When Michael McDowell SC, for the SBP, suggested there was no such letter, Mr OBrien said: I entirely disagree. I do remember the letter. He also said there were conversations with Mr Killeen. When counsel suggested there were no such conversations, in writing or otherwise, in which Mr Killeen had said he had editorial control over the SBP, Mr OBrien said that was not his recollection. Asked had he asked Mr Killeen about such a letter, he said he thought that was pointless as Mr Killeen was up to recently the owner of the SBP and Im not sure he would have been in the mood to co-operate with me. Mr OBrien was also asked about an email from journalist Tom Lyons sent to Mr O'Brien's spokesman James Morrissey on the Friday before the Sunday Independent article of April 15th2012 was published. In that email, Mr Lyons asked a number of questions concerning Mr OBriens banking affairs with IBRC and the financial position of his company Digicel. Mr OBrien said he had told Mr Morrissey to inform Mr Lyons there would be no comment concerning the questions. When counsel put to Mr OBrien he had wrongly accused Mr Lyons of having low standards when Mr Lyons had sought responses from Mr O'Brien, Mr OBrien asked what right had Mr Lyons to ask about a persons private banking matters. It was extraordinary that a journalist would be that ballsy and then get the numbers all wrong, he said. He also said he was entitled not to say what the correct numbers were. It was not fair and verging on voyeurism to try and find out details of his confidential banking affairs. I have a right to privacy. If others were asked such persons, they would be told where to get off and his response was polite. He also said he was never a burden on any bank. He became a customer of Anglo Irish Bank in 19909 and had nothing to do with it becoming insolvent. Mr McDowell said, in relation to the SBP articles, Mr Lyons felt, and still believes, he was entitled to inform the Irish public that a huge amount of indebtedness was concentrated in a small number of people incuding Mr OBrien. Mr OBrien said he disagreed. Mr McDowell put to Mr OBrien that, given his no comment response to Mr Lyons concerning the 2012 article, and the fact he considered his banking affairs totally private, it was not fair to complain now that Mr Lyons had not asked him details about his banking affairs when compiling the SBP articles. Mr OBrien said Mr Lyons should not have published details of his banking affairs in articles that described a gang of 22. There was a difference between being called a "buccaneer" and a member of a gang, he said. Mr McDowell said the dictionary definition describes a buccaneer as a pirate usually operating in the Caribbean and asked he seriously saying that was a complimentary term. Mr OBrien said he still considered a buccaneer was not a derogatory term but a gang is. Counsel suggested his evidence on Thursday was calculated to discredit Mr Lyons and the SBP when compared with the Sunday Independent. Mr OBrien said the difference was chalk and cheese. The Sunday Independent did not describe him as part of a gang of 13 that wrecked the country and did not run articles over six pages, he said. He said no number concerning his banking affairs should have been published unless it was accurate. He also reiterated he was a property investor and not a developer. Mr OBriens action is against Post Publications Ltd, publishers of the SBP, over articles whose focus was a report concerning exposure in 2008 of Ireland's banks, compiled by Price WaterhouseCoopers (PWC). The report was provided to the government in November 2008 and obtained in 2015 by the newspaper but destroyed shortly afterwards to protect the source who provided it. The articles, written by journalists Tom Lyons, Gavin Sheridan and others, include a front page article headlined "22 men and 26 billion" with a subheading: "The secret report that convinced Cowen the banks weren't bust." Mr O'Brien claims the various articles wrongly meant he was among 22 borrowers identified with the downfall of Ireland and the bankruptcy of its banking system and injured his reputation. The defendant denies defamation, denies the words complained of mean what Mr O'Brien says and denies malicious publication. It has also pleaded "fair and reasonable publication on a matter of public interest". The case continues. The couple behind one of the country's best-known independent publishers has decided to close the book on their working lives after 30-years in the business. Con and Anna Collins, who have run The Collins Press in Cork since 1989, have confirmed the acquisition of their publishing house by Irish publishers, Gill (MH Gill & Co), and that they will retire in March. Gill Books now represents the almost 150 Collins Press titles under its sales agency business, with full acquisition of the companys trading assets on March 29. The arrangement will ensure the continued availability of The Collins Press titles and the continuation of book sales. Con Collins, managing director of The Collins Press, said it was important for them to agree a deal that would keep the books alive and for an Irish publisher to acquire the list. The deal will also ensure the payment of royalties to authors. All royalties for sales up to March 29 will be paid by The Collins Press, and by Gill from March 30 on. Gill will also retain the imprint name and logo, The Collins Press. Mr Collins said they are very pleased that Gill will acquire the list and that their imprint name and logo will continue. Our thanks to all the authors and everyone in the sales, distribution, wholesale and retail arms of the book trade for their help and support over the years. It has been a pleasure working with everyone, he said. Ruth Gill, the managing director of Gill, said they were delighted to welcome The Collins Press list to Gill. As distribution providers for Collins for over 10 years, we have greatly admired the breadth and ambition of the list which Con, Anna and their team have spent 30 years growing, she said. This acquisition continues Gills commitment to Irish-interest publishing by both broadening and deepening our reach across this market. Founded in Cork in 1989, The Collins Press, grew out of The Collins Bookshop which was established on Careys Lane three years earlier. Its first book was the hugely popular Dictionary of Cork Slang by Sean Beecher, followed by Uniquely Cork, a book of stunning black and white photographs by Niall Foley, after which the business took off. Among its bestsellers over the years were Ireland Our Island Home (1997), The Keeper of Absaloms Island (1999), An Unsung Hero (2000), The Framing of Harry Gleeson (2015) and The Lighthouses of Ireland (2018). There are calls to make more space for buses on motorways and national roads. Fine Gael Senator Anthony Lawlor wants the National Transport Authority to copy the layout used on the M1 to Belfast. He is hoping to get a park-and-ride facility set up for commuters using the M7. Green Party Transport Spokesperson Ciaran Cuffe says something has to be done to ease traffic congestion. "I think we need to invest a lot more in public transport, I think giving up a bit of space for buses on our motorways is a good thing," said Mr Cuffe. I think we should look at providing decent bus services on the M50 and perhaps giving up a lane for that as well as on the approaches, particularly on the national roads. Meanwhile, residents on the south side of Dublin say the Bus Connects plan will 'destroy' local communities. The National Transport Authority (NTA) is in the process of rolling out 16 new routes across the city. Last night residents from Rathfarham, Rathgar and Terenure along with local councillors attended a meeting hosted by the NTA to discuss the Bus Connects plan. The Herald reports that 'strong opposition' was expressed against the proposals. Some of the key concerns raised by locals was a lack of information made available as well as a 'short deadline' for people to make submissions. One resident described the process as low spirited and sneaky. The NTA said the organisation was open to suggestions from the community and the submission deadline of March 29 could be extended. Fianna Fails deputy leader Dara Calleary says his party will not be supporting Sinn Feins sham motion of no confidence in the Minister for Health Simon Harris in the Dail later today. He described the motion as political posturing and said it would not reduce the cost of the national childrens hospital or deliver it any sooner. Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, Mr Calleary said it was appropriate for the Minister to apologise to the Dail for misleading it on the escalating cost of the hospital which he knew about since last August. He knew Barry Cowen was pursuing the issue, but he didnt provide the information. Mr Calleary was commenting on a bill he has published which could give extra powers to the Comptroller and Auditor General to investigate all infrastructure projects as soon as they go over budget. He pointed out that he first published the bill in January 2018 and will be looking to strengthen it even more now when it gets to the second stage. If the Comptroller and Auditor General had been involved at an earlier stage in the national childrens hospital then alarm bells would have rung sooner. Its about strengthening the office. Mr Calleary also welcomed the suspension of the nurses strike. He said he did not think there would be knock-on pay claims because the Irish Congress of Trade Unions had been in the background during the discussions and knows the limitations of the Public Service Pay Agreement. A specific case has to be made for nurses he said as 2,000 vacancies remain unfilled and entire classes are going to take up positions in London. Latest: Simon Harris has addressed the Dail and apologised for not answering a question on the children's hospital "more fully" when asked last September. He said he was not in a position to give "commerically sensitive figures" but should have answered the question more fully. He added that it was not his intention to mislead the House. Minister Harris offered his "sincere apologies" and, in particular, to Deputy Barry Cowen who had tabled the question. "As I said at the Health Committee last week, I should have answered it more fully as it would never be my intention to mislead Dail Eireann," he said. "I should have added further detail to inform that a process was ongoing to finalise costs and that updated costs would be known when that process concluded. I sincerely apologise to the house for not doing this, and I specifically apologise to Deputy Cowen, who tabled the question." The Taoiseach says no projects will be cancelled in order to fund the new National Children's Hospital. The cabinet has had to find 100 million out of the capital budget to meet the rising costs. 27 million of that will come from delaying the upgrades on the Dublin to Derry A5 road. 10 million will come from the budget for the National Forensic Science Lab while the Department of Education will bring forward a 10 million payment for a school on the site of the new hospital. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar insists it is only a delay in providing the funds: "Whatever scaremongering may be happening around the country about projects being cancelled because of the children's hospital, I confirm that is not the case." An anaemic non apology from Minister Simon Harris is this govt's version of accountability. A joke. A bad joke. An expensive -450 million - joke. Mary Lou McDonald (@MaryLouMcDonald) February 12, 2019 Calleary defends FF support of Simon Harris saying country needs 'stability' in face of Brexit Fianna Fail deputy leader Dara Calleary has said his party cannot support an Opposition motion against Health Minister Simon Harris over the children's hospital spend for the sake of the stability of the country. Sinn Fein have called on Fianna Fail TDs to break with their leadership and support a Dail motion against Mr Harris. A new state-run system to vet major projects and any overruns has been proposed by Fianna Fail. Ongoing projects, such as the national children's hospital, the Metro and broadband, would be assessed by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Early interventions by expertise already employed by the state would stop costs spiralling out of control, says the party, preventing future scandals such as the children's hospital overspend. The Comptroller and Auditor General Bill, proposed by Mr Calleary, will be moved through the Dail this week. The plan also proposes tightening up procurement rules and in the long run setting up a national infrastructure commission to oversee projects. Asked by the Irish Examiner about unhappiness in his party over maintaining support for the government and Mr Harris, Mr Calleary said: There are a lot of people not happy with confidence and supply. But in the context of the challenge that faces the country in 45 days with Brexit and also we need to learn the lessons from the children's hospital. "There is no sense in blowing this up now and not learning the lessons with 1.4bn. We are taking a sensible position, learn the lessons and continue as we committed to do last December to provide political stability at a time of challenge. "It is not easy, this country at this time needs political stability. And we need to learn the lessons of the 400m overspend, that is the most important thing. FF deputy leader @daracalleary says many unhappy with deal with FG but needs to continue for stability of the country. Lessons need to be learnt from childrens #hospital debacle, he says #iestaff pic.twitter.com/ihCUVErDdO Juno McEnroe (@Junomaco) February 12, 2019 Mary Lou McDonald calls Simon Harris a 'serial apologiser' in blistering attack Update 1pm: Health Minister Simon Harris has been called a serial apologiser as he faces an Opposition Dail motion of no confidence over his handling of the children's hospital construction costs. Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said a motion will be moved against Mr Harris this week or next, as she also called on Fianna Fail TDs to back her party's move. Mr Harris will make a statement to the Dail later today on what he knew and when about the hospital cost escalating from 987m to over 1.4bn. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he has full confidence in the minister. But Ms McDonald launched a blistering attack on Mr Harris ahead of the Dail resumption today. The mishandling of the hospital bill showed the lack of vigilance, competence and management" on his behalf, she said. Furthermore, new records of meetings released from the National Paediatric Development Board (NPDB) today show that Mr Harris had a hands off approach to overseeing the hospital project, said Sinn Fein health spokesman Louise O'Reilly. She said the new minutes showed a series of sub-committees running the project and Mr Harris reappointing officials in July 2018. "We have no confidence in Simon Harris and he must be held to account. There is widespread support for the no confidence motion across the opposition. I believe there are members of Fianna Fail who, like us, believe in holding the gov to account." - @MaryLouMcDonald pic.twitter.com/xKgCaYOqja Sinn Fein (@sinnfeinireland) February 12, 2019 Ms McDonald has now called on Fianna Fail TDs to back the no confidence motion and insisted it would not trigger a general election. Such an election would be the call of the Taoiseach, she said. Ms McDonald said M Harris was a serial apologiser, that he had kept hospital cost details to himself, from Cabinet and even from Fianna Fail under the government support pact. Fianna Fail need to do their job and come off the government benches, she added. Anti-eviction activist Ben Gilroys continued detention in prison over his failure to complete an 80-hour community service order is lawful, a High Court judge has ruled. Mr Gilroy had brought an inquiry under Article 40 of the Constitution claiming his detention at Dublin's Mountjoy prison was unlawful and he should be released. In a ruling this morning Mr Justice Max Barrett found against Mr Gilroy. The Judge told Mr Gilroy that he was "sorry" for "the predicament" the applicant found himself in. However, the Judge said that the court was "coerced as a matter of law to conclude that Mr Gilroy's detention at Mountjoy Prison" under the order challenged was "in accordance with the law." The Judge then revoked Mr Gilroy's bail, which was granted when the inquiry commenced earlier this month and ordered that the former election candidate be returned to Mountjoy Prison to serve the remainder of the three-month prison term. There was a crowd of approximately forty supporters and friends of Mr Gilroy in Court 2 of the Four Courts when the decision was delivered. Several of those present voiced their disapproval at the ruling. Mountjoy Prison In his action, Mr Gilroy, assisted by businessman Jerry Beades, had claimed that the order upon which he was detained was flawed on several grounds. The grounds included that the order did not mention Mr Gilroy was to be detained by the Governor of Mountjoy Prison and that the name on the order was allegedly wrong. The State, represented by Remy Farrell SC and Tony McGillicuddy Bl, had opposed the application and rejected arguments Mr Gilroy's detention was unlawful or that order was flawed. In his judgement, the Judge said none of the points raised could be deemed as flaws that would render Mr Gilroy's detention fatally flawed, invalid or unlawful. Mr Gilroy was jailed last month by Mr Justice Brian McGovern for three months over a failure to comply with a court order to complete 80 hours community service after he had admitted criminal contempt. Mr Justice McGovern found there was a deliberate and conscious breach by Mr Gilroy of the October 2017 community service order, arising from Mr Gilroys admission earlier in 2017, of criminal contempt. The contempt related to Mr Gilroy having, in a sworn statement in proceedings by Allied Irish Banks plc seeking to enforce a 3.2m judgment against another man, accused the court of criminal intimidation and threats and compared the action of a court to that of a thief putting a gun to his head and robbing him of his wallet. The court, after being informed that Mr Gilroy had not performed the 80 hours community service, ordered that Mr Gilroy, Riverview, Athlumney Abbey, Navan, Co Meath be detained at Mountjoy Prison. A friend of mine was discussing work recently. He was observing the challenges and opportunities associated with the chronic commuting times that many people have to endure around Dublin. Why is it, he wondered, that people have to spend hours in cars, trains and buses to sit at desks using computer terminals all day? These journeys to and from work take up a huge amount of time while adding emissions to the environment and clogging up urban areas with activity that offers little to the overall economy. If we could crack the model of remote working, would that benefit quality of life, while helping the overall economy? While not getting much public attention some businesses allow their employees to work either at or close to home using web-based systems to interface with their colleagues. Surely, there is an opportunity across the private and public sectors to build this idea out. Instead of traipsing to and from work every day spend that commuting time doing better things while still meeting the productivity required by employers. Another key benefit from such an approach to work would be to energise urban and rural areas outside of Dublin. We continue, in February 2019, to see family homes on offer at prices outside of Dublin that are materially cheaper than those in the capital. Schools access is often better, too, while the health benefits of working and living outside the capital in better quality air are undisputed. The pace at which technology is advancing in support of such a concept is passing by policymakers and planners. Broadband was an unreliable and expensive piece of infrastructure just 10 years ago. In 10 years time imagine what will be possible. Video conferencing and live work on documents and presentations, which are now available in large offices, will be possible without interruption at a domestic level. That connects colleagues and employees in ways that were not feasible as recently as a decade ago. Im convinced this is the secret to unlocking the regional Irish economy. A wave of investment behind broadband by private and public entities can deliver the virtual piping needed to create this communications infrastructure. The public sector can play a major part in this evolution. While the attempts at regionalising state bodies was botched 20 years ago it should not deter a new initiative in the area. Why are so many state bodies and government departments confined to Dublin? That system was appropriate at a time when physical communications and transport were limits to decision making. In todays world such a structure is Victorian. If the public service can display an ability to tap developing broadband abilities to energise its employees successfully outside Dublin it could showcase pathfinders for the private sector too. Ireland needs imaginative thinking to address the hurdles posed by growth, congestion and rising living costs around the capital. Some positive thinking and actions around using mobile broadband outside Dublin is part of the solution. Joe Gill is director of origination and corporate broking with Goodbody Stockbrokers. His views are personal. Kerrygold have announced a new advertising campaign that is expected to reach 36m people across the globe. Marguerite and Michael Crowley from West Cork are among three families to star in the campaign, 'A True Taste of Kerrygold' that aims to highlight the grass-fed system of Irish dairy farming. Brian Cleary from Waterford and Darran McKenna from Monaghan will also star in the campaign. Kerrygold is the market leader in Germany, where its butter sells faster than any other food brand in the supermarkets, while it is the second most popular butter brand in the US. Managing Director of Ornua Foods Roisin Hennerty said: "For decades Kerrygold has been synonymous with the benefits of grass-fed dairy and has authentically told the story of Irish dairy farming to the world. The beauty of a brand like Kerrygold is that we all own a piece of it, whether thats the memories shared around family mealtimes, the charm of the Kerrygold TV ads of yesteryear or the swell of pride we feel in its presence in countries all over the world. "It has always been an intrinsic part of Irish identity. "It is owned by a community of Irish farming families who have passed down their farming values and methods from generation to generation. OTTAWA - The federal Conservative party has cleared Saskatchewan MP Brad Trost's leadership campaign over a leak of the party's membership list to the National Firearms Association ahead of the 2017 leadership vote. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/2/2019 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Candidate Brad Trost speaks during a federal Conservative Party leadership debate in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday February 19, 2017. The federal Conservative party has cleared Trost's leadership campaign over a leak of the party's membership list to the National Firearms' Association ahead of the 2017 leadership vote.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck OTTAWA - The federal Conservative party has cleared Saskatchewan MP Brad Trost's leadership campaign over a leak of the party's membership list to the National Firearms Association ahead of the 2017 leadership vote. In a statement Monday, the party says it has overturned an earlier decision that put the blame on Trost's campaign, citing insufficient evidence. The two sides have also come to a settlement over a $50,000 fine Trost faced after the original ruling, and costs related to legal action Trost launched in response. In a joint statement, Trost and Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer say they believe the matter to be settled. Trost says the process has been challenging at times, but he "never doubted the outcome." And Scheer says the party is "excited to move on" and have Trost out campaigning for Conservative candidates in this fall's federal election. The trouble started after the leadership race, which Scheer won on the last ballot, when several party members complained about getting correspondence from the National Firearms Association. Party members insisted the list was the only way the NFA could have obtained their contact information. The party fingered Trost's campaign as the culprit in June 2017 and fined him $50,000. Trost denied the allegation and asked an Ontario court to intervene. Trost filed an appeal to the leadership organizing committee last week, the party says. The committee decided there was "insufficient evidence to conclude that the Trost campaign was the source" of the leak, an overturned the June 2017 decision. Trost finished fourth in the leadership race. In March 2018, he was defeated at a Conservative nomination meeting for his riding of Saskatoon-University by Corey Tochor, a former Speaker of the Saskatchewan legislature. Trost has said he won't be running for the Tories anywhere else in this year's election. OTTAWA - A large proportion of small- and medium-sized businesses soon to be subjected to Ottawa's carbon tax worry they'll be unable to pass along the bulk of the extra costs to their customers, suggests a new survey being released Tuesday. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The steel mills in the Hamilton waterfront harbour are shown in Hamilton, Ont., on Tuesday, October 23, 2018. A large proportion of small- and medium-sized businesses soon to be subjected to Ottawa's carbon tax worry they'll be unable to pass along the bulk of the extra costs to their customers, suggests a new survey being released Tuesday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette OTTAWA - A large proportion of small- and medium-sized businesses soon to be subjected to Ottawa's carbon tax worry they'll be unable to pass along the bulk of the extra costs to their customers, suggests a new survey being released Tuesday. The online survey was completed by 3,527 members of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business in the four provinces Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick that will have to follow the Trudeau government's carbon-pricing system as of April 1. The lobby group has strongly opposed the federal carbon-tax plan out of concern it will pile on too many costs for smaller companies. In fact, more than two-thirds of the business owners that it polled don't support any kind of carbon pricing program at all. Ottawa says 90 per cent of the carbon-tax revenues it collects will be returned via rebates to households in each of the four provinces. Consumers will get by far the largest share because the government expects them to ultimately pay most of the new costs passed down from businesses. But the findings of CFIB's poll, conducted in November, suggest there's concern most smaller companies will be unable to pass along their new costs meaning these firms will end up subsidizing the rebate program for households, the report said. About 80 per cent of the respondents said they didn't think it would be easy for them to forward costs on to their customers. The poll found 55 per cent of those surveyed didn't expect to pass on any of the additional costs, while 25 per cent said they would only be able to pass on less than 25 per cent of the extra costs. "These findings should be deeply worrisome to public policy makers," said the report, which also repeats CFIB's concerns the carbon tax will arrive the same year that businesses' Canada Pension Plan premiums start to rise. "It means small firms will be forced to find the resources to pay the tax from the business itself, which means it may come at the expense of wages, jobs or future business growth." The Liberals' carbon tax has generated intense political debate across the country and it's destined to be a key campaign issue in October's federal election. The Liberal government has argued pollution is already getting expensive for Canadians as costs from climate-change-related weather events have climbed to more than $1 billion a year. The Liberals believe carbon pricing, which has been in place for years in provinces like British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario, is one of the best ways to lower emissions. The federal climate change action plan also includes efforts to develop clean fuel standards, create new energy-efficiency building codes and phase out electricity generation from coal. The opposition Conservatives have repeatedly called the Liberal plan a "tax grab" that will hurt the bottom lines of small businesses and families, kill jobs and make the country less competitive. Moving forward, the Tories warn carbon-tax bills will only get bigger. Several provincial leaders have also become vocal opponents of the federal program. The regime will be applied to Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick because they don't have their own carbon-pricing system. Ottawa has said the remaining 10 per cent revenue share from the carbon tax will be dedicated to a program to help organizations, such as schools, that are unable to pass on the costs via higher prices. Part of this portion worth about $1.5 billion will also be used to help small- and medium-sized businesses adapt to carbon pricing over the next five years, the government has said. Ottawa has yet to lay out the specifics of this element of its plan. The report noted that some big industrial emitters will pay through a separate system that provides some relief to sectors heavily exposed to foreign competition. Smaller businesses, it added, have not been provided the same relief. CFIB is calling on Ottawa to limit the impact on smaller businesses, including reassurance the same proportion of revenue collected from these firms is returned to them. Follow @AndyBlatchford on Twitter TORONTO - Ontario is considering having large industrial companies pay for pollution if they exceed emissions standards that will be established in the province a system critics say is the same as the federal carbon tax the government has railed against for months. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. TORONTO - Ontario is considering having large industrial companies pay for pollution if they exceed emissions standards that will be established in the province a system critics say is the same as the federal carbon tax the government has railed against for months. The Progressive Conservative government posted a proposal for the system on Ontario's Environmental Registry on Tuesday as part of its plan to fight climate change. Under the proposal, which is open for public comment, the province would set sector or facility-level greenhouse gas emissions standards rather than an absolute cap on emissions. The system could make companies that exceed emissions standards pay for "compliance units," which start at $20 per tonne. The price of the units would increase by $10 a year until they max out at $50 a tonne in 2022. "Our environment plan put forward responsible, tangible solutions that take into consideration the unique circumstances of our economy and the environment," Environment Minister Rod Phillips said in a statement. Premier Doug Ford's government scrapped the previous Liberal regime's cap-and-trade system after being elected last year, and launched a court challenge opposing the imposition of a federal carbon price on the province. The federal carbon tax, which goes into effect April 1, will be imposed on provinces that don't have their own carbon pricing plans. Ford has repeatedly said a carbon price would hurt the economy and generated controversy last month when he suggested the federal carbon tax would cause a recession. Opponents and economists called his claim baseless. The government's proposal issued Tuesday said payments collected from large emitters through the program would be placed in a fund that could be used by industry to support greenhouse gas reduction projects. The plan would be in place by summer 2019, the government's proposal says. Greenpeace Canada said the proposed system essentially puts a price on carbon. "The government can rail against carbon taxes and say how evil they are but this is basically what they're doing here," said Keith Stewart, the group's senior energy strategist. "They're saying polluters are going to have to pay for a small portion of their emissions. They can get that money back to invest in green house gas reductions measures, just like the federal program." Stewart said the province is attempting to preempt the imposition of the federal carbon price on industry by meeting the minimum threshold set by the Trudeau government. "They know they're going to lose (their court challenge) so they're basically bringing in their own version of the federal price to avoid having systems coming and going," he said. Advocacy group Environmental Defence also said Ontario's proposal looks similar to the federal government's carbon pricing system. "This proposal raises an important question: Why is Ontario fighting a price on carbon one day, and proposing one the next?" Sarah Buchanan, the organization's clean economy program manager, said in a statement. "What Ontario really needs is a system that is consistent and effective at reducing emissions, not months of posturing, legal battles, and uncertainty around which rules to follow." Green party Leader Mike Schreiner said Ford has spent months "crying wolf" about the impacts of a carbon price only to finally adopt one. "While Ford continues to play politics dismantling one system and creating another his actions create uncertainty for business, delay climate action and waste time that we don't have," he said in a statement. Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said the Ford government has not made fighting climate change a priority and that has resulted in "huge cost and significant uncertainty to business." "Starting this year, it is no longer free to pollute anywhere in Canada," she said in a statement Tuesday. "We have been very clear for provinces that didn't put a price on pollution, the federal system will stay in effect until at least 2022. This provides certainty to businesses and creates the incentive for them to innovate, reduce emissions and create good jobs." HALIFAX - Iconic coastal lands in Cape Breton and an island stopover for migratory birds are among the privately owned lands being targeted for protection by the Nova Scotia Nature Trust in a multimillion-dollar campaign launched Tuesday. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The Mabou Highlands in Nova Scotia is seen in this undated handout photo. The Nova Scotia Nature Trust is launching a multimillion-dollar campaign to protect roughly 1200 hectares of natural areas in the province, including iconic coastal lands in Cape Breton. The trust says it was recently chosen by Ottawa to receive a grant of up to $1.45 million through a program under the Nature Fund. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Len Wagg, Nova Scotia Nature Trust *MANDATORY CREDIT* HALIFAX - Iconic coastal lands in Cape Breton and an island stopover for migratory birds are among the privately owned lands being targeted for protection by the Nova Scotia Nature Trust in a multimillion-dollar campaign launched Tuesday. The trust said it was recently chosen by Ottawa to receive up to $1.45 million through the Canada Nature Fund. In response, the trust is launching a campaign titled Lasting Landscapes, aimed at protecting 15 of the highest priority areas in Nova Scotia. About $500,000 has been raised to date, but to meet federal requirements, the trust must raise another $250,000 in public support by March 31. "It's a bold plan in response to an extraordinary, time-limited opportunity," said Bonnie Sutherland, executive director of the nature trust. "We hope the urgency and the opportunity this huge gain in such a short time is really going to inspire people." To put the scale of the campaign into perspective, Sutherland noted the target is as much land as the organization protected in its first 13 years. The areas the trust aims to protect include four new properties along the St. Marys River, a major land assemblage in the Mabou Highlands in Cape Breton, and vast forest and freshwater wilderness in the Cobequid Hills. It has its sights set on 240 hectares of Seal Island off southwest Nova Scotia, used as a stopover for migratory birds and a year-round home for many others. It's also frequented by unexpected feathered visitors birds forced far off course during storms. The trust also intends to protect more of the 100 Wild Islands, one of North America's last ecologically rich and wild coastal island archipelagos. It's described as a natural treasure and wilderness recreation mecca, and a new conservation site would bring more than 85 per cent of the wild islands under protection. Sutherland said if enough funds are raised, they would also be able to apply to a provincial trust for further funding, making it a perfect storm of funding opportunities that could total upwards of $3 million. "We've never had this kind of federal investment in conservation in Nova Scotia ever, so to have that at the same time as we have this (provincial) trust fund, that's what makes this leveraging possible," she said. The nature trust, which has been working to protect lands in the province since 1994, said 65 per cent of the province is privately owned, and protecting nature on private lands is key to biodiversity conservation. OTTAWA - Three years after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised a national youth policy, the federal government is still trying to determine what it should include. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/2/2019 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA - Three years after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised a national youth policy, the federal government is still trying to determine what it should include. Trudeau appointed himself the minister for youth in his cabinet in 2015 and in the following year's budget promised a national youth policy to make sure young people's needs and concerns are reflected in what his government does. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits with students at a high school in Kapuskasing, Ont. on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. Three years after Trudeau promised a national youth policy, the federal government is still trying to determine what it should include. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn In 2017, the government set up a committee of deputy ministers on youth issues, urging the top bureaucrats to bring young public servants to the meetings. The government also created a youth council in 2016, a special advisory group of Canadians aged 16 to 24, to help create the policy and started soliciting ideas for what belongs in the policy. They came up with a lot of suggestions. A briefing deck for the deputy ministers last June, obtained by The Canadian Press under access-to-information legislation, says that more than 1,200 participants participated in 40 roundtables across the country, 18 of which were hosted by youth-council members, and produced 9,000 ideas. Major themes included gender equality, Indigenous reconciliation and climate change. This was something of a problem. "There will be questions of jurisdiction," the briefing material says, noting that "a significant volume of ideas and issues fall within PT (provincial and territorial) jurisdiction." Also, the same slide says, "there will be expectations to manage ... in the context of ambitious ideas and competing government priorities." In other words, not all these things are possible, or even the federal government's business. "In my opinion, they definitely did a good job of I think identifying broad topics based on what the youth had said," said Riley Yesno, whose two-year tenure on the council ended in January. She's a University of Toronto student, an Anishnaabe woman who grew up in Thunder Bay. "My personal hope for it is it ends up having some sort of teeth or being more actionable because while I think the guiding principles that we established were really great unless there's really actionable items attached to those principles, it could just be another kind of paper sitting wherever," Yesno said. The timeline for producing an actual policy remains unclear. "We all know that the next elections are in less than seven months so there's not much time to put in place that policy," said NDP youth critic Anne Minh-Thu Quach Monday. "I'm wondering if the prime minister is just using the youth policy as a political token or if he's really going to do something about it." When Quach pressed the prime minister's parliamentary secretary for youth issues Peter Schiefke last week in question period, he responded he would have "good news to share in the weeks and months to come." In an email, Trudeau's spokesperson Matt Pascuzzo called the youth consultations a "first step," noting that through discussions with the prime minister and cabinet ministers, the youth-council members have been able to more indirectly shape policy. "This engagement is essential in helping our government identify issues important to youth and to find solutions that will improve the lives of young Canadians," he wrote. The file falls under the Privy Council Office. Spokesman Paul Duchesne said by email that the next meeting of deputy ministers is scheduled for March. The committee's job is to "ensure a whole-of-government approach to youth initiatives," he wrote and promote a youth perspective in government. He didn't say how far along the national youth policy is. Planned spending on the work fell from $1.6 million in 2018 to just over $1 million this year, though it's to rise again to $1.3 million in 2020. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Alexandre Bissonnette arrives at the court house in Quebec City on Tuesday, February 21, 2017. The parents of a man behind the deadly Quebec City mosque attack have issued an open letter questioning the severity of the minimum 40-year sentence handed down to their son last week. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mathieu Belanger - POOL Four stories in the news for Tuesday, Feb. 12 BISSONNETTE SENTENCE TOO HARSH: PARENTS The parents of a man behind the deadly Quebec City mosque attack have issued an open letter questioning the severity of the minimum 40-year sentence handed down to their son last week. Alexandre Bissonnette, 29, received his sentence Friday for killing six men and injuring six others at the Islamic Cultural Centre mosque on Jan. 29, 2017. His parents, Raymond Bissonnette and Manon Marchand, say in the letter released Monday that the sentence is the harshest imposed in Quebec since the death penalty was abolished in 1976. TRUDEAU WELCOMES ETHICS INVESTIGATION Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomed Monday an investigation by the federal ethics commissioner into an allegation that his office pressured former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to help SNC-Lavalin avoid criminal prosecution. And while she has fuelled the controversy by refusing to comment on the allegation, Trudeau said he continues to have "full confidence" in Wilson-Raybould, whom he moved to the veterans affairs portfolio in January. He said Wilson-Raybould "confirmed for me a conversation we had this fall where I told her directly that any decisions on matters involving the director of public prosecutions were hers alone." FIRMS FEAR HIT FROM CARBON TAX: POLL A large proportion of small- and medium-sized businesses soon to be subjected to Ottawa's carbon tax worry they'll be unable to pass along the bulk of the extra costs to their customers, suggests a new survey being released today. The online survey was completed by 3,527 members of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business in the four provinces Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick that will have to follow the Trudeau government's carbon-pricing system as of April 1. The lobby group has strongly opposed the federal carbon-tax plan out of concern it will pile on too many costs for smaller companies. In fact, more than two-thirds of the business owners that it polled don't support any kind of carbon pricing program at all. B.C. LEGISLATURE RESUMES WITH THRONE SPEECH Members of the British Columbia legislature return to the house today for a throne speech that sets the political agenda for the coming months as allegations from a spending scandal have all three parties searching for answers. The two top officials at the legislature remain suspended amid a police investigation and a report by Speaker Darryl Plecas that details allegations of spending abuses. NDP house leader Mike Farnworth said the government will work to develop tighter checks on all officials at the legislature to ensure strict spending and reporting rules. ALSO IN THE NEWS: Federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer will host a meeting with Atlantic party members to discuss policy. Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna will hold a media availability Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog following a tour of the B.C. city's climate action initiatives. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. will release its latest Housing Market Insight on the ownership structure of residential property and vacant land in B.C., Ontario and Nova Scotia. OTTAWA - A snapshot of the first large group of Syrian refugees arriving in Canada finds those the government sponsored are less educated, less likely to speak English or French and had more trouble finding a job. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Members of groups who are sponsoring two Syrian refugee families hold up signs welcoming their charges as they wait for the families to arrive at Toronto's Pearson Airport, on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015. A snapshot of the first large group of Syrian refugees arriving in Canada finds those sponsored only by the government are less educated, less likely to speak English or French and less likely to quickly find a job. Statistics Canada today has a census-based analysis of the first 25,000 Syrian refugees who arrived between January 2015 and May 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young OTTAWA - A snapshot of the first large group of Syrian refugees arriving in Canada finds those the government sponsored are less educated, less likely to speak English or French and had more trouble finding a job. Statistics Canada today has a census-based analysis of the first 25,000 Syrian refugees who arrived between January 2015 and May 2016. Slightly more than half of those refugees were sponsored by the federal government directly, with the rest being sponsored by private organizations such as community groups, churches and individual Canadians. Among the adults between 20 and 59 years old, the analysis says less than one-third of government-sponsored refugees had completed high school, and less than one in five spoke either English or French. For privately sponsored refugees, two-thirds of adults knew at least one official language, nearly three-quarters had a high school diploma and one-quarter had a university degree. Syrians sponsored privately found work faster, with more than half who arrived in 2015 working by the time the census was taken in the spring of 2016. TORONTO - A man who killed two people and injured several others when he opened fire at Toronto's Eaton Centre may have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, but prosecutors said Monday that doesn't mean he had no control over his actions. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/2/2019 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. TORONTO - A man who killed two people and injured several others when he opened fire at Toronto's Eaton Centre may have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, but prosecutors said Monday that doesn't mean he had no control over his actions. Crown lawyers said the psychiatric experts who assessed Christopher Husbands agreed he had PTSD but were split on whether he could have been in a dissociative state when he fired 14 bullets in the downtown mall's crowded food court on June 2, 2012. In his closing submissions, Crown lawyer John Cisorio said one of the doctors noted that the act of aiming and firing a gun is more complex than what you would expect from someone experiencing dissociation. Cisorio showed jurors stills from security video that shows Husbands holding a gun with his arms shoulder height, then at a 45-degree angle, then again higher up. "This was not someone blindly shooting. This was someone who was purposely aiming He knew exactly what he was doing," the lawyer told jurors. After the shooting, Husbands ran from the food court and left the mall, Cisorio said. "He was aware and conscious of the fact that he did what he did and he had to get away," he said. Defence lawyers told the court Friday that Husbands was in a dissociative state as a result of his PTSD, which was triggered by an encounter with some of the men who had brutally beaten and stabbed him months earlier. They have argued that he should be found not criminally responsible. Husbands has testified he felt his arms come up and twitch, heard a loud bang and everything went dark. He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, five counts of aggravated assault, one count each of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and reckless discharge of a firearm. Two men were killed in the shooting and six others including a 13-year-old boy who was shot in the head and survived, and a pregnant woman who was trampled by fleeing shoppers were injured. Prosecutors have said Ahmed Hassan, 24, died on the floor of the food court while Nixon Nirmalendran, 22, died in hospital nine days later due to complications from a bullet wound. Court heard Nirmalendran was one of the men who ambushed Husbands and stabbed him more than 20 times in February 2012. The Crown has argued Husbands sought revenge against his attackers and carried out the shooting as a form of "street justice." "He wanted Nixon to feel the same painand he was going to make sure Nixon was dead," Cisorio said Monday. Far from threatening Husbands, the group was moving away from him in the food court, Cisorio argued. "There was no threat to Mr. Husbands on June 2 it was Mr. Husbands who was the threat," he said. The fact that Hassan was not involved in the stabbing and was "killed by mistake" does not absolve Husbands, whose actions were "consistent with someone who wanted to kill," the prosecutor said. He also noted Husbands did not tell anyone he had experienced dissociation in the aftermath of the shooting. "These murders had nothing to do with PTSD but had everything to do with payback," Cisorio said. "He was in total control from beginning to end." Jurors have heard Husbands faced a previous trial, but were not told the outcome or the reason for a second trial. They are expected to begin their deliberations on Thursday. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us Winnipeg based company Fresh Projects has been chosen to build Brandons Maryland Park School. Trustees voted in favour of awarding the contract to the company during a board meeting on Monday evening. A motion was presented to the board to award the low tender from Fresh Projects, in the amount of $22,679,187 plus GST, for the construction of the new K- 8 Maryland Park School. The school will be constructed for 450 students, with the ability to expand to 675 students. At 65,660 square-feet, it will have 40 nursery school spaces, a child-care centre for 20 infants and 54 preschool children, and 14 regular classrooms and kindergarten rooms. It will also have art, band and science rooms, a science, technology electronics and math (STEM) lab, life-skills, resource teaching and guidance suites, and English as an additional language room, a library and a gymnasium, a nutrition and textiles lab and a construction shop. Fresh Projects has worked on a number of different assignments, including a one storey addition to the Flin Flon Hospital, 93 single family dwelling units on Little Saskatchewan First Nation and a Manitoba Housing project which included the demolition and new builds of 36 balconies, four canopies and four landings of two housing complexes, their website said. A groundbreaking ceremony for Maryland Park School is slated for this month, with the school expected to open in August 2020. The school will be built at 700 Maryland Ave.. More to follow in tomorrows Brandon Sun. The Brandon Sun Winnipeg based company Fresh Projects has been chosen to build Brandons Maryland Park School. Trustees voted in favour of awarding the contract to the company during a board meeting on Monday evening. A motion was presented to the board to award the low tender from Fresh Projects, in the amount of $22,679,187 plus GST, for the construction of the new K- 8 Maryland Park School. The school will be constructed for 450 students, with the ability to expand to 675 students. At 65,660 square-feet, it will have 40 nursery school spaces, a child-care centre for 20 infants and 54 preschool children, and 14 regular classrooms and kindergarten rooms. It will also have art, band and science rooms, a science, technology electronics and math (STEM) lab, life-skills, resource teaching and guidance suites, and English as an additional language room, a library and a gymnasium, a nutrition and textiles lab, and a construction shop. Fresh Projects has worked on a number of different assignments, including a one storey addition to the Flin Flon Hospital, 93 single family dwelling units on Little Saskatchewan First Nation and a Manitoba Housing project which included the demolition and new builds of 36 balconies, four canopies and four landings of two housing complexes, their website said. A groundbreaking ceremony for Maryland Park School is slated for this month, with the school expected to open in August 2020. The school will be built at 700 Maryland Ave.. More to follow in tomorrows Brandon Sun. The Brandon Sun A man who robbed a fellow customer in a Brandon convenience store and then attempted to take items from the store itself has been sentenced to two years in jail. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us A man who robbed a fellow customer in a Brandon convenience store and then attempted to take items from the store itself has been sentenced to two years in jail. Michael Raymond Hanska pleaded guilty on Monday in Brandon provincial court to armed robbery. On Oct. 14, police responded to a panic alarm from the 7-Eleven on Willowdale Crescent, reporting there was a robbery in process, Crown attorney Yaso Mathu said. While en route, police received a second 911 call from a victim of the robbery, providing a description of the accused. When police arrived, Hanska was found in the doorway of the 7-Eleven, where he immediately surrendered by putting his hands in the air and kneeling on the ground, Mathu said. Officers also observed a paring knife with a blue handle laying on the ground, as well as an open bottle of Powerade and two packs of cigarettes. The victim told police Hanska had first approached him saying he knew him from somewhere, Mathu said, and that he had one hand behind his back as they briefly spoke. When the victim went to leave the store, Hanska grabbed him and started shoving the victim around, asking why he was trying to leave. Hanska threatened to shoot the victim before taking a pack of cigarettes from the man and ripping a white gold chain off his neck. The victim said Hanska allowed him to leave, but he remained in his vehicle outside the store to call 911. The store clerk told police Hanska produced the knife and showed it to both the clerk and the victim, Mathu said, at which point the clerk ran to the back and hit the panic alarm. He then watched Hanska go behind the counter and take some more cigarettes before going to the cooler and grabbing some drinks. "This crime is extremely serious store clerks and convenience store employees are highly vulnerable given the nature of their jobs working all hours of the night and often working alone," Mathu said. "What they probably fear the most happened in this instance Im sure the events of this evening will play very strongly in both of these victims minds." Hanskas lawyer, Philip Sieklicki, said the robbery was on the lower end of the scale as no one was hurt and nothing was permanently stolen. It was also an "extremely odd offence," Sieklicki added, in that Hanska seemed to just wait for the police to arrive and he surrendered immediately. The incident occurred after Hanska had taken methamphetamine only for the second time, Sieklicki said, and he was "blacking in and out of consciousness." Hanska is also remorseful for his actions and his guilty plea reflects that, Sieklicki said. "(Hanska) used to go to this 7-Eleven on a regular basis and he knew the store clerk he feels terrible for this decision to have robbed the 7-Eleven and the victim and has expressed, if given the opportunity, hed like to provide a heartfelt apology," Sieklicki said. Judge Donovan Dvorak sentenced Hanska to 24 months in jail. He has already served 182 days, leaving him with 22 months going forward. edebooy@brandonsun.com Twitter: @erindebooy The Manitoba government has announced a new funding model for the provinces four Child and Family Services authorities. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us Manitoba Metis Federation president David Chartrand, pictured last year, said that changes to how the province will fund its four Child and Family Services authorities were done without consulting his organization. (File) The Manitoba government has announced a new funding model for the provinces four Child and Family Services authorities. The province will provide up-front, or block, funding to Manitobas CFS authorities the First Nations of Manitoba CFS Authority, the General Authority, the Metis CFS Authority and the Southern First Nation Network of Care beginning April 1 as a way to provide better access to services for children and families, Manitoba Families Minister Heather Stefanson said in a statement Monday. Heather Stefanson "Block funding will fund authorities and agencies up front to improve outcomes for children and families, not by the size of their caseloads or the length of a childs stay in care," Stefanson said. "We want to give agencies the freedom to devote more money to prevention, early intervention, community and kinship involvement, and other positive supports. As well, the new model helps reduce their administrative burdens and improves autonomy and accountability." The province launched a block-funding pilot project with eight agencies in 2017, with the preliminary results showing a reduction in average per diem costs and the number of children entering care, as well as increased investment in prevention, a provincial press release said. The latest Manitoba Families annual report states that there were 10,328 children in care as of March 31, 2018, a drop of 386 from the year before. Under the new model, each authority will distribute funds to their agencies based on a three-year agreement. Manitoba has 24 agencies in all and each will be responsible for how they manage their funds. The province will also give the federal Childrens Special Allowance directly to child welfare agencies, with total funding expected to be more than $435 million. A provincial document explaining the current model said programs can be either unavailable or under-resourced, while in some cases parents have had to voluntarily place their child in care in order to access services. Funding is also based on the number of children in care, which the province says incentivizes apprehensions and limits agencies abilities to invest in prevention and early intervention. The Manitoba government said the new approach is based in part on "engagement sessions" with the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, Southern Chiefs Organization and Manitoba Metis Federation. But in a statement, MMF president David Chartrand said while he isnt against block funding in principle, it is being done without consulting himself or Indigenous leadership. "There has not been a full meeting with the Leadership Council since ... Pallister formed government. We ought to be meeting quarterly as required by legislation," Chartrand said. "We are looking for clarity. No different than when Manitoba asks for clarity about funding from the federal government. Today, we had a single phone call from the minister and she made a prepared statement, a fait accompli." MMF southwest region vice-president Leah LaPlante said it would be disappointing if the MMF was not involved in discussions on how the funding would be changed. However, she said the new model would allow them to work directly with families, adding that some are ready to go into preventative programming. "That in itself is a great thing, because Ive run enough programs myself to know that sometimes you cant anticipate whats coming down the road, even if you have a year-long funding agreement," she said. "At the best, when youre writing your proposal or your work plan ... youre guessing in some cases, youre using past information, and so I understand for a three-year block funding that its good in itself because it gives the program some stability, but it also then brings what the presidents concerns are," if the money runs out, she added. The MMF has criticized the provincial government over its cancellation of the $20-million Turning the Page Agreement last year, which would have seen Manitoba Hydro pay the MMF $1 million per year until 2034 in exchange for its support for major projects. The group is also taking the province to court over a cancelled $67.5-million agreement where Hydro would have compensated the MMF for more than 50 years for existing and future projects, including a Manitoba-Minnesota transmission line. mlee@brandonsun.com Twitter: @mtaylorlee CFB SHILO Troops stood at attention Monday morning as a new boss Lt.-Col. Michael Reekie took over as commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry (2PPCLI) during a change of command ceremony. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us Lt.-Col. Michael Reekie takes over command of the 2nd Battalion Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry during a change of command ceremony on Monday. (Melissa Verge/The Brandon Sun) CFB SHILO Troops stood at attention Monday morning as a new boss Lt.-Col. Michael Reekie took over as commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry (2PPCLI) during a change of command ceremony. Reekie has served in Shilo before. He was stationed there from 2005-08, and again from 2012-14. "I consider this my army home," Reekie said after the parade had concluded on Monday. "I grew up here, this is kind of my family, so to be back in any capacity is an immense honour." Lt.-Col. Michael Reekie gives a speech during the change of command ceremony at CFB Shilo on Monday. Reekie will take over command of 2PPCLI from Lt.-Col. Jay MacKeen. (Melissa Verge/The Brandon Sun) He took over for Lt.-Col. Jay MacKeen, who has served as commanding officer since June 2017. Under Reekie, 2PPCLI soldiers will be preparing for an upcoming six-month tasking in Latvia, in what he calls their next big hurdle in terms of preparations. They will deploy in the summertime, with the exact time to be confirmed, he said, but likely in July or August. "Its kind of a cool task because this battalion will be the core of it, and well represent the bulk of the Canadian component to this multinational battle group," he said. Lt.-Col. Jay MacKeen signs the change of command certificates during the change of command ceremony for 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry. (Melissa Verge/The Brandon Sun) Once there, theyll be working with sub-units from five different countries, he said. "(It will be) a super cool experience for our soldiers, but also a bit of a challenge to form a team out of nations with all different backgrounds, cultures (and) equipment," he said. Reekie first enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces back in 1998. He has served overseas in Bosnia, Kandahar, Iraq and Kabul, and has a wife, Charissa, and two children, Alexandra and James. Outgoing commanding officer MacKeen has also spent significant time in the forces, enlisting in 1997. During the time he spent in Shilo, he said there were many memorable moments. When he first took command, 2PPCLI soldiers were deployed to the United Kingdom to do public duties at Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Windsor Castle and St. James Palace. After that, they delivered the combat team commanders course, where they trained the next company and squadron leaders within the army. Soldiers march in during a change of command ceremony at CFB Shilo. (Melissa Verge/The Brandon Sun) During his time as commanding officer, members of 2PPCLI also deployed up north to Cambridge Bay and Resolute Bay in Nunavut, on sovereignty operations where they patrolled the area and got to learn how to work in the high arctic. "That was an incredible experience," he said. "Id love to go back there again in all sincerity. It was -63 C and I want to go back there. I dont understand it, but I absolutely do." The Battle of Medak Pocket parade was also "a really special moment," he said, where veterans were brought in from the battle, and they commemorated the deployment. In two weeks, MacKeen will be moving on to Iraq for six months to help train the local military so they can then assume control in defence and security of their own country, he said. "Im looking forward to going back in operations and doing "the business" as we like to say," he said. And, for 2PPCLIs new commander? "What a privilege it is to come home," Reekie said. mverge@brandonsun.com Twitter: @Melverge5 The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. Print edition not available for Day Pass option. "Thousands of Texans were shocked by surprise medical bills. Their requests for help overwhelmed the state." was first published at by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. Texans who are not prohibited by state or federal law from possessing a gun can carry handguns without a license or training starting Sept. 1, after Gov. Greg Abbott signed permitless carry bill into law. Will this spur handgun sales? You voted: PR Newswire NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Feb. 12, 2019 NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hospitality Marketing Concepts (http://HMCloyalty.com), the world's leading provider of paid membership loyalty programs, today announced the launch of the Centara Privilege program via a partnership with Centara Hotels & Resorts, Thailand's leading hotel operator (http://centarahotelsresorts.com). Hospitality Marketing Concepts (HMC) in collaboration with Centara Hotels & Resorts created an engaging loyalty program to meet the needs of its 33 hotels in Thailand and exceed the expectations of Centara's prestigious client base. The Centara Privilege Club, available to join at https://centaraprivilege.com, provides exclusive lifestyle, dining and accommodation benefits, with attractive guaranteed savings, an available complimentary night's stay, cash certificates and many other member-only advantages. 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"HMC is committed to ensuring the new programs' success while creating an innovative program which complements the ever-growing digital mobile world," said Mokhtar Ramadan, CEO, Hospitality Marketing Concepts. "Together with Centara Hotels and Resorts, HMC will deliver on our mission to provide world-class loyalty programs to luxury hotel brands around the world. Together with HMC's new mobile app, members can enjoy the benefits of membership at their fingertips." Members of Centara Privilege will receive exclusive privileges at participating Centara Hotels and Resorts properties throughout Thailand. From booking a stay with exclusive rates to indulging in premier dining options, Centara Privilege members enjoy impressive benefits and increased recognition. Members also receive access to CLUBHOTEL (http://www.clubhotel.com), HMC's exclusive global network of four- and five-star hotels. CLUBHOTEL provides reciprocal benefits and recognition to a worldwide membership base. Participating properties receive room spending from direct bookings and F&B spend from their local markets while simultaneously gaining exposure to CLUBHOTEL members around the globe. Centara Privilege membership is available to join online: https://centaraprivilege.com/JoinNow. About Centara Hotels and Resorts Centara Hotels & Resorts is Thailand's leading hotel operator. Its 68 properties span all major Thai destinations plus the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Laos, China, Oman, Qatar and the UAE. Centara's portfolio comprises six brands -Centara Grand Hotels & Resorts, Centara Hotels & Resorts, Centara Boutique Collection, Centra by Centara, Centara Residences & Suites and COSI Hotels ranging from 5-star city hotels and luxurious island retreats to family resorts and affordable lifestyle concepts supported by innovative technology.It also operates state-of-the-art convention centres and has its own award-winning spa brand, Cenvaree. Throughout the collection, Centara delivers and celebrates the hospitality and values Thailand is famous for including gracious service, exceptional food, pampering spas and the importance of families. Centara's distinctive culture and diversity of formats allow it to serve and satisfy travellers of nearly every age and lifestyle. Over the next five years Centara aims to double its size with additional properties in Thailand and new international markets, while spreading its footprint into new continents and market niches. As Centara continues to expand, a growing base of loyal customers will find the company's unique style of hospitality in more locations. Centara's global loyalty programme, Centara The1 Card, reinforces their loyalty with rewards, privileges and special member pricing. Find out more about Centara at https://www.CentaraHotelsResorts.com. About Hospitality Marketing Concepts Headquartered in Newport Beach, Southern California, HMC is the world's leading full-service loyalty solution provider for more than 1,250 four- and five-star hotels and luxury brands. The company's offerings include paid membership loyalty programs, white-labeled points-based loyalty programs, booker's programs, meetings platforms and corporate incentive programs. HMC leads the industry in new proprietary operational technologies, state-of-the-art Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, and highly detail-oriented personalized service. HMC provides a turnkey solution to hotel clients, from the initial concept and design, to IT and mobile app deployment, program management and ongoing marketing and customer service. HMC also operates two proprietary global hotel loyalty networks: CLUBHOTEL and VOILA Hotel Rewards, further improving our client's business opportunities through the world. CLUBHOTEL (http://clubhotel.com) boasts a large variety of brands and independent properties around the world. Established in 1996, the program is currently offered at over 720 luxury hotels in 52 countries and in more than 447 cities. The CLUBHOTEL model generates tens of thousands of incremental room nights for participating hotels each year and is highly valued by partner hotels as it requires no financial expenditure. VOILA Hotel Rewards (http://voilahotels.com) is the world's number one loyalty program that unites a network of over 25 select global hotel brands. VOILA's points-based frequency guest program provides recognition benefits and Award Night room redemption opportunities at participating network hotels. VOILA offers hotel- or group-branded loyalty solutions for our partner hotels, with VOILA acting as the supporting brand. VOILA's global presence also allows members to earn and redeem points across a wide variety of redemption partners including airlines, retail merchants and charities. A selection of HMC's clients includes Hilton Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels, Kempinski Hotels, Radisson, Movenpick Hotels & Resorts, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, Centara Hotels and Resorts, StayWell Hospitality Group, Cobblestone Hotels, Othon Hotels, and Swiss International Hotels and Resorts. HMC is a global company with offices in more than 50 countries including Spain, Poland, Portugal, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, UAE, Egypt, Brazil, Canada, United Kingdom and the United States. More information about HMC may be found at http://HMCloyalty.com. CONTACT: Peter Gorla, [email protected], 949-260-9538 Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/819089/HMC_2010___with_HMC_with_Hospitality_Marketing_Concepts__no_slogan____high_resolution_Logo.jpg PR Newswire CASABLANCA VALLEY, Chile, Feb. 12, 2019 CASABLANCA VALLEY, Chile, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Gonzalez Byass has announced the very first ECOCERT certified organic wine for its Casablanca Valley, Chile-based Vinedos Veramonte: the 2018 Sauvignon Blanc (SRP $11.99). Veramonte is the standard bearer within the Gonzalez Byass umbrella of Chilean labels (which also include Ritual, Primus and Neyen), and this release marks the first of what will eventually become a 100% organic/biodynamic stable of all its Chilean wines. The 2018 Sauvignon Blanc was certified by ECOCERT, the France-based inspection and certification body that is considered the benchmark in organic certification worldwide. Considered the definitive expert and pioneer in organic food certifications, ECOCERT is an independent body recognized by international public authorities. They offer worldwide inspection and certification services according to public regulations or private standards. In 2018, winemaker Sofia Araya took over as Head Winemaker, receiving the reins from her renowned predecessor and mentor Rodrigo Soto. Together they spent six years integrating the organic methods which would eventually lead to this important certification, and will eventually convert Gonzalez Byass' vast vineyard holdings in the Casablanca, Colchagua and Apalta Valleys to 100% organic and biodynamic - a project of ambitious scale. So far 500 hectares of vineyards have been certified organic, and 2020 will mark the first Veramonte vintage that will also include Demeter's Biodynamic Certification across all vineyards. In Chile, there are roughly 5,000 hectares planted with organic grapes, which means approximately 10% of organic grapes in Chile are currently from Vinedos Veramonte. At Veramonte, quality compost application was implemented to increase soil biodiversity, using stems and pomace collected during harvest season. Cover cropping in between vineyard rows improved soil structure, reduced erosion and added key nutrients for vines. Animal husbandry was introduced in the form of a flock of sheep, in order to help with minimal impact grass mowing (as well as to obtain healthy manure). Vast habitat breaks have always been an essential component in Veramonte's unique terroir, as they provide a critically self-regulated ecosystem, eliminating need for herbicides of any kind. Native yeast fermentations and minimal intervention facilitate naturally made wine from vine to bottle, resulting in the most complex expression of the vineyards' diverse terroirs. With its decomposed granitic soils and ample biodiversity, Casablanca Valley is one of the wine regions best suited for quality organic wine. Certified organic has been one of the fastest growing Chilean wine categories in recent years, and with the ECOCERT certification, Veramonte is single-handedly changing perceptions of how such ethical wines can be produced accessibly for a wider audience. About Gonzalez Byass: Gonzalez Byass is a family-owned collection of wineries founded in 1835 which spans across Spain's most important wine producing regions. From its foundation, the Gonzalez family have been dedicated to making fine Sherries and brandies in Jerez, Spain, creating such well-known brands as Tio Pepe Fino Sherry and Lepanto Brandy de Jerez. Today the fifth generation of the family are the custodians of these exceptional brands having built the company into a family of wineries which produces wine in some of Spain's most famous regions; Bodegas Beronia (Rioja and Rueda), Cavas Vilarnau (Barcelona), Finca Constancia (Vino de la Tierra de Castilla), Finca Moncloa (Vino de la Tierra de Cadiz), Vinas del Vero (Somontano) and Pazo de Lusco (Rias Baixas). In each of these regions the family strives to make the best possible quality wines respecting the local terroir and the environment. Gonzalez Byass is now one of Spain's most well-recognized brand owners world-wide. Their passion for quality wine production and respect for long-standing traditions, whilst at the same time innovating, have been the guiding principles that have led to the company's global success. In 2018, they were recognized by the Wine Star Awards as the Best European Winery of the Year at the annual gala held in Miami, Florida. Learn more at https://www.gonzalezbyass.com/. MEDIA CONTACT:Kimberly Noelle CharlesCharles Communications Associates [email protected] 415.701.9463. *PHOTOS: (1) https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/19-0212s2p-sauvignon-blanc-300dpi.jpg (2) https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/19-0212s2p-veramonte-sheep-300dpi.jpg Caption: Sheep in the Veramonte Vineyard. This release was issued through Send2Press, a unit of Neotrope. For more information, visit Send2Press Newswire at https://www.Send2Press.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gonzalez-byass-announces-first-organic-certified-bottling-for-its-chilean-portfolio-300794562.html SOURCE Gonzalez Byass 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 SIGN UP TO GET BLACKLISTED NEWS DELIVERED RIGHT TO YOUR INBOX Enter your email address: Dr. Heptulla urged the Unani fraternity to progress and evolve with the changing times, adapt to new techniques of health research and contribute new approaches to health management. Unani Medicine can offer the right solution for many health challenges we are facing due to lack of treatment of many diseases and paucity of resources, said Dr. Najma Heptulla, Governor of Manipur, inaugurating the two-day National Conference on Unani Medicine organized by the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM) as a part of 3rd Unani Day celebration in New Delhi recently. Dr. Heptulla urged the Unani fraternity to progress and evolve with the changing times, adapt to new techniques of health research and contribute new approaches to health management. She informed that Manipur has the treasure of over 500 medicinal plants and invited the medical scientists to visit the state for research. Addressing the conference themed on Unani Medicine for Public Health, Minister of State (IC) for AYUSH, Shripad Yesso Naik enlightened the audience on concrete steps taken by the Ministry of AYUSH to promote Unani Medicine in national public healthcare system through regulation of research and integration of quality products, practices, and practitioners into the health system. Our efforts are focused to tap the real potential of AYUSH systems in imparting preventive, promotive and holistic healthcare to the people, he added. Tribute was paid to Hakim Ajmal Khan, whose birth anniversary is celebrated as Unani Day on 11th February every year. Highlighting the strengths of Unani Medicine and other AYUSH systems in his address, Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that the AYUSH systems are golden key to health and wellbeing and India is the strongest hub of Traditional Medicine which is one of the reasons medical tourism is flourishing in the country. Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary to the Ministry of AYUSH urged to adapt Information Technology and informed about the steps taken by the Ministry of AYUSH in the form of National AYUSH Morbidity and Standardized Terminologies Electronic Portal (NAMASTE - PORTAL), initiative for incorporation of AYUSH Morbidity Codes in WHO ICD 11, AYUSH Grid, use of Social Media and A-HMIS. He made the announcement for allotment of land and allocation of Rs. 250 crore for National Institute of Unani Medicine to be setup in Ghaziabad. For Immediate Release, February 12, 2019 Contact: Lauren Packard, (510) 844-7103, lpackard@biologicaldiversity.org Lawsuit Seeks U.S. Records on Huge Plastics Plant in Louisiana's Cancer Alley ST. JAMES PARISH, La. The Center for Biological Diversity today sued the Trump administration for refusing to release public records related to an enormous plastics plant proposed along the Mississippi River in St. James Parish, La. The area is known as Cancer Alley for the high cancer rates among residents. Formosa Plastics, the Taiwan-based company behind the project, has a long and well-documented history of pollution in Baton Rouge, Texas, Taiwan and Vietnam. The project would emit more than 26 million tons of pollutants per year. Formosas plant would bring more cancer-causing chemicals to Cancer Alley and more plastic trash into our oceans and landfills, said Lauren Packard, an attorney at the Center. Residents deserve to know whether and how the company plans to reduce this toxic projects many environmental harms. The Trump administration cant be allowed to hide the risks of this polluting plant. Todays lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in D.C., seeks records from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers related to Formosas Clean Water Act permit application. The Center requested the application and agency communications related to it under the Freedom of Information Act in September 2018 and December 2018, respectively. The Corps has yet to fully comply. The Formosa plant would turn the byproducts of natural gas extraction into materials for single-use plastic packaging and products. The project is part of the fossil fuel industrys plan to increase plastic production by 40 percent over the next decade, a plan driven by the oversupply of fracked natural gas. The companys Clean Water Act permit application is still pending, as are state air and water pollution permit applications. The plant has already secured local approval and a coastal use permit from the state of Louisiana. The construction of the plant would destroy more than 100 acres of wetlands, making flooding worse and increasing the risk of a chemical spill during a natural disaster. As a greenhouse gas emitter, the plant would also contribute to climate change, increasing the likelihood of devastating hurricanes. This project would be a menace to people and wildlife, Packard said. Itll pollute local air and water, churn out throwaway plastics that choke turtles and birds, and further enable frackings immense harm to our climate. If you look at those opposing the wall on the southern border it is easy to figure out motivation - the more Hispanic foreign nationals who become American citizens, the better it is for the Democratic Party. California is the best example of this. In 1970 there were less than 3 million Latinos living in the Golden State. By 2014, the number had risen to about 15 million with Latinos surpassing whites as the ethnic majority. 55 percent of Hispanics eligible to vote in California are Democrats. 17 percent are Republicans, with 24 percent registering with no party. California, the land of Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, has become a one-party liberal state thanks to Latino voters. Democrats hope to duplicate that in other states by demanding lenient policies toward illegal entry from Mexico. When my ancestors arrived from famine-ravaged Ireland in the 1840s, they were quickly signed up by Democrat ward bosses in Brooklyn. And they remained Democrats as the generations unfolded. In New York, Boston and other big cities, the Dems aggressively recruited the poor and the working union people. Today the party of entitlement is the Democrat Party. And if you are a first-generation American with little education, you are going to need some help. The Dems are more than happy to supply that help using tax payer dollars. So thats the root of the border controversy. Its all about potential votes. Its all about power. Tonight well take a hard look at the entitlement society. See you beginning at 7 eastern. Highlights The country's northeast region will face increased violence from Islamic State supporters, while a peace arrangement that has previously kept conflict quiet in the Niger Delta region is being put to the test. While Islamic militants' expansion attempts could pose security threats to Abuja and Lagos, protests and political unrest following the election are far more likely to disrupt major urban areas. Nigerians are preparing to head to the polls to either re-elect incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari or replace him with Buhari's lead challenger, Atiku Abubakar. The Feb. 16 presidential election has thrown the country into a state of political flux, risking the relative stability Nigeria has achieved since returning to multiparty democracy in 1999. But in addition to having direct political implications , growing unrest across the country also creates an environment for Nigeria's many regional and sectarian security threats to fester and spread leading up to and following the election. With the Islamic State insurgency in the northeast, the resurgence of militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta in the south and sectarian clashes over land rights in the country's center, Africas most populous country is in for a turbulent few weeks. The political flux surrounding Nigeria's upcoming election has created space for regional and sectarian conflicts to flare up.The country's northeast region will face increased violence from Islamic State supporters, while a peace arrangement that has previously kept conflict quiet in the Niger Delta region is being put to the test.While Islamic militants' expansion attempts could pose security threats to Abuja and Lagos, protests and political unrest following the election are far more likely to disrupt major urban areas. Opposition in the South The religious rift between Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north and its predominantly Christian south is one of the oldest and most significant conflicts in the country. In recent decades, Nigerian leaders have avoided major conflict through an informal agreement to alternate control of the presidency every two terms (or every eight years). Under this agreement, the presidency still belongs to the north for the next four years. And indeed, both presidential candidates are northerners. But that doesn't mean regional tensions won't threaten the peace. A current trial involving Nigeria's chief justice and prominent southerner, Walter Onnoghen, will be a major point of contention heading into the election. In January, Onnoghen was dismissed from office after being charged with multiple corruption-related crimes a move many southern Nigerians took as a governmental attempt to reduce their regional influence on national policy. The event has already resulted in disruptive demonstrations in Abuja and across the south. Onnoghens court date is just three days before the presidential election. And while his trial is not directly linked to the election, its timing combined with its undertones of regional divisions could spur more protests that would overlap with the election, exacerbating political unrest. An additional challenge linked to Nigeria's divisive regional politics is the enduring threat to national oil production in the Niger Delta. Accounting for about 9 percent of total gross domestic product (GDP) and 85 percent of exports, oil is Nigerias most valuable natural resource. However, it also happens to be geographically concentrated in southern Nigerias Niger Delta region, giving a handful of southern states a disproportionate level of influence on the nations economy and during disagreements over control of oil revenue. Over the past decade, militant groups in the south have essentially extorted both foreign oil companies and the Nigerian government for a greater share of oil wealth using attacks against oil installations and personnel. Attacks in 2009 and 2016, in particular, took hundreds of thousands of barrels per day out of production threatening not only the revenue of foreign oil companies and the local government, but the lives of personnel. The maze of creeks that make up the Delta and the area's lack of infrastructure make security operations in the region expensive and ineffective. The landscape also favors guerilla warfare, and the sprawling networks of pipelines and pump stations are notoriously difficult to defend. Since 2016, the current Nigerian government's policy of either paying off past militant leaders or hiring them to secure the oil industry in the Delta region has largely kept oil (and revenue) flowing steadily. And as a result, the area has been relatively quiet. But this strategy is unlikely to provide a solution for much longer, as signs emerge that new militants are becoming active in the Niger Delta. In January, a group calling itself the Koluama Seven Brothers claimed responsibility for a minor pipeline attack. And while the attack appears to be an isolated incident, the transition following the election could still lead to an increase in militant activity by testing the political status quo. Violence in the North-East and Central Regions Meanwhile, in the North-East region, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) has put Nigeria on the map of the international jihadist movement. Formerly known as Boko Haram, the long-running insurgency has survived years of Nigerian military efforts to push it back: The al-Barnawi faction continues to launch deadly attacks against security forces, while the Shekau faction has focused more on soft targets. Kidnappings are also regular occurrences, frequently targeting international aid groups. ISWAP has a strong interest in breaking out of the northeast and conducting more attacks in Nigerias capital of Abuja, though it has struggled to do so in recent years. Abuja was a fairly regular target of deadly ISWAP bombing campaigns from 2011 to 2015, including attacks against a UN building, shopping centers and transportation hubs. But since then, the Nigerian jihadist organization has struggled to overcome the distance between its geographic base and the centrally-located capital much less the distance to Lagos on the polar opposite side of the country. However, the desire to attack higher profile targets outside the North-East remains, and militants continue to threaten attacks in Abuja. The upcoming election gives ISWAP an opportunity to inflict political damage by undermining the democratic process that the Islamic State ideology opposes. The fact that ISWAP attacks have persisted despite claims from the Nigerian military that the group has been defeated has become a political liability for Buhari, and it will remain a burden regardless of who wins on Feb. 16. Even a modest attack on Abuja would be enough to undermine the next administration. Finally, the deadliest current conflict in the country is the combination of violence and land disputes between predominantly Muslim herders and Christian farmers in Central Nigeria. Though clashes between the opposing sides are more geographically isolated and less threatening to national security than the actions of Niger Delta militants, Islamic State insurgents and general political protesters, the conflict does bring collateral damage and is a major threat to anyone traveling through the states of Benue, Taraba, Plateau or Kaduna. (The region is also rife with kidnappings by ransom gangs.) Threats to Major Cities When it comes to Nigeria's major metropolitan areas, protests and political rallies surrounding the election will likely pose the biggest and most direct threat to those in Abuja and Lagos. If the election is delayed (as was the case in 2015 when election materials were not ready in time) or ends up being too close to call, or if the results are disputed due to irregularities, the risk of violence will increase. However, most violence will target opposing political parties and government offices, meaning individuals and organizations who are not directly implicated in election disputes should be able to stay safe by keeping a low profile and avoiding major public gatherings. In the southern oil-producing region of the Niger Delta, emerging threats such as the Koluama Seven Brothers have not demonstrated the kind of sustained, frequent attacks that have caused significant disruptions in the past. However, the oil industry remains a pressure point that southerners can push if they take issue with the election results or, more likely, the trial of suspended Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen. Following the election, any attempts to change up the current informal peacekeeping political arrangement could also trigger a resurgence of attacks against oil infrastructure and personnel. Islamic State fighters are all but guaranteed to carry out attacks on election-related activity in the North-East, but a true test of their capabilities will be whether they can break out of the northeastern states of Yobe, Borno, Gombe and Adamawa and strike in urban areas like Abuja. ISWAP has not proven to have a significant network of operatives outside the northeast that can support regular attacks, meaning militants must risk long treks by land with their weapons to strike against other targets. This mode of operating gives authorities and civilians ample opportunities to recognize and confront unusual activity, such as pre-operational surveillance, in order to stop an attack in the making. Regardless of which candidate wins the presidency on Feb. 16, a climate of political instability in Nigeria will persist after the votes are tallied and the final results are announced. And during this time of transition and uncertainty, the fragile factors that have kept Nigerias diverse threat environment at bay in recent years will be put to the test. Nigeria's Election Will Threaten Its Security, Regardless of Who Wins is republished with permission from Stratfor Worldview, a geopolitical intelligence platform. @facebook.com/northeastberksnews/ Lisa Mitchell is an editor for Berks-Mont Newspapers, covering news and events in the Northeast Berks County area. Gen. Pornpipat Benyasri, the supreme commander of Thailands armed forces (left), greets Lt. Gen. Gary J. Volesky of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, during the opening ceremony of Exercise Cobra Gold 2019, Feb. 12, 2019. Thailand and the United States welcomed 9,000 military personnel from nearly 30 countries to Exercise Cobra Gold 2019, as the worlds longest-running international military training program kicked off here on Tuesday, officials said. Gen. Pornpipat Benyasri, the supreme commander of Thailands armed forces, was joined by Lt. Gen. Gary J. Volesky of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and Peter Haymond, the deputy chief of mission for the American Embassy in Bangkok, during the opening ceremony in northern Pitsanulok province. We have witnessed that this Thai-American initiative has become a significant milestone of military collaboration for decades and has expanded to the regional level, Pornpipat told troops and others attending the opening ceremony. I believe that not only Cobra Gold serves as the platform of understanding and working together in the region but now has become beneficial for our other strategic partners. About 4,500 U.S. personnel and a similar number of troops from up to 28 nations are participating this year, officials said. They said that China and India, which have attended previous Cobra Gold exercises, will participate this time in humanitarian roles only. The 38th edition of the exercise is to end Feb. 23 and features field training and staff exercises along with humanitarian civic projects throughout Thailand. The schedule includes an amphibious assault demonstration on Hat Yao Beach in Chonburi province on Feb. 16 and a non-combatant evacuation operation at Wing 46 Air Force Base in Phitsanulok province the next day. Cobra Gold will culminate with a live-fire exercise and closing ceremony on Feb. 22 at the Third Army Training Field in Sukhothai province. Volesky, the American general, praised the annual training exercise for strengthening ties in the region. The military-to-military engagement is critical, he told BenarNews. Any time we have an opportunity to keep the line of communication open to ensure understanding to prevent any misinterpretation is good for us and so we encourage military-to-military exchanges. And you see we are very excited to be here with Thai partners to do this. This is one many engagements we have opportunities to do across the entire Pacific, again, to keep free and open the Pacific region for everyone, he said. Haymond said major allies Thailand and the U.S. could promote peace in the contested South China Sea, while the U.S. maintains its policy of a free and open Pacific Ocean. The United States does not have a claim in the South China Sea, Thailand does not either, but both of us can work to encourage the claimants to settle their claims peacefully and to assure that all countries can share the same rights to international for transport around the world, he told BenarNews. We also urge all countries who have overlapping claims to the South China Sea or elsewhere, to work out their claims in peaceful fashion. Members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a Muslim rebel group that signed a 1996 peace pact with the Philippine government, arrive at Patikul town, on the volatile southern Philippines island of Jolo, to seek the release of foreign and Filipino hostages long held by Abu Sayyaf gunmen, Jan. 15, 2013. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte asked former Muslim rebels to fight alongside government soldiers against Islamic State-linked militants in the south, two weeks after a deadly bomb explosion in Jolo island, according to the presidential palace Tuesday. In a visit to the southern town of Buluan in Maguindanao province Monday evening, Duterte rallied the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to the governments side and said a breakaway faction the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) knew nothing except to kill. The ISIS has violent ideology. Its not Muslim. Their interpretation of Quran was corrupt. They know nothing but to kill. They will teach us how to kill? What will happen to our children? Duterte said, referring to the other acronym for the Islamic State (IS). Its the ideology of Arabs. Not ideology of Maguindanao. Our only commonality is Islam. But Islam does not say we should kill each other, he said, according to transcripts of his speech made available to reporters Wednesday. Duterte made the appeal after the ratification of Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), which created an autonomous region known by its local acronym as BARMM, the final step in the 2014 peace agreement between the Manila government and the MILF. The law aims to give the impoverished south an expanded autonomous area, offering self-determination to the nations four million Muslims by empowering them to elect their own parliament. Last month, two bombs exploded at the Catholic church in Jolo, killing 23 people and wounding more than 100 others. The attack was blamed on another group, the Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf, and was launched as thousands of troops had been deployed to Jolo to crush them. Two days after the blast, unidentified men lobbed a grenade inside a mosque in nearby Zamboanga city, killing two Muslim religious leaders and wounding four people. Duterte has blamed suicide bombers for the Jolo blast, and local police said the Abu Sayyaf had worked with two foreigners to launch the attack. The military also blamed Abu Sayyaf commander Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan as the mastermind. Sawadjaan has been tagged by the United States as the likely next leader of the Islamic State in the country, after the death of Isnilon Hapilon in Marawi city two years ago. You will have to fight the ISIS. They would create hell for us, Duterte said. We are not here talking to destroy the future and our family. We are here planning for what we can do to them, so that by the time they are the father and mothers of the community, they would know what to do and make it more comfortable for our children. On Sunday, police arrested a suspected Abu Sayyaf member who was believed behind the bomb explosion that killed seven people and wounded dozens at a bus terminal in southern city of Kidapawan on Oct. 10, 2002. National police director chief Oscar Albayalde said the suspect, Abdurahman Mataud Daiyung, who was also accused of involvement in the beheading of five plantation workers on June 11, 2001, in nearby Basilan island, was arrested in Manila. National Capital Region police chief Guillermo Eleazar said Daiyung has been in Manila for only a few months and has been working as a welder. We are not clear yet as to his purpose here, but clearly he is one among the suspects and responsible in the bus terminal bombing, Eleazar told reporters in a news conference in Manila Tuesday. Founded in the early 1990s, Abu Sayyaf is notorious for kidnappings, bombings and beheading in southern Philippines over the past decade. The group was blacklisted by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization. It is the smallest, but considered the most brutal, of several armed groups that operate in the restive south. The BIFF, meanwhile, broke away from the MILF after the latter decided to negotiate peace and a Muslim autonomy in the south, dropping its bid for independence. Vietnamese fishermen are seen in a boat after being detained by the Royal Marine Police in Thailands southern province of Narathiwat, Nov. 24, 2016. The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has broken up a syndicate led by a Vietnamese woman that specialized in forging records of foreign fishermen, enabling them to work and cross borders illegally, an official said Tuesday. The syndicate targeted Vietnamese fishermen who did not have work permits or whose seamans books had expired, MMEA deputy operations director Maritime Capt. V. Pannir Selvan said. Selvan described the suspect as a Vietnamese woman in her 30s who holds Malaysian permanent resident status. The woman, who was not named, was arrested during a house raid by MMEA in the state of Pahang on Feb 3. During the raid on the suspects house, the MMEA team managed to seize 36 Vietnamese passports, 54 Vietnamese seamans books, fake seaman approval stamps, and other questionable documents, he said. A seaman book is a continuous record of service that must be carried and is an official and legal record of sea experience. On Jan. 30, MMEA arrested 19 Vietnamese between the ages of 19 and 50 who were in Malaysia illegally, as they attempted to leave aboard a local fishing boat off the southeastern coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Investigators said they identified the syndicates male ringleader as Vietnamese national Nguyen Au Yang, who apparently managed to evade arrest on Feb 6. A man opens the Instagram account of @alpantuni on his computer in Jakarta, Feb. 12, 2019. An Instagram account featuring comic strips about a Muslim gay mans struggles went dark early Wednesday (Jakarta time), just days after the Indonesian government demanded that the social media site remove it over public concerns in the largest Islamic-majority country. BenarNews could not determine if the person responsible for the @alpantuni account took the account offline or if Instagram responded to the governments demand. Instagrams press office did not immediately respond to an email seeking clarification. On Tuesday, Indonesias Ministry of Communication and Information Technology said Instagram had not responded to a Feb. 2 letter demanding that the account be blocked for causing public unease, government spokesman Ferdinandus Setu said. We dont know why it has taken so long. We need an explanation from them, he told BenarNews. The account, which had more than 6,000 followers before it went dark, listed its bio as gay Muslim comics for people who can think. It featured 13 comic strips containing Indonesian text, including one depicting two men having sex. Another post showed the character named Alpantuni telling himself that he would have been happier had he chosen to come out instead of leading a double life. Homosexuality is not a crime in Indonesia except in Aceh province where Sharia law is in force. Rudiantara, the minister of communication and information technology, had said the government was heeding requests from the public that the account be removed. LGBT attacks In recent years, the rhetoric and actions of some government officials and local leaders have fanned an uproar against the countrys lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. The communications ministry blocked thousands of websites containing pornographic content, as part of the governments healthy internet campaign. In addition, police have raided places frequented by gay people and briefly detained hundreds suspected of being homosexual. Officers filed charges against some of them for committing prostitution or pornographic acts. The Pariaman city government, in West Sumatra province, recently issued a bylaw of a public order that includes a fine of up to 1 million rupiah (U.S. $71) for LGBT activities. The regulation contained clauses to penalize LGBT people who conduct activity that disturbs public order or commit immoral acts with the same-sex, according to a media report citing the by-law. Last year, the government of Cianjur regency in West Java issued a circular urging Muslim preachers to talk during their Friday sermons about the dangers of homosexuality. Most of the country sees the LGBT community as a threat, according to a 2017 survey by Jakarta-based Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting. The survey showed that 85.4 percent of the nation felt threatened by LGBT people a figure which increased to 87.6 percent three months later. Additionally, 79.1 percent of respondents objected to having LGBT neighbors. Despite those concerns, 57.7 percent of Indonesians believed that LGBT members had rights and about 50 percent believed the government was obligated to protect them, according to the survey. Almost exactly a year ago, Feb. 8, 2018, Indonesian lawmakers, who were following the advice of Muslim clerics, sought to approve a set of revisions to the countrys penal code that would criminalize extramarital sex and gay sex. While the revisions never passed, then-U.N. human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein and parliamentarians from Southeast Asian countries called on Indonesia to not inflame discrimination against LGBT people and others. At a time when it is consolidating its democratic gains, we urge Indonesians to move forward not backward on human rights and resist attempts to introduce new forms of discrimination in law, Zeid said on the final day of his three-day trip to Indonesias capital. Observed by Mahayana Buddhists on the 15th of February, Nirvana Day is an annual celebration that commemorates the historical Buddhas entry into final nirvana upon the death of his physical body at age 80. The Buddha The Buddha, whose historical name was Siddhartha Gautama, was born in Nepal around 2,500 years ago. Siddhartha was a member of the royal family of a kingdom on the Indian-Nepalese border, and although he had an ostentatious upbringing, he was shocked out of his privileged life upon realizing the truths of aging, sickness, suffering, and death. This led him to contemplate the meaning of life and the cause of human suffering, eventually driving him to leave his palace and follow the traditional Indian path of the wandering holy man. He went on to study and master meditation under various teachers, taking on an ascetic lifestyle, believing that one could free the spirit and invite understanding by denying the flesh. Unsuccessful, he abandoned this path, looking to his own mind and intuition for the truthhe decided to learn from direct experience. He sat beneath a pipal tree for 40 days, when he finally attained Enlightenment. For the remainder of his life, the Buddha traveled, spreading his newfound understanding to others, founding Buddhism. Siddhartha finally passed away after a life of traveling, teaching philosophy, and developing Buddhism until his death at the age of 80. Before he died, he imparted a few well-known final words to his monks that would go on to give Nirvana Day its theme. "Behold, O monks, this is my last advice to you. All component things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting. Work hard to gain your own salvation." The Nature of Nirvana Buddhists believe that Siddhartha, when he became enlightened attained a state that was free of conditionsthings like upbringing, psychology, perceptions, opinions, presuppositions, and so on. This is known as sopadhishesa-nirvananirvana with remainder. Upon his death, however, he achieved parinirvana, which translates as final nirvana. This final nirvana is achieved by one who has attained nirvana during life, and with it, comes the ultimate rewardrelease from the cycle of suffering, death, and rebirth. This is achieved through adherence to Buddhist precepts, most notably the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of eight practicesright view, resolve, speech, conduct, livelihood, mindfulness, and Samadhi, and effort. These practices, when fully and purposefully integrated into an individuals life, result in liberation from the cycle. But when a person who has not achieved nirvana during his or her lifetime passes away, losing their physical body, their unresolved karma stays with them as they are reincarnated, bringing them back into one of the realms of rebirth, which range from a hellish plane to the heavenly realm of the gods. A persons choices during life determine where theyll be reincarnated, and an individual can move up and down the hierarchy of realms over the course of centuries. "Buddhists observe Nirvana Day with solemn meditation and readings from the Parinibanna Sutta..." However, there is release and rest for those who have achieved the ultimate Buddhist goal. Nirvana means blowing out, or quenching, and is achieved through a life lived as the historical Buddha didthrough extinguishing the three fires of passion, aversion, and ignorance. This different from total annihilationthe individual who passes into final nirvana simply passes into another, unknowable realm of being. The Dalai Lama defines Nirvana as the state beyond sorrows, or a state of freedom from cyclic existence. Mahayana Buddhists seek to aid others in achieving this state. Devotees focus on becoming bodhisattvapeople who strive to liberate others from the cycle of birth and death, postponing their own entry into nirvana for the purpose of helping the rest of the world. Observations Buddhists observe Nirvana Day with solemn meditation and readings from the Parinibanna Sutta, which describes the last days and words of the Buddha. This religious holiday is also a time for pilgrimage. Because the Buddha is said to have passed away near the city of Kushinagar, located in what is now the state of Uttar Pradesh in India, Kushinagar is a major destination for Buddhists during Nirvana Day. There are a number of shrines in Kushinagar, including the Ramabhar Stupa, which marks where the Buddha is thought to have been cremated, and the Nirvana Stupa, which marks the spot where the Buddhas ashes may be buried. Some Buddhists treat Nirvana Day as a social occasion, preparing food and gifts to share with others at their monasteries. It may seem counterintuitive that the adherents of a religion would celebrate the death of their beloved founder, but the essence of Nirvana Day lies not in the idea of death, but in freedom. It is a time to think on, and more importantly, accept, the impermanence of everything. It is often encouraged to think on the recent deaths of friends and loved ones in order to accept their loss, and to learn not to grieve over such things. Instead, Buddhists are encouraged to live full and joyful lives through the acceptance of impermanence and freedom from attachment. Unattached and Unafraid Buddhism is a belief system that is focused on the elimination of sufferingboth the suffering of adherents, and of all other forms of life. While dwelling on the idea of death and impermanence may seem depressing at first glance, give it a try on Nirvana Day. Think not on what youve lost, but dwell on the very nature of life as something that constantly changes and shifts. Accepting this aspect of life bears much significance for our contemporary lives. It is in this contemplation that you may begin the process of becoming able to accept change in your lifesomething we all struggle with. Buddhists remind us that through acceptance, cultivating discipline, and practicing mindfulness, we can achieve happier, healthier lives, setting us on a path that does both us, and those around us, good. And who knows? One day, that path may one day lead us to nirvana. The Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA), which represents the 11 councils, has made an important and timely intervention in the devolution debate by calling for greater powers for local authorities in the continuing absence of a functioning Assembly and Executive at Stormont The Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA), which represents the 11 councils, has made an important and timely intervention in the devolution debate by calling for greater powers for local authorities in the continuing absence of a functioning Assembly and Executive at Stormont. NILGA has urged Theresa May's Government to review the roles of the councils, and to hand greater decision-making to them to address what it tactfully calls the "democratic deficit" caused by the implosion of power-sharing some two years ago. NILGA's proposed reforms include the establishment of an independent panel to consider devolution funded at a level below the Executive, for example councils and communities, and a Brexit Support Fund similar to the 60m scheme offered to local authorities in Britain. NILGA has performed a useful service by refusing to sit idly by and bemoan the lack of a local administration, but rather put forward practical and commonsense suggestions to deal with Brexit and other day-to-day issues. The sad truth is that, apart from the deep human impetus to run our own affairs as much as possible, the reality of self-government has never seemed so distant as today, and perhaps more so than at any time since that winter day in March 1972 when the then Tory Prime Minister prorogued the old Stormont Parliament. The continuing inability of parties to work together at even the most basic level has been compounded by the evidence-gathering sessions at the RHI Inquiry, which has yet to report. This leaves public confidence in the political classes at an all-time low. By common consent, the next attempt to breathe life back into the devolved institutions, if it ever comes, must await the outcome of the Brexit process. Realistically, if the power-sharing institutions are revived, this will take place against a political backdrop that has radically changed for the worse since Martin McGuinness collapsed the Executive on January 9, 2017. Perhaps one way to restore some public confidence in the political process here is to transfer a set of powers, which have yet to be defined, to the 11 local councils, which remain untainted by the deadlock at Stormont. Other suggestions, such as a revived Civic Forum, also merit consideration. It would be hard to imagine that either could do any worse. Northern Ireland's political and public services landscape is vastly different to other parts of the UK and Ireland. Of the 21 billion it costs to "run" Northern Ireland each year, less than 1 billion of that (just over 4%) rests with the 11 councils. Elsewhere, it's about 24%. NILGA asserts that a review is required, challenging public perceptions and government thinking to transform what we do, not just administer and carry on as we are. Read More During the last two years of political limbo, councils have been the only fully functioning level of government and have continually stepped up to the plate, delivering vital public services, employment and investment, and can do much more, including being a supply chain region for Heathrow Airport. Local government contributes massively to developing and sustaining thousands of new jobs across Northern Ireland, creating taxes needed to sustain the public purse, including roads, education and health. Sustainable development has a transformative effect on people and places. Councils are increasingly at the forefront of enterprise in Northern Ireland and it is councils who are best positioned to understand current need and future requirements in their areas. Places such as Cornwall have been offered billions of pounds for city, devolution and growth funding through their local councils and this should be happening here. Some people may say that councils aren't fit for such things, but they are dynamic hubs and have the ability to be innovative and accountable. Local government is ready and willing, but the resources must be provided to match expectations. We should not enter another council term without planning to change. Let's change the record. Let's negotiate, with robust evidence, a better way to be public servants, from the bottom up, with sustainable community wealth and health being the outcomes. Let's place greater focus on the layer of government that provides solutions - local authorities. Derek McCallan is Chief Executive of NILGA, the Northern Ireland Local Government Association President Donald Trump before leaving the White House for a trip to El Paso, Texas (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP) Congressional negotiators have reached an agreement to prevent a US government shutdown and finance construction of new barriers along the US-Mexico border. Republicans were desperate to avoid another bruising shutdown, so tentatively agreed to far less money for President Donald Trumps border wall than the White Houses 5.7 billion US dollars (4 billion) wish list, settling for a figure of nearly 1.4 billion dollars (1 billion), according to congressional aides. That means 55 miles of new fencing constructed through existing designs such as metal slats instead of a concrete wall but far less than the 215 miles the White House demanded in December. The fencing would be built in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Expand Close Richard Shelby leaves a closed-door meeting at the Capitol (Andrew Harnik/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Richard Shelby leaves a closed-door meeting at the Capitol (Andrew Harnik/AP) We reached an agreement in principle, said Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Richard Shelby, appearing with a bipartisan group of House and Senate politicians who concurred. Our staffs are just working out the details, said House Appropriations Committee chairwoman Nita Lowey. Details will not be officially released until Tuesday, but the pact came in time to alleviate any threat of a second partial government shutdown this weekend. The agreement also includes increases for new technologies such as advanced screening at border entry point, humanitarian aid sought by Democrats, and additional customs officers. This weekend, Mr Shelby pulled the plug on the talks over Democratic demands to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities, frustrating some of his fellow negotiators, but Democrats yielded ground on that issue in a fresh round of talks on Monday. Asked if Mr Trump would back the deal, Mr Shelby said: We believe from our dealings with them and the latitude theyve given us, they will support it. We certainly hope so. The border debate got most of the attention, but it is just part of a major spending measure to fund a bevy of Cabinet departments. A collapse of the negotiations would have imperilled another upcoming round of budget talks that are required to prevent steep spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic agencies. Expand Close Workers prepare for President Donald Trumps campaign rally at El Paso County Coliseum (Eric Gay/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Workers prepare for President Donald Trumps campaign rally at El Paso County Coliseum (Eric Gay/AP) Mr Trump travelled to El Paso, Texas, for a campaign-style rally on Monday night focused on immigration and border issues. He has been adamant that Congress approve money for a wall along the Mexican border, though he no longer repeats his 2016 mantra that Mexico will pay for it, and he took to the stage as politicians back in Washington were announcing their breakthrough. Just so you know, we're building the wall anywayDonald Trump They said that progress is being made with this committee, Mr Trump told his audience, referring to the congressional bargainers. Just so you know, were building the wall anyway. Democrats carried more leverage into the talks after besting Mr Trump on the 35-day shutdown but showed flexibility in hopes on winning Mr Trumps signature. After yielding on border barriers, Democrats focused on reducing funding for detention beds to curb what they see as unnecessarily harsh enforcement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The agreement yielded curbed funding, overall, for ICE detention beds, which Democrats promised would mean the agency would hold fewer detainees than the current average of 49,000 detainees held each day. Democrats claimed the number of beds would be ratcheted down to 40,520. But a proposal to cap at 16,500 the number of detainees caught in areas away from the border a limit Democrats say was aimed at preventing overreach by the agency ran into its own Republican wall. Democrats dropped the demand in the Monday round of talks, and the mood in the Capitol improved markedly. Mr Trump met on Monday afternoon with top advisers in the Oval Office to discuss the negotiations. He softened his rhetoric on the wall but ratcheted it up when alluding to the detention beds issue. We can call it anything. Well call it barriers, well call it whatever they want, Mr Trump said. But now it turns out not only dont they want to give us money for a wall, they dont want to give us the space to detain murderers, criminals, drug dealers, human smugglers. The recent shutdown left more than 800,000 government workers without pay, forced postponement of the State of the Union address and sent Mr Trumps poll numbers tumbling. Policemen and others stand at the spot after an early morning fire at the Arpit Palace Hotel in New Delhi, India (Manish Swarup/AP) A fire has engulfed a shoddily built budget hotel in central New Delhi, killing 17 people and injuring at least four others, including a woman who leapt from an upper floor to escape the flames, Indian authorities said. Three of those killed at the Arpit Palace Hotel in Karol Bagh were members of a family who had travelled to the Indian capital from Kerala to attend a wedding, family friend Arvind Vishwanathan said outside a hospital mortuary. Most of the deaths in an area in Indias capital city popular with tourists because of its shops and budget hotels were due to suffocation, said Satyendar Kumar Jain, the Delhi government minister of health and urban development. Expand Close Firefighters rescue people at the Arpit Palace Hotel (Sivanand Chand via AP) AP / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Firefighters rescue people at the Arpit Palace Hotel (Sivanand Chand via AP) The hotel developer had a permit from the fire department to build up to four storeys the standard height in central Delhi but the building appeared to have six floors, including a basement and a kitchen built on top of the roof, Mr Jain said. Carelessness on the part of authorities is evident. We are going to investigate, and the wrongdoer will be punished, he said. Hotel guest Sivanand Chand, 43, said he was jolted awake at around 4am, struggling to breathe. When I got out of my room, I could hear help, help! from adjoining rooms, he said. The hallway was dark and thick with smoke, so Mr Chand turned back into his room and opened a window. He saw flames rising fast. In 15 minutes, the whole room was black, he said. Expand Close The hotel is in an area popular with tourists (Manish Swarup/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The hotel is in an area popular with tourists (Manish Swarup/AP) A video shot by a worker at a nearby hotel showed flames consuming the top of the building, which authorities said contained an unauthorised makeshift kitchen formed from sheets of fibreglass. Mr Chand said rescue efforts were delayed because the first fire engines arrived with manual ladders that were not tall enough to reach his floor. He and some other guests were eventually escaped through his window on to a hydraulic lift. About 100 firefighters and 25 fire engines responded to the fire, which engulfed all but the ground floor of the hotel, fire officer Vijay Paul said. About three dozen people were rescued. It was not immediately clear how many guests and staff were inside the hotel, which had 43 guest rooms, according to its website. Rescuers had to break windows to rescue people because wood panelling in the corridors and stairwells fed the flames, said fire official Atul Garg. That is the escape route. People have to come out of the room and take the staircase but the staircase itself was on fire, so how they will go out? Mr Garg said. Video showed firefighters carrying victims slumped over their shoulders through an unlit, charred stairwell. Authorities are investigating what sparked the blaze, Deputy Police Commissioner Mandeep Singh Randhawa said. Among those injured was a woman from Burma who sustained spinal injuries after jumping from an upper floor, according to Deputy Fire Chief Sunil Choudhary. She is being treated at a local hospital, he said. The other injured people were also taken to hospital but their conditions were not immediately known. Prime minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet that he was deeply saddened by the loss of lives. I convey my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives. May the injured recover soon. Upskirting has been made a specific criminal offence after a Bill to ban the cruel craze received Royal Assent in the House of Lords. People convicted of taking an image or video of a victims groin or buttocks under their clothing face being jailed for two years and being put on the sex offenders register. Gina Martin, who campaigned for the law change after being upskirted at a festival in 2017, welcomed the move and said it was a long time coming. Prime Minister Theresa May, who was in the House of Commons as cheers rang out when the Bill received Royal Assent in the Lords, said she was very pleased to see the degrading practice of upskirting become a criminal offence after the tireless work of victims and campaigners. Victims called for the creation of a specific law after becoming frustrated with a lack of options to prosecute perpetrators. While some people were able to seek a conviction under harassment, voyeurism or outraging public decency laws, the creation of a specific offence means suspects can be prosecuted where they sought to obtain sexual gratification or cause humiliation, distress or alarm. aVery pleased to see the degrading practice of upskirting become a criminal offence after the tireless work of victims and campaigners.a aA PM @Theresa_May #UpskirtingLaw pic.twitter.com/koYif0LlST UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) February 12, 2019 The Government intervened last June to bring forward measures to tackle the behaviour after a Private Members Bill (PMB) was blocked by Conservative backbencher Sir Christopher Chope. The veteran politician was criticised again last week after objecting to a PMB which sought to tackle female genital mutilation. His actions last summer were condemned by campaigners and Tory colleagues, prompting the Government to adopt the Bill. Ms Martins campaign, aided by lawyer Ryan Whelan from Gibson Dunn, won political support from all parties and was backed by the likes of television presenters Holly Willoughby, Dermot OLeary and Laura Whitmore. Chope took the campaign stratospheric, an objection made people even more angry than they were alreadyGina Martin, campaigner Ms Martin, 27, told the Press Association: Its a bit surreal, Royal Assent is the final step in an exhausting amount of work. Its become part of my life. She added: Chope took the campaign stratospheric, an objection made people even more angry than they were already. Theres a lot of work still to do. A change in law is a huge thing, it sets a precedent but it doesnt change peoples opinions. Theres a huge job to do in creating narratives around this thing, we still see smaller sexual assaults as not such a problem but its a massive issue. It has been a long time coming but we are finally protected in every scenario as we should always have been. Those who commit such a degrading act will face prison, and victims complaints will be dealt with seriouslyLucy Frazer, justice minister The new law means police will be able to arrest people on suspicion of upskirting from April. Justice minister Lucy Frazer said: Those who commit such a degrading act will face prison, and victims complaints will be dealt with seriously. Gina Martin and other victims, charities and MPs supporting her should be immensely proud. Her efforts show how one campaigner can work with government to change the law for everyone. Mr Whelan said he was truly thrilled and never doubted the campaign. He told the Press Association: On the day that I met her, I told a rather sceptical Gina that wed succeed in changing the law. It has been a long road but we never lost faith that this day would come. Expand Close Upskirting victim and campaigner Gina Martin with lawyer Ryan Whelan (Alvin Williams/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Upskirting victim and campaigner Gina Martin with lawyer Ryan Whelan (Alvin Williams/PA) Never doubt that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things. As to our politicians, the success of the upskirting campaign is a timely reminder of what can be achieved when parties from across the political spectrum work together constructively. I also hope that FGM campaigners take faith from this that when the Government say theyll stand behind you and find a way to overcome an objection from Sir Christopher Chope, they mean it and they will. Sian Hawkins, head of campaigns and public affairs at Womens Aid, said: We hope that this new law will be another step forward in challenging the prevailing sexist attitudes and behaviours in our society that underpin violence against women and girls. Domestic abuse does not happen in a cultural vacuum. By making upskirting a criminal offence, we will send out the powerful message that this form of abuse is unacceptable and perpetrators of this crime will be held to account. Clare McGlynn, a professor in law at Durham University who called for a specific upskirting offence since revenge porn was made illegal in 2015, described the law as a welcome step forward, but said it does not go far enough. She said: Urgent action is needed to criminalise all forms of image-based sexual abuse, including fake porn and threats to share sexual images, as well as granting automatic anonymity to complainants. The current law is out of date, piecemeal and inconsistent and failing victims. The first official figures on upskirting, obtained by the Press Association last year, showed children as young as 10 complained to police. The information also highlighted that only one third of police forces in England and Wales had any data on the prevalence of upskirting. The NSPCC is calling for a regulator to force social networks to protect children on their platforms (Yui Mok/PA) The vast majority of adults in Scotland would back social network regulation, according to a new survey. Of the 255 Scottish adults polled for the NSPCC, 91% supported statutory regulation while 63% disagreed that social networks protect children from sexual grooming. It comes as part of a wider survey that found nine in 10 adults across the whole of Britain also supported the idea of regulation. The charitys campaign, Taming The Wild West Web, is calling for the introduction of a robust independent regulator to force social networks to protect children on their platforms. Ruth Moss, of Edinburgh, whose daughter Sophie took her own life at the age of 13, is backing the campaign. She described how it felt after finding out her teenager had looked at self-harm and suicide content on social media. Social networks should have a duty of care ... self-regulation is clearly not workingRuth Moss Ms Moss said: Sophies death devastated me. No mother, or family, should have to go through that. It was so unnecessary, she had so much to live for. She was only 13. I found out that she had been looking at completely inappropriate things online. Some of the images were so graphic that even as an adult, I was shocked. She was also communicating with people in their 30s and pretending to be older than she was, under a made up persona. Whilst the internet was heavily controlled at home and at school, Sophie had free Wi-Fi when she was out, making it very hard to police her internet use 24 hours a day. She added: Social networks should have a duty of care to protect children and vulnerable people from damaging material and self-regulation is clearly not working. The protection of our children is too important to leave to the goodwill of large, profit-orientated organisations. Statutory regulation is needed and as a matter of urgency. The proposed regulator would have legal powers to investigate firms who would require to meet a set of minimum standards and impose tough sanctions for failures including fines of up to 20 million euro (17.5 million). Peter Wanless, NSPCC chief executive, said: The support for statutory regulation of social networks is now overwhelming. It is clear that society will no longer tolerate a free for all under which tech firms allow children to operate in a precarious online world with a myriad of preventable risks. Social media bosses should be made to take responsibility for the essential protection of children on their platforms and face tough consequences if they dont. Over a decade of self-regulation has failed, and enough is enough. He added: The Governments Online Harms White Paper must impose a legal duty of care on social networks. Our proposal to tame the Wild West Web would make the UK a world leader in protecting children online. We urge the Government to be bold and introduce these measures without delay. Prime Minister Theresa May has said she sent an unequivocal message to the EU that her government could only support a deal with legally binding changes to the Irish backstop. Addressing the House of Commons, she called on MPs to "hold their nerve" and come together behind an EU withdrawal deal which will deliver Brexit on time on March 29. Read More Referring to her visit to Northern Ireland last week she said many people in the region are concerned about the "uncertainty surrounding Brexit". "For many people in Northern Ireland, what looms large is the fear that the seamless border will be disrupted," she said. "We must not allow that to happen and we shall not allow that to happen." DUP Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds MP said the most important market for Northern Ireland is the rest of the United Kingdom therefore "we must avoid any new barrier between NI and GB". I dont want any new barriers either but equally Mrs May must remember the importance of stopping any new borders being erected between Northern Ireland the rest of the United Kingdom," said Mr Dodds. "Northern Ireland trades more with Great Britain than with the Republic of Ireland, rest of the EU and the rest of the world combined". The MP for North Belfast claimed Irish government "have been incredibly vocal" about the need for the backstop and "protective" of the draft withdrawal agreement. "Yet, it is their attachment to this flawed draft deal which could lead to no deal being in place by the time the UK exits the EU," said Mr Dodds. "Ultimately, it is not necessary to erect any new barriers either north-south or east-west. We can reach a better way forward but it will require greater flexibility in Dublin and Brussels." Mrs May said that a planned Commons debate on February 14 will be on an amendable motion reaffirming the House's decision on January 29 that it supported the Government's efforts to find an alternative for the backstop and recognising that talks are ongoing. Mrs May pledged to return to Parliament on February 26, if no deal has been secured before that time, to report back on progress and trigger a further MPs' vote the following day. "We now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this House requires and deliver Brexit on time," Mrs May told the Commons. "By getting the changes we need to the backstop; by protecting and enhancing workers' rights and environmental protections; and by enhancing the role of Parliament in the next phase of negotiations I believe we can reach a deal that this House can support. "We can deliver for the people and the communities that voted for change two-and-a-half years ago - and whose voices for too long have not been heard. "We can honour the result of the referendum. "And we can set this country on course for the bright future that every part of this United Kingdom deserves. "That is this Government's mission. We shall not stint in our efforts to fulfil it." Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused the PM of "running down the clock" in the hope that MPs will be "blackmailed" by the fear of a no-deal Brexit into supporting "a deeply flawed deal". "This is an irresponsible act," said Mr Corbyn. "She is playing for time and playing with people's jobs, our economic security and the future of our industry." Mr Corbyn accused Mrs May of refusing to listen to his alternative deal, involving permanent customs union membership, a close alignment with the single market and matching EU workplace and environmental protections. "I urge all members across this House to think about the damage the Prime Minister's strategy is doing - the threat to industry and skilled jobs in communities across Britain," he said. "Now is not the time to stand idly by, now is the time to stand up and do the right thing: to rule out no deal and back Labour's alternative plan." Speaking in response to the Prime Minister's speech, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said Mrs May's comments offered "nothing new" and said any attempt to remove the backstop "must not be entertained". "The EU has made it clear that the withdrawal agreement and the backstop cannot and will not be reopened or renegotiated," she added. "It is time for Prime Minister May to stand by the deal as agreed. Anything else would amount to little more than playing a game of chicken with Irelands interests." A High Court judge has issued an urgent appeal for help finding a missing three-year-old girl thought to be living an itinerant lifestyle with her yoga teacher mother. Mr Justice Keehan said Ruby McKay-Uhd and her mother, Victoria McKay, 43, are believed to be living in a camper van, and he is extremely concerned about the girl. The judge made an appeal for help at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London on Tuesday. Expand Close Ruby McKay-Uhd (Dawson Cornwell/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ruby McKay-Uhd (Dawson Cornwell/PA) Ruby has been at the centre of family court proceedings in Melbourne, Australia, involving her mother and father, yoga teacher Peter Uhd, 57, the judge has heard. She was wrongfully brought to the UK by her mother in September and a family court judge in Melbourne ordered her return to Australia. The judge heard that Mr Uhd is Australian, Ms McKay was born in Birmingham but had been living in Australia for more than 20 years, and Ruby was born in Australia. Expand Close Victoria McKay (Dawson Cornwell/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Victoria McKay (Dawson Cornwell/PA) The case has been analysed at private High Court hearings in London. Mr Justice Keehan lifted an identity bar in the hope that publicity would help find the youngster and her mother. He also authorised the publication of photographs. Lawyers representing Rubys father had asked to judge to allow Rubys disappearance to be revealed. They said all other efforts to trace her and Ms McKay had failed. I am extremely concerned about this young child, who has been abducted from Australia wrongfully by her mother, said Mr Justice Keehan. It is believed she is living an itinerant lifestyle with her mother in a camper van. He said he was concerned for the girls health and that no-one knew anything about the circumstances in which she was living. The judge added: It is extremely important, and necessary for the welfare of this young child, that all possible steps are taken to locate her as soon as possible. Barrister William Tyzack, leading Mr Uhds legal team, told Mr Justice Keehan that evidence suggested Ms McKay had no desire to be located. He said Mr Uhd and Ms McKay separated some time ago, but Mr Uhd had been spending time with Ruby in Australia until she vanished in September. Mr Uhd continues to have very real concerns as to Rubys welfare and about the transient nature of her current life. Lawyer James Netto, who is also representing Mr Uhd and is based at law firm Dawson Cornwell, said Ms McKay and Ruby were thought to be living in a blue Renault Trafic camper van, registration E527 HPC. He said Ms McKay had one relative in Birmingham and others in the Littlehampton area of West Sussex. Mr Netto said she had also spoken of possibly travelling to Scotland. He said Ms McKay, who also uses the surnames Booty and Garrick, was a qualified yoga teacher and veterinary nurse. Mr Netto said Ms McKay and Ruby might be living on campsites, caravan parks or farms. He said Ms McKay was a country person who liked organic food and might have visited farmers markets. It was also thought she might be visiting libraries. Mr Netto added: Rubys father remains exceptionally concerned for her welfare as a result of Ms McKays very transient lifestyle. He wishes to make it clear that Ms McKay is not in any sort of trouble. He is simply seeking for Ruby to be found safely, and for her to return to her home in Melbourne. He asks that anyone who sees her or Ruby to get in touch with us as soon as possible. Rezvan Habibimarand (left) and Mozaffar Saberi have now been allowed to stay in the UK (Navid Saberi/PA) An Iranian couple whose family all live in the UK have won their battle against deportation. Mozaffar Saberi, 83, and Rezvan Habibimarand, 73, have been granted leave to remain in the UK by the Home Office. The great-grandparents case was previously raised in the House of Commons and more than 127,000 people had signed an online petition calling for the couple to be allowed to stay in the UK. Mr Saberi and Mrs Habibimarand bought a flat in Edinburgh in the late 1970s and have four children, 11 grandchildren and a great-grandchild who are all British citizens. "You did it folks, you did it, thank you does not sound/feel enough but THANK YOU. My parents will not be deported, just... Posted by Navid Saberi on Monday, February 11, 2019 The couple spent time in the UK on visitor visas over the years but after visiting in November 2012 they made an application to remain on human rights grounds which was refused by the Home Office. A second application was also refused and they had been appealing against the decision, with the case due to be heard later this month. The couples family and legal team previously spoke of the pairs distress at the prospect of being separated from their family who all live in Edinburgh. The couple also look after their severely autistic grandson who is non-verbal in order to help their daughter, an NHS nurse who is a single mother. More than 127,800 people had signed a petition on change.org calling on the Home Office to allow the couple to stay in the UK and they have now been given leave to remain. WATCH: I have raised the case of my constituents - Mozaffar Saberi (83) and Rezvan Habibimarand (73) - at the Council of Europe. The couple have lived in Edinburgh for 40 years and now face deportation thanks to the callous hostile environment policy of this Government. pic.twitter.com/MXH8SluGmo Ian Murray MP (@IanMurrayMP) January 22, 2019 A Home Office spokeswoman confirmed: Following a review of the case, during which supplementary evidence was provided and considered, Mr Saberi and Mrs Habibimarand have been granted 30 months leave to remain. Writing on Facebook, their son Navid Saberi said: You did it folks, you did it, thank you does not sound/feel enough but thank you. My parents will not be deported, just received the confirmation. Thank you for all your efforts, likes, shares and signatures. He continued: I should thank John Vassiliou, our solicitor, and his team who stuck with us in the last six years and never gave up hope and kept us motivated. In addition, I would like to thank our MP Ian Murray who worked incredibly hard, raising the issue in the House of Commons and in the Council of Europe. He has been amazing. Many thanks also go to the Scottish Minister for Europe, Migration and International Development Ben Macpherson MSP and regional MSPs Alison Johnstone and Andy Wightman who all wrote letters on our behalf, and also to David Lammy MP and Diane Abbott MP for helping to raise the cases profile on social media. Jodie Whittaker has said she was asked to change her appearance, including filling out a line on her forehead, when she was starting out in acting. The Doctor Who star said she is glad she was not impressionable when she was younger, so did not make a decision she might have come to regret. Talking about her "deep frown line" on David Tennant's podcast, Whittaker, said: "I wouldn't change it for the world and there are a lot of episodes where you're squinting and I think if I didn't have that frown line you wouldn't know it was sunny." Asked if she would ever do anything about it, she replied: "Would I heck! It's not even vanity and I'm too young. "I also think it's an undeniable pressure on humanity at the moment to look your best a lot of the time and I'm lucky that my journey through the world of acting has been about screwing my face up and nagging my eyes out. "I think I was doing a camera test for something and someone said (of her forehead line) 'It is very deep'." She continued: "I don't care, but I think 'Thank f*** I wasn't really impressionable. "I've never been asked to lose weight, maybe because I've always been a beanpole but I know that happens. "I got asked to get my 'tache waxed and I didn't know I had one. It was translated to me in Hungarian, it was so funny. "I said I would probably be allergic to the wax. I said 'Sorry you will just have to colour it in'." Whittaker said she was discouraged from acting by her school careers adviser, but credits her parents for encouraging her. She said: "My careers adviser at school, whoever that person was who I met for three hours, they said it was a ridiculous notion, in so much as it wasn't secure. Nine out of 10 don't make it. "But I'm 15, shut up! I went home and my mum was furious." Ahead of another crucial week in politics and a the UK edges closer to leaving the EU in March, the DUP's Westminster leader Nigel Dodds has urged for a focus on finding solutions and for a toning down of the language and rhetoric used. Last week the European Council President Donald Tusk said there was a "special place in hell" for those who advocated Brexit "without even a sketch of a plan". Reacting the DUP's Sammy Wilson accused Mr Tusk of contempt for those who voted Leave, branding him a a devilish, trident wielding, euro maniac. Arlene Foster called for "cool heads". Over the weekend there was anger after both Tony Blair and John Major warned leaving the EU without a deal risked damaging the peace process. Nigel Dodds said: "Some of the language and rhetoric employed last week was not conducive to making progress and securing the agreement we all want to see. Whether it is the European Council or former UK Prime Ministers, its time to dial down the rhetoric and focus on solutions rather than scaremongering." Read More This week parliament will again debate leaving the EU. An amendment is set to be tabled requiring the Commons to have another "meaningful vote" on the deal on the table by February 26. There is concern among parliamentarians the Prime Minister may be "running down the clock" in order to force her deal through. North Belfast MP Dodds said the focus had to be on tackling the backstop, saying it was the "central problem". "The Prime Minister has committed to securing legally binding changes to the withdrawal agreement. Those changes will be required for Parliament to support any deal. The EU cannot continue to hark back to a proposed deal which was comprehensively rejected by the House of Commons. There is no agreement without Parliaments support." He added: "Over the next number of weeks the options will become increasingly clear, particularly for the European Union. If the political will is there then an agreement can be achieved. The alternative is to cling to an unacceptable backstop which actually increases the chances of an outcome it was supposedly designed to prevent. It can make no sense for anyone to continue pursuing such a perverse policy. Meanwhile the EU published a 60-page presentation on the withdrawal agreement breaking down the deal with the UK. The DUP said it highlighted the "threat the proposed backstop poses to our economy and to the constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom". MEP Diane Dodds said it showed how EU leaders had "buried their heads in the sand". She added:"It is time to change direction before it is too late. It is time to work for a better deal. A deliverable deal which builds on the aspects of the draft treaty that we can all agree are positive whilst addressing genuine concerns over the Irish border in a pragmatic way. That should be our collective vision in the days ahead. Newly engaged couple Killian Casey and Emer Duffy kiss under a statue of St Valentine (Niall Carson/PA) A Romantic couple received a blessing with a difference ahead of February 14 at the shrine of St Valentine in Dublin. Emer Duffy and Killian Casey were blessed by Bishop Denis Nulty at the saints shrine in the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Relics of the saint are interred in the church and are venerated by worshippers. The newly-engaged couple, of Rathfarnam, are just one of many expected to visit the shrine to mark the most romantic day of the year. Expand Close Killian Casey and Emer Duffy are presented with flowers and chocolates under a statue of St Valentine from Bishop Denis Nulty (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Killian Casey and Emer Duffy are presented with flowers and chocolates under a statue of St Valentine from Bishop Denis Nulty (Niall Carson/PA) Emer said: Theres a lovely ceremony in here, and because we knew Valentine was here, when we came for Mass we saw the notice and put ourselves forward for it. Its lovely to get the blessing, itll be a nice thing to remember. The Dublin GAA-mad duo worked in the same technology company in 2012, but didnt see any sparks fly until meeting up socially for a match at Croke Park. According to Killian: We soon became strongly emotionally attached and our relationship has grown over the intervening years. We share many interests in life such as GAA, history, culture, travel and family. We go to Mass here, and we got the opportunity to get the blessing and it just fit for us. Killian proposed to Emer at a restaurant in Spain in October last year with a promise ring. The pair then booked a trip to Dubai in November where they shared some great moments including picking a proper engagement ring. The couple are getting married in June 2020. The event was held to promote Accord Catholic Marriage Care Service which is highlighting the benefits of its counselling and the importance of marriage in Irish society. Irish President Michael D Higgins has called for the warm relationship between Ireland and the UK to survive whatever the outcome of the Brexit odyssey. He also praised the Prince of Waless commitment to Anglo-Irish relations in a speech to a gathering of regional business leaders in Liverpool. He paid tribute to the unique, optimistic outlook and natural warmth of Liverpool as he toured the city during the first overseas trip of his second term as president. Mr Higgins and his wife Sabina renewed their friendship with Charles and Camilla when the foursome visited Liverpool Universitys Institute of Irish Studies. At the Victoria Gallery and Museum at the University of Liverpool, @livuni, President and Sabina Higgins were greeted by the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.https://t.co/zkMhmfxXg7 pic.twitter.com/tzJh8AbXYz President of Ireland (@PresidentIRL) February 12, 2019 Speaking later during a business lunch, he said: We cannot deny that we are on the cusp now of a potentially seismic shift in the structure of the trade and commercial relationships between Ireland and Britain and, of course, this brings reverberations within the island of Ireland, and through the Midlands and North of the UK. The uncertainty that exists, and that may continue to exist for some time, seems to offer an inevitable dampening effect on business links and investment decisions across borders that are currently frictionless, but where barriers to trade and co-operation may soon emerge. We must together face the uncertainty we are now confronted with, and endeavour to ensure, whatever the outcome of the Brexit odyssey, that the warm relationship, built on ties of family, friendship and shared interests, will endure and will grow. The president and the prince met at Liverpools Victoria Gallery and Museum to formally cement their roles as joint patrons of the Institute of Irish Studies. The signing of the joint patron agreement - a proud moment for the Institute! pic.twitter.com/3dbA3I2tH0 Irish Studies@LivUni (@IrishInstitute) February 12, 2019 Following protocol Charles and Camilla arrived first and waited patiently for Irelands head of state and his wife, and greeted them warmly when their limousine pulled up. The institutes foundations lie in the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement to encourage greater understanding between the two islands. The foursome held a private meeting for around 15 minutes before chatting to guests at a reception including representatives from Liverpool Irish Centre, Irish Community Care (Merseyside), and Irish businesses along with students and academics from the institute. In his speech to business leaders Mr Higgins highlighted the common ancestry between his homeland and the city: It is the people of Liverpool and their unique, optimistic outlook and natural warmth which make this place what it is and sustain Liverpools energy and cultural creativity. And as you know, the very Irishness of Liverpool might just have something to do with that. Indeed, it has been claimed that up to three-quarters of all people here can easily claim Irish ancestry. Charles has toured Ireland every year since 2014 and the president highlighted his dedication to preserving ties between the two nations. Mr Higgins, who is midway through a three-day tour of the UK, said: The deep personal commitment of Prince Charles to Irish-British relations, combined of course with that of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, is truly exceptional. It speaks of the progress we have made as neighbours and friends over recent decades and following very challenging times. Concerns have been raised about the ability of Irish universities to deal with a potential influx of thousands of students post-Brexit. An Oireachtas committee heard on Tuesday that if the movement of students was limited after the UK leaves the EU, it could leave colleges and universities in the Republic struggling to absorb some 14,000 students within the current system. Chair of the committee Fianna Fail TD Fiona OLoughlin questioned how universities would be able to cope post-Brexit when a total of 14,000 Irish students studied in the UK and Northern Ireland in 2016. She said it would be very, very concerning when we see our third-level institutions creaking at the seams. In 2016, some 12,000 Republic of Ireland students studied in the UK, while 2,000 studied in Northern Ireland. If we had to absorb them into our system Id have concerns about the capacity we have and also about the shortage of student accommodation, Ms OLoughlin said. In response, Minister of State with special responsibility for Higher Education Mary Mitchell OConnor said that a student accommodation strategy was in place and that it was reaching its targets. We launched an action plan and those targets are being met, Ms Mitchell OConnor said. Education Minister Joe McHugh told committee members that he was working hard to minimise any potential disruption to the movement of people post-Brexit, and that he also wanted to build on the contribution education had made with regard to the mobility of people through the Good Friday Agreement. Mr McHugh and Ms Mitchell OConnor were before the committee answering questions about what could happen to students in the event of the UK crashing out of the EU on March 29. Earlier this year, Mr McHugh announced that Brexit would not affect grants for Republic of Ireland students in the UK or for UK students in the Republic who start courses within the next academic year 2019/2020. The latest statistics showed 2,195 students from the Republic of Ireland were studying in Northern Ireland Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the 2015/2016 academic year. In contrast, there were 1,200 students from Northern Ireland studying in the Republic. In the 2017/2018 academic year, more than 10,000 Republic of Ireland students were studying in UK HEIs, while 2,426 students from the UK were studying in the Republics HEIs. Mr McHugh said since his appointment as education minister his goal had been to protect the valuable and rich cooperation that takes between education institutions on a north-south and on an east-west basis. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has said two people have been charged with the murder following alleyway death in Co Tyrone (Niall Carson/PA Wire) Two people have been charged with murder after the body of a man was found in Co Tyrone. The PSNI said a woman, aged 33, and a man, aged 23, are due to appear before Dungannon Magistrates Court on Wednesday. A 23 year old man and a 33 year old woman have been charged with murder. They are due to appear at Dungannon Magistrates Court tomorrow. Police Mid Ulster (@PSNIMidUlster) February 12, 2019 The pair were arrested on Saturday on suspicion of the murder of Pat Ward, whose body was found in an alleyway in McCrea Park in Clogher at about 8.15am on Saturday. Mr Ward, aged 30, was originally from Sligo but he had been living in Clogher in recent times. An LGBT equality group has accused the Presbyterian Church of "bias" ahead of a protest outside a Belfast place of worship which is due to screen a film about a "former homosexual". The film, Once Gay: Matthew And Friends, will be screened in Townsend Street Presbyterian Church on Valentine's Day. It has been produced by the Ballynahinch-based Christian group, Core Issues Trust, which last year saw protesters attend its screening of so-called "gay cure" film Voices Of The Silenced at Ballynahinch Baptist Church. The new film features X Factor Malta contestant Matthew Grech, who Core Issues Trust leader Mike Davidson claims "left homosexuality as part of his Christian testimony". However, LGBT equality group The Rainbow Project, and L&B women's support group Here NI, are organising a protest outside the church on the night of the premiere to "send a clear message to all + people that they are loved as they are". A spokesperson for The Rainbow Project told the Belfast Telegraph that the group was "disappointed" by Townsend Street Presbyterian Church's decision to screen the film. "The fact that this film will be shown in isolation from any evidence or information beyond those espoused in the film unfortunately shows the bias of the Church," he stated. "This is particularly difficult following the comments by recently-appointed moderator William Henry stating that the church abhors homophobia. "This movie is about sharing a singular message, that it is wrong to be gay and in a same-sex relationship. This message is fundamentally homophobic." The spokesperson said The Rainbow Project "will never allow conversion therapy to go unchallenged" here. "We seek to send a message to all people, but particularly those who are struggling with their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. You are loved and you are enough," he continued. "The clearest message to those promoting conversion therapy comes from those who have themselves survived it. It doesn't work and it causes irreparable harm to members of our community." A spokesperson for Here NI, which is co-organising the protest, said it hoped to "send a message to LGBT+ people of faith, and the community more broadly, that they are loved and welcomed in our society, and that sexual orientation is not something that one can be 'trained' out of". She stated: "So-called gay conversion therapy is damaging to LGBT+ people as it suggests that sexual orientation is something that is a choice, or something to be 'cured'. "This is not therapy or counselling, far from it; 'conversion therapy' is actually harmful to LGBT+ people's mental health. "It is disappointing that Townsend Street Presbyterian Church has decided to screen this film which promotes conversion therapy, particularly in light of the recently appointed Presbyterian Moderator William Henry saying that the church 'abhors' homophobia and is 'open and welcome to anyone'. "The screening of a film endorsing conversion therapy is not conducive to a welcoming environment for LGBT+ parishioners." However, a spokesperson for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland said that it continues to "reject homophobia". He stated: "From the outset, as a Church we again affirm that all people are loved, valued and cherished by God and we continue to reject homophobia in all its forms. "The Church recognises that 'conversion therapy' is both an emotive term and is defined differently by different people. "However, two things are very clear. Firstly, no 'therapy' of any kind should be undertaken against a person's will. Secondly, where a person chooses to seek help from a counsellor, then it is legitimate for such help to be provided. "As a Church we believe that God is sovereign and acknowledge that He can change an individual's life and personal circumstances with regards to any situation, as many Christians will readily testify." He said it was essential that anyone who sought pastoral support "can do so in a safe, loving and caring environment". The spokesperson said the use of church property was a matter for local congregations and not a matter for the Church centrally. "In this instance, local permission has been given for a particular film to be screened and a protest has been organised against the screening," he added. "Both, while remaining within the law, are legitimate actions in a free society." The Lurgan house which was petrol-bombed in an incident on Sunday A local councillor has warned that people could have died in an attack on a house in Lurgan on Sunday evening. Detectives are appealing for information following a report of an assault on two females and a petrol bomb attack at a property in the Headington Manor area of the Co Armagh town. Police revealed that two women initially got into the house at around 7.30pm and shortly after that incident was reported several masked men attempted to force their way in to the same address before throwing a petrol bomb at the property. Chief Inspector Jon Burrows said that two women aged in their 20s had been assaulted and he appealed for information. "We received a report around 8.20pm that two females had entered a property in Headington Manor earlier in the evening, around 7.30pm," he said. "It was reported two women, both aged in their 20s, were assaulted. One of the women suffered facial injuries while the other sustained minor leg injuries. "It was further reported a short time later, around 8.40pm, that a group of around five masked men attempted to force entry to the house and that a petrol bomb was thrown at the property. "Scorch damage was caused to windows at the front of the house. It was also reported that damage had been caused to windows at the property and to a car parked outside. "There were no reports of any injuries." Sinn Fein councillor Keith Haughian, who lives close to the scene of the attack, said that he had "nothing but utter and total condemnation" for those who were responsible for it. "It was out and out shocking behaviour," he said. "The people in the house could have died as a result of these actions and a neighbour has a very young child and they too could have been killed or seriously injured. "Whatever the reason behind this attack, it was completely irresponsible and the only way to deal with this is through the PSNI. I would appeal for anyone with any information to contact police. "This is a quiet residential area near the train station in the town with lots of young professional couples and it's shocking for all the people who live here." The incidents were also condemned by local SDLP councillor Joe Nelson. "It's surprising, as this is normally a fairly stable area, with lots of new homes," he said. "The area does have a link to Albert Street, where we have seen a few problems in recent months, but it will be a shock to residents to have this happen on their doorstep." Chief Inspector Burrows appealed for anyone with information to contact detectives in Lurgan on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference number 1145 of 10//02/19 or on Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Legal history has been made in Londonderry after a local man was charged with raping a woman in Spain four-and-a-half years ago Legal history has been made in Londonderry after a local man was charged with raping a woman in Spain four-and-a-half years ago. The defendant is 44-year-old Michael Joseph Cregan, from Ferguson Street in Derry. He's charged that on August 10, 2014, he raped a woman in the Hotel Los Alamos in Torremolinos, Malaga. Defence barrister Sean Doherty told District Judge Barney McElholm at Derry Magistrates Court yesterday that it was the first time a prosecution of this type had ever come before the courts in Northern Ireland under amended legislation. The District Judge said he was content to let the preliminary hearing into the case proceed. During the hearing, a Public Prosecution Service solicitor submitted that the defendant had a prima facie case to answer. The defendant replied "no" when asked if he had anything to say in answer to the charge. He was released on his own bail of 500 with conditions attached. He is due to appear before the local Crown Court on March 12. The Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA) has called for greater powers to be given to councillors in the absence of a power-sharing Executive at Stormont. NILGA, which represents our 11 councils, called on the government to review the role of local authorities here. Read More It urged London to increase decision making powers for councils in order to address the democratic deficit caused by devolution's collapse. NILGA said the government should "wake up to the facts that local people and local councils possess the entrepreneurial ability and solutions we need to address our economic, social and legislative deficits". The association is proposing that an independent panel is set up to take forward how devolution is progressed and funded below Stormont, to councils and communities. NILGA is also calling for a Brexit Support Fund, which has been offered to local authorities in Britain to the tune of more than 60m, to be provided to Northern Ireland councils. NILGA president Dermot Curran said: "Councils in 2019 are faced with huge expectations on their time and expenditure, in part due to the suspension of the Assembly, Brexit, transfer of responsibilities like event traffic management - costing around 900,000 this year alone to ratepayers - without being offered budgets to deliver." He added: "During the continued political impasse, councils are delivering more with less, taking on major infrastructure work as well as substantial, community led, preventative health work. "Coupled with the burden of meeting arbitrary targets, councils, the smallest part of the public sector, are being asked to take on more responsibility as the only functioning level of government in Northern Ireland, without the offer of additional resources required." Since the Assembly and the Executive collapsed two years ago, councils remain the only fully functioning democratically elected government in Northern Ireland. NILGA's council team recently met Minister of State for Northern Ireland John Penrose in order to examine how councils' additional pressures to deliver are funded, as well as examining how Northern Ireland's 21bn public purse is given scrutiny until the Assembly returns. NILGA chief executive Derek McCallan said: "Due to the current situation, members and chief executives across the 11 councils are becoming increasingly concerned about their ability to deliver on targets, with the threat of tick box bureaucracy in the background. Enough is enough. "This is why NILGA is calling for devolved political scrutiny of how we as councils are funded, what the deficits are, and enabling a piece of legislation to get us on a proper democratic and value for money footing. These aren't political or ideological matters, so we can get them sorted." With council elections taking place in under three months, Mr McCallan said local government should not have to "enter a new mandate over-burdened and under-resourced, trying diligently to deliver on many more expectations from a deserving public". A Newry man has been sentenced to eight years in prison after swallowing a 30,000 diamond ring while on holiday in Turkey. Ian Campbell (54) was sentenced to eight years and nine months for "qualified theft" by a court in Marmaris, the Demiroren News Agency report. Mr Campbell was arrested on October 4 last year for trying to steal the 2.5 carat diamond from a jewellery store. He swallowed the precious item whole when he feared he would be caught. At the time, he told prosecutors he had become obsessed with diamond rings after losing his wife in a tragic accident. "I fell into a trance when I saw the diamonds," he told the court. "The jeweller was telling me something but I couldn't even hear him because I was in a trance. "When I was conscious again, I found myself hiding a diamond in my pocket and I swallowed it in panic as jewellers started to search it," he said. Prosecutors ordered police to take him to hospital to return the ring by "natural means", with the Turkish media keeping a watchful vigil. After 36 hours without success, he consented to surgery to help return the property. Expand Close The ring Ian Campbell swallowed in a jewellery shop in Turkey / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The ring Ian Campbell swallowed in a jewellery shop in Turkey Speaking from his hospital bed in October, the father-of-four said: "I lost my wife in a traffic accident. Her body could not be removed from the car, which fell into a lake, for days. After the accident her diamond ring, our wedding ring, could not be found despite a search operation in the lake." He said this had sparked his obsession for diamond rings. Expand Close The ring Ian Campbell swallowed in a jewellery shop in Turkey / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The ring Ian Campbell swallowed in a jewellery shop in Turkey "Whenever I see a diamond ring on display at jewellery shops, my wife always comes to my mind. "I feel a strong urge to take those rings, especially the ones with higher carat diamonds." Mr Campbell is expected to appeal against the ruling. The family of a young boy suffering from a rare illness have vowed to make "every day as precious as possible" as they don't know how long they have left with him. Devoted County Londonderry mum Maura McCrystal speaks lovingly of her 10-year-old son - the youngest of five Draperstown brothers and one of only 44 people in the world who suffers from the illness. Fun-loving Jack lives with a condition called Ryr-1 myopathy. His illness means his muscles are extremely stiff, which has caused his backbone to curve so much that he has metal rods inserted to help straighten it. His wrists and feet have contracted, meaning he needs splints to keep them in a stable position, and he also needs physiotherapy to keep his muscles stretched. Jack's problems don't end there, however - he doesn't talk and can't eat using his mouth - yet he remains the life and soul of the McCrystal family. Now his parents want to give him the chance of getting onto his own two feet for the first time. They have begun a fundraising campaign to buy a special lightweight walker which will help him out of his wheelchair. "He's had to put up with so much in his life," mum Maura (48) said. "It's a round-the-clock business for us as a family. "His condition was only diagnosed in January last year, after nine years of not knowing. "We knew there would be problems before he was born, the scans weren't right," she said. After Jack was born he spent nine weeks on life support in the neo-natal unit, but now his condition is known, he makes regular visits to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London to have the rods in his back adjusted as he grows. "There are only a handful of cases in the world so this has been a learning curve for the doctors at Great Ormond Street as well as us," said Maura. "But it's still very difficult to treat as it's so rare and every patient displays different symptoms." The expense of trying to give Jack the best life possible is also mounting up for the McCrystal family. "It's not easy," said Maura. "The trips to London are partially reimbursed, but it's expensive for us as a family." Recently, Jack was introduced to a new lightweight walker to help him get onto his own feet. "The walker isn't cheap, but once he tried it out and we saw the look of delight on his face we decided we'd simply have to do whatever we can to try to get one for him," said Maura. "At the minute he's pretty much a full-time wheelchair user and he's a speed demon in it. In fact, he loves anything on wheels, and he's fascinated by all the London buses when we go over there. "He loves nothing more than going out with his dad, Ronan, a joiner at Specialist Joinery in Maghera, on bike rides in his special trailer. He loves parks and going to Portstewart and Portrush. "But we want to give him the chance of getting out of his own wheels," she said. "He has a walker at the minute, but it's very heavy for him to manage. "It's very difficult for him to move around in and we know he's sore when he's in it. "We'd love nothing more than to give him a little extra independence so he can run around on his own two feet after his brothers. "The NHS have been fantastic since before Jack was born. They've stood by us and supported us, and we've had wonderful support from family and friends to make Jack's life as good as we can. He goes to Kilronan School in Magherafelt and it's a wonderful place for him. "He has learning difficulties as well as his other problems, but he has a great understanding and it would be a dream for us to see him walk in there under his own steam." For now, it's the price tag that's holding Jack back. "Why should a price tag stop a little boy from getting up on his feet and being able to move around freely?" said Maura. That's why family and friends have already risen to the challenge of getting Jack his lightweight walker. A GoFundMe page has already raised nearly half of the 1,800 the family needs. "We'd do anything to help Jack out," said Maura. To find out more visit the GoFundMe website and search for Maura McCrystal A man and a woman have been charged with the murder of Pat Ward in Clogher over the weekend. The 23-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman who were arrested on Saturday morning will appear in court on Wednesday. The body of the 30-year-old Pat Ward, who was originally from Sligo but moved to Clogher with his family last November, was discovered in an alleyway in the town's McCrea Park at around 8.15am on Saturday. It is understood that he had suffered stab wounds. The pair will appear in Dungannon Magistrates' where, as is usual procedure, all charges will be reviewed by the Public Prosecution Service. Bafta-nominated film director Stephen Fingleton at Isleworth Crown Court where he is accused of sexual assault on an actress at her London flat. Picture: Jonathan Brady/PA Jurors in the trial of a Bafta-nominated film director accused of sexual assault have retired to consider their verdict. Stephen Fingleton, 35, is alleged to have attacked an actress at her west London flat during a lunch to discuss work opportunities on October 27 2017. Fingleton, of Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, denies one count of sexual assault. The jury of six men and six women retired to consider its verdict on Tuesday morning after the judge, Recorder Antonie Muller, summed up the case. Isleworth Crown Court previously heard Fingleton grabbed the woman's head and pushed it towards her crotch as she hung up washing. He then hugged her as she started crying, stroked her hair, put his hand under her T-shirt and tried to kiss her, the jury heard. The pair had arranged the lunch after they exchanged numbers at an industry event in London. The woman told jurors it was a business meeting, but Fingleton said it was not about work and denied the alleged attack happened. The DUP has said the party is united over Brexit after reports that its politicians are split on whether the backstop should be removed or changed. East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson last week said the party would vote against any type of backstop. He stated that if the government wanted to be sure of the support of the DUP's 10 MPs in the House of Commons, it would have to ditch the backstop entirely. DUP leader Arlene Foster has previously indicated that a time-limited backstop would be acceptable, and deputy leader Nigel Dodds has also suggested the party would accept a temporary backstop. East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell yesterday dismissed "stories of division" and said the party was focused "on the big picture of standing up for Northern Ireland and delivering a deal which works for London and Belfast, not just Dublin". Mr Campbell said: "Of course there were unionists who voted Remain in 2016. Homes up and down the country were divided on either side of that debate. The party accepted that at the time of the referendum. "But the referendum is over. The UK voted to leave the EU. The result must be respected and implemented." In a statement yesterday, Mr Dodds said the EU couldn't continue to "hark back" to the draft Withdrawal Agreement which had been "comprehensively rejected" by MPs. "Whether it is the European Council or former UK Prime Ministers, it's time to dial down the rhetoric and focus on solutions rather than scaremongering," he said. "If the political will is there then an agreement can be achieved. The alternative is to cling to an unacceptable backstop which actually increases the chances of an outcome it was supposedly designed to prevent." The Irish Government has pulled a promised 27million euro (23.7m) for a major Northern Ireland roads project this year blaming the lack of a Stormont Executive. However, it did confirm it was fully committed to providing the entire 75m pledged for the work with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar saying if the Northern Ireland power-sharing institutions are reformed this year the money would be found. The A5 Western Transport Corridor project has been much delayed after successive legal challenges since it was first announced in 2007. There have been scores of deaths leading to it being labelled the "most dangerous road on these islands". Last year the Department of Infrastructure said it was considering using special powers from Westminster to ensure work could begin by the end of 2019. But in the Dail on Tuesday afternoon, the Taoiseach announced a "re-profiling" of 100m euro - with the largest (27m euro) initially intended for the A5 project - going toward the Republic's national children's hospital in Dublin which has been at the centre of an overspend scandal. Mr Varadkar said: "Should Sinn Fein and others take up their responsibilities in government, form an executive and approve that project we will find the money to go ahead with it this year. "But as they [Sinn Fein] have failed to take up their responsibilities and deliver infrastructure projects that 27m euro payment that we were to pay to the Northern Ireland Executive this year does not fall." West Tyrone SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan, who has campaigned for the project, accused Sinn Fein and the DUP of "abandoning the people" over their continued failure to form a government. He described the current road as the "most dangerous on these islands". He added: "The A5 Scheme is vitally important for the North West and West of this province. It will save countless lives while increasing the economic situation for businesses and individuals alike." The project will upgrade the road from the border at Aughnacloy, Co Tyrone to Londonderry to a dual carriageway. It has been claimed the existing road was not fit for purpose - pointing to the high number of accidents and deaths. Between September 2016 and December 2018, 38 people had died along the full stretch of the existing A5 road. When complete, the new A5 dual carriageway will run for 53 miles between Newbuildings, outside Londonderry, and Aughnacloy. It was first estimated to cost between 650m and 850m. The Irish government had pledged to provide 400m, however, this was drastically reduced in 2011. And in November 2015 and after the Fresh Start Agreement, Dublin pledged to provide 75m. In September last year a Belfast Telegraph report found close to 80m had already been spent on the project. Ireland's Department of Transport confirmed no money would be cut from its promised share and it believed it would be "early 2020" before the project could begin blaming the legal challenges for ongoing delays. "The A5 project goes ahead, this is merely a timing adjustment," a spokesman said. A spokeswoman for the Department for Infrastructure added: "As the A5 is an Executive flagship project, funding from the NI block is assured. "We continue to liaise regularly with our counterparts in Dublin and having had recent discussions with both DTTAS and Department of the Taoiseach we have no concerns at this stage about Irelands contribution to the construction costs being made available when work is ready to commence. "Subject to the completion of ongoing work and statutory procedures, work on the section from New Buildings to north of Strabane could commence on site in late 2019. Susan Stevenson received a four-month suspended sentence for sending bogus documents to her former partner. A Co Antrim woman who faked child maintenance letters to con her ex-partner out of thousands of pounds has avoided jail. Susan Stevenson received a four-month suspended sentence for sending bogus documents demanding more money from the victim. The 41-year-old, of Oaklands Crescent in Carrickfergus, was also ordered to pay back the full 2,200 she received and then spent. Stevenson pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation over a three month period between September and December last year. Belfast Magistrates' Court heard she sent WhatsApp messages to a man with whom she has a child. Prosecutors said the communications included documents, supposedly from the Child Support Agency, requesting that he should provide her with money. Two payments of 2,200 in total were made. Suspicions emerged when a third demand for 450 was sent in December. Inquiries made with the child maintenance cast further doubt on the validity of the cash request, the court heard. Stevenson was arrested after police were alerted and seized screenshots. She admitted carrying out the fraud and spending all the money received from her former partner. A defence lawyer said Stevenson had approached him about increasing his payments because she was "at the end of her tether" and facing credit card debts. "She was stupid, regretted it and accepted immediately what she had done," he added. Imposing four months imprisonment, District Judge Fiona Bagnall suspended the term for 18 months. She also ordered Stevenson to compensate her victim in full, by paying back the 2,200 defrauded within 26 weeks. One of the SDLP's most high-profile MLAs has resigned as the party's Brexit spokesperson in protest at its new partnership with Fianna Fail. Claire Hanna also said she will no longer go to SDLP group MLA meetings. Contrary to some media reports, she has not resigned the party whip. However, the SDLP leadership will now have to decide whether it removes the whip from her, given her cited refusal to attend Assembly party meetings. It is understood this is a "grey area" in the party's constitution. The South Belfast MLA will remain a party member. Her husband, Donal Lyons, is a sitting SDLP councillor and is standing in May's local government election in the Balmoral ward. Ms Hanna was a vocal critic of the link-up with Micheal Martin's party. Before the vote at last weekend's special SDLP conference in Newry, she said she would never be a Fianna Fail MLA. Announcing her decision on Twitter yesterday, she said: "Following the conference on Saturday, I have thought long and hard about the outcome and implications. "I remain unconvinced that an exclusive partnership with Fianna Fail is the right vehicle with which to deliver the non-sectarian, transparent and social democratic new Ireland I believe in. "As such, after a discussion with Colum Eastwood, I have resigned from my position as SDLP Brexit spokesperson. This hasn't been an easy decision." She added: "I remain an SDLP member and MLA, and will be continuing to work hard for the people of South Belfast and alongside SDLP members and activists, with whom I still share political values and aspirations." Ms Hanna was seen by some as a future SDLP leader. The Fianna Fail link-up was endorsed by 70% of delegates at the special party conference. The South Belfast MLA supported a defeated motion that opposed the exclusive relationship with Fianna Fail and instead advocated a broader approach to political collaboration with parties in the Republic including Fine Gael and Labour. Reacting to Ms Hanna's decision, Colum Eastwood said: "At the SDLP special conference all members were afforded the opportunity to speak and delegates to vote on two motions. "The SDLP membership overwhelmingly voted for the party to embark on a partnership with Fianna Fail. It is with regret that we accept Claire's resignation. "The party membership has democratically spoken and, difficult though that decision may be for some, their wishes must be respected and enacted." On Saturday, Mr Eastwood hailed the birth of a policy partnership he said would build for a better future in the years ahead. But within 24 hours, the chairpersons of the SDLP's youth, women and LGBT wings said they were stepping down in an open letter that was critical of how the decision was reached. In a statement, Matthew Corr (youth), Caoimhe McNeill (women) and Matthew Carson (LGBT) claimed they took the "only course of action" available to them after "procedural abuses" at the special conference. In a letter to party chairman Colin McGrath, they expressed concern at the way the meeting was convened, the process to submit motions or amendments, and the lack of notice given to members. Despite the scathing attack, Mr Corr said all three members would continue to "campaign hard" for party candidates during the council elections in May. The party rejected their claims that proper procedures were not followed at the special conference. The disused mill in Strabane where arsonists struck on Sunday evening A derelict mill in Strabane that stood for over 100 years needs to be secured or demolished, an MLA for the area has said. Daniel McCrossan was speaking after an arson attack on Sunday evening at the former Smyth's Mill on the Derry Road on Sunday night where the lives of firefighters were put at risk. This is not the first time the building, which opened in the 1880s and gave employment to over 150 people, has been targeted. The large structure has lain vacant since 1986 and has fallen into a serious state of disrepair, which Mr McCrossan said is putting people's lives at risk. He has called for Derry and Strabane District Council to contact the current owner so it can been sealed. He said: "The fire at Smyth's Mill has done nothing but endanger lives and waste valuable public resources. Our local emergency services are doing a terrific job under intolerable pressures. The last thing they need is to be responding to deliberate arson attacks which are preventable. "The mill is an historic site located in the town. It has been used by a number of youths recently who have broken into the premises. "What is frightening is how easily it is for anyone to access this building." Mr McCrossan said the site needs to be urgently secured and a future use found for it. Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service group commander Fergal Leonard said there were huge issues for the firefighters dealing with the blaze. "It is multi-storey with wooden floors but many of the floors have all been burnt away because of previous fire so we had to plan our operation very carefully," he said. Officials from Derry City and Strabane District Council have since inspected the site and a spokesman confirmed the owner will be contacted by the building control and environmental health departments. When a new chief executive takes over the top job from a predecessor, it is often referred to as 'succession'. And when a company makes arrangements to ensure it has the right person available to take over in the future it is commonly referred to as "succession planning". But this may be the wrong way to look at when it comes to the role of chief executive of a publicly quoted company. Succession by definition is about the process of inheriting a title or a position. Investors should rightly hope that nobody would "inherit" the top position at a company in which they have invested. It should be based on merit and the top job should have to be earned. Nowhere could this be more true than at Ryanair. Michael O'Leary has been chief executive for over two decades. Everybody has watched on as he continues to run the airline with no sign of ever giving up. Last week he announced a five-year contract to remain as chief executive of the Ryanair group of companies. As recently as last September Mr O'Leary said he had been offered a longer contract by the board but was looking at 12-month rolling contracts. He has also said in the past that he didn't want to stay on at Ryanair until he was an old man. But he spoke very plainly last September about how he feels about the job. "I have no idea when I'll have had enough. I like this company. I like working for this company. I don't do it for the pay I get. But as long as it remains interesting and fun and challenging, I see no reason not to continue to try to lead it and lead it forward positively." Clearly, O'Leary is still having fun, despite the difficulties the airline has faced from industrial action, a lower fares environment and the uncertainty over Brexit. In fact, it is exactly this kind of maelstrom that he seems to enjoy the most. For the company there is a genuine issue about succession, but only if the chief executive is thinking about leaving. By the time his new contract ends in 2024, he will have been chief executive for 30 years. Of course last week's announcement involved a lot more than simply a new contract for Michael O'Leary. It set in place a series of changes which will appease some investor critics of the company, while continuing to play to its strengths. O'Leary will become chief executive of the main holding company of Ryanair Group. It, in turn, will have individual chief executives for its main airline and smaller carriers - Laudamotion in Austria, Ryanair Sun in Poland and Ryanair UK, the entity formed to surmount obstacles thrown up by Brexit. Obviously the biggest change will be the appointment of a new chief executive to the main Ryanair airline who will report in to O'Leary. As one commentator put it, O'Leary will be handing over the controls but will remain in the cockpit. O'Leary will still be overall boss and will have direct responsibility for big issues like mergers and acquisition opportunities, reducing costs and buying aircraft. This means his judgment will remain vital when it comes to identifying what companies to buy and for how much, keeping pressure on cutting costs, and driving hard bargains on aircraft purchases. It should free him up somewhat to be less involved in the day to day running of the airlines, while allowing other executives to step that bit closer to the top job. If Ryanair announced that O'Leary was staying on in the current role for another five years, would some senior management have considered leaving on the basis that it would be at least 2024 before they got a shot at the top job? At least this way, there will be greater individual autonomy for chief executives of those divisions, yet investors have the stability of knowing O'Leary is still very much there. He is a massive figure in the culture, operations and success of the airline. Investors would be very nervous of him retiring. His re-appointment to the board received the backing of 98% of shareholder votes last year. Ryanair also announced that its chairman of 20 years, David Bonderman, will be retiring from the role next year, as will long-serving deputy chairman Kyran McLaughlin. Based on best corporate governance practice, he has been there too long. Around 30% of investors voted against Bonderman's reappointment to the position at the annual general meeting last year. With this announcement, critics of Bonderman can point to the fact that he is going next year. Fans of Bonderman can point to the fact that he is at least going to remain in the role for another year. Taken as a whole, the Ryanair announcement gives a real impression that changes are afoot, yet nobody is actually going anywhere yet, which provides stability at a tricky time in the sector. Co Antrim company Kerrs Tyres Group has said Brexit uncertainty contributed to a decision to acquire a Dublin family-run business. Kerrs has snapped up Auto Tyre Services, Rathoath Vulcanising and Tyre Services from the Maher family for an undisclosed sum. The businesses, which have been trading for 45 years, will be rebranded as Auto Tyre Services. And Kerrs, which is based in Antrim town, is also planning to open two new centres at Donabate in north Dublin and Ballymount in the south of the city. The Maher family will continue as part of the management team. Kerrs already operates in Dublin, but the company said the deal will reduce their use of sub-contractors. The business will now have 10 centres on the island of Ireland, including five in Northern Ireland Antrim, Belfast, Coleraine, Newtownards and Enniskillen. Group managing director Norman Kerr said: This is Kerrs Tyres second acquisition in the last six months, demonstrating the growth ambitions of the business. The Maher businesses had an excellent reputation and very experienced staff and this will secure Kerrs geographical presence in the Leinster region. With the uncertainty around Brexit still to be clarified we felt more than ever we had to put a solid foundation in the area to ensure our business and that of our customers kept flowing uninterrupted. Meanwhile, crisps giant Tayto Group, which is based in Co Armagh, has acquired a brand of healthy snacks. Tayto has entered a joint venture with Bite UK, which is based in Yorkshire. The Pure Bite range of snacks including clusters made of nuts, coconuts and popped rice will join other brands like Golden Wonder, Mr Porky and Portlebay popcorn. The deal is the latest in a long line for Tayto, including the purchase of Co Londonderry popcorn brand Pop Notch after the company went into administration. For Northern Ireland businesses and most individuals, travel by short-haul air routes can be a necessity, and not just pleasure and leisure. Business connections, student travel, and holiday plans often lead to travel from one of our three airports to, or through, Great Britain. In addition, a range of airlines offer specific direct flights to holiday destinations. For the non-holiday travel market, such are the economics of travel by air that Northern Ireland is served by a limited number of airlines operating scheduled services. Read More The constraints on scheduled airline services also mean that the viability of City of Derry Airport is marginal. When it comes to the number of passengers carried, the local market for domestic services is largely in the hands of British Airways (BA), Aer Lingus (now part of the same group as BA), Flybe and easyJet. Airline business is not devolved to Stormont, or to Edinburgh or Cardiff. Any special arrangements in Scotland for the Highlands and Islands - such as variations in the applications of air passenger duty - have come from Westminster. Formal arrangements for involvement and support for airports is devolved. As an example, City of Derry Airport attracts modest support from the local authorities on each side of the border. Physical infrastructure investment in any of the three larger local airports is, of course, subject to the application of the devolved planning laws. Stormont has taken a legitimate interest in legislation constraining airport noise levels and operating hours, but has not demonstrated any wish to become involved in major financial support of the airports. The local airports are expected to operate as financially independent companies. In recent years, both Belfast City and Belfast International have found new owners and both are being tested by their owners and any prospective new owners as long-term investments, where there may be not only a trading profit but also a capital gain. This logically leads to a continuing interest in any proposals to extend their business activities, such as possible hotel development at Belfast City and recurring references to long-term development, within the boundary, at Belfast International. In the files of the owners of Belfast International there are proposals for the attraction of businesses which might do major servicing and refurbishment of aircraft and, separately, operating as an international freight exchange and warehouses. Essentially, the operations of the airlines and airports in Northern Ireland are evolving as a response to market forces. That statement also applies particularly to the availability of a diversity of routes. At present, the number of routes and the carrying capacity of the type of aircraft available strikes a balance between customer usage and airline provision. From a Northern Ireland perspective there is now a potential change for which a wider public interest is merited. The ownership of Flybe has become central to decisions either to sell the business to new owners or to sell the trading part of the business. Five years ago, shares in Flybe were trading at 120p. Today, as a consequence of poor trading results and a pessimistic outlook, the shares have been valued at less than 4p. Flybe has a fleet of 76 aircraft and serves a wide range of domestic routes around the UK, including a major presence from Belfast City. A deal to sell the trading company is reported to be completed on February 22. The new owners are a consortium including Virgin Atlantic, Stobart and Cyrus. From a Northern Ireland perspective, this sale of the trading arm of Flybe seems worrying. To date there has been no statement on the survival or development of the Northern Ireland routes. This takeover has not been made subject to review by the Competition and Markets Authority. Since potentially any adverse decision on closing routes could be an important part of Northern Ireland's connectivity, is there scope for a CMA review? Company report: 352 Medical Group Ltd There are a small number of companies providing private sector acute healthcare services across Northern Ireland. 352 Medical Group is a large organisation which provides a range of acute services at the Kingsbridge Private Hospital and also provides other medical services through subsidiary companies, including medical screening, dental services, eye and ear clinics and GP services. It also owns the Kingsbridge Private Hospital in Sligo. Part of the changing results for 352 is a result of year to year changes in Government NHS contracting with external suppliers partly to ease pressure on waiting lists. 352 reports that the vagaries of public sector contracting have had a detrimental impact. The group has made progress in a change in its strategic direction by rebalancing its business by focusing on developing private health care with less reliance on the public sector. Private sector activity now accounts for almost 80% of their business. This rebalancing has led to a return to profitability in the six months after the end of the last financial year. Financial management has been an important feature of the last years. In the year to March 2017 new working capital loans were introduced by the shareholders. These loans have a repayment commitment longer than five years and, in the most recent balance sheet, amounted to 1.88m. Further support for the operations has been from the sale of the larger part of the equity in the property on the Lisburn Road to a group of Kingsbridge trustees. The balance sheet reflects the impact of the trading losses and the injection of new working capital. The fixed assets of the Group were stated at 8.6m in March 2018, a reduction of nearly 0.7m compared to a year ago. Shareholders equity has been reduced to 1.2m in March 2018, nearly 1m lower than in March 2017. Employment in the group reached 321 people in 2016-17. More recently it had reduced to 305 people. A Belfast-city centre cinema is to close in May after its site was bought by a software company as its new headquarters. Kainos, a provider of digital services and platforms, has bought the Dublin Road Movie House site at Bankmore Square. The site has planning permission for a replacement 250,00 square foot Grade A office building, although Kainos will be submitting a revised planning application. Kainos plans to move into the redeveloped building in Spring 2021. Michael McAdam, Movie House Cinemas, managing director, said: "We've been trading at Dublin Road for 12 years but recently we've seen a big shift in cinema attendance out of Belfast city centre to suburban cinemas, which offer free parking. "It was a very difficult decision whether to sell or reinvest in the site. It is with a heavy heart that we decided on the latter and we wish Kainos every success with the redevelopment of the site for their new headquarters. "Dublin Road Movie House is due to close at the end of May and we hope to be in a position to offer jobs to the 33 full and part time staff members at our other cinemas at that time. "We are a small, family owned business and would like tot hank our customers who have supported us over the years and hope to welcome them at our other cinemas." Brendan Mooney, Kainos chief executive, said: "Our people remain central to everything we do and we want to ensure that our staff work in the best environment possible, and Bankmore Square allows us the opportunity to create a superb, modern and innovative office for our people. As well as the additional capacity that the office will bring, this investment, and the location of our new HQ, signals our commitment to retaining and attracting the best staff. We remain focused on providing exceptional careers and working conditions for all at Kainos and hope to close this transaction soon." Key industries including agriculture, healthcare and housebuilding could lose tens of thousands of potential workers if a proposed 30,000 threshold for migrant workers' pay is adopted after Brexit, it's been claimed. Business group the CBI in Northern Ireland today said a 30,000 wage threshold proposed by the Migration Advisory Committee would not work in Northern Ireland, where 71% of people earn less than that figure. And it said that such a restriction on UK entry of migrant workers could strip industries dependent on workers from overseas - including agriculture, healthcare and housebuilding - of crucial manpower. The CBI said that just under 40% of staff in food and drink manufacturing are from EU countries. It publishes a report on the policy's potential impact in Northern Ireland today. Angela McGowan, CBI Northern Ireland director, said: We know that Northern Irish businesses are creating jobs, but many are already struggling to fill vacancies and are suffering from a growing skills shortage. Continued access to overseas workers after Brexit is vital to drive growth, innovation and prosperity in Northern Ireland. The Governments current proposals risk causing significant harm at a time of uncertainty for business. She said that a proposal for a one-year limit for those earning less than 30,000 would result in companies hiring someone new each year, needlessly increasing costs and discouraging migrants from integrating into communities. Ms McGowan added: Leaving the EU should be an opportunity to develop an independent immigration policy, that works for business by being both open to allow our economy to grow and controlled to restore public confidence. Kuros Biosciences entered into a private label agreement with SeaSpine. Per the agreement, Kuros will supply various bone grafts while SeaSpine will market the products under the brand name OsteoCurrent. SeaSpine will sell the bone grafts in the U.S. as well as other markets in Europe, South America and the Middle East. The first sales in the U.S. are expected before the end of the first half of 2019. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Kuros' bone graft technology comprises biphasic calcium phosphate with advanced submicron surface technology that is designed to direct bone formation after implantation. Joost de Bruijn, CEO of Kuros, said "This is an important agreement, which demonstrates the interest of global orthobiologic companies in Kuros' technologies and should allow greater penetration of our bone grafting technologies into the U.S. and other markets. We look forward to working together with SeaSpine to make OsteoCurrent a success and to improving the bone grafting options for surgeons." Markets for hospitals and physicians have become more concentrated in the last few years, and this consolidation may lead to worse care quality, according to a report in The New York Times. Six insights from the report, written by Austin Frakt, PhD, director of the partnered evidence-based policy resource center at the VA Boston Healthcare System: 1. Although some healthcare leaders have claimed hospital mergers can improve medical care, studies have found mortality rates and health setbacks increase when market competition decreases. 2. Martin Gaynor, PhD, an economics professor at Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Mellon University, has authored several reviews exploring the consequences of hospital consolidation. "Evidence from three decades of hospital mergers does not support the claim that consolidation improves quality," he said. 3. This is especially true when the government constrains prices, as is the case for U.S. Medicare. "When prices are set by the government, hospitals don't compete on price; they compete on quality," Dr. Gaynor said. However, this practice does not take place in highly consolidated markets. 4. For example, in 2006, the National Health Service in the U.K. started a policy that increased competition among hospitals. Dr. Gaynor authored a study showing that this policy led to shorter hospital stays and lower mortality rates. For every decrease of 10 percentage points in hospital market concentration, 30-day mortality for heart attacks dropped nearly 3 percent, the study found. Additionally, several studies of Medicare found hospital competition leads to lower mortality rates from heart attacks and pneumonia. 5. In another study, investigators from the FTC looked at what happens when cardiologists team up into bigger groups. The study examined the health outcomes of about 2 million Medicare beneficiaries treated for hypertension, a cardiac ailment or a heart attack between 2005 and 2012. The researchers found the patients were more likely to have heart attacks, visit the emergency department, be readmitted to the hospital or die when cardiology markets are more concentrated. 6. "What the research shows, though, is that there are lots of ways markets can function, with more or less government involvement," Dr. Frakt wrote. "Even when the government is highly involved, as is the case with the British National Health Service or American Medicare, competition is a valuable tool that can drive healthcare toward greater value." More articles on clinical leadership & infection control: Hospitals serving more minority patients provide less palliative care, study shows Bigger physician bonuses linked to better patient care 13 patients harmed by care at Johns Hopkins All Children's, system says Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin was fined $20,250 for several hazardous waste violations, according to a state report cited by the VTDigger. Vermont's Department of Environmental Conservation found storage, labeling and management violations during a July inspection. They also found hazardous waste stored outside the hospital's designated waste collection stations. The hospital also did not have arrangements with emergency response personnel about the locations and types of hazardous materials on site, according to the news report. A follow-up visit to the hospital in September found several continuing storage and waste management violations. Central Vermont Medical Center, part of Burlington-based University of Vermont Health Network, agreed to pay the fine and submit a plan to correct its violations and return to compliance. Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health has partnered with European tech company Ada Health to bring the company's symptom-checking software to U.S. patients, according to CNBC. About 4 million people have downloaded and used Ada's app, according to its website. In several weeks, a version of Ada's symptom-checking software will be available for patients to use for free through Sutter Health's website. Patients will not be required to sign up through the app to use the software. CNBC's Christina Farr was granted early access to the service and tested the chatbot after experiencing what she thought was food poisoning. Ms. Farr signed up using her first name, date of birth and some basic health information. She then typed in her symptoms and how long she had them. From there, Ada guided her through several questions to find out more about how she was feeling. It took her about 10 minutes to complete all its prompts. Next, Ms. Farr was led to a webpage with a breakdown of potential explanations for her ailment. It said she was most likely experiencing viral gastroenteritis and that it could be managed from home. It also said irritable bowel syndrome could be a possibility and recommended she see a physician. To determine whether the chatbot led her down the correct path, Ms. Farr talked with Albert Chan, MD, Sutter Health's chief of digital patient experience, to see if he agreed with the assessment and why he chose to work with Ada Health. Dr. Chan said he believes there's a gap in the market for technologies that can help patients determine what to do when they get sick, which led him to contact Ada Health about a partnership. "We want [patients] to get the appropriate level of care," he said. As for the chatbot, Dr. Chan said he felt the artificial intelligence advised Ms. Farr well. He also said these tools are meant to be "advisory" as opposed to a replacement for a physician or formal diagnosis. St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital submitted a corrective action plan after a Tampa Bay Times investigation found safety lapses in the hospital's heart surgery program, CBS-affiliate TV station WTSP reports. The hospital's plan was turned in Feb. 10, just before the deadline. The corrective action includes governance shake-ups, new physician credentialing measures and changes to quality improvement planning and infection control. In January, the Johns Hopkins Medicine Board of Trustees appointed a former federal prosecutor to lead its investigation into patient safety issues at the hospital. Several patient safety issues, including quality and infection control problems, were found during a January visit by state and federal inspectors. The CEO and two other hospital executives resigned amid the investigation and CMS threatened to cut Medicare funding if the hospital did not correct the safety issues by Feb. 23. "The safety of our patients is our top priority," a spokesperson for Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine told WTSP. "We are confident in the work we are doing to ensure that our hospital continues to meet the highest standards of care." As anti-vaccination movements rise during dangerous disease outbreaks, teenagers of parents against vaccines, or anti-vaxxers, are seeking their own treatments, according to The Washington Post. Ethan Lindenberger, an 18-year-old from Ohio, was frustrated by his mother's anti-vaccination stance and went to Reddit to get advice on how to protect himself against infectious disease. Mr. Lindenberger said he wanted to get vaccinated but did not know how. "This generation of unvaccinated children coming of age has looked at the science and [wants] to protect themselves," said Allison Winnike, president and CEO of the Immunization Partnership, a nonprofit vaccine advocacy group. Anti-vaccination efforts increased after a now-debunked 1998 study linked immunizations to autism, Ms. Winnike said. "Now you're seeing children coming of age, out from a cloud of misinformation," Ms. Winnike told the Post. This transformation has happened online. At least three self-described U.S. teenagers recently told Reddit their parents are opposed to vaccination and they fear for their health if they fail to act. Mr. Lindenberger's Reddit post drew more than 1,200 comments, including one from someone claiming to be a nurse, who offered information on navigating healthcare. After Mr. Lindenberger reviewed scientific papers, journals and CDC studies on vaccines, he decided to get vaccinated for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza and HPV, according to a shot record viewed by the Post. Mr. Lindenberger said he has seen more discussion online about teenagers emboldened to make their own health decisions and pursue vaccinations. He said that to empower more teenagers to get immunized, states should lower the age of consent needed for vaccinations rather than push for stricter immunization laws. These seven contract resolutions and dissolutions occurred between payers and providers since mid-January, beginning with the most recent: 1. UPMC to litigate over Highmark consent decree Pittsburgh-based UPMC will fight a petition filed Feb. 7 by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office seeking to modify a consent decree between UPMC and Pittsburgh-based Highmark that is set to expire June 30. 2. Sutter Health, Anthem hit contract snare Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health and Anthem Blue Cross of California are in a disagreement over rates. 3. Trinity Health, Humana sign in-network agreement for 7 hospitals Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health and Humana said Jan. 22 they reached a new agreement, which is currently in effect. 4. WellStar, Anthem to let contract expire Marietta, Ga.-based WellStar Health System and Anthem will let an in-network contract expire for Anthem members with ACA exchange coverage. 5. 5 health systems sign landmark deal with BCBS of North Carolina Five health systems in North Carolina agreed to share risk under a new reimbursement model with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. 6. Kansas hospital to leave Aetna's managed care network: 'They just would not negotiate' Emporia, Kan.-based Newman Regional Health will no longer be in network with Aetna Better Health, the health insurer's managed Medicaid product. 7. Anthem latest insurer to ink agreement with Tenet Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare and Anthem Blue Cross signed a new multiyear agreement, the organizations said Jan. 16. More articles on payer issues: Humana CFO says Trump's drug proposal will raise premiums Utah may unwind voter-approved Medicaid expansion UnitedHealth updates opioid policy Bridges Health Partners, an ACO comprising seven hospitals, inked a value-based agreement with Humana for Medicare Advantage members in western Pennsylvania. The Warrendale, Pa.-based hospital network was formed in 2017 by four nonprofit health systems: Butler (Pa.) Health System, Greensburg, Pa.-based Excela Health System, St. Clair Hospital in Pittsburgh, and Washington (Pa.) Health System. Under the agreement, physicians who are affiliated with the ACO and in Humana's Medicare Advantage network will be held accountable for patient outcomes and the cost of healthcare. Reimbursement will be tied to value instead of fee-for-service processes. Bridges Health Partners comprises more than 1,450 hospital beds and over 1,000 employed and affiliated physicians. More articles on payer issues: Humana CFO says Trump's drug proposal will raise premiums Utah may unwind voter-approved Medicaid expansion UnitedHealth updates opioid policy Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare argues the False Claims Act's whistle-blower provisions are unconstitutional in a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case, according to The National Law Review. Five things to know: 1. The case at issue was filed in 2012 under the qui tam, or whistle-blower, provisions of the False Claims Act. It alleges Intermountain submitted false claims for medically unnecessary heart procedures performed by a cardiologist at two of its hospitals. 2. The federal government declined to intervene in the case, and the district court granted Intermountain's motion to dismiss the complaint. The district court held that the whistle-blower failed to show that the defendants "knowingly made an objectively false representation to the government that caused the government to remit payment" for the procedures at issue, according to the report. 3. The whistle-blower appealed the decision, and the Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit reversed the dismissal. The appellate court acknowledged the whistle-blower is required to allege "the who, what, when, where and how of the alleged claims," but the court excused certain deficiencies in the whistle-blower's pleadings. The court said the deficiencies were caused by the whistle-blower's "inability to obtain information within the defendant's exclusive control." 4. Intermountain is now asking the Supreme Court to weigh in on two issues. First, the health system is asking the Supreme Court to resolve a split between the circuits over a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure that requires fraud lawsuits to include specific allegations of fraud. Second, Intermountain is asking the Supreme Court to examine whether the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act are constitutional. 5. Intermountain argued that the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act are unconstitutional because they allow whistle-blowers to act as prosecutors beyond the control of the executive branch. The health system asked the Supreme Court to revisit its decision in Vermont Agency of Natural Resources v. Steven, issued in 2000. In that decision, the Supreme Court declined to weigh in on whether whistle-blower suits violate the Appointments Clause of Article II of the Constitution. Access the full National Law Review article here. More articles on legal and regulatory issues: UPMC to litigate over Highmark consent decree 10 arrested in $42M healthcare billing fraud scheme in Florida New York hospital retaliated against 2 physicians for reporting dangerous care, lawsuits claim Unionized service workers at Washington (Pa.) Hospital have approved a labor deal that includes a pay boost, according to the Observer-Reporter. The three-year contract covers about 350 employees represented by the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania. It reportedly includes 5 percent raises over the life of the deal. It also maintains overtime and holiday pay, allows employees to accrue more vacation faster, doubles tuition reimbursement and covers employees through a home host health insurance plan. The deal expires in January 2022. More articles on human capital and risk: Hospitals and unions: 5 recent conflicts, agreements California nurses threaten daylong strike Massachusetts nurses union vote upheld Eric Topol, MD, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, Calif., prepared an independent report for the U.K. National Health Service, outlining how the hospital workforce can prepare for the "digital future." Within the next 20 years, approximately 90 percent of all jobs in the NHS workforce will require some type of digital skills, according to the report. "The next decade presents an opportunity to address data governance and cybersecurity concerns, agree ethical frameworks, and develop NHS staff/organizations to implement genomics and digital technologies in the workplace," Dr. Topol wrote. "The complexity of data governance requirements should not be a reason for inaction." The top 10 digital health technologies to impact the hospital workforce from 2020 to 2040, as outlined by Dr. Topol: 1. Telemedicine 2. Smartphone apps 3. Sensors and wearables for diagnostics and remote monitoring 4. Reading the genome 5. Speech recognition and natural language processing 6. Virtual and augmented reality 7. Automated image interpretation using artificial intelligence 8. Interventional and rehabilitative robotics 9. Predictive analytics using AI 10. Writing the genome Smartphone apps and reading the genome are expected to affect an estimated 80 percent or more of the NHS workforce by 2025, followed closely by speech recognition and NPL that will be affect 80 percent or more of the workforce by 2030. To download Dr. Topol's report, click here. Voters will decide whether to approve funding of Pullman (Wash.) Regional Hospital's $29 million general obligation bonds for various hospital projects, according to a Lewiston Tribune report. The issue will be on the April 23 ballot. The bonds would allow the hospital to acquire and implement a communitywide EHR, build a community health facility, buy new medical technology and make other hospital upgrades, according to the Tribune. Residents would help fund the bonds via a property tax assessment. More articles on healthcare finance: Providence St. Joseph Health acquires revenue cycle platform: 4 things to know For-profit hospital stock report: Week of Feb. 4-8 Intermountain, R1 RCM to open Salt Lake tech center in May Georgiana (Ala.) Medical Center will close March 31, making it the seventh rural hospital in Alabama to close since 2010. Ivy Creek Healthcare in Georgiana, which owns the hospital, cited growing costs and reimbursement cuts as the reason for the closure, according to WSFA. Georgiana Medical Center is one of two hospitals serving Butler County. "The rising costs of healthcare coupled with the cuts in reimbursement have made it impractical to maintain financial viability with two hospitals operating in Butler County," Ivy Creek CEO Mike Bruce said in a press release, according to WSFA. Ivy Creek's rural health clinics will remain open after Georgiana Medical Center closes. The clinics will be managed by LV Stabler Memorial Hospital in Greenville, Ala., the other hospital serving Butler County. Ivy Creek and LV Stabler will also combine their home health operations, according to CBS42. "Small hospitals, in particular those in Alabama's underserved, rural counties, are under tremendous financial pressure," LV Stabler Interim CEO Connie Nicholas said in a press release, according to CBS42. "Together with Ivy Creek, we see this realignment as a means for maintaining healthcare options here at home and providing for the needs of our citizens who depend upon us." Editor's note: This article was updated Feb. 12 at 10:20 a.m. More articles on healthcare finance: 10 hospitals seeking CFOs Kaiser's annual revenue grows to $79B Private equity pushes into healthcare: 9 latest deals Three CFOs recount their proudest moments as finance chief. Steve Filton, executive vice president and CFO of Universal Health Services (King of Prussia, Pa.): What I take great pride in is the growth of the company. When I joined the company in the mid-1980s, it had maybe 35 [or] 40 hospitals around the country and maybe $500 million of consolidated revenues. This coming year we'll have well over 300 domestic facilities and another 100 or so in the United Kingdom and over $11 billion of revenue. And what I'm proud of is not just the growth of the company, but the way the company has grown and yet really adhered to its core principles. Michael McAnder, CFO of Piedmont Healthcare (Atlanta): One of our CEO Kevin Brown's strategic imperatives is stewardship to make the best use of our resources as a nonprofit. With that in mind, I picked up the mantle of our Strategic Transformation and Resource Stewardship program. Since the [cost-cutting] program began in 2014 Piedmont has implemented about $220 million in margin improvements. Jeanette Wojtalewicz, CFO of CHI Health (Omaha, Neb.): I'm so connected with the mission of Catholic healthcare, and our ability to serve patients is a big deal to me. But during this time [at CHI Health], the proudest moments were probably when we're faced with a significant challenge and a need to dramatically change how we manage our care and maybe bring costs down. [The proudest moments are] coming together to make the change and being successful. More articles on healthcare finance: Providence St. Joseph Health acquires revenue cycle platform: 4 things to know For-profit hospital stock report: Week of Feb. 4-8 Intermountain, R1 RCM to open Salt Lake tech center in May The American Medical Association penned a letter Feb. 8 to officials at HHS' Office for Civil Rights the agency tasked with enforcing HIPAA to recommend potential changes to the healthcare privacy law. The OCR in December 2018 issued a request for information seeking input on how to modify HIPAA to promote value-based care, inviting stakeholders to weigh in on existing HIPAA provisions that may limit or discourage information sharing. The office said it wants to update HIPAA to support information sharing that helps coordinate care and enhances patients' ability to access their protected health information. In response to the RFI, the AMA submitted a 29-page letter arguing that although the trade group supports efforts to improve care coordination, patient privacy and confidentiality should be prioritized. "Generally, the AMA does not object to amending existing regulatory exceptions or definitions to promote care coordination and appreciates OCR's exploration of ways to reduce barriers to sharing PHI," the letter reads. "However, a multifaceted approach that establishes multiple new definitions, permissions or exceptions would add more burden and complexity to an already confusing law and could go too far in infringing on patients' privacy rights. "We encourage OCR to promote information sharing for treatment and care coordination and/or case management through education and positive incentives not requirements especially those that value speed over privacy," the letter continues. Nine notes on AMA's response to OCR: 1. Patient consent is paramount. "AMA policy and ethical opinions on patient privacy and confidentiality provide that a patient's privacy should be honored unless waived by the patient in a meaningful way, de-identified, or in rare instances when strong countervailing interests in public health or safety justify invasions of patient privacy or breaches of confidentiality." 2. Lack of understanding isn't a reason to diminish privacy laws. "Current HIPAA regulations permit covered entities to use and disclose PHI for care coordination purposes. Covered entities should not be required to disclose PHI for care coordination and/or case management merely because many covered entities, their lawyers and their compliance officers do not understand how HIPAA currently permits such disclosures." 3. Business associate agreements are necessary when a business is performing functions on behalf of a covered entity. "HIPAA rightly leaves the matter up to the covered entity as it is in the best position to know what type of information is in question and how the information should (or should not) be used and disclosed by the clearinghouse. The covered entity is the steward of the patient's PHI and has a duty to the patient to protect his or her information." 4. Mandates to disclose PHI to another covered entity should be opposed. "Requiring a physician to share information against a patient's wishes strips patients of control over their own data and potentially overrides medical decision-making. The AMA has continuously maintained that an expressed 'need' for information including for care coordination purposes does not confer a right to such information." 5. HIPAA changes aren't needed to address the opioid epidemic. "A widespread perception exists that HIPAA prevents physicians from sharing information especially related to behavioral health and [substance use disorder] with families and caretakers. This is not true. The HIPAA privacy rule does not prohibit communication with a patient's family members (not only parents), friends or others involved in the patient's care." 6. A step in the right direction: Electronic tracking of patient consent. "At times, providers may more tightly restrict the flow of data because of uncertainty about how the law applies to it. Fortunately, technology can assist physicians with increasing the flow of information while maintaining privacy and a patient's consent. To do so, information should be 'tagged' to identify where the information originated, for what purposes it can be disclosed and to whom." 7. OCR should encourage multiple paths to security. "To best assist clinicians with implementing good security practices (also known as 'cyber hygiene'), the AMA encourages OCR to help reframe the conversation around securing health information from punitive requirements (e.g. fines and penalties associated with security failures) to developing positive incentives that encourage ways to bolster practice resilience and protect patient information." 8. OCR should remove the presumption of guilt after PHI is inappropriately disclosed. "The proposed solutions may add new layers of complexity, potentially exacerbating the tendency to adopt a presumption of non-disclosure out of fear of breach. ... The presumption of guilt on covered entities creates potentially unnecessary burden, stress and compliance costs on physicians. Instead, HHS should base the duty to report a breach on a harm threshold." 9. OCR must defer rulemaking until information blocking rules are final. "We urge OCR to review comments on the forthcoming information blocking rules from the ONC and the CMS to inform its thinking about the questions asked in the RFI. Many of the questions cannot be properly analyzed without fully reviewing those rules in tandem and OCR should not issue any notices of proposed rulemaking on these topics until CMS' and ONC's rules are finalized." More than 15 million U.S. patient health records were breached in 2018, according to a Protenus report. The report, part of the "Protenus Breach Barometer" series, analyzed healthcare breaches reported to HHS or disclosed to the media last year. The report is based on 503 health data breaches reported to HHS. Protenus has data on 417 of those incidents. Eight report highlights: 1. There was a slight increase in reported data breaches from 2017, which saw 477 breaches compared to 503 in 2018. 2. The single largest incident in 2018 was the result of a hack on a business associate of a North Carolina-based health system, affecting 2.65M patient records. 3. Hacking was the most common type of data breach in 2018, accounting for 44.22 percent of all incidents, followed by insider error or wrongdoing (28.09 percent) and loss or theft (14.34 percent). Another 13.35 percent of incidents were due to unknown causes. 4. Roughly 2,056,138 patient records were breached because of an insider error, while 386,469 records were breached because of insider wrongdoing. 5. Of the 503 incidents in 2018, 353 (or 70 percent) involved healthcare providers; 62 (or 12 percent) involved health plans; and 39 (or 8 percent) involved some other type of entity. 6. Although most healthcare organizations have digitized patient records, 89 incidents in 2018 involved paper records. 7. The longest it took an organization to uncover a data breach was 15 years, while the shortest time it took an organization to uncover a data breach was one day. 8. California had the most reported incidents with 63, followed by Texas with 38, and Florida with 31. Two states Delaware and South Dakota reported no healthcare data breaches in 2018. To download the complete report, click here. WalletHub analyzed an array of metrics for its 2019s Healthiest & Unhealthiest Cities in America list quantifying the impact of healthcare across the U.S. WalletHub compared 174 U.S. cities to compile its list. Specifically, each city was graded on 42 relevant metrics including medical visits, fitness clubs per capita and vegetable consumption, among others. Lowest medical visit cost 1. Laredo, Texas 2. Jacksonville, Fla. 3. Memphis, Tenn. 4. Brownsville, Texas 5. Orlando Highest medical visit cost* 1. Tacoma, Wash. 2. Fargo, N.D. 3. Milwaukee 4. Anchorage, Alaska 5. Madison, Wis. 6. Boston Lowest premature-death rate 1. San Jose, Calif. 2. Yonkers, N.Y. 3. Anaheim, Calif.** 4. Santa Ana, Calif.** 5. Irvine, Calif.** 6. Huntington Beach, Calif.** Highest premature-death rate* 1. Detroit 2. Charleston, W.Va. 3. Augusta, Ga. 4. Huntington, W.Va. 5. St. Louis 6. Baltimore Highest percentage of physically active adults 1. Seattle 2. Irvine, Calif. 3. Portland, Ore. 4. Huntington Beach 5. Overland Park, Kan. Lowest percentage of physically active adults 1. Hialeah, Fla. 2. Newark, N.J. 3. Miami 4. Laredo, Texas 5. Brownsville *All tied for highest **Tied for third-lowest Total joints and cardiac procedures are two of the biggest opportunities for ASCs in 2019, according to Jessica Nantz, president of Spring, Texas-based Outpatient HealthCare Strategies. Here, she shares additional insights on challenges and future growth areas for ASCs. Note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and style. Question: What is the biggest growth opportunity for ASCs in 2019? Jessica Nantz: The biggest opportunities for growth concern launching total joint replacement and cardiology programs or, if an ASC already has such programs, adding more total joint replacement and cardiology procedures. In the past few years, we have seen an explosion of ASCs performing total joint replacements, as demonstrated by this list of some of the ASCs with total joint replacement programs. Surgeons have become more proficient with minimally invasive techniques, which has increased the number of patients who can safely receive a total joint replacement in an ASC. Third-party payers, appreciating the cost savings that can be achieved without a loss of quality (and sometimes an improvement) by moving these cases into ASCs, are increasingly embracing ASC total joint replacement programs by providing fair reimbursement and expressing a willingness to explore alternative payment models, such as bundles. Furthermore, recognizing the burgeoning market for ASC total joints, medical device companies are launching ASC-focused total joint divisions, which are developing new, cost-efficient technologies. Those companies that have catered to the ASC total joint market for some time are acknowledging the need to lower their device costs to remain competitive, thus making it easier for ASCs to launch and grow a program. Cardiac procedures are thetotal joints of tomorrow for ASCs. In the final 2019 payment rule, a revision by CMS of the definition of 'surgery' resulted in the addition of 12 cardiac catheterization diagnostic procedures to the Medicare ASC payable list. CMS also added five other procedures often performed alongside those cardiac catheterization procedures. While some ASCs are already performing cardiac procedures, the final rule provides further support for migrating select cardiac procedures out of the hospital and into the ASC. With private payers showing an appetite for covering these types of procedures, we anticipate seeing a surge in the number of ASCs particularly those that are more innovative and aggressive performing more cardiac procedures as CMS adds even more of them to their approved procedure list in the coming year(s). Q: What are the greatest challenges you expect to face in 2019? JN: A significant challenge that needs more attention is replacing operating room circulators and scrub techs. There have been shortages of both positions in many parts of the country. For some markets, recruiting these positions is becoming increasingly difficult. As the shortage grows and demand climbs, ASCs will need to allocate more time and resources toward recruiting for these positions. Doing so may require looking outside their market for strong candidates, which creates its own challenges. To entice someone to relocate will likely require a very competitive offer that may need to include a signing bonus, covering relocation costs and a higher salary than previous employees received. At a time when expense control is a high priority for many ASCs, such an investment may be difficult. Q: How do you see the ASC industry growing in the next five to 10 years? JN: A case can be made that 2018 was one of the better years for ASCs, with the final rule delivering multiple wins. Hospitals, health systems, management companies, payers and private equity are targeting ASCs for acquisition and/or investments. Surgery centers find themselves in a very strong position in the broader healthcare market. Growth will primarily come from the continued migration of higher-acuity patients into ASCs. If a procedure can be safely performed in a surgery center, it should be performed in a surgery center. Such a mentality embraced by progressive surgeons and ASC leadership has been the driving force behind the movement of so many spine, gynecology, total joint and cardiac procedures into ASCs. As surgeons further strengthen their skills and develop new approaches to surgery, and as medical device companies launch new technologies to support or even create advanced surgical approaches, we can expect to see procedures that no one imagined could be performed outside of a hospital eventually becoming commonplace in ASCs. To participate in future Becker's Q&As, contact Rachel Popa at rpopa@beckershealthcare.com. For a deeper dive into ASC industry trends, attend the Becker's 17th Annual Future of Spine + Spine, Orthopedic & Pain Management-Driven ASC in Chicago, June 13-15, 2019. Click here to learn more and register. The past is never dead. Its not even past. That line from William Faulkner is usually used in reference to the South and its ghostly connections to the time of our grandparents. But more and more, it applies to politicians who find themselves squirming when youthful antics suddenly become front-page news. Mind you, its not a completely new phenomenon. Politicians have been haunted by old charges dredged up by opponents ever since George Washington was accused of being a Deist instead of a Christian, which was probably true. But today the practice of opposition research has become an art form. If youre running for office or getting ready for confirmation hearings, youd better hope you didnt do anything too wacky back in the day or if you did, nobody remembers it. Now the spotlight is on the state of Virginia, where the top three officials are fighting for their political lives. Gov. Ralph Northams yearbook from medical school, bizarrely and completely lacking context, had a photo of one person in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. First he said he was in one of the photos (though he wouldnt say which one), and then he denied that role though he admitted appearing in blackface for a Michael Jackson dance contest. Northam is resisting huge pressure to resign, but now the drama has taken a more disturbing turn. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax has been accused by not one but two women of sexual assault. Thats not just a youthful prank if it happened. Its a crime, and the statute of limitations has not expired on one of the allegations. If both of those officials step down, the governorship would pass to Attorney General Mark Herring except that he also has admitted to putting on blackface when he dressed up as a rapper for a college party. Incredibly, the next person in line is a Republican in a state where Democrats just trounced the GOP in November in almost every major contest. In Virginia, and the rest of the country, stunned voters are trying to sort through all this. Is a dumb photo in a college yearbook OK, but not one from medical school, when students are a few years older? How do we come to grips with the use of blackface years ago by not just clueless conservatives but liberals such as Joy Behar, Ted Danson and Jimmy Kimmel? Were all trying to figure out what should be forgiven and whats a deal-breaker, but theres no one-size-fits-all solution. Each case is unique, and so are the political pressures that surround them. Maybe the solution is to trust democracy. In the end, voters reward the behavior they like and punish the stuff they dont like. Its not a perfect answer, but its the best one available. And its slowly working. Mocking another culture is no longer socially acceptable not that it ever should have been. The mysteries of dating are being clarified by one important point: No means no. If you think a joke or costume might be offensive, it likely is. Best of all, this could be soaking in for a few teens or 20-somethings. They might not post that photo or send that tweet that is going to boomerang on them far down the road. But lets face it. Most of us dont have that judgment when were young. These scandals will keep popping up on and off, in both parties, from the people you might least expect. Just be ready for the next one, and decide for yourself if its too much, or too old. Good luck; youll need it. Thomas Taschinger, TTaschinger@BeaumontEnterprise.com, is the editorial page editor of The Beaumont Enterprise. Follow him on Twitter at @PoliticalTom Despite a weekend meeting to talk with residents about moving High Island and the Bolivar Peninsula to Chambers County, there still seem to be more questions than answers about the idea. The idea was discussed at a town hall last weekend hosted by state Rep. Mayes Middleton, R-Wallisville. Chief of Staff Christopher Paxton said the representative heard about the idea on the campaign trail and wanted to see if there were more residents interested in the county switch. Numbers released by Galveston County's budget office show it might not be in Chambers County's best financial interest to pursue the peninsula. The area, separated by ferry from the rest of Galveston County, in 2019 is expected to bring in only about $7 million compared to $12.3 million in expenses for beach maintenance, sheriff's department and general government. That leaves a $5.3 million deficit for the area. Middleton represents the area and wanted to explore it further, but any action would require petitions be circulated in both counties. If they garner 50 signatures from qualified voters each, these petitions would then prompt a vote. A majority of voters in both counties would have to approve the switch. "We want to hear from the people that live there, frankly," Paxton said. It doesn't seem like anyone's at that stage yet. Prior to the town hall meeting, county commissioners from Galveston and Chambers counties seemed confused about where the issue, and the belief that residents want to switch counties, came from. "People want to stay in Galveston County," said Galveston County Commissioner Darrell Apffel, whose district includes the areas. "The Bolivar Peninsula is one of the crown jewels of Galveston County. We love the open beaches. We love the tourism. We love the residents." Chambers County Commissioner Billy Combs said earlier this month that he couldn't form an opinion on the issue yet because he hadn't heard the advantages and disadvantages to residents or heard from Galveston County officials. He wasn't able to attend the meeting but said there still seems to be "far more questions than answers." Chambers County Attorney Scott Peal said the commissioners likely will consider the issue in the future. It's unclear at this point how the majority of residents feel, as officials on both sides say they've talked with many supporters. Middleton's office didn't return requests for comment on the outcome of the town hall. The prospect of a future Aldi store in Beaumont has been confirmed by property manager and developer of the site. Mark Fertitta, a local developer and owner of Synergy LLC., said his family's firm had brokered a preliminary deal with the German-based grocery company that would soon become valid. "Aldi is looking at the location and they have contract, but they have a inspection period that isn't up until April 8," Fertitta said. "Then, their lease goes hard. They will probably do a four-month construction period." > > RELATED: Port Neches eyes potential riverfront addition In the meantime, Aldi will have to have their construction plan and certificate of occupancy approved by the city government before making the store official. Aldi generally looks to move to areas with around 40,000 people within 3 miles that have household incomes around $50,000, according to a profile from the International Council of Shopping Centers. The company's store locations average around 18,000 square feet with a minimum of 85 parking spaces conveniently placed on highly trafficked roads. > > FOOD NEWS: Parkdale Mall eatery serves 'royally' good food The proposed site in Beaumont is the former Gander Mountain store at 5855 Eastex Freeway. Fertitta said the center was strategically located to be seen by traffic passing between Beaumont and Lumberton with easy access away from the bustle of Dowlen Road. "I feel confident they have picked this site because of accessibility," Fertitta said. "It is across from the mall and is easy to get in and out." Aldi's model usually appeals to those seeking a convenient shopping experience, limiting its selection to just a few brands of the same item and usually taking up less space than the typical box store. A public relations representative from the company said in a statement that no specific information about a new location in the area could be shared at the moment, but updates would be forthcoming if and when a project develops. --------------------- In the latest Texas resurgence of a familiar infectious disease, seven cases of the mumps have been confirmed at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Houston. City health officials said Saturday that there has been no spread of the disease in recent days and that they're hopeful the outbreak has been contained. The individuals infected, all adults, were detained at the facility during the infectious period. "Since these individuals were isolated inside the facility, we don't anticipate these cases posing a threat to the public," said Dr. David Persse, Houston's local health authority and medical director of the city's EMS program. "This is nothing to be afraid of." Persse said the some people likely became infected while at the facility, which is located near George Bush Intercontinental Airport. He said the original source or sources who entered the country at the border likely were already infected when apprehended. Some have already recovered from their bouts with the disease, including one who had to be hospitalized. People who came into contact with them were quarantined. No employees were infected. Mumps is a highly contagious virus, most transmissible from a few days before the onset of symptoms until 10 days after. It typically starts with fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness and loss of appetite, followed a few days later by swollen salivary glands. Most people recover without serious complication, though in rare cases, it can cause meningitis, hearing loss, some heart issues and miscarriage if contracted early in a pregnancy. The disease has been increasing in numbers in recent years. Nationally, there were more than 6,000 cases in both 2016 and 2017, compared to under 1,000 in most previous years. In Texas, there were 191, 470 and 198 cases in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively, compared to 25 or less in most previous years. Houston had two cases in Houston in 2017 but no others in the previous five years, Persse said. The mumps cases come just a few days after confirmation of five measles cases in the area three in Harris County, one in Montgomery County and one in Galveston County. Those cases were the latest in a number of clusters around the nation causing serious concern about a disease all but eradicated in the U.S. 20 years ago. Beginning in the 1960s, vaccination made mumps much less common, but there have continued to be some outbreaks. The virus is not as contagious or dangerous as the measles. The health department is working with the ICE facility on infection control methods and will conduct an on-site visit in coming days. Persse attributed mumps' spread at the ICE detention facility to population density, not any conditions there. He said the transmission of viruses is always a significant concern in crowded spaces, such as emergency shelters for people displaced by hurricanes and floods. Mumps outbreaks involving dozens of patients shut down visitations at two Texas prisons for a period of time in late 2017. ICE was nevertheless condemned by Pantsuit Republic, a liberal group, which noted mumps is preventable by vaccine. It stressed that such outbreaks are not new, citing an outbreak of 31 cases of measles at one of the federal agency's detention facility in Arizona two years ago. Mumps usually can be prevented with two doses of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Children should receive the first dose at 12 to 15 months of age, and the second dose at 4 through 6 years of age. Two doses of the vaccine are 88 percent effective at preventing mumps, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Persse said the mumps outbreak at the ICE center transpired over a few weeks. He said health officials learned of the first case in early January. todd.ackerman@chron.com twitter.com/chronmed 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. Richwood, TX (77531) Today Isolated thunderstorms in the morning. Skies will become partly cloudy later in the day. High 91F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 30%.. Tonight Partly cloudy. Low near 80F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Linda Carol Morand, age 81, of Tazewell, VA passed away Tuesday, June 22, 2021 at Kingsport, TN. Born August 3, 1939 in Amonate, VA she was a daughter of the late Palmer A. Penland and Mabel Patrick Penland. Carol was active in the Tannersville community, her beloved valley. She was an avid Ilhan spoke truth about Israeli fund: Not anti-Semitism Representative Ilhan Omar, who has been battling charges of anti-Semitism for weeks, apologized on Monday for insinuating that American support for Israel is fuelled by money from a pro-Israel lobbying group - a comment that drew swift and unqualified condemnation from fellow Democrats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as reported in foreign media. The mea culpa by Ms. Omar, a freshman lawmaker from Minnesota and one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, came after a day of bipartisan outrage over her tweet Sunday night asserting that support for Israel was "all about the Benjamins baby," a reference to hundred-dollar bills. But how offensive is Ms. Omar's Twitter comment linking money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, to political support in Washington for Israel? Pro-Israel groups, like AIPAC, have been pouring money into US politics over the past 20 years and their influence in Washington has been scrutinized for nearly as long. However, the amount AIPAC has donated has been dwarfed in recent years by the mega-donors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson. The Center for Responsive Politics calls the overall pro-Israel politics lobby one of the most "active and well-financed" groups related to international issues in America: "It's a highly fractious issue with high stakes and it plays a big role in domestic politics." In 2018, these groups (including AIPAC) spent about US$ 5 million on direct lobbying efforts beyond campaign contributions. Over the past two federal election cycles, pro-Israel groups have given more to Democrats than Republicans. The powerful lobbying group that Omar referenced has been active in the US since the 1960s, foots the bill for dozens of Congress trips to Israel every year, and was a longtime opponent of the Iran nuclear deal the Obama administration crafted. Along with other groups representing Middle Eastern interests, AIPAC has applauded Trump's withdrawal from the deal and the re-imposition of sanctions on Iran. AIPAC's lobbying and campaign contributions have been much less than the huge influx of cash into US politics from mega-donors Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam, who was born in Israel to parents who had emigrated to British-controlled Palestine from Poland in 1930s. They were the largest donors in the 2018 mid-term elections with US$ 123 million, all of that to Republican political action committees that then funneled millions to incumbents in tough races. Adelson-controlled entities gave US$ 55 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, for example, which spent US$ 126 million running ads against Democrats. The Adelsons also fund the Israeli American Council (IAC), a group with 20 chapters around the US that Sheldon Adelson described as a hardline alternative to AIPAC in November 2017. IAC will "unequivocally always without question and irreversibly support Israel when it needed it," he said. "There will be no political correctness. There will be no questions about whether we should keep the door to the White House open to us." Miriam, a doctor who runs drug-treatment clinics in Las Vegas and Israel, is believed to be a key influence on Trump's decision to move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. So we can clearly see that Ilhan Omar has a very valid point. However, are we right to pick on Israel? The progressive answer is straightforward: Israel's opponents say Israel and its supporters did this to themselves. More than a half-century of occupation of Palestinian territories is a massive injustice that fair-minded people can no longer ignore, especially given America's financial support for Israel. Continued settlement expansion in the West Bank proves Israel has no interest in making peace on equitable terms. And endless occupation makes Israel's vaunted democracy less about Jewish self-determination than it is about ethnic subjugation. Not only is Israel flagrantly violating international law by increasing settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, it is forcing Palestinians out of their ancestral homelands and forcing them to live in ever restricted circumstances, resulting in economic and social apartheid. While Israeli teenagers go to disco parties, the Palestinian teenagers are busy throwing rocks or spending time being tortured in jails. All the while the US media has become proportionately less and less critical of any sort of Israeli action against the Palestinians since 1967. In effect Israel has become an apartheid state catering only to those of Jewish descent--as clearly seen in its promulgation of the 2018 law which promoted the development of Jewish communities, possibly aiding those who would seek to advance discriminatory land-allocation policies. And it downgraded Arabic from an official language to one with a "special status." The legislation, a "basic law" - giving it the weight of a constitutional amendment - omitted any mention of democracy or the principle of equality, in what critics called a betrayal of Israel's 1948 Declaration of Independence, which ensured "complete equality of social and political rights" for "all its inhabitants" no matter their religion, race or sex. Right now the Palestinians are simply living in a rarefied ghetto--both intellectual and economic, in the sense that Israel is getting even Arab and African countries into its shadow. Tough times lie ahead for the Palestinians. One of the owners of resale store Poor Little Rich Girl in Phoenix says she and her co-owner noticed more people coming through their door just after the show debuted on Netflix. Every week, Arizona's Family showcases the most expensive and unique homes for sale in the Valley. This week, we head to Paradise Valley, where a new contemporary home was just put on the market. The home was built in 2018. This 5-bedroom, 6-bathroom home has a wet bar, a game room and even two large walk-in closets. Address: 6125 North 38th Place, Paradise Valley, AZ 85253 Cost: $3,999,999 Size: 7,188 square feet Rooms: 5 bedrooms/6 bathrooms For more information on this house, visit roluxurygroup.com. Close A man is behind bars after being arrested for tampering with food at Safeway stores across the state, including putting bleach on eggs, authorities announced Monday. 11,000 garment workers dismissed after pay protest: IBC Staff Reporter : At least 11,000 workers have been sacked from garment factories following last month's protest over pay hike. IndustriAll Bangladesh Council (IBC) disclosed the figure at a press conference held at the National Press Club in Dhaka on Tuesday. Besides, police filed 34 cases over the labour unrest in Savar, Ashulia and Gazipur accusing some 3,500 workers and arrested over hundred others, according to the industry body. "Garment owners have dismissed at least 11,000 workers at 99 factories after protests over inconsistency in the minimum wages," said Salauddin Shawpon, Secretary General of IBC while reading out a written statement at the press conference. He claimed that garment owners dismissed workers after every occasion of pay protest. But this time, the number of sacked workers has reached an all time high. We're concern over the rising number of dismissed workers. He also demanded reinstatement of the sacked workers and immediate withdrawal of cases against them as they "took part in peaceful protest and did not involved in any vandalism." "The latest pay protest was largely peaceful and logical," claimed Salauddin Shawpon, adding, "As a result, the government formed a high-powered body to identify the inconsistencies in the minimum wages. Later, it government revised the minimum wages after discussion with the industry owners and labour leaders." The IBC urged the authorities to form a tripartite body with representatives from government, owners and labour leaders to look into these incidents and take necessary steps to bring a peaceful solution over the crisis. Thousands of workers walked out of their factories during the week-long protest resulting in closure of hundred of high-rated apparel factories, which supply clothes to top Western brands and retailers. In September last year, the government raised the minimum monthly wage for RMG workers by around 51 per cent to Tk 8,000 from Tk 5,300. The new wage took effect in December. But when workers drew their pay in January, they found a huge disparity, triggering the protest. Later, the government formed a 10-member committee with representatives from the government, union leaders and factory owners to overcome the crisis. On January 13, the government announced a revised pay structure for the garment sector workers, increasing in both basic and gross wages in six of the seven grades. Man accused of having wives in 3 states arrested after fourth woman comes forward Uzbekistan is one of the most important partners of Latvia for cooperation in the Central Asian region. Along with the development of bilateral relations, Latvia, as a member state of the EU, maintains close relations of the EU with the Central Asian region countries, in particular, the implementation of the EU strategy in Central Asia. The Latvian company SIA SV Gulbis is planning to build a railway transport and logistics center in Tashkent, according to the data of Uzbekistan Railways. The facility will be located on the territory of the Uztemiryulkonteyner Joint Stock Company. Delivery of the new facility is scheduled for the end of 2019. For the construction of a new complex, a total area of 16 hectares has been allocated, of which 20,000 square meters is for a container terminal. The project envisages the creation of closed storage areas of 25,000 square meters, including 14,000 square meters for certain types of products, as well as the introduction of an automated warehouse management system. In addition, the premises will be located in a building service center, customs control and administration. The entire project is planned to be implemented through foreign direct investment. The center will be equipped with technological equipment imported from Sweden and Germany. It will receive up to 3 million tons of cargo per year, as many as 350 new jobs will be created here. It is also planned to create conditions for smooth loading and unloading of trucks. The transport and logistics center is designed to provide services for sorting railway cars, loading and unloading goods, their storage, registration, and labeling. Diplomatic relations between Uzbekistan and Latvia were established on November 3, 1992. Latvian-Uzbek Intergovernmental Commission was established in 1998. It is constantly working on economic, industrial, scientific and technical cooperation, whose competence is at the expert level to consider and propose solutions on topical issues of bilateral relations between states. The trade turnover between the two countries was 123.3 million euros in January-June 2018. Uzbekistan exports high-quality cotton fiber, refined products, fruits and vegetables, pharmaceuticals, mineral fertilizers, non-ferrous metals and other types of goods to Latvia. Latvia, in turn, supplies to Uzbekistan equipment for the textile, electrical, engineering industries, food products, pharmaceutical products, optical equipment, and also provides transportation services. --- Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Abdul Kerimkhanov Today, iron and its alloys, such as steel, form the basis of machine technology in the world and are widely used in various industries, including the construction of buildings, bridges, the automobile industry, the shipbuilding industry and the production of locomotives. The importance of the steel industry in the development of different countries, the environmental sustainability of this product, as well as the forecasts of international organizations in increasing global steel demand in the next few decades, contributed to the support of this industry by governments and private-sector investment companies. The largest steel producers in Iran exported 4.71 million tons of steel from March 21, 2018, to January 20, 2019. This is 19 percent less than the export volume for the same period in the previous year. Over 40 percent of crude steel produced in Iran is exported to various markets around the world, said the head of the Iranian Organization for the Development and Reconstruction of Mines and the Mining Industry (IMIDRO) Hodadad Garibpur. The official noted that of the 1.79 billion tons of world annual crude steel production, about 30 percent is exported by producing countries, so Irans 40 percent share in exports is higher than in the world. A recent report published by the World Steel Organization (WSO) showed that Iran became the 10th largest steelmaker in the world in 2018. According to the WSO report, Iran produced 25 million tons of crude steel in 2018, which indicates a growth of 17.7 percent compared to 21.2 million tons in 2017. WSO was founded as the International Iron and Steel Institute on July 10, 1967. It changed its name to the World Steel Association on October 6, 2008. The association celebrated its 50th year anniversary in 2017. It represents over 160 steel producers (including nine of the world's 10 largest steel companies), national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes. WSO members cover around 85 percent of world steel production. Currently, there are several dozens of economic departments in Iran, including the Mobarak metallurgical complex in Isfahan, the Cavian metallurgical complex, the Bonab metallurgical complex, the Save steel works and steel profile plants, the Fulad Khuzestan steel company and the industrial group Sepahan, which operate in the industry the production of steel and its products, such as rebar, beams, and various types of steel leaves. Products of the Iranian steel industry, not only provide domestic needs but also are exported to some countries of the Middle East, Africa and Europe. According to the Iranian Steel Producers Association (ISPA), to achieve the target of up to 55 million tons per year by 2025, Irans steel industry needs new investments $ 27.4 billion. About $3.5 billion must be invested directly in the production of steel and raw materials. The main importers of steel products were CIS countries and Asian countries. --- Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Abdul Kerimkhanov After the velvet revolution, Armenia began losing a number of important markets. Positions have weakened in almost all major export markets. The growth rate of supplies to the CIS countries decreased more than two times, from 47 to 21 percent by the end of September 2018. A similar picture in relations with the EAEU countries. The slowdown in export growth is evident in the case of all EAEU member states. The activity of deliveries to Russia fell from 45 to 19 percent. The situation is not very different in relations with the EU countries. Supply growth has slowed almost three times in January-September 2018. Armenia has also lost ground in such markets, where trade surplus is almost always observed. Supplies of Armenian goods to the Georgian market fell by more than 55 percent. Compared with 153 million in the previous year, the export to Georgia was only $69 million in 2018. Armenias foreign trade balance with this country, which has been positive for many years, has now become negative, imports have exceeded exports. Armenian goods have lost their positions in a number of countries, inbcluding the U.S. markets, the United Arab Emirates, and Thailand. Exports to the United States fell by 28 percent. Deliveries to the United Arab Emirates also fell by the same amount. Entering of Armenian goods to the Thai market, where they tried to establish themselves with great difficulties, almost stopped. Changes occurring in the foreign trade sector do not meet the interests of the Armenian economy at all. On the contrary, these are adverse events in the economy. While domestic production needs investment, Armenia in the form of imports contributes to financing the economies of other countries. In addition, the negative balance of revenues and outflow of financial resources in the foreign trade sector also increased by about $700 million in 2018. If the figure amounted to $1.8 billion in 2017, it already reached 2.5 billion in 2018. These are only those additional funds generated in foreign trade, which last year was used to finance the economies of other countries. Continuation of this situation may have grave consequences for Armenia, which is already in a state of incapacity not only from an economic but also from a political and military point of view. Armenia can get out of this hole by resolving the conflict with Azerbaijan and rapprochement with this economically stable country. To achieve this goal, Armenia needs to end the occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. This requires several resolutions of the UN Security Council. Let's see if the current Armenian authorities have enough wisdom to do it. --- Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend At the end of February participants from all five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) will discuss issues of natural disasters at the Forum on Financial Protection against Natural Disasters in Almaty, Ko Takeuchi, Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist for Central Asia at the World Bank told Trend. The event will be organized by the World Bank with support from the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR). "It is the first initiative of such kind in Central Asia and we aim to encourage countries to think and adopt measures on how to be financially prepared for natural disasters," the expert said. He noted that with its diverse geography, Central Asia is prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, extreme weather events, avalanches, storms, droughts and many others. "In the past three decades, natural disasters affected over 10 million people and caused a loss of almost $2.5 billion throughout the region. Today disaster risks keep increasing." "Central Asias geography - which ranges from mountains to steppes, and deserts - make the region particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. Climate change is also adding to the regions vulnerability it is predicted that by 2085 the temperature will rise by 5.7 degrees Celsius, which will increase the frequency and severity of natural disasters," Takeuchi said. He explained that natural disasters inflict serious damage to the economy and often affect many sectors at once. "They destroy tangible assets such as buildings, equipment, transport routes, telecommunication infrastructure, agricultural production, as well as human capital." "In Central Asia, agriculture is among the key sectors affected by natural disasters. Trade can also be affected by natural disasters in Central Asia. Numerous transport routes arteries for trade with other countries pass through Ferghana Valley and Pamir mountains," Takeuchi informed. The expert said that it makes more economic sense to invest in risk reduction than to respond to a disaster when it already happened. "It also allows to save lives. Hence priority should be given to actions aimed at reducing existing risks and preventing the new ones." "Financing should be at the core of any disaster management action. By introducing financial protection mechanisms, such as allocations of disaster funds, disaster insurance mechanisms, countries can better respond to disasters," he noted. Takeuchi further said that natural disasters have no borders and can often affect a few countries of Central Asia at once. "At the same time, major disasters happening in a neighboring country could echo throughout the entire region. Governments of Central Asia recognize this and have taken steps towards addressing disaster risks jointly." "For instance, bearing in mind the importance of coordinated efforts to jointly address disaster risks, the Center for Emergency Situations and Disaster Risk Reduction (CESDRR) has been established as a platform for better coordination of disaster risk management initiatives at the regional level. Besides this, the countries have been supporting each other with bilateral aid after natural disasters," the expert informed. According to Takeuchi, there is, however, much more work to be done to boost regional cooperation and coordination on disaster risk management, and particularly on financial cooperation and data sharing. To help make Central Asian countries more resilient to climate and disaster risks, the World Bank has been supporting a number of important initiatives across the region. The World Bank continues supporting Central Asian countries in developing a safer environment for people. For example, the World Banks recent project helped to rehabilitate weather stations across Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and, by doing so, improve weather forecasting accuracy by 30 percent. This will help countries to improve agricultural production, hydropower networks and keep communities safer. The World Bank also supports Central Asia through capacity-building and analytics. For example, the World Bank helped to introduce a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment methodology, which allows to quantify physical damages and economic losses and identify recovery needs. Kyrgyzstan has already introduced this methodology and received first important results from assessing post-disaster damages and losses. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Forces that were previously predicting the failure of the Islamic Revolution in Iran today say that Iran is an important state in the region and in the Middle East, said the Iranian ambassador to Azerbaijan Javad Jahangirzadeh Feb. 11. He was addressing the event dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. Exactly forty years ago, the Iranian people, led by Imam Khomeini, carried out a revolution. After the revolution, Iran became a powerful state in the region, the ambassador said. The ambassador added: "I wish Azerbaijan to become stronger and stronger every day." --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Leman Mammadova The first meeting of the Joint Technical Commission, aimed at further expanding energy cooperation between the Energy Ministry of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia was held, the ministry told AZERTAC. Chairman of the Commission, Deputy Energy Minister Samir Valiyev noted that the relations between the two countries were developing in all directions, an initiative of intensive cooperation in OPEC + format, as well as the holding of the next meeting of the Joint Monitoring Committee of OPEC and non-OPEC in Baku in March, give an impetus to the development of energy relations. It should be noted that as of December 7, 2018, an agreement was reached at the fifth ministerial meeting of the non-OPEC member and non-OPEC countries in Vienna to cut daily oil production by 1.2 million barrels. As part of the agreement, Azerbaijan has reduced daily production by 20,000 barrels since January 1, 2019. The meeting of the Joint Committee of Ministers on monitoring the implementation of the transaction within OPEC+ will be held in February-March 2019 in Baku. Deputy Minister noted that there are great opportunities for further cooperation in the energy sector and the Technical Commission meetings will contribute to the realization of this potential. The chairman of the Commission from Saudi Arabia, Advisor on International Relations of the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Shakir Mahrus said that achieving multilateral cooperation in the energy sector meets the common interests of both countries. During the meeting, the sides discussed the prospects for the development of oil production, refining and petrochemical products in the world markets, expansion of relations between Saudi Aramco and SOCAR, prospects of SABIC's implementation of petrochemical projects in Azerbaijan, as well as renewable energy, energy efficiency, cooperation opportunities in energy sector. Saudi Arabia intends to share its experience in renewable energy with Azerbaijan and involve Arab companies in this field, as well as oil and gas sector. The event focused on the creation of a legislative framework on renewable energy, cooperation with the private sector in this field, cooperation with international companies. The cooperation opportunities in the field of natural resources production, joint workshops on energy efficiency, exchange of experience also discussed at the meeting. Importance of preparation and signing of memorandum of understanding between Ministries was emphasized in order to strengthen bilateral cooperation. Finally, the sides signed the protocol on the outcome of the meeting. Saudi Arabia is one of the first countries that signed an energy deal with Azerbaijan. Saudi Arabia participated in the Contract of the Century signed in 1994 in Baku and its Delta-Hess Company had a 2.72 percent share in the contract. In 2012, SOCAR and Soroof International Company signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Oil and Gas Industry in Azerbaijan. As of January 2018, during the visit of Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov to Saudi Arabia, an agreement was reached to establish a working group between the relevant ministries of the two countries for the development of energy cooperation between Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia. At that time, it was stated that representative office of Saudi Aramco in Azerbaijan will start operating in the near future. So far, Saudi Arabia's state-owned and private companies invested about $ 370 million in Azerbaijan's economy. --- Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Leman Mammadova The Canadian Zenith Energy Company has attracted funds for drilling operations in the Azerbaijani onshore field. The company received 607,000 pounds from shares in Canada and the UK, Report.az informs. The funds will be used to increase investment and general business operations in Azerbaijan. Zenith Energy is an international oil and gas production company operating the largest onshore block of oil fields Muradkhanli-Jafarli-Zardab in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR and Zenith Aran Oil Company signed a Rehabilitation, Exploration, Development and Production Sharing Agreement (REDPSA) in March 2016 for a block that includes the Muradkhanli, Jafarli and Zardab oil fields. Zenith Energy Ltd established its subsidiary company Zenith Aran Oil Company Ltd for production operations in these three fields. The agreement was ratified by the Azerbaijani Parliament on June 14 and the production under the agreement began in August of 2016. Zenith holds a 80-percent participating interest in the three fields within the contract area, while SOCAR retains the remaining 20 percent. The duration of the agreement is 25 years, with a potential extension of 5 additional years. The Muradkhanli-Jafarli-Zardab block is located in the Yevlakh-Agjabadi oil and gas region of Imishli district of Azerbaijan. The Muradkhanli field was discovered in 1971, Jafarli - in 1984, and Zardab - in 1981. The total area of the Muradkhanli, Jafarli and Zardab fields is 642.4 square kilometers, and according to the contract, it is divided into rehabilitation and exploration territories. In general, it is expected to produce 7.399 million barrels of oil from the onshore fields in Azerbaijan. While, production at Muradkhanli-Jafarli-Zardab block is expected to increase by 1.67 percent to 0.122 million barrels. --- Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament Ogtay Asadov has expressed gratitude to Chairman of Turkeys Grand National Assembly Binali Yildirim during a plenary session of the parliament, Trend reports. Asadov said that Turkeys Grand National Assembly prepared a coin in connection with the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the Azerbaijani parliament, which was presented to the MPs. "On our behalf, we express gratitude to the chairman of the parliament of the fraternal country," Asadov added. Then Asadov congratulated Azerbaijani MP Zahid Oruj on the occasion of his appointment to the post of chairman of the Social Research Center. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend A number of agreements on cooperation in the Caspian Sea were discussed at the meeting of the Azerbaijani parliament on Feb. 12, Trend reports. Issues of approval of the Protocol On cooperation in the fight against organized crime in the Caspian Sea to the Agreement On security cooperation in the Caspian Sea dated November 18, 2010, Protocol On cooperation in the fight against terrorism in the Caspian Sea to the Agreement on cooperation in the Caspian Sea dated November 18, 2010, the Protocol On cooperation and mutual activity between border agencies to the Agreement On security cooperation in the Caspian Sea dated November 18, 2010, the Agreement On cooperation in the field of transport between the governments of the Caspian littoral states, the Agreement On prevention of incidents in the Caspian Sea, as well as the Agreement On trade and economic cooperation between the governments of the Caspian littoral states. During the discussions, the MPs noted that these documents are important in ensuring security in the Caspian Sea. The documents were approved after the voting. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order regarding measures to construct the Gizilhajili-Goranboy-Goran-Rahimli-Veyisli-Gazanbulag-Borsunlu road in the Goranboy. Under the presidential order, 21.3 million manats will be allocated to the Azerbaijan Highway State Agency for the construction of the road connecting 15 residential areas with a total population of 32,000 people. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order regarding measures to renovate Sumgait City hospital No. 2. Under the presidential order, five million manats will be allocated to the Ministry of Health for the renovation of Sumgait City hospital No. 2. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend The Baku Grave Crimes Court continued the preparatory trial proceedings on the criminal case of the former head of the International Bank of Azerbaijan Jahangir Hajiyev, his relative Ismayil Hidayetzade, ex-MP Dunyamin Khalilov, also Jamal Hasanov, Sarkhan Rasulov, Natig Imanov, Samir Hajiyev, Tabriz Abdulhamidov, Mahir Gafarov, Sadikh Murtuzayev, Tarlan Maharramov, Fakhraddin Heybatov, Ramin Ahmadov, Fariz Muradov, Salahaddin Gadirov, Erkhan Javad, Arif Ramazanov, Navai Shirinov, Svetlana Asadullayeva, Arif Madatov, Adil Mikailov and Ramiz Karimov, Trend reports. At the trial, chaired by Judge Faig Ganiyev, the accused Natig Imanov testified. He said that in 2011 he worked at Soik Construction LLC owned by Dunyamin Khalilov. I previously worked in other companies as well, he said. In this company, our job was to construct a building with four entrances in Baku. I resettled the residents who lived in this area. We entered into sales contracts with approximately 50 families. In 2015, when the criminal case started in connection with the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), I was brought to the investigation. At that moment, Dunyamin Khalilov wasnt here. He came later. Imanov noted that he is accused of embezzling more than 12 million manats. I had the companys seal, he said. At the instruction of Dunyamin Khalilov, I went to the IBA. At the central branch of the bank, I was met by a man named Azer. I signed the documents prepared by him, and after that the money was transferred to the accounts of citizens from whom we bought houses. Every time I went to the bank to sign documents, 1.5 million manats were transferred. I didnt take money in cash. I only signed documents at the bank. In general, I signed documents on the transfer of 44 million manats. The judge said the materials of the criminal case reflect that Imanov took a loan of 22.450 million manats from the IBA. The accused said that during the period of work as a director in the company, he officially received a salary of 200 manats. But unofficially I received from Dunyamin Khalilov a salary of 2,000 manats, he noted. I received money in cash at the IBA. I went to the bank, took my money and signed documents. I personally informed Dunyamin Khalilov. Twelve million manats remained in the bank. Then Dunyamin Khalilov sent a man and took the money. I didnt take cash from the bank. Then, Madatov, another accused, was heard. He noted that in 2001 he founded the Abide housing complex together with family members. In order to take a loan for dismantling work, I appealed to Dunyamin Khalilov, he said. Then we agreed on 25 percent. During the work, Dunyamin Khalilov demanded me to sign the form #2 (a report on income and expenditure). Four times I objected it, because the amounts were too high. I didnt agree with him. After that, in order for the work to progress, I signed several forms #2, because the work was done by half and the people remained on the street. Madatov said that on this occasion he met twice with Jahangir Hajiyev. I was only fulfilling the orders of Dunyamin Khalilov, the accused said. The money from the bank was transferred to the accounts of 100 families. At the trial, it was announced that, according to the indictment, Madatov misappropriated 3.226 million manats of the IBA. Madatov confirmed this amount. I wouldnt say that I misappropriated, he noted. However, at that moment in the form #2, the amount was overestimated. In his testimony, Murtuzayev, another accused, said that the IBA allocated a 14 million manat loan to the Alfaline company that he headed in 2006-2007. Our company financed engineering companies, he noted. Personally, I didnt take part in financing. I just signed the documents. In 2010, I left the company. But it remained registered under my name. During the interrogation, Murtuzayev said that he received salary in the company that he led. A break was announced in the court. According to official information, during investigations there were reasonable suspicions that contracts for the purchase and sale of promissory notes in the amount of $3.4 billion and 987 million euros were concluded with some legal entities in various countries and illegal transactions were carried out by using promissory notes in 2001-2015 upon Hajiyevs instructions, who was the chairman of the Board of the International Bank of Azerbaijan. Moreover, there were reasonable suspicions that Khalilov, 20 more people, as well as other people, caused damage to the bank, misappropriating 4.7 billion manats. Moreover, Hajiyev declined to pay taxes to the budget in the amount of 1,752,000 manats from the profit of Aztorg LLC, jointly led by Hajiyev and Khalilov in 2011-2014. The Baku Grave Crimes Court previously sentenced Hajiyev to 15 years in prison, Dunyamin Khalilov to 13 years, and Ismayil Hidayetzade to 7 years in prison. Khalilovs sentence was reduced from 13 to 12 years and 9 months by a decision of the Baku Court of Appeals; Hidayetzades sentence was reduced to five years by the Supreme Court. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Abdul Kerimkhanov Azerbaijan and Pakistan have faced extreme security challenges since independence. Azerbaijan has been drawn into territorial conflict with neighboring Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, and Pakistans with India because of Kashmir. Two countries support each other in resolving these conflicts. As a result of Armenian aggressive policy, Azerbaijanis are still suffering from Armenian terror and atrocities, said Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Azerbaijan to Pakistan Ali Alizade. He became a guest of the Diplomatic Enclave telecast on the state PTV channel, which is widely broadcast around the world and in Pakistan. Alizade noted that February 26 marks the 27th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide committed by the Armenian occupiers, which is a clear example of the Armenian brutal policies who completely destroyed the ancient city of Khojaly overnight. The Ambassador stressed that Pakistan is one of the first countries to recognize the Khojaly genocide, and the resolutions adopted by Islamabad are a humane step to restore justice. He noted that Pakistans support for Azerbaijan is perceived with enthusiasm. Commenting on questions about the form of governance, culture, science, health care system, the economy of Azerbaijan, Alizade said that as a result of the country's successful policy, reforms, as well as a favorable business environment, Azerbaijan is actively developing, the country has been able to minimize its dependence on oil, and to ensure the pace of economic growth in the non-oil sector. He stressed that Baku achieved all these successes despite the consequences of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the occupation policy of Armenia against Azerbaijan. Ambassador noted that this year Azerbaijani diplomacy celebrates its 100th anniversary. He said that in the period of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, and after the restoration of independence, Azerbaijan has always pursued a foreign policy based on friendship, cooperation and mutual respect. The ambassador stressed that an independent, pragmatic and multi-vector foreign policy led to the formation of a favorable environment around Azerbaijan. He informed that, with the exception of the occupier-Armenia, Azerbaijan had strong and close friendly relations with all countries of the world. Alizade noted that the friendly and fraternal relations established between Azerbaijan and Pakistan, as well as strategic partnership, are another indicator of this policy. He said that the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev pays special attention to relations with Pakistan and that Azerbaijan always supports Pakistan in all international and regional issues. Noting that Azerbaijan is also interested in strengthening trade and economic cooperation with Pakistan, the ambassador spoke about the potential and opportunities in this area. He said that there is an opportunity for mutual investments, and in the case of the opening of direct flights between the countries, it will be easier to visit each other. Speaking about the relations are developing in the humanitarian and social spheres, Alizade said the events held in Pakistan with the support and initiative of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and its President Mehriban Aliyeva are highly appreciated. He recalled that Azerbaian's First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva was awarded the highest award of Pakistan for her merits. The ambassador said similar projects will continue in the future. Alizade, in response to questions from the presenter, shared his views on the efforts and contribution of Azerbaijan to the process of restoring peace and stability in Afghanistan, Pakistans activities in the fight against terrorism, Azerbaijans position on the issue of Kashmir and other issues. Diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Pakistan were established on June 9, 1992. --- Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade Azerbaijan has amended the Law on Suspension of Business Inspections, Trend reports. The amendment envisages elimination of restrictions on inspections in financial markets. The corresponding issue was discussed on February 12 at the plenary session of the Azerbaijani parliament. In accordance with the law, inspections of entrepreneurs in Azerbaijan were suspended until the end of 2020. Additionally, in the period provided for in Article 1 of this Law, only tax audits can be carried out, as well as inspections in connection with the implementation by the relevant executive authority of control over compliance with the rules of quality, safety of medicines and control over the safety of food products, as well as checks made in cases that pose a serious threat to human life and health, safety and interests of the State, the list of which is approved by the relevant executive authority. These inspections may be carried out only subject to restrictions established by the relevant executive authority. However, in order to protect the life and health of people, ensure security and economic interests of the state, it is allowed to conduct inspections in the cases specified in Section 2.1 of the law. In line with the proposed amendment, this list also included audits in financial markets. There are also proposals to amend the Law on Regulation of Business Inspections and Protection of Interests of Entrepreneurs so that this law wouldnt apply to audits in financial markets. Following the discussions, draft amendments to laws were approved. In series of positive improvements besides the exemption of entrepreneurship from inspections until 2021, it also should be noted that the list of types of entrepreneurship that require licensing was also greatly reduced and an electronic portal for licenses has been created, which allows obtaining a license in electronic format. There is also application of the one stop shop principle for issuing building permits and all this can be obtained in electronic format. In addition, there is the possibility of electronic declaration for the export of goods, as well as at the customs checkpoints there are systems of the "green corridor". All these changes are huge contribution to improving the investment climate in Azerbaijan. In recent years, in order to reduce the economys dependence on the oil sector, the development of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship in Azerbaijan has become one of the priorities. In particular, for the opening of state-owned industrial and production facilities, the development of agriculture, entrepreneurs are given preferential loans and subsidies. Until today, the National Entrepreneurship Support Fund under the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan has allocated more than two billion manats (over one billion dollars) to almost 35,000 entrepreneurs. At the same time, the state conducts a number of other activities in order to form a healthy business climate in the republic. In this case, it is important to attract foreign investment in the development of small and medium-sized businesses. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade Iran and Turkey will cooperate in tourism industry. This is provided for by the relevant document signed between the head of the Trade Union of the Chiefs of Offices of Iranian passenger services and tourism, Hormatullah Raffia and the head of the Association of Travel Agencies of Turkey (Tursab), Firuz Baglykaya. Each year, eight million tourists travel from Turkey and Iran to overseas, Trend reports. So, about 60 percent of eight million Iranian tourists go to Turkey and Iraq. About 320,000 tourists come to Iran from Turkey, Raffia said. The head of the union said that Iran intends to reach a balance with Turkey in the movement of tourist flow. At the signing ceremony, the head of Tursab Firuz Baglykaya said that there is no balance between the two countries in the tourism sector. For creation of it there is work to do. Baglykaya stated that the tourism potential of Turkey will be presented at the Tehran Tourism Exhibition. In addition, the head of Tursab expressed confidence that the signing of the agreement will lead to an increase in tourist flow to Iran and Turkey. So, from economic point of view Turkey has more actual resources to promote tourism and keep its advantage over the Iran in tourist flow. There are several reasons of this noticeable gap between the number of tourist visiting both of the countries, but main reason is well-established tourism oriented policy of Turkey, which allows to realize whole existing potential of the country and develop this sector by extensive and intensive ways. There are plenty of reforms, which have been implemented in the Iran towards simplification of the procedure for obtaining entry visas, in particular, the practice of issuing 30-day visas directly to Iranian airports for citizens of 180 countries has been introduced, and an online hotel booking system for Iran operates. Visas can now be obtained electronically from Iranian consulates or international airports. Additionally, taking into account that Iran is the center of Shiite Islam - is one of the main centers of Muslim pilgrimage, so religious tourism is very developed and the most important place from this point of view is the city of Mashhad which attracts a huge number of Iranian and foreign tourists (a total of more than 4 million people a year). -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Leman Mammadova Although at present, oil and gas account for the main share in exports, Azerbaijan is eager to expand its list with non-oil sector's products. An upward trend is already showing itself in the non-oil exports. Azerbaijan reached an agreement to export its products to several countries. Azerbaijani fruit and vegetable products were showcased at Fruit Logistica 2019 international fruit and vegetable exhibition in Berlin, Germany in early February, the Ministry of Economy told AZERTAC. Discussions were held on export of Azerbaijani products within the framework of the exhibition and preliminary agreements have been reached in this context. Gilan FMCG has signed a contract for the export of tomatoes to Germany. The Azerbaijani Mars FK has agreed to export pomegranates to England, Balxurma will deliver dried dates to Germany, and the company D Fruits plans to export its products to the United Arab Emirates. Bina Agro negotiated the export of products to Russia and Sudan, as well as joint production with Dutch companies in Azerbaijan. It should be noted that 14 Azerbaijani companies operating in the production of fruits and vegetables showcased their products at the Made in Azerbaijan pavilion at the exhibition on February 6-8 with the support of the Ministry of Economy and the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO). Recently, the products of 14 Azerbaijani companies operating in wine and other alcoholic drinks, medicinal herbal teas, confectionary products, dried fruits and other products were presented at the "Made in Azerbaijan" stand at the exhibition International Green Week 2019 held in Berlin on January 18-27, 2019. Within the event Herba Flora of Azerbaijan has reached the agreement on the export of medicinal herbal tea with Germany's Herbacon GmbH and Tramontabio. At the same time, Babek Sirab and Qatar's Dandy Company Ltd have agreed to export mineral waters. Launched in 2016, the Made in Azerbaijan brand envisages a large-scale promotion of local non-oil products in foreign markets. Azerbaijan is organizing a number of export missions to promote national products under the Made in Azerbaijan brand. Export missions are a supporting measure to identify opportunities for accessing new markets, strengthen local product positions in existing markets and provide these markets with new products. Promotion of export-oriented local products under the Made in Azerbaijan brand in a wider geographic area also helps to attract foreign investment. The export of non-oil products will stimulate the expansion of the production of these products and will further strengthen the non-oil sector's share in the structure of the GDP. --- Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend The Azerbaijani government will take all necessary measures to prevent intended increase in prices after increase of the minimum wage, Abulfat Maharramov, director of the labor policy department of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population of Azerbaijan, told Trend on Monday. Maharramov said the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs will be given relevant instructions to prevent such cases, and social partners will be involved. "One knows, market pricing is shaped in accordance with the market economy. Even if someone inflates the prices artificially, this hardly remains for long-term. The product will not be sold, and the seller will be forced to reduce its cost. I do not think that an increase in wages will promote hike in price. Even when something like this happens, state officials usually get involved and give relevant instructions to entrepreneurs so as to prevent such cases," Maharramov said. On the other hand, it is a fallacy to guess that raising wages is unprofitable when there is a rise in prices, the director noted. "We live in conditions of a market economy. So, other countries economies inevitably affect ours. Today, along with exporting its products to the global market, Azerbaijan imports quite a lot of products. In order for this process to be economically balanced, it is necessary to ensure a balance in both prices and wages. Political will is needed here. A country that does not pursue such a policy is doomed to failure," Maharramov said. Wage reforms include risks and calculations, and economists realize the necessity thereof, he added. It is also wrong to think whether it is worth raising salaries when the prices continue rising. Anyway, measures will be taken to prevent it to happen. In addition, the market itself will regulate the prices. Those who are intending to increase prices will once again understand that these steps are leading to failure," Maharramov said. On February 8, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on raising the minimum monthly wage and amending the decree On Raising the Minimum Wage of December 25, 2017. According to the decree, the minimum monthly wage is set at 180 manats from March 1, 2019. ($1=1.7 AZN on February 11) --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Leman Mammadova The growth of entrepreneurship in Azerbaijan is one of the priority directions of the economic policy and it is closely related to the development of small and medium-sized businesses, and in particular to the development of women's business in the country. Azerbaijan's Women Entrepreneurs Association and Turanbank intend to closely cooperate in the development of women's entrepreneurship in various segments of the economy, Sakina Babayeva, head of the association, told Trend. She said the association is looking for new options aimed at supporting womens entrepreneurship, and there is certain progress in this direction. Babayeva added that a mechanism for issuing loans through Turanbank for development of womens entrepreneurship has already been launched. "The conditions for issuing loans are quite optimal," she said. "For example, loans worth up to 2,000 manats are issued without any collateral for women starting their businesses. Loans worth 2,000-5,000 manats are issued upon a letter of guarantee from the association, and loans worth 5,000-10,000 manats require a pledged collateral. We applied with a similar offer to most banks, but unfortunately, we were supported by only one bank in Baku." She said that in line with the tasks of the association, in the next three years, womens entrepreneurship should cover important segments of the agriculture sector, as well as priority sectors of the economy. It should be noted that Azerbaijan Women Entrepreneurs Association was established with the support of the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs in October 2017, primarily aimed at strengthening the role of women in the field of entrepreneurship, as well as the dynamic development of small and medium-sized businesses in Azerbaijan. For a short period of work, the Association has concluded memorandums of cooperation with the associations of women entrepreneurs of Georgia, Latvia and Russia, and plans to expand the cooperation with similar organizations in various states in the territory of the former Soviet Union. Every day, the role of women in entrepreneurship and their number grows in the world. Azerbaijan in recent years has taken major measures to improve the entrepreneurship. Nevertheless, despite this, today there are a number of problems, such as high taxes, problems with the sale of entrepreneurs products, which greatly impede the development of entrepreneurship in general. It is particularly necessary to provide preferential loans to women entrepreneurs engaged in the agricultural sector, to further increase their contribution to the development of the economy. Development of womens entrepreneurship is one of the priority issues facing Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) of Azerbaijan and the Agency plans to develop incentive mechanisms for the development of the womens entrepreneurship. Simplifying access to financial resources for SMEs is an important aspect of the agencys activities, as the main part of the appeals involves financing. The agency is working on the creation of an online platform for access to finances. This platform will provide an opportunity for online communication between financial institutions and entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to present their projects to all interested parties online, and this will also minimize the loss of time. The Agency for Small and Medium Business Development of Azerbaijan was established in 2017 to ensure the consistency of reforms, as well as the improvement of the business regulation system and the application of effective coordination, enhancing the role and competitiveness of small and medium-sized businesses in the country's economy, and the compliance of the management system of this sphere with modern requirements. --- Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Looking for in-depth reporting on labor issues? You're in the right place. Subscribe to The Chief and get stories that cover every side of civil service in New York City and beyond. You can sign up in minutes for immediate access. By Trend The State Committee for Property Issues of Azerbaijan will hold an auction on state property privatization on March 12, Trend reports referring to the Committee. Some 51 state-owned properties - 16 small state-owned enterprises and facilities, 12 non-residential areas, 16 joint-stock companies and seven cars of the Nissan, Kia, Toyota and other brands - will be put up for the auction. One of the state-owned properties put up for the auction is a catering facility, with the rest being shopping facilities. Those wishing to participate in the auction can get additional information on the official website of the Committee at emdk.gov.az and the privatization.az portal. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have 21 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Feb. 12, Trend reports. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan on Tuesday defended the Armenian governments decision to send army medics and sappers to Syria and said Yerevan could also consider deploying combat troops there. Armenias humanitarian mission is carried out in accordance with the letter of the law, Tonoyan said after talks with his visiting Cypriot counterpart Savvas Angelides. In addition, I can also say that if its necessary to participate in hostilities as well, the Republic of Armenia will also do that in accordance with the letter of the law, he told a joint news conference. The Armenian Defense Ministry sent 83 medics, demining experts and other military personnel to the Syrian city of Aleppo on Friday. It said they will help civilians and clear landmines left behind from the continuing bloody conflict in the Arab state. The ministry attributed the deployment to the severe humanitarian situation in Aleppo, written requests from the Syrian side, and the existence of an Armenian community in Syria. The dispatch of the Armenian military personnel was announced as Tonoyan held talks in Moscow with Russias Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu. The latter thanked Yerevan for its humanitarian assistance to Syria. Armenian opposition politicians have criticized the deployment. Some of them say that the government should have consulted with the Armenian parliament, while others question the legality of the mission. The National Assembly began debating on Tuesday the Armenian governments five-year program which Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian again portrayed as a policy framework for an economic revolution in the country. Pashinian presented the 70-page program to lawmakers in a two-hour speech that was followed by a question-and-answer session. More than 50 members of the 132-seat parliament registered to ask him questions relating to the document. There can be no return to the former criminal-oligarchic ruling regime, and we need to rid our homeland of the last remaining bacilli of criminal-oligarchic and corrupt governance, stated Pashinian. I am announcing the start of a popular economic revolution in the Republic of Armenia, he said. The Armenian people have prevailed in the fight against corruption, impunity and clan-based governance, and the Armenian people will also prevail in the fight against poverty, unemployment and misery. The program presented by Pashinian affirms the governments commitment to a competitive and inclusive economy primarily driven by hi-tech industries. It says that to this end the government will significantly improve tax administration, ease business regulations, guarantee fair competition, attract foreign investment, and stimulate exports and innovation. This, the document adds, should translate into an annual GDP growth rate of at least 5 percent in 2019-2023. Armenias former government brought down by Pashinian-led mass protests last year set practically the same economic growth targets in its last five-year program drawn up in 2017. It pledged to reduce the official poverty rate, which stands at around 30 percent, by 12 percentage points by 2022. The current government is likewise promising substantial reductions in poverty and unemployment. But it has set no specific targets. Critics have pounced on an overall lack of socioeconomic targets in the program, questioning its feasibility. In an apparent response to the criticism, Pashinian said: The numerical parameters of the economic revolution depend on how many citizens of Armenia will respond to our appeal to become activists of the economic revolution and how many of them will decide to take up opportunities provided by this revolutionary platform. Ani Samsonian, a lawmaker representing the opposition Bright Armenia Party (LHK), suggested during the question-and-answer session that Pashinian wants to shift the blame for a possible failure of his economic policies on to ordinary Armenians. It is the government of Armenia which would bear responsibility for that, insisted the prime minister. Pashinian also declared that his administration has already broken the spine of systemic corruption in Armenia. He said it will now focus on putting in place institutional safeguards against corrupt practices. In particular, he said, it will make information about the personal assets of individuals holding or aspiring to state posts easily accessible to the public. Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) leader Gagik Tsarukian on Tuesday added his voice to opposition criticism of the governments five-year policy program, saying that it is too vague. This is not a program of an economic revolution. We cant vote for it unless it is amended, he told reporters at the start of parliament debates on the 70-page program. Tsarukian said that the document does not specify sources of funding, time frames and mechanisms for a significant improvement of living standards promised by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians government. There are no figures on what sums of money, from which sources will be invested in 2019 and in which time frames and through which mechanisms that will be done, he said. Any government program requires funding. Other opposition politicians and commentators have also said that the program is short on specifics. They point to few socioeconomic targets that have been set by it for the next five years. The program says that the Armenian economy will grow by at least 5 percent annually thanks to government efforts to improve the business environment, spur exports and attract more foreign investment. It promises substantial decreases in poverty and unemployment. Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian indicated last week that the government will set more detailed targets for various spheres after the program is approved by the parliament. Tsarukians BHK is the largest parliamentary opposition force, holding 26 of the 132 seats in the National Assembly. Pashinians My Step bloc controls 88 seats. Things could get a lot worse before they get better for Venezuela's oil sector, according to a new analysis from the consultancy Rystad Energy. But needless to say, the political outcome there matters a lot. What they found: In their "base" case, production falls from 1.34 million barrels per day at the end of 2018 to 1 million this year, then drops further to 890,000 barrels per day next year. But, but, but: If the standoff there continues and the Maduro regime can't counter the effect of U.S. sanctions and get more money, output could slide by 20% more this year and keep falling next year. If the standoff there continues and the Maduro regime can't counter the effect of U.S. sanctions and get more money, output could slide by 20% more this year and keep falling next year. In their "high case," where there's regime change that ends sanctions and brings new financing to the country's battered oil sector, the decline is less pronounced, with production falling to 1.11 million barrels per day this year and slightly further in 2020. What's next: Even if Maduro is ousted, production will come back only gradually as sanctions are lifted and new financing comes in, Rystad projects. They see output from the country's massive reserves climbing to around 1.54 million barrels per day in 2025, still well below the 2.44 million barrels per day at the start of this decade. The big picture: So far, oil markets haven't been especially rattled by the crisis there, in part because production has been declining for years. But, but, but: This new commentary from the Center for Strategic and International Studies warns that there could be bumpy times ahead, both for Gulf Coast refiners that rely on Venezuelan heavy crude and the market more broadly. "Gulf Coast refiners are likely to be increasingly short of the heavier grade crudes and scrambling for alternative supplies, especially later this spring as maintenance season ends," author Frank Verrastro writes. He says the Trump administration seems to be counting on a swift resolution to the standoff, and "the protracted loss of substantial heavy oil volumes could also complicate the next round of sanctions and waivers on Iranian oil." The bottom line: "Add to that Venezuelas assumption of OPECs presidency, planned changes in maritime fuel standards and resurgent calls for climate action, and 2019 has all the earmarks of another year of high volatility," Verrastro adds. Utah Republican Gov. Gary Herbert on Monday signed legislation into law to limit the expansion of the states Medicaid program, after voters in the deep-red state approved a ballot measure in November to extend coverage under the Affordable Care Act to about 150,000 additional low-income people starting April 1. Why it matter: Under the GOP-controlled legislatures plan, Utah would only provide coverage to about 80,000 people and ask the Trump administration for a waiver to permit the "partial expansion" of Medicaid. But the White House, which has repeatedly voiced opposition against efforts to expand Medicaid, had signaled its opposition to Republicans' scale-down version last year. The government has never approved a partial expansion before, and if it does not grant Utah the waiver, the new law would automatically repeal the entire expansion voters approved. 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran, said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" that she has no remorse about secretly meeting in January 2017 with Syrias president, Bashar al-Assad. What she's saying: Any leader should be "willing to meet with others, whether they be friends or adversaries ... if we are serious about the pursuit of peace and securing our country. A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted. Background: The Hawaii Democrat has been critical of Americas interventionist foreign policy. But she continues to face backlash from Democrats and Republicans for meeting the dictator, who has used chemical weapons against civilians in the war-ravaged country and whose removal from power she opposes. President Trump is set to meet this afternoon with U.S. energy industry leaders to discuss issues including the possibility of providing Saudi Arabia with a path to nuclear power. Why it matters: Saudi Arabia says it wants nuclear power in order to be able to divert more oil for export, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) led negotiations with the U.S. Energy and State departments last year over a power plants deal "worth upward of $80 billion," per the New York Times. But the kingdom has reportedly resisted safeguards to ensure it doesnt develop nuclear weapons, and MBS said last March that Saudi Arabia will "follow suit as soon as possible" if its rival Iran makes a break for the bomb. The meeting was first reported by Bloomberg, which noted that companies "are working to get U.S. government approval of next-generation advanced and small modular nuclear reactors and sell them to the world" at a difficult time for the domestic market. In the room: Expected attendees include leaders from Exelon, Westinghouse, TerraPower, GE, BWXT, X-energy, NuScale, Lightbridge and AECOM, along with retired U.S. Navy Adm. Michael Hewitt and retired U.S. Army Gen. Jack Keane. Hewitt and Keane represent a company called IP3 International that seeks to secure nuclear deals overseas. A White House official said: "This is being led by General Keane. This is a group that he has put together; the president talks with him periodically. He wanted to bring in a group to have a discussion about the important renewable energy sources and talk about nuclear construction efforts around the world." A source familiar with the meeting said that while the Saudi issue will be discussed, there will be "a larger discussion about how to make the U.S. nuclear industry more competitive." The source added that the meeting will also focus on the question of, "do U.S. companies have the right tools to compete?" The source said on that front, the U.S. nuclear industry needs a properly functioning Export-Import Bank and support for the so-called "123 agreements" required for countries to use U.S. nuclear technology. Between the lines: The most significant 123 agreement currently being negotiated is with Saudi Arabia. In the early days of the Trump administration, one of the strongest backers of the Saudi process was Michael Flynn, who resigned as national security adviser over his communications with Russia. Flynn wrote on a disclosure form that he had served as an adviser to IP3 International before joining the White House, though the company said it never paid Flynn and that he did not accept its offer to serve as an adviser, the Washington Post reported in 2017. The NY Times noted last November that: Privately, administration officials argue that if the United States does not sell the nuclear equipment to Saudi Arabia someone else will maybe Russia, China or South Korea. A deal to help Saudi Arabia acquire nuclear technology would not require Senate approval, per Pro Publica, but Congress could block the deal with a joint resolution opposing it. Senior Democrats have previously expressed concerns. The White House official said the meeting would also focus on future civil nuclear energy in the U.S. and the supply chain for nuclear energy. Representatives from GE, Exelon and Westinghouse declined to comment. Editors note: This story has been corrected to note that Fluor will not attend the meeting. President Trump said in a Cabinet meeting Tuesday that he's "not happy" about the deal reached in a bipartisan conference Monday night to keep the government open past Feb. 15. He did not say whether or not he would support the bill. The state of play: Lawmakers have been waiting for Trump to weigh in after a border security deal which only includes about $1.4 billion for barrier construction was reached Monday night. On Sunday, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said the administration would secure the border, either by reprogramming leftover government funds or by declaring a national emergency. During the Cabinet meeting, Trump alluded to moving money around from "less important areas" to build the wall: "I can't say I'm thrilled. ... So I can tell you that am I happy at first glance? I just got to see it. The answer is no, I'm not. I'm not happy. But am I happy with where we're we're going? I'm thrilled, because we're supplementing things and moving things around and we're doing things that are fantastic and taking from far less really from far less important areas. " Russia is planning to sever itself temporarily from the global internet, ostensibly to prepare the country to deal with a digital attack that would leave it cut off. Why it matters: That's Russia's stated intent, but experts believe the goal is actually to wrest more control over the country's domestic internet. The big picture: The Duma is currently considering a law submitted in December that would ensure Russia's national internet could still function in case Russia was intentionally cut off from the global internet. The trial separation would help fine tune what steps Russia might need to take for that law to succeed. The test will take place before an April 1 deadline to submit amendments, according to the Russian outlet RBC, which first reported the story, and ZDNet, which first brought it to English. Yes, but: Though the government of Russia has publicly expressed concern that other nations may cut it off from the internet, experts are skeptical. "As a technical matter, I have a hard time imagining how a group of nations could isolate Russia completely," said Michael Daniel, former White House cybersecurity coordinator and current president and CEO of the Cyber Threat Alliance. "The distributed nature of the Internet makes that prospect really challenging." While the U.S. has threatened stronger actions to deal with hostile foreign cyber powers, removing a country from the internet goes a step beyond any known plans. Between the lines: "Really, this move would be about Russia wanting to have the same capabilities that China does in essence, to be able to control the flow of information into and out of the country," said Daniel. Russia has long wanted more internal control over the physical routing of the internet. The internet operates on domain name system (DNS) servers, which operate like a kind of phone book, "resolving" the verbal web addresses (like "axios.com") users send from browsers into numerical internet addresses that the network understands. By 2020, Russia has announced it wants to resolve as much as 95% of its DNS requests on servers within the country. Doing so would give Russia the opportunity to prevent users from accessing content the government wished to censor. Preparing Russia's network to function while isolated from the global internet would help create the infrastructure the country would need to prevent citizens from circumventing national control. There's a good chance Russia's internet test could cause a little chaos, noted Tim April, principal architect of Akamai, because much of the internet's functionality comes from globally coordinated systems everything from web analytics platforms to synchronized timing to spam blocking lists. China uses its tight-fisted control of its domestic internet, the so-called "Great Firewall," to keep granular control over ideas its citizens are allowed to communicate. It famously bans everything from the history of Tiananmen Square to Winnie the Pooh memes. Russia may be freer than China, but it is still restrictive about dissent. Its internet isolation test-run could be a first step toward an "Iron Firewall." 1 big thing: Dems' new policy order Democrats' shift to the left with big ideas like the Green New Deal and Medicare for all, along with the rise of progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), is changing the balance of power in the partys unofficial policy establishment, Axios' Sam Baker and I report. Why it matters: Think tanks, policy analysts and advocacy groups are vitally important they help shape the partys policy platforms and channel the bases enthusiasm. And a new set of players are gaining power in that world just as Democrats seize the reins in the House and wade into a policy-heavy primary for 2020. What they're saying: There has been a huge shift in what kinds of policies are considered big enough to meet the scale of our problems, said Waleed Shahid of the 2-year-old group Justice Democrats. "New, startup think tanks are filling the void," he said. How it works: The universe of new or newly prominent progressive groups includes Data for Progress and New Consensus, who both worked with the Sunrise Movement, a group that's providing a lot of the advocacy muscle behind the GND. The GND is now well on its way into the Democratic mainstream (though it remains vague), thanks largely to the mutually reinforcing combination of outside legwork and AOCs nearly unrivaled ability to drive the political conversation. is now well on its way into the Democratic mainstream (though it remains vague), thanks largely to the mutually reinforcing combination of outside legwork and AOCs nearly unrivaled ability to drive the political conversation. Data for Progress cofounder Sean McElwee also helped popularize the hashtag #AbolishICE. This gained steam on the left, then became part of AOC's platform, and then won its first endorsement from a senator Kirsten Gillibrand 2 days after AOC won her primary. Individual experts are also playing a big role as Democrats 2020 candidates look beyond the familiar left-of-center policy framework. Multiple Democrats have sought the counsel of economist Stephanie Kelton, a former aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders who has helped popularize Modern Monetary Theory. Kelton is now a prominent voice behind making large investments in climate-friendly energy and infrastructure as part of the GND. A pair of left-leaning economists from UC Berkeley reportedly helped Sen. Elizabeth Warren craft her proposed wealth tax. Economists Sandy Darity and Darrick Hamilton consulted on Sen. Cory Booker's "baby bonds" proposal and Sen. Kamala Harris' middle-class tax cut. The old guard which includes Obama-era stalwarts like the Center for American Progress is by no means dead or irrelevant. But those experts are sometimes reacting to big policy ideas, rather than writing them, as their party shifts to the left. Medicare for All, for example, was not born out of a traditional marriage between think-tank white papers and political trial balloons. Go deeper On the last day of the 2014 Gaza War, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a secret meeting with a special envoy from the Saudi king. In the meeting, Saudi Arabia proposed a joint diplomatic initiative on relaunching Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, rebuilding Gaza and confronting Iran, three sources briefed on the effort told me. Why it matters: This was an unprecedented move by the Saudis who do not have diplomatic relations with Israel that could have profoundly shifted the regional dynamic. More surprisingly still, the Saudis planned to present it in public with the Israelis. The details of the Saudi proposal, according to the sources: Israel and Saudi Arabia would draft an updated version of the 2002 Arab peace initiative. Netanyahu and the Saudi foreign minister would then present the initiative together during the meeting of the UN General Assembly. Israel and Saudi Arabia would announce a process to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians would be relaunched. Saudi Arabia would lead a regional push for the reconstruction of Gaza. The backstory, according to the three sources: In early September 2014, Netanyahu held a secret meeting with Saudi national security adviser Prince Bandar bin Sultan. The meeting took place in a third country. Bandar told Netanyahu at the meeting that Saudi Arabia wanted to relaunch the peace process in order to be able to unite the region against Iran. Netanyahu was enthusiastic, and after 10 hours of talks, he and Bandar agreed to start preparing for a summit at the UN. In the next few weeks, meetings were held between Netanyahu's advisers and Bandar's aides to draft a joint document. Israel presented a draft, and while the Saudis agreed to many of the points, they asked Israel to show flexibility. Netanyahu refused to go further, and the talks collapsed, the sources told me. Between the lines: The sources told me the Saudis felt they went out of their way toward Israel. They said the Saudis felt angry and humiliated, and they held Netanyahu responsible. The sources told me that Bandar conveyed a message to Netanyahu two months later, with the bottom line being that he believed Netanyahu lied to him. The big picture: The affair created a deep crisis between Israel and Saudi Arabia and communications between the parties almost stopped even on the Iranian issue. The crisis ended only a year later, several months after the death of King Abdullah and the inauguration of King Salman. Since the mid-1990s, the FAA has worked proactively with the aviation community to reduce fatal aviation accidents. This has worked spectacularly well with the airlines, which are much more tightly regulated than general aviation, and the safety record shows it. Until recently, however, these efforts havent trickled deep down to GA. Thats changing. Recent, similar efforts involving the FAA and the GA community are picking up in tempo. Youve already seen some of the institutional changes: relaxed certification standards for installing advisory angle-of-attack indicators and the new rash of all-electronic attitude indicators, among others, which are designed to help minimize the classic loss-of-control inflight accident. These and other outcomes may be producing tangible results, but its too early to be sure. Regardless, by using a data-driven approach and producing specific safety enhancements, these efforts are creating some useful outcomes for GA pilots. The way this came to be is an example of why you never want to see sausage made. Safer Skies The FAAs move away from of its traditional role of enforcing the regulations really began after a spate of airline accidents demonstrated that merely complying with the regulations was not sufficient to ensure safety. The most spectacular of these was the July 17, 1996, loss of TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747 that exploded in mid-air south of Long Island, N.Y., which was preceded by the May 11, 1996, crash of ValuJet Flight 592, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, which plunged into the Florida Everglades after an in-flight fire broke out in the cargo hold, disabling flight controls. I remember ValuJet 592 well, since I was working in FAA headquarters then and was tasked with leading the Flight Standards headquarters team that was managing the accident at one end of the food chain, while a separate NTSB/FAA field team investigated the accident site. The politics of this accident generated a major political storm and, as one result, my boss and his boss eventually lost their jobs. Within the confines of the FAAs Flight Standards, the ValuJet 592 accident generated much hand-wringing about how the FAA should do its safety oversight job. After the accident, I watched for weeks as we tried to find some regulations that the airline violated. They seemed to comply with the minimum standards of the regulations and it took about a month to find a violation forcing the agency to suspend their operating certificate. Some of us already knew that mere compliance with the regulations is a necessary but insufficient action to ensure safety. Flight Standards eventually devised a long-term strategy based on a system safety concept that would require proactive cooperation with the community, rather than enforcement, and be data and risk-driven. While Flight Standards was moving slowly, the aviation community and new FAA leadership responded rapidly to political pressure by creating the Safer Skies initiative. This concept envisioned the FAA and industry working together to use data to proactively identify accident precursors and then devise mitigations using non-regulatory approaches and risk-based methods. CAST The airline community quickly jumped on the bandwagon and in partnership with the FAA created the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) by 1998. Besides the airlines, the group included manufacturers, pilot unions, FAA offices and other industry organizations. They quickly settled on a data-based analysis taxonomy and started to review accident and other data to determine leading accident causes and precursors. From this analysis they surfaced leading accident causes, such as loss of control (LOC), controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) and others. The CAST efforts were rewarded by a spectacular reduction in airline accidents. For example, from 1998-2008, the fatal airline accident rate in the U.S. declined by 83 percent. Yes, there were other factors involved in this reduction, but the CAST effort pioneered the kinds of activity that could influence accident rates. Thats due, at least in part, to the tightly controlled and managed airline world, where it is relatively easy to implement widespread changes. The efforts of the CAST, including the proactive way it formed, were recognized within the aviation community. In 2008, the group was awarded the prestigious Collier Trophy. GAJSC What about the general aviation community? Even though the tragic airline accidents of the mid-1990s did not put GA in the spotlight, the FAA and general aviation groups agreed that an effort similar to CAST was needed. After all, the fatal accident rate for general aviation in 1996 was about 40 times that of scheduled U.S. air carriers. The GAJSC was finally organized in 1997 and began to target specific safety issues. The data analysis methodology used by the GAJSC was somewhat different than that used by the CAST. One thing they did was concentrate efforts to improve the quality of GA safety and accident data, which was nowhere near the quality of airline accident data. Nevertheless, the GAJSC produced several reports in the early 2000s on safety issues such as weather, CFIT and runway incursion accidents, as well as a report on aeronautical decision making. And there they sat. FITS After a flurry of these reports were issued in the 2000-2002 timeframe, very little was done to produce tangible mitigations for GA accidents. As the GAJSCs initial activity tapered off, I became the FAA executive leading the General Aviation and Commercial Division and was determined to tackle the GA safety issues raised by the GAJSC. My own analysis convinced me that the general aviation training system was a key impediment to improving safety. The traditional GA training paradigm centered around rote learning, was maneuver-based, depended largely on spoon feeding by the instructor, and did not emphasize advanced pilot skills such as single-pilot resource management (SRM). Consequently, I initiated the FAA Industry Training Standards (FITS) program. The FITS initiative was designed to research and implement new training concepts such as scenario-based training, student-centered learning and grading, and SRM proficiency, especially risk management. In designing the program, I created partnerships with the leading universities with aviation training programs. Among the products that were researched, developed, and tested was an integrated private/ instrument curriculum and course. The research and hands-on real-world testing of FITS proved the embodied concepts were effective. Pilots trained with them performed as well or better than those trained by conventional methods, and performed much better with tasks such as automation management and other SRM elements. General aviation accident rates remained flat. The Community Responds After I retired from the FAA in 2005, progress on FITS slowed as the organization I led went through three successive leadership changes in five years. Meanwhile, the general aviation fatal accident rate was stagnant, even as the airline rate continued its decline toward zero. In late 2010, I decided it might be time to highlight the need for pilot training reform, and to reinvigorate FAA and industry action. With several other fellow members of the Society of Aviation and Flight Educators (SAFE), we organized a pilot training reform symposium, held in Atlanta, Ga., in May 2011. The symposium was well attended by FAA and industry leaders, and practitioners in the training community, and was keynoted by then-FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. We organized these talented individuals into three work groups and tasked them with creating real-world recommendations for training reform before the end of the symposium. The event produced many recommendations concerning training standards, doctrine, curricula and other elements of modernized training. We transmitted the final report on the symposium to offices in the FAA and several general aviation organizations. The symposium attracted a lot of aviation press attention, and the FAA took notice. Within a few months, action to address symposium recommendations was underway on at least two fronts within the FAA and its partners in the general aviation community. In late 2011, the FAA chartered the first of three work groups under the aviation rulemaking advisory committee umbrella to examine pilot training standards and recommend changes to those standards to address accident causes and other safety issues. I still serve on the third of these three groups, which is finalizing the airman certification standards (ACS) replacing the practical test standards (PTS). The private and commercial pilot as well as the instrument rating ACS documents are currently effective. Other airman certificate ACSs will be issued until all PTS documents are eventually replaced. Also in 2011, the FAA re-chartered and reorganized the GAJSC to identify GA accident causes and develop safety mitigations. The GAJSC was directed to use data analysis methods like those used by the CAST and to develop practical, effective safety enhancements (SEs) designed to mitigate general aviation safety problems. Since then, the GAJSC has been busy analyzing accident data, issuing reports on major accident causes, and developing mitigations outlined in the SEs. Their analysis developed, among other data, the infographic reproduced on the opposite page. Its important to point out that the GAJSC relies on NTSB reports and reporting conventions. In my view, these dont always reveal the true root causes of accidents. For example, accidents attributed to LOC-I and CFIT often are describing only the final event in the accident chain that produced the smoking hole in the ground. They dont usually describe the why of the accident. Improving Trends? Speaking of hype, some in the GA press and community have been touting the reduction in GA fatal accident rates that occurred in 2015 and 2016. For example, the rate per 100,000 flight hours dropped from 1.305 in 2014 to 1.098 in 2015 and dropped again to 0.989 in 2016. Much has been made about how GA has finally cracked the barrier of one accident per 100,000 hours and perhaps how this is due to GAJSC or other FAA/industry accidents. If these numbers truly indicate a sustainable new trend in GA safety is underway, its clear that would be a good thing. But I would be cautious about attributing cause and effect when describing actions taken by the GAJSC or, for that matter, any other recent actions by the FAA, industry or the aviation community. For example, it could be that the accident rates are decreasing because of the sad demographics of general aviation. In the last 35 years, the number of private pilots has decreased drasticallyand the number of student pilots and student starts even more so. This means that the percentage of low-time pilots in the system has fallen to its lowest level in years. The historical record shows that pilots in training have relatively good safety records because they are under an instructors supervision and that accident rates go up after these pilots receive private certificates, until they gain more experience. While Im not yet buying this hypothesis, I believe we should remain skeptical about accident trends and even more so about showing cause and effect due to recent FAA and industry actions. (Readers should know that Aviation Safety magazines Editor-in-Chief actively participated in the GAJSCs efforts to identify safety enhancements designed to mitigate accidents resulting from powerplant failures.) Wheres The Beef? So where does any of this leave individual pilots who are looking to the GAJSC or other organizations for information that will help them fly safer and avoid accidents? To answer that question, we might want to look at a few of the safety enhancements (SEs) produced by the GAJSC to see which ones might provide useful and practical information. Below are a few of my favorites that may meet that need. You may find other SEs that may be more relevant to your own operations. In most cases, however, you will find that the SEs are new enough that follow-up action has not yet occurred and there is no product in place that will give you the information you need to take leverage the SE. Hopefully, in time the FAA and the GA community will fully implement those SEs that will be of most value to pilots. Risk-Based Flight Review: The FAA will compile and disseminate risk-based concerns to flight instructors and flight schools to highlight regional and national risks in training and flight reviews. National risk-based concerns identified by the GAJSC in studies for that year should also be shared. The FAA will compile and disseminate risk-based concerns to flight instructors and flight schools to highlight regional and national risks in training and flight reviews. National risk-based concerns identified by the GAJSC in studies for that year should also be shared. Weather Technology/Use of Available Weather Information: The FAA and industry will educate the GA community on and promote the use of available weather information technologies, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS) icing tool. The FAA and industry will educate the GA community on and promote the use of available weather information technologies, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS) icing tool. Single-Pilot CRM: Best practices regarding single-pilot CRM will be identified. The identified best practices should be communicated to the GA community through a public education campaign. For More Information For those readers so inclined, all of the GAJSCs reports, including those dating from its early years, are still available and can be accessed online at the organizations web site: www.gajsc.org/document-center. Readers who may want more information on the FAA Industry Training Standards (FITS) program, various documents are still on the FAA web site at: www.faa.gov/training_testing/training/fits/research. Information on SAFEs May 2011 symposium is available on that organizations web site at: www.pilottrainingreform.org. The GAJSCs safey enhancements (SEs) also are available online: www.gajsc.org/safety-enhancements. Additional details on the GAJSC can be found in my earlier article on the organization and its work in the March 2011 issue of Aviation Safety. Robert Wright is a former FAA executive and President of Wright Aviation Solutions LLC. He is also a 9800-hour ATP with four jet type ratings, and he holds a Flight Instructor Certificate. His opinions in this article do not necessarily represent those of clients or other organizations that he represents. This article originally appeared in the September 2018 issue of Aviation Safety magazine. For more great content like this, subscribe to Aviation Safety! TDI Why? Due to the holes in the bumper that smoke/vapor is coming out of. You see, all of the A4 facelift models were supposed to have fake exhaust pipes, pieces of plastic decorative trim. But one of these prototypes has dual cutouts that are puffing away.What's confusing here is that at first glance, this looks like the S4 Avant , but we compared it to earlier spyshots of that (facelift) prototype and found a few key differences. So we can only presume that a few of the higher-powered models will still have exhaust tips, most likely the 3.0The wagon at the very end of the video is the A4 allroad, with its higher ground clearance and cladding. It's ideal for when your fleet buyer likes the A4 but isn't sold on the idea of a "normal car."Cosmetically, this facelift should be a good one because it brings elements from the larger, newer A6 family. Both headlights and headlights have been completely revised, together with the grille and probably the interior. We say "probably" because the A4 isn't as profitable for Audi as its SUVs. On the other hand, competition in this segment is downright fierce.Engine-wise, the European models will also rely on updated versions of the 2.0 TDI which have 12V hybrid assist for better fuel economy. The American A4 model probably doesn't require such an upgrade, and its debut will come in early 2020. Let's just hope the S4 and RS4 get more than just new lights. Fast forward to 12 months later and we are seeing this increased M&A spend borne out in the brand results, as an increase in M&A brand recognition for firms like Gibson Dunn, Kirkland & Ellis, Paul Weiss, Skadden and Sullivan & Cromwell, has been the greatest contributor to their overall standing in the Index. said Lizzy Duffy, Vice President of Acritas US. Skadden is snapping at the heels of the three-times-leader with just two points separating the top two. Other firms in the top 10 include Morgan Lewis, Baker McKenzie, Hogan Lovells, and DLA Piper. But Duffy says that some law firms are missing out on the opportunity that is in the market right now. The US is the most in-demand legal market for foreign multinationals and receives the highest value of inbound legal spend she said. Allens announced that it has advised Lifi Labs (LIFX) on its cross-border sale to Internet-of-Things (IOT) firm Buddy Platform Limited for US$51 million (A$71 million) in a cash and scrip deal. With headquarters in both California and Victoria, LIFX is a provider of wifi-enabled smart lighting solutions. On the other hand, Adelaide-based Buddy Platform provides solutions for making spaces smarter. Buddy Platforms acquisition of LIFX will enable it to incorporate a globally deployed energy and sensing lighting platform into its cloud-based solutions. Working closely with US law firm Latham & Watkins, Allens advised on all aspects of the transaction, including structuring the cross-border deal. The acquisition is subject to satisfaction of conditions, including completion of Buddy Platform's acquisition financing and Buddy Platform obtaining all requisite shareholder approvals. Stay up to date on COVID-19 Get Breaking News Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox. Local Magazine is here! The summer 2021 issue of Local Magazine is out. Pick up a copy of your favorite local magazine around town or peruse our e-edition below. Because the best things in life are local. 10 Great Wines for Valentines Day Under $50 No Need to Go Broke for a Good Bottle of V-Day Wine The AskMen editorial team thoroughly researches & reviews the best gear, services and staples for life. AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service. If you are spending the evening at home on Valentines Day, youll probably want to open a nice bottle of wine and make a night of it. For those of us who dont feel like we know a ton about wine, though, its hard to find a compromise between those super expensive bottles and a value that will also be worthy of the occasion. RELATED: 15 Ways to Treat Yo'self on Valentine's Day These bottles though are pretty inexpensive, each under $50, but taste like they cost far more. At values like these, you may even want to go for a second bottle as the night goes on. The Federalist Bourbon Barrel-Aged Red Blend 2016 This wine is uniquely American, in that the red blend is aged in charred bourbon barrels. Its sourced from Mendocino County, California, and is a mix of bright fruit with vanilla and rich smoky caramel, with the barrels giving it a uniquely full-bodied flavor. $20 at Drizly.com Ovum 2016 Since I Fell for You Gewurztraminer If you are craving a drinkable, light wine to sip throughout the night this Valentines Day, this wine is made from grapes from Gerber Vineyard's 40-year-old vines. It is a dry, aromatic full-bodied wine that is crisp with notes of lychee fruit and bright acidity, perfect for pairing with that aphrodisiac-laden meal of oysters and strawberries you have planned (better get started on that by the way!). It also has a nice finish. $23 at JJBuckley.com Hampton Water Rose While we dont want our dates to be fantasizing about Bon Jovi joining them in a Bed of Roses (get it?), this wine is a mighty fine alternative. Jon Bon Jovi and Jesse Bongiovi's Hampton Water Rose is not just a celebrity wine, it has been recognized as one of the top five roses in the world, and is fresh and crisp without falling into the trap of being overly sweet like many roses do. It features Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah, and Mourvedre grape varieties, giving it a romantic French Mediterranean feel that is perfect for the occasion. From $18 at Drizly.com RELATED: 10 Kinky Valentines Day Ideas Youll Both Enjoy Achaval-Ferrer Malbec February is a cold month in many parts of the world, and if you are looking to cozy up with a great glass (or, bottle, lets be real) of red wine, consider Achaval-Ferrers Malbec. This wine is like an internal hug, with its ruby-red color and velvety smooth blackberry, raspberry, and violet flavors. This winery, based in Argentina, makes some of the best terroir-driven red wines including some amazing Malbecs from Mendoza, sourced from single vineyards with low-yielding, century-old ungrafted vines. From $14 at Drizly.com Blendtique Custom Blended Wine Your love is unique, right? So shouldnt your wine be as well? Maybe your partner loathes chardonnay but loves a great syrah. Whatever it is either of you love, show you pay attention and create a blend perfect for and unique to both of you. $30 at Blendtique.com 2013 Villa Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva For lovers of all things Italian, theres nothing quite like a great Chianti. The Villa Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva starts with aromas of red fruit and notes of balsamic and spice. This is a beautifully balanced full-bodied red wine with light acidity that is 90 percent Sangiovese and 10 percent merlot, with dark fruit and succulent spice at the back. This will pair amazingly well with surf and turf or just a cozy night by the fire. $40 at Zachys.com Erath 2016 Oregon Pinot Noir Pinot Noir is a classic, and this Oregon wine is a reliably great one. It is fruit forward and super drinkable with notes of loganberry, bing cherry, caramel and sandalwood. This is smooth and succulent, just like your date night moves, we hope. $14 at TotalWine.com RELATED: Valentine's Day Myths Revealed Tussock Jumper Shiraz-Grenache-Viognier This blend is a standout choice and a great value. There are flavors of dark berries, peach jam, and violets, making it soft and yet also luxurious, with a spicy, earthy dimension. This will be a perfect dessert wine (or, um nightcap). $11 at Drizly.com 2015 1865 Malbec Chilean wine is often the best value there is, and if you going to go for wines from Chile, you cant go wrong with a hearty malbec. 1865s malbec may actually be the best wine to impress a date without breaking the bank. It has an intense bouquet of floral notes like violet and black fruits, but also a delicious added hint of chocolate. Its a pretty intense wine, but its also a pretty intense night, right? $18 at Wine.com Domaine Carneros Cuvee de la Pompadour Brut Rose This fabulous rose is named for Madame de la Pompadour, Louis XV's great love. For those not as obsessed with all things royals, this woman is special because she is credited with introducing Champagne to the court. Shes also been made famous for her quote, "Champagne is the only wine a woman can drink and remain beautiful." We are inclined to agree, for both sexes: The more we drink, the more beautiful everything seems to feel. This wine is a blend of 58 percent pinot noir and 42 percent chardonnay and perfect for drinking the evening away. $37 at Wine.com Whether you opt for a white, red, or a blushy rose, you shouldnt have to break the bank to enjoy some delicious wines alone or otherwise. You Might Also Dig: AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service. To find out more, please read our complete terms of use. Have any questions? Please give us a call at 541-889-5387 Owosso, MI (48867) Today Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High around 80F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Cloudy skies with a few showers after midnight. Thunder possible. Low 68F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%. Falcon Aviation has been awarded new accreditation to handle business jet and regional aircraft MRO at its UAE bases by Saudi Arabias General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA). This is a significant endorsement for Falcon Aviation to be recognised by GACA and we look forward to delivering the same high level of service and support to customers of Saudi-registered aircraft that we provide to our UAE and international customers, said Director of Engineering Nicolas Tejera. We are looking forward to welcoming Saudi operators and private owners here in the UAE, he said. The latest GACA accreditation strengthens Falcon Aviations market reach, adding to existing current approvals from the GCAA, EASA, Aruba, San Marino, and the Cayman Islands. The endorsement comes as Falcon Aviation is about to complete on a new MRO facility for business jets at Dubai South, DWC Al Maktoum International Airport, complementing its established MRO and HQ at Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi. Falcons Al Bateen facility is duly being expanded to become a leading centre for third party regional aircraft MRO, supporting Bombardier Q400 aircraft and eventually, other types. In addition to full C checks we can offer customers line support, parking and hangarage during their scheduled visits to Abu Dhabi and Dubai DWC, added Ronnie McCrae, Falcon Aviations Service Centre Manager. We look forward to booking in our first Saudi customers in the first quarter of the year, noting the company held some encouraging and positive meetings during last Decembers MEBA Show. New Dubai South MRO Preparing for a late first quarter opening of its Dubai South, DWC MRO facility, Falcon Aviation has expanded its workforce to run the new facility. Our new business aviation MRO at DWC, which includes workshops, wash bay, landside office space, 13,000 sqm of apron, and plenty of parking space, complements our VIP FBO at Dubai South and heliport (run and managed by Falcon under our AOC). It is part of our goal to create a one-stop shop for business aviation in the Middle East region, commented Falcon Aviation COO Captain Raman Oberoi. Enhanced aircraft interior work will be on offer Falcon Aviation will also be widening out its aircraft interior management solutions at its DWC facility right through to full cabin refurbishment and aircraft seating upgrades. With the beginning of the trial of Catalan independentist leaders, once again the problem of justice in Spain in particular and more generally in Europe and the world is in the balance. The gathering of thousands of people in Madrid to vent their fury at what they see as the overly conciliatory stance adopted by prime minister Pedro Sanchez on the issue is a sad reminder of the repressive times of General Franco and the Spanish Inquisition, when free thinkers and creative rebels accused of heresy were burned at the stake. As in the case of the Catholic church during the Inquisition, the Spanish democracy is suggesting to expose the heresies of its critics, that is to say, the disobedience that it discerns in the words and acts of Catalan democrats. BarcelonaIn a statement on Monday, the European Democratic Lawyers Association (EDL) called for the "immediate" release of Catalonias pro-independence leaders and announced its decision to send members from various European countries to Madrid as international observers during the 1-O referendum trial. Purchase an online subscription to our website for $7.99 a month with automatic renewal. Each online subscription gives you full access to all of our newspaper websites and mobile applications. To cancel you may contact Customer Service @ 256-235-9253 or email JPAYNE@ANNISTONSTAR.COM For a limited time, for NEW SUBSCRIBERS ONLY a NEW ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION is just $59.99 for the first year. Existing customers do not qualify for the specials! After the first year, well automatically renew your subscription to continue your access at the regular price of $69.99 per year. Please note *Your Subscription will Automatically Renew unless you contact Customer Service To Cancel* Posted on: February 12, 2019 4:40 PM [ACNS, by Kenyi Dube in Juba] The Central Equatoria internal province has established the first Episcopal radio station in South Sudans capital Juba. It has been named to honour the tremendous role played by the first Provincial President of the Mothers Union, Mama Sarah Meling, who served what was then the Episcopal Church of Sudan, from 1985 as its first MU President: Sit Sarah Radio 98.1FM the word Sit is coined from an Arabic word meaning Madam in English. Sit Sarah received Christ as her personal saviour in an East African Revival-movement crusade conducted in Yei in the 1940s. She moved to Juba in 1951 and subsequently started the revival movement in Juba, working with the Mothers Union. Her tireless work earned her a chance to visit the Mary Sumner House in the UK both in the 1989 and 1994. She was recognised for her work in building families and as a counsellor for many young married couples. She eventually formed and started the first young family group at the All Saints Cathedral in Juba, before starting a Widows Relief and Rehabilitation Programme at St James Parish church in Juba. Mama Sara had a passion of visiting all the revival members from home to home around Juba and is being remembered for her love in the country, the mothers union in the whole wont forget about her works her legacy remains forever. She died in October 1996, but many church leaders still talk about her works. During the inauguration of Sit Sara Radio 98.1FM, the Dean of All Saints Cathedral, Canon Jackson Moses, said: Sit Sara placed herself in full service, serving people as a leader, counsellor and as a mentor for young couples. One instant thing I cant forget is that she had helped many families in a state of collapse or even divorce. She managed to reconcile many, many families that I cannot count. She had done a lot that we can take time to narrate her story; but I want to thank the Archbishop of the Internal Province of Central Equotoria for coming up with this initiative and making Mama Saras legacy remain through this radio station. Posted on: February 12, 2019 11:50 AM [Anglican Journal, by Tali Folkins] An officer with the Anglican Church of Canadas diocese of QuAppelle is warning parishes, dioceses and any other church bodies whose website has an online donation feature to make sure its protected from fraudulent use. The warning follows an episode last winter in which someone used the dioceses Donate button to test thousands of stolen credit card numbers. Amanda Sather Page, the dioceses Financial Officer, says that in early February 2018, fraudsters attempted to make more than $90,000 [CAD, approximately 53,000 GBP] in credit card transactions using the feature, a matter of days after it had been launched. The transactions were all for small amounts between $2.50 and $5.00, suggesting that whoever was behind the incident was trying to test the card numbers to see whether they worked. The high volume of transactions suggested an automated process was used. They were just using us as a testing point, Sather Page says. The whole thing was done with the intention of just establishing the fact those cards were active and working. So it was just, Pound it through, pound it through, make sure the card worked and if it did, then they would use it on other sites. Most of the transactions failed to go through, she says, and the diocese quickly refunded the ones that did, but the episode was time-consuming, frustrating and troubling, and prompted the diocese to quickly change its payment processor over security concerns. The incident occurred in two waves. On 5 February 2018, she says, the diocese was contacted by Moneris, the company it had hired to process payments made through the button. The company told the diocese it had noticed an unusual amount of activity on its account, and suspected fraud. The diocese then looked into its records, to find that more than $88,000 in transactions had been attempted, about $5,000 of which had been successfully processed. The diocese contacted the police and began refunding the transactions that had gone through, which it was able to do within two days using a process for refunding in large batches. Concerned by the incident, the diocese decided to purchase more security features for its Donate button from Moneris only to experience another onslaught of very small transactions within 24 hours of the button being re-launched, and only a few days after the first wave. This time, there were far fewer attempted transactions; they totalled about $3,000, some $600 of which got through successfully. But that was scant consolation to the diocese, which expected the buttons new enhanced security features would protect it from such attacks, Sather Page says. It was right after we went live again, so it was quite ridiculous, she says. We were quite up in arms about it. Again, the diocese reported the incident to the police, and refunded the successful transactions. But its troubles werent over yet. A little later, Sather Page discovered Moneris had placed chargeback fees fees for reversed credit card payments of $25 each on at least 15 of the successful transactions. She had to contest each chargeback with Moneris a process involving phone calls and time-consuming paperwork and the experience, she says, has made her completely lose patience with the company. I had to phone and contest it with Moneris every time, saying, You were the fault of the fraud happening on the account reverse the charge. Reverse the charge, she says. Sather Page estimates that dealing with the incident cost the diocese probably the equivalent in time of three people working full-time for a week. And it still had to pay at least $150 in chargeback fees Moneris refused to waive, she adds. Soon thereafter, the diocese switched to PayPal, another transaction provider, she says, and has not experienced any such incidents since. The diocese initially informed the Regina Police Service about the incident, but was told city police did not have the resources to investigate it further. It then reported the transactions to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre - a law enforcement body that is managed jointly by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Competition Bureau and the Ontario Provincial Police but has not heard back from them, she says. Reached by the Anglican Journal, Moneris declined to comment on Sather Pages concerns. Moneris takes issues of fraud seriously and we cannot discuss details surrounding merchant accounts for confidentiality reasons, Moneris spokesperson Darren Leroux said in an email; adding that the company actively provides its clients with information for avoiding fraud. When a merchant starts working with Moneris, we provide documentation on proper card acceptance and online processing procedures as part of the merchant agreement and Operating Manual, he said, adding that the company also provides resources for identifying possible incidences of fraud. Moneris, formed in 2000 by the Royal Bank of Canada and the Bank of Montreal, is Canadas largest payment processor, according to its website. In a recent interview with Mobile World Live, ZTE CEO Ziyang Xu outlined the companys progress on the 5G front so far, and discussed ZTEs future plans for the emerging 5G era, as well as the areas in which network operators should improve. In short, ZTEs strategy moving forward into the 5G space will be to focus on providing simplified end-to-end 5G network solutions to operators. The company also acknowledges that the 5G era will require more partners working together for the same goals, and as such, ZTE will open up to other ecosystems. The interview also touched on whether 5G networking can benefit vertical applications, but the CEO concluded that more trials in vertical industries will be required before the benefits of 5G technologies can be fully exploited in these areas. ZTE has had a difficult time over the past few years after the company was found guilty of breaking trade embargoes set in place by the U.S. Commerce Department, but last year the denial order preventing ZTE from purchasing and licensing technologies manufactured in the United States has been lifted by the Commerce Department in exchange of various other penalties and a restructuring of ZTEs management. Following the ban lift, ZTEs efforts in developing 5G solutions resumed, and the company remains one of the leading entities in the 5G space. Advertisement There still are various challenges that need to be tackled moving forward into the 5G era, particularly by operators. According to the CEO, finding an appropriate business model for 5G technologies remains a problem, and in turn, this becomes an issue for investors. However, the CEO claims that ZTE continues to work closely with its partners and network operators in order to find the best solution. Likewise, company structures should be revamped to a degree because the current traditional methods employed by operators make it difficult for different departments to cooperate. The CEO believes that the answer may lie in the DevOps methodology which is designed to shorten system development cycles, and claims that both operators and vendors should be able to cooperate more easily in order to find the right business models for 5G. Furthermore, global operators need to fully understand the network and equipment components in order to determine what the most appropriate 5G solution will be for them. The CEO claims that there is no best 5G solution but only the most fitting on a case-by-case scenario. ZTE reckons that field tests in complex scenarios should be accelerated, all the while the company itself should keep an open mind and aim to achieve win-win scenarios with its partners. Advertisement As for ZTEs recent advancements in 5G, the company has been the first to complete field verification of end-to-end 5G services for mobile phones and the CEO claims that ZTE remains the leading company in terms of both 5G standalone and 5G non-standalone testing. The expertise acquired over the past few years in regards to pre-5G equipment and Massive MIMO is being applied to 5G solutions including the companys in-house 5G chips. ZTE will attend Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month and is expected to discuss more on its future 5G plans at the event. Its first 5G-enabled smartphone is expected to be unveiled later this year. Xiaomi and OnePlus top other devices in terms of emitting radiation, according to a recently reported list pulled together by online statistics and research market firm Statista. The stats are pooled from the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection and Statista notes that theres no universal understanding of exactly what the safe level of radiation exposure might be. The German agency wont certify devices that exceed 0.60 watts per kilogram. HTC, Apple, Google, and Sony also have devices ranking in the top ten for radiation emission, according to Statista but Xiaomi and OnePlus collectively account for over half of those. Those two companies also took eight of the top sixteen handsets. Xiaomis Android One-based Mi A1 tops the list at 1.75 watts per kilogram. Rated at 1.68 watts per kilogram, the OnePlus 5T follows just behind that. The Xiaomi Mi Max 3 and OnePlus 6T were rated at just over 1.5 watts per kilogram while the HTC U12 Life rounds out the top five with 1.48 watts per kilogram. So, which devices are the safest in terms of not threatening with radiation? Advertisement At the opposite end of the radiation emissions spectrum, Samsung holds half of the top sixteen smartphones in terms of least radiations. Three of its handsets are in the top five, including the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 at the top with just 0.17 watts per kilogram. Thats followed by the Samsung Galaxy A8 and Galaxy S8+ in fourth and fifth with 0.24 and 0.26 watts per kilogram. Holding the second and third position are the ZTE Axon Elite, tying with Samsungs Galaxy Note 8, and the LG G7 with 0.24 watts per kilogram. Also in the top ten for low radiation output are Samsungs Galaxy S7 Edge and Galaxy S9+, putting out 0.26 and 0.29 watts per kilogram. In between those two handsets, HTCs U11 Life and both the LG Q6 and Q6+ put out just 0.28 watts per kilogram. Advertisement Motorolas Moto G5 Plus rounds out the bottom ten for radiation at 0.3 watts per kilogram. The stark contrast and why it matters Breaking down the figures from Statista shows a trend that some users may find somewhat concerning. While Android owns the bulk of the market share worldwide, the gap isnt quite as large in the US. Apples devices, according to Statista, tend towards the high-emission side. Conversely, with regard to brands, Samsung appears to be a safe bet for those looking to limit their exposure, as does LG. Advertisement OnePlus has grown in popularity over the past several years for Android purists and those looking for the best value in mobile while other Chinese companies have been rising in popularity as well. That means that some of the most popular devices on the market are also putting out the highest level of radiation, which is still not well-studied in terms of long-term exposure and impact on users. Both of Googles latest smartphones, the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL feature prominently among the worst offenders as well. Companies such as HTC and ZTE are less consistent and hold positions on both lists and that could make it more difficult for discerning customers to choose those brands. Radiation is understood to have negative impacts on people and studies from Swiss health agencies have shown that radiation from smartphones can be particularly bad for younger users. The overall research doesnt appear to be completely conclusive just yet but it stands to reason that less radiation exposure is probably for the better. In the true Valentines Day spirit, T-Mobile has teamed up with holiday observation helper National Day Calendar to create a new holiday specifically for calling off a relationship with competing carriers just before holiday. Dubbed National Break Up With Your Carrier Day, the event is now listed on National Day Calendar and calls for customers to leave their loveless relationship for a better match namely, T-Mobile. The holiday kicks off February 13 and includes a couple of different promotions, centered around the idea that consumers should spend the traditional holiday celebrating love and relationships with a carrier that fulfills their needs. First, T-Mobile has announced that its #GetOutoftheRed promotion, extended to Verizon customers and offering to help consumers pay off remaining phone debt, now includes Googles Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, as well as iPhones. Starting February 13, Verizon customers with those devices or previously included gadgets can switch over to T-Mobiles ONE Plus and T-Mobile will pay off up to $650 of remaining balance owed toward the smartphones. Advertisement Users who want to switch can also get two lines and two new Smartphones at $100 per month on T-Mobiles Essentials plan with AutoPay, paid out via 24 monthly bill credits. The service provider lists the budget-friendly T-Mobile REVVL, REVVL Plus, REVVL 2, LG Aristo, Aristo 2 Plus, K20 Plus, and Motorola e5 Play as eligible devices. Bumping up to a T-Mobile ONE plan costs $130 per month with taxes and fees, Netflix, and travel benefits included. The company is offering to pay off up to $650 per line through a trade-in credit and a prepaid card for other users who leave their carrier as well. Tell T-Mobile your best breakup story Advertisement In conjunction with the National Break Up With Your Carrier Day promotions, T-Mobile is also running a social media campaign through its @TMobile Twitter handle. Followers of that handle can share their best breakup story from any type of relationship whether a love interest or the barber with the hashtag #MyFunnyBreakUpStory. Participation is open to anybody and CEO John Legere will hand out prizes to those who posted his favorite stories on Valentines Day. Free smartphones will be among the prizes handed out but the carrier hasnt provided details on exactly how many prizes will be awarded or what devices those will be. Betting on its reputation Advertisement T-Mobiles latest promotion isnt without basis in reality with consideration for its continued domination of customer satisfaction surveys, culminating in yet another J.D. Power award in early February. It may not be surprising that the carrier has aimed directly at rival provider Verizon either since the company has consistently held onto its position just behind T-Mobile in those rankings. By taking on Verizon directly in terms of customer satisfaction, T-mobile appears to be looking to break that trend and widen the gap. The rankings are arguably the result of T-Mobiles Team of Experts service launched in late 2018, which offers consumers a full group of experts for support instead of the usual robotic answering service and all-too-common call bouncing. The teams work off-script, provide long-term customer care, and allow scheduled tech help. Samsung (via its Vietnam arm) recently released several short video clips on YouTube that seemingly confirm several features of the tech giants upcoming flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S10. The company uploaded three videos with each video lasting around 7 seconds. The first video alludes to the Galaxy S10s reverse wireless charging capabilities. Reports on this feature first appeared late last month after a flyer for the smartphone surfaced in South Korea. Rumors indicate that Samsung will brand the functionality as Powershare. This feature, which will use the ubiquitous Qi wireless charging standard, will allow people to charge accessories and other devices like smartwatches through the smartphone. The second video highlights the improved stabilization offered by the handsets front-facing camera, which Samsung claims will result in reduced shaking when capturing 4K video. While the promotional material did not specify how Samsung achieve enhanced video stabilization, recent rumors suggest that the Galaxy S10s front-facing camera will feature optical image stabilization (OIS). OIS physically moves the lens or the sensor to compensate for the vibrations while capturing an image or recording a video. Furthermore, earlier reports also claimed that the front-facing camera will have a 10-megapixel sensor offering enough support for the capturing of videos with 4K resolution. Advertisement The third video largely points to the inclusion of an in-display fingerprint sensor for biometric authentication on the Galaxy S10. Interestingly, recent reports and leaked renders suggested that not all Galaxy S10-branded devices will have an under-display fingerprint reader, with the cheapest handset in the lineup, the Galaxy S10e, sporting a side-mounted fingerprint scanner instead. As the launch of the Galaxy S10 draws near, Samsung will release more promotional materials that highlight the functionalities and specifications of its upcoming flagship offerings, which should confirm many of the rumors surrounding the feature set of the devices. Samsung is expected to launch at least four Galaxy S10-branded handsets, namely the Galaxy S10e, the Galaxy S10, the Galaxy S10+, and a 5G-capable model of the Galaxy S10+. All these handsets will feature the same chipsets, the Snapdragon 855 for variants sold in select regions and the Exynos 9820 for models sold elsewhere. The four devices primarily differ in terms of display sizes, RAM and internal storage capacities, as well as the number of cameras. Recent reports show that the Galaxy S10e will feature a 5.8-inch flat display, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage, and one front-facing camera, while the Galaxy S10 will sport a 6.1-inch curved display, either 6GB or 8GB of RAM, 128GB/256GB of flash storage and a single selfie shooter. Advertisement The Galaxy S10+ will reportedly ship with a 6.4-inch display and two front cameras, although the 5G-capable model will ship with a ceramic back, 12GB of RAM and 1TB of internal flash storage. In contrast, the LTE-only version of the Galaxy S10+ will include either 6GB or 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of storage. Samsung will most likely unveil at least three Galaxy S10 devices at an event that will take place on February 20th, just ahead of the official start of MWC 2019. North Redondo Beach will absorb most of the 2,500 new homes over the next eight year. UPDATE: Roland Quandt has reported that both Pete Lau and Carl Pei will show up at MWC 2019, along with British telco EE and Qualcomms top management. According to a report by XDA Developers, OnePlus will bring its 5G smartphone prototype to this years Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. Now, notice that the word prototype is in there, as the company is not planning to announce this smartphone at MWC 2019, but will rather show its prototype, just to showcase 5G in action, basically. The company basically invited everyone to connect and communicate over a 5G network, notes the source, while a limited-edition Qualcomm x OnePlus pin badge was also mentioned, as it will be available at MWC 2019. It is worth noting that OnePlus will be located at Qualcomms stand, not its own, so you will be able to find its 5G prototype at Qualcomms booth (Hall 3 Stand 3E10). Advertisement Yet another first for the rising Android OEM There are some things that we know will happen in terms of the companys 5G handset, while a ton of additional information leaked at some point. We do know that the phone will be fueled by the Snapdragon 855 64-bit octa-core processor by Qualcomm, and that it will include the companys X50 modem, both of which are required for 5G connectivity. OnePlus actually confirmed a while back that its 5G smartphone will be quite a bit more expensive than its regular flagship, so it could cost $200-$300 more than the OnePlus 6T. OnePlus exec also confirmed that the company plans to introduce two flagships, so the OnePlus 7 will be announced as well, while the companys 5G flagship will be a separate phone entirely, so you dont have to worry about spending all too much on OnePlus flagship this year. Advertisement OnePlus also revealed its plans to release its 5G smartphone in May 2019, well, at least in the UK, so it will be announced by then. It will, of course, be available in other regions as well, but we do not know the exact info just yet. Chances are that it will not be available in as many regions as the OnePlus 7, as 5G will not hit many regions around the world this year, so OnePlus will probably choose where to sell its 5G-enabled device. Other Info OnePlus 5G handset will be a high-end phone, no doubt about it, as it will ship with Qualcomms flagship processor, and it will be quite expensive on top of that. So, you can expect at least 6GB of RAM to be included in the device, though theres even a chance OnePlus may raise a bar with this phone, and include 8GB or 10GB of RAM outright, as chances are we will see only one variant of the device out in the market. Advertisement Android 9 Pie will come pre-installed on the device, along with OnePlus OxygenOS, while a large battery is also expected here. OnePlus Warp Charge fast charging will be a part of the offering as well, quite probably the same one that the company included in the OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition. Now, in terms of the design, we really do not know what to expect, as OnePlus may opt to differentiate this phone from the OnePlus 7 in terms of the design, so who knows what it will opt to do. The device may ship with a sliding camera mechanism, a tiny notch, or a display camera hole, no info leaked just yet. A listing on the Android Enterprise website confirms some of the specifications of Nokias upcoming flagship smartphone offering, the Nokia 9 PureView. According to the website, the Nokia 9 PureView will feature 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal flash storage. The handset will feature a 6-inch display, and the included image of the device shows that the smartphone will feature a more traditional top bezel that houses the front-facing camera, earpiece, and additional sensors. This listing confirms that the Nokia 9 PureView will feature support for NFC and fingerprint biometric authentication. The lack of fingerprint sensors in the renders of the Nokia 9 PureView suggests that the handset will feature an in-display fingerprint reader. The Nokia 9 PureView is the upcoming flagship smartphone offering from HMD Global, and numerous leaks already detailed the design and specifications of the device. According to a leaked promotional material, the Nokia 9 PureView will feature the Snapdragon 845 chipset from Qualcomm. Advertisement Recent leaks also show that the display of the handset will have a 2K resolution, and this panel can show HDR10 content. Interestingly, the leaked promotional material also suggests that the device will have 6GB of internal flash storage, which could mean that HMD Global may sell different hardware variants of the handset. The Nokia 9 PureView will also feature a 4,000mAh battery and Qi wireless charging, according to recent leaks. It will also ship with Android 9 Pie pre-installed. Like other Nokia-branded devices, recent reports show that the Nokia 9 PureView will launch as part of the Android One program, which means that the handset will feature a near-stock Android experience and will receive regular software and security updates for two years. However, the key selling point of the Nokia 9 PureView is the handsets rear cameras. Earlier renders show that there will be about five cameras on the backside, with two LED flash available as well. These will likely be ZEISS optics, as has been the case with previous Nokia smartphones. Advertisement The Nokia 9 PureView will reportedly use the computational photography solution offered by the software firm Light to improve the quality of the images captured by the device. HMD Global claims that owners of the Nokia 9 PureView may take up to five images at the same time, and the multiple rear cameras allow the smartphone to receive as much as 10 times the amount of light captured by a regular color camera sensor found in other handsets. Another software feature of the camera of the Nokia 9 PureView is the ability to adjust the focus of the image through Google Photos. Recent reports state that HMD Global will launch the Nokia 9 PureView on February 24th, although the device maker will also unveil an updated version of the device that features the latest flagship chipset offering from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 855. Despite the launch date coming pretty quickly, most of the specifications of the Nokia 9 PureView stays a mystery. However, this listing confirms some of the hardware internals included with the handset. Aside from the flagship smartphone of HMD Global, the company will also likely launch other handsets at the event. Andover, MA (01810) Today Sunny. High 76F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low 57F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%. Many of the battles started quietly. The small skirmishes a demolished statue here, a Confederate soldier on a horse there have been tasty little victories, delicious morsels of revenge, for the social justice bounty hunters, but recently, big game prizes are beginning to find their way onto trophies walls. Before Kiwi shoe polish started ending careers, the modern-day tribe of social justice warriors was on the warpath, attacking symbols of white privilege, from the moment Rachel Maddow channeled "the Scream" on cable TV after realizing Donald Trump was the newly elected president of the United States. Notre Dame was gunned down by the mob after being forced to admit that Catholic explorer Christopher Columbus was a "catastrophe." In a humiliating and sad mark of defeat, the university covered the painting of a man who has his own national holiday with bedsheets a white flag of surrender. Importantly, and alarmingly, today, there is nothing in the way to stop the indigenous tribe of the offended from pursuing more game. The Democratic Party is not going to get in the way it's the party's base. Progressives are really not interested in anything beyond what offends them certainly not things like "issues" actually important to the American people. Issues are for losers. It's way more fun to harpoon the deplorables. All that matters is saving the world from racists, misogynists, and bigots, because, as we all know, they are everywhere. Thank God for the gladiators at CNN, who keep America safe by reminding us all day long that there are bigots under the bed. The irony of much of this is that many of the tribal chiefs for the social justice warriors make their home in Washington, D.C. the District of Columbia a city named after a really, really white woman who represents not so much making America great but rather making America white and free of native American blood. Columbia, as in District of, at one time was the symbol of the "Manifest Destiny" that, back in the day, stood for something virtuous but now has the ring of something Mao Zedong might have come up with. John Gast captured the hopes of an earlier America in a painting of Columbia called American Progress (1872). The painting is said to be an "allegorical representation of the Manifest Destiny and the modernization of the new west," but looking through today's uber-sensitive identity lenses, many of us will see that the painting embodies nothing more than white supremacy. It's hard not to giggle contemplating a "woke" Nancy Pelosi or Maxine Waters clutching her pearls, seething in anger as she glares at the mail with the offending home address on her envelopes. "Yes, Nancy, it's that Columbia." The District of White Superiority. To get started with the task of "wiping" America's history clean like Hillary's server with weaponized virtue, the folks who say they are tolerant toward everything but in fact scold virtually everybody might consider toppling the statue that crowns the U.S. Capitol. The twenty-foot-tall statue that looms majestically above the District of Columbia is named the "Statue of Freedom," and to the surprise of many, the bronze sculpture is not a noble Indian, but rather a white woman, inspired by the American goddess "Columbia." Let the toppling begin; there is no other choice. A white woman a "goddess" who stands above the "District of Columbia" has appropriated American Indian culture, wearing Indian attire and holding a "wreath of victory" as if she were dressed for Halloween. The social justice bounty hunters must act there is no other choice. Bedsheets now, to cover the offense, before somebody's life is ruined. Stephen is the author of The Madonna Files, an Amazon best-selling Vatican thriller. Mr. Ryan also publishes the Catholic news site "Mystic Post." Isn't it amazing how the media see Pelosi as so smart and strong, no matter what she does? In December, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi decided they were willing to shut down the government instead of giving President Trump a dime for border barriers for which they had voted for before. They had control of their subordinates, who did what they were told instead of voting for sensible barriers, no matter how they had voted before. Instead of the media calling out Democrats for being obstinate, uncompromising, and flip-floppers on the issue, the Democrats were supported, and Trump was blamed for the 35-day partial closing. The media marveled at how strong and firm Pelosi was. Pelosi even resorted to calling the border barriers that she voted for before and that exist and work in Pelosi's home state of California "immoral." The media continued their genuflection to Pelosi throughout the entire period. They colluded with Democrats to run sob stories and blame Trump. Caricature by Donkey Hotey. After 35 days, Trump was pragmatic and compromised to get the government open because he realized that Schumer and Pelosi weren't really negotiating. Instead of complimenting Trump for being willing to give in and open the government based on the promise that Pelosi, Schumer, and the Democrats would negotiate after the government was open, they again pounced on Trump, saying how weak he was. The Atlantic declared her the victor. CNN was proud that Pelosi was 100% firm and that there was not any meaningful dissent by the Democrats, who seem to be willing to do what they are told. Independent thinking is not encouraged. After all, she could get Democrats to vote for Obamacare before they actually knew what was in the bill. Now that there appears to be some actual negotiations and some money will probably go for some sort of border barrier, here comes a puff piece from the Associated Press on Pelosi about how pragmatic and moderate she is. We will never see a piece about how pragmatic Trump is in his willingness to adjust his demands to reality to get things done. Now we see that the talks to keep the government open may break down because Democrats are trying to limit the number of beds available to detain illegal aliens. That shows how unserious they are about enforcing the immigration laws they passed and about securing the borders. Maybe we should limit the number of people in the U.S. who can be detained for murder, rape, property crimes, white-collar crimes, and gun crimes. Those things make as much sense as what it appears the Democrats are proposing. Every once in a while, Democrats pretend they want to enforce the immigration laws they passed when they voted for funding barriers, but their true colors always come out when they refuse to appropriate the funds. My guess is that most of the complicit media will support Democrats as they always do and blame Trump and Republicans as they always do for the budget impasses. The outright bias is showing more each day, and it is pathetic and dangerous to our freedom and prosperity. A side note that reflects on how most of the media reports on everything these days: there have been many stories in recent days on income taxes, and almost all of them start with noting that income tax refunds are down 8% so far this year as if that reflects how the new tax code raised taxes. Every journalist should know that rates and total liability are the things that matter in determining whether the people saved on taxes, not the size of the refund. On ABC, they had sob stories on the size of the refunds. One single mother said she got a raise of $1,000 last year and a refund of $1,000, and this year she owed $26. Somehow the journalists forgot to ask how much she paid in taxes for each year, or if her situation had changed, to see if her taxes went up or down. The purpose of this misleading reporting on tax refunds, like most things today, is to trash Trump and Republicans and to elect Democrats. Facts haven't mattered for a long time, only the agenda. Isn't it amazing that after two years of constant trashing of Trump and misleading and false reporting, today, Trump is approved by 52% in the Rasmussen poll? Beto O'Rourke: The last minstrel While President Trump was holding his rally in El Paso for a packed stadium, the hapless Beto O'Rourke was hosting his own pathetic anti-wall protest, his "March for Truth," a quarter of a mile away. His little march attracted about three hundred people. His attendees were flying Mexican flags, and his gathering was close enough to the Trump event that the big rally's music could be heard. It may be safe to say that Beto's potential run for president is over before it has begun. He is a self-serving, anti-American intellectual lightweight like Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, and every other democrat who has thrown his hat in the ring for 2020. Over at American Mirror, a commenter to a column by Kyle Olson about all this, Roy_Bean, cited a poem by Sir Walter Scott (1805) that perfectly describes people like Beto, Obama, Hillary Clinton, Schumer, Harry Reid , Nancy Pelosi, and the rest of the Left: Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land! Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd, As home his footsteps he hath turn'd, From wandering on a foreign strand! If such there breathe, go, mark him well; For him no Minstrel raptures swell; High though his titles, proud be his name, Boundless his wealth as wish can claim; Despite those titles, power, and pelf, The wretch, concentered all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust, from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung. The poem is entitled "The Lay of the Last Minstrel." Has there ever been a more apt description of the recent past and current crop of Democrats in Congress? They run for office not to work for their constituents; they seem to loathe them. They believe themselves to be superior in every way and thus not required to serve the people who voted for them. They are in office to become rich, and rich they do become. Pelosi, Feinstein, Harry Reid, the Clintons, Obama, et. al. have all become fabulously wealthy because of the powerful offices they held or hold in Congress. Their salary is in the $100K-$200K range, and yet most of them are now multi-millionaires. Do they care one bit about the people they represent? Not at all, which is why they work so hard to keep our borders open to all comers, no matter the death and destruction so many illegal aliens visit upon American citizens. Do they bother about the billions in taxpayer dollars that must be spent on the millions of illegals to sustain them here, provide them with food, shelter, and medical care? Not at all. They mean to punish those of us who want national security and protected borders, for loving our country as founded; we are nothing but lambs for the slaughter in their quest for permanent political supremacy. The Beltway denizens, those who are so entrenched in the belief in their "new world order" (globalism), the hoax of man-caused climate change, and their notion that Trump is an unqualified interloper, are most likely hysterical at the moment because Trump's approval numbers continue to climb despite their non-stop 24/7 vicious attacks on the man since he became the Republican candidate. The SOTU speech was so glorious, so uplifting. More and more Americans are waking up to the many successes of Trump's presidency. Their quality of life is undeniably better. Unemployment is at an all-time low. Nothing makes the Left madder than to see all this happening on Trump's watch. He is making it happen and they hate him for the spectacular results he has achieved. As the poem so presciently describes, our Left's souls are dead. Leftists care little for their "native land." They are all about their "titles," their power and ill gotten wealth (pelf). They are all about their antipathies, their prejudices, once kept under wraps but now out in the open thanks to the unbridled rhetoric of several new members of the House. May they go down "to the vile dust, from whence they sprung, Unwept, unhounour'd, and unsung." Image: Beto O'Rourke via Flickr. Affirmative action ruined Iran's education system, too In 1982, when Iranian universities and colleges opened their doors to students after the so-called Cultural Revolution, a new group of students was admitted based on affirmative action. They were coming from very low-income families and from families who had a "martyr" during the 1979 Revolution. Almost all of them failed in STEM courses in the first semester. In a class of 40, all of them got zero scores in Physics 101. To cope with these students, faculty members lowered the level of the courses. As the academic level plunged, more and more of these students occupied university and college seats. Some years later, the family members of killed soldiers, the veterans of the Iran-Iraq War, and Basij members were added to the list of groups who could benefit from the affirmative action policy. These groups became the counter-movement to any anti-authoritarian and anti-totalitarian movements in the universities and elsewhere. Academia down the toilet Because of this policy, Iranian higher education went down the toilet. After four decades of enforcing this policy, cheating in exams is a regular behavior of university students. Medical misdiagnoses and malpractice are skyrocketing. Almost no student uses textbooks (they use 20 to 30 pages of notes to get the grades they need to graduate). You can buy any paper or dissertation you need to submit from people who make and sell them to you. You can even buy a (fake) diploma from any university in the world. A couple of Ahmadinejad's Cabinet members had these fake Ph.D.s from Oxford and Cambridge. The government claims that Iran's nuclear and missile programs are domestic while they buy all the know-how and materials from Pakistan, North Korea, and Western underground markets. Affirmative action ruined Iranian higher education. Academic disaster When I came to the U.S. for my Ph.D., I witnessed another show of affirmative action and its consequences. During my graduate school years, experienced faculty members were replaced by members of minorities who could not teach or write and were not able to do research. Area studies (women studies, Latino studies...), which offer no basic knowledge to the students, replaced core studies in my department (sociology) and the generation of experts in analytical and theoretical sociology was replaced by identity-oriented faculty members who were mainly activists and not scholars. In only a decade, the whole department's curricula and quality were bombed into rubbles. Scholar or activist? Just look at what the affirmative action policy has produced in public and private universities and colleges in the U.S.: mass production of articles and books that repeat anti-Western and anti-"rational discourse of the Enlightenment and modern era." The main objective is to ruin Western civilization. These materials promote cultural relativism (such as "sharia is as good as human rights charters"), postmodernism (there is no truth), and a race-oriented approach (if you want to know a theory, just look at the race of the author). The cowardly lefty faculty members actively participated in the process. In private schools, affirmative action has been ruining both the faculty and the student body. If you are not familiar with the schools, you can see this in their products. Almost all junk writers in mainstream media are graduates of Ivy League schools. They hate their country and praise Chavez, Maduro, and Khamenei. Diversity from above The diversification of the left as the core reason for affirmative action in American universities has extended to the point that terrorists and Islamist propagandists are also part of the new norm. Hossein Mousavian, who was the Islamic Republic of Iran's ambassador in Germany during the Mikonos terror operation (a number of dissident Kurds killed), is now a faculty member at Princeton University. Hossein Derakhshan, who praises Lebanese Hezb'allah and Islamist regimes, is a fellow at Harvard. NYU usually invites Iranian Basiji members to give a lecture and present false survey information. The left's diversity and affirmative action policies logically lend themselves to having Osama bin Laden and Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in the faculty pool; they have fresh ideas to destroy Western civilization and "white privilege." Almost all Islamists are anti-imperialist, anti-Israel, and pro-SJW. Higher education as a chocolate bar The left, all over the world, looks at higher education as an instrument not to promote science and technology and improve human lives, but to make society more "just" and distribute high status. The leftists' agenda is about not advancing and boosting human civilization, but promoting tribal causes. To do this, 1) college is to be for everyone, while it really is not; 2) every voice that is critical of this perspective should be silenced; 3) critiques should be labeled as "white nationalist" and "racist," discouraged from dissenting from this fascist ideology of identity politics; and 4) groups such as Antifa must be welcomed to campuses to terrorize the students and faculty members who do not agree. Affirmative action ruined Iran's education. It is on track to ruin America's, too. A fenceless border is defenseless There must be numerous Democratic officials who are aware that Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have crossed the line into the absurd regarding their anti-border wall fiasco but remain silent. Such cannot be said about the growing number of newly elected and "converted" Democrat radicals who echo extreme views without the slightest understanding of the facts. Reuters on February 6 published a piece titled "U.S. Border Officials Don't Share Trump's Zeal for Border Wall." The article reported on a classified briefing given by Customs and Border Protection agents to lawmakers, including Democratic senator Dick Durbin, who emerged from that briefing and reiterated what agents had told him. "What they said over again was technology," Durbin said. "They don't rule out barriers, they don't rule out fences. But that isn't the first priority." Durbin's statement is troubling because it reveals that he and other Democrats are missing the main point, which is that Pelosi and Schumer do rule out barriers and fences. It is by far the central obstacle regarding moving forward on a national security issue, and he didn't have a clue. The Reuters headline would have been significant if it instead read, "U.S. Border Officials Say They Don't Need a Border Wall." By attesting to how rational border officials' thoughts and ideas are, what Durbin unwittingly did was show how unreasonable Pelosi and Schumer's demands are. When taken one by one, and examined in detail, the flawed opinions embraced by Pelosi and Schumer that the wall is immoral, obsolete, or a waste of financial resources are shown for what they are political obstructionism. Take the left's view that walls and fences are "medieval" and a thing of the past, and we find, as with many statements made by the left, that the complete opposite is true. According to a February 2018 American Renaissance article, between 1945 and 1961, over 3.5 million East Germans walked across the unguarded border. When the wall was built, it cut defections by more than 90 percent. When Israel in January 2017 completed improvements to the fence on its border with Egypt to keep out terrorists and African immigrants, it cut illegal immigration to zero. In 2015, The Telegraph reported on the construction of a 600-mile "great wall" border by Saudi Arabia with Iraq to stop Islamic State militants from entering the country. The wall included five layers of fencing with watchtowers, night-vision cameras, and radar cameras. Finally, a September 2016 article in the Washington Post reported on the new construction of a mile-long wall at Calais. "[A]ttacks have considerably changed the climate in France," said Bruno Cautres, a political analyst at the Center for Political Research at Paris's Sciences Po. "The desire for many is to have a president who can bring security back." The United States has that kind of president in Trump. So the current trend among modern nations demanding safer environments for their people is not abandoning walls and fences in place of sophisticated surveillance and detection technology, but quite the opposite. In a May 2018 USA Today article, border walls since World War II have increased from 7 to 77. In 2016, the Economist asserted that, as a result of the refugee crisis and the conflict in Ukraine, "Europe will soon have more physical barriers on its national borders than it did during the Cold War." It becomes unmistakably clear that President Trump, along with U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner Kevin McAleenan and others, understands the need for border walls and fences. There is a time for politics and a time for urgent action, and Pelosi and Schumer have seriously miscalculated the gravity of the border crisis. Trump has relied on historical life-saving data, the measurable benefits that physical barriers are offering other nations, as well as common sense, to conclude that a physical barrier is immediately needed on America's southern border. It is beyond outrageous that Pelosi and Schumer have chosen political ambition over American lives. Ocasio-Cortez (D-Venezuela) dominated news on February 7 appearing at a rally to abolish or defund the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. The same day, Ocasio-Cortez joined other liberal Members of Congress in unveiling her "Green New Deal" (green evidently referring to envy, not the environment). Last week's most overlooked news was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez revealing herself as a champion of the "Reconquista" war against Europeans. The Mexican Reconquista movement is an openly admitted effort by Hispanic activists to take "back" California (Southern especially), New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas through immigration and activism. This is one of several driving forces behind allowing illegal immigration. Almost lost amidst this furor were Ocasio-Cortez's comments that immigration laws should not apply to indigenous people: As reported in the UK's Daily Mail -- with full video shown: But she vowed Thursday to defund ICE completely and claimed Latinos should be exempt from criminal proceedings and immigration laws because they are descended from Mesoamerican cultures that preceded the United States. 'We are standing on native land,' she claimed, speaking just outside the U.S. Capitol. 'And Latino people are descendants of native people. And we cannot be told, and criminalized, simply because for our identity or our status. Period. [emphasis added] Massive protests demanding amnesty swept the country in 2006 and 2007: "This is unjust. This land used to belong to us and now they're trying to kick us out," complained Sandra Molina, a junior from a Los Angeles Magnet High School. Joel Rubin and Cynthia H. Cho, "High School Students Extend Immigration Protests Into 4th Day, Los Angeles Times, March 27, 2006. This is a longstanding, persistent effort to seize the Southwestern and Western United States and Texas. However, this threat to the U.S.A. "must not be named" in polite establishment political company. This truth is treated as a conspiracy theory. The Washington Times reported as far back as 2006 in Mexican Aliens Seek to Retake 'Stolen' Land: La reconquista, a radical movement calling for Mexico to reconquer Americas Southwest, has stepped out of the shadows at recent immigration-reform protests nationwide as marchers held signs saying, Uncle Sam Stole Our Land! and waved Mexicos flag. Even as organizers urged marchers to display U.S. flags, the theme of reclaiming stolen land remained strong. One popular banner read: If you think Im illegal because Im a Mexican, learn the true history because Im in my homeland. "We need to change direction, said Jose Lugo, an instructor in Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder at a campus march last week. And by allowing these 50,000, 50 million [immigrants] to come in here, we can do that. During 2018, many remarked that caravans of invaders were carrying the flags of the nations they were supposedly "fleeing" instead of the flag of the U.S.A. where they sought refuge. Trespassers were very interested in celebrating the countries they came from but contemptuous of the U.S.A. they wanted to occupy. For at least two decades, open borders advocates have marched with the flags of Mexico and Central American countries. They burned the U.S. flag. The Washington Examiner also reported in 2006: Hundreds of thousands of people have marched in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Denver and other U.S. cities since late March to protest a proposed federal crackdown on illegal immigration, and often the crowds have waved flags of Mexico, Guatemala and other countries. And The Examiner further explained: The first thing to understand about Reconquista is that while it is perhaps not the official policy of Mexico, it might as well be. Current and former top Mexican government officials and advisers, for example, routinely co-host with leaders of U.S. groups like the National Council of La Raza, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce seminars of the Foundation for Solidarity of Mexico and America, according to Hector Carreon of the Aztlan Communications Network. The basic aim of FSMA, which is a key convergence point of open-borders advocacy in both countries, is uninterrupted immigration from Mexico to the U.S. Hispanic rights activists postulate a land called Aztlan, originally extending up to the State of Oregon, all of Texas, and the Western third of the U.S.A. They want to seize the Southwest of the United States and Texas and (re)create a new, independent nation. They envision that they are taking "back" this land. And this is a persistent, long-running campaign: VDARE links to many original sources in its report on the "Plan of San Diego" to give a detailed analysis from newspaper reports of the period, including: "In January 1915, authorities arrested a man near the border who carried a copy of a revolutionary manifesto. It called for a Tejano armed uprising to reclaim much of the Southwest for Mexico. It also called for Anglo males over age 16 to be killed." And: "The second half of 1915 and first half of 1916 witnessed 30 terrorist invasions of Texas sponsored by the government of Mexico..." Some of the more explicit groups are La Raza Unida, the Brown Berets, the Nation of Aztlan, and the university student group MEChA. Since they lack the military power to accomplish this, they champion illegal immigration as a way of occupying the land of Aztlan, converting it to their culture, and eventually pushing for independence. In reality, of course, these populations do not speak Mayan or Aztec or any Native American languages. They speak Spanish. Their names are Spanish. Their cultural features are Spanish. The Conquistadors -- the Spaniards from Europe -- conquered and occupied South America, Central America, and the islands of the Caribbean basin. But they claim the United States as well. There can be little doubt that Ocasio-Cortez lacks the education and analytical ability to comprehend any of this, but she has joined this movement with both feet. Sandy is not a victim of oppression. Sandy is a victim of the educational malpractice of the left, who have severely harmed millions of her peer group. An astronaut aboard the International Space Station shot this oblique photograph of Mount Everest, Earth's tallest mountain (when measured from sea level). Standing on the border of China and Nepal, Everest is the centerpiece of the Great Himalaya Range, the highest and northernmost section of the Himalayas. Many of the world's tallest peaks are found here, including Kanchenjunga (8,586 meters/28,169 feet) and Everest (8,850 meters/29,035 feet). Stretching 2,300 kilometers (1,400 miles) across Pakistan, India, Nepal, and China, the mountain range has an average elevation above 6,100 meters (20,000 feet). The snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas persist year-round thanks to two main periods of precipitation. Winter snow accumulates from December through May, with greater snowfall occurring in the western part of the range. By the end of May, summer monsoon winds start to channel moist air toward the eastern Himalayas, where precipitation will occur as either rain or snow until September. The fairest weather in the region occurs from September through early December. The peaks of the Himalayas are a dramatic expression of the massive tectonic forces that drove the crustal plates of India and Asia into each other about 40 to 50 million years ago. The Himalayas as a whole started forming 25 to 30 million years ago, while the Great Himalaya Range began building up about 2.6 million years ago. These tectonic forces are still active today, causing Everest and the surrounding mountains to rise more than 1 centimeter per year. In addition to tectonic activity, the Himalayas have many active glaciers--the primary force behind the continuous erosion of Everest and the other peaks. As these glaciers melt, the water drains into rivers which find their way into catchments such as Lake Paiku, which collects glacial melt, snowmelt, and summer monsoon rains. Astronaut photograph ISS053-E-357550 was acquired on December 11, 2017, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using a 500 millimeter lens and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 53 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by Sarah Deitrick, Jacobs, JETS Contract at NASA-JSC. Larger image Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. On Aug. 27, 2020, the eye of Hurricane Laura passed directly over Cameron (the town). The eastern eyewall, the most destructive part of the storm, made a direct hit on Rutherford Beach, destroying everything in its wake with wind, tornadoes and a water surge that rose to over 17 feet. Ruther CAMP HILL, Ala. (AP) Caring for abused and neglected girls is Candice Gulleys life work, and that's what she was doing when she helped load vans from an Alabama childrens home for a trip to the beach. The kids walked on the sand, ate seafood and threw an early, dinosaur-themed fourth bir Mayflower will make the 3-week trip from the UK to the US guided by an AI-powered captain and without humans on board. SOFIA Finds Dust Survives Obliteration in Supernova 1987A NASA Supernova 1987A Dust particles form as dying red giant stars throw off material and become part of interstellar clouds of various sizes, densities and temperatures. his cosmic dust is then destroyed by supernova blast waves, which propagate through space at more than 6,000 miles per second (10,000 km/sec)! Supernova explosions are among the most powerful events in the universe, with a peak brightness equivalent to the light from billions of individual stars. The explosion also produces a blast wave that destroys almost everything in its path, including dust in the surrounding interstellar medium, the space between the stars. Current theories predict when a supernova blast sweeps through a region of space, much of the dust would be destroyed, so there should be little dust left. Observations with SOFIA, however, tell a different, mysterious story -- revealing more than 10 times the dust expected. This suggests that dust is much more abundant in the wake of a blast wave than theories estimate. The new study is based on observations of a nearby supernova explosion, called Supernova 1987A. When it was discovered in 1987, it was one of the brightest supernovae seen in 400 years! Due to its close proximity, astronomers have been able to monitor its impact on the surrounding environment continuously for the past 30 years. ncrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen> Artist's concept illustrating Supernova 1987A as the powerful blast wave passes through its outer ring and destroys most of its dust, before the dust re-forms or grows rapidly. SOFIA observations reveal that this dust -- which make up the building blocks of stars and planets -- can re-form or grow immediately after the catastrophic damage caused by the supernova's blast wave. Credits: NASA/SOFIA/Symbolic Pictures/The Casadonte Group SOFIA's observations of the iconic supernova suggest dust may actually be forming in the wake of the powerful blast wave. These results are helping astronomers solve the mystery surrounding the abundance of dust in our galaxy. "We already knew about the slow-moving dust in the heart of 1987A," said Mikako Matsuura, a senior lecturer at Cardiff University, in the United Kingdom, and the lead author on the paper. "It formed from the heavy elements created in the core of the dead star. But the SOFIA observations tell us something new about a completely unexpected dust population." The observations were published in a recent issue of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Supernova 1987A has a distinctive set of rings that are part of a cavity created in an earlier, pre-explosion phase of the star's evolution. The fast-expanding blast wave has passed through these ring structures. Astronomers thought that any dust particles in these rings would have been destroyed, but recent observations from SOFIA show emission consistent with a growing population of dust in the rings. The results indicate that dust particles can re-form or grow rapidly, even after the catastrophic damage caused during the passage of the blast wave, suggesting that although this might be the end of a chapter in the life cycle of dust, it does not appear to be the end of the story. The dust detected by SOFIA could result from either significant growth of the existing dust particles or the formation of a new dust population. These new observations compel astronomers to consider the possibility that the post-blast environment might be ready to form or re-form dust immediately after the blast wave passes -- a new clue that may be pivotal in resolving the discrepancy between dust destruction models and observations. From ground-based telescopes on Earth, observing cosmic dust particles in the infrared is difficult -- or impossible -- due to strong absorption, primarily from water and carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere. By flying above most of the obscuring molecules, the airborne observatory SOFIA provides access to portions of the infrared spectrum not available from the ground. In particular, SOFIA's Faint Object infraRed CAmera for the SOFIA Telescope (FORCAST) is a powerful instrument for understanding warm dust in particular. "FORCAST is the only instrument that can observe at these critical wavelengths and detect this newly-forming population of warm dust," said James De Buizer, the USRA manager for science operations at the SOFIA Science Center and co-author on the study. "We plan to continue monitoring with FORCAST to gain more insight into dust creation and evolution in supernova remnants." In the future, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will examine this dust in further detail, looking for clues about its origins and composition. SOFIA is a Boeing 747SP jetliner modified to carry a 106-inch diameter telescope. It is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center, DLR. NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley manages the SOFIA program, science and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association, or USRA, headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, and the German SOFIA Institute (DSI) at the University of Stuttgart. The aircraft is maintained and operated from NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center Hangar 703, in Palmdale, California. Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. (WB) President Trump made a series of veiled anti-LGBT statements under the guise of religious freedom Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast, including praise for Karen Pence for teaching at a Christian school that bars LGBT students and teachers. In his introductory remarks at the annual event, Trump pointed out the second lady and said, She just went back to teaching art classes at a Christian school. Terrific woman. The Christian school where Karen Pence has returned to teach, Immanuel Christian School in Springfield, Va., was found to have anti-LGBT policies, generating controversy and anger in the LGBT community over the second ladys decision to return there after 12 years. The school which declares in employment application homosexual acts and lifestyles are clearly perversion and reprehensible in the sight of God bars admissions of students if their home condones being LGBT and refuses to employ LGBT teachers. (Vice President Mike Pence has called criticism of the school deeply offensive.) The National Prayer Breakfast, hosted by the Christian organization called The Fellowship Foundation, has been controversial because of ties to anti-LGBT advocates, but has traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support. Former President Obama spoke at the event during his administration. This year, speakers included Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) as well as Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.). But Trumps veiled anti-LGBT comments at the National Prayer Breakfast where in an ironic misspeak he credited people of faith for achievements including the abolition of civil rights werent limited to a reference to Karen Pences school. Trump also said to ensure that people of faith can always contribute to society my administration has taken historic action to protect religious liberty, using a phrase thats code in social conservative circles to mean anti-LGBT discrimination. The administrations actions on religious freedom include guidance from the Justice Department widely seen as a green light from the U.S. government for businesses and individuals to refuse to services to LGBT people. Also, critics say the Conscience & Religious Freedom Division within the Department of Health & Human Services enables medical practitioners to decline to perform gender reassignment surgery or treat people with HIV. Trump made a reference to one religious freedom action from his administration in particular, the decision of the Department of Health & Human Services to grant a waiver to taxpayer-funded South Carolina adoption agencies exempting them from regulations barring discrimination. My administration is working to ensure that faith-based adoption agencies are able to help vulnerable children find their forever families while following their deeply held beliefs, Trump said. As a result of the waiver Trump referenced, faith-based adoption agencies in South Carolina are now able to refuse child placements in families that conflict with their religious beliefs, including LGBT homes. Among them is Miracle Hill Ministries, which sought the waiver. Lucas Acosta, director of LGBTQ media for the Democratic National Committee, criticized Trump for invoking religious freedom to support adoption agencies seeking to engage in anti-LGBT discrimination. President Trump has yet again attacked LGBTQ people, this time at the expense of children in need of a home, Acosta said. With more than 400,000 children in foster care nationwide, Trump should focus on increasing the placement of children with qualified potential parents, not supporting state-funded discrimination against LGBTQ families. Every child deserves a home, and every qualified person seeking to adopt deserves to be considered. There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen, Vladimir Ilych Lenin famously said. Sometimes decades get condensed into one single day, which changes dramatically the political dynamics of a country. February 8 was one of those days for Thailand. It was supposed to be a regular Friday, no different from any other, except for the scheduled deadline for political parties to announce their premiership candidates ahead of the March 24 elections. That day, everyone expected that General Prayuth Chan-ocha, who took power in a coup in 2014, would announce his candidacy. His election seemed very much guaranteed, given the new constitution promulgated by his government in 2017, which gives the army complete control over the senate and almost a final say over the appointment of prime minister. Yet something much bigger was in the making. In the early morning, the Thai Raksa Chart Party, a newly created political organisation linked to the overthrown Prime Ministers (and siblings) Yingluck and Thaksin Shinawatra, made an announcement that shook the whole country. It declared Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Varnavadi, King Maha Vajiralongkorns elder sister, as its prime ministerial candidate. Ubolratana, a famous actress and trendsetter in Thailand, had officially relinquished her royal titles in 1972, when she married an American man and decided to live in the United States. After divorcing him in 1998, Ubolratana moved back to Thailand in 2001 and has since won public acclaim through acting and charitable work, while being rumoured to be on friendly terms with Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed by a military coup in 2006 but has remained heavily involved in Thai politics. The news seemed to crack Prayuths plan to put a democratic stamp on his leadership and signal a tectonic shift in the countrys political alliances. This was the first time in Thai history that a member of the royal family ran for office. Ubolratanas candidacy, everybody assumed, was going to be a home run, especially given how difficult it was going to be for anyone to campaign against a candidate who cannot be legally criticised. According to the existing lese-majeste law, anyone who criticises a member of the royal family could be handed between three and 15 years in prison. Even more importantly, her name on the ballot was going to divide conservative and pro-monarchy forces pushing them to choose between supporting the princess herself or the military general. The announcement seemed to signal a deal being brokered between the Shinawatras and the palace, after decades of rivalry which had caused much political turmoil in the country. As soon as the announcement was made, two questions emerged: should Ubolratana be considered a member of the royal family and would Prayuth dare to go head to head with her on a public forum? Over the course of the day, both questions were answered. Later that morning, General Prayuth accepted his nomination by the pro-army Palang Pracharat Party. Although I served as a soldier for all my life, I am [still] willing to sacrifice myself in order to protect Thailand, Prayuth said. The general who had built his reputation around his claim to be the protector of the monarchy was now going to compete in an electoral race against a member of the royal family. Right after Prayuths declaration, his party filed an objection to the princesss candidacy with the Election Commission, arguing that her party had broken constitutional rules prohibiting the use of the monarchy for political purposes. This position was echoed in the public where a number of ultra-royalists voiced their discontent with the princesss actions while pro-Shinawatra activists, who have historically criticised the use of the lese-majeste law, threatened to report them for violating that same law. In the evening, some 13 hours after Ubolratana had announced her candidacy, her younger brother King Vajiralongkorn issued a royal statement, which answered the questions at hand and provided another plot twist to the longest day in Thai history. Despite the fact that Princess Ubolratana relinquished her titles in compliance with the Palace Laws she has been maintaining her status as a member of the Chakri royal family, the kings statement read. Any attempt to involve high-ranking members of the royal family in the political process by whatever means would be a breach of time-honoured royal traditions, customs and national culture. Such actions must be deemed a transgression and a highly inappropriate act. This effectively put an end to Ubolratanas daylong political career. To an outside observer, February 8 may look like much ado about nothing. After all, by the end of the day, the electoral race looked exactly as it had 24 hours earlier, with Prayuth still running virtually unopposed, thanks to the support of a senate that his military government had hand-picked. Yet this daylong electoral earthquake left behind major fault lines in Thailands political landscape. The princesss short-lived candidacy revealed a rift within Bangkok conservative elites, some of whom showed that their hate for the Shinawatras may be even stronger than their adulation for the royal family. It is no secret that many of the most powerful families in Thailand have had a rocky relationship with the new king but their unprecedented vocal condemnation of the princesss decision to run for office suggests that their alliances with the palace may not be as unwavering as previously assumed. At the same time, the relation between General Prayuth and King Vajiralongkorn seemed also to have been affected. There have been unconfirmed reports that on February 10, the king summoned the highest military ranking officers to his house in Munich, where he continues to spend most of his time even after taking up the throne. Some observers speculated that the fate of the upcoming elections, the reaction to the princesss candidacy, and the possibility of another military takeover would be discussed at the meeting. Whether that was the case or not, allegedly no invitation was extended to the ruling general, suggesting that the king is increasingly putting his trust in other factions of the Thai army. Finally, the events of February 8 also exposed a division within the so-called pro-democracy camp between those who celebrated the nomination of the princess as a brilliant tactical move and those who saw it as a huge mistake, which could have made monarchic control over the country stronger and further postpone a return to democracy. To be sure, such disagreements are not new among progressive forces, but the furious arguments that ensued between the two camps suggest that the unified popular support for forces linked to the Shinawatras may also be frailer than expected. Historically, the Thai army has used similar moments of a division to legitimise military coups. Rumours of an impending countercoup against the government of General Prayuth are already circulating. This is indeed one of the most peculiar features of Thailand, a country in which the army can orchestrate a coup against an existing military rule. Whether these events will be the prelude to another military takeover or a highly militarised election or not, what is definitely clear is that that five years of military rule have not achieved any of its declared objectives to resolve political tensions and pacify the country. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. (WB) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week confirmed to the Washington Blade that it is currently housing 45 transgender women at a privately-run detention center in Texas. Danielle Bennett on Tuesday said the trans women are being held at the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall, Texas. The GEO Group, a Florida-based company, operates the facility that is roughly 60 miles southwest of San Antonio. The Blade first learned about the trans women at the facility on Feb. 1 during an interview with Estuardo Juarez Moscoso of Asociacion Lambda, a Guatemala City-based advocacy group that provides assistance to LGBTI migrants. Bennett told the Blade that 111 self-identified transgender individuals were in ICE custody in 20 facilities across the U.S. as of Feb. 4. She said there were self-identified transgender individuals at the Cibola County Correctional Center, a privately-owned prison in Milan, N.M., that has a specific unit for trans detainees, as of the same date. Roxsana Hernandez, a trans woman from Honduras with HIV, had been housed at the facility before she died at a New Mexico hospital on May 25. Moscoso said Hernandez received medication from Asociacion Lambda when she at its Guatemala City headquarters before she and a group of other migrants traveled to Mexico. U.S. Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) in a letter they sent to Acting ICE Director Ronald Vitiello and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan on Dec. 5 cited reports that indicate Hernandez endured freezing temperatures and was denied adequate food, water and medical care while in custody at the San Ysidro Port of Entry south of San Diego and vomited while ICE transported her between facilities. The initial cause of Hernandezs death was listed as cardiac arrest, but the results of a second autopsy the Transgender Law Center commissioned shows Hernandez was beaten before she died. When I found out the news (that she had died) it was very impactful, Moscoso told the Blade. Immigrant and LGBTI rights advocates over the years have sharply criticized ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the agency, over its treatment of those who are in their custody. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen continues to face calls to resign over the implementation of President Trumps immigration policy that includes the separation of migrant children from their parents and demands for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Bennett has previously described allegations that Hernandez was abused while in ICE custody as false. Andrew Lorenzen-Straight, the openly gay deputy assistant director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Custody Programs, defended his agencys treatmentof trans, lesbian, gay and bisexual detainees when he spoke with the Blade at ICE headquarters in D.C. on Dec. 18. LGBTI care is of paramount importance to us, he said. A woman wanted in the Christmas Eve killing of a woman inside a Birmingham Piggly Wiggly is now in custody after more than a month on the run. U.S. Marshals took 30-year-old Sharonda James into custody in Chattanooga shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday. She is charged with murder in the Dec. 24 death of Jerika Manuel, a 28-year-old mother who was killed while at work at the grocery store. James has a violent criminal history including an arrest earlier this year on kidnapping and assault charges as well as a 2010 charge of capital murder, which was later dismissed. Birmingham police on Dec. 28 announced formal charges against James in Manuels death. In mid-January, Birmingham police enlisted the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force to help find the elusive suspect. "It was a priority case for us,'' said U.S. Marshal Marty Keely. Together, the task force and Birmingham police developed a lead that indicated James had left the state. On Tuesday morning they received information on the possible whereabouts of James, which was a house in the 1600 block of Glowmont Drive in Chattanooga, and forwarded that lead to their counterparts in Tennessee. They set up brief surveillance on the home, and eventually knocked on the door. Keely said James answered the door, and was taken into custody without incident. She is being taken to the Hamilton County Jail where she will be held pending extradition to Alabama. Manuel, a mother of four, was shot to death just before noon Christmas Eve inside the store at 2500 29th Avenue North. Sgt. Johnny Williams said the shooting happened shortly before noon when the suspect now identified as James - entered the store and started an altercation with the female employee who was fatally shot. He later updated that information to say Manuel and James were involved in a physical altercation just before the suspect shot the victim. James fled the scene before police arrived. Police have not said what the two women were fighting about, but said James was a former Piggly Wiggly employee. Police considered Williams armed and dangerous. Bessemer police arrested James in July on charges of first-degree kidnapping, second-degree assault and leaving the scene of an accident, said Bessemer police Lt. Christian Clemons. Officers responded about 9:10 a.m. Tuesday, July 24, to the 900 block of Academy Drive on an assault. Once on the scene, Clemons said, they actually found a traffic accident involving James and a female victim. That investigation revealed a fight occurred between the two females, Clemons said, with James forcing the victim into a car. An accident occurred resulting in the victim suffering non-life-threatening injuries from being hit with a gun and James leaving the scene. Officers quickly detained and arrested James. She was indicted on those charges in October and is awaiting trial. In July 2010, James was arrested by Birmingham police on a capital murder charge in the shooting death of 31-year-old Melvin Bozeman, who was the father of her child. The deadly shooting happened July 16, 2010 in the 700 block of 47th Street North. Police at the time said the shooting started with a domestic dispute inside a home there, and then the fight spilled into the street. Bozeman was shot multiple times. The following month, the charge against James was dismissed after police deemed the shooting self-defense. Two people were injured when gunfire erupted Tuesday afternoon in a Bessemer neighborhood. The shooting happened about 4:30 p.m. on Carriage House Road. Bessemer police Lt. Christian Clemons said detectives are still trying to determine what led to the shooting. The victims went to separate hospitals by private vehicle. One of them went to UAB Medical West and the other UAB Hospital in Birmingham. Investigators dont believe their injuries are life-threatening. Multiple evidence markers were placed in the street. According to police radio traffic, the incident may have involved people in vehicles shooting at each other, but detectives are still trying to sort out those details. No arrests have been made. This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available. The Supreme Courts late-night, two-paragraph order that sent a Muslim inmate in Alabama to his execution last week has become the courts most controversial act of the term, drawing intense criticism from the political right and the left. The court's five conservatives agreed with Alabama officials that Domineque Ray could be put to death without an imam present in the execution chamber, even though a Christian chaplain who works for the prison system is in place for other executions. The court's short order did not deal with the religious issue, saying only that Ray made his request too late. His lawyers, and the court's liberal members, disputed that. The blowback was immediate. "I can't recall the last time that I was as shocked by a Supreme Court decision," said Deepak Gupta, a Washington lawyer who argues before the justices. "This decision is indefensible on the merits, and the court doesn't even bother to try." Amir Ali, Supreme Court and appellate counsel at the MacArthur Justice Center and a lecturer at Harvard Law School, said the court's order was in contrast with recent decisions that have protected religious rights. "Consider the opposite circumstance - a Christian person who is told that, during the final moments of his life, he can have only the services of an Imam," Ali wrote in an email. "It is hard to imagine the court reaching the same result as it did here. And that's a real problem because the very purpose of the Establishment Clause is to prevent this sort of religious preference." Criticism from the right was strong, as well. "The Supreme Court Upholds a Grave Violation of the First Amendment," was the headline above conservative commentator David French's article in the National Review. "Any policy that by law or practice provided death-row inmates with access only to Christian chaplains would likely fail 9-0 if addressed on the merits," French wrote. "In this case, however, the Supreme Court didn't decide the merits. It determined that Ray's request for an imam was made too late." The five justices who allowed the Alabama execution to proceed - Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh - lifted a stay imposed unanimously by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. That court said Ray had raised a "powerful" argument that prison protocol favored one religion over another: "it looks substantially likely to us that Alabama has run afoul of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment." It called for additional briefing in the case, but called for quick resolution to keep Ray's execution on track. Instead, Alabama filed an emergency request to the Supreme Court, saying it should be allowed to go ahead with the procedure it had put in place to conduct executions in an "orderly and secure fashion." That meant having only correctional officials, which included the prison chaplain but not the imam who had been attending Ray, in the death chamber. The Supreme Court majority did not address the religion issue, noting only that Ray - on death row since 1999 for the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl - learned of his execution date in November, and waited until January to file a lawsuit challenging the exclusion of an imam. In a dissent that called the majority's decision "profoundly wrong," Justice Elena Kagan said there was a reason for that. The relevant Alabama statute, she wrote, provides that "both the chaplain of the prison and the inmate's spiritual adviser of choice 'may be present at an execution.' " Ray learned only days before filing the suit that prison policy meant his imam was not allowed to be in the room at the time of his death. Kagan said there was no reason for her colleagues not to allow the lower court to examine the issues surrounding Ray's case. "Ray has put forward a powerful claim that his religious rights will be violated at the moment the state puts him to death," she wrote, joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor. "The Eleventh Circuit wanted to hear that claim in full. Instead, this court short-circuits that ordinary process - and itself rejects the claim with little briefing and no argument - just so the state can meet its preferred execution date." Because the court did not address the religious issues in the case, it creates no precedent for similar cases in the future. The absence of such acknowledgment struck some as a sign the court is more alert to discrimination against Christians than other religions. The court's conservatives, for instance, allowed Christian business owners with religious objections in a separate case to opt out of federal regulations requiring contraceptives be part of insurance coverage. "Next time the court claims that religious liberty justifies casting aside some other important principle, like nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or women's rights, we should remember what the court did here," said Gupta. Some who disagreed with the decision say they do not believe anti-Muslim bias was the cause of the order, but the court did itself no favor by not addressing it. Ilya Somin, a conservative professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, posted on the Volohk Conspiracy website that the decision was a "grave injustice," but likely motivated by the justices' impatience with last-minute death penalty appeals. But "to say that this factor likely explains the ruling is not to say that it excuses it," Somin wrote. "The fact that activist lawyers sometimes abuse the process does not relieve the justices of their obligation to carefully consider the facts of each case on their own merits." The court has ruled in favor of Muslims who have been discriminated against because of their clothing, and in favor of a Muslim prisoner who had to sue prison officials for the right to grow a beard for religious reasons. But Ali said the court's 5-to-4 approval last term of President Donald Trump's ban on travel for some from Muslim-majority countries stung Muslim lawyers. He pointed to language in Roberts' majority opinion. "The court went the extra step of saying that there was 'persuasive evidence' for banning people from several majority-Muslim countries," Ali said. If that was a gut punch to the Muslim community, this will be seen as a follow-up kidney shot. Though it has not necessarily played out in the public spotlight, the dueling lawsuits between Leigh Corfman and Roy Moore have churned relentlessly. And for now, there is still not even a trial date. Amidst the churning, though, has emerged a months-long legal squabble concerning what information each side will provide to the other in the discovery process and, more recently, the deposition of Corfman. The Etowah County woman who told The Washington Post in November 2017 that Moore made sexual advances on her when she was 14 and he was 32 wounding Moores campaign in the U.S. Senate race 32 days before voters went to the polls -- has not yet given a deposition in the lawsuit. Moore has repeatedly denied the accusations. Corfman filed her defamation lawsuit in Montgomery County against Moore more than 13 months ago. Moore countersued in April 2018. On Friday, Moores attorneys filed in court a renewed motion to compel Leigh Corfman to appear for a deposition. The time stamp on that motion was 11:31 a.m. On Friday afternoon, 3 hours and 25 minutes after the motion was filed, Moores office emailed a media press release with the following headline: WHERE IS LEIGH CORFMAN? The 320-word press release summarized that Corfman has not given a deposition, Moore has given a deposition, said that Moore had filed a motion to dismiss Corfmans frivolous lawsuit (the first time more than a year ago) and closed with Where is Leigh Corfman? Its been a year! The answer to that question, of course, is why future lawyers spend years in law school to become lawyers. Its a sprawling lawsuit with no simple, concise answer to much of anything. 571 public court filings At least three court hearings Corfman has four attorneys of record, Moore has three The witness list currently has 19 potential witnesses excluding Corfman and Moore The case is on its second judge So in response to Moores 320-word press release on the lawsuit, one of Corfmans attorneys responded with 21 words We prefer to litigate in court, not by press release, Neil Roman said. We look forward to the next court appearance on March 4. Montgomery County Circuit Judge John Rochester has set the March 4 hearing for oral arguments on Moores motion to dismiss and other issues pending in the lawsuit. Corfmans deposition is expected to be one of those issues. The sides have been arguing about discovery for almost a year, which is relevant because Corfmans lawyers cite those issues. Specifically, the interrogatories written questions from one side to the other and corresponding written answers given by Moore and Corfman. Both sides want the other to give detailed accounts about the day Corfman alleges Moore sexually assaulted her in the winter of 1979. In particular, Moore wants Corfman to describe his home where she maintains Moore took her for their encounter. According to court filings, Corfman wants Moore to provide photos of his vehicle and his home from that time period. Moore has refused to comply. Judge Moore has refused to give Corfman facts which she will use to substantiate her false and malicious claims, Moore said in his press release. For Corfman, according to court filings, thats a deal breaker. While Moore sat for a deposition on Oct. 8, 2018, the deposition has not been completed. An email from Corfman attorney Melody Eagan to Moore attorney Melissa Isaak on Oct. 17, 2018, insisted that Moore complete the deposition including answering questions regarding the appearance of his residence and vehicle during the winter of 1979 before Corfman will be made available. Eagan also said in the email that Corfman will not be advised of any aspect of Moores testimony given at deposition. The email was included in a Jan. 7 court filing by Moores attorneys asking the judge to order Corfman to give a deposition. Corfmans attorneys also said in a Oct. 12, 2018, court filing that Moores deposition testimony will be withheld from Corfman pending completion of her deposition. Corfman has given written responses to questions about Moores vehicle and residence in 1979, according to court documents. Moores attorneys have argued that those responses are insufficient while Corfmans attorneys have said Moore did not like the answers Corfman gave. Corfman has also objected to personal information requested by Moore, such as her financial records and employment history, and her attorneys have asked the judge for a protection order. Corfman does not seek monetary damages, her attorneys said in the Oct. 12 motion. In Corfmans original lawsuit, the only specific reference to money asked that Moore pay for the lawsuit. The final line of the lawsuit said, Providing further relief as permitted by law and as the court deems appropriate. Attorneys for the city of Pleasant Grove have filed a motion to dismiss a NAACP Legal Defense Fund lawsuit claiming the citys at-large election method has kept black candidates from being elected and black residents from electing the candidates of their choice. The brief, filed Friday, came in response to the lawsuit filed on Dec. 13. That complaint names Mayor Jerry Brasseale and all five members of the city council: William Bullion, James Crumpton, Kenneth Hatfield, Philip Houston and Paula Johnson, as defendants. They are sued in their official capacity as city officials. In the brief, attorneys for the city claimed numbered-place at-large elections in Alabama do not violate the Voting Rights Act and that plaintiffs highlight little evidence of present-day vote dilution beyond stating the city has never elected a black city council member and that black candidates lost council elections in 2008 and 2016. The complaint also cites current population estimates from the American Community Survey and voter registration data, which shows black residents constitute a majority of the citys population, a majority of the citys voting-age population and a majority of the citys registered voters. The original lawsuit cites population data from the 2010 Census. ACS population estimates put the citys black population at 5,590 and the white population at 4,475 in 2017. Five-year (2013-17) ACS estimates put the number of Pleasant Groves black voting-age residents at 3,966 and white voting-age residents at 3,732. Data from the Jefferson County Board of Registrars shows there are 3,703 black registered voters and 3,183 white registered voters in Pleasant Grove. The (plaintiffs) complaint includes no explanation whatsoever, much less a plausible explanation, as to how continued use of the current system will dilute the votes of black residents in future elections in which blacks form a majority of the voting population, attorneys for the city claimed. The response claimed the plaintiffs have not provided sufficient evidence to prove the citys at-large elections violation Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color or language. In turn, because attorneys claim the lawsuit does not prove a Section 2 violation, then the lawsuits claims of violation of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment must also be dismissed, city attorneys argue. The brief says neither the Eleventh Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court has ever held or even suggested that vote dilution violates the Fifteenth Amendment and that a Section 2 was intended to be more permissive than the constitutional standard, (i.e. the Fourteenth Amendment). Plaintiffs have until Feb. 21 to file a response to the motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Read the full response here: The lawsuits claims LDF and Alabama voting rights attorney Jim Blacksher filed the complaint on behalf of two Pleasant Grove residents: Eric Calhoun and Jennifer Ford. The LDF first sent a letter to the city on March 22, urging the city to draw and adopt single-winner districts. The lawsuit came nearly nine months later on Dec. 13, alleging the citys at-large voting method violates the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and may be denying black voters the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice and fully participate in the political process, Legal Defense Fund attorneys say. New details surrounding the killing of Mobile police officer Sean Tuder emerged during a capital murder preliminary hearing Tuesday that saw the case against defendant Marco Perez bound over to a grand jury. During the hour-long hearing, the 50 or so people that packed the courtroom heard how Tuders confidential informant, the individual that made him aware of Perezs presence at a location in West Mobile Jan. 20, was also speaking with Perez in the moments before the officer was killed, according to testimony from Mobile Police Detective Jermaine Rogers. Rogers told the court that when officer Tuder arrived at Perezs location at the Peach Inn apartments, the teenage defendant had actually been expecting a relative to collect him. Perez had been communicating with that person, now a witness in the case, via social media platform Snapchat, he told investigators during an interview. At the very same time, the same person speaking with Perez was the confidential informant of officer Tuder, and had earlier in the day made Tuder aware of Perezs location and had continued to communicate with the officer as he drove toward the Peach Inn. When Tuder arrived at the scene, video surveillance shows Perez walking toward the vehicle, said Rogers. It showed Tuder getting out of the vehicle and pointing his weapon at Perez. Perez lifted his hands as Tuder walked toward him and then attempted to arrest him. A scuffle ensued and then Tuder was killed, having been shot three times. Two witnesses partially saw the shooting, but Perez and Tuder had moved out of video surveillance range when the shooting is alleged to have occurred, said Rogers. What is not clear at this stage is whether Tuder had colluded with the confidential informant to lie to Perez in order to get him to meet at that location. Perez had warrants out against him and was actively being pursued by local law enforcement. Its also not clear if the Snapchats can be retrieved from the cell phones involved, said Rogers. What also appears to be a divisive subject in the case is whether Tuder was on duty at the time of the shooting. Alabama law says that a person can be tried for a capital murder offense if, in this case, Tuder was on duty at the time of the shooting. Detective Rogers said that even though Tuder was formally off-duty that day, him reacting to an official confidential informant, calling his superiors, and then heading toward Perezs location meant he was de-facto on-duty, in his opinion. Perezs defense team asked if Tuder would be paid for his work. Detective Rogers was not sure. Jennifer Wright, the assistant district attorney, presented case law that said when a off-duty police officer observes criminal activity he becomes on-duty. Rogers also said there are no witnesses at the scene that were able to identify Tuder as an officer or saw his police badge at any time. He was wearing civilian clothes at the time. However, Alabama law also notes that it is irrelevant if whether the defendant was aware he was dealing with a police officer or not, provided the officer was on duty. Video surveillance also shows Perez speaking with as many as eight people before Tuders arrived in his personal vehicle. None of those eight people have come forward or been spoken to as witnesses. During a discussion regarding the disclosure of what punishment the state would pursue, District Attorney Ashley Rich did not rule out the death penalty and said she was under no obligation to reveal that information at the this stage. Driving to Alabamas popular coastal beaches requires patience, as almost anyone who has been on Alabama State Route 59 during the summer months will confirm. But the recent elevation of a bridge project to a heightened state priority, along with long-awaited improvements to Canal Road, are in the works and are viewed by state and local officials as an investment that motorists will welcome with open arms. The city of Gulf Shores also wants to explore the possibility to having a portion of Canal Road otherwise known as Alabama State Route 180 turned into a city street complete with sidewalks and pedestrian or bicycle paths. The council voted unanimously Monday on a $284,692 contract with Volkert Inc. to perform a design and engineering study that will include a traffic study of the citys portion of Route 180 from the Foley Beach Express to Alabama Route 59. The goal is to increase the capacity of the road and improve the efficiency of traffic flow, said Dan Bond, environmental and grants coordinator with the city of Gulf Shores. The main focus for this study will be to understand the environmental, economic and social impacts of different design alternatives. The study will take about 6-9 months, around the same time that preparations will continue to build a $60 million to $65 million Intracoastal Waterway bridge in Gulf Shores. The bridge project, favored by local officials, is awaiting U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approval and there is no timetable for that process. Vince Calametti, Southwest Region Engineer with the Alabama Department of Transportation, said its early in the process to determine if Gulf Shores will take control of a well-traveled section of Canal Road. He said hes not opposed to the prospect. They would prefer, and understandably so, to have it more of an urban design type of road, said Calametti. He added, If you really look at it, this would make it more of a local road and in laymens terms, gives them the opportunity to do some walkability type of things which a lot of communities are moving toward. The bridge, which Calametti said is being fully funded by the state, will remain owned and maintained by ALDOT. And the section of Canal Road west of the Foley Beach Express, and into Orange Beach, would remain state property. The Orange Beach City Council isnt considering anything similar for its portion of Canal Road, according to Ken Grimes, city administrator. Grimes said that adding an extra lane along Canal Road remains a high priority for the city. The expansion project is expected to coincide with the construction of the new Intracoastal Waterway Bridge. Meanwhile, Gulf Shores will likely hold another public meeting on its plans for Canal Road. The last time a public hearing was held on one of the projects was in November, and a large crowd crammed into a community center and voiced opinions both for and against the new bridge, which would sit east of the Foley Beach Express toll bridge. Critics of the bridge have demanded traffic studies from ALDOT to validate the need for the project. They claim the project the Bridge to Nowhere -- is a waste of taxpayer money, and that alternatives should be explored. Volkerts traffic study, which will be released once the overall study is concluded, will take the new bridge and the increased traffic from it, into consideration, said Bond. What we are doing, what the city of Gulf Shores is doing, has no bearing on the states bridge project, Bond said. We want to coordinate with that project on whatever they end up doing obviously. Bond added, The more data we can have and the more studies we can do to get a better understanding on what the conditions might be, is all for the good. The citys contract with Volkert is separate from the money appropriated to the overall Canal Road project through the Alabama Gulf Coast Recovery Council process. The AGCRC dedicated $58 million for five major road expansion projects in Baldwin County as part of an initial funding dedication last year. The money comes from penalties paid by companies involved in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, with the RESTORE Act establishing a trust fund to hold the money for projects determined by the AGCRC. The Canal Road projects were part of the initial list. Investigative reporter Connor Sheets of Alabama Media Group has been named by USC Annenberg School for Communication as a finalist for the 2019 Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting for his stories on Alabamas Beach House Sheriff. The Selden Ring Award has been presented by the USC Annenberg School of Journalism for 30 years. The award celebrates stories that educate the public about serious problems and corruption and yield concrete results. Sheets revealed how an Alabama sheriff personally benefited from public funds intended to feed the inmates in the county jail he ran, how that sheriff used pistol permit fees for ads during his campaign, benefited from federal funds and cut corners on the quality of food served in the local jail. Heres what the school had to say about Sheets stories: Alabama Media Group/The Birmingham News for Alabamas Beach House Sheriff, a stunning series of stories that took on a corrupt local sheriff, connecting a maze of dots to show how he pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars designated for food for inmates. Starting with a tip from a teen who had mowed the sheriffs lawn, the project changed state policies and helped oust the controversial elected official. Updated at 8:22 p.m. to correct the spelling of Selden." Acts with Alabama ties were 0-5 at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, but one Birmingham musician can share in some of this years Grammys glory. Percussionist Dave Crenshaw, 38, played on a cover of How Deep Is Your Love that earned a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance on Sunday in Los Angeles. The Grammy went to PJ Morton and Yebba, the primary artists featured on the recording. The two received their award during an afternoon event, called the Premiere Ceremony, at the Microsoft Theater. There actually was a tie in this Grammy category, resulting in two winners: Morton and Yebba for How Deep Is Your Love and Leon Bridges for Bet Aint Worth the Hand. How Deep Is Your Love is a track from Mortons Gumbo Unplugged, a live release that features a 22-piece ensemble. Musicians supporting Morton on the project include the Matt Jones Orchestra, Lecrae, BJ the Chicago Kid, Keyon Harrold, the HamilTones and more. The album takes a fresh look at Mortons 2017 Gumbo album, reimagining the songs in a a sweeping and stylish orchestral vision, a publicist said. Gumbo Unplugged was recorded at New Yorks Power Station Studios on January 26, 2017, and Crenshaw performed throughout the session. (During his acceptance speech on Sunday, Morton thanked several people, including Crenshaw.) Morton earned three Grammy nominations for the project: Best R&B Album, Best R&B Performance for the song First Began and Best Traditional R&B Performance for How Deep Is Your Love. He lost in two of those categories, but scored a win in the third with his Bee Gees cover. Although Crenshaw wont receive a trophy for his efforts on the winning song, he contributed to the recording and has earned his own measure of fame. We Won!!!!! So thankful to have been part of this project, Crenshaw posted Sunday on his Facebook page. Congrats to PJ and Yebba. During a 2012 interview with AL.com, Crenshaw talked about his philosophy as a percussionist -- and his penchant for playing drums, beer bottles, garbage cans, street signs, microphone stands, oven-drip pans and the legs of park benches. I just get my energy ready and I go wherever it leads me, Crenshaw said. Percussion is defined as anything you strike that makes a sound. Crenshaw comes from a family of musicians, mostly drummers, and makes his living as performer and producer. Two ministers accused of abuse at Southern Baptist churches in Alabama later worked at Southern Baptist churches in other states, according to a new report by two Texas newspapers. The San Antonio Express-News and the Houston Chronicle, in part two of an investigation published Tuesday, revealed that Charles Adcock was charged in 2015 with 29 counts of rape and sodomy involving a 14-year-old girl he met at the Southern Baptist Convention-affiliated Woodward Avenue Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals, where he had worked as a youth minister a few years earlier. Out on bail, Adcock moved to Texas, where First Baptist Church in Bedford allowed Adcock to volunteer as a music minister at worship services, despite knowing about his arrest, the papers reported. Theres not a chance in the world that I would ever hire somebody if they were facing charges like this, William Rushing, the current pastor of the church in Muscle Shoals, told the Chronicle. You just got to be a big idiot to say, Hey, you know what? Im going to hire this person even though theyve got this accusation against them. At least 35 church pastors, employees and volunteers who exhibited predatory behavior were still able to find jobs at churches during the past two decades; some registered sex offenders returned to the pulpit, the newspapers found in their report, called Abuse of Faith, which documented 700 victims of sexual abuse at Southern Baptist churches. Adcock said he was innocent but pleaded guilty to a single charge of second-degree sodomy in January 2016 and served 15 months and is now a registered sex offender. He has always, and continues to assert, his innocence, his lawyer, Chris Rippy, wrote in a letter to the Chronicle. Some ministers move from church to church for years until they're caught, the newspapers noted in their investigation. Doug Myers was minister to adults at Concord Baptist Church in Russellville in 2002, but deacon Charles Canida noticed that Myers gravitated toward boys in the youth group, the Chronicle reported. Months after Myers arrival, a boy told Canida about Pastor Dougs Rule all the boys had to swim naked. A mother told Canida that Myers held her son down on a table at the church on his back ... and was blowing on his stomach to tickle him, Canida told the Chronicle. She was literally in shambles. The mother met with the countys district attorney, but no charges were filed, the papers said. Concerns about Myers eventually split the congregation at Concord, the report said. Canida and others started a new church; Myers moved to Florida, where he established new churches for a few years with help from state and local Baptist associations. Myers admitted to molesting a minor he met at a church in Eustis, Fla., according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Lake County in 2006; he pleaded guilty in 2007 and was sentenced to seven years in prison, the papers reported. The family of the Florida victim sued, alleging that the Florida Baptist Convention and the Lake County Baptist Association had failed to contact Myers previous churches before entrusting him to start churches, the papers reported. The lawsuit alleged that the assaults caused shame, humiliation ... suicidal ideations and night terrors for the victim, who was 11 when he met Myers, the report said. A Lake County jury awarded the victim $12.5 million. The lawsuit was eventually settled for an undisclosed amount of money, court records show, according to the report. Before his release from prison in December 2012, new allegations surfaced in Maryland, where Myers had been a pastor, the report said. He was arrested on charges of custodial child abuse and sex offenses against multiple victims from 1995-2001. He was convicted in Calvert County, Md., and is serving a 15-year sentence, the papers reported. Myers, convicted in Florida, was not included in a list of 17 Southern Baptist leaders convicted of abuse in Alabama, part of a database published Feb. 9 in the first part of the report by the newspapers. All Southern Baptist churches are autonomous and not under the direction of any central authority. The Southern Baptist Convention, the nations largest Protestant denomination, does not keep a database of sex offenders. (WB) A group of bipartisan lawmakers on Thursday introduced bills that would allow openly transgender people to enlist in the military and protect trans servicemembers who are already serving. U.S. Reps. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Joseph Kennedy (D-Mass.), John Katko (R-N.Y.), Susan Davis (D-Calif.) and Anthony Brown (D-Md.) introduced House Resolution 1032 in the U.S. House of Representatives. U.S. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) introduced an identical bill in the U.S. Senate. The lawmakers introduced the bills less than three weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court essentially allowed President Trumps ban on trans servicemembers take effect. Speier and U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) are among those who invited trans servicemembers to attend Tuesdays State of the Union Address as their guests. Several lawsuits that challenge the Trump administrations policy have also been filed. Our transgender servicemembers put their lives on the line every day despite an ill-advised edict from the president, said Speier in a press release. This bill makes it clear to our brave transgender troops that we see them and that we honor the risks they take and sacrifices that they and their families make for the safety of our country. Its also solid common sense. The presidents ban is not only hateful and un-American, it harms military readiness and morale and ultimately makes our country less strong. Gillibrand, who is among the Democrats who have announced they are running for president in 2020, agreed. President Trumps ban on transgender service members is discrimination, it undermines our military readiness, and it is an insult to the brave and patriotic transgender Americans who choose to serve in our military, said Gillibrand in a statement, noting the heads of all five military branches have spoken publicly in support of trans servicemembers in the armed forces. We should end this discriminatory ban for good and ensure our transgender service members can continue to do their jobs, serve with dignity, and protect our country, she added. Thats what our legislation would do, and I urge my colleagues in Congress to fight with me to overturn the presidents cruel and unnecessary ban, respect the transgender troops who are willing to die for our country, and pass this bipartisan bill now. Advocates welcomed the bills. No qualified service member or recruit should be denied the opportunity to serve their country because of their gender identity, said Human Rights Campaign National Press Secretary Sarah McBride. A bipartisan chorus of members of Congress and an overwhelming majority of Americans oppose Donald Trump and Mike Pences transgender troop ban. This legislation would help ensure that transgender service members and enlistees are respected and protected under the law. Thousands of qualified, patriotic transgender Americans raised their right hands and pledged an oath to defend the United States by serving in the military, added American Military Partner Association President Ashley Broadway-Mack in a separate statement. Instead of being singled out by the Trump-Pence administration for discrimination, these brave, highly trained warriors deserve our nations utmost support and thanks. We are grateful for Senator Gillibrand, Congresswoman Speier, and the members of Congress who are standing behind our nations trans service members and making clear that any qualified American should be able to serve regardless of their gender identity. Fifteen seniors in Mae Jemison High Schools Mighty Sounds of the South band won college scholarships this year. Thats all the seniors in the 78-member Huntsville band. And the college money theyve won so far totals just over $633,000. Its a big win for the relatively new Jemison band. But Band Director Reggie Pearson said last week that the scholarships are special for another reason. Jemison High School is three years old and has about 800 students. It was built to replace J.O. Johnson High School and named after Decatur astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison. The campus is new and modern, but the school is on Alabamas list of failing schools. That means its latest reading and math scores are in the bottom 6 percent of public schools in the state. It is also a federal Title 1 school, which means a school with a significant number of low-income students. For some families, it may be hard to pay to go to college, Pearson said last week. Now, they can use band as an avenue to pay for college. Pearson is excited about how his band program is changing the lives of Jemison students. But he says there are so many amazing things going on in this school that tend to get lost under that failing label. We have a heavy equipment operations program here, and 77 students from that program have earned their national credential, Pearson said. We have seniors take the WorkKeys test, and 57 of our students received silver or better (scores) on their first time. WorkKeys is part of the ACT testing programs foundational skills measuring system. Jemisons model is Were building a dynasty, and Pearson tells his students they are more than a band. Were a brand, he said. So, we come together and try to have that positive brand, and to push that brand forward we have to come together as a family. One of the family elders, senior tuba player JacQuelon Douglas, will head off to college this fall. But he said last week, Im always going to come back, because its home. Douglas excels at sight-reading music, a skill thats like learning to read words. He wants us to be able to read music, no matter what, Douglas said of Pearson. Thats the first fundamental he teaches you. Douglas then repeats one of his favorite band sayings: If you can count it and say it, you can play it. Like many high school band students, Douglas doesnt plan to major in music in college. Hell minor in music, but his goal is a degree in computer science that will get him into the cybersecurity field. But he knows band will pay for that education. Hector Cardozo is another Jemison band senior, and hes heading for Tuskegee University on both band and academic scholarships. He plans to study aerospace engineering. I havent always been a perfect student, Cardozo said last week. College at first wasnt an option for me. But once I joined the band and started hearing the stories about people being able to go to college, I understood that horn could take me a long way. Being Hispanic, you dont hear about Hispanics going to college, Cardozo said. I grew up in Texas, and all I saw were Hispanics working in construction sites or cutting grass. Theres nothing wrong with that. But I want to be someone younger Hispanics can look up to and say, If he did it, I can do it, too. The band is similarly serious about its collective business. On practice days at 4 p.m., Pearson said, the first note is heard from the band room whether hes there or not. Youll hear them in the hallway, he said, Cmon guys, its almost 4 oclock. The practice is paying off for the non-seniors, too. The band has been invited to march in the 2019 Chicago Thanksgiving Day parade, and theres a big fundraising concert to support that trip Feb. 23 at the Lumberyard music venue in Huntsville. Three bands will perform in addition to the Mighty Sounds of the South. All three have leaders who trace their friendships with Pearson back to the Johnson High School band. Cardozo and Douglas arent surprised by Pearsons lifelong friendships with former band instructors and band members. They dont want or plan to lose the bonds theyve formed at Jemison when they leave for college. For a lot of us, Cardozo said, this isnt just a band, its a second family. Just an incredible family. This article is featured in the Black Magic Project, which is a series of stories focusing on those who do inspiring things in the black community. If youre a Facebook user, you can join our Black Magic Project group, where we talk about stories and issues concerning black Alabamians. (Updated to clarify that Jemison is a federal Title 1 school) The recent visit of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to Turkey generated major interest in both countries. Although this was Tsipras third visit to Turkey since he took over in 2015, it was his first visit to Ankara and to offer friendly photo opportunities with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Greek leader then headed straight to Istanbul. The most striking part of his Istanbul visit Feb. 5 was the trip to Heybeliada Halki Seminary, the Greek Orthodox theological school that has been closed since 1971. He said reopening the school would be a "sign of friendship." To the surprise of many, Tsipras also visited the orthodox church inside the seminary and lit a candle, despite his secular approach to government, and participated in a short service conducted by Patriarch Bartholomew in the Church of Hagia Triada (Church of the Holy Trinity). Allowing Tsipras to visit the Halki Seminary was a major symbolical affair that will certainly boost his reputation with the Greek public. Tsipras also visited the historical Hagia Sophia museum, which also attracted notice, accompanied by Turkish presidency spokesman Ibrahim Kalin. Sources who have intimate knowledge of the visit told Al-Monitor that in return for these major gestures, Erdogan asked for Tsipras' support for Turkeys next bid to join the European Union, planned for after the local elections March 31. According to the same sources, who didnt want to be identified, Tsipras visit and the warm welcome extended to him could be a prelude to a new honeymoon period between the two countries, despite militarized tension between Ankara and Athens. The Cyprus problem, naval jurisdiction in the eastern Mediterranean, territorial waters and exclusive economic zone and air space disputes are among the major problems between the two capitals. In the political sphere, diplomatic disagreements also need to be resolved: problems regarding the Turkish minority in Greece and Greeks in Turkey, and Greece granting asylum to people Turkey accuses of terror crimes. The timing of the visit was also significant. The resignation of Greeces nationalist defense minister, Panos Kammenos, has allowed Tsipras room to maneuver in relations with Turkey. Kammenos, leader of the Independent Greeks, or ANEL party, is known for his uncompromising attitude toward Turkey. Moreover, Tsipras is an influential leader whose charisma was helpful in solving the 27-year conflict between Greece and the Macedonian republic. The resolution of this problem also gave him some leeway to tackle the decades-long Cyprus issue. Tsipras is now able to tell his public that Greece's influence and diplomatic power in the region is growing. Another important reason for Tsipras visit was an economic one. The two neighbors struggling with common economic woes are focusing on new transportation and tourism projects. Indeed, special attention was paid to the launch of maritime links between Turkeys Aegean coastal province of Izmir and Greeces Thessaloniki for passenger and cargo movement. Other projects include introducing rapid railroad links between Istanbul and Thessaloniki, and completing a second bridge at the Ipsala border crossing to facilitate tourism exchanges. One other major issue discussed was energy. The Turkish Stream gas pipeline, which will carry Russian natural gas across the Black Sea to the European side of Turkey and farther on to the border with EU countries, is envisaged to stretch to Greece from westernmost Turkey, then to southern and Central Europe through northern Greek territory. The project, which bypasses Ukraine in transferring natural gas from Russia to Europe, requires cooperation between Turkey and Greece. Tsipras has been seriously lobbying in Moscow to ensure Greeces involvement in the Turkish Stream project. Moscow might have signaled Tsipras that improving ties with Ankara is a precondition for Greeces inclusion in Turkish Stream. So while Moscow is probably happy with the latest visit, the same can't be said for Washington. Like many analysts, I also wonder if in the coming months Athens and Ankara will be able improve their ties by reaching some level of success in solving their mutual problems. We'll have to wait for Erdogans return visit to Greece to see the answer. I believe, should Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) achieve a significant success in the March local elections, that success would grant Erdogan four years of breathing room to thaw the frozen issues, including Cyprus and the Aegean dispute. Thus, Greece might be one of the first stops on Erdogans agenda after the elections. But there is an unmentioned impediment: Like Tsipras, who freed himself from nationalist Kammenos, Erdogan too has to free himself from his nationalist ally the Nationalist Movement Party. If realized, Erdogans visit to Athens will therefore carry extraordinary symbolic value. ALEPPO, Syria Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra) is expelling its opponents from parts of Idlib and western Aleppo to areas controlled by Turkey in north and northeast Aleppo. HTS tightened its military and administrative grip on wide areas in Idlib governorate, western Aleppo, northern Hama and Sahl al-Ghab in early January, forcing out troops following battles against the National Front for the Liberation of Syria, which is affiliated with the moderate rebel group the Free Syrian Army (FSA). On Jan. 17, HTS targeted individuals. HTS-affiliated security officials in Darat Izza, in western Aleppo, notified more than 30 influential citizens there that they had to leave within 24 hours. The outcasts included academics, media activists, civil servants and some people who worked with the FSA-affiliated Free Syrian Police. These citizens headed to Afrin, which is under Turkey-affiliated FSA control. Media activist Yahya Mayo told Al-Monitor the people HTS expelled are rebels opponents of the Bashar al-Assad regime whom the inhabitants loved and considered honorable. But those rebels are moderates compared with HTS followers. These people opposed the policy of HTS. They worked in the services sector like the local council, and in the Free Aleppo University, police department and other vital service sectors. HTS does not want to share influence with these people who might disrupt its control, after it expanded at the expense of the FSA factions in early January," Mayo said. He added, The HTS exclusion and expulsion policy against its opponents applied not only to Aleppos western countryside. HTS had many opponents in Idlib, and they were forced and pressured to leave. Most of them headed to Afrin. These people threatened HTS expansion and influence, and obstructed its control of local councils, services and other facilities. There are no official figures on the total number of people who were expelled. Mohammad Amer al-Debliz, who was the police chief in Darat Izza and who now lives in Afrin, told Al-Monitor, They [HTS leaders] have no legal grounds to expel me from my city. I did not commit any crime that deserves such punishment. They are punishing me for previous stances against them, maybe. I think they took this measure against me because I objected to an HTS proposition to affiliate the local council in Darat Izza with the Syrian Salvation Government, which is affiliated with HTS. But many prominent figures in the city had the same opinion as me. He added, Each person was expelled for different reasons, but mostly due to their role in Aleppos western countryside. HTS security men told us the reason we were expelled stemmed from our attempts to obstruct stability, mobilize supportive opinions and represent the area as [being] oppressed after HTS controlled it. They said they didn't arrest us when they seized the city because they had promised prominent figures they would not launch attacks." When HTS took over the cities and towns that FSA controlled, it met with prominent figures and promised they would not expel or pursue anyone from these towns. But HTS reneged on its promises and reached a deal with FSA factions, such as Nureddin Zengi Brigade. As per that deal, the movement withdrew from Aleppos western countryside toward Afrin, after it almost lost the battle. On Jan. 5, hundreds of Nureddin Zengi Brigade fighters retreated from western Aleppo to Afrin. On Jan. 6, around 1,000 fighters with their families left Atarib city in western Aleppo and headed to Afrin after HTS took over. Hundreds of fighters from Sahl al-Ghab departed Jan. 13 toward Afrin after HTS forced them to hand over their heavy weapons. Mohammad Adeeb, a member of Nureddin Zengi Brigade's media bureau, told Al-Monitor, After HTS controlled wide stretches and expelled thousands of fighters the only people threatening the organization were influential groups with power in Idlib and the recently controlled areas. For that, HTS pressured them to leave their areas. Sahel Abo Abdul Rahman, an activist who worked as a media correspondent with the local Medad Press in Idlib and western Aleppo before HTS controlled the area, told Al-Monitor, As local activists, we are being pursued, and I had to leave because I oppose HTS. I am now in Afrin, where HTS has no presence. But I cannot return to Idlib or western Aleppo. There are many activists like me who were afraid of remaining in those areas and preferred to leave. Among the 30 people expelled Jan. 17 from Darat Izza were: Marwan al-Helou, who worked on Darat Izzas local council; Ali Raji al-Helou, who was employed at Free Aleppo University; Abdullah Raji al-Helou, who was director of the exams unit at Free Aleppo University; Omar Raji al-Helou, of the city's water unit; media activists Ayman Sami and Ahmed Rashid; and Sadiq and Yasser Lola, who worked with the FSA-affiliated Free Syrian Police. RAMALLAH, West Bank About 36 Palestinians, including six children from the Sabbagh family in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, live in constant fear of the Israeli Execution Offices decision regarding their eviction in favor of Israeli settlers. The Execution Office, which is the competent authority to implement court decisions, notified Jan. 3 five families of the Sabbagh family that they had until Jan. 23 to vacate their homes. The familys lawyer, Husni Abu Hussein, however, managed Jan. 14 to obtain a freeze order until Feb. 16, since the Central Court and Supreme Court have yet to rule on the land ownership in the neighborhood. The case goes back to 2012 when the familys lawyers resorted to the Israeli Central Court to file a lawsuit against Nahalat Shimon, an organization that represents settlers, claiming that the neighborhoods lands, including the houses of the Sabbagh families, belong to settlers. The court rejected to start a lawsuit on the land ownership, which prompted lawyers to appeal before the Israeli Supreme Court, according to Abu Hussein. He told Al-Monitor, The Supreme Court rejected the appeal against the Central Courts decision on Nov. 15, 2018, which allowed the Execution Office to issue the eviction order, since the Supreme Court is the highest judicial court in Israel." He added that more than six families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood are facing eviction, along with the Sabbagh family. Mohammed Sabbagh, 70, has been living with his family in a 60-square-meter (646-square-feet) apartment in the neighborhood since 1962. I am anxiously waiting with my four brothers for the Execution Offices decision about the eviction. We have no other place to go to, Sabbagh told Al-Monitor. We submitted a request to the Supreme Court to investigate the ownership of the land, but the court rejected it. We have documents that refute the settlers claim to the ownership of the land." The eviction of the Sabbagh families has attracted European attention as European Union heads of missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah visited the Sabbagh family on Jan. 21, who said in a press statement, Further settlement plans including evictions are being moved forward in Sheikh Jarrah. It continued, The policy of settlement construction and expansion, including in East Jerusalem, is illegal under international law, and its continuation undermines the viability of the two-state solution and the prospect for a lasting peace." The Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood has been witnessing an uptick in the attacks by settler organizations, which prompted its residents to organize a demonstration on Jan. 18, in which dozens of Jerusalemites and Israeli left-wing activists participated, to protest against the decision to evacuate the Sabbagh family and against the expansion of settlements in the neighborhood. Besides the Sabbagh family, more than six other Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah face the threat of eviction from their home, including al-Kurd, al-Qassem, al-Dajani and al-Daoudi families. All of them are waiting for the courts decision in the case. Saleh Abu Diab, a member of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood committee, told Al-Monitor, The Supreme Court of Israel convened on Jan. 30 and considered the appeal against the decision of the Magistrate's Court on four of the Palestinian families. The Supreme Court requests Israeli settlers to submit all documents they have proving their ownership of the land where the houses are built to the next session slated for March. Abu Diab is one of the organizers of the weekly demonstration in the neighborhood against the settlement activities, working with peace activists from around the world and diplomatic missions. The last protest was held on Feb. 1, when he was arrested for a few hours before he was released on bail of 5,000 Israeli shekels ($1,373) and a restraining order, prohibiting him from entering the court for 15 days, from the day of arrest. We decided to expand our weekly protests in the neighborhood against the sweeping settlements. We also decided to work with peace activists around the world and diplomatic missions. Jerusalemites are facing a systematic expulsion from their homes and neighborhoods, which only grew worse after US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, he told Al-Monitor. Abu Diab noted, Eleven families have been notified of eviction and that's only paving the way for the expulsion of the entire population of the neighborhood, amounting to 1,200 residents, since all of them have the same conditions as those notified. Jerusalems Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood was established in 1956 as per an agreement signed by United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the Jordanian government, which governed the West Bank prior to its occupation in 1967. Homes were built to accommodate 28 families that were forcibly expelled from their lands during 1948. Over the years, the number of families increased, but in 1972, Nahalat Shimon declared that settlers owned the land, where Palestinian homes were built. The eviction of Sheikh Jarrah should it happen would be another nakba [catastrophe]. We are making every effort to prevent this forcible expulsion by communicating with European diplomatic missions. We sent an urgent appeal to King Abdullah II of Jordan to intervene because those houses were built under an agreement between the Jordanian government and UNRWA, Abu Diab said. Abu Hussein noted, The Israeli authorities have intensified its measures and plans to take over more Palestinian lands in East Jerusalem. The most recent of which was the governments approval in May 2018 of a plan to register and redemarcate lands in East Jerusalem, which is slated to be implemented by the land registration department at the Israeli Ministry of Justice. The first phase of this project is scheduled to be implemented by 2021, and the second phase by 2025. According to Israels Channel 7 report on May 13, 2018, 50% of the land will be settled by 2021 and the rest will be completed by 2025. The report said that the government will allocate a budget of 50 million shekels ($13.7 million) to complete this project. Khalil Tufakji, director of the Maps and Survey Department at Jerusalems Orient House, told Al-Monitor that the neighborhood faces a major settlement project, whereby it would be completely destroyed to make room for 200 settler housing units. He noted that the land settlement project in East Jerusalem aims to register the citys lands in the name of Jewish settlers, namely the lands that are not owned by anyone with proof that they belong to the state. Palestinians feel that Israel wants to benefit from the current political conditions, especially in light of the unmatched US support, and from the stalemate in the peace process in order to systematically implement the settlement projects in Jerusalem, with the aim of further weakening the Palestinian presence. What is happening in Sheikh Jarrah now could be seen as a prelude to complete demolition and replacement with a settlement neighborhood. The summit in Sochi slated for Feb. 14 will bring together Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in their first meeting since the United States announced a pullout from Syria. In an interview with major Russian media outlets Kommersant, Ria Novosti and TASS Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said Moscow wants the American occupation to end. For Russia, an ideal scenario would include the handover of US-controlled territory to the Syrian government. These include the eastern bank of the Euphrates, Manbij and the US outpost at al-Tanf hugging the borders of Jordan and Iraq. However, it remains unclear whether the Americans are ready to withdraw from all these areas. The US military base in southeastern Syria and the 55-kilometer (34-mile) safe zone around it raise the most questions from Moscow. Vershinin and the special presidential envoy for Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, are in charge of the Syrian peace process and related talks with the UN and Moscow's regional partners. As Vershinin sees it, the Sochi trilateral summit will consider the main issue of how to prevent destabilization and chaos amid the US withdrawal and to allow for a smooth control over the process. It seems certain that the Americans will not hand over control of their military bases and the Iraqi border to the Syrian government. In choosing their successors, the Americans will opt for either Turkey or the Kurds. Being more in favor of the latter, Moscow in every possible way has been encouraging a dialogue between the Kurds and Damascus. As long as the dialogue continues, Russia will try to prevent Turkey from mounting a new military operation against the Kurds on Syrian soil. Vershinin made clear that the presence of the Syrian army around Manbij, which Ankara lays claims to, and Russian patrols of the districts around the city were a signal of intent of sorts. During the US withdrawal [from Syria] there should not be a vacuum that will be filled by terrorists or pro-regime elements, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said earlier this week. Asked by Kommersant to comment on Cavusoglu's statement, Vershinin said, We have always stated that before talking about other sides security, we must speak about Syrias restored territorial integrity. In his interview, the deputy foreign minister repeatedly emphasized the fact that Ankara, a party to the Astana process, had put its signature to the documents safeguarding Syrias sovereignty and territorial integrity and must live up to its promises. Moscow appears to disapprove of Ankaras plan to set up a 32-kilometer (20-mile) buffer zone. Putin has referred to the Adana protocol of 1998 as a way for Damascus and Ankara to settle the issue. We will never agree with part of sovereign Syrian territory remaining out of Damascus' control, Vershinin said. But he also made an allusion that indicated that the idea of the buffer zone is being examined and that compromises are possible. Moscow apparently seeks to persuade Ankara that a zone may not be necessary and that it will suffice to ensure that border security will prevent militants from penetrating Turkey. To that end, Syria should be allowed to station its troops at the border. Should this option fail, Russia will insist on defining the zone as a temporary solution in all documents, which is the case for all the de-escalation zones; Idlib is the only remaining functioning de-escalation zone. Until now, Syrian authorities have been vocally critical of Ankaras actions on that front. Yet Syrian opposition media reported that Turkish security officials and Damascus representatives had negotiated in Moscow in early February. Vershinin neither confirmed nor denied the reports about such a Syrian-Turkish meeting in Moscow. As far as the situation around Idlib is concerned, the statements by Russian policymakers make it increasingly apparent that a military operation is unavoidable. This has become even more so the case as almost the entire de-escalation zone is now controlled by terrorists rather than the armed opposition. When asked about evacuation plans for Idlibs civilian population, Vershinin replied, We deem any attempts on our part or on the part of the entire international community to preserve the presence of terrorists in this province both unnecessary and unacceptable. The operation will be undertaken in the most efficient way, Vershinin said, avoiding specifying whether the Russia-backed Syrian army would spearhead the operation or if it would be a joint Turkish-Russian campaign. Finding the most effective way to eliminate terrorists and minimize civilian casualties in Idlib is also likely to be on the Sochi summit agenda. In addition to discussing the situation on the ground, the summit will also address, as usual, the issue of political settlement in Syria. After nearly 12 months of negotiations, the Astana trio has compiled a list of 150 candidates for the Syrian constitutional committee. The list has also been approved by Damascus and the Syrian opposition, yet Western states pressured the UN into refusing to back the list. For now, about five to six names from the civil society quota have raised doubts. Russia and [other] guarantors are ready to consider the UN reservations to preserve the cornerstone, the essence of our work, to keep the list intact at its core and, if necessary, change a few names without compromising the quality, Vershinin said. Quality, in Moscows reading, implies consent to the list by all the parties to the conflict as well as the mediators. The approval of the parties means that they will not quit the political process. It happened repeatedly in the past that when a round of consultations was convened in Geneva, it was followed by the withdrawal of a party for some reason. We cannot allow that to happen, the diplomat said. The Iranian-Israeli conflict in Syria is unlikely to be address at the summit, but is one issue which has a tremendous impact on the Syrian conundrum. Putin will be meeting with Rouhani on Feb. 14 and with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Feb. 21. Moscow cannot openly accuse Tehran of building up its presence on the Syrian territory to oppose Israel. That is why Russia publicly condemns the Israeli attacks on Syria while hardly doing anything to avert them. The red line for Moscow is the security of Russian military and specialists in Syria. We stated that such arbitrary attacks on sovereign Syrian territory should be stopped and ruled out, Vershinin said. At the same time, commenting on Irans actions, he made it clear that they should be limited to supporting the Syrian government in its fight against terrorism. Commenting on Israel's view that Hezbollah bases in Syria are legitimate targets since they are used by terrorists, just as Turkey considers it legitimate to launch offensive against Kurds affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party, Vershinin said, We respect the stance of all countries, including on such quite sensitive issues. We presume that there is a list of terrorist organizations compiled by the UN Security Council. Everyone needs to respect the list and act accordingly. In all other matters it is up to countries to decide. Meanwhile, we stress that we abide by our main principles, the UN principles, including non-interference in the affairs of sovereign states. The statement can be interpreted in a number of ways. Still, there can be only one conclusion. Russia does not want to be at odds with other parties. It has its own red lines for each regional partner. However, it is ready to turn a blind eye to their actions if it gains support for a Syria policy Moscow considers necessary in return. This means that Russia is very tolerant when it comes to all players in Syria except the United States. The Pentagon will re-evaluate a plan to grow the US fleet to 355 ships, a move that experts worry could diminish the services presence as Iran poses a renewed challenge to Middle East waterways through proxy groups. Speaking at the Pentagon earlier this month, the Navys top officer said that the decision, which will be paired with the US administrations new budget, was made to align the maritime services mission with the Defense Departments new strategy that focuses on China and Russia. In light of the new National Defense Strategy and changes in the security environment since that was put out, were doing a new force structure assessment, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson told reporters. Well see where that goes. The Navy currently has 288 deployable ships, about a third of which are currently deployed overseas, and has typically kept two of its three forward-deployed aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, according to a recent study by Chatham House. The US Fifth Fleet, based in Manama, Bahrain, houses about 7,000 American troops. Experts say the effort to limit the expansion of the force is the first sign that the service may mean the Navy will be less capable to cover global missions, potentially calling into question its Middle East deployments as US troops are set to leave Syria. The 355-ship Navy wasnt something that was made up out of whole cloth. It was studied extensively, said John Miller, a retired three-star admiral who led US Naval Forces Central Command until 2015. We back off that number at our own peril. Though Navy leaders have hinted at their frustrations with the goal both publicly and privately for months, a fresh service recommendation cautioning against the 355-ship number could anger Trump and defense hawks in Congress. Republicans have long called for a larger fleet to help the service meet its requirements. We caution everybody that 355 is a target, Vice Adm. William Merz told a conference last year. Trump first pledged to expand the Navy to 350 ships in a national security speech in Philadelphia in September 2016. And Congress, led by Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the former chairman of a defense panel subcommittee for seapower, passed the 355-ship goal into law in the fiscal year 2018 US Defense Authorization bill. Wicker and the Republicans made it the law of the land and theyre not going to move away from that quickly, said Jerry Hendrix, a retired US Navy captain and vice president with the Telemus Group, a Virginia-based defense consultancy. The Navy, he said, wants this [force structure assessment] because they appear eager to have the flexibility to move away from 355. But preserving a smaller fleet could challenge US efforts to project power in the Middle East, experts say. Dating back to the Jimmy Carter administration, the United States has pledged to use military force to protect the free flow of maritime trade through from the Persian Gulf, the hub for 30% of the worlds oil traffic, according to the US Energy Information Administration. The US intelligence communitys threat assessment released last month indicated that dangerous interactions with the Iranian navy have been less frequent during the past year. But those activities could resume should Iran seek to project an image of strength in light of the Trump administrations renewal of oil sanctions against Tehran, the report said. Though dangerous interactions appear to have decreased, Iran continues to fire warning shots near US vessels and presents challenges to navigation in the Red Sea. In December, Iranian ships fired rockets in waters patrolled by a US carrier strike group, just months after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy fired off a short-range anti-ship missile in test exercises in the Gulf. You counter that with a credible military presence, said Miller, the former Navy commander in the Gulf. You have to be present to do that. The Navys decision to walk away from the 355-ship target, though mostly done in public, appears to have flown under Trumps radar. But even as the president is distracted by other priorities, the move could anger the commander in chief. I am not sure the president is aware of the degree to which the Navy leadership team is hedging on 355, said Hendrix. In fact, I keep waiting for the day he realizes that and begins tweeting about it. In June 2017, the Knesset Science and Technology Committee devoted a hearing to the cyber threat against Israels elections. Experts assured lawmakers that ballots are not under threat because the Central Elections Committee has an independent, closed-circuit system that cannot be hacked. We decided not to go over to computerized voting, mostly because of what happened in the US presidential election, an Israeli source close to the elections committee told Al-Monitor. We would rather count the votes [by hand] at a slower pace, and ascertain that there is no possible infiltration of a computerized system by external elements. Nonetheless, the Jan. 7 warning by Shin Bet security agency chief Nadav Argaman continues to resonate. He said he was certain a foreign state would intervene in the upcoming elections, and I know what Im talking about. The head of the Central Elections Committee, Supreme Court Justice Hanan Melcer, recently echoed Argamans concerns about the April 9 elections. Melcer has been troubled by this issue since assuming his position almost two years, meeting extensively with cyber and social media experts in a bid to prevent foreign cyber influence on the elections. In a Jan. 29 keynote address to the Cybertech Conference 2019 in Tel Aviv, former Labor Knesset member and respected tech tycoon Erel Margalit issued a pointed warning. A prime minister under criminal investigation cannot be given sole responsibility to oversee the integrity of the general election, Margalit said. He was referring to last years decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to transfer responsibility for information and data security from the Shin Bet to the National Cyber Directorate, which is under his control, despite strong opposition by the Shin Bet and other Israeli security agencies. The Cyber Directorate has sweeping powers but is not currently subject to regulation. The fact that a Netanyahu appointee heads this powerful body in an era of external cyber influence and meddling should trouble every Israeli, Margalit told Al-Monitor. Asked whether he was concerned that the Cyber Directorate would help Netanyahu skew the elections, Margalit responded firmly in the negative. Of course not. The directorate is headed by a worthy, honest person. My concern is that it will not be motivated to combat foreign cyber meddling by nations or other bodies seeking to influence the elections because of some form of implicit direction from the top. This must be neutralized. Margalit believes Israel needs legislation to regulate the cybersecurity field, just as it enacted a law overseeing the activity of the Shin Bet at the time. The current state of affairs is untenable. The prime minister was quick to issue a temporary order [on transferring responsibility to the Cyber Directorate] and theres no legislation on this issue. There is no regulation and the Cyber Directorate can operate unfettered without requiring regulatory authorization or oversight. Col. (res.) Gabi Siboni, head of the cybersecurity program at the Institute for National Security Studies, told Al-Monitor, Israel is secured on a very high level against classic cyber threats. Classic threats are attempts by a foreign state or agency to meddle in computerized election systems. The additional threat, of manipulating peoples votes, is more challenging, Siboni added. This can be carried out by bot accounts and networks, creating manipulation and disinformation, the way it was done in the US. In this sense, according to Siboni, Israel is vulnerable. A subcommittee of the Knessets Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, meeting behind closed doors, recently discussed the possibility of establishing a special agency under the Central Elections Committee tasked with identifying foreign manipulation and information fraud directed at Israel during election campaigns. The idea was rejected. The most significant and important challenge is knowing how to identify those trying to influence you from the outside, said Siboni. The minute you know who operates what and where, you can thwart such attempts and defend yourself; you have an array of defensive tools, but it is not effective if you have not identified such activity and its threat. There is no agency currently tasked with this issue. Justice Melcer met in October 2018 with senior officials at Facebook Israel in a bid to cooperate ahead of the elections. Melcer is taking other measures, among them retaining the services of Buky Carmeli, the former head of the National Cyber Security Authority, to help the Central Elections Committee. In addition to Carmeli, Melcer is getting help from the Shin Bet and the National Cyber Directorate. He hopes that by using the tools and protective measures of a variety of separate agencies, he can foil attempts to manipulate the outcome of the elections. The Central Elections Committee is preparing for three main scenarios. The first two have to do with external meddling in the campaign, with the immediate suspects being Russia and Iran. The Russians have a proven record of similar activity in the United States and Europe. They like meddling for the sake of meddling, a senior Israeli source in the cyber field told Al-Monitor. It is unclear whether they have a certain agenda, but they will always be there in an effort to influence or create chaos. Iran has a clear motivation to interfere in the Israeli elections. Here too, the foremost goal is to create chaos, said the source. Israeli authorities are also concerned about possible attempts to influence the elections from within, using fake bot accounts on behalf of one of the candidates. When dealing with internal activity, the challenge is even greater, said the cybersecurity source. Candidates can get foreign elements to operate on their behalf from abroad and we will be hard pressed to identify them in real time. Supporters of Netanyahu have been far more active in this field than activists for other candidates. As previously reported here, several bot accounts operating on Netanyahus behalf were recently exposed. It is unclear who ran or funded the activity. Netanyahu is a master manipulator and knows how to leverage influence in his favor by using everything going around the internet. When Facebook announced on Jan. 31 that it had foiled an Iranian attempt to influence the Israeli elections, media supportive of Netanyahu were quick to come out with a fake headline saying, Iranian propaganda attempt to unseat Netanyahu thwarted. The Facebook announcement did not mention Netanyahu, but this did not stop his people from pushing this fabricated headline onto all available platforms. The public does not know the difference, does not read the small print, but gets the impression that the Iranians do not want Netanyahu. If the Iranians do not want him, the Israelis will vote for him. That is how it works, and this is probably how it will keep working over the next two months. The top tier of candidates elected in the Feb. 11 Labor Party primaries consists of a diverse and high-quality team. Nevertheless, it also indicates that Labor has stepped back from center stage and no longer offers a viable alternative to the current government. Elected to the top two slots were two young Knesset members, Itzik Shmuli (39) and Stav Shaffir (33), both of them icons of the social protest movement in the summer of 2011. Both candidates managed to beat two former party leaders: Shelly Yachimovich came in third and Amir Peretz, a former Labor minister of defense, came in fourth. Yachimovich and Peretz are both powerful and experienced social brands, too, but the very party that established the state and dominated every aspect of life so high-handedly for decades is now nothing more than a small faction championing a social agenda. The evidence can be seen in the polls of the last few weeks, which give it an average of six to seven seats (similar to the numbers the same polls give to Arab-Israeli Knesset member Ahmad Tibis party). The partys chances of recovery are slim. In 2015, Labor ran on one ticket with Hatnua as the Zionist Camp. The partnership with Hatnua head Tzipi Livni created a genuine alternative. It opened the door to a new government led by two experienced leaders, Livni and Labors Isaac Herzog, under a banner of diplomatic opportunities. It contrasted sharply with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus approach to the peace process. But it is not the Labor Party of the 2019 election. In terms of diplomatic affairs, particularly the peace process, the party has been plagued by an identity crisis for years. Efforts by its leaders to appeal to the right have led to the emergence of a very different party from the historic Labor brand. While its members still identify with the center-left and support a two-state solution, most of their focus is on social issues. This orientation is evident in the kinds of legislation that the party supports. Avi Gabbay, the current Labor leader, grew up in a Likud home. Shortly after being elected to this position, he promised to win 30 seats for Labor, including seats that would have otherwise gone to the Likud. Since then, he has managed to wear away what was left of the partys diplomatic agenda. From the beginning, he chose to veer right with statements in support of the settlements. While they caused many longstanding Labor Party members to abandon ship, they also failed to draw new supporters from the Likud. It was a lethal error that, as he would learn, would be very hard to fix. Gabbay wore away even more at his partys diplomatic wing when he publicly deposed Livni and ended their partnership. Despite all the criticism she has faced, Livni is still the most senior political figure identified with the idea of a two-state solution. She is loud and clear in presenting a detailed alternative to the right on diplomatic affairs. With Livni and the Labor Partys social brand, Gabbay could have offered the public a far more comprehensive and complete product. Gabbay is a relatively new political player. It has only been four years since he first entered politics in 2015 as a minister in Kahlons Kulanu in the right-wing government. While he since managed to win the Labor leadership, he has never fully realized what that means, nor apparently attributed it any importance. He may always have seen the prime ministers office beckoning, but he ended up becoming the head of a niche party straddling the electoral threshold. After the partys new list was elected in the primaries, Gabbay tweeted, We will go from town to town and neighborhood to neighborhood over the next 57 days to bring the citizens of Israel back to our way, the way of [Israels first Prime Minister David] Ben-Gurion and [late Prime Minister] Yitzhak Rabin. Gabbay was grasping at the founding generation of the Labor Party and its two most popular prime ministers, both of whom were great security hawks but equally great statesmen. In other words, he was trying to evoke a tribal sentiment. The problem is that quite a few people think that it is really Benny Gantz, chairman of the new Israel Resilience, who is carrying on the Rabin legacy. In an interview with Army Radio on the morning after the primaries, Gabbay seemed pleased with the results, and rightfully so. After many tough days of terrible polls and initiatives to replace him, he could find some encouragement in the idea that his most prominent opposition in the party, Knesset member Eitan Cabel, found himself in an unrealistic slot on the party list. Labor proved on Feb. 11 that it is still alive and kicking. After all, it did bring 30,000 members out of their homes to vote for the various candidates. It was no small feat, considering that the polls predicted the partys ultimate collapse. As it turned out, reports of its demise were premature. Labor will be running in the upcoming election with a very good list that exemplifies diversity. There are three Mizrahi of Middle Eastern origin men and three women in its top tier. There is also a good chance that it will recover in the polls. But even if Labor soars, winning more than 10 seats, it will still not be a major player. That era is over. In his radio interview, Gabbay announced that under his leadership, Labor will do everything it can to replace the current government. On the other hand, he refused to commit to recommending the leader of the largest center-left party to the president to form the next government. Was it a strategic decision? Perhaps. None of this changes the fact that the Labor primaries completed the process by which the historic party has transformed from the leading alternative to the right into a high-quality, niche social party, made up of combative and highly regarded members of the Knesset. Labor today offers a clear social-democratic agenda. On the other hand, its role as a political alternative to the right-wing government has been taken over by Gantz new party. The polls show the general as widely deemed highly suitable to serve as prime minister. Gantz has filled the vacuum left by Gabbay. The Labor chairman has not come to be identified with the banner of diplomatic affairs. Nor is he considered an alternative to Netanyahu, particularly given his low showing in the polls as being suitable for prime minister. Under other circumstances, if Labor had offered a political alternative, it is quite possible that Gantz (considered Rabins political twin) would have found his place in the party. Meanwhile, Labor and its leader must adapt to the new reality. Over the past few weeks, Gabbay has stopped making grandiose declarations that he will be the next prime minister, showing that even he has realized that his ascension to the prime ministers office is a pipe dream. Sometime in the very near future, possibly right after the next election, the question of whether Gabbay is the right person to lead the party will become much more substantial. At that point, it is quite possible that Shmuli and Shaffir will compete for the role. Then the final turnabout will be completed. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived at the African Union (AU) summit Feb. 10 with a specific and detailed wish list. Addressing African leaders at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Abbas asked for additional support for the Palestinian issue in the coming period in order to achieve full membership for the State of Palestine in the United Nations. He also called on African states to support the idea of an international [Israeli-Palestinian peace] conference and to participate in it. The list of speakers at the summit was long and Abbas maximized well his five-minute speaking slot. Still, the important part of his visit was not really his speech, but rather the family photo taken at the end of the opening ceremony, with the Palestinian president standing right in front. Abbas was there; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not. In 2013, the AU granted the Palestinians an observer status, voicing support for the Palestinian struggle to establish an independent state. In fact, ever since the Palestinians were granted observer status, Abbas has made a point of regularly addressing the organization and participating in its summits. Israel, for its part, has been struggling for years to achieve that same status, lost in 2002 when the former Organization of African Unity was dissolved and replaced by the AU. And it is not as if Israel did not try hard enough. Israeli diplomats told Al-Monitor on several occasions that the Foreign Ministry prioritized links with AU seniors, hoping to regain the lost status. Special efforts were made on the level of AU officials posted in the Addis Ababa headquarters. True, when South African Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was elected AU Commission chair in 2012, Israel toned down its efforts, anticipating that Dlamini-Zuma would block Israeli advocacy. South African leadership had repeatedly expressed its support for the Palestinian cause in both words and deeds, and it is one of the leading countries of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement to boycott Israel. But when the South African politician stepped down, Jerusalem felt that the road was clear again for a renewed campaign. More so, in January 2018, Rwandan President Paul Kagame was elected AU chair, an appointment that opened for Israel new horizons and new hopes. Netanyahu and Kagame have developed over the past few years a close relationship and alliance. Kagame visited Israel several times; Netanyahu visited Kigali in July 2016, and is careful to meet with the Rwandan leader at international forums. During their latest meeting in November 2018, the two leaders agreed to open embassies in each others countries. This strong partnership even survived an unpleasant episode in 2018, when Kigali denied the existence of an agreement with Jerusalem to receive African immigrants deported by Israel. And with such a strong friendship, no wonder that the Israeli Foreign Ministry redoubled its efforts to integrate the AU. Another reason for optimism lies in the Jan. 20 resumption of ties between Israel and Chad, especially since Chadian politician Moussa Faki Mahamat has been serving for the past two years as chair of the AU Commission. It would have been natural for Netanyahu to ask his new friend, Chadian President Idriss Deby, to support Israel on its AU campaign. In addition, renewing ties with Muslim Chad meant one less hostile voice to Israel in that forum. But what for? Why does Israel need the observer status at the AU? A senior diplomatic source who had long served in Africa told Al-Monitor that there is more to it than just a competition with the Palestinians over visibility in international forums. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said, "The AU is changing and becoming a real political power, representing the African continent. No serious moves can be taken on any conflict in the continent without the AU being involved. Its ties and cooperation with the UN, for instance, have considerably developed and evolved, and the group has gained much credibility in terms of security policy." Despite Jerusalems hopes, 2018 went by without any tangible results on the AU front. In fact, Israel signaled on more than one occasion that it is more interested in bilateral alliances than multilateral ones not the most constructive approach. And so, Jerusalem reached the end of Kagames mandate at the head of the AU with little results to show. Sentiments in Jerusalem were that significant diplomatic efforts had not been matched by significant efforts on the leadership level. On Chad, for instance, negotiations and talks focused on security, and to some extent on smart agriculture; the AU was not really an issue. A senior Israeli political source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that Israeli participation in regional cooperation projects could have played a role also vis-a-vis the AU, giving AU reluctant members the "excuse" they might have needed to bypass Muslim objections. "North African countries, for instance, are committed to the Palestinian struggle, but are not necessarily eager on campaigning against Israel. These countries have their own interests as well. If Israel would have advanced on regional water projects or other regional development projects with Jordan or with Egypt, these African countries could have tacitly dropped the Palestinian cause in the AU forum," the source said. Indeed, Egypt could be a major factor in Israels African integration policy, for better or for worse. No doubt, the election of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to replace Kagame at the helm of the AU for 2019 expedited the invitation for Abbas to speak at the February summit. And so, Israeli diplomats are not so optimistic. "Israel has many friends in Africa, including powerful countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria. Still, by nature, the AU likes making decisions on consensus, and Israel is far from being a consensual topic on the African continent," the source added. Junaid Amer Hameed, a young archaeologist from Baghdad, was working as a guide at the National Museum of Iraq in 2016 when he met Lamia al-Gailani, Iraqs iconic archaeologist. She had heard that Amer was interested in archaeology and asked to meet him. "She asked if I prefer to work as a guide or to focus on my specialization in cuneiform studies. I told her working at excavations is the dream of every archaeologist, besides other tasks," Amer said. She was the best supporter of the museum in its constant endeavors to recover its treasures [after being looted in the 2003 US invasion]. She also supported the training of its staff through workshops outside the country. "She liked supporting the youth," he said. "Two days before she passed away, she was in Amman attending a workshop to train curators protecting the cultural heritage of Iraq and Syria." Amer, who now works in the museum as an Assyriologist, is one of the new generation of Iraqi archaeologists who were influenced and inspired by Gailani, who died on Jan. 18 in Amman at the age of 80. The world will remember Gailani as the archaeologist who helped Iraqs national museum recover from wartime looting, but the help and inspiration she has given to the countrys young archaeologists will be remembered just as much as her expertise in cuneiform seals and her tireless work of cataloguing her countrys heritage. "This is the duty I owe to my distinguished professor, Dr. Gailani," Culture Minister Abdul-Ameer al-Hamdani, an archaeologist himself, wrote on Facebook. "I will be keen to gather and document her unique heritage, the minister said without further detail. Archaeological circles think the ministry may produce a special book on her works. Mourners carried Gailani's flag-draped coffin during her Jan. 21 memorial in the National Museum in Baghdad, where she started working in 1961 as a curator. From the 1980s on, Gailani spent most of her time in the United Kingdom. However, she visited Iraq every year. Her visits did not wane under the sanctions in the 1990s and in March 2003, when the US forces invaded Iraq, she was not only there but among the first to enter the looted national museum to see what remained. Thousands of artifacts were lost, including 7,000 cylinder seals, Gailani's main interest. Gailani worked with the US-affiliated Iraq Reconstruction Management Office and helped assess the damage and catalog the remaining objects. Her work helped recover thousands of priceless objects. When the museum was eventually reopened in 2015, its collection, though impressive, was a pale shadow of what it was. But she also invested in the archaeological community, helping like-minded young people whenever she could. Zaid Issam, a 27-year old Iraqi architect and master's student in cultural preservation at the Jordanian German University, met Gailani in 2017 at a training workshop in Amman for the staff of the Baghdad, Sulaimaniyah and Basra Museums in coordination with Columbia University and The Metropolitan Museum in New York. Issam just walked into the workshop thinking it was open for the public, though it was not. "But she noticed my passion and she invited me to attend the workshop and even sent me an invitation the next time," he said. "She was an encyclopedic figure, quite knowledgeable beyond her specific specialty," he added. "She kept pace with the developments in archaeology and worked hard to promote the abilities of Iraqi professionals." Issam remembered her supplying Baghdad with cutting-edge equipment to catalog the museum's contents and her meticulous work identifying and curating the statues from Hatra, a 2nd century CE city and trade center in the Parthian Empire. "Back at Baghdad University, I was familiar with the name Lamia Gailani, which was connected to cylinder seals and the archaeological site of Tell edh-Dhiba'i near Baghdad," Helen Malko, a young Iraqi archaeologist at Columbia University, NY, told Al-Monitor. "Later, I had the chance to meet her in person and spend some time working with her at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She was enthusiastic and inspiring." Malko went on, "One afternoon I joined her to look at drawings of a few cylinder seals that had [just been discovered] by Iraqi archaeologists in southern Iraq. She kept her good humor as we struggled with deciphering the iconography on them. She addded, "Gailani was and will remain a role model for many, especially for Iraqi female archaeologists and museum professionals." Though Gailani lived a good part of her life abroad, "she visited Iraq at least once a year, taking books and other supplies to her colleagues in the museum, bringing out Iraqi publications to sell (not at a profit!) so people abroad could know what was going on," said Jane Moon, co-director of the Charax Spasinou Project, an archaeological excavation project in a site founded in 324 BCE by Alexander the Great. Moon, who knew Gailani since 1970s, said that the archaeologist was very helpful when she and her husband wanted to start a field project in Iraq in 2012. "I didn't know where to start," said Moon. "She advised me where to go and talked to the people running the State Board for Antiquities and Heritage, recommending us to them and explaining that we genuinely wanted to help Iraqi archaeology. It was a strange request for an excavation permit at the time, but thanks to her, it was granted to us." "She was a wonderful person," said Barnadet Hanna al-Maslob, an Iraqi archaeologist and former curator of the Cultural Museum of Mosul. "I met her for the last time in June 2018. On the graduation ceremony of a workshop hold in London, she told me, 'Do not care about getting old and approaching retirement. Work and learn as if you have just begun your career! archaeology is not a job; it is about pleasure and art." In 2016, Gailani worked with the UK-based charity Friends of Basra Museum to set up the Basra Museum. "It was a huge challenge, as there were [efforts] in Baghdad to stop the project," said Moon. "Lamia managed to sort it out. I have heard she would take time to talk to students at conferences, and not spend all her time with the other important folk. That would be typical of her." Being well educated both in Arabic and in English, Gailani could access sources in both languages. "She was a bridge between Iraqi and foreign scholars," she said. As a young archaeologist, Malko considered Gailani a major source of inspiration. "She was working with the British Museum to help train the people at Basra Museum," she said. "She is a role model for all of us, especially as women, on what we could achieve." ANNAPOLIS (February 12, 2019)After several days of debate, a Senate bill to effectively rescind Republican Gov. Larry Hogan's executive order starting Maryland public schools after Labor Day passed 31-13 on Tuesday, with Democrats voting yes and Republicans voting no. The governor said last week he planned to introduce a competing bill that says that any local school system that aims to start school before Labor Day will be required to put that decision on the ballot, giving "genuine local control" over the issue. Hogan said his plan to introduce legislation came after special interest groups painted his initiative as a "crazy idea of the governor" to force schools to change, all while he was following recommendations set forth under a Democratic administration. The executive order mandated the school year start after Labor Day, last 180 days and end by June 15, with five days additional discretionary days for emergencies or weather-related closures. Taking effect in the 2017-2018 school year, the move had support from over 70 percent of Maryland residents, Hogan said Thursday morning in a press conference. Local school systems could set their own academic calendars, provided they follow Hogan's start and end dates and length of school year set in the order. The move to start schools after Labor Day started in 2013 under former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley, D, when a task force to study a post-Labor Day start date was established. Since then, five bills supporting school after Labor Day have been introduced, with bipartisan support from nearly 60 sponsors. Of those, 29 still serve in the General Assembly, according to a press release from the governor's office. Hogan pointed to the task force recommendation, as well as independent polls from Goucher College taken in 2014 and 2015 indicating about 70 percent of Marylanders supported the later school-start initiative. Prior to Hogan's order, school districts had the choice to start school when they wanted, according to Sen. Paul Pinsky, D-Prince George's. However, when they had the choice, out of the 24 jurisdictions, 23 chose to start before Labor Day, said Pinsky, a lead sponsor of Senate Bill 128, which fights back against Hogan's order in this year's legislative session. His bill requires that each local board of education set the start and end dates for the school year for public schools, along with repealing the provision that authorizes a five-day extension after June 15 without approval from the State Board of Education. "We are not telling people when to start school, we want to put it back in their hands," Pinsky said on his bill's goals during a debate on the state Senate floor later Thursday morning. However, Hogan argues that the Democrats' legislation "masquerades under the guise of more local control, which would do the opposite of what local citizens want and instead empower a handful of unaccountable bureaucrats and administrators," he said in the press conference last week. Pinsky also argued that Hogan's order constrains religious holidays, spring breaks, staff trainings and eliminates counties' flexibility to address local concerns such as severe weather. Making decisions on school calendars is tough work, and the best decisions for scheduling can be made by the teachers, parents, students and support staff, said Steven Hershkowitz, press secretary for the Maryland State Education Association, which supports Pinsky's bill. If approved in the House, the bill will take effect on July 1. Hogan can veto the bill but the Democrats in the legislature hold a veto-proof three-fifths majority and can override it. Hogan can also organize constituents to overturn the Democrats' legislation through a popular referendum, which requires a petition with signatures and support from 3 percent of registered voters in the state, calculated based on the number of votes cast for governor in the most recent election. Hogan last week said there's a 100 percent chance that voters will gather the signatures they need to put a referendum on the ballot, with a majority of the voters in favor of mandating a later start. Hogan released a statement on his Facebook page Tuesday, criticizing senators who voted to repeal his executive order after previously endorsing post-Labor Day school starts. "If that isn't blatant, partisan hypocrisy, then I don't know what is," he wrote in a post on Facebook. Hogan's competing bill will be introduced in the coming days, according to spokeswoman Shareese Churchill. It is unlikely to pass in the Democrat-controlled General Assembly. "Regardless of the actions they take, legislators will fail," Hogan said. "This won't be the end of it," Minority Whip Sen. Stephen Hershey, R-Kent, Queen Anne's, Cecil and Caroline, said after the bill passed in the Senate Tuesday. "The governor and the comptroller might team up again and go to referendum, and maybe we can get the people to vote on this issue to determine what's most important for the state of Maryland." Comptroller Peter Franchot, D, cited increased tax revenue in his support for the governor's later school start. Only hours after Iranians wrapped up nationwide marches Feb. 11 marking the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Iranian Revolution characterized as usual by anti-American slogans US President Donald Trump came out with his first-ever tweet in Persian, referring to four decades of rule by the Islamic Republic as a period of corruption, repression and terror. The tweet featured an iconic picture taken from protests mainly over economic grievances that rocked Iran in late 2017 and early 2018. The photojournalist who took the image, 37-year-old Yalda Moayyeri, was quick to react on her Instagram page, slamming Trump for exploiting her work. It would be a great honor for me if this image would be a symbol of freedom everywhere in the world, but having President Trump use it without my permission in a tweet in Persian is a great shame for me and causes me deep sorrow, Moayyeri said. Because of his policies, I, my family and my friends are forced to live under sanctions that are devastating our lives, she added, lamenting the travel ban that has affected ordinary Iranians including herself. This image shows my people and is for my people," Moayyeri said. Similar outrage was reflected in numerous social media posts that addressed the US president and his policies toward Iran. "Life had never been this tough and without a [bright] prospect before you took office. So please be kind enough and stop playing sympathizer [with ordinary Iranians]," tweeted Ziaeddin Nabavi, a prominent student movement leader in Iran and a critic of the Islamic Republic who spent eight years behind bars after being found guilty of multiple security charges. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was the first Iranian official to tell Trump it was high time for him to "rethink" US policy after 40 years of "wrong choices" on Iran. Speaking of "a glorious dawn" for the 1979 revolution's fifth decade, Iranian papers were filled with admiration for the nationwide rallies on Feb. 11 that ushered in a "new era." The rallies seemed to be one of the very rare occasions crossing partisan lines and uniting Iran's media outlets from across the political spectrum. "This is the face of Iran's Islamic Revolution," wrote Javan, a news site close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The more uncompromising, archconservative paper Kayhan, known for its anti-West editorials, termed the anniversary "the 40th slap, this time on Donald Trump's face." Trump, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Trump's national security adviser John Bolton were central targets of outrage at this year's rallies. They particularly came under the spotlight after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who rarely makes name references to "enemies," mentioned the trio at a speech last week. In an apparent clarification of the controversial slogan "Down with America," Khamenei stated that the phrase was meant for those three men and not the American people. Bolton also had a hectic day on social media Feb. 11, underlining the Islamic Republic's "failure" as well as posting a strongly worded video message. "So Ayatollah Khamenei, for all your boasts, for all your threats to the life of the American president I don't think you'll have many more anniversaries left to enjoy," he said in the one-minute clip posted on the official Twitter account of the White House. It is not the first time that Bolton has predicted the imminent downfall of the Islamic Republic. In 2017, he told a Paris convention of the Mujahedeen-e Khalq an exiled Iranian opposition group blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the United States until 2012 that a change in US policy under Trump will ensure that Iran's "revolution will not last until its 40th birthday. The unfulfilled prophecy was alluded to by Zarif as he praised his nation's participation "despite hardships and grievances" in an anniversary that "some in the US wished would never come." The Feb. 11 rallies were also associated with a wide range of innovative symbolic activities typical of such events in Iran. Demonstrators were handed papers written in the form of court verdicts to issue their own rulings against "enemies," including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Those maintaining a critical attitude toward President Hassan Rouhani and the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) found the occasion a venue for peaceful protests. Holding pictures of members of the nuclear-negotiating team, they called on them with sarcastic phrases to return the medals they received for a deal with world powers that conservatives increasingly view as a diplomatic failure. The same discontent was conveyed in a symbolic petition demanding that Iran resume its enrichment of uranium to the level of 20%, which it agreed to forego for years under the deal. The organizers may not have expected the country's atomic chief, Ali Akbar Salehi a member of the nuclear-negotiating team and a loud voice in support of the JCPOA to personally show up to sign the symbolic document. Getting further attention were the recurrent scenes of Iranian youths taking collective selfies and immediately posting them online as an indication that they take full pride in celebrating the revolution's birthday. Meanwhile, some used the occasion to vent their anger at harsh economic conditions as well as rampant corruption and nepotism. Another group insisted that their presence was no proof they were happy with the overall performance of government officials. "Dont get overexcited, you authorities," one placard read. "We are here to show support for the supreme leader." Former US House speaker and Donald Trump ally Newt Gingrich asked the Justice Department for advice last year on whether he should register as a foreign agent amid deepening involvement with groups seeking regime change in Iran. Gingrich asked the department in mid-September whether he should register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) after an undisclosed person asked him to urge a foreign ambassador in Washington to seek funding from that ambassadors country to promote democracy in Iran. Gingrich declined to respond to Al-Monitors requests for comment and its not clear if he ever went through with the person's request. Click above to read the document The request is spelled out in an Oct. 19 advisory opinion posted to the FARA web site. While Gingrich isnt named in the redacted document, descriptive details are a perfect match for his Virginia-based Gingrich Productions firm (Al-Monitor was able to independently confirm the request came from Gingrich). In his letter to the Justice Department, Gingrich also seeks guidance on whether he should register as a lobbyist for a foreign political party after making a number of paid appearances sponsored by the groups US affiliate both inside and outside the United States. While the foreign party isnt named, it appears to be a clear reference to the pro-regime change National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI-US); Gingrich has attended the group's annual gathering just outside of Paris several times. In its advisory opinion, the Justice Department says Gingrich, who has not registered as a foreign agent, may need to do so if the US affiliate is acting in any way on behalf of the parent party. Interestingly, the NCRIs US office itself has been registered under FARA as a foreign agent of the NCRI since 2012. A spokesman for the group said it had nothing to do with Gingrichs potential outreach to the unnamed foreign ambassador. Gingrich was an adviser to Trumps 2016 presidential campaign and remains close to the president, who sought his advice on how to avoid a Democratic blue wave ahead of the 2018 mid-term elections. His wife, Callista Gingrich, was tapped as ambassador to the Vatican in May 2017. But he isnt the only Washington insider in the presidents orbit whos close to the Iranian opposition. Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani has also long been a fixture at NCRI events. And Al-Monitor first reported that national security adviser John Bolton had disclosed being paid $40,000 for his appearance at the groups rally in France in 2017 before he joined the government. Gingrichs stepped-up political activity on behalf of the Iranian opposition is particularly noteworthy as the Donald Trump administration sponsors a Middle East conference in Poland this week that was originally billed as an anti-Tehran summit. Giuliani is slated to appear at an NCRI rally in Warsaw coinciding with the summit. PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at so.md/expungeme. (February 12, 2019)The Prince Frederick Barrack of the Maryland State Police (MSP) released the following arrest reports.FIREARM VIOLAIONS: On 1/24/2019 at 7:08 pm, Trooper First Class Backus responded to the 2100 block of Wilson Rd. in Huntingtown for a report of a stolen rifle. The complainant reported a AK-47 WASR rifle was missing from the residence but was unable to state when it had been taken. Investigation revealed that the complainant was prohibited from possessing a firearm in the State of Maryland. Numerous weapons and ammo were removed from the residence. An application of charges for various firearm violations has been submitted forPOSSESSION OF AMPHETAMINE, DEXTROAMPHETAMINE AND MARIJUANA: On 2/4/2019 at 5:01 pm, Trooper First Class Barlow and Trooper Stull working a stopping team stopped a vehicle for traffic violations on Armory Road in Prince Frederick. A moderate odor of raw marijuana was emitting from inside the vehicle. A probable cause search revealed marijuana, marijuana wax, amphetamine and dextroamphetamine pills., was arrested and incarcerated at the Calvert County Detention Center.POSSESSION OF HEROIN AND SWITCHBLADE: On 2/7/2019 at 3:16 pm, Cpl. Esnes stopped a vehicle at Route 4 near Parran Road in St. Leonard for traffic violations. Several criminal indicators were observed and Cpl. Esnes requested assistance with the traffic stop. Tpr. Strong, TFC McCombs and K-9 Benelli responded to assist. The K-9 scan resulted in a positive alert. A probable cause search revealed K2/Spice-Synthetic Marijuana, Heroin and Marijuana and a switchblade., were arrested and incarcerated at the Calvert County Detention Center. Charges for Concealed Dangerous Weapon are pending forDUI / POSSESSION OF HEROIN: On 2/8/2019 at 23:56 pm, Trooper First Class Davis responded to the Prince Frederick Walmart for a reported unconscious subjects inside a vehicle. The vehicle was located with the motor running and tranmission in park. Both the driver and passenger appeared to be asleep. A strong odor of burnt marijuana was emitting from inside the vehicle. A probable cause search revealed marijuana and heroin., were both arrested and incarcerated at the Calvert County Detention Center.POSSESSION OF ALPRAZOLAM & BUPRENORPHINE: On 2/2/2019 at 6:31 am, Trooper First Class Matthews stopped a vehicle for traffic violations on Rt. 4 south of Dares Beach Rd. in Prince Frederick. A K-9 unit arrived to assist and did a external scan and this resulted in a positive alert. A probable cause search revealed both Alprazolam and Buprenorphine pills., was arrested and incarcerated at the Calvert County Detention Center.POSSESSION OF CRACK COCAINE: On 2/2/2019 at 2:19 pm, Trooper First Class Lewis stopped a vehicle for traffic violations on Plum Point Rd. near Cecil Lane in Huntingtown. Because of several criminal indicators a K-9 scan was requested and resulted in a positive alert. A probable cause search was conducted and crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia were found., was arrested and incarcerated at the Calvert County Detention Center.Lisa M. Fulton, 38, of Huntingtown, arrested on 01/25/2019 @ 02:01 am by TPR A. FraserMason K. Mills, 27, of Lusby, arrested on 01/27/2019 @ 01:49 am by TPR R. MarschJames R. Hammett, 46, of California, arrested on 01/27/2019 @ 03:02 pm by TPR A. KellyTarvaris T. Reid, 41, of Huntingtown, arrested on 02/06/2019 @ 11:25 pm by TFC P. KaitzWilliam M. Stallings, 27, of St. Leonard, arrested on 02/08/2019 @ 11:56 pm by TFC T. DavisScott J. Desmet, 41, of Rockville, arrested on 02/09/2019 @ 02:13 am by TPR L. WoolmanMitchel A. Lefevre, 37, of Huntingtown, arrested on 02/01/2019 @ 12:43 am by TPR A. KellyWilliam J. Brown, 40, of Lexington Park, arrested on 02/01/2019 @ 08:38 am by TFC S. MatthewsStacy A. Shea, 55, of Lusby, arrested on 02/01/2019 @ 05:24 pm by TFC T. DavisKevin R. Maclean, 41, of Huntingtown, arrested on 02/02/2019 @ 05:04 pm by TFC S. BarlowGregory T. Horne, Jr., 23, of Lusby, arrested on 02/02/2019 @ 10:25 pm by TFC J. PalumboJennifer C. Mahoney, 49, of St. Leonard, arrested on 02/02/2019 @ 11:39 pm by TFC W. CostelloAmanda L. Warfield, 38, of Lothian, arrested on 02/03/2019 @ 01:08 am by TPR. K. StullQuanta K. Parker, 25, of Pr. Frederick, arrested on 02/03/2019 @ 02:16 am by TFC R. BackusJeremy R. Wahler, 21, of Hollywood, arrested on 02/03/2019 @ 03:55 am by TFC W. CostelloJamie P. Martin, 33, of Waldorf, arrested on 02/03/2019 @ 06:01 pm by TFC S. Barlow Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier? Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop. Breaking News Columbia Breaking News Greenville Breaking News Myrtle Beach Breaking News Aiken Breaking News Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time. Success! Please click the 'Allow' button in the 'Show Notifcations' alert in your browser if one is available. Thank you for signing up! Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page. I know I have mentioned the Milo and Grace Kistler family in previous columns but as a reminder, Grace was my Mothers sister. They lived just a couple miles north of us, and in addition to the other daily chores associated with family farms in those days, the Kistler family milked a barn full of cows by hand. Hank and Frank Wosters clan milked just a couple at the time, which was more than enough for the necessary milk and cream for two families. Those two seemed like work, but it was nothing compared to milking the 15 or so that walked in and out of the Kistler barn twice each day. I suppose there were other families in the neighborhood who milked enough to sell the cream in Chamberlain each Saturday evening, but I dont remember who they were. Along with the cream cans the Kistlers also gathered enough eggs throughout the week to turn into a bit of cash. Aunt Grace was plenty adept when she planted herself on a milk stool. I think the method she used was termed stripping but the nomenclature mattered little. She could fill a milk bucket faster than most of the fellows with large, time tested hands. We lost one of the Kistlers a couple weeks ago following a long and often difficult struggle with health. His name was Donald, and for several days following his death, he was the topic of a long string of emails between the Hank and Marie children. The emails were not only about a favorite cousin and his family. The topic wandered to other cousins and families who lived near Reliance. The Woster cousins to the south were also special but because their dad, Uncle Frank, and our dad were partners in cattle and farming we were together a lot serving in the role of hired hands. Certainly there was plenty of time for fun and I recall of couple of incidents that began as fun but ended with Jim, first cousin Leo and brother Terry in a bit of trouble. AMES, Iowa The United States continues to produce record amounts of beef, pork and poultry. Despite the high production and lower prices for competing pork, demand for U.S. beef from both domestic and foreign consumers continues to support the high production. Retail beef prices were higher in 2018 than in 2017, despite an increase in beef production suggesting strong beef demand, said Lee Schulz, associate professor in the Department of Economics at Iowa State University, during a recent phone interview. Through the first two weeks of 2019, the comprehensive beef cutout has averaged $8 higher than a year ago. Retailers have increased their beef features, helping support wholesale beef prices despite larger slaughter levels. Just because beef production is up does not necessarily mean that the average U.S. consumer is purchasing and ultimately consuming that much more beef. The last USDA WASDE report noted, per capita beef consumption in 2018 was up just 0.2 pounds per person or 0.4 percent despite the 2.9 percent increase in beef production. Higher retail beef prices even with this modest increase in per capita supplies suggests robust beef demand, Schulz noted. Exports were a big part of the story in 2018, up 11.5 percent year over year by volume, and will once again be critical for the market in 2019. Our export customers bought more, and they paid more for it than a year ago, said Schulz. That shows you how strong demand was for beef in 2018. More modest export growth is forecasted for 2019, up only 2.4 percent, but it is worth noting that the modest forecasts the past two years have been sharply exceeded. I'm expecting prices in 2019 will be a replay of 2018 prices, when we look at both feeder cattle and fed cattle. The soybean market during the summer growing season oftentimes takes its direction from the weather, and the way this summer is shaping up it It ends with just a little strike A little flame A little spark They all fall softly in the switching yard Thats how in hell they learn The angel in the engine Is whispering their names And asks you what this match will burn I wrote the above at 2 in the morning after watching the Government Accountability Office hearings on restraint, seclusion and death in special education (HERE.) Shortly after seeing the GAO coverage last May, I met with our local school nurse in order to start the process of registering my vaccine-injured twins for kindergarten after two years of homeschooling. First I had to ask about food handling and management of allergies, then I asked about the quiet room, adding that my husband and I werent going to sign off on its use. The nurse was taken aback and began to defend the roomkids like the quiet time, there would always be someone in there with them, it would never be locked, there were windows and it would never be used for punishment. I told her that as much as I knew in my heart that the staff at this school would never deliberately endanger my children, all the reassurances she was offering were the same as those used by schools where children had died. I said that if all attempts to stick to the Individual Education Plan failed on certain days, they should simply call me and I would be at the school in an instant, but we wouldnt agree to anyone laying hands on our children. Her face fell and she said impatiently, Well, I think weve been over all the potential disasters. Yes, of course, parents who over-focus on disastersher remark evoked a hash of recent studies equating autism with parental mental illnessnever mind whether those disasters are actually happening every day. If the nurse was trying to assure me that the room would never be used as punishment, the fact that the school suddenly dropped all plans to register the children for a summer program after this conversation was not reassuring. I could be wrong, but it seemed we were being punished for attempting to take away a counted-on tool for managing children with learning disabilities. My husband and I decided that wed continue to homeschool if we couldnt get placement in a private program which could be confirmed not to use restraint, seclusion or other aversive practices. A year before the GAO hearings, I learned about the mechanics of restraint and seclusionnow commonly referred to as R&Sthe easy way: someone told me about it.Cassandra, as Ill call her because her clients could suffer if her identity was revealed, is a close friend who works pro bono as an attorney-advocate for families of disabled students. A fellow warrior and biomed mother with a vaccine-injured son the same age as my twins, Cassandra was just becoming active on a national level against abuse of disabled students a year ago and was suffering under the weight of what she was learning. She described how autistic children seemed to be the particular targets of abusive practices in many public and private schools and how, despite attempts to blame the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for the abuses because of the legislations preference for inclusion (integrating typical and disabled students), the abuse mostly happens in self-contained (disability-only) classrooms among frequently nonverbal witnesses. Cassandra explained how budgetary problems with providing research-based therapeutic safe-guards against disruptive behavior such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) were just part of the problem, since the per-child funding schools receive is often channeled to a general education fund and Individual Education Plans were not consistently honored. She said shed found some schools behave as if they were doing a favor to parents to even teach their autistic children and did not feel accountable for how the children were treated under their auspices. She told me how the Department of Education had responded to IDEA by gradually carving out virtual legal immunity for certain practices which even government agencies like SAHMSA have worked to ban in other federally funded facilities. Cassandra discussed how many of the restraint/seclusion practices used in schools would be illegal anywhere else, effectively making public and some private schools like foreign soil where constitutional rights are abridged, particularly for select students. She told of countless reports of paperwork being altered after incidents of abuse, how documentation and taped evidence disappeared, how parents who complained were silenced with slap lawsuits by the schools, how staff witnesses refused to testify truthfully or were suspended before they could. She explained how police often wouldnt take reports of abuse, how child protection agencies have no jurisdiction in schools and how schools Due Process is too frequently grossly biased. She told me how school staff even in cases which resulted in the deaths of childrensimply went on to work in the same or another school district. She sent me articles, Youtube segments, files of family testimonies filled with descriptions of horror and injustice. Children asphyxiated on their own vomit, lying on a hard floor with several adults leaning on their ribs. Children shuddering their final breath in pain and terror, the last words they might hear on earth a mocking, Quit faking. Children strapped to Rifton-type chairs, forcibly choked on food, hit and slapped, stripped naked in public, sent to cinder block closets to sit in their own blood and excrement. Children having pills forced down their throats, burned with hot pans and chemicals, handcuffed and duct taped, dragged through classrooms with broken bones. Children deliberately induced into seizures as a joke, called names, laughed at, traumatized. All at the hands of those charged with their safety and education. Reverse Engineers Like most of the people Ive encountered who are involved in the effort to bring R&S to public attention, Cassandra protests that she hasnt done that much and then immediately lists the people she feels have done more. If evil were a machine, then these would be the reverse engineers. One person Cassandra talks about a lot is Phyllis Musumeci, the founder of Families Against Restraint and Seclusion (HERE), whom Cassandra credits with playing a considerable role in getting information to the GAO , resulting in Congressional hearings. Phyllis, as it turns out, is similarly modest and tends to credit everyone elses work and sacrifice in bringing the R&S issue to the fore. Phyllis and Cassandra both speak about Lori McIlwains phenomenal recent anti-R&S campaign for the National Autism Organization (HERE) and Curtis Deckers key work for the National Disability Rights Network (HERE), among other participants. They both mention Isabelle Zehnders Coalition Against Institutionalized Child Abuse (HERE) in amassing a death list, albeit for residential treatment centers, not schools. Zehnders list, as vastly incomplete as it is, remains the most comprehensive in existence because, as the GAO reported this year (HERE), There is no comprehensive reporting system to track such injuries and deaths or the rates of restraint and seclusion use by facility. Because reporting is so fragmentary, we believe many more deaths related to restraint or seclusion may occur. Phyllis Musumeci is the mother of Christian Musumeci, a teenage boy with autism coupled with Cornelia de Lange syndrome. Phyllis and her husband Gianni live in Florida. By the time Christian was in seventh grade, Phyllis discovered that the school had been restraining and secluding her son for over fourteen months. Before she understood what was happening, Phyllis noticed Christians darkening mood and emotional withdrawal. Then Christian began coming home with bruises, but he would only say that he fell down. What Christian left out was who had held and pushed him to make him fall in the first place. As too often happens, after more than a year of abuse, Christian became violent at home for the first time and Phyllis and her husband were baffled by the dramatic changes in their son. The only explanation for this was the experts usual alibi for all things autisticpuberty. But the schools restraint logs offered another explanation: Christian, like other autistic students, was being forced into the face-down prone restraint position and put into isolation almost daily for the least infraction and for behaviors having to do with autismsuch as being unable to tolerate the blare from music class. If puberty had anything to do with staff conduct in Christians situation, it was merely the static perception of what dangers might be presented by adolescence in autism; a tragically self-fulfilling prophesy in many cases. Medical authorities are in agreement that children with Christians particular co-morbid condition tend to suffer from pain from various known physical ailments that come in tow with the disorder, particularly GI disordersthe very mitigating conditions that medical authorities deny in relation to children with idiopathic or regressive autism. Not that this known cause of physical pain seemed to inspire empathy among the staff of Christians school, though. Staff also appeared uninterested in the fact that Christians condition might make him that much easier to kill: the primary cause of death during restraint is traumatic asphyxiation, often caused by aspirating vomit. When at last Phyllis was able to pry the story out of her son, Christian described his experience with restraint in this way: Mom, they hurt me. They held me down on the floor. Phyllis went to the school for an explanation and found that the years worth of restraint logs on her son had gone missing. Later, during her familys lawsuit against the school, school officials would falsely claim that they had demonstrated professional crisis management techniques (physical holds) for her from the beginninga verbal report which was taken seriously by the Florida Department of Education despite the schools inability to provide documentation verifying any such thing. Phylliss List In the mean time, the schools aggression had taken hold in Christianthey had taught him well. The Musumecis reluctantly placed their previously gentle son in residential care where he remains. Thats when something in Phyllis nearly broke and she embarked on a single-minded data-gathering mission which should be familiar to any parent of a vaccine injured child. Phyllis logged thousands of hours on the computer over the next three years, staying up past midnight on most nights, putting out hundreds of Google alerts for stories in the news on restraint, seclusion and abuse in schools in every area of the country. She located the few organizations which were active in the issue and found that these were sometimes at an impasse because coercive practices on the part of schools had effectively shut down some parents willingness to report the crimes against their children. But Phyllis, as the horses mouth, began trying to contact families from news stories and started a listserv to collect parents stories. After a time, hundreds of emails began pouring in from across the country from betrayed families of disabled students. Phyllis began emailing the stories she was amassing to any disability organization with an active email account. She contacted state and federal officials, news stations, local representativesanyone who could or should be remotely interested in the information she was gathering. At last, instead of Phyllis having to break, the story did. A few local Florida news outlets picked up on reports of abuse in schools. Some families whod at first only offered their stories in an anonymous capacity and only because the person asking was just another parent, not an official-seeming reporting system stepped forward into the new light being shed on the issue. Other families were intimidated by the real threat of school retaliation and withdrew, but there was now a sufficient database for larger organizations to work with and to begin the difficult process of verificationthe way that anecdotes are turned into testimony. That is, if anyone would listen. And if they listen, what will they do about what theyve heard? Its important to remember that the GAO made the same observation in 1998 as it did in 2009that no government body was keeping track of the numbers of deaths of children due to restraint and seclusion. This was back when the still rising tide of autism hadnt yet hit the public school systems with its current force. Nothing has changed, except, one must imagine, the number of children dying yearly. But, again, no ones keeping track. Why? Phyllis describes an endless legislative circle game a tradition which Arne Duncan, the new Secretary of Education is continuing in which the DOE and federal authorities continue to place the power to restrict or allow abusive restraint and seclusion practices within state control, and then many states pass the buck to district control. The schools have no interest in reporting themselves and fear loss of fundingthe irony being that they have lost funding anyway. She believes that one set of iron-clad federal laws should be in place to restrict deadly and abusive practices and to independently enforce mandatory reporting in all facilities. She wont rest until this comes to pass. Phyllis tells of having been raised in a profoundly patriotic family with a strong sense of community. Phyllis once volunteered as a school crossing guard. These days, she describes whats left of her feelings towards her country as more along the lines of tough love after what shes seen being done to children. During our one phone conversation to discuss school abuse and legislation, Phyllis wondered aloud about what kind of country were really living in. I wondered to myself what century were living in. How Easy it is to Be Dead I was having trouble wrapping my mind around the things that I was learning through Cassandra and others about abuse in schools. Whenever Id try to think about it, its as if the facts surrounding the issue would slip in and out of focus like a vapor, making me groggy. The sensation brought back a distinct memory of the moment when a nurse flashed a vaccine consent form in front of my eyes and then snatched it away on the day my twins received their fateful flu shots. Ive since come to associate that Oh-Im-so-sleepy-lying-here-in-the-snow-think-Ill-close-my-eyes-for-a-sec feeling with extreme and present danger and, when I get that signal now, I wake myself the hell up. To paraphrase Doris Lessing, There are two kinds of people; those who know how easy it is to be dead and those who dont. After watching my father die from flu shots and seeing my children almost killed by theirs, I feel like I now fall within the first sample group. Though my children are recovering and outbursts are less frequent, I had real fear for how someonesomeone who didnt live and die for their welfare might respond to the mitigating physical conditions so well known to the vaccine-injury community such as transient demonic gluten possession, fleeting pesticide-brain-swelling, dysbiotic-constipation-rage. Especially anyone with disdain for our childrens leaking guts, disbelieving of the physical nature of their illnesses and their capacity for recovery (and their ability to one day bear witness)in other words, too many of the know-it-all mercenaries who work with autism that Id already encountered. I could see how easy it would be to justify a take-down on my daughter, one that could easily go very, very wrong in an instant. She vomits when shes afraid. Because shes so almost-recovered but unevenly recovered, she doesnt emanate enough autism anymore to hopefully buy her a little amnesty by reminding people to ascribe some of her behavior to the diagnosis. Not that this, again, seems to inspire much sympathy in some places. I was afraid for my children, afraid there was no safe place for them within (or even beyond) our means, afraid of being reported to child services by some clueless bystander, afraid, afraid, afraid and tired of being afraid. It occurred to me that I might be abusing my psyche, manifesting my own fears by looking too deeply into nasty realities and whipping myself into unnecessary paranoia over disasters, but I threw out the notion as soon as I thought it. Anyone whos been a statistic has a reason to doubt their luck when further dangers loom. Yes, what I was learning was causing head-films of the terrible things that could happen to my children and I need a break from it now and again. But how many of us would have vaccinated on the recommended schedule had we had previews of what actually did happen to our children? And these realities are just there to be seen; I couldnt make them happen any more than any other victims family had made them happen. We arent witches with the power to render evil in others by asking the wrong questions, thinking the wrong thoughts even if autism families are under the gun of a kind of nonscientific, psychiatric-genetic witch hunt. We may be assigned the magic ability to immaculately (as Mark Blaxill puts it) morph the DNA of our offspring and taint them with our illusive bad gene juju, but we still dont have the power to turn good teachers into abusers. Too many families believe that if theyre nice with the school and dont bring up unpleasant issues, these things wont happen but what does that say about those who were already victimized? That they werent nice people? I asked my friend Cassandra why she thought these abuses might be happening. Its because they dont think of our kids as human she tells me over the phone. Ever read the DSM-derived descriptions of autism?treats people like furniture, lacks compassion, doesnt feel pain. So they think the child deserves the same. And it extends to parents Cassandra says. You should hear how some people in the schools talk about autism parents. Were all defective by association so no one has to listen to us. And why was that? Because if autism isnt genetic, it could happen to them. And never forget the role the schools play in the epidemic by requiring the shots. That gave me a flashback to my Behaviorism 101 course in college: people are able to generate real hate against a target only after theyve done something crappy to them. And the abuse is spreading to children with other disabilities. Its as if the gravitational pull of that need to quarantine the fault for the autism epidemic to family of origin is so vast and powerful that it manages to suck all other cognitive conditionswhether heritable or not, and always undeserving of mistreatment regardlessinto a black hole of bureaucratic, rationalized contempt. And does the lie that an up-to-15,000% rise in the disorder is due to genetics (when this is logistically impossible) have anything to do with it? I think anyone can sense, even unconsciously, that theres something deeply fishy about the rise in rates. I also think that abusive personalities have a radar for designated targets and that all authority has to do to designate a particular targeted group is to lie about them. The lies can be bad or indifferent, but the lie is the aegis, the get out-out-jail card for anything one wants to doand then lie about doing to the target. For this, theres a definite historical parallel breaking through the surface. Adriana Gamondes, a former theater director, lives in Massachusetts with her husband and recovering twins. Voltas Limited a Tata Group enterprise, the undisputed market leader for residential air-conditioners in India, with more than 24% market share, has today announced its intention to start construction of their new manufacturing facility, spread over 65 acres, in Tirupati. This facility will initially manufacture and assemble air conditioners and related cooling products with a total capacity of more than 1 Million units to start with. Continuing its thrust on Research and Development, Voltas aims to create technologically advanced products which are expected to start rolling out from the second half of 2020. The Company plans to invest over Rs. 500 Crores while putting together an OEM base for home appliances, and simultaneously creating local employment opportunities in the region. This manufacturing facility will be one of the first cooling appliances unit in the State of Andhra Pradesh. The choice of Andhra Pradesh as the destination for the new manufacturing unit was due to the States ease of doing business, and growing focus on Make in India. The chosen location provides dual benefits of superior market access and cost effective connectivity via road and port. Voltas, known for its strong countrywide presence and penetrated sales & distribution network, will cater to the South, West and East markets through this manufacturing facility. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Pradeep Bakshi, Managing Director & CEO, Voltas Limited, said, We are delighted to have laid the ground for the Voltas manufacturing plant here in Tirupati. We are thankful to the Government of Andhra Pradesh, and APIIC officials for all the support extended. As an undisputed market leader, we have always kept the customer at the core of all our decision making. This facility helps us in expanding our manufacturing capabilities while increasing our reach in the Southern market. As a Tata Group company, we have always focussed on creating delightful experiences for our customers and shall continue to serve them even better through this plant. Netflix today launched the trailer for its first licensed original film in Marathi, Firebrand, which will launch on the service in 190 countries on 22 February 2019. Produced by Priyanka Chopra and Madhu Chopra, the film marks the digital venture of their production house Purple Pebble Pictures. Firebrand touches upon the concept of modern day relationships and its complexities, and this powerful gripping story will be available to 139 million enthusiastic Netflix members around the world. Directed by National Award winner Aruna Raje, the film stars veteran Marathi actors like like Usha Jadhav, Girish Kulkarni, Sachin Khedekar and Rajeshwari Sachdev. Indias largest app for financial services, ETMONEY announced today that it has crossed the landmark of Rs.2,000 crores of money invested in Mutual Funds through its platform. It is also adding more than Rs.150 Crores of new investment transaction value every month from investors across 1,200 cities. The news comes five months after ETMONEY switched to Direct Mutual funds, allowing users to invest through its platform at 0% commission. These benefits of providing users with low cost and transparent investment options from a single place has struck the right cord with users and ETMONEY has since then doubled the amount of investment done on its platform, with SIPs being the most prominent investment mode. India is leapfrogging in terms of financialization of assets and ETMONEY is enabling it rapidly through mutual funds. We are aiming to grow to Rs.5,000 Crores of mutual fund transactions in the next 12-18 months. said Mukesh P Kalra, Founder & CEO of ETMONEY. Over the last 18 months, ETMONEY has introduced a slew of Industry-first offerings like SmartDeposit with Instant Withdrawal, Paperless KYC, One-tap Portfolio Buys, SIP Registration without First Installment and Option to Skip SIP Installments. All these unique features have helped it gain the largest market share of total new monthly SIPs amongst all Online Mutual Fund Platforms. Continuing its innovation streak, it also launched a unique feature to enable existing investors save lakhs in agent commissions on their existing mutual fund investments by instantly allowing them to switch to direct plans. This has already helped its users convert over Rs. 500 crore worth of investments from regular into direct plans. With an aim to play an integral role in a modern Indians financial life, ETMONEY has expanded its offerings providing Instant Personal Loans through its app along with Insurance products via ETInsure. This has helped to grow its total transactions across all services to an annual figure of over Rs.2,100 Crores which is growing at 200% every six months. Used by more than 50 Lakh Indias, ETMONEY is available on Android or iOS. When thinking about care, it is easy to assume an asymmetrical structure with two fixed two roles: the care-giver and the cared-for. It is likewise easy to assume that the former is active while the latter is passive (cf. Borneman 1997). In attending to the lives and worlds of Ugandans with cognitive disabilities, however, I learned that there is more to care than this. In Uganda, Christian institutions are major providers of care and advocacy for people with cognitive disabilities. On first glance, it would seem as if the asymmetrical structure defines care in these settings. It seems clear who the teachers, therapists, and other staff members are (the non-disabled), and who the students and residents are (the disabled). Underlining this distinction, all of these institutions rely on idioms of kinship: staff members and volunteers are called Uncle or Auntie, while disabled students and residents are referred to as children regardless of biological age. Yet in lives that unfold in relation to disability over the long term (see Whyte, this collection), something else may take place, something that troubles tidy distinctions between active caregiver and passive cared-for. A story will make this clear. It is just after 7 a.m. at Hope Centre, a special needs school run by born-again Christians (balokole). The sun is burning off the nights fog in the schools sleepy neighborhood. Robinah, in her early thirties, arrives by motorcycle taxi (boda boda) to start her work for the day. A Catholic who works for a born-again organization, Robinah first says a brief prayer, gripping the amulet of the Virgin Mary around her neck, and then puts on her apron and unlocks the storage shed. With an exacting concern for parallel lines and dust-free surfaces, Robinah begins arranging mats for the children who arrive from 8 a.m. onward. Robinah is a Jill-of-all-trades. As the day unfolds, she will do many things: disinfect the therapy mats, walk mothers through physiotherapy techniques, comfort crying children, bathe them, feed those who cannot feed themselves. Robinah finishes around 4 p.m., exhausted and sweaty, as she folds up the mats and puts them away for the next day. Im exhausted! (Nkooye!), she invariably exclaims, wiping her face with a well-used handkerchief. Robinah is known as Musawo Robinah at Hope Centre. Musawo is a Luganda honorific used for all medical professionals, regardless of whether they are biomedical or traditional. Robinah has been coming to Hope Centre since she was twenty-one, and she is known to have some form of cognitive impairment. She engages in basic conversation in both Luganda and English but is not given to extended discussions. When Robinah started coming to Hope Centre, she was an indifferent student of vocational education, unwilling to engage in tasks like weaving without constant prodding from teachers. Staff members did, however, notice that Robinah took a keen interest in childrenplaying with them, carrying them, interacting with them. As the years went on, Robinah was gradually given more and more caregiving responsibilities, and today she is a staff member at Hope Centre. Robinahs is a case of what I call care in the middle voice. I use this grammatical metaphor to name practices and experiences of care defined by a kind of transitivity in which the distinction between subject and object is obliterated (White 2010, 261). It bears emphasizing that care in the middle voice is not simply care turned intransitive. Differences between caregiver and cared-for remain, but they are not fixed positions and instead vary in situationally specific ways. Thinking about care in the middle voice draws attention to relationships where seemingly clear and invariant lines between cares subjects and its objects break down. From the outside, at least, all of the students at places like Hope Centre appear to fall soundly in the camp of the cared-for, as people with disabilities who depend on others in at times quite dramatic ways. As they go about their daily lives, however, these individuals are drawn into nested webs where they give as well as receive care. Robinahs is only a particularly vivid illustration of this fact (see Zoanni 2018, 67-71). I noticed these dynamics of care in the middle voice in my fieldwork, and that, in turn, led me to notice that others have noticed similar things. Botswana provides a particularly rich ethnographic archive of ways that elderly women, the dying, and cancer patients provide care for and by each other (Ingstad et al. 1992; Klaits 2010, ch. 5; Livingston 2012, 113-17). Part of what these ethnographies consider corresponds to situations where resources are scarce and caring professionals few, thus forcing patients to become agents of each others care. Yet there is also something quite general, and perhaps generally human, about peoples efforts to care as they are being cared for, including in relatively resource-rich contexts. Speaking of a North American setting, for example, Janelle Taylor (2008, 328)notes moments when her mother, who has dementia, takes the initiative in trying to provide care, even while requiring ever-deepening levels of care herself. Robinahs story reminds us that care can and does outstrip a straightforwardly asymmetrical structure. Attending to cases of care in the middle voice has implications for disability studies and activism, since it helps work against pervasive assumptions that reduce disabled lives and worlds to the category of the cared-for. But it has wider implications too, underscoring ethnographys ability to challenge social expectations about who gives and who receives care in any circumstance. Works cited Borneman, John. 1997. Caring and Being Cared for: Displacing Marriage, Kinship, Gender and Sexuality.International Social Science Journal49 (154): 57384. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2451.1997.tb00046.x Ingstad, Benedicte, Frank Bruun, Edwin Sandberg, and Sheila Tlou. 1992. Care for the Elderly, Care by the Elderly: The Role of Elderly Women in a Changing Tswana Society. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology 7 (4): 37998. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01848700 Frederick, Klaits. 2010. Death in a Church of Life. Berkeley: University of California Press. Livingston, Julie. 2012. Improvising Medicine: An African Oncology Ward in an Emerging Cancer Epidemic. Durham: Duke University Press. Taylor, Janelle S. 2008. On Recognition, Caring, and Dementia. Medical Anthropology Quarterly22 (4): 31335. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1387.2008.00036.x White, Hayden. 2010. Writing the Middle Voice. In The Fiction of Narrative: Essays on History, Literature, and Theory, 1957-2007, 25562. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Whyte, Susan Reynolds. 2019. Lifetimes. Somatosphere. http://somatosphere.net/2019/01/lifetimes.html (accessed February 3, 2019). Zoanni, Tyler. 2018. The Possibilities of Failure: Personhood and Cognitive Disability in Urban Uganda. The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology36 (1): 6179. https://doi.org/10.3167/cja.2018.360105 Tyler Zoanni is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at New York University. His dissertation explores the lives and worlds of people with cognitive disabilities in Uganda, where Christian institutions are central to disability care and advocacy. Tyler also recently guest-edited a special issue of the Cambridge Journal of Anthropology on the anthropology of cognitive disability. Disability from the South: Toward a Lexicon is a series edited by Michele Friedner and Tyler Zoanni. Contributors in this series consider what changes in theorizations of disability when research is located in places marked Southern and offer reconfigurations of keywords and concepts typically utilized in the study of disability. Share this: Share Email Facebook Twitter Reddit Tumblr LinkedIn [view academic citations] [hide academic citations] The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) has urged all private Satellite TV channels to carry TV programmes with sign language interpretation that can be accessed by differently-abled people. MIB has taken this step following concerns raised by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DoEPwD) in the past regarding formulation of Accessible lndia Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) for achieving universal accessibility for persons with disabilities (PwDs), which had stressed that access to TV programmes for many persons with disabilities is denied due to lack of assistive technology. In a letter to all private Satellite TV channels, MIB stated, All TV channels, News Broadcasters Association (NBA), Indian Broadcasting Foundation (lBF) and Association of Regional Television Broadcasters of India (ARTBI) are requested to carry the same language captions and audio description, along with the programmes and news reports by TV channels for accessing by differently-abled people. The Ministry further noted that media has always been in the forefront of taking up important issues/ causes, including those for the welfare of the disadvantaged sections of the society and in the recent past, Republic Day Parade with commentary/ Independence Day Ceremony were carried with sign language interpretation for the benefit of differently-abled people. Get those umbrellas ready! Rain and snow will be returning to Northern California in your Tuesday forecast. Looks like the best chance for showers will be in the Northern Mountains and the North end of the valley through this afternoon. More widespread rain and snow will move into our region tonight. Snow levels will be down to as low as 1500' today. Temperatures have dipped into the mid to high 30's in the valley overnight, and into the teens to 30's in most mountain areas. Skies will be cloudy through the day, and there is a decent chance for showers across the Northern Mountain and the North valley this afternoon. Showers are not as likely in the mid valley, foothills, and Sierra until tonight, but there will be potential for light rain and snow showers this afternoon. Skies will be cloudy and winds will be out of the Southeast to 10mph. High tempertures will top out in the high 40's to low 50's in the valley this afternoon, and in the mid 30's to low 40's in the mountains. Showers will become much more widespread and heavier tonight. Gusty South winds, and heavy rain and snow are ahead for your Wednesday. A Winter Storm Watch will go into effect tonight for areas above 2000', and will last through Wednesday evening for portions of the Northern Mountains and Shasta County. The Watch will last through Thursday afternoon in the Sierra. A Flood Watch and Wind Advisory will also both be in place on Wednesday due to heavy rain and gusty South winds. Winds will be up to 25mph out of the South, with gusts to around 45mph. Temperatures will not change much if at all, but snow levels will be on the rise. Looks like snow levels will be around 4000' on Wednesday and will continue to life to above 5000' on Thursday. The potenital for wet weather will persist through your weekend, but there are no warnings currently set for our area after Thursday afternoon. More watches and warnings will be likely as active weather persists through your weekend. CHICO, Calif. - A wanted felon is back behind bars after Chico police say he rammed into an officer's car. Police say Brian Loo was wanted for stealing items from a car. Officers tried to arrest him in the Kohl's parking lot on Sunday night but they say that Loo sped toward Springfield Drive, and flew over the median, ramming into one of the police cars. Loo was arrested once his car broke down from the crash. The stolen items were found in his car. He is now charged with assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer. ANDERSON, Calif. - The Shasta County Sheriffs Office arrested a man for burglary and drug possession. On Monday, February 11 at around 10:46 PM, an employee with Siskiyou Forest Products called 911 when an alarm was set off in an office on the property. The business is located on State Highway 273 in Anderson. It is situated on large piece of property, with numerous buildings, stacks of lumber, and vehicles and equipment spread over acres of land. Deputies began to search for the suspect, using one of Shasta Lake City's Sheriff's Office K-9 "Hondo". While Hondo was searching one of the buildings containing large stacks of lumber, he indicated that someone was inside the building. Eventually, they discovered a man lying on top of a stack of lumber that was about 30 feet high. He was identified as 40 year old Christopher Smith from Redding. A large bag filled with power tools and equipment taken from the shop building, was found next to the stack of lumber where Smith was hiding. He was also found to be in possession of meth. Smiths car was found on the property with stolen property from two previous burglaries which had occurred in Redding. He is now behind bars on charges of burglary and drug possession. Additional charges from the other burglaries are pending, and will be processed by the Shasta County District Attorney's Office. Chico, Calif. -- Cal Water has a plan to increase rates in 2020 to fund infrastructure upgrades. Chico's water infrastructure was put down in the 1920's, and every three years, Cal Water chooses it's top priority upgrades and makes a plan to get the work done. "These projects get paid for over time so when you have a million dollar project, to pay for that in a three-year cycle? It'd be a signifcant impact to the customers. It's an investment over time and that why you keep seeing them coming up," said George Barber, the District Manager for Cal Water Chico & Oroville. But that means, you're paying for the work in the form an a rate hike. This one is about 8.5% in Chico, 10.4% in Oroville. That may sound steep, but Cal Water's director says for a single family household, it's actually more like 4 - 12 cents a day increase. Last week, the City of Oroville formally denounced Cal Water's plan to up what Oroville customers pay by about 10%. They didn't talk about taking action, necessarily, but there may be something more down the pipe. Chico's Mayor Randall Stone says one option that's not on the agenda but may be eventually on the table is to exit Cal Water and create a local water district between the two cities. That could take years if it does happen, so for now, customers should just prepare for their bills to keep going up as the 100-year old infrastructure needs upgrading. And some are ok with that. I'm from Oregon and I was paying $50 for sewer, $50 for water. Here it's half price, and it's going to take years before they raise it$3 or $4," said Chico Cal Water customer Tim Bridgeford. "Are we really getting better infrastructure? I'd like to see some details.. on what those fees are going to, it seems like there's always a fee taking stuff up and I don't agree without seeing some data showing what the improvements will be," said Cal Water customer Chris Banks. If you want to take part in the discussion and really get an understanding of what they have planned, the Public Utilities Commission has a meeting tonight at 6 p.m. at BCAG, 326 Huss Drive, and in Oroville at 6 p.m. Feb. 14, in the Oroville City Council Chambers, 1735 Montgomery St. BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. - The Butte County District Attorney released new details on a deadly officer-involved shooting in Palermo last year. A press conference was held about the incident on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said that the officers involved face no criminal liability and used reasonable force. The incident occurred in April of 2018 when Myra Micalizio pulled into the driveway of a home where she did not know the residents. Residents say she threatened to shoot them, although it was determined later that she did not have a weapon. When officers arrived on the scene, Micalizio refused to listen to their commands to put her hands in the air. She got in her car and backed up toward officers, who then shot and killed her. The official cause of death was by five gunshot wounds. An official toxicology report showed that Micalizio had marijuana in her system from 6-20 hours before the incident. There were no other substances found in the report. Micalizio's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Butte County Sheriff's Office, in hopes that the office would reevaluate its protocol and training in regards to a mental health crisis. After a thorough investigation, Ramsey said that the officers involved face no criminal liability and that they used reasonable force as they felt threated for their own lives. To view the full report by the District Attorney CLICK HERE. Below is a clip from the press conference where Ramsey explains the results of the investigation. Other youtube videos were provided by the District Attorney's Office's report. 9-1-1 calls and radio traffic: Drone video of the scene: Animated reenactment (part 1): Animated reenactment (part 2): A winter storm pummeled the Hawaiian islands early Monday, bringing gusty winds, squally rain, high surf and even snow at a state park. Strong winds knocked down trees and branches on roadways and structures and tore down traffic lights and power lines, causing power outages. The winds could potentially damage roofs and poorly built structures, forecasters say. The powerful winds and a high surf closed some roads and parks. Hiro Toiya, director of the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management, urged "extra caution driving." "Conditions are windy and we do have trees and utility poles and other objects falling onto the street," he said Hawaii Electric Light said that "due to unsafe weather conditions, crews will resume work when safe to do so. Mahalo for your patience." Snow. In Maui. Officials at the state Department of Land and Natural Resources reported snow falling at the Polipoli State Park in Maui, and snow is forecast in some other areas as well. "For perhaps the first time ever, snow has fallen in a Hawai'i State Park. Polipoli State Park on Maui is blanketed with snow. It could be the lowest elevant snow ever recorded in the state. Polipoli is at 6,200 feet elevation," the DLNR said. Wind advisories in effect CNN Meteorologist Monica Garrett said winds will diminish and weather conditions will improve throughout the day as the "low moves northeast of the area." "A band of enhanced moisture is expected to move through Tuesday night and Wednesday as the trade winds begin to return, increasing shower coverage and intensity once again." The National Weather Service in Honolulu issued a wind advisory in effect until noon HST (5 p.m. ET). An advisory means that "sustained winds of at least 30 miles per hour or gusts of at least 50 mph are expected. Motorists should use extra caution." On Sunday, wind speeds were recorded at 25 to 40 miles per hour and there were reports of wind speeds above 50 and 60 mph. Speeds in Port Allen in Kauai County were as high as 67 mph and 191 mph at Mauna Kea Summit in Hawaii County. A high wind warning was in effect for the Big Island summits until 6 p.m. HST (11 p.m. ET) Tuesday. That means winds are expected to be at least 40 mph with gusts over 60 mph in these higher elevations. Evacuation shelters opened in some areas but falling branches closed the Honolulu Zoo, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said. Beaches and parks are also closed. At the zoo on Sunday, a tree collapsed on an enclosure holding two African ground hornbills. The birds escaped, CNN affiliate KNHL reported, citing city officials. At Kapiolani Park in Honolulu, strong winds uprooted kiawe trees said to be nearly a century old, according to KNHL. In Oahu's North Shore on Sunday, coastal flooding occurred because of the "huge storm surf," KNHL reported. ABC TV Meanwhile, another lady decides to send herself home after thinking that things between her and Colton Underwood may not be working out. Feb 12, 2019 AceShowbiz - "The Bachelor" season 23 returned on Monday, February 11. The episode picked up right where the last episode left off as Colton Underwood stormed off the room after Nicole and Onyeka fought. Tonight he decided to send the two ladies home as he declared he would not tolerate any pettiness. Colton and the remaining ladies, Cassie, Caelynn, Hannah B., Hannah G., Tayshia, Kirpa, Katie, Demi, Heather and Sydney, went to Vietnam. He then had a one-on-one date with Hannah G in which they enjoyed a relaxing spa. They had an extremely steamy makeout session. Later that night, Colton and Hannah got real to each other. Hannah opened up about her parents' divorce and Colton could relate to it so much because he also experienced the same thing. Following the heart-to-heart moments, he gave the rose to Hannah. Meanwhile, Demi broke in tears because she had yet to have a one-on-one date with Colton. Also feeling the same, Sydney even called out Colton for it. However, he told her that he wanted to try to get to a place in their relationship like he was with some of the other girls. However, Sydney felt like he was putting up a wall up with her. With that, she decided to send herself home. As for Colton and Kirpa's one-on-one date, their date went pretty much well. Colton, however, felt that their relationship moved slower compared to others. In the night portion of the date, the two had an honest talk about her past engagement. At the end of their date, Kirpa received the rose from him. Demi, meanwhile, took an action by herself, hoping that it would make Colton realize how serious she was for the whole thing. She went to Colton's room where she told him that she was in love with him. The aftermath, however, was not like what Demi hoped for. Colton wasn't sure if he was on the same page with her and if he would ever "get there" by the end of the show. He then eliminated Demi on the spot, making her leave in tears. He then skipped the cocktail party and went straight to a rose ceremony to reveal who was eliminated. He made the decision to send Katie home and give the roses to Hannah B., Caelynn, Cassie and Heather. Katie, however, warned Colton that there were some women among the seven remaining ladies who were not ready to get engaged. "That's the third person who has said that there are people who are still here who arent ready, Colton, who was left confused by the warning, said to a producer. "I thought when Sydney said it she was talking about Demi. Am I f***ing missing something?" "The Bachelor" airs Mondays at 8 P.M. on ABC. WENN/Ivan Nikolov TV Paramount TV announces that 'The Revenant' star and 'The Wolf of Wall Street' director will serve as executive producers of the Dr. H.H. Holmes project which will hit streaming service Hulu. Feb 12, 2019 AceShowbiz - Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese are taking their Dr. H.H. Holmes project to the small screen. "The Revenant" actor picked up the screen rights to Erik Larson's 2003 book, "The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic And Madness At The Fair That Changed America", through his Appian Way production company back in 2010 and Scorsese signed on to direct the actor as the serial killer in 2015. However, the project has yet to come to fruition on the big screen and now bosses at Paramount TV have announced it will hit streaming service Hulu as a series, which will be executive produced by DiCaprio and Scorsese. It is unclear if the actor will still be featured as Holmes. The serial killer reportedly murdered 27 people in Chicago, Illinois in the late 1800s, although later estimates suggested the death toll was closer to 200. The project marks frequent collaborators DiCaprio and Scorsese's eighth project together - they first teamed up for "Gangs of New York" in 2002, and they went on to collaborate on "The Aviator", "The Departed", "Shutter Island", and 2013's "The Wolf of Wall Street". They also teamed up for "The Audition", a short film released in 2015 as promotional material for casinos in Macau, China and Manila, Philippines. And in addition to the Holmes project, they are collaborating on an adaption of "The Lost City of Z" author David Grann's "Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI". The bestselling book, which was released in April, 2017 centres on a string of murders on the Osage Nation reservation in Oklahoma in the 1920s, after oil was discovered beneath the Native American tribe's land. The cases were among the newly-established FBI's first big homicide investigations. DiCaprio will also star as U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt in Scorsese's "Roosevelt". Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference on February 12, 2019 2019/02/12 Q: It is reported that when jointly meeting the press with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that if Hungary uses equipment from Huawei, it will make US-Hungary cooperation difficult. The Hungarian Foreign Minister responded that any cooperation between Hungary and China will not endanger his country's partnership with the US, and hypocrisy should finally be left behind when it comes to China. Besides, we also noted that the US Ambassador to the EU said that any country allowing equipment from Chinese makers to be used will face the risk of US countermeasures. What is your comment? A: We have noted relevant reports. Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto made an independent, unbiased and objective response based on facts and we appreciate that. I want to say that friendship and cooperation have always been the main theme of China-Hungary relations. We do not seek to target nor influence other countries when strengthening our bilateral friendly cooperation. Meanwhile, we hope and believe that the development of China-Hungary relations will not be sabotaged or disturbed by others. As for the statements made by the US side, we have noticed all of them. For some time, the US has been leaving no stones unturned in framing China with all kinds of trumped-up charges and fabricating "China threat" theories. It has blatantly threatened and tried to drive a wedge between China and other countries, tarnished the image of Chinese companies, and suppressed their rights and interests for legitimate development and cooperation. What the US has done is unjust, immoral and nothing like how a major country is supposed to act. We believe that the vast majority of countries will not fail to make out the true intentions and the bullying nature of the US side. We hope that all countries could discard their ideological prejudice and zero-sum game mindset and work to create a fair, unbiased, open, inclusive, transparent and rules-based environment for normal friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation between countries. Q: Reports say that according to the Russian Foreign Ministry's statement on February 11th, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou co-chaired the China-Russia consultation on security situation in Northeast Asia. The two sides discussed recent development on the Korean Peninsula and coordinated their joint efforts to ensure the stability and security on the Peninsula and in Northeast Asia. Can you confirm this and give us more information? A: Indeed, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov held consultation on the Korean Peninsula issue. We have issued a press release. The two sides agreed that there is a continued momentum of dialogue and deescalation on the Peninsula, and made positive comments on the DPRK and the US efforts to resolve the issue through dialogue. We hope the DPRK and the US can move in the same direction, respond to each other's concerns, and push for the success of the second summit where positive outcomes can be achieved. China and Russia support the improvement of the DPRK-ROK relations and the progress towards cooperation and reconciliation, and will continue to work together for the political resolution of this issue. Q: According to some reports, the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said in its report on February 11 that China and Russia view outer space as an important part of modern war and counter-space capabilities as a means to reduce US and allied military effectiveness. What is your comment? A: China has noted relevant news reports. First of all, I want to make it clear that outer space belongs to all mankind. It is not exclusively owned by any one country and especially not the private property of the US. The DIA report made unwarranted and utterly baseless comments on the space policies of relevant countries including China. China upholds the peaceful use of outer space and opposes weaponizing outer space or an arms race there. For many years, China, Russia and other countries have been working hard and trying to reach an international legal instrument to fundamentally prevent the weaponization of or an arms race in outer space. There have been some negative moves relating to the security of outer space in recent days. What merits particular alert and attention is that the US has described outer space as the "new war-fighting domain" and announced to establish a "space force" to regularly conduct outer space exercises, which makes it more likely to turn into reality the risks of weaponizing outer space and making it a battlefield. Despite all these, the US has been playing up the so-called "outer space security threats" posed by others. In fact, it is using self-deceiving tricks to justify its own military building in outer space and R&D in advanced weapons. If the US side truly cares about the security of outer space, it should work with China and actively participate in the arms control process of outer space. It should make its due contributions to maintaining outer space security, instead of doing the opposite. Q: According to recent reports, some hackers working on behalf of Chinese intelligence breached the network of a Norwegian software firm as part of China's global hacking campaign "Cloudhopper" to steal intellectual property rights and corporate secrets. Some other reports say Australia is investigating the hacking of the national parliament's computer network to see whether it is related to China. The Norwegian Intelligence Office also released a report suggesting that Russia and China might conduct complex offensive operations on the Internet against Norway. What is China's comment? A: These reports are merely part of a larger smear campaign against China by certain countries. China has always maintained that cybersecurity should be upheld by all members of the international community as it is a global issue that concerns the common interests of all countries. I am sure that those who have long been following cybersecurity issues have not forgotten the PRISM program. They must have also heard of the Equation Group and the WannaCry ransomware, the result of a particular country's attempt to develop offensive cyber tools, that wreaked havoc globally. All those incidents have sounded the alarm for global cybersecurity. Given the virtual nature of cyberspace and the fact that there are all kinds of online actors who are difficult to trace, I must underscore the importance to have enough evidence when investigating and identifying cyber-related incidents. Groundless speculations and random accusations should not be allowed. I'd like to reiterate that China firmly upholds cybersecurity and opposes and fights all forms of cyber attack and cyber theft. China calls on the international community to deal with cybersecurity threats through dialogue and cooperation on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit. Irresponsible accusations, pressure and sanctions will only escalate tensions and confrontation in cyberspace and poison the atmosphere for cooperation. We urge relevant countries to refrain from smearing China by hyping up so-called "cyber theft" and hacker attacks and stop making remarks and moves that undermine China's interests and their relations with China. Q: According to Hindustan Times, in a recent study of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, the Diamer-Bhasha dam project was cited to have been withdrawn by Pakistan, the West Seti hydropower project canceled by Nepal and China Harbor Engineering Company blacklisted by Bangladesh for bribing one of its officials. The ministry suggested that unacceptable conditions of the Belt and Road Initiative imposed by China are leading to a severe push back. A senior official familiar with the matter expected that there will be a major tweaking of policy in the BRI meeting this year. Can you confirm that? A: I have taken note of relevant reports. Conditions of the projects cited in the report of the Indian side are far from the fact. For instance, the Diamer-Bhasha dam project was not included into the the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project list. The West Seti hydropower project in Nepal is a commercial project and the enterprises concerned are having consultations over specific details such as the economic feasibility of the project. As to the allegation that China Harbor Engineering Company was blacklisted by Bangladesh, I have learned that it could not be further from the fact. I hope the Indian side will receive our information and be informed that the three projects were cited with false information. More than 150 countries and international organizations have signed Belt and Road cooperation documents with China. A large number of cooperation projects have taken root and flourished, yielding rich fruits and injecting strong impetus into the economic and social development of participating countries. The Belt and Road has become a popular public good for the world and platform for international cooperation. Consultation and cooperation for shared benefits is the golden principle for Belt and Road cooperation. In pursuing cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, China has always been committed to equality, openness, transparency, market laws and international rules. We never impose on others or attach any unacceptable conditions. Each and every project is the result of equal-footed consultations. A particular project or two might encounter difficulties or problems, but that does not change the fact that Belt and Road cooperation has contributed to participating countries' economic and social development and has won wide support. China will host the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation this year. We look forward to meeting with all participants to take stock of our progress and map out the blueprint for high-quality, high-level and high-standard Belt and Road cooperation in the future. Q: There are some claims citing China will sell its aircraft carrier to Pakistan. What's your comment on this? A: I have not seen the report you mentioned and have heard nothing of this nature. The Chinese government has always strictly observed the three principles for arms exports. Q: Do you have any updates on the progress of the trade talks between China and the US which began yesterday? A: I would suggest you place your inquiries with the Ministry of Commerce. WENN/Joe Pepler/PinPep Celebrity The 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' actor denies that his church hates LGBTQ people, writing on Instagram Stories, 'Nothing could be further from the truth.' Feb 12, 2019 AceShowbiz - Chris Pratt has responded to Ellen Page's claim that he attends an "anti-LGBTQ" church. Taking to his Instagram Stories on Monday, February 11, the actor denied that his church hates people with certain sexual orientation and claimed that the church embraces people from all backgrounds. "It has recently been suggested that i belong to a church which 'hates a certain group of people' and is 'infamously anti-LGBTQ'. Nothing could be further from the truth," he wrote. "I go to a church that opens their doors to absolutely everyone." Revealing how the church reacted to his divorce from Anna Faris, Chris continued, "Despite what the Bible says about divorce my church community was there for me every step of the way, never judging, just gracefully accompanying me on my walk. They helped me tremendously offering love and support. It is what I have seen them do for others on countless occasions regardless of sexual orientation, race or gender." He added, "My faith is important to me but no church defines me or my life, and I am not a spokesman for any church or any group of people. My values define who I am. We need less hate in this world, not more. I am a man who believes that everyone is entitled to love who they want free from the judgment of their fellow man." The "Guardians of the Galaxy" hunk quoted a passage from the Bible, "Jesus said 'I give you a new command, love one another.' " He explained, "This is what guides me in my life. He is a God of Love, Acceptance and Forgiveness. Hate has no place in my or this world." Chris Pratt posted an elaborate statement explaining that his church doesn't hate LGBTQ people. Ellen previously raised question about Chris' support for the church following his interview on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert". The "Inception" actress asked on Twitter, "Oh. K. Um. But his church is infamously anti lgbtq so maybe address that too?" She added in another post, "If you are a famous actor and you belong to an organization that hates a certain group of people, don't be surprised if someone simply wonders why it's not addressed. Being anti LGBTQ is wrong, there aren't two sides. The damage it causes is severe. Full stop. Sending love to all." Ellen's accusation was perhaps based on reports surfacing in January that the religious institution was "anti-gay." It was unearthed that senior pastor Carl Lentz said in a 2015 GQ interview that he considers homosexuality a sin and would never allow an openly gay member to hold a church leadership position. The church has not responded to the anti-LGBTQ accusation. WENN/Adriana M. Barraza Celebrity In a new magazine interview, the 'Green Book' star points out that black actors are expected to be 'professors of cultural studies' when it comes to issues related to the colour of their skin. Feb 12, 2019 AceShowbiz - Mahershala Ali is tired of always being asked about diversity in Hollywood. In an interview with Esquire U.K., the actor, who won Best Supporting Actor at the EE BAFTAs on Sunday night, February 10 for his role as the late jazz star Don Shirley in "Green Book", bemoaned the fact that people always want to talk to black actors about issues related to the colour of their skin. "It's just that white actors are only asked about race if they're doing a civil rights project," he sighed, as he discussed inequality when it comes to discussing issues of diversity in Hollywood. "In interviews like this, they talk about their process and life but black actors are always talking about diversity, where the culture's at, where it's going. We have to be professors of cultural studies where a white actor can just be an actor!" The star, whose latest film centres on the relationship between a black jazz musician and his white driver, is the frontrunner for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar at the forthcoming Academy Awards. In 2018 he became the first Muslim actor to win an acting award at the Oscars, for film "Moonlight". His comments after the promotional tour for the film were marred when his co-star Viggo Mortensen was at the centre of a racism row after he used the n-word during a Q&A. While making a point about the fact that the racial slur is no longer used as casually as it was in 1962, when "Green Book" is set, Viggo used the full word and was forced to issue an apology after he came under fire. Mahershala also responded to the row, and was critical of his co-star, who he said had "apologised profusely" following the Q&A. "However well-intended or intellectual the conversation may have been, it wasn't appropriate for Viggo to say the n-word," he said in a statement. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... SANTA FE A renewed attempt to ban coyote-killing contests in New Mexico cleared its first Senate committee Tuesday but still faces a long road to final approval. Members of the Senate Conservation Committee voted 6-3 to approve the bipartisan legislation, which has in past years exposed a divide between ranchers and many city dwellers. During Tuesdays debate, some backers of the measure described the contests also called coyote-calling contests as cruel and immoral and said they promote a culture of violence. Anybody can kill a coyote at any time for any reason thats the reality, said Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, one of the bills sponsors. This bill would make it illegal to kill coyotes for a prize. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ However, critics said the proposed law would make it difficult for rural New Mexicans to control coyote populations. Don Simpson, a member of the New Mexico Trapping Association, compared the contests to fishing derbies and said they are a form of predator control and that they benefit farmers and ranchers. I think what it does is it restricts our farmers and ranchers and their ability to protect their land, added Sen. Ron Griggs, R-Alamogordo. Under the legislation, Senate Bill 76, it would be a misdemeanor to organize a coyote-killing contest and a lesser misdemeanor to participate in one. The bill is co-sponsored by Steinborn and Sen. Mark Moores, R-Albuquerque. Its nearly identical to measures proposed by the two senators that passed the Senate in 2015 and 2017 but ultimately stalled in the House. Wildlife advocates say 20 to 30 coyote-killing derbies are typically organized across New Mexico every year, with participants using calling devices to lure coyotes into range. Such contests often award prize money or new firearms for the most coyotes killed or the biggest coyote killed. Although past bills have come up short, there has been other action on the issue. State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard, a Democrat, issued an executive order last month that bars coyote-killing contests on 9 million acres of New Mexico state trust land. But that order does not cover other public lands or private land and enforcement could prove difficult. Meanwhile, Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, the Senate Conservation Committees chairman, disputed the suggestion of an urban-rural divide, saying some rural New Mexicans also oppose the practice. I think this is about being human beings, he said. The legislation now advances to the Senate Judiciary Committee. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... The death of a Mexican gray wolf and injuries to another prompted environmentalists on Tuesday to call on New Mexico lawmakers to ban trapping on public land. Defenders of Wildlife said four wolves have been caught in traps in New Mexico over the past two months. The wolf that died was a female member of the Prieto Pack that roams northern portions of the Gila National Forest. Another member of the pack that was also trapped remains in captivity after having its leg amputated. The two other wolves that were caught were released back into the wild. More than 40 wolves have been caught in traps in the Southwest since 2002, according to the group. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ This is having a significant impact on the recovery of the species. Every wolf lost to trapping is unnecessary and unacceptable, said Bryan Bird, the groups Southwest program director. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not immediately return a message seeking comment. The wolf management team this week is conducting an annual survey to determine how many of the predators are roaming parts of New Mexico and Arizona. The federal government has struggled over two decades to reintroduce the species to its historic range, being hampered along the way by everything from legal challenges to poaching, politics and concerns over genetic diversity. Ranchers have pushed back against the reintroduction effort, pointing to around 100 livestock kills in just the past year. Meanwhile, environmentalists have warned that wolves could return to the brink of extinction if more captive-bred animals arent released into the wild. The trapping cases come as debate heats up in the New Mexico Legislature over a proposal that would ban the practice on public lands. While licensed trapping of other furbearing animals is legal, some Democrats argue its inhumane. Critics say a ban would not stop the sort of illegal trapping that usually spurs outrage and that it would leave ranchers without a needed tool for defending cattle from predators. Currently, trappers must get a license from the state, mark their traps with an identifying number and follow rules about where they can place their traps. Environmentalists who have been tracking the wolf program pointed to neighboring Arizona and Colorado, where trapping has been banned on public lands. They say the New Mexico legislation is long overdue and could prevent non-target species like wolves from being injured or killed. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. More than 600 migrants including unaccompanied children crossed into New Mexico Monday in two large groups, one through Antelope Wells and the other around a pedestrian fence in Sunland Park, Border Patrol officials said Tuesday. At 12:01 a.m. Monday the first group of migrants, this one made up of 330 adults and children, was taken into custody by Border Patrol agents working at Camp Bounds Forward Operating Base at the Antelope Wells Port of Entry in southern New Mexico. It was the 28th group of over 100 people since October in this area alone in the agencys El Paso Sector, official said in a news release. The group was made up mainly of Central American families and unaccompanied juveniles, officials said, noting that smugglers continue to exploit innocent human lives in order to enhance their illicit activities without due regard to the risks of human life. Border Patrol EMTs determined none in this group required immediate medical attention. The second group, this one made up of 311 adults and children, arrived near Sunland Park near the Santa Teresa station just before midnight Monday. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ Border Patrol agents working near Mount Cristo Rey discovered the group making its way around the pedestrian fence in Sunland Park and took them into custody. Though this trend has been a constant in the Antelope Wells area of New Mexico, this is the first large group that has been encountered in this area this fiscal year, the Border Patrol said. As with the previous groups encountered in Antelope Wells, this group is comprised primarily of Central American families and unaccompanied juveniles. The group was taken to the Santa Teresa Border Patrol station for processing. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Zacatecas Tacos + Tequila + Bourbon, a popular Mexican restaurant in Nob Hill, has been sold. Mark Kiffin, executive chef and owner, said Tuesday he has sold the restaurant but would not elaborate on the deal. He said an announcement of some sort could be forthcoming. Kiffin also said the sale was a business decision unrelated to the ART construction. The restaurant had been in business seven years. I have no blame and no remorse, we did well, but like homes or stocks, you sometimes sell and move on, he said in an email. Kiffin also owns The Compound restaurant on Canyon Road in Santa Fe. He said he has retained the Zacatecas brand and would love to do my concept up here in Santa Fe. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Chicago-based financial services firm Lending Solutions Inc., known throughout the industry as LSI, announced Tuesday it is opening a new office in downtown Albuquerque and will create 170 jobs over the next three years. LSI provides customer service, loan services and collection activities for credit unions, banks and other U.S. financial institutions. Lee Kolquist, the companys CEO, said most of the new jobs will be customer service positions, with a starting hourly wage of $14 an hour to $15 an hour and incentives in the $400 a month to $500 a month range. Its not a call center, said Kolquist. These are financial service agents with extensive training. Its quite a commitment. Kolquist said many employees begin as customer service agents then move on to process loan applications, and eventually become loan underwriters. The company is hiring and hopes to have 20 new employees by the time it moves into its new office space in June or July, he said. LSI has leased 18,000 square feet on the seventh floor of the Century Plaza building at 400 Tijeras NW, a space formerly occupied by Molina Healthcare of New Mexico. While several local and out-of-state companies have expanded to Downtown in recent months TaskUs, Carenet Healthcare Services and RS21 among them the LSI announcement is one of the few not tied to Local Economic Development Act money from the city or state. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ Gary Tonjes, president of Albuquerque Economic Development, said that though the company may pursue funding through the Job Training Incentive Program, it turned down a proposal that would have given it access to LEDA incentives. Tonjes declined to elaborate on the specifics of the proposal but said other companies have declined LEDA in the past because they dont want the rigidity that comes with clawback provisions, dont want the scrutiny associated with accepting public money or because the company is planning on doing the project regardless and doesnt feel the incentives are necessary. (LSI) told us, We appreciate it, but we told you when we come into the market we want to be different, we want to stand out,' said Tonjes. . . . They have a really interesting philosophy and mentality. The project had an unusually long gestation period for AED, according to Tonjes, who said the organizations first contact with LSI was in November 2015. Tonjes said a more typical timeline is six months to two years. Kolquist said LSI chose Albuquerque in part because the company is trying to increase the percentage of its bilingual workforce from 16 percent to 20 percent or more. He also cited Albuquerques university and community college system, and the convenience the Mountain time zone will create for the companys West Coast clients. Kolquist said LSI will be transferring between 10 and 15 of its Illinois-based employees to Albuquerque and that the project represents a significant step for the company. This is a big deal for my little company because we havent moved outside of Illinois, said Kolquist. Its challenging and its exciting. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... SANTA FE, N.M. Reies Lopez Tijerina, a Pentecostal preacher turned activist who led a violent raid of a northern New Mexico courthouse more than 50 years ago and helped sparked the Chicano Movement, is the subject of a new Spanish-language documentary. SANTA FE, N.M. Reies Lopez Tijerina, a Pentecostal preacher turned activist who led a violent raid of a northern New Mexico courthouse more than 50 years ago and helped sparked the Chicano Movement, is the subject of a new Spanish-language documentary. Mexican director Angel Estrada Soto is showing his film, They Called Me King Tiger, around the U.S. and it will make its debut in New Mexico on Friday, the Santa New Mexican reports . Tijerina died in El Paso, Texas in 2015 at age 88. The documentary attempts to offer a balanced view of Tijerina, detailing his Texas upbringing as the child of poor ranchers, the religious commune he founded in the 1950s in the southern Arizona desert, and his eventual adoption of the struggle of New Mexicans to reclaim ancestral land grants that had been usurped by the U.S. government and white settlers. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ Estrada Soto said was fascinated by the way Tijerina described divine inspiration for his activism, detailing religious visions and a near-death experience at age five. That was the hook for me to tell this story more than his political activity, more than land grants, Estrada Soto said. When you want to understand why someone goes so far in his beliefs and struggle, you will find that someone like him has to have this other motivation, this divine motivation. Estrada Soto said he wanted the film to address all possible aspects of Tijerinas story, especially his troubled relationship with his family. Tijerina and his group wanted local officials to start honoring Spanish land grants outlined in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo the treaty that ended the U.S.-Mexican War of 1848 and give land back to the descendants of Hispanic pioneering families they say had been illegally seized by whites. Tijerina and his followers in 1967 raided the courthouse in the small community of Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, to try to make a citizens arrest of the local district attorney. The group shot and wounded a state police officer and jailer, beat a sheriffs deputy, and took the sheriff and a reporter hostage. Tijerina and his followers then escaped to the Kit Carson National Forest. Tijerina was arrested but ultimately acquitted of charges related to the raid. He eventually spent about two years in prison for federal destruction of property. The armed attack outraged some, but inspired Mexican-American college students of the late 1960s and early 1970s Chicano Movement that stressed ethnic pride, ethnic studies and opposition to police brutality. It came amid urban race riots, the emerging Black Panther Party and the militant American Indian Movement. Mexican director Angel Estrada Soto is showing his film, They Called Me King Tiger, around the U.S. and it will make its debut in New Mexico on Friday, the Santa New Mexican reports . Tijerina died in El Paso, Texas in 2015 at age 88. The documentary attempts to offer a balanced view of Tijerina, detailing his Texas upbringing as the child of poor ranchers, the religious commune he founded in the 1950s in the southern Arizona desert, and his eventual adoption of the struggle of New Mexicans to reclaim ancestral land grants that had been usurped by the U.S. government and white settlers. Estrada Soto said was fascinated by the way Tijerina described divine inspiration for his activism, detailing religious visions and a near-death experience at age five. That was the hook for me to tell this story more than his political activity, more than land grants, Estrada Soto said. When you want to understand why someone goes so far in his beliefs and struggle, you will find that someone like him has to have this other motivation, this divine motivation. Estrada Soto said he wanted the film to address all possible aspects of Tijerinas story, especially his troubled relationship with his family. Tijerina and his group wanted local officials to start honoring Spanish land grants outlined in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo the treaty that ended the U.S.-Mexican War of 1848 and give land back to the descendants of Hispanic pioneering families they say had been illegally seized by whites. Tijerina and his followers in 1967 raided the courthouse in the small community of Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, to try to make a citizens arrest of the local district attorney. The group shot and wounded a state police officer and jailer, beat a sheriffs deputy, and took the sheriff and a reporter hostage. Tijerina and his followers then escaped to the Kit Carson National Forest. Tijerina was arrested but ultimately acquitted of charges related to the raid. He eventually spent about two years in prison for federal destruction of property. The armed attack outraged some, but inspired Mexican-American college students of the late 1960s and early 1970s Chicano Movement that stressed ethnic pride, ethnic studies and opposition to police brutality. It came amid urban race riots, the emerging Black Panther Party and the militant American Indian Movement. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... Its a widespread belief that men pay more for automobile insurance than women. But thats only true for young adults. Several studies in 2018 and 2017 revealed that women over 25, particularly those between 40 and 60, often pay more than men not less for auto insurance, all other rating criteria being equal. Now, California has become the latest in a handful of states that have outlawed setting rates for automobile insurance based on gender. As one of his last acts before leaving office at the end of 2018, former California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones issued regulations prohibiting the use of gender in individual automobile insurance ratings in California, effective Jan. 1. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ California is the first state in decades to take the step, joining states including Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, most of which passed their laws in the 1970s and 1980s in the wake of the womens rights movement. In an interview, Jones said its fair for insurance companies to set premiums based on a drivers accident history, number of speeding tickets and other factors that are under the drivers control. But using gender is unfair because a person has no control over that, he said. An internal analysis by the department concluded auto insurers in California were all over the map with regard to how they handled gender as a rating factor, Jones said. In some cases, women were paying more and some less than similarly situated men. There was no consistency. Why? The insurance industry wont give many reasons. Several insurance companies contacted by Stateline, including Geico, Farmers and Progressive, refused to comment for this story or to explain what factors they consider in setting rates, including gender. A spokesman for Farmers referred inquiries to a trade group, the Insurance Information Institute. Janet Ruiz, the groups spokeswoman who is based in California, said auto insurers in the state use many criteria in setting rates, and prior to the new regulation, gender was a minor one. She predicted there would not be a big difference in rates for men or women because gender doesnt have much weight in the pricing overall, adding that rates might go up or down by about $25 a year. Ruiz said she disagreed with a 2017 analysis by the Consumer Federation of America showing women nationwide often are charged more, but she could not provide numbers that would counter the report. Another industry trade group suggested that banning gender discrimination could hurt competitive pricing. The auto insurance marketplace is highly competitive, said Maggie Seidel, vice president of public affairs for the American Property Casualty Insurance Association. When you eliminate rating factors it cuts back on choices that consumers and insurers may want. In comments presented to the California Department of Insurance, the state chapter of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association argued that gender rating has been used for nearly 30 years in the state and is based on actuarially sound principles and gender statistics. For example, men drive more miles than women, and teenage male drivers present higher risks than teenage female drivers. We are concerned that this proposed change would limit carriers ability to price the insurance risk accurately, causing some consumers to have to start paying higher rates than they would otherwise, the group said in a written response to the new rules. But a professor at University of Minnesota Law School, Daniel Schwarcz, said if companies are not allowed to use outdated stereotypes based on generalities about men and women, the insurers will have to consider more directly such measures as the actual number of miles driven, the number of years customers have been driving and where they live. Insurance companies have until June 30 to submit new ratings plans, with the gender factor eliminated, for approval by the California Department of Insurance, now headed by Ricardo Lara. Several studies have documented that women often pay more for automobile insurance than men, in addition to the one by the California Department of Insurance, including studies by the Consumer Federation of America, Texas Appleseed and the Michigan Coalition Protecting Auto No-Fault. According to the 2017 Consumer Federation study, 40- and 60-year-old women with perfect driving records were charged more than men for basic coverage nearly twice as often as men were charged the higher rate. Even when looking at young drivers, a time when men have more accidents, premiums were lower for women only some of the time, the study found. The study also polled U.S. drivers. Forty-eight percent said they thought men pay at least as much as women for automobile insurance. Only 23 percent said they thought women pay more than men. The 2018 study by Texas Appleseed, a public interest organization, found that women in Texas paid $56 more a year, on average, than men for auto insurance that satisfies the minimum required by law. Single and divorced women paid an even higher premium: $80 more a year, on average, than similarly situated men. The Consumer Federations Douglas Heller, an insurance expert who worked with the group on the studies, said teenage male drivers usually pay more or about the same as teenage girls. But as they grow older, the women start to pay more, he said, in some cases much more. Heller said his study found that nationwide, many women were paying hundreds of dollars more in premiums and in several cases, they were paying $500 more for no reason other than they marked the F under gender. That was stunning to us. Californias new insurance commissioner, Lara, acknowledged that some drivers might see their rates change as a result of the anti-discrimination policy, especially new drivers. But those changes even out as you gain more driving experience, he said in an email. With approximately 170 companies licensed to sell private passenger auto insurance here, there will be a lot of variation and choice for drivers. We will be watching insurers closely, Lara said, and we expect all these changes to be revenue neutral no insurance company is going to make more money under a gender-neutral policy. Part of the reason automobile insurance is so competitive is that every state but New Hampshire requires drivers to have at least enough insurance to cover their liability in an accident. Or they can put up a bond. Because the laws give insurance companies a captive audience, its by offering lower prices and more coverage that companies hope to attract a larger share of the market. Schwarcz, who has written about insurance and discrimination, said insurers use varying models to price risk. They are going to have a particular subset of policyholders and make decisions based on that, he said. Sex has been something that insurers can discriminate on. I dont think we have a comprehensive sense of exactly how prevalent that phenomenon is. But, Schwarcz said, Californians should not expect to see major changes in their auto insurance premiums. In most cases, the conventional wisdom is that its not going to make a huge (price) difference, he said. Thats not whats been driving pricing in California. That doesnt mean we shouldnt regulate it, but its unlikely were going to see a substantial change in the marketplace. In a 2014 paper, Understanding Insurance Anti-Discrimination Laws, Schwarcz and his co-authors noted that state laws against insurance discrimination generally cover race, national origin, religion, sexual orientation and genetics. The laws generally do allow factoring in gender, age, credit score and ZIP code. In Texas, a generic insurance law requires auto insurance companies to set rates that are reasonable, adequate, not discriminatory, and not excessive. To win approval from the insurance commission, any rate that a company wants to set based on age or gender must be based on sound actuarial data, said Ben Gonzalez, spokesman for the Texas Department of Insurance. That, in practice, allows the companies to consider gender and age when setting rates, he said, as long as they can prove actuarial differences. If a company sets a higher rate for a certain age group or gender versus another, it would have to provide information demonstrating higher claims-losses for those customers, he said, noting that such requests come in all the time. He said the job of the department is to ensure rate changes are justified by the industry data provided. Under Texas law, the new rates are able to go into effect while they are being reviewed, he said, and could be rolled back if the department finds they are not justified. Companies must be able to provide data supporting their loss experiences, before the rates are approved, he said. 2019 Stateline.org Visit Stateline.org at www.stateline.org Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. The mother of a 2-year-old Colorado boy who fatally shot himself has pleaded not guilty to child abuse. KKTV-TV reports Melissa Adamson was arraigned Monday, with a judge scheduling her trial for June. Authorities say Adamson left her gun unsecured and loaded when Lohki Bloom picked it up in late October. El Paso County sheriffs investigators say surveillance footage from inside her apartment near Colorado Springs shows that Lohki shot himself moments after discovering the firearm. According to court documents, authorities allege Adamson had argued with her methamphetamine dealer and had loaded the gun because she was concerned the dealer was going to stop by her home. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ A phone number for Adamson could not be found Monday night. ___ Information from: KKTV-TV, http://www.kktv.com/ Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference on February 11, 2019 2019/02/11 At the invitation of Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, 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, will travel to Germany for the 55th Munich Security Conference from February 15 to 17. The Munich Security Conference is an important forum on international security policy. Director Yang Jiechi will deliver a keynote speech at the conference and elaborate on China's views and proposals on major issues such as the current international situation, multilateralism and international cooperation. Director Yang will also hold bilateral meetings with relevant senior officials attending the conference to strengthen communication and exchange with various sides. Q: As we can see, there are more foreign leaders sending congratulatory messages for China's Lunar New Year than that in the previous year. The Russian Prime Minister Medvedev specifically visited the Chinese Embassy in Russia to mark this traditional festival. A number of world leaders including President Trump of the US, President Duterte of the Philippines, Prime Minister May of the UK, Prime Minister Abe of Japan, Prime Minister Morrison of Australia and Prime Minister Ardern of New Zealand extended Spring Festival greetings to the Chinese people in various ways. What is your comment? A: In China all families get together on Spring Festival as it is the most important, ceremonious and joyous of all traditional festivals for the Chinese. It symbolizes how much we cherish our family and aspire for a harmonious and prosperous life. During the Spring Festival, Prime Minister Medvedev visited the Chinese Embassy in Russia and extended best wishes to the Chinese people. This fully demonstrates the high-level and unique nature of China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, and the deep friendship between our two countries and peoples. It marks a good start for this year's celebration of the 70th anniversary of China-Russia diplomatic ties. We believe that with joint efforts from both sides, our comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination will be brought to a new height. As you said, during this Spring Festival, many foreign leaders extended congratulatory greetings and best wishes to the Chinese people, and delivered positive remarks on the important contributions made by Chinese communities to local economic and social development. I think it reflects not only the influence of traditional Chinese culture, but also other countries' recognition of traditional Chinese culture and ideals and their readiness to further friendly exchange and cooperation with China. As the traditional Chinese proverb goes, "harmony in the family brings prosperity." When the family members live in harmony, they can do everything smoothly. I think this philosophy also applies to state-to-state relations. If countries can share mutual respect, seek common ground while reserving differences and co-exist in harmony, the world will enjoy peace, development and prosperity. It meets the common aspiration of all people and serves the interests of all countries. In the year ahead, China will continue to work with all countries to build a better, more harmonious, prosperous and peaceful world. Q: On February 9, the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey criticized China on the situation in Xinjiang and its relevant policies. What is your response? A: I have noted these very bad remarks made by the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey. The Chinese Embassy in Turkey has already made a response at the earliest time possible, and the Chinese side has made stern representations with the Turkish side. Before saying anything else, I want to draw your attention to a fact. The Spokesperson of the Turkish Foreign Ministry claimed that "the distinguished folk poet Abdurehim Heyit passed away in his second year of imprisonment". However, the fact is that he is still alive and in good health. I saw videos online yesterday that testify to that. The Turkish side is extremely mistaken and irresponsible in making groundless accusations against China just based on some ridiculous lies that declare a living person dead. We are strongly opposed to that. I would like to add a few points. First, since 1990s, the "three evil forces" (terrorism, extremism and separatism) in China and abroad have plotted, organized and conducted thousands of violent terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, injuring and killing a great number of innocent people of various ethnic groups. Drawing on the anti-terrorism experience of the international community and based on its realities, the Chinese government has been actively working to counter terrorism and extremism and made notable achievements. People in Xinjiang now have a stronger sense of security, happiness and fulfillment. Recently, diplomatic envoys and representatives from a dozen countries as well as media representatives from countries including Turkey visited Xinjiang. They toured a lot of places, including vocational education and training centers. Their trip enhanced their comprehensive understanding of the economic and social situation in Xinjiang, and they believed that the radiant smile on the faces of local people is the most eloquent response to those rumors. One media representative from Turkey said after the trip that "I clearly saw that China has rolled out and implemented targeted measures in combating terrorism and extremism. They are a series of complementing measures to counter terrorism, accelerate economic development, improve people's livelihood and strengthen education in Xinjiang. Such a strategy is very wise and deserves to be learned by Turkey and the whole world." Second, people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang enjoy full freedom of religious belief in accordance with the law. Xinjiang now has 25,000 venues for religious activities, including mosques, churches and temples. Among these, there are 24,400 mosques and eight religious institutes. Xinjiang has a population of 24.4 million people, among which 13 million are Muslims. That means, on average, 530 Muslims share one mosque. According to available data, Turkey has a population of 82 million people and 90,000 mosques. That means, on average, 910 people in Turkey share one mosque. Third, people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang have the right to use their own spoken and written languages in accordance with the law. The Constitution and the Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy stipulate that various ethnic groups have the freedom to use their own spoken and written languages. Spoken and written languages of ethnic minorities are extensively used in press & publishing and radio & television. College entrance examination in Xinjiang is available in five languages, including Chinese, Uygur and Kazak. Fourth, the cultural rights of people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are legally guaranteed and fully respected. 109 religious historical and cultural sites including Kashgar's Id Kah Mosque are listed as Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level. Currently, on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity are the Art of Xinjiang Uygur Muqam and the Kirgiz Epic of Manas. Facts speak louder than anything. I believe that for all those who harbor no prejudice nor malicious intentions, they will feel genuinely happy for the solidarity, closeness and harmony enjoyed by the 56 ethnic groups in China. They will not make hostile accusations by fabricating lies. At last, I want to say that Turkey is also a multi-ethnic country facing the threats posed by terrorism. If it adopts double standards on counter-terrorism, it will only end up hurting itself as well as others. We hope that the Turkish side could make unbiased and impartial judgments, correctly view and understand the relevant policies and efforts made by the Chinese side and take concrete actions to promote mutual trust and cooperation between China and Turkey. Q: According to reports, during the Dialogue on the Implementation of China-Africa Peace and Security Initiative held on February 6th in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, African delegates spoke highly of the historic significance of the FOCAC Beijing Summit and welcomed China's major approach to the implementation of the China-Africa peace and security initiative. Can you give us more information on this? A: The Chinese side has issued a press release on the Dialogue on the Implementation of China-Africa Peace and Security Initiative. During the successful FOCAC Beijing Summit in September 2018, the Chinese side and the African side agreed to join hands in building a closer China-Africa community with a shared future. President Xi announced a series of new approaches to strengthen China-Africa cooperation on peace and security, and leaders of the two sides reached important consensus on the joint implementation of relevant initiatives, making it an important part of the eight major initiatives of the Beijing Summit. This year is the first year to implement the outcomes of the Beijing Summit. The dialogue in Addis Ababa on February 6 is an innovative event to enhance China-Africa cooperation on peace and security. During the dialogue, the two sides complemented each other's thoughts and actions, made proposals for implementation, and created more momentum and synergy for future cooperation. The two sides deepened communication and dialogue on the peace and security situation in Africa and better complemented each other's policies and actions. In a nutshell, it was a successful meeting that reached its targeted goals. China has all along been honoring its obligations as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, following the principle of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith and the principle of pursuing the greater good and shared interests proposed by President Xi, and actively participating in Africa's peace and security affairs. No matter how the international situation may evolve, China's resolves won't change: it will earnestly implement the new cooperation initiatives announced by President Xi during the Beijing Summit and the important consensus reached by leaders of both sides. The Chinese side is ready to work with the African side to implement the outcomes of the Beijing Summit, see to it that the Belt and Road Initiative and the AU Agenda 2063 better complement each other, jointly promote multilateralism, strengthen the multilateral system, uphold the interests of China, Africa and all developing countries, so as to make contributions to peace and stability of Africa and the world. Q: It has been reported that on February 11, two US warships, USS Spruance and USS Preble sailed within 12 nautical miles of relevant islands and reefs in the Spratly Islands. I wonder if you have any comment on that action? A: On February 11, USS Spruance and USS Preble, without permission from the Chinese government, sailed into adjacent waters of Ren'ai Reef (also known as the Second Thomas Shoal) and Meiji Reef (also known as Mischief Reef) in China's Nansha Islands (also known as Spratly Islands). The Chinese Navy identified and verified the US warships according to the law, issued warning and expelled them. The trespass of US warships infringed on China's sovereignty and disrupted the peace, security and good order in relevant waters. China strongly deplores and firmly opposes such behaviors. China has indisputable sovereignty over Nansha Islands including Ren'ai Reef and Meiji Reef, and adjacent waters of the islands. China has all along respected and upheld the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea that countries are entitled to under international law. However, China is firmly opposed to actions that damage the sovereignty and security of littoral states under the pretext of "freedom of navigation and overflight". With the concerted efforts of China and ASEAN states, the situation in the South China Sea has been peaceful and stable and constantly improving. Under such circumstances, the deliberate attempt by the US to provoke trouble and create tension to disrupt the peace and stability of the South China Sea goes against people's common aspiration. China urges the US to immediately stop such provocations and show its respect through concrete actions to regional countries' efforts to safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea. China will continue to take all necessary measures to resolutely defend its sovereignty and security and to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea. Q: The US delegation led by Deputy US Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish has started talks with the Chinese side today. Can you tell us the main topics and schedule of this vice-ministerial consultation? What is China's expectation for the high-level trade talks on February 14 and 15? A: As for the China-US high-level trade talks, the Commerce Ministry has already released relevant information. Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Vice Premier of the State Council and Chinese Initiator of the China-US Comprehensive Economic Dialogue Liu He will meet with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in Beijing on February 14 and 15 for a new round of high-level trade talks. The two sides are expected to build on the consensus they reached in Washington and engage in more in-depth discussions on issues of common concern. As for the specific schedule, topics and expectations, I would refer you to the Commerce Ministry. Just like people in other countries, we hope that the trade talks could lead to a good outcome. Q: I have two questions. First, according to media reports, there are about 250 Chinese spies active in Brussels. I wonder if you have any comment on this? Second, there are reports claiming that President Xi might meet with President Trump in the near future. I wonder if you could confirm that? A: As to your first question, the relevant reports you mentioned are too ridiculous. The Chinese Mission to the EU and the Chinese Embassy in Belgium have both seriously refuted these reports at the earliest time possible. China respects other country's sovereignty and does not interfere in other country's domestic affairs. We have zero interest in the so-called practice of sending out a large number of spies to collect intelligence. What I would like to point out is that, beneath the noisy surface of the so-called "China threat theory" and "China espionage theory" lies the ruthless attempt by some in the US to coerce US allies into smearing and suppressing China. The US is pursuing a hegemonic and unjust course, and a few of its allies just follow wherever the US leads. Isn't it just pathetic? We hope relevant sides will adjust their attitude and view China's mutually beneficial relationship with other countries in an objective manner, and stop trying every means to slander and attack China. Such absurd allegations, when repeated, will only bring more damage to one's own image. I believe we all see this crystal clear. As to whether the presidents of China and the US will meet soon, we noted that President Trump expressed that he looked forward to meeting President Xi again. China is ready to stay in close contact with the US in various means. As to the meeting you mentioned, I have no information to provide. Q: The video you mentioned about Heyit was released on the Turkish website of China Radio International. An article on the website mentioned that this information is from the spokesperson of the government of Xinjiang Autonomous Region. But we didn't get any information from the spokesperson of the government of Xinjiang or the website of the government of Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Is the information from CRI correct? A: As a journalist with the Financial Times, you should have basic judgement. The Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson claimed that "Heyit died in the second year of imprisonment" while a video on February 10 showed him alive and well. Which is true and which is false? Do you still need me to answer this question? You might ask the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson from what source he got the information that "Heyit is dead". Follow-up: I meant to ask if the report by CRI could represent the official position of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. A: The report is a source of information with truth supported by evidence. You may pose your question to authorities in Xinjiang. I believe you will get the same answer. Meanwhile I also suggest that you ask the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson for his source of Heyit's death. If the Turkish side really cares for his conditions, shouldn't they rejoice at the news that Heyit is still alive and enjoying good health? Lately many foreign media have brought up individual cases. To produce a responsible reply to your questions, we would contact relevant authorities in Xinjiang to make inquiries every time. However, our efforts only led to bewildering discoveries. For example, CNN asked about a Uygur woman named Mihrigul who claimed that her son died in a hospital in Urumqi and that she herself was in custody. However, as I clarified here, we found after verification that none of what she said was true. She was never held in any prison in Urumqi and her son did not die in a Urumqi hospital. So that was fake news. And yet Mihrigul was brought to a US Senate hearing. Then there was a letter from New York Times asking about someone named Baim urat who is now in Kazakhstan. He claimed that he used to be a policeman in Xinjiang and made accusations against the education and training centers in Xinjiang. However, after thorough verification with relevant departments in Xinjiang, we found that he never worked as a policeman, but only briefly as a security guard in a local market. In 2011, he secretly became a Kazakhstan citizen and was issued a Kazakhstan passport. But he withheld the information from public security authorities of China. He concealed his dual nationality. From July 2017 to June 2018, he worked as security guard at a market in Qitai County until dismissed by the employer for bad character. After that he went to Kazakhstan and fabricated a lot of rumors about Xinjiang. Most recently, the AFP and some other media agencies have been asking about the death of Heyit in prison as the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson claimed. After verification with relevant departments in Xinjiang, we found out that Heyit is not dead. Yesterday, I also saw the video clip showing him in very good health. It is my hope that as journalists, you will prudently discern and cite your source and take your questions and coverage more seriously. If time and again you bring up fabricated cases with no truth in them, the credibility of your organization will be seriously doubted. Q: Given that claim that Abdurehim Heyit is alive and well, could you provide any information about the time of his detention, his whereabouts at the moment, or the reasons for his arrest? A: After thorough verification, relevant departments in Xinjiang provided the following feedback. Heyit, former actor in the Xinjiang Song and Sance troupe, is in custody for crimes against national security. The case is under investigation. If you want more details, you may place your inquiries with the authorities in Xinjiang. But I do hope that some of you will ask the Turkish Foreign Ministry for the source of Heyit's death in prison. Q: The second US-DPRK summit will be held in Hanoi, Vietnam on February 27 and 28. Does China have any comment on this? A: China has consistently supported the DPRK and the US in engaging in dialogue and consultation to find solutions. At present the two sides are preparing for the second summit. China supports and hopes for a smooth summit with positive outcomes, which will contribute to denuclearization and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. Q: On Saturday, an Air New Zealand flight was turned around en route to China, which claimed it was because it didn't have permission to land in China. As far as I know, the Chinese government hasn't provided any reason for this yet. I wonder if you have any information you can provide about the situation? A: I am afraid what you said is not true. Have you not heard? I saw some reports online. Due to temporary glitch in dispatchment, this airplane failed to obtain a landing permit with its destination and decided of its own accord to return en route. As to the specifics, you may ask China's civil aviation authority or Air New Zealand. Q: Just a follow-up question on Abdurehim Heyit. Will China release more videos of detained Uygurs to offer more transparency on the conditions and treatment? A: You may ask the Turkish Foreign Ministry to offer more transparency and make public its source. What information or evidence do they have to say that Heyit has died in prison? Q: Can I ask you to clarify what action the Chinese government is taking in response to the statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesperson. Are you making any formal representations or demanding any kind of apology? A: I just said that the Chinese Embassy in Turkey strongly refuted the statement by the Turkish side at the earliest time possible, and the Chinese side has lodged stern representations with the Turkish side. We hope that the Turkish side could come around and realize their mistakes. Since their allegations are wrong, they should retract their false accusations. Like I already said, Turkey is also a multi-ethnic country facing the threats of terrorism. It has more reasons to understand and support the efforts made by a country's government to combat terrorism and maintain domestic security and stability. Q: You said that Heyit is still alive, but is the evidence for that based on a video you just mentioned or from an official source? A: Like I just said, after we received your questions, we contacted relevant departments in Xinjiang. They dutifully checked out the relevant situation and made a reply. Also, I saw Heyit's video yesterday. Q: Regarding the situation with Turkey, are you concerned that the comments by the Turkish Spokesman will do lasting damage to China-Turkey relations? A: As I said earlier, Turkey's statement was clearly a groundless accusation based on lies. China has made strong representations to the Turkish side. We hope they can recognize their mistakes and realize that their "accusations" on China were based on some absurd rumors. We also urge the Turkish side to correct and take back their wrong remarks, and uphold the mutual trust and cooperation between our two countries with concrete actions. I also want to point out here that some foreign media have brought about many similar individual cases recently. Some reporters raised such questions because they were deceived or eager to know the truth, not because they had ill intentions. Considering this, every time when asked such questions, we would contact the competent authorities in Xinjiang to verify relevant information and help you know the truth. We hope our efforts can help you know and report the current situation in Xinjiang in a more objective and just manner. We also hope that at the same time, you can think it over and introspect upon that after these reports on individual cases were proven to be lies time and again. Q: There is a Xinjiang businessman, Halemubieke Xiaheman, reportedly stuck in the Tashkent airport in Uzbekistan. I was wondering if you could confirm that China has issued an extraditional request for this businessman? A: You mentioned another individual case. I can give your question to the competent authorities in Xinjiang. But as I emphasized, the relevant authorities in China have spent a lot of time and energy to investigate the many individual cases you asked about, but they were always proven to be mere lies. I hope all media can be aware of that and keep vigilant. Next time when you raise a question, at least you should tell me your source and have your own judgment whether the information is true. I assume you all know the story about the boy who cried wolf. Once or twice is all right, but after three times, it tends to weaken trust. Q: Another question on Xinjiang. Thank you for verifying information for us, but now we have a problem. We cannot get any response from the spokespersons of relevant provincial, regional and munipal governments or their offices of foreign affairs when we contact them via fax or phone call. We want to directly ask the local authorities but do not have the access. Can you tell us what we can do? A: First, I'd like to thank you for your trust in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Here is something I think you need to know: the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not in charge of the spokeperson's office of the government of Xinjiang Autonomous Region or any branch of the State Council. It is the State Council Information Office that you need to raise this question to. My advice is that you really think about how people interact with one another. We attach importance to foreign reporters' questions and do our best to help you know the truth. But after careful verification, all individual cases are proven to be lies that smear China's image. It will only make people who helped you become antipathetic, defensive and alert; they do not want to communicate with you any more. But if you demonstrate your readiness by making objective and fair reports, I believe they will be more willing to conduct open and candid communication with you. This is how interpersonal relations work, and it is the same with working relations. So I hope you and all our friends from foreign media here can earnestly think about it: what will be your response if your colleagues' comments on you are all lies and rumors intended to damage your reputation? Do you still want to talk to them? The answer is obvious. I hope you can earn the trust of people in Xinjiang and their readiness to contact you by taking more real actions. Q: The vice-ministerial trade talks between China and the US has already begun. Will the US "freedom of navigation" operations affect bilateral consultations? I got a sense of deja vu because in the past whenever China and the US held trade talks, the US side would stage "freedom of navigation" operations. What is your comment? A: You are a very acute observer as you have found out their pattern of "maneuvers". In fact, you all know clearly what is on the mind of the US side. Regarding China-US trade talks, I have made clear China's position. You need to ask the Commerce Ministry for the specific details. When China and the US resolve trade frictions through dialogue and consultation, the interests of the two sides, the common aspiration of the international community and the world economic growth stand to benefit. We are ready to have talks with the US side in the spirit of equality, mutual respect, mutual benefit and win-win results. As for the so-called "freedom of navigation" operations taken by the US side, China respects and safeguards the genuine freedom of navigation and overflight that all countries are entitled to in accordance with international law. However, we firmly oppose using "navigation freedom" as a pretext to undermine the sovereignty and security of coastal states. This position is firm, clear and consistent. Q: First, Australia last week revoked the visa of a Chinese businessman and political donor Huang Xiangmo. I would like to know China's comment on this. Second, Venezuelan opposition Juan Guaido has said that he is willing to engage Chinese officials in dialogue as soon as possible and will honor bilateral agreements. Has China already begun discussions with Guaido on Venezuela's debt repayment? A: On your first question, I have no relevant information. But one thing is clear: the Chinese side never interferes in others' internal affairs. This position has been reiterated multiple times. We hope that the Australian side could handle the relevant issues involving this Chinese citizen in a fair, just and non-discriminatory way. As for the situation in Venezuela, we hope that the Venezuelan people could sort out their own matters and resolve the issue through peace dialogues and political means under the legal framework in accordance with their Constitution. Only in this way can Venezuela realize enduring stability and order in the real sense. China supports the efforts made by the international community to achieve this end and hopes that all parties could contribute constructively to the peaceful settlement of the Venezuelan issue. The relationship between China and Venezuela is a normal one between two states. Our two sides have been conducting practical cooperation for a long time following the principle of equality, mutual benefit, common development and commercial rules. Such cooperation complies with laws and regulations and has benefited the two countries and peoples, and therefore should stand beyond any harm no matter how the situation on the ground may change. China will continue to advance its exchanges and cooperation with Venezuela in various fields in accordance with the principle of equality, mutual benefit, win-win cooperation and common development. Q: There are some reports that talk about 17 Australian residents who are being detained in Xinjiang. Can you confirm this information? A: I haven't heard of that and have no relevant information. It would be better if you provide specific names and their information so that we can help you check out the situation. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... BAGHDAD The top Pentagon official arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday to consult with American military commanders and Iraqi government leaders on the future U.S. troop presence in Iraq. Pat Shanahan, the acting secretary defense, said before his unannounced trip that he wanted to hear first-hand about the state of Iraqs fight against remnants of the Islamic State group. Shanahan, who is on his first visit to Iraq, is also to meet with Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi. In remarks to reporters after leaving Washington on Sunday, Shanahan declined to say whether he would propose that additional U.S. special operations troops be brought to Iraq to, in effect, compensate for a pullout from Syria to begin within weeks. The U.S. has about 5,200 troops in Iraq to train and advise its security forces, 16 years after the U.S. invaded to topple Saddam Hussein. President Donald Trump upset Iraqis by saying earlier this month that U.S. forces should use their Iraqi positions to keep an eye on neighboring Iran. That is not the stated U.S. mission in Iraq, and Iraqi officials have said Trumps proposal would violate the Iraqi constitution. Trump also has angered Iraqi politicians by arguing that he would keep U.S. troops in Iraq and use the country as a base from which to strike extremists in Syria if necessary, after the 2,000 troops now in Syria depart in coming weeks. Curbing foreign influence has become a hot-button issue in Iraq after parliamentary elections last year in which Shiite politicians backed by Iran made significant gains. Meanwhile, Shiite militias that fought alongside U.S.-backed Iraqi government troops against IS in recent years, gained outsized influence along the way. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ This political tension formed the backdrop to Shanahans visit, which marks his first time in Iraq. He took over as the acting Pentagon chief after Jim Mattis resigned as defense secretary in December. Its unclear whether Trump will nominate Shanahan for Senate confirmation. On Monday, Shanahan was in Afghanistan, where he met with U.S. troops and President Ashraf Ghani amid a U.S. push for peace talks with the Taliban. Trump has indicated he would like to get U.S. troops out of Afghanistan after 18 years of war, but Shanahan said he has no orders for a troop drawdown. Although Afghanistan is Americas longest war, fighting in Iraq has taken a heavier toll on American lives. President Barack Obama pulled troops out of Iraq in December 2011 but sent them back in smaller numbers in 2014 after the Islamic State group swept across the border from Syria and took control of much of western and northern Iraq. Since the height of its self-proclaimed caliphate that included a third of both Iraq and Syria, IS-held territory has now shrunk to a sliver of territory in eastern Syria where remaining Islamic State militants are fighting back. Trump has not publicly called for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, although he often calls the 2003 invasion a colossal mistake and has said the U.S. should have taken Iraqs oil as compensation for getting rid of Saddam. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. A grandmother is suing the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department and Acadia Healthcare, alleging her grandson was sexually abused by older patients at the Desert Hills treatment center in Albuquerque in 2017. It should never happen to any child and he was 7 years old at the time, said Alexander Crecca, Diana Peterlins attorney. The lawsuit was filed in 1st Judicial District Court in Santa Fe Wednesday. A CYFD spokeswoman said the agency does not comment on pending litigation. Attorneys for Acadia Healthcare did not return phone calls from the Journal. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ According to the lawsuit, CYFD took Peterlins grandson away from his mother and put him into the custody of Desert Hills. It is unclear when he was admitted there or how long he had been there, but in February 2017, the boy reported being sexually abused by older children at the center. As a result of the February 6, 2017, medical evaluation, the Presbyterian Hospital physicians who evaluated (the boy) recommended that (he) not return to defendant, Desert Hills, the complaint says. It is unclear whether he was returned to the facility and Crecca, said he is still gathering specific information about the incident. Upon information and belief, at the time of the incident that is the basis of this lawsuit, no Desert Hills staff member was monitoring either (the boy) or the older children who sexually assaulted (the boy), the complaint says. The lawsuit alleges CYFD the agency that placed the boy at Desert Hills was negligent because it failed to recognize the concerns of sexual abuse at the center and failed to recognize the threat to the boy. It alleges Acadia, the company that runs Desert Hills, has a professional duty to supervise patients at the facility and to develop an understanding of the risks and dangers presented for each patient within its facility. Defendant knew or should have known that other, older children had a problem with sexually acting out and posed an unreasonable danger, particularly to other children in the facility, and did not take appropriate steps to protect the other children, including (the boy), the complaint says. The suit asks for the boy and his grandmother, who represents him, to be compensated for his injuries. Crecca said hes aware of other complaints against Desert Hills. When this case came into my office, I took it very seriously, Crecca said. When I saw the medical records substantiating the abuse, I felt compelled to take the suit. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... EL PASO New Mexicans joined the crowds who turned out for President Donald Trumps campaign rally and a protest march for truth. I think the president is going to raise significant awareness that he intends to keep his promise to build that wall, said Gavin Clarkson a high-profile Republican from Las Cruces. Clarkson, a former deputy assistant secretary for policy and economic development in the Trump administration, was among the group invited to greet the president when his plane touched down in El Paso. As people wearing red MAGA hats crowded the El Paso County Coliseum to hear Trump at his first campaign rally of the year, thousands of protesters gathered for the march for truth nearby. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ Greg White waved a large New Mexico flag and said his message for the president was quit lying He said he carpooled from Las Cruces to El Paso with a group of at least 50 people who are against building a wall. We think its a waste of money. Theres a need for other solutions like better immigration laws, electronic monitoring or border agents, any number of solutions but certainly not a wall, White said. Deb Sigman of Las Cruces carried a sign that read No wall. No lies. She said she was with Indivisible Las Cruces, a progressive group that promotes voter education and participation. Hes got to quit trying to instill fear, said Sigman, referring to Trumps false claim that El Paso was one of the most dangerous cities in the country before a border wall was built about 10 years ago. Both FBI and local law enforcement statistic show El Paso has consistently been among the safest cities in the U.S. even before the wall went up. Thats not the truth but at the same time the message still has to be we need a wall, said El Paso resident Adrian Rodriguez. Rodriguez, 46, said he is not a huge Trump supporter but agreed to accompany his sister to the rally. We are a Democratic county in a Republican state; its definitely good to see a great turnout, said his sister Angelica Widman, 40. The coliseum where the president spoke has a maximum capacity for 6,000 people and was filled. Trump opened his rally saying, Today we started building a great big beautiful wall right on the banks of the Rio Grande, referring to planned construction in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Thanks to a powerful border wall in El Paso, Texas, its one of Americas safest cities, Trump told the cheering crowd later during his speech. El Paso Mayor Dee Margo, a Republican, disputed the presidents claim the city was dangerous before the wall. I dont care if a mayor is a Republican or Democrat, theyre full of crap, Trump said. Ron Davis was eager to hear the president repeat his promise to build a wall. Keep going. Dont give up, he said. His wife, Linda Davis, said she wanted a wall to curb illegal immigration. I like to look at individually who are coming and not have a mob. The couple, in their mid-70s, got tired waiting in line to see the president, gave up and went home to watch the Trump campaign rally on television. Author and poet Benjamin Alire Saenz, a native of Las Cruces, said the presidents visit was an opportunity for border residents to speak out. He planned to attend the march for truth. The time is long past when we let other peoples voices define who we are especially when those voices are not interested in listening to us, Saenz said. We refuse to be used for anybodys agenda especially when that agenda is contrary to our values, our sense of compassion, and our very humanity. As Trump rallied his supporters, thousands of protesters, led by former El Paso congressman Beto ORourke, ended their march at a park nearby. We stand for America and we stand against walls, ORourke told the cheering crowd. But he did not reveal whether he would join the growing number of Democrats running for president. ORourke said El Paso is safe not because of walls, but in spite of walls. Secure, because we treat one another with dignity and respect. That is the way we make our communities and our country safe. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... Copyright 2019 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE The executive director of the New Mexico History Museum has been let go. Andrew Wulf, who held the position since 2015 and set off a handful of cultural controversies during his tenure, served his last day as head of the museum on Friday. The museum includes the historic Palace of the Governors on the Santa Fe Plaza. Some of Wulfs calls as director that drew criticism included removing devils from their decadeslong roles as the villains in Santa Fes annual Las Posadas procession, a traditional Christmas season re-enactment of the Holy Familys search for shelter before Jesus birth; an attempt to keep organizers of the Fiesta de Santa Fe from nailing wooden Hispanic family crests on the Palaces exterior, as had been done for years; and failure to include a local Hispanic speaker in a public forum over the contentious issues surrounding the Fiesta and the Entrada, the pageant that re-enacts the Spaniards return to Santa Fe 12 years after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ Debra Garcia y Griego, secretary-designate of the state Department of Cultural Affairs, said Monday that the department is looking to go in a different direction with the history museum. She declined to elaborate further. Reached by phone, Wulf said his dismissal came as a surprise, but that he knew it was a possibility given the change in gubernatorial administrations. He was hired under then-Gov. Susana Martinez. We leave on good terms, off to a brighter future, and it was an honor to be at the helm of what I think is the best regional history museum in the world, Wulf said. Garcia y Griego, formerly head of the Santa Fe Arts Commission, who recently was appointed to head Cultural Affairs by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, said the Museum of New Mexico Board of Regents which oversees all state government museums will be putting together a search committee to advertise for Wulfs successor and select finalists. She said DCA thanks Wulf for his service over the past four years. We wish him luck in his future endeavors. Wulf came to the New Mexico History Museum after serving as supervisory museum curator at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in California. Hed also previously worked at Los Angeles Skirball Museum and Cultural Center, the University of Southern Californias Fisher Museum of Art and Special Collections, and Londons Victoria and Albert Museum. He said hes proud of the museum teams work opening up new dialogue and new conversations about New Mexico history during his tenure, specifically mentioning programs on lowriders, crypto-Judaism and New Mexicos Native American cultures. Some of Wulfs decisions during his tenure were later reversed. For example, his 2017 decision to swap out Las Posadas devils with innkeepers was reversed after one performance. The devils were back in December 2018. Wulf said the rooftop devils, who are always booed vigorously by crowds on the Plaza as they reject Mary and Josephs requests for shelter, were not part of traditional Hispanic Las Posadas pageants elsewhere. But they had always been the bad guys at the Santa Fe event, which grew out of a neighborhood version of Las Posadas, since the History Museum took it over in the 1980s. Last year, then-DCA Secretary Veronica Gonzales directed the department to allow the Fiesta Council to hang family coats of arms at the Palace after Wulf in a letter asked for an end to the tradition due to cumulative damage to the 400-year-old building. Fiesta leaders said the colorful crests were actually nailed into pieces of lumber temporarily attached to Palace beams with screws. Asked if the controversies played a role in his dismissal, Garcia y Griego said she really cant speak to them. Wulf said he doesnt know if they had an impact. I would hope not because theres a much larger picture than those two incidents, he said. A symposium Wulf organized in 2017 on Fiesta and the Entrada, which had become the focus of Native American protests, didnt include a presenter who was Hispanic. Wulf said at the time that Hispanic historians had passed when asked to speak. The Entrada was ended last year after negotiations that included Fiesta leaders, pueblo officials and the hierarchy of the Catholic church. Wulf said he plans to remain working in the museum field. Asked if hell stay in New Mexico, Well see, he said. For the time being, Garcia y Griego will direct the New Mexico History Museum. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... James Boyd. That name evokes an unpleasant community memory of how interactions between people with mental health issues and law enforcement can go terribly wrong. The homeless camper with a history of mental illness was shot during a standoff with police in the Sandia Mountains foothills in March 2014. That year, 43 percent of the Albuquerque Police Departments officer-involved shootings occurred with people living with mental illness, according to a report by the CIT (Crisis Intervention Training) ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Options) program. And that year, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a scathing report that said APDs policies, training and/or supervision of officer encounters with people with mental health issues were inadequate and too often led to use of excessive force. So, soon after, CIT ECHO was launched in Albuquerque with a grant from the DoJs Bureau of Justice Assistance to raise awareness of how to deal effectively with those struggling with mental health issues. The weekly video conference workshops, attended by police officers and first responders, has since spread to other states. And now the program here is out of money. Its final report shows encouraging results. The perception of when participants thought use of force was required for officer safety dropped from more than 20 percent to about 3 percent. Participants felt more confident in dealing with people with a mental illness and better informed of the resources available to them. This program dovetails into APDs new Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program, or LEAD, which will allow officers to determine whether the person theyve arrested needs to go to jail or would better benefit from a trip to a detox facility and a meeting with a case manager who can help them plug into services such as Medicaid, housing vouchers and substance abuse treatment. Like CIT ECHO, it gives officers a chance to de-escalate a situation. And LEAD would allow officers to give those struggling with substance abuse issues the chance to get on track before getting an arrest and criminal record. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ As APD works with DOJ on the last pieces of the law enforcement diversion program, the search is on to keep CIT ECHO and its weekly videoconference workshops in place (1) because they are working and (2) because there is a great need in New Mexico, particularly in the Albuquerque-metro area. The cost to keep CIT ECHO going is minimal mainly covering the coordinators position and ancillary expenses. Considering the results so far, thats a big return on a small investment. Because the city is required, under its court-ordered oversight agreement with DOJ, to increase officer training in this area, it should look into its roughly $577 million general fund budget to keep it going. After all, when faced with what looked like a $40 million budget deficit last March, City Councilors raised the citys gross receipts tax rate and stipulated at least 60 percent of the revenue go to public safety budget goal priorities. Then, the deficit magically disappeared. The need for behavioral health services did not. In addition, Bernalillo County, which includes all of Albuquerque, increased its gross receipts tax by around $20 million a year to boost resources for people with mental health issues. So, metro consumers are already contributing a lot of cash to the cause. And they deserve to have it dedicated to programs that deliver results. 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. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... SANTA FE A Santa Fe County father who beat his son badly that the boy had internal lacerations may get to avoid prison time if a judge accepts a proposed plea deal. Darryl Blakey, 43, pleaded guilty to one count of child abuse resulting in great bodily harm and one count of intentional or reckless child abuse in Santa Fe District Court on Monday. Blakey was arrested by Santa Fe County deputies on Sept. 20, 2016 after his then 8-year-old son showed up to his Pojoaque-area school with complaints of stomach pain and having trouble breathing. The boy had to be helped off the bus by school officials and was taken to a Santa Fe hospital before being transported to University of New Mexico Hospital with lacerations to his spleen and liver. Emergency room doctors told deputies that the injuries had the potential to be life-threatening, according to a criminal complaint. Blakey spent 15 days in the Santa Fe County jail before being released on electronic monitoring and later on an appearance bond. Although Blakey originally faced up to 18 years in prison, prosecutor Martin Maxwell of the Santa Fe District Attorneys Office asked Judge T. Glenn Ellington Monday to sentence Blakey to 5 years of supervised probation with a year of electronic monitoring. Maxwell also asked that Blakey be required to complete domestic violence and child abuse programs. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ Maxwell did ask for a 12-year suspended prison sentence, meaning Blakey could go to prison if he violates any conditions of the deal. Maxwell, whos listed on court documents as the fourth prosecutor on the case, said Blakeys wife tragically died of an illness before the charges were filed and that everyone interviewed for the trial had good things to say about Blakey. All of the interviews were in favor of Mr. Blakey, Maxwell said. We came to the conclusion that Mr. Blakey has had enough tragedy in his life. Mr. Blakey hit his child, and since then hes become a better person. Blakey will be sentenced on Wednesday so the child victim has the opportunity to address the court. Blakey told deputies that he beat the boy for getting in trouble at school and said he hit him several times with an open hand in the chest, back and buttocks. He admitted to losing control of the situation and blacked out for a few seconds while beating the boy. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... SANTA FE Prosecutors are asking that a former priest at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Espanola remain in jail pending trial on charges of kidnapping and rape of a 6 or 7-year-old boy in the mid-1980s. Marvin Archuleta, 81, was arrested in Albuquerque on Friday after spending decades on the lam. Because the charges are first degree felonies, there is no statute of limitations against prosecution. In a motion filed on Monday before Archuleta made a video appearance at an arraignment hearing in Santa Fe Magistrate Court, the state Attorney Generals Office argued that Archuleta posed a threat to other children, was a flight risk and should be kept in jail pending trial. But someone apparently has known where Archuleta was at least since November. A court filing by the AGs Office indicates that the former priest was interviewed on Nov. 29 and that a recording of the interview will be part of the evidence at an upcoming detention hearing. A spokesman for the AGs office said he couldnt say more about the interview or who conducted it, other than that the office has undertaken a wide-ranging investigation of alleged sexual abuse by priests over the last two years. According to a motion for pretrial detention, Archuleta fled to Mexico in the mid-1990s after church officials were notified of a civil claim against the priest alleging improper sexual activity with children. The motion states that Archuleta has international ties and that one can reasonably infer he developed reliable contacts willing to assist him. The motion also states that Archuleta was most recently living at the Sun Village Apartments, adjacent to Albuquerque High School, and that returning him to a location so close to the school was a recipe for disaster. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ At Mondays hearing, Archuleta appeared from the Santa Fe County jail by video hookup and was using a walker. He started to ask Judge David Segura about needing time to make arrangements for housing but was cut off by Segura, who told him that as magistrate judge he could not address issues having to do with conditions of release. The judge said Archuleta faces up to 30 years in prison on each of his two felony counts, for rape and kidnapping. The charges stem from an alleged incident at the Catholic church in Santa Cruz, part of Espanola, during which Archuleta and another unnamed priest pulled three boys out of a first-grade class ostensibly to be recruited as altar boys. Archuleta and one of the boys, identified as John Doe A in court documents, were left alone in the back room of another building. Archuleta allegedly used a belt to restrain the boy while he raped him and repeated This is Gods love; this is how we show Gods love. A civil lawsuit over the alleged rape was filed last year. Archuleta was one of 74 priests, deacons and seminarians on a list of credibly accused sexual predators released by the archdiocese last year. An earlier lawsuit, from 1994, had accused him of sexually abusing a 14-year-old altar boy while on a trip to Washington, D.C. in 1971. The motion by the AGs office filed Monday states that this boy was molested in motel room after motel room across the country in what the victim later described as a two-week nightmare. The old civil case was settled for an undisclosed amount of money. No bond for Archuleta was set Monday. He is due back in Magistrate Court for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 20, but also is expected to also appear before a higher-level district court judge within five days. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... The governor has appointed a public defender, a prosecutor and a litigation attorney to fill three judicial vacancies at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, according to a news release. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham selected Brittany Maldonado Malott, David Murphy and Felicia R. Blea-Rivera from a list of nine candidates submitted to her last month by a judicial nominating commission. Malott worked most recently as a public defender and she also serves as a supervising attorney in the UNM Criminal Law in Practice Program. Murphy is an deputy district attorney who has also worked for the Attorney Generals Office prosecuting Medicaid fraud and financial elder abuse. Blea-Rivera works for the New Mexico Association of Counties and provided legal support to Sandia National Laboratories prior to that. All three of the new judges attended the University of New Mexico for both their undergraduate and law degrees, according to a press release. The appointments fill seats previously held by Sharon Walton, Edward Benavidez and Kenny Montoya. Walton retired and Benavidez and Montoya were not retained by voters last year. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... SANTA FE Two proposals moving through the House are aimed at making it easier for New Mexicans to register to vote. Both proposals, sponsored by Democratic lawmakers, passed the House Judiciary Committee on Monday and are heading next to the House floor. One measure, House Bill 84, would automatically register people to vote when they get their drivers license or ID at the Motor Vehicle Division, unless they opt out or are ineligible. The other proposal, House Bill 86, would allow people to register to vote on Election Day or at early voting sites. Under the current system, the registration period closes four weeks before Election Day. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ Democratic Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, who supports both proposals, said the bills would reduce barriers to voting while maintaining adequate safeguards to ensure only qualified voters are able to cast ballots. Its a common source of complaints, she said, for people to show up on Election Day only to find out they failed to register in time. Theres no reason not to do this in this state, she said at one point. We have the technology. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... CUCUTA, Colombia Nearly three weeks after the Trump administration backed an all-out effort to force out President Nicolas Maduro, the embattled socialist leader is holding strong and defying predictions of an imminent demise. Dozens of nations have recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidos claim to the presidency and the U.S. has tightened sanctions aimed at cutting off billions of dollars in oil revenue. But anti-Maduro street protests have come and gone, and large-scale military defections have failed to materialize. With the U.S. seen as considering military action only as a last resort, Guaido is trying to regain momentum with an effort this week to move U.S. emergency food and medicine into Venezuela despite Maduros pledge to block it. Such an operation could provoke a dangerous confrontation at the border or fizzle out and leave Maduro even stronger. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ With so much at stake, Guaido is under increasing pressure to soon unseat Maduro, analysts say. He is running against the clock, said Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez, a Venezuela expert at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management. Expectations are running very high not just among Venezuelans but international allies that this is a crisis that can be resolved quickly. Despite having the worlds largest oil reserves, Venezuela is suffering soaring levels of malnutrition, disease and violence after 20 years of socialist rule launched by the late President Hugo Chavez. Critics accuse Maduro, a former bus driver and Chavezs hand-picked successor, of unfairly winning an election last year for a second six-year term by banning his popular rivals from running and jailing others. The 35-year-old Guaido was a virtually unknown lawmaker until last month, when he took the helm of the opposition-controlled National Assembly. He has rallied masses of Venezuelans into street demonstrations that have left at least 40 dead since he declared himself interim president on Jan. 23. Guaido has so far avoided arrest, but the general comptroller announced Monday it was opening an investigation into Guaidos assets in a new escalation of the confrontation between the government and the National Assembly. Guaido has won backing from nearly 50 countries worldwide, including the United States, which has pledged an initial $20 million in support and has already shipped emergency food and medicine to the Colombian border city of Cucuta, where it sits in a warehouse. Maduro has refused all economic assistance, denying there is an economic crisis in Venezuela and contending the aid is part of a coup being orchestrated by the White House to topple him. Maduro has made a show of overseeing military operations played on state TV almost daily. Hes jogged with troops in formation, mounted an amphibious tank and railed against what he says is an impending U.S. invasion that he has likened to a Latin American Vietnam. On Monday, Venezuela socialist party chief, Diosdado Cabello, spoke at a rally in Venezuelas border city of Urena, across from Cucuta, crowding the streets with Maduro loyalists wearing the red shirts of the socialist party and waving flags. Addressing the crowd, Cabello asserted Venezuelans tell him not to give in to pressure from the United States, saying they are willing to endure whatever they must to maintain freedom from imperialist rule. He said the U.S. supplies were sent in a showy display aimed at justifying a coup. Its not help and its not humanitarian, he said to cheers from roughly 1,000 Maduro supporters, including civilians and soldiers. Romulo Jaimes, a 62-year-old resident of Urena, said the socialist gathering wasnt what it appeared to be. He said more than 30 buses were parked outside the event, used to haul in Cabellos cheering crowd. In reality it was a flop, he said. Most of the people from this city didnt attend the rally. The U.S. humanitarian aid is being stored in a warehouse across a river from the socialist rally, a situation that also puts Maduro in a tight situation, said Eric Farnsworth of the Council of the Americas and Americas Society, a Washington-based think tank. If you let it in, youre bowing to Guaido and the international community, he said. If you dont youre seen as a tyrant. President Donald Trump has said all options are on the table regarding Maduros ouster, but Farnsworth called any U.S. military deployment highly unlikely as such a move would make the U.S. responsible for supplying food long term and rebuilding the gutted country. U.S. sanctions imposed on the state oil company PDVSA in late January and meant to pressure Maduro from office have yet to bite. In the capital, Caracas, residents pulling up to gas stations can still fill up their cars, despite fears that sanctions would create shortages. Opposition leaders have been vague about how they plan to get the aid in. Last week, Lester Toledo, Guaidos representative in the aid mission, suggested it could be moved by masses of people converging on the border to carry the food and medical supplies across. On Monday, Guaido posted a video on Twitter showing himself and his wife making phone calls urging people to join a volunteer force by registering on a website and calling on them to return to the streets in protest Tuesday. Were working hard, he said in one call. Not only to bring in the aid, but also to end the tyranny of Maduro. Gaby Arellano, an opposition leader who is among those leading the aid mission, said the strategy was to conduct defiance politics, which she said consists of setting an agenda that forces Maduros hand, though she provided no details. We are politically defining the steps and they are responding to what we put forth, Arellano said. We want and are working for this to be as peaceful, least traumatizing and as quick as possible. Amaliexiz Mendoza, who lives in Cucuta with her 3-year-old daughter among the citys large Venezuelan exile community, said she would walk a thousand times to carry humanitarian aid to her countrymen. Her grandmother, an aunt and young cousins still live in Venezuela and often go hungry, and her grandmother cant get the blood pressure medication she needs. Its not right for a child to go to bed hungry, Mendoza said, tearing up as she spoke of Maduros denial that a crisis exists. He doesnt lack anything but our families do. ___ Associated Press writer Christine Armario reported this story in Cucuta, Colombia, and AP writer Scott Smith reported from Caracas, Venezuela. AP writers Fabiola Sanchez and Jorge Rueda in Caracas contributed to this report. If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE). .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... SEATTLE Schools closed across Washington state and the Legislature canceled all hearings Monday with winter snowstorms pummeling the Northwest again as a larger weather system wreaked havoc in the region and even brought snow to Hawaii. Seattles metro area had already been hit by three snow storms this month and the National Weather Service reports that Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has received 20.2 inches (51 centimeters) of snow so far in February, the snowiest month in more than 50 years. The storm that hit Seattle Sunday dumped up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) of snow. More than 6 inches (15 centimeters) of snow fell on Monday with rain and snow expected Tuesday as a lingering jet stream drives cold arctic air into the normally temperate region, and was part of a larger cycle that has also driven snow as far away as Hawaii. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ In the state capital of Olympia, lawmakers cancelled meetings and the University of Washington in Seattle and Washington State University in Pullman called off classes. And as far away as Northern California, Humboldt County beaches that have not had snow in more than 15 years received a dusting and blizzard conditions caused whiteouts on mountain roads. In Seattle, the snows effects were amplified by a prolonged stretch of cold temperatures. Youve got storm after storm sliding down the sweet spot to produce low-level snow, said Kirby Cook, a meteorologist at Seattles National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration office. He described weather systems pulling cold air from Canada and combining it with moist air pulled east from the Pacific Ocean. When snow does fall in the area, normally enough warm air is drawn from over the Pacific to melt it soon after it falls, but the steady stream of cold air has kept normally-mild western Washington colder than normal and let the snow build up. Its really rare for us to maintain this pattern, Cook said. Joe Zagrodnik, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington, said the larger system at work namely the position of a cold jet stream was also driving warm temperatures in Alaska and unusual weather in Hawaii. With a north-south ridge of high pressure situated off the coast of Washington and Canada, Zagrodnik said, cold air being drawn southward inland is being replaced by warm air moving north offshore, driving temperatures up in parts of Alaska even as Seattle freezes. And a chunk of cold, low-pressure air separated from the main flow is also drifting further west. Known as a Kona Low, the system caused unusual snow on the island of Maui. Hawaii officials said the blanket of snow at Polipoli Spring State Recreation Area is likely the first for any state park. Polipoli is at 6,200 feet (1,900 meters) and is possibly the lowest elevation snow ever recorded in the state. When Lance Endos friend camping at a state park on Maui texted him early Sunday that there was snow he jumped in his truck and drove more than hour to see it. I just wanted to go play in the snow, Endo said. Endo headed back down from the park on the slopes of Haleakala, where the weather service says there were snow drifts of about 4 feet (1.21 meters), to bring his two children up to the park. Endo said he wanted his kids to see something thats very unusual in Hawaii. In Washington, Zagrodnik said, Februarys total already sets the month as the snowiest single month in the state since November of 1985, and the snowiest February on record. Figures for the state are usually taken from the nearby airport, despite a seven-year gap at the site in the 1990s. The cold snap stands out as an anomaly amid a trend of winters in Washington state becoming more mild since as early as 1900, driven by global warming, said assistant Washington state climatologist Karin Bumbaco. Not every decade is warmer than the previous, said Bumbaco, noting that some mid-century years had produced snow records, but overall winters have been trending distinctly warmer. Elsewhere around the U.S., the Midwest braced for more ice storms. Authorities say a northeastern Indiana man and his two daughters died after his car slid off a snow-covered rural road and into a river. In the Northeast, a winter storm is expected to dump up to 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow in the high elevations. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency for the state that goes into effect at midnight. New York City is expected to get 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) of snow on Tuesday before it all changes over to sleet and rain. Schools across the region are closing or delaying start times because of the weather. ___ Associated Press reporter Jennifer Kelleher contributed from Honolulu. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... RIO RANCHO, N.M. Wayne Wesley Johnson sat his guitar in the next chair in a local Starbucks, carefully eyeing the security of its position. My guitar goes wherever I can go, he said. This multiple-award-winning musician and Rio Rancho resident said he has traveled with guitar since the 1970s. ADVERTISEMENTSkip ................................................................ At one time, the New Jersey native said, he was a thriving businessman. However, he was leading a double life with his music as a secondary profession. I always traveled with a guitar and I would try to perform somewhere locally, he said of his former business trips. It was a business trip that led him in 1994 to New Mexico, where he first became enamored with flamenco-style guitar music. Johnson met the now-deceased Ruban Romero, a musician in Santa Fe, where he learned to strum in the flamenco style. We decided to play some gigs together. We blended our musical styles, a hybrid improvisation of rumba, flamenco and jazz, he said. Johnson said some fans have dubbed him a flamenco guitarist. Not true, he said. Im not Hispanic. For me to compete with those boys is ridiculous. However, his heritage hasnt hindered him from enjoying performing the style and integrating some of its elements into new sounds. International and national business trips enhanced Johnsons exposure to a variety of musical styles. He was once so affected by a traditional Chinese opera that when he returned to the States, he located a Chinese-American musical artist and invited her into his personal studio. I got it in my mind that I wanted to bring the world into the studio, Johnson said. There are several songs on my albums with an estimated four or five countries represented in them. Some may say Johnsons idea of blending musical styles contaminates cultural authenticity; he views this differently: Its a double-edged sword, but music is the universal language. In the early days of his flamenco playing, he developed an idea for his guitar that allowed for another layer of sound. Johnson pioneered electric drumming through the guitar, a technique he calls drumming and strumming. I covered a flamenco guitar in masking tape and rubbed my fingers in carbon dust to leave imprints as I was strumming, he said. Then I had dynamically responsive transducer pads placed where the imprints had been made. I could play tracks live and on the fly, he said, adding that it proved useful for a traveling soloist. Along with performing, Johnson has also spread his love of music and blending styles through teaching. As a music instructor for Santa Fe Community College, he has witnessed up-and-coming talent make an unusual blend with rumba, flamenco and rap. Its a different sound, even for the hip-hop world, he said. Several recent awards have been the culmination of Johnsons musical career. His Jazzamanco CD set was named 2018 Best World Beat Album by Akademia Music Awards; he has received the Top Five Best of the City instrumentalist award from Albuquerque the Magazine, and Akademia recently nominated him as Artist of the Year and for its highest honor, The Akademia Executive Award. Johnson, now a self-professed homebody, said he will continue to perform locally, teach and promote the idea of music as part of local economic revival. Performers are important for generating revenue, he said. You can learn more about Johnson and his music at waynewesleyjohnson.com. Staff reports Aberdeen News President Trump and the North Korea leader Kim Jong-un are planning another summit, which will happen soon in DaNang, Vietnam. This meeting will take place about 50 years after Trump's fake bone spurs exempted him from the draft and kept him out of the war. Trump entered college in 1964 and received four student deferments to avoid being drafted. This was perfectly legal and standard operation procedure back then. His student deferments ran out when he graduated in June 1968. So he then had to scramble to keep his head off the chopping block. In short order he obtained a medical deferment for bone spurs in his heels. However, new revelations about this medical condition have come to light. Trump indicated that in 1968 a podiatrist wrote a letter to his draft board about his bone spurs. This now deceased doctor (Larry Braunstein) was an acquaintance of Fred Trump, Donald's wealthy father. Recently, two of of Braunstein's daughters claimed that their father falsely diagnosed the bone spurs as a favor to the elder Trump. Braunstein never even examined Donald. Neither did the military. The letter sealed the deal the power of money. Lines from a 1969 Vietnam protest song "Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival tell the story. In his lyrics, John Fogerty expresses inequities in the draft that favored America's affluent: "Some folks are born silver spoon in hand." "It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son." "It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate son." Money buys influence. Millions of us unfortunate sons ended up in Vietnam. Some volunteered while other went reluctantly. But unlike Trump, all of us took the honorable path and didn't cheat the system through lies and deceit. This is a reflection of who Trump still is today. Rick Benting Redfield Staff reports Aberdeen News Central High School senior Keilly Gunther of Aberdeen won the South Dakota Department of The American Legions State Oratorical Scholarship Contest Sunday in Spearfish. She was one of seven contestants to advance to the state contest. She is now eligible to advance to the national contest April 5-7 in Indianapolis. The American Legion Oratorical Scholarship Program is a public speaking contest in which participants give a prepared eight-to-10 minute speech on some aspect of the U.S. Constitution, followed by a second speech of three to five minutes on one of four Constitutional topics drawn during the contest. Contestants are judged on their speaking ability and knowledge of subject matter. Gunther won a $1,500 scholarship from the South Dakota American Legion. The Legion will also cover travel and hotel expenses and provide an escort to Indianapolis. [00:00:01] HOST: Coming up on this episode of AARP's Perfect Scam. [00:00:06] This man disrespected me in every way possible. He was playing on my heart strings. He, he took me for every penny. [00:00:14] HOST: Online romance is a hallmark of modern of life. Connecting lives, making sparks, and unfortunately, in many cases, creating victims. On today's episode, you'll hear the story of a woman who is just looking to meet someone, and ended up giving away a lot more than just her heart. We'll tell you all about how these scammers operate and what to look out for. I'd like to introduce my cohost and AARP's Fraud Watch Network Ambassador, Frank Abagnale. Frank, thanks again for joining us. [00:00:40] Frank Abagnale: Good to be with you, Will. Thanks. [00:00:42] HOST: Must be good to be an ambassador, that's a good title to have in addition to your other titles. [00:00:45] Frank Abagnale: Yeah, another somebody I never impersonated, but... [00:00:49] HOST: Well you bring up actually a good point. I've been meaning to ask you, were there ever any professions or impersonations, impersonations that you did not do that you thought about, or that maybe you could have done but didn't get around to? [00:01:03] Frank Abagnale: No, people always asked me why you didn't impersonate a priest. I said, well there was no money in doing that. [00:01:09] HOST: Right, maybe taking, taking the money at service but that's about it. [00:01:13] Frank Abagnale: Yeah, I think again as we discussed, most of my impersonations had some meaning or purpose to them, whether a pilot to get cashed checks or fell into the doctor or the lawyer. They all were things that I didn't premeditate, so they weren't things that I thought I was going to, but I don't think there was anything I would have liked to impersonate and hadn't done. [00:01:30] HOST: You mentioned the doctor and that's a great story. You're in Atlanta, can you tell us about that when you got to the apartment complex where you were renting an apartment and all of a sudden you took on this new guise? [00:01:43] Frank Abagnale: Yeah, actually that was the Riverbend Apartments in Atlanta. They're still there, but they're condominiums now, still called The Riverbend, so Stephen Spielberg actually had to have their permission, so at the end of the credits it says, "Permission from Riverbend Apartments." [00:01:57] HOST: And that's kind of a swinging scene in the movie it's like... [00:01:59] Frank Abagnale: At the time it's like... [00:01:59] HOST: There's a lot of young people partying. [00:02:01] Frank Abagnale: Yeah, because back in the day those were singles' complex, so you could, you could only live there if you were single. Later on the courts ruled that you can't discriminate against people in apartments, so those kind of went away, but in their day in the '60s, in the late '60 to early '70s, that was the swinging place to be. Everybody was single, and mostly professional people, this particular apartment complex, a lot of airline people and flight attendants. That was another reason I didn't want to do the pilot, because I was afraid I'd start running into people who might be a little suspicious that I wasn't a pilot. [00:02:34] HOST: That seems like one of the biggest hazards of impersonating somebody, is running into too many people that actually do that. [00:02:38] Frank Abagnale: And that's kind of what happened at Riverbend, because I basically had gone there, and when I was filling out the application it asked me a profession and occupation, and I thought to write airline pilot, but the two things that entered my mind was, one, there were a lot of airline pilots that lived there, and flight attendants, and two, they were looking for me as the pilot. So I thought I need to come up with something else, so I just wrote down the word, doctor, never pursuing it to go any further, but had a very inquisitive apartment manager and said, "Oh, I see here, you're a doctor." And I said, "Yes." She said, "What type of doctor are you?" And so I said, "Medical doctor." And then I quickly said, "However, I'm not practicing medicine right now. I left my practice out in Los Angeles to come to Atlanta to invest in some real estate I have." And then she asked me what type of doctor I was, and I said, pediatrician because I knew it was a single's complex, there were no children there, and I thought that would be pretty safe, but of course, I moved in and I ended up meeting a real pediatrician who lived there, and befriended him, and I got to know him, and then he would take me up to the hospital to meet other people, so you find yourself learning a little bit of the jargon to carry on the conversation, be able to answer where did you go to school and questions like that. [00:03:47] HOST: But you must have had to steer clear of getting too detailed about the work, right? So hey, Frank, how would you deal with this problem or... [00:03:53] Frank Abagnale: Absolutely, and so you know I was always smart enough to know that you can carry these impersonations so far, but sooner or later someone was going to find out, so people used to ask me why you were the lawyer. No one ever detected you were not the lawyer, you had passed the Bar, why didn't you stay on just being the lawyer? Well you can only get away and fool people for so long and sooner or later someone's going to find out, so someone might start getting inquisitive, and you know when you're, when you're a con man, you live a chameleon existence but you have to get along with everybody, so even if there's somebody that you don't like, you have to purposely make an effort to get along with them, because the minute someone doesn't like you, they start to find fault in you. And they start to quiz and be suspicious of you. So that's where you start to get the things, so you went to Harvard. Who was your professor in such and such? And did you know so and so? Those are the kind of things that start happening and you don't have the answers to. [00:04:48] HOST: I would just say stomach pain at that point. [00:04:50] Frank Abagnale: Yeah, right, so it's a very hard life to life is what I'm getting at. You can't go in personate someone all your life, cause you're going to have, always people who like you and they're going to look for fault in you and thus, they're going to start being suspicious of you. [00:05:03] HOST: I'm thinking more about this ambassador impersonation though. It would be a good one if you could go to another country and somehow take on the guise of an ambassador and I don't know, live a wealthy life. [00:05:14] Frank Abagnale: A wealthy life, it wouldn't be a hard job, just going around shaking hands with people [00:05:18] HOST: Yeah, it's the person, so if anyone's out there thinking, now I'm just joking, please, don't do that. (MUSIC SEGUE) [00:05:22] HOST: On this episode, we're going to introduce our listeners to a woman who was looking for a connection online and maybe even something more. Tracy's story underscores how scammers have a special power over their targets when the scams involve the heart. [00:05:37] Tracy: Hello? [00:05:38] HOST: It's Will at AARP. [00:05:40] Tracy: How're you doing? [00:05:40] HOST: I'm good, how are you? [00:05:41] Tracy: Okay, thank you. [00:05:42] HOST: Tracy's husband passed away in December 2014, and after a few years, she decided to try her luck online. [00:05:48] Tracy: I went onto a dating site and found, or came across this one gentleman, I sent him a little how you do or what have you, and he in turn responded and we go on from there talking back and forth on his so-called home and business line. [00:06:10] HOST: Were there other people that you were talking to as well that you liked, or had this guy become sort of the one that seemed like maybe he's, he's a match? [00:06:16] Tracy: He, he was the, the one, you know that, that you know, because he told me all about himself, he sent all kinds of information as to what he likes, what he does, you know, he's right-handed with this and left-handed with that and he had explained that he had his late wife, he met his wife in, when he was in college here, because he was born in Geneva, Switzerland, and he met her, they got married, had two daughters, however she was killed in an automobile accident and along with the two daughters and he's been alone for quite some time, so you know that didn't impress me in any way, however, being vulnerable as I was told I was, you know, having someone talk to you and you know, just all, sort of like give themselves to you, you know, in words and expressions. We were talking on the phone, we were writing emails... [00:07:23] HOST: Tracy's connection with this man continued for a while, until finally the plot thickens, and the story takes on a rather unique turn. [00:07:31] Tracy: He had told me that he had put in a bid to leave the country and, you know, I said, "Well what day are you going?" And when he told me, I said, "Oh, that was the day I was planning on hoping to meet you." And what I did was what I did was I went online to see what airline he could have picked up from Newark or New York going to Egypt or even a stopover and I could not find anything. [00:08:02] HOST: And what, what made you, what prompted you to do that? [00:08:06] Tracy: Just out of curiosity's sake, I guess. You know I just wanted to find out because most of the time when I asked him a question, he had told me he would always answer the question, but every question I asked was always with a backlash of why do you need to know that, and how is that important and you know what's going on? [00:08:31] HOST: So you felt like he, he was open and relatively honest but there was also part of you that maybe was a little curious and maybe suspicious? [00:08:41] Tracy: Tracy: True. And but I did do a background check on him and Spokeo came up with all of these information on him as he had explained. [00:08:53] HOST: Had you done, did you do a background check before he left the country or was that as things, as he started asking for money or later on? [00:09:01] Tracy: Later on, later on. [00:09:03] Let me back up and I'll try to remember to get back to where you are now. But he had along the line, once he was overseas come up with excuses for you to send him, to send him cash. [00:09:13] Tracy: Yes. He used the excuse that the, the country would not accept his credit cards. He could not an ATM card, and being a noncitizen of the country, he wasn't able to go to a bank there and withdraw any money or get a cash advance without, with the credit cards and what have you. It got to a point of where I had to send money by Western Union, and then it also went by MoneyGrams, right. [00:09:51] HOST: Did you feel at this time when that was all going on, and I'm, correct me if this is wrong. I sort of imagine you as being caught up in this what felt like a romance and also helping someone out who you potentially cared about. [00:10:03] Yes, I really thought, I really thought that I was doing something good because, you know even though it was a, really an extensive, I thought I was helping him out. He, he really got a hold of me emotionally and, you know, he was like crying for help, always crying for help, and I thought, well, you know, here's a guy who's down and out in another country and he can't get home because they keep on taking away his passports, you know, and he didn't have the proper paperwork. He supposedly was supposed to be working and then something happened to his tools. He left them in the cab, filled out a police report and then he needed to rent tools because he claims he was an electronical engineer, only to find out later on after all of this transpired, I called the Better Business Bureau for New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, and I found out that he was not in either New York or New or Connecticut, and his name of the company was not listed in New Jersey, but the woman did ask me, what phone number did he give you? And I, I told her what the phone number was, and she said, I just want to let you know he's a very, very, very, very, very bad man. [00:11:36] HOST: Oh my God, so they, they knew about him and was she able to, give you any more details about him? [00:11:42] Tracy: Well she told me he's not an electrical engineer, he's a construction workman. [00:11:46] HOST: So eventually you, you realize this guy in Egypt and elsewhere, he left the country, he was, he was asking you for more money, and you spent, what would you say on, on this guy? Are you willing to share? [00:12:00] Tracy: The whole total came to $139,000. [00:12:05] HOST: Wow, so that, that's not a small amount of money. [00:12:08] Tracy: No, it was personal money and it was a small loan, borrowed money from friends and all cash advances. [00:12:19] HOST: Is it safe to say you were completely caught up for a while in this story? [00:12:24] Tracy: Yes. [00:12:26] HOST: Yeah. Is it hard to talk about? [00:12:28] Tracy: At times, but I'm, I'm okay with it. [00:12:31] HOST: You sound like you are and I'm glad, yeah. [00:12:33] Tracy: I'm, you know I, I've gotten over the, the crying period. I was clinging on hope that he, he was for real. I really was. [00:12:41] Did you feel like that you were in love? [00:12:43] Tracy: Not necessarily. I, I felt a, a connection but I, I felt more like he needed help and he said he didn't have anybody to help him. He had no family, so I was there for him. [00:13:02] HOST: Toward the end, after Tracy had shelled our more money for a man she never met, he asked her to go to an Apple store and buy thousands of dollars of products. And sometimes, they were very specific requests. [00:13:13] HOST: Did he give you, like a shopping list, in other words to go to Apple with and just pick up... [00:13:17] Tracy: Oh yes. Oh yes. [00:13:18] HOST: What kind of stuff? [00:13:19] Tracy: I had to buy rose-colored phones, and rose-colored laptops, that the Mac Pro, the Apple Mac Pro and oh gosh, the one total came to $4,172 and change, and the other one was $4,810 and change. [00:13:43] HOST: And he specified the color. [00:13:44] Tracy: Oh yes. Yes, it had to be this color. [00:13:47] HOST: You're able to talk about this all very calmly. It sounds like a really humbling experience. [00:13:55] Tracy: Yeah, you have to eat crow. You have to eat crow. I explained certain things to my mother, but did not tell the rest of the family the amount of money I spent, because my one sister disowned me. [00:14:12] HOST: That sounds really, really hard. You sound like a lovely woman and I hope you don't have to eat crow for much longer. [00:14:20] Tracy: Four years. I, it's going to take four years to repay the credit card companies. [00:14:29] HOST: And you're doing your best, it sounds like, to put things back together. When you think back on this guy who you, you know you had a voice to put with him, what, what feelings come up for you? [00:14:42] Tracy: Uh, drastic. Him ruining my life, taking advantage of me, and you know, making me a fool. This man disrespected me in every way possible by scamming me out of every penny I had. [00:15:05] HOST: Tracy eventually contacted the Federal Trade Commission, the state Attorney General, local police and even the FBI. [00:15:12] Tracy: They will not contact me unless they get a hold of him. Then they will bring him to justice. [00:15:20] HOST: It's hard to imagine getting caught up in something like this, wiping out savings, taking out loans, borrowing money, all to help out someone you've never met. It's heartbreaking to listen to Tracy, and it might be easy to scoff at how she got sucked in, but you have to try and put yourself in her shoes. A widow, living alone, making a connection. And someone on the other end of the line who's very, very good at taking other people's money. [00:15:44] Tracy: He was playing on my heartstrings. He, he took me for every penny. (MUSIC SEGUE) [00:15:57] HOST: Frank, Tracy's story has probably a ton of red flags. But we also want to make sure we note that how much we appreciate these people coming forward and talking to us about these things. It does help other people who might be going through something similar, so I want to mention that. [00:16:14] Frank Abagnale: Absolutely, I think it's great and I think that you know, as I always say, anybody can be scammed, anybody can be ripped off no matter how intelligent they are, so it's nothing to be ashamed of. These people are experts at doing this. They're very persuasive, they have things that make you believe what they're telling you is the truth, so again, if you're a victim of this, just like she did, you, it's better to talk about it and tell someone, so they don't become a victim of it and learn from somebody else's mistake. You know, as you get older, you realize that you always learn by other people's mistakes. If you don't, then you have a, you have a problem. I would assume that her sister, based on what she said is that her sister probably was being a confidante, she was telling her sister all these things and her sister kept telling her don't send this man any money. Don't give this many anymore money, don't do this, and she kept doing it and out of frustration, the sister just really got mad and I'm sure the sister will come back, cause she's her sister, but obviously got very mad. And you hear a lot about that where someone may say, I won this Mercedes on a sweepstakes scam, I have to pay this money, but they keep paying money and the family's going, Dad you paid more money than the Mercedes cost you. You could go out and buy the Mercedes. Why do you keep sending this money and it gets very frustrating for the family members where they almost say, I'm not going to talk to you anymore cause you're not acting rational and all that, so that's probably what happened with her sister. [00:17:41] HOST: Right, I mean you had actual instances, like you say, a family member's a sort of, you know beating on people saying, look, don't send any more money, don't, you know, this guy's a fraud, this guy's a scam, but people are so deep into something, and caught up that it's hard to get out of that moment. [00:17:54] Frank Abagnale: Right, and the rose-colored computer and I-phones and laptops, that was just him selling that over that, so he's telling someone I can get that for you, and they sell for a lot more over there than she putting out... [00:18:06] HOST: So not uncommon that he's asking for specific products? [00:18:08] Frank Abagnale: Yeah, he's selling those and I said to him, can you get me a rose-colored this, a rose-colored that, and I can get that for you, and he was getting her to buy it and then he was selling it and getting the money. [00:18:18] HOST: And as we've heard with romance scams, it sounds and seems like this guy's putting a ton of time into this one instance, but he's got more. [00:18:26] Frank Abagnale: She's one of many. Again it seems like a lot of time and a lot of effort, but they're working so many different scams, kind of like a salesman who says I have 9 deals out here, I'm working each deal every day, I'm having to put all this effort in, I'm hoping to close these deals. It's the same thing. He's hoping to close on all of these things, but he's working all of these 9, 10 different women at a time, and each are bringing him money, so it's not just the money she gave him, it's the money all these other people are giving him at the same time. [00:18:54] HOST: She talks about Spokeo and background checks, how much can that do for somebody if you go online... [00:19:00] Frank Abagnale: Those aren't real, those are not really effective because you can manipulate those, you can provide information. It's like saying you have a company and you have a Dunn & Bradstreet report with them. Well, whatever you tell them is what Dunn & Bradstreet reports, so that's kind of like those sites, so if I was really in that position, I would have gone through a private security firm, a private investigator and did a background check, cause she, for a very small amount of money vs. what she paid, she could have hired a firm and they could have given her an accurate of who this is, and this is this person's background, this is their history, whether they've ever been arrested or not been arrested. But that would have been factual information, not just information he supplied as part of the background. [00:19:40] HOST: So you see a lot of that online, whether you look up a phone number, or a person that maybe you dated 20 years before and you're wondering where they are today, or whatever people are doing out there. You then can find a phone number, but then you'll see a lot of ads for, you want to learn more? You know, pay this much money to learn more. [00:19:55] Frank Abagnale: Yeah, but those, they really don't have a lot of information and if youre a scam artist, and you're doing something like he's doing, the first thing you would do is make sure you're setting up a background, knowing that people nowadays can google your name, they can check things out about you, they can find things out about you online, so in that case, you want to then put out false information about yourself; that I work for this company, I've been with this company this many years, and those online services, those, they pick up on that information but again, it's self-serving. It's provided by the scam artists, so that if someone does a little background check through those type of sights, that's what they're only going to see what they wanted him, for them to see, where through a private security company, a reputable company, they would have actually done a thorough background check and certainly would have saved her a lot more money than she gave him. [00:20:44] HOST: So, this sort of amateur googling and checking on people, that people are able to do without spending any money, I mean it's rife with problems, right? [00:20:54] Frank Abagnale: Oh sure. [00:20:55] HOST: I mean Google's great, but it's also, it can lead you astray. [00:20:58] Frank Abagnale: Right, as we talked on another episode about LinkedIn, I'm providing that information. I'm telling you that I worked at this company and I'm vice president and I've worked at this other company, I graduated from this college. This is why a lot of people are a little leery there, because I associate with you only because you're a very well-known person in your field, so I tell you that I want to associate with you on LinkedIn, because then people who see my name associated with you, assume that you and I are friends or we're business associates. When you've actually never met me, you don't know a thing about me, but it gives me instant credibility. So a lot of these things are manipulated for the use of the person who's using it. [00:21:35] HOST: Is there much we can do to manage the profile we have online in terms of how, what comes up when people search our names, or you know if we have a Facebook account. What can we do if we want to start cleaning stuff up? [00:21:49] Frank Abagnale: Well, you need to try to get your name off a lot of those sites. There is a company in San Francisco called Reputation.com, and for a small fee they go online to where all your name is used, your social security number, dates of birth, information, where they're legally allowed to remove it from sites that social media sites and things like that, that they remove it, and it's a small fee. You know, you can't remove it from government agencies and federal agencies, and things like that, but they get rid of it a lot where you don't want your name popping up all the time, information about you. You know, it's kind of amazing how much information's out there. Even if, I mean if you go to even Wikipedia and you put my name in, I mean over in the right corner, it gives you my date of birth, it tells you where I was born, it tells you my wife's name, it tells my children's names, you know it gives you all of that information and even my wife, who has never been on any social media, she's never really been in any kind of media whatsoever, you can google her name and it says she's married to me, so I mean you know it's just, I mean so there's all this information out there. The question is, how accurate is that information? And most of the time it's not very accurate, or it's what the person who's providing information wants you to believe. [00:23:03] HOST: Right, so there's not a lot we can do to fully disappear online. And your name is actually a little more recognizable than my last name. [00:23:13] Frank Abagnale: Because we've got way too much information out there. I always say that if five years ago, if you said to me, Frank, there's this guy in Northeast Georgia, he's a carpenter, but he doesn't really do a lot of work, he lives in a small town about 8,000 people, he's never been in the newspapers, he doesn't have a lot of friends, can you google him? I said, well no, I'm probably not going to come up with anything. But today, that's not the case. Today, the truth is, and this is the honest truth, if you, if I know your last name, and I have your zip code, there's nothing I can't find out about you. I just need those two pieces of information. Your last name, your zip code. [00:23:49] HOST: Even if it's Smith. [00:23:50] Frank Abagnale: Yeah, because there is way too much information out there and every piece of information leads to another piece. So if I see on LinkedIn that you graduated from University of Maryland, I go to the yearbook, the year you graduated online, cause I want to see who you befriended at the University of Maryland, maybe the woman you married, now I have her maiden name, cause you married her while you were at school, I mean every piece of information leads to another article, some clipping about you, I know every bankruptcy, every judgement you had against you, every lien that was of public domain. I mean it's so easy to find out that information. [00:24:23] HOST: Which could be useful for identity theft, or for just making a phone call and convincing somebody that you know a lot about them. [00:24:30] Frank Abagnale: Right. You know identify theft people, I wrote about it back in 1988 and people said to me, how did you know about the crime? I said, well no it was a crime in '88, there were no computers, there were no emails, there were no laptops but back in the day, criminals would basically read in the newspaper that Robert Johnson was named Homebuilder of the Year. So they'd read the article and it said that Robert Johnson 10 years earlier filed bankruptcy, so they'd go down to the federal bankruptcy court, microfiche out a copy of their bankruptcy, which is public record, and they had his wife's signature, his signature, his date of birth, her date of birth, his social security number, her social security number, and they stole their identity. The only difference today is you can do that from thousands of miles away on your laptop. You don't have to go down to the bankruptcy court, sit there and microfiche it out, so technology has made it a lot easier, a lot faster, and certainly a lot more global, and we continue to put out a lot of information. [00:25:22] HOST: I'm glad we finally got a mention of the microfiche into this podcast, for those, for those who are younger and don't know that that is, google it or do some research. You'll figure it out. But it used to be the way we did a lot of research. So, just to clarify, there's steps you can take and you mentioned Reputation.com is a place to go, work on getting yourself off of social media and any place where you can legally disappear, but as far as like really going off the grid and disappearing, almost impossible? [00:25:49] Frank Abagnale: Almost impossible in the too much information world that we live in today, because even if you remove your name from all these things, if it was even feasible to do so, it's just going to resurface again, because you're going to do something that's going to resurface your name, and it'll come up and then people will pick up on that and that'll bring up other information or connect to some other piece of information, so it truly, this is why criminals who escape from prison or something, and they go try to change their name and go live somewhere else, eventually some piece of information brings you back to that, that individual, because we absolutely, truly live in a way too much information world. [00:26:25] HOST: It's hard to be on the lam or live as like a hermit these days. [00:26:29] Frank Abagnale: Absolutely. Someone can find out anything about you if they really want to. [00:26:32] HOST: Frank Abagnale, he's added Ambassador to his resume. He is the AARP Fraud Watch Network Team Ambassador. Thanks a lot. [00:26:39] Frank Abagnale: Thank you. [00:26:40] HOST: If you or someone you know has been a victim of a scam, please call AARP's Fraud Watch Network Helpline at 877-908-3360. Alright, I'd like to thank our producers, Julie Getz and Brook Ellis, our audio engineer, Julio Gonzales, and of course my cohost, Frank Abagnale. And be sure to subscribe, download, rate, and of course, like our podcast on Apple Podcast or wherever you find your favorite podcasts. For The Perfect Scam, I'm Will Johnson. END OF TRANSCRIPT En espanol | Tax season is well underway, with the IRS recently reporting it has already received more than 16 million tax returns since it started accepting them late last month. Having issued 4.6 million refunds so far and sending out more right now, the agency is offering filers a digital option to check when they will likely receive their money. Wheres My Refund?, which can be used either on a computer or downloaded as an app for a mobile device, is updated daily with information about the status of refunds. The IRS says it issues most refunds less than 21 days after receiving a return. Because the agency expects to receive many calls during the early weeks of tax season, people can use IRS.gov to search for answers online before calling about refund status. Those who do not have internet access can call either the IRS TeleTax System at 800-829-4477 or the IRS Refund Hotline at 800-829-1954. Even with major tax-law changes for filing season 2018 due to both the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the partial shutdown of the federal government, the IRS opened this years filing season one day earlier than last year. The agency expects more than 150 million individual returns to be filed for 2018, with the vast majority arriving before the April 15, 2019, deadline for residents of most states. Because that date coincides with the Patriots Day holiday in Maine and Massachusetts, taxpayers in those states have until April 17 to file. The agency expects approximately 90 percent of taxpayers to file electronically, and according to an IRS statement, opting for e-file and direct deposit continues to be the fastest and safest way to file an accurate income tax return and receive a refund. Although we face various near- and longer-term challenges, our employees are committed to doing everything we can to help taxpayers and get refunds out quickly, IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said. IRS impersonation telephone calls continue to be common, so avoid giving out any personal financial information to callers, the IRS advises. To avoid this type of fraud, be aware that the IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages or social media channels to request personal or financial information. Officials also do not request PIN numbers, passwords or similar access information for credit cards, banks or other financial accounts, according to IRS.gov. If you receive an email claiming to be from the IRS that asks for personal information or states that you owe taxes related to a large investment, inheritance or lottery prize, do not reply. And avoid opening attachments or clicking on links in such emails. The agency also recommends deleting the original message. They agreed that giving students an up-close and personal view of the joys of rural practice is the best approach. "That's how you recruit residents, by having them in your clinic, because it's a really important way to get them excited about what we do," said AAFP President John Cullen, M.D., of Valdez, Alaska. "I use all of my medical education every single day. Rural family medicine is an absolute challenge, and it requires you to use all of your faculties," he added. Cullen's practice in his frontier town of 4,000 has just recently grown to include five family physicians who provide all the outpatient, inpatient and emergency physician care for this population. Except for the two founders of the practice, all the physicians, Cullen included, first visited Valdez as residents. "I was my senior partner's resident, and that tradition has continued. We've never been able to recruit anybody who didn't come through that process. You have to grow your own if you're going to do this," said Cullen. And it helps to have an older physician there as an anchor, because without that anchor, it's very hard to start things up, he added. "If you have older physicians in your community, make sure they stay. Do everything you can to keep them," advised Cullen. Michael Kennedy, M.D., associate dean for rural health education at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, tells a similar tale, but with a twist. He started out in a rural practice in Burlington, Kan., population 2,500, and for nine years practiced full-spectrum family medicine alongside two FP colleagues. "We built our practice and did some amazing things. We had students come out with us on a frequent basis, and that led to a love of teaching," said Kennedy. Kennedy left private practice to return to his medical school and make an impact, or, as he put it, "to take this rural family doc and get in front of as many medical students as I possibly could. So that's what I do now for a living, and it is extraordinary." Kennedy noted that Kansas has some major workforce challenges. Thirty-four counties in the state have two physicians or fewer, a situation he called "unsustainable, long term." His job, simply put, is to get students out to the rural areas for hands-on experience. "I go around and talk with the docs in this region and I've heard some incredible stories," along with disheartening ones about practices that have been recruiting for a new physician for 10 years and come up short, said Kennedy. But what does get results is hosting medical students in the community. "It's magical because students fall in love with the place," said Kennedy. That hosting has become all the more important as rural hospitals facing financial crisis cut budgets -- including housing allowances for visiting medical students. "We all have stories," Cullen said of his and his colleagues' experiences treating firearm-related trauma. "We've all lived through this and know that the worst thing to have to do is tell a parent his child has died. So yeah, this is our lane. It's a public health issue, and we need to address it as such." That's one of the reasons the Group of Six, in its recommendations on federal funding for public health priorities, calls for $50 million in new funding for CDC research on preventing firearm-related morbidity and mortality. "The foundation of a public health approach is rigorous research that can accurately quantify and describe the facets of an issue and identify opportunities for reducing its related morbidity and mortality," the recommendation said. The same approach, it added, "should be applied to increasing gun safety and reducing firearm-related injuries and deaths." Federal Funding Priorities "We are calling on the White House and Congress to make funding for public health and physician workforce programs a top priority in fiscal year 2020," the organizations said in the recommendations for federal funding. Quoting CDC data, they noted that 86 percent of the nation's $2.7 trillion annual health care expenditures is spent on people with chronic and mental health conditions. As of 2012, the agency reported, about half of all adults -- 117 million people -- had at least one chronic health condition, and one in four adults had at least two. Meanwhile, the group wrote, the number of physicians isn't keeping pace with demand. The Association of American Medical Colleges, in research quoted in the recommendation, estimates a potential shortage of more than 100,000 U.S. physicians by 2030. To meet these difficulties, the Group of Six requested that specific appropriations go to five key agencies: $8.75 billion to the Health Resources and Services Administration to support community health centers, workforce training programs and maternal and child health programs; $7.8 billion to the CDC for work that includes maintaining the Prevention and Public Health Fund and research on preventing firearm-related morbidity and mortality; $460 million to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for research that affects clinical decision-making, reduces health care costs and medical errors, and increases patient safety; $41.6 billion to NIH to maintain a steady trajectory of annual increases for the agency and support for research in every state; and $3.7 billion to CMS to ensure program integrity and support of programs that help consumers make informed decisions about their health insurance coverage. Prescription Drug Policy "The rising cost of prescription drugs, combined with shortages of many vital drugs, are creating barriers to patients getting the medications they need to maintain and improve their health," the organizations wrote in the introduction to the recommendations on prescription drugs. They cited broad evidence of unprecedented price increases for newly approved products, as well as for older and generic medications. According to one source -- an article published online in April 2018 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine and cited in the recommendations -- the prices of 300 off-patent drugs rose by 100 percent or more between 2010 and 2015 -- some by as much as 5,500 percent. A solution from policymakers, the group said, is imperative. For guidance, the recommendations included a set of principles centered on "ensuring that every patient has access to the medications that are most effective for their medical conditions, at a cost that they, and the overall health care system, can afford -- including developing solutions to ensure a sufficient supply of drugs to treat patient populations." The principles aim for goals that include manufacturer transparency regarding how a medication's price is affected by research, development and marketing costs, and on price increases for existing drugs; an examination of industry practices that may inappropriately limit competition, as well as the effects of regulatory agencies, payers and pharmacy benefit managers on competition, value and fair pricing of medications; and a remedy to the unnecessary administrative burdens placed on physicians by certain formulary practices that interfere with the patient-physician relationship and impede patients' access to needed medications. Related AAFP News Coverage Leader Voices Blog: No Need to Yield: Advocacy Is Our Lane (12/12/2018) Fresh Perspectives blog: Let's Get Drug Pricing Under Control (11/26/2018) Fresh Perspectives blog: Let's Start by Treating Gun Violence as Public Health Issue (2/21/2018) When we're on the hunt for a romantic photo op, we can always count on San Francisco to deliver with a well-placed rainbow or graffiti kiss. This Valentine's week, find love in unexpected and unconventional places by stopping for a tete-a-tete on a blush-painted Victorian stoop, sharing a cappuccino on a strawberry-hued cafe table, or catching a flick beneath scarlet glow of the string lights at Foreign Cinema. Of course, wherever you turn, there will always be a glass of sparkling pink wine waiting for you. Here is San Francisco through our rose-colored lens. (Photography by Daniel Triassi) A Queen of Hearts in Alamo Square. (Photography by Daniel Triassi) Sweet Valentine's treats at Le Marais Bakery. (Photography by Daniel Triassi) A blushing bride in the Castro. (Photography by Daniel Triassi) Pucker up at the Maison Martin Margiela boutique on Maiden Lane. (Photography by Daniel Triassi) Pour a couple glasses of rose at Petit Marlowe. (Photography by Daniel Triassi) Pastel pink dreams beginning to fade in the Marina. (Photography by Daniel Triassi) A splash of romance at Cafe Reveille. (Photography by Daniel Triassi) The pink lady of the Mission. (Photography by Daniel Triassi) Pink Neon at the Mission's Human Condition boutique. (Photography by Daniel Triassi) Cotton candy fancies in Pacific Heights. (Photography by Daniel Triassi) Dressed in pink velvet and fur, it's the sparkling rose life at Bar Crenn. John Baker in BlackPast.Org: When I was in the seventh grade, I spotted a photograph of four former slaves in my social studies textbook. Although the photograph was entitled Black Tennesseans, I noticed a strong family resemblance between them and my family members. When my grandmother told me that two of them were actually her grandparents, I began the lifelong research project that became The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Familys Journey to Freedom. I tell the story of my ancestors Emanuel and Henny Washington, who were enslaved on Wessyngton Plantation owned by the Washington family. This is also the story of the hundreds of other African Americans connected with the plantation for more than two hundred years. It is a story of family, faith, and community. Founded in 1796 by Joseph Washington, a distant cousin of Americas first president, Wessyngton Plantation covered 15,000 acres in Robertson County and held an enslaved population of 274 African Americans. They comprised the largest enslaved population on a single plantation in the state of Tennessee and they worked on the largest tobacco plantation in the United States and the second largest in the world. During the Civil War many African American men from the plantation enlisted in the Union Army, others ran away and worked on the military fortification, Fort Negley, in Nashville. After the emancipation in 1865 many of the freedpeople returned to Wessyngton as sharecroppers. Others purchased their own farms including several who bought land on which they had previously been enslaved. Some of this land remains in their descendants possession. Only two slaves were ever sold from Wessyngton Plantation so the African Americans there formed family groups that remained intact for generations. Many of their descendants still remain in the area close to the plantation, others now numbering in the tens of thousands live throughout the United States. Some of the African Americans on Wessyngton also retained true African names, which was very rare for that period. This has made it possible to trace their African ethnic group heritage, which has been confirmed by DNA testing. More here. (Note: Throughout February, we will publish at least one post dedicated to Black History Month) Perry Anderson in the London Review of Books: The teratology of the contemporary political imagination plentiful enough: Trump, Le Pen, Salvini, Orban, Kaczynski, ogres galore has acquired a new monster. Rising above the ruck, the president-elect of Brazil has extolled his countrys most notorious torturer; declared that its military dictatorship should have shot thirty thousand opponents; told a congresswoman she was too ugly to merit raping; announced he would rather a son killed in a car accident than gay; declared open season on the Amazon rainforest; not least, on the day after his election, promised followers to rid the land of red riff-raff. Yet for Sergio Moro, his incoming justice minister saluted worldwide as an epitome of judicial independence and integrity, Jair Bolsonaro is a moderate. To all appearances, the verdict of the polls last October was unambiguous: after governing the country for 14 years, the Workers Party (PT) has been comprehensively repudiated and its survival may now be in doubt. Lula, the most popular ruler in Brazilian history, has been incarcerated by Moro and awaits further jail sentences. His successor, evicted from office midway through her second term, is a virtual outcast, reduced to a humiliating fourth place in a local Senate race. How has this reversal come about? More here. Two inmates serving time for serious crimes remain on escape status weeks after they walked away from correctional centers in Nebraska. According to records obtained by 1011 NOW through a Public Records Request, Brandon Jones and Zavyhon Elmore remain on escape status after walking away from two different correctional centers. Jones, who was serving time for a terroristic threat charge and attempted second-degree assault, was being held at the Community Corrections Center in Lincoln. He was last seen on January 11. Jones was scheduled to be released in April 2020. Zavyhon Elmore, who was convicted of possession of a deadly weapon by a felon, escaped from the Community Corrections Center in Omaha on December 9, 2018. Elmore was scheduled to be released in August 2019. Both men were being held at the lowest security level corrections centers when they escaped. The Nebraska Department of Corrections said in all cases, law enforcement is notified that a person is on escape status, regardless of what level facility they are at. However, when someone walks away from one of those centers, NDCS said it is not their practice to notify the media or the public. The Public Records Request was sent from 10111 NOW to the Nebraska Department of Corrections seeking information on any inmates on escape status following the escape and capture of Anthony Gafford. Gafford, who was sentenced for second-degree murder following a shooting in 1997 and broke parole twice, walked away from work release on January 26. He was arrested while living on the streets of Las Vegas on February 7. Gafford is still in custody of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department awaiting extradition back to Nebraska. Imagine young Jamal in Slumdog Millionaire, but without the improbable million-dollar ending. Or Saroo in Lion, but without the nice Australian couple who adopt him. Or Pip without his Great Expectations. Or Oliver Twist without his repentant and conveniently wealthy grandfather. Imagine the most pathetic street urchin youve ever come across on the screen or the page, and then imagine that his situation is exponentially worse. Because as far as society is concerned, he doesnt even exist. As heartbreaking as that sounds, Nadine Labakis Capernaum is more so. Calling it a good film seems incongruous, given the tragic subject matter. But other words come to mind: wondrous, stunning, strangely and irrationally beautiful. Capernaum is Lebanese director Labakis third film. Her first, Caramel (2007), was a romantic comedy about the lives and loves of five women who meet regularly in a Beirut beauty parlor. It was a Directors Fortnight Selection at Cannes and was Lebanons official submission to that years Academy Awards. Her second film, Where Do We Go Now? (2011), was a musical about a remote Lebanese village peacefully inhabited by Christians and Muslims until the tensions of the outside world interfere. It was also featured at Cannes and officially submitted to the Academy Awards. In each case, Labaki had a major role in the film, as well as directing, and writing or co-writing the screenplay. For Capernaum, which loosely translates to chaos in French, Labaki continues to examine life in contemporary Lebanon, but through a much darker lens. The film begins with a small boy, Zain, possibly 12-years old no ones really sure because his parents have forgotten and never registered his birth being brought into court in handcuffs. Although hes been imprisoned for a violent crime, hes there today as the plaintiff. He is suing his parents. For what? asks the judge. For giving me life. This isnt some True Hollywood Story of a precocious child suing for emancipation. Zain earnestly wants his parents to be punished for years of neglect and abuse. He also wants the court to assure that they wont have any more children. Court scenes, which continue throughout the film, are interspersed with flashbacks. And the multi-talented Labaki appears again in Capernaum, but in a smaller supporting role, as Zains lawyer. This is his story, not hers. Zain and his parents, Souad and Selim, live in a squalid apartment with several other children, ranging from 11-year old Sahar (Zains sister and closest friend) to the toddler who is chained to a piece of furniture to keep her (him?) out of trouble. And there is certainly plenty of trouble. Souad sends Zain to local pharmacies with forged prescriptions for Tramadol. He is a convincing and easy liar: My mother sent me; she just had stomach surgery and cant come . . . Souad then pounds the drug into powder, adds hot water, and enlisting her childrens help, soaks clothing in the drug-infused liquid. Clothes are hung to dry, then brought to the local prison, where a relative receives them and sells them. Once the clothes are rinsed, inmates can ingest the drug with the rinse water. Zain also works at a local grocery store, whose owner sends Sahar love tokens in the form of ramen noodles and licorice. Zain worries that his parents will sell Sahar to the grocer (whose father is Zains familys landlord), so he tries to help her escape. He is minutes too late, and one of the most chilling scenes of the film includes Selim carrying his pleading daughter over his shoulders like a sack of rice while Souad threatens and beats Zain for interfering. Zain, who is particularly foul-mouthed, curses his family and leaves. His journey takes him to a decrepit amusement park (the parks greeter is an old man dressed as a makeshift superhero, cockroach man). There Zain meets Rahil, an undocumented immigrant from Ethiopia, and her infant son Yonas. The three form a family of sorts, with Zain taking on childcare responsibilities while Rahil works. Although the situation is by no means comfortable they live in filthy rooms in a pop-up slum, have little to eat, and Rahil lives in constant fear of discovery and deportation the long days with Yonas are probably the safest Zain has ever known. And Rahils tenderness, toward both her baby and their young visitor, is as close to the natural affection of a parent as Zain has ever seen. One day, Rahil does not return from work. (Unbeknownst to Zain, she has been rounded up with other illegal workers and sent to prison.) Zain must now fend for Yonas as well as himself in a world that ignores homeless children on the street and where even those who promise help have hidden and inhuman agendas. A series of events unfold, including acts of sheer survival and desperation. But, while I cant promise a happy ending by anyones measure, there are at least brief moments of humanity and redemption at the movies end. The Polisario, its Algerian mentors, and European backers have suffered stinging defeat in their diplomatic battle against Morocco, this Tuesday, February 12 in Strasbourg. The European Parliament (EP) actually adopted in a plenary session, the Morocco-EU Fisheries Agreement, by an overwhelming majority of 415 votes in favor, 189 against and 49 abstentions. After the first snub it inflicted to the Polisario front when it adopted on January 16 the Morocco-EU Farm Agreement that extends to the Sahara provinces the tariff preferences applied to the other regions of the Kingdom, the European Parliament today dealt the separatists and their backers the final blow, putting an end to their malicious fabrications and blackmail. Immediately after the proclamation of the vote, Morocco expressed, in a statement by the Foreign Ministry, appreciation for the collective action of European institutions and EU member states and hailed their continued commitment in favor of the strategic partnership binding the two parties. The adoption of the fisheries agreement that covers the maritime waters of the Kingdom from Tangier to Lagouira, south of Dakhla, confirms that Morocco is the only country legally entitled, within the framework of the exercise of its sovereignty, to negotiate and sign agreements covering the Moroccan Sahara, said the Foreign Ministry in the statement. In its final version, the new fisheries agreement defines, among other things, the fishing zones and sets the conditions for access by the European fleet to Moroccan waters. It provides for an increase of 30 percent of the financial payment to Morocco, which will thus go up from 40 million a year to 52.2 million. The text also provides for the implementation of improvement measures to increase benefits for the local populations in the concerned areas as these populations will benefit from the socio-economic advantages of the agreement, mainly in terms of infrastructure, basic social services, enterprise creation, vocational training, development projects and modernization of the fishing sector. Besides, several technical conditions have been included in the new agreement in order to preserve the sustainability of fisheries resources and protect the marine environment. Tuesdays vote is the final stage of the fisheries agreement endorsement at the European level. Now, it will have to be adopted by the Moroccan Parliament before its entry into force in the next few months. This past week we learned that the US Supreme Court denied the request of a man executed in Alabama to have his spiritual clergy available to him during his execution. Dominque Ray had been sentenced to death in 1995 for the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl according to court documents. Following prison procedures prior to an execution, the warden met with Ray to review the policies and process of lethal injection. It is at that point that Ray, a Muslim, made several requests: (1) that his body not be subjected to an autopsy as it would conflict with his religious beliefs; (2) that an imam be present during his execution to offer spiritual guidance; and (3) that any Christian minister be specifically excluded from the execution chamber. His requests were not honored. The prison warden argued he had no power to address the autopsy request and then denied the others. Rays attorney filed a motion with the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which granted Ray a stay of execution. Judge Stanley Marcus commented it looks substantially likely to us that Alabama has run afoul of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. However, the State of Alabama pursued the matter to the US Supreme Court, which, in a 5-4 decision, overruled the stay at 8PM on February 8, 2019, and the execution began at 9:44PM. His imam and lawyers were outside the execution chamber; and Mr. Rays last words were reportedly the Shahada in Arabic, the Muslim declaration of faith: There is no god but God. Muhammad is the messenger of God. Ray died at 10:12PM. The story is heinous in so many ways: a raped and murdered girl, the execution of person, the functions of the industrial prison complex, the racism, and the inherit religious bias. It is a repulsive mix. It is also a moment where the state demonstrates the supremacy of its powers against an individual; and where the state exposes the fullness of its commitments to its founding principles. That didnt happen here. The US Supreme Court failed. It weakened the Establishment Clause and added another decision that favors one religion, Christianity, above others. Writing for the dissent, Justice Elena Kagan described the decision as profoundly wrong citing the courts 1982 decision in Larson v. Valente: The clearest command of the Establishment Clause is that one religious denomination cannot be officially preferred over another. Justice Kagan went on to note that the process of the decision was equally flawed. She pointed out three important components to the decision that affects all of us living in the United States. First, the Supreme Court did more than lift the execution. It obviated the Eleventh Circuit courts desire to hear the claim in full. The Supreme Court rendered a decision without allowing the full process of fact-finding sought by the lower court. She noted, this Court short-circuits that ordinary processand itself rejects the claim with little briefing and no argumentjust so the State can meet its preferred execution date. Second, the majority opinion did not affirm that Alabama had proved its case. The Supreme Court circumvented the need for proof and moved forward without question Alabamas decision process. Justice Kagan asked Why couldnt Rays imam receive whatever training in execution protocol the Christian chaplain received? The State has no answer. Why wouldnt it be sufficient for the imam to pledge, under penalty of contempt, that he will not interfere with the States ability to perform the execution? The State doesnt say. She added Nor does the majority, which stuck to the procedural aspects of the case. Finally, and perhaps most gravely, Justice Kagan noted that the majority decided as they did because Ray decided to wait too long to file his petition. Kagan writes that there is no reason Ray should have known, prior to January 23, that his imam would be granted less access than the Christian chaplain to the execution chamber. In other words, correctly following the process removed the possibility of an appropriate timeline for petition and thus no petition was possible. This favoring of Christianity isnt really news either. The US Supreme Court has moved to favor Christianity in the Masterpiece Cake decision, the Hobby Lobby decision and some lesser-known decisions like the Lutheran Church in Missouri having the right to receive public funds for re-surfacing its playground and other religious orders receiving exemptions under the Affordable Care Act for contraception. While the Court has supported the rights of minority faiths in other decisions, it still seems that on balance, there is subtle and consistent favoring of one religion over another. We think the dissenters are correct. We think Pagans heard the result loud and clear: Christianity is the preferred religion whose clerics will be afforded special privileges to enter any space in society regardless of religious objection or spiritual need. Despite the case hinging on truly heinous crimes, the state has moved again to delicately strip privileges of minority faiths, chipping away at their freedoms, to sculpt a Christian landscape. War in Yemen JULIE FISCHER DECORAH -- Last December, the Senate passed a bill to end American military support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen a major step in erasing our stamp of approval from the worlds worst ongoing humanitarian crisis. Unfortunately, the measure wasnt taken up in the House and the starvation and devastation arent making as many headlines anymore. But at a time when an average of more than 100 Yemeni children under the age of 5 die every day of preventable war-related causes, there can be no choice but to pay attention. I have a home, food and water, but the Yemenis are living amidst rubble, the intentional destruction of homes, hospitals and sources of food and potable water. The Saudis have perpetrated a war crime on Yemen, and we must cease any support of it. Now, after positive action in the House, the bill is once again coming up for a Senate vote. We have a chance to end this brutal war, and our support for it, once and for all. I pray our senators, Grassley and Ernst, will vote for S.J. Res. 7 the Sanders-Lee-Murphy resolution to enforce the War Powers Act. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Former Dagestan antimonopoly official pleads not guilty to taking bribes RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov 17:17 12/02/2019 MOSCOW, February 12 (RAPSI) - Ex-chief of the Federal Antimonopoly Services Dagestan Directorate Kubasay Kubasayev on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to receiving bribes totaling to 2.6 million rubles (about $40,000 at the current exchange rate), RAPSI reports from the Lefortovsky District Court of Moscow. The defendant also said that he did not fully understand the charges and added that he is going to give testimony after examination of evidence and interrogation of witnesses. On Wednesday, the court questioned several witnesses in the case. According to investigation, between 2013 and 2015, Kubasayev received money, Swiss watches and a sporting gun for a total of about 2.6 million rubles from Shamil Kadiyev, the director of the republics state public institution Office of the Single State Customer - Developer. In return, he did not obstruct the holding of auctions by the organization for the right of concluding government contracts. The former official could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted. After contemplating the slippery slope weve been on, my sincere concern shouldnt be considered as a mere sky-is-falling moment. In the past, many have predicted these things happening, and their warnings were dismissed as mere scare tactics they werent. As of this writing, Democrats have blocked a U.S. Senate attempt to protect the life of born-alive infants. It seems that if anything deserves a unanimous consent vote this would be it. I hope we can move closer to public, legislative, and judicial examinations of the constitutional rights of the unborn. Thats a huge subject and I mention it here only in the context of this quote from James Wilson, one of only six men to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and also a member of the first Supreme Court: Of the Natural Rights of Individuals, in the contemplation of law, life begins when the infant is first able to stir in the womb. By the law, life is protected not only from immediate destruction, but from every degree of actual violence, and, in some cases, from every degree of danger. Its clear, and encouraging, that the Founders were thinking about fetal rights, even then. The Bezos-Pecker story that won the internet Thursday raised a number of, umm, titillating questions to ponder. How did the National Enquirer get copies of the very private texts that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos exchanged with his mistress? What, if any, connection is there between the Enquirer and Saudi Arabias royal family? Was Enquirer honcho David Pecker trying to humiliate Bezos as a favor to Peckers pal in the White House, President Donald Trump, who is warring with the Bezos-owned Washington Post? (Its a war with new skirmishes daily.) And why on earth did top Enquirer officials including its deputy general counsel, for heavens sake put in writing what appears to be a textbook example of an extortionate demand? Heres hoping Bezos will spend some of his massive but soon-to-be-diminished wealth on a lawsuit that will make public the answers to these inquiries. For now, all we have is speculation. Some of it is interesting and meaningful to the average American Id point to ruminations like this on how your texts can migrate from your phone to other devices automatically, making them far less private than you think. We ask for the publics patience, Nicholas said. It does take us a while to get to everybody. A semi carrying 155 hogs to the Tyson plant in Waterloo slid into a ditch at Schrock Road and Ansborough Avenue around midnight, Herbst said. The wreck blocked part of the roadway, and deputies remained at the scene overnight. We cant just leave it. Its dark out here, Herbst said. Surviving hogs were loaded onto another truck, and crews were moving the semi and trailer Tuesday morning. Snow-covered roadways also led the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors to postpone its budget deliberations Tuesday and push back approval of new union contracts. Supervisors Linda Laylin and Chris Schwartz were unable to get to the Courthouse and participated by telephone in the regular meeting. Finance Director Susan Deaton and the countys contracted labor negotiator were unable to attend as well. Many businesses and nonprofits opened late, if they opened at all. The Northeast Iowa Food Bank and Cedar Valley Food Pantry delayed its opening until 10 a.m. Tuesday. The University of Northern Iowa did not open until 10 a.m., and Hawkeye Community College closed altogether. DES MOINES An online option would be available for Iowa Democrats to participate in the states first-in-the-nation caucuses, the most significant changes in 50 years. The Iowa Democratic Party announced proposed changes Monday that would allow people to participate in the caucuses virtually by telephone or smart devices. They are designed to improve participation and transparency in the process that kicks off the presidential nominating process every four years. The changes appease national party leaders who called for more inclusion and New Hampshire Democrats protective of their role as the nations first presidential primary state. Party Chairman Troy Price said the changes would be the most significant since the caucuses began in 1972. There is no doubt that we are making the most significant changes to the Iowa caucuses, Price said Monday. We do so not because we have to, but because we know that we are stronger as a party, we are stronger as a state, and we are stronger as a nation if everyone can participate in our political process. The proposal will go through a 30-day comment period, after which it must be approved by the Iowa Democratic Partys state central committee and then the national partys rules committee. Nicholas said she would like to change the ordinance and hire a part-time person on an on-call basis to run a salt truck on paved county roads after hours when necessary. We are not meeting the expectations of drivers and freight traffic in particular, Nicholas said. There are several freight routes where we really need to step up. But her request for additional staffing got a cold shoulder from supervisors Tom Little and Craig White. I disagree with that, Little said. I dont think it takes more people; its just using your people a little bit differently than youre doing now. I just dont see hiring one part-time person is going to alleviate this problem, he added. I dont know that its even going to help it. White said the traveling public bears some responsibility in helping avoid accidents. Theres a section of common sense that enters into it too, he said. Common sense (means) you dont go out and drive on an icy road. White and Supervisor Dan Trelka are expecting to meet with Nicholas and staff from the sheriffs office to discuss solutions to the icy roads at night, especially on truck routes. Nicholas said she had hoped for additional funding in next years budget to help address the problem. Love 0 Funny 3 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 I think right now with the snow falling, people just arent thinking about this, Klein said. But look out come July. Our phones are going to ring off the hook, and well have people down here asking how this happened. State law allows fireworks to be sold and used from June 1 through July 8 and again from Dec. 10 through Jan. 3. Most cities have adopted shorter usage windows or banned them altogether. Among larger cities, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Iowa City and Cedar Falls have complete bans, while Davenport, Sioux City, Council Bluffs and Ankeny allow some days for their use. Only a handful of residents have addressed the issue during Waterloo council meetings. Myke Goings, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder exacerbated by the noise of fireworks, reiterated his request to keep the ban or at least limit the usage to one day, July 4. Fireworks arent a disruption like a salesman calling during supper time, he said. Its our mental and physical health and well-being involved. Justin Bartlett, a partner in Crossroads Fireworks, said he believed the three-day window is a good compromise that will keep illegal fireworks from being used more frequently on other days. CEDAR FALLS -- Central Rivers Area Education Agency's board of directors Wednesday approved a $53.85 million budget. The 2019-20 spending plan, which goes into effect July 1, represents a 2.56 percent increase over the $52.51 million budget for the current year. State supplemental aid amounts have not yet been determined, so it includes no increase in that area. The budget, which had to be submitted to the Department of Education by Sunday, would be adjusted once that is determined. Spokeswoman Beth Strike said officials typically take a conservative approach and set the increase at zero. "It's really hard to know where that ends up each year," she explained. "Although the governor is proposing 2.3 (percent), we don't know where that's going to end up." State aid is set at $15.55 million while juvenile home funding and other state revenues are estimated at $4.64 million. Property tax revenues are estimated at $12.87 million. Both state aid and property tax funding are based on enrollment levels and flow to the agency through the schools districts it serves in northeast and north central Iowa. Federal funding in the budget is estimated at $17.28 million. Tuition and transportation, earnings on investments and other revenues from local sources total $6.28 million. Even though US government subsidies jumped 18% last year thanks to $4.7 billion in tariff aid, plus $1.6 billion in disaster payments to farmers hurt by hurricanes, floods, and other disasters; It hasnt been enough to stop a record number of farming bankruptcies. By James DiGeorgia, President Donald Trumps trade war with China is clobbering Midwestern farmers financially, even as many of these red state small business owners still avow their support for him. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that their examination and analysis of federal data indicates that farmers suffered the highest number of bankruptcies in a decade with no sign that 2019 will treat them any better. The Wall Street Journal according to statistics dug up by the Wall Street Journal, from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, 2018 saw twice the number of farmer bankruptcies in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin compared to 2008, while the number of bankruptcies in states like North Dakota and Arkansas leaped 96%, as verified by data figures collected from the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. The trade war with China and Mexico have sent commodity prices into nose-dive thanks to the hefty tariffs those countries are imposing in retaliation for Trumps tariffs on their nations US imports. Special: Imagine an options trading service that has delivered over 4,872% in winning trade recommendations over 11 years. That's 442% a year in winning trade recommendations. Check it out! Just $49 for the first 60 days! President Trumps withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) left the remaining countries in the agreement to finalize their own Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) treaty last year. The negotiated TPP that Trump walked away from would have slashed tariffs for US farmers. Now however the new CPTPP agreement specifically excludes US farmers from the agreement. This means customers from the 11 remaining member nations are shifting their imports from US farmers and ranchers to those operating Australia, New Zealand, and other member countries. This is proving to be a financial disaster for US farmers and ranchers. The U.S. Agriculture Department is reporting that US farm income last year had plummeted to 50% of 2013 income. The US dairy industry had expected huge demand growth from China, but then Trump declared his trade war against China and now many dairy farmers who had been preparing for the demand increase are now filing for bankruptcy. Soybean farmers are also a major victim of President Trumps China trade war. Kevin Bernhardt, agribusiness professor at the University of Wisconsin in Platteville, was quoted by the Milwaukee Independent as saying... Agriculture prices live and die by exports. In all commodities, were heavily dependent on China, especially for soybeans, Saul Canelo Alvarez on May 4 will gear up to fight against Daniel Jacobs, a boxer who will test the talent and quality of the Mexican. Canelo is serious about his training for the fight that will take place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Mexican posted a video on his Instagram account where he showed a series of punches marked by the drums, in order to show the speed of his movements and the physical form he's at and the top hip movement he manages. Ver esta publicacion en Instagram #DoItYourWay Una publicacion compartida por Saul Alvarez (@canelo) el 10 de Feb de 2019 a las 6:38 PST There are still two months to go to the fight, but Canelo wants to keep showing he is the best in the world nowadays. Besides he wants to unify his belt by obtaining the WBA sash that the American holds, so it is essential for him to keep improving the fight plan Canelo will have with Jacobs. What is Daniel Jacobs looking for in the fight against Canelo? Jacob seeks to defeat the Mexican to get a rematch with Gennady Golovkin since, on the first occasion they faced, the American felt he was better than GGG and deserved the victory. Jacobs believes that the low height of the Mexican will be a factor in the confrontation. 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. While Gabriel Ganme was leading an expedition of divers in the waters off Bimini, Bahamas, he had an interesting interaction with a hammerhead shark. Footage shared to YouTube shows the animal approaching the GoPro that Ganme held on a stick, and biting it. Ganme told Storyful that he was not concerned by the encounter, and that hammerhead sharks are harmless to divers, as long as we dont act crazy. Credit: Gabriel Ganme via Storyful Breaking cover at the Mobile World Congress, new vehicle from Spanish firm will focus squarely on improving travel within cities Seat will showcase a new vehicle designed to improve urban travel at the upcoming Mobile World Congress. Teased in an image showing an array of headlights with a backlit Seat logo below, this new machine looks set to be compact in its design potentially with similar dimensions to the Renault Twizy. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here to do so. The Spanish firm has not confirmed if this particular vehicle will feature autonomous technology, but its a strong possibility. Seat is currently working with communications company Telefonica on a 5G Connected Car test, which will take place in Barcelona, Spain. as a step towards driverless vehicles. All will be revealed at MWC on February 25, taking place in Barcelona. Its an event that focuses on mobile technology. Seat has already taken steps toward introducing urban-focused transport solutions into its product portfolio. Last year, it teamed with Segway to bring the Seat eXS an electric scooter that comes with LED lights, customisable lighting and even cruise control. A group of young French media executives was condemned Monday for running a macho "boys' club" that harassed female colleagues online. Their closed Facebook group "League of LOL" -- made up mostly of men in their thirties -- ridiculed women journalists for years, sometimes using pornographic memes to attack them.Women seen as feminist were the group's favourite targets.The founder of the group, journalist Vincent Glad, was suspended Monday by left-wing daily Liberation after an investigation by the newspaper's own fact-checking unit exposed its existence.The revelations also led to the suspension of the newspaper's online editor Alexandre Hervaud and his opposite number at France's trendiest music and culture magazine, Les Inrockuptibles, David Doucet.The affair is being dubbed the "French media's MeToo", with Liberation referring to the group as a "boys' club" which bullied women online and cracked off-colour jokes about rape culture.Victims of the group recounted how the attacks and pranks had pushed one woman to quit journalism and left another suicidal.League of LOL targeted science presenter Florence Porcel, seeking to humiliate her by getting group members to pose as the producers of a prestigious television programme offering her a job, then posted the recording of the fake interview online.Other women had their heads grafted onto pornographic images.Set up in 2009, the League of LOL also had members in public relations, graphic design, and media education. It had been much less active in recent years.The head of a porn culture website, Stephen des Aulnois, stepped down Monday and suspended his Le Tag Parfait (The Perfect Tag) blog, apologising for his part in the activities of the group that gets its name from the acronym for "laugh out loud".In a separate development, Le Monde newspaper said Monday that three journalists from the French edition of the Huffington Post news site, in which Le Monde has a stake, had been fired for making "unacceptable remarks in a work context".Le Monde's editor-in-chief Jerome Fenoglio and publisher Louis Dreyfus said the three were fired over their posts on a closed Facebook page, without revealing the nature of the remarks or whether they were linked to the League of LOL.'I am ashamed'Des Aulnois admitted the League of LOL was guilty of "repeated online harassment. I apologise to all those I hurt and harassed... I am also guilty of silence and inaction during all those years when I knew."Group founder Glad, who is on a freelance contract at Liberation, at first denied it was a macho crusade."There was never an anti-feminist obsession inside the group. We make fun of everything and everybody," he insisted.But in a lengthy apology on Twitter, Glad said he was "horrified to now see my tweets from 2013 when I joked about rape culture. I am ashamed."Glad said he "had not realised until today how macho our stance was. I didn't see how our jokes were shutting down the first wave of feminists speaking out on social media."I had the stupid reaction of many men at the time -- why are they annoying us with all this?" he added.Christophe Carron, editor of the French edition of online magazine Slate, also admitted having been a member of the group.Journalist Melanie Wanga, who said she quit Twitter for several years because of abuse, tweeted that the harassers were finally getting their comeuppance."Imagine being a young, black woman journalist talking about blackface and apartheid and getting this stuff (racial and sexist harassment) multiplied by 20 from your 'colleagues'," she said."You can see these harassers erasing all their dodgy tweets and talking about equality and regurgitating the work of all the feminists they attacked to buy themselves a new virginity," she addedFrance's minister for digital affairs, Mounir Mahjoubi, described the men behind League of LOL as "losers"."It is a group of guys high on their power at being able to make fun of other people. Except that their mockery had an effect in real life," he said.Equality Minister Marlene Schiappa underscored that online harassment was outlawed, and said she was considering extending the six-year cut-off for prosecuting alleged crimes.Under the law as it stands, only law-breaking posts after 2013 could be prosecuted.(AFP) A group of young French media executives was condemned Monday for running a macho "boys' club" that harassed female colleagues online. Their closed Facebook group "League of LOL" -- made up mostly of men in their thirties -- ridiculed women journalists for years, sometimes using pornographic memes to attack them. Women seen as feminist were the group's favourite targets. The founder of the group, journalist Vincent Glad, was suspended Monday by left-wing daily Liberation after an investigation by the newspaper's own fact-checking unit exposed its existence. The revelations also led to the suspension of the newspaper's online editor Alexandre Hervaud and his opposite number at France's trendiest music and culture magazine, Les Inrockuptibles, David Doucet. The affair is being dubbed the "French media's #MeToo", with Liberation referring to the group as a "boys' club" which bullied women online and cracked off-colour jokes about rape culture. Victims of the group recounted how the attacks and pranks had pushed one woman to quit journalism and left another suicidal. League of LOL targeted science presenter Florence Porcel, seeking to humiliate her by getting group members to pose as the producers of a prestigious television programme offering her a job, then posted the recording of the fake interview online. Other women had their heads grafted onto pornographic images. Set up in 2009, the League of LOL also had members in public relations, graphic design, and media education. It had been much less active in recent years. The head of a porn culture website, Stephen des Aulnois, stepped down Monday and suspended his Le Tag Parfait (The Perfect Tag) blog, apologising for his part in the activities of the group that gets its name from the acronym for "laugh out loud". In a separate development, Le Monde newspaper said Monday that three journalists from the French edition of the Huffington Post news site, in which Le Monde has a stake, had been fired for making "unacceptable remarks in a work context". Story continues Le Monde's editor-in-chief Jerome Fenoglio and publisher Louis Dreyfus said the three were fired over their posts on a closed Facebook page, without revealing the nature of the remarks or whether they were linked to the League of LOL. 'I am ashamed' Des Aulnois admitted the League of LOL was guilty of "repeated online harassment. I apologise to all those I hurt and harassed... I am also guilty of silence and inaction during all those years when I knew." Group founder Glad, who is on a freelance contract at Liberation, at first denied it was a macho crusade. "There was never an anti-feminist obsession inside the group. We make fun of everything and everybody," he insisted. But in a lengthy apology on Twitter, Glad said he was "horrified to now see my tweets from 2013 when I joked about rape culture. I am ashamed." Glad said he "had not realised until today how macho our stance was. I didn't see how our jokes were shutting down the first wave of feminists speaking out on social media. "I had the stupid reaction of many men at the time -- why are they annoying us with all this?" he added. Christophe Carron, editor of the French edition of online magazine Slate, also admitted having been a member of the group. Journalist Melanie Wanga, who said she quit Twitter for several years because of abuse, tweeted that the harassers were finally getting their comeuppance. "Imagine being a young, black woman journalist talking about blackface and apartheid and getting this stuff (racial and sexist harassment) multiplied by 20 from your 'colleagues'," she said. "You can see these harassers erasing all their dodgy tweets and talking about equality and regurgitating the work of all the feminists they attacked to buy themselves a new virginity," she added France's minister for digital affairs, Mounir Mahjoubi, described the men behind League of LOL as "losers". "It is a group of guys high on their power at being able to make fun of other people. Except that their mockery had an effect in real life," he said. Equality Minister Marlene Schiappa underscored that online harassment was outlawed, and said she was considering extending the six-year cut-off for prosecuting alleged crimes. Under the law as it stands, only law-breaking posts after 2013 could be prosecuted. (AFP) Sky News The government is due to deliver its latest travel advice on Thursday after Matt Hancock gave fresh hope to the prospect of summer holidays this year. Ministers will reveal which, if any, countries are to move to the quarantine-free green list and those which travelling to continues to be banned or restricted. "In our country, if you come from Great Britain, you have to go into quarantine - and that's not the case in every European country, and that's what I would like to see," she told the Bundestag lower house of parliament. Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, center, and Infosys CEO Salil Parekh, holding scissors to her left, cut a ribbon to formally launch the company's design and innovation center, Tuesday Feb. 12, 2019, in Providence, R.I. Infosys, an Indian digital design and technology company, also announced a new partnership with a community college in Rhode Island to develop workers for digital jobs. (AP Photo/ Jennifer McDermott) PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) Technology company Infosys announced a new partnership with a community college in Rhode Island to develop workers for digital jobs on Tuesday, with the goal of forming similar arrangements elsewhere in the country. Infosys, an Indian digital design and technology company, formally launched its design and innovation center in Providence. Company executives said they're dedicating a lab there for employees to work with Community College of Rhode Island students. College President Meghan Hughes said students will explore ways to work with new technology, learn marketable skills and build a professional network. She said Infosys understands the talent that community college students represent and the role the schools can play. Infosys CEO Salil Parekh and Infosys President Ravi Kumar said they'd like to eventually form partnerships with community colleges near the company's other U.S. hubs in Hartford, Connecticut, Indianapolis, Indiana and Raleigh, North Carolina, and near new centers in Arizona and Texas. Parekh said the company is committed to workforce development and wants to recruit students from all walks of life. "It's something Infosys is extremely proud of doing, and wants to do more," he said. Kumar said the lab is an experiment that can be scaled up nationally. Infosys already has a partnership with the Rhode Island School of Design, one of the world's most prestigious design schools. New designers at Infosys complete a strategic design program at the design school. The company also announced Tuesday it has created 7,600 U.S. jobs and will soon hit its goal of 10,000 jobs. When that's accomplished, they'll announce a more ambitious goal, Parekh said. Infosys has hired about 100 people in Providence to help clients design how their technology is experienced. It pledged in 2017 to create 500 jobs over five years in the capital city to get $9 million to $10 million in tax incentives from the state. Rhode Island Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor said it's a good investment he expects Infosys to pay about $18 million over 12 years in taxes and contribute $60 million annually to the state's gross domestic product once the Providence center is fully staffed. Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo said at the center's opening she's thrilled that Infosys is "putting deep roots in Rhode Island." She said the state and colleges in Rhode Island want to continue working with the company as it grows. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have visited the Natural History Museum for a gala performance of a play chronicling Charles Darwins travels across the globe. Meghan, who was wearing a white Calvin Klein dress and a white Amanda Wakeley coat, held hands with Harry as she entered the museum where she was greeted with flowers given by 12-year-old Sage Saunders. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive at a gala performance of The Wider Earth (Heathcliff OMalley/PA) The couple smiled as a robotic tortoise puppet handed them their tickets for The Wider Earth. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here to do so. Meghan and Harry were then shown round a pop up Darwin exhibition by producer Trish Wadley and met children from Urbanwise London, a charity that offers outdoor learning for local children. Meghan laughed as a relative of one of the children showed her a photo on her phone, zooming in on the image to get a closer look. The couples visit ended with the show which chronicles 22-year-old Charles Darwins expedition around the world on HMS Beagle. Harry and Meghan met children from Urbanwise London (Heathcliff OMalley/PA) The visit marks their support of the Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and the productions official charitable partner, The Queens Commonwealth Canopy (QCC). The Queens Commonwealth Canopy conserves indigenous forests across the globe and 75% of Pacific Islands are now part of the canopy. Harry and Meghan unveiled six dedications to the QCC during their tour of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga, and also welcomed commitment to the initiative by its latest member, Kiribati. Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer and founder of Facebook Inc (Getty) Facebook is using artificial intelligence to identify users who are at risk of suicide by reading their posts and the tool is sparking privacy fears. Once Facebooks AI has identified an at risk user based on warning signs in their posts, trained employees examine the posts, and call emergency services if necessary. But some experts describe the new tool, currently under test in America, as akin to signing up users to medical research programmes without their consent. A new Harvard study questions whether a private company such as Facebook should be dealing with such data. Lead author Dr John Torous of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre at Harvard Medical School in the US, said: Facebook is now monitoring how you use Facebook and somehow theyre running an algorithm to determine your risk of committing suicide. MORE: Jeremy Corbyn says Labour may back another EU referendum MORE: Rare tiger killed by her new potential mate at London Zoo Facebooks suicide prevention efforts leads to the question of whether this falls under the scope of public health. The analysis comes in the wake of the death of 14 year-old Molly Russell, who took her own life having been corresponding with people over Facebook-owned Instagram about suicide. Her father Ian blamed Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, for the death of his daughter. Dr Torous said: The approach Facebook is trialing to reduce death by suicide is innovative and deserves commendation for its ambitious goal of using data science to advance public health, but there remains room for refinement and improvements. What should Facebook do to prevent suicide? (Getty) Facebook has been passing the information along to law enforcement in the US for wellness checks since March 2017, following a string of suicides which were live-streamed on the platform. Dr Torous said: The scope of the research seems more fitting for public health departments than to a publicly traded company whose mandate is to return value to shareholders. What happens when Google offers such a service based on search history, Amazon on purchase history, and Microsoft on browsing history? Story continues In an era where integrated mental health care is the goal, how do we prevent fragmentation by uncoordinated innovation? And even if outside the scope of public health, discussions of regulation, longevity, and oversight necessary are still needed for this approach to be equitable and successful. Writing in Annals of Internal Medicine the researchers said Facebook has offered some details on its algorithms. But less is known about the credentials of its Community Operations who review the data or the outcomes of around 3,500 calls to local emergency services so far. The tool is being tested only in the US at present. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here to do so. The rsearchers said Facebook does not claim its suicide efforts are research. But it has conducted experiments on users before and denied it was doing so. It comes as the NSPCC proposed new regulations which would mean that social media companies that breach duty of care laws designed to keep children safe online could face criminal investigation and unlimited fines. Firms that do not introduce measures to protect children from harm such as sexual abuse, bullying and self-harm could be prosecuted for a breach of their duty of care, if legislation suggested by the childrens charity is accepted into law. The Daily Telegraph reports that companies will have to appoint named executives to be personally responsible for upholding duty of care. If they are found to be in breach of the rules, they could be banned from directorial roles for up to 15 years, in line with current disqualification rules. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Norwegian experts have predicted some of Europes biggest glaciers could have melted within 80 years as a result of climate change. Experts have said that Europes biggest glaciers are set to completely disappear by the end of the century due to climate change. According to Hallgeir Elvehoy, senior engineer of the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), giant glaciers such as the Jostedal Glacier (Jostedalsbreen), the largest in continental Europe, and the Folgefonna a collective term for three plateau glaciers in the south-western Norwegian county of Hordaland are likely to melt in the next 80 years. Elvehoy said that 2018 was a terrible year for the countrys glaciers, adding that there was no increase in size on any that they studied. On average, they retreated by 33 metres in the last year, particularly during one of the hottest summers on record. Norwegian experts have predicted some of Europes biggest glaciers could have melted within 80 years as a result of climate change. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here to do so. The statement means that 2018 saw one of the largest ever declines since records began. Elvehoy said: The models suggest that there will be very little ice left in southern Norway in the year 2100. The measurements are the latest to show that Norways glaciers have been steadily retreating since the turn of the millennium. Nigardsbreen, a glacier arm of the large Jostedal Glacier, has reportedly retreated by half a kilometre (1,640 feet) in the last two decades. The Jostedal Glacier, located in the south-western county of Sogn og Fjordane, covers a region of over 470 square kilometres (181 square miles) and the ice is over 600 metres (1,969 feet) tall in areas. According to a study published in the Science journal, global warming caused by human activity has caused a 69% loss of ice on the worlds mountain glaciers during 1991 to 2010. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Lemaire Channel, a strait off Antarctica GETTY Researchers working on Baffin Island in Canada found that plants emerging from beneath melted glaciers hint that the Earth is warmer than it has been for 115,000 years. Plants emerging from retreating glaciers are thought to be growing in spots which were last exposed in the Eemian period. But geological records of the Eemian period suggest that the seas were 20 feet higher at this point leading researchers to wonder where the water is, the Washington Post reports. Gifford Miller of the University of Colorado says, Its very hard to come up with any other explanation, except that at least in that one area where were working the last century is as warm as any century in the last 115,000 years. Researchers now fear that a massive sea level rise may come from an ice sheet collapse in Antarctica. MORE: Jeremy Corbyn says Labour may back another EU referendum MORE: Rare tiger killed by her new potential mate at London Zoo Rob DeConto, an Antarctic expert at the University of Massachusetts told the Washington Post, Theres no way to get tens of meters of sea level rise without getting tens of meters of sea level rise from Antarctica. Earlier this year, researchers warned that a glacier described as the worlds most dangerous is showing worrying signs of collapse, after scientists found an 1,000ft tall cavity growing beneath the ice. The cavity has an area two-thirds the size of Manhattan and NASA researchers described the find as disturbing. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here to do so. Its big enough to have contained 14 billion tons of ice, and most of that ice melted over the last three years. Researchers have previously warned that the huge Thwaites glacier could trigger a runaway ice sheet collapse which could raise global sea levels by 10 feet. The size and explosive growth rate of the newfound hole surprised them. Researcher Eric Rignot of the University of California, Irvine said, We have suspected for years that Thwaites was not tightly attached to the bedrock beneath it. Story continues Thanks to a new generation of satellites, we can finally see the detail. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK FILE PHOTO: Cutouts depicting images of oil operations are seen outside a building of Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA in Caracas, Venezuela January 28, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo By Corina Pons and Marianna Parraga CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA is telling customers of its joint ventures to deposit oil sales proceeds in an account recently opened at Russia's Gazprombank AO, according to sources and an internal document seen by Reuters on Saturday. PDVSA's move comes after the United States imposed tough, new financial sanctions on Jan. 28 aimed at blocking Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's access to the country's oil revenue. Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido said recently that a fund would be established to accept proceeds from sales of Venezuelan oil. The United States and dozens of other countries have recognized Guaido as the nation's legitimate head of state. Maduro has denounced Guaido as a U.S. puppet seeking to foment a coup. PDVSA also has begun pressing its foreign partners holding stakes in joint ventures in its key Orinoco Belt producing area to formally decide whether they will continue with the projects, according to two sources with knowledge of the talks. The joint venture partners include Norway's Equinor ASA, U.S.-based Chevron Corp and France's Total SA. "We would like to make formal your knowledge of new banking instructions to make payments in U.S. dollars or euros," wrote PDVSA's finance vice president, Fernando De Quintal, in a letter dated Feb. 8 to the PDVSA unit that supervises its joint ventures. Even after a first round of financial sanctions in 2017, PDVSA's joint ventures managed to maintain bank accounts in the United States and Europe to receive proceeds from oil sales. They also used correspondent banks in the United States and Europe to shift money to PDVSA's accounts in China. State-run PDVSA several weeks ago informed customers of the new banking instructions and has begun moving the accounts of its joint ventures, which can export crude separately. The decision was made amid tension with some of its partners, which have withdrawn staff from Caracas since U.S. sanctions were imposed in January. Story continues The sanctions gave U.S. oil companies working in Venezuela, including Chevron and oil service firms Halliburton Co, General Electric Co's Baker Hughes and Schlumberger NV, a deadline to halt all operations in the South American country. The European Union has encouraged member countries to recognize a new temporary government led by Guaido until new elections can be held. Europe also has said it could impose financial sanctions to bar Maduro from having access to oil revenue coming from the region. Maduro has overseen an economic collapse in the oil-rich OPEC country that has left many Venezuelans malnourished and struggling to find medicine, sparking the exodus of an estimated 3 million Venezuelans. Sanctions designed to deprive Maduro of oil revenue have left an armada of loaded oil tankers off Venezuela's coasts that have not been discharged by PDVSA's customers due to payment issues. The bottleneck has caused problems for PDVSA to continue producing and refining oil without imported diluents and components. PDVSA also ordered its Petrocedeno joint venture with Equinor and Total to halt extra-heavy oil output and upgrading due to a lack of naphtha needed to make the production exportable, as the sanctions prohibit U.S. suppliers of the fuel from exporting to Venezuela. (Reporting by Marianna Parraga in Mexico City and Corina Pons in Caracas; editing by Jonathan Oatis and G Crosse) Language Ahead of the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras NITV has a slate of programming exploring the 2019 theme, Fearless, including an interview with Electric Fields band members Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross. These will screen from Sunday 24 February. NITVs Channel Manager, Tanya Orman said: NITV is proud to tell these inspiring stories of LGBTIQ+ fearlessness from around the globe, with a unique Indigenous lens that you wouldnt see anywhere else. The Mardi Gras season is a time for us to all come together and celebrate how far the LGBTIQ+ community has come in recent years, acknowledging its joyous resilience and commitment to fundamental rights, often in the face of adversity. Kicking off NITVs Mardi Gras programming with a bang is Shade: Queens of NYC, an 11-part, half hour TV docu-series following eight rising drag stars from New York City as they try to make it big in the industry. The series goes beyond the makeup, lip-synching and glamour to show the queens juggling love, commitment, community, heartbreak, family and faith while on the brink of fame. Airing from Sunday 24 February at 8pm, by the creators of Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce and RuPauls Drag Race, is Transcendent. The ground-breaking six-part docu-series follows a group of young, talented trans women who are navigating their professional, personal and romantic lives while performing at one of San Franciscos most popular cabarets. NITVs flagship news and current affairs program, The Point will tell personal stories from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ+ community on Wednesday 27 February at 8.30pm. Reporter Ella Archibald-Binge will hear from Electric Fields band members Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross about how their journey of self-discovery has shaped their music. The show will also speak to a person facing the challenges associated with gender realignment surgery and cross live to Queer Screens Mardi Gras Film Festival. Stephen Olivers romantic dramedy A Chance Affair will air on Sunday 3 March at 8.30pm, and has been described by producer Majhid Heath as a gay Aboriginal love story that is camp but with a big heart. The series is about a man named Chance, who is finally lucky in love after having his heart broken into a million pieces. Following its premiere screening at Queer Screens Mardi Gras Film Festival screening, Tongan feature documentary Leitis in Waiting will air on NITV on Monday 4 March at 8.30pm. The documentary is a raw yet tender portrait of Joey Mataele and the Tonga Leitis, an intrepid group of native transgender women fighting a rising tide of religious fundamentalism and intolerance in their South Pacific Kingdom. With unexpected humour and extraordinary access to the Kingdoms royals and religious leaders, this emotional journey reveals what it means to be different in a society ruled by tradition, and what it takes to be accepted without forsaking culture and tradition. Finally NITVs documentary Black Divaz and critically acclaimed film Kiki will also air as part of the special programming slate. Black Divaz goes behind the scenes of the Miss First Nations Drag Queen pageant to introduce the fierce and sassy contestants and hear the stories behind their outrageous drag personas. Kiki follows the drag and voguing scene in New York, looking at the lives of LGBTIQ+ youth of colour at a time when Black Lives Matter and transgender rights are making front-page headlines. Related Neil Peplow has resigned as CEO of the Australian Film Television and Radio School, returning with his family to London in mid 2019. He has also served as inaugural Chair of the Screen Diversity and Inclusion Network. AFTRS Chair Russel Howcroft said, Under Neils stewardship, AFTRS has become internationally renowned as a centre of creative excellence and one which, at a time of unprecedented change and opportunity in our industry, is incredibly forward thinking in its approach to screen education. I respect Neil enormously and applaud the work he has done at AFTRS over the past three and a half years. His energy, ideas and dynamism have set the School on an excellent path for the future. I would also like to acknowledge Neils work for the broader screen industry, particularly in the areas of diversity and innovation. I am very sorry to see him depart but wish him and his family well for the future. Minister for the Arts Mitch Fifield said: Neil has made an exceptional contribution in his time at AFTRS. I would like to thank him for his commitment and his determination. He leaves having secured AFTRS reputation as one of the worlds leading screen schools. The search for a new CEO will begin immediately. Under Mr Peplows tenure, AFTRS has deepened its connection with industry to ensure its courses are relevant, innovative and future-focused. The School offers a Postgraduate program, a three-year Bachelor of Arts: Screen Production degree as well as Industry Certificates and Short Courses, school holiday and teacher training programs. AFTRS alumni have won and been nominated for a slate of Academy, Golden Globe, Emmy, BAFTA, AACTA and Commercial Radio Awards, and are the creative forces behind some of Australias most iconic works of radio, television and cinema. Recent Alumni successes include scriptwriter Tony McNamara, whose screenplay for The Favourite has dominated the international Awards season. Tony this week was awarded the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay and he is nominated for an Oscara. Related On February 10, 2019, Congressman Walter Jones died on his 76th birthday. He served in the US House of Representatives for 13 terms. He was re-elected last November, even though he had already taken ill and was not in Washington from September 2018. Jones was a rare figure in today's Washington. He was profoundly moral and honest. He openly said that the two worst things that he did in office was his 2002 vote authorizing the Iraq war, based on official lies; and his vote to repeal the 1933 Glass Steagall Act, which separated commercial and investment banks. Jones not only expressed remorse for those two legislative errors. He worked every day to correct those sins. He was the Republican co-sponsor, with Democrat Marcy Kaptur, on legislation to reinstate Glass Steagall following the 2008 financial crisis. He became an ardent advocate for Congress to take back its constitutional responsibilities for declaring war. Wherever possible, he worked with Democrats and regularly denounced the power of lobby money. He once said that Congress would remain a cancer on the American body politic until leading members were "frog-marched down the steps of the Capitol in handcuffs" for their corruption. Walter Jones' signature accomplishment was the years-long battle he waged to force the declassification of the 28-page chapter from the 2002 Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11. That chapter detailed the role of leading figures in the Saudi Monarchy in support of the September 11, 2001 terrorists. Congressman Jones recruited a few colleagues to join him in forcing the Chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence to allow members of Congress to read the classified chapter. He led the fight to force its public release, after he concluded that there was no classified information that jeopardized US national security. He became the champion of the families and survivors of the 9/11 attacks, holding press conferences, giving interviews and introducing legislation to force the full public disclosure of all that remained hidden in the government's secret files on the worst terrorist attack to ever take place on US soil. In July 2016, after a political battle that raged for more than three years, Jones' efforts--with a few House and Senate colleagues--forced President Obama to make the 28-page document public. Two months later, the Congress overrode an Obama veto and passed the Justice Against Supporters of Terrorism Act (JASTA). In all of his endeavors, Walter Jones was a gentleman, a moral compass and a seeker of truth. His colleagues voted him the kindest member of the US Congress. The flip side of that tribute was that his own House Republican leadership never gave him the committee or subcommittee chairmanship that would have otherwise come with his seniority. He was a maverick in the best sense of the word. He was in Washington to represent his North Carolina constituents and the American people. His Congressional District was heavily military--Camp Lejeune. The wall outside his Congressional office had the photos of all of the American men and women killed in the Iraq and Afghan Wars. There are far too few men and women in Congress with the moral character of Walter Jones. Perhaps his untimely passing will serve as a moral shock to some of his colleagues and inspire them to go through the same kind of self-criticism and change in behavior that he went through. That alone would be a fitting legacy to a great American statesman. Two Russians drowned while swimming at a beach in Nha Trang on Tuesday, despite earlier warnings by rescuers of strong waves. The two died around 11:00 near the Ba Lang beach, Nguyen Hoang Minh Tuyen, a rescuer, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, the same day. We were having lunch when we heard shouts for help, Tuyen said. We rushed to the beach and performed CPR on the two Russians but they didnt make it after having been in the water for a very long time. The Khanh Hoa Province General Hospital confirmed at 2:00 pm that the two Russians had died upon arrival at the infirmary. Tuyen said that the two victims, around 60, were found to be drunk during the CPR effort. Rescuers had warned visitors, including the pair, against swimming in the area. Locals say this is a very dangerous beach area in Nha Trang, which is the capital of Khanh Hoa, as strong waves tend to sweep swimmers away. Drowning happens every year in this place, they add. Investigation is ongoing. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A restaurant in Nha Trang, a famous beach city in the south-central Vietnamese province of Khanh Hoa, has been fined VND750,000 (US$32) after it was reported for overcharging a group of Chinese tourists. The penalty was imposed by the citys market management agency on the owner of Thap Ba Lang Chai Restaurant, situated on Pham Van Dong Street, it said on Monday. A group of Chinese visitors had their meals at the venue on February 7, the third day of the Lunar New Year, and paid more than VND16 million (US$688) in total. The hefty price was charged for a simple dinner that consisted of such dishes as malabar spinach and stir-fried bitter melon, as the food was priced at VND250,000 ($11) apiece, according to a photo of the bill posted on social media. After the photo went viral on Facebook, the eatery owner explained that there was stir-fried beef in the vegetable dishes, which was why they were expensive. A team of inspectors from the Nha Trang market management agency were then sent to the restaurant and eventually concluded that all but the spinach and bitter melon dishes were listed in the bill according to regulations. The owner was eventually fined for failing to list prices of food and services in accordance with the law, Truong Hai Dac, an official from the market watchdog unit, elaborated. The administrative fine is only VND750,000, Dac added. Thap Ba Lang Chai Restaurant is the second eatery in Nha Trang to grab local headlines with regard to tourists being ripped off. Hung Phat Restaurant in Nha Trang City, located in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa. Photo: Thanh Truc / Tuoi Tre A group of Malaysian visitors was purportedly charged VND500,000 ($21.5) for each dish of stir-fried eggs and tomatoes when they had dinner at the Hung Phat Restaurant on Tran Phu Street also on February 7. The simple food apparently cost far more than they should have. Nearly a week after the bill of the costly meal went viral on social media, local authorities are still unable to verify the case as they were unable to contact the owner of the facility. We have not received any information from the foreign tourists either, said Pham Van Huu, head of the Khanh Hoa market management department. We have repeatedly paid visits to the venue and tasked our officers with guarding the place until the owner shows up, Huu continued. According to Nguyen Thi Le Thanh, deputy director of the provincial Department of Tourism, tourists are advised to call the agencys hotlines (02583.528.000 and 0947.528.000) when they are overcharged by local service providers. Officers will be mobilized to deal with such cases within 15 minutes, Thanh stated, adding that it would be more difficult to promptly handle the case if customers make their complaints on social media. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A gun-armed Vietnamese man was brought under police control while attempting to enter Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday morning. The man, 42, rode a motorbike on the airport premises and left the vehicle to run to the terminal after being intercepted by security guards, the airdrome security unit said. Surrounded by the guards, he pulled out a pistol but was shortly subdued by plain-clothes security officers and members of a flying squad. The man was under the influence of meth and his metal firearm was identified as a nonmilitary weapon that could give off sparks, according to police. The man was detained at a police station for investigation. For security reasons, Tan Son Nhat bans people entering it from carrying knives, swords and arrows. But the airport security has repeatedly caught people bringing weapons to the terminal in recent times. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! As the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday already came to an end, workers have returned to work on the massive construction site of the first-ever metro line in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday, with the project management hoping to overcome funding difficulties to speed up completion of the late-running megaproject. All construction works on the citys metro line No. 1, which connects Ben Thanh Market in District 1 and Suoi Tien Theme Park in District 9, was resumed on Tuesday, with workers actively doing their job in the hope of having luck in the new lunar year. One of the most significant parts of the metro line is the 17.1km metro bridge, or the elevated railway of the project that runs along Hanoi Highway, snaking through District 1, Binh Thanh District, District 2, District 9 and Thu Duc District to connect the Ba Son Shipyard and Suoi Tien terminals. At one section of the metro bridge, dozens of engineers and workers were installing the two lanes of rail during their first working day after Tet. As of Tuesday, around 6,000 meters of rail lanes and 2,700 meters of concrete floor of the metro line have been completed and are being examined by both Vietnamese and Japanese engineers. Another key section of the metro is the Long Binh depot, a technical station situated in a 22-hectare area spanning from Ho Chi Minh Citys District 9 to Di An Town of the southern province of Binh Duong, where the metro trains will be maintained. The basic construction of the depots operations control center (OCC), where engineers will monitor and control all the activities of the trains running on metro line No. 1, has been completed. According to the design, this OCC will be equipped with automatic electronic operating devices and surveillance camera systems in 2019 and 2020. A worker is seen on duty at Ben Thanh Station in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City on the evening of January 22, 2019. Photo: Quang Dinh / Tuoi Tre Meanwhile, an area that can houses 32 metro trains, each with six rail cars, and a 21,560 square meter repairing area are also near completion. The 19.7km metro line is mainly aboveground, with a 2.6km underground section. It is expected to be put into service by 2020. By the end of 2018, the project had been 62 percent completed, while it was supposed to reach 65-percent completion that year. Bui Xuan Cuong, head of the Management Authority of Urban Railways (MAUR), attributed the late progress to funding issues and staff changes. While we initially planned to have 77 percent of the project completed by the end of this year, we now target to reach a completion rate of 80 percent, Cuong said. Only by doing so will we be able to put the project into operation by the end of 2020. The development of the Ben Thanh Suoi Tien metro line began in 2007 using official development assistance (ODA) loans from Japan. It is estimated to cost VND47.3 trillion (US$2 billion), and will be capable of transporting 620,000 passengers per day upon completion, taking pressure away from the citys crowded public transport system that is overly dependent on buses. However, since October 2017 the project has not received any budget disbursement due to late approval of an adjusted investment plan. Cuong said local authorities are racing to complete legal procedures to resolve this financial problem to ensure construction progress for the project. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) on Febuary 8th, 2019 participated in the 2nd Ghanaian-Hungarian Agriculture Forum held at the Embassy of Hungary. In a statement, "The Union engaged the professor and all stakeholders available on how best the Union can collaborate with the Szen Isatvan University, Hungary to secure scholarship opportunities for students interested in studying there." Read Full Statement Below The National Union of Ghana Students represented by Kobby Otchere Marfo, Eric Asante Guggisberg and Micheal Ofori; Press and Information Secretary, Financial Controller and Treasurer respectively on February 8, 2019, participated in the 2nd Ghanaian-Hungarian Agricultural Forum at the Embassy of Hungary. The forum was held in commemoration of the visit of Prof. Erika Micheli, Head of Doctoral School of Environmental Sciences, Szen Istvan University, Hungary and Researchers from the Hungarian Agricultural Research and Innovation Centre (NARIC) to Ghana. It was a platform for NUGS to engage the professor in possibilities on educational and research cooperation for Ghanaian students studying Environmental Science, Agriculture and its related courses to help strengthen the agricultural sector of our nation, Ghana. The Union engaged the professor and all stakeholders available on how best the Union can collaborate with the Szen Isatvan University, Hungary to secure scholarship opportunities for students interested in studying there. NUGS is ever committed in ensuring that Ghanaian students access all the necessary opportunities in their academic and social life. Thank You Signed Kobby Otchere Marfo Press & Information Secretary, NUGS 0240852651 Tinkaro Asare Osei President ,NUGS 0543253243 Source: Josephine Acheampomaa/Peacefmonline/[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 Here are todays leading news stories: Politics -- Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired a meeting of the governments standing board on Monday, during which he commended authorities at all levels and sectors for their efforts to ensure a safe and happy Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday for the people. -- Vietnams Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh is scheduled to pay an official visit to North Korea from February 12 to 14 at the invitation of Minister of Foreign Affairs Ri Yong-ho. Society -- Temperatures in southern Vietnamese provinces are forecast to reach 35 degrees Celsius over the next days, while the weather in the northern region will become cooler due to the effect of a cold spell, according to the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting. -- Police in the northern province of Dien Bien confirmed on Monday they had arrested multiple suspects who are involved in the murder of the a female university student, whose body was found on February 7, the second day of the 2019 lunar year. -- The police department in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang on Monday suspended two officers to assist the investigation into their assault on a man over personal conflict on February 6. -- Three trailer truck drivers have been fined VND1.6 million (US$68.8) each, and had their licenses revoked for two months after being caught on camera running a red light in the central city of Da Nang on the morning of February 5. -- A 42-year-old man, who was high on drugs, was apprehended by security and police officers after barging into the international terminal of Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City with a fake gun on Monday afternoon. Business -- About 158,000 international tourists visited Da Nang City during the 2019 Lunar New Year festival, up 19.9 percent compared to last year, according to the municipal Department of Tourism. -- Many ATMs across Ho Chi Minh City were still out of order due to technical errors or lack of cash on Monday. Lifestyle -- The traditional Tich dien (ploughing) festival was held in the northern province of Ha Nam on Monday to pray for bumper harvests and prosperity for Vietnamese farmers. The event was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A man has been fined VND5.5 million (US$237) and had his drivers license temporarily revoked for throwing a picnic party with his family members on the hard shoulder of an expressway in northern Vietnam last week. The penalty was imposed upon Ho Chi Viet, who hails from the north-central province of Thanh Hoa, on Saturday, a representative of the traffic police division under the Ministry of Public Security confirmed. Viet was slapped with a VND5.5 million fine as well as a two-month revocation of his license for parking his automobile along an expressway, the source said. Reports showed that Viet and his three family members were traveling in a Mitsubishi Jolie carrying the license plate 36A 090.48 along the Noi Bai - Lao Cai Expressway connecting Hanoi and northern Lao Cai Province on the afternoon of February 6, the second day of the Lunar New Year. The man then stopped his car at the hard shoulder before throwing a picnic bash with the other family members, apparently his wife, son, and daughter. They also live-streamed their celebration on Facebook, which sparked widespread outrage as they did not only risk their own lives but also those of other road users on the 265km expressway. A local traffic police unit was tasked with probing the case and identifying the driver. An Toan Giao Thong (Traffic Safety), a news website run by the Ministry of Transport, reported that Viet took to Facebook to express his apology over the incident. The man said he and his family did not mean to party on the expressway, adding that what they did was a thoughtless act. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! HANOI -- Vietnams foreign minister, Pham Binh Minh, will visit North Korea ahead of this months planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, a spokeswoman said on Monday. Trump said last week he would hold his second meeting with Kim in the Vietnamese capital on Feb. 27 and 28. The Vietnamese foreign minister plans to visit North Korea from Feb. 12 to 14, the spokeswoman said in a statement posted to social network Twitter, without giving further details. As Vietnam prepares for the summit, its reform model is being widely touted as the economic path for North Korea to follow. Some visitors fainted while many jumped the queue as hundreds of thousands of people flooded the iconic Huong (Perfume) Pagoda in rural Hanoi on Sunday to attend the opening ceremony of an annual Buddhist festival. The Huong Pagoda Festival is one of the most important of its kind for Buddhist followers in northern Vietnam, observed from the sixth day of the first month until the third month of the lunar year. During this period, Buddhist followers would go on a pilgrimage to Huong Son District in Hanoi, which houses a vast complex of religious attractions including the Huong Pagoda that was first built in the 17th century. This year, the festivals opening ceremony fell on Sunday, the sixth day of the lunar Year of the Pig, attracting around 50,000 visitors from across the region. It is estimated that nearly 125,000 people visited the Buddhist complex between Thursday and Saturday, before the festival began. The early summer heat did not discourage festival goers from elbowing each other for hours to even get to the pagodas entrance. A cable car system installed at the site to help transport visitors to the Huong Tich Cave, where a famous statue of Guan Yin is located, was also overloaded with an hour-long queue. Impatient visitors were spotted climbing over the fences to cut in line, while others fainted from the heat and suffocating crowd. Parents who came with their young children had no choice but to turn around and abandon their pilgrimage after witnessing the chaos. A group of visitors enjoy their meal amid litter at the Huong Pagoda in rural Hanoi on February 10, 2019. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre Dog and porcupine meat is sold at a restaurant near the Huong Pagoda in rural Hanoi on February 10, 2019 despite a ban. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre A sea of people visit the Huong Pagoda in rural Hanoi on February 10, 2019. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre A sea of people visit the Huong Tich Cave in rural Hanoi on February 10, 2019. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre Visitors climb over a fence to cut in line at the Huong Pagoda in rural Hanoi on February 10, 2019. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre Visitors rest on stone turtles at the Huong Pagoda in rural Hanoi on February 10, 2019. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre Visitors queue to enter the Huong Tich Cave in rural Hanoi on February 10, 2019. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre A police officer instructs visitors to get in line at the Huong Pagoda in rural Hanoi on February 10, 2019. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre Visitors offer prayers before an altar inside the Huong Pagoda in rural Hanoi on February 10, 2019. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre A sea of people visit the Huong Pagoda in rural Hanoi on February 10, 2019. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre A sea of people visit the Huong Pagoda in rural Hanoi on February 10, 2019. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre A sea of people visit the Huong Tich Cave in rural Hanoi on February 10, 2019. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre Visitors disembark from canoes used for transporting them to the Huong Pagoda in rural Hanoi on February 10, 2019. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre A long queue is seen at a cable car station at the Huong Pagoda in rural Hanoi on February 10, 2019. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre A woman is given medical support after she fainted among the crowd who visited the Huong Pagoda in rural Hanoi on February 10, 2019. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Phan Thi Kim Phuc, known as the Napalm Girl in an iconic photo taken during wartime in Vietnam in 1972, has received Germanys Dresden Peace Prize for her work for peace. Phuc, 55, was honored on Monday for her support of UNESCO and children wounded in war, and for speaking out publicly against violence and hatred, according to AP News. She received a 10,000 euro (US$11,350) grant in cash. Phuc was nine years old when napalm bombs ravaged her village in Trang Bang District, Tay Ninh Province in southern Vietnam in 1972. The image of her running down the road in tears, naked and severely burned was captured by Vietnamese-American Associated Press photographer Nick Ut, who won a Pulitzer Prize for the photo one year later. Ut, then 21, drove Phuc to hospital where he demanded doctors treat her. I cried when I saw her running, The Guardian quoted Ut as saying in 2012. If I dont help her and if something happened and she died I think Id kill myself after that. The iconic Napalm Girl photo taken by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut in Vietnam in 1972 Phuc sustained third-degree burns on 30 percent of her body, and did not begin scar treatment until 2015, when she sought help from dermatologists in the U.S. She is now living in Canada with her husband and two sons. Hoping to join efforts in building a better world, Phuc set up a fund in 2002, which has made significant contributions to the construction of schools, orphanages, and healthcare facilities worldwide, according to the Vietnam News Agency. Phucs latest project is building libraries for children in her hometown of Trang Bang. The Dresden Peace Prize has been awarded annually since 2010 to honor the brave, the tolerant, the humane from all over the world," according to organizers of the prize. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! MEXICO CITY -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday contracts private companies have with state-run power utility CFE should be revised to keep electricity prices low, sending shares in one firm tumbling. We are urging companies that have agreements with the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) to come together to review contracts and above all to reach an agreement that electricity prices will not increase, Lopez Obrador said during his morning press conference. The president, a leftist who took office in December, pledged during the campaign to strengthen the CFE and avoid energy price hikes during his term. Lopez Obrador noted that the state-owned utility is already contractually obliged to pay billions of dollars to the private companies that developed seven natural gas pipelines to supply power plants, even though the projects are incomplete and unable to deliver gas. Those companies are Mexican energy infrastructure firm IEnova, a unit of U.S.-based Sempra Energy; TransCanada Corp; and Mexican tycoon Carlos Slims Carso, said CFE chief Manuel Bartlett. Over the past couple decades, Mexico has transitioned to natural gas to generate most of its power, relying increasingly on imports via pipeline from the United States. At Lopez Obradors behest, Bartlett cited by name several former public servants who are now energy company executives, accusing them of taking part in a scheme to destroy the CFE. If the pipelines cant be built, as is happening in seven large gas pipelines, the companies still have to be paid even if theres no gas, said Lopez Obrador. IEnovas shares dropped as much as 6.95 percent, TransCanadas 0.67 percent and Carsos 0.94 percent after the comments. In a statement to the Mexican stock exchange, IEnova said it has one pipeline that began operations in 2017 but that sabotage interrupted supplies to CFE. Some companies have been unable to complete construction of pipelines because of opposition from local communities. In other cases, the companies cannot deliver the gas even though the pipelines have been completed because of delays in building and converting power plants. Lopez Obrador has been a staunch critic of 2013-14 energy reforms that ended the wholesale electricity monopoly held by CFE. We are looking to achieve a voluntary restructuring of agreements and commitments within the framework of the law ... the government is committed to not increasing electricity prices for consumers, but we want private companies to help, he said. Thai stocks closed lower on Monday, falling most in the Southeast Asia region amid political turmoil in the country, while Vietnam markets surged as trade resumed after a week-long holiday. The Thai benchmark ended 0.8 percent lower. Mobile services provider Advanced Info Service fell about 3.7 percent, while Airports of Thailand ended 1.5 percent lower. Both stocks were the biggest drags on the Thai index. Meanwhile, the country's election panel disqualified the sister of the king from running for prime minister, putting an end to the controversial, short-lived candidacy by echoing King Maha Vajiralongkorn's words that royalty should be "above politics". The announcement came after market hours. On the other hand, Vietnam benchmark ended about 1.9 percent higher as trade resumed after a week-long Lunar New Year holiday. Gains on the benchmark were largely broad-based, with real estate and financial stocks in the lead. The index clocked its best session since early-December, and was at a near 8-week high. Shares of property developer Vingroup gained about 4.3 percent, while those of Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam ended 2.8 percent higher. Other Southeast Asian markets traded in a flat-to-low range as markets adopted a wait and see approach with trade negotiations between the U.S. and China recommencing from Monday. Singapore stocks pared early losses to end largely flat. Liu Jinshu, head of research at Tayrona Financial said there was some resistance emerging above the 3,200 level, particularly due to the market being unable to make significant progress above that level on Friday. Worries over the Chinese economy have cast a shadow over Singapore's prospects, owing to the island nation's large electronic exports to the country. A U.S. delegation arrived in Beijing on Monday to recommence talks, ahead of the March 1 deadline to reach a trade deal. China is Southeast Asia's largest trading partner, and its trade tiff with the U.S. has exacted a heavy toll on the region. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Flights back to Ho Chi Minh City after a long holiday celebrating the Lunar New Year, or Tet, for many people in the central city of Da Nang turned out to be a nightmare as their bookings made through ticket agents for the return services happened to be invalid. As Vietnam enjoyed a nine-day Tet break that ended on Sunday, people in big cities returned to their hometowns to celebrate the holiday with their family. The homecoming flights were smooth for several passengers who booked round trip tickets for the Ho Chi Minh City - Da Nang service through ticket agents. But as they arrived at Da Nang International Airport for the return legs back to Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday, the passengers were stunned to learn that what the agents gave them were invalid ticket numbers that were not eligible for boarding. The victims told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that airport attendants informed them that their names were not in the booking system when they came for check-in at the Da Nang airport, the flight hub of central Vietnam, on the last day of the official holiday. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, whose hometown is in the central province of Quang Nam, said she bought round tickets of Vietnam Airlines for her family of three from an agent for nearly VND20 million (US$860) two months before Tet. The woman did take a cautious step to call the flag carrier to make sure the tickets she had fully paid for were genuine. Ha and her family were reassured as they had no problem flying to Da Nang from Ho Chi Minh City. Little did they know that trouble awaited them on their return flight. As they checked in for the Ho Chi Minh City-bound flight on Sunday, Ha was told that no bookings existed for her family members The airline rejected our check-in because our names were not in the system and told us that the flight agent had completed the refund [for bookings of their return trip], Ha told Tuoi Tre. It appeared that the agent did make round trip bookings for Has family, and somehow canceled their second leg tickets to get a refund without letting them know. Passengers wait at Da Nang International Airport on the evening of February 10, 2019. Photo: Cong Trung / Tuoi Tre Several passengers at Da Nang International Airport were in the same situation and had no choice but to buy the last-minute tickets to be able to fly to Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday, they told Tuoi Tre. But the airline representatives at the airport told us tickets for Ho Chi Minh City flights had already sold out in the morning, Ha said. According to a Vietnam Airlines representative, dishonest agents setting up temporary websites to sell airline tickets during such high-demand travel seasons as Tet is not something unheard of before. The fraudulent business would emerge every Tet, he said. After receiving payments from customers, these cunning agents disable their phone numbers and shut down the websites so fooled buyers would not be able to contact them. Normally, buyers will receive a reservation code for their flight after booking, even before they make payment. The reservation code is only deemed valid if payment is made within 24 hours from the time of booking. Thang, an air ticket agent in Ho Chi Minh City, said that some small resellers often take advantage of this mechanism to deceive customers. The agents will show customers the reservation codes to ask for their payments, but this does not necessarily mean they will transfer the money to the airline to complete the ticket booking process, according to Thang. After receiving money from customers, the dishonest agents only have to cancel the bookings to finish the scam, he said. In other cases, the resellers do pay airline companies and issue tickets to customers, but they then return or cancel those tickets behind customers backs. The scammers can take a full refund, or only have to pay a small fee for the returning and cancelation process. Passengers should only buy tickets on official websites, from agents, and through ticket offices and ask for invoices for their bookings to avoid buying fake or overcharged tickets, the Vietnam Airlines representative advised. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! We hope you have enjoyed your complimentary access for the month. To continue viewing content on tucson.com, please sign in with your existing account or subscribe. Some of those things are going to ultimately remain, like the brontosaurus slide is going to be incorporated around the childrens playground, Morris said. Theres a few small pieces that will be encapsulated in time here, but most of it will go away. Approximately 30 miles south of Raptor Ranch is the Bearizona Wildlife Park, another animal-based attraction. While Raptor Ranch and Bearizona are close in proximity, Morris and Brown are not concerned about visitor competition. I think there is plenty of business here, so that doesnt bother me too much, Morris said. Theres plenty of people going through here and much like having three or four restaurants clustered together, it kind of builds promise. Raptor Ranch is a predator bird park for visitors to view birds such as falcons, eagles and owls. Instead of showing birds fly from one spot to the next, Brown said Raptor Ranch will focus on demonstrating how predator birds hunt in the wild using artificial lures. The birds are trained and handled in such a manner that they are very safe. They are not wild birds, Brown said. These are birds that have almost all been bred in captivity. More than 125 children will receive free dental care on Saturday, Feb. 16, at the Pima Community College West Campus dental clinic, 2202 W. Anklam Road. The event is from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and parents can register their children at www.tucsonkid.com The children being helped do not have insurance and can receive fillings, extractions and other necessary dental care, but some care may require more than one treatment. The Give Kids A Smile program was created by the American Dental Association and is being coordinated by the Arizona Dental Foundation. The program provides care to more than 1,000 uninsured children statewide each year. The children served are from families who do not qualify for AHCCCS/Medicaid or the Childrens Health Insurance Program and who cannot afford dental care. According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, nearly 30 percent of Arizonas children have urgent, untreated tooth decay. The purpose of funding the Highway Patrol out of the new fee was to free up gasoline tax revenues that now help finance the agency. That, in turn, was supposed to make more money available for road construction and repair. Peshlakai said shes not convinced that helps those in rural areas. Every time the state adds fees and taxes and nickel-and-dimes us, especially for highways, then the benefits are kept down here in the (Phoenix) Valley or in the urban area, she said. Sen. Andrea Dallesandro, D-Green Valley, acknowledged that $32 fee set by ADOT is far more than what lawmakers were told in voting for the measure last year. And she agreed with Peshlakai that the levy is regressive, with people who own expensive luxury vehicles paying the same as those with much older cars. But Dallesandro said she voted for the bill last year as a method of bringing more dollars into state coffers for critical needs including public education. And on Monday she was unwilling to support outright repeal, with no prospect of replacing those dollars. Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, who voted against the fee last year, did a bit of I told you so with her colleagues in choosing to let the head of ADOT set the amount to avoid the requirement for a two-thirds vote, accepting the verbal promise of $18, and now appearing surprised at it coming back at $32. On Twitter: @azcapmedia The recovery effort for the 82-year-old hiker who got lost while hiking in Madera Canyon last week was suspended Monday evening, officials said. Joe Smallwood called around 4 p.m. on Feb. 5 and reported he was lost. Shortly after, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office sent out a search-and-rescue team. After a week of searching, Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Lieutenant Gerardo Castillo said search crews, who came from all over the state, needed to recover and regroup before planing future recovery efforts. Castillo said as many as 120 people from 17 or 18 different organizations helped in the search, including agencies from Pima, Santa Cruz, Cochise, Pinal, Maricopa, Gila, Yuma, Yavapai and Coconino counties, as well as personnel from Fort Huachuca and with U.S. Border Patrol and volunteers with the Southern Arizona Rescue Association. A national aging expert says society is not doing enough to help people prepare for and navigate living their senior years financially secure and healthy. Education is the key and getting information out to working adults is vital so they are prepared to live 20 to 30 years more after they turn 65, said Anna Maria Chavez, executive vice president and chief growth officer for the National Council on Aging, in an interview last week. Chavez grew up in Eloy and her parents were in the farming industry. She worked for Govs. Jane Dee Hull and Janet Napolitano. She will give the keynote address at a public session, The Future of Aging A Community Conversation, on Wednesday, Feb. 13. The 7:30 a.m. event is hosted by ELDER Alliance of United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona and Pima Council on Aging. It will be at the United Way Sentinel Building, 320 N. Commerce Park Loop. The event is free and open to the public. In testimony before the U.S. Senates Special Committee on Aging last year, Chavez said a man reaching age 65 today can expect to live, on average, until age 84 and a woman until age 86. Whats more, one out of every four 65-year-olds today will live past age 90, and one in 10 will live past age 95. Police arrested a man in connection to last week's fatal shooting in midtown Tucson, officials say. Tucson Police Gang Detectives determined James Harlen Jones, 34, was involved in the Feb. 5 shooting death of Ruben Lemon, 34, according to a press release from the Tucson Police Department. Lemon was found on the side of the road with multiple gunshot wounds. Jones was booked into Pima County jail on one count of first degree murder, as well as aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault with a vehicle. He's being held on a $1 million bond. Police say that although gang detectives were investigating this case, it doesn't appear to be gang related. Contact reporter Danyelle Khmara at dkhmara@tucson.com or 573-4223. On Twitter: @DanyelleKhmara Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Pima County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case of a man accused of slaying two Tucson girls. Christopher Clements, 36, was indicted in September in connection with the deaths of 6-year-old Isabel Celis and 13-year-old Maribel Gonzalez. Hes facing 22 related charges, including two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of kidnapping. Isabel was taken from her bedroom in April 2012, shortly after Clements was released from prison on federal charges. Court records show he was living about 2 miles from Isabels home when she was abducted. Clements was arrested on unrelated burglary charges five months later and released on bail. His case was still playing out in court in June 2014, when Maribel was reported missing. She had left her house to visit a friend, but never made it there. Her body was found in a desert area three days later. In March 2017, detectives found Isabels remains in the general area where Maribels body was discovered after receiving a tip that Clements had information. Clements agreed to tell detectives where Isabels body was in exchange for charges in another burglary case being dropped. A Sheriff's department investigation into two kangaroos who went missing from their home on Tucson's far northwest side has yielded new information, authorities said. A video released yesterday that was taken by a passerby as he was driving out of town showed what appeared to be a kangaroo bounding down the side of the road. After talking to the animals' owner, a department spokesman confirmed today that the marsupial in question was actually a wallaroo- a smaller member of the kangaroo family. Although it turns out that the video was taken last Wednesday, the owner was unaware that the wallaroos were missing from his 20-acre property until a few days ago, said Sheriff's department spokesman Deputy Tracy Suitt. The man filming the video said that he called the Arizona Game and Fish Department to report the sighting the following morning. After the Sheriff's department was notified of the wallaroos' disappearance Monday, an "attempt to locate," which is used to alert other deputies of a missing person, was issued. The wallaroo caught on film, Boomer, still hasn't been found, Suitt said. Bouncy, the second wallaroo, is believed to still be on the property, but the owner has been unable to locate her, as she likes to hide in the brush. As long as the wallaroos aren't aggressive, it's legal for them to be kept as pets. Boomer was last seen near the area of North Anway Road and West Avra Valley Road. Anyone who spots a wallaroo on the loose is asked to call 911. Rep. Amish Shah, D-Phoenix, also questioned why the measure was crafted to exempt part-time workers through age 21, given that the U.S. Constitution considers people to be adults at age 18. Shah said he was not buying the argument by supporters that lower wages for some is actually good for them. If the minimum wage were not there, it is possible that perhaps more people would be employed, he said. However, as a society, weve also said that when those wages are set at a certain level it practically allows folks that do apply and get positions to then be able to support themselves and live lives that we feel are adequate for the circumstances, Shah continued. So thats a societal decision that weve made. And Shah said even if it could be shown the Legislature could redefine who is and is not eligible to be paid the minimum wage, the measure violates the intent of what voters approved. But Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, said he has no problem with the Legislature tinkering with the minimum wage in this way. Its governments job to protect equal opportunity, he said. Its not governments job to provide equal things. Child advocates have been seeking better support for relatives and family friends who help foster children, and Arizona lawmakers now have the chance to answer that plea with two Senate bills up for hearings later this week. The grandparents, neighbors, aunts and uncles tasked with caring for a child unexpectedly are not well supported, said Dana Naimark, president of the states Childrens Action Alliance. Many dont hear about the financial support they could get, or find they have to do the research themselves and then wait after filling out an application. If they chose to become licensed foster parents, that doesnt happen quickly. It takes a couple months at least to become licensed, so even the families that get licensed right away will get two months of assistance from the beginning automatically, said Julie Treinen, program director of Kinship Support Services for Arizonas Children Association, about one of the proposed changes. That bill, sponsored by Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix, has to do with dollars from the federal program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, which is a time-limited program to help parents and families in need become self-sufficient. Los Equipos de Alcance para Personas sin Hogar de la ciudad de Tucson y el Departamento de Policia responden a llamadas sobre campamentos de gente sin hogar y los acercan a recursos que incluyen vivienda permanente. Its a different experience than playing a concerto with an orchestra, where I fly in, rehearse my one big piece with the orchestra and perform, Bell, 51, said during a teleconference with West Coast journalists in mid-December. Playing a big concerto is thrilling, too. Youve got a lot of people on stage. Its louder. ... But with a solo recital ... its two hours of more intensity from beginning to end. But what I like is I get to offer sort of a tasting menu from classical music. Something from different periods. I get to show different aspects of classical music, different ways the violin can express itself. Its more intimate. I can talk to the audience between pieces. Irish pianist Barry Douglas is about to make his long-awaited Tucson Symphony Orchestra encore this weekend. His performance with the orchestra on Friday, Feb. 15, and Sunday, Feb. 17, comes nearly 12 years after he was here last. And before that late 2007 concert to perform Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1, Douglas had let 13 years pass before we saw him on the bench at Tucson Music Hall. Call it his 12-or-so-year desert itch. Tucson is the place I have to go every 12 years so I can feel whole again, he joked last week during a phone call from a concert stop in Barcelona, Spain. Tucson is such a great place. I love the climate. I love the people. The orchestra is great, so it could be a high for me. But the long wait will be worth it when Douglas, 58, joins the TSO for Tchaikovskys Piano Concerto No. 1, the same piece that won him the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia in 1986. He was only the second non-Russian the first was American Van Cliburn to win. Douglas doesnt play the piece often these days; in fact, he has it on his schedule only twice this season. Gilbert Gottfried is heading to Laffs Comedy Caffe on Wednesday, Feb. 20. Yes, you read that correctly: Gottfried, whose loud, often grating voice and politically-incorrect, impeccably-timed and very funny jokes have earned him dozens of film and TV appearances as well as a few black eyes remember when he told that tasteless, way-too-soon tsunami joke following the 2011 Japan earthquake? is playing our way-off-the-radar-from-New-York comedy club. Hes actually playing a bunch of comedy clubs around the country including the Tempe Improv and the Copper Blues music club in Phoenix after us. Hes doing two shows at Laffs at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Admission is $25 in advance at eventbrite.com or at the door, 2900 E. Broadway. Laffs officials said Gottfrieds show is a rental. The club has stayed away from bigger named comedians in the past couple years. But that doesnt mean they arent attracting marquee-worthy comics. Hutchings previously suggested to news site WyoFile that she might pursue legal action, though it was unclear against whom. She declined in-person requests for comment Tuesday. Her only known public statement on the issue prior to Tuesday was given to KTWO-TV in Casper, which first reported on the story. No comparison of that nature was made, she said in that statement. If the children took my questions of what is sexual orientation? and turned it into a comparison, that is indeed a lie. I can say nothing further. She did not respond to a call or email Friday from the Star-Tribune and declined to comment to reporters Monday in Cheyenne. Rhetorical questions The Gay-Straight Alliance members had requested their Feb. 1 meeting with Hutchings to discuss House Bill 230, which would have given workplace protections to members of the LGBTQ community. The bill died after it was not voted on in time. CODY (AP) The trial for a Wyoming man accused of killing his wife has been postponed to the one-year anniversary of her death. The Cody Enterprise reports District Court Judge Bill Simpson on Friday decided to postpone Dennis Klingbeil's trial from March 5 to Aug. 5. Klingbeil, of Wapiti, is accused of killing his wife, Donna Klingbeil, on Aug. 5, 2018, in their North Fork home. Klingbeil, who has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, officially waived his right to a speedy trial last week. The delay comes on the heels of the state's submission of a large docket of new evidence, seven days after the March trial date was set. The judge will decide March 8 whether the new evidence may be entered into the case. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 BILLLINGS, Mont. U.S. officials have again been faulted by a federal judge for failing to adequately consider the potential climate change effects of expanding a massive coal mine in the sagebrush-covered hills of southeastern Montana. U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Cavan recommended in a Monday ruling that the Interior Department be given 240 days to re-analyze the expansion. But Cavan said mining shouldnt be stopped in the interim, frustrating environmentalists who have campaigned for years to curtail coal production from the huge strip mines in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana. A final decision is up to U.S. District Judge Susan Watters. If she adopts Cavans recommendation, it would mark a setback to the Interior Departments attempts to downplay the climate change impacts of burning fossil fuels extracted from public lands. In the Montana case, government officials asserted that burning the coal would have little effect on global emissions. That claim was first made by Interior officials under President Barack Obama and has been carried forward under President Donald Trump. Cloud Peak Energys Spring Creek Mine near Decker is largest coal mine in Montana and 10th largest in the U.S. The fourth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale is witnessing a steady stream of art lovers as well as common people. The event familiarizes visitors with the latest trends in the international art scene along with presenting new ideas and thoughts. The theme for this biennale is 'non-alienation,' and the exhibition embraces it by offering a platform to artists from marginalised communities, like the tribals, LGBTQ persons, and women. Let us go over the diverse kinds of installations this year. The venues Based mainly in the historic quarters of Fort Kochi, the biennale is held at nine venues, including the main exhibition area Aspinwall House, Dutch palace, Anand Warehouse, TKM warehouse, Kashi art cafe, Kashi art gallery, David hall, Pepper House, and Cabral Yard. In addition is the gallery of the Lalithakala Academy at Durbar Hall in Ernakulam city. Meanwhile, venues have been arranged for Students' Biennale and to exhibit the collateral projects. Aspinwall House Built by an Englishman named John H Aspinwall, this building was the headquarters of the firm, Aspinwall & Co Ltd. Aspinwall House is not just the main venue but a place where the most number of installations have been arranged 60. Built by an Englishman named John H Aspinwall, this building was the headquarters of the firm, Aspinwall & Co Ltd. A visit of the biennale can be started by viewing a colourful installation under a mango tree in bloom. It is a creation by K V Santha, a Keralite who works for the renaissance and propagation of the traditional weaving sector. It can also be considered as a symbol of the biennale itself, which weaves vastly different art forms from around the world seamlessly together. A loom that creates music In the coir godown in Aspinwall House are installations that represent the evolution of man's tryst with art. The creations start from a work by Priya Raveesh Mehra that is made of natural fibres and end with 'Con-struction-I' and 'Con-struction-II' by Arun Kumar H G made of raw materials used in modern construction. A unique work among them is an installation by Mexican artist Tania Candiyani. A disused traditional loom has been transformed into a musical instrument by replacing the thread with sitar strings and fixing a sound box. This work, which makes a viewer recall the glorious handloom traditions of Kerala, was created by the artist after arriving here. Agrarian issues Several works presented at the biennale highlight the tendency of the human mind to let the imagination soar and also to think about the future. Many of them deal with current social situations. Among the most popular creations is 'Bird,' a video installation by Sonia Khurana that sparked controversies around the world. Another notable piece of art is 'Mathi Maa' (Bhoo Matha) by Shambhavi. It is an installation that depicts a flock of birds flying away from a field, but the birds are represented as sickles, traditional fans, shallow baskets, the water wheels and other farming paraphernalia. Other interesting works in this section are paintings by Madhavi Parekh, 'Cane of Wrath' by B V Suresh and 'C-Stunners' by Kenyan artist Cyrus Kabiru. Brotherhood 'Brothers,' a work by Keralite artist Vipin Dhanurdharan, had attracted attention from the start of the event. It draws inspiration from the community lunch (misra bhojanan) involving people of different sections of the society organized under the leadership of Sahodaran Ayyappan in 1917. The event was a major step in social reformation and now at the biennale anyone can have food from the eatery arranged at the venue. The works highlights the need for all people to have a meal together and share the brotherhood. Vipin visited several houses in the Fort Kochi-Mattancherry areas as part of his work, had food with the residents and made portraits of those who served the meals. These paintings are also exhibited. Dreams take shape A frozen glass house has been set up by Chinese artist Song Dong between the coir godown and the Bungalow. It makes one realize the dominance of time over our lives time that erases everything that we record. Many interesting works are arranged in the two-storeyed bungalow also. One is 'Tomorrow everything will be all right' by Lebanese artist Akram Zaatari that has a unique presentation. 'One hundred and nineteen deed of sale' by Soo Williamson from South Africa deals with a dark chapter in Colonial history. It presents details of research conducted into the people forcibly taken as slaves to Africa from many places, including Kochi. Works by Radom Komelick, Anju Dodi and Martha Rosler make the viewers ponder over the fate of the world. Experimental lab The laboratory in Aspinwall House attracts attention by presenting new experiments in the field of art. Among the exhibits are the works by Chitra Ganesh from New York, who attempts to make art inclusive with the help of modern technology and Marcia Farhana from Bangladesh, who has depicted the floods in Kerala. Farhana has termed the natural disasters around the world as 'A trap that man cannot evade.' Another eye-catching creation is 'God's summit' by Temsuyanger Longkumer from Nagaland. It is a multi-media work of art. On the upper floor is 'More sweetly play the dance,' a video installation in eight screens by South African artist William Kentridge. It is the biggest video art in the current edition of the biennale. There are 10 installations in the bungalow. Store and hanger There are over 20 installations in this section and the photo art of Cuban artist Leyandra Feyal is notable. Works by Guerrilla Girls, a group of women artists who appear in public only with masks, are also included. Another work by Soo Williamson is exhibited in this section. It is titled 'Message from the Atlantic passage.' Records of the slave trade in the 16th to 18th centuries are referred to and the names of the slaves, age and gender are displayed in bottles. Multidimensional art In the last section in Aspinwall House, creation by Anoli Perera from Sri Lanka, Bracha Ettinger from Israel and V V Vinu and Arya Krishna from Kerala reflect the varied dimensions art can achieve. Meanwhile, Subhash Vyom and Durga Bayi Vyom create a wide world with Gond art, which uses earth of different colours black, yellow, and saffron. Pepper House This is a stately building at Kalvathy road in Fort Kochi. Built in Dutch style, it has a large central courtyard too and nine installations have been arranged here. Pass along the 'Sister library' a women's art collective, and to the central courtyard, where visitors may be drenched in a sudden drizzle. It is 'Rainbow II,' an installation by Temsuyangor Longkumer. Other thought-provoking works are 'The mosquito shrine' by Vivian Kakoori from Brazil and 'Metropolis' by Lubna Chowdhury from Tanzania. Pass along the 'Sister library' a women's art collective, and to the central courtyard, where visitors may be drenched in a sudden drizzle of words. Map project space Five works can be seen in this venue, a little further along the Kalvathy road. The creation by Rana Hamadeh from Lebanon uses only sound through eight channels to transport visitors to a mysterious world. Turn from Kalvathi Road to Bazaar Road and Anand Warehouse is right ahead. There are two works here. One is by Prabhakar Pachputhe that deals with the misery of the Indian farmer. The other is a wood cut made by Malaysian activist art group Pangrok Sulap. The Malaysian artists interacted with people in Kerala to create the work. TKM Warehouse Located at Kochangadi road, seven interesting exhibits are arranged in TKM Warehouse. They include works by Brook Andrew, Probir Gupta, Jithesh Kallatt and Ajay Desai that deal with the colonization of Kerala and Australia. Meanwhile, 'A space for repose,' which is presented as part of the Srinagar biennale, stands apart at this venue. Other venues Works by Saneli Muholi from South Africa and Vanessa Bird from Norway can be seen at David hall, near Parade ground. Muholi's photo series is a documentation of the lives of Black people and is part of the 'Faces and faces' project. Kashi art gallery adjacent to the cafe has a photo installation by Kibuki Mugees Oskar from Uganda. It depicts the history of break dance in Uganda. Three creations by Anagram Architects, Edible Archives and Thomas Hershon are arranged at Cabral yard. The work by Anagaram Architects is in the form of a 'koothambalam' (traditional dance hall of Kerala) and Edible Archives serve dishes made of unique rice varieties in India. Cabral yard also hosts a workshop for kids where youngsters can use their imagination to create art with the materials available there. Cabral yard also hosts a workshop for kids where youngsters can use their imagination to create art with the materials available there. Meanwhile, at Durbar Hall in the city, works by Mrinalini Mukherjee, K P Krishna Kumar and Chithoprasad Bhattacharya are arranged. Mrinalini uses several fibres to create plants, animals and erotic sculptures. An installation that allows visitors to participate in the exhibition. Students' biennale Venues of students' biennale have been set up at various corners of Fort Kochi. They are near the main venues. In addition, collateral project venues are arranged where major artists can exhibit their works outside the purview of the biennale. International event That the biennale has attracted international attention is evident from the number of foreign visitors at the venues. Information regarding the artist and the work is displayed near each work and it will take at least three days to have a total experience of the event. The community kitchen at the Aspinwall Venue. With Anita Dube as the curator of the present edition, the presence of a large number of women artists is the highlight of the event. Works dealing with the struggles and resistance of women and marginalized people can be seen at many spots. It is evident that the biennale, that lasts up to March 29, 2019, would not only lead visitors to a new world of art but also expand their imagination. Malayalam movie lovers still remember the pretty Nithya Das for her roles in films such as Ee Parakkum Thalika, Balettan, Kunhikoonan and 'Kathavaseshan.' After a five-year interval, Nithya made a comeback recently through television and was welcomed warmly by the audience. Even years after her debut, Nithya looks charming, like an evergreen heroine. Many people have been curious about how the actress has retained her looks even after marriage and birth of kids. Nithya has been busy caring for her husband and children all these years, but she has kept her love for travelling alive. Fortunately for Nithya, her husband Arvind Singh Jamwal also likes to visit places. In fact, he is a bigger fan of travelling than the actress. Onmanorama catches up with the adventures of the family, which loves to tour the world. When Nithya and Arvind set out on a trip, their daughter Naina Jamwal too would be keen join them. Later, after their son Jaman Singh Jamwal was born, the picture was complete. Each member of the family is a travel freak. Travel dreams Nithya says she wishes to visit all corners of India. Though I have travelled to many places as part of film shooting, I have enjoyed trips after my wedding more. When a travel plan is suggested, everyone says Ok. We ensure that a trip takes place every two months, whatever tight schedule we have. The pleasure and relief offered by travelling are indescribable. A journey is the best medicine to make the mind free, says the actress. During their honeymoon, Nithya and Arvind visited several exotic places in India. We went to Guwahati in Assam and travelled beyond. After flying to Rajasthan, we rented a car and moved all over the state. My favourite destination in North India is Jaisalmer, which is teeming with history, traditions and curious sights, says the celebrity. Each country offers a different experience. I love learning more about the culture, cuisine and people of the country we visit, she adds. Adventure-loving dad and daughter Most couples keep their travel plans in the freezer after kids are born, but Nithya and Arvind have beem different. Interestingly, we travel more frequently after being blessed with our daughter. Naina is ready for a journey at any time. In fact, she loves adventure trips like her father. They also compel me to join them in such daring ventures, explains Nithya. The actress has travelled to many foreign destinations as part of her work. But such trips for shooting were funded by sponsors. When our daughter expressed the wish to see Disneyworld, we ourselves arranged a trip to the United States. We visited many places there but the entire affair cost us around Rs 7 lakh. I was uneasy spending such a big amount for a single journey; however Naina was very happy enjoying the sights and experiences at Disneyworld. We also went to New York, Florida and Canada, reveals Nithya. Now, Arvind and Naina set out for trekking trips together, adds the actress. India the favourite place Even though Nithya has already visited numerous spots in India, she is eager to experience them again. I now wish to go to Himachal Pradesh again, she says. As Arvinds house is in Kashmir, we are familiar with the entire place. Moreover, I love travelling while becoming aware of the culture, traditions and history of the destination. Moreover, it offers the chance to meet new people. It is travelling around the country that gives me most pleasure, reveals Nithya. A close call Nithya has faced some hair-raising experiences also during her travels. One such incident took place during a trip to Ladakh. I still remember that journey with a shiver. The route was via Kashmir and a bomb blast had taken place there, forcing the authorities to block vehicles. Later, traffic was allowed in convoys. The vehicles proceeded following instructions from the police. But when the block was removed, Arvind took a road that was different from what the police had suggested. He said that it was a shorter route. I was anxious as there were no other vehicles along the road, says Nithya. She continues, On the way, we saw three men who asked for a lift and Arvind stopped the car without a thought and allowed them in. The men wanted to go to a nearby place. My fear aggravated as the men were total strangers. I wondered whether they were not terrorists and told Arvind that I would get down from the car if he doesnt make the men leave the vehicle at the next spot. The reason for my fear was that we had to pass about 9 km through tunnels in the road ahead. If something untoward happens in the tunnel nobody would even learn about it. However, before reaching the tunnel, they saw some policemen near the road. I asked Arvind to let the men get out of the car there. He did that after apologizing to the men. He also scolded me a lot, says Nithya. But a shock awaited them the next day. We heard the news that terrorists had slit the necks of a couple near the same tunnel and stolen their car. I realized that we could have been the victims. Our lives were saved thanks to divine intervention, recalls Nithya. Sons love for travel Nithyas son was born nine years after her daughter. I went on trips before and after his birth even when others reprimanded me. Maybe that has made my son too a travel freak. We went to Coorg barely 30 days after he arrived. But I did not think that any risk was involved. Earlier, when I was in the eighth month of pregnancy, we travelled to Ooty, elaborates the actress. The family, in fact, often visits Ooty to enjoy the cool weather. We plan to go to several new destinations. Now I am in Bhutan with children - travelling has become a part of our lives, concludes Nithya. An Algerian opposition party said Wednesday 81-year-old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika would be unable to handle the demands of a fifth term in office, due to his ill health. "Bouteflika is not able to continue to govern because of the nature of his illness," said the Movement for the Society of Peace, the Islamist party whose leader Abderrazak Makri has said he will stand in the April 18 presidential poll. Bouteflika, who uses a wheelchair and has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, has yet to announce whether or not he will run in the election. But the country's ruling coalition at the weekend named the president, who has been in power since 1999, as its candidate. "His candidacy for a fifth mandate is not in his interest, but in the interests of those who benefit from this situation," the MSP statement said. "They will take full responsibility for what will come... and dangers that threaten the country," the party added, without elaborating. For the last presidential election in 2014, Bouteflika only declared his intention to run a few days ahead of the deadline. Presidential candidates have until March 3 at midnight (2300 GMT) to submit their applications. Once a part of the coalition that supports Bouteflika, the MSP, which describes itself as moderate, withdrew from the alliance in 2012. The draft regulation is currently in front of the state council, but it is expected to come into force in time for the hunting season 2019/2020. A representative of the Ministry for the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development told "Aktionsbundnis Fuchs" (action alliance for foxes) that the government is working on a draft regulation for the hunting season 2019/2020 to keep the fox hunting ban active for another year. Should the draft regulation go through, which it is expected to, it would be the fifth year in a row that Luxembourg has an active ban on fox hunting. The draft regulation is currently in front of the state council and it is expected to come into force on 1 April. The campaign is a government effort to stand up for gender equality and stand up to sexism. The commission of the young women's council is of the opinion that secondary school pupils are often confronted with sexual violence and sexism - even in their school programme. The women's council believes that these forms of behaviours are being normalised. The Dudelange Mayor and MP Dan Biancalana asked Minister for Education Claude Meisch and Minister for Equal Opportunities Taina Bofferding what their plans are for dealing with sexism in the education system. Their reply was clear: Classic works of literature should be put in context and students should be taught critical reading skills to give them a more informed idea of the matter at hand. While works of literature should be put in context, it is also important to make sure that historic realities are not subject to censorship or judgement but rather analysed and taken apart to see which reflections might have influence the author. On the whole, the government is resolved to stand in for equality between men and women and to combat sexism. To this end, the government has launched a new awareness campaign to raise the issue of inequality and sexism in secondary schools across Luxembourg. Minister of Social Security Romain Schneider and Minister of Labour, Employment, and the Social and Solidarity Economy Dan Kersch met with the Portuguese Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities Jose Luis Carneiro to discuss the issue of pensions. In recent years, Portuguese citizens residing in Luxembourg have been subject to month-long delays in requesting their early pensions in Portugal. The ministers met with the secretary of state to discuss the cooperation between the Luxembourgish and Portuguese pensions offices. The cause of the delays has been a massive lack of personnel in Portuguese administrative offices. However, Carneiro provided assurances that the number of employees in the pensions office has risen from 60 to 130 in order to work on the backlog. Several times a year, the authorities organise work days in which employees from the Portuguese pensions office come to Luxembourg to find solutions to help those effected as quickly as possible. The ministers also discussed training in the construction sector, which would be offered in French, albeit with Portuguese learning material. As a result, there would no longer be an impediment to the continuous training of employees in the sector who are not fluent in any of Luxembourg's three official languages. This is crucial for construction security, as it is necessary for every single employee to be trained appropriately. These types of training with Portuguese learning material will also soon be offered in the commerce, hospitality, and cleaning sectors. Luxembourg's parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, will hold a debate on several big infrastructure projects in Luxembourg on Tuesday afternoon. Luxembourg's MPs will have to give their approval to finance around 30 new infrastructure projects. Most of these projects are lead by the roads and bridges department (Ponts-et-Chaussees) or by the road improvement fund (Fonds des routes). Here are some examples of the projects that will be discussed on Tuesday: - The expansion of the tram network to the Findel airport and to the Route d'Arlon in Strassen. - The construction of a bus lane on the A7 motorway between Waldhof and Kirchberg. - The construction of a new Park&Ride parking lot in Heienhaff close to the airport with up to 4,000 parking spaces and access to the tram system. - A "fast tram" on the A4 motorway between Esch-sur-Alzette and Luxembourg City with a new bike lane running alongside the motorway. Today Partly cloudy. High 83F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Tonight A few clouds. Low 63F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Tomorrow Intervals of clouds and sunshine. High around 85F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. SUMMER SPECIAL!!! - Sign up at 20% OFF for Full Access to all of the online content and E-Editions on the www.thewordlink.com website here! (The charge will appear as "Country Media Inc." on your credit card statement) India's antitrust commission is looking into accusations that Alphabet Inc's unit Google abuses its popular Android mobile operating system to block its rivals, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has for the past six months been reviewing a case similar to one Google faced in Europe that led to a fine of 4.34 billion euro ($5 billion) by antitrust regulators last year, three of the sources said. Google has challenged that order. The European Commission found Google had abused its market dominance since 2011 with practices such as forcing manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and its Chrome browser, together with its Google Play app store on Android devices. "It is on the lines of the EU case, but at a preliminary stage," said one of the sources, who is aware of the CCI investigation. Google declined to comment. The CCI did not respond to Reuters' queries. The watchdog's enquiry into allegations against Google over its Android platform has not previously been reported. Google executives have in recent months met Indian antitrust officials at least once to discuss the complaint, which was filed by a group of individuals, one of the sources said. The Indian watchdog could ask its investigations unit to further investigate the accusations against Google, or throw out the complaint if it lacks merit. The watchdog's investigations have historically taken years to complete. Android, used by device makers for free, features on about 85 per cent of the world's smartphones. In India, about 98 per cent of the smartphones sold in 2018 used the platform, Counterpoint Research estimates. In October, Google said it would charge smartphone makers a fee for using its popular Google Play app store and also allow them to use rival versions of Android to comply with the EU order. The change, however, covered only the European Economic Area, which comprises the 28 EU countries and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. "The CCI will have a tough time not initiating a formal investigation into Google given the EU case unless they can show the problem has been addressed (by remedies)," one of the sources said. The Indian complaint presents the latest regulatory headache for the Mountain View, California-based company in a key growth market. Last year, the Indian antitrust watchdog imposed a fine of 1.36 billion rupees ($19 million) on Google for "search bias" and abuse of its dominant position. It also found Google had put its commercial flight search function in a prominent position on the search results page. Google appealed against that order, saying the ruling could cause it "irreparable" harm and reputational loss, Reuters reported. Also Read: Finance Commission notifies panel to resolve Rs 31,000 crore food account Also Read: Parliamentary House panel asks Twitter CEO to appear before it in 15 days Also Read: Mobile wallet transactions in India increased 40 times in five years, says Gulshan Rai Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship. The Original Six Foundation (The O6 Foundation) announced Tuesday that the organizations founder, Ambassador Nikki R. Haley, will return to chair the foundations board. In addition to Haley, The O6 Foundation elected a new board of trustees including civic, business and industry leaders from across South Carolina. Board members include Major Michael Haley of Ikor Systems LLC and the South Carolina Army National Guard; Mike Sisk of Infrastructure Services Group LLC; Mikee Johnson of Koppers Utility and Industrial Products; Kimberli Scott of Collums Lumber Products LLC; Bob Edwards of Bicycle Corporation of America; Will Johnson of Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A. and Audrey Randolph of Sherman Capital Markets. South Carolina's children are our state's future leaders. That's why it's so important that every single child feels they have the support system and resources they need to succeed. Regardless of where they are born, we want these kids to know all of us are here to lift them up and help them achieve greatness, Haley said. The O6 Foundation also announced Nicki Hood of Columbia, a graduate of the University of South Carolina, is the foundations executive director. Nick Washington of Columbia, a graduate of Francis Marion University, was promoted to the organizations program director. A North teen has been accused of sexually exploiting a toddler, Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell said Monday. This is just unfathomable to think anyone could take advantage of a small child such as this, Ravenell said. Many crimes are heinous in nature. But this is just beyond understanding. Kyle Michael Teran, 17, has been charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. During a hearing on Monday, Teran was formally presented his rights while any bond consideration was deferred to a circuit court judge. Ravenell said Orangeburg County Sheriffs investigators were called to a North residence around 8:40 a.m. Sunday after a man reported a missing person and a sexual assault. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} The man said he had confronted a relative over photos the teen was said to have taken of a child. The man sent the teen to the teens bedroom for the night. However, the teen sneaked out of a window and ran away, according to the sheriffs office. We like it. We think that thats more in line with how we treat alcohol, said Dan Linn, who lobbies for the Illinois chapter of NORML the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. We also think it would be good for consumers to be able to cultivate their own cannabis, as well as to have a cap on the licensing fees for the new businesses that would be created by that legislation. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Ammons proposal, which has not yet been assigned to a committee, includes a civil penalty, not a criminal one, of $200 to $400 for minors who attempt to buy marijuana illegally. Also in the bill is a requirement that at least 51 percent of the licenses for cultivating facilities and retail cannabis stores be issued, in communities disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs, which the bill defines as census tracts in which more than half the population is African-American, Native American, Hispanic or Latino. The bill also would authorize medical researchers to use cannabis in studies, as long as the participants are at least 21 years old. His formative years were spent in Marietta, as well as Midlothian, Texas, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. David joined the U.S. Army a week after his 18th birthday, and served in occupied Japan in 1946 and 1947. He served again in the Korean War as an officer, at the end of which he, as a staff historian, witnessed the signing of the Korean War Armistice in Panmunjom, Korea. Between the wars, David completed a Bachelor's Degree in Letters, then after Korea a Master's Degree in History, and a Ph.D. in History, all from the University of Oklahoma. With the goal of an academic life, David took a faculty position at Southwest Texas State College in 1957 and remained there until 1967. At that time, he moved to a faculty position at Southern Illinois University, in the Department of History. He retired in 1995 at the position of full professor. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services was contacted after the Williamson County Sheriff on Tuesday morning investigated a call reporting a 3-year-old child without clothing running in an open field near Cambria. According to a news release from the Williamson County Sheriff's Office, the call came in around 7 a.m., and the caller said he or she had temporarily placed the child in his or her vehicle to provide shelter from the weather. Around that time, according to the National Weather Service, it was 48 degrees and overcast in Williamson County. Sheriff's deputies, along with Cambria Police and Cambria Ambulance, were dispatched. The child was not physically harmed, according to the release. The parents were located at their home, which was not far from the field where the child was found. The parents were unaware their child had left the residence, the release says. DCFS was contacted; they interviewed the parents and other children in the home and took steps to ensure the future safety of the children while their investigation continues, according to the release. The Southern Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 4 Loading the player... The Income Tax Department on Monday claimed to have busted a nexus of hawala operators who were running a money laundering racket in the national capital estimated to be worth Rs 20,000 crore. The operations led to unearthing of illegal financial activities by three groups of operators, a senior official said. BSNL takes drastic steps to stay afloat; cuts employee benefits, plans VRS package The government is considering giving complete exemption to startups from angel tax once they are certified by the Commerce and Industry Ministry, a move aimed at helping budding entrepreneurs, official sources said. Various startups have raised concerns on notices sent to them under the Section 56 of Income Tax Act to pay taxes on angel funds received by them.Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has taken several drastic steps to cut down its expenses in order to survive in India's cut throat telecom sector. The state-run telecom operator has frozen employee benefits and this isn't the first time. BSNL employs 1.8 lakh people which is six times the number of people employed by its competitors who have around 25,000 to 30,000 employeesAn Indian parliamentary panel is summoning Twitter Inc's chief executive to appear before it later this month, after he did not attend a hearing on Monday to discuss citizens' rights on social media. The parliamentary committee on information technology (IT) has decided to summon Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on February 25. The meeting was supposed to discuss safeguarding citizens' rights on social media and online news platformsFinancial services firm Edelweiss has sent a defamation notice to Reliance Group, which has alleged foul play by Edelweiss in invoking pledged shares in Anil Ambani group companies soon after Reliance Communications filed for insolvency. After refuting the "entirely unfounded, baseless and false allegations of the Reliance ADAG Group" on Friday, Edelweiss has now sent the defamation notice saying that all the steps had been "taken legally and as per contractual obligations."Low cost carrier SpiceJet on Monday reported a 77 per cent decline in its net profit at Rs 55.1 crore for the third quarter ending December 31, 2018, due to an increase in crude oil prices and depreciation of the Indian rupee. Total income stood at Rs 2,530.8 crore for the reported quarter as against Rs 2,096.1 crore in the same quarter last year.Popular social-networking giant Facebook is expanding its fact-checking network for the Indian market. Increasing its third-party fact-checking program in the country, the company has added five new partners to review news stories on Facebook for facts and rate accuracy in English, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi. The new partners - India Today Group, Vishvas.news, Factly, Newsmobile, and Fact Crescendo (which are said to be certified through a non-partisan International Fact-Checking Network) will be joining the existing partners BOOM Live and AFP. 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 21 hours ago | June 23rd | 2021 5:00 AM You Quit Your Job Good for You! But How Does that Impact Your Investments? As companies make plans to return employees back to the office, millions of workers have made a decision not to go back at all. In fact, the number of people who quit their jobs increased to four million in April and increased 2.7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The largest increases in employees leaving their jobs occurred in retail trade and professional and business services. 22 hours ago | June 23rd | 2021 5:00 AM You Quit Your Job Good for You! But How Does that Impact Your Investments? As companies make plans to return employees back to the office, millions of workers have made a decision not to go back at all. In fact, the number of people who quit their jobs increased to four million in April and increased 2.7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The largest increases in employees leaving their jobs occurred in retail trade and professional and business services. Lack of education apart, the latest reservation for the 'backward' may, above all, be proof that our legislators continue to struggle with ideological constructs that are both anachronistic and debunked. Allow me to explain. On January 14, 2019, the Central Government notified the 103rd constitutional amendment which confers States with the power to make "special provision(s) for the advancement of any economically weaker sections of citizens in addition to the existing reservations and subject to a maximum of 10 per cent of the total seats in each category". These special provisions included reservation in higher education and for appointment in certain categories of jobs. The amendment is premised on Article 46 in the Directive Principles of State Policy which places an obligation on the State to "promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people". Since 'reservation' seems to have been on the menu right from independence, is this a case of new wine in old bottles or is it just more of the same old? To contextualize, the Constitutional Assembly took the view that systematic historical oppression entitled backward castes to be compensated with an advantage that would assist them in rising out of decades of persecution. Economic backwardness in isolation had no place in this discourse. Seventy years later, and after much social churn, the legislature continues to expand the proportion of reservation for various classes of individuals without logical coherence in a classic case of legislative creep. How many more amendments will it take for us to realize that reservation laws are incapable of serving their ostensible purpose? Since the birth of the Constitution, a series of amendments have expanded the state's discretion to engage in affirmative action. The 93rd Constitutional amendment inserted Article 15(5) which empowered the state to make "special provisions by law for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes in so far as such special provisions relate to their admission to educational institutions". The distinction drawn in the 103rd amendment is "economically weaker sections". Is the classification of economically weaker sections radically different from educationally backward classes that merit a new sub-section? Don't 'educationally backward classes' presuppose 'economic weakness'? Or are there 'economically weaker classes' who are not 'educationally backward' that require the benefit of reservation? The legislature has in its customary fashion left these questions unaddressed. That apart, an examination of the legality of the 103rd constitutional amendment raises serious concerns. The Supreme Court of India [Indra Sawhney v. Union of India, AIR 1993 SC 477], among other things, (a) limited the State's powers of reservation to 50% of the available seats in any given category and (b) held that economic criteria cannot be the sole basis for providing reservations. The Court's reasoned if economic backwardness alone were to be the test, the poor from all casts and communities would compete for the reserved quota undermining its objective. The 103rd amendment has directly violated this principle. If everyone is oppressed, then nobody is. Besides, reservation is designed to right historical wrongs, not redistribute income from the rich to the poor. From this perspective, what is Reservation for economically backward classes but redistributive taxation on steroids? Illegalities apart, the ideological underpinnings of the 103rd amendment are deeply flawed. Is inequality inescapably harmful? Modern intellectuals do not offer unqualified support. In 2015, Harry Frankfurt argued that inequality per se is not objectionable; only poverty is. If an individual lives a long and fulfilling life, then whether they drive a car or a bullock cart is morally irrelevant. What is essential is that every individual should have enough. The concept of reservation is based on the fallacy that wealth and opportunity are a zero-sum game. There is no reason why others must have less for some people to end up with more. For example, since the industrial revolution, wealth has expanded exponentially. According to the World Bank, global per capita GDP has grown in every year from 1961 to 2015 except 2009. Proponents of inequality such as Thomas Piketty claim that "the poorer half of the population are as poor today as they were in the past, with barely 5 percent of the total wealth in 2010 just as in 1910". What they fail to consider is that the total wealth today is significantly higher than in 1910, and if the poorer half do indeed own the same proportion of wealth, they are still far richer. There is an inevitable correlation between economic development and inequality. India and Brazil have both experienced robust growth with a widening gulf between the rich and poor. Wealth is frequently a reward for the tangible delivery of extraordinary value to society generally, be it sunflower oil or iPads. It is thus difficult to adopt the position that the accumulation of wealth and its natural corollary of inequality are iniquitous. Unless demonstrably shown to result in abject poverty and deprivation, there seems little justification for any state to systematically uplift the economically weaker on the mere principle of it. Perhaps this is why our corporate laws have no difficulty recognising the primacy of private shareholder in driving the creation of private wealth. The corporation's legally defined mandate is to pursue relentlessly its own economic self-interest. Recognition of the sovereignty of shareholders value is nothing if it is not an endorsement of the inevitability of wealth concentration. Dealing with the consequences is confined to issues that directly conflict with competition and labour laws. In such a legal structure, reservation cannot conceivably be a viable modus operandi for redistribution of income, which is why the Constitution does not allow for it. Bear in mind also that the ideological construct underlying reservations for economic backwardness fundamentally undermines the public posture of a government that projects itself as an economically growth oriented one. There is a very good reason that AAP's redistributive policies aren't at the forefront of BJP's electoral pitch. All this said, it remains to be asked if this amendment will have the effect of curbing poverty? In India, the right to education is a fundamental right with primary education for children up to the age of 14 to be provided by the state free of cost. So it's not laws and rights that block the road to progress. This new species of reservation may swap the poorest for the less than poorest but at the end of the day, it seems obvious that hat swapping doesn't enlarge the education cake. There is the distinction to be made between a 'right to participation' and an 'ability to avail' a benefit. The problem with inculcating students into higher education without gauging their capability is that they are often unable to exploit the opportunities presented to them. Often, students enter universities on "quotas" for the purpose of obtaining degrees in the hopes of landing jobs. Yet, when students do transition into jobs, they are often inexperienced, underdeveloped thinkers and incapable of performing at a high level. Academic underachievement translates directly into an absence of employable skills. The irony of this constant privileging of "college degrees" is revealed in the fact that some of the most successful people didn't even receive a higher education. Gautam Adani barely finished one year of college before dropping out to enter the world of business. Our very own Prime Minister is a self-proclaimed tea-seller. And how can anyone forget the Sachin Tendulkar's success story? Successful people rarely credit their university education with their ideas. Higher education doubtlessly galvanises innovation and success, but it does not purport to combat poverty. In conclusion, it is self-evident that the legislative history of reservation pivots not on whether its existence is justified but on who should benefit from it. At some point, lawmakers need to acknowledge the ideological fault-lines and address the burning constitutional question: when and how can we cure the Obsessive Compulsive Reservation Disorder? The writer is a practicing lawyer and an associate at the Gurgaon based law firm 'NSouth, Advocates'. "Going off trail can impact some of the major research projects going on, plus it ruins the experience for other visitors," she said. Goodwin entered his photography into this year's WTA contest and has won in the past. He recognizes his complaint may be seen as the mumblings of a sore loser. "I could care less about the photo contest," he said. "It's more about my experience of seeing all those people out in the middle of the wildflowers at Saint Helens." It touches on a much larger issue. With social media and photography driving people into the outdoors in record numbers, amateur and professional photographers often tromp through sensitive ecological areas looking for "The Shot." "I think overall technology has moved much faster than rules and regulations," said Tony Bynum, a Montana-based photographer and board president of the Professorial Outdoor Media Association. "We can't respond fast enough. Ten years ago, there was no iPhone. You literally had to be in the business of shooting photos and videos to afford the equipment it took." Organizers of photo contests have no obligation to ensure the photos are being taken legally, said Michael Van Tubergen, an attorney who works for POMA and other outdoor media clients. A woman accused of shoving her friend off the Moulton Falls bridge in August has been offered a plea deal, her attorney said Monday. TayLor Smith, 19, appeared for a brief hearing Monday in Clark County District Court. Flanked by a friend, she waited outside the courtroom until just before Judge Darvin Zimmerman called her case. Attorney Christie Emrich, of Vancouver Defenders, said the state presented an offer in the case Friday. The details of that offer were not shared in court. Smith is accused of pushing Jordan Holgerson, then 16, of Kalama off the bridge at Moulton Falls Regional Park after the girl planned to voluntarily jump off but hesitated. A video clip shows Holgerson standing on the edge of the bridge, beyond the railing, when she was pushed in the back. Holgerson fell more than 50 feet into the East Fork of the Lewis River. She belly-flopped into the water and broke as many as six ribs and punctured both of her lungs. The 10-second video clip of the Aug. 7 incident, captured by a cellphone, went viral online, drawing national attention to the case and calls for Smiths prosecution. The Clark County Prosecuting Attorneys Office opted to pursue a charge of reckless endangerment about 1 weeks later. Each card is handmade, and no two are exactly alike just like the body jewelry, wearable art and other merchandise in McThreads, Wilson said. Everything has to be crafted from your own ideas, she said. It has to be handmade and original. Thats the rule for any item sold in McThreads. The merchandise is curated by Wilson and McCord to make sure it fits with the style of the shop, Wilson said. Usually the duo decides together what to include in the shop, but Wilson has full oversight of the card gallery. She has approved four card artists so far, including herself, and said she is open to accepting others. Wilson has been making artisan greeting cards for at least five years. She said it takes her almost two hours to make a card. It starts with a piece of cardstock as a background, and then she adds words and details to create the final product. I just like people to enjoy them. It doesnt really matter to me how long it takes to make one, she said. With four artists currently on display in the gallery, theres a variety of styles to choose from. The cards range from Wilsons traditional greeting card style, to McCords silk infusion and digital photography, to floral Hawaiian pieces. Longview businesses last week reported what appears to be scam letters asking for money to support R.A. Long High School. Detective Sgt. Chris Blanchard said the Longview Police Department got a call on Feb. 8 from the school district, reporting that Teagues Interiors and the Kelso Red Lobster had received the letters. Blanchard said the letters were vague, but were addressed to each business and appeared to ask for sponsorship of an event at the high school. Both letters were received in the mail and listed a company called Sports Media as the return for payment. One had a return address of a UPS dropbox in Las Vegas, the other a similar dropbox in Omaha, Neb. Its likely a fictitious company and its odd that two separate businesses got the same request (but) sending it off to a different location. Its almost certainly a scam, Blanchard said. Blanchard said these kinds of dropboxes can sometimes be set up under a fake name and arent always subject to tracking, making them an attractive option criminals. Those who receive suspicious mail should search the company online and, if possible, call the company listed, he said. (Criminals) are always inventing new ways to scam people. If youre unsure, its better to call and check, Blanchard said. Love 0 Funny 3 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 8 Federal prosecutors are taking over the case against two Vancouver men accused of stealing at least $10,000 worth of explosives from a magazine in Kelso. The Cowlitz County Superior Court cases against Austin Mowe and Nathanael Willard were dismissed without prejudice on Jan. 31 so federal prosecutors could take over, Cowlitz County Prosecutor Ryan Jurvakainen said Monday. Mowe and Willard, both 21, were arrested in November after more than 1,000 blasting caps worth $10,000 were stolen in a burglary at property owned by explosives manufacturer Dyno Nobel in Kelso. Law enforcement set up a controlled buy with the two, who referred to the burglary as the Thanksgiving Day Raid, according to court documents. They were originally charged in Cowlitz Superior Court with first-degree burglary while armed with a deadly weapon, second-degree burglary, first-degree theft, first-degree trafficking of stolen property, and possessing an explosive without a license, all felonies. Love 2 Funny 4 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. In the byzantine world of politics, every side resorts to half truths, lies and more lies. Spoken very often, some of them even get accepted as facts. But this one will be really tough to explain. Congress President Rahul Gandhi has been attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging corruption in the Rafale deal. On Tuesday he threw yet another barb at the PM unveiling a copy of an email purportedly referring to Anil Ambani's visit to France before the Prime Minister's visit and alleging that the references in the email are about Rafale. "Dear students & the youth of India: everyday there are new revelations about Rafale that make it clear that the PM helped his friend Anil Ambani steal Rs 30,000 crore of your money," he said on Twitter. During his press conference, Rahul said earlier there was "one axis of corruption, second axis of procedure. This is the third, and frankly a serious one, where PM Modi has compromised national security." Only, the email 'expose' has no reference to Rafale. Nicolas Chamussy, Executive Vice President Space Systems - Airbus Defence and Space, using his official Airbus email ID nicolas.chamussy@airbus.com in a subject titled 'Ambani' writes: "For info, just had C Salomon (advisor to JY Le Drian, attended the meeting on Monday) on the phone. A.Ambani visited the ministers' office (Mallet, Salomon, Bouquot) this week (confidential and planned as you can imagine with very short notice). Told them he intends to work with AH on commercial helos and then on defence. Mentioned a MoU in preparation and the intention to sign during the PM visit. Told him that on our side we are checking the right way forward, there are other potential partners. Suggest we send him a short note about our position." Also read: Ericsson case against RCom: Anil Ambani appears before SC over non-payment of Rs 550 crore The Congress President picked on the line "Mentioned a MoU in preparation and the intention to sign during the PM visit" as referring to the Rafale MoU. Especially, with reference to the timing of the email (March 28, 2015, just before PM Modi's France visit between April 9-11 when he announced the intention to buy Rafale aircraft). However, it appears the Airbus executives were discussing Anil Ambani's intention to sign an MoU with Airbus Helicopters for the Helos range. Nicolas Chamussy, in fact, copied the mail to Airbus Helicopters CEO Guillaume Faury as well. Even more interesting is the fact that Nicolas is advising his colleagues that while Anil Ambani is readying an MoU with AH, Airbus--in fact--has "other potential patners". He then advises his Airbus executives to send a note to that effect. As facts go: No MoU was signed on the defence deal with France during PM Modi's April, 2015 visit to France. Airbus Helicopters deal finally did not go to Anil Ambani Group. Instead, in July, 2015, Airbus signed a MoU to create a joint venture with Mahindra Defence to produce the Airbus Helicopters in India. India and France signed the MoU to buy Rafale aircraft in January, 2016 and Reliance and Dassault signed the deal in October, 2016. This is a season of obfuscation. And every side is learning from the other to do it bigger and better than the other. Also read: Anil Ambani knew about Rafale deal in advance; PM helped his friend, says Rahul Gandhi Also read: CAG report on Rafale deal to be tabled in Parliament today; Congress alleges 'conflict of interest' Investigators are still looking into the drowning death of a Clatskanie man Thursday night, according to a press release Monday from the Columbia County Sheriffs Office. New information reveals that deputies were dispatched to a missing person call on River Front Road at about 8:24 p.m. Thursday night, where they searched with the Clatskanie Fire Department and Rainier and Oregon state police. A body was spotted at 8:50 p.m. in the Clatskanie river and was pulled out. The body was later identified as 70-year-old William Stout, a Clatskanie man last seen around 7:30 p.m. that night. He was determined to have drowned. Stout was said to have some medical conditions, the release said, but investigators have not confirmed whether they played a role in his death. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 2 Angry 1 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Lawyer's Syndicate in Syria has said that any court proceedings surrounding the death of Marie Colvin must take place in Syria reports Al-Watan. Head of the Syrian bar, Nizar Skeif, said that the ruling by a federal court in Washington DC that requires the Syrian government to pay 302 million dollars in compensation for the death of the American journalist Marie Colvin had no legal value and was a distinctively political decision. Lawyer Mahmoud Merai,who is the General Secretary of the Syrian Democratic Front (SDF), Syrias pro-government internal opposition, pointed to the possibility of families of victims from Syria raising lawsuits related to compensation and other penalties in European countries, to hold accountable those responsible for crimes against Syrian civilians. In a statment to Al-Watan, Skeif described the American ruling as, illegal, because it is not based on legal thought, and is a distinctively political decision and a form of political pressure. It is political and legal support and backing for terrorists. Skeif said that the American journalist, had not entered Syria with the knowledge of the authorities who must grant her permission. She was in an area populated by American-backed terrorists, and therefore this decision is incorrect and illegal in terms of jurisdiction and mandate. If there is a dispute of this type, it is subject to the spatial jurisdiction clausethat is, the case must be heard in country where the crime was committed and under the authority of the Syrian national judiciary. Skeif noted that the United States was searching for a right that had no basis, for a journalist who had violated all Syrian national laws and customs and international laws and was in an area controlled by terrorists. Skeif questioned their evidence that the Syrian state was responsible for her death, when she supported the terrorists and was in a hotspot controlled by terrorists, so why couldnt the terrorists themselves be those who killed her? Skeif added, Who will demand rights for Syrias martyrs and the rights of the Syrian state after the systematic destruction by the United States and others to Syrian infrastructure? He stressed the need for the Ministry of Justice to be given the opportunity to represent itself and mount a defence of the accusations. After Skeif described the ruling as, a dangerous legal precedent which has never occurred in the history of the worlds judiciary, he stressed that this ruling and others had been taken to steal Syrian national assets, because they are a bunch of thieves, and America wants to steal the wealth of Syrians. He called for an amendment to the Terrorism Law and for, the Syrian courts to award compensation, because tens of thousands of Syrians had been affected. Skeif closed by stressing the, danger of the American legal action, which if it is taken will lead to the accumulation of many issues, and therefore must be resisted. The Lawyers Syndicate (The Syrian Bar) is ready to offer its skills for discussion and to examine this issue thoroughly and to fight it systematically, because it is an unprecedented decision. 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. Syrians living in Jordan cited the ongoing security issues and the threat of conscription as the main reasons they did not want to return to Syria reports Alsouria Net. A report published on Monday by the Jordanian newspaper Al-Ghad found that Syrian refugees in Jordan did not want to return to their country, despite the difficult life they endured and the many hardships they faced, along with the decreasing volume of aid. The newspaper said that despite the difficult life of a refugee, an opinion survey carried out by the Nama Center for Strategic Studies, the results of which were announced at the end of last year, showed that over 50 percent of Syrian refugees in Jordan would not return to their country, with the lack of security and stability presenting the biggest barrier to their return. According to the surveys results, 33 percent of Syrian refugees said that they would not return to Syria at all and 24 percent said that they probably would not return. Most linked their unwillingness to return to the security and stability conditions in the country. In this context, Al-Ghad highlighted the hardships of a Syrian, Ahmed, and his family, saying that displacement has been the main feature of Ahmeds life since he fled to Jordan with his family eight years ago. Ahmed, 27, lives with about 150 people, most of them relatives, in an informal camp set up in an area south of Amman in 2011. He estimates they have about 25 tents. Following a deal with a landowner in the area, he secured employment in agriculture. Over the years, this family had moved in winter to the Ghor area to work in agriculture, but this winter they decided to stay in Amman. Ahmed says, In Ghor, the agreement was that every hour was a Dinar, but I didnt receive that. According to the newspaper, with the decreasing volume of aid that Syrian refugee families are receiving in Jordan, and the scarcity of work opportunities and the increase in prices, these familiesspecifically those living in informal campsare subject to harsh living conditions. Despite this, the decision to return to the country is still a distant dream for Ahmed and all the camps residents. The families cover their daily expenses with agricultural work, as well as receiving food and health parcels from the Jordanian Red Crescent, and vouchers for food purchases from the UNHCR. Despite the value of these parcels being half what they once were. Heating in winter is one of the biggest challenges. To acclimate to the rising cost of fuel, families have started using plastic from agricultural ponds as heat insulation. Ahmed says, Weve borrowed plastic from farm owners to put on the top of our tents. The plastic absorbs the heat because of its black color, as well as the fact that it is same material as heat insulation. Although the camp residents have been unable to cope with the difficulties of life, the real challenge lies in the total absence of health and educational services. Children are about 70 percent of the camps residents, and most of them were born in Jordan and have never known their country. Despite Syrian children having the right to education in the kingdom, the children of these camps have been deprived of education, whether officially by the Education Ministrys schools or in the unofficial schools provided by UNICEF. 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. As well as condemning the slow pace of the US withdrawal from Syria, Russia also lashed out the latest Israeli airstrikes reports SANA. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov stressed his countrys insistence of a complete pullout by US troops from Syria. Ryabkov was cited by Sputnik as saying to reporters, We insist that the US administration must do what it announced it will do, that is to fully withdraw from Syria and end its unlawful military presence. Ryabkov also condemned the Israeli airstrikes against Syria as illegitimate and unjustified. He said that Russia condemns the strikes and consider them unjustified no matter the pretext. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Despite heavy losses in recent times the Islamic State is still believed to have as many as 18,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria reports Asharq al-Awsat. The UN counter-terrorism chief warned Monday that recent losses by ISIS should not lead to complacency at any level, saying the terrorist group remains a global threat. Vladimir Voronkov told the Security Council Monday that the threat is increased by combatants who fought with the group returning home, relocating or being released. He said ISIS center of gravity remains in Iraq and Syria, where it reportedly controls between 14,000 and 18,000 fighters. He said the ISIS has continued to evolve into a covert network operating at the local level and organizing itself at the provincial level, with a reported intent to undermine any form of stabilization on the ground. He said its central leadership retains an influence and maintains an intent to generate internationally-directed attacks. In Syria, fighters backed by artillery fire from a US-led coalition battled a fierce ISIS counteroffensive as they pushed to retake a last morsel of territory from the terror group. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a coalition air strike killed 16 civilians including seven children trying to flee the holdout on Monday, but the US-led alliance was not immediately available for comment. More than four years after the terrorists declared a caliphate across large parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq, several offensives have whittled that down to a tiny holdout. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces on Saturday announced the final push to expel hundreds of diehard extremists from that patch in eastern Syria on the Iraq border. Heavy clashes are ongoing to pressure ISIS into surrendering, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said the SDF responded after ISIS launched a counterattack earlier in the day. ISIS launched a counterattack on our forces and we are now responding with rockets, air strikes and direct clashes, Bali told AFP earlier. The sound of bombs echoed dozens of kilometers (miles) away and columns of dark grey smoke could be seen from SDF territory. Bali said there were dozens of SDF hostages held by ISIS inside their last foothold, but denied reports of executions. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced the creation of a new skills and employment initiative Te Ara Mahi (Pathways to Work) to support workers and employers in regional New Zealand. The Provincial Growth Fund will provide an investment of up to $82.4 million towards initiatives to boost skills and employments. A cornerstone of the PGF is to create jobs, which means ensuring local people have the opportunity to take up work and support the delivery of PGF-funded projects around the country, says Jacinda. We want to support people to learn the skills needed for local jobs while also helping employers meet their growing labour force needs." The government will set aside $60 million for programmes in five of the PGFs surge regions (Northland, Bay of Plenty, Tairawhiti, Hawkes Bay and Manawatu-Whanganui), which face particular challenges including high unemployment, low wages and lower productivity compared to the rest of New Zealand. An additional $20 million will be allocated to non-surge regions with the remaining $2.4m to support programme delivery. We will be investing in two specific programmes that support Maori and Pasifika He Poutama Rangatahi and the expansion Ministry for Pacific Peoples successful Pacific Employment Support Service," says Jacinda. "Both programme target rangatahi who are Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET)." The PGF investment will also support the development of employment hubs to bring government agencies together to respond to specific needs of local employers and potential local workers. Were supporting businesses and employers to access the workforce they need when they need it, and giving them confidence to invest in expanding operations in the regions. This will help to accelerate job creation, leading to sustainable economic growth. These hubs will empower communities by bringing people and business together to access the full range of government employment support services, including access to work-readiness courses and training opportunities." Regional Economic Development Shane Jones joined the Prime Minister and Employment Minister Willie Jackson at Mangatoa Station near Kaikohe to make the announcement. New Zealands economy is growing and unemployment is at its lowest in a decade. Regional New Zealand deserves to share in the economic prosperity of a strong economy, and this funding will equip them with the skills and capability to succeed, says Shane.. Through the PGF we are able to amplify our investment in local people, including rangatahi Maori, who feature disproportionately high in NEET statistics. Were also able to scale-up the support available to employers to ensure they are able to take on local people to deliver on local projects. The PGF was always intended to improve employment outcomes for people in the regions. By working with people and business, were making a real difference in the regions and supporting local communities to thrive." You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Ahead of his deposition before ED in a money laundering case, Congress President Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra blamed the government for being "vindictive" and harassing his mother in a facebook post today. Vadra in his post said, "So here we are my 75 year old mother n me in Jaipur to depose in front of the Enforcement Directorate. Not understanding the lows of this vindictive government to be harassing a senior citizen, who the world knows has lost her daughter in a car crash, her ailing son to diabetes, and her husband as well. Three deaths n all I did was to ask her to spend time with me in my office. so I can look after her and we both could grieve on our losses, while spending time together. Now she is being accused, maligned and called to be interrogated, for spending time in my office." Vadra questioned the government's intentions of targeting him a month before the general election campaigning begins and asked as to why it took four years and eight months to call him at this time only. "Since I have already been interrogated for 3 days in Delhi' headquarters, of the Enforcement Directorate. If there was any issue or any illegality, which was found by government, why did it take them 4 years n 8 months, to call me a month before campaigning begins for the General elections. Do they think people in India do not view it as an election gimmick ?! he asserted. Reposing his faith in himself, Vadra said, "As I always have adhered to rules and overall being a disciplined person, I have the ability to sustain any amount of hours of questioning and having nothing to hide; I will answer every question with respect n dignity." He stated. "What goes around comes around. God is with us!" he said. Vadra's outburst in his facebook post came after he and and his mother Maureen appeared before ED at its office in Jaipur in connection to a land scam case. Congress general secretary and his wife Priyanka Gandhi also accompanied Vadra and his mother to ED office. This is his fourth appearance before the agency. Vadra has already been questioned by ED at its delhi office on three occasions in two other money laundering cases. Equine Guelph has announced that an unprecedented seven online short courses developed by Equine Guelph will be offered for free to Ontario racing industry members beginning in February this year. AGCO license holders will be able to reap the benefits of learning the latest in equine healthcare from industry experts in a series of upcoming relevant online courses. Three of the seven courses have been specifically designed for and will be offered exclusively to members of the Ontario racing industry. The short courses deliver common sense, practical approaches on hot topics identified by the three racing sectors. The topics for the courses for exclusive offer to the horse industry were listed as top priorities according to the 2016 Ontario Horse Racing Industry Survey respiratory, lameness and gut health. Gut Health & Colic Prevention will be offered in an exclusive course just for AGCO license holders, March 11 29, before the 2019 racing season gears up. Digestive issues can do more than hinder performance; they can be a real health threat, with colic being the number one killer of horses other than old age and over 70 per cent of racehorses suffering from ulcers. Past students of this course report changing their management strategies to optimize health, prevent colic and other digestive disturbances and support performance. The next two industry-requested courses exclusive to the Ontario Racing industry will be rolled out in the winter of 2020: addressing racehorse respiratory health and injury/lameness. Students of The Horse Portal repeatedly comment on the ease of use and intuitive nature of the courses, even if they have never taken an online course before, says Equine Guelph Director Gayle Ecker. Those who have taken online learning in the past are impressed with the highly interactive components, lively discussion groups and access to top quality instructors and guest speakers available to answer their questions. The first three offerings in this amazing series free to the Ontario Racing Industry will be: Equine First Aid Feb 25 - Mar 4 Gut Health & Colic Prevention (EXCLUSIVE TO RACING) Mar 11 - 29 Fire & Emergency Preparedness Apr 8 15 The free offerings for the Ontario Racing Industry will be first-come-first-served to the first 100 to register for each course. Open to trainers, assistant trainers, grooms, jockeys, drivers and other current AGCO license holders. Register at www.TheHorsePortal.ca/RacingPilot Equine Guelph thanks the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) for providing education, training and awareness project funding in support of AGCO licensees. Course partners include: Grand River Agricultural Society, Intercity Insurance, Meaford Fire Department Training Centre, Ontario Association of Equine Practitioners, Ontario Equestrian, Ontario Racing, Standardbred Canada and Workplace Safety & Prevention Services. Sign up for Equine Guelph monthly e-communications and be the first to know when registrations open for each offering. (Equine Guelph) Standardbred Canada would like to inform its members that the main office in Mississauga, Ont. is closed today (Tuesday, February 12) due to inclement weather conditions. A weather system has blanketed most of southwestern Ontario with snow and ice as a winter storm warning is under effect and expected to stretch into Wednesday. For SC members needing to contact SC staff, the best method of communication would be email. Please use the staff directory or general feedback form to contact us. Members can also use eShop (available in the menu bar at the top of the page) for online transactions. Notices for the SC website can be sent to the news team through the Send Us Your News form submission page. Standardbred Canada would like to apologize for any inconvenience that the closure has caused. Maureen D. Ryan, 75, wife of Yonkers Raceways longtime track superintendent, Ed Ryan, passed away peacefully last Wednesday (Feb. 6), surrounded by family at her daughters home in Boca Raton, Florida. Ryan was predeceased by her parents, Daniel and Theresa (Bartletta) Carmody, and her sister, Eileen Carmody. She was born Feb. 26, 1943, in Hoboken, NJ, where she was raised. Maureen graduated from Sacred Heart Academy. While spending summers in Monmouth Beach with her family, she met her future husband. They were married in 1964, moving permanently to Monmouth Beach the following year. Maureen was known for her gracious spirit and beautiful heart. She had an unforgettable smile and an enthusiasm for life that touched everyone in her presence. A devoted wife, mother and grandmother, nothing was more important in her life than her family. She was one of a kind, whose light, laughter, and love continue to guide us forever. In addition to her husband of 54 years, she is survived by her children and their spouses, Erin Ryan and Nancy Segall of FL, Kelly and Felipe Benedit of Monmouth Beach, Kathrine and Philip Sciortino of Monmouth Beach, Tara and Ralph Beltran of Ohio and Edward and Elsa Ryan of Monmouth Beach, and all seven of her beloved grandchildren, Katelyn, Lauren, Philip, Thomas, Padraic, Isabel and Juliana. Visitation will take place Friday (Feb. 15) from 4-8 p.m. at the John E. Day Funeral Home, 85 Riverside Avenue, Red Bank, NJ 07701. A Mass of Christian burial will take place on Saturday (Feb. 16) at 10 a.m. at Church of the Precious Blood in Monmouth Beach, followed by interment at Mt. Olivet (Middletown, NJ). In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in Maureen Ryans memory to St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105. Family and friends may visit Mrs. Ryans memorial website at www.johnedayfuneralhome.com. Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Maureen Ryan. Equine Guelph has announced the recipients of its 2018 tuition awards. Cynthia Naydani is the recipient of the Roger LHeureux Memorial Equine Award and Holly De Way has received the Stuart Stocks Memorial Equine Award. Selected for their love of horses, commitment to their welfare and desire to learn, both winners will receive two online courses through Equine Guelph valued at $549 each (certificates are available in Equine Science, Equine Welfare and Equine Business six courses complete the certificate). Already an A student of Equine Guelphs online program, Cynthia Naydani says, I have gained a wealth of practical and academic knowledge that will greatly benefit me, and in turn, the horses whom I have the opportunity to work with. She aspires to use the tools learned through Equine Guelph to keep horses in her care happy, healthy and loved in their future careers. Raised in Montreal, Naydanis passion for horses began as a child and has grown over the years. Naydani is particularly interested in equine welfare, as it affects horses due to ill-advised training practices, a lack of knowledge of equine behaviour and learning theory, and/or poor management decisions. Naydani will eagerly await future course offerings to apply her tuition award, as she is already enrolled in the 2019 winter semester taking Equine Health and Disease Prevention and Equine Functional Anatomy. With a background in biological sciences, Naydani plans on taking Equine Genetics next. I also definitely want to take equine behaviour, says Naydani,as I currently work with several horses who have unwanted behaviours, generally fear-based, due to previous negative experiences. I work to reshape these experiences to help horses overcome their issues. I know the Equine Behaviour course will provide me with invaluable knowledge that I will use every day as I work to retrain ex-racehorses as riding horses. It is great to be able to learn while continuing with working and life,- Thank you! Holly De Way began grooming Standardbreds in 2014, after completing the Performance Horse Handler Course at the University of Guelph Ridgetown Clinton Campus. Fully committed to the horse industry, working as a part-time groom at Clinton Raceway, as Barn Manager at REACH, and running her own equine care business, De Way has learned the most important key to success is putting horse welfare first. I like to keep my mind open while working with new horses and talking to new people about them, says De Way,There is always something to challenge me about these animals and this industry and that just keeps me motivated to learn more. My goal is to further educate myself with horses and the horse industry so that I can be the best at what I do and the horses perform to the best of their abilities. Aspiring to one day own her own farm, De Way has enrolled in Management of the Equine Environment to learn more about the important things about having an equine barn such as air quality, and best management practices. She also looks forward to enrolling in the Equine Behaviour course. Skills that will come in handy when pairing up horses to go out in the paddocks and promoting harmonious herd dynamics. De Way is excited and grateful for the opportunity to work towards the Equine Guelph Diploma in Equine Studies. The Roger LHeureux Memorial Equine Award was established in loving memory of Standardbred driver, trainer and groom, Roger LHeureux by David LHeureux and Crystal Fountains Inc. The Stuart Stocks Memorial Equine Award has been created by the Stocks family in memory of their beloved brother, son and uncle, and avid follower of top thoroughbred racehorses, Mr. Stuart Stocks. Submissions will be accepted for this years applicants until December 1, 2019. For more, click here. (Equine Guelph) Officials with Morrisville College have announced the details of the organizations annual yearling sale. The sale will be held on Sunday, September 15. This year marks the 28th edition of the annual sale. The New York breeding and racing program has been a strong economic supporter of the Morrisville Equine Program for many years. The Morrisville College students greatly appreciate hosting the sale and making industry contacts with the consignors. These industry connections often lead to internships and further employment for our students. Morrisville College is the only educational institution in New York and in the country that conducts a Standardbred yearling sale. In the 2018 Morrisville Sale, a total of 60 yearlings sold for an average price of $13,475. There was very impressive attendance and a wide range of buyers filled all the seats until the last yearling went through the ring. Entries are now being accepted for the 2019 sale. Entry forms are available online (morrisvillesale.com) or call Mary Taylor at 315-684-6355. (With files from Morrisville College) The current coffee scene in Mexico is facing a bit of a conundrum: production in the country has declined as consumption has increased. Mexico has gone from producing more than double what it used to consume (1.69 million tons in 2003) to producing almost only what is necessary to cover the national demand (0.82 million tons in 2016). Along with the drop in production, demand has been increasing both globally and nationally (per capita consumption has gone from 29 oz. in 2005 to 49 oz. in 2017). It has been driven mainly by the millennial market and the rise of specialty coffee in the country. But if Mexico City already boasts a large number of great coffee shops, other big cities in the country, such as Guadalajara and Monterrey, are just beginning to crawl in this direction. The latter has emerged as one of the most important cities in Mexico, and gradually, the industrial and technological city has seen its gastronomic scene also riseand with it, the culture of specialty coffee. One of the pioneers in this area is Cafe Pistola, run by a group of friends that names among its partners the founders of BreAd Panaderosa local sourdough bakery that has changed the scene of loaves in the cityand a businessman with a wide history in the coffee market: Antonio Alanis comes from a family that started producing quality coffee in Mexico many decades ago. Our brand, Don Emilio, was born with my father, Alanis says. We focus on providing beans to cafes, restaurants, and other businesses. It's good quality coffee, but it was not in this range of specialty coffees. Cafe Pistola was the chance to enter this new market thanks to a partnership with the guys from BreAd, he explains. Alanis says that despite being a new brand, the concept of Cafe Pistola had been in his mind for at least five years. Alanis has worked in his own roasting company long enough to acquire the know-how to develop the sensorial profiles of the coffee beans served to pair well with all the bread and other dishes created by the founders of BreAd: Alejandro Reyes, Juan Carlos Galan, and Bernardo Flores (who is Alanis cousin). Cafe Pistola exclusively works with beans from Mexican farmers, from regions such as Chiapas and Veracruz, and different varieties like Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai. One of the partners' main goals is to serve good, but also affordable, coffee. In general, Mexican coffee is still expensive compared to other producing countries. But since we have a good production capacity, unlike other local micro-roasters, we have been able to offer coffee cups at a lower price, so more people can have our coffee, he adds. Cafe Pistola serves four types of coffee, with different flavor profiles (Magnum, Parabellum, Nambu, and Revolver) that vary from those with more acidity, with a tangy, fruity taste, to those more intense and bitter. The main goal is to keep coffee unpretentious, so as not to frighten the novice drinker. Few know the difference between a Geisha and a Bourbon, or how the altitude impacts quality Our coffee needs to be democratic to both help shape the new local consumer taste and please connoisseurs, Alanis points out. Each of their blends is named after a firearm, in reference to the coffee shops name itself: Pistola as a symbol of the worlds greatest revolutionssuch as the specialty coffee revolution. They are also fighting for the Mexican coffee identity, taking advantage that the country is in a strategic location, with the potential and the chance to provide good coffee to neighboring countries, such as the United States, which is the largest consumer of specialty coffees in the world. With their own ammunition (good quality coffee, affordable price, local beans), the founders of Cafe Pistola want to hit their target and help transform the scene of Mexican coffee. A revolution that is worth fighting for. Rafael Tonon is a freelance journalist based in Brazil. Read more Rafael Tonon on Sprudge. Fico gave up, threatening a coalition crisis MPs failed to elect candidates for Constitutional Court. The next voting round takes place February 14. MPs queueing to cast their votes in the Constitutional Court election. (Source: Sme) The first attempt of the parliament to elect candidates for Constitutional Court judges did not produce any names. Out of the 37 candidates who remain on the list, MPs should elect 18 to submit to President Andrej Kiska, who should subsequently select nine of them to become judges. The election took place on February 12, two weeks after the originally set date and only four days before nine of the 13 sitting Constitutional Court judges wrap up their terms. Read also: Fico tears his dignity into pieces during live broadcast Read more The voting was delayed due to candidate Robert Fico, who repeatedly failed to submit documents proving that he had the required 15 years of legal practice. After all his efforts to prove his candidacy, Fico, however, announced just a few hours before the election that he was giving up. He decided not to run for Constitutional Court judge following the failure of the ruling coalition parties, including his Smer, to agree whether the vote should be public or secret. Smer has insisted on a secret vote all along, but its junior coalition partner Most-Hid stated on February 11 that they wanted the vote to be public. Coalition faces another crisis 12. Feb 2019 at 21:36 | Nina Hrabovska Francelova Jaguar Land Rover helped Slovakia's industrial production grow But the industrial sectors are expected to slow down in the following months, except for the car industry. Industrial production in Slovakia increased by 3.1 percent year-on-year at the end of 2018, Slovakia's Statistics Office (SU SR) reported. This was mostly the result of the growth in manufacturing by 4.1 percent and by a decrease in gas, electricity, steam and air-conditioning supply by 1 percent, as well as in mining and quarrying by 3.9 percent. "The year-on-year industrial growth in December was largely unbalanced and concentrated almost exclusively on the automotive industry," analyst Lubomir Korsnak of the UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia wrote in a memo. Read also: Automotive industry and e-commerce drive the industrial sector Read more The growth in car sector was positively affected in the last two months of the year, since the Jaguar Land Rover plant in Nitra launched its production, he added. In addition, the most significant growth was recorded in the manufacture of transport equipment by 26.4 percent and manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations by 73.2 percent. After seasonal adjustment, however, industrial production decreased by 0.9 percent in December 2018 compared with November 2018. "Problems of the industry in Germany at the end of the year have been fully demonstrated in other major export sectors of the Slovak industry," added Korsnak, naming the metallurgy, engineering and the building industry. Slow-down expected As for the future prospects, Korsnak opines that the lower external demand will also slow down the performance of Slovak industry. "Most sectors will not avoid a cyclical slow-down, with one exception being the automotive industry," Korsnak added. The sector will be the only more significant source of Slovak industrial growth, particularly due to the production of Jaguar Land Rover. The other three carmakers will not contribute to the increase in industrial production and, similarly to other sectors, will instead slow down, the analyst said. "Thanks to the supply shock, the Slovak industry as a whole will remain in the black," he concluded. 12. Feb 2019 at 13:22 | Compiled by Spectator staff Upping its game against airlines, the Indian Railways and its catering arm, , IRCTC have partnered with popular restaurant chain Pind Balluchi and The Landmark Hotel to serve delicious food to its passengers onboard the Vande Bharat Express or Train 18. The train that will run between Delhi and Varanasi is expected to offer scrumptious meals from these restaurants from February 15. "The menu is in the last stages of being finalised and that the food served to passengers will be from known restaurants in Allahabad (Prayagraj) and Kanpur. We are looking to tie-up with known restaurants and brands so that a premium experience can be offered to passengers of the Vande Bharat Express," said an IRCTC official. According to the official, "The lunch for Vande Bharat Express will be loaded at the Allahabad (Prayagraj) station. This is from Pind Balluchi. The dinner on the return journey will be loaded from Kanpur station and is expected to be from a restaurant of the city's famous Landmark Hotel. However, the talks for this catering arrangement are in final stages, but a tie-up is likely soon". The official added "For breakfast, IRCTC is working on a mix of 3-4 food items such as vegetable cutlet, omelette, a special type of bread, quiche and doughnuts or lemon tarts. There is no doubt that the menu on Vande Bharat Express will be a more premium and palatable one than on trains like Gatimaan Express". Passengers onboard the Vande Bharat Express will not be able to opt out of meals, except for those travelling between Allahabad (Prayagraj) and Varanasi. The fares of Train 18 or Vande Bharat Express are inclusive of the catering charges. The fare for the executive chair car of Vande Bharat Express has been kept at Rs 3,520 for Delhi to Varanasi trip, while it will be Rs 3,470 for the return trip due the difference in catering cost. The chair car passengers will have to shell out Rs 1,850 and Rs 1,795 for Delhi to Varanasi and Varanasi to Delhi respectively. As part of the above mentioned fares, passengers in the executive chair car will pay Rs 399 for the meals (breakfast with morning tea, lunch) from Delhi to Varanasi, while those in the chair car will pay Rs 344. On the return journey, people in executive chair car will shell out Rs 349 for the food (evening tea with snacks, dinner), and those in the chair car will pay Rs 288. Vande Bharat Express will be flagged off by PM Narendra Modi on February 15 from New Delhi. On its regular run (not inaugural), Train 18 will depart from Delhi at 6:00 am to reach Varanasi at 2:00 pm, with stops at Kanpur and Allahabad (Prayagraj) at 10:20 am and 12:25 pm respectively. For the return journey the same day, Vande Bharat Express will leave Varanasi at 3:00 pm to reach Delhi at 11:00 pm, with stops at Allahabad (Prayagraj) at 4:35 pm and at Kanpur at 6:30 pm. (Edited by Sameer Gaur) Also read : Train 18 fares: Delhi-Varanasi AC chair car ticket to cost Rs 1,850, executive class Rs 3,520 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. Published February 4, 2019 The Android Security Bulletin contains details of security vulnerabilities affecting Android devices. Security patch levels of 2019-02-05 or later address all of these issues. To learn how to check a device's security patch level, see Check and update your Android version. Android partners are notified of all issues at least a month before publication. Source code patches for these issues have been released to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) repository and linked from this bulletin. This bulletin also includes links to patches outside of AOSP. The most severe of these issues is a critical security vulnerability in Framework that could allow a remote attacker using a specially crafted PNG file to execute arbitrary code within the context of a privileged process. The severity assessment is based on the effect that exploiting the vulnerability would possibly have on an affected device, assuming the platform and service mitigations are turned off for development purposes or if successfully bypassed. We have had no reports of active customer exploitation or abuse of these newly reported issues. Refer to the Android and Google Play Protect mitigations section for details on the Android security platform protections and Google Play Protect, which improve the security of the Android platform. Note: Information on the latest over-the-air update (OTA) and firmware images for Google devices is available in the February 2019 Pixel Update Bulletin. Android and Google service mitigations This is a summary of the mitigations provided by the Android security platform and service protections such as Google Play Protect. These capabilities reduce the likelihood that security vulnerabilities could be successfully exploited on Android. Exploitation for many issues on Android is made more difficult by enhancements in newer versions of the Android platform. We encourage all users to update to the latest version of Android where possible. The Android security team actively monitors for abuse through Google Play Protect and warns users about Potentially Harmful Applications. Google Play Protect is enabled by default on devices with Google Mobile Services, and is especially important for users who install apps from outside of Google Play. 2019-02-01 security patch level vulnerability details In the sections below, we provide details for each of the security vulnerabilities that apply to the 2019-02-01 patch level. Vulnerabilities are grouped under the component they affect. There is a description of the issue and a table with the CVE, associated references, type of vulnerability, severity, and updated AOSP versions (where applicable). When available, we link the public change that addressed the issue to the bug ID, such as the AOSP change list. When multiple changes relate to a single bug, additional references are linked to numbers following the bug ID. Framework The most severe vulnerability in this section could enable a remote attacker using a specially crafted PNG file to execute arbitrary code within the context of a privileged process. CVE References Type Severity Updated AOSP versions CVE-2019-1986 A-117838472 [2] RCE Critical 9 CVE-2019-1987 A-118143775 [2] RCE Critical 7.0, 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 8.0, 8.1, 9 CVE-2019-1988 A-118372692 RCE Critical 8.0, 8.1, 9 Library The most severe vulnerability in this section could enable a remote attacker using a specially crafted file to execute arbitrary code within the context of an unprivileged process. CVE References Type Severity Updated AOSP versions CVE-2017-17760 A-78029030* RCE High 7.0, 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 8.0, 8.1, 9 CVE-2018-5268 A-78029634* RCE High 7.0, 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 8.0, 8.1, 9 CVE-2018-5269 A-78029727* RCE High 7.0, 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 8.0, 8.1, 9 CVE-2017-18009 A-78026242* ID Moderate 7.0, 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 8.0, 8.1, 9 System The most severe vulnerability in this section could enable a remote attacker using a specially crafted transmission to execute arbitrary code within the context of a privileged process. CVE References Type Severity Updated AOSP versions CVE-2019-1991 A-110166268 RCE Critical 7.0, 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 8.0, 8.1, 9 CVE-2019-1992 A-116222069 RCE Critical 7.0, 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 8.0, 8.1, 9 CVE-2019-1993 A-119819889 EoP High 8.0, 8.1, 9 CVE-2019-1994 A-117770924 EoP High 8.0, 8.1, 9 CVE-2019-1995 A-32589229 [2] ID High 7.0, 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 8.0, 8.1, 9 CVE-2019-1996 A-111451066 ID High 8.0, 8.1, 9 CVE-2019-1997 A-117508900 ID High 7.0, 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 8.0, 8.1, 9 CVE-2019-1998 A-116055338 [2] DoS High 9 2019-02-05 security patch level vulnerability details In the sections below, we provide details for each of the security vulnerabilities that apply to the 2019-02-05 patch level. Vulnerabilities are grouped under the component they affect and include details such as the CVE, associated references, type of vulnerability, severity, component (where applicable), and updated AOSP versions (where applicable). When available, we link the public change that addressed the issue to the bug ID, such as the AOSP change list. When multiple changes relate to a single bug, additional references are linked to numbers following the bug ID. Kernel components The most severe vulnerability in this section could enable a local malicious application to execute arbitrary code within the context of a privileged process. CVE References Type Severity Component CVE-2018-10879 A-116406063 Upstream kernel EoP High ext4 filesystem CVE-2019-1999 A-120025196* EoP High Binder driver CVE-2019-2000 A-120025789* EoP High Binder driver CVE-2019-2001 A-117422211* ID High iomem NVIDIA components The most severe vulnerability in this section could enable a remote attacker using a specially crafted file to execute arbitrary code within the context of a privileged process. CVE References Type Severity Component CVE-2018-6271 A-80198474* RCE Critical libnvomx CVE-2018-6267 A-70857947* EoP High libnvomx CVE-2018-6268 A-80433161* EoP High libnvomx CVE-2016-6684 A-117423758* ID High kernel log Qualcomm components These vulnerabilities affect Qualcomm components and are described in further detail in the appropriate Qualcomm security bulletin or security alert. The severity assessment of these issues is provided directly by Qualcomm. CVE References Type Severity Component CVE-2018-11262 A-76424945 QC-CR#2221192 N/A Critical bootloader CVE-2018-11280 A-109741776 QC-CR#2185061 N/A High Modem CVE-2018-11275 A-74409078 QC-CR#2221256 [2] N/A High Bootloader CVE-2018-13900 A-119052051 QC-CR#2287499 N/A High Modem CVE-2018-13905 A-119052050 QC-CR#2225202 N/A High Graphics Qualcomm closed-source components These vulnerabilities affect Qualcomm components and are described in further detail in the appropriate Qualcomm security bulletin or security alert. The severity assessment of these issues is provided directly by Qualcomm. CVE References Type Severity Component CVE-2018-11289 A-109678453* N/A Critical Closed-source component CVE-2018-11820 A-111089815* N/A Critical Closed-source component CVE-2018-11938 A-112279482* N/A Critical Closed-source component CVE-2018-11945 A-112278875* N/A Critical Closed-source component CVE-2018-11268 A-109678259* N/A High Closed-source component CVE-2018-11845 A-111088838* N/A High Closed-source component CVE-2018-11864 A-111092944* N/A High Closed-source component CVE-2018-11921 A-112278972* N/A High Closed-source component CVE-2018-11931 A-112279521* N/A High Closed-source component CVE-2018-11932 A-112279426* N/A High Closed-source component CVE-2018-11935 A-112279483* N/A High Closed-source component CVE-2018-11948 A-112279144* N/A High Closed-source component CVE-2018-5839 A-112279544* N/A High Closed-source component CVE-2018-13904 A-119050566* N/A High Closed-source component Common questions and answers This section answers common questions that may occur after reading this bulletin. 1. How do I determine if my device is updated to address these issues? To learn how to check a device's security patch level, see Check and update your Android version. Security patch levels of 2019-02-01 or later address all issues associated with the 2019-02-01 security patch level. Security patch levels of 2019-02-05 or later address all issues associated with the 2019-02-05 security patch level and all previous patch levels. Device manufacturers that include these updates should set the patch string level to: [ro.build.version.security_patch]:[2019-02-01] [ro.build.version.security_patch]:[2019-02-05] 2. Why does this bulletin have two security patch levels? This bulletin has two security patch levels so that Android partners have the flexibility to fix a subset of vulnerabilities that are similar across all Android devices more quickly. Android partners are encouraged to fix all issues in this bulletin and use the latest security patch level. Devices that use the 2019-02-01 security patch level must include all issues associated with that security patch level, as well as fixes for all issues reported in previous security bulletins. Devices that use the security patch level of 2019-02-05 or newer must include all applicable patches in this (and previous) security bulletins. Partners are encouraged to bundle the fixes for all issues they are addressing in a single update. 3. What do the entries in the Type column mean? Entries in the Type column of the vulnerability details table reference the classification of the security vulnerability. Abbreviation Definition RCE Remote code execution EoP Elevation of privilege ID Information disclosure DoS Denial of service N/A Classification not available 4. What do the entries in the References column mean? Entries under the References column of the vulnerability details table may contain a prefix identifying the organization to which the reference value belongs. Prefix Reference A- Android bug ID QC- Qualcomm reference number M- MediaTek reference number N- NVIDIA reference number B- Broadcom reference number 5. What does a * next to the Android bug ID in the References column mean? Issues that are not publicly available have a * next to the Android bug ID in the References column. The update for that issue is generally contained in the latest binary drivers for Pixel devices available from the Google Developer site. 6. Why are security vulnerabilities split between this bulletin and device / partner security bulletins, such as the Pixel bulletin? Security vulnerabilities that are documented in this security bulletin are required to declare the latest security patch level on Android devices. Additional security vulnerabilities that are documented in the device / partner security bulletins are not required for declaring a security patch level. Android device and chipset manufacturers are encouraged to document the presence of other fixes on their devices through their own security websites, such as the Samsung, LGE, or Pixel security bulletins. Versions 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. Robert Gilpin, R.I.P. - The Washington Post : His greatest book was written in 1981, but the main theory in it is perhaps more trenchant now... "Nothing stinks like a pile of unpublished writing." Sylvia Plath A version of this article originally appeared on the website of the Center for Global Development. The Trump administration and Congress are both currently promoting initiatives to tackle global gender equality and womens economic empowerment: Theres the administrations Womens Global Development and Prosperity Initiative and the Womens Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act. The initiatives both focus on better using the U.S. aid budget to increase economic empowerment, and the W-GDP includes a pillar on eliminating the legal, regulatory, and cultural barriers that prevent women from participating in their local economies. A recent case of Google and Apple abetting discrimination emphasizes the need for legislation that would leverage the power of U.S.-based multinational enterprises to encourage gender equality in the workplace in countries that legally enforced discrimination. The legislation could be a powerful next step for congressional and administration champions of equality in the workplace. And the creation of a new U.S. Development Finance Corporation provides one tool for the law to use. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This week, Business Insider reported on the Saudi government system Absher. The site is used for a number of government services, but it also allows Saudi men to specify when and where adult women under their guardianship, including unmarried daughters and wives, are allowed to travel. It also includes an automatic SMS feature, which texts male guardians when a woman uses her passport at a border crossing or airport check-in. The Absher app is hosted by both Google and Apple. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developments Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, which the U.S. has implemented, suggest that in countries where domestic laws and regulations conflict with internationally recognized human rights, enterprises should seek ways to honour [rights] to the fullest extent which does not place them in violation of domestic law. In hosting the Absher app, Apple and Google are actively enabling the abuse of those rights. They ought to refuse to host this app without the need for government intervention. Advertisement But the case suggests the potential need for intervention. At the moment, there is little to nothing in the way of enforcement of the OECD guidelines in the United States. My proposal for a U.S. law or executive order to combat gender apartheid at work in discriminatory countries could help fill that gap. The proposal focuses on trying to minimize the impact of local laws on womens abilities to work for U.S. companies operating in affected countries, including requiring firms to make all reasonable attempts to ensure women can apply to and hold employment positions in order to mitigate the impact of laws and regulations that specifically discriminate against womens right to leave the house, travel, open bank accounts, and open or run businesses. Advertisement Advertisement The example of Absher suggests an additional mandate under the law: U.S. companies should not provide products or services that materially abet violations of womens fundamental rights in countries practicing gender apartheid. That would include hosting an application specifically designed to help enforce laws that prevent women from leaving the house or the country of their own volition. The proposal for combating gender apartheid suggests some incentives for countries to reform, many of which would not take new legislation. For example, Section 231A of P.L. 87195 suggests that the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, which provides financing and guarantees to U.S. companies investing in the developing world, may insure, reinsure, guarantee, or finance a project only if the country in which the project is to be undertaken is taking steps to adopt and implement laws that extend internationally recognized worker rights. Countries that ban women from leaving the house or performing a range of jobs appear in clear violation. Investments in countries including Saudi Arabia are already blacklisted from OPIC on the grounds of limited worker rights, but a screen for womens equal rights around work would be likely to exclude other countries still eligible. Advertisement Advertisement The new U.S. Development Finance Corporationa recently legislated replacement for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation with more money and a wider range of investment toolshas a specific mandate to prioritize the reduction of gender gaps and maximize development impact by working to improve womens economic opportunities. It should implement clear policies restricting any investment in countries practicing gender apartheid, especially if the investment is in an industry with restrictions on womens participation, in a country where women need permission from their male guardian to work or women are not allowed to move freely without their male guardians permission. U.S. firms should not profit from abetting gross violations of womens rights. It is time for legislation to enforce that. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. With another potential shutdown looming this week, congressional negotiators say they have come to a tentative agreement that would avoid another bruising government stoppage but would not meet President Trumps demands for a border wall. Negotiators from both sides sounded optimistic about the deal Monday that would fund a border barrier to the tune of $1.375 billion, including 55 miles of new fencing, according to the Washington Post. This, of course, falls far short of Trumps proposed $5-plus billion boondoggle to build 200 miles of an arbitrary wall, an ultimatum that was issued via monthlong temper tantrum. Advertisement Republicans had largely abandoned the $5 billion number following the 35-day shutdown that took a toll on the partys support. With the temporary funding measure that temporarily reopened the government set to expire Friday, Democrats backed down from their demand on tight limits on detention beds that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement could use to detain undocumented immigrants, pulling away from a push that that led to a breakdown in talks over the weekend, according to the Post. Negotiators felt the deal would prove sufficient to fund all government operations through the end of the September, potentially removing any more shutdown threats for the remainder of the fiscal year. Advertisement Advertisement Whether Trump will sign off on the deal without something he can spin as a wall is another matter altogether. The White House has floated other means to build its version of a wall, including declaring a national emergency and using executive power to direct funds from the federal budget toward wall construction. We can call it anything. Well call it barriers, well call it whatever they want, Trump said Monday before shifting focus to the ICE detention issue. But now it turns out not only dont they want to give us money for a wall, they dont want to give us the space to detain murderers, criminals, drug dealers, human smugglers. So will this notoriously thin-skinned president sign off on the deal? Perhaps ask Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh or the Fox and Friends gang. Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he believes the White House will back the agreement. We believe from our dealings with them and the latitude theyve given us, they will support it, Selby said. We certainly hope so. The government is scheduled to table the CAG report on Rafale jet fighter deal, which has generated a massive political controversy, in Parliament Tuesday, sources said. The government's decision to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from French company Dassault has become a controversial political issue, with the main opposition party Congress levelling allegations of corruption and impropriety, and the ruling dispensation defending the move. The CAG report will be tabled on Tuesday, a day before the end of the present Lok Sabha session. This is the last session of the 16th Lok Sabha as the general elections are due in April-May. Former minister and senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday alleged conflict of interest and asked the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Rajiv Mehrishi to recuse himself from auditing the deal as he was the finance secretary when the deal was negotiated. Union Minister Arun Jaitley, however, rebutted the claims of Sibal saying that the Congress was casting aspersions on the institution of CAG based on "falsehood". "Another attack on the institution of CAG by the 'Institution wreckers' based on falsehood. After ten years in Government former UPA ministers still don't know that Finance Secretary is only a designation given to the senior most secretary in the finance ministry," Jaitley said a series of tweets Sunday. Also read: Rafale deal: Congress 'flogging a dead horse', says Nirmala Sitharaman Sibal said Mehrishi was the finance secretary from October 24, 2014 to August 30, 2015 and in between Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to Paris on April 10, 2015 and announced the signing of the Rafale deal. "...Finance Ministry plays an important role in these negotiations...Now it is clear that the Rafale deal happened under Rajiv Mehrishi. Now he is CAG. We met him twice on September 19 and October 4, 2018. We told him about the scam. We told him that the deal should be probed because it is corrupt. But how can he initiate a probe against himself," Sibal had said. Also read: PMO did not hold parallel parleys, says official who led Rafale negotiation The Rafale issue was even raised before the Supreme Court, which did not find any substance in the allegations. However, the issue has continued to rock Parliament with Congress President Rahul Gandhi directly accusing the Prime Minister of benefiting industrialist Anil Ambani. Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has said that Rajiv Mehrishi, who joined the ministry as Economic Affairs Secretary, has never dealt with expenditure proposals from the Defence Ministry. Mehrishi joined Department of Economic Affairs as Secretary on October 31, 2014 and being the senior most Secretary among the five Secretaries he was designated as the Finance Secretary on November 11, 2014, an official statement said. He continued as Secretary (Economic Affairs) and Finance Secretary till August 31, 2015 when he demitted the office. "It is a matter of convention that the senior most Secretary is designated as Finance Secretary and while he assumes a co-ordination role, he continues as Secretary of his own Department," it said. It is pertinent to point-out here that it is the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance which deals with financial sanctions relating to all the ministries of the government and in that capacity, any files relating to defence procurement would be dealt with by the Secretary, Department of Expenditure and not by Mehrishi as Economic Affairs Secretary, the ministry added. "To claim that Secretary (Economic Affairs) as Finance Secretary would have dealt with the expenditure proposals from the Ministry of Defence is totally a figment of imagination and stretch of facts," as per the statement. Also read: Promoter stake falls below 50% in Anil Ambani's Reliance Capital, Reliance Communications The Pentagon is in shambles, and President Donald Trump likes it like that. No one has been in charge since James Mattis at the end of last year. Theres an acting secretary of defense and an acting deputy secretary; the latter is also the departments full-time chief financial officer. Decision-making power has devolved to the military servicesArmy, Navy, Air Force, Marinesbut theyre teetering too, now that Trump has also announced a successor to the nations top military officer nearly a year before the current ones term is up, thus diminishing his authority too. Advertisement How long can the Defense Department run on autopilot, with its $717 billion budget and its more than 2 million employees (including 1.3 million active-duty service members)? Trump seems more than willing to go for a record. Advertisement Advertisement I like acting, Trump once said, when asked about the unusually large number of people serving as Cabinet secretaries without having yet been nominated, much less confirmed. It gives me more flexibility. Steve Bannon once called for the deconstruction of the administrative state, and thats one goal that his protege in chief is still pursuing. Trump wants to concentrate power in his small circle inside the White House, and to the extent delegation to others is necessary, he wants them to fear and tremble before him. Advertisement Restricting these power sharers to the status of temp workers makes them more pliant to Trumps wishes, less attentive to their duties as advocates for their departments or as dispensers of advice, and not at all accountable to the public or Congress. The acting defense secretary, Patrick Shanahan, is clearly auditioning for the permanent job. And one lesson he learned from watching his predecessor, Mattis, is that the way to win Trumps favor is to bow down as low as possible. Mattis famously disagreed with Trump on high-profile issues, developed programs for NATO in ultra-low profile, declined to enforce Trumps ban on transgender troops, delayed sending him new plans for an attack on North Korea, and finally, in December, resigned in protesta move that so angered Trump, he forced Mattis to leave immediately rather than letting him stay a month, as he had offered. By contrast, when Trump came to the Pentagon in January to promote an expanded missile defense program, Shanahan introduced the commander in chief with the preening gusto of the warmup act at a Spiritual Living convention. Advertisement Shanahan introduced the commander in chief with the preening gusto of the warmup act at a Spiritual Living convention. Shanahan is touring Afghanistan and Iraq this week, to show off his as-yet-unseenand perhaps nonexistentpolicy chops. He moved up to acting secretary less than a year and a half as deputy secretary of defense (a very different, strictly managerial position), preceded by three decades as an executive at Boeing, the second-largest U.S. defense contractor.* James Inhofe, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is apparently unimpressed. According to Inside Defense, Inhofe recently advised Trump to nominate someone else as secretary, noting Shanahans lack of humility and his partisan leanings to Boeing. This was an odd spectacle. Humility is a quality that fits almost no defense secretary in history, very much including Mattis, and while Shanahans Boeing background subjects him to enormous conflicts of interest, the rumblings of the military-industrial complex are usually not so bothersome to the likes of Inhofe. Advertisement Still, it bodes ill for Shanahan that he is, for whatever reason, disliked by the top senator on the committee that would vote on his confirmation, if he were nominated, and his departments budget. The devolution of power inside the Pentagon from civilian policymakers to military officersessentially a weakening of civilian control over the militaryis a separate phenomenon, though it also feeds into Trumps self-aggrandizing agenda. The trend, which strong civilian defense secretaries have often fought hard to resist, was given a strong push in 2015, when Sen. John McCain pushed through an amendment shifting authority in weapons acquisition away from a centralized office in the Pentagon to the individual military services. McCains intent was to streamline the process and make the services more accountable, but it also boosted parochial interests and weakened civilian oversight. The next push came from Mattis, who, as a retired Marine four-star general, was naturally disposed to rely more on fellow officersthe service chiefs and their staffthan on civilians who might never have fought in combat. Advertisement Advertisement These moves, together, led to an exodus of talented civilian specialists and analysts from the Pentagonand also strengthened Trumps power, as military officers are trained to salute, not to argue with, the president. Even this ascension of the brass took a tumble when, in December, Trump announced that Gen. Mark Milley, the Army chief of staff, would be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staffalmost a year before the term of the current chairman, Gen. Joseph Dunford, is due to expire. This undercuts Dunfords authority, leaves the unified elements of the military rudderless, andcombined with the other trends put in motion by McCain and Mattiselevates still higher the status of the separate services: a situation bound to cause more waste, inefficiency, and lax discipline in the military budget and in military operations. Advertisement In the spring of 2018, shortly after firing Rex Tillerson as secretary of state and replacing him with the more amenable Mike Pompeo, Trump said, Im really at a point where were getting very close to having the Cabinet, and other things, that I want. Soon after came the ouster of H.R. McMaster as national security adviser, succeeded by John Bolton; then Mattis resignation, followed, as yet, by a long, demeaning audition process. Advertisement But Trump is getting what he wants: a Cabinet of yes men. The Defense Department is an enormous machine: far from well-oiled, but capable of running on its own steam for some time without breaking down or ripping out of control. But if theres another war or a crisis, or even some situation that could use some smart, fairly independent military advice, Trump will be in more trouble than he knowsand so will the rest of us. The following article is a written adaptation of a recent episode of What Next, Slates new daily news podcast. Listen to What Next for free every day via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Stitcher, Overcast, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you want to get into Nogales, Arizona, from Mexico, youve got options. As a matter of fact, Nogales is the biggest port in the state of Arizona, and actually the model port of the state of Arizona. We have five port of entries in our city alone. Advertisement Thats Arturo Garino. Hes the mayor of Nogales, a small border town 60 miles due south of Tucson. He says the ports of entry include a pedestrian walkway, a truck crossing, and an airport. They also have a border crossing for cattle. Advertisement Advertisement Mayor Garino has lived in Nogales his whole life, and he has been the mayor under President Obama and under President Trump. I spoke to him this week on What Next, Slates new daily news podcast that I host. While Nogales has only 20,000 people living on the U.S. side of the border, there are hundreds of thousands of people on the Mexican side. We dont have a buffer zone like other states, he says. One street divides us. And in the middle of that street runs the border. Advertisement The main street in Nogales actually runs all the way to Mexico City. Our corridor is a very, very busy corridor for trade, and for tourism and everything, Mayor Garino tells me. The main highway, it ends in Nogales, and thats why were considered the CANAMEX Corridorthe American-Canadian-Mexican corridor. Billions and billions of dollars of trade go through Nogales. And this is trade thats not only for the state of Arizona, but its for the whole nation. Nogales is home to the slats that President Trump keeps talking about. Weve had it for over 20 years, Mayor Garino says. I like to tell everybody were actually a city of 400,000 divided by a fence. Advertisement Garino is worried someone may try to climb the wall and end up in a horrible nest of razor wire, especially since the wire is difficult to see on the Mexican side of the border. The mayor says the Trump administration is pushing even fortified cities like Nogales to firm up their borders. As Congress and the president attempt to avert another government shutdown, I asked him to tell me how his community has changed over the past few decades as borders have been hardened and redefined. When I was very younglike 8 years old or so, or even youngerwe used to live about two blocks away from the border, he says. We used to play, and we used to go towards this little canyon that had some cattle ponds and stuff like that. As I grew and got older, and I look in that direction now, we were actually playing in Mexico, because back then it was nothing but a cattle fence that divided both Sonora and Arizona. In a little piece of the center of town, there was like an 8-foot chain-link fence. And we had our eventslike our Fiesta de Mayo and a lot of events. Our parade went into Mexico, looped around, and then came back. And their parades would loop into Nogales, Arizona, and then turn around and then go back. Advertisement This is what life was like in Nogales for years, until the early 2000s. Then things changed dramatically after 9/11. Advertisement Before 9/11, you could cross into Arizona from Mexico just by saying U.S. citizen, says Garino. They would question you just a tad, and then you would come across. You didnt have to have a passportyou didnt have to have anything. But if there was suspicion, they would ask you for an ID or something like that. But now its gone to the point that we need to have a passport thats a card to go across the line, and then they scan it when we come across to make sure that were U.S. citizens. Its very, very different now than when I was growing up. Advertisement The dividing line in Nogales has evolved over the years. At one point, a 12-foot wall was welded together out of metal landing mats from Vietnam. And then later on, we had a little section made out of concrete, which was more like a designer wall in the DeConcini Port of Entry to make it look nice, he says. It had big squares with mesh through which you could actually see into Nogales, Sonora. And then after that is when we got this metal bollard fence, [made of] this big, thick steel about 4 to 6 inches wide, and in some places from 18 to 20 feet high. This is how everythings been evolving. Advertisement Mayor Garino says the community hasnt had any problems with the wall, until this fall, when the U.S. military added concertina wire to the structure. Thats the kind of barbed wire youd find lining prisons or on a battlefield. Its embedded with little razors. Advertisement In November of last year, thats when they started installing the first strand on the very top, says Garino. And then the weekend came by, you know, this past weekend I wasnt in town, and I didnt get back until about 11 at night. But while I was out of town, one of my constituents called and said, Mayor, whats up with a wire? And I said, What do you mean, whats up with a wire? And he goes, Theyre installing concertina wire. And I said, Yeah, well, they started back in November. She said, No, theyre installing it on all the wallto the groundand it looks hideous. And I said, Wait a minute. Advertisement Mayor Garino was shocked when he saw the razor wire all over the 18-foot fence. It goes up and down like a snakeup the valleys, down the mountains, he says. Advertisement Advertisement Now, Garino is worried that someone may try to climb the wall and end up in a horrible nest of razor wire, especially since the wire is difficult to see on the Mexican side of the border. If somebody climbs it and they dont know anything, and its pitch-black, thats when somethings going to happen, he says. On the whole, the mayors worries are really basic: On the U.S. side, he worries about kids or pets getting hurt. If someone tries to scale the fence and gets stuck in the wire, hes not sure emergency services could help them out. And with all this razor wire curled along the border, he says it just looks like were trying to keep Americans in, not like were trying to keep Mexicans out. Advertisement I dont know what theyre doing, he says. Are they testing this here in Nogales? Are we the concertina poster child? I dont think so. This is America. Were in the United States. What do you want? Why are you doing this? We have a checkpoint 20 miles north of here on Interstate 19 that we have to go throughall the Nogales U.S. citizens have to go through if we want to go to Tucson, every day. So, were between a checkpoint and a border already. And now concertina wire? Whats after that? Advertisement This razor wire deeply bothers Garino. In a way, its an affront to his home. I was born and raised here in Nogales. This is my citythis is our city, the residents of Nogales. And the way I feel, and the way that merchants, and the way that produce companies, and the way everybody who has been talking to me in my office feelseverybodys concerned, he says. This should not be happening to our community. You know, when 65 to 70 percent of our city sales tax depends on people from Nogales, Sonora, crossing to buy here daily, of course theres a concern. We might not see the impact within the next month or two, but you leave that wire there for months, or years, or whateverwhich is very common that the government does that. Theyll put something on, and theyll say its temporary, and then its still there 10 years from now. Advertisement The Trump administration wants to keep people out. But Mayor Garino says that the town relies on people coming in. Im talking the legal way, people coming in through our ports, he adds. He looks at the debate over the razor wire as an opportunity for the rest of the country to really understand what its like to live on the border. Advertisement Ive had people call me and they say, You know, mayor? You know, theyre doing the right thing. Yeah, but you live in Boise, Idaho, or you live in North Dakota, he says. Of course, they have never seen the border. They have never lived here. This is our livelihood, our city. Its a beautiful city. And like I said, weve accepted everything. The town tolerated the wall. But the community is drawing a line with the wire. This is very concerning. This is not right, what theyre doing now, he says. Listen to What Next for free every day via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Stitcher, Overcast, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts. Former White House communications aide and new member of the Trump White House tell-all book club Cliff Sims is suing President Trump for his attempts to enforce a nondisclosure agreement signed by Simsand many otherswhen he worked for the Trump presidential campaign. Sims, the New York Times reports, is suing Trump in his official capacity as president, saying that Trump is using his campaign apparatus to seek retribution against federal employees, like Sims, who are writing and disclosing information about their time working for the federal government, not as an employee of the campaign. Advertisement The suit was prompted by the Trump campaign organizations filing of an arbitration claim against Sims last week following the publication of Team of Vipers, which, from the title, you can tell was not a fawning account of Sims 500 days in the West Wing. The suit, filed in D.C., says Trump is seeking to impose civil liability against Mr. Sims through application of NDAs that apply to information Mr. Sims learned solely during his federal service. This is not the first book to be written about Trump, and this is not the first instance where Trump has initiated legal action, a move that publishers certainly relish given the publicity that comes with the legal proceedings and the general legal sense that the NDA is largely unenforceable. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The suit notes that Mr. Trump appears to be selective in enforcing the nondisclosure agreements [as] he attempted to enforce it against Omarosa Manigault Newman, whose book also infuriated him, but he did not do so against Sean Spicer, or Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, three former aides who wrote books that the president found flattering and therefore not objectionable, the Times reports. Mr. Trump has repeatedly used the threat of arbitration over the nondisclosure agreements to silence former aides. It has not always been successful: One former aide, Sam Nunberg, succeeded in a counterclaim when Mr. Trump tried to enforce the agreement during the 2016 campaign, and the dispute was settled. Trump, for his part, has been very Trumpy about the whole thing, directing diss tweets Sims way. A low level staffer that I hardly knew named Cliff Sims wrote yet another boring book based on made up stories and fiction, Trump tweeted at one point. He pretended to be an insider when in fact he was nothing more than a gofer. The Best Foreshadowing award: Most of rap and R&Bs biggest names didnt attend Sundays Grammy Awards. Their absence proved interesting when Childish Gambino was awarded both Record of the Year and Song of the Year, a first for rap artists in either categorybut he wasnt there to accept the golden gramophones. Carl Wilsons review of the show is very clear: It finally exceeded expectations, but only because the Recording Academy had set the bar as low as it could. You can also check out the rest of our Grammys coverage. Advertisement The discourse: Remember when Ted Danson wore blackface to roast Whoopi Goldberg? Ruth Graham revisits the 1993 controversy to demonstrate how the cultural conversation has evolved in the decades since; compared with todays nuanced analyses of the history of blackface, many of the contemporary op-eds reacting to the roast now look almost infantile in their shallowness. Advertisement Advertisement Trump Tower, monument: Donald Trump is our president. Because of that fact alone, the building he established and lived in for decadesyep, that onedeserves to be enshrined as a historic landmark. Henry Grabar makes the case that, while this designation may sound gross, it follows due precedent, and besides, thered be no better way to help explain the current moment to future generations. Bay Area middle class: Gymnastics, Trader Joes, a bounce house party, and Target gift cards: Heres how much a family making $393,000 a year in San Jose, California, spends per week on two kids, ages 10 and 7. For fun: Searching for owls in Central Park. Zigzagging, walking in circles, turning around every few feet to point my toes at a tree, Abby The controversy over Rep. Ilhan Omars controversial tweets about Israeli influence in Washington is being widely interpreted as a sign of a growing divide over Israel policy within the Democratic Party, with supporters of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement on one side, and pro-Israel hawksmany of them in party leadershipon the other. Somewhere in the middle of that debate is J Street, the pro-Israel, pro-peace lobbying group founded in 2007. J Street was set up to counteract AIPAC, the target of Omars ire, and push for a more moderate, balanced U.S. policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But it also opposes BDS and some of the positions of farther-left Israel critics. The group dropped its endorsement of Rep. Rashida Tlaib before the midterm elections when it became clear she does not support a two-state solution. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a statement about the latest controversy, J Street said, elected officials must be extremely aware that tropes about Jewish money and political influence have been used for centuries to target and stigmatize our community but added that Republican candidates had also used such tropes. It also said that elected officials should also refrain from labeling all criticism of Israeli actions or policies as anti-Semitic. Despite the controversy, J Streets president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, denied in a phone interview Monday that theres a Democratic rift over Israel. The following has been condensed and edited for clarity. Joshua Keating: J Streets statement on this whole affair was quite evenhanded. Do you think the criticism of Omars tweets was justified, or was it overblown? Advertisement Jeremy Ben-Ami: Its the entirety of the argument thats overblown. What were losing sight of is the actual issues that we should be discussing. Were debating whether or not a particular tweet or expression is anti-Semitic. The issues Id like to see a focus on are the occupation, the settlements, and the question of whether we can end this conflict. Has Rep. Omar met with J Street? Advertisement Weve met with her staff and her over time, not recently. But weve laid out our views to her. Shes not one of the folks our PAC endorsed. Are you worried about a growing Democratic divide on Israel? If you define a divide as a handful of people who disagree, then sure, call it a divide. I would say that when 90 percent of a caucus is in one place, and a handful of people are in another, thats not a divide; its a couple of outliers. Weve seen a shift in the Democratic Party on its overall stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a more moderate and balanced place that is supportive of Israel and supportive of the cause of Palestinian self-determination. That is the consensus position in the Democratic Party. There are a couple of people in the caucus who have come out in favor of BDS, but theres 230 members who have not. I dont see that as a sharp divide. What I see is Republicans who, for partisan purposes, are trying to drive a wedge in the Democratic Party. Advertisement So, traditionally J Streets main role has been trying to push for a less hawkish position on Israel. Now that the debate has expanded on the other side, are you now spending more of your time trying to pull those on your left toward a more moderate position? Its a good position to be in. We have people on our left who are in the sort of Israel is always wrong school and people on our right who are more Israel is always right. Were going to work on both of them to show its not so black and white. Thats emerging as the consensus position. Its a dramatic change in the party. We are nearing rulings in the first big affirmative action case of the Trump era: Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. Lawyers for SFFA and Harvard will make closing arguments on Wednesday, with a decision is expected this spring. Whatever the ruling by U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, the case is expected to eventually reach the Supreme Court. Conservatives hope, and liberals fear, that a right-wing Supreme Court bolstered by a pair of Trump nominees will soon issue a decision spelling the end to affirmative action. But examining the legal history of affirmative action tells a different story. Even if a stable conservative majority uses SFFA v. Harvard as a platform to dismantle admissions programs that explicitly take race into account, affirmative action will not disappear. It will, though, be driven undergroundwith ever-less overt uses of race. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Affirmative action emerged in the 1960s as an attempt to undo the effects of racial discrimination. Yet, as practices that sought to level the playing field for racial minorities became challenged by white applicants, affirmative action shifted from programs explicitly based on race toward those in which race has been far less conspicuous. Back then, as now, some predicted that affirmative action would soon be gone for good. The Association of American Law Schools told the Supreme Court in 1977 that if a challenge to affirmative action succeeded, no consideration may be given to race, either explicitly or by indirection. But affirmative action did not endit embraced indirection. In the landmark 1978 case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the Supreme Court outlawed racial quotas but allowed the use of race as one factor among many to ensure a diverse student body. Affirmative action thus won the day not as a policy promoting social justice for racial and ethnic minorities, but as a policy promoting educational diversity for all students. This is the basis of our current legal regime around affirmative action. Advertisement In the most recent major ruling on the issue, 2016s Fisher v. University of Texas, the court upheld race-sensitive admissions policies at the University of TexasAustin on a 43 vote. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who had never before voted to uphold affirmative action, specifically endorsed U.T.Austins indirect reliance on race. [R]ace is but a factor of a factor of a factor in the holistic-review calculus, he explained, adding that race, in this indirect fashion, considered with all of the other factors can make a difference to whether an application is accepted or rejected. Advertisement The Supreme Court has for decades struck down admission programs setting aside seats for racial minorities or automatically awarding points on the basis on race, while upholding programs that consider race in more subtle and indirect ways. There is a logic to these decisions: If a direct reliance on race is deemed constitutionally problematic, then a diminished reliance on race must be considered less problematic, if not unproblematic. Advertisement Even some conservative justices who reject explicitly race-based affirmative action have bought into this logic to a degree. They have been open to measures that appear neutral on their face yet implicitly consider race and disproportionately benefit racial minorities. Individual justices have thus offered approval of alternatives to race-based affirmative action, including intensifying outreach and financial aid efforts, placing greater weight on socioeconomic factors, introducing and uncapping percent plans (which increase diversity in state universities by accepting top students from state schools that are often de facto segregated), and de-emphasizing standardized test scores. This last option, de-emphasizing standardized test scores, is promising in part because it aligns perspectives from the left and the right. Progressives have long criticized the rise of testocracy in college admissionsa system in which standardized test scores are the most important measure of merit, and a heavy reliance on test scores benefits mainly wealthy and white applicants. Standardized tests may well be appealing to those who want admissions decisions to be based on merit rather than patronage or lineage. However, progressives argue that such tests promote a narrow understanding of merit that does more to reproduce and justify social stratification than to alleviate it. Advertisement Advertisement These progressive criticisms of testocracy converge with the views of some conservative justices in affirmative action cases. In the 2003 case Grutter v. Bollinger, which upheld the University of Michigan Law Schools admissions program, Justice Clarence Thomas observed that no modern law school can claim ignorance of the poor performance of blacks, relatively speaking, on the Law School Admission Test, arguing that [t]he Law Schools continued adherence to measures it knows produce racially skewed results is not entitled to deference by this Court. In 2016, Justice Samuel Alito in Fisher v. U.T.Austin referred favorably to Wake Forest Universitys decision to drop[] standardized testing requirements based at least in part on the perception that these tests are unfair to blacks and other minorities and do not offer an effective tool to determine if these minority students will succeed in college. Advertisement A retreat from testocracy could be a new form of affirmative actioninuring to the benefit of racial minorities without the overt use of race. The current, more right-wing Supreme Court may be willing to uphold such indirect affirmative action precisely because it does not classify individuals by race, and because any racial considerations involved are not plainly in view. These progressive criticisms of testocracy converge with the views of some conservative justices in affirmative action cases. De-emphasizing tests in admissions decisions could prove fruitless if replaced with criteria that replicates privilege and disadvantage along racial and class lines. But at its best, reducing reliance on tests could launch a deeper conversation about how inequitable educational opportunities produce unequal outcomes, and a broader rethinking of what constitutes merit and how best to achieve it. Moving away from standardized tests is likely to provoke resentment among certain segments of society, including those with the wherewithalor resourcesto prepare for tests and whose sense of fairness and worth is tied to the ability to succeed in a testocracy. Antiaffirmative action activists are already tapping into such resentment to bring lawsuits challenging admissions reform, claiming that ending tests is unfair to those who perform well on them. Advertisement But lessons from affirmative actions indirect past can help future measures to mitigate and withstand resentment. For instance, universities should have non-racial reasons for the adoption of new admissions policies, so that something like a diminished reliance on tests does not become challenged as solely racially motivated. They should emphasize the universal benefits of diminished reliance on tests, including benefits for whites from poorer communities as well as some racial minorities. Advertisement Advertisement Some selective universities have already begun to do this. The University of Chicago recently stopped requiring standardized test scores in order to make sure [requirements] were fair to every group, that everybody, anybody could aspire to a place like UChicago. The University of California is currently revisiting its testing requirements so as to adopt the best procedures that are the fairest. Affirmative action in higher education has a historic trajectory, from race-based to racially-indirect. Justice Brett Kavanaughs confirmation seems likely to spell the end of affirmative action as we know it. Still, efforts to desegregate Americas universities are not about to disappear. Instead, affirmative action is about to take another step toward racial indirection. Late one February evening in 2005, Kerri Rawson went online and listened to a recording of the BTK killer from 1977. It was a 911 call, a chilling dispatch in which the caller casually reported a homicide he had just committed to the police. Seized by fear and disgust, Rawson realized she recognized the voice. I knew right away it was my dad, she says. Earlier that day, when an FBI agent had knocked on her door and informed her that her father had been identified as the BTK killer and arrested for murder, Rawson insisted it was all a mistake. She knew her father, Dennis Rader, as normal, law-abiding, kind: a 59-year-old compliance officer in Park City, Kansas. He had even risen to become president of his church council. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was not a mistake. In his secret life as BTKshort for bind, torture, kill, the sick nickname summarizing his methodsRader had murdered 10 people in the Wichita area between 1974 and 1991. By the time Rawson was born in 1978, her father had already committed seven murders, including a family of four. (The Otero family, with two young children, became his first victims in 1974.) Between attacks, Rader courted infamy by mailing rambling letters to local media and police. It was his habit of taunting the police that led to his capture in 2005, 14 years after his last murder. (He is now serving 10 life sentences in prison.) For Rawson, there is life before Feb. 25, 2005, and life after. Her harrowing new memoir, A Serial Killers Daughter: My Story of Faith, Love, and Overcoming, chronicles her struggle to reconcile the father she grew up withsupportive, kind, devoted to his family despite occasional frightening flashes of temperwith the man who murdered women and indulged in sadistic sexual fantasies. Rawson, now 40, has battled post-traumatic stress disorder and found solace in Christian faith since her fathers arrest. For years, she hid from the intense media interest in her family. Her book is the culmination of a growing comfort with speaking out publicly and part of her desire to help other victims of trauma. In a recent Skype conversation, Rawson talked about grappling with her fathers crimes. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Advertisement Zach Schonfeld: Has writing this memoir helped you heal from the trauma of learning who your father was? Advertisement He could potentially talk to me on the phone. But then he would have my phone number, and I havent ever wanted him to have it. Kerri Rawson: Yeah. Ive said its like pulling out shards of glass. I would come up to these things and not want to write them, and I would have to force myself to do it. It felt like I was pulling something out inside of me. I did that probably a thousand times. I sort of equate it to, like, hell. Like going to Mordor, if youve seen Lord of the Rings. Advertisement My understanding is that you havent been in touch with your father while writing the book. I havent talked to him in a year. The last time I talked to him was October 2017. We were writing pretty regularly after I forgave him in 12. Personally, I was falling apart last fall with PTSD, and then my son got ill. I just shut down. Advertisement When you say you talked to him, you mean through letters? I have only ever written him. He could potentially talk to me on the phone. But then he would have my phone number, and I havent ever wanted him to have it. Ive never been comfortable enough to talk to him on the phone or see him at the prison. Do you think you will reach a point where youll want to see him? I dont know. Its hard, because I know hes 73 and hes having some health issues. Hes my father, and I still love him. Its hard to know I might not ever see him again. But it also would be so difficult that I havent been able to do it. Its not like I would ever get to hug him or anything. If you go visit my father, youre in one room, hes in another, and hes chained to a table. Advertisement Advertisement How did he react when he learned you were writing a book about this? In 2015, when the article [this Wichita Eagle piece about Rawson] came out, he said seeing the impact he had when he was arrested on my family, he was actually upset and almost cried reading it. Thats the most emotion Ive seen out of him in letters. After that, he sort of came back to his narcissistic self, focused on himself. Hes been encouraging me on the book, but he also wanted to be involved. He wanted to, like, have me do a book of his artwork. I was like, No, thats not possible. Get The Angle in Your Inbox Every weekday, Slate's copy editors round up the stories you should read. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. He wanted to be involved in your book? How would that work? Advertisement I dont know. Thats the narcissistic part of him that wants attention. I wouldnt work with him at all. Its my memoir about what Ive gone through. He has a [big] fan clubpeople that write him and even talk to him on the phone. Theyll print off my tweets or my Facebook pictures of my kids and send them to him. So he heard the book was coming out at the end of January, and he even asked, Did it have something to do with the anniversary of the Otero murders? And I was like, No. My publisher set the date; it has nothing to do with your murders 45 years ago. Im trying to show you an example of what its like to communicate with him, and why I dont that often. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The books portrait of your father is complicated. In some parts, you describe him as being a loving father and family man before his arrest. You also talk about how he had this temper and occasionally became violent. Do you still consider him a great and loving father? How do you reconcile these two sides? Advertisement Like 9095 percent of the time, he was a good dad. Ive been told, Every day of your life is a lie because you never lived with the man you thought you did. The fact that he murdered seven people before you were born and three afterthat automatically makes him not a good dad. But my therapist said, even if it was a lie, it was a lie I believed. I had a father raising me. I had two parents raising me. If you ask me to try to reconcile it, my brain will explode. Ill have to go, like, take a nap. Im a trauma victim. I still deal with PTSD today. If I try to think about living with BTK [instead of] living with my dad, its not a good place to be. Advertisement I know that he cared for us and loved us. That side of him wasnt an act. Im not ever trying to defend anything my father has done, because its not defensible. But I think its important for people to understand: I did lose my father. I think its important, from a criminology aspect, to show that he was a father and a husband and a co-worker. You hear that my dads a psychopath and he cant have feelings. I argue that he can. I know hes 73 and hes having some health issues. Hes my father, and I still love him. In the book, you show how emotional he was when the family dog had to be put to sleep. Its difficult to reconcile the fact that he was a murderer, and yet he cried like a normal person would cry when his dog died. Advertisement I believe my dad was sincerely emotional in those moments I wrote about. Hes said that he compartmentalizes, so that if hes with you, hes just Dennis. If hes out there being BTK, hes BTK. I dont know what makes a person able to do that. The letters in your book from your father are interesting. It seems like your father expressed much remorse for the way his crimes affected your family, but he doesnt express remorse for the people he actually murdered and their families. Has he ever shown remorse for that? Advertisement No. I mean, right after sentencing, in a September 05 letter, he says hes so sorry for the victims and he asks God to be between him and them. Thats the closest Ive ever seen him to saying hes sorry. When he was in court for sentencing, he never expressed remorse as far as I know. Ive never seen him express remorse. In court, he didnt even get some of their names right. Advertisement Do you think he is incapable of feeling sorry for what he did to them? I think he feels sorry he got caught. Theres that Black Friday poem where he talks about being caught. [Rader sometimes writes poems from his prison cell.] He wrote [letters] in March of 05. You can see the remorse of, like: Im in jail. I dont have my good food and my house shoes. And Im alone. Why arent you calling or visiting me? You dont really see remorse for what he did to the victims and their families. When the FBI agent first told you your father was BTK, you thought it was a mistake. Was there a specific moment when you realized he really had done these things? Advertisement I dont know if I can pinpoint the exact moment. Youre in shock, but bits of reality will break in. I was sitting there with the agent, at first defending my father and saying, Its not true, youve got the wrong guy. And then I remembered that my neighbor lady had been murdered in 85 and as far as I knew, that hadnt been solved. I was 6. I remember how much that hurt me to even say it out loud and realize my dad could have been that murderer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Even this far out, Ill live my normal daily life and wont be thinking about my dad as BTK. And thensay Im in page editsit comes back to me: Oh, Dads BTK. That breaks into your head and it still stings. Its been 14 years. Its just so out there and so crazy that I still have that Oh, my dads BTK moment now. Do you believe your dad always knew he would be caught eventually? I dont know. Seems like he sort of stumbled into getting caught. He hadnt communicated [with the police] between 79 and 04, except around 87, when he sent a letter to Mrs. Fager. Her two daughters and her husband were murdered. [The 1987 Fager family murder in Wichita remains unsolved, and BTK denied involvement at the time.] Advertisement If I try to think about living with BTK [instead of] living with my dad, its not a good place to be. He denied committing that murder. He denied it. I actually asked some detectives about it in Wichita. They put somebody on trial, but the guy got off. They said theyre positive it wasnt my dad, and he just has the 10 [murders]. But occasionally Ill reach out to a detective and theyll have to reassure me: No, its just the 10. Thats one of those things that just hangs therecould there still be more? Sometimes Im still bracing for that phone call from the media or a detective. Advertisement So do you think your father knew he would be caught? Well, no. He was quiet, and then the 30th anniversary of the Otero murders was in 2004. There was a special [about BTK] on the news. We know that my dad watched that special and would have read the paper. Some people think he started communicating because he wanted to get caught. I think he was just bored and wanted to play games. I was grown and out of the house; my brother was in the Navy. I think he felt like we were safe from whatever he was doing. Youve got to realize, youre dealing with a very twisted, insane person. Its not like our rational minds can rationalize what my father is thinking or doing. He said he wanted to retire as BTK. He wanted to put everything in his notebooks and folders on a computer disc and store them in a safety deposit box. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Was he planning to murder again? Yeah. In 2016, when Katherine Ramslands book [about him] came out, the Wichita Eagle did a piece [saying] my dad was going to murder an 11th woman, supposedly in October of 04. My dad said he was actually at her house and then he saw repairmen or something and left. Just Google BTKs 11th victim, youll find it. I was pretty surprised because I hadnt heard that until 2016. But my dads full of BS. Its hard to know whats real and whats not real. I do know detectives think it was true and talked to the person my dad had targeted and stalked. My dad says in Ramslands book that he was going to commit the murder and then go on a campout with his family. Instead of committing the murder, he just went on the campout. I actually have a photo of him on that campout. I didnt find out until 16 he was going to murder somebody on that day. Advertisement How has your understanding of PTSD changed since your father was arrested? I didnt even realize the first two years I had PTSD. Or that I was a trauma victim. Or that I had witnessed physical abuse in my house. I didnt think any of those terms applied to me. I got that time when the FBI agent was there stuck in my head, and it was looping. It wasnt until I saw the trauma therapist and she was like, This is post-traumatic stress disorder and youre a trauma victim. I was like, How can I be a trauma victim, because nothing happened to me. She explained, Everything you were notified about, everything your father was involved in, is traumatic. All of that becomes trauma when you find out about it. Advertisement Advertisement Youve mentioned sick people who idolize your father. Do these people harass you on social media? I get trolled. Its a combination of being hit on and somebody saying they would like to kill you. In June, somebody took a picture of my father and me fishing and made a Fathers Day card and tweeted it to me. And said: Happy Fathers Day. Weekly I get asked, How could you have not known? I also get, Youre not a victim. You dont have the right to share your story. Are your children old enough to understand who your father is? When my daughter was 5shes 10 nowshe was like: Wheres my other grandpa? I told her, I have a dad, his names Dennis, and hes in jail. She didnt even know what jail was. So I tried to explain it: Its a really long timeout. She was like, When will he get out? Well, he wont ever get out. Now that theyre older, theyve known for years what Ive been writing about my life. And theyve seen pictures of him. Advertisement Do they know why hes in jail? Advertisement Advertisement Right now they know hes done bad stuff. But not what. That wasnt until last year. They were sort of pushing me, asking, Well, what did he do? I kind of blew up and I said, Hes in jail for hurting people. I left it at that. For years we would ask my daughter, Whats the worst thing someone could do? And she would say: Be a burglar. We knew she wasnt prepared to handle the answer. Youre trying to protect them. But you also dont want them to become teenagers and Google Mom and find this all out on their own. Trying to slowly step them into the truth without causing harm to them. Advertisement Advertisement Reading the book, I found myself wondering about your moms story. How has her recovery been similar to yours or different? Advertisement Shes sort of dealt with my dad like he died on the day he was arrested. Her emotional way of dealing with it was, like, Hes gone, he died. Early on she did write him. After the plea, she didnt; she never wrote him since then. She went into therapy around the same time I did. As far as I understand, she has PTSD from the events around his arrest. Do you ever wonder what your life would be like now if your dad had never been caught? It would be a private life, right? I would give anything to just have my dad back and not have any of that. Do you wish youd just never found out? With him just living his life in secret? Advertisement For those families, he needed to be caught. He should have been arrested right after the Otero murders [in 1974]. Honestly, he should have turned himself in before the Otero murders, to a psychiatric hospital. Thats one of the things Ive had to wrestle with: If things were the way they should have been, I wouldnt be alive. If he had turned himself in, saying, Im capable of doing thisor if he had been caught like he should have beenI wouldnt be here. I dont think I could possibly answer that knowing for the last 14 years what he is and what hes done. Theres no way to remove the last 14 years and say, I wish we didnt know. Now what happens if he had died and we found something in a safety deposit box? For the families, Im glad he got caught so they got answers and justice. And my dad belongs in prison. My dad should have been in prison since 74. Have you had contact with those families [of Raders victims]? No. None of my family felt comfortable going to the sentencing and plea. People keep saying, Well, wouldnt you want to meet with the family members? To me, it would be really unimaginable and difficult. I would be really broken up, knowing it was my father who caused them so much pain and loss. This article is published through a partnership with New York Medias Strategist. The partnership is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. Every editorial product is independently selected by New York Media. If you buy something through our links, Slate and New York Media may earn an affiliate commission. Getting a bit down when the days become shorter is totally normal, but if your change in mood is more pronounced, its possible you have seasonal affective disorder, a condition experienced by an estimated 10 million Americans each year. Symptoms include less energy, greater need for sleep, and increased appetite especially for sweets and starches, says Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal, the clinician and researcher credited with discovering SAD. The most common treatment for SAD is light therapy, a.k.a. SAD lamps. Dr. Janna Gordon-Elliott, psychiatrist at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian cautions, however, that since SAD lamps arent regulated by the FDA, its important not to just buy the cheaper thing on Amazon, or the thing thats more portable, she says. A good SAD lamp should be of adequate size (the light surface should be large, about 12 inchesby18 inches); brightness (look for a measurement of 10,000 lux); viewing angle (it should be positioned above your eyes and at a slight downward angle to minimize glare); and UV blocking (any decent SAD light should have a built-in UV filter and be labeled UV-Free). To find the best SAD lamps, I spoke with three experts about the ones to look for, and though they were less specific about particular brands they like, they were very specific about the criteria of a good SAD lamp, all of which the below lamps fulfill for best results, use it first thing in the morning for 20 to 30 minutes, positioned about 14 inches away from your face. The more surface area, the better, says Rosenthal. This lamp has a big screen with plenty of surface area. It wont win any awards for its design, but its rated 10,000 lux at 14 inches, which means you get 10,000 lux when you are 14 inches away from the light. [The smaller lights] advertise themselves as having 10,000 lux, says Rosenthal, but you only get that if your head is right in front of it and remains in the exact right position. With a larger surface area of light, you can move your head naturally without worrying about losing optimal contact with the light. This frees you up to read, write, or use your computer while getting your 30-minute dose of light. The Center for Environmental Therapeutics, a nonprofit research and education institution, is perhaps the leading authority on SAD and light therapy. While CET used to put out a widely circulated list of recommended light-therapy lamps, the organization has since discontinued the practice. This model, the Boxelite OS, is now the only one officially endorsed by CET. Dr. Michael Terman, president of CET and a professor at Columbia, worked directly with the manufacturer to build this to CETs specifications. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On paper, it has many of the same features as the Carex. It has a large screen with adjustable height and tilt, and like the Carex, you get 10,000 lux at 14 inches. At almost double the price of the Carex, its hard to recommend this one if cost is an issue, but if you want the closest thing to an official SAD lamp, this is your best bet. Another benefit is that if something goes wrong or if you have a question, you can call CET directly. This is very similar to the CET-approved model above, and might be a better option for most people. All the stats are the same: 10,000 lux at 14-inches, 3,500 Kelvin color temperature, same screen size, and same manufacturer. There are two differences: The Boxelite screen is in portrait mode while the CET Boxelite OSs screen is in landscape, and the Boxelite does not shine from above as recommended by our experts for optimal benefits. But, this one is $55 less expensive, and it takes up less table real estate. The only downside is you dont get the expert-recommended downward-facing angle unless you jury-rig something yourself. Something of a mash-up between the Carex Daylight Classic Plus and the Boxelite OS. It has all the features our experts recommend: large screen, adjustable tilt, and 10,000 lux at 14 inches. If youre comfortable buying a slightly older model, this is a great way to save a little money and still check all the boxes. Plus, even though its an older model, its still backed by Carexs five-year warranty. And since this one like the Boxelite is elevated on thin legs, you can use the space beneath it to read, write, or rest a cup of coffee. This one is a bit smaller than our recommended size, but we wanted to include a more portable option. Gordon-Elliott knows that people are sometimes put off by the price or larger size of certain light boxes. If youre thinking, I know Im not going to use it if its too cumbersome, and Im going to feel good about myself if I buy the smaller machine, then buy the smaller machine. Rosenthal agrees: Its infinitely better to have a small one than nothing. While research shows you will likely be best served by a larger light, this one is a very good compromise. The manufacturer says its 10,000 lux at 12 inches, which is very good for a light this size, and the stand can be adjusted to tilt down. Another smaller-than-recommended option thats still a good size. Verilux is a well-regarded brand, and reviewers on Amazon love this one. This is rated 10,000 lux at six inches, which is not optimal, but could work if you dont mind placing it close by, or if you are more sensitive to light. The 10,000 lux standard might sound arbitrary, but its based on clinical research. In general, I would definitely recommend 10,000 lux of illumination. [Theres] not adequate evidence to support something of lower intensity, says Gordon-Elliott. If you still prefer to use a smaller light, Rosenthal suggests either moving it closer to your face, or using it for longer than the recommended 30 minutes. That will tend to deliver more light to you, he says. The briefcase-style handle and metal frame make this an extremely durable option that would be easy to transport. Its also rated 10,000 lux at 24 inches, which is the strongest light rating we found anywhere. So if your space is arranged in a way that it would be hard to place this close to you, or if you simply prefer to be further away from the light, this is the one to choose. Its also available to purchase with an included floor stand if you want more flexibility in terms of placement. The NorthStar is like the vintage Rolls Royce of SAD lamps; its a little clunky, but its immensely well-made and built to last. A SAD floor lamp is also something to consider, and its a great solution if you dont have any available table space, or if you want to use the lamp while sitting in a chair. It stands four feet tall once fully assembled, so you could even do double duty and use it while youre on a treadmill or a stationary bike. Slate has relationships with various online retailers. If you buy something through our links, Slate may earn an affiliate commission. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. All prices were up to date at the time of publication. Marlon James A Brief History of Seven Killingsa panoramic, multivocal portrait of his hometown, Kingston, Jamaica, around the time of an assassination attempt on Bob Marleywas a literary reputation-maker, winner of the 2015 Booker Prize, and one of the great city novels of the past five decades. Black Leopard, Red WolfJames first major work since thenwill strike many as a radical departure: It is the first in an epic fantasy trilogy set on a fictional continent loosely based on Iron Age Africa. The novel is a delirious smoothie of cultural influences and tributes, from Kurosawa films to superhero comics to the seminal work of the 1930s Nigerian writer D.O. Fagunwa, whose Forest of a Thousand Daemons was the first novel published in the Yoruba language. (Im pretty sure I even caught a whiff of Robert Browning at one point.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That said, Game of Thrones is the most apt comparison. Although at one point we encounter two halflings, one leaving a thick trail of pipe smoke, there are no cozy, Shire-like enclaves in the world of Black Leopard, Red Wolf. James mode is grimdark, the subset of speculative fiction George R.R. Martins epic exemplifies, a mode that eschews J.R.R. Tolkiens idealized, chivalric vision of the Middle Ages for something much closer to the brutal, hierarchical truth. Black Leopard, Red Wolf relates the adventures of a team of mercenaries hired by a slaver to find a child who has been missing for three yearsor, failing that, proof of the boys death. It takes place as rumors of war stir between a northern and southern kingdom, although as in Medieval Europe, these kingdoms cant be called proper nations. Instead, this world consists of uneasy alliances among conglomerations of city-states ruled by warlords and held together by unpredictableand in the case of the southern kingdom, intermittently insanemonarchs. Advertisement The novels narrator, who goes only by the nom de guerre of Tracker, calls the assembled hirelings who set out in search of the missing boy a fellowship, but hes being ironic, as they split up almost right away. Besides, one of the members is a former lover Tracker swore to kill because the man sold him out to a band of vengeful hyena women. The hyenas were after Tracker, meanwhile, because hed killed some of their own in retaliation for their attack on the little forest community where he once lived, during a brief period of happiness. If there is a ruling imperative in this world, its the bloody cycle of retribution, culminating in one of the books final scenes, where a sorcerer warns, You would best think about what you want in these last days, Tracker. Love or revenge. You cannot have both. Yet the two arent really separate: Every quest for vengeance in the novel is spurred by the pain of a love betrayed or destroyed. Advertisement Advertisement James isnt an inhabitant of the fantasy genre intent on blowing up its conventions, the way George R.R. Martin was in 1996, when he published Game of Thrones and shocked readers by killing off the novels apparent hero. If anything, James seems to view Black Leopard, Red Wolf as a chance to gleefully embrace a host of established pop tropes. That forest community is a woodland sanctuary for children with special abilities who have been abandoned to die by villagers unwilling to accept their differences. Beneath his tough-guy exterior, Tracker harbors a soft spot for such kids. Estranged from his own family, he also possesses a superhuman skill: Once he latches onto the scent of a particular person, he can find them anywhere, even detecting their movements from across great distances. Having enlisted in the cause of finding the lost child, Tracker, like any good fictional detective, remains committed to unearthing the truth no matter the cost to himself. Even the motley crew of recruits he joins recalls the premises of such films as The Magnificent Seven, The Seven Samurai, and Guardians of the Galaxy. James is also far from the first writer to expand the fantasy genre to accommodate motifs, themes, and characters inspired by African culture, as the many fans of Nnedi Okorafor, Nalo Hopkinson, N.K. Jemisin, David Anthony Durham, and Tomi Adeyemi can testify. Advertisement Advertisement The special skill James himself brings to the table is a voice of almost overwhelming confidence, earthiness, and brio. Within the first page or so, Tracker, who is now a prisoner being questioned by an inquisitor about how the sought-after boy ended up dead, establishes the novels ruthless eloquence: Regard yourself. A man with two hundred cows who delights in a patch of boy skin and the koo of a girl who should be no mans woman. Because that is what you seek, is it not? A dark little thing that cannot be found in thirty sacks of gold or two hundred cows or two hundred wives. Something that you have lostno, it was taken from you. That light, you see it and you want itnot light from the sun, or from the thunder god in the night sky, but light with no blemish, light in a boy who has no knowledge of women, a girl you bought for marriage, not because you need a wife, for you have two hundred cows, but a wife you can tear open, because you search for it in holes, black holes, wet holes, undergrown holes for the light that vampires look for, and you will have it, you will dress it up in ceremony, circumcision for the boy, consummation for the girl, and when they shed blood, and spit, and sperm and piss you leave it all on your skin, to go to the iroko tree and use any hole you find. Advertisement Advertisement Voice has always been James superpower; A Brief History of Seven Killings is a high-wire act of ventriloquism. Trackers voicewounded, furious, disillusioned, impassioned, implacablecarries the reader through Black Leopard, Red Wolf like a riptide. Truth be told, the plot itself, although liberally salted with spectacular chase and fight scenes, unfolds at a leisurely pace. Furthermore, James molds the novels diction to African grammatical structures not always easy to follow: In everything, learning is to take from where you be to where you like to go. Both of these qualities impede the speedy consumption of pages that readers expect from genre fiction, but ultimately they are what makes Black Leopard, Red Wolf so satisfying. The novel reshapes the way you read it as you go along. Like all epic fantasy, it builds a world out of words, and the way those words fit together is part of the distinctive architecture of that world. Advertisement And what a world it is! Trackers search takes him to a city of towers stacked atop a mountain, a forest where time stands still, another city of treehouses and elaborate machinery concealing an ugly secret, yet another city built out of tunnels, a magical library where he discovers an important clue. His companions include a shape-shifter who alternates between man and leopard, a Moon Witch beset by invisible enemies, a minor river goddess, a chatty giant, a girl raised to be the food of ogres, and an amiable and inexplicably intelligent water buffalo. Arrayed against them are such terrors as a vampire who replaces his victims blood with blue lightning, bat-winged ghouls, and supernatural assassins who form out of shadows pooling on ceilingstheir intended victims never dare step under a roof again. The fellowships employer gives them a story about why the boy they seek is so important, but of course that story keeps changing as Tracker gathers more information, and not every member of the search party is who he or she seems to be. Far from a simple missing-person case, their quest turns out to be highly pertinent to the political tension simmering throughout both kingdoms. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The search, however, is more MacGuffin than the familiar, heroic campaign to save the world. If given the choice, Tracker isnt particularly sure hed want to save it. His work tracking down straying husbands and wandering wives has left him as cynical and hard-boiled as Philip Marlowe. Nobody loves no one is his motto when the quest begins, and much of the novels suspense comes from anticipating how that indifference will be dismantled. Will it be love for the children he once helped save that undoes him? Or for his old friend and traveling companion, Leopard? Isnt that handsome police prefect who followed him into the library acting kind of flirty? The hard-boiled shell of the novels first half begins to soften. And in Trackers world, that can only mean the advent of pain and loss. Advertisement The following two novels in James Dark Star trilogy will be versions of the same events, told from the perspectives of different witnesses. (James has said that he got the idea during a conversation about the Rashomon-style narrative of the Showtime series The Affair.) So while Black Leopard, Red Wolf is restricted to Trackers voice, the trilogy as a whole will be, like A Brief History of Seven Killings, a juxtaposition of voices. Perhaps James new work is not such a departure after all. A city is, in its way, an act of imagination, an identity conjured out of a collection of buildings and of people whose only commonality is that they happen to be in the same place and have a story to tell about it. To read A Brief History of Seven Killings is to feel Kingston assembling itself in James mind through the voices and stories of his characters, in much the same way that he constructs the nameless land of Trackers birth, a place that is and also isnt Africa. It may not be real, but listen long enough and youll believe in it, too. Slate has relationships with various online retailers. If you buy something through our links, Slate may earn an affiliate commission. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. All prices were up to date at the time of publication. Watching the federal government in action is like watching a scene from the movie "Idiocracy." Cuz Brawndos got electrolytes frequently comes to mind when I listen to misguided political leaders open their mouths. We have politicians claiming that they want to move toward Democratic socialism like Sweden. Socialism, by definition, exists when the government controls the means of production. In reality, Sweden is a capitalist country that pays for social programs by taxing the masses at rates as high as 50 percent. There also seems to be a race to come up with the highest tax rate to charge the rich. Ninety percent tax rates on the richest Americans have been proposed as a means to pay for "Medicare for all" (aka universal health care). The reality is that these tax impositions will not generate the $32 trillion that Medicare for all will cost over 10 years. In order to generate the tax dollars to support this program, the tax rate of the masses would have to double. The masses are not the richest Americans, they are Americas middle class. If you havent seen the movie "Idiocracy," I would suggest you watch it, as I feel that is where we are headed. I dont buy their math, and would ask our politicians "Do you even know what electrolytes are?" We all need to wake up and understand basic math and civics before we do irreparable harm to our nation. - Bradley Swart, Sergeant Bluff, Iowa Love 4 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 3 Reliance Defence on Tuesday said the 'proposed MoU' mentioned in a leaked email cited by Congress president Rahul Gandhi in his fresh allegations on the Rafale deal was about Airbus Helicopter and had no connection with the fighter jet contract. "Purported email being referred by the Congress Party is regarding the discussion between Airbus and Reliance Defence regarding Civil and Defence Helicopter Programs under 'Make in India," Reliance Defence Spokesperson said. Rejecting Rahul Gandhi's claim that its Chairman Anil Ambani had prior information of the Rafale deal, Reliance Defence said that the discussion on proposed memorandum of understanding (MoU) was clearly with reference to cooperation between Airbus Helicopter and Reliance. "It had 'no connection' whatsoever with government to government agreement between France and India for 36 Rafale aircraft," the company said. Also Read: 'Rafale' e-mail is an 'Airbus' e-mail: How Rahul Gandhi got it all wrong in this game of obfuscation Rahul Gandhi has been constantly attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi over alleged corruption in the Rafale deal. Earlier on Tuesday, he threw yet another barb at the PM unveiling a copy of an email purportedly referring to Anil Ambani's visit to France before the Prime Minister's visit and alleging that the references in the email were about Rafale. He released to the media an email dated March 28, 2015 purportedly written by Nicolas Chamussy, Executive Vice President Space Systems - Airbus Defence and Space, to three recipients with the subject line 'Ambani'. The Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group company said that it is in public domain that Airbus Helicopter has partnered with Mahindra for the Military Helicopter Program. Also, for the record, MoU for Rafale aircraft was signed between France and India on 25 January 2016 and not in April 2015, it added. Also Read: Ericsson case against RCom: Anil Ambani appears before SC over non-payment of Rs 550 crore The company further stated that from the above, it is evident that the facts are being deliberately twisted and reality being ignored. Edited by Chitranjan Kumar I would like to issue an apology to those that found my Feb. 5 Letter to The Journal, headlined "Arrogant and sanctimonious," offensive. Apparently, some didn't see the allegory and running commentary meant to convey my thoughts on positions The Journal editorial board has taken on some issues in recent years and weeks. It is my fault I wasn't more explicit in my intentions. In my opinion, The Journal editorial board seems to side with governmental bodies or groups that are perceived to represent authority. My own view is that besides basic services at the local level, I do not believe government is a necessity. If we truly believe in freedom, we must also have absolute rights of the individual. This is only achieved by the abolishment of most government intrusions into the life of the individual. The late Molly Ivins alluded to this in several of her books and columns, but relented, saying that human nature and different systems of belief make some government necessary so, to paraphrase her, men do not kill each other. These same sentiments have been expressed over the years by commentator and author Jim Hightower. Both of these fine writers expressed their love for freedom, but also equated an egalitarian society with limited government control. It would make a difference to teachers, who according to a report cited by Democratic lawmakers, are paid 20 percent less than other college graduates. We need to treat teachers like the professionals they are, said freshman Rep. Molly Donahue, D-Cedar Rapids, a teacher for 29 years. Teacher pay raises generally follow the change increase in state funding, added retired educator Rep. Art Staed, D-Cedar Rapids. If teachers get no more than 2 percent, thats less than the Consumer Price Index, (and) teachers will fall further behind. If you want a world-class education in Iowa again, start tonight by voting for this 3 percent, Staed said. However, Dolecheck had numbers of his own. The CPI teachers referred to has increased 9.1 percent since 2011 while the state cost per pupil has risen 14.5 percent. Spending on K-12 education has increased from $2.4 billion in 2011 to $3.27 billion, a 31 percent increase, he added. The second part of the funding package was HF 307. It added $5 per pupil on top of the general fund aid, an additional $2.3 million, for 179 districts. Also, 185 districts will get transportation equity payments that will increase $7.8 million to $19 million. It was approved 99-1. Rep. Jeff Shipley, R-Fairfield, voted against both measures. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 JUDICIAL NOMINATING: A plan to overhaul the nomination of commissioners who nominate Iowa judges passed a Senate committee and now is eligible for debate on the Senate floor. SSB 1101 passed, 9-5, said Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Currently, Iowa judges are appointed by the governor, who picks them from a list of finalists compiled by state commissions. Half the individuals are appointed to those commissions by the governor, and the other half are appointed by Iowa attorneys. The proposal from Republicans who control both chambers of the Legislature would remove attorneys from the process and instead have those commissioners appointed by legislative leaders, giving significant influence to whichever party holds the governors office at any given time. Supporters say the legislation is needed to remove unelected attorneys from the process; opponents say Republicans are making a power play for Iowas courts and inserting politics into the process of selecting judges. WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Steve King on Tuesday released a letter signed by 200 "pro-family" leaders who urged House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to "do the right thing" and reinstate King to his House committees. Last month, McCarthy, R-Calif., stripped King of all his committee assignments for the next two years after the Iowa 4th District Republican, in a New York Times story, was quoted as saying, "White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization how did that language become offensive?" In the aftermath, King claimed his comments were taken out of context, and repeatedly denied that he harbors white supremacist or white nationalist views. Instead, the outspoken conservative described himself as a nationalist fighting to preserve Western civilization. In a Feb. 5 letter to McCarthy, the pro-King leaders said they were "appalled that Republican leadership would choose to believe a liberal news organization famous for their bias over an outstanding member of Congress who has served the people of Iowa and the United States honorably and faithfully for 16 years." SIOUX CITY -- The last months of classes in Hunt Elementary School are winding down, with the building likely to be demolished this summer in the midtown Sioux City neighborhood. The Sioux City School Board took more steps Monday toward replacing the century-old school with a new one, holding a public hearing on a plan for demolition of Hunt, after some asbestos is removed. The total package aired at the board meeting also included site improvements and street reconstruction for the project. The combined project with an estimated $2.45 million cost will be put out for bids in a few weeks, and a contract will be settled by the school board. The succeeding school, also to be named Hunt Elementary, will be built in the 1900 and 2000 blocks of Jackson and Nebraska streets. The goal is to be finished by August 2022 at a cost of $20.5 million. The existing Hunt school, which dates to 1906, is by far the oldest in the citys public school system. It will be demolished after students use the building for one last year through May, then for a few years they will be relocated to Crescent Park. District director of operations and maintenance Brian Fahrendholz said a final design of the roughly 90,000-square-foot building is underway, and will be aired later in the year. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Wieck said the British production company for "BODY CAM" contacted the sheriff's office last summer or fall. "They had asked if we had anything interesting," Wieck said. Wieck thought of a few cases, but couldn't submit them because of legal reasons. Then he remembered this chase and sent producers copies of all the dash and body cam video of the incident. "I didn't think they were going to use it, and then out of the blue I got a phone call from one of the production managers or other people involved with the show," Wieck said. In the weeks before Thanksgiving, a production crew came to Sioux City to interview Milton and Maj. Tony Wingert, who arrived at the crash scene after Derby had exited the vehicle. Wieck said he's watched other episodes of "BODY CAM," and has been impressed with the show. He said the show allows the officers to narrate the video to help viewers understand what's happening. Derby, of Iowa City, was later sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges of eluding and driving while license barred. Investigation Discovery is at channel 112 for Cable ONE subscribers in Sioux City. Satellite TV subscribers can find the network at channel 192 on Dish Network and 285 on DirecTV. Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 1 Sad 1 Angry 2 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SIOUX CITY -- An Odebolt, Iowa, man has been sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison on drug and gun charges. Mark Beckman, 32, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Sioux City to 87 months in prison. He pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and illegal possession of a firearm. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Beckman sold meth in Sac and Ida counties from 2014 through December 2017. He also admitted that he possessed a firearm in November 2017 while he was a meth user and subject to a domestic abuse restraining order. Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. State-owned Food Corporation of India (FCI) will release an official recruitment notification for over 4,000 vacant posts in various sectors on its official website on February 23, 2019, suggested media report. As per media report, there are 4,103 vacancies for various posts including Junior Engineer (Civil Engineer/ Electrical Mechanical Engineering), Assistant Grade II (AG II) (HINDI), Steno Grade- II, Typist (Hindi) And Assistant Grade - III (AG III) (General/ Accounts/ Technical/ Depot posts) in offices spread all over the country. According to reports, all the eligible and interested candidates can apply online through the official website fci.gov.in. The online application process will start on February 23, and will be close on March 25, 2019. The candidates are also informed to apply to one zone only i.e. either North zone or South zone or East zone or West zone or North East zone. They are also informed that the admit cards will be made available on the official website for download - 15 days prior to announced date of examination. According to report, the selection of candidates will be done on the basis of online exam followed by the screen test and document verification. Educational qualification and experience: Junior Engineer (Civil Engineering) - Degree in Civil Engineering or Diploma in Civil Engineering with one year experience. Junior Engineer (Electrical Mechanical Engineering) - Degree in Electrical Engineering or mechanical engineering or diploma in electrical engineering or mechanical engineering with one year experience in the case of diploma holders only. Steno Grade- II - Graduate along with O level qualification of DOEACC and speed of 40 w.p.m and 80 w.p.m. in typing and shorthand respectively or Degree in Computer Science/ Computer Application with speed of 40 w.p.m. and 80 w.p.m. in typing and shorthand respectively. Assistant Grade -II (Hindi) - A degree of a recognized University with Hindi as the main subject. Proficiency in English, One year experience of translation from English to Hindi and vice-versa, Typist (Hindi) - Graduation or equivalent 30 W.P.M speed in Hindi typing. Assistant Grade III - Graduate Degree in any discipline from a recognized University with proficiency in the use of computers. Assistant Grade -III (Accounts) - Bachelor of Commerce from a recognized University with proficiency in the use of computers. Assistant Grade III (Technical) - B.Sc. in Agriculture from a recognized University. Or B. Sc. with any of the following subjects from a recognized University: Botany / Zoology / Bio-Technology / Bio-Chemistry / Microbiology / Food Science. Or B. Tech / BE in Food Science / Food Science and Technology / Agricultural Engineering / Bio-Technology from a recognized University / an institution approved by AICTE. Assistant Grade III (Depot) - Graduate Degree in any discipline from a recognized University with proficiency in the use of computers. Edited by Chitranjan Kumar SIOUX CITY -- No one was injured in a house fire that broke out in Sioux City over the weekend. Sioux City Fire Rescue in a Tuesday release said the fire was reported just before midnight Sunday at 123 Bluff St., with heavy flames visible on the first floor of the two-story home. No people were inside the home, but officials evacuated residents of an adjacent house in close proximity. The evacuated people were able to return home after four hours, the release said. The cause of the fire is under investigation. The home was red-tagged after being heavily damaged. Sixteen firefighters responded to the Bluff Street fire. Fire officials are reminding city residents to make sure they have working smoke detectors. Free smoke alarms are available from Sioux City Fire Rescue, by calling 712-279-6377. Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0 SIOUX CITY -- The U.S. Marshals Service Northern Iowa Fugitive Task Force is seeking the public's help in locating the following person: * Anthony Irvin Sr., 54. He is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 185 pounds. Irvin has a tattoo of a man in a jail cell on his back and has been known to go by several names including Michael Pope and Byram Miles. Irvin is wanted by the Woodbury County Sheriff's Office for felony domestic assault and probation violation. He is on probation for robbery in the third degree. Anyone with information can call the Northern Iowa Fugitive Task Force at 712-252-0211, email Siouxlands.MostWanted@usdoj.gov or text the keyword TEN99 and the tip to TEN411 (877411). Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SIOUX CITY -- Two men who were wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service Northern Iowa Fugitive Task Force have been found. Phillip Jackson Jr., wanted by the Woodbury County Sheriff's Office for possession of a firearm by a felon, turned himself in Feb. 5. He posted bond and was released pending his court date. John Desart was wanted by the Iowa Department of Corrections for violating the terms of his parole by possessing a firearm as a felon. Desart was taken into custody after deputy U.S. Marshals took him into custody at a near northside apartment. He is currently being held in the Woodbury County Jail. Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 3 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. "There will be followup of one kind or another," said Reuel Anderson, the NDEQ's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits and compliance section supervisor. Big Ox has indicated an interest in building a permanent storage site for solid materials consisting of a concrete containment structure and sumps system, according to NDEQ documents. Bradley said he had no comment on the possibility that Big Ox may build a storage facility at the site. The January spill was not the first at Big Ox, which converts organic waste from local industries to methane. The NDEQ issued notices of violation in June and August for sludge spills. Big Ox also was issued a notice of violation in July and again in November for air quality violations. The plant has been the subject of numerous odor complaints from area residents, and a class action lawsuit has been filed against the company claiming that its odors are a nuisance and the result of negligence. A total of 15 homeowners also have filed individual lawsuits against the company, claiming that toxic odors and gases backed up into their homes shortly after the plant began operations in September 2016, causing health issues and making their homes uninhabitable. Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SIOUX CITY --The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is hosting a series of statewide town hall meetings, including three in Northwest Iowa, to take input on possible changes to hunting regulations. A DNR release on Tuesday said department staff will share updates on recently completed hunting seasons and discuss possible changes to hunting rules and regulations. We want people to come out to these meetings, listen to the hunting seasons reviews, ask questions and hear directly from our staff, DNR Wildlife Bureau leader Todd Bishop said. Bishop said the feedback shared by Iowans will be helpful in working through the rules process. Proposed rules will be presented to the Natural Resource Commission during an upcoming public meeting for consideration. Two local meetings will be held on Feb. 26. One will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Dickinson County Nature Center, 22785 Nature Center Road, in Okoboji, and another will take place at 7 p.m. at the Sac County Conservation Center at Hagge Park, 2970 280th St., in Sac City. The third meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 28, at the Lakeport Gun Club, 3089 Calhoun Ave., in Salix. Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Security forces arrested 14 professors who were gathering to protest outside Khartoum University on Tuesday, witnesses said, as anti-government demonstrations neared the end of their eighth week. Doctors also rallied outside state and private hospitals in Sudan's capital and other cities against the rule of President Omar al-Bashir, witnesses added. Union members, students, opposition activists and others, frustrated with economic hardships, have held near daily protests since Dec. 19, in the most sustained challenge to Bashir's three decades in power. Photos posted online on Tuesday showed people holding banners marked with "Freedom, justice and peace", "No to torturing and killing protesters" and other slogans. Rights groups say at least 45 people have been killed in the protests since they began on Dec. 19, while the government puts the death toll at 31. Bashir has blamed the unrest on unnamed foreign powers and showed no signs of bowing to demands to quit. But he and some senior officials have adopted a more conciliatory tone in recent weeks and promised to free detained protesters. (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Yousef Saba; Editing by Andrew Heavens) Photo: Fox Searchlight If you ever caught a glance of your purple-tinged teeth in the mirror or worse, in a photo after a night of drinking red wine, you know the very unappealing effect it can have on your smile. Strong pigments in red wine are instant stain-makers for porous surfaces like your teeth, says New Yorkbased dentist Dr. Lana Rozenberg. These pigments, called chromogens, give it that deep, intense hue, and leave their mark on your teeth after just a few sips. Dr. Marc D. Schlenoff, director of advanced education in the general dentistry program at Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, explains, If you look at, or rub your finger across a tooth, you would think it is very smooth, maybe like a plate or a glass. The truth is though, that the outer layer of the tooth, the enamel, contains many thousands of microscopic pores, which can be filled with staining debris from substances like coffee and wine. Because no one wants their teeth to match their Syrah, we asked six dentists and one wine-bar proprietor to recommend strategies for keeping your smile bright, no matter how much you indulge. While no home remedies are as effective as professional whitening, their suggestions below, along with keeping up with your regular dental checkups and cleaning, can help you reduce stains on your own. Best for preventing stains Before you even pour your first glass of wine, dentists recommend making sure your teeth are as clean as possible. Rozenberg says, brush your teeth before you go out so there is no plaque or tartar on the teeth, since stains like to adhere to the plaque film. Dr. Ruchi Sahota, an American Dental Association spokesperson, agrees that cleaner teeth are less vulnerable to stains: When we brush our teeth were disrupting bacteria and not allowing it to settle in one location. When it does, it becomes hard and [forms] tartar a rough surface that can be easily stained. Nora OMalley, owner and beverage director at Lois wine bar, says, I learned the hard way that prevention is the only thing that works for me. She uses Sensodyne Pronamel, an enamel-strengthening toothpaste, plus an alcohol-free enamel-strengthening mouthwash to clean her teeth before drinking and build up stain resistance. Best for treating stains on-the-go True Wine Stain Removing Wipes, 12-Pack $13 now 31% off $9 If youve already started drinking and are noticing your teeth and lips taking on that tell-tale purple shade, try one these convenient wipes to brighten up on the go. They come recommended by both Rozenberg and Dr. Elisa Mello of NYC Smile Design. Swipe them on your teeth to instantly erase embarrassing purple tinges, says Rozenberg. Mello likes that using these soon after drinking helps get [the stain] off before it really gets embedded. In a pinch, you can also wipe your teeth with a cloth napkin after sipping a dark red. Its a trick OMalley says she learned while living in Italy. $9 at Amazon Buy $9 at Amazon Buy Murrays Cheese Greatest Hits $95 $95 What you eat while youre drinking also plays a role in keeping teeth white and choosing cheese, which youre probably already pairing with your wine, is actually a very smart move. According to Rozenberg, eating cheese causes calcium to build on your teeth and closes the micro-pores on the surface of your enamel, which makes it harder for red wine to stain them. Dr. Ramin Tabib, also of NYC Smile Design, adds, calcium coats the teeth a little and prevents the tannins [high tannin wines like Cabernet Sauvignon are more staining than lighter wines like Pinot Noir] from binding, and he gives some sage advice: Dont have the wine until youve had the cheese. Get indulgent with your next cheese plate with this selection from Murrays. $95 at Murrays Cheese Buy Trident Original Flavor Sugar Free Gum $8 for 12 Besides the tannins and chromogens present in wine, its low, acidic pH level leads to staining. An acidic environment makes the teeth more prone to staining, says Veytsman, and Tabib points out that swirling wine around in your mouth which you may do if youre trying to get a taste for a new wine is like bathing the mouth in acid. Saliva, with its neutral pH, counteracts acidity, but red wine also has astringent properties that dry out your mouth, making it more difficult for saliva production to keep up. Rozenberg says, chewing gum stimulates salivary flow and cleans teeth naturally, and she and Veytsman both recommend keeping sugar-free gum on hand. If gum isnt an option, try swishing some seltzer or water around in your mouth in between sips. Aside from helping you stay hydrated and avoid a hangover water can prevent wine from lingering on your teeth, says Rozenberg. $8 for 12 at Amazon Buy $8 for 12 at Amazon Buy Best for treating stains at home Philips Sonicare Diamond Clean Classic Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush $270 now 11% off $239 Once you get a chance to brush your teeth and get rid of surface stains, make sure youre using an effective toothbrush and toothpaste. My favorite toothbrush is, by far, the Sonicare, says Rozenberg. While most toothbrushes require mechanical contact with the tooth surface to remove plaque, the Sonicare operates at such a high frequency that it creates a force that blasts plaque off the teeth without actually touching the tooth, which means its gentle to teeth and gums and removes stains beautifully. $239 at Amazon Buy $239 at Amazon Buy Quip Electric Toothbrush From $25 Tabib also likes electric toothbrushes but says some people use them improperly, moving around the mouth too quickly or using too much pressure. If youre just transitioning from a manual toothbrush, he likes the non-bulky Quip brush which feels like a traditional brush in the hand and pulses every 30 seconds when its time to move to a new quadrant of your mouth. If youre using it, its a good idea to make sure youre using it effectively, he says. Brush for two minutes and really angle the brush toward the gum line. From $25 at Quip Buy Crest 3D White Toothpaste $13 now 31% off $9 for 3 Youll obviously see a more dramatic improvement from in-office whitening, but brushing with a whitening toothpaste gets rid of fresh stains. Whitening toothpastes work to remove surface stains on your teeth that naturally occur over time, and prevent new red wine teeth stains from forming, says Rozenberg. Both Mello and Veytsman recommend Crest 3D White as a solid, affordable choice. $9 for 3 at Amazon Buy $9 for 3 at Amazon Buy Crest 3D Glamorous White Whitestrips $45 now 24% off $34 When you cant make it into the dentist for a professional whitening procedure, or youre in between sessions, Veytsman calls Crest Whitestrips a great way to maintain the whiteness. Mello prefers them to over-the-counter trays which may put too much pressure on the gums if not used correctly. Plus, they carry the ADA Seal of Acceptance, which Sahota says shows a product has been scientifically proven to be safe and effective. $34 at Amazon Buy $34 at Amazon Buy get the strategist newsletter Actually good deals, smart shopping advice, and exclusive discounts. Email This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Terms & Privacy Notice By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us. The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best acne treatments, rolling luggage, pillows for side sleepers, natural anxiety remedies, and bath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. Every editorial product is independently selected. If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission. Mother of Hong Kong woman killed in Taiwan pleads for change to law to ensure justice for her daughter The mother of a Hong Kong woman found dead in Taiwan last year hopes proposed changes to the law will mean justice for her daughter. The whole ordeal has left a hole in my heart and I cant sleep well at night, she told a press conference in Hong Kong on Tuesday. Her 20-year-old daughter went on holiday to Taiwan last February with her boyfriend, Chan Tong-kai, 19, but never returned. When Chan came back to Hong Kong alone, his girlfriends worried parents became suspicious and Taiwan police were alerted. Her decomposed body was found in bushes near a subway station on the outskirts of Taipei in March, and an autopsy showed she was three months pregnant when she died. Chan is now wanted in Taiwan in connection with the young womans death, but he remains in Hong Kong. Taiwanese authorities say they have asked for him to be sent there, but received no response from Hong Kong. The case has exposed a loophole in the current system because the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance do not apply to Taiwan. The Hong Kong government said it hoped to change the law to cover all jurisdictions worldwide, making it possible for the government to adopt a one-off, case-by-case approach to hand over fugitives or offer legal assistance to any jurisdiction Hong Kong has not already entered into an agreement with. The dead womans mother, who declined to be named, spoke publicly about the case for the first time on Tuesday and pleaded that legislators change the law soon. This is the only way justice can be served and until then, my daughter cannot rest in peace, she said. At home, she was a good daughter. In school, she was a good student, she said. What did she do to deserve this? Our family never imagined that such a horrible thing could happen to such a nice girl. She said she had been under enormous pressure and needed counselling since her daughters death. Story continues After he returned to Hong Kong, Chan was arrested and charged with theft and money laundering for allegedly having stolen goods, including the dead womans bank card, camera, mobile phone and about NT$20,000 (about HK$5,097 or US$649) and HK$19,200 (US$2,446) in cash. Last August, the Kwun Tong court ordered the case transferred to the Eastern Court for committal to the High Court. In December, Taiwanese authorities issued an arrest warrant for Chan. The Shilin District Prosecutors Office asked Taiwans justice ministry to seek help from the Hong Kong government via the islands Mainland Affairs Council to have Chan sent to Taiwan to stand trial. According to the Prosecutors Office, it asked the Hong Kong government for mutual legal assistance at least three times last year but received no response. This article Mother of Hong Kong woman killed in Taiwan pleads for change to law to ensure justice for her daughter first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019. More from South China Morning Post: Auto Nation Group, the official distributor of Mercedes-Benz vehicles in the Philippines, gives you a million reasons why a Mercedes-Benz is the perfect gift this Valentines Day! Avail of discounts as much as One Million Pesos and make your special someone feel like royalty this Valentines! For a limited time only, you can enjoy huge discounts on select Mercedes-Benz sedans, SUVs, vans and performance vehicles, including: E-Class for as much as PHP100,000 discount GLA for as much as PHP150,000 discount GLC for as much as PHP250,000 discount S-Class for as much as PHP490,000 discount GLE for as much as PHP500,000 discount AMG 43/Coupe for as much as PHP1,000,000 discount Sprinter Van for as much as PHP490,000 discount For more information, call or visit your nearest Mercedes-Benz dealer located at the following areas: Mercedes-Benz EDSA-Greenhills (02) 784 5001/ 0939 937 2009, Mercedes-Benz Global City (02) 815 7777/ 0920 974 4575, Mercedes-Benz Alabang (02) 553-6334 / 0905 435 2840, and Mercedes-Benz Cebu (32) 260 3333/ 0917 718 2369. You may also visit www.mercedes-benz.ph for more details. The post A Million Reasons a Mercedes-Benz is the Perfect Valentines Gift appeared first on Carmudi Philippines. Meet 7 more top-notch investors who will be judging TOP100! Join the best pitching competition in Southeast Asia! Already stoked to apply for TOP100? Our application can be found here! An important part of the TOP100 pitching programme is the opportunity to present your business to the best investors in Southeast Asia. Entrepreneurs spend a lot of time trying to grab the attention of the investment community and TOP100 provides a guarantee to have the full attention of investors for 8 minutes. That is tough to beat. We have lined up another seven of the many investors for the TOP100 pitching qualifiers. Here is a little more insight into who they are! Carmen Yuen Vertex Ventures Carmen Yuen is a Partner at Vertex Ventures, one of the most respected VC firms in Southeast Asia. Yuen joined the company in 2014 and is focussed on Singapore and Southeast Asia. Yuen has a background in angel investing at Majuven and has been involved in Singapores government-backed initiatives like EDB Investments and Spring SEEDS Capital. She has been a leader in the Singapore start-up community since the early days. Nikhil Kapur GREE Ventures As a Principal for Gree Ventures Nikhil Kapur covers investments across Southeast Asia and India.He joined the firm in 2015 after founding a successful mediatech company in Singapore. Kapur completed his MBA, with a major in finance, at the National University of Singapore after receiving the NUS MBA Academic Excellence Award. Jeffrey Nah JN Capital & Growth Advisory Jeffrey Nah has a long history with incubation and acceleration in the entrepreneurship and startup space. Nahs experience is not just limited to startups, he also consults with SMEs to help them future-proof their companies. Nah is a Registered Management Consultant (RMC) with the Institute of Management Consultants Singapore (the Spring Singapore recognized certification organization). James Ong YCH Group / Supply Chain Angels James Ong is the Head of Corporate Finance at YCH Group, a leading integrated end-to-end supply chain management and logistics partner to some of the worlds largest companies. Story continues Ong leads investment decisions for YCH a company that is consistently recognised for business excellency in Singapore. He also focusses energy on the companys real estate assets and supply chain financing initiatives. Ong is also the Investment Manager for Supply Chain Angels, YCHs Venture Capital investment vehicle. Kim Liu iGlobe Partners Kim Liu is an experienced professional from the telecommunications and financial service industry. Plus, her background is in both MNCs and start-ups, so she understands how to bridge both worlds. Liu was a Product Management Director of Aicent Inc., a global IPX company. She managed international services for the operators global ambitions. Dave Kwong Incubate Fund Kwong has a long history as an investor and analyst. Currently, as an Investment Associate at Incubate Fund, he is focussed on deal sourcing, screening, supporting startups and navigating the ecosystem. Incubate Fund is an early stage venture capital firm with offices in Tokyo, Singapore, Bangalore, and San Francisco. Prior to Incubate, Kwong worked as an Investment Associate at KKFund. Yee Hoong Chow Monks Hill Ventures Yee Hoong was most recently the founder of Custom Tribe, an online algorithmic custom shirt startup where he built the operations, marketing, and tech functions over two years. Prior to that he was with Xeraya Capital covering MedTech in oncology, cardiovascular, and chronic care and invested in radiotherapy (US) and blood technology (APAC) startups. Keen on meeting the pool of investors? Sign up today for TOP100! Who knows, they might just pick you as the Judges Choice that lands you a spot to pitch at Echelon Asia Summit 2019 as well as entitles you to an exhibition space during the event. (free of charge!) If youre an investor interested in being a part of our pool of judges, heres a link to sign up! The post Meet 7 more top-notch investors who will be judging TOP100! appeared first on e27. This ones for all the frustrated web creators When looking for a .com name, it can be frustrating to find many that are already taken but appear to be unused. Is there rampant domain speculation or some other explanation? Lets look at the data There are currently 137 million .com domain names registered.1 Of these, roughly a third of domains are in use (businesses, personal websites, email, etc.), and another third appear to be unused, leaving the last third for a variety of speculative purposes. How I determined these numbers I started by crawling a random sample of the domains from the top-level .com DNS zone file3 until reaching 100,000 valid domains.4 For each domain, I collected the following: the WHOIS record, 5 all DNS records for the top-level domain and the www subdomain, 6 HTTP and HTTPS 7 responses (status code, headers, and bodies) for the root page of the top-level domain and the www subdomain, screenshots of the root page as viewed by Mozilla Firefox 64.0 on Linux The crawl took a little over 48 hours from a single server located in a Singapore data centre. I ran a follow-up crawl for any domains that failed to connect over HTTP or HTTPS (in case of transient errors). And finally, for the 2,188 domains to be categorized I manually checked any that had failed in case the crawler had timed out or had DOM events blocked by JavaScript. Then, I wrote a script to help me categorize websites based on their screenshot and body. The categorization script presents the possible categories as a list of buttons, with Content being the default. I used the script to categorize domains over the next 2 days.8 In some cases the screenshot and body were not sufficient, so I manually opened the domain in a web browser for inspection. Summary statistics and insights Top 10 .com Domain Registrars, from a sample of 100,000 domains GoDaddy is the registrar for a third of all .com domain names. Thats roughly 45 million domain names. Of those, one in three have parking pages. In other words, more than 10 per cent of all .com domain names host GoDaddy ads pages. While there are 1,851 registrars in the sample, the majority of those are controlled by a smaller number of operators. 9 25 per cent of domains were registered within the last year. Domain ages according to WHOIS creation dates, from a sample of 100,000 domains Domain categories Story continues These categories evolved as I worked. For example, I hadnt anticipated the high number of gambling domains (aliases). For most categories, Ive included a random sample of screenshots from that category excluding redundant ones. Content (31% or ~43 million) Content is the category of any domain with a website displaying unique content. It doesnt matter what the content is, as long as it appears to be unique for the domain and publicly accessible. When I was unsure, I placed domains in this category by default. Ads (23% or ~31 million) Note that half the domains in this category are GoDaddy parking pages, on which GoDaddy places Google ads based on the keywords related to the domain name. No Web Server (11% or ~16 million) If I was unable to connect to, or receive a valid response from, port 80 or 443 for either the top-level domain or the www subdomain and the domain had no MX records, I placed the domain in this category. Some of these domains likely have some non-web use, such as an FTP or video game server, but I expect them to be a small fraction. Additionally, the crawling server was only configured for IPv4, so any IPv6-only websites would have been grouped here. Empty (9.2% or ~13 million) An Empty domain is one for which a web server is answering requests, but returning empty pages, 404s, or unfilled templates (such as default WordPress installs). The difference between an Empty domain and a Parked domain is that the Empty domain has presumably been configured by the user, but no content has been added yet. For Sale (7.1% or ~9.8 million) Many domains are listed For Sale, usually by domain investors, through various brokers and marketplaces. Nearly half of this category appears to be domains sold by HugeDomains, although their website lists only over 200,000 domains available for purchase (a fraction of their ~4 million domains if the sample is representative). I only included domains from recognizable marketplaces or when the contact details were not part of ad placement, as ad networks and domain brokers will often falsely claim that they represent a domain owner (I categorized all such domains as Ads instead). Error (5.7% or ~7.9 million) If a domain returned any type of error, whether an HTTP error or an in-page error, it belongs to this category. Note that I might have miscategorized some Private domains as Errors if they used basic authentication, as I did not distinguish between 403 Forbidden (due to no basic auth credentials) and other errors. Parked (4.8% or ~6.5 million) Parked domains are those that display a page from the registrar or host explaining that the domain has not been set up yet. To qualify as Parked, a domain had to serve a page without any external ads. It could advertise its own services, but it couldnt place ads from an ad network. Gambling (3.0% or ~4 million) All websites in this category are in Chinese and are operating under aliases, often short strings of numbers or consonants (e.g. 17770012 or tdwhtr). They follow common templates and contain similar images, often with automatically-generated logos. I assume their purpose is to attract people who think the names are lucky. Mail (2.6% or ~3.5 million) Any domain not in any other category, but with MX DNS records (for email), I categorized as Mail. I did not attempt to see if the mail server was working or if delivery was possible. Its possible that many of these domains are not actually used for email, but Ive given them the benefit of the doubt. Redirect (1.1% or ~1.6 million) Redirects include vanity domains pointing to Facebook pages, alternative names for businesses, etc. Private (0.64% or ~0.9 million) Private domains did not appear to have any content accessible without first logging in (or in some cases registering). Porn (0.59% or ~0.8 million) Similar to gambling websites, a number of pornographic websites operate under various aliases. The websites were predominantly in Chinese and the domains followed similar naming patterns. As many of the sites display pornographic material directly (not after a warning), Ive not included the screenshots here. ^ According to Verisign there are 137,756,106 .com domains in the active zone as of 2019-01-27. I had previously verified this number against the DNS zone file downloaded on 2019-01-21. ^ Steven K. Thompson. Sample Size for Estimating Multinomial Proportions. The American Statistician, 4(1):42-46, 2 1987. ^ I downloaded the zone file from Verisign at 2019-01-21 02:00 UTC and crawled the domains from 2019-01-21 11:20:52 UTC to 2019-01-23 14:04:40 UTC. ^ Not all records in the zone file are valid domains. Some do not have a WHOIS record and may act as honeypots to catch people distributing and using zone files without permission. Its possible that there are also valid domains that act as honeypots, but without any way to identify them, Ive ignored that possibility for the purpose of this study. Additionally, approximately 1 per cent of the records in the zone file are for name servers, not top-level domains. I excluded them from all analysis (i.e. only 98,854 of the 100,000 crawled records are used). ^ WHOIS records are directly from Verisigns WHOIS server. ^ I collected DNS records by issuing a DNS ANY query directly to the name servers listed in the domains WHOIS record (in order to avoid inaccuracies due to caching and recursive resolution). A small number of DNS providers do not respond correctly or at all to ANY queries. ^ The crawler verified SSL certificates, so any HTTPS-only websites with invalid SSL certificates were classified as Error. ^ I did not manually categorize every website. When I noticed repetitive and obvious cases, such as when the title of the page was, I used an appropriate regular expression to bulk categorize website bodies that matched. I previewed the matches beforehand to ensure that they were not overly broad, but its possible that I misclassified some edge cases. ^ DropCatch.com uses numbered LLCs like DropCatch.com 1000 LLC, DropCatch.com 1001 LLC, DropCatch.com 1002, etc. Other drop catching operators have similar collections of names, but not all alternate registrars are named so obviously. Image Credit: ojogabonitoo This article first appeared on singaporedatacompany.com e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here. The post How many .com domain names are unused? appeared first on e27. Italian anti-mafia author Roberto Saviano said Tuesday he would not allow himself to be "intimidated" by his country's far-right interior minister, who has threatened to revoke his police protection. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini stirred controversy last year by threatening to lift the police watch for Saviano -- one of his most virulent critics -- who has lived under armed guard since publishing his international bestseller "Gomorrah" in 2006. Speaking at the Berlin film festival where the movie he wrote "Piranhas" premiered, Saviano said he would not be cowed. "I am staying calm. I continue to do what I do. I will continue to tell what's happening, I will not let myself be intimidated by the threats made systematically by the Italian interior minister," he told reporters. "You have to understand what's happening right now in Italy. There are some very serious things happening." Saviano noted that his police protection, while essential, was a serious inconvenience to his life. "Beyond the question of my personal security, the police escort is not a privilege -- it's a nightmare to have to be escorted," he said. "There are dozens of journalists under protection in Italy and in Europe. Europe is no longer a safe place for those who tell what is happening." "La Paranza dei bambini" (Piranhas) by director Claudio Giovannesi about the youth gangs of Naples was based on a book and subsequent screenplay by Saviano, Maurizio Braucci and Claudio Giovannesi. It is one of 16 films in competition for the Berlinale festival's Golden Bear top prize, to be awarded by jury president Juliette Binoche on Saturday. Theses traction cleats are the best, notes one happy shopper. They are the best because they grab the trail with absolutely no slippage, they are durable with no broken-missing cleats or problems with the shoe itself and they are easily mounted to the boots and adjustable to various boots within your size range by adjustable velcro straps that do not fail. 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The ferocious battle for the Islamic State group's last bastion in eastern Syria entered its fifth day on Wednesday, as exhausted families left the ever-shrinking scrap of land where holdout jihadists have been boxed in by Kurdish-led forces. Hundreds fled day and night from Baghouz, near the enclave where diehard IS fighters are making their last stand, as plumes of grey smoke billowed into the sky over the flat, desolate town. The extremist group declared a cross-border "caliphate" in Syria and Iraq in 2014, but various military campaigns have chipped its territory down to less than four square kilometres (one square mile) on the Iraqi border. After a pause of more than a week to allow out civilians, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declared a final push to retake the pocket of land from the extremists on Saturday, aided by the warplanes and artillery of a US-led coalition. SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said Tuesday that 600 civilians had fled the combat zone overnight and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said another 350 made it out that day. The SDF have built up a pair of sand embankments on a scrubby plateau overlooking Baghouz. Most of the neighbourhoods visible along the hazy horizon are under their control, but the southernmost parts of the small town -- from which sounds of a firefight can be heard -- are still held by IS. - Russians and Ukrainians - Suddenly, black dots appeared on the dirt road that snakes across the plain from the ruins of the town. The SDF watched them warily at first, but as the group of about 25 people got closer, members of the Free Burma Rangers volunteer medical group scrambled down the hill to meet them. There are no other NGOs or UN agencies at the site. Half a dozen among the new arrivals were adult men. The rest were women, panting after their long trudge out of Baghouz, and young children with dirty hair. About half were Ukrainian or Russian women and their children, while most of the others were Syrian. A 34-year-old woman from Crimea tore pieces of bread to give her three children. She identified herself as Umm Khaled and said she came to Syria five years ago after divorcing her Tatar husband. Once there, she married an Azeri IS member and had two other children. "They are all fatherless now," she told AFP in broken Arabic, her voice shaking. Coalition spokesman Sean Ryan said US-backed forces were facing a fierce fightback. "The progress is slow and methodical as the enemy is fully entrenched and IS fighters continue to conduct counter attacks," he said. "The coalition continues to strike at IS targets whenever available." - 'Six hours? In the cold?' - On Monday, the Observatory said a coalition air strike killed 16 civilians. An Italian journalist was also wounded as he covered the clashes and evacuated for treatment, a colleague said on Twitter. The SDF launched the battle to expel IS from the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor in September, slowly tightening the noose around the jihadists and their families since December. In the past two months, more than 37,000 people, mostly wives and children of IS fighters, have fled into SDF-held areas, the Observatory says. That figure includes some 3,400 suspected jihadists detained by the SDF, according to the monitor. At a gathering point for new arrivals, dozens of men knelt on the ground. Iraqi and Syrian women and children prepared to make the journey north to a Kurdish-held camp for the displaced, after spending the night in tents. A very thin child with dark circles around his eyes stumbled onto a truck, as other children screamed out for water and their mothers asked how long the drive would take. "Six hours? In the cold?" shouted a wrinkled Iraqi woman. The SDF on Saturday said up to 600 jihadists could still be inside the pocket, adding their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was likely not there. At the height of their proto-state, Baghdadi's followers implemented their brutal implementation of Islamic law in an area the size of Britain. Once the "caliphate" is declared over, the fight will continue to tackle IS sleeper cells, the SDF and their allies have said. US President Donald Trump on Monday said the coalition may declare victory over IS in the region within days. During an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Tuesday, acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan met Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi but the possibility of US troops in Iraq deploying into Syria for operations against IS "just did not come up" during their talks, Shanahan told reporters. Separately on Tuesday, the Syrian government and rebels exchanged prisoners in the country's north as part of a peace process brokered by Russia, Iran and Turkey, the Turkish government said. French howitzer-guns deployed in the Euphrates Valley desert just inside Iraq stand ready to pour fury on Islamic State group diehards in their last holdout across the border in Syria. Warplanes flash through the sky, followed seconds later by explosions on the Syrian side that send up a mushroom cloud. "We're less than 10 kilometres (six miles) from the frontline here," points out Colonel Francois-Regis Legrier. He is the commander of Task Force Wagram, a French artillery group within the US-led military coalition that backs up Iraqi soldiers and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the jihadists. Dozens of 155-mm shells are lined up ready to be loaded onto three green-and-black Caesar gun-howitzers with a range of 40 kilometres (25 miles). The SDF, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters, announced a final push to retake the jihadist pocket in and around the village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border late Saturday, after a pause of more than a week to allow civilians to flee. "The end is near," is the message from France's Defence Minister Florence Parly who visited the Task Force Wagram site in Al-Qaim from Baghdad aboard an American V-22 Osprey military aircraft. "The terrorists are leaderless, without communications, in disarray, on the verge of collapse. So let's finish off this fight," the minister tells a group of some 40 French soldiers manning the outpost alongside 100 US troops. Legrier, whose 68th regiment took part in the 2016 recapture from IS of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, says there are "a few hundred fighters left in Baghouz, not more". "Mosul, that was a nine-month battle and 10,000 shells. On this front, it's been four months and we're at 3,500 rounds," he says. He points to challenges caused by frequent sandstorms and heavy rains. Weather conditions have often grounded warplanes but artillery has been largely unaffected. "At the end of last year, the pace was intense, we didn't get much sleep," explains Valentin, a 27-year-old lieutenant on his maiden overseas deployment. - 'Not completely over' - The lieutenant and his comrades are being rotated out next week, probably for the last time, as the mission winds down. "The territorial caliphate, which has not yet been wiped out, is being defeated," Parly had said in the Iraqi capital last week, referring to the swathes of territory straddling Syria and Iraq seized by a rampant IS in 2014. "We must continue the fight against IS and terrorism in the region because IS is probably in the process of reorganising underground and spreading out," she said on her visit. Since the launch of its Al-Qaim operations, codenamed Chammal, French forces have fired off more than 18,000 shells and conducted 1,500 air strikes in support of anti-IS fighters on the ground. "Our forces have been playing their part in full," Parly says in the desert. But "the fight is not completely over," she warns. "What we want to avoid at all costs is for Daesh (IS) to regroup in clandestine forms, threaten the region, disrupt its stabilisation, and also menace our countries." A saleswoman exhales vape as she talks to a customer at the Vape Shop that sells e-cigarette products in Beijing, China, on 30 January, 2019. (Reuters file photo) By Andrew da Roza In his speech at a recent Health Promotion Board roadshow, Amrin Amin, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Home Affairs, made it very clear that the Singapore government needs to ensure that the public and the young know the reasons for the ban on electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). The Sembawang GRC Member of Parliament noted, however, that if there is good, sound evidence about using e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid, the government is willing to study it. This is indeed laudable. There is no doubt that excellent public health policy must be based on sound scientific evidence. With his remarks in mind, we should look at a number of credible, published, and peer-reviewed scientific studies on e-cigarettes and other related issues that ought to form the basis of public health policy in Singapore and the public and young need to know about them. Is smoking harm reduction legitimate? Harm reduction for cigarette smoking has long been the public health goal in Singapore. For instance, nicotine replacement therapy products, such as nicotine patches, gums, and lozenges, are readily available over the counter while nicotine inhalers and nasal sprays are legal here. Encouraging smokers to substitute nicotine from conventional cigarettes for another, safer form of nicotine in alternative products is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). This harm reduction strategy is enshrined in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control 2004, and in the WHO MPOWER measures, which Singapore has adopted. The regulation and promotion of e-cigarettes is simply another harm reduction strategy through nicotine replacement to counter the global smoking epidemic. Logic. e-cigarette products are seen for sale in a shop in Manhattan in New York City, New York, on 6 February, 2019. (REUTERS file photo) Are e-cigarettes poisonous? The vapour from e-cigarettes indeed contains chemicals that with sufficiently high accumulated doses over many years may cause some degree of health hazard but this is uncertain. Long-term population studies over 30 or 40 years will establish relative safety but banning e-cigarettes will prevent such studies in Singapore. In any case, the public health issue is not whether e-cigarettes are completely safe. Story continues Coffee, chocolate, sugar, alcohol and other consumer products are not completely safe. The major difference is that these products do not contribute towards preserving health and life, in the way that e-cigarettes do as a possible aid to help smokers quit their use of conventional cigarettes. The public health issue is whether smokers and secondhand smokers who inhale highly toxic tobacco smoke would experience substantial harm reduction from the former group switching to e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes do not burn tobacco, and thus contain only a fraction of tobacco smoke chemicals. In addition, e-cigarette vapour has much lower doses of these chemicals than cigarette vapour in some cases 300 per cent to 400 per cent lower. The credible, published toxicological studies on e-cigarette vapour are therefore of utmost importance to the public. The particulate size in e-cigarette vapour is not the issue it is more important to know what those particles are and their effects. These studies are the basis for the generally well-accepted scientific findings that show e-cigarettes are very likely to be 95 per cent safer than conventional cigarettes. It should be noted that nicotine replacement therapy products have some of the same chemicals and doses as e-cigarettes, such as tobacco-specific nitrosamines, metals, and aldehydes. Although these studies can be easily accessed online, there is still a tendency to cite other studies that show that e-cigarette use is dangerous. However, in many cases, there has been a misinterpretation of research findings, poor research methods, or assumptions that are not based on real-world conditions. For example, a high level of formaldehyde was reportedly found when e-cigarette liquid was over-heated to levels unpalatable to e-cigarette users. But there is no indication to show that e-cigarette users are exposed to dangerous levels of aldehydes. Another example is that stressed mice poisoned with very high levels of nicotine twice daily for two weeks were more likely to lose weight and die when exposed to bacteria and viruses. But this has no biological relevance for e-cigarette users. Crucially, unlike tobacco, e-cigarette liquids are artificial so regulations can make them safer banning them and leaving them to the forces of the black market will not. E-cigarette devices are placed on a shelf for sale in a store in Prague, Czech Republic, 31 January, 2019. (Reuters file photo) Are e-cigarettes effective? Whether e-cigarettes are effective to enable smokers to switch from conventional cigarettes is also the subject of a recent peer-reviewed scientific study. A study of 886 participants published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that the one-year smoking abstinence rate was 18 per cent for e-cigarette users, compared with 9.9 per cent abstinence in a conventional nicotine replacement therapy group. In other words, e-cigarettes are twice as effective as nicotine replacement therapy in helping smokers to quit their habit. However, the results of this landmark, randomised controlled trial are likely to have understated the true value of e-cigarettes in aiding smoking cessation. Nicotine replacement therapy is unpopular with smokers with only two to four per cent of smokers using it for smoking cessation for several reasons. The therapy does not deliver enough nicotine, fast enough to reduce tobacco smoke cravings. It is also not effective as it has none of the sensory cues of smoking feelings in the lungs and throat, tastes and the sight of vapour in addition to the use of the hands and fingers, and the rituals and social connections. These are the characteristics of conventional cigarettes and e-cigarettes. Nicotine replacement therapy products also do not have the visual appeal that e-cigarettes have. Finally, smokers are averse to admitting that they are sick by visiting a pharmacy for nicotine replacement therapy. Unsurprisingly, there is evidence to show a marked decrease in smoking in countries where e-cigarettes are regulated not banned. Given that the smoking rate has been hovering around 12 per cent in Singapore for the past 18 years, there should be a significant shift in public health policy to bring the rate lower. A signboard indicates that visitors are only allowed to use e-cigarette devices is displayed at Vape Studio in Tokyo, Japan, on 29 January, 2019. (Reuters file photo) Weighing risks and rewards The public heath question then becomes, does the greater popularity and effectiveness of e-cigarettes compared with nicotine replacement therapy outweigh the possible greater health risks? In 2017, about 3.3 billion taxed cigarettes were sold in Singapore but as many as hundreds of millions of untaxed cigarettes could also have been sold. An executive summary of a National Population Health survey indicates that 660,000 Singaporeans smoke daily. But this was likely an underestimation of the number of smokers here. That is because the survey data gathered was based on self-reporting. As smoking is perceived to be a shameful subject, data analysis based on self-reports is therefore flawed. The data also does not include non-daily smokers and non-Singaporeans, who account for a significant proportion of smokers. Finally, the data does not factor in the number of people who are exposed to secondhand smoke daily. If two non-smoking family members were exposed to the effects of a smokers habit on a daily basis, the survey assessment should cover an additional 1.3 million people. As such, over 2 million people may be at risk from smoking or nearly half of Singapores population. When we look at these risks, can we say that banning e-cigarettes is, therefore, an overly cautious approach? Does the enormous risk of smoking to the health of Singaporeans and the economy outweigh the possible (unproven) incremental health risks that e-cigarettes may have compared with nicotine replacement therapy? Every day, the public health authorities in Singapore assess the risks and benefits of consumer health products, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices. They do not look at the uncertainty of health risks alone. There are no products that have been banned here because of lack of scientific studies covering a span of thirty or more years certainly not lifesaving ones. Now is the time to get all the facts on the table about e-cigarettes and create a safer public health policy in Singapore. Andrew da Roza is an addiction psychotherapist with Promises Healthcare; and Chairman of We Care Community Services, a voluntary welfare organisation assisting addicts and their families. He is a mental health advisor to the NCSS Services Committee; and a member of the Singapore Anti-Narcotics Board Association Rehabilitation and Reintegration sub-Committee. Related story: Move to introduce cigarette alternatives in Asia stubbed out by government resistance China issues Turkey safety alert after Ankaras vile statements about treatment of Uygurs in Xinjiang China has told its citizens in Turkey to be on the alert as a dispute between the two nations over the treatment of Uygurs in the Xinjiang region escalates. The Chinese embassy in Ankara advised residents and tourists travelling to Turkey to be wary and pay attention to their personal safety. Turkey on Sunday described Chinas treatment of its Muslim ethnic Uygur people as a great embarrassment for humanity, prompting a strong rebuke. Beijing said that the Turkish criticisms were vile, and that Turkey should have a proper understanding of the legal efforts made by China to fight terrorism and extremism within its borders effectively. China has already issued warnings to Canada and Sweden where relations with Beijing have nosedived in a move analysts described as an expression of displeasure. China and Canada have been at loggerheads since the arrest on December 1 of Huawei executive Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, whom the US wants to extradite on fraud charges. Meng has since been released on bail in Vancouver. In January, against the background of Mengs situation, China issued a warning of the risk of travelling to Canada, hours after Ottawa issued a similar alert. A notice by the Chinese foreign ministry said citizens should be aware of the risk of being arbitrarily detained at the request of a third nation in Canada, and urged caution when making travel plans. In December, China issued a travel alert warning its citizens about the risks of visiting Sweden. The two sides have long been at odds over human rights, but in early September a group of Chinese tourists claimed they had been mistreated by the Swedish police, an incident that generated a fierce backlash. China and Sweden are also at odds over Beijings detention of Gui Minhai, a Chinese-born Swedish citizen and publisher of books critical of Chinas leadership. Story continues The statement made by the Chinese embassy is a countermeasure on the Turkish government, said analyst Li Mingjiang, an associate professor at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. It is a message telling the Turkish government that you should not say too much about the internal affairs in China, otherwise economic relationships, tourism, this sort of thing, could be affected. Analysts said that while there was a potential risk for Chinese citizens in Turkey, the situation was not grave. People making transfer flights in Istanbul will not have to worry, said Shi Yinhong, professor of international relations at Beijings Renmin University. But there may be increased risk for Chinese tourists travelling deep into the country from Muslim groups such as the Turkestan Islamic Party after Turkeys strong stance. I think it will have an impact on a very small number of tourists, Li said. This article China issues Turkey safety alert after Ankaras vile statements about treatment of Uygurs in Xinjiang first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019. Top image: Reuters Responding to a critical editorial in Zaobao, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat published his own thoughts on the recent government lapses in the Straits Times. Under the bold headline Singapores government has not gone slack, he sets out a defence of the governments response to recent incidents involving Singpost, SingHealth, and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). In the article, the minister rejects the suggestion by some that the political leadership has allowed the whole system to go slack. Overall, his rejection is one that I would agree with. A small sect of the online community has been tirelessly hurling vitriol at the government and its figureheads since time immemorial, but this phenomenon has grown after consecutive lapses in government-linked sectors. A government is a massive human organisation. At any point in time, every day of the year, at least one person is going to be screwing up, somewhere, somehow. Its the same in every sector; but in government, it matters, because it affects everybody. Several lapses do not a failed administration make. In fact, some trolls are strawmanning the ministers argument, as though he had merely produced the bland statement: Government is fine. In fact, what he said was that government needs to do better, but, noticeably, that we should not routinely dismiss officials when things go wrong. This specific sentiment speaks to a larger attitude within the government: that calls for top officials to resign over their subordinates misdemeanors are unwarranted and unjustified. Mr Heng may have said of SMRT (even though this also applies to lapses at large), We are not yet where we want to be. But neither does the government feel that barking at top dogs is not the way to get there. When, then, should an official be dismissed? When lapses shows that the leader has been slack, negligent, or incompetent, serious consequences must follow, answered Mr. Heng. Clearly, the governments view is that a case for dismissal can only be made upon evidence of clear fault from the office-holder. Barring this, we should instead focus on resolving the problem at the root. Story continues This is where the error in his comments lies. If we apply an approach to the situation that is strictly logical, of course no replacement of senior leadership is needed. They have decided the protocols; it is simply their underlings who have refused to follow it. The case of adequate protocols but unheeding subordinates is something that the SAF safety incidents, SingHealth data breach, and Postman Pat mail dump all share. As Mr Heng indicated in his article, culture is an important factor in an institutions ability to function. However adeptly culture can be set from the top, Mr Heng pins the blame for a poor culture on lax individual attitudes towards work. This is a highly myopic view. An organisations work culture is dependant on the individuals, yes, but it trickles down from the attitudes, restrictions and expectations set by the top officials. Despite this, the chain of cause-and-effect described in every Committee of Inquiry (COI) report, the root cause ends simply with the officer responsible for failing to follow protocols. It does not describe the work environment, the management philosophy, the interpersonal relationships in the office. It cannot detail the day-to-day occurrences and idiosyncrasies of the work environment that make up that elusive term, culture. Yet the petri-dish of human interaction that is the work office is something which is cultivated and controlled by that lead scientist, the chairman. An organisations size does not absolve the Top Men of their responsibility to ensure a productive working culture that, as is the job of government, ensures the countrys gears keep turning. In effect, we feel that simply calling to change the culture without switching out the steward of that culture, the CEO, is but an empty promise and a sign of business as usual. Many statutory boards and other government-linked organisations have long been helmed by our so-called paper generals, resulting in public disdain for these officials who they do not even trust in the first place. Mr Heng fails to see that the calls for resignation are not solely borne out of a slobbering, slack-jawed desire for vengeance and blood. Rather, this fringe lunacy is being used by himself, and other members of government, knowingly or unknowingly, to strawman a deeper grudge held by the general populous. We feel that business as usual in the organs of government is not acceptable, especially given these lapses, and that for trust to be restored, changes to these officials must occur publicly. For the culture to become healthier, a proper search must be done for a CEO or chairman who fits the role, instead of simply snagging the first government-linked person who becomes available. For Mr Heng, reason dictates that the head officials should not be fired for the lapses of their subordinates. He fails to see, however, that in some cases, this is an essential step to regaining public trust and improving the organisational culture. It may be unfair to the individual in question, but the importance of smooth-functioning government institutions outweighs these considerations; sacrifice the interests of the individual to preserve the whole. As Mr Heng himself said, If we become complacent, we are finished. Have something to say about the story? Write to us at community@ricemedia.co The post To Change the Culture of Accountability, the Government Must Start From the Top appeared first on RICE. Photo by Pau Mesias MANILA, Philippines The Bureau of Immigration (BI) Legal Division recommended the deportation of Chinese national, Zhang Jaile, the woman who threw taho or beancurd pudding at a police officer at MRT-Boni Avenue station on Saturday (February 8). According to the BI, Zhang violated the MRT managements policy against bringing in and consuming food items inside the train station and for disrespecting a person in authority by throwing taho at the officer who was just doing his job of enforcing the stations policy. Our legal team saw that there was probable cause to file a deportation case against her, said BI spokesperson, Dana Sandoval. Sandoval noted that once the deportation charge against Zhang is approved, she will be placed automatically under BIs watchlist. Sandoval also said that Zhangs action was a clear violation of immigration laws concerning foreign nationals residing in the country. Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente, meanwhile, expressed dismay over Zhangs action. This is an utter display of disobedience and arrogance against a person of authority. The Bureau will not tolerate such acts, as this shows disrespect to the country, he said. Zhang arrived in the Philippines in October 2018 on a special resident retiree visa. She is a freshman student taking up Bachelor of Fashion at the School of Fashion and Arts (SoFA) Design Institute in Makati City. Marje Pelayo (with reports from Mai Bermudez) The post BI finds probable cause to deport Chinese girl in taho-throwing incident appeared first on UNTV News. New European research has found that a low level of physical fitness, obesity, and a combination of the two during adolescence could increase the risk of chronic disease and disability in adulthood. Led by researchers from the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, and University of Granada, Spain, the new study is the largest of its kind to date, looking at 1,079,128 Swedish male teenagers aged 16 to 19 and following them for a median of 28.3 years. Measurements were taken of the participants' cardiorespiratory fitness and body mass index (BMI), and disability was assessed later on in the study using receipts of a disability pension, which in many countries are given to those who are likely to never work full-time again because of a chronic disease or injury diagnosed by a physician. The findings, published online in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, showed that when comparing participants with the lowest level of fitness to those with the highest, low cardiorespiratory fitness was strongly associated with receiving a disability pension later in life due to all causes and specific causes, such as psychiatric, musculoskeletal, nervous system and circulatory issues as well as problems, injuries and tumors. Obesity was also associated with a higher risk of receiving a disability pension due to all and specific causes. Those with class II obesity, which is a BMI of 35 to 39.9, and class III obesity, a BMI equal to or greater than 40, had an even greater risk. However, compared to being unfit, being moderately or highly fit appeared to lower the risk of receiving a disability pension regardless of BMI. The researchers note that the study did have its limitations, as it did not include women and data on smoking and alcohol intake was taken from just a subsample of the participants, and they add that more research is needed. However, they concluded that the findings support the importance of high cardiorespiratory fitness and healthy body weight during adolescence to prevent chronic disease and disability later in life. Vuong Duy Bao surveys his ancestral palace, a vestige of Vietnam's marginalised Hmong ethnic minority that he says was taken from his family by local officials. The wooden structure is laden with historic markers: opium flowers carved into pillars in a nod to the region's once-booming trade, and an iron fence made with metal imported from former colonial ruler France. Built in 1903 by Bao's warlord grandfather with his opium fortune, the retired civil servant claims local authorities took possession of the property in the northern Ha Giang province from his family and are now refusing to return it. "Hmong people all over the world acknowledge this as (our) family home... so we can't lose it," he told AFP from the building, which authorities run as a museum. Both sides agree it is an architectural treasure since the historically nomadic Hmong rarely stayed long enough in one place to build anything lasting. Bao had been living in Hanoi, but on return to the family home, he discovered local authorities had taken ownership of the palace and rejected his claim to it because he could not provide deeds. He branded the request "absurd" and said official documents did not exist when the property was built but his family's connection to it was set out in history books about the local area and even in pictures of it displayed in the museum. Many Hmong fear the government is simply commandeering their culture to boost tourism dollars. For Bao, his battle for repossession goes beyond the personal. He believes Hmong heritage belongs in the hands of Hmong people, a tightknit minority originally from China who proudly cling to customs wherever they settle, from California to Minnesota, Laos and Thailand. - 'Community spirit' - In Vietnam, they have been largely excluded from the economic growth of the past decade, and more than 60 percent of the country's one million Hmong live below the poverty line. The ethnic group have long been at odds with the central government -- stemming in part from the CIA recruitment of anti-communist Laotian Hmong during the Vietnam War -- which for decades has imposed a series of resettlement, development and assimilation campaigns that have mostly failed. "More than any other ethnic minority in Vietnam the Hmong have been marginalised by programs that purport to develop them," writes anthropologist Ngo Tam in her 2016 book "The New Way: Protestantism and the Hmong in Vietnam." Ha Giang authorities are touting tourism as the best way to lift the Hmong out of gruelling poverty, and the province has said in its master plan it wants the area to be a "key attraction" for visitors by 2030. Officials have opened a series of 'traditional cultural villages' where visitors can peek into old-school wooden houses or take photos of themselves carrying a bamboo basket, a common vessel for Hmong farmers ferrying flowers or grass from the field. Local Hmong are encouraged to wear traditional hemp clothing and build traditional houses, and have been asked to shorten funeral and wedding ceremonies, days-long, booze-soaked affairs that are among the most sacred of Hmong rituals. "Sometimes authorities try to impose their ideas on people forcibly, but we resist by refusing to follow," Vang My Sinh, a Hmong man in Ha Giang, told AFP. "We've always had strong community spirit, we build things together and preserve things together. Nothing can break us," he said. That community spirit has proven powerful. Troops were sent to quell a massive Hmong protest in 2011, in which some called for independence. More recently, Hmong in Vietnam have turned to organised religion and embraced Protestantism, which makes the communist government nervous. - 'Die on the rock' - In Ha Giang, some Hmong are happy to comply with government guidelines if it means improving their lot. "It is good to preserve tradition, for ourselves, for our children, and even for tourists who come out of curiosity and bring us more money," said Va Thi May, who was selling grilled yams at a quiet roadside stop. Ethnic minorities are not always the beneficiaries of Vietnam's booming tourism sector. In northern Vietnam's visitor-saturated Sapa, locals complain hotel owners from the Kinh majority earn big while ethnic minority women and children hawk Chinese-made fabric and fake silver. Regaining control of the Hmong palace could be a small step toward recovering their own history -- and benefitting from local tourist spending. For some, the loss of the palace is part of a broader issue. "It's one of the many things that make Hmong feel marginalised and definitely adds to their disenfranchisement," said Sebastian Rumsby, a PhD candidate at University of Warwick whose research focuses on Christianity among the Hmong. Bao hopes to push back against that by getting his palace back -- so his Hmong clan can regain their spiritual homeland. Trump claims hell finish the wall with or without congressional cooperation. Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images After a brief moment when it looked like negotiations were breaking down as the deadline for avoiding a second government shutdown approached, a deal seems to be falling into place. And by any normal measure, it represents a humiliating defeat for Donald J. Trump, as the Washington Posts Aaron Blake observes: The deal as laid out does include some border fencing $1.375 billion worth, or 55 miles. Thats well shy of the $5.7 billion and 200 miles in wall funding he demanded that led to the shutdown, but its not nothing. Trump could argue that he got something out of the 35-day government closure. But only if you ignore two very important things. One is that this compromise includes a concession to Democrats, too: a reduction in the number of detention beds But the bigger issue is this: The amount of funding is actually shy of the original deal Republicans and Democrats reached last year that Trump rejected. At that time, the spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security included $1.6 billion for 65 miles of fencing, both slightly more than the current tentative deal. Already some conservatives are attacking the deal, as MarketWatch reports: Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday night criticized the bipartisan deal that would prevent another government shutdown, interrupting his coverage of President Donald Trumps rally in El Paso, Texas, to deliver his take. On this new so-called compromise, Hannity said, Im getting details $1.3 billion? Thats not even a wall, a barrier. We will get back into this tomorrow. Any Republican that supports this garbage compromise, you will have to explain look at this crowd. Other conservative critics of the deal include some Republican lawmakers, such as North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, head of the Freedom Caucus. This does not represent a fraction of what the president has promised the American people, Meadows told The Washington Post. I dont speak for the president but I cant imagine he will be applauding something so lacking. So how can Trump accept this deal? And if he wont, how did the negotiations get this far? Politicos Eliana Johnson has a very plausible explanation: Increasing discussion in WH of accepting congressional deal AND moving on an executive action, which would give POTUS more wall money than choosing one or the other. Eliana Johnson (@elianayjohnson) February 12, 2019 All along, the White House has said that if Trump cant get his border-wall money from Congress, he may secure it himself either by a national emergency declaration, or by some shadowy executive action short of that where he moves around unobligated dollars. Heres Politicos explanation of that second course of action, publicly aired by Mick Mulvaney on Meet the Press, which presumably wont set the kind of alarming precedent an emergency declaration would involve: The emerging consensus among acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and top budget officials is to shift money from two Army Corps of Engineers flood control projects in Northern California, as well as from disaster relief funds intended for California and Puerto Rico. The plan will also tap unspent Department of Defense funds for military construction, like family housing or infrastructure for military bases, according to three sources familiar with the negotiations. There are certain sums of money that are available to the president, to any president, Mulvaney said on Meet the Press Sunday. So you comb through the law at the presidents request And theres pots of money where presidents, all presidents, have access to without a national emergency. This (along with the more controversial emergency declaration) has been usually treated as a fallback proposition in the event negotiations in Congress collapsed. But theres absolutely no reason Trump cant pocket whatever Congress is willing to give him, and then pursue one of the other avenues to plus it up in the direction of the $5.7 billion he originally demanded. He even seemed to hint at that strategy at his El Paso rally, as The Hill reports: President Trump on Monday said he would build his long-desired wall along the southern border regardless of whether Congress approves funding for it. Just so you know, were building the wall anyway, Trump said at a campaign rally in El Paso, Texas, which sits directly across the Rio Grande from Mexico. Any extra-congressional effort to raid budget line items and redirect them to the wall will most definitely spur litigation especially if the administration seems to be picking and choosing projects in parts of the country Trump doesnt care about, like California and Puerto Rico. But court action could take months and months, while, in the meantime, Trump can at least pretend hes won the protracted battle over border-wall funding, despite his defeat in Congress. Like anything else involving this president, the plus-up scenario isnt at all a sure thing. He could simply reject the deal as inadequate and let the federal government shut down again, hoping that this time Democrats get the lions share of the blame. But given his endless capacity for making things up, and the unshakable faith in him among the base supporters this whole bizarre fight has been intended to succor, it would make sense that Trump would simply claim victory against all evidence, and let the saga spin out until its all but forgotten. An Afghan mujahideen commander who fought the Soviets and rose to become the country's first president after the Red Army retreated has died aged 93, his family said Tuesday. Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, who commanded a mujahideen faction during the decade-long insurgency against the Soviet occupiers, passed away late Monday in a Kabul hospital after a long illness. Prominent Afghans, including former president Hamid Karzai, have begun visiting the Mojaddedi family home to pay their respects. Afghanistan's de facto prime minister Abdullah Abdullah extended his condolences to the respected Mojaddedi clan. "He has played a vital role in all national issues and his legacy will remain part of Afghanistans history," he posted on Twitter. Presidential candidate and former national security adviser Mohammad Haneef Atmar said Mojaddedi's passing "leaves a huge vacuum in Afghan politics and public life". Mojaddedi's death comes three days before the 30th anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Red Army crossed the Amu Darya river into Soviet Uzbekistan on February 15, 1989 having suffered 15,000 losses. After the withdrawal, Afghanistan's communist regime collapse in 1992 and Mojaddedi, who led the Afghan National Liberation Front, was chosen as interim president. He served just two months under a power-sharing deal struck by mujahideen leaders. These factions later turned on each other and Afghanistan plunged into civil war. But Mojaddedi continued to play a prominent role in Afghan politics, particularly after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. In 2003, Mojaddedi served as chairman of the Loya Jirga -- or Grand Assembly -- that approved Afghanistan's new constitution for a post-Taliban era. He also chaired a four-day gathering of around 2,500 tribal elders in 2013 to endorse a security agreement under which the United States would keep troops in Afghanistan to train Afghan forces and conduct counterterrorism operations. Singapore vowed Tuesday it will bring back and prosecute an American man accused of leaking data on thousands of people with HIV, after the breach caused widespread anger. The health ministry announced last month that confidential information of 14,200 people diagnosed with the virus that causes AIDS had been dumped online, with foreigners a majority of those affected. Mikhy Farrera Brochez, an HIV-positive man who used to live in the city-state, is believed to have obtained the information from his Singaporean doctor partner, who had access to the ministry's HIV Registry. The data leak, which included people's HIV status, names and addresses, has provoked an outcry, especially among the LGBT community and NGOs involved in the fight against AIDS. Speaking in parliament Tuesday, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong described the release of the data as a "reprehensible act" and promised authorities will do all they can to bring him back to the city-state. "Brochez is currently under police investigation for various offences," Gan said. "The police are engaging their American counterparts and are seeking their assistance in the investigations against Brochez. The police will spare no effort pursuing all avenues to bring Brochez to justice." Singapore and the United States have an extradition treaty. Brochez was jailed in Singapore in 2016 for lying about his HIV status, drug-related offences and fraud. He was released and deported back to the US in 2018 after serving his sentence. Local media have traced his latest whereabouts to Clark County in Kentucky. Gan said authorities did not know at the time of Brochez's deportation that he was in possession of the HIV data, and denied his ministry sought to cover up the incident. He said the ministry has worked with authorities to disable online access to the data and continues to scour the internet to prevent it being released again. But he also warned it was possible Brochez still had more files in his possession. Foreigners with HIV were for many years not allowed to set foot in Singapore at all. In 2015, authorities lifted the ban on foreigners with the virus making short visits but those seeking to work in Singapore must still pass a test. The leak of HIV data was the second major breach of confidential information disclosed within months, after the health records of about 1.5 million Singaporeans were stolen by hackers last year. UOB Plaza. (File photo: Reuters/Edgar Su) By Jonathan Browning A former official at United Overseas Bank Ltd.s London branch is suing for unfair dismissal after saying he was denied a new job because he isnt Asian. Daniel Smith, who worked at Singapores third-largest bank for 23 years, said a manager told him that a candidate from southeast Asia was a better fit for a role. Smith said the minutes of the meeting were later altered when he questioned the comments, and he lost his position shortly afterwards. To have been overlooked for an alternative role, and discriminated in the way I was, is such a big letdown given everything I had given to the bank over what has been most of my adult working life, Smith said in a court filing. In U.K. employment cases, an award is capped at around 84,000 pounds ($109,000) unless a worker can show discrimination or that they were blowing the whistle on improper actions. UOBs lawyer said that Smith was kicking up dust to get a larger payout, and that the other candidate was simply better qualified. Smith, who was a senior officer in the banks treasury business, was initially asked to apply for new roles as the London branch ceased to offer clearing services. He said that the general manager Andy Cheah told him that hed been unsuccessful because the bank had found an Asian candidate who would fit into UOB well. While Cheah acknowledged that he had used the descriptive term that the candidate was Asian, he said her race and nationality has absolutely nothing to do with her selection. Under cross examination from Smiths lawyer, Cheah said he wanted to mentally prepare Smith for the fact that the candidate would be working alongside him in a small office. With hindsight it wasnt a great idea, he said. A spokeswoman for UOB declined to comment. Smith said UOB changed the minutes of the meeting that originally described how the candidate needed to fit into UOB which had a strong Asian influence, to read that the candidate needed an ability to fit into UOBs banking culture. Smith, who worked at UOB from 1993 to 2017, said he felt that he wasnt good enough just because I was not southeast Asian. 2019 Bloomberg L.P The company logo for lithium producer Livent Corp is displayed on a screen at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) during the company's IPO in New York, U.S., October 11, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid By Ernest Scheyder (Reuters) - U.S. lithium producer Livent Corp said on Monday that it expects demand for the white metal to sag in China for the rest of the year, sending its shares down more than 8 percent in after-hours trading. Livent, spun off last year from FMC Corp, also posted a quarterly profit in line with Wall Street's expectations, with sales at the lower end of the forecast. The lacklustre results and weak outlook for China - the world's largest lithium consumer - seemed to reinforce concerns about market oversupply for the electric vehicle battery ingredient despite bullish expectations for electric car demand. Shares fell $1.07, or 8.2 percent, to $12.05 in after-hours trading. At one point the stock was down more than 10 percent. Chinese customers, Livent said, are "unwilling to make firm commitments for price and volume at levels acceptable to us." The company said it had sought out customers in South Korea and Japan - large lithium consumers, but not at the same scale as China. Costs are expected to rise for 2019 while Livent completes an expansion of its Argentina production facilities. Still, the Philadelphia-based company said it remained confident in the long term. "The fundamental drivers of demand in our industry continue to be positive," Livent Chief Executive Paul Graves said in a statement. "We remain confident that Livent will continue to be a leader in the performance lithium compounds industry in the coming years." Livent, which produces lithium in Argentina and processes it at several sites around the world, posted net income of $25.9 million, or 18 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $10.9 million, or 9 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, Livent earned 23 cents per share, matching analysts' expectations, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Livent's 2018 revenue of $443 million came in at the low end of a forecast $440 million to $450 million. Story continues For 2019, the company expects revenue of $495 million to $525 million. FMC, which owns about 86 percent of Livent's shares, said on Monday it plans to distribute its stake to its own shareholders by March. (Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Dan Grebler and Rosalba O'Brien) SINGAPORE (Feb 12): DBS and Singapore Management University (SMU) have partnered on a first-of-its-kind comprehensive initiative in Southeast Asia that focuses on promoting and growing sustainability. The DBS-SMU Sustainability Initiative includes the introduction of Singapores first sustainability major, as well as funding for sustainability research, scholarships, fellowships and community engagement. Main image: SMU Vice Provost Professor Steven Miller and DBS Singapore Country Head Shee Tse Koon met at DBS-supported social enterprise Bettr Barista to discuss the details of the multi-faceted DBS-SMU Sustainability Initiative Under this initiative, DBS plan to commit more than $1 million to provide further support to academics, businesses and students passionate about tackling real world sustainability challenges. The SMU Lee Long Chian School of Business will be offering a major in sustainability for the first time in the academic year 2019. This major aims to develop graduates who will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to implement sustainable practices in businesses that lead to long-term measurable impact. The DBS-SMU Sustainability Initiative will also establish two DBS Fellowships to attract and retain research scholars in the field of sustainability, as well as two DBS Sustainability Scholarships annually for students with a view to creating impact for sustainability in Singapore. Furthermore, one DBS Sustainability Business Study Mission will be organised annually for student to visit regional centres of excellence in sustainability. The initiative will also see students being paired up with relevant skills to work on projects related to organisational improvement in (up to) 10 social enterprises which DBS Foundation supports, as part of the DBS-SMU Talent Enterprise Development. Shee Tse Koon, Singapore country head of DBS Bank says, Being purpose-driven is part of DBS DNA. This harks back to our mandate when we were established more than 50 years ago as the Development Bank of Singapore and carries forward to the present day with championing sustainability being a big part of our agenda. In particular, one focus area is how we can create social impact, whether through our support of social enterprises, or by partnering with business, communities and the public. Gerard George, dean of SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business says, Increasingly, businesses have embraced sustainability as part of their strategic goals. Many companies consider a sustainability strategy necessary to be competitive today and in the future. The multi-pronged efforts under the DBS-SMU Sustainability Initiative will help nurture SMU students to meet the needs of the job market, foster research excellence and build intellectual capacity among our faculty, as well as raise the general awareness of sustainability issues. SINGAPORE (Feb 11): Since the Cold War ended, the West has invested huge amounts of resources in efforts to induce political liberalisation in China, including through programmes to promote the rule of law, civil society, transparency and government accountability. The results have been disappointing. Far from becoming more democratic, China has lately been backsliding towards hard-line authoritarianism. And now, it is investing resources in efforts to do some inducing of its own in the worlds democracies. Chinas influence-peddling in the West has been the subject of media reports and think tank studies, and has elicited the concern of high-profile politicians, from US Vice-President Mike Pence to former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. Chinas influence operations, they argue, include cultivating ties with Western politicians, establishing Confucius Institutes around the world to promote Chinese language and culture, expanding the global reach of Chinas official propaganda networks and donations to and exchange programmes with academic institutions. How should Western liberal democracies confront a China that is taking a page from their own playbook, as it exploits their openness to advance its ideological and geopolitical objectives? For starters, Western leaders and institutions should distinguish between state-sponsored activities and legitimate, mutually beneficial cultural, civic and educational exchanges among private citizens and entities. To be sure, the Communist Party of Chinas sophisticated United Front operation which focuses on neutralising opposition to its policies and authority, inside and outside China often relies on private citizens to achieve its objectives. Private actors also have informal incentives to curry favour with Chinas rulers by behaving in CPC-friendly ways. As a result, even ostensibly independent or private activities can carry political and reputational risks for Western organisations, which may be accused of acting as agents of influence for China. Story continues But that does not mean that Western entities should reject outright any opportunity for cooperation with Chinese entities and individuals. Such an approach would not only cause Western organisations and individuals to miss out on valuable opportunities, it also would strengthen the CPCs capacity to control the flow of information, manipulate public opinion and shape popular narratives. So, while the West must exercise vigilance, it should avoid overreaction. A donation from a Chinese state-owned enterprise to, say, a Western academic or cultural institution must be handled with extraordinary care, if not rejected outright, because it could compromise the recipients reputation or constrain its freedom. But a gift from a wealthy Chinese businessperson should be welcomed, as long as it is transparent and includes no conditions that would infringe on the recipients mission. In fact, transparency is one of the most powerful mechanisms for protecting Western democratic processes from Chinese-influence operations. For example, public-disclosure requirements regarding the sources and conditions of donations to politicians, political parties and civic and academic institutions, as well as ownership stakes in media assets, would make it much harder for the Chinese government to exert its influence through ostensibly private actors. A shared code of conduct for dealing with China would also help to ensure that democratic values are upheld in any deal or collaboration. Upholding these values also means that Western governments must take care to avoid another kind of overreaction: targeting their societies own citizens of Chinese origin. Given Chinas long record of exploiting its diaspora for economic and political gain, some in the West will be tempted to look upon all ethnic Chinese with suspicion, exposing them to discrimination and potentially even subjecting them to surveillance. But allowing ethnic Chinese to be harassed, intimidated or punished for exercising their civil and political rights say, by making political donations or speaking out on issues that matter to them, including those related to China would be a grave injustice. It would also be self-defeating strategically: The soft but intense power of the democratic values that the West claims to defend constitutes the most effective defence against Chinese-influence operations. Western institutions benefit from unparalleled resilience, thanks to the liberal-democratic values that underpin them. They cannot be easily subverted by an authoritarian regime, no matter how many cultural exchanges or language institutes it builds. In fact, what is most notable about Chinas efforts to spread its influence abroad is not their success, but the ease with which they are exposed. Portraying them as a genuine threat to the worlds democracies not only betrays the Wests own insecurity, but also gives China more credit than it deserves. Project Syndicate Minxin Pei is a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and the author of Chinas Crony Capitalism This story appears in The Edge Singapore (Issue 868, week of Feb 11) which is on sale now. Subscribe here Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman found guilty on all 10 federal counts now facing LWOP sentence ... but surely could still provide substantial assistance | Main | "The case for capping all prison sentences at 20 years" February 12, 2019 Student SCOTUS preview part two: noticing the parole push in United States v. Haymond I noted here back in 2017 an interesting opinion in US v. Haymond where a Tenth Circuit panel declared unconstitutional the procedures used for revocation of a sex offender's supervised release. The Supreme Court also obviously found the case interesting because, as reported here, the Justices in 2018 accepted the petition for certiorari filed by the federal government. Oral argument is scheduled for two weeks from now, and a SCOTUSblog page on Haymond has links to all the briefing. As reported in this prior post, I have a great student, Jim McGibbon, who is now in the midst of drafting a series of preview posts on the \Haymond case. Following up on this introductory post, here is his second post inspired by the briefing in the case: In 2010, Andre Haymond was convicted of possessing child pornography and sentenced to thirty-eight months of prison and ten years of supervised release. In 2015, two years into his supervised release, Haymond's probation officers conducted a surprise search of his apartment and seized a password-protected cellphone. Finding images of child pornography on the phone, the probation officers alleged Haymond violated his terms of supervised release. The district court found by a preponderance of the evidence that Haymond had violated 18 U.S.C. 2252 by possessing child pornography. Based on this finding, the court revoked Haymond's supervised release and sentenced him to a mandatory five years in prison pursuant to 3583(k) and an additional five years of supervised release. On appeal, the Tenth Circuit held that 3583(k) was unconstitutional in part because it unlawfully imposes heightened punishment using a preponderance of the evidence standard based on new conduct which contradicts the requirements of Apprendi and Alleyne. And though parole was abolished in the federal system 35 years ago, its history and procedures lurk as this case now comes before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court in Morrissey v. Brewer stated that "revocation of parole is not part of a criminal prosecution and thus the full panoply of rights due a defendant in such a proceeding does not apply to parole revocation." Morrisey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 480 (1972). Commenting on the nature of revocation, the Supreme Court theorized that "[r]evocation deprives an individual, not of the absolute liberty to which every citizen is entitled, but only of the conditional liberty properly dependent on observance of special parole restrictions. Id. Regarding the right to due process, the Court held that "[w]hether any procedural protections are due depends on the extent to which an individual will be 'condemned to suffer grievous loss.'" Id. at 481. Morrissey is still good law, as is Gagnon v. Scarpelli, 411 U.S. 778 (1973), which ruled similarly with respect to constitutionally required procedures for revoking probation. Predictably then, the government briefing in US v. Haymond relies heavily on these cases, as Morrissey is mentioned 21 times and Gagnon is mentioned 14 times in its main brief. Concomitantly, the governments brief cites to "parole" a whopping 60 times in hopes that the current Court finds that a person on supervised release is afforded only the same procedural protections as a parolee or a probationer as the Burger Court found in Morrissey and Gagnon. As the government would have it, Morrissey and Gagnon control because Andre Haymond while on supervised release has "only "conditional liberty" and "individuals in respondents position are differently situated from those who can claim the full extent of the constitutional protections against a deprivation of their absolute liberty." Brief of US at 38. In contrast, Haymond's brief contains only five references to Morrissey. He argues, unsurprisingly, Morrissey does not apply. There are reasons to believe the Court will not automatically find that the procedural protections due a person on supervised release are in lock step with the procedural protection due a person on parole. Morrissey can be distinguished due to differences between the realities of traditional parole release and parole revocation and the realities of federal supervised release and its revocation. As Haymond's brief stresses, in this case Congress through section 3583(k) required a new five-year mandatory prison sentence upon a particular finding as the basis for supervised release revocation. Traditional parole processes included considerable discretion, and "parole revocation penalties could not exceed reimprisonment for the remainder of the original sentence." Brief for Respondent at 26. Moreover, continues Haymond, supervised release is not a form of "conditional liberty because any defendant who began a term of supervised release completed his term of imprisonment and there was no pending term that he could resume serving (as in the case of parole) or being serving (as in the case of probation)." Brief for Respondent at 27-28. This case could be decided on whether the discretionary parole system of the past and the mandatory supervised release system of the present are similar enough to apply Morrissey v. Brewer in Haymond's case. However, if the Court extends Morrissey v. Brewer to be applicable to the revocation of supervised release, then Haymond was not due "the full panoply of rights" and the application of 3583(k) is probably constitutional although the Court could still then find that the 3583(k)'s distinctive mandatory five-year prison sentence is a "grievous loss" for a defendant that justifies greater procedural protections under the Due Process Clause of Fifth Amendment. Or, if the Court declines to extend Morrissey v. Brewer to the revocation of supervised release, then perhaps the Court will look to the Sixth Amendment to find that jury trial rights are implicated and applicable under the Apprendi and Blakely and Alleyne line of cases. This case is of interest not only because of its substantive issues, but also because it will present the first major opportunity for new Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh to weigh in on Apprendi and its progeny. Justice Gorsuch replaced an Apprendi progenitor in Justice Scalia, while Justice Kavanaugh replaced an Apprendi objector in Justice Kennedy. The next post will explore what they and other Justices might have to say in this case. Prior related posts: February 12, 2019 at 01:48 PM | Permalink Comments It's worth mentioning that the SG brief in Haymond repeats the notorious "frightening and high" language from Smith v. Doe. That drew an amicus by 18 law and social science scholars calling him to task for repeating this debunked claim about re-offense rates. It will be interesting to see whether the SG responds to that amicus. He may not, especially as it's not clear why he repeated this erroneous factual claim anyway, as it seems irrelevant to the issue in the case. But a similar amicus brief by essentially the same group of scholars was relied upon by the Michigan AG in her remarkable Michigan supreme court filings last week, noted in this blog, concluding that the Michigan registry was punishment imposed ex post facto. (That earlier scholars' amicus was filed in support of an ultimately rejected cert petition in Vasquez; it's a bit surprising that the Michigan AG even came across it.) Posted by: Ira Ellman | Feb 15, 2019 2:41:12 PM Post a comment A year after tragedy, taking stock of the agony (and wondering about the costs) already surrounding the capital prosecution of Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz | Main | Student SCOTUS preview part two: noticing the parole push in United States v. Haymond As reported in this NPR piece, headlined "'El Chapo,' Notorious Drug Kingpin, Found Guilty After Dramatic Trial In New York," the federal government secured high-profile drug convictions today in New York. Here are some details: After a long trial held under heightened security at the Brooklyn, N.Y., federal court, a jury has found Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, one of the world's most notorious drug kingpins who led Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, guilty on all ten counts related to drug trafficking. He 61-year-old faces the possibility of life in prison. Tuesday's verdict ended a dramatic trial that started in November and was filled with explosive testimony from Guzman's former cartel associates. It included testimony from more than 50 witnesses, many of whom described Guzman's use of violence against his enemies. Guzman faced 10 charges in the indictment, including engaging in a criminal enterprise which in itself comprised 27 violations, including conspiracy to commit murder. Other charges included using firearms and manufacturing and distributing cocaine, heroin and other drugs. Last week, Judge Brian Cogan gave jurors about three hours of instructions for their deliberations. He said he was confident that they had followed his instructions not to read or watch news about the case. The entire jury has been anonymous for their protection. At one point, the judge told the foreperson to sign notes using her name but then corrected that instruction and told her to use her juror number instead to keep her identity secret. The jurors four men and eight women deliberated for days, asking for lengthy testimonies and whether ephedrine was considered methamphetamine. In laying out their case, prosecutors spent 11 weeks calling witnesses, while the defense took 30 minutes and brought just one witness to the stand. The prosecution and defense delivered their final arguments to the jury in January. Jeffrey Lichtman, one of Guzman's defense lawyers, gave an animated presentation, banging the podium, pacing before the jurors and patting his client on the shoulder.... The prosecution had produced a "scripted event," he said, with cooperating witnesses who "lie, steal, cheat, deal drugs and kill people." And if Guzman was convicted, all of those people would be released, he said. Lichtman cast doubt on whether some of the murders that witnesses described ever happened. He called Guzman "the rabbit" that Mexican authorities were chasing when the true mastermind behind the Sinaloa cartel was Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.... Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Liskamm led the prosecution's rebuttal, urging jurors not to fall for the defense's smear. "The day cocaine conspiracies are made in heaven is the day we can call angels as witnesses," she said.... Prosecution witnesses offered testimony that swung from the bizarre to the shocking. According to testimony, he had a diamond-encrusted pistol and a gold-plated AK-47; he kicked off a cartel war after a rival refused to shake his hand; he and a mistress once fled naked through a secret tunnel under a bath tub; he escaped from a Mexican prison with the help of his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro; and, in one of the most controversial allegations, he bought off Enrique Pena Nieto for $100 million a claim the former Mexican president has denied.... Guzman's 29-year-old wife attended the trial nearly every day, even as a mistress testified. She told The New York Times, "I don't know my husband as the person they are trying to show him as." The weeks also brought details of the sophisticated methods that the cartel used to move its contraband, from secret landing strips to container ships and submarines. People who stood in the way were allegedly bribed, kidnapped, tortured or killed.... Guzman already had humiliated Mexico by escaping from prison twice. Once he made a getaway in a laundry cart. And then there was the mile-long tunnel that began under his maximum security prison cell's shower, a passageway that he told Penn had required sending engineers to Germany for training. The cartel reportedly built some 90 tunnels between Mexico and the United States. After a long manhunt, he was recaptured in 2016 by Mexican authorities on the outskirts of Los Mochis and extradited to the United States the next year. He arrived on U.S. soil and pleaded not guilty to U.S. federal charges. This story is published in conjunction with THE CITY, an independent, nonprofit news outlet dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that gets results for the people of New York. The elevator banks at Boston Road Plaza in the Bronx. Photo: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY The New York City Housing Authority has suspended the head of its elevator division amid an ongoing investigation into inspectors falsely claiming to have performed preventive maintenance, THE CITY has learned. Early last week, NYCHA moved to fire Ivo Nikolic, the $148,000-a-year director of the unit thats responsible for keeping the authoritys 3,277 elevators up and running. By Thursday, posters went up barring him from NYCHA properties, stating DENY ACCESS above his photo. Underneath the picture of Nikolic is written: Terminated 2/5/19. Nikolics removal last Tuesday followed the citys January 31 agreement to the appointment of a federal monitor to oversee NYCHA, landlord to some 400,000 New Yorkers. The deal, announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio and U.S. Housing Secretary Ben Carson, resolves an investigation by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney that documented a disturbing and persistent failure to address deteriorating conditions including busted elevators at NYCHAs 325 aging housing complexes across the city. Nikolic began working at NYCHA in 2014 and was tapped in April 2016 to replace the head of the long troubled elevator unit after an elderly tenant was killed in a horrific Christmas Eve elevator accident at Boston Road Plaza, a Bronx housing development for seniors. During his tenure, three mid-level supervisors in Nikolics unit allegedly filed reports falsely certifying that specific elevator maintenance was performed at several developments, a city Department of Investigation probe revealed. The three were arrested after being charged by the Manhattan district attorney in November, and the investigation is ongoing. For years, the authoritys elevators have broken down on a fairly regular basis. The average time to restore a broken elevator got worse during Nikolics tenure, rising from 8.7 hours in the 2016 fiscal year to 10.3 hours in the 2018 fiscal year. On average, every single NYCHA elevator broke down at least once per month every year since his arrival. The number of alleged injuries spiked his first year at 20, but has since dropped to seven in the current fiscal year. Boston Road Plaza. Photo: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY On Thursday, NYCHA confirmed to THE CITY that Nikolic had been suspended and that the authority is moving to fire him. Jasmine Blake, a NYCHA spokeswoman, said, Nikolic was suspended based on allegations of workplace misconduct unrelated to the safety or operation of elevators. Nikolics attorney, Marcel Florestal, told THE CITY on Monday that his client has not been told why he was suspended. My client is cooperating with the NYCHA investigation, said Florestal. My client has not been told why he is being targeted by NYCHA. We are prepared to establish by a preponderance of evidence that we have done nothing wrong. The three elevator administrators busted in November by the Manhattan DA all reported directly to Nikolic. Prosecutors say the trio made the false filings to meet benchmarks set by the elevator unit Nikolic ran to perform preventive maintenance on a set number of elevators each month. The three have pleaded not guilty. A judge rejected their lawyers motions to dismiss the charges. Memorial photo of Olegario Pabon. Nikolic began running the elevator unit about five months after the December 24, 2015, death of 84-year-old Olegario Pabon, who was killed while stepping out of an elevator that jerked upward. NYCHA managers had been warned about the dysfunctional elevator shortly before Pabon stepped inside, but did nothing, the city Department of Investigation found. DOI also discovered a brake monitor had been disabled in the lift, and found more monitors unplugged in 80 other elevators system-wide. NYCHA took disciplinary action against five employees, demoted the then-head of the elevator unit and made Nikolic head of the unit. As a result, his salary went from $106,000 to $130,000 in 2016, then jumped to $148,000 in 2017. Shortly after Nikolic took over, the false filings began, prosecutors said. Between June 2016 and December 2017, the three mid-level supervisors handed in 33 reports falsely reporting preventive maintenance that never happened, according to prosecutors. The three supervisors submitted bogus records to help NYCHA meet certain elevator preventive maintenance benchmarks, court filings state. Nikolic was responsible for enforcing those benchmarks. Last week at the Boston Road Plaza development where Pabon died three years ago, tenants complained that elevators there often break down, particularly in the summer. For senior citizen tenants like Ray Orta who live on the upper floors, that can be a nightmare. This place is pathetic, said Orta, 76. Ive had to walk to the 18th floor. Additional reporting by Ben Fractenberg and Clifford Michel. THE CITY is coming soon. Sign up for the newsletter. ACLU Campaign for Smart Justice launches "Smart Justice 50-State Blueprints" | Main | The (complicated) Florida constitutional ballot initiative, Amendment 11, seeking to allow retroactive sentencing changes The title of this post is the title of this very lengthy Miami Herald article which gets started this way: Nikolas Cruz had two mothers: his birth mom, who gave him life, an almond-shaped head and auburn hair and his adoptive mom, who gave him all the advantages of an upscale, suburban upbringing. His birth mother, Brenda Woodard, was sometimes homeless, and panhandled for money on a highway exit ramp. His adoptive mother, Lynda Cruz, stayed home to manage a 4,500-square-foot, five-bedroom house in the suburbs, with a two-car garage and a sprawling yard. A career criminal, Woodards 28 arrests include a 2010 charge for beating a companion with a tire iron; she also threatened to burn the friends house down. Lynda Cruz had a clean record. Woodard was so gripped by addiction she was arrested buying crack cocaine while pregnant with Nikolas. Lynda Cruz was known to drink wine, though not excessively. Conventional wisdom suggests that Nikolas Cruz should have taken after the woman who raised him from birth, rather than the one who shared only his DNA. But little of Cruzs story is conventional. While, by most accounts, Lynda Cruz was thoughtful and disciplined, her adoptive son was violent and impulsive characteristics he seems to share with the birth mother he never knew. Now the history of his birth family sealed by statute and never before reported could become a factor in his desperate attempt to stay off Floridas Death Row. Many of the details of Cruzs difficult childhood and stormy adolescence emerged in the months following his deadly Feb. 14 attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that left 17 students and staff members dead: He was a poor student prone to sometimes violent outbursts. He had an unhealthy obsession with guns. He shot and tortured animals. But where Cruz came from, genetically, has remained a missing piece of the puzzle. Though Nikolas was raised in comfort Lynda Cruz apparently believed that indulging her son with video games and weapons would soften his moods the shadow of his genetic heritage seemed to loom over his life. Experts in criminal law say the Broward Public Defenders Office will likely explore Cruzs genetic makeup and childhood development in their effort to keep the 19-year-old from being executed. His birth mother could be called to testify during the sentencing phase of his trial on 17 charges of first-degree murder and 17 charges of attempted murder. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images The fallout from the Green New Deal rollout last week can be felt in the form of a new round of stories explaining what went wrong. Reports in Vox and the Washington Post focus on a set of frequently asked questions prepared by the staff of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and then clumsily obfuscated, which left the policy open to ridicule and easy attack. But the trouble with the Green New Deal wasnt just an unvetted fact sheet. As Mike Pesca points out, very few environmental experts consider the targets laid out in the plan to be remotely attainable. Climate change experts have called for zeroing out emissions in the power sector by 2050, while the Green New Deal proposes doing so by 2030. On what basis does it maintain the time frame can be accelerated by two-thirds? It does not say. If my plan for retirement is to have a million dollars in the bank when Im 70, and then I decide the new plan is to have a million dollars when Im 50, is that progress? Or just empty sloganeering? The plan has attracted praise from the left for its bold ambitions. That is, at best, half true. The plan contains too little prescription in areas where its needed, avoiding any mention of the need to expand nuclear power, increase population density in cities, and cap pollution. At the same time, it contains far too much prescription in areas where none is needed, using the Green New Deal as a platform to add in unrelated proposals for free college, a job guarantee, and other ideas that motivate progressives. The choice to leave out important climate policy, and toss in a bunch of non-climate policy, can be seen as a result of coalition-building efforts among progressive activists. Ross Douthats dark interpretation of this choice is that it feeds conservative suspicions that dire warnings of climate change are merely a ruse, seizing opportunistically on the issue to justify, well, #fullsocialism the seizure of the economys commanding heights in order to implement the most left-wing possible agenda. A more realistic account is less sinister. Ideology is a tool people use to make sense of the world. Presented with a gigantic problem like climate change, people who believe capitalism is the root of all problems will naturally and earnestly gravitate toward solutions that require dismantling capitalism. A few years ago, Naomi Klein wrote a book laying out the case for why climate change required a revolutionary attack on global capitalism. Her argument, while deeply flawed and frequently self-contradictory, anticipates the Green New Deals ideological character. Klein not only disdained the value of using prices to efficiently allocate the cost of greenhouse gas emissions, she celebrated the defeat of the cap-and-trade bill in Congress as a victory for real climate progress against the sinister forces of neoliberalism. If you believe, as Klein does, that the only path to saving the planet lies in broader economic change, then it makes perfect sense to wrap the cause of climate change tightly to socialism. But the vast majority of the Democratic Party does not believe this. And if doing anything meaningful on climate did require quickly enacting Bernie Sanderss wish list, then we might as well give up, because nothing like that is going to happen in the next presidential administration. Other than a handful of socialists in Congress, the Democratic Party remains overwhelmingly moderate and liberal, not socialist. The Green New Deal is a document that defines the partys entire domestic agenda. Turning that over to a member of Congress whos been in elected office for a few weeks and whose views are a radical outlier within the party was a bad idea, and not only because of the FAQ debacle. You may have heard the old joke: We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this. For the moment, some version of this logic is the best rationale for the Green New Deal. Democratic presidential candidates need to start thinking about how they can avoid getting stuck with it as their platform against Donald Trump. That means coming up with some better climate change plans, fast. You have permission to edit this collection. Edit Close If you're feeling generous and just can't pass up the opportunity to get me a present, some suggestions are listed here Contacting Rensselaer Adventures To contact Rensselaer Adventures, send e-mail to rensselaeradventures at yahoo.com. (I put the @ in there originally, and of the first eight messages I received, four were the Nigerian scam and three told me I won a lottery I never entered. Maybe this change is already too late.) If you want to comment on any specific post, (adding information or correcting a mistake I made) please use the comment area that is available on each post. That way everyone will get to see what you think, not just me. I would love to hear from you if you have ideas of things I can write about. Even better, if you want to contribute something, I will consider it. I will not check this address every day, so be patient. (And I almost never check my messages on Facebook, so it you send something there, the odds are that I will not see it for weeks or months.) Also, I encourage and appreciate comments that are informative or entertaining. However, I delete comments that I think are offensive or inappropriate (which includes spam--I delete a lot of spam). Americans have a long history of helping one another when disaster strikes. This should inspire every state to support the current difficulties facing the border states. When south eastern states devastated by hurricanes reached out for help, Montana sent volunteers to answer the call. During Californias recent fires, Montana sent fire fighters and first responders eager to help. Throughout our rich history, there have been many examples of Montana stepping up to the plate in order to come to the aid of another state. Its what we do as Montanans, as Americans. So whats the problem? Why the hesitation to support the southern border? America annually welcomes over one million new citizens, ranking first in legal immigration. But all of us had better realize that the thousands coming in caravans across Mexico are not going to settle only in the states along the border. Members of these caravans will be infiltrating all 50 states. Every state government will be forced to deal with the burdens they create. Demands on our schools, medical services, the job market and housing will all be affected. Critics, who ignore the border crises or think it isnt their problem, had better wake up. All these issues cross state lines. The law is clear: Secretary of State Corey Stapleton owes the people of Montana for misusing their taxpayer dollars to announce his next political campaign, Lindeen said. Mangan found Stapleton made four separate violations by using state facilities, equipment, supplies and personnel. Fines could have ranged from $50-$1,000 per offense. It is incumbent on individual public employees and officers, and the agencies they work for, to know the obligations that the Code of Ethics places on them while on the job, at the workplace and in the use of state resources, Mangan wrote. Public employment and service comes imbued with the public trust. The public trust requires proper use of state resources by all public servants for the good of all Montanans. According to the order and Mangan's investigation, Stapleton wrote the press release himself and used a personal email address to send it to his chief of staff, Christi Jacobsen. Jacobsen then sent it to Susan Ames, who works in the Secretary of State's office. At Stapleton's request, Ames pasted the release onto State of Montana letterhead, added her state contact information and used her state email to distribute the release to 154 members of the media. Rapid City I stand for life I do not stand in applause for New York; I kneel in anguish. New York (2014) had the second highest percentage of abortions at 33 percent in the US, and in 2015 approximately 35 percent of all pregnancies in New York City ended in abortion (CDC). Now, The Reproductive Health Act opened wide the gate for woman to kill their baby at any time, for any reason, and essentially by anyone without any consequences. Somehow it doesnt sound very reproductive. It doesnt even sound productive. The National Center for Health Statistics reported 2017 total fertility rate (the expected number of lifetime births per 1,000 women given birth rates by age) for the United States of 1,765.5, which is 16 percent below what is considered the level for a population to replace itself. This is the lowest total fertility rate in the U.S. since 1978. This rate produces numerous social and economic consequences, but suggests that we are doing a good job with contraception; adding abortion and the rates of infertility we may just not have any children left to be inconvenient. GULLY: The retail transformation spreading across our nation has added another Rapid City victim. Shopko at 1845 Haines Ave. is expected to close in early May, joining the departing or already departed ranks of Sears, Herbergers, Toys R Us and Kmart. Shopkos demise is the result of bankruptcy proceedings caused by rising debt and changing customer patterns. Its already a familiar story. These were the store names common to the lips of shoppers just one generation ago. Crowds filled their aisles beneath ceiling loudspeakers that piped traditional Christmas music. Busy clerks hurried to lend assistance and restock shelves as high schoolers worked behind busy cash registers. The stores represented a way of life as much as they did shopping choices. Shopko was one of the newer brands that were then replacing old-style department stores like Montgomery Ward and F.W. Woolworth. Change is the unalterable constant, and capitalism offers no longevity guarantees, but previous retail transformations raise some warnings. The changes of the 1970s and 80s left many downtowns ravaged. Decaying edifices stood for years with glass storefront windows papered over, driving out neighbors and injuring community morale. Town identities suffered for decades due to the loss of precious central cores. The new retail revolution is sprinkling large empty buildings throughout neighborhoods and on core peripheries, inviting a new kind of blight. Community leaders would do well to address the challenges they present sooner rather than later, when building neglect adds to the costs and difficulties. Weve been here before. Hopefully, coordinated recovery can begin sooner this time. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Darned old Canadians; first, they flood us with softwood from their massive northern arboreal forests, and then, just when we think we have em licked with President Trump's timber tariffs, they come down here and buy out our sawmills in the Southeast. They flooded us with a wall of wood, and they bought up our sawmills, so our timber suppliers down here had to sell to Canadian-owned U.S. mills. Shoot. Were stumped. To make matters worse, our beneficent Farm Bill provided great subsidies for American tree farmers. The resulting glut of timber going to market has us over a barrel: Too much wood, and a monopoly of Canadian sawmills in the South, one of the last U.S. outposts for viable timber operations. Especially Georgia. What all this means is that the price of the 2x4 in the Big Box store is rising, but the American tree farmers share is flat and has been for some time. If you think General Shermans March to the Sea in the American Civil War was destructive, you should see what the current conversion of forest lands to urban housing is doing to the natural world once ruled by woodpeckers. Georgia, where US Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue calls home, is paving paradise and building parking lots. Why? Because theres no money in growing trees over time. Better to sell out to the real estate developers. The search for a 9-year-old girl who's been missing for more than a week after running away from a residential youth home in rural Pennington County has been put on hold for now, it was announced Monday. "We're regrouping and re-assessing, trying to decide how and when we continue our recovery efforts," Pennington County Sheriff Kevin Thom said during a news conference at the Public Safety Building in Rapid City. "The weather has not been our friend," he added. "Everyone involved in the search has poured themselves into this physically and emotionally. It's been very draining on both fronts." Thom said while the search efforts into the disappearance of Serenity Dennard of Sturgis are paused, the investigation remains ongoing until she is found. He said no scenario regarding what happened to her or where she might have gone is being ruled out. Dennard left the Children's Home Society, located near Rockerville, around 10:45 a.m. Feb. 3. After searching for her, staff called law enforcement at 12:26 p.m. "Wounded Knee left behind one the darkest stains in our nations history," Johnson said. "If medals were awarded to soldiers who massacred noncombatants at Wounded Knee, that was a grave mistake. We need to have a conversation about how we can rectify that." Meanwhile, O.J. Semans confirmed by phone Monday that Trumps tweet was the spark that motivated the Four Directions letters. What hes doing and how it affects us is like if he started tweeting and using 9/11 as a political pun, Semans said. Congress passed a resolution in 1990 expressing "deep regret" about the massacre, but multiple efforts to rescind the medals awarded to soldiers who participated in the massacre have failed. The massacre happened on Dec. 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. A force of 490 U.S. soldiers armed with four rapid-fire, wheeled artillery guns was attempting to disarm a camp of about 370 Lakota Sioux Native Americans when a shot rang out and chaotic firing ensued. Evans then duct-taped the conscious victim, wrapped her in a blanket, drove her away in a car, raped her and brought her back home, Kelley previously said. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} The day after the rape and kidnap, Evans was arrested at the Prairie Winds Casino on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where police searched his hotel room and his car after moving it onto state property, according to a motion by Ellery Grey, his private defense attorney. Police found Ambien, a knife, duct tape, .22-caliber rounds and other items in his car. Grey argued in the motion that this evidence shouldn't be used during trial since it "was the fruit of the poisonous tree." He argued South Dakota law enforcement had no jurisdiction when it entered the reservation. But the judge rejected this argument and allowed the evidence to be used, Kelley told the Journal. Evans had a long history of threatening and abusing women he used to have relationships with, according to information and testimony in court records that were used during trial. The retaliatory tariffs are also hurting Iowa distillers. According to Jeff Quint, owner of Cedar Ridge Winery in Swisher, his company is losing out on profits thanks to the tariffs; as a result, he was forced to reduce prices on recent orders to France and Denmark: "We ended up having to discount both of those shipments in order to keep the deal .. We ate the bulk of it. So yeah, its definitely affecting the bottom line." Iowas farmers and distillers arent the only ones getting squeezed. The administrations steel and aluminum tariffs have also hurt our states workers and businesses. The Black Cat Wear Parts factory in DeWitt was forced to lay off 10 of its 17 workers, reduce production, and delay expansion plans in response to the tariffs. According to the factorys manager Josh Daniel, "There were some growth opportunities we have been looking at, with new opportunities for manufacturing in DeWitt. But the capital equipment that was planned, thats been put on the back burner a bit until the tariff situation resolves itself." Things could get even worse for millions of Americans. The three-month postponement the administration announced late last year expires on March 1. Without a deal or another delay, tariffs on many Chinese imports will rise from 10 percent to 25 percent. For the first time, a buffalo, er, byproduct will be part of the annual Buffalo Bills birthday celebration at the Buffalo Bill Museum, 199 N Front St., LeClaire. The celebration observing the birthday of William Buffalo Bill Cody will be noon-4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 24, and admission will be free. Weather permitting, a buffalo-chip throwing contest will be held at 1 p.m. Trophies will be given in different divisions. Beth Peters, with the museum, came up with the idea and contacted a local buffalo farmer. He couldnt provide the chips, which are sticking to the ground because of the cold, severe weather. So she ordered real chips made from real bovine poo that will be provided to contestants, who will vie for trophies in competition that centers on accuracy, not distance. Usually, Peters said, about 300 people, many in family groups., attend the event. Many are first-time museum visitors who are pleasantly surprised by being able to board the Lone Star, a wooden hulled steam-powered paddle wheel. A lot of the kids have never heard of Buffalo Bill, Peters said. When Charis Gonyo picks up her violin to play with the North Scott Junior High School Orchestra, she picks up a piece of family history. Her great-grandfather, John Eugene "Gene" Cross, bought the violin she plays today somewhere in Italy during World War II when he was serving as a machinist in the Navy. He died about four decades before she was born, but playing his violin has made a connection and brought to light stories about his life and his time in the war that Charis had no knowledge of. The tale began a year ago when Charis was in seventh grade and decided she wanted to play violin in the orchestra, her mother, Carla Gonyo, said. At first she borrowed a violin from her aunt, but when her grandmother, Patricia Gonyo of Berlin, Wisconsin, heard that, she remembered the violin that had belonged to her father. He played before the war, and he bought an instrument in Italy because he missed it. As Patricia searched among her packed-away things for the violin, she also found a "whole bunch of letters," Carla Gonyo said. A letter Gene sent to his wife dated March 4, 1945, mentions the violin, saying, "I'd ship my violin home ... if I was sure it would get there safely." More snow is likely before 9 a.m., then possibly mixed with freezing rain between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., before turning to all snow after 10 a.m. There will be periods of patchy blowing snow after 1 p.m. Skies will be cloudy with a temperature falling to around 27 degrees by 5 p.m. Winds gust could be as high as 40 mph. The chance of precipitation is 70 percent with little or no ice accumulation expected. New snow accumulation of around an inch is possible. Three French nationals, including one of Algerian origin, were arrested Monday (Feb. 11) in Sale, Rabats twin city, for their alleged involvement in the financing of terrorism and for links with fighters operating in Syria and Iraq. Investigations revealed that the suspects have forged close ties with fighters of the Islamic State terror group (ISIS), operating in Syria and Iraq, the General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DGST) said in a statement. The defendants are suspected of involvement in fundraising for the benefit of extremist circles that finance terrorist operations, the statement said. Last Wednesday, elements of the National brigade of the Judicial Police (BNPJ) arrested in Casablanca an Iraqi national also suspected of fund-raising for the benefit of jihadists operating in Syria and Iraq. The suspect, identified as A. A. M, was a company manager, who used intermediaries or messengers to smuggle large sums of foreign currency out of Morocco. ISIS has lost ground in both Iraq and Syria. In December 2017, Iraq declared victory over the group following three years of fierce fighting. Last month, US President announced the gradual withdrawal of American forces from Syria upon declaring the group defeated. MidAmerican Energy Company on Tuesday announced it had dispatched additional crews to the Quad Cities to address ice accumulations. The firm said ice accumulated on power lines and trees late Monday and early Tuesday, with high winds expected Tuesday. The National Weather Service on Tuesday issued a winter storm warning until 9 p.m. with the chance of wind gusts of 40 miles per hour or greater, potential tree damage and up to an additional inch of snow accumulation. When ice accumulates on power lines and the wind increases, that can cause a phenomenon we call 'galloping.' Thats what happens when wind pushes on the lines and lifts them up, in essence causing them to gallop or jump up and down," said Jim Dougherty, vice president of electric operations. "We're also concerned about ice-covered limbs that can fall onto our lines and equipment." MidAmerican said it had dispatched additional line crews and tree-trimming crews from Iowa City, Waterloo and Des Moines to the Quad-Cities as a precaution. Additional crews also were put on standby. The company said people should never touch a downed line and assume it is energized. People finding a downed power line are asked to call MidAmerican Energy immediately at 800-799-4443. Heres a look at the candidates running for the seat: Bill Connors Connors announced last week that he would run for the office, pointing to his 20-year career with Bettendorfs city administration as a big reason why 3rd Ward residents should pick him to lead. If elected, Connors says hell be able to hit the ground running and work well alongside sitting aldermen. A first-time office-seeker, Connors has said his job working for city government had kept him from getting involved with city government. He says he can be a clear voice for the residents of his ward and the rest of Bettendorf, noting that most of the policy decisions aldermen make ripple across the entire city. I want to be able to help the residents of the city, Connors said during a recent interview. I want to be responsive to their needs. If people have concerns or issues in the 3rd Ward, I want to be there for them." Richard 'Dick' Frantz Frantz prides himself as a lifelong Bettendorf resident who lives only a few blocks away from his childhood home. A first-time office-seeker, Frantz is a Vietnam Marine veteran who retired nearly a quarter-century ago following a 26-year career as a machinist foreman with the Rock Island Arsenal. Even with recent weather and snow days causing a bump in the road, interim director of exceptional education Susan Downs said Davenport Schools are still on track to finish its individualized education plans (IEP) evaluations by the states deadline. As weve reached out to buildings, buildings say its going to be tight, but they should be able to meet the April 23 deadline, Downs said at the school board meeting Monday night. We may have to offer some support with AEA on that. Right now, were feeling like we can meet that deadline. While the state department of education set the deadline at April 23, Sandy Schmitz, the implementation adviser assigned to the district by the state, said they had hoped and planned to finish before then, prior to the snow days in the last few weeks. We have a very carefully crafted schedule, pending any unforeseen things that are beyond our control, she said. But we also had a little bit of cushion. Interim superintendent TJ Schneckloth said Schmitz, working on behalf of the state to rectify the district's past citations for failing to fulfill IEPs, is a reliable evaluator of Davenport's progress. A recent letter writer claimed that the recent federal government shutdown was needed to secure our border. This is simply not true. The five-week shutdown only caused pain for the 800,000 federal workers who failed to receive a pay check, 8,000 of those from right here in Illinois When it comes to border security, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin has a record of showing a willingness to negotiate and has supported comprehensive immigration reform. He has said time and time again that he supports smart and effective border security, such as increased funding for technology at legal ports of entry, where the majority of illegal drugs enter our country, according to our Customs and Border officials, and an increase in customs personnel. What he cannot support -- and what the majority of Americans do not support -- is spending American taxpayer dollars on the president's campaign promise of a big and beautiful wall. I appreciate Durbin for working across the aisle to find fair solutions to one of the biggest challenges facing our country. I hope this unnecessary shutdown is the last one we ever see Gregg Johnson, East Moline Love 2 Funny 4 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 4 Surely it's no accident that measles is on the rise in both that state and neighboring Oregon, where state laws allow parents to opt out of vaccinating their kids simply because they choose to do so. Even more worrisome regarding the reach of the disease, is that some health officials are suggesting that the Washington state outbreak may have its roots clear across the country in Florida, where the Florida Department of Health said there were 15 cases of measles reported in 2018, including four in December. All of this is not to suggest it's time to panic in the Land of Lincoln, or the rest of the Midwest, due to the pair of confirmed measles reports in Central Illinois. Julie Pryde, the community's health district administrator, told the Champaign News-Gazette, "Both cases in this situation were non-immune persons, but the overall Champaign-Urbana community is highly immunized." To ensure it doesn't become a bigger problem, she also offered some excellent advice worth taking to heart and sharing in communities everywhere: "If you feel you may have measles, it is extremely important that you call your health care provider first, rather than showing up to a health care facility where additional exposures could occur," Pryde said. And, we can't stress this one enough: But I am saying that it seems to me if youre going to sit on the highest court in the land for life, you should want to smite bigotry and prejudice a lot more than the average Joe, Jolene or Jolene becoming Joe. The Trump administration considers this a victory. A transgender military ban was one of the first things the president wanted to accomplish, most likely not for any deeply held, wrongheaded belief but more to stick it to Obama who announced trans soldiers would be able to serve openly toward the end of his presidency. You remember, right before the sky turned coal black and the rivers turned to blood. Kidding! It was more of a brooding gray. The issue of keeping transgender people from serving in the military is just the latest chapter in an ugly history of prejudice in the U.S. military. President Harry S. Truman integrated the military because it was the right thing to do. In 2011, President Barack Obama finally tossed the offensive and ridiculous dont ask, dont tell of the Bill Clinton years, allowing gay and lesbian soldiers to no longer be discriminated against. No one from the preservation society spoke at the meeting, with most of the people in attendance being city staff and media. During public comments, Jim Uribe, who spoke on behalf of the Rock Island County Tax Reduction Coalition, told the council that he was encouraged by Parker's earlier statement that the city did not intend to pay for the redevelopment of the courthouse. "However, we feel that a potential investor may ask for millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to make the required renovations to the old courthouse," Uribe said. "The potential investors in this property should bear the total cost of renovation, reap the profits, pay their fair share in taxes, and not expect a taxpayer handout for this private venture." After the meeting, Parker said he has no idea if or how the county will respond to the city's offer. He said he hoped the courthouse could generate some taxes for the city but reiterated that the resolution was not an intergovernmental agreement. "We have had to raise taxes the last two years," Parker said. "It would be nice to not have to do that again." In other business: Council members voted 4-0 to approve the designation of two passenger loading zones in the District. Because of approaching snow and high winds, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning through Tuesday night. Dave Cousins, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, Davenport, said the warning will end at 9 p.m. Tuesday. A wintry mix fell Monday afternoon in the Quad-City metro area. Precipitation will transition back to all snow early Tuesday, he said. In the second phase of the storm, winds will start to pick up to 20-30 mph with gusts of 40 mph that will cause blowing and drifting snow that will accumulate from three to five inches. Snow in the Illinois area of the Quad-Cities is expected to accumulate at about three inches, with three to six inches on the Iowa side, he said. The snow will taper off Tuesday afternoon. Its the winds that will keep the winter storm warning going, Cousins said. Based on the National Weather Service forecast, Davenport has declared a snow emergency through 6 a.m. Wednesday. Cars parked on posted snow routes during a snow emergency may be ticketed and towed. Residents and visitors to the downtown area may park for free in any one of the citys parking ramps through 7 a.m. Wednesday. East-based Libyan National Army (LNA) opposed to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) headquartered in Tripoli, has confirmed its full control of the Sharara oilfield, the countrys largest. Spokesman of the LNA Monday on Twitter said the Sharara oilfield in the southern Libyan desert, which produces a third of Libyas 1 million barrel per day, is now under the control of the army, led by Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar. The LNA last month launched an offensive on the south to flash out terror group, it said. Peacefully with no resistance, LNA has full control over Sharara oilfield with all its facilities, the spokesman said. The LNA fighters in pictures posted by the army were jubilating in front of one of the oilfield signposts, Reuters reports. Hours earlier, Reuters was told the army was negotiating access to the field. The Haftar-led army last Wednesday said it seized the field after taking control of a remote pumping station. The claim was quickly refuted by armed groups that stormed the oil installation in December over demands for better living conditions. The GNA, which normally controls the field, sent, in response to the LNAs conquest, forces led by commander Ali Kennah to secure the field but the attempt failed, Reuters notes. Production at the Sharara oilfield is on hold. Tripoli-based-National Oil Corporation (NOC), the sole Libyan oil exporter and producer issued force majeure noting that the production will not resume until its own guards take control of the facility. "My take on this is that we are the elected officials," committee chairman Brian Vyncke said. "We are the ones whatever decision comes out of this study but I welcome any input from anyone. I don't get the feeling that anyone wants to get rid of Hope Creek. I think we're trying to do everything we possibly can to find a different direction anything that can bring in money to keep Hope Creek alive." Vyncke is back on the governance, health and administration committee after being on the finance committee for two years. Vyncke said it would be better for the GHA committee to receive information about Hope Creek directly. "Nothing against the advisory board, but when I was on this committee, we used to get direct reports from (accountant) Bill Gabelmann at the time, we had all the information at the committee," Vyncke said. "We had that information. But when I got back on this committee, I felt like there was a disconnect. "I started attending Hope Creek (advisory board) meetings so I could know what was going on," Vyncke said. "The only way you can get information is by attending the meetings." Gabelmann, of Honkamp Krueger, delivered a financial report to committee members, telling them Hope Creek owed $835,700 to vendors at the end of January. She said response had been positive from staff members, school board members, parents and students. It's really focusing on kids understanding that they can do anything that they want and be anything they want to be, and holding them to high expectations, she said. She said she was seeing a connection between kindergartners and older students. "Some of our fifth-graders hang out or read to them," Pine said. "They have like a buddy system they call it, and I've definitely noticed a shift in the school culture as well, just more positive. They are always looking to earn a point in some way or another." Principal Shelly Capps said students in her house had a hand signal when they saw her in the hall. It's just a little connection that you make, Capps said. I think it's been very beneficial to the kids because they get to work with the kids in kindergarten through fifth grade, so they form good relationships at the lower end and the upper end. "And I think many of them do feel like a family," she said. "They love the competition, too. They love the competition. "This is just the beginning," Capps said. "And now, to take them through the years, it'll be fun to watch. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. MOLINE The fourth annual Black Business Expo is 1-5 p.m. Feb. 23 in front of the former Younkers store in SouthPark Mall, Moline. The Q-C Empowerment Network, Exelon Generation, St. Ambrose University and Iowa American Water are hosting the event to showcase the diversity of the Quad-Cities' black-owned businesses. Willie Barney, founder and president of WBD Resultants, is the scheduled keynote speaker. His consulting firm specializes in strategic planning, communication, research, diversity and inclusion. The St. Ambrose graduate also is founder and president of the Empowerment Network working to facilitate change in Omaha, Nebraska and other cities. Barney has worked in marketing, sales, training and research for Lee Enterprises and the Quad-City Times. Union strikes former Seaford Clothing owner DES PLAINES More than 450 workers at W. Diamond Corp. makers of Hart, Schaffner & Marx men's suits in Des Plaines and Keystone Tailored Manufacturing in Cleveland announced an unfair labor practice strike Monday claiming the company violated federal labor law. The documents linked above all relate to a single Higbee demand to a single target, but I have seen a number of other demand letters and ensuing emails from this firm, and spoken to several other copyright lawyers who have helped clients respond to Higbees blustering and threats, and it appears to me that these are pretty standard exemplars. Indeed, when I was reaching out to some other copyright lawyers to try to get their sense of some of the documents I was reviewing, a number of them guessed that it was Higbee based only on what I said I wanted to ask about, based on work they had done for their clients trying to address his threats against them. Plainly, this is a copyright troll with an outsized reputation. Either in concert with a specialized search firm or using his own firms software, this firm patrols the Internet looking for graphics (especially photographs) that have been copied improperly from online sources. The firm then sends a demand letter bearing Higbee's signature , threatening to seek up to $150,000 in statutory damages as well as attorney fees unless the target of the letter promptly agrees to pay a specified amount. Deploying a tactic that is all too familiar from the depredations of Evan Stone and Prenda Law , the specified amount is low enough usually in the low four figures, but I have seen high three figures as well that it is not likely to be cost-effective for the target to hire a knowledgeable copyright lawyer to litigate an infringement lawsuit, even if the claim is bunk or, at least, if there is good reason to believe that the claim can easily be defended. The letter encloses a document identifying the allegedly infringing use as well as the online location where the work was found; another document that purports to authorize the firm to represent the copyright holder in seeking damages in connection with the work; a proposed settlement agreement ; and a credit card payment form . If the target of the letter does not respond, or responds without agreeing to pay, then the Higbee firm increases the pressure: a non-lawyer who calls herself a claim resolution specialist sends an email warning that the claim is going to be escalated to the attorneys, at which point [t]claim gets more stressful and expensive, and an assurance that my goal is to not let that happen to you. Over the past few years, the law firm Higbee and Associates (based in Los Angeles, although it pretentiously labels itself a "National Law Firm") has become identified with a pattern of making aggressive and, in many cases, unsupportable demands for the payment of significant sums of money by individuals and nonprofits whose web sites feature copyrighted graphics, and especially photographs, that they saw online but have never tried to license. The firms principal, Mathew Higbee, revels in his reputation for aggressive enforcement. (The interview linked above, for example, is featured on his own firms web site.) As it happens, I had heard recently from colleagues in the copyright law community about threats that Higbee was making to nonprofits when I was contacted by Thomas Leavitt, a former client in a free speech case, about a Higbee demand to Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom (HUFF). HUFF is a loose-knit activist group in Santa Cruz, California, that addresses issues of poverty, with specific reference to homelessness. It maintains a blog which, among other things, shows media coverage related to homelessness. On August 6, 2012, the blog reposted an article from the New York Times about a mass detention of migrants in Greece. That article featured a photograph showing an immigrant in the hands of the Greek police. The photograph could be seen in the HUFF blog post, along with the photo credit Angelos Tzortzinis/Agence France-Presse Getty Images. but although the text of the Times article was placed directly on the blog, the photograph appeared only by virtue of deep-linking to the graphic as it appeared on the Times own web site, at this address. More than six years later, on January 2, 2019, Mathew Higbee sent HUFF his demand letter, accompanied by the other documents described above. Several things jumped out at me. First, instead of reciting that the copyright in the photograph had been registered, and either attaching the registration or at least citing the registration number, the letter recited the photos PicRights Claim Number a matter of utterly no consequence for the recipient of the demand. The registration number, by contrast, is far more significant in this context, because, for most copyrighted works (the exception is discussed below), a copyright holder cannot bring suit for infringement until the copyright has been registered, and regardless of the exception, a copyright holder cannot seek statutory damages or attorney fees for infringements that take place before registration, or even for infringements that continue after registration unless the copyright was registered promptly after the work was first published. Because this photograph appeared in the New York Times within a day after the photo was taken, and more than six years before the demand letter was sent, a failure to register would have meant that the letters warning about statutory damages and attorney fees was an empty bluff meant to intimidate. Second, the letter was plainly a boilerplate form, containing somewhat stilted language that was poorly adapted to the specifics of HUFFs claimed infringement. For example, the letter varies back and forth between referring to the recipient in the second and third person singular, suggests that HUFF might have its wages garnished, warns of action against the business owner, and refers to the attached exhibits even though only one exhibit was attached. Indeed, the representation agreement that was provided along with the demand letter, purporting to show that Agence France-Presse, PicRights and a European version of PicRights had authorized Higbee to pursue claims on its behalf about HUFFs alleged infringement with respect to this specific photograph, did not identify the photograph but simply indicated that Higbee was handling a copyright infringement matter. Third, the exhibit revealed Higbees recognition that the infringing location for the copyrighted work was not HUFFs own web site but rather the web site of the New York Times which, presumably had licensed the photograph (I was able to confirm that assumption by contacting the Times legal department). And the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has decided, in Perfect 10 v. Amazon, that Google does not infringe a photographers copyright by including images in its search results, because American copyright law does not prevent the framing of deep-linked images that actually sit on the server of a party that is entitled to display the photograph and serve copies of the image to visiting viewers; it is only displaying and distributing from the defendants own server that violates the copyright laws (the server test). Higbee Retreats Rapidly When Challenged by a Lawyer Consequently, I wrote back to Higbee, asking directly whether the copyright in the image had been registered, and pointing out some of the legal flaws in his demand letter as well as the bullying email that had been sent as a followup by his "claims resolution specialist," Rebecca Alvarado. I told him that he needed to issue a prompt retraction of the demand, else we would be seeking a declaratory judgment of non-infringement. At the same time, to eliminate any risk that we might be suing a copyright holder that had never actually authorized the making of threats in its name, I reached out to Agence France-Presses lawyers in France, and was able to obtain their verification that they had, indeed, authorized Higbees threatening communications. Consequently, I reached out to identify California counsel so that we could file suit promptly if that were needed. What followed was a rapid retreat by Higbee, accompanied by some truculence while, at the same time, he signaled his recognition both that he had no basis for seeking any monetary relief for his client, and that I knew that he hadnt a leg to stand on. First, he sent me an email on February 1, dropping PicRights as a client, insisting that he had a viable basis for suing on the image (while implicitly admitting that his client had not registered the copyright), and implicitly dropping as well the demand for $1775; instead, he asked me to make some reasonable offer comparable to the cost of filing a federal court complaint ($400) as well as service costs (which would have been free under the waiver of service procedure). The redacted email address on the cc line was my clients email, violating his ethical obligations given that the client was represented by counsel. (In a separate email chain, Higbee tried to excuse this violation by claiming that he had no idea I was a lawyer, but I found that statement less than credible, particularly considering that I know of at least one other situation in which his firm made contact with a party after an attorney contacted the Higbee firm on the party's behalf in in response to the demand. Higbee also asked me how a lawyer not belonging to the California Bar could help a California client in a copyright matter. The mere fact that he thought he had to make this point told me how desperate he was getting to avoid the merits). I responded to his February 1 email with this letter, which explained why the arguments he had put forward in his email could not save his claims. His next responses (shown in this exchange) made clear that he knew he was on the ropes first he said that a semi-reasonable offer would be enough, and then he asked plaintively that at least our client might remove its deep link to the photograph when I declined he told me that the refusal was absurd. In the meantime, I learned about some astonishing developments regarding a demand letter that Higbee had made to a community college professor named Claudia Eckelmann relating to the inclusion of a cartoon in the online syllabus that she had provided for her students edification. She responded to Higbees demand letter and subsequent bullying emails by filing a complaint against Higbees firm in state small claims court (not against the copyright-owning client), seeking a declaration that she did not owe anything. Eckelmann told me that she had immediately taken down the syllabus when the Higbees client first contacted her; but apparently that did not appease Higbees relentless appetite to squeeze money out of potential targets. Higbee responded by removing the state-court proceeding to federal court, asserting both that the court had subject-matter jurisdiction because the dispute was really about copyright infringement (Higbee seems to have ignored the rule that, for a removal to be proper, federal jurisdiction has to be shown on the face of the state-court complaint, and the state complaint does not make clear whether Eckelmann seeks a declaration of non-infringement or a judgment under state unfair business practices law). Indeed, his notice implicitly suggests, at the same time, that there was no case or controversy because, given Eckelmanns recalcitrance, his firm had decided to close the case. Of course, if there was no case or controversy there would be no Article III jurisdiction to hear the removed case. I suggested to Higbee that he might extricate Agence France-Presse from the possibility of having to defend against a declaratory judgment action in which it could not possibly recover any significant monetary relief without retracting the demand and thus admitting that it was wrongful, by simply doing the same as what he had done with Eckelmann, declaring the case closed. And that is what he did. Lessons for dealing with copyright demands from Higbee Steve Vondran has posted some broad suggestions about how to consider and address copyright demands from Higbee; my ambition here is somewhat narrower. Considering the recent spate of demands from the Higbee firm seeking to enforce non-registered copyrights, the first thing a recipient should do is look to see whether Higbee has claimed that the copyright has already been registered and provided the registration number. If the copyright has not been registered, he cannot bring suit on an alleged infringement unless the work is not a United States work as discussed in my second letter to Higbee, that term refers to any work that was first published in the United States, or first published simultaneously in the United States and abroad (at least, most countries); simultaneously is defined by the Berne Convention as meaning within thirty days of each other. To be sure, a copyright owner can register at any time and then sue, but as explained in my first letter to Higbee, such a plaintiff cannot obtain statutory damages and attorney fees for infringements that occurred only before registration, and cannot obtain that relief if registration is effected more than three months after the first publication. That limitation applies even if the photograph was not a United States work. That, to me, is the real explanation for Higbees retreat (and his retreat in other cases of which I am aware)- it costs money to register, and he and his clients cannot make money on the cases if he cannot win statutory damages and attorney fees. So in addition to questions of fair use, the issue of registration is the first matter a recipient of his letters should explore. It is the key to the situation. For Higbee, who repeatedly asked me what he should do better, this is my public response: either stop trying to enforce unregistered copyrights, or at least be honest in your demand letters about the fact that you have no claim for statutory damages and attorney fees, and take those cases on an hourly basis without making deceptive threats to seek statutory damages and fees. Is Higbee deliberately misleading his targets? The HUFF matter would have ended with Higbees statement to me that he had closed" the case, as he claimed to have done with respect to Eckelmann, except that, a couple of days later, I received this remarkable email from one of Higbees "claims resolution specialisists," Rebecca Alvarado. Here she was, AFTER her boss had "closed the case," responding to my initial email to Higbee on behalf of HUFF, and warning that, despite my points, the fact is there is a copyright claim on the table and that she was willing to work with me to see that the claim is resolved. She gave me her direct line, so I called her to find out just what resolution she had in mind, as well as what she might tell me about the nature of the firms practice. The call was enlightening. Unlike Higbee, who never directly responded to my question about whether the copyright was registered, and claimed to have some basis for arguing that statutory damages could be sought even despite his clients apparent failure to register the copyright in timely fashion, Alvarado made no bones about the facts that the copyright was unregistered and that statutory damages were hence not available; instead, she told me, defensively, that the demand letter did not say that statutory damages would be sought, but only that these might be possible in some circumstances. She told me that her client was only seeking actual damages, in terms of the lost licensing fee but she could not tell me what that licensing fee was (so, how could she resolve the copyright claim?). And she admitted that her firms business model involves paying its clients a fractional share of the moneys that they wring out of their victims. She told me that she did not know what the fraction was, but Higbee told Fast Company that clients who came to him through a no-longer-existing service called Copypants received 50% of the financial gain. Moreover, he boasted as well that some 75% to 80% of the targets who receive his demand letters pay him without having to be taken to court. With numbers like that, it is no wonder that an otherwise reputable copyright holder like Agence France-Presse is apparently willing to give him free rein to represent that he is proceeding on its behalf. Considering his abuses, however, this company ought to be ashamed of using an enforcement representative like Higbee. It is hard not to have concerns about his apparent overreaching. When he sends demand letters with respect to non-registered copyrights, he has no business referring to the possibility of an award of $150,000 in statutory damages as well as attorney fees, which are legally precluded. In the course of preparing this article, I spoke to a number of legitimate copyright lawyers who told me that, when they send demand letters claiming infringement on behalf of their clients, they would never refer to statutory damages in a demand letter if registration has not been effected in a timely fashion. The use of the word possible is not likely to save the firm from the conclusion that their demand letters deliberately convey a misleading impression. This problem is exacerbated by what appears to be the standard followup email from paralegals such as Alvarado who tell victims that the dispute is about to become more stressful and expensive if the matter is escalated to the attorneys, while portraying themselves as the good cops who can save the victims from the bad cops. As I see it, Higbee is skating at the ethical edge here. If he does this on a regular basis, as it appears he does, he may will be leaving himself vulnerable to a class action claim from victims to his bullying who have paid him based on such misleading representations. When Higbee and I had a telephone conversation about his closing the case against HUFF, he made the remarkable statement, plainly intended to portray himself as a good guy about whom I was getting the wrong impression, that the reasons why he was closing the case against HUFF, and why he had closed the case against Eckelmann even though she had defied his firm without the aid of counsel (and against another of my clients), was that the firm undertakes careful screening when a situation is moved to the litigation track. It was that screening, he said, that revealed that HUFFs and Eckelmanns uses were entirely non-commercial. The plain implication from this statement was that no such screening had taken place before the demand letters went out. When I told him I saw this implication, he was quick to deny it, saying that his firm also screens cases before demand letters are issued. However, he could not explain what the nature of the pre-demand-letter screening had been in any of these cases, or how he had missed what should have been obvious on the face of each situation. The "claim number" on his demand to HUFF was 518891; I had seen a demand letter he sent less than four months earlier bearing claim number 514822; with the volume of demand letters that this implies, how careful could the pre-demand screening be? And besides, if three-quarters to four-fifths of all recipients of his demand letters pay up without contesting potential liability, how much comfort can we draw from the claim that there is more careful screening at a later stage? In addition, I have been in touch with Agence France-Presses counsel in Europe about their enforcement strategies. Their explanations relate entirely to a desire to present large businesses from using their content without paying license fees. But it appears that Higbee is using their imprimatur to do much more than go after businesses, and that Agence France-Presse is profiting from unjustified demands made to targets well beyond the big businesses they claim to be targeting. This company should, as I see it, be held to account in the court of public opinion if not in other courts for its complicity in Higbees enforcement schemes. Not All of Higbees Claims to Enforce Copyright Are Equally Sleazy Despite what I have discussed above, there is a core of legitimacy to some aspects of Higbees practice. There are too many Internet users who assume that the mere fact that an image is sitting in an open location online is a sufficient reason to copy that image and paste it onto their own web sites. That assumption is simply not correct. Indeed, photographers earn a living by taking photos, developing them in an attractive and compelling manner, and selling copies, or the right to make copies, or allowing others to disseminate or display their work. Creators of content deserve to be paid. One of Higbee longstanding clients, for example, is a photographer named Alexander Wild who specializes in photographs of insects; a number of Higbees cases are brought against pest-control companies who use Wilds images without a license. These companies deserve what happens to them when they get sued, and the copyright eco-system is well-served by the existence of the Higbees practice, which stands as a warning that copying that cannot be defended as fair use can be costly. But the fact that some of his work is entirely legitimate does not excuse the sleazy part of his practice. For this, he deserves public obloquy, and clients such as Agence France-Presse that take advantage of Higbees services to make illegitimate profits from victims who are too unsophisticated about the law to understand how they are being taken deserve to be shamed along with him. Acknowledgments In closing, I want to express gratitude to several copyright scholars and copyright lawyers who were willing to talk to me about Higbee and to help me think through the copyright law issues. Heidi Tandy was willing to be named; others who prefer to remain anonymous to protect their clients. I am especially grateful to Joseph Gratz, who, in addition to discussing the issues with me, signed on as co-counsel when it looked as if HUFF was going to have to file suit for a declaratory judgment of non-infringement. UPDATE: Mathew Higbee has posted a long comment that you can see below. It is hard to take anything he says seriously considering that he lies so boldly and so readily. Perhaps I will dissect his comments in a future post; for now, I invite readers to compare his assertions to the discussion in the blog post and the linked documents that show what he really does. 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 Please log in to keep reading. Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever. The European Parliament adopted this Tuesday (Feb.12) by an overwhelming majority the Morocco-EU Fisheries Agreement. The accord and its protocol were adopted at a plenary session in Strasbourg by 415 votes in favor, 189 against and 49 abstentions. This vote, the last endorsement step at the European level, is the culmination of a process of technical negotiations, legal validations and political consultations between Morocco and the EU characterized by serenity, trust and responsibility, in order to preserve the fundamental principles of the Kingdoms territorial integrity and economic interests as well as the multidimensional historical partnership between the two parties. The accord needs to be adopted by the Moroccan Parliament before it enters into force and allows thus vessels from 11 EU countries (Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, The Netherlands, Ireland, Poland and United Kingdom) to resume their fishing activities in Moroccos waters. Following the vote, Morocco expressed, in a statement, its appreciation for the collective action of the European institutions and EU member states, and commended their continued commitment to the strategic partnership with the Kingdom of Morocco. The adoption of the agreement is a clear response to the maneuvers and attempts to disrupt the longstanding partnership with Morocco. It also responds to those who were doubting the inclusion of the Moroccan Sahara in the agreement, as the text clearly specifies that the fishing zone extends from Cape Spartel in northern Morocco to Cape Blanc in the south of the Kingdom. This adoption also confirms that Morocco is the only country legally entitled, within the framework of the exercise of its sovereignty, to negotiate and sign agreements including the Moroccan Sahara, said the Moroccan Foreign Ministry in the statement released Tuesday. These legal instruments cover the Moroccan Sahara region and explicitly stipulate that the fishing zone extends from parallel 35 in the North, to parallel 20 in the South, from Cap Spartel to Cap Blanc, south of Dakhla, the statement added. After the adoption last month of the Farm Agreement, Tuesdays vote confirms the commitment of both Morocco and the European Union to strengthening their strategic partnership, as well as to preserving it from the desperate political and legal maneuvers carried out by Algeria and the Polisario, the Foreign Ministry pointed out. It noted that the fisheries sector has always been an important component of the Morocco-EU partnership and that the agreement adopted on Tuesday preserves, consolidates and develops the achievements of more than 30 years in this field. The fisheries agreement between Morocco and the EU, which sets the conditions for access for the European fleet and provides the requirements for sustainable fishing, was endorsed by the Council of the European Union end of last November. Under this new sustainable fisheries agreement, the two sides agreed on the content of the deal, the areas it covers and its implementation protocol. The text specifies explicitly the fishing zones and access conditions for European trawlers, according to the categories of fleets and target species, the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries had said in a statement following the signing of the deal. The level of compulsory landings and fishing categories remain unchanged compared to the former agreement, while the number of vessels concerned by the new agreement would reach 128 compared to 120 under the previous accord that expired in July 2018, the statement said. The new agreement provides for an increase of 30 percent of the financial payment to Morocco, which will thus go up from 40 million a year to 52.2 million. The two sides also agreed on the implementation of improvement measures to increase benefits for the local populations in the concerned areas as these populations will benefit from the socio-economic advantages of the agreement, mainly in terms of infrastructure, basic social services, enterprise creation, vocational training, development projects and modernization of the fishing sector. The number of boarding contracts for Moroccan sailors and fishermen aboard European fishing vessels will also increase. To bolster the socio-economic impacts on the fishing areas covered by the deal, the text provides for a compulsory landing volume, the same as in the previous agreement, but increases penalties from 5 percent to 15 percent in case of non-compliance with the landing requirements. Besides, several technical conditions have been included in the new agreement in order to preserve the sustainability of fisheries resources and protect the marine environment, such as a review of catches of small pelagic in the south. In order to preserve some species, octopus and shrimps are not included in the agreement. Also, the Mediterranean Sea is excluded from this perimeter in order to preserve its resources, which are overexploited. Fisheries monitoring and control system was also strengthened by making the presence of observers compulsory for some categories that were not provided for in the former agreement. The committee also endorsed Washington County Clerk Stephanie Lemery, who in her first term in office has opened five satellite Department of Motor Vehicle offices, received more than $120,000 worth of grant money and proposed a change in how the mortgage tax is processed. The committee also backed county Treasurer Al Nolette. Gender-neutral language A bill co-sponsored by Sen. Betty Little, R-Queensbury, to use gender-neutral language to refer to emergency personnel was recently signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The new state law would replace the word fireman or policeman with the words firefighter or police officer in all official documents and laws, according to a news release. Antiquated terms reinforce antiquated concepts, which is why this statutory change is so important, Little said in a news release. When I was a young woman, the common career choices were teacher, nurse or secretary. I became a teacher and enjoyed it, but I am so gratified that women have so many other options, especially to serve as firefighters and to have the incredible honor of being that person who rushes in despite the danger to save someones life. Michael Goot covers politics, business, the city of Glens Falls and the town and village of Lake George. Reach him at 518-742-3320 or mgoot@poststar.com and follow his blog at http://poststar.com/blogs/michael_goot/. Love 0 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. ORWELL, Vermont The body of a missing ice fisherman was recovered Wednesday afternoon after he was missing since Monday, according to Vermont State Police. Police said the divers located a body at about 3:30 p.m. matching the description of Lee Wiktorski, 61, of Benson, Vermont. He was last seen at a bait shop in Castleton, Vermont, on Monday afternoon. Searchers located personal items that belong to Wiktorski on the ice near Singing Cedars Landing in Vermont on Monday and located his Dodge pickup truck submerged in 22 feet of water on Tuesday. Wiktorski was not with the truck, and dive efforts were hindered by currents and poor visibility. Search teams returned on Wednesday. LAKE GEORGE Police believe the man who robbed a Route 9N convenience store at gunpoint Friday night had a vehicle waiting for him in a nearby parking lot and walked to the store before holding it up. A man wearing a mask and toting a handgun held up the Mobil store just off Exit 21 of the Northway, making off with a few hundred dollars. The female clerk was not hurt. The Warren County Sheriffs Office believes the robber fled to a getaway vehicle that was parked at a nearby business, but where he went from there has not been determined. Police search for Lake George armed robbery suspect LAKE GEORGE The Warren County Sheriff's Office is investigating a Friday night armed robbery at the Mobil gas station, 2398 Route 9N, in Lak Police said the man walked into the store and displayed what appeared to be a handgun around 8:20 p.m. He looted the cash register as the clerk backed away. Warren County sheriffs Lt. Steve Stockdale said a police dog tracked the man to the Adirondack Mountain Club parking lot a few hundred yards northwest of the store, at the corner of Route 9N and Goggins Road. The dog lost the track there, which has led police to believe that the thief got in a vehicle, Stockdale said. No evidence or witnesses could be found as to what type of vehicle, though. We didnt locate any forensic evidence there in the parking lot, Stockdale said. KINGSBURY Eight people were arrested and a heroin overdose reversed when police raided a home on Tracy Road late Monday as part of an investigation into drug sales at the home, authorities said. A New York City woman who possessed narcotics with intent to distribute was charged with two felonies, while seven other people who police believe either allowed drug activity at the home or were there for the purpose of purchasing or using narcotics were charged as well, according to the Washington County Sheriffs Office. Investigators believe Stephanie L. Reyes, 35, of New York City, was supplying heroin and crack cocaine, and staying at the Tracy Road home of Rachel L. Gilligan, 35, according to police. This house has been on our radar for a while, Washington County Sheriff Jeff Murphy said. Police raided the home near the intersection with Vaughn Road around 11:30 p.m. Monday, and when they arrived they found a 23-year-old woman who was suffering from an apparent opioid overdose, Murphy said. She was given Narcan to reverse the drugs effects, then taken to Glens Falls Hospital, police said. According to police, charged were: LAKE GEORGE A "Coffee with the Mayor" event to discuss the new Ronald McDonald House effort on Ottawa Street has been rescheduled due to the weather. Lake George Mayor Robert Blais said the discussion will now be held on March 6 at the Holiday Inn on Canada Street. The discussion is designed to let people know how they can assist in the Ronald McDonald Houses efforts to renovate a home into a vacation retreat home for families with sick children or who have suffered a loss, according to a news release. The house had been owned by former Village Attorney Howard Krantz and his wife, Marcia. David McAvinney of McAvinney Builders LLC has offered his services as manager for the project to renovate the house at 161 Ottawa St., which has been dubbed Krantz Cottage. Blais is seeking people interested in providing sponsorship, in-kind donations, trade skills or other assistance, according to a news release. Those individuals interested in helping but who cannot attend the meeting are asked to call Village Hall at 518-668-5771, ext. 8. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 ALBANY A Ticonderoga man who operated a cab company that defrauded the federal government of hundreds of thousands of dollars through a Medicaid kickback scheme pleaded guilty to federal charges Tuesday for his role in a massive fraud conspiracy focusing on transportation of the indigent to medical appointments. Arshad Nazir, 54, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud Medicaid and conspiring to pay bribes and kickbacks to Medicaid beneficiaries, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office in Albany. He admitted to causing at least $550,000 in Medicaid program losses through false filings, and to paying at least $95,000 in bribes and kickbacks. In all, his company received $2.45 million in Medicaid payments between 2014 and 2018, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. Nazir, whose company was known as Avalanche Taxi Co., faces up to 10 years in federal prison when sentenced June 18 by U.S. District Judge Thomas McAvoy. He also will be required to make $550,000 restitution. A Whitehall man, Anthony C. Armstrong, 29, of Whitehall, pleaded guilty last fall in U.S. District Court to counts of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States for his role in assisting Nazir and two other Ticonderoga cab company owners for whom he worked as they ripped off the Medicaid program. I arrived at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in the fall of 1959 as a 16-year-old first year student in the architecture department in the College of Fine Arts. I had chosen architecture because I loved art and math ever since I was a kid, and architecture seemed like the perfect combination. Besides, I lived in Caracas, Venezuela, which had some of the most creative and beautiful architecture at the time. And my favorite high school math teacher, who was a missionary, had told me there was no future in math. The best mathematics was done 2000 years ago. I certainly did not want to go into a dead field. I would soon change my mind, although doing so was more difficult than I imagined and would require the assistance of one of the greatest computer science minds this nation has ever produced. I chose Carnegie Tech over the University of Pennsylvania because its architecture program was five years, one year shorter than Penns. I was a girl on the move. I loved the ambiance of the architecture community at Tech. We all had drafting board space on long wooden tables in the huge, bright room on the top floor of the Fine Arts building. The first few lines of tables were for first-year students, the next few for second year, and so forth. I believe the 5th year students were way in back. Like most Fine Arts students, we worked on projects throughout the night, thus getting to know our classmates well. The upper division students would drop by our first-year drafting tables with encouragement and helpful advice. Another advantage of having to work through the night was that I did not have the restrictive dorm sign-in hours of the time 8 p.m., I believe that women outside of Fine Arts had. Presumably to more easily manage us, all Fine Arts women were housed separately in the old Mellon mansion on top of a hill on Forbes Avenue near where the University Center stands today. I had a gorgeous single room with bay windows overlooking campus. In addition to the two other women in my architecture classes, I got to know art and drama students (dramats), several of whom became my good friends: Carol, Jessica, Eunice and Nina, an older student. The Mellon house was later demolished. Many of the architecture students came from families in the construction or architecture businesses. They had worked summer jobs in the field and were passionate inspired by Ayn Rands The Fountainhead. One classmate had even spent a summer at Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wrights winter home and school in the Arizona desert. But for me, except for a wonderful world history course that included weekly lectures on the arts, with a focus on Asian arts, the technical courses were not what I was seeking. The math and engineering were useful, but formulaic. I wanted to know why, not just how. I loved the beauty of math, the proofs in geometry, and found none of that beauty or deep understanding here. Mechanical drawing was useful, but I had wanted to draw and paint and sculpt. So, mid second year, I decided to switch either to art or math. I thought I would be able to do art on my own, which was naive. But I certainly couldnt do math on my own. So, switching to math seemed to me the right decision. But not to everyone, as I would soon find out. Math at Carnegie Tech was in the College of Engineering and Science. Switching between colleges was not easy, particularly not from Fine Arts to Engineering. Even today, that would be difficult. Carnegie Mellon University today, as Carnegie Tech did then, generally accepts entering students into specific majors. And I was a Fine Arts girl. During my sophomore year, I spoke to deans and knocked on many doors. I was told time after time it was impossible to switch majors; maybe I should think of seeing a counselor. That did not stop me. One day I knocked on a math professors door and, as usual, said I wanted to take math courses and become a math major. To my surprise, Alan Perlis immediately responded, Great! Im teaching an experimental math course using the computer (an IBM 650) in the basement of GSIA [the Graduate School of Industrial Administration]. You can take my class. The computer will grade all your makeup homework. Perliss course was not exactly the formal mathematics I was looking for, but it was quirky, forward-looking and definitely experimental. He was a lively enthusiastic, iconoclastic teacher, prancing around the classroom in sneakers, a striking figure with a bald head and lash-less piercing eyes. The archetypical Hollywood computer genius. He would give us problems to solve that were all over the place sometimes from numerical analysis, sometimes vaguely stated. He occasionally gave us problems that had no known solution at the time, although we were not told that. For example, the firing squad problem. The firing squad problem is now standard in all automata theory courses. For historical and cultural reasons, I often assign it for homework when I teach automata theory to undergrad computer science students at Carnegie Mellon, although the solution is now readily available on the web. The firing squad problem is simply stated: Design a prototype automaton (a soldier) so that when any finite number of them are lined up and the general (the rightmost soldier) gives a signal, they will all fire simultaneously at some time. Of course, if they could all hear the generals signal that would be no problem. What makes it tricky is that all the soldiers are exactly alike. They can only give and get signals from their closest neighbors to their right and left, which takes one unit of time. They cannot count, and they dont have a clue how many soldiers are in the line. As I said, solutions are readily available on the web. We had to solve our problems by writing programs in Perliss programming language, TASS, in which instructions had to be written on paper line by line. Each line then had to be coded (transcribed) onto a new computer punch card. The resulting stack of cards had to be taken down to the computer room in the basement of GSIA. God forbid if you tripped going down the stairs. If you were lucky, next morning you would get reams and reams of paper showing how your program ran on the computer, and the solution. If you were not lucky, well then you had to figure out if there was a bug in your program or in punching the cards. The acronym TASS, which stood for Tech Assembly System, was pure Perlis. In Congress, the House Un-American Activities Committee set up to ferret out communists was still active. TASS was the name of the official Soviet Union news agency. Perliss view of the universal relevance of computing across disciplines was prescient, even startling at the time. His experimental course led to a formal programming course he instituted at Carnegie Tech the following year. It was in his experimental class, that I became aware of another archetype the guy who spends day and night in the computer room writing and punching out computer programs. These early hackers, or computer geeks like Bill Gates and Paul Allan were of a more benign character than the computer hackers of today. Because Perlis accepted me into his class, I was able to enroll in other math classes. I loved the challenge of the course on modern math, which I called the brick wall course if you make it through you are on your way. But I was shocked by the new ambiance. No one seemed to talk to one another. I had lost the camaraderie I had experienced in architecture. I was on my own. No longer a Fine Arts student, I had to abide by the restrictions placed on women students of the day, including the early dorm sign in. The double standard was stifling. A particularly egregious incident occurred during the spring term. One of the other two women in my architecture class also transferred out of Fine Arts and into Physics. She was brilliant and, I believe, the first in her family to go to college. One weekend, she signed out of the dorm to stay with her grandmother. Somehow it got back to the school that she was with her boyfriend. And even though the physics professor she was doing research with vouched for her, she was expelled from Tech and could not enter another university in the United States for some time. No such rules applied to her boyfriend. Im not sure exactly when I was officially declared a math major, but in June of 1961 I received a letter from the assistant dean of the College of Engineering. Dear Miss Epstein (my maiden name), Your final grades for the Spring 1961 semester again indicate excellent scholastic performance. It is, therefore, a great pleasure for me to close the 1960-61 academic year with this letter congratulating you, your parents and your high school teacher on this very fine record You have made a fine start but much hard work remains to assure future success here at Carnegie Tech and a distinguished career after you graduate. We look forward to having you on campus again in September The letter was sent on June 27, 1961 to our address in Caracas with a 4-cent stamp. Apparently, the U.S. Post Office returned it for an additional 4 cents and it was mailed the next day. I married that summer and moved to Cambridge, Mass. Alan Perlis became the first head of the computer science department at Carnegie Tech in 1965. And the following year he was awarded the first Turing Award, which is considered the Nobel Prize of computer science. I received my Ph.D. in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1968, as Alan had done 18 years earlier. I would later meet him at scientific meetings. By then, he was in a wheel chair, but as lively and dynamic as ever and always eager to know how I was doing and what I was doing. In September 1999, nine years after Alan Perliss death, I returned to Pittsburgh to teach in the Carnegie Mellon Computer Science Department. Opdivo (nivolumab) Plus Low-Dose Yervoy (ipilimumab) Demonstrates Continued Survival Benefit at 30-Month Follow-up in Patients with Previously Untreated Advanced or Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Details Category: Antibodies Published on Tuesday, 12 February 2019 11:35 Hits: 902 PRINCETON, NJ, USA I February 11, 2019 I Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) today announced new results from the Phase 3 CheckMate -214 study, showing that therapy with Opdivo (nivolumab) plus low-dose Yervoy (ipilimumab) continued to demonstrate long-term survival benefits in patients with previously untreated advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). With a minimum follow-up of 30 months, intermediate- and poor-risk patients randomized to Opdivo plus low-dose Yervoy continued to show a significant overall survival (OS) benefit compared to those randomized to sunitinib. Additionally, at 30 months, the objective response rate (ORR) per investigator for intermediate- and poor-risk patients with Opdivo plus low-dose Yervoy improved compared to the previous analysis at a minimum of 17.5 months. OS: The 30-month OS rate for the intermediate- and poor-risk population was 60% for patients treated with Opdivo plus low-dose Yervoy versus 47% for patients treated with sunitinib [Hazard Ratio (HR) 0.66 (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 0.54, 0.80); p<0.0001]. ORR: Opdivo plus low-dose Yervoy was associated with a 42% ORR versus 29% with sunitinib (p=0.0001). More than half (52%) of the intermediate- and poor-risk patients who responded to Opdivo plus low-dose Yervoy had a response lasting at least 18 months versus 28% of the patients who responded to sunitinib. Complete Response (CR): The CR rate was 11% with Opdivo plus low-dose Yervoy versus 1% with sunitinib. The results were similar for the intention-to-treat (ITT, i.e., all randomized) population with Opdivo plus low-dose Yervoy, demonstrating significantly improved: OS: The 30-month OS rate for the ITT population was 64% for patients treated with Opdivo plus low-dose Yervoy versus 56% for patients treated with sunitinib [HR 0.71 (95% CI: 0.59, 0.86); p=0.0003]. ORR: The ORR was 41% with Opdivo plus low-dose Yervoy versus 34% for sunitinib (p=0.015). CR: The CR rate was 11% with Opdivo plus low-dose Yervoy versus 2% with sunitinib. The overall safety of the combination was consistent with that observed in the 17.5-month minimum follow-up analysis and with previously reported studies of these medicines in patients with RCC. No new safety signals or drug-related deaths occurred with extended follow-up. The results from this 30-month follow-up from the CheckMate -214 study are meaningful as they continue to demonstrate that in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, a population with considerable unmet treatment needs, there is potential for long-term survival benefits with the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab, said CheckMate -214 investigator Nizar M. Tannir, M.D., FACP, Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The data will be featured in a rapid oral presentation (Abstract #547) on Saturday, February 16, 2019 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2019 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco. We are pleased that the results from CheckMate -214 continue to provide clinical evidence that combining Opdivo and Yervoy can extend survival for certain patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, said Arvin Yang, M.D., Ph.D., development lead, melanoma and genitourinary cancers, Bristol-Myers Squibb. These follow-up data reinforce our scientific approach and ongoing commitment to delivering treatment options that help patients living with this relentless disease live longer. About CheckMate -214 CheckMate -214 is a Phase 3, randomized, open-label study evaluating the combination of Opdivo plus Yervoy versus sunitinib in patients with previously untreated advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Patients in the combination group received Opdivo 3 mg/kg plus Yervoy 1 mg/kg every three weeks for four doses followed by Opdivo 3 mg/kg every two weeks. Patients in the comparator group received sunitinib 50 mg once daily for four weeks, followed by two weeks off before continuation of treatment. Patients were treated until progression or unacceptable toxic effects. The primary endpoints of the trial are overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and objective response rate (ORR) in an intermediate to poor-risk patient population (approximately 75% of patients). About Renal Cell Carcinoma Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of kidney cancer in adults, accounting for more than 140,000 deaths worldwide each year. Clear-cell RCC is the most prevalent type of RCC and constitutes 80% to 90% of all patients. RCC is approximately twice as common in men as in women, with the highest rates of the disease in North America and Europe. Globally, the five-year survival rate for those diagnosed with metastatic, or advanced, kidney cancer is 12.1%. Bristol-Myers Squibb: Advancing Oncology Research At Bristol-Myers Squibb, patients are at the center of everything we do. The focus of our research is to increase quality, long-term survival for patients and make cure a possibility. Through a unique multidisciplinary approach powered by translational science, we harness our deep scientific experience in oncology and Immuno-Oncology (I-O) research to identify novel treatments tailored to individual patient needs. Our researchers are developing a diverse, purposefully built pipeline designed to target different immune system pathways and address the complex and specific interactions between the tumor, its microenvironment and the immune system. We source innovation internally and in collaboration with academia, government, advocacy groups and biotechnology companies, to help make the promise of transformational medicines, like I-O, a reality for patients. About Opdivo Opdivo is a programmed death-1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint inhibitor that is designed to uniquely harness the bodys own immune system to help restore anti-tumor immune response. By harnessing the bodys own immune system to fight cancer, Opdivo has become an important treatment option across multiple cancers. Opdivos leading global development program is based on Bristol-Myers Squibbs scientific expertise in the field of Immuno-Oncology, and includes a broad range of clinical trials across all phases, including Phase 3, in a variety of tumor types. To date, the Opdivo clinical development program has enrolled more than 25,000 patients. The Opdivo trials have contributed to gaining a deeper understanding of the potential role of biomarkers in patient care, particularly regarding how patients may benefit from Opdivo across the continuum of PD-L1 expression. In July 2014, Opdivo was the first PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor to receive regulatory approval anywhere in the world. Opdivo is currently approved in more than 65 countries, including the United States, the European Union, Japan and China. In October 2015, the Companys Opdivo and Yervoy combination regimen was the first Immuno-Oncology combination to receive regulatory approval for the treatment of metastatic melanoma and is currently approved in more than 50 countries, including the United States and the European Union. U.S. FDA-APPROVED INDICATIONS FOR OPDIVO OPDIVO (nivolumab) as a single agent is indicated for the treatment of patients with BRAF V600 mutation-positive unresectable or metastatic melanoma. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on progression-free survival. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in the confirmatory trials. OPDIVO (nivolumab) as a single agent is indicated for the treatment of patients with BRAF V600 wild-type unresectable or metastatic melanoma. OPDIVO (nivolumab), in combination with YERVOY (ipilimumab), is indicated for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on progression-free survival. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in the confirmatory trials. OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy. Patients with EGFR or ALK genomic tumor aberrations should have disease progression on FDA-approved therapy for these aberrations prior to receiving OPDIVO. OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of patients with metastatic small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with progression after platinum-based chemotherapy and at least one other line of therapy. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on overall response rate and duration of response. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials. OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who have received prior anti-angiogenic therapy. OPDIVO (nivolumab), in combination with YERVOY (ipilimumab), is indicated for the treatment of patients with intermediate or poor risk, previously untreated advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) that has relapsed or progressed after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and brentuximab vedotin or after 3 or more lines of systemic therapy that includes autologous HSCT. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on overall response rate. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials. OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) with disease progression on or after platinum-based therapy. OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma who have disease progression during or following platinum-containing chemotherapy or have disease progression within 12 months of neoadjuvant or adjuvant treatment with platinum-containing chemotherapy. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on tumor response rate and duration of response. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials. OPDIVO (nivolumab), as a single agent, is indicated for the treatment of adult and pediatric (12 years and older) patients with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) that has progressed following treatment with a fluoropyrimidine, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on overall response rate and duration of response. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials. OPDIVO (nivolumab), in combination with YERVOY (ipilimumab), is indicated for the treatment of adults and pediatric patients 12 years and older with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) that has progressed following treatment with a fluoropyrimidine, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on overall response rate and duration of response. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials. OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who have been previously treated with sorafenib. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on tumor response rate and durability of response. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in the confirmatory trials. OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the adjuvant treatment of patients with melanoma with involvement of lymph nodes or metastatic disease who have undergone complete resection. Checkmate Trials and Patient Populations Checkmate 067advanced melanoma alone or in combination with YERVOY (ipilimumab); Checkmate 214intermediate or poor risk advanced renal cell carcinoma in combination with YERVOY; Checkmate 142MSI-H/dMMR metastatic colorectal cancer; Checkmate 205/039classical Hodgkin lymphoma; Checkmate 040hepatocellular carcinoma; Checkmate 037/066advanced melanoma; Checkmate 017squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); Checkmate 057non-squamous NSCLC; Checkmate 025previously treated renal cell carcinoma; Checkmate 141squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck; Checkmate 275urothelial carcinoma; Checkmate 238adjuvant treatment of melanoma. Please see U.S. Full Prescribing Information for OPDIVO and YERVOY, including Boxed WARNING regarding immune-mediated adverse reactions for YERVOY. About the Bristol-Myers Squibb and Ono Pharmaceutical Collaboration In 2011, through a collaboration agreement with Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb expanded its territorial rights to develop and commercialize Opdivo globally, except in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, where Ono had retained all rights to the compound at the time. On July 23, 2014, Ono and Bristol-Myers Squibb further expanded the companies strategic collaboration agreement to jointly develop and commercialize multiple immunotherapies as single agents and combination regimens for patients with cancer in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. About Bristol-Myers Squibb Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information about Bristol-Myers Squibb, visit us at BMS.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. SOURCE: Bristol-Myers Squibb He was a man who held strong convictions but who was willing to listen to the other side and could be moved when the argument was particularly persuasive. He was the rare official who wasnt afraid to reach across the aisle when the cause was just. America's enemies have a very clear definition of victory. For them, victory comes when we give up the fight before they do. We know this because they have told us so. The 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told his CIA interrogator "Americans don't realize we do not need to defeat you militarily; we only need to fight long enough for you to defeat yourself by quitting." That is how the terrorists see Obama's withdrawal from Iraq in 2011 and Trump's planned withdrawals from Syria and Afghanistan: America defeating itself by quitting. The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has approved a bridge loan facility of $170 million for the construction of the 44 MW Singrobo-Ahouaty hydropower projects in Cote dIvoire. The deal was concluded in mid-December, when a first disbursement was made for the project, in which the AFC has also invested equity. As our first equity investment in hydro Independent Power Producer (IPP) and our first power equity investment in a Francophone country, the project is an optimal step in diversifying AFCs power portfolio, Oliver Andrews, Executive Director & Chief Investment Officer of AFC said. Other shareholders include Themis, a project development company, and IHE Holding, a company incorporated by Ekolan Alain Etty, a local entrepreneur. The Singrobo-Ahouaty hydropower will be built by Eiffage, a leading French EPC contractor, selected following an international competitive bidding. The worlds number one cocoa producer has an installed generation capacity of 2,200 megawatts and exports to neighboring countries such as Ghana, Burkina Faso and Liberia. Last year, Cote dIvoire said it signed an agreement with Frances Eranove SA for the construction of a thermal-power plant with a capacity of 390 megawatts. The gas-fired Atinkou plant, which will cost 248 billion CFA francs ($431 million), is to be based in Jacqueville, 61 km southwest of the economic capital, Abidjan, according to a statement from the company. Before she was injured, Falzone said, Jordan was an outgoing woman with an independent personality, with lots of friends and a love of hip-hop. After high school, he said, she decided she wanted work in construction. Despite her toughness, he said, she's always had a special connection with children, whether they were her four siblings or neighbors. "With the loss of Hornet and serious damage to Enterprise, the Battle of Santa Cruz was a Japanese victory, but at an extremely high cost," retired Rear Admiral Samuel Cox, director of Naval History and Heritage Command, said in a statement. "About half the Japanese aircraft engaged were shot down by greatly improved U.S. Navy anti-aircraft defenses. As a result, the Japanese carriers did not engage again in battle for almost another two years." "It's a broad thing that students have to look at," said Kevin Kempton, Game Changing Development program element manager at Langley. "They have to look at mass, they have to look at power. Crop selection was a really fun part of the proposals that we got. Not just crop selections, but some of them had proposed aquaponics and insects, earthworms and algae reactors, and a lot of really interesting things." Miller, in a statement, said he had prepared the cartoon with the vulgar message several weeks ago, intended to remove the message before the cartoon was distributed, but neglected to do so. However, in a Twitter post on Sunday, the cartoonist wrote: "Some of my sharp-eyed readers have spotted a little Easter egg from Leonardo Bear-Vinci. Can you find it?" One person in Maryland sent about $3,000 through the mail to Kochuga's Virginia Beach home on Aug. 12, 2016, records show. The next month, a resident in Louisiana sent around $471 in cash to her. In October of that year, a person living in Indiana wired her about $5,726. Another victim sent her a little more than $10,000 over the course of a few months. The threat happened just after 1 p.m. in the 200 block of Granby Street. Police worked with the Department of Homeland Security to assess the building. A spokesman for the Federal Protective Service said in an email that K9 teams searched the facility. He said the legislation is needed because it's not simple to give the same kind of notice of a search warrant that police officers usually do before entering a home or business. Gov. Ralph Northam's press secretary, Alena Yarmosky, said she was not aware of any resignations from state agencies as a result of the scandal surrounding the governor and Attorney General Mark Herring, who both acknowledged wearing blackface while in college. The Democratic governor came under scrutiny when a conservative news outlet posted a photo from his section of the yearbook that showed two people in racist costumes, one wearing blackface and the other in a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood. He apologized on Feb. 1 for his decision to "appear as I did in this photo," then said in a news conference the next day he did not believe he was in it. Amy Hessl. Credit: WVU Shifting storm tracks and warming climate have marred countries south of the equator, particularly Australia, in recent decades with drought-like conditions and less rainfall. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of this pattern, a West Virginia University geographer and her research team will study the movement of a westerly wind belt circling Antarctica that influences Southern Hemisphere climate, carbon and heat uptake and Antarctic ice melt. The National Science Foundation awarded a three-year, $219,263-grant to Amy Hessl, professor in the Department of Geology and Geography, to reconstruct the history of this wind belt, called the Southern Annular Mode, over the last 2,000 years. In order to achieve that, Hessl and her team will break down data from two of nature's simple wonders: trees and ice. The project will utilize data from King Billy pine trees, a coniferous species native to southern Tasmania, Australia, in addition to two East Antarctic ice cores, which are samples of ice taken from ice sheets or glaciers. Ice cores can contain ice up to hundreds of thousands of years old. "By examining tree rings from these rare conifers that only occur in Tasmania, combined with ice core records from Antarctica, we can see how the SAM might have changed over the last couple thousand years," Hessl said. The SAM is the leading mode of climate variability in the middle to high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. The SAM can be described as having two phasespositive and negative. A positive phase sees westerly winds contracting toward Antarctica, resulting in dry climate conditions. To the contrary, a negative phase occurs when the westerly winds expand toward the equator, leading to increased storms and rain. "The SAM has been changing over the last several decades to a more positive state, meaning that the position and strength of those winds have moved to higher latitudes and that affects the climate in places like southern Australia, southern Africa and southern South America," Hessl said. "The purpose of this project is to understand what contributes to the variability in the SAM and what causes it to change its position." This positive pattern is believed to be linked to an uptick in wildfires on Southern Hemisphere continents in recent years. Upwelling in the oceans may also be attributed to changes in the SAM, Hessl said. Upwelling occurs when the deep, cold water rises toward the surface, replacing the warmer surface water. By analyzing tree ring data situated at the northern tip of the SAM in Tasmania and ice cores from Antarctica, from the opposite, southern part of the SAM, researchers hope to hit a sweet spot by bookending the movement of the phenomenon in latitude. Through tree ring research, Hessl can assess how the trees responded to the environmental conditions in Tasmania over the years. That particular species, Billy King pine, was chosen because of its longevity and preservation qualities. It comes from the same family of trees as Eastern red cedar, found in West Virginia, which Hessl has studied, and the giant sequoia and redwoods. "These trees can live up to 1,000 years old and they can stand dead for another 1,000 years in the environment," Hessl said, "so you can extract 2,000 years of tree ring records from those trees." In her previous research, Hessl has reconstructed climate histories dating back to the first millennium in Mongolia. She also helped validate the accuracy of tree ring data. Joining Hessl on the project are Tessa Vance, University of Tasmania; Kathy Allen, University of Melbourne; and Kevin Anchukaitis, University of Arizona. She also plans to involve undergraduate and graduate WVU students on the project. The research team is aiming to conduct field data collection in Tasmania in December and January of 2020. But the research has been ongoing, Hessl said, dating back to 2014 when Allen first suggested the research topic at a conference in Australia. In 2018, she spent time in Australia as a Fulbright Scholar to study the Southern Hemisphere's climate history. "The real benefit of this (NSF) award is that we can continue collaborating with Australian scientists," Hessl said. "We are scientists living in opposite hemispheres coming together to solve and understand a global issue." Though the project is focused on the Southern Hemisphere, Hessl said any outcomes can relate to the Northern Hemisphere, as well. "We just had a polar vortex and we're seeing increased variability in the Northern Hemisphere's climate," she said. "Our weather vacillates radically between really cold and really warm. That phenomenon is not happening in the Southern Hemisphere, so those are contrasts we can look at and try to understand our own changing climate." Provided by West Virginia University A report submitted by King Mohammed VI, the African leader on migration, won acclaim at the 32nd African Union Summit in Addis Ababa. The report builds on the momentum ushered by the African Agenda on migration put forward by the King last year and the proposal to set up an African observatory for migration at the AU level, head of the government said on the sidelines of the summit. The headquarters agreement for the observatory was signed last December by Morocco and the AU in Marrakech. My hope is to see the work of this Observatory effectively enhanced through networking with similar institutions in other regions, the King said in a message to the intergovernmental conference on the global compact on migration held in Marrakech in December. The report also highlights the significance of the Global Compact on Migration endorsed in Marrakech, said El Othmani. The report echoes the agenda presented by the King a year ago and corrects a set of fallacies, he said, stressing that migration should not be tackled from a security perspective. The King had dispelled the myths linked to migration, deconstructing one by one the misconceptions associated with the issue, El Othmani recalled. There is no massive influx of migrants, since the latter account for only 3.4 per cent of the world population, the Sovereign had said in a previous speech. African migration is essentially intra-African. Worldwide, migration accounts for less than 14 per cent of the population. As far as Africa is concerned, 4 out of 5 African migrants remain in the Continent, the Monarch had said, underlining that migration does not impoverish host countries since 85% of migrants incomes remain in those countries. The credibility of Moroccos leadership on migration at the continental level stems from the pioneering migration policy implemented at home wherein migrants especially from Sub-Saharan Africa can apply for residency status gaining access to jobs and social services. The Instagram account @world_record_egg was originally designed as a fun way to challenge and question social media, its creators say. However, the account quickly morphed into an opportunity to focus on mental health positivity and to encourage people to speak up. Following nearly a month of suspense, the mysterious Instagram account that became famous for a picture of an eggwhich came out of left field to break Kylie Jenner's record for likes on a single postrevealed its identity late Sunday night. "Identity" is a loose term, though: The egg serves as part of a mental health awareness campaign. Egg Ganga group comprising Chris Godfrey, 29, who works in advertising at The & Partnership in London, and two friends, according to The New York Timesis responsible for the Instagram account. The mysterious original post of a brown egg from Jan. 4 now has over 52 million likes, and the account has 10 million followers. The group "declined to talk about the money it has been offered or the big names it has come into contact with," according to the Times. Nick Tran, Hulu's vice president of brand marketing and culture, said that Hulu agreed to partner with Egg Gang because they believed in their mission of spreading mental health awareness and wanted to enable them "to share their message as broadly as possible." "It wasn't just a stuntit was really about a vision they had to promote something good in the world," Tran said. Tran also said that Hulu did not want this video to be exclusive to Hulu customers, noting that he believed viewers would record the video off their phones and share it with the world. At the start of the video, the eggwhich is slightly cracked, has drawn-on eyes and makes some soundsintroduces itself. Then, it notes, "Recently I've started to crack. The pressure of social media is getting to me." The egg then makes a direct plea to viewers, stating, "If you're struggling too, talk to someone." The final still of the episode directs viewers to mentalhealthamerica.net. The site belongs to Mental Health America, a nonprofit founded in 1909 that is "dedicated to addressing the needs of those living with mental illness and to promoting the overall mental health of all Americans." The organization currently has over 200 affiliates in 41 states. Erin Wallace, chief communications officer at Mental Health America, said that the Egg Gang reached out to them regarding using their website at the end of the video. However, Mental Health America was not part of the production of the video. The reaction to the video "has been great, and we are thrilled that World Record Egg used its big reveal to shine a light on mental health," Wallace said. "It's important for people to speak up about their mental health, and to seek help if they need it." Explore further Employers are vital to promoting mental health, new report says (c)2019 USA Today Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Under certain conditions, a reef can support either a thriving coral community or a lush seaweed field, depending on what it started with. Credit: Kai Kopecky, Russ Schmitt Tropical reefs are vulnerable ecosystems, sensitive to a variety of environmental conditions and disturbances, which can change their composition from vibrant coral reefs to vast fields of seaweed or barren rubble. Now researchers at UC Santa Barbara have established that these distinctly different communities can persist under the exact same conditions. The findings, which appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could have broad implications for ecology and conservation worldwide. Macroalgae, commonly called seaweed, tends to outcompete coral on reefs unless it's kept in check by herbivores. As a result, the amount of herbivory on a reef is a strong factor in determining whether the site will be a coral reef or a field of seaweed. "Reefs in many parts of the world have switched from corals to seaweeds, and the question is what keeps the reef dominated by seaweed rather than returning to coral," said Professor Sally Holbrook of UC Santa Barbara's Marine Science Institute (MSI), one of the paper's coauthors. If you start off with lots of algae (green curve), it takes more herbivory to transition to a coral-dominated community. If you start out with coral (orange curve) then the coral will remain even under lower levels of herbivory. Credit: Matt Perko One possibility is that the environment changed in a way that favors the seaweed, and so even if the seaweed disappeared, the new conditions would no longer suit coral. But the researchers wanted to determine whether there might be another explanation, one with very different implications for coral reef management. They explored whether a robust coral community and a robust seaweed community could both occur and persist under the same environmental conditionsnamely the amount of herbivory on the reef. In experiments at the National Science Foundation-funded Moorea Coral Reef Long Term Ecological Research site on Moorea, French Polynesia, the group first investigated whether there was a level of herbivory at which both coral and algae could persist on the reef, called a bi-stable region. And if this were the case, they wanted to determine where this window lay in comparison to current conditions on the reef. The researchers decreased herbivore activity to different levels by caging off certain areas of the reef so fish couldn't get in to nibble at the algae. They set up cages about the size of a toaster-oven, in groups, on areas that initially either had or didn't have seaweed. Each group had cages with a variety of hole sizes that created a gradient from sites scarcely accessible to any herbivores, to those that accommodated all but the largest algae eaters. This setup allowed the research team to determine what levels of herbivory prevented seaweed from taking hold, as well as what levels were needed to remove existing seaweed. They discovered that the flip did not occur under the same conditions going both ways. "We found it takes far more herbivory to remove seaweed than it does to prevent it," said lead author Russ Schmitt, also with MSI, and a professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology. "This means there's an amount of herbivory where the habitat could persist either as a coral reef or as a seaweed-dominated reef depending on whether the community started out as coral or seaweed. Nothing else has to differ." An orange-spine unicornfish browses on some sargassum, with the experimental cages visible in the background. Credit: Russ Schmitt Since the experiment spanned several years, the team was able to demonstrate that their results held over multiple generations of seaweed. "This is the first time that a field experiment has shown it's possible for two different, persistent communities to exist under the same conditions on a coral reef," said Schmitt. And the results are more than academic. "One reason this finding is important is that it suggests a big shock to the reef can flip it from coral to seaweed without any change in the amount of herbivory," said coauthor Samantha Davis, the undergraduate research programs coordinator at the university's Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships. "And once flipped, the reef then will stay dominated by seaweed." MSI Research Scientist Thomas Adam, another of the paper's coauthors, agrees. "The flip is hard to reverse because only a very large disturbance might cause the reef to return to coral," he said. "Our second field experiment tested this idea." The idea is that if conditions were in this bi-stable region, then after a small shock the community should return to its previous state. A large shock, on the other hand, would change the paradigm under which the system operated, sending it toward a different composition, where it would then remain. The team simulated an event like a cyclone by scrubbing algae off small patches of the lagoon reef, a section they had determined was in this overlapping region of stability. And the reef behaved just like the model predicted. Untouched areas remained in their initial seaweed state, while moderately disturbed areas returned to seaweed fields and stayed that way for years. However, reefs subjected to a more drastic disturbance flipped to a seaweed-free state, which allowed coral to take hold. Except for the different disturbances at the start of the experiment, the environmental conditions were the same across all the sites. In the region where the two states overlap, a large shock like a cyclone can change the behavior of the system even if conditions like herbivory remain the same. Credit: Matt Perko This dynamic presents two challenges for conservation. First, it demonstrates that restoring an altered system to its previous statelike rehabilitating a seaweed-covered lagoon into a thriving coral reefis more difficult than simply maintaining a community in its initial condition. Second, it suggests that even a seemingly healthy ecosystem could be vulnerable to dramatic shifts in its community. Without changing the conditions on the reef, a large enough jolt to the system could shift an ecosystem into another state, where it will then remain trapped. Fortunately, the study's methodology itself offers a powerful tool for determining how vulnerable an ecosystem may be to switching from one state to another, as well as for assessing how difficult it may be to reverse such a switch. "The methods that we developed provide a roadmap for assessing where an ecosystem lies on an environmental gradientin our case differing levels of herbivoryin relation to a tipping point where the ecosystem may flip from one persistent state to another," said MSI Project Scientist Andrew Brooks, also a coauthor. It also allows them to determine whether this tipping point lies in a region of bi-stability. "Coral reefs are slipping away," said Dan Thornhill, a National Science Foundation Long-Term Ecological Research program director. "We're seeing a global shift from vibrant coral reef ecosystems to seaweed fields. But these scientists show that under the right conditions, reefs can rebound from disturbance." More information: Russell J. Schmitt et al. Experimental support for alternative attractors on coral reefs, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2019). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Russell J. Schmitt et al. Experimental support for alternative attractors on coral reefs,(2019). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1812412116 Close-up of the newly described tarantula species Ceratogyrus attonitifer, showing the peculiar soft and elongated horn-like protuberance sticking out of its back (paratype). Credit: Ian Enelbrecht A new to science species of tarantula with a peculiar horn-like protuberance sticking out of its back was recently identified from Angola, a largely underexplored country located at the intersection of several Afrotropical ecoregions. Collected as part of the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, which aims to uncover the undersampled biodiversity in the entire Okavango catchment of Angola, Namibia and Botswana, thereby paving the way for sustainable conservation in the area, the new arachnid is described in a paper published in the open-access journal African Invertebrates by the team of Drs John Midgley and Ian Engelbrecht. Although the new spider (Ceratogyrus attonitifer sp.n.) belongs to a group known as horned baboon spiders, the peculiar protuberance is not present in all of these species. Moreover, in the other specieswhere it isthe structure is completely sclerotised, whereas the Angolan specimens demonstrate a soft and characteristically longer 'horn'. The function of the curious structure remains unknown. The new tarantula's extraordinary morphology has also prompted its species name: C. attonitifer, which is derived from the Latin root attonit- ("astonishment" or "fascination"), and the suffix -fer ("bearer of" or "carrier"). It refers to the astonishment of the authors upon the discovery of the remarkable species. Individual of the newly described species (Ceratogyrus attonitifer) in defensive posture (typical typical for baboon spiders) in its natural habitat. Credit: Kostadine Luchansky "No other spider in the world possesses a similar foveal protuberance," comment the authors of the paper. During a series of surveys between 2015 and 2016, the researchers collected several female specimens from the miombo forests of central Angola. To find them, the team would normally spend the day locating burrows, often hidden among grass tufts, but sometimes found in open sand, and excavate specimens during the night. Interestingly, whenever the researchers placed an object in the burrow, the spiders were quick and eager to attack it. The indigenous people in the region provided additional information about the biology and lifestyle of the baboon spider. While undescribed and unknown to the experts until very recently, the arachnid has long been going by the name "chandachuly" among the local tribes. Thanks to their reports, information about the animal's behaviour could also be noted. The tarantula tends to prey on insects and the females can be seen enlarging already existing burrows rather than digging their own. Also, the venom of the newly described species is said to not be dangerous to humans, even though there have been some fatalities caused by infected bites gone untreated due to poor medical access. The newly described tarantula species Ceratogyrus attonitifer, showing the peculiar soft and elongated horn-like protuberance sticking out of its back. Credit: Ian Enelbrecht In conclusion, the researchers note that the discovery of the novel baboon spider from Angola does not only extend substantially the known distributional range of the genus, but can also serve as further evidence of the hugely unreported endemic fauna of the country: "The general paucity of biodiversity data for Angola is clearly illustrated by this example with theraphosid spiders, highlighting the importance of collecting specimens in biodiversity frontiers." Apart from the described species, the survey produced specimens of two other potentially new to science species and range expansions for other genera. However, the available material is so far insufficient to formally diagnose and describe them. More information: John M. Midgley et al, New collection records for Theraphosidae (Araneae, Mygalomorphae) in Angola, with the description of a remarkable new species of Ceratogyrus, African Invertebrates (2019). John M. Midgley et al, New collection records for Theraphosidae (Araneae, Mygalomorphae) in Angola, with the description of a remarkable new species of Ceratogyrus,(2019). DOI: 10.3897/afrinvertebr.60.32141 The Dolmen di Sa Coveccada megalithic grave, Sardinia. Credit: Bettina Schulz Paulsson. Although Stonehenge may be the most famous of Europe's megaliths, it's far from the only one: There are about 35,000 of these mysterious stone structures throughout the continent. Now a new study suggests that an ancient culture that emerged from what's now the Brittany region of northwest France may have begun building these structures and monuments some 7,000 years ago. Study author Bettina Schulz Paulsson of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden said that the megalith building probably began in France and spread from there via sea routes around Europe over the next 1,000 years or so. Over an exhausting 10 years, Schulz Paulson created a "megalith evolution" using radiocarbon dating of more than 2,000 historic sites across Europe. "We have thus been able to demonstrate that the earliest megaliths originated in northwest France and spread along the sea routes of the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts in three successive principal phases," she wrote in the study. Thus, though this group of ancient French people may not have built Stonehenge, they may have inspiredand given the idea for itto the people who did build it. If this is true, then the maritime skills and technology of societies like this one may have been far more advanced than previously thought, the study said. AMegalithic grave on the north coast of Brittany. Credit: Bettina Schulz Paulsson Famed Stonehenge is among the most recent megaliths constructed, likely around 2,500 B.C. Other theories have said they may have originated in the Near East or even possibly independently, but this new research appears to rule those ideas out. "This demonstrates absolutely that Brittany is the origin of the European megalithic phenomenon," Michael Parker Pearson, an archaeologist and Stonehenge specialist at University College London, told Science magazine. The results were published Monday in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. More information: B. Schulz Paulsson. Radiocarbon dates and Bayesian modeling support maritime diffusion model for megaliths in Europe, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2019). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences B. Schulz Paulsson. Radiocarbon dates and Bayesian modeling support maritime diffusion model for megaliths in Europe,(2019). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1813268116 (c)2019 USA Today Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Spanish police seized many of the stuffed animals at a warehouse in the Alicante region Spanish police said Tuesday they had seized more than 200 stuffed endangered animals, including giraffes, rhinos, lions and tigers, from an illegal taxidermy workshop that was selling them online. Officers found the stuffed animals at a warehouse in an industrial area of Alicante, a city on Spain's Mediterranean coast. They seized others in the nearby city of Monovar, at the home of a man suspected of working as a taxidermist without a licence, police said in a statement. Police placed six people under investigation after the seizing the haul, who could face charges of trafficking in endangered species. The animals seized included "more than 200 specimens of various species" on the United Nation's Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). "The species that were seized included, among many others, African lions, white rhinos, Bengal tigers, African crocodiles, African antelope and giraffes," the statement said. Police began their investigation in May after finding online ads offering the stuffed animals for sale. CITES is a global treaty signed by over 180 countries that regulates trade in wild flora and fauna or products derived from them with an aim to ensuring their survival. 2019 AFP Fig. 1: Propagation of introduced crack in Al2O3/Ti composite (a) and healed cracks after anodization at room-temperature (b, c and d), where cracks at dispersed titanium (white particles) as well as part of cracks at Al2O3 ceramics were filled by the formed titanium oxides. Fracture strength of cracked-composites was greatly decreased, but was almost fully recovered to its original level (right). Credit: Osaka University A team of researchers at Osaka University demonstrated that cracks induced in composites consisting of alumina ( Al 2 O 3 ) ceramics and titanium (Ti) as dispersed phase could be healed at room temperature, a world first. This ceramic healing method permits crack-healing even in a state in which ceramic parts are mounted on devices at a low cost and without using complicated high-temperature heat treatment processes that require significant amounts of energy. Although various types of metal-ceramic composites have been researched and developed, their combination and fine structures were limited because of differences in ceramic-to-metal bonding types, chemical reactivity, and the particle size of commercially available metal powder. This team overcame these restrictions by optimizing synthesis processes and sintering processes. In 2018, they produced Al 2 O 3 /Ti composites with a percolation structure by controlling the content of added Ti and optimizing the particle size of metallic Ti powder and sintering processes, improving fracture toughness and electrical conductivity of Al 2 O 3 /Ti composites. (Osaka University Press Release, 28 Nov. 2018) In this study, the researchers demonstrated that electrochemical anodization occurred in Al 2 O 3 /Ti composites. In addition, they developed a room-temperature healing method to heal cracks induced in Al 2 O 3 /Ti composites by using the anodization phenomenon without heat treatment, recovering the strength of the composites to their original level, a world first. The results of this research were published in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society. To heal ceramics, crack-healing by chemical reaction (self-healing ability) has been studied, but a high-temperature treatment of 1,000 or higher was necessary to cause a chemical reaction and/or a diffusion reaction, so called re-sintering. Moreover, because crack-repairing methods using resin adhesive (e.g. epoxy resin) or ceramic cement had a limit in adhesion between ceramics and resin or ceramic cement, it was difficult to fully recover the fracture strength to its original level. In this study, the researchers achieved high electrical conductivity by homogeneously dispersing Ti, demonstrating room-temperature crack-healing in Al 2 O 3 /Ti composites by anodization without heat treatment and full recovery of fracture strength to its original level for the first time in the world. In experiments using composites whose fracture strength lowered due to introduced cracks (graph in Figure 1), they demonstrated: The fracture strength was recovered to its original level through anodization, and The recovery was due to an titanium oxides formed on the surface of dispersed titanium by anodic oxidation, which bridged cracked-surfaces and filled the crack, reducing stress concentration on the crack tip. Senior author Tohru Sekino says, "The results of our study can also be applied to ceramic-based composite systems other than Al 2 O 3 /Ti composites as a new crack-healing method for ceramics, and a technique for ensuring the reliability of the ceramics themselves. Al 2 O 3 /Ti composites will be developed into multitasking materials that allow for multiple functions and applications according to their purpose and use." Explore further Multifunctional dream ceramic matrix composites are born More information: Shengfang Shi et al. Electrochemically Assisted RoomTemperature Crack Healing of CeramicBased Composites, Journal of the American Ceramic Society (2018). Journal information: Journal of the American Ceramic Society Shengfang Shi et al. Electrochemically Assisted RoomTemperature Crack Healing of CeramicBased Composites,(2018). DOI: 10.1111/jace.16264 Using machine learning techniques, researchers were able to analyze about a million photos to detect decorative elements in living rooms around the globe. Credit: Penn State People around the world paint their walls different colors, buy plants to spruce up their interiors and engage in a variety of other beautifying techniques to personalize their homes, which inspired a team of researchers to study about 50,000 living rooms across the globe. In a study that used artificial intelligence to analyze design elements, such as artwork and wall colors, in pictures of living rooms posted to Airbnb, a popular home rental website, the researchers found that people tended to follow cultural trends when they decorated their interiors. In the United States, where the researchers had economic data from the U.S. Census, they also found that people across socioeconomic lines put similar efforts into interior decoration. "We were interested in seeing how other cultures decorated," said Clio Andris, assistant professor of geography, Penn State and an Institute for CyberScience associate. "We see maps of the world and wonder, "What's it like living there," but we don't really know what it's like to be in people's living rooms and in their houses. This was like people around the world inviting us into their homes." The team examined living room decor in 107 cities on six continents and in neighborhoods across six U.S. cities. Certain regions seemed to have similar taste in interior design, said Xi Liu, doctoral student in geography, Penn State and lead author of the study. In some cases, the way those cultures decorated their living rooms matched the researchers' expectations, he added. "There were a lot of vibrant colors in India and Morocco, for example," said Liu. "And, of course, that wasn't a big surprisewe had an idea that this might be the case before we started the study, but we weren't sure whether that would be true or not." In Europe, North America and South America, people tended to display more books, according to the researchers. Living rooms in Europe, especially Italy, featured a lot of wall art, which matched their expectations. However, the researchers, who published their findings in the current issue of EPJ Data Science, were surprised when some cultures bucked the way their living spaces are commonly portrayed on travel television shows and in travel brochures. Credit: Pennsylvania State University "We thought it was interesting that we found a lot of indoor plants in cold areas, especially in Scandinavia," said Andris. "We originally thought that there would be more indoor plants in warm areas because they would be inexpensive things to have there, but that wasn't the case. We were also surprised that a lot of the island cultures were a little more austere than we had initially thought. They didn't use as bright of colors. Interiors in places, like Fiji and the Caribbean, for example, were very clean-looking." In the United States, the researchers did not find a significant difference in the presence of decorative elements across neighborhoods with varying incomes, unemployment rates, educational attainment, residential property value and racial diversity. They suggest this indicates that Americans take similar efforts in personalizing their homes. Because the task of going through a million images to note multiple decorative elements would be too time-consuming for the researchers, the team used deep learning, a type of artificial intelligence, to detect decorative items, such as wall art, plants, books and paint colors, in the pictures. Human trainers initially picked out decorative elements in pictures to program the computer to recognize the decorations, then the computer could pick out and classify these features on its own. "The term for this is transfer learning, but it's a two-step process," said Liu. "The first step is to classify the images into categories, such as living rooms, kitchens, bedrooms, and also outdoor space. Then, we use object detection. The program will draw boxes around objects in the rooms, like wall art and books, and then the program counts how many of those objects we have in each image." The researchers analyzed only living rooms in homes because these rooms most likely represent the property owners' tastes and not just how they market their homes on the rental website. "In those websites you have a lot of pictures of bedroomsand because they are renting bedrooms out, we thought there might be some bias because the owner would want to decorate it in a certain way to appeal to guests," said Liu. "But, we thought the living room would be more objective because the owner lives there and probably uses the space all the time." The researchers used an application program interfaceor APIthat allowed them to access large amounts of publicly available data, including images, on Airbnb. They collected about a million geolocated images of interior spaces from the site. Andris said that the study is also unique because it may represent new ways for machine learning techniques to study cultural phenomena. In the future, the researchers might look at other online photo hubs, such as Craigslist, to better target natural decorative tastes. They may also train the computer program to detect styles of artwork, or other meaningful objects, such as flags, pictures of world leaders or historical emblems. Explore further How color can help you de-stress More information: Xi Liu et al. Inside 50,000 living rooms: an assessment of global residential ornamentation using transfer learning, EPJ Data Science (2019). Journal information: European Physical Journal Data Science Xi Liu et al. Inside 50,000 living rooms: an assessment of global residential ornamentation using transfer learning,(2019). DOI: 10.1140/epjds/s13688-019-0182-z Of roughly 100,000 centuries-old olive trees abandoned in the Oliete area, more than 7,000 have been revived by the adoption project launched four years ago. Here the project's website is advertised by an abandoned grove "They're over 500 years old," says Sira Plana proudly as she points to Oliete's olive groves, many of which are thriving now thanks to an adoption scheme that has prevented this northeastern Spanish village from dying out. For an annual fee of 50 euros ($57), some 2,500 sponsors receive photos of their olive tree by mobile phone, along with two litres (half a gallon) of olive oil annually. As well as the satisfaction of knowing their money will be ploughed back into the local economy and help create jobs, sponsors also get to name their tree. "We tried to do it in a way that people would get emotionally involved in the project," said Plana, co-founder of "Adopt an Olive Tree", standing between trees loaded with ripe olives. Spain is the world's largest producer of olive oil and Plana said that when people explain why they decided to sponsor a tree "in the majority of cases, it is very, very emotional... linked to a relative, a child, grandfather, an olive plantation". Her grandfather was once veterinarian in this village, currently home to just 364 people, down from some 2,500 people a century ago. Of around 100,000 centuries-old olive trees abandoned in the area around Oliete, more than 7,000 have been revived by the adoption project launched four years ago. "Adopt an Olive Tree" co-founder Sira Plana says that for most sponsors, the decision is "very, very emotional... linked to a relative, a child, grandfather, an olive plantation" 'More than a tree' "It's much more than a tree," said Esther Lopez, a 41-year-old accountant, who lives near Madrid and adopted a tree three years ago. "With my 50 euros and the 50 euros of others, they can get a village which otherwise would be abandoned back on its feet." Residents began moving away from rural towns and villages like Oliete, in the Aragon region, after Spain's 1936-39 civil war to find work in factories in cities. Some parts of Spain were left with just two people per square kilometrethe same population density as in Siberia. The province of Teruel, where Oliete is located, is slowly dying. It has just 9.1 inhabitants per square kilometre, compared to the national average of 92. Around 3,900 municipalities with fewer than 500 inhabitants are at "high risk" of disappearing, according to the Economic and Social Council of Spain, a body which advises the government on economic and labour issues. Eight permanent jobsincluding six agricultural workershave been created in Oliete thanks to a new olive oil mill, keeping families in the village or attracting new ones Eight permanent jobsincluding six agricultural workers have been created in Oliete thanks to a new olive oil mill, helping to keep families in the village and attract new residents. In turn, this prevents the closure of the school. Elsewhere in Spain, similar projects have taken off in villages at risk of dying out. Sarrion, in the same province as Oliete, has built an economy based around truffles. And in Soria, another depopulated region, an NGO has set up an organic farming project employing people in difficulty, while in the western region of Extremadura, cherry trees can be adopted. 'Stay forever' "If there is work I can stay here forever," said newcomer Cesar Tarradas, 36, after using a machine to shake olives off the trees. "Having a school is what gives strength, maintains the flame of a village, because a village without a school is destined to disappear," says teacher Ana Lomba He moved to Oliete a few months ago to join his father, his sister and her four children. "I would like to buy a house and make something of my life," added Tarradas, whose family decided to leave Barcelona because of the soaring rents in Spain's second largest city. With the arrival of young children, Oliete's small school "will remain alive for another 10 years", says its young teacher, Ana Lomba. "Having a school is what gives strength, maintains the flame of a village, because a village without a school is destined to disappear," added Lomba. She has six pupils under her charge, just two more than the minimum authorised in Aragon. 'See an opportunity' The school hallways are decorated with pupils' drawings which illustrate popular Spanish sayings about olive trees, such as "To be harder than an olive tree" and "Olive oil cures all". "These olive trees have given a great deal to past generations," Plana says "These olive trees have given a great deal to past generations," said Plana, who quit a job in the cosmetics industry to move to Oliete and launch the tree adoption project. "They have allowed them to feed themselves, warm themselves, conserve many things, provided light," she said. Spain's high commissioner for the fight against depopulation, Isaura Leal, told AFP that Oliete was proof that "generations of youths are starting to see an opportunity" in living in the countryside. "It's no longer seen as something for failures, for bumpkins, as our parents used to say," she added. Explore further Spain hit by deadly bacteria threatening olive trees 2019 AFP NUS doctoral student Emily Curren examining microplastic samples collected from coastal areas of Singapore. Credit: National University of Singapore A field survey conducted by a team of marine scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has uncovered toxic bacteria living on the surfaces of microplastics, which are pieces of plastic smaller than five millimetres in size, collected from the coastal areas of Singapore. These bacteria are capable of causing coral bleaching, and triggering wound infections in humans. The NUS team also discovered a diversity of bacteria, including useful organismssuch as those that can degrade marine pollutants like hydrocarbonsin the plastic waste. Dr. Sandric Leong, research lead and Senior Research Fellow at the NUS Tropical Marine Science Institute (TMSI), said, "Microplastics form a large proportion of plastic pollution in marine environments. Marine organisms may consume bits of microplastics unintentionally, and this could lead to the accumulation and subsequent transfer of marine pathogens in the food chain. Hence, understanding the distribution of microplastics and identifying the organisms attached to them are crucial steps in managing the plastic pollution on a national and global scale." This study is the first to examine the bacterial community on microplastics found in tropical coastal regions. The results were first published in the journal Science of the Total Environment on 17 November 2018. Small plastics, big problem There are currently more than 150 million tons of plastics in the ocean. Microplastics, in particular, pose an evident problem as many marine organisms, such as shrimps, mussels and fish, often mistake these tiny plastics for food. Compared to microplastics on land, microplastics in aquatic ecosystems take a much longer time to degrade due to the presence of salt and a lower temperature in the ocean. As a result, they present a habitable environment for marine biota to colonise. Yet, despite their prevalence, the distribution of microplastics along the coasts of tropical regions is not well studied. Dr. Leong and Ms Emily Curren, a Ph.D. student from TMSI and the Department of Biological Sciences at the NUS Faculty of Science, embarked on a six-month study to examine the bacterial communities on microplastics collected from coastal regions of Singapore. Diverse bacterial communities living on microplastics Between April and July 2018, the research team collected and examined 275 pieces of microplastics from three beaches along the coastline of Singapore, namely Lazarus Island, Sembawang Beach, and Changi Beach. By using high-throughput sequencing techniques, the team discovered more than 400 different types of bacteria across all the microplastics collected. Species of the bacteria Erythrobacter, which is capable of degrading plastic, and bacteria species Pseudomonas veronii, which have been used to clean up oil spills, were found. "Given the predicted increase in plastic waste contamination in oceans, the discovery of such bacteria provides important nature-friendly alternatives for the mitigation of plastic pollution and toxic pollutants such as hydrocarbons," said Ms Curren. In contrast, the bacteria Photobacterium rosenbergii, often associated with coral bleaching and disease, was also identified. The proliferation and accumulation of this bacterium could be detrimental to the coral reefs in Singapore as the southern strait is characterised by multiple coral communities with great biodiversity that are under conservation. The research team also uncovered species of marine Vibrio, a major cause of wound infections in humans, and species of Arcobacter, known to cause gastroenteritis in humans. "As the microplastics we studied were collected from locations easily accessible to the public and in areas widely used for recreation, the identification of potentially pathogenic bacteria would be important in preventing the spread of diseases," elaborated Ms Curren. Future studies to identify bacteria sources This study demonstrates that microplastics are a rich habitat that is home to many types of bacteria, including toxic ones. The NUS research team will conduct further studies to examine the origin of the bacteria species transported by the microplastics. This will allow the identification of non-native species that threaten the existing biodiversity, and provide insights on managing the urgent issue of marine plastic pollution. Explore further Do microplastics harm humans? More information: Emily Curren et al, Profiles of bacterial assemblages from microplastics of tropical coastal environments, Science of The Total Environment (2018). Journal information: Science of the Total Environment Emily Curren et al, Profiles of bacterial assemblages from microplastics of tropical coastal environments,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.250 Credit: CC0 Public Domain A paper recently published in New Political Economy by a team of academics led by Hulya Dagdeviren, Professor of Economic Development, University of Hertfordshire, concludes that austerity measures over the past decade, especially the cuts in welfare and local government budgets, accompanied by a range of disciplinary measures, pushed the very poor into various forms of debt by severely limiting their means of subsistence. The study is the first to review the impact of the ten-year period of austerity measures on indebtedness amongst low income households, as well as the impact of the recession immediately after the 2008 financial crisis. The study found that while the proportion of households with financial liabilities (excluding mortgages and student loans) declined slightly in 2006/2008 2014/2016, average household debt increased by around 43 per cent. Unlike the pre-crisis period when low income household debt reflected aspirations for home ownership or 'keeping up with the Joneses', under austerity debt or arrears for essential needs such as rent, food, energy and water, account for a significant proportion of low income household indebtedness. In contrast to what is usually presumed, the study found that creditors are not only banks, payday lenders or pawn shops, but also local authorities (LAs) as well as private companies. The debt-to-income ratio for the poorest 10 percent of the population grew from 140 percent in 2005-6 to 190 percent in 2012-2013, representing the largest growth in the degree of indebtedness in comparison to other income groups, a few years after austerity programme first rolled out. The proportion of individuals holding debt in the lower income groups also increased after the crisis, as opposed to the contraction in the corresponding indicator for most above the average income groups. Rising demand for debt advice corroborates the intensifying debt pressures amongst low income households. For example, the number of people who received debt advice from StepChange Debt Charity increased six fold within a decade. In 2016, the charity was contacted by a record number of nearly 600,000 people for help together with 3.3 million visits to its website. (StepChange 2016 Statistics Yearbook). The study found that in 201213, several years after the austerity measures first rolled out, a greater proportion of the poorest households in the lowest ten percent income category had arrears of essential bills. Over one-fifth of the UK Household Longitudinal Survey respondents in that category found it hard to keep up with their housing payments and around 18 percent were behind with payments for essential household bills (StepChange 2018). The rising debt for essential household spending is also confirmed by Citizens Advice (2018) and National Audit Office (2018) that provided a minimum estimate of 18 billion in personal debt owed to government, utility companies, landlords and housing associations. "The governments that provided direct support to financial institutions to maintain their solvency and profitability after the financial crisis, have only afforded punitive measures to the poorest sections of society in Britain and directly contributed to their debt burden. The introduction of austerity programmes is supposed to be for the short to medium term until some level of stability is achieved, but the continuing persistence with austerity and welfare retrenchment a decade after the 2008 crisis bears the potential for these changes to be structural and to exacerbate the problems with indebtedness among low income households into the future," said Hulya Dagdeviren, professor of economic development, Business School, University of Hertfordshire Explore further Financial education key to reducing student loan stress More information: Hulya Dagdeviren et al. Financialisation, Welfare Retrenchment and Subsistence Debt in Britain, New Political Economy (2019). Hulya Dagdeviren et al. Financialisation, Welfare Retrenchment and Subsistence Debt in Britain,(2019). DOI: 10.1080/13563467.2019.1570102 A general strike called by three unions, which are calling for higher wages, is expected to paralyse Belgium Belgian airspace was to be closed to all flights below 8,000 metres on Wednesday as a national strike threatened to bring the European country to a standstill. With "no certainty" on how many controllers would be following the strike movement, Belgium's Skeyes air traffic control agency said it was "forced to prohibit" national air traffic between Tuesday, February 12 at 22:00 (2100 GMT) until the same time the following day, a statement said on Tuesday. No aircraft flying below 8,000 metres altitudethe area controlled by Skeyeswill be allowed to fly over the country, Dominique Dehaene, the company's spokesman, told AFP. Government, military and emergency flights will be allowed, he added. Above 8,000 metres, a control centre in the Dutch city of Maastricht controls aircraft flying over Belgian territory. Skeyes was not able to say how many flights or how many passengers would be affected. A general strike called by three unions, which are calling for higher wages, is expected to paralyse Belgium on Wednesday. Brussels, home to NATO, will be hosting a meeting of defence ministers that day, with officials from throughout the transatlantic military alliance converging on the city. "We have no indication of any impact of the strike on the meeting," a NATO official told AFP. Charleroi airport, the second largest in Belgium and a local hub for low-cost giant Ryanair, had already announced its closure. Belgium's Brussels Airlines has cancelled all its 222 flights. The German carrier TUI fly will operate its scheduled Belgian flights from the nearest French and Dutch airports. Explore further Unions hail mobilisation in unprecedented Ryanair strike 2019 AFP Artist rendition of a plasma jet impact (yellow) generating standing waves at the magnetopause boundary (blue) and in the magnetosphere (green). The outer group of four THEMIS probes witnessed the flapping of the magnetopause over each satellite in succession, confirming the expected behaviour/frequency of the theorised magnetopause eigenmode wave. Credit: E. Masongsong/UCLA, M. Archer/QMUL, H. Hietala/UTU The Earth's magnetic shield booms like a drum when it is hit by strong impulses, according to new research from Queen Mary University of London. As an impulse strikes the outer boundary of the shield, known as the magnetopause, ripples travel along its surface which then get reflected back when they approach the magnetic poles. The interference of the original and reflected waves leads to a standing wave pattern, in which specific points appear to be standing still while others vibrate back and forth. A drum resonates like this when struck in exactly the same way. This study, published in Nature Communications, describes the first time this effect has been observed after it was theoretically proposed 45 years ago. Movements of the magnetopause are important in controlling the flow of energy within our space environment with wide-ranging effects on space weather, which is how phenomena from space can potentially damage technology like power grids, GPS and even passenger airlines. The discovery that the boundary moves in this way sheds light on potential global consequences that previously had not been considered. Dr. Martin Archer, space physicist at Queen Mary University of London, and lead author of the paper, said: "There had been speculation that these drum-like vibrations might not occur at all, given the lack of evidence over the 45 years since they were proposed. Another possibility was that they are just very hard to definitively detect. NASA's THEMIS mission proves a 45-year-old theory that the outer boundary of Earth's magnetic field vibrates like a drum. Credit: Martin Archer, Queen Mary University of London "Earth's magnetic shield is continuously buffeted with turbulence so we thought that clear evidence for the proposed booming vibrations might require a single sharp hit from an impulse. You would also need lots of satellites in just the right places during this event so that other known sounds or resonances could be ruled out. The event in the paper ticked all those quite strict boxes and at last we've shown the boundary's natural response." The researchers used observations from five NASA THEMIS satellites when they were ideally located as a strong isolated plasma jet slammed into the magnetopause. The probes were able to detect the boundary's oscillations and the resulting sounds within the Earth's magnetic shield, which agreed with the theory and gave the researchers the ability to rule out all other possible explanations. Many impulses which can impact our magnetic shield originate from the solar wind, charged particles in the form of plasma that continually blow off the Sun, or are a result of the complicated interaction of the solar wind with Earth's magnetic field, as was technically the case for this event. The signals recorded by the THEMIS probes converted to audible sound. Credit: Martin Archer, Queen Mary University of London The interplay of Earth's magnetic field with the solar wind forms a magnetic shield around the planet, bounded by the magnetopause, which protects us from much of the radiation present in space. Other planets like Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn also have similar magnetic shields and so the same drum-like vibrations may be possible elsewhere. Further research is needed to understand how often the vibrations occur at Earth and whether they exist at other planets as well. Their consequences also need further study using satellite and ground-based observations. Explore further School students identify sounds caused by solar storm More information: 'Direct Observations Of A Surface Eigenmode Of The Dayside Magnetopause'. M.O. Archer, H. Hietala, M.D. Hartinger, F. Plaschke, V. Angelopoulos. Nature Communications (2019). Journal information: Nature Communications 'Direct Observations Of A Surface Eigenmode Of The Dayside Magnetopause'. M.O. Archer, H. Hietala, M.D. Hartinger, F. Plaschke, V. Angelopoulos.(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-08134-5 Credit: Queensland University of Technology Modern economies need courageous, bold and entrepreneurial individuals to thrive yet the same qualities can bring greater risks according to a world-first study from an international research team. QUT's Associate Professor Martin Obschonka, Director of the Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research, joined forces with researchers from Germany's University of Mannheim and the University of Cambridge in the UK to study data on courage from more than 390,000 Americans. The project was a collaboration with Time Magazine which collected the data gathered from an online Harry Potter-style sorting hat quiz publicised on its website. The findingsRegional Variation in Courage and Entrepreneurship: The Contrasting Role of Courage for the Emergence and Survival of Start-Ups in the US have now been published by Wiley's Journal of Personality and represent the first study ever to map out differences in the prevalence of the personality trait courage in regional populations across the USA. "Our modern society often requires some sort of courage/bravery/personal agency to cope with the uncertainty of our times, which present us with less clear career paths, extreme technological change, lots of societal challenges and other unsettling trends," said Professor Obschonka. "Those same personality traits are able to take advantage of the unprecedented opportunities that now exist to foster creativity, entrepreneurship, 'changing the world' via innovations, global exchange, use of new technologies, and the development of fascinating new products and services." However, as lead author Tobias Ebert from the University of Mannheim said, the study results indicated a double-edged sword. "Courage seems to contribute to more economic vitality in a region with more entrepreneurship rates and more start-ups. This finding supports the general assumption that it requires brave people to drive modern economic activity, compared to historical times when it required a workers culture to stimulate the economy with its large industries and factories, said Mr Ebert. "The dark side to courage is that we found evidence it is associated with risk-taking and higher start-up failure rates." Professor Obschonka said this tendency could be called 'blind' courage which may undermine a realistic evaluation of risks. "In other words, a too strong courage might increase uncertainty and risks. So educators, policy-makers, entrepreneurs etc. should keep in mind that while promoting courage can be a powerful tool in growing a local economy, it can have a down side," he said. A map produced for the study revealed pronounced regional differences in Courage across 283 US metropolitan areas. Areas with comparatively high levels of courage are found in the Eastern and Southern regions of the US (from California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico to Texas and Oklahoma) as well as the state of Florida. Areas with comparatively low levels of courage spanned eastwards from the Midwest, including the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, across the Rust Belt (Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey) up to Boston and down to the Carolinas. "Regions with elevated levels of courage show higher start-up rates so findings suggest a lack of courage within local populations might be an important driver of the consistently weak entrepreneurial dynamic in areas like the rust belt," said Professor Obschonka. "Yet companies founded in these courageous regions demonstrated a lower share of start-ups surviving the first five years after foundation. Findings suggest that excessive courage within local populations comes at a cost and might contribute to an overheated regional economic climate." Of the major metropolitan regions in the United States with a population of at least 500,000, the following recorded the highest and lowest levels of courage (scales reaches from zero to one): 5 Most Courageous Metropolitan Areas El Paso, TX McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX Colorado Springs, CO Albuquerque, NM Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA 5 Least Courageous Metropolitan Areas Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI Providence-Warwick, RI-MA Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Madison, WI Rochester, NY Explore further Massive AI Twitter probe draws heat map of entrepreneurial personality More information: Tobias Ebert et al. Regional variation in courage and entrepreneurship: The contrasting role of courage for the emergence and survival of start-ups in the United States, Journal of Personality (2019). Journal information: Journal of Personality Tobias Ebert et al. Regional variation in courage and entrepreneurship: The contrasting role of courage for the emergence and survival of start-ups in the United States,(2019). DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12454 Spatial plot of global rainfall projections for 2100 from IPCC AR5, showing percent change in annual rainfall for each C of global warming, for the last two decades of the 21st century relative to 1986-2005. Subtropical regions, like the Mediterranean and southern Australia are projected to dry. Credit: IPCC AR5 Ch. 12 Fig 12.10 As the planet warms, subtropical regions of the Southern Hemisphere, including parts of southern Australia and southern Africa, are drying. These trends include major drought events such as Cape Town's "Day Zero" in 2018. Climate projections suggest this subtropical drying will continue throughout the 21st century. Further drying in these regions will place great stress on ecosystems, agriculture and urban water supplies. Our new study, published today in Nature Climate Change, suggests the subtropical Southern Hemisphere drying trend may reverse, if global temperatures stabilise in a future world with zero net greenhouse gas emissions. Dry places get drier, wet places get wetter As global temperatures increase, some regions get wetter while others get drier. Climate models indicate that many parts of the tropics, where it is already very wet, will become wetter. The subtropics, which sit between the wet tropics and the wet mid-latitudes, are expected to get drier. Over southern Australia, rainfall is expected to decline, particularly in the cool season (which is currently the rainy time of year). This has already happened in Perth and the surrounding southwest of Western Australia. What will happen when warming slows or stops? The drying trend in South-west Western Australia over the last century is significant. Credit: BoM Climate models are typically used to explore future climate under transient or rising temperatures, at least until the end of the 21st century. International efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are aimed at slowing and eventually stopping temperature rises so that the climate is stabilised. For example, the Paris Agreement aims to stabilise global warming within 1.5 or 2 above pre-industrial levels. But if temperatures stop rising, how will rainfall patterns respond? To investigate, we used pre-existing climate model runs created by the international scientific community to project different conditions extending from the present to the year 2300. The chart below shows two different scenarios: one in which greenhouse gases and temperatures level off around 2100 (this referred to as Extended Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5), and the one next to it (Extended Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5) in which greenhouse gases don't level off until around 2250, creating a much warmer climate. We found that rainfall in the Southern Hemisphere subtropics decreases while temperatures are rising rapidly, with most of the rainfall reduction occurring in the winter months. When temperatures begin to stabilise, subtropical rainfall starts to recover. How rainfall reversal works The subtropics are relatively dry right now because they are the region where dry air descends from the upper atmosphere to the surface, suppressing rainfall. Studies have shown that the subtropics may be expanding or shifting southward in the Southern Hemisphere as the global climate warms. Smoothed global temperature and subtropical (25S-35S) winter (June through August) rainfall in Extended Representative Concentration Pathway (ECP) 4.5 and ECP8.5, from 2006 to 2300. Author provided Our study found a link between the trend in Southern Hemisphere subtropical rainfall and the temperature gradient between the tropics and subtropical regions. This temperature gradient gets steeper during periods of rapid warming because the tropics warm faster. Once warming stops, the regions further from the Equator catch up and the temperature gradient gets weaker. The pattern of temperature warming drives the shifts in rainfall: when the tropics are warming faster, the subtropics become drier as more moisture is exported to the tropics. A wetter or drier future? Our results suggest that stabilising global temperatures may lead to a reversal in the drying trend in the subtropics. The path to stabilising global temperatures will be a long journey from the current trajectory of rising emissions, but this research is potentially good news for the future generations who will live in subtropical regions. Explore further Study finds less gloomy outlook for subtropical rainfall This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Under current high emissions the average urban dweller is going to have to drive more than 500 miles to the south to find a climate similar to their home city by 2080. Credit: Matthew Fitzpatrick/University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science In one generation, the climate experienced in many North American cities is projected to change to that of locations hundreds of miles awayor to a new climate unlike any found in North America today. A new study and interactive web application aim to help the public understand how climate change will impact the lives of people who live in urban areas of the United States and Canada. These new climate analyses match the expected future climate in each city with the current climate of another location, providing a relatable picture of what is likely in store. "Under current high emissions the average urban dweller is going to have to drive more than 500 miles to the south to find a climate like that expected in their home city by 2080," said study author Matt Fitzpatrick of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. "Not only is climate changing, but climates that don't presently exist in North America will be prevalent in a lot of urban areas." The study found that by the 2080s, even if limits are placed on emissions, the climate of North American urban areas will feel substantially different, and in many cases completely unlike contemporary climates found anywhere in the western hemisphere north of the equator. If emissions continue unabated throughout the 21st century, the climate of North American urban areas will become, on average, most like the contemporary climate of locations about 500 miles away and mainly to the south. In the eastern U.S., nearly all urban areas, including Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, will become most similar to contemporary climates to the south and southwest. Climates of most urban areas in the central and western U.S. will become most similar to contemporary climates found to the south or southeast. "Within the lifetime of children living today, the climate of many regions is projected to change from the familiar to conditions unlike those experienced in the same place by their parents, grandparents, or perhaps any generation in millennia," said Fitzpatrick. "Many cities could experience climates with no modern equivalent in North America." The climate of cities in the northeast will tend to feel more like the humid subtropical climates typical of parts of the Midwest or southeastern U.S. todaywarmer and wetter in all seasons. For instance, unless we take action to mitigate emissions, Washington, D.C. will feel more like northern Mississippi. The climates of western cities are expected to become more like those of the desert Southwest or southern Californiawarmer in all seasons, with changes in the amount and seasonal distribution of precipitation. San Francisco's climate will resemble that of Los Angeles. New York will feel more like northern Arkansas. Scientists analyzed 540 urban areas that encompassed approximately 250 million inhabitants in the United States and Canada. For each urban area, they mapped the similarity between that city's future climate expected by the 2080s and contemporary climate in the western hemisphere north of the equator using 12 measures of climate, including minimum and maximum temperature and precipitation during the four seasons. The study also mapped climate differences under two emission trajectories: unmitigated emissions (RCP8.5), the scenario most in line with what might be expected given current policies and the speed of global action, and mitigated emissions (RCP4.5), which assumes policies are put in place to limit emissions, such as the Paris Agreement. Climate-analog mapping is a statistical technique that matches the expected future climate at one locationyour city of residence, for instancewith the current climate of another familiar location to provide a place-based understanding of climate change. Combining climate mapping with the interactive web application provides a powerful tool to communicate how climate change may impact the lives of a large portion of the population of the United States and Canada. "We can use this technique to translate a future forecast into something we can better conceptualize and link to our own experiences," said Fitzpatrick. "It's my hope that people have that 'wow' moment, and it sinks in for the first time the scale of the changes we're expecting in a single generation." Search the interactive climate map for your location at http://www.umces.edu/futureurbanclimates. The paper, "Contemporary climatic analogs for 540 North American urban areas in the late 21st century," by Matt Fitzpatrick of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and Robert Dunn of North Carolina State University, is published in Nature Communications on February 12. Explore further Slowing climate change could reverse drying in the subtropics More information: "Contemporary climatic analogs for 540 North American urban areas in the late 21st century," , Nature Communications (2019). Journal information: Nature Communications "Contemporary climatic analogs for 540 North American urban areas in the late 21st century," ,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08540-3 Credit: Allen Dressen RUDN chemists have developed a hybrid nanocatalyst for quick removal of stable organic dyes from wastewater. This catalyst does not require additional aggressive solvents. The results of the study were published in Inorganic Chemistry. Industrial dying of plastics, fabrics and other materials requires toxic organic dyes that are dangerous for humans and the environment in the long run. So ecologists try to remove residual dyes from plant wastewater. For example, using coagulants can speed up the sedimentation of dye particles, but this causes water to silt up. Water purification with ozone prevents this, but the technology is expensive. RUDN chemists, together with their colleagues from China, Pakistan, and Portugal, now suggest a cheaper and more eco-friendly technique of water purification. The researchers introduced a purifying hybrid nanomateriala grid containing metal atoms and organic molecules. Such structures were used as catalysts. The second component of the new nanomaterial was a base made of layered double hydroxides. The two parts self-organize and form a single flat nanostructure. The main feature of this material lies in its unusual structureit is porous and crystalline at the same time, and it is also strong. The RUDN chemists gave a detailed description of the whole synthesis process and then tested the new material as a catalyst for wastewater purification from organic dyes. Such organic dyes as methylene blue, congo red, methyl orange and others were used in the experiment. The hybrid nanogrid was able to purify a water solution from the dyes quickly: Methyl orange was deactivated in just one minute, and a stable fluorescent dye called rhodamine 6G neutralized in several minutes. Moreover, the new material does not lose its properties after the first use and may be used up to five times without any quality decrease. "Our development would stimulate the creation of new nanomaterials with improved functional properties and wide areas of use in green chemistry. We are going to continue our studies and hope to obtain nanomaterials to remove other contaminants in the future," said Alexander Kirillov, a co-author of the work, Ph.D. in chemistry, and an associate of the Joint Institute for Chemical Studies at RUDN. Explore further Chemists develop a catalyst to oxidize alkanes in mild conditions More information: Kanwal Iqbal et al. Hybrid MetalOrganic-Framework/Inorganic Nanocatalyst toward Highly Efficient Discoloration of Organic Dyes in Aqueous Medium, Inorganic Chemistry (2018). Journal information: Inorganic Chemistry Kanwal Iqbal et al. Hybrid MetalOrganic-Framework/Inorganic Nanocatalyst toward Highly Efficient Discoloration of Organic Dyes in Aqueous Medium,(2018). DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.8b01826 Some lawmakers said new technology tools would be more effective than the kind of border fence seen in Texas, but civil liberties activists worry about the potential for expanding electronic surveillance As congressional Democrats counter President Donald Trump's border wall plan with a high-tech solution, the idea of a "smart" security barrier is raising fresh questions over the potential for intrusive surveillance. Last month, the Democratic lawmakers endorsed what they described as "a strong, but smart, border security posture," without "costly physical barriers." Some test projects are already underway along the US-Mexico border on "small wall" systems that use artificial intelligence and other electronics in place of steel or masonry barriers. Advantages of a tech-based solution include a far lower cost, faster implementation and fewer environmental impacts. But some activists worry about the impact of wide-scale deployment of technologies which may impact civil liberties and lead to problems of racial profiling and intrusive data collection. The use of algorithmic "risk-based targeting" is among the concerns of civil liberties activists. These tools may "replicate the biases of their programmers, burden vulnerable communities, lack democratic transparency, and encourage the collection and analysis of ever-increasing amounts of data," said a letter to lawmakers endorsed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Freedom of the Press Foundation and National Immigration Law Center and others. US President Donald Trump pressed his demands for funding for a physical wall at a rally in El Paso, Texas How smart is too smart? The letter also warned that "cutting edge" technologies such as facial recognition, iris scans and voice recognition "raise significant privacy concerns." "Unchecked use of surveillance tech undermines everyone's right to privacy, especially the most vulnerable members of society," said Elliot Harmon of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, one of the groups endorsing the letter. "This could mean increased use of drones, which indiscriminately monitor everyone near the borderincluding American citizens and other legal residents going about their daily lives." Other activists also warned against moving too fast on a tech-based solution. "Technology is not a panacea for the problems at the border," said Mana Azarmi, a policy counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology, a digital rights group. A family of Central American migrants look through the US-Mexico border fence in Baja California state, Mexico "If Congress decides to fund technology to surveil people at the 'border,' such funding must be conditioned upon safeguards to ensure the preservation of rights." The debate comes with Trump intensifying his campaign for a physical wall, and with lawmakers close to a compromise on funding of far less than the $5 billion or more sought by the White House. Worse than physical barrier? Matthew Feeney of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, said a smart wall would be worse in many ways than a physical one. "The proliferation of small and large drones on the border will mean that DHS (Department of Homeland Security) further intrudes on law-abiding Americans' privacy," Feeney said in a blog post. "It would be naive to believe that border patrol surveillance equipment won't be turned on Americans going about their days." Murat Atalay of California-based Quanergy shows a display of technology based on systems from autonomous cars that could be used for a virtual border wall during the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show Some tech startups, including California-based Quanergy and Anduril Industries, have already begun testing virtual walls, using tools such as Lidara remote sensing method that is also used in autonomous cars to detect information in three dimensions, as well as image recognition. Republican Representative Will Hurd of Texas, in a Rolling Stone interview, called a physical wall a "third century solution" said a smart wall would cost $500,000 per mile compared with $18 to $24 million for a physical barrier. Darrell West, who heads the Brookings Institution's Center for Technology Innovation, said digital tools may be good solution for border security. "Rather than spending a lot of money on hiring new people, it would be cost effective to deploy sensors, cameras and drones to monitor the border and use these devices to direct border patrols," West said. "That is a smarter and more effective way to do border enforcement." Explore further High-tech border wall plan on display at CES 2019 AFP Credit: CC0 Public Domain Dating apps and websites could soon use computing algorithms that 'think' like humans to pinpoint fake profiles designed to con victims out of thousands of pounds. Algorithms with this capability have been developed as part of wide-ranging research into combating online fraud led by the University of Warwick and funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The new algorithms have been designed specifically to understand what fake dating profiles look like and then to apply this knowledge when they scan profiles submitted to online dating services. They automatically look out for suspicious signs inadvertently included by fraudsters in the demographic information, the images and the self-descriptions that make up profiles, and reach an overall conclusion as to the probability of each individual profile being fake. When tested, the algorithms produced a very low false-positive rate (the number of genuine profiles mistakenly flagged up as fake) of around 1 per cent. The aim is now to further enhance the technique and enable it to start being taken up by dating services within the next couple of years, helping them to prevent profiles being posted by scammers. With Valentine's Day fast approaching, the news that these artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities have the potential to help thwart so-called 'rom-con' scams will be very welcome to the millions of people who use online dating services in the UK and worldwide. In these scams, fraudsters target users of dating websites and apps, 'groom' them and then ask for gifts of money or loans which will never be returned. In 2017, over 3,000 Britons lost a total of 41 million in such incidents, with an average loss of 11,500. The work on the textual and other computer characteristics of online dating messages and profiles was led by Professor Awais Rashid (now at the University of Bristol, previously at the University of Lancaster) and Dr. Gianluca Stringhini (previously at UCL and now at Boston University). It formed just one aspect of an overall research initiative that has also involved King's College London, Cardiff University and partners worldwide and has aimed at boosting efforts to detect and prevent mass fraud that exploits online channels. Other aspects of the initiative have, for example, focused on better understanding of the psychology of people most likely to become repeat victims of online scams. The project was primarily led by Professor Monica Whitty (now at the University of Melbourne) with Professor Tom Sorell of the University of Warwick taking over in the final stages. Professor Sorell says: Online dating fraud is a very common, often unreported crime that causes huge distress and embarrassment for victims as well as financial loss. Using AI techniques to help reveal suspicious activity could be a game-changer that makes detection and prevention quicker, easier and more effective, ensuring that people can use dating sites with much more confidence in future. Explore further Sensitive people more vulnerable to online dating scams More information: DAPM: Detecting and Preventing Mass-Marketing Fraud (MMF). DAPM: Detecting and Preventing Mass-Marketing Fraud (MMF). gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP %2FN028112%2F2 This undated photo released by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, shows an ancient workshop to build and repair ships, dating back to the Ptolemaic era in the country's Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. The Antiquities Ministry said Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019 that the excavations took place in Tel- Abu- Saifi an archaeological site in Northern Sinai. The site is said to have been the site of the Roman fortress of Silla. (Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities via AP) Egypt says archaeologists have uncovered an ancient workshop used to build and repair ships that dates back to the Ptolemaic era (332 B.C.-30 B.C.) in the Sinai Peninsula. The Antiquities Ministry says Tuesday that excavations took place in the Tel Abu Saifi archaeological site in Northern Sinai. The site is said to have been the location of the Roman fortress of Silla. Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, says the workshop includes two dry dockyards where ships were built or repaired. The Greco-Roman period in Egypt spans from its fall to Alexander the Great in the 4th century B.C. to the Islamic conquest in the 7th century. Egypt hopes such discoveries will spur tourism, which suffered a major setback during the unrest that followed the 2011 uprising. This undated photo released by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, shows an ancient workshop to build and repair ships, dating back to the Ptolemaic era in the country's Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. The Antiquities Ministry said Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019 that the excavations took place in Tel- Abu- Saifi an archaeological site in Northern Sinai. The site is said to have been the site of the Roman fortress of Silla. (Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities via AP) 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Two of the fossil specimens discovered in Korea had reflective eyes, a feature still apparent under light. Credit: Paul Selden Usually, soft-bodied species like spiders aren't fossilized in rock like animals with bones and teeth. More often, ancient spiders and insects are more likely to be discovered preserved in amber. Yet a new paper in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, co-written by a University of Kansas researcher, describes fossil spiders found in an area of Korean shale called the Lower Cretaceous Jinju Formation. What's most remarkable: Two of the fossils from the extinct spider family Lagonomegopidae feature reflective eyes that enabled their nighttime hunting. "Because these spiders were preserved in strange slivery flecks on dark rock, what was immediately obvious was their rather large eyes brightly marked with crescentic features," said Paul Selden, Gulf-Hedberg Distinguished Professor of Geology and director of the Paleontological Institute at KU's Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum. "I realized this must have been the tapetumthat's a reflective structure in an inverted eye where light comes in and is reverted back into retina cells. This is unlike a straightforward eye where light goes through and doesn't have a reflective characteristic." Selden said that some contemporary spiders feature eyes with a tapetum, but the new paper is the first to describe the anatomical feature in a fossilized spider. The research team said the discovery provides evidence for lagonomegopid enlarged eyes being posterior medians. Locality map of the study area. A, distribution of Cretaceous sedimentary basins around the Korean Peninsula; rectangular area is magnified in B. B, simplified geological map of the Gyeongsang Arc System; the sedimentary rocks represent the Gyeongsang Backarc Basin, while the volcanic rocks represent the Gyeongsang Volcanic Arc; rectangular area is magnified in C (modified from Chough & Sohn 2010; the displacement by the Yangsan Fault has been recovered). C, road map of the study area showing the two fossil localities (stars). Credit: Paul Selden "ln spiders, the ones you see with really big eyes are jumping spiders, but their eyes are regular eyeswhereas wolf spiders at nighttime, you see their eyes reflected in light like cats," he said. "So, night-hunting predators tend to use this different kind of eye. This was the first time a tapetum had been in found in fossil. This tapetum was canoe-shapedit looks a bit like a Canadian canoe. That will help us place this group of spiders among other families." Selden's collaborators were Tae-Yoon Park of the Korea Polar Research Institute and amateur fossil hunter Kye-Soo Nam of the Daejeon Science High School for the Gifted, who found the fossils preserved in the shale. The description of the fossils boosts the number of known spiders from the Jinju Formation from one to 11. The KU researcher said the spiders, who lived between 110 and 113 million years ago, must somehow have been protected from deterioration to have become so well-preserved in the shale formation. "This is so rare because they're very softthey don't have hard shells so they very easily decay," Selden said. "It has to be a very special situation where they were washed into a body of water. Normally, they'd float. But here, they sunk, and that kept them away from decaying bacteriait may have been a low-oxygen condition. These rocks also are covered in little crustaceans and fish, so there maybe was some catastrophic event like an algal bloom that trapped them in a mucus mat and sunk thembut that's conjecture. We don't really know what caused this, but something killed off a lot of animals around the lake at one time or on an annual basis." The discovery was made possible because of the unique geography of South Korea, where the shale containing the fossils was exposed during a construction project. Flint rock preserved characteristics of the spider fossils differently than the more common amber-preserved spiders. Credit: Paul Selden "It's all black shale, and in that area it's very hilly," Selden said. "South Korea doesn't have much flat land to build anything. So, they carve away the hillsides to make a flat area, and there are temporary excavations while they're cutting away and building a factory or whateverthat's where they found these fossils." According to Selden, the shale preserved the spider fossils in a manner that highlighted the reflectivity of the tapetum, a feature that may have been missed had the spiders been preserved in amber instead, as is more typical. "Amber fossils are beautiful, they look wonderful, but they preserve things in a different way," he said. "Now, we want to go back and look at the amber fossils and see if we can find the tapetum, which stares out at you from rock fossils but isn't so obvious in amber ones because the mode of preservation is so different." Beyond the novelty of discovering the first fossilized-spider tapetum, Selden said the spiders informed the scientific understanding of Cretaceous biodiversity. "This is an extinct family of spiders that were clearly very common in the Cretaceous and were occupying niches now occupied by jumping spiders that didn't evolve until later," he said. "But these spiders were doing things differently. Their eye structure is different from jumping spiders. It's nice to have exceptionally well-preserved features of internal anatomy like eye structure. It's really not often you get something like that preserved in a fossil." Explore further Remarkable spider with a tail found preserved in amber after 100 million years More information: Tae-Yoon S. Park et al, A diverse new spider (Araneae) fauna from the Jinju Formation, Cretaceous (Albian) of Korea, Journal of Systematic Palaeontology (2019). Journal information: Journal of Systematic Palaeontology Tae-Yoon S. Park et al, A diverse new spider (Araneae) fauna from the Jinju Formation, Cretaceous (Albian) of Korea,(2019). DOI: 10.1080/14772019.2018.1525441 Phuket, Thailand, February 2019 Banyan Tree Phuket, flagship property for Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts has been awarded Asias Best Luxury Resort by Versatile Excellence Travel Awards, VETA, on January 15, 2019 at The Imperial, New Delhi. The event was organised by TravelScapes, a pan India B2B monthly travel trade magazine with offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Dubai. This award validates the resorts reputation for service excellence and strong brand loyalty amongst the discerning readers of TravelScapes and the Indian travel market in general. The award night was attended by the industrys key decision makers and figure heads, as well as key trade and consumer media. On receiving the award on behalf of Banyan Trees flagship resort, Area Director of Sales & Marketing, Mr. Shannon Creado, said Grateful to Versatile Media for recognizing Banyan Tree Phuket for the true luxury it represents. Being a three in one resort, the resort caters to every segment couples seeking romance, families seeking recreation and event planners who wish to have their needs met with impeccable service and professionalism. The DoublePool Villas are what truly set Banyan Tree Phuket apart. This award reinforces Banyan Tree as a high end product for the discerning vacationer who appreciates the finer nuances of luxury hospitality. The publication has been awarded as Best Travel Trade Publication at IATO Convention 2015, for Best Live IATO Dailies at IATO Convention 2016 and Best Travel Trade Publication at IATO Convention 2017. Russian lawmakers on Tuesday backed a bill that could cut off the country's internet traffic from servers abroad which critics say is a step towards censorship and possibly an isolated network like in North Korea. The bill passed its first reading by 334 votes to 47 after an unusually heated debate in the State Duma, where many lawmakers from minority parties criticised it as too costly and argued that it was not written by experts. Authors of the initiative say Russia must ensure the security of its networks after US President Donald Trump unveiled America's new cybersecurity strategy last year. The new approach follows what US officials said was a wave of cyber attacks by Russia, Iran, North Korea and China, warning it would now respond to any future hostile intrusions both offensively and defensively. Those behind the legislation say the aim is to create "defence mechanisms to ensure the long-term stable function of internet networks in Russia" in the event the US takes any action in cyberspace to threaten them. It proposes creating a centre to "ensure and control the routing of internet traffic" and requires that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) install "technical measures to withstand threats". It also mandates regular "drills" to test whether Russia's internet can function in an isolated mode. Taking questions on the floor, the authors were unable to estimate the long-term costs, what threats it would repel or even how it would work but said expert opinions could be incorporated into the bill for its second hearing. One of the authors dismissed all criticism, citing the scale of the potential threat from Washington. "This isn't kindergarten!" shouted Andrei Lugovoi, one of the main suspects in the 2006 murder of Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in Britain. "All of the websites in Syria" have been turned off by the US before, he claimed. Critics say the bill shows the authorities' continued efforts to limit internet freedoms despite the huge public and private cost. "This is very serious," said Andrei Soldatov, who co-authored a book on the history of internet surveillance in Russia. "This is a path towards isolating Russia as a whole.. from the internet." Soviet authorities themselves condemned the USSR's bloody occupation of Afghanistan, but 30 years later some in Vladimir Putin's Russia are coming to see the operation in a more positive light. After a decade of military intervention to bolster Kabul's embattled Communist government against Islamist fighters, the USSR finally pulled out its last units on February 15, 1989. The withdrawal, ordered by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, was a humiliating defeat for the Union and helped lead to its collapse. Mikhail Kozhukhov, who covered the conflict as a correspondent for the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, remembered how the final Russian troops left without joy or bitterness. "The soldiers were dreaming only of one thing: getting home safe and sound," Kozhukhov, now 62, told AFP. The reporter remembered crossing the "Friendship Bridge" across the Amu Darya river separating Afghanistan from then-Soviet Uzbekistan in the second-last armoured vehicle of the last Soviet convoy, flying red flags. One of the armoured vehicles carried the body of 20-year-old Igor Lyakhovich, who was killed a day earlier and is officially the last of more than 14,000 Soviet war dead in a conflict that killed more than one million Afghans. "Along the route you could see the 'ghosts' who had come down from the mountains to watch our retreat from a distance," said Kozhukhov, using a Russian term for elusive Afghan partisans. "The eyes of the inhabitants of the snowy village were full of hate or spite because they were being left to the mercy of fate," Kozhukhov said. The journalist, who briefly served as Putin's press secretary in 1999 and 2000, says that "the intervention in Afghanistan was always a tragic and senseless escapade." - 'Reviving Soviet past' - The intervention was extremely unpopular with the Soviet public and was officially condemned in 1989 at the height of Gorbachev's policy of "glasnost", or transparency. But this judgement is now being reassessed, under pressure from veterans. Putin in 2015 appeared to back the intervention, saying that the Soviet leadership was trying to confront "real threats" even though he acknowledged "there were many mistakes." In late January, Russia's parliamentary defence committee backed a draft resolution saying that "the moral and political condemnation of the decision to send in Soviet troops" was "against the principles of historical justice." The Soviet troops helped the Afghan authorities fight "terrorist and extremist groups" and curbed the growing security threat facing the USSR, the draft resolution says. The draft resolution, however, has yet to be voted on in full session, reflecting the authorities' reluctance formally to revisit this traumatic episode. Historian Irina Shcherbakova of Memorial rights group says that amid heightened tensions with Western powers in recent years, "Russia is reviving its Soviet past to justify its new opposition to the West." - 'No napalm' - For political analyst Pyotr Akopov from pro-Kremlin site Vzglyad, "the ex-combatants and the whole of Russian society need vindication for this war." "We have nothing to apologise for, we didn't use napalm... and we even managed to leave Afghanistan with our supporters replacing us, which the Americans have never managed to do." Alexander Kovalyov, president of the association of ex-combatants for the CIS region including most ex-Soviet countries, insists the invasion of Afghanistan was justified and says Gorbachev "betrayed all the dead" by condemning it. "Without our troops, the Americans would have installed their missiles to target Moscow," he said. "Gorbachev was right to finish this war but we should have kept on supporting Kabul with the necessary arms for it to resist," said Kovalyov, who served as a deputy commander in charge of political indoctrination of an army regiment sent in to secure the withdrawal. Konstantin Volkov went to Afghanistan in late 1981 as a conscript at the age of 17, full of enthusiasm after following Soviet media reports. He was responsible for radio communications, taking part in 70 missions and was decorated for intercepting correspondence between the Mujahideen. Demobilised in 1983 in good physical health, he says the war haunted his dreams for 15 years. He was ordained as a Russian Orthodox priest and is now Father Konstantin. At his church in a village outside Moscow, around 30 of his fellow "Afghans" (Soviet veterans) gather every February 15. "I suggest to my former comrades that they express penitence and don't think any more about what happened in that war," he told AFP. Charot is a colloquial Filipino term that means just kidding, and is often added to the end of a sentence as a way to downplay a statement. It also happens to be the title of a new musical by the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA). Adding another layer of meaning, the title is also a play on the word charot and charter change, which in this case, refers to the Duterte administrations plan to shift to a federal form of government. Its a complicated topic full of jargon and nuance that is effectively and entertainingly explained in the musical comedy. Coconuts Manila attended the shows first night on Friday and found it to be amusing, laugh-out-loud funny, and educational if a little bit too on the nose. Posters in the waiting area that feature political impersonators. (Photo: Therese Reyes) The story is set in the fictional country P.I., which is based on (what else) modern-day Philippines. P.I. refers to the Philippine Islands but is also another way to say putang ina, President Rodrigo Dutertes favorite curse word that means mother f*cker or son of a b*tch. The musical is filled with a lot of these double entendres as it lampoons the Philippines current political state. This is most evident in the main characters who find themselves stuck in traffic on the way to a plebiscite for the ratification of the proposed charter change. Its a simple and straightforward comedy of errors, not by any of the characters, but by the city that they live in. An ensemble of 11 are on their way to a voting precinct but encounter obstacles like flooding and terrible traffic. Photo: Therese Reyes. Will they arrive in the precinct before polls close? Thats the question that drives the plot. The production is simple and has a community theater vibe, so the musical relies heavily on the performances delivered by the cast. Each character represents a different sector of society. Theres a millennial online influencer and her boyfriend who has differing political views. Theres also a gay ride-sharing app driver, a department store saleslady, a pregnant mother, and traffic enforcer, among others. Story continues While some of the characters are on the brink of becoming caricatures, many effectively display, comment on, and satirize peoples behaviors and concerns. A character based on Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. (Photo: Therese Reyes.) The best example is Tita (Auntie) Mary Grace, an affluent middle-aged woman who is stuck in traffic with the rest of the characters. She comes from higher up in the flyover (another metaphor) and goes down to meet with the others. Shes first portrayed as pleasant, even philanthropic, but with patronizing undertones that highlight her privilege. Her worst traits, like being out of touch with reality, become more obvious as the story progresses. Tita Mary Grace is played by actress Meann Espinosa, who delivers some of the best acting chops in the show. She plays two other minor characters with the same mix of good comedic timing and physical comedy that makes her character so engaging and real. Photo: Therese Reyes. The first half of the play runs, perhaps, a little too long, and takes its time setting up the premise and conflict. The show eventually gets to the meat of the story after the intermission. **Small spoiler alert** just a small plot progression nothing too revealing. At this point, the main characters have decided to escape the intense traffic by riding a chopper provided for by a corrupt politician on a lifeboat. The main characters are divided between the two modes of transportation, which are presented side by side on the stage. In the scene, the characters take turns reading a pamphlet that explains the details of the proposed charter change. What is Federalism? What are its advantages and disadvantages? are just some questions they answer. Its a competent scene that dramatizes the goal of the production to educate its audience but it could also divide viewers who have different values. Photo: Therese Reyes. On one hand, its a good summary of an important issue, on the other, its a long expository scene that leaves little to the imagination. It hits the audience on the head with the information and feels more like a creative class presentation than a stage musical. The scene ends with the cast breaking the fourth wall, going down to the audience, and giving away the very pamphlets they were reading on stage. Its a little clunky but, again, highlights the central theme about making an informed decision. The importance of choice is also incorporated in the shows structure, which has bits of audience participation. Cast pictured here is from another production of the same show. (Photo: PETA) At one of its pivotal points, the audience is asked to make a decision for one of the characters by voting via a website flashed on a screen. It calls to mind the Black Mirror episode Bandersnatch, the first choose-your-own-adventure film on Netflix. Charots execution, while innovative, feels unnecessary because the audience would have ended up drawing the same lesson regardless of their collective decision. The audience participation aspect is much more effective when its applied towards the end of the show, when viewers are asked to join the fictional plebiscite and vote whether or not they want to ratify the charter change. The show does not say what the right or wrong answer is, leaving the audience to judge for themselves. Photo: PETA. It is in this vagueness that Charot triumphs. Comedic elements throughout the show are incredibly specific, even referencing current pop culture trends, but it remains nonjudgemental about peoples political leanings. Its not about what people choose but that they make their own decision at all. For a show that satirizes politics, Charot comes off as balanced, providing a framework of understanding that places more importance on the individual rather than their political leanings a breath of fresh air in these polarizing times. Charot was written by J-mee Katanyag and Michelle Ngu, and directed by Maribel Legarda. It runs from Feb. 8 March 17 at The PETA Theater Center, with shows on Fridays at 3pm and Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm and 8pm. Tickets are priced at PHP600 (US$11.49) to PHP1,500 (US$28.74) and are available at the PETA Marketing and Public Relations Office (Phone: 632 725 6244), Ticket World, and Ticket2Me. FIND IT: PETA Theater Center is at #5 Eymard Dr., Brgy. Kristong Hari, New Manila, Quezon City Phone: 632 725 6244 Email: petatheater@gmail.com This article, Review: Charot, a musical comedy that schools viewers on the importance of voting, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. Want more Coconuts? Sign up for our newsletters! THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) around 13 kilos of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) worth P90 million, the agency said on Tuesday, THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) around 13 kilos of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) worth P90 million, the agency said on Tuesday, February 12. The illegal substance, with total mass of 13.1 kilos that were packed in large plastic sachets, were concealed in a shipment that was declared as car parts. A Customs examiner found the contraband inside car mufflers on January 26. The shipment arrived at the DHL warehouse from West Covina, California, in the United States. The illegal drugs were turned over to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on Tuesday. The PDEA has yet to provide further information on the matter. (Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo/SunStar Philippines) Opposition slate or Otso Diretso CALOOCAN CITY, Philippines Opposition senators have begun their campaign trail on the streets of Caloocan City to reach out to the public and to know the issues which they want the future leaders to address. They decided to do away with the traditional method of campaigning and conventional speeches. Nag-move on na ang taumbayan sa partido, sa kulay. Ang isyu nila, sino ang magbibigay pansin sa tao sa pangangailangan nila, Senator Bam Aquino said of the peoples sentiments. Joining Aquino in the opposition senatorial slate are Magdalo Party list Rep. Gary Alejano; Former Deputy Speaker Congressman Erin Tanada; Election Lawyer Romy Macalintal; Former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay; Former member of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission Samira Gutoc; and former DILG Secretary Mar Roxas. Roxas was not able to join the first day of campaign because he preferred to go to Capiz as he traditionally does. Other members denied the issue of disunity in the group with the absence of Roxas. Roxas campaign manager Rep. Egay Erice said it was part of their political strategy. He will be there tomorrow. Mangyayari talaga na hindi nakakasama. Thats how it is, explained Senator Kiko Pangilinan. The group chose Caloocan City because it has recorded the highest number of victims of extrajudicial killings. They claim that the opposition coalition in the 2019 election will be the referendum of the Duterte administration. Maraming victims ng war on drugs sa Camanava area 157. Tuloy tuloy parin ang patayan, noted Atty. Chel Diokno, one of the eight senatorial hopefuls. The opposition groups platform focuses on educational reform, security, justice system, womens and senior citizens rights as well as farmers rights, economic progress and the countrys sovereign rights. The group will have their grand launch on Wednesday (February 13) in Naga City. Marje Pelayo (with reports from Grace Casin) The post Otso Diretso hits the streets of Caloocan City on first day of campaign appeared first on UNTV News. MANILA, Philippines Changing the name of the Philippines will require a change in the Constitution. This was noted by Malacanang on Tuesday (February 12) when the issue on renaming the Philippines resurfaced after President Rodrigo Duterte hinted that he is amenable to using Maharlika as the countrys new name in the future. During his speech in Maguindanao on Monday (February 11), President Duterte expressed his agreement to the late President Ferdinand Marcos proposal of changing the countrys name to Maharlika as it better suits the Filipinos native roots. The Philippines was discovered by Magellan using the money of King Philip. Okay na iyan. Balang araw palitan natin. Actually, tama si Marcos. Gusto niyang palitan Maharlika, President Duterte said in his speech. In the 16th century, the Philippines was named Las Islas Filipinas by Spanish explorer Ruy Lopez de Villalobos in honor of King Philip II of Spain when the country was still a Spanish colony. It officially became the Republic of the Philippines in 1946 when the United States of America relinquished its sovereignty over the Philippine islands. In 1978, former Sen. Eddie Ilarde filed Parliamentary Bill 195 which sought to change the name of the Philippines to Maharlika, a Tagalog word attributed to nobility and royalty. Netizens took to social media to post their views on the matter: Tama lang na Republic of #Maharlika. Royal Malayan blood ang dating. Pag Philippines kasi, we are reminded of being conquered, wrote Twitter user @millionairex7s. Agree with changing Pinas name, but #maharlika? Too abstract a word for me. I cant relate to it. Maybe Republic of Malay that I can live with, said @visayasKami. Others just straight up oppose the idea of changing names. From Republic of the Philippines to Republic of Maharlika??? How about a no, said @sanandresmariel. Story continues OK, I support the pres, but dude, its not the right time to change that. We should focus on more important things, wrote @avbxiii. Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo clarified, however, that though the President was just aiming at opening a discussion on the matter, the proposal would need a charter change. Mas preferred siguro kung constitutional amendment para wala nang question, he said. There had been many attempts to change the name of the Philippines in previous Congresses but not a single legislation prospered. Marje Pelayo (with reports from Mon Jocson) The post Malacanang: Renaming the Philippines requires change in the Constitution appeared first on UNTV News. QUEZON CITY, Philippines National candidates for the 2019 midterm elections have started their campaign trails as the official campaign period kicks off Tuesday (February 12). With this, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has reminded candidates to observe proper campaign rules to avoid committing an election offense. In an interview with Daniel Razon on UNTVs Digital Interactive Broadcast on Tuesday, Comelec Spokesperson Director James Jimenez emphasized that the poll body will be strictly monitoring campaign ads on televesion, radio, print and even on social media. Jimenez reminded candidates to be careful in gracing requests for appearance as they might fall into political advertising which can be counted against them. Under Comelec Resolution 10488 in line with R.A. 9006 or the Fair Elections Act, candidates and registered political parties running for national elective position are given not more than a total of 120 minutes of television advertising and 180 minutes of radio advertising. Candidates for local elective positions, meanwhile, are given not more than 60 minutes of television advertising and 90 minutes of radio advertising. Ang problema, nagagamit ang mga interviews, mga guesting para kunwari hindi siya ad. Kunwari interview nga siya o guest spot siya. There are cases na pwedeng ituring na parang advertising din iyon. Pangkaraniwan, ang pinakabroad na generalization natin dito is that its non-news, Jimenez explained. Jimenez clarified that interviews for news purposes are not considered campaigning. However, the case is different for non-news event. Halimbawa, may mahalagang event na relevenat naman sa kandidato, tapos na-interview siya tungkol doon, pwede kasing news event iyon. May sunog sa area niya, i-interview siya, hindi magiging isyu iyon, he said. Pero kapag halimbawa niyaya siya sa isang variety show, thats not a news event. Ituturing iyon na broadcast advertising. So iyong time na inilagi niya sa oras na iyon ay maaring maibawas sa kaniyang time limit, he added. Story continues The Comelec Spokesperson also enlightened the viewers how candidates appearances on television would fall to voters education and not an election offense. Such is the case with UNTVs invitation of election hopefuls in its program Get It Straight with Daniel Razon a current affairs-talk show-reality show which provides a platform for controversial personalities such as election candidates to discuss relevant issues concerning them. The fact na iniimbita mo lahat, that means parang voter education iyan. Thats how I understand your goal to be. For the most part, hindi iyan maka-count, Director Jimenez explained as he talked to Razon via Facetime. Ang nagkakaproblema lamang ay ang mga gumagawa niyan at ang iniimbita lamang ay ang mga kandidatong gusto lang nila. Nagkakaroon sila ng pagpili kung sino ang iimbitahan nila, sino ang kakausapin nila, iyon medyo malabo iyon. Kapag iniimbita naman lahat, it doesnt really matter kung di dumarating lahat. Ang importante, inimbita lahat, he clarified. Prior to the start of official campaign, the poll body reminded all national candidates to take down campaign materials especially those hoisted or posted in unauthorized locations or non-common poster areas. The poll body clarified, however, that the Oplan Baklas at this point covers only national candidates because the campaign period for local candidates will begin on March 29. Kailangan idistinguish natin ang mga posters kung iyan ay for local candidates lang, hindi pa natin magagalaw iyan kasi sa March 29 pa ang start ng local campaign for them. Literally, okay pang andun yan, Jimenez noted. The Comelec spokesperson stressed that sanctions will be given to national candidates who will not heed the poll bodys policy of taking down illegal campaign materials. Kung national candidate yan, i-do-document natin. After three days, kung andyan pa, li-litratuhan natin to make sure na alam natin. We will document the materials that are still in place and then doon natin sila ngayon pepenahan . After that, once we are able to document, puwede na nating baklasin, he concluded. Marje Pelayo The post Comelec reminds candidates to observe airtime limits to avoid election offense appeared first on UNTV News. Catalan separatist leaders accused of rebellion for trying to make their region independent from Spain launched their defence on Tuesday at the start of a long-awaited trial. Sitting on benches in the ornate chamber of Madrid's Supreme Court, the defendants faced a row of judges and a Spanish flag in proceedings broadcast live on television. Twelve defendants are in the dock over an independence referendum, held on October 1, 2017, in defiance of a court ban, and a short-lived declaration of independence. Nine of them are charged with rebellion and three face lesser charges of disobedience and misuse of public funds. The independence bid sparked Spain's deepest political crisis since the transition to democracy in the 1970s after the death of dictator Francisco Franco. "This case targets political dissidence," said Andreu Van den Eynde, the lawyer for two defendants including Catalonia's former vice president Oriol Junqueras, who could face up to 25 years in jail. - 'Nothing to hide' - Spain has been forced to defend its judiciary against criticism. In a rare move, Spanish embassies in several European capitals and further afield briefed reporters on Monday and Tuesday, handing out a file entitled "12 falsehoods about Spain" to refute common separatist claims such as the lack of impartiality of all judges. "These people aren't there (on trial) because of what they think but because of what they did," said Jorge Notivoli Marin, Spain's charge d'affaires in Brussels. "It's very important for us to show that we're a country that has nothing to hide, that follows the law and procedure." Many Spaniards support the trial, shocked by the actions of Catalonia's regional executive in October 2017. But separatists in Catalonia have dismissed the trial as a politically-motivated "farce". On Tuesday evening in central Barcelona, some 6,000 people, many waving Catalan separatist flags, protested against the opening of the trial, municipal police said. Similar protests were held in other Catalan cities including Girona and Tarragona. - Puigdemont absent - Carles Puigdemont, Catalonia's former president who fled Spain days after the independence declaration on October 27, is not among the defendants. Spain does not try suspects in absentia for major offences. Speaking from Berlin, Puigdemont said the trial was "a stress test for Spanish democracy". His successor, Quim Torra, who travelled to Madrid for the start of the proceedings, said it was "a trial that never should take place in a state that wants to be considered democratic." In Puigdemont's absence, the trial's main protagonist is his former deputy Junqueras, who opted to remain in Spain. The 11 other defendants include members of Catalonia's former executive, the two leaders of powerful pro-independence associations, ANC and Omnium Cultural, and the former president of the Catalan parliament. They could face jail terms of seven to 17 years. The nine defendants charged with rebellion have been in pre-trial detention for months, some of them for more than a year. - Was it rebellion? - Controversy has swirled over the charge of rebellion. Under Spanish law, rebellion is defined as "rising up in a violent and public manner". But opinion is divided over whether the independence bid was violent. Prosecutors say the defendants "called on citizens to participate in the October 1 referendum knowing it was illegal and that explosions of violence could therefore take place". But supporters of independence deny violence actually occurred. They accuse the police of brutality during the referendum. Carles Mundo, one of the defendants, told AFP in court it was "absurd." "The violence needed to justify these offences didn't happen, as everyone was able to see, nor did misuse of public funds." Hundreds of witnesses have been called to testify, including former conservative prime minister Mariano Rajoy who was in office at the time of the Catalan referendum. The trial is scheduled to last three months, with verdicts expected several months later. - Early elections? - The Catalonia question continues to fan political tension. The opposition accuses Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of "high treason" over his negotiations with Catalan separatists. Sanchez, a Socialist who came to power in June with the support of Catalan nationalist parties, has tried to defuse the situation by resuming talks with the separatists, but those broke down on Friday. Now the Catalan separatist parties have vowed to block the goverment's 2019 budget during a parliamentary vote on Wednesday, opening the door for Sanchez to possibly call an early general election. Australia's largest cattle company has warned of "extreme losses" after record-breaking floods, as producers said more than 300,000 cows were drowned or washed away in the vast continent's northeast. After more than five years of drought, heavy rains over an almost two-week period turned dusty and parched land in Queensland state into vast swathes of mud that bogged down already weakened cattle. Australian Agricultural Company Ltd (AACo) said Monday that four of its properties were "severely impacted" after "unprecedented levels of flooding" in the region, with "extreme losses" forecast for one 30,000-head station. A clearer assessment of the losses, which AACo said would have a "material" impact on its earnings, would only be possible as floodwaters recede, the company added. Around half of Australia's 25-million strong cattle herd are bred in Queensland, with an estimated one in 40 animals killed in the disaster. "We think that there's over 300,000 head of cattle that have been lost, drowned or washed away" in the state, Georgie Somerset of farm lobby group AgForce said Tuesday. Graziers have been trying to keep their remaining stock alive across 20 million hectares (49 million acres) of flood-affected land. "We are literally ferrying one bale of hay at a time to feed the stock that we can find," Somerset added. Australia's weather bureau warned Tuesday that Queensland's longest river was "experiencing its most significant flood in at least the last 50 years". "Major flooding will continue along parts of the lower reaches of the Flinders River this week and into next week," it added. Australia's tropical north typically experiences heavy rains during the monsoon season, but the downpours saw some areas get a year's worth of rainfall in just a week. FOURTEEN municipalities in Central Visayas have been tagged as critical by the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Central Command (Centcom) as the midterm elections on May 13 draw near.The seven towns in FOURTEEN municipalities in Central Visayas have been tagged as critical by the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Central Command (Centcom) as the midterm elections on May 13 draw near. The seven towns in Negros Oriental, five towns and two towns in CebuTuburan and San Fernandreportedly have politicians who are backed by rebels and armed groups. These towns were placed under the red category because of their history of election-related violence and the presence of armed and rebel groups. Centcom Commander Lt. Gen. Noel Clement said they would deploy additional soldiers to Negros Oriental to prevent communist rebels from causing havoc. We want to make sure that they cannot disrupt the conduct of elections there, he said. Centcom, he said, would also coordinate with the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7. The military official said the peace covenants of candidates could contribute to the peace and order in the region. Clement also said they had been monitoring armed groups and identifying the politicians who allegedly financed them. In another development, PRO 7 Director Debold Sinas said they would provide security to candidates running for the Senate. We have already issued directives that the candidates coming here who will need security needs to be assessed. But we will give area security, for example, for their proclamation rally. It does not matter where they belong to, opposition, administration, whatever. We will secure them, he said. The police official had also told his personnel not to openly campaign for a candidate. (From AYB of SuperBalita Cebu, KAL) Colombia Hoy Para nunca olvidar Paginas vistas en total 'Parasite' painted on a statue of Queen, Elizabeth in Kent, England Sin palabras La UE le apunta a la paz Cada vez mas solo Follow by Email Precio del Brent To get the BRENT oil price, please enable Javascript. Dolar USA Vs Euro LULA y su Pueblo Bye Bye Homenaje al genial Quino Fueron ellos Una imagen que resume Tan bajo ha caido que se deja tocar el trasero? Porky y el Nene (archiconocido narcotraficante) Ladrones al poder Asi mira el perrito a su amo Crazy Clamor popular La nueva inquisicion Bolivia Chile Hoy Eso es todo amigos! Pinerachet No More Trump Adios Macri, hasta nunca La Marioneta se desinfla Asi o mas cinico Almugre Mexico en 1794 Mas arrastrado imposible La pura verdad Solidaridad con Palestina Serie Capitalismo Espejismos de la clase trabajadora Comerciantes o delincuentes Asi es la vida USA HOY La avaricia no tiene limites Chile Hoy Asi son las cosas Mapa Electoral de Venezuela Patagonia argentina? Un aniversario mas del mayor genocidio de la Humanidad Retrato del franquismo en Espana El Chulo de Madrid Cuando la policia se roba la democracia Una imagen dice mas que mil palabras La purita verdad Asi gobierna la maldita burguesia Mi pobre clase media Como Chavez nadie Comparte La Colmena via twitter Twittear Programa de la MUD Asi o mas clarito Por que Trump no ataco Corea del Norte? Hace 15 anos Por que la OEA no se pronuncio? Una verguenza nacional La luz que nos guia La Union Europea Premio Nobel de la Paz? Feudalismo ayer y hoy Obama, el mentiroso Curiosa coincidencia Un mundo de cerdos No es extrano? La Marioneta Los ricos protestan, los pobres celebran MARICORI Y OBAMA Cuantas muertes este ano? 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Por culpa de Chavez Cerveza Polar Algun dia Colombia volvera a la ideologia de Bolivar Translate LOS REVOLUCIONARIOS NO TOMAN CACA-COLA No se trata solamente de un capricho, sino de una sana actitud en todos los sentidos. Desde la solidaridad con el pueblo colombiano donde la empresa Caca-Cola ha cometido los mas grandes abusos contra sus trabajadores incluyendo el presunto secuestro y asesinato de los dirigentes del sindicato, hasta la proteccion de la salud de nuestros hijos, enviciados por ese jarabe de cola y azucar, que les produce obesidad prematura. Pensemos tambien los revolucionarios, que ese dinero que gastamos en los refrescos es utilizado por esas empresas para financiar el terrorismo en nuestro pais. Es cierto, no se trata solo de la Caca-Cola, sino tambien de la cerveza, de los cigarrillos y todos esos articulos innecesarios y mas que eso, daninos para nuestra salud. Podriamos incluso pensar en un dia de parada para cada uno de ellos. Es cuestion de irnos organizando. Pero para empezar, que tal si dejamos de comprar Caca-Cola y sus similares? Cuando lo extraordinario se vuelve cotidiano... Discurso del Acto de Grado en Barinas en 12 de Febrero del 2005 Queridos Graduandos: Mas que un discurso, quiero dirigirles algunas palabras que escribi anoche, despues de visitar en las clinicas, a los estudiantes heridos, a consecuencia de los enfrentamientos con la policia de hace apenas dos dias. Me ha tocado por razones del destino, ser la persona que les otorgue el titulo que bien merecieron con sus estudios. Y me siento sumamente orgulloso de serlo. Me consta que la Universidad de Los Llanos Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora, a pesar de lo dicho por los enemigos de esta universidad, es una universidad de primera. No tendremos la mejor planta fisica, en los salones hace calor. En el comedor hace calor. Pero no es en lo material que las cosas deben valorarse. El mayor capital es el ser humano. Y en eso, nuestra UNELLEZ, lo digo con conocimiento de causa, esta sobrada. Los llaneros venezolanos son nobles, valientes, de coraje. En la UNELLEZ hacen vida, en este momento, aproximadamente 67000 personas. El 97% de ellas son estudiantes. Jovenes que, como Ustedes hasta el dia de hoy, buscan ese titulo, que constata los anos de dedicacion y de estudio. Los jovenes son el rio de la vida, ustedes graduados deben ser los capitanes de esos barcos que naveguen por el rio de la vida. Nuestra Patria atraviesa momentos muy dificiles porque decidio dejar de ser esa matrona de edad vetusta y complaciente, para ser joven, rebelde y altanera. Nuestra imagen ya no es la de una acaudalada ricachona mayamera. En nuestro rostro brilla ahora la sonrisa del Che Guevara, con su diente delantero torcido, su pelo largo y su boina con la estrella. Entender esto, a mi me ha tomado practicamente toda la vida. Tengo 53 anos, y ya perdi mi oportunidad de derramar sangre joven a causa de un ideal. Ustedes son jovenes, estan en la flor de la vida. No cometan por favor el error de renunciar a su instinto de rebelion. El Che Guevara fue Ministro de a Economia en Cuba. Los billetes y las monedas se adornaban con su rostro. Nada de eso le importo. Primero fue a Angola donde paso un penoso ano de combate. Despues se fue a Bolivia, donde encontro la muerte. El Che era el ultimo que comia, el que cargaba la mochila mas pesada. Siempre se sacrificaba por los demas en un estoicismo que mas parecia fervor religioso que ideologia marxista. Si quieren un modelo de vida. Ahi lo tienen. Dije hace unos momentos que el 97% de la poblacion de la UNELLEZ es estudiante. Se imaginan Ustedes la Universidad que podriamos tener si todos los estudiantes tuvieran la abnegacion, la combatividad del Che? Los momentos que se avecinan van a requerir de una gran unidad del pueblo venezolano. La alternativa de continuar siendo libres o regresar a la pobreza se nos planteara en los proximos dias de forma enmascarada, o quizas peor, desenmascarada, vestida con uniforme de soldado del Imperio. Por nuestra parte podemos esperar lo mejor. La macroeconomia no podria ir mejor, la justicia social ha mejorado notablemente. Las misiones ocupan un papel muy importante en el pago de dicha justicia social. Aqui en Barinas ya hemos cumplido con dos de las misiones, la mision Robinson y la mision Sucre. No hay analfabetismo y no hay exclusion en la educacion superior, en estas tierras de Zamora. Pero ay malhaya! Son precisamente estos exitos los que nos hacen mas antipaticos al Imperio. Para ellos, somos inclusive un mal ejemplo que se esta contagiando al resto del continente y cuidado sino al resto del mundo. Nunca venceremos al Imperio. Estara siempre ahi, acechando. Por lo menos hasta que el mismo no se autodestruya. Porque, sepanlo senores, el neoliberalismo es canibal. Cuando le ataque el hambre, se devorara a si mismo. Ustedes, queridos graduandos, a partir de hoy pasan a conformar la elite profesional que debe sostener este pais en los proximos cuarenta o cincuenta anos. Anos decisivos para el logro de nuestra libertad y del rescate de nuestra Soberania. No se dejen comprar. No se dejen corromper. No se dejen gritar. No se dejen pisar. Que nadie les diga que comer, o que vestirse, o que leer. Sean siempre autenticos, rebeldes, contestatarios. Pero eso si, profundamente patriotas, dignos de ser hijos de Bolivar. Muchas gracias y que Dios los bendiga. Alguna duda? Medio siglo de Holocausto Palestino Oscar Zanartu Nacio en Caracas en 1960. Ha realizado exposiciones individuales en las galerias Minotauro, Clave y San Francisco, y en salas de Coro, estado Falcon, y Puerto Ordaz, estado Bolivar. En Paris su obra ha sido exhibida en el Centro Cultural Tanagra, en la Exposicion Cite Internationale des Arts, en las galerias De Mars y Arver Space, al igual que en la Galeria Municipal Levallois, en Levallois Perret (Francia). En muestras colectivas, su obra se ha expuesto en Belgica, Francia, Estados Unidos y Venezuela; en Caracas intervino en la exposicion "Del genesis a la memoria", 1995, organizada por la Fundacion La Previsora. En 1982 obtuvo el Premio Nacional Critven y en 1990 la Mencion de Honor Jose Antonio Paez, en la Embajada de Venezuela en Paris. En 1991 se le concedio el primer premio de Pintura Itinerante, en Levallois Perret, Francia. OZ1 OZ2 OZ3 OZ4 Homenaje a Jason Galarraga La Victoria de Samotracia Odalisca Mas fotos de la nevada del pasado agosto 2008 La Sierra Nevada de Merida Nuestro precioso Churum Meru Homenaje a Picasso Autoretrato Sabes lo que bebes en una Coca-Cola? La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar. Mi profesion? Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos. Sal en la Coca Cola? A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar. De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla: Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gusto Acido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido) azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa) Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantas Mucha Cafeina Conservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o Potasio Dioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebe Sal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracion El uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja. Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos. Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja. En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero). Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma. La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate. Bebidas Light? Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal. Publicado por loretahur En realidad, la formula secreta de la Coca-Cola se puede detallar en 18 segundos en cualquier espectrometro optico, y basicamente la conocen hasta los perros. Lo que ocurre es que no se puede fabricar igual, a no ser que uno disponga de unos cuantos millones de dolares para ganarle la demanda que te metera la Coca-Cola ante la justicia (ellos no perderian).La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gustoAcido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantasMucha CafeinaConservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o PotasioDioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebeSal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracionEl uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el aspartamo , despues de tres semanas mojado, pasa a tener gusto de trapo viejo sucio.Para evitar eso, se agregan una infinidad de otros productos quimicos, uno para alargar la vida del aspartamo, otro para neutralizar el color, otro para mantener el tercer quimico en suspension porque sino el fondo de la gaseosa quedaria oscuro, otro para evitar la cristalizacion del aspartamo, otro para realzar el sabor, dar mas intensidad al acido citrico o fosforito que perderia su sabor por el efecto de los cuatro productos quimicos iniciales... y asi sucesivamente.Un consejo final !!Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.Publicado por loretahur MARGARINA o MANTEQUILLA La margarina fue producida originalmente para engordar a los pavos; cuandolo que hizo en realidad fue matarlos.Las personas que habian puesto el dinero para la investigacion quisieronrecobrarlo asi que empezaron a pensar en una forma de hacerlo.Tenian una sustancia blanca, que no tenia ningun atractivo como comestible,asi que le anadieron el color amarillo, para venderselo a lagente en lugar de la mantequilla.Que tal esa?... Ahora han sacado algunos nuevos sabores para vender mas alos incautos como usted y yo.CONOCE USTED la diferencia entre la margarina y la mantequilla?Siga leyendo hasta el final... porque se pone bastante interesante!Comparacion entre mantequilla y margarina: 1.- Ambas tienen la misma cantidad de calorias. 2.- La mantequilla es ligeramente mas alta en grasas saturadas: 8 gramos,comparada con los 5 gramos que tiene la margarina. 3.- Comer margarina en vez de mantequilla puede aumentar en 53% el riesgo deenfermedades coronarias en las mujeres, de acuerdo con un estudiomedico reciente de la Universidad de Harvard. 4.- Comer mantequilla aumenta la absorcion de gran cantidad de nutrientesque se encuentran en otros alimentos. 5.- La mantequilla provee beneficios nutricionales propios mientras lamargarina tiene solo los que le hayan sido anadidos al fabricarla. 6.- La mantequilla sabe mucho mejor que la margarina y mejora el sabor deotros alimentos.7.- La mantequilla ha existido durante siglos mientras que la margarinatiene menos de 100 anos. Ahora... sobre la margarina: 1.- Es muy alta en acidos grasos trans. (Si, esos que recien ahora loscientificos descubrieron que son malisimos y los gobiernoscomenzaron a prohibirlos) . 2.- Triple riesgo de enfermedades coronarias. 3.- Aumenta el colesterol total y el LDL (el colesterol malo) y disminuye elHDL (el colesterol bueno). 4.- Aumenta en cinco veces el riesgo de cancer. 5.- Disminuye la calidad de la leche materna. 6.- Disminuye la reaccion inmunologica del organismo. 7.- Disminuye la reaccion a la insulina. Y he aqui el factor mas inquietante (AQUI ESTA LA PARTE MAS INTERESANTE! ):A la margarina le falta UNA MOLECULA para ser PLASTICO...!!Solo este hecho es suficiente para evitar el uso de la margarina de porvida, y de cualquier otra cosa que sea hidrogenada (esto significaque se le anade hidrogeno, lo cual cambia la estructura molecular de lassubstancias).Usted puede ensayar lo siguiente:Compre un poco de margarina y dejela en el garaje o en un sitio sombreado.Dentro de unos dias notara dos cosas: * No habra moscas; ni siquiera esos molestos bichos se le acercaran (esto yale debe decir a usted algo). * No se pudre ni huele mal o diferente porque no tiene valor nutritivo; nadacrece en ella. Ni siquiera los diminutos microorganismos puedencrecer en ella.Por que? Porque es casi plastico!! No a la guerra, Si a la Paz Misterios de la ciencia... Los costos de la guerra medicos y capitalismo... medicos (2) Quien educa a nuestros hijos? Los Medios... Sin Palabras... Chistes feministas - Cual es el problema, Eva? - Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz... - Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas. - Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas... - Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti. - Que es un hombre? - Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente. - Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente. - Cual es el truco?. - Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion. - Cual? - Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer. Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas? Porque todos son unos cerdos Un dia, en el Paraiso, Eva llamo a Dios: Tengo un problema.- Cual es el problema, Eva?- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz... - Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.- Que es un hombre?- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.- Cual es el truco?.- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.- Cual?- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas? Porque todos son unos cerdos Ellas (2)... Tres venganzas femeninas VENGANZA NUMERO 1 Hoy mi hija cumple 21 anos y estoy muy contento porque es el ultimo pago de pension alimenticia que le doy, asi que llame a mi hijita para que viniera a mi casa y cuando llego le dije: -Hijita, quiero que lleves este cheque a casa de tu mama y que le digas que: Este es el ultimo maldito cheque que va recibir de mi en todo lo que le queda de su puta vida!!! Quiero que me digas la expresion que pone en su rostro. Asi que mi hija fue a entregar el cheque. Yo estaba ansioso por saber lo que la bruja tenia que decir y que cara pondria. Cuando mi hijita entro, le pregunte inmediatamente: -Que fue lo que te dijo tu madre? -Me dijo que justamente estaba esperando este dia para decirte que no eres mi papa! VENGANZA NUMERO 2 Un hombre que siempre molestaba a su mujer, paso un dia por la casa de unos amigos para que lo acompanaran al aeropuerto a dejar a su esposa que viajaba a Paris. A la salida de inmigracion, frente a todo el mundo, el le desea buen viaje y en tono burlon le grita: - Amor, no te olvides de traerme una hermosa francesita Ja ja ja!! Ella bajo la cabeza y se embarco muy molesta. La mujer paso quince dias en Francia. El marido otra vez pidio a sus amigos que lo acompanasen al aeropuerto a recibirla. Al verla llegar, lo primero que le grita a toda voz es: - Y amor me trajiste mi francesita?? - Hice todo lo posible, - contesta ella - ahora solo tenemos que rezar para que nazca nina. VENGANZA NUMERO 3 El marido, en su lecho de muerte, llama a su mujer. Con voz ronca y ya debil, le dice: - Muy bien, llego mi hora, pero antes quiero hacerte una confesion. - No, no, tranquilo, tu no debes hacer ningun esfuerzo. - Pero, mujer, es preciso - insiste el marido - Es preciso morir en paz. Te quiero confesar algo. - Esta bien, esta bien. Habla! - He tenido relaciones con tu hermana, tu mama y tu mejor amiga. - Lo se, lo se Por eso te envenene, hijo de puta!!! machismo y cibernetica Chiste machista La NASA ha enviado al espacio una mision experimental tripulada por dos monos y una mujer.Apenas abandona la atmosfera, se establece comunicacion con Houston. -Atencion, simio 1, verifique sistemas hidraulicos, controle adecuada presion de los propulsores de arranque. A 60.000 pies disminuya un 25% la velocidad. El simio hace la sena de OK. -Atencion, simio 2, nivele al cruzar la estratosfera y active sistemas anticongelantes. No olvide monitorear sistemas de comunicacion e indicadores de presion. Comprendido?. El simio hace la sena de OK. -Atencion, Houston llamando a mujer: no se olvide. -Mujer: Si, si, ya se! -interrumpe enojada- que no me olvide darles de comer a estos monos de mierda y que no se me vaya a ocurrir tocar nada!. .Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti. Un abogado mantiene un romance con su secretaria.Al poco tiempo, esta queda embarazada y el abogado, que no quiere que su esposa se entere, le da a la secretaria una buena suma de dinero y le pide que se vaya a parir a Italia.Esta pregunta: Y como voy a hacerte saber cuando nazca el bebe ? El abogado responde: Para que mi mujer no se entere, tan solo enviame una postal y escribe por detras: Spaghetti. Y no te preocupes mas, que yo me encargare de todos los gastos. Pasan los meses y una manana la esposa del abogado lo llama al bufete, algo exaltada: Querido, acabo de recibir el correo y hay una postal muy extrana viene desde Italia. La verdad, no entiendo que significa.El abogado, tratando de ocultar sus nervios, contesta:Espera a que llegue a casa, a ver si yo entiendoCuando el hombre llega a casa y lee la postal, cae al suelo fulminado por un infarto.Llega una ambulancia y se lo lleva. Ya en el hospital, el jefe de cardiologia se queda consolando a la esposa y le pregunta cual ha sido el evento que precipito tan masivo ataque cardiaco. Entonces la esposa saca la postal y se la muestra diciendole: No me explico, doctor; el solamente leyo esta postal. Vea usted mismo lo que trae escrito.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti."Tres con salchicha y albondigas y dos con almejas Gol !!!! Chistes de Borrachos Entra un borracho a su casa todo manchado con lapiz labial por todos lados hecho un desastre, y la mujer le pregunta:-Hombre que te paso?Y el borracho le responde:-No me vas a creer, me pelee con un payaso! Este es un borracho que entra en un bar y le dice al camarero:-Me da cinco copas de whisky?Al rato:-Me da cuatro?Al rato:-Me da tres copas?Despues:-Me da dos copas?Luego le dice:-Me da una copa?Y le dice al camarero:-Ves? Cuanto menos bebo, mas borracho estoy! Discussion about wargaming and military history, primarily WWII in North Africa. Also discussion about AFV's and artillery. Oil prices rallied 2 percent early on Tuesday after OPECs largest producer and de facto leader Saudi Arabia signaled even deeper cuts in production and exports of the Kingdom for March. At 07:30 a.m. EST on Tuesday, WTI Crude was trading up 1.87 percent at $53.39, while Brent Crude was rallying 2.21 percent at $62.87. In an interview with the Financial Times published on Tuesday, Saudi Arabias Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said that the Saudis would cut production to around 9.8 million bpd in March, some 500,000 bpd below the commitment in the OPEC+ deal that began in January. Under the OPEC/non-OPEC deal for a total of 1.2 million bpd cuts between January and June, Saudi Arabias share is a cut of 322,000 bpd from the October level of 10.633 million, to reduce output to 10.311 million bpd. At the end of January, al-Falih said that Saudi Arabias February crude oil production would likely be close to 10.1 million bpd, down from around 10.2 million bpd for January. Since December, Saudi Arabia has cut close to 1 million bpd in production and exports, and this will trickle down the markets over the next few weeks, al-Falih told Bloomberg Television in an interview at the end of last month. In his most recent interview, with the FT, the energy minister of OPECs largest producer and top global oil exporter also said that Saudi Arabia would be cutting its crude oil exports to near 6.9 million bpd next month, slashed from 8.2 million bpd just three months ago. Market participants continue to weigh supply-side factors such as tighter supply from OPEC and its Russia-led non-OPEC allies against rising U.S. crude oil production, U.S. sanctions on Venezuela and the battle over Libyas largest oil field Sharara, which has been shut in for more than two months now. Equity, bond, and oil markets are also closely monitoring the U.S.-China trade talks for clues whether a deal can be hammered out before the March 1 deadline of the trade war truce. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Germany will likely build two terminals to import liquefied natural gas (LNG), Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Tuesday, in a move to appease the U.S. while Berlin also supports the Russia-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which has divided the European Union member states in recent years. Germany and the US share an interest in secure and dependable energy supplies, the AFP quoted Altmaier as saying in a statement on Monday, on the eve of his meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette. The U.S. has long opposed the Gazprom-led Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Several EU member states, including Poland and Lithuania, also see the new pipeline project as a threat to Europes energy diversification and as boosting Russias grip on European gas supplies even more. Germany, however, is the end-point of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which will follow the existing Nord Stream natural gas pipeline between Russia and Germany via the Baltic Sea. Germany supports Nord Stream 2 and sees the project as a private commercial venture that will help it to meet rising natural gas demand. Several European companiesENGIE, OMV, Shell, as well as Germanys Uniper and Wintershallare partners of Russias gas giant Gazprom in the Nord Stream 2 project. Speaking at an LNG Import Conference in Berlin today, German Economy Minister Altmaier said that all three proposed projects for LNG import terminals in Germany are being carefully considered. I am quite optimistic that at least two of the terminals will be realised within a very foreseeable period of time, Reuters quoted Altmaier as saying. The German minister also stressed that LNG terminals and imports are a completely separate issue from Nord Stream 2. Meanwhile, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Brouillette tweeted from the Berlin conference: Energy security requires energy diversity - a diversity of supply, countries providing that supply, and routes for that supply. The US supports Germanys efforts to increase energy diversity through the construction of LNG shipping terminals - hopefully a destination for US LNG! By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Oil and gas supermajor BP invested more in Egypt in each of the past two years than in any other country, BPs chief executive officer Bob Dudley said at an energy forum in Cairo on Monday. For the last two years in a row weve invested more money in Egypt than in any other country. So this is a deep, deep commitment to Egypt, Reuters quoted Dudley as saying at the event. At the end of last year, Dudley told The National in an interview that BP had spent in the last two years US$6.8 billion in Egypts oil and gas, adding that the company had plans to boost investments in projects in other countries in the Middle East, including Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In December 2018, BP said that it had agreed to buy from Italys Eni a 25-percent participating interest in the Nour North Sinai concession area offshore Egypt. Today, BP announced first gas production from the second stage of its West Nile Delta development offshore Egyptthe second major project for the supermajor this year, following the Gulf of Mexicos Constellation development, in which BP has a 66.6-percent non-operated stake. The third stage of the West Nile Delta project in Egypt will develop the Raven field, with production expected in late 2019. Combined full production from all three phases of the West Nile Delta project is expected to reach almost 1.4 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d), which would be equal to around 20 percent of Egypts current gas production. All the gas produced will be fed into the Egyptian national gas grid. With the second stage of West Nile Delta now online, BP has now safely brought 21 new upstream major projects into production over the last three years, keeping us on track to deliver 900,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2021, Bob Dudley said in BPs statement on Monday. By Tsvetana Paraskova For Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Venezuelas oil industry has been in a tailspin in recent years, with the countrys crude oil production falling from 2.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2015 to only 1.34 million bpd at the end of 2018. This freefall is poised to carry over into 2019, according to energy research and consulting firm Rystad Energy. In Rystad Energys base case forecast, Venezuelan production drops by another 340,000 bpd year-on-year to 1 million bpd in 2019, and slips even further to 890,000 bpd in 2020. In the low case scenario, where the status-quo continues and Venezuela is unable to offset the effects of US sanctions and secure new financing, the country could see an additional 20% reduction in crude output this year, dropping to about 800,000 bpd, before sliding to 680,000 bpd in 2020. Finally, Rystad Energys high case scenario considers the effects of a regime change in Venezuela, where US sanctions are lifted and new financing agreements are secured. Here the country is able to slow the downward trend, with crude production sliding to 1.11 million bpd this year and on to 1.06 million bpd in 2020. One key factor is that Venezuela relies on imported diluents that are then mixed with the heavy crude produced from the Orinoco Belt in order to make the product marketable. Venezuela currently imports 60,000 bpd naphtha from the US, mainly from national oil company PDVSAs US refining subsidiary, Citgo. Rystad Energy forecasts that some operators in Venezuela will run out of the crucial diluent by March. Without diluent, the current 200,000 bpd of heavy crude exports is at risk, said Rystad Energy analyst Paola Rodriguez-Masiu. Related: U.S. Sanctions, OPEC Cuts Create Rare Oil Price Shakeup Rystad Energy also forecasts what could happen in the case of a regime change that leads to the lifting of US sanctions and attracts new financing agreements. **Short term: Production will slow its downward trend. Fields in the Orinoco Belt, which are currently operating below capacity, will be relatively easy to rejuvenate. Further production increases become much more complicated as mature fields have reached their natural production decline and significant damage has been done to a large number of wells. **Mid-term: Arresting production declines and well damage in mature fields which were the biggest contributors when Venezuelan production stood at more than 2 million bpd will be a major challenge, both technically and financially. Therefore, to increase production Venezuela will have to further develop fields in the Orinoco Belt. **Long term: Rystad Energy does not expect to see growth on a massive scale, but does see significant upside potential over time. Venezuela sits on massive proven reserves. The cost structure is relatively low and exploration risk is minimum. Furthermore, the Orinoco Belt oil sands are less energy-intensive than the oil sands in Canada given Venezuelas warmer climate, which means less energy is required to enable the heavy crude to flow. Finally, we expect demand for heavy oil to remain high despite potential carbon regulations and IMO 2020 restrictions on shipping fuel, as complex refineries such as those in the US could still process this type of crude in compliance with environmental regulations. This type of heavy crude is abundant in Venezuela and has no associated exploration risk. Further investments to process these reserves could therefore be justified, Rodriguez-Masiu said. By Rystad Energy More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Oil prices rose on Tuesday afternoon as Saudi Arabia pledged deeper cuts in March while its biggest partner in the deal, Russia has failed to commit to its part of the agreed cuts Chart of the Week (Click to enlarge) - U.S. exports of ethane have increased from almost nothing in 2013 to as much as 260,000 bpd on average in the first 10 months of 2018, according to the EIA. - Ethane is a critical feedstock for petrochemical manufacturing, with plastics as the main end-use. - The surge of oil and natural gas liquids production has led to a soaring supply of ethane. That has fueled a petrochemical boom along the U.S. Gulf Coast. - But it has also led to a rapid increase in ethane exports. The U.S. surpassed Norway in 2015 to become the worlds top exporter of ethane (Norway is the only other country to ship ethane internationally). Market Movers TransCanadas (NYSE: TRP) Keystone pipeline remained partially shut as of Monday after a leak was discovered near St. Louis, MO. TransCanada has still not determined the cause and has not provided an estimated timeline for a restart. Range Resources (NYSE: RRC) saw its share price jump more than 5.5 percent on Monday after reporting an 18 percent increase in proved reserves at year-end 2018. BP (NYSE: BP) said that gas production started up from its second phase of the West Nile Delta development in offshore Egypt. Peak production of around 700 mcf/d is expected by April. Tuesday February 12, 2019 Oil prices jumped during early trading on Tuesday on news that OPEC had sharply cut output in January. OPEC output falls by nearly 800,000 bpd in January. OPEC production declined by 797,000 bpd in January from a month earlier, averaging just 30.81 mb/d. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait chipped in most of the reductions. Still, Russia only lowered output by 90,000 bpd, far short of the 230,000 bpd promised as part of the December deal. Saudi Arabia said it would continue to cut output, with plans to lower production to as low as 9.8 mb/d in March, or roughly half a million barrels per day lower than it had promised. Oil prices jumped on the news. India to stop refined product sales to Venezuela. Indias two leading refiners will continue to buy crude oil from Venezuela but will stop selling it refined products because of U.S. sanctions, according to Argus Media. Notably, PDVSAs head Manuel Quevedo showed up at a conference in New Delhi. India could remain one of the few large buyers of oil from the increasingly isolated regime of Nicolas Maduro. Quevedo said PDVSA planned on doubling exports to India to 300,000 bpd. John Bolton issued a veiled threat to India to not work with Maduros regime, saying on twitter that Nations and firms that support Maduros theft of Venezuelan resources will not be forgotten. Citgo in the sights of creditors. The U.S. government is trying to keep Citgo, the U.S.-based subsidiary of PDVSA, alive and intact so that it can be handed over to Juan Guaido and a new Venezuelan government. However, creditors are swarming the company to lay claim to pieces of the company as the Maduro regime falls apart. Citgo is the big prize, Francisco Monaldi, a fellow in Latin American Energy Policy at Rice Universitys Baker Institute for Public Policy, told the Houston Chronicle. I previously said theres going to be a sharkfest of payments to creditors, but now there seems to be a bigger actor stopping the sharks, which is the U.S. government. Related: South Africa Oil Discovery Could Be A Game-Changer PDVSA presses joint venture partners. PDVSA is pressing its joint venture partners to declare whether or not they will continue operations in the country following U.S. sanctions. Chevron (NYSE: CVX) pledged to remain in Venezuela. Chevron received a waiver from the U.S. government to continue working in the country until July 27. Chevron is trying to walk a fine line, pledging to remain in Venezuela while also hedging its bets, hinting about working with the U.S. government and a potential change in Venezuelas government. Its a fluid environment, Chevrons CEO Mike Wirth said. Our strong intent is to stay on the ground in Venezuela and be part of building a better future for the people of Venezuela, Wirth told Bloomberg. Weve got a very close coordination under way with multiple agencies within the U.S. government. World will be Saudi Aramcos playground. Saudi Aramco will venture out into international oil and gas exploration for the first time, according to Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih. We are no longer going to be inward-looking and focused only on monetising the kingdoms resources, al-Falih told the FT. Going forward the world is going to be Saudi Aramcos playground. The plans also run against the plans of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman to diversify the Kingdoms economy. Shale industry concerned about frac hits. A recent shale conference in Texas was dominated by discussion about how to minimize damage to shale wells from frac hits, which occurs when will situated close to each other interfere with production of each. This kind of well interference can reduce productivity by anywhere from 20 to 40 percent on the newer child wells, while also inflicting even worse damage on the original parent well. The industry is collecting data on how and when catastrophic losses can occur, but are only at the early stages of dealing with the problem. The reason this is important is because shale drilling will increasingly be dominated by child wells. Climate groups threaten legal action against Shell. A coalition of environmental groups are preparing legal action against Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) in the Netherlands to force the company to transition off of oil. The groups say Shell is deliberately obstructing efforts at climate action. Trumps tariffs kill 8,000 solar jobs. The solar industry lost 8,000 jobs last year, a second consecutive year of declines. One of the main reasons for the job losses and the slower growth was due to the Trump administrations 30 percent tariff on imported solar panels. Nevertheless, there are around 242,000 people employed in the solar industry, more than the coal industry. Related: The Renewable Revolution Has A Lithium Problem Moscow shoots down OPEC+ talk. The Kremlin dismissed reports that Russia and OEPC were discussing a formal arrangement. Russias energy minister Alexander Novak said in December that a formal OPEC+ architecture would carry risks. Reports surfaced recently that the two sides were nearing an agreement, but the Russian government tamped down the speculation on Tuesday. U.S. crude exports to Europe increase. U.S. sanctions on Iran have opened the door for more American crude oil exports to Europe. Also, sanctions on Venezuela could result in more U.S. crude shipments abroad. Europe imported a record 630,000 bpd from the U.S. in January. Shell, Eni, Exxon win blocks in Egypt. Egypt held a tender for oil and gas exploration, and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) won the most (three for oil and two for gas). ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) made its debut in Egypt. BP (NYSE: BP) and Eni (NYSE: E) also won some concessions. Egypt is emerging as a key natural gas hub in the Eastern Mediterranean. We invite you to read several of the most recent articles we have published which may be of interest to you: By Tom Kool of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Saudi Arabia plans to reduce its crude oil production further, to 9.8 million bpd in March, Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said in an interview for the Financial Times. This compares with more than 11 million bpd produced in November. Exports, Al-Falih said, will also fall substantially over this month and next, to an average of 6.9 million bpd from 8.2 million bpd in November. This does not bode well for Washingtons hopes that the Kingdom would step in and fill the gap left by Venezuelan heavy crude after the U.S. imposed a new round of sanctions against the government in Caracas. The news also confirms once again that Saudi Arabia is determined to push pries up significantly higher than the news of yet another round of OPEC+-wide production cuts did in December. Over the longer term, however, Saudi Arabia plans to expand its international presence in oil and gas, the oil minister also said. We are no longer going to be inward-looking and focused only on monetising the kingdoms resources. Going forward the world is going to be Saudi Aramcos playground, Al-Falih told the FTs Anjli Raval and David Sheppard. He added the international expansion of Aramco will begin with inroads into natural gas. Related: Which Oil Giant Generates The Most Cash? The expansion drive is boosting Aramcos international standing in relation to other large oil and gas companies. These are increasingly turning to gas, and while Aramco has plans to boost domestic gas production, an international expansion would also make sense in improving the companys competitiveness. But there is another reason behind the expansion drive, and this has to do with the potential listing of the Saudi oil giant. If I have investors from New York or London or Tokyo that are investing in Saudi Aramco they want Saudi Aramco to be competing with the worlds best international oil companies, the minister told the FT. Al-Falih also reiterated plans to list Aramco in the not too distant future in spite of insider reports that suggest the IPO of the worlds largest oil company in terms of reserves had been put off indefinitely. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: shut up, you pedo enabler Reply Thread Link that performance was really bad tho Reply Thread Link lol yeah, I remember it pretty clearly and it was absolutely horrendous. Reply Parent Thread Link it had some potential... buried very deep Reply Parent Thread Link The fact that she capitalized KEN is killing me for some reason. "It's all fucking KEN'S fault." Reply Thread Link TO FREEDOM! Reply Parent Thread Link Nicki's only clap back now "Good luck booking that podcast you speak of." And we're all the more enlightened for it. Reply Thread Link BET posted an article highlighting how Cardi B became the first solo woman rapper to win Best Rap Album at the #Grammys and decided troll Nicki Minaj. So, Nicki pulled out of the BET Experience: https://t.co/XDa7jLEtJR pic.twitter.com/vQO2yJx3iW Complex (@Complex) February 11, 2019 as for the grammys i think nicki has enough skill to have been awarded one by now (hell, macklemore won over kendrick/jay/drake/kanye) but it's wayyyyy too late now. she made her bed. and that performance was terrible Edited at 2019-02-12 12:19 am (UTC) nicki is a mess but BET was kinda wrong for doing this. it was so weird and unprofessional/unnecessary--why would you diss someone who you've invited for numerous events including upcoming ones? and cardi has spoken out about how she's done with the comparisons and negativityas for the grammys i think nicki has enough skill to have been awarded one by now (hell, macklemore won over kendrick/jay/drake/kanye) but it's wayyyyy too late now. she made her bed. and that performance was terrible Reply Thread Link It shocks me she doesnt have a Grammy either, at least one with a collab or something. She was everywhere in the early part of this decade. Reply Parent Thread Link true, this is unethical. Reply Parent Thread Link i mean is it really that bad if BET no longer supports someone like nicki?? Reply Parent Thread Link i would agree but the thing is, they DO still support her. she was about to headline the BET experience. they didn't suddenly grow ethics, they just randomly started throwing shots at her while still paying her to perform for them. it would have been better if they never invited her in the first place i guess nicki just burned another bridge, which is a win. but BET as an organization is a mess, owned by whites, and they support plenty of abuser-enablers in the industry Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Yeah. She reached her peak long ago and makes no efforts to evolve, so bye wig. Reply Parent Thread Link BET was wrong for that, and I dont like Nicki at all. It is wrong and v unprofessional for a professional corporation to behave that way tbh. An example of when a corporation tries to be hip and appeal too much to stan culture on social media Edited at 2019-02-12 01:20 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Expand Link it was weird because her fans were already going after the woman and she had already gone private. she wrote the article that i referenced above. the thing about interns at companies tweeting like stans is that they should only expect stan twitter to come after them at this point. but nicki had no business encouraging it Reply Parent Thread Link That Roman Holiday performance was a complete mess. I remember when Laurieann Gibson left Gaga's team saying "things got too dark" during the Born This Way era then her first job after Gaga was to choregraph a fucking exorcism for Nicki Minaj lmao. Reply Thread Link of COURSE, Necki is joining Adriane. Reply Thread Link I totally forgot about that Grammy performance, that was the year she dressed up as the pope on the redcarpet. It was a pretty cringey performance. Reply Thread Link Broken clock, twice right. I believe that he is a legit pos that probably screwed her over. I do not however believe this "fear" business she is peddling. Reply Thread Link shut up nicki Reply Thread Link lmao the "zero" video Reply Thread Link I lold at that part too. Reply Parent Thread Link she's turning into the new Wendy Williams Reply Parent Thread Expand Link As we work through the month May, I want to give a couple of updates from the last few weeks. My priority bill, LB 644, has advanced from the first and second round of debate and will be heading to final reading soon. This bill was designed to help give the taxpayer clear and concise informa this is so disrespectful Reply Thread Link Look at @theacademy's mentions on Twitter to see how well this is going over! I hope the ratings fucking tank. Reply Thread Link oh noooooooo! it's not what you deserve, unfortunately, but it is definitely what @theacademy deserves. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Film twitter is rightfully flipping out over this and I don't blame them. I'm really against this change to begin with but it's just so rude. So so rude. They already treat all the non-actors like shit, to do this is just so... cruel. Reply Thread Link That's my thought too. Reply Parent Thread Link Mte. Let these people have their moment. Reply Parent Thread Link They even treat non-famous (or non-Marvel) actors like shit, they're so transparent in their search for coins Reply Parent Thread Link idk why we're acting like the marvel thing is consistent lol, this is the first year they've been desperate enough to look for superhero actors to fix their problems Edited at 2019-02-12 12:42 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Expand Link or they can just do what the grammys did and cut off people mid-speech without any fanfare regardless of how high-profile the winner was sorry glenn close, we get it that ur grateful, vamoose Reply Thread Link By the way: How interesting that none of the categories consigned to commercial breaks happen to feature a nominee from Disney, the parent company of ABC. Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) 11. Februar 2019 animated short, with a Pixar movie, will be shown animated short, with a Pixar movie, will be shown Reply Thread Link So Bao is definitely winning then? Reply Parent Thread Link That was always a given. Reply Parent Thread Link I mean it might not but it's definitely the frontrunner. Reply Parent Thread Link So fucked up!!! Reply Parent Thread Link I can only imagine how upset Disney is gonna be if/when Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse wins Best Animated Feature. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Very interesting indeed. Reply Parent Thread Link Oh wow, that's suspicious. Reply Parent Thread Link I came here to post this tweet. Who thought this was a good idea? What a fucking insult to these nominees and the branches overall. Reply Parent Thread Link not surprised. the oscars have always been a corporate shrill masking as merit. you would think they would make smart decisions to not show blatant favoritism. Reply Parent Thread Link Hmmm @ the categories that kinda make sense cutting not getting cut because they have Disney trash nominated... This is honestly disrespectful. Just have all 24 categories and don't allow that loser ass bitch John Bailey to give a speech. Also, I don't think it's random that this year they don't give a shit about Cinematography - 3 of the 5 nominees are for foreign films. If they were in English, I highly doubt they'd be presented during the break. Edited at 2019-02-11 11:22 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link This is so disrespectful. And someone on twitter pointed out that the actual room is basically bedlam during commercial breaks so the winners are going to be like yelling over ppl talking and going to the bathroom. This sucks. Reply Thread Link Can't revoke La La Land 2's award if everyone else is in the bathroom Reply Parent Thread Link That's so goddamn sick. And I bet they're gonna freak out if Into the Spider-Verse actually wins Best Animated Feature. Reply Parent Thread Link I just deleted bc I saw just444 posted the exact same tweet above, but yes. So gross! I really hope it does. Reply Parent Thread Link Honestly those awards I cared about more than some horse shit production numbers while the Oscars tell us why they and Hollywood are sooooo awesome. Technical awards and artistic awards are less about campaigning and a popularity contest than the acting/writing/directing/best picture ones. I am gonna laugh when their ratings go down even more and yet next year will be a bigger cluster fuck because they wont be able to understand they are in a world where they arent the most important and beloved thing of the year among film fans. Reply Thread Link Why do the Oscars seem to different this year? Reply Thread Link Theyre scrambling to try and get ratings/be innovative Reply Parent Thread Link lol okay this is still gonna fuck up my "guess the winners" game at my oscar party but WHATEVER, academy Reply Thread Link Looks like the Academy found a way to dig the hole they're in even deeper. Reply Thread Link It's been trending that way for years anyway but this year... no host, cutting categories, and Green Book vs Roma as the frontrunner? It's practically guaranteed. Reply Parent Thread Link LIVE ACTION SHORT?!?!!?! NO! I'm actually super excited for that category this year, I actually saw them all for the first time ever. It's super disrespectful, and I hope that somebody (or multiple somebodies) who wins a televised award speaks up about it during their speech. Nobody is going to listen to the people accepting awards when everyone is going to pee and talk to their friends. They're going to cut four categories and this shit is still going to run long, 100 percent guarantee. There's so much other junk that they could cut, but no, they'll not show these, and then they'll do those dumb "let's take a big crowd of people across the street" or "let's bring normal people into the theatre and laugh at them" bits that take for-fucking-ever. Reply Thread Link What do you think will win live action short? I'm doing predictions for a competition and I have no idea about live action or doc short. Reply Parent Thread Link I don't think germophobia is a society-wide problem, Pete. Reply Thread Link I mean, I definitely thought it was obvious that he was joking. Once he said "if I can't see them they're not real." Though idk, for some reason it felt like it was poking more fun at anti-vaxxers than germaphobes. And yes, I do wash my hands, but probably not as often as I should. Reply Thread Link it grosses me out when i'm in a public bathroom and i hear someone else leave without washing their hands. that being said, while i wash my hands whenever i use the bathroom i don't always wash my hands before eating food where i'll be picking it up like pizza. i guess it depends on where i am and my proximity to a sink, lol. i do have one friend who is a germaphobe. like, when she opens doors in public she pulls her shirt sleeve to cover her hand. Reply Thread Link Yeah if I haven't washed my hands right before I eat pizza, a burger, etc... I'll just eat them with a fork and knife. Reply Parent Thread Link I guess it depends for me - I got a really nasty rotovirus in grad school...it was at a med school and my office was in a building where there were still medical practices, so I'm fairly sure I picked it up off a door or an elevator button from one of their patients. I ended up having to go to the emergency room late one night and I was pretty miserable, so I guess I can't really fault your friend. I don't always do it, but if the door handle allows me to use my forearm or wrist, I'll use it instead of my hand. I don't care if that makes me a germaphobe - I certainly don't want another rotovirus, ugh! I'm glad a lot of pharmacies have hand sanitizer, b/c one time a guy was there for his Tamiflu prescription and ofc they didn't sanitize the stylus on the register after he used it. I definitely gave him a wide berth. XD Reply Parent Thread Link when she opens doors in public she pulls her shirt sleeve to cover her hand. oop it me Reply Parent Thread Link same, but also because I sometimes get very painful static shocks. Reply Parent Thread Link Same. I've seen way too many people not wash their hands after going to the bathroom. If I'm not wearing long sleeves, then I use a paper towel. Reply Parent Thread Link I wash my hands at least a dozen times a day. I'm so glad it's warmer here so I don't have to worry about eczema. It used to be awful in the fall/winter/part of spring. Reply Thread Link uummm... wut Reply Thread Link That gif ;) They are so damn sneaky but so cute. Edited at 2019-02-11 11:09 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link My first stuffed animal & toy was a racoon and I named him Ricky. Reply Parent Thread Link Ricky the raccoon! Thats so cute. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I had a stuffed toy racoon, which I named Dishrack. I was a strange child. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Omg same, but mine was called Stripey lol Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I have germophobic tendencies when it comes to hand washing. I wash them a lot, and I always use paper towels to turn off taps and open doors in public toilets or at work, because taps and door handles are a hive of disgusting germs. I dont use hand sanitiser much - it has its own downsides. Usually only if Im eating in a food court or something and I cant wash my hands first before touching my food. Reply Thread Link Yeah, hand sanitizer doesn't seem to do anything. I also hate those air dryers that are becoming more and more common. Those are the most unhygienic, drying, things. Reply Parent Thread Link I'd like to press his hands against a couple culture plates to see what grows. Reply Thread Link I wash my hands a lot. I always wash when I come in from outside/public transportation, before I eat, and when in public restrooms. Here's my confession to ONTD.... sometimes in the winter, because my water takes sf long to heat, if I pee at home I take an extra square of TP, flush the toilet with that between my hand and the lever, and don't wash my hands. :-o Reply Thread Link I'm a skip Thanksgiving at your house Reply Parent Thread Link I mean I use Charmin! I view washing my hands after going to the bathroom as more of a reminder that I should be washing my hands at a certain interval... it's not like my hand is actually touching my vag or butt. Unless I'm using that sketchy ass toilet paper my work uses in case I am, ugh. Reply Parent Thread Link wash your hands with cold water... you can put them in your pocket or sit on them to warm them back up. Reply Parent Thread Link With all the trash that go on Fox News, I can see why he wouldnt waste his time washing his hands. Reply Thread Link I had a friend in university and one time we went to the bathroom together and she just ran her hands under the tap after going to the washroom and I actually called her back as she was about to leave and shamed her into using soap. Like I have such a hard time understanding these filthy people. Wash your fucking hands! It's not that hard! Reply Thread Link Ugh I hate that, lol. If someone's already going through the trouble of wetting and then drying their hands, how's it any harder to use soap? Reply Parent Thread Link Whenever there's something in the news that suggests that Pete Hegseth isn't particularly smart, I like to remind folks that he once threw an ax in public, on live TV, and almost killed someone. pic.twitter.com/3Wl5oj8QE8 Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) February 11, 2019 Anyway, Dwight Schrute did the hand de-sanitizing thing better. Anyway, Dwight Schrute did the hand de-sanitizing thing better. Reply Thread Link I was just looking for a clip of Dwight's de-sanitizing station idea lol. Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah, I couldnt find it anywhere earlier! But I also gave up pretty quick. I hope future guests sneeze on him. Reply Parent Thread Link Lmao I never saw it hit the band player. Reply Parent Thread Link omg Reply Parent Thread Link I remember this lmao Reply Parent Thread Link Ew. You don't need to sanitize with alcohol all the time, but fuck, use some soap and water, and lather mother fucker. Reply Thread Link I have OCD and am a frequent hand washer and carry hand sanitizing wipes in my purse. The sad thing is that I know people who actually don't wash their hands like really??? BLEH. Reply Thread Link Thank you for Reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content. Multimedia Reporter Staff writer Harry Funk, a professional journalist for three-plus decades, has been on the staff of The Almanac since 2015. He has a bachelors degree in journalism and master of business administration, both from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. [February 12, 2019] Love Has No Labels Celebrates Fourth Anniversary with Original Two-Part Facebook Documentary Series in Partnership with Great Big Story Featuring Stories of Unity in the Wake of Crisis NEW YORK, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In celebration of the fourth anniversary of Love Has No Labels, the Ad Council joined Facebook and Great Big Story today to premiere the first installment of an original Facebook Anthology showcasing real people from different backgrounds coming together during moments of crisis. The docuseries arrives on the heels of the campaign's first-ever short film, "Rising," which challenges viewers to consider why it takes a disaster to bring us together. Hosted by award-winning online personality and filmmaker Jay Shetty, the two-episode docuseries was produced by Great Big Story's brand studio Courageous. Both episodes showcase moving first-person accounts that explore the deep, unexpected connections and long-lasting relationships formed during harrowing times. The series highlights the lessons we can learn from human behavior during disaster to ultimately act inclusively every day. "While the immediate effects of hurricanes and other crises are devastating and heart-wrenching to witness, natural disasters are also unique in their ability to bring us together," said Lisa Sherman, president and CEO of the Ad Council. "The stories captured in this docuseries are an inspiring reminder that we have more in common than we are different. There's so much to be gained from embracing our differences and engaging in dialogueand there's no better time to do so than now." "I'm so grateful and honored to be a part of such a meaningful series. We should not have to wait for a tragedy to come together, rather we should find unity in our diversity every day," said storyteller Jay Shetty. "I'm positive that this series will serve as a great inspiration and motivation for us to grow, serve and thrive together." The first docuseries episode tells the story of Munira and Sara, a Muslim woman and Jewish woman who, despite their assumptions about each other's communities, connected on Facebook in the wake of Hurricane Harvey and formed a long-lasting friendship. Viewers can watch it across Great Big Story's digital and social footprint, as well as on Love Has No Labels and Jay Shetty Facebook pages. The second episode, set to air in March 2019, will showcase the friendship formed between Orlando-based reverends, Joel and Terri, a cis man and a gay woman, in the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting. "Our team of brand journalists sourced and produced these inspiring stories about real people who forged genuine friendships in the fire of crises," said Otto Bell, chief creative officer of Courageous Studios. "These narratives remind us of our innate humanity because they connect with audiences on a deep, emotional level. As Great Big Story is a positive platform dedicated to changing the way we see the world, it was perfectly fitting to support the distribution of these stories as well." "It's inspiring to see people use Facebook Groups to come together to love and support each other in times of need," said Addie Marino, Global Prototype Lead on Facebook's Creative Shop. "But what's perhaps even more inspiring are the long-lasting friendships that have connected these communities to each together, making the world a little more inclusive each day." The docuseries directs audiences to LoveHasNoLabels.com, which features small actions people can take every day to create a more inclusive world and make others feel loved and accepted. The website highlights real people and real stories of love without labels to illustrate the power of acceptance and inclusion. Visitors can find conversations starters to help break down bias and connect based on who they really are instead of what others might assume based on appearances. Additional resources include a glossary of common terms related to diversity, bias and inclusion and self-reflection questions to help people recognize and reduce their own implicit biases. In keeping with the campaign's previous Valentine's Day launches, Love Has No Labels is also partnering with Grammy-nominated pop artist Lukas Graham and Warner Bros. Records to celebrate all forms of love. Graham created a special, Love Has No Labels version of his music video for the hit song "Love Someone" to feature diverse couples, friends and families across race, age, gender, and sexual orientation. Viewers can watch the music video on the Love Has No Labels Facebook page beginning on February 14th. The Love as No Labels campaign launched nationally in 2015 with a video of skeletons dancing and embracing before coming out from behind an x-ray screen to reveal themselves as diverse couples, friends and families. The original "Love Has No Labels" video became the first PSA to win an Emmy for Outstanding Commercial and received more than 169 million views, making it the second most viewed social activism video of all time. In 2016, it was followed by "We Are America" featuring WWE Superstar John Cena celebrating the diversity of America on Independence Day. In 2017, Love Has No Labels put a twist on the kiss cam by turning it into a symbol for unbiased love with "Fans of Love." 2018 most recently followed with the release of "Rising," a powerful short film that challenges Americans to consider, "Why does it take a disaster to bring us together?" It was directed by David Nutter (Emmy Award-winning director of Game of Thrones) with a screenplay written by Lena Waithe and Azia Squire. In total, the campaign's four videos have exceeded 350 million online views. The goal of the campaign has always been to elevate messages of diverse love to help erode implicit biases and promote acceptance across race, religion, gender, sexuality, ability and age. The latest film extends the campaign message further by encouraging people to take everyday actions to create a more inclusive community. Since the premiere of "Rising" in November, the short film has garnered more than 6.7 million views. Since the launch of Love Has No Labels in March 2015 there have been over 3.5 million sessions on lovehasnolabels.com. And, significantly more adults agree that they can create a more accepting and inclusive environment (61% in 2015 to 75% in 2018), according to a survey commissioned by the Ad Council and conducted by Ipsos, Public Affairs. To date, the campaign has received more than $93 million in donated media. To learn more, visit the Love Has No Labels website, view the PSAs on YouTube, join the campaign's social communities on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram , and visit the campaign shop . The Ad Council The Ad Council brings together the most creative minds in advertising and media to address the most worthy causes. Its innovative, pro bono social good campaigns raise awareness. They inspire action. They save lives. To learn more, visit www.adcouncil.org, follow the Ad Council's communities on Facebook and Twitter, and view our the creative on YouTube. Facebook Founded in 2004, Facebook's mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what's going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them. Great Big Story Great Big Story produces micro-docs, series, and films about the people, places and things that change the way we see the world and each of our individual roles within it. Established in 2015 through an investment by CNN Worldwide, Great Big Story operates as an independent media company with award-winning studios in New York City and London. We are filmmakers and global citizens. We're traveled to more than 100 countries and told more than 2000 stories to shine a light on the underrepresented, the uncharted, the endangered and the absolutely amazing. Visit GreatBigStory.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. R/GA R/GA is the company that creates transformation at speed. An innovation leader for more than 40 years, R/GA has expanded and evolved to offer business transformation, experience transformation, and marketing transformation through its award-winning consulting, ventures, technology, design, marketing communications, and IP practices. Its work spans web, mobile, and social communications, retail and e-commerce, product innovation, brand development, and innovation consulting. The company has more than 2,000 employees globally with 18 offices across the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia-Pacific. R/GA is part of The Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE: IPG), one of the world's largest advertising and marketing services organizations. For more information about R/GA, please visit www.rga.com and on Facebook and Twitter. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/love-has-no-labels-celebrates-fourth-anniversary-with-original-two-part-facebook-documentary-series-in-partnership-with-great-big-story-featuring-stories-of-unity-in-the-wake-of-crisis-300794171.html SOURCE The Ad Council [ Back to the Next Generation Communications Community's Homepage ] (Bloomberg) -- The lawyer for the chairman of the National Enquirers parent company said there wasnt any blackmail, extortion or political motivation involved in the fight between the tabloid and Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. Photos and other details about Bezoss extramarital affair came from a reliable source known to Bezos -- and not from President Donald Trump, Saudi Arabia or Trump adviser Roger Stone, said Elkan Abramowitz, an attorney for David Pecker, the chairman of American Media Inc. It was a usual story that National Enquirer gets from reliable sources, Abramowitz said on ABCs This Week on Sunday. He didnt name the source. It absolutely is not extortion and not blackmail. It doesnt look that way to everyone. AMI is in a world of hurt, said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Securities who has covered Amazon for years. In a public blog post Feb. 7, Bezos published letters from lawyers representing AMI who demanded he drop a private investigation into the company -- or else it would publish more embarrassing photographs about him. Bezos accused the National Enquirer publisher of extortion. His post referenced Peckers connections with the Saudis and suggested more would come to light. The Amazon founder, who owns the Washington Post, also appeared to be making references to his papers aggressive investigation of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, who wrote for the paper, and the seeming reluctance of the Trump administration to hold Saudis responsible despite that assessment by the intelligence community. Abramowitz suggested the letters were an attempt to resolve differences because Bezos didnt want another story about him and AMI did not want to have the libel against them that this was inspired by the White House, inspired by Saudi Arabia or inspired by the Washington Post. By emphasizing that the story about Bezos having an affair was already in the public domain, Abramowitz was in essence admitting that they were trying to extort a statement from the owner of the Washington Post, said Ted Boutrous, a partner at the Gibson Dunn law firm in Los Angeles. Thats really a significant problem for the National Enquirer. Story continues Bezos Blackmail Charge Intensifies Proxy War With Trump Pecker has gotten himself in -- and out -- of much trouble over the years. But fighting with Bezos may be a step too far. Its doubtful Bezos is willing to let the matter drop. Rather than pay hush money he certainly could afford as the worlds richest person, he said hed rather risk embarrassment of the publication of intimate messages or pictures -- including those under the belt -- than capitulate to extortion or blackmail. Bezos is probably mulling whether AMI will now be in deeper trouble with prosecutors -- or whether he will draw from his deep pockets to destroy them on his own. Or both. Cooperation Deal Federal prosecutors are reviewing the National Enquirers handling of its story about Bezos to determine whether the company violated an earlier cooperation deal with prosecutors, according to two people familiar with the matter. AMI agreed not to commit crimes as part of that deal to avoid prosecution over hush-money payments to women who claimed relationships with Trump. Michael Cohen, Trumps former lawyer, played a pivotal role in some of the payments and has pleaded guilty to related charges. Asked whether hes worried that the Bezos revelations have put the cooperation agreement in jeopardy, Abramowitz responded, absolutely not. Abramowitz also said while AMI has sought financing from the Saudis, it never obtained any, doesnt have any Saudi Arabian finance. Bezos said last month that he and his wife, MacKenzie, were divorcing, in an announcement that came just hours before the Enquirer reported that Bezos had been having a relationship with Lauren Sanchez. Bezos hired a private investigator, Gavin de Becker, to learn how the texts between Bezos and Sanchez were obtained and to determine the motives for the many unusual actions taken by the Enquirer. De Becker told The Daily Beast on Sunday that the investigation into who initially provided the texts to the National Enquirer, and why, is finished and that the results have been turned over to attorneys for referral to law enforcement. An investigation into what the National Enquirer and AMI did after they received the initial texts, that investigation is ongoing, De Becker told The Daily Beast. Someone Close Meanwhile, Abramowitz dangled a tantalizing new detail. He said Bezos did in fact know who the source of the story was. It was somebody close to both Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez, he told ABCs George Stephanopoulos. The Daily Beast, citing multiple sources inside AMI, reported Sunday that Sanchezs brother Michael supplied the couples texts to the National Enquirer. Speculation about Michael Sanchezs involvement had been swirling since news of the affair between Bezos and Lauren Sanchez first broke. Abramowitz refused to confirm or deny speculation that the source was Bezos girlfriends brother -- a Trump supporter who is close to the recently indicted political operative Roger Stone. He reiterated that it was a legitimate offer to call off the feud for mutual benefit. Each side had something that they wanted, Abramowitz said. (Updates with Daily Beast report on Michael Sanchez.) --With assistance from Christian Berthelsen and Jennifer Jacobs. To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Niquette in Columbus at mniquette@bloomberg.net;Hailey Waller in New York at hwaller@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net, Ian Fisher, Matthew G. Miller For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. [February 12, 2019] Majesco Announces Phil Hansen as a Keynote Speaker at Convergence 2019 Majesco (NYSE American: MJCO), a global provider of market-leading insurance technology today announced that Phil Hansen will be a keynote speaker at their upcoming customer conference Convergence (News - Alert) 2019 taking place in Savannah, Georgia on April 14 - 17, 2019. Known to his fans as "the Artist for the People," Phil Hanson is a world-renowned multimedia artist, speaker, author and innovator who often breaks convention, working at the intersection of traditional art, and electronic media, leveraging offbeat materials and interactive experiences to show that art is action, not just result. Hansen has been featured on the Discovery Channel, PBS, BBC, Good Morning America, and Last Call with Carson Daly, and his work is sought-after by leading brands like the Grammy Awards, Adobe (News - Alert) , General Mills, Fort Motor Company, Disney, Skype, Mazda and the Rockefeller Foundation. For the tens of millions who have seen Phil's art on TV and online, it's hard to imagine that his artistic journey nearly came to an end when a tremor developed in his drawing hand. In exploring new ways to create art, Phil discovered that by embracing his shake, limitations could become the passageway to creativity. "We're excited to have Phil speak at Convergence 2019, and hear his inspirational story that came to life on a TED stage more than five years ago," said Majesco CEO Adam Elster. "His message of self-reinvention and the power of embracing challenges and transforming them into opportunity is one that resonates very deeply in the insurance industry." Now in its 11th year, Convergence 2019 will bring together business and IT insurance leaders, industry analysts and partners for sessions and discussions on the trends challenging the insurance industry, and Majesco's product vision for championing insurers' transformation and success. Over 200 customers, analysts, and influencers will gather to share and discuss industry trends, best practices, and hear about Majesco solutions and new innovation across its P&C, L&A and Group lines of business. Attendance to Convergence is by invitation only and open to Majesco's customers and partners. For more details visit https://convergence.majesco.com. About Majesco Insurance business transformation is a journey of change and revitalization, a renaissance of Insurance. Approximately 160 insurance companies worldwide in P&C, L&A and Group/ Employee Benefits are transforming their businesses with Majesco's solutions. Our market leading software, consulting and services uniquely underpin the entire insurance value chain and are designed to empower insurers with the agility, innovation and speed needed to meet their transformation opportunities. Majesco's solutions include policy management, new business / underwriting, rating, billing, claims management, distribution management, BI/ analytics, predictive modeling, digital platform with mobile and portal, testing services, cloud services, bureau and content services, transformation services, consulting services and more. For more details on Majesco, please visit www.majesco.com. Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These forward-looking statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of management, are not guarantees of performance and are subject to significant risks and uncertainty. These forward-looking statements should, therefore, be considered in light of various important factors, including those set forth in Majesco's reports that it files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission and which you should review, including those statements under "Item 1A - Risk Factors" in Majesco's Annual Report on Form 10-K. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to: integration risks; changes in economic conditions, political conditions, trade protection measures, licensing requirements and tax matters; technology development risks; intellectual property rights risks; competition risks; additional scrutiny and increased expenses as a result of being a public company; the financial condition, financing requirements, prospects and cash flow of Majesco; loss of strategic relationships; changes in laws or regulations affecting the insurance industry in particular; restrictions on immigration; the ability and cost of retaining and recruiting key personnel; the ability to attract new clients and retain them and the risk of loss of large customers; continued compliance with evolving laws; customer data and cybersecurity risk; and Majesco's ability to raise capital to fund future growth. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as predictions of future events and Majesco cannot assure you that the events or circumstances discussed or reflected in these statements will be achieved or will occur. If such forward-looking statements prove to be inaccurate, the inaccuracy may be material. You should not regard these statements as a representation or warranty by Majesco or any other person that we will achieve our objectives and plans in any specified timeframe, or at all. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this presentation. Majesco disclaims any obligation to publicly update or release any revisions to these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190212005616/en/ [ Back to the Next Generation Communications Community's Homepage ] For Immediate Release Chicago, IL February 12, 2019 Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, Microsoft Corp. MSFT, Tencent Holdings Ltd. TCEHY, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. BABA and Baidu, Inc. BIDU. Here are highlights from Mondays Analyst Blog: China A.I. Burgeoning: Stocks to Watch By 2030-end, AI is estimated to add $15.7 trillion to global GDP. A number of U.S. companies are riding the AI wave, including the likes of Amazon.com, Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has over and over again pointed out the use of machine learning in Amazon-like product search rankings; demand forecasting, fraud protection and warehouse fulfilment. Microsoft, in the meantime, is looking to make AI more accessible through its Azure cloud services. After all, AI in the cloud is anticipated to increase at an annualized rate of 50% through 2025. If we shift our focus from American behemoths, China is aiming to be the premier country for AI research and services, at least by 2030. A number of companies in China are already on par with their AI rivals in the United States, if not above them. Heres why investors should pay attention to Chinas AI boom and watch out for new AI players like Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Tencent Has Huge AI Data Opportunity One of the primary elements of AI is, undoubtedly, data. Needless to say, without data, the best of software and algorithms are of no use. While in the United States, Google dominates this space by collecting a wide array of user information through free services, in China, Tencent has a leading position in this area. Lest we forget, Tencents biggest service is WeChat app, which currently boasts 1 billion active users, mostly from China. The social media app helps users pay bills, provide ride-sharing services, play video games and share social media updates, to name a few. Story continues Tencent, by the way, has launched an AI-based platform, Miying back, which helps healthcare institutions diagnose cancer. At the same time, the platform helps hospitals and nursing homes analyze and manage health records. With more than 38,000 medical institutes, especially in China, using WeChat, Tencent is using data to transform and uplift the medical industry in the country. Tencents sales climbed almost 24% to RMB 80.6 billion ($11.95 billion) in the most recent quarter, while earnings per share jumped 29% to 2.44 yuan. The companys shares have popped 12.1% so far this year, higher than the Internet - Services industrys gain of 10.5%. The Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) companys expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 11.4%, higher than the industrys projected gain of 2.4%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current fiscal-year earnings also rose 1.7% in the past 60 days. Alibaba A Big Player in the AI Space Investors should keep in mind that Alibaba is a dominant tech player in the Chinese market. But the e-commerce company is increasingly becoming a major player in the AI space as well. And with Chinese governments continuous initiative to make AI a key part of its future, expect Alibabas AI desires to grow along with it. Recently, Alibaba announced that its developing AI chips which will be available soon. The chip will be used by autonomous vehicles. To top it, Alibabas AI-powered robots boost the hospitality industry. The company has also established an AI customer service agent for its logistics company, Cainiao. Thus, Alibaba has a slew of AI pursuits, which should gain traction from Chinas growing AI market. In the most recent quarter, Alibabas revenues rose 41% from the year-ago quarter to RMB 117.8 billion ($17.4 billion), while sales from the companys e-commerce business went up 40% to RMB 102.84 billion ($15.25 billion). Nonetheless, these encouraging quarterly numbers, released at the end of January, have helped push the companys stock price up 22.1% on a year-to-date basis, higher than the Internet - Commerce industrys gain of 11.8%. The Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) companys expected earnings growth rate for the current and next quarters are a solid 17.6% and 18.9%, respectively. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings, by the way, increased 3.4% in the past 60 days. A Word of Caution! Like any kind of investment, China stocks do come with their own risks. There is a lot of trade-related issues between the United States and China, which may spook investors. And maybe thats one of the reasons why Baidu, Inc., arguably, the biggest company driving the China AI boom, currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Is Your Investment Advisor Fumbling Your Financial Future? See how you can more effectively safeguard your retirement with a new Special Report, 4 Warning Signs Your Investment Advisor Might Be Sabotaging Your Financial Future. Click to get it free >> Media Contact Zacks Investment Research 800-767-3771 ext. 9339 support@zacks.com https://www.zacks.com Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release. 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 Tencent Holding Ltd. (TCEHY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Baidu, Inc. (BIDU) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. If you are looking for a stock that has a solid history of beating earnings estimates and is in a good position to maintain the trend in its next quarterly report, you should consider Quaker Chemical (KWR). This company, which is in the Zacks Chemical - Specialty industry, shows potential for another earnings beat. This specialty chemical company has an established record of topping earnings estimates, especially when looking at the previous two reports. The company boasts an average surprise for the past two quarters of 6.88%. For the most recent quarter, Quaker Chemical was expected to post earnings of $1.54 per share, but it reported $1.60 per share instead, representing a surprise of 3.90%. For the previous quarter, the consensus estimate was $1.42 per share, while it actually produced $1.56 per share, a surprise of 9.86%. Price and EPS Surprise With this earnings history in mind, recent estimates have been moving higher for Quaker Chemical. In fact, the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) for the company is positive, which is a great sign of an earnings beat, especially when you combine this metric with its nice Zacks Rank. Our research shows that stocks with the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time. In other words, if you have 10 stocks with this combination, the number of stocks that beat the consensus estimate could be as high as seven. The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a version of the Zacks Consensus whose definition is related to change. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier. Quaker Chemical has an Earnings ESP of +2.99% at the moment, suggesting that analysts have grown bullish on its near-term earnings potential. When you combine this positive Earnings ESP with the stock's Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), it shows that another beat is possibly around the corner. Story continues Investors should note, however, that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss, but a negative value does reduce the predictive power of this metric. Many companies end up beating the consensus EPS estimate, though this is not the only reason why their shares gain. Additionally, some stocks may remain stable even if they end up missing the consensus estimate. Because of this, it's really important to check a company's Earnings ESP ahead of its quarterly release to increase the odds of success. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported. 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 To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Texas Democrat Beto O'Rourke is joining a protest march past President Donald Trump's border wall rally in El Paso on Monday evening. ORourke said he sees it as an opportunity for the city to take control of the narrative. I think the presidents decision to focus on El Paso and his horrible demonization and vilification of immigrants, specifically Mexican immigrants, and his desire to make us afraid of the border can work to our advantage, he told the El Paso Times. In other words, as he comes down here and as he referred to El Paso in his State of the Union speech, the eyes of the country are literally on us and will be even more so on Monday. The protest march is being organized by former Rep. O'Rourke, Rep. Veronica Escobar, Women's March El Paso, the Border Network for Human Rights and dozens of local organizations. USA TODAY will provide live coverage in the player above as soon as it's available. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Watch live: Beto O'Rourke joins protest march past Trump's border wall rally in El Paso Virginia's lieutenant governor has denied newly publicized allegations that he sexually assaulted two women years ago and has vowed to continue serving in office. It's a scenario that already has played out in several other states, with differing conclusions. At least six other statewide elected officials have faced allegations of sexual misconduct since 2017. Several initially resisted calls to step down before eventually doing so under the pressure of public scrutiny and ongoing investigations. At least one other accused official remains in office. Nationwide, at least 90 state lawmakers also have resigned or been ousted, faced discipline or other repercussions, or been publicly accused of sexual misconduct since the beginning of 2017. Many of those allegations were brought to light as part of the #MeToo movement that gained steam after allegations of sexual misconduct were made against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, a Democrat, is accused of sexually assaulting a woman while they were students at Duke University in 2000 and forcing another woman to perform a sex act at a Boston hotel in 2004. Fairfax has denied ever sexually assaulting anyone. A look at other statewide elected officials who have recently faced sexual misconduct allegations: Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, a Republican. Bentley resigned April 10, 2017, as House impeachment proceedings began against him. He pleaded guilty that same day to two misdemeanor campaign finance violations that arose during an investigation of his alleged affair with a top aide. An investigatory report for the impeachment proceedings had said Bentley encouraged an "atmosphere of intimidation" to try to keep the relationship secret and had directed a law officer to try to track down and seize recordings of him making sexually charged comments to the woman. Wyoming Secretary of State Ed Murray, a Republican. Murray resigned Feb. 9, 2018, following accusations of sexual misconduct by two women from decades ago. One woman accused him of sexually attacking her after hours at a Cheyenne law office where they both worked over 35 years ago. The other woman said Murray forcibly kissed her when she was 18 years old after she had been babysitting for his family on New Year's Eve 1988. Story continues New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat. Schneiderman had built a reputation as a supporter of the #MeToo movement and had filed a lawsuit aimed at securing better compensation for those accusing Weinstein of sexual misconduct. But he resigned May 7, after a media report that he had slapped, choked, threatened and abused four women during intimate encounters. Campaign finance reports show Schneiderman used nearly $340,000 in political campaign money to pay a law firm that represented him during an investigation into the allegations. Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler, a Republican. Schedler resigned effective May 8 after being accused in a lawsuit by an employee of sexually harassing her for years and punishing her when she rebuffed his advances. The state paid nearly $150,000 to settle the lawsuit plus an additional $35,000 on private attorneys to respond to the suit. Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican. Greitens resigned June 1 while facing potential House impeachment proceedings over allegations of sexual and political misconduct. A woman with whom Greitens had an extramarital affair testified that he slapped, shoved, restrained and belittled her during a series of sexual encounters in 2015, while he was preparing to run for governor. As jury selection was getting under way for a May criminal trial, a St. Louis prosecutor dropped a charge of invasion of privacy related to a nonconsensual compromising photo that Greitens allegedly took of the woman. In exchange for Greitens' resignation, the prosecutor also dropped a separate charge of tampering with computer data alleging that Greitens improperly provided his political fundraiser with a donor list from a veterans charity he founded. Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill, Republican. A special prosecutor declined in October 2018 to pursue criminal charges against Hill. That decision came as a state investigation cited witness testimony that an apparently intoxicated Hill inappropriately touched a female lawmaker and three female legislative staffers during a March party at an Indianapolis bar celebrating the end of the 2018 legislative session. Other top elected officials had called on Hill to resign after media publicized the allegations in July. He remains in office. ___ Follow David A. Lieb at https://twitter.com/DavidALieb Beleaguered Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro has accused the Trump administration of warmongering and has claimed the White House is controlled by the Ku Klux Klan. As opposition leader Juan Guaido who a month ago declared himself the countys rightful president called on supporters to once again take to the streets, Mr Maduro insisted he would not give in to what he said was a foreign attempt to back a coup. They are warmongering in order to take over Venezuela, Mr Maduro told the BBC, saying this extremist group in the White House is defeated by powerful world-wide public opinion. Speaking in the capital, Caracas, he added: Its a political war, of the United States empire, of the interests of the extreme right that today is governing, of the Ku Klux Klan, that rules the White House, to take over Venezuela. Mr Maduro, 55, is fighting for his political life amid mounting internal discontent about the economy, and shortages of food and medicine, that have helped persuade millions of people up to ten per cent of the population to leave the country. His government has also been accused of resorting to increasingly authoritarian tactics, and jailing political opponents. Last months declaration by Mr Guaido, one that had had been months in planning and had international support appeared to catch him by surprise. Mr Guaido, whose international profile was at that point very modest, suddenly made headlines around the world when he was recognised as the nations legitimate leader by the US, UK, Canada and a host of nations in Europe and Latin America. Russia, China, Turkey and Mexico continue to recognise Mr Maduro as president, as does, crucially, the Venezuelan military. Mr Maduro has been criticised for moving to block humanitarian aid from the US that many in his country would welcome. He has hit back, saying he believes the aid is part of a plot to arm opposition supporters and has pointed out that Elliott Abrams, the US official overseeing its policy to Venezuela, once admitted using aid shipments to send arms to anti-anti-government rebels in Nicaragua. Story continues Mr Maduro, who has blamed US sanctions for Venezuelas economic troubles when in reality the falling price of oil and economic mismanagement have been more probably been more important factors, said the US intended to create a humanitarian crisis in order to justify a military intervention. This is part of that charade. Thats why, with all dignity, we tell them we dont want their crumbs, their toxic food, their left-overs, he said. On Tuesday, Mr Guaido vowed again to deliver the US aid that has been warehoused on the Colombian border town of Cucuta. His strategy for outmaneuvering Maduro remains unclear, the Associated Press said. The AP said that on Tuesday, protesters called on Mr Maduro to permit the aid in, citing epidemic hunger. Nicolas Maduro should put his hand on his heart and accept that aid, said Mayerly Prada, among a small group of protesters on the Colombian side of the Tienditas International Bridge. Its help for many Venezuelans like my son. If you have been looking for Allocation Balanced funds, a place to start could be Vanguard Wellington Investor (VWELX). VWELX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance. Objective VWELX is classified in the Allocation Balanced segment by Zacks, which is an area full of possibilities. Here, investors are able to get a good head start with diversified mutual funds, and play around with core holding options for a portfolio of funds. Allocation Balanced funds look to invest across a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. History of Fund/Manager Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VWELX. The Vanguard Wellington Investor made its debut in July of 1929 and VWELX has managed to accumulate roughly $15.26 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals. Performance Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 6.21%, and is in the top third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 7.14%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame. When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. The standard deviation of VWELX over the past three years is 7.04% compared to the category average of 8.13%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 7.11% compared to the category average of 8.16%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade. Story continues Risk Factors One cannot ignore the volatility of this segment, however, as it is always important for investors to remember the downside to any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, VWELX lost 32.54% and outperformed its peer group by 3.86%. This might suggest that the fund is a better choice than its peers during a bear market. Nevertheless, investors should also note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.63, which means it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. VWELX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 0.55, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns. Expenses For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, VWELX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.25% compared to the category average of 0.88%. VWELX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost. Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $3,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $1. Bottom Line Overall, Vanguard Wellington Investor ( VWELX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees compared to its peers. This could just be the start of your research on VWELXin the Allocation Balanced category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible. 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 To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Warsaw (AFP) - The United States is seeking this week in Warsaw to rally the world behind a vision of the Middle East that includes maximum pressure on Iran and strong backing of Israel, but it is winning little fresh support. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month announced the two-day conference starting Wednesday, saying that foreign ministers from around the world would come to Poland to take up the "destabilising influence" of Iran in the Middle East. A show of unity would serve as a powerful rejoinder to Iran's clerical regime, which just this week is celebrating 40 years since Islamic zealots toppled the Western-oriented shah. But with few RSVPs coming, the United States and Poland have toned down the agenda, stating that the conference is not focused on Iran or on building a coalition against it, but rather looking more broadly at the Middle East. US Vice President Mike Pence will address the conference, whose co-host is Pompeo. Even though the meeting takes place in the European Union, major European powers are sending low-level representation with the exception of British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who signalled that he primarily wants to address the humanitarian crisis triggered by the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said she had previous commitments and Pompeo instead will have breakfast with her in Brussels on his way home. Even host Poland -- which is eager for strong relations with the United States in the face of a resurgent Russia -- has stressed that it still joins the European Union in backing a 2015 deal negotiated by former US president Barack Obama to ease sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear programme. President Donald Trump stormed out of the deal last year, calling it "terrible", and has reimposed sweeping US sanctions aimed at strangling Iran's economy and curbing its regional power. - Hints of US Middle East plan - Story continues The countries that are sending top officials to Warsaw are pushing for a tough line on Iran including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Arab allies of the United States such as the United Arab Emirates. Netanyahu said that Iran remained the foremost item on the agenda -- "how to continue preventing it from entrenchment in Syria, how to thwart its aggression in the region and, above all, how to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons." Yet the United States is also expected in Warsaw to offer hints of its proposals for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, who has been putting final touches on a "deal of the century" for the Middle East, will make a rare speaking appearance on Thursday. Kushner, whose family is close to Netanyahu, is not expected to unveil the proposal until after the April 9 election in Israel. The Trump administration faces an uphill climb in selling any deal to the Palestinian Authority, which remains livid over Trump's landmark 2017 decision to recognise Jerusalem -- claimed by both peoples -- as Israel's capital. The Palestinian government -- which has labelled the Warsaw conference an "American conspiracy" -- has refused talks with the United States until it starts what it calls a more balanced policy. - Iran, Russia counter event - Iran was not invited to Warsaw and summoned the Polish ambassador to protest. But in a show of diplomatic clout, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will travel during the US-led conference to Russia, which declined to attend in Warsaw. In the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Rouhani will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Syria, where Trump is pulling out US troops. Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said the Warsaw conference should "initiate a process" on finding stability in the Middle East, with a US official saying that countries will hold follow-up meetings. Ali Vaez, director of the Iran project at the International Crisis Group think tank, said the United States appeared determined to use Warsaw to expand beyond its anti-Iran coalition of Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. "I doubt Washington will succeed in achieving this objective, because while many in Europe share US concerns with regards to Iran's regional activities and ballistic missiles programme, they don't agree with Washington's one-sided and maximalist view that Iran is the source of all evil in the region," he said. The US could come under attack from space, the government's Defense Intelligence Agency has warned. Other countries including Russia and China are building technologies that could challenge the perceived advantage and dependence of the American government's military in space, a new report warns. At its most dramatic, it even suggests that space could be used to launch "kinetic energy threats" or detonate nuclear weapons in space itself. At the moment, the US and its partners rely heavily on space technology. They "provide integral support to military, commercial and civilian applications", and "longstanding technological and cost barriers to space are falling, enabling more countries and commercial firms to participate in satellite construction, space launch, space exploration and human spaceflight". But those new advantages have also brought about new risks for the country, the report warns. Other countries are attempting to rival the US's capabilities in a way that the government suggests could pose a challenge. Having seen the benefits of space-enabled operations, some foreign governments are developing capabilities that threaten others ability to use space. China and Russia, in particular have taken steps to challenge the United States, the report said. The full report gives a whole host of ways those challenges could arrive. Russian and Chinese space surveillance networks are able to find and track satellites, for instance, so that the countries could undermine space operations. And they are developing a whole host of new space weapons: from jamming and cyberspace capabilities to "directed energy weapons" and missiles that could shoot down satellites. The new abilities both countries have to launch vehicles and satellites into space mean they can develop new ways of using space to improve their military operations on the ground, too. The report warns that new capabilities could allow militaries to give their forces across the world better situational awareness that will allow them to monitor and target US and allied forces. While the report is more concerned with cataloguing and detailing the threats that countries could pose in space, it suggests the US government is working hard to ensure it continues to dominate space. That has been the aim of programs including Donald Trump's "Space Force", which will see huge amounts of US military resources devoted to pushing the country's defence capabilities off the Earth. New York (AFP) - Legislation targeting the petroleum exporters group OPEC is advancing in the US Congress, potentially raising new financial and geopolitical challenges for the international oil market. - Outlawing cartels - A House committee last week approved the "No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act of 2019," or NOPEC and a version of the bill also has been proposed in the Senate. While the legislation enjoys bipartisan support, there is still no timetable for the proposal to be considered by the full Congress. The bill would seek to prevent the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies from adjusting their production levels to affect oil prices. Under the bill, sovereign immunity would no longer protect OPEC members from Justice Department antitrust enforcement. OPEC and its unofficial leader, Saudi Arabia, at the end of 2016 reached an agreement with Russia to limit output in order to lift crude prices. - Long history in Congress - Recent congressional efforts to crack down on OPEC date back to 2000 and various versions of NOPEC have been proposed intermittently since then in spite of opposition from business and petroleum lobbies. US Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama each opposed the measure, limiting its prospects because of the presidential veto power. - Means of applying pressure - Some analysts see the NOPEC debate as boosting US influence. "Even if the bill never becomes law, it would bring the administration significant leverage should prices start to rise," Barclays said in a research note. The bill would provide additional options "that could be seen as punitive" in light of the controversy surrounding the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, or OPEC's ongoing efforts to manage prices, as with a meeting next month of OPEC and allies in Azerbaijan, according to Barclays. US President Donald Trump has at times called on OPEC to keep production high to limit oil prices. Story continues - Market backlash? - Supporters of the proposal want to keep oil prices from going too high but there is a chance the measure could backfire if Saudi Arabia ends its longstanding practice of keeping "spare production" to lift output in case of a supply crunch. Saudi Arabia has boosted production previously to make up for lost supply from Iraq and Libya and in other cases, keeping prices from shooting higher. "If you are going to sue them for getting together, then Saudi Arabia would have absolutely no incentive to maintain any barrel of spare capacity, which is expensive," said James Williams of WTRG Economics. "Without the spare production capacity maintained by Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members, the price of crude would be more volatile at each supply disruption," Williams said. - Geopolitical impacts - "Ultimately, any NOPEC bill raises the issue of US-Saudi relations," said Harry Tchilinguirian of BNP Paribas. While the US shale boom has reduced America's Middle East oil dependency, Saudi Arabia is "President Trump's foreign policy cornerstone in the Middle East, notably when it comes to managing and containing Iran," Tchilinguirian said, adding that Saudi Arabia was also a purchaser of US weapons. Another risk of NOPEC would be a plunge in oil prices. Under that scenario, "you'll see protests from the population and you'll have more Arab springs," said Williams. These economic and geopolitical risks probably make Trump's support of NOPEC unlikely but "with this president, we can never be certain," Williams said. LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's lead Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins has saidlawmakers face a choice between Prime Minister Theresa May's exit deal or a long extension of the March 29 deadline for leaving the EU, ITV news said, citing a private conversation. ITV news reported that its correspondent had overheard Robbins, who is a career civil servant, not a politician, talking to colleagues at a hotel bar in Brussels on Monday. Robbins said he expected UK lawmakers in March to be presented with the option of backing a reworked Brexit deal or a potentially significant delay to Brexit, the broadcaster said. "The issue is whether Brussels is clear on the terms of extension," Robbins was overheard saying. "In the end they will probably just give us an extension." May has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on March 29. ITV news said Robbins thought the fear of a long extension to Article 50 - the process of leaving the EU - might focus lawmakers' minds. On the question of the backstop - an insurance policy to prevent the return of a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland - ITV news said Robbins had outlined a strategy to satisfy May's Conservative lawmakers. He said the European Commission would need to agree that the word "necessary" in the Northern Ireland protocol is defined as "necessary subject to the future trade deal". ITV news said Robbins confirmed that the original plan was for the backstop to be designed not as a "safety net" for the island of Ireland but as "a bridge" to a long-term trading relationship between the EU and the UK. "The big clash all along is the safety net," Robbins was quoted as saying. "We agreed a bridge but it came out as a safety net'." (Reporting by James Davey; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Gareth Jones) LONDON (Reuters) - British lawmaker Yvette Cooper, one of the leading campaigners against Britain leaving the EU without an agreement with the bloc, unveiled a new plan on Tuesday to ensure parliament has a chance to vote on ruling out a no-deal Brexit. A first attempt by opposition Labour lawmaker Cooper and Conservative Nick Boles to give parliament the power to request a delay to Britain's March 29 exit from the European Union was defeated by parliament on Jan. 29. Cooper said her new proposal, which has cross-party support, would press for a vote on an amendment creating time for her bill on Feb. 27, if Prime Minister Theresa May has not passed a Brexit deal by then. May is trying to secure support to salvage a deal she reached with European leaders in November on Britain's exit, which was defeated in parliament last month by the largest margin in modern British history. Unless Britain passes a deal or delays Brexit, it is due to crash out of the EU with no agreement on March 29, an event many businesses say would wreck their supply chains. Cooper said her bill would require May and parliament to resolve by the middle of March whether Britain is leaving the EU with a deal, leaving without a deal or seeking an extension to the deadline. "We are in danger of drifting into no deal by accident," she said. May told Parliament on Tuesday if she had not yet reached a deal in Brussels, she would deliver another progress report on Feb. 26 and provide another chance for parliament to express its opinion on her approach the following day. (Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Peter Graff) Moon rises over the English Channel in Dover, UK. Photo: Eddie Keogh/Reuters Britains government is being sued by the channel tunnel operator Eurotunnel over the no-deal Brexit ferries contract. Eurotunnel said the governments decision to award firms a contract to charter ferries in the event of a no-deal Brexit, including one that has no ships, was led by a secretive and flawed procurement process. Previously, on 29 December, Eurotunnels barrister Daniel Beard QC told the High Court in London that the government contracts were awarded without any public notice and the channel tunnel operator only found out when contract notices were published three days after Christmas. In a public statement, a government spokesperson said: The Department for Transport [DfT] acted transparently and competitively throughout the process of securing extra freight. This was done by approaching ferry operators and encouraging bids that could be fairly assessed against each other. The case comes just two days after the company that was awarded the contract, but has no ships, was axed from the 13.8m ($17.7m) deal. The DfT said in a statement: Following the decision of Seaborne Freights backer, Arklow Shipping, to step back from the deal, it became clear Seaborne would not reach its contractual requirements with the government. We have therefore decided to terminate our agreement. The government is already in advanced talks with a number of companies to secure additional freight capacity including through the port of Ramsgate in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Meanwhile, although transport secretary Chris Grayling said that no money had been given to either of the firms, Arklow or Seaborne, he refused to comment on how much the cancellation of the contract will cost the taxpayer, in fees or prep work. Over the last week, the UK government retained lawyers Slaughter and May in a contract worth 800,000 for advice over Eurotunnel taking legal action against it. The law firm was retained prior to Eurotunnel suing the government, in the highly likely event that Eurotunnel pursues legal proceedings. LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Tuesday condemned an attack on a BBC cameraman by a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in El Paso, Texas. Asked on Tuesday by Sky News whether it was acceptable for Trump to whip up his fans to the point that a cameraman was attacked, Hunt said: "It is never acceptable when journalists and cameramen are attacked just for doing their job." Wearing a "Make America Great Again" cap, a man was seen shoving BBC cameraman Ron Skeans before being pulled away on Monday, according to a BBC video. Trump has frequently attacked the news media for what he views as unfair coverage, decrying some outlets as peddlers of "fake news" and "enemy of the people." News outlets have pushed back, with New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger joining others in saying that Trump's language has increased the prospect of journalists facing violence, both in the United States and abroad. "There is a broader issue here which is that last year 80 journalists were killed across the world just for doing their job," Hunt said. "We are very worried about this." The White House News Photographers Association condemned the attack and said the White House, the Secret Service and local law enforcement should do more to protect journalists at Trump events. Skeans is a member of the association. "Furthermore, given that the president's rhetoric about journalists is too often false and derogatory, we ask that he refrain from unnecessarily targeting journalists with his speech since such rhetoric may be inciting violent acts such as this one," the group said in a statement. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement that Trump "condemns all acts of violence against any individual or group of people - including members of the press. We ask that anyone attending an event do so in a peaceful and respectful manner." The BBC reported that the Trump supporter pushed Skeans and cursed at him during the rally. It published video of the encounter that ends with the supporter being restrained and moved away from the media area. "Are you alright?" Trump asked after seeing the encounter, giving a thumbs up to the cameraman. "Everything OK?" The BBC said it wrote a letter to the White House asking for a "review of security arrangements" for media covering Trump's rallies. Skeans suffered no lasting harm, the BBC said. The Committee to Protect Journalists also criticized Trump. "It's outrageous that a journalist was attacked while covering a presidential speech," Alexandra Ellerbeck, the nonprofit organization's North America program coordinator, said in a statement. "We call on President Trump to moderate his rhetoric against the press and to state clearly that physically attacking media personnel is not acceptable." (Reporting by James Davey; additional reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York and Roberta Rampton and Jim Bourg in Washington; editing by Stephen Addison, Jeffrey Benkoe and Dan Grebler) By Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. congressional negotiators on Monday reached a tentative deal to try to avert another partial government shutdown on Saturday, but congressional aides said it did not contain the $5.7 billion President Donald Trump wants for a border wall. "We reached an agreement in principle" on funding border security programs through Sept. 30, Republican Senator Richard Shelby told reporters. "Our staffs are going to be working feverishly to put all the particulars together, Shelby said. Neither he nor three other senior lawmakers flanking him provided any details of the tentative pact. But it was far from clear if the Republican president would embrace the agreement. His December demand for $5.7 billion this year to help pay for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border - rejected by congressional Democrats - triggered a 35-day partial government shutdown that ended last month without him getting wall funding. A congressional aide, who asked not to be identified, said the outline of the deal included $1.37 billion for erecting new fencing along the southern border. That is about the same amount Congress allocated last year and far below what Trump has demanded. The aide said none of the money would be for a "wall," which Trump has been touting since he launched his campaign for president in 2016. Democrats say the wall would be costly and ineffective. Two other congressional sources said only currently deployed designs could be used for constructing 55 miles (90 km) of additional barriers. Those designs, which include "steel bollard" fencing, have been in use since before Trump became president. Shortly after the deal was reached in the U.S. Capitol, Trump held a rally in the border city of El Paso, Texas, to argue for the wall he says can protect Americans from violent criminals, drugs and a "tremendous onslaught" of migrant caravans. Trump said he heard about progress in the talks just before he took the stage, but he too did not discuss details. "Just so you know - we're building the wall anyway," he said. "Maybe progress has been made - maybe not." Beto ORourke, the former Democratic congressman from Texas considering a 2020 White House run, held a counter-rally just 200 yards away and accused Trump of stoking "false fear" about immigrants and telling "lies" about O'Rourke's hometown of El Paso. But a vocal group of conservatives influential with Trump has urged him to remain steadfast in his demand for the border wall money. In comments about the tentative congressional deal reached on Monday, Fox News commentator Sean Hannity told his viewers: "Any Republican that supports this garbage compromise, you will have to explain." DETENTION BEDS Under Monday's agreement, which must be fleshed out by congressional staff experts, Democrats gave up on a demand they floated on Friday night to lower the cap on immigrant detention beds in the interior of the United States. Democrats had complained the Trump administration was increasing detention capacity as a way of speeding up deportations of illegal immigrants, some of whom were seeking asylum under U.S. law. But an overall cap - on borders and in the interior - would remain at 40,520 beds. The aide said that despite that cap, the number had actually grown to 49,057 and that under the deal, it would be brought down to the legal cap. But one of the other aides said the deal would give Trump the flexibility to increase the number to 52,000 if necessary. Democratic Representative Nita Lowey said on Monday night: "I hope by Wednesday we'll have a finished product." Lowey said she had been in touch with House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who she said "has confidence I have made the right decision." Trump agreed to reopen the government last month for three weeks to allow congressional negotiators time to find a compromise on government funding for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30, to avert another shutdown. The handful of lawmakers leading the negotiations met privately for about two hours on Monday. They said they wanted to seal a plan by Monday night to allow time for the legislation to pass the House of Representatives and Senate and get Trump's signature by Friday, when funding is due to expire for the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and several other federal agencies. Without a new injection of federal funds, an array of federal agencies would have to suspend some activities, ranging form the maintenance of national parks to publication of economic data that is important to financial markets. During the record-long partial government shutdown, which ran from Dec. 22 to Jan. 25, 800,000 federal workers went without pay even though many of them were required to report to work. The shutdown ended shortly after a shortage of federal air traffic controllers triggered delays of hundreds of flights at airports in the New York and Philadelphia areas. In recent weeks, Trump has threatened to declare a "national emergency" if Congress did not give him money to build a border wall. He says that would allow him to use existing funds for other activities to build a wall - an idea that Democrats and many Republicans in Congress oppose. (Reporting by Richard Cowan; Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell and Steve Holland in Washington and Roberta Rampton in El Paso, Texas; Editing by Will Dunham and Peter Cooney) By Jonathan Stempel and Tina Bellon NEW YORK (Reuters) - The world's most infamous cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who rose from poverty in rural Mexico to amass billions of dollars, was found guilty in a U.S. court on Tuesday of smuggling tons of drugs to the United States over a violent, colorful, decades-long career. Jurors in federal court in Brooklyn convicted Guzman, 61, head of the Sinaloa Cartel, on all 10 counts brought by U.S. prosecutors. Richard Donoghue, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said he expected Guzman to receive life without parole when sentenced on June 25. "It is a sentence from which there is no escape and no return," Donoghue told reporters. Guzman, one of the major figures in Mexican drug wars that have roiled the country since 2006, become almost legendary for escaping from Mexican high-security jails twice and avoiding massive manhunts. He cultivated a Robin Hood image among the poor in his home state of Sinaloa. Guzman sat and showed no emotion while the verdict was read. Once the jury left the room, he and his wife Emma Coronel, put their hands to their hearts and gave each other the thumbs up sign. His wife shed tears. Guzman, whose nickname means "Shorty," was extradited to the United States for trial in 2017 after he was arrested in Mexico the year before. Though other high-ranking cartel figures had been extradited previously, Guzman was the first to go to trial instead of pleading guilty. The 11-week trial, with testimony from more than 50 witnesses, offered an unprecedented look at the inner workings of the Sinaloa Cartel, named for the state in northwestern Mexico where Guzman was born in a poor mountain village. The U.S. government said Guzman trafficked tons of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine into the United States over more than two decades, consolidating his power in Mexico through murders and wars with rival cartels. Small in stature, Guzman's smuggling exploits, the violence he used and the sheer size of his illicit business made Guzman the world's most notorious drug baron since Colombia's Pablo Escobar, who was shot dead by police in 1993. Guzman's lawyers say he was set up as a fall guy by Ismael El Mayo Zambada, a powerful drug lord from Sinaloa who remains at large. Jeffrey Lichtman, a lawyer for Guzman, told reporters after the verdict that the defense faced an uphill fight, given the amount of evidence the government presented, and the widespread perception that Guzman was already guilty. "This was a case that was literally an avalanche, avalanche of evidence," Lichtman said. "Of course we're going to appeal." DRUG WARS President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was elected last year after promising a change to the deadly military-led war against drug gangs, suggesting a negotiated peace and amnesty for non-violent drug dealers, traffickers and farmers. The most detailed evidence against Guzman came from more than a dozen former associates who struck deals to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors. They told jurors how the Sinaloa Cartel gained power in the 1990s, eventually coming to control almost the entire Pacific coast of Mexico. Guzman made a name for himself in the 1980s by building cross-border tunnels that allowed him to move cocaine from Mexico into the United States faster than anyone else. The witnesses, who included some of Guzman's top lieutenants, a communications engineer and a onetime mistress, described how he built a sophisticated organization reminiscent of a multinational corporation. He sent drugs northward with fleets of planes and boats, and had detailed accounting ledgers and an encrypted electronic communication system run through secret computer servers in Canada, the court heard. Guzman's attempt to take territory from a rival cartel was one of the main reasons for an explosion of drug violence in Mexico. The government has registered more than 250,000 homicides since it launched an aggressive war on cartels in 2006. A report by the U.S. Congressional Research Service last year estimated 150,000 of those deaths were tied to organized crime. A former bodyguard testified that he watched Guzman kill three rival drug cartel members, including one victim who he shot and then ordered to be buried even as he was still gasping for air. U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan told the jurors after the verdict that it was up to them to decide to talk to the media, but that he would advise against it. Once that door is open, it cant be closed again, he said. Estimates of how much money Guzman made from drugs vary. In 2009, Forbes Magazine put him on its list of the worlds richest people, with an estimated $1 billion. It later dropped him from the list, saying it was too difficult to quantify his assets. The U.S. Justice Department said in 2017 it sought forfeiture of more than $14 billion in drug proceeds and illicit profits from Guzman. The most shocking allegation of corruption during the trial came from Guzman's former top aide Alex Cifuentes, who accused former Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto of taking a $100 million bribe from Guzman. A spokesman for the ex-president has denied the claim. In one of the trial's final days, Guzman told the judge he would not testify in his own defense. The same day, he grinned broadly at audience member Alejandro Edda, the Mexican actor who plays Guzman in the Netflix drama "Narcos." Despite his ties to government officials, Guzman often lived on the run. Imprisoned in Mexico in 1993, he escaped in 2001 hidden in a laundry cart and spent the following years moving from one hideout to another in the mountains of Sinaloa, guarded by a private army. He was seized again in 2014, but pulled off his best known escape the following year when he disappeared into a tunnel dug into his cell in a maximum security prison. But the Mexican government says he blew his cover through a series of slip ups, including an attempt to make a movie about his life. He was finally recaptured in January 2016. Despite Guzman's downfall, the Sinaloa Cartel still has the biggest U.S. distribution presence of Mexican cartels, followed by the fast-growing Jalisco New Generation Cartel, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Together, they are the biggest producers of drugs sold on U.S. streets. (Reporting by Brendan Pierson, Tina Bellon and Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Alistair Bell and Grant McCool) Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's public broadcaster said Tuesday it found in a trove of Twitter messages evidence of possible foreign actors trying to sow divisions between Canadians on pipelines, migrants and other hot-button issues. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) said it identified roughly 21,600 malicious tweets targeting Canadians, mostly sent in 2017, out of 9.6 million scanned. The troll accounts -- which have since been deleted by Twitter -- are suspected of originating in Russia, Iran and Venezuela. They retweeted messages from Canadian activists, politicians and media reports highlighting opposition to pipelines after Washington approved construction of a conduit from Alberta's oil sands to US Gulf Coast refineries -- in an apparent attempt to whip up tensions between pipeline proponents and opponents. They also stoked immigration fears, disseminating strong reactions to the Quebec City mosque shooting and US President Donald Trump's travel ban on Muslim countries, as a wave of asylum seekers showed up at Canada's southern border. Scholar and Middle East expert Sami Aoun told CBC that Iran, for example, has a strategic interest in seeing North American pipeline projects fail. "The Iranians are trying to short-circuit American sanctions by selling their oil in Asia. To keep a certain advantage in China and India, they might be trying to prevent Canada from developing pipelines that could give the country better access to those markets," he explained. Ottawa last month created a special task force to fight disinformation and foreign meddling in upcoming elections, after cyberattacks and interference in US and European ballots. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government -- which hopes to hold onto its majority in the October poll -- also earmarked funding to teach voters how to identify malicious online posts. Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould told a January 30 press conference that Twitter, Google and Facebook have been used to spread disinformation. "Trolls and bots are dispatched to stoke anxiety, even hysteria around sensitive issues. Fake news masquerades as legitimate information," Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale warned. A government briefing document said Ottawa "expects these companies to take concrete actions to help safeguard this fall's election." TUI Group Turns Toward Online Bookings as It Revamps Its Business European travel company TUI Group has spent the last few years moving away from its tour operator past and, looking at its latest set of financial results, its easy to see why. The company flagged the problems in a profit warning last week, having previously appeared immune to the industrywide challenges faced by its smaller rival Thomas Cook. Winter is traditionally a weaker period for European travel companies with most people not going on vacation until the summer, but even taking this into consideration, TUIs quarterly performance was still bad. The company on Tuesday blamed the knock-on impact of last summers European heatwave to both winter and summer 2019 bookings, overcapacity in Spain, and the weakness in the pound. [T]he results do demonstrate continued strength in cruise and hotels and the vulnerability of tour operator profits to even small price fluctuations, said Bernstein analyst Richard Clarke. TUIs seasonal loss increased 64 percent to $126.8 million (111.9 million). Earnings in its tour operator division fell 27 percent to $201.9 million (178.1 million.) And although the performance dipped in its cruise, hotels and activities unit, which is called Holiday Experiences, the company made a profit of $125.8 million (111 million.) The consistent transformation of TUI launched in 2014 involving a realignment to focus on the groups own Holiday Experiences the hotel companies, cruise lines, activities and services in the destinations has proven to be the right approach. These businesses now account for nearly 70 per cent of the groups result, TUI said. The growth strategy for this segment remains intact. Traditional tour operators and airlines tend to be more vulnerable to external factors. TUIs Turnaround Plan TUI outlined a couple of things that would help turn things around. It wants to cut distribution costs and concentrate more on online and direct bookings. Youd assume that this would come at the expense of third-party travel agents and physical stores, both of which are more expensive ways of selling TUI holidays. Story continues There are also big plans for its tours and activities division, which it has spent the last year or so expanding. In a fragmented marketplace, TUI estimates a potential $170 billion (150 billion) opportunity in the sector. Revenue in this division increased 172 percent to $256.4 million (226.3 million,) although it did notch a small loss of $5.3 million (4.7 million.) Consolidation In the cards? With airlines and tour operators struggling, TUI expects 2019 to be a year of consolidation. Last week another European leisure-focused airline, Germania, collapsed. We have specific actions, which we took and are taking in order to be able to protect our market share and at the same time our cost position. And we believe that todays environment will trigger a market consolidation. And with our strategic and financial profile, we are in a position to be a beneficiary of that development, CEO Fritz Joussen said on an earnings call with analysts. TUI doesnt sound like it will be actively looking to buy companies (except maybe in the tours and activities space) and will try and take advantage of other exciting markets. Joussen ruled out any kind of deal with Thomas Cook or its German airline Condor. [W]ere absolutely not active today in that respect, he said. Thomas Cook has said it is running a strategic review of its airline. Subscribe to Skift newsletters covering the business of travel, restaurants, and wellness. WASHINGTON President Donald Trump is back in the market for a parade. Speaking to members of his Cabinet on Tuesday, the president said he has been thinking about a July 4 parade, potentially at the Lincoln Memorial that could become a tradition. It could be an exciting day, Trump said. The president made news last year for proposing a military parade in Washington, which the Department of Defense said would cost as much as $80 million. Trump has expressed a desire for such a parade for years and was impressed by the Bastille Day march he witnessed on a presidential trip to Paris in 2017. Contributing: William Cummings, Tom Vanden Brook This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump says he wants an 'exciting' July 4 parade at the Lincoln Memorial Donald Trump says that he is not "thrilled" with the government funding deal negotiated in Congress, but that he does not want there will be another shutdown this week. The tentative deal reached after tense negotiations between Democrats and Republicans in recent weeks falls short of the $5.7bn (4.4bn) in border wall funding the president has demanded, but Mr Trump says that barrier will be constructed one way or another. I can't say I'm happy. I can't say I'm thrilled, Mr Trump said on Tuesday. But either way the wall's getting built. Mr Trump noted that "everything" is on the table, and said that "we certainly don't want to see a shutdown". The deal which the president did not explicity promise to sign has been touted by Republicans as a victory over Democrats, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader noting the new deal allows for 55 miles (89km). But, with congressional aides indicating the tentative deal includes just $1.4bn (1.1bn), it has been noted that the deal is essentially what Democrats offered in December before the recent 35-day shutdown that ended with little sign of gains for the president. You've got to remember where Nancy Pelosi was. She has said, 'No money for a wall'. That's not the case, Mr McCarthy said. The Democrats have now agreed to more than 55 miles of new barrier". The new deal would keep the government funded through the end of the fiscal year, and combines seven major spending bills into one. That spending includes money for 55 miles of border fencing, which will be constructed using existing steel slat designs instead of the cement walls originally promised by the president. Exact details of the spending measure may not be released until Wednesday, but the announcement that an agreement may have been made has served to alleviate concerns that another damaging shutdown is on the way. The previous shutdown that concluded last month left hundreds of thousands of government employees without two pay cheques, and forced many to work second jobs in addition to their government jobs. Story continues The deal appears set to provide funding for the same number of immigrant detention beds as previously allotted, even though Democrats attempted to curb that number. Sandra Cordero, the director of the immigrant rigts group Families Together, decried those elements of the deal in a statement. Americans want clear, common sense immigration policies that reflect our nations family values. This compromise will have the opposite impact by funneling more money to agencies that ripped thousands of children from their parents arms. Funding for detention will allow these agencies to continue separating families who come to our border seeking asylum and harm all of our communities by tearing more families apart within the US", Ms Cordero said. She continued: Our leaders need to stand up for American values, not throw millions of children and families under the bus for the sake of partisan deal making. Real leadership on immigration means solutions that will protect families". President Trump on Tuesday said he was extremely unhappy with a border-security compromise reached by lawmakers on Monday night, but would not commit to vetoing the proposal if it passes Congress. Lawmakers on Monday reached a tentative deal to prevent another partial government shutdown that would include $1.375 billion to construct new fencing on the southern border, well below the $5.7 billion the president wants for a concrete wall. The deadline for Congress to approve a deal and Trump to sign it is Friday. I am extremely unhappy with what the Democrats have given us, Trump said Tuesday, while stopping short of a threat to veto the compromise if it reaches his desk. I dont think youre going to see a shutdown. If you did have it, its the Democrats fault. House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, meanwhile, tried to paint the compromise as a win for Republicans, arguing that it represented a Democratic capitulation to Trumps demand for border-wall funding. You have to remember where [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi was she who said no money for a wall, McCarthy said on CNBC. The Democrats have now agreed to more than 55 miles of new barrier being built. McCarthy also said that Democrats had softened their demands on funding for beds at Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers. The Democrats changed course when they said, There would be no detention beds, the California Republican said. They backed away on that. Now we are able to have those detention beds again. Its not as high a number as we would have liked. Pelosis office immediately challenged McCarthys narrative, saying her party has not caved to Trumps hard-line immigration demands. There is no wall money in this agreement, the speakers deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill told CNBC. This agreement has the same amount of funding for physical barriers that last years omnibus had. More from National Review President Trump and Donald Trump Jr. speak at a rally in El Paso, Texas on Feb. 11, 2019. (Photos: Joe Raedle/Getty Images Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images) President Trump suggested Tuesday that Rep. Ilhan Omar, the Minnesota Democrat who is one of two Muslim women elected to Congress last year, should resign over the terrible things she said about the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC. He did not offer to resign himself over a mocking reference to Native American genocide, or call out his son, Donald Jr., for applauding that remark. Congressman Omar, it's terrible what she said and I think she should either resign from Congress or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Trump at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Omar apologized Monday for two tweets about the role money plays in U.S. support for Israel that were denounced by many of her House colleagues from both parties, as well as Jewish-American groups including the Anti-Defamation League. "What she said is so deep-seated in her heart that her lame apology, that's what it was, it was lame and she didn't mean a word of it, was just not appropriate, said Trump. "I think she should resign from Congress frankly, but at a minimum, she shouldn't be on committees, certainly that committee." Trump showed less concern for the feelings of minorities on Saturday after Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., officially launched her presidential candidacy. He posted, Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to by me as Pocahontas, joined the race for President. Will she run as our first Native American presidential candidate, or has she decided that after 32 years, this is not playing so well anymore? See you on the campaign TRAIL, Liz! Emphasizing TRAIL in all capitals was taken by many commenters as an intentional, mocking reference to the Trail of Tears, a series of forced removals of Native Americans from the Southeastern states to the Plains that resulted in thousands of deaths. The episode, which native Americans regard as an example of ethnic cleansing, if not outright genocide, was carried out under the president Trump most admires, Andrew Jackson. Fox News anchor Brit Hume defended Trump on the basis that he is too ignorant to know what he was talking about. Story continues Trump has frequently mocked Warren with the sobriquet Pocahontas for claiming partial Native American ancestry on the basis of family legend, a claim for which she has apologized. When Warren launched her exploratory committee in January, the president made a glib reference to Wounded Knee, a massacre of hundreds of Lakota Tribe members by the U.S. Army in 1890. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. (Photos: Alex Wroblewski/Bloomberg via Getty Images Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images) Shortly after Trumps tweet, his son removed any doubt about what he meant by posting an Instagram of a tweet by the author Michael Malice, proclaiming The Native American genocide continues with another murder by the president. Trump, Jr. captioned the post with Savage!!! Love my President. The group United to End Genocide estimates that the population of about 10 million Native Americans in the 15th century living on what is now the United States had dwindled to 300,000 by 1900. A recent study found that European colonization killed so many indigenous people in North, Central and South America both intentionally and as a result of the introduction of diseases from Europe that the resulting reversion of cropland and pasture to forest soaked up enough carbon to precipitate a reverse global-warming effect, known as the Little Ice Age. Trump Jr. is not just the eldest son of the president, with an affinity for posting on social media, but a key player for Republicans. He spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2016 and was a leading fundraiser and surrogate in the lead-up to Novembers midterm elections. Trump Jr. stumped for Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas, campaigned for six House candidates in a single day and was designated by the New York Times as one of the partys most visible headliners. Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., one of the first Native American women elected to Congress, told CNN Tuesday it was evident to me that Trump was mocking the Trail of Tears in his tweet. "At this point, he needs to be ignored because he's not learning anything. It would be nice if he picked up a book and decided to read about Indian history, Haaland said. The Republican National Committee did not respond to a request for comment on Trump Jr.s remarks. Trumps opposition to anti-Semitism did not extend to denouncing Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, a strong supporter of the presidents immigration policies, who made remarks last fall that the ADL said reflected anti-Semitism and hate. Republican and Democrat negotiators reached a finance deal late on Monday to prevent another shutdown of the US government even as Donald Trump threatened their progress by insisting he would build the wall anyway. The agreement reached by politicians from both sides of Congress included nearly $1.4bn (1bn) for 55 miles of new fencing along the US-Mexico border. The construction will follow existing designs, likely with metal slats, and would be considerably less of an undertaking than the 215 miles of concrete wall for which the White House demanded $5.7bn (4bn) in December. That demand, which Mr Trump refused to budge on, led to the longest partial shutdown of the US government in history. More than 800,000 federal employees went unpaid over a period of 35 days, postponing the State of the Union address and hurting Mr Trumps poll numbers. A bipartisan group of House and Senate politicians had reached an agreement in principle, said Senate Appropriations Committee chair Richard Shelby. Nita Lowey, his counterpart in the House, said their staffs are just working out the details, which would be announced in full on Tuesday. A collapse of the negotiations would have imperilled another upcoming round of budget talks that are required to prevent steep spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic agencies. Mr Trump travelled to El Paso, Texas, for a campaign-style rally on Monday night focused on immigration and border issues. He has been adamant that Congress approve money for a wall along the Mexican border, though he no longer repeats his 2016 mantra that Mexico will pay for it, and he took to the stage as politicians back in Washington were announcing their breakthrough. They said that progress is being made with this committee, Mr Trump told his audience, referring to the congressional bargainers. Just so you know, were building the wall anyway. The agreement includes increases for new technologies such as advanced screening at border entry points, humanitarian aid sought by Democrats, and additional customs officers. Story continues And while Republicans conceded ground on the funding for a wall, the Democrats softened their position on demands to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities. Asked if Mr Trump would back the deal, Mr Shelby said: We believe from our dealings with them and the latitude theyve given us, they will support it. We certainly hope so. Additional reporting by agencies Madrid (AFP) - Twelve former Catalan leaders go on trial on Tuesday at Spain's Supreme Court for their role in a failed 2017 bid to break away from Spain. Here are some key facts about the trial. - The accused - The 12 include former Catalan government officials, civil leaders of pro-independence groups and the former president of Catalonia's regional parliament. Nine have been held in pre-trial detention for months, including former Catalan vice president and regional economy minister Oriol Junqueras. Public prosecutors have asked for a jail term of 25 years for Junqueras. He remains in charge of Catalonia's pro-independence party ERC despite being in jail since November 2017. The former speaker of the Catalan regional parliament who read out the declaration of independence in the assembly, 63-year-old Carme Forcadell, faces a possible jail term of 17 years. The region's erstwhile president Carles Puigdemont -- who fled to Belgium shortly after the declaration of independence -- is not among the group because Spain does not allow trials in absentia for major offences. But former ministers in his regional government are in the dock. - The charges - Public prosecutors accuse nine of the 12 defendants -- including Junqueras and Forcadell -- of rebellion, which carries a jail term of 15-25 years. Under Spain's criminal code, rebellion is defined as "rising up violently and publicly", especially to "declare the independence of a part of the national territory". This charge is disputed by separatists and many Spanish legal experts. The trial will focus on the alleged use of violence, which the defendants deny. But public prosecutors point to "violent incidents" during pro-independence protests orchestrated by two grassroots groups in Barcelona on September 20, 2017. Prosecutors also accuse the separatists of fostering "acts of violence and aggression against police officers" on the day of the referendum. Story continues The October 1, 2017 independence referendum was marred by a violent police crackdown on polling stations. Six of the defendants accused of rebellion are also accused of misusing public funds to stage the independence bid. Three other former Catalan government ministers face jail terms of up to seven years for disobedience and misuse of public funds. - The accusers - Spain's legal system allows for three different bodies to file criminal complaints against defendants: public prosecutors, state attorneys and a third party, in this case far-right party Vox. Public prosecutors are made up of magistrates who are appointed by the government but are supposed to act independently. The state attorneys, lawyers who represent the government, have taken a more lenient line than the public prosecutors. They are pushing the less serious charge of sedition and are seeking jail terms of up to 12 years. In Spain third parties can also file criminal complaints and take part in the legal proceedings even if they are not directly involved in the case. Vox, which is rising in the polls thanks to its hard line against Catalan separatism, is demanding a combined jail sentence of over 700 years for the 12 defendants. The party will be represented at the court by its secretary-general Javier Ortega Smith. TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan said on Tuesday it had lodged a complaint with South Korea and after a Korean lawmaker said the Japanese emperor should apologize to "comfort women" forced to serve in Japanese military brothels in World War Two. Relations between Japan and South Korea, both U.S. allies, have amid an intensifying row over their wartime history. That includes Japan's 1910-45 occupation of the Korean peninsula and its use of comfort women, many of them Korean. South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang said in an interview with Bloomberg last week Japanese Emperor Akihito, "as the son of the main culprit of war crimes", should apologize to the women before he steps down at the end of April. That would be a sign that Tokyo wanted to end the prolonged dispute, Moon said. Japan fought World War Two in the name of Akihito's father, Emperor Hirohito. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday that Moon's comments were "extremely regrettable". "We strongly protested as his remarks have absolutely inappropriate content and are extremely regrettable," Suga said. "At the same time, we demanded an apology and withdrawal of his remarks." South Korea's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Moon was highlighting the need for Tokyo to show a "sincere attitude" to heal wounds. South Korea reached a settlement with Japan to resolve the dispute in 2015, in which Japan apologized to victims and provided 1 billion yen ($9 million) to a fund to help them. But some victims refused to take the money, saying the apology was not sincere, and Seoul's current administration said in 2017 that the deal was flawed. "Our government will continue making efforts to foster future-oriented relations, while promoting a wise solution for historical legacy issues," ministry spokesman Roh Kyu-deok told a briefing. Relations between the two East Asia neighbors have also deteriorated since South Korea's top court ruled last year in favor of South Koreans seeking compensation from Japanese firms for wartime forced labor. South Korea also complained after a Japanese patrol aircraft made what Seoul described as an "intimidating" pass over one of its warships last month, adding to the tension between the two sides. (Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Additional reporting by Hyonhee Shin in SEOUL; Editing by Paul Tait and Nick Macfie) The U.S. Supreme Court has set a date to hear a case that could determine whether taxpayer payments to businesses can be considered confidential information. The outcome of Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media could have broad implications for what the federal government can keep secret under the Freedom of Information Act. The high court will hear the case on Monday, April 22. At issue in the case is a FOIA request submitted by the Argus Leader in 2011 that sought the annual payments that taxpayers made to businesses that sell food in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. Both a federal district judge in South Dakota and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled in favor of the Argus Leader. But the Food Marketing Institute, an industry trade group that successfully intervened in the case, argues that the records are confidential business records that if made public could cause competitive harm to its members. FMI, along with other business groups, argues that a plain meaning of the word competitive should shield taxpayer payments from becoming public. For more than four decades, courts have held that information could be made public if it didnt cause substantial competitive harm, but FMI argues that a broader interpretation should apply. The Argus Leader sued to win the records in 2011. Here's how we got to this point: Feb. 1, 2011: The Argus Leader submits a request under the Freedom of Information Act to the U.S. Department of Agriculture asking for the name, unique identifier, address, store type and the yearly SNAP sales figures for every store in the United States that participates in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps. The request covers stores in the program from 2005 to 2010. Feb. 17, 2011: USDA releases the store names, types and addresses, but refuses to release yearly sales amounts, arguing the information is prohibited by law from being released and that it constitutes confidential business information. Story continues Aug. 26, 2011: After failing to get a response on its appeal, the Argus Leader filed suit in federal district court to force disclosure of the records. March 15, 2012: USDA files for summary judgment asking that the case be dismissed. USDA says that SNAP sales figures are not releasable, arguing they are among the tax records and other financial documents submitted by stores that apply to become SNAP retailers. Sept. 27, 2012: District Court Judge Karen Schreier grants USDAs motion for summary judgment. Jan. 14, 2013: Argus Leader appeals the summary judgment decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth District. Oct. 23, 2013: A three judge panel on the Eight Circuit hears oral arguments on the Argus Leader appeal. Jan. 28, 2014: The panel reverses the district court decision and remands the case back to the district court to decide whether retailer SNAP sales figures, which are paid by taxpayers, constitute confidential business information that would cause substantial competitive harm if made public. Jan. 20, 2015: After delaying for a year while it sought to find retailers who would agree that releasing the sales figures would cause competitive harm, USDA files for summary judgment. Sept. 20, 2015: Judge Schreier denies USDAs motion for summary judgment. May 24, 2016: A two-day bench trial begins in Sioux Falls with Judge Schreier presiding. USDA calls industry witnesses who agree with its contention that the sales figures would cause substantial competitive harm if released. The Argus Leader calls expert witnesses who argue that making the taxpayer payments public would not cause the stores harm. Nov. 30, 2016: Judge Schreier rules against USDA, finding that the agency had failed to show that releasing the sales figures would cause substantial competitive harm. Jan. 27, 2017: After USDA announces that it will not appeal Judge Schreiers ruling, the Food Marketing Institute, a retail trade and lobbying group, files an emergency motion to intervene in the case in order to appeal to the Eighth Circuit. March 14, 2018: A new three-judge panel for the Eighth Circuit hears FMIs appeal. The groups lawyer argues that if a stores SNAP sales figures were released, a competitor could calculate a stores total sales. May 8, 2018: The Eighth Circuit panel rules against FMI. Aug. 7, 2018: After failing to get an en banc hearing with the full Eighth Circuit, FMI files an application with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch asking Gorsuch to recall and stay the mandate issued by the Eighth Circuit. Aug. 29, 2018: The Court recalls the Eighth Circuit mandate pending FMIs request for the Court to review the case. Oct. 11, 2018: FMI files a petition for a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court asking it to review the case. Jan. 11, 2019: The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and ultimately decide whether the public has a right to know how much taxpayer money grocers, gas stations, big box retailers and others get by participating in the federal food stamp program. Earlier: U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on whether to release food stamp data to Argus Leader This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Supreme Court to determine if taxpayer payments to businesses are confidential It was raining in Seattle on Monday night. Thats not usually news. It is this time. Following a historic winter storm that has already made this month the citys snowiest February since 1949 according to Accuweather, Seattle was dealing with more familiar weather on Monday night, though life wont immediately return to normal. Seattle Public Schools, the University of Washington, Seattle Community Colleges have all canceled classes for Tuesday, along with several other school districts in the metropolitan area, the Seattle Times reported. Nearly 100,000 households were without power in six counties as of 9:55 p.m. PST, including 37,828 in King County, where Seattle is located, according to PowerOutage.US. Air travel was scuttled, too. A Federal Aviation Administration ground stop at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport remained in effect for about four hours on Monday night. There had been 405 cancellations and 271 flight delays on Monday, according to FlightAware.com. More: Skis, sleds, laundry baskets ... kayaks? Seattle residents take advantage of record snow The SeaTac airport has already received 20.2 inches of snow this month, a startling total for an area that averages less than an inch each February. The snows impact was worsened by a prolonged stretch of temperatures in the 20s and 30s, with wind chills into the teens also unusual for the Emerald City. Youve got storm after storm sliding down the sweet spot to produce low-level snow, said Kirby Cook, a meteorologist at Seattles National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration office. He described weather systems pulling cold air from Canada and combining it with moist air pulled east from the Pacific Ocean. Its really rare for us to maintain this pattern, Cook said. The forecast for Seattle will normalize over the coming days, according to Accuweather. A mix of rain and snow, with temperatures into the low 40s, are forecast for Tuesday. Following a projected break in wet weather on Wednesday, Seattle will see rain on Thursday and Friday with highs in the low- to mid-40s. Contributing: The Associated Press. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Snow, snow, go away: Familiar rain returns to Seattle on Monday night OTTAWA Jody Wilson-Raybould resigned from the federal cabinet Tuesday one day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested her continuing presence in cabinet was proof she didnt think shed been improperly pressured to help SNC-Lavalin avoid criminal prosecution. The Canadian Press SNC-Lavalin is in the middle of a political firestorm that could give opportunist investors a chance to pick up shares on the cheap but buyers beware, because this is a company that comes with a lot of baggage. Veterans Affairs Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould is quitting the federal cabinet just days after a Globe and Mail report said that the Prime Ministers office pressured her when she was justice minister to arrange a deal for SNC-Lavalin (SNC.TO) to avoid a criminal trial for fraud and corruption charges related to business in Libya. Wilson-Raybould has hired a former Supreme Court judge to advise her on what she can publicly say about matters that have been in the media over the last week. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has denied the Globes story and says he welcomes an ethics commissioner probe. For now, there are more questions than answers about the Montreal-based engineering giant. We tend to believe where there is smoke, there is fire, and there seems to be a lot of smoke at SNC right now, Ryan Modesto, CEO at 5i Research, told Yahoo Finance Canada. Even if the courts dont throw the book at SNC-Lavalin, Modesto says the company has other problems. They are having some serious issues with the mining business and this is hampering results, says Modesto. The missteps and overall poor performance over the last five years, we think, will make SNC more of a show-me story and markets will not pay a whole lot of attention to the name until they can clearly show they are putting these issues behind them and what the full impacts will be. A buying opportunity? Benj Gallander, president of Contra the Heard Investment Letter, looks for deeply discounted and beaten down companies to invest in. SNC-Lavalin could prove to be a great contrarian play. (It is) worth noting is that it is trading near a 10-year low and is almost half of where it traded in the past 52 weeks, Gallander told Yahoo Finance Canada. But Gallander isnt ready to jump in head-first. Story continues Personally though, I think that it would be prudent to be patient and wait to invest in this company. There is likely lots of additional news that will surface, says Gallander. Scandals have punished SNC-Lavalins share price Darren Sissons, a portfolio manager at Campbell Lee & Ross, says his firm is a buyer of SNC-Lavalin. He says that based on analyst estimates of SNC-Lavalins stake in the Highway 407 ETR, the toll-road that runs through the Greater Toronto Area, and other areas of its business, the stock is extremely discounted. Despite the political interference and the recent scandal involving the Prime Minster we believe there is significant value to be unlocked and sizeable share upside moving forward, he said. SNC-Lavalins stock is down around 26 per cent so far in 2019. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - The head of Slovakia's main ruling party gave up a bid to lead the country's top court on Tuesday and warned a coalition partner against voting with the opposition on appointing judges. Robert Fico, who has a law degree, sought the chairmanship of the Constitutional Court after being ousted as prime minister last year by anti-corruption protests sparked by the murder of an investigative journalist. None of the remaining 37 candidates to be judges at the court won majority backing in parliament and a new vote will take place on Thursday, still without Fico, the head of the social-democratic Smer party. He withdrew his bid after a junior partner in the three-party governing coalition, Most-Hid, which represents Slovakia's ethnic Hungarian minority, refused to back him. Fico threatened Most-Hid with "serious consequences for the functioning of the cabinet" if its parliamentarians vote with the opposition. Under Slovak law, parliament picks two candidates for each court position and the president, Andrej Kiska, a long-term rival of Fico, chooses one from each pair. The Constitutional Court, which rules on whether legislation and legal rulings are in line with the constitution, could become temporarily dysfunctional if the state fails to replace the nine out of 13 judges whose terms end on Feb. 16. President Kiska will step down in June, having said he would not run in an election in March. Fico said he believed only a newly elected president would have the legitimacy to make appointments to the court. (Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Tatiana Jancarikova; Editing by Alison Williams and Robin Pomeroy) A wall of winter weather rolling across a wide swath of the northern United States on Tuesday brought sleet, snow, ice and commuter headaches to more than 100 million people from Seattle to New York. The storm was part of an even larger system that also brought tornado warnings to Mississippi and concerns over torrential rains, high winds and flooding to parts of Georgia, Alabama and Florida, AccuWeather meteorologist Tyler Roys said. "This storm is unique in that it brought a significant storm to Seattle and a wintry mess to so many big cities Chicago, Detroit, New York and Boston," Roys told USA TODAY. "When you include the South, the storm is impacting almost every part of the United States in some shape or form." Over 100,000 homes and businesses were without power in Washington state alone. More than 650 flights in and out of New York's Kennedy and LaGuardia airports were canceled or delayed. A sledder moves aside as traffic heads downhill in heavy snow falling Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, in Seattle. Commuters across most of the nation's northern tier were also affected. Green Bay, Wisconsin, could see 10 inches before the snow stops. Parts of Michigan were paralyzed by freezing rain. "Expect your drive to be at least twice as long this am," Michigan's Transportation Department warned Detroit commuters. "Icy rain making for tough driving conditions. SLOW DOWN!" Parts of northern New Jersey were bracing for up to eight inches of snow and ice, and Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency for the entire state. Upstate New York and northern New England could see up to 18 inches. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio warned that morning snow was forecast to morph into a wintry mix in the afternoon. "Please take todays winter weather seriously," he pleaded. "Stay indoors whenever possible, use public transit if it is available to you and check on your vulnerable neighbors." Areas north of Baltimore were hit with more than five inches of snow Monday topped by sleet and freezing rain Tuesday. In Philadelphia, a passenger was injured when a SEPTA bus jackknifed and crashed into a North Philadelphia home on a snowy, slick street. Story continues Schools in Seattle and across much of the area were shuttered for a second straight day Tuesday. The city, which averages less than 7 inches of snow a year, already has seen three times that amount. Boston's snow total since Jan. 1: 2.2 inches. Seattle: 20.2 inches. A mix of rain and snow continued to fall Tuesday. This has been Seattle's snowiest February on record, the National Weather Service reported. "Here's another statistic that sets this month apart," the Seattle weather service office tweeted. "Including ALL months going back to 1894, there have been only been 5 months (including this one) in which 6+ inch snowfall occurred twice in the same month." Even Hawaii had been under siege, with 60-foot waves and wind gusts up to 191 mph that were part of a fierce weekend storm that downed power lines and felled trees. More: There's 'no place on the planet' not even Hawaii to escape climate change This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Wall of winter weather brings sleet, ice and snow from Seattle to New York, affecting 100 million people Whichever way you turn to trace the harmful streams of influence that flow through society, you come upon a group of Jews. So argued The International Jew, the infamous anti-Semitic tract published by Henry Ford, who insisted that American institutions were under the control, moral and financial, of the Jewish manipulators of the public mind. In the anti-Semitic hoax tract The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, scheming Jews hatch a plot to dominate world affairs financially: You may imagine for yourselves what immense power we shall thereby secure for ourselves, the fraud reads. Notorious Jew-hater Louis Farrakhan praised Donald Trump for purportedly disdaining Jewish money, saying: Anytime a man can say to those who control the politics of America, I dont want your money, that means you cant control me. And they cannot afford to give up control of the presidents of the United States. Thats a weird claim to make about Jared Kushners father-in-law, but then Farrakhan is fruitcake who believes that white people were concocted in the laboratory of an ancient magician. Representative Ilhan Omar, who represents Minnesotas fifth congressional district, has chosen an ugly and reprehensible bandwagon to climb aboard. Representative Omar insists that American Jews are paying members of Congress to take a pro-Israel stance in what the ever-gentle Matthew Yglesias of Vox with characteristic boldness describes as some moderately ill-advised tweets. Representative Omar specifically cites the actions of AIPAC and, quoting from the noted political philosopher Puff Daddy, insists that its about the Benjamins, baby, those apparently being Franklin and Netanyahu. This is not Representative Omars first foray into anti-Semitic tropes; earlier, she accused Jews of hypnotizing the world on Israels behalf, a statement for which she later apologized after sustained public criticism. Her colleague Representative Rashida Tlaib of Henry Fords home state has joined Representative Omar in this anti-Semitic smear campaign, having accused Jewish Americans of having dual loyalties, calling to mind another ancient Jew-hating line of argument. Story continues The Jewish state divides the Democratic party: The majority of the American public is pro-Israel but that average includes the 87 percent of Republicans who are pro-Israel and the 59 percent of independents who share that view, which is a minority position among Democrats, fewer than half of whom take a friendly view of the Jewish state. The Left more broadly is increasingly hostile not only to the government of the state of Israel but to Jews per se, and increasingly tolerant of overt anti-Semitism, as in the case of the organizers of the Womens March and their embrace of the aforementioned Louis Farrakhan, whom even Barack Obama felt obliged to court, albeit shamefacedly. The old proverb about race in the United States held that in the North they embraced African Americans as a group but rejected them individually, whereas in the South they might embrace African Americans on an individual basis but hated them as a group. American progressives who insist that they are not anti-Semites but only anti-Israel take something like the southern view: They hate Jews as a national entity, not on a case-by-case basis. If that is the best they can say about themselves, that isnt very much. But it certainly is not the worst they can say about themselves. The Left and the Democratic party tolerate anti-Semitism openly expressed, period: From the Reverend Al Sharpton and his Jewish bloodsuckers in Crown Heights to the footsie-playing with Farrakhan to Representative Omars trafficking in the worst of 1920s anti-Semitic mythology, anti-Semitism is now a regular part of politics among Democrats, from the far-left radicals who see in Israel an extension of American imperialism to those who appeal to the anti-Semitism that is all too common among African Americans and Muslim Americans, the latter of whom are an important new Democratic constituency. This is the reality that informed Representative Omars libel. After a great deal of public criticism, including criticism from several congressional Democrats, Representative Omar offered a limited apology for her remarks she said she did not intend to offend Jewish Americans as a whole but then doubled down on her conspiratorial assessment of U.S. politics, linking AIPAC to the National Rifle Association as examples of the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics. Thats an excellent example, but not for the reasons Representative Omar imagines. AIPAC does not in fact spend very much money on politics: It is not among the 100 biggest spenders on lobbying or even among the 5,000 biggest donors to political campaigns. Neither does the NRA, which was No. 4,161 among political donors in 2018 and No. 83 among lobbyists. For comparison, the NRAs political contributions amount to a little less than 3 percent of those from the teachers unions. The power of these organizations does not come from bribery it comes from belief: In this case, the belief that Israel is the only genuine liberal democracy in the Middle East and our nations most important and most reliable ally there. This is a belief that is apparent to many clear-eyed Americans no Jewish hypnosis necessary. Does Representative Omar share that belief? Is the Democratic party losing touch with it? That Representative Omar is more of an obvious anti-Semitic bigot than is currently socially acceptable in Democratic circles is, in the greater scheme of things, a less important question than that. More from National Review Abuja (AFP) - Several people were killed Tuesday when a stampede erupted at a campaign rally of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari just days ahead of a general election, his office said. The president "has just been informed of the tragic deaths of several members of his All Progressives Congress (APC) party in a stampede during a presidential rally held in Port Harcourt in Rivers State," it said in a statement released late Tuesday. Local media said panic broke out at the end of the gathering, held inside the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, when crowds tried to force their way through a locked exit. "Those from behind were pushing and putting pressure on those in front leading to some persons falling on the ground and being trampled upon," said journalist Egufe Yafugborhi of the Vanguard newspaper. The incident claimed at least 14 lives, according to a spokesman for the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. "There are others under medical attention at the Emergency Unit, so we can't force a clear figure beyond what the situation is at the moment," Kem Daniel-Elebiga told AFP. Saturday's election in Africa's most populous country will see Buhari stand for a second four-year term against former vice-president Atiku Abubakar in what is expected to be a close race. In recent weeks, tensions have risen between the APC and Abubakar's People's Democratic Party (PDP). The PDP has accused the government of seeking to rig the vote while the APC has said the opposition party is fomenting unrest. Five people were killed during weekend clashes between supporters of the two main political parties in the southeast, police had confirmed on Monday. The victims, all APC members, were shot and killed on Sunday in an apartment in Effurun, near the oil city of Warri, said Delta state police spokesman Andrew Aniamaka. The US, Britain and the European Union have in recent weeks publicly warned against vote-rigging and election violence, and also expressed concern over Buhari's suspension of Nigeria's top judge last month. Story continues Nigeria's last election in 2015 was considered free and fair, but state and local elections as well as earlier presidential polls have been marred by violence and fraud allegations. Compared to that vote, international interest in Nigeria's election has been muted as the US administration focuses on domestic issues and Britain wrestles with its impending exit from the EU. A British colony until 1960, Nigeria is an ally of both countries which are home to large Nigerian diaspora communities. Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Richard Shelby, R-Ala., pause for reporters during negotiations Monday. (Photos: Andrew Harnik/AP, J. Scott Applewhite/AP) WASHINGTON Democratic and Republican lawmakers emerged from a series of meetings Monday night and announced they had reached a deal to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year and to avert another government shutdown, according to CNN. Talks between four lawmakers two senators and two members of the House produced a preliminary agreement, with details to be announced Tuesday. We got an agreement on all of it, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told reporters. Shelby and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., worked with the lead House negotiators Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., and Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas to reach the preliminary agreement. The larger, 17-member committee that had conducted a series of meetings in recent days wasnt part of those talks. The fate of the deal, however, will depend on agreement from the administration. Leahy and Shelby did not explain how they resolved the most thorny outstanding issues, including a dispute over the number of undocumented immigrants Immigration and Customs Enforcement can hold in detention. Asked whether the White House would support the deal, Shelby said, We think so. We hope so. The first shutdown, which ended Jan. 25 after 35 days, the longest in history, centered around a dispute over how much money Congress would allocate for border security. But talks now are hung up over a disagreement over how many immigrants can be held at one time by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The White House wants to increase the number of beds for detention up to 52,000 from the current level funded by Congress, which is for 40,520 beds. Democrats want to reduce that number down to 35,520 beds for the remainder of 2019, and they want to cap the number of beds that can be used for undocumented immigrants arrested in the interior of the country not on the border at 16,500. ICE is currently holding 48,747 immigrants, an agency spokesman told Yahoo News. The spokesman, who asked not to be identified, said the agency has some flexibility to go above the number funded by Congress. Story continues Democrats argue that the cap on beds for interior arrests would force the Trump administration to focus on detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants who are actually violent or dangerous criminals, and put a stop to the practice of wholesale raids that sweep up immigrants guilty of minor offenses or none at all, except for being in the country illegally in the first place. Shelby, before the Monday sessions, said that the ICE stuff is kind of a big obstacle. Trump claimed Monday that the Democrats position on beds means they are soft on illegal immigration. The Democrats do not want us to detain, or send back, criminal aliens! Trump tweeted Monday morning. This is a brand new demand. Crazy! President Trump speaks at the White House Monday during a meeting with sheriffs from around the country. (Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP) Matthew Albence, ICEs acting deputy director, told reporters on a conference call arranged Monday afternoon by the White House that if a cap on beds was implemented, the agency would be forced to release criminal aliens that are currently sitting in our custody. Wed be releasing gang members. Well be releasing individuals convicted of domestic violence and drug crimes, Albence said. Albence could not provide figures for how many people currently in detention were arrested in the interior of the country after committing violent crimes. During the most recent shutdown, around 380,000 federal employees were furloughed and another 420,000 had to work without pay, according to CNN . A second shutdown would hit as the Internal Revenue Service is in the midst of processing income tax returns and refunds. The IRS would not be funded during a shutdown, and so workers whose annual salaries range from $25,800 to $51,000 would not be paid. They would be expected to work without pay, but during the first shutdown many did not show up for work . Trumps approval rating took a hit during the shutdown. The FiveThirtyEight average of all public polling showed the presidents approval slip from just under 43 percent in late November to 39.3 percent by the end of the shutdown. His disapproval went from 51.7 percent in mid-December to 56 percent. That may discourage the White House from forcing a second shutdown. Rather than make a stand on its demand for a $5.7 billion appropriation for a border wall, the administration is reportedly continuing to explore the option of declaring a national emergency to allow it to reallocate funds for border security. Such a move by the president would provoke an immediate legal challenge, and even many congressional Republicans are wary of setting what could be a dangerous precedent. The president has very little legal ability to get this done, said one Republican operative with ties to the White House. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., a member of the House Republican leadership, told Yahoo News that he does not think the president should pursue a wall through emergency powers. I dont think its the best first choice, he said on The Long Game podcast. McHenry, however, was pessimistic that Congress would reach a deal now, and hopes it will pass another series of continuing resolutions to fund the government until late spring or early summer. At that time the need to raise the federal debt ceiling could provide a lever to reach a broader consensus on government funding. Later in this calendar year we have a better opportunity for larger issues to be resolved, McHenry said. Another Republican lawmaker, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, told a federal employee union Monday that she is dead set against another shutdown. A furloughed worker protests the partial government shutdown on Jan. 23. Protesters held up disposable plates instead of posters to avoid being arrested. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP) Never again, Murkowski told the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents over 670,000 workers. The AFGEs president, J. David Cox, said he is planning to send members to protest at the offices of U.S. senators, and even possibly at the home of White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. We know where Mr. Mulvaney lives, and we know what time he goes to work, and well be right there as he comes out of his house, chasing him all the way to work, Cox told reporters. Trump was set to rally supporters in El Paso, Texas, Monday night, stoking the passions of his political base in a city he claimed last week, falsely, to be one of the most dangerous in the country until a border wall was built in 2008. El Paso, in fact, was ranked among the least dangerous cities compared with others its size before a barrier was built on nearby sections of the border, and that ranking hasnt changed, according to the New York Times. Also in El Paso Monday evening, former Texas Congressman Beto ORourke was set to hold a rally of his own to counter the presidents appearance. ORourke, a Democrat, narrowly lost his bid last fall for the U.S. Senate against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, and in the process became a national celebrity for Democrats. ORourke tweeted Sunday that his rally would be intended to celebrate our community. The country will be watching, and it falls on all of us to tell the true story about the border, ORourke said. Hunter Walker and Alexander Nazaryan contributed reporting. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: Dakar (AFP) - Police in eastern Senegal have made two dozen arrests and seized knives and clubs after clashes in the run-up to presidential elections left at least two dead, officials said on Tuesday. The violence erupted on Monday in Tambacounda, 400 kilometres (250 miles) east of Dakar, pitching supporters of President Macky Sall against those of opposition candidate Issa Sall. One supporter of the president was fatally stabbed by a suspected member of the opposition Unity and Assembly Party (PUR), the sources said. A second fatality was part of a group of young pro-government motorcyclists that tried to prevent Issa Sall's motorcade from leaving the town. He was hit by a vehicle and died, they said. Local media reported that a third supporter of the president died of injuries, but the officials did not confirm this. "The gendarmerie have arrested 24 people," a security source in Tambacounda told AFP on Tuesday. Moustapha Sarr, a senior official with PUR, said 20 of the arrests were supporters of Issa Sall. Macky Sall and Issa Sall share the same surname but are not related. Tambacounda public prosecutor Demba Traore said the arrests were mainly members of Issa Sall's security guard, and police had seized knives and clubs on PUR members. Interior Minister Aly Ngouille Ndiaye said the police would find those responsible for the violence and "bring them to justice". He said national police would be available to work with the security teams of all presidential candidates until the end of elections. Eight journalists who were covering Issa Sall's campaign were hurt when their minibus was attacked by suspected supporters of the ruling coalition, organisations representing media workers said. Senegal, a former French colony, has been buffeted by violence ahead of the February 24 vote, which Macky Sall hopes to win outright in the first round. On Sunday at least two people were "seriously injured" in Fatick, a presidential stronghold in Senegal's centre-west, in clashes with supporters of rising opposition candidate Ousmane Sonko, local media reported. Story continues Four people, all Sonko supporters, were badly hurt on February 4 in the northern city of Saint-Louis, Sonko's campaign said. Issa Sall said on Twitter on Tuesday that after the "tragic events" in Tambacounda, he would be "suspending" his campaign and heading back to the capital. On Monday, the president called for calm but took aim at his predecessor and political rival, Abdoulaye Wade, who last week called for his supporters to burn their electoral registration cards and ballot sheets. The clashes "are the result of the call for violence by certain political leaders... who will be brought before the courts to account for their acts," President Sall said. Senegal's election campaigns are often marred by accusations of corruption, influence-peddling and dirty tricks, misinformation, although the country is also often held up as a beacon of democracy and relative prosperity in West Africa. It's official: A hedge fund helmed by Sears' controversial ex-CEO has closed the deal to buy the beleaguered company for $5.2 billion. A federal bankruptcy judge approved the purchase by Eddie Lampert's ESL Investments last week, giving the green light for the bankrupt retailer, which also owns Kmart, to avoid liquidation and begin a second act. The new company will be significantly smaller with 223 Sears and 202 Kmart stores. But it will be trying to thrive in the same competitive environment that hobbled it before, leading it to shutter more than 3,500 locations, and slash roughly 250,000 jobs amid tumbling sales. Lampert said in a statement that the new Sears is up to the challenge. The best possible outcome has now been realized for all stakeholders,'' Lampert said. "ESL looks forward to a new era at Sears and Kmart that builds on their proud histories, while finding new ways to innovate and grow to adapt to the forces transforming the retail industry.'' The new business will be under ESL's affiliate, Transform Holdco, and ESL said that the same warranties and other programs for shoppers will continue. Sears will survive: Sears saved from liquidation: Judge approves bankruptcy sale to ex-CEO Eddie Lampert Less money, more problems?: What will your tax refund be? So far, they're smaller by an average of $170 Coke's got a new flavor: Coke reminisces on childhood summers with Orange Vanilla flavor While much of the senior leadership at the previous iteration of Sears will remain, the retailer will be seeking a new CEO. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sears' controversial ex-chairman closes deal to buy the company, keeping 425 stores open Search is on for missing Idaho hiker originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Authorities are searching for a 27-year-old man who went missing in the snowy foothills near Boise, Idaho, over the weekend. The man, whose name has not been released, told his friends and family that he intended to go hiking at the Dry Creek Trail on Saturday, Feb. 9, according to the Ada County Sheriffs Office. He was last heard from on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., and did not show up for work on Monday, according to authorities. On Monday, he was reported missing to the Boise Police Department and his car was found at the trailhead, according to the sheriff's office. Authorities say they were told that the man was very familiar with the Dry Creek Trail, a part of the Ridge to Rivers trail network which spans the Boise foothills and consists mainly of trails that hikers can complete in a single day. Over the weekend, the upper parts of the trail were buried under deep snow, according to the Ada County Sheriffs Office. Search efforts to find the missing man have continued into Tuesday, assisted by snowmobiles and a National Guard helicopter. The sheriffs office has taken over the investigation from Boise Police and is continuing to search for the missing man, along with Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue Unit. Maria Butina, a Russian gun rights activist who pleaded guilty to acting as an unregistered Russian agent, has broken her silence to deny shes a spy. Truth is my best defender here, Butina told author James Bamford for The New Republic in clips that were shared with ABC News and CNN. If she was really a spy, she said, she would have kept her private life secret. I would be invisible Russian spy, she said. You would never see me in public. I mean, I would be the most unseen person on Earth. Butina, who became enmeshed in Republican politics during the 2016 election, was closely associated with the National Rifle Association and sought to establish communications between Russian officials and Americans having power and influence over US politics, prosecutors alleged. Bamford writes in The New Republic that the case was extremely flimsy and appears to have been driven largely by a desire for publicity. Prosecutors, he pointed out, dropped the explosive claim that she used sex as a bargaining chip. Butina, in interviews that took place both before and after her July arrest, described the personal toll. Its just so much pain for the family, she said. Me being called a whore, its very hard. Prosecutors say Butina updated Russian politician Alexander Porfiryevich Torshin on her activities in the U.S. Former intelligence officers told CNN she may have been cultivated to traffic in sensitive information, even if she wasnt on a payroll. The New Republic features an interview with Russian spy Maria Butina. (Photo: The New Republic) Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. TOKYO (Reuters) - Renault's chairman will meet Nissan Motor's <7201.T> CEO this week in Japan as they look at ways to cement their partnership after the ouster of former alliance leader Carlos Ghosn, the Japanese automaker said on Tuesday. Jean-Dominique Senard, named chairman of the French automaker last month, will visit Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama to meet the company's executives and become better acquainted with its Japanese partner. "Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa is eager to familiarize Senard with Nissan and Alliance operations to optimize their work together," the automaker said in a statement. Earlier in the day, Saikawa told Japanese media that he was keen to smooth Nissan-Renault relations that have been strained in the past few months following Ghosn's arrest in Tokyo and his immediate dismissal as Nissan chairman. "First of all, we have to restore trust and stabilize the relationship," the Nikkei quoted Saikawa as saying. "We want him to know more about Nissan's (management) team." Kyodo news reported that Senard would visit for two days from Feb. 14. Senard, formerly CEO of tire maker Michelin, joined Renault as chairman in late January after Ghosn was forced to resign from the French automaker in the wake of his arrest on allegations of financial misconduct. Ghosn has been indicted in Japan for under-reporting his Nissan salary for eight years and temporarily transferring personal losses on to the automaker's books around during the global financial crisis. The once-feted executive, credited for turning around both Renault and Nissan, remains in detention as he awaits trial that could be several months away. He denies any wrongdoing. Speculation about the future capital structure of the Renault-Nissan partnership has been rife since the arrest of Ghosn, who had been exploring ways to make the alliance "irreversible" before his arrest. Story continues But Saikawa has argued it is not time to discuss the ideal structure of the alliance, although he has said he wants to work closely with Senard who will likely sit on Nissan's board. The automaking alliance has been underpinned by Renault's 43.4 percent stake in Nissan, which in turn owns a 15 percent non-voting stake in Renault. The French government owns a 15 percent stake in Renault. The head of Japan's industry ministry on Tuesday denied media reports that the government had been told by France that it could lower its stake in Nissan, Jiji news reported, echoing a similar denial by France's finance ministry last week. (Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu and Maki Shiraki; Editing by Himani Sarkar) Logo of jester cap with thought bubble. Image source: The Motley Fool. Radiant Logistics Inc (NYSEMKT:RLGT) Q2 2019 Earnings Conference Call Feb. 11, 2019, 4:30 p.m. ET Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks: Operator Good day, ladies and gentlemen. This afternoon, Bohn Crain, Radiant Logistics' Founder and CEO; and Radiant's Chief Financial Officer, Todd Macomber, will discuss financial results of the company's Second Fiscal Quarter and Six Months Ended December 31st, 2018. Following their comments, we will open the call to questions. This conference is scheduled for 30 minutes. This conference call may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The company has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions about the company that may cause the company's actual results or achievements to be materially different from the results or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. While it is impossible to identify all the factors that may cause the company's actual results or achievements to differ materially from those set forth in our forward-looking statements, such factors include those that have in the past, and may, in the future, be identified in the company's SEC filings and other public announcements, which are available on the Radiant's website at www.radiantdelivers.com. In addition, past results are not necessarily an indication of future performance. Now I'd like to pass the call over to Radiant's Founder and CEO, Bohn Crain. Sir, please go ahead. Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining in on today's call. We are pleased to report new record results across all of our key financial metrics, and the continued broad-based improvement in our financial performance for the second fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2018. Story continues For the quarter, we posted record revenues of $260.9 million, up $54.2 million, or 26.2%; record net revenues of $64 million, up $16.6 million, or 35%; net income allocable to common shareholders of $3.8 million, up $0.5 million; record adjusted net income allocable to common shareholders of $8.2 million, up $4.6 million, or 127.8%; and record adjusted EBITDA of $12.5 million, up $5.4 million, or 76.1% over the comparable prior year period. Our net revenue margins also improved, up 160 basis points to 24.5% from 22.9% for the comparable prior year period. In addition, we also saw improvement in our adjusted EBITDA margins which increased 440 basis points to a record 19.5%, from 15.1% for the comparable prior year period. Our positive trend of solid organic growth continued both in terms of geography and service offering. In the US, we reported revenues of $231.8 million, up $52.3 million and 29.1% and net revenues of $55.5 million, up $14.7 million, or 36% over the comparable prior year period. Transportation net revenues of $54.4 million were up $14.2 million, or 35.3% from the comparable prior year period. Value added services net revenues of $1.1 million were up $0.5 million, or 83.3%. In Canada, we reported revenues of $29.3 million, up $1.7 million and 6.2% and net revenues of $8.5 million, up $1.9 million, or 28.8% over the comparable prior year period. Transportation net revenues of $5.1 million were up $1 million, or 24.4% from the comparable prior year period. Value added services net revenues of $3.4 million were up $0.9 million, or 36%. These positive results also delivered strong cash flows for the business. Through the six months ended December 31, 2018, we generated a record $16.4 million in cash from operations. With the benefit of these strong results, in December, we were able to redeem our $21 million preferred stock through a combination of cash and access through our senior credit facility eliminating approximately $2 million in future annual dividend payments. As of December 31, and after giving effect for the redemption of the preferred, we had approximately $36 million in availability under our existing facility, not including access to an additional $50 million accordion feature to support our M&A activities under that same facility. In addition, we also recently took the opportunity to refresh our $100 million equity shelf registration, which provides us with continued financial flexibility to access capital to support and accelerate our growth strategy should the opportunity present itself. We are encouraged by our continuing strong financial performance through the 12 months ended December 31, 2018 and for that TTM period generated $36.9 million of adjusted EBITDA. We remain committed to our long-standing strategy to deliver profitable growth through a combination of organic and acquisition initiatives, and we believe that, that our current run rate is reflective of the opportunities ahead of us. With that, I'll now turn it over to Todd Macomber, our CFO to walk us through our detailed financial results and then we can open it up for some Q&A. Todd Macomber -- Chief Financial Officer Thanks, Bohn, and good afternoon everyone. Today, we will be discussing our financial results, including adjusted net income and adjusted EBITDA for the three and six months ended December 31st, 2018. For the three months ended December 31st, 2018, we reported net income allocable to common stockholders of $3,766,000 on $260.9 million of revenues, or $0.08 per basic and $0.07 per fully diluted share, which included a $476,000 gain on change in contingent consideration and a charge for issuance costs related to the redemption of the preferred stock in the amount of $1,659,000. For the three months ended December 31, 2017, we reported net income allocable to common stockholders of $3,330,000 on $206.7 million of revenues, or $0.07 per basic and fully diluted share, which included a $190,000 expense on change in contingent consideration. This represents an increase of approximately $436,000 over the comparable prior year period, or 13.1%. For the three months ended December 31st, 2018, we reported adjusted net income attributable to common stockholders of $8,154,000. For the three months ended December 31st, 2017, we reported adjusted net income attributable to come stockholders of $3,555,000. This represents an increase of approximately $4,599,000, or approximately 129.4%. We reported adjusted EBITDA of $12,499,000 for the three months ended December 31st, 2018, compared to adjusted EBITDA of $7,132,000 for the three months ended December 31st, 2017. This represents an increase of approximately $5,367,000, or approximately 75.3%. And moving along with the six months results. For the six months ended December 31st, 2018, we reported net income allocable to common stockholders of $6,388,000 on $479.8 million of revenues, or $0.13 per basic and $0.12 per fully diluted share, which included a $571,000 gain on change in contingent consideration. For the six months ended December 31st, 2017, we reported net income allocable to common stockholders of $3,646,000 on $404.7 million of revenues, or $0.07 per basic and fully diluted share. This represents an increase of approximately $2,692,000 over the comparable prior year period, or 73.8% For the six months ended December 31st, 2018, we reported adjusted net income attributable to common stockholders of $13,531,000. For the six months ended December 31st, 2017, we reported adjusted net income attributable to common stockholders of $6,494,000. This represents an increase of approximately $7,037,000, or approximately a 108.4%. We reported adjusted EBITDA of $21,312,000 for the six months ended December 31st, 2018, compared to adjusted EBITDA of $13,616,000 for the six months ended December 31st, 2017. This represents an increase of approximately $7,696,000, or approximately 56.5%. With that, I will turn the call back over to our moderator to facilitate any Q&A from our callers. Questions and Answers: Operator Thank you. The floor is now open for questions. (Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from Jason Seidl from Cowen & Company. Please state your question. Adam Kramer -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst Hey guys. This is Adam on for Jason. Congrats on the quarter. I guess, just first -- Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Thank you. Adam Kramer -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst Just want to ask you guys about any impact you've seen from tariffs, whether you guys think, you may have benefited from some pull forward prior to the tariffs and maybe if you think that there may be some weakness once the tariffs do go into effect over the coming months? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Thank you for that. So our current results were meaningfully impacted by tariffs one way or another and prospectively I'm not expecting them to be impacted meaningfully as well, but a relatively small portion of our business is truly international, air and ocean freight forwarding. Most of our businesses is focused on time-definite North America ground freight. And so our record results and expectations of future results don't have a lot to do with our view of tariffs. That I mentioned it was a record quarter. Adam Kramer -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst I think you did, yeah, yeah. Now, that's helpful. Yeah. Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Okay. In that tariffs, I have no -- I have really didn't play into it. Adam Kramer -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst All right. I appreciate that. And I guess maybe just a quick follow-up from me. Just there, anything that you guys have seen in terms of kind of bid season so far, would you guys kind of seen in terms of what spot rates following obviously with trucking. What have you guys kind of seen on your end, in terms of exceeding conversations and kind of you know pricing in terms of looking out to 2019? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Well, I think, we've seen some price recovery, I think the market staying reasonably tight. We saw good margin expansion, in terms of -- we had several hundred basis points improvement in the margin characteristics of the business. So I think there is some talk of things loosening up. But from our standpoint things still remain relatively tight and no, we had talked historically about some of our contracts repricing, particularly in the intermodal sector and kind of those things played out and we got some improvement in those contracts as they rolled over. So there'll always be a push and pull within the marketplace, but we believe the markets still generally relatively tight and sets up well for us prospectively. Adam Kramer -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst Great. And then just finally, finally from me. Do you guys have a kind of an expectation in terms of pricing, a number for that, for 2019, kind of a range that you can give for what your expectations are? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer For which? Adam Kramer -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst You know, what's called renewals for TL? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer No, what we're hearing out there is probably the same thing, you are. We listen to all of the same conferences, in terms of what the asset-based carriers are suggesting, they're looking for, in terms of rate increases in the marketplace. So -- and my understanding of that is, what I would call low to mid single digit increases as well as the underlying asset base guys are continuing to -- just kind of price talk, if you will. And how they're trying to set expectations in the marketplace. Adam Kramer -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst Pretty sure. Well, thank you guys. So much for the time. I really appreciate it. And I'll pass it on. Thank you. Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer All right. Thank you. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from Kevin Sterling from Seaport Global. Kevin Sterling -- Seaport Global -- Analyst Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, Bohn and Todd. Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Good afternoon. Todd Macomber -- Chief Financial Officer Good afternoon, Kevin. Kevin Sterling -- Seaport Global -- Analyst How do you guys survive in snow (ph) Seattle? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer It's funny that you say that. It is snowing sideways outside right now, which is -- it doesn't often happen in Seattle, so. Kevin Sterling -- Seaport Global -- Analyst That's why, I also asked favorite (ph) city might be shut down, right? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Well, there's a lot of stake here, because I expect to be in Miami in the morning. So, I'm hoping the planes are flying. Kevin Sterling -- Seaport Global -- Analyst Oh, gosh. Good luck with that. But hey, let me just start off, I've been following you guys a long-term Bohn, and I got to say, I think this is the best quarter, I've seen out of you guys. And it sounds like, I heard you talk about record quarter. So congrats, my hats off to you. It looks like everything came together very nicely for you. So along those lines, the growth that we're seeing across the board is that all organic? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Yes, this is a clean quarter, in terms of -- even last quarter, only had a very, very modest amount of -- kind of acquisition activity in it, but this has been absolutely clean quarter. And so the results that we're seeing are purely organic. We have said historically that through our vertical strategy and some of our other initiatives and some of the success we were having in Canada, that we're really focused on organic growth, not that we're not still interested in acquisition opportunities and we'll be exploring those as well, but growth in organic certainly one of the key prongs of our strategy and what we see here is the result of those efforts. Kevin Sterling -- Seaport Global -- Analyst That's awesome. Great. So, let me ask you along those lines. Do you think, as you look at your company today, we're in an inflection point. It seems like you guys started to turn the corner, maybe a couple of quarters ago, and it really all came together this quarter with just these record results. And what I mean by that is Bohn with the systems you have in place, the people you have in place, is your company position like it's never been before to capture market share? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer I think by any metric, in terms of financial and kind of underlying results, but also financial flexibility. If we think about our run rate EBITDA, and I'm not going to throw out a particular number, but we can certainly talk about that broadly, but where we are in terms of having retired the preferred we're going to drop another where we relieved ourselves of $2 million and non-deductible $2 million dividend payments. We've got good capacity under our credit facility. We're generating free cash flow like we never have in the history of the business. And a lot of things are kind of working our way. We went so far in this current press release to include TTM analysis of our adjusted EBITDA on a quarterly basis and it really kind of lays out the -- kind of the transition. And so that the net-net is we have really one more -- what I'll call soft quarter or easy comp coming up here for the quarter ended March in the year-ago period. So for this TTM, I think we're close to $37 million of run rate EBITDA. We would expect that number to move closer to $40 million, as we replace last year's quarter ended March results. So we believe -- so that's having followed us as long as you have, you know that's -- those are some, some really meaningful improvements for the business. And also to your point, that's coming from all areas of the business. The forwarding business is doing very well. Canada is doing well. Clipper has been improving and back within the forwarding network itself. Our agent stations are thriving. I think, we paid out more money and commissions this quarter, as well, then we probably ever had in the history of the company that goes to the health of the platform, the health of the partnership, we have with our operating partners and the success that are able to achieve this part of the platform. And at the same time, the company-owned stores within the forwarding network are doing better as a group than they ever had in the history of the business. The technology platform continues to improve. I think recently we had over 10% of our forwarding transaction volumes were occurring through the new SAP-TM. So, we continue to kind of work through that process. And we feel pretty good about where we are and kind of how things set up looking out into 2019. Kevin Sterling -- Seaport Global -- Analyst Well, Bohn, that's great. Those numbers are quite impressive. It's good to see. Like I said, I've been following you guys a long time. And I quite frankly don't remember a time like this in your company's history, how well positioned you are. But so you talked about the SAP system. If I'm not mistaken, you're probably one of the few three PLs to deploy SAP as a TMS. And is that a competitive advantage, because the majority shippers operate on SAP? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Yeah, we think it certainly will be, and that will prove itself out over time. I would, let me -- I'm going to break, it's a great question. I want to that question apart. We have -- since our very first acquisition, our platform acquisition back in 2006 of Airgroup, Airgroup was on SAP from an accounting standpoint. So we've grown up as an SAP shop. And in terms of kind of the sophistication and relative scalability of our back-office infrastructure, we think, we have a world-class back-office platform. And as we think about scalability and kind of unit cost per transaction process and some of those types of things, we really believe that we're best in class. And we've had an opportunity to move to a new TMS and to have a fully integrated operating system and accounting system on a singular SAP platform. I think, will create a lot of benefits for us up to and including kind of what you're describing, which is, there is a big universe of installed SAP customers out there more in the manufacturing universe. And those guys are generating hard freight, right. And so we view that as a -- that is a unique opportunity for us to be able to engage with this big universe of installed SAP customers and be able to engage with them and exchange information with them in a way that other folks simply won't be able to because they don't speak SAP with the granularity and familiarity that we'll be able to -- from our singular SAP platform. So we're really excited about that and what that represents kind of a long-term strategically. We talked about it before. We really have intentionally set out to build a back-office infrastructure that we believe can support a multi-billion dollar business in terms of the scalability. And how we've positioned ourselves as a first-to-market, in terms of aggregating these agent based freight forwarding networks, puts us in a really interesting position. And then hopefully we'll have an opportunity to take advantage of that, as we look into the future. Kevin Sterling -- Seaport Global -- Analyst That's awesome. So, basically is -- what you're doing now, the SAP system, you're building this foundation. So obviously you talked about multi-billion dollar organization to really kind of grow? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer That's always been the vision and we're -- Kevin Sterling -- Seaport Global -- Analyst You're starting to see it. Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer We are getting one step at a time, but I -- this quarter, I mean, we didn't talk about it, but we also spend a lot of time talking about EBITDA as a function of gross margin and how those numbers have trended over time, and it's just a great -- ultimately the math speaks for itself. But just a great story line in terms of the scalability of our back-office and overtime how we've been able to drive that metric and more of those gross margin dollars to the bottom line over time through our investment in people process and technology? Kevin Sterling -- Seaport Global -- Analyst Yeah. Awesome. So Bohn, if you guys -- if you kind of -- have you started a national sales force to go after maybe some larger accounts and if so, if you kind of seen the fruits of labor, and some new business wins? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Look, we haven't organized ourselves in what you would think of as a traditional National Accounts Sales program. What we've done instead of that is focused on a vertical sales strategy, so we've hired a number of senior sales executives with a deep competency in a particular industry vertical. And so we've approached the market with that vertical orientation. Some of those markets include government services, retail, humanitarian aid or some other areas that we focused on. And we've had a lot of success without getting into particular customers. The vertical strategy has worked very well for us, in terms of helping drive that organic growth. And we will, opportunistically continue to build out additional verticals with additional resources, as we can identify those in the marketplace to continue to fuel our organic growth. Kevin Sterling -- Seaport Global -- Analyst Yeah. Awesome. One last question for me. And so you touched on free cash flow and my calculations are right looks like you generated nearly $11 million of operating cash flow in the quarter and obviously leading to strong free cash flow. As going forward, I mean, I've got a sense and tell me if I'm wrong but going forward... Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Hold on. We got to stop there. We're going to have a little fun with this. You know what that is, Kevin? That's another record. Kevin Sterling -- Seaport Global -- Analyst Yeah. Another record. All right. Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Okay. Kevin Sterling -- Seaport Global -- Analyst Break your record. Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer No, go ahead. Kevin Sterling -- Seaport Global -- Analyst But if I think about this right, going forward, your free cash flow generation should continue to really build upon itself and we should really have a nice couple of quarters for the rest of 2019 and fiscal year 2020 with some significant free cash flow generation. Am I thinking about that right? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Yeah, absolutely. In terms of; one, the underlying business has improved markedly, as well as the redemption of the preferred was the proverbial shooting fish in a barrel and eliminating $2 million of those dividends for us. So, so absent acquisition activities, our credit lines are going to pay down pretty quickly. Kevin Sterling -- Seaport Global -- Analyst Yeah. Got you. Okay. Well, that's all I had. Congrats on the quarter. Keep up the good work. Breaking records and hope we get to Miami. (Multiple Speakers) Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer All right. Thanks. Kevin Sterling -- Seaport Global -- Analyst Take care. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from Mark Argento from Lake Street Capital. Please state your question. Mark Argento -- Lake Street Capital -- Analyst Hey, guys. Congrats on a very solid quarter. Wish I could feel sorry for you about the snow, Bohn, but being... (Multiple Speakers) Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Yeah, we're not going to get any sympathy from most parts of the country. Mark Argento -- Lake Street Capital -- Analyst We got our first share, so best of luck. Miami sounds wonderful though. I was just hoping, if you, obviously a lot of positive things going on here. I was hoping you could just help us think through a little bit around this concept of productivity relative to the pricing. So you saw was it adjusted EBITDA margins up 440 basis points. We get half of this from pricing and half of it from productivity, how can we think about and obviously there's ups and flows in the pricing environment, it's been a tighter environment which benefits to degree. But maybe you could help us think through a little bit about how you guys think internally about productivity unit growth versus the ASP growth, or we'll call it pricing growth? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Yeah, sure. So I can take a swipe at there from a high level. What we know is that our incremental cost of supporting that next dollar of gross margin is very, very small. So, ultimately it's a -- the biggest driver is just our ability to grow our gross margin dollars, because our incremental cost of supporting those that next dollar of gross margin is very small. Now, on the backside of that, if you think, if we kind of look at our cost drivers, it's headcount, right. And in our biggest physical labor dollar spend is in the -- in and around the area of the financial settlement of our transactions, whether it's paying the carriers or ultimately settling with our operating partners that are originating a lot of the freight out there. So we've introduced a lot of technology around optical scanning technologies to help automate how we ingest invoices, how we deal with what we would call variances or differences between what was protected as the cost versus the cost that's ultimately arrived. And we're spending a lot of time and energy focusing on, I'll use the term electrifying our business, in terms of building more electronic connectivity with our customers and our carriers with the goal of driving productivity improvement, not only for ourselves, but also for our carrier partners and our customers. And so that's our orientation, doesn't take you through the ultimate math, but the one thing that I would call out, I think, we've talked on it on prior calls, if we look at the Expeditors and CH Robinson's of the world and look at their EBITDA as a function of gross margin. And I think we'll find that their metrics are up in the 30% to 40% type handle. And we've said from the beginning that's the curve that we're marching up, as we continue to scale the business. And I can remember when that number for ourselves was 2% and 3%, and then 6%, and then 8%, as we've continued to kind of work our way up the mountain. So this -- I think it was 19.5% for this quarter was a really good result for us, but there's lots of incremental opportunity ahead of us, as we continue to scale the business. Mark Argento -- Lake Street Capital -- Analyst So, helpful. Thanks for the additional color. One other thing, obviously as you march to $1 billion-plus business and beyond, we used to hear a lot about the gray tail and certain types of these acquisitions. And you guys in the natural kind of the natural liquidity provider for some of these guys have been in the business for a while. Is that still part of the strategy, or if you kind of gotten to the point now where for it to move the needle, you have to look at bigger chunkier things. What should we, or how should we think about the acquisition strategy going forward? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Part of our brand promises to support our operating partners when and if they're ready for their own transition. So we're not -- we're certainly not out there twisting people's arms trying to compel them to sell or convert to a company owned store, but on a time that's right for them will be there to support them. So the pace at which we affect those transactions has more to do with the goals and objectives of our operating partners then any particular initiative we have. We're open for business and we're prepared to support our partners in that way when they are ready. And at the same time, we'll continue to look for other tuck-in acquisitions. That's only, the conversion of agency stations, the company-owned stores is only one, an important one, but only one of a multi-pronged strategy on the acquisition side of the house. Mark Argento -- Lake Street Capital -- Analyst Great. Thanks. And make sure (inaudible) no issues, when you send a truck, while getting loaded up where -- yeah. Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Thanks. Mark Argento -- Lake Street Capital -- Analyst Congrats again. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from Jeff Kauffman from Loop Capital. Please state your question. Jeff Kauffman -- Loop Capital -- Analyst Thank you very much. Hey, everybody. Did I hear you right, you guys were shipping a bunch of records this quarter? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer That's good, that's good. You know, we actually do a little of that business, but no, that wasn't for us. Well done, Jeff. That was good. Todd Macomber -- Chief Financial Officer That was good. I like that. Jeff Kauffman -- Loop Capital -- Analyst Again I say congratulations. This is just a great quarter to see. And I know you've been working hard, it's just nice to see it all come together like this. So, let me go back and be a broken record here. So, when you say, you don't believe tariffs played any role in this. In other words, you don't believe there was any pre-shipping of goods that occurred in your network this quarter correct? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Well, I would say -- I'm sure that there was certainly some, but what the point I was trying to make and perhaps I didn't do a justice was that, if we think -- if we were going to draw the economic pie of the various contributors to our business, International transportation, true international air and ocean, which would be the subject of a lot of these trade activities, it isn't a driver in our business, at least, it hasn't been to date. So, was there a little pull forward perhaps... Jeff Kauffman -- Loop Capital -- Analyst Maybe, yeah. Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer But is that what drove our record results, absolutely not. Jeff Kauffman -- Loop Capital -- Analyst Okay. So I shouldn't annualize the $12 million in EBITDA, that's what you're saying? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer No. Well, I would -- boy, wouldn't that be wonderful, which we certainly don't want to set that expectation. We are appreciative for those results. We're trying to have a little fun with it, but we're quickly going to be back to work and worried about next quarter. Jeff Kauffman -- Loop Capital -- Analyst Okay. What -- and I think you answered this last quarter, but I'm going to ask it again. Terrific improvement in operating margins in the Canadian business, can you remind me what's driving that? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Sure. We -- this is the result of a -- really a strategic initiative we set in place. Really, probably 12 months ago, with our broadly call a bundling strategy, where we, and it really kind of began in earnest with our tuck-in acquisition of Lomas, in Canada, which brought to us more value-added logistic services in conjunction with transportation. So, what you're seeing there is, our growth in our effectively warehousing and distribution service. That's bundling that with transportation services. And so making our customers stickier, making our work more valuable to the end customers that we serve and is really proved to be a real growth engine for Canada, at least so far. Jeff Kauffman -- Loop Capital -- Analyst Okay. One other detail question, probably more for Todd, a general question. There is the new ASU on the new lease accounting rules. It would not have to affect you until the close of this fiscal year, mid-year, but it does bring some operating lease rents to be considered potentially as capital leases, Todd, have you looked at this. I think you're doing about $8 million in operating rents. What impact do you think this will have in terms of 2020 fiscal? Todd Macomber -- Chief Financial Officer We're still assessing that, Jeff. We're looking at, we're bringing up, I think, a system for that. But I don't have exact -- the exact amount on that right now, but that's something that we're working on right now. Jeff Kauffman -- Loop Capital -- Analyst Okay. And then a broader picture, Bohn, amazing quarter, but we have seen some slowdown on the brokerage side of the business with the spot rates moving around, it doesn't affect your business so much. But I wonder, if you're seeing any softening in some of the acquisition prices of potential acquisition candidates you're sitting on all this great fundamentals, you've saved some money, repurchasing the preferred. Is there any change in what you're seeing and are business acquisitions getting a little bit more interesting? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer I think it still remains really competitive out there and particularly at anything of scale. And so, whereas I would like to say, I've seen a lot of softening in price on the M&A side, I personally haven't. Certainly, I think the public company comps have come in, relative to expected growth rates and that kind of stuff. But I think at the end of the day, the PE firms are still driving valuations for transactions of scale. And I have not seen those come in, but when they do will be there. Jeff Kauffman -- Loop Capital -- Analyst Fantastic. Well, congratulations. Just a terrific quarter all the way around here. Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Thank you so much. Todd Macomber -- Chief Financial Officer Thanks, Jeff. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from Gerry Heffernan from Walthausen & Company. Gerry Heffernan -- Walthausen & Company -- Analyst Hey, thank you very much. Just wanted to ask a little bit, or just one question on the income statement here. I understand the cost of transportation is the expense driver and you've done a very good job of improving your margin there. Could you talk to the operating partner commissions as that has grown disproportionately to the growth in overall revenues? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Sure. So, it goes to the underlying kind of nature of our business, where a good chunk of our business originates from our operating partners and we effectively share in the gross margins that they generate. So, well, let me draw distinction. So, this will be good for people not necessarily as familiar with our business. So, if we were going to compare and contrast a transaction originating from a company owned store versus a transaction originating from an agency station, at maps into our financial statements, the same down to the gross margin line. So, whether it's a -- we're coming from our company-owned store in Los Angeles, or an agency station in Dallas, it's the same down to the gross margin line item. But where it's originated from an agency station, we share in that revenue with the agents and that's where those expenditures land on the P&L. So, what that would say is, for this quarter, our agency stations did really well, in terms of their growth in their business. And so their gross margins -- or their percentage of the economic pie went up. And so I think we did also draw and I think this is kind of where you're going with your question. Proportionately, they grew by more than the company-owned stores grew. Gerry Heffernan -- Walthausen & Company -- Analyst Okay. And is there any specific for that? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer No, I don't. I mean, there are -- it's an extraordinarily diversified portfolio of businesses. And from time-to-time, there's, let me take it this way. We have over 100 operating locations. And I think, we have 20 company-owned stores. And so sometimes agent stations will originate their own business and they service it through our network. Sometimes corporately will originate business, but based on geography and service needs, we will place that business and an operating location and they will effectively operate it, on our behalf, if you will. So there's a myriad of factors that can come into play around the agent stations and kind of where an individual transaction lands. But I am -- it's funny that you raised this question, I've actually, I was intending on my plane ride to Miami tonight to write a letter to the network to celebrate with them how happy I was for them that they had such success this quarter, that's -- as our partners do well, we do well, and I couldn't be happier that they had such great results with such good success. And hopefully data points like this will get other agency locations that currently aren't part of our network to consider to come be part of our network. Gerry Heffernan -- Walthausen & Company -- Analyst Yeah. Certainly, success does, does attract businesses and business people, that is a good thing. In regards to the strong top line, you've prominent that it's -- it was pretty broad-based. Could you just -- if you could just give a speak to be different client verticals or the shipper verticals that you represent? Just give us any color that you may have from what you saw in those different segments over the quarter? Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer We don't want to get into too much detail there. But you know at a -- certainly at a high level, we do a fair amount of work in government services. We do a fair amount of work in life sciences. We do a fair amount of work in humanitarian aid. We do a fair amount of work in the automotive vertical. We do a fair amount of work in trade shows. So that, those will kind of give you some high-level lanes and which we're having some success. Gerry Heffernan -- Walthausen & Company -- Analyst Great. Thank you very much. And as a shareholder greatly appreciate all the work you've done. Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Thank you. Todd Macomber -- Chief Financial Officer Thank you. Operator Thank you. And that appears to be our last question. I'll turn the floor back over to Bohn Crain. Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Thank you. Let me close by saying that we remain very excited with our progress and prospects here at Radiant, and we remain very bullish on the growth platform that we've created and the scalability of our non-asset-based business model. Our now, more than 10-year first to market advantage in executing our multi-brand strategy and consolidating agent based forwarding networks, ongoing investment in technology and low leverage on our balance sheet, puts us in a unique position to support further consolidation in the marketplace. We believe this represents our longer term and almost perpetual opportunity and we continue to invest in technology and our people with an eye toward building out a world-class scalable back-office infrastructure to support a much larger enterprise going forward. We are patiently persistent in pursuit of this long-term vision, which we believe over time will deliver meaningful value for our shareholders, our operating partners and the end customers that we serve. Thanks for listening and your support of Radiant Logistics. Operator Thank you. This does conclude today's teleconference. We thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time. And have a great day. Duration: 46 minutes Call participants: Bohn Crain -- Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Todd Macomber -- Chief Financial Officer Adam Kramer -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst Kevin Sterling -- Seaport Global -- Analyst Mark Argento -- Lake Street Capital -- Analyst Jeff Kauffman -- Loop Capital -- Analyst Gerry Heffernan -- Walthausen & Company -- Analyst More RLGT analysis Transcript powered by AlphaStreet This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. More From The Motley Fool Motley Fool Transcribers has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Prosecutors challenge judge's sentence of former Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke convicted of murder in shooting of Laquan McDonald originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Illinois prosecutors are seeking a harsher sentence for a white former Chicago police officer who was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2014 shooting death of an African-American teenager. The state attorney general and a special prosecutor filed a petition with the state Supreme Court challenging a trial judge's sentencing of Jason Van Dyke to less than seven years in prison for the killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. "I recognize that a trial judge's discretion in sentencing is to be given great deference," Illinois State Attorney General Kwame Raoul said at a news conference Monday. "However, it is in the interest of justice that we do all within our power to make sure that such exercise in discretion be applied consistent with the mandates of law, no matter who the defendant and no matter who the victim." PHOTO: Former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke attends his sentencing hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago, for the 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald, Jan. 18, 2019. (Chicago Tribune/Pool via AP, FILE) On Oct. 5, a Cook County Circuit Court jury found Van Dyke guilty on charges of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm stemming from an incident in which the former officer fired 16 shots at McDonald in a span of 15 seconds. Judge Vincent Gaughan's sentencing of Van Dyke prompted outrage from McDonald's family and community activists who saw it as far too lenient. In their filing on Monday in what is called a "mandamus" petition, Raoul and Special Prosecutor Joseph McMahan argued that Cook County Circuit Court Judge Vincent Gaughan erred in sentencing Van Dyke "solely on the second-degree murder conviction" and by declining to impose a sentence on the counts of aggravated battery. "The People argued that Judge Gaughan was required to sentence Van Dyke on each of the 16 aggravated battery with firearm convictions," according to the petition. The petition cited the trial testimony of Dr. Ponni Arunkumar, the Cook County medical examiner, that each shot that struck McDonald contributed to his death. Story continues PHOTO: Laquan McDonald is pictured in this undated photo. (Obtained by ABC News) Citing legal precedent, prosecutors argued that Gaughan should have been required to sentence Van Dyke on the 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm. The former officer could have faced at least six years in prison on each charge, for a total of 96 years. "Because the People separately charged each shot and the jury convicted on each count, separate convictions and sentences are required," the petition states. The prosecutors are asking the state Supreme Court to send the case back to Gaughan for resentencing. The move by prosecutors prompted Van Dyke's attorneys to file an appeal of his conviction. The defense team has seven days to file a response to the prosecution's petition. "I think this is politically motivated and I don't think it's an appropriate filing based on the issues at hand," Van Dyke's attorney, Jennifer Blagg, told ABC News on Tuesday. "A mandamus is an extraordinary remedy that should only be used in very unique circumstances and this isn't one of those circumstances." (MORE: Former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke sentenced to 81 months in prison for Laquan McDonald murder) Blagg said Gaughan relied on case law to render his sentence. Blagg said the prosecutor's petition "opens a Pandora's box that we were going to leave alone." (MORE: 3 Chicago police officers found not guilty of covering up shooting of Laquan McDonald) "Jason doesn't want a new trial," Blagg said. "He doesn't want to put his family through it again." She said the Van Dyke's appeal is based on grounds that he should have never been charged with the aggravated battery counts. (MORE: My focus was just on that knife': Chicago police officer who killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald testifies in own defense) "The special prosecutor came on the case and added those charges a very long time after Mr. Van Dyke was originally indicted and we don't think that was proper," Blagg said. Van Dyke shot McDonald on Oct. 20, 2014. Video released during the investigation showed McDonald was armed with a knife but the teen didn't appear to be moving toward the police officers who responded. During his trial, Van Dyke testified that he believed McDonald was coming at him with a knife. "We never lost eye contact. His eyes were bugging out of his face," Van Dyke said. "His face was expressionless. He turned his torso towards me." He said he told McDonald to drop the knife, but "he never dropped it." "My focus was just on that knife, and I just wanted him to get rid of that knife," Van Dyke testified. Bratislava (AFP) - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin posed a threat to democracies worldwide as he arrived in Slovakia, the latest stop on a Central European charm offensive aimed at curbing the growing influence of both Moscow and Beijing. "Vladimir Putin is intent on undermining democracies throughout the world, make no mistake about it. We should be very candid about that," Pompeo told journalism students in the capital Bratislava. He later warned Slovaks about the "the need to guard against China's economic and other efforts to create dependence and manipulate your political system." Pompeo is seeking to highlight the US role in the fall of communism three decades ago at a time when Putin finds a widening audience in the former Eastern bloc. The first US secretary of state to visit Slovakia in 14 years, Pompeo told President Andrej Kiska: "It's been too long since America has been deeply engaged here." He met with five former political prisoners at a memorial to the so-called Gate of Freedom on the border with Austria, where 400 people were killed from 1945 to 1989 as they tried to break through the Iron Curtain to the West. "Where barbed wire and armed guards stood, today people, goods and information cross freely," Pompeo said. "The United States has stood with the people of Slovakia as a friend, as a partner... for the past 30 years, and we will continue to stand with you in the decades to come. "On behalf of the United States I'm proud to stand in union with the people of Slovakia and Europe in recommitting to a future that is more prosperous, more secure and, most of all, great," he said. Kiska, a staunch liberal, called the US an "important partner and ally". - Alternative to Russia - President Donald Trump has voiced admiration for Putin but the wider US government remains suspicious of the Russian leader and is seeking to find alternatives for European nations to Russia's energy exports. Story continues A senior US official travelling with Pompeo said the Trump administration was pursuing a strategy similar to that in Asia, where for years the United States has been seeking to curb China's power. "It emphasises in vulnerable regions where our rivals, the Chinese and the Russians, are gaining ground that we want to increase our diplomatic, military and cultural engagement," the official told reporters. He said Washington was also looking across Central Europe to boost an independent media, amid concerns about an erosion of press freedom. In Hungary, the most pro-Russia member of the European Union, Pompeo raised concerns to Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government both over ties with Moscow and Budapest's contract with Chinese telecom giant Huawei to develop the country's fifth-generation mobile network. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto welcomed Pompeo's calls for closer ties and promised more defence cooperation but also brushed off the criticism on relations with Russia and China. Western concerns on Hungary's ties with Moscow amounted to "enormous hypocrisy," he said, adding that Western Europe was doing energy deals with Russia. Pompeo heads later Tuesday to Poland, where he is co-hosting a conference on the Middle East that will promote Trump's hard line on Iran and strong support for Israel. Piers kissing Peter Andre on Good Morning Britain. (REX/Shutterstock) Piers Morgan has topped a Secret Crush poll and the Good Morning Britain host couldnt be more delighted. Morgan, 53, was voted Heat magazines number one Secret Crush in their annual poll, which is held to coincide with Valentines Day. The controversial TV presenter and former Daily Mirror editor celebrated his big win in predictably smug fashion. He told the magazine: My particular thoughts at this difficult moment are with Lord Sugar who was one of the other people on the longlist. To be fair to him hes had a very massive crush on his face for quite some time from a 2-ton anvil that landed on it 50 years ago, rendering it such an abomination. He went on to say he also felt sorry for Kim Kardashian, as her rapper husband Kanye West too had missed out on the honour. I feel for him and I feel for Kanye West, poor old Kim Kardashians woken up to the fact that more people fancy me than her husband, thats not a good morning for her. The former tabloid editor is delighted with his win. (REX/Shutterstock) I feel for Ed Sheeran, you can sing nice songs buddy but you aint a crush. Ant and Dec both of them combined couldnt beat me. I keep coming back to one word landslide, he added. Known for his unashamedly boastful hosting style, Morgan even promised to keep the accolade very quiet: Im a very modest guy by nature and I think Ill probably just keep it very quiet and not tell anybody other than millions and millions of people the moment the embargo has been lifted. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Susanna Reid quipped that she wasnt surprised Morgan topped the poll: Im not in the least bit surprised hes won the Secret Crush Award. Who in their right mind would want to publicly declare they have a crush on Piers?? Meanwhile Morgans wife Celia Walden, 43, teased: People are weird arent they? I only married him for the handbags Morgan and Reid are taking a break from their Good Morning Britain hosting duties as they prepare to cover the Oscars live from Los Angeles. Read more Ant-Brexit protestor appears naked on GMB Desert Island Discs tops new radio poll WAG member of WAGs support group Pfizer PFE and its partner Merck KGaA MKGAF announced that the supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for Bavencio (avelumab), in combination with Pfizers another cancer drug Inlyta (axitinib) was granted priority review by the FDA. The sBLA is seeking approval of the drug combination as a treatment for advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the most common form of kidney cancer. The FDAs decision is expected in June 2019. While Bavencio is approved for treatment of metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma and metastatic urothelial carcinoma in patients whose disease progressed following a chemotherapy, Inlyta is approved for second-line treatment of advanced RCC. The sBLA was filed based on interim data from the phase III JAVELIN Renal 101 study which evaluated the Bavencio/Inlyta combination against Pfizers older kidney cancer drug Sutent. Data from the study, presented in the past, showed that the combination regimen led to statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) in patients whose tumors had PD-L1 expression greater than 1% as well as in the entire study population regardless of PD-L1 tumor expression. The ongoing study is currently evaluating the regimen for improvement in overall survival (OS). We note that Pfizer is developing Bavencio in JAVELIN program, which consists of at least 30 clinical studies evaluating the drug in more than 15 different cancer indications. Although Bavencio is approved two small cancer indication, successful development in the ongoing studies will help its label to expand into major indications. The company considers Bavencio, an anti PD-L1 antibody, as a key driver of its long-term growth. It is mainly focusing on developing the drug in combination with its other targeted therapies. PD-1/PD-L1 targeted therapies hold tremendous potential as evident from the growth of Mercks MRK Keytruda and Bristol-Myers BMY Opdivo, which are PD-1 inhibitors. Story continues Pfizers stock has risen 2.1% in the past six months, in line with the industrys increase in the same time frame. In a separate press release, Pfizer announced that it will present data from the phase III ARCHES study evaluating Xtandi for treating metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC). The company stated that the drug in combination with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) significantly reduced the risk of radiographic progression or death by 61% compared to ADT alone. Pfizer Inc. Price Pfizer Inc. Price | Pfizer Inc. Quote Zacks Rank Pfizer currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Zacks' Best Stock-Picking Strategy It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But from 2000-2018, while the market gained +4.8% per year, our top stock-picking strategy averaged +54.3% per year. How has that screen done lately? From 2017-2018, it sextupled the market's +15.8% gain with a soaring +98.3% return. Free See the Stocks It Turned Up for Today >> 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 Pfizer Inc. (PFE) : Free Stock Analysis Report Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) : Free Stock Analysis Report Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMY) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research By Sanjeev Miglani and Drazen Jorgic NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is expected to announce investments in energy and infrastructure during a visit to India and Pakistan in coming days as part of his efforts to wean the Saudi economy off oil exports. He is also expected to visit China, Malaysia and Indonesia during a tour that will be his first through the region since the storm over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October. Prince Mohammed is expected to sign agreements, mostly linked to a refinery and the power sector, during the trip to Pakistan this weekend, Pakistani officials said. The memorandums of understanding will include renewable energy projects and investments in petrochemicals and mineral resources, Saudi state news agency SPA said. The prince is expected in New Delhi next week, along with leading Saudi businessmen, at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India's foreign ministry said on Tuesday. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was among a handful of leaders who attended an investment conference in Saudi Arabia in October, an event boycotted by many companies and world leaders in protest over Khashoggi's killing. India's Modi met the prince in November, when they were both in Argentina for a Group of 20 summit. Saudi Arabia is India's top supplier of crude oil but the two countries have expanded ties beyond energy, and their governments have agreed to build a strategic partnership, the foreign ministry said. In a statement, it cited cooperation in areas including energy security, trade and investment, infrastructure, defense and security. India is expecting Prince Mohammed to announce an initial investment in its National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), a quasi-sovereign wealth fund, to help accelerate the building of ports and highways, an Indian official said. Saudi state media said Saudi officials will discuss an investment in NIIF. Saudi Arabia has also flagged a desire to invest in India's farm sector, with products to be exported to Saudi, another official at the trade ministry said. REFINERY HITCH However, progress on a $44 billion refinery that Indian state-run oil companies agreed to build with Saudi Aramco on India's west coast has been held up by strong opposition from mango farmers who will lose their land. Since taking office in 2014, Modi has sought to use India's fast-growing economy to attract more investment from Saudi Arabia and other Islamic nations. As a fellow Muslim country, Pakistan has long maintained strong ties with Saudi Arabia. In late October, Riyadh offered Pakistan a $6 billion loan to help keep its ailing economy afloat. Saudi Arabia has also announced plans for a $10 billion refinery and petrochemical complex at the coastal city of Gwadar, where China is building a port as part of its vast Belt and Road initiative. "Theyre looking at the energy sector, at some of our privatization plans that they might bid for through our privatization process," Pakistani investment minister Haroon Sharif told Reuters. Sharif, who chairs Pakistan's Board of Investment, said there was also Saudi interest in Pakistan's mining sector. "Saudi Arabia has huge resources. Their investment fund is over $1 trillion, so we want just a fraction of that," said a second Pakistani minister, who did not wish to be named. Saudi state news said Saudi officials will discuss investments with China, South Korea and Indonesia, in sectors including healthcare and telecommunications, without giving further details. (Additional reporting by Neha Dasgupta and Rajendra Jadhav, and Marwa Rashad in Riyadh.; Writing by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Frances Kerry) Pacific Biosciences of California (PACB) came out with a quarterly loss of $0.21 per share versus the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $0.13. This compares to loss of $0.18 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -61.54%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this maker of genetic analysis technology would post a loss of $0.16 per share when it actually produced a loss of $0.19, delivering a surprise of -18.75%. Over the last four quarters, the company has not been able to surpass consensus EPS estimates. Pacific Biosciences, which belongs to the Zacks Medical - Instruments industry, posted revenues of $19.53 million for the quarter ended December 2018, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 7.37%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $24.94 million. The company has not been able to beat consensus revenue estimates over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Pacific Biosciences shares have lost about 2.8% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 8%. What's Next for Pacific Biosciences? While Pacific Biosciences has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Story continues Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Pacific Biosciences was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is -$0.11 on $25.91 million in revenues for the coming quarter and -$0.49 on $117.81 million in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Medical - Instruments is currently in the top 27% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. 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 Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (PACB) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research NEW YORK (Reuters) - American whiskey makers are feeling the pain after their major overseas markets imposed hefty duties on their liquor in retaliation against President Donald Trump's tariffs on aluminum imports. U.S. global whiskey exports, which include rye and bourbons, recorded a nifty 28 percent year-over-year increase in the first six months 2018, the Distilled Spirits Council said on Tuesday. But once levies from Canada, Mexico, China and the European Union took effect, the collective whiskey exports from 37 U.S. states fell by 8 percent in the period from July to November last year, compared with the same five months in 2017, according to the Washington-based industry trade group. (GRAPHIC: U.S. whiskey exports - https://tmsnrt.rs/2TIQTV2) The tariff-induced drop wiped out the overseas sales gain the industry had enjoyed in the first half of 2018, the group's data showed. "Tariffs are starting to have a negative effect on exports," Christine LoCascio, the group's senior vice president of international trade, told a press conference. "Many of the small distillers have felt the effect on day one." In 2017, American whiskey producers exported $1.1 billion worth of their products. Nearly 60 percent was shipped to the EU, 12 percent to Canada and the rest to other countries, including China. On the other hand, the distillers fared better at home. In 2017, American whiskey rang up a 6.6 percent increase in revenues from a year earlier to $3.6 billion, the group's data showed. In the wake of the EU's imposing 25 percent tariffs last June, U.S. whiskey exports fell 8.7 percent in the following five months, compared with the same period in 2017. Canada's 10 percent duties that took effect on July 1 resulted in an 8.3 percent sales decline in that country for American whiskey producers in the July-November period compared with the same period a year earlier, the group said. (Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Dan Grebler) By Tim Reid EL PASO, Texas (Reuters) - Beto ORourke, the former Democratic congressman considering a White House run, and President Donald Trump will hold dueling rallies in El Paso, Texas, on Monday over the U.S.-Mexico border and the president's push for a wall. ORourke, who lost in his bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Texas, promised to blast Trump for stoking "false fear" about immigrants and telling "lies" about his hometown El Paso, which Trump said was a dangerous place before it had a border fence. In a conference call with reporters, O'Rourke said his counter-rally two hundred yards from the Trump event would be a "powerful, beautiful" response to "Trump's lies about our community, the U.S.-Mexico border, immigrants, about Mexicans." Trump is traveling to El Paso to argue for a wall he says can protect Americans from violent criminals, drugs and a "tremendous onslaught" of migrant caravans. The simultaneous rallies at 7 p.m. MST (9 p.m. EST) coincide with talks to reach a border security deal and avert another government shutdown. The talks stumbled on Monday over a Democratic proposal to reduce allotted spaces in immigration detention facilities for people facing deportation. Trump, a Republican, spoke out against the Democratic attempt to cap detention beds before he left for Texas. "We're up against people who want to allow criminals into our society," he said of the Democrats. EL PASO: "LOW ON CRIME" In his State of the Union speech last week, Trump said the border fence separating El Paso from Mexico had reduced the city's high crime rate. El Paso's Republican mayor, Dee Margo, said the city had been safe for years before the wall was built. "We were, I think, the No. 2 or No. 3 safest city before the fence went up and we progressed into No. 1," he told Fox News. "We were significantly low on crime to begin with and always have been." ORourke will join a protest march past Trumps rally at El Paso County Coliseum before they both speak within sight of the border fence. ORourke told Oprah Winfrey last week he would make a final decision about running for president by the end of the month. He declined to discuss a potential run on Monday. "Im following the community's lead tonight, no less, no more," he said on the call. O'Rourke would bring fundraising and grassroots firepower to an already crowded Democratic field hoping to take on Trump in next year's election. (Reporting by Tim Reid in El Paso, additional reporting by Steve Holland and Tim Ahmann in Washington; Writing by Andrew Hay; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Bill Tarrant and Sonya Hepinstall) Investors in Encana Corporation ECA need to pay close attention to the stock based on moves in the options market lately. That is because the Feb 15, 2019 $6.00 Put had some of the highest implied volatility of all equity options today. What is Implied Volatility? Implied volatility shows how much movement the market is expecting in the future. Options with high levels of implied volatility suggest that investors in the underlying stocks are expecting a big move in one direction or the other. It could also mean there is an event coming up soon that may cause a big rally or a huge sell-off. However, implied volatility is only one piece of the puzzle when putting together an options trading strategy. What do the Analysts Think? Clearly, options traders are pricing in a big move for Encana shares, but what is the fundamental picture for the company? Currently, Encana is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) in the Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Canadian industry that ranks in the Bottom 24% of our Zacks Industry Rank. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current quarter has decreased from 13 cents a share to 12 cents. Given the way analysts feel about Encana right now, this huge implied volatility could mean theres a trade developing. Oftentimes, options traders look for options with high levels of implied volatility to sell premium. This is a strategy many seasoned traders use because it captures decay. At expiration, the hope for these traders is that the underlying stock does not move as much as originally expected. Looking to Trade Options? Each week, our very own Dave Bartosiak gives his top options trades. Check out his recent live analysis and options trade for the NFLX earnings report completely free. See it here: Bartosiak: Trading Netflix's (NFLX) Earnings with Options or check out the embedded video below for more details: 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 Encana Corporation (ECA) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Our series How I became a digs into the stories of accomplished and influential people, finding out how they got to where they are in their careers. Editors note: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Jen Gotch is equal parts moxie, glitter, and feelings and she's not afraid to talk about any of it. From a degree that she originally intended to get her into law school to jobs as a house cleaner, personal assistant, copywriter and food stylist, Gotch found her niche in the creative space. As the co-founder and chief creative officer of ban.do, a gift, tech, stationery and accessories shop, Gotch spends her days doing everything from championing mental health awareness to helping design and cultivate the imaginative, playful inventory for which ban.do is known. USA TODAY caught up with Gotch to talk about everything from jumping on trampolines and food styling to being appreciative of failure and understanding the importance of strengthening your emotional intelligence. Question: What is your coffee order? Gotch: I drink Bulletproof coffee. Q: What is the last book you read? Gotch: Im toggling between Out on a Limb by Shirley MacLaine and a book about emotional intelligence. Q: What are your favorite go-to songs for a busy day? Gotch: When Im driving to work and I want to get pumped up, I listen to 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton. Q: Who has been your biggest mentor? Gotch: I had a therapist for a really long time. She was my first meaningful mentor, because she did a lot more than just "talk about your feelings." She showed me how to be a grown-up and a functioning adult, to take care of myself, nutrition, all that kind of stuff. I worked for a woman named Ursula Brookbank, who was an art director for Nordstrom. I was a stylist before I started ban.do, so she was a big creative mentor for me and taught me a lot about creative problem-solving and where you could push your creativity. Todd Ferrier, who owns ban.do hes one half of the couple that we sold the company to was my first and most impactful business mentor. He taught me a lot about what to worry about and what not to get all stressed about, how business works. Story continues Q: Whats the coolest thing youve ever done? Gotch: Creating ban.do. Q: What does your career path look like up until now? Gotch: I was pre-law in college. I decided in my last semester of college that I really didnt want to be a lawyer, so I graduated with a degree in literature and philosophy. And (then I) spent the next eight years trying to figure out what I could and should do. During that time, I went back to school a couple times. I did a lot of random jobs worked at a restaurant, worked at the mall, did personal assisting, cleaned some houses, did personal shopping, did some copywriting I was all over the place. The first time I did something where I was like, this is kind of cool, was when I was an on-set dresser for B-movies. There used to be a movie studio (in Los Angeles), so if you wanted to get into Hollywood on the behind-the-scenes side, you would go and work for free. If you did a good job they would hire you for like $2 a day or something it was not a lot of money. The on-set dresser works with the set design team to reset everything in the set every take they do, so youre (the) boots on the ground. And then I eventually became a set decorator I did Eminems first music video. What I quickly realized is its such a grind working in moving pictures, and I would look at the men and women that had been doing it for 10, 15, 20 years, and they just looked so worn down, and I thought thats probably not where I want to be. It wasnt exactly what I wanted, so I pivoted into photo styling. I mostly did food styling and prop styling. I had a love for photography and the pace of it was great. That really was the first thing that set the tone for building ban.do, because it gave me the opportunity to create a personal aesthetic and understand models and photography and lighting. I did that for a decade, and then I ended up doing set design. I did the Nordstrom catalog for many, many years under the guidance of Ursula Brookbank, and then I started to move into commercial photography. I shot a cover for Real Simple magazine I got some really great jobs out of the gate, and I actually didnt totally know what I was doing. I realized photographers make so much more money than the stylists, but I was contributing a lot to the process and I loved photography, so I felt like if I could learn it, I could have a better career. At the same time, I started ban.do, which was really just a side project. It wasnt meant to be what it became, so I was kind of doing photography, ban.do and a little bit of styling still for the first couple of years that we had the company. My friend who I started the company with used to work as my assistant on photo shoots. We had been on a couple shoots where we had been asked to make flower crowns, and it seeped into each of our creative consciousness. I made this flower crown for myself because I was renewing my wedding vows, and we both sort of made the same thing without discussing it, and I thought, maybe I want to have an Etsy shop and sell these on the side, because it was a fun, different, creative endeavor. She was like, "I kinda had the same idea," so we were like should we just do it together? And thats what we did. ban.do, when it started, was vintage, one-of-a-kind hair accessories: big, bold, sort-of fashion statements. We had a lot of brides buying stuff. It was literally like, should we sell these? And then it was like, should we go on Etsy? My brother knew how to build websites so we were like, maybe we should just make our own website. And then it somehow went from there to here. That wasnt planned I cant take any credit for being the kind of entrepreneur that actually plans things. Thats a different kind of entrepreneur. Q: Whats your favorite project that youve worked on? Gotch: Ive had so many cool opportunities. The first thing that comes to my mind is more recent I partnered with Iconery on mental health necklaces. That sticks out because it was one of those ideas that just pops in your head, and you know its come from your intuition. I have such a vivid memory of how that idea came in, and the fact that it came to fruition so quickly and the response that it had, even though initially it had a positive/negative response, to be able to create that sort of energy based off a thought and actually affect change in peoples lives was very overwhelming for me. So much of my career has been having ideas and having them come to fruition, and having had so many of those over time, this was the one that meant something deeper than "I came up with the phrase on our best-selling yoga mat!" which was cool, too. But not the same. Q: What does a typical day look like for you? Gotch: Just me crying at my computer all day (laughs). Not really. It changes a lot, but right now Im up against a hard deadline for the memoir Im writing. More days than not, Im waking up, having my Bulletproof coffee, (and) I go to this workout called Lekfit where I jump on trampolines for the better part of an hour. Im not a huge workout person but when I find something I think is fun, I can do it. So, thats a big part of my day because it feels good to sweat that stuff out and get your brain going. And, then honestly, its a bunch of sitting quietly in my house, reflecting on my life and writing about it. On the flip side, theres a couple days a week where Ill do the same morning routine and come into ban.do, which normally means back-to-back meetings where I try to accomplish in a day what I would normally do in a week, and stay on top of things. Right now my role is really about brand vision and overarching creative direction Im not boots on the ground like I used to be because, thankfully, there are people younger and smarter than me who are doing it now and doing a much better job than I used to. Q: What do you do to stay creative? Gotch: I have a lot of friends who went to art school, who had more formal creative training, and I feel like because I didnt, I just took my creativity granted for a long time. I didnt have a process I just would call upon it, and it was there. Creating creativity for commerce is different, which is the higher percentage of what I do at this point. And so I think its finding visual inspiration and, more than anything else with creativity, understanding when you work best, identifying when you hit your breaking point and not trying to push yourself through that. I feel like my creativity has more to do with trying to avoid creative blocks, and then also understanding that when they happen, its OK. Its an unlimited resource creativity its not going to just vanish and not be there tomorrow. But, it sometimes kinds of runs out around 4 p.m. when Ive made too many decisions that day and I cant pick a shade of blue. My ideas always come to me when Im driving. Any time I just need to think I get in the car, and its like Ive opened some door thats not unlockable when Im sitting still. Q: What has been your biggest career high and your biggest career low? Gotch: I dont feel like Im good at identifying either. I try not to invest too much into big success because I feel like life is so cyclical that big success is usually indicative of a big failure, and thats OK. I will say that eight years or so where I really was in career limbo, was a low, was a real low. It was just like, oh my gosh. What if I dont ever figure it out? I specifically remember that being a really hard time and not having an identity and not understanding how to figure out what to do. Outside of that, Ive been really lucky. Im pretty resilient, so I just feel like I take it all in stride. Q: Whats been your biggest lesson learned? Gotch: I learned that failure is a gift and should be viewed that way. Sometimes it takes a little time and distance to be able to do that, but when I look back and look at things that from most peoples standpoints would be viewed as a failure, I feel like theyve always given me something thats really valuable. Were just trained to think of failure to be something to be really afraid of, but I wouldnt be where I am if everything had just worked out. On the flip side, success does not come quickly. It does not come without patience and hard work and big sacrifices, personally and professionally. Q: What advice would you give to someone who wants to follow in your footsteps? Gotch: Gaining self-awareness, to me, is the key to personal and professional success. If you understand (emotional intelligence), then thats just amazing, because you understand people and situations and yourself. That has been my biggest tool. Having (emotional intelligence) and being resilient just allowed me to get knocked down, pick myself back up. I wanted to just be and feel like Im going in the right direction, or if Im not, feeling like I can course correct. Its like building that foundation and from that, theres a hundred thousand ways to follow in my footsteps. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: One creative career path: How Jen Gotch went from pre-law student to co-founding ban.do By Stephanie Kelly NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices edged lower on Monday as worries surrounding the resumption of U.S.-China trade talks overshadowed support from OPEC-led supply restraint. Brent crude futures lost 59 cents, or 0.95 percent, to settle at $61.51 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 31 cents, or 0.59 percent, to settle at $52.41 a barrel. Trade talks between the United States and China resumed with working-level discussions before high-level discussions later in the week. Beijing, however, expressed anger at a U.S. Navy mission through the disputed South China Sea. This cast a shadow as the two countries try to reach a deal before the March 1 deadline when U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports are scheduled to increase to 25 percent from 10 percent. On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he did not plan to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping before the March 1 deadline, dampening hopes of a quick trade pact. Escalating U.S.-China trade tensions have cost both countries billions of dollars and disrupted global trade and business flows, roiling financial markets. "There's a lot of uncertainty about what's going on with this trade war, whether they're going to get anything done," said Phil Flynn, oil analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. "You've got concerns about slowing growth." A rising U.S. dollar also weighed on oil futures. A stronger dollar makes greenback-denominated commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies. "Until some dollar weakness begins to develop, the complex could have difficulty advancing much this week even allowing for some supportive elements out of an upcoming slew of energy releases," Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, said in a note. Still, oil prices have been buoyed this year by output curbs from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, a group known as OPEC+. Story continues The deal, effective from January, aims to cut 1.2 million barrels per day until the end of June to forestall a supply overhang. Suhail Al Mazrouei, the energy minister of the United Arab Emirates, said on Monday the oil market should achieve this balance in the first quarter of 2019. OPEC and its allies meet on April 17 and 18 in Vienna to review the agreement, but a draft cooperation charter seen by Reuters fell short of a new formal alliance among the producers. U.S. sanctions on Venezuela, along with older sanctions on fellow OPEC member Iran, have also prevented crude prices from falling further. Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro has sought OPEC support against the sanctions, citing their impact on oil prices and potential risks for other members of the producer group. The country also wants to double its oil sales to India and is open to barter payment arrangements with the world's third-biggest crude consumer, Venezuelan Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo said on Monday. (Reporting by Stephanie Kelly; Additional reporting by Noah Browning in London and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Lisa Shumaker) Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took exception to President Donald Trump's condescending criticism of Democratic lawmakers' proposed "Green New Deal" at his rally in El Paso, Texas, on Monday. "Sounds like a high school term paper that got a low mark," Trump said of the ambitious environmental initiative. "Ah yes, a man who cant even read briefings written in full sentences is providing literary criticism of a House Resolution," the freshman congresswoman tweeted in response to the president's insult. She added a purported quote from a Washington Post report about the president's aversion to reading his daily intelligence briefing. Trump assailed the progressive policy proposal as a "massive government takeover" that would "destroy our incredible economic gains." He said it would "shut down American energy" and a "little thing called air travel." Green New Deal: What is it and what does it mean for climate change? This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. The Green New Deal resolution introduced by Ocasio-Cortez aims to, among other things, "achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions" within 10 years, make existing infrastructure and buildings more sustainable and energy efficient, and ensure universal access to clean, air, water and food. The resolution also seeks to guarantee "a job with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to all people of the United States." Many of Trump's criticisms of the plan comes from a "frequently asked questions" summary of the Green New Deal that was put together by Ocasio-Cortez's office. The FAQ was released and quickly was ridiculed and reviled by conservative media figures and politicians, including Trump. (At one point, Ocasio-Cortez claimed the FAQ had been "doctored," but that was false.) "I think it is very important for the Democrats to press forward with their Green New Deal," Trump tweeted. "It would be great for the so-called 'Carbon Footprint' to permanently eliminate all Planes, Cars, Cows, Oil, Gas & the Military - even if no other country would do the same. Brilliant!" Story continues This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Trump's statements mischaracterized the contents of both the Green New Deal resolution and the FAQ from Ocasio-Cortez's office. Although the FAQ did call for the construction of "highspeed rail at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary," the resolution only called for increased investment in highspeed trains. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ocasio-Cortez hits back after Trump says her Green New Deal looks like high school paper By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea has continued to produce bomb fuel while in denuclearization talks with the United States and may have produced enough in the past year to add as many as seven nuclear weapons to its arsenal, according to a study released just weeks before a planned second summit between the North Korean leader and U.S. President Donald Trump. However, the country's freeze in nuclear and missile testing since 2017 mean that North Korea's weapons program probably poses less of a threat than it did at the end of that year, the report by Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation found. Siegfried Hecker, a former director of the U.S. Los Alamos weapons laboratory in New Mexico who is now at Stanford and was one of the report's authors, told Reuters analysis of satellite imagery showed North Korea's production of bomb fuel continued in 2018. He said spent fuel generated from operation of the 5 megawatt reactor at its main nuclear plant at Yongbyon from 2016-18 appeared to have been reprocessed starting in May and would have produced an estimated 5-8 kg of weapons-grade plutonium. This combined with production of perhaps 150 kg of highly enriched uranium may have allowed North Korea to increase the number of weapons in its arsenal by between five and seven, the Stanford report said. Hecker's team had estimated the size of North Korea's arsenal in 2017 at 30, bringing a possible current total of 37 weapons. U.S. intelligence is not certain how many nuclear warheads North Korea has. Last year, the Defense Intelligence Agency was at the high end with an estimate of about 50 nuclear warheads, while analysts have given a range of 20-60. The Stanford report said that while North Korea was likely to have continued work on warhead miniaturization and to ensure they can stand up to delivery via intercontinental ballistic missiles, the halt in testing greatly limited its ability to make such improvements. "They have continued the machinery to turn out plutonium and highly enriched uranium," Hecker said, "but it also depends on weaponization - the design, build and test and then the delivery. "When they ended missile testing, those things rolled backwards. So when I look at the whole spectrum, to me North Korea ... is less dangerous today than it was at the end of 2017, in spite of the fact that they may have made another five to seven weapons worth of nuclear material." The Stanford experts said it was their assessment that "North Korea cannot deliver a nuclear warhead with any measure of confidence to the U.S. mainland," although Hecker said its nuclear weapons were a real threat to Japan and South Korea. Hecker said it was understandable that North Korea should have continued its weapons work, given that it had reached no specific agreement in the latest talks with the United States to stop that work. U.S. Secretary State Mike Pompeo told Congress in July that North Korea was continuing to produce fuel for nuclear bombs in spite of its pledge to denuclearize, even as he argued - as he has continued to do - that the Trump administration was making progress in talks with Pyongyang. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged during an unprecedented first summit with Trump last June to work towards denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. There has been little concrete progress since, but in September, Kim expressed willingness to take steps, including the permanent dismantlement of nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, in return for "corresponding measures" by the United States. U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun held three days of talks in Pyongyang last week to prepare for a second Trump-Kim summit due to be held in Hanoi on Feb. 27 and 28. He said before the talks they would include discussion of corresponding steps North Korea has demanded. Trump described those talks as "very productive" but the State Department has offered no sign of progress and Biegun and his counterpart have agreed to meet again before the summit. (Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Egyptian billionaire businessman Naguib Sawiris said on Tuesday he sees opportunities for mining, telecoms and hotels in North Korea if a summit between its leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump later this month is successful. Trump said last week he would hold his second meeting with Kim in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on Feb. 27 and 28 after an unprecedented first meeting between the leaders in Singapore last June. Sawiris, whose telecoms business operates the Koryolink mobile phone network in North Korea in a joint venture, said the impoverished country needed investments across the board from hotels to roads to modern methods of agriculture. "It's just a country full of opportunities if it opens up," Sawiris the executive chairman of Orascom Investment Holding said on the sidelines of a conference in Abu Dhabi. "I am looking forward in other areas such as mining, tourism, agriculture, agro-industries. But mining is amazing - they have so many resources and they don't have the money to spend on exploration." A State Department spokesman said last week that topics for the summit include complete denuclearization, transformation of U.S.-North Korea relations and building a lasting peace mechanism on the Korean Peninsula. "I am very upbeat on the (Trump) meeting because I think we might really achieve peace in that meeting. I think the North Koreans - all that they want - is recognition, respect, dialogue and they are getting it now." He said mobile phone penetration in North Korea was around 15 percent of the population or some three million people and market growth was limited because of expensive handsets that needed to be paid for in foreign currency. Orascom Investment Holdings said in September it had been granted an exemption from the United Nations to operate Koryolink, its joint venture with North Korea's Post and Telecommunication Company. This came after the U.N. Security Council tightened sanctions making it illegal for foreign companies to form commercial joint ventures with North Korean entities. (Reporting by Sylvia Westall, Editing by William Maclean) What Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has thrust upon our national conversation is not, in any sense, a Green New Deal. It does not resemble a Green New Deal. It does not approximate a Green New Deal. It does not so much as represent the shadows or the framework or the embryo of a Green New Deal. It is, instead, the inchoate shopping list of a political novice who has managed to get herself elected to Congress and believes that this has turned her into a visionary. As is her prerogative, Ocasio-Cortez can name her work as she sees fit. But her document is in no manner a plan. It is in no context a program. It is in no way an approach. It is not an outline, a manifesto, a statement, or a catechism. It is, rather, an all-compassing wish list an untrammeled Dear Santa letter without form, purpose, borders, or basis in reality. It is not even green, except in that peculiar, mind-wrecking way that intersectionality seeks to make everything part of everything else, and thus leads to Planned Parenthood insisting that Net Neutrality is reproductive justice and to the Democratic Socialists of America proclaiming that we cant possibly fix our algae problems until we institute union card check. Debates over the minutiae may fill the hours on cable news, but it does not, in fact, much matter whether the FAQ had been perfectly edited before release, or whether the PDF had been appropriately updated by its author, or whether the language in section 2, subsection 5 had been properly reviewed by the committee. It does not matter, either, whether Ocasio-Cortez eventually manages to get half the press corps or all of the press corps to cover for her disingenuousness. FAQ or not, the work deserves no serious evaluation beyond grim, derisive laughter. Clearly panicked by what Ocasio-Cortez was doing to her nascent majoritys agenda, Speaker Pelosi described the document disparagingly as a green dream. Tangerine Dream would have been closer to the mark. But Edgar Froese had talent. Story continues At Waco, the authorities agreed to a cease-fire so that David Koresh could finish his book the contents of which, a thorough decoding of the Seven Seals of Revelation, would be dictated to him by God. Next to Ocasio-Cortezs work, what Koresh bashed out onto his floppy disk resembles the finest theology of Aquinas. Quite what has possessed a 28-year-old, unmarried, childless bartender to consider herself capable of redesigning the entire world within a decade remains steadfastly unclear. Indeed, it does not seem to have occurred to either Ocasio-Cortez or to the more experienced politicians who have willingly become her disciples that they are endorsing a revolutionary screed penned by a person who has never so much as dealt directly with a local school board. At this point in her life, Ocasio-Cortez has no experience of anything much at all. She has no history of business ownership; she boasts no military service; she exhibits no vocational skills; she has raised no children; she has not dealt seriously with a zoning committee or a regulatory agency or a union boss; she has not written, amended, or influenced a single alteration to the legal regime under which we live. In and of itself, there is nothing wrong with this state of affairs. To each his own, and good luck to all. But Jeffrey Lebowski did not fancy himself as Lenin. Emerging from the two-year coma that our presidents pernicious ubiquity has induced, the Democratic party is having a tough time of late. There is a considerable difference between how policy ideas sound behind closed doors and how policy ideas sound when spoken aloud in a vast, boisterous, recalcitrant republic a difference that has clearly surprised those who were unaware that, Trump or no Trump, there is still no great appetite in America for post-birth abortion, for the abolition of private health insurance, or for breezy anti-Semitism masquerading as authenticity, and that there is likely to be even less enthusiasm for rebuilding every structure in America, or for phasing out airplanes, or for destroying our current sources of energy while ruling out the only reliable alternatives. Having returned from the wilderness, the savvier among the Lefts insurgent politicians grasped quickly that they were digging themselves into a hole and moderated their language accordingly. But Ocasio-Cortez, who suffers from the same auto-immune deficiency as Roy Moore, Steve King, and Ilhan Omar, has made no such adjustment. Egged on by a sizable coterie of fanatical cheerleaders, and inspired by her unassailable self-confidence, Ocasio-Cortez has come to see herself as a general fighting a war, and to regard those who criticize her even mildly as saboteurs, malignant interests, or unimaginative has-beens of the Age she was sent to vanquish. The exit from the dream will be a sour one. More from National Review Shares of Nikon NINOY have declined 8.4% to date, following the announcement of third-quarter fiscal 2019 results on Feb 7. The plunge can be attributed to lowered revenue guidance for the imaging business, due to struggling camera and chip equipment operations that have been hit by falling demand in China. Third-quarter profit attributable to owners of the parent increased 9.5% year over year to 17.9 billion. However, revenues of 190.5 billion ($1.69 billion) decreased 3.3% in a year, primarily due to weak performance by the Imaging Products segment. Moreover, increasing uncertainty over the resolution of the U.S.-China trade dispute has remained an overhang on shares. Additionally, per Reuters, Foxconn has requested Nikon to delay the installation of equipment at its new liquid crystal display (LCD) plant in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. The news also spooked investors, dragging down shares. Notably, the stock has lost 22.9% compared with the industrys decline of 7.9% in the past year. Segment Details Imaging Products (47.5% of revenues) revenues declined 22% year over year to 90.5 billion. Stiff competition in the shrinking entry and mid-level DSLR markets have hurt volume growth. This was partially offset by solid high-end camera sales, driven by the launch new ML products. Precision Equipment (34.5% of revenues) revenues surged 34.5% from the year-ago quarter to 64.7 billion. Growth was driven by solid volume increase in FPD Lithography business. Improved product mix drove Semiconductor Lithography business top-line growth. Healthcare (8.6% of revenues) revenues increased 16.4% from the year-ago quarter to 16.3 billion. Growth was driven by strong sales of both biological microscopes and retinal imaging diagnosis devices, primarily in international markets. Industrial Metrology and Others (10% of revenues) revenues increased 1.1% to 19 billion. Operating Details In third-quarter fiscal 2019, operating profit increased 19% year over year to 21.9 billion. However, operating margin contracted 220 basis points (bps) to 11.5%. Imaging Products segment operating profit plunged 46.9% year over year to 8.6 billion, primarily attributed to lower camera sales volume and higher costs. Precision Equipment operating profit surged 107.1% from the year-ago quarter to 17.4 billion. Healthcare business operating loss was 200 million compared with a loss of 100 million in the year-ago quarter. Industrial Metrology and Others segment operating profit jumped 31.3% to 2.1 billion. Balance Sheet & Free Cash Flow As of Dec 31, 2018, cash and cash equivalents were 415.6 billion compared with 415.2 billion on Sep 30. Free cash flow declined 45.3% year over year to 16.9 billion. Guidance For fiscal 2019, revenues are now projected to be 720 billion, down 20 billion from the previous guidance. While Imaging Products revenues are now expected to decline 15 billion, Precision Equipment is anticipated to decrease 5 billion. Research & development (R&D) expenses are expected to increase from 60.7 billion in fiscal 2018 to 67 billion in fiscal 2019. Operating profit is now estimated to increase 6 billion from the previous guidance to 80 billion. Profit attributable to owners of the parent is now projected at 59 billion, up 6 billion. Free cash flow is still projected to be 60 billion, down from 90.2 billion in the previous years quarter. Segment wise, Imaging Products fiscal 2019 revenues are now expected to be 305 billion. Operating profit is now expected to be 25 billion, down 6 billion from the previous guidance. Precision Equipment business revenues are now expected to be 277 billion. Large-sized panel systems sales growth is expected to exceed the sales drop of mid-to-small sized panel systems. Operating profit is now expected to increase 11 billion to 79 billion. Healthcare business revenues are still anticipated to increase 6.2 billion to 63 billion. Operating loss is projected to be 3 billion. Industrial Metrology and Others revenues are expected to increase 1.8 billion to 75 billion. Operating profit is expected to be 6 billion. Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider Currently, Nikon has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the broader computer and technology sector are ASGN Inc ASGN, Wix.com WIX and Cogent Communications Holdings CCOI. All the three stocks flaunt a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. ASGN, Wix.com and Cogent are set to report quarterly results on Feb 12, Feb 20 and Feb 21, respectively. Story continues Zacks' Best Stock-Picking Strategy It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But from 2000-2018, while the market gained +4.8% per year, our top stock-picking strategy averaged +54.3% per year. How has that screen done lately? From 2017-2018, it sextupled the market's +15.8% gain with a soaring +98.3% return. Free See the Stocks It Turned Up for Today >> 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 Nikon Corp. (NINOY) : Free Stock Analysis Report ASGN Incorporated (ASGN) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Sen. Bill Nelson deposits papers at UF Libraries Former U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson has deposited a collection of papers and other historical materials with the University of Floridas George A. Smathers Libraries, establishing a significant collection spanning his multi-decade career in public service. Over 800 boxes and more than 260,000 electronic files were delivered to the libraries in January. The collection documents over 46 years of public service by one of Floridas most influential political figures. In addition to his time in the Senate, the collection documents his training and flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia mission in 1986 as well as aspects of his youth and earlier political career. Among Nelsons collection is the flight suit he wore aboard Columbia and a Florida Gators bumper sticker he took to space. I am honored to have my papers and space collection deposited at the University of Florida, especially as a lifelong Gator, Nelson said. UF is a state and national resource that the public turns to for research and exploration. My papers will join UF's strong collections of Florida history, and I feel honored to have them alongside those of prominent Floridians." The Nelson Collection will be processed, preserved and stored in the Smathers Libraries. Some internal committee documents and constituent correspondence, for instance, must be withheld for a period of time according to federal law, but most materials will be made available to the public after review by Nelson and processing by library staff. Nelsons papers will become the sixth Senate collection in the P. K. Yonge Library of Florida History in the Special and Area Studies Collections Department, following those of Spessard Holland, George Smathers, Lawton Chiles, Connie Mack III and Bob Graham. The Libraries hold 60 additional collections related to Florida politics, including the papers of members of Congress, governors, a commissioner of agriculture, the Florida League of Women Voters and the Florida Defenders of the Environment. The Smathers Libraries are committed to expanding its political collections and plan to establish a Florida Political Papers Archive to highlight and publicize current and future collections. In addition, the Libraries are preeminent among academic libraries in holdings of historical materials about Florida heritage, Judaica, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Anglo-American childrens literature. The University of Florida Digital Collections is a key collaborator and provides the digital platform for Special and Area Studies Collections, ensuring worldwide access to the portions of these important historical collections, and on many other topics. The University of Florida is honored that Sen. Nelson is archiving his political papers here at the Smathers Libraries, UF President Kent Fuchs said. Because of his extensive service to our state and the nation, I am delighted that he is entrusting us with his collection. Nelsons family came to Florida in 1829, settling in Northwest Florida. Nelson was born in Miami, grew up in Melbourne and attended the University of Florida in the early 1960s where he was elected president of the freshman class and became a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He is an honorary member of Florida Blue Key. He transferred to Yale University, where he graduated in 1965 and earned a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1968. After serving as a captain in the U.S. Army and starting his law practice, he was first elected to office in 1972 as a member of the Florida House of Representatives. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978 and, in January 1986, became the first member of the U.S. House to fly in space when he flew on the Space Shuttle Columbia as a Payload Specialist. After serving as Floridas treasurer, insurance commissioner and fire marshal in the 1990s, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000 and completed his political career after three terms. While serving in the Senate, he was the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, chair of the Science and Space Subcommittee and chair of the Senate Committee on Aging. About the above photo: Then-U.S. Rep. Bill Nelson aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1986. This photo and the bumper sticker Nelson is holding in it are part of the collection of papers and other items he has deposited with UFs Smathers Libraries. (Photo provided by UF) The Hague (AFP) - The widows of four Nigerian activists executed by the military regime in the 1990s launched a court case in the Netherlands Tuesday against oil giant Shell for complicity in their deaths. Esther Kiobel, whose husband Barinem was hanged in 1995 along with famed writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and seven others, said the "horrible" experience had left her "traumatised". The widows allege that Anglo-Dutch Shell helped in the arrest of the men, who had sought to peacefully disrupt the oil giant's work in Nigeria's Ogoni region because of health and environmental impacts. Shell said it was "inconceivable" that it could have been involved in the death of the men. Kiobel and one of the other widows, Victoria Bera, were in court in The Hague for opening arguments in the case against Shell, while the other two women whose husbands were killed were denied visas to attend. "My husband had a good heart. Now I am a poor widow who has lost everything," Kiobel was quoted as telling the court in The Hague by Dutch news agency ANP. "The abuses that my family and I went through were a horrible experience that has traumatised us to this day," added Kiobel, who fled Nigeria in 1998 and now lives in the United States. Kiobel added: "We need justice, it's not about the money... I have been fighting for my murdered husband for 22 years now, so he can be acquitted of a crime he never committed." Bera, who now lives in Canada, said her husband was guilty of nothing except protesting against Shell. "We wanted a fair share of the profit, but we got nothing, no light or water yet. Shell and Nigeria took the oil and we got nothing," she said. - 'Brazen self-interest' - Saro-Wiwa, president and founder of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), and eight fellow activists were executed on November 10, 1995 after a military tribunal convicted them of the murder of four traditional Ogoni chiefs. Story continues The men denied the charges and human rights groups slammed the trial as a sham. The widows' case is being backed by rights group Amnesty International. "These women believe that their husbands would still be alive today were it not for the brazen self-interest of Shell, which encouraged the Nigerian government's bloody crackdown on protesters even when it knew the human cost," Amnesty's Mark Dummett said. Shell denied all involvement in the men's executions, saying it was "inconceivable" that it would have interfered in a criminal trial in a foreign country. "We are not blind to the terrible and radical loss that the women have suffered," a lawyer for the firm said. "But Shell is not responsible for these events." The lawyer added that the Dutch court did not have jurisdiction over the matter. Shell said in a separate statement that it had asked the Nigerian presidency for leniency for the men and "we regret that no response was given". "The executions carried out by a military government at that time have deeply affected us," a spokesman for the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited said. The Ogoni movement was set up in 1990 to fight against pollution and the destruction of the ecosystem of the 500,000-strong Ogoni community, which lives on an oil-rich parcel of land on the northern edge of the Niger Delta. The executions provoked a global outcry and led to the suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth. The west African country was readmitted with the return of civilian rule in 1999. In 2009 Shell agreed to a $15.5 million payout in the United States to settle a lawsuit brought by relatives of Saro-Wiwa that alleged complicity in abuses by Nigeria, without acknowledging responsibility. Artist Rendering: Aurora Polaris Facility (CNW Group/Aurora Cannabis Inc.) Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB.TO) plans to develop edible products including baked goods, chocolates, mints, and infused beverages at a new Edmonton facility, the company said on Tuesday. Dubbed Aurora Polaris, the 300,000 square-foot expansion will neighbour the newly completed large-scale Aurora Sky greenhouse near Edmonton International Airport. The Edmonton-based producer said the processing facility will enhance Auroras capacity to develop and produce its own high-margin edible products lines. Chief Corporate Officer Cam Battley told Yahoo Finance Canada the move does not signal the company has closed the door on striking a partnership with large beverage and food companies. That actually enhances our attractiveness to partners in different verticals, Battley said in an interview on Tuesday. We have been, as previously indicated, in discussions with different players from different mature industries. And we will continue to have those discussions. Last year, BNN Bloomberg reported that Aurora was in serious talks with the Coca-Cola Company (KO) about developing a cannabidiol-infused beverage. Coke and Aurora, in separate statements, said they were interested in CBD drinks but could not comment on market speculation. Asked if Aurora Polaris would produce products in partnership with other companies, Battle said he could not speak to that in detail. Things move very quickly in this business, he said. Our product development team has a built a deep and exciting pipeline of new high value products, Aurora Chief Executive Office Terry Booth wrote in a news release on Tuesday. We look forward to servicing our markets with the next generation of cannabis innovations Battley said Aurora has received very sage council from the United States to be patient not to rush into partnerships. He said the companys rising value will yield more favourable terms down the road, and expressed desire to potentially participate in multiple verticals. Story continues Given the number of industries that cannabis, medical and consumer, either disrupts or enhances, we think that this is very good and very wise council, he said. Aurora reported second-quarter results after the closing bell on Monday. Net revenues surged to $54.2 million in the first full quarter after legalized recreational sales in Canada. The company said the loss attributable to common shareholders equalled $237.7 million, or 25 cents per diluted share, compared with a profit of $7.7 million or two cents per share a year earlier. Toronto-listed Aurora shares climbed 2.95 per cent to $9.78 at 12:31 p.m. ET. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. JERUSALEM (AP) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the focus of Wednesday's Mideast conference in Warsaw will be Iran, an issue he says "unites Israel, the United States, many countries in the world." Speaking to reporters before departing for Poland on Tuesday, Netanyahu said Israel enjoys "very good relations" with every country in the region "except Syria." He confirmed Israel carried out a strike against Iran in Syria a day before. Wednesday's conference co-hosted by the U.S. and Poland will focus on Mideast peace and security. Around 80 countries are participating, including Israel, but Iran was not invited. Netanyahu says he doesn't think the Trump administration's "Deal of the Century" peace plan will be discussed. Rather, he says, participating countries will address "the most important topic for our national security," namely, Iran. By Lizbeth Diaz MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - At least 152 Catholic priests in Mexico have been suspended in the past nine years for sexual abuse against minors, Mexico's Archbishop for Monterrey said, prompting a lawyer for alleged victims of abuse to question on Monday the Church's sincerity. "Some delinquent priests are in prison, others have been suspended from their ministries. In the last nine years, 152 priests have retired," Rogelio Cabrera, Archbishop of Monterrey, told reporters on Sunday. The Mexican Church's announcement comes amid extensive sexual abuse scandals across the Catholic Church in countries including the United States, Chile, Australia, and Germany. Mexico is home to the worlds second-largest Catholic community after Brazil. Pope Francis will receive bishops at the Vatican later in February to discuss worldwide revelations of sexual abuse in the Church, which have badly eroded the institution's credibility. Martin Faz Mora, a lawyer representing 19 alleged victims of abuse by a priest in the central Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, expressed skepticism about the Church's announcement. The priest, Eduardo Cordova, was the first to be criminally charged with child abuse in the conservative Catholic country. "It's an irresponsible figure because victims are still waiting for retribution for their damages," Faz told Reuters on Monday. "In no instance has the Church approached the question of repairing victims' damages." Pope Francis has repeatedly promised zero tolerance for priests who abuse children but critics demand more action. (Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Writing by Delphine Schrank; Editing by Paul Tait) Christian Democratic Union leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer speaks at her partys conference on migration, integration, and security topics in Berlin. Photo: Retuers/Annegret Hilse Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the new leader of Germanys Christian Democratic Union (CDU) said on Monday that the huge influx of refugees who came to Germany in 2015 was a humanitarian exception. Speaking at a party workshop on immigration, security, and integration, Kramp-Karrenbauer said, We must make sure nothing like it ever happens again, that we have learned our lesson. The new conservative party boss, known as AKK in Germany, has begun distancing herself from her predecessor Angela Merkel. Shes especially taken a tougher line on migration than the chancellor. CDU proposals for a new immigration framework include an early warning system to alert the country to another asylum crisis, the processing of refugees on EUs outer borders, and the expulsion of refugees if they commit a crime punishable by more than 90 days in jail. Another suggestion was to make Germany a less attractive destination for asylum-seekers by curbing social benefits. Kramp-Karrenbauer was asked during an interview with public broadcaster ARD on Monday night if she would close the German border in the event of huge numbers of refugees arriving again, replying, that would be thinkable as a last resort. Many in the party blamed Merkels 2015 open-door refugee policy for the CDUs plummeting popularity, not just in the federal elections, when it lost some million voters to the anti-immigrant, right-wing Alternative for Germany, but also in several state elections last year. A poor showing in the state of Hesse in October prompted Merkel to announce her resignation as CDU chair in an effort to help the party. In December, Kramp-Karrenbauer narrowly won the leadership vote. Merkel herself did not attend the CDU-CSU immigration workshops this week, which may have made it easier for her protege to put forward her ideas. Kramp-Karrenbauer, who could become the next chancellor of Germany in 2022, must walk a bit of a tightrope at the moment. While she and Merkel are allies, the new CDU boss needs to take concrete steps to unite the divided party, many of whom want a new, stricter German migration policy. Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - A senior member of the European parliament warned the leaders of Britain's Brexit movement on Tuesday that a previous generation of revolutionaries lost their heads. Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the assembly's Liberal group and its Brexit committee, was speaking after reports of British MPs comparing their leaders to 18th-century French figures. According to Politico, wags see minister Michael Gove as alleged counterrevolutionary Jacques Pierre Brissot, and Boris Johnson as a flamboyant and venal revolutionary leader Georges Danton. Brexiteer faction leader Jacob Rees-Mogg is compared to the uncompromising revolutionary purist Maximilien Robespierre. Of course, all of these Frenchmen shared the same fate. "We must remember that the efforts of these men were not appreciated by the common man they claimed to represent," Verhofstadt told reporters at the parliament. "Because they all ended under the guillotine." As frustration mounts with Prime Minister Theresa May's attempts to force a renegotiation of the Brexit divorce deal, European officials have become more outspoken. Last week Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, warned that leading Brexiteers like Rees-Mogg, Gove and Johnson would have a "special place in Hell". France's President Emmanuel Macron has called the champions of Brexit "liars" and Luxembourg premier Xavier Bettel this week accused them of recklessly pushing a "blind" deal. EU negotiator Michel Barnier has remained above the fray, but even his language has toughened and on Monday he warned: "Something has to move on the British side." And Verhofstadt, who is expected to meet senior British officials in Strasbourg this week, did not mince words, branding Brexit hardliners "irresponsible". Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So well take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Close Brothers Group plc (LON:CBG). What Is Insider Selling? Its quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market. Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. For example, a Columbia University study found that insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own companys stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers. Check out our latest analysis for Close Brothers Group The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Close Brothers Group Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by CEO & Director Per Prebensen for UK3.6m worth of shares, at about UK15.24 per share. That means that an insider was selling shares at around the current price of UK14.57. While their view may have changed since the sale, this is not a particularly positive fact. We generally tread carefully if insiders have been selling on market, even if they sold slightly above the current price. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Close Brothers Group shares, than buying. The sellers received a price of around UK15.35, on average. We dont gain much confidence from insider selling near the recent share price. Since insiders sell for many reasons, we wouldnt put too much weight on it. The chart below shows insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date! Story continues LSE:CBG Insider Trading February 12th 19 For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket. Does Close Brothers Group Boast High Insider Ownership? Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon its a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Close Brothers Group insiders own about UK11m worth of shares. That equates to 0.5% of the company. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, its enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders. What Might The Insider Transactions At Close Brothers Group Tell Us? There havent been any insider transactions in the last three months that doesnt mean much. Our analysis of Close Brothers Group insider transactions leaves us cautious. The modest level of insider ownership is, at least, some comfort. Of course, the future is what matters most. So if you are interested in Close Brothers Group, you should check out this free report on analyst forecasts for the company. If you would prefer to check out another company one with potentially superior financials then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements. The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So shareholders might well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Adveritas Limited (ASX:AV1). What Is Insider Selling? Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock on the market. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information. Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. For example, a Columbia University study found that insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own companys stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers. Check out our latest analysis for Adveritas The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Adveritas Eugeni Tsvetnenko made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for AU$133k worth of shares at a price of AU$0.10 each. That means that an insider was selling shares at around the current price of AU$0.09. They might be selling for a variety of reasons, but its hard to argue this is a bullish sign. We usually pause to reflect on the potential that a stock has a high valuation, if insiders have been selling at around the current price. Eugeni Tsvetnenko was the only individual insider to sell shares in the last twelve months. Eugeni Tsvetnenko divested 3.00m shares over the last 12 months at an average price of AU$0.078. The chart below shows insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below! Story continues ASX:AV1 Insider Trading February 12th 19 If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying. Does Adveritas Boast High Insider Ownership? For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Adveritas insiders own about AU$2.7m worth of shares. That equates to 21% of the company. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment. So What Do The Adveritas Insider Transactions Indicate? An insider hasnt bought Adveritas stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. Looking to the last twelve months, our data doesnt show any insider buying. While insiders do own shares, they dont own a heap, and they have been selling. Wed think twice before buying! To put this in context, take a look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow . If you would prefer to check out another company one with potentially superior financials then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements. The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. Markus Meechan, pictured with his pug Buddha, who he taught to do a Nazi salute. He has since taunted police that he has not yet paid the fine for this offence. (SWNS) A man convicted of a hate crime after teaching his girlfriends PUG to do a Nazi salute has bragged hes still not paid the fine and taunted police to come and get me. Markus Meechan also told talkRADIO the pet would be a ring-bearer at his wedding and it will be dressed in a kilt. Meechan, who goes by the moniker Count Dankula, was fined 800 after breaching the Communications Act 2003 by posting the grossly offensive video. In the video, titled M8 Yer dugs a Nazi, Meechan showed how his girlfriends pug dog, Buddha, would perform a Nazi salute every time he used the phrase Gas the Jews. He was supported during a trial at Airdrie Sheriff Court by right-wing leader Tommy Robinson. A still from Markus Meechans video of his girlfriends dog Buddha (SWNS) Nearly a year after the fine was issued, Meechan publicly boasted that he still had not paid it. Meechan told the station: Ive still refused to pay the fine and its past the threshold now, so its now a case of waiting for the cops to come and get me. I was literally convicted for causing gross offence which basically means I hurt peoples feelings. Ive got a criminal record and a possible prison sentence because I offended people, that literally is what I was convicted for. He insisted that the video did have comedy value. Buddha the pug who starred in a shocking video which has been viewed almost one million times. The video shows Markus Meechan teaching the animal to jump up at the phrase Gas the Jews and to raise its paw in an imitation Nazi salute when it hears the words Sieg Heil. Meechan said: A lot of people actually did [find it funny], you are getting the odd people that are trying to say I am secretly trying to spread Nazi views and all this type of stuff. Is just because they have no idea about the type of comedy we like on the internet. If these guys want to sit there with their tin foil hats on and think that I am some sort of secret wee reincarnation of Hitler then they can if they want to look ridiculous. Meechan says investigators checked through his personal items and found nothing suggesting he was anti-semitic. Meechan, from Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, insisted he did not regret posting the video. When asked whether he regretted it, he said: No, I dont. He added: Nobody is forcing you to sit and look at your computer, nobody is forcing you to consume this content, you get to choose it. Story continues So see anyone that actively goes out to find stuff that offends them, they bring it on themselves. If you dont like the content, dont watch it. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK An employee tends to marijuana plants at the Aurora Cannabis Inc. facility in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on Tuesday, March 6, 2018. Photographer: Jason Franson/Bloomberg via Getty Images Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB.TO) wont go out of its way to remedy recreational cannabis shortages in Canadian provinces at the expense of sales in higher-margin medical markets, executives said on a post-earnings conference call Monday evening. The Edmonton-based producer said it captured about 20 per cent of Canadian sales in the first full quarter since recreational legalization, according to Health Canada data. Aurora is rapidly ramping up production, growing 7,822 kilograms and selling 6,999 kilograms in the three months ending Dec. 31, 2018, up 57 per cent and 162 per cent respectively from the same period a year earlier. Its massive 800,000-square-foot hybrid indoor Aurora Sky facility is now said to be fully complete. The company expects it to reach full production capacity soon. How much of Auroras cannabis will be sold to underserved Canadian recreational buyers in excess of current agreements will depend on demand in higher-value markets and the provinces willingness to offer comparable prices. Were not that ready to give them more than what our contract requires when we are getting double in other locations, Aurora Chief Executive Officer Terry Booth told analysts on the companys second quarter earnings call. It is not something that we have top of the priority list in providing cannabis for a lesser price if we dont have to. Shortages have persisted since recreational legalization last October. Retail outlets in Quebec have been forced to limit sales to just three days per week. New Brunswicks provincial retailer has laid off 60 workers due to lack of inventory. Supply woes forced Ontarios government to limit the number of brick-and-mortar stores to 25 until the situation is resolved. Aurora reported $47 million in net revenue from cannabis in the second quarter, $25.9 million for medical and $21.6 from consumer sales. The company said it expects lower average net selling prices per gram equivalent from the Canadian consumer market, versus the Canadian medical and European medical markets. Story continues Our percentage that we sell into the Canadian consumer market will be whatevers left after weve fully allocated all the other higher-value markets, Chief Financial Officer Glen Ibbott said on the call. Well meet our minimum commitments. But even within the allocation of provinces, we look province-by-province where it makes sense to supply either our commitment or more than our commitment. Aurora is continuing its aggressive international expansion, and expects a strong increase in international exports in the remainder of 2019. The company can sell into some of the most restrictive and promising markets in the European Union, including Germany and Italy. Aurora said it exported its first batch of cannabis oil to the United Kingdom on Monday. If I lose sleep over anything, I lose sleep over our ability to supply this global cannabis market. It is coming at us very fast, Booth said. I see this world expansion in the cannabis space not even close to being fed properly. Its at least five years before we have an oversupply situation for companies that can export under EU GMP compliant facilities. He expressed frustration over provinces that seem unwilling to pay more for higher-quality cannabis, and suggested Aurora may raise its prices in response. He expects the company will have more leverage to command higher prices as consumers build loyalty to Auroras line of products. That will give us an opportunity to go back to the provinces and say, Hey, you know what? We have an awesome demand for these particular products. We are going to be increasing our prices. Were not going to continue to sell our cannabis at the same price as our competitors, Booth said. I think the high-quality cannabis pricing will go up without a doubt. Aurora reported a better-than-expected $54.2 million in revenue in the second quarter, up 363 per cent from the same period last year. Net earnings swung to a $237.7 million loss, from a $7.7 million gain from the same period a year ago. Toronto-listed Aurora shares have climbed about 40 per cent in 2019. Shares fell 4.52 per cent lower to $9.50 after the market closed on Monday. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. McGiffin with Cassidy (Getty Images) Loose Women presenter Carol McGiffin has revealed that she married her fiancee Mark Cassidy last year in Thailand. McGiffin, 58, dropped the marriage bombshell in her Best magazine column. She wrote about the secret nuptials: No one knew we were going to do it, but weve basically spent the last year having separate celebrations with different friends and family, telling them all in person. Now they all know, were ready for it to come out. The couple married in a low key wedding ceremony in Bangkok, Thailand with no family members or friends present. McGiffin explained that they had intended to marry the previous year, but cancelled after the tragic death of her sister. Wed booked a registry office in London for 19 January 2017, but sadly my sister died five days earlier so, of course, we cancelled it. We re-booked it but then changed our minds because it still didnt feel right it was too soon. Part of the reason it took us so long to get married was because every time we discussed having a traditional wedding day with guests, it ran out of control and became too much, she wrote. The couple, who have been together for a decade, celebrated their one year anniversary in Phuket, Thailand over the weekend. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. McGiffin has previously hit back at the age gap between her and Cassidy. With over twenty years between them, she wrote in Best in 2017 that their relationship is proof that large age gaps can work in relationships: Some people will never get their heads around the idea that an older woman can make it work with a younger man. It can work Im living proof of that, as Mark and I, are coming up to nine years together, and were stronger than ever. Anyone who doesnt like the idea should shut their mouth, because its not your life, its ours. Were the only ones who need to worry about our ages. This is McGiffins second marriage. The broadcaster was married to Chris Evans between 1991-1998. Read more Richard Madeley demonstrates breast pump on GMB Gemma Collins talks pregnancy plans Piers Morgan tops secret crush poll Value investing is always a very popular strategy, and for good reason. After all, who doesnt want to find stocks that have low PEs, solid outlooks, and decent dividends? Fortunately for investors looking for this combination, we have identified a strong candidate which may be an impressive value; Alaska Air Group, Inc. ALK. Alaska Air Group in Focus ALK may be an interesting play thanks to its forward PE of 9.7, its P/S ratio of 1, and its decent dividend yield of 2%. These factors suggest that Alaska Air Group is a pretty good value pick, as investors have to pay a relatively low level for each dollar of earnings, and that ALK has decent revenue metrics to back up its earnings. Alaska Air Group, Inc. PE Ratio (TTM) Alaska Air Group, Inc. PE Ratio (TTM) | Alaska Air Group, Inc. Quote But before you think that Alaska Air Group is just a pure value play, it is important to note that it has been seeing solid activity on the earnings estimate front as well. For current year earnings, the consensus has gone up by 1.4% in the past 30 days, thanks to four upward revisions in the past one month compared to two lower. This estimate strength is actually enough to push ALK to a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), suggesting it is poised to outperform. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. So really, Alaska Air Group is looking great from a number of angles thanks to its PE below 20, a P/S ratio below one, and a strong Zacks Rank, meaning that this company could be a great choice for value investors at this time. Zacks' Best Stock-Picking Strategy It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But from 2000-2018, while the market gained +4.8% per year, our top stock-picking strategy averaged +54.3% per year. How has that screen done lately? From 2017-2018, it sextupled the market's +15.8% gain with a soaring +98.3% return. Free See the Stocks It Turned Up for Today >> 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 Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Washington (AFP) - The commander of US forces in South Korea said Tuesday that he had seen "little to no verifiable change" in North Korea's military capabilities. President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last June in a bid to resolve tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear program, and the two signed off on a vaguely worded document in which Kim pledged to work towards "the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula." General Robert Abrams, the new head of US Forces Korea, said the summit had helped dial down tensions on the Korean peninsula, but had not led to substantive changes. "Little to no verifiable change has occurred and North Korea's military capabilities," Abrams told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Further, North Korea's conventional and asymmetric military capabilities along with their continued development of advanced conventional systems remains unchecked. These capabilities continue to hold the United States, the Republic of Korea and our regional allies at risk." Abrams added that North Korea was continuing its winter military training at historic norms. Trump and Kim are set to meet in Hanoi from February 27 to 28 for a second summit, following their historic first meet in Singapore last year. Abrams noted that it had been 440 days since North Korea's last "provocative action" and credited diplomatic efforts and international sanctions for leading to a "significant reduction in tension." Despite the bonhomie of Kim and Trump's first meeting, progress has since stalled with the two sides disagreeing over what Kim's pledge means. Analysts say tangible progress on denuclearization will be needed if the talks are to avoid being dismissed as "reality TV." After that first summit, Trump called off large-scale joint exercises with South Korea. Abrams said "it is necessary to maintain a postured and ready force to deter any possible aggressive actions," but stressed that the two allied militaries continue to train together at a lower level. Nanterre (France) (AFP) - French rail authorities said Tuesday they were investigating the cause of a rare tram collision in a Paris suburb which injured 12 people, one of them seriously. The collision took place late Monday in the Issy-les-Moulineaux suburb southwest of the capital just after 9:00 pm (2000 GMT). "Two tram carriages collided with passengers on board," a spokesman for the RATP Paris rail operator said. "The one in front was stopped, and the other crashed into it from behind," causing the first tram to derail. "One victim is in serious condition, and 11 others have minor injuries," a spokesperson for the fire department said, adding that nine of the victims had been brought to local hospitals. Traffic was "entirely cut off" during the night, and bus services were put in place as repair work was carried out at the site of the crash. RATP chief executive Catherine Guillouard visited the scene overnight, saying "an internal enquiry was immediately triggered in order to shed light on the causes of this accident." Traffic is expected to be disrupted for several days as the repair work is carried out, the RATP said. Accidents are rare on the busy Paris suburban tram network, which was opened two decades ago. In this Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019, photo the Dome of the U.S. Capitol building is visible on the morning of the State of the Union in Washington. WASHINGTON Members of Congress agree on one thing: They dont want any more government shutdowns. They just can't agree on how to stop them for good. Ahead of Friday's deadline to prevent a second government shutdown, a bipartisan group of lawmakers reached a tentative deal on border security that would include $1.375 billion for fencing well below President Donald Trump's demand for $5.7 billion funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Lawmakers have been eager to prevent a repeat of the longest shutdown in history that ended last month. The 35-day lapse brought hardship to 800,000 federal workers who went unpaid for weeks. It also took a hefty financial toll on contractors and owners of small businesses such as restaurants and hair salons that rely on federal workers. That has stirred renewed interest on Capitol Hill in legislation that would permanently avoid government shutdowns. Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican, compared the sudden surge in support to the comic character Pogo. Remember when Pogo looked in the mirror and said: The enemy was us? Thats what has happened, Isakson said. Isakson has backed a bill being pushed by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, that would end government shutdowns. If Congress couldnt come to an agreement on spending bills for the following year, automatic spending at the current level would kick in. After four months, there would be a 1 percent reduction across the board. That would happen again every 90 days, with the aim of bringing pressure on lawmakers to reach a deal. Portman has been pushing the bill for years, but lately, he said he senses greater momentum at least for the broad idea. More: As government shutdown looms, federal workers still hurting from last lapse, survey finds More: Can the middle-class revival under Trump last? Im very encouraged because Ive never seen more support for ending shutdowns. It's bipartisan now. Republicans and Democrats alike have learned from this last shutdown, Portman told USA TODAY after the government reopened last month. Story continues To exert pressure on Congress, Portman said across-the-board cuts would hit both sides where it hurts. Republicans are resistant cuts to the Defense Department and Democrats would not want to see social programs lose money. Including Portman, the bill now has 33 sponsors. So far, theyre all Republicans. That is problematic in a chamber that requires bipartisanship, and 60 votes, for legislation to move. Democrats worry that fiscal hard-liners would be content to allow reduced government spending over time. I think there are a lot of Republicans who would like to run government like that for the next 10 years, said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland. I'm not a subscriber of that. Portman has been talking with his colleague Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, who also has a bill that would end government shutdowns. The pair are trying to find common ground. Warner's legislation would require automatic funding to kick in if Congress couldnt come to a deal. If lawmakers remained at a standstill for a year, government funding would increase in line with growth in gross domestic product. Thats a non-starter for many Republicans who want to rein in government spending, not increase it. But Warner said he doesn't think an impasse would last that long. That's because, under the legislation, while Congress negotiates, funding for the executive office of the president and the legislative branch would be frozen. A group of Democratic freshman introduced a similar measure that would keep the government operating at ongoing levels, while targeting just the executive branch and members of Congress as time goes on. If Congress and the president cant agree on spending, the burden shouldnt fall on federal workers and their families it should fall on leaders in Washington, said Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan. Related: Trump signs measure to temporarily reopen government, setting up new battle over border wall Prayer, pushups and poker: Can bipartisan friendships end the shutdown? They did in 2013 Although Hoyer said he has reservations about many of the bills being discussed, several other House and Senate leaders have broadly endorsed ending government shutdowns permanently. But they have not rallied behind a particular plan. Id be open to anything that we could agree on, on a bipartisan basis, that would make them pretty hard to occur," Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters last month. "Again, theres some differences on how to craft that, but Im certainly open to it. There are also more narrow pieces of legislation that wouldnt outright stop shutdowns, but would try to blunt their impact. Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., introduced legislation that would allow federal workers affected by the shutdown to tap their retirement funds without penalty. I think that the fact that you have federal employees that are being victimized by partisan politics is really awful, Graves said. After the government reopened last month, some lawmakers sought to have a permanent end to shutdowns included in the border-security negotiations that led to this week's tentative deal. But House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey, a member of the bipartisan conference committee tasked with finding a compromise on border security, is not a fan of the idea. Lowey, D-N.Y., said that while such proposals were well-intentioned, automatic spending mechanisms would "weaken Congress power of the purse, shift power to the president and make it much harder to fund investments important to working families. Even if Congress were to agree on way forward and find a vehicle for such a compromise, there are legal questions about docking lawmakers' pay. Members are offering show amendments to not take pay during the shutdown, but unfortunately the 27th amendment of the Constitution would prohibit that from going into effect before the next election, said Mark Harkins, a senior fellow at the Georgetown University Government Affairs Institute. Contributing: Deborah Berry This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lawmakers don't want any more government shutdowns; they just can't agree on how to prevent them WASHINGTON (AP) The Latest on Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar's tweets on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (all times local): 8:10 p.m. President Donald Trump says freshman Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar "should be ashamed of herself" over tweets suggesting that a powerful pro-Israel interest group paid members of Congress to support Israel. The Minnesota congresswoman "unequivocally" apologized earlier Monday after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats rebuked her. She said she had no intention of offending anyone and thanked her colleagues for educating her on anti-Semitic tropes. On Air Force One flying to a campaign rally in El Paso, Texas, Trump said that Omar had made "a terrible statement" and that he didn't find her apology to be adequate. Asked what she should have said, Trump replied, "She knows what to say." ___ 3:10 p.m. Freshman Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota has "unequivocally" apologized for tweets suggesting a powerful pro-Israel interest group paid members of Congress to support Israel. Earlier Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats had rebuked her for the tweets. Omar said she had no intention of offending anyone by a tweet over the weekend suggesting that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, was behind the scheme. Another tweet mentioned "the Benjamins," a reference to $100 bills. AIPAC denied the assertion, and Democrats said they were shocked. Omar tweeted Monday afternoon: "I unequivocally apologize." She thanked her colleagues for educating her on anti-Semitic Jewish tropes. She said the influence of money in politics remains a problem and must be addressed. ___ 1:05 p.m. A powerful House chairman is warning members of his panel that anti-Semitism will not be tolerated after a freshman member sparked a bipartisan backlash to a tweet criticizing an American organization that supports Israel. Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel in a statement Monday did not directly mention Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar's tweet, in which she said that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is paying members of Congress to support the Jewish state. But Engel said he finds it "shocking to hear a member of Congress invoke the anti-Semitic trope of 'Jewish money.'" He said he will emphasize to committee members of both parties that the American-Israeli relationship is important. Omar's tweet sparked a bipartisan backlash. Some lawmakers called on Democrats to remove her from the Foreign Affairs Committee. LATAM Airlines Group S.A. LTM posted traffic numbers for January. Consolidated traffic (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) came in at 11.52 billion, up 5.1% from the year-ago figure. On a year-over-year basis, consolidated capacity (or available seat miles/ASMs) rose 6.1% to 13.47 billion. However, consolidated load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) contracted 80 basis points (bps) to 85.5% as capacity expansion outweighed traffic growth. Meanwhile, passenger count rose 5.7% to 6.58 million. With the company scheduled to release fourth-quarter earnings on Mar 12, lets delve into its likely performance in the period. Encouraging passenger and cargo revenues are anticipated to boost the companys top line in the to-be-reported quarter. However, alike the last few quarters, depreciation of the Brazilian Real and Argentinian Peso are expected to hamper the companys fourth-quarter results too. LATAM Airlines Group S.A. Price LATAM Airlines Group S.A. Price | LATAM Airlines Group S.A. Quote Price Performance Shares of the company have plunged more than 27% in a years time due to headwinds like high costs and depreciation of the Brazilian Real and Argentinian Peso. Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks LATAM carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Some other top-ranked stocks in the same space are Azul SA AZUL, Air France-KLM SA AFLYY and SkyWest, Inc. SKYW, each flaunting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Shares of Azul and Air France-KLM have rallied more than 63% and 18% in the past six months. Meanwhile, the SkyWest stock boasts a stellar earnings history, having outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four reported quarters, the average being 16.9%. Zacks' Best Stock-Picking Strategy It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But from 2000-2018, while the market gained +4.8% per year, our top stock-picking strategy averaged +54.3% per year. How has that screen done lately? From 2017-2018, it sextupled the market's +15.8% gain with a soaring +98.3% return. Free See the Stocks It Turned Up for Today >> 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 Air France-KLM SA (AFLYY) : Free Stock Analysis Report SkyWest, Inc. (SKYW) : Free Stock Analysis Report LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (LTM) : Free Stock Analysis Report AZUL SA (AZUL) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Labor unions say they are withholding support for a Green New Deal unveiled by Democrats last week to transition the American economy away from fossil fuels, arguing the loosely-defined plan could kill jobs if its architects aren't careful. The cool response from unions underscores the challenge facing Democratic presidential hopefuls who support aggressive action on climate change but must also win back the blue-collar voters that swept President Donald Trump to victory in 2016. The Green New Deal is a non-binding Congressional resolution introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Edward Markey that would legislate government-led investment in clean energy infrastructure with the goal of making America carbon neutral within a decade. Democratic presidential hopeful Senators Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren have already thrown their support behind it. The resolution's backers say the plan - once fully sketched out in the legislation - would create jobs in much the same way as President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal of the 1930s by putting Americans to work on transformative government-led projects. It also calls for a "just transition" for current fossil fuel workers - from coal miners to pipeline workers - through guarantees of healthcare, jobs, and job training. Union officials told Reuters they were skeptical. "We will never settle for 'just transition' language as a solution to the job losses that will surely come from some of the policies in the resolution," said Yvette Pena O'Sullivan, executive director of the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA), whose members work in construction and other industries. Phil Smith, a spokesman for the United Mine Workers (UMWA), which represents workers in the coal industry, echoed the concerns. "We've heard words like 'just transition' before, but what does that really mean? Our members are worried about putting food on the table," he said. LIUNA and UMWA said they were not contacted for input on the resolution before it was released. Sean McGarvey, president of the North America's Building Trades Unions, representing construction workers across all sectors including energy, said his staff had been contacted by Markey's office about the Green New Deal, but said his members are skeptical of "green job" promises. Members "working in the oil and gas sector can make a middle-class living, whereas renewable energy firms have been less generous," he said at a pipeline safety event last week. APPALACHIAN BACKLASH Democrats backing the resolution are seeking to highlight the contrast in their position with the Trump administrations vocal support for drilling and mining and its skepticism about the causes and impacts of global warming. Trump's approach was warmly received in 2016 in parts of Appalachia and the Rust Belt, which have been suffering from manufacturing and mining jobs losses. Trump's Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton struggled to sell her clean energy agenda in those regions, and suffered politically after saying her policies would "put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business." The Sunrise Movement, a youth organization backing the Green New Deal, plans to launch a multi-state campaign in March to drum up support, featuring stops in Michigan, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. "A lot of places struggling with joblessness are fossil fuel dependent places that suffer from poor air and water quality. Guaranteeing the right of clean air, water and jobs is something we think a lot of people can get behind," said Stephen O'Hanlon, a spokesman for the group. Unions have expressed support in the past for more moderate approaches to addressing climate change, including cap-and-trade systems to curb carbon dioxide emissions. Ocasio-Cortez and Markey's offices did not respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; editing by Richard Valdmanis and Sonya Hepinstall) BRUMADINHO, Brazil (AP) My first day covering the devastating dam collapse in southeastern Brazil, I was on the phone with my editor when a crying woman approached me. "Sir, sir, can you help me to find my son?" she asked, looking at me with glassy eyes that seemed empty. "Do you know where my son is?" I didn't know what to say. Then I remembered the support center that authorities had set up downtown and told her to go there. She said she had already been there. Another son of this woman then approached, and the two walked off. As I watched them go, I wished I had reacted differently, thought of something better to say, but I didn't know what. ___ EDITOR'S NOTE Photographer Leo Correa traveled to Brumadinho on assignment for The Associated Press on the day that a mining dam collapsed. He spent nearly a week documenting the tragedy. ___ This family was like hundreds of others, needing to hope that a loved one was still alive while fearing the worst. The Jan. 25 breach of the dam, at an iron ore mine owned and operated by the giant Brazilian company Vale SA, unleashed tens of thousands of pounds (kilograms) of reddish-brown mud over a wide area in Brumadinho. It buried a Vale lunchroom, where hundreds of employees were believed to be eating, and also clobbered several other company buildings and parts of the city, including an inn. Authorities have recovered more than 120 bodies so far, and more than 200 people remain missing. Shortly after the encounter with the woman, I went to an area where a fresh produce market had been plastered with mud. Rescuers were removing a body so badly crushed it fit in a basket used to carry fruit. It was humid (it's summer in Brazil), and the mounds of mud, laden with discharge from the mine, produced a stench that reminded me of blood. Two days later, I went to an area called Corrego do Feijao, which got the brunt of the deluge. Rescuers had found a bus with an unknown number of bodies inside. Story continues About 20 firefighters treaded carefully over the mud, several yards (meters) deep, so as not to get trapped themselves. Helicopters hovered above, lowering tools to the men who used them to cut open smashed metal. After about eight hours, they removed the first body. While watching the operation, I saw several helicopters fly by, each carrying one body. I stopped counting at 10. The mud again smelled like blood, but now there was also a strong stench of decomposing corpses. The following day, at the support center, I saw the woman from the first day. Malvina Firmina Nunes, a 61-year-old house cleaner, had four adult children. She was still trying to locate her son, Peterson Nunes Ribeiro, 35, who had been working in equipment distribution at the mine complex. At the center, two women tried to calm Nunes. "I called him on the phone, but he didn't answer me," she said. "I want to talk to him, but he doesn't answer. Where is my son?" This time, I cried. The son who I had seen with Nunes that first day, Fernando, 29, told me they still had no news of his brother. The next day, I visited their home, which sits in a neighboring village called Tejuco, where another mine operates. Nunes told me about Peterson, who had finally gotten a job at the mine complex in Brumadinho nine months ago after being unemployed. He had three children and a longtime partner. Now, everybody in the family fears mines, particularly the one next to their home. Their grief was painful to watch. "Take me in his place, Lord, take me!" Nunes said, standing by the window. "I have already lived too much. I don't want to live anymore." In another moment, Nunes got down on her knees and began praying while Fernando looked on, crying. That day, I accompanied Fernando to an area destroyed by mud that he had gone to before in search of his brother. He wanted to see if rescuers had found him. They had not. Together, we watched another recovery operation, another body being pulled out by helicopter. "I will find my brother," Fernando said. He called Vale "murderers." Vale's chief executive has acknowledged that its safeguards fell short. When we returned home, Fernando put his mom in bed. "Leo, stay here," Nunes pleaded as I was about to leave. "Why don't you sleep here, stay with us in our home? I lost one son. But who knows, perhaps today I have gained another son?" Two days later, Fernando told me his brother's body had been found. ___ Leo Correa on Twitter: twitter.com/Leo_Correa Photographer Leo Correa traveled to Brumadinho on assignment for The Associated Press on the day that a mining dam collapsed. He spent nearly a week documenting the tragedy. Investigators working for Jeff Bezos have reportedly concluded that the intimate text messages published by the National Enquirer were leaked by the brother of the Amazon bosss mistress. The team, led by investigator Gavin de Becker, believed that Michael Sanchez the brother of Mr Bezoss girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez gave the texts to the tabloid, several media reports have suggested. Mr Sanchez has previously denied he was involved in leaking the material and this weekend he attacked the Amazon founder. Mr de Becker, who has been in charge of Mr Bezoss security for two decades, reached the conclusion after the texts were published by the Enquirer last month, and launched a probe to see where the leak had come, according to both the Daily Beastwebsite and the Associated Press news agency. Last week, Mr Bezos made headlines around the world when he claimed in a blogpost that the Enquirer had threatened to publish explicit photographs of him unless he issued a public statement reversing claims by Mr de Becker that the magazines reporting of his private life was politically motivated. He refused to do so, and instead made public emails between his lawyers and those of American Media Inc (AMI), the parent company of the Enquirer, and whose owner is an ally of Donald Trump. One of the images was said to be a below the belt selfie. Of course I dont want personal photos published, but I also wont participate in their well-known practice of blackmail, political favours, political attacks and corruption. I prefer to stand up, roll this log over and see what crawls out, Mr Bezos wrote. The findings added to the intrigue surrounding the clash between the pro-Trump tabloid and the worlds richest man, the AP reported. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. It said Mr Trump had been highly critical of Mr Bezos over his ownership of the The Washington Post and Amazon, and the Posts coverage of the White House. Story continues Mr Sanchez is a supporter of Mr Trump and an acquaintance of Trump allies Roger Stone and Carter Page. He is also the manager of Ms Sanchez, a former TV anchor. The investigators have not said how they believe Mr Sanchez came into possession of his sisters intimate messages. Mr Sanchez did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Mr de Becker and Amazon also did not respond to emails. Over the weekend, Mr Sanchez told Fox News: Everything that Gavin has advised Jeff to do has only amplified the magnitude of the scandal. A lawyer for AMI, Elkan Abramowitz, declined to name who provided the texts but told ABC News it was a reliable source, well-known to Mr Bezos and Ms Sanchez. She said that the source had provided information to the company for at least seven years. Mr Sanchez previously told the Post he was not the source of the information. He said the claims about him were lies, half-truths, sloppy tabloid leaks and crazy conspiracy theories. By Alastair Macdonald STRASBOURG (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte called on Tuesday for a less austere European Union more in tune with popular demands for economic growth, but he faced a barrage of criticism after his keynote speech in the EU legislature. Speaking to the European Parliament in Strasbourg as part of a series of contributions by national leaders to a debate on the future of the Union, Conte stressed the continued commitment of Rome's populist government to EU integration - a commitment some doubted after the coalition's election last year. But in renewing Italian calls for more flexibility in euro zone budget rules, common debt instruments for the EU currency area, an EU unemployment fund and a change in rules intended to avoid new bank collapses, he said years of austerity had driven a wedge between elites and people that endangered the Union. "The powerful opposition that the European people, in its various forms, is demonstrating in the face of the elites speaks to our consciences and reminds us that politics, too assertive on economic rationales, has not done its homework and has given up on its mission," Conte told the assembled lawmakers. Insisting his administration was keeping its "accounts in order", Conte said it was also seeking to stimulate growth. He called for the EU to end long arguments over how to handle migrants arriving by sea across the Mediterranean - a longstanding Italian complaint - and to play a stronger, more united role in global affairs while maintaining dialogue with other powers such as the United States, Russia and China. But leaders of mainstream political groups, whose Italian allies found themselves excluded from power in Rome by the rise of the populist League and 5-Star Movement coalition, lined up to criticize Conte's government. They objected to Rome's straying from euro zone budget rules, passing measures against asylum-seekers or siding with Russia to thwart EU support for the opposition in Venezuela. The sharp exchanges with a prime minister who, as an academic and political novice, is seen as the moderate face of a government dominated by radical voices, illustrated themes that will be aired in elections to the EU assembly this coming May. SALVINI BLASTS CRITICISM OF CONTE While Conte himself rejected charges from the floor that he was a mere "puppet" of the League and 5-Star, his far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the League, also leapt to his defense. He called it "shameful" that "European bureaucrats" had "insulted" not just the premier but all Italy. "The European elites (are) against the choices of the peoples," Salvini said in a statement. "Prepare the crates. On May 26, the people will finally send these folks packing." After weeks of tension with France after senior figures in his government hailed protesters opposed to President Emmanuel Macron, Conte offered a veiled rebuff to French complaints, which culminated in recalling the French envoy from Rome. "We should not be afraid of conflict. We should show that we can control it," Conte said. "We should not oppose change with sterile and damaging conservatism. Instead, we should allow conflict to emerge, to demonstrate - in democratic forms -- its propulsive force." On a day when Rome also irritated Paris by questioning the need for a new Alpine rail link, Conte appeared to tweak French interests by calling for a combined EU permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. Barring soon-to-be ex-EU member Britain, France is the bloc's lone voice on the global body. Over nearly three hours of debate, tempers flared at times. Anti-EU members spoke in Conte's defense and the chamber's speaker had to ask his fellow Italians to mind their language. Manfred Weber, German leader of the main conservative bloc in the European Parliament, accused Conte of running an economic policy based on high borrowing and slow growth. Socialist leader Udo Bullmann accused Rome of showing "the ugly face of inhumanity" toward asylum seekers landing on Italy's shores. Speaking Italian, former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, the liberal leader, said his "love for Italy", a founding member of the EU, made it "painful" for him to see what he called the country's "political disintegration" that began with the administrations of conservative Silvio Berlusconi. (Additional reporting by Steve Scherer in Rome; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Milan (AFP) - A high-speed train link between Italy and France will not be profitable, a controversial Italian-government commissioned report said on Tuesday. The line between Turin and Lyon has become a key battleground for Italy's populist coalition, supported by Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's Liga but rejected by its partner the Five Star Movement (M5S). The report made public on Tuesday and aimed at helping the government decide the matter said the trans-Alpine train line and tunnel would be "very negatively profitable", losing seven billion euros (7.9 billion dollars) up to 2059. While the line could make 1.3 billion euros from passenger rail traffic, that does little to offset future construction and management costs of 7.9 billion euros plus 463 million euros in lost revenue from motorway tolls and lost fuel taxes, the report said. The tunnel through the Alps, which has already been partially dug, would reduce travel time between Milan and Paris from almost seven hours to just over four. Proponents of the line, launched nearly 20 years ago and officially scheduled to be finished in 2025, argue that it would rid the roads of a million trucks and avert some three million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year. But the link has been criticised as a misuse of public funds and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) had pledged to block it if elected. Although the League has long favoured the venture, Salvini had said he would wait to see the cost-benefit analysis before adopting a position. The M5S fears the so-called TAV may join the growing list of promises it has broken since coming to power, with analysts warning of the potential fall-out particularly for populist leader and deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio. The line and its 57.5 kilometre (36-mile) tunnel have become another bone of contention between Rome and Paris, which last week recalled its ambassador in an escalating war of words between the two governments over domestic policies. Story continues Italy's Transport and Infrastructure Minister Danilo Toninelli described the report's figures as "merciless" but also as the beginning of a dialogue with Paris. Italy's centre-left opposition Democratic Party noted that five of the six experts who drew up the report had previously slammed the project. The sixth expert refused to sign off on the report. A committee in charge of the railway line, based in France, said the analysis was "remarkably partisan" as it described the project's environmental benefits such as less road travel and pollution as economic losses through less petrol tax and motorway toll revenue. The European Union, which has already pumped hundreds of millions of euros into the project, said recently that it could ask for its money to be repaid if work is halted. A newly elected US congresswoman accused of employing an antisemitic trope about money has unequivocally apologised after an avalanche of criticism and a rebuke from the highest levels of her own party. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat, had tweeted about her belief the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobby group, was paying US politicians to support Israel. Its all about the Benjamins baby, she wrote, using slang about $100 notes. Asked who she thought was paying members of Congress to support Israel, Ms Omar responded, AIPAC! Her comments were criticised by both Republicans and Democrats, with house speaker Nancy Pelosi condeming her remarks and calling for an apology. Legitimate criticism of Israels policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate that the United States and Israel share, Ms Pelosi said in a statement issued by her office and signed by other Democratic leaders. But Congresswoman Omars use of antisemitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israels supporters is deeply offensive. Republicans called on Democrats to strip Ms Omar of her seat on the House Foreign Relations Committee, but its chairman, Eliot Engel, stopped just short of that. Although he did not name Omar, he left little doubt his statement was a response to her tweets: Its shocking to hear a member of congress invoke the antisemitic trope of Jewish money, he said. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, said on Twitter: Rep Omars use of antisemitic stereotype was offensive and irresponsible. Ms Omar released a statement in which she acknowledged the backlash and apologised. Antisemitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of antisemitic tropes, she said. My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole, she said, adding that she unequivocally apologised. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. President Donald Trump later said Ms Omars apology fell short and she should be ashamed of herself for the tweets. Story continues I think it was a terrible statement, and I dont think her apology was adequate, he said. Asked what she should have said, Mr Trump replied: She knows what to say. AIPAC is a nonprofit organisation that works to influence US policy toward Israel. While it is barred from directly donating to candidates, it encourages its more than 100,000 members to do so and to be politically active. The organisation responded on Sunday night: We are proud that we are engaged in the democratic process to strengthen the US-Israel relationship. Our bipartisan efforts are reflective of American values and interests. We will not be deterred in any way by ill-informed and illegitimate attacks on this important work. It is not the first time Ms Omar, who is one of just two Muslim women to have ever been elected to congress, has been accused of antisemitism. She supports an economic campaign known as boycott, divestment and sanctions that is aimed at Israel, but insists her rejection of the Israeli government refers to its stance towards Palestinians and is not directed at the Jewish people. She expressed regret for tweeting to say Israel had hypnotised the world in 2012, which was compared to a term once used by the Nazis. Its now apparent to me that I spent lots of energy putting my 2012 tweet in context and little energy in disavowing the antisemitic trope I unknowingly used, which is unfortunate and offensive, she tweeted last month. Members of the Nairobi County Assembly have jumped to the defense of Governor Mike Sonko against attacks from Senator Johnson Sakaja. Led by Majority leader Abdi Guyo, the MCAs have accused Sakaja of fighting Governor Mike Sonko instead of defending the interests of devolution in the Senate. He is busy fighting the county government thinking that he will use that to ascend to the seat of the Governor, said Abdi Guyo. According to the MCAs, Sakaja is not objective and sincere in his criticism of Sonko. Which law states that if there is no substantive Speaker or Deputy Governor then that county government is not properly constituted? Sakajas argument has no meaning and weight, Guyo said. Speaking on behalf of other MCAs on Monday in his office, the majority leader said Sakaja has become a busybody and has forgotten his constitutional mandate of protecting the county. Tell him to be objective in his criticism, he should not be subjective and when he quotes anything he should quote something that is anchored either in the Constitution, County Government Act or any relevant law, Guyo said. This comes after the Nairobi Senator said Sonkos government is not properly constituted owing to the many vacant positions. The Constitution says that a properly constituted county government comprises a Governor, Deputy Governor, 10 CECs, chief officers, directors, and other officials, Sakaja said on Citizen TVs JK Live. (Reuters) - Retired U.S. astronaut Mark Kelly, married to former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was wounded in a 2011 mass shooting, said on Tuesday he was challenging Republican Martha McSally for John McCain's former U.S. Senate seat. Giffords stepped down from Congress after sustaining a serious head injury in the attack but has emerged as one of the leading voices of the U.S. gun-control movement. In a 4-1/2 minute video, Kelly sits on a sofa next to Giffords discussing his mother's history as a police officer as well as the attack on his wife. "I thought that I had the risky job. It turned out that you were the one who had the risky job," said Kelly, a former U.S. Navy combat pilot and space shuttle commander. McSally, a former U.S. Air Force combat pilot, was appointed last year to the seat held by the late McCain. A special election will be held in 2020 to determine who will serve the last two years of the term. McSally narrowly lost a campaign for the state's other Senate seat to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in November. Sinema won the seat formerly held by Republican Jeff Flake, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump who did not seek re-election. Kelly said problems he wanted to take on include climate change, the rising cost of healthcare and increasing economic inequality. "We've seen this retreat from science and data and facts and if we don't take these issues seriously, we can't solve these problems," he said in the video. (Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Nick Zieminski, Jeffrey Benkoe and Dan Grebler) BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian scientists held books above their heads as they protested on Tuesday against government plans to reorganize the Hungarian Academy of Sciences' research and funding to try to reap more economic benefits. Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a conservative leader who came to power in 2010, has tightened his control of Hungarian public life, such as the courts, the media, the economy, as well as education and now scientific research. "The current situation, which keeps 5,000 MTA researchers and staff in an existential and scientific limbo, threatens the future of the entire Hungarian scientific community," academy workers said in a statement on their website. The government last year decided to reroute funds from the academy (MTA), and last month it launched a tender for the funds instead of allowing research institutions to allocate them as they saw fit. The academy, which carries out scientific research using a network of specialized research institutions, is solely funded by the government, receiving 40 billion forints ($142 million) a year. Orban posted an open letter on his website on Tuesday in which he addressed some of the criticism leveled at his plans. "The guarantee to generate economic benefits from knowledge is still missing from the research and innovation system," he wrote. "The increase of domestic industry's added value is possible only if they concentrate their resources." The protesters in Budapest held up signs saying "MTA is not an ATM". They brought scientific books with them, which they held aloft in a reminder of the importance of independent science. Orban's move to revamp various parts of society have drawn criticism from international partners, including a resolution in the European Parliament last year to sanction Hungary for flouting EU rules on democracy, civil rights and corruption. Orban has rejected that. He last clashed with the education establishment over the Central European University (CEU), founded by billionaire George Soros, which said it was forced out of the country. Its shift to Austria was the culmination of a long struggle between Hungarian-born Soros, who promotes liberal causes through his charities, and Orban's government. Physicist Zoltan Berenyi said the MTA may have proved to be too independent for Orban. "We see that in today's Hungary many things can be done even in the university and scientific fields. We see what happened to the CEU," he said. "One thing I am certain this isn't is an attempt to make research more efficient." ($1 = 281.5300 forints) (Reporting by Marton Dunai; Editing by Alison Williams) Budapest (AFP) - Thousands of Hungarians rallied in Budapest on Tuesday outside a prestigious scientific institution that says it is the victim of a new power grab by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government. Founded in 1825, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) is the country's oldest and largest scientific institution but the government views it as an inefficient relic of communism. Soon after Orban won a third consecutive term last April, a new innovation ministry was created which announced it would divert control of funding away from the MTA and its institutes in favour of new "innovation-driven" projects. Orban has rejected researchers' criticisms of the reforms, saying Hungary needs to improve its place "among the weaker performers in international innovation rankings" and that the government needed to ensure that "economic profit could also be gained from science". The reforms have alarmed Hungary's scientific community, which fears that the MTA is under attack because it has criticised government policies, and that thousands of researchers' jobs are now at risk. The MTA's institutes, which employ some 5,000 staff nationwide including around 3,000 researchers, perform a vast range of research ranging from philosophy to music, animal husbandry to space research. Around 2,000 protestors held books aloft to represent Hungarian science and formed a human chain around the MTA building to symbolically urge its board to resist the government's proposals. "This is an attack on science, the government wants to reward loyalists with funding, rather than support research," agricultural science researcher Emese Gutai, 44, told AFP. Some of the MTA's funding has already been slashed with laboratories temporarily closing as a result. The government has accused the MTA of "engaging in politics", an echo of its long-running feud with the Central European University (CEU), founded by Orban's bete noire, liberal US-Hungarian billionaire George Soros. Story continues In December the CEU announced it was moving most of its programmes out of Budapest to Vienna after it said it was targeted by government legislation steamrolled through parliament in 2017. Last week, Innovation Minister Laszlo Palkovics described a meeting held by MTA staff as a "Sorosist event". In a statement on Monday the CEU, located a block away from the MTA, criticised the government's plans as "politically motivated" and aimed at "undermining the independence" of the MTA. Orban's critics say that since coming to power in 2010 he has gradually weakened the independence of several key institutions in Hungary, including public media and the judiciary. Washington (AFP) - A key congressional committee investigating President Donald Trump announced Tuesday it is hiring two outspoken lawyers who have urged Trump's indictment and impeachment for obstruction and other charges. The House Judiciary Committee, which would likely hear any impeachment motion against the president, said that Barry Berke and Norman Eisen would be retained as "special oversight counsels" related to the Department of Justice and to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of the Trump campaign and Russia meddling in the 2016 election. The move could signal that, with the House newly under Democratic Party control, the committee does not plan to wait for Mueller to conclude his investigation to begin building a legal case against the president. "We are fortunate to be adding the insight and expertise of two widely respected legal authorities to the staff," committee chairman Jerrold Nadler said in a statement. "This is a critical time in our Nations history. The President of the United States faces numerous allegations of corruption and obstruction." Berke is a respected lawyer dealing with corruption and white-collar criminal cases. Eisen is a former White House ethics chief who, as head of Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington, has already sued Trump for allegedly illegally profiting on his presidency through his Washington nameplate hotel. Together they have published recent several articles arguing that evidence of Trump's obstruction of justice already exists and that his 2016 campaign did collude with the Russians. "The question has become less about whether there is a case that Donald J. Trump obstructed justice, and more about whether and in what form the rule of law will be followed," they said in an August report for the Brookings Institution. In December, they wrote in the Washington Post that Trump's attack on his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who implicated the president in crimes, and a simultaneous appreciation of associate Roger Stone, for pledging to never testify against Trump, was clearly illegal witness-tampering. "The message is quite clear: Those who cooperate with law enforcement and agree to be witnesses against Trump will be punished, while those who keep his secrets will be protected," they wrote. "That makes it all the more important that Congress examine whether the pattern of evidence constitutes an abuse of power or criminal obstruction of justice." By Kylie MacLellan and William James LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May told MPs on Tuesday to hold their nerve over Brexit and give her more time to negotiate a deal acceptable to both the European Union and the British parliament. The United Kingdom is on course to leave the European Union on March 29 without a deal unless May can persuade the bloc to amend the divorce deal she agreed last year and get it approved by British lawmakers. "The talks are at a crucial stage", May told parliament. "We now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this House requires and deliver Brexit on time". The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, accused her of running down the clock with sham negotiations to pressure parliament into backing her deal. After talks in Strasbourg at the European Parliament, UK Brexit minister Stephen Barclay said there was "a lot of goodwill on both sides" to achieve a deal. However, Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's Brexit pointman, said he has yet to hear of a proposal to break the deadlock. "What are these negotiations at a 'crucial state' raised in the House of Commons? The way forward is cross-party, not kicking the can towards a disastrous no deal", he said on Twitter. May's hopes of delivering an on-time Brexit were also undermined by an ITV news report which cited Britain's lead negotiator Olly Robbins as being overheard in a Brussels bar saying: "In the end, they (the EU) will probably just give us an extension". British lawmakers rejected May's withdrawal deal last month, with the major sticking point being the Irish "backstop" - an insurance policy to prevent the return of a hard border between British province Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland. Critics of the backstop say it could leave Britain subject to EU rules for years after leaving the bloc or even indefinitely. The EU says the backstop is vital to avoiding the return of border controls in Ireland and has refused to reopen the Brexit divorce deal, though May insists she can get legally binding changes to replace the most contentious parts of the backstop. Story continues "By getting the changes we need to the backstop; by protecting and enhancing workers' rights and environmental protections; and by enhancing the role of parliament in the next phase of negotiations I believe we can reach a deal that this House can support", May said. The EU's Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said on Monday the bloc would agree to tweak the political declaration on post-Brexit EU-UK ties that forms part of the exit package, to reflect a plan for a closer future relationship that could remove the need for the backstop. May is pursuing three options in talks with Brussels: negotiating a way for Britain to leave the backstop without needing EU agreement, agreeing a time limit to the backstop, or finding an alternative arrangement that replaces it altogether. RUNNING DOWN THE CLOCK? Parliament is to hold a debate on Brexit on Feb. 14 but with just 45 days until Britain leaves the bloc it is not expected to change the course of the exit process, and no date has been set for another vote to approve or reject May's deal. May said that if she had not yet reached a deal in Brussels, she would deliver another progress report on Feb. 26 and provide another chance for parliament to express its opinion on her approach the following day. She said she was prepared to speed up other parts of the ratification process of the Brexit deal if time gets too tight to pass legislation before exit day - a move some interpreted as a sign she was willing to keep negotiating until the last moment. Opponents of Brexit argue May is deliberately delaying so lawmakers will be faced with the option of backing her agreement or leaving without a deal, a disorderly exit that businesses fear will cause widespread damage to the economy and jobs. Labour lawmaker Yvette Cooper, one of the leading campaigners against Brexit without a deal, unveiled a new plan to ensure parliament has a chance to vote on ruling out a no-deal scenario. Corbyn told parliament the prime minister has just one real tactic: "to run down the clock hoping Members of this House are blackmailed into supporting a deeply flawed deal". "This is an irresponsible act. She is playing for time and playing with people's jobs, our economic security and the future of our industry" May later told business leaders in a phone call that extending the Article 50 Brexit process would serve no purpose. (Additional reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Elizabeth Piper and James Davey in London and Alastair Macdonald in Strasbourg; editing by Janet Lawrence, Frances Kerry and G Crosse) COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) A hearing was planned Tuesday for an Ohio inmate accused in a 2017 knife attack on four other prisoners handcuffed and unable to defend themselves and in a stabbing attack the following year on a guard who is still recovering from his injuries. Inmate Greg Reinke was already serving a life sentence for aggravated murder for a fatal 2004 shooting in Cleveland when the knife attacks happened. Reinke, 38, has pleaded not guilty to the attacks, both of which happened at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. A pretrial hearing was scheduled for Tuesday morning in Scioto County Common Pleas Court. That's in the Ohio River city of Portsmouth. A video obtained by The Associated Press of the 2017 attack pictures Reinke repeatedly stabbing the four other prisoners. Reinke, seated at an adjoining table, somehow slipped out of his own handcuffs then used a homemade 7-inch (18-centimeter) shank in the assault. In 2018, Reinke and another inmate, Casey Pigge, stabbed corrections officer Matthew Mathias 32 times near the Lucasville infirmary, according to an indictment charging both men. Mathias spent weeks in the hospital and is still recovering, according to the union representing Ohio guards. Pigge was previously convicted of three separate killings, including strangling a fellow inmate on a medical transport bus. He has also pleaded not guilty in the attack on the guard. After the second attack, Reinke and Pigge were both transferred to the Ohio State Penitentiary, the state's supermax prison in Youngstown. In a phone call from prison on Jan. 30, Reinke told the AP that guards beat him "to a pulp" after he arrived at the supermax, allegedly breaking his eye socket and fracturing his skull. Reinke also alleged ongoing mistreatment by prison staff of him and Pigge, which he attributed to their actions. "The staff are stealing from us, you know they're damaging our property, they're writing fake tickets," Reinke said. "It's everything. It's like we're on a whole different planet than everybody else." He said they "feel like it's their duty to exact revenge on me." Story continues Prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said there was "no evidence" that officers harassed or assaulted either inmate. "Because of the serious, violent offenses these inmates are accused of committing, additional security protocols have been established for both the safety of the inmates and staff anytime these inmates are out of their cells," she said in a statement. Smith said those protocols, in place continuously since Reinke and Pigge arrived, include daily cell searches looking for any sign of contraband or weapons. "Both inmates are limited on what property they can possess, but they are permitted hygiene items and writing materials," she said. A spokeswoman for the union representing prison guards did not return repeated requests for comment. In January, Reinke said he had been told he would be required starting the following week to wear a band "like a taser" connected to a controller that could shock him. Smith confirmed that the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has begun using controlled electronic devices. She said the specific policy is not a public record, but that the department has stated, "In no circumstance are CEDs to be used for punishment or the convenience of staff." Reinke's attorney, Matthew Loesch, said he was not aware of his client's allegations about being beaten and that he had been impressed by the professionalism of prison staff when he visited his client. "That's not to say it didn't happen, I'm just not aware of it," he said. "If someone's being subject to abuse, anybody's going to want to do what they can to make that stop." Scioto County prosecutors initially declined to prosecute Reinke for the attack on the four inmates, arguing he was already serving life for the Cleveland killing. Last year, newly elected Scioto County prosecutor Shane Tieman changed course and charged Reinke with both prison attacks. Reinke speculated that the decision reflected a double standard within the prison system. "It's like them people at the table ain't even human to 'em, like don't even matter as much as that guard," he said. Responding to allegations by one of the inmates stabbed during the 2017 attack that the assault was a set-up by guards, Reinke said he received a "care package" of new t-shirts, envelopes and other items after it happened. "They didn't really set it up, but they surely condoned it," he said. Tieman said he found no evidence of a set-up. No guards involved in the incident were disciplined. By Florence Tan SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Middle East oil benchmarks Dubai and DME Oman have nudged above prices for Brent crude, an unusual move as U.S. sanctions on Venezuela and Iran along with output cuts by OPEC tighten supply of medium to heavy oil, traders and analysts said. Heavier grades, mainly produced in the Middle East, Canada and Latin America, typically have a high sulphur content and are usually cheaper than Brent, the benchmark for lighter oil in the Atlantic Basin. But Dubai spot prices and DME Oman crude futures for April have held above ICE Brent at Asia's market close since the start of February, data from the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Dubai Mercantile Exchange and Refinitiv Eikon showed. "The forceful implementation of U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan crude exports, the greater-than-expected recent Saudi crude output cut ... and the uncertainty over U.S. sanction exemptions on Iranian crude have all served to strengthen sour crudes relative to sweet benchmarks such as Brent," said Tilak Doshi, a Singapore-based analyst at consultancy Muse, Stancil & Co. U.S. sanctions on Venezuela that suddenly halted its crude exports to the United States last month created a strong pull for medium and heavy crude from elsewhere, traders and analysts said. The sanctions, aimed at blocking Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's access to the nation's oil revenue, will be extended to non-U.S. oil buyers from April 28, potentially stopping them from paying for Venezuelan oil in U.S. dollars. Elsewhere, uncertainty over whether Washington will in May extend waivers to sanctions on Tehran's oil exports that it previously granted to top Iranian crude buyers - China, India, Japan and South Korea - is also boosting Middle East oil prices. A decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia to rein in oil output has buoyed heavy crude prices as well. Market observers expect Middle East producers to cut output of heavier oil to meet the curbs. Story continues "The U.S. may have to replace more than 500,000 bpd (barrels per day) of Venezuelan crude with other more expensive heavy crude sources from the Middle East, particularly as Canadian and Mexican flows to the U.S. are essentially maxed out," JBC Energy said in a note. MISSION TO BUY MARS Strong demand from the United States for heavy oil to replace Venezuelan supplies has boosted prices for U.S. Mars crude and Latin American grades, restricting supplies of those cargoes to Asia, traders said. Offers of Mars crude for April delivery to North Asia have risen more than $1 a barrel, while spot premiums for Latin American grades such as Castilla from Colombia, have climbed by $2 a barrel, traders said. Castilla was sold out even before its loading programme was released, one of the traders said. The sources declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media. U.S. refiners are also seeking more supplies from the Middle East, creating a pull for such barrels at a time when Asia's heavy oil demand is growing as two new refineries have started trial runs in China and Malaysia. Meanwhile, refiners globally are processing more medium and heavy crude to reap higher profits from fuel oil and middle distillates. That has kept the price gap between Saudi Arabia's Arab Light and Arab Heavy crude in Asia close to the narrowest in a decade. "Heavy sour strength is bolstered through the first half of 2019 by continued complex refinery capacity growth and tight fuel oil markets, before IMO 2020 presents a cliff for (high-sulphur fuel oil) demand," Citi analysts said. IMO 2020 refers to a mandate by the International Maritime Organization requiring ships to switch to low-sulphur marine fuel from 2020. (Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Joseph Radford and Dale Hudson) The longest-ever federal shutdown created an even tougher environment at the Internal Revenue Service, hampering an agency already understaffed and underfunded, according to a new report from Nina Olson, the head of the Taypayer Advocate Service. Taxpayers couldnt get frozen refunds, present hardship cases while facing fines, or resolve audits of past tax returns. Only a handful of calls from taxpayers were answered during the 35-day lapse in funding, and the rate didnt substantially improve during the first week of the filing season when the government reopened. The shutdown aside, the agency was still dealing with a backlog of unfinished items from the previous tax-filing season and was behind on integrating the new tax law changes. The five weeks could have not have come at a worse time for the IRS facing its first filing season implementing a massive new tax law, with a completely restructured form, Olson wrote. The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) is a government office that helps taxpayers solve their problems with the IRS. Smaller refunds: What will your tax refund be? So far, they're smaller by an average of $170 Tax tips: Taxes 2019: 10 common filing mistakes to avoid this year How to get refund fast: Your tax refund won't be delayed if you do these two things Doors at the Internal Revenue Service in the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building are locked and covered with blinds as a sign posted advises that the office will be closed during the partial government shutdown Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019, in Seattle. The report itself typically delivered to Congress in December was also delayed because of the shutdown. In a statement, the IRS said its leadership plans to review the details of this report. Shutdown backlog During the first part of the shutdown, no IRS employees could answer telephone lines, issue refunds, release liens and levies, create installment agreements or review pending IRS actions. Under a new IRS plan on Jan. 22, some IRS employees could answer phone lines, issue refunds and create installment agreements. Missed paycheck? Federal workers still hurting from last lapse, survey finds By the time the shutdown ended, the IRS faced the following: Story continues More than 5 million pieces of mail that hadnt been batched for processing. 80,000 unaddressed responses to Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) audits from the previous tax season, some of which included frozen tax refunds. 87,000 amended returns that still needed to be processed. The agency also couldnt keep up with the 170,000 orders for forms W-2 and W-3 that employers are required to distribute to their workers by the end of January. The agency instead recommended that employers consider filing an extension, meaning that some taxpayers could get these forms late. Tax tips: Tax refund advance loans are often too good to be true. Here's what you should know Telephone chaos IRS customer assistance over the phone was also disrupted and was not near full capacity one week after the shutdown ended, also the first week of the filing season. Just under half of the calls to the accounts management line and 38 percent to the automated collection system were answered in that week. Only one out of every 15 calls to the installment agreement and balance due line were answered, and only after an almost 81-minute average wait time. This means for that week 93.3 percent of the taxpayers calling to make payment arrangements were unable to speak to a live assistor, the report said. In a statement, the IRS noted that it had "successfully reopened operations" and is experiencing "a good start to the 2019 filing season." "We are continuing to assess the impact of the shutdown on our various operations across the agency and remain proud of the many IRS employees who have risen to the resulting challenges," the statement said. Hardship cases Taxpayers who desperately needed their frozen tax refunds or required relief from an IRS penalty had nowhere to turn during the shutdown, the report found. No IRS employee or TAS employee which advocate for taxpayers were authorized to work to assist a taxpayer experiencing a hardship because of the IRS. The IRS chief counsel said that these functions didnt meet the requirements for the safety of life exception under the Anti-Deficiency Act. Neither of these exceptions would allow personnel to be excepted to issue a refund or release a levy in order to allow the taxpayer to obtain access to funds to receive a life-saving operation, for example, the report stated. Nor could the IRS use resources to release a levy where it is depriving the taxpayer of funds to pay for basic living expenses, even if the levy could leave the taxpayer homeless. Old technology Even without the shutdown, the IRS was struggling. The report notes that the agency is using information technology systems that are the oldest in the federal government. For the last 25 years the IRS has tried and been unable to replace them, the report said. Taxpayer information is stored in 60 different systems, making it impossible for the agency to have a 360-degree view of taxpayer data. In its statement, the IRS said that modernizing its IT infrastructure remains a top priority for the agency and says it's "critical to the future of our nations tax system." "We will continue our efforts to upgrade this infrastructure, so that we have the technology needed to run day-to-day operations, enhance the taxpayer experience throughout the agency, monitor and continually improve cybersecurity and continue safeguarding taxpayer data," the agency statement said. New tax law changes The IRS was also under stress to roll out new tax law changes that required replacing three tax returns forms the 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ with one new form 1040, along with creating six new schedules for certain credits and deductions. The IRS had to publish new instructions, notices and FAQs to help the public navigate the new tax code. Because of this work, the IRS did not provide the electronic filing requirements to tax software companies like TurboTax and H&R Block until September, much later than in previous years. As we document in these pages, the IRS is wrestling with its workload," the report states. "With the best of intentions namely, trying to do its job it is making strategic decisions that ultimately burden taxpayers (and) increase its own rework. And it is experiencing a cycle of frustration as it tries to soldier on with its important work in the midst of shutdowns and funding stops and starts. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Government shutdown stymied frozen tax refunds, tied up IRS phone lines, report shows During the nation's longest federal shutdown, Joel Rodriguez, a furloughed auditor at NASA, borrowed money from his parents and took out a personal loan to pay bills. He drove for Uber, Lyft, Postmates and Instacart, earning $2,000 during the 35-day stretch. Thats what I did to survive, said Rodriguez, who is married with two small children. He was largely able to keep up with his obligations. His only hiccup was sending in his February mortgage payment and car payment seven days late. Rodriguezs financial gymnastics were common among federal workers during the shutdown, according to a new survey of 350 federal employees, contractors and their spouses provided exclusively to USA TODAY by Prudential Financial. The survey underscored how vital even one to two missed paychecks are for many Americans, especially as federal workers brace for the possibility of another shutdown this week. The partial government shutdown really put a spotlight on the fact that most Americans cant weather even a brief disruption in their income, said Jamie Kalamarides, president of group insurance at Prudential Financial. Its a wake-up call to the general population. Food banks, skipping health expenses During the shutdown, federal workers went to great lengths to deal with their cash flow shortfall. Almost a quarter reduced or eliminated spending on health or medical expenses for themselves or their family. One in four visited a food bank. Refund worries? What will your tax refund be? So far, they're smaller by an average of $170 Forty-two percent took on new debt to pay for day-to-day expenses and bills. Two in five turned to family or friends, while one in five borrowed from a bank or credit union. Rodriguez borrowed $2,000 from his parents and took out a $3,000 loan from his credit union. He has since paid both back with his first two retroactive paychecks. I only had the loan open a week, he said. At Navy Federal Credit Union, nearly 20,000 of its members signed up to get zero-percent loans based on their most recent direct deposit, according to a company spokesman. Story continues Family money: Precollege schooling: How to pay for pre-K through prep school Just over a quarter of federal workers surveyed tapped their retirement accounts either taking a loan or outright distribution. One in 10 borrowed from an alternative lender, while 9 percent turned to crowdfunding. GoFundMe saw about 4,000 campaigns that raised nearly $2 million to support those affected by the shutdown, a company spokeswoman said. Lasting consequences Despite their efforts, almost half of federal workers fell behind on bills. More than a quarter missed a mortgage or rent payment; 13 percent fell behind on student loans; and 10 percent skipped a tuition payment, Prudential found. Of those who had emergency savings, 62 percent said they depleted all or most of those rainy-day funds. Almost a third spent half of it. The unfortunate thing is the people who are recovering from the shutdown are in a very delicate place right now. Theyre just at the point of getting back on their feet, said Bruce McClary, spokesman for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. With another deadline coming up, the best things people can do is start reviewing their options if we do go into another shutdown. Preparing for the next one As lawmakers try to work out a border security deal by Friday to avert another shutdown, federal workers are re-committing to saving to help get through the next unexpected event. Just over half plan to add more money to their savings, while one in 10 who dont have any emergency fund plan to start one. McClary said that many of the banks and credit unions hes talked to also plan to offer similar support as last time if the government shuts down again, including low to no-interest short-term loans. Rodriguez is also preparing. I do Lyft and Uber in the early mornings and at night to prepare for another shutdown, he said. I told my parents to take the money I owed them because I may need it later. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: In government shutdown aftermath, federal workers still hurting, survey finds Weed smokers in Kahawa Sukari and environs are in for a dry spell after a large consignment of Marijuana was recovered by police from a house in the estate near Kenyatta University. The marijuana, estimated to weigh about 1,140 kgs has a street value of Sh4.5 million. The one-ton consignment had arrived at the suburb in Kiambu County concealed inside a petrol tanker. However, the decision to offload the cargo during the day proved to be the undoing of two suspects who were picked up by police on Monday. The authorities were acting on a tip-off from neighbours who saw the men offloading suspicious packages from a fuel tanker. The suspects are due to be arraigned in court today, Tuesday 12, 2019. The two will be taken to court tomorrow (Tuesday) as we investigate where they were transporting the bhang from, said Mr Adiel Nyange, the Kiambu County commander. The suspects are believed to be among others who the police are closely monitoring in Kiambu county. This comes just a week after police nabbed bhang worth Sh3 million in Emali along the Mombasa Nairobi highway. Lille (France) (AFP) - The driver of a cash delivery van who disappeared near Paris with his vehicle and an estimated 3.4 million euros (3.85 million dollars) has been arrested, police sources said Tuesday. The 28-year-old driver and a large part of the money were tracked down to a flat in the centre of the city of Amiens, some 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Paris, the sources said on condition of anonymity. The driver and his truck disappeared after stopping outside a Western Union office at around 6:00 am (0500 GMT) on Monday in Aubervilliers, a suburb just north of the capital. The driver stayed behind the wheel as two of his colleagues went inside. "When they came back out, the van and the driver were gone," a police source said. The van was found soon afterwards a few blocks away with its doors wide open, but without the bags of cash. Initial reports had put the value of the haul at about one million euros. The two other employees were not injured, sources said. Loomis, the armoured van company which owns the vehicle, did not initially return calls seeking comment. One of the last major such heists took place in February 2018 when the driver of a Swiss money transfer business handed over a huge ransom to thieves. The man agree to hand over the contents of his cash-filled truck -- some 10 to 15 million Swiss francs ($ 9.0 to 14.9 million) -- after his daughter was kidnapped in Lyon. One man was arrested in June in Lyon, when 2.3 million from the heist was recovered. In November 2009, another driver, Toni Musulin, fled in the armoured van he was driving with some 11.6 million euros in cash collected from a Bank of France building in Lyon. He was caught shortly afterwards and much of the money he had hidden in a garage wall was recovered. He served four years in prison. A French lawyer probing a controversial submarine deal linked to Malaysia's ousted leader Najib Razak was Tuesday set to meet officials to aid investigations into the scandal. William Bourdon, who represents local human rights group Suaram over the French submarine deal, was deported from Malaysia on his last visit in 2011 when Najib's scandal-mired regime was still in power. But after a historic change of government last year, he returned to the country to help a new investigation into the case. Malaysia purchased two French-made Scorpene submarines for $1.2 billion in 2002 while Najib was defence minister. The French submarine maker Naval Group -- then called DCNS -- is alleged to have paid more than 114 million euros ($128 million) in kickbacks to a shell company linked to Abdul Razak Baginda, a close Najib associate who brokered the deal. Razak Baginda's Mongolian mistress Altantuya Shaariibuu, who was said to have demanded a cut for translating during negotiations, was shot dead and her body blown up with military-grade plastic explosives near Kuala Lumpur in 2006. The case sank off the radar after a Malaysian court in 2008 cleared Razak Baginda of abetting the murder, sparking allegations of a huge cover-up to protect Najib. Bourdon was set to meet with Malaysian Attorney-General Tommy Thomas on Tuesday to discuss the case, and anti-corruption officials. "This is a complex case, you can imagine that they will like from us to update (them about) the proceedings in France," he told a press conference. "Of course we will answer the questions as far as we can." A French investigation was launched in 2010 after complaints from Suaram, and has already led to four French executives involved in the deal and Razak Baginda being charged. They all deny wrongdoing. Najib was questioned by anti-graft officials over the case in November after Malaysia's new government took office and reopened investigations into the submarine deal. The former premier, who is also embroiled in a separate scandal over the alleged looting of state fund 1MDB, denies any wrongdoing. Najib's long-ruling coalition was voted out of power in May in large part due to the 1MDB scandal. The ex-leader has been arrested over the controversy and is due to stand trial. Kelsey Grammer was on The Late Late Show with James Corden, where he discussed a possible reboot of the hit sitcom Frasier. Grammer has hinted at a possible reboot before, saying he was waiting for a pitch that really hits it out of the park. Apparently he must have heard some good pitches since then. While Grammer didnt provide many details, he did say he will no longer be a radio host. Frasiers past the radio show, he said. He might be an art dealer, might be a professor we dont know yet. Grammer also discussed a possible new location for the character, who has already lived in Boston and Seattle. It could be in Chicago he left for Chicago in the last episode, he said. Sadly, the show will also have to address the death of John Mahoney, who played Frasiers dad in the series. The Late Late Show with James Corden airs weeknights at 12:37 on CBS. Watch clips and full episodes of The Late Late Show for free on Yahoo View. Watch as Ryan Lochte opens up about becoming one of the most hated people: Read more from Yahoo! Entertainment: Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Kylie Mar, on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Franklin Resources BEN has announced preliminary assets under management (AUM) by its subsidiaries of $678.3 billion for January 2019. Results display 4.4% rise from $649.9 billion recorded as of Dec 31, 2018. Net market gains, partially offset by net outflows, led to the increase. However, the figure dipped 12% from the previous year. Month-end total equity assets came in at $281.2 billion, up 6.9% from the previous month, but down 15.7% year over year. Of the total equity assets, around 63% were from international sources, while the remaining 37% came in from the United States. Total fixed income assets were $256.2 billion, up 1.7% from the last month, but down 10.1% from last year. Overall, tax-free assets accounted for only 24% of the fixed-income assets, while the remaining 76% was taxable. Franklin recorded $131.2 billion in hybrid assets, which was up 5.1% from $124.8 billion witnessed in the previous month, but down 9.8% from $145.4 billion reported in January 2018. Cash management funds came in at $9.7 billion, down from the prior-month figure of $10.1 billion, but up from the year-ago tally of $6.8 billion. The companys global footprint is an exceptionally favorable strategic point as its AUM is well diversified. Nevertheless, regulatory restrictions and sluggish economic recovery might mar AUM growth, and escalate costs. Currently, Franklin carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). Shares of the company have lost around 1.7% over the last three months, as against the 0.8% gained recorded by the industry. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Among other asset managers, Invesco Ltd.s IVZ AUM as of Jan 31, 2019, came in at $930.6 billion, up nearly 4.8% from the previous month. Favorable market returns, higher money market AUM and reinvested distributions were primary reasons behind the rise in total AUM. Moreover, foreign exchange boosted the months AUM by $4.9 billion. However, these were partially offset by net long-term outflows and non-management fee earning AUM outflows. Further, T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. TROW and Legg Mason Inc. LM are expected to release preliminary AUM results for January 2019, later this week. Zacks' Best Stock-Picking Strategy It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But from 2000-2018, while the market gained +4.8% per year, our top stock-picking strategy averaged +54.3% per year. How has that screen done lately? From 2017-2018, it sextupled the market's +15.8% gain with a soaring +98.3% return. Free See the Stocks It Turned Up for Today >> 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 Invesco Ltd. (IVZ) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Paris (AFP) - The French government called Tuesday for a firm response to a series of anti-Semitic acts over the weekend including graffiti and vandalism which have raised fresh alarm. Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux urged the police to pursue the culprits while suggesting the spate of attacks could be blamed on far-left and far-right activists who have infiltrated weekly "yellow vest" protests. Demonstrators have gathered every Saturday in Paris since November to denounce the government of President Emmanuel Macron. "We're not talking about the protesters who are struggling to make ends meet," Griveaux told France 2 television. "But those who are committing violent acts, openly anti-Semitic or racist acts, they must be charged and severely punished," he said. But the rise in anti-Semitic acts in France pre-dates the "yellow vest" movement and there was no evidence on Tuesday tying the latest incidents to the movement. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner revealed Monday that the number of anti-Jewish offences reported to the police surged 74 percent last year, to 541 from 311 in 2017. In a statement Tuesday, Castaner said 183 involved assaults and at least one murder, while 358 were anti-Semitic threats or insults. "Anti-Semitism is spreading like poison," Castaner said while visiting a memorial site outside Paris for a young Jewish man who was tortured to death in 2006. A tree planted at the site where 23-year-old Ilan Halimi's body was found had been chopped down, and a second tree was partly sawed through. Also in recent days, the word "Juden" (German for Jew) was scrawled on the window of a bagel bakery in Paris, and swastikas were drawn on Paris postal boxes decorated with a portrait of former government minister and Holocaust survivor Simone Veil. - 'Jewish pig' - Last weekend, an anti-discrimination advocate revealed a graffiti saying "Macron Jews' Bitch", in English, on a garage door in the centre of Paris, and the phrase "Jewish pig" scrawled on a wall in the city's northern 18th district. Story continues President Emmanuel Macron was also targeted in graffiti discovered Monday at the headquarters of French daily Le Monde, using anti-Semitic tropes to refer to his former job as a Rothschild investment banker. Junior foreign minister Sebastien Lecornu also pointed the finger at "yellow vest" protesters for the latest offences. "Conspiracy theorists are very present among their ranks," he said, before referring to a survey released on Monday. The Ifop poll said nearly half of "yellow vests" believed in a worldwide "Zionist plot", as well as the "Great Replacement" theory, which posits that immigration is being organised deliberately "to replace Europe's native populations". France is home to the largest Jewish population in Europe and the community has been targeted by jihadists in recent years. In 2011, an Islamist gunman shot dead a rabbi and three children at a Jewish school in Toulouse and in 2015 an extremist claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group killed four people at a kosher supermarket in Paris. Writing on Twitter, Far-right leader Marine Le Pen denounced "a surge in anti-Semitic acts and the desecration of Christian places of worship". Five churches were desecrated last week around the country, police told AFP. PARIS (Reuters) - France's military struck rebels in Chad to prevent a coup d'etat against President Idriss Deby, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Tuesday. On Deby's request, French warplanes bombed a heavily-armed rebel convoy that crossed last week from Libya deep into Chadian territory. "There was an attack by a rebel group that came from southern Libya ... to take power by force in N'djamena. President Deby asked us in writing to intervene to prevent a coup d'etat and protect his country," Le Drian told lawmakers. The French jets destroyed dozens of pick-up trucks and the Chadian army subsequently said it had captured more than 250 rebels from the Union of Forces of Resistance (UFR), a Libya-based rebel coalition. Deby has faced several rebellions since seizing power in 1990 in a military coup. International observers have questioned the fairness of elections that have kept him in office, and last year Deby oversaw a reform of the constitution that would allow him to stay in power until 2033. France intervened in 2008 to stop the UFR toppling Deby. President Emmanuel Macron has said he wants a new relationship with France's former colonies and that the era of propping up leaders in return for lucrative contracts for French companies -- a policy known as La Francafrique -- is over. France, however, considers Chad's battle-hardened troops as vital in the fight against Islamist militants in West Africa and bases its 4,500-strong counter-terrorism Operation Barkhane force in the capital N'djamena "This (intervention) was totally in line with international law," Le Drian said. The incursion, which Chadian troops tried to halt, underscores how Deby's fight against Islamist militants in the region has stretched his military. The military effort has diverted finances away from public services and the economy, fuelling popular discontent in one of the world's poorest nations. (Reporting by John Irish; editing by Richard Lough) Tubular structures found in black shale from a quarry in Gabon dating from 2.1 billion years ago REUTERS Fossils dating from 2.1 billion years ago hint that creatures began to move about by themselves sliming along like slugs hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously believed. The fossils remnants of small tubular structures were found in rocks in Gabon in West Africa by researchers from Cardiff University. The fossils are the first creatures believed to have achieved locomotion, with cells grouping together to form something which may have been like slime moulds. MORE: Jeremy Corbyn says Labour may back another EU referendum MORE: Rare tiger killed by her new potential mate at London Zoo If the team are correct, the find shakes up the history of evolution as the previous earliest evidence of moving creatures was from just 0.5 billion years ago. Dr Ernest Chi Fru, from Cardiffs School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, said: It is plausible that the organisms behind this phenomenon moved in search of nutrients and oxygen that were produced by bacteria mats on the seafloor-water interface. The results raise a number of fascinating questions about the history of life on Earth, and how and when organisms began to move. Was this a primitive biological innovation, a prelude to more perfected forms of locomotion seen around us today, or was this simply an experiment that was cut short? Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Washington (AFP) - Retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, whose wife, congresswoman Gabby Giffords was severely wounded in a 2011 assassination attempt, announced on Tuesday that he was running for the US Senate seat from Arizona once held by John McCain. "My next mission," the 54-year-old former US Navy captain said in revealing his Senate bid on his Twitter feed. Kelly, a Democrat, would take on Republican Martha McSally in November of next year if he wins the Democratic nomination. McSally, who like Kelly is a former navy pilot, was appointed by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey to serve out the remainder of McCain's term. McCain died in August of last year, having held the Senate seat for more than three decades. "It becomes pretty obvious, pretty early when you get into space that we're all kind of in this together," Kelly said in a video released to accompany the launch of his Senate campaign. "Solving some of the hardest problems requires one thing and that's teamwork," he said. "Partisanship and polarization and gerrymandering and corporate money have ruined our politics and it's divided us," Kelly said. "We've seen this retreat from science and data and facts and if we don't take these issues seriously we can't solve these problems." Kelly married Giffords in 2007, when she was representing Arizona in the US House of Representatives. A gunman attempted to assassinate Giffords in Tucson in 2011. Six people died and 18 were injured including Giffords, who was shot in the head and critically wounded. Giffords underwent intensive rehabilitation and is able to once again walk and speak. Since the attack, Kelly and Giffords have become outspoken advocates for gun control. Kelly flew combat missions in Iraq and Kuwait as a US Navy aviator during Operation Desert Storm in 1990-91 and went into space four times on the US space shuttle. He and his identical twin brother Scott both became NASA astronauts in 1996. Scott Kelly, who also commanded space shuttle missions and spent a year on the International Space Station, welcomed his brother's candidacy. "I've known this guy my whole life," he tweeted. "I can't imagine a better candidate for U.S. Senator." WASHINGTON President Donald Trump held his first rally of the year Monday, using the backdrop of El Paso, Texas, to make a case for his controversial border wall and stepped up immigration enforcement. Part 2020 messaging, part an effort to influence ongoing negotiations over government funding, Trump blasted Democrats and touted his own successes over the past two years. Prepare to hear these same themes a lot over the next two. Here are five key takeaways from Trump's rally in El Paso. Border security deal Trump mostly avoided the nights breaking news that budget negotiators in Congress had reached a deal in principle to keep the government open past Friday, when current funding will expire. They said progress is being made," Trump said, referring to aides who briefed him before he began speaking in El Paso, where signs hanging from the rafters read: "Finish the wall." "I dont want to hear about it," Trump said he told his aides, adding that he chose to address the crowd rather than learn about details of the deal. We probably have some good news, he said. But who knows. Trump gave no indication of whether hed be willing to sign such a deal. Emergency declaration? Trumps rally remarks in El Paso, Texas, were frequently notable for what the president didnt say. After weeks of threatening to declare a national emergency as a way of freeing up federal funding for his border wall, Trump never used the words national emergency in a room full of supporters. Just so you know, were building the wall anyway, Trump said. The absence of a threat to go around Congress to find money for a wall unilaterally may have been an oversight, but it also just as easily may have been by design. White House aides have increasingly floated the idea in recent days of finding money for the wall in the existing federal budget without declaring a national emergency, which has faced resistance from some Senate Republicans. Story continues Trump is unlikely to find as much money through that route, and the approach will almost certainly draw legal challenges whether he declares an emergency or not. Its 2018 all over again Trumps appearance in El Paso marked his first rally this year technically his first campaign appearance of the 2020 presidential election cycle. But the vast majority of Trumps remarks were a rehash of the themes and even the phrases he embraced during the midterm election. President Trump speaks during a rally in El Paso, Texas. The presidents focus on the MS-13 gang, his claim that Democrats are for open borders, his touting of the economy and low unemployment all of those were central to his 2018 stump speech. So, too, were his praise for legislation allowing terminally-ill patients access to experimental drugs and the major opioids package Congress approved last year. Through the midterms, Trump often mentioned the 2020 election and criticized individual Democrats lining up to challenge him. The president mentioned only one potential rival on Monday, Texas Rep. Beto ORourke, who was holding a competing rally in El Paso. But 2020 is around the corner Though much of Trumps rally remarks could have been ripped from the midterms, he did continue to sound some themes that are almost certain to be defining messages for the next election. Among those: Abortion and socialism. The president hit on both of those words in his State of the Union address last week, and White House aides were pleased at the response those lines received from conservatives. "Theyre becoming the party of socialism, late-term abortions, open borders and crime," Trump claimed. Democrats have, in fact, supported additional federal funding for border security, but they oppose the border wall Trump proposed during his 2016 campaign. Trumps focus on socialism is based on more liberal Democratic presidential candidates who have called for a Medicare-for-all health care system or environmental proposals intended to lower carbon emissions. Trump specifically criticized the Green New Deal, saying that it sounds like a high school term paper that got a low mark. A presidential pooch? In one of the more lighthearted moments of his remarks, Trump wondered what it would be like if there was a presidential pooch beside him at the White House. "A lot of people say, 'Oh, you should get a dog,'" He said. "Why? 'Its good politically.' I said that's not the relationship I have with my people." Trump said he wouldnt mind getting a dog, like many other presidents before him, but he doesnt have the time. "How would I look walking a dog on the White House lawn?" he asked, as the crowd erupted into laughter. "I dont know," he concluded. "It feels a little phony to me." Trump is the first president in more than 120 years who doesnt have a canine pal by his side at the White House, according to the Presidential Pet Museum website. The last dog-less commander-in-chief was William McKinley, who had a parrot, kittens and roosters but no presidential pooch. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Five takeaways from Trump's El Paso rally on border wall, shutdown talks Warri (Nigeria) (AFP) - Five people were killed in southeast Nigeria during clashes between supporters of the two main political parties, police said Monday, just days before a general election. The victims, members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), were shot and killed on Sunday in an apartment in Effurun, near the oil city of Warri, according to the Delta state police spokesman, Andrew Aniamaka. "The victims were shot in a likely revenge attack by persons suspected to be from opposing political parties in the area," said Aniamaka, adding that they were shot on Sunday when gunmen fired into the apartment just before midnight. "Calm has been restored to the area," he said, and everything was being done to ensure "such an incident does not reoccur especially with a few days to the general elections." The Uvwie local government chairman Ramson Onoyake also confirmed the five deaths and said that "six persons have been arrested" in connection with the deadly shooting. The incident came after recent clashes between young supporters of the APC candidate and the rival contender from the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP). According to hospital sources and local residents contacted by AFP, the violence left three people dead and several more injured over the weekend of February 2-3, although police have not confirmed the toll. Nigerians will cast ballots on Saturday in presidential and legislative elections. The presidential contest will see incumbent Muhammadu Buhari seek to win a second four-year term against former vice president Atiku Abubakar in what is expected to be a close race. Milestone Institute of Professional Studies (MIPS) at Thika town is now focusing on private-public partnerships to streamline service delivery and strengthen its internal capacity to ensure students get a quality education. Speaking, George Maina, Founder, and Chairman said that the college through new with only two branches, Thika and Mombasa has a robust internal quality assurance mechanism that ensure its graduates have the desired knowledge, skills, creative abilities, and moral qualities. He said that partnering with the public institution will help in exchange of programmes noting the exercise will give students self-esteem. At MIPS lectures are driven by one thing in common, the desire to empower the society by equipping students with requisite skills needed in the job market, he said adding that its a constitutional right for every child in Kenya to get a quality education without discrimination. Mr. Maina has called on the ministry of education to take action on the institutions that break education laws. He called on the ministry to ensure that not a single student is denied a chance to join University or colleges due to lack of school fee. Last month the institute offered 50 needy students free scholarships to pursue diploma courses in different related fields. Mr. Maina said the scholarships were worth 4 million. He called on the ministry to facilitate private-public partnerships to ensure exchange of programmes. Based on the 2018 KCSE results, the ministry states that 651,189 candidates qualified for placement to tertiary institutions at various levels under Government sponsorship. Of these, 90,744 attained a mean grade of C+ all qualified to join local universities. Further, 121,288 who scored between C plain and C in the 2018 KCSE examination are all eligible for placement in diploma courses in tertiary TVET institutions under the Government sponsorship programme. In addition, 244,436 who scored D and D+ in the 2018 KCSE are eligible for placement 2 in Craft Certificate Courses in TVET institutions while all 194,721 who scored between E and D in the examination are eligible for selection to Artisan courses in the existing 800 Vocational Education and Training (VET) institutions. In 2017, 12,656 students were placed in private universities. An analysis of the enrolment data shows there are students who opt to transfer from public to private universities to pursue various programmes under government funding. The record further shows that only 68,545 students were admitted to universities while 57,488 were admitted to colleges, Some 32,521 were admitted to crafts courses and another 4,898 into artisan programmes Transfers from the public to private universities were attributed to better facilities and competitive programmes in private institutions. Public universities were blamed for cases of missing marks and strikes. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. On todays episode of the Tech Talk Tuesday podcast, Ryan McQueeney is joined by Chad Parks, founder and CEO of Ubiquity Retirement + Savings, to discuss the intersection of technology, retirement planning, and small business. Remember to subscribe and leave a rating on Apple Podcasts if you enjoy the show! Ubiquity Retirement + Savings is a rapidly-growing fintech company that offers customizable, flat-fee retirement plans for small businesses. Chad started the business two decades ago after realizing that small businesses were drastically underserved in the retirement planning market. The company strives to use technology to improve its offerings and outcomes, most recently launching a cloud-based SaaS record-keeping platform called Paradigm. Beyond Ubiquity, Chad is an expert on the retirement industry and has encouraged federal lawmakers to pass small-business-friendly legislation. He has even produced a documentary film, Broken Eggs: The Looming Retirement Crisis, to help educate Americans on lingering problems in the retirement landscape. This combination of experiences makes Chad the perfect person to talk to about technology, retirement planning, and small business. In todays Tech Talk, Ryan and Chad chat about the intersection of these ideas, focusing on the needs that still need to be met, the progress that has been made in recent years, and where small businesses should go from here. Chad said that small businesses are slowly adopting one-stop shop platforms for saving, planning, record management, and accounting. These types of suites have been available to larger businesses in the past, but small business owners are just now starting to see software designed for them. But there is still plenty of work to be done, Chad thinks. Companies like Square SQ, Paychex PAYX, and Intuit INTU are fantastic at what they doyet these services still hold a relatively small share of their respective markets, as many owners still opt for a pen-and-pencil management. Story continues There are also national considerations that affect small business owners just as they do our wider society. Huge generations are entering retirement age and life expectancy is high, stretching the resources of federal retirement programs to the brink. Chad argues that people need to shift their perspective on saving for retirement to account for this situation. Luckily, there are plenty of new tools and resources that make this shift easier, and Ryan and Chad discuss several of them on todays episode. Make sure to check it out for more information! If you feel that we missed something, or if you want us to cover a different story, shoot us an email at podcast@zacks.com. Make sure to check out all of our other audio content at zacks.com/podcasts, and remember to subscribe and leave us a rating! Thanks for listening to the Zacks Tech Talk Tuesday Podcast; we will see you next time! Is Your Investment Advisor Fumbling Your Financial Future? See how you can more effectively safeguard your retirement with a new Special Report, 4 Warning Signs Your Investment Advisor Might Be Sabotaging Your Financial Future. Click to get it 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 Intuit Inc. (INTU) : Free Stock Analysis Report Paychex, Inc. (PAYX) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research The art of bringing art to the world is the slogan youll see when you land on Creos website. The family-owned company provides consulting and project management services to artists and art organizations and helps them export their installations worldwide. It started in 2015 when Benoit Lemieux, a lifetime entrepreneur, brought the idea to his three sons and his wife, Sonia. He noticed there were lots of artists in Montreal and wondered if we could help them out, says Alexandre Lemieux, one of Benoits sons and Creos Business Development Manager. EDC And by help, Benoit meant help showcasing Montreals art globally. He saw Creos as a company that could use its project management talents to bring local art installations to the international stage. His family agreed, and Creos was open for business. Our goal was to take the burden of all the logistics, operations, transportation and business development from the artists shoulders so they could focus on what theyre really good atcreating art, says Lemieux. EDC But shipping large art installations across the world wasnt cheap, and Creos soon learned just how much it was going to cost the new company. To improve cash flow, it turned to EDC for help. How EDC helped Since 1944, Economy Development Canada, the financially self-sufficient agency has helped thousands of small Canadian companies respond to international trade opportunities so they can take their exporting business to the next level. Much of EDCs work is done in collaboration with the Government of Canada. EDC EDCs Export Guarantee Program helped Creos access more working capital to increase its line of credit. With the extra cash, the company was able to connect its office and warehouse, which, Lemieux says, has made productivity go through the roof. By allowing Creos to offer better payment terms, the program also helped the business move to new markets with confidence. It also allowed Creos to move into countries it never thought possible, like Israel. When we went to Jerusalem in 2017, it was the first time in the Middle East for us, so it was a big step for our company. We had EDC help us to make sure that if anything was to happen, we were covered. A big project like thiswhen you take your first steps in a different culture, different part of the worldEDC allowed us to be a bit more at ease to go there, says Lemieux. The result Story continues Today, 80 per cent of Creos business operates in the United States. And since working with EDC, the company has expanded into other countries including Australia, Switzerland and France. Next on the list is China, possibly followed by South American and African markets after that. EDC For us, there are no boundaries and no limits for where we want to go. Because we feel our product is universal, theres no reason we cant go anywhere, says Lemieux. Beyond entering new markets, Creos also wants to continue to help artists get their work noticed around the world, and bridge the gap between art and business. Its always been that art is distant from business, but we want to make sure that artists can make a living with their work and create more art in the future. We want to make sure they have the confidence to say, Okay, I can create one more, says Lemieux. EDCs Export Guarantee Program can help your bank provide you with additional access to financing. It shares the risk with your bank by providing a guarantee on the money you borrow, encouraging them to increase your access to working capital. Click here to learn more. Health experts are warning that a fatal infectious disease that is spreading across the country among deer, elk and moose may be transmittable to humans. Chronic wasting disease (CWD), which is described as a progressive, fatal disease that affects the brain, spinal cord and other tissues of animals, has been documented in at least 24 states as of January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The disease, which can take years for symptoms to appear after infection, is believed to spread through bodily fluids like feces, saliva, blood, or urine, by both direct and indirect contact in the environment. There are no treatments or vaccines. The symptoms, which have been compared to those of zombies, may include drastic weight loss, stumbling, lack of coordination, listlessness, drooling, excessive thirst or urination, drooping ears, lack of fear of people, and aggression. Though there have been no confirmed animal to human transmissions, some health officials, pointing to laboratory tests, say it may be only a matter of time. A white-tailed deer showing symptoms of chronic wasting disease, including drooling, is shown in this undated file photo provided by the Colorado Division of Wildlife. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS) It is probable that human cases of CWD associated with the consumption of contaminated meat will be documented in the years ahead, Michael Osterholm, the director for the University of Minnesotas Center for Infectious Disease and Research Prevention, told Minnesota lawmakers on Thursday, according to the Twin Cities Pioneer Press. It is possible that (the) number of human cases will be substantial and will not be isolated events. Laboratory studies have shown that the CWDs mutated protein, which is called a prion, is capable of infecting animals that carry human genes like squirrel monkeys, macaques, and lab mice, according to the CDC. One study performed by German and Canadian scientists has also found that macaques could be infected by eating meat from infected deer or elk, as well as deer that had CWD but had yet to show symptoms. An earlier study did not confirm this transmission, however, the CDC said. Story continues To date, there is no strong evidence for the occurrence of CWD in people, and it is not known if people can get infected with CWD prions, the CDCs website states. Nevertheless, these experimental studies raise the concern that CWD may pose a risk to people and suggest that it is important to prevent human exposures to CWD. As of January, there were 251 counties in 24 states with reported CWD in free-ranging cervids. Those states are Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. (Photo: CDC) During Thursdays hearing about the disease at the Minnesota Capitol, health experts from the University of Minnesota urged lawmakers to treat CWD, which has spread geographically since its 1967 discovery, as a public health issue, the Pioneer Press reported. The urge came as researchers with the university requested $1.8 million to develop a test for the disease that would not require the animal to be dead. Dr. Jeremy Schefers, a pathologist with the Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory who has been studying the disease over the last decade, is among those stressing the need for such a test. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. Authorities are urging hunters to take extra precautions to minimize potential exposure to the disease while handling deer carcasses. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS) I have watched CWD move into Minnesota and Im frustrated that we havent found strategies to slow down or contain the disease, he said in a release by the university. Unfortunately, our lack of a rapid test that works on live animals, or our ability to test other things such as soil, meat processing equipment, and samples from other animals that might carry the prion, clouds our understanding of CWD transmission. The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection offers an online field guide on how to properly field-dress deer to minimize possible exposure to the disease. The guidelines include wearing rubber or latex gloves when cutting or processing the meat, minimizing contact with the animals brain, spinal cord, spleen and lymph nodes, and thoroughly cleaning with a 50/50 solution of household chlorine bleach and water any knives or utensils that are used to harvest the animal. Related Coverage New York Hunter Likely Died From Eating Squirrel Brains, Researchers Reveal This article originally appeared on HuffPost. By Stephen Eisenhammer BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (Reuters) - Vale SA, the world's largest iron ore miner, knew last year that the dam in Brazil that collapsed in January and killed at least 165 people had a heightened risk of rupturing, according to an internal document seen by Reuters on Monday. The report, dated Oct. 3, 2018, classified the dam at Brumadinho in the state of Minas Gerais as being two times more likely to fail than the maximum level of risk tolerated under internal guidelines. The previously unreported document is the first evidence that Vale itself was concerned about the safety of the dam. It raises questions as to why an independent audit around the same time guaranteed the dam's stability and why the miner did not take precautions, such as moving a company canteen that was just downhill from the structure. Vale said that the report, called "Geotechnical Risk Management Results," comprised the views of specialist engineers, who are obliged to work within strict procedures when they identify any risks. "There is no known report, audit or study with any mention of an imminent risk of collapse at Dam 1 in the Corrego do Feijao mine in Brumadinho," Vale said in an emailed statement. "To the contrary, the dam had all its certificates of safety and stability attested to by local and foreign specialists." U.S.-listed shares of Vale extended losses on Monday following the Reuters story, dropping as much as 2.6 percent to $11.10. The company has lost a quarter of its market capitalization or nearly $19 billion since the Jan. 25 dam collapse, Brazil's most deadly mining accident. The disaster in the mineral-rich state of Minas Gerais was the second major collapse of a mining dam in the region in about three years, following a similar disaster in 2015 at a nearby mine co-owned by Vale. 'ATTENTION ZONE' Vale's internal October report placed the Brumadinho dam within an "attention zone," saying that "all prevention and mitigation controls" should be applied. A failure could cost the company $1.5 billion and had the potential to kill more than a hundred people, the report said. The dam was marked for decommissioning. Nine other dams in Brazil, out of 57 that were studied, were also placed in the "attention zone," according to the report. A separate Vale report dated Nov. 15, 2017, also seen by Reuters, states that any structure with an annual chance of failure above 1 in 10,000 should be brought to the attention of the chief executive and the board. The dam's annual chance of collapse was registered as 1 in 5,000, or twice the tolerable "maximum level of individual risk," according to the report. "That's not good in my book, especially if you consider that these are meant to be long-term structures," said David Chambers, a geophysicist at the Center for Science in Public Participation and a specialist in tailings dams. The miner said in its emailed statement that "the creation of an alert for top management, suggested in November 2017, was studied in the context of the integration of geotechnical risk and business risks for Vale." Asked what came of that discussion, Vale said such an alert had not been implemented. UNDER INVESTIGATION Vale said the causes of the rupture were still being investigated. It has repeatedly said the collapsed dam was declared sound by an independent auditor in September. The audit by Germany-based TUV SUD, which was seen by Reuters, said the dam adhered to the minimum legal requirements for stability but it raised a number of concerns, particularly about the dam's drainage and monitoring systems. The auditor made 17 recommendations to improve the dam's safety. Vale said the recommendations were routine and that the company attended to them all. The October internal report identified static liquefaction and internal erosion as the most likely causes of a potential failure at the dam in Brumadinho. It is still not known what was behind the collapse, but a state environmental official told Reuters this month that all evidence pointed to liquefaction. Liquefaction is a process whereby a solid material such as sand loses strength and stiffness and behaves more like a liquid. It was the cause of the 2015 dam collapse nearby, which resulted in Brazil's worst-ever environmental disaster. "We used to say these kinds of mining incidents were acts of God, but now ... we consider them failures in engineering," said Dermot Ross-Brown, a mining industry engineer who teaches at the Colorado School of Mines. Vale has said it will invest some $400 million from 2020 to reduce its reliance on tailings dams, which store muddy detritus from mining. (Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer; Additional reporting Ernest Scheyder in Houston; Editing by Brad Haynes and Rosalba O'Brien) BRUSSELS (AP) The European Parliament has backed a fisheries agreement with Morocco which includes waters off the disputed territory of Western Sahara that Rabat claims. The legislature in Strasbourg approved the deal with 415 votes in favor, 189 against and 49 abstentions. Morocco considers the vast Western Sahara, with its rich fishing ground, as its "southern provinces" and rejects anything considered a threat to its territorial integrity. Western Sahara's Polisario Front independence movement was against the agreement. Some 130 EU vessels will be able to catch tuna, sardines, mackerel and anchovies off Morocco and Western Sahara and the EU will pay 208 million euros ($235 million) over four years in support of the local fisheries sector. After initial approval, the member states need to officially back it again later. Den Helder (Netherlands) (AFP) - It was late on a stormy Saturday night when marine biologist Mardik Leopold's phone rang at his home on the remote northern Dutch island of Texel. On the line was a coast-watch volunteer calling to tell him of reports of hundreds of dead guillemots washing up along the country's shores. "The next morning, my phone rang red-hot from callers all over reporting dead birds," Leopold, based at Wageningen University's marine research department in the northern port city of Den Helder, told AFP. "Alarm bells started ringing." Since early January, more than 20,000 dead guillemots have washed up dead on Dutch beaches -- from the northern Wadden Islands to southwestern Zeeland. "All the birds show signs of severe starvation and we don't know why," said Leopold. On Thursday, Leopold, other marine biologists and veterinary pathologists will gather in the central city of Utrecht to perform a mass autopsy on some 100 birds, hoping to find an answer. Scientists like Leopold say they are in the dark as to why this phenomenon has struck the North Sea's guillemot population, which numbers about two million. One possible cause being probed is a recent spill from a container ship, the Panama-registered MSC Zoe, in January. The spill littered the Dutch and German coastlines with debris, including plastic toys, polystyrene, shoes and at least one bag with a dangerous powder identified by authorities as "organic peroxide". But there is no proof of a link and the container theory raises as many questions as it would answer. Why, for example, are only guillemots dying all along the Dutch coastline? Leopold said he has received no similar reports from Belgium or Germany. Also, guillemots are a cliff-breeding species who raise their chicks mostly along the rugged coasts of Scotland, Norway, Iceland and the German island of Heligoland, said Leopold. "They are pretty robust birds," he said, equipped with small wings which enable them to "fly" underwater as they chase fish like sprat and herring. Story continues - 'Something wrong at sea' - But now, dead birds are washing up "in their thousands", Leopold said at a warehouse in Den Helder, where dozens of the dead birds are being kept on ice. "That's pointing out that there is something wrong at sea, and that's alarming." Their mysterious deaths are turning marine biologists like Leopold into the equivalent of animal crime-scene investigators. There are several theories circulating. One is that rough weather caused the birds to become too tired to chase fish underwater, eventually causing them to starve. But, said Leopold, "this winter was not particularly rough or severe and also, surely the birds would also have washed up elsewhere?" As for the container theory, Leopold said an initial autopsy on a small number of birds showed "no plastic" in their stomachs. Similarly, if the birds were affected by a chemical, other animals would also have shown symptoms, the marine biologist said. Nor are the birds covered in oil or any other visible substance, which rules out an oil spill. - 'Very sick' - This is not the first time guillemots have died off in their thousands, said Leopold. There were similar events in the 1980s and 1990s. While Leopold and other scientists are puzzling out the mysterious deaths, some 120 kilometres (80 miles) to the east, animal rescuers have been hard at work saving many weak guillemots still alive when they washed up. "They arrive here very sick. They are in poor condition," said Hetty Sinnema, manager at the Fugelhelling bird sanctuary in the small northern Frisian village of Ureterp. By last Friday, the shelter had received 35 birds, but only around 14 have survived, despite emergency care and tube feeding with a special mix of fish, glucose and electrolytes. Sinnema said she believed the bird deaths could be attributed to a combination of factors including rough seas and a shortage of fish. "But we have to wait for the scientists to give us a clear answer," she said. Leopold said scientists hoped to publish a report within a month after the autopsy. EL PASO Mariachis versus MAGA hats. Pro-wall versus pro-immigrants. President versus potential presidential hopeful. This Texas border city of 684,000 residents was rocked Monday with dueling political rallies, as a campaign event by President Donald Trump was met with counter protests led by former Democratic congressman and El Paso native Beto O'Rourke, widely believed to be a potential contender against Trump in next year's presidential election. Across the city, pro-Trump backers voiced their support for the president, especially in his steadfast effort to erect a border wall along the southwest border with Mexico. A campaign rally at the El Paso County Coliseum drew several thousand supporters. Trump took a jab at his El Paso rival, calling O'Rourke "a young man who has very little going for himself except he has a great first name." His speech was interrupted repeatedly by anti-Trump protestors in the crowd. "Where do these people come from?" Trump said, widening his arms. A mile away, several thousand protestors shouldered a windy, cold evening to hold a counter-rally. Protestors held signs that read "Immigrants Make America Great" and "BETO 2020," while mariachi music rang out. More: Government shutdown: Lawmakers reach agreement 'in principle' to avoid shutdown as Friday deadline looms More: Another government shutdown? Trump says that's 'up to the Democrats' O'Rourke delivered a speech in both English and Spanish, denouncing Trump's policies and harsh rhetoric on immigration. We, together, are making a stand for the truth against lies and hate and intolerance, he told the cheering crowd. "We are going to show the country who we are. The Trump rally, held in strongly Democratic El Paso, came a week after the president's State of the Union address, where he angered many locals by saying El Paso was once considered one of our nation's most dangerous cities" until a security fence was erected. Trump has asked for $5.7 billion to build a border wall, a key sticking point in a recent government shutdown that dragged for 35 days. Story continues Monday's rally, Trump's first political event of 2019, is likely a harbinger of more to come to garner support for the wall and his reelection campaign. Supporters of Trump and his calls for a wall began lining up outside the El Paso County Coliseum as early as 6 a.m., carrying lawn chairs and sack lunches. Vendors sold Trump-themed hats, T-shirts and banners from folding tables. Randy Ashbaugh traveled 120 miles from Truth or Consequences in New Mexico, along with his 13-year-old grandson Maddox Ashbaugh to see the president. Granddad and grandson, both wearing Trump shirts and jackets, said they wanted to voice their support for securing the border. Immigration: build that wall, Randy Ashbaugh said. It is very important ... We need to build the wall to stop drugs and illegal immigration. President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally in El Paso, Texas, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) ORG XMIT: TXSW101 Christie Buckley, 48, of Fort Hood, Texas, drove nine hours to attend the rally. She pulled into the coliseum at 5:30 a.m. and was one of the first in line. I think hes one of the greatest things to happen to this county," Buckley said of Trump. "Im amazed by him. I appreciate that he tells the truth. Sherry Lewis, a school teacher from El Paso, said she took the day off to attend the president's rally, calling it a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I believe in what hes doing for the country," she said. "Hes keeping his promises. The sentiment was dramatically different a mile down the road. Lyda Ness-Garcia, one of the organizers of the counter-rally, said she and others have been dismayed that El Paso has been the site for controversial federal immigration practices. The Trump administration launched a pilot program here for family separations before expanding the program, she said. The policy drew fierce criticism and, ultimately, was dropped, though it remains unclear how many children were separated from the families and are still being separated. The Tornillo faciltiy, a tent city housing migrant youth that also later closed under withering criticism, was operated nearby. "El Paso, unfortunately, has been the testing grounds for some of the most inhumane policies of this administration," Ness-Garcia said. "Yes, there's a lot of anger, but there's also a lot of positivity. That's what we want to focus on: being peaceful and passionate." More: 'We need people': Donald Trump says he wants to see more legal immigration in U.S. More: President Trump floats 'human wall' on southern border ahead of State of the Union This was Trump's second visit to a border city in as many months. Last month, he visited McAllen, Texas, and met with Customs and Border Protection officials. That visit also sparked street demonstrations in support and against the president. At Monday's counter-rally, people waved "Beto for President" flags and "Not My President" T-shirts. An all-female mariachi band blared classic songs for the crowd and dedicated a special tune to the president: "Viva Mexico." Eddie Rojas, 24, said he doesn't usually attend political rallies. But Trump's comments on El Paso and his insistence on a wall motivated him to attend. On Monday, he held a poster board reading "El Paso Safest City Since 1850 ... No more lies 45." "I work really hard for my money," he said. "I don't want to see it spent on a wall." Silvestre Reyes, a former Border Patrol sector chief here and ex-Congressman representing El Paso, said he was taken aback by the inaccuracy of Trump's recent comments on El Paso. Illegal crossings into El Paso dropped from around 10,000 a day to less than 200 after he launched Operation Hold the Line more than a decade before the security fence went up. He said he found Trump's comments and his decision to hold a campaign rally here distasteful. "Its very frustrating to have someone at that level who could misrepresent what actually goes on" Reyes said. Follow Jervis on Twitter: @MrRJervis. Contributing: Blake Gumprecht, Las Cruces Sun-News; Rafael Carranza, The Arizona Republic; and Aaron Martinez, El Paso Times. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dueling rallies for and against Trump roil through El Paso during president's visit Beni (DR Congo) (AFP) - DR Congo's army said it killed four members of a notorious militia and freed four hostages in an operation in the country's troubled east on Tuesday. Major Mak Hazukay, the army's spokesman in Beni, North Kivu province, said troops carried out a "counter-offensive" against an incursion by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed group blamed for hundreds of civilian deaths. "We neutralised four ADF members... and freed four hostages" in the operation, which took place at Mamove, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Beni, he said. Troops also recovered medicines that had been looted from a clinic, as well as weapons and a motorbike, Hazukay said. The ADF is a shadowy Islamist-rooted group that rose in western Uganda in 1995 under the leadership of Jamil Mukulu, a Christian turned Muslim. It operates in the border area in North Kivu, an area where other armed groups are also active. Mamove had until now been spared from ADF attacks. The ADF has been blamed for recruiting and using child soldiers and killing hundreds of civilians since 2014, as well as 22 UN peacekeepers. Over the last three months, 58 people have died in attacks attributed to the group, according to an AFP toll. The ADF is only one of a constellation of armed groups which plague eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, often fighting over mineral resources, raiding villages and extorting farmers and road users. In Ituri, the province which abuts North Kivu, the armed forces overran a militia training camp in Djugu district, killing six of its men, an army spokesman said. "The assailants were threatening the peace," Djugu's administrator, Alfred Efoloko, told AFP. Nairobi County governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko has outlined the projects his administration intends to roll out in the next financial year. The multi-million shillings projects in line with President Uhuru Kenyattas Big Four agenda and are expected to transform the city and tackle the problems Nairobians are currently facing. In the County Fiscal Strategy Paper for 2019-20, Sonkos administration proposes a budget of Sh31.5 billion, with Sh8.7 billion being allocated for development. A large chunk of the Sh8.7 billion will be spent on expanding and equipping county health facilities, constructing residential houses, expanding roads and improving water and sewerage infrastructure. The County has also proposed to spend Sh6.8 billion on health. Strangely, Sh5 billion of this allocation will be spent on staff salaries. Sh874 million will be spent on drugs and medical equipment to end the persistent shortage in public hospitals. A further Sh334 million will go towards the expansion of hospitals, including the refurbishing of Pumwani Maternity Hospital and completion of the 300-bed facility at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital. The county is leading the way to make the universal health coverage a reality through rapid health infrastructure expansion, acquisition of specialised equipment and capacity building, the fiscal paper states. Sonkos administration has proposed to allocate Sh1.9 billion to address the garbage, persistent water shortage and sewerage problems. Of the amount, Sh839 million will be used to hire contractors, and service and fuel garbage trucks. To improve access to water and sanitation services the sector will seek to increase water supply by drilling boreholes and extension of water systems, the document reads. To address the poor state of city roads, City Hall has proposed to allocate Sh1.8 billion. This will be used to construct walkways, complete ongoing road projects, improve traffic management facilities and develop parking areas. On housing, Sonko plans to build 100,000 housing units in the medium term. 10,000 units are expected to be constructed in 2019-20. They will be constructed under the Urban Renewal Programme- a joint venture between the county government and private investors to revamp old city estates. Seven estates set to be redeveloped include Old Ngara, Jevanjee, New Ngara, Suna Road, Uhuru, Pangani and Ngong Road. To enable the urban renewal sector to effectively spearhead the envisaged urban renewal programme, Sh861 million will be allocated for development expenditure, the report reads. Source: The Star EL PASO President Donald Trump on Monday took a jab at El Paso Mayor Dee Margo, saying he was "full of crap" if he did not believe border fencing made the city safer. "When that wall went up, it was a whole different ballgame," Trump said, referring to fencing along the El Paso border with Mexico. "I dont care if a mayor is a Republican or a Democrat. They are full of crap if they say it doesnt make a difference." Margo, a Republican, has disputed Trump's State of the Union claim that El Paso was among the most dangerous cities in the country before border fencing was installed. "My job as mayor is to represent El Paso factually and with integrity, correcting any misstatements negatively reflecting on our community," Margo told the El Paso Times after the president spoke. He later tweeted the same statement. "I dont focus on political rhetoric, only facts so that my statements will never be questioned." Trump's statements have been widely disputed by city leaders and multiple fact checks, including one by the El Paso Times. Some form of barrier has existed between El Paso and Juarez for decades, whether it was a chain-link fence at different stretches of the border or the more substantial barrier that stands today. According to the FBIs Uniform Crime Reports, violent crime in El Paso fell dramatically between 1993 and 2006. From 2006 to 2011 two years before the fence was built to two years after the number of recorded violent crimes in El Paso increased by 17 percent, the reports say. The figures were below the average for large U.S. cities. Former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke held a dueling rally near the El Paso County Coliseum, where Trump spoke to 6,500 people inside and several thousand outside. O'Rourke's rally drew a crowd that organizers estimate to be between 6,000 and 7,000. Official estimates were not provided by police. With the eyes of the country upon us, all of us together are going to make our stand, O'Rourke told the crowd of several thousand at his rally. Here in one of the safest cities in the USA. Safe not because of walls but in spite of walls." Story continues The Democrat, who is contemplating entering the 2020 presidential election, decried the Republican president's hard-line rhetoric on immigration that has become the centerpiece of his administration. Trump arrived in El Paso for his first of campaign appearance of 2019 even as local leaders from both parties have stoutly contested the assertion that the region was saved from rampant cross-border violent crime by the fencing that went up more than 10 years ago. Trump's wide-ranging address touched on topics from Texas' booming oil and gas industry to his take on the Democrats seeking to oust him in 2020. The central focus for Trump was funding for his long-promised border wall and a flat rejection of the statistics and officials who are standing in his way. "We need the wall," Trump said. "And it has to be built, and we have to build it fast." The El Paso County Coliseum holds about 6,500 people, but President Donald Trump told the crowd that his campaign got special permission from the El Paso Fire Department to let 10,000 inside. "If you want to really see something go outside," he said. "Tens of thousands of people are watching" on monitors. An El Paso Fire Department spokesman on Monday said the president's claim about the number of people in the coliseumm was incorrect. Enrique D Aguilar, fire public information officer, said no special permission was given by the Fire Department, and the Coliseum had about 6,500 people in it during the president's rally at capacity, but well within its standard allowance. Aguilar said "it might be 10,000 with the people outside" total, but the Fire Department did not track the number of people outside. The Coliseum was full at about 4 p.m., and thousands watched the president's speech on big screens outside. El Paso, which shares a border with Juarez, Mexico, is one of the most reliably Democratic strongholds in Republican-led Texas. Trump garnered only 26 percent of the vote in El Paso during the 2016 general election. This is personal. Its an attack on our city, our community and our families," said U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat who served as El Paso County judge before her election to Congress last year. "That being said, we welcome the president. He has the opportunity to correct the record and to see the consequences of his administrations policies." President Donald Trump boards Air Force One as he leaves Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, for a trip to El Paso. Trump will hold his first campaign rally since November's midterm elections in El Paso as he faces a defining week for his push for a border wall, his presidency and his 2020 prospects. The president arrived at El Paso International Airport aboard Air Force One around 6:30 p.m. local time. But his supporters began lining up as many as 10 hours before that. At the arena, Trump was welcomed by scores of supporters, some of whom traveled from neighboring New Mexico and Arizona to cheer his calls for greater security on the nation's southern border. Both of Texas' Republican U.S. senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, were called to warm up the crowd inside the arena ahead the president's arrival. When Cruz exclaimed, "It is time to build the wall, the crowd erupted and echoed with the signature chant, "Build the wall! Build the wall." Nearly all wore Trump regalia, from "Make America Great Again" ball caps to "Trump 2020 shirts and buttons. Democratic leaders, led by former Congressman Beto O'Rourke, participated in what they call a "March for Truth" to combat Trump's statements about the border city. Buttons backing a presidential run by Beto O'Rourke are on sale Monday before his rally. El Paso native Yolanda Moreno was among the first to assemble outside the city's Bowie High School not far from the existing fencing at the border. I initially had tickets to the Trump rally, then my son brought this (rally) to my attention, said Moreno, who purchased a "Beto for President" flag for the occasion. The reason she wanted to attend the Trump event, she said, was to hear what he had to say. Hear his lies. But the president's supporters said they were drawn to his message and to the policies he's pursued during his two years in the White House. Since the president announced his campaign, we liked what he offered the veterans, the tax proposal, and so far he has held to his promises, said Ismael Lozado, an El Paso resident who arrived at the coliseum around 1:30 p.m. I do believe we need a wall as a country. Any country needs to defend its borders. At the Trump rally, the president's son and namesake took a shot at the O'Rourke-led event. I would be more impressed if he had the guts to do his rally on the Juarez side of the wall," said Donald Trump Jr. Although Trump campaigned for the wall, both as a candidate on the 2016 trail and as president, no funding for his vision for the physical barrier has been approved by Congress, even during the first two years of his administration when Republicans controlled by the House and Senate. The fencing in El Paso, and down river to Brownsville and the Lower Rio Grande Valley, is part of the initiative launched under the-President George W. Bush a dozen years ago. Trump's insistence on wall funding was central to the record-setting partial shutdown of the federal government. But when a temporary agreement to reopen the government was reached, wall funding was not included. And as administration and congressional leaders seek to reach a long-term deal by Feb. 15, Democratic leaders have said that wall funding will not be part of any border security package. Related coverage of Trump's visit More: Ahead of Trump El Paso rally, migrants continue arriving in Juarez More: El Paso mayor answers questions on Trump visit Staff writers Aaron Martinez, Daniel Borunda, Vic Kolenc, Maria Cortez, Nick Oza, Jackie Devine, Rafael Carranza, Blake Gumbrecht, Sara Sanchez, Diana Soular and David Davis contributed to this report. This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Donald Trump uses El Paso rally to make his case for border wall funding Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Dividends can be underrated but they form a large part of investment returns, playing an important role in compounding returns in the long run. Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture Co., Ltd. (HKG:1533) has recently paid dividends to shareholders, and currently yields 1.2%. Does Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture tick all the boxes of a great dividend stock? Below, Ill take you through my analysis. See our latest analysis for Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 5 checks you should use to assess a dividend stock When researching a dividend stock, I always follow the following screening criteria: Is it paying an annual yield above 75% of dividend payers? Has it paid dividend every year without dramatically reducing payout in the past? Has the amount of dividend per share grown over the past? Can it afford to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings? Will it be able to continue to payout at the current rate in the future? SEHK:1533 Historical Dividend Yield February 12th 19 Does Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture pass our checks? Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture has a trailing twelve-month payout ratio of 20%, which means that the dividend is covered by earnings. Furthermore, analysts have not forecasted a dividends per share for the future, which makes it hard to determine the yield shareholders should expect, and whether the current payout is sustainable, moving forward. When considering the sustainability of dividends, it is also worth checking the cash flow of a company. Cash flow is important because companies with strong cash flow can usually sustain higher payout ratios. Reliablity is an important factor for dividend stocks, particularly for income investors who want a strong track record of payment and a positive outlook for future payout. The reality is that it is too early to consider Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture as a dividend investment. It has only been consistently paying dividends for 3 years, however, standard practice for reliable payers is to look for a 10-year minimum track record. Story continues Compared to its peers, Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture produces a yield of 1.2%, which is on the low-side for Food stocks. Next Steps: After digging a little deeper into Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pastures yield, its easy to see why you should be cautious investing in the company just for the dividend. But if you are not exclusively a dividend investor, the stock could still be an interesting investment opportunity. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, I urge potential investors to try and get a good understanding of the underlying business and its fundamentals before deciding on an investment. Below, Ive compiled three key aspects you should further research: Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for 1533s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for 1533s outlook. Historical Performance: What has 1533s returns been like over the past? Go into more detail in the past track record analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of our analysis for more clarity. Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here. To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements. The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! In this article, I will take a look at ELGI Equipments Limiteds (NSE:ELGIEQUIP) most recent earnings update (31 December 2018) and compare these latest figures against its performance over the past few years, along with how the rest of ELGIEQUIPs industry performed. As a long-term investor, I find it useful to analyze the companys trend over time in order to estimate whether or not the company is able to meet its goals, and eventually grow sustainably over time. Check out our latest analysis for ELGI Equipments How ELGIEQUIP fared against its long-term earnings performance and its industry ELGIEQUIPs trailing twelve-month earnings (from 31 December 2018) of 945m has increased by 6.2% compared to the previous year. However, this one-year growth rate has been lower than its average earnings growth rate over the past 5 years of 18%, indicating the rate at which ELGIEQUIP is growing has slowed down. What could be happening here? Well, lets look at whats transpiring with margins and if the entire industry is feeling the heat. NSEI:ELGIEQUIP Income Statement Export February 12th 19 In terms of returns from investment, ELGI Equipments has fallen short of achieving a 20% return on equity (ROE), recording 13% instead. Furthermore, its return on assets (ROA) of 7.0% is below the IN Machinery industry of 7.1%, indicating ELGI Equipmentss are utilized less efficiently. However, its return on capital (ROC), which also accounts for ELGI Equipmentss debt level, has increased over the past 3 years from 12% to 16%. This correlates with a decrease in debt holding, with debt-to-equity ratio declining from 79% to 40% over the past 5 years. What does this mean? ELGI Equipmentss track record can be a valuable insight into its earnings performance, but it certainly doesnt tell the whole story. While ELGI Equipments has a good historical track record with positive growth and profitability, theres no certainty that this will extrapolate into the future. I suggest you continue to research ELGI Equipments to get a more holistic view of the stock by looking at: Story continues Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for ELGIEQUIPs future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for ELGIEQUIPs outlook. Financial Health: Are ELGIEQUIPs operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why weve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the trailing twelve months from 31 December 2018. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements. The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of eight Democratic U.S. senators and independent Senator Bernie Sanders urged the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday to reject a proposed $26 billion merger of T-Mobile US Inc and Sprint Corp. The merger is "likely to raise prices for consumers, harm workers, stifle competition, exacerbate the digital divide, and undermine innovation," they wrote in separate letters to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Makan Delrahim, the Justice Department's top antitrust official. The signatories included potential or confirmed presidential candidates Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, Sherrod Brown, Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker. Also signing the letters were Senators Richard Blumenthal and Tom Udall. The companies did not immediately comment. A U.S. House panel is set to hold a hearing on the merger on Wednesday. The senators noted the four largest wireless carriers including AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc control 98 percent of the market. "Antitrust regulators around the world have consistently blocked four-to-three mergers in the mobile and telecommunications industry, and those who have allowed such mergers have lived to regret it," they wrote. Separately, T-Mobile Chief Executive Officer John Legere defended the merger in written testimony released on Tuesday, ahead of a House Energy and Commerce Committee panel hearing on Wednesday. He said the company does not "use Huawei or ZTE network equipment in any area of our network" and will "never" use equipment from the Chinese firms in the next-generation high-speed 5G network. U.S. national security officials have said both ZTE and Huawei raise concerns. The Trump administration is preparing an executive order, that could be released as soon as this month, that would allow the Commerce Department to bar U.S. companies from using telecommunications equipment made by Huawei, ZTE or other companies deemed to pose national security risks. Legere said the merger would lead to lower prices and more U.S. jobs. Opponents argue the combined entity would likely raise prices, cut costs and harm rural consumers. Legere's testimony says the combined firm's business plan projects "aggressive share increases taken from the industry leaders AT&T and Verizon through its accelerated, enhanced 5G deployment." He said the company planned to "keep the customers weve fought hard to win and win new customers with great quality, lower prices, and more innovative offerings." Sprint Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure will tell the panel that the combined firm's improved network "will be able to compete for customers who have been reluctant to use Sprint or T-Mobile because of concerns that the quality of their individual networks is not as good as those offered by Verizon or AT&T." The companies announced the merger in April 2018 after their a first round of merger talks ended in 2014 when President Barack Obamas administration expressed antitrust concerns. In the current review, Legere said the companies had turned over 25 million pages of documents to regulators. "It has been a long road," Legere said. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by David Gregorio and Bernadette Baum) A jury has ruled that a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchisee must pay a Delaware woman it once employed more than $1.5 million in damages related to workplace discrimination that ultimately made it impossible for her to breastfeed her child. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court claimed that co-workers and supervisors at KFC and KFC/Taco Bell restaurants in Kent County made it so hard for Autumn Lampkins to pump breast milk during her shifts that her supply dried up. A jury agreed with the gender discrimination and harassment claims outlined in the lawsuit, which argued that discrimination during Lampkins' employment at the fast-food restaurants in Camden and Dover make it difficult for Lampkins to pump breast milk as often as needed. Not only that, but when she was able to pump during her shifts, she rarely had privacy because of windows and surveillance cameras, the lawsuit said. Background: Delaware mom sues KFC franchisee for discrimination, interfering with breastfeeding Fallout: Government shutdown stymied frozen tax refunds, tied up IRS phone lines, report shows You're out!: Peanuts, Cracker Jack banned from minor league ballpark, a 1st for pro sports On Friday, a jury entered a verdict in favor of the Wyoming resident, awarding her $25,000 in compensatory damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages. The jury found Lampkins proved in trial that she suffered from discrimination and a hostile work environment while employed at the two Delaware restaurants, court documents show. However, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, there is a limit on compensatory and punitive damages against employers. For even the biggest employers, the cap is $300,000. Kentucky Fried Chicken on DuPont Highway in Dover. "It was a great and long-fought victory," said one of Lampkins' attorneys, Patrick Gallagher of Wilmington law firm Jacobs & Crumplar P.A. "It's a great day for women's rights," Gallagher said. "The jury sent a message that employers cannot treat lactating women differently in the workplace." Story continues Lawyers representing the franchisee, Texas-based Mitra QSR LLC, did not respond to a request for comment. Other motions and appeals can still be filed in the case. What happened? Lampkins was hired by the fast-food chain a few months after giving birth to a son in 2014 and was told her decision to breastfeed would not be a problem, according to the lawsuit. But she was only allowed to pump about once during each 10-hour training shift at the KFC/Taco Bell in Camden not once every two hours as recommended, documents filed with the federal court show. She pumped in a single-stall bathroom before she was asked to instead pump in the manager's office, where there was a surveillance camera that she was told could not be turned off, the lawsuit said. The company that owns this KFC/Taco Bell in Camden is being sued by a former employee claiming gender discrimination related to breastpumping. Once she was done training, she was transferred to another KFC in Dover where she was demoted and struggled with insubordination from co-workers complaining that she got "breaks" to pump her breast milk, the lawsuit stated. For those reasons, and other examples outlined in court documents, Lampkins said she suffered physical pain and ultimately moved her baby on to formula earlier than planned, the lawsuit said. Contact reporter Maddy Lauria at (302) 345-0608, mlauria@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @MaddyinMilford. This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware woman wins $1.5 million breastfeeding discrimination case against KFC franchisee Editors Note: The piece is the fourth in a five-part series. The first three can be found here, here, and here. The Episcopal Church of my youth, in a memory now fading around the edge but still vivid at the core, was a place of binary judgments. In those days now long gone, there was right and there was wrong and never were the twain to be conflated. Gods Commandments, which concretized Christian principles, were not offhandedly suggestive. They were starkly dispositive. Old-school sermons pushed home the point that there was His way and the dark way and, pace the triangulators, not much at all in the way of a via media. When it came to moral conundra, as some of you may recollect, the intellectual living was easy. Clarity had been pressed upon us. We all knew where we stood, which was on the wrong side of the bright red line dividing saint from sinner. And we all knew what we had to do. As John Kennedy put it unforgettably in another context, we had to do better. (You had to be there. JFKs salty Boston accent gave eternal life to the mundane phrase.) As even a casual student of human affairs might have guessed, we didnt do better. In the increasingly politicized view of fancy-pants Protestantism, we began to do worse. And the Episcopal Church, with theatrical reluctance, seized the opportunity to gather more extra-cathedral responsibility into its own well-manicured hands. It was toward the middle of the Sixties when I first noticed that my church had promulgated its own foreign policy. In matters of war and peace, as also in matters of wealth and poverty, Episcopalians rolled out a series of pronouncements in sermons, so-called that were both rhetorically perfervid and objectively anti-American. From the exquisitely carved pulpits of what had once been houses of worship, those of us still trapped in the pews were informed that in Latin America, in Europe, in Africa, and most egregiously of all in Southeast Asia, Americas policy was, in a mendacious usage of an old and honorable word, wrong. Story continues Why was America wrong? Well, take your pick, responded our triangulating pastors. America was wrong because we were disproportionately prosperous or, in the alternative, because we were historically tainted. In the WASPiest of the WASP churches, there was even the suggestion, at first cloaked and furtive, that America was wrong because we were white. These pronouncements were not based in Scripture. They were not even based in thought. They reflected, rather, a fatal attraction to the editorial page of the New York Times, which for two generations had served as Holy Writ for the secular Left. (Just curious. Can anybody out there tell me when Times editorial writers stopped providing supporting argument for their daily asseveration? My own attention has flagged.) It was no more than a few years later that the church opened a Bureau of Domestic Affairs, with an apparent mandate to accelerate change in the area of sexual mores. Reproductive rights, gay rights, gender rights, do-over rights every glandular velleity seemed to be approved explicitly by church doctrine, at least as it was interpreted by the clerisy. One chilly morning, I found myself at an Episcopal gathering in Portsmouth, N.H., when the presiding bishop announced that he was gay. Unlike my pew-mates, this declaration drew from me, a trained observer of the human parade, no gasps of shock and awe. (Stylistically speaking, His Eminence was not in deep cover.) But you will be relieved to hear that a pack of Green Mountain boys did not then rush the altar. You may be disappointed to hear that the congregation did not even subject him to a classic New England stare-down. No, they leapt to their feet and gave him a sustained and lusty ovation. I remember asking myself at the time, what is it, exactly, that these people are applauding? We were in the House of God, were we not? We were not in some storefront campaign headquarters, were we? To accept our presiding bishop seemed like the Christian thing to do. To cheer him wildly seemed like an ideological thing to do. The last time I attended an Episcopal service, I was informed in a sermon, so-called that it was Gods Will that the minimum wage be raised to $15 per hour. I had not gleaned that particular insight from my own Bible reading and I had two reactions. The first was a fervent hope that, if He finally speaks to me, we will not dribble away our precious time reviewing, bullet point by bullet point, the political agenda of, say, Kirsten Gillibrand. My second thought was that when divinity students devise economic policy, not to mention national-security strategy, they are likely to look silly, much like a cast of daft characters escaped from a Monty Python sketch. It should go without saying, but perhaps it needs to be repeated, that if we as individuals wish to gross up a workers pay from the ten dollars of value he produces to the 15 dollars he prefers, good for him and good on us. Charity is a widely sanctioned activity, even as far as I can tell by the atavistic lights of the Episcopal Church. But to contend that raising the minimum wage provides some general social benefit is whats the word were looking for here? wrong, and those who so contend must be reckoned either nitwits or charlatans. In the present moment, by way of illustration, the estimate would be that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a nitwit and Beto ORourke a charlatan. But I may have that backwards. The decline and fall of the Protestant sermon triggered in me more than a sense of frustration. It triggered a sense of loss and spurred me to a search for the real thing for the old-time religion preached by men both unclouded by doubts about Him and undistracted by the city lights of contemporary politics. I dont mean to suggest here a deep and scholarly inquiry. My search was more of an amateur spelunking in church records of the late 17th and early 18th centuries in the years, that is, leading up to the Great Awakening of 1739. I began with the words of my own forebears, men named Sewall and Mather and Edwards and Moody. They had much in common, these Yankee preachers. Among the best-educated men in their respective hometowns, they had been schooled not only in history, literature, and Scripture, but also in classical mythology in both its Greek and Roman canons. Their sermons, many of them surviving in published form, read like spruced-up pamphlets bracing, evocative, hortatory. They were crafted with literary care: There was nothing ad libitum about a sabbath sermon in a jam-packed and more than occasionally snowbound New England church. They were discursive, most of them, short on pith and long on elaboration. (A feather man patrolled the aisles, tickling awake, and mortifying, any congregants who nodded off.) Many of these sermons were structured hinged somewhere near the middle to allow for a midday break for lunch. It was the Lords Day, after all, and the faithful had nothing better to do. (Indulge, please, a fugitive thought born of a fortnight immersed in well-wrought 18th-century declamation. Along with many other Americans, I have over the course of a lifetime been swept away by the powerful language of Jeffersons Declaration. His ideas have engaged my mind and secured my assent. It was his eloquence, though the rolling thunder of patriotic prose that won my heart. Today, Jefferson speaks to us across the centuries in a language only superficially similar to our own. So is it possible that those brand-new Americans of 1776, all of whom had been steeped in high-order eloquence from the time they could walk to church, were left unmoved by Jeffersons majestic language? Is it possible that they were able to focus on the ideas themselves, encased in what to them might have seemed straightforward, even unadorned presentation? Is it possible that, inured to the blandishments of eloquence and in the absence of patriotic trill, they could more clearly hear and thus more rationally appraise the fundamental proposition of the Declaration? I wonder. Thus endeth the apostrophe . . .) As I worked my way through the ancestral trove, a few patterns began to form. Almost all of my preacher-men had delivered at one time or another an election sermon, in which the pastor spun commentary on recent voting returns to a congregation that customarily included both the governor and the colonial legislature. (You will perhaps not be surprised to learn that Gods favorite sons, in His inscrutable way, seem to have prevailed in every electoral contest.) Another staple was the artillery sermon, which called for the preacher to address military matters of general concern and then pray over the troops. (Pastors, then as now, did not excel at military analysis.) And then there were the many fixed stars in the church calendar anniversaries, holidays, and such like none more resoundingly observed than January 30, which marked the execution of Charles I in 1649. Among his more conspicuous sins, Charles had married a Catholic and raised taxes. Cromwells republicans found both actions inexcusable, as did much of New England, which was then crawling with anti-papists and proto-supply-siders. Protestant ministers danced on Charless grave for decades until he was replaced atop the colonial Most Wanted list by George III himself. What I found in the old-time religion is that, at least from the pulpit, there was much dreary talk of the proper ends of civil government. The pastors, the most ambitious among them anyway, were indefatigable in their search for just arrangements between their flocks and the temporal powers of the day. And they took it upon themselves not only to find but to adjudicate the proper balance between the jostling claims of citizen and state. What I found in the old-time religion, albeit dressed up in distracting period garb, was pretty much what Id found in contemporary religion. What I found, in a word, was politics. Seemingly high-minded but ultimately tawdry politics. I may need to dig a little deeper. More from National Review ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) Protesters in Alaska urged federal officials to keep oil rigs out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge despite a federal law requiring lease sales in the wilderness area. At a Bureau of Land Management environmental review hearing in Anchorage, Laura Herman urged that no drilling be allowed because of the effects of extraction on the region and the long-term effects of burning the fossil fuel. Herman, 29, said she was too young to be telling "old-timer" stories about how cold it used to be in Alaska, but she did say signs of climate change are all over her home state. "If you've lived in Alaska for more than 15 years, you can see it with your own eyes," she said. Until last summer, she said, her family always stocked their freezer with salmon from the Copper River. However, they weren't able to fish for salmon last summer because warming ocean temperatures did not allow sufficient salmon to return to allow spawning and fishing, she said. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1960 during President Dwight Eisenhower's administration. Congress in 1980 expanded the refuge to nearly the size of South Carolina with the provision that 2,300 square miles (5,957 sq. kilometers) of the coastal plain be studied for natural resources. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the plain holds 10.4 billion barrels of oil. Multiple representatives of Defend the Sacred-Alaska denounced petroleum development in the refuge for the effects it would have on the Porcupine Caribou Herd. The coastal plain is the nursery for the herd, named for the Porcupine River. The 200,000-animal herd migrates from Canada to a strip of flat tundra in Alaska's northeast corner between Brooks Range mountains and the Arctic Ocean. Gwich'in Natives in Alaska and Canada depend on hunting the caribou for their subsistence lifestyle. Siqiniq Maupin grew up in the village of Nuiqsut and said the air has been damaged by flaring of natural gas. Some Alaska Native leaders, she said, have traded clean air for dollars. Story continues "When all of the water is gone, and all of the clean air, what are we going to do with green paper?" she said. The BLM listed a no-action alternative for the refuge but that would ignore congressional direction, said Joe Balash, the Interior Department's assistant secretary for land and minerals management. Congress in December 2017 approved a tax bill that requires an oil and gas lease sale in the refuge to raise revenue for a tax cut backed by President Donald Trump. "A no-action alternative would fly in the face of what Congress told us to do," Balash said. Critics are not willing to trade an intact wilderness ecosystem and scoff at the tax bill's projections that lease sales will put more than $1 billion into federal coffers over 10 years. Opponents also say development will create a spider web of roads and pipelines connecting drill pads, affecting acreage throughout the wilderness area. Drilling supporters said additional production is crucial for Alaska and can be done in a manner that follows environmental law. Carl Portman grew up in Fairbanks and said he remembered life before the trans-Alaska pipeline. The pipeline now runs at one-quarter capacity and could face premature shutdown without increased production, he said. That would be an unmitigated disaster for the state, Portman said. "Like thousands of Alaskans, my livelihood depends on the oil and gas industry, yet I do not work directly for the industry," he said. Ken Federico, a carpenter, said he has worked an assortment of jobs in North Slope oil fields over four decades and watched enforcement of environmental law transition from "the Wild West" to strict. A subcontractor recently fired two truck drivers for urinating along the side of a road, he said. "Guys lost $75,000, $80,000-a-year jobs just for taking a leak," he said. "That's how strong the oil companies are pushing contractors and subcontractors up there to be very concerned about the environment." Minsk (AFP) - The editor of the biggest independent Belarus news site went on trial on Tuesday in a case condemned by rights groups as part of a crackdown on the media under President Alexander Lukashenko. Marina Zolotova, the editor-in-chief of tut.by, was initially detained in August along with nearly 20 other journalists over alleged "unauthorised access" to information from a state news agency. They were all released after being ordered to pay fines and damages to state-run BelTA news service. But Zolotova was subsequently charged with "official inaction," or negligence, for failure to control her subordinates when they accessed BelTA by using account passwords for the agency. If convicted, she faces up to five years in jail and a possible ban from holding managerial positions. She is also subject to a travel ban. A smiling Zolotova appeared in a Minsk court to applause from dozens of supporters on the first day of her trial. Several Western diplomats attended the hearing. Zolotova said her lawyers would try to have the case thrown out. "But I don't know whether we'll succeed," she told reporters in court. Zolotova also said the case was designed to specifically target her outlet. "We have more than a million views a day, while the BelTA news agency and other state outlets have significantly less," she told the website of the Belarusian Association of Journalists before the hearing. "This is an attempt to weaken the competition, if not to close it." The charges were brought against Zolotova despite the fact that BelTA makes its stories freely accessible soon after subscribers see them. Tut.by said it was the first time in the history of modern Belarus that the chief editor of a media outlet was put on trial for her "professional work". Ex-Soviet Belarus, ruled by authoritarian leader Lukashenko since 1994, was ranked 155th out of 180 in last year's Reporters Without Borders world press freedom index. Story continues Boris Goretsky, spokesman for the Belarusian Association of Journalists, said his group was watching the case. "It is truly amazing that in 21st-century Belarus the chief editor of an online media outlet is being tried for using passwords she did not use," he said. - 'Act of intimidation' - Alexei Kazlyuk, a lawyer with the Human Constanta rights group, said the case had so many irregularities "it was strange it made it to trial". "The more we learn, the more we see the political overtones of the case," he said. Kazlyuk said that virtually anyone had access to passwords and accounts at BelTA. "It turned out that apart from employees and their clients, other people used the accounts, too," he said. The Council of Europe and Reporters Without Borders expressed concern at the time of the journalists' detentions in August. Paulyuk Bykowski, a Belarusian journalist who works for Deutsche Welle, Germany's public international broadcaster, was held for two days and his home raided during the crackdown. Human Rights Watch has called the authorities' response "disproportionate". In 2016, the European Union lifted most of the sanctions it had imposed in recent years against Lukashenko and other Belarusians, in a move to encourage progress on human rights. But the Belarusian authorities have ramped up efforts to control media since major anti-government demonstrations in 2017, with independent journalists and civil society activists facing pressure and harassment. Johann Bihr, who heads Reporters without Borders' Eastern Europe and Central Asia office, said the group regretted that the EU had lifted sanctions against Lukashenko's regime. "It is difficult to see this trial as anything but an act of intimidation against the last independent media in Belarus," Bihr said. tk-tm-tbm-as/pma Caylee Cresta at home in North Reading, Mass. (Photo: Paula Bronstein for Yahoo News) Caylee Cresta, 27, a wife and mother of a young son, is a victim of the opioid epidemic, although not in the way you might think. She doesnt have needle tracks on her arms; she gets her dosages legally and has never overdosed. But she has a problem shared by many Americans who depend on painkillers to get through life: the well-intentioned effort to discourage doctors from writing unnecessary prescriptions has made opioids harder to get for people who actually need them. Sometimes she runs out altogether. I hide on my really bad days, she says the times when she cant get a prescription filled and on my better days, which are always days that I have my full dose of opioids in me, those are the days when people see me. Cresta has a rare condition called stiff person syndrome (SPS), which affects the brain and spinal cord and causes painful spasms that can be strong enough to break her bones. Sudden stimuli like stubbing a toe or a hug from behind can trigger a spasm that lasts for hours. While the disease is most common in people between the ages of 30 and 60, disabling them more and more over time, Cresta was 18 when she had her first spasm. It took a couple of years and dozens of doctors before she knew what was happening to her body. I was a senior in high school, recalled Cresta. I was sitting at lunch one day and I just got this terrible throbbing pain in my jaw. The first place I thought of was my dentist. Then they referred me to the orthopedic surgeon and when I got there, the nurses looked at my mouth. As shes looking around, my jaw slams shut. And it stayed like that for 18 days until somebody put me under anesthesia and broke it out of place. Cresta spent a year and a half seeing 30 different kinds of specialists before she was diagnosed with SPS. By this time, the muscle spasms had progressed down her body and in one instance, she could hear the bones in her hands breaking. Her doctor, a neurologist who specializes in rare diseases, offered opioids as a treatment to slow down her nervous system and help relieve the pain prompting the spasms, but Cresta refused to take them. Story continues Photo: Paula Bronstein for Yahoo News I had grown up watching a fair amount of addiction in her family, said Cresta. I have seen what addiction could do. Eventually, after being confined to a wheelchair for months and in the emergency room with a spasm, Cresta acceded to a doctors insistence on giving her an intravenous opioid. After it was administered, she felt near instant relief. When her neurologist again offered opioid medication as a treatment option, this time Cresta agreed. Within 25 minutes of taking that first pill, my life completely changed, she said. It was like somebody handed me this little tiny piece of my life back. And as my willingness and the dosage grew, I got a bigger and bigger piece back. She added with a sigh, Opioids saved my life. However, in recent years, due to the crackdown on opioid prescriptions, Cresta has increasingly encountered doctors unwilling to prescribe to her and pharmacies reluctant to fill her prescriptions. Caught between the fear of overdosing and of the prospect that their pain could drive them to suicide, people like Cresta are fighting to stay alive. While the blame for the epidemic is handed off from addicts to doctors to the pharmaceutical industry, chronic pain patients are collateral damage in a fight that leaves doctors wary of treating them. In his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Trump boasted, In the last Congress, both parties came together to pass unprecedented legislation to confront the opioid epidemic. In October 2018, he had signed a bipartisan bill, the Support for Patients and Communities Act , to fight the crisis that claimed over 70,000 lives in 2017 and kills 115 every day. The bill would set new provisions for Drug Enforcement Administrations opioid manufacturing quota, increase access to prescription monitoring databases, and require the Department of Health and Human Services to annually notify outlier prescribers, excluding those who have hospice or cancer patients or are already being investigated by the inspector general. So heres this tragedy and heres this message that something went wrong with the prescribing culture, said Stefan Kertesz, an addiction scholar and professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, told Yahoo News. If that were all, that would be plenty to change physician behavior, [because] you cant ignore 70,000 people dying. But, Kertesz continues: Its hard to think about the patients best interest when the doctor feels like they could be taken down at any moment. He says every week or two he learns about a suicide related to reduced opioid supply. And the patient whos been on opioids for long-term pain comes to look like a serious threat and a liability to the physicians own survival. Twenty-eight percent of medical professionals including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, chiropractors and physical therapists admitted to feeling complicit in the opioid crisis, according to a survey by Delphi Health Group, a rehab center in Florida. Forty percent of doctors said they are prescribing fewer opioids than in previous years. Cresta at her neighborhood pharmacy. (Photo: Paula Bronstein for Yahoo News) Most medical professionals believe theyve prescribed opioids to an addict, so yes, we can say that the pressure is justifiable, said Gesa Pannenborg of Delphi Health Group. They are aware that they are sometimes portrayed as one of the villains when it comes to opioid deaths. Cresta felt the effects of this pressure on her doctors. A few years ago, primarily in 2016, everything started to get a little bit more uncomfortable, she said. Her Connecticut-based doctor, who is a three-hour drive from Crestas home in Reading, Mass., started to receive letters from her states prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP). He also got letters from Connecticut, she said. My pill is a rare milligram, said Cresta, who is prescribed opioids up to 400 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) per day, which is well over the over the 50 MME/day threshold for what is considered safe prescribing to avoid overdose. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions guideline for prescribing opioids, physicians are recommended to avoid increasing dosage to 90 MME/day or carefully justify a decision to titrate dosage to 90 MME/day. Between 2006 and 2017, the annual prescribing rate for high dosage opioid prescriptions (90 MME/day or more) declined by 56.5 percent . In 2017 alone, these prescriptions fell by 46.5 percent. With a high enough dose, said Cresta, opioids can stop me from spasming, but more than anything, they allow me to retain some functionality and keep some quality of life. She adds that shes never gotten high from the drug. Even so, Cresta and her doctor, both fearful for the doctors practice and livelihood, agreed that shed instead see a pain physician, someone who could prescribe her the high dosage she needed without being flagged. Finding a pain management doctor proved challenging. They dont know my disease, said Cresta, who worried that her various doctor visits looked like doctor shopping. I never got a script from any of those doctors, she said, but going to see multiple doctors doesnt look good either. Not long after shed found a doctor willing to take a risk on prescribing the high dosage she needs, Cresta was right back where she started. One day I walked into [the doctors] office and she had gotten a letter from Medicare and Medicaid, said Cresta, whose voice softened as she recalled the moment. She said that shes gotten this letter about her Medicare, Medicaid patients that said she was over the prescribing line. Im on private insurance; that letter didnt have anything to do with me, specifically. But she looked at me and she said, For you as a high-dose opioid patient, youre somebody that influences my prescribing and I have two kids to put through college. Cresta said she sympathized with the doctor, but felt deeply hurt. I left that day, and within two days one of my lungs had collapsed. Within three days after that, the other lung collapsed. She inevitably returned to her specialist, the one who had received PDMP notices because of her dosages. He said to me, Im not gonna let you die, said Cresta. And he took me back on as a patient. With over 191 million opioid prescriptions dispensed to American patients in 2017, including those for methadone, OxyContin and Vicodin, according to the CDC, the opioid epidemic is a problem almost entirely confined to the U.S. There were nearly 218,000 lives lost to overdoses related to prescription opioids between 1999 to 2017. As a result, state and federal regulatory bodies are cracking down on prescribers. Physicians like Ajay Manhapra told Yahoo News the pressure to prescribe or not prescribe opioids becomes a damned-if-you-do-and-damned-if-you-dont situation. Five, 10 years back, I started tapering a lot of people because they were dysfunctional, said Manhapra, who is now an addiction medicine specialist at a Virginia clinic, but previously worked in a hospital intensive care unit. A bunch of them got better, a bunch of them kept coming back to the hospital. Photo: Paula Bronstein for Yahoo News Manhapra said he made the medical and ethical decision to taper opioid prescriptions when he saw patients werent improving and were becoming dependent on the prescribed drugs. I said to them, for your best interest, Im not willing to make the prescriptions, but I will work with you, and if you dont want that, I will recommend you to another physician. The backlash to his decision was swift and enduring. I was written up so many times, he told Yahoo News. Nurses complained about me. Patients complained to the government about me. It was significant stress to stand up against this whole movement of prescribing opioids for anybody who [thinks they] deserve it. Today, Manhapra treats patients who are voluntarily trying to stem their opioid dependence, among other addictions. But years ago, not all of his patients chose to have their opioids tapered. It was his decision, one he felt confident about making. But many physicians are making similar decisions based on outside pressure from regulators or insurers. In most circumstances. I would tell patients to trust their doctors when they have a medical problem or to trust their childrens doctors, said Andrew Kolodny, president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP) and co-director of opioid policy research at Brandeis University. But in the case of opioids, continued Kolodny, its hard because the reason we have this epidemic, the reasons so many Americans became opioid-addicted starting in the mid-90s, is because doctors began to prescribe very aggressively. The epidemic began in 1996, when drugs like OxyContin hit the market and opioids were prescribed not only for terminal illnesses like cancer treatment but for relief from even routine pain, such as a toothache, instead of an over-the-counter NSAID. The national movement to reel in prescriptions, however, has left some patients in so much pain they attempt or commit suicide when their drugs are taken away. We were taught that opioids are safe and effective for common chronic conditions like lower back pain; we were told to give opioids, reflected Koldony. Chronic headaches we were taught to give opioids. Fibromyalgia we were taught to give opioids. You are much more likely to harm the patient than help them If you prescribed opioids aggressively like that. He also blamed the ongoing crisis on drug companies like OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma and their brilliant, multifaceted marketing campaign disguised as education. The answer there isnt so much restricting what doctors can do, said Kolodny, the answer is restricting what drug companies can do. We need better regulation of the drug companies so that the doctors can make the decision on the basis of medical evidence without drug companies influencing what theyre doing and giving them deceptive information. Currently, Purdue Pharma is being sued by the Massachusetts attorney general, whos accused the company of misleading doctors into prescribing potentially addictive OxyContin. According to court documents released mid-January, Purdue executives planned to bury the competition in a blizzard of prescriptions and blamed the crisis on abusers, who they referred to as reckless criminals. Yet the fight against the opioid epidemic has fallen squarely on doctors shoulders. To protect public health, we must continue to improve opioid-prescribing practices, wrote Dr. Gery Guy, a health economist at the CDC, in an email to Yahoo News. Almost all prescription drugs involved in overdoses come from prescriptions originally. However, once they are prescribed and dispensed, prescription drugs are frequently diverted to people using them without prescriptions. The CDC guidelines for prescribing opioids provide recommendations that are are voluntary, rather than prescriptive standards, said Guy. Still, as of last year, over a dozen states have turned the guidelines dosage and duration limits start low and go slow into laws. In many cases, they are indiscriminately applied to all chronic pain patients, despite being unsuitable for people with cancer or other certain serious illnesses. The risk of addiction then outweighs pain relief for someone with a terminal disease. The CDC says it has documented a connection between prescribed opioids and illicit drugs. Opioid overdoses related to prescription opioids and heroin have taken the lives of too many Americans, said Guy. In 2017, prescription opioid overdose took the lives of 17,087, heroin overdoses took the lives of 15,482, and synthetic opioids other than methadone (such as illicitly manufactured fentanyl) took the lives of 28,466 Americans. These epidemics are closely related. The dramatic increases we see in opioid overdoses are a tragic consequence of exposing too many people to prescription opioids. It is this crossover, as Cresta put it, that stigmatizes legitimate opioid users as drug addicts. Photo: Paula Bronstein for Yahoo News But a just-published study projects that interventions targeting prescription opioid misuse such as prescription monitoring programs may have a modest effect, at best, on the number of opioid overdose deaths in the near future. Even patients who have been on therapeutic doses of opioids for a long time, with no evidence of other problems like substance use disorders, are being involuntarily tapered because physicians or other prescribers are afraid, said Kelly Dineen, co-director of the Bander Center for Medical Business Ethics at Saint Louis University. Its not great for anybody to have an opioid use disorder no matter what the substance is. But, frankly, its probably less dangerous to have opioid use disorder when youre using prescription drugs because at least there are quality controls on that. Beyond prescription limits, the CDC guidelines recommend technological surveillance like prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMP) that track which drugs are prescribed and dispensed to whom, how many and how often. The data is sent out in report cards, comparing doctors to their peers and influencing them to be more conservative with their prescription pads. They were meant to inform primary care physicians on what would be reasonable, said Halena Gazelka, a practitioner of pain medicine at the Mayo Clinic, about the CDC guidelines. But when we try to make absolutes out of them, that this is all you can give a patient and this patient is the same as another patient, it just doesnt work because medicine is so individualized. And it has to be. Gazelka argued that the guidelines are based on data that may not capture the full spectrum of opioid users. When someone comes in with an overdose, we dont necessarily know whether theyre taking a prescription that they were given or that their mother was given or if they bought it on the street, she said. Trying to separate that out, where the prescriptions end up and who is really dying from them, is really difficult. Donna Meyer, a nurse and co-leader of Investors for Opioid Accountability, a coalition that scrutinizes the role of pharmacies like Walgreens in the opioid crisis, agrees with Gazelkas critique but believes common sense restraint is warranted. There shouldnt be any dictator dictating how doctors do things, because every patient is different, Meyer told Yahoo News. But on the other hand, there should be guidelines and we should not go back to the 90s, where we just gave 90 opioid pills to someone who broke their little finger. Cresta has tried non-opioid alternatives for her bone-breaking spasms, some of which have recently deformed her feet. Plasmapheresis, IVIG (intravenous immunoglobulin) therapy, out-of-pocket stem cell trials, listed Cresta. Anything you can think of, I tried it. But time and again, opioids, she said, proved most effective for treating her disease. The past three months Ive had a brutal problem at the pharmacy, she said, as she recalled a 13-hour day when she attempted to fill a prescription. A number of pharmacies have either refused to fill prescriptions for her or claimed the drug was out of stock. Photo: Paula Bronstein for Yahoo News Nobody wants to bounce between pharmacies because you dont want to be questioned, and you dont want to be made out to be a criminal, said Cresta. But when you have pharmacists today that look at you and say, Im refusing to fill that, and thats the only thing keeping your bones from breaking, there is no choice. Even at the hospital, Cresta has faced reluctance to administer opioids. I could go to the ER, and the ER doctor that I had established a relationship with over time knew what they had to do, she said. They had to administer IV opioids quickly, one on top of the other, and they could break the spasm. It saved my life multiple times. But I dont have that option anymore because nowadays ERs dont treat pain and a lot of them do not want to give out opioids. Cresta said her prescriptions are routinely flagged by the PDMP system, which exists in some form in every state except Missouri. She has sometimes paid for her medication herself when her private insurance wouldnt cover the cost. Cresta became a pain advocate after posting a video to her YouTube channel, outing herself as someone living with chronic pain. Everybody has an idea of a chronically ill patient as being disheveled and unstable and mean and theyre sitting in piles of dirty laundry, rocking back and forth, being hypochondriacs, she said. Its very hard to sympathize with that image. She expected people whose whole life is devoted to getting rid of opioids, to respond to her video, but instead was flooded by messages from supporters who felt validated by her story, including some who were struggling with thoughts of suicide. Being chronically ill without the opioid issue is isolating, said Cresta, who literally understood the pain of her viewers. Then you add the opioid [fight] and its a really dark world for so many because we know that this the only way that we can survive. Crestas husband, Ryan, who is a veteran, had to stop working to take care of Cresta and their 5-year-old son after she began having trouble getting her prescriptions filled. They are being helped by their families. Ive been really fortunate, said Cresta. But family help runs out; it doesnt last forever. Still, Cresta counts herself as lucky. I am so grateful that I have a doctor that hasnt abandoned me, she said. You dont only have fear for yourself, you have fear for these physicians and also for their families who they have to support. This mountain of fear that just never quite goes away. Whether its to put on makeup, record a video, or have a five-minute appointment turn into a four-hour ordeal, everyday Cresta makes a point of getting out of bed no matter how much pain she is in. The first day I dont get out of bed is the last day Im going to be able to, she said. She continued: A day in the life is pain. Its fighting; its pushing. But the really important part is that I still have a day in the life because I have an opioid prescription. I wouldnt otherwise. Cresta with her son. (Photo: Paula Bronstein for Yahoo News) _____ Read more from Yahoo News: Finish this article for as low as $1 when you purchase a day pass. Just click the sign up button to purchase. If you are already a subscriber, just click log in to continue reading. If you get the lions share of your news from Americas prestige media outlets, youd be forgiven for thinking that the principal religious-freedom issue in America is whether a few Christian business owners can discriminate against their gay customers. Whether the controversy is a media-created fiction (think of Indianas Memories Pizza a store that never denied anyone service) or an actual court case, like Masterpiece Cakeshop, the narrative is the same. The battle over religious liberty yes, the scare quotes are often all too real is the battle over the right of business owners to recreate their own, small-scale version of Jim Crow. But what if the cases that dominate the headlines (in addition to being fundamentally mischaracterized) actually represent an insignificant fraction of the total religious-liberty cases in the country? What if there is a much larger story one that contradicts the media narrative and legitimizes conservative Christian concerns that when the Left is dominant, it will systematically and comprehensively discriminate against orthodox Christian individuals and groups? Im talking about the Christian experience on campus, where there have been hundreds of cases and controversies involving the most basic rights of free speech, free exercise of religion, and freedom of association. And many of the cases contain the most obvious and blatant evidence of overt discrimination. Take, for example, a story that should have made headlines last week. Federal district-court judge Stephanie Rose (an Obama appointee) delivered the University of Iowa a humiliating defeat in court, granting a small Christian student group called Business Leaders in Christ a permanent injunction against the enforcement of the universitys so-called Human Rights Policy a policy that the university had selectively enforced to privilege favored speakers and punish theologically conservative Christians. Story continues The facts of the case are simple and have been replicated on college campuses across the land. The university de-recognized the Christian group because it screens its leaders to make sure that they agree with and can represent the groups religious beliefs which include a standard statement of faith and the orthodox belief that sexual activity is reserved for marriage between a man and a woman. In other words, a traditional Christian group wants to be led by people of traditional Christian faith. This was intolerable to the University of Iowa. And lest you think it was even-handedly enforcing a neutral nondiscrimination policy, think again. Heres the court: The University has approved the constitutions of numerous organizations that explicitly limit access to leadership or membership based on religious views, race, sex, and other characteristics protected by the Human Rights Policy. These groups include Love Works, which requires leaders to sign a gay-affirming statement of Christian faith; . . . House of Lorde, which implements membership interview[s] to maintain a space for Black Queer individuals and/or the support thereof; [and] the Chinese Students and Scholars Association, which limits membership to enrolled Chinese Students and Scholars. [Internal citations omitted.] When asked to justify this blatant favoritism, the university claimed that the privileged groups existed for reasons which support the Universitys educational mission. For example, the university argued that some groups provide safe spaces for minorities which have historically been the victims of discrimination. As a result, the University allows groups to speak about religion, homosexuality, and other protected traits through their leadership criteria, but it denied the Christian group the same right. That is textbook viewpoint discrimination, and its blatantly unconstitutional. The only thing unusual about the Iowa case is the universitys hubris. It actually defended its blatant discrimination in court. Most universities will de-recognize the Christian group and essentially dare the group to sue. Sometimes, when a lawyer responds, theyll compromise. Sometimes, they resist and then settle. Sometimes, they fight in court. The Alliance Defending Freedom (my former employer) reports more than 200 legal interventions on campus, and thats just one group. Other groups, like the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty (which represented Business Leaders in Christ), the First Liberty Institute, and the Christian Legal Society have their own considerable case files. There have been moments when an entire state university system takes action, as when the California State University system ejected 23 different chapters of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship from campus. There have also been moments when prestige universities attempt a virtual clean sweep of Christian groups, as when Vanderbilt University compared Christian groups that wanted Christian leadership to segregationists and ejected more than a dozen groups from campus. The media failure in covering this more than decade-long scandal helps explain why the secular public can often seem mystified by Christian concerns with religious liberty. After all, arent the baker and florist cases isolated and rare? Why all the hysterical rhetoric? But when you consider that tens of thousands of young Christians on campus have had direct experience with blatant double standards and explicit anti-Christian discrimination and when you consider that hundreds of thousands more have direct knowledge of that discrimination then the concern starts to make more sense. Moreover, secular students observe and learn from administrators scorn for the fundamental freedoms of orthodox Christian students. They learn that there is something wrong with Christian expression. They too often emerge from their campus experience believing that opposition to religious liberty advances social justice rather than contradicts American constitutional ideals. Across the United States, state officials are repeatedly telling American Christians that there is something inherently wrong with their faith. Theyre even claiming that its out of bounds for Christian groups to seek Christian leadership and often claiming that orthodox Christian beliefs are on a moral par with defenses of slavery or other repugnant forms of bigotry. They engage in rank favoritism and blatant viewpoint discrimination. These actions warp American culture and transform American politics. They deserve far more media attention than they receive. More from National Review Paige Hart, 24, and boyfriend William Maddock, were stunned after ordering a corn on the cob with their takeaway chicken only to find a bread roll filled with sweetcorn. A couple were left baffled after a takeaway worker got his cobs confused leaving them in stitches. Paige Hart, 24, and boyfriend William Maddock, 32, popped into a takeaway in the East Midlands, hoping to leave with a Nandos-style chicken feast. They placed a 14 order including a 3.50 dish of corn on the cob before returning home to their flat in Carlton, Nottingham, where a bread roll is known commonly known as a cob. And when Paige got home she discovered instead of being served up one of her five a day, shed been given sweetcorn on a bread roll. The pair, who spent 14, said they were amused by the takeaway worker who took them quite literally. Paige said: Me and William wanted something to eat before we got home and couldnt be bothered to cook. Its a bit like Nandos so we ordered our chicken. I turned to William and said I fancied I corn on the cob so I asked the guy behind the counter if he did it. At first he looked at me a bit weird and said of course darling and bagged it up. Inside the container where Page hoped to find a steaming cob she found a white roll filled with canned sweetcorn. Paige Hart, 24, and boyfriend William Maddock, were stunned after ordering a corn on the cob with their takeaway chicken only to find a bread roll filled with sweetcorn. We were just gobsmacked. We were both in stitches as he took it so literally. What some people call baps we call cobs so he took it literally. Last year a YouGov study revealed how more than 50% of people in Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire use the word cob for a bread roll. The thing is it didnt even have butter on, said Paige. And I still was really craving a corn on the cob. Its not nice without butter. We didnt eat it in the end. We took a few pics and put it in the bin. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Coor Service Management Holding AB (publ) (STO:COOR), which is in the commercial services business, and is based in Sweden, received a lot of attention from a substantial price movement on the OM over the last few months, increasing to SEK73.4 at one point, and dropping to the lows of SEK65.1. Some share price movements can give investors a better opportunity to enter into the stock, and potentially buy at a lower price. A question to answer is whether Coor Service Management Holdings current trading price of SEK71 reflective of the actual value of the small-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Lets take a look at Coor Service Management Holdings outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change. Check out our latest analysis for Coor Service Management Holding What is Coor Service Management Holding worth? The stock seems fairly valued at the moment according to my valuation model. Its trading around 3.9% below my intrinsic value, which means if you buy Coor Service Management Holding today, youd be paying a fair price for it. And if you believe that the stock is really worth SEK73.91, then there isnt much room for the share price grow beyond what its currently trading. Is there another opportunity to buy low in the future? Since Coor Service Management Holdings share price is quite volatile, we could potentially see it sink lower (or rise higher) in the future, giving us another chance to buy. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for how much the stock moves relative to the rest of the market. What does the future of Coor Service Management Holding look like? OM:COOR Future Profit February 12th 19 Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. Buying a great company with a robust outlook at a cheap price is always a good investment, so lets also take a look at the companys future expectations. With profit expected to more than double over the next couple of years, the future seems bright for Coor Service Management Holding. It looks like higher cash flow is on the cards for the stock, which should feed into a higher share valuation. Story continues What this means for you: Are you a shareholder? COORs optimistic future growth appears to have been factored into the current share price, with shares trading around its fair value. However, there are also other important factors which we havent considered today, such as the financial strength of the company. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at the stock? Will you have enough confidence to invest in the company should the price drop below its fair value? Are you a potential investor? If youve been keeping an eye on COOR, now may not be the most advantageous time to buy, given it is trading around its fair value. However, the optimistic prospect is encouraging for the company, which means its worth diving deeper into other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to take advantage of the next price drop. Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters the fundamentals before you make a decision on Coor Service Management Holding. You can find everything you need to know about Coor Service Management Holding in the latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in Coor Service Management Holding, you can use our free platform to see my list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential. To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements. The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. A wide-ranging YouGov poll predicts a win for the Tories but no end to the deadlock (Getty Images) The Conservative Party would win an early General Election but would not gain enough seats to break the current deadlock gripping Parliament, according to major new research. A YouGov poll using the same method that correctly predicted the outcome of the 2017 election quizzed more than 40,000 people to see what would happen if Britain went back to the polls. The poll found that Theresa May would marginally tighten her grip on the Commons by winning 321 seats four more than she currently has and that Labour would win 250 seats, down from 262. The Lib Dems and SNP would each gain four seats, according to the prediction. A party needs to win 326 seats to gain an overall majority. YouGov modelled the result based on a poll of 40,000 people (YouGov) The polls most likely outcome would give the Tories a working majority, meaning they would not need to rely on votes from other parties to pass legislation, because MPs from Sinn Fein do not take their seats or cast votes in Westminster. But the knife-edge lead would mean the PM is still at risk from mutinies within her own party, giving small bands of rebel MPs in her own party the power to block legislation. The Prime Minister currently leans on a fragile agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to pass bills after losing her majority in 2017. Theresa May currently relies on the votes of the DUP, led by Arlene Foster (Getty Images) However the Northern Irish party has threatened to vote against key legislation in protest at Mrs Mays Brexit deal. Mrs Mays weak position was made clear in January after MPs voted down her Brexit deal by an unprecedented margin of 432 votes to 202. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. It comes as rumours circulate that the Conservatives are preparing to fight an election this summer, with the Mail on Sunday claiming that Tory HQ staff have been briefed on campaign plans. Jeremy Corbyn is calling for an early election in an attempt to break the Brexit impasse currently strangling Parliament, but Mrs May has repeatedly ruled out calling an early vote. The new research suggests that the Labour leader might want to rethink his stance, predicting a 7% slump in the Labour vote. Story continues Mr Corbyn has seen a collapse in his personal popularity since his sudden surge in 2017. 19% of Brits think he would be the best person to be Prime Minister, down from a high of 39% in July 2017. Mrs May will address MPs today as she ploughs on in her attempts to unite Parliament behind her Brexit deal. She is expected to say that talks are at a crucial stage and to appeal for more time to try and secure concessions from the EU before calling another meaningful vote on her deal. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Washington (AFP) - Climate change and a deteriorating environment are likely to fuel social disorder and could threaten some US military bases, a top admiral said Tuesday. Admiral Philip Davidson, who heads the US military's vast Indo-Pacific Command, told lawmakers he concurred with a recent assessment from the US intelligence community that listed climate change as a global threat. "The immediate manifestation is the number of ecological disaster events that are happening," Davidson told the Senate Armed Services Committee. The intelligence report states: "Damage to communication, energy, and transportation infrastructure could affect low-lying military bases, inflict economic costs, and cause human displacement and loss of life." When Senator Elizabeth Warren, a top Democrat who is running for president in 2020, asked if he agreed, Davidson said "yes ma'am," and went on to describe a recent mission in Tinian and Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, where US troops helped clear up after Super Typhoon Yutu. The United States is one of a dwindling number of nations where climate change and its impacts are politicized, and the Republican Party is loath to take action to reduce carbon emissions. President Donald Trump, who has previously called climate change a Chinese hoax, has delighted in dismissing the phenomenon. During a record cold spell last month he joked on Twitter that the world needed more global warming. The Pentagon recently put out its own climate change report, which critics slammed as understating the scope of the problem. That report looked at 79 "priority" facilities around the US and found many vulnerable to flooding and wildfires, as well as the impacts of desertification, drought and melting permafrost. Hurricane Michael last year wrecked Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida. It will cost more than $5 billion to rebuild. By Hadeel Al Sayegh ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Citigroup expects the majority of investment banking opportunities in the Middle East to come from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates this year, said Miguel Azevedo, Citigroup's head of investment banking, Middle East and Africa. The U.S. lender, which is working towards a full banking license in Saudi Arabia, ended a five-decade presence in the kingdom in 2004 but in 2015 won permission to invest directly in the local stock market and last year gained approval to begin investment banking operations. "I can see real interest awareness and potential demand for Saudi exposure," Azevedo told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Abu Dhabi. He said a number of companies in Saudi Arabia were working on initial public offerings and that he was optimistic on the level of demand for Saudi stocks. Foreign investors dumped Saudi equities at the end of last year amid worries over the blow to Saudi Arabias relations with the West following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi - a critic of the Saudi leadership - in Istanbul on Oct. 2. But demand for Saudi securities has picked up this year, ahead of the kingdom's inclusion in the emerging-market indexes of MSCI and FTSE Russell later this year. Last month foreigners bought a net 4.36 billion Saudi riyal ($1.2 billion) of Saudi stocks, according to stock exchange data. The Saudi index is up nearly 9.5 percent this year. Azevedo said market sentiment towards Saudi Arabia was "neutral to positive." The inclusion in the indexes is expected to attract $15 billion of benchmark-linked funds and billions more in active funds. Citi expects business in the region to come from the chemical sector, as well as real estate, retail, diversified industrial companies, and banking, said Azevedo. (Writing by Davide Barbuscia; Editing by Mark Potter) Chris Pratt has denied attending an anti-LGBTQ church (Francis Specker/PA Wire) Chris Pratt has denied that the church he attends is anti-LGBTQ, after actress Ellen Page slated him on social media. Pratt attends the Christian megachurch Hillsong, founded in Australia and which has branches all over the world. However, its founder Brian Houston has previously been criticised for taking an anti-gay stance, not allowing gay men and women to hold leadership positions, and saying in a 2015 blogpost that that church does not affirm a gay lifestyle. Replying to a tweet from The Hollywood Reporter, which promoted a story about Pratt discussing his faith on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the Juno actress replied: Oh. K. Um. But his church is infamously anti lgbtq so maybe address that too? This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Page, who married her partner Emma Portner last year added in a later tweet: If you are a famous actor and you belong to an organization that hates a certain group of people, dont be surprised if someone simply wonders why its not addressed. Being anti LGBTQ is wrong, there arent two sides. The damage it causes is severe. Full stop. Sending love to all. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Pratt has responded, saying that Pages claim is wrong, and that his church opens its doors to absolutely everyone. In a lengthy post to his Instagram Stories, he said: It has recently been suggested that I belong to a church which hates a certain group of people and is infamously anti -LGBTQ. (Credit: Instagram) Nothing could be further from the truth. I go to a church that opens their doors to absolutely everyone. We need less hate in this world, not more. I am a man who believes that everyone is entitled to love who they want free from the judgment of their fellow man. Ellen Page and Emma Portner (Credit: Getty) He goes on to say that while the bible frowns on divorce, the church was never judging when he split from wife Anna Faris. My faith is important to me, but no church defines me or my life, and I am not a spokesman for any church or any group of people. Others who have attended the church include the likes of Kendall Jenner, Vanessa Hudgens, Nick Jonas, and Justin Bieber and new wife Hailey Baldwin. Story continues Read more Full list of BAFTA winners Malek snubs Singer Biggest BAFTA surprises BEIJING (AP) Beijing on Monday condemned Turkey over its claim that a celebrated musician from China's Turkic Muslim Uighur ethnic group has died in custody, releasing a brief video clip that it said proved he was alive and in good health. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the video of Abdurehim Heyit issued by state media showed Turkey's statement was an "absurd lie." "The Turkish side has made a very bad mistake which is quite irresponsible. We express firm opposition to this," Hua told reporters at a daily briefing. China has filed a formal complaint and called on Turkey to reveal the source of its information, Hua said. Heyit had reportedly been sentenced to eight years over one of his songs. Hua said he had been taken in custody for endangering national security and his case was under investigation. The dustup over Turkey's criticism contrasts with the close economic relationship between the two countries. Turkey depends on Chinese financing for major infrastructure projects, while China sees Turkey as an important link in its gargantuan Belt and Road project to expand its economic reach abroad. Turkey's claim of Heyit's death came in a foreign ministry statement Saturday calling China's treatment of Uighurs "a great cause of shame for humanity" a rare show of public criticism by a majority Muslim nation. China has interned an estimated 1 million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in re-education camps, where they are forced to renounce Islam and swear fealty to ruling Communist Party leader Xi Jinping. Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said it was "no longer a secret" that China has arbitrarily detained more than a million Uighurs in "concentration camps." He said the Turkic Muslim population faced pressure and "systematic assimilation" in western China. In the video released by state media outlet China Radio International, Heyit said he was being investigated for criminal activity, but was in good health and had "never been abused." Story continues At the start of the video, Heyit states his name and gives the date as Feb. 10, 2019. The authenticity of the video could not be verified and it was not clear where and by whom it had been filmed. However, Hua said that after checking with the "relevant department in Xinjiang," the ministry had confirmed the video's legitimacy. Chinese state media have a long history of broadcasting confessions by both Chinese and foreign citizens who afterward say they were compelled to participate against their will and forced to read a script. Although Turkey's criticism appeared without warning, Chinese diplomats responded with alacrity. The Chinese Embassy in Turkey swiftly issued a lengthy defense of Chinese policies, calling Aksoy's comments "completely unacceptable" and accusing Turkey of "maintaining double standards on the question of fighting terrorism." Amid the clampdown, multitudes of Uighurs have fled, many traveling to Turkey, where the language and culture are similar to those in Xinjiang. Chinese Kazakhs have also fled abroad to avoid arbitrary detention, and the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on Monday said it was following the case of a one such man who had been fighting attempts by Beijing to return him to China from neighboring Uzbekistan. A spokesman said Monday that the embassy was aware of Halemubieke Xiaheman's situation and was in close touch with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and "relevant governments" on his case. Halemubieke had filmed a video from inside the transit zone at the airport in Uzbekistan's capital, pleading for help, saying the Chinese Embassy there wanted him sent back to China. It was distributed Thursday. In response, the Uzbek foreign ministry issued a statement saying he flew to Bangkok on Saturday. Beijing called the latest US warning against using Huawei equipment "groundless" on Tuesday, as the Chinese telecom giant faces espionage fears in a growing number of countries. The world's second-largest smartphone maker and biggest producer of telecommunications gear has been under fire in recent months after the arrest of a top executive in Canada and a global campaign by Washington to blacklist its equipment. "The US has spared no effort in unscrupulously fabricating all kinds of groundless charges," said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a regular press briefing in Beijing Tuesday. She also accused the US of "sowing discord" between China and other countries, and called the actions of Washington "neither fair nor moral." On Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on a visit to Hungary that it would be difficult for the United States to partner with countries that co-locate Huawei equipment near "important American systems". "We want to make sure we identify (to) them the opportunities and the risks with using that equipment," he said. His comments came less than week after a team of US officials toured EU capitals -- including Brussels -- urging European governments to scrap Huawei 5G technology from their telecom infrastructure plans. Several Western nations have voiced fears that using Huawei base stations and other gear could give Chinese authorities access to critical network infrastructure worldwide, possibly allowing it to spy on foreign governments. In December, Britain's largest mobile provider said it was removing Huawei equipment from its 4G cellular network after the foreign intelligence service singled out the company as a security risk. Australia, New Zealand, and the United States also enacted similar bans last year. Huawei has remained dismissive of these concerns, with the company's vice president and representative to the EU Abraham Liu calling them "ungrounded and senseless allegations" in a speech last week. The Belfast Zoo in Northern Ireland said it is reviewing animal security after a group of chimpanzees escaped an enclosure using a branch as a ladder. A video posted online by a visitor shows a chimpanzee climbing to the top of the enclosure while another sat on top of the wall. In a statement, the Belfast City Council, which runs the zoo, said one of the chimpanzees left the enclosure on Saturday for about an hour, while two others only climbed up to the wall. All the chimpanzees safely returned to the enclosure on their own. "This was a highly unusual event, despite the natural curious nature of chimpanzees, and Council would like to reassure the public that Belfast Zoo is fully committed to providing a safe and enjoyable experience for all its visitors," said the Belfast City Council in its statement. Additional posted footage shows a chimpanzee popping out on to a path used by visitors exploring the zoo. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. "I was petrified, obviously, having the kids and I tried not to show fear but inside I was a bit like what happens if it attacks us or tries to take the kids or runs over," Danielle Monaghan, a mother who filmed the incident, told the BBC. Zookeepers are investigating whether the branch probably weakened by high winds fell into the enclosure after they completed routine morning checks, said the city council. This isn't the first time the Belfast Zoo has had to deal with an escaped animal this year. Last month, the zoo warned nearby residents to look out for a red panda that had escaped. The red panda was later found and returned to the zoo safely. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23 This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chimpanzees escape Belfast Zoo enclosure with makeshift ladder "Was it a battle or part of a wonderful script?" The May 1, 1898 Battle of Manila Bay was so lopsided that many still wonder today if the so-called Battle of Manila Bay was really a battle or part of a wonderful script hatched by both Spain and the United States. The leader of the Spanish Pacific Squadron, Rear Admiral Patricio Montojo, lost all his seven major ships; 161 of his men died while 210 others were wounded, including his two sons. Montojo was court-martialed, briefly imprisoned and thanks to Admiral George Deweys endorsement, was later discharged from the Spanish Navy. The leader of the US Asiatic Squadron, (he got the position through political connections), Dewey lost not a single man nor a single boat in battle. Later, he tried to run for president of the US but changed his mind. Dewey was so confident of victory that two hours after the Battle of Manila Bay began at 5:40 a.m. of May 1, 1898, he withdrew his fleet so that the crew could have breakfast and also replenish ammo. They returned to battle after three and a half hours. By 12:40 p.m., the battle was won. Arnold Dumindin described the mock Battle of Manila Bay on Aug. 13, 1898, two months and two weeks after the May 1, 1898 naval battle. On Aug. 12, 1898, in Washington, D.C. , Jules Cambon, ambassador of France and representing Spain and William R. Day, US Secretary of State signed the protocol suspending hostilities and defining the terms on which peace negotiations were to be carried on between the US and Spain. The protocol was signed in the presence of President William R. Mckinley. Dumindin wrote about the landing of US troops in Manila in the guise of conquering the cityunder a pre-arranged script that was unknown to many. He wrote:As the naval bombardment ended and the American forces continued north in two columns, the Filipinoswho had not been apprised of the scriptraced to join the battle. They thought there was a real battle going on that would liberate their capitol and they did not want to be left out. The Filipinos assaulted from four directions - the column of General Pio del Pilar took Sampaloc district; that of General Gregorio del Pilar took Tondo district, that of General Mariano Noriel took Singalong and Paco districts; that of General Artemio Ricarte routed the Spaniards in Sta. Ana district and pursued them all the way to Intramuros. Here is an account of the battle, by the Encyclopedia Britannica: After an explosion sank USS Maine in Havana harbor in February 1898, the United States declared war with Spain on 25 April in support of a Cuban rebellion against Spanish colonial rule. A US New Navy attack on the Spanish fleet in the Philippines proved gratifyingly one-sided. After the United States had declared war, its Asiatic squadron was ordered from Hong Kong to capture or destroy the Spanish fleet then in Philippine waters. The US Navy was well trained and well supplied, largely through the energetic efforts of the young assistant secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt, who had selected George Dewey for the command of the Asiatic squadron. The aging Spanish fleet, led by Admiral Patricio Montojo, was outgunned and out-armored by the more up-to-date US fleet. Montojo decided to shelter inshore and rely on land batteries for defense. He chose a site in Manila Bay, away from the capital city, in shallow water off the Cavite Naval Yard. Dewey, on board his flagship Olympia, took his squadron into Manila Bay under cover of darkness on the night of April 30, 1898 and, soon after dawn, approached the Spanish in single file. The Spanish batteries opened up while well out of range, but Dewey waited for 30 minutes before giving the order to return fire. Passing back and forth in front of the Spanish fleet, the Americans pounded the enemy until, fearful that their ammunition was running low, they took a break at 7:45 a.m. Despite inaccurate gunnery, the US ships had sunk most of the Spanish vessels. At around 10:40 a.m., they resumed fire, sinking the rest of the fleet and quieting the shore batteriesthe battle was over by 1 PM. Americans captured the city of Manila on Aug. 13 Spains control of the Philippines was over, andby the Treaty of Paris signed on 10 December 1898control of the islands was handed over to the United States. The Battle of Manila Bay made Commodore Dewey a national hero and helped establish the reputation of the US as a major naval power. Losses: US, nine wounded, no warships lost of six vessels; Spanish, 381 dead or wounded, all seven warships lost. Two middle school students could be facing felony charges after being arrested for allegedly cyberstalking and threatening their teacher and her family on Sunday through an Instagram account called Southwood School Shooter. The kids, ages 12 and 13, who attend Southwood Middle School in Palmetto Bay, Fla., allegedly used the account to start following the teachers personal Instagram account, then began privately messaging her, according to the Miami Herald. You and your children are next on Valentines Day for making my life Im finna kill all yo family and shoot up yo bitch ass school, the message reportedly read. The teacher said she also found an exclamation point left as a comment from the account on a photo of her infant daughter. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. The teacher contacted police immediately, fearing for her life, according to an arrest report. The Miami-Dade Schools Police Department was able to trace the account to the 13-year-old, and a when a responding officer showed up at his house, the child said, This must be about the school shooter Instagram account, according to the arrest report. He then implicated the 12-year-old, who also admitted to the crime, police said. The boys have been arrested and charged with making threats to schools through social media or verbal/written communications. They were taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center without incident, records indicate. The Miami-Dade County Public Schools district condemned the students alleged behavior in a press release shared with Yahoo Lifestyle. Recent arrests of students for hoax social media threats demonstrate clearly and unequivocally that Miami-Dade County Public Schools has a zero-tolerance policy related to this type of activity, said Schools Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho in the release. Parents and students must understand that any threat real or fabricated to schools and students is a serious matter. It is unacceptable and those involved in such activity will be prosecuted. Prank and hoax threats made against a school are counterproductive to the life-saving work of law enforcement and compromise the safety of everyone. Story continues This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. The statement also discussed the impact of these kinds of incidents on the entire student body. These hoax threats disrupt the schools educational environment and interfere with police officers ability to protect schools from real dangers; drain law enforcement resources; cost taxpayers money; and increase stress levels, anxiety and absenteeism, it said. The release goes on to ask parents to speak to their children about the seriousness of written and verbal communications and the consequences that may result from irresponsible and possibly criminal behavior. Miami-Dade Schools Police Department takes every threat seriously, added Schools Police Chief Edwin Lopez. We work closely with other law enforcement agencies to investigate each one. Any and all threats will be thoroughly investigated, and perpetrators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Palmetto Bays founding mayor, Eugene Flinn, echoed those sentiments, writing on Facebook, This was not a joke and it will not be treated as a youthful indiscretion. This is not nearly the first time the school district has had to respond to a situation like this. In 2004, Jaime Rodrigo Gough had his throat slashed by a fellow Southwood Middle School student, Michael Hernandez, and bled to death in a school restroom. Hernandez was charged with first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Additionally, Miami-Dade Schools Police have fielded 59 threats either verbal, written or communicated on social media since the start of school, according to the Miami Herald. Twelve students have been arrested as a result of those investigations. Southwood Middle School parents received phone calls from the schools principal, Raul Garcia, alerting them of the incident on Sunday night, Southwood mom Yolanda Perez told Yahoo Lifestyle. She said she warned her daughter, an eighth grader, that if she followed the account or anything others like it, shes in just as much trouble as those other kids. Perez also said the schools reaction was appropriate. Threats like these are not a joke for any parent, she added. We live in a society where we lack respect for each other, and kids are learning this at a young age, and we need to correct it. They need to understand that there are consequences. Another parent told Miami news station WPLG she knows the teacher threatened. Shes an amazing teacher. Shes really fun, really exciting. The kids love her, she told the outlet. The mother of one of the suspects, however, told WPLG that people are overreacting to the alleged incident, saying her son played a terrible joke. Yahoo Lifestyle has reached out to the Miami-Dade County Public Schools district about the ongoing investigation and will update this story when it responds. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Chegg (CHGG) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.25 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.21 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.15 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 19.05%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this provider of online textbook rental services would post earnings of $0.03 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.07, delivering a surprise of 133.33%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times. Chegg, which belongs to the Zacks Internet - Software industry, posted revenues of $95.68 million for the quarter ended December 2018, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.29%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $73.51 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Chegg shares have added about 21% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 8%. What's Next for Chegg? While Chegg has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Story continues Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Chegg was favorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to outperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.10 on $94.20 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $0.63 on $388.50 million in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Internet - Software is currently in the top 10% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. 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 Chegg, Inc. (CHGG) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Michael Jackson (Credit: AP/Rusty Kennedy) Channel 4 has confirmed that it will air the controversial four-hour Michael Jackson documentary Leaving Neverland. It will be unveiled in two parts, at 9pm on 6 March and 7 March. The film has been made by the BAFTA-winning British director Dan Reed, and centres on interviews with two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck. They claim that Jackson sexually abused them when they were aged seven and 10. The pair sued the Jackson estate in 2013, but the case was later dismissed. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last month, reportedly leaving viewers upset and shell-shocked. Wade Robson, Dan Reed and James Safechuck (Credit: Taylor Jewell/AP) Jacksons family have denounced the film, however. In a statement, the Jackson estate called it a character assassination and a lurid production in an outrageous and pathetic attempt to exploit and cash in on Michael Jackson. The film takes uncorroborated allegations that supposedly happened 20 years ago and treats them as fact, it added. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. HBO co-produced the film along with Channel 4, and it will show it on March 3 and 4 in the US. Speaking about the objections from the Jackson family, HBO boss Casey Bloys told The Hollywood Reporter that it had received a 10-page letter from the estate, which outlined its concerns about the claims made in the film. The show is airing. Its not changing because of the letter and I ask that everybody watch it and decide for themselves. Its a very, very powerful documentary and I think once they see it, theyll understand, he said. Read more Full list of BAFTA winners Malek snubs Singer Biggest BAFTA surprises The governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, has warned about risks emanating from China. Photo: Hannah McKay/Getty Images Forget about Brexit for a second. Lets look at China. Mark Carney, the head of the Bank of England, warned about the massive risks posed by a Chinese economic slowdown during a public speech in London on Tuesday. Carney focused particular attention on the huge growth of debt in the country, noting that ballooning debt loads in China were similar to what happened in the US ahead of the credit crisis and financial meltdown. He said past examples show that big increases in debt can lead to deep slowdowns later on. China is the one major economy in which all major financial imbalances have materially worsened, Carnet said, according to his prepared speech. A downturn in the Chinese economy would test the resilience elsewhere. The Bank of England estimates that a 3% drop in the Chinese economy would subtract 1% off the global economy, including 0.5% off the economies of the UK, the US, and the eurozone. China reported its slowest economic growth in nearly 30 years last month, with official figures showing that gross domestic product (GDP) in the country grew by 6.6% in 2018. This slowdown and trade stand-off with the US has had negative knock-on effects on companies with large operations in China, including luxury-goods companies and car makers such as Jaguar Land Rover. Brexit risks remain Brexit still featured in Carneys speech as the central bank head warned again about the risks associated with a no-deal Brexit. He said Brexit uncertainty ahead of the March deadline was already being felt in the economy. With fundamental uncertainty about future market access, UK investment hasnt grown since the referendum [on Brexit] was called and has dramatically underperformed both history and its peers, Carney said. The central bank warned last year that the country could be headed for an economic shock more severe than the global financial crisis if prime minister Theresa Mays government is unable to finalise a Brexit deal by the 29 March deadline. Much of Canada is currently under snow storm and freezing rain warnings, but it does look like there is relief in sight, at least in terms of precipitation. I think the weekend looks dry across all of Eastern Canada at this point, even the Prairies, Brett Anderson, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather told Yahoo News Canada. According to Anderson, a significantly drier pattern will make its way into the country as we move into next week, but the freezing temperatures are going to stick around. Even though the coldest air is out west, its still going to be seasonably cold, if not a little bit colder than we typically expect at this time of year across Ontario, into Quebec and even the Maritimes, Anderson said. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Ontario & Quebec While Ontario and southern Quebec muscle through the mixture of snow, sleet, freezing rain and strong winds on Tuesday, snow showers are expected to continue into Wednesday afternoon, with heavier snowfall off of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, and around the Barrie and Goderich, Ont. areas. Nothing out of the ordinary, but [there is] still going to be some heavier snow bands there and quite windy as well, Anderson said. Toronto is expected to only see a few flurries on Wednesday but the persistent strong winds will keep blow snow across the city, which will create a more dangerous commute on Wednesday morning. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Just when you think its over, another system will be coming into southern Ontario late Thursday, but it wont be as significant as Tuesdays storm. At this point, this looks like mixed precipitation, probably changing to rain at some point butnot a big storm, Anderson said. Looking to start with some snow and then eventually goes over to some sleet, and then perhaps some rain before it ends early Friday. According to Anderson, over eight centimetres of snow could hit the Ottawa and Montreal regions late Thursday and into Friday morning, but dry conditions will move in for the weekend. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Maritimes Story continues The storm that has barreled Ontario and Quebec with inches of snow will be heading towards Atlantic Canada on Wednesday. Still going to be very snowy across Quebec into New Brunswick, Anderson said. There could be over 30 cm of snow at least in the northern half of New Brunswick by the end of the day tomorrow. Southern New Brunswick into Nova Scotia will see a mixture of rain, freezing rain and snow, with strong winds making their way through the area as well. But this moisture is expected to move away later in the day, with a dry weekend ahead. Prairies If moisture is less of a concern for you but cold weather makes you nervous, the Prairies is not where you want to be. According to Anderson, the cold air will be centered around this area for at least the next 10 days. As we get into the weekend, looks like the cold eases a little bit but again, if youre looking for the coldest air across Canada, thats where its going to be, Anderson said. Looks like another surge of cold air is centered right over the Prairies for a good part of next week. Temperatures, especially from Saskatchewan to Alberta, have been averaging over 10 C below normal, which will continue, but the area will remain mostly dry, with the exception of the Rockies. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. British Columbia Higher elevation areas in B.C., including the Rockies, are expected to see some snow, but no major storms. There will still be some lingering snow in Vancouver but it will break as the moisture pushes south towards Oregon and California, according to Anderson. But there is another storm on the horizon for the province, expected to hit southern B.C. on Thursday night and into Friday. At the moment, AccuWeather isnt expecting this to be a significant storm, but there will be some light accumulations. I think its probably going to bea mixture of rain and snow [in Vancouver] for Thursday on to Friday, it will vary depending on how high you are in elevation, but were not calling for any accumulation at this point in Vancouver, Anderson said. Cambodian premier Hun Sen warned against interference in the country's affairs Tuesday, his first comments since the European Union launched steps to cancel trade benefits that would hammer the local garment industry. The bloc announced Monday it would begin a process of intensive monitoring to decide whether to suspend duty-free preferences under the "Everything But Arms" (EBA) deal. The move would deal a crippling blow to Cambodia's robust garment and footwear industry, which exports more than $4 billion worth of products to the bloc. It comes after repeated warnings from Brussels and in response to elections in Cambodia last year held without the opposition after the Supreme Court dissolved the party in the run-up to the vote. Cambodia is the EU's sixth largest garment supplier and the industry currently employs more than 700,000 workers, according to the country's factory association. Analysts say Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for more than 34 years, is eager to retain the trade preferences, but does not want to be seen bending to international pressure. In recent months he has requested pardons for dozens of activists and opposition members arrested ahead of the July vote, but he has also lashed out at trade threats in defiant speeches. Cambodia "cannot exchange its independence and sovereignty for anything", he wrote on his official Facebook page, which has more than 10 million followers. "We want to be good friends with other partner countries that want to see Cambodia progress without interference in the country's internal affairs," he added. He did not explicitly mention the EBA deal, but the country's ministry of foreign affairs issued a statement the same day calling the decision from the bloc an "extreme injustice". The EU is still at least a year away from making a decision on whether to scrap the preferences. Union leaders and businesses said the loss would have a disastrous impact on the industry. Story continues "The competitiveness of our sector will unduly be put at risk, the reputation of our industry will be harmed, and Cambodia's development will be halted," the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia said in a statement in response. Tariffs on garments will rise by 12 percent and it will more than double for footwear exports from eight to 17 percent, the statement added. The loss of EBA could cost Cambodia up to $700 million a year, said union leader Pav Sina. "We fear that investors might move to other countries that have EBA, so it will affect the jobs for Cambodians." The US embassy in Phnom Penh said in a statement that it "shares the EU's concerns" and called for the charges against Kem Sokha, the leader of the now dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party, to be dropped. It also called on Cambodian leaders to restore a "true, multi-party democracy". Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party won all seats in parliament in the election, effectively turning the country into a one-party state. By Svea Herbst-Bayliss (Reuters) - The California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS), the second largest U.S. pension fund said on Monday it made a $250 million investment with Impactive Capital, a new activist hedge fund that expects to start trading next month. CalSTRS, which invests $215 billion on behalf of the state's educators, puts money into only a handful of hedge funds, typically favoring activists that engage with companies to help boost returns but often work behind the scenes. "Their compelling strategy aligns with our long-term investment horizon and our commitment to promoting good governance and sustainable business practices that enhance returns for our members," CalSTRS' Chief Investment Officer Christopher Ailman said about Impactive in a statement. The investment will raise the profile of Impactive, founded last year by hedge fund veterans Lauren Taylor Wolfe and Christian Asmar, and may help the pair raise capital at a time when activist funds have struggled to attract money as returns sagged. Last year, the average activist hedge fund lost an average 11 percent, according to Hedge Fund Research data. Taylor Wolfe and Asmar worked together at Blue Harbour Group, another activist hedge fund backed by CalSTRS, and plan to focus on companies' environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies in addition to pushing for better capital allocation and operations. Traditionally activists prod companies to perform better by buying back shares or spinning off underperforming divisions but a recent growing focus on ESG, like having a diverse corporate board and taking steps to cut carbon emissions, has started to resonate with investors. Impactive's Taylor Wolfe and Asmar stand out among activist hedge funds for being a woman and a Hispanic in an industry mostly run by white men. Many institutional investors are paying more attention to minority owned firms. CalSTRS is investing with Impactive for six years, roughly three times longer than the average hedge fund industry investment. This will allow Impactive to make longer-term investments in companies at a time when many hedge funds are criticized for pulling their money out too quickly, before real change can be made. "The length of the CalSTRS investment gives us the flexibility to look out into the future a little more," Taylor Wolfe said in an interview. (Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Boston; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) A second US state is planning on pulling National Guard troops away from its border with Mexico, calling Donald Trumps claims of a crisis at the border a manufactured problem and political theater. California Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to say as much on Tuesday during his state of the state address, his first since his election in November. The border 'emergency' is a manufactured crisis, and California will not be part of this political theatre, Mr Newsom plans to say, according to excerpts released by his office. Mr Newsoms decision follows after New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced she would do the same last week. Both governors are new to their jobs, and their decisions to pull troops reverses the policies of the previous administrations in their states. The decision is a broad stroke rejection of Mr Trumps immigration messaging, which led to the longest government shutdown in US history earlier this year. California will leave 100 of the 360 troops that have been deployed to the border under the plan expected to be unveiled on Tuesday, and the remaining troops will focus on transnational crimes like drug and gun trafficking. They will not be instructed to enforce immigration laws. Another 100 of the National Guard troops are expected to be redirected to help with wildfire prevention and preparation efforts. The original orders from former Governor Jerry Brown who was also a Democrat had a a deadline for deployment to end set for March 31. The new plan calls for immediate troop removal. The decision comes as politicians in Washington have struggled to reach a deal to extend government funding, with immigration issues tying up negotiators. Democrats have demanded a limit on the number of migrants who can be detained by the US. Mr Trump, meanwhile, has branded that demand as one in support of criminal immigrants. During Mr Trump's State of the Union speech last year, the president said that he planned on sending more troops to the border to deal with the migrant caravans he frequently cites as proof of an immigration crisis. The Pentagon said that increase will mean 4,350 troops on the US-Mexico border. LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and Switzerland will sign an agreement on Monday to continue trading on preferential terms after Brexit, the British trade department said, protecting a trade relationship worth 32 billion pounds ($41.41 billion). The formal signing of the deal, on which agreement had previously been announced, is one of only handful of concrete steps Britain has made towards ensuring that all the trade deals it currently benefits from as an EU member will continue after it leaves the bloc next month. "Not only will this help to support jobs throughout the UK but it will also be a solid foundation for us to build an even stronger trading relationship with Switzerland as we leave the EU, International Trade minister Liam Fox said in a statement. The deal reflects Switzerland's "mind the gap" strategy of ensuring seamless trade ties with Britain, regardless of whether London is able to strike and approve a formal exit agreement with Brussels by March 29, the date it is scheduled to leave. Britain has reached an impasse in its last-minute renegotiation of an exit deal that it agreed with the EU last year but that was overwhelmingly rejected by the British parliament in January. The government said last month it expects Britain will have most of the agreements it needs to replicate existing trade deals between the EU and third countries ready by the end of March. A similar continuity agreement has been announced with Israel, and 'mutual recognition' deals have been agreed with Australia and New Zealand. But the head of the Confederation of British Industry, Carolyn Fairbairn, said on Sunday the "unfolding nightmare" of Britain's exit meant that major trade partners like Japan and South Korea were reluctant to sign deals until they knew the exact shape of future EU-Britain ties. "It will be the decisions that businesses take about jobs and investment - and they will reduce them - so you have less potential to trade globally, that will mean less investment in the future and that will mean fewer jobs in the future," she told Sky News. ($1 = 0.7727 pounds) (Reporting by William James; Editing by Frances Kerry) (Reuters) - British Prime Minster Theresa May told business leaders on Tuesday that extending the Article 50 process under which the UK is meant to leave the European Union on March 29 would serve no purpose, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. May said delaying Britain's departure from the EU would bring no end to Brexit uncertainty or push parliament any closer to approving a withdrawal agreement, the FT report said, citing people who took part in a phone call with the prime minister. May asked lawmakers earlier on Tuesday to give her more time to negotiate a deal acceptable to both the European Union and the British parliament. (Reporting by Gaurika Juneja; Editing by Gareth Jones) "The mayor has documents and photos to prove it." Cotabato City is close to my heart. This was where I got my feet wet in journalism. I volunteered to help with the Oblate missions weekly newspaper, The Mindanao Cross, together with my best friend Rudy Tupas. Rudy and I were co-editors of The Guidon, Ateneos college newspaper. He was editor-in-chief while I was associate editor and columnist. In Cotabato City, I covered every beat there was to write aboutthe governors and mayors offices, the treasurers, the police, business and even the Chinese and Muslim communities. Would you believe I even covered the city and provincial jail? It was also in Cotabato where I first met my wife. It was where we were wed in 1955. It is for these reasons that I am very much interested in any news related to Cotabato City. Thus, when the Bangsamoro Organic Law plebiscite came to pass and it was revealed that the city had opted to be included in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, I was dismayed. I relied on the fact that Mayor Cynthia Guiani Sayadi had earlier said the city would vote No. I said, thank heavens that Cotabato City has a female mayor with balls. Days before the plebiscite, she was already complaining that armed members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front had infiltrated the city, telling people to vote yes. I said to myself, the military, the Commission on Elections and the Department of Education would not allow this to happen. But I was wrong, my gulay! Thus, when Mayor Sayadi told reporters what had happened, that some 20,000 MILF members (how did they do it with the military, Comelec and DepEd around?) ensured the victory of the Yes votes, I definitely could believe her. According to reports, Sayadi has documents and photos that even the teachers were replaced by people who didnt even live in the city. I said to myself that the inclusion of Cotabato City as part of the BARMM would make that progressive city a ghost town. Christians would be leaving it, as many of them have already done for many years. That was when kidnapping for ransom became the norm there. Why is the MILF so interested to make Cotabato City part of the BARMM? They want to make it the capital of the region, it being as progressive compared to other areas. Cotabato City ranks as the 14th most competitive city in the country, first in Region XII, and fourth in Mindanao. But it is rather strange for Cotabato to vote yes. In fact, it voted twice against joining the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Under the BARMM, Cotabato City will have to leave Region XII. Sayadi said her documents and phots would show that the MILF resorted to violence and intimidation. She said the Duterte administration allowed the MILF to do its worst in Cotabato City. Sayadi said she would file a case before the Supreme Court disqualifying Cotabato City from the BARMM. If the Supreme Court decides favorably on her request, will that nullify the plebiscite in Cotabato itself? The fact that the Supreme Court did not issue a temporary restraining order before the BOL plebiscite even with two petitions questioning it may indicate that it is inclined to dismiss any other petitions as well.There is also the fact that any court ruling on the BOL is already after the fact that the people had already ratified it.What bothers me is the fact that after the Senate had conducted an investigation into the responsibility, accountability and culpability of former President Benigno Aquino III for the massacre of 44 members of the Special Action Force in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, there have been no charges filed against him. The families of the SAF 44 have not yet been given the justice they deserve. Monetary aid has not also been given. This is double injustice. Now the Duterte administration is going against BS Aquino, his Budget Chief Florencio Abad and his Health Secretary Janet Garin for that multi-billion-peso Dengvaxia scandal for the death of so many children. If Aquino et al are being made to answer for the Dengvaxia mess, they may as well be made to answer for the Mamasapano massacre. For one thing, it was Aquino who gave the go-signal to then-PNP Chief Alan Purisima to have the SAF issue a warrant of arrest to two terroristsone foreigner, one Filipino. Aquino knew everything that was happening because he was then in Zamboanga with then-Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin. Despite calls for reinforcements to help the beseiged SAF members, Aquino, as commander in chief, did not issue it. Doesnt that count as treasonnot allowing the military to help the SAF? That was a really dark page in history.There must be something wrong somewhere with the order of President Duterte for members of the Cabinet not to campaign for or endorse any candidates. Has he not been relentlessly endorsing his favorites? I have covered 10 presidents since the 1950s. I have never seen a chief executive so interested in having his minions win seats in the Senate. Its like Duterte himself is running! I admit there is no law preventing the President from endorsing his minions. Still, what he is doing raises suspicions that government resources are being used to favor his friends. In some instances, President Duterte has even threatened local governments that if they dont support his candidates,What do you call a president who has no qualms openly campaigning for his bets?I am saddened by the death of our good friend, Armida Siguion Reyna. She and her husband, lawyer Leonardo, were regulars at the 365 Club. We at the Club will missMidz. But thats how it is. Didnt Shakespeare say all the worlds a stage, and we are all merely players with our exits and entrances? By Lisandra Paraguassu BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro could be discharged from the hospital on Wednesday but it will depend on a medical evaluation of his recovery from surgery last month, his spokesman said. "As of (Wednesday) he will be able to be discharged," presidential spokesman Otavio Rego Barros told Reuters on Tuesday. "It will depend on a medical evaluation." Bolsonaro has been hospitalized since Jan. 27 at the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, where he underwent surgery to remove a colostomy bag following a near-fatal stabbing on the campaign trail in September. Initially expected to hospitalized be for 10 days, Bolsonaro contracted pneumonia, extending his stay. The hospital said in a statement on Tuesday that his health was gradually improving. (Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Writing by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) By Rama Venkat Raman and Ankit Ajmera (Reuters) - Boeing Co delivered 46 aircraft in January, two more than a year earlier, as the world's biggest planemaker gears up for another year of record sales amid booming demand from the airline industry. The company's shares rose as much as 1.5 percent to $409.90. Investors and analysts keep a close watch on the number of planes Boeing turns over to airlines and leasing firms for cues on the company's revenue and cash flow. European rival Airbus SE delivered 39 aircraft in January, up from 27 planes a year earlier. Boeing won 43 net orders last month, beating Airbus, which did not report any wins and had 13 cancellations dominated by the superjumbo A380 aircraft. Of those orders, 18 were for 787 Dreamliner jets, as Boeing ramps up production rate for its wide-body aircraft to 14 per month from 12 in 2018. "There continues to be some pent-up demand (for the 787)," Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu wrote in a note. "The order (for the longest version of the 787 jets - the 787-10) is notable given it is the first since June 2017 when Singapore ordered 19 of the variant." The remaining orders are for a military version of Boeing's best-selling 737 aircraft, the P-8 maritime patrol aircraft, from Britain, Norway and the United States, as well as commercial sales to unidentified customers. Boeing delivered 806 aircraft last year, missing its target by four jets as the company was hit by fuselage and engine delays at its suppliers. Despite that it retained the title of the world's biggest planemaker for the seventh straight year. Airbus delivered 800 planes in 2018. The U.S. planemaker has set a target of 895 to 905 commercial aircraft deliveries for 2019. (Reporting by Ankit Ajmera and Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Anil D'Silva) The Telegraph When the Duke of Sussex told Oprah Winfrey that his family had literally cut him off financially, sources close to the Prince of Wales could not hide their surprise. The bank statements, they said, told a different story. It has now emerged that the Prince of Wales gave the Duke and Duchess a substantial sum when they stepped back from their official roles, apparently contradicting Prince Harrys claim that they had only been able to afford their new life in California because of his inherit Berlin (AFP) - Germany put on a show of unity with the United States Tuesday in talks on importing natural gas, as Berlin battles accusations an under-construction pipeline deepens European energy dependence on Russia. Economy Minister Peter Altmaier pointed to increased need for imported energy, as European gas fields run dry and governments plan their exits from nuclear and coal power. "The US is in a position to satisfy a significant proportion of this need" with liquid natural gas (LNG) shipments, he told reporters at a joint press conference with American deputy energy secretary Dan Brouillette. Several private consortiums are keen to build terminals on Germany's northern coast to pump LNG from ships into the gas network, Altmaier said, suggesting construction could begin "on a short medium-term timescale". However, with private firms in the driving seat of the projects, prices must be "competitive" with existing gas suppliers, he added. Government subsidies could smooth the way for the new infrastructure, although the minister would not be drawn on how much cash Berlin could inject into the projects. - Security fears - LNG as a potential alternative to Russian gas became a hot topic as construction on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline got under way last year. The scheme will double the capacity of an existing link between Russia and Germany, and combined with the planned Turkstream connection could remove the need to pump gas to Europe via Ukraine. Kiev fears eliminating its role as a transit country will expose it to further aggression from Moscow, after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and backed separatist rebels in Ukraine's east. Meanwhile eastern EU member states including Poland and the Baltic nations, backed by the US, have complained the pipeline also undermines their security. Germany had helped organise talks between Russia, Ukraine and the EU on gas transit, Altmaier said, with "a good chance of concrete results in the course of this year". Story continues "We believe that we in Europe can handle and decide on this question very well ourselves," he added, pointing to a vote last week in favour of a compromise on oversight of the pipeline. France had at first said it would vote for common supervision -- potentially allowing opposing member states to strew obstacles in the pipeline's path. But Paris agreed at the last minute to leave the responsibility with Berlin, defying intense last-minute lobbying from the US. "90 percent" of member states had backed the compromise, Altmaier said, calling it "an important moment for calming the debate". Washington was "encouraged" by the Brussels vote Friday, deputy energy secretary Brouillette said, although "we will be watching very closely to see the implementation." "Our concerns with Russia particularly with regard to Ukraine remain," he added, declining to answer questions about whether Washington could sanction firms linked to the pipeline. - Pricey alternative? - The Kremlin capitalised on Friday's failure of American pressure, as spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Washington of "underhanded competition" by trying to encourage Europeans "to buy more expensive American gas". Both Altmaier and Brouillette looked to dispel suggestions the LNG import terminals were a costly political sop to Washington by Germany and the EU. "As we need more gas, the fundamental need to protect ourselves from vulnerabilities will increase, that's why we're going to diversify" supply, Altmaier said, pointing to other possible LNG sources in Egypt, Israel or Qatar. "We're working very hard to make US LNG more competitive," Brouillette added, arguing that as more export terminals are built in America, prices will come down as competition grows. "You will see the price of US LNG drop fairly dramatically" over the coming decade, he predicted. Warsaw (AFP) - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that the United States would do everything in its power to stop Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe as he joined Poland in warning of risks. Pompeo signalled no compromise in US opposition to the pipeline on the same day that Germany, the lead negotiator on the project, was seeking to lower the temperature on the row through a visit by a US energy official to Berlin. Pompeo said that the pipeline from Russia, on which construction began last year, "funnels money" to Russia in a way that ultimately hurts Europe. "So while there is certainly a commercial aspect to that kind of transaction, there is an enormous security risk that is attached to it," he told a joint news conference with Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz. "I think President Trump has been very clear that America is going to do what it can within its power to see that European security is foremost when it comes to energy decisions," he said, when asked if the United States would consider sanctions. The pipeline will double the capacity of an existing link between Russia and Germany and has divided the European Union, with France supporting the project but the Baltic states and Poland wary due to their history with Moscow. "We share the view that the Nord Stream 2 project does not serve Europe's energy security, we consider it a failed project, even harmful to energy security on the continent," Czaputowicz said. - 'Stay the course' - Pompeo is visiting Warsaw for a two-day conference on the Middle East, which Poland agreed to organise with the United States. While saluting relations with Warsaw, Pompeo prodded gently on democracy under the ruling Law and Justice party. The government has introduced a string of controversial judicial reforms that the European Union has warned threaten the rule of law. "In many different eras, the Polish people have fought for independence and liberty. Today I urge Poland to stay the course -- the course of freedom and democracy -- that was hard won during both the 1980s and 1990s," Pompeo said. Story continues Pompeo is on a tour of Central and Eastern Europe during which he hopes to counter inroads made by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has used energy as a key pressure point. Ukraine is especially concerned as Nord Stream II and the planned Turkstream connection would eliminate Russian energy's need to cross its territory -- potentially exposing the war-torn country to further military incursions by Moscow. Pompeo's trip came as the US deputy energy secretary, Dan Brouillette, was in Germany for a conference on liquid natural gas -- an area of common ground between the allies in reducing dependence on Russian supplies. Aziz Ansari has been testing new material ahead of a big spring tour, and a stop in New York City made him especially candid. In front of the approximately 200 people who won spots for his Village Underground pop-up show on Monday (out of 18,000 who signed up), the Master of None star, 35, veered from his typical test material to address the sexual misconduct accusation made against him in January 2018. According to Vulture, Ansari said it was great to be back in NYC; he owns a home in Tribeca, where the incident occurred during a 2017 date with a 23-year-old photographer. He recalled a person on the street complimenting his Netflix show only to realize the man was talking about Hasan Minhajs Patriot Act. The guy realized his mistake and said, Oh, no, Aziz, right? Yeah, yeah, thats me. Master of None! Yeah, yeah, thats me. Parks and Rec! Yeah, yeah, thats me. Treat yourself! Yeah, yeah, thats me. And you had the whole thing come out last year sexual misconduct? No, no, no, no, no, no, thats Hasan! Aziz Ansari, pictured in January 2018, addressed the sexual misconduct allegation against him on Monday. (Photo: Greg Doherty/Getty Images) The website noted that Ansari then sat down, and in a somber tone he revealed the two reasons he hasnt discussed the whole thing. (After making a statement, he mostly dropped out of sight over the past year.) The star said his reasons were 1) to process the incident and decide what to say about it and 2) Its a terrifying thing to talk about. There were times I felt really upset and humiliated and embarrassed, and ultimately I just felt terrible this person felt this way, Ansari said. But you know, after a year, how I feel about it is, I hope it was a step forward. It made me think about a lot, and I hope Ive become a better person. Ansari told the crowd that one of his friends said that the incident made the friend rethink all the dates he had been on. He said, If that has made not just me but other guys think about this, and just be more thoughtful and aware and willing to go that extra mile, and make sure someone else is comfortable in that moment, thats a good thing. Story continues Ansari went on to thank his fans for sticking by him, saying that the allegation also just gave me perspective on my life, admitting, There was a moment where I was scared that Id never be able to do this again. And he talked about how he always used to end his shows with Thanks so much! but not really mean it. It was just a way to end a show. But now, I really mean it, he said. I mean it on a different level. He continued, You canceled whatever you were supposed to do tonight, and you came out in the cold, and you waited in line, and you put your phone in a stupid pouch, a reference to the pouches often used at stand-up shows to prevent the audiences from recording them. You did all this s*** just to hear me talk for an hour and some change, and it means the world to me, so thank you so much. In January 2018, the unidentified woman who made the allegations against Ansari did so in a piece titled I went on a date with Aziz Ansari. It turned into the worst night of my life, which was published by Babe.net. In it, she talked about feeling pressured into having sex with the comedian at his home after a date in September 2017. And while they ultimately didnt have intercourse, she said he ignored the verbal and nonverbal cues she used to communicate she was distressed. She said she cried the whole ride home. At that point I felt violated. She told the website she felt her experience with Ansari amounted to sexual assault. Ansari issued a statement saying that after the date, we ended up engaging in sexual activity, which by all indications was completely consensual. However, the next day, I got a text from her saying that although it may have seemed OK, upon further reflection, she felt uncomfortable. It was true that everything did seem OK to me, so when I heard that it was not the case for her, I was surprised and concerned. He added that he took her words to heart and responded privately after taking the time to process what she had said. Ansari, who had many come to his defense, has been largely out of the spotlight over the last year and theres been no Season 3 of his critically acclaimed Netflix show, Master of None. However, hes about to kick off an international comedy tour, starting in North America and going to Europe between now and the end of April. Many of the dates are already sold out. Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: Global stock markets rose Tuesday on optimism over US-China trade talks and signs of a provisional deal to avoid another US government shutdown. Wall Street followed European gains in morning trading, jumping more than a percent after news that senior US lawmakers had reached the tentative agreement. However Donald Trump has yet to comment on the deal, which provides nearly $1.4 billion in money for construction of a wall on the border with Mexico -- far short of the $5.7 billion the US president had sought for the controversial project. "Markets are questioning what level of support a tentative deal to avoid another government shutdown will receive from US lawmakers and President Donald Trump," said analysts at Charles Schwab. And there remains "uneasiness regarding the ongoing US/China trade negotiations and some key inflation data looming on the week's horizon," they said. IG analyst Joshua Mahony agreed, saying that "a significant amount of global sentiment rests on Donald Trump's shoulders, with the ability to break the deadlock in talks with China and avert another government shutdown key for market direction." Negotiations are under way in Beijing aimed at averting a planned increase in US tariffs that could slow the global economy. Top-level officials are set to arrive in the Chinese capital for meetings Thursday and Friday, ahead of a March 1 deal deadline. Investors responded positively to reports that Trump wants to meet Xi Jinping "very soon", just days after the US president had appeared to write off an imminent summit with his counterpart. US markets pushed upwards in morning trading, with the DJIA index jumping 1.25 percent. Oil prices meanwhile rose nearly two percent after OPEC said it sharply reduced production last month, with the world's top exporter Saudi Arabia slashing output. - 'No guarantees' - Eurozone shares closed up to one percent higher, but London lagged behind its peers as the Brexit-weary British pound clawed back some losses after dropping sharply Monday on dismal monthly GDP and manufacturing data. Story continues "US-China trade talks continue and that has boosted European stock markets," said analyst David Madden at CMC Markets. Washington is demanding changes from Beijing on what it says are unfair commercial practices. Failure by the economic superpowers to reach an agreement would see US tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports more than double. The US lawmakers assuaged fears of a chaotic repeat of the recent 35-day partial US government shutdown -- the longest in the country's history. The Tokyo stock market -- returning from Monday's public holiday -- closed 2.6 percent higher, as traders played catch up and with Japanese exporters further benefitting from a resurgent dollar. - Key figures around 1640 GMT - London - FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 7,133.14 points (close) Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 1.0 percent at 11,126.08 (close) Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.8 percent at 5,056.35 (close) EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.8 percent at 3,190.75 New York - Dow: UP 1.3 percent at 25,381.54 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 2.6 percent at 20,864.21 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 0.1 percent at 28,171.33 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 2,671.89 (close) Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1315 from $1.1276 at 2200 GMT Monday Dollar/yen: UP at 110.49 from 110.38 Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2891 from $1.2855 Euro/pound: UP at 87.78 pence from 87.68 pence Oil - Brent Crude: UP $1.56 at $62.53 per barrel Oil - West Texas Intermediate: UP $1.64 cents at $53.26 burs-dl/jh Amkor Technology, Inc. AMKR reported fourth-quarter 2018 adjusted earnings of 12 cents per share, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 8 cents. Revenues of $1.08 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.96% and were within the companys guided range of $1.02-$1.10 billion. However, revenues decreased 5.5% sequentially and 6% year over year. The top line was driven by strength in nearly all its end markets. Revenues were up 5% in communications and 2% in automotive and industrial, offset by a customer specific inventory correction in Japan. Computing was up 3% but consumer was down 3%. The company has been making efforts to channelize its resources in important growth areas like MEMS and sensors business, which focus on mobile and automotive applications. In this regard, Amkor recently added a third MEMS and sensor production line in Korea to attract more business. The company remains optimistic about automotive business growth. Per market forecast, the automotive market will grow in high single digits in the coming years. The growth is expected to be driven by increasing electronic content. Given attractive value proposition for automotive customers, the company is poised to benefit going ahead. Revenues by Product Lines The revenue mix in terms of product linesis discussed below. Advanced Products include flip chip scale packages, wafer-level chip scale packages and flip chip ball grid array packages. It accounted for approximately 52% of fourth-quarter revenues. Revenues decreased 3.1% sequentially and 3.1% year over year. Mainstream Products include lead frame packages, substrate-based wire bond packages and MEMS packages. It accounted for the remaining 48% of fourth-quarter revenues. Revenues decreased 8% sequentially and 9% year over year. Margins Per the press release, gross margin of 16.9%, up 200 basis points (bps),was above the high end of guidance, primarily due to higher sales and favorable product mix. However, gross margins were down 60 bps sequentially and 260 bps from the year-ago quarter. Story continues Operating expenses of $107 million decreased 7.2% year over year. As a percentage of sales, selling, general and administrative expenses decreased, while research and development expenses marked an increase. As a result, reported operating margin was 7%, down 250 bps from the prior-year quarter. Balance Sheet & Cash Flow Free cash flow was $120 million compared with negative $100 million in the third quarter. Total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash were $684.2 million, up from $382.3 million in the last reported quarter. Long-term debt in the quarter was $1.2 billion. Guidance For the first quarter, Amkor expects revenues in the range of $840-$920 million, down sequentially. The decrease reflects the inventory correction, currently underway in the smartphone market. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $1.03 billion. Gross margin is expected within 9-13%. Earnings per share are expected in the range of (27)-(7) cents on a GAAP basis. Amkor Technology, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Amkor Technology, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Amkor Technology, Inc. Quote Zacks Rank and Other Stocks to Consider Currently, Amkor carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Other top-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector include Cognex Corporation CGNX, AMETEK, Inc. AME and Inphi Corporation IPHI, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Long-term earnings growth rate for Cognex, AMETEK and Inphi is projected to be 9.58% and 18.5%, respectively. Zacks' Best Stock-Picking Strategy It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But from 2000-2018, while the market gained +4.8% per year, our top stock-picking strategy averaged +54.3% per year. How has that screen done lately? From 2017-2018, it sextupled the market's +15.8% gain with a soaring +98.3% return. Free See the Stocks It Turned Up for Today >> 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 Amkor Technology, Inc. (AMKR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Inphi Corporation (IPHI) : Free Stock Analysis Report AMETEK, Inc. (AME) : Free Stock Analysis Report Cognex Corporation (CGNX) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research A lawyer for National Enquirer owner American Media Inc.'s CEO defended the company's correspondence with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, saying AMI did nothing illegal. "It absolutely is not extortion and not blackmail," Elkan Abramowitz, attorney for AMI CEO David Pecker, said Sunday on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." His comments came after Bezos published a blog post Thursday accusing AMI of attempting to blackmail him with threats to publish a trove of embarrassing photos, including some of a sexual nature. The clash followed the Enquirer's previous publication of a report on Bezos' breakup with his wife and his romantic relationship with former Los Angeles news anchor Lauren Sanchez. Bezos on Thursday posted emails in which AMI representatives offered to withhold publication of the embarrassing photos in exchange for Bezos acknowledging that the tabloid owner had no political motivation for publishing its original expose. Pecker has supported Donald Trump, and Trump has repeatedly criticized Bezos, who owns The Washington Post. Jeff Bezos accused American Media Inc. (AMI) of blackmail and extortion and 'SNL' won't let him live it down. "That is not extortion because all that AMI wanted was the truth," Abramowitz told "This Week," adding that the company was making a "news decision" and that the Bezos correspondence "was part of a legitimate negotiation." AMI representatives declined to comment further Sunday on Abramowitz's remarks. Among the accusations Bezos made was that Pecker and AMI have murky ties to the Saudi Arabian government, potentially through a pro-Saudi publication released in 2018. More: Jeff Bezos accuses National Enquirer parent of 'extortion and blackmail' attempt More: Feds investigating Jeff Bezos' claims, examining agreement that shielded AMI from criminal charges More: National Enquirer owner responds to Bezos post, says it 'acted lawfully' in its reporting More: Could Amazon's Bezos wreck AMI, owner of National Enquirer, with blackmail charges? Story continues "The Saudi angle seems to hit a particularly sensitive nerve," Bezos wrote. The Bezos allegations came after AMI signed a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. attorneys in connection with the government's investigation into Trump's presidential campaign. If AMI is found to have committed a crime, the company would not be immune to prosecution, said Michael Conway, a lawyer who has represented media organizations such as the New York Times and ABC, and now teaches at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Conway said the AMI correspondence "certainly has the elements of blackmail," which would "blow up" the company's deal with the government. Abramowitz said he's "absolutely not" concerned that the Bezos revelations could affect that agreement. Stuart Karle, a former Dow Jones attorney and Reuters executive who teaches media law at Columbia Universitys Graduate School of Journalism, said the situation is fraught with peril for American Media. But he said it seems unlikely to me that whatever happened here would destroy the company. There are a lot of steps between this kind of correspondence and a formal criminal charge, he said. However, corporations can be destroyed by criminal charges or can be forced into a sale to pay off liabilities in civil cases, he added. Follow USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: American Media lawyer denies attempt at blackmail, extortion of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics centre in Boves, France, January 19, 2019. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol Amazon Prime is expanding its Canadian footprint. The Seattle-based company announced on Monday that it is expanding its free, one-day delivery service that comes with an Amazon Prime membership to 13 additional cities and towns across Canada. Mike Strauch, Amazon Canadas country manager, said in a statement that the expansion will make shopping for Canadian customers much easier. Our ultimate goal is to continue to bring the benefits of Prime to as many Canadian customers as possible, Stauch said in a statement. The 13 cities, 11 of which are in Ontario, include Ancaster, Brantford, Cambridge, Dundas, Grimsby, Hamilton, Kitchener, London, Paris, Waterloo and Woodstock, Ont. as well as Quebec City, Que. and Victoria, B.C. All eligible orders over $25 placed before cut-off times will arrive by 9 p.m. the following day, including on weekends. Last month, Amazon Canada introduced a discounted membership for students, with monthly options for $3.99 and annual memberships of $39. Last summer, the company introduced a new monthly membership that costs consumers $7.99, an alternative from the annual membership that comes in at $79. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. "Mrs. Arroyo has presided over the passage of what she proudly claims is a hundred percent of President Duterte's priority legislative agenda." As she adjourned the third session of the 17th Congress last Friday for a three-month recess, the diminutive Speaker of the House took the opportunity to congratulate herself and her colleagues for an extremely productive session. Since she took over the Speakership last July in a controversial transfer of power that was marred by unseemly petulance from the outgoing incumbent, Mrs. Arroyo has presided over the passage of what she proudly claims is a hundred percent of President Dutertes priority legislative agenda. By my count, as of Jan. 31 a total of 17 bills important to Duterte had been enacted into law, enrolled for Presidential action, adopted by the House, or approved on third reading, with another three bills still in committee or the calendar of unfinished business. Among the key measures: Enactment and eventual ratification by plebiscite of the Bangsamoro Organic Law. The Trabaho bill, the second tranche of comprehensive tax reform. Bills to support the coconut and fishing industries. Expansion of PhilHealth coverage under the administrations commitment to universal health care. Other issues tackled by the House included tax amnesty and a variety of excise taxes; reforms in real property valuation and capital gains taxation; labor-only contractualization or; and, to cap it all, the passage at last of the national budget for 2019, despite unusual acrimony this year between both chambers of Congress and a still-festering personal dispute between the current and a former Budget secretary. Perhaps the only measure I would take issue with was the House version of a new constitution. By disregarding proposed curbs on dynasties and balimbings, and by trying to go even farther and do away with term limits, the congressmen came in for their rightful share of public scorn. The only silver lining I see in that document is its willingness to immediately liberalize restrictions on foreign investment. Some senators have already indicated that theyd be willing to pass those economic reforms already while awaiting a consensus on more problematic parts of a new charter, including federalism. Well have to await the results of the May elections to see if therell be enough support in Congress to do this.Never one to sit still, Mrs. Arroyo has already served notice that she expects the congressmen to continue working through the recess. Lined up in her crosshairs are congressmen whore not running in May, whore running unopposed, or who chair key oversight committees. She wants to make sure that key bills approved by the House on third reading will be ready for Senate concurrence when sessions resume in May. Arroyos legendary work ethic has already made an impression on congressional staffers, who say theyve never worked this hard before. Unfortunately, someone whos still unimpressedand is likely to remain so till kingdom comeis the presumptive Senate gadfly Ping Lacson.Lacson is the senator who likes to boast that hes never taken a peso of pork barrelsimply because, were now finding out, he calls his pork institutional insertions. As to where the difference between the two may lie, well simply have to take his word for it until he gives us a clue. This time around, Lacson accused Arroyo of securing no less than P606 million to fund 76 farm-to- market roads in 2019 for her second district of Pampanga. That is truly a humongous number, representing more than one thousand percent increase over the P47 million worth of projects in that district in 2018. Former Budget Secretary and House majority leader Nonoy Andaya, the current House appropriations committee chairman, has flat out denied that that number even exists. As with the difference between pork and his institutional insertions, wed be interested in hearing from Lacson about the provenance of his accusations. For years, Lacson has nursed a grievance against Arroyo, under whose term as president he was forced to flee abroad from justice. Perhaps the fugitives heart is harder than most. We can only hope that he wont let his personal issues stand in the way of obstructing the Houses hard-won bills when they finally cross his desk in the Senate. * * * One head of state whos finding out how hard his job really is, is President Duterte himself. Speaking in Legaspi last week, he admitted: I really thought I could end the illegal drug trade in six monthsHow can I solve it if my enemies are the Bureau of Customs, police generals? Theyre all in NAIA. My enemy is my own government! Im sure that Dutertes usual brutal franknesseven at his own expenseagain cheered his admirers. And I was bemused at the way his online yellow critics made fun of these latest comments of hisconveniently neglecting to mention, of course, how the drug trade and smuggling and other index crimes ballooned under the late and unlamented administration of their fearless leaders PNot at the Palace and Mar Roxas at DILG. But I wont take a leaf from the playbook of Boy Sisi and simply blame previous presidents. What I can say is that the dismantling of an intractable social menace like the drug trade throughout the country will take much more than perhaps the mayor of a provincial city like Davao might have imagined when he first took office at the Palace. Its a problem that continues to bedevil even the most advanced societies and economies of the West. Itll be even more difficult for the likes of our country. And to his credit, this mayorregardless of the odds, and perhaps because he hadnt fully appreciated what the odds really areagreed to take on the challenge andfor all his complainingis still taking it on. Many times you might have found the multiple casinos available in the online market but when you are going to... Hong Kong: Bay area symposium set An Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will be unveiled soon and a symposium will be held on February 21 to explore opportunities arising from the plan. Chief Executive Carrie Lam made the statement today ahead of the Executive Council meeting. She added the event will be jointly organised by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau. The National Development & Reform Commission will brief participants on the plan. Mrs Lam said the benefits of the Greater Bay Area to Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau are multiple. We are all very committed to building a bay area economy which is open, which is international, which will consist of an international innovation and technology hub which has the personal support of President Xi Jinping himself. The nine cities in the Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macau should each of us leverage on our strengths and advantages in order to create a much bigger economy, she added. This story has been published on: 2019-02-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. In the past week, ultra-low cost carrier Spirit Airlines SAVE reported mixed fourth-quarter 2018 results. Moreover, the carrier unveiled a below par guidance for first-quarter 2019 unit revenue growth. The twin developments resulted in the stock losing value following its earnings release. Meanwhile, SkyWests SKYW board of directors approved a 20% hike in its quarterly dividend to 12 cents per share (annualized 48 cents a share). Also, SkyWest was in the news when it unveiled its January traffic numbers. Azul AZUL and Allegiant Travel Company ALGT too revealed their respective traffic numbers. While load factor (% of seats filled by passengers) decreased at Allegiant, the measure increased at the Latin-American carrier. Azul also grabbed headlines by virtue of its fleet modernization efforts. (Read the last Airline Stock Roundup for Feb 05, 2019) Recap of the Past Weeks Most Important Stories 1. Spirit Airlines fourth-quarter 2018 earnings (excluding 4 cents from non-recurring items) of $1.38 per share were in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. However, the bottom line improved significantly year over year. Revenues totaled $862.8 million, which outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $852.2 million and improved 29.4% year over year. The upside can be attributed to 27% and 7.6% rise in non-ticket revenues and operating yields, respectively. For the first quarter of 2019, the company expects total revenue per available seat mile (TRASM) to increase approximately 5% year over year. This is certainly a conservative outlook, given the airlines fourth-quarter TRASM improvement of 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. (Read more: Spirit Q4 Earnings Meet Estimates, Q1 TRASM View Weak). Spirit Airlines carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. .2. SkyWest announced that its board of directors has approved a new share repurchase program worth $250 million. Notably, this replaces the $100 million buyback program, which was cleared in February 2017. Also, the regional carrier raised its quarterly dividend by 20%. (Read more: SkyWest Rewards Investors With Dividend Hike & New Buyback). Story continues In a separate development, SkyWest reported a 5.6% (6,187) year-over-year increase in block hours (a measure of aircraft utilization) for January. SkyWests dual class fleet (E175, CRJ900 and CRJ700) accounted for 65.7% of the carriers total block-hour production compared with approximately 58.8% a year ago. (Read more: S kyWest Reports Increase in January Block Hours). 3. In a bid to upgrade its fleet, Azul intends to add 21 next-generation aircraft in its fleet this year, which indicates an increase of eight such aircraft from the previous announcement. Moreover, the carrier aims to retire 15 Embraer E195 E1s from its fleet. According to the previous plan, the company announced the retirement of eight such planes.(Read more: Azul Ramps up Fleet Renewal Process to Boost Efficiency). Additionally, consolidated traffic (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) in January improved 13.5% year over year to 2.6 billion at Azul. The upside was driven by an 11.2% rise in international RPKs and 14.3% increase in domestic RPKs. On a year-over-year basis, consolidated capacity (or available seat kilometers/ASKs) expanded 15.9% to 3.1 billion owing to 16.7% growth in international capacity and 15.7% rise in domestic capacity. (Read more: Azul Posts a Rise in January Traffic, Load Factor Down). 4. At Allegiant, traffic for the total system including scheduled service and fixed fee contract measured in revenue passenger miles (RPMs) dipped 1.5% on a year-over-year basis to 864.22 million. System capacity, calculated in available seat miles (ASMs), also slid 1.6% to 1.08 billion in January. As capacity declined more than the fall in traffic, load factor inched up 10 basis points year over year to 80%. Allegiants passenger count slipped 0.8% in January. Its system-wide average fuel cost per gallon was approximately $2.01 in the month, lower than $2.07 in December 2018.(Read more: Allegiant's Load Factor Up, Traffic Down in January). 5. At Hawaiian Airlines, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings (HA), revenue passenger miles increased 4.8% to 1.43 billion in January. Available seat miles also climbed 4.6% to 1.7 billion in the month. Load factor inched up 20 basis points to 84.3% as traffic growth outweighed capacity expansion. However, the number of passengers transported dropped 1.5% year over year to 958,548 in the same period. Read more: Hawaiian Airlines' Traffic & Load Factor Rise in January). Performance The following table shows the price movement of the major airline players over the past week and during the last six months. The table above shows that most airline stocks traded in the green in the past week leading to the NYSE ARCA Airline Index gaining 0.5%. Over the last six months, the sector tracker appreciated 1.5% driven by impressive gains at GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes GOL and Spirit Airlines during the period. What's Next in the Airline Space? Investors will look forward to Copa Holdings CPA fourth-quarter earnings report on Feb 13. Zacks' Best Stock-Picking Strategy It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But from 2000-2018, while the market gained +4.8% per year, our top stock-picking strategy averaged +54.3% per year. How has that screen done lately? From 2017-2018, it sextupled the market's +15.8% gain with a soaring +98.3% return. Free See the Stocks It Turned Up for Today >> 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 Spirit Airlines, Inc. (SAVE) : Free Stock Analysis Report Allegiant Travel Company (ALGT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Copa Holdings, S.A. (CPA) : Free Stock Analysis Report SkyWest, Inc. (SKYW) : Free Stock Analysis Report Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. (GOL) : Free Stock Analysis Report AZUL SA (AZUL) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Changing working habits: A biker working for the Food delivery service Deliveroo cycles off to deliver an order on July 3, 2018 in Saint-Ouen, outside Paris. Photo: GERARD JULIEN/AFP/Getty Images Economic data is becoming increasingly dislocated from reality, according to a leading economist. Paul Donovan, the global chief economist of UBS (UBS) wealth management, told journalists last week that both official and unofficial economic data ranging from unemployment numbers to surveys of business sentiment were becoming less and less reliable as gauges of the underlying economy. Structural changes are simply changing what data means nowadays, Donovan said. If correct, Donovans analysis means stock market movements may be being driven by faulty information. It also means that investment funds, which people depend on for their pensions and for income, are at risk of being driven by feelings rather than fundamentals. The Fourth Industrial Revolution Donovans argument rests on two ideas. Firstly, that changes in the way the economy works means traditional data measurements are no longer fit for purpose. Secondly, that survey data is becoming increasingly unreliable. On the first point, Donovan says that the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution the growth of robotics, AI, and technology-driven businesses is changing the way the economy works. Take, for example, new gig economy platforms like Uber and Deliveroo that are driving an increase in self-employment. Two thirds of the most recent rise in employment in the UK was driven by self-employment. When you get a rapid growth in self employment this creates an awful lot of confusion in terms of economic data because, for example, a lot of self employed people will pay themselves a constant wage, so wage growth is zero, Donovan said. But then they will pay themselves a bonus or dividend when they get employment as contract workers or whatever. You end up then with wage data perhaps giving us less of an indication of the pressures that exist in the labour market. Youre going back to 18th century economics These changes also have implications for unemployment data. Story continues The unemployment number does what it says it intends to do, Donovan said. But what weve got to recognise now is were not in the economy of the 1950s where you clock on at 9 and you clock off at 5. Thats just not the way the world is working anywhere anymore. In many ways youre going back to 18th century economics where people hold multiple jobs, theyre self-employed in a variety of ways and they do lots of different things. Some of the jobs theyre paid for, some of them are voluntary it becomes a lot more complicated. Changes in technology usage and working habits are also messing up official data, Donovan said. The fact that people are increasingly using their own phones and laptops for work means businesses are having to invest less. Flexible working also allows them to save on office costs. You look at the headline number and think: poor capital spending, this is terrible, and you dont think actually increased efficiency in the economy, this is great,' Donovan said. These confusions are coming in. Nobody fills in surveys anymore Donovans second point is that surveys are becoming less and less reliable as a general rule because basically nobody fills in surveys anymore. If you fill in a survey almost by definition youre weird. That means youre getting less and less representation. The response rate for economic surveys in the US has fallen from around 80% 20 years ago to around 50% today, Donovan said. If you look across pretty much all survey evidence, including business sentiment surveys and so forth, the correlation of these surveys with reality has been declining over the last 10 years or so. Dont worry: Paul Donovan, Global Economist at UBS wealth management. Photo: Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images for ReSource 2012 Samuel Tombs, the chief UK economist for Pantheon Macroeconomics, alluded to this in his recent note on Januarys IHS Markit PMI numbers for the service sector, which are a popular measure of future growth. Since 2004, the rate of GDP growth implied by the PMIs has been wide of the mark by an average of 0.3 percentage points, Tombs wrote. They were far too downbeat immediately after the referendum, suggesting that they tend to overstate the impact of political uncertainty on the economy. They also pointed to downturns in activity in 1998, 2001 and 2003 that failed to materialise. Donovan added that people tend to introduce bias in their responses to surveys. He highlighted a change in Republican consumer confidence after the 2016 election of Donald Trump as president, but not in Democrat voter confidence. Was there some kind of miraculous improvement in the economy if youre a Republican in 2016? There was not, he said. What there was of course was a sudden change in politics and then that change is reflected in the data. That gives a misleading picture as far as the markets are concerned. A lot of confusion All of this means the ability to accurately capture whats going on in the economy is becoming more and more constrained, Donovan said. What weve got here is a lot of confusion and this is translating in practical terms into more and more revisions of data. He highlighted GDP growth in the first quarter of 2015, which was originally pegged at 0.2%, but eventually came in at 3.2% after multiple revisions both higher and lower. The problem with financial markets is markets tend to react to the initial release, not the subsequent revisions, Donovan said. We continue to have this problem with perception and reality. Simon French, the chief economist for Panmure Gordon, told Yahoo Finance UK the problem of perception and reality was a constant issue in economics. We are never going to measure a complex, interconnected, and constantly evolving economy correctly in real-time and policymakers/investors have always had to deal with imperfect data, French said. He said survey data can often be too erratic for over interpretation, but disagreed with Donovans overall diagnosis, saying, I am unclear that it has got any worse, and at the margin I think it has got better. Donovan recommended investors focus on five-year correlations with data, which he said would likely give number-crunchers enough time to properly revise the data until its relatively accurate. He said that despite the current noise about the possibility of recession this year, the global economy is doing just fine. Oscar Williams-Grut covers banking, fintech, and finance for Yahoo Finance UK. Follow him on Twitter at @OscarWGrut. Read more: Shares in trading platforms tank as new European rules bite into profits Just Eat vs. Cat Rock: Inside the investor battle thats made takeaway business a deal target Crypto customers lost 110m after a founder died it wont be the last investor wipeout UBS chief economist: Equities are not actually very important for the global economy Swedish startup lands 56m from big banks to take advantage of open banking Oliete (Spain) (AFP) - "They're over 500 years old," says Sira Plana proudly as she points to Oliete's olive groves, many of which are thriving now thanks to an adoption scheme that has prevented this northeastern Spanish village from dying out. For an annual fee of 50 euros ($57), some 2,500 sponsors receive photos of their olive tree by mobile phone, along with two litres (half a gallon) of olive oil annually. As well as the satisfaction of knowing their money will be ploughed back into the local economy and help create jobs, sponsors also get to name their tree. "We tried to do it in a way that people would get emotionally involved in the project," said Plana, co-founder of "Adopt an Olive Tree", standing between trees loaded with ripe olives. Spain is the world's largest producer of olive oil and Plana said that when people explain why they decided to sponsor a tree "in the majority of cases, it is very, very emotional... linked to a relative, a child, grandfather, an olive plantation". Her grandfather was once veterinarian in this village, currently home to just 364 people, down from some 2,500 people a century ago. Of around 100,000 centuries-old olive trees abandoned in the area around Oliete, more than 7,000 have been revived by the adoption project launched four years ago. - 'More than a tree' - "It's much more than a tree," said Esther Lopez, a 41-year-old accountant, who lives near Madrid and adopted a tree three years ago. "With my 50 euros and the 50 euros of others, they can get a village which otherwise would be abandoned back on its feet." Residents began moving away from rural towns and villages like Oliete, in the Aragon region, after Spain's 1936-39 civil war to find work in factories in cities. Some parts of Spain were left with just two people per square kilometre -- the same population density as in Siberia. The province of Teruel, where Oliete is located, is slowly dying. It has just 9.1 inhabitants per square kilometre, compared to the national average of 92. Story continues Around 3,900 municipalities with fewer than 500 inhabitants are at "high risk" of disappearing, according to the Economic and Social Council of Spain, a body which advises the government on economic and labour issues. Eight permanent jobs -- including six agricultural workers-- have been created in Oliete thanks to a new olive oil mill, helping to keep families in the village and attract new residents. In turn, this prevents the closure of the school. Elsewhere in Spain, similar projects have taken off in villages at risk of dying out. Sarrion, in the same province as Oliete, has built an economy based around truffles. And in Soria, another depopulated region, an NGO has set up an organic farming project employing people in difficulty, while in the western region of Extremadura, cherry trees can be adopted. - 'Stay forever' - "If there is work I can stay here forever," said newcomer Cesar Tarradas, 36, after using a machine to shake olives off the trees. He moved to Oliete a few months ago to join his father, his sister and her four children. "I would like to buy a house and make something of my life," added Tarradas, whose family decided to leave Barcelona because of the soaring rents in Spain's second largest city. With the arrival of young children, Oliete's small school "will remain alive for another 10 years", says its young teacher, Ana Lomba. "Having a school is what gives strength, maintains the flame of a village, because a village without a school is destined to disappear," added Lomba. She has six pupils under her charge, just two more than the minimum authorised in Aragon. - 'See an opportunity' - The school hallways are decorated with pupils' drawings which illustrate popular Spanish sayings about olive trees, such as "To be harder than an olive tree" and "Olive oil cures all". "These olive trees have given a great deal to past generations," said Plana, who quit a job in the cosmetics industry to move to Oliete and launch the tree adoption project. "They have allowed them to feed themselves, warm themselves, conserve many things, provided light," she said. Spain's high commissioner for the fight against depopulation, Isaura Leal, told AFP that Oliete was proof that "generations of youths are starting to see an opportunity" in living in the countryside. "It's no longer seen as something for failures, for bumpkins, as our parents used to say," she added. By Idrees Ali BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Acting U.S. defence chief Patrick Shanahan told Iraqi leaders that Washington understood its forces were in Iraq at Baghdad's invitation, aiming to steady relations after President Donald Trump said U.S. troops were needed to keep an eye on Iran. Shanahan met Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi during an unannounced trip to Baghdad on Tuesday. "I made very clear that we recognise their sovereignty, their focus on independence and that we are there at the invitation of the government," Shanahan told reporters. Trump infuriated Iraqi politicians this month by saying that a U.S. presence was needed in Iraq to observe Iran. Washington, which occupied Iraq from 2003-2011, now has around 5,200 troops in Iraq at the request of the Baghdad government to help fight against Islamic State. Iraq is an ally of both the United States and Iran, and its politics are often dominated by efforts to balance relations with two powerful countries that are bitter enemies. Trump's suggestion that Iran was the target of the U.S. presence in Iraq was denounced across the political spectrum in Baghdad last week, including by Abdul Mahdi. President Barham Salih said the U.S. troops must stick to their anti-Islamic State mission; Iran-aligned politicians in Iraq's parliament pressed demands that the U.S. mission be scaled back. The uproar came just months after Trump angered Iraqi leaders on his only visit to the country so far. On the day after Christmas Trump stopped only at a U.S. air base in the remote desert. Unlike predecessors Barack Obama and George W. Bush, he skipped the capital Baghdad and met no Iraqi officials. Shanahan said the topic of U.S. troops in Iraq and Trump's Iran comments did not come up during his talks with Abdul Mahdi, but the prime minister told him that Iraq needed to maintain strong relations with both Washington and Tehran. "There is activity in their legislature... the discussions have been should they restrict the number of U.S. forces in Iraq and I wanted to make clear to (Abdul Mahdi) that we recognise our role, we understand that we are there by invitation," Shanahan said. Story continues Speaking after meeting with Shanahan, Abdul Mahdi said he respected the decisions of the parliament. "The government has its view and the political blocs have theirs," he said. SYRIA WITHDRAWAL U.S. officials have criss-crossed the Middle East in recent months to reassure allies that Washington remains committed to the region, after Trump announced in December that he would abruptly withdraw the 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria. That decision was opposed by top aides, including Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, who quit, leaving his deputy Shanahan in charge of the Pentagon. Shanahan met with U.S. military commanders while in Iraq to get an update on the fight against Islamic State. U.S.-backed fighters have mounted an attack against Islamic State's last bastion in eastern Syria. U.S. officials have long estimated that the Syria pullout could take until sometime in March or April to execute fully, but have been reluctant to set an exact timeline given hard-to-predict battlefield conditions. Islamic State was declared defeated in Iraq in 2017, but continues to wage small-scale insurgent attacks in some areas. (Reporting by Idrees Ali; Additional reporting by Muayad Hameed; Editing by John Stonestreet and Peter Graff) By Idrees Ali BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Acting U.S. defense chief Patrick Shanahan told Iraqi leaders that Washington understood its forces were in Iraq at Baghdad's invitation, aiming to steady relations after President Donald Trump said U.S. troops were needed to keep an eye on Iran. Shanahan met Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi during an unannounced trip to Baghdad on Tuesday. "I made very clear that we recognize their sovereignty, their focus on independence and that we are there at the invitation of the government," Shanahan told reporters. Trump infuriated Iraqi politicians this month by saying that a U.S. presence was needed in Iraq to observe Iran. Washington, which occupied Iraq from 2003-2011, now has around 5,200 troops in Iraq at the request of the Baghdad government to help fight against Islamic State. Iraq is an ally of both the United States and Iran, and its politics are often dominated by efforts to balance relations with two powerful countries that are bitter enemies. Trump's suggestion that Iran was the target of the U.S. presence in Iraq was denounced across the political spectrum in Baghdad last week, including by Abdul Mahdi. President Barham Salih said the U.S. troops must stick to their anti-Islamic State mission; Iran-aligned politicians in Iraq's parliament pressed demands that the U.S. mission be scaled back. The uproar came just months after Trump angered Iraqi leaders on his only visit to the country so far. On the day after Christmas Trump stopped only at a U.S. air base in the remote desert. Unlike predecessors Barack Obama and George W. Bush, he skipped the capital Baghdad and met no Iraqi officials. Shanahan said the topic of U.S. troops in Iraq and Trump's Iran comments did not come up during his talks with Abdul Mahdi, but the prime minister told him that Iraq needed to maintain strong relations with both Washington and Tehran. "There is activity in their legislature... the discussions have been should they restrict the number of U.S. forces in Iraq and I wanted to make clear to (Abdul Mahdi) that we recognize our role, we understand that we are there by invitation," Shanahan said. Speaking after meeting with Shanahan, Abdul Mahdi said he respected the decisions of the parliament. "The government has its view and the political blocs have theirs," he said. SYRIA WITHDRAWAL U.S. officials have criss-crossed the Middle East in recent months to reassure allies that Washington remains committed to the region, after Trump announced in December that he would abruptly withdraw the 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria. That decision was opposed by top aides, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who quit, leaving his deputy Shanahan in charge of the Pentagon. Shanahan met with U.S. military commanders while in Iraq to get an update on the fight against Islamic State. U.S.-backed fighters have mounted an attack against Islamic State's last bastion in eastern Syria. U.S. officials have long estimated that the Syria pullout could take until sometime in March or April to execute fully, but have been reluctant to set an exact timeline given hard-to-predict battlefield conditions. Islamic State was declared defeated in Iraq in 2017, but continues to wage small-scale insurgent attacks in some areas. (Reporting by Idrees Ali; Additional reporting by Muayad Hameed; Editing by John Stonestreet and Peter Graff) Baghdad (AFP) - Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan made an unannounced visit to the Iraqi capital on Tuesday for talks on the sensitive issue of a continued US troop presence after Washington withdraws from neighbouring Syria. Shanahan is keen to reassure Iraqi leaders after President Donald Trump angered many by saying he wanted to maintain some troops at the Al-Asad airbase, northwest of Baghdad, to keep an eye on Iran. The acting defence secretary, who flew in from Afghanistan on his first foreign tour since taking office last month, held talks with Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi and top military advisers, as well as Lieutenant General Paul LaCamera, the commander of anti-IS coalition forces. His meeting with Iraq's premier had "a very good energy", Shanahan told the press after arriving in Brussels where he is set to attend a NATO summit. "I made very clear that we recognise their sovereignty, their focus on independence and that we are there at the invitation of the government," he added. Video: Acting Defense Secretary Makes Surprise Trip To Afghanistan For more news videos visit Yahoo View. Asked whether they had touched on the possibility of US troops in Iraq deploying across the border into Syria for operations against the Islamic State group, Shanahan said: "It just did not come up." The two spoke about Iran "indirectly... in the context of Iraq's independence", he said, adding that Abdel Mahdi had stressed the need for Baghdad to maintain good relations with both its neighbours and the US. - Focus on IS - A senior Pentagon official had earlier told journalists travelling with Shanahan that Washington's "main partnership and military activity in Iraq is the de-ISIS (IS) mission". Washington was also pressing its allies to repatriate their nationals captured and taken prisoner during the fight against IS in Iraq and Syria, the official said. Story continues "We think coalition members need to take responsibility for their citizens who are fighters. It's been a message we've delivered time and time again. And we are seeing hopeful progress," he said. Trump's comments about Iran, in an interview with CBS television aired February 3, drew a stern rebuff from President Barham Saleh, who said the use of Iraq as a base against a third country violated its constitution. They also sparked renewed calls for a US withdrawal both from pro-Iran factions within the government and from Iran-trained armed groups whose power has risen sharply during the fightback against IS jihadists that culminated in December 2017. Those calls are likely to intensify as Washington carries out the full troop withdrawal from Syria unveiled in a shock announcement by Trump in December. The plan, judged hasty by both US allies and senior figures within Trump's own administration, prompted the resignation of Shanahan's predecessor, Jim Mattis. But with US-backed Kurdish-led fighters poised to overrun IS's last sliver of territory in eastern Syria perhaps as early as this week, the withdrawal, which other administration figures had managed to slow, is now likely to gather pace. - 'Incredible base' - Trump's comments about the Al-Asad airbase came after the US president had already angered Iraqi leaders in December by paying a Christmas visit to US troops based there without travelling to Baghdad to speak with officials. "We spent a fortune on building this incredible base. We might as well keep it," Trump said in the CBS interview. "One of the reasons I want to keep it is because I want to be looking a little bit at Iran because Iran is a real problem," he added. A draft law that would set a timetable for a US troop withdrawal is now before the Iraqi parliament. It is backed by both of Iraq's most powerful political groupings -- the nationalist alliance led by firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, and the pro-Iran movement of former anti-IS fighters. At a rare joint news conference on Monday, the two groupings demanded at the very least a "new agreement" setting tight conditions on any future foreign troop presence. Following the US-led invasion that overthrew since-executed dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, US troop numbers peaked at some 170,000 before a full withdrawal was completed in 2011. Troops returned to Iraq in 2014 as part of an international coalition set up to fight IS after it swept through much of the north and west as well as swathes of neighbouring Syria that year. As for his talks on Wednesday in Brussels, Shanahan said he would brief his "counterparts here at NATO on my perceptions of Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq and what the opportunities are for the coalition". He said he would discuss "where we can take advantage of the opportunities there... in terms of the potential in northeast Syria to establish an observer force" to ensure stability in the longer term. Douala (AFP) - At least 11 people have been wounded in an attack on the convoy of the governor of the English-speaking region of southwestern Cameroon, sources said Tuesday. Armed men attacked the convoy of South West governor Bernard Okalia Bilai, who was travelling with a military escort from the regional capital Buea to Kumba, about 70 kilometres (45 miles) north. "There were eleven wounded. Several were seriously injured by bullets," said a member of the convoy. "The convoy was attacked both on the way home and back, five times in all," the person added. Photos of the attack, seen by AFP, show bullet holes in the vehicles of the convoy. On Monday, four people died when gunmen raided a hospital in Kumba and burnt it to the ground. The town, which serves as the commercial hub for the anglophone region, has been badly hit by the violence between separatists and Cameroon troops that began in October 2017. The Southwest region and Northwest region of Cameroon are home to an anglophone minority that accounts for about a fifth of the country's population. Both areas, which were once ruled by Britain, have long complained of discrimination at the hands of the French-speaking majority. Separatists have been fighting for independence. Since the start of February, at least four people have been killed in Buea, after separatists announced plans to disrupt the February 11 anniversary -- the date of a referendum that brought together French and English Cameroon in 1961. Over the past 16 months, there have been regular clashes between troops and groups of separatists who have attacked police stations, schools and staged mass kidnappings. UN figures show around 437,000 people have been forced out of their homes by the ongoing conflict, with another 32,000 fleeing across the border to neighbouring Nigeria. Cameroon's veteran leader Paul Biya, 85, won a seventh consecutive term in last October's disputed presidential election. He has held power for 36 years. Civil rights icon and humanitarian Andrew Young will deliver the keynote address at Emory University's 174th Commencement, scheduled for Monday, May 13. Young will also receive the Presidents Medal, conferred on distinguished university guests who have enhanced the prospect of peace or enriched cultural achievement. Ambassador Young is a true American hero, says Emory President Claire E. Sterk. Im thrilled that our graduates will have the opportunity to hear from a leader who has inspired and helped so many people. He has been a trailblazing advocate for civil and human rights, and as mayor he fueled Atlantas metamorphosis into a global gateway. His leadership and his personal story serve as outstanding examples for us all. In the decades since Young helped change the course of history as a leader in the civil rights movement, he has built a legacy as a civic activist, elected official, ambassador, social entrepreneur and adviser to presidents. Today, he leads the Andrew J. Young Foundations efforts to develop and support new generations of visionary leaders who will create sustainable global approaches to economic development, poverty alleviation and the challenge of hunger. Young was a key strategist and negotiator during campaigns that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In 1972, he was elected to represent Georgia in the U.S. Congress, becoming the first African-American representative from the Deep South since Reconstruction. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Young to serve as United States Ambassador to the United Nations, the first African-American to serve in that role. Young was also instrumental in the building of modern Atlanta. He was elected mayor in 1981 and re-elected in 1985 with nearly 85 percent of the vote. Hartsfield International Airport, whose development he championed, made it possible for Atlanta to attract 1,100 new businesses, $70 billion in foreign direct investment and 1 million new jobs to the region during his tenure. It is now the busiest airport in the world. Young also led the successful effort to bring the 1996 Olympic Games to Atlanta. He is the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the French Legion dHonneur and has received honorary degrees from more than 100 colleges and universities, including an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Emory in 1991. Honorary degree recipients Emory will confer honorary degrees to two individuals at the commencement ceremony: Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned recent remarks by US President National Security Advisor John Bolton about the 40th anniversary of victory of the Islamic Revolution, saying he is suffering from a chronic illusion, IRNA rported. 'Bolton suffers from a completely chronic illusion about Iran and Iranians,' Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on Tuesday in reaction to recent comments by the National Security Advisor to US President Donald Trump. 'Despite all the illusions and fantasies created by himself as well as efforts by some like-minded terrorist groups that have been trying to instill thoughts into his mind, Bolton has seen that his raw dreams and nightmares have failed following glorious rallies that marked the 40th anniversary of the historic revolution of the great nation of Iran,' he added. On the same day that Iran celebrated the victory of its 1979 Islamic Revolution, Bolton, whos been hard at work to up the opposition against Iran, described in Twitter the Islamic Republic of Iran as 'four decades of failure and broken promises'. Qasemi in return called his remarks 'empty promises' that have 'provided a refuge for Bolton to where he escapes from his false analyses and untrue predictions.' The Iranian official urged the US official to avoid making such 'false remarks' by taking a look at 'widespread participation of the people on the revolution anniversary'. The National Assembly of Armenia on Tuesday was debating on the proposed program of the government which was approved during the Cabinets meeting on February 8. In his several-hour address to the parliament, PM Pashinyan presented the program, admitting that it is not rich in numbers and indicators, and the opportunities that the country has are quite modest. In his words, the reason is that the number characteristics of an economic revolution in Armenia depend on how many people will answer their call to become an activist of this economic revolution. PM also called on all Armenia citizens to pay taxes. Pashinyan said that they are going to establish a ministry of high technologies and confirmed that the Diaspora ministry will be dissolved. According to him, the ministry is dissolved because, in essence, it was performing functions that other ministries were also performing. Speaking about the Karabakh peace process, PM assured that he sees the precise forms and methods for including the Nagorno-Karabakh representatives in the negotiations process, and his view will be discussed with the international partners of Armenia. A contract serviceman of the Armenian Armed Forces died in one of the military units. Mesrop Grigryan (born in 1985) died of a gunshot wound, spokesperson for Armenias Defense Ministry Artsrun Hovhannisyan said on Facebook. EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar visited Armenia and met with PM Nikol Pashinyan, Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan. During his meeting with PM Pashinyan, Toivo Klaar noted that the EU is eager to develop and expand relations with Armenia and expressed confidence that the bilateral cooperation will be deepened through the implementation of the EU-Armenia agreement. Armenias Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan and his Cypriot counterpart Savvas Angelides signed an annual plan for cooperation during a meeting in Yerevan. Two other documents were signed for exchange of information related to the situation created in the Middle East. Another area is the organizing of compulsory military service. Cyprus is one of the few EU member states that maintains such a system, and it would like to share its experience with Armenia, Tonoyan said. Turkish American lobbyist who was extradited by Armenia to the United States Kemal Oksuz got a mild $20,000 fine and a sentence of time-served for scheming to conceal Azerbaijani government funding for a 2013 Congressional junket to Baku. U.S judge issued the sentence, which amounts to 3 months of jail time in Armenia and 1 week of jail time upon his extradition to the U.S. in November, 2018. Oksuz pleaded guilty in December to devising a scheme to falsify, conceal and cover up material facts from the U.S. Congress. "She was a true thespian." The curtain has fallen on Armida Siguion Reyna, iconic film and stage star. She passed away at age 88 succumbing to cancer. The widow of lawyer Leonardo Siguion Reyna, Armida is a sister of former senator and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. It is sad day for the Ponce Enriles as JPE himself will be marking his 94th birthday on Feb. 14, St. Valentines Day. I last saw Armida at her place in Forbes Park when her senator brother brought members of the 365 Breakfast Club there. She was also a member and she was simply called Tita Midz. Several years back, she and her family and friends Mr. and Mrs. Teddy Locsin went to Budapest where I was then ambassador. Her group, which chartered a tourist bus, was on a tour of select European cities that included Prague, Vienna and Budapest. Armida was at one time chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board. While her films were shown before my movie-going days, I had a chance to see her body of work on replays of these films on Cinema One and PBO which runs them for night owls like me. Not only was Armida a true thespian, she also sang and produced shows on stage and television, among them the long-running Aawitan Kita in which she sang the title song known to many of her fans and followers. Armidas wake started yesterday at the Heritage Memorial Park at McKinley Hill.Meanwhile, the death toll from the measles outbreak in the country continues to rise, The casualties are mostly children whose parents are wary of having their kids vaccinated after the deadly effect of the Dengvaxia anti-dengue vaccine. Health workers who are doing a door-to-door vaccination drive reported that parents are slowly being convinced the anti-measle vaccine is necessary to prevent the spread of the epidemic and that there is no danger similar to the Dengvaxia side effect. Former President Benigno Aquino III, his Health Secretary Janet Garin and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad are facing charges of criminal negligence for not exercising due diligence before purchasing the Dengvaxia vaccine from French manufacturer Sanofi. In another news affecting the health of Filipinos, the Department of Agriculture under Manny Pinol has banned the importation of pork from Japan, Australia and Africa due to the possibility that these could be tainted with swine flu. The good news in business is that tycoon Enrique K. Razon could take over the bankrupt Hanjin ship building operations in Subic. Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez welcomed Razons reported interest in the Korean company. The head honcho of the International Containers Terminal Services Inc. is a logical choice to acquire Hanjin since ITCSIs interest has relevance to Hanjins equipment and operations. Some 30,000 Filipino workers are going to be affected if Hanjin closes shop. Some of these workers are already applying for jobs in the Middle East and other countries with port facilities like Singapore, and other ports where ICTSI has existing container terminal operations. Taiwan is another country where Filipino welders with ship-building experience can find work in the Taiwanese company Evergreen. Hanjin in Subic was where the US battleships used to have a naval base. Washington cannot have a Chinese company taking over Hanjin. It would be a de facto replacement of the US presence in a strategic port considering a rising Chinas aggressive move in the South China Sea and its vast potential of oil gas and mineral resources under the seabed. Vital international sea lanes for commercial cargo worth trillions of dollars is also a concern of the US, Crude oil carried by international tankers from oil-producing to consuming countries cannot and should not be controlled by China in the disputed SCS territorial dispute. The Philippine National Police on Tuesday identified 75 more areas in its list of election hotspots, bringing to 94 the number of places deemed critical during the READ: Senatorial bets kick off campaign candidates Armenia International Studies expert: What is "last station" of all this? World oil prices on the rise Controversial Dubai princess announces she can now travel freely Newspaper: What is Putin's decision on Armenias Pashinyan? Newspaper: Armenia acting PM to include defeated political forces in one body Newspaper: Wiretapping devices are installed in 'disobedient' Armenia judges offices Armenia POWs relatives start sit-in outside government building Razminfo: Azerbaijan deploys Bayraktars in Nakhchivan (PHOTOS) Armenia doctor Armen Charchyan's attorney submits urgent motion to Prosecutor General European Party of Armenia leader to Nikol Pashinyan: We need to think of strengthening our national potential Political party leader to Armenia acting PM: There are opposition forces with which we cannot imagine any step Armenia acting PM meets with Tigran Arzakantsyan Armenia doctor Armen Charchyan transferred to hospital with cardiac distress 'Armenia' bloc issues statement strictly condemning arrest of doctor Armen Charchyan Defense Minister: Turkey will not send additional troops to Afghanistan Armenian judge who ruled to remand doctor Armen Charchyan is wife of top police officer Armenian doctor Armen Charchyan's attorney says he will appeal court's decision on arrest Armenia Central Electoral Commission: Civil Contract Party's and two opposition blocs' votes increase after recount Armenia Izmirlian Medical Center Director Armen Charchyan to be held in custody for a month North Korea doesn't consider possibility of any contact with US Azerbaijani army conducting command staff military exercises at level of brigade Switzerland relaxes COVID-19 restrictions Turkey removes over 5,500 cubic meters of sea slime from Sea of Marmara Karabakh President convenes session of Board of Trustees of Shushi University of Technology France, Germany propose EU summit with Russia's Putin Armenia acting MOD, High-Tech Industry Ministry's Hayk Chobanyan discuss issues related to arms industry Rescuers remove body of man from gorge located near St. Sargis Church in Yerevan with great difficulty Armenia President: Constitution needs to be amended, our country understands presidential governance better EU intends to pay Turkey EUR 3.5 billion for refugees Putin, Aliyev discuss factors for implementation of Russia-Armenia-Azerbaijan agreements on Nagorno-Karabakh Russia FM to discuss Karabakh situation with UN High Commissioner for Refugees PACE affirms Azerbaijan's refusal to resolve problem of political prisoners Votes are being recounted in Armenia, Baku is ready to 'work with Yerevan on a big peace agreement, Jun. 23 digest Armenia acting Deputy PM on his political career in the future Armenia President: A nation with a history of genocide with Turkey needs to be very careful and have a friend Armenian NGO president: Elections in Armenia only satisfied Baku and Ankara Ambassador: UAE will carry out charity program for women in Armenia's Shirak Province Armenias Sarkissian to pay state visit to Italy Tokayev to Sarkissian: Continuing our constructive dialogue will contribute to expansion of Armenian-Kazakh cooperation Aliyev: Armenia refuses to give us maps of minefields One dollar falls below AMD 513 in Armenia Armenia acting Deputy PM on dismissals of officials due to their political views Armenian peacekeeping brigade takes part in military exercise at US military base in Germany Azerbaijan Deputy PM: Trilateral group will continue its work after Armenia's new Cabinet is formed Acting deputy PM on Armenian captives return: We have opportunity to reach mutual agreements 'Armenia' bloc member: We garnered 258 votes at polling station in Kapan, but there were no entries Bayramov: Azerbaijan is ready to work with Armenia on a big peace agreement Person suspected of firing gunshot at car of Armenian politician detained Two boys suffer electric shock in Yerevan, one dies in hospital Head of Armenia's Odzun village: I was beaten by ten people, including the governor of Lori Province ost of sea freight hits record price due to China Patriarch of All Russia to Armenia President: You conscientiously fulfill duties entrusted to you Armenia I Have Honor bloc candidate for PM says their attitude towards acting PM Pashinyan will be "mirror" Lavrov, Bayramov discuss implementation of agreements reached between Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan Armenia I Have Honor bloc candidate for PM on Artsakh issue: Right of peoples to self-determination is inalienable Artsakh government to provide one-time monetary assistance to war wounded, outpatients Armenia state-funded Public Television makes around $829,000 purchase from one person I Have Honor bloc candidate for PM: We can return Armenian captives in Azerbaijan in 2-3 days if we have power China says world chaos caused by one power Armenia I Have Honor bloc candidate for PM: I will go to parliament if decision is made that the bloc goes Judicial farce against Armenian captives continues in Azerbaijan Armenia acting premier appoints 2 new deputy governors to Ararat Province Xi Jinping attaches great importance to development of China-Armenia relations Armenia delegation member to PACE: Azerbaijan media are at forefront of spreading hatred, enmity towards Armenians 100 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Putin calls Russia contribution "decisive" in Karabakh conflict settlement process Head of Ukraine parliament friendship group with Armenia congratulates Pashinyan Armenias Pashinyan congratulates Luxembourg PM on national holiday US authorities to allocate $ 8 billion to restore airports operation after pandemic Artsakh State Minister clarifies what happened during Stepanakert rally World oil prices going up Biden administration revives plans to build new space station Newspaper: Armenia troops to be taken out from front line Newspaper: Pashinyan is PM of actually just 26.49% of Armenia voters Tarasov: Azerbaijan, Turkey cant resolve matter of road via Armenia without Armenians participation Lawyer: Armenia court on Wednesday will announce decision on motion to arrest physician Armenia Security Council Secretary: Authorities will be guided by 'remedial secession' principle to solve Karabakh issue Armenia 2nd President: Government views Hayastan All-Armenian Fund as additional source of funding Karabakh President: My visit to Armenia's Civil Contract Party office on day of elections was misinterpreted Number of 'Armenia' bloc's votes grows by 10 times after recount in Vanadzor Rally participant: Karabakh President leading confidential negotiations with head of Azerbaijan state security service Head of Armenia's Odzun village submits report to police, case to be forwarded to Special Investigation Service Gagik Tsarukyan: Prosperous Armenia Party won't be in parliament, but will still be involved in politics Belarus President congratulates Armenia's Pashinyan Opposition National-Democratic Axis Party declines offer to meet with Armenia acting PM Armenia Administrative Court renders decision on ex-deputy chief of army's General Staff French MFA: France hopes elections will provide Armenia with opportunity to solve several issues Leader of 5165 Movement Party rejects offer to meet with Armenia acting PM Armenia acting high-tech industry minister introduces Industrial City Plan to US Ambassador Armenia Central Electoral Commission: There will be vote recounting at more than 70 polling stations Armenia ex-FM on Security Council Secretary's statement on torpedoing issue of POWs' return Armenia Security Council Secretary: Exchange of mine maps and POWs may be ongoing Armenia Security Council Secretary blames ex-FM for 'torpedoing' issue of return of POWs Armenia Security Council Secretary: Negotiations over deployment of Russian border guards in Gegharkunik underway Head of Armenia's Odzun village beaten in building of regional governor's office Armenia Security Council Secretary reminds Levon Ter-Petrosyan about 1996 presidential elections More Russian peacekeepers to be deployed in Armenia, Aliyev speaks on Shushi, Jun 22 digest Armenia Security Council Secretary says former authorities are the capitulators Armen Sarkissian holds phone talks with 'Armenia' bloc's leader Robert Kocharyan Christian-Democratic Party leader to Armenia acting PM: We will support the government So Trumps press secretary stated "I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times and I think that he wanted Donald Trump to become president, and that's why he's there." Confirming, some might say, of Trumps own belief in his otherworldly omniscience, he stated that day that "The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive and perhaps Intelligence should go back to school! All-righty, then. In the event that you are skeptical that history sometimes repeats itself, George W. Bush famously stated that God told him to end tyranny in Iraq. And when asked if he consulted with his father, stated that he consulted with a higher father (his real father notably declined to pursue a war in Iraq after saving Kuwait from Iraqi aggression). If you havent before, can you now feel the earth below your feet turning to quicksand? So when Trump exhausts all people to blame for his actions and behavior, including his children, is it conceivable that he might blame God? I think not, perhaps more like the Devil made me do it. In that manner, he will be seeking the only pardon available to him. Eric Zimny Napa It is merely an idea, but the proposal to change the name of the Philippines to Maharlika is interesting enough to initiate a constitutional amendment, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said Tuesday. He made his statement after President Rodrigo Duterte considered renaming the Philippines Maharlika. Senator Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday said he may have to agree with Duterte on the possibility of changing the Philippines name. He noted that the Philippines would always remind Filipinos of the Spanish colonizers who ruled the country for three centuries. While the colonization brought out the best in our ancestors and taught us their values and heroism, those 300 years also influenced our culture and attitude as a people and which we cannot claim as originally our own, Lacson said. In his speech in Maguindanao on Monday night, Duterte backed the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos plan to rename the country. Actually, Marcos was right. During his time, he was really right. He wanted to change the name to Maharlika [and call it] the Republic of Maharlika because Maharlika is a Malay word and it means more of a concept of serenity and peace, Duterte said. But its okay. When the time comes, lets change the name. Sought for a comment, Panelo said Duterte does not resent Spains 333-year colonial rule, adding Duterte was merely asserting the Filipinos national identity. He said it [Maharlika] is a Malay word. Since we are Malays, we should have a name identified with us. I agree with him, I like the idea of Maharlika as a name for the Philippines, Panelo said. He explained the two contradicting views about the supposed proposal to change the countrys name. One, as one of my staff lawyers pointed out, the Philippines is mentioned in the Constitution. So if you issued an executive order or passed a legislation renaming it, some constitutional expert might say, You cannot amend that, its in the Constitution, he said. The other argument, according to Panelo, is an instance where the name Philippines was just established for the time being.It could be that its mentioned in the Constitution that theres a law saying, Let it be the Philippines first, he added. Asked if Charter Change would pave the way to renaming the country, Panelo, the Presidents chief legal counsel, said: Yeah, maybe. The Constitution provides that Congress may enact a law that can change the name of the country and submit it to the people for a referendum, he said, stressing that a mere executive order would not be effective. Its more on the congressional act, I think. It would be better if its constitutional, so there would be no question, he added. Asked if the President would actively push for his idea, Panelo said: The Presidents style is he floats an idea, then somebody gets it. In June 2017, Magdalo Party-list Rep. Gary Alejano filed a bill seeking to create a Geographic Renaming Commission to come up with a new name for the Philippines. House Bill 5867, An Act Constituting a Geographic Renaming Commission to Rename Our Country, aims to conduct a comprehensive study for an appropriate name that we shall call our nation. Under Alejanos bill, the proposed commission would have representatives from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, National Historical Commission of the Philippines and the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino. The supposed commission would then be given a year to complete its work and a proposed budget of P30 million from the yearly national budget. Panelo, however, said it would be more effective if the initiative was directly done through an amendment of the Constitution, rather than a commission. Taxpayers missed an opportunity to repeal the gas tax (Measure C) on the November 2018 ballot. Obviously voters were at least partially influenced by the misleading summary in the voters handbook, which indicated it would reduce funding for road repairs. Actually, road repair funding provided in the past has routinely been hijacked by our politicians for years. California voters passed initiatives in 2002, 2006, and 2010 trying to protect the money for roads. Legislative leaders moved the funding around based on their own priorities. The result? Our roads remain in disrepair and taxpayers have repeatedly been asked for more money. Failure to repeal the imposed gas and registration taxes means $5.2 billion annual Measure C car and gas taxes imposed by the legislature without a general vote of California voters will remain in effect. Also, taxpayers can look forward to another major gas tax increase in July plus another vehicle registration fee increase. Thanks to cap and trade, gas prices could go up by as much as 72 cents per gallon. The decisions to make California a sanctuary state, issue driver's licenses and ID cards to illegal aliens while registering them to vote were also established without a popular vote of California residents. Indeed, the events of 1979 are still being fought over four decades on. For Washington, the ousting of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was a geopolitical wound that hasn't healed. His government - including its notorious secret police - was cheered by former president Richard Nixon as one of America's "cops on the beat" in the Middle East, helping steer the oil-rich region away from Soviet influence. In its place emerged a hostile power that took U.S. citizens hostage, engaged in deadly attacks on U.S. forces in the region, and styled itself as an anti-imperial "resister" to a hegemonic America. For the rest of the Middle East, the arrival of a theocratic regime in Iran was a political bombshell, giving life to religious movements long stifled or overshadowed by the region's secular, Pan-Arab authoritarians. "The Iranian revolution played a significant role in the birth and the growth of the jihadist movements in the Arab World, as it raised the awareness of the role of religion in political change in the region," Adnan Milhem, a Palestinian historian, said to the Associated Press. "The Iranian revolution affected the political thinking in the region in terms of introducing religion as a changing tool to fight oppression and corruption." In his inauguration speech, Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged that every senior should be able to retire with security. Thats a significant commitment to address challenges facing older adults, families and caregivers who struggle in a dysfunctional system. California has an insufficient system of long-term services and supports for older people and people with disabilities, as detailed in a 2015 report by the California Senates Select Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care. The report painted an alarming picture of the shortcomings of the current system, but offered real solutions: California can build a better system to serve all who have long-term care needs. Since the Senate issued its report, the problem is only becoming more critical. By 2030, the California Department of Finance projects 24 percent of the population will be at least 65. And, in the next 20 years, the number of adults with disabilities could grow by 20 percent. This added pressure on the system is creating a crisis for the middle class and generational poverty as each generation spends more of its savings caring for family members. Sharply criticizing Pitzers faculty, President Melvin Oliver said it is plain wrong, discriminatory and inconsistent to boycott Israel so long as Pitzer, along with many other American colleges, promotes exchanges and study abroad in countries with significant human rights abuses. He added that China, for example, has killed, tortured and imprisoned up to 1 million people in Tibet and utterly obliterated the Tibetan nation. China currently has 1 million Muslims imprisoned in re-education camps. Why would we not suspend our program with China? Or take our longest-standing program in Nepal they have had a bloody civil war that killed 10,000 people. Why Israel? As Oliver implied, Israel is singled out among all nations for student and faculty protests because it is primarily a Jewish state. And one definition of anti-Semitism is singling out Jews or Israel to be punished for supposed, but unproven, actions that have been documented on a much larger or much more brutal scale in many other countries. No college faculty, for example, has even considered voting to boycott Saudi Arabia for its state-sanctioned assassination and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But Israel is excoriated for defensive acts. SAN FRANCISCO Last week, a pair of great horned owls landed a rare deal for the Bay Area: real estate in move-in condition with a view, Presidio Trust officials said Monday. The owls took over a red-tailed hawk nest, high up in a eucalyptus tree in the Presidio, that ecologists have been watching on a webcam since last year. A live camera mounted on the nest shows the mother owl currently sitting on two eggs. But there was drama before the owls moved in. The webcam shows a red-tailed hawk battling for possession of the nest on Feb. 2. Last year, the webcam captured key moments of the red-tailed hawks building the nest, eggs hatching and parents feeding their young. The healthy fledglings and the parents left the nest last April. The camera has since been named the "Presidio Raptor Cam", giving ecologists rare views of the owls, which are difficult to view in the wild. The incubation for the owl eggs is 30 to 37 days and the chicks are expected to emerge the first week of March. Presidio ecologists have confirmed that the red-tailed hawks have backup nests and are monitoring them to learn their nesting site. The raptor cam was installed in the eucalyptus tree in 2018. Its location is secret, so as not to disturb the birds, Presidio Trust officials said. The great horned owl is one of the most common owls in North America, but its population is in decline, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The owls usually adopt a nest built by another species, usually a hawk, crows, ravens, herons or squirrels. The judgment would seem to put the issue to rest, with no court ruling on how to interpret permits such as the Bremers. County Counsel Jeffrey Brax said Tuesday that interpretation of the Bremers permit was not part of the settlement. We had our belief, they had theirs and we settled, he said. In the judgment, the county said Bremer Family Winery had about 650 visitors a month or 7,800 a year. The settlement limits the winery to 3,600 visitors a year and no more than 70 a day, with the Planning Commission unable to hear any modification requests before Dec. 1. The Bremers before the lawsuit had tried to end their disagreements with the county by filing a use permit modification application. That application asked for a maximum of 300 guests a day. The judgement said the Bremers cant use a cave for tasting events. They cant use a bocce ball court or pizza oven for winery purposes. They must legalize or demolish fermentation tanks and catwalks on the east side of the winery building. In addition, the judgment addressed an alleged county conservation regulation violation. Within 60 days of the judgment, the Bremers must submit an application to allow walls and a bridge within a creek setback. An estimated 18 million trees have died in California wildlands and private property in the past year, many of them victim of recent droughts and bark beetle infestations, the latest federal tree mortality count has found. In total, an estimate 147 million trees, many Sierra conifers, have died in California since the start of the state's drought years in 2010. The death toll comes as the state struggles with an elevated fire risk, some of it fueled by unhealthy forests. The last two years have seen some of the most devastating wildfires in state history, including November's Camp Fire in Paradise, triggering calls from the Trump administration for more thinning of California forests. In a statement Monday, Randy Moore of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, who oversees federal forests in California, said his agency is working on "increasing the pace and scale of ecological restoration -- this includes thinning dense areas to promote healthy forests that are more resilient to wildfires, drought and bark beetle outbreaks." The USDA reports it and state officials have felled 1.5 million dead trees since 2016, focusing on the trees that pose the highest fire hazards. He recently was permitted to expand the study into much of Mendocino and Lake counties. The study area also extends into Napa County. The newest lion, known as P15, is the 15th to be collared during the programs run and first came to Martins attention on Feb. 4 in what was, even then, a stay of execution. Patricia Damery of Napa, who posted about the lions death on social media, said she doesnt like that the family responsible for its death is being ostracized. Damery herself once thought of having the same lion killed after it killed one of her goats. She called state Fish and Wildlife personnel to trap and kill the lion, and it spent three or four hours dismembering her goat to bait the trap, she said. Damery said she got ahold of Martins as the sky began to darken. He deactivated Fish and Wildlifes traps and set up his own. Around 1 a.m., Martins received a cellphone alert that the lion had entered the trap. Watching him collect samples and take measurements was a transformative experience, Damery said. I felt really in shock finding my goat in the shape it was in, she said. Martins group teaches you how to secure your animals (and) how important it is not to shoot these animals. One of the first things Jean-Charles Boisset did when he purchased the Oakville Grocery was to move the brick oven in the patio between the shop and the adjacent Victorian residence so that visitors can sit at tables and take in the view. Look at it, he said. There, to the north is Mount St. Helena. Across the road is To Kalon, the most famous vineyard in Napa Valley. There are the Mayacamas Mountains, and beyond them, the Pacific Ocean. This is not a million-dollar view; its a billion-dollar view. Boisset is devoted to the pleasures of wine and food and other elements of the good life in which his native France excels, but this has never prevented him being an ardent admirer of California, its products, its lifestyle, and its history. He has purchased properties in Northern California, among them Vista, DeLoach and Raymond wineries. But his newest acquisition may prove to be his most significant tribute to his adopted state. At a meeting in the 1881 Victorian house, Boisset outlined his plans for this historic building and the grocery store, the purchase for which closed on Jan. 3. A word war broke out Tuesday between opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros and presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, who called on the lawmaker to resign for demanding the that Public Attorneys Office chief. It is saddening that Mayor Sara can call for my resignation but not of those who have condoned the killing of tens of thousands, those who have eroded public trust in the governments vaccination program, those who have plundered the nations coffers, those who have surrendered our sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea and those who have collaborated with the Marcoses in revising history, Hontiveros said. Whats keeping Mayor Sara from going after these people who are the real dangers to our nation and society? she asked. Taking the cudgels for Acosta, the mayor also said Hontiveros should provide solutions to help curb the measles outbreak and not merely criticize.But Hontiveros maintained that calling for Acostas resignation is part of the solution. Acostas resignation would remove the pseudo-science, fear-mongering and lies that hijacked the Dengvaxia discourse, she said. Then she turned the guns on the mayor. Every time she attacks me, she validates my work and vindicates my positions on important issues, Hontiveros said. Every insult from the mayor is a reading on the barometer I can use, second to none, to confirm how effective my office is in advancing democratic interests and goals.The last time the mayor had something to say about me, she ridiculed me for opposing the lowering of the minimum age of criminal responsibilitym even kindly advising me to walk the streets to know the reality on the ground. Excuse me, I started my work life as a community organizer among farmers and fisherfolk 30 years ago in Rizal Province, Hontiveros said. And unfortunately for the good mayor, the recent Social Weather Stations survey showed that the majority of Filipinos oppose the lowering of the MACR. Hows that for a reality check? Pardon my French, but Im not the one with my head in my ass, she added. Health officials in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon held an emergency meeting to address the rapid rise in. We need to have a uniform strategy in the implementation of the mass immunization activity against measles, especially in the recording, reporting and monitoring of cases, said the Health departments regional director for Calabarzon Eduardo C. Janairo. Janairo said they also want to ensure they haveat the local level as well as health personnel who will administer them. READ: Measles outbreak: 70 dead American Canyon is allocated 5,200 acre-feet of North Bay Aqueduct water annually, but in an average year receives 3,200 acre-feet. The city wants to have 4,000 acre-feet available in Sites reservoir as a hedge against dry years. Sites gives you better control to balance your portfolio of water supplies than whats available today by the state or even the federal projects, Sites Project Authority General Manager Jim Watson told the council. The water would have to get from Sites to American Canyon. That would be done by releasing the water into the Sacramento River and having American Canyon pump the allocation from Barker Slough into the North Bay Aqueduct for local delivery. Some City Council members expressed concern. The North Bay Aqueductwhich also provides Delta water to the city of Napa and to Calistoga, as well as several Solano County citiesfaces issues of its own. City officials said the aqueduct has capacity constraints because of biomass built up on the inside of the pipe. Plus, the rare Delta smelt can prompt pumping restrictions to avoid having fish sucked up and killed. Plus, dead-end Barker Slough has water quality problems. A powerful force of nature, a body in motion, passed from the scene this week, a fighter till the end. Felicia Michalski was a Holocaust survivor running for her life at the age of 19, but she staunchly refused to be cast as a victim, determined to survive and thrive. Hardened by the contradictions of life, she was a warrior for justice and at five-feet-two stood taller and stronger than any team of men. Her life story defied all common sense because hers was the story of spirit, hope and faith and an intense desire to survive. With her husband Joseph they never looked back, fully embracing the blessings of American freedom and opportunity, determined to educate their three boys and make it in their beloved new home. Never shy about expressing her thoughts, opinions or wishes, Felicia was remarkably independent in a world that did not value or acknowledge strong capable women. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Fela Kuvent and her brother Yaacov (Uncle Kuba) ran for their lives from their native Poland. Making their way through Poland to Ukraine in the depths of winter, they escaped capture by the Nazis several times. Ironically, the Russians captured them and sent them to Siberia as slave laborers. When their camp was needed to house captured Nazi soldiers, the civilians were released. She led in the construction of two large rafts fashioned out of tree logs. They floated down several Siberian rivers for two weeks with many escapees dying along the way. Near death herself, she and her brother arrived in Dzumbul, Kazakhstan. A few miracles later, her betrothed, Josef Michalski, also from her village of Gostynin, found her dying of typhus fever. He nurtured her back to health, and soon they married and had two sons in Dzumbul, Jerry (1943) and Henry (1945). The citys Adams Street property could accommodate a 70-room luxury hotel and still leave half of the site available for community use, according to a consultant hired by the city. Kosmont Companies, which has also advised the city on how to help downtown businesses, presented its hotel market analysis to the City Council on Feb. 6. The study analyzed potential hotels on the Adams Street property and the citys Railroad Avenue property, the former site of the Teen Center. A 70-room, five-star hotel on Adams Street is feasible with a 65 percent occupancy rate and an average room rate of $1,000 per night, consultant Ken Hira told the council. The hotel could take up half of the 5.6-acre property and generate $2.5 million a year in hotel, sales and property taxes for the city. A developers estimated profits would place the value of the land at $25.6 million, Hira estimated. However, a hotel with 61 percent occupancy and average rates of $900 per night would not be profitable for a developer, Hira said. The city has pledged to remove the dam, which has been deemed a barrier to fish passage. The latest design, which proposes releasing the built-up sediment into downtown sediment traps instead of trucking it away, will be much cheaper than the original plan, which was budgeted at $6.5 million. Costs are tentatively estimated at $200,000 to install the sediment traps in Phase 1 and $1.8 million to notch the dam in Phase 2, with additional funds for long-term environmental management. A construction budget should come to the council in May. General Plan The city received more than 300 comments when it released the General Plan and its latest EIR late last year. The General Plan and its draft Final EIR, which includes responses to the comments, is scheduled to go to the Planning Commission on March 19, and to the City Council on May 28 or June 11. Downtown restroom Construction bids to build a restroom in the city parking lot near Money Way keep coming in well over budget. The council will be presented with several options on Feb. 26: award a bid that exceeds the budget, value-engineer the plans to reduce the cost, or consider a kit that could be installed at a cheaper cost. Two Vallejo residents were arrested Saturday night in American Canyon after police alleged they cased a car in the Safeway parking lot for a break-in, police said. They approached the car at 9:15 p.m. after occupants got out and went into the supermarket, not realizing that another person was still in the vehicle, police said. Police arrived and detained the two suspects who were exiting the lot at a "fast walk," according to police. A juvenile had a metal window punch tool and a mask, police said. The adult, Jimmy Glass, 18, was found to have a knit glove. Police said Glass was identified as the person who attempted to open the door of the parked car while the juvenile served as a lookout. Glass was booked into the Napa County jail for investigation of possession of burglary tools and attempted burglary. He was being held without bail Monday morning. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. We can compete with the west ... AMDs Radeon VII graphics card recently launched worldwide, although excitement around the launch was soon extinguished by its lack of availability. Many online retailers in South Africa have listed the card in their stores, but there is currently no stock available with no arrival date set. Despite the lack of retail availability, a number of international publications have received the card for review. The AMD Radeon VII is set to compete with Nvidias RTX 20 Series graphics cards, which offer dedicated AI compute cores and ray-tracing capabilities in addition to great performance. AMD therefore built the Radeon VII using its 7nm microarchitecture and outfitted the card with a staggering 16GB of next-generation HBM2 video memory to take on Nvidias flagship GPUs. To see how they stack up, we compared the AMD Radeon VII with its nearest competitor in terms of price and performance, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080. Specifications and pricing Looking at the specifications of the two cards, it is apparent that they have completely different architectures. The AMD Radeon VII is built on a 7nm process node and includes far more stream processors than its Nvidia competitor, while also boasting a much higher memory bandwidth thanks to its HBM2 VRAM. Nvidias GPU appears to be disadvantaged compared the Radeon VII, but it is important to note that the RTX 2080 includes dedicated AI and ray-tracing cores, which can make a drastic difference in certain applications. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 also features far lower power draw and a higher base clock speed than the Radeon VII. The full specifications of both graphics cards are below. Specifications GeForce RTX 2080 Radeon VII Stream processors 2,944 3,840 Boost Clock 1,710MHz 1,750MHz Base Clock 1,515MHz 1,400MHz VRAM 8GB GDDR6 16GB HBM2 Interface Width 256-bit 4,096-bit Memory Bandwidth 448GB/s 1,024GB/s TDP 215W 300W Dimensions 266 x 115 mm (2-Slot) 280 x 125 mm (2-Slot) Price From R11,999 From R14,999 When it comes to local pricing for the cards, the cheapest Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 is around R3,000 less than the cheapest Radeon VII. However, it is important to note that local pricing for the VII is only currently available from Rebel Tech and the cards are not in stock as yet. Wootware previously told MyBroadband that the low volume of VII cards could mean higher shipping costs per product and subsequently higher prices. 4K gaming performance The gaming performance of the two graphics cards will depend heavily on the title in questions, as different games favour either AMDs open-source GPUOpen middleware suite or Nvidias GameWorks tools. For this reason, we compared the benchmark results from tests done by Toms Hardware, which included a good mix of games using DirectX 11, DirectX 12, and Vulkan graphics APIs. The average FPS scored for each title at a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 is compared below, along with the total average FPS for each GPU across all games. Game Benchmark (4K) GeForce RTX 2080 AMD Radeon VII AoTS: Escalation 71.8 68.9 Battlefield V 71.1 72.1 Destiny 2 73.5 62.0 Far Cry 5 57.0 58.4 Grand Theft Auto V 86.7 77.2 Metro: Last Light Redux 67.4 61.1 Rise of the Tomb Raider 65.3 56.6 Tom Clancys The Division 55.0 57.8 Tom Clancys Ghost Recon 54.1 50.8 The Witcher 3 76.5 66.8 Wolfenstein II 83.4 77.4 Average FPS 69.3 64.5 These results show a small difference in performance in favour of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080, despite the higher price of AMDs Radeon VII. One could argue that the ray-tracing graphics features enabled by the GeForce RTX 2080 give it the edge over the AMD card, but this is not currently a prevalent feature in modern titles. The case for the AMD Radeon VII could also be made if you have a FreeSync-compatible monitor and do not wish to pay a premium for Nvidias G-Sync products. This is especially important when gaming at high resolutions, as adaptive sync will improve the experience of playing at 4K with the graphics settings turned up to maximum. Often the biggest factors to consider when comparing graphics cards is price, however, and in this case the GeForce RTX 2080 easily wins. At around R3,000 cheaper than its competitor, it also has the advantage of actually being available in South Africa while the Radeon VII remains nowhere to be found. Additionally, the scarce number of Radeon VII graphics cards allocated to South Africa may serve to inflate the price once they are released. Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has withdrawn the Electronic Communications Amendment Bill, according to the DA. DA Shadow Minister of Telecommunications Marian Shinn told MyBroadband that that Ndabeni-Abrahams announced the withdrawal in a letter to the parliamentary portfolio committee on telecommunications. The bill dealt with the allocation of spectrum for mobile networks and the establishment of the WOAN Wholesale Open Access Network. The bill was heavily criticised by the telecoms industry and mobile network companies, which stated that it will result in a massive failure by the government and delay the much-needed allocation of radio spectrum. While the bill initially stated that the WOAN will be the governments priority in terms of spectrum allocation and that spectrum may be taken away from licensed network operators this stance softened after mobile networks provided feedback to the government on the matter. Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub said in 2018 that the company supports a compromise between existing regulations and the WOAN proposed by the government. Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko was more direct in his criticism of the WOAN, and stated in 2018 that he did not think the WOAN policy was the ideal way forward but Telkom was supporting it because it was government policy and the quickest solution to the problem of spectrum allocation. The compromise between mobile networks and the government over the WOAN would have seen the likes of Vodacom and Telkom purchasing capacity on the wholesale network and would in exchange receive additional spectrum for their own operations. Withdrawal is welcomed The withdrawal of the bill comes after the government stated at the end of 2017 that it will establish its WOAN in South Africa. We are going ahead with the establishment of the WOAN. Theres is no intention to establish a government-owned WOAN. The WOAN will be a private sector-led initiative, it said at the time. The purpose of the WOAN was to create competition in the mobile data market, with the aim of driving data prices down in the country. This was called into question by many industry players, however, who stated that a quicker and easier way to bring down data prices was to allocate additional spectrum to established mobile network operators. The letter to the portfolio committee stated that the bill will now be subject to further deliberations between the government and industry. This will take place alongside an assessment of what is needed in terms of policy and regulations to drive the 4th industrial revolution in South Africa. Shinn said the DA welcomes the move by the minister. We welcome her emphasis on the proposed minimal role that government will play as it realises that the private sector is best able to drive telecommunications advances to the benefit of the entire nation. She said the government will focus on regulatory and policy matters, said Shinn. The withdrawal of the bill is a defeat for former department officials who played a key role in crafting the ICT Policy White paper, starting in 2013, and its subsequent conversion into the bill. The DA looks forward to a more dynamic, investor-friendly regulatory environment that promotes innovation and competition. President Cyril Ramaphosa recently stated in his 2019 SONA address that every school pupil in South Africa will have a tablet device within the next six years. Over the next six years, we will provide every school child in South Africa with digital workbooks and textbooks on a tablet device, said the president. He added that the government will start the rollout of devices at disadvantaged schools located in poor communities. While the idea may look good on the surface, giving every child a tablet is not a solution to South Africas education problems and to put it bluntly, is a dumb idea. No evidence of improvement Studies have shown that giving learners tablets and e-readers does not benefit them in terms of improved learning, and the roll out of devices to pupils is not a cost-efficient solution. As documented by education expert Nic Spaull, evidence shows that ensuring all high-schools have functional computer labs as opposed to each child having a smart device is a much more efficient solution. The area of one-device-per-child has been studied extensively in various developing countries and has consistently shown that providing technology to individual learners is not the most cost-effective method of improving learning outcomes, stated a report by Spaull. In fact, in every country where it has been implemented, it was deemed a failure. Crime The problem of crime is another issue, particularly in South Africa, which affects the rollout of tablets to schools. In a perfect world, we would be able to dismiss the threat of criminals and implement education plans without the fear of them being torn apart by thugs but we do not live in a perfect world. The threat of IT equipment and hundreds of tablets at a school being stolen is high, particularly at schools in areas with high crime rates. This was the case in January when the new Menzi Primary School equipped with digital boards and tablets was robbed within a week of opening. 185 tablets were stolen, along with 8 laptops, 2 projectors, 3 desktop PCs, a TV, and R500 cash. This was not the first time a smart school in South Africa has been targeted by criminals. In 2015, it was reported that the Gauteng Department of Education was withdrawing 88,000 tablets from seven township schools due to a rise in the number of burglaries. The money and time put into rolling out tablets to schools, only for them to be stolen days later, can be better spent in ensuring learners have a safe environment to study in. There are bigger problems Tablets in schools may eventually become the norm across South Africa, but before this happens there are many issues which must be addressed first. According to News24, at the time Ramaphosa announced his tablet rollout plan, 4,000 schools across the country still used pit toilets. Giving a school smart devices before it receives safe and hygienic ablution facilities has been called a poor prioritisation of funds, along with money not first being allocated to desks, chairs, text books, and fans or air conditioning for well-built classrooms in all government schools. Another burning issue is the state of teaching in South Africa, a matter which hurts the development of pupils. Providing a tablet to a learner and teacher will not wipe away a teachers inability to do basic maths or teach language comprehension, nor will it help a child who does not know how to read or write several years into their school career. In 2018, it was reported that South African teachers cannot pass basic maths and English tests. The majority of teachers who took part in a sample survey on the national school curriculum were unable to identify the main idea in a paragraph, or do a simple maths calculation. The following findings were observed: 5 of 22 primary school teachers were able to identify the main idea in a simple paragraph. 6 of 22 were able to do a simple calculation in maths. Teachers scored as low as 10% for English first additional language and 5% for maths. An allocation of resources to better train and evaluate teachers on a continual basis would therefore be more beneficial for students. The hardware factor Then theres the hardware factors and the requirements which come with deploying tablets. Tablets intended for schools are not going to be iPad Pros, they will be budget or mid-level devices which are aimed at the education sector. Besides not having the most responsive touchscreen or powerful processors, budget devices present a host of challenges. Battery life will be a concern, as after a year or two of being used every day, they are likely to require a battery replacement. Will battery replacements be available, and will there be budget for this? If there is no intention to replace batteries, then every desk in every classroom must have a plug point present so the tablets can be charged when needed. Smart devices will also break or fail, and replacement tablets must be available at short notice. Failing this, replacement parts and repairs will have to be provisioned for. Software is another concern. Do the tablets come with a service agreement that they will receive operating system and security updates for their lifespan? Even big smartphone brands which run Android battle to keep their devices up to date with the latest software following their launch. The issue became so bad that Google launched the Android One programme in response promising users at least two years of OS updates for their device. With the challenges South Africas education sector faces, prioritising tablets for students is the government trying to fix issues at the wrong end of the chain. You dont give a shaky building a new penthouse in order to stabilise it, you first make sure its foundations are solid. Now read: Beware making these common IT security blunders READ: Palace dares Joma: Lets talk peace READ: Military all geared up vs NPA attacks South African households and businesses are once again suffering due to load-shedding, with Eskom unable to generate enough capacity to keep the lights on. Apart from the inconvenience to South Africans, energy expert Chris Yelland said load-shedding costs the country around R2 billion per day. With an already struggling economy the country cannot afford problems with its electricity supply, which is the backbone of any modern society. President Cyril Ramaphosa described Eskoms problems and the return to load-shedding as quite a shock and most worrying, most disturbing. The troubles at Eskom should, however, not surprise anyone considering the corruption, lack of skills, incompetence, and vandalism which have gutted the once great company. How Eskom was broken South Africa has a history of being one of the world leaders in electricity adoption and production, and by the end of 1990 it was supplying more than half the electricity in Africa. Eskom also became a highly efficient electricity producer and in its 1994 annual report it promoted the fact that it was the worlds lowest-cost producer of electricity. However, this once stable, efficient and well-run power producer was broken by years of mismanagement and corruption, especially under the Jacob Zuma presidency. With a debt burden which already exceeds R400 billion, the company is technically bankrupt and is seen as the single biggest risk to South Africas economy. Eskom CFO Calib Cassim confirmed that Eskom is the biggest ever financial calamity faced by the government. The damage done to Eskom In 2008, Eskom was still functioning fairly well, with low electricity costs and a manageable and competent workforce. This, however, changed quickly under Zuma and Eskom became as Ramaphosa described state-owned enterprises a sewer of corruption. In recent years Eskom became known for gross mismanagement, which energy expert Ted Blom said has cost South Africa R1.4 trillion. Blom said the ANC government employed people who do not know what is going on, and that the ANC is not prepared to look outside of the party for people with the required skills to run Eskom. Although Ramaphosa has been trying to fix the broken state-owned enterprise, he has employed people without any experience in the energy field. Eskom Chairman Jabu Mabuza and Eskom CEO Phakamani Hadebe are newcomers to electricity production and therefore lack the depth and experience to run such a complex organisation. The graphic below provides a comparison of the leaders of two large international energy producers against Eskoms CEO. The difference in experience in the energy and power production fields are obvious, and it should not be a surprise that Eskom is struggling. Big increase in cost without any improvement Apart from the lack of skills, Blom said the average employee at Eskom gets four-times more than what they should be earning. Although Eskoms employee bill nearly tripled over the last decade, the company is now selling less electricity than what it did in 2008. The image below provides an overview of how Eskom has fallen over the past 10 years. MyBroadbands latest Mobile Network Quality Report showed that MTN has the best network in South Africa, but this did not stop Vodacom from claiming to have the best network in SA. Vodacoms marketing material contains a wide range of network claims, including SAs Best Network and SAs fastest 4G network. For many years Vodacom relied on network performance measurements from MyBroadband and Ookla for its best network claims. On many occasions Vodacom also defended its best network claims using speed test results from MyBroadband and Ookla. This changed, however, after both MyBroadband and Ooklas results showed that MTN has the best network in South Africa. Vodacom was not about to stop saying it has the best network, though, and started to use survey results from the South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi) for its claim. Instead of real-world network tests, the SAcsi results are based on quality perceptions of technology components, products, services, and operations of the mobile networks. New best network definition from Vodacom Vodacom has now changed its best network definition to ensure its lagging network performance does not affect it. The company told MyBroadband that its latest best network claims are based on a combination of factors including speed scores, coverage, customer satisfaction, and brand recognition. Vodacom said it holds a clear lead over competitors in customer satisfaction, coverage, and brand recognition. The company said its claims to have the Best 4G network are also based on these factors. It is not clear whether Vodacoms claim to have SAs fastest 4G network is also based on factors like customer satisfaction and brand recognition. Best network claim and speed In response to questions about the company changing its best network metrics, Vodacom said the best network claim cannot simply be limited to a single factor such as speed. This is strange, considering Vodacom used speed and speed alone for many years to claim to have the best network. On multiple occasions Vodacom used speed test data from MyBroadband and Ookla in Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) complaints to show that it has the best network. Vodacom told MyBroadband that it now focuses on the total customer experience great performance, widest range, choice and above all, service excellence. As indicated above, Vodacom relies upon various different industry sources to assess its fulfilment of these criteria, the company said. Vodacom Best Network marketing material The images below show Vodacoms latest marketing campaigns regarding its network. Now read: MTN has the best mobile network in South Africa Important stuff you won't get from the liberal media! We do the surfing so you can be informed AND have a life! That process can limit participation because people must attend and be willing to stand up in front of their peers. After the 2016 elections, the national party instructed caucus states to create a format that allows people to participate without having to make the time commitment to be in the room on caucus night. The Iowa proposal would allow people to participate in one of six virtual caucuses, available online over a span of six days. Virtual caucus participants would rank up to five choices for president, and the combined total of the six virtual caucuses would account for roughly 10 percent of the states delegate equivalents. We are going to be able to give more Iowans a chance to participate in this process, Price said. This process will now give these individuals a voice in selecting the next president of the United States. Iowa Democrats walked a fine line between adding more participants and turning the process into a primary election, which would encroach on New Hampshires first-in-the-nation primary status and potentially threaten Iowas position atop the presidential nominating schedule. Price said Iowa Democrats worked with New Hampshire and other early state Democrats, and New Hampshires state party leader gave his blessing to the Iowa proposal. "My wish for DHS and state legislature was to leave us alone for a couple years and let us do good things," she said. "And let us get our feet on the ground and moving forward with some good services, and see what our rates are in terms of hospitalization and commitment and in the jail and homeless shelter. Elam said between $40-45 per person would be "sufficient to do the services we need in our region as long as they don't make any other changes legislatively." With the current tax levy, the region is depleting the fund balance but not replenishing it. If all counties in the region levy at $30.78, "we can only generate $9.2 million," she said, "but yet with all the core services the crisis services we end up with a budget at about $13-14 million." Supervisor Jeff Sorensen suggested the board rally other counties to put pressure on legislative groups to allow the counties to make changes based on regional need, as was the intent of the regionalization. "Because enough is enough," he said of the state. "It's just ridiculous. They continue to do the same stuff. They got us into the problem in the first place, mandating services we have no funding streams for and they won't let us fix our own problems and we're not even asking them for state dollars. These are local tax dollars we're talking about. Just take the shackles off us and let us do our jobs." Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 MUSCATINE A house fire in Muscatine just ahead of noon left no one injured Monday. An ambulance remained at the scene, 20 minutes after the fire, with no apparent activity as the fire department went about wrapping up its work at the single-family rental property at 1919 Demorest Ave. Upon arrival, crews found fire coming from a second story window, according to the fire department's news release. Crews knocked down the main body of the fire in that room in a matter of minutes and then continued to overhaul the rest of the residence to ensure the fire was completely out, the fire department said. There was damage throughout about half of the second floor and heavy smoke damage throughout the rest of that floor. The first floor had smoke and water damage. The scene investigation is finished, but there is no information available as to cause at this point in time. Direct fire and smoke loss estimate is approximately $25,000, with about $15,000 to the structure and $10,000 to the contents. The American Red Cross was called to assist the three residents. A nearby neighbor said a family lived in the home, and it was the second fire in the two-block area since Christmas. At some point, all of us are going to find ourselves in a situation in which we need leave, said Executive Director Kelly Rosenleaf of Child Care Resources in Missoula, who told the committee about her experience taking paid leave to care for her mother after a fall. For (a) medical reason, for ourselves or for somebody we love in our family. Rep. Laurie Bishop, D-Livingston, spoke of the bills benefits to Montanas working women in a Monday press conference surrounded by House Democrats. Paid leave insurance would give working women a path to return to their jobs. It would empower women to increase their personal lifetime earnings and would also provide a significant boost to our states economy, said Bishop, who talked about the difficulty of foregoing income as she took care of her father-in-law in his final years. Opposition in Mondays hearing came from the Montana and Helena Area chambers of commerce, who said the bills costs would overwhelm Montana employers over time. Despite the well intentions of this bill and despite the compelling testimony that you all heard, the chamber believes that this bill is hugely problematic, said Cary Hegreberg, president and CEO of the Montana Chamber of Commerce. Sexual assault at Walmart Police arrested a 52-year-old Butte man on Monday for groping a woman from behind in Walmart earlier this month. According to police, they were called to the Butte Probation and Parole office Monday morning to arrest Jimie Mayes, who had two misdemeanor warrants for theft and one for sexual assault. Police said Mayes was in Walmart on Feb. 1 around 10:30 p.m., when he got behind a woman shopping, pressed his body against hers and wrapped his arms around her, walking with her around the store this way for some time. Police said Mayes also attempted to grab other women in the store and stole both beer and headphones. After going through security footage and obtaining the license plate number of the truck Mayes was driving, police were able to identify him and issue the three misdemeanor warrants for his arrest. Mayes has been a registered violent offender in Montana since 2013. Partner/family member assault A 38-year-old man was arrested Monday on a pair of warrants, one for partner or family member assault and another for criminal contempt. While this major challenge is for Montana businesses, individuals are also being sought to help support the festival through contributions mailed to Montana Folk Festival, P.O. Box 696, Butte, MT 59703 or through the festivals gofundme.com page at www.gofundme.com/2019MFF. Uptown Toasters announce winners Competition winners for the Uptown Toasters, Toastmaster Club # 9765 include Debbie Sorensen, best speaker; Rob McDowell, best evaluator; and Ed Stefanescu and Peggy McCoy, best table topics respondents. The next meeting is at noon Tuesday, Feb. 19, at the Butte Archives, 17 W. Quartz St. The public is welcome to attend. Details: 406-782-3280. Scholarships available to PCHS students DEER LODGE The Deer Lodge Education Association is offering scholarships to college students who are majoring in education. To be eligible, the students must be graduating this spring from Powell County High School, or an alumnus of PCHS, and be pursuing an education degree. The Department of Justice has indicted in court thein a Metro Rail Transit 3 station last Saturday The DOJ, through investigating Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Leynard Dumlao, found probable cause to holdfollowing the inquest proceedings on charges filed by Police Officer 1 William Cristobal last Sunday. Respondents act is an abrasive affront against an officer in uniform representing a national institution, read the inquest resolution approved by City Prosecutor Bernabe Augustus Solis. The prosecutor stressed that the respondents act of throwing taho to the policeman was serious in character as to indicate respondents determination to defy the law and its representative at all hazards, calling it deliberate and serious defiance. It is offensive both by legal and moral norm considering that there was no provocation on the part of the police officer, the resolution stated. READ: Chinese stude defies 'liquid ban', gets arrested But the prosecutors office dismissed the complaint for disobedience because it is considered necessary consequence of the assault as well as the unjust vexation, which was deemed absorbed in a direct assault. If found guilty by the court of direct assault, the Chinese fashion student could be imprisoned for a period of at least four years and two months and told to pay a fine of P1,000 under Article 148 of the Revised Penal Code.Records showed that Zhang was entering the MRT Boni Station in Mandaluyong at around 8:30 a.m. last Saturday when she was. The policeman told the fashion student to consume the dessert first before she could enter the MRT platform because of the strict implementation of no-liquid policy in the mass transit system. The MRT management has been implementing the no-liquid policy inside the station and train premises as part of the security measures following the twin bombing at the Jolo Cathedral, which was perpetrated by two suicide bombers. During commotion between Zhang and the security personnel, Cristobal intervened and explained to the foreigner the reason for the ban on drinks inside the MRT. But Zhang threw the cup of taho at the policeman who got splashed on his uniform. The incident that was even caught on video, which went viral on social media, resulted in the arrest of the Chinese woman. READ: BI cancels visa of taho-throwing Chinese Luckily for Paffhausen, he happened to be in a room full of first responders on that day in October. After he collapsed, Skuletich and McGree immediately rushed to his aid and began administering chest compressions as Krissy Ueland Graham, a nurse who also grew up in Butte, gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The three were assisted by a number of medical professionals who also happened to be friends and family members. During the event, Skuletich helped coordinate with local paramedics, who had to shock Paffhausen around five times with a defibrillator to get his heart beating consistently again. All-in-all, Paffhausen was without a pulse for around 20 minutes. Once his heart started beating again, paramedics took him to a local hospital, where later that night he would tell his son Mike Paffhausen that he was okay by squeezing his sons hand. Mike Paffhausen recalls how swiftly the two jumped into action. He was toast on the ground, said Mike. (But) Marc came flying across the room. And if I remember right I remember him stripping his coat off, sliding across the floor on his knees and landing right at (my dads) ankles. We the people have been blessed because the Founding Fathers studied the Bible and the histories of ancient civilizations at their colleges and universities. Many of their families had experienced the horror of tyranny while living in Europe, which encouraged them to have checks and balances. However, we have been warned by Thomas Jefferson that if we are not diligent the executive branch could become too powerful. John Adams, also, warned that the people might become lazy and vote for state and national congressmen who disregard their wishes. For example, the people of North Carolina successfully opposed the issue of transgenders using the girls' restrooms and locker room showers. The people had expressed their irrefutable social science statistics at the state legislature and were supported by their senators, representatives and even the governor, until many corporations threatened to cancel North Carolina as a destination for their conferences. The politicians who succumbed to the corporations' lobbyists should not be voted back into office, in my opinion. I pray that real debates take place throughout our nation on this controversial issue and that journalists report objectively on them. Jeanette Zentgraf, Lolo You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 3 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 As a business owner for the past 18 years in Billings, I know what a good deal looks like, and continuing Medicaid expansion is not just a good deal it is a great deal. Through my service on the national board of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), I also know we are making significant progress in addressing cancer incidence and mortality in Montana. Medicaid expansion has played a large role in that achievement by helping avert nearly 2,500 cases of colon cancer and providing more than 7,500 breast cancer screenings since January 2016. In 2015, our state policymakers did the right thing for families and our communities by passing Medicaid expansion. After three years, the numbers speak for themselves 95,000 Montanans now have access to affordable health coverage and that has helped spur hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity in local economies. Medicaid expansion is also good for business. Over 18,000 businesses have at least one worker who now has access to health care through Medicaid expansion. Medicaid has created good-paying jobs around the state and has injected over a billion dollars in federal funds into our states economy, helping to keep the doors of critical access hospitals open in Montanas rural communities. Brett Bruggeman of Great Falls was on track Monday evening to give the Montana Race to the Sky sled dog race its first dentist for a champion. Bruggeman, 48, pulled into the last checkpoint at the Whitetail Ranch northeast of Ovando at around 3:30 p.m., hours ahead of four pursuers in the 300-mile race. All five mushers are required to give their teams a six-hour rest at Whitetail, 51 miles from the finish line near Lincoln. Bruggeman was projected to reach Lincoln around 4 a.m. Tuesday. At 5:45 p.m. Monday, Clayton Perry of Power was 13 miles from Whitetail and Gabe Dunham of Darby was roughly a half-mile behind him. Minnesotans Cindy Gallea and Damon Ramaker were traveling together 15 miles from the checkpoint. None of the mushers in this years 300-mile race have won before. Bruggeman and Gallea both have second-place finishes on their resumes. Both will head to Alaska after Race to the Sky for the 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race that starts March 2. If he proceeds to victory, Bruggeman will break a string of seven consecutive Races to the Sky won by women. Race officials released the results of the 100-mile race from Lincoln to Seeley Lake, which finished Sunday. PROTECTIVE DRUG. A nurse administers vaccination at the Corazon Aquino Health Center at the Baseco Compound in Tondo, Manila on Monday to protect children against the declared measles outbreak in Metro Manila last week. Norman Cruz outbreak Ever since he started his term as Floridas most powerful leader, Gov. Ron DeSantis has held true to his stance on the environment, particularly his commitment to the Everglades. The self-titled Teddy Roosevelt-style Republican sent a letter to President Donald Trump Monday, asking for $200 million to fast-track construction for Everglades restoration. The letter, co-signed by U.S. Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, asks that the president include the money in his annual budget request to fulfill long overdue federal commitments to restore the Everglades. Floridas recent struggles with harmful algal blooms have raised the stakes for accelerated progress on Everglades restoration, the letter said. Enhanced federal funding to complement years of historic state funding levels would fast-track design and construction [...] to divert and clean Lake Okeechobee releases and increase water deliveries to Everglades National Park and Florida Bay/ DeSantis, who has made the environment a top priority, made a $625 million commitment to the environment in his annual budget proposal, representing a quarter of a $2.5 billion promise he made to spend on water quality over the next four years a $1 billion increase from past spending. About half the spending a record $360 million would go to Everglades projects, speeding up a 17,000-acre Everglades reservoir in farm fields south of Lake Okeechobee and remove almost 200,000 pounds of discharged phosphorus per year a major source of nutrient pollution. The request for federal money would specifically go toward the Central Everglades Planning Project and the Everglades Agricultural Area Storage Reservoir. They would also advance construction of water storage and treatment facilities planned for the Caloosahatchee River West Basin Storage Reservoir and Indian River Lagoon-South projects, in order to reduce the frequency and intensity of algal blooms. The state budget proposal makes a commitment to the cause, providing $25 million to treat the blooms and red tide plaguing the states water supply. "Are we spending money now in a way we can look back and say 'it's a good thing they really tackled that?'" he said at a press conference announcing his budget. "With the water, people want us to tackle that and I'm serious and get it done." Example HIV genetic transmission cluster including multiple transgender women (shown as purple hexagons). Nodes are colored to denote risk factor: men who reported sex with other men are blue squares and heterosexual men are red squares. Genetically similar viruses are denoted by links between the nodes. Credit: UC San Diego Health Every county in the United States tracks HIV cases, sequencing the virus' genome to see if it is resistant to current medications and looking for trends. More recently, local health departments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have begun using those HIV genetic sequences to trace the virus' transmission history. They can do that because the virus evolves quickly, with genetic variations arising frequently. This information allows researchers and public health officials to build transmission networks, clusters of people with genetically similar HIV. Transmission networks help determine which groups might be at increased risk for transmitting HIV, but they do not reveal who contracted the infection from whom. Working with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine recently used this data to look for HIV infection trends in the region. They expected to find many transmission clusters with men who have sex with men, a group that makes up 62 percent of new HIV cases each year in the U.S., but they were surprised to find more transgender women (people assigned male at birth, but who identify as female) and heterosexual cisgender men (people who were assigned male at birth and identify as male) in these clusters than they had anticipated. The findings, published February 11, 2019 in Lancet HIV, suggest transgender women are at higher risk of being in an HIV transmission network than men who have sex with men. In addition, cisgender men in these clusters should be considered at higher risk for HIV than previously thought. "This is a pattern of HIV transmission that we didn't know about before, and the information could help us slow the spread of the virus," said senior author Joel Wertheim, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at UC San Diego School of Medicine. "For example, this type of information could help public health officials tailor their efforts within the transgender community, hopefully allowing them to diagnose people living with HIV, connect more diagnosed people with the care they need, and help people at high risk get access to preventative medications." Wertheim led the study with first author Manon Ragonnet-Cronin, Ph.D., who was a postdoctoral researcher in his group at the time of the study. Transgender women make up 27.7 percent of new HIV cases each year in Los Angeles County and, in addition, are known to have high rates of undiagnosed infections. Yet, according to the Wertheim and Ragonnet-Cronin, HIV transmission networks for transgender women have never before been studied. The researchers found that transgender women in Los Angeles County were distributed across 126 HIV transmission clusters. These women were very likely to cluster with each other (i.e., be linked to at least one other transgender woman), indicating shared risk activities, such as sex with each other or with shared partners. Transgender women were also linked to more cisgender men than expected. This approach allowed the researchers to characterize the partners of transgender women across the entire county. "This is about prioritizing limited resources," Wertheim said. "If your goal is to improve public health, especially among the underserved and high-risk populations, these results provide a guide for a better way to do that." Now Wertheim is working with the CDC and public health departments in Chicago, New York City and Houston to employ this same molecular epidemiology approach to identify local groups at highest risk for HIV, and greatest need for intervention and support. Study co-authors include: Sheldon R. Morris, UC San Diego; Yunyin W. Hu, Zhijuan Sheng and Kathleen Poortinga, Department of Public Health, Los Angeles County. Explore further Few health differences for trans, cisgender veterans More information: Lancet HIV, DOI: 10.1016/S2352-3018(18)30359-X Credit: CC0 Public Domain It used to be a statistical fact that African-American men fared worse than whites when battling prostate cancer. But recent research led by scientists at the Duke Cancer Institute has been challenging that notion. Added evidence will be presented Feb. 11 at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology showing better overall survival rates among black men with metastatic disease who are treated with abiraterone acetate or enzalutamide. What's driving this shifting paradigm appears to be a racial difference in how men respond to new therapies, suggesting a genetic basis for the success of drugs that target hormone production. "We don't really know why this is occurring, but it is definitely something that demands further research," said presenting author Megan Ann McNamara, M.D., a medical oncologist. "But in both small prospective studies, large registries and analyses of phase III clinical trial data, we are finding this trend among men treated with chemotherapy as well as newer therapies that inhibit hormones or stimulate an immune response." In the most recent study presented at the ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, McNamara and colleagues analyzed a large Veterans Health Administration database that included nearly 3,000 men. Roughly two-thirds were white and about a third were African-American. All had been treated for advanced prostate cancer with either abiraterone acetate or enzalutamide, two recent drugs that block the effects of the hormone androgen. The researchers found that median overall survival for African-American men in the study group was 30 months vs. 26 months for white men, identifying an association between race and overall survival that persisted even after adjusting for known prognostic factors, such as age and other health problems. These findings add to earlier analyses presented by Duke researchers last June at ASCO's annual scientific session. One small prospective study showed better PSA responses among African-American men taking abiraterone compared to white men. A second, large analysis of phase III trial data found a survival benefit among African-American men taking the chemotherapy drug docetaxel. Explore further Black patients show stronger response to hormone therapy for prostate cancer Lung CA seen on CXR. Credit: James Heilman, MD/Wikipedia New research led by scientists at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Toxicology Unit suggests that by analysing levels of DNA in the blood, the early detection of lung cancer could be improved. The study, published in the journal Disease Models and Mechanisms, found that in preliminary tests using mice, a blood test could measure the circulating levels of DNA in the blood which cancer cells shed as they grow and multiply, and could even predict the presence of tumours in the lungs before they became cancerous. Lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer-related death around the world, partly due to the difficulties in detecting the disease at an early stage. By the time lung cancer is diagnosed, it has often spread to other parts of the body making it much more difficult to treat, which is why improved diagnosis at an earlier stage is key to beating the disease. The scientists at the MRC Toxicology Unit, part of the University of Cambridge, alongside scientists at the University of Leicester, used mice with a mutation in a gene called KRAS to model the pre-cancerous stages of lung cancer. The researchers took regular computed tomography (CT) scans to monitor the development of small pre-cancerous lung tumours in the mice. To determine whether circulating DNA could be used to detect the tumours before they became malignant, blood samples were taken along with the CT scans at different time intervals. The team found that the mice developing cancerous lung tumours had higher levels of circulating DNA compared with healthy mice, and that the levels of DNA released by the cancerous tumours into the blood of the mice correlated with the size of the tumours seen on the CT scans. The circulating DNA was then analysed for the presence of the precise KRAS mutation that caused the tumours to develop. The researchers found that, significantly, in later stages of tumour development where tumours were still pre-cancerous, the KRAS mutation could still be detected in circulating DNA. "This observation is exciting because it suggests that tumour-causing mutations may be detectable in circulating DNA from patients with early-stage cancers or with pre-cancerous tumours", says Dr. Miguel Martins, a programme leader at the MRC Toxicology Unit and lead author of the study. Regarding the importance of follow-up studies, he believes that "Similar studies should now be conducted using mice bearing pre-cancerous lesions in other tissues. This will give us a better idea of whether circulating DNA has potential use for early cancer detection in patients." Dr. Mariana Delfino-Machin, Programme Manager for Cancer at the MRC, which funded the research, added "This is a really promising piece of early-stage research. Lung cancer is incredibly difficult to diagnose at the stage where it can be successfully treated, leading to a poor rate of survival. Developing early detection strategies to improve survival rates is key, and if this can be achieved using only a blood sample it would greatly benefit patients and the NHS. We look forward to the results of the next stages of this research." Explore further Gut stem cells offer clues for preventing tumours in inherited bowel cancer More information: 'Early detection of pre-malignant lesions in a KRASG12D-driven mouse lung cancer model by monitoring circulating-free DNA' by Martins et al, Disease Models and Mechanisms, dmm.biologists.org/content/12/2/dmm036863 Journal information: Disease Models and Mechanisms 'Early detection of pre-malignant lesions in a KRASG12D-driven mouse lung cancer model by monitoring circulating-free DNA' by Martins et al, Children take part in one of the skills sessions at Brighton Beach, Dunedin. Credit: University of Otago Despite the majority of drownings occurring in open-water, basic aquatic skills are typically taught in swimming pools. To address this disparity, a University of Otago study set out to determine the effectiveness of teaching children basic survival skills in lakes, rivers and the sea. Study lead, Professor Chris Button of the Otago's School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences, says the study was encouraging and proved the efficacy of such an initiative. "Given all the different open water environments that exist in New Zealand this research is so important here. As an island-nation, we must consider carefully how to best educate people about the different types of aquatic environments that surround us. "There seems to be a generally held assumption that learning to swim in a pool is sufficient to drown-proof children, however, we think this is misleading. "The positive message from this study is that it is possible to teach kiwi children some fundamental survival skills and core knowledge that may allow them to safely recreate in New Zealand's beautiful and abundant waterways," he says. The study, supported by Water Safety New Zealand (WSNZ), saw 120 children aged between 7 and 11 from around Dunedin undertaking a three-day water safety and survival skill programme in real-world, open-water environments including beaches, harbours and rivers. Their water safety knowledge and skills were tested in a swimming pool before, immediately after, and three months after taking part in the programme. The tasks they were assessed on included a quiz, buoyancy, submersion, obstacle course, simulated rescue and propulsion. In a report submitted to WSNZ, the researchers say less than 50 per cent of children achieved a high level of competence in the pre-test. "The study confirmed that the water safety knowledge and skills of New Zealand children was varied, but overall quite low in terms of competency skills recommended by Water Safety New Zealand," Professor Button says. However, throughout the programme, the children improved their competency in each of the six tasks and he was "genuinely surprised" by the level of skill retention demonstrated at the three-month follow-up. "Even three months after the open-water programme, children were still able to recall key water safety facts and many potentially life-saving skills like treading water, fitting a lifejacket, and swimming in their clothes. This was a very reassuring result and to our knowledge the first of its kind in the water safety literature," he says. Previous work carried out by Professor Button has shown 10 weeks of one-hour lessons taught in swimming pools was effective at improving water safety knowledge and competency, this current study indicates similar levels of improvement can be obtained from a three-day programme. Feedback received from parents and caregivers was "extremely positive" and many commented they wished a similar program was available on a regular basis, he says. WSNZ supports the initiative as it recognises the potential value for its national Water Skills for Life programme. CEO Jonty Mills says it illustrates the "untapped potential" of teaching children water safety skills in a natural environment. "We would like to see Water Skills for Life taught in every New Zealand primary school and being able to maximise the use of natural resources could help with access to aquatic education. "The results around the retention of taught knowledge indicates there may be additional benefits to teaching in these environments, as well as being enjoyable and fun, which is what Water Skills for Life is all about. "Aquatic education needs to prepare our children for life in New Zealand. Any opportunity to give them experience in open water in a safe and controlled way is a massive positive for any child's development," he says. Subject to funding, Professor Button says a follow-up study will be conducted next summer to understand how people transfer skills learnt in one environment, into another. They are also working with Maori researchers at Otago's School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences to see if a similar program based upon traditional Maori practices and rituals around water is effective. Explore further Dramatic results show how to prevent drowning deaths (HealthDay)Among men, low cardiorespiratory fitness and obesity in adolescence are associated with an increased risk for later receipt of a disability pension, according to a study published online Feb. 12 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Pontus Henriksson, Ph.D., from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and colleagues conducted a population-based cohort study involving 1,079,128 male Swedish adolescents aged 16 to 19 years who were conscripted into the military between 1972 and 1994. Cardiorespiratory fitness and body mass index (BMI) were measured at conscription. Overall, 54,304 men were granted a disability pension during a median follow-up of 28.3 years. The researchers found a strong correlation for low cardiorespiratory fitness with later receipt of a disability pension due to all causes (hazard ratio, 3.74 for lowest versus highest fitness decile) and for specific causes (psychiatric, musculoskeletal injuries, nervous system, circulatory, and tumors). Greater risk for receipt of a disability pension due to all and specific causes was seen in association with obesity, with the greatest risks for class II and III obesity. Across BMI categories, being moderately or highly fit was associated with a reduced risk for receipt of a disability pension compared with being unfit. "Although additional well-designed studies are required to provide further evidence, these findings emphasize the importance of high cardiorespiratory fitness and healthy body weight during adolescence," the authors write. Copyright 2019 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Physical coordination is more beneficial in larger groups. Credit: Pexels Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Imperial College London and the University of Tokyo have demonstrated that physical coordination is more beneficial in larger groups. The researchers used robotic interfaces to test coordination in groups of two, three and four partners, and found that performance was improving with every additional group member. The researchers believe the findings can clarify how a group of people can work together, for example to move and maneuver a large table together. This may also lead to improving the outcomes of physical rehabilitation by training patients in groups. Scientists from Imperial College London, CNRS in France and ATR in Japan previously revealed the haptic communication in pairs in a task similar to partner dancing, and showed how performance at a physical task is improved and learned better when practicing with a partner. The new study, published today in eLife, extends this finding to trios and quartets by clarifying haptic communication in groups critical to society. Dr. Atsushi Takagi, lead author of the study who resides at the Institute of Innovative Research at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), said: "We were shocked by how well and fast partners learned to coordinate as a group through touch. Imagine trying to move a banquet table at a crowded wedding venue. With verbal communication, it's immensely challenging to coordinate with others to ensure the table doesn't bump against something, and the more people there are, the longer it takes to reach verbal consensus. With touch, coordination emerges in a matter of seconds, and the time taken to reach consensus is the same, irrespective of group size." Professor Etienne Burdet of Imperial College, the senior author of this study, added: "We expected that the performance would deteriorate with the noisy force of each additional group member. However the performance improved with each group member, as each individual connects to a virtual collective hand which is the average of all partners' hands, so that the noise decreases with the number of partners". The researchers found that the key to physical coordination was the ability to infer the group's goal through touch. The same coordination mechanism was used in a previous study by Takagi and colleagues to design a "human-like" robot partner that coordinated with a human partner. In the new study, the researchers conducted computer simulations of the task to test what information was shared within the group through touch. Takagi believes that a deeper understanding of the coordination mechanism will yield an algorithm for a group of robots to carry out physical tasks together. The research was carried out in partnership with Imperial College London in the UK, and the University of Tokyo in Japan. Explore further Stiffness of connection influences exchange of physical cues during coordinated movements More information: Atsushi Takagi et al, Individuals physically interacting in a group rapidly coordinate their movement by estimating the collective goal, eLife (2019). Journal information: eLife Atsushi Takagi et al, Individuals physically interacting in a group rapidly coordinate their movement by estimating the collective goal,(2019). DOI: 10.7554/eLife.41328 Credit: CC0 Public Domain Rare mutations in the NTHL1 gene, previously associated with colorectal cancer, also cause breast cancer and other types of cancer. Researchers from Radboud university medical center, Leiden University Medical Center and the Princess Maxima Center in the Netherlands report this new multi-tumor syndrome, in collaboration with international colleagues, in Cancer Cell. Nicoline Hoogerbrugge, professor of Hereditary Cancer at Radboud university medical center: "We presumed to know all multi-tumor syndromes, but we have taken yet another step in identifying cancer genes." Previously, Hoogerbrugge and colleagues showed that mutations in the NTHL1 gene lead to intestinal polyps that may develop into colorectal cancer. However, they observed that patients with mutations in this gene often have other types of cancer as well. In their publication, the researchers describe 17 families in which members of a single generation had mutations in the NTHL1 gene. Half of these patients developed various types of cancer during their lives, with breast cancer being particularly common. Mutations in the NTHL1 gene are very rare. A mutation in the NTHL1 gene only leads to cancer when the mutation is inherited from both parents. The researchers estimate that this is the case in about 1 in 115,000 people. The syndrome is difficult to detect because it only leads to cancer in a single generation of a family. Hoogerbrugge: "Currently, we already test patients with many intestinal polyps for mutations in the NTHL1 gene, but now we know that we should do this for more patients. Over the long term we want to screen for mutations in the NTHL1 gene in patients diagnosed with multiple cancers, as well as in patients that have brothers or sisters with multiple cancers." Improved characterization of patients with mutations in the NTHL1 gene may lead to better assessment of their lifetime risk to develop certain types of cancer. "It is important for patients to be aware of their risk for breast cancer and also for me as a physician, so I can make recommendations," says Maartje Nielsen, clinical geneticist at the Leiden University Medical Center. She recommends that patients with mutations in the NTHL1 gene should be screened for various types of cancer, including colorectal cancer and breast cancer. Mutation pattern The researchers used a new method to determine that NTHL1 mutations also cause breast cancer and other types of cancer. This method is based on the fact that mutations in the NTHL1 gene cause a specific pattern of mutations in the DNA of the tumor. Because this pattern only occurs in tumors of patients with an NTHL1 mutation, and not in tumors from other patients, the researchers were able to link this pattern to the disrupted NTHL1 gene. In the future, this method can be used to detect new genetic causes of cancer. Roland Kuiper, molecular geneticist at the Princess Maxima Center: "More than 30 such mutation patterns are already described, which are not only specific for NTHL1 defects. If all the tumors in a patient with multiple types of cancer have the same mutation pattern, this is a strong indication that there is a genetic cause. This means that all these tumors developed in the same way." Richarda de Voer, molecular biologist at Radboud university medical center, adds: "It has become increasingly difficult to find new cancer genes. By searching for mutation patterns in patients, we are able to take the next step in determining the genetic cause in more cancer patients." NTHL1 NTHL1 is involved in DNA repair. It recognizes a specific form of DNA damage. If a mutation occurs in the NTHL1 gene, there is no NTHL1 protein. Consequently, this specific form of DNA damage is not recognized and not repaired, leading to an accumulation of mutations, which causes cancer. Due to mutations in the NTHL1 gene, errors in the DNA where a 'C' is replaced by a 'T', are not corrected. These errors occur at specific locations in the DNA, resulting in a recognizable mutation pattern. Explore further New technologies combined to identify specific DNA defect underlying a type of cancer More information: Judith E. Grolleman et al, Mutational Signature Analysis Reveals NTHL1 Deficiency to Cause a Multi-tumor Phenotype, Cancer Cell (2019). Journal information: Cancer Cell Judith E. Grolleman et al, Mutational Signature Analysis Reveals NTHL1 Deficiency to Cause a Multi-tumor Phenotype,(2019). DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2018.12.011 Provided by Radboud University Medical Center (HealthDay)Millions of Americans with heart disease say they face financial strain because of their medical care, with some skipping meds or cutting back on basics like groceries. That's the finding of a new national study of heart disease and stroke patients younger than 65a group that's too young for Medicare but often lack health insurance, or "good" insurance. The researchers found that 45 percent of those patients said they'd had problems paying their medical bills in the past year. That translates to nearly 4 million Americans. For many, the study found, the issues ran deep: More than one-third of people with payment problems said they'd skipped needed drugs, cut back on groceries or were in general "financial distress." "In order to meet obligations toward out-of-pocket costs, heart disease patients are delaying or avoiding paying for medications and elementary daily needslike putting food on the table," said senior researcher Dr. Khurram Nasir, of the Yale School of Medicine. Others said the findings were striking and important, though not surprising. Dr. Alison Bailey, a cardiologist in Tennessee, said she routinely sees patients who are struggling financially. So she spends a lot of time helping them figure out the most affordable medication options. This sometimes means choosing which drugs are most needed at the moment, and leaving others out. "We're lucky in cardiology that there are many generics available," said Bailey, who chairs the American College of Cardiology's cardiovascular management council. "But for some drugs, there is no cheaper alternative." And for some people, there is no way to pay out-of-pocket. "I've given patients money for the bus ride home," Bailey noted. Caitlin Donovan is a spokesperson for the Patient Advocate Foundation, a nonprofit that offers financial assistance and other services to people with serious chronic diseases. "In our experience, people's financial problems often go back to having a bad insurance plan," Donovan said. She was referring to plans with skimpy coverage, high deductibles, hefty co-payments or all of the above. Donovan said the new findings are particularly concerning, given how common heart disease is. "Forty-five percent is a huge number," she said. "I wish I could say it's surprising, but it's not." The findings were published online Feb. 11 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. They're based on data from an ongoing federal health survey. The study included 6,160 Americans aged 18 to 64 with heart disease or a history of stroke. They were surveyed between 2013 and 2017. In all, 45 percent said they'd faced money problems due to medical bills in the past year, while almost 20 percent couldn't pay those bills at all. That translates to 3.9 million and 1.6 million Americans, respectively, according to Nasir. Not surprisingly, low-income and uninsured families were more likely to face financial hardships. Still, more than 70 percent of those reporting problems had insurance, Nasir said. The data cannot show whether the situation became any better under "Obamacare," versus years past. But, Nasir said, in an earlier study his team found signs that the proportion of expenses paid out-of-pocket has decreased among heart disease patients, particularly poorer ones. According to Nasir, cardiologists need to be more proactive on the issue. That includes asking patients about any financial problems and finding less costly care alternatives. But, he said, it also means pushing for health care policy changeslike capping out-of-pocket costs for poor Americans or establishing "price transparency" for health care services. For now, Bailey said that if medication costs are the major issue, patients can ask their doctor if there is a generic or less expensive alternative. Affordable medication is not the only problem, of course. If patients can't afford healthy foodor are stressed over hospital bills or the rentthat makes it tough to follow a heart-healthy lifestyle, Bailey pointed out. Donovan said her foundation has some services for such patients. These include small grants and "case management," which helps people find financial aid for medication, transportation or rent. But while people can turn to their doctor or charitable programs for help, Donovan said the central problem remains: "Health care pricing in this country is unpredictable and, frankly, unreasonable." Explore further Medical bills financially burden almost half of cardiovascular disease patients Copyright 2019 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Communication professor Cabral Bigman specializes in communication about risk and inequality related to health concerns. Her research on speaking up about lighting up, per the title of one paper, looks at the willingness of people to be assertive with smokers or vapers in public venues. Credit: Fred Zwicky E-cigarettes get teenagers hooked on nicotine. Or they aid cigarette smokers seeking to quit. Or they may be harmful in other ways. Those competing messages make the devices a tricky subject for health communicators, says Cabral Bigman, a professor of communication at Illinois whose research focuses on health communication issues around vaping. She spoke with News Bureau social sciences editor Craig Chamberlain. What does the research say regarding public attitudes or beliefs around e-cigarettes? And how do those jibe with what we know? Some people see the risks from vaping as similar to, or even greater than, smoking. However, it is more common for people to think that vaping or exposure to secondhand vapor is less harmful. Current research suggests that vaping is less harmful overall than smoking. But less harmful doesn't necessarily mean no harm. The truth is that there isn't yet a good sense of the long-term effects of vaping or exposure to secondhand vapor or aerosol. The science is still evolving. Some experts see e-cigarettes as a promising harm-reduction strategy for smokers. There is emerging evidence that under certain circumstances e-cigarettes may help with quitting smoking. One example is a U.K. study published in January in The New England Journal of Medicine, which found that counseling combined with the use of e-cigarettes was more effective than other nicotine-replacement methods combined with counseling. However, it is worth noting that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not specifically approved e-cigarettes for quitting smoking; there are alternative nicotine-replacement strategies that have a more established track record. In the U.K. study, most of the people who quit smoking with e-cigarettes were still vaping when researchers followed up with them a year later. That wasn't the case for the other methods. So there may be risks and benefits to using e-cigarettes for this purpose. A separate concern is that young people who aren't smokers are trying out vaping and putting themselves at increased risk from nicotine and potentially harmful chemicals. One of the most popular e-cigarette products right now contains a lot more nicotine per pod than a regular cigarette and therefore poses a risk of addiction, but people don't always realize that. Overall, e-cigarettes are relatively untested products that have substantial variability in the kinds of chemicals they contain and how they work. At this point, there isn't a clear picture of what the long-term health impacts will be, including those from specific kinds of e-cigarette technologies and flavors. Some of your studies in this area have looked at the willingness of individuals to speak up about others' cigarette smoking versus e-cigarette vaping in public venues. What have you found? Based on our survey of U.S. adults, my colleagues and I found that Americans are more willing to speak up and object to other people smoking than to other people vaping in public places such as restaurants, bars and parks. For example, about 50 percent of the participants in our survey said they would ask someone not to smoke in a restaurant if they couldn't move away from the smoke, but only about 16 percent said the same about vaping. Those findings make sense since, as I mentioned, Americans tend to see vaping as less risky than smoking. We found that people who saw vaping as harmful to their health were generally more supportive of regulations to restrict it in public venues and to say they would speak up about it. Why is this research important? We are at a point right now where policymakers are putting a variety of tobacco-related policies into place across the U.S. Some policies, like the smoke-free policy on the Illinois campus, include vaping restrictions. This research helps us understand public opinion about vaping. It also suggests that we shouldn't necessarily expect that individuals will speak up or enforce these smoke-free policies on their own, which could make those policies less effective. Based on what we know and don't know about the health risks of e-cigarettes, what are the marketing messages that most concern you? I'm most concerned about messages that appeal intentionally or unintentionally to children and adolescents, especially when those messages are misleading. The number of teens reporting e-cigarette use increased substantially in the last year. The U.S. surgeon general recently called use of e-cigarettes among youth an epidemic. As for countering this trend, it is encouraging to see policymakers starting to take action, particularly because there is evidence of public support for policies that help curb access to, and the appeal of, e-cigarettes among children and teens. Given the communication challenges in this area, it is important to have the facts especially in an era when unreliable health information can proliferate on the internet and on social media. I would encourage people to seek out credible sources like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to learn more about e-cigarettes, the risks of vaping for kids and young adults, and strategies for quitting smoking. Explore further Misperceptions about vaping common among UK smokers More information: Richard Miech et al. Adolescent Vaping and Nicotine Use in 20172018U.S. National Estimates, New England Journal of Medicine (2018). Journal information: New England Journal of Medicine Richard Miech et al. Adolescent Vaping and Nicotine Use in 20172018U.S. National Estimates,(2018). DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc1814130 READ: Comelec trims senatorial bets, party-list groups in 19 polls Pro-administration and opposition alliances are gearing up for the start of the campaign season Tuesday, with kick-off events in different cities. READ: Senate bets down to 82Comelec The senatorial candidates of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpios Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) will launch their campaign in the cities of San Fernando and Clark in Pampanga, while the opposition Otso Derecho alliance will hold its campaign kick-off event in Caloocan City. The senatorial slate of President Rodrigo Dutertes political party, PDP-Laban, will also join the HNP campaign kick-off event in Pampanga. The HNPs 13 senatorial candidates in the May elections are Senators Cynthia Villar, Aquilino Pimentel III, JV Ejercito, and Juan Edgardo Angara; former senators Jinggoy Estrada, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Pia Cayetano; Maguindanao Rep. Zajid Mangudadatu, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, former national police chief Ronald dela Rosa, former special assistant to the president Christopher Go, former presidential legal adviser Francis Tolentino and former journalist Jiggy Manicad. Mangudadatu, Dela Rosa, Go, Pimentel and Tolentino are also running under the ruling party, PDP-Laban, which will hold its own kick-off event in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan on Feb. 14. Otso Diretso senatorial candidates will focus on easing the life of the Filipino family, Senator Francis Pangilinan said Monday, on the eve of the start of the 90-day national campaign period for senators and party-list representatives. The Otso Diretso senatorial candidates Gary Alejano, Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, Chel Diokno, Samira Gutoc, Pilo Hilbay, Romy Macalintal, former senator Manuel Roxas II, and Erin Tanada based their legislative agenda on the peoples hopes and fears that they gathered in a nationwide face-to-face listening program that ran for 10 weeks last year. The candidates and 9,800 volunteers knocked on doors and talked to ordinary people all over the country, said Pangilinan, Otso Diretso campaign manager. He added that voting for the right people will result in the real change that the Filipino people need: affordable, available, and accessible food, education, and health services, as well as decent jobs. Our campaign would be uphill as most of them are relatively unknown in the national stage, Pangilinan said. Pangilinan, who himself ran a difficult independent but successful run in 2007, said the people would be key in the victory for the Otso Diretso candidates through Makinig 2.0, a face-to-face, volunteer-driven persuasion campaign. Makinig 2.0 is our version of People Power, empowering ordinary citizens so that they are able to make the right choice for senators and empowering them to campaign for these choices, said Pangilinan, who is not running for re-election. This campaign strategy of going house-to-house is a game-changer. It has not been done on a national scale, he added. The Palace said President Duterte will actively campaign for his preferred senatorial candidates. Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo made this remark as he defended Dutertes decision to back the senatorial bid of former senator Jinggoy Estrada and Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos.The President, as he said, will endorse certain candidates of his choice, so presumably he will be actively campaigning [for them] since he is not prohibited by the law to do so, Panelo said in a Palace press briefing. Panelo played down concerns about Duterte endorsing candidates from three separate slates, saying that such a move would not harm the candidates. Asked what specific qualifications the President considers in endorsing candidates for the May 2019 elections, Panelo said: Honesty and hardworking. He added that Estrada, who still faces plunder charges, is considered innocent unless he is convicted. Former senator Estrada is charged with corruption. And the Constitution says, unless you are convicted by final judgment, you are presumed to be innocent. So, the presumption is Estrada is innocent, he said. Panelo added that the President was giving back the support he received from the Ilocos Norte governor in the 2016 presidential elections. He is helping Imee because he is indebted to her. Shes one of two governors, who helped him in the 2016 campaign. I think his reason is really his debt of gratitude, he said. In the first place, Imee is not charged with corruption. She has not been charged with any crime, he added. In his previous public engagements, Duterte revealed that he will support the Senate bid of Marcos, re-electionist senators Villar and Angara, and Taguig City Rep. Pia Cayetano. On top of that, he frequently mentions the Senate bid of his former top aide Go, Tolentino, and Dela Rosa. The Philippine National Police (PNP), meanwhile, is set to add more election hot spots given the intense political rivalry in these areas. In a briefing, PNP chief Oscar Albayalde said they will expand their list of critical election areas outside of the 19 cities and municipalities it had earlier declared as hot spots. READ: Roque withdraws Senate bid This paper studies external sovereign bonds as an asset class. We compile a new database of 220,000 monthly prices of foreign-currency government bonds traded in London and New York between 1815 (the Battle of Waterloo) and 2016, covering 91 countries. Our main insight is that, as in equity markets, the returns on external sovereign bonds have been sufficiently high to compensate for risk. Real ex-post returns averaged 7% annually across two centuries, including default episodes, major wars, and global crises. This represents an excess return of around 4% above US or UK government bonds, which is comparable to stocks and outperforms corporate bonds. The observed returns are hard to reconcile with canonical theoretical models and with the degree of credit risk in this market, as measured by historical default and recovery rates. Based on our archive of more than 300 sovereign debt restructurings since 1815, we show that full repudiation is rare; the median haircut is below 50%. I read with interest the headline article in the Feb. 8 Times-News about the number of hotel rooms available in Twin Falls and the comments from individuals involved in the industry. I am the "people" that brought the issue up to the Planning and Zoning Committee. Our numbers are close. My Twin Falls total is 1,255. When the hotels in Jerome by the freeway are included, it is 1,398. With the opening of the former Shiloh Inn, the total will be 1,526. I am concerned that in the articles discussion about these numbers, the public was only presented with comments from those in the industry; which, for the most part and with some qualifications, supported the need for additional hotels. These were just opinions. There was no needs assessment or study done to support these views. There was also no mention of any of the opposing arguments presented at the committee meeting including, geological concerns, traffic, setting a precedent for additional commercial development along the canyon rim, competing with the need to bring business and commerce downtown, catering to the desires of the hotel industry and their transient client population versus those of the Twin Falls community, other potential locations, bringing in the third hotel under the Hilton umbrella; and, of utmost importance, non-compliance with the City of Twin Falls Comprehensive Plan. She had the hands of a homemaker. Dirt is a healing thing, Donna would say as she tended to the roses inherited by her mother-in-law and painstakingly transplanted to their new home built overlooking Thousand Springs. Wild Rose Ranch was a treasured destination of the family for many years, and there Jack and Donna returned to their families homesteading roots with chickens, cows, a schnauzer or two, and John Deere Gators for cruising around the property to tend things. From tough times feeding a family of eight to later hosting Christmas gatherings for forty plus, Donna knew how to feed a crowd good, wholesome food. She passed her bread making and canning skills on to the next two generations, many of whom continue to teach these lost arts to the next generation. Also an accomplished seamstress, Donnas quilts for great grandchildren have been a treasured tradition. They were useful, sensible blankies, for dragging through the sandbox, she would say. Her soul was for the Lord, and she loved being part of her church community at Grace Baptist Church. Donna had a particular kinship with the youth, whom she would invite out to Wild Rose Ranch for a hike and chili feed. The wee ones enjoyed her famous flop-eared bunny sugar cookies after church every Easter. She often said, My prayer for my children is to know the peace and joy that comes from Jesus in your heart. The legislation also contains two clauses: one requiring a review of Medicaid expansion by the Legislature during the 2023 session, and another that would void Medicaid expansion if the federal funding ratio changes and the Legislature does not take action to continue the program. Under the current federal funding ratio, the federal government pays for 90 percent of expansion costs and states cover the remaining 10 percent. These are protections and enhancements, Souza said in the committee meeting. These are protections for the taxpayers of the state. You could say theyre protections for the education budget or transportation budget or all those things we hear. Of the votes against printing the bill, two came from the only Democrats on the committee, Sen. Maryanne Jordan of Boise and Sen. David Nelson of Moscow. The other vote came from committee chairman Sen. Fred Martin, a Republican from Boise.Souza, Sen. Abby Lee of Fruitland, Sen. Mark Harris of Soda Springs, Sen. Van Burtenshaw of Terreton, and Sen. Regina Bayer of Meridian all Republicans voted in favor of printing the bill. Martin, Jordan, and Nelson all said they would like to see the Legislature implement Medicaid expansion without the additional conditions that the bill would attach. TWIN FALLS Melanie Weir and Michona Lookingbill have been promoted at Ireland Bank. Weir has become regional manager overseeing Ireland Banks branches in Pocatello, Inkom, Aberdeen, Mackay, Carey and Twin Falls. She has more than 16 years of banking experience, working as branch manager and loan officer at both Pocatello locations prior to helping open the Twin Falls branch in 2016. Weir will also continue her duties as branch manager and loan officer at the Magic Valley branch. Lookingbill has become assistant branch manager at the Magic Valley branch in Twin Falls. She joined Ireland Bank in 2016 and has worked as teller, new accounts representative and operations supervisor. In these positions, Lookingbill has played an integral part in the growth of this branch. Ireland Bank is Idahos oldest state-chartered bank founded in 1892 in Malad. Despite its international-sounding name, Ireland Bank is completely Idaho-based with 14 Southern Idaho locations. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 PAUL Lindsay Corporation, a global manufacturer and distributor of irrigation and infrastructure equipment and technology, has recognized three local companies as being top Zimmatic dealerships. Butte Irrigation Inc. of Paul has been recognized in the top five for outstanding achievement. Brice Beck, Gary Thoren, Tad Barrie and Dustin Osterhout accepted the award during Lindsay Corporations convention in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Sliman & Butler Irrigation Inc. of Gooding and Buhl has been recognized in the top 10 for outstanding achievement. Tanner and Kristy Butler and Becca and Ryan Pereira accepted the award at the convention. Dons Irrigation of Jerome has been recognized in the top 20 for outstanding achievement. Don Ford and Trent Staples accepted the award in Florida. Randy Wood, president of global agricultural irrigation at Lindsay Corporation, said in a statement that he is proud to recognize the three companies for their outstanding achievement because they are dedicated to providing their customers with game-changing innovations that improve operational efficiency, boost productivity and reduce input costs. Lindsay Corporation has been involved in the manufacture and distribution of agriculture equipment for more than 60 years. With more than 400 Zimmatic dealerships worldwide, the company currently has irrigation systems operating in over 90 countries irrigating about 12 million acres of crops. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 TWIN FALLS Lee Family Broadcasting has launched a new radio station that aims to appeal to bilingual listeners ages 12 to 34. The family-owned radio group is now airing LatinX 97.5, which blends artists such as Prince Royce, Luis Fonsi and Cardi B. with stars such as Kanye West and Bruno Mars. The music includes a bit of reggaeton, salsa and pop for those who have grown up listening to music in both English and Spanish. The community was overdue for a change something young and different, Lee Family Broadcasting President Kim Lee said in a statement. Data from the Census Bureau shows this is the fastest growing group in our region and speaking generally, most of the area schools have a 40-60 percent Latino population. Anchoring the station will be the Cuban Coffee Morning Show featuring Alex Hernandez (Cuban Flow) from 6 to 11 a.m. The rapper, Cuban boxer and veteran broadcaster most recently hosted at Exitos 104.9 in Tri-Cities, Wash. Between 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., the station will feature Jorge Bernal, the star of Telemundos Suelta La Sopa. Strong winds gusting up to 35 mph Tuesday night prompted the National Weather Service to extend its winter storm warning from midnight to 3 a.m. Wednesday. Blowing and drifting snow and reduced visibility should be common in south-central Wisconsin throughout the night. "Some roads in open, rural areas will become drifted shut," the warning said. We could still get an inch or two of snow in Madison and the rest of the region, with temperatures falling down to the teens Tuesday night, resulting in a wind chill of zero to 10. "Travel could be very difficult tonight, and the hazardous conditions could impact the morning commute on Wednesday," the warning said. Early afternoon snowfall totals across the region ranged from 7.5 inches on the UW-Madison campus to over 10 inches near Beaver Dam. A snow emergency was declared for Madison Tuesday night and Wednesday night, meaning parked vehicles throughout the city, including the snow emergency zone Downtown and on the Isthmus and Near West Side, need to park on the odd house-numbered side of the street Tuesday night and the even house-numbered side of the street Wednesday night. The Madison snow emergency could be extended beyond Thursday morning, depending on how easy or hard it is for plows and snow removal crews to get the big snowfall off the streets. The Streets Division said everyone, especially in the snow emergency zone, should abide by the rules, but rule breakers stand the chance of a ticket and a tow. Almost all school districts were closed on Tuesday because of the storm, but there's no word yet on school closings for Wednesday. Some call off school the day before but many wait until early in the morning to pull the plug on classes. We should be out of the wintry woods for the most part starting Wednesday, with just a couple of chances for snow later in the week. The day-to-day outlook in Madison: Tuesday night: Snow, mainly before 1 a.m, low around 16. Winds gusting up to 35 mph, making for blowing snow and difficult visibility. Wednesday: Partly sunny, high near 26. Wednesday night: Mostly cloudy, low around 18. Thursday: A 20 percent chance of snow before 2 p.m., then a slight chance of rain and snow between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., then a slight chance of snow after 5 p.m., high near 35. Thursday night: A 20 percent chance of snow, low around 10. Winds gusting up to 30 mph. Friday: Mostly sunny, high near 19. Friday night: Partly cloudy, low around 4. Saturday: Mostly sunny, high near 21. Saturday night: Mostly cloudy, low around 10. Sunday: A 40 percent chance of snow, high near 25. Sunday night: A 30 percent chance of snow, low around 8. Monday: Partly sunny, high near 22. Local Weather Get the daily forecast and severe weather alerts in your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. READ: Chinese stude defies 'liquid ban', gets arrested The Bureau of Immigration will cancel the visa of awho hurled a cup ofat a policeman and initiate deportation proceedings against her for being an undesirable alien. Immigration Intelligence Chief Fortunato Manahan Jr. said Jiale Zhangs rude and abusive act against a uniformed officer is sufficient evidence to cancel her student visa. The bureaus database shows that Zhang holds a Special Retirees Residence Visa (SRRV). Zhangs father is an investor here and this entitles his family to be granted SRRVs, Manahan said. But because of her action, where she splashed taho on a policeman after she was barred from entering an MRT-3 station due to the railways no-liquid policy, this may result in her deportation and inclusion in the blacklist, Manahan said. BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said that while the bureau did not receive any complaint against Zhang, the incident caused a moto propio investigation of the incident. She said Zhang would be brought to the bureau as soon as she has filed a bond for the release from jail. Among those calling for Zhangs deportation was Senator Richard Gordon. The Chinese nationals here and all other foreign nationals staying in our country should respect our rules and laws, Gordon said. They should not flout our rules and they should also respect the officials who are implementing our laws. China, he added, should advise its nationals about complying with the rules and laws of the country and respecting persons in authority here.PO1 William Cristobal, who was on the receiving end of Zhangs taho, filed a complaint against the Chinese national Sunday, charging her with direct assault, disobedience to an agent or a person in authority, and unjust vexation, at the Mandaluyong City Prosecutors Office. The 23-year-old Chinese national was arrested Saturday morning after she threw a plastic cup of taho at Cristobal, who reminded her of the policy against bringing food and drink onto the platform of the MRT-3 and asked her to finish her drink before entering. Photos of the incident were widely distributed on social media. Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said foreigners must respect local laws. Foreign nationals who sojourn in this country should always behave, otherwise they are subject to laws and deportation. We will not allow them to disrespect authorities and violate ordinances, Panelo said in a Palace press briefing. Though he issued a public reminder for the foreign nationals residing in the country, the Palace official, sided with Foreign Affairs chief Teodoro Locsin Jr.s position that it would be better not to add more fuel to the fire. He also criticized Vice President Leni Robredo for calling on the administration to stop giving special treatment to Chinese nationals, noting that Zhang has already been charged and is facing deportation. On the other hand, he has demanded apologies from, among others, Hillary Clinton, Warren, bearish forecasters, the fake news media, CNN, ESPN and the cast of Hamilton. He has hailed an apology The New York Times didnt offer him. And he expressed jealousy that ABC apologized to Valerie Jarrett for Roseanne Barrs racist remarks but not for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC. Trumps few apologies tend to be ironic: for bringing jobs back too quickly, for calling women beautiful, for the terrible pain and suffering Democrats caused Brett Kavanaugh, for insulting the real Pocahontas by calling Warren that name. For Trump, apologizing is weakness. After years of mocking Obamas apology tour, Trump boasted at a campaign event a year ago: Last eight years, weve seen a lot of apologizing. Not any longer. We dont apologize. His refusal makes sense. Narcissistic types dont often apologize. At the other extreme, profuse apologizing can be a sign of anxiety and sometimes comes from abusive relationships. Democrats lately are tending toward the latter. The problem with the Democrats apology binge is in the volume. Genuine contrition is one thing. But if a politician appears to be apologizing for getting caught, or for political gain, thats regrettable. The budget for support services started at $165,000, but YWCA Madison, which has been providing those services, will leave the property March 15. Vanessa McDowell, CEO of YWCA Madison, said the organization did not have the money to provide services at the building, which is home to more than 100 children. Going forward at Tree Lane, people need support. They dont need to be policed, McDowell said. The city estimates the money for additional support services would have an annualized cost of $429,500 if the increased level of help continues in future years. Last month, the Finance Committee backed a related plan to spend $165,000 for additional security at the building. The two proposals combined seek $440,250 to improve the environment at Tree Lane. The extra security funding would allow two security guards to be on the property during nights and weekends. Both the funding of support services and extra security will be on the agenda for the City Council meeting on Feb. 26. If both are approved, Madisons contingent reserve fund would stand at $1,489,500. The company is in conversations with other Wisconsin employers, including some in the Madison area, Poulin said. With unemployment so low, especially in the Madison area, companies are trying to find different ways to differentiate themselves in a competitive hiring environment, Poulin said. Bigger ideas Esker launched its student loan payment benefit this month through Goodly. Of its roughly 150-member workforce, 54 percent are millennials. Forty-one Esker employees signed up so far, according to company controller Anne Donarski. Eskers website shows the company offers flexible scheduling in the summertime and bring your pet to work days. She said the company is always seeking new ideas from employees. We were getting suggestions like more forks in the kitchen or softer toilet paper, Donarski said of Esker employees recent suggestions for new benefits. We were brainstorming bigger ideas and kept circling back to student loan assistance. Esker employees recruiting on UW-Madisons campus this semester will debut a new sign attracting potential employees: Ask us about our student loan assistance. As the snow stacked up Tuesday, so did the challenges for Madison-area school districts to ensure students meet the state's required instructional hours. Snow, cold and ice over the past three weeks has resulted in Dane County schools canceling at least five days of classes. To make that time up, students will be in the classroom during teacher-only days, and others will face slightly longer school days throughout the academic year. By the end of last week, the Verona School District had called off four days of school this winter. The district was already planning to end late-start days and shorten the passing period between two class hours for high school students, along with having all students turn up for classes on the Feb. 22 staff-only day. But the overnight snowfall prompted a fifth cancellation this year and will require district administration meet this week to discuss how to further make up hours, said district spokeswoman Kelly Kloepping. "It has certainly been a challenging year for Mother Nature," she said in an email. The state Department of Public Instruction requires a minimum number of annual instructional hours: 437 for kindergarten, 1,050 for grades one through six, and 1,137 for grades seven through 12. A federal magistrate judge ordered a Madison man accused of sexually exploiting a 14-year-old Tennessee runaway to remain behind bars after finding Tuesday that there was probable cause to support the charge against him. U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Oppeneer said he was making no judgment about whatever motives Bryan Rogers, 31, may have had when he is alleged to have persuaded the 14-year-old girl to make a video of herself being sexually assaulted by an adult, or about the likelihood of success that prosecutors would have of getting a conviction. But he said there was enough evidence presented to him at a preliminary hearing to believe that Rogers violated a federal law by persuading the girl to make the video and then send it to him across state lines. Rogers was charged in a criminal complaint on Feb. 4 with sexual exploitation of the girl by persuading her to capture on video herself being sexually assaulted by a man in her hometown of Madisonville, Tennessee. Rogers drove to Tennessee and picked up the girl on Jan. 14, the complaint states, and brought her to his mothers home on Madisons North Side, where he kept her hidden until authorities found her on Jan. 31. Last May, Australian Liz Walsh, her husband and their 2-year-old twins moved into a 30-story apartment block in an upmarket residential area near Hong Kong's financial and business district. A few weeks ago, the family encountered some unusual neighbors: a trio of wild boars. The boars now regularly wander along the road that leads to the Walsh family's apartment complex, nap in a favored spot beside a nearby footpath and hang out in the local playground. "They're super tame and friendly," says Walsh, but adds that she always keeps a watchful eye on them when she has her twins in tow. Encounters like hers are becoming a regular part of Hong Kong city life. The number of boar sighting and nuisance reports has more than doubled in the past five years, according to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD). The beasts, which can weigh up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) and can reach up to 2 meters (6.5 feet) in length, have recently run amok in Hong Kong's financial district, roamed among airplanes at Hong Kong International Airport and wreaked havoc in a shopping mall. Jungle in the concrete city Hong Kong is renowned for its dense urban areas and dazzling skyscrapers. But less than 25 percent of its land has been developed, and country parks and nature reserves make up 40 percent of the territory. Almost all the development on Hong Kong Island is squeezed into a narrow strip of usable land around its perimeter. For residents here, it is only ever a short step from the concrete jungle to the subtropical rainforest that flourishes on the steep, rocky hills of the interior. Thanks to this, snakes, monkeys and porcupines are all spotted in residential areas. In the 20th century, tigers still prowled parts of Hong Kong, but since they died out, the largest wild animal found here is the boar, a native wild pig. While nobody knows how many boars there are in Hong Kong, a spokesperson for the AFCD said that a survey is planned. What is clear is that the boars, which were once solitary and secretive, are starting to lose their fear of people. Rachel Duffell is a runner who frequently encounters boars on trails near her home in Quarry Bay, an urban district on Hong Kong Island. When she started running in Hong Kong in 2012, she rarely encountered boars. If she did, they would retreat, but now, "even if I clap and shout, they often just keep coming towards me and I'm the one to turn and run in the opposite direction," she says. "My fear is clearly greater than theirs." Are the boars dangerous? There have been only 10 recorded cases of wild boars injuring people since 2014, according to the AFCD, but half of those incidents occurred last year. In January this year, the University of Hong Kong warned staff and students to be on their guard following two wild boar attacks near the campus, according to local media. At the end of last year, two senior citizens were rammed and bitten by boars at a housing estate in Kowloon. Boars have sharp teeth, and large males are equipped with vicious tusks. The animals, however, are "not generally aggressive," says Howard Wong, director of the City University of Hong Kong's veterinary school. "But like most wild animals, if you corner them, they will react," he adds. "And you definitely want to avoid a mother with piglets." If a wild boar feels threatened, it will charge, says Wong, using its head "like a battering ram." Why are the boars coming to town? Garbage bins are a lure. The boars topple them in search of food, leaving rubbish strewn over pavements. "Pigs are creative. They're one of the smartest animals," says Wong. "Once they know it works, they will keep doing it." Last year, a clip of a monster-sized boar raiding a dumpster in Hong Kong went viral on social media. But the main reason for the urban invasion, says Wong, is that "well-meaning individuals are feeding them." He believes this reflects a cultural shift. As animal welfare has become a more prominent issue in Hong Kong, people are redefining themselves as animal lovers. Walsh says she has seen local workers feeding the three boars that live near her apartment complex. Veronique Che, an advocate with the Hong Kong Wild Boar Concern Group, believes that another factor is urban expansion. In the 1960s and '70s, the development of towns in the New Territories, Hong Kong's northernmost region, led to the boars' natural habitat being built over and converted to farmland, says Che. "Boars, along with Hong Kong's other wild animals, were squeezed out." Boar-busting strategies The government has considered some wacky solutions to the boar problem. One lawmaker suggested releasing natural predators into the wild, but as the AFCD points out, anything big enough to kill a wild boar such as a lion or tiger would threaten humans. Another official floated the idea of moving the boars to uninhabited islands, but that's not practical because they are good swimmers, according to the AFCD. Culling has also been discussed. Two civilian hunting teams were previously authorized to shoot wild boars, but that was halted in 2017 due to concerns about animal welfare and public safety. Instead, the AFCD has launched a pilot program to capture "nuisance-causing wild pigs" and relocate them to remote areas. The boars are micro-chipped, and some receive a collar equipped with a GPS tracker. Mature females are injected with a contraceptive that is effective for about five years, and the feasibility of surgical sterilization is also being explored. The government is also stepping up its public education campaigns and has commissioned research into boar-proof garbage bins. As the Chinese Year of the Pig kicks off, Hong Kong is hoping that its porcine residents won't become an unmanageable problem in the 12 months ahead. The-CNN-Wire & 2019 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved. FITCHBURG / OREGON / MADISON - On Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019, Robert Gottsacker, husband, father, son, and brother passed away at the age of 77 years. Robert will be forever remembered by his three daughters, Sandra (David), Colleen (Glen), and Brenda; as well as his "older" sister, Jo Ann (John). He was also a loving uncle, grandfather, and friend, and will be remembered and missed by his many nieces and nephews; his grandchildren, Adam and Samuel; and his many dear friends from Oregon, Madison, up north and down south. Bob was born in Madison, on Oct. 27, 1941. He lived in Fitchburg, in the family home, which he helped build in 1966. He proudly owned and operated the Littel Printing Company, a family printing company which he began working at while attending Edgewood High School. In his free time, he enjoyed bowling, fishing, hunting, spending time with friends, and especially camping at Indian Shores and wintering at Valley de Oro in Mesa, Ariz. He was also an active member of the Elks Club, the Moose Club, and the Knights of Columbus. He was preceded in death by his parents, Francis Gottsacker and Lydia (Mary) Zahner; and his wife of 47 years, Bonnie Gottsacker. A Reedsburg man has been arrested in connection with an interstate crash Friday in Columbia County. Columbia County Sheriff Roger Brandner said Saturday night that a Wisconsin State Patrol trooper located and arrested Robert E. Wright, 47, on Smokey Hollow Road in Columbia County. Wisconsin State Patrol troopers and sheriffs deputies from Columbia and Sauk counties had sought the driver after he allegedly fled a crash scene Friday night when his truck hit with a barrier in the median on interstate 90/94. State Patrol Sgt. Gary Helgerson said the southbound driver crashed his 2001 Chevrolet Silverado at 5:56 p.m. Friday into a barrier along the interstate in Columbia County. The driver then fled over a fence and ran into a wooded area. Brandner said his deputies deployed a K-9 team Friday night and tracked the suspect through some fields to a hotel, but he was not immediately found. No other vehicles were damaged in the crash. It was unclear whether the driver had any injuries. Helgerson said there were no indications of alcohol use in the crash. Follow Brad on Twitter @BradMikeAllen or call him at 608-745-3510. Cardi B Los AngelesRap history was made Sunday at the Grammys as Cardi B became the first woman to win the award for Best Rap Album and Childish Gambino scored two other landmark victories for the genre: Song and Record of the Year.For the second consecutive year,across the board. But unlike in years past, the artists snagged a handful of major winsperhaps a sign that the Recording Academy is slowly getting in touch with pop cultures more groundbreaking work. Cardi Bs win for Invasion of Privacy was a crowning achievement for the artist, now at the top of the male-dominated hip hop world. The 26-year-old rap queen beat out the late Mac Miller and superstar Travis Scott to claim her first career Grammy, having soared to fame on the runaway success of her smash hit Bodak Yellow that centers on the Bronx natives past as a stripper. The visibly shaking star, fresh off a rousing performance of her hit Money, delivered an emotional acceptance speech alongside her husband Offset of the rap trio Migos. READ: Hip-hop royalty leads Grammys nominees The nerves are so bad. Maybe I need to start smoking weed, she said to laughter and applause, before turning to Offset and saying: you husband, thank you. Cardi Bs vivacious charisma shines through on the album, in which she brashly owns her sex industry pastand her spectacular rise to the upper echelons of music. The star born Belcalis Almanzar provided the soundtrack of the 2018 summer with her saucy hit I Like It, which pays homage to her Latin roots by sampling a 60s-era boogaloo standard. One of the most successful albums of 2018, the Recording Industry Association of America certified all 13 tracks on Invasion of Privacy as gold or highera benchmark of salesthe first female artist to do so.Childish Gambino won the first Song and Record of the Year awards ever for a rap song, a milestone for the genre that the academy has drawn criticism for snubbing in the past. Gambinothe rap alter ego of actor Donald Gloverwas one of the nights leading stars with four wins, also scooping a Best Rap/Sung Performance award and Best Music Video for the provocative hit This Is America.But he wasnt at the gala to enjoy the moment. His collaborators told journalists they did not know why he did not attend, but he had reportedly declined an invitation to perform. I think if you listen to the radio or if you just watch our culture, if you look at the most downloaded, streamed artists...you see what people are getting inspired by, said Ludwig Goransson, who co-wrote the hit with Gambino. Its about time that something like this happened with the Grammys, he told journalists after the gala. Theyre getting the same kind of senses as the people. The trap gospel song packed with social commentary juxtaposes an up-tempo rhythm, layered with church hymns and Afrobeats, with a heavier, more foreboding bassline. Drakewho snagged seven nominationswon Best Rap Song for Gods Plan, his only win of the night for the inescapable smash of 2018. The Canadian rapperwho has sparred with the Recording Academy in past yearsshowed up to accept the award despite rumors that he would skip the gala. But his acceptance speech was delivered with a perceptible twinge of bitterness. Its like the first time in Grammys history where I actually am who I thought I was for a second, so I like thatthat is really nice, he said. Kendrick Lamar, who led the Grammy nominee field with eight nods, tied for his first win of the night for Kings Dead, which he had performed alongside Jay Rock, Future and James Blake. Rapper-drummer Anderson.Paak shared that Best Rap Performance prize for Bubblin. Music industry chameleon Pharrell Williams, meanwhile, topped rap megastar Kanye West to take home the trophy for Non-Classical Producer of the Year. Feed tests reveal lower digestibility New seasonal feed quality test results showing the stark differences between wet and dry seasons have underlined the need for end users to measure and know what they are feeding. Whats next? I dont want people threatening him [Mike], or me or my kids, said Stacy. A clear hate crime was committed in La Crosse. Hate Has No Business Here!! read part of a statement issued by Wale Elegbede, one of the founding members of the La Crosse Interfaith Shoulder to Shoulder Network, established in February 2016 to unite people of all faiths. February is Black History month, a month that is meant to recognize the contributions and role of blacks in U.S History, but instead in La Crosse ... we spend time talking about this horrible incident. As an American Muslim of Nigerian descent, who considers La Crosse home, I am appalled, angry and sad, Elegbede said. If somebody has an issue, said Mike and Stacy, they should come and talk to us. People should always come forward and say something if they have a problem. Devenport said the cab company is looking into installing security cameras. Stacy said shes also considering installing security cameras at their home. Capt. Jason Melby said this incident is an isolated one and that in the past year there were 18 graffiti complaints and none were similar to this hate crime related. RAYMOND Two men are facing criminal charges after one of them allegedly fired an air rifle at a house in Raymond. According to a news release from the Racine County Sheriffs Office, deputies were called to the 3500 block of 80th Street at 1:35 p.m. for a report of shots being fired at the house, resulting in damage to the windows. The residents described the vehicle that fled to the deputies and another deputy located the vehicle near the intersection of Interstate 94 and Highway 20. The four occupants of the vehicle were taken into custody. Investigators determined that the vehicles operator, 22-year-old Louis E. Johnson from Racine, had shot a CO2-powered air rifle resembling an AK-47-style rifle at the victims house. Johnson was also carrying a .38-caliber handgun on his person and had an outstanding warrant. Deputies found more than 86 grams of marijuana in the vehicle. Johnson was arrested and is being charged with recklessly endangering safety, possession with intent to deliver marijuana, carrying a concealed weapon, disorderly conduct while armed and criminal damage to property. By the day of her formal announcement, HuffPost was back with a self-congratulatory newsletter post sent to its "Must Reads" subscribers. It described the senator as dogged by the accusations against her. In that Q&A, one of the reporters, Molly Redden, described a divided reaction to the HuffPost reporting: There are tons of readers who think the coverage is sexist, she said. Theyre asking us, How come these stories are never written about men? She acknowledged that everyone in the news chain ... is probably more accommodating of a bad boss whos a man, and says she already has a list going about bad male bosses. Wonder if those stories about bad male bosses will be published at the precise moment those guys are announcing for president? A woman quoted by the Times at Klobuchars announcement got to the essence of it: When a woman is demanding and wants something and wants people to perform, its seen as difficult. Ive had a lot of demanding bosses, male bosses, in my life, and nothing was said of them. They were told they were great leaders. The plaintiff sought a job with R.J. Reynolds as a territory manager, which works with retailers of various kinds to increase sales of tobacco products. However, the applicant screening guidelines called for hiring managers to target candidates who had been out of college for 2-3 years and to stay away from candidates who had eight to 10 years of sales experience. As the plaintiff, Villareal, was 49 years old at the time of application he was far older than the younger demographic targeted by the hiring managers. However, the court held that the ADEA does not protect job applicants, only job holders. Furthermore, someone who suspects age discrimination must diligently investigate the reason for their applications rejection. The decision was affirmed in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals while the U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant certiorari. According to the plaintiffs attorney, the decision will make it significantly more difficult for older workers to find jobs and attack employer practices that prevent them from being hired. The details of the Green New Deal are up for debate, as were the details of the original New Deal in Franklin Delano Roosevelt's time. The specifics will come over time. Wisconsin state Rep. Greta Neubauer, who directed the Fossil Fuel Divestment Student Network before her election, said that what matters now is advancing a program "that provides living wage jobs and protects our environment." Those who seek to divide us against one another say this is impossible. Don't believe them. FDR's New Deal proposals to address the economic crisis that extended from the Great Depression were attacked as radical even before he and his brain trust had developed specific programs. Why? Because the entrenched special interests are always frightened by the prospect that government might get focused on addressing serious problems with serious proposals. Markey understands this. Arguing that climate change deniers "are threatened by (the) Green New Deal because our FDR New Deal-inspired plan threatens their corporate polluter pals bottom lines," he said. "Good." Like FDR, Markey invited Americans to: Judge me by the enemies I have made." The Racine Journal Times complains that the suspension of driver's licenses for failure to pay traffic tickets has become an unwieldy and unfair to the low-income citizens in the state. An unpaid ticket leads to losing driving privileges which, in turn, leads to losing jobs and the cycle continues. The paper urges the state to tackle the problem and find alternatives. Political Environment blogger James Rowen points out that there are things in Tony Evers' soon-to-be-announced budget that help explain why Scott Walker is out. He lists drinking water initiatives, more funding for schools and expanded dental coverage in BadgerCare as examples. I thought the changes would be relatively minor; the changes that they made are more substantive, Rolfs said, adding, I dont think its a bad different, I think its progress in the right direction. One of the citys primary concerns through different proposed plans has been the high level of city support needed for the projects, Rolfs said. The most recent proposal that they gave us yesterday seems to move things closer to where theres a possible deal, Rolfs said. One of Weltons earlier proposals included a TIF request of over $7 million. In the newest plans, Weltons total TIF request is under $1 million. In other city support, Welton is asking for $1.2 million from the citys Affordable Housing Fund, and proposed purchasing the land for $900,000, though the appraised value is between $1,875,000 and $2,125,000. DEVELOPING PLANS The plans for the Truman Olson site have already gone through several iterations. Originally, the city issued a request for proposals to develop the vacant property, listing goals like connecting Cedar Street to Appleton Road, increasing the tax base, developing workforce housing and keeping a grocery store in the area. Cheeks campaign also released a television ad, but the ad purchase fell after the reporting deadline, Olsen said. The next campaign finance reporting deadline for the period of Feb. 5 to March 18 is March. 25. The primary election is on Tuesday, Feb. 19. Toriana Pettaway, who works for the city as racial equity coordinator, reported raising $706 and spending $189. Pettaways campaign has a cash balance of $721. Pettaway is running as a write-in candidate. On Monday, Pettaways campaign manager, Eric Upchurch, asked the other candidates for mayor to consider dropping out and supporting her. Imagine the courage it would inspire to show the leaders in Madison are capable of relinquishing power to the most marginalized and being led by their expertise, Upchurch wrote in the letter. Matt Baier, campaign manager for local comedian Nick Hart, said Harts campaign is under the reporting requirement and has raised $355. Candidates who do not anticipate accepting contributions, making disbursements or incurring loans and other obligations in a total amount exceeding more than $2,000 in a calendar year are exempt from submitting campaign finance reports. The primary election is Feb. 19. The two candidates with the most votes will be on the general election ballot April 2. Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less. The remaining $484,000 covers the period from March through December. Of this funding, $90,000 comes from Heartland Housing's property budget, $355,250 from the city and $75,000 from the United Way. Support services, two case managers and a supervisor are currently provided to Tree Lane residents by the YWCA. They are funded with $90,000 from Heartland, $50,000 from the city and $25,000 from the United Way. However at the end of 2018, the YWCA informed Heartland that it would withdraw from its role as support service provider by March 15. YWCA CEO Vanessa McDowell said her organization dropped out, in part, due to a lack of enough funding to adequately support the needs of Tree Lane residents. McDowell said she wants to make sure whoever is providing services next at Tree Lane is financially supported. Without elaborating, McDowell said there were other factors that did not align with the YWCAs mission that contributed to the organization withdrawing from its role at Tree Lane. Wisconsin will join a national effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and carbon pollution, Gov. Tony Evers announced Tuesday. Evers is the 21st governor to join the U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan but mostly Democratic group of governors committed to implementing policies to combat climate change in accordance with the Paris climate accord. By joining the coalition, governors commit to implement policies with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by a least 26 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, reducing carbon pollution and promoting clean energy. The governors will track and share their progress with other states and countries. "Its a new day in Wisconsin and its time to lead our state in a new direction where we embrace science, where we discuss the very real implications of climate change, where we work to find solutions, and where we invest in renewable energy," Evers said in a statement. "By joining the U.S. Climate Alliance, we will have support in demonstrating that we can take climate action while growing our economy at the same time." A Pampanga regional trial court has ordered the release of the state witness in the kidnapping and killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo in October 2016 from the custody of the Philippine National Police. In a two-page order dated January 30, the Angeles City Regional Trial Court, Branch 56, granted the motion seeking the release of Senior Police Officer 4 Roy Villegas from restrictive custody of the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group. After considering the respective arguments of the parties, the Court resolves to grant the motions of witness Villegas. Based on the proceedings held in these cases, it appears that witness Villegas already finished his testimony and it can be concluded that he already fulfilled his duty as a state witness, stated the order issued by Judge Irin Zenaida Buan. Two of the three accused in the kidnapping for ransom with homicide caseSenior Police Officer 2 Ricky Sta. Isabel and Jerry Umlangopposed the motion of Villegas, citing the petition they filed before the Court of Appeals involving the case. However, the lower court held that the pendency of the CA petition will not interrupt the course of the main case unless a temporary restraining order or writ of preliminary injunction is issued by the appellate court, citing amendments in Section 7, Rule 65 of the Rules of Court. In view of this injunction, the Court may rule on the motion of witness Villegas notwithstanding the pending petition with the Honorable Court of Appeals, it said.The RTC earlier discharged Villegas as a state witness and removed him from the list of accused in the criminal case in Jan. last year upon a motion by Department of Justice prosecutors. Along with principal accused Superintendent Rafael Dumlao III, Sta. Isabel and Umlang are currently detained at the Angeles City Jail. Another accused, Gerardo Ding Santiago, owner of the Gream Funeral Services where the body of the victim was brought, was also indicted as an accessory. Jee was abducted on Oct.18, 2016 and killed inside Camp Crame. An alleged victim of the so-called Tokhang for ransom, his body was not recovered and reportedly cremated and flushed in the toilet. Evers and Democratic lawmakers don't support the Republican plan because they say it doesn't have a sustainable, long-term funding source. "Of course we always look for common ground, but we believe our proposal is the best one," Evers told reporters Tuesday before the Assembly convened. Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, who co-chairs the Legislature's budget committee, said he was disappointed to see Evers "drawing a line in the sand" on the issue. The Democratic proposal would draw $348.2 million from budget reserves over its first two years. The Republican plan would draw $495.6 million from that same pot of money over the same period, a difference of $147.4 million, according to a preliminary analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. As of June 30, the state's primary spending account had a positive balance of $588.5 million, according to the LFB. That surplus is projected to grow to $691.5 million by the end of this fiscal year, based on cash accounting. The Democratic proposal would also expand the state's Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income individuals. China accused the U.S. of tricks as two American warships sailed through waters claimed by Beijing on the eve of high-level trade talks. Chinas foreign ministry said the countrys navy warned off off the U.S. warships yesterday as they attempted to assert free navigation rights in the disputed South China Sea. The ships sailed close by Mischief Reef, where China has built an airbase on reclaimed land, and the adjacent Second Thomas Shoal, which is occupied by the Philippines. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying deflected a question about whether the move would impact trade talks expected to get underway Tuesday in Beijing. You have observed very carefully, and observed a series of tricks by the U.S. side. I believe you all see through these small tricks by the U.S. side, Hua told a regular news briefing in Beijing. The so-called freedom-of-navigation patrols were reported earlier yesterday by Reuters, which cited an unidentified U.S. official. The report said two guided-missile destroyers passed within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef, a maneuver the U.S. uses to assert that a waterway is free to international transit. U.S. Indo-Pacific Command didnt respond to an email seeking comment on the patrol. The American-side often doesnt announce such sail-bys in the South China Sea, where Chinas claims overlap with those of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. The sail-by comes as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer head for Beijing, the latest high-profile effort to resolve the two countries trade dispute before their tariff cease-fire expires March 1. The trade fight has exposed a series of strategic disputes between the worlds two largest economies, ranging from Chinas territorial claims in the Western Pacific to accusations of spying. The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative last week said China dispatched almost 100 vessels to the Spratly chain in an effort to stop the Philippines from building on another feature known as Thitu Reef. Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in a statement last week called on China to respect the countrys sovereignty. The island that is home to about 100 civilians and a small military garrison is the largest of the nine occupied by the Philippines in the Spratly islands and serves as its administrative center in the area. Thitu and is also claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam. The ramp will facilitate the delivery of construction equipment and material for upgrading the islands airstrip and other infrastructure, AMTI said. Bigger ships with deeper drafts would be able to offload supplies directly onto the island, rather than having to transfer them to smaller vessels as was the case before. Additionally, satellite imagery shows excavators depositing sand over a larger area to the north about the size of three city blocks, AMTI said. Lorenzana had earlier said there were plans to expand facilities on the island, including building a fish port, desalination plant, solar power array, improved housing, and marine research facilities, AMTI said. AMTI says satellite photos show the number of Chinese vessels fluctuating from as high as 95 in December to just 42 by late January. It gave no word on any attempt by them to intervene in the ongoing work. Manila appears intent on upgrading its facilities in the Spratlys despite any detente or objections from Beijing, AMTI said in its report. The Philippines land reclamation efforts are much more modest than those of its neighbors in the Spratlys. Once completed, it will have created 3.2 hectares of reclaimed land in the island group in recent years, compared to about 49 hectares by Vietnam and 1,295 hectares by China. The U.S. has conducted several freedom of navigation patrols in recent months. In January, China urged the U.S. to halt provocative actions after a U.S. guided-missile destroyer conducted sailed near the Paracel Islands, which are occupied by China and claimed by Vietnam. American warships have also sailed through the strait separating mainland China from democratically run Taiwan. We respect all countries right for freedom of navigation and flight under international law, but we firmly oppose any action to jeopardize the sovereignty and security of countries under the pretext of freedom of navigation, Hua said. American F-35B Lightning II aircraft operating off the Navys amphibious assault ship USS Wasp conducted milestone flight operations with weapons fully loaded in the Philippine and East China Seas, Jan. 26 through Feb. 6, the Marine Corps said. The training mission demonstrated an increase in lethality and integrated amphibious capability, it quoted Col. Robert Brodie, commanding officer of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit as saying. The fifth-generation fighters carried CATM-9X air-to-air missiles and dropped 500-pound GBU-12 Paveway II and 1,000-pound GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munition bombs. We achieved mission success by using the full capabilities of the F-35B at sea, Lt. Col. Michael Rountree, the F-35B detachment officer-in-charge was quoted as saying in a news release. Rountree said the planes engaged role-playing enemy aircraft and hit simulated targets before landing vertically on the Wasp. It was the first time such a level of training had been carried out by an operationally deployed F-35B detachment with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, Rountree said. While the area of operations was east of the South China Sea, the exercise illustrates the continuing U.S. military presence in the area, to which China routinely objects. MDT/Agencies New Zealands national carrier admitted a registration mistake turned back a flight to China over the weekend, prompting Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to say yesterday that politics were not involved. She said the incident had no bearing on the relationship between the two nations and she wouldnt be seeking reassurance on that point from Chinese officials. I see absolutely no need, given that Air New Zealand have said themselves that they know exactly what the issue was that they did not meet requirements on behalf of China, she said. Ardern added, I think its important to be really clear and not confuse administrative and regulatory issues as issues to do with the relationship. In Beijing, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said failure to properly register was a breach of regulations. They themselves noted this issue and made a U-turn, Hua told reporters at a daily briefing. Relations between China and New Zealand have been strained in recent months after New Zealands spy agency in November halted mobile company Spark from using Huawei equipment in its planned 5G upgrade. The agency said the Chinese companys equipment posed a significant network security risk. Under the previous conservative government, New Zealand had fostered much closer ties with China. New Zealand was the first developed nation to sign a free-trade deal with China in 2008, and China has since become New Zealands largest trading partner. But New Zealand is also part of the Five Eyes security alliance that includes the U.S., Britain, Canada and Australia, which have also expressed concerns about Huawei. And under Ardern, New Zealand has embraced a warmer relationship with Japan. Since taking office in 2017, Ardern has yet to make a long-promised official visit to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Look, I have received an invitation from the Chinese administration to visit, she said. The outstanding issue simply is a matter of setting dates, and those have not been finalized yet. Air New Zealand Flight 289 from Auckland to Shanghai was about four-and-a-half or five hours into its journey Sunday when a technicality was discovered that meant the plane was not registered in China, the airline said. The flight returned to Auckland. We know customers will be deeply disappointed and frustrated by this situation and we are very sorry for the disruption to their travel plans, the airline said. These customers have now since arrived in Shanghai. Air New Zealand did not immediately respond to further questions on the incident. Nick Perry, Wellington, AP A defense lawyer said former Malaysian leader Najib Razaks graft trial, scheduled for today, has been postponed by a court ruling. Najib has pleaded not guilty to 42 charges of criminal breach of trust, graft, abuse of power and money laundering linked to the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund that has battered the countrys standing abroad. The first of his many trials was due to start today, but lawyer Farhan Read said the defense won a stay of proceedings in the Appeal Court yesterday. He said the Appeal Court will hear Najibs appeal over a technical issue that the defense says could impair the validity of the trial. From appearing in an R&B music video and trolling social media to vilify the new government, former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been combative before the start of his graft trial, linked to the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund that has battered the countrys standing abroad. The trial comes nine months after Najibs spectacular election defeat, spurred by voters furor over the 1MDB scandal that is being investigated in the U.S. and several other countries for alleged cross-border money laundering and embezzlement. U.S. investigators say more than USD4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB by associates of Najib between 2009 and 2014 and the ill-gotten gains were laundered through layers of bank accounts in the U.S. and other countries to finance Hollywood films and buy hotels, a luxury yacht, art works, jewelry and other extravagances. Some $700 million from the fund that Najib set up for Malaysias economic development allegedly landed in his own bank account. One of only a few Southeast Asian leaders to be arraigned after losing office, Najib has denied any wrongdoing. He is charged with 42 counts of criminal breach of trust, graft, abuse of power and money laundering in one of Malaysias biggest criminal trials. His wife Rosmah Mansor also has been charged with money laundering and tax evasion linked to 1MDB. She has pleaded not guilty and her trial has not been set. The first of Najibs multiple criminal trials begins Tuesday but instead of lying low, Najib has fought back with a political makeover on social media that aims to transform his image from an out-of-touch elitist to a leader for the working class. A Malay-language catchphrase translating to Whats to be ashamed about, my boss? was coined while he was campaigning in a by-election last month and has become his new rally cry. Expensive tailored suits have been replaced by hoodies and jeans. A picture Najib posted on social media showing himself posing on a Yamaha motorcycle with his new no-shame meme resonated with many Malay youths disenchanted by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamads new government. In another offbeat music video that he uploaded on social media, Najib slammed the new government as liars and crooned about the slander and revenge against him in a Malay-language rendition of the 1970s R&B soul hit Kiss and Say Goodbye by the American group, the Manhattans. He posts a dozen messages daily on social media, mostly mocking the new government and its policies, and touching on the plight of the needy. Last month while visiting vendors at a wet market, Najib jeered government leaders on Facebook: Let the ministers sleep on this Saturday morning. Bridget Welsh, political science professor at the John Cabot University in Rome, said Najib is seeking to tap into anger from those who were displaced politically and those disappointed by the new government. There will actually be two battles that in the courtroom and that in the public in which Najib has used a flush-funded social media machine to build support, said Welsh, a Southeast Asia expert. He has fanned two sentiments supposed political victimization and racial insecurity stemming from the fact that Malay chauvinists do not have the same level of political power in the new government. Najibs online campaign isnt likely to extend beyond his Malay political base but it could split Malaysia along racial lines, she said. Ethnic Malays makeup about 60 percent of Malaysias 32 million people, followed by large Chinese and Indian minorities. Despite his smiles and cool public persona, the patrician Najib whose father and uncle were Malaysias second and third prime ministers respectively could face years in prison if convicted. Once a towering figure in politics and literally beyond the law, Najib has fallen from grace swiftly since his historic electoral loss on May 9, which led to the first change of government since Malaysias independence from Britain in 1957. The new government soon after it took office reopened investigations into 1MDB that had been stifled under Najib. He and his wife were barred from leaving the country and grilled by anti-graft officials, and their properties were raided. Truckloads of luggage stashed with cash, jewelry and hundreds of expensive designer bags worth a staggering 1.1 billion ringgit ($270 million) were seized from their home and other properties. The trials for both Najib and his wife will be closely watched but are expected to be long-lasting as defense lawyers could appeals up to the top court. Najib has a team of top lawyers, who are appealing yesterday to delay his trial. Farhan Read, one of Najibs lawyers, told The Associated Press that the defense team wants a deferment to resolve a technical issue that could impair the validity of the hearing. He said Najibs trials are scheduled back-to-back and that it was unprecedented for a person to be hit with 42 charges. Eileen Ng, Kuala Lumpur, AP Macau witnessed a robust flow of cross- border movement during the Spring Festival, which lasted from February 4 to 10. The region welcomed over 1.21 million visitor arrivals during the holiday, up 26.6 percent over the corresponding period last year, the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) revealed yesterday. The figures released by the MGTO show that the highest number of arrivals occurred on Thursday February 7, with 226,874 arrivals recorded. According to a report issued by the Xinhua news agency yesterday, the Chinese New Year holiday is changing the festive life of local people and Southeast Asian employees, as well as the traffic flow in the region. Chan Laimen, a Macau resident in her early 30s, opted to travel back with her family to her ancestral home for a reunion in Zhangzhou, in southeast Chinas Fujian province. This year I [will] take the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge to start my trip to Zhangzhou. I will join my cousin in Hong Kong SAR and go back to Shenzhen by high-speed train, like other Chinese people will do during the Spring Festival travel rush. She said some of her friends had traveled to Thailand or Japan to spend the week-long holiday, instead of going back to their hometowns. Chans housekeeper, Nguyen Hao, a 51-year-old Vietnamese resident, also enjoyed the festive holiday. She was making plans to go back to Hanoi and take a week off while Chans family is in Fujian. I will go back to Hanoi from Macau by air in [a] one-hour trip. It is even faster than my relatives coming from other cities of Vietnam, Nguyen told Xinhua. The MSAR had over 60,000 migrant employees from Southeast Asian countries working in home, hotel and restaurant services at the end of 2018, according to the SARs migrant control department. Among them, about 15,000 are from Vietnam. Most of them will go back home during the Spring Festival. Some of the other foreign migrant workers from the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia will also travel back to their hometowns, helping to apply remarkable traffic pressures on airlines operating from Macau International Airport (MIA). MIA saw passenger traffic volume and aircraft movements increase by 20 percent and 15 percent respectively in January 2019, compared to the same period last year. In the first three days of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar, over 80,000 inbound and outbound trips were made through the airport. Vicki Mou, MIA public relations official, said that the surging traffic flow in and out of Macau can be attributed to the regions attractive tourism industry, local residents outbound travel and the homecoming trips of foreign migrant workers, which all add up during this Spring Festival. MDT/Xinhua Indonesian police have acknowledged officers terrorized a Papuan man with a live snake after a video of the incident circulated online showing the man screaming in fear and his interrogator laughing. Police in Indonesias easternmost Papua region apologized but also attempted to justify the officers actions by saying the snake was not venomous and that they hadnt resorted to beating the man, who was suspected of theft. Human rights lawyer Veronica Koman said yesterday [Macau time] that the interrogation methods were torture and violated police policies as well as several laws. She said it was only the latest of several reports of police and military using snakes to terrorize Papuan detainees and symptomatic of a culture of racism against indigenous Papuans. Sam Lokon, a member of the West Papua National Committee, which advocates for independence from Indonesia, was put in a cell with a snake and also beaten after being arrested in January, Koman said. Police indicated the incident with the alleged thief happened recently, during a crackdown on petty crime in Jayawijaya district. The spread of the video had forced police into a very rare apology, Koman said, while also criticizing the attempt to provide a justification. The one minute and 20 second video shows the dark brown snake, at least two meters long, wrapped around the handcuffed suspects neck and waist and an officer pushing its head into the mans face as he becomes increasingly hysterical. Officers appear to be asking how many times hed stolen cellphones. Jayawijaya police chief Tonny Ananda Swadaya said in a statement the officers had been disciplined by being given ethics training and moved to other locations. Papua provinces police spokesman said the officers involved are being questioned by an internal affairs division of the national police. We apologize for the incident, Kamal told The Associated Press. Institutionally we do not recognize such an unprofessional method of interrogation, and we guarantee that such an inhuman method will not happen again in the future. AP Concerns about potentially HIV-tainted blood products produced by a state-backed company, followed by conflicting information from regulators, is undermining confidence in Chinas drug industry as it seeks to join the global biotech race. Over Chinese New Year, the National Medical Products Administration said a batch of intravenous human immunoglobulin in blood plasma by Shanghai Xinxing Medicine Co. tested positive for HIV antibodies in the eastern province of Jiangxi. Shanghai regulators conducted their own tests, which came back negative for the virus, and ordered a production halt and recall. Xinxing is investigating as well, according to China Meheco Co., which owns 51 percent of the blood producer and is controlled by a state firm. The incident, which sparked social media outcry in the country, follows protests and President Xi Jinpings reprimand of the drug industry after children in Jiangsu province received ineffective vaccines last summer. Xis government has been ramping up spending on the nations health sector and overhauling its drug approval process in a bid to spur medical innovation. Its another scandal that will hit market confidence in Chinas healthcare sector, said Linus Yip, chief strategist with First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong. Looking forward, investors will continue to prefer market leaders with better reputations, as the confidence in the overall drug market isnt ready to recover yet. Previous drug scares have caused shares declines for the entire sector the CSI 300 index of health-care shares has fallen 31 percent since July when the vaccine scandal broke. For now, investors have factored in the risks of potential quality and safety issues in the current valuations of most companies in the healthcare sector, he said. Meheco said the probe of Xinxings products will have little impact on its financials, because the latters business scale and profit comprise a small share. Meheco said it ordered Xinxing to halt all operations and close quality-control loopholes, according to statement. Shanghai Xinxing makes and distributes blood products often used to treat immune deficiencies and disorders. Shanghai Xinxing and the National Medical Products Administration did not respond to requests for comment. Alarms over unsafe drugs occasionally flare up and can stoke government worries about social unrest. China has grappled with HIV contamination before. In 2005, leaders struggled to manage a tainted blood supply damaged by illegal blood buying stations in the northern province of Henan. Bloomberg When mysterious operatives lured two cybersecurity researchers to meetings at luxury hotels over the past two months, it was an apparent bid to discredit their research about an Israeli company that makes smartphone hacking technology used by some governments to spy on their citizens. The Associated Press has now learned of similar undercover efforts targeting at least four other individuals who have raised questions about the use of the Israeli firms spyware. The four others targeted by operatives include three lawyers involved in related lawsuits in Israel and Cyprus alleging that the company, the NSO Group, sold its spyware to governments with questionable human rights records. The fourth is a London-based journalist who has covered the litigation. Two of them the journalist and a Cyprus-based lawyer were secretly recorded meeting the undercover operatives; footage of them was broadcast on Israeli television just as the AP was preparing to publish this story. All six of the people who were targeted said they believe the operatives were part of a coordinated effort to discredit them. Theres somebody whos really interested in sabotaging the case, said one of the targets, Mazen Masri, who teaches at City University, London and is advising the plaintiffs attorney in the case in Israel. Masri said the operatives were looking for dirt and irrelevant information about people involved. The details of these covert efforts offer a glimpse into the sometimes shadowy world of private investigators, which includes some operatives who go beyond gathering information and instead act as provocateurs. The targets told the AP that the covert agents tried to goad them into making racist and anti-Israel remarks or revealing sensitive information about their work in connection with the lawsuits. NSO has previously said it has nothing to do with the undercover efforts either directly or indirectly. It did not return repeated messages asking about the new targets identified by the AP. American private equity firm Francisco Partners, which owns NSO, did not return a message from the AP seeking comment. The undercover operatives activities might never have been made public had it not been for two researchers who work at Citizen Lab, an internet watchdog group that is based out of the University of Torontos Munk School. In December, one of the researchers, John Scott-Railton, realized that a colleague had been tricked into meeting an operative at a Toronto hotel, then questioned about his work on NSO. When a second operative calling himself Michel Lambert approached Scott-Railton to arrange a similar meeting at the Peninsula Hotel in New York, Scott-Railton devised a sting operation, inviting AP journalists to interrupt the lunch and videotape the encounter. The story drew wide attention in Israel. Within days, Israeli investigative television show Uvda and The New York Times identified Lambert as Aharon Almog-Assouline, a former Israeli security official living in the plush Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Hasharon. By then, Scott-Railton and the AP had determined the undercover efforts went well beyond Citizen Lab. Within hours of the storys publication, Masri wrote to the AP to say that he and Alaa Mahajna, who is pursuing the lawsuit against NSO in Israel, had spent weeks parrying offers from two wealthy-sounding executives who had contacted them with lucrative offers of work and insistent requests to meet in London. We were on our guard and did not take the bait, Masri wrote. Masris revelation prompted a flurry of messages to others tied to litigation involving NSO. Masri and Scott-Railton say they discovered that Christiana Markou, a lawyer representing plaintiffs in a related lawsuit against NSO-affiliated companies in Cyprus, had been flown to London for a strange meeting with someone who claimed to be a Hong Kong-based investor. Around the same time, Masri found out that a journalist who had written about NSO was also invited to a London hotel twice and questioned about his reporting. Things are getting more interesting, Masri wrote as the episodes emerged. Operational errors Like Almog-Assouline, the undercover operative the AP exposed in New York, the covert agents who pursued the lawyers made a string of operational errors. The attempt to ensnare Alaa Mahajna, the lead lawyer in the Israeli suit, was a case in point. On Nov. 26 he heard from a man who said his name was Marwan Al Haj and described himself as a partner at a Swedish wealth management firm called Lyndon Partners. Al Haj offered Mahajna an intriguing proposition. Al Haj said one of his clients, an ultra-rich individual with family ties to the Middle East, needed legal assistance recovering family land seized by Jewish settlers following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. I believe you may be a good fit for this challenging task, Al Haj wrote. The request made sense. As a human rights lawyer based in Jerusalem, Mahajna has defended Palestinian activists and others at the receiving end of the Israeli governments ire. But Mahajna became suspicious as he tried to learn more about the case. Al Haj was cagey about his client and seemed unwilling to provide any paperwork, Mahajna told the AP. Not even the basic stuff, Mahajna said. Usually people flood you with documents and stories. Mahajna said he was unsettled when Al Haj suddenly offered him an all-expenses-paid trip to London; no one had even asked him whether the case had any hope of success. At some point it was abundantly clear that this is not a bona fide approach, Mahajna said. Ten days later, Masri, the legal adviser in the Israeli lawsuit, received an email offering him a place on the advisory board of a Zurich-based company called APOL Consulting. Masri became skeptical after he checked out the companys website. Consulting firms typically trade on their employees intelligence and skill, so Masri expected the companys site to prominently display the names, headshots and qualifications of its staff. Here there wasnt even a name of one human, he said. When Masri turned down the position on APOLs board, the representative whod contacted him a man who called himself Cristian Ortega pressed Masri to see him in London anyway. I would consider it a privilege to have a chance to meet you in person for a friendly chat, Ortega said in a Jan. 7 email. No strings attached of course. Masri said that by then he and Mahajna had come to believe that Ortega and Al Haj were fictions and that their companies were imaginary. But they didnt yet know how widespread the covert operations were. Hong Kong connection The undercover agents got a little further with Christiana Markou, the lawyer who is pursuing the Cypriot case against NSO-affiliated entities. Her lawsuit, like Mahajnas, draws heavily on reports by Citizen Lab that found that NSO spyware had been used to break into the phones of the Mexican activists and journalists who are the plaintiffs in both cases. Markou told the AP she was approached over email Dec. 21 by a man who presented himself as Olivier Duffet, a partner at Hong Kong-based ENE Investments. Duffet was ostensibly interested in inviting Markou a leading data protection and privacy lawyer in Cyprus to give a lecture at a conference. Markou said she proposed discussing the lecture over Skype, but he insisted on an in-person meeting in London, eventually flying her out, putting her up in a fancy hotel and chatting for a little more than an hour. Most of the discussion revolved around the proposed lecture but then Duffet suddenly pivoted to the NSO case, asking her whether she felt the lawsuit was winnable and who was funding it. Markou said she gave either incorrect answers or expressly refused to answer because she found his questions suspicious. Yet another target, Eyad Hamid, a London-based journalist who wrote a story about NSO, said he was also invited to a London hotel on two separate occasions to discuss his coverage of the Israeli company. The purported company used in the operation targeting him was Mertens-Giraud Partners Management, which was described as a Brussels-based wealth management firm. Neither MGP nor any of the other companies truly existed. The APs searches of the Orbis database of some 300 million companies, local corporate registries and trademark repositories turned up no trace of a Swiss firm called APOL, a Swedish company called Lyndon partners, a Belgian company called Mertens-Giraud or a Hong Kong-based firm named ENE Investments. Local phone books didnt carry listings for a Zurich-based man named Cristian Ortega, a Hong Kong-based man named Olivier Duffet or anyone in Sweden bearing the name Marwan Al Haj. There was no hint of APOL when the AP visited its supposed office not far from Zurichs central train station; tenants said theyd never heard of the company. It was the same story in Hong Kong; a management representative at the Central Building, where ENE Investments was supposedly located, said he didnt know anything about the company. An AP journalist wasnt able to speak to anyone at Mertens-Girauds alleged office on Brussels Rue des Poissoniers; the entire building was boarded up for renovations. At the modern office block in downtown Stockholm where Lyndon Partners claimed to have its headquarters, service manager Elias Broberger said he could find no trace of the wealth management firm. It says they are located here, Broberger said as he examined Lyndon Partners professional-looking website. But we dont have them in any of our systems: not the booking system; not the member system. We dont bill them; they dont bill us. I cant find them. Tailored pitches Who hired the undercover agents remains unclear, but their operational and digital fingerprints suggest they are linked. The six operatives all began approaching their targets around the same time with individually tailored pitches. Their bogus websites followed the same patterns; all of them were hosted on Namecheap and many were bought at auction from GoDaddy and used the Israeli web design platform Wix. The formatting of the websites was similar; in at least two instances MGP and Lyndon Partners it was identical. Even the operatives email signatures were the same consisting of three neatly packed, colorful lines consisting of a phone number, web address and email. The operatives LinkedIn pages were similar, too, featuring men in sunglasses shot from a distance, facing away from the camera, or at unusual angles a tactic sometimes use to frustrate facial recognition algorithms. Despite the indications that the undercover agents are all linked, there is no conclusive evidence who they might work for. An Israeli television channel, Channel 12, broadcast a report on Saturday claiming that an Israeli private investigation firm, Black Cube, had been investigating issues around the lawsuits against NSO. The TV channel showed secretly shot footage of the Cypriot lawyer, Markou, and the London journalist, Hamid, which matched the pairs description of their encounters with undercover agents. The TV segment was critical of the lawyers suing NSO, and quoted NSO founder Shalev Hulio in an interview accusing Markou and her colleagues of pursuing the lawsuits as a PR exercise. NSO has previously denied hiring Black Cube, and Black Cube in a letter sent last month to the AP said it was not involved in the effort to ensnare researchers at Citizen Lab. Black Cube had nothing to do with these alleged events, the letter said, adding that no one acting on the companys behalf did either. Black Cube does have a possible tie to Almog-Assouline, the man who held the hotel meeting about NSO in New York. During a long-running Canadian legal battle between two private equity firms Catalyst Capital and West Face Capital one man caught up in the litigation said he recognized Almog-Assouline because hed been approached by the same operative under a different identity several years ago. I recognized the individual, down to the accent and the anecdotes, said the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. In court filings, Black Cube has acknowledged dispatching agents to meet with various individuals involved in the private equity firms feud. But its unclear if other investigations firms might also have done work connected to the two companies legal battle. Black Cube did not respond to repeated questions about whether it had ever employed Almog-Assouline. The firm previously drew international opprobrium for its unrelated work protecting the reputation of disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. Almog-Assouline himself denied working for Black Cube when two AP reporters confronted him in New York last month. He has refused to answer any questions since. When an AP reporter rang the door at his penthouse in Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Hasharon a week ago, a woman who identified herself as his wife said he wasnt home. When the reporter followed up with a phone call to Almog-Assouline, he said: I have no interest in speaking to you. Raphael Satter, London, AP Exclusive The Macau Portuguese and English Press Association (AIPIM) has called on the Legislative Assembly (AL) to inform local journalists of committee meetings held by the legislative body. The letter addressed to Ho Iat Seng, president of the AL, was sent on Friday after journalists were not informed of the AL Committee on House Rules that was held on Jan. 31. Although local journalists eventually discovered the committee meeting and attended the AL session, it was only afterwards they found out that two meetings of the committee were to be held. AIPIM hereby requests that the existence of such meetings will be made known to journalists, in the same terms as the meetings concerning other AL committees, the letter read. This step is important so that journalists can, in the light of the principles of transparency, public interest and right to information, perform their work best, it added. Last week, lawmaker Sulu Sou filed a complaint regarding what he claims to be the unlawful behavior of the Legislative Assemblys Committee of Rules and Mandates. The lawmaker criticized the fact that not even lawmakers had been informed about the first meeting of the committee. According to Sou, who had expressed his concerns to committee president Kou Hoi In, the president only replied saying that the first meeting was an internal meeting and that was why no other lawmakers, besides those on the committee, had been notified. The lawmaker also sent a letter to the AL complaining about this procedure. LV China is condemning Turkey over its claim that a celebrated musician from Chinas Turkic Muslim Uighur ethnic group has died in custody. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said yesterday that a brief video clip of Abdurehim Heyit issued by state media shows he is still alive. She told a daily briefing that the Turkish side had made a very bad mistake which is quite irresponsible. Turkeys foreign ministry issued a statement Saturday calling Chinas treatment of Uighurs a great cause of shame for humanity, in a rare show of public criticism by a majority Muslim nation. China has interned an estimated 1 million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in re-education camps. Heyit had reportedly been sentenced to eight years over one of his songs. AP The Supreme Court has affirmed the legality of the six-month closure of Boracay Island last year. Voting 11-2, the SC resolved to dismiss the petition filed by three residents in the world-renowned tourist destination seeking to void President Rodrigo Dutertes Proclamation No. 475, which closed Boracay to tourists and non-residents for rehabilitation from April 26 to Oct. 25 last year, an insider revealed. The high court opted to rule on the merits of the petition and declare Proclamation No. 475 as constitutional despite the period of the assailed proclamation already lapsed, which could have made the case moot and academic. The source, who requested anonymity for lack of authority to speak for the Court, said the Court dismissed the petition in April and supplemental petition filed in June last year by three Boracay residentsMark Anthony Zabal, Thiting Estoso Jacosalem and Odeon Bandiola for lack of merit. The SC sustained the arguments of the Solicitor General that Proclamation No. 475 did not violate any provision of the 1987 Constitution as he rebutted the claims of petitioners that it violated the separation of powers as well as the rights to travel and due process.The source said the SC agreed with Solicitor General Jose Calida that the President issued the closure order in exercise of his power as chief executive under Sections 1 and 17, Article VII of the Constitution and declared Boracay under state of calamity upon recommendation by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. The tribunal also affirmed Calidas argument that the right to travel under Section 6, Article III of the Constitution is not absolute as it provides exceptions in cases of national security, public safety or public health, which apply to Boracay Island. It rejected the allegation of petitioners that the executive branch overstepped on the power of Congress in issuing the assailed order and that he had no authority to exercise to close down the island based on its supposed police power. The town hall started with questions about what the newly formed government might look like and how the city of St. Louis' debts would be paid off. The questions turned into statements criticizing Better Together's plan as failing to address inequities, reducing political representation for African-Americans, steering resources away from local governments to regional business interests, and giving Stenger and a handful of appointees undue power over the region. Yes, our schools are going to lose, said St. Louis Alderman Brandon Bosley, who pointed out that the plan would make no changes to school districts. Yes, our children are going to lose. He said the plan would effectively dissolve city government by replacing elected officials and would leave African-Americans without adequate representation. "This is a hostile takeover of the city of St. Louis," he said. Wally Siewert, 43, of St. Louis, said the plan would "starve" government agencies rather than invest in public services. Lets invest in ourselves, not starve ourselves and call it some form of unity," Seiwert said. There were also concerns about Sinquefield's influence on the plan and potential government restructuring. JEFFERSON CITY A proposal that would require small town police departments in St. Louis County to merge with other cities or contract with the county police department for services drew opposition during a Missouri House committee Monday. Under legislation sponsored by Rep. Justin Hill, a Lake Saint Louis Republican and former O'Fallon police officer, municipalities with fewer than 5,000 residents that span no more than two square miles would be required to disband their police forces within five years. About two-dozen departments would be required to combine with neighboring cities or pay St. Louis County for its law enforcement services. Hill sees the effort as a means to address the abundant revenue small police departments gain from questionable traffic tickets, an issue that gained attention after the police shooting of Ferguson resident Michael Brown. I think we can all agree that when Ferguson kicked off, we all had to step back and reassess as a region what was going on in police services, the lawmaker told the House Downsizing State Government Committee. CALmatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California's state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to Commentary. We're sorry, but Newspapers.com doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled. You will need to enable Javascript by changing your browser settings. Learn how to enable it. When Google launched the Android Things platform a few years ago, the idea was to offer an Android-based operating system for Internet of Things gadgets as well as a platform that anyone could use to build IoT projects using Googles SDK and popular devices like a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B. Now Google says its shifting the focus. The companys Google Home Hub smart display with Google Assistant uses an Android Things-based operating system, and the company says over the last year its been working with partners to create other smart speakers and smart displays using Android Things/Google Assistant. So Google is refocusing Android Things as a a platform for OEM partners to build devices in those categories. Google does plan to continue offering system images for the Raspberry Pi 3 and NXP Pico i.MX7D that hackers and developers can use to experiment with the Android Thigns SDK. But the company says it wont officially support other production System on Module devices from Qualcomm, MediaTek, or NXP in the future at least not on the public developer platform. Long story short: if youre a big company looking to build a Google Assistant-powered Smart Display, Google wants to work with you. But it doesnt seem like the company is all that committed to supporting Android Things as a platform for independent developers/makers/smaller companies anymore. Share this article: Share this: Facebook Twitter Reddit Pocket Tumblr Pinterest LinkedIn Email The Armed Forces of the Philippines welcomed the United States commitment to provide P300 million to the country for the enhancement of its intelligence-gathering capabilities, which can be used in the ongoing campaign against terrorism. Any help from our allies is always welcome, especially that we have a common enemy, [which is] global terrorism, AFP public affairs office chief, Col. Noel Detoyato said in a message to the Philippine News Agency when sought for comment on the donation Tuesday. Malacanang on Monday announced that the US government has committed to provide the Philippines with P300 million to enhance the countrys intelligence-gathering capabilities. Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo welcomed this development and described it as proof of strong ties between Manila and Washington.Detoyato, however, said in the fight against terrorism, strong support of the populace is needed, so that this threat can be fully neutralized. However, in the fight to acquire the most relevant, timely and accurate actionable information, technology, which money can buy and trainings which consume funds, the human factor is an indispensable source. So the support of the populace is of paramount importance in the fight against terrorism, he added. Disclosure: Some links on this page are monetized by the Skimlinks, Amazon, Rakuten Advertising, and eBay, affiliate programs. The Lenovo IdeaPad 720s line of laptops are thin and light computers with some premium touches including aluminum bodies, backlit keyboards, Thunderbolt 3 ports, and fingerprint readers. But theyre also a generation old at this point Lenovo is pushing the newer IdeaPad 730S which may explain why Lenovo is selling 13.3 inch IdeaPad 720s models for such low prices during the companys Presidents Day Sale. Right now you can pick up a model with a Core i7 Kaby Lake-R processor, 8GB of RAM, 512GB of solid state storage and a 1080p display for $700. Want a 4K display? Lenovos selling a model with a 3840 x 2160 pixel screen for $800. Here are some of the days best deals. Laptops Smartphones and tablets Google Devices Amazon devices Audio Games and Gaming gear Other Share this article: Share this: Facebook Twitter Reddit Pocket Tumblr Pinterest LinkedIn Email Pretty much every major company that makes consumer routers has gotten into the mesh WiFi business over the past few years. But a startup called eero one of the first companies to posit the idea that youd get better WiFi coverage in your house if you used a system of up to three routers instead of one. Now Amazon has announced its acquiring eero. Its a move that makes sense when you consider that Amazon is already heavily invested in smart home products thanks to its Echo and Alexa ecosystem and Fire TV line of media streaming products all of which work best when you have a solid internet connection. Its unclear at this point what the future holds for eeros product lineup. For now it seems likely that Amazon will continue selling eeros existing devices including the eero router and eeros beacon access points which you can place around your home to improve network coverage. In the future its possible we could see Amazon-branded devices using eero technology: maybe therell be an Amazon WiFi mesh router system to compete with Google WiFi? But its also possible we could see mesh networking built into other Amazon devices. What if every Echo smart speaker was also an access point? Does everyone need a mesh WiFi system? Probably not. Theres a single 802.11ac WiFi router on the third floor of our house, and while the signal isnt as strong on the first floor as it is on the third, I can still stream 4K video anywhere in the house. So Im not in a hurry to buy more gadgets that need to be plugged in 24/7. But if you have a larger (or more awkwardly laid out) home, its nice to have the option of picking up a WiFi range extender or a mesh system to help cover hard-to-reach areas. Share this article: Share this: Facebook Twitter Reddit Pocket Tumblr Pinterest LinkedIn Email January 23, 1944 February 7, 2019 Jim Lamp was born in Portland, Oregon to Rolland and Alice (Workinger) Lamp. He moved to the homestead in Shedd at the age of 2. Jim went to Central Linn High School, graduating in 1962 and was a member of FFA. He graduated from Eugene Technical School as a machinist prior to joining the Navy in 1965. Jim was active duty on the USS Epping Forest in Vietnam from 1965 1967 and remained on reserve status for another year. Jim returned home and married Petronella Pat Schukis on May 28, 1967. Jim was a machinist for 40 years. Upon retirement, Jim began volunteering for the Albany chapter of Habitat for Humanity. When not building homes, he enjoyed fishing, camping, and traveling. Jim succumbed to metastatic pancreatic cancer on February 7, 2019. Jim is survived by his wife, Pat; daughter, Debra Lamp of Salem; as well as his two sisters, Doris Friday (Walt) of Salem and Judith Lamp of Hillsboro. Jim was preceded in death by his parents; and son, Jeffrey Lamp. A private burial will be held at Oakville Cemetery. From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report. Marriage. Is it a romantic situation with some practical parts? Or is it a practical situation with some romantic parts? Couples and cultures differ. But experts on marriage warn that, in general, romantic love you know, that excited feeling you have at the beginning of a relationship lasts only for about a year. As the relationship continues, partners need to make sure they can still live together happily. In other words, they need to be compatible. But how do you know if you are compatible with someone? Like in a job interview, you need to ask questions. Several websites suggest questions you should ask your future bride or groom. We have collected here some of the ones that appear most often. What kind of debt do you have? A 2018 poll by the Pew Research Center found that money is one of the top five things couples fight about. Before tying the knot another way of saying getting married you should talk to your partner about any money each of you owes such as student loans, house or car payments. One reason to talk about debt is because married couples may want to make a costly purchase together, such as a house. Debt could limit your ability to do so. And do not forget about credit card debt. This probably tells more about a persons relationship with money than any other kind of debt. That leads us to our next question. What are your spending habits? Some people are good at saving money. They take comfort in having extra in the bank. Others are good at spending money. Shopping, for them, can bring comfort. If you and your partner spend money differently it could lead to conflict. Now is a good time to talk about savings, budgets and how you will handle your finances together. How do you feel about a clean house? Cleaning up around the house may not seem like a big deal. However, the same poll noted earlier found that 62 percent of all Americans said sharing household duties is important to a successful marriage. How will you and your partner divide them? When talking about cleaning the house, there is another related question. How do you feel about clutter? For some people, living in a house with things everywhere can be very stressful. Other people have a hard time throwing anything away. It is important to know how you and your partner will deal with the everyday stuff of life. How much time do you spend on social media or other technology? Some people can spend hours on Facebook or playing video games. Other people hate using their time in such a way. Maybe they like to go hiking or play an instrument for hours instead. So, at the heart of this question is this simpler but all-important one: How do you like to spend your time? Couples who share the same interests -- whatever they may be -- are more likely to succeed at being married. Do you want children? Okay, whether or not to have children is a big question. In marriage, many areas are negotiable. Couples can find a compromise. However, the question of whether or not to have children is not one of these areas. For many people the issue of children can be a deal-breaker. So, find out before you walk down the aisle, find out if you both have the same expectations about babies yes, no, how many and when? Have you ever been arrested? If you have for what? This may sound obvious. But you may be surprised by what you learn. Before you marry someone, it is a good idea to find out if your partner has a criminal record. But keep in mind that not having an arrest record may simply mean that they have never been caught. So, while you are on the topic, you could also ask about a history of gambling, overusing alcohol or drugs or, perhaps, violence. How much time alone do you need to be happy? You cant spend every minute together. Or can you? Best to ask. Some people are most happy when they are around others. In fact, some people hate to be alone. But other people may need large amounts of time by themselves. It is important to share where you fall on this line. Some people may take it personally if their partner does not want to be with them all the time. And the people who need to be alone may feel trapped by being with someone day in and day out, even if it is someone they love. These are just some of the questions you may want to ask before getting married. These topics may be uncomfortable. But a couple hours of feeling uncomfortable is better than a lifetime of conflict. Also, experts warn to be careful of someone who does not want to answer questions such as these. That is perhaps the greatest warning sign of all. And thats the Health & Lifestyle report. Im Anna Matteo. And Im Bryan Lynn. Happy Valentines Day! Love and marriage Love and marriage Go together like a horse and carriage This I'll tell you, brother, You can't have one without the other... Is there an important question we have forgotten? What advice would you add to the list? Let us know in the Comments Section! Anna Matteo wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor. At the end of the story, Frank Sinatra sings Love and Marriage. _____________________________________________________________ Quiz - Questions to Ask Before You Marry Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story compatible adj. capable of existing together in a satisfactory relationship (as marriage) practical adj. relating to what is real rather than to what is possible or imagined romance n. a love affair (romantic adj. of, relating to, or involving love between two people clutter n. a crowded or confused mass or collection negotiable adj. able to be discussed and changed before an agreement or decision is made compromise n. a way of reaching agreement in which each person or group gives up something that was wanted in order to end an argument or dispute walk down the aisle idiomatic phrase to get married deal-breaker n. something that is important enough to you to prevent you from agreeing to something, buying something, etc. obvious adj. easily discovered, seen, or understood Hundreds of thousands of Iranians demonstrated Monday to mark the 40th anniversary of the countrys Islamic Revolution. Some of the protesters burned U.S. flags. Others carried pictures of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Shiite religious leader whose return from exile led to the ouster of Irans Shah. On February 11, 1979, Irans army declared its neutrality in the dispute between the two sides. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his family were forced to flee the country. On Monday, Iranian state television broadcast images of people carrying Iranian flags and standing out in cold, rainy weather. Some demonstrators shouted Death to Israel, Death to America -- sayings often repeated at the time of the revolution. The Shah was the United States closest ally in the Middle East. One sign read, Much to the dismay of America, the revolution has reached its 40th year. Soldiers, students, clergymen and women wearing black filled streets across Iran. Many people carried pictures of Khomeini, who died in 1989, and Irans current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Economic hard times The large crowds at state-supported marches came as Iranians increasingly face economic hardship. Last year, the government suppressed protests over poor living conditions in over 80 cities and towns. The unrest was the most serious threat to Irans religious leaders since protests over disputed elections in 2009. Prices of food, especially meat, have risen a lot since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran. Trump also reestablished U.S. economic sanctions against Iran. In January, President Hassan Rouhani said his country was experiencing its worst economic crisis since the overthrow of the Shah. He told Iranians that the Shah cared mostly about rich people and let the countrys secret police carry out abuses. Iranian warnings In a speech at Tehrans Azadi (Freedom) square, Rouhani said U.S. efforts to separate Iran from other countries would fail. He said, We will not let America become victorious...Iranian people have and will have some economic difficulties but we will overcome the problems by helping each other. Another Iranian official warned that his country would destroy cities in Israel if the United States attacked Iran. Yadollah Javani is the Revolutionary Guards assistant head for political affairs. He said, The United States does not have the courage to shoot a single bullet at us. The state news agency IRNA reported his comments. At a parade to mark the anniversary, Iran showed off its weaponry, including a ground-to-ground missile that can travel a distance of 700 kilometers. The Tasnim news agency reported that another missile can travel up to 800 kilometers. Im Jonathan Evans. The Reuters News Agency reported this story. Susan Shand adapted the report for VOA Learning English. The editor was George Grow. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story dismay n.causing someone to feel worried or shocked supreme adj.chief or commanding; leading; top sanctions n.an action that is taken to force a country to obey international laws by limiting or stopping trade with that country courage n. the ability to do something that is dangerous without fear During a trip to Afghanistan, Americas acting defense chief said that the Afghan people must be a part of peace negotiations to shape the countrys future. Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan arrived Monday in Kabul for an unannounced visit. He held talks with President Ashraf Ghani and other Afghan officials. Before the meeting, Shanahan told reporters that he would make clear his support for Afghan officials being included in negotiations aimed at ending the countrys 17-year war. U.S. officials have led several rounds of talks with Taliban representatives in recent weeks. The goal of the talks is to reach a peace deal agreed to by all sides in the war. Taliban fighters currently carry out near-daily attacks in the country, mainly on Afghan security forces. The Taliban currently controls about half the countrys territory. The war began when U.S.-led forces launched attacks shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. The military action was aimed at ousting the Taliban from power. U.S. officials accused Taliban leaders of providing support to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his followers. Zalmay Khalilzad is the U.S. negotiator who led the latest round of talks with Taliban representatives in the Gulf nation of Qatar. He has reported significant progress in the talks. He said on Friday that he hopes a peace deal can be reached by July. That is when Afghanistan is set to hold a presidential election. The next round of talks is set for February 25 in Qatar. So far, the Taliban has refused to permit Ghanis government to join the peace talks. Taliban leaders say they do not recognize the current Afghan government. U.S. officials have sought to resolve the disagreement so all parties can take part. The Afghans have to decide what Afghanistan looks like, Shanahan told reporters. Its not about the U.S., its about Afghanistan, he said. Shanahan also said he had not received orders from U.S. President Donald Trump to reduce the number of American troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. military has about 14,000 troops in the country. About 8,000 troops from 38 other countries are also involved in the effort. During his State of the Union address last week, Trump said the United States would keep working toward a peace deal to end the Afghan war. We do not know whether we will achieve an agreement, Trump said. But he added: We do know that after two decades of war, the hour has come to at least try for peace. Im Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn wrote this story for Learning English, based on reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and VOA News. Ashley Thompson was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story emphasize v. show that something is especially important or needs special attention significant adj. important achieve v. succeed in doing something decade n. ten years Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager-Dove Co-Authors Legislation to Restore the Right to Vote to People on Parole SACRAMENTO, CA) Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) introduced Assembly Constitutional Amendment 6 (ACA 6), known as the Free the Vote Act, which would allow people on parole to vote. Currently, approximately 46,000 Californians who have been released from prison are not allowed to vote in local, state or federal elections. Parolees are our family members, our neighbors and our colleagues. They have been released from prison because they are no longer considered threats to society, but they are considered too dangerous to vote? That is absurd! Kamlager-Dove said in a news conference outside the State Capitol. ADVERTISEMENT A study published by the UC Berkeley La Raza Law Journal found that states that permanently disenfranchise ex-felons experience significantly higher repeat offense rates than states that do not. Furthermore, a survey conducted by Initiate Justice found that more than 76 percent of respondents on parole believed that voting would help them stay out of jail and feel more connected to their communities. It is time to restore the right to vote for individuals who have served their time, said Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento). ACA 6 will eliminate an arbitrary barrier to voting, reduce recidivism and give formerly incarcerated people an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to become productive, contributing members of our society. Civic participation is foundational to a sense of communityand it can play a major role in reducing recidivism, said Secretary of State Alex Padilla. If we are serious about reintegrating the formerly incarcerated into society, we should not be shunning them from democracy. If ACA 6 is passed by the state legislature and approved by Governor Newsom, it will go to California voters in 2020. Assemblywoman Kamlager-Dove proudly represents Californias 54th Assembly District which consists of Baldwin Hills, the Crenshaw district, Culver City, Century City, Westwood, Holmby Hills, Ladera Heights, Mar Vista and parts of South Los Angeles and Inglewood. Assemblymember Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove) SACRAMENTO Assemblymember Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove) released the following statement regarding a recent ruling made by a California Appellate Judge on the early release of a violent parolee: On January 31 a California Appellate judge ruled that a man originally sentenced to 35 years to life in state prison is now eligible for early release under Proposition 57, the California Parole for Non-Violent Criminals and Juvenile Court Trial Requirements Initiative. The felon was convicted of stabbing his girlfriend with a butcher knife, forcibly molesting his 11-year-old niece and gang raping a 17-year-old pregnant teenager. It pains me to describe these offenses but its imperative that I do because there is something grossly wrong with current law pertaining to these offenses. Under Proposition 57, the courts have ruled that violent sexual offenders and even a felon that stabbed his girlfriend is considered a non-violent criminal. This ruling marks the second time in the past year that a court has ruled that pedophiles and rapists will be considered for early release from prison (proponents promised voters this would never happen) under the highly misrepresented Proposition 57. While Proposition 57 promised to keep violent offenders in prison, the list of crimes considered as non-violent are unimaginable. The list includes pimping a child, beating a spouse and raping an unconscious or disabled person. Victims rights groups and legal experts all warned the initiative was too risky and would likely lead to the early release of some of societys worst criminals. The electorate was misled and they will ultimately be the ones to pay the price if we dont start an honest conversation about the realities of the impacts of Proposition 57. This conversation is long overdue. Its time for legislative leaders, criminal justice reform groups and public safety experts to come together to address this issue. So, the spreading ooze from Philly labor leader John Johnny Doc Doughertys indictment now touches the state Supreme Court, too often home to the ethically challenged, ever an argument for merit-appointed judges. Yep, just a few years after two of the courts seven robed honorables (one from each party) resigned in a porn scandal, which happened just after another of its honorables resigned following her corruption conviction, now come possible, if not probable, probes of another justice. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported last week that Docs brother, Democratic Justice Kevin Dougherty, is among family members the government says got benefits in his case, snow shoveling and a weeks work of construction, repair and painting at his northeast Philly home paid for with allegedly stolen union dough. The feds charge Doc and five other International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 employees with embezzling more than $600,000 between 2010 and 2016. Everyone has pleaded not guilty. Justice Dougherty, a former Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge, is not charged or even named in the indictment, where, the Inquirer reports, hes identified as Family Member #4. He hasnt commented. His lawyer says hes done nothing wrong and has paid for any work done at his house. And maybe thats so. Still, almost immediately, partisan cages were rattled. State Republican Party Chairman Val DiGiorgio called on officialdom the U.S. attorney, state attorney general, the state Judicial Conduct Board to look more closely at Justice Dougherty to ensure no fatal ethical taint precludes him from the proper administration of justice. This is a straight jab gloved in velvet. And maybe just an opening punch. I, for one, wouldnt be surprised if Republican legislative bigwigs are gleefully reviewing a menu of options to mess with Dougherty and his court. After all, GOP leaders still stew (some broil) over losing the court majority in 2015 when three Democrats, including Dougherty, won seats; and stew (and broil) even more over the courts 2018 outlawing of legislatively drawn congressional maps and ordering new maps favorable to Democrats. (Pennsylvanias U.S. House delegation flipped from 13-5 Republican prior to the courts action to a 9-9 partisan tie after last years midterm elections. Its currently 9-8 Democratic, with a vacancy due to the resignation last month of GOP U.S. Rep. Tom Marino. A special election to replace him is set for May 21.) But even absent any GOP revenge, a sitting justice linked to a 116-count federal indictment filled with charges of embezzlement, bribery, theft and more, creates a cloud over a court thats had its share of rain. If the reports are accurate, they create very significant problems, said Widener Law School professor Michael Dimino, who writes on constitutional law and judicial elections. Public esteem for the courts is absolutely essential, he said. Without it, the public has no reason to respect judicial rulings. Chief Justice Thomas Saylor and Justice Dougherty, through a court spokesperson, declined my requests for interviews. I understand allegations arent proof. I understand were not talking about the stuff of high crimes and misdemeanors (OK, maybe misdemeanors, depending who your brother is). But this is problematic. Looks suspect. Leaves a bad taste. Adds to the courts and the states already woeful reputation. GOP Justice Joan Orie Melvin resigned in 2013, convicted of using judicial staff for campaign work. Democratic Justice Seamus McCaffery resigned in 2014, and Republican Justice Michael Eakin resigned in 2016, both caught up in an email porn scandal triggered by former, now-jailed state Attorney General Kathleen Kane. Ah, Pennsylvania. The common thread here is lapsed judgment, lapsed ethics, a problem that seems sewn through the cloth of the feds extensive indictment. It doesnt help that Local 98 under Docs reign provided more than $1 million in support of Kevin Doughertys 2015 campaign. He shouldnt have taken it. Didnt need it. Even without it, he raised more money than all other candidates. He got more votes than all other candidates. And even with abstaining from certain cases to avoid conflicts of interest, accepting such aid looks fishy. Not saying he should be judged by the reputation of his brother, or his court, or the often-ugly politics of his city and state. Im saying the very nature of that backdrop demands a higher standard. Appearance, especially in the judiciary, matters. Suspect alliances or actions by those who judge others taint the promise of equal justice under law. That promise, already fragile, becomes more shaky with each episode of questionable judicial behavior. Some underpinning repairs are in order. An outright ban on gifts to judges. And ending Pennsylvanias status as one of only a few states picking judges at all levels through partisan elections. John Baer is a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News; his column is syndicated by MCT. Email: baerj@phillynews.com. It sounded like an answer to prayers for millions with diabetes struggling to pay soaring prices for insulin. At a congressional hearing last month, Sen. Mike Enzi said an adviser had found a foundation to import insulin for a number of people at lower cost. The Wyoming Republican told the mother of a young man with Type 1 diabetes that his adviser worked through a foundation so that it would be legal, and I will share that with you. Such a group could link patients to safe medicines while saving them hundreds or thousands of dollars a year. But it doesnt appear to exist, leaving patients with diabetes to either pay sky-high U.S. prices or try to import cheap insulin on their own, which is technically illegal. Enzi spokesman Max DOnofrio said he was unable to identify the group. And neither the American Diabetes Association nor the Campaign for Personal Prescription Importation is aware of a foundation like the one Enzi described, officials at those groups said. I have no idea what Sen. Enzi was talking about, but Id like to know, said Gabriel Levitt, president of PharmacyChecker.com, which helps patients compare medicine prices and connect with foreign pharmacies. Enzi spoke at a Jan. 29 hearing on drug prices held by the Senate finance committee. He was addressing Kathy Sego, whose son had skipped insulin doses to save the family money and was profiled by Kaiser Health News in 2017. Sego said she wants more information but never heard back from Enzis office. I have not heard of ANY foundation which helps people with insulin, she said via email. Sen. Enzi talks to a number of informal advisers, constituents and stakeholders who are concerned about health care costs, including drug prices, and he was referring to an anecdotal conversation he had, DOnofrio said. Insulin list prices have risen as much as threefold in the past decade and patients can pay hundreds of dollars per month even with insurance. While insulin makers Sanofi, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk often rebate a portion of those increases back to insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers, patients share of the cost is often based on the list price. Uninsured patients have to pay everything themselves. Insulin brands sold in the United States can be bought for less than half as much in Canada and Mexico, prompting unknown numbers of people to drive across the border or order insulin by mail. Unauthorized importation of prescription medicine is technically illegal, but the Food and Drug Administration allows entry of shipments when the quantity and purpose are clearly for personal use, according to agency rules. Insulin needs to be refrigerated, but some Canadian pharmacies will mail it in cold packs to the United States, patients report. Just over a year ago, FDA criminal investigation agents searched stores in Florida that help consumers order many kinds of drugs from Canada and elsewhere. That suggests that a foundation importing insulin in bulk might be subject to the same kind of scrutiny. For Enzis part, he continues to have concerns that importing prescription drugs from other countries will not solve the problem of rising drug prices, said his spokesman, DOnofrio. He hopes Congress takes real action this year to lower health care costs. Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente. The proposed 75-acre Oregon Village development would include $6.2 million in highway improvements, including added turn lanes, a new segment of Oregon Road and four new traffic signals, a traffic expert testified Monday night. John Schick, testifying for the developer, said the developer-funded improvements would upgrade intersections rated as failing by the state. If no improvements are made along busy Oregon Pike, delays would become substantially worse, he said. Over 50 people, many concerned about the projects scale, turned out on a snowy night for the hearing before the Manheim Township commissioners. It was the third night of testimony, and no decision was made. The developers, owners of the popular Oregon Dairy supermarket and restaurant, are asking the commissioners to approve a conditional use to allow for a mixed-use project that would dramatically enlarge the Village of Oregon. The proposed project includes 550 residential units, including apartments, townhouses and one-story homes for older adults. Also proposed are a supermarket, a restaurant and banquet center, a hotel, a convenience store, shops and a bank. The project spans about 75 acres on two adjacent sites: the current Oregon Dairy complex and the abandoned Shawnee resort, both along Oregon Pike near the Route 222 interchange. The township in 2011 created a village overlay zone for the Oregon Village Growth Area that allows for mixed-use development. New intersection A major feature of the proposed highway improvements is relocation of eastbound Oregon Road to a new intersection with Oregon Pike, just west of Creek Road. The existing Creek Road and Oregon Pike intersection would be closed. The new segment of Oregon Road would feature a speed-reducing traffic circle and an entrance to a convenience store. Schick said the new Oregon Road segment would direct most traffic away from the crash-prone intersection of Creek and Oregon roads in front of Reflections Restaurant, 1390 E. Oregon Road. 4 new traffic lights The four intersections that would get traffic lights are all along Oregon Pike. From south to north, the new signals would be at the ramp from southbound Route 222, at the relocated Oregon Road, at the main entrance to residences at the former Shawnee site, and at Bushong Road. The existing signalized intersection at Oregon Pike and Jake Landis Road would get a major upgrade. Oregon Pike would be widened from four lanes to six lanes at the new Oregon Road and Oregon Pike intersection, allowing for turn lanes. The township would garner $469,000 in impact fees from the project, Schick said. He said the proposed changes were made in consultation with the state Department of Transportation. The hearing resumes at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25 at Manheim Township High Schools Convocation Hall. More coverage: Forty years after the worst nuclear plant accident in U.S. history, the fight to save that facility and potentially Pennsylvanias entire nuclear future is about to pick up steam in the state Capitol. Three Mile Island, still infamous for its partial meltdown in March 1979, is scheduled to begin shutting down in September. Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station in Beaver County is planned to close in 2021. And in an electric market that pits aging and expensive nuclear plants against cheaper and less labor-intense natural gas, some say Pennsylvanias three other nuclear plants wont be far behind. The timeline for lawmakers to intervene preventing what advocates say would be a devastating loss for the environment, grid reliability and the economy is unforgiving. To save TMI, legislation needs to be introduced, vetted, passed through both chambers and signed by the governor by the end of May, said state Sen. Ryan Aument, who has led the Nuclear Energy Caucus for the last two years. His group quietly announced its official proposed fix last week, stating in memos that upcoming legislation will include nuclear energy in the states Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards. That would essentially force consumers to pick up part of the tab in compensating plants for their zero carbon-emissions impact. Gov. Tom Wolf, who recently announced his ambitious greenhouse gas reduction plan, said in an interview last week he hasnt considered the legislation yet because it hasnt been fully formulated. But he said he is personally focused on what happens to the plant workers and communities around them. The legislation will be finalized in the coming weeks, and then the aggressive timeline really kicks in, said Aument, a Lancaster County Republican whose district borders TMI. The issue is sort of the worst when it comes to legislative issues that Ive experienced in Harrisburg, he said. Its urgent. Its expensive. Its complicated. And its irreversible once this process begins to prematurely shut these plants down. Nuclear energy in PA Impacted businesses, employees and the union leaders who represent them are expected to lobby frequently in the coming months for an industry that has a wide-reaching footprint and history in Pennsylvania. Representing 42 percent of Pennsylvanias energy output, nuclear is the single biggest energy generator in the state and puts the Keystone State behind only Illinois in nuclear production. It plays a role in providing about 4,700 full-time jobs directly and about 11,200 other indirect jobs including 675 full-time jobs at risk this year if TMI closes, according to a 2016 study from the The Brattle Group, a Boston-based economic consultant that is referred to frequently in the Nuclear Energy Caucus report. So when those jobs looked like they were about to vanish a couple years ago after TMI lost $800 million in five years and Exelon, its owner, couldnt sell the plants energy at the grid-operator PJM Interconnection auctions Aument and others decided to step in. Aument, along with the sponsor of his bill in the House, Rep. Thomas Mahaffie, warned in the legislative memos they circulated last week that if all five Pennsylvania plants housing nine reactors would be decommissioned, it could mean a $4.6 billion hit based on increased electricity costs, lost gross domestic product and associated pollution costs caused by new carbon emissions. Alternative energy Established in 2004, Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards the Nuclear Energy Caucus preferred solution requires electricity distributors and suppliers to ensure that 18 percent of all electricity they buy in 2021 is from alternative energy resources like solar and wind. The standards break sources into two tiers. In 2017, the most frequent renewables in Tier 1 were wind, wood and wood waste solids, and landfill gas electricity generation, according to the latest standards report. In Tier 2, waste, coal and hydro-pumped storage make up almost all of it. Nuclear would be incorporated as a new third tier. Heres how it would work: Distributors would be directed to buy a certain amount of their energy from nuclear (the specific amount is still being discussed), and the cost increase would get passed down to customers. Lawmakers have also discussed the possibility of including additional forms of renewables, possibly in the new third tier with nuclear. Rep. Greg Vitali, the ranking Democrat on the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and one of the General Assemblys fiercest environmental advocates, said he agrees with the approach if its done in a reasonable way. At the end of the day, this is going to result in transferring a huge amount of our constituents money to a very wealthy corporation Exelon so we have to make sure that we get the best deal for the people of Pennsylvania, and that may involve legislation including more renewables, Vitali said. That huge amount is the all-important question moving forward. The bills sponsors say the move, under the details theyre still drafting, could cost every energy customer in the state about $2 more every month. But the total price tag is still a mystery. A fiscal analysis, possibly by a firm outside the Legislature, will be necessary after the bill is formally introduced, Aument said. Aument likens it to one of the largest and most debated initiatives the General Assembly tackled in recent years the $2.3 billion infrastructure bill in 2014. That cost was passed down right to consumers through gas tax hikes and various other fees. If we fail to make this investment now, Aument said, the solution is going to be far more costly, far more expensive in the future with I think devastating consequences on our environment and economy, similar to the consequences we would have felt had we done nothing on transportation, in terms of crumbling infrastructure and bridges and highways. Right solution? Proponents of the plan say its necessary to keep around a form of clean energy, but also because consumers will otherwise be increasingly exposed as gas companies build a near-monopoly in the market. Dr. Gregory Reed, director of the University of Pittsburghs Center for Energy and Energy Grid Institute, said the proposed standards would definitely be an effective solution in the short term and, hopefully, the long term. The program has been successful (even if its successful at a minimum level, in his opinion), so the incentives would give a boost to the plants, he said. In terms of grid resiliency and reliability, some argue that Pennsylvanias status as an energy exporter shows theres enough electricity production to keep the state and regional 13-state grid reliable without TMI and Beaver Valley. Reeds concern, he said, is if there is a domino effect with the states three other nuclear plants closing in the coming years and he thinks there would be the question becomes where that replacement generation would come from. We could probably absorb the impact of maybe one or two (closures), but you start to get beyond 20 percent (of the total generation) and then you start to see the impact of what thats going to mean in the carbon emission component and the grid stability, Reed said. Climate change Another one of those looming questions is how Wolfs latest environmental policy agenda will play a role in the outcome. Last month he signed an executive order establishing new greenhouse gas emissions goals a reduction of 26 percent by 2025, based on 2005 levels, and of 80 percent by 2050. Nuclear proponents say those thresholds will not only be impossible to reach without nuclear energy, but that losing nuclear would almost immediately wipe out previous gains made by investing in renewables in the last 15 years. The existing plants account for 93 percent of Pennsylvanias clean energy output. Wolf, when asked if he can meet his carbon goals without nuclear, told The Caucus that a lot of it depends on how fast we move toward solar and wind in the future, and what actually is in the portfolio standards moving forward. On the other side, he may be faced with environmental advocates and others still concerned about nuclears effects. Eric Epstein, whose watchdog group Three Mile Island Alert launched in 1977, indicated in a joint letter to senators last week that his group believes the zero-emissions aspect of nuclear is mythology when all aspects of the industry are taken into account. Aument, meanwhile, acknowledged hes come to a kind of evolution on the issue as hes learned about the public health detriments of climate change, such as the effects of poor air quality. He said his party hasnt yet caught up on that end. From a political perspective, I think Republicans are going to have problems, rightfully so, with some key constituencies in the suburban areas of the state, and particularly among younger voters, if we cant speak intelligently about climate change, if we dont recognize this as an issue and cant begin to talk about solutions, Aument said. Winners and losers Other opposition will come in the form of a reluctance to interfere in the competitive energy market that was deregulated two decades ago. Citizens Against Nuclear Bailouts whose members include familiar names such as the Marcellus Shale Coalition, Americans for Prosperity Pennsylvania, NFIB Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association point out that nuclear power plants made more than $600 million in profits in 2018, according to the PJM Market Monitoring Plan, and only TMI reported being in the red. When asked if Exelon supports the plan to move nuclear into the alternative energy standards, company spokesman Paul Adams said in a statement that its an important next step toward valuing the carbon-free energy that nuclear provides Pennsylvania. Moving quickly With the tight time frame in a General Assembly that, as Aument says, doesnt have a great track record of moving quickly on issues, he and others know its going to be a heavy lift. One potential element Aument might have going for him right off the bat is a few close allies in the neighboring chamber. House Majority Leader Bryan Cutler hasnt yet committed to a solution, but his personal friendship with Aument dates back to elementary school in southern Lancaster County. Cutler has not said explicitly what he will support but said at a recent Pennsylvania Press Club lunch he had some questions about what a less-diverse energy portfolio would mean for consumers if and when gas prices go up. Aument, for now, isnt making any promises. Im optimistic but Im not kidding myself. I know its a challenge, a significant challenge, he said. UPDATE (MARCH 13, 2019): A veteran Lancaster County prosecutor and leading Republican candidate for district attorney was suspended for undisclosed reasons last month but returned to work after complaining that the disciplinary action was politically motivated, three people in county government with knowledge of the matter told LNP. Assistant District Attorney Mark Fetterman alleged in a grievance communicated to the county human resources director that his boss, District Attorney and judicial hopeful Craig Stedman, acted improperly when he suspended him with pay beginning Jan. 30, the sources told LNP on the condition they not be identified because they are not authorized to speak about personnel matters. Stedman responded to questions from LNP through a spokesman, Brett Hambright, who denied the allegations. We do not comment on personnel issues, let alone comments about personnel issues - real, rumored, or imagined. Nor do we comment on complaints that do not exist, Hambright wrote. However, the district attorney has been elected three times to protect the lives and welfare of the citizens of this county. In that time, every employment action ever taken with anyone working in this office has been directly and exclusively related to that mission and nothing else. Further, any personnel action ever taken by this office has always come after consultation with and in accordance with the recommendations of the countys Department of Human Resources. Craig Lehman I think given that the two individuals involved are candidates for public office, any reasonable person would question whether the action was of a political nature. Commissioner Craig Lehman But the human resources department ended Fettermans suspension only days after he communicated his grievance about the action, the three people in county government told LNP. In a public statement issued on behalf of the board of commissioners Feb. 5, county solicitor Christina Hausner said the employment action in this case has been reversed and the status quo restored. Hausner added that the department will continue to review the matter. Both Fetterman, who returned to work Feb. 4, and his attorney, Michael D. Hess, declined to comment for this story. The clash between two politically ambitious prosecutors offers a rare glimpse into the work environment in an office that is typically buttoned-up and image-conscious; it is the only county department, for example, that employs a full-time media specialist at taxpayer expense to handle press inquiries and control the flow of information from local law enforcement to the public. Fetterman and Stedman, both of Manheim Township, are well-connected in the local and countywide Republican committees. Fetterman is seeking the partys endorsement for district attorney, a position Stedman is vacating after three four-year terms to run for county judge. The office of district attorney, which pays $179,299, is highly coveted among prosecutors in the office. Fetterman and Assistant District Attorney Karen Mansfield are the only two from the office seeking party endorsement for district attorney; Stedmans highest-ranking deputy, political ally Chris Larsen, did not participate in the GOPs informal straw polls in January. Private-practice attorney Heather Adams, a former prosecutor with the Attorney General's office, is also seeking the endorsement. The party meets to endorse candidates on Feb. 19, which is also the first day candidates are able to begin collecting signatures if they want to appear on the primary ballot in May. Participation in the partys straw-poll and endorsement processes, though important to successful campaigns, is not necessary to run for office. Fettermans suspension came amid the Republican Committee of Lancaster Countys scrutiny of a 2008 complaint against him by a fellow prosecutor in the District Attorneys Office and how the grievance was handled at the time. As reported by LNP and LancasterOnline last week, then-assistant district attorney Carolyn J. Flannery alleged Fetterman made an unwanted romantic advance to her in 2008 and, when rejected, later said he would hate to see anything happen to (her) career. Fetterman has emphatically denied Flannerys allegations but acknowledged that Stedman issued an informal recommendation that we [Fetterman and the female colleague] avoid one another at the time. There was no formal discipline to either of us related to this matter. We both agreed that this result and the handling by the district attorney was satisfactory, Fetterman said. Fetterman continues to enjoy support from key allies in the party. R. Larson Lundquist, assistant treasurer of the Manheim Township Republican Committee, was among eight senior members of the party who were invited by Fetterman to review his personnel file at county offices on Feb. 4. Lundquist wrote in a letter to LNP that he believes the prosecutors version of events. There was no finding of wrongdoing on Fetterman's part. There were consistently good performance evaluations, including very good on relationship skills immediately after the alleged incident and throughout his career, Lundquist wrote. I know Fetterman to be a quintessential family man. I plan to vote to endorse him with absolute confidence. County officials contacted by LNP in the past week have repeatedly declined to comment on how the 2008 matter relates to the disciplinary action Stedman took against Fetterman on Jan. 30. In a written statement last week, county solicitor Christina Hausner wrote on behalf of the three county commissioners: Through the county department of human resources and county solicitor, the board of commissioners has been made aware of an employment action taken with regard to a county employee in the district attorneys office. The employment action in this case has been reversed and the status quo restored. Human resources will continue to review the matter. Hausner later confirmed the employee was Fetterman. The commissioners met privately half a dozen times between January 31 and February 5. Hausner said the employment action against Fetterman had been discussed at all of them. Commissioners Josh Parsons and Dennis Stuckey, both Republicans, declined to comment. Commissioner Craig Lehman, a Democrat, said he take(s) this matter seriously. I think given that the two individuals involved are candidates for public office, any reasonable person would question whether the action was of a political nature, Lehman said. Im pleased that HR is going to continue to review the matter, and Im going to be keeping a close eye on this issue because I think it is an important one for county government. The county employee handbook ensures separation between county functions and political campaign activities. The policy states employees cannot directly or indirectly promise or threaten a change in an employees work or working conditions as consideration for campaign activities, support, or contributions. County officials have declined to comment about the specific nature of Fettermans grievance or whether the human resources review of the matter involves a potential violation of the employee handbooks policies on political activities. The Lancaster County District Attorneys Office has appealed a decision by the state Office of Open Records ordering the release of information on goods seized during drug investigations. In an appeal filed Feb. 6 by Assistant District Attorney Caitlin Blazier, the district attorneys office states the open records offices decision clearly constitutes an error of law and should be reversed by a Lancaster County judge. The district attorneys office states the decision ignores the plain meaning of the Forfeiture Act, which governs methods in which law enforcement confiscate items during drug investigations. Those items include drugs, phones, vehicles, money and firearms. The open records office ruled in favor of LNP reporter Carter Walker last month following his Right-to-Know Law request in September. He filed the request with district attorneys offices in Lancaster, York, Dauphin, Lebanon, Berks and Chester counties seeking records of items seized during narcotics trafficking investigations. Walker also sought records of how the valuables were processed once confiscated and, if sold, how funds were allocated or spent. The Lancaster County District Attorneys office denied the request in October, claiming a statute in the Forfeiture Act prohibits the release of information used in confidential audits and investigatory matters. In the request, Walker specifically stated he was not seeking audits. Rather, he sought the underlying information used to create them. On Jan. 7, the Office of Open Records arrived at a similar conclusion of distinguishing between the two. Because the (law) only makes the audit confidential, the requested records are not made confidential under the (law), the decision stated. Robert M. Krasne, publisher of LNP and LancasterOnline, and chairman and CEO of Steinman Communications, stated disappointment in the appeal. I am disheartened to learn that instead of following the (Office of Open Records) order, the District Attorney's office is using taxpayer dollars to litigate the matter in an effort to deprive taxpayers access to information, he said. This is inconsistent with principals (sic) of government transparency and undermines public trust in government, Krasne added. In a statement, Lancaster County District Attorney's Office spokesman Brett Hambright said, we encourage LNP to read the law and our filed brief and remind them that their request does not regard the use of taxpayer funds. Hambright adds the law dictates the offices response and that the audits are required to ensure the funds are used appropriately. That same law specifically states that certain items are not to be disclosed to the public. The law is simple and clear, he said. Further, we have been held in compliance every single year per the auditors. Eighteen minutes. 1,080 seconds. A little more than 15 minutes, a little less than 20. Thats all the time Abraham Lincoln had for Lancaster on Feb. 22, 1861, on his way to a historic inauguration in Washington, D.C. Once word hit the citizens of Lancaster that Lincoln would be making his way from Springfield, Illinois, to Philadelphia, meetings were arranged and niceties prepared. A gathering convened to broach the subject of a visit with Lincolns campaign manager Colonel Wood on Feb. 14, while Lincoln was already on his train. It took a full week, right up until the day before the visit, for a confirmation. Click here for more interesting Lancaster County history knowledge. As can be expected, every small town on Lincolns route wanted a piece of him. It was reported that in a small town in Ohio, a man had prepared a noticeably lengthy speech meant to be delivered when Lincolns train stopped. Spotting the long swaths of parchment paper from the window, Lincoln beseeched the conductor to slow down instead of coming to a full stop, disappointing the towns crier. In Gerard, Ohio, many a gifted fruit basket had to be discarded, for fear that growing tensions would lead constituents to poison food meant for the president. The short length of Lincolns trip came from a hotly debated conversation between the aforementioned Colonel Wood and members of the 20-man council from Lancaster. Near midnight on Feb. 21, it was decided Lincoln would speak at the Cadwell House under the condition that the path from the train depot to the house was clear. Thankfully for Lancaster and history, the path was cleared, or perhaps this visit wouldnt have taken place. According to contemporary reports, the streets were decorated, the Lancaster Fencibles band played jubilantly and thousands of onlookers flooded the town to see the future president. Quickly making his way from the train to the balcony of the Cadwell House (at the site of the current Hotel Lancaster), Lincoln approached the stand to great pleasantries and cheering. Lincoln reportedly said: Ladies and gentleman of Lancaster County, I am happy to meet the citizens of this great county face to face, but I do not feel prepared to make a speech to you today. I have not the time now, nor the strength, and, what is more, have no speech to make. I have come more to see you and let you see me. In a few days the time will come for me to speak officially, and I will then endeavor to speak plainly in regard to the Constitution and the liberties of the American people. Until I do so speak, I deem it unnecessary to say more. With those words or lack thereof Lincoln accepted a bouquet of local flowers before returning to his train car. The next time Abraham Lincoln would visit Lancaster would be in a train of a different sort; On April 25, 1865, Lincolns funeral car made its passage through Lancaster city on its way back to Springfield, Illinois. The ashes of Michael J. Sharp, a U.N. official and former Mennonite Central Committee worker, will be scattered on Tanzanias Mount Kilimanjaro next month. Sharp and Zaida Catalan, a Swede, were murdered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in March 2017 while investigating whether government soldiers had killed unarmed civilians, including children. From March 5-14, a group of family, friends and others plan to climb the mountain to raise funds for the Michael J. Sharp Endowed Peace and Justice Scholarship at Eastern Mennonite University, his alma mater. The scholarship was initiated shortly after Sharps death, and is currently supporting David M. Nyiringabo, a peacebuilder in DR Congo. The scholarship is designated to support Congolese peacebuilders. Sharp was MCC coordinator for the eastern DR Congo from 2012-2015 before joining the U.N. He was known for his ability to connect with rebels and convince them to abandon fighting. In an interview with National Public Radio, he said by his own count, he had persuaded at least 1,600 rebels to surrender and come home. Sharps father, John Sharp, a retired history and Bible professor at Hesston College in Kansas, is one of 11 hikers who will make the trip. Two people from Lancaster - businessman Gerry Horst and retired executive John Bomberger - also plan to take part. The hikers hope to raise $200,000 for the scholarship. Additional information about the hike can be found at emu.edu/dream-hike. John Sharp said hiking Mount Kilimanjaro was on MJs bucket list. He and two friends talked about it two summers ago, his father said by phone. The ashes will be scattered at Uhuru Peak, which stands at 19,341 feet above sea level. The Diocese of Harrisburg announced Tuesday it has launched a compensation program for victims of clergy sex abuse. The initiative, called the Survivor Compensation Program, includes settlements for victims of abuse by diocesan priests, deacons and seminarians, as well as priests of other dioceses and religious order priests who ministered in the Diocese of Harrisburg at the time of the abuse. While we understand that financial compensation will not repair or erase the heartache and damage done by the abuse these survivors have suffered, Bishop Ronald Gainer said, we hope and pray this support can help to improve their lives. Gainer addressed reporters prior to Tuesdays listening session at St. Leo the Great Catholic Church in Lancaster. The event was the fourth of nine sessions Gainer is holding in the wake of the Pennsylvania grand jury report on sexual abuse. For me theyve been quite moving and, honestly, gut-wrenching, Gainer said, adding that hes been surprised by the number of victims that have attended. The Rev. Peter Hahn, pastor at St. Leo, called the establishment of a compensation fund another step forward, saying he applauds Gainer for being very proactive on this. 'Three months is quite short' The program will be administered by Paul Finn of Commonwealth Mediation and Conciliation Inc. and will be independent of the diocese. The firm previously handled similar settlements at a number of other institutions including the Archdiocese of Boston. Only victims who have identified themselves by this past Monday will be eligible to receive payments, and the claims period extends 90 days through May 13 although those who miss the deadline could be considered in the future, Gainer said. State Rep. Mark Rozzi, who proposed legislation to give victims of child sexual abuse in Pennsylvania the chance to file lawsuits over claims that would otherwise be too outdated to pursue, questioned that 90-day window. My first thoughts are that three months is quite short, he said. Rozzi, said he would have preferred to see his proposal, which was approved last session by the state House of Representatives but collapsed in the state Senate, run side-by-side with the compensation fund. Funding the program Gainer said millions of dollars have been earmarked for the funds, which will come from a loan from the Priests Retirement Fund, other diocesan assets and possibly from insurance. Claims will be paid on or before June 28 of this year. Abuse victims waive their rights to sue the diocese for any additional compensation if they accept the settlement offer. Citing the grand jury report, Gainer said there are at least 127 victims that could apply for compensation. Claimants are asked to Commonwealth Mediation and Conciliation Inc. at 800-540-2624 or email Harrisburg@commonwealthmediation.com. Forms are available at www.commonwealthmediation.com or www.youthprotectionhbg.com. The announcement comes one day after the dioceses of New Jersey announced plans to establish a unified victim-compensation fund to provide money to some people abused as children by clergy members. The Philadelphia Archdiocese, which launched its settlement fund in November, has paid out more than $7 million thus far, according to published reports. The Pittsburgh Diocese began its compensation program in January but had not paid out any claims as of Tuesday. Username: Password: or Register Back to Forum Reply to This post Post New Thread Thread Rating: 2 Vote(s) - 5 Average 1 2 3 4 5 Liquefied natural gas: US hype and German obedience? ALADIN * weird wizard1* User ID: 485250 02-12-2019 05:49 PM Posts: 5,426 Post: #1 Liquefied natural gas: US hype and German obedience? Advertisement Liquefied natural gas: US hype and German obedience? The US has a vested interest in selling liquefied natural gas to Europe's biggest economy as it produces a lot more than it needs at home. But is LNG really vital for Germany's long-term energy strategy? https://www.dw.com/en/liquefied-natural-...a-47475164 German Economy Ministry Denies Making Deal With US on Nord Stream 2 Earlier, Berlin described the European Union's recently agreed-upon directive approving the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project as a "powerful signal" for critics of the project. Germany has not made any sort of deal with the US regarding approval of the Nord Stream 2 project in exchange for purchases of US LNG gas supplies, Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier has said. "There is no deal," the minister said, speaking at a German-US conference on the LNG Import Market in Berlin on Tuesday. According to Altmaier, Germany continues to have a three-pronged approach to energy, including increasing the number of gas suppliers (US LNG included), building Nord Stream 2 and ensuring continued gas transit through Ukraine after 2019. "Germany's intention to diversify its gas supplies is completely independent of other issues," the minister stressed. https://sputniknews.com/business/2019021...rd-stream/ 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 ... The US has a vested interest in selling liquefied natural gas to Europe's biggest economy as it produces a lot more than it needs at home. But is LNG really vital for Germany's long-term energy strategy?Earlier, Berlin described the European Union's recently agreed-upon directive approving the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project as a "powerful signal" for critics of the project.Germany has not made any sort of deal with the US regarding approval of the Nord Stream 2 project in exchange for purchases of US LNG gas supplies, Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier has said."There is no deal," the minister said, speaking at a German-US conference on the LNG Import Market in Berlin on Tuesday.According to Altmaier, Germany continues to have a three-pronged approach to energy, including increasing the number of gas suppliers (US LNG included), building Nord Stream 2 and ensuring continued gas transit through Ukraine after 2019."Germany's intention to diversify its gas supplies is completely independent of other issues," the minister stressed. Natura Naturans Registered User User ID: 480998 02-12-2019 10:27 PM Posts: 13,156 Post: #2 RE: Liquefied natural gas: US hype and German obedience? Nordstream 2 makes total sense for Germany. I hope they don't bow to US pressure. There was just a study that showed EU gas supplies were diminishing over the next 10 years so unless Germany brings back their nuclear plants they need a lot of Nat gas from Russia. There was also a study that showed only 2% of Germans feared Russia, but over 50% feared the US. The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free. --Baruch Spinoza ALADIN * weird wizard1* User ID: 485250 02-12-2019 10:48 PM Posts: 5,426 Post: #3 RE: Liquefied natural gas: US hype and German obedience? Quote: Some 85 percent of Germans have a negative or very negative opinion of current US-German relations, with only just over 10 percent viewing them in a positive light. A clear majority (57.6 percent) said they were in favor of putting more distance between the two trans-Atlantic allies. Only 13.1 percent said they would prefer to see the nations work more closely at present. The study was carried out by the research organization Civey and the not-for-profit group Atlantik-Brucke (Atlantic Bridge), which promotes greater cooperation between the US and Germany. https://www.dw.com/en/germans-trust-chin...a-47435595 The study was carried out by the research organization Civey and the not-for-profit group Atlantik-Brucke (Atlantic Bridge), which promotes greater cooperation between the US and Germany. 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 ... Back to Forum Reply to This post Post New Thread People fall in love all the time when they are working on a show together. No wonder emotions are high, everyone is encouraged to open their hearts and souls to explore their characters and lots of kissing can take place on stage. But how do you know its the real thing and not just a showmance, the term theater folk use to describe a relationship that begins in the heat of rehearsal and usually fades after the last curtain comes down.We asked three local couples who are involved in theater to talk about falling in love with each other and how they make it work. Andy Kindig and Katie Sina Kindig Katie Sina Kindig was a visiting actor from New York who came to perform in Thoroughly Modern Millie at the Fulton in 2005. Her future husband was bartending at the Fulton and doing some theater work.They were both seeing other people at that time Andy Kindig was actually seeing her roommate but their friendship blossomed. In 2009, we both found ourselves single, Katie Sina Kindig says. And one night, when we were doing The Sound of Music, I asked him what he wanted out of life and I remember telling my friend that night, I think I am going to marry Andy Kindig. A lot of it had to do with where we were in our lives, Andy Kindig says. We were both looking for the same thing. And wed seen each other at our best, Katie Sina Kindig adds. I got to work with Andy in The Nutcracker and everything I was looking for in a partner I saw in Andy his kindness, his humor, his hard work. During that production of Sound of Music, Katie Sina Kindig had to take over the role of Maria for a sick actress.I was out there in a very vulnerable open place. I had to be so in touch, so together, really present more so than I had been in my life, she says. I was really emotionally present, and I think thats why I was so open when I saw Andy differently. As actors, were used to getting to know people really quickly. We have to, Andy Kindig says. I think that allowed us to be more open to each other. The couple got married in 2012, six years after first meeting at the Fulton. They have a daughter named Alice, who is 4, and a son named Charlie, who is 1. Alice is already a big theater fan and goes to see shows that shes ready for. Alice always asks, are you doing a mommy-daddy show or a kids show, Andy Kindig says. She has a wonderful imagination and she loves to present. She knows up on stage, everyone is pretending. Tim and Megan Riggs The first time Tim and Megan Riggs met was at an audition for The Fifth of July at the Ephrata Performing Arts Center in 2005. Tim Riggs kept looking over at her. She noticed. I couldnt figure out if he was interested in me or if he was gay and wanted to be friends, Megan Riggs says, laughing. I went home and told my roommate that Id seen a girl that blew my mind and prayed that shed get the role. Well, we both got roles in the show and proceeded to flirt shamelessly, Tim Riggs says. The couple started dating, but not for long. It wasnt our forever love story, Megan Riggs says. We broke up, and we had quite a few years before we started dating again. During that time, Megan married and had two daughters. But her marriage was heading for divorce when the two actors got cast in the EPAC production of Hamlet in 2010. He was Hamlet and she was Ophelia, characters who have a volatile relationship. We had denied our feelings. Sometimes, those feeling exist but you cant act on them, Tim Riggs says. Then came a rehearsal where the two had to kiss. We both had to step back because of the electricity, he says. Sparks started. We rekindled our romance. Hamlet is one of the toughest roles in the theater, and Tim Riggs remembers feeling overwhelmed. Megan began to take care of me. Shed bring me home-cooked meals and studied lines with me. She brought me soup. She nurtured me through that production, he says. It was an opportunity to show love in a different way. Both sometimes throw themselves into a role, which can be tough for the other. When I was playing Maggie the Cat (in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Susquehanna Stage), I threw myself into that role, Megan Riggs says. Its easy to lose sight of everything else. It can be hard sometimes to maintain a balance. Its been problematic once or twice for us, says Tim Riggs, who is currently in rehearsals for Macbeth with Peoples Shakespeare. He has the title role. Its hard to leave Macbeth time, he says. There is a danger of real life not sustaining fictional life. When you find yourself in the production process, you can really lose yourself in the character. But there are advantages to being married to a fellow actor. I think we enjoy bringing the work home. We have an intimate relationship where we can analyze the show together. Thats a real advantage, Tim Riggs says. The couple was engaged at the theater where they met and often work. Two rows from where we first laid eyes on each other, Tim Riggs says. There might just be another actor in the Riggs family. Their 4-year-old daughter, Coszette (a family name, not the character in Les Miserables), had a small part in The Mikado with OperaLancaster. Shes got the bug now, her parents both say with a laugh. Marc Robin and Curt Dale Clark The first time Robin and Clark meet was in 1982. Robin came to see a production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, in which Clark was playing Hero in a theater in Wisconsin. I remember thinking he was beautiful and so good in the show, Robin remembers. But he was still in high school and I had graduated college. But I thought, wow, he is going to be something. Fast forward seven years. Clark, now 23, moved to Chicago and Robin was working there as an actor. After an audition at the Drury Lane Theater, which they would later run, they went out to dinner. Both felt a spark. It was right out of the gate for us, Robin says. Despite the instant connection, it took a little while to become a couple. I wasnt ready to be gay at the time, Clark says. I grew up in a religious household. Was this a sin? But Marc stood by me. And so did his family, Robin adds. I have said so many times I am the luckiest guy. Not just for Curt but for his family. They are such good people. Once they got together, the couple never looked back. They considered themselves married 28 years ago and actually exchanged rings five years later. They legally got married four years ago. The theater had everything to do with it, Robin says. Id say 50 to 60 percent of our conversations is about theater. It is so ingrained in who we are. They write together and their production of Treasure Island, which has been a project for both of them for years, was recently produced by the Fulton. Like many theater couples, Robin and Clark spend long periods of time apart from each other. Until recently, both were touring, Robin as a director and Clark as an actor. Now, they are both on the business end of the theater industry. Robin runs the Fulton Theatre, and Clark is the artistic director at Maine State Music Theatre in Brunswick, Maine. There are lonely times, but our schedules are sympathetic to us, Clark says. When the Fulton is up and running, we are dark, and when the Fulton is dark, we are up and running. Trust is essential. One reason showmances happen not only because of the intensity of putting a show together, but because people are far from their partners and their eye begins to wander. It has never been an issue for either one of us. Weve only got eyes for each other, Robin says. Without the trust we have, we wouldnt have lasted 28 years. Still, they make a concerted effort to stay in touch. When they are apart, they talk on the phone four or five times a day. We go on dates, Robin says. Hell go to a movie theater in Brunswick and I will go to the Regal, and we will watch the same movie. Then well both go to a Chinese restaurant, pick up food and go home and talk about the movie. And we look at the stars at the same time. 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08 (4) Oct 07 (4) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (6) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (7) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (5) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (5) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (7) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (4) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (2) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (2) Aug 15 (5) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (10) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (5) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (5) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (7) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (3) Jul 12 (2) Jul 11 (2) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (2) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (6) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (6) Jun 27 (6) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (6) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (5) Jun 18 (8) Jun 17 (6) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (2) May 30 (2) May 29 (2) May 28 (2) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (3) May 24 (2) May 23 (2) May 22 (3) May 21 (5) May 20 (4) May 19 (2) May 18 (3) May 17 (3) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (5) May 13 (3) May 12 (4) May 11 (3) May 10 (4) May 09 (4) May 08 (4) May 07 (3) May 06 (2) May 05 (3) May 04 (4) May 03 (2) May 02 (3) May 01 (3) Apr 30 (3) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (2) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (2) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (4) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (7) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (10) Apr 15 (5) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (7) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (7) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (5) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (6) Mar 27 (5) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (6) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (6) Mar 18 (6) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (5) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (2) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (2) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (2) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (2) Feb 16 (3) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (9) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (2) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (3) Jan 25 (4) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (2) Jan 22 (2) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (4) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (4) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (3) Jan 11 (2) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (2) Jan 07 (2) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (2) Jan 04 (2) Jan 03 (2) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (2) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (2) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (2) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (2) Dec 21 (2) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (2) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (2) Dec 16 (2) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (2) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (5) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (2) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (4) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (2) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (2) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (2) Nov 22 (2) Nov 21 (2) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (2) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (4) Nov 13 (2) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (2) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (2) Nov 08 (2) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (6) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (7) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (4) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (2) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (2) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (2) Oct 18 (2) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (5) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (5) Sep 30 (2) Sep 29 (2) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (2) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (2) Sep 22 (2) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (2) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (2) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (5) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (2) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (2) Aug 25 (2) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (3) Aug 18 (2) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (2) Aug 12 (2) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (2) Aug 09 (2) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (2) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (2) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (2) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (2) Jul 29 (2) Jul 28 (2) Jul 27 (2) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (2) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (2) Jul 21 (3) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (2) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (2) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (2) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (2) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (2) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (2) Jul 03 (2) Jul 02 (2) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (2) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (1) Jun 24 (2) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (2) Jun 19 (2) Jun 18 (2) Jun 17 (2) Jun 16 (2) Jun 15 (2) Jun 14 (2) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (3) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (2) Jun 02 (2) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (2) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (2) May 26 (2) May 25 (2) May 24 (2) May 23 (2) May 22 (3) May 21 (3) May 20 (2) May 19 (2) May 18 (4) May 17 (7) May 16 (2) May 15 (3) May 14 (4) May 13 (3) May 12 (4) May 11 (4) May 10 (4) May 09 (3) May 08 (2) May 07 (2) May 06 (2) May 05 (1) May 04 (2) May 03 (4) May 02 (3) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (1) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (2) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (2) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (2) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (2) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (2) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (1) Apr 03 (1) Apr 02 (1) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (2) Mar 28 (3) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (3) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (2) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (2) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (1) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (2) Mar 15 (1) Mar 14 (3) Mar 13 (1) Mar 12 (2) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (2) Mar 08 (1) Mar 07 (1) Mar 04 (2) Mar 02 (2) Feb 28 (1) Feb 24 (1) Dec 31 (4) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (3) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (3) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (2) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (4) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (3) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (3) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (4) Oct 30 (3) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (4) Oct 16 (3) Oct 15 (3) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (3) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (4) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (4) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (3) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (5) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (3) Aug 19 (3) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (4) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (3) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (5) Jul 11 (4) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (3) Jul 01 (6) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (5) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (5) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (3) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (3) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (5) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (4) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (5) Jun 01 (3) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (3) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (4) May 23 (4) May 22 (3) May 21 (3) May 20 (4) May 19 (3) May 18 (3) May 17 (4) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (1) May 11 (3) May 10 (3) May 09 (3) May 08 (3) May 07 (4) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (3) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (5) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (3) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (4) Apr 16 (3) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (3) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (3) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (3) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (3) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (3) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (3) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (3) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (3) Mar 14 (3) Mar 13 (3) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (3) Mar 07 (3) Mar 06 (4) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (3) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (3) Mar 01 (3) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (3) Feb 25 (3) Feb 24 (2) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (3) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (3) Feb 16 (3) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (3) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (3) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (4) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (3) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (3) Jan 21 (4) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (5) Jan 17 (4) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (4) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (3) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (3) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (2) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (2) Nov 05 (2) Nov 04 (3) Nov 03 (2) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (2) Oct 30 (6) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (5) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (5) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (4) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (3) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (2) Oct 11 (2) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (2) Oct 07 (2) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (3) Oct 04 (2) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (4) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (2) Sep 26 (2) Sep 25 (2) Sep 24 (1) Sep 23 (1) Sep 22 (2) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (1) Sep 19 (1) Sep 18 (1) Sep 17 (2) Sep 16 (1) Sep 15 (2) Sep 14 (2) Sep 13 (1) Sep 12 (1) Sep 11 (2) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (1) Sep 08 (1) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (1) Sep 05 (1) Sep 04 (2) Sep 03 (1) Sep 02 (1) Sep 01 (1) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (1) Aug 28 (1) Aug 27 (1) Aug 26 (1) Aug 25 (1) Aug 24 (1) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (1) Aug 21 (1) Aug 20 (2) Aug 19 (1) Aug 18 (1) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (2) Aug 15 (1) Aug 14 (1) Aug 12 (1) Aug 09 (1) Aug 08 (1) Aug 07 (1) Aug 05 (1) Aug 04 (1) Jul 31 (1) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (5) Jul 28 (2) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (4) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (6) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (6) Jun 18 (5) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (4) May 30 (4) May 29 (4) May 28 (5) May 27 (5) May 26 (5) May 25 (4) May 24 (5) May 23 (4) May 22 (4) May 21 (3) May 20 (6) May 19 (4) May 18 (4) May 17 (4) May 16 (5) May 15 (3) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (3) May 11 (3) May 10 (3) May 09 (3) May 08 (3) May 07 (3) May 06 (3) May 05 (3) May 04 (3) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (3) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (3) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (6) Apr 12 (4) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (5) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (4) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (4) Apr 04 (6) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (4) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (5) Mar 28 (6) Mar 27 (5) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (4) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (5) Mar 16 (5) Mar 15 (3) Mar 14 (6) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (7) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (4) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (4) Feb 28 (4) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (5) Feb 23 (5) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (7) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (8) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (3) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 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Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Pasadena's City Council voted on Monday to keep raising the city's minimum wage at a faster pace than the state requires. The decision came after conflicting, and at times heated presentations from two University of California economists in a meeting that lasted more than five hours. In his presentation, UCLA economist Ed Leamer projected Pasadena restaurants would lose jobs if the city stays on track to reach a $15 minimum wage by July 2020 -- a year and half ahead of the state. UC Berkeley economist Michael Reich said evidence from other cities suggests a different likely outcome: workers will take home more money without employment taking a hit. Read more about the last wage hike: Here's What Happened When Pasadena Raised Its Minimum Wage But there was pushback from some local business owners who said rosy forecasts didn't capture their experience since wages started going up 2016. "With all due respect to the profound minds behind us," said Armen Shirvanian, co-owner of an Italian restaurant called Mi Piace. "We don't engage in colored charts or pie charts or graphs. We engage in the reality of running a business every day." The minimum wage has been a hot issue across the nation. Just four years ago, California workers started at a minimum of $9 an hour. Now employers with 25 or more workers must pay at least $12 an hour. Even before Pasadena officials boosted it again, the city's current minimum wage of $13.25 is already higher than the state's. Pasadena's efforts to accelerate raises put local workers on par with those in the cities of Los Angeles and Santa Monica, along with the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Pasadena Mayor Terry Tornek said Monday -- ahead of a vote that drew applause from many gathered -- that he did not see strong evidence raising wages was hurting local business. Tornek said opponents' objections were familiar. "You'll remember that many of the arguments -- that we did not believe at the time -- were the same arguments then," Tornek said. "That if we adopted this minimum wage, it was too aggressive, we'd see wholesale damage to our local business community. In fact that hasn't happened." The Monday vote means that starting in July, Pasadena employers with more than 25 workers will be required to pay $14.25 an hour, a pay hike of $1 an hour from the current minimum. You can power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today during our June Member drive. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Put down the pelt --Los Angeles City Council voted 13-1 on Tuesday in favor of a measure that will ban fur sales. The measure, Section 53.75, was introduced in June of last year by councilmembers Bob Blumenfeld and Paul Koretz, and makes it illegal to manufacture, sell, distribute, import or export any fur or fur product in the city, starting January 1, 2021. Since one councilmember, Greig Smith, voted against the measure, it will go back before council next week before going to the mayor's desk for final approval. Today's vote takes Los Angeles one step closer to being the largest city in America to ban the sale and manufacture of fur products. There are some exceptions to Blumenfeld and Koretz' measure. The following would NOT be illegal: Furs of animals trapped by California Fish and Game license holders; Pelts from already deceased animals being preserved through taxidermy; Used furs transferred between private parties; Used furs being bought, sold, donated or owned by a person who's not in the primary business of selling fur products, including non-profits, second-hand shops and pawn shops; Manufacturing a fur product by exclusively sourcing used fur; A fur product that's only being transported through the city. The ordinance states that it will "foster a more kind and humane environment within the City," and that "the sale and manufacture of fur is inconsistent with the City's goal of being a community who cares about and promotes animal welfare." At Tuesday's City Council meeting, Blumenfeld noted that many major fashion brands and designers, including Gucci, Diane von Furstenberg, Chanel and Michael Kors have already decided to remove fur from their lines. "Let's show that we are that responsible governing body, and end this outdated and deplorable practice," he said. "The time is long overdue -- it's 2019." Added Koretz, "We saw films of this in committee it was hard to take...even the most humane fur process is not humane, and it's time we end it." You can power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today during our June Member drive. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe The City of Anaheim opened a new homeless shelter in December and depending on who you ask, the site is either a shining example of a city's compassionate response to homelessness -- or a cautionary tale for cities looking to clear their sidewalks quickly. THE RIVER TRAIL TIPPING POINT Orange County, like pretty much all of the West Coast, has seen an uptick in homeless encampments in recent years. Every area has reached its own flashpoint on the issue and responded to it a bit differently. In Orange County, it was the Santa Ana River Trail, where in 2017, authorities from various cities and the county decided to start evicting an encampment that had grown to some 400 tents. Local businesses complained of an uptick in petty thefts. And neighbors were worried about the encampment--the Santa Ana River Trail and riverbed were strewn with trash and excrement, byproducts of masses of people living outdoors with no facilities. Advocates for homeless protested -- arguing that Orange County's homeless had essentially been forced into the riverbed by cities that didn't want them in their parks and by a lack of shelters that could accommodate them. In early 2017, Orange County had 1,123 shelter beds and about 4,800 estimated people experiencing homelessness on any given night. A mass eviction from the riverbed, they said, would push homeless people into parks and city streets, where law enforcement would immediately start ticketing them for sleeping outdoors. So they filed a federal lawsuit. Larry Ford, a homeless man who once lived in Huntington Beach, is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. "I'm very respectful of law enforcement and the powers that they have and the position that they're in," he told KPCC in January 2018. "But at the same time, I got a right to be somewhere." Federal Judge David O. Carter ordered cities to quit their enforcement measures until some sort of agreement could be reached. Kerfuffles ensued over where homeless shelters would be placed. Homeless encampments started appearing in parks, like Maxwell Park in Anaheim. Now, over a year later, some cities, including Anaheim have settled their part in the lawsuit. The gist of the settlements is that cities, if they want to clear people from sidewalks and parks and other public lands, must provide adequate shelter space. Anaheim is working on medium and long-term shelter options. But in the meantime, they scrambled to put a temporary one together and after just weeks of planning and construction, opened a short-term shelter inside a warehouse next to Angel Stadium. INSIDE THE TEMPORARY SHELTER: 200 BEDS AND SOMETIMES, SEWAGE The 200-bed shelter, called Anaheim Way sits in what was once an electronics warehouse. It's divided into areas for men, women and couples, and further split into cubicles of four beds each to afford some privacy to residents. There's a kitchen that serves hot meals, a common area with a television and a dog run outside that doubles as a smoking area. Some shelter residents say they stood on a chair to avoid pooled water on the shower floors. (Courtesy of the ACLU of Southern California) All that's pretty nice, residents say. Less so, the bathrooms. To provide toilets and showers for residents, the shelter operator, The Illumination Foundation, wheeled in trailers with mobile bathrooms and showers--the type you might find at a construction site. Pretty quickly, residents say, they backed up. "It gets clogged up from time to time and it takes them two to three days to get it all cleaned up," said Stephen Mosley, who's been living in the shelter since the sweep at Maxwell Park in December. "It smells like an outhouse, for days, until they clean it up." Since there are no walls, the smell of spilling sewage, residents say, seeps into the living spaces as well. Donald Simms, who's 66 and has been homeless in Orange County for decades, is staying in the shelter. "The porta-potty concept is junk," he said. Staff is trying their best to keep things running smoothly, he said, and much of the shelter is nice. "They're just overwhelmed." Orange County's Department of Environmental Health received two complaints about plumbing in the shelter in January. The first, dated January 5, alleged a sewage spill and no hot water. An inspector visited and instructed staff to close the restroom until the leak was repaired. Some residents say the bathrooms can get very dirty. Anaheim says they're cleaned regularly. (Courtesy of the ACLU of Southern California) The second, dated January 29, alleged a sewage overflow. "Water was observed dripping from underneath the farthest east shower and toilet facilities," according to the health inspector's report, which again instructed the toilet be shut down until it could be repaired. Mike Lyster, spokesman for the City of Anaheim, said the city and shelter operator are aware of and have been extremely responsive to the plumbing issues. Staff has mopped up overflows and they brought in outdoor port-a-potties for when the toilets back up. Eve Garrow, homeless policy analyst with the ACLU of Southern California, however, said the situation is unacceptable. She has received numerous complaints from residents about sewage, unsanitary conditions, and smells. "When you have raw sewage seeping into common areas, that speaks to really exposing people who are already quite vulnerable to a health and safety hazard rather than helping them," she said. Anaheim Way, she said, is a cautionary tale for other Orange County cities looking to erect shelters quickly. "There's not enough planning or resources to really meet the needs of this very vulnerable population," she said. Residents, she said, can't really vote with their feet and opt to leave--as they could face citations if they go back to sleeping outdoors. Lyster, however, said there was real urgency to opening the shelter. "The situation we had on our streets," he said. "And we've had temperatures in the 30's at night, heavy rain. Nobody should have to live outdoors in a situation like that." THERE'S NO ONE IN CHARGE OF STANDARDS Homeless shelters, even the ones that are publicly funded, are relatively unregulated in California. No one agency has responsibility for ensuring they are well run and comply with basic health and safety standards. Lyster said he has personally investigated complaints about the shelter when they reach him and the shelter's staff are also open to hearing about and fixing problems. "We as the city are the responsible party," he said. As the place went up "I was here the whole time," he said. The fire marshall, building inspectors, and health department were all involved. As was the federal court overseeing Anaheim's pending settlement. But as more shelters go up in Anaheim and elsewhere, it's unclear what they're expected to look like. "Orange County doesn't have a set of uniform standards much less a system of monitoring emergency shelters and bringing them into compliance with standards," Garrow said. "It's an incredibly unregulated system." L.A. County recently passed an ordinance requiring a uniform set of standards for shelters in Los Angeles, following a KPCC investigation that found many shelters had bed bugs, rats, and safety issues. WHEN ANAHEIM WAY CLOSES Anaheim opened a second new homeless shelter in late January and has another slated for a February opening. They're expected to remain operational as the city works towards a more permanent site. Anaheim Way is expected to close down in March, when the other shelters are fully operational. "We think in a couple years time, we're going to have enough in place where you're never going to solve it, there are always going to be homeless people," Lyster said. "But we think we will have enough in place where we will have made great strides in providing what we need to do to ensure those who need and want help have it and also ensure that public spaces are available for what they were intended for." Correction: A previous version of this story reported Anaheim was near signing a final settlement in the Catholic Workers lawsuit. The city has settled. LAist regrets the error. I'm not surprised that Madison Mayor Paul Soglin is using an unprecedented amount of salt on city roads ahead of next week's contested mayoral primary. Gov. Tony Evers says hes joining a group of governors vowing to combat climate change at the state level, in part by pursuing reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. Climate Alliance, which aims to implement elements of the international Paris Agreement on climate change, includes governors from 20 states including Wisconsin, as well as Puerto Rico. It was formed in 2017 in response to President Donald Trumps announced intent to withdraw the United States from the agreement. Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the states influential business lobby, criticized Evers for joining the alliance, saying it would harm Wisconsin manufacturers and boost the cost of energy. Unfortunately, Gov. Evers choice to join the U.S. Climate Alliance is just another decision that will negatively impact our states economy, said the groups CEO, Kurt Bauer. According to the Evers release, governors joining the alliance commit to implement policies that advance the goals of the Paris Agreement. That includes aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26-28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, according to the release, as well as tracking and reporting progress and promoting clean energy development. 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State Sen. Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, has a different analogy in mind. I always tell people we are in an arranged marriage, where the two parties, we need each other. We need to work together to be effective, Shilling said. Were kind of in this interesting dynamic right now. State Rep. Steve Doyle, D-Onalaska, sees it a little differently: Lately, it seems more like a shotgun marriage, where the two parties are forced to work together. Shilling, Doyle and state Rep. Jill Billings, D-La Crosse, all shared insights Monday with members of the La Crosse County Board at the boards monthly planning and policy meeting. All three of the state lawmakers have served on the county board, and Doyle, who chaired the board for a time, still has a seat on the board. Travel continues to be a challenge in the Coulee Region. Snow continues to fall across the entire area and lead to difficult to dangerous travel. A band of heavy snow has also developed across parts of west-central Wisconsin, where 2 or more inches of accumulation is possible through noon. Delay travel if possible, according to the National Weather Service, La Crosse. Police are urging citizens to take extra precautions. Patrol Sergeant Marte Peterson of the La Crosse County Sheriff's Office said rural areas weren't as bad as anticipated. There were a few motor assist calls from rural areas earlier today, Peterson said. People's vehicles were stuck and needed assistance pulling their vehicles out of the snow or getting their cars to start but there haven't been many people calling in with problems, Peterson said. There are three incident closures near Oakdale. I-90/94 East closed beyond exit to County PP and County C since about 11 a.m. Other police departments posted statements on Twitter and Facebook. For those of you at home today, heres what you missed. Travel on main roads and streets is slow but passable. Its getting out of your driveway thats the trick. And if a plow blocked you in your drive, good luck. Youre left with a pile of snow thats more than a foot tall before you can get to the street. And once you get to your side street, its tough going. A number of cars were stuck at neighborhood intersections that hadnt been plowed yet. Neighbors helped push in some cases. In other cases, police pulled behind and alerted motorists. When will it end? June, possibly right before mosquito season. The sun is expected to return Wednesday, with a high near 25, before a chance of snow returns Thursday and Friday. The Coon Creek Fire Commission has provided rescue services to the towns of Coon, Washington and Hamburg, and village Chaseburg, since 1947, with Coon Valley joining in 1989. Originally it was known as the Coon Creek Fire Fighting Association before changing the name in 2015. In 1971, the four municipalities signed an agreement to officially become the Coon Creek Fire Fighting Association, Orlan Bakkum, president of the Coon Creek Fire Commission, said. The commission, along with the village of Coon Valley, was able to provide equipment to the Coon Valley Fire Department to be used to serve the five municipalities. We are basically the governing body, we take care of the finances, Bakkum said. Coon Creek Fire and Rescue are contracted with the commission to do the response, fire protection and first responder services. Everybody needs to have fire protection, Russ Cornford, chief of the Coon Valley Fire Department, said. The commission keeps it all local. Its a good thing, we all get along well. The commission is made up of 10 commissioners, two from the five municipalities. Kids from the area were joined by parents and family members to try their hand at ice fishing during the 10th Kids Ice Fishing Day at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery, Sunday. The kids are catching rainbow trout that we raised up from the eggs, Doug Aloisi, hatchery manager, said. Theyre anywhere from 1 to 4 years old. Anglers were limited to a maximum of three, which likely ended up on a lot of families dinner tables that evening. When asked how the day went, It went bad, and then it went good, Taishon Berkley, 8, of La Crosse, said One was this big, indicating about the length of a 12 inches. From fishing poles to bait and a warm meal, it was all provided and prepared by hatchery staff members, volunteers, individuals from the Midwest Fisheries Center in La Crosse and Friends of the Upper Mississippi. It went really well, the turnout was actually about the same, 250 to 300 kids, I wont know the exact count until we actually get the numbers, Aloisi said. Despite Sundays snowfall, the event was not restricted by weather anymore, and made for a day of calm family fun. Back in 2002, when Burke ONeal and his brother started a solar installation business, it was a part-time thing they did out of their home. Despite ups and downs associated with changing tariffs and incentives, Full Spectrum Solar now has a dozen employees working in its Madison offices and is looking to hire two more as the company tries to keep up with double-digit annual growth. The overall trend has been much better growth than I expected, ONeal said. Honestly, I didnt think wed be here this quickly. Wisconsins solar industry employment grew 3 percent last year even as the industry saw its national workforce shrink, according to a new report. The U.S. has lost about 17,000 solar-related jobs in the last two years, according to a report released Tuesday by The Solar Foundation. Uncertainty surrounding tariffs on Chinese solar panels led to delays on many projects in 2018, while policy changes and difficult business climate slowed construction in some larger markets like California, but the report found Wisconsin was among the 29 states where solar-related employment continued to grow. - Former SAP Bong Go has answered the allegations about him using the governments fund for his Senate bid - He urged the Filipinos not to vote for him if it was actually proven that he was using the governments money - On the other hand, the Philippine National Police has broken their silence about Gos visit at their headquarters last Monday PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed Former Special Assistant to the President (SAP) and Senatorial aspirant Christopher Bong Go, has denied the allegations that he was using the governments money for his Senatorial campaign. KAMI learned that the former aide has also urged the Filipinos not to vote for him if it was proven that he was using the taxpayers money. Ni piso walang government funds na gagamitin. Noon pa sinabi na namin yan, I will resign noon kung may piso po na ginamit na government funds. Kung mayroon pong ginamit na government funds, huwag nyo po ako iboto, Go said. According to a report by Rappler, Go did not name his campaign funders. Instead, he said that people should wait for his Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE). This document must be submitted by all candidates and political parties to the Commission on Elections (Comelec). However, it will only be released to the public after the mid-term polls. Hintayin nyo na lang po. It will be declared naman po. Magiging transparent lahat yan, Go said. 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 report by ABS-CBN News, the senatorial candidate attended an event at the headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP). According to Kontra Daya, an election watchdog, they found the timing of Gos visit as suspicious. However, PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said that Go did not violate any provision or instruction of the President. Go delivered a speech before the college students in Camp Crame last Monday. However, Go came as an honorary member of the Association of the Chiefs of Police of the Philippines Inc. and not as a Senatorial aspirant, said Albayalde. Wala kaming ini-endorse dito whatsoever," Albayalde said. Born on June 14, 1974, Christopher Lawrence Bong Tesoro Go has been serving as the personal aide of President Rodrigo Duterte since 1998. He was tagged as the national photobomber for posting photos alongside of President Duterte and other prominent figures. Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! What will Filipinos do if a 10-year-old child asks them to light his cigarette? Let us see right now. on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel! Source: Kami.com.ph - The Chinese commuter who splashed taho on a police officer at an MRT3 Station has been identified as Jiale Zhang - She is a 23-year-old girl who has been in the Philippines for several years now - The foreigner is in the country as a fashion design student PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed The Chinese commuter who splashed taho on a police officer at an MRT3 Station has outraged many Filipinos. KAMI learned that new details have emerged about the controversial foreigner. According to the GMA-7 news program 24 Oras, the girl has been identified as Jiale Zhang. She is 23 years old and has been in the Philippines for six years already. Zhang is in the country as a fashion design student. The Chinese woman has apologized for what happened, saying that she was in a bad mood when the incident took place. She added that she likes the country and its people. "I really like the Philippines, that's why I stay here. I like the people here. I really love Filipinos, that's why I stayed here and I like this country," Zhang said. 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! The encounter between Zhang and the policeman happened when she was asked to finish consuming her taho before entering the MRT3 Boni Station last Saturday. This was asked of her due to the recent total ban on all liquids, after bomb threats were received. Instead of following the protocol, Zhang splashed the cop with her taho, which led to her getting detained by the police. Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! Tricky Questions: Guess The Celebrity By A Clue! Clue number 1: Her real name is Hope Elizabeth and you surely know this celebrity. Your answer is... Check out our other videos on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel! Source: Kami.com.ph Of Dane Countys five largest employers, representatives for UW-Madison, Epic, Exact Sciences and WPS Health Insurance said their companies do not offer employees student loan assistance. Two messages to Sub Zero-Wolf Appliances were not returned. American Family Insurance started offering student loan assistance to its employees in early 2018, citing a reduced federal tax rate from President Donald Trumps administration. Employees who graduated within three years of their hire date are eligible for a monthly $100 contribution to their student loan provider with a maximum of $10,000 paid by American Family. We believe its part of an overall employee experience that encourages people to bring their best to work every day, and sets American Family apart as we recruit and retain talent, American Family Insurance spokeswoman Erin Johansen said. Across the University of Wisconsin System, about 72 percent of students seeking bachelors degrees borrowed money in the 2016-17 academic year, the most recent System data shows. The average amount of debt was $30,771. Natura Naturans Registered User User ID: 480998 02-12-2019 06:28 AM Posts: 13,156 Post: #4 RE: Hawaii records lowest elevation snow in history? http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2019/02/11/...ter-storm/ By HNN Staff | February 11, 2019 at 10:14 AM HST - Updated February 11 at 2:51 PM HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The strong low pressure system that swept through the islands over the weekend not only ushered in destructive winds and massive surf, but it also brought some extremely cold temperatures and icy conditions to summits on Hawaii Island and Maui. On Sunday, snow blanketed Polipoli Spring State Recreation Area a popular park for camping, hunting and hiking on the slopes of Haleakala on Maui for what may be the first time ever. At an elevation of about 6,200 feet, officials said this might be the lowest elevation snow has ever been recorded in Hawaii. Winter nights can have below freezing temperatures, according the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. A winter weather advisory remains in effect for Haleakala until noon Monday, with occasional snow showers and freezing fog. Additional snow accumulation of less than 1 inch is expected, forecasters said. The summit district of Haleakala National Park is also closed as roads were reported to be covered with snow and ice. Polipoli is a neat place. At that high elevation it is always misty, ideal for the redwoods, pine, fir and other mainland forest trees they planted up there. It was done back in the early part of the 1900's so some of the trees are massive, 4ft diameter trunks. I have stayed at the cabin up there once with friends. Build a fire in the wood stove and sit around, drink and tell stories. I'm on Maui on the slopes of Haleakala at the 1500 ft level and it's been cold. Down in the 50's f. at night. Got to use two quilts. Seems colder this year but I don't know for sure. Oh, got the news report:By HNN Staff | February 11, 2019 at 10:14 AM HST - Updated February 11 at 2:51 PMHONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The strong low pressure system that swept through the islands over the weekend not only ushered in destructive winds and massive surf, but it also brought some extremely cold temperatures and icy conditions to summits on Hawaii Island and Maui.On Sunday, snow blanketed Polipoli Spring State Recreation Area a popular park for camping, hunting and hiking on the slopes of Haleakala on Maui for what may be the first time ever.At an elevation of about 6,200 feet, officials said this might be the lowest elevation snow has ever been recorded in Hawaii.Winter nights can have below freezing temperatures, according the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.A winter weather advisory remains in effect for Haleakala until noon Monday, with occasional snow showers and freezing fog. Additional snow accumulation of less than 1 inch is expected, forecasters said.The summit district of Haleakala National Park is also closed as roads were reported to be covered with snow and ice.Polipoli is a neat place. At that high elevation it is always misty, ideal for the redwoods, pine, fir and other mainland forest trees they planted up there. It was done back in the early part of the 1900's so some of the trees are massive, 4ft diameter trunks. I have stayed at the cabin up there once with friends. Build a fire in the wood stove and sit around, drink and tell stories. The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free. --Baruch Spinoza What I can tell you that our numbers show we are below the max of 4.1 (parts per trillion) 99 percent of the time, Conway added. Further, as part of the permit, we are committing to continue to work to lower the mercury level. Conway attended the public hearing but did not speak. Public testimony The public hearing lasted more than an hour and included testimony from environmentalists, health professionals, residents and one elected official. State Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, whose district includes Oak Creek, cited Wisconsins history of environmentalism and conservation and said that while We Energies and the plant are moving in the right direction by changing their system to reduce mercury output, he took objection to the timeline. We Energies is immensely profitable, they pay their executives very, very well they can afford to do the right thing by us, said Larson. Coal corporations can no longer hide the insidious poisons that burning coal puts in our air and water, nor can they deny the harm these toxins to do our well-being. YORKVILLE Some of the people in the packed conference room last week had graying hair or none at all. Others appeared just barely old enough to legally drink. Few of them were smiling or chatting as they waited. But they all had one thing in common: an OWI charge. All 30 of them were waiting for an OWI Victim Impact Panel to begin Thursday at Racine Countys Ives Grove Office Complex on Washington Avenue. It was the third such event in the last 13 months, sponsored by Racine County-funded JusticePoint Court Alternatives Program. The night featured four speakers three of them victims of OWI crashes, one of them a man with seven OWI convictions on his record. Each shared their experiences, hoping to deter those facing criminal charges from making further mistakes. Sitting in that room, as stories were shared, those in attendance had no option but to listen. What is this? JusticePoint Program Director Terra Roberts explained that most of the people in the conference room had pending charges. Still, some had already been convicted, but were referred to the panel by their defense attorneys, hoping that the convicted persons good-faith attendance could lead to a lighter sentence. RACINE Gateway Technical College wants to honor its alumni who have made the community a better place to live in and has asked the community to help in this effort by nominating alumni whove made a difference in their lives. The college wants to celebrate alumni who have made a difference in the community, their workplace, to a neighbor or area nonprofit group. They may have done well in their career, been a great neighbor, been involved with an area nonprofit group or served in their house of worship, to name just a few actions. No matter the work or effort, Gateway seeks those have made that positive impact in someones life. Gateway alums should be recognized for the enrichment they give to our communities, and this is a great way to do so, said Celeste Henken, Gateway Technical College alumni relations coordinator. They are the faces we see every day, in everything we do. The accomplishments of alumni enrich our community and make it a better place to live, and we want to honor them for that. Henken points out that graduate surveys conducted annually show time and again that Gateway grads remain in southeastern Wisconsin to live, work and raise families. RACINE A Racine Police Department sergeant, accused of drunken driving, striking an occupied vehicle and injuring a woman in the process, made his initial appearance in court Monday. Sgt. Samuel Stulo, 42, faces charges of felony hit-and-run involving injury and two misdemeanor counts of causing injury/operating while under the influence. He was also cited for forfeiture offenses for inattentive driving, refusing to take a sobriety test and failing to notify police of an accident. Both misdemeanor counts are first-offense charges. One charge has a prohibited blood alcohol concentration of under 0.15 percent and one has a prohibited alcohol concentration of more than 0.15 percent. At about 7:55 p.m. on Dec. 17, Racine police and firefighters were dispatched to the 1900 block of State Street for a crash with injuries after a truck reportedly crashed into a parked vehicle and tried to flee. According to Racine County Sheriffs Office and court reports, Stulo was off duty at the time of the crash and reportedly had just left a bar on Washington Avenue not far from the police station. RACINE Charges against a Racine woman accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a man she babysat a decade ago were dismissed Friday after the state could not find the accuser in the case. The prosecution said it could not meet its burden of proof to charge Shirley Z. Mooney, 71, of Racine, of repeated first-degree felony sexual assault of a child. Instead, the state moved to dismiss the case against Mooney without prejudice, meaning the charges could be refiled in the future. If convicted, Mooney would have faced up to 60 years imprisonment. Victim comes forward According to the criminal complaint, Mooney operated a day care out of her apartment at 2700 Anthony Lane, where she baby-sat the alleged victim numerous times a week for several years. In January 2018, the accuser told Racine police investigators that Mooney had sexually assaulted him multiple times while in her care from 2005 to 2008, when he was between the ages of 5 to 8. An unnamed woman went with the young man to the Police Department and told officers he recently told her what had happened. I hear it over and over again: I was stationed at Offutt. We fell in love with Nebraska. After our service commitment, we decided to make it our home. We love it here. That love and pride are returned by Nebraskans. Located just south of Omaha in Bellevue, Offutt Air Force Base is home to the United States Strategic Command (or StratCom), as well as the 55th Wing of the Air Combat Command. Built in 1918 at the end of World War I, Offutt is not some relic of a bygone era. After terrorists attacked the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, President George W. Bush was taken via Air Force One to Offutt to serve as commander-in-chief from StratCom, whose own mandate has expanded well beyond strategic nuclear deterrence and strike capabilities to include cyber, space and electronic deterrence. With Offutt so critical to the success of both StratCom and the 55th Wing, it is essential that it receive the resources it needs. Several years ago, the Offutt runway was in dire need of major repair. Having endured the repeated impact of 50-ton planes for over 75 years, the runway was literally crumbling. Gov. Pete Ricketts and first lady Susanne Shore celebrated the beginning of Ricketts second term as governor Jan. 12 with a gathering of over 2,300 at the 2019 Inaugural Ball at Pinnacle Bank Arena. During Ricketts speech, as he reflected on his first term as Nebraskas 40th governor, and during Shores impromptu speech, both made it clear that the evenings theme was a celebration of not just the beginning of Ricketts second term as governor, but one for all Nebraskans. The food followed that theme, as guests dug into Nebraska beef flank steaks and a dessert by Lincoln High Society Cheesecakes. A video highlighted the Nebraskans that Ricketts said he plans to continue to serve diligently. From Fort Robinsons Intertribal Pow Wow to Wilbers Czech Days celebration and South Omahas Cinco de Mayo Festival, the video emphasized Nebraskas diversity and cultural history. The ball also featured a Grand March of Nebraska government officials and their families, including former Gov. Ben Nelson; Sens. Deb Fischer and Ben Sasse; Reps. Don Bacon, Jeff Fortenberry and Adrian Smith; and several state senators, Nebraska Supreme Court justices and State Board of Education members. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The Real Jackie Kennedy Her style and grace were legendary, and her image came to define the 1960s. She captured the hearts of world leaders, fashion icons and people all over the planet, who knew her as Jackie Kennedy, Jacqueline Onassis, or simply Jackie O. But who was the real Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis? Take our quiz and find out. Username: Password: or Register Back to Forum Reply to This post Post New Thread Thread Rating: 3 Vote(s) - 3.67 Average 1 2 3 4 5 An American Banker Financed the Russian Revolution Natura Naturans Registered User User ID: 480998 02-12-2019 01:23 AM Posts: 13,156 Post: #1 An American Banker Financed the Russian Revolution Advertisement "Jacob Schiff held a deep rooted hatred of Czarist Russia because of its gross and frequent ill-treatment of Jews. He had willingly financed revolutionary propaganda during the Russo-Japanese War and before and during the First World War. [5] The Jewish Communal Register of New York City 1917-1918 stated that Mr. Schiff has always used his wealth and his influence in the best interests of his people. He financed the enemies of autocratic Russia and used his influence to keep Russia from the money market of the United States. [6] Note the reference to his people. In 1910, Schiff was one of several Americans who campaigned to revoke a commercial treaty with the Russians over their mistreatment of Russian Jews. When the Czarist regime sought him out for loans he refused, and no one else at Kuhn, Loeb was permitted to underwrite Russian requests for finance. After the Czars abdication, Schiff dropped his opposition to the Russian government. His views on Zionism experienced a similar volte-face. Schiff initially opposed Zionism, believing it to be a secular, nationalistic perversion of the Jewish faith and incompatible with American citizenship. He funded agricultural projects in Palestine, however, and later favoured the notion of a cultural homeland for Jews in Palestine. [7] Schiff encouraged and financed armed revolt against the Czar. He provided financial support for Jewish self-defence groups in Russia, including Bolshevik and other socialist revolutionaries. He was set on fomenting revolution in Russia. The America author, G. Edward Griffin, pondered the question of Schiffs involvement and unequivocally stated that Schiff was one of the principle backers of the Bolshevik revolution and personally financed Trotskys trip from New York to Russia. [8] Years later, Jacob Schiffs grandson admitted that his grandfather had given about $20 million for the triumph of communism in Russia. [9]" https://firstworldwarhiddenhistory.wordp...nefactors/ It interesting to note that Rep. Adam Schiff is apparently not related to the Banker Jacob Schiff, but has a more illustrious history: A Jacob Schiff, this time arriving from Poland, came to New York in the early 1900's. He was a cabinet maker who later made his home in New Haven. His son Irwin was a prominent figure in the US tax protester movement. He died in federal prison in 2015 while he was serving a 13 year sentence for tax evasion. His son Peter, however, has been a successful financial investor and writer. A Schiff family from Lithuania came to Boston in 1906 where the husband worked in the butcher's trade. Their grandson Adam became a Californian Congressman in 2001. http://www.selectsurnames2.com/schiff.html The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free. --Baruch Spinoza Jacob Schiff owned one of the biggest banks in the US back at early 1900's. He hated the Czsar of Russia as did many Jewish bankers who were forbidden to operate in Russia:"Jacob Schiff held a deep rooted hatred of Czarist Russia because of its gross and frequent ill-treatment of Jews. He had willingly financed revolutionary propaganda during the Russo-Japanese War and before and during the First World War. [5] The Jewish Communal Register of New York City 1917-1918 stated that Mr. Schiff has always used his wealth and his influence in the best interests of his people. He financed the enemies of autocratic Russia and used his influence to keep Russia from the money market of the United States. [6] Note the reference to his people. In 1910, Schiff was one of several Americans who campaigned to revoke a commercial treaty with the Russians over their mistreatment of Russian Jews. When the Czarist regime sought him out for loans he refused, and no one else at Kuhn, Loeb was permitted to underwrite Russian requests for finance. After the Czars abdication, Schiff dropped his opposition to the Russian government. His views on Zionism experienced a similar volte-face. Schiff initially opposed Zionism, believing it to be a secular, nationalistic perversion of the Jewish faith and incompatible with American citizenship. He funded agricultural projects in Palestine, however, and later favoured the notion of a cultural homeland for Jews in Palestine. [7]Schiff encouraged and financed armed revolt against the Czar. He provided financial support for Jewish self-defence groups in Russia, including Bolshevik and other socialist revolutionaries. He was set on fomenting revolution in Russia. The America author, G. Edward Griffin, pondered the question of Schiffs involvement and unequivocally stated that Schiff was one of the principle backers of the Bolshevik revolution and personally financed Trotskys trip from New York to Russia. [8] Years later, Jacob Schiffs grandson admitted that his grandfather had given about $20 million for the triumph of communism in Russia. [9]"It interesting to note that Rep. Adam Schiff is apparently not related to the Banker Jacob Schiff, but has a more illustrious history:A Jacob Schiff, this time arriving from Poland, came to New York in the early 1900's. He was a cabinet maker who later made his home in New Haven. His son Irwin was a prominent figure in the US tax protester movement. He died in federal prison in 2015 while he was serving a 13 year sentence for tax evasion. His son Peter, however, has been a successful financial investor and writer. A Schiff family from Lithuania came to Boston in 1906 where the husband worked in the butcher's trade. Their grandson Adam became a Californian Congressman in 2001.The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free. --Baruch Spinoza SkeptiSchism Registered User User ID: 450243 02-12-2019 01:30 AM Posts: 33,292 Post: #2 RE: An American Banker Financed the Russian Revolution One of the central planks to communism is having a central bank. Which makes no sense if you think about it, money controls people far more than government does. Knowing that, a communist system should take away the monopoly to print money from banks and place it with the state where the government printed all the money. Collectivism is basically totalitarianism disguised as humanitarianism. Brandon Smith (This post was last modified: 02-12-2019 01:31 AM by SkeptiSchism .) Natura Naturans Registered User User ID: 480998 02-12-2019 01:36 AM Posts: 13,156 Post: #3 RE: An American Banker Financed the Russian Revolution SkeptiSchism Wrote: (02-12-2019 01:30 AM) One of the central planks to communism is having a central bank. Which makes no sense if you think about it, money controls people far more than government does. Knowing that, a communist system should take away the monopoly to print money from banks and place it with the state where the government printed all the money. As many people know, Karl Marx was related to the Rothschild family. "Marx married Jenny von Westphalen in 1843. She came from a wealthy Prussian family. Her brother was Ferdinand von Westphalen, who was Prussian Minister of the Interior from 1850-1858. Ferdinand, Marxs brother-in-law, was regarded as reactionary, who ran a vast spy network which kept tabs on dissidents Marx moved to London in 1849While Marx was authoring Das Kapital in the British Museum reading room, his famous cousin Lionel de Rothschild, conveniently, was MP for the City of London (1847-1868 & 1869-1874). The Rothschilds (Marxs third cousin by blood) and other finance syndicates were very prominent in promoting Jewish emancipation and Masonic, liberal and Protestant ideas which took hold of society at the start of the 19th century. The idea of Marx as a Rothschild shillwas raised as a concern by his contemporary rival in the First International, Mikhail Bakunin in 1869, who was not even aware of the fact that Marx and Rothschild were cousins. Bakunin wrote presciently: This world is now, at least for the most part, at the disposal of Marx on the one hand, and of Rothschild on the other. This may seem strange. What can there be in common between socialism and a leading bank? The point is that authoritarian socialism, Marxist communism, demands a strong centralisation of the state. And where there is centralization of the state, there must necessarily be a central bank, and where such a bank exists, speculating with the Labour of the people, will be found. Mikhail Bakunin, Profession de foi dun democrate socialiste russe precede dune etude sur les juifs allemands, 1869. https://newspunch.com/karl-marx-employed-rothschilds/ As many people know, Karl Marx was related to the Rothschild family."Marx married Jenny von Westphalen in 1843. She came from a wealthy Prussian family. Her brother was Ferdinand von Westphalen, who was Prussian Minister of the Interior from 1850-1858. Ferdinand, Marxs brother-in-law, was regarded as reactionary, who ran a vast spy network which kept tabs on dissidentsMarx moved to London in 1849While Marx was authoring Das Kapital in the British Museum reading room, his famous cousin Lionel de Rothschild, conveniently, was MP for the City of London (1847-1868 & 1869-1874).The Rothschilds (Marxs third cousin by blood) and other finance syndicates were very prominent in promoting Jewish emancipation and Masonic, liberal and Protestant ideas which took hold of society at the start of the 19th century.The idea of Marx as a Rothschild shillwas raised as a concern by his contemporary rival in the First International, Mikhail Bakunin in 1869, who was not even aware of the fact that Marx and Rothschild were cousins. Bakunin wrote presciently:This world is now, at least for the most part, at the disposal of Marx on the one hand, and of Rothschild on the other. This may seem strange. What can there be in common between socialism and a leading bank? The point is that authoritarian socialism, Marxist communism, demands a strong centralisation of the state. And where there is centralization of the state, there must necessarily be a central bank, and where such a bank exists, speculating with the Labour of the people, will be found. Mikhail Bakunin, Profession de foi dun democrate socialiste russe precede dune etude sur les juifs allemands, 1869. The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free. --Baruch Spinoza Back to Forum Reply to This post Post New Thread While the trial was dominated by Guzman's persona as a near-mythical outlaw who carried a diamond-encrusted handgun and stayed one step ahead of the law, the jury never heard from Guzman himself, except when he told the judge he wouldn't testify. But his sing-songy voice filled the courtroom, thanks to recordings of intercepted phone calls. "Amigo!" he said to a cartel distributor in Chicago. "Here at your service." One of the trial's most memorable tales came from girlfriend Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, who testified she was in bed in a safe house with an on-the-run Guzman in 2014 when Mexican marines started breaking down his door. She said Guzman led her to a trap door beneath a bathtub that opened up to a tunnel that allowed them to escape. Asked what he was wearing, she replied: "He was naked. He took off running. He left us behind." The defendant had previously escaped from jail by hiding in a laundry bin in 2001. He then got an escort from crooked police officers into Mexico City before retreating to one of his many mountainside hideaways. In 2014, he pulled off another jail break, escaping through a mile-long lighted tunnel on a motorcycle on rails. Tyi Hakeem and her two daughters returned to their home on South 10th Street from school Monday afternoon when they saw smoke coming from their duplex. They ran in and grabbed their two guinea pigs, Shy and Frodo, as the blaze was growing, ultimately eating away the south wall of the living room where the pets were kept, she said. Im just sick, Hakeem said. Im just stunned. Heres a look at the fire from the street pic.twitter.com/d6vcgAHnmq Riley Johnson (@LJSRileyJohnson) February 11, 2019 Lincoln Fire and Rescue crews were called to the home in the 1300 block, near B Street, around 4 p.m. Fire investigator Ken Hilger said the fire was caused by an item on the stove which was left unattended while the children were picked up from school. The two-story duplex had been the Hakeem family's home since December, the 46-year-old mother said. Speedway Properties owns multiple properties in the area used for light-industrial purposes, said Michael Tavlin, with Speedway. The potential plans, including an area for mixed-use business, are incompatible with the current and future use of the properties as shown in the plans, he said. Though city officials say the plans are tentative and the zoning hasnt been changed, those plans will guide future developments and decisions, he said. One of the plans shows Salt Creek Roadway running right through property that Windstream leases at 2500 State Fair Park Drive, property the company had planned to use as its primary customer service location for about three decades, said Brad Hedrick with Windstream. Planning Director Dave Cary said the Railroad Transportation Safety District will likely have a decision on the final street alignment within six months, giving a clear idea which businesses will be impacted. Some of the businesses, owned by several generations of local families, believe that Lincolns vision of the future does not include them, said Councilman Roy Christensen. They own the property now. They have a legacy business. This (transportation plan) is telling them in a pretty straightforward way that the city doesnt see them in that future vision, he said. But neighboring homeowners said the development still isn't appropriate for the area. This started as a size-12 foot going into a size-6 shoe, said Bill Blake, an attorney representing the neighborhood. Now the developer has reduced the size to 11 1/2 feet into that size-6 shoe, he said during a public hearing Monday. There is not much change. Why are we back here?" he asked. City Council and Planning Commission members have been inundated by emails from nearby homeowners. Shobe said he has received 55 emails on the project. We are not asking the City Council to change anything. Just enforce the rules in place," said homeowner Doug Gerlach. We are rewriting the Lincoln zoning handbook for one person. Changing things for one person, that doesnt seem fair, he said. Krueger pointed out the apartment complex would likely be valued at $4.4 million more than medical office space, giving the city more property taxes. The apartment complex conforms with the comprehensive plan and doesnt require any new streets or any extension of the water and sewer system, Krueger pointed out. It is important to allow the private sector to do these things, he said. Voting against the height waiver were Shobe, Carl Eskridge, Leirion Gaylor Baird and Jane Raybould. Voting for waiver were Cyndi Lamm, Roy Christensen and Jon Camp. Reach the writer at 402-473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSNancyHicks. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 5 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. It will let them go off, find time to talk, and hash out their differences, he said, with the goal of creating dialogues and more engagement on campus. Grace Chambers, a junior sociology major, said UNL should build upon existing programs such as Husker Dialogues to foster more conversations on campus. I really think that at an institutional level, we have to practice what we preach and we have to actually be the place that we say we are as a university, she said. But, she added, technology and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter need to be used as tools to better educate and engage with a broad spectrum of students, rather than avoid using those methods at all. Building on her point, Sasse said its important to think about to what end those tools are being used. In the past, the countrys brightest minds were tasked with how to keep gamblers in casinos, or how to get more people to use tobacco. Now, those minds are trying to figure out how to keep people on their devices for as long as possible, he added. Prosecutors have charged a convicted robber who had been serving time at the Lincoln Correctional Center with arson in connection with a November 2018 fire at the west Lincoln prison, according to court documents. Ricardo D. Wood, 23, set the mattress in his cell on fire Nov. 16, a Nebraska Department of Correctional Services spokeswoman said. A Lincoln Fire and Rescue spokeswoman said the agency wasn't called to the fire. Prosecutors charged Wood with first-degree arson late last month. Sentenced to prison in 2016, Wood is serving 12 years to 18 years in prison for attempted robbery, terroristic threats, domestic assault and assault by a confined person convictions in Lancaster County. Wood has since been transferred to the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution, according to prison records. If convicted, Wood faces up to 50 additional years in prison. Love 0 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 1 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The bill also allows teachers to have administrators or school resource officers remove a student from class for unruly, disruptive or abusive behavior. Principals wouldnt be able to return the student to class without the teachers permission, unless a special-education plan required it. A conference with parents would be required within two days if the student wasnt back in class. Maddie Fennell, executive director of the Nebraska State Education Association, said the new bill addresses the concerns her organization had two years ago. Many students who act out are suffering from trauma, and the NSEA has offered free professional development for teachers so they can respond appropriately to students in such circumstances. But its prudent to give teachers the ability to deal with disruptive students, she said. Two years ago, the NSEA did a survey of teachers and 81 percent of the 7,000 who responded supported the bill. Even as we take this proactive approach we must balance the needs of all students against the needs of one, she said. Removing a student from class can allow the student to calm down, and begins a process to figure out what's causing the problem and how to address it, she said. Forbes Magazine recently identified hemp as "a potential economic dynamo for American farmers" at a time of financial stress for agriculture. "Everybody wants to do it," Wayne said, "but we have no guiding regulations to do it" that are agreed to yet. No one testified in opposition to the bill at the committee hearing. "Nebraska is stuck between corn and soybeans," Andrew Bish of Giltner said. "Hemp is appealing to Nebraska farmers (and) will improve the economic outlook for Nebraska," he said. "Growing conditions are favorable for hemp in the state," said Jenkins, the UNK professor. "This could be a shot in the arm for the Nebraska farm economy." The Nebraska Farm Bureau and the Nebraska Farmers Union supported the legislation, pointing to the opportunity for diversification in Nebraska agriculture. "It's a growing market and we need to allow Nebraska farmers to produce alternative crops," Wayne said. "The industry is growing and Nebraskans are missing out," he said. "This is the time," Farmers Union President John Hansen told the committee. Before the 2018 farm bill drew a clear distinction, industrial hemp had been widely associated with marijuana even though it does not contain the same concentration of ingredients that can turn it into a recreational drug. Reach the writer at 402-473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSDon. Love 0 Funny 3 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Yes, Simon's Cat is between the covers again The new book is called Simon's Cat vs the World and you can win your own copy, acco... MATTOON Lake Land College's total student headcount enrollment has increased by 7.0 percent this spring in comparison to the 2018 spring semester. Lake Land's Board of Trustees heard this figure as part of a presentation on the spring 2019 10th-day enrollment summary during its meeting Monday night. The summary showed that total headcount enrollment increased by 7.0 percent, 327 students, from 4,684 in spring 2018 to 5,011 this spring. The summary also showed that the total for non-degree students increased by 28.4 percent, 509 students, from 1,795 in spring 2018 to 2,304 this spring. The new vice president for student services, Beth Gerl, said during the presentation that non-degree students include those in high school dual credit, transfer credit, and skills development classes. Gerl said much of the increase in non-degree students was due to Jim Hull, vice president for workforce solutions and community education, arranging for Lake Land to provide CPR training for Illinois Department of Corrections employees. Hull said IDOC had contracted with Lake Land for CPR classes in the past and has now resumed this practice. The summary showed that a total of 1,703 students, 34 percent, of the 5,011 enrolled at Lake Land this spring fit the definition of "non-traditional" age, which is age 23 and older. This is an increase of 415 in this age group compared to spring 2018. "The increase is largely due to the new contract for short-term training for Department of Corrections employees," Gerl said. For the non-degree category, Lake Land's total full-time equivalent credit hour enrollment increased by 4.1 percent from 699.6 credit hours in spring 2018 to 728.4 this spring. The college's total full-time equivalent credit hour enrollment for all student categories did decrease by 3.6 percent from 3,088.6 in spring 2018 to 2,977.6 this spring. The summary showed that a total of 3,308 students, 66 percent, of the 5,011 enrolled this spring fit the definition of "traditional age" college students, which is up through age 22. There are 88 fewer students in this age group compared to spring 2018. Gerl said Lake Land, like its peer colleges in Illinois, continues to face challenges of high school student populations declining and many college students seeking their education out of state. Still, she said Lake Land has enrolled 629, 56 percent, of the 1,122 students who graduated from district high schools in 2018 and then enrolled in college. "Again, the data shows that Lake Land College is number one," Gerl said. Gerl noted that Indiana State University in Terre Haute has moved up to second place by enrolling 57 of these students, 5 percent, slightly more than Eastern Illinois University. She said Indiana State offers in-state tuition for Illinois students. Trustee Doris Reynolds asked about looking into enhancing transfer opportunities with Indiana State. Gerl said there also might be opportunities to offer summer courses for local students of Indiana State while they are home on break. Actions taken by the board at Monday's meeting included: -- Hiring CCIMW, LLC of St. Charles, Mo. for $49,585 to paint the nearly 250 campus light poles. The light poles will be painted black, a school color, to match the wayfinding signs and the new digital sign on campus. --Hiring Carpet Weaver's Commercial of Champaign for $41,850 to replace carpeting in the commons areas, several offices, and three classrooms in the West building through state deferred maintenance funding. -- Adding Pauly's BBQ of Arthur to the list of approved caterers for Lake Land. Contact Rob Stroud at (217) 238-6861. Follow him on Twitter: @TheRobStroud Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. CHARLESTON -- The selling price Tuesday for 30 acres of land Abraham Lincoln once owned was $300,000, but what will happen with it next isn't known. The southern Coles County land was part of a total of 590 acres that the Best family sold at an auction, with the entire sale bringing $4.2 million. The land Lincoln once owned was sold separately from the rest of the seven tracts that made up the sale. The land, which adjoins or is near the other farm land sold Tuesday, has been used for farming since the family bought it in 1989. After the auction was completed, successful bidder Cory Kauffman said he bid on behalf of someone who wanted to remain anonymous. He said he didn't know what plans the new owner has for the land. Ron Best of Charleston and his four siblings decided to sell the land, as he'd retired from farming four years ago. Best didn't attend the auction but family members there included his sister, Barbara Robertson of Dayton, Ohio, who said they were thankful for the amount of money the sale brought. "I think it's very reasonable," she said. "It's what the market will bear." Robertson called the former Lincoln land a "wildcard" but said the family's only thoughts on a price were based on the value as farm land. The family never considered a use for it based on its historical significance. Auctioneer Mike Stanfield said the selling price of the land was expected based on the area's hilly terrain, soil types and other factors. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} "I thought it was a fair price," he said, adding that sales have been similar for other land in the area he's auctioned. Several rounds of bidding came from a large crowd in a meeting room at Unique Suites Hotel. While the 30 acres that Lincoln owned sold separately, bidders had the option to try for each of the other seven tracts individually or to bid on all of those 560 acres combined. Some of the individual tracts drew bids but those came to about $1 million, leaving a $3.9 million bid as the selling price for all seven tracts. The sale took place on Lincoln's birthday, and those in attendance included Lincoln portrayer Abe Clymer of Vandalia, who said the Best family invited him to attend. All the land the family sold Tuesday is located in southern Coles County, and the part Lincoln owned is immediately east of Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site. It was part of 40 acres Lincoln bought from his father, Thomas Lincoln, whose home is featured at the historic site. The site's grounds include six acres of what Abe bought from his father. The other four acres of the Lincoln land was passed down after the 16th president's death and was eventually inherited by Ray Phipps. Best bought the 30 acres from Phipps 30 years ago, and Rockford businessman Dan Arnold, now deceased, purchased Phipps' last four acres 2007. Though Phipps and Arnold both had plans to promote the land based on its history, they never came to fruition. Contact Dave Fopay at (217) 238-6858. Follow him on Twitter: @FopayDave Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 They will gather in order to show support of the Iranian peoples uprising against the Regime and for the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), led by Maryam Rajavi, as the democratic alternative to the mullahs regime. They will also declare their support for Rajavis ten-point plan for a free Iran, which includes separation of religion and state, gender equality and the abandonment of nuclear weapons. The Iranians will be calling on those attending the conference to: condemn ongoing human rights violations in Iran adopt a firm policy against the regime take practical actions to counter the regimes terrorism recognize the peoples right to overthrow the religious dictatorship This rally will be attended by thousands of Iranians and feature speeches from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Algerian Prime Minister Sid Ahmed Ghozali, former US Senator Robert Torricelli, and several Polish Members of Parliament and the Senate. They will also take part in a press briefing before the meeting. The conference The February 13-14 ministerial conference, hosted jointly by the US State Department and Polish Foreign Ministry, is expected to focus on Irans meddling in the Middle East and how this has led to instability and terrorism. The Regimes destructive conduct in the region is one of many issues that worry the rest of the world, along with its systematic human rights violations. The Iranian Regime called for this conference to be cancelled, even summoning the Polish Ambassador, but they have failed. They fear that the international community will reach a consensus about ending their appeasement of the Regime and supporting the peoples call for regime change instead. The Iranian people have been involved in a nationwide uprising, led by the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), for over a year now, loudly calling for regime change. The Regime has failed to stop the protests, despite a widespread and violent crackdown where almost 10,000 people were arrested, so they have resorted to terrorist activities against the MEK and the NCRI in Europe and the US. The Regime has even admitted that the MEK and its Resistance Units that are present all across Iran are a major threat to the rule of the mullahs, which is why the Regime has launched a major disinformation campaign against the MEK at home and abroad. Irans regime has gained international notoriety over its secret nuclear weapons program and support for Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, but Westerners know less of the regimes draconian human rights record and of the organized pro-democracy movement their main democratic opposition, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The Khomeini regime has executed some 120,000 political prisoners, mainly MEK activists. The United Nations rates Iran as the worlds leading executioner per capita. Last month, Amnesty International said more than 7,000 people were arrested in a chilling crackdown on dissent during 2018. All throughout 2018, Iran witnessed nationwide protests calling for regime change. The dissent was triggered in part by the failing economy and clampdown on social freedoms. Defying state censors, the MEK routinely sends out footage of demonstrators chanting Death to the dictator and writing graffiti calling for regime change on street walls. The MEK, also known as the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), is the largest and most defiant foe to Irans regime and has grassroots following in Iran. The MEKs underground network of Resistance Units play a central role in organizing the protests that have all but crippled the regime. With the exception of the Trump Administration, all US governments have ignored the regimes terror at home and abroad and attempted to placate the mullahs. The Obama Administration turned its back on the 2009 uprising, instead striking a deal with the mullahs that lifted sanctions. The European Union meanwhile continues its efforts to appease the mullahs, with major European powers establishing a special mechanism this year to bypass sanctions re-imposed by the Trump Administration. Though most economic experts expect the EU mechanism to fail, EU leaders are once again betraying their fundamental value of support for human rights, all for short-term economic interests. On February 13-14, the US will co-host an international summit in Poland with special focus on Iran. Tehran is already leading a campaign to discredit the event through fearmongering, with unproven claims that Washingtons war hawks are hoping to stoke up support for a military conflict with Iran. EU nations are divided on whether to continue their attempts to salvage the nuclear deal. On behalf of the people of Iran, Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), in January made eight demands of Western leaders to make up for four decades of appeasement. Chief among Mrs. Rajavis demands was Recognition of the Iranian peoples right to resistance to overthrow the mullahs religious fascism and achieve freedom. Maryam Rajavis demands of the West include the blacklisting of Irans Revolutionary Guards and Intelligence Ministry as terrorist entities, the expulsion of their agents from the US and Europe and the referral of the regimes human rights dossier to the UN Security Council. Maryam Rajavis call is evermore justified given Tehrans recent record of terror on European soil. In 2018 alone, European security agencies thwarted Irans terror plots against dissidents in Albania, Demark and France. That included the arrest of an Iranian diplomat who personally gave a powerful explosive device to two terrorists to bomb the annual Free Iran rally in Paris hosted by the MEK. In addition to tens of thousands of Iranian supporters of democracy and several hundred lawmakers from across the globe, that event was attended by Mrs. Rajavi and by President Trumps personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. This month, German media reported that an MEK sympathizer was violently beaten on the streets of Berlin by the regimes agents who warned him not to attend the rally the MEK intends to hold in Warsaw. By continuously targeting the MEK, Irans regime has made it clear that it fears the group as a viable force that can bring regime change to Iran. The NCRI coalition, which includes the MEK, has a democratic platform that enshrines human rights, equality among men and women, and peace with Irans neighbors for the countrys future. It is time the international community throws its political weight behind Maryam Rajavi and the MEK to send a message to Irans restless population that as they fight to overthrow the murderous mullahs, the world stands with them. The Warsaw Summit can do a lot of good, but only if it recognizes the legitimate right of Iranians to achieve their own freedom. President Trump is on track to become the sole US President in history to stand on the side of Irans people as they edge ever closer to ousting their brutal dictators, but his Administration should now formally recognize the right to resist the brutal regime. The EU and US should endorse Maryam Rajavis call to action and offer political support to Irans people as they move beyond a decaying regime to a bright, prosperous and democratic future. A sign board indicates that visitors are only allowed to use vaping device Reuters Smokers who reach for an alternative smoking device such as heat-not-burn tobacco gadgets or even a vape still risk damaging their lungs, experts have warned. Researchers analysed the effects of smoking, heated tobacco and vapes on lung cells including epithelial cells, which push foreign particles out of the lungs. The researchers found that cigarette smoke and heated tobacco vapour were both toxic to lung cells and so was e-cigarette vapour at high concentrations. Dr. Sukhwinder Sohal of the University of Tasmania said, Our results suggest that all three are toxic to the cells of our lungs. MORE: Jeremy Corbyn says Labour may back another EU referendum MORE: Rare tiger killed by her new potential mate at London Zoo These new heated tobacco devices are as harmful as smoking traditional cigarettes. We observed different levels of cellular toxicity with all forms of exposures in human lung cells. What came out clearly was that the newer products were in no way less toxic to cells than conventional cigarettes or e-cigarette vaping. Heat not burn products have been marketed as tasting like real cigarettes, but as less harmful. Philip Morris launched its version IQOS, pronounced eye-koss after widespread anti-smoking campaigns. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra looks on as he speaks to Reuters during an interview in Singapore February 23, 2016. REUTERS/Edgar Su/Files BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's telecoms regulator on Tuesday suspended the operating licence of a television channel linked to ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra weeks ahead of a general election, citing national security concerns. Two programmes on Voice TV, Tonight Thailand and Wake Up News, spread information that caused public confusion and divisiveness, said the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, without elaborating. "The NBTC ordered Voice TV to improve itself with a suspension of the operating licence for 15 days," said Perapong Manakit, one of the commissioners. The March 24 election, pitting pro-military and royalist Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha against a populist movement led by Thaksin and his followers, will be the first since a military coup in 2014 and comes amid concerns over the junta's attempts to crack down on opponents. Voice TV is owned by two children of Thaksin, who was ousted in a coup in 2006 and who has lived in self-imposed exile since 2008 to avoid corruption charges he says were politically motivated. Takorn Tantasith, the regulator's secretary-general, said the violation was against television broadcasting laws, particularly a section that concerns national security and peace and order. Some of the episodes mentioned in a copy of the NBTC order, published by Voice TV, featured interviews with two prime minister candidates from Thaksin's Pheu Thai party. Voice TV has previously been shut down twice, two days before the 2014 coup, which brought down Thaksin's sister, then Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, and in 2017. Its chief executive, Mekin Petchplai, called the order "unfair", and said the channel would appeal and demand more than 100 million baht ($3.19 million) in damages. "When the country is heading towards an election in a few weeks, (this) should stop because the people need quality, well-rounded news to inform their decisions on the vote," said Mekin. ($1 = 31.3100 baht) (Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat; Writing by Patpicha Tanakasempipat; Editing by Nick Macfie) Joe Raedle/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Vice President Mike Pence is expected to send a strong message to Iran and discuss the rising tension in Venezuela as he travels to Europe this week for two conferences focused on the Middle East and international relations. At a conference hosted by the U.S. and Poland in Warsaw, which seeks to address instability in the region, Pence will give the keynote remarks. His speech at the Ministerial to Promote a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East is expected to send a strong message to Iran, according to a senior White House official. The administration has drawn a hard line with Iran. Despite concerns from other world leaders, President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from Iran's landmark 2015 nuclear accord with world powers and restored economic sanctions. And, in a recent interview with CBS News' Face the Nation, Trump said the U.S. has an "incredible base" in Iraq that he intends to keep "because I want to be able to watch Iran." Ahead of Pence's trip, the president tweeted on Monday that "the long-suffering Iranian people deserve a much brighter future," referencing the 40th anniversary of the country's Islamic revolution. Pence also will stop in Germany for the Munich Security Conference and is expected to address the ongoing tension in Venezuela. Earlier this month, Pence held a roundtable discussion with exiles from Venezuela in South Florida, vowing to stand with them "until the suffering is over and freedom is restored" and reinforcing the White House's support for opposition leader Juan Guaido. As he makes a public call for international peace, Pence also will hold private meetings with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The vice president will "reaffirm the Administration's commitment to international peace and stability, recognizing the value of strategic partnerships in the Middle East, as well as our shared global security responsibilities," Alyssa Farah, Pence's press secretary, said in a statement. Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who met with Netanyahu in 2017, will be traveling with Pence. During the trip, Pence also will participate in a U.S.-Poland engagement at Warsaw Chopin Airport and speak to U.S. and Polish troops stationed around the region. While in Poland, he will tour Auschwitz-Birkenau, a former concentration camp operated by Nazi Germany during World War II. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Priyanka Gandhi Vadras much-touted political debut outside of the Gandhis political home turf of Amethi and Raebareli happened today in Uttar Pradesh with predictable gusto, with the Congress reacting as though this was the best thing to happen to the party since its inauguration. Okay, that is an obvious exaggeration. But if you were in Lucknow and anywhere near Priyankas cavalcade, you would not have thought so. For, such was the over-the-top feelings of the Congress crowds that, one would have thought, Priyanka has more or less already won the elections for the party. In Priyanka, the Congress workers see a figure who can be absolutely talismanic to their chances of victory. In their enthusiasm, they would seem to be counting the eggs even before they have arrived at the hatchery. That, sirs, could be precisely the problem for the Congress. Priyanka, to be sure, brings to the table a reassuring approach and a confident stride that even after so many years of constant cushioning by all and sundry Rahul Gandhi is unable to purvey. In that sense, Priyankas positivity is what-the-doctor-ordered kind for the Congress. But does she have what it takes to make the Congress cross the line? All her credentials are so far hearsay. We are told that she is a good leader and has good organisational skills. Pray where is the proof for this? asks M K Singh, a Kanpur-based political analyst, trenchantly. Just because she is the daughter of a former Prime Minister and the Granddaughter of another Prime Minister, she doesnt become good for a leadership role. At any rate, Rajiv Gandhi never seemed to have inherited his mothers non-nonsense leadership approach, he adds. Though, on the face it, it might seem a little caustic and uncharitable, Priyanka doesnt seem to have any heft in her political CV. She has been mostly caretaker of Amethi and Raebareli, two constituencies that anyway dont need much caretaking. Media outlets are gushing about her resemblance to Indira Gandhi. What is the surprise in this? Seriously, it is a surprise and worthy of news if she actually resembles, say, Pratibha Patil, says V S Pradhan, a BJP worker in Lucknow. Story continues Of course, Pradhans views are skewed and contrarian. But what he says carries a ring of truth, and he adds, See, all I am trying to point out is the media is trying to build a case for Priyanka and hence are trying play up her qualities. And the only obvious thing that can be said without any fear of contradiction is that she looks a lot like her grandma. Congressmen in Lucknow, it goes without saying, have no time for such sarcasm. They feel that once Priyanka gets down to work, even the SP-BSP alliance group will work out some kind of understanding with the Congress. Just wait and see, she will work aggressively. Already the SP has toned down its antipathy towards us. It is only a matter of time before, things start getting better for us. It is a sign for hope for us, a Congress worker said at the Priyanka roadshow today. From living on a prayer, Congress has now moved to hope. That is a sign of development. Powered by: A Hizbul Mujahideen militant, who helped Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Naveed Jatt escape from police custody at a hospital last year, was killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Tuesday, 12 February, in which a soldier also lost his life, police said. Based on a credible input about the presence of militants in Ratnipora area of Pulwama, a cordon and search operation was launched in the intervening night, a police spokesman said. He said that as the searches were going on, the militants fired upon the forces, who retaliated. In the ensuing encounter, one militant was killed and the body was retrieved from the site of encounter. Also Read: Committee Formed to Ensure Justice for Kargil: J&K Guv on Ladakh Slain Militant Had a History of Terror Crime The slain militant was identified as Hilal Ahmad Rather, a resident of Behgambagh Kakapora of Pulwama district, the spokesman said. He said as per police records, Rather was affiliated with the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM). Rather had a long history of terror crime and was wanted for his complicity in a series of crimes, including attack on security establishments and civilian atrocities, the spokesman said. "Several cases were registered against him for his involvement in terrorist activities, including a case pertaining to the terrorist attack inside the premises of SMHS hospital in which two cops were martyred and a Pakistani terrorist, Naveed Jatt alias Hanzalla, managed to escape," he said. Jatt was killed in an encounter in Budgam in November last year. Incriminating Material Recovered from Encounter Site The spokesperson said incriminating material such as arms and ammunition was recovered from the site of encounter. "All these materials have been taken in the case records for the purpose of investigation. Body of the killed terrorist was handed over to his family after completion of medico-legal formalities," he said. Story continues He said two security personnel also sustained gunshot injuries in the encounter and were evacuated to a hospital for medical attention. One of them, Jawan Baljeet Singh, succumbed to the injuries, the spokesman said, adding the other soldier is being treated. Also Read: Minor Boy Killed After Unexploded Shell Goes off in J&Ks Pulwama . Read more on India by The Quint.RSS & BJPs Nehru-Netaji Cosplay: Irony Dies a Thousand DeathsTop Entertainment News: Shraddha Reunites With Tiger for Baaghi 3 . Read more on India by The Quint. 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. Remarks: This came out in 1994, going gold in the US, UK and New Zealand. It is made from her mothers sayings. Desree is a one-hit wonder in the US, but ... 3 days ago In 1969, the Apollo 12 mission retrieved a camera that had been left on the moon by an earlier spacecraft. When it was analysed, scientists discovered some bacteria Streptococcus mitis that are found in humans. While the origin of the bacteria was hotly debated, the incident highlighted the problem of cross-contamination something that could invalidate the analysis of any samples brought back from future lunar missions. Given the potential moon and other space missions coming up in the next decade, there will also be more of a need for better ways of handling and analysing the material. One solution is to use lunar rovers to analyse the moons environment in situ, but a key challenge with this, according to Diego Urbina from Belgium-based company Space Applications Services, is the traditional huge expense and difficulty of transporting and using these vehicles. Urbina works on a project called LUVMI, which is developing a lightweight, low-cost rover weighing about 45kg. In January, the team tested a 60kg prototype over two days in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, to see how it performed autonomously in navigating hazardous obstacles and moon-mimicking surfaces, from rugged terrain to sandy dunes. That went really well. It proved that the concept worked, that it delivered the functions we wanted it to, and the rovers drill worked correctly, said Urbina. Were hoping that by the mid-2020s, if all goes well, we could have LUVMI ready for the moon. The team hopes that LUVMI could be sent to look at the characteristics of the moons water ice the existence of which was confirmed last year as well as the chemicals in the crust and atmosphere, known as volatiles. It could also explore ways to extract oxygen and water for use by humans and as fuel by vehicles and satellites, potentially aiding future missions. We expect this to be a kind of exponential effect that once you can extract resources, these enable many things that can help you extract more resources and expand into the solar system, said Urbina. Sweet spot Urbina explained that the LUVMI rover is much smaller than traditional government-backed ones, but also larger than the more commercial miniature ones, such as those designed for Googles Lunar XPRIZE before it was cancelled last year. Were at a nice sweet spot where it is small enough that your launch costs are not too high and big enough that you can deliver a nice suite of payloads and do something interesting, he said. Rather than having six wheels like some other models, the LUVMI rover only has four, which Urbina says makes it more energy-effective while also keeping it highly mobile. This is enabled by an adjustable suspension system that allows the chassis to move up and down and more easily put sensors in contact with the lunar surface as it drives along. Unlike traditional rovers that transfer samples to the lunar surface after drilling into rock, LUVMI will also aim to cut analysis time in half and reduce the risk of damaging the materials by measuring them in situ rather than returning them to Earth. It will do this by drilling into the ground with its sampler, which uses heat to release the volatiles to be measured. There are many experiments where you need to actually have the sample in your hands in a lab to do them. Prof. Sara Russell, Natural History Museum, London, UK But while analysing samples on the moon could yield a certain amount of information, theres nothing like having part of the moon in front of you to look at on Earth, says Professor Sara Russell at the Natural History Museum in London, UK. Theres lots of things that an in situ rover or orbital mission can do, but there are many experiments where you need to actually have the sample in your hands in a lab to do them, she said. Prof. Russell said this is necessary for studies such as precise isotope measurements to determine the ages or chemical history of samples, or detailed examinations of organic material to assess the possibility of life elsewhere in the solar system. She is part of a team that is developing a plan to build a dedicated pan-European facility to properly curate samples returned from space, protecting them from contamination and preserving them in pristine condition. Curation Her role, as leader of a project called EURO-CARES, was to bring together scientists and engineers from across Europe to plan a European Sample Curation Facility (ESCF) to meet the needs of sample return missions over the coming decades. Theres a lot of commonality in what we need to do, and any European space mission will be an international venture thats a collaboration of several different countries, explained Prof. Russell. So it was important that we came together to share our expertise and create something that would be more Europe-wide. Apart from uniting their knowledge from previous space research, the researchers looked around curation facilities on other continents, such as those of NASA and Japans JAXA. They were brilliant in sharing their lessons learnt, said Prof. Russell. She said that any research facility should be modular, with space to add new buildings to protect samples coming from very different environments and avoid cross-contamination. The rule of thumb is that samples should be kept in a similar condition to how they are on the surface of their body, she said. According to Prof. Russell, the curation of lunar samples themselves is relatively straightforward because of the half-century of legacy knowledge gained from the Apollo moon missions making starting with the moon really good, easy and doable. But, she said, samples from bodies such as Mars are a whole different kettle of fish compared with the sterile nature of the moon. There is a need to take account of the conditions of the Martian atmosphere and the possibility that bugs could be brought back to Earth. That gives them a restricted status that involves a whole set of protocols for protection on Earth. This could also necessitate, for example, some kind of tent that could be erected where a sample lands for initial work before being taken to its final curation facility. The team estimates that building an ESCF for curating just unrestricted samples would cost between 10 million and 20 million, and over 100 million for one that analysed restricted samples too. Prof. Russell says this is a relatively small outlay given the overall cost of missions, with current asteroid sample return missions such as Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx budgeted at hundreds of millions of euros and a Mars one likely to cost billions. The team has not yet settled on a specific site and would need to seek funding to build it as a next step. Prof. Russell says, however, that work on an ESCF should begin at least seven years before samples are likely to be returned to Earth and with missions possibly coming back from the moon and elsewhere within a 10-year time frame from now, this may heighten the urgency. Its brought home that we really need to start thinking about it now, said Prof. Russell. A facility would open up a whole new area of science, some of which we dont even know about yet. The research in this article was funded by the EU. If you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media. If a disease were striking children, causing rash and fever and sometimes escalating to brain swelling, pneumonia and even death, there would be a public demand to do something about it. America did, and measles was declared eradicated here in 2000. Now the malady is back in Illinois and at least nine other states, with two cases in Champaign and an alarming breakout in the Pacific Northwest, where the governor of Washington has declared a state of emergency. Blame a stubbornly resistant anti-vaccine movement driven by dangerous pseudoscience and the worst impulses of obsessive overparenting. I know whats best for my child! anti-vax parents say, and measles spreads. The World Health Organization warned Thursday of a dramatic rise in measles cases globally as parents reject vaccines for their children. In Europe, measles cases reached their highest level in a decade in 2018. Outbreaks have hit the Philippines and Madagascar. In a world of global travel, these arent distant concerns. A monthslong series of cases in New York has been traced to an unvaccinated child who caught the disease on a trip to Israel. Measles can cause lifelong effects including deafness. It is ugly, with its blotchy, fevered spots, some of which leave permanent scars. Its highly contagious and miserable to experience. A worried anti-vaccinations parent posted on Facebook to ask whether there were any precautions she could take to protect her 3-year-old from a measles outbreak. Ah yes, if only there were a way. She was rightly given a social media spanking. Measles vaccine is 97 percent effective after two doses, which usually also protect against mumps, rubella and sometimes varicella, or chickenpox, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A well-vaccinated population takes on a herd immunity that hinders outbreaks. Some states, including Washington, allow parents wide latitude in skipping the vaccine. The Washington legislature is now rethinking that. Thankfully, we live in a highly immunized community, Julie Pryde, administrator of the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District, told the News-Gazette. Thats why it doesnt go wild like a brush fire. Watching plump, pure baby flesh pierced and feeling trepidation about how the childs system will react can be legitimately nerve-wracking for a parent. Thats no license to avoid a medical necessity that protects child and community. The right to resist comes with a corresponding responsibility to back up that impulse with rigorous research. Once more: Both studies that purported to find a link between vaccines and autism have been thoroughly discredited. There is no evidence connecting the two. Seeking a second opinion may sometimes be wise. Opting out of sound medicine and public health policy in favor of conspiracy theories is not. All school-children who have not yet had a measles immunization should beg their parents to arrange for them to have one as soon as possible, childrens author Roald Dahl wrote in a 1980s essay promoting vaccination. His daughter Olivia, to whom he dedicated James and the Giant Peach, died of measles-induced encephalitis at age 7. Dahl was onto something. Illinois is among states that allow mature minors a voice in their own medical care. Children of anti-vax parents are visiting websites like Reddit to seek advice on how to get vaccines all by themselves. Now thats some healthy skepticism of unwise parenting. Chicago Tribune Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 A new training program for doctors who want to learn how to care for patients with cancer and blood disorders will ensure a steady supply of cancer specialists in Springfield and give local patients easier access to experimental treatments, backers of the program say. Southern Illinois University School of Medicine's oncology-hematology fellowship program -- the first of its kind in Illinois outside the Chicago area -- is scheduled to begin July 1 after receiving approval from the national Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The program, which will enroll two doctors per year and last three years, has been in the works since 2014 and will receive major financial support from Memorial Medical Center and its parent organization, Memorial Health System. "I felt this would secure the future of oncology care for our community," said Dr. Aziz Khan, executive director of the medical school's Simmons Cancer Institute. At least 20 percent to 30 percent of graduates from oncology training programs remain in their host communities because of the professional and personal roots that are established, Khan said. The addition of oncology fellows -- physicians who already have completed medical school and a three-year internal-medicine residency -- will bring new ideas for clinical care to Springfield, according to SIU oncologist Dr. Krishna Rao, director of the fellowship. The trainees also will energize senior doctors who will have to remain well-versed on the latest treatments and techniques so they can teach effectively, said Rao, 51, who grew up in Florida and joined SIU's faculty in 2002 after training at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. And the fellowship is expected to make SIU's internal-medicine residency program even more popular for graduating medical students, Khan said. Candidates from across the country will be considered for fellowships, but doctors completing internal-medicine residencies in Springfield could have an advantage in securing one of the fellowship slots because they will be familiar to SIU's oncology faculty members, Khan said. Rao said the fellows will provide the manpower needed to offer a wider array of clinical trials of new drugs and treatments in Springfield. As a result, patients will have access to more Phase 1 clinical trials in Springfield rather than having to travel to St. Louis or Chicago, he said. An expansion of such clinical research locally and nationwide is essential to achieve long-term gains in fighting cancer, Rao said. "Curing cancer will not work by just giving a bigger dose of chemotherapy," he said. "Even if the patient could tolerate it, it will not work. It will take 'smarter' drugs to ultimately cure cancer, and basically newer techniques and thinking 'out of the box.'" Creation of an oncology fellowship has been a long-term goal of the medical school since the cancer institute was established in 2000, Rao said. The current cancer institute building at 315 W. Carpenter St. was completed in 2008 but didn't open until 2010 because of a lack of state funding. Likewise, startup of the oncology-hematology fellowship was delayed for two years because of the two-year state budget impasse that ended in summer 2017, Khan said. At its peak, the impasse created a $150 million backlog in unpaid bills to Memorial Health System for the care of state workers, state retirees, dependents and Medicaid patients, according to system chief executive officer Edgar Curtis. The not-for-profit health system already was contributing about $40 million annually in "academic support" for SIU faculty salaries and other expenses, and continues to do so. In 2017, the backlog made it difficult for Memorial to begin covering salaries and benefits for the oncology fellows, Curtis said. When all six fellowship slots are filled in three years, those salaries and benefits will total about $405,000 annually. Once the budget impasse was resolved and most of the backlogged bills were paid, Curtis said Memorial had the financial flexibility to support the new oncology training program and also a new SIU cardiology fellowship program that's also scheduled to begin in July. Khan is "an incredible academic leader," Curtis said, adding that the oncology training program will help the medical school fulfill its mission of serving central and southern Illinois and give the cancer institute "the nucleus to have a first-class program." Khan said doctors in the fellowship program -- to be paid salaries of $58,000 to $62,000 -- will treat patients at both Memorial Medical Center and HSHS St. John's Hospital. The program likely will lead to more outpatients and inpatients being treated at both hospitals, he said. The three-year cardiology program will enroll three cardiology fellows each year, and Memorial Health System will cover all of those fellows' salaries and benefits, estimated to cost about $600,000 annually when all nine slots are filled. Both Springfield hospitals pay the salaries of medical residents and fellows whose positions don't qualify for additional Medicare payments to the hospitals to cover costs. Caps established by the federal government in the mid-1990s for Springfield and communities across the country mean the two local hospitals can receive Medicare reimbursements to offset the costs of 157 slots in residencies and fellowships. SIU currently offers 21 residency programs and 10 fellowship programs in a variety of medical specialties. The two Springfield hospitals cover salaries and benefits for doctors filling a total of 127 additional training slots that exceed the cap, according to SIU. Memorial funds 82 of those 127 slots over the cap, not including the new oncology and cardiology fellowship positions that will begin later this year, Curtis said. Even though the number of medical oncologists to be produced by the SIU program appears small, the startup of the program is significant because so few new training programs are opening across the country, according to Dr. Michael Kosty, a San Diego-based oncologist who sits on the board of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. There are eight oncology training programs in Illinois now. All are in the Chicago area. There are about 12,000 practicing medical oncologists nationwide and chronic shortages of oncologists in many parts of the country, officials said. Khan said he is having problems recruiting oncologists to fill the two openings on SIU's oncology faculty. There are five full-time physician faculty members and one part-timer, he said, adding that he is grateful to Springfield Clinic oncologists who have volunteered to help train the new fellows. Khan, 62, said the fellowship program will create a pipeline of new specialists for Springfield as older oncologists retire and more cancers are diagnosed in downstate Illinois. He and Kosty said the need for cancer care in Springfield and nationwide will only grow as the population ages and people live longer because of medicines and techniques for treating chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. The average annual pay for oncologists was $363,000, according to the 2018 Medscape Physician Compensation Report. That salary compared with $212,000 for pediatricians, $219,000 for family medicine doctors, $230,000 for internists, $300,000 for obstetricians-gynecologists, $423,000 for cardiologists and $497,000 for orthopedic surgeons. Kosty said oncologists typically complete their training with $200,000 to $400,000 in debt to pay for their education. Dr. Alexander Johnson, 29, a second-year internal-medicine resident in Springfield, said he plans to apply for one of the SIU oncology fellowship slots when he finishes his residency in 2020. The North Dakota native completed medical school in his home state but said he enjoys living in Springfield and feels supported and valued in the residency program. Johnson said he has been impressed by Springfield's "very advanced" medical facilities and the collaborative relationships he has observed among the city's hospitals and various physician groups. He said he may decide to remain in Springfield for the long term and has enjoyed working with cancer patients during his internal-medicine training. "You really can make a giant difference in their lives," he said. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 DECATUR Barely 12 hours after responding to a house fire Monday night, the Decatur Fire Department found itself battling a second blaze Tuesday morning. Firefighters arrived on scene about 6 a.m. Tuesday to battle a blaze in the 800 block of West Decatur Street, according to Fire Chief Jeff Abbott. When firefighters arrived the east side of the house was entirely engulfed from the front of the home to the back of the home, and it was spreading through the walls, he said. "It was defensive when we got here, which means we couldn't go in because there was too much fire," he said. Abbot said that from what he understood an occupant on the second floor heard an argument on the front porch. He went downstairs to see what was going on, went back upstairs and smelled smoke. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} The occupant looked outside and saw the entire front porch on fire, Abbott said. The man jumped out of a window, and no injuries were reported. He believes three people were inside the home. At 8:10 a.m., Abbott said the crew would be on scene for another hour or two fighting the blaze. Tall ladders were at the scene to assist putting out fires in "tight spots." The house was considered a total loss, Abbott said. "It's suspicious, but we don't have a cause yet," he said. This fire comes on the heels of Monday night's blaze that destroyed a house in the 500 block of West Wood Street and kept firefighters on the scene until past 10 p.m. That house also was considered a total loss, the fire department said. Contact Kennedy Nolen at (217) 421-6985. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 2 Angry 0 CHARLESTON During more than 25 years with the Coles County Sheriff's Office, Tad Freezeland has been in most jobs the office has to offer. For the last four years, he's been the chief deputy, second in command and overseeing day-to-day operations. But wanting a change to a "more hometown" department helped lead to his decision to try something a bit different. Next week, he begins duties as chief of police in Arcola. "It's always been a career goal of mine to run my own agency," Freezeland said. "It seemed like a really good fit." During his time with the sheriff's office, a total of about 22 years were spent in command positions. His duties included jail corrections officer, patrol officer with time as sergeant, sergeant and lieutenant in the detective section, and head of a drug interdiction team. Freezeland described it as a "great job" that led to good relationships with other county officials and area police agencies. "There was always a new adventure," he said. As Arcola police chief, Freezeland will replace Mike Phillips, who left after about 20 years for a security position at the city's Libman Co. broom company. Arcola City Administrator Bill Wagoner said Freezeland "really stood out" among the four applicants for the position, largely because of his administration experience, as well as law enforcement work. "He's very qualified," Wagoner said. "He's a really good hire for us. He's worn a lot of hats." Coles County Sheriff Jimmy Rankin said Freezeland "has been an amazing administrator" and "I support him 100 percent" in his decision. Rankin said he hasn't determined when he'll appoint a new person to the chief deputy's position. Of his sheriff's office duties, Freezeland said he's most proud of work with the drug interdiction unit. It focuses on finding drugs during traffic incidents to help "get drugs of the street," he said. He said he doesn't plan to relocate, as his Charleston residence is close enough to Arcola to meet the city's requirements. Freezeland said he already feels the Arcola police department is well trained and well equipped, and he's had some contact with the department's officers. There are six full-time and six part-time officers, a good size staff for a smaller town, he said. He knows city officials "want a working police chief" and said that won't be too much of a change. He's handled some patrol duties with the sheriff's office to help with workload and morale, he said. He also said any plans for the Arcola department will wait until he has a time to observe its operations. "I'm going to count on the guys who've been there for a while," he said. Contact Dave Fopay at (217) 238-6858. Follow him on Twitter: @FopayDave Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 DECATUR All but one Decatur fire company responded to a Monday evening blaze that destroyed a multiple-story home on the city's west end, according to Fire Chief Jeff Abbott. Abbott said firefighters were called to the home in the 500 block of West Wood Street between 6 and 6:30 p.m. He could not provide the exact address of the house Monday night. When the fire crews arrived, Abbott said, heavy flames and smoke were seen coming from the front of the structure. The fire continued to spread throughout the house, which made it difficult for firefighters to extinguish from the inside, he said. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} "Once they came toward the front, you could see fire behind them in the back," Abbott said. "So, you've got to put the fire out behind them before you can go further. It was (like) chasing our tail, basically for the first hour." By 8:15 p.m., Abbott said ladder trucks had extinguished the main body of the fire and crews were waiting to see if any hotspots would develop. No injuries were reported at the scene, Abbott said, and no one was believed to have been inside at the time. He said fire crews were initially told the house was vacant, but Decatur police informed him that they made contact with the homeowner. Abbott said the house was considered a total loss. The cause of the fire was still under investigation Monday, he said. The intersection of Wood and Monroe streets was closed as firefighters worked the fire. The Decatur Police Department and Decatur Ambulance Service also responded to the scene. Contact Jaylyn Cook at (217) 421-7980. Follow him on Twitter: @jaylyn_HR Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 1 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. DECATUR A non-invasive technology to offer doctors more insight into the extent of a patient's heart disease will be added later this month at Prairie Heart Institute at HSHS St. Mary's Hospital. HeartFlow FFR Analysis will launch at the Decatur hospital following its debut by Prairie Heart Institute at HSHS St. John's Hospital in Springfield. More than 100 HeartFlow analyses have been completed at St. John's, the heart institute said. St. Mary's and St. John's are the first Illinois hospitals outside of Chicago to adopt HeartFlow FFR Analysis, which provides information on arterial blockage and the impact of the blockage on blood flow. Coronary artery disease, or heart disease, is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States. The disease develops when arteries leading to the heart narrow, usually because of a buildup of plaque in the vessel walls. The coronary narrowing can reduce blood flow to the heart, causing chest pain, heart attacks and death. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Studies have shown the need to improve the accuracy of non-invasive tests used to evaluate coronary artery disease. A recent study, which included data from more than 1,100 U.S. hospitals, found that more than half of the 385,000 patients with suspected coronary artery disease who underwent an angiogram had no need for intervention because no blockage was found. The addition of HeartFlow FFR technology provides doctors with a better assessment of the heart and coronary arteries, said Kristin Doster, executive vice president for cardiovascular services for HSHS St. John's. "The HeartFlow Analysis provides essential information that can help us determine the right approach for a patient through a convenient, efficient and non-invasive platform," Doster said in a statement. Using images from a non-invasive coronary CT angiogram, HeartFlow technology creates a digital 3D model of each patient's arteries. Computer algorithms then solve equations to assess the impact of blockages on blood flow. The information helps doctors to determine the appropriate course of each for each patient. A recent study of more than 1,100 patients at major medical centers nationwide concluded that HeartFlow-guided strategy showed an 83 percent reduction in the number of patients who underwent a planned angiogram, only to find out that they had no obstructive disease, the hospitals said. Contact Paul Swiech at (309) 820-3275. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_swiech Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. DECATUR Decatur's high schools have only had FFA chapters since the beginning of the school year, but already the students are old hands. The developing program has already attracted attention from the National FFA Organization, which had its officers visit a conference at Eisenhower High School earlier this month. Students from both high schools attended. We're doing different activities with the officers to better ourselves through FFA, said Lillie Sherrod, a freshman at MacArthur High School. They're teaching us how to be better leaders, how we're branded. The keynote speaker said out of each year, we spend a month on our phones on social media. The average American lives to be in their 80s, so when you're 80, you've spent seven years of your life on social media, which is crazy. When Lillie was in middle school last year, the students were encouraged to sign up for FFA and for the newly minted Dwayne O. Andreas Ag Academy at both high schools, and she was intrigued enough to do so, she said. She doesn't regret it. FFA has become an important part of her high school experience. The Ag Academy and the FFA chapters, with 4-H chapters in the lower grades, are thanks to a $1.65 million grant from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. The program will include a living science farm at Enterprise School, which has considerable acreage as part of the campus, and that has already produced a pumpkin harvest that supplied a significant number of Decatur schoolchildren with a Halloween pumpkin. Plans for the future include beekeeping, orchards, more crops and eventually livestock. This is one of the first times Illinois has had all the FFA officers together, said Ashley Austin, who teaches ag classes at Eisenhower. They're going to workshops with the national officers. We hope they're developing those leadership skills that are a critical component of FFA. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Decatur schools are still building the FFA brand, Austin said, but having such an event in Decatur helps build interest among students who aren't involved and she has high hopes that more students will be involved next year. Students will attend the state convention and have already attended one national convention in the fall, which is planned to be an annual excursion for the Decatur members. At the national convention, they can make connections and attend workshops on everything from careers to personal enrichment. When I was their age, I was so shy I couldn't even talk, Austin said of her own FFA experience as a teen. My adviser made me do lots of public speaking and leadership things. Nationally, FFA, formerly known as Future Farmers of America, has 670,000 members, said Shea Booster, national vice president of the Western Region of FFA and a resident of Bend, Oregon. Booster was one of the national officers at the Feb. 4 conference, highly visible and available to the Decatur students thanks to their dark blue FFA blazers. Every FFA chapter, it doesn't matter if you're from Decatur or Oregon, every FFA chapter is connected, Booster said. Even though they're just starting out, they're not doing it alone. (All the chapters) would love to get in contact with them and help them with what works well, what doesn't work well and how they can build the program. Caleb Guise is vice president of the Eisenhower chapter and was one of the students who attended that national convention in Indianapolis in the fall. Initially, he was interested in FFA for its horticulture aspects. He jokingly referred to Austin as FFA crazy but said she inspires the students to explore careers in agriculture that can span everything from technology to science and animal husbandry. It's our first year, but we're learning fast and we're learning more stuff all the time, Caleb said. It's a lot of different things, and my favorite thing is meeting a lot of new people. It seems like everyone is real nice and down to earth. Contact Valerie Wells at (217) 421-7982. Follow her on Twitter: @modgirlreporter Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. DECATUR After several years of sitting vacant, work has started on a project that will breathe new life into the building at the corner of East Wood and South Jasper streets. The building, which formerly was home to a Walgreens and then Eastwood Downtown Finer Foods, is being developed by Forsyth-based Walnut Mart LLC to include a convenience store/gas station, restaurant and laundromat at 1201 E. Wood St. The site has been named Wood Plaza. Fencing has been erected, and crews are on the site digging holes for the fuel tanks, developer Satwinder Singh said. It will look completely different, Singh said. It will be a really nice corner. Singh said initial efforts will focus on getting the convenience store operational, which he expects to happen on July 4. The convenience store will be affiliated with Shell Oil Company and will carry an expanded line of grocery products that cater to the needs of the neighborhood, he added. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Singh said the building will undergo extensive remodeling. Singh initial research showed the corner to be a good fit for what they have planned, noting the heavy traffic volume at the intersection and the brisk business at the convenience store across the street. Singh said the development company was in the market to expand its footprint in the area it already operates convenience stores in Decatur, Shelbyville, Mattoon and other locations in Central Illinois when it came across the Wood Street location. Singh said they are still narrowing their options for the restaurant, but a decision is expected soon. He anticipates it will be a dine-in restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. The laundromat will be the last piece of the Wood Plaza development to be added. Decatur area-business openings and closings Contact Scott Perry at (217) 421-7976. Follow him on Twitter: @scottperry66 Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. CHARLESTON The selling price Tuesday for 30 acres of land Abraham Lincoln once owned was $300,000, but what will happen with it next isn't known. The southern Coles County land was part of a total of 590 acres that the Best family sold at an auction, with the entire sale bringing $4.2 million. The land Lincoln once owned was sold separately from the rest of the seven tracts that made up the sale. The land, which adjoins or is near the other farmland sold Tuesday, has been used for farming since the family bought it in 1989. After the auction was completed, successful bidder Cory Kauffman said he bid on behalf of someone who wanted to remain anonymous. He said he didn't know what plans the new owner has for the land. Ron Best of Charleston and his four siblings decided to sell the land, as he'd retired from farming four years ago. Best didn't attend the auction but family members there included his sister, Barbara Robertson of Dayton, Ohio, who said they were thankful for the amount of money the sale brought. "I think it's very reasonable," she said. "It's what the market will bear." Robertson called the former Lincoln land a "wildcard" but said the family's only thoughts on a price were based on the value as farm land. The family never considered a use for it based on its historical significance. Auctioneer Mike Stanfield said the selling price of the land was expected based on the area's hilly terrain, soil types and other factors. "I thought it was a fair price," he said, adding that sales have been similar for other land in the area he's auctioned. Several rounds of bidding came from a large crowd in a meeting room at Unique Suites Hotel. While the 30 acres that Lincoln owned sold separately, bidders had the option to try for each of the other seven tracts individually or to bid on all of those 560 acres combined. Some of the individual tracts drew bids but those came to about $1 million, leaving a $3.9 million bid as the selling price for all seven tracts. The sale took place on Lincoln's birthday, and those in attendance included Lincoln portrayer Abe Clymer of Vandalia, who said the Best family invited him to attend. All the land the family sold Tuesday is located in southern Coles County, and the part Lincoln owned is immediately east of Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site. It was part of 40 acres Lincoln bought from his father, Thomas Lincoln, whose home is featured at the historic site. The site's grounds include 6 acres of what Abe bought from his father. The other four acres of the Lincoln land was passed down after the 16th president's death and was eventually inherited by Ray Phipps. Best bought the 30 acres from Phipps 30 years ago, and Rockford businessman Dan Arnold, now deceased, purchased Phipps' last four acres 2007. Though Phipps and Arnold both had plans to promote the land based on its history, they never came to fruition. Celebrating Lincoln: Abraham Lincoln in our archives Contact Dave Fopay at (217) 238-6858. Follow him on Twitter: @FopayDave Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 For now, medical aid in dying remains legal in Montana because of the Montana Supreme Court's 2009 decision that allows it. Unfortunately, Rep. Carl Glimm recently introduced HB 284 that would outlaw medical aid in dying in Montana and impose harsh penalties on doctors who participate. Why, I ask? Just what is it he hopes to accomplish? Oregon has had a "death with dignity" law since 1997 that was passed by initiative. The law works well, has had no documented abuses, and has held up against numerous challenges. In fact, when Oregon legislators (like Rep. Glimm) asked voters to repeal their death with dignity law, Oregonians overwhelmingly voted to keep it by a wide margin of 60 percent to 40 percent. From my perspective as a 75-year-old, Montana's law offers hope for those of us who may someday have to deal with a painful lingering terminal illness. It means no one will be "legally required" to suffer the kind of needless pain and anguish I have seen close friends and relatives endure. In fact, near the end of his life, my father-in-law said to me: "I wish we were in Oregon." I knew exactly what he meant, and the hopelessness in his voice and in his eyes just broke my heart. In Wyoming, we believe in respect, civility and compassion. Here in the Wyoming Legislature, it is no different. We take the concerns raised on behalf of these students very seriously. Absolutely no one should be made to feel dismissed, disrespected or degraded. Let us be clear, the message from the Wyoming Senate is this -- all Wyoming citizens are welcome here. We want to hear from you. We need to hear from you. We are blessed to have a citizen legislature in Wyoming, and that means the voices of every single person should be heard and considered. In the coming days, we will continue through the process designed to properly vet and address complaints filed against Members. Both Senator Hutchings and these students deserve fair consideration and respect as we work to address this matter. The party said in the statement that its review of Wyoming Equality's complaint will be confidential. Earlier Monday, Perkins issued an individual statement affirming that he believed in upholding the Senate as an institution where one's right to free speech is protected. A Sunday night crash that shut down Highway 212 between Broadus and Alzada involved three semi trucks, one of which was carrying "military projectiles," according to Carter County Sheriff Neil Kittelmann. The road reopened Monday night. Kittelmann said the crash blocked all lanes of traffic and that projectiles were not considered dangerous. Normal cleanup and removal of damaged vehicles was delayed because the U.S. Air Force is required to take an inventory accounting for their property being transported, according to the sheriff. During that time it was asked that vehicles involved in the crash stay put. Visibility in the area has been severely limited by strong winds and blowing snow. That visibility likely played a role in the crash, which sent one semi deep into a ditch and left two sideways and blocking all lanes. The crash occurred at about 9 p.m. The blockage was about half a mile west of the community of Hammond and roughly 32 miles from the Wyoming line and approximately 130 miles from Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, South Dakota. Despite the damage, Kittelmann said there wasn't a scratch on anyone involved. Love 2 Funny 1 Wow 4 Sad 0 Angry 2 People who work in the Capitol but not for the Legislature can't be subject to its human resources policy, Thomas said. "We wouldn't try to discipline a person from the media or lobbyists. That's up to their employer to do that," Thomas said. If a legislator is accused of harassing a member of the media, a lobbyist or a member of the public, Thomas said those complaints could be brought to legislative leadership, as well as go through the Montana Human Rights Bureau within the Department of Labor and Industry or through courts. "I think we should not have our policy apply to lobbyists and media persons particularly, and the public as well, because there's other means of dealing with it," Thomas said. Rep. JP Pomnichowski said she disagreed with Thomas and that the Legislative Council meant to include those three groups in the policy it created. She pointed to a note in the policy that clarifies how reports of violations should be made, saying the note includes processes for the public, media, lobbyists and others. Definitely with the frigid temperatures (outside), as far as maintaining the normal temperatures there, they may be dipping a little bit, but nothing standing out as far as a significant heating outage, Barton said in an interview with Lee Newspapers on Monday morning. Barton also said she sent out a message to prison staff on Friday, asking if they had received complaints about the heat from inmates. Staff responded that no, they hadntthe communication they have received regarding this heating issue is coming from people outside of the prison, Barton said. This reported communication came to light last Wednesday when the Missoula Current published an article about the wife of a state prison inmate concerned with a lack of heat in high security inmate housing. The article quoted the wife, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, as saying ice crystals had formed on the walls of some high security cells and that prisoners had been shivering all night long, literally blowing on their hands to keep warm. The Real Jackie Kennedy Her style and grace were legendary, and her image came to define the 1960s. She captured the hearts of world leaders, fashion icons and people all over the planet, who knew her as Jackie Kennedy, Jacqueline Onassis, or simply Jackie O. But who was the real Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis? Take our quiz and find out. Take The Quiz Congratulations! You've got your first major job. Unfortunately, you've also got new tax obligations. Welcome to the workforce. You probably want to deal with your taxes as quickly as possible. Most people do, regardless of their age. Unfortunately, if you breeze through tax forms, you might miss potential money-saving strategies like the ones below. 1. Review Withholding Your W-4 form tells your employer how much of your salary you want to have withheld for taxes throughout the year. If you withhold too much money, you'll receive a refund when taxes are filed. That sounds great until you consider that you're asking the government to hold on to more of your money and give it back to you later. Why not withhold the correct amount and invest the money instead of letting the government earn interest on it? The enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) is reason enough to review your withholding, but it's also wise to update it to accommodate major life changes throughout the year (marriage, birth of a child, raises, etc.) that change your tax filing status or income. 2. Consider Itemizing The TCJA raised the standard deduction and makes it less likely that you'll itemize but that doesn't mean that itemizing is the wrong choice for you. After looking over Schedule A, see if itemizing is worth the effort. 3. Look for Tax Credits Tax credits are the most valuable breaks of all because they subtract directly from your tax bill. Younger families may benefit from the increased Child Tax Credit, while lower-income taxpayers may qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or the Retirement Savings Credit. 4. Review Above-the-Line Deductions Above-the-line deductions, or deductions that appear in lines 23-35 of Schedule 1 and are attached to your Form 1040, are valuable because they directly reduce your taxable income and you don't have to itemize to claim them. The TCJA eliminated some above-the-line deductions and modified others, but savings are still available on educator expenses, student loan interest, and other specific expenses. 5. Contribute to a 401(k) If your employer offers a 401(k) program, take advantage of it to the extent possible. You'll defer taxes on that income while saving for your retirement and taking the greatest advantage of compounding over time. It's a win-win-win. If your employer offers a matching 401(k) program, contribute at least up to your employer's matching limit. Otherwise, you are literally turning down free money. 6. Look into a Roth IRA A Roth IRA is an alternative retirement program that is funded with post-tax dollars. Roth IRAs are useful retirement tools in that you can take the contributions out anytime without penalty. If you are likely to be in a higher tax bracket in the early years of retirement a decent bet for anyone starting out on a first job you can take the tax hit now with a Roth IRA and save money later. 7. Understand Self-Employment Are you a proud new member of the gig economy? As an independent contractor, you have different tax deductions available to you (such as the ability to deduct the "employer's" portion of self-employment taxes) and different responsibilities (such as paying quarterly taxes). Make sure that you understand the unique tax issues associated with self-employment. 8. File on Time You have until Thursday, April 15, 2021, to file your tax forms for the 2020 tax year. Beat the deadline and avoid costly penalties. 9. Health Savings Accounts (HSA) If your employer offers the option, consider contributing to an HSA. The funds grow tax-deferred and may be used tax-free for qualified medical expenses. As unpleasant as it may be, take some time to review your taxes for potential savings. Every bit of savings counts, whether you save enough to buy a Lamborghini or a latte. Failing to pay your taxes or a penalty you owe could negatively impact your credit score. You can check your credit score and read your credit report for free within minutes by joining MoneyTips. Photo by Thirdman from Pexels How we did it The three brewers Jim Cibak of Revolution Brewing, Matt Gallagher of Half Acre Beer Co. and Brian Pawola of Pollyanna Brewing eagerly signed on for the tasting. Each declared a love for any beer that's light, refreshing and well-made, no matter who makes it. The wrinkle to the tasting, they were told, was that the classic brands like Bud, Miller and Coors would be doing battle with similar beers from craft breweries. Though light lagers have traditionally been the domain of Big Beer since the 1970s, craft breweries have increasingly waded into the realm of easy-drinking accessibility. After decades of staking their claims on piney and bitter, sour and sweet everything that Big Beer wasn't craft brewers have taken a recent turn toward what is sometimes known as beer-flavored beer. No onslaught of hops. No cascade of sugary ingredients. No lip-pursing sourness. Just easy-drinking refreshment. You know, like Bud, Miller and Coors. I assembled 15 beers that could reasonably be called "light lagers." Some have "light" (or "lite") right there in the name. Others are a brewery's interpretation of a light, easy-drinking lager. They were served to the panel in random order, blindly. Was it Miller Lite or New Glarus? Bud Light or Founders? Our panel did not know. (Though we will reveal the beers for you here, as we go, for your reading ease.) We tasted the beers across more than two hours in a private room at Half Acre's brewery on Balmoral Avenue. I grabbed them one by one from an ice chest and poured the (mostly) pale yellow liquids out of view of the panel into the same short clear plastic cups Half Acre uses for blind evaluations of its own beers. Using a grading scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest), our panel members spent a couple of hours in search of the lightest, cleanest and most refreshing beers on a recent warm summer afternoon. No flabbiness, please Beer No. 1 was a classic, and I wondered if it gained an unfair advantage by going first and dancing across clean palates? Perhaps. But our judges universally applauded it for doing the things a light beer should: It boasted just a touch of malt character while remaining, in their words, "clean" and "refreshing." Pawola said it was "dry and bubbly, with a touch of malt." Cibak admired its "crisp bitterness." Most important, Gallagher said, it wasn't "flabby" a crucial flaw among many light beers. What makes for a flabby light beer? "Lacking bitterness balance to the sweetness," Gallagher said. Coors Light, they said, was anything but flabby. They quite liked its combination of malt character, refreshment and balance. Beer No. 2, another light beer mainstay, also avoided flabbiness. And in last year's macro lager tasting, it fared quite well. However, Miller Lite didn't do as well this time. It was clearly lighter than Coors Light, and featured less malt character, which led to less of a sense of balance. Though quite clean, Miller Lite was an entirely one-note beer. As Gallagher said, it was "lacking any complexity" even though it was "still crisp." The first curveball came with beer No. 3. Of all of the craft entries into light beer, Founders Brewing's Solid Gold has arguably had the most buzz, in part because it made the most forceful entry, landing in 15- and 24-packs (just like Big Beer) with aggressive pricing to match (just like Big Beer). It is the clearest example of craft beer trying to play Big Beer's game. Though Founders doesn't tout Solid Gold as "light," that's clearly a piece of the intent, with an alcohol volume (4.4 percent) closer to Bud Light (4.2 percent) than Budweiser (5 percent). All three members of the panel examined Solid Gold in prolonged silence. Then all at once they keyed in on its vast difference from the first two beers: Solid Gold is darker and has a bit of haze. It was clearly a craft effort at "lightness." "This is pretty radically different and not in a bad way," Cibak said. "This doesn't taste like a traditional light lager," Pawola said. Ah! And there we had the difference between light lagers from craft and Big Beer companies: Craft versions tended not to taste like what we think of as "traditional." With one exception keep reading! each craft entry put its own spin on the idea of a light lager. Rarely do they simply try to approximate Bud, Miller and Coors. In the case of Solid Gold, Cibak said the difference made it more reminiscent of an easy-drinking golden ale more body, more malt, more hops. "It's almost fruity," Gallagher said. "I wonder if that's the yeast. I probably enjoy drinking this more than the others because of its bigger, hoppier flavor. Makes it more drinkable to me." Solid Gold scored uniformly well, turning a low-alcohol lager into a far bolder proposition than the panel expected. Beer No. 4 was a more conventional light beer than Solid Gold, but still had a fair bit going on for the genre, showing "lots of yeast character," Cibak said, and veering to "the sweet side of balance" though tempered by a vague "lingering bitterness," according to Gallagher. Everyone found it average if not slightly above, though it would probably have been even better with a squeeze of fresh lime it was Corona Light. Extreme lightness Beer No. 5 returned to the vein of classic light lagers, though to the extreme: even less color and body than most of its competitors. "It's so light and clear," Gallagher said. But that's the point of Michelob Ultra Light, which prides itself on consummate lightness all the way down to a piddling calorie count that makes it one of the fastest-growing major brands in the nation. Cibak observed a "slight egginess" to the aroma, which he suspected was a byproduct of lager yeast fermentation. I said it sounded like a flaw and aren't the big beer companies above such flaws? Even if the beer is underwhelming, consistency and technical quality are what they supposedly do best. "I'd imagine if that's what it tastes like, that's what they want it to taste like," he said. "Very little comes out of there that's not intentional." No one much cared for the beer; there wasn't much to care for. That may be the entire point of Michelob Ultra Light. But it doesn't make for an enjoyable beer. Based on its color, beer No. 6 elicited even more raised eyebrows than Solid Gold it was amber-colored, inching toward brown, and easily the darkest beer in our tasting. "Looks like Anti-Hero," Cibak said of his brewery's flagship IPA. Was he bothered by a light beer one that employs the word prominently on its label that's so dark in color? "Doesn't bother me at all," he said. It was Sam Adams Light, a beer that far predates the rest of craft brewing's embrace of light beer; it was first released in 2001. In that way, Sam Adams Light seemed very much like a throwback, a craft version of light at a time that the classic light beers were still something to shun at every turn. And so it was for Sam Adams Light, whose flavor backed up the appearance. Cibak described it as "toasty, caramel flavor." Pretty impressive for 4 percent alcohol even less than the evanescent Michelob Ultra (which is 4.2 percent). Cibak and Pawola both approved, but Gallagher wasn't a fan, detecting a "soylike, savory-ness" just about the last thing he wanted from a light beer. Beer No. 7 was more light beer business as usual. Words such as "neutral, "like drinking air" and "characterless in a good way" were tossed about. It was Keystone Light, and it finished squarely in the middle of our rankings. Beer No. 8 did, too, tying Keystone Light for most middling. All three brewers found the beer inoffensive and balanced enough, but nothing special. They declared Miller High Life Light to be worthy of a hot day at a ballgame. But that's about it. Quite naked Another curveball awaited with beer No. 9 it's not even available outside of Wisconsin. That, of course, refers to the great New Glarus Brewing. I had been in Wisconsin the previous week, and my beer shopping spree included a New Glarus variety pack. It wasn't until I cracked open a bottle of Totally Naked at home that it occurred to me to add it to the tasting. But it is, in fact, a nearly perfect light beer nothing fancy, but refreshing and supremely balanced, clocking in at 4.2 percent alcohol, just like the major light beer brands. While Pawola and Cibak sniffed the mystery brew, Gallagher declared it among his favorites. "Full-flavored, but light," he said. "Easy to drink. Crisp." Pawola said it had "a full, round mouthfeel" impressive for such a light beer. Cibak called it "refreshing and neutral," which he meant as a compliment. Gallagher didn't heap praise on beer No. 10, though he did declare it "familiar." The panel detected a bit more fruitiness from it than most others in our tasting, which they attributed to more malt or yeast character, or perhaps both. The fruitiness didn't make for a more interesting or enjoyable beer, however; it got in the way of refreshment and accessibility. As for the familiarity, there was a reason for that. It was the nation's top-selling beer: Bud Light. It wound up as one of our lowest-rated beers. Beer No. 11 was maybe the most unique of the afternoon, and the epitome of a craft take on light lager: bright, clean and a lean 4.7 percent alcohol, but so interesting as to earn an asterisk. It was quite a different proposition from Bud, Miller or Coors. Hand Miller Lite drinkers a Totally Naked, and they'd drink it happily. Hand those same Miller Lite drinkers this beer, and they might love it or they might be confused. The tasters uniformly liked Spiteful Lager, made by Chicago's tiny Spiteful Brewing. It was refreshing and faultlessly crisp, with fruity overtones reminiscent of a refreshing white wine or perhaps even cider. Everyone found it an enjoyable, curious outlier in the world of light lagers. Taste it fresh Up next as beer No. 12 was another craft entry. It had been canned less than three months earlier, but was unfortunately already showing signs of age. The culprit was most likely a lack of refrigeration and, indeed, I'd bought the sixpack off a warm store shelf. Still, once tasters waded past the cardboardlike oxidation, the beer stood out as a gem. It was balanced and had "full body and flavor," Gallagher said. Cibak declared it "a nice drinking beer; ignoring the oxidation, I can tell it's a good beer." "Would love to taste this one fresh," he said. It was in fact a beer that Cibak once made, when he worked at Firestone Walker Brewing in central California between 2006 and 2008: Firestone Lager. It was a smaller-batch beer back then, but with the rise of the craft light lager, Firestone Walker scaled it up for broad release last year. The fact that its taste had fallen off so quickly was less a criticism of the beer and more a testament to the standards of craft brewing and the importance of both freshness and refrigeration. "There's more malt involved and more hops involved," Cibak said. "Those things tend to oxidize quicker." A solution that the big breweries embrace, craft breweries typically shun: adding chemicals to stabilize flavor and appearance. "That's the thing about craft beer," Cibak said. "It's fresher." Beer No. 13 beer was a bit of a lark. As I drove past a Trader Joe's on the morning of the tasting, I decided to see which of its beer brands included the word "light." There was only one: Trader Jose Light the supermarket's version of a light Mexican beer. The panel immediately picked up on it as an uninspired version of Corona all the way down to the prominent skunk character. Gallagher admitted a perverse enjoyment of skunky beer, but still didn't care for it. "A little flabby," he said. Up next as beer No. 14 was another middling entry, with a bit more yeast character than most other options but little else to distinguish it. It was Busch Light, the ninth-biggest selling brand in the U.S. Finally, we reached our last beer beer No. 15. The panel found it "sweet, simple, nothing special" (Gallagher), "very light all around" (Pawola) and "very neutral" (Cibak). It was yet another Corona brand the first new Corona brand in nearly 30 years Corona Premier. It's a beer aimed at men, unlike Corona Light, which is targeted more to women. It didn't work for these men. Because the first beer they tasted Coors Light appeared to be the favorite among the major brands, we decided to taste it again, to be sure that it didn't have an advantage based on simply being the first beer sampled. However, another taste only reinforced their decision. "Pretty good mouthfeel," Cibak said. "I like the malt character," Pawola said. "It's malty without being heavy," Gallagher added. "Pretty simple and easy to drink." It was confirmed: Coors Light was the favorite of the big brands, tied with three craft beers (Solid Gold, Firestone Lager and Totally Naked), and with another craft beer (Spiteful Lager) and Corona Light (which, I'll be honest, shocked me) sliding in just behind. The big beer companies have dominated the world of light lagers for so long, I wouldn't have been surprised to see them dominate this blind tasting too. But no. Craft breweries have proved themselves capable of brewing the lightest beers, just as they helped introduce us to the joys of piney, fruity IPAs; bold, rich stouts; and everything in between. Perhaps it should be no surprise that craft breweries have successfully created alternatives to the light lagers that have dominated store shelves and tap handles for decades. Doing things differently and, in many cases, better, with fresher and more interesting ingredients has always been the point. Haifa is on the "front line" in any action in the north but this blog looks at life in the shadow of danger to all of Israel Indeed, these interests are neither new nor, where the U.S. is concerned, particularly pressing. Venezuela is simply pretty low on Washingtons list of strategic considerations. It would prefer that Venezuela and Latin America be stable, so in that sense, there are a variety of regional implications of Venezuelas demise. The countrys economic deterioration has produced a massive outflow of migrants to other Latin American countries, which are naturally worried about the costs, real and perceived, that immigration entails. These countries would ordinarily oppose U.S. intervention they remember Washingtons legacy in that regard, and they certainly want to avoid being Washingtons next target but many believe that something must be done about Venezuela, hence why most of Venezuelas neighbors support opposition leader Juan Guaido, and that the U.S. is the only one that can do it. (They will, of course, reserve the right to criticize the U.S. when it suits them.) Where stability is concerned, sanctions and speeches are low cost and high return. But intervention is never easy, even if its welcomed, since so many outside players are involved. For one, an action against Venezuela is also an action against Cuba. The reconciliation started by President Barack Obamas administration has gone nowhere. Powerful forces in Cuba, most notably the intelligence service, are doing extremely well under the communist government in Havana, and they have no desire to liberalize the economy. (President Donald Trump, too, is skeptical of Cuban relations and so has undone some of the progress made by his predecessor.) Cuban intelligence has, meanwhile, been a major factor in guaranteeing the survival of the government in Caracas. Hugo Chavez and Maduro got to stay in power, and Cuba got discounted oil and a foothold in South America. Allowing Maduro to fall goes against Cubas interests. Then there are the Russians, who are looking for every opportunity to demonstrate their relevance to the world and to their constituents. They are not global players, so they need to make global gestures. Without the resources to stabilize the Maduro government, theyve resolved to nibble on the edges, hinting at using Venezuela as a base for military operations and landing a cargo plane there. Flying to an embattled country to collect gold certainly sends a message of importance. Offering to broker talks between the U.S. and Venezuela does too. It may or may not be an effective message, but it does drive home the notion, in theory, that Russia is powerful. China is playing a similar game. It is opening a door for military bases in the country, something that Maduro would welcome but is ultimately pointless considering Venezuela is on the wrong side of the Panama Canal, from a Chinese military perspective. Maintaining a substantial ground or air force at that distance requires a maritime-based logistical system, and that system would be highly vulnerable to U.S. counteraction. The Panama Canal is, by definition, a chokepoint that could easily disrupt those logistical systems. Its understandable why China would hypothesize such a strategy; doing so would capture Washingtons attention, taking its focus off the South China Sea. But the idea falls apart as soon as its examined. Venezuela, then, is a strategic crisis for no one other than Venezuela. For others, the country is a source of irritation and opportunity. The U.S. is irritated at Maduro and at the Cubans. So it takes minimal steps with maximum effect, using vague military threats that would lead to a backlash in Latin America the U.S. doesnt need. The Russians are sending planes and diplomatic notes to irritate the United States and to try to get the U.S. to do something foolish. As part of its strategy to appear as if it is deploying to the Western Hemisphere, Beijing wont pass up an opportunity to make a suitably meaningless gesture. No one will take major risks for or against the Maduro government. The noise surrounding its demise is made by those who want to use Caracas as a cudgel against their adversaries. Thats not to say that escalation is impossible, or that things wont get worse for the Venezuelan people before they get better. Its just to say that more often than not, strategy dictates decisive action. Jacob, I understand that you dont fully agree with my assessment. Id love to hear your thoughts on why that is. George Friedman, founder and CEO Its clear we agree that the White Houses stated reason for involving itself in Venezuela the restoration of democracy is not the real U.S. interest here. That is the kind of argument made by Trump administration officials who believe that a vibrant democracy in Venezuela is a matter of U.S. national interest. (Some of them are the same decision-makers who guided U.S. foreign policy through the invasion of Iraq in 2003.) But I differ with you, George, on what the United States primary interests are in Venezuela. I dont think they are oil and drugs. The U.S. interest in Venezuela is maintaining the U.S. position as the strongest power in the Americas and preventing foreign powers from intervening in their affairs. Venezuelas slow decline creates opportunities, even if they are remote ones, for others to challenge the U.S. in a sphere of influence it claimed for itself as early as 1823. My biggest disagreement is that the U.S. has already shown that its interested enough in Venezuela to intervene there in every possible way except militarily. Last Tuesday, the vice president of the United States called Juan Guaido, head of the National Assembly, and told him that the U.S. government would support him if he took over the Venezuelan government. The next day, Guaido declared himself interim president, and Washington immediately recognized him as leader of Venezuela. In other words, Guaido is the United States handpicked choice as Venezuelas next leader. Then on Monday, the United States imposed sanctions against state-owned oil company PDVSA to cut off the Maduro governments primary source of revenue and redirect it to Guaido. The U.S. also wants to give Guaido control over some Venezuelan assets held by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and other U.S.-insured banks. This harkens back to the heavy-handed U.S. intervention in Central and South America throughout the 20th century, and it confirms one of our key forecasts for the region in 2019 . We both know that most sanctions deliver more bark than bite, but the ones the U.S. imposed this week are going to hurt. Nearly half of the Venezuelan governments revenue, and practically all of its export earnings, comes from oil. U.S. crude oil imports from Venezuela have declined by almost 40 percent in the past two years, but even so, the U.S. consumed almost half of Venezuelas total oil output before the sanctions were put in place. With a glut of oil already on the market, and with U.S. production increasing, the U.S. can use these sanctions as Teddy Roosevelts proverbial big stick. Soon after the sanctions were announced, Guaido said he was beginning the progressive and ordered takeover of Venezuelan state assets abroad, in addition to naming new boards of directors for PDVSA and its U.S. subsidiary, Citgo. Guaido has not yet been able to secure the support of the Venezuelan military, but the U.S. is doing everything it can to ensure that the buck (or the bolivar) no longer stops at Maduro. The U.S. is doing all this not simply because its irritated but because it cant afford to manage all the foreign policy issues it needs to manage globally if Venezuela is a glaring vulnerability. The proof is in the breakdown of which countries support Guaido and which do not. Russia and China continue to recognize Maduro and are the likeliest countries to use Venezuela as a pawn against the United States. To your point, George, neither China nor Russia can sustain military forces in the Atlantic Ocean, so neither is able to use Venezuela the way, say, the Soviet Union used Cuba in the 1960s. For Moscow and Beijing, the important thing is to distract Washington with Caracas, not to co-opt it completely. If the U.S. overreacts by deploying its military, even that could play to their advantage as it would bog down the U.S. in yet another conflict. China is playing a long game, and from its perspective, the more hostility generated between the U.S. and Venezuela, the better the prospects for a strong relationship between Caracas and Beijing. Chinas slowdown is of its own doing Blaming the trade war with the US is a dangerous mischaracterisation Harry Broadman The Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. The Communist party still dominates the Chinese economy Bloomberg The noose around the neck of Chinas economy has been getting tighter, but hardly as a result of the tariffs imposed by the US. This is a dangerous myth celebrated by Washington and used as a scapegoat by Beijing. Rather, the squeeze is largely self-induced. It stems from the lack of further reform in some cases, the reversal of past reforms in an economy still heavily dominated by the state and whose largest enterprises remain governed by the Communist party. The power to alter Chinas economic fortunes lies largely in Beijings own hands. The overarching symptom is a secular fall in Chinas real GDP growth. Except for an upward blip in 2010, the growth rate of the Chinese economy has been on a steady decline over the past 10 years. Such a pattern cannot be the result of Chinas trade war with the US, which began in earnest only last year. And, despite the US imposition of tariffs, Chinas trade surplus has expanded, not contracted. The trend continues. Last week, Beijing announced that its official recording of real GDP growth for 2018 was 6.6 per cent, the lowest rate China has experienced since 1990, the year following the student protests in Tiananmen Square. Beijing downplayed the news, casting it as fully in line with the governments forecast for 2018 and a sign of the maturity of the Chinese economy. Those of us who have worked on the ground in China for decades, however, know full well that even if one takes the countrys official economic statistics at face value (which few of us do), the exercise Beijing utilises to set its growth projections lacks rigour and is tinged by political imperatives. Worse, the process is almost a tautology: official forecasts for a given year are not released before the years start. Thus, only this March will Beijing unveil 2019s projection that is, after a quarter of the year has already passed. Thats a sure-fire way of improving the accuracy of any forecast. As to China being a mature economy, its highly doubtful whether the majority of the countrys citizenry would agree with Beijings characterisation. While a number of reforms put in place since 1978 some of which have been truly ingenious have lifted millions of out of poverty, many Chinese remain poor by any standard. On a purchasing-power-parity basis, Chinas per capita GDP is below the global average. It is on par with countries such as Serbia, the Dominican Republic and Botswana countries whose economies dont leap to mind as being mature. If a precursor to economic maturity is sustained high growth that is widely diffused nationally no small feat for a country that has a large population and occupies a vast geographic space China is moving in the opposite direction. Indeed, the IMF forecasts Chinas growth to continue to fall, to 6.2 per cent for 2019 and 2020. By way of comparison, consider India, the other Asian giant with comparable characteristics to China and widely considered to be in an economic race with China to reach maturity. Indias growth in 2017 was below that of China, exceeded it in 2018 (at 7.3 per cent) and, the IMF predicts, will speed up to 7.5 per cent in 2019 and 7.7 per cent in 2020. Unlike Chinas, Indias growth trajectory is upwards. Neither country is close to being mature, but India at least at the moment is looking more sure-footed than China in this regard. What is at the core of Chinas growth problem? Simply put, its the contradiction inherent in the countrys self-titled, oxymoronic socialist market economy programme, initially launched by Deng Xiaoping and formally enshrined in 1992. At its roots, China is not a market-based economy. Its separation of business and government remains ephemeral. Property rights are ill-defined and unenforceable, providing strong incentives for corruption. Identification of beneficial owner(s) and of who has ultimate control over decisions in some of the countrys key enterprises is opaque. The large state-owned banks hold little check, if any, over the large, backbone state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to whom they lend, and which often never pay off debts owed. Communist party officials occupy some of the most senior positions in the enterprise and financial sectors, including the recent appointment of the countrys top banking regulator as party chief and deputy governor of the central bank. As well as all that there is a Potemkin non-state enterprise sector (often referred to as the private sector), which some well-respected China analysts a few years ago thought was on a sustainable growth path and would potentially overtake the SOEs role in the Chinese economy. But they were confused by cyclical aberrations (a bit of irrational exuberance) to a cemented secular trend of SOE dominance. In the past, the authorities worked to facilitate bank lending to the non-state sector. This year, there has been a return of the constraints placed on shadow banking, which is ossifying the flow of credit and raising funding costs to small and medium-sized private companies. The socialist market economy paradigm is a stark illustration that the Chinese are trying to have their cake and eat it too. The rub is that SOEs constitute the Communist partys raison detre. Perhaps the clearest sign of Chinas self-inflicted ball and chain on growth is how global investors have been shunning foreign direct investment in the country. Between 2013 and 2017 long before the onset of the trade war with the US worldwide net FDI inflows to China fell steadily. Indeed, their magnitude in 2017, at $168bn, was below where they stood in 2008, at $172bn. Since annual net FDI inflows can be quite variable, measuring them as a share of GDP gives a more accurate depiction. This yields a particularly sobering picture: Chinas net FDI inflows relative to GDP have been on an unmistakable downward trend, from 6.2 per cent in 1993 to 1.4 per cent in 2017, the lowest level since 1991. To help rectify this problem, Beijing is trying to pass a new foreign investment law this year. The draft presently under debate was first unveiled in 2015. That fact alone illustrates that it has not been, and may still not be, an easy task to bring the party around to opening up the domestic economy as a means of generating new opportunities for growth. Harry G Broadman is chief executive and managing partner of Proa Global Partners LLC, an emerging markets investment transaction advisory firm; a member of the Johns Hopkins Faculty; and an independent director on several corporate boards. He is a former US Assistant Trade Representative; private equity investment executive; PwC chief economist; World Bank official; and faculty member at Harvard University. TORONTO, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tanzanian Royalty Exploration Corporation (hereinafter, The Company) (TSX: TNX) (NYSE MKT:TRX) is pleased to announce our contractors Coreworthy and STAMICO are on-site, and the drills are turning. An image accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/14401ca8-eb24-4348-bea2-b8bc89779e9b. This announcement provides an update to our January 10, 2019 news release Tanzanian Royalty Announces the Immediate Start of Major Drilling Program; that release can be found here: https://www.tanzanianroyalty.com/2019/01/10/tanzanian-royalty-announces-the-immediate-start-of-major-drilling-program/ . Buckreef is an advanced project with established gold reserves and valuation pursuant to the Companys Canadian NI 43-101 Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) completed by Virimai Technologies dated 26 June 2018 (PFS). Respectfully Submitted, James E. Sinclair, Executive Chairman Tanzanian Royalty Exploration Corporation For further information, please contact Michael Martin, Investor Relations at 860-248-0999, email m.martin@tanzanianroyalty.com ABOUT TANZANIAN ROYALTY EXPLORATION CORPORATION: Tanzanian Royalty Exploration Corporation is a mineral resource company, which engages in the acquisition, exploration and extraction of gold and other natural resources in the United Republic of Tanzania, Africa. The Company, after successfully exploring for Gold has identified three development projects, Buckreef, Kigosi, and Itetemia. In early 2016, in conjunction with our first gold pour, the Company was deemed a commercial gold producer by the Tanzanian Government. The Company is presently focused on its Buckreef Gold Project located in North Central Tanzania. Further information can be found in the Company's 43-101 reports, which can be viewed together with other reports and updates on the Company homepage at: www.TanzanianRoyalty.com The Toronto Stock Exchange and NYSE AmexEquities have not reviewed and do not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this letter. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements Certain of the statements made herein may contain forward-looking statements or information within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements and forward-looking information can be identified using words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or the negatives thereof, or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements or information herein include, but are not limited to, the Positive Feasibility Study on Buckreef, the timing and the results of the proposed drilling program. Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. We have made certain assumptions about the forward-looking statements and information, and even though our management believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements or information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statement or information will prove to be accurate. Furthermore, should one or more of the risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements or information. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among others, the following: gold price volatility; discrepancies between actual and estimated production, mineral reserves and resources and metallurgical recoveries; mining operational and development risk; litigation risks; regulatory restrictions, including environmental regulatory restrictions and liability; risks of sovereign investment; currency fluctuations; speculative nature of gold exploration; global economic climate; dilution; share price volatility; competition; loss of key employees; additional funding requirements; and defective title to mineral claims or property, as well as those factors discussed in the sections entitled "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in the Company's Form 20-F Annual Report dated November 29, 2018. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements or information contained herein. Except as required by law, we do not expect to update forward-looking statements and information continually as conditions change, and you are referred to the full discussion of the Company's business contained in the Company's reports filed with the securitys regulatory authorities in Canada and the U.S. Cautionary Note Regarding Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources The terms "Mineral Reserve", "Proven Mineral Reserve" and "Probable Mineral Reserve" used in this release are Canadian mining terms as defined in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects under the guidelines set out in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (the "CIM") Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the CIM Council on August 20, 2000 as may be amended from time to time by the CIM. These definitions differ from the definitions in the United States Securities Exchange Commission ("SEC") Guide 7. In the United States, a mineral reserve is defined as a part of a mineral deposit which could be economically and legally extracted or produced at the time the mineral reserve determination is made. The terms "Mineral Resource", "Measured Mineral Resource", "Indicated Mineral Resource", "Inferred Mineral Resource" used in this release are Canadian mining terms as defined in accordance with National Instruction 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects under the guidelines set out in the CIM Standards. Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. For a detailed discussion of Buckreef resource and reserve estimates and related matters see the Company's reports, including the Form 20-F Annual Report dated November 29, 2018 and technical reports filed under the Company's name at our website at: www.tanzanianroyalty.com . Cautionary Note to US Investors Concerning Estimates of Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resources Note to U.S. Investors. While the terms "mineral resource", "measured mineral resource," "indicated mineral resource", and "inferred mineral resource" are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, they are not defined terms under standards in the United States and normally are not permitted to be used in reports and registration statements filed with the SEC. As such, information contained in this report concerning descriptions of mineralization and resources under Canadian standards may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S companies in SEC filings. With respect to "indicated mineral resource" and "inferred mineral resource", there is a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and a great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an "indicated mineral resource" or "inferred mineral resource" will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into reserves. CONNECTICUT OFFICE: PO Box 577 Sherman, CT U.S.A. 06784 Fax: (860) 799-0350 investors@TanzanianRoyalty.com Icelandic English The Annual General Meeting of Marel hf. will be held at the Companys headquarters at Austurhraun 9, Gardabaer, Iceland, on Tuesday, 6 March 2019 at 16:00. Agenda: Annual General Meeting matters as provided for in Article 4.13 of the Companys Articles of Association. Report on the execution of remuneration policy. Proposal on the Companys share-based incentive scheme. Proposal concerning amendments of the Companys Articles of Association: Article 15.1 Proposal to renew authorization to increase share capital by up to ISK 35,000,000 nominal value in connection with share option contracts with employees; Article 15.2 Proposal to renew authorization to increase share capital by up to ISK 100,000,000 nominal value to be used as payment in relation to possible acquisition of new businesses; New Article 15.3 Proposal to authorize the Board of Directors to increase the Companys share capital by up to ISK 100,000,000 nominal value in connection with the dual listing of the Companys shares. Shareholders waive their pre-emptive rights to subscribe for the new shares. Proposal to reduce the Companys share capital. Reduction of Companys own shares in connection with the dual listing of the Companys shares. Proposal on a renewed authorization for the Company to buy own shares. Any other business, lawfully presented. The meeting will be conducted in English. Candidatures for the Board of Directors shall be submitted in writing to the Board of Directors at least five full days prior to the meeting, i.e. before Friday 1 March at 16:00 pm (GMT). Shareholders are entitled to have a specific matter taken for consideration at the Annual General Meeting and such proposals shall be accompanied by a statement or draft resolution to the Board of Directors, as provided for in Article 4.20 of the Companys Articles of Association. In order for shareholders to have proposals or matters considered by the meeting, they must have been submitted to the Board of Directors at least ten days prior to the meeting, i.e. by the latest on 24 February at 16:00 pm (GMT). In the event that shareholders have submitted proposals or matters to be considered by the meeting, the final agenda and proposals will be available at the meetings website no later than three days before the Annual General Meeting. On the Companys AGM website, www.marel.com/agm , further information in relation to the Annual General Meeting can be found, including further information on the right of shareholders to submit items and proposals to the meetings agenda, a draft agenda for the meeting, proposals of the Board of Directors, Company's annual statements for the year 2018, information on the total number of shares and voting rights as of 12 February 2019, proxy template, as well as information on documents to be submitted in relation to the meeting. Voting at the Annual General Meeting will not be by ballot unless a shareholder requests so or if the Chairman of the meeting decides otherwise. Electronic voting will not be possible at the meeting. In case a shareholder wishes to vote by mail-in ballot, then ballots are available at the Companys website, along with guidance on shareholders participation in balloting by mail. Ballots must reach the Companys offices at Austurhraun 9, 201 Gardabaer, before 15:30 (GMT) on the day of the meeting, 6 March 2019. The meetings agenda and final proposals will be available to shareholders seven days prior to the meeting, both on the aforementioned AGM webpage of the Company as well as at the Companys offices at Austurhraun 9, Gardabaer, Iceland. A shareholder may have his/her agent attend the meeting on his/her behalf. Agents of shareholders shall submit written proxies at the entrance of the meeting. Ballots and other applicable documents will be available at the venue of the meeting as of 15:30 (GMT) on the day of the meeting. The Board of Directors of Marel hf. Mayoral candidate Kevin Summers, according to his employee record from Kokomo Police Department, threatened to utilize his position on the Kokomo School Board to give the schools student resource officer (SRO) program the axe if his supervisors didnt compensate him on his terms. Multiple documents included in Summers personnel file, obtained via a public records request, detail a dispute the former KPD captain had with his supervisor, now-retired Capt. Dave Mitchell in 2006. That dispute revolved around Summers wanting to receive comp time, instead of overtime pay, as part of his work as an SRO at Kokomo schools. His superiors, in these records, claimed that Summers threatened to kill the SRO program using his position as a school board member if they didnt acquiesce to his demands. Such programs center on officers keeping schools safe, and much of Summers campaign has been predicated on his commitment to public safety. The documents referencing the dispute all are authored by Mitchell and primarily consist of correspondence between the KPD captain who at the time presided over the SRO program as the commanding officer of the Community Relations, Crime Prevention Unit and either school officials, the police chief, and the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns. One letter, dated Dec. 18, 2006, was sent by Mitchell to then-Kokomo schools Superintendent Thomas Little Jr. The letter appeared to be a part of ongoing correspondence between the school and department and was prompted by complaints the superintendent may have fielded regarding the program from principals. In the letter, Mitchell wrote, I believe that the program is working very well and that the relationship between the school system and the police department is excellent. I do believe, however, that one particular officer being Kevin Summers believes that some large conspiracy is taking place to keep him from being able to work in the schools as a School Resource Officer. The fact is that I tried to use him after receiving a letter from the school attorney; however I dont believe that it worked very well for either side, and I advised him that I didnt intend on using him except as a last resort. Kevin kept pushing working for comp time in lieu of overtime pay so that he wouldnt have to use vacation time to take trips for school board business. I had been consistent in advising him that we wouldnt do that. After telling Kevin this he became upset and made several comments which led me to the decision that I will not utilize him at all. Mitchell went on to write, Kevin complained about Officer (Dave) Trine being able to remain in the schools. He complained about Officer Cockrell not working enough ball games. He threatened the SRO program saying as a school board member he could just vote to do away with the program altogether. Another letter, sent to then-KPD Chief Russell Ricks, also detailed the exchange Mitchell claimed took place. This correspondence is dated Dec. 7, 2006. In it Mitchell reiterated that he told Summers he would not receive comp time for his shifts as an SRO and that he was to be compensated monetarily. He also claims to have told Summers that two school employees were uncomfortable with him at the school in that capacity. After Summers was informed that he would be the captains last choice to be used as an SRO, Mitchell told Ricks that Summers became upset. After speaking with Officer Summers "After speaking with Officer Summers I have decided not to use him at all. His attitude is such that I believe he would be detrimental to the team aspect of the unit which is currently very good." Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute He then stated that as a board member he could vote to do away with the whole program because the current SROs werent really devoted enough anyway, stating that for example one officer only worked three ballgames all year After speaking with Officer Summers I have decided not to use him at all. His attitude is such that I believe he would be detrimental to the team aspect of the unit which is currently very good. The incidents apparently didnt leave Mitchells mind for some time. In 2009 he wrote the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns to advocate for proposed state legislation, at the time, that sought to prohibit local government employees, like an officer, from serving as elected officials due to potential conflicts of interest. The letter seemed to reference the interactions Mitchell had with Summers while he served as a school board member. This officer used every means available to him through his school board position to create problems for the police administration to try and get his way, wrote Mitchell. At one point I had a conversation with him in which I informed him that as long as I was the Captain of over the school resource officers and the current chief was in place there was no way we were going to allow him to work in the schools while he was a School Board member. Mitchell then again referenced Summers threat that he would vote as a school board member to end the SRO program, this time claiming Summers told him he was going to run for the City Council and then the Chief and I would work for him. As it turns out a short time later the school board did in fact refuse to continue the School Liaison Program. Summers, when asked about the content of the documents in his employee file in an initial interview, said he didnt recall the conversation and also indicated that such a threat would be moot. Nobody can end anything on their own preference, said Summers. At that point youve got the other board members, and it takes nine councilmembers and the majority to do that. Just because somebody makes some comment one way or another, that doesnt mean theyre going to end that. Its one persons conversations and their assertion and somebody making a comment about it and somebody else taking it as a threat. Youve got to understand until youre actually inside the internal part of a government entity of some type, the political climate can happen to anybodys interpretation of what a threat is. Summers asked to view the documents prior to commenting further, and they were sent to him via email moments after the initial interview. Later, he reiterated that he never took any action as a school board member or city council member to do away with the program. Im not denying that I said that because I have no recollection of my conversation conveying that message that I would even have an interest in doing that, said Summers. When I had a conversation it boiled down to that I wanted to continue doing this, and I expressed that. But to go any further saying I am going to eliminate any programs when Ive been an advocate in it, Ive been a part of it, I would want that to continue that. LOS ANGELES, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- City National Bank has earned 11 awards for commercial and small business banking from Greenwich Associates, a leading global financial services research and consulting firm. The Excellence Awards include recognition for overall client satisfaction, the likelihood clients would recommend the bank to others, cash management and overall satisfaction with their banker. Were so pleased to have received top scores in the commercial and small business banking areas and those related to client satisfaction and cash management, said City National Bank President Chris Warmuth. City National prides itself on providing unparalleled client service as we strive to be the nations most recommended financial provider. These awards are very important to us because they represent the views of our clients. City National received Excellence Awards in the following categories: Overall satisfaction Likelihood to recommend Cash management overall satisfaction Cash management customer service Overall satisfaction with a relationship manager We are pleased that our clients at the national and regional levels have recognized City National for excellence in commercial banking, said Michael Walker, head of Commercial Banking for City National. Our colleagues are dedicated to our clients and to helping business owners succeed by making sure they have the resources they need to manage and grow their businesses. Its in our DNA to understand business owners and entrepreneurs and work with them to accomplish their business objectives. Our business bankers are very proud that our clients are likely to recommend them and that they are satisfied with our services at the national and regional level, said Scott Witter, head of Personal and Business Banking for City National. We strive to do more every day and make sure we understand their business and personal needs. The annual Excellence Awards are based on interviews that Greenwich Associates did with more than 14,000 small business banking clients with sales of $1-10 million and cover a range of product and service categories. For the middle market commercial banking awards, Greenwich interviewed more than 14,000 clients with sales of $10-500 million. Awards are made for both national and regional performance and include overall satisfaction, likelihood to recommend, branch satisfaction, credit process, cash management: customer satisfaction, cash management: customer service, and others. City Nationals comprehensive small business and commercial banking services include loans and lines of credit; business deposit and treasury management services; international banking and foreign exchange; and check and Visa commercial credit cards. The bank is a preferred lender under the U.S. Small Business Administration and SBA Express programs. About City National With $50.3 billion in assets, City National Bank provides banking, investment and trust services through 71 offices, including 19 full-service regional centers, in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, Nevada, New York City, Nashville, Atlanta, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. In addition, the company and its investment affiliates manage or administer $67.5 billion in client investment assets. City National is a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), one of North Americas leading diversified financial services companies. RBC serves more than 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the United States and 34 other countries. For more information about City National, visit the companys website at cnb.com . Media Contact: Jennifer Gill, City National Bank, 213.673.7682 Jennifer.Gill@cnb.com TORONTO, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Changfeng Energy Inc., (TSXV: CFY) (Changfeng or the Company, together with its subsidiaries the Group), an energy provider in the Peoples Republic of China (the PRC), announces the following: Annual Dividend and Special Dividend Payment Date Amendment Further to Changfengs press release on January 30, 2019, Changfeng Announces Hong Kong IPO Update and Declaration of Semi-annual and Special Dividends, the Company announces an amendment to the payment date of the Second Installment Dividend of 2018 and first installment of the 2019 Special Dividend pending completion of the audit of the Groups annual financial statements for the 2018 fiscal year. In accordance with regulations in the PRC, in order for the Companys subsidiary to wire the necessary funds for funding of the dividend payments, audited financial statements of the principal PRC subsidiary of the Company for the 2018 fiscal year are required. There will be no change to the record date of February 12, 2019 and shares began trading on an ex-dividend basis at the opening of trading on February 11, 2019. Both the Second Installment Dividend and the first installment of the Special Dividend are expected to be paid within the first half of April 2019 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 12, 2019. The Company will announce by further press release when the payable date has been confirmed following completion of the audit noted above. The Second Installment Dividend of 2018 remains in the amount of RMB 3,500,000 (C$690,996 based on the prevailing exchange rate between C$ and RMB as at January 30, 2019), an equivalent of approximately C$0.0106 per common share based on the total common shares outstanding as of January 30, 2019 and February 12, 2019. The first installment of the 2019 Special Dividend remains in the amount of RMB 6,450,000 (C$1,273,408 based on the prevailing exchange rate between C$ and RMB as at January 30, 2019), an equivalent of approximately C$0.0195 per common share based on the total common shares outstanding as of January 30, 2019 and February 12, 2019. About Changfeng Energy Inc. Changfeng Energy Inc. is a Canadian public company currently traded on the Toronto Venture Exchange (TSX-V) under the stock symbol CFY. It is an integrated energy provider and natural gas distribution company (or natural gas utility) in the PRC. Changfeng strives to combine leading clean energy technology with natural gas usage to provide sustainable energy to its customer base in the PRC. In 2009, Changfeng was recognized as being one of Chinas the Top Ten Most Influential Brands in the Natural Gas Industry. CONTACT INFORMATION Corporate Investment Relations Investor.relations@changfengenergy.cn Zhaoyu.wang@changfengenergy.cn Ann Siyin Lin VP, Corporate Development ann.lin@changfengenergy.cn Tel: +1 (647) 313 0066 Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, Forward-Looking Statements). All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included or incorporated by reference in this document are Forward-Looking Statements, including statements regarding activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates may occur in the future, including with respect to the timing and payment of dividends. These Forward-Looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as will, expect, intend, plan, estimate, anticipate, believe or continue, or similar words or the negative thereof. No assurance can be given that the plans, intentions or expectations or assumptions upon which these Forward-Looking Statements are based will prove to be correct and such Forward-Looking Statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. Although management believes that the expectations represented in such Forward-Looking Statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Such Forward-Looking Statements are not a guarantee of performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements or developments expressed or implied by such Forward-Looking Statements. These factors include, without limitation, no significant and continuing adverse changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets. Readers are cautioned that all Forward-Looking Statements involve risks and uncertainties, including those risks and uncertainties detailed in the Corporations filings with applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities, copies of which are available at www.sedar.com. The Company urges readers to carefully consider those factors. The Forward-Looking Statements included in this news release are made as of the date of this document and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any Forward-Looking Statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein, and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such. Neither 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. Washington, DC, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- One of the nations leading veteran service organizations, Team Red, White & Blue (Team RWB), today announced that Scott Jensen has been named Chief Operations Officer. In his new role, Mr. Jensen will oversee the leadership, development, management, and execution of Team RWBs programs and services. He will work closely with the executive team, staff, and volunteer leaders to ensure excellence and impact in existing and future programs and services. We are thrilled to welcome Scott as the newest member of our executive leadership team, said John Pinter, Executive Director. His experience and perspective will be critically important to the continued growth of Team RWB and the achievement of our mission to enrich the lives of Americas veterans. A retired Marine Corps helicopter pilot, Mr. Jensens combat deployments included time in Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Following his service, Scott worked as a non-profit executive both in leadership development and as the CEO of a military and veteran-serving organization. His work while on active duty and with nonprofits centered on combating sexual assault and harassment, and allowed him to build and maintain strong ties to individuals and organizations that serve active duty members, veterans, and their families. About Team Red, White & Blue Team Red, White & Blue (Team RWB) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2010 with the mission of enriching the lives of Americas veterans by connecting them to their communities through physical and social activity. Team RWB insists that all veterans have the opportunity to reclaim what was most precious about their military service: an unwavering sense of belonging born of challenges that show us what we are capable of. For more information, visit teamrwb.org. Attachment VANCOUVER, B.C., Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Volero Brands Inc. (Volero or the Company) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement (the Agreement) with Mackie Research Capital Corporation (the Agent) who has agreed to sell, on a best efforts private placement basis, up to 10,000,000 Class A common shares in the capital of the Company (Common Shares) at a price of $0.50 per Common Share for gross proceeds of up to $5,000,000 (the Offering). Pursuant to the Agreement, the Agent has been granted an option (the Agents Option) exercisable in whole or in part at any time up to the closing of the Offering to increase the size of the Offering by up to 15% of the number of Common Shares offered pursuant to the Offering by giving written notice of the exercise of the Agents Option, or a part thereof, to the Company at any time up to 48 hours prior to closing of the Offering. It seems like every day, a new opportunity jumps in front of us, says Volero CEO Sean Trustham. Even before the Canadian regulations are effective for concentrates and edibles, we have licensed the Flyte brand in Nevada and are in discussions with potential partners in other US states. This is giving us a very nice head start. We have been at the right places at the right times with the right people its ALL about being prepared to jump on opportunities as they appear. Tomorrow is too late. The Company intends to use the proceeds from the Offering for construction of the Companys facility in Alberta, working capital and general corporate purposes. The closing of the Offering is expected to occur on or about the week of February 28, 2019. The Offering will take place by way of a brokered private placement to accredited investors (as defined in National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions) in all of the provinces of Canada (except Quebec), and otherwise in those jurisdictions where the Offering can lawfully be made, including the U.S. under applicable private placement exemptions. About Volero Volero Brands is a privately held, British Columbia-based company engaged in the development of a family of cannabis brands and game-changing cannabis delivery systems in Canada and abroad. The Companys flagship brand is Flyte, a premium cannabis distillate brand. Flyte has been licensed in the state of Nevada for concentrates prepared from distillates of phytocannabinoids and packaged in vaporizer pen cartridges. The Company intends to commercialize the Flyte brand in association with concentrates and edibles across Canada once the Cannabis Regulations are amended to regulate commercial production of these products. The Company brings deep technical and branding expertise to extraction, formulation, development and marketing of premium cannabis distillate-based products. For further information about Volero Brands, please visit www.volero.ca. Media Contact: Al Watt Volero Brands Inc. Phone: Office: 604-371-0804 x 202 Mobile 604.351.7061 Email:al@volero.ca www.volero.ca Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Other than statements of historical fact, the information presented in this news release constitute forward-looking statements. By their very nature forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond the Companys control. Although forward-looking statements contained in this presentation are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or managements estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Erdene Resource Development Corp. (TSX:ERD; MSE:ERDN) (" Erdene " or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it intends to issue, by way of a non-brokered Private Placement, up to 7,608,696 units of the Company (the Units) at a price of $0.23 per Unit (the Private Placement), for gross proceeds of up to $1,750,000. Each Unit will consist of one common share and one Warrant (the Warrants). Warrants are exercisable by the holder into one common share of the Company within two years of the closing date, at a price of $0.40 if exercised within twelve months of the closing date and at a price of $0.50 if exercised more than twelve months after the closing date. Proceeds of the Private Placement will be used to fund the independent Pre-Feasibility Study of the Company's Khundii Gold Project (the Project), mining license applications for the Projects properties, potential acquisitions, including through the Mongolian Governments recently re-opened license tender process, and for general working capital purposes. RPMGlobal Asia Limited recently completed a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the Project, in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101), and recommended that Erdene proceed to a NI 43-101 Pre-Feasibility Study (the Study) to further assess the viability of the Project. Erdene has received proposals from several engineering firms to lead the Study, which it plans to launch following the close of the Private Placement. Simultaneously the Company is working to secure the Projects mining licences, which provide long-term security of tenure over these lands, and will be finalizing exploration programs for the 2019 field season. The Mongolian Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry has recently released licenses to tender in Southwest Mongolia and the Company expects prospective licenses to be released in 2019. The Company has identified several priority targets within the surrounding district and will be an active participant in tenders for these properties. The Private Placement is expected to close on or about February 28, 2019 and is subject to the Company receiving all necessary regulatory approvals, including approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange. Securities issued under the Private Placement will be subject to a four month hold period which will expire four months plus one day from the closing date of the Private Placement. Background on the Khundii Gold Project Erdenes deposits are located in the Edren Terrane, within the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, host to some of the worlds largest gold and copper-gold deposits. Although epithermal gold and porphyry copper-gold deposits are well documented across the border in China and along the Belts westward trend, exploration in Mongolia was limited until the mid-1990s, when the country opened its doors to foreign exploration. Exploration since that time in southeast Mongolia led to the discovery of the world-class Oyu Tolgoi gold-copper deposit. Erdene has been the leader in exploration in southwestern Mongolia over the past decade and is responsible for the discovery of the Khundii Gold District. The District is comprised of multiple high-grade gold and gold/base metal prospects, two of which are being considered for development: Bayan Khundii and Altan Nar. The Company has to date invested US$17 million in exploration and resource development on the Bayan Khundii and Altan Nar projects. About Erdene Erdene Resource Development Corp. is a Canada-based resource company focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of precious and base metals in underexplored and highly prospective Mongolia. The Company has interests in four exploration licenses and a mining license in Southwest Mongolia, where exploration success has led to the discovery and definition of the Khundii Gold District. Erdene Resource Development Corp. is listed on the Toronto and Mongolia stock exchanges. Further information is available at www.erdene.com . Important information may be disseminated exclusively via the website; investors should consult the site to access this information. Forward-Looking Statements Certain information regarding Erdene contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements may include estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, guidance or other statements that are not statements of fact. Although Erdene believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Erdene cautions that actual performance will be affected by a number of factors, most of which are beyond its control, and that future events and results may vary substantially from what Erdene currently foresees. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration results, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. The forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The information contained herein is stated as of the current date and is subject to change after that date. The Company does not assume the obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. NO REGULATORY AUTHORITY HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED THE CONTENTS OF THIS RELEASE Erdene Contact Information Peter C. Akerley, President and CEO, or Ken W. MacDonald, Vice President and CFO Monaco, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Geoffrey J.W. Kent, Founder, Chairman and CEO of luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent has formed a strategic partnership with Manfredi Lefebvre dOvidio, Chairman of Heritage group, to jointly acquire 100% of the Abercrombie & Kent Group of Companies S.A. (Abercrombie & Kent). This union brings together two visionaries in luxury travel to further develop Abercrombie & Kent as the premier brand in luxury and experiential travel. Geoffrey Kent is a true pioneer and visionary in the travel industry. He created the first luxury tented photographic safaris in 1962 in Kenya and has built A&K into the worlds leading luxury and adventure travel company. Manfredi Lefebvre built Silversea Cruises, created by his father in 1994 with the purchase of two ships, Silver Cloud and Silver Wind, into the leading luxury and expedition cruise line. Recently Royal Caribbean Group (RCL) acquired a 66% stake in Silversea Cruises. A&K is a separate and unique investment by Heritage group, led by Manfredi Lefebvre, and does not involve Silversea. Since their humble beginnings, both companies have grown to become the dominant players in their respective fields, offering a discerning clientele the ultimate in luxury travel. Geoffrey Kent and Manfredi Lefebvre have known each other for more than twenty years and also been business partners, having acquired the MV Explorer in 1992. Abercrombie & Kent is the finest luxury travel company in the world, and I am honored to be able to partner with Geoffrey Kent to help this remarkable company continue its record growth, said Manfredi Lefebvre, Chairman of Heritage group. Kent added: I am very excited to be working with Manfredi. I cannot think of a better or more experienced partner for the next phase of A&Ks growth. Heritage group will own 85% of Abercrombie & Kent and Geoffrey Kent 15%. Geoffrey Kent will continue to be Chairman and CEO of the operating company, while Manfredi Lefebvre will become Chairman of Abercrombie & Kent Holding. The closing is expected to be completed later in the year, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Barclays Bank Plc served as financial advisor to Heritage group. # # # Download high-resolution photos: http://portfolio-galleries.abercrombiekent.com/media_relations About Manfredi Lefebvre dOvidio de Cluniere di Balsorano Chairman, Heritage group Manfredi Lefebvre is Chairman of Heritage group as well as Executive Chairman of Silversea Cruises. The Lefebvre family conceived Silversea in the early 90s as a pioneering cruise line offering a personal style of ultra-luxury travel, unrivalled in the world. Silversea is now partially owned by Royal Caribbean Limited (RCCL). Mr. Lefebvre is also President of the Monegasque Chamber of Shipping, a Member of the Executive Committee of the World Travel & Tourism Council and a Member of the Board of Skuld. He was honoured with the Chevalier de lOrdre de Saint Charles and Grimaldi by SAS Prince Albert of Monaco. www.heritagemonaco.com About Geoffrey JW Kent Founder, Chairman and CEO, Abercrombie & Kent Geoffrey Kents life began much as he lives it today amid excitement and adventure in an exotic location. He was born while his parents, Colonel John and Valerie Kent, were on safari in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). He grew up on the family farm in the Aberdare Highlands of Kenya and attended the then-new Duke of York School in Nairobi, which produced many of Kenyas business and science leaders, including Richard Leakey. With the innate skill of an entrepreneur and the relentless curiosity of a born explorer, he built a company that enables travellers to discover the world around them and to do it in a uniquely stylish manner. Geoffrey Kent was inducted into the UKs Travel Hall of Fame and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the US travel industry for creating experiential travel by bringing the same sense of adventure found on safari to destinations around the world. He recently published a book, Safari: A Memoir of a Worldwide Travel Pioneer. About Abercrombie & Kent Abercrombie & Kent pioneered luxury adventure travel with our first African safaris in 1962, and today A&Ks award-winning travel services extend around the globe to more than one hundred countries on all seven continents. A&K has more people in more places than any other travel company with more than 55 on-site offices in over 30 countries. www.abercrombiekent.com Attachment NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. ALL FIGURES IN CANADIAN DOLLARS UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED. LOS ANGELES, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ventura Cannabis and Wellness Corp. ("VCAN" or the "Company") (CSE: VCAN) announced today that it has entered into a binding agreement to acquire two cannabis dispensaries. The first, located in Cathedral City, California just outside Los Angeles, is a strategic acquisition that pairs well with the Companys detox centers located nearby. The second is a cannabis dispensary in Portland, Oregon which will become part of its existing Oregon business. Additionally, Ventura Cannabis announced it secured Craig Lipsay, a senior investment banker and former Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch in New York City to advise its Board and management. The combined businesses are expected to generate $2,500,000 in annual revenue with positive cash flow. The total combined cost, including all fees and expenses, of the transactions, is expected to be an average of less than 1.9 times revenues, inclusive of up to US$658,000 in stock, with a portion of the consideration paid over time based upon performance. Cathedral City, California Dispensary Acquisition Ventura Cannabis has executed a binding stock purchase agreement to acquire Remedy Inc., a cannabis business in California near Los Angeles and Corona, which are the locations of the current detox centers. The business also has the ability to apply for a delivery license through a grandfather clause, which after closing Ventura Cannabis plans to do. Additionally, the business has a medical cannabis endorsement whereby it can sell high dosage products for medical use only. Based on unaudited financials and due diligence, the business is expected to generate positive cash flow and annual revenues of $1.6 million. I am pleased we were able to secure this strategic acquisition, said Jacob Gamble, CEO of Ventura Cannabis. This asset comes with two very exciting attributes. First, its location near the music festivals has great potential and has not been fully explored. Secondly, its delivery endorsement, which also has yet to be leveraged, fits very well with our plans for revenue generation in California. The purchase price for the acquisition is (a) US$1,000,000 is payable to the vendor on closing, (b) four quarterly payments of US$225,000 per quarter over the first four quarters following closing, subject to a quarterly clawback of US$2.00 against each dollar of revenue below US$1,100,000 (annualized) and the business being cash flow positive, (c) a payment of US$250,000 fifteen months following closing, and (d) a payment of US$250,000 eighteen months following closing. In connection with the transaction, the vendor has agreed to enter into an employment contract for the 12 month period following closing. The vendor is entitled to payment of 20% of earnings if gross revenue is above US$1,500,000 and if the business has +25% profit margin during the 12-month term of the employment agreement. Closing of the acquisition is subject to a number of customary conditions, including receipt of all required regulatory approvals. Portland, Oregon Dispensary Acquisition Ventura Cannabis has executed a binding asset purchase agreement for Amberlight LLC, a Portland, Oregon cannabis dispensary. Based on unaudited financials and due diligence, the business is expected to generate positive cash flow and annual revenues of $900,000. The business is an important addition to the Oregon operations that already include a business in Salem, Oregon. We continue to build out our expertise around the Oregon dispensary market, said Jacob Gamble, CEO of Ventura Cannabis. This asset has a focus on branding and lifestyle for the medical cannabis consumer. While small, it gives us a very good entry point into a team focused on branding in a city center setting serving patients with several conditions. The purchase price for the acquisition is (a) US$550,000, with the majority in stock, is payable to the vendor on closing, and (b) two quarterly payments of US$25,000 per quarter over the first two quarters following closing, subject to a quarterly clawback of $1.50 against each dollar of revenue below US$600,000 (annualized) and the business being cash flow positive. In connection with the transaction, the vendor has agreed to enter into an employment contract for the 12 month period following closing. The vendor is entitled to payment of 20% of earnings if revenue is above US$1,050,000 and if the business has +25% profit margin during the 12-month term of the employment agreement. Closing of the acquisition is subject to a number of customary conditions, including receipt of all required regulatory approvals. Craig Lipsay Engaged as Senior Advisor Craig Lipsay has been appointed as the Company's Senior Financial Advisor to the Board of Directors. Mr. Lipsay has almost 30-year track record on Wall Street, including 11 years at Morgan Stanley where, as an investment banker based in Morgan Stanleys New York City headquarters, he rose to Managing Director, Co-head of North American Structured Products and then Managing Director, Co-head of the North American Strategic Solutions Group at Merrill Lynch. He has since served as an advisor and large shareholder in several investment funds. Mr. Lipsay has an undergraduate degree from SUNY, Albany and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Lipsay will support the company in areas of capital markets communication and strategic planning. I am pleased that Craig has agreed to join as a key member of our team, continued Mr. Gamble. He will be joining me when I meet with shareholders and market participants in Canada in the coming weeks. I believe this company offers a rare opportunity for investing, said Mr. Lipsay. The cannabis industry is slated to grow into a major U.S. industry, and we are at the very beginning. Ventura offers a unique value proposition at the moment. It has eight figure revenues and a long-standing detox business that can be leveraged into cannabis revenues. It has a strong team of operators and a deep pipeline of deals and opportunities. We enter the market with a strong balance sheet, cash flow and a great platform for growth. I look forward to working with Jacob and the team to turn this into a world-class medical cannabis company. On behalf of Ventura Cannabis and Wellness Corporation Jacob Gamble Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director For more information contact: BLVD Centers Corporation Jacob Gamble CEO and Executive Director (360) 314-4294 investorinfo@BLVDcenters.com www.BLVDir.com Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation. The words "may", "would", "could", "should", "potential", "will", "seek", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions as they relate to the Company. Such statements reflect the Company's current views and intentions with respect to future events, and current information available to the Company, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. The forward-looking information included in this press release is made as of the date of this press release and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable law. VCAN holds or is acquiring marijuana licenses in Oregon and California. Marijuana is legal in each state; however, marijuana remains illegal under US federal law and the approach to enforcement of US federal law against marijuana is subject to change. Shareholders and investors need to be aware that adverse enforcement actions could affect their investments and that VCAN's ability to access private and public capital could be affected and or could not be available to support continuing operations. All figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated. Washington, DC, and Toronto, Canada, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program (Aspen FSP), a national nonprofit and non-partisan voice on Americans financial security, has collaborated with mission-driven Canadian retirement security firm Common Wealth to release a report that proposes an approach for expanding retirement plan coverage to meet the needs of todays rapidly-changing workforce. The report focuses on portable non-employer retirement benefits retirement arrangements that are workplace-based, but not tied to any single job or employer. As Americas workforce grapples with a changing labor market, there is a growing population of workers who lack access to the tools needed to secure a healthy retirement. Today more than 55 million Americans lack access to a workplace retirement plan, of Americans are worried about their ability to maintain their standard of living in retirement, and nearly six in 10 Americans do not own a retirement account. Poverty among American seniors is nearly twice that of other OECD countries. These alarming conditions create a clear need for portable retirement benefits that are owned by workers, can accommodate contributions from multiple sources, and which are open to all workers -- independent, gig economy, and traditional. The employer-based retirement system in the US, while working well for some, is failing millions of others. The stack of benefits needed by todays workforce is simply not what it was even 10 years ago, said Ida Rademacher, Vice-President at the Aspen Institute, and Executive Director of Aspen FSP. The problem will only get worse as the nature of work continues to change at such a rapid pace. We must come together as an industry on this critical issue. We need fresh thinking and bold leadership to deliver retirement security in ways that work for todays reality. This paper and our collaboration with Common Wealth move us toward a new, stronger social safety net for hard-working American families. Theres been increased conversation about the idea of portable benefits in recent years, but we have a very long way to go, Rademacher continued. Were encouraged by policymakers taking early steps -- with a regulation on association retirement plans being proposed by the Department of Labor, various auto-IRA programs being implemented in the states, and legislation on multiple employer plans and portable benefits being drafted by a number of lawmakers in recent months. But we also believe the environment is ripe for the creation of new market solutions. The expansion of portable non-employer retirement benefits could help fill the gaps not covered by the single-employer-based system. Building a larger market for such benefits requires innovative thinking, new types of plan sponsors, and bold leadership to build a retirement system that is workplace-based, yet also portable, inclusive, accessible, and high-quality. The report explores six potential models of portable non-employer retirement benefits, led by different groups ranging from associations to labor unions to payroll or platform companies to faith groups. The report includes examples of action already being taken across the globe, with hopes of spurring experiments and pilots within the retirement industry and among employers in the US. Based on the findings in the report, Aspen FSP held an event last week to build momentum toward action, with participants including executives from Prudential, Etsy, Workers Benefit Fund, AARP, Center for American Progress, Omidyar Network, CFSI, Stride Health, United Way Worldwide, Fidelity, Pew Charitable Trusts, and many others. While the report focuses on identifying and shining a spotlight on existing examples of innovative retirement solutions that meet the changing needs of todays workforce, the convening brought together leaders with the ability to make real change, to identify which tools workers today need to achieve a secure retirement and to think of additional opportunities to build those products. "This partnership with the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program has deepened our conviction that portable, collective retirement benefits offer a major opportunity to strengthen financial security in both Canada and the United States. Building an occupational retirement system for the 21st century will require innovation, new forms of collaboration, and benefits that are tailored to the unique needs of a diverse range of uncovered workers. Despite its retirement security challenges, the United States is primed to take further action on this critical social and economic issue," said Alex Mazer, Founding Partner of Common Wealth. To learn more about retirement security, please visit the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program website, or Common Wealths website. You may also be interested in these recent reports: About The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program The Aspen Institute Financial Security Programs (FSP) mission is to illuminate and solve the most critical financial challenges facing American households and to make financial security for all a top national priority. We aim for nothing less than a more inclusive economy with reduced wealth inequality and shared prosperity. We believe that transformational change requires innovation, trust, leadership, and entrepreneurial thinking. FSP galvanizes a diverse set of leaders across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to solve the most critical financial challenges. We do this through deep, deliberate private and public dialogues and by elevating evidence-based research and solutions that will strengthen the financial health and security of financially vulnerable Americans. The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River on Marylands Eastern Shore. It also maintains offices in New York City and has an international network of partners. ABOUT COMMON WEALTH Common Wealth is a mission-driven business focused on expanding access to retirement security. Based in Toronto, Common Wealth designs and manages collective retirement plans for groups of workers who are uncovered or underserved by traditional workplace retirement plans. Recently, the company partnered with SEIU to create the first retirement plan in Canada for lower- and moderate-income earners, and is currently working with a group of foundations and employers to create a national, portable retirement plan for Canadas not-for-profit sector. Common Wealth also advises and partners with a wide range of institutions in both Canada and the United States on initiatives that will materially strengthen retirement security, including governments, unions, associations, and pension funds, with collective assets under management exceeding $800 billion. ### MARION, N.C., Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via OTC PR WIRE -- Greene Concepts, Inc. (OTC: INKW) announced today that Karen Howard has been appointed as the Companys new CEO. Ms. Howards appointment coincides with the Companys recent announcement of the acquisition of Mammoth Ventures Inc., a holding company which includes the 60,000 sq. ft. beverage and bottling facility located just outside of Asheville, NC. Karen Howard is a results focused leader who has 30+ years of experience strategically advancing the mission and vision of organizations through effective advocacy and strong collaboration. Ms. Howard also serves as the CEO and Executive Director of the Organic & Natural Health Association . Lenny Greene, outgoing CEO, stated, For the last several quarters, a great deal of effort has been placed on shoring up all the various particulars to bring the Company current and in good standing. It is with great pleasure that I can hand over the baton to Ms. Howard with the Company having a solid structural standing. I have great faith in Ms. Howards ability to lead Greene Concepts into a new era with the acquisition of Mammoth Ventures and the beverage and bottling facility in North Carolina. Karen Howard, newly appointed CEO of Greene Concepts Inc., stated, I believe that the future for Greene Concepts has never been brighter. This is an exciting time for the Company and investors alike. Much effort and focus will be given in the weeks ahead to assembling a strong leadership team as we forge forward into building a world class business. Our Company, Greene Concepts, has an amazing opportunity to enhance peoples lives as we develop and launch our various brands of unique and scientifically formulated beverages. Every beverage begins with H20 and we believe that our Company has one of the greatest sources of water in North America. As we lay the foundation of a new era of growth for Greene Concepts, I look forward to keeping investors up to date and informed of new developments as we build our team and company, stated Ms. Howard. The Company wishes to thank Mr. Greene for his leadership and his thoughtful stewardship of the Company under his tenure. Great appreciation is extended as everyone looks forward to what the future holds for Mr. Greene. About Greene Concepts, Inc. and Mammoth Ventures Inc. Greene Concepts, Inc. ( http://www.greeneconcepts.com/ ) is a publicly traded company and thru its newly acquired wholly-owned subsidiary Mammoth Ventures Inc. has entered into the specialty beverage and bottling business. Safe Harbor: This Press Release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the company's current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. A more extensive listing of risks and factors that may affect the company's business prospects and cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the reports and other documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission and OTC Markets, Inc. OTC Disclosure and News Service. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- New Age Brands Inc. (CSE:NF) (OTC:NWGFF) (FSE:ONF) (New Age Brands or the Company) is pleased to announce that, following the recent success of its wholly owned subsidiary, We Are Kured, LLC (Kured), in South America, Kured has expanded into Europe by launching Kured International, LLC. Kured has begun to make significant progress in entering the European market thanks to the efforts of Yves Yon, Managing Director of Kured International, LLC. Kured CBD vape pens will now be offered in CBD stores throughout Paris, France. Kureds 100% THC free CBD oil fits Frances CBD guidelines which require that all CBD oil must be less than 0.02% THC content. After introducing Kureds disposable vape pen to some of Pariss well-known CBD store owners and distributors, the Kured team feels that the European market will soon become a focus for distribution. Benjamin Martch, New Age Brands Chief Marketing Officer and founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kured, stated: The European market has been discussed between New Age Brands management team for months, but after hearing the positive feedback from store owners in France, we will now be heavily focused on the European market. ABOUT New Age Brands New Age Brands is an innovative Cannabidiol (CBD) lifestyle Company. Through the Companys wholly owned subsidiaries We Are Kured and Drink Fresh Water, the Companys main business activities encompass the development, marketing and distribution of CBD products (including vaporizer pens and beverages) throughout the United States and internationally. In addition, New Age Brands has extensive retail and cultivation land investments in Oregon. For further information about New Age Brands, please consult the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com or visit the Companys website at www.NABrandsInc.com . For further information about We Are Kured, please visit their website at www.wearekured.com . On Behalf of the Board of Directors Joshua Bartch Chief Executive Officer info@newagefarminc.com For Further Information Contact Corporate Communications info@nabrandsinc.com 250-488-6728 We Are Kured Contact: Ben Martch Founder & CEO www.wearekured.com The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release and accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy hereof. This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect managements current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect managements current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected including, but not limited to completion of planned improvements at both the Canadian and US sites on schedule and on budget, the availability of financing needed to complete the Companys planned improvements on commercially reasonable terms, planned occupancy by the tenant-growers, commencement of operations, differences in yield on expected harvests, delays in obtaining statutory approval for marijuana production plans, issues that may arise throughout the grow period, outdoor crops affected by weather, the ability to mitigate the risk of loss through appropriate insurance policies, and the risks presented by federal statutes that may contradict local and state legislation respecting legalized marijuana. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required under applicable securities legislation. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell securities and the Company is not soliciting an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. This news release does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States. These securities have not and will not be registered under United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to a U.S. Person unless so registered, or an exemption from registration is relied upon. NEW YORK, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CGS, a global provider of business applications, enterprise learning and outsourcing services and Cegid, a leading provider of software solutions for retail, today announced that Boutique La Vie en Rose Inc ., Canadian retailer, owner of lingerie, loungewear and swimwear chain la Vie en Rose as well as Bikini Village stores, offering brand name swimwear for both men and women, chose the unified retail commerce solution provided by CGS and Techni-Connection, a systems reseller and integrator of Yourcegid Retail Y2, a comprehensive Retail Management and POS platform. The Montreal-based retailer chose BlueCherry Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), an essential module within the BlueCherry Enterprise Suite of solutions, providing end-to-end capabilities for apparel and consumer lifestyle brands. The company selected Cegid for its deep retail and fashion expertise, international coverage and extensive POS management capabilities delivered via Software as a Service (SaaS). Boutique La Vie en Rose Inc., owned by Francois Roberge, began an extensive search in 2017 for retail management, PLM and merchandise planning to support its digital transformation initiatives. Ultimately, the company selected Techni-Connections proposed solution of CGS for its BlueCherry PLM and Design & Sourcing Suite and Omnichannel Merchandise Planning; and Cegid for its Omnichannel POS and retail management solution to adapt to modern shopping habits. With the combined teams extensive expertise and resources in the consumer lifestyle products market, the suite will help support the companys growth, eliminate manual processes and improve overall productivity. To achieve our global growth plan, we looked at applications available to apparel and fashion companies like ours, said Eric Champagne, Chief Information Officer of Boutique La Vie en Rose Inc. We selected CGS and Cegid with Techni-Connection for their comprehensive solutions. Working jointly with CGS, Techni-Connection and Cegid, we believe we have the best partnership to accomplish our goals. With more than 30 years of fashion and apparel experience, CGS understands the value of having the right solutions in place to help business operations run efficiently and effectively, said Paul Magel, president, Business Applications and Technology Outsourcing division, CGS . Were excited to have Boutique La Vie en Rose Inc. join the BlueCherry community and to help further its growth with BlueCherry PLM to support its growing operations. The key to providing the solution that Boutique La Vie en Rose Inc. needed for its digital transformation was bringing together the most innovative, best-of-breed solutions on the market, and to integrate them. The Techni-Connection development team worked with CGS to integrate BlueCherry and Yourcegid Retail Y2, providing the tools necessary for Boutique La Vie en Rose Inc. to advance with its five-year growth plan, said Kenneth LeBlanc, Founder & CEO of Techni-Connection. Working with Boutique La Vie en Rose Inc. has been an absolute pleasure, and we look forward to continuing our relationship as we provide support for many years to come. To create a remarkable customer relationship, brands need to provide a unified and frictionless shopping experience regardless of channel. That unified approach cultivates brand differentiation and, ultimately, loyalty, said Donna Armstrong, COO of Cegid North America. Boutique La Vie en Rose Inc. is an example of a retailer ready to challenge outdated retail models. We're proud to help the brand strengthen its operational retail foundation, seize new growth opportunities locally and internationally and, equally important, convert every possible sale, be it online or in-store. About Boutique La Vie en Rose Inc. Founded in 1985, Boutique la Vie en Rose Inc. has become the leading Canadian retailer specializing in lingerie and swimwear since its acquisition in 1996 by Francois Roberge. With over 3,000 employees, the company headquartered in Montreal, counts over 245 stores across Canada operating under two distinct banners, la Vie en Rose and Bikini Village. With the opening of nearly 100 la Vie en Rose points of sale in 14 countries since the beginning of its international expansion in 2004, Boutique la Vie en Rose Inc is a true Canadian success story and plans on continuing its growth by doubling its sales revenue in the next five years. About CGS For 35 years, CGS has enabled global enterprises, regional companies and government agencies to drive breakthrough performance through business applications, enterprise learning and outsourcing services. CGS is wholly focused on creating comprehensive solutions that meet clients' complex, multi-dimensional needs and support clients' most fundamental business activities. Headquartered in New York City, CGS has offices in the U.S., Canada, Chile, Romania, Israel and India. For more information, please visit www.cgsinc.com and follow us on Twitter at @CGSinc and @BlueCherryCGS and on Facebook . About Cegid Cegid is a major provider of business management solutions, with proven experience as a leader in SaaS management solutions. Cegids mission is to enable retailers to never miss a sale in the digital age and seize new growth opportunities by delivering a unified, personalized shopping experience in-store, online, anytime, everywhere. Our cloud-based unified commerce platform includes features such as order management, merchandising and inventory management, digital and Mobile POS, Clienteling, CRM and retail analytics and is available in SaaS or on-premises. Over 1,000 retailers and 70,000 stores in 75 countries trust Cegid to reinvent the customer experience, digitize their stores, maximize sales, and succeed with unified commerce. Cegid has 2,400 employees and sells its solutions in 75 countries. In 2017, Cegid recorded a turnover of 332 million. Pascal Houillon has been the CEO since March 2017. We support clients including Barbour, Clarins, Delsey, Estee Lauder, Gant, Havaianas, Lacoste, Leica, LOccitane, Paul Smith, Quiksilver, Ted Baker, and Yves Rocher. About Techni-Connection Techni-Connection (TCI) specializes in onsite IT technical support and the sale, implementation, and support of IT retail systems anywhere in North America. With its large network of technicians, Techni-Connection solves problems 24/7/365 across Canada. Founded in 1995 by Kenneth LeBlanc, Techni-Connection started by installing and ensuring technical support in theaters across North America. Today, TCI is the #1 IT services provider for movie theaters, with more than 80% of the Canadian market (over 3000 terminals, 800 kiosks). With this experience, TCI gained the technical skills needed to develop its activity in the Hospitality and Retail industries. In 2009, TCI became the first CEGID partner in Canada, a software publisher of customized Point-of-Sale management solutions. TCI installs the Yourcegid Retail software as well as supporting its many Canadian retailers. Thanks to its personalised IT solutions and expertise, Techni-Connection has built long-term relationships with many of its clients, companies that TCI has been working with for over 23 years. For more information, please visit techniconnection.com. Media Contact: Susan Sweeney, CGS newsroom@cgsinc.com Kate Connors (for CGS) kconnors@pancomm.com Kevin Blanchard (for Techni-Connection) kevin@techniconnection.com Vast Resources plc / Ticker: VAST / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining 12 February 2019 Vast Resources plc (Vast or the Company) Financing Update Vast Resources plc, the AIM listed mining company with operating mines in Romania and Zimbabwe, wishes to update the market on its financing following the announcement of 18 January 2019 that the Tranche B offtake finance from Mercuria Energy Trading SA (Mercuria) did not proceed. Tranche A remains in place in accordance with its terms as subsequently confirmed by Mercuria. The Company remains in discussions with potential investors in two areas: discussions continue for replacement offtake finance principally to bring Baita Plai into production and also to provide other working capital for the Group. The Company anticipates that these arrangements would be likely to have a similar structure to those previously contemplated for Tranche B finance with Mercuria. In addition to replacing Tranche B the discussions also include the possibility of replacing Tranche A. the Company is advancing discussions with a potential cornerstone investor to cover the expenditure required to bring the proposed Zimbabwe diamond project into production as well as providing a possible alternative to new off-take finance as mentioned above. The Marange Zimunya Community Trust (owner of Red Mercury with which the Company has a joint venture agreement) is consistently informing Vast that it is expecting to receive at any time updated documentation from the Zimbabwean Ministry confirming the right to mine. It should be stressed that all these finance discussions remain at the diligence stage and are dependent upon the signing and completion of legal agreements in the normal course of business. In addition, whilst Vast expects that the documentation concerning the right to mine will be forthcoming as stated above this and/or the terms on which mining can be carried out cannot be guaranteed with certainty. As a result of the agreement of the Mercuria offtake finance term sheet announced on 25 January 2018 the Company agreed accelerated repayments of the loan from Sub Sahara Goldia Investments (SSGI) (originally not repayable until 2021) in order that security held by SSGI over Romanian assets could be released in favour of Mercuria. These repayments were expected to have dovetailed into the expected finance from Mercuria. Without Tranche B, the Company has not been able to make the payments due to SSGI in December 2018 and January 2019. The Company is in discussions with SSGI concerning an alternative repayment proposal and these discussions are ongoing. The Company also announces that Bergen Global Opportunities Fund LP (Bergen) have elected under the terms of their agreement to pause the funding of Tranche 2 pursuant to the US$3,000,000 bridge facility announced on 20 December 2018 for at least 60 days as a result of the Companys share price having been less than 0,2p for a two day period during the period prior to today. **ENDS** For further information, visit www.vastresourcesplc.com or please contact: Vast Resources plc Andrew Prelea (Chief Executive Officer) www.vastresourcesplc.com +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 Beaumont Cornish - Financial & Nominated Adviser Roland Cornish James Biddle www.beaumontcornish.com +44 (0) 020 7628 3396 Brandon Hill Capital Ltd Joint Broker Jonathan Evans www.brandonhillcapital.com +44 (0) 20 3463 5016 SVS Securities Plc Joint Broker Tom Curran Ben Tadd www.svssecurities.com +44 (0) 20 3700 0100 St Brides Partners Ltd Susie Geliher Juliet Earl www.stbridespartners.co.uk +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 (MAR). Notes Vast Resources plc is an AIM listed mining and resource development company focussed on the rapid advancement of high-quality brownfield projects and recommencing production at previously producing mines in Romania and Zimbabwe. Vast Resources currently owns and operates the Manaila Polymetallic Mine in Romania, which was commissioned in 2015, and is focussed on its expansion through the development of a second open pit operation and new metallurgical complex at the Carlibaba Extension Area. The Companys Romanian portfolio also includes interests in two brownfield development projects; the Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine (80% interest), which has a reported 1,800,000-tonne copper-silver-zinc-lead-gold-tungsten-molybdenum ore body at 6% copper equivalent (Russian Reserves and Resources Reporting System) within the mining licence area; and the Blueberry Project (29.41% interest), a 7.285km brownfield area of prospectivity in the Golden Quadrilateral of Romania located in the immediate vicinity of the now closed Baia de Aries mine. The Company also has interests in a number of projects in Zimbabwe including a controlling 25 per cent. interest in the producing Pickstone-Peerless Gold Mine, a 23.75% economic interest in the Eureka Gold Mine, and an 86.67% interest in a SPV which has a due diligence access agreement and pre-agreed joint venture terms on a diamond concession within the Marange Diamond Fields, widely considered to be one of the richest sources of alluvial diamonds globally. AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via OTC PR WIRE -- Golden Developing Solutions, Inc. (OTCMKTS: DVLP) (DVLP or the Company), an emerging leader in the Cannabis, Hemp, and CBD marketplace, is excited to announce significant progress toward the establishment of its new high-capacity CBD extraction and production facility in Colorado, including an approaching equipment order for a best-in-class supercritical CO2 extraction system (rather than an ethanol-based system) to drive the highest purity levels in end production. We are committed to driving the bus, not just riding on it, noted DVLP CEO Stavros Triant. We have the backing, the experience, and the operational know-how to assume a leadership position in the CBD extraction and production space. And we want to build this facility from the ground up to be the best of breed. Management expects the facility to be fully operational by Summer 2019. Machinery orders will be finalized within the next 90 days. Following a detailed comparative examination of high-quality, high-capacity supercritical CO2 CBD extraction machinery manufacturers, the Company has narrowed its search down to Isolate Extraction Systems and ExtraktLAB. A decision will be announced in due course. Following the signing of the 2018 Farm Bill into law in December, estimates for growth in the CBD products market have increased yet again, pushing anticipated return on investment in CBD well above most all other consumer product niches in terms of growth, according to Brightfield analysts, who see total CBD sales swelling to $22B over the next 3 years. We have already put in place the pieces to verticalize the CBD boom in-house, continued Mr. Triant. We are about to launch our WheresCBD.com platform, which builds off our industry-leading WheresWeed.com platform. That will drive a network effect for the distribution footprint, which is the number one issue for CBD producers. We will already have that piece of the puzzle in place by the time we are churning out top-tier 99% pure CBD from our facility. About Golden Developing Solutions, Inc. Golden Developing Solutions (DVLP) is developing an online retail business for cannabidiol (CBD), hemp oil and health/wellness-related products. The Company is also developing a high-capacity, high-quality CBD extraction and production facility. In addition, through the website of its joint venture partner, Pura Vida Vitamins (www.PuraVidaVitamins.com), as well as through wholesale and distribution channels, the Company offers a broad range of high-quality, price-competitive products, including traditional vitamins, supplements, and CBD-based tinctures, vapes and soft gels, among other products. Merchandise also includes hemp and CBD-related products and additional products focusing on health and lifestyle. Golden Developing Solutions is a development-stage company providing business services and/or products supporting the cannabis industry, in which the company intends to make acquisitions in the near future. Currently, 29 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws permitting their citizens to use cannabis for medical and/or recreational purposes. Cannabis has shown encouraging signs as a treatment for various medical conditions and has become increasingly more acceptable to the public and society. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release are forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "potential," "continue" or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, and there are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Investors are encouraged to review the Companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Companys control which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects the Companys current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. The contents of any website referenced herein are not incorporated into this press release. Corporate Contact: Stavros Triant stavros@goldendeveloping.com 623-826-5206 Malvern, PA, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ACME Markets announced today that they now accept programs from the S3 Solution Suite, including Healthy Savings and Healthy Benefits Plus. Members of these programs in the Northeast can use their benefits at all participating ACME locations. Healthy Savings grants discounts on healthier food choices, while Healthy Benefits Plus provides benefits to spend on over-the-counter (OTC) medications. The programs are unique in that all discounts are instant at retail checkout with the single scan of a program app or card. Programs are sponsored by participating health plans and individual employers. ACME is proud to partner with these high value programs said Jim Perkins, President of ACME Markets. We aim to offer our customers healthier lifestyle options, and these proven programs improve the affordability of healthier foods as well as over-the-counter medications. ACME is the second Albertsons Companies division to join the network, preceded by Jewel-Osco. ACME has 169 store locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Maryland and Connecticut. S3 programs are now accepted at each store location, providing instant savings to members with the single scan of their card or mobile app at checkout. Healthy Savings and Healthy Benefits Plus are designed to improve health, providing instant discounts at no cost to the consumer, said Chad Kelly, Chief Marketing Officer of Solutran, the company behind the S3 Solution Suite. We are delighted to welcome ACME to our growing network, allowing greater accessibility to all members near their locations. Healthy Savings and Healthy Benefits Plus are a part of the S3 Solution Suite, a product of Minnesota-based electronic payments company Solutran, Inc. About SolutranSolutran, Inc. is a leading national payments solutions company, offering state-of-the-art technology to government programs (WIC and SNAP), merchants, brands, health insurers, employers and nonprofits for over 30 years. With more than 82 million transactions processed annually, weve established a long-standing reputation for excellence in customer service through delivering best in class solutions. Solutran deployed its S3 Directed Spend platform with the nations largest retailer and leading health plan in 2018. Learn more about the Solutran Solution Suite and its latest innovations at Solutran.com and follow us on LinkedIn. About ACME ACME Markets Inc. began in 1891 when two friends, Samuel Robinson and Robert Crawford, opened a small neighborhood grocery store in South Philadelphia, emphasizing quality products, low prices, and friendly service. Over 128 years later, ACME remains dedicated to providing a high-quality grocery experience that our customers have come to expect. Today, ACME operates 169 stores, in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, New York and Connecticut, employing more than 18,000 associates. The company and its associates remain committed to the communities they serve. For more information, visit www.acmemarkets.com. BW Offshore will release its Annual Report 2018 and the Q4 2018 results on Tuesday 19 February at 07:30 (CET). The company will host a presentation of the financial results 09:00 (CET) the same day at Hotel Continental in Oslo, Norway. The presentation will be given by CEO Carl K. Arnet and CFO Knut R. Sthre. The Annual Report, Q4 Presentation, Annual Statement of Reserves, Earnings Tables (in excel format) and webcast will be available at the website. Please visit: https://www.bwoffshore.com/ir/ For further information, please contact: IR@bwoffshore.com About BW Offshore: BW Offshore is a leading provider of floating production services to the oil and gas industry. The company also participates in developing proven offshore hydrocarbon reservoirs. BW Offshore is represented in all major oil and gas regions world-wide with a fleet of 15 owned FPSOs. The company has more than 30 years of production track record, having executed 40 FPSO and FSO projects. BW Offshore is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Further information is available on www.bwoffshore.com SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Over the past few years, the cobalt market has been volatile, but demand is expected to increase as the element is a necessary component in the rechargeable battery and renewable energy sectors. Company mentioned: eCobalt Solutions Inc.'s (ECS:TSX; ECSIF:OTCQX; ECO:FSE) eCobalt Solutions Inc.'s Idaho Cobalt Project (ICP), located in the Idaho Copper Belt, is the only near-term cobalt project in the U.S. "The ICP has the potential to become a reliable and transparent source of cobalt in the face of rapidly growing demand for the metal," the company declared. Michael Callahan assumed leadership of the company in late 2018 as president and CEO. "One of the things that's important to me," Callahan told Streetwise Reports, "is taking a fresh approach and making sure we design and build a project that has the best chance of surviving all the price cycles, because if you don't survive the downturn, you won't be around to benefit from the high price cycle." "We challenged ourselves to develop a production plan with less risk and lower costs," Callahan noted. "The result of this work demonstrated that the incremental cost of retrofitting the mill to process more tonnage is supported by considerably stronger economies of scale while having no expected impact on the approved Plan of Operations. This plan would allow us to produce more cobalt earlier, thereby increasing cash flows at the beginning of the mine life, improving payback and overall project economics." The company noted that this plan has the potential to increase the targeted production rate to 1,200 tpd, a 50% increase from the earlier 800 tpd plan, by producing a cobalt concentrate. Capex costs would also be reduced because building a new processing facility would not be necessary. Continue reading this article: Cobalt Company's New Plan Would Increase Production by 50% About Streetwise Reports Streetwise Reports shares investment ideas in many sectors. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. DISCLOSURE: The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: eCobalt Solutions. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. TORONTO, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canada House Wellness Group Inc. (CSE:CHV) (Canada House) announced today that Abba Medix Corp. (Abba), CHVs wholly owned Licensed Producer, has successfully completed its Pickering, Ont. facility and has commenced full scale operations of the cultivation of pharmaceutical-grade, handcrafted quality cannabis. This news comes only a few weeks after Abba being awarded its full sales license from Health Canada. As an industry leading fully integrated medical cannabis company providing patient-specific cannabinoid therapy products and services, Canada House looks forward to completing its first full harvest of EU-GMP certified cannabis by July 2019. The facility anticipates annual production of between 2,000kg and 3,000kg as it enters into anticipated perpetual harvests every 3 weeks. This production represents annualized projected revenues of between $17m - $25.5m (based on current medical market prices) in addition to the existing $4-5M of revenues forecast from CHVs clinic division, Canada House Clinics. Today is a monumental day for Canada House. Entering into full commercial scale production at our Pickering facility is one of the most significant milestones in our Companys history. This will be the catalyst that will enable Canada House to further enhance shareholder value. With plants in the flowering room, and product coming to market mid year 2019, we see this as a critical step in our growth from a revenue, cashflow and profitability perspective as this will enable us to work towards the maturation of our companys financial health with a line towards profitability this calendar year, commented Chris Churchill-Smith, CEO of Canada House. We take pride in the quality of our processes, our product and our team and look forward to continuing to distinguish ourselves as a leader in patient education, cannabis therapy services and now in the production of clinically focused cannabis cultivation and sales, continued Churchill-Smith. Abba is focused on premium genetics, and proven craft production techniques that are expected to produce some of the highest quality EU-GMP certified cannabis in the marketplace. With the Pickering, Ont. facility now fully operational, Canada House is now approaching the provincial distributors for supply agreements. Abba expects to commence production and distribution of extract products and edibles later this year. 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 ___________________________________________________________________________ ABOUT 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. 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, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crystal Peak Minerals Inc. (Crystal Peak or the Company) (TSXV: CPM, OTCQX: CPMMF) is pleased to provide an update on the permitting process for its Sevier Playa Potash Project (the Project) located in southwestern Utah. Following the restoration of government services, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) notified the Company that the public comment period for the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) had closed on January 14, 2019 consistent with the Federal Register Notice published November 30, 2018. This close of the comment period is in accordance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Council on Environmental Quality regulations for implementing NEPA, and other governing policies. The BLM received fewer than ten comment letters including one that was submitted by Crystal Peak. The BLM will consider and respond to the comments in the final environmental impact statement. John Mansanti, Chief Executive Officer of Crystal Peak, said; Completion of this public input period is an important milestone for us. We are encouraged by the low volume of comments that will require BLMs consideration and response. We are further encouraged and more confident in our earlier schedule projections regarding receipt of Notice to Proceed. Earlier, Crystal Peak released a timeline indicating that the Notice to Proceed was expected in Q4 2019 and, pending funding, anticipated a start of construction shortly thereafter. The close of the public comment period is in keeping with this timeline. About Crystal Peak Minerals Inc. Crystal Peak is focused on the production of premium-priced specialty fertilizers such as sulfate of potash. The Company controls, directly, or through agreement, mineral leases on more than 124,000 acres on the Sevier Playa in Millard County, Utah. With a brine mineral resource known to contain potassium, magnesium, sulfate, and other beneficial minerals, Crystal Peak is targeting the production of specialty fertilizers and associated products through the use of brine extraction and a cost-effective solar evaporation process. Sulfate of Potash (SOP) and other specialty fertilizers are used in the production of high value, chloride-sensitive crops such as tree nuts, fruits, and vegetables. For further information, please contact: Woods Silleroy Corporate Secretary (801) 485-0223 woods@crystalpeakminerals.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 Information This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, the permitting and construction of the Project, the targeting of the development and production of specialty fertilizers and associated minerals, including SOP, through the use of a cost-effective solar evaporation process; and Crystal Peaks future business. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, is expected, expects or does not expect, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, believes, or variations of such words and phrases; or terms that state that certain actions, events, or results may, could, would, might, or will be taken, could occur, or be achieved. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is made, and is based on, a number of assumptions and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including but not limited to the timing of obtaining the necessary permits to proceed with the Project and finalizing the extension of the maturity date of the loan, that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Crystal Peak to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Although Crystal Peak has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Crystal Peak does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Salt Lake City, UT, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- C.R. England and England Logistics have set a goal to provide funding for one million meals for children in 2019 through partnerships with 21 food banks located in the United States and Mexico. This marks the second consecutive year the two companies have set a goal to provide funding for childrens meals programs as part of the One Initiative, a campaign that invites company employees, customers, carriers, freight agents, and the general public to join the fight against childhood hunger. The companies set a combined goal in 2018 of one million donated meals and far exceeded that milestone, funding more than 1.6 million meals by year-end. Forty million people face hunger in the United States including more than 12 million children. One in six children may not know where they will get their next meal. In January 2018, C.R. England and England Logistics implemented a donation structure that converts proceeds earned from any business service at either company into meals for children in need. For instance, for every load C.R. England delivers, it donates a meal to a food bank of the delivery drivers choosing. Similarly, for every load England Logistics arranges, a donation towards a meal is provided. When we launched the One Initiative in 2018, we hoped we could have an impact in fighting childhood hunger in the communities where our employees and customers live and work, said Josh England, president of C.R. England. We were thrilled to far exceed our goal in 2018 and hope to surpass the one million meals goal again in 2019. The One Initiative has helped unite our employees, customers, and the general public in an effort that is making an immediate contribution to alleviating childhood hunger. We are grateful for the opportunity to take our efforts to the next level in 2019, stated Jason Beardall, president of England Logistics. The One Initiative has provided our team the opportunity to become more fully immersed in our commitment to serving a cause greater than ourselves. As we continue to strengthen our team and customer relationships, we will also continue to strengthen our communities. The One Initiatives efforts are focused on 21 partner food banks in communities where their employees live and work. Every donation leads directly to a food-insecure child receiving a meal. Some of the funding supports Kids Cafe, Back Pack programs, Mobile and School-based Food Pantries, Summer Meals for Kids, and Healthy Student Initiatives, among other programs. Participating food banks include Utah Food Bank, Atlanta Community Food Bank, Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, Central California Food Bank, Feeding America Riverside/San Bernardino, Food Bank of Northwest Indiana, Food Bank of the Rockies, Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, Gleaners Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan, Greater Chicago Food Depository, Harvesters - The Community Food Network (Kansas City), North Texas Food Bank, Oregon Food Bank, Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, Second Harvest Inland Northwest, Second Harvest of Southeast North Carolina, South Texas Food Bank, St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance, and Virginia Peninsula Foodbank. In Mexico, Banco de Alimentos Queretaro (Queretaro). The One Initiative is founded on the idea that through a united effort, a nationwide difference can be made to benefit children in need. For more information or to make a tax-deductible donation to the One Against Childhood Hunger Foundation, visit www.oneagainstchildhoodhunger.com. About C.R. England Founded in 1920, C.R. England, Inc., is headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT, and is one of North Americas largest refrigerated transportation companies. C.R. England services include National, Mexico, and Regional Truckload service in addition to Dedicated and Intermodal services. Visit www.crengland.com. About England Logistics England Logistics, a wholly owned subsidiary of C.R. England, is one of the nations top freight brokerage firms and offers a vast portfolio of non-asset based transportation solutions, including full truckload services, intermodal, dry and cold chain LTL, parcel, global logistics, and complete supply chain management. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT, the company also has offices in Atlanta, GA; Detroit, MI; Greeley, CO; Ogden, UT; and Portland, OR. For more information, visit www.englandlogistics.com. TORONTO, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MediPharm Labs Corp. (TSXV: LABS) (OTCQB: MLCPF) (MediPharm) a leader in specialized, research-driven cannabis extraction and cannabinoid isolation, is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, MediPharm Labs Inc. (MediPharm Labs or the Company), has entered into a significant sales agreement with a leading Licensed Producer to supply approximately $35 million of private label purified cannabis oil concentrates. Under the terms of the agreement, the Licensed Producer will immediately purchase upfront $7.66 million of cannabis oil concentrate from MediPharm Labs inventory in February 2019. In addition, the Licensed Producer will purchase a minimum of $27 million of cannabis oil concentrate over a 12-month period commencing March 2019, with an option to purchase an additional $13.5 million over the same period, bringing the total potential aggregate value of the agreement to over $48 million to February 2020. MediPharm Labs private label program is a high margin business for the Company, whereby it opportunistically procures dry cannabis flower and trim from its thirteen product supply partners, to produce proprietary cannabis oil concentrate products for resale globally on a private label basis. This is MediPharm Labs fourth private label sales agreement to date. In total, these four agreements have aggregate potential value of over $85 million in the 15-month period that commenced December 2018. As the cannabis industry continues to rapidly grow and evolve, MediPharm Labs has quickly established itself as a dominant player and leading provider of private label cannabis oil concentrates to other Licensed Producers and branded product manufacturers. We have also demonstrated the permanent need for a specialized extraction provider to fulfill and secure the cannabis supply chain for medical and recreational consumers, said Pat McCutcheon, CEO of MediPharm Labs. With our significant first mover advantage, deep expertise, leading-edge proprietary technology to manufacture and develop high-quality cannabis oil and concentrate products at commercial scale, we have quickly been able to execute several major contracts already and continue to see robust demand for our specialized products and services and are well positioned to achieve strong revenue growth as a dominant extraction company in the cannabis industry. As an agnostic supplier of pharmaceutical grade cannabis oil concentrates to the global cannabis industry, MediPharm Labs has demonstrated its ability to strengthen and further secure the domestic supply chain for high-demand cannabis oil. This new supply agreement, combined with a large, long-term oil supply agreement previously announced with Canopy Growth Corporation, represents less than 10% of MediPharm Labs annual extraction capacity of 150,000 Kg, which is currently being expanded to 250,000 Kg of annual extraction capacity, with completion expected Q2 2019. To date, MediPharm Labs has completed four private label wholesale agreements for cannabis oil concentrate supply (including Canopy Growth Corporation); five long-term cannabis concentrate program (tolling) agreements with James E. Wagner Cultivation Corp., Emerald Health Therapeutics, Inc., INDIVA Limited, The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc. and TerrAscend Corp. Additionally, the Company has completed bulk purchases and/or off-take agreements with thirteen Licensed Producers securing dried cannabis supply to build MediPharms oil inventories for private label sale. The Company also continues to make progress on new partnership agreements with additional Licensed Producers and branded product manufacturers for cannabis private label manufacturing, as well as partnerships to purchase cannabis concentrates for global export for private label and research and development. About MediPharm Labs Corp. Founded in 2015, MediPharm Labs is a pioneer in the cannabis industry and has the distinction of being the first company in Canada to become a licensed producer for cannabis oil production under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR) without first receiving a cannabis cultivation licence. This expert focus on cannabis concentrates from its cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practices) and ISO standard-built clean rooms and critical environments laboratory, allows MediPharm Labs to work with its established, Health Canada-approved cultivation partners to produce pharmaceutical-grade cannabis oil with a competitive advantage. MediPharm Labs is research-driven and focused on downstream secondary extraction methodology, distillation, and cannabinoid isolation and purification. MediPharm Labs provides B2B contract processing of cannabis to Canadian authorized licensed producers and appropriate international growers, supplying integrity-assured cannabis oil to qualified companies for sale under their own brand. In addition, MediPharm Labs will supply raw materials, formulations, processing and packaging for the creation of ready-to-sell advanced derivative products. MediPharm Labs was awarded Start-up of the Year at the recent Canadian Cannabis Awards hosted by Lift & Co. Through its subsidiary, MediPharm Labs Australia Pty. Ltd., MediPharm has also completed its application process with the federal Office of Drug Control to extract and import medical cannabis products in Australia. For further information, please contact: Laura Lepore, Vice President, Investor Relations & Communications Telephone: 705-719-7425 ext 216 Email: investors@medipharmlabs.com Website: www.medipharmlabs.com NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE 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. CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively, forward-looking statements) within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as expects, or does not expect, is expected, anticipates or does not anticipate, plans, budget, scheduled, forecasts, estimates, believes or intends or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results may or could, would, might or will be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, strong revenue growth, future capacity expansion, expected GMP certification and the establishment of operations in Australia. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the inability of MediPharm to obtain adequate financing; and the delay or failure to receive regulatory approvals. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. Except as required by law, MediPharm assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change. Kokomo School Corporation is set to take drastic steps during the next school year aimed at reversing negative performance trends in three of its most impoverished schools, but wide-ranging plans to overhaul the schools also chip away at the Kokomo Teachers Associations authority at a time when union enrollment puts the organization in a precipitous spot. Last year the Indiana State School Board approved a proposal by KSC administrators to designate Bon Air Elementary, Bon Air Middle School, and Pettit Park as transformation zones. As a result, these schools, selected for consecutively-poor state letter grades, will receive $6.8 million in grant funding from the state, which will be utilized in wide-ranging ways to improve the schools. But as part of this designation, the school administration may choose to alter how the teachers union interacts with the administration, in this case eliminating discussion rights at Bon Air Elementary and Bon Air Middle. The KTA argued that such a change removed teachers from the equation when decisions are made, while the school administration claimed that removing discussion rights from the KTA allowed for more teachers to be consulted in building-level discussion. Teacher unions play two important roles in interactions between educators and administrators: collective bargaining and mandated discussion. Collective bargaining relates directly to negotiating pay and pay-related benefits, whereas mandated discussion means school administrators are required to field feedback from teachers relating to 15 different subjects, such as curriculum. As the sole representative of Kokomo teachers, KTA selected officials must be consulted during mandated discussion. The removal of the KTAs mandated discussion right from two schools draws differing opinions from teacher representatives and the school administration. Nicole Mundy, the KTA president, claimed that the alteration to discussion rights came unexpectedly, and she argued that the move removes an incentive for teachers to be a part of the union. Its devaluing membership, said Mundy. Thats my issue, plain and simple. Many times people think that theyre doing whats best and they dont realize theres other stuff going on because they dont know all the pieces of the puzzle, how it affects the corporation, and how it affects everybody else. One of my biggest issues with transformation zones is the way it came about None of us knew anything about it as the executive board of KTA. This devaluation of membership comes at a dangerous time for the KTA. In recent years the KTAs membership has declined, dropping to 42.6 percent in 2018. When a unions membership rate drops below 50 percent, by state law, it can be dissolved should teachers within the school corporation vote to dissolve it. But Superintendent Jeff Hauswald argued that the removal of mandated discussion from Bon Air Elementary and Bon Air Middle school would foster greater discussion between teachers and administrators. He said that since KTA enrollment is low at both of the affected schools, teachers that arent union members can play a role in discussion, opening the door for more feedback. One of my biggest "One of my biggest issues with transformation zones is the way it came about ... None of us knew anything about it as the executive board of KTA." Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute When we talked about a comprehensive plan and when we made commitments to the state board of education, we committed that we would do things differently, said Hauswald. One of those commitments was that we would have not only meetings with professional development but meaningful discussions and dialogue with all stakeholders. The KTA had expressed to us that they only wanted us working and communicating with union members, specifically their words. So when we looked at Bon Air Elementary, for example, we looked at a school where the membership was under 50 percent. So they had eight union members out of the entire school out of between 20 and 25. Our concern was to meet the requirements of the grant as we submitted it, and in order to truly get participation from all teachers and input from all teachers, we wanted a process for councils and meetings where all teachers were able to participate. In the end, Hauswald said he felt as though school principals would be able to garner much more feedback from educators thanks to the plans change. When the administration was asked if they were concerned the removal of discussion rights would harm the KTA, the school corporation declined to comment. The change has also garnered criticism from the Indiana State Teachers Association. Heidi Miller, a UniServ director who covers an area that encompasses Kokomo schools, said that the actions of the school are unusual. Thus far, transformation zones have only been enacted in Evansville, Indianapolis, and in Kokomo. In Evansville the school corporation opted to keep both collective bargaining and discussion rights in place. Only one school in the Indianapolis school system, she said, did away with discussion rights. I think that any time we want to do whats best for the school and the students of the school system, the people that work directly with those students have their best interests in mind, and that is predominantly the teachers, said Miller. If you take their voice out of the process, then you take all of the detail components out of the process. You take the voice out of the people who are actually doing the work and the implementation who know what has been successful and not successful with the students. I dont think theres anything to be gained by removing their voice from the process. Miller and Mundy said the Kokomo School Board could enact a resolution changing the policy, and that they hoped the board would do so. An attempt to garner insight into the school boards line of thinking was unsuccessful. The boards president, Cristi Brewer-Allen, said she didnt feel comfortable answering whether or not she was concerned the discussion changes negatively affect the KTA. LOS ANGELES, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global bottled waters market size is anticipated to around USD 217.12 billion by 2026, this market is anticipated to grow with 13.5% CAGR during the forecast time period. It is foreseen to observe a higher development when contrasted with carbonated beverages because of better medical advantages and included supplements. Calculates, for example, increment per capita spending and quick urbanization are probably going to fuel the interest for filtered water over the forecast period. Be that as it may, greater expense of filtered water may control the development of the market. Then again, developing mindfulness in regards to advantages of filtered water combined with expanding inclination for dynamic way of life is required to assume a critical job in driving the market. Organizations, for example, PepsiCo Inc. propelled premium valued filtered water so as to reinforce purchaser enthusiasm for more advantageous drinks. Free Download Sample Report Pages For Better understanding@ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/request-sample/1120 The global bottled water market is segmented into product, application and region. On the basis of product, the global bottled water market is segmented into spring water, purified water, mineral water, sparkling water, and others. On the basis of application, the global Bottled water market is segmented into domestic and commercial. On the basis of region the global Bottled water market is bifurcated into Europe, Latin America, North America, Middle East & Africa, and Asia Pacific. As far as income, the spring water section is relied upon to enroll the most elevated CAGR of 7.9% over the estimate time frame. Rising concerns with respect to sugar and fake sugars in carbonate drinks is assuming an essential job in driving item request. The mineral water section represented a piece of the overall industry of around 38.4% in 2018 and is probably going to grow at a solid CAGR in the following couple of years. Interest for mineral water is generally provided food by creating nations, for example, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Filtered water represented an offer of 33.0% of the general market an incentive in 2016. The section is required to enroll a solid CAGR amid the conjecture time frame. Interest for consumable water is expanding over the world, particularly in creating economies. Nations in Africa and Asia Pacific are relied upon to be key districts driving the interest for the item over the gauge time frame. View Detail Information With Complete TOC@ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/bottled-water-market The Asia Pacific market is foreseen to observe a CAGR of 9.4% over the coming years because of rising customer inclination for more advantageous beverages as opposed to sugary beverages. Additionally, increment in per capita pay in the area is likewise expected to positively affect showcase development. The North America advertise saw an offer of about 22.8% in 2016 and is assessed to observe a noteworthy development in the coming years. Expanding interest for clean water combined with rising awareness about more advantageous way of life is required to fuel the interest for the item over the anticipated course of events. Europe is the third biggest market, which represented an offer of over 15.0% in 2016. Rising inclination for more advantageous option of filtered water to sugar-based refreshments has expanded the item utilization by almost 186.8 million of gallons in Germany. The MEA district is driven by developing the travel industry. Browse All official Market Research Reports Press Releases@ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/press-releases Explore Our Market Blog@ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/blogs Saudi Arabia observes the most extreme number of sightseers in this district, basically because of Hajj journey in Mecca. This has prompted expanded interests in the lodging business. Nations, for example, Oman and Qatar are additionally seeing expanding interests in the lodging part. This, thus, will expand the market in MEA. The majority of these organizations are engaged with R&D to present enhanced and better-quality bundling for water. Real organizations are advancing PET reusing activity wherein organizations are subsidizing new accumulation holders. They are affecting open specialists through expert affiliations and PET container accumulation canisters are being set out in the open spaces. The key players catering to the global Bottled water market are The Coca-Cola Company, Mountain Valley Spring Water, Bisleri International Pvt. Ltd, Nestle S.A, Nongfu Spring, Tata Global Beverages, Mineralquellen und Getranke GmbH & Co. KG, Danone Waters of America, Inc., PepsiCo, Inc., GerolsteinerBrunnen GmbH & Co. KG and RHODIUS. Significant strategic initiatives undertaken by global businesses include partnerships, new product launch, and acquisitions. INQUIRY BEFORE BUYING@ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/inquiry-before-buying/1120 The report is readily available and can be dispatched immediately after payment confirmation. Buy this premium research report - https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/buy-now/0/1120 Would like to place an order or any question, please feel free to contact at sales@acumenresearchandconsulting.com | +1 407 915 4157 For Latest Update Follow Us: https://twitter.com/AcumenRC https://www.facebook.com/acumenresearchandconsulting https://www.linkedin.com/company/acumen-research-and-consulting/ HSINCHU, TAIWAN, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Andes Technology Corporation, a leading supplier of small, low-power, high performance 32-/64-bit embedded CPU cores, including a broad family of RISC-V processors, announces the new N22 32-bit RISC-V CPU core to target deeply embedded protocol processing such as high-speed communication and storage, and entry-level MCU applications such as small IoT and wearable devices. The highly configurable N22 is the smallest in the Andes RISC-V family offerings in just 15K gates with minimum useful configuration settings, and yet delivers over 750MHz at 28nm in the worst case. In addition, the N22 provides an impressive 3.93 Coremark/MHz, highly flexible system and memory interfaces and vector interrupt controller. In addition, a low pin count two-wire debug module can save SoC chip cost, and a pre-integrated MCU platform with frequently used peripherals can help speedup construction of various SoCs. CPU cores to serve todays high-speed communications and storage markets must be able to do more than run at a high data rate, declares Andes Technology President Frankwell Jyh-Ming Lin. The protocol SoCs serving these markets are highly complex to meet widely diverse applications. As a result, SoCs need to offer not only high bandwidth processing to accommodate the data rate, but also software based flexibility when new standards and protocols are adopted by the industry standards groups in these markets. Furthermore, silicon costs dictate ultra-small gate counts to serve anywhere within the SoC design, esp. when dozens of instances are needed. The N22s high performance and compact design makes it very suitable to process on-the-fly protocol packets at high data-rate. The N22 is a 2-stage pipeline core with small gate count which can fit in entry-level MCU applications such as small IOT and wearable devices. It supports 16 or 32 GPRs (general purpose registers), optional branch prediction, hardware multiplier and divider, vector Interrupt Controller, and Andes V5 extensions, stated CTO and Senior Vice President, Dr. Charlie Hong-Men Su. In addition to Andes professional development environment, the N22s RISC-V RV32IMAC or RV32EMAC ISA compatibility opens up the full suite of compiler, debugger, ICE/trace probe tools from RISC-V Foundations rich ecosystem. The N22 leverages Andes long track record of CPU development, including the high-volume N7/N8 families with efficient short pipelines and many useful features such as StackSafe for hardware stack protection, CoDense for code size compression, and PowerBrake for power management. Moreover, the new N22 will be available with a rich set of system level configuration options such as Physical Memory Protection (PMP), Platform-Level Interrupt Controller (PLIC), cache and local memories, private bus interface, and fast IO interface with 0-cycle latency. Price and Availability The N22 pricing will be consistent with current Andes licensing and royalty business model. The core will be available in February, 2019 for initial customer delivery. Scientific Beta sees its assets under replication grow by 72% in one year Scientific Beta has announced that assets tracking its smart beta indices reached USD 43bn at December 31, 2018. Compared to December 31, 2017, this amount of assets under replication represents an increase of USD 18bn, corresponding to one-year growth of 72%. This growth comes from the success of Scientific Betas multi-factor offerings. The Scientific Beta Multi-Beta Multi-Strategy Four-Factor EW indices, which were the first multi-factor indices to be offered by Scientific Beta, show an average live annualised outperformance across all Scientific Beta Developed regions of 1.49% over their five-year live track record and an improvement in Sharpe Ratio of 52.36% compared to their cap-weighted benchmark1. Noel Amenc, CEO of Scientific Beta, said, We have been very pleased with the continued growth of our assets under replication in conditions that were not necessarily favourable for some factor strategies. We are continuing to highlight the importance for our clients of risk management in the factor space. Smart beta strategies are selected to provide explicit exposure to some well-rewarded factors (Value, Momentum, Low Volatility, Profitability, Low Investment, Size). These factors provide good risk-adjusted returns over the long-term but they are also exposed to a number of hidden or implicit risks that drive short-term performance, like for example sector risk or even a market beta bias. These risks can therefore cause big disappointments for investors if they are not understood and possibly managed. These issues have been underlined in a recent Scientific Beta publication entitled Misconceptions and Mis-selling in Smart Beta: Improving the Risk Conversation in the Smart Beta Space. One of our success factors is to analyse these risks, make them explicit and allow investors to hedge them or not depending on their fiduciary objectives and constraints. 1The average live outperformance and improvement in Sharpe Ratio across all Scientific Beta developed regions of Scientific Beta Multi-Beta Multi-Strategy Equal-Weight indices is 1.49% for the outperformance and 52.36% for the improvement in Sharpe Ratio. This live analysis is based on daily total returns in the period from December 20, 2013 (live date) to December 31, 2018 for all diversified multi-strategy indices that have more than 3 years of track record for all available developed world regions - USA, Eurozone, UK, Developed Europe, Developed Europe ex UK, Japan, Developed Asia Pacific ex Japan, Developed ex UK, Developed ex USA and Developed. The benchmark used is a cap-weighted portfolio of all stocks in the respective Scientific Beta universes. About ERI Scientific Beta As part of its policy of transferring know-how to the industry, EDHEC-Risk Institute has set up ERI Scientific Beta. ERI Scientific Beta is an original initiative which aims to favour the adoption of the latest advances in smart beta design and implementation by the whole investment industry. Its academic origin provides the foundation for its strategy: offer, in the best economic conditions possible, the smart beta solutions that are most proven scientifically with full transparency of both the methods and the associated risks. Find out more by following ERI Scientific Beta on Twitter (https://twitter.com/ScientificBeta), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/scientific-beta) and YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRL91F-LvhLPc9M9OD7LQgA). ERI Scientific Beta, 1 George Street, #15-02, Singapore 049145. Web: www.scientificbeta.com, E-mail: contact@scientificbeta.com. Attachment Dublin, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Probe Card Market Report: Trends, Forecast and Competitive Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global probe card market is expected to reach an estimated $2 billion by 2023 with a CAGR of 4.5% from 2018 to 2023. The future of the probe card market looks attractive with opportunities in the electrical testing of the integrated circuit in the semiconductor industry. The major growth drivers for this market are increasing demand for integrated circuits (ICs), growth in high-frequency testing, and increase in wafer size. Emerging trends, which have a direct impact on the dynamics of the probe card industry, include the development of probe card to reduce the cost of testing and introduction of die stacking for advanced 2.5D and 3D stacked packages. The forecasts that advanced probe card will remain the largest product type and witness the highest growth during the forecast period as it eliminates the limitations related to probe area, pad layout, and extreme environment conditions. Probe cards are used for electrical testing of different types of IC such as, foundry & logic, DRAM (Dynamic random-access memory), and flash. Foundry & logic will remain the largest type and witness the highest growth during the forecast period supported by the growth of semiconductor industry. Asia Pacific is expected to remain the largest region and witness the highest growth during the forecast period supported by increasing production of integrated circuit in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and China. The presence of prominent IC manufacturers in these countries is also leading the demand for this region. Some of the probe card companies profiled in this report include FormFactor, Micronics Japan Co., Technoprobe, Japan Electronic Materials, MPI Corporation, Nidec SV TCL, Microfriend, Korea Instrument, Will Technology, and TSE and others. Scope of the Report Probe Card Market by Product Type [$M shipment analysis from 2012 to 2023]: Advanced Standard Probe Card Market by Manufacturing Technology [$M shipment analysis from 2012 to 2023]: MEMS Vertical Cantilever Others Probe Card Market by IC Type [$M shipment analysis from 2012 to 2023]: Foundry & Logic DRAM Flash Key Topics Covered: 1. Executive Summary 2. Market Background and Classifications 2.1: Introduction, Background, and Classifications 2.2: Supply Chain 2.3: Industry Drivers and Challenges 3. Market Trends and Forecast Analysis from 2012 to 2023 3.1: Macroeconomic Trends and Forecast 3.2: Global Probe Card Market Trends and Forecast 3.3: Global Probe Card Market by Product Type 3.3.1: Standard Probe Cards 3.3.2: Advanced Probe Cards 3.4: Global Probe Card Market by Manufacturing Technology 3.4.1: MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) 3.4.2: Cantilever 3.4.3: Vertical 3.4.4: Others 3.5: Global Probe Card Market by IC Type 3.5.1: DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) 3.5.2: Flash 3.5.3: Foundry & Logic 4. Market Trends and Forecast Analysis by Region 4.1: Global Probe Card Market by Region 4.2: North American Probe Card Market 4.2.1: North American Probe Card Market by IC Type 4.2.2: The US Probe Card Market 4.2.3: Canadian Probe Card Market 4.2.4: Mexican Probe Card Market 4.3: European Probe Card Market 4.3.1: European Probe Card Market by IC Type 4.3.2: German Probe Card Market 4.3.3: The United Kingdom Probe Card Market 4.3.4: Italian Probe Card Market 4.4: APAC Probe Card Market 4.4.1: APAC Probe Card Market by IC Type 4.4.2: Taiwanese Probe Card Market 4.4.3: Japanese Probe Card Market 4.4.4: South Korean Probe Card Market 4.5: ROW Probe Card Market 4.5.1: ROW Probe Card Market by IC Type 5. Competitor Analysis 5.1: Product Portfolio Analysis 5.2: Geographical Reach 5.3: Porter's Five Forces Analysis 6. Growth Opportunities and Strategic Analysis 6.1: Growth Opportunity Analysis 6.1.1: Growth Opportunities for the Global Probe Card Market by IC Type 6.1.2: Growth Opportunities for the Global Probe Card Market by Product Type 6.1.3: Growth Opportunities for the Global Probe Card Market by Manufacturing Technology 6.1.4: Growth Opportunities for the Global Probe Card Market by Region 6.2: Emerging Trends in the Global Probe Card Market 6.3: Strategic Analysis 6.3.1: New Product Development 6.3.2: Mergers, Acquisitions, Partnership, and Joint Ventures in the Global Probe Card Market 7. Company Profiles of Leading Players 7.1: FormFactor Inc. 7.2: Micronics Japan Co.,Ltd. 7.3: Technoprobe S.p.A. 7.4: Japan Eletronic Materials Corporation 7.5: MPI Corporation 7.6: Nidec SV TCL 7.7: Microfriend 7.8: Korea Instruments co.,Ltd 7.9: FEINMETALL GmbH 7.10: WILL-Technology Co.Ltd 7.11: Chunghwa Precision Test Tech.Co, Ltd. 7.12: ADVANTEST CORPORATION 7.13: TSE CO. Ltd. 7.14: Wentworth Laboratories Inc. 7.15: HTT High Tech Trade GmbH For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/8mrtlq/global_probe_card?w=12 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Yield Growth Corp. (CSE:BOSS) (OTCQB:BOSQF) (Frankfurt:YG3) is pleased to announce that it has finalized product formulations and selected all THC and CBD strains for its first 9 products to launch in Oregon through a 400 retail distribution network. Pursuant to its agreement with a licensed cannabis processing facility in Oregon, Yield Growth subsidiary UJ Topicals branded products will be launching in the Oregon legal cannabis market. The products include CBD and THC oils, Analgesic Topical Gel with THC and CBD, Pain Balm with THC and CBD, Massage Oil with THC and CBD, and 3 types of capsules containing THC and Ayurvedic herbal formulations, blended with ingredients that have been used to treat arthritis and chronic pain. All of the cannabis topical products have been formulated based on Urban Juve proprietary formulas, for which 11 provisional patents have been filed in the U.S. We have formulated our products with very high concentrations of THC and CBD for maximum effect, says Penny Green, CEO of The Yield Growth Corp. Its our hope that Oregon residents will embrace our cannabis products as viable treatments for chronic pain. Cannabis treatment is effective for chronic pain and nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy, according to a 2017 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Chronic pain is the most common reason given for medical marijuana prescriptions in the U.S., and chronic pain affects an estimated 100 million Americans, according to an article in healthaffairs.org. According to Statista, in 2018, legal sales of cannabis amounted to nearly U.S. $10 billion, and sales are projected to be over $16 billion in 2021, of which the State of Oregon is expected to account for almost $1 billion. About The Yield Growth Corp. The Yield Growth Corp. is dedicated to the rapid and sustainable growth of cannabis wellness assets. Its directors, officers and advisors have C- level experience at multi-billion dollar international companies including M.A.C Cosmetics and Johnson & Johnson and have worked at Aritzia, Procter & Gamble, Skechers, Pepsi and Coca Cola. Its key assets are 100% owned subsidiaries Urban Juve Provisions Inc., UJ Topicals Inc., UJ Beverages Inc., UJ Edibles Inc. and Thrive Activations Inc. Through its subsidiaries it owns over 60 wellness formulas for topicals and beverages, has registered 29 products with Health Canada, has applied for 11 U.S. provisional patents and is currently selling products online in the U.S. and Canada and through retailers in Canada. For more information about Yield Growth, visit www.yieldgrowth.com or follow @yieldgrowth on Instagram. Visit www.urbanjuve.com and #findyourjuve across social platforms to learn, engage and shop. Investor Relations Contacts: Penny Green, President & CEO Kristina Pillon, Investor Relations invest@yieldgrowth.com 1-833-514-BOSS 1-833-514-2677 1-833-515-BOSS 1-833-515-2677 The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this news release. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes forward-looking information and statements (collectively, forward looking statements) under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates, forecasts, beliefs and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and factors include, but are not limited to: risks related to the development, testing, licensing, intellectual property protection, and sale of, and demand for, Urban Juve, UJ Topicals, UJ Beverages and UJ Edibles products, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties, delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals where applicable, and the state of the capital markets. Yield Growth cautions readers not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements provided by Yield Growth, as such forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future results or performance and actual results may differ materially. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and Yield Growth expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements containing any forward-looking information, or the factors or assumptions underlying them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/420fbd0f-8bfa-4049-8843-868897021ec6 Selbyville, Delaware, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oxygen barrier films & coatings for dry food market revenue will surpass US$1.4 billion by 2025, according to a growth forecast statistic by Global Market Insights, Inc. Shifting customer preference towards packaged food owing to its benefits regarding the preservation of taste, texture, and aroma will drive the oxygen barrier films & coating for dry food market. High disposable income and consumer preference for indulgence snacks has positively influenced the oxygen barrier films & coatings for dry food market demand. Global snacking business registered USD 3.4 billion sales in 2017, where Europe accounted for over 26% revenue share. Changing customer consciousness with respect to product wrapping to ensure safe consumption has resulted in the frequent innovations & development across the packaging industry. Ease in carrying, stacking, transporting, and shelf appearance are among the major factors influencing the packaging type demand from a retailers perspective. Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/3106 High-performance packaging requirement such as protection from vapor, moisture, air, and gases have positively influenced the oxygen barrier films & coating for dry market growth. Food industry expansion and increased logistic facility have made it easier for manufacturers to transport goods from one place to another, which in turns creating demand for lightweight packaging materials. The absence of regulations regarding the packaging raw material along with the high cost associated with rigid packaging has made oxygen barrier films & coating more popular among the industry players. The light weightiness of the material makes the overall product less heavy and create scope for large quantity transportation at the minimal logistic cost. Metallized films accounted for more than 35% of the overall material demand in 2018. Attractive packaging appearance due to its similarity with the aluminum foil makes the packaging highly preferable for decorative purpose. High oxygen and moisture resistance capacity along with aid in elevating shelf life are among the key factors driving demand in this segment. Browse key industry insights spread across 350 pages with 454 market data tables & 11 figures & charts from the report, Oxygen Barrier Films & Coatings For Dry Food Market Size By Material (Metallized, Transparent, PVDC, EVOH), By Packaging Type (Pouches & Bags, Lid Stock & Wraps), By Application (Baked Goods, Confectionary, Savory Snacks, Rice, Pasta, Noodles, Breakfast Cereals) Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Russia, Italy, Spain, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa), Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2019 2025 in detail along with the table of contents: https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/oxygen-barrier-films-and-coatings-for-dry-food-market Transparent films will witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. This type of packaging material is highly in demand by customers due to its see-through benefits. Transparent films help customers in picking the exact required product and also provides the ease to compare the product. Baked goods will witness the highest gains during the forecast period. Bakery industry expansion owing to the increasing consumer spending on impulsive buying foods will encourage the product penetration in this segment. The necessity to prevent bakery ingredients from exterior oxygen and gases in order to maintain freshness has stimulated the oxygen barrier films & coating for dry food demand. Asia Pacific oxygen barrier films & coating for dry food market will witness over 6% CAGR up to 2025. China, India, and Japan are among the key contributing countries in the region owing to their high proportion spending on food. Large population size, high GDP growth, and presence of various manufacturers will open large scale opportunities in this region. Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/3106 The global oxygen barrier films & coating for dry food market share is highly competitive due to the presence of a large number of companies in the industry. Bemis, Amcor, American Pouch, Honeywell, and Dupont Teijin Films are among the key industry players. Raw material advancement to achieve better functionality and implementation of blended materials are considered to be breakthrough strategies to be implemented in the coming years. Browse More New Reports: 1. Packaging Materials Market Size By Material (Paper & Cardboard, Rigid Plastic, Metal, Flexible Plastic, Glass, Wood, Textile), By Product (Bottles & Cans, Containers & Jars, Bags, Pouches, & Wraps, Closures & Lids, Boxes & Crates, Drums & IBCs), By End-user (Food, Beverage, Healthcare, Cosmetics, Household Products, Chemicals), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, China, India, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, South Africa), Application Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017 2024 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/packaging-materials-market 2. High-Barrier Pouches Market Size By Product (Standup, Spouted, Four Side Seal, Retort), By Material (Polyethylene, Polypropylene, High Barrier Additives, Aluminum, Polyamide, Fitments, Tubes & Spouts), By Application (Food, Beverages, Pharmaceuticals, Pet Food, Industrial, Home Care & Personal Care), By Film Layer (Five-Layer, Seven-Layer, Nine-Layer) Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S, Canada, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Poland, Turkey, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa), Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017 2024. https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/high-barrier-pouches-market About Global Market Insights Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology. Browse More News: http://packingmaterials.org/category/packaging/ English French On 19 February, the key players in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in France are holding a summit meeting to explore developments in their field and their visions of the future. The event is sponsored by the Direction Generale des Entreprises (a department of the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance), the Commissariat General a l'Egalite des Territoires (a French economic planning and development office), and TECH'in France (a digital industry association known as "the voice of tech companies in France"). Over 500 industry leaders will be meeting at the French Ministry for the Economy and Finance to explore the exciting potential of the French artificial intelligence ecosystem. Attending, will be Mounir Mahjoubi, Secretary of State for Digital Affairs, Cedric Villani, member of parliament and a mathematician, author of a report entitled "For a meaningful Artificial Intelligence", and , Lucilla Sioli, Director of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Industry, DG CONNECT, European Commission. Olivier Novasque, CEO and founder of Sidetrade, will be speaking at 2:00pm, alongside Juliette Mattioli, Senior Expert in Artificial Intelligence at Thales, Thierry Donneau-Golencer, Director, Product Management, Salesforce Einstein, and Severine Marquay, Augmented Customer Relationship Director (Artificial Intelligence), Orange France. Discussion will focus on the role of Artificial Intelligence in industry and on the services of the future. This will be a chance for Olivier Novasque to present Sidetrade's vision of AI: a demystified, accessible, user-driven tool with a proven ROI. This is a pragmatic vision which focuses on the human side of progress in artificial intelligence. It is in line with the statement by French President Macron for the AI for Humanity Plan launched in March 2018. This vision, nourished by the concrete experience of Sidetrade's customers, is encapsulated in the op-ed by Olivier Novasque, entitled "Man is the future of AI". The CEO of Sidetrade will be pleased to answer any questions you might have during this this special day, which is a major step in the rapid development of the AI ecosystem in France. For immediate release 12 February 2019 Serabi Gold plc (Serabi or the Company) Accident at Palito Mine Serabi Gold plc (AIM:SRB, TSX:SBI), regrets to announce a fatality at its Palito Gold Mine in Brazil in a mining-related accident on 11 February 2019. The accident involved one of the Companys employees who sustained a crush related injury and sadly died from his injuries. The Company is investigating the cause of the accident, has notified the relevant authorities, including the police, and is providing all necessary assistance for the enquiries into this incident. Production in the area of the incident has been suspended until such a time as the outcome of the enquiries has been reached. The directors and management of Serabi express their sincere condolences to the family and colleagues of the deceased and the Company is providing all necessary support to the family. Mike Hodgson, Chief Executive Officer, said: We are deeply saddened to announce a fatal accident at our Palito mining operation on February 11th during the day shift. I join with all of my colleagues and fellow directors in expressing our sincere condolences to the family and friends of the deceased." The person who arranged for the release of this announcement on behalf of the Company was Clive Line, Director. Enquiries: Serabi Gold plc Michael Hodgson Tel: +44 (0)20 7246 6830 Chief Executive Mobile: +44 (0)7799 473621 Clive Line Tel: +44 (0)20 7246 6830 Finance Director Mobile: +44 (0)7710 151692 Email: contact@serabigold.com Website: www.serabigold.com Beaumont Cornish Limited Nominated Adviser and Financial Adviser Roland Cornish Tel: +44 (0)20 7628 3396 Michael Cornish Tel: +44 (0)20 7628 3396 Peel Hunt LLP UK Broker Ross Allister Tel: +44 (0)20 7418 8900 James Bavister Tel: +44 (0)20 7418 8900 Copies of this announcement are available from the Company's website at www.serabigold.com. Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange, nor any other securities regulatory authority, has approved or disapproved of the contents of this announcement. Selbyville, Delaware, Feb. 11, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Asia Pacific material handling equipment market is expected to grow from USD 50 billion in 2018 to USD 80 billion by 2025, according to a 2019 Global Market Insights, Inc. report. It predicts shipments to grow at a 7% CAGR over 2019-2025. APAC material handling equipment market is experiencing high growth with the strong presence of companies offering robotic technologies for warehouse automation. The growing demand for these automated solutions for supporting several warehouse operations such as packaging, transportation, storage, and retrieval will accelerate the demand in the Asia Pacific material handling equipment market. Moreover, the increasing labor costs are forcing industries to shift their focus toward robotic technologies. Increased operational efficiencies and productivity with the applications of these systems in the warehouses are helping companies to improve their sales and productivity. Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/3107 The aftermarket demand for equipment parts, accessories, and services is witnessing high growth in the APAC material handling equipment market. The industrial sectors are engaged in performing regular maintenance and repairs of their industrial machinery to minimize the system downtime and failure. These maintenance tasks involve the replacement and installation of new parts or components for enhancing the system efficiency and operability. Such factors are predicted to accelerate market growth. Moreover, several small-scale industries are installing used machinery to minimize the additional expenses of purchasing new equipment. These machines require the replacement of parts and components at regular intervals. Such factors are anticipated to provide an impetus to the industry growth. In 2018, the bulk equipment accounted for around 35% of the APAC material handling equipment market share. Products such as machine parts and components that are bulky require effective technologies that can handle and transport the components safely without any damage. The growing adoption of conveyor belts to transport industrial products from one production unit to the other will drive the market demand. The manufacturers are engaged in incorporating innovative technologies into these products to enhance business operations and production rates. For instance, smart motors and controllers are being integrated into a single module that offers control communications and work with the specific system. Browse key industry insights spread across 390 pages with 430 market data tables & 22 figures & charts from the report, Asia Pacific Material Handling Equipment Market Size By Demand (New, Aftermarket), By Product (Storage & Handling Equipment [Racks, Stacking Frames, Shelves, Bins & Drawers, Mezzanines], Industrial Trucks [Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs), Hand, Platform & Pallet Trucks, Order Pickers, Pallet Jacks, Side-Loaders, Walkie Stackers], Bulk Material Handling Equipment [Conveyor Belts, Stackers, Reclaimers, Elevators], Robotics, Automated Storage & Retrieval System (AS/RS) [Unit-Load AS/RS, Mini-Load AS/RS]), By Application (3PL, E-Commerce, Durable Manufacturing, Food & Beverage, General Merchandise, Food Retail), By Sales Channel (Independent Dealers/Distributors, Direct Sales To Customers, Rental Companies, Online Channel), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (China, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar), Application Potential, Price Trend, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2019 2025 in detail along with the table of contents: https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/asia-pacific-material-handling-equipment-market In the APAC material handling equipment market, aftermarket players are providing their products through different sales channels such as distributors, online channels, and rental companies. Online channels are expected to witness a high demand for these products due to the increased dependency of end users to order the component needed by selecting the required parts from several online retail sites. These retail channels allow manufacturers to compare the prices, specifications, brands, and other parameters before the purchase of products without visiting physical stores. Moreover, online retail channels also offer several discounts or offers to these manufacturers, which is also a major factor propelling the adoption of online sales channels in the APAC material handling equipment market. Regulatory authorities in the region are developing several initiatives that are generating a high demand for automated technologies. In 2018, China accounted for around 40% of the Asia Pacific material handling equipment market share. The Made in China 2025 initiative by the Government of China is accelerating the production rate of the country. It is encouraging global and domestic companies to establish their manufacturing facilities within the country to support this initiative. These manufacturing facilities will require automated technologies for enhancing and improving production capabilities and operations, boosting the material handling equipment market demand in APAC. Furthermore, the manufacturers are also helping small-scale companies to purchase these automated machines by flexible loan and financing options. This is aiding companies to install modern equipment in their facilities within the budget range. Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/3107 Key players in the APAC material handling equipment market include Columbus McKinnon, Beumer Group GmbH & Co. KG, JBT Corporation, KUKA AG, Liebherr, Kion Group AG, Murata Machinery, Ltd., TGW Logistics Group GmbH, Kardex AG, and System Logistics, among others. These companies are engaged in developing intelligent solutions that will allow industries to monitor the business processes remotely. The manufacturers are partnering with different technology providers to incorporate smart technologies into their product offerings. For instance, in November 2018, Mantsinen Group collaborated with Remion Ltd. for the supply of remote monitoring technologies, which are being integrated into the companys material handling machines. The technology providers are also engaged in developing intelligent hardware and software tools, accelerating technological advancements and innovations. In April 2017, TotalTrax, Inc. launched software-driven equipment monitoring technology for enhancing the labor productivity, safety, and management of product handling machines. Browse More New Reports: 1. Asia Pacific Construction Equipment Market Size By Demand (New Demand, Aftermarket), By Product (Earthmoving & Road Building Equipment [Backhoe, Excavator, Loader, Compaction Equipment], Material Handling & Cranes [Storage & Handling Equipment, Engineered Systems, Industrial Trucks, Bulk Material Handling Equipment], Concrete Equipment [Concrete Pump, Crusher, Transit Mixer, Asphalt Paver, Batching Plant]), By Sales Channel (Independent Dealers/Distributors, Direct Sales To Customers, Rental Companies, Online Channel), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (China, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar), Application Potential, Price Trend, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2019 2025 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/asia-pacific-construction-equipment-market 2. (AWP) Aerial Work Platform Rental Market Size By Product (Boom Lift, Scissor Lift, Vertical Mast Lift, Personnel Portable Lift), By Application (Construction, Telecommunication, Transportation & Logistics, Government), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa), Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Landscape & Forecast, 2017 2024 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/aerial-work-platform-awp-rental-market About Global Market Insights Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology. English French Elis announces the acquisition of Carpeting Entremattor i Stockholm AB in Sweden Saint-Cloud, February 11, 2019 - Elis, an international multi-service provider, offering textile, hygiene and facility services solutions across Europe and Latin America, is continuing its expansion strategy in its key markets with the signing of an agreement to acquire 100% of Carpeting Entremattor i Stockholm AB (Carpeting Entremattor) in Sweden. The closing of the transaction is subject to customary regulatory conditions and is expected to occur before the end of Q1 2019. Carpeting Entremattor is a family business, located in Stockholm, whose activity is exclusively dedicated to rental-cleaning of mats for clients of all sizes operating in a broad range of sectors. The group generated revenues of c. 3.5 million euros in 2018. Commenting on this announcement, Xavier Martire, CEO of Elis, declared: "The acquisition of Carpeting Entremattor enables Elis to further expand the density of its existing network in the mats segment, which is very dynamic in Sweden. The family shareholder will stay for the integration period, which will enable the transfer of best practices." Contact Nicolas Buron Investor Relations Director - Phone: +33 1 75 49 98 30 - nicolas.buron@elis.com Audrey Bourgeois Investor Relations - Phone: +33 1 75 49 96 25 - audrey.bourgeois@elis.com Theres no shortage of women in the arts in Kokomo, and the Kokomo Symphony Orchestra is taking note of that for its upcoming concert, Wonder Women. The concert features two homegrown legends in the classical world, along with feature music written by female composers, and a tribute from KSOs president to honor local female past contributors who have impacted and supported the symphony through the years. The impetus behind the concert, according to symphony director Jose Valencia, was the death of Barbara Cassis last year, who was a longtime leader of KSO. We thought, What a better way to honor her legacy than by having a program that centers around the strength of women in the arts in Kokomo, he said. The concert will open with Carmen Suite 1 by George Bizet, which Valencia called a crowd-pleaser and one that fits perfectly with the theme. Carmen is a strong woman who was very independent of men, loved men but was not as dependent upon them as one might have thought back in the 19th century. She was strong and independent, he said. Following will be a piece by Jennifer Higdon, a living American composer, called Blue Cathedral, which reflects on Higdons loss of her brother. Valencia said this piece will be one of the craziest types of pieces the symphony has played in a long time, as it will be played using wine glasses that have been tuned to pitches and Chinese health balls. This is probably the most interesting thing well have done on stage at Havens. It is really quite moving, quite exciting, and quite different, he said. A main highlight of the concert will be performances by two Kokomo-natives who have made it big in the classical world, Alicia Berneche and Becky Archibald. Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute Berneche grew up in Kokomo and started playing music in the Kokomo Youth Symphony Orchestra before going off to become an international opera star living in Chicago. She will perform Knoxville: Summer of 1915 put to music by American composer Samuel Barber. Its about picnics on the lawn, listening to the beginning of what one might call traffic back in the day and warm summer nights down in Tennessee. Beautiful, beautiful song and full of contemporary-type harmonies. I love this piece, and she does too, he said. Berneche was inducted into the Howard County Hall of Legends in 2017. The other musician, Archibald, grew up in Kokomo and has since gone on to take the jazz world by storm. She has performed at Carnegie Halls Weill Recital Hall and the Dordogne Jazz Summer School in Monteton, France, to name a couple. She recently was commissioned by the Central Indiana Community Foundation to write a jazz composition for the celebration of the completion of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail. She will perform one of her earlier pieces, What If? Its a question. What if I tried to write a tune based on two chords? That was her experiment, and its really quite cool. Its for smaller forces of the orchestra. Not everybody is going to play it, and she is going to be in with us on piano as well, he said. Valencia is looking forward to this concert, which is a first for the symphony. The type of music in the classical world can be all the same, but this is not. This is classical music that is wildly different from each other. All these pieces are different, and so Im going to love the variety and the challenge its going to pose with the orchestra, he said. Wonder Women takes place Saturday, Feb. 16, at Havens Auditorium, Indiana University Kokomo. Tickets are $20. All students and children are admitted free. To purchase tickets, go to www.kokomosymphony.net or call the office at 765-236-0251. Kokomo Symphony Orchestra thanks for following organizations for their support: City of Kokomo Parks and Recreation, Tippecanoe Arts Federation, Indiana Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, Howard County, Kokomo School Corporation, Scared Rabbit, and Z92.5. VANCOUVER, British Columbia , Feb. 11, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tango Mining Limited (Tango or the Company) (TSXV:TGV) announces that it has agreed to settle an outstanding indebtedness with an arms length party in the sum of $103,494 by the issuance of 2,069,880 common shares in the capital stock of the Company at a price of $0.05 per share, which transaction is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. About Tango Mining Limited The Company holds an interest in the Oena Diamond Mine, a producing alluvial diamond property located in the Northern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa. Tango has recently added to its diamond portfolio with the addition of the Middlepits Project, Republic of Botswana, Mano River Project, Republic of Liberia and the Moquita Project, Republic of Angola. Tango, via its Republic of South Africa subsidiaries, also holds three thermal coal, metallurgical, processing plant and engineering contracts that process 6.5 Mt of coal per annum, with client Exxaro. The three projects are located within the Ogies and Highveld coalfields, Mpumalanga Province and Kliprivier coalfield, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. On behalf of the Board of Directors of Tango Mining Limited Mr. Samer Khalaf Chief Executive Officer info@tangomining.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. SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 11, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The SASB Foundation, an independent non-profit responsible for the funding and oversight of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), today announced the election of Else Bos to its board of directors. Ms. Bos will serve a three-year term starting January 1, 2019. Bos currently serves as the executive director and chair of Prudential Supervision at De Nederlandsche Bank, the central bank of the Netherlands, a part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). Bos election comes at a critical time for SASBs standards, which were recently codified in October 2018. The globally applicable standards now covering 77 industries are already being used by leading companies and investors, and align with and complement other sustainability reporting frameworks. Else brings extensive global experience and expertise in asset management and sustainable investing to the Foundation. Her deep knowledge of the industry and capital markets will be of great value to SASB as we accelerate our initiatives to promote adoption of our newly codified standards and to expand our presence globally, especially in Europe, said Bob Steel, Chair of the SASB Foundation Board of Directors. Bos joined De Nederlandsche Bank in July 2018 after serving, since 2013, as CEO of PGGM, the pension provider for PFZW, the second largest pension fund in the Netherlands. She also held various board positions at PGGM, such as Chief Institutional Business (2010-2013), Chief Executive Officer Investments (2005-2009) and COO Investments (2002-2005). Prior to this, she worked for NIB Capital Asset Management and ABN AMRO. She also serves on several boards, including those of the International Centre for Pension Management (ICPM) and the Supervisory Board of NOB (National Opera and Ballet). Since 2017, she has been a Trustee of the IFRS Foundation. Bos is also a strategy advisor to the board of FCLT Global, a non-profit organization working to encourage sustainable practices in business and investment decision-making, where she was a board member until the end of 2018. In addition, she has served on other boards, including those of the United Nations PRI, and the board of the Pacific Pension & Investment Institute (PPI). She was also a member of the Dutch Monitoring Committee for Corporate Governance. Bos said, I am delighted to be joining the SASB Foundations board at this crucial time. SASBs newly codified standards are the worlds first set of industry-specific sustainability accounting reporting standards. They will have a significant impact on global sustainability reporting, corporate disclosure and performance in the European and global capital markets in the years to come. The SASB Foundation board of directors appoints the members of the SASB Standards Board and oversees the standards-setting process. For more information on the SASB Foundations board, click here. To read more on the SASBs standards, click here. About SASB The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board Foundation (SASB) is an independent, nonprofit standard-setting organization that develops and maintains robust reporting standards that enable businesses around the world to identify, manage and communicate financially material sustainability information to their investors. SASB standards are evidence based, developed with broad market participation, and are designed to be cost-effective for companies and decision-useful for investors. To download any of the 77 industry-specific standards, or learn more about SASB, please visit www.SASB.org. Follow SASB on LinkedIn and Twitter. There is one thing I would like to say, for the area where we were located, our timing was exceptionally good, Steiger said. For example, Hamburger Hill was located just west of our base camp in the Ashua Valley. A year earlier in May of 1969 our company had lost 42 people there. Whenever we worked around Hamburger Hill there was an eerie feeling, Felland said. We went through a lot of places where there had been fire fights and a lot of people had died there, Werner said. Something else I will never forget is watching from our base and seeing another camp about six miles away get overrun during the last major Tet Offensive. Tet was a Vietnamese holiday. These were supposed to be times of cease fire, but the enemy took advantage of them, Steiger said. Each one commented on the extreme weather and terrains they faced in Vietnam. During the monsoons it rained 38 inches in a day and a half, Steiger said. In the jungle, while cutting paths, you couldnt see three feet in front of you, but one good thing you could be sure those paths wouldnt be booby-trapped, said Steiger. Bottles of medicine ride on a belt at the Express Scripts mail-in pharmacy warehouse in Florence, N.J., last July. As Democrats in Congress consider whether to back a revamped regional trade pact being pushed by President Trump, theyre zeroing in on a new point of conflict: drug prices. They contend that the new pact would force Americans to pay more for prescription drugs, and their argument has dimmed the outlook for one of Trumps signature causes. Colorado Springs, CO (80903) Today Sun and clouds mixed with a slight chance of thunderstorms during the afternoon. High 84F. NNE winds shifting to SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.. Tonight Partly cloudy. Low 57F. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph. Candace Owens, 29, has not had an easy life. As a Stamford, Conn., high school senior in 2007, she received threatening racist phone calls traced to a car in which the white Democratic mayors son was riding. Racism led her family to successfully sue the Stamford Board of Education in federal court for failing to protect her civil rights. Centennial Elementary School Principal Christine Parker, back, center left, stands with Gov. Jared Polis, center right, as he calls to students alongside Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera, third right, inside a fourth-grade art classroom during a tour of the school A woman was seriously injured near Grand Lake after driving a rented snowmobile over a 150-foot cliff. According to a Facebook post by Grand County Search and Rescue, the accident required a complicated retrieval last Saturday. The woman was hauled to the top of the ridge 150-feet above where she landed, before being transported by snowmobile to an awaiting helicopter. Grand Lake Fire Protection District and Grand County EMS were also on site to provide assistance during the rescue. The woman, 38-years old, was not immediately identified. Grand County is a popular spot for snowmobiling, particularly the Grand Lake area. Rolling hills and scenic views just miles from Rocky Mountain National Park have made this a hot spot for trail exploration. Richard Paynes erratic behavior Saturday night repeatedly telling a Colorado Springs police officer to shoot him, then throwing himself onto two vehicles hoods on an Interstate 25 ramp culminated in him allegedly stealing the officers cruiser and totaling it, an arrest affidavit says. Payne, 36, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault of an officer and second-degree aggravated motor vehicle theft, both felonies, and misdemeanor driving under the influence, court records show. About 6 p.m., police received a call about a man stumbling into traffic near West Uintah Street and Wood Avenue, the affidavit says. An hour later, Sgt. Jeffrey Maxson found Payne on the West Uintah Street on-ramp to I-25. The affidavit gives this account: Maxson parked his marked patrol cruiser, a Ford Crown Victoria, on the ramp with its lights flashing. Payne told Maxson he had taken pills and wanted medical attention, so the officer called for medical help. He asked Payne to sit on the curb and searched him for weapons, finding a folding knife. Then Payne began tensing up, stood and told Maxson to shoot him. Payne ran onto the ramp and threw himself onto the hood of a moving vehicle, then ran toward the intersection with West Uintah Street and hurled himself onto the hood of a larger SUV. Payne came aggressively toward Maxson, again telling the officer to shoot him, then ran toward the cruiser. Maxson chased him to the drivers side door, and Payne got in, but Maxson held onto the steering wheel. The officer said he was yelling at Payne during the struggle. Maxson still was holding the steering wheel when Payne floored the accelerator, and the cruiser reached 25 to 35 mph on the ramp as Payne headed toward a light pole. Based on Paynes previous requests for Maxson to shoot him, the officer thought Payne intended to drive into the pole. The officer was dragged more than 50 yards before he finally let go of the steering wheel, fearing the rear tires would run over him as he rolled on the pavement and came to rest in the grass beside the ramp. Maxson said he felt pain in his left shoulder and his head. Payne lost control of the cruiser, which rolled over in the southbound lanes of I-25 north of Bijou Street, police said. Another officer who saw the crash found Payne lying face down on the ground with the top quarter of his body underneath the police cruiser, the affidavit says. The officer pulled Payne out from under the car and handcuffed him. Payne and Maxson had nonlife-threatening injuries, police said. Payne remained in El Paso County jail Monday on $100,000 bond, inmate records showed. The Gazettes Leslie James contributed to this report. By Moses Ndhaye. The Inspector General of police Martin Okoth Ochola has warned regional police commanders to stop using crime preventers at their various police stations. Opening of a 4-day meeting of regional police commanders across the country convened at the police senior command and staff college Bwebajja, the IGP said that the crime preventers where sent to the reserve force and therefore any police commander who deploying them is making a mistake . Ochola has vowed to punish any police commander who will be found using these crime preventers. Last year president Museveni directed that all the crime preventers to operate under the reserve force. In recent months, a peace process aimed at ending nearly four decades of war in Afghanistan has gained momentum after Washington and the Taliban came to a tentative agreement following months of talks. But it is still not clear exactly what kind of nation is likely to emerge after the process moves toward a peace deal that Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. peace envoy to Afghanistan, says he is hopeful will be concluded before the presidential election in July. Khalilzad, an Afghan-born seasoned diplomat, has pushed the Taliban hard to embrace a cease-fire and join direct talks with the Western-backed Afghan government. But the Taliban have made few concessions and instead have only agreed to guarantee that Afghanistan will not revert to a terrorist haven. As Afghanistan marks the 30th anniversary of the departure of Soviet troops in 1989 this month, some in the country fear a hasty withdrawal of U.S. troops enabled by a pact with the Taliban would not guarantee lasting peace. They say the current situation echoes that of the early 1990s. In the absence of Soviet support, Afghanistans socialist government had collapsed, and a civil war broke out among various mujahedin and communist factions after they failed to agree on an internationally backed enforceable peace deal. The Talibans refusal to talk to the Afghan government by declaring it a U.S. puppet has raised the specter for many of continued bloodshed even after the war between the United States and the Taliban comes to an end. Marvin Weinbaum, director of Afghanistan and Pakistan studies at Washingtons Middle East Institute think tank, says the U.S. and Taliban negotiators have yet to overcome some steep obstacles in reaching a peace agreement. The main challenge is that the parties to the conflict have yet to reconcile their visions of an endgame in Afghanistan. One vision assumes that the purpose of the negotiations is to find a way to incorporate the Taliban and its values within a democratic constitutional order, he told RFE/RLs Gandhara website. Through a number of possible means, it offers every opportunity for the Taliban to compete for power. Weinbaum, a former intelligence analyst at the U.S. State Department at the time of the Talibans emergence in the 1990s, says the Taliban counter this vision with one of their own. The other vision presumes a Sharia-based system of governance which promises its adversaries inclusion and tolerance but only within a well-defined Islamic framework, he said. Although the Taliban may deny its aim is to seek domination, only a government that fully shares and promotes its values is likely to be viewed as legitimate. In Washington, the State Department is aware of such complexities. "This trip is part of an overall effort to facilitate a peace process that protects U.S. national security interests and brings all Afghan parties together in an intra-Afghan dialogue through which they can determine a path for their country's future," the State Department said in a statement issued ahead of Khalilzads February 10-28 visit to Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Qatar, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Last month, Khalilzad said the United States and the Taliban had agreed on a framework that could prompt the withdrawal of U.S. troops in return for Taliban guarantees that Afghan territory will never be used for terrorist activities. However, there is no written agreement, and in Khalilzads words, Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. As Khalilzad garners backing for his efforts from European and NATO allies, the Taliban announced a 14-member negotiating team on February 12 ahead of scheduled negotiations with U.S. officials. Last week, the Taliban and a delegation comprising former officials and led by former President Hamid Karzai pledged to continue an intra-Afghan dialogue following two days of talks in Moscow. Yet the Taliban have shown little interest in meeting with the Afghan government. To offset the governments apparent exclusion from talks with the insurgents, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called for a grand jirga or grand assembly. At the jirga, people will hold discussions on the nature of the peace talks and the post-peace government in Afghanistan, he said on February 11. For his part, Khalilzad continues to encourage all sides to seize the opportunity that the current peace process represents. The Afghans must sit across the table with each other and come to an agreement about the future of their country, he said. The Fremont Public Schools Board of Education approved contracts with two cleaning companies that will help clean three area elementary schools after hours and nights. School officials say the contracts were needed to address a two-year-long drought of applicants for vacant custodian positions to help address second-shift cleaning needs at the elementary school level. It marks the first time that Fremont Public Schools will contract with an outside party for school cleaning services. The contracts will go to Jani-King, which will be responsible for second-shift cleaning duties at Linden and Washington elementary schools, and FBG, which will handle second-shift duties at Clarmar Elementary School. The contracts, combined, will not exceed $112,344. We have advertised positions in the paper, on the district website, participated in hiring events in conjunction with the Fremont Area Development Council and and also utilized Indeed, an online ad agency, to no avail, said Jeff Glosser, facilities manager for Fremont Public Schools. Due to the lack of applicants over the past nine months and the need to keep our schools clean, area cleaning services were contacted to gauge interest, and based on those conversations, a request for proposals was created. A Fremont man pleaded guilty in Dodge County District Court on Monday to third-degree domestic assault as a second offense, a class IIIA felony. Adam S. Frey, 35, made the plea in an agreement with the Dodge County Attorneys office. Frey is currently in the midst of pursuing inpatient treatment to address underlying issues. If he is accepted into a program, his defense attorney Kenny Jacobs indicated that he would seek a furlough for treatment. District Court Judge Geoffrey Hall indicated that he would sign off on furlough. As part of the agreement, Dodge County Deputy Attorney Emily Beamis said that, if Frey were to successfully complete an inpatient treatment program, the state would not oppose a 30-month term of intensive supervised probation. Hall ordered a pre-sentencing investigation and sentencing was set for April 1. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Frey was arrested on Nov. 22, 2018, after deputies with the Dodge County Sheriffs Office responded to reports of a physical domestic disturbance in Fremont, according to a police affidavit. Fremont Police arrested a man of suspicion of drug possession after finding him asleep in a vehicle at a local business on Saturday. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} The Fremont Police Department arrested 34-year-old Jacob L. Kohout on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance methamphetamine following a trespassing complaint at a business in the 1100 block of W. 23rd Street. According to FPD, officers were called to the business to check on occupants sleeping in a vehicle and made contact with Kohout, who gave them consent to search his vehicle and his person. During the search, officers found a cellophane baggie containing a powdery substance consistent with methamphetamines inside of a pack of cigarettes, as well as a glass pipe. Love 2 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 4 Angry 1 In this course, participants will discuss the concept of identifying variabilities in the field and creating management zones to address them. Areas to be covered include: purpose of ag data and how it is used in managing variability; different types of variability and how they affect one another; the major drivers of variability and how to address them; the pros and cons of big data; the challenges of working with ag data; data sharing challenges; and major classifications of ag data and the benefits of each. For Immediate Release Chicago, IL February 12, 2019 Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: LM Ericsson ERIC, Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO, Comtech Telecommunications Corp. CMTL, Verizon Communications Inc. VZ and Apple Inc. AAPL. Here are highlights from Mondays Analyst Blog: Trump to Ban Chinese Telecom Equipment? Winners & Losers According to a recent report by POLITICO, President Donald Trump is likely to sign an executive order banning Chinese telecom equipment from being used for U.S. wireless networks. The executive order is anticipated to be signed next week, ahead of Mobile World Congress, scheduled for Feb 25-28 at Barcelona, Spain. Trump administrations plan to issue the directive is part of its core principles to protect the United States from external cyber threats, especially from China. Imposition of user restrictions stems from U.S. administrations concern for national security and will primarily target Chinese telecom equipment behemoths Huawei Technologies and ZTE. National Security Concerns Dominate Telecom Space Trump administration is deeply concerned about Chinas drive to unseat the United States as the primary developer and supplier in the fields of high-tech artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing and various other digital technology driven sectors. In fact, in 2018, the U.S. government made AT&T drop Huawei smartphones from its offerings. Meanwhile Qualcomm was barred from selling its chipsets to either Huawei or ZTE owing to apprehensions of Chinese spying on Americans utilizing these high-tech products. This move is testament to the fiercely aggressive stance that the U.S. government is adopting in order to protect innovative next-generation products of U.S. tech giants. Story continues Recent Move by the US Against Chinese Tech Giants On Jan 28, the U.S. Department of Justice filed criminal charges against Chinese telecom behemoth Huawei Technologys CFO Meng Wanzhou and the daughter of the companys founder and president Ren Zhengfei. The Justice Department is seeking their extradition from Canada, following their arrest on Dec 1. Huawei was charged for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran and a 2014 civil trade secrets lawsuit filed by T-Mobile US for stealing trade secrets. On Jan 24, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC that the United States is still "miles and miles" away from a deal with China. On Jan 22, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow confirmed that the U.S. government has rejected a trade planning meeting with China on the ground of disagreements over intellectual property rights. A major concern for the Trump administration is that China is stealing intellectual property from U.S. companies by unfair means. This is the central point of trade conflict between the two largest trading countries of the world. On Dec 17, federal prosecutors of the Department of Justice leveled charges on two Chinese hackers on account of hacking valuable technologies of the U.S. high-tech firms. In December 2018, several key politico-economic allies of the United States such as Japan, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand also banned Huawei Technology from selling its products in those countries. Winners and Losers President Trump has given enough indication that his administration will take special interest in the functioning of the telecom industry. The safeguarding of the highly valuable patents of the American tech heavy companies from the Chinese dragon is of foremost importance to the American eagle. If President Trump finally bans Chinese equipment from US wireless networks, U.S. and European tech behemoths will be the primary beneficiaries. Major telecom equipment makers such as LM Ericsson, Cisco Systems Inc. and Comtech Telecommunications Corp. will gain. Comtech carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. On the other hand, large telecom operators and tech giants like Verizon Communications Inc. and Apple Inc. will stand to lose the most. These firms depend on low-cost Chinese high-tech equipment for their profitability. 3 Medical Stocks to Buy Now The greatest discovery in this century of biology is now at the flashpoint between theory and realization. Billions of dollars in research have poured into it. Companies are already generating revenue, and cures for a variety of deadly diseases are in the pipeline. So are big potential profits for early investors. Zacks has released an updated Special Report that explains this breakthrough and names the best 3 stocks to ride it. Click to get it free >> Media Contact Zacks Investment Research 800-767-3771 ext. 9339 support@zacks.com https://www.zacks.com Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release. 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 Ericsson (ERIC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (CMTL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research (Bloomberg) -- Several New York lawmakers said they still dont have key details about the taxpayer incentives extended to Amazon.com Inc. for its planned campus in Queens, adding to growing criticism about how the agreement was struck. Is it a done deal?" Senator John Liu, a Democrat who represents the boroughs northeast, asked Howard Zemsky, president and chief executive officer of Empire State Development, at a hearing on Tuesday in Albany. When Zemsky said finalization is pending, Liu asked him to disclose any up-front taxpayer costs to lure Amazon, one of the worlds richest companies, to Long Island City. You have to perform, be it on jobs or the investment, before you get anything back if youre Amazon, said Zemsky, referring to targets the Internet retailer must hit, including those involving job creation and capital expenditures. The deal, he said, was the largest economic development prize weve ever had. Amazon settled on Queens after its search for a second headquarters site outside Seattle set off a national scramble among cities offering tax breaks and other lures. Amazon has said it will create as many as 40,000 jobs in Long Island City, and state economic development experts say the deal will generate at least $27 billion in tax revenue over 25 years. New York City residents back the deal 58 percent to 35 percent opposed, while statewide its 56 percent for and 36 percent against, according to a Feb. 4-7 survey of 778 registered voters by Siena College. The poll has a margin of error of 4.3 percentage points. Still, critics including New York City council members have slammed the package for Amazon, whose stock market value in September briefly hit $1 trillion, only the second U.S. company to do so, after Apple Inc. They also say key details remain kept from public view. Senator Kevin Thomas, a Democrat from Long Island whose district includes another massive project, the $1.5 billion Nassau Hub redevelopment, asked Zemsky about how state officials calculated Amazons tax-revenue figure. Story continues We have a lot of substantiating, Zemsky said. We know from payroll and from New York City taxes and New York State taxes. He assured Thomas and other lawmakers that some analyses already are public record, and more details will be disclosed if Amazon commits to the project. On New York public radio on Tuesday, Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo said opponents criticism potentially could cause Amazon to abandon the plan. This is very serious, Cuomo said. To contact the reporter on this story: Elise Young in Trenton at eyoung30@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flynn McRoberts at fmcroberts1@bloomberg.net, Stacie Sherman, William Selway For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. By Ruth Anderah. Former Inspector General of police Kale Kayihura has failed to show up before the Court Martial where he was expected to appear alongside his 7 junior police officers to jointly answer to charges of failure to protect war materials and repatriation of Rwandese Refugees. Kayihura case was stood over until 5:30 pm when the courts chairman Lt. Gen Andrew Gutti adjourned the sessions to next week. Maj. Raphael Mugisha said afresh date to mention the case will be communicated to Gen Kayihura and his co-suspects. Kayihura who is out on bail and co-accused are charged with offenses of unlawfully issuing guns to unauthorised persons and the kidnap of Rwandese Refugees. Prosecution states that Kayihura and co-suspects failed to protect war materials by unlawfully allowing the issuance of guns to the jailed Boda -Boda 2010 leader Abudallah Kitatta. The police officers are further said to have unlawfully aided their junior officers to kidnap and illegally repatriate 3 Rwandan Refugees ; Joel Mutabazi , Jackson Kalemera and Innocent Kalisa between the years 2012 and 2018. Related Stories Kayihura granted bail, movement restricted unless permission is granted Speaker stops parliament from debating Kayihura arrest venezuela nicolas maduro vladimir putin petro cryptocurrency After years of hiding behind the fig leaf of socialism and revolutionary anti-imperialist rhetoric, the embattled Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro has shown its true colours with a new 15 percent tax on cryptocurrency transactions that may be best described as opportunistic, if not an act of outright tyranny. Venezuelas New Cryptocurrency Tax venezuela cryptocurrency petro Source: Shutterstock At a time when Hugo Chavez successor is facing an unprecedented challenge to his legitimacy, with U.S-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido gaining more international recognition, the move underlines his governments culture of economic vandalism that has turned South Americas largest oil producer into a basket case with the worlds least usable national currency. The new policy, announced in the countrys official Gazette, issue No. 41581 quotes the Venezuelan National Superintendence of Crypto Assets and Related Activities (SUNCRIP) as saying: Read the full story on CCN.com. FILE PHOTO: Cutouts depicting images of oil operations are seen outside a building of Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA in Caracas, Venezuela January 28, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins By Marianna Parraga and Deisy Buitrago (Reuters) - Foreign partners of Venezuela's PDVSA are facing pressure from the state-run oil firm to publicly declare whether they will continue as minority stakeholders in Orinoco Belt projects following U.S. sanctions, three people familiar with the matter said. The sanctions on Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), imposed last month in an attempt to dislodge Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, barred access to U.S. financial networks and oil supplies for the PDVSA joint ventures, pressuring the nation's already falling crude output and exports. PDVSA's Orinoco Belt joint venture partners, mostly U.S. or European companies, are facing difficulties getting cash-flow out of the country as a result of the sanctions, straining their ability to continue output and exports. PDVSA has been in talks with the companies to persuade them to commit publicly to the joint ventures, the sources said in recent days. PDVSA did not reply to a request for comment. On Monday, Venezuelan Oil Minister and PDVSA head Manuel Quevedo said on a visit to India that relations with international oil companies including Chevron were continuing. France's Total SA, Norway's Equinor ASA, Russia's Rosneft and U.S.-based Chevron hold minority stakes in joint ventures with PDVSA that produce crude and operate oil upgraders capable of converting the country's extra-heavy oil into exportable grades. The four crude upgraders are capable of converting up to 700,000 barrels per day. The oil is exported by the joint ventures and each partner receive its share of the exports. Total believes it can stay in Venezuela, its Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne said on Monday, although the firm last week said its bank accounts were blocked and it had evacuated its foreign employees. Rosneft has continued working normally at its Petromonagas joint venture with PDVSA, according to the sources. Equinor declined to comment on operational issues, referring questions to Petrocedeno, its joint venture with PDVSA. Chevron did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Story continues PDVSA last week ordered Petrocedeno to halt oil production and upgrading, due to a lack of naphtha to dilute the extra-heavy crude, according to sources from the project. The Petrocedeno-PDVSA venture's 220,000-bpd upgrader was already out of service when the decision was made, one of the people said. It is unclear when oil output will be halted. PDVSA is studying if the other joint ventures in the Orinoco will have to halt operations, with diluent supplies dwindling, the people said. India's Reliance and PDVSA's U.S. unit Citgo Petroleum are the main suppliers of naphtha to Venezuela, according to internal PDVSA data. Those flows have declined since sanctions took effect on Jan. 28, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. (Reporting by Marianna Parraga in Mexico City and Deisy Buitrago in Caracas; additional reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien) Triumph Group Inc (NYSE: TGI) could reach positive free cash flow by 2021. Aerostructures, which had a negative cash profile, has started providing upside to shareholders, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The Analyst Bank of America's Ronald Epstein upgraded Triumph Group from Underperform to Buy, raising the price target from $20 to $35. The Thesis The acquisitions made by Triumph Groups previous managements, including Vought Aircraft Industries and the Gulfstream wing programs from Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPR), continue to be a severe cash drag. The risk of insolvency has declined, Epstein said, with current management having found strategic solutions to become free cash flow positive by 2021. Management outsourced Gulfstream G650 wing box and wing completion work to Gulfstream last April. The Gulfstream G650 program has already become free cash flow positive. Earlier this month, the Bombardier Global 7500 wing program was sold to Bombardier. The commitment made by Triumph to Boeing Co (NYSE: BA) for the 747 ends in 2021. Triumph is looking to forming a strategic partnership with AeroSpace Technologies of Korea on the Embraer E2 EJets program. The company is also in talks with Israel Aerospace Industries on the Gulfstream G280 program. The analyst estimates the company to generate free cash flow of $127 million in 2021 and $164 million in 2022. Price Action Shares of Triumph Group almost 5.2 percent to $22.80 Monday afternoon. Related Links: Benzinga's Top Upgrades, Downgrades For February 11, 2019 Earnings Scheduled For February 7, 2019 Latest Ratings for TGI Feb 2019 Bank of America Upgrades Underperform Buy Feb 2019 Cowen & Co. Downgrades Outperform Market Perform Jan 2019 Cowen & Co. Upgrades Market Perform Outperform View More Analyst Ratings for TGI View the Latest Analyst Ratings See more from Benzinga 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. TransCanada confirms their commitment as a Presenting Sponsor of Canadas only national, multi-trade and technology competition for students and apprentices in the country. OTTAWA, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Skills/Competences Canada (SCC), a not-for-profit organization that actively promotes careers in skilled trades and technologies, is proud to announce that TransCanada has returned as a Presenting Sponsor of the 2019 Skills Canada National Competition. The Skills Canada National Competition (SCNC) will be held on May 28-29, 2019, at the Halifax Exhibition Centre. SCNC is the ideal venue for organizations, like TransCanada, to connect with students who are interested in skilled trade career opportunities. According to the Construction Sector Council, nearly 25 percent of skilled workers will retire in the next decade. This means that there will continue to be a strong demand for skilled workers in Canada. We are pleased to return as a Presenting Sponsor of the 25th Skills Canada National Competition, says Carla Morris, central region director at TransCanada. As our Canadian operational business continues to grow, we will be conducting recruitment over the next four years to ensure our work continues flawlessly. SCNC is a great opportunity to connect with top talent and attract employees with a diversity of backgrounds, opinions and skills to strengthen our team and drive innovation. Representatives from industry, government, and labour, along with educators, youth, parents and the public are expected to attend the event, and over 550 students and apprentices will compete for the title of national champion in more than 40 skilled trade and technology Skill Areas. Also, there will be over 50 interactive Try-A-Trade and Technology activities that will give over 7,500 visiting students the opportunity to learn about the various career options available to them in the skilled trade and technology sectors. The Skills Canada National Competition profiles the skills that are necessary to adapt to the quickly evolving job market. Through our partnership with TransCanada we can raise awareness of these constantly changing occupations and inform the next generation of workers on the skills needed to enter the workforce, says Shaun Thorson, Chief Executive Officer of Skills/Competences Canada. Story continues About TransCanada Pipelines Limited With more than 65 years' experience, TransCanada is a leader in the responsible development and reliable operation of North American energy infrastructure including natural gas and liquids pipelines, power generation and gas storage facilities. TransCanada operates one of the largest natural gas transmission networks that extends more than 91,900 kilometres (57,100 miles), connecting major gas supply basins to markets across North America. TransCanada is a leading provider of gas storage and related services with 653 billion cubic feet of storage capacity. A large independent power producer, TransCanada currently owns or has interests in more than 6,000 megawatts of power generation in Canada and the United States. TransCanada is also the developer and operator of one of North Americas leading liquids pipeline systems that extends approximately 4,900 kilometres (3,000 miles), connecting growing continental oil supplies to key markets and refineries. TransCanadas common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under the symbol TRP. Visit TransCanada.com to learn more, or connect with us on social media . About Skills Canada Skills Canada was founded in 1989 as a national, not-for-profit organization with partner Skills Canada organizations in each of the provinces/territories that work with employers, educators, labour groups and governments to promote skilled trades and technology careers among Canadian youth. Its unique position among private and public-sector partners enables it to work toward securing Canadas future skilled labour needs while helping young people discover rewarding careers. Skills Canada offers experiential learning opportunities including skilled trades and technology competitions for hundreds of thousands of young Canadians through regional, provincial/territorial, national and international events, as well as skilled trades awareness programs. Headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Skills Canada is the Canadian Member organization of WorldSkills. Follow Skills/Competences Canada on Twitter , Facebook , YouTube , Flickr and Instagram . MEDIA CONTACT: Michele Rogerson, micheler@skillscanada.com , T. 343-883-7545 ext. 509. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/85d77b2a-165e-408f-8524-fa0c16d6b6e9. By Moses Kyeyune. The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development has been asked to allocate an extra 2.8 billion shillings to its counterpart of East African Affairs, to facilitate mass sensitisation about East African Community. This according to recommendations contained in the report of parliaments committee on budget, will facilitate public sensitisation and awareness of the East African Community integration for the benefit of all Ugandans. The Committee chaired by Ntenjeru North MP Amos Lugoloobi highlighted low public awareness on the integration, especially at the countrys border points. This, according to the committee, puts Ugandans at a disadvantage in benefiting from the integration process. The MPs also based their recommendations on limited funds for awareness. With the labor force so tight these days and millennials constituting a growing proportion of the workforce -- they're predicted to hold 75 percent of U.S. jobs by 2025 -- you may be one of those (many) employers shopping for ways to attract more of these smart, tech-savvy young'uns into your fold. One obvious choice here is assistance with college debt, a financial albatross which harshly impacts Americans' lives: According to the Federal Reserve, 6.8 million student loan borrowers between ages 40 and 49 -- decades after their college sojourns have ended -- still owe, on average, $33,765 each. Related: Why You Should Care About Student Loan Debt That's a level of debt particularly hard to swallow if you're fresh out of college, still in your 20s and pulling in a modest paycheck. Seven out of 10 new college graduates, on average, owe $37,172. And that means that young people's hope to start a family or buy a house may have to be deferred -- a long time. No wonder an American Student Assistance survey of 502 young people ages 22 to 33 found that 56 percent of them reported worrying about student debt either "often" or "all the time." No wonder too that Forbes called student debt assistance the "hottest employee benefit of 2018." For these reasons, Unum Group, a Chattanooga, Tenn.-based corporate insurance company with 8,600 U.S. employees (plus 750 in the U.K.) decided to join the growing number of employers offering student debt assistance -- with a catch: Unum's debt offer specifies that employees taking the assistance trade vacation in return. In fact, they can trade up to five days or 40 hours of PTO. In return, they'll receive the cash equivalent of their hourly pay for those eight-hour days -- an average of $1,200 per employee, the company says. This money will then be invested in a tax-free account. Story continues This trade might in fact look sexy to Unum's employees, whose generous PTO policy gives them at least 28 vacation days, with carryover privileges (40 hours' worth per year). The reason: According to company surveys, those employees owe, on average, $32,000 in student debt to four different loan organizations. But the obvious question is, why the need for a tradeoff? "All we're doing is adding a level of choice," Carl Gagnon, assistant vice president of Global Financial Well-being and Retirement Programs at Unum, said in a phone interview. "If the PTO is valuable to them, they can keep it. If they want to trade the value of the PTO to pay off some of their student debt, they can do that too. It's simply a matter of choice." "Choice" is an important part of Unum's benefits philosophy, but the idea of adding debt assistance on top of existing benefits was a nonstarter, Gagnon said. "It was pretty expensive," he explained. He added that the company surveyed employees through its "emerging leaders" focus groups and found a "very enthusiastic" response to the tradeoff option. He also said that the company's research found that the student debt burden "crosses all generations" at the company. The vp added that it's too early to determine how many takers there'll be for what Unum has dubbed its "Student Debt Relief Program," but that the company announcement early in 2019 was geared towards helping employees decide how much PTO carryover to defer to 2020, in order to trade it for debt assistance. Fidelity Investments will partner with Unum to transfer the money to the empoloyee's loan processor. Such monthly contributions are applied to the loans' principal and can shave years off those crushing student loans. Related: How Student Loans Are Crushing Millennial Entrepreneurialism Gagnon said he believed that Unum is "one of the first" companies to offer this kind of trade and said that the program, announced Jan. 30, had already generated "a lot" of interest among companies the insurer does business with. By Abubaker Kirunda. A Self-styled Pastor is being held by police in Jinja for allegedly stealing a mobile phone from a patient in Jinja Referral hospital. The 15-year old boy a resident of Masese village in Walukuba-Masese Division in Jinja is said to have been pretending to be praying for patients admitted in the hospital. The Kiira Region police spokesperson DianaNandaula said the suspect targeted the mobile phone of a patient that was charging. Nadaula said other patients in the hospital got suspicious of him and called the owner who got the suspect getting out of the hospital. She said the suspect is being held at Jinja central police station as investigations go on. Joe Raedle/Getty Images(EL PASO, Texas) -- If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog, President Harry Truman is said to have once quipped. President Donald Trump says for now, well, hes okay without one -- a four-legged friend, that is. At a campaign rally in El Paso, Texas, on Monday night, the president pretty much ruled out joining the tradition of having a first family pet, saying he would feel "a little phony having a dog. The mansion at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has been home to some famous presidential pooches over the years, including the Obamas' Bo and Sunny, Lyndon Johnsons Him and Her, and the Bush family's Barney and Mrs. Beasley. But the Trumps are the first modern first family to not have a pet of any kind. In his Texas speech, the president pivoted from border security to presidential pooches after praising what he called the "unbelievable ability of German Shepherds to sniff out drugs. During a recent trip to the southern border, the president learned high-tech machinery sometimes isnt as accurate as the super-sensitive noses on the highly-trained dogs. "You do love your dogs, don't you? he said to the crowd. I wouldn't mind having one, honestly, but I don't have any time. Continuing his riff, he asked: "How would I look walking a dog on the White House lawn? Would that be right?" Then, he paused to shake his head. "I don't know. Feels a little phony, phony to me. A lot of people say, Oh, you should get a dog, Why? Its good politically. I said, Look, thats not the relationship I have with my people. Then a voice from the crowd yelled out Obama had a dog! Yeah, Obama had a dog, youre right, the president said with a laugh. Trump was likely referring to his daughter-in-law and campaign adviser Lara Trump, a dog rescue advocate. In recent weeks, she's pitched the president on adopting a dog while at the White House, according to a source familiar with the matter. Lara Trump was recently successful in advocating for the end of greyhound racing in Florida, a state that recently voted to end the sport. She did so along with Trump allies Rep. Matt Gaetz and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. While the president isnt fond of having a pet himself his first wife Ivana recounted in a memoir that Trump didnt want her poodle Chappy to move in with their family in New York he has welcomed Westminster dog show champs to Trump Tower and raised money for charities that train service dogs. Still, when he speaks about dogs these days, it's usually as an insult. Trumps political enemies have choked like a dog, barked like a dog, sweated like a dog, lied like a dog, have been dumped like a dog or was fired like a dog. Even actress Kristen Stewart cheated like a dog, according to Trump. The presidents aversion to getting himself a four-legged companion goes against the American norm, though. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, 68 percent of all Americans own a pet, and 60.2 million Americans -- or 48.5 percent -- own more than one. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. (Adds details, background) By Ahmed Ismail and Aidan Lewis CAIRO, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell, Eni, BP and Exxon Mobil were among the winners in one of Egypt's largest ever oil and gas exploration tenders on Tuesday, as the country looks to sustain an investment upswing spurred by major discoveries. The awards marked Exxon Mobil's entry into gas exploration in Egypt, while Shell was handed the most concessions, three for oil and two for gas, at an annual petroleum show that Egypt has used to promote itself as a hub for gas production and trading in the Eastern Mediterranean. Egypt expects investments of at least $750 million to $800 million in the first stage of exploration in the total of 12 concessions announced, Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla said. The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Corporation's bid round, which was the largest in its history, included border areas in the Mediterranean Sea as well as land areas in the Nile Delta. Five gas exploration concessions were awarded - in which 20 wells will be drilled - to Shell, Exxon, Petronas, BP, DEA and Eni, the head of Egypt's state gas board said. Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation's (EGPC) tender meanwhile included areas in the Western Desert, the Nile Valley, the Gulf of Suez and the Eastern Desert. Neptune Energy, Merlon, Shell, Eni and state-controlled EGPC were awarded seven oil exploration concessions in total in which 39 wells will be drilled, Egypt's petroleum ministry said. BOOSTING INVESTMENT Eni's discovery of the giant Zohr field in 2015, the largest in the Mediterranean and estimated to hold about 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, has raised interest in exploration in Egypt. The country has reached maritime demarcation agreements with several countries in the region in its push over recent years towards increased oil and gas exploration. Executives at the forum, which was attended by the CEOs of companies including BP and Shell, said Egypt's advantages as a hub include well-developed infrastructure, established industry expertise, strong local demand, and the country's strategic location between Europe and Asia, allowing it to send gas west or east depending on markets. Story continues They are also encouraged by Europe's desire to diversify gas supplies and find alternative suppliers to Russia, and to reduce carbon emissions. Egypt hopes to tap long underutilised liquefaction plants, where gas is turned into LNG, to export supplies across the Mediterranean along with that of its neighbours, including Israel, which said it would pipe gas to Egypt later this year. "I think were starting to see much more robustness for this concept," said Gasser Hanter, Shell's country chairman, in reference to the concept of Egypt as an emerging hub. "You're seeing the intergovernmental agreements being sorted out, you're seeing the deregulation of the gas market, a lot of confidence in the economy, in Egypt, that is boosting the investment in the upstream." However, executives also said longer-term challenges include geopolitical tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, the need to further develop infrastructure, and competition from other suppliers including Russia and the United States. (Additional reporting by Nadine Awadalla and Eric Knecht; Editing by Catherine Evans, Susan Fenton and Alexander Smith) Two freshman Republican senators are trying to end taxpayer-funded pensions for members of Congress. Senators Mike Braun of Indiana and Rick Scott of Florida announced the End Pensions In Congress Act on Tuesday. Pensions are kind of an archaic thing, said Braun in an interview with Yahoo Finance. Here in government, I think its a great example of where its a remnant of the way things used to be. Most people [outside of Congress] dont get them anymore. According to a 2017 report from the Congressional Research Service, members of Congress are eligible for a pension at age 62 if they have served for at least five years. Members qualify for a pension at age 50 if theyve completed 20 years of service, and members of any age can receive a pension after 25 years of service. The size of the pension depends on years of service and the average of the highest three years of salary. I think its time for that to go, especially when you look at the performance that both Congress and senators have provided over the last few decades. Itd be not only symbolic it just shouldnt be a perk thats there in anymore, said Braun. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) The CRS report said 611 retired members of Congress were receiving federal pensions based at least in part on their Congressional service, as of October 2016. Braun argues U.S. representatives and senators should use their Thrift Savings Plan to save for retirement, which is similar to a private sector 401(k). (All Congressional members are eligible for a pension plan as well as the Thrift Savings Plan). Defined contribution plans like 401(k)s have become the predominant retirement saving vehicle for the private sector, with 47% of firms offering them, compared with 8% of companies offering defined benefit plans, or pensions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Florida Gov. Ron Desantis introduced similar legislation under the same name when he was serving in Congress, though it did not become law. Braun said he expects it will be difficult for his bill to make it to the presidents desk. Story continues Its got a long journey ahead of us, but that doesnt mean we cant try to get the discussion going, said Braun. Braun has also introduced a bill that would prevent members of Congress from being paid if they fail to pass a budget on time. Jessica Smith is a reporter for Yahoo Finance based in Washington, D.C. Follow her on Twitter at @JessicaASmith8. Seattle Genetics, Inc. SGEN announced that its Japanese partner, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited received approval from the European Commission (EC) to extend the marketing authorization for Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) to include the combination of the drug and AVD (Adriamycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine) for the treatment of adult patients with previously untreated CD30+ stage IV classical Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). As a result, Seattle Genetics will receive a milestone payment of $30 million from Takeda. Adcetris in combination with AVD is also approved in the United States for treatment of adult patients with previously untreated stage III or IV classical HL. The approval was supported by positive results from the ECHELON-1 phase III study. Seattle Genetics shares have returned 27.2% in the past year, against the industrys decline of 16.2%. Adcetris is the only marketed product of Seattle Genetics. The drug is approved for relapsed HL and relapsed systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (sALCL) in the United States, the EU and Japan. It is also approved in the United States and Europe for the treatment of patients suffering from cHL with no prior treatment and who are at high risk of relapse or progression as post-autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-HSCT) consolidation. It is also approved for primary cutaneous anaplastic large cell lymphoma (pcALCL) and CD30-expressing mycosis fungoides (MF) in the United States. Seattle Genetics has an agreement with Takeda for further development and commercialization of Adcetris. Seattle Genetics retains all rights to sell Adcetris in the United States and Canada, while Takeda has commercial rights to the drug in the rest of the world. However, the drug has several competitors, including Bristol-Myers Squibbs BMY Opdivo and Mercks MRK Keytruda, which are approved for relapsed or refractory cHL. Seattle Genetics, Inc. Price Story continues Seattle Genetics, Inc. Price | Seattle Genetics, Inc. Quote Zacks Rank & Stock to Consider Seattle Genetics currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Sell). A better-ranked stock worth considering is Novo Nordisk A/S NVO, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Novo Nordisks earnings per share estimates have increased from $2.56 to $2.58 for 2019 and from $2.77 to $2.81 for 2020 over the past 60 days. The company delivered a positive earnings surprise in three of the trailing four quarters, with average of 1.70%. Zacks' Best Stock-Picking Strategy It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But from 2000-2018, while the market gained +4.8% per year, our top stock-picking strategy averaged +54.3% per year. How has that screen done lately? From 2017-2018, it sextupled the market's +15.8% gain with a soaring +98.3% return. Free See the Stocks It Turned Up for Today >> 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 Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) : Free Stock Analysis Report Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO) : Free Stock Analysis Report Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Seattle Genetics, Inc. (SGEN) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research (Adds graphics, updates Brent price) LONDON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia plans to produce around 9.8 million barrels per day of oil in March, over half a million bpd below its pledged production level under a global supply-cutting deal, Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told the Financial Times. Exports would fall in March to 6.9 million bpd, according to the article published on Tuesday. The March production figure means Saudi would be voluntarily cutting output by more than 500,000 bpd below its pledged production level under a deal between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia. Under the deal reached in December and which came into effect at the start of the year, Saudi Arabia's target production is 10.311 million bpd. The news boosted Brent crude prices by more than 2 percent to nearly $63 a barrel. Production in March would be 1.2 million bpd lower than Saudi Arabia's November output, which was an all-time high. In the interview, Falih addressed a U.S. bill that might expose OPEC to antitrust lawsuits, saying the legislation could be "harmful" to the global economy, and expressed his hope that the United States would "do the right thing". He said if Saudi Arabia were unable to balance the market by adjusting production, the world would suffer "irreparably". A U.S. House of Representatives committee approved the bill known as No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, or NOPEC, last week. (Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar and Alex Lawler; Editing by Louise Heavens and Dale Hudson) Reddit, the social network that bills itself as the front page of the Internet, continued a recent growth spurt by raising $300 million in new funding from investors including Chinas Tencent. The Series D fundraising round values the company at $3 billion, a Reddit spokesperson confirmed to Deadline. Related stories Facebook Tops Q4 Estimates For Profit, Revenue And Users, Lifting Stock Adults 50-64 Are Most Media-Connected Age Group, Nielsen Says Social Media Overtakes Newspapers As News Source, Pew Report Finds Executives will use the new funding to bolster the capabilities and functionality of the companys platform as they seek to make it more friendly to advertisers. Among the participants in the latest round are Sequoia, Fidelity and Andreessen Horowitz. Tencent, which owns 15% of Snap Inc. and 40% of Fortnite creator Epic Games, has put $150 million into Reddit. Founded in 2005, Reddit has consistently drawn an avid, young core user base, with 50% of its 330 million monthly active users between ages 18-24. In recent years, the company has worked to clean up and professionalize its network, which has been a popular but rough-hewn and occasionally vitriolic setting that gave pause to some advertisers. The push appears to be achieving results, with the companys ad revenue reportedly exceeding $100 million for the first time last year. (It doesnt formally disclose ad revenue figures.) Digital advertising remains dominated by Facebook and Google, but restive media buyers are increasingly interested in alternatives, especially given the issues on the duopoly platforms with brand safety and fraud. Reddits Ask Me Anything feature has long been a popular destination for political figures, celebrities, athletes and an array of others. Recently, though, the platform has boosted its video offerings and served as a broader promotional venue for the likes of Jordan Peeles upcoming film Us and California Sen. Kamala Harris, who has thrown her hat in the 2020 presidential ring. Steve Huffman, who co-founded Reddit, replaced Ellen Pao as CEO in 2015. Paos tenure as an executive, including an eight-month stint as CEO, was capped by a storm of protests by some Redditors after a handful of Reddit communities were banned due to hate speech. In a later op-ed for the Washington Post, Pao wrote that the ban wound up having a boomerang effect, subjecting her to one of the largest trolling attacks in history. Rail Is the Next Big Thing for Asias Online Travel Platforms A race among online travel platforms in Asia to be the dominant one-stop shop for consumers to book rail is starting, thanks to a rail-naissance among travelers to explore another country or multi-destinations on tracks. Klook has been bumping up its rail offering in the past year, enabling customers to buy point-to-point tickets and passes on its platform for trains in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, and last week Europe through a tie-up with Rail Europe. Bookings have been multiplying thrice each month since last May, Klook Chief Revenue Officer Anita Ngai told Skift. The company even expects rail sales to be as big as its mainstay current tours and activities volume currently by the end of the year. Ctrips international online travel agency Trip.com has also enabled bookings for trains in China, South Korea, Germany and the UK. With sophisticated rail networks and trains at home, Asian consumers from huge markets such as China, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore have become used to mapping out train journeys. Whats more, gone are the days when train travel is seen as second class. Massive infrastructure investment in rail transport throughout Asia has chipped away at the dread of traveling by rail. Now its perceived as seamless, on-time, comfortable, cheaper and scenic. Still a greenfield But consumer travel sites selling rail are still few and far between in Asia. Its a greenfield anywhere, pointed out Udi Shahir, CEO and co-founder of Save A Train, a startup based in Tel Aviv and Amsterdam that sells train tickets to customers, travel agents and corporates, currently covering rail travel in Europe. None of the top online travel agencies serve rail, he said. There are hardly any startups in rail. Ask any travel professional, they will tell you, rail is the most complicated part of travel and thats why only few got into it. Expedia bought London-based train-service distributor SilverRail in mid 2017, as Skift reported, but according to Shahir, SilverRail is more of a software for rail operators and less in distribution. Story continues SilverRail took the path of Rail IT [Italy]. They are redesigning the whole SJ [Sweden train] system, said Shahir. Then there are players like Rail Europe, which are going more to businesses than consumers. The big [consumer sites] are Trainline and us, and in the next four months we are going to surpass Trainline in inventory, as we are adding USA, Canada, Japan, China, and Russia to our system. Its complicated Why is rail so complicated for online travel agencies? According to Klooks Ngai, the backend and the interfaces are very complex to build and require massive investment. As well, marketing can be challenging. You need the local knowledge. For example, rail is second nature to people in Hong Kong, Singapore or Korea. But my Vietnam team told me you cant just sell rail to Vietnamese, you need to teach them how to do so look at maps, figure out the lines because Vietnam does not have a built-out rail or subway system. In future, if Im marketing to Americans, I might have to do a bit of education on rail passes, whereas in Europe there isnt a need at all. So its about understanding local sensitivities and marketing directions. On the technical side, she gave the example of last seat availability. There isnt a sold-out situation if you sell Disneyland tickets; you can keep selling them as long as there is interest. But when you sell train tickets, the concept of last room or seat comes into play, a bit like flight or hotel. The importance of live inventory then surfaces if you oversell, its not a good experience for the customer. So suddenly, your technical requirements go a whole level up and you need engineering resources. Thats why not a lot of players want to get into trains. There is a lot of pre-investment before you see even a dollar of income, said Ngai. She added: Thats why weve more than doubled our engineering team to over 200 people since the last round of funding. Many are based in Shenzhen, where it is difficult to get talent because the likes of Tencent and a lot of startups are finding talent. Its costly, but we see it as an investment, not cost. Klooks rail partnership with RailEurope is part of its strategy to expand into Europe and USA, both destination-wise and market-wise. Asia accounts for 85 percent of bookings now, the rest being Australia/New Zealand, Middle East, and North America, which it intends to grow. How rail can further change the way Asians book travel While Expedia may look at its SilverRail acquisition as a way to cross-sell rail when consumers book flights or stays, Klook believes it is a sell in its own right and even changes the way Klook positions itself. A study it commissioned last year covering 12 markets worldwide shows 63 percent of travelers book things-to-do before flight and hotel. Some 54 percent decide where to go based on a unique event, such as a concert, or a seasonal attraction such as during Japans cherry blossoms, not necessarily cheap flights or accommodations. It changes how we see ourselves. People are using us to discover, they might even book us first, instead of after theyve booked their trip. It changes the way we market, write our content, said Ngai, adding Klook has become the most-searched travel activities booking platform worldwide since October, according to Google Trends. Rail, she believes, will enhance Klooks position as the go-to for discovering where to go, as it is becoming a popular touring or travel option. Said Ivan Breiter, director of Southeast Asia of Switzerland Tourism, Rail travel in Switzerland has become enormously popular among Asians, especially for the growing Free Independent Traveler market. Almost two-thirds of all travelers in Southeast Asia prefer the train as transport within our country. He added, Consequently, we are able to invest more marketing and PR in Asia. We promote the Swiss Travel System, by train, bus and boat, heavily in the region, with dedicated staff working in China, Southeast Asia and India. Subscribe to Skift newsletters covering the business of travel, restaurants, and wellness. (Bloomberg) -- Canadas top law firms are set to converge this Valentines Day on a Halifax courtroom, competing for a piece of the C$260 million ($196 million) mystery behind the Quadriga CX cryptocurrency exchange. The lawyers are contending for the right to represent some 115,000 Quadriga customers who are owed about C$190 million in Bitcoin and other digital assets plus another C$70 million in cash in court proceedings involving the shuttered Vancouver-based exchange. Quadriga was granted creditor protection last week in Nova Scotia Supreme Court, halting any lawsuits while the firm seeks to restructure with the help of Ernst & Young. Bennett Jones LLP and McInnes Cooper were first to submit a request to represent users, with retail investor Tong Zou claiming he was one of the largest affected individual users" and forwarding his name in an affidavit that included five other named account holders. Since then, one of those holders has withdrawn from the group, leaving 141 affected users with C$11.9 million of cash claims and C$1.11 million in cryptocurrency, according to a Feb. 11 court filing. Others law firms have come forward, filing competing submissions ahead of Thursdays hearing before Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Michael Wood, who may then appoint counsel to represent those account holders. For the law firms, such an opportunity would give them a slice of the administrative charges from the process to cover their professional fees. Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt is working with Patterson Law and seeking to represent people such as Richard Kagerer, a software consultant from British Columbia whos owed C$19,900 in crypto and U.S. dollar balances. Hes been down this road before: Kagerers company is one of the creditors for Japans Mt. Gox exchange, which entered insolvency proceedings in 2014. Kagerer also said in his Feb. 11 statement that he was among a small number of customers" who filed claims in court when another Canadian cryptocurrency exchange shut down a few years ago. Story continues Osler also has support from Ryan Kneer and Giuseppe Burtini. Kneer, a Calgary resident, has been involved in cryptocurrency since 2013 and is a professional market maker for the crypto market and a developer of automated trading software, according to his Feb. 8 statement. Like Tong, Kneer has been communicating with other Quadriga account holders through the Telegram instant messaging application. He chose not to disclose the amount of his claim -- for good reason: Many affected users are "deeply concerned about protecting their privacy," he said in his filing. Among other reasons for protecting their privacy, individuals who own large quantities of cryptocurrency have been targeted for theft, phishing and even assault." Burtini, a resident of Kelowna, British Columbia, said he is a representative of an unidentified blockchain company that sold tokens on Quadrigas trading platform and had a significant multi-million dollar fiat (CAD) currency balance with Quadriga, according to his Feb. 8 sworn statement. The company has been requesting payment of its balance from Quadriga for a year. In his affidavit, he said Osler has 59 users mostly from Canada with a total of C$12.4 million of claims, ranging from C$200 to C$4 million, who support the law firms appointment. Miller Thomson LLP is working with Cox & Palmer, seeking to represent Toronto resident Parkham Pakjou and about 200 other creditors who have in excess of C$13.2 million of claims against Quadriga. Claims from those clients range from C$100 to in excess of C$2 million, according to its submission. Canadas Companies Creditors Arrangement Act process has the ability of bringing forward a law firm to work with a monitor and represent the interests of a vulnerable group, typically the employees and pensioners. (Updates Bennett Jones claims and Osler user claims in fifth paragraph.) To contact the reporter on this story: Doug Alexander in Toronto at dalexander3@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, ;David Scanlan at dscanlan@bloomberg.net, ;Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Dave Liedtka, Jacqueline Thorpe For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. WARSAW, Poland (AP) U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday invoked the 30th anniversary of the demise of communism to implore countries in Central and Eastern Europe to resist Chinese and Russian influence. Speaking on a five-nation tour of Europe, Pompeo said China and Russia pose twin threats to the democratic and free-market gains made since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. He said the post-communist countries are particularly vulnerable to Chinese and Russian predatory investment and political meddling. Specifically, he called out European dependence on Russian energy, Russia's backing of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that many fear will increase that reliance and China's entry into Europe's telecommunications market through the high-tech company Huawei. To combat the threat, he said, the U.S. will boost engagement in the region, through defense cooperation agreements and exchange programs and he repeatedly made the point that he believes he is reversing a decade of what he called U.S. "disengagement" in Central and Eastern Europe that created a "vacuum" Russia and China have exploited. Over the course of the past 10 years, he said, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leaders have become much more aggressive in the region and made inroads. "Moscow continues to use (energy) as a political weapon for its geopolitical purposes," Pompeo said in Warsaw, the third stop on his tour that began in Hungary and Slovakia. "We continue to work with Poland and other like-minded European allies and partners to stop Russia's proposed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would undermine European energy and national security while also hurting Ukraine." The Russian-German pipeline is being built under the Baltic Sea to deliver gas directly to Germany for further distribution across Europe, increasing the route's capacity over what already flows through the first Nord Stream pipeline. But Eastern European countries like Poland and Ukraine have vehemently objected to the project because they say it specifically bypasses their territories. Story continues Earlier in Bratislava, where he was the first secretary of state to visit in nearly 20 years, Pompeo made similar remarks and noted that Slovakia, because of its history and geography, has "a special appreciation for the aggressive role Russia continues to play in the region," particularly in Ukraine. But, he said, "Russia is not the only nation that seeks to erode sovereignty and freedom in Europe." Pompeo said he had raised with Slovak officials the "need to guard against China's economic and other efforts to create dependence and manipulate your political system." "It's real, it's intentional and they are trying to do things that undermine your sovereignty," he said. In Warsaw, Pompeo renewed a warning he delivered on Monday in Budapest that the United States may be forced to scale back certain operations in Europe and elsewhere if countries continue to do business with Huawei. He said the U.S. had strong concerns about Huawei's motives in Europe, especially in NATO and European Union member states, as well as its business practices. "We've made known the risks that are associated with that, risks to private information of citizens of the country, risks that comes from having that technology installed in network systems," he said. The U.S. has been warning countries about the risks of Chinese telecom technology as governments choose providers for the rollout of 5G wireless internet, which will enable faster download speeds along with greater connectivity among devices. U.S. officials argue that under Chinese security laws companies such as Huawei or ZTE could be compelled to hand over data or access to Chinese intelligence. China has said the U.S. is trying to suppress a rising competitor, and on Tuesday it lashed out at Pompeo's comments. "For some time, the U.S. has spared no effort to churn out all kinds of unwarranted charges against and fabricate various kinds of China threats theory," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said. "It flagrantly threatened and drove a wedge into the relationship between China and other countries and slandered and cracked down on Chinese companies' legitimate development rights and interests." She called the campaign "neither fair nor moral" and "bullying." "We hope that all parties can abandon ideological prejudice and zero-sum thinking and provide fair, just, open, inclusive, transparent and standardized conditions and environment for normal friendly and win-win cooperation," she said. Huawei, which manufactures telecommunications equipment and consumer electronics, also pushed back. "We would encourage all governments to take an objective look at the evidence and maintain an open, engaged approach to 5G and other network developments," said William Wu, the CEO of Huawei Technologies Hungary. "We believe the solution to more secure networks lies in cooperation across the whole industry. Excluding one supplier from technological developments in cyber security will damage technical and economic progress and harm competition in the ICT market." By Lesley Wroughton and Gergely Szakacs BUDAPEST (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cautioned allies on Monday against deploying equipment from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei on their soil, saying it would make it more difficult for Washington to "partner alongside them". The United States and its Western allies believe Huawei Technologies' apparatus could be used for espionage, and see its expansion into central Europe as a way to gain a foothold in the EU market. Washington is concerned in particular about the expansion of Huawei, the world's biggest maker of telecoms equipment, in Hungary and Poland. "We want to make sure we identify (to) them the opportunities and the risks of using that equipment," Pompeo told reporters during a visit to Budapest. Hungary is the first stop in a trip by Pompeo to central Europe that also includes Slovakia and Poland and is part of what administration officials say is an effort to make up for a lack of U.S. engagement in the region that opened the door to more Chinese and Russian influence. Huawei denies engaging in intelligence work for any government. It says its technologies serve 70 percent of Hungarians and that it cooperates with most telecoms providers in Hungary, including state-owned enterprises. "We have seen this all around the world. It also makes it more difficult for America to be present," Pompeo told reporters during a stop at the U.S. embassy, referring to Huawei equipment. "If that equipment is co-located where we have important American systems, it makes it more difficult for us to partner alongside them." Pompeo announced plans for a defence cooperation agreement with Hungary, one of the European governments that is most enthusiastic about Chinese investment. But he said he had discussed "the dangers of allowing China to gain a bridgehead in Hungary" in talks with Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. Budapest's nationalist government, like Poland's largely isolated politically in the European Union, hopes to buy mid-range air defence capabilities from the United States. Story continues U.S. INTERESTS In Poland, where Pompeo is travelling on Tuesday, the government is considering banning Huawei from participating in the development of 5G capabilities after arresting a Chinese employee of Huawei and a former Polish security official on spying allegations last month. Both men have denied wrongdoing. It is also lobbying Washington for an increased military presence on its soil. Slovakia, which Pompeo visits before Poland, is looking to buy F-16 fighter jets. Pompeo's tour includes a conference on the Middle East, hosted by Poland, where Washington hopes to build a coalition against Iran. He is also expected to voice concerns about energy ties with Moscow, and urge Hungary not to support the TurkStream pipeline, part of the Kremlin's plans to bypass Ukraine, the main transit route for Russian gas to Europe. Hungary gets most of its gas from Russia and its main domestic source of electricity is the Paks nuclear power plant where Russia's Rosatom is involved in a 12.5 billion-euro ($14 billion) expansion. Hungary's Szijjarto brushed off U.S. concerns over Russia and China, saying Budapest was fulfilling its obligations to Western allies as a member of the NATO military alliance. "When it comes to cooperation with Russia or cooperation with the People's Republic of China, that does not harm us being reliable as a NATO ally," he told a joint news conference with his U.S. counterpart. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing on Tuesday that China appreciated Szijjarto's "independent, fair and objective" comments, and that China-Hungary ties would not be damaged or interfered with by other countries. The United States' actions to "suppress" Chinese companies' legitimate development interests were "extremely unfair and immoral", and were unbecoming of a great power, Hua said. A EUROPEAN TRUMP Pompeo also discussed concerns over the rule of law in Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban is pressuring courts, media and non-governmental groups. Earlier in the day Pompeo met with civil society leaders at the U.S. Embassy and said he would discuss their treatment directly with Orban. "So many of the concerns that are voiced are things that have happened in the absence of America being engaged," he told reporters. Szijjarto drew parallels between the Trump administration and Orban government on curbing immigration, protecting Christians around the world and support for Israel. "Hungary's government and President Donald Trump's administration represent an identical, or very similar, approaches in both general political and numerous international political issues," he said. (Additional reporting by Michael Martina in BEIJING; Editing by Justyna Pawlak, Robin Pomeroy, Peter Graff and Frances Kerry) (Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Michael Pompeo came close to issuing an us-or-them ultimatum to nations buying from Huawei Technology Co., saying in Hungary that contracts with the Chinese networking giant could limit the availability of U.S. equipment. If that equipment is co-located where we have important American systems, it makes it more difficult for us to partner alongside them, Pompeo told reporters in Budapest on Monday, when asked what message he would send about Huawei. We want to make sure we identify the opportunities and the risks with using that equipment. And then they will get to make their decisions. The Shenzhen, China-based telecoms company has made Hungary a key base in Europe, touting investments of $1.2 billion in the country. The Trump administration, which wants to boost its partnership with Hungary and other central European countries, is warning that nations using Huawei equipment in critical infrastructure could open themselves to security risks. Chinas Foreign Ministry on Tuesday accused the U.S. of bullying. The U.S. side is using every possible means to fabricate unwarranted accusations and variations of this or that kind of China threat theories to threaten and sow discord between China and other countries, ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a news briefing in Beijing. We believe our friendly cooperation does not target or effect any other countries and we also hope the development of China-Hungary relations will not be disrupted by any other country. Pompeo didnt elaborate on what important American systems he was referring to. But the top U.S. diplomat is making push-back against Huawei a key theme of his trip to Europe this week, with additional stops in Poland, Slovakia, Belgium and Iceland. The administration has argued for providers of next-generation mobile gear to rely on U.S. companies such as Cisco Systems Inc. They get to make their own decisions with respect to these things, Pompeo said. What is imperative is that we share with them the things we know about the risks that Huaweis presence in their networks present. Story continues Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, in the joint briefing with Pompeo in Budapest, pushed back against criticism that Hungary wasnt doing enough to counter Chinas influence, in particular Huawei. He noted that Hungarys trade with China represented 1.2 percent of the EUs overall trade with that country and that any cooperation shouldnt endanger the countrys partnership with the U.S. If you look at the Chinese company which is very often in the news nowadays regarding telecommunications, are they present in Hungary? Yes, Szijjarto said. Who are their major contractors? A German and a British company. So when it comes to China, I think hypocrisy should finally be left behind. Hua, the Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman, thanked Szijjarto for his independent, objective and unbiased remarks. (Updates with Chinese comment from fourth paragraph.) --With assistance from David Ramli. To contact the reporters on this story: Nick Wadhams in Washington at nwadhams@bloomberg.net;Zoltan Simon in Budapest at zsimon@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. (Adds further quote, details on Huawei) BRATISLAVA, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The United States is fine with companies competing in global markets but it must be done in an open and transparent way, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday when questioned about the role of Chinese firms such as Huawei. Pompeo is on a three-city visit to central Europe, part of what administration officials say is an effort to make up for a lack of U.S. engagement in the region that has opened the door to more Chinese and Russian influence. In Budapest on Monday, Pompeo cautioned allies against deploying equipment from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, saying it would make it more difficult for Washington to "partner alongside them". The visit comes at a time that countries in the Europe Union are looking to build up future 5G mobile networks and some like Germany and Poland are weighing whether to let Chinese firms such as Huawei participate. "We're fine with companies competing but they've got to do it in a way that is fair, open and transparent... and they can't do so with anything other than any economic motives," Pompeo said at a news conference on Tuesday with Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak during a visit to Bratislava. Pompeo said the American task was "if we're concerned with that we will share information, we will provide resources and help others understand so they know what they are getting into, if there are security risks associated with the procurement of ... China's goods." "We want to make sure our friends, our allies, our NATO partners, those that are inside the EU..., we want to make sure they are aware of those risks. That's our task," he said. The United States and some of its Western allies say Huawei Technologies' apparatus could be used for espionage. Huawei denies engaging in intelligence work for any government. The chief executive of Huawei's Hungarian unit, William Wu, said on Tuesday in response to Pompeo's comments in Budapest that governments should look objectively at evidence and maintain an open approach to network development. "We believe the solution to more secure networks lies in co-operation across the whole industry," he said in a statement. "Excluding one supplier from technological developments in cyber security will damage technical and economic progress and harm competition in the ICT market." (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Additional reporting by Jack Stubbs in London; Writing by Jason Hovet; Editing by Jason Neely and Alexander Smith) Chalk up another win for President Trumps deregulatory agenda - the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last week announced a plan to reconsider an Obama-era regulation that would have made it harder for working Americans to access credit. Without reform, the CFPBs rule governing payday and vehicle-title loans would have all but eliminated the industries, wiping out around $20 billion worth of credit from the economy and stripping away loan options from countless consumers. Payday loans may not be suitable for everyone, but they help millions of people bridge a gap during hard times. For example, a recent Federal Reserve survey found that 40 percent of American adults do not have enough savings to cover a $400 emergency expense. For those on the financial fringe who lack savings or access to credit, paying a past-due utility bill or fixing a broken-down car can be tough. Small-dollar loans can get those vulnerable consumers through to their next paycheck, and they beat having the electricity shut off or being stranded without a car. So what was the CFPBs justification for the near-elimination of a valued industry? The Obama-era CFPB said that consumers lack the requisite level of understanding of these loans. That is, consumers are incapable of grasping the risks of short-term, high-interest loans. To support that claim, the CFPB relied on a study from Columbia Law School professor Ronald Mann. The problem is that Manns study showed a majority of consumers do appreciate the risks of short-term, small-dollar loans, and rationally decide to take them out anyway, concluding that the majority of borrowers have a good understanding of their own use of the product. Professor Mann even went so far as to criticize the original rule in a letter to the bureau, stating that it was frustrating that the CFPBs summary of his work was so inaccurate and misleading, torturing the analysis to the extent that it was unrecognizable. Story continues Despite the CFPBs claims, the fact is that small-dollar loan products are remarkably simple. So long as a borrower has an income, a checking account, and an ID, a short-term loan can provide between $100-500 for a 15 percent fee, with no required collateral and no hidden fees or terms. For example, a customer could take out a loan for $300 and owe $345 in two weeks time. Its that straightforward. No payday lender that is abiding by long-established law is doing anything more complicated. This is perhaps why a mere 1 percent of all complaints received by the CFPB are related to payday lending. In fact, the overwhelming majority of small-dollar loan borrowers value them. No wonder the Trump administration wanted to set the record straight. The empirical evidence underpinning the rule was scant, while the impact on consumers and businesses would be disastrous. Even so, leading Democratic opponents such as Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., claim that the bureau is now betraying its mission to protect consumers. But that is mistaken. A crucial part of improving consumers lives is ensuring that they have access to competitive credit markets - something that is an express legal requirement of the CFPB. You dont make people better off by taking away their choices. You make people better off by offering them more and better choices. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP The decision by the Trump administration to preserve consumer choice and access to credit is the right one. Rescinding the payday loan rule is a win for consumers, allowing individuals - and not Washington bureaucrats - to decide what is best for themselves. Daniel Press is a financial policy analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free market public policy organization based in Washington, D.C. Related Articles Oneworld Stays Cool on China Southern Joining Alliance Members of the Oneworld airline alliance met late last week in London to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the partnership and kick off new initiatives for the coming years. But for all of its rapid expansion, the alliance seems hesitant to welcome China Southern, Chinas largest carrier, into its ranks. Instead, the alliance seems more interested in making China Southern a Oneworld Connect member, or a partner with limited benefits. Oneworld is one of the three major airline alliances in the world, and holds carriers such as American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Qantas, and Qatar in its ranks. Throughout mainland China, however, the alliance hasnt got a strong partner outside of Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific. According to Jens Flottau of Air Transport World online, during the meeting late last week, Ron Gurney, the CEO of Oneworld, shared that the alliance has no plans to add China Southern to its ranks in the near future. That plan may prove disruptive for those bent on robustly expanding the alliances reach into greater China. Already, American Airlines owns a 2.76 percent stake in the carrier while Qatar owns another 5 percent. British Airways, a third Oneworld carrier, has also explored a joint venture with China Southern, though none of those talks have yet borne fruit. Further speculation has been fueled by the Chinese carriers own alliance ambitions. Late last year, the carrier announced that it was leaving the Skyteam alliance to head out on its own. Between that move and the above investments, it seemed that the carrier was clearly on a trajectory to join Oneworld but so far, no partnership has formed. Instead, executives at Oneworld may be keen on making China Southern a Oneworld Connect partner. Launched last year, the Oneworld Connect product is a sort of membership light option that gives partners (and passengers) access to alliance benefits without fully joining the ranks. A passenger booked and flying on American Airlines, for example, could fly to Beijing on American and then transfer through to China Southern, a Oneworld Connect partner to complete the journey. Throughout, the passenger would earn frequent flyer miles and other benefits across the entire trip. Alone, however, a passenger booking directly and exclusively on China Southern wouldnt get Oneworld benefits. Already, other carriers are considering the use of Oneworld Connect. In November Alaska shared that it may take advantage of Connect in some geographies while Fiji Airways plans to become the first partner member starting next month. At the Oneworld meeting last week, CEO Rob Gurney suggested that carriers were clamoring to partner up as Connect members, while IAGs Willie Walsh said that Aer Lingus was considering the role. If the top brass at Oneworld arent yet ready to let China Southern in the door, the Connect option may be a realistic alternative. Subscribe to Skift newsletters covering the business of travel, restaurants, and wellness. Investing.com - Saudi jawboning, which has been as aggressive as their production cuts, is propping up crude prices, although the OPEC cartel they control anticipates lower demand for its oil this year versus higher output from rivals. New York-traded West Texas Intermediate crude and London's Brent oil rose more than 2% on Tuesday after Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said the kingdom will pump just 9.8 million barrels per day in March, more than 500,000 bpd below what it agreed to in December with the enlarged OPEC+10 group including Russia to lift crude prices. WTI settled up 69 cents, or 1.3%, at 53.10 per barrel. It lost 4.6% last week for its steepest weekly decline this year. Brent, the global oil benchmark, rose 95 cents, or 1.5%, to $62.46 per barrel by 2:43 PM ET (19:43 GMT). Oil prices also appeared to benefit from a rally on Wall Street after a tentative deal reached by American lawmakers to avoid another partial government shutdown. It was unclear, however, if President Donald Trump would accept that deal as congressional aides said it did not contain the $5.7 billion he wants for a border wall. Optimism also ran high in financial markets that U.S.-China trade talks could result in an agreement as U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer arrived in Beijing for high-level discussions. Falih, speaking with the Financial Times in an interview, appeared to time his announcement to offset the impact of the lower demand forecast by OPEC for its oil in 2019. OPEC said it expected demand for its crude to decline to 30.59 million bpd this year -- some 240,000 bpd lower than what it anticipated in January -- due to higher production by key rival the United States. Falih also addressed a U.S. bill that might expose OPEC to antitrust lawsuits, saying the legislation could be "harmful" to the global economy, and expressed his hope that the United States would "do the right thing." A U.S. House of Representatives committee approved the bill known as No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, or NOPEC Act, last week. Story continues If Saudi Arabia were unable to balance the market by adjusting production, the world would suffer "irreparably," Falih said without elaborating. The Saudi Energy Minister has been relentless in trying to talk up the market since the start of OPEC+10 campaign in December. Yet global economic worries and fears of weak demand for oil have regularly stymied the run-up in crude, despite WTI posting a 19% gain last month, its biggest ever for a January, and piercing the $55 per barrel ceiling last broken in November. Brent has also struggled to hold a rally above $62. Outages in recent days at major refineries are causing WTI supplies to swell at the key Cushing, Okla. storage hub for U.S. crude, setting the market up for potentially nasty data in the coming week or two if not resolved quickly. The American Petroleum Institute will release at 4:30 PM ET a snapshot of what Wednesday's weekly supply-demand data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration could be. There is concern that overproduction could be looming again among U.S. oil producers, who might find WTI north of $50 per barrel lucrative enough to finish drilled-but-uncompleted wells. The U.S. oil rig count rose by 7 units last week after the previous week's drop of 15. The EIA said separately on Tuesday that U.S. output was expected to reach a record high 12.41 million bpd this year and 13.2 million bpd next year. Related Articles Oil's Bullish Streak Continues as it Heads for Biggest Week of 2019 Gold Prices Hit Two-Week Highs as Data Supports Fed Pause Oil Set for Weekly Gain Amid OPEC+ Cuts and U.S.-China Talks 1. Yes. Its important for students to stay focused throughout the year. Its a plus. 2. Yes. It would fill the learning gaps caused by COVID and would help cut youth crime. 3. No. Students and teachers deserve a summer break. Year-round school wont work. 4. No. It wouldnt work with the militarys summer PCS schedule. Its a bad idea. 5. Unsure. Its hard to say without knowing how the school calendar would work. Vote View Results Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs will cut back its top executives compensations depending on the consequence of investigation into the banks role in a multibillion-dollar Malaysian fund scandal. In a regulatory filing, Goldman announced that its board could reduce or forfeit the stock-based awards granted to its tier-one executives in 2018. Such a scenario could affect former CEO and Chairman Lloyd Blankfein and current CEO David Soloman. While Blankfein was guaranteed to receive $18.5 million in annual variable compensation, which included $14.245 million in the form of restricted stock units (RSU), Soloman was promised circa $15.4 million in RSU as a part of his 2018s compensation of $21.1 million. 1MDB Bribery Scandal As covered by CCN earlier, the scandal centers on a Malaysian state investment fund called 1Malaysia Development Berhad. It was set up by the former prime minister Najib Razak for the countrys economic development after he assumed office in 2019. Goldman raised $6.5 billion in bonds for 1MDB in 2012 and 2013. However, the fund came under a global regulatory spotlight after the Securities Commission Malaysia accused it of stealing $2.7 billion. Last year, the US Justice Department said that the total losses reached as high as $4.5 billion, adding that Goldman Sachs misused half of the money to pay for fine art and jewellery, and to pay bribes and kickbacks. Read the full story on CCN.com. Investing.com - Molson Coors took its biggest intraday hit in nearly nine months after the company missed revenue expectations and said it was restating two years of results due to tax accounting errors. Molson Coors Brewing (NYSE:TAP) slumped 9.3% in midday trading. Declining beer consumption in the U.S. also hit the companys worldwide brand volume, which dropped 1.5% to 22 million hectoliters. The brewer reported revenue of $2.42 billion, compared to $2.55 billion forecast by analysts, according to Investing.com. Elsewhere in the sector, Anheuser Busch Inbev (NYSE:BUD) inched down 0.17%, while Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ) was flat and Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM) slipped 0.6%. Related Articles Electric truck startup Rivian gets funding from Amazon Wall Street opens higher as U.S.-China trade talks progress Trust in tailings? Vale dam disaster spurs investors into action Investing like a millionaire or an elite investor during a bear market can often yield better returns -- it often involves avoiding emotional-driven decisions. The benchmark that Wall Street uses to determine a bear market is when the stock market takes a 20 percent dip. But following the strategies of millionaires or successful hedge funds is often the key to a successful investing strategy before it reaches that level. Millionaire investor Gary Keller, for instance, earned his net worth by investing in real estate and co-founding a residential real estate brokerage, Keller Williams Realty. Those with less capital might follow the sage investing moves of billionaire Warren Buffett, the CEO of the behemoth holding company and financial conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway (ticker: BRK.B, BRK.A). Buffett has compounded capital at more than 20 percent annually for the last 50 years because he has avoided making decisions based on his emotions. The Berkshire CEO is well-known for having adopted a longer time horizon for his assets not focusing on quarter-to-quarter results. [See: 7 Historic Bear Markets.] For years, Buffett has recommended that people invest their money consistently into the S&P 500 because of the index's broader base and low fees. "Investors across the spectrum of experience and net worth could learn from Warren Buffet's investing style," says Mike Loewengart, chief investment officer at E-Trade Financial, a New York-based brokerage company. "He is a true value investor, always hunting for a bargain." Here are a few methods to grow your wealth: -- Set up an automatic investing plan. -- Limit your losses. Set Up an Automatic Investing Plan Investors should utilize an automatic investing plan to allocate money on a regular basis by purchasing exchange-traded funds or mutual funds and avoid timing the market. "Not only does this create a good habit of investing for the long term, but these funds give them access to an array of holdings," he says. "Those who have accumulated wealth over time know the importance of investing consistently -- every little bit counts. Timing the market is a fool's errand." Story continues The amount of time an individual has in the market is more important than timing in the market, says Tim Quillin, a chartered financial analyst and partner at Aptus Financial, a Little Rock, Arkansas-based financial planning firm. "The saddest investing missteps we see are when people try to outsmart the market, typically by selling stocks during periods of uncertainty like late 2008 or early 2009 or even December 2018," he says. When investors take their money out of the market, they have to be right twice: when they sold their stocks and when they start investing again in the market. [10 Ways to Maximize Your Retirement Investments.] Never average down a loser, says C.J. Brott, founder of Capital Ideas, a Dallas-based wealth advisory firm. Buying more of a stock that has fallen in price from the original purchase price because the investor is hoping to get the average price down enough to get even on the next rally is a losing strategy. This strategy is most widely attributed to Jesse Lauriston Livermore, Brott says. Livermore was probably the most famous stock market bear of his day in the '20s and '30s, known for his book "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator," which shows insight into the psychology of trading. Investors should understand what they bought and why they bought it. Both are central principles of Gerald Loeb, the founding partner of E.F. Hutton & Co., a renowned Wall Street brokerage firm. "He was probably the first true speculator in growth stocks because he always analyzed the financials of any company he bought," Brott says. "Loeb then singled out a single reason for owning the stock. The why you own it became a property he called 'the ruling reason' for ownership." Loeb also adopted the strategy of selling a stock when the reason why it was bought was no longer true. He was able to sell without hesitation and that mindset kept him from "constantly rationalizing on what might become a losing investment and holding onto it to get even," Brott says. "It also helped him to sell his losers and hold on to the winners as long as the ruling reason was intact." An example of following that strategy is having held Netflix ( NFLX) all through the Great Recession because the subscriber base continued to grow, he says. Limit Your Losses Rebalancing your portfolio is critical, says Peter Roselle, a Treasure Coast, Florida-based equity and options trader. Roselle is a fan of financial advisors that focus on short selling base on a large amount of research; a couple of examples include David Einhorn, president of New York-based fund management company Greenlight Capital and Jim Chanos, president of Kynikos Associates. [See: 8 Best Gifts to Give for an Investment Education.] "You should have been looking at your asset allocation as equity prices rose and adjusting -- the same is true as they fall," he says. "For most people, this will mean adding to the equity portion of the portfolio as declining equity prices result in fixed income becoming a larger portion of your portfolio." Keep your losses small: This is a proven rule of winning speculators, Brott says. Richard Dennis, the modern day wizard of commodities is a good example. It's reported that he grew $1,600 into $200 million in 10 years. "In order to prove that anyone can learn to trade, he founded the turtle traders and taught a group of neophytes to successfully run small sums into millions of dollars by following the rules," he says. Another rule for the turtles was position sizing. No matter the size of the portfolio, never buy such a large percentage of any stock that a total loss would wipe you out, Brott says. "Lack of proper sizing or what we called overtrading in the old days is at the root of most investment failures," he says. "To trade in a bear market, you must know your own strengths and weaknesses and compensate for the weakness by rigidly following the time tested rules of successful speculation." Maintaining perspective is also key and how rich people keep their money, Roselle says. Bear markets don't last forever, but usually last longer than a month. "If you're holding trash, this may be your time to find the exit," he says. "If you're adding to positions, remember the path of least resistance is still down and you shouldn't be maxing out position size yet." More From US News & World Report Photo credit: Photo courtesy of Paul G. Allens Vulcan Inc. From Popular Mechanics The little ship called R/V Petrel is on a roll. Just last week, the team behind this research vessel said it had found the wreck of the Japanese battleship Hiei, the first one U.S. force sunk during World War II. Now the ship, which is part of an expedition launched by late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, has found an even more famous World War II wreck on the bottom of the sea: the USS Hornet. A WWII Legend The Hornet was an American aircraft carrier involved in the famous air raid on Tokyo early in the war before being scuttled during the Solomon Islands campaign. The ship was found more than three miles under the surface of the Pacific Ocean. R/V Petrel shared imagery of the sunken carrier including pictures of the ship's 5-inch guns (see above). Photo credit: Keystone-France - Getty Images The USS Hornet was one of the most famous carriers of World War II, but had one of the shortest careers. The ship was ordered 80 years ago, in March 1939, from the Newport News Shipbuilding Company in Virginia and commissioned into the U.S. Navy just two months before Pearl Harbor. A Yorktown-class carrier, she displaced 25,000 tons fully loaded and was 824 feet long. Hornet typically carried a mixed air group consisting of up to 72 aircraft including Wildcat fighters, SBD Dauntless dive bombers, and TBD Devastator torpedo bombers. In April 1942, the carrier departed Naval Air Station Alameda, California with a new, secret air group: 16 U.S. Army Air Corps B-25 Mitchell bombers . Hornet and her task force steamed to within 650 miles of Japan when, sighted by a Japanese fishing vessel, she abandoned plans to move closer and launched her bombers. The B-25s flew west and struck targets across a wide arc of Japan, bombing Tokyo, Yokosuka, Yokohama, Kobe, and Nagoya. The attack, just five months after Pearl Harbor, destroyed the myth of Japans invulnerability and boosted morale in the United States. Photo credit: Historical - Getty Images Later that year, during the October 1942 Battle of Santa Cruz, aircraft from Hornet damaged a Japanese carrier and cruiser, but the ship itself was heavily damaged by enemy fire. The Navy gave the order to abandon Hornet and attempted without success to scuttle her. Advancing Japanese forces finally sank the ship with torpedoes. Story continues Long Lost The Hornet was discovered in 5,330 meters of water, the equivalent of 17,486 feet, "on the bottom of the South Pacific Ocean." The Paul Allen website describes the discovery: "The 10-person expedition team on the 250-foot R/V Petrel were able to locate the Hornets position by piecing together data from national and naval archives that included official deck logs and action reports from other ships engaged in the battle. Positions and sightings from nine other U.S. warships in the area were plotted on a chart to generate the starting point for the search grid. In the case of the Hornet, she was discovered on the first dive mission of the Petrels autonomous underwater vehicle and confirmed by video footage from the remotely operated vehicle, both pieces of equipment rated to dive down to 6,000 meters." Photo credit: R/V Petrel Images on the website detail damage to the carriers hull, which may have been from the guns of the destroyers Mustin and Anderson. Together, they pumped a total of 400 5-inch shells into the carrier in an attempt to sink the boat before Japan could reach her. Another image shows an International Harvester tractor still upright in the aircraft hangar. Hornet isnt the first U.S. carrier the R/V Petrel has rediscovered. In 2018, the ship discovered the USS Lexington , a carrier sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Heres dive footage of the discovery of the carrier known as Lady Lex: The Petrel team has been a little cagey about Hornet's precise location, and for good reason. Over the years, a number of Pacific war wrecks have been looted or disappeared completely, the victim of black market scrappers. Although it is in international waters, the Hornet's remains are subject to the U.S. Sunken Military Craft Act . The act states, the U.S. Navy's sunken military craft remain property of the U.S. regardless of their location or the passage of time and may not be disturbed without the permission from the U.S. Navy. ('You Might Also Like',) (Adds details from interview, updates stock) By Ernest Scheyder Feb 12 (Reuters) - Livent Corp on Tuesday forecast a drop in Chinese lithium sales for the year because of uncertainty about the country's electric vehicle subsidies, a worrisome sign for other producers of the key battery component. The Philadelphia-based company, among the first major global lithium producers to post results this quarter, said Chinese sales will drop below 20 percent of total revenue in 2019, from 25 percent last year. "The Chinese consumers of lithium overextended themselves in 2018, built more inventory than they were comfortable with and had a harder time accessing credit," Livent Chief Executive Paul Graves said in an interview. Shares of the Philadelphia-based company were down 5.8 percent at $12.36 in afternoon trading. Rivals Albemarle Corp, SQM and Orocobre Ltd - all of which sell into China - are set to post quarterly results in coming weeks. Livent forecast total lithium carbonate equivalent production of 22,000 to 23,000 tonnes for 2019, in what would be only a small increase from last year despite spiking electric vehicle sales globally. Livent now plans to export most of the lithium produced by its Chinese processing facilities in 2019, a step that will give it greater access to growing markets for lithium in Japan and South Korea The two are expected to be its two largest markets this year, followed by China. Livent's China warning came the day after the company posted a quarterly profit in line with Wall Street's expectations. Graves, who became CEO last year when Livent was spun off from FMC Corp, said the company started to negotiate 2019 contracts late last year and received verbal commitments from Chinese customers on price and volume. However, when the company went to sign the contracts, the Chinese customers backed away, unwilling to sign deals for either one year or longer-term unless the price was lowered, Graves said. The trepidation likely is due to a mix of concerns around macroeconomic uncertainty, China's electric vehicle subsidy policy and broader oversupply worries affecting the lithium market, Graves said. Story continues To the detriment of suppliers like Livent, China has been shifting its electric vehicle subsidies from automakers to charging stations and other physical infrastructure, Graves said. ARGENTINA The company said that heavy rains at its Argentina lithium production facility diluted evaporation ponds with more than 80 millimeters (3.2 inches) of water last month, affecting more than 750 tonnes of production. Livent produces lithium in Argentina and then ships it to China and other places for processing. The company is looking for expansion opportunities to diversify, especially in hard-rock lithium operations typically found in Australia and Canada, Graves said. "We are under no illusions that being a single-source-of-supply business isn't necessarily a recipe for success," he said. (Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Steve Orlofsky) (Reuters) - Japanese map platform developer Dynamic Map Platform plans to acquire Detroit-based Ushr for nearly 20 billion yen ($181.1 million) in a bid to cement a stronger position in the burgeoning self driving cars market, the Nikkei newspaper said. Dynamic Map Platform would acquire U.S. map startup Ushr as it seeks a stronger position to challenge Alphabet Inc's Google and Chinese rivals, the Japanese daily said on Wednesday. The takeover bid was expected to be lodged as soon as Wednesday, Nikkei reported. Dynamic Map Platform, which counts some of Japan's top car makers like Toyota Motor, Nissan and Honda as investors, declined to comment when contacted by Reuters, while Ushr was not immediately available for comment. Ushr and Dynamic Map Platform plan to invest more than 10 billion yen in collecting road data in Japan and the United States, which will be used by various automakers, said Nikkei. (Reporting by Rashmi Ashok in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen Coates) Italian banks have been at the forefront of many investors' concerns. Recent data has also shown that the economy has entered a technical recession in the last quarter of 2018. Lower economic activity could restrict the bank's ability to make business. However, news that the capital positions of certain banks are higher from what regulators have demanded has brought some relief. Italian banking shares moved higher on Monday following reports that their capital positions are above the levels required by the European Central Bank in what analysts have described as "not so bad news." Italian banks have been at the forefront of many investors' concerns. Since the appointment of the current anti-establishment government and the subsequent promises to increase public spending, money managers have been worried that the country could be in trouble given its high level of public debt. These concerns have raised Italy's borrowing costs and added pressure on the profitability of Italian banks. Furthermore, recent data has also shown that the economy has entered a technical recession in the last quarter of 2018. Lower economic activity could restrict the bank's ability to make business. Credit rating agency Moody's warned last week that if the recession were to continue over the coming quarters there would be "negative consequences for banks including negative effects on performance, higher nonperforming loan (NPL) inflows, and ultimately banks' capital." However, news that the capital positions of certain banks are higher from what regulators have demanded has brought some relief. Shares in Banco BPM BAMI-IT rose above 7 percent, Ubi Banca jumped 4 percent and UniCredit UCG-IT moved nearly 3 percent higher. "After consistent negative news impacting the whole European banking sector, we have finally seen some 'not bad' news," Tom Kinmonth, fixed income strategist at ABN Amro told CNBC via email on Monday. Story continues UniCredit, for example, was requested by the ECB to have a 10.07 percent of Common Equity Tier 1 (CET 1) ratio as of March 1. At the end of 2018, the bank had a 12.13 percent CET 1 ratio. Tier 1 capital ratio is the ratio of a bank's core equity capital to its total risk-weighted assets. More simply, it's the level of reserve funding that a bank can call on to mitigate against sudden shocks or losses. Banco BPM said the ECB requested a CET 1 ratio of 9.31 percent this year . It also said that as of the end of 2018, its CET 1 ratio stood at 12.1 percent. This data is not publicly disclosed by the ECB. Banks can decide whether to publish the requirements set by the regulators. According to Kinmonth, Italian banks have been given requirements which are largely the same as those requested in the previous year, indicating that banks do not need to increase their capital positions. "All the main banks now comfortably exceed the minimum thresholds set by ECB and therefore face no restrictions on dividend distributions, bonuses or capital coupon payments. The fact there is not an increase (which would be costly to a bank), is being taking as a positive by markets," Kinmonth added. Fabio Trussardi, analyst at UBS global asset management told CNBC Monday that share were higher because "the ECB decision means some theoretical capital relief (through lower capital requirement)...and because it means that the regulator is satisfied with the banks' progress in the non-performing loans' reduction." Since the start of the year, shares of UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo are up by about 6 percent and 4 percent respectively. Meanwhile, in the same time frame, shares of Banco BPM are down by 6 percent, while Ubi Banca is down 13 percent. More From CNBC The Best Little Floorhouse in Texas Your choice for flooring in Central Texas! Your flooring is more than just the surface you walk on it's an integral part of your home. With over 35 years of flooring experience, The Best Little Floorhouse in Texas has the resources and knowled (Photo: iStockphoto) For the past several years, as the movement to legalize marijuana spread across the country, Mark Gorman heard a familiar refrain emerging from advocates who are supporting measures to approve medical or recreational cannabis use. In Michigan, where voters last year approved recreational cannabis use, there was a Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. The Drug Policy Alliance, a prominent group supporting legalization measures, said it believes marijuana should be removed from the criminal justice system and regulated like alcohol and tobacco. In Congress, there is a Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act." So last year, Gorman, a top lobbyist for liquor producers, began to meet with lawmakers in Congress about the growing number of bills addressing cannabis and the public discourse connecting proposed regulatory schemes for cannabis to those in place for alcohol. We thought, alright, lets take em up on that, said Gorman, the senior vice president of government relations for the Distilled Spirits Council, whose members include Bacardi, Beam Suntory and Pernod Ricard. We want to make sure they don't just use that to get in the door and go in a different direction." The lobbying blitz, mainly involving trade associations, comes as the alcohol industry considers whether the booming legalized marijuana business represents a competitor or corollaryor perhaps some hybrid of the two. In interviews, alcohol industry lobbyists stressed they are neutral on the issue of legalizing marijuana and described their federal advocacy as largely educational, focused on building an understanding of the regulatory regime for beer, wine and liquor. Get the latest cannabis lawyering, compliance and commentary straight to your inbox with Higher Law, a new Law.com briefing. Learn more and sign up here. The Distilled Spirits Council was among several groupsincluding other leading trade associations for the alcohol industry and Altria, a top manufacturer of tobacco productsthat began lobbying on cannabis for the first time in 2018, according to a National Law Journal review of disclosures. The spirits council is pushing to ensure the taxation and legalization of cannabis is at least comparable to the regulatory schemes for liquor, according to its list of approved marijuana policies. And it is insisting on the development of a standard measurement to determine whether a consumer of cannabis is impaired, similar to the blood alcohol content threshold used to determine whether a driver is drunk. Among the other prominent trade groups that lobbied on cannabis were the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America and the Beer Institute, a trade group that represents Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors, Heineken and the beer division of Constellation Brands, which brews Modelo and Corona. Some of the lobbyists said the alcohol industry sees a business opportunity in the burgeoning market for legalized marijuana. They pointed to Constellation Brands multibillion-dollar investment in Canopy Growth, a Canadian cannabis company, along with growing interest in infusing beverages with cannabis. "Over the past year, we've come to better understand the cannabis market, the tremendous growth opportunity it presents, and Canopy's market-leading capabilities in this space," Constellation Brands CEO Rob Sands said in a statement last year. Last month, Distilled Spirits Council released market research showing that the legalization of marijuana for recreational use had no effect on alcohol sales in Colorado, Oregon or Washingtonthe three states where recreational marijuana has been on the market the longest. Gorman said the Distilled Spirits Councils decision to begin lobbying at the federal level came out of a slow, natural progression that picked up in intensity following the 2016 passage of a referendum to legalize marijuana in California. The votes in California and Michigan are "just creating a sense of inevitability" of even greater national embrace of cannabis, Gorman said. The alcohol industry hasnt only let its lobbying groups do the talking. Manufacturers of distilled spirits themselves are asserting their voices. Terry McNaughton, the Washington-based senior director for public affairs at Beam Suntory, the company behind such products as Jim Beam and Knob Creek whiskey, lobbied on a U.S. Senate bill that proposed removing marijuana from the list of controlled substances. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment. Constellation Brands, the maker of Corona, Modelo and Svedka Vodka, has hired the Washington-based lobbying firm Invariant to monitor various pieces of cannabis-related legislation along with budget appropriations language concerning Justice Department action on cannabis issues. The Invariant team includes Heather Podesta, the firms founder and CEO, along with Anne MacMillan, a former senior policy adviser for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and Annie Palisi, a onetime aide to former House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Last year Boehner, who is not lobbying on cannabis, joined the board of a prominent marijuana player named Acreage Holdings. Story continues Cannabis lobbying flourishes in Washington The cannabis industrys lobbying presence in Washington has grown steadily in recent years. The Cannabis Trade Federation, the National Cannabis Industry Association and the California Cannabis Industry Association are now regular advocates, and they've also given work to outside lobbying firms. The Cannabis Trade Federation has hired lobbyists with experience in the two parts of government at the forefront of marijuana industrys mind: Congress and the Justice Department. Since 2017, the group has retained a team at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, including William Moschella, a Washington-based partner at the firm who served as the Justice Department's assistant attorney general for legislative affairs under the George W. Bush administration. Between December and January, the federation added the Raben Group and VS Strategiesa firm specifically focused on the legalized marijuana industryto its lobbying stable. The federations team at the Raben Group includes Robert Raben, who served as assistant attorney general for legislative affairs during the Clinton administration. William Moschella of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. (Courtesy photo) Theres a natural progression as the industry maturesits more established, more states get involvedits going to naturally lead to more law firms, more regulators, more governments, Moschella said. It just means more involvement on all of those levels. In October, the California Cannabis Industry Association hired Saphira Galoob, chief executive and principal of the Liaison Group, which bills itself as the only Washington-based lobbying firm focused exclusively on the cannabis industry. Galoob signed on last year to also lobby for the cannabis investment firm Acreage Holdings. As more states legalize marijuana to some extent within their borders, members of Congress and their staffs have increasingly turned to the alcohol industry for its thoughts on how to properly regulate cannabis, according to industry lobbyists. The American Beverage Licensees began lobbying Congress in late 2018 to educate lawmakers on the regulatory scheme for beer, wine and spirits, said John Bodnovich, the trade groups executive director. I think we looked at whats going on in Congress, looked at the bills, looked at how people are talking about it in terms of regulating it like alcohol," John Bodnovich, executive director of the American Beverage Licensees, said. "For us, its just a prudent time to make sure were paying attention and educating people on how alcohol is regulated, so they know exactly what theyre talking about and all that goes with that." Bodnovich added: Our members are experts in operating in a regulated system, selling an age-restricted product at retail." Watching the Justice Department The Trump administration has brought mixed messages for the legalized marijuana industry. President Trump's first U.S. attorney general, Jeff Sessions, was avowedly anti-marijuana, but there were no public signs the department had ramped up enforcement inside states that had legalized marijuana. Sessions revoked the Obama-era "Cole memo"named after then deputy attorney general James Colethat said the department would take a largely hands-off stance within states that adopted recreational schemes. The Justice Department's maneuvering caused some angst, but so far there's been no tangible sign that enforcers are taking a different course than their Obama-era counterparts. Last year, Trump said he would support the States Act, a bill that calls for exempting state-licensed cannabis businesses from the Controlled Substance Act, freeing them from fear of federal prosecution. If passed, the bill could result in the cannabis industry receiving more access to traditional banking services, assuaging concerns within the financial sector about doing business with companies whose products are subject to a federal prohibition. Trumps position, combined with growing support among Republicans and Democrats, has fueled hope within the cannabis industry that the States Act could provide a rare area of bipartisan consensus in a divided Congress. William Barr appears for his confirmation hearing. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM) William Barr, the Kirkland & Ellis counsel whose nomination for attorney general is pending, testified recently hes not going to go after companies that have relied on the Cole memorandum. Still, he called the tension between state and federal law untenable. My approach to this would be not to upset settled expectations and the reliance interests that have arisen as a result of the Cole memorandum. Investments have been made, so theres been reliance on it. I dont think its appropriate to upset those interests, Barr said. However, I think the current situation is untenable and really has to be addressed. Its almost like a backdoor nullification of federal law. On Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee announced that a subcommittee will hold a hearing Feb. 13 titled Challenges and Solutions: Access to Banking Services for Cannabis-Related Businesses. Leading up to the November midterms, the two co-sponsors of the States Act, US. Reps. David Joyce, R-Ohio, and Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, said the bill would pass in the current Congress regardless of which party controlled the House. Our lobbyists are engaged in conversations on the Hill with both parties all the time, and that includes leadership," said Neal Levine, CEO of the Cannabis Trade Federation. "We have not heard anything that would indicate that what both David Joyce and Blumenauer said is not true. Thats not to downplay how difficult a task it will be. Read more: Ex-US Attorney Joins Firm Advising Cannabis Industry Circuit Judge Presses Feds to 'Fish or Cut Bait' on Marijuana Tax Audits Cannabis Chocolate Bars Landed This Pilot in Trouble. He's Now in the DC Circuit. Feds Should Be 'Banging the Drum the Loudest' for Cannabis Industry Banking India-Geopolitics-Belt and Road China has called India its natural partner in the Belt and Road, but views in India are decidedly cooler. In April 2018, when prime minister Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping met for an informal summit at Wuhan, the two sides agreed to improve relations and address the growing tension since the Doklam crisis almost a year before. The rapprochement came to be known as the Wuhan spirit, but since then many have asked whether that spirit is still alive. Doubts have resumed, mutual recrimination has not ended and Indias response to the Belt and Road is still riddled with contradictions and hesitations. As two rising giants, China and India will play a disproportionate role in shaping the new world political and economic order, but like every claim on the future their role remains ambiguous. In the case of China, the question is whether it will eventually measure up to the task of replacing the existing, United States-led order with something new, or whether it will be forced to find a placeno matter how relevantwithin the existing arrangements. It is a question to which India will provide its own answer. If the two countries are able to align their foreign policies, if their leaderships rekindle the revolutionary spirit that once brought them together, then Indias response to the Belt and Road is riddled with contradictions and hesitations. the Belt and Roads chances of success increase proportionately. But if India decides that life within the Western order will be better than under alternative arrangements, the Belt and Road will struggle to meet its original ambition Deng Xiaoping once said that Chinese policy should follow from these facts: Americas friends were doing well, its enemies much worse, so China should be closer to America. Where should India be? A vivid illustration of Indias strategic ambiguity took place in the December 2018 meeting of the G20 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Prime minister Modi was first photographed posing with president Donald Trump and prime minister Shinzo Abe during a trilateral meeting most openly concerned with Chinas economic and military rise. Hours later, however, Modi had joined president Vladimir Putin and president Xi in a second trilateral. This one could be summarily described as being aimed at the global order led by the United States and its allies. The second trilateral meeting was defined as a counterpoise to the first, and Modi managed to attend both. Shaking hands and smiling with Trump first and with Xi later. Story continues India has much to think about in the coming years. Most immediately, the Belt and Road poses an economic challenge. The same reasons that push China into playing a greater global roleexplain why India may find itself increasingly constrained by the Belt and Road. Access to commodities and energy sources, control over significant markets and the need to organize highly competitive and cross-border value chainsin all these cases, China is gaining the upper hand. Wherever the West has been retreating, China has quickly moved in. The question is of course whether there will be any space left for India. How will the Indian economy be able to move up into higher-value segments of global value chains if it turns around and sees many of its fast-growing neighbours already incorporated into a China-led economic network? An enforced return to Indias period of economic autarchy haunts its future development. By investing in the Iranian port of Chabahar, India may hope to prevent an outcome where it finds itself isolated from the growing economies on its doorstep, but the limited scale of the project offers a vivid contrast to the mammoth scale of the Belt and Road. As opposed to Chabahar, the Chinese-led initiative is designed to fundamentally change global networks and move China to the centre of a new political and economic order. It seems unlikely that two or three infrastructure projects can offer an adequate response on Indias side. Nor is the issue strictly confined to economic power and rivalry. For many commentators in South and Southeast Asia, the Belt and Road is an opportunity for China to entrench its naval presence in the Indian Ocean, as its state-owned companies build dual-use ports that berth its cargo ships and military vessels, and open its first overseas bases in places such as Djibouti, and perhaps Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In a world where China and the United States will compete for control over key technologies, India risks becoming the market where the outcome of that battle will be in large measure decided, but no more than that. A territory rather than an actor. With its population soon to overcome that of Chinaand boosting an expanding middle classIndia will be a coveted market for Chinese and American companies. Can it leverage that prize into political and economic influence and, if so, how should this influence be exercised? An awareness of how the United States and China both need India to realise their plans may well explain why Indian decision-makers prefer to dither and delay rather than provide clear guidance as to their role in the great It is difficult to think that India could feel at home in the Chinese world order. game. Much can be gained by negotiating with both sides at once. But the hesitation is also connected to genuine strategic alienation. It is difficult to think that India could feel at home in the Chinese world order described in this book, but has it ever felt part of the Western order as it was understood for the past seven decades? Hardly. This order, at its apex, coincided with Indias years in the wilderness. It is not surprising, then, that many in Delhi regard the Belt and Road more as an opportunity than a threat. Here is how the argument goes: While in a Western-led order India cannot expect to enjoy more than a secondary role, Chinas rise offers the exciting possibility of a genuinely multipolarrather than merely multilateralworld where India can legitimately expect to become an autonomous centre of geopolitical power. In this scenario, global power would be shared between four or five major powers: America, Europe, Russia, China and, presumably, India. Starting from behind, India would have to play its cards well, but nothing in the nature of things would prevent it from becoming a power at least equal to a declining Russia. It is not a coincidence that this vision of Indias future is not too distant from the way Russian authorities think about the problem of world order. Just like Russia, India would come to terms with the Belt and Road. The initiative would be accepted as the main lever opening the gates to a multipolar world order, but only under strict conditions: that Indiaor Russia, for that matterwould be treated as a partner equal in stature to China, or least formally, and that its economy would reap immediate and tangible results from the association. Right on cue, Russia has called on India to join the Belt and Road. Speaking in Delhi in December 2017, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that India should not let political problems deter it from joining the project, involving billions of dollars of investment, and benefiting from it. Opposing the Belt and Road will be expensiveeven when it makes sense as a long-term economic strategy. Embracing it can at least open a number of exciting negotiations. In politics, sometimes expectations rather than realities are the main currency. The Belt and Road is famously generous when it comes to the former. That, too, helps explain the attraction. To be sure, Chinese foreign policy has been particularly disastrous in the way it has addressed the India question. At the very beginning, the Belt and Road was supposed to include Kolkata as one of its main nodes. The city and port play that role in the famous Xinhua map of the initiative. But China must have thought that India would be happy with any kind of role in the Belt and Road and neglected the vital task of cajoling and flattering its neighbour. The result has been very much the oppositeIndia became the core critic of Chinese geopolitical plansbut many in Delhi think that because the root of the problem is Chinas misperception of the issue, it can be corrected and an aggressive policy towards Beijing should be tempered by the recognition that India and China ultimately belong together. An influential politician and writerRam Madhav, national general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)has suggested that a multipolar order is not enough. We need not multiple poles but multiple stakeholders. It is a more complicated chessboard, one where multiple projects balance each other but where each of these projects, Beijing should be tempered by the recognition that India and China ultimately belong together. rather than being conducted by a single power, is shared by willing partners. It is a world order tailored to Indian instincts: active but never exclusive, universal and plural, expressed in the understanding that a parcel of the truth can be found everywhere. It is ultimately a vision of a democratic world order, where power must be shared more than contained and states learn to subject their cherished national plans to different views and goals. Those instincts may explain why India will leave everyone waiting, but will never make up its mind on the Belt and Road. It will never join the Belt and Road because it could only ever countenance joining a new project with China. And it will never join an American initiative to rival the Belt and Road unless the United States agrees to make it much less confrontational. After the Doklam crisis, one could perhaps speak of a Doklam spirit. I wrote about it on several occasions, including in this book. It seemed to many of us that the foundations for the China-India rivalry had been set and all that remained was for that rivalry to run its perilous course. But the Doklam spirit was then followed by the Wuhan spirit, which in itself has not been able to last and may well return us to Doklam. Non-alignment in this new version means not that India wants to remain detached from the great affairs of the world, but that it is equally critical of all. We will probably continue to find in Delhi the most vocal critics of the Belt and Road, but they will be just as critical of every rival project or alternative. From the field of forces defined by the opposing poles of Doklam and Wuhan, India seems at present unable or unwilling to depart. The Belt and Roadby returning Indian foreign policy to the paralyses of non-alignment while raising the specter of economic autarchymay come to symbolise Indias incapacity to leave its own past behind. Excerpted from Bruno Macaess Belt and Road with permission from Penguin. We welcome your comments at ideas.india@qz.com. Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news. More stories from Quartz: (Bloomberg) -- Googles exploratory work on a censored Chinese search engine, which last year sparked employee protests and questions in the U.S. Congress, is stoking shareholder activism. Azzad Asset Management, an investment firm that follows halal, or religiously approved Islamic guidelines, submitted a shareholder resolution to Google parent Alphabet Inc. saying the company "could enable censorship and potentially dangerous surveillance of citizens by the Chinese government. The proposal, which Azzad seeks a vote on at Alphabets shareholder meeting later this year, asks the company to publish a Human Rights Impact Assessment that would examine "the actual and potential impacts of censored Google search in China." "Shareholders are concerned by a growing gap between Googles stated values and actions, generating global controversy and presenting significant risk," the investment firm said in the proposed shareholder resolution. A Google representative declined to comment, but referred to December congressional testimony in which Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said there were no plans to launch a search product in China "right now." Details of Googles efforts to build a censored search engine for China, known internally as Project Dragonfly, caused concern when they were revealed by The Intercept last year. The company pulled its search engine from China years ago over government censorship, and some Google employees say a return to the country would contradict the companys mission to make the worlds information universally accessible. Congress quizzed Pichai late last year about the initiative. "What were seeing is part of a disturbing pattern of irresponsible corporate conduct, said Azzad investment communications director Joshua Brockwell, citing controversies such as Googles handling of sexual misconduct by executives that spurred a global walkout by thousands of employees in November. Story continues Shareholder resolutions cannot pass at Alphabet without the backing of founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who control voting rights through a special class of shares. But Brockwell said he hopes Alphabet will voluntarily take action to address Azzads concerns prior to the shareholder meeting. If the issue isnt addressed, a vote by shareholders would send an important signal even without majority support, Brockwell added. Azzad developed the proposal with input from Google employees working with advocacy group Coworker.org. Azzad also got help from nonprofit Open MIC. This is part of a multiyear effort for tech companies to demonstrate accountability for their technologies to their users, to their employees, to investors, and to society at large," Open MIC Executive Director Michael Connor said. The Dragonfly-focused proposal is one of several filed with Alphabet taking on the past years controversies. Another, submitted by groups led by Zevin Asset Management in collaboration with Google employees, urges the board to consider incorporating sustainability metrics like executive diversity into compensation. To contact the reporters on this story: Josh Eidelson in Palo Alto at jeidelson@bloomberg.net;Gerrit De Vynck in New York at gdevynck@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Alistair Barr For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. An employee at the new Takeda pharmaceutical factory in Oranienburg, Germany. Photo: Reuters/Hannibal Hanschke/File Photo Germany will need at least 260,000 immigrants per year for the next 40 years to meet an increasing labour demand, according to a new study. The Bertelsmann Foundation study based on calculations by the Institute for Employment Research and the University of Coburg took into account factors such as a higher birthrate, more women joining the workforce, and a raise in the retirement age. Even if men and women worked the same amount and a pension age of 70 were to be introduced in Germany, it would not be possible to meet the demand for skilled labor, according to the Bertelsmann Foundation. Germany is in the process of increasing its retirement age to 67 by 2029. The countrys birthrate is on the rise again too, hitting its highest fertility rate since 1973 in 2016, and putting it around the European average of 1.59 babies per woman. Migrants from other EU countries wont be sufficient to meet Germanys labor demand either, according to the study. Between now and 2060, it estimates that 114,000 people a year will move to Germany from other EU states, so another 146,000 will be required annually from non-EU countries to make up the deficit. Statistics show that only 38,000 moved to Germany and stayed from other EU states in 2017. Immigration to Germany because of Brexit wont make a dent in the labor shortage either, according to Bertelsmann, as Germanys EU neighbours are also suffering from the same aging-demographic problems. Jorg Drager, director of the Bertelsmann Foundation, says it is imperative that Germany hurry up and pass a new immigration law approved by the countrys Cabinet in December. Part of the law would make it easier for skilled professionals from non-EU countries to move to Germany to work. Migration and integration are jobs for society as a whole, and a new law alone is not enough, Drager said, noting that the country also needs more attractive integration offers and a sustainable welcome culture. The German labor office said in August 2018 that there were 1.2 million unfilled vacancies in the country and urged the government to keep paying for language classes for asylum seekers, who can then be trained to join the workforce. While there has been widespread scepticism that many of the million-plus refugees who arrived in Germany since 2015 could contribute to the labor market, August 2018 data from the federal labor office showed that more than 300,000 asylum seekers had found jobs as of May last year. His comments come after the European Union blocked a rail deal between Alstom and Siemens on Wednesday, citing competition concerns. The merger proposal between the French and the German companies planned to create a European rail champion with revenues of about 15 billion euros ($17 billion). The merger proposal referred only to the companies' transport services and would have combined them into one new firm, solely controlled by Siemens. France's finance minister expressed his disappointment at a recent EU decision to block a major rail merger, calling for competition rules to be changed to enable European firms to become stronger on the global stage. "Let's have a look at reality we are facing a huge challenge with the rise of the Chinese industry. What do we do shall we divide the European forces, or try to merge the European forces from the industrial point of view?" Bruno Le Maire told CNBC's Hadley Gamble at the World Government Summit in Dubai on Sunday. His comments come after the European Union blocked a rail deal between Alstom and Siemens on Wednesday , citing competition concerns. The merger proposal between the French and the German companies planned to create a European rail champion with revenues of about 15 billion euros ($17 billion). The merger proposal referred only to the companies' transport services and would have combined them into one new firm, solely controlled by Siemens. The EU's competition authority specified that the proposed merger would have created an "undisputed" market leader in several mainline signaling markets, as well as reducing the number of suppliers by removing one of the two largest manufacturers of very high-speed rolling stock. Both the German and French governments had supported the merger, believing the deal would've been a good counter to the economic rise of China. "I think it was a mistake from the EU commission to refuse that merger between Alstom and Siemens," Le Maire added. Story continues "I strongly believe that the right solution is not more division, but more cooperation among French, German and other European companies. That's exactly what we proposed with the merger between Alstom and Siemens ... The Commission took that decision, of course we will abide by that decision, but we will make very strong proposals to change the rules of competition and to allow European industrials to merge and to be stronger," he said. In Wednesday's ruling, the European Commission said it considers it "highly unlikely that a new entry from China would represent a competitive constraint." CNBC's Silvia Amaro contributed to this article. More From CNBC On Feb 11, we issued an updated research report on Ford Motor Company F. The U.S. automaker announced fourth-quarter and 2018 earnings on Jan 23. In the reported quarter, automotive revenues were $38.7 billion compared with $38.5 billion in the prior-year quarter. The top line surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. However, the companys adjusted earnings of 30 cents per share missed estimates. Fords North American operations generated $2.2 billion in quarterly EBIT, supported by favorable market factors consisting of product mix and higher net pricing. Out of its wide product portfolio, the major sales driver was F-Series trucks. Ford Motor Company Price and Consensus Ford Motor Company Price and Consensus | Ford Motor Company Quote In 2018, Ford achieved the target of selling 1 million F-Series vehicles, globally. Among the launches that partly contributed to the companys rise in the market are new Expedition, Edge and Navigator. The rising demand for trucks and SUVs encouraged this automaker to build a product portfolio, 90% of which will consist of trucks, utilities and commercial vehicles. Despite decent performance in North America, the companys quarterly EBIT was $1.1 billion, majorly due to weakening performance in China and Europe. Challenging economic conditions in China, along with lowering demand, hampered Fords performance in the worlds leading automotive market. Further, tumbling sales in Europe added to the companys woes. Ford is focusing to restructure business operations, launch vehicles and discontinue loss-making models to manage its operations in Europe. It also announced a collaboration with Volkswagen AG in January 2019 to reduce expenses. The companies will team up for commercial vans and pickups, and explore electric and autonomous technological developments. While focusing on strategies to sustain its position, Ford has to manage rising commodity prices and volatile foreign currencies. Increased investments to develop advanced vehicle technology are expected to drive revenues in the long term while draining financials in the near term. Additionally, frequent vehicle recalls not only reduce consumers confidence in a brand but, also elevate expenses. Over the past three months, shares of Ford have lost 12.7% compared with the industrys decrease of 2.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Fords earnings in first-quarter 2019 moved down 16% over the last 30 days. Story continues Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider Ford currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked stocks in the broader auto sector are General Motors Company GM, Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. ALSN and Oshkosh Corporation OSK, each currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. General Motors has an expected long-term growth rate of 8.5%. Share price of the company has increased 6.8% in the past six months. Allison has an expected long-term growth rate of 10%. Over the past six months, shares of the company have gained 3.5%. Oshkosh has an expected long-term growth rate of 11.3%. Shares of the company have gained 8.8% in the past six months. Zacks' Best Stock-Picking Strategy It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But from 2000-2018, while the market gained +4.8% per year, our top stock-picking strategy averaged +54.3% per year. How has that screen done lately? From 2017-2018, it sextupled the market's +15.8% gain with a soaring +98.3% return. Free See the Stocks It Turned Up for Today >> 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 Ford Motor Company (F) : Free Stock Analysis Report Oshkosh Corporation (OSK) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. FMC Corporation FMC logged profits (as reported) of $32.4 million or 24 cents per share in fourth-quarter 2018, down from $530.1 million or $3.94 per share earned a year ago. The bottom line in the reported quarter includes a non-cash charge of $106 million to adjust reserves for environmental liabilities. Barring one-time items, adjusted earnings came in at $1.69 per share in the quarter, up 54% year over year. The results were driven by strong performance of FMCs Agricultural Solutions unit and lower than expected taxes. Earnings also exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.65. The chemical makers revenues climbed roughly 24% year over year to $1,219.2 million. It also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,197.5 million. The Agricultural Solutions segment delivered strong results in the quarter on the back of solid demand. FMC Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise FMC Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | FMC Corporation Quote FY18 Results For 2018, profit was $502.1 million or $3.69 per share, down around 6% from $535.8 million or $3.99 per share recorded in 2017. Adjusted earnings were $6.29 per share, up from $2.71 a year ago. Revenues for the year went up 64% year over year to $4,727.8 million. Segment Review Revenues from the Agricultural Solutions division shot up around 27% year over year (up 18% on an adjusted basis) to around $1,099.4 million in the reported quarter, driven by strong demand in all regions and increased prices in Brazil. Segment EBITDA went up 35% year over year to $301.7 million. Revenues from the Lithium unit, now rebranded as Livent Corporation after its IPO in October 2018, went up around 6% year over year to $119.8 million. Segment EBITDA fell 5% to $49 million. The company is on track to spin off its 84% stake in Livent to shareholders of FMC on Mar 1, 2019, in the form of a pro-rata distribution of Livent shares. Balance Sheet FMC ended 2018 with cash and cash equivalents of $161.7 million, a roughly 43% year-over-year decline. Long-term debt declined around 27% year over year to $2,179 million. Outlook The company provided its outlook for full-year 2019 and first-quarter 2019. The guidance excludes the impact of the Lithium segment. Lithium will be reported as discontinued operations when the company reports first-quarter 2019 results. For 2019, FMC expects adjusted earnings per share of $5.55-$5.75 (barring any impact from share buybacks), up 8% at the midpoint compared with recast 2018 earnings. The company also expects revenues of $4.45-$4.55 billion for the year, up 5% at the midpoint compared with recast 2018 revenues. Adjusted EBITDA for 2019 is forecast in the band of $1.165-$1.205 billion, an increase of 7% at the midpoint compared with recast 2018 adjusted EBITDA . For first-quarter 2019, FMC expects adjusted earnings in the range of $1.58 to $1.68 per share, up 3% at the midpoint compared with recast first-quarter 2018 earnings. The company sees revenues of $1.18-$1.21 billion for the quarter, up 8% at the midpoint versus recast first-quarter 2018 revenues. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter is forecast in the range of $320-$340 million, flat year-over-year at the midpoint compared with recast first-quarter 2018 adjusted EBITDA. The company sees headwinds from higher raw material costs and currency in first-half 2019. The company also expects to repurchase up to $500 million of shares in 2019, including $100 million already purchased this year. Price Performance Shares of FMC are up around 3.5% over a year, outperforming the industrys decline of roughly 21.6%. Story continues Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider FMC currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). A few better-ranked stocks worth considering in the basic materials space include The Mosaic Company MOS, Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. KL and Israel Chemicals Ltd. ICL. Mosaic has an expected earnings growth rate of 24% for the current year and carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Its shares have gained 23% in the past year. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Kirkland Lake Gold has an expected earnings growth rate of 20.9% for the current year and carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Its shares have shot up 137% in the past year. Israel Chemicals has an expected earnings growth rate of 10.8% for the current year and carries a Zacks Rank #2. The companys shares have rallied 38% over the past year. Zacks' Best Stock-Picking Strategy It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But from 2000-2018, while the market gained +4.8% per year, our top stock-picking strategy averaged +54.3% per year. How has that screen done lately? From 2017-2018, it sextupled the market's +15.8% gain with a soaring +98.3% return. Free See the Stocks It Turned Up for Today >> 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 FMC Corporation (FMC) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Mosaic Company (MOS) : Free Stock Analysis Report Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. (KL) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research By Vladimir Soldatkin and Alex Lawler MOSCOW/LONDON (Reuters) - Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro has sought OPEC support against U.S. sanctions imposed on his country's oil industry, citing their impact on oil prices and potential risks for other members of the producer group. But a source familiar with the matter said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, of which Venezuela is a founding member, had declined to make any formal statement. OPEC says it is concerned with oil policy, not politics. More than 40 nations including the United States, European powers and most of Latin America have recognised Maduro's rival, Juan Guaido, as the country's rightful head of state, following disputed elections last year. The request was made in a letter sent to OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo dated Jan. 29 and seen by Reuters, a day after the United States imposed sanctions on Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA. "Our country hopes to receive the solidarity and full support of the member countries of OPEC and its ministerial Conference, in the fight we are currently having against the illegal and arbitrary intrusion of the United States in the internal affairs of Venezuela," Maduro wrote. I seek "your firm support and collaboration to jointly denounce and face this shameless dispossession of ... important assets of one of the members of OPEC", the letter said. He wrote that OPEC should help to determine potential solutions based on "the impact that this action has on the global energy market, and the risk it represents for the other countries ... of this organization". The sanctions on Venezuela have boosted global oil prices, which were trading at around $62 a barrel on Monday. The move has disrupted shipments as more than 20 tankers loaded with Venezuelan oil have been anchored off the U.S. Gulf Coast. Still, analysts say there is ample spare capacity in other oil producers such as Saudi Arabia plus strategic reserves in consuming nations to compensate for a loss of Venezuela's exports. Story continues OPEC tends to avoid political disputes involving individual members. Last year, it declined a request from Iran for a discussion of U.S. sanctions against Tehran at a policy-setting meeting. Venezuela was once a top-three OPEC oil producer but production has been in decline for years following the collapse of the country's economy. Energy research and consulting firm Rystad sees Venezuelan production plummeting to 680,000 barrels per day (bpd) next year, from 1.34 million bpd at the end of 2018. Venezuela pumped 3 million bpd at the turn of the century. Together with Libya and Iran, Venezuela is exempt from the latest OPEC-led supply cut due to the involuntary decline in production. (Editing by Dale Hudson and Louise Heavens) Germany's ThyssenKrupp CEO Hiesinger and Tata Sons Chairman Chandrasekaran pose at a joint news conference in Brussels Germany's ThyssenKrupp CEO Heinrich Hiesinger and Chairman of Tata Steel Natarajan Chandrasekaran pose at a joint news conference after signing a final agreement on Saturday to establish a long-expected steel joint venture, in Brussels, Belgium July 2, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/Files By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Germany's Thyssenkrupp and India's Tata Steel will be warned this week that EU antitrust regulators could veto their planned European steel joint venture unless they offer concessions, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. The European Commission is expected to send a charge sheet known as a statement of objections to the companies, the people said. Such documents set out serious competition concerns which companies have to address with specific concessions or see their deal blocked. Thyssenkrupp said it was the group's understanding that such a statement would be sent by the European Commission in the course of the week, adding this was previously expected and would serve as the basis for further talks. "As soon as the statement of objections has arrived we will thoroughly examine the Commission's arguments," a spokesman for Thyssenkrupp said, adding the group continued to be confident that the transaction could be closed in early 2019. The joint venture, announced in June last year, is the biggest shake-up in Europe's steel industry in more than a decade. To be named Thyssenkrupp Tata Steel, the entity will have around 48,000 workers and about 17 billion euros ($19.2 billion) in sales. The Commission, which last week blocked a rail business tie-up between Alstom and Siemens, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tata Steel was not immediately available for comment. Shares in Thyssenkrupp, which is scheduled to report first-quarter results on Tuesday, fell as much as 1.9 percent on the news, hitting their lowest level since Feb. 17, 2016. Shares traded 0.4 percent higher at 1341 GMT. The deal, which took two years to get off the ground, is aimed at creating synergies and reducing overcapacity and will form the continent's second-largest steelmaker after ArcelorMittal. The EU competition enforcer opened an in-depth investigation last year and identified issues in steel for car parts, packaging such as food and aerosol cans and electrical steel for engineering products including transformers. Story continues It will decide on the transaction by April 29. Analysts expect remedies in the area of packaging, or tinplate, where the combined entity holds a share of 50 percent of the European market, a person familiar told Reuters. Rasselstein, Thyssenkrupp's packaging steel unit, posted sales of 1.16 billion euros in the 2015/2016 fiscal year and employed about 2,400 workers. ($1 = 0.8839 euros) (Additional reporting by Tom Kaeckenhoff in Duesseldorf, Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt and Maytaal Angel in London; Editing by Keith Weir) MIRAMAR, Fla., Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- More North Carolina nonstops? Sure thing! Spirit Airlines is proud to announce it will soon serve its fourth destination in the Tar Heel State, Charlotte! Beginning June 20, 2019, Spirit (SAVE) will begin nonstop daily service from Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) to Baltimore/Washington, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Newark. The four routes to some of Spirits most popular destinations will also provide dozens of connections to destinations throughout the airlines international network, including the Caribbean and Latin America. The carrier currently serves Asheville and Greensboro and will begin serving Raleigh-Durham on May 2. The North Carolina economy continues to thrive, and we are thrilled to add the states largest city, Charlotte, to our route network, said John Kirby, Spirit Airlines Vice President of Network Planning. We are excited to offer our Guests a chance to experience all of what The Queen City has to offer. Whether you are a foodie, a craft brew enthusiast, or a stock car racing fan, Charlotte offers great restaurants, breweries, and is the home of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Of course, we are equally happy to introduce our new Charlotte-area Guests to our substantial and growing list of domestic and international destinations. Charlotte Douglas International Airport welcomes Spirit Airlines to CLT, said Brent Cagle, Aviation Director, CLT. We look forward to working with Spirit Airlines to advance our excellent customer experience program with even more travel options for our millions of customers. Charlotte (CLT) to/from: Starts: Frequency: Baltimore, MD/Washington, DC (BWI) June 20, 2019 Daily Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL) June 20, 2019 Daily Orlando, FL (MCO) June 20, 2019 Daily Newark, NJ (EWR) June 20, 2019 Daily Spirit Airlines was recently named 2018 Value Airline of the Year by Air Transport World. The airline is making good on its promise to offer the best value in the sky by maintaining one of the most on-time operations in the United States and adding high-speed Wi-Fi to its entire fleet. In addition to Charlotte, Spirit recently announced it would begin serving Raleigh-Durham, Indianapolis, and Austin as well as expanding service in Jamaica and Puerto Rico. Story continues About Spirit Airlines: Spirit Airlines (SAVE) is committed to delivering the best value in the sky. We are the leader in providing customizable travel options starting with an unbundled fare. This allows every Guest to pay only for the options they choose like bags, seat assignments and refreshments something we call A La Smarte. We make it possible for our Guests to venture further and discover more than ever before. Our Fit Fleet is one of the youngest and most fuel-efficient in the U.S. We operate more than 600 daily flights to 73 destinations in the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean, and are dedicated to giving back and improving the communities we serve. Come save with us at spirit.com. At Spirit Airlines, we go. We go for you. Contact: Derek Dombrowski (305) 916-6065 derek.dombrowski@spirit.com (Bloomberg) -- European Union member states are considering a possible joint response to cyber attacks allegedly conducted by a Chinese state-linked hacker group after the U.K. presented evidence last month about network infiltration, according to people familiar with the matter. U.K. experts briefed EU colleagues at a technical meeting on Jan. 28, providing evidence of both software and hardware attacks by the group known as Advanced Persistent Threat 10, or APT 10, said some of the people, who asked not to be identified as the talks were private. They wouldnt give details about the alleged hardware attack, saying the information was classified. Officials who were at the meeting discussed potential responses, such as sanctions or a joint warning, according to two of the people. The issue will probably be discussed at a scheduled EU-China Summit in April, one of the officials said. The focus on APT 10 is part of a broader clampdown by Europe and the U.S. on alleged espionage and intellectual property theft by China. The hacker group was at the center of indictments in December by the U.S. Justice Department, which accused Chinese officials of orchestrating a decade-long espionage campaign that involved infiltrating companies in the U.S. and more than a dozen other countries, drawing a strong denial from China. The U.K.s evidence on APT 10 is related to those indictments, one of the people said. Some countries accusations against China on the cyber-security issue are unfounded and groundless, driven by ulterior motives, the Chinese Mission to the EU said in a statement when asked about the allegations. We urge the relevant parties to stop defaming China, so as not to undermine their bilateral relations and cooperation with China. For any retribution against China tied to cyber attacks, the EU would need to agree unanimously that the country was responsible and not all EU members currently agree, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. The EU is developing protocols to respond to malicious cyber activities, for instance by imposing sanctions, but it can be challenging to clearly attribute actions to any individuals or nation-state. Story continues The U.K. Foreign Office in December joined Washington in pressing the accusations against APT 10, saying that the group acted on behalf of the Chinese government to carry out a malicious cyber campaign targeting intellectual property and sensitive commercial data in Europe, Asia and the U.S. NATO defense ministers will also address the threat of Chinese cyber-attacks when they meet in Brussels on Wednesday. We have seen the reports from allies about their concerns about Chinese activity related to infrastructure and cyber and these are reports we take seriously and we will continue to consult on these issues, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday. One of the challenges of the cyber attacks, and we have seen more and more of them, is attribution. Spear Phishing The U.S. Justice Department claimed that the group used a technique known as spear phishing, in which emails that pretend to be from legitimate addresses are sent with attached documents and files that secretly install malware if opened. That can give hackers access to a subjects computer and allow them to steal user names and passwords, files and other information. The U.S. indictments, which didnt mention any hardware attacks by the group, also said the hackers targeted the networks of managed service providers, which remotely manage businesses and governments IT infrastructure, in order to gain unauthorized access to their clients networks. Cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc., which has been tracking APT 10 since 2009, says the Chinese cyber espionage group has historically targeted construction and engineering, aerospace, and telecom firms, and governments in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, in a bid to support Chinese national security goals of acquiring military and intelligence information. (Updates with NATO meeting in ninth paragraph.) --With assistance from Viktoria Dendrinou, Helene Fouquet, Benjamin Katz and Lyubov Pronina. To contact the reporters on this story: Natalia Drozdiak in Brussels at ndrozdiak1@bloomberg.net;Nikos Chrysoloras in Brussels at nchrysoloras@bloomberg.net;Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Giles Turner at gturner35@bloomberg.net, Rebecca Penty, Alan Katz For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. With back-to-back announcements over the weekend, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar are officially joining the Democratic race to unseat President Donald Trump in 2020, raising the number of women candidates to an unprecedented six. Warren had already informally made her intention to run for president known when, in December, she announced she was forming a presidential exploratory committee essentially a near-guarantee that a campaign announcement would soon follow. While Klobuchars announcement may come as more of a surprise, the Minnesota senator has been hinting at a run for years. In January, she told MSNBC that she had made very clear that she was thinking about it. In whats become the most diverse group of politicians running for president, both senators shared their differing visions for America, showcasing the two camps within the Democratic party: Warrens message about the fight ahead, which positions the Massachusetts senator as a change-maker, against Klobuchars snowy declaration of political unity and bridge-building. Im tired of hearing that we cant afford to make real investments in child care, college, and Medicare for All. Cant afford things that help create economic opportunity for families, Warren said to the gathered crowd in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We are the wealthiest nation in the history of the world of course we can afford these investments. But we need a government that makes different choices, choices that reflect our values. In contrast, Klobuchar standing in a snowstorm near Minneapolis recently rebuilt I-35W bridge (the site of a deadly 2007 bridge collapse) told supporters her goal was to heal and renew a commitment to the common good. Today, on an island in the middle of the mighty Mississippi, in our nations heartland, at a time when we must heal the heart of our democracy and renew our commitment to the common good, I stand before you to announce my candidacy for president of the United States, Klobuchar said, adding: Let us cross the river of our divides and walk across our sturdy bridge to higher ground. These two divergent messages one of repair versus one of reform seem to be the two themes coming out of the Democratic camp heading into the next election cycle. It remains to be seen which camp will win out or, to be more precise, which one voters will favor heading into 2020. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images) Walking on thin ice More than one-third of the Himalayan glaciers will melt due to rising temperatures Talks to avert a new government shutdown over funding for border security funding broke down late on Saturday, according to lawmakers and aides. Republicans and Democrats are not communicating for now, imperiling the prospects for a deal as time runs short. Negotiations could still get back on track, but the prospect of getting a deal by Fridays deadline seem to have derailed just as lawmakers thought they were on track to reach a compromise. The sticking point is over the number and purpose of immigration detention beds, an issue that would typically be regarded as a side-note to the broader talks about the amount of funding for border security. President Donald Trump said on Twitter that Democrats were trying to create a distraction after a very bad week of news. Without a funding deal, nine federal departments and related agencies would shut down again, just weeks after a record 35-day closing. Negotiators had hoped to unveil a deal Monday to set up votes in the House and Senate before the deadline. Ill say 50/50 well get a deal, Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby said on Fox News Sunday. Weve got some problems with the Democrats over funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. Shifting Goalposts As long as the goalposts continue moving, theres really no way we can lock in on an agreement, said Republican Representative Tom Graves of Georgia, who serves on the conference committee, said on ABCs This Week. And Senator Jon Tester, Democrat of Montana, said on Fox News that he was not positive well get to a deal. Lawmakers could resort to a stopgap resolution with funding through Sept. 30 if they cant get a deal, but acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said on Fox News Sunday that Trump cannot sign everything they put in front of him. Therell be some things that simply we couldnt agree to. Mulvaney said a shutdown isnt the most likely option but that he absolutely cannot rule it out. Trump has also threatened declaring a national emergency to get funding for a border wall. Story continues Hes going to do whatever he legally can to secure the border, Mulvaney said on NBCs Meet the Press, one of two scheduled appearances on Sunday talk shows. You cannot take a shutdown off the table, and you cannot take $5.7 (billion) off the table, he said, referring to the level of funds Trump has been demanding for a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border. All Over the Map Mulvaney spoke as Congressional negotiators continue talks on a security plan that includes some sort of barrier, whether wall, fence or other, on the border, hoping to complete a deal. Mulvaney called the level of proposed border wall funding all over the map. As of Saturday, it seemed that negotiators were focused on a proposal with border barrier funding of between $1.3 billion and $2 billion, said a person familiar with the talks. Details about where the fencing would go and a Democratic request to eliminate previously funded fencing in the National Butterfly Center, a conservation area close to the border in Mission, Texas, were still being negotiated. Trump Weighs In Trump on Saturday suggested that if Democrats didnt give him all the wall money hes demanded, he may use executive action to build it. Democrats have warned such action would face court challenges, and some Republicans have also suggested its an option best avoided. Congressional negotiators traded offers throughout the day on Saturday until a breakdown last night, said the people familiar. While the two sides are now said to be close to a dollar amount for border barriers, Democrats are making a higher level of funding for barriers contingent on the new cap for detention beds something Republicans are resisting. There are currently 40,520 ICE immigration detention beds funded by Congress. Heading into the talks, the White House sought to increase the number to 52,000, while Democrats wanted a reduction to 35,520. Democrats have proposed a 16,500 cap on beds to be used for interior enforcement, with the rest to be used for those captured at the border, according to people familiar with the talks. No Cap A senior Republican aide said Shelby wont accept an interior cap, and Democrats told Republicans they wont proceed without one. The aide said that lawmakers now need to talk directly to resolve the impasse because staff cannot move forward with offers. Calls on the topic are expected today. The Democrats want to use the cap to force ICE to detain criminals rather than ordinary undocumented immigrants with no criminal history, a Democratic person familiar with the discussions said. The cap level matches an informal one used during the Obama administration. Republicans have said violent criminals caught inside the U.S. shouldnt count toward the cap, and that ICE should have discretion about whom to detain. Trump said on Twitter Sunday that he doesnt think Democrats on the committee are being allowed by their leaders to make a deal with border wall money and now, out of the blue, want a cap on convicted violent felons to be held in detention! I actually believe they want a Shutdown, Trump said in a separate tweet, suggesting it was a bad week for Democrats with the controversy in Virginia and good economic news for the U.S. economy, and they want to change the subject. Reducing bed space for violent offenders is an incentive for illegal immigration, Senator Lindsey Graham said on Fox Newss Sunday Morning Futures. The South Carolina Republican, a confidant of the president, said he would advise Trump to take as much money as he can get [from Congress] and find the rest on his own. Democrats are also demanding language in the bill aimed at blocking Trump from shifting funds into an account to build the wall, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. The language could stymie executive actions to build the barriers and has become another problem in the talks, the source said. Trumps campaign sent out a fundraising email on Sunday noting that hes scheduled to hold a rally on Monday in El Paso, Texas, to show Democrats how much Americans demand The WALL. Democrats have chosen petty games over the safety of Americans, the campaign said in the email. Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina, another Republican whos close to Trump, echoed the president on Sunday on CBS: this President is going to build a wall one way or another, he said. I do expect the President to take some kind of executive action a national emergency is certainly part of that, Meadows said. There are a few other things in his toolbox that he could use. But I do expect him to do that if we dont reach a compromise. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is removing the National Guard from the states border with Mexico. Newsom reportedly plans today to sign an executive order ending the deployment, ahead of his Tuesday State of the State speech. Trumps own plan to deploy an additional 3,750 guardsmen to the border is thought to be one of the motivations behind Newsoms decision. The 360 California National Guard troops currently stationed on the states Mexico border will be re-deployed to support wildfire suppression efforts, expand the Counterdrug Task Force, and work on collecting intelligence on drug cartels. According to his prepared remarks, for his State of the State address, Newsom will deem the border emergency a manufactured crisis. California will not be part of this political theater, which is why I have given the National Guard a new mission. They will refocus on the real threats facing our state, Newsom is expected to say. Newsoms decision follows a similar move by New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who announced last week that she would pull most of the states National Guard troops from the border. Grisham claimed that Trumps charade of border fear mongering was the only reason for their deployment. Ordering removal of the National Guard reverses a decision made by former California Gov. Jerry Brown, Newsoms predecessor. Brown allowed Trump to deploy the National Guard on the states border, only if they werent used to enforce immigration laws. Last summer, a number of governors pulled or canceled National Guard deployments in response to the Trump administrations family separation policy for immigrants illegally crossing the border. Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina pulled troops, while Colorado, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Oregon refused to send troops at allsome even before they received requests from Trump. Venezuelas crisis hits stand-still over emergency aid Nearly three weeks after the Trump administration backed an all-out effort to force out President Nicolas Maduro, the embattled socialist leader is holding strong and defying predictions of an imminent demise. Apple Taps iPhone Executive to Be First Head of Marketing for AR (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. assigned a longtime iPhone executive as its first head of marketing for augmented reality, demonstrating the importance of the technology to the companys future. Frank Casanova moved from leading iPhone marketing for wireless carriers into the new role this month. On his LinkedIn profile, Casanova said hes now "responsible for all aspects of Product Marketing for Apples Augmented Reality initiative." Casanova has worked at Apple for about 30 years, and was key in launching the original iPhone, striking deals with carriers to promote the handset, and developing older Apple products like the QuickTime video player. The decision by Apple to name its first head of product marketing for AR underscores the technologys importance to the companys quest for major new products. An Apple spokesman declined to comment. "Theres now a name and face on Apple AR efforts and a person with a track record of working on advanced technology projects at Apple," said Michael Gartenberg, former senior director of marketing at Apple. "Frank is the ideal person to lead Apples efforts in AR." Augmented reality superimposes virtual content over a view of the real world and has been praised by Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook. The Cupertino, California-based company first demonstrated interest in the field with ARKit software on iPhones and iPads, which allows apps to integrate the technology. Apple is planning a 3-D-based AR camera for iPhones in 2020 and has a team of hundreds of engineers working on an AR headset and operating system, Bloomberg News has reported. To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Gurman in San Francisco at mgurman1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net, Alistair Barr, Andrew Pollack For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. Staff adjustment proposal worries health assistants across country Health assistants across the country are worried that a new government provision might put them under the supervision of less qualified officials. LMV teacher responds to sexual abuse allegations by former students I have a serious concern on the recent news about Lalitpur Madhyamik Vidhyalaya (Two more teachers at Lalitpur Madhyamik Vidhyalaya accused of sexual abuse by former student, Page 1,February 5, 2019) in your esteemed newspaper, The Kathmandu Post The controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, which seeks to provide citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, will be tabled in Rajya Sabha today amid protests in the Northeast. The bill will be moved by Home Minister Rajnath Singh in the Upper House. The bill was cleared by the Lok Sabha on January 8 and if cleared in Rajya Sabha, it will become a law. The bill seeks to grant nationality to Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians and Jains from the neighbouring countries, but not Muslims. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill will grant nationality to Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians and Jains but not Muslims who fled from the three neighbouring countries from religious persecution and entered India before December 31, 2014. also read President Ram Nath Kovind unveiled a portrait of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee This has led to widespread protests in Assam and the other northeastern states who have raised strong objections about discriminating against immigrants and said that no infiltrator, irrespective of their religion, should be given citizenship rights. The protesters say the bill, which seeks to allow citizenship to illegal Hindu migrants from Bangladesh who came to the state after March 1971, is a violation of the Assam Accord, 1985. PM Modi said on February 9 while addressing a rally in Assam's Guwahati said the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill will not harm the interests of the people of Assam and the other northeastern states "It is a national commitment to the people of the Northeast that they will not be harmed in any way and citizenship will be only granted after due investigations and recommendations of the state governments," also read Strange incident! A man robs into his own house, with help of his brother While during the parliament session Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday said there have been "misplaced apprehensions" about the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill."There are reports of some protests due to certain misplaced apprehensions about the Bill," Rijiju said during a Lok Sabha session on Tuesday. KMSS chief Akhil Gogoi said the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 is against the constitution of India and it will change the demographic of India. Gogoi said "This bill is against secularism and constitution of India. It will change demographic of Northeast,". Gogoi said talks have been held with Opposition parties including Congress, Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Janata Dal (United), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to ensure vote against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 that is to be tabled in Rajya Sabha. he said "We have spoken to Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Janata Dal (United), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress. They have all assured their support except who are confused," Renu Raj earned laurels for Kerala when she finished the civil service exams with second rank in 2015, in her first attempt. The IAS officer has just made her home state proud by taking an uncompromising stand in the face of organised adversity. Renu Raj, the sub collector of Devikulam which includes the Munnar area, was in the news last week when she squared up to local leaders during a clean-up drive against encroachments and illegal construction. Local leaders led by a CPM MLA blocked a team of officials from the revenue department which was dispatched to stop the construction of an industrial centre on the banks of the Muthirapuzha River. The building lacked the necessary authorisation. The legislator, S Rajendran, intimidated the revenue officials and showered abuses on the sub collector. Renu Raj refused to buck under pressure and submitted a report before the Kerala High Court. She found surprise support from many quarters. Even her boss, revenue minister E Chandrasekharan, came out in her defence. Rajendran was forced to express regret at his outburst as his party colleagues refused to stand by him. I have no notion of changing society overnight, Renu Raj told Manorama earlier. I can guarantee you one thing. Nobody will have to approach me for a second time if they have a just demand. Renu Raj gave a shot at the civil service after completing the MBBS in the Kottayam Medical College. She is the daughter of V N Latha and Rajakumaran Nair, a retired DTO in the KSRTC. Healing the administration Renu Raj's parents always wanted her to be a doctor but they were thrilled when she raised the bar and became a civil servant in 2015. Had she remained a doctor, she could have helped only those patients who came to her. As an IAS officer, she can help lakhs of people, Renu Raj's father told Manorama News when the results were publicised. Renu Raj was a high school student when she asked her father to take her to an IAS officer. Rajakumaran Nair took her along to visit Kottayam collector Mini Antony. The officer was amused by the girl who wanted to know about the service. She talked to her at length, cleared her doubts and energised her with a comment that she could also be an IAS officer. Though Renu Raj had a medical degree, she chose Malayalam as optional for the civil service exam. She counts O V Vijayan, Sugathakumari and O N V Kurup as her favourite authors. Another of her idols is Padma Subramaniam, the danseuse. She has trained in classical dance and scored prizes in school-level competitions. She still practices the art as a fitness method and relaxation technique. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has declared Hindi as its third official language to be used in courts, alongside Arabic and English. The move is an acknowledgement of the large number of Indians who live and work in the desert nation. There are over 26 lakh Indians in the UAE, making up to 30 per cent of the population and forming the largest expatriate community. The Abu Dhabi judicial department said that the move was aimed to ensure Hindi speakers learned the litigation procedures, and their rights and duties without a language barrier, in addition to facilitating registration procedures via unified forms. The move is ostensibly a step taken to further bilateral ties that have strengthened in recent years. During Narendra Modi's visit to the UAE in 2018, a ground-breaking ceremony for a Hindu temple was held. Crown prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed granted 13.7 acres of land for its construction, and it is reported that an additional 13 acres have been allowed for parking. The foundation stone is likely to be laid in April. Construction is likely to commence this year. However, interestingly, many of the Indians living and working in the UAE are not native Hindi speakers. Almost half of them are from Kerala, where Malayalam is the language spoken. Tamils rank second. The remaining are from various other parts of the country. The lawmakers in Abu Dhabi may not have gone into the details of India's language mix. The move, though, is a strong show of cementing ties. In recent weeks, India had good help from the UAE government in extraditing people wanted by investigating authorities in india. These include Christian Michel, one of the middle men wanted in connection with the Agusta-Westland chopper deal case, as well as Rajiv Saxena, a co-accused in the scam. Most recently, it also extradited Prabhjot Singh, wanted for murder by the Punjab police. It is said that the extraditions were facilitated in a swap, with India sending back the UAE Princess Latifa, who was intercepted by the Indian Coast Guard while attempting to flee her plush but inhibited life. Jaipur: Robert Vadra, Congress president Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law, and his mother Maureen appeared before the Enforcement Directorate at its zonal office here in connection with a probe into an alleged land scam in the Rajasthan's border town of Bikaner. AICC general secretary and Vadra's wife Priyanka Gandhi accompanied them to the office. This is Vadra's fourth appearance before the agency and first in Jaipur. On the last three occasions, he appeared before ED in Delhi in connection with a money laundering probe against him for his alleged role in procuring assets abroad. Vadra said he will answer every question with respect and dignity. He also said God is with his family. So here we are, my 75-year-old mother and me in Jaipur to depose in front of the Enforcement Directorate. Not understanding the lows of this vindictive government to be harassing a senior citizen, who the world knows has lost her daughter in a car crash, her ailing son to diabetes, and her husband as well.... Now she is being accused, maligned and called to be interrogated, for spending time in my office. Since I have already been interrogated for three days in Delhi headquarters, of the Enforcement Directorate. If there was any issue or any illegality, which was found by government, why did it take them 4 years and 8 months, to call me a month before campaigning begins for the general elections. Do they think people in India do not view it as an election gimmick?, he wrote on Facebook. The Rajasthan High Court had asked Vadra and his mother to cooperate with the agency after they approached it seeking directions that no coercive action is taken against them by the agency, following which the duo appeared before the ED in Jaipur. In the Bikaner case, the agency had summoned Vadra thrice but he failed to appear and later approached the court. The ED had registered a criminal case in connection with the deal in 2015, taking cognisance of a clutch of FIRs and chargesheets filed by Rajasthan police after the tehsildar of Bikaner complained about alleged forgery in the allotment of land in the area, considered sensitive due to its proximity to the India-Pakistan border. It is understood that the agency wants to question Vadra about the operations of a firm Ms Skylight Hospitality Private Limited allegedly linked to him, which had purchased land in the area. It also wants to confront Vadra with the statements of those said to be linked to him. (With PTI inputs) Mumbai: Renowned filmmaker Anand Patwardhan has said his national award-winning documentary "Ram Ke Naam", based on the Babri Masjid demolition, has been age restricted on YouTube. The director said the video sharing website is "catering to Hindutva goons who want to kill all secular content." The 1992 documentary explores the campaign waged by the Hindu-nationalist Vishva Hindu Parishad to build a Ram temple at the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, as well as the communal violence that it triggered. The film had received a 'U' certificate from the Central Bureau of Film Certification and was shown at prime time on Doordarshan after the High Court ordered its telecast in 1996. Patwardhan said he is baffled how the film has now been termed for "adults" only, 28 years after its release. In a Facebook post, the director wrote Sunday, "YouTube is at it again, catering to Hindutva goons who want to kill all secular content. Latest is they have put an 'age restriction' on my film 'Ram Ke Naam' which has a 'U' certificate from CBFC." The filmmaker said the video sharing website has previously done this to "Jai Bhim Comrade", which also had a 'U' certificate, questioning if "YouTube is even worse than our CBFC?" Patwardhan said the website is "Hindutva embedded" and called the move "disgusting". "Now if you are a child over 14 and under 18 you are allowed to do hazardous labour but you are not allowed to see 'Ram Ke Naam'! The temporary good news is that if you are over 18 you can watch it on my (anandverite) youtube channel. That is, till they think up a new ruse to restrict it further," he wrote. Patwardhan had written to YouTube regarding the move, to which the video-sharing website replied that "Ram Ke Naam" was flagged for review, upon which, they "determined that it may not be suitable for all viewers and it has been placed behind an age restriction." "After further review, we've determined that while your video does not violate our Community Guidelines, it may not be appropriate for a general audience. We have therefore age-restricted your video," Patwardhan shared YouTube's response below his post. New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of acting as a middleman of Anil Ambani in the Rafale jet deal, as he cited an e-mail to claim the businessman was aware of the MoU before India and France signed it. Ambani's knowledge of a defence deal under preparation, which even the then defence minister had said he was not aware of, is in violation of the Official Secrets Act, Gandhi alleged at a press conference, and said this "puts Modi in jail". Only Modi could have told Ambani about the deal in advance, he alleged. "This is treason. He (Modi) is doing what spies do," Gandhi said. Ambani had met the French defence minister days before the signing of the deal during Modi's visit to France in 2015, Gandhi said, quoting from an e-mail written by an Airbus executive to a French official. The Congress president also rejected the Comptroller and Auditor General report on the Rafale deal, and dubbed it "Chowkidar Auditor General" report. Read more National News New Delhi: At 3:30am, Somshekhar and his family were preparing to leave their hotel for Haridwar. But suddenly the power went out and their rooms plunged into darkness. Before they could understand what had happened, plumes of thick smoke ran through their floor at Arpit Palace Hotel. Soon, they realised their lives could be in danger. Other than Somshekhar, 12 people were in the group staying at the hotel in central Delhi where a massive fire killed 17 people, including a child. He said his sister (Jayashree, 53), mother (Nalini, 84) and brother (Vidyasagar, 59) died in the early morning fire. The family had come from Ernakulam district in Kerala to attend a wedding in Ghaziabad, which is part of the National Capital Territory. Nalini (L), Jayashree and Vidyasagar. "We had come to attend the wedding of a relative in Ghaziabad. We were planning to go to Haridwar today (Tuesday)," the 57-year-old said. "Yesterday, we went to Vrindawan and returned late last night. We had also planned to visit Amritsar and leave for Kerala on the 15th," he added. "We were all ready early morning when there was a sudden power cut. They switched on the generator and there was heavy smoke and smell. My sister first spotted the smoke and informed us. "The entire pathway was full of smoke and smell," Somshekhar said. His mother and brother were with his sister that time and Somshekhar had rushed to his room to open the windows to allow the smoke to pass and to find a possible exit route. Somshekhar said he has no knowledge what started the fire. But, he stressed, he believes negligence on part of the hotel management must have triggered the tragedy. x-default There were more than 50 guests at the hotel, which had a canopy on the terrace, housing what appeared to be a restaurant, officials said. At least 35 people were injured in the fire. A senior civic official said a suspected short circuit could have sparked the fire. A video of the incident showed two people jumping from the fourth floor of the building. Union Tourism Minister Alphons Joseph Kannanthanam meets a relative of a Karol Bagh fire victim. PTI A senior civic official said short-circuit is suspected to be the cause of the fire. Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain, who visited the hotel, told reporters he has directed the fire department to inspect buildings which have five floors or more and submit a report on their fire safety compliance within a week. Babu Panikar, head of Delhi Malayali Association, said, "I got to know that Malayalis were trapped. I rushed to the spot to check on them. It's a group of 13 members belonging to same family who came from Ernakulam to attend a wedding in Ghaziabad. "Around 10 of them were rescued safely while three bodies have been identified. Two of the family members left for Mumbai yesterday," he said. New Delhi: The Supreme Court has held that a consensual sexual relationship between live-in partners would not amount to rape in some cases such as when the man, due to adverse circumstances beyond his control, does not marry the woman. "The acknowledged consensual relationship between the parties would not constitute an offence under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code," said the bench of Justice A K Sikri and Justice S Abdul Nazeer in a recent judgment. "There may be a case where the prosecutrix agrees to have sexual intercourse on account of her love and passion for the accused and not solely on account of misconception created by accused, or where an accused on account of circumstance which he could not have foreseen or which were beyond his control, was unable to marry her despite having every intention to do so. Such cases must be treated differently," the bench said. The court said this while quashing an FIR lodged against a doctor by a Maharashtra based nurse who were, for quite some time, in a live-in relationship. Pointing to clear distinction between rape and consensual sex between live-in partners, the court said, "The courts, in such cases must very carefully examine whether the complainant had actually wanted to marry the victim or had mala fide motives and had made a false promise to this effect only to satisfy his lust, as the latter falls within the ambit of cheating or deception." Lucknow: Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was on Tuesday prevented from taking a flight to attend an event organised by the Students Union at Allahabad University, triggering a political storm. Akhilesh had to take a private plane here but was told by a senior district official that the Samajwadi Party leader did not have the permission to do so. A fuming Akhilesh Yadav, who returned home after arguing with the airport officials for about two hours, said the Uttar Pradesh government was so scared of him that they stopped him from going to Allahabad University. Calling it "remote control politics of two-and-a-half men", Akhilesh alleged that he was detained at the airport on the premise that his presence at the Allahabad University could lead to law and order issues. The 45-year-old leader said that the ruling BJP, by committing such acts, had not only lost the upcoming Lok Sabha elections but also earned the ire of the youth. The development triggered a war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party. As the news spread, scores of Samajwadi Party workers and leaders rushed to the airport and raised anti-government slogans. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati denounced the action against Akhilesh. She wondered if the central and state BJP governments were so afraid of the BSP-SP alliance that they were resorting to such "anti-democratic methods". The 63-year-old Dalit leader accused the BJP governments of trying to "curb our political activities". "This is very unfortunate and undemocratic. It will be fought at all levels." The state government dismissed the allegations and said the university authorities had on February 2 asked Yadav not to visit as the university disapproved of "political participation in campus events". Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the decision was taken by the district administration based on the threat assessment of violence. "SP has a history of lawlessness and his visit could have created problems. There was a fear of student groups creating law and order problem," he said. After staying put at the airport for more than two hours, the former chief minister left for his residence in a huff. The current situation in the villages in Gujarat's Narmada district is a throwback to the days of Narmada Bachao Andolan, the three-decade long agitation against the controversial Narmada dam project. The only difference is that the earlier movement was spearheaded by social activists like Medha Patkar, while the present one has emerged from within the community. Several tribesmen who took part in the protests against infrastructure development around the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Statue of Unity, located on an island facing the Sardar Sarovar Dam on river Narmada, have sought refuge at the ashram inside the Ranchod temple complex fearing arrest. They came under the scanner after clashing with the police during the foundation-laying ceremony of Haryana Bhavan in the vicinity of worlds tallest statue by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. Cases have been registered against hundreds of tribal community members from Kevadiya, Vagadiya, Nayagaon, Gora, Limbdi and Kwotti villages in the region. Dakor is famous for the Ranchod temple of Lord Krishna. According to Hindu mythology, the name Ranchod, which literally means the one who flees the battlefield, was ascribed to Krishna after he cunningly ran away while fighting Jarasandha because the latter was destined to be killed by Bhima. Now the hapless tribesmen who lost the battle with the outside world have left their fate in the hands of the god. Over the years, the region has witnessed a string of incessant protests by residents of lower-lying villages inside the submerge zone of the Sardar Sarovar project. The Save Narmada Movement was instrumental in ensuring a special rehabilitation package for the displaced families under which they were paid money to purchase land. Apart from compensation for their properties, jobs were provided to a member of each family of the project-affected persons under the rehabilitation scheme. Moreover, every member of the displaced families who had attained the age of 18 years on January 1, 1988, received five acres of land. Massive displacement As many as six villages with a total population of 22,000 are located downstream Narmada. The Statue of Unity is built at Sadhu Bet island, which is three kilometres from the Sardar Sarovar Project. Though these villages are part of the dam project, the residents were not considered as project-affected persons. The villagers are complaining that their lands were taken away for the dam project as well as for the Statue of Unity and all other tourism activities which have been planned in the area. Narmada River valley is the largest west flowing river which runs through Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Recently a major dam has been constructed eight kilometres down the stream. Plans are on the anvil to develop the area for world-class tourism with hotels, camping grounds and trekking trails, among other infrastructure. Going by the current phase of construction works, the project will be completed in six months time. By the time, a major portion of the six villages is feared to be submerged. Sacrificial lambs Unofficial estimates place the number of people displaced across the country due to development projects since Independence at six crores. The total number of dams in the country is around 3,000, of which 54 are mega dams like the Sardar Sarovar reservoir. Most of the displaced are assetless rural poor, marginal farmers and tribal communities. As per rules framed under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, the quantum of compensation would be at least four times the market or guideline value of a given piece of land. However, as existing rates are taken as approved market value in rural areas, the compensation would be much lesser as compared to properties in urban areas. Overall, the Sardar Sarovar project has displaced over 2 lakh people belonging to 41,000 families scattered across the three states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. About 56 per cent of the people affected by the dam belongs to indigenous communities. Unfortunately, no proper studies have been conducted to analyse the situation of the displaced people. Unofficial studies have substantiated that a majority of those displaced remain without proper rehabilitation. Dr N C Saxena, former member of the Planning Commission and National Advisory Council, who conducted a study on communities displaced or relocated by development projects, has recommended to the government to track forced displacements during the past 50 years. He also sought to create a special corpus fund in order to provide justice and relief to the future generations of the resettled families. Lets us live and die here Dinesh Tadwis grandfather owned 60 acres of land in Kevadiya. The entire property was taken away by the government-controlled Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd. for the dam project. The authorities are said to be forcing the residents to sacrifice their interest for the larger common good by leaving their native villages. Scores of people have been directly affected by the land acquisition for setting up tourist facilities around the Statue of Unity. Land plots have been taken away for road widening. Renovation of the bridge connecting the memorial structure to the mainland is progressing. They say the beautiful landscape on both sides of the river will make for a heavenly sight and leave visitors mesmerised. Why do they want to make our land a heaven on earth by driving us away? asks Dinesh. 'How will you compensate us'? Excerpts from a letter from Bava Mahalia of Jalsindhi village in Jhabua district to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh in 1994: We have lived in the forest for generations. We know the name of each and every tree, shrub and herb; we know their uses. If we were made to live in a land without forests, then all this knowledge that we have cherished for generations will be useless. The Narmada has many kinds of fish in her belly. Our children play on the rivers banks, swim and bathe there. Our cattle drink there throughout the year, for the river never dries up. In the belly of the river, we live contented lives. We have lived here for many generations; do we have a right to the mighty river and to our forests or don't we? How will you compensate us for our river - for her fish, her water, for the vegetables that grow along her banks, for the joy of living beside her? What is the price for this? ... Our gods, and the support of our kin - what price do you put on that? Our adivasi life - what price do you put on that? Where are the documents? The foundation stone for the Sardar Sarovar Project was laid on January 5, 1961. The authorities claim that they had obtained consent of the ancestors of the villagers before their land was acquired for the project. Though the residents filed an RTI request for a copy of the consent letters submitted by their ancestors, the reply was to approach the district collector for the same. The collector, however, turned down their request saying that the details of the land acquisition process could not be made public. Villagers now believe that the so-called consent letters are anything but imaginary. The Gujarat government has invited other state governments to construct own guest houses at the site, which is fast emerging as a top tourist destination. On January 19, when Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar came over to lay the foundation stone for the Haryana Bhavan, thousands of tribals, carrying the tri-colour, gathered at the site to air their grievances to him. However, before they could meet the chief minister, security forces forcibly removed from the scene. The villagers wanted the government to return the patches of land acquired from them that are unlikely to be submerged, and provide job to a member from each family at the proposed tourist centre. However, all that the government offered was a compensation of Rs 3 lakh. Land Acquisition Act (2013) brought about by the UPA government was not followed for the projects implemented in Narmada valley. The present NDA government had tried to amend the new Act, which replaced the archaic Land Acquisition Act enacted by the British in 1894, in a bid to promote industries, but the move was dropped following widespread protests. In the name of national Interest There has been a steady erosion of traditional tribal rights and their command over resources. Rules stipulate that the state is committed to obtain consent from the community, legally described as gram sabha (the village assembly), before acquiring land in scheduled tribal areas for a public purpose. If the project gets delayed, the land should be returned to the original holders. Also, the people, affected directly or indirectly following the acquisition of land, have to be assured of an honourable place in terms of equality in the new environment. These rules can be tweaked to acquire land for public good and in the national interest. Of course, dams are being constructed in the name of progress and national Interest, but ousting people from their homeland for tourism projects is unjustifiable. (To be continued) References: Study reports published by the Planning Commission; articles by Arundhati Roy, Prof Hari Mohan Mathur, and Himanshu Dhakar. Nayak Paudel is a crime reporter for The Kathmandu Post. Since joining the Post in 2018, he has also written on health issues. SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the first Muslim women in Congress, should resign over Twitter comments that leaders in both parties have called "anti-Semitic." "I think she should resign from Congress frankly, but at a minimum, she shouldn't be on committees, certainly that committee," President Trump said. Omar has since apologized for her Twitter reply to journalist Glenn Greenwald in which she suggested that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, and other members of Congress, support Israel because they get campaign donations from pro-Israel groups and individuals, evoking historical stereotypes linking Jews to money and influence. It's all about the Benjamins baby ?? https://t.co/KatcXJnZLV Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 10, 2019 In the tweet, Omar appeared to be using a common way of referring to $100 bills which feature Benjamin Franklin or even playing off a line from Its All About the Benjamins, a 1997 song from rapper Puff Daddy featuring the Notorious B.I.G., Lil Kim and the Lox. She also tweeted AIPAC!" a clear reference to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the prominent advocacy organization that has spent millions lobbying for pro-Israel legislation and sponsor trips to Israel for members of Congress. In 2018, AIPAC spent a total of $3.5 million on lobbying, including more than $883,000 spent just in the last three months of 2018. AIPAC! https://t.co/UdzaFUEfrh Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 11, 2019 Omar had previously appeared to defend her comments on Twitter later Sunday night in a response to a message from Chelsea Clinton, former President Bill Clinton's daughter. The president called Omar's apology "lame" and accused her of being insincere. The Anti-Defamation League, which condemned Omar's comments as "promoting the ugly, anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that Jews have an outsized influence over politics." On Monday, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, called Omars comments deeply hurtful and offensive, while Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Elaine Luria, D-Va., who are Jewish, began circulating a letter calling on Democratic leaders to take swift action to condemn the comments. Rep. Eliot Engel, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on which Omar serves, also criticized her comments in a statement Monday but made no mention of removing her assignment. "I fully expect that when we disagree on the Foreign Affairs Committee, we will debate policy on the merits and never question members motives or resort to personal attacks," he wrote. "Criticism of American policy toward any country is fair game, but this must be done on policy grounds." In an extraordinary rebuke, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House Democratic leaders on Monday called on the Democratic freshman to apologize for the comments. Anti-Semitism must be called out, confronted and condemned whenever it is encountered, without exception," Pelosi said in a statement, joined by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Lujan, Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries and Caucus Vice Chair Katherine Clark. We are and will always be strong supporters of Israel in Congress because we understand that our support is based on shared values and strategic interests. Legitimate criticism of Israels policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate that the United States and Israel share," the statement continued. "But Congresswoman Omars use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israels supporters is deeply offensive. We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments," they said. "As Democrats and as Americans, the entire Congress must be fully engaged in denouncing and rejecting all forms of hatred, racism, prejudice and discrimination wherever they are encountered, the statement read. Pelosi also tweeted that she had spoken with Omar, saying "Congresswoman Omar and I agreed that we must use this moment to move forward as we reject anti-Semitism in all forms." In our conversation today, Congresswoman Omar and I agreed that we must use this moment to move forward as we reject anti-Semitism in all forms. https://t.co/UpZA3DNgQs pic.twitter.com/1Z6rH65e3M Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) February 11, 2019 Shortly afterward, Omar tweeted, in part, that "My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole. We have to always be willing to step back and think about criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me for my identity. That is why I unequivocally apologize." Listening and learning, but standing strong pic.twitter.com/7TSroSf8h1 Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 11, 2019 Omar, of Minnesota, has previously been accused by Republicans of anti-Semitism for her comments about Israel, and her weekend comments caused a growing number of Democrats to join in criticizing her social media posts. Omar, along with Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., another Muslim woman and freshman Democrat, have been outspoken critics of Israel and the countrys treatment of Palestinians, articulating a growing sentiment among progressives that has put them at odds with longstanding American foreign policy consensus on Israel and deep bipartisan support for Israel in Washington and on Capitol Hill. House Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise, House GOP Conference Chair Rep. Liz Cheney, among others, have called for Omar to be taken off the Foreign Affairs Committee. Republicans, who have been quick to criticize the two Democratic women, have also grappled with charges of anti-Semitism. And ahead of the midterm elections, McCarthy, then the majority leader of the House, posted and subsequently deleted a tweet that said Republicans cannot allow George Soros, Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer three Jewish Democratic billionaire donors to buy the election. President Trump was accused of anti-Semitism during the 2016 presidential campaign after he retweeted an image of Hillary Clinton and a six-pointed star similar to a Jewish star that read Most Corrupt Candidate Ever! superimposed on a graphic of money. The president eventually deleted the image and replaced it with a similar graphic without the star. Fellow freshman Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, highlighted Omar's apology and contrasted her contrition with Trump's responses when criticized for culturally offensive remarks. "Unlike this President, Rep. @IlhanMN demonstrated a capacity to acknowledge pain & apologize, use the opportunity to learn abt history of antisemitism,+grow from it while clarifying her stance," she tweeted. "Im also inspired by Jewish leadership who brought her in, not push her out, to heal." Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. The opposition UDF used the last day of the Budget session of the Assembly on Tuesday as a springboard to take its Lok Sabha election campaign to a higher pitch. Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan's refusal to entertain an adjournment motion on the CBI chargesheet against CPM Kannur district secretary P Jayarajan and T V Rajesh MLA in the Shukoor murder case seems to have come in handy. The opposition has now turned this rejection into a battle against CPM's political violence. The UDF also made it a point to mention that the Speaker had refused any discussion on political murders on the first anniversary of S P Shuhaib's death, a Youth Congress leader allegedly killed by the CPM workers. The UDF leaders called this "fascism". The Speaker had refused permission for the motion saying that the issue was an old one, had no urgency to it, and also that it had nothing to with the government. The opposition disrupted proceedings even after the Speaker said that he would allow the opposition to raise the issue as a 'submission'. When the slogan-shouting continued, the Speaker had no choice but to rush through the proceedings. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said that Rule 50 (under which an adjournment motion is moved) was an inalienable right of the opposition. The Speaker should not have trampled upon our rights, Chennithala said. Chennithala later said it was the rising wave of political murders in the state that had made the issue urgent. There have been 27 political murders after the LDF government took over, he said. Chennithala said that the issue had to be raised as it involved mob lynching. He said that the 19-year-old Shukoor was pulled out of his house, subjected to a public trial, and then lynched. He was hacked 27 times, Chennithala said. All of us had reacted with shock at the mob lynchings carried out with impunity by the BJP. The Shukoor murder was another instance of mob lynching by the CPM. I would like to know how the CPM leadership would react to their own cadre indulging in mob lynching, the opposition leader added. Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader M K Muneer said that Shukoor had told his killers that he had not waylaid the car in which P Jayarajan and T V Rajesh were travelling. Still, they killed him. He was only a boy, young enough to be Jayarajan's grandson, Muneer said. It is said that Shukoor was killed in retaliation for blocking Jayarajan's car. Jayarajan and T V Rajesh are the 31st and 32nd accused in the CBI chargesheet. Congress MLA Sunny Joseph, who sought to move the adjournment motion, said that both murder and conspiracy charges had been slapped on the CPM leaders. Chennithala said that it was the duty of the opposition to highlight the seriousness of the issue in which a sitting MLA has been implicated. I don't think this has ever happened in the history of the state, he said. The CPM should not forget the ruckus they had created in the Assembly when the commission probing the Koothuparamba firing (in 1994) had made some adverse remarks against M V Raghavan (who was then minister in the UDF cabinet), he added. Muneer said that the CPM was now attempting to accord the protection of the Parliament to Jayarajan by making him its candidate in Kannur. Chennithala said that MLAs and MPs had immunity only in civil cases, and not criminal cases. Muneer, however, was evasive when he was asked whether the IUML would take action against its members who had altered their testimony in favour of the CPM leaders in the Shukoor case. That is for the local leadership to decide, he said. Thodupuzha: The CPM district leadership has decided to take action against its legislator S Rajendran for defamatory remarks against Devikulam sub-collector Dr Renu Raj. A district secretariat press release registered strong objection to the MLAs remarks, saying they did not reflect the partys views. As an MLA, he should have worked with the sub-collector to resolve the issue. The leaders poor response was unfortunate. District secretary KK Jayachandran assured appropriate action after discussions within the party. Meanwhile, Renu Raj reacted to the MLAs comments, saying it was intended to stop her from carrying out official duties as a sub-collector. The MLAs abusive comment was seen on media, she said. The High Court will be notified of the defiance of its order. I have been legally advised to go ahead with the courts orders. Additional AG has concurred with the earlier findings. A report on illegal constructions in Munnar has been sent to the AG, the IAS officer added. Renu has already submitted a report to the Advocate General stating that the MLA tried to stop her from carrying out official duty. Her report also pointed out that the Munnar panchayat continued illegal construction in its jurisdiction despite orders banning the activity. The report has also sought contempt of court proceedings against the panchayat secretary in this regard, Manorama News had reported on Monday. Allegations of abetting illegal construction are rife against the legislator and even a construction neer Rajendran's house is under the scanner. The sub-collector has asked the village officer to submit a report on the unlawful building activities in the area. The Kerala Women's Commission Monday registered a case against CPI(M) legislator S Rajendran for his remarks against the Devikulam sub-collector. The Devikulam lawmaker had made the remark on February 8 after the young IAS officer tried to stop the unauthorised construction of a shopping complex in the tourist town of Munnar in Idukki district. Commission sources said the case was registered on the basis of media reports about the MLA's purported remarks against the official. Television channels had aired visuals showing the legislator making the disparaging comments that the sub-collector lacked brains, had no powers to intervene in the construction as building rules comes under the panchayat. "She doesn't have brains. She studied only to become a collector. Such people will have only so much brains. Should she not study the sketch, plans. A collector cannot intervene in a panchayat construction," the MLA had reportedly said on Friday after revenue officials tried to stop the construction. Raj, who was appointed as the Devikulam sub-collector in November last year, Sunday said a memo had been issued to the panchayat on February 6 to stop the illegal construction. But the work was still going on. The Kerala High Court had in a 2010 judgement said for any new construction in Munnar, a no-objection certificate had to be obtained. No NOC was obtained when the construction work of the four-storeyed shopping complex was taken up, she said. (With inputs from PTI) As the Airbus 319 aircraft I was in battled heavy winds and mild snow of the Tatar Strait (which separates Sakhalin Island from the Russian mainland), I was excited about going to a place where I made a name for myself as a journalist and writer. For me, there was so much of familiarity in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the capital city of the oil-rich Sakhalin Island. The city, which is about the size of Palakkad, has a population of around two lakhs, but is a very strategically important centre of the oil and gas industry. Over the last decade, it witnessed a major economic boom on account of the development of energy projects, but unlike places like Dubai, once the projects were on stream, the influx of foreign visitors to the island reduced to a trickle. I had moved out of the island in 2007, but still felt a strong connection. Each of its well organised streets held memories, both real and those that felt real because they were the setting for stories in my book- Globetrotting for Love and Other Stories from Sakhalin Island. As much comfort as I felt, and as warmly as I was welcomed back by friends and acquaintances, it was hard for me to feel that I was home. I indeed love Sakhalin and the rest of the largest country in the world, where the wholesomeness, hospitality and warmth of the people more than make up for long and freezing winters, but theres a kind of spiritual connect that I only seem to feel in a stretch of land that begins after the Palakkad Gap and stretches as far as Guruvayur. Except for a small stretch when I was 7 years old, I have never lived in Kerala. It was always a place I visited once a year to be with my grandparents. I grew up on stories about the villages of my parents and my subconscious mind is probably filled with the yearning of loved ones who left Kerala in search of better financial opportunities, but with a dream of coming back and living out their lives in Palakkad. Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk has a population of around two lakhs and is a very strategically important centre of the oil and gas industry. I grew up in New York and Mumbai and my only daily connect with my native place was the Malayalam language. Besides speaking it with my parents, I remained familiar with Malayalam, largely thanks to cassettes of films staring the likes of Mohanlal, Mammootty, Nedumudi Venu and Thilakan. Maybe at some deep level, I always believed Id end up moving to Kerala one day. When I see how people in other countries go through their entire lives speaking nothing but their mother tongue, I begin to feel some kind of envy. Even in Mumbai, where I am based most of the time, my Malayalam is restricted to conversations with my mother, or a couple of neighbours. And I find myself today in a city that is an 8-hour flight to the east of Moscow! In the Russian city of Khabarovsk today, the expected maximum temperature is -15 degrees. While central heating ensures that I can dress lightly indoors, Id need 4 layers of clothing to stay warm outside, even then, theres nothing that can protect ones face from chilly winds that come from the Amur River. Its on such February days that I have the greatest desire to put on a mundu-veshti and head to the Guruvayur temple. More than a craving for some delicious Malayali food, I feel the need to light evening lamps in the temples corridors and watch the elephant procession of the deity. Its in the most freezing part of the long Russian winter that I wish I could walk in Tipus Fort in Palakkad or just feel the warmth of the Kerala sun by a paddy field. If someone asked me where Im from, Id have no choice but to say Mumbai. However I know deep down within that even if Palakkad is a place that I may never live in, it is very much in the spiritual sense, my home. The land of my forefathers and the one true place on earth where Id belong no matter what! Many non-resident Keralites have this deep longing to be in a place that they will probably never end up living in. Alas, we remain envious of those people who are not uprooted, but walk on the same paths that their great grandparents treaded. Read more from Keralaspora Thiruvarur: The Central University of Tamil Nadu here has decided to keep open the hostel doors 24 hours a day after protests by students. Students had been boycotting the hostels after a recent action against two employees for relaxing the time bar. The authorities had been following a 'curfew' aimed at the 'security' and 'safety' of the students. As per the hostel rules, every student has to enter the hostel before 9'o clock and should stay back. But students were inconvenienced as the the mess timing is from 7.30 pm to 9.30 pm. The students had filed many complaints and held protests earlier as they had to show up at the hostel and the canteen so that they don't miss the overlapping deadlines in a limited time window. Last week, the services of two contract faculties from the Department of English was terminated as they allowed late entrants and spoke for the students. Subsequently, on Monday night, the students from different hostels gathered outside and broke the curfew. They waited till midnight for a favourable reply from the authorities. As the proctor and chief warden promised on Monday, an open discussion with the student council and hostel representatives were held on Tuesday and finally the administration lifted the restriction. Now, the students should compulsory mark attendance between 9 pm to 9.30 pm and to leave hostel they need to write their names in the register mentioning the purpose. The administration also restricted students from certain areas, especially dark and remote areas. Even though the students need to carry their id cards every now and then, somewhat this relaxation of restrictions is a relief for students. Girl students felt they were discriminated against because of the restrictions, as the restrictions were comparatively relaxed for male students. Kannur: It is a romantic notion to paint Kannur a Red Citadel. The constituency, like a tempestuous lover, had swung both ways. Its embrace of the CPI(M) or the Congress, especially in Lok Sabha polls, was mostly dictated by the candidates and their image during the elections. Kannur has been loyal neither to the Congress nor the CPI(M), and it is this unpredictability factor that has made the constituency alluring for political analysts. This time, the Congress feels that the political murders of Muslim youth allegedly by CPM cadres would turn the tide in its favour. The first death anniversary of SP Shuhaib, the Youth Congress leader who was hacked to death allegedly by CPI(M) workers, falls on February 12. The United Democratic Front (UDF) has lined up various programmes in the district to mark Shuhaib's killing. The strategy is to aggressively project the CPI(M) as a party that wields murder as a political weapon. Now, they have more fodder. The CBI has charged CPI(M) Kannur district secretary P Jayarajan with the murder of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) activist Abdul Shukoor in 2012. Both these deaths had put the CPI(M) on the back foot. Congress now wants old wounds reopened. SP Shuhaib, a Youth Congress leader, was hacked to death allegedly by CPI(M) workers. Shuhaib, who was a Youth Congress block secretary, was killed when he was sitting with his friends at a roadside eatery in Theroor, near Mattannur. The accused first hurled crude bombs, to create panic, before attacking Shuhaib with swords. According to his friends, Shuhaib sustained more than two dozen wounds. Though he was rushed to a hospital in Kozhikode, he died due to profuse bleeding. Shuhaib's friends, P P Noushad and Riyas, were also injured in the attack. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala had termed the murder "red terrorism." According to police, the killing followed a clash between the Students' Federation of India (SFI) and Kerala Students Union (KSU), the student outfits of CPI(M) and Congress respectively, at a higher secondary school in Edayannur, a Congress stronghold in CPI(M)-ruled Keezhallur panchayat almost a month ago. The school fight was taken up by their parent organisations and clashes erupted between the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) (CPI(M)'s trade union wing) and Congress workers, in which Shuhaib was a leader. The killing of IUML's Shukoor was equally gruesome. It was alleged to be an instance of CPI(M)-engineered mob lynching. Shukoor was killed in 2012 in Keezhara, Cherukunnu. The CBI has charged CPI(M) Kannur district secretary P Jayarajan with the murder of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) activist Abdul Shukoor in 2012. Shuhaib's killing has already seen the resurrection of Congress leader K Sudhakaran who had been politically humbled in the last two elections. After Shuhaib's death, Sudhakaran had reacted with a vehemence alien to the Congress. He went on a hunger strike seeking impartial probe in the murder. The series of protests that he led in the district, were, in fact giving him a new lease of political life after his loss in Kannur LS poll in 2014 and Assembly election from Uduma in 2016. Sudhakaran had won from Kannur in 2009, beating CPI(M)'s KK Ragesh by a margin of 43,151 votes. The Congress leader gained 4,32,878 votes, whereas Ragesh could garner only 3,89,727 votes. However, in 2014, Sudhakaran lost to CPI(M)'s P K Sreemathy for a margin of 6,566 votes. In the Assembly elections that followed, Sudhakaran lost yet again, conceding the Udma seat to CPI(M)'s K Kunhiraman by a margin of 3832 votes. Shuhaib's killing has already seen the resurrection of Congress leader K Sudhakaran who had been politically humbled in the last two elections. By fighting for the dead, Sudhakaran seems to pumped life back into his deflated political life. In Sudhakaran, the youngsters in the party see a leader who can stand up to the might of CPI(M) leaders. He is also seen as someone around whom the youth can rally as he had aggressively supported the victims of political violence inside the party, during his tenure as District Congress Committee chief and later. Now, the UDF as a whole is going to crank things up. Already for the past one week, various programmes were being conducted in Shuhaib's native Mattannur and surroundings, ahead of the first death anniversary observance. The KSU and Youth Congress have held painting competitions and rallies, and the YC is organising memorial meetings in all the Assembly constituencies in the district. On February 12, a torchlight rally would be taken out from Theroor (where Shuhaib was attacked), to Mattannur. On February 13, a public gathering would be held at Mattannur, to be attended by Karnataka irrigation minister DK Shivakumar. State and district leaders of Congress, YC and KSU would attend. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala had termed the murder of Shukoor "red terrorism". KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran said he was already reaping the gains. Mullappally said that the big gain of the 'Jana Maha Yathra' he was leading was the warm reception accorded to it by the minority communities. In his speeches from Kasaragod to Malappuram, he did not forget to repeat the "atrocities committed by the CPM towards the minority communities" by listing the names of Shukoor, Shuhaib and Muhammed Fasal (a National Democratic Front (NDF) worker allegedly killed by CPM workers in Thalassery in 2006). Looks like it will be up to two CPI(M) women to counter the onslaught. According to sources inside the CPM, P Sathi Devi, who won from Vadakara in 2004, will be considered again for the Vadakara seat, a constituency bordering Kannur and showing similar political characteristics. Though Sathi Devi's brother P Jayarajan is being considered for Kannur, the CBI chargesheet might have thwarted his chances. This will make the way clear for sitting MP P K Sreemathy, who is said to be more accessible to voters than Jayarajan. However, her chances may suffer if the party is not keen on having more than one woman candidate from a constituency with a high win probability. If Sathi Devi is placed in Vadakara, as it is almost certain, the party may has second thoughts on fielding Sreemathy again in Kannur, a neighbouring constituency. Bollywood actor and cancer survivor Manisha Koirala said a good healthcare support system was needed to create awareness about the disease and people should prioritise their health. The key to surviving cancer was early detection and screening and people must maintain a healthy lifestyle, Koirala said on Sunday at the Brahmaputra Literary Festival to discuss her recently released book 'Healed'. "In developing countries, people are dying more than in developed countries and this is primarily due to lack of awareness. Ninety per cent of the cases, if detected early is curable and people must go for periodic checkups and maintain a healthy lifestyle," she added. 'Healed', which deals with Koirala's journey through cancer, the intricacies of the disease and the treatment involved, was written so that people "can learn from the mistakes I made and prioritise one's health by eating well, doing exercise, being active and above all by being a happy person", she said. Koirala, who returned to films with Dear Maya, said she did a lot of introspection while she was ill and realised whether "we want to be a victim or a victor is in our hands". "I am an ambitious working woman and I have a second chance to life. I am looking forward to do more films but now my priorities are different with more focus on my health, family and on creative fulfilment", she added. The actress said her main drive for selecting a film now will be the script and she would love to do a female- centric role. "Times are changing, different stories are being told and audience are accepting different roles. I want to do films that give me enjoyment and at the same time is appreciated by the audience", she added. Asked about her recent film Sanju where she portrayed the role of Nargis Dutt who died of cancer, Koirala said she was "initially apprehensive as Nargis ji was a super talented actress but I did it and it went off very well". The actress will be soon working on a yet to be titled film with actor Adil Hussain, who hails from Assam, whom she described as a "brilliant actor". Koirala said she also plans to start work on her second book by the end of this year though she did not reveal the details. "I have always wanted to write since childhood and I have many stories to tell which I now plan to do", she added. We introduce six business ideas which have helped entrepreneurs earn big. This is the second business idea in the series, the first one was on beginning a popcorn making unit. Battery water The Kerala government has paved the way for the development of small-scale industries by encouraging nano family enterprises. People who have returned from abroad or self-employed persons can start enterprises under the programme. Various types of battery water is used in our daily lives, be in it UPS or inverters or vehicles. Lead acid batteries are in much use. Very few units in Kerala sell battery water to be filled in these batteries. Battery water manufacturing could be started with very low initial costs. Anyone can be a battery water manufacturer with a little training. The product has a market even beyond the state borders. The only raw material required are water and packing materials. Cost of production is very low. The product can be sold directly or through distributors. Battery water is high in demand in major workshops, service centres, auto parts sales centres, petrol pumps, battery service centres and inverter service agencies. Manufacturers can often expect to get half of the MRP. Battery water is commonly packed in containers of 1 litre, 5 litres and 10 litres. The main component of a battery water-making unit is a de-mineralising unit. This comprises cation and a tube of resin. The cation tube has to be washed in hydrochloric acid and anion in caustic soda before refitting the tube every week. The distilled water has to maintain a pH of 6.5-7.5. A chlorine test can ensure the quality. Small plants that manufacture 200 litres of battery water per hour are available in the market. A venture can be started after obtaining licences from the Udyog Aadhar, Goods and Services Tax and the local self-government body. I was attracted to the business as it involved fewer formalities. I got in touch with the district industrial office and received ample support, said Abdul Salam, who runs a battery water making unit in Kozhikode. He started the unit after returning from abroad. (This story is the second from a series on easily doable business ideas, watch this space for the next one on starting an Oil press) KYODO NEWS - Feb 12, 2019 - 14:10 | All, Japan Throngs of spooky "snow monsters" have taken over the Zao Onsen ski resort in northeastern Japan's Yamagata Prefecture, drawing crowds of tourists and skiers to the icy mountain despite temperatures below minus 10 C over the weekend. The majestic formation occurs every winter on Mt. Zao when the branches and needle-like leaves of the Maries' fir trees there are enveloped entirely in a thick coating of ice and snow, a phenomenon known in Japan as "juhyo" or literally "ice tree". Masahiro Tsuboshita, a 26-year-old who was visiting from Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, said, "They are bigger than I expected and quite impressive indeed. It was worth coming all the way." The trees will be illuminated until March 3 allowing visitors to view the rime-covered giants after sunset. More photos of Mt. Zao's "juhyo": In 2017: In 2016: At least three people were injured Tuesday by a car bomb which hit a border gate between Turkey and Syria, the governor of Kilis province said,Trend reports citing Xinhua. According to broadcast A Haber news channel, the explosion happened on Syrian side of the Cobanbey border gate, which located between the northern Syria and the Turkish southeastern province Kilis. The three injured were transported to nearby hospitals in Turkey, Kilis governor Recep Soyturk told local media. The attack targeted the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and all three injured were FSA fighters, the governor added. No organization has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: The Turkish government has repeatedly made it clear to Armenia's new and old authorities that Yerevans all attempts to normalize relations with Ankara are doomed to failure. Of course, the main reason is the occupation of Azerbaijani territories and, in particular, Armenias claims to Turkey regarding the 1915 events. Earlier, the Turkish government said that the liberation of the occupied Azerbaijani territories is actually beneficial for Armenia itself. Armenia has isolated itself from important regional projects as a result of its occupation policy. "Armenia must also immediately renounce claims to Turkey over the 1915 events," the government source said. But so far the Armenian authorities, remaining under influence of the Armenian diaspora, have not taken any steps to normalize relations with Ankara. However, Armenians seem to be looking for methods to settle in Turkey. It is clear that many Armenians migrate to European countries because of economic problems. Many Armenians prefer to visit Turkey as "tourists" and "investors". One must pay attention to the official data to fully understand the situation, and, of course, it will be interesting to start with the Armenian "tourists" who visit Turkey. According to the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 51,800 tourists from Armenia visited Turkey in 2018, which is 7.37 percent more compared to 2017. According to the ministry, 3,900 Armenian citizens visited Turkey in December 2018, which is 10.26 percent more compared to December 2017. Every month the number of Armenian citizens visiting Turkey grows by at least 3 percent. According to the Turkish media, monthly at least 200 Armenian citizens stay in Turkey and work illegally. This can be called Armenias "people's diplomacy", or rather, the method of settling in Turkey. But there is another method. Turkey is open to foreign investors and creates favorable conditions for them. The Armenians are trying to take advantage of any opportunity to get benefit. As an example, the data of the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) can be mentioned. According to TOBB, nine companies with Armenian capital were registered in Turkey in 2018. The companies with Armenian capital were mainly registered in Istanbul (eight companies) in 2018. All these can be called the first steps of Armenias "people's diplomacy". --- Rufiz Hafizoglu, deputy editor-in-chief of Trend Follow him on Twitter: @rhafizoglu NOC former managing director Khadka released on bail of Rs20.5 million Former Nepal Oil Corporation Managing Director Gopal Bahadur Khadka has been released on date after posting a bail amount of Rs 20.5 million on Tuesday. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: As many as 83,400 Turkish citizens were provided with workplaces in Turkey in Jan. 2019, which is five percent more than in Jan. 2018, the Turkish Employment Agency (ISKUR) told Trend on Feb. 12. Out of the total number of the employed in Jan. 2019, 34 percent are women and 66 percent are men, according to ISKUR. "Among the jobs provided in Nov. 2018, 99.8 percent accounted for the private sector," ISKUR said. "A total of 3.775 million people were registered as unemployed in Turkey in Jan. 2019," ISKUR said, adding that 51 percent of them are women and 49 percent are men. Presently, the population of Turkey is 82.3 million people. Thus, 50.2 percent of the population of Turkey accounts for men, 49.8 percent for women, 7.7 percent of the population of Turkey live in villages, 92.3 percent in cities. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: As part of the fight against the terrorist movement "FETO" (the movement of Fethullah Gulen), 112 people were detained in 76 locations in Ankara, Trend reports via Turkish media. The detainees are accused of distorting the results of examinations at the police academy in 2010 in favor of Gulen's supporters, the reports said. Among the detainees, there are high-ranking officials as well. Over the past seven months, 1,076 servicemen have been dismissed from the Turkish armed forces within the fight against the FETO. Reportedly, 624 servicemen dismissed from the Turkish Armed Forces, served in the army ground forces, 107 servicemen - in the navy and 345 servicemen - in the air force. Fethullah Gulen and his supporters are accused of the July 16, 2016 military coup attempt in Turkey. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Trade turnover between Russia and the Republic of Korea soared by 29% in 2018 to $24.8 bln, Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev said at a roundtable as part of the Korean Investor Day in Seoul on Tuesday, Trend reports referring to TASS. "Far Eastern regions account for one third of that amount," he said, adding that South Korea is one of Russias main partners in the Asian-Pacific Region. Trutnev believes that the two countries "have everything to expand cooperation in the future." Meanwhile, he noted that "heads of companies, investors are entrusted" to do most work, which "depends on their creative activities, confidence, and ability to work." Presidential Envoy also spoke about the potential of Russias Far East and attractive conditions that the government has created for investors. He urged South Korean businessmen to enter the region more actively, considering that a close proximity to the Korean peninsula is one of its advantages. "We will support each project and overcome any obstacles together. We invite you to work in Russia and visit the 5th Eastern Economic Forum that will take place in Vladivostok in September," Trutnev concluded. The first Korean Investor Day was held in June 2017 in Russias Khabarovsk. Projects worth more than $250 mln with South Korean investors were inked there. Heads of 22 large South Korean companies with total revenue exceeding $200 bln participated in Tuesdays roundtable. Relations between Russia and Finland are developing well despite hurdles in dialogue with the European Union over sanctions obsession of some member-states, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting with his Finnish counterpart Timo Soini on Tuesday, Trend reports referring to TASS. "Our relations have been developing well despite the well-known difficulties in relations between Russia and the European Union over the sanctions obsession of some EU member-states," Lavrov said. "Nevertheless, we see that at all levels there is mutual interest to foster ties between the presidents, the heads of governments, parliaments, regions and representatives of the public." According to Lavrov, Russia and Finland are cooperating on many issues on the international arena, especially in the northern region where a whole number of international organizations have been successfully operating. Finland currently chairs the Arctic Council, the leading intergovernmental forum bringing together eight member-states (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States), he added. "We have many issues for discussion, and I hope that fruitful dialogue will be held, like this has always been," Lavrov said. Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs Timo Soini said that there is a good dialogue between Helsinki and Moscow, but there are also issues on which the two countries positions vary. "We highly value that we may share opinions in the constructive atmosphere, even on the most complicated issues. We have a very good dialogue, and we have cooperation, but there are still issues on which our opinions differ," Soini said. The Finnish minister did not specify the spheres in which Helsinki and Moscow have different positions. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will hold a press conference later Tuesday, in which he is expected to answer questions on Veterans Affaris Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould's resignation, according to a statement from the Prime Minister Office, Trend reports citing Xinhua. Last night, the prime minister spoke with Jody Wilson-Raybould who informed him she was tendering her resignation from cabinet. The prime minister convened a cabinet meeting this morning to inform his cabinet colleagues of Wilson-Raybould's resignation, said the statement. The statement said Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan immediately assumes responsibilities as acting minister of veterans affairs. Wilson-Raybould announced her resignation from the Trudeau cabinet in the midst of allegations that the Prime Minister's Office tried to pressure the former justice minister to abandon a corruption and fraud prosecution of SNC-Lavalin. "With a heavy heart I have submitted my letter of resignation to the Prime Minister as a member of Cabinet," she said in her Twitter post. Her resignation came amid ongoing parliamentary investigation into whether Trudeau or anyone in his office tried to have Wilson-Raybould abandon the prosecution of a case against SNC-Lavalin when she was justice minister and attorney general. Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion said on Monday that he was to start the investigation into the allegations as he believed the law might have been contravened in this case. It also came one day after Trudeau said Wilson-Raybould's continued membership in his cabinet as an indicator to Canadians that she was not unhappy with his government. Wilson-Raybould's resignation is expected to prompt another cabinet shuffle. Last Thursday, Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail reported that as attorney general, Wilson-Raybould came under pressure from the Prime Minister's Office to override the decision of the public prosecution service shelve court proceedings against SNC-Lavalin in favor of a negotiated settlement without trial. The company faces charges of bribing Libyan officials between 2001 and 2011 in exchange for contracts. Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is expected to announce investments in energy and infrastructure during a visit to India and Pakistan in coming days, Trend reports referring to Reuters. The prince, known as MBS, is also expected to visit China, Malaysia and Indonesia during a tour that will be his first through the region since the storm over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October. Prince Mohammed is due in visit Pakistan this weekend, when he is expected to ink agreements, mainly linked to a refinery and the power sector, Pakistani officials said. He is expected in New Delhi next week, along with leading Saudi businessmen, at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indias foreign ministry said on Tuesday. Pakistans new Prime Minister Imran Khan was among a handful of heads of state who attended Riyadhs flagship investment conference that month, an event that was boycotted by many companies and world leaders in protest over Khashoggis murder. Indias Modi met the prince in November, when they were both in Argentina for a Group of 20 summit. Though Saudi Arabia remains Indias top crude oil supplier, the two countries have expanded ties beyond energy, and their governments have agreed to build a strategic partnership, the foreign ministry said. In recent years, there has been significant progress in bilateral cooperation in key areas of mutual interest, including energy security, trade and investment, infrastructure, defense and security, the ministry said in a statement. India is expecting Prince Mohammed to announce an initial investment in its National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, a quasi-sovereign wealth fund, to help accelerate the building of ports and highways, an Indian official said. Saudi Arabia has also flagged a desire to invest in Indias farm sector, with products to be exported to Saudi, another official at the trade ministry said. However, progress on a $44 billion refinery that Indian state-run oil companies agreed to build with Saudi Aramco on Indias west coast has been held up by strong opposition from mango farmers who will lose their land. Since taking office in 2014, Modi has sought to use Indias fast-growing economy to attract more investment from Saudi Arabia and other Islamic nations. As a fellow Muslim country, Pakistan has long maintained strong ties with Saudi Arabia. In late October, Riyadh offered Pakistan a $6 billion loan to help keep its ailing economy afloat. Saudi Arabia has also announced plans for a $10 billion refinery and petrochemical complex at the coastal city of Gwadar, where China is building a port as part of its vast Belt and Road initiative. Theyre looking at the energy sector, at some of our privatization plans that they might bid for through our privatization process, Pakistani investment minister Haroon Sharif told Reuters. Sharif, who chairs Pakistans Board of Investment, said there was also Saudi interest in Pakistans mining sector. Saudi Arabia has huge resources. Their investment fund is over $1 trillion, so we want just a fraction of that, said a second Pakistani minister, who did not wish to be named. Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan says there is no order to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan and the Afghan government should participate in peace talks with the Taliban, in remarks on a surprise trip to Afghanistan on Monday, Trend reports citing Al Jazeera. Shanahan met the US commander and troops and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in the unannounced one-day visit, his first in his new role. Reports that Donald Trump, president of the United States wants to withdraw about half of the estimated 14,000 US forces in Afghanistan, has raised concerns among Afghan and regional officials about the effect it might have on security in the country. Afghan troops have been struggling to contain Taliban forces that control or contest about half of the country and a growing number of fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS). Shanahan said the US has "strong security interests in the region" which would determine what happened with US troop numbers. "I have not been directed to step down our forces in Afghanistan," Shanahan said. "I think the presence we want in Afghanistan is what assures our homeland defence and supports regional stability." Israel is set to sign a free-trade agreement with the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union in the near future, according to officials in Moscow and Jerusalem, Trend reports referring to The Times of Israel. Incidentally, Iran is also in advanced talks about creating a free trade zone with the union, known as EAEU. However, each country would sign its own free-trade agreement (FTA) with the union, which would mean that Jerusalem would not be able to trade freely with Tehran, or other states signing similar agreements. The negotiations with the EAEU were launched in Moscow in April 2018, following positive results of a comprehensive Joint Feasibility Study conducted by the parties, a spokesperson for the Economy Ministry told The Times of Israel on Monday. The agreement will cover various aspects of trade in goods, such as rules of origin, customs cooperation, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and Phytosanitary measures, e-commerce, dispute settlement, and others. The Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) rescued 2,731 people at sea in 2018, data tabled parliament by the country's home affairs minister Michael Farrugia showed, Trend reports citing Xinhua. Farrugia, who was asked for the total number of rescue operations as well as the number of people saved every year since 2013, said that the AFM had carried out 88 rescue operations. The 2018 figures were substantially higher than those registered in 2017 when 847 people were rescued in 55 operations. The second highest number of rescued individuals in the past five years was recorded in 2013, when 1,854 people were saved in 76 operations. The following year, 2014, saw the lowest number of people rescued -- 602 in 34 operations. Totally, AFM has rescued over 8,500 people from the sea since 2013. As there have been a clampdown on NGO-run rescue vessels in the Mediterranean in recent months, more migrant boats would require the AFM's assistance. Finland believes it is necessary to keep Russia a member of the Council of Europe, Finnish Foreign Minister Timo Soini said at a press conference following talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, Trend reports referring to TASS. "Russia is a European country so it is important to keep Russia a member [of the Council of Europe," he said. The Finnish foreign minister pointed out that Helsinki currently presided over the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. "We discussed issues concerning Russias rights and contribution payment. Finland cannot resolve the issue alone, there is a need to search for compromises, political processes are necessary," Soini said. In April 2014, Russias delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) was stripped of its key rights, including the right to vote, over the situation in Ukraine and Crimeas reunification with Russia. The issue of restoring the rights of the Russian delegation was raised at PACE twice throughout 2015 but sanctions remained in place. In response, Russia suspended its participation in PACEs activities. The country did not apply for confirmation of its rights in 2016-2018. Moscow suggested PACEs regulations be amended to ensure that no one could strip lawmakers of their rights except their voters. Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland said on October 10, 2018, that Russias membership in the organizations Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly might be suspended starting from June 2019 due to non-payment of monetary contributions. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in response that Moscow would quit the Council of Europe if opposing member states called for expelling Russia. On December 10, 2018, the PACE Committee on Rules of Procedure spoke out against depriving national delegations of their right to take part in electing the organizations secretary general and judges of the European Court of Human Rights. In January 2019, both houses of the Russian parliament issued statements pointing out there were still no reasons for Russia to return to PACE. Nepali immigrants are suing the Trump administration over the end of their temporary protected status A group of Nepali and Honduran immigrants is filing a lawsuit against the US Department of Homeland Security for its decision to cancel Temporary Protected Status of the two countries China's special envoy for Korean Peninsula and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov have expressed support for the second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump at the meeting in Moscow, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, Trend reports referring to TASS. "Both sides think that the situation on the Korean Peninsula continues to develop toward a closer dialogue," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. "China and Russia positively assess the active efforts of North Korea and the United States to eliminate existing disagreements, and hope for further rapprochement between Pyongyang and Washington that will take into account their mutual concerns, as well as for positive results of the second North Korean-US summit," the ministry added. The Foreign Ministry noted that China and Russia approve the process of normalization of intra-Korean relations, and that the two countries will actively facilitate political settlement on the Korean Peninsula. Last week US President Donald Trump announced that he will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for the second time in Vietnam's capital Hanoi on February 27-28. At least 70 civilians have died or suffered wounds in the US-led coalitions air strike on a settlement in Syrias Deir ez-Zor province, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Tuesday, Trend reports referring to TASS. According to the agencys sources, the air strike hit a camp in the Al-Baghouz settlement. On February 11, SANA said that the coalitions air strike on a residential area on the outskirts of Al-Baghouz had killed four civilians. Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday for an unannounced trip that the State Department said would emphasize the importance of Iraqi sovereignty and discuss the future of US troops there, Trend reports referring to Al Arabiya. The visit comes after President Donald Trump said this month that an American presence was needed to watch Iran. In his first trip to Iraq, Shanahan is set to also discuss the withdrawal of American troops from Syria with US commanders and meet with Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif participated in a ceremony marking 40th victory anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Beirut late on Monday, Trend reports citing IRNA. Organized by Irans Embassy in Beirut, the event was attended by the Lebanese political, cultural and religious figures as well as other countries ambassadors, including Russias Alexander Zasypkin and Syrias Ali Abdelkarim Ali. Addressing the gathering, Zarif congratulated victory anniversary of the Islamic Revolution and thanked the Lebanese nation for accompanying the Iranian nation in its freedom seeking drive in post-Revolution era. The Iranian people also consider it an honor that it has been standing alongside the Lebanese nation, a clear example of democracy, resistance and dignity, after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he said. Zarif maintained that Irans security, peace, independence and progress are indebted to its reliance on the public, he said. Congratulating the Lebanese nation on the establishment of the new government, he voiced Irans readiness for boosting ties in all fields. Zarif arrived in Beirut on an official two-day visit and he is the first foreign minister visiting the country since the setting up of the Lebanese government. Thus far, Zarif has had meetings with Lebanese president, parliament speaker and foreign minister and prime minister of the country. Tehran, Iran, Feb. 12 Trend: The customs formalities to release imported beef have been completed at Irans Shahid Rajaee Port. The customs statistics show the procedure to declare 1.155 tons of beef has been completed and it is in the process of being released, Deputy General Manager of Irans Customs Administration Mehrdad Jamal Arvanghi announced. According to statistics, 619 containers of beef have been left in the depots of the Shahid Rajaee Port, added the official. However, the major part of these cargos has not been declared to the customs and the issue is being investigated, he said. The primary investigations indicate the cargo has not been declared due to the owners banking problems or the warehouse bills that are yet to be issued, he said. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 12 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: A regional seminar entitled Caspian Sea - Sustainable Development and Management is scheduled to be held in Turkmenistans Caspian resort town of Awaza in March, Trend reports referring to the Altyn Asyr TV channel. The event, organized by the Foreign Ministry and the State Enterprise for Caspian Sea Affairs under the President of Turkmenistan, in cooperation with the International Ocean Institute (IOI), will be attended by experts from the Caspian littoral states. The issue of organizing the seminar was discussed at a government meeting. The favorable geographical position, the richest hydrocarbon, fish and other natural resources, favorable climatic conditions made the Caspian Sea basin a dynamically developing industrial, transport and resort center of Eurasia, as the words of the Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov are cited. With this, according to the head of state, the importance of forming a coordinated international cooperation in terms of creating a coherent and durable system of environmental safety is becoming more and more important. The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland water body, not connected to the oceans and has a climate-forming significance. It is unique in having carried a diverse relict flora and fauna, including the world's largest herd of sturgeon. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 12 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: An international trade fair and conference "Trade and Services - 2019" will be held in Ashgabat on Apr. 10-11, 2019, Trend reports referring to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Turkmenistan. The organizers of the fair will be the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations and the State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange of Turkmenistan. The event is aimed at promoting products of agriculture, food industry and other industrial sectors of the country. Participants will have the opportunity to establish business contacts. Turkmenistan is pursuing industrialization aimed at increasing the manufacture of import-substituting products and export development. Presently, the country has advanced textile and petroleum industry, and the oil - gas chemical industry, the construction materials industry are actively developing. Turkmenistan, according to a report of British Petroleum (BP), ranks fourth in terms of natural gas reserves in the world and currently exports it to China and Iran. Turkmenistan, trying to overcome the currency deficit, is looking for new gas export routes and is conducting a large-scale diversification of its economy. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12 By Elnur Baghishov Trend: Iran and Turkey have signed a cooperation agreement in the field of tourism, Hormatollah Rafei, head of the Association of Air Transport and Tourist Agencies of Iran, Trend reports referring to the website of Miras-e Arya News Agency. Rafei said that the document was signed between him and Firuz Baglikaya, head of Turkeys Tursab company. According to Rafei, about 8 million tourists from Turkey and Iran each are traveling abroad every year. "Sixty percent of [the said] 8 million people go from Iran to Turkey and Iraq. However, only 4 percentof tourists come to Iran from Turkey," he said. Rafei said that Iran intends to even out the field of tourism with Turkey. During the signing ceremony, Turkey's Tursab chief Firuz Baglikaya also noted that there's no balance in the two countries field of tourism. Effort needs to made in order to create this balance. Baglikaya said that Turkey's tourism potential will be presented at the Tehran Tourism Fair. Tursab said he believes that the signed document will help increase the flow of tourists to Iran and Turkey. Baku, Azerbaijan, February 12 Trend: Uzbekistan intends to join four international conventions in the field of nuclear safety in 2019-2020 within the framework of construction of the first nuclear power plant (NPP) in the country, Trend reports with reference to a representative of the Atomic Energy Development Agency of Uzbekistan (Uzatom). "Within the framework of the concept of nuclear energy development in Uzbekistan in 2019-2020, the provisions of four international conventions in the field of nuclear safety are foreseen to be adopted or implemented," the agency representative said. The four conventions are: civil liability for nuclear damage, nuclear safety, assistance in the event of a nuclear accident and prompt notification of a nuclear accident. "The Uzbek side also intends this year to organize a dialogue with neighboring countries whose interests may be affected by the country's nuclear energy program," Uzatoms representative said. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov, signed an agreement on cooperation in the construction of nuclear power plants in the country in early September 2018. Rosatom is planning to build a complex of two generation 3+ power units with Water Power Reactor-1200 units. The agreement entered into force at the end of October. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyev on February 8 approved the concept of developing nuclear energy in the country for 2019-2029 which main goal is to build and start safe operation of nuclear power plants with a total capacity of 2.4 GW by 2030. Construction of the station is scheduled to begin in 2022 with the involvement of a loan from the Russian government. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.12 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Signs of more confidence and optimism are gradually but steadily returning to the oil market and oil industry, Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, OPEC Secretary General, said at the Egypt Petroleum Show, Trend reports. He pointed out that time after time OPEC has taken a proactive stance at times of supply shortfalls, geopolitical turmoil and financial crises. Particularly important in reducing the downside supply risk in the oil market has been the proactive and early output adjustments by the Declaration of Cooperation partners. As a result, the OECD stock overhang is targeted to reign in towards the latest five-year average, said OPEC secretary general. Barkindo noted that once again, the participating countries have demonstrated their selflessness, dedication and commitment to implementing their voluntary, collective decisions in a transparent and verifiable manner. However, a great deal of uncertainty that is beyond the capacity of any one stakeholder to control still remains. Geopolitical tensions, the impact of sanctions, the fact that the risk of a recession has not completely abated these factors could continue to impact the market throughout 2019. Nevertheless, the Declaration of Cooperation partners remain steadfast in their determination to take the necessary action to stabilize the market during the course of the year, he said. The key to OPECs longevity lies in the fact that at its core, OPEC has a clear and simple objective, noted the secretary general. This objective serves producers as much as it does consumers. And this objective has a vast array of multiplier effects. This objective, this raison d'etre, can be surmised in just 4 words: sustainable oil market stability, noted Barkindo. The Declaration of Cooperation constitutes an unprecedented milestone in the history of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). For the first time ever, the Member Countries of OPEC coordinated with 11 non-OPEC oil producing countries in a concerted effort to accelerate the stabilization of the global oil market through voluntary production adjustments, which amounted to approximately 1.8 million barrels per day. The Declaration was an outcome of the Joint OPEC-Non-OPEC Producing Countries Ministerial Meeting held on 10 December 2016 and was effective for an initial period of six months. The Second Joint OPEC-Non-OPEC Producing Countries Ministerial Meeting, held on 25 May 2017, decided to extend the voluntary production adjustments for another nine months commencing 1 July 2017. The sustainable oil market stability sought by the Declaration is in the interests of producers, consumers, investors and the global economy at large. At the third joint OPEC-Non-OPEC Producing Countries Ministerial Meeting, held on 30 November 2017, it was agreed to amend the Declaration of Cooperation so that it will take effect for the entirety of 2018. The core principles of transparency, equity and fairness which have underpinned the Declaration of Cooperation infuse all aspects of OPECs interactions with its non-OPEC oil producing partners, including cooperation at a research and technical level. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Nepali family survives Delhi hotel fire that claimed 18 lives A Nepali family was also in the Hotel Arpit Palace when the fire engulfed the six-storey hotel in Karol Bagh, New Delhi popular with tourists for its budget hotels and shopping. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12 Trend: The representatives of Azerbaijans Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) visited Moscow, Trend reports referring to the agency. During the visit, chairman of the agencys board of directors Orkhan Mammadov met with Minister, Head of Department for Foreign Economic Activity and International Relations, Moscow City Government Sergey Cheremin. During the meeting, the sides stressed that they are interested in development of cooperation. The views on the issues of possible cooperation within the planned visit of the delegation led by Cheremin to Azerbaijan in the first half of 2019 were exchanged. The experience of the Opora Russia organization in the development of small and medium-sized businesses is of interest to the agency. This statement was made at a meeting with Vice-President of the Opora Russia All-Russian Non-Governmental Organization of Small and Medium Business Nikolai Dunayev. The issues of organizing the round table were discussed within the upcoming forum between Russia and Azerbaijan. The representatives of the organization were invited to Azerbaijan. The opportunities for cooperation in the development of small and medium-sized businesses between Azerbaijan and Japan were discussed at the meeting with head of the Moscow office of the Japan Association for Trade between Russia and the Newly Independent States (ROTOBO) Daisuke Saito. The information on the favorable business and investment sphere created for entrepreneurs in Azerbaijan was given. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12 By Matanat Nasibova Trend: The proposal to introduce a temporary embargo on the export of timber from Russia will have a certain negative impact on the construction market of Azerbaijan, doctor of economic sciences, Professor Elshad Mammadov told Trend Feb. 12. He was commenting on the relevant proposal by Chairperson of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Matvienko. He said that the adoption of such document from the point of view of the Russian economy would be reasonable, since a very high proportion of products associated with the Russian lumber industry is exported as raw materials. For the Russian economy, it would be advisable to process the timber and export finished products with higher added value, he noted. However, often the proposals voiced on the sidelines of Russian expert circles and in the structures of the Russian authorities arent reflected in the relevant regulatory documents. Therefore, if such a decision is made, I dont rule out serious opposition from the Russian lobbyists and monopolists engaged in exporting forest raw materials. He noted that if such a decision is made, it will to some extent affect the Azerbaijani market, since Azerbaijan buys a large amount of building materials from Russia. I think in this situation, we should focus on suppliers from other countries, for example, Ukraine, Finland, Belarus, he said. Of course, these arent the most profitable options, given that Russian products in the construction segment are the most affordable in terms of price-quality ratio. For example, Finland exports forest products, but the level of their processing and, accordingly, the cost is higher. As for Ukraine and Belarus, firstly, there are no such volumes of forest production and there are higher costs from the point of view of transportation. We have no direct borders with Ukraine or Belarus, we dont enter either the Eurasian Economic Union or the Customs Union. At the same time, we have a direct border with Russia and from a geographical point of view, shorter distances for supplies. The expert suggested that in the future, in order to maintain relations with the Russian goods producer, Azerbaijan could buy more goods in Russia with a high added value, that is, finished products, and not raw materials. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12 Trend: The Friend of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Friend of SMEs) of the Agency for the Development of SMEs under Azerbaijans Economy Ministry has started operating in Azerbaijans Gabala district, Trend reports with reference to the ministry. It was noted that this is the first Friend of the SMEs in the Sheki-Zagatala economic region, which, along with the Gabala district, will provide services to entrepreneurs operating in adjacent areas. In this regard, at the event organized at the Congress Center in Gabala, Chairman of the Board of the Agency for the Development of SMEs Orkhan Mammadov spoke about the activities of the Agency and the services provided to SMEs, as well as about the Friend of SMEs, which is mechanism of supporting SMEs. It was stressed that, taking into account the Friend of SMEs in Gabala, there are a total of 12 such structures in nine cities and regions of Azerbaijan. In the regions where the Friend of SMEs operates, the structure directly contacts with the subjects of micro, small and medium businesses, identifies and implements their development initiatives, potential opportunities, participates in the creation and development of new subjects of SMEs at all stages, as well as in the field of protection of the rights of entrepreneurs. Friends of SMEs regularly meet with entrepreneurs. So far, more than 120 such meetings have been held. By inviting small and medium-sized businesses operating in Gabala and adjacent areas to actively cooperate with the Friend of SMEs, Mammadov brought to their attention that Friends of SMEs will also start operating in 2019 in other parts of the country. He said that along with this, the Agency continues to work on creating new support mechanisms. Speaking at the event, head of the Gabala district executive power Sabuhi Abdullayev informed about the development work in the private sector area. He informed that the Friend of SMEs, like other state support mechanisms, would contribute to the development of entrepreneurship in the district. Etibar Yusifov, deputy head of the Oghuz district executive power, noted the significance of this state mechanism for supporting entrepreneurs, aspiring businessmen from Oghuz and the surrounding areas. He urged entrepreneurs of Oghuz to use the services of the Friend of SMEs. As part of the event, a presentation was held regarding the Friend of SMEs, which reflected detailed information on the activities of the structure and the services that will be provided to them, as well as answered questions from entrepreneurs. Then the participants of the event visited the office of the Friend of the SMEs, located in the Heydar Aliyev Center in Gabala. The entrepreneurs who spoke at the event expressed their gratitude to the Azerbaijani president for the consistent support provided to the private sector, in particular the development of SMEs. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12 By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend: A number of Azerbaijani-Turkmen documents were discussed at the plenary meeting of the Azerbaijani parliament on Feb. 12, Trend reports. The MPs discussed the Joint Declaration of the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, the agreement On visa facilitation for participants of international transportation by crossing the territories of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, between the governments of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, On establishing the Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan Joint Commission on Transport, Transit and Logistics between the governments of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, On mutual protection and promotion of investments between the governments of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. The MPs also considered the agreement On the abolition of double taxation with respect to income and property taxes between the governments of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan and the Agreement between the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan and the State Customs Service of Turkmenistan on preliminary information exchange on goods and vehicles transported between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. The MPs noted that the documents will play an important role in the development of cooperation between the two countries. After discussion and voting, the documents were approved. Baku, Azerbaijan, February 12 Trend: The US Geological Survey (USGS) may be attracted to assess the resources of rare earth metals in Uzbekistan, Trend reports with reference to the press service of Uzbek State Committee on Geology and Mineral Resources. The State Committee held talks with the delegation of the USGS. The sides discussed prospects for cooperation in the field of mineral resource assessment, the exchange of data and experience, as well as the implementation of joint projects in Uzbekistan. They also spoke about the possibility of signing a memorandum of understanding and number of project proposals in preparation of this document. Specialists from The US can be involved in assessing such resources of rare metals as lithium, cesium, beryllium, strontium, and also rare-earth metals such as titanium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, selenium, and rhenium. The State Committee also suggested that representatives of the US Geoservice to consider the possibility of cooperation in cosmological research on non-ferrous metals in the territory of Bukantau Mountains in the Central Kyzyl Kum region. The list of joint projects under consideration includes the creation and implementation of a unified information service for monitoring and forecasting hazardous geological processes, the press service added. Uzbek State Commmitte on Geology underlines that out of 435 known subsurface sites in Uzbekistan that are promising to identify deposits of precious, non-ferrous and rare metals and uranium, 380 sites (87 percent) are not covered by medium-term and long-term development programs and the reproduction of the country's mineral and raw material base and 120 (71 percent) of solid mineral deposits are not involved in mining. Over the past ten years, foreign investments have been attracted to the geological study of 10 prospective areas, the development of two fields from the proposed 38 prospective areas and 159 investment blocks in the country. At the same time, only the initial stages of research were carried out on these projects without industrial development. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 12 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: In 2020, the volume of wheat grown in Turkmenistan should reach 1.4 million tons, Trend reports referring to the Ministry of Agriculture of Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan plans to harvest 1.6 million tons of grains from 760,000 hectares of fields in 2019. Besides, 100,000 hectares are allocated for seed production. For wheat production, the state provides seeds and mineral fertilizers, the means to combat agricultural pests, on favorable terms. In 2019, the production costs for growing wheat will be 1,449.77 Turkmen manats per hectare, but tenants will only refund 687.54 Turkmen manats. Thus, more than half of the expenditures of grain growers is subsidized by the state. (1 USD = 3.50 TMM on Feb. 12) Baku, Azerbaijan, February 12 Trend: Uzbek Deputy Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Badriddin Abidov met with the Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia Alexander Khvtisiashvili at the Uzbek Ministry, Trend reports with reference to press service of Uzbek Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade. The agenda also discussed the prospects for further development of cooperation in agriculture, tourism, hydropower, transport, light industry, and pharmaceuticals through attracting foreign direct investment. Therefore, it was proposed to organize a business forum with the participation of textile and garment-knitting enterprises Uzbekistan and Georgia, as well as to organize the participation of Uzbek representatives in the Tbilisi Silk Road Forum in October this year. During the conversation, the parties noted that 2018 was not marked by an increase in commodity turnover between the countries as a decrease in exports is observed, in particular, due to a reduction in the supply of cotton fiber. At the same time, a high exceptional potential for mutually beneficial cooperation, including the development of mediation trade with the participation of Georgia, and a number of developed countries in the free trade zone (China, Hong Kong, Turkey, CIS countries) was emphasized. Currently, Georgia is actively building and reconstructing the transport infrastructure: airports, roads. The project to build the first deep-water port will open the way for large ships, which stop today and do unloading in neighboring countries. At the same time, the hub port can open wide transit possibilities for cargo delivery to Europe and Asian countries, said Alexander Khvtisiashvili. The Georgian side stressed that they are observing with interest the large-scale socio-economic reforms carried out in Uzbekistan and is ready to share its experience on the implementation of economic reforms, including accession to the World Trade Organization. In its turn, the Uzbek side informed about the transition to a cluster system of agricultural development and invited the Georgian side to actively participate in the implementation of new projects in this format in Uzbekistan in the fields of winemaking, cotton growing and gardening. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12 By Rashid Shirinov Trend: Gross domestic product of Kazakhstan increased by 2.9 percent in January 2019, Trend reports via Kazakh media. "The growth was ensured by the persistence of demand in the consumer market as well as in the extractive industries," the National Economy Minister Timur Suleimenov said at a government meeting. He added that the slowdown in economic growth is mainly due to the decline in manufacturing and construction, as well as the slowdown in investment activity. "In general, the effect of the high base of last year worked in all the basic industries. The inflation rate is better than in the same period of 2018. Since the beginning of this year, it has been 0.5 percent, and 5.2 percent year-on-year," Suleimenov said. The minister added that in January this year, investment in fixed assets decreased by 2.5 percent. "The decline is associated with the completion of modernization and reconstruction of the Shymkent Oil Refinery and the Aksu Ferroalloy Plant," Suleimenov explained. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @ShirinovRashid Tehran,Iran, Feb.12 Trend: Iran Customs Administration's statistics indicate that the country's exports to Europe from January 21 till today has exceeded $19 million. The statistics show that overall, China, Iraq, South Korea, Afghanistan, Turkey and India were the major destinations for Iran's exports. As for Europe, Italy, Spain and Germany were the biggest European customers of Iranian exports goods, Trend reports. The published statistics seem to include the general oil and non-oil exports figures from January 21 till today. The volume of exports goods to China during this period was 7.4 million kilos worth $693 million, while Iran exported 1.4 million kilos worth of goods to South Korea worth $1.3 million. Iran's exports to its neighboring countries included 29 million kilos to Azerbaijan worth $4.1, around 4.1 million kilos to Iraq worth $6.5 million, and 9.6 million kilos of goods to the UAE valued for $3.2 million. The volume of Iran exports to Afghanistan was 8.6 million kilos worth $7.1 million, while its exports to Turkey was 8.4 million kilos valued $9.9 million. Iran's exports to India amounted to 8.4 kilos with $78 million worth and it has also exported 266 million kilos to Malaysia worth $5.9 million. Iran's exports to European countries include 8.5 million kilos to Spain worth $5.6 million, around 7.1 million kilos valued $6.6 million to Italy, while the volume of its exports to Germany was 3 million kilos, worth $6 million. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12 By Elnur Baghishov - Trend: Joining the CFT (Combating the Financing of Terrorism) and Palermo Convention (United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime) will result in additional deprivations for Iran in light of the imposed sanctions, Abolfazl Hasanbeygi, member of the Iranian National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, told Trend. Some supporters of the CFT and Palermo conventions in Iran make appeals to the Expediency Discernment Council for the approval of these two conventions. Joining these conventions, however, would have serious consequences for Iran, according to Hasanbeygi. "Joining these conventions will lead to interference with Iran's internal affairs, including financial and economic issues," he said. Hasanbeygi added that, with Iran joining these conventions, the opposite side (generally speaking, the West) wants to enter and thus manage to gain access to confidential information on Iran's banking and economic system. The Iranian MP said that the conventions are deceptive from the outside, and that they will lead to Iran's national wealth being taken out of the country. The FATF (Financial Action Task Force) is an intergovernmental organization which enforces international standards for combating money and property laundering, financing terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The FATF has given Iran time for reforming its financial legislation. Two of the four FATF projects have been approved in Iran. Two other projects namely, Palermo and CFT are awaiting approval. Press freedom cannot be curtailed in the name of regulation Freedom of the press is essential to any democracy and any laws that might be used to circumscribe that freedom should be scrutinised. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12 By Rashid Shirinov Trend: At the end of February participants from all five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) will discuss issues of natural disasters at the Forum on Financial Protection against Natural Disasters in Almaty, Ko Takeuchi, Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist for Central Asia at the World Bank told Trend. The event will be organized by the World Bank with support from the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR). "It is the first initiative of such kind in Central Asia and we aim to encourage countries to think and adopt measures on how to be financially prepared for natural disasters," the expert said. He noted that with its diverse geography, Central Asia is prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, extreme weather events, avalanches, storms, droughts and many others. "In the past three decades, natural disasters affected over 10 million people and caused a loss of almost $2.5 billion throughout the region. Today disaster risks keep increasing." "Central Asias geography - which ranges from mountains to steppes, and deserts - make the region particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. Climate change is also adding to the regions vulnerability it is predicted that by 2085 the temperature will rise by 5.7 degrees Celsius, which will increase the frequency and severity of natural disasters," Takeuchi said. He explained that natural disasters inflict serious damage to the economy and often affect many sectors at once. "They destroy tangible assets such as buildings, equipment, transport routes, telecommunication infrastructure, agricultural production, as well as human capital." "In Central Asia, agriculture is among the key sectors affected by natural disasters. Trade can also be affected by natural disasters in Central Asia. Numerous transport routes arteries for trade with other countries pass through Ferghana Valley and Pamir mountains," Takeuchi informed. The expert said that it makes more economic sense to invest in risk reduction than to respond to a disaster when it already happened. "It also allows to save lives. Hence priority should be given to actions aimed at reducing existing risks and preventing the new ones." "Financing should be at the core of any disaster management action. By introducing financial protection mechanisms, such as allocations of disaster funds, disaster insurance mechanisms, countries can better respond to disasters," he noted. Takeuchi further said that natural disasters have no borders and can often affect a few countries of Central Asia at once. "At the same time, major disasters happening in a neighboring country could echo throughout the entire region. Governments of Central Asia recognize this and have taken steps towards addressing disaster risks jointly." "For instance, bearing in mind the importance of coordinated efforts to jointly address disaster risks, the Center for Emergency Situations and Disaster Risk Reduction (CESDRR) has been established as a platform for better coordination of disaster risk management initiatives at the regional level. Besides this, the countries have been supporting each other with bilateral aid after natural disasters," the expert informed. According to Takeuchi, there is, however, much more work to be done to boost regional cooperation and coordination on disaster risk management, and particularly on financial cooperation and data sharing. To help make Central Asian countries more resilient to climate and disaster risks, the World Bank has been supporting a number of important initiatives across the region. The World Bank continues supporting Central Asian countries in developing a safer environment for people. For example, the World Banks recent project helped to rehabilitate weather stations across Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and, by doing so, improve weather forecasting accuracy by 30 percent. This will help countries to improve agricultural production, hydropower networks and keep communities safer. The World Bank also supports Central Asia through capacity-building and analytics. For example, the World Bank helped to introduce a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment methodology, which allows to quantify physical damages and economic losses and identify recovery needs. Kyrgyzstan has already introduced this methodology and received first important results from assessing post-disaster damages and losses. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @ShirinovRashid Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12 By Matanat Nasibova Trend: Azerbaijan's Women Entrepreneurs Association and Turanbank intend to closely cooperate in the development of women's entrepreneurship in various segments of the economy, Sakina Babayeva, head of the association, told Trend. She said the association is looking for new options aimed at supporting womens entrepreneurship, and there is certain progress in this direction. Babayeva added that a mechanism for issuing loans through Turanbank for development of womens entrepreneurship has already been launched. "The conditions for issuing loans are quite optimal," she said. "For example, loans worth up to 2,000 manats are issued without any collateral for women starting their businesses. Loans worth 2,000-5,000 manats are issued upon a letter of guarantee from the association, and loans worth 5,000-10,000 manats require a pledged collateral. We applied with a similar offer to most banks, but unfortunately, we were supported by only one bank in Baku." She said that in line with the tasks of the association, in the next three years, womens entrepreneurship should cover important segments of the agriculture sector, as well as priority sectors of the economy. More than 143,000 women are engaged in business in Azerbaijan. (1.7 AZN = 1 USD on Jan. 24) --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MatanatNasibova Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11 By Huseyn Veliyev Trend: The Azerbaijani government will take all necessary measures to prevent intended increase in prices after increase of the minimum wage, Abulfat Maharramov, director of the labor policy department of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population of Azerbaijan, told Trend on Monday. Maharramov said the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs will be given relevant instructions to prevent such cases, and social partners will be involved. "One knows, market pricing is shaped in accordance with the market economy. Even if someone inflates the prices artificially, this hardly remains for long-term. The product will not be sold, and the seller will be forced to reduce its cost. I do not think that an increase in wages will promote hike in price. Even when something like this happens, state officials usually get involved and give relevant instructions to entrepreneurs so as to prevent such cases," Maharramov said. On the other hand, it is a fallacy to guess that raising wages is unprofitable when there is a rise in prices, the director noted. "We live in conditions of a market economy. So, other countries economies inevitably affect ours. Today, along with exporting its products to the global market, Azerbaijan imports quite a lot of products. In order for this process to be economically balanced, it is necessary to ensure a balance in both prices and wages. Political will is needed here. A country that does not pursue such a policy is doomed to failure," Maharramov said. Wage reforms include risks and calculations, and economists realize the necessity thereof, he added. It is also wrong to think whether it is worth raising salaries when the prices continue rising. Anyway, measures will be taken to prevent it to happen. In addition, the market itself will regulate the prices. Those who are intending to increase prices will once again understand that these steps are leading to failure," Maharramov said. On February 8, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on raising the minimum monthly wage and amending the decree On Raising the Minimum Wage of December 25, 2017. According to the decree, the minimum monthly wage is set at 180 manats from March 1, 2019. ($1=1.7 AZN on February 11) Follow the author on Twitter: @h_veliyev Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12 Trend: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has sent a letter of condolence to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in connection with casualties caused by the collapse of a building and a helicopter crash in Istanbul. I was deeply saddened by the news of casualties caused by the collapse of a building and a helicopter crash in Istanbul, reads the letter. On the occasion of this tragedy, on my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I extend my deep condolences to you, the families and the loved ones of those who were killed and the brotherly people of Turkey, and wish the injured recovery. May those killed rest in peace! Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12 By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend: A number of agreements on cooperation in the Caspian Sea were discussed at the meeting of the Azerbaijani parliament on Feb. 12, Trend reports. Issues of approval of the Protocol On cooperation in the fight against organized crime in the Caspian Sea to the Agreement On security cooperation in the Caspian Sea dated November 18, 2010, Protocol On cooperation in the fight against terrorism in the Caspian Sea to the Agreement on cooperation in the Caspian Sea dated November 18, 2010, the Protocol On cooperation and mutual activity between border agencies to the Agreement On security cooperation in the Caspian Sea dated November 18, 2010, the Agreement On cooperation in the field of transport between the governments of the Caspian littoral states, the Agreement On prevention of incidents in the Caspian Sea, as well as the Agreement On trade and economic cooperation between the governments of the Caspian littoral states. During the discussions, the MPs noted that these documents are important in ensuring security in the Caspian Sea. The documents were approved after the voting. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12 Trend: President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed an Order on setting up an Organizing Committee for hosting the 18th Summit of the heads of states and governments of the member countries of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 2019 in Baku and the measures related to Azerbaijans chairmanship of NAM in 2019-2022. Head of the Azerbaijani President`s Administration was appointed the Chairman of the Organizing Committee which is tasked to set up a working group, prepare a plan of measures and submit to the President within a month. Non-Alignment Movement is an international organization uniting 120 countries on the principles of non-participation in military blocs. Moreover, 17 countries and 10 international organizations have an observer status in the organization. The Movement was formally established by 25 states at the Belgrade Conference in September 1961. Azerbaijan became a full member of the organization in 2011. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12 Trend: Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have 21 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Feb. 12, Trend reports. 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, Feb.12 Trend: 07.02.2019, German-Azerbaijani Chamber of Commerce (AHK-Impuls) Sponsored by EKVITA The first AHK-Impuls event dedicated to the Implementation of Migration Policy Reforms in Azerbaijan, organized by the German-Azerbaijani Chamber of Commerce, was held on February 7, 2019 at Hyatt Meeting & Conference Centre. The topic of the current AHK-Impuls was dedicated to the ongoing reforms and recent developments in the migration sector of Azerbaijan. The participants of the event were informed about the priorities and envisaged activities of the Migration Service in 2019, the ongoing reforms as well as about the facilitation of the migration challenges of foreign citizens. The honorary guest speaker of the event, Chief of State Migration Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr Vusal Huseynov delivered a presentation on Implementing Migration Policy Reforms in Azerbaijan in the event. Several tasks of the migration sectors were discussed in the active questions and answers section. Mr. Ilgar Mehti, the Founder and Director of EKVITA continued the event with his comprehensive presentation on 10 years of applying migration laws in Azerbaijan which aimed to enlighten the participants about the path that the State Migration Service went through and EKVITAs role and contributions during this period. The presentation also covered an overview of the Azerbaijani legislation on migration law, recommendations to the legislation proposed by EKVITA during the past 5 years, positive actions taken in this regard and suggestions on how to deal with the gaps still remaining in the legislation. Discussions continued during the network lunch. More details you can find on: http://www.ekvita.com/en Azerbaijan company EKVITA is an a full-service legal, finance and management consulting firm with 30 full-time professionals, mostly educated in US and Europe, have established themselves as reliable and skilled professionals with a proven track record. EKVITAs clients include several Fortune 500 companies operating globally: Italy, Germany, Korea, Japan, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Turkey, CIS and other regions. Our clients include BP, Equinor (Statoil), Baker Hughes, PETRONAS, ANOTECH, TECHNIP Italy, ABB, MH Wirth, Seacor, Aker Solutions, Intertek, Expo Subsea, ICRC, Toyota Caucasus, IBA, as well as the Government of Azerbaijan and public institutions such as European Committee and THE World Bank. EKVITA is recognized as leading firm by international rating agencies, such as Chambers&Partners, Legal500, and IFRL1000. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12 Trend: Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) hosted a workshop entitled Basics of Remote Sensing, which was conducted by representatives of Azercosmos Open Joint Stock Company (OJSC). It was arranged to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the founding of the company. The workshop was attended by BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov, teachers and students of the Higher School. Welcoming the workshop participants, Elmar Gasimov said that BHOS maintains a close cooperation with Azercosmos OJSC for a number of years. He reported that the BHOS student team took second place at CanSat 2018 contest, which was jointly organized by the company and the Ministry of Education. I am confident that our undergraduates will successfully participate in other projects and events initiated by Azercosmos OJSC, said the Rector. At the workshop, the participants learned about the company main activities, latest developments and projects designed for students. The presentation covering basics of remote sensing was made by Head of Azercosmos Research and Development Centre Tarlan Mammadzade, Software Engineer of the Centre Javid Khalilov and leading specialists of the group responsible for remote sensing data processing Elman Aleskerov and Ismet Bakhishov. They told about the remote sensing program used by Azercosmos, advantages and applications of remote sensing systems and methodology for remote sensing data analysis. After the workshop, the guests toured around the BHOS campus and its facilities. Admiral Craig S. Faller, Commander of U.S. Southern Command, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on February 7, 2019 that Iran has deepened its anti-U.S. Spanish language media coverage and has exported its state support for terrorism into our hemisphere. This statement came on the heels of Secretary of State Mike Pompeos statement on FOX the previous day. Pompeo stated, Hezbollah has active cells the Iranians are impacting the people of Venezuela and throughout South America. There is very little public knowledge about the activities of the Iranian regime and Lebanese Hezbollah in Latin America. There are only a handful of scholars who have presented analysis of the activities of Iran and Hezbollah there. Until now there has been only a handful of public statements by U.S. government officials. It is safe to assume that U.S. intelligence and military officials have far more intelligence about such activities than what they have made public. It is also safe to assume that their knowledge constitutes only a portion of the total of the activities of the Iranian regime and Hezbollah. The Islamic Republic has had close relations with Venezuela for some time now. Irans close ties with the Nicolas Maduro regime and the previous president Hugo Chavez, have enabled Iran to extend its military and financial presence, primarily through its proxy Hezbollah. These bonds strengthened starting 2005 between Ahmadinejad and Chavez. However, a strong Hezbollah support network has existed in Venezuela for a long time. Hezbollah has had cells in Venezuela since the 1990s according to a July 2003 report by Mark Steinitz, the then-director of the terrorism analysis office in the State Departments Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Margarita Island off the Caribbean coast of Venezuela serves as a hub for drug trafficking and Hezbollah as well as other Islamist extremists such as Hamas. Margarita Island is being used by Iranian and Iranian-linked militants as a base of operations. Steinitz further added that attention has focused on the groups presence among Lebanese Shia in the 12,000-strong Arab community on Margarita Island. There are large Syrian and Lebanese diaspora communities in Venezuela which serve as valuable sources of revenue and offer support to Hezbollah and Iran. Antonio Salas an author who infiltrated terrorist groups in Venezuela in 2010 revealed that there were as many as six terrorist training camps, mostly run by Venezuelan military officers, spread around the capital city of Caracas and Margarita Island. Venezuela is one of many Latin American countries in the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA). According to Joel Hirst, ALBA has solicited the aid of Iran and Hezbollah to train their military in asymmetric warfare. Venezuela became interested in asymmetric warfare in 2006 under Chavez. Terrorism is a part of asymmetric warfare, and Venezuelas participation has allowed Hezbollah to plan, fundraise, train, coordinate and carry out operations, mostly fundraising and intelligence collection. In 2015 General John F. Kelly, the then-Commander of the United States Southern Command, testified that the Iranian proxy terrorist group Hezbollah has long viewed Latin America as a venue by which they can attack Israeli or other Western targets. Kelly further stated that nations such as Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia restrict defense ties with the United States and have sought in some cases to eliminate the US military presence from their countries. This reduced U.S. presence in Venezuela provides an opportunity for Iran to utilize its proxy against the U.S. General James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, stated in 2013 that Iran may be more willing to seize opportunities to attack in the United States in response to perceived offenses against the regime. Irans strategic position in Venezuela, and its freedom of action there, can help to facilitate such an attack. Iran having established strong ties in Venezuela, has been able to establish a military industrial footprint in the form of military-to-military agreements between Iran and Venezuela. According to Martin Rodil, an expert in Latin American politics, Venezuela agreed to provide Iran with intelligence infrastructure such as arms, identification documents, bank accounts, and pipelines for moving operatives and equipment between Iran and Latin America. Coviassa (the state airline in Venezuela) and Iran Air (the state airline in Iran) were used to transport military technology and personnel from Iran to Venezuela. Conviassa personnel claimed that radioactive materials and missile system components were on these flights. This operation continued from 2007 to 2011; these flights and their passengers were never inspected. Ordinary citizens were unable to obtain a seat on these flights; instead, these seats were reserved for Iranian agents, including Hezbollah, the IRGC, and other intelligence personnel. According to Admiral Kurt W. Tidd, the then-Commander of the United States Southern Command, who testified before Congress in February 2018, Lebanese Hezbollah maintains an established logistical, facilitating, and operational presence in this region that can be quickly leveraged with no warning. He further stated that Venezuela has long provided a permissive environment for narco-terrorist groups and Lebanese Hezbollah supporters, and is a transit country for the smuggling of illicit drugs and Special Interest Aliens (SIAs). Special Interest Aliens are foreign nationals from a country with potential or known terrorist links. Matthew Levitt, the director of The Washington Institute's Jeanette and Eli Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, wrote that in 2011 a prominent member of Chavezs government was accused by the media of issuing passports to members of Hezbollah and Hamas. U.S. officials have stated that Venezuelan officials have issued fake cedulas (Venezuelan version of a social security card) to people from Middle Eastern countries who would not have qualified for these documents. These documents make it possible for them to then get a Venezuelan passport and consequently a U.S. visa. These documents have made it possible for members of Hezbollah to join and form cells within the U.S. as was done with the Charlotte, North Carolina Hezbollah cell. As I have argued elsewhere, the fundamentalist regime ruling in Iran considers the United States as the main obstacle for the achievement of its grand strategy of exporting its revolution to the Middle East. In order to counter American superiority in conventional warfare the fundamentalist regime has been developing a number of unconventional tactics. For example, the regime has repeatedly threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz if there were serious conflict with the U.S. Latin America is the soft underbelly of the U.S. whereby Iran and its proxy Hezbollah may wage terrorist activities against American targets in Latin America as well as on American soil. Hezbollah has been a growing threat for the U.S. through Venezuela. For many years such threats have been swept under the carpet. It appears that the Trump administration is pursuing a more determined policy toward Iran. During Obamas presidency Irans and Hezbollahs activities in Latin America were not being mentioned much by officials, because of interest in securing and maintaining the Iran nuclear deal. American officials are finally acknowledging a threat that the Obama administration previously preferred to ignore. It appears that the Trump administrations maximum pressure policy toward Iran includes countering Irans nefarious activities in Venezuela. Locals all smiles after bank opens branch Locals of Api Himal Rural Municipality, Darchula in the countrys far west no longer have to undertake a five-day trek to Khalanga for bank access. Interfax-Ukraine to host press conference 'Elections 2019: the role of law enforcement agencies in ensuring the legitimacy of the electoral process' On Wednesday, February 13, at 14.30, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency will host a press conference entitled "Elections 2019: the role of law enforcement agencies in ensuring the legitimacy of the electoral process." Participating will be political analysts Ihor Reterovych and Yaroslav Teleshun, members of the public organization Ukrainian Center for Civic Development; and Yury Podorozhny, an expert on election arrangements (8/5a Reitarska Street). Registration requires press accreditation at +380 67 574 7007. The Verkhovna Rada should lift the economic, energy, and transport blockage of parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions not currently controlled by Kyiv, presidential candidate Oleksandr Vilkul, deputy head of the Opposition Bloc faction, has said. "I've submitted a draft resolution and a bill on ending the economic, transport, energy, and social blockage of Donbas to the Verkhovna Rada," Vilkul said during a discussion between experts at the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency in Kyiv on Tuesday. The first steps toward restoring ties with the part of Donbas not controlled by Kyiv could be the payment of pensions and social allowances to the people living there and the resumption of railroad services, Vilkul said. "Trains should reach their final destination at Kostiantynivka, but at Donetsk. Yes, there should be checkpoints and everything necessary, but this would be transport communication," he said. The railroad infrastructure in Donbas has remained intact even despite combat activities, he said. Also, Vilkul called for restoring economic ties with the uncontrolled territories, normalizing cargo transportation, and lifting the "energy blockage." "This could be the first significant step toward peace and reintegration. This is the path all of us have to take," he said. When asked whether he believes the leaders of the self-proclaimed republics would facilitate the restoration of the ties, Vilkul said, "Millions of Ukrainians currently in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, even in the territories we are not controlling, shouldn't be innocent victims. And I think that if they oppose this, the people themselves would dethrone them. The people there want peace above all," Vilkul said. With a delay in the signing of a new contract on gas transit via the Ukrainian gas transmission system (GTS) after 2019, Russia could again repeat crisis with deliveries of gas to European consumers, CEO of national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy Andriy Kobolev has said. "By the end of December, when there will be frosts and there will be no new contract, it is likely that the Russians hope to repeat the same trick that was in 2009 with the disconnection of gas supplies along the Ukrainian corridor for European consumers. This will cause a crisis and it can be used, for example, to promote the idea of Nord Stream 2, which today is significantly stalled," he said on the ICTV channel late on Monday. Kobolev again said that the launch of the Nord Stream 2 and the TurkStream, together with the complete refusal of gas transit through the territory of Ukraine, could untie the hands of the Russian Federation as a country that annexed Crimea and occupied part of the Donbas, to continue military aggression. "This has nothing to do with the gas business. This is a strategic goal. They have been systematically working on it since 2005. Removing gas transit from the territory of Ukraine, speaking about the security issue that interests everyone, Russia is opening its way to extended aggression," he said. As reported, Ukraine insists on signing a contract with Russia's Gazprom for the transit of gas after 2019 according to the European rules and with unconditional implementation of the decisions already taken by the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce. Ukraine's Finance Ministry is working on the implementation of the EU requirements to attract the second tranche of macrofinancial assistance from the EU in the amount of EUR 500 million by late March or early April, Finance Minister Oksana Markarova has said. "We are working on meeting the conditions. It is realistic [to attract the second tranche] at the end of March and the beginning of April," she told reporters at the Annual Ukraine Investor Conference organized by Dragon Capital in Kyiv on Tuesday. Markarova recalled that this is about the adoption of two bills related to customs reform. In addition, the finance minister said that the conditions for cooperation with the EU imply that there can be no less than three months between tranches of macrofinancial assistance. "Therefore, given that we received the previous tranche in December, this tranche, even if we do everything, we will not be able to receive earlier than March," she said. As reported, in September representatives of Ukraine and the European Union signed a memorandum of understanding and a loan agreement on the issue of the fourth EU macro-financial assistance program to Ukraine (MFA IV) for EUR 1 billion. The first tranche of EUR 500 million was sent to Ukraine by the European Commission in December 2018. Poroshenko orders funds from customs clearance of cars with European number plates to be used to index pensions Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that the Pension Fund received UAH 5 billion in pursuance to the law on customs clearance of cars with European number plates. He ordered the prime minister and the head of the Pension Fund to shape proposals on indexation of pensions thanks to these revenues. "It is about replenishment of the Pension Fund. UAH 5 billion has already been received by the Pension Fund," the president said in a meeting on the results of the law that allows the legalization of cars with European number plates imported in violation of customs and tax legislation, the press service of the president reported. Poroshenko called on car owners with foreign registration to take advantage of the last days of the grace period for the legalization of these vehicles. This will not only fill the budget of the Pension Fund directly, but also allow the indexation of pensions, he said. Poroshenko said that there were actually 11 days left until the end of the grace period for customs clearance of such cars. "Now the pace is good," he added. The president said that the given indicator was much higher than what the experts had predicted when planning budget revenues. "This allows us to resolve the issue of indexation of pensions that were not indexed in 2015-2016 due to circumstances - military and budget ones," the head of state said. Poroshenko appealed to Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman and Head of the Pension Fund Yevhen Kapinus to make suggestions on indexation based on the available indicators. "So that we prepare positions on the protection of those who have been affected the most - pensioners who receive a minimum pension. In order to find an opportunity to use the funds received from customs clearance of cars, to solve this acute and painful social problem," the president also said. Processing in the agricultural sector, IT, logistics, engineering and tourism are priority areas for investment and government support in the medium term, said President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. "We have several areas in which it is worth investing. The first is the agricultural sector ... in the processing industry. The agricultural sector should export products with high added value," Poroshenko said at the 15th Annual Ukraine Investor Conference organized by Dragon Capital in Kyiv on Tuesday. The second direction, the head of state said, is the IT sector. "Already today, 150,000 people are working in the IT sector ... But, I emphasize, this number will grow, and in a year and a half the number of employees will increase to 200,000," he said. In addition, the president noted the importance of using the favorable geographical position of Ukraine. "We will definitely develop Ukrainian logistics: ports, railways, creating unique transit opportunities. And these investments will definitely be reimbursed," he stressed. Other state priorities are attracting investment in engineering, the development of new technologies, and the development of tourism. "On average, the world tourism constitutes 10% of GDP, and we still have 1.5% of GDP. My goal and my task for the next five years is to bring the number of tourists to Ukraine to 30 million people," said Poroshenko. Feb. 11 Richard J. Adams III, 24, of Elko was arrested at 340 Commercial St. for defrauding a proprietor, trespassing, and concealing an escaped misdemeanor prisoner. Bail: $3,835 Deborah A. Barnhart, 49, of Elko was arrested at the Elko County Jail on two counts of practicing law without a license. Bail not listed Mathew A. Beecher, 20, of Hardeeville, South Carolina was arrested at Elko County Jail for felony possession of a controlled substance. Bail: $5,000 Richard J. DeLeon, 48, of Elko was arrested at Elko County Jail for battery and disturbing the peace. Bail: $1,495 Clinton J. Eldridge, 59, of Elko was arrested on Bullion Road for felony possession of a controlled substance and use or possession of drug paraphernalia. Bail: $5,640 Karly P. Falk, 26, of Vernal, Utah was arrested at Elko County Jail on a warrant for failure to appear after bail on a misdemeanor crime. Bail: $1,140 Tanahu Hydropower: Italian contractor may be fired for being no-show Tanahu Hydropower Limited, the developer of the Tanahu Hydropower Project, is mulling to fire Cooperativa Muratori e Cementisti di Ravenna for being a no-show. The Italian contractor was supposed to send workers to the construction site and start work by February 11, 2019, but it has not done so. ELKO The owner of a document preparation service was arrested Monday on two counts of practicing law without a license. Deborah Barnhart, 49, was issued a City of Elko business license in February 2017 for DPS of Northern Nevada. A criminal complaint was filed against her in December charging two misdemeanor counts of unlawful practice of law. According to the complaint, Barnhart appeared in Elko District Court on behalf a client and signed a request for submission for a legal name change. District Judge Nancy Porter ruled in April 2018 against the name change, citing that Barnhart was not a licensed attorney and not allowed to practice law. Barnhart is also accused of appearing in court on behalf of the parties in an estate case. A detective began investigating Barnhart in May after a representative of the Cavanaugh-Bill law offices contacted the district attorney and described a couple of instances where she has had contact with the opposing side of her client that has identified Barnhart to her as being their attorney. In one case not included in the complaint, Barnhart allegedly told a client that she did not qualify for alimony in her divorce proceedings, and also provided her with advice about a landlord dispute. However, the Elko County School District is concerned that the 10-cent decrease may impact construction projects already scheduled, said Superintendent Todd Pehrson. This will push back the opening of any needed new schools or facilities directly related to the education of our students, Pehrson wrote in a statement to the Elko Daily Free Press. It will also impact the necessary federally mandated ADA upgrades. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Among the larger projects planned in the next five to 10 years are a STEM facility at Elko High School and a new elementary school within the city of Elko. Maintenance for roofs and mechanical systems are also slated for older schools in the district. If the 10-cent reduction is approved, the district will need to reassess its capital improvement plan, Pehrson said. Karr, who was on the school board for 12 years prior to his election to the County Commission in 2016, said he believed the schools are still important, but when pay as you go was established 20 years ago, there was a population boom that has since cooled down. The mines are still productive, but not bringing in as many people. Were still growing, but not by leaps and bounds, he said. ELKO Opportunities for processing precious metals and copper in Nevada is the subject of a recently published Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology report the first of its kind in about 30 years. Its about continuing to promote mine development in the state of Nevada, said Joel Lenz, mining industry specialist with the Governors Office of Economic Development. The report seeks to understand the states total processing potential, connect those interested in toll milling and determine if a copper processing facility would be beneficial. The Nevada Commission on Mineral Resources initiated the study, and it was published in late 2018. The purpose is to establish a report that actually reached out to all of the metal processing facilities in the state and take a snapshot of what their circuits are designed to do, said Rich Perry, administrator of the Nevada Division of Minerals. I think it is of significance that this type of look at just the mineral processing side of the metals business in Nevada had not been done since the early 90s when the U.S. Bureau of Mines was still in business. ELKO Barrick continued to support STEM education in Elko County as Melissa Schultz, corporate social responsibility specialist, recently presented a grant award of $75,000 to the Elko County School District. The award follows on the heels of the Eastern Nevada STEAM Summit, an event co-hosted by Barrick in which ECSD educators and community stakeholders came together to discuss STEAM education under the new Next Generation Science Standards and its implications for Elkos future workforce. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} STEAM adds the arts to the traditional fields of science, technology and math. The school district will use Barricks contribution to update the science labs at Elko High School and Carlin Combined School, where lab facilities have not been retrofitted in more than 30 years. Collectively, these schools offer physical science, biology, chemistry, ecology, physics, design and modeling, and robotics courses to more than 1,000 students per year. OWYHEE Owyhee Combined School science teacher DeeDee Dann and the OHS Science Club once again organized a fundraiser for the Desab Elementary School in Haiti through Stone by Stone, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing quality health-care and education to the people in Desab, Haiti. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} OCS elementary classes raised $332.54 in total. A high school raffle and contributions from OCS staff brought in $109.01, and the OHS Science Club dedicated the profits from a lunchtime super nacho sale to the school in Desab. This resulted in a total of $561.55. The winner of the penny drive was Robin Egans fourth grade class who raised $176.90. Lori Donnelsons third grade class came in second with $60.80, and Rosalie Woods third grade class raised $52.60. Dann said, A big thank you to everyone who contributed! One hundred percent of the money will go to the school in Desab, Haiti. Award for the winners (slime making workshop in the high school lab) will take place in the new year. Again, thank you so much to everyone. Our students are awesome! Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 On 5 February WindEurope attended a workshop in the Federal Parliament of Belgium on the draft of the Belgian National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP). EUFORES (the European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources) organised the workshop in cooperation with the federal parliament of Belgium. This is part of a larger series of workshops in national parliaments designed to discuss the following: The implementation of the new Renewable Energy Directive, The draft texts of the NECPs and Best practices in renewable energy policy. Prominent speakers included: Jean-Marc Delizee, President of the Economy Committee; MP Bert Wollants of the Federal Parliament; Jan Hensmans, Head of the General Policy & International Relations Unit of the Federal Energy Ministry; MEPs Florent Marcellesi, Theresa Griffin and Jeppe Kofod; and Paula Abreu Marques, Head of the RES unit in the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy. There is now an EU-wide renewable energy target of 32% by 2030. In the current draft of its NECP, Belgium promises a 2030 total renewables target of 18.3%. This stands in contrast to Belgium's 2020 renewable energy target of 13%. At the moment, renewables account for just 9.1% of Belgium's energy demand. There is still a long way to go. According to the draft plan, the renewables share in different sectors will be as follows: 40.4% in electricity 20.6% in transport 12.7% in heating and cooling Wind power will play a vital role in the energy transition, and Belgium's current NECP draft reflects that, to a degree. The NECP contains high ambitions for offshore wind, with an expected 4 GW of total installed capacity by 2030. However, the onshore target of 4.2 GW is relatively low. For Flanders, in particular, there are plans for a mere 51 MW of new installed capacity per year for the period 2020-2030, and this does not even incorporate estimations for installations coming to the end of their operational lifetime. The current draft of the plan has a strong emphases on the following: grid and system integration; infrastructure; and the decarbonisation of heating and industrial process. It also incorporates a complete nuclear phase-out by 2025. The NECP includes provisions to introduce capacity mechanisms for new gas plants that need to be built and operational by 2025. As next steps, the Belgium federal government will request input from various advisory councils and organise a large public consultation on the draft text. The European Commission will give feedback on the NECP in June. The Plan should then be finalised and sent to the Commission by the end of this year. The National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) will define our markets for the next 10 years. Do you want to see the NECP of every EU country? Visit our NECP page Europe installed 2.6 GW of new offshore wind energy capacity in 2018, according to statistics released today (2/7) by WindEurope. That's an 18% increase in Europe's offshore wind capacity. 15 new offshore wind farms came on line. The UK and Germany accounted for 85% of the new capacity: 1.3 GW and 969 MW respectively. Europe now has 105 offshore wind farms across 11 countries with a total capacity of 18.5 GW. This is around 10% of the total installed wind energy capacity in Europe - the rest is onshore. The size and scale of offshore wind continues to rise. The average size of the new turbines installed last year was 6.8 MW, 15% up on 2017. The UK installed the world's biggest offshore turbines - 8.8 MW - and opened the world's largest offshore wind farm - Walney 3 extension, 657 MW. Belgium and Germany also opened their largest wind farms to date. A further six offshore wind farms are currently under construction in Europe, including the world's first +1 GW offshore wind farm - Hornsea 1 in the UK. Then a further 12 new offshore wind projects reached Final Investment Decision in 2018. These represent a further 4.2 GW of capacity and 10.3bn of investment. The amount invested was 37% up on 2017 but the capacity covered was up 91% - showing how quickly costs are falling and how much more bang you now get for your buck. WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson said: "Offshore wind continues to grow strongly in Europe. The total capacity expanded by a further 18% last year. Offshore wind now represents 2% of all the electricity consumed in Europe. And with a big pipeline of projects under construction and development, this number will rise significantly. "The technology keeps developing. The turbines keep getting bigger. And the costs keep falling. It's now no more expensive to build offshore wind than it is to build coal or gas plants. And it's a good deal cheaper than new nuclear. "More and more governments are recognising the merits of offshore wind. Poland is the latest to embrace it with an ambitious plan to build 10 GW by 2040. But a few countries are underperforming on it and risk missing out. Sweden is not building any offshore wind despite great potential. Germany has only a modest target for 2030. And the gamma minus' performer is France which still has no offshore wind farms nor is it clear when they will have. These countries have a chance to put things right this year with their National Energy and Climate Plans - they should grab it with two hands." See the report Iberdrola has named MHI Vestas Offshore Wind as preferred wind turbine supplier for the 476 MW Baltic Eagle project in German waters of the Baltic Sea, off the island of Rugen. The project, slated for delivery and installation in 2022 and 2023, will be the first offshore wind farm to feature the V174-9.5 MW turbine from MHI Vestas. "We are extremely proud to launch our V174-9.5 MW turbine with the Baltic Eagle project," said MHI Vestas CEO, Philippe Kavafyan. "This will be a tremendous opportunity for MHI Vestas to deepen our experience in German waters and notably in the Baltic Sea. We look forward to confirming the order with Iberdrola and readying for installation." The announcement is the second preferred supplier agreement between Iberdrola and MHI Vestas since November, when the two companies signed a similar agreement for Vineyard Wind in the US. Xabier Viteri, Director of Iberdrola Renewables, said, "Baltic Eagle confirms the company's firm commitment to use technological innovation to deliver utility-scale renewable projects which combat climate change and foster economic and social development in the territories where we operate." The project will be the 3rd German offshore wind project for MHI Vestas, following the recently installed Borkum Riffgrund 2 and Deutsche Bucht, scheduled for installation this year. The offshore wind farm is also one of 10 projects in Germany which have been tendered in 2017 and 2018 and which will be installed between 2022 and 2025. Against the background of the German coalition agreement of 65% of renewable energy in the electricity sector by 2030, today's announcement comes as Germany's renewable production eclipsed 40% in 2018, while offshore wind has exceeded 6 GW and is on pace to reach the government target of at least 15 GW of offshore wind by 2030. For further information contact: Michael Morris MHI Vestas Offshore Wind T: +45 8844 8950 mijmo@mhivestasoffshore.com About MHI Vestas Offshore Wind MHI Vestas Offshore Wind is a joint venture between Vestas Wind Systems A/S 50% and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) 50%. The company's focus is to design, manufacture, install and service wind turbines for the offshore wind industry. The company aims to create sustainable value through offshore wind power by driving capital and operating savings and increasing the power output of wind turbines. An innovative force in offshore wind since its inception in 2014, the company is guided by its founding principles of collaboration, trust, technology and commitment. For more information, see www.mhivestasoffshore.com or follow @MHIVestas on Twitter. About Iberdrola Iberdrola is a global energy leader, the main wind power producer and one of the world's largest electric utilities by market capitalization. The group operates in many countries and supplies power to nearly 100 million people, mainly in Spain, the United Kingdom (ScottishPower), the United States (AVANGRID), Brazil (Neoenergia) and Mexico. With a workforce of 34,000 people and assets worth 110 billion, it filed a turnover of 31.2 billion and a net profit of 2.8 billion in 2017. Iberdrola leads the energy transition towards a sustainable model through investments in renewable energy, smart grids, large-scale energy storage and digital transformation, offering the most advanced products and services to its customers. Thanks to its commitment to clean energy, it is one of the companies with the lowest emissions and an international benchmark for its contribution to the fight against climate change and the sustainability of the planet, all of which have placed the group in prominent positions on indexes such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and FTSE4Good. Iberdrola is considered as one of the world's most sustainable electricity companies. A senior delegation of government and business dignitaries has witnessed first-hand the steady progress being made in the development of the 50-megawatt (MW) Dhofar Wind Farm, the GCC's first utility-scale wind farm. Visiting the project site in the southern Dhofar Governorate of Oman yesterday were Hamdan Ali Al Hinai, Chairman of the Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), Eng Yaqoob Alkyumi, Chief Executive Officer of OPWP, Eng Saleh Al Rumhi, CEO of Tanweer, Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company ( Masdar'), Omar Al Wahaibi, CEO of MANA Holding, Dr Manar Al-Moneef, General Manager, MENA and Turkey of GE Renewable Energy, and high-ranking representatives from Gopa-intec (PMC), TSK, and Welayat Shaleem. The landmark wind farm, which is fully funded by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), the leading national entity for development aid, reflects Oman's commitment to diversify its energy sources. The project is being implemented by Masdar on behalf of ADFD, through an EPC consortium of GE Renewable Energy and TSK. On completion in the third quarter of this year, the wind farm is expected to generate enough electricity to supply 16,000 homes, equivalent to 7 per cent of the Dhofar Governorate's total power demand. Construction began in the first quarter of 2018. Four of the project's 13 wind turbines have now been installed, and virtually all of the project's infrastructure has been completed. The remaining wind turbines will be in place by the end of March, before being connected to the grid. Project handover is scheduled for Q3 2019. Eng Yaqoob Alkyumi, CEO of the Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), said: "Oman is very rich in renewable energy resources and OPWP is determined to exploit the learnings from this project, and its previous IPP experience, to expedite energy generation from such resources." OPWP will be the off-taker, or purchaser of the generated power, from the Rural Areas Electricity Company of Oman (Tanweer), which is responsible for operating the wind power plant upon completion. Speaking on the occasion, His Excellency Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, Director General of ADFD, said: "To contribute in achieving the strategic priorities of the Omani government, ADFD is delighted to work alongside world-class stakeholders including Masdar, OPWP, Tanweer, GE and TSK. As the financiers of this strategic project, ADFD is proud of the steady and timely progress of the 50 MW wind farm in Oman." Commenting on ADFD's role in financing socio-economic development projects for more than four decades, His Excellency Al Suwaidi added: "To drive the objectives of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ADFD has provided about AED2.7 billion in renewable energy projects all over the world. Not only are these projects stimulating economic growth, they are also supporting governments in realizing their national priorities." Eng. Saleh Al Rumhi, CEO of Tanweer, said: "Today's site visit marks an important milestone in the development of the country's first wind power plant, and Oman's sustainable energy transition. Supporting the diversification of Oman's energy mix and economy is our top priority, in line with Oman's sustainability goals, which aims to generate 10 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025." "Oman and the region possess high wind and solar potential. The Dhofar project is one of many initiatives to harness renewable energy in Oman. The project is progressing well and has been a unique collaborate effort between Tanweer, local stakeholders, and our international partners. Tanweer will own the assets and will be responsible for operating the site, including dispatching the energy to the Oman grid. We are focusing on transferring knowledge to our staff and local teams, to keep pace with today's fast-moving technology. We are also progressing with other renewable initiatives, including adding photovoltaic capacity at 11 of our existing power plants," he added. GE Renewable Energy is providing the project's 3.8MW wind turbines that are tailor-made for hot and arid desert conditions, while TSK is responsible for the remainder of the wind farm's infrastructure and electrical transmission facilities connecting the plant to the grid. Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar, said: "We are proud to expand our renewable energy portfolio into Oman, working alongside Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, Oman Power and Water Procurement Company, Tanweer, and all our partners, and look forward to delivering with them a world-class project. "Oman's bold decision to invest in utility-scale wind energy will give further encouragement to other countries in the region seeking to expand the role of renewable energy in diversifying their power mix, and strengthen the reputation of renewables as a reliable provider of cost-effective clean power. Furthermore, it will underscore the positive socio-economic impacts that come with clean energy, including job creation, technology transfer and skills development fostering sustainable growth in the wider economy." Power demand in the Dhofar Governorate, the largest of Oman's 11 Governorates, is growing at around 10 per cent annually. Besides helping to meet this demand, the Dhofar Wind farm will offset an estimated 110,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, while reducing reliance on natural gas for domestic power generation. Joaquin Garcia Rico, CEO of TSK, said: "We are very proud to have been awarded this important project in OMAN, a country where we have found great people and impressive opportunities to work together with local companies and share our knowledge and technology with them. We are also delighted to have a client like Masdar, a company that is contributing to improving energy infrastructure and living standards in different countries." Dr Manar Al Moneef, General Manager, Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey, GE Renewable Energy, said: "Wind energy has tremendous potential in Oman and we are delighted to contribute to the country's essential renewable energy ambitions. We are thrilled to see the first turbines up at the Dhofar wind farm and witness the value of our collaboration with Masdar. What we are seeing today is a first step toward our common goal to generate abundant amounts of renewable energy in the region." Further illustrating the positive community impact of renewable energy development, Masdar is building a solar-powered water treatment plant in the nearby city of Fatkhi, as well as a children's playground. The projects are also expected to be ready by September. Yesterday's site visit comes less than a month after Saudi Arabia announced that it had selected EDF Renewables and Masdar to develop the Kingdom's first wind farm, the 400MW Dumat Al Jandal wind project. The total generating capacity of wind energy projects either delivered or under development, in which Masdar is a partner, is around 2 gigawatts (GW). About Masdar Abu Dhabi's renewable energy company Masdar is advancing the commercialization and deployment of renewable energy, sustainable urban development and clean technologies to address global sustainability challenges. Wholly owned by Mubadala Investment Company, the strategic investment company of the Government of Abu Dhabi, our mandate is to help maintain the UAE's leadership in the global energy sector, while supporting the diversification of both its economy and energy sources for the benefit of future generations. Masdar's renewable energy projects are located in the UAE, Jordan, Mauritania, Egypt, Morocco, the UK, Serbia and Spain. Contacts: E-mail: press@masdar.ae Tel enquiries in Arabic: +971 2 653 3333 Tel enquiries in English: +971 2 653 6014 For more information please visit: http://www.masdar.ae and connect: facebook.com/masdar.ae and twitter.com/masdar In response to the announcement that French oil giant Total has just made a significant oil and gas discovery 175 km off the southern coast of South Africa, Greenpeace (www.Greenpeace.org) Africa's Senior Climate and Energy Campaign Manager, Melita Steele, has said: "Greenpeace Africa strongly condemns Total's reckless oil exploration off the coast of South Africa. Discovering yet more oil and gas is not something to celebrate when burning fossil fuels is driving potentially catastrophic climate change. This is essentially oil that we cannot afford to burn in the face of extreme weather conditions and recurrent droughts. "Deep sea drilling is far too risky. The possibility for an oil spill always exists, and the environmental impacts of deep sea drilling for oil and gas are too significant to be ignored[1], with very little benefit or job creation for South Africans. It is reckless of the South African government to allow oil and gas exploration to go ahead, and unfortunate that this was lauded as a victory at the State of the Nation Address last night. According to NASA, 2018 was the fourth warmest year on record, and it is clear that if we are serious about stopping the worst impacts of climate change, then some fossil fuels must remain in the ground. This country is blessed with some of the best renewable energy resources in the world; it's time to back renewable energy, and stop the reckless and dangerous dash for fossil fuels." Note: 1. The drilling process also creates massive sound and light disturbances, which has been shown to be detrimental to marine life. Media Contact: Chris Vlavianos Greenpeace Africa Communications Officer Email: chris.vlavianos@greenpeace.org Phone: 079 437 4208 India rejects request to remove import quotas on four Nepali products India has turned down Nepals longstanding request to remove import quotas on four Nepali products which have been in place since 2002. The technology group Wartsila and Aalto University in Finland have signed a Partnership Agreement that aims at strengthening and broadening their current cooperation. The challenges related to climate change, scarcity of natural resources and digitalization call for creative solutions that require new research, talent and ideas. Wartsila and Aalto University are looking to take on these challenges together by stepping up their collaboration. "Wartsila and Aalto University have a long history of cooperation, which has been most active in engine research. Wartsila has also participated actively in Aalto University's project courses, such as Product Development Project and International Design Business Management. This agreement is a continuation of that cooperation but also a step that will open new possibilities in the areas of research, talent and skills and campus and ecosystem collaboration for both parties," noted Kari Hietanen, Executive Vice President, Corporate Relations and Legal Affairs at Wartsila. Wartsila and Aalto University expect that the new mode of cooperation will result in new research projects and interaction with students that will support both parties' strategies of creating solutions for a sustainable future. With the signing of this partnership agreement Wartsila is looking forward to working together with Aalto University in new areas of research. In a business that is increasingly based on digital solutions and networks between different partners and stakeholders, one of the areas where Wartsila is very interested in is cyber security. "Recent studies have prompted us to consider what the key issue is, in terms of cyber security and security in general. We should ask "how can we strengthen trust?" rather than "how can we strengthen security?" In principle, cybersecurity is a question of trust - its preservation and consolidation. Security and trust go hand in hand. Trust is manifested as a strong value for both societies and businesses. This partnership opens the possibility of Wartsila providing a real-life environment to support our cyber research," said Jarno Limnell, Professor of Practice at Aalto University in the event following the signing of the partnership agreement. Wartsila and Aalto University will also start to explore the possibilities of sharing spaces and opening up infrastructures on the Aalto campus as well as on the Wartsila Helsinki Campus and other Wartsila premises. "Wartsila Smart Technology Hub welcomes Aalto University students and researchers as well as other universities and colleges to come and cooperate and co-create with Wartsilians and other partners in the Smart Technology Hub," said Hannu Mantymaa, Director for R&D and Engineering at Wartsila. "We are very happy with the long-standing and solid cooperation with Aalto University. With digitalization and sustainability playing an ever-increasing role in the businesses of Wartsila, we have the need to broaden our cooperation to areas that can support us in this change. We expect that our updated mode of partnership will result in projects and collaboration in new areas which support Wartsila's business," says Jaakko Eskola, President and CEO of Wartsila Corporation. The partnership agreement was signed today at Wartsila Helsinki Campus by the President and CEO of Wartsila Corporation, Jaakko Eskola, and the President of Aalto University, Ilkka Niemela. (photo attached) For more information please contact Sakari Heikkila Manager, University Relations Wartsila Corporation Tel. +358 50 5110424 sakari.heikkila@wartsila.com Sari Luhanka Global Media Relations Manager Wartsila Corporation Tel: +358 50 3860 353 sari.luhanka@wartsila.com Wartsila in brief: Wartsila is a global leader in smart technologies and complete lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets. By emphasising sustainable innovation, total efficiency and data analytics, Wartsila maximises the environmental and economic performance of the vessels and power plants of its customers. In 2018, Wartsila's net sales totalled EUR 5.2 billion with approximately 19,000 employees. The company has operations in over 200 locations in more than 80 countries around the world. Wartsila is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. Georgia Power Vice President of Environmental Affairs Dr. Mark Berry was presented with the 2019 Science Spectrum Trailblazer Award at the 2019 Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Global Competitiveness Conference in Washington, D.C. on Friday, February 8. Dr. Berry and other award recipients were recognized at the Technology Recognition Luncheon featuring Modern-Day Technology Leaders and Science Spectrum Trailblazers. The Science Spectrum Trailblazer Award is presented to leaders actively creating new paths for others in science, research, technology, and development. Recipients range from experienced executives who continuously seek innovative products and ideas to those who are breaking new ground at the midpoint of their careers and others who are recent graduates that show pioneering promise. They distinguish themselves by constantly setting their sights higher, striving to innovate and open doors for others. "Mark's passion for the development of people and technology continues to make an impact on the energy industry," said Chris Cummiskey, executive vice president of external affairs and nuclear development of Georgia Power. "Dr. Berry's impact portrays his continuous commitment to challenge the status quo in developing and implementing strategic and innovative solutions. The partnerships he has built and the projects he has launched contribute to how we're doing our part to ensure future generations of Georgians will continue to have a thriving place to call home." The award is presented on behalf of Career Communications Group's US Black Engineer and Information Technology magazine, the Council of Engineering Deans of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, host Lockheed Martin Corporation, and sponsor Aerotek. The 33rd annual BEYA STEM Conference kicked off on Thursday, February 7, 2019 with a full day focused on the contributions of America's diverse talent. About Georgia Power Georgia Power is the largest electric subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), America's premier energy company. Value, Reliability, Customer Service and Stewardship are the cornerstones of the company's promise to 2.5 million customers in all but four of Georgia's 159 counties. Committed to delivering clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy at rates below the national average, Georgia Power maintains a diverse, innovative generation mix that includes nuclear, coal and natural gas, as well as renewables such as solar, hydroelectric and wind. Georgia Power focuses on delivering world-class service to its customers every day and the company is consistently recognized by J.D. Power and Associates as an industry leader in customer satisfaction. For more information, visit www.GeorgiaPower.com and connect with the company on Facebook (Facebook.com/GeorgiaPower), Twitter (Twitter.com/GeorgiaPower) and Instagram (Instagram.com/ga_power) The Greater Boston Food Bank is starting the year off with a 75 percent reduction in energy use during targeted peak hours and substantial cost savings thanks to a partnership with Eversource and the installation of a new Viking Cold Solutions thermal energy storage (TES) system. The TES system for the Food Bank's refrigeration units was installed at its 117,000 square-foot, high-efficiency Yawkey Distribution Center in South Boston. "Thermal energy storage systems serve as a storage medium for a building's refrigeration system and is a cost-effective solution to store and dispatch the large amount of energy required by refrigeration equipment in cold storage facilities," said Eversource Vice President of Energy Efficiency Tilak Subrahmanian. "We recently launched a program designed to install new technologies, like thermal energy storage, to lower energy use and demand during peak energy usage hours. Our partnership with the Greater Boston Food Bank will help them better manage their energy and deliver a cutting-edge solution that will benefit the organization overall and support its critical mission." The new TES system, developed by Viking Cold Solutions, has reduced electrical consumption at the Greater Boston Food Bank's energy-intensive, cold storage facility while improving temperature stability inside their freezer. Cold storage facilities, such as frozen food warehouses and grocery store walk-in freezers, have the highest energy demand per cubic foot of any category. During peak energy use periods, they can account for up to 70 percent of the total electric bill for commercial and industrial organizations. "As the largest hunger relief organization in New England, our goal is to provide healthy meals to those in need across Eastern Massachusetts," said The Greater Boston Food Bank SVP of Supply Chain and Food Acquisition Cheryl Schondek. "We strive for cost saving operational efficiencies, and our partnership with Eversource and the installation of the Viking Cold TES system better enables us to achieve this goal. We appreciate their commitment to our mission to end hunger here." The energy cost savings delivered by the TES system will allow the Food Bank to provide an additional 10,500 meals per year. Since 2015, Eversource has worked with the Greater Boston Food Bank on several lighting upgrades that have saved the nonprofit approximately $42,000 annually. They are currently working together on more energy efficiency projects, which include refrigeration, lighting and HVAC upgrades. For more information on Eversource's energy efficiency programs, please visit eversource.com. About The Greater Boston Food Bank The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England and among the largest food banks in the country. GBFB provides the equivalent of 50 million healthy meals annually, distributed through its network of 526 food pantries, meal programs and shelters across Eastern Massachusetts. GBFB operates four direct service programs at nearly 70 sites throughout the area. A member of Feeding America, the nation's food bank network, GBFB serves more than 140,000 people every month in its goal to create a hunger-free Eastern Massachusetts. For more information, please visit www.gbfb.org. About Eversource Eversource (NYSE: ES) transmits and delivers electricity, natural gas and water to 1.7 million customers throughout Massachusetts. This includes approximately 1.4 million electric customers in 140 communities, 300,000 gas customers in 51 communities, and 19,500 water customers in five communities. Recognized as the top U.S. utility for its energy efficiency programs by the sustainability advocacy organization Ceres, Eversource harnesses the commitment of about 8,000 employees across three states to build a single, united company around the mission of safely delivering reliable energy and water with superior customer service. For more information, please visit our website (www.eversource.com) and follow us on Twitter (@eversourceMA) and Facebook (facebook.com/EversourceMA). For more information on our water services, visit www.aquarionwater.com. About Viking Cold Solutions Viking Cold Solutions is the leading thermal energy storage provider to the energy-intensive frozen/low-temperature cold storage industry. Viking Cold delivers cost-effective and flexible energy management services which preserve food and help reduce environmental impact. Its patented Thermal Energy Storage system with phase change material (PCM), intelligent controls, and 24/7 cloud-based monitoring, allows customers to reduce cold storage energy costs by up to 35 percent, or more, while improving their temperature stability and maximizing refrigeration efficiencies. Viking Cold Solutions' TES systems have been Measured & Verified and incentivized by energy utilities across the U.S. and are currently in use around the world in grocery stores, low-temperature warehouses, and restaurants. For additional information, please visit www.vikingcold.com. CONTACT: Reid Lamberty 617-424-2108 reid.lamberty@eversource.com This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 14 years and 30,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going. Ukraine expects EU to amend Gas Directive to try to block Nord Stream 2 Ukrainian diplomats believe that all contentious energy issues must be resolved in the European Court in compliance with European law. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter The sanctions are expected to be directed at individuals and companies involved in Russias seizure of three Ukrainian naval vessels last November. Western nations are close to agreeing a raft of new sanctions against Russia in a co-ordinated push aimed at punishing Moscow for its aggression towards Ukraine in the Sea of Azov. The new measures are expected to be discussed at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers next Monday and could be levied in the next two months, according to diplomats briefed on the discussions, The Financial Times reports. This is waiting in the wings, said one of the diplomats, citing internal documents. The person added that the new sanctions were expected to be tabled by the end of March. Read alsoUkraine estimates losses from Azov Sea blockade by Russia at about US$360 mln The fresh move to check Russia's persistent campaign of malign behavior would be jointly applied by the U.S. and the EU, diplomats said. One western government official added that the sanctions were expected to be directed at individuals and companies involved in Russias seizure of three Ukrainian naval vessels in the Kerch Strait last November. More than two months after the incident, and despite repeated appeals from the U.S. and EU states to release them, 24 Ukrainian sailors, who Ukraine insists are prisoners of war, are still being held captive by the Russian authorities. Ukraine, World Bank discuss new financial guarantee Finance Minister Borrowings in the foreign market under the remaining guarantee could be carried out shortly, the official said. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter Kyiv plant to be licensed for Boeing aircraft maintenance The enterprise will significantly expand its capabilities after completion of specialist training and licensing. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter The governments decision to impose an additional five percent excise duty on smartphones is fuelling a grey market in imports After the Nepal governments decision to impose an additional five percent excise duty on the import of smartphones in last years budget, the inflow of phones has gone down comfortably. Kim-Trump summit a 'remarkable breakthrough' for peace: Moon The US President and North Korean leader are due to meet in Hanoi following their landmark first summit in Singapore last June. Photo by AFP/Saul Loeb South Korean president Moon Jae-in made the statement on Monday, but he acknowledged doubts remained over denuclearisation. The U.S. President and North Korean leader are due to meet in Hanoi from February 27 to 28 following their landmark first summit in Singapore last June. That meeting -- the first-ever between the leaders of the U.S. and North Korea -- produced a vaguely-worded document in which Kim pledged to work towards "the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula." But progress has since stalled with the two sides disagreeing over it means and analysts say tangible progress on denuclearisation will be needed if the talks are to avoid being dismissed as "reality TV." With the high-stakes summit now two weeks away, Pyongyang has yet to provide any official confirmation of the meeting in the Vietnamese capital. "For us, the era of peace and prosperity on the peninsula has drawn closer," said Moon in his first comments since the summit was announced. The meeting was a "remarkable breakthrough in the peace process on the Korean peninsula," the South Korean president added. But he acknowledged there were "still many doubts about whether the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and peace process can be concluded successfully." The leaders of the two Koreas and the U.S. have persisted in talks over the issue because of "strong confidence in the direction history should take," added Moon, who has taken on the role of middle man between Pyongyang and Washington, trying to bridge the gap on denuclearisation talks. Security allies Seoul and Washington have at times pursued divergent approaches toward Pyongyang, with the dovish South Korean leader pursuing engagement while the United States insists pressure must be maintained until the North denuclearises. But Moon expressed gratitude to both Trump and Kim for their "unprecedented, bold diplomatic efforts", saying they were "crossing a sea of deep mistrust." AFP Photojournalist Nick Ut and Phan Thi Kim Phuc (L) in Cologne, Germany, stand in front of a screen showing his iconic 1972 photograph of Phuc running from a napalm attack. Photo by Reuters/Ina Fassbender Phan Thi Kim Phuc, the Napalm Girl featured in the iconic Vietnam War photo, has been awarded the 10th Dresden Peace Prize. The prize was awarded Monday for her contributions to global peace and relief for children maimed by war. Phuc, 55, now lives in Canada. She was given the prize as a goodwill ambassador for UNESCO and founder of the Kim Phuc Foundation, which provides medical and psychological assistance to child victims of war. The prize has a cash award of 10,000 euros ($11,350). The Internationaler Friedenspreis Dresden-Preis, which initiated and offered the Dresden Peace Prize, noted that at a time when hate is widespread, "it is repeatedly the victims of violence and war who renounce hate. "And in doing so they demonstrate human greatness, to the shame of preachers of hate. Kim Phuc Phan Thi has shown just such greatness and so has become a worldwide exemplar," the organization said in a press release. The award ceremony took place Monday night at the Semper Opera in Dresden, Germany. The black and white Napalm Girl photo, officially named 'The Terror of War,' depicted a terrified Phuc running naked and screaming after being burned in a napalm attack on June 8, 1972. The photograph won its author, Vietnamese-American photojournalist Nick Ut, the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography. Nick Ut, whose real name is Huynh Cong Ut, once said he cried when he saw Phuc running. "If I had not saved Kim Phuc that day, I think I would have killed myself," he said. Ut and Kim Phuc remain close friends to this day. The Dresden Peace Prize, first awarded in 2010, was founded to honor the "brave, the tolerant, the humane from all over the world," the prizes official website states. Vietnam foreign minister visits N. Korea ahead of Trump-Kim summit A photo shared on Vietnam's Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh's Twitter page shows him shaking hands with a North Korean official upon arriving in Pyongyang on February 12, 2019. This visit comes ahead of this months planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi. Trump said last week he would hold his second meeting with Kim in the Vietnamese capital on February 27 and 28. Vietnam welcomed the news, expressing confidence in its readiness to host the second Trump-Kim meeting. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Monday ordered "thorough" preparations for the event. Minh's visit comes shortly after his counterpart Ri Yong-ho visited Hanoi in late November, where both sides agreed to develop bilateral relations and Vietnam offered to share its development experience with North Korea. Vietnam's economic reform is being highly considered as a suitable model for North Korea, given the countries' shared historical and politcal background. Khanh Lynh Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi to further mutual agendas U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walk after lunch at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore, June 12, 2018. Photo by Reuters/Jonathan Ernst In his annual State of the Union address to Congress last Wednesday, President Trump said he would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam on February 27-28. The White House later specified Hanoi as the location. Experts have praised the choice of Vietnam as the venue as it enjoys a positive relationship with both the U.S. and North Korea, and is fit to be a mediator for peace. Le Thu Huong, a senior analyst at Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told VnExpress International that Vietnam being chosen as the venue positions the country as a neutral and trustworthy partner, enough for both sides to consider conducting talks there. "It will put Vietnam on the peace-talking world map for a change," she said. The summit is being planned as Vietnam's Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh is on a three-day visit to North Korea, between February 12 and 14. The trip comes shortly after Minh's counterpart Ri Yong-ho visited Hanoi in late November, when both sides agreed to develop bilateral relations and Vietnam offered to share its development experience with North Korea. Le Hong Hiep, a fellow with Singapores ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, said the upcoming summit "can be a chance for Vietnam to showcase its active foreign policy, through which Vietnam would like to contribute more to the international community, as well as to regional peace and security." Hiep also suggested that the event might be an opportunity for an economic boom as "the country may attract significant international attention, especially from tourists and investors, through the intense media coverage of the summit." Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defense Force Academy, shared similar thoughts. The fact that Vietnam has been picked as the venue for the second summit between Trump and Kim is a legacy of Vietnams long-standing policy of "diversifying and multilateralizing" its foreign policy and being "a reliable partner and friend to all," he said. North Korea trusts Vietnam, Thayer said, because a decade ago, Vietnam had hosted quiet talks between Japan and North Korea on the family reunification issue. Vietnam's experience for past events is apparently considered an advantage. Charles Armstrong, a professor from Columbia University, said Vietnam is highly capable of guaranteeing security and logistics demands for big international events, citing APEC 2017 as an example. The APEC summit, held November 2017 in the central city of Da Nang, gathered top leaders from across the world, including the U.S. President, Russias Vladimir Putin, Chinas Xi Jinping and South Koreas Moon Jae-in. The selection of Hanoi this time may have been made based on logistic considerations of North Korea, as Kim Jong-un is said to be planning a state visit to Hanoi, Hiep said. The Vietnam model Even before rumors began doing the rounds about Vietnam hosting the second meeting between Trump and Kim, both countries had expressed interest in Vietnam as a growth model for North Korea. Observers say that the choice of Vietnam as an economic model for North Korea to follow is rooted in historical, ideological and practical reasons. Vietnam has had a hostile past with both the U.S. and South Korea due to the Vietnam War, in which the latter was involved; but now Vietnam is an important economic and security partner of both nations, Hiep said. He said Vietnam had also suffered a certain imposed isolation like North Korea, but later, it successfully implemented market-based economic reforms and opened up the country to international integration, which is a path "both Washington and Seoul would like to encourage Pyongyang to take." The North Korean leader spoke recently of his hopes for economic reforms in the country. In three meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in last year, he repeatedly cited Vietnams successes, South Korean media reported. During a visit to Hanoi last July just after his visit to Pyongyang, Washington's top diplomat Mike Pompeo referred to Vietnam, which now enjoys burgeoning trade ties with former foe U.S., as a model for North Korea. Then, in his trip to Vietnam in November last year, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told the Vietnamese government that North Korea hopes to learn from Vietnams model of development. North Korea has from time to time sent students and working missions to Vietnam to study its reform program and opening up of the economy under doi moi, Vietnams renovation policy, officially adopted in 1986. Thayer said that the Trump-Kim being held in Vietnam is all the more timely because the country will be ASEAN Chair in 2020 and is on course to be re-elected as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council for the 2020-2021 term. Denuclearization of the Korean peninsula will be a protracted process and Vietnam as ASEAN Chair and as a non-permanent member of the Security Council can play a diplomatic role during this period and after, he said. Minh Nga A man, who was found high on meth, is apprehended by security officers at Tan Son Nhat Airport on Monday. Photo acquired by VnExpress A man believed to be high on meth was arrested after entering the Tan Son Nhat Airport with a fake gun. On Monday afternoon, a 42-year-old man whose name has not been revealed drove a motorbike into the airport and was accosted by security officers who found his behavior suspicious. He left his motorbike behind and ran into the international terminal. When the officers gave chase, he pulled out a short gun and threatened them. Security staff knocked him down and seized the gun which was found to be a fake. It is believed that the man was high on meth. The incident created chaos in the airport area, frightening both domestic and international passengers. The man has been handed over to the Tan Binh District police for further investigation. Vietnam outlawed civilian ownership of guns in 2006, and the illegal manufacturing, trafficking or trade of weapons is punishable by one year to life in prison. In recent years, customs officers have busted various attempts to smuggle guns and ammunition from the U.K., the U.S., Turkey, Cambodia, South Korea and Thailand. The scene of the murder where Nguyen Canh An, 20, cut the taxi driver's throat to death. Photo by VnExpress/Phuong Duong A 20-year-old youth believed to have slashed a taxi drivers throat in Hanoi last month has been placed under investigation. Hanoi police said they are investigating Nguyen Canh An for last months murder of a taxi driver near the My Dinh Stadium. He was arrested on February 3 while playing video games at an internet service shop in Hoa Binh Province, around 90 kilometers southwest of Hanoi. Investigators say An, a native of the central province of Nghe An, is an online game addict. Two months before, he left home for Hanoi to find a job. When he ran out of money, he planned a robbery. On January 29, An took a taxi from a bus stop to the My Dinh National Stadium. As they reached the destination, he took a knife and attacked the driver from the back seat, slashing his throat. Some reports say he then panicked and left the scene without taking anything. Nguyen Canh An, 20, will be charged with murder. Photo by VnExpress/Phuong Son Eyewitnesses said they saw the 26-year-old victim, Nguyen Van Duy, getting out of the taxi and screaming for help. He collapsed soon after and died of severe blood loss. From eyewitnesses testimony and camera footage, police officers tracked down the suspect and detained An five days later. He reportedly told the police that he had attacked the taxi driver to steal from him. Murder is punishable by death under Vietnams Penal Code. Around 32.8 million people, more than a third of Vietnam's population, play online games in Vietnam, according to a survey conducted in 2017 by the Amsterdam-based Newzoo. The beach on Pham Van Dong Street in Nha Trang where two Russian men were drowned on Tuesday. Photo by VnExpress/An Phuoc Two Russian men drowned Tuesday after swimming into deep waters in the resort town of Nha Trang. The men, in their sixties, were reportedly washed away by strong waves that pulled them 20 meters (0.21 feet) away from shore into rough waters when swimming in a beach off Pham Van Dong Street. Rescue workers rushed to the beach to bring them to the shore. However, they were pronounced dead on arrival at a local hospital. Police are investigating the incident. The provinces Department of Foreign Affairs has said they are working with local police to identify the victims. Local residents said the beach is prone to drowning accidents, with strong waves that sweep swimmers away. In 2017, a 34-year-old Russian man, Vladislav Sharolov, drowned after jumping into rough waters in Nha Trang, ignoring lifeguards warnings. Nha Trang has been a popular beach destination for Russian tourists for many years. Last year, more than 333,000 Russian tourists arrived in the resort town, up 3 percent against the previous year, according to data from the provinces tourism department. Chinese tourists ripped off? Nha Trang restaurant fined $33 for not listing prices Chinese tourists walk in the popular resort town of Nha Trang in the central province of Khanh Hoa. Photo by VnExpress/Xuan Ngoc Authorities in the central beach town of Nha Trang Monday fined a local restaurant VND750,000 ($33) for failing to fully list prices. The action came a week after some Chinese tourists shared a photo of their check at the restaurant online, sparking public anger for exorbitant prices. Last Thursday the group of 14 tourists ate at the seafood restaurant on Pham Van Dong Street near the Ponagar Tower and received a check of VND16.5 million ($710), including VND250,000 each for a plate of fried melon and fried spinach. Normally, the two cost no more than VND100,000. A Facebook photo shows a bill for a meal of Chinese tourists at the restaurant last Thursday. Authorities inspected the place but said the prices of all other dishes except the two are clearly displayed on the menu. Overcharging is not uncommon in Vietnam despite occasional crackdowns by authorities. Recently Vietnamese neitizens and foreign tourists expressed indignation at reports of some Malaysian customers being charged over VND9 million ($387.76) for a meal at a Nha Trang seafood restaurant. The incident is still under investigation since the restaurant has temporarily closed. In 2016 Nha Trang ordered its tourism department to publish a list of establishments that are found to have overcharged or provided sub-standard services to customers. Last year the town received 1.9 million Chinese tourists, a 60 percent increase from a year earlier. Vietnamese women are increasingly unhappy with the way their relatives and friends intrude into their private life, especially during the New Year holiday. Photo by Shutterstock/PhotoNH Single women facing a gauntlet of personal questions are robbed of the simple pleasures of Tet gatherings. "Isnt it high time you got married?" "When are you planning to get married? "Do you have a boyfriend?" Every person she meets asks Phuong variations of these questions when she returns from Hanoi to her native place in northern Thanh Hoa Province for the Lunar New Year holiday (Tet). Phuong, 35, also receives a lot of advice to get married soon, and is tired of such conversations. The questions and suggestions "are repeated so often that I cant enjoy the gathering," Phuong said. "When people keep asking me these questions again and again, I feel hurt and disrespected," she added. It is normal in Vietnamese culture to ask personal questions, and they are not considered intrusive, usually. However, women have to bear the added brunt of being considered "on the shelf" if they are in their mid-twenties and are yet to get married. At this stage, parents, relatives and even friends get anxious, prone to prodding single women to get hitched soon, even if they are interested in doing so. For people like Phuong, it has gone too far. Phuong said she no longer feels like meeting anyone during the new-year celebration. The Lunar New Year is the most important holiday of the year in Vietnam when millions of people return to their hometown to reunite with their families. It is an occasion eagerly awaited by everyone, but single women like Phuong do not look forward to being bombarded with the same questions, year after year, time after time. Dao, a Hanoi resident, wrote on her Facebook page that she was longing to visit her parents in her hometown, but considered not going just because she would face constant questions about her single status. Her Facebook status, though , received hundreds of "likes." A user named Tran commented under her post: "Husband is not a cake, we cannot just buy one." And if the women were married, they are asked questions if they do not have children. All this questioning has been normal for a long time, but now, it adds to the stress of modern life. When pop star Bich Phuongs music video "When do you get married?" was released in January 2017, it quickly went viral. The video of a young independent woman receiving constant questions about marriage during the Tet holiday became a top trend on Youtube, attracting more than two million views in the first two days. The lyrics included statements like: "Don't ask me about having not married", "This spring I haven't married yet" and "I don't want to get married, I just want to stay with my parents," which immediately reappeared on many womens Facebook status and photo captions. Understandable curiosity "In the past, growing up and marrying was considered the most natural thing. Many people still think that if you graduate and have a job, you should have a family right away," said Khuat Thu Hong, director of the Institute for Social Development Studies (ISDS). "Building a family is considered a symbol of luck, success, and maturity." Furthermore, asking private questions is also seen as a way to show care and affection towards one another, Hong said. "Vietnamese people usually ask questions when they meet, thinking that this shows care and love towards those being asked," Hong told VnExpress International. Change some norms However, in a modern society where women choose often to focus on their career, study and travel abroad and do not consider getting married "in time" a priority, maybe it is time to change what was once considered normal, Hong said. Despite caring, some questions are not asked with thoughtful consideration, she added. "I feel very uncomfortable," Phuong said. "I have had to ask my parents to politely field the questions for me." Hong said she believed that the norm should be changed. "I think its time we reconsider the way we greet each other, and think carefully about what we ask, to avoid making people uncomfortable." "This Tet, when someone asked me when to get married, I wanted to ask them, when will they stop being too curious about anothers life", wrote Nguyen Thi Khanh Huyen, in a perspective piece on VnExpress. "But to avoid breaking the happy mood of the holiday, when people advise me not to be picky or focused on my career, I just smile and pretend to agree." Hidden voices This comes regarding your article (Two more teachers at Lalitpur madhyamik vidhyalaya accused of sexual abuse by former student, Page 1, February 5, 2019) First and foremost, I would like to thank the Post for covering stories with such importance Vietnam recorded the fourth highest mobile in-app ad revenues (eCPM) in the Asia-Pacific region during Tet 2018. It ranked behind China, Singapore and the Philippines, according to a report recently released by Vietnamese digital advertising service company Adsota. The report also showed that app downloads were the highest 10 days prior to Tet in 2017, while downloads peaked on the first day of the 2018 Tet, showing that the Lunar New Year holiday was a highly effective period to execute user acquisition campaigns for app developers. The number of mobile app ad requests (the number of ads displayed in apps) rose by 32 percent in Vietnam during this holiday compared to other days in January and February, said the report. Many Vietnamese mobile app developers have gone global and succeeded in the U.S. or Australia by targeting foreign holidays like Black Friday and Christmas. Overall, the highest downloads of Vietnamese-developed apps came from India and the U.S. at 13 and 11 percent respectively, followed by Brazil and Indonesia at 8 percent and 6 percent respectively. In terms of revenue, profits from the U.S. market contribute around 20 percent of overseas revenue generated by Vietnamese applications, followed by other developed markets like Australia at five percent; and Germany, Japan and Korea at three percent each. Of some 95 million people in Vietnam, 73 percent use mobile phones, 42 percent use smartphones and 50 million people use mobile social media, according to the report. Trump-Kim summit a chance to showcase Vietnams development model: PM U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un shake hands after signing documents during a summit at the Capella Hotel on the resort island of Sentosa, Singapore June 12, 2018. Photo by Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Vietnam should play in an international role in the summit and showcase its development model as one moving in the right direction, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said Tuesday. Addressing a ceremony at the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) on Tuesday, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is also an opportunity for Vietnam to demonstrate the nations good investment environment. "This important event has shown that Vietnams investment environment is good, that Vietnams development model is going in a right direction, and especially that the security and safety in Vietnam is wonderful," the PM said. In his annual State of the Union address to Congress last Wednesday, President Trump had said he would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam on February 27-28, and later specified Hanoi as the location. Vietnam's Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh is on a three-day (February 12-14) visit to North Korea. The trip follows North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-hos visit to Hanoi late last November, when both sides agreed to develop bilateral relations and Vietnam offered to share its development experiences with North Korea. Minh Son Logivan has raised $5.5 million in the latest funding round. Photo by Logivan Logivan, a web platform that helps trucks connect with potential customers, said it has raised $5.5 million in the latest funding round. The investment comes from two Asian angel investors and Indonesian venture capitalist Alpha JWC Ventures. One of the angel investors is David Su, a founding managing partner at private equity firm Matrix Partners China, who invested through his family office. He said: "Vietnam is the next rising star in the growing Southeast Asia region and it is well poised to experience a similar growth trajectory as we witnessed over the past years in China. "Vietnams logistics industry is highly fragmented, logistics costs make up 23 per cent of Vietnams GDP, with 90 per cent of trucks in Vietnam being owned by individuals. Given the success of Manbang (a Chinese truck-hailing firm), we believe that Logivan has the potential to emulate its success." According to e27, an online Tech media platform for Asia, Logivan will be investing in data analysis to optimize user experience, artificial intelligence, truck-matching, and pricing algorithms to minimize empty trips and in human resources. Last year, Logivan raised $600,000 in April from Singapore-based Insignia Ventures Partners and $1.75 million in August from Singaporean private equity firms Ethos Partners and Insignia and Vietnamese investment fund VinaCapital Ventures. It has raised a total of $7.9 million to date. Founded in 2017 by Cambridge graduate Pham Khanh Linh, the company offers a logistics service which optimizes trucks routes and minimizes empty return trips. She came up with the idea after observing that 60-70 percent of trucks in Vietnam returned empty after dropping off their loads because they could not connect with potential customers. In 2018 Logivan claims to have connected more than 22,000 transportation partners with every major commercial truck type. It also has 10,000 shipping companies registered on its system. Prosecutors in Ho Chi Minh City have appealed a verdict ordering Grab to pay compensation to domestic taxi firm Vinasun. They want the appeal court to quash the order requiring the Singapore ride-hailing firm to pay VND4.8 billion ($206,000) in compensation for alleged losses and reject all of Vinasuns demands. Grab violated a pilot transport ministry scheme and government decree for ride-hailing services, according to the verdict. But the prosecutors argue this is groundless since Grab is a passenger transport firm licensed by competent authorities under the pilot scheme and its activities did not violate the law. They also dismiss the contention that Grab had caused Vinasun losses of nearly VND42 billion ($1.81 million) as one-sided with no practical or legal basis since it was based solely on an assessment by the court-appointed Cuu Long Inspection Company. "In reality, Vinasun's decline in revenue involves many factors such as the corporate governance capability and the government's policies and laws." "Therefore, Vinasun's demand for compensation from Grab is completely groundless." They say Grab's business activities are legal and Vinasun's decline in revenues and profits have been partially due to consumers switching to Grab as they found the ride-hailing firm's services to be superior to those provided by Vinasun and other traditional taxi firms. "Grab did not violate the law, there is no causal link between Grab's allegedly illegal activities and Vinasun's losses, Grab is not at fault." Vinasun filed the suit against Grab at the HCMC People's Court in June 2017, accusing it of abusing the Ministry of Transports pilot scheme and committing violations. The trial began last February, but was adjourned several times before the court last December accepted parts of Vinasun's demands and ordered Grab to pay the compensation. Grab has appealed. You've heard the argument that any white men who grew up on the Virginia Peninsula at the time Northam did can be expected to be somewhat racially insensitive. Virginia's 3rd Senate District is mostly on that peninsula and it is represented by Tommy Norment, the Republican majority leader, who, as it turns out with his yearbook editor-- a yearbook filled with racial and antisemitic slurs... and picture of young men in blackface. The 3rd includes all of the counties of Gloucester, King and Queen, King William and New Kent, parts of the counties of Isle of Wight, James City, Surry and York and all of the city of Poquoson plus parts of Hampton and Suffolk. The last time Norment faced a Democrat was in 2015 when he walked off with 69.7% of the vote. This time he'll be facing Army veteran Herb Jones, a progressive Democrat. He retired from the active duty in 1991 and settled in New Kent County, where he started his civilian career in finance and investments In 1999, he was elected County Treasurer for New Kent by a wide margin and went on to serve three terms. Herb continued to serve his country by remaining in the US Army Reserves. A member of the Army Reserves he was called up twice after 9/11 and served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. When I asked Herb about Norment, he pointed out that he's been serving in the General Assembly for almost 30 years. and then offered a quote from Mark Twain: "Diapers and politicians should be changed often. And for the same reason." Norment is a dishonest politician who thinks he can act anyway he wants with impunity. Its time to change the diaper. He has blocked commonsense legislation on health care, equal rights, criminal justice reforms, regulation of adult use of cannabis, taxes, and has demonstrated himself to be an unapologetic racist for his entire adult life. Norment is largely responsible for Virginia's refusal to expand Medicaid for Obamacare, costing Virginians a fortune-- over $10 billion in federal aid to help care for around 400,000 cities of the state. As of this week, Blue America has endorsed Herb Jones and we urge you to read his guest post below. If you'd like to contribute to his campaign-- this is a 2019 off-cycle election in November-- please tap on the ActBlue thermometer on the right. Herb was a Bernie guy in 2016 and will make an exceptional state legislator, particularly in comparison to racist slob Tommy Norment who really should get the heave ho. And by the way, today the Virginia state Senate has 21 Republicans and 19 Democrats. If there are no other changes aside from in the 3rd district, there will be a 20-20 ties with the Democratic Lt. Governor being the deciding vote. That's a very big deal. Ralph Northam Should NOT Resign by Herb Jones The political drama continues to develop in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Folks from all sides continue to call for resignations. The history of Virginia continues to rear it ugly head. People continue to be angry for our collective history and experiences that occurred in the past. We do have choices: to dwell in the past or discuss our history, learn from the unacceptable behaviors, and heal. The opportunity to grow from tragic adversity is a choice: When my mother was 9-years-old growing up in Ware Shoals, South Carolina, she was called in to their home after playing, only to be confronted with the horrifying news that her father had just been lynched and his body burned. My mother choose not to live the rest of her life full of anger and hatred nor did she blame America for what happened to her father. In my mothers unparalleled wisdom, she consciously chose to share this fact of our family heritage with my three brothers and me after we had graduated from college, started our careers and matured into adulthood. She knew what would have happened if shared this with us while we were rambunctious teenagers. She was a woman of wisdom and forgiveness. She was the kindest, sweetest, and most generous person Ive ever known. My brothers and I strive to emulate our mother and father in how we live our lives. Given the events over the past ten days, if perfection is the new standard for service, then we are all in trouble. In 1984, Ralph Northam was the product of his environment, the eastern shore of Virginia, one of the most racist areas in Virginia. What Ralph did in these photos was stupid, insensitive, and callous. But this was 35 years ago. The hypocrisy surrounding these events is deafening. We have a man in the White House who is ignorant and an unapologetic racist and has been so for his entire life, and-- in a full page ad-- called for the execution of five black boys who were later proven innocent, but never apologized; we have an alcoholic supreme court justice who attempted to rape a young girl in high school and who is also unapologetic; we have a congressman from Iowa who spouts racism every time he moves his lips; in Richmond, Virginia we still have an avenue replete with statues to racist confederate generals whose sole purpose was to keep black people enslaved and overthrow the United States of America. Compare these to a man-- Governor Ralph Northam-- who has made mistakes, admitted his mistakes, apologized for them, has and continues to wear his compassion and empathy on his sleeve; a man who has grown and evolved. Ralph Northam should NOT resign. This is an opportunity to begin a serious discussion on race and history in the United States. If Ralph Northam resigns, we will never hear from him again. As governor, he has a bully pulpit to start this dialogue. This time is akin to President Barak Obamas Reverend Wright moment when he made a speech that saved his campaign. Governor Northam has to make the same kind of gesture. Events like this seldom if align that provides a unique place in time. We will never have another opportunity like this. Nelson Mandela birthed the Truth and Reconciliation Movement. He knew that anger and revenge would accomplish nothing. South Africa would have imploded otherwise. We all have made mistakes. If we cannot acknowledge these mistakes, talk about them, and heal, then we will continue to live in past, and the great chasm in American society will never be healed. State Senator Shenna Bellows-- fingers crossed The 2020 Senate map is better than the 2018 map was-- but not much better. The Democrats really only have one tough seat to defend that they are likely to lose, Alabama (Jones)-- but that's the only good news. The bad news is that most of the Republican seats up for grabs are pretty safe too. To take back control of the Senate the Democrats are looking for luck in unlikely red states like Texas (Cornyn), Georgia (Perdue), North Carolina (Tillis) and Kentucky (McConnell). There are no easy seats but if there are four comparable to the two the Dems won last year (Arizona and Nevada), they are Arizona again (McSally), Colorado (Gardner), Iowa (Ernst) and Maine (Collins). Something has come up that will be helpful in Maine if Collins decides to run again. Context: In 1992 Clinton won Maine because Ross Perot beat George H.W. Bush by around 300 votes, throwing the win to Clinton. 1996 was easier for Clinton and after that Gore, Kerry, Obama both times and even Hillary managed to scrape through (albeit with a pitiful plurality and the loss of one of the 4 electoral votes). Maine elected a Democratic governor in 2002 (John Baldacci) for two terms and then Republican extremist Paul LePage, also for two terms. Last year the gubernatorial race went to Democrat Janet Mills. She beat Republican Shawn Moody by over 50,000 votes, 51-43%. But Maine hasn't elected a Democratic senator since 1988 (George Mitchell). When Mitchell retired, Olympia Snowe won and 2 years later Susan Collins won the other seat. When Snowe retired in 2012, Independent Angus King won the seat. Half the state is very blue-- D+8 and the other half is swingy (R+2). Over the weekend Felicia Sonmez and Michael Scherer reported for the Washington Post that Democrats see an opening in Collins' considerable armor because of Brett Kavanaugh's anti-Choice vote last week. Early this morning Alex Roarty and Patrick Gleason, reporting for McClatchy, wrote that "Joe Biden is everything a Democratic political consultant should love: Hes experienced, well-liked, and his poll numbers look great against Donald Trump." And we are sticking with our assessment that he's one of the worst of the Democrats who want to be president -- if notworst. His back to normalcy approach would lose to one of two outcomes: another term for Trump or another horrible, pointless presidency. And, according to Roarty and Gleason we're not alone in thinking Biden would be a catastrophe. Think about this headline: Weaker Candidate Than Hillary . "Many party strategists," they wrote, "have a bleak assessment of his potential 2020 campaign: Its a bad, bad idea." This last election cycle, weve seen a whole new level of energy that has emerged through a lot of fresh faces, and the party has moved in that direction and wants to hear new ideas and different messages, said Norm Sterzenbach, a former executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party who now works as a consultant in the state. Added Jim Manley, longtime Democratic operative: Im not convinced Biden is the right way to go at this point in time. The folks Ive talked to are a little taken aback by his potential candidacy, Manley said. No one quite understands where its coming from. McClatchy interviewed 31 Democratic strategists-- pollsters, opposition research experts, media consultants, ex-party officials, and communications specialists-- from across the country about a potential Biden campaign. Nine agreed to speak on the record; all others quoted anonymously do not plan to be affiliated with any candidate running in the presidential primary. Strikingly, these conversations yielded a similar view: The Democratic political community is more broadly and deeply pessimistic about Bidens potential candidacy than is commonly known. While these strategists said they respect Biden, they cited significant disadvantages for his campaign-- from the increasingly liberal and non-white Democratic electorate to policy baggage from his years in the Senate and a field of rivals that includes new, fresh-faced candidates. Among political professionals, there are deep concerns because we know the history, said a Pennsylvania-based Democratic strategist, granted anonymity to speak candidly about a party elder. We have reason to be skeptical of the hype. We heard it with Hillary, and we saw it happened, the source added. And theres a lot of reason to think he would wind up a significantly weaker candidate than Hillary. Many of these strategists say that if Biden did win the nomination, they dont think he would have a better chance of defeating Donald Trump than other top-tier contenders such as Kamala Harris or Kirsten Gillibrand-- disputing the claim from many Biden supporters that he represents the safe choice in an election when rank-and-file voters are desperate to win back the White House. Lets be honest: Hes an older white guy, said Jim Cauley, a longtime Kentucky-based Democratic strategist. Does he connect with the base? Cauley considers Biden one of a handful of leading contenders and, indeed, many of those interviewed say the one-time senator still has a chance to win the nomination and would make for a strong general election foe for Trump by potential luring centrist voters and even some Republicans to vote Democratic. But for a candidate who might expect to enter the race as the favorite, the skepticism could be a wake-up call-- particularly coming from a community of men and women that should be naturally more optimistic about a longtime party leader. I do think the conversation about him being the front-runner is overhyped, frankly, said Symone Sanders, a Democratic strategist who said she still considers a Biden candidacy formidable. Anyone who is frontrunner a year out from Iowa, a year out from South Carolina, is a front-runner because of name identification. Even if he lacks support from strategists, Biden has the encouragement of other members of the Democratic establishment, including Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina (who has said the state would be Bidens to lose) and members of the U.S. Senate. The one-time senators supporters dispute that he would enter as anything but a front-runner. ...Voters, not strategists, ultimately decide who wins elections, and even the savviest political professionals frequently predict poorly. (Many interviewed for this story joked that hearing so many strategists were pessimistic about Biden made them think he actually stood a better chance.) And for now, voters are receptive to a Biden candidacy: National polls show him leading the pack while, according to a CNN poll released last week, a strong majority of Democratic voters say they think he should run for president. The danger for Biden, however, is that these strategists act as a leading indicator for how many voters will ultimately feel about the former vice president after months of a rough-and-tumble campaign. Because while voters might not yet be familiar with Bidens record, the party operatives are-- and they worry about what they know. He brings a lot to the table in terms of strengths, said Mike Mikus, a Pittsburgh-based Democratic strategist. But because of his long record in the Senate, unlike a lot of the other candidates, he has a lot more pitfalls that he faces. Bidens vulnerabilities are myriad, strategists say, and rooted in both his record as a public official and his performance as a candidate. In interviews, strategists mentioned his support for a 1990s crime bill that subsequently came under heavy criticism, his past positions on banking regulation, and his treatment of Anita Hill during Clarence Thomass Supreme Court confirmation hearing. They also say Biden will be criticized for less popular parts of Barack Obamas presidency (such as mass deportations) and his insistence even now-- at a time when Democratic voters view Donald Trump and the larger GOP as one in the same-- that bipartisanship with Republicans is essential. Even his well-known penchant for gaffes, once seen by many rank-and-file Democrats as endearing, will take on a new context amid the harsh scrutiny of a presidential campaign. Biden might have overwhelmingly favorable numbers among Democratic voters, but the gradual revelation of these details over the course of a campaign will change perceptions. Theres a huge difference between, I want to go to an event with you, I want you to autograph your book, and I want to take a selfie with you, versus I want to vote for you for president, said one Iowa Democratic official. 2016 is going to be felt in the Democratic Party for the next couple decades, the source added. There is just massive distaste for the whole Baby Boom generation. Biden has apologized for both the tough-on-crime legislation and his treatment of Anita Hill. Strategists such as Lake say the apologies will soften any criticism, particularly in the context of a candidate arguing that he embraces a changing Democratic Party and wants to be its next leader. But given his penchant for off-the-cuff remarks that land him in trouble, Democrats wonder if hell stick with a conciliatory approach during a long campaign. Theres a lot thats important to get right these days-- from the way we talk about people or key issues to understanding our own privilege, said one national Democratic strategist, who called it a strong personal desire that Biden not run because of the fierce criticism hell face in a primary. And thats something hes going to have to face and address. Getting it wrong wont be something he can blow off as a gaffe or Joe being Joe. The community of Democratic strategists is large, diverse, and rarely agrees about anything. It would be wrong to say that all of them think a Biden run for the presidency is a bad idea, when many interviewed for this story say they think theres more room for a moderate candidate to succeed in a Democratic primary than is widely believed. Others say that in what might become the largest field of Democratic candidates in a generation, they have no idea how to handicap Bidens chances-- or anyone elses for that matter. But even most of the vice presidents defenders expressed ambivalence about his prospects, calling him a strong candidate who nonetheless will likely face steeper obstacles than other top-tier contenders. Not one them said they considered Biden a clear-cut favorite to win the nomination. And perhaps most surprising, most agreed that when it comes to the general election, Barack Obamas running-mate doesnt necessarily represent the partys best chance to defeat Trump. Biden would be a strong candidate, they say, but so would many of the front-runners-- in part because they believe the classic formula for a successful presidential campaign has changed in recent years. Whereas once candidates once won by winning over moderate voters, the emphasis now is on which candidate can best drive turnout among the partys electoral base. Who can turn out the largest proportion of African-Americans, of Hispanics, of white women under 40, of college students? asked Morgan Jackson, a North Carolina-based Democratic strategist. Thats how you combat Trumps turnout machine on non-college educated whites, who are going to turn out in record numbers. In a traditional election, its about the middle, Jackson said. But with Donald Trump, I dont think the middle exists. Democratic strategists vow that fighting for moderate voters remains imperative. But the recent defeats of old-guard Democratic candidates in red states such as Evan Bayh in Indiana in 2016 or Phil Bredesen in Tennessee in 2018 has convinced some that no candidate, no matter how skilled, can bring back voters who havent backed Democrats in years. The old coalitions, they dont come back, said a Senate Democratic strategist. You have to build new ones. Love Joe Biden, the strategist said. Not his time. A Biden spokesman declined to comment for the story. Report all errors to DonSurber@GMail.com Oh, and if you see me driving my red 2010 Mustang GT convertible, please wave. Hi, I am a retired newspaperman. I wrote 3 books on Trump and the media . I live in Poca, WV, with my wife of 43 years, Lou Ann. I grew up in Cleveland. Three kids. Grandfather. The affidavit states that Hoppers daughter told investigators that Brenton Richmond had made statements that if he found out Tammy Hopper started dating another man that he would kill them both. Hopper and Richmond had dated on and off for about nine years, the daughter said. The daughter told authorities that she spoke with Hopper daily and last talked with her on the phone on Thursday morning. On Friday morning, she phoned her mother, but the call wasnt picked up. The next day, she sent texts to Hopper stating that if she didnt receive a phone call, she would call the police, the affidavit states. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Instead, the daughter, her fiance and another family member drove to the house and went inside. The fiance found the bodies. Authorities also learned that Richmond had gotten a passport for a planned and then-canceled trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with Tammy Hopper. Bill tabled to restrict civil servants from sharing views on social media A new bill tabled at the House of Representatives has restricted civil servants from sharing their views through media including their micro-blogging sites, which experts claim would affect their right to expression. FOCUS ON DEFENSE CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA A Tanzanian citizen traveling from Doha to Bali was arrested by Ngurah Rai customs officers and Bali Police after an X-ray scan revealed that he was carrying 1.1 kilograms of methamphetamine inside his stomach. Speaking at a press conference today, Untung Basuki, the head of the Directorate General of Customs and Excise of East and West Nusa Tenggara, confirmed the capture of the alleged drug smuggler, identified as 42-year-old Abdul Rachman Azman. The suspect was arrested at the International Arrival Terminal of I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport on January 30, 2019 at 6pm, after officers inspected the suspects body via X-ray, he said, as quoted by Antara Bali. Azman had reportedly packed 99 capsules of meth inside a condom and swallowed the lot in efforts to avoid detection, according to a report in detiknews. But despite his extreme method, Azman was found out after X-ray and CT scans carried out at the airport, and then later a local hospital, showed suspicious foreign objects wedged inside his digestive tract. Once evacuated, the drugs packages were estimated to have a market value of IDR1.7 billion (about US$121,060). The total evidence is believed to have an enormous circulation value of around IDR1.7 billion, and could be consumed by 5,655 people assuming one gram is consumed by five people, commented Basuki, as quoted by Antara Bali. Meanwhile, the suspect claimed to have been offered a US$2,000 reward should he manage to bring the prohibited goods to Bali. Police are still investigating his connections to a larger drug network, according to local reports. Under Indonesias notoriously strict drug laws, Azman faces a maximum sentence of capital punishment and a maximum fine of IDR 10 billion (US$711,938). | 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 KUALA LUMPUR: There might be a mass protest by Malaysians from all walks of life, if the government decides not to take heed of those against its plans to abolish the death penalty, says Malay-Muslim NGO Ummah [Muslim Community] secretariat head Aminuddin Yahya. According to Aminuddin, the potential crowd could rival the previous anti-Icerd protest in Dataran Merdeka last December. Should there be no action taken by the authorities, or if they ignore our proposal, we do not discount the possibility that we may organise a public rally, which will be even bigger than the anti-Icerd rally. This will be history again. This is a fundamental issue that affects the community at large, he said to reporters during a press conference at Hotel Putra on Tuesday (Feb 12), held after a roundtable discussion on the governments plans to abolish the death penalty in the coming Parliamentary sitting in March. Aminuddin, without mincing his words, labelled plans to abolish the death penalty as stupid proposals made by stupid ministers. So, we appeal to everyone, irrespective of their political inclination and race, please come and help us stop it. They (ministers) are not only stupid, but they even issued threats to our MPs. Please quote me on that. Let them sue me. Thank you, he said. In an exclusive interview with Sin Chew Daily on Feb 10, de facto Law Minister Datuk Liew Vui Keong said Pakatan Harapan MPs who voted against the proposed abolishment of death penalty in the coming parliamentary sitting may face disciplinary action. At present, there are some 1,200 people on death row for crimes including murder, kidnapping and drug trafficking. Previously, Liew had ruled out holding a referendum on the matter, as suggested by former inspector-general of police Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor, saying there was no provision for it in the Federal Constitution. Lawyer Christina Teng, who was also present during the press conference, labelled Liews decision not to hold a referendum as wrong, based on the principle of democracy. Two press conferences were called, asking the government to call for a referendum. But they said nothing like that would be done because public opinion doesnt count. That is wrong because Malaysia is based on the principle of democracy. If you dont follow public opinion or interest, that is against democracy, she said. At the same time, Teng also voiced concerns that the crime rate might see a spike if the death penalty was abolished, as she cited international statistics. Look at Venezuela, Mexico and the UK. They all removed the death penalty. Crime rates increased by 125% and murder rates doubled. This is mentioned in Parliament, you can check it out, she added. Also present was former inspector-general of police Tan Sri Musa Hassan, who expressed support against the abolishment of the death penalty. The death penalty should be imposed because Ive seen a lot of violent crimes being committed against victims, he said. I would like to advise the public to support the death penalty, so we can ensure the safety and security of the people and this country, he added. The next parliamentary sitting will take place from March 11 until April 11. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde A House-Senate conference committee is beginning work on a package of border security policies that, it is hoped, can win the support of both Democrats and Republicans. The final product is certain to include several measures that already have full, bipartisan approval: more immigration judges, more technology to detect illegal drugs at ports of entry, more humanitarian aid for migrants in custody, etc. The hang-up, of course, will be a border barrier. President Trump insists on money -- his demand is $5.7 billion -- that would build new steel-slat barriers along about 230 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. About 80 miles of that would replace current, dilapidated, inadequate fencing, while 150 or so miles would cover currently unfenced areas. On the other side are Democrats led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has called a border wall "an immorality between nations" and denies evidence that a barrier would increase border security by decreasing the number of illegal crossings into the United States. Pelosi won the 35-day partial government shutdown by sticking to her position. The new negotiations will test whether she and other Democratic barrier deniers can prevail again. The change in House control is changing the entire conversation in Washington. The new capital conversation is apparent in debate over climate change, newly revived by the Democratic capture of the House. This debate was largely dead while the GOP controlled both houses of Congress with a president who believed the concept was a hoax. Last week, there were two House hearings on a so-called "Green New Deal." This is occurring as (overly optimistic, perhaps unrealistic) House Democrats discuss how to distribute revenues from a carbon tax. Prospects for such legislation are slim, but this is a topic that dared not speak its name only three months ago, when even the consideration of new taxes was inconceivable. The fresh agenda of Congress also is reflected in new debate over stock buyouts, with three Democratic presidential candidates or potential candidates -- Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Bernie Sanders -- suddenly talking about restrictions on how much stock that companies can buy back from shareholders, an effort to limit the corporate advantages tucked into the 2017 Trump tax bill. The biggest new change -- the one with the most significant possible consequences -- is the emerging Republican view of the president. The St. Francois County Health Center has been selected as a 2018-19 Local Opioid Overdose Prevention and Response (LOOPR) awardee. The Health Center will receive up to $100,000 from NACCHO (National Association of County and City Health Officials) and the CDC National Center for Injury Prevention and Control to increase its capacity to respond effectively to the opioid epidemic at the local level. According to the health department, the funding will help the health center work with community partners to develop an action plan and implement a community initiative to address the opioid epidemic in St. Francois County through academic detailing and other evidence-based strategies. Obviously we were disappointed to not receive the previous opioid response grant we applied for back in September, Amber Elliott, St. Francois County Health Center assistant director, said. But our director, Jessica McKnight, and I never stopped looking for funding to help our community address this problem. The Health Center was contacted by NACCHO in late November about the LOOPR funding opportunity and after several conference calls was notified right before the holidays about the award. When it comes to providing quality health care services and taking exceptional care of people, BJC HealthCares mission has remained steadfast since the St. Louis-based health systems founding in 1993: To improve the health of the people and communities we serve. In commemoration of the organizations 25th anniversary in 2018, BJC invited employees to nominate a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that had personal meaning to them to receive part of $25,000 set aside to support grassroots, local organizations with a shared mission of improving health, education, child/youth development, senior/disabled support or community-building. BJC employees responded with more than 100 nominations, which were subsequently evaluated by the St. Louis Community Foundation. The foundation made recommendations on how to allocate the $25,000 total funding opportunity among these deserving nominations. Thirteen organizations were chosen to receive donations ranging from $1,500 to $4,000. Selected charities span the St. Louis region, outstate Missouri and the Metro East, and support health, wellness, basic needs, youth and child development, education and behavioral health. All selected organizations and the employees who nominated them will be recognized at a reception in March. Historic Ashoka Pillar in Buddha's birthplace is losing its shine amid negligence Ashoka Pillar, a historically and archaeologically important artefact with an inscription mentioning the birth of Gautam Buddha, has been gradually deteriorating for the past few years. Archaeologists say that the increasing pollution level and direct contact with harmful particles in the air is weakening the pillar day by day. The fund was formally launched in November and applications for projects ranging from big batteries, to pumped hydro, solar thermal, hydrogen and other forms of storage were due last Thursday. Proposals must be for ready-to-build projects, and there will be no funding for feasibility studies. Energy and mining minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan says more than 50 applications were received, including from leading overseas developers. The storage proposals will be able to meet a range of different needs, including meeting peak demand and providing grid security and stability. The government says storage will make electricity more affordable, and boost reliability and security. It is expected to largely displace gas generation that the state currently relies on. 'The number of proposals and calibre of applicants highlights the gilt-edged opportunity to capitalise on SA's abundant wind, solar and other renewable energy sources,' he said in a statement emailed to RenewEconomy. 'The Marshall Government's Grid Scale Storage Fund has succeeded in attracting energy pioneers from around the globe to continue the transformation of South Australia's electricity network to a low cost, high reliability, low emission system. 'Grid scale storage is required so abundant renewable energy when it's sunny or windy can be retained and then despatched to meet consumers' needs.' The grid-scale storage program is separate to the various schemes that are supporting household battery storage in the state. The government's own Home Battery Scheme aims to install 40,000 batteries across the state and had installed more than 100, and received applications from another 500, by mid January. That scheme has attracted interest from a variety of battery storage manufacturers who have established manufacturing operations in the state, including Sonnen, and Chinese battery developer Alpha-ESS and Canada's Eguana Technologies. Tesla is also working on a giant virtual power plant that aims to have 50,000 homes with solar and storage linked. The first two stages aim to install 1,100 while the final stage is still subject to finance and a retail partner. AGL is also completing a separate scheme with 1,000 homes linked with solar and storage. The state Liberal government's embrace of storage, particularly after the overwhelming success of the Tesla big battery, which has saved money, enhanced grid security, and delivered new options because of its speed, accuracy and versatility, is in direct contrast to the federal Coalition. The government, from the prime minister Scott Morrison down, has been un-relenting in its criticism of battery storage, describing the Tesla big battery it as useless and too small, even though it has kept the lights on in the state on more than one occasion a nd has consistently reduced costs. Craig Kelly, the head of the Coalition's energy committee, took the criticism to a new absurd level on Facebook last month, describing the Tesla installation as the great battery con job. Applicants to South Australia's storage fund may also be able to dip into Australian Renewable Energy Agency funds. ARENA has backed the Dalrymple North battery, and has also provided support for the 25MW/52MWh big battery being built at Infigen Energy's Lake Bonney wind farm, and a variety of smaller hydrogen and distributed storage projects. Giles Parkinson Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of Renew Economy , and is also the founder of One Step Off The Grid and founder/editor of The Driven . Giles has been a journalist for 35 years and is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review. The South Australia state government says it has received more than 50 proposals from energy storage developers keen to tap into a new $50 million scheme that will help navigate the local grid as it moves beyond a 50 per cent share of wind and solar and towards 100 per cent.The state's Liberal government is offering $50 million in taxpayer funds through its Grid Scale Storage Fundas it looks to expand its energy storage options, which have so far focused on the highly successful Tesla big battery at Hornsdale (owned and operated by Neoen), and the newly completed Dalrymple North battery on the Yorke Peninsula, and some household schemes, In the nation's opioid epidemic, the carnage is far from over. A new projection of opioid overdose death rates suggests that even if there is steady progress in reducing prescription narcotics abuse nationwide, the number of fatal overdoses which reached 47,600 in 2017 will rise sharply in the coming years. By 2022, such deaths would peak at about 75,400, and begin to level off afterward, according to the forecast. That's the rosiest scenario. Under conditions that are only slightly less optimistic, the U.S. could have 81,700 opioid overdose deaths per year by 2025. If the supply of prescription painkillers stops declining and there are other setbacks, researchers predict that yearly opioid overdose deaths could rise as high as 200,000 per year by 2025. The opioid epidemic "is not finished growing," said Jagpreet Chhatwal of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, who led the research. "It's far from over. And it's far from moving in the right direction." Almost two decades after the widening use of prescription painkillers began to fuel an epidemic of addiction, opiates kill an average of 130 people a day in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Local funeral arrangements were released Monday for a Carlisle High School graduate who was shot and killed in Nashville, Tennessee, Thursday. The funeral for Kyle Yorlets, 24, will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Carlisle Evangelical Free Church in South Middleton Township, according to arrangements announced by Ewing Brothers Funeral Home. Viewings will be from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday in the Ewing Brothers Funeral Home at 630 S. Hanover St. in Carlisle, and also Saturday at Carlisle Evangelical Free Church from 9 a.m. until the time of the service. Yorlets, a 2013 graduate of Carlisle High School and the son of Larry and Debra (Reese) Yorlets of Carlisle, was a member of the band Carverton in Nashville, where he also graduated from Belmont University in 2017. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} He was fatally shot outside his home in Nashville Thursday, Metropolitan Nashville police said. Five juveniles in a stolen pickup truck were in an alley behind Yorlets home when they spotted him outside, police said in a statement. They are accused of stealing his wallet, demanding the keys to his vehicle and shooting him when he refused. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg Tuesday launched a program that will compensate victims of clergy sex abuse in the diocese. The Survivor Compensation Program begins Tuesday and will be administered by Commonwealth Mediation & Conciliation Inc. No information about the total funds released will be made available. The diocese will have no veto power over, or input into, the settlement offers, according to a news release by the diocese. CMCI will make settlement offers based on the veracity of their claim. The offers are final, according to the news release, and the diocese will pay all accepted offers within 30 days of receipt. The program will also allow survivors, if they choose, to sit with program administrators and discuss the abuses that took place. It will include settlements for abuse by diocesan priests, deacons and seminarians, as well as priests of other dioceses and religious order priests who had faculties in the diocese at the time of abuse. Funding for the program will come in the form of a loan from the Priests Retirement Fund, other existing assets and possibly from insurance proceeds. Money collected at parishes and for the Diocesan Annual Campaign will not go toward the funding of the program. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} State police say they have a tentative identification for a body found in a chest freezer in central Pennsylvania last week, but the cause of death remains unknown. The York Dispatch reports that two potential home buyers found the body Thursday in an outbuilding on a vacant Warrington Township property. Authorities said the remains were in black trash bags covered by a blanket. York County Coroner Pam Gay said the body appeared to be female and was "significantly decomposed" but an autopsy Monday revealed no obvious signs of trauma. She said more tests are needed to determine whether the death was natural, accidental or otherwise. ABC27 News reports that according to a search warrant affidavit filed by state police, the discovery was made Thursday by two people inspecting the property at 40 Kralltown Road. The people were interested in buying the property from the bank. The potential buyers told police they were looking around in an outbuilding on the property when they discovered the skeletal remains under blankets in the white chest freezer. Police said they searched property records and found the last known owner living in York Haven. That woman told investigators she owned the freezer and "knew exactly when" it was locked and unplugged, the court document states. In one conversation with his girlfriend Jennifer Crespo, Anderson was heard getting angry and telling Crespo that she hurt his alibi. However, in many instances Anderson said he welcomed a trial if he were to be charged. You want to take to trial for something like that, lets go, he said. The truth shall set you free. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Several of the calls reference a grand jury investigation into Harriss death and a prior grand jury investigation into shootings in Carlisle. In one of those incidents, Anderson was shot multiple times. Harris was believed to be the shooter. Carlisle Police K9 Officer Jeffrey Kurtz, who is the departments officer in charge of wiretaps, was on the stand as the recordings were played Monday. During cross examination, defense attorney Heidi Eakin questioned Kurtz about the firearm used to kill Harris. That gun was recovered by Philadelphia Police in September 2016 in the possession of Khalil Williams, who Kurtz said was known to come to Carlisle and sell drugs. Williams was questioned by Carlisle Police, but Kurtz said he had already been ruled out as a suspect. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Nairobi, February 12, 2019Ugandan authorities should withdraw a directive ordering the suspension of the Daily Monitor news website, retract a threat of criminal proceedings against the publication, and refrain from using regulations to retaliate against journalists covering sensitive political issues, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On February 6, the Uganda Communications Commission, a broadcasting and telecommunications sector regulator, wrote a letter to the Daily Monitors parent company, Monitor Publications Limited, ordering the company to immediately suspend publication of its news website, according to a copy of the letter seen by CPJ. The letter said that the Monitor had not complied with a 2018 directive requiring all news websites in Uganda to gain authorization from the commission. According to the letter, the Communications Commission discovered that Monitor Publications was running an unlicensed website while investigating a complaint filed by the speaker of the Ugandan parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, who claimed that the Daily Monitor had published fake news with the intention of damaging her reputation. CPJ today was able to access the Daily Monitors website, which is still publishing news articles. On February 7, Monitor Publications issued a statement on Facebook saying that it was in touch with the Communications Commission to resolve any misunderstandings. The Uganda Communications Commissions use of already problematic online regulations sends a message that journalists can expect editorial interference in the guise of regulation, said CPJs Sub-Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo. We call on the agency to withdraw the directive for the suspension of the Daily Monitor and to allow the independent press to do its work freely. On January 31, the Monitor published an article, which has since been taken down, covering a breach of contract lawsuit against Kadaga filed by a traditional healer. In a February 1 statement seen by CPJ, the clerk to parliament, Jane Kibirige, said that the healers claims in the suit were defamatory, contained inaccuracies about the speakers career progression, and that Kadaga had gained her political standing through hard work, not witchcraft. CPJ emailed Kibiriges office on February 8 and did not receive a response. Speaker Kadagas secretary told CPJ on February 8 that he would respond to questions sent via WhatsApp but CPJ did not receive a response by publication time. The Communications Commission letter also asked Monitor Publications to demonstrate why it should not face criminal charges for broadcasting without a license. The letter quotes Ugandas 2013 Communication Act, which stipulates that people convicted of broadcasting (defined in the law as transmitting data to the public) without a license can face prison time of up to one year and a fine of up to 500,000 Uganda shillings (about $137). The letter also asked Monitor Publications to explain why it chose to publish the story on Kadaga without seeking comment from her. The Daily Monitors article originally noted that it had been unable to reach Kadaga for comment, as seen in an archived version of the page. Our story was based on a plaint [complaint] filed in court. This fact has not been contested and court proceedings are privileged, Daniel Kalinaki, the editorial general manager of the Nation Media Group-Uganda, Monitor Publications parent company, told CPJ via WhatsApp message. On the face of itand this is my personal viewthe plaint appears mischievous but that is a matter for [a] court to determine, not grounds for weaponising industry regulations to punish the messenger, he said. In March 2018, the Uganda Communications Commission issued a notice directing all online content providers, including news websites, to apply for authorization to operate. The following month, the commission said that only 14 online publishers had complied with the registration requirements, and ordered ISPs to shut down all non-compliant websites, according to The Inter Press Service news agency. Uganda Communications Commission executive director, Godfrey Mutabazi, did not respond to requests for comment made via phone call and WhatsApp message on February 8. When CPJ called him again this evening, he declined to speak and hung up. The commissions corporate affairs director, Fred Otunnu, did not respond to a phone call or a WhatsApp message sent this afternoon. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Kiev, February 12, 2019The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Belarusian authorities to end their harassment of Maryna Zolatava, editor-in-chief of the countrys largest independent news website, Tut.by. Zolatava appeared in court in Minsk today on charges of illegally accessing part of a state-owned news outlets website and official inaction, a charge comparable to negligence, according to reports. The charges relate to a raid on Tut.bys offices in Minsk in August as part of an investigation into whether the editor and several other employees had accessed the paid subscriber section of the state-owned news website BelTA, CPJ reported at the time. Zolatava was briefly detained during the raid. Authorities claimed that Tut.by and at least two other news outlets used accounts and passwords that did not belong to them to access the website, according to reports. Zolatava denied the charges in court today, Tut.by reported. Belarusian authorities should immediately drop all charges against Maryna Zolatava and stop harassing the countrys independent media, said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Gulnoza Said in New York. The raid on Tut.by and criminal charges brought against Zolatava show Belarus is looking for excuses to intimidate and persecute independent and critical media. BelTA General Director Irina Akulovich told prosecutors at todays hearing that she wanted a criminal prosecution, Tut.by reported. The date of the next hearing has not been scheduled. Zolatava is one of 15 journalists who faced charges following the police raid in August on Tut.by, the independent news agency BelaPan, and academic newspaper Nauka, according to reports. Charges against the other 14 were dropped after the journalists paid administrative fines and damages, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Belaruss Investigative Committee said in August that the crime inflicted considerable damage, leading to the illegal procurement and use of information protected from unauthorized access, as well as to the erosion of the enterprises business reputation. Prosecutors said the unauthorized access caused losses of roughly 70,000 Belarusian rubles (US$32,000) to BelTA, according to Tut.by. Zolatavas case raises concerns of growing press restrictions under Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, who has been president since 1994. CPJ has documented how Lukashenkos government has restricted independent media, including through amendments to media laws that may lead to further censorship. Chinese Singaporeans have integrated into larger, multiracial Singaporean society: PM Lee The way we celebrate Chinese New Year reflects how the Singapore Chinese identity has evolved and emerged over the years. Chinese Singaporeans have integrated into a larger, multiracial whole, asserted Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong in his Chinese New Year message today. Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong exchanging Chinese New Year greetings with children from Sparkletots, Jurong West and Grace Orchard. PM Lee gave them a God of Fortune plush toy and a hongbao in exchange for mandarin oranges. Photo courtesy: Facebook page of PM Lee In the process, Singaporean Chinese have become distinct from Chinese communities elsewhere, both the Chinese societies of China, Hongkong and Taiwan, and the overseas Chinese minorities in the diaspora in Southeast Asia and the West, he added. Delving into the history of Chinese immigrants coming to Singapore and celebration of Chinese New Year, PM Lee said, Most immigrants arrived in Singapore in debt, and did back-breaking work here as plantation workers and coolies. When Chinese New Year came, they were too poor to travel back home. Instead, they celebrated with fellow labourers and clan members in Chinatown, and re-created whatever traditions they could eating auspicious foods, performing lion dances for good fortune, and setting off firecrackers to drive away evil spirits. People of Singapore celebrating Chinese New Year in all its splendour. Photo courtesy: Facebook page of PM Lee Speaking about the unique traditions developed by Chinese Singaporeans, PM Lee said, Over the years, Chinese Singaporeans developed our own unique rituals and traditions celebrating Chinese New Year, which were passed down the generations. Today, at reunion dinners, we do lohei to express our hopes and wishes for the coming year. When visiting friends and relatives, we enjoy pineapple tarts, kueh lapis spekkoek and kueh bangkit, a reflection of the Southeast Asian heritage of the Straits Chinese. In the 1970s, we stopped letting off firecrackers at homes and along the streets, because in a built up and dense city, this was dangerous to people and property. In their place, to kindle the festive mood, we started holding Chingay Parades from 1973, observed Prime Minister. The elaborate lanterns displays are a treat for the eyes. Photo courtesy: Facebook page of PM Lee The first Chingay Parades featured mainly Chinese cultural items lion and dragon dances and traditional performances. But since then Chingay has grown into a celebration for people of all races and ages. Chinese lion dancers perform alongside Malay children playing the kompang and Indian dance troupes classical and modern. All our ethnic cultures contribute items. International groups too, participate, coming all the way from Japan, Russia or China, said PM Lee. Speaking about the participation of all races in the Chingay Parade which reflect on the unique multicultural Singaporean society, PM Lee said, The involvement of all races adds a special joy and richness to the festivities and reflects our unique multicultural society. We see this happening also when the Chinese join in Hari Raya celebrations with our Muslim friends, and Deepavali festivities with our Hindu friends. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore students Ang Wei Loong and Heetesh Alwani showing LED balloons to Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong. Photo courtesy: Facebook page of PM Lee PM Lee said, As new generations come of age and new immigrants join us, the Singaporean Chinese identity will keep on evolving. The new arrivals will enrich our cultural heritage with their different life experiences and perspectives. At the same time, I hope that over time they will adjust their social norms to our local context, and embrace our uniquely Singaporean cultural habits, just as earlier generations did. This is the way for the Chinese community to stay vibrant, and for Singapore to be open, dynamic and resilient for many years to come, he concluded. Welcome to February. I hope everyone was able to enjoy the beautiful break in the cold weather. I wanted to let you all know that there will be a series of grain marketing meetings held around Northeast Nebraska. Grain marketing meetings to help farmers minimize losses during this time of low commodity prices will be held across Northeast Nebraska during February. Nebraska Extension in partnership with WJAG Radio will present strategies for using futures and options to protect farmers from adverse price declines. The workshops will feature Marketing in a New Era Simulation and the Grain Marketing Plan smartphone app. Each meeting will have a morning and afternoon session. The morning session features a review of futures and options along with a market outlook presentation. A local sponsor will be providing a free lunch to those in attendance. The afternoon session participants can test their marketing skills through hands-on Marketing in a New Era Simulation. Locations and dates where the meeting will be offered include the following: Feb. 5 at the Norfolk Area Chamber of Commerce, Feb. 19 in West Point at the Nielsen Center, and Feb. 22 at Central Community College in Columbus. Each meeting starts at 9 a.m. and conclude by 3 p.m. We have to do more to promote things (that) add value to Nebraska, he said, adding that livestock is one of the many things that can boost the states economy. "We want to make sure livestock has a place here in our state where it can expand and grow because that is a great example of how we can create more economic activity in our state " He cited Costco breaking ground on its first-ever chicken processing plant, calling it a massive investment that will have a huge economic impact on the state by creating hundreds of new jobs in Fremont and opportunities for more than 100 farmers through a poultry grower network. You may be in the beef industry and the pork industry, but we all have an interest in making sure all of livestock is successful," he said. "And so supporting those types of operations where we can put up those poultry barns is very important. We all need to be part of that ..." A Columbus man convicted of illegally carrying a concealed weapon was sentenced to a term of probation Monday morning in Platte County Court. Carlos A. Triana-Rios, 21, pleaded no contest and was found guilty by Judge Frank Skorupa of carrying a concealed weapon first offense and contributing to the delinquency a child, Class I misdemeanors. Under Nebraska state law, the defendant could have faced up to a year in prison, a $1,000 fine, or both. Triana-Rios was sentenced by Skorupa to 12 months of probation for both offenses, which are set to run concurrently. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} In September 2018, an officer with the Columbus Police Department on routine patrol was traveling west on Pawnee Park Drive when he observed a white Pontiac G6 traveling eastbound along Pawnee Park Drive in Pawnee Park without license plates, according to a warrantless arrest affidavit. Contact was made with the driver, Triana-Rios, who was accompanied by two minors, ages 13 and 15. The two minors were subsequently cited for truancy. Recently, the department lost more than 110 staff members in the prisons in three months' time. In reporting their staff numbers, she said, the department counts people on long-term military, sick and investigatory leave. "These people are not contributing any hours worked, but are currently counted as employed in the institutions," Jorgens said. "For every one of these people, someone has to pick up the 40 hours work per week that fewer and fewer of us are expected to work." There is such a level of frustration, people are abandoning posts and walking off the job, she said. "Our spirits are broken and we are worn down," she said. "Unfortunately, our administration and our governor are indifferent to these needs." Jason Swedlund, a mental health security specialist at the Regional Center for more than 16 years, and a union representative, testified after a 16-hour shift that ended Monday morning. "At 6:30 tomorrow morning, that phone rings, and I've got to wonder, am I going to be able to take my daughter to school tomorrow morning, even though I did a 16-hour shift today?" he said. Yamaha Recognizes 25-year Partnership with Technical Services Inc. Published: 12 February 2019 by Mike Buetow by Mike Buetow Kennesaw, Georgia, USA Yamaha Motor Corporation USAs Intelligent Machinery (IM) Division recently honored Technical Services Inc. (TSI), an Oak Harbor, Washington-based electronics manufacturer, with a 25-year, long-term partnership award. The award was presented to TSI representatives by George Babka, IM Group Sales General Manager, at the annual IPC/APEX 2019 conference and trade symposium in San Diego. In making the announcement, Babka stated, We are proud to present this award to TSI in recognition of so many years of close partnership, working together to advance the technology of electronics manufacturing and assembly. We look forward to the next 25 years of cooperation and teamwork as we further the goals of our companies. TSI has purchased more than 40 Yamaha machines, and their business growth has necessitated a recent move into a new, larger, 100,000 ft2 manufacturing facility. Accepting the partnership award from George Babka was TSIs President and CEO, Abdul Sharif. I am very happy to accept this award for TSI, and want to thank all of the service and sales people who have contributed to our success for these past 25 years. Mr. Sharif said. He added It is a pleasure to work with Yamaha and we are glad to have a partner we can trust to support us during our expansion. Speaking on behalf of Trans-Tec America, Yamahas North American Distributor, Rick McCullough stated: We are excited to be a significant part of this quarter-century relationship with TSI. In addition to this, Trans-tec has a long relationship with Yamaha IM and has been our partner for over 30 years. It is rare in this age to have such strong and lasting partnerships with suppliers and customers in this industry. He concluded, We have a great respect for TSI and their commitment to remaining an Employee Owned Manufacturing Facility in the USA, employing generations of familes in Oak Harbor. About Yamaha Motor Intelligent Machinery Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA IM is a division of Yamaha Motor Corporation, and offers a full line of machines for electric/electronic parts mounting and other production-line solutions to answer the diversifying needs of todays electronics manufacturers. Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA has sales and service offices in Japan, China, Southeast Asia, Europe and North America, providing a truly global sales and service network, delivering best in class on-site sales and service support for their customers. For more information, visit www.yamaha-motor-im.com. Teona Strugar Mitevskas previous film When the Day Had No Name was a bleak exploration of the cultural tensions in Macedonia, demonstrating how a world built on violence will inevitably breed more violence. It was a bold, if flawed, dissection of macho culture in the Balkans, a theme she develops further in God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya, a feminist satire that seeks to understand the complexities behind the rampant misogyny in her homeland. The film opens with a shot of Petrunya (Zorica Nusheva) as she stands alone in an abandoned swimming pool. Swimming pools generally signify luxury and glamour, but an empty one, let alone a municipal one such as this, alludes to a world where such dreams have long since evaporated. Thats certainly the case for Petrunya. Shes 32, unemployed and living with her parents in Stip, a small town in Macedonia. Virginie Saint Martins artful cinematography gives the towns depressive, empty suburbs their own kind of desolate beauty, but it doesnt take long for its ugly underbelly to be revealed. Every 19 January, for the holiday of Epiphany, the men of the town conjugate around a nearby bridge as a local priest throws a wooden cross into the river for them to dive after. Its an event exclusively reserved for men but, after an unsuccessful job interview Petrunya finds herself jumping into the ice-cold water with them. The person who catches the cross is supposed to receive a years worth of good fortune and prosperity, but its Petrunya who manages to grab it first. The men are furious that a woman has dared to take part in their sacred ritual, and all hell breaks loose, during which Petrunya escapes with the cross and runs home. The men accuse her of stealing it from them, and insist the police arrest her. The commotion that follows puts Petrunya well and truly in the spotlight, and shes rarely offscreen, with newcomer Nusheva delivering a remarkably naturalistic and commanding performance, shrewdly conveying her characters sense of emotional exhaustion and stoic determinism. The films second half takes place almost exclusively within the local police station. Despite not having broken any laws, Petrunya is taken in for questioning alongside the priest who, despite not having any jurisdiction, seems to be calling all the shot. Theres almost a siege mentality to these scenes, as it doesnt take long for a crowd of angry men to form outside the station; some even clamouring for Petrunya to be stoned. With God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya, Mitevska has fashioned yet another bleak satire about Hegemonic masculinity in the Balkans. Unfortunately the films abrupt ending suggests that shes still no closer to finding an appropriate prognosis, and as Petrunya squares up to the local priest for their final showdown theres a sense that although shes won the battle, the war is long from over. The Berlin Film Festival runs from 7-17 February. Follow our coverage here. Patrick Gamble | @PatrickJGamble Highlighting the significant impact of mining and large-scale construction on the planets ecosystem, the latest film from documentarian Nikolaus Geyrhalter Earth is a powerful example of politically charged landscape filmmaking. A brief introduction underlines the extent to which mankind is now the most destructive force on the planet. Every year, 60 million tonnes of soil is moved by rivers, tectonic plates and other natural forces. However, thanks to advances in technology humans now shift 156 million tonnes of soil a day! Opening in the San Fernando Valley, where men move mountains for a living Earth visits seven mines and construction sites across the globe to witness how humanity is irrevocably transforming the natural landscape. From a marble quarry in Carrara, Italy, where workers openly confess that the mountains have notably diminished in height, to an abandoned salt mine in Wolfenbuttel, Germany that is now used to store nuclear waste, Geyrhalter depicts a planet being systematically decimated. Are there any limits in this world? asks the foreman of a huge development site in California. Geyrhalters film not only suggests that there is a limit, but argues that mankind might have already surpassed it. Each location is rendered with formal rigor and breathtaking precision, but unlike the directors previous nonfiction studies (Our Daily Bread, Homo Sapiens) where viewers are invited to sit back and let the wordless imagery wash over them, these tableaux are augmented by conversations with the workers.The result is a symphony of voices from across the globe that allows for the sort of controlled, analytical observation and discussion, often missing from conversations surrounding environmentalism. The variation in each of these interviews is minor, but significant and precise to their location, allowing the film to transcend its somewhat repetitive structure, and evolve into a radically open and invigorating commentary on climate change. A few of the workers Geyrhalter interviews share his concerns for the environment, although others are adamant that the work they do is essential to the advancement of humanity. Worse, theres a handful that see their work as part of a long-standing battle between nature and humanity. If all else fails, theres always dynamite guffaws one construction worker. These interviews dispense much-needed context to Geyrhalters monumental images, but words can only do so much. In lesser hands, the level of formalism on show could come across as disingenuous, even elitist, but unlike most advocacy documentaries, Earth works because its argument is fundamentally visual. These breathtaking images, many of them vast and awe-inspiring, highlight the magnitude of the issue at hand. At times, such as at the Gyongyos coal mine in Hungary, theyre reminiscent of the haunting, post-apocalyptic spaces of Andrei Tarkovskys Zone, in others, they resemble an alien planet being terraformed for human habitation. A sentiment shared by one engineer working on the 55-kilometre-long Brenner Railway Tunnel Its like were astronauts going where no man has ever been before he proudly proclaims whilst standing 5,200 feet below the base of the Eastern Alps. Individually each of these episodes feel like a purely formal experimentation, but as a whole they take on tangible emotional and political weight. Burrowing to the core of humanitys unsustainable relationship with the planet Earth is both a rallying environmentalist documentary and a terrifying portrait of a rapidly vanishing landscape. The Berlin Film Festival runs from 7-17 February. Follow our coverage here. Patrick Gamble | @PatrickJGamble Next week, the Dominican Cigar community holds its annual ProCigar festival. Once again, Quesada Cigars will use the event to showcase a signature release for the year. This year, Quesada will unveil Quesada 1974. Its a cigar that pays homage to the year the company first started producing Dominican cigars, 45 years ago. The blend for the Quesada 1974 features an Ecuadorian wrapper over a Dominican binder and a combination of Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. The cigar will be available in four vitolas: Short Robusto, Robusto, Corona, and Lancero. Each is presented in 25-count boxes. The combination of Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers makes this blend a medium to full body with rich notes of cedar, pepper and dry fruits. The sweetness comes from blending Dominican and Nicaraguan tobaccos. A great smoke overall. Said Miguel Miguelin Nunez, Production Manager at Quesada Cigars in a press release. As for the launch schedule for the Quesada 1974, it is scheduled to first be released in Spain. Cigar Aficionado is reporting that Quesada Cigars is planning on a launch for the U.S. market later this year at the 2019 IPCPR Trade Show in Las Vegas scheduled to open June 28 in Las Vegas. A special edition box will be presented when the cigar makes its debut at ProCigar This project truly embodies, in my opinion, our heritage and history. A cigar and a presentation that will speak for itself. I hope many of the cigar enthusiasts enjoy it as much as I do, said Manuel Quesada, President of Quesada Cigars. Quesada Cigars is known to use the ProCigar festival to do a major release, although last year the company chose not to do so. At a glance, here is a look at the Quesada 1974: Blend and Origin Wrapper: Ecuadorian Binder: Dominican Filler: Dominican, Nicaragua Country of Origin: Dominican Republic Factory: Quesada Cigars SA Vitolas Offered Short Robusto 4 x 50 Robusto: 5 x 50 Corona: 6 x 43 Lancero: 7 x 38 Photo Credits: Quesada Cigars Kopper wrote in her work proposal that she will conduct an extensive review of best practices and latest research in her discipline. She notes that it has been more than a decade since she has taught in the classroom or lab. She also wrote that she has never taught at UW-Whitewater, so she will familiarize herself with the universitys handbook, appropriate department guidelines and procedures relating to grading and course software. Kopper also says she will lend her support to the universitys new leadership. Supporting the interim and incoming chancellor and doing everything I can to ensure their success and a smooth transition are priorities, she wrote. UW System President Ray Cross directed Kopper to develop and teach four classes each semester during the 2019-20 academic year, a course load in line with other faculty members, according to the System. Records show Kopper will teach three classroom courses and one online course in the fall. In the spring semester, she will teach two classroom courses and two online courses. Chippewa County board Chairman Jared Zwiefelhofer announced in a letter Monday that he will step down from that position at the March 12 meeting, after several county board members urged him to do so in the wake of his conviction on three hunting-related infractions. Chippewa County board members call for chairman to step down Two Chippewa County board members said Sunday that board chairman Jared Zwiefelhofer should At this time I would like to apologize to all of the county board supervisors, all of the county employees, and most importantly the citizens of Chippewa County, Zwiefelhofer wrote. On Nov. 19, 2018, I made a choice which resulted in me receiving three citations from the (Department of Natural Resources). I have no excuses and take full responsibility for what Ive done, and for that, I am very sorry. Zwiefelhofer added that he knows it has been an unwanted distraction, and he hopes to re-establish the trust and respect he once had in the county. While Zwiefelhofer said he will step down as chairman on March 12, it appears he intends to stay on the board. This (resignation as chairman) will open it up for the election of a new county board chair, he wrote. The decision of the county board will be final. If t he county board re-elects me as chair, I will accept it. If the county board elects someone else as chair, then I will respect that decision and support whomever it may be. The Dunn County Sheriffs Office has identified the 29-year-old rural Boyceville man killed in a snowmobile crash Saturday night. Brenden M. Schutts was southbound on a designated snowmobile trail near the 8500 block of 870th Street in the Township of Colfax when he lost control of the snowmobile, left the trail and was ejected, according to a release from Sheriff Kevin Bygd. Schutts was pronounced dead at the scene by the Dunn County Medical Examiners Office. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Dunn County Sheriffs deputies, Menomonie Fire and Rescue, Colfax Fire and Rescue, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Life Link Helicopter responded to the scene. The crash remains under investigation by deputies from the Dunn County Sheriffs Office, Dunn County Medical Examiners Office and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. In the release, Bygd encouraged all snowmobile riders to ride with caution. There were five snowmobile accidents and four snowmobile-related deaths across the state last weekend in Dunn, Calumet, Langlade, Iron and Forest counties, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 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. . ..BBC Watch..12 February '19..On January 30th the BBC News website published an article that included the BBCs response to calls from supporters of the anti-Israel BDS campaign to boycott the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv.Notwithstanding the BBCs statement on the issue, the following day January 31st BBC Northern Irelands BBC Radio Ulster decided to air a long phone-in item on its Talkback programme hosted by William Crawley. Titled Is the BBC right to take part in Eurovison being held in Tel Aviv, or should the corporation stay away?, the item included contributions from journalist/activist Eamonn McCann and historian Ruth Dudley Edwards as well as seven callers.On the hook of the Eurovision Song Contest, listeners heard thirty-eight minutes of mostly unchallenged falsehoods and delegitimisation often outstanding for their ignorance even by the standards of BBC Radio Ulster.Having informed listeners in his introduction that Jerusalem is a disputed capital and after noting the BBCs statement on the call to boycott Mays event in Tel Aviv, Crawley invited listeners to phone in. Tweet Heres the text of an e-mail that I just received from Deirdre McCloskey: Dear Don, You keep featuring, and praising in an unhinged if generous manner, Paul Krugmans little paper of 1996 that claimed, Princeton-style, that there are many tricky mathematical assumptions entailed in the notion of comparative advantage. He writes, Ricardos idea is truly, madly, deeply difficult. No its not. Its truly, obviously, simple. Admittedly, Ricardos exposition in 1817 was terrible. The pages he devoted to it give even an economist a headache. And, admittedly, because people regularly mix it up with absolute advantage the notion of comparative advantage is regularly sneered at by economic innocents. But what comparative advantage says is that its smart to cooperatein a family, a company, a city, a nation, the world. Cooperation entails, obviously, assigning Little Johnny to sweeping the garage and letting Dad specialize in organizing his workbench there, or assigning Bangladesh to make knitwear and the US to make airplanes. Dad is better than Johnny at sweeping, and the US is better at than Bangladesh at knitwear. But unless Johnny and Bangladesh are merely to sit down, and let the more productive people do all the work, with the result, obviously, of less output in total, all people are to contribute as best they canthat is, cooperate. I said this in 2017 at a commemoration in London of the 200th anniversary of Ricardos book (Reason, May 2018). I remain uncertain how to send a comment directly to the page, so this will serve. I know: I evidently do not have a comparative advantage in most contexts,and nothing remotely like an absolute advantage in nay context, in computer work. Love, Deirdre Alaskan musher Brent Sass has claimed victory in the Yukon Quest, four years after he last won the grueling, 1,600-kilometre sled dog race. "It's a dream come true," Sass said, shortly after his team was officially checked in at Fairbanks. Sass and his team of 14 dogs crossed the finish line in Fairbanks, Alaska, at about 12:40 p.m. local time. Yukoner Hans Gatt came in second, arriving about 90 minutes later. Sass, Gatt and Alaska's Allen Moore all former Yukon Quest champs were the first three mushers to leave the final checkpoint at Two Rivers, Alaska, early Monday morning. Sass held the lead throughout the last stretch of the race. Moore finished in third on Monday afternoon, and Yukoner Michelle Phillips was fourth across the finish line. Sass's dogs 'just kept getting faster' Speaking at the finish line, Sass dedicated his win to friends and family, and choked up at times as he talked about his mentors and his dogs. "They never hesitated a bit," he said of his dog team. "They just kept getting faster." Robin Wood/Fairbanks Daily News-Miner/The Associated Press Sass said three of his dogs were veterans who had run the Quest with him before, but his other 11 dogs were rookies. "I can't wait until next year, then they're really going to have the knowledge and the know-how ... This is my dog team for the next five years. So that's exciting." Sass was also the first musher to reach the halfway checkpoint at Dawson City, Yukon, last week. He earned a couple of ounces of Klondike gold for that. The 39-year-old musher, based in in Eureka, Alaska, ran the Quest for 11 straight years before sitting it out in 2018. In 2017, he dropped out of the race before finishing, citing concern for the health of some of his dogs. Thirty mushers began the race this year in Whitehorse. Three have since dropped out. Wild, stormy weather has once again wreaked havoc on the west coast of the island and throughout parts of Labrador Monday. The stormy weather began on Friday and just hasn't let up. In Port aux Basques, where the day's strongest gusts topped out at 139 km/h, Darren Dodge was holed up in his frosted-over transport truck at the Marine Atlantic ferry terminal. "I'm used to it, it rocks me to sleep," he said of the wind from the cozy confines of his truck's cab. He first arrived Friday night and has been idling his diesel engine to keep warm, running an inverter to power a small microwave when he needs a snack. "It's not like you can get out and go for a hike anywhere unless you're wearing arctic gear," he said. With all the blowing snow, sometimes he couldn't even see across the parking lot. Dodge is waiting for for the next trailer to come across on the ferry. As of 7 p.m. Monday, the night's crossings from both Port aux Basques and North Sydney were cancelled, which means Dodge had another night in the truck ahead of him. People in Nain without heat Nearly 40 households in Nain have been without heat since 11 a.m. Sunday and relentless winds have kept flights in and our of the community grounded, meaning Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro crews can't get in to fix the problem. Lisa Ivany, the community's recreation director, is one of those people and she's set up a warming station at the Jeremias Sillett Community Centre to get people out of the cold. "I know that I need the heat and I need a shower and food, so if I need it, then those other people need it too," she said. CBC A spokesperson from the hydro company said a broken wire connecting to the main power line is the cause of Nain's outage and that most customers, save for those unfortunate 40, had their power back by 6:30 p.m. Sunday. "Our crew is on stand by and ready to go as soon as the weather hold is lifted," the spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement to CBC News. Story continues 'Stupidly windy' Alerts for a mixed bag of weather remained in effect Monday evening for various parts of the province. Snow squalls and high winds pelted the west coast of the island, while the Labrador coast hunkered down under blizzards from Makkovik to Black Tickle. The Labrador City area braced under extreme cold warnings. About 15 to 20 centimetres more of snow is expected for Labrador, with winds gusting between 80 and 110 km/h making for near-zero visibility and whiteout conditions. Schools in Corner Brook and Stephenville closed for the day, while other schools in the western, central and Avalon regions shut down for the morning. The high winds prompted Corner Brook to take its public transit buses off the road. "Port aux Basques was the big winner, or maybe loser, depends on how you see it, at 139 km/h. And they've been stupidly windy there for the last 36, 48 hours," said Justin Boudreau, a meteorologist with Environment Canada's Gander weather office. The wintry weather system started on Friday, persisting through Monday morning. Warming stations in Port aux Basques Port aux Basques Mayor John Spencer said it's been a hairy situation, with power for "several hundred people" knocked out since 7 a.m. Sunday and power bumps throughout the night. Submitted by Lisa Ivany "We set up a warming centre at the local Lion's Club last evening preparing food, soup, sandwiches. Our transmission line went down and knocked that out," Spencer said. "We set up another contingency to go to the town hall, we have an emergency generator there. Then the emergency generator died. So it's a combination of, when things are going bad, they really go bad." Power crews were unable to get to the Rose Blanche station because the roads were closed, Spencer said, amid "extremely, extremely dangerous and difficult" driving conditions. As of 7 p.m. Monday, power was still out for a few hundred customers in the Port aux Basques area, with Newfoundland Power citing severe weather conditions as the cause for the outages. The company figured the lights would be back on by 10 p.m. Monday, according to its website. Environment Canada expects conditions to improve by Monday evening as the squalls dissipate and flurries minimize. Read more articles from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador By Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey launched on Tuesday one of its largest operations against alleged supporters of the U.S.-based Muslim cleric accused of leading an attempted coup in 2016, ordering the arrest of 1,112 people, state media reported. The operation, related to alleged cheating in police examinations, showed authorities were not letting up on their crackdown two-and-a-half years after rogue soldiers used warplanes, helicopters and tanks in a bid to seize power. More than 250 people were killed in the failed putsch, in which preacher Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of President Tayyip Erdogan, has denied involvement. Gulen has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999. Tuesday's operation related to a police force examination in 2010 for those seeking to become deputy inspectors, and allegations that some of those taking part had received the questions in advance, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported. So far 124 suspects have been detained in the operation launched by the Ankara chief prosecutor's office and extending across 76 provinces, Anadolu said. It was not clear how many, if any, of the suspects were serving police officers. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Sunday a "big operation" was looming against Gulen supporters. "Devils would not perpetrate deceptions like they have," he said. "We will finish them off." The government says his network over decades infiltrated state institutions including the security forces, judiciary and ministries, often helped by cheating in exams, to create a "parallel state". PURGE OF SUSPECTS Since the coup attempt, the government has carried out a deep and lasting purge of state institutions while prosecutors have launched a steady stream of investigations against those suspected of links to Gulen. Turkey's Western allies have criticized the crackdown, which was pursued mainly under a state of emergency that was declared after the coup and remained in effect until July last year. Erdogan's critics accuse him of using the failed putsch as a pretext to quash dissent. Turkish authorities say the measures are necessary to combat threats to national security. More than 77,000 people have been jailed pending trial since the putsch and widespread arrests are still routine. Authorities have suspended or sacked 150,000 civil servants and military personnel. Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, the former chief of staff, has said more than 15,000 military personnel had been dismissed since the coup, including 150 generals and admirals. Authorities have also taken control of hundreds of firms accused of links to Gulen and his supporters, and shut down more than 130 media outlets as part of the purge. Ankara has also increasingly targeted alleged supporters of the movement abroad, seeking the extradition of Gulen himself and many others across Europe, Asia and the United States. (Editing by Dominic Evans, Editing by William Maclean) LONDON (Reuters) - A senior Revolutionary Guards commander said on Monday that Iran would demolish cities in Israel to the ground if the United States attacked the Islamic Republic. "The United States does not have the courage to shoot a single bullet at us despite all its defensive and military assets. But if they attack us, we will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground," Yadollah Javani, the Guards deputy head for political affairs was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA. He was speaking at a rally celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic revolution. (Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) Federal Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion will investigate claims that the Prime Minister's Office pressured former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to help Quebec engineering firm SNC-Lavalin avoid criminal prosecution. The NDP asked Dion to look into the matter after the Globe and Mail published a report last week that alleged the PMO wanted Wilson-Raybould to direct federal prosecutors to make a "deferred prosecution agreement" (DPA) a deal akin to a plea bargain to avoid taking SNC-Lavalin to trial on bribery and fraud charges. Dion informed the NDP MPs who requested the investigation Monday that there is sufficient cause to proceed with an inquiry into the actions of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in this matter. In a letter to NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus and his colleague B.C. NDP MP Nathan Cullen, Dion said he would investigate the prime minister personally for a possible contravention of Section 9 of the Conflict of Interest Act. That section prohibits any official responsible for high-level decision-making in government from seeking to influence the decision of another person so as to "improperly further another person's private interests." Trudeau speaks Speaking to reporters after a funding announcement about housing in B.C., Trudeau said he "welcomed" the ethics commissioner's examination of the allegations. "This is an issue that has been much talked about over the last few days and I think it's important Canadians continue to have confidence in our system," Trudeau said. The prime minister insisted again Monday he did not direct Wilson-Raybould to come to any particular conclusion on whether to direct the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) to sign an agreement with SNC-Lavalin. "She confirmed for me a conversation we had this fall where I told her directly that any decisions on matters involving the director of public prosecutions were hers alone," Trudeau said. Story continues Wilson-Raybould has been tight-lipped about the whole affair. In a statement issued Friday, she said she can't comment because she's bound by solicitor-client privilege. "I respect her view that, due to privilege, she can't comment or add on matters recently before the media. I also highlight that we're bound by cabinet confidentiality. In our system of governance, her presence in cabinet should speak for itself," Trudeau said. "I continue to have full confidence in Jody." Shuffled from the high-profile Justice portfolio, Wilson-Raybould currently serves as minister of Veterans Affairs. When asked if he would consider waiving solicitor-client privilege to allow his former justice minister to speak openly, Trudeau said he has asked current Minister of Justice and Attorney-General David Lametti, the man tapped to replace Wilson-Raybould after she was shuffled, to provide advice on the matter. He said solicitor-client privilege is "not a simple issue." Lametti said Monday he would not comment on the matter because, as the government's lawyer, he did not want to influence ongoing legal proceedings. The attorney general is the chief law officer of the Crown and nominally represents the government in all of its prosecutions. "The ethics commissioner has an independent status for these kinds of inquiries and I have no comment on that," Lametti told reporters after a speech at the Canadian Bar Association conference in Ottawa. Conservatives and New Democrats on the House of Commons justice committee joined forces today to get an emergency meeting scheduled for Wednesday to consider a motion to call on nine high-ranking government officials to testify about the affair including Wilson-Raybould herself. The list also includes Lametti, the prime minister's chief of staff Katie Telford and his principal secretary, Gerald Butts. In an interview with CBC's Power & Politics, Anthony Housefather, the Liberal chair of the committee, said he would consider a study of the matter but added he doesn't want to see it turn into a partisan shouting match. "I am not closed to this because I understand Canadians want answers. I also understand that Canadians are confused as to why Minister Lametti is saying on the record that this didn't happen and Minister Wilson-Raybould is not," he said. Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said his party is considering legal avenues to force a justice committee study of the matter in the event the Liberal majority on the committee votes down the opposition proposal. "You'll pardon me if I don't take Justin Trudeau at his word I think it's time for Justin Trudeau to stop speaking for Jody Wilson-Raybould and let her speak for herself," he said. Deferred prosecution agreements SNC-Lavalin has been charged with fraud and corruption in connection with payments of nearly $48 million to public officials in Libya under Moammar Gadhafi's government, and allegations it defrauded Libyan organizations of an estimated $130 million. The company is contesting the case and has pleaded not guilty. The case is at the preliminary hearing stage. If convicted, the company could be blocked from competing for federal government contracts for a decade. The federal Liberal government introduced deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) like the one sought by SNC-Lavalin through a section buried in its last budget bill. Both the U.S. and U.K. have similar DPA regimes that allow for out-of-court settlements of criminal charges against corporations. The government touted DPAs as a measure that could improve compliance and corporate culture while giving prosecutors more flexibility "to secure effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties for corporate wrongdoing." "The prospect of being invited to negotiate a DPA may motivate companies to self-disclose wrongdoing since they may otherwise have to face the prospect of a formal criminal conviction, whether as a result of a guilty plea or following a trial," a government backgrounder on the issue says. "Presuming that the company complies with its terms, the DPA would allow the company to focus its attention and resources on conducting business, to the benefit of investors, employees and other third parties." The government acknowledged DPAs might be more beneficial to large corporations that can "buy their way out of trouble by paying a financial penalty and passing the costs on to the consumer." A cold snap gripping western Canada may be just brutal enough to put a dent in Alberta's destructive mountain pine beetle. Extreme cold stubbornly lingering over the province for more than week is keeping nightly lows around the 35 C mark. While most Albertans despair the cold, those on the front lines of the fight against the mountain pine beetle are quietly rejoicing, said Janice Cooke, an associate professor in the University of Alberta's department of biological sciences. Untold numbers of young beetles are freezing to death, Cooke said. "The colder we go, the more we kill," Cooke said in an interview Monday with CBC Radio's Edmonton AM. "We've been very fortunate this year; the cold snap that we've had has been particularly vicious where the outbreak is of most concern and that's not only in Jasper National Park, but beyond the park gates towards Hinton." The tiny beetle survives by burrowing under the bark of pine trees and mining the phloem, the layer between the bark and wood of the tree. After the beetle eggs hatch, the grub-like larvae spend the winter feeding under the bark before they mature in spring and fly off in search of new trees. Trees can die within weeks of an attack, turning red after succumbing to the beetles' onslaught. Infestations have brought down more than 16 million hectares of B.C. forest, and have begun destroying huge swaths of Alberta's boreal habitat. 'No magic number' Much like the infamously hard-to-kill cockroach, the mountain pine beetle produces a sort of antifreeze in its blood, allowing it to withstand the cold. However, extended periods of extreme temperatures can kill mountain pine beetles if it happens for long enough at the right time. Cooke estimates that the recent cold weather has killed off 90 percent of pine beetle larvae infestations in some areas of the province. "Right now, the beetles are actually larvae or baby beetles at their maximum cold hardiness, and so we have to get colder now than we would in December to kill beetles," she said. Story continues "We can't just say that 40 C for a week will kill them all. That turned out to be a bit of a myth. "Unfortunately, there is no magic number for temperature," Cooke said. "It's more like a dimmer switch. The colder it gets the more beetles are going to reach their limit of tolerance." The Alberta government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to stop the pest's spread. This involves regular aerial surveys and clear-cutting of infected trees. A lack of extended cold weather in recent years has allowed the beetle populations to expand at alarming rates, Cooke said. We'll never kill them all with cold. -Janice Cooke The decimation of populations from the recent cold will buy invaluable time for those working to control the invasive population, Cooke said. "There are going to be fewer beetles spreading out as they mature and fly this summer so fewer trees will get attacked," she said. "But we'll never kill them all with cold." The full extent of the winter kill-off will not be known until the insects mature and emerge this summer, but researchers will carefully examine the population through aerial surveying, Cooke said. Any changes in the spread of juveniles will help inform management practices through the coming year. British prime minister Theresa May speaks with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, during a meeting in London in 2017. Photo: Daniel Leal-Olivas/Getty Images The UKs trade dealings are looking increasingly desperate. As Britain approaches the possibility of a no-deal Brexit on 29 March, it risks severing close trade ties with the European Union, where it conducts 49% of its 1.3 trillion in annual trade. Its also rushing to lock in about 40 current trade deals covering more than 70 countries to ensure the EU-arranged agreements remain operational after Brexit. These nations account for a further 11% of total UK trade. So far, nine smaller countries have signed up. In the midst of this, the UKs international trade secretary, Liam Fox, flew to Dubai this past weekend to conduct further trade and business discussions with the United Arab Emirates. The UAEs economy minister confirmed this week that Britain had approached the UAE and other Gulf countries about a possible post-Brexit trade pact. The six nations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain are comparatively small partners for the UK. Just 3% of Britains trade is conducted with these countries, equivalent to 40bn in 2017. Much of this trade involves imports of energy and oil products and exports of British-made aircraft and arms, along with industrial products and other manufactured goods. Prime minister Theresa May has said she is looking for the strongest possible trading relationships between the UK and the Gulf after her country leaves the EU. But trade experts have difficulty understanding the rationale for these efforts with such a small region that is known to court controversy. Western relations with Saudi Arabia and the UAE are under pressure after the murder of US-based Saudi-critic Jamal Khashoggi and the UAEs seven month detention of British academic Matthew Hedges. This could complicate the negotiations and make it difficult to sell any deal to the UK population. Its very difficult to get trade deals with the Gulf. Theres all manner of complications with this, said David Henig, a UK-based former trade negotiator who now leads the UK Trade Policy Project at the European Centre for International Political Economy. Story continues Its not completely ridiculous, just really tricky, Henig told Yahoo Finance UK, noting that the region is deeply protectionist and has only negotiated a handful of trade deals so far. The GCC are currently working on trade talks with China, Australia, and New Zealand. Additionally, the UK will be a less compelling trade partner for the GCC nations if Airbus (AIR.PA) follows through on threats to shift its wing-building out of Britain in the absence of a smooth Brexit. The question looms for GCC nations: Whats the point of doing a trade deal with a country that doesnt sell the things you want? John Sfakianakis, chief economist at the Gulf Research Center, argues that despite the risk that the UK aerospace industry could be eroded after Brexit, theres still reason for the two sides to hold trade talks and move to lower tariffs and trade barriers. If the UK manufacturing capacity gets reduced, thats where the relationship with the UAE becomes even more important UK exports of services is quite substantial to the UAE, he told Yahoo Finance UK. The UK exports just over 2bn worth in British services each year to the UAE, but thats just half the amount it exports in goods. The government insists this is a relationship worth pursuing, noting there are opportunities for exports and partnership in financial services, education, health care, and infrastructure, among others. There are over 5,000 British companies operating in the UAE alone, including BP (BP.L), Shell (RDSB.L), BAE Systems (BA.L), and HSBC (HSBA.L). But the balance of power doesnt necessarily favour the UK, noted Giorgio Cafiero, CEO and co-founder of Gulf State Analytics. Its unclear who has the upper hand in trade negotiations between UK and Gulf states, Cafiero told Yahoo Finance UK. Theres a belief in the UAE that they are a rising power they are no longer subservient to the United Kingdom. Of course, as a former super power, the United Kingdom is not willing to accept this new dynamic. However, given the crisis of Brexit London is not in a position to try to speak down to the UAE, he said. (Bloomberg) -- Zilingo Pte, a Singapore-based online fashion marketplace, raised $226 million to fund an expansion into the Philippines, Indonesia and Australia. Investors in the series D financing included Sequoia Capital, Temasek Holdings Pte, Burda Principal Investments, Sofina and EDBI, the company said on Tuesday without disclosing a valuation. The startup is valued at $970 million, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the information is private. Zilingo, founded by Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor, started as a fashion and lifestyle marketplace in 2015 to help small merchants build scale. It developed software and other tools allowing vendors to access factories from Bangladesh to Indonesia and also helped with cross-border shipping and inventory management. Listings are provided for free with the company charging a commission of between 10 percent and 20 percent on orders, helping drive a fourfold increase in revenue in the past 12 months. Ankiti and team have rapidly transformed their original ideas about Zilingo into a platform company that serves fashion consumers, merchants, retailers, brands and manufacturers, said Shailendra Singh, managing director of Sequoia Capital (India) Singapore, which has backed Zilingo. Bose, 27, is chief executive officer of Zilingo after previously working at Sequoia and McKinsey & Co. in India. She came up with the idea after a visit to Bangkoks popular Chatuchak market, which features more than 15,000 booths selling goods from across Thailand. Bose and Kapoor, who serves as chief technology officer, realized that many small merchants suffered from a lack of access to technology, capital and economies of scale. The latest funding brings its total capital raised to $308 million. Zilingo currently has offices in eight countries with more than 400 employees, including about 80 engineers in Bengaluru, India. --With assistance from Abhishek Vishnoi. Story continues To contact the reporter on this story: Yoolim Lee in Singapore at yoolim@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Robert Fenner at rfenner@bloomberg.net, Peter Elstrom For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. Man considering whether to sell or buy 2019 has been quite the year for Canadas leading marijuana stocks. So far, at least. Theres still a lot of time left. Canopy Growth Corp (TSX:WEED)(NYSE:CGC) is a prime example. Shares ended 2018 on a severe down note, falling from a high of $76 each all the way down to $36. Thats more than a 50% drop from when marijuana was officially legalized to the end of the year, the exact time Canopy Growth shares were expected to soar into the stratosphere. But thats nothing but a distant memory, at least for folks who held on. Canopy shares are up more than 64% thus far in 2019, and thats even after a bit of a pullback in the last week. This move has helped win back investors who dumped the sector in 2018. But perhaps those investors have missed the boat. Heres why I think buying Canopy Growth shares today might end in disappointment. Nothing has really changed Despite shares rocketing up more than 60%, theres little difference in Canopy Growth a month and a half ago versus today. The company still has the same sort of growth potential, which not only includes Canada, but also other nations like Germany and Australia. Canopy seeks to become a worldwide pot powerhouse, and although it has a long way to go, the company is off to a good start. It did announce it received a hemp license in New York State, and will make a $100-$150 million investment to grow hemp there, which immediately makes it a big player in a market that experts estimate will be worth $1 billion. But this isnt really new information: Canopy has been vocal about expanding into the hemp market for at least a couple of years now and announced it would be doing just that once the 2018 Farm Bill legalizing hemp was passed. The companys biggest challenge expanding operations in Canada to meet what seems like insatiable demand is still an issue. Analysts now believe that Canadas pot shortage is a problem that will take years, rather than just months, to solve. In response, many provinces either limited how often stores can stay open (Quebec) or restricted the number of entrants into the market (Alberta and Ontario). Story continues Has anything really changed on this front? Not that I can see. Investor sentiment The only real difference in Canopy Growth over the last six weeks is how investors feel about the company. They went from dumping everything marijuana-related to gobbling up shares even as they were skyrocketing. This is the constant danger in investing in stocks in general, but especially marijuana names. A blue-chip stock might move 20% up or down based on short-term investor sentiment. Canopy Growths moves are double or even triple that much. Its great news when the stock is going up, but devastating to investors when going down. Its even more puzzling when the move isnt really met with any new news. Canopy is largely the same company as six weeks ago, but shares are 64% higher. Youd be forgiven if youre left scratching your head after that move. This makes the sector, and Canopy Growth in potential, especially hard to invest in. Normally, companies move up and down based on fundamentals. In the world of marijuana stocks, sentiment matters far more. That might make for fun trading, but its a pretty tough environment for investors. The bottom line Its virtually impossible to value Canopy Growth Corp on any traditional value metrics. The stock is almost off the charts when valued by price-to-sales or price-to-earnings ratios. Investors use potential and hype as their two main valuation tools. After such a big run-up, I can picture shares either trading in a range or going back downwards, especially after short-term investors take their profit. Although anything is possible, especially in that sector, my opinion is that pot investors have largely missed the boat. They missed the big buying opportunity, especially with Canopy Growth. More reading Fool contributor Nelson Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fools purpose is to help the world invest, better. Click here now for your free subscription to Take Stock, The Motley Fool Canadas free investing newsletter. Packed with stock ideas and investing advice, it is essential reading for anyone looking to build and grow their wealth in the years ahead. Motley Fool Canada 2019 Irish central bank governor Philip Lane. Pic: Reuters The European Unions economic and financial affairs council on Tuesday approved the appointment of Irish central bank governor Philip Lane as the European Central Banks next chief economist. The councils decision is the last hurdle ahead of next months meeting of EU heads of state and government, where the 49-year-old is almost guaranteed to be confirmed as the successor to Peter Praet, who has served as the banks top economist since 2011. Lane, who studied economics at Trinity College Dublin and Harvard University, has been head of the Irish central bank since 2015. When he leaves to take up his new job at the ECB in June, Lane will become the shortest-ever holder of the post. It will also mark the first time that Ireland, one of the founding members of the euro, has a seat on the central banks executive board. Lane, the only candidate for the position, has long been favoured for a top ECB role. His appointment signifies continuity for the eurozone. ECB chief Mario Draghi has long admired Lane, and the Irish economist is seen as a supporter of the banks current policy direction. Draghi himself will step down in October after eight years in the role. The Irish government nominated Lane for the post of ECB vice-president in 2018, but withdrew his name when it became clear that then-Spanish finance minister Luis de Guindos would prevail. His appointment to the ECB will create a vacancy at the helm of Irelands central bank. Prior to serving in that role, Lane was a professor of political economy at Trinity College Dublin, making him the second post-crisis governor to be sourced from Irelands top university. Governors had traditionally been sourced from the countrys finance ministry, but the banks reputation was badly damaged during the financial crisis. Lane is considered to have made headway in restoring its standing in Ireland. Philip has done an exemplary job leading the Irish central bank, Irish finance minister Paschal Donohoe said in January. The approval by the economic and financial affairs council, known as Ecofin, follows a unanimous endorsement from eurozone finance ministers on Monday. As noted by several minsters, he is an excellent choice. He is highly trained and respected. I have known Philip for several years and am very happy to endorse him, the groups chairman Mario Centeno said. Easy, Romantic Instant Pot Dinners to Impress Her 6 Easy Dishes to Have Her Think You Slaved Over the Stove for V-Day The AskMen editorial team thoroughly researches & reviews the best gear, services and staples for life. AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service. Valentines Day may be synonymous with a lavish meal (among other things), but if youre not a fan of fancy, overpriced restaurants or slaving over the stove all day to create a scrumptious dish, theres a handy appliance thats here to help the Instant Pot. The popular kitchen tool cooks meats, soups, desserts, and just about anything you can think of using pressure, meaning you can throw together a meal that sounds like its straight off of a five-star restaurant menu in a fraction of the time, while never leaving your own home. RELATED: Best Pressure Cookers We asked celebrity chefs, pitmasters, and popular food bloggers for recipes that will make your loved one think you toiled for hours to create the perfect feast, but none of these dishes take longer than two hours to prepare. Dont believe us? Try them out yourself!! Preppy Kitchen Wow your loved one on Valentines Day with this French-inspired beef stew recipe from John Kanell of Preppy Kitchen. Though stews typically require plenty of time on the stove, this dish is ready in about an hour thanks to the magic of the Instant Pot, and we bet your boo wont know the difference. This hearty soup features bacon, a bit of brandy, red wine, and an array of veggies and spices that give it a flavorful and elegant boost. Speaking of taste, the dash of lemon juice at the end helps to brighten the rich flavors, so zest away and eat up! Ingredients: 2 1/2 pounds beef chuck roast cut into 1-inch cubes 4 tsp kosher salt, plus additional to taste 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper 3 tbsp olive oil 3 slices thick-cut bacon, halved 2 tbsp brandy or bourbon (from $8.79 on Drizly.com) 1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped 1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 cup red wine 1 pound baby potatoes, halved 1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes, drained 1 quart beef stock 2 bay leaves 3 sprigs fresh thyme 2 lemons 1 piece fresh parsley Instructions: Sprinkle beef with two teaspoons of salt and one teaspoon of pepper; set aside and begin chopping vegetables. Set Instant Pot to saute mode and let it heat up. Once at desired temperature, add three tablespoons of olive oil. Once shimmering, add bacon to Instant Pot and cook until crisp (about six minutes). Remove bacon, reserving drippings in the pot. Add beef in batches; cook until browned, about 1 to 2 minutes per side. Once complete, transfer to a plate. Add brandy and chopped onion to pot, stirring to remove browned bits. Once onion is translucent, add carrots, garlic, and the remaining two teaspoons of salt and one teaspoon of pepper. Cook and stir for 5 minutes. Add wine; stir to remove any remaining browned bits. Return beef to pot; add potatoes, tomatoes, stock, bay leaves and thyme and set Instant Pot to Meat/Stew setting, with a cooking time of 35 minutes at high pressure. Cover with the lid and lock it into place. Once the 35-minutes is complete, manually release the pressure in the pot before removing the lid. Just before serving, zest one lemon, and cut in half. Stir zest and juice into stew. Cut remaining lemon into wedges, and serve with stew. Garnish with parsley and reserved bacon, if desired. Lillies Q As Carolinian in tradition as you can get, award-winning pitmaster and chef Charlie McKenna of Lillies Q in Chicago combines his traditional Gold-style mustard sauce with chicken thighs. The tangy marinade melds perfectly with the flavor of the fattier poultry, with spicy hints of paprika, chili and turmeric perfectly complementing the meat. As McKenna puts it, this meal, which he suggests serving over long-grain style Carolina Gold rice, is an ideal nosh for any pair of love birds! Ingredients: 6 chicken thighs 1 tbsp Lillies Q-Rub 1 1/2 cup chicken stock (no sodium if possible) 1/2 cup Lillies Q Gold Sauce Instructions: Trim excess skin around each chicken thigh. Season both sides generously with Lillies Q-Rub. In the Instant Pot, heat oil or clarified butter on medium-high. Place chicken thighs skin side down to sear. When skin is golden brown, flip thighs and sear the flesh side. Mix chicken stock and Lillies Q Carolina Gold sauce and add to the Instant Pot with the chicken thighs. Bring to a boil. Cook on high for 1 hour. Continue to baste chicken thighs with liquid every 20 minutes. During the final 20 minutes, brush the chicken with Lillies Q Gold sauce, ideally with a meat mop. Remove and serve immediately. Additional broth can be drizzled on rice or grits as desired. Serve over Carolina Gold rice for a true southern-style treat. RELATED: Valentine's Day Cocktails Fit Men Cook Courtesy of Fit Men Cooks Kevin Curry, these pulled pork carnitas are versatile, easy to prep, and taste like they just came out of the kitchen at a trendy restaurant even though they can be made in your own home in less than an hour with a little help from an Instant Pot. Enjoy the pulled pork anyway you want, but you can never go wrong with tacos! says Curry, who adds that he likes to serve his take on the Mexican staple in corn tortillas. The cookbook author is also a fan of eating his tacos with fresh purple cabbage, pico de gallo and a creamy goat cheese crumble. Ingredients: 1 1/2 pounds lean pork sirloin 1 tbsp sea salt Pinches of pepper (to desired satisfaction) 1 garlic clove (thinly sliced) 1/2 tbsp cumin 1/2 tbsp fresh or ground thyme Juice from one red grapefruit 1 cup broth 1 tbsp olive oil Fresh lime to taste Fresh cilantro to taste Instructions: Add lean pork sirloin to an Instant Pot. Then add the salt, pepper, garlic, cumin, thyme, fresh grapefruit juice, and 1 cup of broth (or water). Cook for 25 minutes on high. Once the cooking cycle has ended, remove the pork and transfer it to a bowl. Shred the pork using forks. Set a nonstick skillet on medium high heat and add olive oil. Once the skillet is hot, toss in the pulled pork and begin to cook. Allow the edges of the pork to get crispy but be careful not to let it burn. Stir and flip the pork in the skillet using a spatula or wooden spoon for about six to eight minutes. Once the edges are crispy, pour in the leftover broth from the slow cooker, reduce the heat of the skillet and stir the pork. Remove the pork from the heat and garnish with fresh lime and cilantro to taste. Food Network Food Network's Facebook Watch show Pressure Point is all about making drool-worthy dishes, like this Italian classic, using an Instant Pot. In the series, Food Network recipe developer Rick Martinez shows blogger and Instant Pot skeptic Bev Weidner just how easy it is to make delicious foods for a variety of occasions including Valentines Day. While chicken cacciatore is another meal that typically takes hours to cook, this version is ready in a fraction of the time. Additionally, since this meal is made entirely in the pot, the clean up is minimal. Need another reason to give this dish a try? The chicken is fall-off-the-bone tender and the tomato sauce has the perfect smoky kick thanks to some tasty bacon. Serve it over polenta for a hearty holiday dinner. Ingredients: 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 1/2 lbs) Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 tbsps olive oil 3 strips bacon 1 medium onion, chopped 2 medium carrots, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 3 tbsps tomato paste 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves 3/4 cup red wine (from $4.99 on Drizly.com) 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley Instructions: Turn a six-quart Instant Pot to the saute setting on high and wait for it to say Hot, about 4 minutes. Meanwhile, sprinkle the chicken with 1 tsp salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Add the oil and four pieces of chicken, skin side-down, to the pot, and sear until the skin is golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip and continue to sear until the bottom of the chicken is opaque, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate and repeat with the remaining chicken. Line a plate with a paper towel. Add the bacon to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until just golden brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to the lined plate. Remove all but 2 tbsp of the bacon drippings and add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally and scraping up any brown bits on the bottom of the pot, until the onions are just softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the carrots and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the carrots just begin to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. (Note: The saute setting on most pots only runs for 30 minutes. If your pot turns off, simply turn it back on the saute setting on high.) Add the tomato paste and thyme and cook, stirring constantly, until the paste has softened, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour in the red wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until it has reduced by half, 5 to 6 minutes. Add 1/2 cup water, the reserved bacon, 1 tsp salt and a few grinds of black pepper and stir to combine. Turn off the saute setting and add the chicken. Follow the manufacturer's guide for locking the lid and preparing to cook. Set to pressure cook on high for 20 minutes. After the pressure cook cycle is complete, follow the manufacturer's guide for quick release and wait until the quick release cycle is complete. Be careful of any remaining steam and unlock and remove the lid. Remove the chicken to a platter. Turn the pot back to the saute setting on high and reduce the sauce until thickened and about 2 cups remain, 15 to 20 minutes. Pour the sauce over the chicken and sprinkle with the parsley. Serve with polenta. Food Network This Southern classic, which is also from Food Networks Pressure Point, features a mix of andouille sausage, shrimp, and crunchy veggies tossed together with bold Cajun seasoning and an array of other spices. Believe it or not, this dish is made almost entirely in the Instant Pot and, despite looking complicated, can be thrown together in a little over an hour. Ingredients: 2 tbsps olive oil 1/2 pound andouille sausage, cut into small dice 1 yellow onion, cut into small dice (about 2 cups) 3 cloves garlic, minced 3/4 cup dry white wine (from $4.78 on Drizly.com) 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth 1 cup whole milk 3/4 cup grits 4 sprigs fresh thyme Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved 1 green bell pepper, cut into small dice 1 red bell pepper, cut into small dice 1 lb large shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails removed 2 tsps Cajun seasoning 3 dashes hot sauce, optional 4 tbsps (1/2 stick) unsalted butter 2 tbsps chopped fresh chives Instructions: Put 1 tbsp oil in a six-quart or larger Instant Pot. Add the sausage and set to the "Saute" function. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is crispy on the edges, about 3 minutes. Stir in the onions and garlic and cook until the onions just start to soften, 2 to 3 minutes more. Put in the white wine to deglaze. Using a wooden spoon, scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Add 1 cup chicken broth and stir to combine. Cancel the heat, place an Instant Pot trivet into the sauce and prepare to assemble an Instant Pot stackable steamer insert. Add the milk, grits, thyme, remaining 2 cups chicken stock, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper to the bottom pan of the steamer and stir to combine. Top with the second steamer. Toss the cherry tomatoes with the bell peppers, and 1/2 tsp salt in the top pan of the steamer. Cover with the lid, fold the metal clamps around both steamer baskets and place inside the Instant Pot. Follow the manufacturer's guide for locking the lid and set the steam valve to "Sealing." Set to high pressure for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, toss the shrimp with the Cajun seasoning and remaining tablespoon oil in a small bowl to evenly coat and set aside. Once the pressure cooking is complete, turn the steam valve to "Venting" and allow the steam to release until all the pressure is gone. Open the Instant Pot and carefully remove the stackable steamer baskets and trivet. Unfold the metal clamps to separate the baskets. Pour the top basket of softened vegetables in the sauce in the bottom of the Instant Pot, along with the hot sauce, if using. Stir in the shrimp and return the lid to the Instant Pot. Allow the residual heat to cook the shrimp until opaque and cooked through, about 10 minutes more. Remove and discard the thyme sprigs from the grits. Stir in the butter cover with the lid to keep warm. Serve the grits topped with the shrimp and sauce and sprinkled with the chives immediately. i am a food blog Perfectly tender short ribs in just 35 minutes? Sign us up! This recipe from i am a food blog a popular outlet started by a husband and wife duo named Mike and Steph is a super quick and easy take on Vietnamese-style caramelized claypot beef, with maple syrup subbing in for the traditional caramel sauce and an Instant Pot taking the place of the clay pot. As Mike puts it, the dish is sweet, savory, and deliciously punch-you-in-the-face the way only Southeast Asian flavors can. You can serve this as-is with a side salad, toss it with some pasta or rice, or use it as the base for a hearty noodle soup. To make the meat even more tender, bump the cooking time up to one hour. Ingredients: 1 tbsp oil 1/2 onion, roughly chopped 2 bone-in short ribs (about 1 lb) 4 cloves garlic, crushed 1 tbsp maple syrup 1 tbsp fish sauce 1 tsp soy sauce 1 tsp ground black pepper Instructions: Gather the ingredients. Add the oil to the Instant Pot and set to saute on high. Season the short ribs generously with salt. Rough chop the onions and garlic. When the instant pot is at temp, brown the short ribs 3 minutes on each side. Meanwhile, make a sauce with the garlic, maple syrup, fish sauce, soy sauce, and black pepper. On the last side of the short ribs to be browned, add the rough chopped onions. Add the sauce plus enough water to just cover the bottom of your Instant Pot (about 1/2 cup for the 8-quart). Set to high pressure and 35 minutes, and let it cook. Prepare any side dishes or garnishes youd like at this time. Quick release and serve. What are you waiting for, lovebirds? Get cooking! You Might Also Dig: AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service. To find out more, please read our complete terms of use. Longtime community activist Jeanette Taylor is running in a crowded field for 20th Ward alderman. (Photo via United Working Families) Teaching Democracy Walter H. Dyett High School sits at the edge of sprawling Washington Park on Chicagos South Side. The public school is lauded as an arts and technology incubator but only exists thanks to community struggle. In August 2015, a dozen parents and school activists began a hunger strike to save Dyett from closing. Initially ignored by the school district, the 34-day hunger strike led to the reopening of Dyett for the 2016-17 school year with 10 times as many students. One of those strikers was Jeanette Taylor, a community activist who is now running for alderman in the 20th Wards crowded field. Previously, Taylor was part of a successful effort to bring a trauma center to the South Side to treat victims of gun violence. She was first encouraged to run by People United for Action, an affiliate of United Working Families (UWF), a grassroots coalition led by the CTU and SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana. If elected, Taylor plans to prioritize what has become a unifying policy position among progressive challengersthe creation of an elected school board. The appointed school board makes decisions based on who theyre connected to, says Taylor. They have no accountability to the public. Taylor, like many candidates, also calls for ending both school closings and charter school expansion. Erika Wozniak is a CPS fifth-grade teacher running in the 46th Ward against two-term incumbent and friend of Emanuel, James Cappleman. One of the 50 schools Emanuel closed in 2013 was Graeme Stewart Elementary in the Uptown neighborhood on the North Side. After the closure, Cappleman helped broker a deal to turn the shuttered school into luxury apartments. Wozniak responded on Twitter, Im disgusted. We need a council that is going to advocate for fully funded, well-resourced neighborhood public schools, Wozniak says. Housing For All When Rossana Rodriguez was pregnant with her now 4-year-old son Marcel in 2014, she and her partner were priced out of their Albany Park apartment after the landlord increased the rent by $200 a month. A few months later, Rodriguez was forced out of another apartment after her new landlord sold the building. That time, she had to move with a newborn. Rossana Rodriguez, an organizer and educator running for Chicagos 33rd Ward alderman, talks to voters in her Northwest Side neighborhood of Albany Park in May 2018. (Photo by Kelly Viselman) Rodriguez says she has seen her neighbors in the 33rd Ward systematically pushed out by rising rents over the nine years shes lived there. Rodriguez, a Puerto Rican native and longtime educator, joined the Lift the Ban coalitiona group of over 20 organizations working to lift Illinois ban on rent control. The coalitions ultimate goal is to ease the impact of housing costs and keep people in their homes. According to a study by National Equity Atlas, 51 percent of households in Chicago are cost burdened, meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing. Meanwhile, the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless released a survey in May 2018 showing that the city is home to over 80,000 homeless residents, including nearly 18,000 homeless public school students. We need to move away from the idea that housing needs to be driven by profit, says Rodriguez, who decided run through her work with 33rd Ward Working Families, another affiliate of UWF. Housing is a basic need and it cant be left to the forces of the free market. Rodriguez, who has refused to take donations from developers, is taking on Ald. Deb Mell. Mell replaced her father, Richard Mell, when he retired from City Council in 2013. Over 38 years as an alderman, Richard benefited from donations from the real estate industry, which he joined as a lobbyist after leaving office. Deb has also received campaign contributions from major developers, including Silver Properties, a group protested by the Autonomous Tenants Union (a housing justice group Rodriguez has worked closely with) for evicting longtime Albany Park residents. In the 1st Ward, which includes sections of Logan Square and gentrifying Wicker Park, Daniel La Spata is taking on Ald. Proco Joe Moreno who, according to an analysis by Reclaim Fair Elections, receives the highest percentage of campaign funding from property management companies of any alderman. La Spata has worked with the Logan Square Neighborhood Association for 13 years and says that protecting residents from displacement is a critical task. The fight for housing is inextricably linked to the displacement of families, the under-enrollment of local schools and the deepening segregation of our communities, La Spata says. Vivien Tsou, a housing organizer with the grassroots group ONE Northside, sees this election as elevating the demands that she and her fellow organizers have spent years fighting for. The fact that politicians feel that they need to show that theyre good on housing means that housing is definitely one of the big electoral issues this year, Tsou says. That has been exciting to see. The Edge of a New Wave Chicagos newly elected council members will still have to deal with the remnants of the Chicago machine. A number of the aldermen from the Richard M. Daley administration still hold their seats. With the exception of a few progressive members, Chicago aldermen tend to be risk averse, more inclined to curry favors for their wards by falling in line with the mayor than to advance bold progressive proposals. But the machine is taking blows. In January, news broke that 50-year incumbent Ald. Ed Burke of the 14th Ward is under investigation by the FBI. Many mayoral candidates and sitting aldermen are tainted by association with Burke, a longtime Daley ally. Twenty-three-year incumbent Danny Solis of the 25th Ward is reportedly also under investigation, which led him to secretly wear a wire to record Burke. Solis has announced his retirement while Burke is running in whats being called his stiffest re-election race yet, another sign of upheaval. Even with some machine Democrats out, the powerful interests they answered to will remain. Demands for police accountability will be opposed by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP)the powerful union representing CPD officers. Perhaps the most daunting obstacle will be the dominant role of finance capital in Chicago government. Chicagos finance markets, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Board of Trade, are run by the CME Group, a global financial power that holds enormous sway over Chicagos financial decisions. By threatening to move jobs and business out of the city, the CME Group, a major Emanuel donor, has been able to secure significant tax breaks, starving the city of financial resources. This lopsided relationship is unlikely to end with a new mayor. The corporate establishment, including the global financial businesses, will still have a big voice in determining the policies of the city going forward, predicts UICs Simpson. Wealthy campaign contributors such as Michael Sacks, vice chair of World Business Chicago and a major Emanuel donor, will continue to steer the citys political leadership away from regulations or new taxes on the super-rich. Emanuel has also left the city in debt. With Chicago mired in a deep pension crisis, he borrowed extensively, putting creditors first in line for new city revenue. Funding for policies that benefit residents will be stalled unless the city overturns these arrangementsa move that a number of left aldermanic challengers support. Mirroring national progressive leaders like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her proposed 70 percent top marginal tax rate, movement candidates in Chicago also embrace policies to raise revenue from corporations and the super-rich. Ideas like a financial transaction tax (known locally as a LaSalle Street tax), a corporate head tax and reforming the citys TIF program have been floated by grassroots groups for years but were never taken seriously by the citys political elite. Now these ideas are being championed by an array of aldermanic challengers. Rodriguez, Sigcho-Lopez and Taylor have all made taxing the rich a centerpiece of their platforms. One penny of the LaSalle Street tax on every transaction will put more money in our communities, says Taylor. The threat of Trumps reactionary agenda has also motivated challengers. The Grassroots Collaboratives Patel puts it this way: A big factor in 2019 is that theres pressure to come out in a place like Chicago in the context of a Trump presidency to say, Look, we want to be on the offense. We want a bold, transformative agenda, in particular because of whats happening at the federal level. Rodriguez sees a connection between bold local and national policies. At a city level, we are talking about rent control, we are talking about No Cop Academy, we are talking about police accountability, we are talking about sanctuary for all. At a national level, we are talking about Medicare for All and taxing the rich. People are reimagining what is possible. Many of these aldermanic candidates are linked by both their movement organizing and their endorsements from citywide progressive organizations. UWF has endorsed Hadden, Stamps, Wozniak, Rodriguez, Taylor, Yanez and Ramirez-Rosa. The CTU has endorsed all of those candidates along with Sigcho-Lopez. Reclaim Chicago, a local arm of Peoples Action, backs Ramirez-Rosa, Rodriguez and Hadden. La Spata has the support of Grassroots Illinois Action, the sister organization of Grassroots Collaborative. A new player in the electoral arena this year is the Chicago chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which has endorsed Rodriguez, Ramirez-Rosa, Sigcho-Lopez and Taylor, along with Ugo Okere, a challenger running against 35-year incumbent Pat OConner in the 40th Ward. Other than Taylor, the groups endorsees are all card-carrying DSA members. In contrast to the typical electoral model of most advocacy PACs and unionsi.e., making calculated endorsements based on a candidates viability in exchange for future influencethe left electoral infrastructure of United Working Families, Reclaim Chicago, Grassroots Illinois Action and DSA is different. These organizing and community groups are recruiting candidates from their own ranks, who seek office to carry out movement work. This job to me is nothing but a community organizer with money, says Taylor. You organize around what your community wants to see. Electing a bloc of these movement candidates to office would give newfound leverage to communities typically locked out of the halls of power. The CTUs Davis Gates sees even longer-term change afoot: If Im looking in a crystal ball, 2023 will actually be even more transformative because of the momentum that well be gaining from both the challenges and the victories we see. Miles Kampf-Lassin is a political writer and a web editor at In These Times. Follow him on Twitter at @milesklassin or email him at miles@inthesetimes.com. Hannah Steinkopf-Frank contributed reporting to this story. Never miss a story. Subscribe to the free In These Times weekly newsletter: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. - T. S. Eliot Thoughts After Lambeth "The World is trying the experiment of attempting to form a civilized but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail; but we must be very patient in awaiting its collapse; meanwhile redeeming the time: so that the Faith may be preserved alive through the dark ages before us; to renew and rebuild civilization, and save the World from suicide." News / National by Mandla Ndlovu One of the untold stories that happened at the burial of the late National Hero Oliver Mtukudzi was the revelation by the Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Energy Mutodi that him and MDC leader Neslon Chamisa had smoked a peace pipe.When Mutodi posted the Tweet accompanied by a selfie of him and Nelson Chamisa, many people focused on the picture than the message.Said Mutodi on the Tweet, "Today, at the funeral of Dr Tuku, MDC leader NC (Nelson Chamisa) told me his party will no longer support any more demos against government. Our people know not peaceful protests; instead they burn property and loot shops. Demos don't pay. So we agreed on quiet diplomacy, peaceful engagement. Icho!"Most striking were the comments coming from the information department of MDC under the Tweet.MDC National Spokesman Jacob Mafume said," Thank you for the I am the boss cup and happiness you showed in meeting the people's President. No need to justify why you were so happy to the other boss ...wink wink."One would have expected an outright dismissal of Mutodi's tweet if it was a lie.Nelson Chamisa's Spokesperson Dr Nkululeko Sibanda commented also on the post saying," President Nelson Chamisa went to the funeral to respect our international hero and to give him an appropriate send off. And that is what he experienced the people of Mash Central doing. He is humbled by the greatness of our people, who are standing tall in respect."Mutodi's tweet came just a week after the country was rocked by violent protests that were followed a heavy military crackdown on citizens which left 17 people dead. News / National by Mandla Ndlovu The President of the Senate, the Speaker and Members of Parliament have freedom of speech in Parliament and in all parliamentary committees and, while they must obey the rules and orders of the House concerned, they are not liable to civil or criminal proceedings, arrest or imprisonment or damages for anything said in, produced before or submitted to Parliament or any of its committees. Zimbabweans from all walks of life called for the arrest of Chegutu West Member of Parliament Dexter Nduna after he confessed in parliament that he is killer and has killed many people most of whom he does not know.Nduna said this during a heated exchange of words with Norton Member of Parliament Temba Mliswa.After the scuffle Mliswa said, "The human rights groups must take Hon Nduna to task over his self confessed murders! An investigation must be made especially where we have missing persons and unknown whereabouts, Nduna may have the answers. Nduna's gun must be repossessed."However political analyst Fortune Mlalazi said while it is of concern that Nduna uttered such words, it must also be taken into account that he is protected by the privileges and immunities of parliament."It was very unfortunate what we saw in parliament on Monday that is not parliamentary behavior. However on the issues of people calling for the arrest on Nduna, we need to understand the context of his words." Mlalazi said."It was during an emotional exchange of words with Mliswa and if you remember Mliswa also threatened to castrate him and beat him up. Another thing we must put into consideration is that Honourable members are protected by the immunities and privileges of parliament. The constitution of the country section 148 says they are not liable for civil or criminal prosecution for anything they say in parliament."The constitution of the country s148 says: Having the desire to be a nurse is not all there is to become one, there are specific steps that must be taken and certain criteria that must be met. These begin with determining the specific area of nursing that you want to specialise in and also, getting the required training before you start to practice. To start your journey of becoming a certified nurse, we take a look at various institutions with nursing intake 2021 where you can apply to as part of the fulfilment of your dream. Image: pixabay.com Source: UGC Ordinarily, before anyone can practice as a nurse in South Africa, just like any other country, such a person is expected to have gone through the professional training and then, certified to practice. In order to get admission into a nursing college for study, a minimum of matriculation certificate is required while for a university, a matriculation exemption is needed. More so, there are some universities that expect prospective students to have studied certain subjects like physical science, biology or mathematics. While a nurse is expected to have been trained from a duly-accredited college, he or she must have first-hand knowledge of the general duties of a nurse and also be ready to commit himself or herself to carry out whatever functions are expected in the best professional way. So, read on to discover various colleges offering training to prospective candidates and the requirements that you must meet to be considered for admission. GPG nursing intake 2021 There are basically three nursing colleges under the Gauteng Provincial Government where prospective students seeking to be trained as nurses can apply. They are discussed below. 1. S.G Lourens Nursing College 2021 intake Once you apply to this college and you are granted admission, you will be expected to complete the four years training programme where you will be trained on how to help prevent diseases, educate people on various health issues and how they can advance their health. Also, you will get trained on how you can support patients who are physically and mentally ill. While you do this, you are expected to put into consideration various aspects of each of the patients which include their psychological, physical and social well-being. Specifically, while you get training at the S.G Lourens Nursing College, some of the courses that you will be taught include fundamental nursing science, general nursing science, and biological and natural science. You will also get to know about midwifery nursing science, psychiatric and community nursing sciences together with the ethics and professional practice. How to apply to S.G Lourens Nursing College The process of application is usually conducted online at GPG Professional Job Centre usually at a specified period that would be announced in April. However, whosoever is applying, such a person is expected to be a resident of Gauteng and not more than the age of 35 years. Also, if such an individual is a Grade 12 learner, he or she is expected to use his or her Grade 11 results to be able to calculate the Admission Point Score (APS) of which the minimum APS required is 25. Once you meet up with the required score, you will be invited to an assessment and upon meeting the criteria, you will then go through an interview session before medical surveillance is conducted to determine the final selection. Image: pixabay.com Source: UGC 2. Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital Nursing College 2021 intake Students who end up being admitted into Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital Nursing College will undergo a four-year diploma training in nursing including general, psychiatric, community health and midwifery nursing science. Other courses that are offered by the college include Community Health, Ophthalmology, Child Nursing, Critical Care, and Orthopaedics among others. Apart from the theoretical education that you will get exposed to at the college, you will also go through clinical training at hospitals as well as in community facilities. How to apply to Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital Nursing College The application process of Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital Nursing College follows a strict procedure as prospective applicants are expected to meet up with the requirements before they can be considered for admission into the College. When applying, it is either you go through the online process at GPG Professional Job Centre or you contact the Gauteng Central Selection Centre to get more information about the process that you need to follow. But then, for you to be considered for admission, you should be 35 years of age or below. Also, if you are a Grade 12 learner, you should use your Grade 11 results to calculate the Admission Point Score (APS) and see if you are able to meet up with the minimum APS requirement of 25. If you meet up, you will go through an assessment before you appear for an interview. Afterwards, medical surveillance will be conducted on you to see if you are eventually fit. 3. Ann Latsky Nursing College intake for 2021 The application process into Ann Latsky Nursing College can be either with the Senior Certificate or National Senior Certificate. If you are applying with your Senior Certificate, you are expected to have an English and Biology passes rate of not less than a 'D' in a higher grade or a 'C' in standard grade. It is also necessary to have at least 15 points so as to obtain admission into the next phase of the admission process. Prospective students who are applying with their National Senior Certificates are also expected to have an English and Life Sciences passes rate of not less than 50% (level 4). Then, they must have at least 25 points if they will obtain admission into the next phase of the admission process. Moreover, once an applicant meets the criteria, such would be invited to an assessment, and those who are shortlisted afterwards will be asked to go through medical surveillance which includes a medical examination. Then, the verification of all the documents presented for admission will be carried out to ascertain the authenticity of those documents. Apart from those colleges, there are other colleges of nursing in South Africa where you can apply to for admission depending on when you are applying and the availability of admission at the period of your application. These colleges are discussed below: KZN College of Nursing This college offers admission to prospective students who are willing to get a diploma in Nursing (general, psychiatric, community) and Midwifery. While admission for the 2021 academic session is not yet open, whosoever is applying to this college based on the previous admission requirements, is expected to have a National Standard Certificate degree or diploma with a minimum of 25 points. More so, the prospective student should have an L4 in English language, L3 in Maths or L4 in Maths literacy, L3 in Life or Physical Sciences as well as any two other subjects that would be determined by the College. How to apply to KZN College of Nursing There are basically two options that prospective candidates can choose from. One is to apply through the College's portal online or submit an application at the College using this address: The Principal, KZN College of Nursing (Nursing training), Private Bag X9089, Pietermaritzburg 3200. Among the required documents is a certified copy of matric certificate and identity document a proof of residence, which could also be an affidavit, and two pages of student's Curriculum Vitae. On the CV should have the student's identity number, residential and postal addresses, among others. Image: youtube.com, @BinghamtonUniversity Source: UGC Lilitha College of Nursing Lilitha College of Nursing trains students in the Eastern Cape Province. The essence of this is to make sure that they get access to quality nursing education programmes at the rural and urban levels. The College also grants those who want to upgrade their present nursing status the opportunity to do so once the prospective students have received a Study Leave from their respective current employers. Those who would be applying are expected to write an application and submit it together with a certified copy of their Grade 12 certificate. However, for students who are still doing Grade 12, they are expected to use a certified copy of the end of the year report of their Grade 11 or the first term report of their Grade 12. How to apply to Lilitha College of Nursing Prospective students who want to apply for this training programme are expected to be on the lookout for the College's advertisement that would be placed on the local newspapers, usually around the month of April/May. Alternatively, they should continuously visit the College's website to stay updated on the latest information. Once the admission is open, those applying will be expected to pay a non-refundable specified application fee. Lunghile Nursing School The college specialises in providing national and international accredited professional training programmes for their students. They offer three main courses which are bridging courses, Enrolled Nurse and Midwifery. While prospective students are expected to possess a Grade 12 certificate or its equivalent as well as an identity document for those applying for the Enrolled Nurse, those who want to study Midwifery are expected to also have a Grade 12 certificate or its equivalent. In addition to that, they must have a SANC registration as professional nurses together with their marriage certificate if they are married. How to apply to Lunghile Nursing School Those who want to apply to this college can visit either of their two campuses which are at Johannesburg campus or the East London sub-campus. Apart from that, you could also visit the official website of the college to get details about their admission process. Midlands Technical College Midlands Technical College offers an Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program with the aim of incorporating a base knowledge of biological and social sciences that are needed to practice as a nurse. As an associate degree nurse, on the other hand, such is expected to carry out his or her functions independently with any kind of patients he or she is privileged to care for. While discharging his or her role, the ADN is expected to teach the patients what they need to know about their health conditions and the best ways in which they can improve on their health. To be admitted for the nursing program, a prospective student is expected to have a Pre-Nursing Certificate with a cumulative grade point average of 2.75 in eight courses having a grade of not less than a "C". The student can also possess an Associates degree or a higher one with not less than 2.75 GPA. Then, credits in biology and algebra are needed based on their high school or college certificate, and emotionally, the students should be able to perform their activities as nurses. Other information that you may require about their admission process can be gotten on their official website or by attending any of their free information sessions that are usually held on every first and third Wednesdays of each month. The sessions are held on their Airport Campus in the Health Science Building Room 141. Having discussed the nursing intake 2021, we hope you find this information useful as you pursue admission into any of the colleges in preparation for the realization of your desire in becoming a nurse. DISCLAIMER: This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on to make decisions of any kind. Any action you take upon the information presented in this article is strictly at your own risk and responsibility! Source: Briefly.co.za Notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman is convicted in Brooklyn, could put him behind bars for the rest of his life in a high-security prison. In Brooklyn, New York today, on the sixth day of jury deliberations, a court convicted Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman. Alan Feuer's incredible reporting on the case is essential reading. It has been a dramatic trial indeed: tales of bribes, murders, naked lovers crawling into sewers, diamond-encrusted pistols El Chapo smuggled drugs in fake cans of chile and bananas, through submarines and subterranean tunnels. El Chapo routinely raped underage girls as young as 13 and 14, who were drugged and brought to him unconscious, according to testimony in the trial. He referred to the victims as his 'vitamins,' because raping them made him feel young and full of vitality again. The dude's IT guy "had a nervous breakdown." BREAKING: Notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is convicted in U.S. trial that could put him behind bars for the rest of his life in a high-security prison. The Associated Press (@AP) February 12, 2019 CNN: The jury deliberated approximately 34 hours over 6 days The jury in the trial of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman deliberated approximately 34 hours over past six days. The 12-person jury has remained anonymous and partially sequestered. BREAKING NEWS: There's a verdict in the Chapo trial. We don't know what yet. Stay tuned. Alan Feuer (@alanfeuer) February 12, 2019 Is el chapo done, does that mean we won the drug war or Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) February 12, 2019 The jury weighing El Chapo's fate is entering its second week of deliberations, and the purported Mexican kingpin appears to be enjoying America's jury process https://t.co/dngKXxZvHy The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) February 12, 2019 The jury in the El Chapo drug trial has reached a verdict waiting for it to be read. Witnesses gave 200 hours of testimony alleging a drug cartel run on murder, bribes and a drug lord who called raping young girls "his vitamins". Chris Jansing (@ChrisJansing) February 12, 2019 There aren't many details in Trump's American A.I. Initiative, but the point appears to be: send a message of technological dominance to China. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday intended to boost America's global position in artificial intelligence. While nothing in the statement mentions China, it's clear the order was intended to send a message. From Reuters: Under the American AI Initiative, the administration is directing agencies to prioritize AI investments in research and development, increase access to federal data and models for that research and prepare workers to adapt to the era of AI. There was no specific funding announced for the initiative, but the White House wants better reporting and tracking of spending on AI-related research and development. The White House said investment in AI is "critical to creating the industries of the future, like autonomous cars, industrial robots, algorithms for disease diagnosis, and more." And from the New York Times' coverage: The United States is engaged in an increasingly bitter trade war with China. And while American companies like Google and Amazon are now leaders in A.I., experts in the field are concerned that China could surpass the United States in the development of technologies that will power surveillance systems and autonomous weapons as well as driverless cars and a wide range of internet services. In July 2017, Chinese unveiled a plan to become the world leader in A.I., aiming to create an industry worth $150 billion to its economy by 2030, and two Chinese cities promised to invest $7 billion in the effort. Other governments, too, began making large investments, including South Korea, Britain, France and Canada. In the United States, the Defense Department has accelerated efforts to embrace A.I., shifting $75 million of its annual budget to a new office that will develop these technologies. Other government agencies also have major projects in the works. But many A.I. experts have worried that the top talent in the United States is moving to companies like Google and Amazon and away from government agencies. White House science adviser Michael Kratsios wrote in WIRED today that "with proper leadership, AI can empower American workers by liberating them from mundane tasks." More at Wired News also, on the details of today's announcement. Trump's new order appears to be the beginnings of an American response but it's light on details and carries no resources to back it up. https://t.co/FDLGGfGEOj Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) February 11, 2019 Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, the corrupt law enforcement chief who was fond of giving himself awards, campaigning against marijuana legalization, encouraging prison rape, wrongfully imprisoning people, locking up nonviolent people who possessed drugs, and horribly mistreating inmates, lost his court appeal for obstructing justice and lying to federal authorities. He could spend several years in prison. From the LA Times Attorneys for Baca, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, appealed the verdict, arguing it had been tainted by rulings U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson had made during the trial and so should be reversed. Among several alleged errors, they focused on Anderson's decision to bar the jury from hearing testimony about Baca's illness and about a conversation he had with an aide about the FBI's investigation. Either piece of information, the defense team said, could have helped sway the jury in Baca's favor. But the three-judge panel from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected those claims, finding the trial was fair and the conviction legally sound. Calling the case prosecutors had mounted "fair and thorough," U.S. Atty. Nick Hanna said in a statement the ruling "confirms the principle that no one is above the law." "Instead of cooperating with a federal investigation that ultimately was concerned about improving conditions in the county jails, Mr. Baca chose to obstruct and then lie to federal authorities," Hanna said. Disbarred Lawyer Flees After Allegedly Murdering His Mother Facing 30 years for financial crimes, a disbarred attorney allegedly broke free of his ankle monitor, murdered his mother, and fled. Richard Merritt, 44, was scheduled to report to prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from elderly clients. Now police are looking for him because he allegedly stabbed his mother to death. Family members said they never thought Merritt was capable of such violence. Police said he is "extremely dangerous." "Extremely Dangerous" Frank Lempka, an inspector with the U.S. Marshals, said police are searching for the suspect nationwide. Merritt, who practiced law in Georgia and went to school in Mississippi, has contacts throughout the South. "After what he already did recently, he's extremely dangerous to the public and to anyone who may encounter him," Lempka said. Robert Merritt, the suspect's brother, said their mother was very supportive of Richard Merritt's legal career. Prior to the murder, he said, his mother and brother were "very close." "Now there's another victim, my mother, who was brutally murdered," Robert Merritt said. "And, we've got a whole family who's concerned and frightened." Disbarred, Jailed The former Cobb County lawyer was disbarred, then jailed a year ago after he admitted stealing $75,000 from a client. Prosecutors followed up with felony elder abuse, theft, and exploitation charges. Last month, he pleaded guilty to forging signatures and stealing money from 17 former clients. A judge ordered him to repay $454,706 and to serve 15 years in prison, 15 on probation. The judge allowed Merritt time to "get his affairs in order" before reporting to prison. According to police, he went to his mother's house and stabbed her to death. He may be driving her brown 2009 Lexus RX350, license plate CBV6004, which was missing when police found her body. Related Resources: Editors Note: In todays education reform landscape, there is an emphasis on making change through systems-level policies. However, as David Andrew Tow, an English and social-science teacher at Terra Linda High School and the Marin School of Environmental Leadership in California, explains, smaller reforms at the classroom level can be impactful as well. In my 10-plus years of classroom teaching, I have gotten a chance to collaborate with ambitious and innovative policymakers and change agents from all levels of education across the globe. I have walked the streets of Jerusalems Arab Quarter and discussed multicultural education with activists building Jewish-Muslim elementary schools. I met Turkish community leaders in Stuttgart who were candid about the need to retain their cultural identity while also participating in broader German society. More importantly, I have met hundreds of teachers with wonderful, inspiring, and useful experiences that carry their own vital takeaways. Unfortunately, partially because of the difficulty of implementing education policy and partially because of the competing demands of school staff, those innovations rarely, if ever, make it to the classroom. In the current political climate, where high-level policy solutions are either stymied or slow in coming, perhaps teachers, researchers, and those in the broader education community globally ought to look smaller and focus more closely on the site of instruction. I argue that if we focus on the classroom as the location for reform, not only will the changes be more immediate and widespread, but also the studentsthe true and only constituency in education that matterswould benefit. Here are five strategies for classroom-level reform: 1. Scale Down the Takeaways The appeal of system-level reform is significant, and most education programs I am familiar with around the world aim at governmental solutions, such as legislative action, district-level policy shifts, or developing the perspectives of education department workers. However, the most useful strategies are ones that have far less ambitious desired outcomes. All of us in the education community can easily rattle off a handful of changes we would make tomorrow; however, we must resist the temptation to aim for these big changes. There is something to be said for incrementalism, and if we can enact change at the classroom level, then the students will have a richer learning experience. In education, practicality and utility trump magnitude on most days. I have written before about my frustration upon my return from Finland as a Fulbright Distinguished Teacher at the lack of acceptance of international best practices in the United States. But now, three years later, I have implemented many, if not most, of the classroom-level changes I hoped would be possible. Rather than deploying them all simultaneously, I unrolled them one by one, communicated what I was doing differently and why to students and their parents, and explained my process to colleagues who expressed interest. 2. Make It Clear and Free of Jargon Too often, education reforms are couched in the same kind of academic jargon that defines any other specialized field. While this language is vital for scholarship and useful for conversation, because education exists as a space shared by theorists, practitioners, and constituents, it might be more advantageous to discuss reform, especially reform at the classroom level, in plain English and in terms of specific changes rather than philosophical shifts. This is especially challenging for teachers like me who enjoy participating in abstract conversations about theory and policy, but it does little to make our broader mission easier and often serves as a barrier for those outside academic settings who could be allies. For students especially, sophisticated language makes them think the conversation is not for them. At my school, where we have a large population of first-generation students and an even larger population of parents with limited English proficiency, our ability to communicate to them in a way that seems inclusive and positive directly correlates to how involved they remain in the school community and how important they view their students success here. Conversations about PISA scores, German-style vocational training, or polyglot multiculturalism are intimidating for everyone except the people who coined those terms. From my vantage, educators would be well served by sacrificing sophistication for accessibility. 3. Import the Teacher-Researcher American teachers largely do not participate in active research. Perhaps it has to do with workload, the hierarchy within education, or the isolation of the profession. It is no secret that, for the most part, our classrooms, subjects, and grade levels operate as independent principalities many days. However, given the right set of strategies, systems, and a way to assess their effectiveness, even the most isolated teacher can produce a significant and meaningful body of reflective research. Therefore, I propose that we rehabilitate and restore the role of the teacher-researcher, where teachers use their classrooms as laboratories to experiment with and incorporate best practices from other countries and then share the results of this research with others. Too often, good ideas stay in the classroom and do not make it back to the wider educational community. Good ideas, regardless of nation or context of origin, deserve to be shared widely, experimented with, and modified freely and frequently. That, to me, is the heart of the international education reform community and what I love most about it. I am currently blessed with teaching four sections of the same class and tend to vary my delivery and lesson structure each time using a different method I have seen in my research, gained from a contact, or learned about online. I will often, for example, alter either the content, objectives, or instructional strategies between my classes. This kind of adaptation is common. However, from there, I will discuss and examine the results of these various approaches with my studentsoften in the next classand identify both successes and failures, as well as things to remember for next time. More frequently, I will try and situate these effective approaches within a broader conversation with my students about reform. I want them to recognize that school reform is not a distant task but one that occurs in our classroom. 4. Students Are Researchers, Too As a corollary, teachers and other educators must remember that students can be active participants in the research process as well. Of course, students are limited by their age, experiences, and perspective, but the same can be said for many adults. Involving students explicitly in design, execution, and reflection is largely inspired by Paulo Freires critical pedagogy but also works without the political overtones. It means being clear and direct with the students about the how and why of a particular strategy as it is being deployed. At its best, using this approach, students are driving and guiding the curriculum. Teachers, I have found, are very good at being responsive to student needs, whether it is in terms of content or structure. For the implementation of broader or different goals, use student behavior and performance to evaluate how well a particular method works. At its best, this approach allows students to become policymakers, organic intellectuals capable of offering nuanced solutions to complex, real-world problems. For example, after a recent meeting with the new Finnish minister of education about how to meaningfully address the growing cultural difference within Finnish schools, I brought the scenarios back to my classrooms to brainstorm solutions with students. Combined, my students have decades of experience living, learning, and thriving in wildly diverse environments and have more in the way of practical wisdom than I. I did not use every one of their suggestions in my proposal, but they helped shape my thinking and gave me greater insight into how my own class works. 5. Ask the Experts and Look at Outcomes Lastly, it is important that teachers, regardless of location, level, or subject, look beyond the lesson plan and learning day. For those of us participating in the international education community, we have a worldwide network of expertsfellow teachers, administrators, researchers, policymakers, and professionalswho can help verify and modify our work. It is one thing to walk down the hall and see if German-style oral-language practice is being properly implemented; it is another thing to call or email a colleague in Germany to check. The goal is not to be borrowing and incorporating these practices with fidelity. Instead, it is the outcomes that matter. Verification from colleagues near or far can lend perspective on practices and confirm what works and why. At the end of the dayor school yearthat is the most important thing. This kind of cross-border collaboration is fun. Not only does it make our students ready for the world outside the school doors, a world where globalization and legislation have made distances feel smaller, but it also teaches them to be reflective, flexible, and critically engaged in their own learningat least if we do it right. It is my hope that the best strategies gleaned from abroad are the ones that make it to the classroom and that we can help our students realize this, tooand, as a result, they and we become adults who are even more invested in the lifelong project of global cooperation. Connect with David and Heather on Twitter. Image created on Pablo . Summary: With the uncertainty of an economic downturn, companies in 2019 will look to cut costs in an attempt to meet shareholders earnings expectations. Typically, cost reduction programs are established by functional areas of the business (sourcing, supply chain, inventory, etc.) and may be tailored to certain groups of customers based on top line revenue contributions. Why is this a problem? Simply stated, not all customers are the same as it relates to their true profit contributions. In fact, for most companies, a small minority of customers actually provide the vast majority of profits that subsidize marginal and unprofitable accounts. Cost cutting decisions made across a customer base can have serious, unwanted consequences. Reduction in service levels or inventory availability for highly profitable customers can cause them to become dissatisfied and to look to your competition for alternative choices. The end result, your cost cutting measures may actually have the unwanted effect of significant decreasing the profitable performance of your company. Case In Point: Prior to looking for ways to reduce operating costs, a profitable 5 Billion dollar company in Chicago decided to accurately measure the profit contribution of each customer and customer delivery location. Their customer base comprised of 110,000 delivery locations across the United States . Want to venture how many locations provided the vast majority of their profits ? Most people would say use the 80 / 20 rule and therefore over 20,000 customer locations. The actual answer was less than 3%. Without knowing this and relying on higher level revenue or gross margin information, typical cost cutting measures could have had catastrophic results. Action: The approach that this company used for this analysis ensured that the entire organization had confidence in the profit performance information. As a result, the information was very actionable. Cost reductions were implemented for the unprofitable and very marginal customers while protecting the service and support of the high yield customer group. Takeaway: Wholesale cost reduction programs can be dangerous. It is imperative to identify customers that provide significant profit contributions to your bottom line and protect that business relationship. However, determining the root cause for poor performance is equally important. With that information in hand, cost cutting programs can be tailored to customers or customer segments to not only reduce operating expenses but also improve these customers margin contributions. I would love to know your thoughts on this. Please comment on this posting or email me at rsharpe@ci-advantage.com . All the best, Richard Sharpe Though certainly not well known in North America, Juan Bautista Alberdi is a towering figure in the history of Argentina. He was a major influence on the Argentine constitution and was an intellectual force in 19th-century South America. He was an adherent of classical liberal views but also a convinced Christian. His Christianity has at times been overlookedthe New Catholic Encyclopedia, for instance, devotes an entire page to Alberdi but gives no mention of his Christianity or his views on religion. Alejandro Chafuen, Actons Managing Director, International, writes in Forbes describing how Alberdis political and religious views worked together. When serious policy analysts and scholars speak about Venezuela or Argentina, they usually describe how rich these countries were in the past. Venezuelas oil resources are mentioned as the cause of past Venezuelan wealth. In the case of Argentina, some focus on its vast agricultural wealth. But Argentinas land was always fertileit was not until the mid-1850s, after the adoption of the Argentine Constitution of 1853, that Argentina took off. The land is still there, but Argentina began a downhill trend when it abandoned the economic and moral ideas that led to its growth. A young lawyer from the Argentine province of Tucuman, Juan Bautista Alberdi (1810-1884), played an immense role in creating a period of prosperity lasting almost 90 years, beginning with the adoption of the Constitution. Much like Thomas Jefferson, Alberdis study of different constitutions was heavily influential on his own countrys document, which can be regarded as the founding charter of a free Argentina. Alberdis views can still play a positive role in helping create a consensus on the institutions of the free society in Argentina and other Latin American countries. For those who value the role that Christianity played in shaping a better understanding of the human person, Alberdi provides additional lessons. Fox News and the Washington Post reported that actor Rob Lowe came under fire last week for making a joke on Twitter that poked fun at Senator Elizabeth Warren and her claims of Native American ancestry. After Senator Warren declared her candidacy for President, Lowe tweeted, Lowe was immediately scolded by fellow actors like Mark Hamill and journalist Soledad OBrien. Lowe deleted the tweet with a half-hearted apology, and lamented peoples inability to laugh at anything anymore Critics lambasted Lowe for echoing President Trump and for being insensitive, I assume to both Senator Warren and to people of Native American descent. Amidst all the criticism of Lowe I noticed something. Here was Lowe being criticized for lack of sensitivity and actress Valerie Bertinelli sent out a tweet that used the name of Jesus in vain. This is a name that a billion Christians throughout the world from every nation and ethnicity hold to be sacred and only spoken with reverence. It is a violation of one of the 10 Commandments to use Gods name in vain. And in Catholic liturgy it is a custom to bow ones head every time the name of Jesus is uttered. Notice the irony here. I have no problem with Ms. Bertinelli criticizing Lowe for an insensitive tweet, but must she offend millions of people while doing so? Would she be so insensitive to other religions? Or perhaps is it the case that only some insensitivity is wrong, or should I say, unfashionable. The votes are in, and the winner of the Worst Trump Cabinet Member competition is Wilbur Ross! First time a secretary of commerce has ever won the title. Dont let me hear you complaining that this administration hasnt accomplished anything. The Ross victory is a little suspect, since it came right after he gave an interview in which he expressed befuddlement about why furloughed government workers were going to food banks and homeless shelters when they could you know, just go see their banker and take out a loan. Do you think he was making a play for first place? Nah, that was just Wilbur being Wilbur, the guy who happily marveled that when Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia there was not a single hint of a protester anywhere. When reminded that the Saudi government has a way of making protesters disappear, Ross admitted in theory that could be true but quickly added, there was certainly no sign of it. Until then Ross biggest claim to cabinet fame was perhaps his habit of falling asleep at meetings. Hey, the man is 81. Give him a break. Coming in a close second was Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, followed by that perennial favorite, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. A tank overflowed and caused 1,100 barrels, or 46,200 gallons, of brine to spill at an oil site in Bottineau County, according to the North Dakota Oil and Gas Division. The company 31 Operating reported the spill occurred Sunday at a central tank battery about 8 miles east of Mohall. The company reported the brine was contained within a dike and cleanup is underway. Katie Haarsager, spokeswoman for the Oil and Gas Division, said the incident was caused by a tank that overflowed. Cold temperatures contributed to the incident and prevented an alarm from going off, Haarsager said. A state inspector has been to the site and will monitor additional cleanup, regulators said. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Tracy also enjoyed reading, long country walks with her husband and dogs, sharing movies with family, cruises, lunch with friends, outings on the Missouri, relaxing on her deck and dream sessions for the pumpkin patch. She married Cory Finneman on Valentines Day 2004. To this day, and always, they are best valentines. She was devoted to her family, extending from her son, Ben Luke, to the broad pumpkin patch family and many friends. Her ever-present smile and optimism, generosity to others, spunk and tenacity, and love for others will be greatly missed. Tracy lived the gift of life to the fullest and would encourage all of us to do so. Tracy leaves behind her husband, Cory; son, Ben Luke Metzger and his fiancee, Anna Horner; her brother and sister-in-law, Dave and Colleen Pearce; extended family; numerous professional and personal friends who have accompanied her on lifes journey; two horses, Jesse and Kit; and two loyal boxer dogs, Joey and Molly. A special thanks to her world-wide community of prayer warriors who supported her these last 15 months. In lieu of flowers or gifts, Cory, on Tracys behalf, requests that each of us Pay it Forward... and be creative in gift giving for a special charitable Valentine It is Giving Hearts Day! Go to www.parkwayfuneral.com to share memories of Tracy and sign the online guest book. On Wednesday, the Bismarck Historical Society will host a review of North Dakotas early photographers, some of whom are well recognized and remembered to this day, including Orlando Goff, David Barry, W. H. De Graff, F. Jay Haynes and Frank Fiske. In carrying on the tradition of photographers serving as recorders of contemporary history, a first-time showing of selected works by Leo LaLonde, a chief photographer for the Bismarck Tribune. The public is invited to this free event, which takes place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in Lecture Room A at the Bismarck Public Library, 515 Fifth St. in Bismarck. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 North Dakota House lawmakers rejected a proposed update to the state's breastfeeding law Tuesday. House Bill 1330 failed in a 61-32 vote. It would have removed language requiring women to breastfeed in a "discreet and modest manner" and would have made it an infraction to prohibit women from breastfeeding, a violation that would have carried a maximum $1,000 fine. Rep. Karen Karls, R-Bismarck, who said she breastfed her four children, said the existing law already protects breastfeeding women with subjective language that's not meant "for prosecution." She called the proposed penalty "troubling" and said it would be difficult to enforce. "This is a culture issue, not a government issue," Karls said. "Let's not put the responsibility of changing the culture's response to breastfeeding solely on private business owners." Rep. Shannon Roers Jones, R-Fargo, said she opposed the penalty but didn't have a chance to amend it out when it was considered by a House committee. She argued current state law against indecent exposure allows women to be topless but not to "indiscreetly" breastfeed, rendering the language "ridiculous" and "subjective." Breastfeeding advocates, along with several moms and their babies, held a Capitol press conference Monday to support the law change. North Dakota is preparing to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers seeking $38 million in costs associated with the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, said Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem. The federal government did not respond within six months to a claim North Dakota filed in July seeking compensation for law enforcement and other costs to respond to several months of protests. North Dakota alleges that the state incurred $38 million in expenses resulting from the corps failure to enforce the law when the agency allowed people to camp without permits on federal land. The state filed the claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act and the corps did not respond by the deadline of Jan. 23, Stenehjem said. The statute says if they dont respond, that is the same as a denial, Stenehjem said. The next step is for North Dakota to file a lawsuit in federal court to recover damages. We have a six-month window in which we can file a lawsuit for that money, which is what were working on, Stenehjem said. By a slim margin, members of the North Dakota House defeated a bill on Tuesday for a pilot project on hedging oil and gas tax revenue. Rep. Keith Kempenich, R-Bowman, had introduced House Bill 1186, amended to the pilot project and sent from the House Finance and Taxation Committee with a 7-6 vote for "do not pass." He urged passage for "some predictability" for oil. Kempenich also emphasized that the bill would set up an advisory committee for the 2019-20 interim to oversee the pilot project. Rep. Wayne Trottier, R-Northwood, also urged passage of the bill, which he called possibly "one of the most important bills in the 66th legislative session, if passed." "Ladies and gentlemen of the House, if you dislike gambling, this is a bill for you," Trottier said. "It helps take some of the gambling out of oil revenue." Rep. Jeff Delzer, R-Underwood, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, opposed the bill as he said the North Dakota Industrial Commission can already call for a board similar to the bill's proposal. Conservative forecasting helps, too, he added. Woburn, MA (01801) Today Sunny. High around 75F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies early followed by increasing clouds with showers developing later at night. Low 58F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%. North Dakotas top House Republican said Monday a Senate-approved bill meant to address the effects of a federal government shutdown isnt a high priority as another funding lapse looms. House Majority Leader Chet Pollert, R-Carrington, cited the heavy workload facing state lawmakers as they rush toward a mid-session break. Each legislative chamber generally must send bills across the hall for consideration by Feb. 22. The House was scheduled to meet on the floor for an extended three-hour session Monday afternoon. Late last month, the Senate passed emergency legislation requiring the state-owned Bank of North Dakota to guarantee loans made by financial institutions to federal workers in the state who are affected by a government shutdown. The bill, sponsored by leaders of both political parties, including Pollert, hasnt been scheduled for a hearing in the House. It was prompted by the longest shutdown in U.S. history that ended in January with the passage of a short-term spending measure. The Washington Post reported Monday that negotiations in the nations capital had broken down during the weekend over disputes on immigration enforcement. About a quarter of the federal government is scheduled to run out of funding at the end of the week, the Post reported. Roughly 800,000 federal employees across the country were on unpaid leave or working without pay during last months partial government shutdown. About 300 of the nearly 2,000 federal workers in North Dakota affected by shutdown filed unemployment insurance claims, Job Service North Dakota said. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The Montana State Parks Foundation is publishing a weekly showcase of Montana State Parks' 55 properties. This week's focus takes visitors to a mile north of Miles City, on the north side of a bend in the Yellowstone River, to Pirogue Island State Park. In addition to extensive hiking, birding, and wildlife viewing, the island is a documented site where the Corps of Discovery and Captain William Clark camped in 1806 on the return voyage of that famous expedition. An isolated, cottonwood-covered island located on the Yellowstone River, the park is an excellent place for enjoying the natural beauty of Montana. While wading through channels of the Yellowstone River is the most popular way to get to Pirogue Island, others stop by as they float down the river. Did you know? Pirogue Island State Park is 500 miles from where the Yellowstone River begins south of Yellowstone National Park and 170 miles from where it ends near Williston, North Dakota. You wont find any camping at Pirogue Island, but you can go bird watching, wildlife viewing, boating, fishing, hunting, picnicking and more. I received a post card from Senor of Red Lodge. One side had a picture of Putin and the other side with nonsense, foolish written language pertaining to our latest elected great president, Donald Trump, who is nothing less than a man of integrity, dignity and spirit for the American people, armed forces at home and abroad, and with absolutely no racism in his heart. Trumps shocking victory was a great event in history. On Jan. 20, 2017, we bid farewell to an administration of nothing less than a tragedy for the American people, Constitution and abroad, a policy of breaking laws, racism and hatred of our military. An administration that schemed to clear Hillary Clinton and framed our duly elected President Trump, Russian hoax or collusion, all outright lies. This is the inescapable fact the previous administration was dishonest, unbalance and immoral, sending tax dollars to a country that demonstrates Death to America. Unbelievable. The Obama era did endanger the civil peace and the social fabrics of the U.S.A., simply to satisfy his own appearance and to excite the worst inclinations of his core followers. Obama, a phony con who did little for his own people all talk and no action. Myth #5: Victim families get closure. It was amazing to me the number of victim family members who came to the legislature to testify in favor of abolition of the death penalty. They would testify how they originally wanted to make sure the murderer of their loved one received the death penalty. However, after a prolonged trial and many years of appeals, they were tortured by the reopening of all the wounds over and over again. Even when the criminal is eventually executed, most families said it did not give them closure. Often victim families said, if they had it to do over again, they would have asked the state to sentence the murderer to life without parole. Myth #6: The public supports the death penalty. Public support for the death penalty is definitely waning. Polls show loss of support as the public discovers the costs and delays involved with executions and learns of people on death row that were found to be innocent. When I started on this journey, I had many of my friends upset with my stance on replacing the death penalty with life without parole. But when many of them heard my explanation, they were on my side. CHEYENNE -- In a Legislature as jam-packed as Wyoming's, it's hard for things to go unnoticed. Controversial bills steal headlines, large personalities vie for influence, influential lobbyists dash from hearing to hearing and travelers flock to the Capitol from around the state in hopes of swinging major votes for their towns. Behind it all -- the big debates, the major battles -- is a group of the Legislature's most powerful members known as the Management Council. Made up mostly of the floor leadership for both chambers, the Management Council dictates the flow of debate in the Legislature, one designed to empower even the lowest of the rank-and-file members. This is the group that decides when and where meetings are held, the pace and workflow of the Legislature, even the rules of decorum that all members must follow while in session. In short, the Management Council sets the rules for the lawmakers, influencing the way Wyoming does government. It affects legislators day-to-day lives in ways they dont understand, said Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, the Senate Minority Leader and a member of the council. The Republican Party this session has made moves to seize a greater portion of that power. Sponsored by 19 Republican senators, Senate File 161 would remove a set quota for members of the minority party to be elected to Management Council. Passed by the Senate 25-4 in what was a rubber-stamped vote from the start, the bill would further undercut the already dwindling influence of Democrats in both the House and Senate, according to the measure's opponents. It's one of multiple steps taken by Republicans to consolidate power in Wyoming, even as they already dominate the state's political landscape. Behind the scenes and on the floor of the Legislature, lobbyists and representatives from the state's GOP have flexed their muscles on certain pieces of legislation, such as an effort to pass an employment nondiscrimination bill, which was killed after intense Republican pressure. Meanwhile the party -- which observers say has grown increasingly conservative in the past decade -- has pursued aspirations of greater purity by pushing to close its primaries and ban crossover voting. That effort has resulted in stoking fears that Democratic-led interference has forced the party to elect more moderate candidates -- like Gov. Mark Gordon, who won a tough, contested 2018 primary against several hardline conservatives -- rather than candidates who toe the party line. Some, however, believe these efforts will backfire. In several interviews with the Star-Tribune, moderate Republican lawmakers and political insiders describe a party infrastructure that -- while at the height of its powers -- is becoming increasingly narrow in scope. The party could be on the cusp of alienating broad swaths of voters, they say, through its increasing overreach into the structure of state government -- enough so that it might threaten the supermajority the party has amassed over the past several decades. Theres a lot to this," said Sen. Cale Case, a Lander Republican. "Are we becoming redder just because other areas of the country are becoming bluer? It feels a little bit like that. There is a rural divide. But there is a big group in the middle that is more fragile than Republicans realize. And when you go to the conventions or the precinct committees, its always the same people making the same appointments. Theres a universe of people turned off of it who are registered Republican or vote Republican, but I cant say that rank and file is the same as (Chairman of the state Republican Party Frank) Eathorne. "I dont think they have much in common. And I think thats going to show up one day. There will be a reaction down the road," he said. Growing power Around Cheyenne, many would say that Wyomings Republican Party is more powerful than its ever been. Across the state, two out of every five people of voting age are registered Republicans, a number that has been growing annually. In the Legislature this year, the party has wielded its power like an iron mace, killing bills pushing for a nondiscrimination law -- a stance originating from a line in the partys platform opposing the creation of new protected classes" -- and successfully advancing a bill to ban crossover voting despite numerous defeats. Members of the party also succeeded in passing through the House of Representatives two bills it supported on abortion, both by large margins, and narrowly missed passing a measure in the same body that would have required a state or federally issued photo ID at the ballot box. Another policy goal for Republicans this year, Eathorne said, was changing the makeup of the Management Council, a goal in the partys crosshairs since its November central committee meeting in Sheridan. We were looking at the proportion of Democrats to Republicans on the Management Council, and we thought it presented a disproportional number compared to the number of Republicans in the Legislature, Eathorne said. We looked at legislative wins the party has worked on that we thought best represent the values of the residents of Wyoming, and when you look at the supermajority in both chambers, the partys sentiment has been that the Management Council should represent that balance as closely as possible. In 2019, the state GOP seems at peak form. In conversations around the capitol this session, even Democrats are quick to admit that many of the states elections are decided in the primaries -- usually on the Republican side - and in the Republican Party itself, the level of engagement seems to have grown. The democratic process is really active in the Republican Party. We have layers of voices that are in the smallest political subdivisions up through the state party and on to the elected, Eathorne said. Im pleased to say the activity level and engagement level is higher than Ive seen it, with more grassroots activity than Ive ever seen on these issues. Thats why were seeing the successes in the Legislature and in the national party. Those silent voices have risen up, and were listening to them now. We know that when Republican values win, Wyoming wins, he added. And were seeing quite a bit of that this session. Influence and control A six-year member of the Management Council, Rothfuss understands well the mathematics facing a minority member among the Legislatures elite. Wyoming's Democrats were once a formidable group. In 1965, the then-23 person House of Representatives elected 17 Democrats to the House and, in the five years following the Watergate scandal and the resignation of President Richard Nixon, dozens of Democrats were elected to their first terms in the Legislature, according to a review of legislative membership numbers maintained by the state archives. In the years since, that membership has slipped. Today, just three Democrats sit on the 30-person Senate. Only nine are serving in the 60-person House of Representatives. Existing in a legislature where a single party has had veto override powers (more than two-thirds majority representation) for the better part of half a century, the 13-member Management Council is designed to give the Legislatures minority voices an amplified voice. Though Democrats are outnumbered in the Legislature, it only takes them two flipped votes to change the course of a vote in the Management Council. Rothfuss remembers one occasion where the council discussed a shortage in availability of staff in the Legislative Service Office -- which crafts bills, conducts research and provides back-end support -- and whether the council should restrict access to them to only committee chairmen and party leadership. If passed, Rothfuss said, the flow of power in the Legislature would have fallen to the whims of a select few, and the ability for lower-ranking members voices to be heard would have been severely limited. It would have further concentrated power to the majority leadership and marginalized the opposition voices within the majority party, he added. Thats a place where having a strong minority voice isnt just for the minority, its for the rank-and-file members of the chamber, to speak up for them in the conversations nobody is even aware are happening. In a Legislature long controlled by Republicans, any change in the dynamic of the Management Council could close the door on dissent, he argued, and further marginalize the voices of Democrats not just in the Legislature but around the state. Rothfuss noted that many lawmakers have constituencies with their fair shares of Democrats and, while the Management Council could be representative of the Legislature itself, doing so would not represent the makeup of the state theyre meant to represent. The Management Council is very leadership focused, said freshman Rep. Mike Yin, a Democrat from Teton County. Even the other floor members who are Republican cant necessarily get their voices heard when the leadership makes all the decisions there. But beyond the effects for legislators, Democrats fear that consolidation of power in the council could, one day, have broader implications for all of the state and further accelerate a descent toward a de facto single-party system of government in Wyoming. As one party consolidates control more and more and more, it makes it difficult for anyone else to get elected, Case, the Lander Republican, said in a speech Wednesday on the Senate floor. And that eats at people inside. And over time, you get a shift. And its a surprising one. I actually think this bill is probably good for the minority party. It really is. Because in years to come, if the majority party continues to consolidate and runs things in the state, people will get tired of that. Its a natural, human tendency. "Its also a tendency for people in power to let it go to their heads. Having balance, and allowing people to pursue that balance, is a good thing. A shrunken, shrinking minority Wyomings Democrats -- by nature -- are tough, state chairman Joe Barbuto said. They have to be, as they are outnumbered in the Legislature and in voter registration. As such, Democrats arent always losers in legislation, and this year they have managed to win a number of small victories, including winning bipartisan support to get a nondiscrimination bill to the floor of the House, making significant headway with legislation to improve wage conditions in Wyoming (though most of the five bills related to that subject eventually died) and getting a ranked-choice voting bill to the Senate floor, where it was also voted down. Most of the bills that died, as observers will note, never had a chance. But they were, at least, debated -- a victory, particularly for a party facing such steep opposition. Numbers matter, however. Legislative leadership and committee chairmanships are not necessarily granted by a meritocracy of ones adherence to party virtues, but ones values -- and how they align with the values of the party in power -- do play a role. I havent viewed the party as having much influence on the leadership, Case said. It is true with (Republican lawmaker) Michael Von Flatern -- he was in line for leadership, didnt get it, clearly because he wasnt fiscally conservative enough." Rothfuss says that effort is more transparent than Republicans are willing to say and that they have been actively working to marginalize the opposition. We know the GOP itself has been pushing for more party purity and party loyalty and shrinking the tent in a way that isolates and alienates members of our chamber who may belong to that party, he said. That does lead to serious concerns among members of both parties in our chamber, but not enough. Senate President Drew Perkins, R-Casper, see the shifts in power as an inevitability in a system where groups like the Management Council are intended not to be representative of the people, but of the body they control. Ultimately, when the Legislature as a whole only has 15 percent of the seats in the legislature as the minority but have 40 percent representation in the Management Council every Democrat in the Senate is on the Management Council," he said. "All the other 27 (Republican) members only have four. Its just so out of proportion. Whether its fair or not, he added, is a separate question. I remember when we had a senator and a congressman who were Democrats, the governor was a Democrat, and it wasnt so long ago the Senate was split down the middle, Perkins said. Things change. The majority party ought to be careful, because the majority party might not always be the majority party. Blind, loyal partisanship Partisanship is a learned mechanism of political systems the world over, a concept wrestled and wrangled with throughout American history. Though the concept earned no mention in the United States Constitution and was, in fact, explicitly opposed by founding fathers like Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, the necessity of one faction joining to oppose another was justified as a necessary vehicle of debate. However, early proponents of the system argued that balance was required. Thomas Jefferson was once quoted as saying it would not benefit the public good to maintain a party majority in Congress greater than two to one, hailing an effective minoritys purpose as censors for the worst impulses of their opposing party. The ability to maintain an open mind within ones party, Jefferson later said, was also important to remember. Such an addiction (to partisanship) is the last degradation of a free and moral agent, he said. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all. However, a single-party mindset has begun to pervade statehouses around the country. After the 2018 elections, just one state in the country -- Minnesota -- had a different party controlling separate chambers of its legislature. In states that have seen single-party control for an extended period -- like Oklahoma -- parties have begun to tear themselves apart from the inside out, with dissent to the party platform enough of a qualification to become a target. As we move toward this desire of a one-party system, you have less and less a diversity of ideas, and the majority party becomes more and more capable of controlling the outcome, the message," Rothfuss said. "And things in this instance become more conservative in a detrimental way. If you think the problem the state of Wyoming has at this point is there are too many Democrats in the Legislature, then I dont think youre analyzing the history of the state correctly, he added. Obviously, the problem isnt a lack of GOP -- the problem is not a lot of ideas being brought to the table that can solve this problem. A stronger minority voice will strengthen that much more so than more of the majority voice. That creates an echo chamber once it grows large enough. Some have seen symptoms of something similar in Wyomings GOP, with the arrival of a hyper-partisan line in the sand that has enjoyed growing success in some areas of the state. While good for the brand of some legislators, Case said, it hurts others. If Republicans keep putting polarizing people out there, the Democrats will gain ground, said Case, a self-described libertarian who is fiscally conservative but offers a stark contrast to the state GOP on social issues. It can happen in the Legislature, too. I dont know if its all a result of the party meddling, but it does seem to be more difficult for moderate Republicans these days, he added. And that will have consequences over time. Whiplash and dissent Representatives of the Republican Party have referred to the primary system as a mechanism of their right to exercise political speech. With a principled, conservative platform, many have felt the party's moderates are not representative of the platform. Allegations that Democrats are purposefully switching parties to elect more moderates have galvanized those conservatives, who have pursued tighter restrictions on party primaries this session in an effort to ensure that the Republican Party remains as conservative as the party believes it has a voter-granted mandate to maintain. On the other hand, some have expressed fears that moving to a closed primary system -- while practiced in other states like New York -- will have one of two consequences: It will either lead to single-party rule in Wyoming or create a GOP litmus test so strict it will lead to an exodus of Republicans from the party. Republicans, in their arguments, have maintained such a practice is within their right, and they have made the case that a closed primary could actually lead to a stronger Democratic Party, helping to restore the states long-neglected two-party system. I think thats a little difficult to predict, but I would say the argument for a more robust Democratic Party certainly exists, said Eathorne, the GOP party chairman. "And I think thats needed. The differentiation between the ideals of the parties nationally is growing further and further apart. Wyoming, we are smaller, a group of friends and neighbors with different political ideologies -- we work together -- but to respectfully discuss differences, I think, gets muted in the system we have. I think whatever risk there is lies with whether or not the electorate sees it as worth it -- lets give it a try, he added. However, in conversations on the House floor, skeptics like Case have speculated such a strategy could actually backfire. Some have hinted that the state party leadership -- despite managing an impressive and enthusiastic ground game -- could be sitting on a throne of air that will begin to deflate as it moves further right, alienating not just moderate Republicans but the jaded Democrats who joined the party just to have a say in an election that mattered. According to an analysis of data from the Secretary of States office compiled by longtime Republican and former legislative candidate Gail Symons, this possibility is quite real, supported by figures implying the current state GOP strategy is not representative of its entire membership. While most of the state's voters may participate in Republican elections, they often don't make their voice heard in elections relating to the party, meaning that a small faction of party officials with tightly-aligned views end up setting the political strategy for a massive, diverse group with different objectives and interests. Symons, who now lobbies in Cheyenne for a civic education organization she recently founded, has been a regular at meetings regarding crossover voting, sharing data that shows its not mischevious voting that is the issue in the states elections: Its participation. The narrative to the contrary, however, is actually a symptom of the bottom-up structure of the central Republican committee, she said, which sets the platform for the entire state. Out of nearly 14,000 registered voters in her home of Sheridan County, just under 60 percent of all registered Republicans participated in the 2018 primary elections, state elections data shows. However, of the 60 percent of people in Sheridan County who actually voted in that election, just under 40 percent of that group voted for the 45 candidates there running to become Republican precinctmen and women: the people who set those policies from the bottom up. To put that number in perspective, with 29 precincts in Sheridan County accounting for 84 openings for the state committee, just over half of those positions had candidates ready to go. The seats they dont fill are filled by appointments of the members of the local party, according to party bylaws, meaning nearly half of the Republican leadership in that county could, hypothetically, be appointees. Theres just not participation in the precincts, Symons said. And yet the precincts are the people determining the county policy, and the counties are determining the state partys platform, and the state GOP is lobbying and sending information out. The point I was trying to make when I was testifying on this is that were focusing on the wrong thing; we need to focus on why it is that people who say they are Republicans dont participate. The second thing we need to think about is whether or not were reflecting their voice. Lets be clear, she added. The Republican Party is going to die out because we are not bringing in the young. Most who I know in the 20 to 30 age either dont care or arent in line with the social platforms of the current Republican Party, and in doing so, they are being shut out of the party. Thats not the way to ensure its long-term viability. The Democrats, meanwhile, smell blood. Republicans across the state, Barbuto noted, faced several tough races in 2018, with Democratic candidates managing to flip Republican-controlled seats in places like Fremont County and managing to come within 100 votes of defeating Republicans in others, like Lorraine Saulino-Klein's Albany County race. Speaking as a citizen of Wyoming, I would hope that (the Republicans) goal would be to seek out a variety of ideas and to have conversations about these important topics," Barbuto said, "to make sure the direction of the Legislature is one Wyoming wants to go in and is representative of our values, not our party affiliations." Follow politics reporter Nick Reynolds on Twitter @IAmNickReynolds Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Billings City Council approved the One Big Sky District master plan after hours of public comment mostly in support of the project, and testimony from the major partners of the project. The plan passed on a 7-3 vote with council members Chris Friedel, Frank Ewalt and Brent Cromley opposing. Council member Richard Clark was absent. The plan itself lays out a framework for specific future development of downtown Billings, including projects that focus on tourism, health, business and civic engagement. City administrator Chris Kukulski reminded the council that adoption of the plan did not commit the city to any specific project design, policy or funding proposal. The authors of the plan emphasized repeatedly to the council that the plan acts as a framework for future development; it's not a binding commitment to any one project. Hanging over the vote to approve the plan is the state Legislature. For the city to bring about the One Big Sky District, state law needs to change and allow for investment of public funds in the project. A draft bill at the legislature currently exists to require a certain level of private investment before public funds would kick in for development districts like One Big Sky. Im proud to co-sponsor @AOC and @EdMarkey's Green New Deal. We must aggressively tackle climate change which poses an existential threat to our nation. Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) February 7, 2019 On Thursday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) released a six-page proposal for her much-ballyhooed Green New Deal. Before so much as reading it, presumably, Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), who happens to be a 2020 presidential frontrunner, endorsed it:She should have read it.Whoever wrote the proposal is, to put it kindly, dense. Idiotic. Moronic. Even Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) found herself unable to pretend to take it seriously; she said she hadn't seen it yet, but "it's enthusiastic and I appreciate the enthusiasm." This, not coincidentally, is precisely what I say when I find out that my 2-year-old son has used his magic markers on his bedroom wall. When Nancy Pelosi has to pat you on the head and tell you that your picture of a doggie - which, for the record, looks like a blob with three legs and a spaghetti sauce stain - is just great honey, you're in trouble.She added that the Green New Deal "will be one of several or maybe many suggestions that we receive. The green dream or whatever they call it nobody knows what it is but they're for it, right?"Ouch.For her part, AOC seems to know that she can't declare war on Pelosi without the cagey veteran nuking her.the farcical 29-year-old former bartender-turned-Congresswoman eagerly said. To which New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz correctly tweeted,How bad is the Green New Deal paper? Putting aside the fact that, as written, it would receive a C+ in any high school English class, it essentially articulates a magical world in which the skies rain chocolate, the world is powered by unicorn farts, and AOC dances through the gumdrop meadows to Lisztomania. The proposal calls for the United States to be free of carbon emissions within 10 years without the use of nuclear power. It calls for every building in the United States to be replaced or retrofitted in green fashion. It calls for universal healthcare, free college education, the replacement of airplanes with high-speed trains, charging stations(this is the sort of exactness the proposal contains), replacement ofgovernment-provided jobs, family and medical leave, vacations, retirement security, and the abolition ofIt also calls for totalfor anyoneWhether AOC plans to chain up billionaires and work them against their will or simply engage in anti-billionaire dekulakization remains to be seen. After all, somebody will have to pay for this.Or not. According to AOC, nobody will have to pay for this - like a timeshare you bought on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1997, this thing will pay for itself! This is a direct quote:The question, guys, isn't how to pay for the Fyre Festival - it's what we'll do with the free drinks, the beautiful cabanas, and the epic memories we'll create together!I correct myself: my two-year-old son could come up with a better, more realistic proposal than this one. It's not actually much of a competition.But, we've been told, AOC is the Fresh Face of the Democratic Party - So Fresh, So Face. Sadly, the intellectual content that emanates from that fresh face is indistinguishable from the product of the cows she seeks to abolish. President Trump is moving toward his 2024 candidacy as per all indications from his enlightening address to the NC GOP on June 5, 2021. Considering this political vector as a distinct possibility: What is your electoral pleasure as an integral cog in this Representative Republic? No Vote: Mr. Trump will never be president again as we boldly march toward a Socialist society. Yes Vote: Mr. Trump was the best president since Ronald Reagan, and we need a real leader, who is fully cognitive of that responsibility in these tumultuous times.. Colby-Jack cheese molds the fastest, baking soda affects the height of chocolate chip cookies, and even the most accomplished of dancers have trouble balancing if they cant see. These were some of the many conclusions local eighth and ninth grade students made at the Nebraska Area Health Education Centers science meet on Tuesday. Alex Greiner, a student at Johnson-Brock Public School, decided to his project on what type of cheese would mold fastest because his family uses a lot of cheese products. My three different types of cheese were mozzarella, Colby-Jack and cheddar, Greiner said. My hypothesis was that if cheddar was left out it would grow mold the fastest. I also wanted to see if the surface area of the cheese causes it to grow mold faster, so I cut it into smaller blocks. Youd use this in real life if you were a consumer who wanted cheese and were only going to use half the pack. Its important to know how long you have until the rest goes bad and you lose your money. "My hypothesis was rejected. Cheddar cheese did not mold the fastest, it was actually the Colby-Jack cheese with an average of 21 days. The slowest molding cheese was the mozzarella cheese cubes which molded on an average of 25.2 days. The UKs food and drink industry has urged the government to pause current and planned consultations or risk trade associations not responding. The call came in a letter to environment secretary Michael Gove that was signed by more than 30 trade associations, including the Federation of Bakers, the Association of Bakery Ingredient Manufacturers and Food and Drink Federation. (See full list below.) It highlighted that business throughout the UK food chain, and their trade associations, were now totally focused on working to mitigate the catastrophic impact of a no-deal Brexit with large amounts of time, money, people and effort diverted as a result. At this moment of potential crisis for our industry, it cannot be business as usual within government, stated the letter, which was sent to Gove last Friday (8 February). Neither we nor our members have the physical resources nor organisational bandwidth to engage with and properly respond to non-Brexit related policy consultations or initiatives at this time. Government has recruited many extra staff; we cannot. We very strongly urge you, therefore, to require of your Cabinet colleagues that a range of current and planned consultations that will impact food and drink, some of which are expected shortly, are firmly and clearly placed on pause until this uncertainty is over. The associations warned that if the government pressed ahead with the consultations it would be seen by some as a sign of bad faith and many organisations may decline to respond. Consultations named in the letter included an overhaul of the current producer responsibility programme, proposals for a tax on plastic items with less than 30% recycle content and proposals to further restrict advertising on high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) food and drink. The government has already come under fire this year for launching a consultation on banning price promotions, with the FDF branding health chiefs out of touch with economic realities. The full list of signatories are: Twelve-year-old Hannah Dodts confident recitations bookended this years Coconino County Spelling Bee Saturday morning at Coconino High School as she secured first place, matching the number that hung around her neck throughout the hour-long competition. In the ninth round, after the first and second runner-ups both misspelled their final words, Dodt -- a seventh-grader at Flagstaff Home Educators, a local home school program -- correctly spelled bequeath, followed by potash (potassium carbonate) to secure this years win. Ivan Robertson, a fourth-grader at Puente de Hozho, finished in second place, followed by Jacob Frate, an eighth-grader at San Francisco de Asis, after a tie-breaker round. The two respectfully shook hands following their six-word showdown for second place. The three finalists were awarded $250, $150 and $100, respectively. The prizes were donated by rotary clubs from Flagstaff, Williams and the Grand Canyon. One representative from each organization also served as a judge. Coconino County Superintendent of Schools Risha VanderWey said this was the fourth year she has attended the countys spelling bee, but she is always impressed by the students and the words they are spelling. Brooks Hart, who also lives near the proposed site, agreed, adding it is a risk that is left undressed in Pinnacle Consultings application. As a condition of the conditional use permit, they must make the finding that the proposed use will not be detrimental to health, safety or welfare -- how can you make that finding [with the gas pipeline there]? Hart said. In the section on whether the tower's development may be detrimental to public health or safety, the application Pinnacle submitted to the city does not mention the pipeline only saying: there are no foreseen possible hazards to people due to explosion or contamination and flooding. Their application shows that [Pinnacle, Verizon] and the city do not understand the dangers of the pipeline, Hart said. According to Jeannine Brew, a spokesperson for Verizon, although Verizon obviously want their towers to be in areas that do not endanger the public, they generally rely on local regulatory groups to make those calls. As such, Brew said while they would follow Kinder Morgans rules for crossing the easement, they will rely on a group like the planning and zoning commission to make the determination as to whether a tower may threaten public safety. LOS ANGELESAriana Gray says there are times when visiting her room on MyFreeCams could feel like jumping down the rabbit hole. You may come in one night and I have another pretty girl on my lap getting spanked or tied up and teased with a hitachi, Gray explains. Other times, it may just be Gray performing a sexy dance. Ive even produced a green-screen show dressed up as Darth Vader in a spaceship and a Dexter-type kill room set-up with the entire space covered in plastic for a girl/girl food fight show, she adds. Regardless what Gray feels like doing on any given night, its safe to say the statuesque mixed-race model who cams from Florida has found her audience. The personable kingpin of MFCs Cartel says her members helped her grow her community. I simply created the space for them to have fun, be entertained, laugh and engage with one another, Gray reasons. One member in particular, Team Hurricane, inspired me early on with The Cartel and I just ran with it. In this exclusive Q&A for CAMStar accompanied by 12 pages of photography by Keith Munyan, Gray discusses how she found camming, her background in the hospitality industry, her company Wild Orchid Modeling and how camming has changed my life. To see the full digital issue, click here. At what point will the needs of over-taxed, law-abiding New Yorkers become the priority? PUTTING PRIORITIES IN THEIR PROPER PLACE The prisoner pay-hike recommendation comes as the governor and comptroller have issued warnings that the state is facing a dangerous $2.3 billion budget hole. In addition, the governors executive budget proposal calls for $4.1 billion in new taxes. Needless to say, theres a long list of items that require our immediate attention before paying for additional accommodations to incarcerated felons. For example: Direct-care professionals the men and women who provide life-saving care for those with disabilities, our most vulnerable population have been denied a wage increase by the governors budget; Towns and villages across the state face funding cuts to their budgets (which are already in place, threatening the services and programs they can provide to residents); and Eligibility for the states college tuition assistance program (TAP) hasnt been expanded in nine years. The minimum grant award given to students receiving TAP hasnt been increased since 2000. The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Cayuga County will hold free Office of Mental Health workshops on Social Security entitlement programs from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19, in the second-floor assembly room of Auburn Community Hospital, 17 Lansing St., Auburn. The workshops will outline the benefits and advantages of participating in Social Security programs. The first part will concern Plans to Achieve Self-Support, the second Medicaid buy-in and 1619 coverage, and the third Social Security forms and resources. For more information, email Garrett Smith at garrett.smith@omh.ny.gov or call NAMI of Cayuga County at (315) 255-7443. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Amazon may reconsider opening its second headquarters in New York, but a majority of voters support the $3 billion deal that would help the company establish a campus in Queens. A new Siena College poll found 56 percent of voters support the Amazon project. The Seattle-based company announced in November that it has chosen New York City and the Washington D.C. area to host new corporate offices. To lure Amazon to Queens, New York state and city officials offered a multi-billion dollar incentives package. It includes about $2.5 billion in tax credits linked to job creation goals and up to $500 million in grants that would be paid over a 10- or 15-year period. The poll was released days after the Washington Post reported Amazon may move the headquarters to another state due to opposition from local officials in New York. "Even as Amazon is said to be reexamining the deal with New York to locate in Queens, by 20 points New York voters approve of the deal," said Dr. Don Levy, director of the Siena College Research Institute. Siena surveyed 778 registered voters over a four-day period beginning Feb. 4. The poll was completed before reports emerged about the possibility that Amazon may reconsider the New York selection. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is reexamining his state budget proposal that calls for eliminating aid to several towns and villages across New York. During a press conference at the state Capitol Monday, Cuomo defended the proposed cuts while adding that his administration will be "taking a second look" at changes to the Aid and Incentives for Municipalities payments in the budget. In his 2019-20 executive budget, Cuomo proposed slashing total AIM payments from $715 million to $656 million. The cuts would affect a municipality if state aid accounts for less than 2 percent of its total budget. Under Cuomo's budget plan, AIM payments would be eliminated for most towns and villages. Cuomo said the proposal would affect local governments that receive "a very small amount of AIM money." But he's heard from local officials who are concerned that the cuts would have a major impact on their budgets. "In these tough times, it is a big effort for them," Cuomo said. Nearly every town in Cayuga County would lose AIM funding under the governor's plan. In Onondaga County, eight towns that receive more than $100,000 wouldn't receive that aid. The United States Tuesday slammed police repression in Zimbabwe, weeks after security forces crushed protests there. Washington also urged all parties to take part in the national dialogue that opposition forces have sat out. State Department spokesman Robert Palladino stressed US concern over "excessive use of force" by the government since country-wide protests have escalated against the doubling of fuel prices. He said the crackdown had left at least "13 dead, 600 victims of violence, torture or rape, and more than 1,000 arrests." "The Government of Zimbabwe's use of violence against civil society and imposition of undue internet restrictions betray promises to create a new Zimbabwe," Palladino said. And the United States urges all parties to come together immediately in national dialogue. "The dialogue process must be credible, inclusive, and mediated by a neutral third party," he stressed. Police arrested more than 1,100 people, including leading trade unionists, lawmakers from Chamisa's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and some children in last month's violent protests. Zimbabwean opposition leader Nelson Chamisa of the MDC Alliance listens to participants during a prayer as part of a meeting organized by a coalition of Christian churches to facilitate dialogue between political party leaders, Local favourite Rigoberto Uran took the first leader's jersey at the Tour Colombia after his Education First Drapac team won Tuesday's opening team time-trial, with Chris Froome's Team Sky settling for third. Education First covered the 14km race against the clock in 15min 05sec, eight seconds clear of Belgian outfit Deceuninck-Quick Step with four-time Tour de France winner Froome's British team a further two seconds back. Uran, the Tour runner-up to Froome in 2017, is a hugely popular figure in his homeland and finished third last year in the inaugural edition of this race, behind compatriots Egan Bernal, of Sky, and Movistar's Nairo Quintana. "We're really happy to have won today and the most important thing for me is to race here at home and to be able to win with my people, with my public," said Uran. But it wasn't such a happy day for Quintana, a twice runner-up to Froome at the Tour de France and past winner of both the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana. Movistar finished 44 seconds off the pace in Medellin, leaving the local fans' darling with an uphill battle to impose himself on his home tour. The next four stages are comprised of largely flat street circuits ahead of Sunday's grand finale, a 174km ride from El Retiro to the steep summit finish at Alto de Palmas. Four of the six stages will take place entirely above 2,000-meters while the highest point in the race will reach 2,600m. Froome has spent two weeks training in Colombia ahead of the race and said it was "a fantastic place to train in terms of the altitude." Altitude will be an important feature of July's Tour de France with seven climbs rising above 2,000m including the Col de l'Iseran, the highest paved mountain in Europe at 2,770m. Froome said before the race, though, that his aim was merely to "survive" with team-mate Bernal perhaps a better bet to retain his title. Brief results 1. Education First (USA) 15min 05sec, 2. Deceuninck-Quick Step (BEL) at 08sec, 3. Team Sky (GBR) 10, 4. Astana Pro Team (KAZ) 22, 5. UAE Team Emirates (UAE) 35, 6. Team Medellin (COL) 40, 7. Movistar Team (ESP) 44, 8. EPM (COL) 52, 9. Coldeportes Bici Strongman (COL) 53, 10. Team Manzana Postobon (COL) 54 Rigoberto Uran (front) celebrates taking the Tour Colombia lead after his Education First outfit won the opening team time-trial On February 15, 1989, crowds of stunned onlookers watched the last Soviet troops leave Afghanistan over the Friendship Bridge -- defeated after a decade of war. "The Russians were waving and smiling at the people. It seemed they were tired of fighting," Abdul Qayum, who was a border guard in Hairatan, where the bridge crosses the Amu Darya river into what is now Uzbekistan, told AFP. With 1.5 million dead on the Afghan side and nearly 15,000 from the Soviets, the Red Army had retreated, defeated by Afghan mujahideen resistance. The Soviets' December 27, 1979 invasion -- decided in secret by a select caucus of Politburo members -- had been presented in official propaganda as coming to the aid of "a fraternal people" confronted by an Islamic rebellion. The two countries were linked by a friendship and cooperation treaty signed when Afghanistan became communist a year earlier, after a coup. Qayum, now aged 60, recalled the confusion as Red Army soldiers rolled into Afghanistan. "An officer from Uzbekistan told me 'guests were coming' and others on our side of the border were saying it was a Soviet troop parade and they would be returning," he said. But the army did not turn back. "There were many, many soldiers. It was impossible to count them. Those crossing into Hairatan immediately marched onwards toward Kabul. They kept crossing for days and nights," he said. Moscow had thought it would be an easy mission. But it was never able to cut the mountain supply lines of the unrelenting resistance, armed by the Americans, financed by the Saudis and with logistical support from Pakistan. On April 14, 1988 the Soviet Union committed in accords signed in Geneva to withdrawing its entire contingent of more than 100,000 men by February 15, 1989. - Joy, pain, bitterness - The withdrawal unfolded in two phases, each allowing the evacuation of around 50,000 men. The first lasted from May 15 to August 15, 1988. The second was meant to start on November 15 but was pushed back as the mujahideen stepped up military pressure. It began, discreetly, in early December. The conditions were difficult. The columns of vehicles heading to the border from Kabul had to confront the Salang Pass, with its altitudes of 3,600 metres (11,800 feet), in the country's hardest winter for 16 years. There was also no let up from the resistance fighters, and Soviet soldiers were dying up until the very end. In the evening of February 15, when it was all over, the highest organs of the Communist authorities hailed the soldiers "who have returned home after having accomplished their patriotic and internationalist duty honestly and with courage." "At the request of the legitimate government of Afghanistan, you protected its people, women, children, the elderly, towns and villages, you protected the national independence and sovereignty of a friendly country," they said. But the tone was different in the Moscow press. "To the joy of the return of the soldiers are mixed the pain of losses and bitter reflections," wrote the Communist party's Pravda newspaper. President Mikhail Gorbachev, who ordered the Soviet retreat, would recall in 2003: "The central committee was inundated with letters demanding an end to the war. They were written by mothers, wives and sisters of the soldiers..." "Officers were incapable of explaining to their subordinates why they were fighting, what we were doing over there and what we wanted to achieve," said Gorbachev, who said later the invasion had been a serious "political mistake". - 'Better had they stayed' - In Kabul "no publicity or special ceremony marked the departure of the last Soviet soldier, who left to the total indifference of officials as well as the local population," wrote an AFP special envoy in a report on February 15, 1989. In Hairatan, where at 11:30am the last Soviet soldier crossed the Friendship Bridge, local merchant Mohammad Salih said their withdrawal was celebrated. "But when we saw the civil war and heavy fighting that followed... we thought it would have been better for Afghanistan had they stayed," the 76-year-old told AFP. Tanks, cannons and anti-air batteries had been deployed at strategic points overlooking the airport for the occasion, the authorities fearing a mujahideen attack. Three years later, president Mohammed Najibullah resigned, signalling the end of communism in Afghanistan. His government was replaced by one made up of the various mujahideen factions that had driven out the Soviets. They quickly turned on each other. Ruined, Afghanistan was more fractured than ever. A new, vicious civil war would soon break out before the Islamist Taliban seized power in 1996. Red Army tanks cross the Friendship Bridge on the river border between Afghanistan and Soviet Uzbekistan on February 15, 1989, the last day of the Soviet retreat after 10 years of occupation Soviet soldiers welcomed in Uzbekistan on February 15, 1989 after the Red Army retreat from Afghanistan Lieutenant General Boris Gromov, commander of the Soviet forces in Afghanistan, addresses his troops in Termez, Uzbekistan, on February 15, 1989 after the Red Army withdrawal is completed Spanish police said Tuesday they had seized more than 200 stuffed endangered animals, including giraffes, rhinos, lions and tigers, from an illegal taxidermy workshop that was selling them online. Officers found the stuffed animals at a warehouse in an industrial area of Alicante, a city on Spain's Mediterranean coast. They seized others in the nearby city of Monovar, at the home of a man suspected of working as a taxidermist without a licence, police said in a statement. Police placed six people under investigation after the seizing the haul, who could face charges of trafficking in endangered species. The animals seized included "more than 200 specimens of various species" on the United Nation's Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). "The species that were seized included, among many others, African lions, white rhinos, Bengal tigers, African crocodiles, African antelope and giraffes," the statement said. Police began their investigation in May after finding online ads offering the stuffed animals for sale. CITES is a global treaty signed by over 180 countries that regulates trade in wild flora and fauna or products derived from them with an aim to ensuring their survival. Spanish police seized many of the stuffed animals at a warehouse in the Alicante region Soviet authorities themselves condemned the USSR's bloody occupation of Afghanistan, but 30 years later some in Vladimir Putin's Russia are coming to see the operation in a more positive light. After a decade of military intervention to bolster Kabul's embattled Communist government against Islamist fighters, the USSR finally pulled out its last units on February 15, 1989. The withdrawal, ordered by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, was a humiliating defeat for the Union and helped lead to its collapse. Mikhail Kozhukhov, who covered the conflict as a correspondent for the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, remembered how the final Russian troops left without joy or bitterness. "The soldiers were dreaming only of one thing: getting home safe and sound," Kozhukhov, now 62, told AFP. The reporter remembered crossing the "Friendship Bridge" across the Amu Darya river separating Afghanistan from then-Soviet Uzbekistan in the second-last armoured vehicle of the last Soviet convoy, flying red flags. One of the armoured vehicles carried the body of 20-year-old Igor Lyakhovich, who was killed a day earlier and is officially the last of more than 14,000 Soviet war dead in a conflict that killed more than one million Afghans. "Along the route you could see the 'ghosts' who had come down from the mountains to watch our retreat from a distance," said Kozhukhov, using a Russian term for elusive Afghan partisans. "The eyes of the inhabitants of the snowy village were full of hate or spite because they were being left to the mercy of fate," Kozhukhov said. The journalist, who briefly served as Putin's press secretary in 1999 and 2000, says that "the intervention in Afghanistan was always a tragic and senseless escapade." - 'Reviving Soviet past' - The intervention was extremely unpopular with the Soviet public and was officially condemned in 1989 at the height of Gorbachev's policy of "glasnost", or transparency. But this judgement is now being reassessed, under pressure from veterans. Putin in 2015 appeared to back the intervention, saying that the Soviet leadership was trying to confront "real threats" even though he acknowledged "there were many mistakes." In late January, Russia's parliamentary defence committee backed a draft resolution saying that "the moral and political condemnation of the decision to send in Soviet troops" was "against the principles of historical justice." The Soviet troops helped the Afghan authorities fight "terrorist and extremist groups" and curbed the growing security threat facing the USSR, the draft resolution says. The draft resolution, however, has yet to be voted on in full session, reflecting the authorities' reluctance formally to revisit this traumatic episode. Historian Irina Shcherbakova of Memorial rights group says that amid heightened tensions with Western powers in recent years, "Russia is reviving its Soviet past to justify its new opposition to the West." - 'No napalm' - For political analyst Pyotr Akopov from pro-Kremlin site Vzglyad, "the ex-combatants and the whole of Russian society need vindication for this war." "We have nothing to apologise for, we didn't use napalm... and we even managed to leave Afghanistan with our supporters replacing us, which the Americans have never managed to do." Alexander Kovalyov, president of the association of ex-combatants for the CIS region including most ex-Soviet countries, insists the invasion of Afghanistan was justified and says Gorbachev "betrayed all the dead" by condemning it. "Without our troops, the Americans would have installed their missiles to target Moscow," he said. "Gorbachev was right to finish this war but we should have kept on supporting Kabul with the necessary arms for it to resist," said Kovalyov, who served as a deputy commander in charge of political indoctrination of an army regiment sent in to secure the withdrawal. Konstantin Volkov went to Afghanistan in late 1981 as a conscript at the age of 17, full of enthusiasm after following Soviet media reports. He was responsible for radio communications, taking part in 70 missions and was decorated for intercepting correspondence between the Mujahideen. Demobilised in 1983 in good physical health, he says the war haunted his dreams for 15 years. He was ordained as a Russian Orthodox priest and is now Father Konstantin. At his church in a village outside Moscow, around 30 of his fellow "Afghans" (Soviet veterans) gather every February 15. "I suggest to my former comrades that they express penitence and don't think any more about what happened in that war," he told AFP. Now an ordained Orthodox priest, Konstantin Volkov participated in the Soviet military campaign in Afghanistan and says the war haunted him for years Afghan resistance fighters stood up to Soviet forces -- but a protracted decade-long conflict reaped a huge human cost Three decades after the Soviet pullout, Father Konstantin advises fellow veterans to "express penitence and don't think any more about what happened in that war" A group of young French media executives was condemned Monday for running a macho "boys' club" that harassed female colleagues online. Their closed Facebook group "League of LOL" -- made up mostly of men in their thirties -- ridiculed women journalists for years, sometimes using pornographic memes to attack them. Women seen as feminist were the group's favourite targets. The founder of the group, journalist Vincent Glad, was suspended Monday by left-wing daily Liberation after an investigation by the newspaper's own fact-checking unit exposed its existence. The revelations also led to the suspension of the newspaper's online editor Alexandre Hervaud and his opposite number at France's trendiest music and culture magazine, Les Inrockuptibles, David Doucet. The affair is being dubbed the "French media's #MeToo", with Liberation referring to the group as a "boys' club" which bullied women online and cracked off-colour jokes about rape culture. Victims of the group recounted how the attacks and pranks had pushed one woman to quit journalism and left another suicidal. League of LOL targeted science presenter Florence Porcel, seeking to humiliate her by getting group members to pose as the producers of a prestigious television programme offering her a job, then posted the recording of the fake interview online. Other women had their heads grafted onto pornographic images. Set up in 2009, the League of LOL also had members in public relations, graphic design, and media education. It had been much less active in recent years. The head of a porn culture website, Stephen des Aulnois, stepped down Monday and suspended his Le Tag Parfait (The Perfect Tag) blog, apologising for his part in the activities of the group that gets its name from the acronym for "laugh out loud". In a separate development, Le Monde newspaper said Monday that three journalists from the French edition of the Huffington Post news site, in which Le Monde has a stake, had been fired for making "unacceptable remarks in a work context". Le Monde's editor-in-chief Jerome Fenoglio and publisher Louis Dreyfus said the three were fired over their posts on a closed Facebook page, without revealing the nature of the remarks or whether they were linked to the League of LOL. - 'I am ashamed' - Des Aulnois admitted the League of LOL was guilty of "repeated online harassment. I apologise to all those I hurt and harassed... I am also guilty of silence and inaction during all those years when I knew." Group founder Glad, who is on a freelance contract at Liberation, at first denied it was a macho crusade. "There was never an anti-feminist obsession inside the group. We make fun of everything and everybody," he insisted. But in a lengthy apology on Twitter, Glad said he was "horrified to now see my tweets from 2013 when I joked about rape culture. I am ashamed." Glad said he "had not realised until today how macho our stance was. I didn't see how our jokes were shutting down the first wave of feminists speaking out on social media. "I had the stupid reaction of many men at the time -- why are they annoying us with all this?" he added. Christophe Carron, editor of the French edition of online magazine Slate, also admitted having been a member of the group. Journalist Melanie Wanga, who said she quit Twitter for several years because of abuse, tweeted that the harassers were finally getting their comeuppance. "Imagine being a young, black woman journalist talking about blackface and apartheid and getting this stuff (racial and sexist harassment) multiplied by 20 from your 'colleagues'," she said. "You can see these harassers erasing all their dodgy tweets and talking about equality and regurgitating the work of all the feminists they attacked to buy themselves a new virginity," she added France's minister for digital affairs, Mounir Mahjoubi, described the men behind League of LOL as "losers". "It is a group of guys high on their power at being able to make fun of other people. Except that their mockery had an effect in real life," he said. Equality Minister Marlene Schiappa underscored that online harassment was outlawed, and said she was considering extending the six-year cut-off for prosecuting alleged crimes. Under the law as it stands, only law-breaking posts after 2013 could be prosecuted. tsz-sr-fg-cb/ach The closed "League of LOL" Facebook group ridiculed female journalists for years, sometimes using pornographic memes to attack them The founder of the closed Facebook group was journalist Vincent Glad, who was suspended by left-wing daily Liberation after an investigation by the newspaper's own fact-checking unit exposed its existence Online harassment is against the law, French Equality Minister Marlene Schiappa (L) said, while Mounir Mahjoubi (R), the minister for digital affairs, described the League of LOL members as "losers" French rail authorities said Tuesday they were investigating the cause of a rare tram collision in a Paris suburb which injured 12 people, one of them seriously. The collision took place late Monday in the Issy-les-Moulineaux suburb southwest of the capital just after 9:00 pm (2000 GMT). "Two tram carriages collided with passengers on board," a spokesman for the RATP Paris rail operator said. "The one in front was stopped, and the other crashed into it from behind," causing the first tram to derail. "One victim is in serious condition, and 11 others have minor injuries," a spokesperson for the fire department said, adding that nine of the victims had been brought to local hospitals. Traffic was "entirely cut off" during the night, and bus services were put in place as repair work was carried out at the site of the crash. RATP chief executive Catherine Guillouard visited the scene overnight, saying "an internal enquiry was immediately triggered in order to shed light on the causes of this accident." Traffic is expected to be disrupted for several days as the repair work is carried out, the RATP said. Accidents are rare on the busy Paris suburban tram network, which was opened two decades ago. A Paris tram barreled into one that wasn't moving late Monday in a suburb southwest of the capital, injuring 12 Antonio Perez-Pool/Getty Images(CHICAGO) -- Illinois prosecutors are seeking a harsher sentence for a white former Chicago police officer who was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2014 shooting death of an African-American teenager. The state attorney general and a special prosecutor filed a petition with the state Supreme Court challenging a trial judge's sentencing of Jason Van Dyke to less than seven years in prison for the killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. "I recognize that a trial judge's discretion in sentencing is to be given great deference," Illinois State Attorney General Kwame Raoul said at a news conference Monday. "However, it is in the interest of justice that we do all within our power to make sure that such exercise in discretion be applied consistent with the mandates of law, no matter who the defendant and no matter who the victim." On Oct. 5, a Cook County Circuit Court jury found Van Dyke guilty on charges of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm stemming from an incident in which the former officer fired 16 shots at McDonald in a span of 15 seconds. Judge Vincent Gaughan's sentencing of Van Dyke prompted outrage from McDonald's family and community activists who saw it as far too lenient. In their filing on Monday in what is called a "mandamus" petition, Raoul and Special Prosecutor Joseph McMahan argued that Cook County Circuit Court Judge Vincent Gaughan erred in sentencing Van Dyke "solely on the second-degree murder conviction" and by declining to impose a sentence on the counts of aggravated battery. "The People argued that Judge Gaughan was required to sentence Van Dyke on each of the 16 aggravated battery with firearm convictions," according to the petition. The petition cited the trial testimony of Dr. Ponni Arunkumar, the Cook County medical examiner, that each shot that struck McDonald contributed to his death. Citing legal precedent, prosecutors argued that Gaughan should have been required to sentence Van Dyke on the 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm. The former officer could have faced at least six years in prison on each charge, for a total of 96 years. "Because the People separately charged each shot and the jury convicted on each count, separate convictions and sentences are required," the petition states. The prosecutors are asking the state Supreme Court to send the case back to Gaughan for resentencing. The move by prosecutors prompted Van Dyke's attorneys to file an appeal of his conviction. The defense team has seven days to file a response to the prosecution's petition. "I think this is politically motivated and I don't think it's an appropriate filing based on the issues at hand," Van Dyke's attorney, Jennifer Blagg, told ABC News on Tuesday. "A mandamus is an extraordinary remedy that should only be used in very unique circumstances and this isn't one of those circumstances." Blagg said Gaughan relied on case law to render his sentence. Blagg said the prosecutor's petition "opens a Pandora's box that we were going to leave alone." "Jason doesn't want a new trial," Blagg said. "He doesn't want to put his family through it again." She said the Van Dyke's appeal is based on grounds that he should have never been charged with the aggravated battery counts. "The special prosecutor came on the case and added those charges a very long time after Mr. Van Dyke was originally indicted and we don't think that was proper," Blagg said. Van Dyke shot McDonald on Oct. 20, 2014. Video released during the investigation showed McDonald was armed with a knife but the teen didn't appear to be moving toward the police officers who responded. During his trial, Van Dyke testified that he believed McDonald was coming at him with a knife. "We never lost eye contact. His eyes were bugging out of his face," Van Dyke said. "His face was expressionless. He turned his torso towards me." He said he told McDonald to drop the knife, but "he never dropped it." "My focus was just on that knife, and I just wanted him to get rid of that knife," Van Dyke testified. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. An Afghan mujahideen commander who fought the Soviets and rose to become the country's first president after the Red Army retreated has died aged 93, his family said Tuesday. Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, who commanded a mujahideen faction during the decade-long insurgency against the Soviet occupiers, passed away late Monday in a Kabul hospital after a long illness. Prominent Afghans, including former president Hamid Karzai, have begun visiting the Mojaddedi family home to pay their respects. Afghanistan's de facto prime minister Abdullah Abdullah extended his condolences to the respected Mojaddedi clan. "He has played a vital role in all national issues and his legacy will remain part of Afghanistan?s history," he posted on Twitter. Presidential candidate and former national security adviser Mohammad Haneef Atmar said Mojaddedi's passing "leaves a huge vacuum in Afghan politics and public life". Mojaddedi's death comes three days before the 30th anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Red Army crossed the Amu Darya river into Soviet Uzbekistan on February 15, 1989 having suffered 15,000 losses. After the withdrawal, Afghanistan's communist regime collapse in 1992 and Mojaddedi, who led the Afghan National Liberation Front, was chosen as interim president. He served just two months under a power-sharing deal struck by mujahideen leaders. These factions later turned on each other and Afghanistan plunged into civil war. But Mojaddedi continued to play a prominent role in Afghan politics, particularly after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. In 2003, Mojaddedi served as chairman of the Loya Jirga -- or Grand Assembly -- that approved Afghanistan's new constitution for a post-Taliban era. He also chaired a four-day gathering of around 2,500 tribal elders in 2013 to endorse a security agreement under which the United States would keep troops in Afghanistan to train Afghan forces and conduct counterterrorism operations. Sibghatullah Mojaddedi was a former mujahideen commander who fought against the Soviets and rose to become president of Afghanistan Michelle Obama, 55, showed up at the Grammys last night, to the delight of the music industrys best and brightest. The First Lady and Becoming author made a surprise appearance at the Grammy Awards ceremony, which was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. She was pictured alongside the likes of Alicia Keys, Jada Pinkett Smith, J Lo and Lady Gaga. Posting the image to her 26.8 million followers on her Instagram account, Obama who wore a sparkly two piece suit for the evening revealed she was there to support Keys, who was the host of the night. Michelle Obama pictured with Jada Pinkett Smith (far left), Alicia Keys (middle), J Lo (second to right) and Lady Gaga (far right). [Photo: Getty] Taking to the stage alongside the aforementioned group of women, Obama made a moving speech on the importance of music. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. She said: Music has always helped me tell my story and I know thats true for everybody. Whether we like country or rap or rock, music helps us share ourselves, our dignity and sorrows, our hopes and joys. Click below to see Michelle Obamas best fashion looks: It allows us to hear one another, to invite each other in. Music shows us that all of it matters: Every story within every voice, every note within every song. Is that right, ladies? Obama has gone from strength to strength since the publication of her memoir, Becoming, late last year. Last December, she delighted fans on social media, wearing a sparkly 3,000 pair of boots by Balenciaga for an interview with Sarah Jessica Parker, 53, as part of her book tour. 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: Michelle Obamas best fashion moments: How to dress like a former First Lady Piers Morgan criticises Michelle Obama for trash-talking Melania Trump Michelle Obama gave her real opinion about lean in and a swear word was involved The Australian dollar is under pressure The Australian dollar came under renewed selling pressure on Monday, undermined by broad-based US dollar strength. However, it performed better against the crosses, particularly the British pound. Heres the scoreboard at 8.15am in Sydney on Tuesday. AUD/USD 0.7062 , -0.0026 , -0.37% AUD/JPY 77.94 , 0.19 , 0.24% AUD/CNH 4.8003 , -0.0077 , -0.16% AUD/EUR 0.6263 , 0.0007 , 0.11% AUD/GBP 0.5491 , 0.0018 , 0.33% AUD/NZD 1.0481 , -0.0018 , -0.17% AUD/CAD 0.9395 , -0.0014 , -0.15% Once again the prevailing theme of the session was US dollar strength. It rallied against all other G10 currencies, helping the US dollar index (DXY) climb to the highest level this year. The DXY has now rallied for nine consecutive sessions. The outstanding feature of financial markets has been further gains for the US dollar, now sitting at its strongest level of 2019 in DXY terms, albeit still comfortably inside the range that has held since mid-2018, says Ray Attrill, Head of FX Strategy at the National Australia Bank. This is largely by default, USD again looking like the cleanest dirty shirt in the laundry. The British pound was the biggest loser for the session, weighed down by weak economic growth and a lack of clarity on Brexit negotiations. The euro, the largest component in the DXY, was also under pressure on renewed concerns over political instability in Spain. A lift in US bond yields ensured the greenback performed strongly against all of the other major crosses, including the Aussie dollar which fell to the lowest level since early January this year. Turning to the day ahead, it will be an important one for traders with several notable economic releases scheduled in Australia. The National Australia Banks latest update on Australian business confidence and conditions in January will be released at 11.30am AEDT. In December, conditions fell by the most since the GFC, leaving overall conditions at levels not seen in several years. The RBA will be paying close attention to the release, warning in its quarterly statement on monetary policy (SoMP) last week that the sharp slump in conditions seen in December, if sustained, would imply a weaker outcome for both investment and employment growth than its current forecasts foresee. Story continues Of note, Roy Morgan Researchs separate Australian business confidence index plunged to multi-year lows in January. Arriving alongside the NAB report, the ABS will also release Australian home loan lending data for December at 11.30am AEDT. Markets are looking for owner-occupier home loans to decrease by 2.8% following a 0.9% decline in November. Outside of the domestic data dump midway through the Asian session, the economic calendar elsewhere is relatively quiet, a scenario that could see the Chinese yuan play a more prominent role in dictating movements in the Aussie dollar in the second half of Asian trade. On the data front, JOLTS job openings and NFIB Small Business Optimism from the United States are the headline acts. On the central bank front, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, BoE Governor Mark Carney and Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann will also deliver speeches. Business Insider Make your money work with Yahoo Finances daily newsletter. Sign up here and stay on top of the latest money, news and tech news. Now read: Shares vs property: whichll make you the most money? Now read: Labors negative gearing plans will lead to a spike in overseas buyers Now read: Meet Mia, the new robot who will help you secure a home loan YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan today received the EU-member States Special Envoys for the Eastern Partnership. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister, in his opening remarks, Nikol Pashinyan said: I am glad to welcome such a representative delegation from the EU member states whose primary task is to promote the vision and the progress of the Eastern Partnership. Partnership with the European Union is of an immense importance for Armenia especially for the institution building and economic development of our country. The Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is the main instrument of our cooperation, and Armenia is fully committed to its implementation. This is a landmark strategic document, which provides effective mechanisms for advancing both our partnership with Europe and the reforms in our country. We hope that the ratification of the Agreement will be carried out in a timely manner. I am grateful for those countries which have already completed it. But at the same time, taking this opportunity I would like to ask you to convey our request to your governments to expedite the ratification process. As you may know, last year our country and society have undergone through tectonic transformations, which led to the triumph of true democracy. The Armenian society here in Armenia and in Diaspora has fully embraced and supported those developments. Our Government aspires to strengthen human rights, achieve coherent democracy, good governance, the rule of law, independence of judiciary and level playing field for all political and economic actors. This makes us even closer to the values and aspirations that have been put at the heart of the Eastern Partnership. The logical pinnacle of our revolution was the snap parliamentary elections held last December. I am proud that the international observers assessed the elections as completely consistent with OSCE standards, and hailed as democratic, free, fair and transparent. In fact, they were the best elections ever held in Armenia since the first years of our independence. Having finalized the political transformation, our government is currently concentrated on the economic transition. We have to make an economic revolution. We have adopted ambitious reform agenda aimed at establishing a true competitive environment for doing business, improving and simplifying the regulatory framework, eliminating barriers to trade, and attracting foreign direct investment. As one of our priorities we are currently making steps to promote technology and knowledge based economy. Today, the technology sector is one of the driving forces of our economic growth. Information Technologies have huge potential for development in Armenia. They are becoming one of our main comparative advantages and could constitute the corner stone of our economy in the future. In this regard I would like to inform you, that Armenia will host the 23rd World Congress on Information Technology, which will be held from October 6 to 9, 2019, in Yerevan. Hundreds of business community members, academicians and government representatives from a few dozen countries will attend the event. Taking this opportunity, I would like to ask you to share this information with your respective governments to dispatch their representatives to this remarkable event. Implementation of reforms is a difficult process requiring significant financial and intellectual resources. In this regard, the continuous EU financial and technical assistance is of critical importance for us. We highly appreciate it. However, to tell the truth, today we are expecting more support from the EU. We believe that it should conform with the remarkable democratic achievements registered in Armenia. Please convey to your capitals the message that enhanced EU assistance could accelerate the reforms undertaken in Armenia, and make them more robust and instrumental. Visa Liberalization Dialogue is another important commitment. Armenia has been undertaking consistent steps towards the effective implementation of the Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements. And, we hope that the EU Member States will duly evaluate our progress and develop the required Visa Liberalization Action Plan. With regard to the Nagorno Karabakh, I would just like to inform you that yesterday, I met with the EU special representative for South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia Mr. Toivo Klaar, and had a detailed conversation over the conflict and my recent meetings with president Aliyev. Here, I want to conclude my remarks just to leave more time for your questions. I am ready to answer to all your questions including those pertaining to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. On behalf of the delegation, Special Envoy on Eastern Partnership at Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs Dr. Thomas M. Buchsbaum stressed the importance of todays meeting, which was an opportunity to discuss issues related to the Eastern Partnership program and the deepening of EU-Armenia cooperation. Mr. Pashinyan, representatives from 16 EU-member states have arrived in Armenia to get acquainted with your reform agenda, your vision of economic revolution and express their readiness to support Armenia, which is part of the Eastern Partnership program. We welcome the peaceful implementation of democratic changes in Armenia and the smooth transition to the parliamentary system of governance, he said. Dr. Thomas M. Buchsbaum welcomed the holding of parliamentary elections in Armenia in December last year, which fully complied with the standards of democratic elections and the results of which once again testified to the great public confidence in the Prime Minister of Armenia. Speaking about the December 9 elections, Nikol Pashinyan stated, in part: They proved to be the first-ever free, fair, transparent and democratic elections in the history of independent Armenia. Elections used to be rigged in Armenia before that. The chapter of fraudulent elections is closed forever, which is the reflection of our political will. Our agenda is to strengthen democracy and transform the economy. The Premier underscored that the economic revolution is supposed to create real opportunities for people, local and foreign investors, and the government is already implementing reforms to improve the applicable legislative and institutional framework, as well as to introduce new tools. In response to questions about democracy in Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan emphasized: Democracy is an inner conviction for us; it is a system of values to our society, not a foreign policy or a geopolitical choice. During the question-and-answer session, Prime Minister Pashinyan touched upon Armenias democratic challenges, the strengthening of democratic institutions, the fight against corruption, the final success of the reform process, womens increased involvement in public life, the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the development of EU-Armenia cooperation, the opportunities available to Armenias partners and a number of other issues of topical concern. YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. The Special Investigation Service of Armenia pressed new charges against 2nd President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, Kocharyans defense team informed ARMENPRESS. In addition to Article 300.1 of the criminal code of Armenia which is about overthrowing the constitutional order, Robert Kocharyan is now charged also under Article 311 (part 4 point 2), which is about receiving bribe of particularly large amount. Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. The defense cooperation between Armenia and Cyprus has expanded by covering 15 sectors instead of 13, Armenian defense minister Davit Tonoyan said during a joint press conference with defense minister of Cyprus Savvas Angelides in Yerevan, reports Armenpress. He stated that the Armenian-Cypriot bilateral historic cooperation is based on friendship, mutual willingness and common approaches of the two peoples. We have discussed with the defense minister of Cyprus the current situation in the defense sector and the opportunity to expand it. I would like to inform that our 13 cooperation areas became 15. I have introduced the details of Armenias humanitarian mission in Syria, and we believe that the exchange of information in the Middle East is very important by both sides, Tonoyan said. He added that they have also discussed issues relating to the organization of mandatory military service. As you know, Cyprus is among the few EU member states that keeps the mandatory military service and has great opportunities to exchange experience with us as they share all the difficulties connected with the mandatory military service. And we have agreed to exchange information as a priority, Davit Tonoyan noted. During our meeting we once again highlighted the high-level political relations between the two friendly countries and reaffirmed our common approaches over international and regional security issues, he added. In his turn defense minister of Cyprus Savvas Angelides thanked the Armenian counterpart for the invitation and added that he visited Armenia with a great pleasure. My todays visit proves that the two countries have potential for the development of future programs and defense cooperation. Our two countries share the same interests on regional matters. We are committed to the maintenance of regional peace and international laws. These are historical values which always accompany the people. The defense cooperation program, that we signed today, pushes us one step forward at the cooperation level and aims at developing our partnership in different matters of regional security, he said. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has touched upon the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement process while speaking in parliament today about the governments action plan. Pashinyan presented the existing situation to lawmakers in detail, and then noted he asks himself to what extent is the Azerbaijani government authorized to speak on behalf of Azerbaijanis themselves. We [Armenia] are saying that the Prime Minister of Armenia, me specifically, can negotiate in the context of the NK conflict settlement on behalf of Armenia, and I cant negotiate on behalf of Artsakh, because it wasnt the people of Artsakh who elected me Prime Minister of Armenia and didnt vote in the parliamentary election in Armenia, therefore it hasnt authorized neither the parliament nor prime minister to proceed on behalf of it in negotiations anywhere. But the people of Karabakh have their own elections, they elect their parliament, their president, and therefore it has through elections developed bodies whom it has authorized to act on behalf of it. Therefore, we are saying that in the context of the NK conflict settlement a representative of Karabakh must [negotiate] on behalf of Karabakh. We note that we dont plan to make decision instead of Karabakh, we only can make decision instead of ourselves. Although on the other hand we note that Armenia is the guarantor of security of Karabakh, and we say that a representative of Karabakh must sit at the negotiations table because back in the 1994 Budapest format Karabakh is acknowledges as a party to negotiations. In response to this, Azerbaijan says they in turn will bring representatives of the Azerbaijani community of Karabakh to the negotiations, meaning those Azerbaijanis who have lived in Nagorno Karabakh in the past. We say, those people are taking part in the negotiations today too, and have always participated because they are citizens of Azerbaijan, they participate in the parliamentary and presidential elections in Azerbaijan, their voting determines who is the president of Azerbaijan, therefore by participating in these elections they have their representative in the negotiations format, in person of the President of Azerbaijan. Factually, with this the Azerbaijani leadership is saying that there are citizens in their country, I am speaking about Azerbaijanis that lived in Karabakh in the past, whom they dont have a mandate of representing. If they say yes, we ask are there any other citizens in your country whom the President of Azerbaijan is not representing? For example the Talysh minority, or Kirovabad, or the population of Ghazakh, is the Azerbaijani president representing them or not? Therefore, a question arises, to what extent is the circle of these citizens broad, and to what extent is the incumbent Azerbaijani government authorized to negotiate on behalf of the Azerbaijani people, Pashinyan said. The latest meeting between Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev took place in January 2019 during the World Economic Forum in Davos. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov will hold telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on February 12, RIA Novosti reports. The State Department has asked to organize a phone conversation today with Mike Pompeo. It will be held. Pompeo, probably, wants to inform me something over Venezuela, Lavrov told reporters after the talks with the foreign minister of Finland. Lavrov also informed that he is going to discuss the Venezuelan crisis with the EUs Federica Mogherini at their upcoming meeting. My meeting with Federica Mogherini is being planned for the coming days. Of course, we will discuss the situation in Venezuela and the EUs position on the matter, Lavrov said. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. PM Nikol Pashinyan says making significant changes in relations between Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora is extremely important. As you know, when making governmental structural changes we focus not as much and not only on changes in physical structure, but functional changes and we believe that in the state administration system each institution must implement a single function, because if several institutions are implementing the same function and the same time, we can say for the record that these functions are factually not being done, the PM told lawmakers today in parliament. Overall, one of the reasons for deciding that Armenia should not have a Diaspora Minister was this, because it was implementing functions that were already being done by other ministries. I am talking about educational, cultural, youth and organizational functions. And instead of this, important functions that must be implemented in terms of relations with the Diaspora, basically were not being implemented. And I would like to note the following, the government is inclined not to have a Diaspora Minister in the structure of the government. Instead, we will have a high commissioner for Diaspora affairs at the PMs Office, who on behalf and at the direction of the PM will carry out the policy of relations with the Diaspora, and will also at the PMs instruction coordinate the ministries work in the relations with the Diaspora, at the same time by ensuring rather high and duly level of the Armenia-Diaspora relations, he said. According to the PM, Armenia still doesnt have a mapping of the Diasporas potential around the world. Therefore, this entire system isnt sufficiently organized, and if you have noticed the governments action plan has a special focus on the creation of a pan-Armenian network, he said. Another important task, according to the PM, is the creation of a single institution or format representing the Diaspora. We must be able to develop and formulate a concrete address to record who we should speak to for speaking with the Diaspora. There are many issues in the governments, political agenda, and when they say these issues must be discussed with the Diaspora whom exactly? The Diaspora is huge and is very comprehensive. There are thousands of organizations and if it is physically possible to discuss with a part of them, it is impossible to discuss with the other part and everyone. We therefore have the task to create a representational institution representing the entire Diaspora and we all understand that this will be an extremely big challenge and a serious issue, because you know that the Diaspora is multi-layered, it is very complex, there are multiple relations, contradictions. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. Aurora Humanitarian Initiative continues to support the Matenadaran, Armenias national repository of ancient manuscripts, with a new grant of $20,000. With these funds, the Matenadaran will commission the preparation and design of an interactive table-map of Armenian Scriptoria, IDeA Foundation told Armenpress. Scriptoria, or Monastic Writing Centers, have a special significance in the cultural life of the Armenian nation. They were the unique art and cultural spaces where Armenian scribes and miniaturists created and copied illuminated manuscripts. The interactive table-map will bring together these writing centers, creating comprehensive image of Armenian manuscript culture. Having these centers in one place will deepen the understanding of the geography, history, and development of Armenian manuscript heritage in Armenia and in Armenian communities worldwide. Our collaboration with the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative is invaluable, said Vahan Ter-Ghevondyan, director of the Matenadaran. This new project of the interactive table-map will be a very helpful visual aid that presents the scriptoria for the spiritual and cultural centers. These advanced technological solutions are the most impactful ways of introducing this rich heritage, and its significance to global culture, he continued. Simply by touching the interactive map every visitor of the Matenadaran will be able to travel deep into the history of the development of the dozens of scriptoria. Individual multi-touch windows will present detailed information and images of the writing centers, as well as their brief history, geographical location, and architectural characteristics of the complexes in which they existed. Additional windows will provide information about manuscripts, such as their titles, numbers and locations, scribes and miniature artists, statistical data, and other. We are delighted to continue the cooperation with the Matenadaran, the immense depository of Armenian manuscripts. These manuscripts are windows into the intellectual history of Armenia and the Western world. Aurora believes in the value of presenting the Armenian past and present within the context of global developments. This project does just that, going beyond preservation to easy and multi-layered access, stated Vartan Gregorian, Co-Founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative. This is Auroras fourth grant to the Matenadaran within Auroras Armenian Memory Act program, aimed at enhancing the preservation and use of archives and documentation of the Armenian experience. In 2015, funds from Aurora enabled the Matenadaran to purchase a special scanner to digitize manuscripts, making them more accessible for researchers and the wider public. Over 4560 manuscripts and archival documents have been digitized to date. The 2016 grant funded the training of ten Matenadaran guides in Germany. By visiting various museums and cultural centers they learned new approaches to museum management and further developed professional skills needed for guides working in foreign languages. The 2017 grant helped Matenadaran organize more than 50 lectures on general topics in the humanities, as well as specific subjects related to the Matenadaran collection, including Medieval Studies, Manuscript Studies, historical primary sources, bibliography formation, restoration and preservation of manuscripts, and archival documents. A new brochure is currently being prepared for guides and researchers working in the Matenadaran. YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is presenting the governments action plan to lawmakers. Our goal is termed in the very first paragraph of our action plan submitted to parliament In the next five years, the activity of the Armenian government will be aimed at building a competitive and inclusive economy aimed at exports, in line with high environmental, high tech and industrial standarts in Armenia. This means that the main task of the government is changing the GDP structure in a way that five years later technologies and technological innovations become the locomotive of our economy, the PM said, adding that the government seeks to make technological sectors the main determiner of the economy. In short, from all human abilities the moving force of the Armenian economy must first of all be the human mind, intellect and initiative, he said. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan considers export as the main prospect of the countrys economic development, reports Armenpress. In fact, here we have unlimited opportunities as Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), on the other hand the EAEU has free trade deals with a number of countries, such as Iran and Vietnam. And the geography of such agreements will expand in the near future. Armenia uses GSP and GSP+ privileged trade systems with a number of Western countries. Thus, there is a great export potential which is not utilized, the PM said during the debate of the governments Action Plan in the Parliament. He added that the main problem in the export field is to make the Armenian goods in accordance with the high-quality international standards, as well as the presence of respective volumes and marketing issues. Our government will do everything to provide support to the business on these matters and ensure for them a real access to markets. The biggest problem in the export field is to become a country exporting ready-made products from a country that exports minerals. Greatly increasing the export share of high technological goods in this structure is our key ambition. In order to solve this problem the competitiveness of Armenian goods and services is vital, Pashinyan said. He said this is going to be the next key direction of the governments activity when the competitiveness of the economy should greatly increase through a balanced tax system and constant increase of labor productivity. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. The traffic department of the Georgian ministry of infrastructures told Armenias ministry of transport, communication and information technologies that on February 12, as of 10:00, the Stepantsminda-Lars highway is open for all types of vehicles, the ministry told Armenpress. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. On February 13, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh, the OSCE Mission will conduct a planned monitoring of the ceasefire regime on the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Artsakh and Azerbaijan, to the east of Talish village of the Martakert region, the foreign ministry of Artsakh told Armenpress. From the positions of the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh, the monitoring will be conducted by Field Assistants to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ghenadie Petrica (Moldova) and Ognjen Jovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina). The authorities of the Republic of Artsakh have expressed their readiness to assist in conducting the monitoring and to ensure the security of the OSCE Mission members. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. Venezuela has received the first batch of humanitarian aid on February 11, the countrys opposition leader Juan Guaido said on Twitter, adding that it was handed over to doctors, TASS reports. In accordance with our competences, we have delivered the first batch of humanitarian aid for the Association of Healthcare Centers. The cargo contains 1.7 million sets of baby food and 4.5 million supplements for pregnant women, Guaido said without specifying how the cargo entered Venezuelas territory. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the initiative on humanitarian aid delivery represents oligarchy's bad and cheap show and called on Venezuelans to refuse it. Despite the position announced by official Caracas, a checkpoint for distributing humanitarian aid to Venezuelans was opened on February 8 in Colombia's border city of Cucuta. On January 23 Venezuelan National Assembly Speaker Juan Guaido proclaimed himself as the countrys acting president. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has described it as a coup attempt and announced severing diplomatic relations with the United States. Guaido was recognized as interim president by the Lima Group countries (except for Mexico), as well as by Albania, Georgia, the United States, and the Organization of American States. Several EU countries came forward with support for the Venezuelan parliament and expressed hope for new elections to resolve the crisis. Maduro was supported by Russia, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Turkey. Belarus and China called for resolving all issues by peaceful means and spoke against any interference from the outside. The UN Secretary-General called for dialogue to resolve the crisis. YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. The session of the Parliament of Armenia has kicked off on February 12, reports Armenpress. The lawmakers are going to debate the governments Action Plan. The main reporter is Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The government approved the Action Plan during the February 8 extraordinary session. According to the Constitution of Armenia, the Parliament approves the governments Action Plan within seven days by the majority of votes of the total number of MPs. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. Two Iranian citizens have been arrested in Yerevan in suspicion of drug trafficking, the Investigative Committee said in a news release. In a joint operation conducted with the organized crime unit of the Yerevan police, detectives detained a 39 year-old previously convicted Yerevan local on February 9 from the Rostovyan and Artsakh street intersection. Two Iranian nationals, aged 39 and 48, were also detained from the same location in suspicion of narcotics trafficking. Another Iranian, aged 60, and a taxi driver who drove him to the location, were also detained. A digital scale and more than 52 grams of methamphetamine was found in a bag belonging to the Iranian, authorities said. The other detained Iranians carried different amounts of heroin, opium and hashish. In addition, drugs were also found during a search of one of the Iranian nationals apartment. According to the Investigative Committee, the street price for 1 gram of heroin and meth is from 200 to 300 dollars. The 48-year-old and 60-year-old Iranian nationals have been arrested. Authorities said they continue investigating the case. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. Kemal (Kevin) Oksuz, a former Houston-based Turkish-American lobbyist and businessman convicted of lying to the U.S. Congress about Azerbaijan's role in funding a trip for 10 American lawmakers, and who was later arrested in Armenia, walked out of a federal courthouse Monday a free man. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of the US District Court for the District of Columbia delivered the rather mild sentence February 11. The court credited the 49-year-old with the three months he spent in an Armenian jail last year, plus another week that he was detained upon his return to the U.S. He was arrested in Yerevan on an international arrest warrant and was later extradited to the United States. He will serve two years of probation and pay a $20,000 fine. The Justice Department, however, sought one year imprisonment the maximum possible under federal sentencing guidelines. "Your honor, standing here is a great shame on me," Oksuz said in court February 11 as quoted by the Houston Chronicle. "I feel embarrassed," he continued, chocking back emotion. "It is not easy for me. I am going through hard times... I take full responsibility for my unlawful conduct. I apologize. I am sorry for all the mess I have caused." In turn, the Armenian National Committee of America lambasted the mild sentence. This laughably light sentence sends the wrong message to foreign powers intent on interfering in our American political process, commented ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. We are, nonetheless, gratified to have played a role in bringing this scandal to light through our successful campaign for the release of a long suppressed Congressional Ethics Office report on Oksuzs criminal conduct. Earlier in December 2018, Armenian authorities said they have extradited Oksuz to the United States. Judge Chutkan called the sentencing a "difficult decision." She said she recognized the government's position that lying to Congress undermines Democracy and the rule of law and that the sentence needs to provide a deterrent. "Though it is a 'paper crime,' it is still a serious offense," she said, according to the Houston Chronicle. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marco Palmieri, seeking a full year prison sentence, added that "it was orchestrated, it was deliberate, and it was premeditated." According to Oksuz, fearing that lawmakers would not take the trip if they knew the true source of the funding, he decided to keep that from them. The trip was funded by SOCAR the Azerbaijani state owned oil company. Justice Department lawyers rejected that narrative, pointing out that the trip's long paper trail led directly to the Azeri state oil company. "There is clear evidence that SOCAR was driving this," Palmieri said. "As for what the motive was, it's not for the government to speculate." Prosecutors also raised questions about Oksuz's more recent work with Arlington Strategic Supplies and Manufacturing, a New York company reportedly involved in international arms sales, including guns and rocket or grenade launchers. This is quite a leap," Chutkan said. "I have nothing but speculation. I can't take that into consideration." Prosecutors also asked Chutkan to take into account his efforts to evade investigators and minimize his crime. However, the judge delivered the seemingly light sentence, and Oksuz walked out of court a free man. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan New Braunfels, TX (78130) Today Intervals of clouds and sunshine. High 94F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Clear skies with a few passing clouds. Low 76F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. This item is available in full to subscribers. Attention subscribers We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription. If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you've not yet logged in to your account on this new site. If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account by clicking here. Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing. Posted Monday, February 11, 2019 12:00 pm A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, at Lord of The Lake Lutheran Church. Zelma McCracken, 89, of Diamond City, better known as Zel or Sis, went to be with our Lord on Thursday, Jan. 24 (2019). A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, at Lord of The Lake Lutheran Church, with Minister Dr. Shari Marshall officiating. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to The Lord of The Lake Lutheran Church where she was a member. Zel was born March 7,1929, in Schuyler County, Illinois, to Charles and Elizabeth Akers. She married Rodgers McCracken on Feb. 16, 1963, in Rock Island, Illinois. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; half-brothers, Leslie Akers and Paul Hubbs; half-sister, Imogene Cox; brothers David and Chuck Akers; and sister,Virginia Parker. She is survived by her sister, Donna (Eugene) Reeves, of Diamond City. and brother, Max (Sharon) Akers, of Fayetteville. She has numerous nieces and nephews as well as great-nieces and great-nephews and dear friends whom she cherished. She lived in Key Largo, Florida, for over 30 years and worked for Monroe County as a Senior Citizen Van Driver. Zel had lived in Diamond City since 2005. Zel will be cremated and her ashes will be buried with her husband in Homestead, Florida. She will be missed. Memorials may be made to Lord of the Lake Lutheran Church. Arrangements are by Kirby and Family Funeral and Cremation Services - Summit, Arkansas. Visit an online obituary and guestbook at www.kirbyandfamily.com . Pattanaphong Khuankaew/iStock(NEW YORK) -- A Maine man was arrested in Columbus, Ohio, on Feb. 8 amid allegations that he has been simultaneously married to three different women in three different states. The Franklin County Sheriffs Office in Ohio announced the arrest of Michael Middleton, who they nicknamed Cupid of Chaos. He is wanted in New Hampshire for bigamy, officials said. Middleton, 43, is being held in Franklin County Jail on warrants from Maine stemming from charges of domestic violence, violation of protective order, driving under the influence, driving without a valid license, and violating conditions of release, according to a statement from the Franklin County Sheriffs Office. He has an extradition hearing scheduled for Friday. According to an earlier January indictment from Strafford County, New Hampshire, Middleton allegedly committed bigamy when he married Alicia Grant in Dover, New Hampshire in 2013, despite already being married to Katherine Lashley in Georgia and Kassandra Shipley in Alabama. Middleton was scheduled to be arraigned on the bigamy charge in Strafford County on Feb. 7, but did not appear, an official from the New Hampshire Judicial Branch told ABC News. Grant told ABC Portland, Maine, affiliate WMTW-TV that she was scammed out of $20,000 by Middleton. "He makes you feel special, he makes you feel like he actually cares about you, and then he marries you, abuses you, drains your assets and leaves," Grant told WMTW. Middleton was arrested after officials received a phone tip saying that there were warrants out on him, and was in the area, according to the Franklin County Sheriffs Office. Deputies went to a location in Columbus, Ohio, where the tipster said Middleton would soon be arriving, and he was taken into custody without incident. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Sport American Korda seeks another win in LPGAs 3rd major of year Nelly Korda says she had no time to celebrate her victory at last weeks Meijer Classic because the third of five majors in 2021, the Womens PGA Championship, was right around the corner. I didnt get to, Korda said of toasting her win at the Meijer. I had to get I am pleased to report that, for the first time this winter, a snow forecast seems to be panning out more or less on schedule: As the flakes blow in sideways, that "hot mess" we promised you seems to be shaping up nicely. Indeed, it's certainly scrambling air travel, the whisper of a weather event apparently prompting our local airports to announce hundreds of cancellations around 7 a.m. today. LaGuardia slashed over 400 flights (or ~35 percent of the day's schedule); JFK cut 200; and Newark dumped 100. My sincerest apologies to everyone who woke up early for their flight, looked outside and thought, without any ground cover or even, really, precipitation, everything would be fine. LGA Flight Activity Update As of 7 AM, more than 400 flights, over 35% of todays schedule, have been cancelled at LGA due to the weather. Many of these are small regional flights but all travelers should check with their carrier as additional disruptions are anticipated pic.twitter.com/XvZoR5UiNj LaGuardia Airport (@LGAairport) February 12, 2019 JFK Flight Activity Update As of 7:15 AM, more than 200 flights at #JFKairport have been cancelled due to anticipated weather conditions. Travelers should confirm flight status with their airline as more disruptions may occur once the snow/sleet move through the #NYC area. pic.twitter.com/MlOtwYMeCn Kennedy Airport (@JFKairport) February 12, 2019 EWR Activity Update As of 7:30AM, more than 100 flights at #EWR have been cancelled due to anticipated weather conditions. Travelers should confirm flight status with their airline as more disruptions may occur once the wintry mix (snow & sleet) move through the NY/NJ region. pic.twitter.com/xO87d5kmoo Newark Liberty Airport (@EWRairport) February 12, 2019 The reasoning appears to be that things will get worse later on, and even since I began writing this, the flake pace has gained noticeable steam. The National Weather Service predicts that the snow will continue into the early early afternoon, followed by freezing rain and sleet, then regular rain all evening. Throughout much of the day, temps will hover in the high 20s and low 30s, although the wind (possible 20 mph at 10 a.m.) will make this feel more like teens, maybe low 20s. Temps should rise overnight, making for a warmer Wednesday. This storm did not reserve its ire exclusively for New York, however, and therein lies the travel problem. According to AccuWeather, nearly 4 inches of snow already blanket Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, while Chicago O'Hare has canceled 250 flights, and Illinois itself owes more than 14,000 power outages to growing ice accumulations. While LaGuardia reports that most of its cancellations affected regional flights, airports nationwide must contend with winter weather, and those effects cascade out across the country. The mid-Atlantic and New England will continue to feel its effects all day. As such, delays are also possible across the board. But I bet you'd intuited that already. In all the uproar over the $3 billion that New York city and state plan to give away to win Amazon's new Queens corporate center, one of the defenses put forward by Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio has been: Everybody does it. Each year, the city and state combine to issue more than $5 billion in "tax expenditures" for economic development projects, and much of what's being granted to Jeff Bezos is routinely handed out to other companies as well: Nothing in the Amazon transaction is new," Cuomo insisted in November. "The tax incentives we provide for single business transactions are usual and typical and have been operational for decades. With billions of dollars at stake every year, you might expect that someone has been checking to see whether the public actually benefits from all these corporate tax breaks. If so, you would be wrong. While both the city and state finance departments are required to tabulate all the tax money that the government has forgone each year, neither has attempted to evaluate what kind of bangin job creation, new tax revenues, or new developmentthe public is getting for all its bucks. Last November, the city took its first tentative steps to remedy this gap in oversight. The city Independent Budget Office, at the behest of a city council law passed the previous year, evaluated the effectiveness of two longstanding economic development tax expenditure programs to see if they were meeting their goals. The findings were not good. As the IBO wrote in its final report last November: "IBO and the City Council determined that the goals were to increase employment and reduce office vacancy rates in Lower Manhattan. This evaluation did not show CRP or CEP to be effective in these regards." Council Speaker Corey Johnson promptly called for phasing out the two programs, and all signs are that they will soon be gone. (Though their costs may live on more on that later.) But it still leaves the question: How did two tax breaks rumble on for decades, costing the city a total of $400 million and counting, without anyone asking if they were worth the expense? And will other, more lucrative tax breaks like the ones that are fueling the Amazon deal be subjected to the same scrutiny? Mayor-elect Rudolph Giuliani announced the appointment of Liberal Party Chair Fran Reiter, left, as Deputy Mayor for Planning and Community Relations at a news conference in New York, December 16, 1993 (Marty Lederhandler/AP/Shutterstock ) In 1995, New York was a very different place from the hyperdeveloping forest of construction cranes we see today. The city had been hit hard by the Bush-era recession, and companies were starting to demand wired buildings to be ready for some newfangled thing called the internet. Downtown Manhattan appeared to be in especially dire straits: Vacancy rates had more than doubled from 11 percent in 1984 to nearly 23 percent in 1993. The city's deputy mayor for economic development, Fran Reiterwho currently runs her own lobbying shop with Rudy Giuliani's cousininsisted that the best way to address the problem was to offer breaks on property taxes and commercial rent taxes for any rehabbed buildings located below Murray and Frankfort Streets and built before 1975. Mayor Giuliani, though a critic of "corporate retention" deals on the campaign trail, had already begun to warm to them: He would go on to approve more than $1 billion worth of special tax breaks during his two terms in office. The mayor quickly had a bill submitted to the state legislature which, as in so many other areas, has ultimate control over city taxes to establish the Commercial Revitalization Program to provide Reiter's requested tax breaks. The legislation passed the state assembly 145-4 and the state senate 53-1, and was soon signed into New York state law by Governor George Pataki. The new program was initially set to expire in 2000. Yet five years later, with downtown vacancies having fallen to historic lows, not only was the CRP renewed, it got a little brother: the Commercial Expansion Program, which provided similar tax breaks for commercial renovations above 96th Street and in the outer boroughs. Initially intended to last only three years, the CEP was instead extended multiple times, as was its older sibling. The pro-subsidy arguments at the time were much the same as those made for the Amazon deal today: Sure, it would cost tax money, but the companies involved would be paying even more in taxes, so why not kick some back to induce them to stick around? "This is a major, major business center," said Giuliani at the bill signing. "And we were losing it, frankly." The mayor wrote to Pataki in urging him to sign the bill, "It is an aggressive program that the City believes will pay far itself over the term of the tax benefits." "We know that there are literally businesses lined up to sign leases down here" because of the new law, Reiter told the Times. And indeed, following the law's passage, downtown vacancy rates plummeted, from 20.2 percent in 1995 to just 3.6 percent in 2000. Yet the effectiveness of these tax breaks, according to the IBO study, was a mirage. "The downtown office vacancy rate was high in the early 1990s, but so was the one in Midtown, the one on the Hudson waterfront in New Jersey, and the one in Midtown South," explains Arash Farahani, the IBO economist who authored the recent study. Likewise, the study found, commercial vacancy rates across the region dropped in lockstep in the latter years of the decade "so we cannot attribute lower vacancy rates to the [CRP] program." Worse yet, many landlords appeared to be double dipping by applying for multiple tax breaks for the same renovation work, according to the report: "Since there is no law to prohibit using the same physical improvements to participate in multiple programs, some of the CRP and CEP participants may be doing so." Way back during the 1995 state senate debate over the downtown tax break, state senator Franz Leichter a devout foe of corporate subsidy programs who would end up being the only "no" vote in the senate on the legislation had raised concerns about its efficacy. Citing a projected total cost to the city of $354.1 million over the CRP's first seven years, Leichter noted, "That's a lot of money for the City of New York, and I think the question is, is this money being well spent?" There were other explanations for the high vacancy rate in downtown, said Leichter namely, the opening of the World Trade Center in the 1970s and Battery Park City in the 1980s, which had served to glut the downtown commercial rental market. And yet no one had tried to determine whether the tax break was either sufficient or necessary to turn things around. "I have asked, 'Show me one study, one survey that will prove or at least indicate that if we put this amount of money into commercial modernization and residential conversion that we're actually going to create the jobs that are being claimed, that we're going to get a good return for the public investment,'" Leichter said during the brief senate debate over the bill. "You know what? There isn't one survey. They haven't made one market study." True, no studies had been done, admitted bill sponsor Martin Connor. But, he asserted, none were needed. "Senator Leichter says, 'Where is the study?' Well, we've all seen studies and reports and false promises in paper. The people in this business, in this real estate market, got together with their consultants and devised this because they believe it works, and they are the people that have to go out and sell. They're the people who have to go out and sign those leases, sign up those tenants with these employees, and they believe it will work, and I say give them a chance." Governor Hugh Carey points to an artists' conception of the new New York Hyatt Hotel/Convention facility that will be build on the site of the former Commordore Hotel. At the launching ceremony are, from left: Donald Trump, son of the city developer Fred C. Trump; Mayor Ed Koch of New York; Carey; and Robert T. Dormer, executive vice president of the Urban Development Corp (AP/Shutterstock) New York's tax breaks first took off in the wake of the 1970s fiscal crisis, when business leaders and developersTrump among themconvinced the architects of the city's recovery that the best way to encourage private investment was with public subsidies. As more and more incentive programs were added over the years, criticism grew that the subsidies failed what was called the "but-for" test: Would much of the same development have taken place anyway but for the public cash? In 2014, newly appointed city council finance chair Julissa Ferreras-Copeland set out to answer that question. "I was briefed on these tax expenditures," Ferreras-Copeland tells Gothamist from Australia, where she relocated with her family last year, "and I'm like, 'How do we know they're working or not?' They attempted to give me an answer, but then I realized, wow, there's really no evaluating of this." To accomplish this, says Ferraras-Copeland, she and then-Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito set up a task force on economic development tax expenditures to provide a variety of perspectives on city tax breaks, including representatives of labor unions, current and former agency staffers, and other experts. "We were trying to have a breadth of opinions," Ferraras-Copeland explained. One of those task force members, James Parrott then deputy director at the Fiscal Policy Institute, now economic and fiscal policy director at the New School's Center for New York City Affairs pointed out a potential model for the city to keep tabs on tax expenditures. A decade earlier, the city Economic Development Corporation had conducted an internal study into whether the city's $500-million-a-year Industrial and Commercial Incentive Program had been as successful at spurring new development. The study found that more than three-quarters of the tax breaks were not needed, because the buildings they incentivized would have been profitable regardless. "I kept pointing out to people, we're losing a lot of money on the Hudson Yards tax breaks, and we should learn from our stupid mistakes of the past," recalls Parrott. Ultimately, the council settled on Local Law 18, which directed the IBO to start evaluating programs one at a time. Not wanting to bite off more than it could chew, the agency started with two smaller tax breaks, the CRP and CEP, that had nonetheless been a significant boon to the commercial developers and renters who received them. A City Hall official testified in 1995 that the CRP tax breaksa 50 percent cut in property taxes, plus a 100 percent rebate on commercial rent taxeswould reduce commercial rents downtown by about $5 per square foot a year, roughly a 17 percent decrease. The total cost to the city budget over the last 24 years is slightly harder to calculate, as the city's annual tax expenditure statements are inconsistently issued, and the bookkeeping over the years has changed. Still, the available reports list a total of $358 million in tax breaks via CEP and CRP since 1998 and if the missing years are in line with those before and after them, the total has almost certainly cost the city $400 million or more. The good news is that both CRP and CEP expire on their own in 2021, meaning no action needs to be taken by the state legislature for them to disappear. (Of course, at current rates the city will have forgone another $50 million in tax revenue by then.) A staffer for state senator Liz Krueger, who as chair of the senate finance committee would oversee any renewal of the programs or lack thereof, confirms that she "would not be interested in extending these unless the City Council and Mayor asked for it. So if the city wants them to sunset, she's happy to let that happen." The less-good news is that even expired tax breaks can cost taxpayers millions. Since CRP and CEP tax exemptions can last up to five years, New York City will still be paying out these tax breaks, at minimum, though 2026. It is, in fact, very common for city and state tax incentives to outlive their authorizing legislation. The Industrial and Commercial Incentive Program, which provided 25-year property-tax breaks for new or remodeled commercial and industrial buildings, was eliminated in 2008 and replaced with the scaled-back Industrial and Commercial Abatement Program. In 2017, ICAP cost the city $121.9 million in lost taxes, according to the city's annual tax expenditure report. (It's also slated to provide $386 million of the $1.3 billion the city is offering Amazon in tax breaks.) Thanks to past tax breaks that had yet to expire, though, the ten-years-dead ICIP cost a whopping $616.8 million and will go on costing hundreds of millions more into the foreseeable future. Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn join Related Companies, Oxford Properties Group to break ground on 26-acre development at Hudson Yards on December 4, 2012. The development is getting more than $5 billion in tax subsidies. (Spencer T. Tucker / Mayor's Office) The next item up for scrutiny by the Independent Budget Office is still being determined, according to Johnson's office. Big-ticket items still to be investigated include not just ICAP, but also the Relocation and Employment Assistance Program, which provides tax credits to any company that moves at least one job to New York City (including Amazon, which will collect $900 million from REAP). On the state level, the Empire State Film Production Credit delivers $382.7 million a year to film productions in New York with similarly scant evidence for encouraging job growth, while the state Excelsior job credits, which will provide $1.2 billion to Amazon (and hundreds of millions of dollars more to other companies), is set through 2026though the state legislature will have to approve lifting the existing cap on the program before Amazon can get its payday. Johnson's office, though, indicates that the next inquiry may be into company-specific subsidies, not these broad tax breaks. One holdup is that programs like REAP aren't currently eligible for a Local Law 18 review, since the city finance department is prohibited from releasing companies' tax records by state privacy laws; the speaker's office says it's currently looking into possible remedies. Ferreras, for her part, declares herself "very proud" to see Local Law 18 bear its first fruit, and is looking forward to further investigations. "There's a lot of work to be done with tax breaks that are existent, where we're talking about billions and billions of dollars that can be reinvested into our community that we're currently not collecting," she says. She also hopes the findings will help inform future legislation to spell out concrete goals for tax expenditures: "If it's meant to create jobs, then how many? When you create these breaks, you need to state clearly what is the intention, so it can be measurable." Parrott, meanwhile, says he's hopeful that the public-opinion tide may be starting to turn against tax breaks that can't prove their worth, with city comptroller Scott Stringer having already called for scaling back REAP and ICAP. "I think the environment in Albany is different enough that the programs will get trimmed," says Parrott, "I can't imagine them eliminating the programs entirely, but at a minimum they should say that any company that has a book value of more than $100 million doesn't need this." He pauses. "At a minimum, they should do that." Correction: Reiter points out that her current partnership is with Rudys cousin by marriage Catherine Giuliani, not the former mayor. Gothamist regrets the error. Zolnierek/iStock(NEW YORK) -- Notorious Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been found guilty on all charges by a jury in Brooklyn federal court. The jury found Guzman responsible for violence, including murders, as well as the "smuggling of massive amounts of narcotics" into the U.S. over decades, prosecutors told reporters after Tuesday's verdict. After the verdict, Ray Donovan, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), called Guzman a "ruthless killer" who was "responsible for unthinkable amounts of death and destruction" in the U.S. and Mexico. He was the man behind the curtain -- he pulled all the strings, Donovan said. The drug lord is expected to be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole -- a sentence that will give him "no escape and no return," Richard Donoghue, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, told reporters Tuesday. Jurors were asked to weigh 10 counts against Guzman, each with different components. Guzman's federal drug conspiracy trial started three months ago. The verdict comes on the sixth day of jury deliberations. Prosecutors accused Guzman of trafficking cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana into the U.S. as a top leader of the Sinaloa cartel. The defense asserted Guzman, 61, was the victim of an elaborate conspiracy. Over 50 witnesses were called by the prosecution, describing all aspects of Guzman's life, from brutal murders, a naked journey he took through a secret tunnel, plastic bananas filled with cocaine and spied-on mistresses. An official for the DEA on Tuesday described the verdict as justice for countless drug overdose victims in the U.S. Donovan blamed Guzman and the Sinaloa cartel for the current opioid crisis, noting they first introduced Mexican heroin laced with fentanyl into the U.S. After the verdict, a defense attorney for Guzman told reporters, "You still have to fight" no matter who your client is." "We took that obligation incredibly seriously," the defense attorney said. "This was a case that was literally, literally, an avalanche of evidence... Everything was left on the battlefield." "We judge him how he is with us" Guzman's attorneys said, describing him as a "gentleman," who acted supportive, happy and "appreciative of all of our efforts." Guzman has twice escaped from prison in Mexico, most recently in 2015. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 25. He was recaptured in 2016 and extradited to the U.S. in 2017. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. After three months of court proceedings, a Brooklyn jury declared Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman guilt on all counts Tuesday, wrapping a long trial that saw 56 witnesses paint a grimly detailed portrait of one of the world's largest drug cartels. The storied drug kingpin faced ten counts pertaining to murder conspiracy, money laundering, firearms possession, and engineering the transportation of more than 200 tons of cocaine into the United States over the course of two decades. "His conviction is a victory for every American family who lost a loved one to the black hole of drug addiction," U.S. District Attorney Richard Donoghue reportedly said at a press conference outside the courthouse. Jury selection in Guzman's trial began in November, kicking off months of testimony at the Federal District Courthouse in Downtown Brooklyn. During that time, jurors heard from 14 cooperators who detailed not only Guzman's outlandish spendingformer employees recalled how the $14 billion fortune he allegedly made off a thriving drug trade afforded him such luxuries as a personal zoo and a yacht called "Chapito"but also the brutal murders he reportedly ordered. Indeed, one witness testified that he watched the Sinaloa cartel boss beat two men with tree branches until their bodies went limp "like rag dolls," according to the Department of Justice, before shooting them and having his henchman throw the bodies in a bonfire. That same witness also told the court that Guzman once shot one of his rivals before ordering his hitmen to bury the man alive. Prosecutors also played audio in which Guzman could be heard discussing plans to move drugsincluding "ice," or methamphetamineinto U.S. cities. They explained how Guzman orchestrated the smuggling of cocaine by packing the powder inside jalapeno cans. And just before the jury was set to begin deliberations, they introduced documents alleging Guzman habitually drugged and raped young girls. According to the NY Times, the documents said that "Guzman considered the youngest of the girls to be 'his vitamins' because raping them gave him 'life.'" (Guzman denied this.) Throughout the trial, the defense team reportedly leaned on the idea that cooperators simply sought to offload guilt for their own crimes onto Guzman. In late January, his attorneys seemed ready to put Guzman on the stand, but ultimately, he did not appear, and the defense lasted only 30 minutes. "We fought like hell," another of the prosecuting attorneys," Jeffrey Lichtman, an attorney for Guzman, reportedly said Tuesday. "We fought like complete savages and we left it all on the battlefield." Prosecutors, meanwhile, stretched their case over 10 weeks, and reportedly argued that Guzman's previous efforts to jailbreak himselfEl Chapo infamously escaped from prison in Mexico on two separate occasionsbetrayed his own guilt. "He never wanted to be in a position where he would have to answer for his crimes," prosecutor Andrea Goldbarg said, according to ABC 7. Further, she contended, he intended to escape from U.S. prison after his 2017 capture, which accounts for authorities' decision to hold him in solitary confinement. "He wanted to avoid sitting right there. In front of you." The case went to jurors on February 4th, cuing more than a week of deliberations during which they asked for thousands of pages of testimony from the trial, according to the NY Times. The charges against him carry a mandatory minimum life sentence, served in U.S. prison. This post has been updated throughout. Members of a newly formed activist group rallied at City Hall yesterday to mobilize New York City Housing Authority tenants against the agencys privatization plan, appealing to years of pent-up anger at deteriorating living conditions and an increasingly progressive political environment. I know you think you cant change the status quo, said Norman Siegel, a prominent civil rights attorney and former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, speaking on the City Hall steps on a chilly and gray Sunday afternoon. Referring to recent protests that broke out over the lack of heat and hot water at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, he continued, You saw last weekend at MDC, people came out on the streets and began to change incrementally [the status quo]. We can do the same thing here. Siegel added: There are 400,000 people in public housing. You are a political sleeping giant. On Sunday, activists organized a protest at City Hall against NYCHAs privatization plan. The group Fight For NYCHA is represented by civil rights attorney Norman Siegel. The big question is: can they ignite a movement? pic.twitter.com/Lez0leavtY Elizabeth Kim (@lizkimtweets) February 11, 2019 Facing $32 billion in capital repairs, the city is seeking to allow private developers to manage 62,000 units at 21 NYCHA sites across Manhattan and Brooklyn. The city is also seeking to develop infill projects that would be built on undeveloped land within certain NYCHA complexes, in exchange for payments that would be used to help maintain the existing buildings. The private management plan, which comes under the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration program, would involve the conversion of all 62,000 apartments to federal Section 8 housing, leaving the day-to-day management of buildings and repairs to private investors. Under the program, tenants would pay no more than 30 percent of their adjusted income toward rent. Critics of RAD have charged that the program involves insufficient vetting and too little oversight by NYCHA. Last week, an investigation by WNYC found that a private property manager hired by the agency to operate nearly 2,500 units under RAD has a history of building violations and tenant complaints. Sundays call to action involved about 20 protesters organized by a newly formed group called Fight For NYCHA, which Siegel has agreed to represent. One of the speakers at yesterday's event was Lenora Fulani, a two-time presidential candidate with the New Alliance Party and longtime political activist. She told Gothamist that the issues around public housing should concern all New Yorkers. "This isnt just a fight for people being attacked," she said. "Its about what kind of city we want and how we want to live our lives." The free market system is never going to create low-cost housing to low-income New Yorkers, said Lewis Flores, a Queens resident and founder of Fight For NYCHA, adding, This goes against the agreement we made as a society when NYCHA was formed. Criticism of the city's handling of NYCHA has been ratcheting up. On Monday, the New York Times reported that Stanley Brezenoff, one of the mayor's closest advisors and the outgoing interim chair of NYCHA, refused to sign the city's recent agreement with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development that installs a federal monitor but includes no new federal funding. Im a city guy. If I care about anything in my professional life, its the well-being of New York City, Brezenoff told the Times. Honestly, thats the prism I was looking at it from. Starting from: Where the hell is HUD and money? In recent weeks, NYCHA tenants have turned out at public meetings in both Manhattan and Brooklyn, calling out the agency for mismanagement and persistent problems with heat and hot water. On the Upper East Side, many tenants at the Holmes housing complexes are opposing a plan to allow a private developer to build a mixed-income infill development atop a playground at the project. But its unclear whether organizers can ignite a broader citywide movement. Denise Harris, who has lived in NYCHAs Richmond Terrace complex in Staten Island for 17 years, acknowledged that while many tenants oppose the agencys plans, getting them to come out to protest is difficult. Harris, who said she has amassed 2,000 signatures from fellow tenants against NYCHAs privatization, traveled an hour and a halfvia bus, ferry, and subwayto attend Sundays protest. I try to fight for other residents but I cant do it by myself, she said. I need their help. 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. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pacific Rim Cobalt Corp. (the Company or Pacific Rim Cobalt) (CSE: BOLT) (FRANKFURT: NXFE) is pleased to announce that the non-brokered private placement previously announced on February 7, 2019 (the Offering) has now closed. Under the Offering, the Company issued 10,541,667 units (each a Unit) at a price of $0.12 per Unit for gross proceeds of $1,265,000. Each Unit was comprised of one (1) common share in the capital of the Company (each a "Common Share") and one (1) transferable Common Share purchase warrant (each, a Warrant). Each Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Common Share at price of $0.20 per Common Share until February 12, 2020, subject to accelerated expiry provisions. In the event the closing price of the Companys Common Shares exceeds $0.30 per Common Share for a period of 10 consecutive trading days at any time, then at the Companys election, the 12 month period within which the Warrants are exercisable will be reduced and the holders of the Warrants will be entitled to exercise their Warrants for a period of 30 days commencing on the day the Company provides the acceleration notice via press release or written notice to all Warrant holders (the Acceleration Period). Any outstanding Warrants not exercised during the Acceleration Period will expire on completion of the Acceleration Period. In connection with the Offering, the Company paid a total of $25,928 in cash to eligible finders who introduced subscribers to the Offering. All securities issued under the Private Placement, including securities issuable on exercise thereof, are subject to a hold period expiring June 13, 2019. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering for drilling and exploration, metallurgy and processing testing, and general working capital purposes. About Pacific Rim Cobalt Pacific Rim Cobalt is a Canadianbased exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of production grade cobalt and nickel deposits, key raw material inputs for the growing lithiumion battery industry. Visit https://pacificrimcobalt.com/ to find out more. Pacific Rim Cobalt Corp. Ranjeet Sundher President and CEO (604) 922-8272 rsundher@pacificrimcobalt.com Steve Vanry CFO & Director (604) 922-8272 steve@vanrycap.com Sean Bromley Director & Investor Contact (778) 985-8934 sean@theparmargroup.com Reader Advisory This news release may include forward-looking information that is subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements herein, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward-looking, including statements with respect to the completion of, and use of proceeds from, the Offering. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking information are based on reasonable assumptions, such information is not a guarantee of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information. Information provided in this document is necessarily summarized and may not contain all available material information. Although Pacific Rim Cobalt has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, there can be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, fluctuations in market prices, success of the operations of the Company, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such information will prove accurate and, therefore, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required under the applicable securities laws. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. PLEASE NOTE! Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate! All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited! (One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!) Mishka Shubaly returns to O'Niells! This time, joined by Jake Flores! Joining them are local comics Josh Fournier and Jack Tapestry! Hosted by Greg Ziomek Doors at 8pm. $10! About Mishka: After receiving an expensive MFA in Fiction from Columbia University in 2002, Mishka Shubaly promptly realized he was more interested in playing music in dive bars than writing. He moved into a Toyota minivan and toured non-stop. After some lean, hard years and a couple hundred thousand miles, hes become a cult favorite, opening nationally for comedy iconoclast Doug Stanhope, penning the soundtrack for The Unbookables documentary, headlining the Altercation Punk Comedy Tour and appearing on Warped Tour. He has shared the stage with artists like The Strokes, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and The Decemberists among others. In 2011, Shubaly began publishing a series of mini-memoirs via Amazon Kindle Singles (six #1 bestsellers, more than 200,000 copies sold in five different languages). Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos wrote the foreword for his collection. His account of getting shipwrecked for The Moth was broadcast nationally on NPR and around the world. Shubalys full-length memoir I Swear I'll Make it Up to You (Hachette) was published in 2016 and has garnered praise from The Guardian, Publishers Weekly, GQ, Mens Journal, and Brooklyn Magazine. His roadwork 145 shows in 5 countries last year has won him accolades from Portland, OR to New York to the UK. His writing workshop at Yale has been hailed by students as transformative. He provides the theme music for the Doug Stanhope Podcast which goes out to more than 1.5 million listeners. Actor Adrian Grenier played drums for a single off the new record When We Were Animals. In 2017, he achieved his highest honor: he was a clue on Jeopardy! About Jake: Jake Floress comedy has gotten him raided by the government, retweeted by everyone from Tom Morello to Bette Midler, and published in The New York Times. His stuff has been quoted on CNN by Wolf Blitzer and taught at Yale. He has appeared on The Majority Report, Chapo Trap House, Cumtown, Fun Fun Fun fest, SXSW, Comedy Centrals Roast Battle, Comedy Cellar Radio and has been shouted out on The Joe Rogan Experience and The Doug Stanhope Podcast. He has toured nationally, opening for Doug Stanhope, Tig Notaro, Greg Fitzsimmons, Jim Norton, Felipe Esparza and Patton Oswalt. Hes signed to Stand Up! Records and tours regularly while not running his popular Brooklyn show, Yoko. Previously the author of The Observers satire column A Millennial Reviews, hes currently the creator and host of radical political comedy podcast Pod Damn America. NEW YORK, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Young Jewish Professionals (YJP) will be hosting its annual 2019 CEO Healthcare Symposium, a gathering of the top executives and investors in the healthcare industry. The two-day conference will be held on February 11th & 12th in Manhattan. This CEO Healthcare Symposium will bring together leaders in the healthcare delivery space to discuss the current state of healthcare delivery, company leadership, healthcare spending/costs, and opportunities for innovation/disruption in the industry. We are thrilled to be kicking off our 2019 conference series with such an amazing group of speakers. This CEO Healthcare Symposium will be exploring the many opportunities and challenges facing the healthcare delivery space and we look forward to seeing what new ideas and solutions are born from the discussions. Our keynote panel will be focusing on the importance of optimism in healthcare and we hope that the participants will leave our symposium inspired and confident about the years to come, said Gabrielle Petrosino, Development Director - Healthcare Division for YJP. More information about the 2019 CEO Healthcare Symposium can be found here . Speakers at the YJP 2019 CEO Healthcare Symposium will include: Michael Dowling, President & CEO, Northwell Health Barry Ostrowsky, President & CEO, RWJBarnabas Health Alan Murray, President & CEO, Empire BlueCross BlueShield, Anthem Roy Beveridge, CMO, Humana Emma Devito, President & CEO, VillageCare Joanne Conroy, President & CEO, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Bob Schulz, Managing Partner, Health Enterprise Partners Anjali Kataria, CEO, Mytonomy Elliot Joseph, CEO, Hartford Healthcare Kimberly Townsend, President & CEO, Loretto Andrew Brotman, SVP, Vice Dean for Clinical Affairs + Strategy, Chief Clinical Officer, NYU Langone Health Robert Galvin, CEO, Equity Healthcare, Blackstone Sam Srivastava, CEO, Magellan Healthcare About Young Jewish Professionals (YJP): The YJP Organization is the worlds largest community of business leaders, executives, and investors to teach, mentor, and invest in the new generation of Jewish business leaders. Our community of leaders, executives, and professionals are dedicated to combining their efforts to make the world a better place through Goodness & Kindness. Contact: Gabrielle Petrosino Development Director - Healthcare Division Young Jewish Professionals 646-202-1685 Gabrielle@yjpnewyork.com The Prosecutor Generals Office has to process over 3,000 requests and give replies during five days Open source Prosecutor Generals Office of Ukraine asked supporters of Acting Healthcare Minister Ulyana Suprun not to participate in the flashmob file request to the Prosecutor Generals Office on lifting immunity from Mosiychuk (Ihor Mosiychuk, the MP from the Radical Party pf Lyashko, who sued against Suprun), as spokesperson of the office Andriy Lysenko reported on Facebook. Recently a flashmob file request to the Prosecutor Generals Office on lifting immunity from Mosiychuk was organized. Lets face it: it is a common flashmob for you and the necessity to process over 3,000 requests and give replies during five days for us. There is no need to explain that it is almost impossible physically, Lysenko wrote. He emphasized that MPs immunity will not be lifted after such number of the letters to the Prosecutor Generals Office. Lysenko reminded that one the immunity of Mosiychuk was lifted; however, the court canceled this decision. The criminal case against the MP was passed to the NABU and then to the National Police. Now we consider the possibility to define the investigative jurisdiction in the criminal proceeding by the prosecutors of the State Investigation Bureau, he added. As we reported, Suprun's role as acting health minister was questioned by MP from the Radical Party of Lyashko Ihor Mosiychuk. The court explained that such a decision was made as Suprun has dual citizenship. Apart from the Ukrainian one, she also has a U.S. passport. The government of Ukraine expressed the support of Suprun, as well as the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, did. On February 7, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine appealed the decision of the court on the suspension of Ulyana Suprun. Related video: Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine at Dragon Capital conference Presidential Administration press office President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko plans to present the evidence of the interference of the Russian Federation in the election process in Ukraine at Munich Security Conference, as 112 Ukraine reported. The beginning of the election campaign does not lessen my responsibility for the current state of affairs. Not only new possibilities but also the challenges are connected with the elections. And the first challenge is the challenge of revenge; it is the interference of Russia in the election process. I will try to disclose part of the information on the direct interference of Russia during Munich Forum, unfortunately, this process continues very active in Russia, Poroshenko stated. The election campaign has officially started on December 31, 2018. Registration of the candidates would last until February 4, 2019, and on February 9, the final list of presidential candidates has appeared. The candidates would be able to withdraw his candidacy until March 7, 2019. Central Election Commission of Ukraine closed all polling station in Russia, particularly, Moscow, Rostov-on-Don, Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk. On February 7, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine prohibited observers from the Russian Federation to participate in the election process in Ukraine. Prosecutor General Office wants all the involvants in Handziuks case to take a lie detector test, as Ukraines Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said at a briefing on February 11. 112 Ukraine broadcasted the event. We intend to check all the main involvants, including the witnesses and suspects, by a lie detector test. Probably, this is the only way to avoid political chaos, which is being prepared by different sides, Lutsenko said. Earlier, the Chairman of Kherson Regional Council Vladyslav Manger said he would not escape from the country due to suspicion of organizing the murder of Kherson Mayor Advisor Kateryna Handziuk Ukraines Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko stated that the Head of Kherson Regional Council Mangera was served with charge papers concerning organizing the murder of Handziuk. On November 4, it became known that Kateryna Handziuk died at age of 34. She was doused with sulphuric acid in July this year. According to preliminary information, her death was caused by blood clot's detachment. Besides, the doctors specified the cause for the death of Handziuk was specified. It was due to multiple organ failure and chemical burns. Handiuk's murder evoked a huge public outrage, with people demanding to find the orderer of the murder. 28 January, her father Viktor Handziuk issued a statement in which he said that he suspected three people of having organized his daughters killing. He identified both the three high-ranking officials and the parties they were affiliated with, these being Manger, from Tymoshenkos Batkivshchyna, the Head of the Kherson Regional Administration Andriy Hordeyev and his Deputy, Yevhen Ryshchuk, both of whom are from the Bloc of (President and presidential candidate) Petro Poroshenko. Open source Ex-prosecutor died in the building of Ukraines Prosecutor General Office. He is suspected of committing crimes against Maidan protesters, as Olexiy Donskoy, the prosecutor of the Investigation Department of the service, said, UNIAN reported. The incident occurred on Borysohlibska Street. Andriy Saychuk died. According to the news agency, the man came to the office to see the materials of the proceeding. At that moment, he stated he did not feel well. After Saychuk left the cabinet, his condition got worse. Suddenly, he fell down near the elevator. A cleaning lady saw him. The woman says the former prosecutor turned blue. Doctors could not save him. He died near the elevator. Forensics will define the exact cause of death. Former prosecutor Andriy Sauchuk was accused of beating a Maidan protester Mykola Pasichnyk. As was reported before, Obolon District Court of Kyiv sentenced ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych to 13 years of the detention for the state treason and complicity in the holding of the aggressive war against Ukraine by the Russian Federation. Ukraine news on 112.international Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine Reuters Ukraines President Petro Poroshenko promises to sign the bill On amendments to the Constitution on Ukraines foreign policy on EU and NATO membership next week, as he stated during the annual investment conference Dragon Capital, broadcasted by 112 Ukraine. The amendments to the Constitution, which were voted for last week, which gives force to the law of our Euro-Atlantic integration, testify to our serious intentions. The Verkhovna Rada has supported the Presidents initiative and next week I will sign the amendments, I hope it will be in the Parliament, and it will be a very important step in the history of our state, Poroshenko noted. Earlier, Andriy Parubiy, the chairman of the Ukrainian parliament, has signed the law on the constitutional amendments that set the strategic course of Ukraine towards the membership in the EU and NATO. 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. Related video: The Verkhovna Rada registered the bill which calls for ruling out the participation of the observers from Russia in the elections in Ukraine Thomas Rymer, the Representative of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights(ODIHR) Open source The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the OSCE will suggest to all the members-countries, including Russia, to send their observers to the elections in Ukraine. Thomas Rymer, the Representative of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said, Interfax reported. ODIHR will abide by the long-existed rule of the presentational elections in Ukraine the same way it is with other observing missions during elections. Thats why we will send invitations to all the 56 members of ODIHR asking to send their observer during the coming elections, - Rymer said. As we reported earlier, the Central Election Committee registered 18 observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) during the presidential elections on March, 31. No Russians registered. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the OSCE offered to include two citizens of Russia to the list of the mission on the observation of the Ukrainian presidential elections on 31 March 2019, despite the conditions declared by Ukraine. The election campaign has officially started on December 31, 2018. Registration of the candidates was closed on February 4, 2019, and on February 9, the final list of presidential candidates is expected to appear. The candidates would be able to withdraw their candidacy until March 7, 2019. Meet 44 candidates running for president in Ukraine In September, the military HQ reported that 350 residents of the Ukrainian capital deceased since the beginning of the ongoing military action in eastern Ukraine Kyiv will host the memorial complex to its citizens who deceased in Donbas conflict. Volodymyr Bondarenko, the counselor of Kyiv mayor posted that on Facebook. 'We'll preliminarily define a place, in the beginning of Volodymyrsky descent near the Parliamentary Library. The preparation of documents and the architecture contest come next', Bondarenko wrote. He also added that the official status will be also granted to 17 memorial signs and 33 memorial plaques set across the city. In September, the military HQ reported that 350 residents of the Ukrainian capital deceased since the beginning of the ongoing military action in eastern Ukraine. Recently, the Ukrainian artillery systems performed maneuvers in the government-held section of Donbas. The Ukrainian forces used Uragan multiple-launch rocket systems. The fighters deployed the weapons on the designated positions and locked on the targets. The crews acted quickly, so the HQ highly evaluated the outcome of the exercise. As Ukraine's Deputy Prosecutor General Yevgen Yenin puts it, this would mean that Ukraine recognizes the peninsula as Russian territory Open source Ukraine is unable to request Russia to extradite Volodymyr Gorbenko, Nord vessel captain, who is now in annexed Crimea. Such actions would be interpreted as recognition of the fact that the peninsula belongs to Russia, as Yevgen Yenin, Deputy Prosecutor General said, UNN reported. We cannot request Russia to extradite people from the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, as it will be interpreted as if we recognize Crimea as Russian territory, he said. Yenin added that the Ukrainian side has faced such a problem several times, so the issue remains unsolved. Yet, we have developed some military tricks, he stated. Earlier, Oleg Slobodyan, the Spokesperson of Ukraines State Border Guard Service, stated that captain of Nord boat, detained by the Ukrainian border guards, Volodymyr Gorbenko did not cross Ukrainian-Russia border, he also did not cross border with annexed Crimea. Earlier, the Ukrainian border guards arrested fishing vessel-violator under the Russian flag in the Sea of Azov on March 25, 2019. The Nord vessel was stopped 15 miles from the Obytichna sandspit. The inspection defined that the vessel was registered in the temporarily occupied Crimea. Besides, the members of the crew violated the order of the exit from the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine. All of them had the so-called 'Russian passports', issued in Kerch. Later, the court arrested the arrested vessel. Ukrainian border guards detained Volodymyr Horbenko on April 4. Central property drilling has yielded additional high-grade intercepts, including; 19.1m @ 1.65% Li 2 O in Hole 18-CT-004 15.1m @ 1.24% Li 2 O in Hole 18-CT-009 7.8m @ 1.69% Li 2 O and 4.4m @ 1.73% Li 2 O in Hole 18-CT-010 9.3m @ 1.24% Li 2 O and 4.3m @ 1.57% Li 2 O in Hole 18-CT-005 Previously-reported Central results included an intercept of 34m @ 1.02% Li 2 O in hole 18-CT-002 3 drill rigs are active on Piedmonts Core property with initial results expected in coming weeks Results demonstrate the widespread lithium mineralization within the Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt NEW YORK, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Piedmont Lithium Limited (Piedmont or Company) is pleased to announce the results of an additional 8 drill holes completed at its Piedmont Lithium Project (Project), which is located within the world-class Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt (TSB) in North Carolina, USA. These results continue to showcase the potential for additional high-grade lithium mineralization within the TSB, which has remained largely unexplored in the 20+ years since the depletion of the historic mines operated by predecessors of lithium industry leaders Albermarle Corporation and Livent Corporation (formerly FMC Lithium). All 8 core holes were completed on the Central property. The Company has now reported 11 drill holes from the Central property and has completed an additional 7 core holes which are expected to be reported in the next month. The Central property is located less than a mile south of Piedmonts Core property, which hosts a resource of 16.2 million tonnes @ 1.12% Li 2 O and a completed Scoping Study showing the potential to build a low-cost integrated lithium operation in the USA. Phase 4 drilling continues on the Core property and these results will also be released to the market as they become available over the coming months. Keith D. Phillips, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: We are very pleased with the results of drilling at the Central property, both in terms of the grades and thicknesses reported and also in the clear demonstration of the potential of the TSB. The United States Geological Survey undertook a detailed review of the TSB in the 1970s and documented the vast potential of the region at that time. Drilling is also going very well on our expanded Core property and suffice it to say we believe a significant expansion to our 16.2 Mt maiden resource will be forthcoming mid-year. For further information, contact: Russian authorities did not reply to the requests of the mother of the died soldier Drills for soldeirs in non-recognized Transnistria yuga.ru The European Court of Human Rights ordered Russia to pay $53,8 thousand for violation of the right to life in non-recognized Transnistria, as Ukrinform reported referring to rights-based association Promo-LEX. Oleksandr Stomagas mother will get the compensation. Stomaga was forcefully called for service to the unit of the non-recognized Transnistria. He was murdered under uncertain circumstances, the message says. It was also noted that the European Court of Human Rights rejected the request of the Russian government to review the decision on this case. A panel of five judges from ECHR was considering Russias motion. The decision came into force on February 4, 2019. Oleksandr Postika, the director of "Promo-LEX, noted that due to the fact that the decision of one panel is final, Russia must strictly comply with the ECHR verdict as of September 18, 2018. After Stomaga was killed under uncertain circumstances, Russian authorities did not reply to his mothers requests, while the Moldovan government suspended the case stating there was no suspect. It should be noted that this is not the only successful case against Russia related to call in Transnistria. Earlier, ECHR found Russia guilty of the death of a Ukrainian Yevhen Kolobychko, who served in the army of the non-recognized Transnistria. Russia had to pay $22,5 thousand compensation to his father. Open source The UN Security Council is holding a session today, on February 12 at 3 p.m. (10 p.m. Kyiv time) in New York. Fourth anniversary of the Minsk Agreements is the declared reason, though the Ukraine's Permanent Mission to the UN notes that the real purpose is to divert attention from the discussion Russian Aggression against Ukraine at the UN General Assembly. By calling a meeting of the UN Security Council, Russia has manipulated the instruments available to the Security Council and wishes to once again reproach Ukraine for failing to comply with the Minsk agreements, Kateryna Zelenko, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, has said. It's been exactly fourth anniversary since the day of signature of Minsk agreements. In February 2015, a large group of Russian troops and pro-Kremlin militants was about to encircle Debaltseve, a major transport hub in Donetsk region. In the view of the complicated situation, leaders of France, Germany, Ukraine, and Russia tried to find a way to settle the crisis. On February 11, they met in the Belarusian capital for negotiations. The 13 provisions of the document stipulated a full bilateral ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy weaponry, and all-for-all exchange of prisoners of war. Besides, Minsk Trilateral Contact Group was settled to find ways to solve the ongoing armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. It includes Ukraine, Russia, and the OSCE as the mediator. Arsen Avakov is staying with the visit in the U.S., sharing the Ministry's vision concerning possible solutions of the conflict in eastern Ukraine Arsen Avakov, Ukraine's interior minister has introduced the Strategy of de-occupation of militant-held sections of Donbas. It is called 'The mechanisms of small steps'. The official presented it during the roundtable at the Institute of Peace in Washington. The Internal Ministry's press service quoted Avakov who said that Russia has been leading the hybrid war against Ukraine for five years now, and none of the current means of the active phase of the aggression and returning Ukrainian territories to its composition are working. This is why the Ministry offers new mechanisms that would help bring the militant-occupied areas of Donbas back. According to Avakov, the strategy foresees the creation of a demilitarized zone in the specified area of the occupied territory. All military units are to be withdrawn beyond the designated line. The State Border Guard of Ukraine and the special international peacekeeping mission take the designated area and its borders under joint control. The law and order are maintained by the forces of the National Police, National Guard and the monitoring mission. 'Local election is held on these territories. The key principle is living up to the Ukrainian law and provision of free voting. The work of all state institutions, law enforcement agencies are restored - as well as safety and order, social protection, education, financial sector and the decent life quality', he said. The Minister admitted that the process of de-occupation in the first two designated areas could take from six to eight months. The authority is to select the restriction measure for Vladyslav Manger, as he is now the suspected with the organization of the activist's murder Open source Shevchenkivsky court announced the break in the session to select the restriction measure for Vladyslav Manger, the head of Kherson regional council. He is now the suspect in the organization of the murder of Kateryna Handziuk. The session will continue at 12.30 p.m. Wednesday. The defense team asked for some time to look into the case materials and to translate some documents from German so that they could be added to the case. In July 2018, Kateryna Handziuk suffered an attempt on her life, when the assailant poured some sulphuric acid on her. She got almost 40 percent of her body burned; four months after the attack, in November 2018, the 34-year-old anti-corruption activist died at a hospital because of multiple organ failure and blood clot detachment - the aftermaths of the attack. Vladyslav Manger, the chairman of Kherson regional council was served with charge papers. The Prosecutor General's Office now considers him a suspect in the organization of the murder. Manger said he will cooperate with the investigation. The man was arrested in spring 2007; he filed the appeal, indicating several violations, including the excessive use of force during detention Open source The European court for human rights (ECHR) obliged Ukraine to pay 4,000 Euros to the arrested drug dealer. The man won the case, in which he sued the Ukrainian authorities after the arrest in 2007. This is mentioned in the court's decision, as the UNN news agency cited it. Vasul Yakuba, the citizen of Ukraine, born in 1971, was detained in Kropyvnytsky for dealing drugs. In 2007, he sold three syringes loaded with opium to an undercover police agent. The deals were filmed on a hidden camera. In June 2007, the man was judged and sentenced to eight years behind the bars. The ECHR, in part, considered the written appeal of the police agent, as the Ukrainian court did not let him testify in the court hall in order to protect his privacy. In turn, Yakuba demanded the agent to speak before the court. He also stated he had suffered an excessive use of force during the detention. The complainant asked the ECHR to define the violation of his rights for the fair proceeding and the interview of witnesses. Besides, he said that the Ukrainian authorities refused to give him the copies of documents from the case materials. Ukraine is obliged to pay 2,500 Euros of moral damage and 1,500 Euros for the expenses. One of the fundamental principles of law is that a person should know what actions or omissions carry criminal liability, and what punishment they should expect for committing them. Not so in Russia, nor in occupied Crimea where Russia is illegally applying its legislation and manipulating it for political purposes Armed searches and arrests of four Crimean Tatars for their faith in Bakchysarai, 12 May 2016 Human Rights in Ukraine A court in Russian-occupied Crimea has sentenced a man who killed his wife, dismembered her body and threw the parts in different rubbish bins to eight years imprisonment. The sentence was passed just weeks after a Russian court sentenced four Crimean Tatars to 10 to 17 years merely for kitchen chats which were claimed to prove involvement in the peaceful Hizb ut-Tahrir movement which is legal in Ukraine. Nor was this a record since three recognized political prisoners, including filmmaker Oleg Sentsov are currently imprisoned in Russia with sentences of 20 years and over. One of the fundamental principles of law is that a person should know what actions or omissions carry criminal liability, and what punishment they should expect for committing them. Not so in Russia, nor in occupied Crimea where Russia is illegally applying its legislation and manipulating it for political purposes. Such manipulation is particularly shocking in the case of prosecutions under Russias terrorism legislation for supposed involvement in the Hizb ut-Tahrir party. Hizb ut-Tahrir is not known to have committed any acts of terrorism anywhere in the world, yet the Russian Supreme Court declared it terrorist in 2003, in a ruling that was kept secret until it was too late to challenge it. Experts from the Memorial Human Rights Centre have long suggested that the original ruling may have been to make it easier for Russias FSB to extradite Uzbeks fleeing religious persecution back to Uzbekistan. This would probably explain why for the first 10 years after the Supreme Courts ruling, the sentences were significantly lower, and in around 40% of the cases did not involve imprisonment. What changed at the end of 2013 had nothing to do with any crimes committed by Hizb ut-Tahrir members. It was merely that a new article was added to Russias criminal code: 205.5 (organization of a terrorist organization and involvement in it). This was analogous to Russias notorious Article 282.2, which punishes for something called, very loosely, an extremist organization. The difference is that for 205.5, the sentences are massive (by now up to life imprisonment). For the FSB, this makes easy work and high dividends, since they get bonuses, promotion, etc. for supposedly fighting terrorism. All that is required is proof that the person arrested has a link with Hizb ut-Tahrir. If there is no such proof, that is also no problem, as the experts used, in particular from one institute in Bashkortostan, will claim that certain words mean that a person is involved, and secret witnesses can also be used. Some things are predictable. In Russia, and now in occupied Crimea, officials who commit real crimes very often receive extremely short sentences. In 2016, for example, in a state of inebriation, Russian police officer Andrei Artemyev shot dead a police informer in his office. For this he got a 1 year 9 month sentence, of which he appears to have served three months. On 25 August 2015, Ukrainian political prisoners Oleg Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko received huge sentences (20 and 10 years, respectively) on totally fabricated charges. Those internationally condemned sentences coincided with a ruling releasing Yevgenia Vasilyeva, an official found guilty of major embezzlement, very early from a 5-year sentence. The court saw no need for her to be held even an extra 10 days in case the ruling was appealed. Worth noting that Sentsov had spoken of getting a 20-year sentence from soon after the FSB seized him, Kolchenko and two other opponents of Russias invasion and occupation of Crimea in May 2014. The reason was quite simple. During his torture by the FSB, they told him that if he didnt confess, he would get 20 years and rot in a Russian prison. He is by no means the only Ukrainian political prisoner to get a particularly huge sentence as effective reprisal for refusing to confess to fictitious crimes. The most predictable feature of Russias prosecutions of Ukrainians since 2014 has been that guilty sentences are effectively guaranteed, even when the court is presented evidence that the Ukrainian defendants were elsewhere, and that the alleged crimes never actually took place. When Russias Investigative Committee was forced to withdraw war crimes charges against Serhiy Lytvynov in the face of incontrovertible evidence that neither the alleged victims nor their addresses in the Luhansk oblast had ever existed, it simply came up with other totally implausible charges and he was sentenced to 8.5 years imprisonment (details here). In the case of Mykola Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh, the mens alibis and proof that the events they were charged with back in 1994/95 had not happened as claimed, proved not to be an impediment. The court also ignored considerable evidence that both men had been abducted, held incommunicado for 18 months in Karpyuks case, 10 months in Klykhs, and savagely tortured for absurd confessions to crimes that had never happened. Karpyuk was sentenced to 22.5 years, Klykh to 20 in what a prominent Russian human rights activist called one of the most insane and monstrously falsified prosecutions initiated against Ukrainian nationals since the annexation of Crimea Read the original text here. Related video: 112 Agency Why do you run as a president? I want to change this country. You know, when working in the business for a long time, you live in this atmosphere, in this climate. And often you realize that it should be slightly different. Ten years ago we have proposed such changes, being simple market participants in a particular area, but this was definitely not enough. Then we began to take part in public organizations more systematically, participate in various movements, associations, but this was not enough either. And only now, after I have managed to get to the parliament, head the committee, work in high-ranking state service, I have learned how to change the country. It is impossible to stand aside if you want the country to change; you need to take an active part in this. Central Election Commission (CEC) has registered you on January 21. Since that time, we have not seen any of your boards and advertisements on TV. It looks like you have a few chances to win. To our great regret, the voters always have quite a traditional approach. Billboards are just advertising. What do we see on them? These are just political slogans, not real proposals, not achievements, and not concrete actions of candidates. In addition to boards and media, we also need people (observers, members of commissions), and these are tens of thousands of people. Tens of thousands of people, you are right. We have these people, and they are happy to take part in the electoral process. Would you be offended if someone calls you a technical candidate? I am by no means a technical candidate. I think no one can ever say that about me. You have got to the parliament on the list of Bloc of Petro Poroshenko. Why are you running as an independent candidate now? I was invited there to go to Verkhovna Rada as a specialist, as an expert and professional in the field of economics and finance. I have done my job quite well and demonstrated much better results than expected. Today I go independently, with my own political program. Is your union with Petro Poroshenko possible? It is quite early to talk about this, but on the other hand, I think each of us is following his own way. Where did you get the money for the contribution to the CEC and the election campaign? My declaration and the sources of my income were repeatedly discussed (In 2017, Nasirov declared income of 6 UAH (20 cents), ed.). I have been involved in the business until 2014. Related: In March 2017, National Anti-Corrupt Bureau (NABU) detectives detained Nasirov as part of the Ukrgasdobuvannia case. He was accused of actions that caused damage to the state for 71,56 million USD! How expensive is your election campaign? I think it will be millions of hryvnias, not even millions of dollars. What specific steps need to be taken for the de-occupation of Donbas and the return of Crimea? Firstly, Ukraine does not live by itself, we have neighbors. Secondly, there is the international community, which also participates in this process. There were Minsk agreements, and I think its time to admit that they dont work. There was a Budapest Memorandum, there were countries that guaranteed sovereignty and territorial integrity. Today, this process must be returned to a constructive direction. If this does not work, then Ukraine, as a sovereign state, will have no other option than to consider the possibility of becoming a nuclear power again... At the same time, Ukraine needs to ensure that the country is economically self-sufficient. Do we need to negotiate with Putin? Initially, we need to sit at the negotiating table, we live in a civilized world. And it is necessary to force Russia, the leadership of Russia, to provide everything necessary for the de-occupation of these territories in the shortest possible time. How soon is it possible to resolve the issues of Crimea and Donbas? This issue could be resolved during the year. We cannot divide the issue of Donbas and Crimea. From a legal point of view, these are different problems, but from a practical point of view, this is one problem. In your election program, you wrote that you plan to establish "good neighborly relations with all countries following the national interest of Ukraine." Does this mean that Ukraine can make some concessions give away part of the territory, for example? No, no way. When we talk about good-neighborly relations, it is about the economic and national interests. I will give a few examples: Poland, Hungary, and Romania. Here the processes are less obvious than with Russia, but they are even more critical. Neighboring countries are beginning to distribute their passports to citizens of Ukraine (like Romania or Hungary). Poland is actually trying to steal our workforce: it distributes Polish cards to all Ukrainians who want it and gives permission to work. This does not exactly coincide with the Ukraines national interests. Another point of your program is that the international partners should provide Ukraine with weapons. What kind of weapon are you talking about and which partners should do it? As we might see from the world practice, including during World War II, the US helped the Soviet Union by providing weapons and military equipment. Today, such programs can be negotiated with the countries of the European Union, with the United States of America, with the Arab countries; this issue can be solved together with Asian countries. In order to protect the territory of Ukraine. Would we manage to convince countries to sell us weapons? I think the whole world is aware of the situation in Ukraine today. And here we do not need to convince anyone, we need to address, just like in the future they would address us. Today we have partially rebuilt the army; it is much stronger than it was some five years ago... It is necessary to talk with international partners, to build a dialogue. One more Ukraines problem is corruption. How to deal with it? Corruption in our country was, is, and will probably remain for some time ... The problem with corruption in Ukraine has not changed for the last 4 years, they are not fighting it. Corruption is like a disease: you need to fight not with the symptoms, but with the source of this problem. Corruption begins from the parliament in our country. Before coming to the parliament in 2014, I have never served as a civil servant, I worked in the commercial companies, I honestly received a big salary. Remember 2014: the MPs monthly salary was 4,500 UAH it was some 150-200 USD. Can a deputy live on 200 USD? No. Since then, the situation has changed a bit, probably, the MPs salary is 20,000 USD (700 USD). But again, I will tell you, the MPs cannot survive on 700 USD. How high should be MPs salary? 7,000-10,000 USD. In addition, they should have more strict liability for their actions. Often corruption is the interaction of power with big business. How to deal with the oligarchs? Can we expect that oligarchs are not involved in corruption if a large part of the country participates in this process? We need to finally cut off the possibility of businessmen to influence the state or the processes, lobbying their own interests. This might be achieved only by real democracy. The Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office were created, currently, the Anti-Corruption Court is now being created... It seems that we are moving in the right direction, but there is no fight against corruption. If you become Ukraines president, will the country continue to cooperate with the IMF? Of course. Cooperation with the IMF should be built on the basis of other relations. I am very surprised and frustrated when our government goes to the IMF to borrow another one or two or three billions to pay back the old debts. We should cooperate with the IMF in a different direction. Ukraine needs not to ask for money to pay part of the previous debt, but to offer a development program and raise money from the IMF for the development of the economy. After that, we can easily pay back the debts that already exist. Do you believe that you would become the president? Roman Nasirov will become a president. Voice first five steps that you would take after coming to the office? I would say that these are not five steps, but 250. The issue of prioritizing can sometimes be manipulated. I could talk about the first five, ten or 50 steps, but each of them is critically important. My key tasks as Ukraines president would be beginning of big changes, of real reforms. It is often said that the president has specific functionality, all the rest is the function of the government. But the president cannot just sit on the sidelines, he has a legislative initiative. Read the original text at 112.ua. The self-proclaimed body has ordered to produce 500 medals worth about $6,000 dedicated to the anniversary of the annexation of the peninsula medal For return of Crimea Open source The so-called parliament of Crimea ordered to produce 500 medals worth about $6,000 dedicated to the anniversary of the annexation of the peninsula as Krym.Realii reported citing Kryminform. It is a jubilee medal. We must be ready for March 15. Moscow plant Gosznak won the tender and produced the medals for the anniversary of the Crimean spring, Deputy Parliaments Speaker Yefim Fiks said. According to him, those, who participated in the organization of Crimean referendum and guests from Russia will be awarded. The awarding ceremony will take place in 2019 and 2020. According to the description of the public procurement, the medals will be made from the cooper and zinc-alloy. The certificate, which confirms the awarding, will be issued with a medal. The face of the medal has the sign Crimea is with Russia. There is a depiction of a man and woman with flying colors amid the parliament of Crimea in the center of the medal; the diverging laurel branches depicted in the bottom of the medal. The reverse side contains sign In marking of the fifth anniversary with the depiction of the Griffin in the center and sign Reunion of Crimea with Russia 2014-2019. In December 2018, the parliament of Crimea controlled by Russia established a medal dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the annexation of the peninsula. Military, politicians, and representatives of the Crimean self-defense were awarded the medal For the return of Crimea which states that operation was held on February 20, 2014-March 18, 2014. As we reported, Russia held the missile drills in occupied Crimea to test the anti-ship coastal missile complex Bal. Crimea was annexed by Russia after the illegal referendum held on the peninsula in March 2014. Earlier, the Russian military captured all strategic military objects and buildings of the key authoritative bodies. Neither Ukraine nor the rest of the civilized countries recognized the results of the referendum. A number of the European and the world countries, including Ukraine, imposed the economic sanctions against Russia. Russian-backed militants use the Minsk-banned weaponry over and over again On February, 11, Russian militants attacked the Armed Forces of Ukraine 9 times; as a result, one Ukrainian serviceman was wounded in Donbas conflict zone. The Joint Forces Operation (JFO) HQ reported this on Facebook. In the East operational group action zone, the enemy fired with the 120 and 82 mm mortar near Hnutovo settlement, easel anti-tank grenade launchers, heavy machine guns, and small arms near Pavlopil village, twice with heavy machine guns, small arms and 120 mm mortar near Pisky village. In the North group area, the enemy attacked our positions twice with 80 mm mortar near Novotoshkivske village, manual and automatic easel grenade launchers and heavy machine guns near Khutir Vilnyi settlement. As a result of todays attack, one serviceman of the Joint Forces operation was wounded. The HQ reported that defensive subdivisions were stopping the enemys attack by returning fire. Earlier, three Ukrainian servicemen were wounded during the attack. According to surveillance, two Russian militants were killed and two more were wounded on February, 9. Also, according to the updated data, on February, 8, our defenders destroyed one enemys infantry fighting vehicle. Presidential and local elections will be held in Lithuania in the spring, as well as elections to the European Parliament. The deadline for registration of presidential candidates expires on February 21, and there are already three favorites of the election race. For Ukraine, the United States and the European Union, the election results in this distinctive and small Baltic country are of particular importance. This year, the second presidential term of the iron lady Dalia Grybauskaite will end. This woman is perhaps the most ardent supporter of anti-Russian sanctions, the principle of territorial integrity, an opponent of the construction of the Nord Stream-2, a critic of Russia's aggression in eastern Ukraine and our country's lawyer in the EU and NATO. Vilnius is one of the strongholds of US influence in Europe, a participant in the Atlantic Resolve operation to curb Russia's aggression on the Alliances eastern borders. Lithuania has become an example of a post-Soviet state that has managed to break out of the Kremlins orbit, join the EU and NATO, and diversify its dependence on natural gas supplies from Russia by building a floating terminal in the port of Klaipeda. The question is what course the next Lithuanian president will pursue in relation to Ukraine and Russia. As in any other European country, elections in Lithuania are in the field of view of the Kremlin. Local special services fear Russia's interference in elections and believe that Russian intelligence is preparing activities during the electoral cycle of 20192020 and will try to influence the outcome of elections through information manipulations and cyber tools, including the dissemination of propaganda and disinformation on social networks. Friends of the West and Ukraine To date, there are two presidential candidates who focus on strengthening Lithuanian defense, cooperation with the United States and NATO in their electoral programs, and pay much attention to the threat from Russia and its aggression in Ukraine in their rhetoric. Nowadays the Russian threat serves as a unifying factor for the Lithuanian population. This is also characteristic of other Baltic countries (Latvia, Estonia). The Lithuanians did not forget the circumstances in which their state said goodbye to independence and joined the USSR in 1940 with Latvia and Estonia. The Lithuanian authorities allowed Soviet troops to be stationed on their territory and held early parliamentary elections under pressure from the USSR. After the victory of the left-wing parties, Vilnius launched a political course 180 degrees towards the Kremlin. According to the Vilmorus Ltd. sociological center, 65% of Lithuanian citizens consider Russia to be the most unfriendly and dangerous country (Belarus ranks second). In 2018, the number of supporters of intensified cooperation with Russia decreased from 44% to 38%. According to the DELFI survey, 60% of respondents believe that Russia's foreign policy is a threat to Lithuania. According to the poll of Sprinter turimai, Ingrida Simonyte from the Union of the Fatherland-Lithuanian Christian Democrats opposition conservative party, is supported by 19% of Lithuanian citizens. She earned a reputation as the Grybauskaites successor. Although they are not from the same party, Simonyte has much in common with the president. Ingrida Simonyte, MP from the Union of the Fatherland-Lithuanian Christian Democrats opposition conservative party Open source Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis Open source He is in favor of strengthening transatlantic relations, he considers the USA to be Lithuanias main partner, and NATO to be a strong and reliable alliance. He opposes the construction of the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, supports the supply of military equipment from Lithuania to Ukraine, and the liberalization of the EU trade regime for our country. According to Skvernelis, Lithuania will never recognize the annexation of Crimea, and the talk that the annexation of the peninsula is an accomplished fact is unacceptable. The Lithuanian Prime Minister is playing the anti-Russian card to rally the electorate around his person in order to take away votes from Simonyte. In December 2018, Skvernelis announced that he had asked the security services to check the links of the Union of Fatherland-Christian Democrats with the Russian Federation. In the Russian media, the version is being exaggerated that the latest statements by the special services about the threat of Russia's interference in the Lithuanian elections are part of a political game for the sake of conservatives, such as Skvernelis, who have a hard line against Russia. However, the situation is not so simple. Lesser Evil for Russia The Kremlins goal is to prevent conservatives like Simonyte or Skvernelis from coming to power in Lithuania, because they will pursue Grybauskaite's successive policy. Since there are no prominent supporters of rapprochement with Russia among influential Lithuanian politicians, such as Moldovan Presidents Igor Dodon, Rumen Radev from Bulgaria, Milos Zeman from Czech Republic and Austrian Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, and local Russians make up only 6% of the population of three million Lithuania, the Kremlin can play up to those candidates who are not fixated on the idea of countering Russian expansion. This concerns an independent candidate and the head of SEB Bankas former senior economist Gitanas Nauseda. According to Sprinter turimai, is supported by 27% of voters. In his rhetoric, Nauseda avoids topics related to Russian aggression. Head of SEB Bankas former senior economist Gitanas Nauseda Open source In 2014, he said that financial market participants had come to terms with the loss of Crimea and the financial scenario does not reflect the further split of Ukraine. The presidential candidate of Lithuania actually recognized the annexation of Crimea as a fait accompli. Nauseda avoids harsh criticism of Russia. He believes that one should not exaggerate the value of the eastern neighbor for the global economy, since the United States is setting the mainstream in this area. In September 2013, Nauseda said that Russia would not be able to bring the Lithuanian economy to its knees, but serious challenges for Lithuanians are the slowdown of the Russian economy, the decline in demand for Lithuanian products and protectionist measures of the Kremlin. To some extent, the economist turned out to be right, as Russia limited the import of European products in response to anti-Russian sanctions. So, in his election campaign, Nauseda advocates strengthening relations with Poland in the trade, economic, energy and socio-cultural sphere in order to reduce dependence on Russia. In 2017, Russia became the largest Lithuanian export destination, and its share in total Lithuanian exports was 14.7%. Lithuania purchased 1.4 billion cubic meters of natural ga, in Russia, 37% more than in 2016. Russian gas is cheaper than liquefied natural gas supplied from Norway. Despite the pragmatic perception of Russia, Nauseda managed to find support among the population, even among the conservatives. In September 2018, even before the beginning of the election campaign, several branches of the Union of Fatherland-Lithuanian Christian Democrats party supported his candidacy for participation in the elections. Some Lithuanians, such as the Lithuanian dissident from the USA Valdas Anelauskas, believe that Nauseda can continue the Grybauskaite policy. He is respected by voters as he considers it a priority to improve the welfare of Lithuanians, including state employees. Nauseda plays into the hands of discontent of a part of Lithuanian society with the activities of the Skvernelis government. In November-December, a large strike of teachers took place in Lithuania. They protested against the regular wage system, due to which unequal wages are provided for the same work. Due to low wages in Lithuania, some citizens leave for work in the Nordic countries and the UK. Pragmatic and prudent Nauseda is a lesser evil for the Kremlin than atlantists and conservatives, and if he wins, the Kremlin can start a dialogue with him and try to convince him to raise the issue of lifting or softening anti-Russian sanctions in the EU, and not to hinder the implementation of the "Nord Stream - 2" Russian gas pipeline. It seems that Nauseda is going to build a foreign policy based on finding an alternative to the Russian market, which is of interest to Lithuanian food producers and cargo carriers. He argues as a businessman who has become a hostage of unforeseen circumstances of a political nature and is looking for ways to minimize damage to the Lithuanian economy. The Ukrainian question, apparently, does not bother him much. Concerns about the Kremlins attempts to influence the outcome of elections in Lithuania are not unfounded. In the Russian media, oriented towards the readers of the Baltic countries, Nauseda is presented in relatively positive tones, criticism of him is moderate and he is not splashed with mud like Simonyte or Skvernelis. Since the beginning of 2018, the analytical portal Rubaltic.ru has published 45 different materials about Nauseda, his political program, while in 201517 there were only 11 articles. For comparison: since the founding of Rubaltic.ru in 2013, only 32 materials about the conservator Simonyte have been published. According to journalist Alexei Ilyashevich, Nauseda gives the impression of a sane person, since he does not rant about Ukraine, Syria, and victims of repressions of the Kremlin. RT journalists Alexander Bovdunov and Elizaveta Komarova believe that, unlike Grybauskaite, Simonyte and Skvernelis, the economist Nauseda favors a pragmatic foreign policy. Rubaltic.ru published an infographic under the heading "Nauseda - the new president of Lithuania?" in colors of the Lithuanian flag, in which the results of the opinion polls, where the candidate was in the lead, were presented. The Russian media do not praise Nauseda, but lead the reader to the idea that he is supposedly the most constructive politician among other candidates. This is a deliberate move of the Russian side, so that the image of the Kremlins protege does not stand behind Nauseda, as is the case with Ushackas. In order to dispel suspicions of sympathy for the Russian leadership towards the candidate, two pro-Kremlin Lithuanian politicians kindled information noise. The founder of the movement Alternative for Lithuania, a publicist, Kazimieras Juraitis, known for criticizing the current authorities and asking the Russian Federation to introduce a peacekeeping contingent to Lithuania, is running for president. SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR), an industry leader in automated, scalable and secure networks, today announced the Company will host the following investor events in March: Bikash Koley, Chief Technology Officer at Juniper Networks, will host a briefing at the Optical Networking and Communication Conference & Exhibition, Tuesday, March 5, 2019 at 1:00pm PT, in San Diego, CA. Bikash Koley, Chief Technology Officer at Juniper Networks, will participate in a Deutsche Bank Tech Talk, Friday, March 8, 2019 at 10:00am PT. These events will be available live via webcast on the Juniper Networks website: http://investor.juniper.net/ . About Juniper Networks Juniper Networks simplifies the complexities of networking with products, solutions and services in the cloud era to transform the way we connect, work and live. We remove the traditional constraints of networking to enable our customers and partners to deliver automated, scalable and secure networks that connect the world. Additional information can be found at Juniper Networks ( www.juniper.net ) or connect with Juniper on Twitter , LinkedIn and Facebook . Juniper Networks, the Juniper Networks logo, Juniper, and Junos are registered trademarks of Juniper Networks, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Jador, descoperire extrem de trista. Adevarul despre povara carierei sale Jador se bucura enorm de faptul ca se afla in topuri de mult timp, asa ca fiecare melodie pe care o lanseaza este extrem de apreciata de fanii sai. Chiar daca are parte de faima si se bucura de tot ce i-a adus cariera, acesta a facut o dezvaluire dureroasa [citeste mai departe] Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 06:10:03|Editor: yan Video Player Close JERUSALEM, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed on Tuesday night to Poland to attend the Warsaw Conference on the Middle East. "The focus of the conference is Iran," Netanyahu told reporters before leaving. "We employ many means against Iran's aggression, against their attempts to achieve nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles," Netanyahu said. Iran denies it attempts to develop nuclear weapons. Netanyahu said that Israel's relations with many Middle East countries are "very good," but most of these ties are being held behind the scenes. According to Netanyahu, Israel has been forging new ties with Arab countries but "not all of them are overt." Israel currently has formal diplomatic ties with a few Arab countries, including Jordan and Egypt. Netanyahu is scheduled to meet U.S. officials during the two-day conference, co-hosted by Poland and the United States. Some 80 countries, including about 11 Middle East countries, have confirmed their participation in the conference which will be held on Feb. 13-14. The U.S. administration is organizing the conference and has invited Arab states and Israel to the conference. Iran was not invited. Lebanon and Iran have condemned the meeting as an "anti-Iran circus." The conference is thought to be an attempt by the U.S. to build an anti-Iran coalition of hardliners. Last year, Donald Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal negotiated with Iran, and reimposed sanctions on Tehran. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 05:49:57|Editor: yan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Workers from the United Nations and its humanitarian colleagues, using "increased risk mitigation measures," are delivering critical aid to 2.4 million people in northwest Syria, the spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday. "The humanitarian response in northwest Syria is continuing, while humanitarian workers take increased risk mitigation measures after an increase in fighting among non-state armed groups last month and expanded control by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)," said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman. "Despite the difficult operating environment, the UN and nongovernmental organizations continue to deliver assistance in the area," he said. "Some 2.4 million Syrians are now being reached with critical food, medicine, tents, and winter supplies each month, primarily through cross-border operations from Turkey." However, there are still 2.7 million men, women and children in need of some form of humanitarian assistance in the northwest of Syria, Dujarric told reporters at a regular briefing. "The UN continues to call on all parties, and those with influence over them, to facilitate sustained and unhindered access by all humanitarian actors to independently assess needs and provide services to persons affected by the conflict," he said. "This is particularly important where developments on the ground have resulted in a change of control over populated areas." He also said efforts to end the conflict were continuing with UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen in Berlin on Tuesday for meetings with the German foreign minister and senior government officials. "In his ongoing tour of relevant stakeholders, Pedersen remains focused on a political solution based on Security Council Resolution 2254, which affirms Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity and foresees a Syrian-led and owned political solution facilitated by the United Nations," Dujarric said. "In this process, the special envoy is attentive to possible confidence-building measures toward a calm, neutral and safe environment in which such a solution can be realized," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 05:34:51|Editor: WX Video Player Close YAOUNDE, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 soldiers and one journalist were wounded Tuesday when gunmen attacked a convoy transporting the governor of Southwest, one of the two war-torn anglophone regions of Cameroon, according to local authorities. "On a visit to Kumba, governor Okalia Bilai has been attacked by bullets from Ambazonians (armed separatists). Three soldiers have been seriously wounded," the army said in a statement. Local authorities said the convoy was attacked when the governor was on his way to condole with families who were affected by a deadly hospital fire that killed four on Monday. "The governor is not injured," an army official who asked not to be named told Xinhua. The United Nations estimates that more than 430,000 people have been displaced internally since government forces started clashing with armed separatists in November 2017. The separatists are fighting to secede from Cameroon and create a nation called "Ambazonia" in the two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 05:29:49|Editor: WX Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of Defense said Tuesday that acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi in Baghdad on a broad range of defense issues. In their meeting at the prime minister's office, Shanahan and Abdul Mahdi discussed a broad range of defense issues, including the need to further develop capabilities of Iraqi security forces, according to a press release issued by the Pentagon. Shanahan reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to an independent, sovereign Iraq that is capable of defending itself, the release said. The two also recognized the growing bilateral security relationship, which is focused on defeating the Islamic State (IS). Currently, there are some 5,200 U.S. troops stationed in Iraq. During his surprise visit to Iraq in December, President Donald Trump promised not to pull U.S. forces out of Iraq, saying the country could be used as a place to "do something in Syria." During an interview earlier this month, Trump reportedly said that the important role of U.S. troops in Iraq is "to watch Iran." In response, former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi later said that "the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq was a result of bilateral agreement, any activity beyond that will be inacceptable." Shanahan officially took over the Pentagon early in January as acting U.S. secretary of defense after his predecessor, James Mattis, who resigned on Dec. 20 over policy disagreements with Trump, including whether to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 05:19:46|Editor: yan Video Player Close NEW YORK, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman Loera, also known as "El Chapo" (The Shorty), was convicted guilty on all 10 criminal counts at a federal court in New York City's Brooklyn borough on Tuesday. The 61-year-old is expected to be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole at his sentencing hearing, which is scheduled on June 25, according to prosecutors. The drug kingpin was indicted on 10 charges including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, use of firearms, as well as manufacture and international distribution of cocaine, heroin and other drugs. During the three-month trial, a local jury heard from more than 50 witnesses, many of whom were active members of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, the world's largest drug-trafficking organization once led by Guzman. The Sinaloa cartel has trafficked a large amount of heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana and cocaine from Mexico into the United States over the past years, prosecutors said. Guzman escaped from prison twice in Mexico before he was finally recaptured and extradited to the United States in 2017. Since then he has been held in solitary confinement in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan, which is considered to be one of the most secure places in the United States. The Brooklyn Bridge, a city landmark as well as a vital traffic connection between Manhattan and Brooklyn, was closed each time when Guzman was transported under heavy security through the two boroughs, causing trouble for commuters. DENVER, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bow River Capital 2017 Fund (Bow River) today announced that it has agreed to recapitalize Kivu Consulting, Inc. (Kivu or the Company), a cyber security consulting firm providing incident response, risk management, and cyber forensics investigation services to companies and organizations worldwide. As part of the transaction, the founders will retain a meaningful ownership stake in the Company and will continue to lead the organization on a go-forward basis. Bow River is looking forward to partnering with management to scale operations, invest in infrastructure, and broaden the Companys service offerings to support client needs. Founded in 2009, Kivu is a leading cyber security firm trusted by top cyber insurance providers, law firms, and enterprise clients across the globe. The Company has responded to hundreds of data breaches and cybercrime events. Kivu also provides digital forensics investigations and helps companies assess their preparedness for digital intrusions. Kivu is precisely the type of company Bow River seeks out for investment, notes Rick Pederson, a Managing Director at Bow River. They are an exceptional team delivering top-notch services in a growing industry. We expect great things ahead in this partnership. Kim Niquette, CEO of Kivu said: Kivu has the best team in the cyber security industry with brilliant analysts and incredibly innovative services. The partnership with Bow River will support us in building a unique global response capability. Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, LLP served as legal advisor to Bow River. FOCUS Investment Banking was the exclusive sell-side advisor to Kivu Consulting, and Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, LLP served as legal counsel. About Bow River Capital Founded in 2003, Bow River Capital is a private alternative asset management company based in Denver, Colorado, with Buyout, Real Estate, and Software Growth Equity Fund platforms. Bow Rivers Buyout platform focuses on lower middle market operating companies across a geographic area the principals refer to as Bow River Capitals Rodeo Region, which encompasses the Rocky Mountains and surrounding states. Contact: Bow River Capital Contact Catherina Nally 303-861-8466 Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 04:59:39|Editor: yan Video Player Close ROME, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Italy's parliament named Senator Vito Rosario Petrocelli from the populist Five Star Movement to head its bilateral friendship section with China as part of the global Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Lower House said in a statement Tuesday. Petrocelli was one of a total of 94 senators and deputies named to as many bilateral friendship sections with countries around the world as part of the IPU, the global organization of national parliaments of which China is also a member. Petrocelli, 55, chairs the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. He is from the central city of Matera and was elected on March 4 last year as part of the populist Five Star Movement led by Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio, who also serves as labor and economic development minister. Di Maio went to China on an official visit in September 2018, shortly after a mission by Finance Minister Giovanni Tria in August. Also in August, Di Maio's industry ministry launched a China Task Force to strengthen bilateral trade and investments, the ministry said in a statement at the time. The IPU currently has 178 member parliaments, ranging from huge nations like China, India and Indonesia, to the tiny states of Cabo Verde, San Marino and Palau. More than 6.5 billion of the world's seven billion people live in countries whose parliaments are in the IPU, whose members work together to promote peace and cooperation, both in their own countries and at the international level, according to the organization's website. Founded in Paris in 1889, the IPU also has 12 associate members, including the Arab Parliament, the European Parliament, and parliamentary organizations from Africa and Latin America. The current IPU president is Mexican Senator Gabriela Cuevas Barron, who was elected in 2017. Italy's Senator Pier Ferdinando Casini chaired the IPU from 2005-2008, and was elected unanimously as its honorary president for life. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 04:39:34|Editor: yan Video Player Close RABAT, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Moroccan government and the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group signed here on Tuesday a loan worth 96.6 million U.S. dollars to promote employment in Morocco. Inked by the Moroccan Minister of Economy and Finance, Mohamed Benchaaboun, and Country Director of AfDB Office in Morocco, Leila Farah Mokaddem, the loan will finance the implementation of employment projects for 2019-2021. The loan aims to create 100,000 jobs, and offer vocational training for 111,000 young people, half of them women. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 04:34:34|Editor: yan Video Player Close LISBON, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Ambassador to Portugal George Glass said on Tuesday that U.S. airbase in Lajes of the Azores archipelago of Portugal is "fundamental" for security in the Atlantic and the size of its missions there has come to increase. Glass said that he was confident of the continuity of the U.S. airbase in Lajes, which in 2015 suffered a military reduction that led to the elimination of hundreds of jobs, including the termination by mutual agreement of about 400 Portuguese officials. "It is increasing in the size of its missions and has been a tremendous success in the last 18 months since I arrived," Glass said. He was speaking to reporters at the end of a visit to the detachment of about 300 U.S. military personnel in Monte Real Air Base in Leiria, some 170 km north of the capital city of Lisbon. Asked about the process of decontamination of soils and aquifers by the U.S. Air Force on Terceira Island, where Lajes air base is located, Glass stressed that the U.S. is working hard to finish the work. "We have already completed six sites, we will conclude another two and now there is a handfull," he said, noting that the regional government of the Azores should "make an announcement soon" on this matter. The contamination of soils and aquifers in Praia da Vitoria on Terceira Island, caused by the U.S. Air Force at the Lajes base, was identified in 2005 by the Americans themselves and confirmed in 2009 by the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC), which has monitored the decontamination process since 2012, according to Portuguese Lusa News Agency. In 2015, the United States announced that it would gradually wind down its operations in Lajes. The economic implications of the decision are of grave concern to Portugal. The situation seemed to have changed when President Donald Trump took office. The Trump administration has proposed extra spending on defense and vowed not to withdraw from Lajes. File Photo: Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza addresses a United Nations Security Council emergency meeting on the situation in Venezuela, at the UN headquarters in New York, Jan. 26, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Muzi) UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said on Tuesday that the government led by President Nicolas Maduro is ready to sit down with the opposition without preconditions and seek a solution to the political crisis. "How can there be preconditions between Venezuelans? The government has been saying: you are Venezuelan, I am Venezuelan. Let's sit down together. We have our Constitution. Let us sit down and engage in dialogue. Let us try to find a solution without any kind of strings attached, or any kind of preconditions," Arreaza told reporters at the UN Headquarters in New York. "This kind of arrogance (by insisting on preconditions) would just hinder dialogue. That's why we say we are waiting for the opposition to get through its pursuit of independence from the U.S. government ... and then we can sit down with the opposition and agree and negotiate in line with the Constitution, and find a Venezuelan solution." Venezuela has been in political tension since Jan. 23 when National Assembly President Juan Guaido declared himself interim president and was recognized by the United States and some other countries. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 04:04:24|Editor: yan Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Uncertainty hangs on as U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he is not happy with a bipartisan deal reached in principle by lawmakers in a bid to avert a government shutdown. "I can't say I'm happy. I can't say I'm thrilled," Trump told reporters in the White House about the deal. However, the president did not say whether he would sign or veto the deal, noting that he would hold a meeting to discuss it later. "We certainly don't want to see a shutdown", Trump said, adding that "everything" is on the table and he needs to look further into the details of the deal struck on Monday night on spending and border security. Earlier on Tuesday, White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley said that it was not sure whether Trump would give the greenlight to the deal. "We're not sure yet, to be quite honest," Gidley told Fox News during an interview. "It's not consistent with what we're hearing coming out of the conference committee ...So until we actually see it, it is very difficult to comment on it." "The White House has been consulted all along," Republican Senator Richard Shelby, chair of Senate Appropriations Committee, said Monday night when announcing "an agreement in principle" was reached to avert the shutdown, failing to reveal the details. Local media, quoting congressional sources, said Tuesday that the bill would include 1.375 billion U.S. dollars for physical barriers along the U.S. -Mexico border. Trump had previously demanded 5.7 billion dollars in funding for a border wall, which is his signature campaign promise. As for another major disagreement over the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention beds for detained undocumented immigrants, a CNN report said Tuesday that negotiators from both parties might agree to a level of 40,520. Democratic lawmakers tried to cap overall ICE detention beds to 35,520, while the White House and Republicans sought a hike to 52,000. "No one got everything they wanted" during the weeks of bipartisan negotiations, said a top Democratic negotiator Nita Lowey on Tuesday, calling the deal a "compromise." The House appropriations chairwoman said that under the current tentative deal, the 1.375-billion-dollar funding is for a barrier instead of a wall along some parts of the U.S.-Mexico border. "This is not a wall. This is a barrier," she said. "These are fences. I think 1.375 billion dollars is a good number." Speaking on Monday night in El Paso, Texas, which sits directly across the Rio Grande from Mexico, Trump said he would build the border wall regardless of whether Congress approves funding for it. "Just so you know, we're building the wall anyway," Trump told the crowd. "I will never sign a bill that forces the mass release of violent criminals into our country. And I will never abolish or in any way mistreat our great heroes from ICE and Border Patrol and law enforcement." Democrats have rejected the idea of a border wall, calling it Trump's "political theater" to fire up his base, while they prefer the use of technology like drones and sensors in strengthening border security. Trump argued it is essential to beefing up border security and curbing crime. The confrontation over border wall funds had caused a record-breaking 35-day partial shutdown of the federal government, which ended in late January when Trump agreed to fund the government for three weeks to allow for negotiations. The temporary funding bill runs out on Friday. Both the House and Senate will have to approve the legislation and Trump must sign it so as to avoid another government shutdown. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 03:59:22|Editor: yan Video Player Close STOCKHOLM, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- A majority of Swedes want to ban gambling advertising, according to a new survey from the Swedish Institute for Opinion Surveys (SIFO), Swedish Television News SVT reported on Tuesday. Almost nine out of ten Swedes believe there is currently far too much gambling advertising, with a total of 70 percent of survey respondents saying that they were "positive towards" a ban on gambling advertisements. "We will not tolerate it as it is now," minister for public administration Ardalan Shekarabi told SVT. "Marketing must be moderate and respect the protection of consumers." On Jan. 1, Sweden introduced a new gambling act to re-regulate the industry. The act requires, among other things, that all gambling companies operating in Sweden be licensed, and that they must ensure gambling advertisements are restrained. But despite the new legislation, a large majority of Swedes believe there is too much advertising today. "I understand that there is a lot of frustration with gambling advertising. It is not possible to watch TV without being subjected to aggressive marketing," Shekarabi told SVT. "We have just taken control of the gambling market after two decades of the 'Wild West' when Swedish law did not apply to all gambling companies. We will ensure that (the new gambling act) is adhered to and we do not exclude the need for further restrictions," said Shekarabi. The issue of moderation in gambling marketing will be discussed on Thursday when the Swedish government meets the gambling industry in a previously announced meeting. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 03:49:19|Editor: yan Video Player Close KAMPALA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Laboratory results for a suspected Ebola case in Uganda turned out to be gegative, a ministry of health official said on Tuesday. Diana Atwine, permanent secretary of ministry of health, said in a tweet that there was no cause for alarm since the results have turned out negative. She said the ministry will continue to build a resilient surveillence system. The ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) earlier on Tuesday said they had quarantined 13 people who picked up a body of suspected Ebola death in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as hemorrhagic fever tests were carried out. The ministry said it had dispatched a team to the eastern Ugandan district of Tororo to conduct a safe and dignified burial of the deceased. Uganda is on an Ebola alert as neighboring DRC are facing an outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever. The highly contagious Ebola virus causes a range of symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized pain or malaise and in many cases internal and external bleeding, according to WHO. Mortality rates of Ebola fever, according to the global health body, are extremely high, with the human case fatality rate ranging from 50 percent to 89 percent, depending on viral subtype. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 03:29:14|Editor: yan Video Player Close by Marwa Yahya CAIRO, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- By chairing the African Union (AU), Egypt will restore its erstwhile role as a driving force in the African continent according to experts. On Sunday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took over the AU presidency from his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame. It is the first time that Egypt is elected AU chair since the launch of the African bloc in 2002. "Egypt's presidency of the AU came as a result of Egypt's and al-Sisi's efforts to enhance the relations with the African leaders over the past few years," said Mohamed Aly, a researcher with Cairo-based Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. Under the administration of former President Hosni Mubarak, especially after the assassination attempt on him in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa in 1995, the ties between Egypt and the African Union witnessed a significant deterioration, which was reflected in worsening relations with the Nile Basin countries including Sudan and Ethiopia. However, the current Egyptian administration has made relations with Africa a priority by seeking to revive Egypt's role as a leading African nation through a more active political, military and economic role in Africa, Aly told Xinhua. Since taking office in 2014, al-Sisi has paid nearly 20 visits to other African nations, including three visits to Ethiopia and four to Sudan. According to the official statistics, al-Sisi's visits to Africa have constituted 30 percent of his overall international trips. Egypt has undertaken a number of important initiatives to restore its role in Africa, including training for peacekeepers and military personnel, increasing security and intelligence cooperation, and convening three economic conferences to encourage greater intra-African economic and business cooperation. In his address to the AU summit which concluded on Monday, al-Sisi said Egypt will be tasked with the organization's institutional reform and rehabilitation of refugees and internally displaced persons. "I am well aware of the great responsibility for coordinating joint African action under the current tough and critical international and continental circumstances which are exacerbated by disputes, extremism and terrorism," al-Sisi said. Egypt has set an ambitious plan to contribute to the African Agenda 2063, a strategic master plan for the socio-economic transformation of the continent over the next 50 years, the president noted. Egypt has a number of vital interests in the African continent, the foremost among which are the water security, peace, stability and anti-terrorism, said Noha Bakir, a professor of international relations at the American University in Cairo. Despite relentless diplomatic efforts to sway some Nile Basin countries from undertaking projects that might affect Egypt's overall share of the Nile water, Egypt has yet to take more steps, according to Bakir. The perplexing situation in Libya, the terrorist activities in sub-Saharan Africa and the security of the eastern Red Sea coast are closely linked to security of the borders and the Suez Canal in Egypt, the professor explained. Egypt is also the gate to economic and investment advantages from some Asian and European countries, Bakir highlighted. The African countries have seen how Egypt restored its stability and security as well as political and economic influence in the region in a short period, which has consolidated their confidence in the most populous Arab country, he concluded. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 02:03:57|Editor: yan Video Player Close LONDON, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- China and UK should keep the long-term interests and larger picture in mind, look at each other's development as opportunities, respect each other's sovereignty, security and right to development, handle our differences properly and enhance strategic mutual trust, Chinese Ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming has said. The Chinese diplomat made the remarks while attending the Chinese New Year Dinner by the Cities of London and Westminster Conservative Association on Monday night. "If we compare China-UK relations to a building, it could not stand tall without a solid foundation. This foundation is the mutual confidence between our two countries," he said. Recalling that the world economy is under downward pressure, with surging protectionism and unilateralism making things doubly difficult. Against this situation, Liu said it is all the more important that China and the UK advocate free trade, oppose protectionism and promote open cooperation. "We hope that the UK would continue to provide a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies. We hope you will make successful Chinese companies such as Huawei feel welcome here in Britain, and convince them that the UK is a trustworthy place to put their money," said the Chinese ambassador. Liu said both China and the UK are known for their profound cultural heritage and important contribution to the progress of human civilization. "I hope that in the new year our two countries will continue to enhance cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and deepen mutual understanding and strengthen friendship." The ambassador also hoped that people from all walks of life in both China and UK will join hands to cement the foundation for a solid and magnificent edifice of bilateral relations. British Prime Minster Theresa May sent a congratulatory message to the event, saying that it is an important moment to recognize the contribution of the Chinese community in London and across the whole of the United Kingdom. "The Chinese community's expanding business expertise, scientific inquiry and cultural heritage and traditions are of immense value to our country - not least here in London, where the vibrancy of Chinatown stands as a strong beacon for the Chinese community and a reminder of all that they have contributed to our society," she said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 01:53:53|Editor: yan Video Player Close LONDON, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Tuesday asked Europe Union (EU) leaders to compromise on Brexit in order to secure "friendly relations" between Britain and its neighboring Republic of Ireland and to protect peace in Northern Ireland. The foreign secretary made the remarks before traveling to France and Poland for talks with ministers, raising the threat of a no-deal Brexit or "Brexit paralysis" if the EU and Britain were unable to strike a deal. The EU was steadfastly refusing to budge on the Northern Ireland "backstop," and the Democratic Unionist Party, which props up the current British government, was adamant that it must be axed or changed, or else they will not back the Withdrawal Agreement. "No one who grew up with bombs every week in Northern Ireland but also in Harrods, Hyde Park and throughout the UK could ever countenance taking a risk with peace, and nor will we," Hunt said. "But the best way to secure that peace is to do a Brexit deal that secures friendly relations between the UK and its neighbors," Hunt said. "And that means sensible compromise on all sides." Hunt's remarks echoed statements in recent weeks by several high-profile political figures, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who have warned of a potential return to violence in Northern Ireland if a hard border is installed in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Also on Tuesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May pleaded with members of parliament to give her more time to secure a revised Brexit deal amid warnings from Brussels that the EU is still waiting for her to come up with a viable plan. She promised to update members of parliament again on Feb. 26 and, if she had not got a new deal by then, to give them a say on the next steps in non-binding votes. The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, on Monday insisted there was no question of Brussels giving in to Downing Street's demands on the Irish "backstop." "We're waiting for clarity and movement from the United Kingdom," Barnier told reporters after talks in Luxembourg with the country's Prime Minister, Xavier Bettel. Theresa May said in Parliament that she was discussing a number of options with the EU to secure legally-binding changes to the "backstop": replacing it with "alternative arrangements;" putting a time limit on how long it can stay in place; or a unilateral exit clause so the UK can leave at a time of its choosing. The backstop" arrangement is the "insurance" policy in May's deal to avoid a return to border checks on the island of Ireland. PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rittenhouse Realty Advisors is pleased to announce the sale of the Keystone Lofts in the Tacony/Lower Mayfair neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia. The property, which is located just a 20-minute drive from Center City, Philadelphia, sold to an international buyer at over $140,000 per unit, a record price for Northeast Philadelphia. The property was originally built as warehouse in 1923 and was converted into apartments in the late 1980s. It now contains 55 apartments and 1 commercial unit. There are two freight elevators primarily used for tenant move-ins/move-outs. Every floor plan is unique with features that include ceilings up to 30 feet high, sweeping views and distinguished hardwood floors. Keystone Lofts is located on approximately 2.8 acres of land with over 100 parking spaces secured by an electronic security access gate. Ken Wellar, Managing Partner of RRA, stated: We are seeing more foreign capital purchase assets in the Philadelphia region, which is driving up pricing. We successfully closed this transaction at a record price per unit for the neighborhood on behalf of the sellers, Liss Property Group, who are one of the largest owners in the Northeast with over 1,500 units. For more information on current rates or to view our available listings visit www.RittenhouseRealty.com. Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Rittenhouse Realty Advisors is a real estate advisory firm with an extensive focus in the brokerage of multi-family communities throughout the northeast region of the United States. Formed in February 2013 by a group of advisors with more than 30 years of commercial investment sales experience, our focus is on multi-family and mixed-use properties with significant residential components. www.RittenhouseRealty.com Press Contact: Corey Lonberger and Ken Wellar Managing Partners 215-454-2852 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/aee14749-a018-4bbe-bf5a-6f878d951231 Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 01:53:53|Editor: yan Video Player Close TIRANA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Albanian police and Italian Anti-mafia police arrested 27 persons of four criminal organizations during a joint operation, the General Director of Police Ardi Veliu said in a press conference on Tuesday. The international police operation against drugs trafficking encoded "Spring flowers" was finalized with 27 persons cuffed, 21 of whom Albanian citizens. "Thanks to this operation, about 3.3 tons of cannabis were seized," said Veliu. The investigations for this operation, held as well in cooperation with the Prosecution Office of Serious Crimes, lasted two years. The Head of the Prosecution Office of Serious Crimes, Donika Prela, said that this was the first operation of a joint investigative team between the Albanian and Italian authorities. In Albania, the Prosecution Office of Serious Crimes extended its operation in the cities if Durres, Vlora and Lezha. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (L) greets a soldier at the Guicaipuro Fort in Miranda, Venezuela, on Feb. 10, 2019. MOSCOW, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Russia has prepared a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) draft resolution supporting dialogue in Venezuela, contrary to a U.S. proposal that paves the way for an invasion, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday. "Some U.S. officials and Venezuelan opposition leaders claim that our resolution is aimed at disrupting so-called humanitarian actions planned by the United States and its allies," Lavrov said at a press conference. Lavrov said mis-characterizing Russia's draft resolution is an attempt to divert attention from the U.S. version "which in essence aims to use the delivery of humanitarian aid as a means of destabilizing the situation in Venezuela and creating a pretext for direct military intervention." The UNSC will never accept such a resolution, Lavrov said. Lavrov says Russia supports the initiative of Mexico and Uruguay on creating conditions for national dialogue with the participation of all political forces in Venezuela, he said. Although Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro immediately expressed readiness for dialogue, the opposition rejected this proposal on the instruction of U.S. representatives, who have "lost all sense of shame," Lavrov said. Russia, China and some other countries expressed readiness to take part in a contact group created by the European Union to foster discussion, but so far there has not been any constructive reaction from the bloc, Lavrov said. He said the contact group, created with some Latin American countries, has approved a document, which is "in general aimed at unilateral support of the opposition." He said he planned to meet EU diplomacy head Federica Mogherini in the coming days to discuss the EU position on Venezuela. The top Russian diplomat said he also intends to have a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo later on Tuesday. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 01:23:46|Editor: yan Video Player Close MADRID, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- A 44-year-old man was detained by the Spanish national police force on Tuesday in Spain's North-African enclave of Ceuta on charges of indoctrinating young people in Salafism and Jihadism. The police confirmed that the arrested man, who has the initials F.M.A.I, already has a long and violent criminal record. He became indoctrinated into jihadism after being sent to prison in 2001. On searching his flat, police discovered a computer with videos of jihadist violence and material to share with others, with the aim of persuading them to join the Islamic State. The suspect had also been arrested in 2017 on charges of attempted homicide. The police inform that during his spells in prison, he would also try and indoctrinate other inmates. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 00:43:36|Editor: yan Video Player Close LONDON, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Two men were left with facial injuries on Tuesday afternoon after they had a "corrosive substance" thrown at them during a street brawl, British police said. Emergency services rushed to Argyle Square, near King's Cross station, after the attack. Police said those involved had all fled the scene, but the victims were found injured nearby. A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said: "Police were called at 13:33 hrs on Tuesday, 12 February to reports of an altercation between two groups of males on Argyle Square, Bloomsbury." "All parties had left the location before officers arrived at the scene," she said. "Two men were later found nearby with facial injuries reported to have been caused by a corrosive substance." "They have been taken to a nearby hospital; we await an update on their condition," she added. King's Cross station is one of the busiest in Britain, and is located in the London Borough of Camden on the edge of central London. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 00:38:35|Editor: WX Video Player Close Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (R) shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during their meeting in Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, on Feb. 12, 2019. (Xinhua/TASR/Michal Svitok) BRATISLAVA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. and the European Union (EU) should remain the closest partners and allies, Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak stated during his meeting here on Tuesday with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. "We're not close only from the historical viewpoint but also in terms of values, and at the same time we're reciprocally the greatest business partners and investors," said the Slovak minister. But he acknowledged meanwhile that there are differences between the two sides. "Of course, there are topics on which we have different opinions, but it's important that we hold talks on them, knowing that together we're stronger," stressed Lajcak. Lajcak and Pompeo also discussed the bilateral trade relations, including the concerns about U.S. customs duties. "The USA wants to be a partner of Slovakia and the EU. We want to work in a free and fair system where trade is reciprocal, there is fair competition, and both economies grow. We want to make sure that all companies that participate in these markets have the same conditions," Pompeo said. Pompeo is on a central Europe tour that includes Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 00:13:33|Editor: yan Video Player Close WINDHOEK, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's Chamber of Commerce (NCCI) on Tuesday urged the country's government to develop mechanisms to support local trading businesses. NCCI Branch Chairman Martin Shipanga called on the government to immediately act upon the key economic issues as identified in policies, participation of locals in infrastructure development, trading, tourism, health, mining, logistics and agriculture sectors. "A serious scenario is facing us where businesses have closed doors, have been hit with industrial strikes, retrenched workers and generally lost out on business against foreign businesses that have the advantage of price and market bullying and access," he added. According to Shipanga, there is a need for policy interventions as he believes the current status quo of policies is a disadvantage to locals. "There is a need for deliberate policy shift in procurement, in attracting and managing foreign direct investment," he said. Furthermore Shipanga urged the government to start engaging on how to increase the revenue of government. "There is a need to increase the revenue of the state, by using other innovative ways either than cutting expenditure alone and raising taxes," he added. Meanwhile the chairman said the chamber will set up working teams from all regions to provide detailed inputs for action and possible intervention. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 00:08:31|Editor: yan Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The United States will co-host with Poland a meeting on peace and security in the Middle East in the Polish capital Warsaw on Feb. 13-14, according to a joint statement by the two countries. Analysts argued that both countries have their own axes to grind. Washington seeks to rally international support at the meeting to isolate Tehran, while Warsaw craves closer ties with Washington and a higher position in the world affairs. With the absence of some major stakeholders and all-round skepticism, the meeting is unlikely to see substantive progress on a wide variety of issues. "BASHING IRAN" During his trip to the Middle East this January, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the meeting "includes an important element of making sure that Iran is not a destabilizing influence." Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed the planned meeting as an "anti-Iranian circus event" and a "desperate" show that will only disgrace the participants. The objective of the Trump administration was to rally international support at the conference to isolate Iran diplomatically and economically, said Ahmad Majidyar, a senior fellow and director of IranObserved Project at the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based think tank. Yet many U.S. allies in Europe are unwilling to participate in the event, said Majidyar. In an opinion piece, Roula Khalaf, deputy editor of Financial Times and an expert on Middle East issues, wrote that this meeting intends to create an anti-Iran coalition which consolidates the impression that the world has lined up behind Trump's hardline approach to Iran. Some speculated that the conference is targeted at overshadowing Iran's 40th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in the same week, said Ellie Geranmayeh, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). "It is not the most outrageous foreign policy idea peddled by the Trump administration. But, in the raft of schemes rolling out from Washington, it is probably the most pointless," Khalaf said. WHY POLAND? Given Warsaw's limited political and economic stakes in Iran and the Middle East, analysts observed that the motives behind the Polish government to hold this event are not related to Iran. Robert Czulda, an assistant professor at the University of Lodz in Poland, argued that Warsaw's decision to host the summit "might be unprofitable for Poland in the longer term, for now it is purely political and driven by pragmatism." "Although Warsaw wants good relations with Tehran, economic cooperation with Iran is minimal while close ties with the United States are crucial" and its main rationale is to bear the cost of strained relations with Iran to please the White House, he said. "Hosting a summit on the Middle East, Polish decision-makers believe, would be not only a chance to make the American administration happy ... but also another step in moving Poland to the next level in international affairs," he added. Echoing Czulda, Piotr Buras, director of the Warsaw office of the ECFR, said that the Polish government has "encouraged this reading of the situation by emphasizing the symbolic role of the event for Poland's rising position in the world and strategic cooperation with Washington." "What worries me is that the Polish government is putting its eggs almost completely in Trump's basket ... All of this is at the expense of relations with EU (European Union) partners, and even at the expense of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) unity," he added. "No western European capital is likely to hold an anti-Iran conference. Poland, ruled by a nationalist government, wants to curry favor with the United States," Khalaf said. Despite Polish insistence that it follows the European line and is supportive of the Iran nuclear deal, the United States would be able to portray the summit's Warsaw venue as a crack in the EU position on Iran, she added. BLEAK PROSPECT The United States has invited over 70 countries to the conference, but many countries declined to attend or planned to send low-level representation. Russia declined the invitation. The foreign ministers of Germany and France reportedly would not appear in Warsaw. Federica Mogherini, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, is also staying away. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed his attendance, but only on the condition that a meeting on Yemen would be arranged on the sideline of the conference, according to a report in The Guardian. European powers do not want to side with Washington to scrap the nuclear deal through coercive diplomacy and sanctions, said Majidyar. "It is unlikely that the meeting will bridge the gulf between the United States and Europe on the broader Iran policy." Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz announced on Monday that over ten Middle East countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Israel, Yemen, among others, have confirmed that their delegations will be led by ministers. Egypt and Tunisia are likely to send vice-ministers, he added. At best, the conference will be a waste of time for all participants; at worst, it will be a provocation that drives Iran to rethink its commitment to the nuclear deal, said Khalaf. The upcoming Warsaw conference "has all the makings of 'a show about nothing,'" said Aaron David Miller, vice president for New Initiatives at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. "And given the amount of effort and time to organize, it's a fair question to ask why it's taking place at all." Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 00:03:30|Editor: yan Video Player Close KIGALI, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda targets to raise revenue of 88 million U.S. dollars through its Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Events and Exhibitions (MICE) tourism strategy within the period of 2019/2020 fiscal year, Rwanda Convention Bureau said Tuesday. "I am confident we shall achieve our target considering the fact that Rwanda has become a leading conference tourism destination and competitive business and investment hub," said Nelly Mukazayire, chief executive officer of the bureau, at a press briefing in Kigali, capital city of Rwanda. Rwanda has generated 52 million U.S dollars revenues from hosting international conferences and meetings from July 2018 to Feb. 2019, said Mukazayire. She highlighted some of international and regional meetings lined up for 2019, including African Fine Coffee Conference and Exhibition, Africa Tech Summit, Aviation Africa Event and Transform Africa Summit. Year 2018 served as a key milestone for event creation and management whereby 201 events were hosted in Rwanda, she said. Rwanda Development Board in 2014 introduced the MICE strategy with a view of diversifying the current tourism product offered in the country while complementing existing gorilla tourism, eco-tourism, cultural and community-based tourism. The central African country and Kigali were ranked the third most popular destinations in Africa for accommodating international meetings and events in International Congress and Convention Association's rankings released in May 2018. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 00:03:30|Editor: yan Video Player Close LAGOS, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian police said Tuesday it is collaborating with other security agencies to provide a peaceful atmosphere for the smooth conduct of the upcoming elections. All parties must abide by the rules and regulations guiding the elections, said police spokesperson Godwin Nwobodo while addressing heads of security agencies, leaders of political parties and other critical stakeholders in northern city of Minna. Nwobodo called on politicians and other stakeholders to abide by the rules and regulations as regards electoral processes in the country. He said the police and other security agencies were fully ready to ensure the elections are peaceful, free, fair and credible. Nwobodo said the police would ensure that voters' rights were protected because police and other security agencies were fully prepared to deal with trouble makers. He was optimistic that the exercise would be successful. Nigeria will hold general elections on Feb. 16 to elect the country's president and national assembly members, and on March 2 to elect state governors and state legislators. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 23:58:28|Editor: WX Video Player Close KABUL, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- At least 32 people including three civilians have been killed in Afghanistan over the past 24 hours as government forces and the Taliban outfit increased activities, officials said Tuesday. Taliban militants targeted a security checkpoint in Akazi area of Balamurghab district in the western Badghis province early Tuesday, triggering a fierce fighting which lasted for five hours. Eight security personnel were killed and eight others injured, head of provincial council Abdul Aziz Beg confirmed. According to Aziz Beg, the Taliban fighters have also suffered, but did not give an exact figure of casualties. In another operation, the Taliban militants attacked a security checkpoint in Haider Quli area outside Farah city, capital of western Farah province late Monday night, killing four security personnel and wounding four others, Shah Mahmoud Naemi, deputy to the provincial council told Xinhua. Government forces' crackdowns on the armed militants have also killed 10 militants in the northern Takhar and seven militants in Chamtal district of Balkh province since Monday, army spokesman in the northern region Mohammad Hanif Rezai said. Three more civilians were killed and eight others injured as a mortar mine struck a house in the northern Takhar province on Tuesday morning. CALGARY, Alberta, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fractal Systems Inc. (Fractal or the Company), a privately-owned technology company engaged in the business of developing proprietary partial upgrading technology solutions for bitumen producers, today announced that it has been awarded funding of up to $5.0 million from Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) to facilitate the first commercial deployment of its Enhanced JetShear (EJS) technology. Since the successful conclusion of the EJS commercial demonstration program in 2017, Fractal has been focused on the development of a commercial scale project to be located at a major pipeline hub in Alberta. Fractal has developed commercial relationships with producers, midstream companies, capital providers and other organizations to prepare for the successful development of the Enhanced JetShear Regional Hub project with an expected capacity of up to 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) of bitumen feed (70,000 75,000 bpd of diluted bitumen). Funding from ERA will be used to support the advancement of a construction-ready project development plan over the next two years. Fractals EJS technology cost-effectively improves bitumen product quality (particularly through reduced acidity) and significantly lowers bitumen viscosity, which eliminates the need for approximately 50% of the diluent normally required to meet pipeline specifications depending on feedstock quality and selected process operating conditions. Reducing the required diluent lowers transportation costs, increases export pipeline capacity by about 20%, and cuts wells-to-tank greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 11%. The reduced viscosity also allows the EJS product to be more efficiently shipped with little or no diluent by rail to refineries on the US Gulf Coast and other locations. The EJS technology directly addresses many of the challenges facing the bitumen and heavy oil industry. This support from Emissions Reduction Alberta comes at an important time in the development of the EJS technology, said Ed Veith, President and Chief Operating Officer of Fractal. After more than a decade of research and development, taking these next steps to achieve commercial deployment is critical to achieving success. ERAs support will help us get this project developed as quickly as possible. Working together with our Trusted Partner SDTC allows us to leverage funding and accelerate the development and adoption of innovative technologies, says Steve MacDonald, CEO, Emissions Reduction Alberta. This large-scale, first-of-kind deployment of Fractals partial upgrading technology will significantly improve both the economic and environmental performance of heavy oil and bitumen processing. Background Since the mid-2000s, Fractal has been advancing the development of its proprietary and patented technologies, JetShear and Enhanced JetShear, to provide heavy oil and bitumen producers with cost-effective solutions to improve margins, de-bottleneck infrastructure and provide flexibility associated with the transportation of heavy oil. In 2013, Fractal entered into technology and testing agreements with a large Canadian bitumen producer, and in May of 2014, the parties commenced testing diluted bitumen at Fractals 1,000 bpd JetShear demonstration facility located near Provost, Alberta using commercial-scale JetShear components. On February 16, 2015, SDTC awarded Fractal and its producer partner $3.7 million of funding to conduct field trials of the newly-developed Enhanced JetShear and Acid Reduction Process (ARP) technologies. Building on the successful demonstration of the JetShear technology platform that concluded in April of 2015, Fractal commenced engineering for a retrofit and expansion of the JetShear facility. Construction was completed in the first half of 2016, and the expanded facility operated from late August 2016 through August 2017. During the operating periods, the facility processed over 225,000 barrels of partially-diluted bitumen that was trucked to the site from the producing partners SAGD projects. The facility achieved approximately 50% diluent displacement and reduced the total acidity number (TAN) and olefinic content of the product to exceed industry quality thresholds. About Fractal Fractal Systems Inc. is a private Canadian technology company focused on the advancement of innovative technology solutions for partially upgrading heavy oil and bitumen. Fractals technologies will enable oil sands companies to reduce their environmental impact while realizing significant operating and transportation cost advantages over existing upgrading alternatives. Fractals current technology platform includes JetShear, Enhanced JetShear and Acid Reduction Process, which have concluded field testing and are ready for commercial deployment with oil producers and midstream companies. Fractal has offices in Calgary, Alberta and a lab facility in Sherbrook, Quebec. About Emissions Reduction Alberta ERA works with government, industry and innovators to accelerate development of innovative technologies that reduce GHG emissions. We are helping Alberta transition to a lower carbon future with a stronger, more diversified economy. For further information, please contact: Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 23:53:25|Editor: yan Video Player Close SHANGHAI, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Wang Duoduo traveled across Morocco during this year's Spring Festival holiday. After a camel tour into the Sahara Desert, she took pictures of the golden sand highlighted by the stars and posted them on WeChat. The posts immediately got several "likes." Meanwhile, judging from the pictures her friends posted on Wechat, they also traveled to various Belt and Road (B&R) destinations, such as Jordan, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates. Wang, 29, works at a law firm and travels a lot, especially during the Chinese New Year holiday. She made a plan to visit one B&R country each year, and since 2016, she has traveled to Sri Lanka, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco. "Many of my friends have traveled abroad. Unlike several years ago when destinations along the B&R were still not very popular among Chinese, now, they have become our first choice," said Wang, "During peak travel seasons such as the Spring Festival holiday, some tour packages were so popular that they sold out very fast." Ctrip, a Shanghai-based online travel agency, predicted that nearly 7 million Chinese traveled abroad during the 7-day Spring Festival holiday which started on February 4. Countries along the Belt and Road routes, such as Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Cambodia are among the most popular oversea destinations. Meanwhile, the amount of visitors to Eastern European countries increased by nearly 40 percent year on year. According to a report released on Sunday by Lvmama, another online travel agency, the volume of trips to long-distance destinations for at least eight days during the Spring Festival holiday increased by 23 percent year on year. According to the China Tourism Academy (CTA), in 2017, 27 million Chinese traveled to B&R destinations, up 77 percent compared with 2013. Dai Bin, CTA president, said B&R destinations are quite attractive to Chinese tourists for their beautiful natural scenery and various historical and cultural resources, and there are several positive factors fueling China's outbound travel such as more convenient visa policies, more direct flights, more individualized travel products, and convenient payment environments. According to CTA, the international inbound tourist revenue of the countries along the B&R reached 385.1 billion U.S. dollars in total in 2017, among them 30.8 percent were contributed by visitors from the Chinese mainland. China's outbound travel has become a driving factor of the local economy along the B&R, said He Jianmin, a professor at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. Official data showed that China has become the largest source of visitors to Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Russia, Cambodia and the Maldives. "The biggest benefit of traveling is to promote communication among the people living along the routes," said He. "People are closer to each other. Our local guides are also very interested in Chinese history and culture. One of our guides in Sri Lanka traveled to China last year," said Wang. After finishing her trip to Morocco, Wang plans to travel to Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina during the National Holiday this October. Xiao Yinyuan, head of Ctrip's outbound travel business, predicted that 30 million Chinese will travel to countries and regions along the B&R in 2019, making B&R countries the largest outbound destination for Chinese tourists. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 23:38:21|Editor: yan Video Player Close DAR ES SALAAM, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania's Drug Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA) said on Tuesday a Tanzanian arrested with drugs in Bali, Indonesia, should not expect any help from authority. Rodgers Sianga, the DCEA Commissioner General, said the suspect knew that what he was doing was a criminal offence. Indonesian authorities said on Tuesday a Tanzanian man was arrested in Bali after more than a kilogram of methamphetamine was found inside his stomach. Immigration officials on the holiday island - who routinely detain foreigners for drug offences - said they nabbed Abdul Rahman Asman at the international airport on January 30. An X-ray and CT scan turned up some 99 plastic baggies filled with white powder that Asman had swallowed, topping a kilo in weight, authorities said. Dozens of the baggies were displayed on a table at the customs office Tuesday as Asman, 42, was paraded before reporters in an orange jumpsuit and restrained with hand and leg irons. It was not clear if prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Asman but Indonesia has some of the world's strictest drug laws, including execution by firing squad for traffickers. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 23:18:12|Editor: yan Video Player Close MOSCOW, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Russia has prepared a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) draft resolution supporting dialogue in Venezuela, contrary to a U.S. proposal that paves the way for an invasion, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday. "Some U.S. officials and Venezuelan opposition leaders claim that our resolution is aimed at disrupting so-called humanitarian actions planned by the United States and its allies," Lavrov said at a press conference. Lavrov said mis-characterizing Russia's draft resolution is an attempt to divert attention from the U.S. version "which in essence aims to use the delivery of humanitarian aid as a means of destabilizing the situation in Venezuela and creating a pretext for direct military intervention." The UNSC will never accept such a resolution, Lavrov said. Lavrov says Russia supports the initiative of Mexico and Uruguay on creating conditions for national dialogue with the participation of all political forces in Venezuela, he said. Although Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro immediately expressed readiness for dialogue, the opposition rejected this proposal on the instruction of U.S. representatives, who have "lost all sense of shame," Lavrov said. Russia, China and some other countries expressed readiness to take part in a contact group created by the European Union to foster discussion, but so far there has not been any constructive reaction from the bloc, Lavrov said. He said the contact group, created with some Latin American countries, has approved a document, which is "in general aimed at unilateral support of the opposition." He said he planned to meet EU diplomacy head Federica Mogherini in the coming days to discuss the EU position on Venezuela. The top Russian diplomat said he also intends to have a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo later on Tuesday. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 23:08:09|Editor: yan Video Player Close JERUSALEM, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday warned Iran that Israel has missiles that could reach the Islamic republic. Netanyahu, also Israel's defense minister, made the remarks at the Haifa navy base, where he was briefed on Israel's ongoing naval operations. "I am very impressed by the navy's aggressiveness, in building the force and using it," he said, according to a statement released by his office. The navy has both defensive and deterrent capabilities, the Israeli leader added. Netanyahu also reiterated Israel's position against Iran's military presence in Syria. "We are constantly working according to our understanding and the need to prevent Iran and its proxies from entrenching on our northern border and in our region in general," he said. Israel has become increasingly worried over the U.S. expected withdrawal from Syria given the presence of Iranian forces in the country, where they fight alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces. According to a recent White House statement, the U.S. army will withdraw its forces from Syria within "a few weeks." The Israeli air force has carried out hundreds of fatal airstrikes in Syria, saying the attacks target Iranian sites. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 23:03:05|Editor: yan Video Player Close BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- A group of people including officials of Beijing Tongrentang Co. Ltd., a renowned traditional Chinese medicine company, were held accountable and a subsidiary was fined for expired honey products, local authorities said Tuesday. Local media revealed last December that a honey producer of Tongrentang Bee Industry Co. Ltd., located in east China's Jiangsu Province, allegedly reused expired honey and changed production dates. An investigation launched by the local market regulation administration in Jiangsu affirmed that those behaviors violated China's laws and regulations on food security. The food and drug administration of Daxing District in Beijing also found that more than 2,200 jars of the company's products had entered the market since October last year. Tongrentang Bee Industry Co. Ltd. made a statement Monday night to recall those products and released detailed information about the products and compensation for the customers. Over 110,000 yuan (16,200 U.S. dollars) of illegal earnings and 3,300 jars of involved items have been confiscated. The food production license of the subsidiary has been revoked. So far, 14 people including high-level officials of Tongrentang were found responsible. The subsidiary was fined 14 million yuan (2.1 million U.S. dollars) for breaching food safety regulations. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 22:58:03|Editor: yan Video Player Close TEHRAN, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- A top Iranian military commander said on Tuesday that the upcoming anti-Iran meeting in Poland's capital Warsaw will fail to influence Iran's policies, official IRNA news agency reported. The hostile meeting will fail to undermine Iran's power, said Chief of Staff of Iranian Armed Forces Mohammad Baqeri. The two-day Middle East Security Meeting, to be co-hosted by the United States and Poland, will open in Warsaw on Wednesday to discuss the Middle East political situation and the role of Iran in regional developments. Poland has pledged that the meeting will not include any anti-Iran discussions, Baqeri told IRNA. In effect, the outcome of meeting is "insignificant," the Iranian commander added. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said earlier that the anti-Iran meeting in the Polish capital has already failed to reach its objectives. File Photo: A Falcon 9 rocket is launched with Spain's PAZ, a radar-imaging satellite, and two SpaceX test satellites for global broadband at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the United States, Feb. 22, 2018. (Xinhua/SpaceX) LOS ANGELES, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon will evaluate the U.S. Air Force's certification of Elon Musk's SpaceX launch vehicles, according to a memo on Monday. "Our objective is to determine whether the U.S. Air Force complied with the Launch Services New Entrant Certification Guide when certifying the launch system design for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle-class SpaceX Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles," said Deputy Inspector General of U.S. Department of Defense Michael Roark in the memo. The evaluation is scheduled in February, according to the memo. "We will perform the evaluation at the Space and Missile Systems Center, a subordinate unit of Air Force Space Command, headquartered at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, California," said the memo. It did not give a reason for what prompted the evaluation. In December, SpaceX launched a new breed of GPS satellite for the U.S. military, marking the private space company's first national security space mission for the country. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 22:37:59|Editor: yan Video Player Close GENEVA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) reported a surge in refugee arrivals on Tuesday in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from South Sudan. Over the past few days, desperate people have crossed the border to escape fighting and violence against civilians, said UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch at a UN press briefing here. "It is estimated that 5,000 refugees have arrived in several border villages near the town of Ingbokolo, in north-east DRC's Ituri province, according to local village chiefs," he said. An additional 8,000 people are reportedly displaced inside South Sudan, on the outskirts of the town of Yei. People are fleeing clashes that started on Jan. 19 between the South Sudanese army and one of the rebel groups, the National Salvation Front (NAS), in South Sudan's Central Equatoria State that borders the DRC and Uganda. The clashes are blocking humanitarian access to the affected areas, said UNHCR. "Those fleeing the violence arrived in the DRC by foot over the weekend. Most are women, children and elderly. They arrived exhausted, hungry and thirsty," said Babar. Among them are people suffering from malaria or other illnesses. Many have experienced trauma from having witnessed violent incidents, including armed men reportedly murdering and raping civilians and looting villages. UNHCR staff in DRC's Ituri province say that desperate people are seeking shelter in churches, schools and abandoned houses, or sleeping in the open in a remote border area where the villages lack infrastructure and have very few health centers. The areas in which refugees have arrived are challenging to reach, with roads and bridges badly damaged and in a state of disrepair. The Congolese authorities are encouraging people to move away from the volatile border area and go further inland, where they can get better help. The internal conflict in South Sudan has generated over 2.2 million refugees since 2013, said UNHCR. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 22:27:53|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close NAIROBI, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- On his one-acre farm in Busia, western Kenya, John Ojiambo grows a variety of crops that include maize, pumpkins and beans and further keeps goats. He has been doing it for years, with farming being one of the major sources of income for his family. Early last year, however, Ojiambo diversified to motorbike taxi business after acquiring a loan through a micro-finance organization. "My pumpkins and maize did not do very well last season yet they are the crops that have been giving me money for years," said the farmer on Tuesday. "This is one of the reasons I saw the need to diversify my income by going into the transport business. On a good day, I get up to 1,000 shillings (10 U.S. dollars) from the business," he added. While the engaging in off-farm activities is putting money into farmers' pockets, experts noted that it is becoming a threat to food security. This is because the alternative income-generating activities end up pulling the farmers away from the farms, a trend that is being witnessed in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Motorbike taxis, which is commonly known as boda boda in East Africa, market trading and shop keeping are the three most popular off-farm activities for farmers across the region, according to Laura Barasa, an economist lecturer at the University of Nairobi. "The number of farmers opting to increase their incomes by engaging in other money-making activities across East Africa has risen significantly and this is putting many countries' food security at risk," said Barasa. The economist noted that while engaging in boda boda or market trading instead of putting all their efforts on to the farm is welcome, what most farmers earn from the off-farm activities is rarely invested into the farm. "The money goes into family consumption like buying clothes, food, education and better health and is hardly invested on the farms. These results to lower agriculture productivity and, therefore, less food at the community and ultimately the country level," said Barasa. A study conducted by the economist and other researchers in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in January indicates that most affected areas are highly agriculture productive. The research documented a systematic shift of farmers away from investing in their farms as they seek to supplement their incomes and improve their family lifestyles. The researchers cited climatic changes, low credit access and marketing challenges as the reasons that have made agriculture being shunned as it is seen as high-risk with low returns venture. Joseph Opiyo, a senior researcher at Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development under Egerton University, urged East African governments to remedy the situation by instituting policies that encourage complementarity of both farm and non-farm sectors of the economy in the rural areas. Opiyo noted that the future of smallholder farming across East Africa lies in the measures taken to stimulate rural non-farm economy. He recommended that policies that promote establishment of agro-processing hubs and commercialization of agriculture should be put in place to ensure that farm households continue to produce raw materials for the processors in those regions, whereas those exiting farming have employment opportunities in the processing plants thus continue drawing livelihoods out of the farm. He reiterated the need to provide favorable rural investment climate such as provisions of public goods and services to attract private sector players to invest in rural areas. "However, this is not possible if budgetary allocation to agriculture sector in most East African countries continue to be lower than the bare minimum (10 percent) as recommended at the Malabo Declaration, which several African nations committed to," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 22:27:51|Editor: mmm Video Player Close BAGHDAD, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The UN refugee agency in Iraq said on Tuesday that it is planning to reach out to some 154,950 refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in camps and urban areas across the country, as temperatures in Iraq's winter drop below freezing level. The program is "designed to give families the option to buy what they need to shelter from the elements and keep themselves warm," said a statement by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Iraq. "The families benefiting from this program are particularly vulnerable. Many of them have exhausted their resources, and rely on humanitarian assistance," the statement added. The refugee families in camps and urban areas received a one-off cash grant of 400 U.S. dollars, while IDP families living outside of camps received 200 dollars, according to the statement. In addition to financial aid, the UNHCR has "distributed core relief items such as blankets, plastic sheets, jerry cans for kerosene and heating stoves." "UNHCR is reaching a record number of persons in need with winter cash and core relief items across Iraq. This will make their living conditions more bearable, allowing them to continue being productive throughout the winter," said UNHCR Representative Bruno Geddo. According to a UNHCR report in late 2018, some 1,802,832 displaced people remained uprooted for security concerns and lack of shelter and livelihood opportunities. The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces fully defeated the extremist Islamic State (IS) militants across the country late in 2017. MEMPHIS, Tenn., Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Tennessee Bank, member of the First Horizon National Corporation (NYSE:FHN) family of companies, which includes Capital Bank, has been honored with 21 Greenwich Excellence Awards for outstanding customer service and four Greenwich Best Brand Awards in Small Business and Middle Market Banking by Greenwich Associates. As we continue to strengthen our leading position in our home state of Tennessee, were constantly seeking innovative ways to transform the customer experience, said David Popwell, president of banking for First Tennessee Bank. Our promise is to be the best at serving our customers, one opportunity at a time. These 25 Greenwich Excellence and Best Brand Awards, based on customer feedback, show that we are keeping that promise. Greenwich Associates, a global leader in market intelligence, evaluated more than 600 banks and interviewed nearly 25,000 executives across the country to determine the select group of banks that would be designated winners of its 2018 Greenwich Excellence Awards. The awards recognize both national and regional performance, regardless of bank size. First Tennessee Banks awards comprised both national and regional recognitions. Small Business Banking: First Tennessee Bank won 12 Excellence Awards eight at the national level and four at the regional level and two Best Brand Awards: Greenwich Excellence Branch satisfaction Cash management customer service Cash management overall satisfaction* Cash management product capabilities Likelihood to recommend* Overall satisfaction* Overall satisfaction with Relationship Manager Proactively provides advice* * Also awarded for the South region Greenwich Best Brand Best Brand: Ease of doing business Best Brand: Trust Middle Market Banking: First Tennessee Bank was honored with nine Excellence Awards seven at the national level and two at the regional level and two Best Brand Awards: Greenwich Excellence Cash management customer service Cash management overall satisfaction* Cash management product capabilities Ease of product implementation Overall satisfaction* Overall satisfaction with Relationship Manager Proactively provides advice * Also awarded for the South region Greenwich Best Brand Best Brand: Ease of doing business Best Brand: Trust The awards come on the heels of another important recognition by Greenwich Associates for customer service. Last November, First Tennessee Bank was one of only five banks to be honored with the organizations inaugural Greenwich CX (Customer Experience) Leader award, which recognizes leadership in the increasingly important field of customer experience. First Tennessee was selected based on nearly 24,000 responses from key decision-makers at U.S. small and middle market companies. To learn more about First Tennessee Bank, please visit www.FirstTennessee.com. About First Tennessee Bank First Tennessee Bank, together with its division Capital Bank, has the largest deposit market share in Tennessee and operates more than 250 branches across the Southeast. Capital Bank, First Tennessee Bank, FTB Advisors, and FTN Financial are part of First Horizon National Corp. (NYSE:FHN). The companys banking subsidiary was founded in 1864 and has the 14th oldest national bank charter in the country. FTB Advisors wealth management group has more than 300 financial professionals and about $4.8 billion in assets under management. FTN Financial is a capital markets industry leader in fixed income sales, trading and strategies for institutional customers in the U.S. and abroad. The company has been ranked by American Banker magazine among the Top 10 Most Reputable U.S. banks and as one of the nations best employers by the National Association for Female Executives and Fortune magazine. More information is available at www.FirstTennessee.com. FHN-G CONTACT: Silvia Alvarez, 901-523-4465, SAlvarez@firsttennessee.com Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 22:22:47|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close MAPUTO, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The spokesperson of Mozambique' main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo said Tuesday in Maputo that it is satisfied with the permanent appointment of its three officials to key positions in the country's Defense Armed Forces (FADM). The three top commanders were sworn in on Monday as director of the operations, director of the military information and director of the communications in the General Staff of FADM. "Mozambicans learned that this is a permanent nomination of those that had been temporarily nominated and the Mozambicans applauded the gesture," said the party spokesperson Jose Manteigas during a press conference. Renamo also recalled that there are still 11 nominations left for generals as part of the agreement between the government and Renamo, a step in the process towards longstanding peace and comprehensive reconciliation. "We are hopeful that very soon, in the name of peace and national reconciliation, with the acceleration of the negotiations process, the 11 remaining officials will be nominated," said Manteigas. On Monday the Defense Minister Atanasio Mtumuke urged the new officials to be nonpartisan and respect the constitution of the republic. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 22:12:42|Editor: mmm Video Player Close BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- China's Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) on Tuesday unveiled measures to ensure better judicial protection of minors. As part of a five-year reform plan, the SPP will standardize an integrated working mechanism encompassing the arrest, prosecution, investigation and prevention of juvenile crime. The SPP plans to explore criteria for dealing with juvenile delinquents according to the severity of the crime rather than age. Education for juvenile delinquents should be enhanced to prevent recidivism, according to an SPP statement. Education for minors accused of misconduct and those who are on the brink of crime will be strengthened as well, while family education will also be developed. For juvenile victims, the SPP is going to promote a "one-stop" inquiry and legal aid mechanism. In addition, an information database for criminals committing sexual assault against minors and a system for inquiry upon their employment will also be established. Amid China's latest efforts to better protect minors, a department specializing in juvenile cases was set up by the SPP. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 22:07:41|Editor: mmm Video Player Close SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- People-to-people exchanges between China and the United States are positive for both sides and should be free of unwarranted restrictions, Gordon H. Chang, professor of American history at Stanford University, said Monday. "We want to have open exchange, communication, dialogue, so Americans learn about Chinese and Chinese about America," Chang told Xinhua at the end of a seminar on China's influence in the United States held at Stanford University. He criticized some in the United States for hyping up the so-called "China threat" to the American society. "The rhetoric is getting stronger, and words are powerful, but it doesn't prove anything," said Chang, whose study focuses on modern China and international security. "When you start to make old speculation, innuendo, it really worsens the situation," he noted. He said that given the huge Chinese community in the United States, there are people who may do wrong, "but I don't think that characterizes the situation for Chinese in the United States." Chang said some people fear an increasingly powerful China and exaggerate fears about the Asian country's influence on the American society. He criticized a policy announced by the U.S. government last June to shorten the length of visas for some Chinese students, describing it as "self-defeating." "I think open exchange in our relationship is positive to both sides," he said. "We both learn from each other." Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 21:52:39|Editor: mmm Video Player Close BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- China has rolled out new rules to support equity incentives for foreign employees at domestic listed firms in its latest efforts to further open up the capital market. Procedures will be streamlined as the money involved will be managed in a registration-based manner, according to a statement released Tuesday by the country's central bank and forex regulator. Related operations such as cross-border payment and remittance can be conducted after registration without having to apply for approval. The new rules also allow foreign workers to choose the resource of the money involved in equity incentives. It can come from their legal domestic income or be remitted from overseas, the statement said. China allowed foreign employees to enjoy equity incentives from domestic listed firms in 2016 and extended the beneficiaries from those working in the mainland to all working for the company in 2018. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 21:52:37|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close WARSAW, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared Monday evening the Norwegian consul in Poland as persona non grata, in retaliation to a similar move on Monday by Norway, which had asked Polish consul Slawomir Kowalski to leave the country within one week. "The Ministry evaluates positively the work of consul Slawomir Kowalski, particularly when it comes to the defense of the interests of Polish families," the Polish Foreign Affairs Ministry wrote in a statement printed by the Polish State News Agency (PAP). "We maintain our position that the accusations of the Norwegian side against the work of the Polish consul are unfounded," the statement wrote. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained in statements to media that the decision to expel the Polish diplomat was caused by his involvement with matters which were not in line with his official duties. Kolwalski reportedly had intervened on the side of Polish families who were disputing decisions by the Norwegian child protection services. "In the last three years, we have many times received complaints about Mr. Kowalski at the Oslo Polish embassy," a spokesperson for the Norwegian Foreign Affairs Ministry told Polish website Wirtualna Polska. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 21:52:36|Editor: mmm Video Player Close GUANGZHOU, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Police in southern China's Guangdong Province shot and killed a suspect involved in drug-related activities who was armed and resisting arrest Monday night, local authorities said Tuesday. The police in the city of Lufeng shot the suspect surnamed Lu because Lu continued to resist after a warning was issued. A gun, five bullets, three bags of methamphetamine and a large amount of stolen property were found on the spot. The suspect is a Lufeng native and was previously convicted of theft and illegal possession of guns. Further investigation into the case is underway. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 21:17:27|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close NEW YORK, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Bill and Melinda Gates, co-chairs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said that toilets of the future might not be the "sexiest" innovations in the world, but they will save millions of lives. In their 2019 annual letter released Tuesday, Bill Gates said that more than 2 billion people around the world lack access to a decent toilet. Their waste often ends up in the environment, untreated, killing nearly 800 children every day. And exporting rich world sanitation solutions isn't an option, because they require sewer systems that are too expensive to build and need a lot of water. "Nearly eight years ago, Melinda and I challenged engineers and scientists around the world to reinvent the toilet," Bill Gates said in the letter. "Last year we organized a toilet fair in Beijing, where I got to check out a number of next-gen toilets in person and even shared the stage with a beaker of human feces." He said several companies are business-ready. Their inventions check almost all the boxes: They kill pathogens, can keep pace with the needs of fast-growing urban areas, and don't require sewer infrastructure, external water sources, or continuous electricity to operate. "The only area where they currently fall short is cost -- which is why our foundation is investing in more R&D to help make them affordable for the poor," he said. He said that at first glance the next generation of toilets are not that different from traditional ones, they don't exactly look like something out of a sci-fi novel. The real magic happens out of sight. Unlike today's commodes, the toilets of the future are self-contained. They're essentially tiny treatment plants capable of killing pathogens and rendering waste safe on their own. Many of them even turn human feces and urine into useful byproducts, like fertilizer for crops and water for handwashing. Melinda Gates said that they also improve lives -- especially for women and girls. Life without a toilet is hard for anyone, but it tends to be women and girls who suffer most. "Bill and I have both met women who have suffered kidney damage from holding in urine all night to avoid a risky trip to dangerous public facilities. We've met others whose only place to defecate is in an open field, so they restrict their food intake all day and wait for cover of darkness to relieve themselves in relative privacy," she said. She said that one in ten girls in sub-Saharan Africa and one in four girls in India miss school during their periods, most often because their schools don't have anywhere they can go to change or dispose of menstrual hygiene products. "If you're anything like me, I'm guessing toilets aren't your favorite topic of conversation. But if you care about keeping girls in school, expanding women's economic participation, and protecting them against violence, then we have to be willing to talk about toilets," she said. File photo shows a Chinese technician teaches a Kenyan worker to operate a crane at Lamu Port, Kenya, Jan.29, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Teng) ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Emmanuel Nnadozie, executive secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), on Monday commended China's support for Africa's capacity development efforts. "We have been monitoring with satisfaction in many aspects the support that the Chinese government has been giving to really promote capacity development in areas of need," Nnadozie told Xinhua. The ACBF is the specialized agency for capacity development of the African Union (AU). "We are aware of the hundreds of thousands of scholarships that have been given to Africa's young people to study in China and to be able to return to Africa and help to promote development," he said. Africa is a major recipient of China's capacity development support. By the end of 2017, the Chinese government has trained 5,655 participants of different professions for Ethiopia, covering over 20 fields that include education, health and medical services, agriculture, tourism, manufacturing industries, public administration, business management, urban development and poverty reduction, according to the Chinese Embassy in Addis Ababa. "We really commend that, and wish that the Chinese government will continue in this area," Nnadozie told Xinhua on the sidelines of the 32nd ordinary session of the AU assembly. The two-day meeting started on Sunday at the AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Noting an agreement between the Chinese government and the AU at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) to establish an African capacity development institute, Nnadozie said the ACBF is discussing with the Chinese envoy to the AU about the implementation of the agreement. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 20:57:18|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close VIENNA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Tuesday forecast the world oil demand growth for 2019 at 1.24 million barrels a day, slightly lower than the previous month's assessment of 1.29 million barrels a day. The downward revision of 50,000 barrels a day for 2019 is mainly an outcome of lower economic expectations in 2019 for the OECD Americas and Europe, as well as Latin America and the Middle East. At this growth rate, the average world oil demand is projected to reach 100 million barrels a day for 2019, OPEC said in its latest monthly report. The global economic growth forecast was revised down to 3.3 percent for 2019 and 3.6 percent for 2018, it said. In the OECD, 2019 U.S. growth was revised lower to 2.5 percent, following growth of 2.9 percent in 2018, while eurozone growth was also revised down to 1.3 percent for 2019, after growth of 1.8 percent in 2018, it said. In the non-OECD countries, China's growth forecast of 6.1 percent in 2019 remains unchanged from the previous month, following slightly better than expected growth in 2018, it said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 20:42:14|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BEIRUT, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said Tuesday that the UNRWA is committed to offering its medical, educational and humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and the region, local media reported. "Despite UNRWA's financial crisis, we have succeeded in offering our educational services to over 500,000 students in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Gaza, West Bank and Al-Quds in addition to other medical, humanitarian and protective services," Krahenbuhl was quoted as saying by Elnashra, an independent online newspaper. His remarks came during his visit to Ain al-Hilweh camp accompanied by a delegation from the agency and UNRWA's director in Lebanon Claudio Cordone. Krahenbuhl said that UNRWA made a lot of efforts to keep its services after the United States announced last year that it will no longer contribute to the agency. The United States announced in September last year that it will no longer contribute to the UNRWA, calling the agency an "irredeemably flawed operation" while criticizing other countries for not sharing the burden of supporting Palestinians. "We went through a very tough crisis last year as we lacked the 300 U.S. million dollars that used to be offered by the United States," Krahenbuhl said while adding that UNRWA's services will always depend on the generosity of donor countries. Chicago, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Jared Kaplan, CEO of the rapidly growing financing platform OppLoans, has released an article addressing the phenomenal health of the business, the state of todays non-prime borrower, and the firms strengths and roadmap. Kaplan has led OppLoans as CEO since November 2015. In that time, OppLoans has: Increased headcount from 15 to 315. Appeared on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing companies three consecutive years. Expanded their footprint nationally. Collected more than five thousand five-star customer reviews. Created a path to establishing credit history for millions of applicants. Kaplan said, Now, at the my three-year mark, the time is right to applaud the OppLoans employees who truly made our incredible growth story possible. And were just getting started. With that in mind, I wanted to reflect and also take a clear-eyed assessment of what weve achieved for our customers: Are we delivering unmatched value and a responsible credit product for todays non-prime consumer? Based on the customer response we hear every day, we believe we are. This article represents my thinking on how we got to this point, our core values as a firm, the culture weve created, and where were going next. Kaplans article is available on the OppLoans website here. Over the past three years, OppLoans has grown 1,465 percent and transformed from a Chicagoland brick-and-mortar lender into an online financing platform enabling the non-prime consumer to build credit history. About OppLoans OppLoans is one of the highest-rated financing platforms and service providers in the industry. Offering fast funding, total transparency and unmatched customer service, OppLoans provides non-prime borrowers a reliable source of short-term funding that can help build credit history. For more information regarding OppLoans, please visit the OppLoans website at OppLoans.com or email media@opploans.com. Opportunity Financial, LLC 130 E Randolph St, Suite 3400 Chicago, IL 60601 Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 20:22:11|Editor: mmm Video Player Close Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng (C), also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, presides over a symposium after an inspection of the National Development and Reform Commission on Feb. 12, 2019. (Xinhua/Shen Hong) BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng on Tuesday stressed solid efforts to deliver a good start to this year's economic and social development. Han, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks when presiding over a symposium after an inspection of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Tuesday. The NDRC should play its role in researching major strategies, coordinating major policies, pushing forward major projects and analyzing general trends to promote the economic and social development to deliver a good start this year, said Han. The NDRC should innovate and improve macro-control, implement policies of tax and fees reductions, stabilize investment, and promote major reform measures in sectors including finance, taxes, state-owned enterprises, electricity, gas and scientific and technological mechanism, Han said. He also called on the NDRC to monitor employment situation and take measures to stabilize employment. Han called for solid efforts to advance the Belt and Road construction, promote the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development, and push forward the Xiongan New Area construction with an open and market-oriented mechanism. Efforts should be made to promote high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the improvement of policy framework for the Hainan free trade zone, and integrated development of the Yangtze River delta area, said Han. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 20:22:10|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close LOS ANGELES, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon will evaluate the U.S. Air Force's certification of Elon Musk's SpaceX launch vehicles, according to a memo on Monday. "Our objective is to determine whether the U.S. Air Force complied with the Launch Services New Entrant Certification Guide when certifying the launch system design for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle-class SpaceX Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles," said Deputy Inspector General of U.S. Department of Defense Michael Roark in the memo. The evaluation is scheduled in February, according to the memo. "We will perform the evaluation at the Space and Missile Systems Center, a subordinate unit of Air Force Space Command, headquartered at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, California," said the memo. It did not give a reason for what prompted the evaluation. In December, SpaceX launched a new breed of GPS satellite for the U.S. military, marking the private space company's first national security space mission for the country. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 20:17:07|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- All U.S. states plus the District of Columbia will see net job loss as a result of the federal government's newly imposed tariffs on imports from U.S. trading partners as well as retaliations by the affected countries, a recent study has shown. The study, titled Estimated Impacts of Tariffs on the U.S. Economy and Workers, was compiled by Trade Partnership Worldwide, LLC, an international trade and economic consulting firm, and commissioned by Tariffs Hurt the Heartland, a pro-free trade advocacy group. It was released last Wednesday. Total net employment decline in all U.S. states could hit 943,700, with California being hit the hardest and losing 112,900 jobs, showed the study, which drew the conclusion based on what it calls a "base scenario." According to the study, California was trailed by Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois in the list. The numbers of laid-off workers in the four states related to the imposition of duties were projected to be 85,100, 61,000, 58,800 and 33,500, respectively. The base scenario, as was explained in the study, "examines the impacts of all tariffs (U.S. and retaliatory) and quotas in effect or announced as of November 1, 2018." It grouped together U.S. tariffs of 25 percent imposed on steel and aluminum imports from a wide range of U.S. trading partners, and retaliatory tariffs by the affected countries on selected U.S. goods. It also took into account U.S. tariffs on 250 billion dollars' worth of Chinese imports and China's retaliatory tariffs on U.S. merchandise. "Overall, 126,900 workers gain jobs as a result of the tariffs; however, 1,061,400 lose jobs -- more than eight for every job gained," the study said, adding that the tariffs would cost the U.S. economy 490,900 dollars for every job gained. "Our hope is that the administration understands they are playing with fire," said Charles Boustany, the group's spokesman and a former congressman. "It's time for the administration to take tariff increases off the table for good, end the threat of new tariffs and finally bring an end to the crippling tariffs we are facing right now." The study also calculated a worst-case scenario, which added to the base scenario 25 percent tariffs on all the remaining goods the United States imports from China, plus expected retaliation from China. In that case, the study said, the tariffs would reduce the U.S. gross domestic product by 1 percent a year, cost a family of four 2,300 dollars a year and produce a net loss of 2.1 million U.S. jobs. In Minnesota, which according to the study might lose 16,100 jobs in the base scenario, "soybean farmers who depend on sales to China are suffering from a double whammy of natural and man-made problems," the state's largest newspaper, Star Tribune, reported. "Bad weather and oversupply had driven down prices before the tariffs hit. Minnesota soybean sales to China dipped to near zero in November 2018," the report said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 20:02:01|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Nearly a million U.S. jobs could be lost due to U.S. newly imposed tariffs on foreign imports and retaliatory tariffs by its trading partners, a recently released study showed. The study examines the economic effects of tariffs imposed by the United States on imports of foreign products since March 2018, retaliatory tariffs from other countries, and threatened tariffs on the U.S. economy and U.S. workers, one to three years after they have been in effect. The study "Estimated Impacts of Tariffs on the U.S. Economy and Workers" was conducted by Trade Partnership Worldwide, LLC, and commissioned by the pro-free trade group Tariffs Hurt the Heartland. "The trade war is already creating enormous economic loss, and this report shows how much worse it could get," said Tariffs Hurt the Heartland spokesman and former Congressman Charles Boustany. Researchers looked at four scenarios, with the "base scenario" showing that steel and aluminum tariffs and quotas in effect, tariffs on U.S. imports of selected goods from China, plus retaliation, could lead to a loss of 934,700 U.S. jobs and cut the annual U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.37 percent. The United States has imposed a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports from a wide range of its trading partners, including Mexico, Canada and the European Union. Many of them imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports. The "base scenario" also considered the U.S. imposition of additional tariffs and threatened tariffs against Chinese products in addition to China's retaliation. Annual U.S. exports of goods and services overall would decline by 5.6 percent based on 2017 levels as a result of the tariffs, and imports would fall by 6.5 percent, according to the base scenario. In another scenario concerning tariffs against all imports from China, plus Chinese retaliation, the United States would risk losing more than 2 million jobs, and reducing the annual GDP by over 1 percent. As of November 2018, U.S. tariffs affected 255 billion U.S. dollars in U.S. imports and foreign retaliatory tariffs were being applied to 124 billion dollars in U.S. exports, the study said. "Our hope is that the administration understands they are playing with fire," Boustany said. "It's time for the administration to take tariff increases off the table for good, end the threat of new tariffs and finally bring an end to the crippling tariffs we are facing right now." Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 19:51:55|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close TOKYO, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Nissan Motor Co. announced Tuesday that owing to weaker international vehicle sales, it has lowered its net profit outlook for the business year ending March 31. The Yokohama-based automaker said it now projects a group net profit of 410 billion yen (3.70 billion U.S. dollars) for the business year ending next month. Nissan's latest forecast was lower than the previous estimate of 500 billion yen (4.52 billion U.S. dollars) of net profit for FY 2018. The maker of the LEAF compact hatchback reported its group net profit at 316.66 billion yen (2.87 billion U.S. dollars) in the April to December period in 2018, dropping 45.2 percent from the same period of a year earlier. Nissan also said its consolidated operating profit retreated 13.9 percent to 313.68 billion yen (2.83 billion U.S. dollars) on a 0.6 uptick of sales worth 8.58 trillion yen (77.64 billion U.S. dollars). Nissan, maker of Japan's top-selling Note hatchback-MPV crossover in 2018, also lowered its group operating profit outlook for the business year from 540 billion yen (4.88 billion U.S. dollars) to 450 billion yen (4.07 billion U.S. dollars), due to expected sales being reduced from 12 trillion yen (108.59 billion U.S. dollars) to 11.6 trillion yen (104.97 billion U.S. dollars). Japan's second-largest automaker is currently dealing with the fallout from its former Chairman Carlos Ghosn being charged with financial improprieties relating to the misreporting of his remuneration. Along with reporting its profit outlook for the first time since Ghosn's arrest, Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa said Tuesday he would meet the new Renault SA chairman here soon. Ghosn's arrest, according to industry insiders, may lead to a change in the structure of the three-way alliance between Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 19:01:42|Editor: mmm Video Player Close WINDHOEK, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The University of Namibia's Confucius Institute (CI) plans to establish more teaching sites in the coastal towns of Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, as Namibians continue to show unwavering interest in the program, according to an official. Director of Confucius Institute at the University of Namibia (UNAM) Zhang Fan said in an interview with Xinhua that this year the CI has already attracted more locals. "We have more learners at the beginning of 2019 from UNAM and all the secondary and primary schools," he said, as he compared it to last year's figure of 1,153 students enrolled. Zhang said after the various activities undertook at the 5th anniversary celebration of Confucius Institute last year, there have been more and more Namibians keen to learn the Chinese language and culture. According to Zhang, the CI this year plans to host a Namibia and China News and Media Communication in the New Media Era Seminar to assist in the dissemination of information and understanding of the program. Furthermore, Zhang said the CI will also collaborate with the country's National Youth Service and Windhoek Vocational Training Center and People's Primary School in the fields of cultural exchanges between the two countries. "We have already opened the Namibia Tour Guide Intensive Chinese Course. We will continue to apply for Chinese language becoming an official foreign language in Namibian education system at Chairman Mao Zedong High School and HSK test becoming an official Chinese examination in Namibian examination system," he added. Zhang said building on past successful events, this year the institute will again host the Chinese Bridge Competition for Namibian College students and secondary school students. "The champion will represent Namibia at the final competition. Furthermore we will organize UNAM students summer camp and senior educational officials trip to China this year," he added. Since the CI's establishment in the south western country, more than 3,000 students have enrolled and received different Chinese culture activities and experiences, inclusive of scholarship opportunities to China as well as job trainings at Chinese companies. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 18:46:39|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close ISLAMABAD, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- At least four policemen were killed in an ambush in Dera Ismail Khan district of Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Tuesday, local media reported. The militants opened fire at the police vehicle, and fled the scene, Dawn News said, adding that the law enforcement agency has kicked off a search operation in the area after the incident. The police vehicle was on its routine patrolling in the city when it was attacked by the insurgents. Two passersby got injured in the attack and were shifted to a nearby hospital. No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 18:46:38|Editor: mmm Video Player Close BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Life-saving anti-cancer drugs, once hard to afford or find on the market by many patients in China, have become accessible for more under the country's reforms in recent years. A State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang decided Monday that China will further streamline the registration and approval of new anti-cancer drugs, announcing that experts will be invited to select new overseas drugs to meet urgent clinical needs, and import policies will be improved for a faster launch of the new drugs in China. These are the most recent efforts to expand access to anti-cancer drugs made by China, which has seen more than 3.5 million new cases of cancer and more than 2 million cancer deaths every year, according to research data released in 2018. LOWER PRICES In July last year, the box-office hit "Dying to Survive" sparked heated debate over high prices of anti-cancer drugs in China. The film is based on the case of a leukemia patient called Lu Yong, who found it hard to afford Gleevec, a patented drug developed by Swiss company Novartis, and managed to buy a much cheaper generic version produced in India for himself and many other patients. "China has been facilitating the approval of high-quality generic drugs, but most of the targeted cancer drugs used here are still imported ones," Liu Lihong, a senior pharmacist at a Beijing-based hospital, said in an earlier interview with Xinhua, adding that many patients using the expensive imported drugs are faced with high costs. Shortly after the film was released, 17 anti-cancer drugs were included in China's medical insurance reimbursement list in October 2018, with their prices cut by 56.7 percent on average after a round of price negotiations between the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) and pharmaceutical companies. For example, the price of Erbitux, a drug produced by German pharmaceutical company Merck to treat rectal cancer, fell from around 4,200 yuan (619 U.S. dollars) a bottle to 1,295 yuan, the China Daily reported. The NHSA recently announced that China had included 34 drugs that treat major cancers, such as lung, breast, stomach and rectal cancer, in the national basic medical insurance program after price negotiations in the past three years. "Cancer drugs have been the priority in price negotiations over the past few years," China Daily quoted Shi Lichen, founder of a Beijing-based medical consulting company, as saying. He believes similar price negotiations will become a regular practice. From May 1, 2018, import tariffs have also been lifted on all common drugs including anti-cancer drugs and anti-cancer alkaloid-based drugs, which could bring about "a drop of at least 20 percent in the prices of imported anti-cancer drugs," according to Shi Luwen, a researcher with Peking University. QUICKER APPROVAL In 2018, the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) approved 48 new drugs, 18 of which are anti-cancer drugs. Other newly approved drugs can be used for treating conditions and side effects connected with cancer, such as vomiting caused by chemotherapy. A total of 13 of these anti-cancer drugs are imported new drugs, benefiting from the NMPA's efforts to remove the lag of five to eight years between when new anti-cancer drugs are approved abroad and domestically. Since last year, manufacturers are able to submit the research data obtained overseas for new drug applications as long as their research indicates no racial difference in response to the drugs. Shi Lichen, founder of the Beijing-based medical consulting company, reckoned that authorities will also stimulate more domestic producers to improve drug research and development. Clinical drug-trials used to take at least two years to get approved after application, while the NPMA announced last year that trials can be launched in 60 days from the date when the application is accepted, under the prerequisite that the applicants receive no queries or negative feedback. All these reforms are considered to offer more options to cancer patients in China, where the most common treatment for cancer remains to be chemotherapy. As the country continues to expand the system regarding evaluation and approval of pharmaceuticals this year, rafts of policies would be implemented to facilitate anti-cancer drug research and approval, including eliminating the requirements for certain overseas new drugs to be approved abroad before applying for import and encouraging parallel development of innovative drugs domestically and overseas. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 18:41:36|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BEIRUT, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Tuesday that the new government will protect Lebanon's sovereignty while working on liberating the rest of its occupied territories, local TV channel MTV reported. "We will not spare any efforts in protecting our country against the enemy who is looking to exploit our natural resources and wealth," Hariri was quoted as saying during a parliamentary session held to discuss the ministerial statement and provide the new government a vote of confidence. Hariri said that the government will remain neutral without getting involved in regional conflicts while it will boost its ties with other countries and maintain its good relations with the European Union. The prime minister said Lebanon should not waste the golden opportunity to reform and save the economy. "It is the responsibility of all parties to undertake the necessary reforms in a bid not to waste the opportunity that we have today," he said. Hariri said that the new government is seriously committed to implementing the needed reforms to comply for the 11 billion U.S. dollars pledged at CEDRE conference. Hariri also vowed to work on approving 2019 state budget and committing to financial reforms. Lawmakers gathered Tuesday morning at the parliament to discuss the cabinet's policy statement drafted last week by a 10-member ministerial committee and decide whether to endorse it or not. The cabinet should be able to secure the support of 65 members, or half of the parliament's 128 members plus one, in a bid to gain confidence. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 18:41:32|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BEIRUT, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's state security Tuesday arrested two Syrian nationals belonging to al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front in Nabatieh, south Lebanon, said a report by Elnashra, an online independent newspaper. The two arrested Syrians admitted that they have previously fought with Nusra Front on the Syrian territories in addition to participating in kidnapping and assassination crimes and transferring weapons in favor of the terrorist group. The two arrested people were referred to the military prosecution service for further investigations and other judicial procedures. Lebanon's state security also arrested last month a network of four Syrians belonging to the Islamic State extremist group. MOUNT PROSPECT, IL, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Recognizing the need for military and community treatment providers to deliver appropriate health care based on best-available information, the United States Department of Defenses Defense Health Agency (DHA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to participate in NABP PMP InterConnect, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacys (NABPs) prescription monitoring program (PMP) data sharing system. The MOU was executed and DHA began sharing data with other PMP InterConnect participants in January 2019. There are DHA military hospitals and clinics available to active duty military and their families across the US. While the military hospitals and clinics shared data through an internal network, DHA recognized that more data sharing was necessary to combat the opioid crisis facing the US today. Therefore, DHA created a PMP to collect prescription data from all its locations so that it could be positioned to begin sharing data with state entities and began investigating the best vehicle for sharing PMP data. By participating in NABPs PMP InterConnect, DHA demonstrates that the military is serious about partnering with the states to address the opioid crisis, says NABP President Susan Ksiazek, RPh, DPh. PMP InterConnect is a secure national network of PMPs that allows authorized prescribers and pharmacists to access information about their patients controlled substance prescriptions across state lines." A report from the Presidents Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis highlights prescription drug monitoring programs as an important tool to aid in the fight against opioid abuse. Such systems can be used for early detection and prevention of drug abuse and addiction, and a national network like PMP InterConnect allows for a secure exchange of prescription data between states. It can also help identify patients who cross state lines to purchase drugs for the purposes of misuse or diversion. Currently there are 50 PMPs that are actively using PMP InterConnect or have signed MOUs 46 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the St Louis County PMP collaborative, and the Defense Health Agency. These PMPs make up the Steering Committee, which is the governing and advisory body of PMP InterConnect. PMP InterConnect currently processes over 35 million requests and 97 million responses per month. It is free of charge for participating PMPs. For more information about PMP InterConnect, visit www.nabp.pharmacy/PMP. NABP is the independent, international, and impartial Association that assists its state member boards and jurisdictions for the purpose of protecting the public health. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 17:56:23|Editor: mmm Video Player Close MACAO, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Macao International Airport (MIA) had the busiest Spring Festival in 2019 with new record set in daily passenger volume in this period, MIA public information department said here on Tuesday. The airport said during the holidays from Feb. 5 to 10, or the first six days of Chinese Lunar New Year, MIA welcomed 180,000 passengers and handled over 1,300 flight movements, both grew by 18 percent respectively comparing to the traffic in the same period in lunar calendar of 2018. MIA also set new record in daily passenger volume on Feb. 10, by handling over 32,100 passengers, which breaks single-day record since its operation. The airport said to cope with the mounting traffic pressure, the extra flights operated from and to Macao during the Spring Festival was tripled over last year. MIA said that it expanded the air network in 2019 by adding three new international routes in the first quarter, including Wenzhou of China, Chiang Rai of Thailand and Cebu of the Philippines. China Southern Airlines and Juneyao Airlines will also add new routes to Macao in the second quarter of 2019. In the second and third quarter of 2019, the airport will continue to have new carriers gradually adding new routes and operations to Macao. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 17:31:14|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close TOKYO, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday demanded that the remarks made by South Korea's National Assembly speaker insisting that Emperor Akihito should apologize for the so-called "comfort women" issue be retracted. "I was astonished. We've immediately conveyed through diplomatic channels that the remarks were extremely inappropriate and deplorable," Abe was quoted as telling a parliamentary committee on the matter. The Japanese government has lodged a "stern protest" over the matter and demanded an apology, Abe told the committee. Abe's comments were based on remarks made by South Korean National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang to Bloomberg news service in an interview last week. The "comfort women" issue refers to soldiers from the Imperial Japanese Army coercing and kidnapping girls and women and forcing them to work as sex slaves, servicing Japanese soldiers at military brothels during World War II. Many of the women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese aggressors came from the Korean Peninsula, as well as from other parts of Asia, including China. Euphemistically, these sex slaves have come to be known collectively as the "comfort women". Moon, in the interview, called Japan's Emperor Akihito "the son of the main culprit of war crimes," which was likely owing to the fact that Akihito's father was Emperor Hirohito who was in power before and during World War II. Asked how Japan can mend its long-running dispute over wartime matters with South Korea, Moon was quoted as saying, "If a person like that (Akihito) holds the hands of the elderly former comfort women and says he's really sorry, then that one word will resolve matters once and for all." While anger over the remarks have been fueled in Japan, Moon in further comments made on Monday underscored his stance, stating that an apology was necessary from "a leader in a responsible position in Japan," as reported by local media here. He also maintained that Japan's previous apologies over the "comfort women" issue have been insincere. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press briefing on the matter on Tuesday that Japan has been informed by the South Korean government that the report did not reflect Moon's "true intentions" to improve bilateral relations. The bilateral ties between Japan and South Korea have been tested recently over a maritime and Air Force incident. Japan said a South Korean warship directed fire-control radar at a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force P-1 patrol aircraft off the coast of Ishikawa Prefecture, central Japan, on Dec. 20. A South Korean top court ordering Japanese companies to pay compensation for forced wartime labor during its brutal occupation of the Korean Peninsula has also added to bilateral disharmony of late. In November last year, South Korea said that it would dissolve a foundation for "comfort women" funded by Japan under a 2015 agreement that was to purportedly settle the issue permanently. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 17:31:13|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Qiu Daming, a former anti-graft official in northeast China's Jilin Province, has been charged with taking bribes and embezzling, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said Tuesday. The case will be heard by the Shijiazhuang Municipal Intermediate People's Court in northern China's Hebei Province, said the SPP, without specifying when the trial will take place. Qiu, former deputy head of Jilin's discipline inspection commission and supervisory commission, was charged with taking advantage of his own positions and using other officials to seek illegal gains for others as well as accepting a huge amount of money and property. Qiu was also accused of illegally possessing vast sums of public funds and property. Prosecutors have informed the defendant of his rights, interviewed him and heard his lawyer's opinions, the SPP said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 17:16:10|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close TOKYO, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Two people have been left unconscious after a fire broke out in a warehouse here, with the blaze forcing Haneda airport to shut down one of its runways, local firefighters said Tuesday. At around 1:25 a.m. local time Tuesday, an emergency call was received by the Tokyo Fire Department saying that a seven-story warehouse was ablaze. Two unconscious men were among the three rescued by firefighters from inside the large warehouse, which is located in an industrial section of Ota Ward, along Tokyo Bay. Four people who had evacuated to the roof were also rescued by firefighters, authorities said. The inferno at the warehouse required more than 50 fire trucks to be deployed to tackle the blaze. Firefighters told local media they believe the fire started on the fifth of the building's seven floors. Due to the blaze, Tokyo's Haneda airport, which is located close to the site, was forced to close one of its four runways, the transport ministry here said. The exact cause of the fire at the warehouse in Ota is still in the process of being determined, fire investigators and local police said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 17:11:09|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close HARBIN, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- As the Spring Festival holiday came to an end, Sun Yumin, 58, made his New Year's resolution -- writing a novel about the fishing life of his people, the Hezhe. The Hezhes are one of the smallest ethnic minority groups in China with a population of over 5,000. They live mainly by hunting and fishing in the plains in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. In 1945, their population dropped to a mere 300, but later speedy advances in their economic life and health care have brought a population surge. Witnessing the great changes in their lives, Sun, who loves reading and writing, decided to write about his people and traditions. In 2018, a film script he wrote got nominated at one of the main film festivals in the country. "After I graduated from high school, I returned to my hometown and became a fisherman, working with my fellow villagers by traditional methods," Sun said. The traditional method of rowing was replaced in the 1980s as the local government installed diesel engines on their boats to improve fishing efficiency. Later, local governments promoted agriculture in the Hezhe-populated areas, and Sun became the first group of villagers to reclaim wastelands. "We drove two tractors offered by the government through the grasslands where weeds grew almost as tall as a person," Sun said. During harvest season, Sun and his team packed bagfuls of beans and wheat on large cargo ships sailing afar. Over the years, they have reclaimed hundreds of hectares of lands and have become wealthier, as many bought agricultural machines or built new houses. In the early 2000s, Sun started a business tapping into the Hezhe cultural treasure -- fish-skin painting. Fish skin was used to make clothes and decorations by the Hezhe people due to their long-standing fishing tradition. Sun was one of the first ones in his village to sell the ethnic paintings and later taught the skills to his fellow villagers. "Our paintings are not only sold to tourists who visit our village but also online," said Sun, "We see our culture spread across the country." Many of the paintings also bear ethnic features, taking inspiration from Hezhe folklores and ballad singing. "In the coming year, I'll devote more of my energy to collecting information and writing about Hezhe culture," said Sun. "I want more people to know and like our culture." Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 17:06:06|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close MANILA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- China was the Philippines' biggest supplier of imports with 22.1 percent share of the total imports in December 2018, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Tuesday. The PSA said import bills from China to the Philippines posted an increase of 8.1 percent or an amount of 1.87 billion U.S. dollars, from 1.73 billion U.S. dollars in December 2017. However, import bills from Japan, South Korea, the United States and Thailand all declined in last December, the PSA data showed. Japan placed second with an import value of 826.05 million U.S. dollars in December 2018 or a share of 9.7 percent, the PSA said, adding that imports from Japan decreased by 3.4 percent, from 855.28 million U.S. dollars in December 2017. South Korea, which ranked third, contributed 9.2 percent or an import value of 775.56 billion U.S. dollars in December 2018, the PSA said. "This recorded a decrement of 17.7 percent from the December 2017 value amounting to 942.63 million U.S. dollars," the PSA said. The PSA said the U.S. came fourth with a 7.8 percent share to the total import bills in December 2018. "Its total import bills contracted by 36.9 percent, from 1.04 billion U.S. dollars in December 2017 to 657.70 million U.S. dollars in December 2018," the PSA said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 16:56:03|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close TOKYO, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday demanded that remarks made by South Korea's National Assembly speaker insisting that Emperor Akihito should apologize for the so-called "comfort women" issue be retracted. "I was astonished. We've immediately conveyed through diplomatic channels that the remarks were extremely inappropriate and deplorable," Abe was quoted as telling a parliamentary committee on the matter. The Japanese government has lodged a "stern protest" over the matter and demanded an apology, Abe told the committee. Abe's comments were based on remarks made by South Korean National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang to Bloomberg news service in an interview last week. The "comfort women" issue refers to soldiers from the Imperial Japanese Army coercing and kidnapping girls and women and forcing them to work as sex slaves, servicing Japanese soldiers at military brothels during World War II. Many of the women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese aggressors came from the Korean Peninsula, as well as from other parts of Asia, including China. Euphemistically, these sex slaves have come to be known collectively as the "comfort women". Moon, in the interview, called Japan's Emperor Akihito "the son of the main culprit of war crimes," which was likely owing to the fact that Akihito's father is Emperor Hirohito who was in power before and during World War II. Asked how Japan can mend its long-running dispute over wartime matters with South Korea, Moon was quoted as saying, "If a person like that (Akihito) holds the hands of the elderly former comfort women and says he's really sorry, then that one word will resolve matters once and for all." While anger over the remarks have been fueled in Japan, Moon in further comments made on Monday underscored his stance, stating that an apology was necessary from "a leader in a responsible position in Japan," as reported by local media here. He also maintained that Japan's previous apologies over the "comfort women" issue have been insincere. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press briefing on the matter on Tuesday that Japan has been informed by the South Korean government that the report did not reflect Moon's "true intentions" to improve bilateral relations. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 16:40:59|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close Convoy of the UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths arrives at the airport as he leaves Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 12, 2019. Griffiths left Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa on Tuesday after a one-day visit to push for peace in the war-torn country. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed) SANAA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths left Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa on Tuesday after a one-day visit to push for peace in the war-torn country. Griffiths will head for Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, to meet the exiled Yemeni government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, said an official at the UN mission in Sanaa on condition of anonymity. It was Griffiths' fourth trip to Sanaa in two months in his attempts to break a stalemate in the implementation of Stockholm Agreement that focused on Yemen's Red sea port city of Hodeidah, the lifeline of the country's most commercial imports and humanitarian aid. During his Monday's visit, Griffiths warned that grain aid stored in the besieged Hodeidah city to feed over three million people is "at risk of rotting," asking the rival parties to allow the UN team for urgently access to the mills to deliver the aid to the extremely needy. He said the stores have been inaccessible for over five months and demanded the warring parties for not further delay. The four-year civil war has pushed over 12 million people to the verge of starvation and created what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The warring parties reached a peace deal in Stockholm in December last year. They have largely held the cease-fire deal in Hodeidah but failed to withdraw their forces. The rebels continue to fortify themselves inside the city while the government troops have been massing in the southern and eastern outskirts. Last week's negotiations led by Michael Anker Lollesgaard, head of the UN cease-fire monitor team in Hodeidah, resulted in what the UN called a "preliminary deal," yet the warring parties showed disputes over it. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 16:30:57|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BAGHDAD, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan arrived Tuesday in Baghdad on an unannounced visit to meet with Iraqi officials and U.S. troops in Iraq, local media reported. Shanahan is expected to meet with Iraqi top officials, including Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, as well as visiting U.S. troops stationed in the country, the Iraqi NINA news agency said. Shanahan, 56, officially took over the Pentagon early in January as acting U.S. secretary of defense after his predecessor, James Mattis, who resigned on Dec. 20 over policy disagreements with U.S. President Donald Trump, including whether to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 16:15:54|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close DAMASCUS, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- A total of 70 civilians were killed and wounded Tuesday by a U.S.-led airstrike in eastern Syria, state TV reported. The airstrikes targeted a camp for displaced people in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour. The airstrikes have intensified recently on Islamic State (IS)-held areas in the eastern Euphrates river region. On Saturday, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) started on the final stage of attacks against the IS in the eastern Euphrates river region in eastern Syria. Following the evacuation of over 20,000 civilians from the town of Baghouz in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour, the SDF started on Saturday night the operation against the remaining IS-held pocket in the eastern Euphrates region, according to Mustafa Balli, the head of the SDF media office. Balli said that the battle aims to eliminate the last IS militants in the town of Baghouz. After losing the four sq km, the IS will still control 4,000 sq km in the Syrian desert in eastern Syria. The U.S.-backed SDF has been on a crushing offensive to root out IS from the eastern Euphrates region since last September. The SDF managed, with the help of the U.S., to defeat IS in much of the areas it had controlled in the eastern Euphrates area. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said over 37,000 civilians, including tens of IS militants, have fled the last IS-held pocket to areas controlled by the SDF in the eastern Euphrates area since last December. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canada Rare Earth Corp. (Canada Rare Earth or the Company) (TSX.V: LL) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding letter of intent (LOI) to acquire a property in South America that is a source of mineral sands containing saleable minerals including rare earths. The property encompasses over 75 million metric tons of tailings which have been produced by an existing mining operation and which will be reprocessed to extract saleable minerals including rare earth elements; land on which the tailings are situated; and sufficient land to reprocess the tailings and to construct a 20,000 square foot building. Consideration includes US$12 million payable over a ten-year period with a US$600,000 deposit at the time of closing the transaction. Consideration also includes providing technological advice to the vendor to upgrade existing mining operations. Canada Rare Earth is arranging financing at a subsidiary company level, on a non-recourse basis, for the purchase of the property, for equipment to process the tailings, for construction of the building, and for working capital. Closing of the transaction is scheduled for April 2, 2019 subject to a number of factors including the completion of due diligence to the satisfaction of Canada Rare Earth, preparing definitive agreements, and implicitly on raising financing on acceptable terms. There can be no assurance that the results of due diligence will be positive, that reprocessing the tailings will be profitable, or that the financing can be arranged on acceptable terms. On behalf of the Board Tracy A. Moore, CEO and Peter Shearing, COO Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbour provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. For more information on the Company, interested parties should review the Company's filings that are available at www.sedar.com. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 14:05:23|Editor: WX Video Player Close SEOUL, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- A group of South Korean civilian activists made a two-day visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Tuesday to hold a new year's event jointly with their DPRK counterparts. The delegation, comprising some 250 people from labor unions, major religions and civic groups representing youth, farmers and women, crossed the military demarcation line (MDL), which divides the two Koreas, by bus toward the DPRK's scenic resort of Mount Kumgang in its east coast, according to local media reports. It marked the first inter-Korean civilian exchange this year. Also included in the delegation were lawmakers, journalists and support staff. On the first day of their stay, the delegation planned to hold a joint new year event and various meetings with their DPRK counterparts. The South Korean delegates were scheduled to watch the sunrise and visit a temple in the Mount Kumgang on the second day together with the DPRK civilians. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 14:05:23|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close BUDAPEST, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Monday that as a solid and trustful NATO member state, Hungary can have good relations with China and Russia. The minister made the remarks when meeting with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a joint press conference held here. Szijjarto said that Hungary's exports to China only account for 1.2 percent of those from the European Union (EU), and German and British companies are the main partners of China in the EU. As for Russia, the minister asked the critics of Hungary to stop "being hypocritical," as "the North-stream gas line with Russia was being built by German firms, and not Hungarians." Szijjarto said the economic and defense cooperation between Hungary and the United States had existed before, but a new rebuilding of ties started in political relations since the Trump administration. "Our governments share similar approach on many political, international issues," Szijjarto said. "Patriotic politics, national interest come first, and it is our fundamental duty to guarantee the security of our own citizens." Pompeo warned its NATO ally Hungary about having too close relations with Russia and China. "Autocratic Russia has never been a friend of any small Central European nations during the last 300 years," Pompeo said. "The previous administration was a no-show," Pompeo added. "For decades we have done nothing, and it is no wonder that in the void, the competition came in." Pompeo had a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The top U.S. diplomat is on a Central European tour, visiting Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 13:50:18|Editor: WX Video Player Close VIENTIANE, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Lao government has endorsed a national green growth strategy with policy makers believing the state intervention will help maintain strong, inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith signed a decree on the strategy last week, marking a significant milestone in the national development approach, which seeks to deliver environmentally friendly, sustainable and socially inclusive growth. The details of the strategy were not immediately available to the media but based on earlier reports, the Lao National Economic Research Institute and the Lao Ministry of Planning and Investment played a key role in drafting the long-term strategic plan, local daily Vientiane Times reported on Tuesday. The World Bank, the Global Green Growth Institute and other development partners provided financial and technical support to the two state agencies in developing the strategy, believing this policy guideline will help Laos shape its development program in a more sustainable way. The Lao government views the green growth concept as being in line with its strategic priorities under the Eighth Lao National Socio-Economic Development Plan, said the daily. The plan stresses the need to utilize the nation's natural resources more efficiently while taking a development path that is more resilient to risks such as climate change, and protecting people's health. The World Bank, which has provided Laos with credit of 36 million U.S. dollars to help develop and implement the green growth strategy from now until 2030, describes the green growth as providing new opportunities for the Lao people to achieve better living conditions. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 13:50:17|Editor: WX Video Player Close CARACAS, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said on Monday that there are "no sanctions that will unnerve or fracture national dignity." The minister said the Venezuelan military is underestimated by those who "have come with tricks by saying 'if you come out against the Constitution and the legitimate authorities, you will be exonerated' from those purported sanctions." "We've said we'll remain with the sanctions and the fatherland," he added. The minister made the remarks at the start of visits to collect signatures from military and civilian personnel in the National Bolivarian Armed Forces (FANB) against the sanctions and threats from the government of the United States. Since last year, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Venezuela's government authorities and military. The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday called for the collection of signatures to support the document known as "an open letter to the people of the United States." The text mentioned the danger represented by the possibility that the White House orders military intervention against Venezuela. "The enemies of the fatherland do not know the sentiment of resounding rejection" generated by the aggressions against the country, the minister said. Padrino Lopez invited the FANB personnel to sign for Venezuela and for peace. Venezuela has been living days of political tension since Jan. 23 when opposition leader and National Assembly President Juan Guaido declared himself interim president and was recognized by the United States and some other countries. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 13:25:12|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- China would like to raise its relations with Russia to a higher level in 2019, wrote Li Hui, Chinese Ambassador to Russia, in a signed article published in Tuesday's People's Daily. With 2019 marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of China-Russia diplomatic relations, the two countries will hold a series of celebratory events, according to Li. China would like to work with Russia in realizing the important consensus reached between leaders of the two countries, synergizing the Belt and Road Initiative with the Eurasian Economic Union and consolidating traditional friendship between the two peoples, Li wrote. "The two countries shall work hand in hand to realize national rejuvenation and develop a new model of international relations and a community with a shared future for humanity," he wrote. In the past seven decades, bilateral ties have remained solid and continued to upgrade, he wrote, adding that the cooperation between the two countries will make new progress this year while friendship and mutual trust between the two peoples will further improve. The ambassador described 2018 as "a good harvest year" for bilateral ties, as the two countries effectively expanded their cooperation in various areas and brought the bilateral trade to 107.06 billion U.S. dollars, up 27.1 percent from 2017. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 13:20:11|Editor: Liu Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House and Senate negotiators said Monday night that they have reached "an agreement in principle" on spending and border security in a bid to avoid another government shutdown. "We've had a good evening. We've reached an agreement in principle," Republican Senator Richard Shelby, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told reporters. "The White House has been consulted all along," he said. Democratic Representative Nita Lowey said she hopes for legislation to be released on Wednesday. The emerging deal, whose details are still being finalized, would fund a number of federal departments and agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security in charge of border security. It was not immediately clear if and how much Democratic lawmakers would agree to fund the border wall, a signature campaign promise of President Donald Trump. A temporary funding bill runs out Friday. Both the House and Senate will have to approve the legislation and Trump must sign it so as to avoid another government shutdown. Trump has requested 5.7 billion U.S. dollars for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, arguing it is essential to beefing up border security and curbing crime. Democrats have rejected the idea of a border wall, slamming it as expensive, ineffective and "immoral," and called the proposal Trump's "political theater" to fire up his base, while they prefer the use of technology like drones and sensors in strengthening border security. The confrontation over border wall funds caused a record-breaking 35-day partial government shutdown, which ended in late January when Trump agreed to fund the government for three weeks to allow for negotiations. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 13:10:05|Editor: WX Video Player Close ULAN BATOR, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia has culled a total of 2,394 pigs to contain the spread of African swine plague, a senior official said Tuesday. "A total of 2,394 pigs have been culled across the country since the first case of the African swine fever was reported in mid-January in Sergelen soum of central Tuv Province," Dorjnyam Tumendemberel, head of the General Department of Veterinary Services, told daily newspaper Unuudur. "The outbreak of the highly contagious viral disease is now generally under control in the country," said Tumendemberel. The African pig plague is a highly contagious viral disease that only infects pigs. No humans or other species have thus far been infected. According to official data, there were more than 31,000 pigs in Mongolia as of the end of 2018, of which around 17,000 were in Ulan Bator. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 13:00:01|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close Street cleaners work in snow in Daxing District of Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 12, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Xin) BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Snow fell in Beijing Tuesday morning, reducing visibility and causing inconvenience for travelers who were returning home from the week-long Spring Festival holiday. The snow hit most parts of the city, with a maximum precipitation of 2.8 mm in Yanqing District and an average of 0.3 mm citywide as of 11 a.m., the Beijing meteorological bureau said on its Sina Weibo account. The bureau has issued an alert for icy roads. Beijing Public Transport launched an emergency plan, suspending three bus lines and providing additional capacity near railway stations to ensure smooth Spring Festival traffic as the official week-long Chinese New Year holiday ended Sunday. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 12:49:55|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Renowned Brazilian journalist Ricardo Boechat died on Monday in a helicopter crash in Sao Paulo. Boechat was returning from a seminar in nearby city Campinas when the helicopter that was carrying him tried to land on a crowded highway and hit a truck. Both Boechat and the pilot died on the spot, while the truck driver suffered only minor injuries. No other people were injured. Ricardo Boechat, aged 66, worked as an anchorman for the night news program at TV station Band. He was also the news anchor at Band's morning radio show. With more than 40 years of a career in journalism, Boechat used to work at most of Brazil's major newspapers, radio stations and TV stations. He was highly respected as a political news commentator. Several Brazilian politicians regretted his death. President Jair Bolsonaro released an official statement of condolences, saying he respected Boechat regardless of their differing political views. "We will miss his work of informing the population, which he carried out for over four decades with much dedication and zeal," Bolsonaro said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 12:44:54|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close SANTIAGO, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Wildfires have destroyed 41,200 hectares of forest land in southern and central Chile, the country's National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) said on Monday. The figure represents an increase of 45 percent from last year in the area of forest land razed in the fire season, it said, adding it estimated a total loss of 70,000 hectares this season. According to authorities, there have been 4,126 forest fires so far this season, mainly in the regions of Valparaiso and Aysen. CONAF head Jose Manuel Rebolledo told the press that "we are working" to contain the fires, and the "first priority is to save lives." High temperatures in summertime across the South American country combined with strong winds, among other factors, have made it tough for firefighters to put out the flames, he said. Chile's firefighters have been battling as many as "142 fires a day," Rebolledo added. The national emergency management agency ONEMI reported on Sunday that the fires had claimed two lives, injured seven other people, left 55 people homeless and destroyed 31 homes. In Chile's history, the year 2017 is recorded to be the worst year for wildfires with more than 600,000 hectares of forest land destroyed. GLENDALE, Calif., Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Health Data Vision, Inc. (HDVI) a leading healthcare technology company dedicated to empowering managed care organizations with solutions to support critical quality and risk initiatives announces the addition of Ryan Peterson as Senior Vice President of Strategy and Growth. In this role, Ryan will oversee all aspects of the companys go-to market strategy, including business development, marketing, and service innovations. Ryan comes to HDVI with a track record of success. Most recently, he held the position of Vice President of Business Development for Advantmed (formerly RecordFlow), where he played an integral role in growing their nationwide footprint. Prior to that, Ryan worked for a boutique culinary services provider, CulinArt (acquired by Compass Group USA), and a domestic and overseas printer, Codra Enterprises, in a business development role assisting U.S. expansion. "I'm thrilled to continue working with MCOs on their Risk Adjustment and Quality Improvement initiatives, and by the opportunity to play a role in HDVI's exciting present and promising future," said Ryan. "I believe it's great people that make an organization a great place to work and do business with, and I am honored to become part of the hard-working team at HDVI." Jay Ackerman , Chief Executive Officer at HDVI, said, "Were excited to have Ryan join the team. I'm confident that his passion for problem solving, driving results, and creating a high-performing environment is the right formula to help HDVI continue to empower health plans, to improve quality of care and overall revenue performance. Ryan holds an MBA from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire and a BA, English from Kent State University. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 12:39:52|Editor: mmm Video Player Close Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), addresses the opening of a photo exhibition at the UN headquarters in New York, Feb. 11, 2019. An exhibition on China's peacekeeping input was launched Monday evening at the UN headquarters. With the theme "CPLA (Chinese People's Liberation Army): A Force for World Peace," the exhibition displays four sections of pictures, featuring Chinese military's participation in UN peacekeeping missions, securing maritime passages, disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, as well as exchanges and cooperation. (Xinhua/Li Muzi) UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- An exhibition on China's peacekeeping input was launched Monday evening at the UN headquarters. With the theme "CPLA (Chinese People's Liberation Army): A Force for World Peace," the exhibition displays four sections of pictures, featuring Chinese military's participation in UN peacekeeping missions, securing maritime passages, disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, as well as exchanges and cooperation. At the ceremony to launch the show, Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the UN, said that China has become the largest contributor of peacekeepers among the five permanent members of the Security Council. China first sent peacekeepers to carry out UN operations in 1990, said Ma, adding that over the past three decades, China has sent over 39,000 peacekeepers to UN missions around the world. Under-Secretary-General for Field Support Atul Khare hailed China's role in UN peacekeeping, saying that China is the 10th largest contributor of uniformed personnel and the second largest financial contributor to peacekeeping budget. Last December, China's share of the UN peacekeeping budget was raised from 10.24 percent to 15.22 percent, making it the second largest contributor only after the United States. "China continues to be recognized as an essential partner across the spectrum of UN peacekeeping," Khare said, adding that the nation "currently deploys a total of 2,508 uniformed personnel, including 70 women, to eight of the UN's current peacekeeping missions." UN Military Adviser for Peacekeeping Operations Carlos Humberto Loitey told Xinhua that China's contribution to the UN peacekeeping is worth "highlighting," with "good quality" of peacekeepers and "outstanding support in terms of training." Mao Naiguo, head of the Chinese PLA delegation for international communication, said "China firmly upholds the purposes and principles of the UN charter and its central role in the international affairs." On safeguarding maritime passages, data from the exhibition showed since December 2008, the Chinese Navy has regularly deployed 3 to 4 vessels in the Gulf of Aden to carry out escort missions. "As of December 2018, 31 batches of 100 vessels were dispatched to provide safety protection for more than 6600 Chinese and foreign vessels, rescuing, escorting and salvaging more than 70 ships in distress," according to the exhibition. In addition, in recent years, the Chinese military has helped in various international disasters such as Haiti earthquake in 2010, Philippine typhoon Haiyan in 2013, and Ebola epidemic in West Africa. The 12-day exhibition is co-hosted by the Political Work Department of China's Central Military Commission and Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 11:49:46|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close SUVA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Fiji's Minister for Women and Children Mereseini Vuniwaqa on Tuesday urged families to discuss the issue of rape openly to curb the rising problem of decaying moral values in the island nation. Vuniwaqa said in Parliament that it is not fair to blame the Fijian government for the increase in rape because it had implemented programs to try and prevent the issue. "The rape of women, the sexual violence on our children is not because of leadership, it's because of us, it's because of the breakdown of the family unit, it's because of the decay in moral values and that's where we are to look." Vuniwaqa said the increase in sexual violence in Fiji is a fact and the onus is on families to get out of the culture of not discussing this issue at home. In the Fiji Women's Rights Movement (FWRM) "Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls Rape Case Analysis for 2018", it was recorded that a total of 94 rape cases were decided in the High Courts of Fiji last year. FWRM's executive director Nalini Singh said it was a testament to the fact that there is an "Urgency" needed to try and make a more concerted effort between all stakeholders to overcome rape in Fijian communities. FWRM has undertaken an annual rape cases analysis since 2016 as part of their ongoing research and advocacy on strengthening Fijian women's access to justice. In all 94 cases of rape decided by the High courts in 2018, all the Accused were male, and the youngest accused was 11 years old and the oldest was 85 years old. All victims and survivors of the 94 cases were females with the youngest being a 6 month old baby and the oldest victim/survivor, a 71 year old woman. FWRM also studied the trends in sentences meted out during convictions and found that the highest sentence delivered last year was a life sentence. From 2016 to 2018, the average age of rape cases were all under 17. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 11:29:41|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close NEW DELHI, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- At least nine people including a woman and a child were killed when a hotel in Delhi caught fire early Tuesday, local media reported. According to preliminary reports, three people jumped from the third floor of the Arpit Palace hotel to save their lives and received serious injuries. About 30 people were safely rescued. Relief and rescue work was being carried out as 25 firefighters were rushed to the site of fire. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 11:09:33|Editor: WX Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. young woman convicted of convincing her boyfriend via text to commit suicide has started her jail sentence in the eastern U.S. state of Massachusetts, local media reported Monday. Michelle Carter, 22, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2017. She was allowed to remain free while she appealed her conviction. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld her conviction last week, saying that her actions caused the death of her then boyfriend Conrad Roy III. Carter was 17 in July 2014 when she persuaded Roy, 18, to kill himself through dozens of text messages and phone calls, prosecutors said. Roy died when his pickup truck filled with carbon monoxide in a store parking lot. After she convinced Roy to kill himself, she did absolutely nothing to help him: she did not call for help or tell him to get out of the truck as she listened to him choke and die, the state's Supreme Judicial Court Justice Scott Kafker wrote. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 11:04:31|Editor: WX Video Player Close GABORONE, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) is committed to supporting initiatives dedicated to enhance Africa's response to transnational organized crime, said Jan Sadek, EU Ambassador to Botswana and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Sadek made the remarks at a basic intelligence criminal analysis workshop attended by representatives from 11 African countries in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, on Monday. He added that the EU is conscious of organized crime that transcends borders, and threatens governance, peace and development. The workshop was organized by the Botswana Police Service with support from the EU. Participating countries included Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Sadek said transnational organized crime fuels conflict and corruption, infiltrates business and politics, triggers violence, and diverts resources that could have been dedicated to develop people, reduce poverty and contribute to the improvement of basic services for communities. He acknowledged that the shifts in trade, finance, travel and communication have given rise to enormous opportunities for criminals in the region. Dinah Marathe, deputy commissioner of the Botswana Police Service, urged participants to take advantage of INTERPOL initiatives to fight transnational organized crime. She said Botswana is not a drug-producing country, but is experiencing an influx of illicit drugs smuggled from neighboring countries. Top of the list of smuggled drugs, Marathe said, is marijuana, which has now infiltrated schools. "Hard drugs such as crack, cocaine, and methcathinone and crystal meth also find their way into the country through various concealment methods," she said. Marathe called for sharing of crime intelligence and reporting of transnational organized crime. She said cross-border crimes such as environmental crime, human trafficking and smuggling, drug trafficking, money laundering and related crimes continue to rob economies and disrupt peace. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 11:04:29|Editor: WX Video Player Close TASHKENT, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree Monday to deepen reforms in the textile industry to fully reprocess raw cotton domestically and increase export potential of the country. The decree, titled "On measures to further deepen reforms and expand the export potential of the textile and garment and knitwear industry," instructs the government, within three months, to develop and approve the Concept of accelerated development of the textile and clothing-knitting industry for the period 2019-2025. Under the concept Uzbekistan should be able to reprocess all the produced cotton domestically and increase the export volumes of textile products to 7 billion U.S. dollars per year by 2025, according to the document. The decree also provides various stimulating measures for enterprises engaged in export of textile products starting from April 1, 2019. Uzbekistan, the world's sixth-largest cotton producer, produced 2.3 million tons of raw cotton in 2018. Traditionally, cotton is Uzbekistan's most important cash crop. But in recent years the country has been taking serious steps to develop its textile industry to produce value-added products rather than exporting raw cotton. According to the statistics of the National Statistical Committee of Uzbekistan, the textile exports of Uzbekistan maintained a rapid growth in 2018. The annual export of textiles reached 1.6 billion U.S. dollars, up by 41.4 percent from the previous year. "My biggest goal is to provide people with work, a source of income. From now on, we will export less cotton, process it in the country and produce value-added products," President Mirziyoyev said during his visit to Jizzakh region in 2018. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 08:13:43|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close HANOI, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- A 47-year-old man from Vietnam's central Thanh Hoa province has been caught red-handed transporting 10 kg of crystal methamphetamine from Laos to the province, the provincial police announced on Monday. Local police caught Loc Van Duong on Sunday night when he was transporting the drug to Thanh Hoa's Quan Son district bordering Laos. Duong confessed that a Lao citizen had hired him to transport it to Vietnam at a wage of 200 million Vietnamese dong (nearly 8,700 U.S. dollars). According to the Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine are punishable by death. Making or trading 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal drugs also faces death penalty. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 07:53:39|Editor: Liu Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Monday asked for a unified standard in the fight against terrorism. "In combating terrorism, all countries should uphold a unified standard and adopt a zero-tolerance policy," Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, told the Security Council. International counter-terrorism efforts must comply with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter; respect the sovereignty of states concerned, as well as the ownership of member states; give full play to the leading role of the United Nations and its Security Council; and fully implement relevant Security Council resolutions and the UN global counter-terrorism strategy, said Wu. "Terrorism is a common enemy of mankind, and no country can cope with it alone. The international community should embrace the concept of a community of shared future for mankind, enhance result-oriented cooperation, maintain unity and respond collectively to terrorist threats," he added. Wu asked UN member states to strive to eliminate the sources that give rise to terrorism and address both the symptoms and root causes. The international community should assist member states in achieving socio-economic development, and promote the settlement of hot spot issues through political means, he said. Wu asked for the building of a new type of international relations and the promotion of equal-footing dialogue, and harmonious coexistence of different civilizations and religions. "Terrorism should not be associated with any specific country, ethnicity, or religion," said Wu. He also asked countries to take seriously the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters and to stop terrorist organizations from misusing the Internet and telecommunications technologies. "We should ... strengthen border management as well as cooperation in such areas as law enforcement, sharing of intelligence resources and mutual legal assistance. In response to the emerging trend and characteristics of terrorism, we should focus on enhancing international cooperation in combating cyber-terrorism, terrorist financing, and the spread of extremist ideologies." Wu asked to leverage the respective advantages of specialized mechanisms. "All counter-terrorism mechanisms should continue to enhance their communication with member states, carry out their work in strict accordance with relevant resolutions and rules of procedures, and maintain the authority and effectiveness of (UN) sanctions regimes so as to make even greater contribution to the international counter-terrorism cause." The fight against so-called East Turkestan violent terrorist forces should be part of the international counter-terrorism efforts, said Wu. Over the past few years, the so-called East Turkestan violent terrorist elements represented by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement have planned and carried out a number of terrorist attacks in the territory of China. They have also posed a serious threat to countries in the Middle East and Central Asia, he said. "Such forces should be met with resolute measures." China categorically rejects terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, said Wu. As an important player in the international fight against terrorism, China has been deeply involved in international cooperation through such mechanisms and platforms as the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. China has also been supporting UN member states with capacity building in this area through the China-UN Peace and Development Trust Fund, making an important contribution to international counter-terrorism efforts, he noted. China stands ready to work with all countries to jointly respond to the threat of terrorism and to maintain world peace and tranquillity, said Wu. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 07:38:35|Editor: Liu Video Player Close TORONTO, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Canada's main stock market fell Monday due to the weakness in industrial group and materials sectors and lower gold prices. The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite lost 64.48 points, or 0.41 percent, to close Monday at 15,568.85 points. The Canadian dollar declined 0.15 cent to 0.7517 U.S. dollar. On the market, a total of 91 issues rose while 140 fell. There were 17 new highs and one new low, with total volume of 192.8 million shares. The energy group rose 1.13 points, or 0.78 percent while the financials sector slipped 1.36 points, or 0.46 percent. The health-care group took the worst blows. Aurora Cannabis gave back 38 cents, or 3.8 percent, to 9.57 Canadian dollars while Canopy Growth dwindled 2.95 dollars, or 4.9 percent, to 57.28 Canadian dollars. Barrick Gold Corp. fell 18 cents, or 1 percent,to 17.89 Canadian dollars on five million shares. The most heavily traded shares by volume were Aurora Cannabis Inc, Bombardier Inc and Aphria Inc. Aurora Cannabis Inc. fell 45 cents, or 4.52 percent, to 9.50 Canadian dollars on 19 million shares. Bombardier Inc. declined 6 cents, or 2.91 percent, to 2.00 Canadian dollars on 8.4 million shares. Aphria Inc. Tumbled 1.21 dollars, or 9.81 percent, to 11.12 Canadian dollars on 7.1 million shares. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 07:33:33|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- The fight against so-called East Turkestan violent terrorist forces should be part of the international counter-terrorism efforts, said a Chinese UN envoy on Monday. Over the past few years, the so-called East Turkestan violent terrorist elements represented by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement have planned and carried out a number of terrorist attacks in the territory of China. They have also posed a serious threat to countries in the Middle East and Central Asia, said Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations. "Such forces should be met with resolute measures," he told the Security Council. China categorically rejects terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, said Wu. As an important player in the international fight against terrorism, China has been deeply involved in international cooperation through such mechanisms and platforms as the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. China has also been supporting UN member states with capacity building in this area through the China-UN Peace and Development Trust Fund, making an important contribution to international counter-terrorism efforts, he noted. China stands ready to work with all countries to jointly respond to the threat of terrorism and to maintain world peace and tranquillity, said Wu. He also asked for a unified standard in the fight against terrorism. "In combating terrorism, all countries should uphold a unified standard and adopt a zero-tolerance policy." International counter-terrorism efforts must comply with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter; respect the sovereignty of states concerned, as well as the ownership of member states; give full play to the leading role of the United Nations and its Security Council; and fully implement relevant Security Council resolutions and the UN global counter-terrorism strategy, said Wu. "Terrorism is a common enemy of mankind, and no country can cope with it alone. The international community should embrace the concept of a community of shared future for mankind, enhance result-oriented cooperation, maintain unity and respond collectively to terrorist threats." Not for distribution to U.S. news wire services or dissemination in the United States. TORONTO, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mandalay Resources Corporation (Mandalay or the Company) (TSX: MND, OTCQB: MNDJF) announced today that, in connection with its previously announced public offering of subscription receipts (Subscription Receipts), it has entered into an underwriting agreement with a syndicate of underwriters led by BMO Capital Markets and including CIBC Capital Markets and HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc. (the Underwriters) to sell 358,400,000 Subscription Receipts at a price of C$0.12 per Subscription Receipt (the Offering Price) for gross proceeds to the Company of approximately C$43 million (the Public Offering). The Company has granted the Underwriters an option, exercisable at the Offering Price for a period of 30 days following the closing of the Public Offering, to purchase up to an additional 53,760,000 Subscription Receipts to cover over-allotments, if any (the Over-Allotment Option). The net proceeds of the Public Offering, along with the net proceeds of a US$8 million convertible bridge loan that an affiliate of CE Mining Fund III L.P. (CE Mining) has agreed to advance to the Company, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions and concurrently with the completion of the Public Offering, will be used by Mandalay to fund working capital requirements (including development work at Costerfield, and tailings upgrade and capital requirements at Bjorkdal), debt reduction (including establishing a cash reserve for the purposes of satisfying the Companys obligations in respect of its Gold Bonds, future planned exploration activities at high potential opportunities including at Costerfield (Youle lode and deeper hole targets) as well as the emerging Aurora Zone at Bjorkdal, and for general corporate purposes. Each Subscription Receipt will entitle the holder thereof to receive one common share of the Company (a Common Share), subject to adjustment in certain circumstances. The Subscription Receipts will be issued pursuant to a subscription receipt agreement to be entered into upon the completion of the Public Offering, pursuant to which the gross proceeds of the Public Offering less 50% of the underwriters commission payable in connection with the Public Offering (the Escrowed Proceeds), will be held in escrow in an interest-bearing account. Upon satisfaction or waiver of certain escrow release conditions (the Escrow Release Conditions), including the receipt of all shareholder approvals required for the Public Offering, the remaining 50% of the underwriters commission and the underwriters expenses will be released to the underwriters, the remaining Escrowed Proceeds will be released to the Company and each Subscription Receipt will be exchanged for one Common Share. If the Escrow Release Conditions are not satisfied by April 30, 2019, holders of the Subscription Receipts will receive an amount per Subscription Receipt equal to the offering price per Subscription Receipt (the Offering Price) together with a pro-rata share of any interest earned on the Escrowed Proceeds. If the Escrowed Proceeds (plus accrued interest) are not sufficient to make such payment, the Company will contribute such amounts as are necessary to satisfy any shortfall. The Public Offering is expected to close on or about February 20, 2019 and is subject to certain conditions, including Mandalay receiving all necessary regulatory approvals and Mandalays receipt of the bridge loan. For further information regarding the Public Offering and the CE Mining bridge loan, please refer to the Companys news release dated February 11, 2019 and a prospectus supplement to be filed under Mandalays final short form base prospectus dated February 12, 2018 in respect of the Public Offering, a copy of which will be available under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The securities offered under the Public Offering have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. For Further Information: Dominic Duffy President and Chief Executive Officer Greg DiTomaso Director of Investor Relations About Mandalay Resources Corporation: Mandalay Resources is a Canadian-based natural resource company with producing assets in Australia and Sweden, and care and maintenance and development projects in Chile. The Company is focused on growing production at its gold and antimony operation in Australia, and gold production from its operation in Sweden to generate near term cash flow. Forward-Looking Statements: Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 06:13:13|Editor: yan Video Player Close ROME, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Italy's tourism industry is in good health, Federturismo business association said in a statement on Monday. The association, based on a latest annual report on the state of the tourism in Italy by the Research Institute for Innovation and Development Services (IRiSS), a division of the National Research Center (CNR), said in 2017, international visitors to Italy outstripped domestic tourists for the first time: there were almost 211 million arrivals from overseas compared to 210 million domestic visitors. The 22nd CNR-ISiSS Italian Tourism Report covers 2017 and part of 2018. Based on data from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), international arrivals to Italy grew by 5.4 percent in the first nine months of 2018, after adding 6.8 percent overall in 2017. "We estimate arrivals will increase by 4 percent in 2019," IRiSS Director Alfonso Morvillo said in a statement. "International visitors choose Destination Italy for its great appeal," Confindustria Alberghi hotels association president, Giorgio Palmucci, said in a statement. "Italy is the most desirable destination for global tourists, followed by the U.S. and Australia." Italy's landscapes, art, wine, food, and the Made-in-Italy brand are the main attractions, according to Palmucci. The overall picture was also positive in terms of the hospitality industry, with 425 million hotel stays recorded in 2018, breaking a new record compared to 420.6 million stays in 2017, according to ISTAT national statistics institute. Visitors stayed on average for 3.6 days in 2018, compared to 2.95 days the previous year, according to the CNR-IRiSS report. As well, tourist spending generated turnover of 108.3 billion euros (122 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017, equal to 7 percent of all added value produced in Italy, four times the added value generated by the food and agriculture sector and 4.5 times the added value generated by the textile, fashion, and apparel sector, the CNR-IRiSS report said. The tourism sector contributed 13 percent to Italian gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017, according to the report. On the downside, over half, or 54.3 percent, of overall tourist spending in 2018 was concentrated in just five of Italy's 20 regions, all of them located in the country's central and northern areas: Lombardy, Lazio, Tuscany, Veneto, and Emilia Romagna, the CNR-IRiSS report pointed out. Italy's most famous so-called "cities of art", all of them located in the country's central and northern regions, saw significant increases in foreign tourist arrivals in 2017 compared to the previous year: these included Venice (+86.5 percent), Florence (+73.9 percent), Rome (+70.1 percent), Milan (+64.9 percent) and Verona (+57.5 percent), according to the report. Farms and Tourism Minister Gian Marco Centinaio said in a statement that the way to fix this problem is to lengthen the tourist season, cut tourist taxes, and "seize the opportunities of digital transformation in a more decisive manner". Tourism generates 10.4 percent of global GDP and provides 313 million jobs around the world, according to the CNR-IRiSS report. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 05:48:03|Editor: yan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Monday said that several actions can be taken to improve the UN peacekeeping operations. Speaking at a plenary meeting of the Special Committee on peacekeeping operations, Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, said that the UN peacekeeping operations are facing new challenges while playing an important role in maintaining international peace and security. To improve the management of peacekeeping operations, the UN Secretariat should optimize its logistical support mechanisms, strengthen training during deployment, and enhance the capacity to deal with complex situations, said the Chinese envoy. According to Wu, the Secretariat's new peace and security architecture and management structure are operational now, and the new structures are expected to be effective on integration of resources, improve service management and operational efficiency. "More attentions should be paid to the safety of peacekeepers," he said. Wu said that security risks and casualties among peacekeepers were on the rise, the Secretariat and the missions should formulate security rules in an integrated manner, strengthen information collection and sharing, ensure that security equipment and measures are in place, and strengthen medical ambulance capacity effectively. Wu also said that the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations have to be strictly abided by, as well as the basic principles of peacekeeping operations. "Principles such as sovereign equality, non-interference in internal affairs and peaceful settlement of disputes, should always be observed, " Wu said, adding that in order to carry out their work smoothly, these are the prerequisite and guarantee for peacekeeping operations to win the trust of the member states. Wu also highlighted the importance of political settlement, saying that it is the "core element of UN peacekeeping operations. "Political priorities should permeate all phases of operations. Clear, viable and focused mandates should be made for peacekeeping missions, and continuous adjustments of priorities need to be undertaken at all stages in response to dynamic needs," said the Chinese envoy. Concluding his statement, the Chinese envoy pledged that China is ready to continue to work with the vast number of member states to further improve the UN peacekeeping system and to maintain international peace and security. "China is a staunch supporter and participant in UN peacekeeping operations, a major troop contributor and the second largest contributor to peacekeeping assessments," Wu added. Today, China has some 2,500 peacekeepers serving in eight UN peacekeeping operations, Wu said, adding that 8,000 troops to the UN peacekeeping standby force have been formed by China, who have done their registrations with the UN peacekeeping standby mechanism. Some of them have already reached the level of rapid deployment. Ever since its establishment, the China-UN Peace and Development Trust Fund has made strengthening African peacekeeping capacity-building a priority area. More than 200 trainees were received in the eight batches of projects which launched in 2018. China will continue to provide gratis military assistance to the AU to carry out independent peace activities, he added. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 05:43:02|Editor: yan Video Player Close VALLETTA, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- The operators of the Sea Watch migrant rescue ship, Sea-Watch e.V, filed a court case on Monday demanding compensation from the Maltese government after their vessel was held in Valletta for four months last year. Lawyers representing humanitarian NGO Sea-Watch e.V claimed that the decision to deny one of its rescue ships permission to set sail from Malta violated its right to enjoyment of property and was an abuse of power. The organisation, which organises search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, operates three vessels which would sail from Malta and head towards international waters off Libya to monitor and assist immigrants from Africa who find themselves in difficulty whilst making the perilous sea crossing to Europe. On June 16, 2018, the vessel Sea-Watch 3 entered Valletta port for maintenance and scheduled certification inspection, before asking for permission to leave the port on June 30. The Maltese port authorities did not issue the necessary permission for it to leave, however, initially claiming that "checks" were holding up the permit. Despite everything being in order, the authorities refused to give their consent to allow the ship to set sail. Towards the end of August, the ship had been informed that it would finally be receiving authorisation, but this was cancelled at the last minute without explanation. When the ship was finally allowed to sail on Oct. 22, almost four months from its intended departure date, there was no formal decision or change in circumstances, it said. "Essentially, from the legal aspect, when it sailed from Grand Harbour, the ship was in the same position as when it entered the port," reads the court application. Two other migrant rescue ships, the M/V Lifeline and the M/V Seefuchs were also being detained at the same time. Pointing out that port state control checks usually take a matter of days and certainly not months, the NGO's lawyers accused the authorities of "assisting the Government in its work to stop (rescue) vessels operated by NGOs." The holding of a rescue ship until the end of the migrant crossing season was an "unabashed abuse of power", argued the NGO's lawyers, asking the court to declare their rights as having been infringed and demand compensation. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 05:38:00|Editor: WX Video Player Close MOSCOW, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Monday criticized the European Union for its "dual approaches" to Iran. "The EU must rise above its dual approaches when they try not to annoy the Americans, and to do something so that Iran sees real efforts, and to make the right choice by deciding in favor of real cooperation," RIA Novosti news agency quoted Ryabkov as saying. Speaking to reporters after a reception in Iran's embassy in Moscow, Ryabkov said that the EU and a number of its members have applied sanctions to Iran against the rules of international law and UN Security Council's resolutions. He said that the demands of European countries to reduce or close the Iranian missile program resulted from their "desire to please the Americans." Russia finds it unacceptable and will explain the "fallacy and harmfulness" of such a course at a meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) expected in March, he said. The commission restricts Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for the easing of the sanctions on the Islamic republic. Meanwhile, Ryabkov recalled that European countries have taken certain steps to create conditions for normal economic cooperation with Iran, including the INSTEX mechanism. Last week, the EU announced the setting up of INSTEX (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges) by Britain, Germany and France to secure trade with Iran and skirt U.S. anti-Iran sanctions after Washington pulled out of the 2015 landmark Iranian nuclear deal last May. "Our position, if described briefly and concisely, can be reduced to a phrase that something is better than nothing," Ryabkov said. On the other hand, he noted that the authors of this mechanism could not ensure its opening for third countries, first of all, for Russia and others who are interested in legal cooperation with Iran. Russia will seek full-fledged participation in the activities of this mechanism and continue relevant efforts in direct contacts with the countries concerned, Ryabkov added. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 05:22:57|Editor: yan Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- An international team led by French geologists uncovered the oldest fossilized traces of life's ability to move, tracing back to 2.1 billion years ago. The study published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that certain multicellular organisms in a primitive marine ecosystem in a fossil deposit in Gabon were sophisticated enough to move through its mud, rich in organic matter. Located in Africa's Franceville Basin, the deposit produced the oldest existing fossils of multicellular organisms that could move, which was more than 1.5 billion years earlier than previously thought. The previous remnants were dated to 570 million years ago, an estimate that appeared to be confirmed by the molecular clock, according to the study. The researchers used a non-destructive imaging technique called X-ray computed micro-tomography to analyzed the fossil, and found a tubular structures, with generally consistent diameter of a few millimeters, running through fine layers of sedimentary rock. Geometrical and chemical analysis revealed that they were biological in origin and appeared at the same time the sediment was deposited. The traces are located next to fossilized microbial biofilms, and those biofilms formed carpets between the superficial sedimentary layers. The researchers suggested that the organisms moved in search of nutritive elements and the dioxygen, both produced by cyanobacteria. They showed that this biodiversity co-occurred with a peak in dioxygenation of the atmosphere, and developed in a calm and shallow marine environment. It is known that aerobic life has evolved from single-celled bacteria species to complex eukaryotic organisms, depending on the oxidizing power of dioxygen in some metabolic pathways. The scientists could not describe the exact shape of those living elements, but they speculated that they might be similar to colonial amoebae, clustering together to form a type of slug to forage food when resources become scarce. The evidence of mobility found in rock that is 2.1 billion years old raised new questions about the history of life, according to the study. They wondered whether this biological innovation a prelude to more perfected forms of movement, or an experiment cut short by the drastic drop in atmospheric oxygen occurring about 2.08 billion years ago. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 05:17:56|Editor: yan Video Player Close BERLIN, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- On the occasion of the European 112 day, fire brigades across Germany will be logging all operations via Twitter for 12 hours on Monday. "We want to inform people that the free emergency number 112 not only stands for fast, reliable help in Germany, but throughout Europe," explained Frank Hachemer, vice president of the German Firefighter Association (DFV). In addition to Germany's largest fire brigade in Berlin, 41 professional fire brigades of the German cities of Munich, Hamburg, Duesseldorf, Bremen and Frankfurt am Main in total are taking part in the digital campaign called "Twitter storm". Berlin's fire brigade is answering calls on 60 emergency lines, amounting to more than 2,000 calls per day. "We experience disrespect every day, but we also enjoy respect and prestige every day", said Frederic Finner, spokesperson of Berlin fire brigade. In Berlin alone, the fire brigade was deployed for more than 458,000 missions in 2017, almost 4,000 more than in the previous year. In Germany, like in most European countries, making an unfounded emergency call deliberately constitutes a criminal offence and a liability to pay compensation to the rescue organizations involved. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 04:57:52|Editor: yan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- The representation of major troops-contributing countries (TCCs) at leadership and at senior levels, both in the field and at headquarters, must be increased to a level that is commensurate with their participation, a Pakistani envoy said on Monday. That would help to ensure a more field-based perspective to decision-making, Maleeha Lodhi, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, said at the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations. Deployment decisions have to be based on consultation, preparation and knowledge of the ground situation, Lodhi said, adding that "with practical on-ground and in mission experience, TCCs must be consulted in a timely manner, and their suggestions taken." "We also need to put in place fair, realistic and permanent mechanisms for review of troop cost" and contingent-owned equipment reimbursements, and ensure timely reimbursements to TCCs, she said. "Delayed payments is a stop-gap arrangement, not a solution." With the recent decisions of troop reduction and mission drawdowns, there is a need to evaluate the pledges made by TCCs, she said, adding that it must be borne in mind that maintaining equipment and troops in readiness for the UN is an expensive enterprise for TCCs, especially when faced with the reality of mandate revisions and resource cuts. While safety and security of peacekeepers is the responsibility of the host state, it should not become a pretext or excuse to limit, in any way, their freedom of movement, nor should it be translated into restrictions that would impinge upon mandate implementation, the Pakistani diplomat said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 04:27:45|Editor: WX Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department said Monday that Andrea Thompson, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, would travel to Germany and Israel from Feb. 13-21. In Germany this weekend, Thompson will participate in the 2019 Munich Security Conference (MSC) to discuss cyber security and arms control issues, according to a statement issued by the State Department. Thompson will also conduct a series of bilateral meetings with senior government officials in Germany, the statement said. In her trip to Israel, Thompson will join the U.S.-Israel Joint Political Military Group, one of the bilateral security discussions with Israel's Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to a press release, the MSC this year anticipates the largest delegation of all time from the United States. Vice President Mike Pence and Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan have confirmed their participation. Over 600 high-level decision-makers from around the world will attend the MSC on Feb. 15-17 to discuss current issues in international security policy, including transatlantic cooperation and the European Union's self-assertion. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 04:12:41|Editor: yan Video Player Close CAIRO, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly inaugurated on Monday the three-day International Petroleum Conference in New Cairo. In a speech at the opening ceremony, Madbouly said that the conference will create opportunities which can benefit all parties. He also stressed Egypt's capability in maintaining a plan that has vastly helped its economy in the recent period. Dubbed "North Africa and the Mediterranean: Meeting Tomorrow's Energy Needs," the conference is being held under the auspices of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and will see the participation of a number of Arab and African oil ministers. The conference will feature sessions on energy security, women's health, safety, the environment, finance and investment, with more than 200 speakers, including industry officials and experts, and 1,200 delegates. Hosting 400 companies and 13 countries, the conference will tackle the topics of digital technology in the field of energy and youth empowerment for the first time this year. Once an energy exporter, Egypt has turned into a net importer in recent years, squeezed by declining production and increasing consumption. However, Egypt is back on track to be an exporter soon after a big number of recent discoveries across the country that attracted several international firms for oil exploration over the past years. Egypt has rapidly increased its production of natural gas in hope to become a hub for exporting to Europe after making a series of big discoveries in recent years, including the largest gas field in the Mediterranean, Zohar. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 03:47:34|Editor: yan Video Player Close TRIPOLI, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Libya's eastern-based army on Monday killed 7 terrorists in the eastern city of Darna, according to a military source. "Violent clashed have been going on since Sunday until Monday noon against the terrorists in their remaining pocket in the old town (central Darna)," the source told Xinhua. "Our forces managed to kill 7 terrorists without suffering any casualties," the source said, confirming that the military action against the remaining terrorists in the area would be completed in a few days. Last week, 12 soldiers were killed in battles against the terrorists in downtown Darna, according to the army's spokesman. The army, led by Gen. Khalifa Haftar, is allied with the eastern-based government, as the country is politically divided between two governments in the east and the west, both competing for legitimacy. ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Endgame, the leader in unified endpoint protection against targeted attacks, today announced that Chief Scientist Hyrum Anderson will keynote a talk addressing the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in todays security landscape at the Cyber Defense Summit (CDS) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The talk is based on Endgames proven success leveraging machine learning (ML) for threat detection and intelligent agent Artemis for scaling and elevating security teams within organizations today. While AI adoption has grown in popularity, a standardized way to assess the capabilities or weakness of AI in endpoint security products has not. Anderson will stress that the reasons AI is compelling have less to do with robots and general artificial intelligence, and more to do with simple concepts. Anderson has a formal education in machine learning, with applied information and national security experience at cybersecurity firms and U.S. national laboratories. Andersons talk, Beyond the AI buzzwords: a balanced perspective of AI in security , is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. local time on Wednesday, February 13. Endgames machine learning continues to scale and elevate tier-1 analysts, and also detect malware and malicious activity in a single agent across the MITRE ATT&CK matrix , said Anderson. Unfortunately, the industrys attempts to teach and market effective machine learning technology may actually have poisoned understanding and expectations about what they do. And this, rightfully, has caused some skepticism by practitioners. The key challenge has been a mismatch between perception and practice. The industrys branding of AI as narrowly focused ML for detection has misdirected attention away from other advances in guided triage, automated response, and assisted workflow. Anderson will discuss key misconceptions about effective machine learning technology in information security. He will dive into what the different buzzwords mean from a practitioners perspective and what the bottom-line benefits actually are. This year we anticipate that cyber attackers will be leveraging AI in their playbooks to identify vulnerabilities and automate tactics at scale. To effectively counter these attacks with a robust defensive strategy, it is important to have a security foundation in place that is also derived from similar concepts and focuses on advanced threat detection. This elevated intelligence enables SOC teams to prevent large-scale breaches and rapidly respond to incidents. Endgames machine learning capabilities take thinking like an attacker to the next level, commented Avinash Advani, CEO of Spire Solutions. CDS is powered by Endgames partner, Spire Solutions, the Middle Easts preferred security solution provider. About Endgame Endgame's converged endpoint security platform is transforming security programs - their people, processes and technology - with the most powerful endpoint protection and simplest user experience, ensuring analysts of any skill level can stop targeted attacks before information theft. Endgame unifies prevention, detection, and threat hunting to stop known and unknown attacker behaviors at scale with a single agent. For more information, visit www.endgame.com and follow us on Twitter @EndgameInc . About Spire Solutions Spire Solutions is a regional leader in information security solutions and services exclusively representing the worlds bleeding-edge IT security technologies. Driven by a strong dedication to customer success, Spire Solutions has built a reputation for being the preferred security partner in the Middle East. Media Contact: Megan Grasty Highwire PR for Endgame +1 916-834-0802 Endgame@highwirepr.com Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 03:42:31|Editor: yan Video Player Close TRIPOLI, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Air force of the eastern-based Libyan army on Monday announced targeting militants of the Chadian opposition in southern Libya for the third time in less than two weeks. "Fighter jets of our air force targeted gatherings of the Chadian opposition gangs near Murzuk (some 900 km south of the capital Tripoli)," said the army's information department. No details were provided about the losses caused by the airstrike. The army, led by General Khalifa Haftar, has been launching a military campaign against terrorism and crime in the south since mid-January. The army announced making significant progress and declared the region a no-fly zone indefinitely. The army is allied with the eastern-based government, as the country is politically divided between two governments in the east and the west, both competing for legitimacy. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 03:37:29|Editor: yan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- With its global reach, the UN remains key in the coordination of international efforts in fighting terrorist acts, a senior South African diplomat aid Monday. "The importance of its support to Member States to address their specific challenges in countering ISIL cannot be underestimated," Jerry Matjila, Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations, told a UN Security Council meeting, referring to the Islamic State terrorist group. Countering lSIL requires a coherent, coordinated response, underpinned by strengthened cooperation at the domestic, bilateral, regional and international levels, including the sharing of information and experiences, he said. South Africa has always supported a holistic approach to countering the threat of terrorism, he said. Security measures alone will not succeed in countering the threat, the South African diplomat said, adding that what gives rise to it and its prevention are equally important. In this regard, the envoy said that South Africa supports a whole of government and a whole of society approach that also addresses the role of women and children, youth, civil society, private sector and communities. It is also of great importance to South Africa to emphasize that measures taken to counter the threat of ISIL comply with obligations under international law, he said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 03:32:28|Editor: yan Video Player Close BAGHDAD, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Ministry of Interior on Monday announced that it dismantled the biggest Islamic State (IS) cell in Iraq's western province of Anbar and captured 186 militants who committed terrorist attacks in the country. "A joint force captured the biggest IS cell in Anbar responsible for suicide attacks, planting roadside bombs and assassinating military personnel on the international highway west of the country," Saad Maan, spokesman of Baghdad Operations Command, said in a joint press conference with head of Anbar's provincial council Ahmed al-Alwani. According to Maan, the detained extremist militants signed their confessions and some of them were sentenced to death pending on death row. Maan said that the extremist militants were captured following the liberation of Anbar in late 2017, and they are also responsible for killing civilians from al-Bun Nimr tribe for refusing to join the extremist group. Al-Alwani called on the Ministry of Interior and Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to support the directorate of intelligence and counter terrorism in Anbar. In December 2017, Iraq declared full liberation from the IS after the security forces and the paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units, backed by the anti-IS international coalition, recaptured all areas once seized by the extremist group. However, IS remnants have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas as safe havens, carrying out guerilla attacks from time to time against the security forces and civilians. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 03:17:26|Editor: yan Video Player Close LONDON, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Britain clutched a trade agreement with Switzerland on Monday, allowing businesses to continue trading freely after Britain leaves the European Union (EU). The trade continuity agreement, replicating existing EU-Switzerland arrangements as far as possible, will come into effect in January 2021 as soon as the transition period ends as stipulated in the Brexit withdraw agreement, or on March 29 this year if the Britain leaves the EU without a deal. As an EU member, Britain benefits from around 40 existing EU trade agreements that cover more than 70 countries. In the run-up to Brexit, Britain has raced against the clock to replicate such deals to prepare for its departure from the EU. Its continuity agreement with Switzerland is considered to be the biggest one so far as Switzerland is Britain's third largest non-EU market. The agreement simplifies trade and allows businesses to continue trading freely, without any additional tariffs. It continues the elimination of duties on the vast majority of goods traded between Britain and Switzerland, according to a statement from the British Department of International Trade. The British vehicles sector could avoid up to 8 million pounds a year in tariff charges on their exports, while aluminium exporters could avoid up to 4 million pounds and precious stones and metals exporters could also avoid up to 4 million pounds, the statement said. Consumers in Britain will continue to benefit from more choice and lower prices on goods imported from Switzerland, such as clocks, watches and pharmaceutical products, it said. Switzerland is one of the most valuable trading partners that Britain is seeking continuity for, accounting for more than 32 billion pounds' worth of trade a year, Britain's International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said, describing the deal "of huge economic importance to UK businesses." (1 pound = 1.29 U.S. dollars) Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 02:27:14|Editor: yan Video Player Close BAGHDAD, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Iraq's President Barham Salih on Monday affirmed the necessity of documenting the Islamic State (IS) crimes while condemning the extremist group of committing crimes against Iraqis. Salih's comments came during his meeting with UN Special Adviser and Head of the Investigative Team for the Accountability of IS (UNITAD) Karim Khan, during which he asserted the importance of taking those involved in crimes against Iraqis to international courts. "Iraqis of all sects have suffered from the oppression and violence of the terrorist organization," a statement from the Iraqi presidency quoted Salih as saying. According to the statement, Salih asserted the need of joint efforts and keen cooperation to "ensure reliable and comprehensive investigations that meet international standards in order to identify the IS elements who are the most responsible for the crimes and subject them to trial." For his part, Khan demonstrated the efforts of UNITAD investigating and documenting IS crimes against Iraqis and said that they were communicating with survivors and other civil society organizations for this purpose. During the meeting, Khan also said that "there are many necessary measures being taken to address what had happened, noting that the participation of various United Nations organizations and the international community will continue to be the most vital in this regard." In December 2017, Iraq declared full liberation from the IS after the security forces and the paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units, backed by the anti-IS international coalition, recaptured all areas once seized by the extremist group. However, IS remnants have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas as safe havens, carrying out guerilla attacks from time to time against the security forces and civilians. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 02:17:10|Editor: yan Video Player Close DOHA, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani on Monday congratulated Iranian President Hassan Rouhani over the 40th anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution. The emir of Qatar sent a congratulatory cable to Rouhani on Iran's national day, according the state-run Qatari News Agency. Hundreds of thousands of citizens went on marches all over the country in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Revolution in Iran which toppled the U.S.-backed Shah regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, an event seen as a turning point in Iran's history. In the capital Tehran, people swarmed to the streets, chanting anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli slogans and carrying images of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, late founder of the Islamic republic, and his successor and the incumbent supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 02:12:09|Editor: yan Video Player Close ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Emmanuel Nnadozie, executive secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), on Monday commended China's support for Africa's capacity development efforts. "We have been monitoring with satisfaction in many aspects the support that the Chinese government has been giving to really promote capacity development in areas of need," Nnadozie told Xinhua. The ACBF is the specialized agency for capacity development of the African Union (AU). "We are aware of the hundreds of thousands of scholarships that have been given to Africa's young people to study in China and to be able to return to Africa and help to promote development," he said. Africa is a major recipient of China's capacity development support. By the end of 2017, the Chinese government has trained 5,655 participants of different professions for Ethiopia, covering over 20 fields that include education, health and medical services, agriculture, tourism, manufacturing industries, public administration, business management, urban development and poverty reduction, according to the Chinese Embassy in Addis Ababa. "We really commend that, and wish that the Chinese government will continue in this area," Nnadozie told Xinhua on the sidelines of the ongoing 32nd ordinary session of the AU assembly. The two-day meeting started on Sunday at the AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Noting an agreement between the Chinese government and the AU at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) to establish an African capacity development institute, Nnadozie said the ACBF is discussing with the Chinese envoy to the AU about the implementation of the agreement. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 01:57:05|Editor: yan Video Player Close KHARTOUM, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's Khartoum State's Health Authorities on Monday denied the presence of 300 bodies in a morgue of a hospital in the capital. "The news on social media about the existence of 300 bodies of unidentified people at the morgue of the Academy Hospital in Khartoum is baseless," Khartoum State's Health Ministry said in a statement Monday. "The capacity of the hospital's morgue is only 26," it noted, warning that circulating such rumors without verifying them aimed to spark panic. It reiterated that the morgues of the state are free of any bodies. Some activists said on social media that 300 bodies of unidentified people were present in the morgue of the academy hospital in Khartoum, claiming that the bodies belonged to victims of the popular protests in Sudan. Since Dec. last year, various areas in Sudan, including Khartoum, have been witnessing popular protests over the deteriorating economic conditions and price hikes of basic commodities. According to government statistics, 31 people have been killed during the popular protests. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-11 22:35:59|Editor: WX Video Player Close Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil (L) welcomes visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Beirut, Lebanon, on Feb. 11, 2019. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich) BEIRUT, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday that Iran will not pressure Lebanon on cooperating with Iran in any specific field, local media reported. "We will not pressure Lebanon to cooperate with Iran but I am sure we will reach the best solution in this regard," Zarif was quoted as saying on OTV local TV channel during a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart Gebran Bassil. Zarif said that it is up to Lebanon to decide if it wants to cooperate with Iran and to specify the fields of cooperation. Zarif assured that there are no international legislations that prevent any two countries from cooperating with one another. "Even the resolution 2231 encourages countries to open up to Iran," he said. Zarif said that Iran has always stood beside the Lebanese population. "We will always be ready to support the Lebanese government on all levels," he said while emphasizing that any cooperation between Lebanon and Iran will not have negative repercussions on any country, but will be in the interest of this region. Meanwhile, Bassil said Lebanon does not have a problem to deal with Iran economically on condition that this does not contradict with international resolutions. Iran has declared that it is ready to help Lebanon in various fields including the overhaul of the electricity sector and the support to the Lebanese Army. Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-11 04:11:55|Editor: WX Video Player Close Arafat Irfayia (L) appears at a courtroom in Jerusalem, on Feb. 11, 2019. Israel's Shin Bet security service said on Sunday that the killing of a young Israeli woman last week was a "terrorist attack" carried out by Arafat Irfayia. The Shin Bet said that the interrogation of Arafat Irfayia, arrested on Friday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, showed the killing was nationalistically-motivated. (Xinhua/JINI) JERUSALEM, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Shin Bet security service said on Sunday that the killing of a young Israeli woman last week was a "terrorist attack" carried out by a Palestinian man. The Shin Bet said that the interrogation of Arafat Irfayia, arrested on Friday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, showed the killing was nationalistically-motivated. The Shin Bet also said Irfayia, a 29-year-old resident of the flashpoint city of Hebron, south of Jerusalem, clearly implicated himself in the killing. Irfayia allegedly stabbed to death Ori Ansbaher, a 19-year-old resident of the settlement of Tekoa, in a Jerusalem forest on Thursday. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara arrived on Sunday evening to condole Ansbaher's family. He updated the family on the results of the Shin Bet investigation, telling them that the murder was a nationalistic terror attack. The investigation is still ongoing and the rest of the details of the attacks are under gag order. Earlier on Sunday, the army said it had started preparations to demolish Irfayia's family home in Hebron. "Troops surveyed the suspect's house in order to examine the possibility of its demolition," the army said in a statement. Israel frequently demolishes homes of Palestinian assailants, charging the move aims to deter more attacks. However, Palestinians and human rights groups denounce the demolition as collective punishment. Ansbaher's killing shocked Israelis and triggered calls by right-wing political leaders to enact the death penalty for Palestinian killers of Israelis. NEW YORK, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via CryptoCurrencyWire -- CryptoCurrencyWire (CCW), a multifaceted financial news and publishing company, is pleased to announce it has been re-engaged by the founders of World Crypto Conference to serve as the official newswire for the full slate of global blockchain industry events hosted by EVOLV throughout 2019. On the heels of the wildly successful first annual World Crypto Conference, which took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, organizers of the event recently announced the launch of EVOLV, a premier production company dedicated to offering the worlds most immersive and experiential crypto community gatherings. EVOLVs lineup of 2019 events will include HODL Rally , the worlds first blockchain supercar rally event; Barcelona Blockchain Summit ; and World Crypto Conference in Las Vegas. We were very impressed with the multi-dimensional outreach strategy executed by CryptoCurrencyWire and its affiliated brands for our inaugural World Crypto Conference event last October, said Adam Williams, CEO of EVOLV. As we work to promote blockchain technology and digital currency innovation through our global events, it is crucial that we partner with those who can effectively promote these gatherings to the right audiences in this blossoming industry. We are pleased to announce that we have re-engaged CryptoCurrencyWire to partner with us for all of our 2019 events. Regarding the re-engagement, Jonathan Keim, communications director of CryptoCurrencyWire, said, We are thrilled to continue utilizing our resources to support the major expansion taking place in the blockchain community. EVOLV represents a group of masterminds who have proven their ability to produce immersive and interactive experiences that resonate beyond the events themselves, and our team is excited to be part of each one. Following the unforgettable experience at the 2018 World Crypto Conference event in Las Vegas, it is no surprise there are now even more ways for EVOLVs massive following to stay connected and bring others into the movement. EVOLV 2019 event details are as follows: HODL Rally: Standing out as the world's first blockchain-inspired supercar rally, this eight-day networking experience across the European continent will be filled with exciting crypto-themed events taking place from June 29 - July 8, 2019. This unique series will include up to 100 cars and will cover 1,800 miles, eight cities and four countries. Standing out as the world's first blockchain-inspired supercar rally, this eight-day networking experience across the European continent will be filled with exciting crypto-themed events taking place from June 29 - July 8, 2019. This unique series will include up to 100 cars and will cover 1,800 miles, eight cities and four countries. Barcelona Blockchain Summit: Taking place July 5, 2019, the Barcelona Blockchain Summit will feature executives from all around Europe showcasing solutions and real-life use cases of blockchain technology. The summit will take over the W Barcelona hotel for a one-of-a-kind crypto and blockchain event and will be the fourth stop along the HODL Rally route. The event will feature top speakers and experts in the crypto and blockchain space, keynote and panel discussions, and exhibitors all backed up to the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. Taking place July 5, 2019, the Barcelona Blockchain Summit will feature executives from all around Europe showcasing solutions and real-life use cases of blockchain technology. The summit will take over the W Barcelona hotel for a one-of-a-kind crypto and blockchain event and will be the fourth stop along the HODL Rally route. The event will feature top speakers and experts in the crypto and blockchain space, keynote and panel discussions, and exhibitors all backed up to the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. Vegas Blockchain Week: Running from Oct. 26 to Nov. 1, 2019, Vegas Blockchain Week will bring new advancements, lively debates and discussions regarding opportunity, innovation, change and growth in employment, finance, healthcare, advanced science and the arts. The seven-day event will include summits and gatherings from top digital currency companies, which will be announced in the coming months. Running from Oct. 26 to Nov. 1, 2019, Vegas Blockchain Week will bring new advancements, lively debates and discussions regarding opportunity, innovation, change and growth in employment, finance, healthcare, advanced science and the arts. The seven-day event will include summits and gatherings from top digital currency companies, which will be announced in the coming months. World Crypto Conference (WCC): Rounding out Vegas Blockchain Week will be the second annual World Crypto Conference. Following up on a successful debut, the conference experience is back and bigger and better than ever as the industrys first-ever multi-blockchain developer conference and hackathon. Notable new additions to the conference include WCC DEV CON, expanded World of Mining and World Crypto Poker Tournament experiences, and discussions from thought leaders from enterprise companies. For more information about EVOLV and its complete roster of events, please visit https://evolv.events/ . About CryptoCurrencyWire (CCW) CryptoCurrencyWire is a financial news and content distribution company that provides (1) access to a network of wire services via NetworkWire to reach all target markets, industries and demographics in the most effective manner possible, (2) article and editorial syndication to 5,000+ news outlets (3), enhanced press release services to ensure maximum impact, (4) social media distribution via the Investor Brand Network (IBN) to nearly 2 million followers, (5) a full array of corporate communications solutions, and (6) a total news coverage solution with CCW Prime. As a multifaceted organization with an extensive team of contributing journalists and writers, CCW is uniquely positioned to best serve private and public companies that desire to reach a wide audience of investors, consumers, journalists and the general public. By cutting through the overload of information in todays market, CCW brings its clients unparalleled visibility, recognition and brand awareness. CryptoCurrencyNewsWire is where news, content and information converge via crypto. For more information, please visit https://www.CryptoCurrencyWire.com Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the CryptoCurrencyWire (CCW) website applicable to all content provided by CCW, wherever published or re-published: http://CCW.fm/Disclaimer TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Federal workers from the Tallahassee area are in Washington D.C. this week to meet with Florida representatives in the House and Senate. Some employees at the Federal Correctional Institution and the TSA made the trip to the nation's capital. Ray Coleman, Labor Union President, says he's scheduled meetings with Senators Marco-Rubio and Rick Scott as well as Congressman Al Lawson. Federal workers we talked to say they're catching up on paying bills while saving every extra penny to prepare for another possible shutdown. WTXL Political Contributor Dr. Richard Murgo says the president isn't likely to go against the bi-partisan group that's come up with the agreement. "He would have to go against Senate Republicans. Donald Trump has never done this in the past. I don't think he's up for that at this point. He's got some other fights he's going to have to fight in the next couple of weeks," said Dr. Murgo. "So, certainly, this is one I don't think he has an appetite for. He has other alternatives that he's suggested for the wall. He's not happy with this. Democrats aren't happy with this, but I think both sides are going to lick their wounds and come back for another fight later on." Dr. Murgo says some lawmakers have been considering a bill to end government shutdowns altogether. He said the most recent shutdown cost the country $11 billion. VALDOSTA, Ga. (WTXL) - The City of Valdosta has been awarded a high honor by the Georgia Municipal Association and Georgia Trend Magazine. The city received the Live, Work Play Award, which is given by the magazine to cities that succeed in advancing job creation, housing offerings and recreational amenities. Valdosta City Manager Mark Barber says you can't quantify how much this award means to the city. "Folks around the world will see Valdosta Georgia in this magazine and it may open the door for community economic prospects," he said. Eight other cities in Georgia received the award, including Tifton. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A worker was injured trying to put out a fire at a commercial building on West Tennessee Street. At about 2:25 p.m. Monday, the Tallahassee Fire Department responded to a report of a commercial building fire at 1861 West Tennessee Street. When firefighters arrived on scene, they saw smoke coming from the building. TFD said the fire broke out in a business under construction. The fire was quickly found with the help of construction crews and the fire was extinguished. TFD stated one worker was injured in an attempt to extinguish the fire. The individual was treated on scene by TFD paramedics and did not require hospitalization. The fire caused an estimated $25,000 in damages. One adjacent business suffered some damage but is expected to open soon and one other adjacent business was not affected. TFD was assisted on scene by Tallahassee Police Department. The cause of the fire is under investigation. MIAMI (WPLG) - Three people were injured early Tuesday in an apparent parachuting accident at Homestead Air Reserve Base. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue was called to a report of three parachutists down shortly after 4 a.m., WPLG reported. A Miami-Dade Fire Rescue helicopter landed at Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center a short time later. Doctors could be seen rolling a patient into the hospital for treatment. He was moving his heard, arms and legs as he lay on a gurney. A second helicopter arrived a few minutes later, this time with two patients. One man was seen holding his arms bent above his head and later holding another man's hand. The third patient kept his hands folded on his chest. Security was keeping the media away from the military base. ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) A South Florida lawmaker is accusing a fellow Democratic legislator of bullying her at a meeting of party leaders, but the other lawmaker says the exchange is being mischaracterized. Florida Rep. Anika Omphroy on Monday wrote a letter to the Florida House speaker saying that Rep. Carlos Smith lashed out at her with verbal assaults. Jose Oliva, the Republican House speaker, referred the matter for an investigation. But Smith tweeted that the details in Omphroys letter are false. The central Florida lawmaker says they had a tense conversation, but he is stunned and confused by her letter. .@RepOmphroy and I agree that we had a tense conversation about an important issue to both of us, but the details in her letter are simply false + did not occur. I walked away from the exchange, which happened in a public space in front of multiple elected officials with....1/3 Rep. Carlos G Smith (@CarlosGSmith) February 11, 2019 A witness, Rep. Anna Eskamani, says the encounter happened Saturday after Omphroy spoke out against a resolution encouraging broader financial disclosures. Omphroy didnt respond to a call and email to her office. Florida representative claims she was bullied, threatened by another representative TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - State rep. Anika Omphroy is calling for disciplinary action after she was allegedly threatened, bullied, and verbally assaulted by Rep. Carlos Smith. Rep. Anika Omphroy of District 95 claims on Feb. 9 she was threatened, bullied, and verbally assaulted by Representative Carlos Smith. A source told WTXL that it happened during a Florida Democrat meeting. WTXL obtained a copy of the letter Omphroy sent to Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Jose Oliva, calling on him to address the issue. Omphroy said Smith approached her in a threatening and aggressive manner while she was sitting at a table with others. She stated she was uncomfortable as Smith kneeled directly in front of her legs, at which point she said she was forced to readjust herself because she was wearing a dress and leggings. According to Omphroy, Smith "pounded his hand" on the table and "lashed out" at her with a "barrage of offensive verbal assaults, and a display of blatant aggression." She also claimed he kept her from moving away due to his "strategic body placement." Omphroy claims others have told her that this is a normal behavior pattern for Smith. Veterans Standards formally unveiled in their new home in the Guildhall chamber This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Feb 12th, 2019 Four newly restored veterans standards were unveiled at a special ceremony in the council chamber this afternoon. A huge amount of time has been spent preserving the standards of the 8th Army Vets, the Korean Vets, the Burma Star Vets and the Normandy Vets. The restoration works comes off the back of a successful crowdfunding campaign launched by Wrexham Council in February 2016. It was the first of its kind for Wrexham Council, with Armed Forces Champion, Cllr David Griffiths explaining today that it had worked better than they had anticipated. The project saw 11,889 raised to safeguard four veteran standards, with 17 per cent of the money raised directly pledged online via the campaigns page on the Spacehive platform. The remaining 10,259 was donated off-line, either directly or at a fundraising event, for example, a cake sale, bucket collection, supermarket bag pack. The conservation works were carried out by the Peoples History Museum in Manchester, who operate a professionally trained and accredited conservation studio specialising in textiles particularly large flat textiles such as banners and flags which made them the perfect choice to work on the standards. Conservator Kloe Rumsey explained the hugely intricate work carried out, included cleaning, removing creases, creating a backboard and then a lot of hours stitching the standards to the board. They were then taken to Liverpool where they were professionally framed by Conservation Gilding. The Standards will be on permanent display in the Council Chambers and be available to anyone who would like to come in and see the restored Standards. If you are in town and want to pop in the Council say youre welcome to do so, but as the Chamber is very much a working room, it would save you disappointment if you ring 01978 292000 beforehand and check to see whether or not the room is free. A video from this afternoons ceremony can be found below with a few words from Cllr Griffiths on the project, and reaction to the crowdfunding effort: Lack of new houses used as justification for up to 189 new homes in Rhosrobin This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Feb 12th, 2019 A reported lack of new houses in Wrexham has been used as justification for about 200 new dwellings to be created in a village outside the town. Wrexham Councils planning committee refused an application for a development of up to 189 homes in Rhosrobin in early 2017. It came after councillors raised concerns about the potential loss of green barrier land to the east of Tan y Bont, off Llay New Road. However the Welsh Town Planning and Housing Trust, which applied jointly with Liberty Properties, later launched an appeal in a bid to overturn their decision. A public inquiry into the proposals was held at Wrexhams Guildhall this morning, where a planning inspector appointed by the Welsh Government heard evidence from all parties involved. Kay Sheffield was told that less than half of the 517 new houses a year outlined in Wrexhams emerging Local Development Plan (LDP) had been achieved in the last five years. Barrister John Barrett, representing the applicants, said: The bottom line is the average of last five years has been 241 completions a year, where as the LDP requirement over the same period would be 517 as an average. I think that must mean that in the short term that there are in excess of a thousand houses that should be built that havent been built. The councillors are striving to get their local plan to adoption in the recognition that they dont have a supply. We are not hitting the 500 homes per annum, in fact we are nowhere close to it. Planning officer Matthew Phillips, who represented the council, conceded there was a shortfall of houses in the area. However, he said the authoritys position was that the sites included in the LDP would be sufficient to meet the need without the proposed development in Rhosrobin. He said: As things stand at the moment its not a site we feel we need to deliver to meet the requirements of the LDP. Clearly our position has to be that we believe those are deliverable and those will meet our housing requirements. The argument for not supporting this application remains the same as when the decision was made. Legal representatives highlighted the amount of current green barrier sites being put forward for housing in the LDP as further evidence in favour of the scheme. They also brought up a recent application for approximately 130 houses on green barrier land in Rossett, which was recommended for approval by officers, but refused by the planning committee. Phillip Morris, managing director at Liberty Properties, claimed there was a large demand for new homes in Wrexham. He said: People are saying they want to buy a house in the place they were brought up in. Thats why sites like this need to be built because there is a demand for housing. They actually had people queuing outside the site office when they released places at Erddig Place. When questioned further, Mr Phillips conceded that the proposals would make an important contribution to the amount of new houses. He added that the site would also be a strong candidate if more houses were required in the LDP. Mr Phillips said: Unwittingly I think Ive done a good job of putting obstacles in my own path with another application. We have a suite of allocations in the plan that meet the requirement and our position is we dont need to release any more greenfield sites at this time. I will accept that the reasons for refusal of this application have now probably been largely addressed through the subsequent application. Unfortunately its a matter of timing and I have to support the position of the LDP and that we dont need further sites. After hearing the evidence Ms Sheffield will submit a report to the Welsh Government within the next five weeks to inform its decision on the appeal. Mr Phillips said it was in the interests of all concerned for it to be concluded as soon as possible. Plans announced for over 30 new homes on abandoned development site This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Feb 12th, 2019 Plans have been submitted to build over 30 new homes on an unfinished site in Cefn Mawr, it has been announced. Councillor Derek Wright, who represents the Cefn ward, says an award winning architecture firm has submitted plans to build 33 dwellings at Heol Berwyn. He added that the site was left uncompleted by Harron Homes, who claimed that they were unable to finish the project following the 2007 financial crash. Susan Elan Jones MP, who has also been involved in the campaign to restart development at the site, said: I am delighted to hear this news. Derek has worked tirelessly to get this project moving and it is good to know that 33 new homes will be created in our constituency, especially at a time of serious housing shortages across the UK. I know that many constituents were concerned that the unfinished site would potentially attract anti-social behaviour and that the unfinished sewer system would attract vermin, so I am sure this fantastic news will be a huge relief to many. Cllr Wright added: This really is great news for our community. I know that some people Ive talked with wanted the land to be used to graze cattle and horses, but as the land is privately owned, this was not possible. However, this news represents a real step forward. After six long years of hard work our persistence has paid off and things are finally getting done. Calls for rethink over planned cuts and changes to series of local bus services This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Feb 12th, 2019 Councillors and business owners have criticised a bus firms decision to axe services in and around Wrexham. Gwersyllt West Plaid Cymru councillor Gwenfair Jones has spoken out after Arriva Buses announced they would be operating reduced services in the Gwersyllt and Summerhill area as part of a package of service cuts that will affect many parts of the town and surrounding villages. Last week Wrexham.com reported that a series of service withdrawals, alterations to existing timetables and routing of services will be introduced in late March and early April. The majority of the changes proposed relate to commercial services operated by Arriva Buses Wales who say the services are not commercially viable and are being modified or withdrawn in order to protect the rest of the Wrexham bus network. Speaking last week Cllr David A Bithell, lead member for environment and transport, said the local bus industry was at a breaking point a statement that Michael Morton, managing director of Arriva Buses Wales, disagreed with. Cllr Jones said the looming changes will have an impact on many residents who rely on the service every day. These cuts to services are the latest in a series of blows to the public transport network in Wrexham, continued Cllr Jones. Its clear that we need investment to ensure people can continue to rely on bus services in villages such as Gwersyllt and Summerhill as well as other parts of the borough affected by these changes. Its going to have an impact on many people who need to use buses to get to work, to shop, visit relatives or make hospital appointments. The news of the service withdrawals / changes came just days after it was announced that the Wrexham bus station was to undergo a 250,000 refurb and a series of improvement works. Cllr Jones added: Weve heard about plans to spend millions on a new transport hub in Wrexham and this latest capital spend of 250,000 on the bus station. It doesnt make sense in my view to be spending that sort of money on shiny buildings when the buses serving them are being axed. At this rate, well end up with a bus station that has no buses. The Welsh Government held a bus summit in Wrexham two years ago and what has it delivered? Like many people shivering at bus stops, were still waiting. People will rightly wonder what this Labour government is doing to develop better public transport in the Wrexham area as they see bus services decimated. Villages like Sydallt have been without any bus service for two years and they, like many others, deserve so much better. A local businessman also joined in the criticism and urged a re-think. Pendine Park proprietor Mario Kreft MBE said: We are shocked that consideration is being given to removing both bus services from this important route. Axing one service and re-routing the other would cause huge problems for relatives and friends who need to visit our residents, many of whom are elderly and frail, and for whom this would also be a bitter blow. It is also a vitally important means of transport for many of our staff and this proposal would make it hugely difficult for them to travel to and from work. There needs to be an urgent rethink to safeguard these services which are a lifeline for relatives, staff and the local community in Summerhill. A full breakdown of the routes that will be affected by the changes can be found here. SAN JOSE, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NeuVector , the leader in container network security, today announced a new platform integration with the Istio and Linkerd2 service meshes that expands NeuVectors security capabilities for production Kubernetes deployments . The integration developed in coordination with IBM Cloud and the Istio open source development team delivers first-of-its-kind network visibility and threat detection, even for connections that are encrypted by Istio or Linkerd2. NeuVector also protects Istio and Linkerd2 application containers at run-time and provides comprehensive service mesh container discovery and visualization, equipping customers with a unique view into their container infrastructure and network communication paths. NeuVector will be demonstrating how its solution works with Istio together with the IBM Cloud Istio team at IBM Think 2019 . Attendees can learn more about this release and how NeuVector is helping enterprises ensure end-to-end container network security at booth #127. IBM Think 2019 takes place February 12-15 in San Francisco. The Istio and Linkerd2 service mesh platforms provide routing and authentication of pod-to-pod (container-to-container) connections and can encrypt the communication between pods. NeuVectors unique and patented technology adds another layer of security by enabling deep packet inspection before the Istio or Linkerd2 encryption begins. This integration with service mesh technologies enables NeuVector to deliver strong network threat detection and application layer visualization for Istio, Linkerd2 and other service mesh-based applications including their sidecar containers from the moment the NeuVector container network security solution is deployed to Kubernetes environments. Istio and Linkerd2 have proven to be incredibly powerful and scalable service mesh technologies, and were proud to release this integration to provide devops and security teams with even more container network visibility and security, said Gary Duan, CTO, NeuVector. Organizations leveraging any service mesh in production Kubernetes deployments can now rest assured that their environments are secure, and that attacks on these environments will be recognized and defeated. Via this patent-pending integration, NeuVector is providing the most robust defense for Kubernetes production deployments using a service mesh such as Istio or Linkerd2 including threat detection based on deep packet inspection and application protocol verification. The integration also extends the security coverage of Istio and Linkerd2 protocol awareness for HTTP and gRPC services, as well as other application protocols that NeuVector supports using TCP, UDP and ICMP. Customers can also leverage NeuVectors industry-leading traffic monitoring and visualization capabilities to verify that their Kubernetes container infrastructure is deployed correctly and functioning properly. We selected NeuVector to protect containers in production because it combines network and run-time security with vulnerability management for compliance, said Christian Huning, System Architect, figo GmbH. NeuVector is continuing its innovation by providing deep network visibility into service mesh encrypted traffic. Additionally, adding Istio and Linkerd2 integration provides investment protection by ensuring that Istio and Linkerd2 deployments are secure in production and can be continually monitored for security exploits. More details about the integration can be found here . About NeuVector NeuVector, the leader in Container Network Security, protects Kubernetes in production. NeuVector delivers highly integrated, automated security and is the only next generation container firewall with packet-level interrogation and enforcement. NeuVector customers include global leaders in financial services, healthcare, transportation, publishing and other industries. NeuVector partners with Alibaba, AWS, Docker, Google Cloud, IBM, Microsoft Azure, Rancher, Red Hat, and others. Founded by industry veterans from Fortinet, VMware, and Trend Micro, NeuVector has developed patent-pending behavioral learning for container security. For more information, please go to www.neuvector.com Press Contact Kyle Peterson kyle@clementpeterson.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e7f5b762-5350-4809-bbc4-7e9c8a1f20c7 Xi Jinping, chairman of the Central Military Commission, has signed an order to release a trial regulation on the supervision of military training, the first of its kind in the country. The regulation, which will take effect on March 1, 2019, focuses on improving the combat readiness of the People's Liberation Army. The regulation formulates measures to rectify practices that are inconsistent with the requirements of actual combats. It also details the criteria for identifying malpractices and discipline violations during military training. The regulation also clearly states the responsibilities, power and priorities of military training supervision and regularizes the methods and procedures for carrying out such work. The regulation is expected to consolidate the strategic role of military training under the new circumstances, strengthen the management of military training, and deepen military training under combat conditions. (Source: Xinhua) Wits supercomputing students win big Our teams excel in Centre for High Performance Computing Student Cluster Competition. Wits students in the Schools of Electrical and Information Engineering (EIE), and Computer Science and Applied Mathematics (CSAM), won various awards in the 2018 Centre for High Performance Computing Student Cluster Competition and the South African National Research Network Cyber Security Challenge 2018. The competitions were held during the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC)s 12th National Conference hosted in Cape Town in December where undergraduate student teams from participating universities across the country battled it out to build the small High Performance Computer (HPC) clusters on the exhibition floor from hardware provided by the CHPC and industrial partners. The teams also had to run various performance benchmarks on the clusters as well as an actual simulation and machine learning workload. Essentially, the students vied to build the fastest computer and secure their spot in the 2019 International Supercomputing Conference to be held in Germany. The students from the School of Electrical and Information Engineering (EIE) who excelled were: Hassaan Hameed, Basheq Tarifi, Nathan Jones (second-year biomedical engineering students) and Sansha Gupta (second-year electrical engineering students) won the team award for the most innovative team. (second-year biomedical engineering students) and (second-year electrical engineering students) won the team award for the most innovative team. Third-year information engineering students Anita de Mello Koch, Kaamilah Desai, Brendon Swanepoel and Nicholas Kastanos won the best teamwork award. won the best teamwork award. Third-year information engineering students Anita de Mello Koch and Kaamilah Desai were also selected as two of the six-member team to participate in the 2019 International Supercomputing Conference to be held in Germany later this year. were also selected as two of the six-member team to participate in the 2019 International Supercomputing Conference to be held in Germany later this year. Third-year information engineering student Rashaad Cassim was named one of the winners of the social engineering competition in the South African National Research Network Cyber Security Challenge that ran concurrently with the CHPCs Student Cluster Competition. The students from the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics (CSAM) who excelled were: The team consisting of Jamie Burns, Thato Moeng, Kilolo Muaku and Meghan Sinclair-Black too third place in the CHPCs Student Cluster Competition. Mathematical Sciences Support is the Wits coordinator for the CHPC HPC Ecosystems Project, a training initiative for High Performance Computing (HPC) skills in the SADC region. The HPC Ecosystems Project feeds into the CHPC's training program for Square Kilometer Array (SKA) readiness. Many of the participants entering the competition prepared for the competition on old decommissioned HPC equipment donated to Wits by the HPC Ecosystems Project and Innovent for the purpose of student training. A team of previous worldwide champions lead by Avraham Bank provided hands-on training and teaching, while Brian Maistry, Scientific & Research Systems Manager in Mathematical Sciences, provided coordination and infrastructure support. The training venue was provided by TW Kambule Mathematical Sciences Laboratories, which supports HPC training and course activities. The HPC Ecosystems Project is open to all interested Witsies. To get involved, please contact Professor Turgay Celik from the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics. Mifflintown, PA, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Juniata Valley Financial Corp. (OTC Pink: JUVF), parent company of The Juniata Valley Bank, announces the appointment of Kelly L. Yetter as Business Solutions Officer. In this new role, Ms. Yetter will focus on development of, as well as service and support for, business and municipal customers of The Juniata Valley Bank. Included in her responsibilities as Business Solutions Officer, Ms. Yetter will manage the response to deposit-related requests for proposals, support for new businesses, and pricing of business and municipal deposits. Additionally, Ms. Yetter will oversee deposit-related services such as overnight sweep accounts, merchant card services, remote deposit capture, electronic transaction origination and payroll services. Ms. Yetter joined The Juniata Valley Bank in June 2001 as the ACH Coordinator and was promoted to Electronic & Business Banking Manager in March 2017. Her background with The Juniata Valley Bank, understanding of these services, and commitment to quality service have prepared her for this exciting new role. Ms. Yetter and her husband reside in Mifflin, PA with their two children. Kelly is the Youth Group Leader at her church and enjoys raising Simmental Beef Cattle and helping on her familys farm. The Juniata Valley Bank, the principal subsidiary of Juniata Valley Financial Corp., is headquartered in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, with sixteen community offices located in Juniata, Mifflin, Perry, Huntingdon, McKean and Potter Counties. Since 1867, the Bank has been committed to customer service and customer satisfaction. The Bank offers a broad variety of retail and commercial banking services, including consumer and commercial online banking, consumer mobile banking, trust services and the opportunity to obtain investment products and services through Financial Network Investment Corporation. More information regarding The Juniata Valley Bank can be found online at www.jvbonline.com. Attachment Louisville businessman and Tea Party candidate Matt Bevin is shown here speaking at the 2013 Fancy Farm Picnic, when he was campaigning for the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. PHOTO:Joe Jackson Republican Bevin Files for Kentucky Governor By The Associated Press FRANKFORT, KY - Former U.S. Senate candidate Matt Bevin has filed to run in the Republican primary for Kentucky governor. Bevin, a Louisville businessman, said in a statement Tuesday that his running mate, Jenean Hampton, would be the first black female lieutenant governor in Kentucky history. Hampton served in the U.S. military, including a tour of duty in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. The Tea Party-backed Bevin lost last year's primary to incumbent Sen. Mitch McConnell. Grant Approved to Help Former USEC Plant Workers By West Kentucky Star Staff WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Representative Ed Whitfield announced Friday the U.S. Department of Labor has approved nearly $4.6 million for the West Kentucky Workforce Investment Board to assist dislocated workers and their families affected by the end of uranium enrichment activities at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, as well as workers in Madisonville.This grant will assist WKWIB in supporting displaced workers and their families who have been negatively impacted by the ceasing of uranium enrichment at the Department of Energys PGDP and to dislocated workers in the Madisonville area, McConnell said. I am proud to continue to support PGDP workers, even after the ceasing of enrichment. I am hopeful the employment services funded through this grant will help these Kentuckians develop marketable skills for new opportunities in the workforceincluding cleanup operations at the facilityand to help contribute to Western Kentuckys economy.I am pleased to see this grant has been approved to help those who have been affected by the recent loss of jobs in Paducah and Madisonville, said Whitfield. Providing job retraining for these individuals is an important step for employment growth and economic development in the First District. I appreciate the DOL and the WKWIBs continued assistance and look forward to working in the new Congress to create more economic opportunity in our area of Kentucky. The funding will help 875 workers from the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant and 80 workers affected by the layoffs at GE Aviation in Madisonville.Sheila Clark, West Kentucky Workforce Investment Board Director said regional partnerships, collaborating agencies, and the continuing supportive efforts of Senators McConnell and Rand Paul, along with Representative Whitfield, helped make awarding of the grant possible.Displaced workers can use the Career Solutions Community" by visiting its website: www.careersolutionscommunity.org, or by calling 270-534-3914.On the Net: House Dems Add Poison-Pill Demand to Border Debate By US Senator Mitch McConnell (R) Kentucky As recently as a few days ago, our government funding discussions seemed to be in a pretty good place. Bipartisan, bicameral negotiations on finishing out the years appropriations process seemed to be on track. We appeared headed toward a compromise result that could have provided much-needed investments in border security and completed our remaining appropriations bills to fully fund the government. Last week, the Democratic Leader seemed confident that, quote, We worked out a plan to refund the government, deal with border security in a way that would be acceptable to all sides. Thats working pretty well. Just this past Friday, the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Leahy, suggested, quote, Were 95 to 98 percent done. But then, over the weekend, we heard that the talks had suddenly hit a snag. The bipartisan momentum had stalled. What went wrong? Heres what happened: House Democrats decided to add a poison-pill demand into the conversations at the 11th hour. Its a new demand. And it is extreme: A hard, statutory cap on the number of illegal immigrants who could be detained by the federal government. This would result in the release of thousands of criminal aliens and our inability to detain thousands more criminal aliens whom our federal and state law enforcement authorities will apprehend. This is a poison pill that no administration not this one, not the previous one -- would -- or should -- ever accept. Imagine the absurdity of this. House Democrats want to set a limit on how many criminal aliens our government can detain. A limit that is not based on any aspect of reality, such as how many criminal aliens there actually are, or what crimes they have committed -- just an arbitrary number a couple of lawmakers have pulled out of thin air. The consequence of such an arbitrary limit is obvious: Thousands of criminal aliens would simply be released into the interior of our country, both immediately and then on a rolling basis. The National Sheriffs Association explained this in a letter to Chairman Shelby and Senator Leahy. Heres what the sheriffs said: Capping the number of detention beds not only jeopardizes the integrity of the immigration system, but would cripple ICEs ability to detain criminal aliens and other aliens who pose a risk to public safety or are a flight risk... In order to meet the cap being tentatively proposed by Congress, ICE would be compelled to release thousands of aliens from custody. Thats what the National Sheriffs Association had to say about it. Released, just like that, right into the United States of America. Its hard to believe, that this is where some Democrats are: a get-out-of-jail-free card for criminals because the radical left doesnt like U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Let me say that again, a get-out-of-jail-free card for criminals because the radical left doesnt like U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Its hard to believe that this Abolish ICE fringe among House Democrats actually thinks enforcing our laws is wrong. Its hard to believe a group of House Democrats see kneecapping American law enforcement as a higher priority than keeping the government open. But it would be even harder to believe that leading Democrats would be open to this craziness and would let this last-minute poison pill scuttle the entire appropriations process. Just last year, when the Democratic Leader was highlighting productive, bipartisan work on this appropriations process. He said, quote: Both sides have worked to avoid poison pill riders. That has meant steady progress. Ranking Member Leahy celebrated that through last years committee process, quote: We avoided new poison pill riders. So, I hope that my Democratic colleagues are able to talk some sense into their side. Some House Democrats are risking a second partial government shutdown by calling for this absurd last-minute poison pill. No administration, of any party, would sign a bill that forced them to release criminal aliens into the interior of the United States. No administration would accept this poison pill forcing the release of criminals now, and on a rolling basis going forward. I understand the four leaders on appropriations in both chambers will be meeting in just a few moments. I implore my friends across the aisle: Untangle yourselves from the most extreme far-left voices out on the fringe. Do not let this radical fringe and its absurd demand prevent you from taking yes for an answer. Dont let them torpedo all of the bipartisan work. This provision would, rightly, be a total non-starter with the White House -- with any White House, not just this one. It would erase our progress and kick us back to square one. A total poison pill, pure and simple. The American people are not clamoring for more aliens with criminal backgrounds to be roaming at large in their communities. Ive never heard anybody ask for that. And they certainly are not so eager for that outcome that they want another partial shutdown in order to achieve it. My Democratic colleagues in this chamber need to see this stunt for what it is, bring their side back to the table, and finish our work for the American people. WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding the need to secure our border and fund the government: Benton Man Arrested on Meth, Gun Charges By Joe Jackson FAIRDEALING, KY - A Marshall County man was arrested late last week on drug and weapons charges.According to the Marshall County Sheriff's Office, deputies were dispatched to a home on Jonathan Shores Road to assist Probation and Parole. Deputies searched the home and allegedly found multiple firearms along with boxes of ammunition. Deputies also reportedly found a bag of marijuana, some Oxycontin pills and a glass pipe with methamphetamine residue inside.Thirty-one-year-old William Morris of Benton was arrested and charged with probation violation, possession of methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.Morris was lodged in the Marshall County Detention Center. Man Charged with Multiple Sex Crimes Against Girls By West Kentucky Star Staff MURRAY - A man was arrested last week on multiple sex-related charges, but police say there may be more unidentified victims.In a Monday press release, the Murray Police Department said they executed a search warrant and arrest warrant at a home on Irvan Street and arrested 20-year-old Joseph Costilow, who also goes by the name Joey Amacher. Police say the warrants stem from a complaint by a juvenile girl who said she had been sexually assaulted.During the investigation, a warrant was also submitted to a social media website, and police say more than one victim was contacted by the man while using his alias. Costilow was arrested on four counts of distributing matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor, five counts of promoting a minor under 16 in a sexual performance, and five counts of possession of matter portraying sexual performance by a minor.Police say the search warrant led to discovery of marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and a handgun that police believe to be stolen. Costilow faces additional charges of trafficking of marijuana, receiving stolen property (firearm), and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was taken to Calloway County Detention Center.On Sunday, another warrant was issued and served on Costilow, charging him with six counts of distributing matter portraying sexual performance by a minor, six counts of promoting a minor under 16 in a sexual performance, and six counts of possession of matter portraying sexual performance by a minor.The investigation is ongoing and more possible victims have not yet been identified. Anyone who has information about Joseph Costilow, AKA Joey Amacher, should contact Detective Angel Clere the Murray Police Department at 270-753-1621. Driver Hurt in Carlisle County Rollover Accident By West Kentucky Star Staff CARLISLE COUNTY - A one-vehicle rollover crash Sunday in Carlisle County sent the driver to a Tennessee hospital.According to the Carlisle County Sheriff's Office, the wreck happened just before noon in the 1900 block of US Hwy 62. Deputies say the driver, 45-year-old Jason Hoskins of Bardwell, struck a mailbox and two telephone poles. Police say his vehicle rolled several times before coming to rest upright.First responders had to use mechanical equipment to remove Hoskins from the vehicle. He was transported by ambulance to Mercy Health-Lourdes Hospital, then transferred to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville for treatment of his injuries. Judge Grants Extension in Vienna Prison Crowding By The Associated Press VIENNA, IL - A judge has given attorneys for the state of Illinois another month to review a proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit about overcrowding at the Vienna Correctional Center. The Springfield bureau of Lee Enterprises newspapers reports that U.S. Magistrate Philip Frazier granted the 30-day extension last week in the Vienna Correctional Center case. Three inmates filed suit in 2012 arguing prisoners in the Vienna facility lived in moldy, infested quarters with insufficient bathrooms. Specifically the judge gave the state more time to file a preliminary agreement about how problems at the prison will be corrected. Attorneys for the state noted in their request that they needed more time to obtain approval for unresolved terms because of the change from former Gov. Pat Quinn to Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration. Zheng Faced Intense Scrutiny at Previous Job By Bill Hughes PADUCAH, KY - The new general manager of Paducah Power System brings along some professional baggage as he moves from Lubbock, TX to western Kentucky. Dr. Gary Zheng was just hired by the utility, which has been highly scrutinized since rates have skyrocketed, related to the current economy and debt service from their investment in the Prairie State Energy Campus. But PPS board members apparently liked their new man enough to face more criticism over his past. Zheng's last job as general manager of Lubbock Power and Light ended with his termination without cause last July, after several attempts by a recently revamped board to oust him. He had been with the company in various positions for 18 years, and received a severance package of about $700,000. The news website everythinglubbock.com reports that in October of 2013, Zheng was accused of mishandling bids on a major supply contract. An outside law firm investigated and found nothing illegal, but the bids were thrown out. The website reported that Zheng admitted he took information from someone associated with the bid process, which created the appearance that one bidder had an unfair advantage. Lubbock Attorney Charlie Dunn was on the board that ended their relationship with Zheng, and he admits it was part of his plan when he joined the LP&L Board in 2013. "There was no question that the bidding process that occurred in Feb. 2013, prior to the time I got on the board, had been tainted by mismanagement. Whether or not Dr. Zheng had a hand in that is disputed, and that is currently the subject of an investigation by the FBI that I'm not privy to," Dunn said. He qualified that statement by saying the FBI won't confirm, or even comment on a possible investigation, which is their typical practice. Andrea Underwood of Paducah Power said the local utility's board vetted Zheng "very rigorously," speaking to him about how his tenure ended in Lubbock, and doing a thorough background investigation that involved conversations with Lubbock officials and board members. She said they used the highly-regarded Dowdy Recruiting Firm of Conifer, CO, to help in the hiring process, and the board saw the results of the investigation into the bids at Lubbock. Underwood said, "Because of the results of that independent investigation by that attorney's office, we really felt that it was a political situation there, and that his skills were exactly what we needed." She said they knew there would be questions about the "cloud surrounding him," but the board decided his qualifications were so well suited for the job that they made their decision without fear of criticism. Zheng is set to begin working in Paducah February 9, and interim GM Mark Crisson's time with PPS will end a few days later. On the Net: Missing Paducah Woman Returns Home By West Kentucky Star Staff PADUCAH - Police say a woman reported missing a couple of weeks ago is safe and sound.According to the Paducah Police Department, Amberly D. Wallis had last been seen at her Caldwell Street home on February 8.Police say she returned home Saturday and is in good health.Original Story:Police are asking for the public's help locating a missing woman.According to the Paducah Police Department, Amberly D. Wallis was last seen at her Caldwell Street home Friday around 9:00 am.Wallis is white, 5' 2 tall, 155 pounds with brown, shoulder-length hair and green eyes.Anyone with information on Wallis' whereabouts is asked to contact the Paducah Police Department. Dublin, Feb. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Surgical Simulation Market by Offering, by End User, by Geography - Global Market Size, Share, Development, Growth, and Demand Forecast, 2013-2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Surgical simulation market is forecasted to generate revenue of $608.3 million by 2023, the market growth is mainly driven by technological advancements, growing geriatric population, and rising number of surgical procedures performed globally. The surgical simulation market includes endoscopic, laparoscopic, cardiac, gynecological, arthroscopic, neurological, and other simulators. Of these, the fastest growth in the market during the forecast period is expected from endoscopic simulators. The market for this category is majorly driven by the growing popularity of endoscopic surgeries leading to increased adoption of simulators to train for endoscopic surgeries. The surgical simulation market also includes educational, training, and other services. Of these, the market for educational services is expected to showcase the fastest growth during the forecast period, at a CAGR of more than 15.0%, on account of the increasing adoption of surgical simulation solutions in healthcare organizations for educating medical students, surgeons, and other healthcare professionals on surgical skills. During the forecast period, academic and research institutes are expected to be the fastest-growing end-user category in the surgical simulation market. Increasing adoption of surgical simulation solutions in academic and research institutions for training purposes is supporting the market growth of this category. During the forecast period, the surgical simulation market is expected to witness the fastest growth in APAC, on account of the increasing medical tourism and growing geriatric population in the region. Additionally, major players, as part of their business strategy, are investing in the untapped markets of the region, which, in turn, is contributing to the market growth. According to a report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), approximately 12.4% of the regional population was 60 years or older in 2016, and this population of elderly people is expected to reach 1.3 billion by 2050. Since geriatric population is more susceptible to injuries requiring surgical interventions, as compared to younger people, the demand for surgical simulation products and services is expected to be high in the region in the coming years. Major players in the surgical simulation market are entering into partnerships with various healthcare organizations to introduce new simulation solutions. For instance, in January 2018, CAE Healthcare entered into an international training partnership with the American Heart Association (AHA) to establish a network of international training sites to deliver lifesaving AHA courses around the world. Currently, CAE Healthcare offers AHA courses, such as emergency cardiovascular care in basic life support, advanced cardiac life support, and pediatric advanced life support, in the CAE Brunei Multi-Purpose Training Centre in Brunei Darussalam. Similarly, in 2017, CAE Healthcare and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) entered into a simulation research partnership to improve healthcare education and safety and support NAIT's simulation research initiatives. Key Topics Covered: Chapter 1. Research Background Chapter 2. Research Methodology Chapter 3. Executive Summary Chapter 4. Introduction 4.1 Definition of Market Segments 4.1.1 By Offering 4.1.1.1 Products 4.1.1.1.1 Laparoscopic surgical simulators 4.1.1.1.2 Endoscopic surgical simulators 4.1.1.1.3 Neurological surgical simulators 4.1.1.1.4 Gynecological surgical simulators 4.1.1.1.5 Cardiac surgical simulators 4.1.1.1.6 Arthroscopic surgical simulators 4.1.1.1.7 Others 4.1.1.2 Services 4.1.1.2.1 Educational services 4.1.1.2.2 Technical services 4.1.1.2.3 Others 4.1.2 By End User 4.1.2.1 Academic and research institutes 4.1.2.2 Hospitals 4.1.2.3 Surgical clinics 4.1.2.4 Military organizations 4.1.2.5 Others 4.2 Market Dynamics 4.2.1 Trends 4.2.1.1 Adoption of AR and VR technologies in surgical simulation 4.2.2 Drivers 4.2.2.1 Increasing number of surgical procedures 4.2.2.2 Development of technologically advanced products 4.2.2.3 Growing geriatric population 4.2.2.4 Increasing demand for minimally invasive surgeries 4.2.2.5 Impact analysis of drivers on market forecast 4.2.3 Restraints 4.2.3.1 High installation and operational costs of surgical simulation systems 4.2.3.2 Impact analysis of restraints on market forecast 4.2.4 Opportunities 4.2.4.1 Increasing collaborations to reduce medical errors 4.2.4.2 Growing awareness about surgical simulation in emerging countries 4.3 Porter's Five Forces Analysis Chapter 5. Global Market Size and Forecast Chapter 6. North America Market Size and Forecast Chapter 7. Europe Market Size and Forecast Chapter 8. APAC Market Size and Forecast Chapter 9. LATAM Market Size and Forecast Chapter 10. MEA Market Size and Forecast Chapter 11. Competitive Landscape 11.1 Competitive Analysis of Key Players 11.1.1 Market Positioning of Key Players 11.1.2 Product Benchmarking of Key Players 11.2 Global Strategic Developments of Key Players 11.2.1 Product Launches 11.2.2 Partnerships 11.2.3 Client Wins 11.2.4 Other Developments Chapter 12. Company Profiles CAE Inc. Mentice AB Surgical Science Sweden AB 3D Systems Corporation Simulab Corporation Limbs & Things Ltd. MEDICAL-X Voxel-Man VirtaMed AG Sandor Medicaids Pvt. Ltd. OSSimTech For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/6sgbfj/global_surgical?w=12 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. ABC News(NEW YORK) -- For Ethan Lindenberger, turning 18 was a celebration of freedom, but the emancipation he sought mostly was about his newfound right to get vaccinated. The Ohio teenager said he never received vaccines for diseases like hepatitis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella or chickenpox, but he's planning to change that now that he's an adult. "I had grown up just hearing that I wasn't vaccinated because it was best for me, and that it was healthy and that vaccines were bad and that they have these bad side effects," Lindenberger told ABC News' Good Morning America on Tuesday. "I saw that there were a lot of people with different opinions, and as I explored those opinions, I came to the conclusion that they were good and beneficial." After his mother, Jill Wheeler, learned that she could opt out, she chose to not to give Lindenberger, or any of his siblings, any vaccines, which is why he went to the online forum Reddit for advice in November. "My parents think vaccines are some kind of government scheme," he wrote. "I've had countless arguments over the topic. But, because of their beliefs I've never been vaccinated for anything, God knows how I'm still alive." As measles and mumps outbreaks grow across the U.S., more internet-savvy minors are questioning whether they can provide their own consent to get vaccines. "I definitely have received messages and had people contact me that are in a similar situation where they want to pursue vaccinations and their parent or guardian doesn't believe it's right and that's not a good decision. And how they approach that situation," Lindenberger said. "There is a distinguishing difference between disagreeing with a parent and trying to disobey them out of spite." Wheeler, his mom, said the decision sparked a lot of discussion within the family. "My oldest daughter is absolutely against the vaccinations. My 14-year-old is also against it and my 16-year-old says, 'I want to do more research,'" she said. "The hardest thing for me was the shock of him choosing to immunize." While most states do require permission from parents for any medical procedures, in at least seven states a relatively new legal concept called the mature minor doctrine allows teens to petition to make their own medical decisions. Clark County Public Health Director Dr. Alan Melnick said vaccinations are key. "It's incredibly effective," Melnick said. "Ninety-seven effectiveness with two doses of the vaccine, which is what's recommended for children, and it's inexpensive." Lindenberger said he recently received his first round of vaccinations for diseases including HPV, hepatitis A, hepatitis B and influenza, but he hasn't been able to change his mom's mind. "I am against immunizations," Wheeler, a mother of seven, told GMA. "I have seen through people that I have met, people that are close to me, who have had bad reactions to the vaccines. It scared me." Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Hong Kong: Lau Kong-wah to visit Guangzhou Secretary for Home Affairs Lau Kong-wah will meet officials responsible for youth development during his visit to Guangzhou tomorrow morning. They will discuss youth exchange and co-operation programmes between the two places. Mr Lau will return to Hong Kong in the afternoon. This story has been published on: 2019-02-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Man Convicted of Child's Rape Gets Life in Prison By West Kentucky Star Staff PADUCAH - A judge has sentenced a McCracken County man to life in prison for the rape of a 7-year-old child.Court records show McCracken County Circuit Judge Tim Kaltenbach sentenced 35-year-old Samuel Hunter to life in prison Monday after a jury found him guilty in December of first-degree rape of a child under 12. The jury recommended the life sentence.Hunter also faces a charge of first-degree sexual abuse of a child under age 12 in an unrelated case. A pretrial conference in that case has been scheduled for May 10.On the Net: Jones Disputes Reports He Didn't Disclose Work By Mike Cooper PADUCAH - The McCracken County Fiscal Court met Monday evening and discussed allegations made by other local media outlets of a conflict of interest.Commissioner Eddie Jones told West Kentucky Star that the news reports and articles in question had incorrect information and the County Attorney said there was no reason to disclose his work for Scott Darnell, since it was done for him as a friend and there was no charge. Jones said he thought everyone on the commission knew about it anyway, and as it turned out, only Commissioner Jeff Parker did not know."The truth is, three out of the four commissioners did know it. They kind of got that wrong in their story. They said nobody knew it, but the truth is three did. Commissioner Parker did not know about it, so I gave him a copy of two letters. It wasn't sophisticated legal work." Jones said.Commissioner Bill Bartleman said the article was inaccurate, and that he was misquoted. Commissioner Parker commented that he is interested in what is best for the County.In other business, the court heard the first reading of Ordinance 2019-02, which amends the Sheriff's classification and compensation system regarding process servers, approved a petition to change the name of Dillard Street to Woodlawn Church Way, and heard presentations from AT&T-First Net and Verizon Wireless.The approved budget transfers to pay county bills in the amount of $266,575.35, and approved the vouchers claims register from January 28th to February 11th in the amount of $486,764.15.They approved 23 court orders and appointed Sally Wheeler to the Senior Citizens Board, effective February 11th.The Court rejected a motion to modify Scott Darnell's contract, and they approved Commissioner Jones' recent appointment to the PACRO board. The approval was not actually needed by the court, but it was done to show transparency.The next meeting of the Court will be Monday, February 25th, at 5:00 pm. Distracted Driving Blamed for Crash at High School By West Kentucky Star Staff MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY - Police say distracted driving was to blame for a four-vehicle crash in front of McCracken County High School that injured a Paducah teen. Shortly after 3:00 pm Monday, McCracken County Sheriff's Deputies responded to McCracken County High School for a four vehicle crash with injuries. Police said 17-year-old Ellie Brower of Paducah was driving north in the school's parking lot when she was distracted and took her eyes off the road. She then reportedly hit 17-year-old Justin Fatum, of Paducah. Police said 17-year-old Kyler Garner, of Paducah then stopped to avoid hitting Brower's vehicle. Deputies said 16-year-old Heather Harned, of Paducah didn't see Garner stop because she was distracted, and was unable to avoid a collision, which caused Garner to collide with Bower. Harned was taken to Western Baptist Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. Police said Brower and Harned both admitted to looking at their phones prior to the crash. Kathy Wade Retiring from Murray-Calloway Hospital By West Kentucky Star Staff MURRAY, KY - When Kathy Wade started at Murray-Calloway County Hospital as a switchboard operator in 1970, her starting pay was $1.25 an hour. She worked three days a week connecting callers to their destination via a giant panel of plugs and receptacles, starting her career at MCCH that would eventually span four decades and numerous positions.But after 44 years of service to MCCH, Wade is officially retiring and will be honored at a tea Friday, January 30 from 2:00-3:30 pm in the Private Dining Rooms outside the hospital cafeteria. Refreshments will be served and the public is invited to attend.Like many who have spent long careers at MCCH, Wade said the highlight to her career is the people she has worked with.They are the best part, and thats what I will miss the most. Ive gotten to work with so many different departments and people, and its the people who make the job. As an employee, you want to do a good job anyway but its the people who bring you back, she said.After her early years on the switchboard, Wade moved to full-time employment in the mid-70s in the admitting department for inpatient admissions and surgeries. For the next several years, she worked registration jobs in various units before moving to the business office in 2004 to verify patient insurance.From hand registration to the electric typewriters to the first computers and digital medical records, Wade has seen a lot of technological change in her time at MCCH. Although she was apprehensive when the first computers were installed, she now sits at a desk with dual computer monitors and can hardly imagine a work life without them.It's been a wonderful place to work, with lots of wonderful memories and a wonderful staff who work very hard at their jobs. I will miss being a part of a great team of people, she said.In her retirement, Wade said she plans on spending as much time as possible with her family, especially her granddaughter, Kate. Dr. Mani Joins Mercy Health-Heart Institute By WestKyStar & Mercy-Lourdes Staff He completed a Fellowship in Interventional Cardiology at Beth Israel Medical Center and a Fellowship in Cardiovascular Diseases at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. Dr. Mani is board certified in Interventional Cardiology, Cardiovascular Diseases and is board certified with the American Board of Internal Medicine. He received his medical degree from Christian Medical College and Hospital in Vellore, India Madras University. Dr. Mani is part of the regions largest multi-specialty physician network, Mercy Health Physicians which consists of nearly 150 providers serving in over 25 locations throughout western Kentucky. He joins Dr. David Hall, Dr. David Hogancamp, Dr. Timothy McDermott and Dr. David Talley at Mercy Health Heart and Vascular Institute, Cardiology. The practice is located in Marshall Nemer Medical Office Building, Suite 415. For more information, call 270-442-0103. PADUCAH - Mercy Health is pleased to welcome Dr. Anil Mani, interventional cardiologist, to Mercy Health Heart and Vascular Institute, Cardiology. Dr. Mani comes to Mercy Health from Stony Brook University Medical Center in Stony Brook, New York, where he served as the Associate Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories. Blood Drive Honors Donors for Black History Month By WestKyStar Staff PADUCAH, KY - Red Cross calls for blood donors as unique as the patients they help In honor of Black History Month this February, and in the spirit of Dr. Charles Drew, an African-American surgeon who was the first medical director of the American Red Cross and a modern blood-banking pioneer, eligible donors as diverse as the patients who need their blood donations are encouraged to give blood to ensure a sufficient blood supply. Blood from a donor with a similar ethnic background as that of the patient is less likely to cause complications, particularly for those patients whose chronic conditions require repeated transfusions. Sickle cell disease is one such chronic condition affecting as many as 100,000 people in the United States. Prior to transfusion, blood type and Rh factor are matched between donated blood and the patient in need. In some cases, additional red cell markers in donated blood must be matched, as well. These markers are best found in blood from donors of a similar ethnicity. With seasonal flu and inclement winter weather preventing many regular donors from giving, the Red Cross urges healthy, eligible donors to make an appointment to donate blood in the coming days and weeks. All blood types are currently needed to help maintain a diverse and sufficient blood supply, especially types O negative, A negative and B negative. To learn more about donating blood and to schedule an appointment, download the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767). Upcoming blood donation opportunities IL Massac Metropolis 2/9/2015: 11:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., First Baptist Church, 307 Massac Creek Road Pulaski Olmsted 2/2/2015: 1:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m., Caledonia Community Church, 10076 State Hwy 37 Union Anna 2/12/2015: 12 p.m. - 6 p.m., First Baptist Church, 409 Morgan Street KY Caldwell Princeton 2/5/2015: 12 p.m. - 6 p.m., First Baptist Church, 300 W. Main Livingston Salem 2/4/2015: 12:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., Livingston Hospital Health Care Services, 131 Hospital Drive McCracken Paducah 2/2/2015: 11:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., First Christian Church, 415 Audubon Drive 2/4/2015: 3:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m., Reidland Church of Christ, 5500 Kentucky Dam Road 2/6/2015: 12 p.m. - 5 p.m., Gospel Mission Worship Center, 6905 Benton Road New Madrid New Madrid 2/12/2015: 1:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m., New Madrid Community Center, Mills and Parks Street MO Mississippi East Prairie 2/10/2015: 12 p.m. - 6 p.m., First Church of God, 322 North Washington Street 2/11/2015: 12 p.m. - 6 p.m., First Church of God, 322 North Washington Street In addition: Paducah Blood Donor Center at 4635 Falconcrest Drive is open: Monday - 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday - 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday - Closed 2nd, 3rd Thursday of month - 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Friday - 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday - 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. 1st, 4th, 5th Sunday of month - 7 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Paducah Apheresis (Platelet Donation) Center at 4635 Falconcrest Drive is open: Monday - 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday - 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday - Thursday - Closed Friday - 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday - 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. 1st, 4th, 5th Sunday of month - 7 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. How to donate blood Simply download the American Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) to make an appointment or for more information. All blood types are needed to ensure a reliable supply for patients. A blood donor card or drivers license or two other forms of identification are required at check-in. Individuals who are 17 years of age (16 with parental consent in some states), weigh at least 110 pounds and are in generally good health may be eligible to donate blood. High school students and other donors 18 years of age and younger also have to meet certain height and weight requirements. About the American Red Cross The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nations blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross. The Art of Caregiving Forum BENTON, KY - The Murray Calloway Endowment for Health Care is sponsoring The Art of Caregiving, a public forum, on Thursday, Feb. 5, from 6:30-7:30 pm at the Marshall County Cooperative Extension Office. This informational session will feature a panel of professionals with expertise on a range of topics: legal issues, community resources for caregivers, hospice and end-of-life care, spiritual needs, Alzheimers and dementia. A question-and-answer session will follow the panel presentations, and light refreshments will be served. Constance Alexander, recipient of the 2014 Governors Award in the Arts for her work in the media, will facilitate the discussion. Panelists include Chip Adams, Attorney; Dr. Chris King, Neurologist; Sherri Boyd, MCCH Hospice Coordinator; Kerry Lambert, MCCH Chaplain. The Art of Community Caregiving forum is funded in part by an Arts Access Assistance Grant through the Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, which is supported by state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Murray Calloway Endowment for Health Care is the grant recipient. Securing an Arts Access Assistance Grant was a community effort, with input and support from a range of stakeholders, including the local Senior Citizens Center, local arts organizations, and Calloway County Public Library. With the construction of the Anna Mae Owen Residential Hospice House next year, the timing is right to bring the region together for positive dialogue about patients and caregivers at the end of life. The Arts Access Grant offers many opportunities to explore the issues through the panoramic lens of the arts, said Keith Travis, Vice President of Development at Murray-Calloway County Hospital. For information about the Murray Calloway Endowment for Health Care and the Anna Mae Owen Residential Hospice House, contact Travis at 270-762-1908 or visit www.MCCHEndowment.org. In addition to the public forum, Arts Access Grant funds are supporting a yearlong series of hands-on experiences in the arts focused on caregiving, and featuring programming for individuals 65 and older, as well as caregivers of all ages. Free Vein Screening Your opportunity for a FREE Vein Screening is right around the corner.On Feb. 3 and March 17, Jackson Purchase Medical Center will host a FREE event in the offices of Dr. Rudy Triana, second floor of the JPMC Medical Pavilion.Please make your appointment now. The last appointment time for Feb. 3 is 4pm. However, another opportunity for a screening is available at 4pm on March 17.Just call 270-251-4164 to make your appointment! Season of Honor: Caring for Your Aging Loved One There will be a support group meeting Monday, February 2 at 6:30 pm at the Paducah First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall (2890 Broadway, Paducah) for family members who are caring for aging loved ones.The topic of discussion will be Hospice, Palliative Care & DNR. If you are caring for an aging loved one, please join us at our monthly meeting held on the first Monday evening of each month. For more information, contact First Baptist Church at 270-442-2728, or visit their website at the link below.On the Net: Annual Sweetheart Dance at Cherry Civic Center PADUCAH, KY - The Paducah Jazz Ensemble will host its popular Valentine's-themed ballroom dance on Saturday, Feb. 7th, from 8 - 10:30 pm, at the Robert Cherry Civic Center, 2701 Park Avenue in Paducah. Live dance music will be provided by the celebrated Paducah Jazz Ensemble and will include a mix of cha-cha, rhumba, salsa, swing, two-step, waltz, tango and more. Several new selections have been added to the group's repertoire and will be played at this year's Sweetheart Dance. The crowd-pleasing big band is directed by veteran saxophonist and long time band member, Ron Roberts, a retired secondary school administrator and music educator. "Our big band plays a wide variety of of big band jazz standards and other songs that are suitable for seasoned dancers or those just starting out," says Roberts. Admission is $11 with an advance reservation or $15 at the door. To make an advance reservation or for more information, call 270-898-0180 or email the Paducah Jazz Ensemble at paducahjazz@gmail.com. All payment will be taken at the door the night of the event (cash or check only - no credit cards). Group discounts are available for groups of eight or more; call for details. Coffee, sodas and light snacks will be available at the concession stand. The Paducah Jazz Ensemble will host its popular Valentine's-themed ballroom dance on Saturday, Feb. 7th, from 8 - 10:30 pm, at the Robert Cherry Civic Center, 2701 Park Avenue in Paducah. Live dance music will be provided by the celebrated Paducah Jazz Ensemble and will include a mix of cha-cha, rhumba, salsa, swing, two-step, waltz, tango and more. Several new selections have been added to the group's repertoire and will be played at this year's Sweetheart Dance. The crowd-pleasing big band is directed by veteran saxophonist and long time band member, Ron Roberts, a retired secondary school administrator and music educator. "Our big band plays a wide variety of of big band jazz standards and other songs that are suitable for seasoned dancers or those just starting out," says Roberts. Admission is $11 with an advance reservation or $15 at the door. To make an advance reservation or for more information, call 270-898-0180 or email the Paducah Jazz Ensemble at paducahjazz@gmail.com. All payment will be taken at the door the night of the event (cash or check only - no credit cards). Group discounts are available for groups of eight or more; call for details. Coffee, sodas and light snacks will be available at the concession stand. Amsterdam, 12 February 2019 7:00 CET Q4 2018 highlights Autonomous growth of own brands 5.9%, driven by strong promotional plans in France Grocery Revenue growth of 5.2% includes a decline of private label and distribution business EBITE of 14.8 million, up 47% versus prior year Full year 2018 highlights Autonomous growth of own brands 2.1% Revenue growth of 0.6% to 628.4 million EBITE of 57.7 million, up 8% versus prior year EBITE as % of Revenue up 60 bps versus last year to 9.2% CEO statement Christophe Barnouin (CEO) commented: "In 2018 the market for healthy and sustainable food continued to be very dynamic as many consumers are considering to make changes to their food habits. The market attracted more players leading to intensified competition. This put some of our growth plans under pressure resulting in an overall moderate level of growth, stronger in Q4 as a result of our corrective action plans. For the full year profitability was up as a result of better gross margins, lower share based payments and reduced A&P. We continue to pursue our vision of building a different kind of food company, connected to nature in all we do. Of our total revenue, 77.5% is from organic and 96% from vegetarian products. We have completed the B Corp certification of two more companies (Abafoods Italy and Germany) so that 70% of our business is now covered by the certification. We are on track to become the first multinational food business to be certified by 2020. The acquisition of Abbot Kinney's added a new, strategic and fast growing unit to our Dairy Alternatives category that we have integrated at high speed. 2018 was a year that brought with it some new challenges and not all our plans worked out. But it also confirmed again that as a business we are focused on the most promising segment of the food market and that we can respond to challenges resiliently and effectively while staying true to our purpose. Looking ahead to 2019, we expect that the organic market will remain very dynamic. The Grocery channel will continue to take share from HFS. Conventional players, private label and smaller brands will continue to push into organic, putting pressure on established players in terms of growth, margin and brand support. We therefore expect low to moderate growth of own brands for the year. Guidance FY 2019 We expect low to moderate growth of own brands and a further reduction of private label and distribution brand sales We expect EBITE as % of revenue to be in the range of 8 to 9% for the full year Net financing costs around 2.0-2.5 million. This includes an impact of around 0.5 million regarding the implementation of IFRS 16 and around 0.5 million related to the unwinding discount of the contingent consideration for the Abbot Kinney's acquisition Tax rate around 30% Capital expenditure of 10-12 million Depreciation and amortisation of 14-15 million. This includes an impact of around 4.3 million related to IFRS 16 and 0.4 million amortisation of the Gayelord Hauser brand after reclassification to a finite life Important dates 2019 11-04-2019 AGM (14h00 CET) 18-04-2019 Publication Q1 2019 trading update 19-07-2019 Publication Q2 2019 interim results 18-10-2019 Publication Q3 2019 trading update Analyst & investor meeting At 10h00 CET, an analyst & investor meeting will be hosted by Christophe Barnouin (CEO) and Ronald Merckx (CFO) at the Wessanen head office in Amsterdam. The meeting can be followed via a live audio webcast at www.wessanen.com. Those unable to attend can participate using the following telephone number: +31 (0)20 531 5853. The press release and presentation are available for download at www.wessanen.com. Media, investor & analyst enquiries Ronald Merckx (CFO) Phone +31 (0)20 3122 126 Email ronald.merckx@wessanen.com Twitter @Wessanen_250 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 Third Meeting of the WCO Working Group on the Comprehensive Review of the Revised Kyoto Convention (WGRKC) took place in Brussels from 6 to 8 February 2019, going on with substantial discussions on approximately 70 concept-based proposals from WCO Members (Australia, Bhutan, Brazil, Cuba, EU, Haiti, Japan, Morocco, Myanmar, South Africa, Thailand and Uruguay) regarding the comprehensive review of the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC). The Meeting paved a solid ground for further discussions. Mr. Ricardo Trevino Chapa, WCO Deputy Secretary General, delivered opening remarks at the Meeting. Mr. Trevino extended his appreciation to the proponents for submitting new or detailed proposals to the Working Group. He also introduced the outcome of the discussion on external stakeholder engagement at the recent Policy Commission meeting, stressing the importance that this review should timely capture the fast-changing environment surrounding Customs. Mr. Trevino reminded the delegates of the importance to consider the period of three years granted by the Council to present the results of the comprehensive review of the RKC and encouraged Members to further develop proposals and consider co-sponsoring them among several Members. He also stressed the importance of intersessional work to accelerate the discussions and reach the working groups aim more effectively and efficiently. The WCO Secretariat reported that it sent out letters respectively to Members and stakeholders in January, calling for proposals for discussion at the Fourth Meeting. During the three-day Meeting, the WGRKC went through Members proposals newly submitted, as well as proposals from the Virtual Working Group (VWG) and inputs from the WCO Secretariat. The proposals were concerning a wide range of subjects, which fell under the Body of the Convention, the General Annex, and the Specific Annexes of the RKC. As a result of constructive debates, the WGRKC decided to follow up with the proposals depending on their relevance and feasibility. If proposals were to be accepted, they would be placed in Track A which embraced the components possibly being part of envisaged WGRKCs recommendations after the comprehensive review, and if proposals needed to be further discussed, they would be placed in Track B for the proponents further clarification and elaboration. Those proposals that were considered to be no further discussed and would not form part of the final recommendations were placed in Track C. The stakeholder engagement plan was another item high on the WGRKCs agenda. In pursuit of transparency and inclusiveness, and according to the Policy Commissions suggestion, the WGRKC aimed to invite external stakeholders, including relevant international organizations, the private sector, and academia, to take part in the comprehensive review of the RKC and contribute their inputs as appropriate. Having paved a solid ground for further proposal-based discussions, Members generally consent to the external stakeholders engagement and shared their views regarding the matters of timing, scope and methods. As Members extensively expressed, the Meeting was fruitful and signaled a large stride forward. The WGRKC decided to hold the Fourth Meeting from 3 to 5 April, continuing the discussions on the proposals from Members and stakeholders, as well as other relevant issues. LOS ANGELES, Feb. 11, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP (GPM) announces an investigation on behalf of Nordstrom Inc. (Nordstrom or the Company) (NYSE: JWN ) investors concerning the Company and its officers possible violations of federal securities laws. If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate. The investigation concerns whether the Company issued materially misleading business information to the investing public. On November 15, 2018, the Company announced poor same store sales results, weakening sales growth, and that credit card holders charged incorrect interest amounts. On this news, shares of Nordstrom fell sharply in value on November 16, 2018, thereby injuring investors. If you purchased Nordstrom stock, have information, or would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Lesley Portnoy, of GPM, 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100, Los Angeles, CA 90067 at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9244, or visit our website at www.glancylaw.com . If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. Monroe, GA (30655) Today Mostly cloudy skies early will become partly cloudy later in the day. High 82F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Clear skies with a few passing clouds. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. Minister for Health Opens the Gibraltar Dialysis Patients and Friends Association AGM The Gibraltar Dialysis Patients and Friends Association held their Annual General Meeting on Sunday 11th February 2019. The Association invited the Minister for Health, Care and Justice, the Honourable Neil F. Costa MP, to open the meeting. During his address, Minister Costa highlighted the Gibraltar Health Authoritys (GHA) recent investments towards the provision of dialysis treatment in Gibraltar. Mr Costa noted that the number of patients receiving Dialysis at the GHA has increased significantly, from 5 patients in 2005, to over 30 patients at present. The Minister recalled that in July 2017, the GHA appointed Dr Simon Lines,Consultant Nephrologist, to manage the Douglas Ferro Dialysis Unit. In February of 2018, the Unit extended its opening times from 3 days a week to 6 days a week, from Mondays to Saturdays. The change was essential to allow patients the flexibility required to attend to their clinical needs and their everyday activities. Mr Costa noted that following specialised training of staff, the GHA has also successfully repatriated services, such as renal replacement therapy and plasma exchange, which previously required patients to travel to tertiary centres outside Gibraltar. Earlier this month, the Unit welcomed its very first Charge Nurse, dedicated solely to Dialysis services. Notably, together with the assistance and support of the Gibraltar Dialysis Patients and Friends Association, the GHA has forged close links with Hammersmith Hospital in the UK, in relation to kidney transplantation. In January 2019, the GHA announced the return of the first Gibraltar-based patient to receive a cadaveric renal transplant in the UK for over 15 years. In an example of the GHAs focus in providing this important service as seamlessly as possible, the Gibraltar patient arrived at the UK Hospital before the kidney! Consultant Nephrologist, Dr Simon Lines also attended the AGM, stated: Renal services continue to grow and develop to meet the needs of our local population now and for the years to come. This has been possible due to the dedication and hard work of our excellent dialysis nursing team and the support of the GHA. The Gibraltar Dialysis Patients and Friends Association have been key in helping to shape these changes and provide all the important patient perspective. The President of the Association, Mr Sunil Chandiramani added that It was a pleasure to have the Minister open our AGM and say a few words on behalf of Her Majestys Government of Gibraltar. In particular, I want to thank the Minister for his unwavering support and investment in the provision and improvement of dialysis services in Gibraltar, which will only enhance the patient experience. Indeed, this years AGM will trigger the Associations awareness drive to increase familiarity of kidney disease in Gibraltar. As such, the Association are pleased to announce that Her Majestys Government of Gibraltar has approved our request to illuminate the Moorish Castle in green on World Kidney Day which takes place on 14 March 2019. Finally, I would like to express gratitude to all at the staff at the Dialysis Unit and the GHA as their backing is taking the Charity to new heights. The Minister also spoke of on-going additional enhancements to the Dialysis Unit, including the building of a new and bigger unit, which is already underway, the purchase of new dialysis software and the upgrading of the Units water plant, to provide both more capacity and the latest in disinfection technology. He commented: It was a real honour for me to be asked to open the Gibraltar Dialysis Patients and Friends Associations Annual General meeting. I am a great admirer of the Association, which works diligently in the interests of their members, and all persons receiving Dialysis in our community. The Dialysis Unit has developed significantly over the past 2 years, and continues to do so. The GHA, my Ministry and I will continue to work together with the Association to ensure we continue the development of vital services for our patients. I must sincerely thank the Associations President, Mr Sunil Chandiramani, the Committee and its members for their kind gesture in asking me to open the AGM, and I wish to re-enforce our pledge to continue in our collaboration for the good of our patients. Following the Last Neanderthals: Mammal Tracks in Late Pleistocene Coastal Dunes of Gibraltar The prestigious international journal Quaternary Science Reviews has just published a paper which has involved the participation of Gibraltarian scientists from the Gibraltar National Museum alongside colleagues from Spain, Portugal and Japan. The results which have been published come from an area of the Catalan Bay Sand Dune. This work started ten years ago, when the first dates using the OSL method were obtained. It is then that the first traces of footprints left by vertebrates were found. In subsequent years the successive natural collapse of sand has revealed further material and has permitted a detailed study including new dates. The sand sheets in the rampant dunes above Catalan Bay are a relic of the last glaciation, when sea level was up to 120 metres below present levels and a great field of dunes extended eastwards from the base of the Rock. The identified footprints correspond to species which are known, from fossil material, to have inhabited Gibraltar. The identified footprints correspond to Red Deer, Ibex, Aurochs, Leopard and Straight-tusked Elephant. In addition the scientists have found the footprint of a young human (106-126 cm in height), possibly Neanderthal, which dates to around 29 thousand years ago. It would coincide with late Neanderthal dates from Gorhams Cave. If confirmed to be Neanderthal, these dunes would become only the second site in the world with footprints attributed to these humans, the other being Vartop Cave in Romania. These findings add further international importance to the Gibraltar Pleistocene heritage, declared of World Heritage Value in 2016. The research was supported by Her Majestys Government of Gibraltar under the Gibraltar Caves Project and the annual excavations in the Gibraltar Caves, with additional support to the external scientists from the Spanish EU project MICINN-FEDER: CGL2010-15810/BTE. Minister for Heritage John Cortes commented, This is extraordinary research and gives us an incredible insight into the wildlife community of Gibraltars past. We should all take a moment to imagine the scene when these animals walked across our landscape. It helps us understand the importance of looking after our heritage. I congratulate the research team on uncovering this fascinating, hidden evidence of our Rocks past. LOS ANGELES, Feb. 11, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP (GPM) announces an investigation on behalf of Belden Inc. (Belden or the Company) (NYSE: BDC ) investors concerning the Company and its officers possible violations of federal securities laws. If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate. On December 3, 2018, the Company revealed that the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) is conducting an investigation concerning the material weakness reported in its form 10-k filing for the year ended December 31, 2017. On this news, shares of Belden fell $5.43 or nearly 10% to close at $50.45 on December 4, 2018, thereby injuring investors. Follow us for updates on Twitter: twitter.com/GPM_LLP . If you purchased Belden securities, have information or would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Lesley Portnoy, Esquire, of GPM, 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100, Los Angeles California 90067 at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9224, by email to shareholders@glancylaw.com , or visit our website at www.glancylaw.com . If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number and number of shares purchased. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. ELIZABETH SEILS is a News Reporter for The Vidette. She can be contacted at elseils@ilstu.edu Follow her on Twitter at @SeilsElizabeth IF YOU SUPPORT THE VIDETTE MISSION of providing a training laboratory for Illinois State University student journalists to learn and sharpen viable, valuable and marketable skills in all phases of print and digital media, please consider contributing to this most important cause. Thank you. While some details are not shared with the public obviously, the more widespread these plans are, the less effective they become there are several security measures at W-JCC Schools we are quite proud of, Cox said. All W-JCC schools have buzzer entry systems for visitors and card key access for staff members. Our visitor sign-in system checks visitor IDs against sex offender databases nationwide, and the division continues to redesign and renovate front entrances at schools to better manage public access and the flow of foot traffic. Bedsores are spots of skin that have been damaged by a person staying in a position for too long, according to the National Institutes of Health. The sores typically form in higher pressure areas where bones are closer to the skin, such as at the ankles, back, elbows, heels and hips, among other places. They can cause life-threatening infections. Not only are the unemployment rates very low our employment is growing faster than what we can sustain in our economy, Pearson said. So what it means in the state of Virginia is youre going to have to be advertising out of state. The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission announced Wednesday Cox has been awarded North Americas highest civilian honor for seeing to the safety of a group of his co-workers before being shot and killed by a gunman who opened fire in a Virginia Beach city government building in 2019. 5 J.M. Randall's Enterprises Pretty in Pink Sweetheart Gala: With a champagne fountain, dinner, dancing and raffle, this party is the perfect way to celebrate Valentines Day. In addition to all the fun youll have, a portion of the proceeds will go to the breast cancer charity Here for the Girls. 6:30-11:30 p.m. Saturday, DoubleTree by Hilton Williamsburg, 50 Kingsmill Road. Tickets $79 for a single; $149 for couples; tickets at eventbrite.comor jmrandallsenterprises.com. The 2021 USA Cycling Professional Road National Championships came to Knoxville on Father's Day weekend. This is the fourth year for Knoxville to host the U.S. Pro Road and Individual Time Trial Championships and the third year to host the U.S. Pro Criterium Championships. Published: February 12, 2019 UT Fellows Forum to Welcome CEOs of UPC Insurance, GuideWell Mutual Holding Corp. and Macquarie Bank Limited on Feb. 19 The leaders of UPC Insurance, GuideWell Mutual Holding Corp. and Macquarie Bank Limited will share their business experience and expertise at The University of Tampas annual Fellows Forum on Tuesday, Feb.19, at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Ferguson Hall. A continental breakfast will be served at 7:15 a.m., and the program will run from 89:30 a.m. Speakers include John L. Forney, CEO of UPC Insurance; Patrick J. Geraghty, president and CEO of GuideWell Mutual Holding Corp.; and Mary Reemst, managing director and CEO of Macquarie Bank Limited. Forney has served as CEO of UPC Insurance since 2012. UPC Insurance is a specialized property catastrophe insurance writer with a diversified $1.2 billion book of business in 12 coastal states. A former U.S. Army infantry officer and graduate of Ranger School, Forney previously served in a number of different capacities at Raymond James, including managing director in the public finance department. Geraghty is president and CEO of GuideWell Mutual Holding Corp., Florida Blue and GuideWell Group Inc. GuideWell is a mutual insurance holding company and is a family of forward-thinking companies focused on transforming health care. Geraghty is active in leading professional and community organizations, including serving on the board of the National Institute of Health Care Management. Reemst was appointed managing director and CEO of Macquarie Bank Limited in 2014. Macquarie Bank Limited is the Authorised Deposit-Taking Institution for Macquarie Group Limited. Reemst joined Macquarie in 1999 and was appointed head of the Credit Division in Macquaries Risk Management Group in 2003, a position she held until she was named managing director and CEO. The forum will be moderated by Stacie Schaible of WFLA News Channel 8. Tickets are $40 and may be purchased through the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerces website at www.tampachamber.com. Proceeds from the event go toward the Board of Fellows Endowed Scholarship, which supports students in the Sykes College of Business. Since 1987, the Fellows Forum has been the annual flagship event for The University of Tampa Board of Fellows, bringing nationally recognized executives to Tampa to share their business experiences. Last years forum attracted more than 1,000 attendees. This years presenting sponsor is Verizon. Platinum sponsors include Brown and Brown, Hill Ward Henderson, The Beck Group and the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts. For more information, go to www.ut.edu/fellowsforum or contact Sharon McDonald, director of volunteer engagement, at smcdonald@ut.edu. Register for a FREE account to keep reading! Register now for a FREE account to keep reading. No cost and no credit card required! Access up to 5 articles per month when you register, or get unlimited access to all of our content online starting at $1.99 now! Already registered? Click the log in link below UN chief calls for advancing political process, reconciliation in Libya Addis Ababa, Feb 10 (UNI) The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday called for concerted efforts towards uniting the Libyan people to advance the political process and reconciliation among the various factions in the North African nation. "The ceasefire in and around Tripoli brokered by the United Nations is still holding," the UN chief told African leaders who have gathered at the headquarters of the AU in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa for the 32nd African Union (AU) assembly summit from Feb 10 to 11, reported Xinhua. "It is the time to help unite the Libyan people to advance the political process through a National Conference paving the way for reconciliation and future elections," Guterres said, urging African leaders to step up efforts under the umbrella of the AU. Fiji envoy meets Prince of Arcot Chennai, Feb 12 (UNI) The High Commissioner of the Republic of Fiji to India, Mr Yogesh Punja, along with his wife, Mrs Adi Melika Punja, called on the Prince of Arcot, Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali, at his ancestral official residence, Amir Mahal, in the city, on Tuesday, a statement said. The Fiji Envoy expressed his happiness to have met the Prince, who hails from the erstwhile ruling family of the Carnatic/Arcot, during the 18th and 19th centuries and their religious policies towards non-Muslims, the statement further said. He appreciated the ruling period of the Nawabs, who maintained perfect harmony and unity among people of all faiths, in this part of the country. Bangladesh to slap jail term for tethering dogs Dhaka, Feb 12 (UNI) The Bangladesh Government has drafted a law stipulating punishment for cruelty to animals like tethering a dog without giving it the scope to move for 24 straight hours or more. The cabinet gave its final nod to the draft Animal Welfare Act 2019 in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office in Dhaka. The draft law has been based on the Cruelty to Animals Act of 1920, according to Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam. It will be the owners or supervisors duty to behave well and humanely and refrain from cruel behaviour towards animals without logical reason, the draft law says, according to the secretary. ON THE MOVE: CIBC Names Bannan Head of Equities CIBC has named Tricia Bannan, CFA, as its new Head of Equities for CIBC Private Wealth Management. In this newly created role, Bannan will oversee $15.1 billion1 in internally-managed equity assets across the firms investment platform. While continuing to co-manage the flagship Disciplined Equity strategy, she will oversee CIBC Private Wealth Managements seven other proprietary equity strategies, and work with other senior members of CIBC Private Wealth Management in continuing to build the platform. She brings more than 35 years of experience in financial services to her role. Prior to joining CIBC Private Wealth Management, Bannan was with Evergreen Investments, where she managed large-core portfolios for the mutual fund and wealth channels and was head of the Large-Cap Core Growth Team. She began her career in 1982 at Phoenix Investment Counsel, where she served in analytical, portfolio management and leadership roles. Equities market alumni Jamie Selway, departed Blockchain.com as global head of institutional markets. The Block has learned. He had joined the firm in August. LCH, the global clearing house, appointed Corentine Poilvet-Clediere as Head of RepoClear and Collateral Management, LCH SA. Based in Paris, Corentine is responsible for LCH SAs euro-denominated debt and repo clearing service, RepoClear, as well as the clearing houses collateral management function. Prior to this role, Corentine was Global Head of Regulatory Strategy at London Stock Exchange Group, where she played a central role engaging on a wide range of strategic policy issues, particularly in post trade. Parametric Portfolio Associates LLC (Parametric), an affiliate of Eaton Vance Corp announced that Timothy Atwill, CFA, Head of Investment Strategy within Parametrics Seattle investment office, will be leaving Parametric and the investment management industry for personal reasons, effective June 30. RightCapital, a next-generation financial planning firm onboarded Pietro La Greca as vice president of enterprise sales. La Greca will focus on driving enterprise revenue and market share growth. He began his career with EISI, creator of NaviPlan, and remained with the company through its conversion to software-as-a-service (SaaS) and its rebranding as Advicent Solutions. Tier1CRM (Tier1), the leading provider of client relationship management software for capital markets, has added entrepreneur and tech veteran Neil Ferris to its Board of Directors. Ferris has over 35 years of experience working with companies in the high technology industry. He was a founding member of Apollo Computer, and Co-Founder and CEO at Fluent, which he led until the Company was acquired by Novell. 1 2 next For more information on related topics, visit the following channels: Reed Travel Exhibitions, organiser of the annual Arabian Travel Market (ATM) showcase in Dubai, which will take place at the Dubai World Trade Centre from April 28 May 1, has announced that it will host the first ATM Hotel Industry Summit as part of its line-up of special events. The inaugural summit, scheduled to take place on April 30 on the Global Stage, will see various panels of experts discuss the latest hotel infrastructure developments, investment opportunities and digital innovations which are shaping the regions ever-changing industry. The UAEs hospitality market is expected to be worth $7.6 billion annually by 2022, growing at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.5 per cent between 2017 and 2022, driven by Dubais Expo 2020, Saudi Arabias Vision 2030 and various other government initiatives to boost travel and tourism across the region. Over the same period, hotel supply is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 6 per cent to 183,718 keys, according to research published in a report by Alpen Capital. In addition to this, STR data shows that the GCC is expecting an additional 58,761 hotel rooms to enter the market in 2019. The leading contributors are the UAE with 31,517 rooms (53 per cent) in the pipeline; Saudi Arabia with 24,170 (41 per cent); and Oman with 2,984 (5 per cent). Danielle Curtis, exhibition director ME, Arabian Travel Market, said: It is important to highlight that the GCC is one of the fastest growing regional hospitality markets on a global scale, with the UAE leading the way as it gears up for Expo 2020 which is now less than a year away." Dubais hotel supply alone is expected to reach 132,000 in 2019, with the emirate aiming to complete 160,000 hotel rooms by October 2020 in time to welcome 25 million visitors for Expo 2020, she said. The summit will get underway with a session on Regional Development and Investment Hotspots, highlighting buoyant destinations in the Middle East and explaining the factors behind their underlying growth. This market intelligence will be essential for hotel professionals, management companies, owners and investors particularly with major infrastructure projects stacking up across the Gulf. The second session of the day will discuss The New Normal Digital Transformation Secrets Revealed, in which panellists will show how hotel groups can boost revenues and guest personalisation by implementing the latest technological tools. Digital now dominates all facets of modern life including hospitality, from reservations, pre-arrival messages and mobile check-in, to mobile keys, in-room preferences and experiences, upgrades and check-outs. According to research conducted by Colliers International, personalisation through Artificial Intelligence (AI) could increase hotel revenues by over 10 per cent and reduce costs by more than 15 per cent with hotel operators expecting technology such as voice and facial recognition, virtual reality and biometrics to be mainstream by 2025. Hoteliers have been cautious of technology taking away the human touch from the guest service and overall experience. However, by giving guests the autonomy to choose at each touch point during their hotel stay, hoteliers can learn the right balance between staff interaction and AI-powered, automated customer service, Curtis said. Rounding off the first summit will be a discussion on New Hospitality Concepts Making Waves in the Middle East, as operators target a wider range of visitors and aim to meet the needs of modern travellers, many of whom are yearning for more authentic experiences. Curtis added: Highlighting the opportunities that will drive the next era of hospitality in the region, the inaugural ATM Hotel Industry Summit is an exciting addition to what is now a comprehensive 360 industry showcase. As well as providing intelligence, insight and advice to attendees, the summit will also help focus minds on the upcoming infrastructure developments, investment opportunities and digital innovations that will continue to shape the industry over the next decade," she said. ATM considered by industry professionals as a barometer for the Middle East and North Africa tourism sector, welcomed over 39,000 people to its 2018 event, showcasing the largest exhibition in the history of the show, with hotels comprising 20 per cent of the floor area. ATM 2019 will build on the success of this years edition with a host of seminar sessions discussing the ongoing unprecedented digital disruption, and the emergence of innovative technologies that will fundamentally alter the way in which the hospitality industry operates in the region. - TradeArabia News Service Emirates has marked 20 years of successful operations in Lahore and Islamabad, two of Pakistans most populous cities. The award-winning airline has recorded solid year-on-year growth in Lahore and Islamabad over the years, carrying more than 8.4 million passengers on both routes in the last two decades. Emirates hub, Dubai, has emerged as the most popular destination for passengers travelling from Lahore and Islamabad. Religious travel to Jeddah, Madinah and Baghdad was also very frequent over the years while London, New York, Manchester and Birmingham were popular among leisure and business travellers. Jabr Al-Azeeby, vice president Pakistan, Emirates Airline, said: "We are embarking on a real milestone as we celebrate 20 years of service to Islamabad and Lahore. Pakistan is a major market for Emirates and we take great pride in the role we play in providing global connectivity both for business and leisure passengers who are travelling from Pakistan to Dubai and beyond. We remain committed to this market and look forward to continue working closely with our industry partners in Pakistan to provide the best possible services to our customers. Lahore and Islamabad have also proven to be important cargo destinations for the airline in the region having recorded over 123,962 tonnes of cargo carriage in the last five years. Key exports and imports over the years include fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, meat, machinery and equipment. The airline continues to play an important role in fuelling trade between Pakistan and the UAE, enabling local exporters and businesses to connect to both developed and emerging markets in the airlines network of key trade and commerce hubs. Emirates and Pakistan share a special relationship, which goes back 33 years when its first ever flight from Dubai landed in Karachi on October 25, 1985. Since then, this historic partnership has continued blossoming with Emirates currently offering services to five Pakistani cities including Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Sialkot. Following the launch of its operations in 1985 in Karachi, Emirates began service to Peshawar in 1998. In 1999, Emirates became a part of Islamabad and Lahores skies before the commencement of its Sialkot service in 2013. Emirates remains fully committed to all five markets in Pakistan including Karachi, Sialkot and Peshawar as theyre all a core and an integral part of the airlines network. - TradeArabia News Service Answering the question; What value does an event have? can be challenging how do you measure something where the concept of success is difficult to pin down, and there are so many potential outcomes? For some, its enough to know huge benefits are gleaned from meeting buyers face to face in an environment tailor-made to your needs, and this is fine up to a point, but if we are to justify budgets and time away from the office, some form of realistic measurement of the value of events is necessary. Danielle Curtis, exhibition director Middle East, Arabian Travel Market & IBTM Arabia looks at the measurement options available and gives examples of how to use them. Events are commonly measured in terms of Return on Investment (ROI), and, more recently, Return on Objectives (ROO). ROI takes a narrow view of the outcome of the event. It simply compares how much budget you put in, with how much you grew that investment as a result of the event. For example, the cost of the events package that enables you to have one-to-one meetings with hosted buyers, compared with the revenue generated as a consequence of those meetings. Create a ratio and thats your ROI. Seemingly straightforward, but the reality is a bit more complex. ROI doesnt take account of the full value of new relationships that turn out to be long term, and has no way of adding a monetary value to the indirect referrals you may receive as a result of those meetings. ROO is a little more open-minded. Its an approach that measures the success of an event based on a defined set of objectives, other than just financial return. To show ROI or ROO, or both, you must have something to measure from the event. Measuring sales deals secured against the cost of the events to reveal ROI is straightforward, but if your objectives are less tangible or unquantifiable, such as to educate buyers on your product range or to raise market awareness, you will need to build in specific elements that are measurable. There are several established ways to do this and if you understand your goals and content, it is likely you will be able to work out your own methods. To get you started, here are some ideas: Set goals to be achieved during the event Set particular outcomes for face-to-face meetings, for example, aim to agree a certain number of follow up meetings after the event or for a specific number of buyer meetings to lead to detailed explanations of a product, service or process. So, you could set your objective at 20 follow up meetings, or 32 buyers asking for deep and lengthy product presentations and measure whether you achieve this. Be sure to clearly understand what level of engagement you consider a success. Lots of different types of buyers attend events and networking sessions, some will be more relevant to your business than others, so you can set goals for exchanging contacts with specific target audience members. For example, a destination management company with specialisms in luxury tailor-made experiences may wish to connect with 10 buyers that represent high-end corporate clients. Its a worthwhile objective thats easy to measure. Survey your delegates Surveys and tests held during the event, or in the months and weeks after it, are another reliable way to determine whether an educational or informative objective - such as market awareness of a brand or new product launch - has achieved its goals and to what effect. To show a qualitative correlation between the event and achievement of the desired outcome, many choose to survey delegates immediately before the event and immediately after. A change in their answers (hopefully in the required direction) is a reliable measure of the events effect. We spoke to Rajesh W. Pereira, CEO of Matrix AVE about how he assesses ROI or ROO from attending IBTM Arabia: Matrix AVE has attended the show since the early days. We dont expect business overnight, but my objective is to let Hosted Buyers know who we are; its a marketing exercise first and foremost. We want to make connections with buyers in new markets, and we are especially interested in inbound DMCs in countries like Russia who are now able to get a visa on entry into the UAE, making it easier and cheaper to do business with them. We have many more leads as a result of attending, and we regularly follow up with the contacts that we have made at IBTM Arabia. We really enjoy participating in all the social events at IBTM Arabia, the evening networking events and the discovery days, this is because everyone is out of their comfort zones, and you inevitably meet people who are not on your radar, or your diary, and you end up discussing how fun the activities have been and before you know it youve made a new and unexpected business connection. "There you have it, the two primary methods of measuring event success in a nutshell, whether you choose ROI, ROO or a combination of both, you will find the insight provided by the results is a powerful tool to make constant improvements to your event success," Curtis said. IBTM Arabia is part of IBTMs global portfolio of meetings and events industry trade shows and the most established event of its kind in the Mena Mice industry. At its 2018 event, 63 per cent of buyers placed business with exhibitors at an average value of 86,000 ($110,911) per piece of business. The event will take next year place at Jumeirah Etihad Towers from March 25-27 and will bring together exhibitors from Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Turkey, Russia, central Asia, Georgia, Armenia and Cyprus, as well as the UAE and GCC, for three days of mutually-matched meetings, exciting cultural activities, networking events and inspiring educational sessions. - TradeArabia News Service Focusing on incremental infrastructure projects and creating an enabling environment for public-private partnerships are some of the key factors in developing post-conflict trade opportunities in emerging countries, says a new study. The study, commissioned by Dubai-based global marine terminal operator DP World, was published on the concluding day of the World Government Summit in Dubai, attended by thousands of government and business leaders. Post-Conflict Trade: Case studies and lessons for Ethiopia and Eritrea study was carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Identifying sensible opportunities for moving up the value chain; being wary of white elephant infrastructure projects; focusing on incremental infrastructure projects and creating an enabling environment for public private partnerships to take root were key conclusions of the study. Case studies on Rwanda, Sri Lanka and Columbia with insights into how each has tackled their development during times of peace form the backbone of the study with lessons for other nations such as Ethiopia and Eritrea following recent peace accords also underlined. Rwandas development of existing industries such as specialty coffee; Sri Lankas efforts to position itself in niche links in global supply chains and Columbias moves to increase foreign investment, promote more PPPs and ensure transparency in government regulations and governance are outlined. DP World Group chairman and chief executive officer Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said: Developing nations need a solid foundation on which to place the building blocks of their economies. Both soft and hard infrastructure is needed, which will determine how quickly physical assets are built and how quickly trade develops. Our experience in 40 locations around the world shows no one size fits all but we can all learn from history to plan the present and the future with our partners for the benefit of those that come after us. Africa, for example, has shown strong growth over the last 10 years with steps to diversification. If nations were better connected market sizes would increase and encourage greater foreign investment, he said. We also know that PPPs are an increasingly popular model to fund projects and the regulatory frameworks supporting them are improving. But good governance is key and the conditions for companies and investors must be backed by firm trust and agreement to observe international law if these agreements are to work. Failure to observe these practices results in a reputational damage to developing nations and can scare investors away from projects that are sorely needed, he added. Chris Clague, managing editor of Thought Leadership at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said: One of the key determinants of lasting peace in post-conflict countries is their economic performance. Increasing trade is one way of improving it. Many of these nations were at low levels of development when the conflicts began and dependent on primary commodity exports for growth. While moving up the value chain can be difficult, focusing on available resource endowments, such as coffee in the case of Rwanda, making a major commitment to creating a climate conducive to foreign investment, and promoting public-private partnerships, as in in Columbia, are other potential paths for post-conflict countries, he added. TradeArabia News Service The value of projects awarded in the GCC region last year fell by 22 per cent to a new low of just $97 billion, said a new report. Despite rising budget expenditure and higher oil prices, the value of contracts awarded in 2018 in the region declined by $27 billion year-on-year, marking the lowest annual total recorded since 2004, according to the latest data from Meed Projects. Every GCC state posted a lower value of awarded contracts compared with 2017, it stated. The UAE, the regions largest projects market, saw the value of work awarded fall by just under $5 billion to $44.5 billion. It was the first time in four years that the UAE registered a decline in project activity, which was caused primarily by a sharp fall in contract awards in Dubai from $31 billion in 2017 to $24.6 billion last year on the back of softening real estate prices. Saudi Arabia fell by 10 per cent on the previous year to $26.4 billion worth of awarded contracts, while Kuwait and Oman both decreased by more than 50 per cent to just $5.6 billion and $5.1 billion respectively. Every sector, except water, also fell year-on-year as the decline in project spending was spread evenly across different industries. Construction, the largest single sector, declined to $45.8 billion last year, more than 40 per cent lower than its peak of $76.6 billion in 2014, according to Meed Projects, which currently tracks more than 15,000 active projects in the region. It is clear that the much hoped for improvement in the projects markets fortunes did not materialise in 2018, says Ed James, Director of Content & Analysis at Meed Projects. This was despite higher oil prices and government commitments to raise projects spending. Experts pointed out that there were a number of reasons for the market's failure to benefit from the improved regional macroeconomic environment. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, historical analysis highlights that it takes at least 18 months for rises (or falls) in the oil price to have an impact on overall project spending levels, stated James. Project budgets and expenditure sign-off are often made well before revenues tighten. Conversely, it takes time for increased revenues to translate into budgetary decisions on new projects. A positive implication of this is that the steady rise in oil prices over the past year should result in greater project activity in 2019, he pointed out. "Other growth constraints include the failure of public-private-partnership (PPP) projects to take hold in the region, lower private sector activity in the face of a softening real estate market, and challenging global economic conditions," he added. While undoubtedly challenged, the projects supply chain can hold some degree of optimism, remarked James. "There is a massive pipeline of more than $2.5 trillion worth of planned and un-awarded projects in the GCC, while state budgets across the region in 2019 are all up on previous years," he stated. "Two of the biggest regional project clients, Adnoc and Saudi Aramco, are now in spending mode, and sectors such as petrochemicals, oil and gas, and utilities look certain to grow over the coming 12 months thanks to a large number of contracts in tender," he said. The launch of new projects over the last few weeks such as DIFC 2.0 and Downturn Jumeirah highlight that Dubai still offers a great opportunity, while significant developments are expected to be announced by the self-styled gigaprojects such as Neom and Qiddiya in Saudi Arabia, he added.-TradeArabia News Service Daewoo Engineering & Construction Company (Daewoo E&C), one of Koreas leading construction companies with a growing presence in Middle East and Africa, said it has successfully completed a $200-million dual tranche (conventional and Islamic) syndicated term facility. Emirates NBDs investment banking arm, Emirates NBD Capital (Emcap) acted as sole mandated lead arranger and bookrunner for the transaction that included eight other regional and international banks. The transaction marks Emcaps debut syndication for a Korean corporate, which attracted a wide base of investors across the GCC, Europe and Asia, said a statement from Daewoo E&C. The transaction was initially launched at $100 million, which got oversubscribed by two times and was eventually upsized to $200 million - a testament to Daewoos growing global reputation stemming from its strong commercial competitiveness and extensive technical expertise, it stated. Daewoo E&C executive vice-president Inhwan Cho said: "This facility is part of our companys conscious strategy to proactively tap new liquidity, especially in the GCC financial markets which will potentially auger well for future financing requirements in relation to our Middle East projects." While Daewoo E&C has tapped global syndicated loan markets in the past, this transaction is of strategic importance to the company, since it has allowed them to forge key relationships with Islamic banks based in the Middle East that are active in the contracting space, he stated. According to him, the facility is structured as a two-year bullet funding comprising both conventional and Murabaha tranches and will be utilised towards funding working capital requirements for the companys overseas projects. Ahli United Bank (DIFC Branch); Ahli United Bank KSCP and Warba Bank KSCP acted as the mandated lead arrangers, while Kuwait International Bank KSCP and Bank SinoPac Offshore Banking Branch acted as the lead arrangers for the transaction. The banks which acted as arrangers included Credit Europe Bank; Mashreqbank and the First Commercial Bank Offshore Banking Branch. Emcap CEO Fahad Abdulqader Al Qassim said: "The overwhelming success of this deal reaffirms our market position in the region as the go-to bank for international clients looking to tap Middle Eastern liquidity, in addition to global appetite." "We look forward to continue supporting our international clients in their future financing needs backed by our market leading investment banking platform," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Al Salam Bank-Seychelles (ASBS), a joint venture between Al Salam Bank-Bahrain (ASBB) and the Seychelles Pension Fund (SPF), has officially launched its full commercial banking services. The inauguration ceremony held at the banks headquarters in the capital, Victoria, under the patronage of Danny Faure, the President of the Republic of Seychelles, and in the presence of Ambassador Maurice Loustau-Lalanne, Minister of Finance, Trade, Investment & Economic Planning, Hussein Al Meeza, chairman of ASBS, Lekha Nair, vice chairperson of ASBS and CEO of SPF, and Rafik Nayed, CEO of ASBB. Ambassador Lalanne commended Al Salam Bank for taking the lead in introducing a distinguished banking experience to Seychelles and congratulated both Al Salam Bank-Bahrain and Seychelles Pension Fund for taking the initiative to extend banking services in the country. Al Meeza emphasized that the launch is in line with the banks strategy to expand in the region and continue in its mission to deliver its customers with a range of competitive, diversified and innovative banking solutions through quality products and services. These include deposits, financing, trade finance and a range of tailored banking solutions. Al Meeza further expressed his gratitude and appreciation to the President and the Government of Seychelles for their continued support. The bank looks forward to creating a bridge between the Indian Ocean Rim countries and the GCC. Lekha Nair said: We are pleased to offer customers world class retail and corporate banking solutions. The bank aims to capitalize on its strong foundation, by introducing diversified banking products with the latest technologies targeted towards various customer segments. ASBS is located in the Capital Victoria at Maison Esplanade, Francis Rachel Street. E-channels, ATM with cash deposit facility, debit cards, credit cards, online banking and other services provide additional banking convenience to its clients. TradeArabia News Service Students of the Titusville High School Discover Class got the chance to present their projects to school board Monday. The class is a new one, having started this school year, and is an alternative to traditional social studies, art and English classes. The U.S. military said Tuesday it struck a mosque that had allegedly been used as an Islamic State control center, as American-allied Syrian forces battled the extremists in their last stronghold in eastern Syria amid reports of more civilian casualties. The U.S.-led coalition said warplanes struck the mosque in the small town of Baghouz on Monday in support of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. It said the airstrike occurred as IS was using the mosque to direct attacks and employ suicide car bombs against the SDF. "This mosque lost its protected status when ISIS deliberately chose to use it as a command and control center," said the coalition\s deputy commander, Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika, using another acronym for the group. Hundreds of mostly foreign IS fighters are believed to remain in Baghouz and nearby areas, where the SDF began its final push Saturday after months of fighting. IS has been fighting back with suicide car bombs, sniper fire and booby traps, and has been using civilians as human shields, slowing the U.S.-backed fighters\ advance. Syrian state media reported that about 70 people were killed or wounded in an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition on the edge of Baghouz. It said the airstrike hit a settlement where hundreds of people were taking shelter from the fighting. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said seven children and eight women were killed late Monday in an airstrike near Baghouz. It was not immediately clear if they were referring to the same event. Col. Sean Ryan, a coalition spokesman, said "we are aware of open source reports of alleged civilian casualties. We take all allegations of civilian casualties seriously, and understand there is a lot of misinformation as well." He added that "there are multiple actors conducting strikes within the area, so we are looking into it." Syrian government forces and their allies have in the past shelled the IS-held area. Iraqi forces have struck IS targets in Syria from across the border. At least 20,000 civilians have fled the last sliver of IS-controlled territory in just the past few weeks. The numbers have overwhelmed Kurdish-run camps in northeastern Syria, where humanitarian conditions are already dire amid a cold winter and meager resources. IS militants, who once controlled a self-styled caliphate sprawling across large parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq, are now besieged from the north and east by SDF fighters, and are hemmed in by the Euphrates River to the west and south. Syrian government forces and their allies are deployed on the river\s west bank. The capture of Baghouz and nearby areas would mark the end of a devastating four-year global campaign against the extremist group. U.S. President Donald Trump has said the group is all but defeated, and announced in December that he would withdraw all American forces from Syria. However, activists and residents in eastern Syria say the militants are still present in recaptured areas, where they are laying the groundwork for a future insurgency . Syrian activists who closely follow the conflict said negotiations are underway between IS and the SDF to open a corridor for the extremists to leave the besieged area. The Observatory\s chief Rami Abdurrahman and Omar Abu Laila, who runs a group that monitors developments in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, said the plan is to evacuate IS fighters into an area close to the Iraqi border. The Observatory said the besieged IS commanders have about 40 tons of gold and cash worth millions of U.S. dollars that they hope to take with them. The Sound and Picture organization, which reports on atrocities in IS-held areas, said an agreement for the evacuation was already reached. It said IS commanders agreed to reveal the fate of foreign hostages that were or are still held by the group and hand over some senior fighters. The SDF spokesman was not immediately available for comment on possible negotiations. In northern Syria, Turkish media reports said a bomb-laden vehicle exploded on the Syrian side of the Al-Rai border gate, opposite the Turkish town of Kilis. There was no immediate word on casualties. SOURCE: Associated Press File photo from Aug. 14, 2018: Hawkins County elections administrator Donna Sharp, standing far left, asks the Rogersville BMA to reimburse the Election Commission for a lawsuit filed by the city the previous year. City Attorney Bill Phillips, seated front, advised the city not to comply, and on Feb. 6 a lawsuit seeking that reimbursement was dismissed by Chancellor Doug Jenkins. THE SHORTHORN Is seeking work study student assistants for our reception desk for summer and fall.Prompt, cheerful, students with professional attitudes are encouraged to apply to answer office phones and greet guests from behind a plexiglass COVID barrier.Preference is given to students available to work some mornings. This in-office job offers flexible hours and plenty of time to study.Apply through Handshake for job #4723423 or call 817-272-3188 for more information. Salem, MO (65560) Today Scattered thunderstorms in the morning, then cloudy skies late. High 87F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight A few isolated thunderstorms developing late. A few storms may be severe. Low 73F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%. Posted Monday, February 11, 2019 5:10 am The Senate Law and Justice committee last week heard public testimony on Senate Bill 5339 sponsored by Senator Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle, which would replace the moribund death penalty with a mandatory imposition of life imprisonment without parole. Its been a long public discourse the last 10 to 15 years in our state and in our country about this issue, Carlyle said. I think the result of that civic discourse in the last number of years has been a growing recognition that the data shows that the death penalty is applied in a way that is not consistent. In October 2018, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was being applied in an arbitrary and racially biased manner. The court converted all death penalty sentences to life in prison without parole. Governor Jay Inslee signed a moratorium on imposing the death penalty in 2014. I respectfully suggest that closing the books on this chapter is a responsible public policy step given where the courts and our state have come and that it really solidifies our statute in a way that makes it clear and unequivocal for years to come, said Carlyle. District 4 Senator Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley noted that Washington effectively no longer has a death penalty and given the reasoning behind the Supreme Courts ruling last year it would be difficult to craft death penalty legislation that would satisfy the court. Former state Secretary of the Department of Corrections Dick Morgan testified in support of the bill, speaking on behalf of several other previous DOC secretaries. Morgan said hundreds of prisoners have committed similar crimes and were sentenced to life without parole yet from a management viewpoint they pose no greater risk than those on death row. They are from a managerial standpoint indistinguishable from one another, yet the cost of managing those sentenced to death is extraordinarily high for the department, said Morgan. Preparing for an execution takes significant additional personnel and is done on a voluntary basis. Morgan noted that its common for personnel who have participated in an execution to not wish to do so again. Since 1904, 78 people have been executed in Washington state, according to the Department of Corrections. The last execution took place in 2010. Cal Brown, convicted of strangling and stabbing a woman to death in 1991, was executed by lethal injection. A House bill proposed by Representative Carolyn Eslick, R-Sultan, would allow the death penalty to continue in specific circumstances. HB 1709 would ensure the imposition of the death penalty on inmates charged with first-degree murder committed while serving a prison term. This legislation is in response to the murder of correctional officer Jayme Biendl in 2011 by an inmate serving life in prison, according to Padden. A companion bill to remove the death penalty, HB 1488, is not currently scheduled for public testimony and is sponsored by Dist. 33 Representative Tina Orwall, D-Des Moines. SB 5339 is scheduled for executive action by the law and justice committee on Thursday. Posted Monday, February 11, 2019 5:09 am A bipartisan group of 34 representatives seeks to protect information concerning agency employees who have filed a claim of harassment or stalking. House Bill 1692 was introduced by Rep. Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, after she said one of her constituents was repeatedly harassed at her job. Jinkins ultimately wants to ensure that a harasser cannot continue to harass. The proposal would exempt certain records of claims by employees from public disclosure. This act is necessary for the immediate protection of the public space, health, and safety of agency workers, the bill states. According to media attorney Michele Earl-Hubbard, the legislation would protect state agencies from embarrassment, rather than the victims. The bill is a way around the Public Records Act, she said. According to the measure, an agency may not disclose such records unless ordered by a court and upon consideration of the employees right to privacy under state law RCW 42.56.050. As specified in the RCW, a persons right to privacy is invaded or violated only if disclosure of information would be seen as highly offensive to a reasonable person, and not of legitimate concern to the public. HB 1692 indicates that it is highly offensive to a reasonable person to disclose records to the person of the alleged harassment or stalking of an agency employee. The bill states a goal to protect the health and safety of state employees, but even more so when they become victims of harassment or stalking. The state has an interest in protecting against the inappropriate use of public resources to carry out actions of harassment or stalking, according to HB 1692. Earl-Hubbard believes HB 1692 is an attempt to keep sexual harassment allegations secret. She is part of the Allied Law Group, which represented Washington state news organizations, including The Associated Press, the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association and the Seattle Times, in last years lawsuit against the Legislature regarding an attempt to shield legislators from the Public Records Act. Posted Monday, February 11, 2019 5:23 am Local, state and federal agencies alongside nonprofits and a few private entities are coming together in an effort to improve the water quality of the East Fork Lewis River watershed. On Feb. 26 the East Fork Lewis River Partnership will have its first full meeting of the year, continuing work that began in earnest in August to address issues faced by the Columbia River tributary. At the meeting, Washington State Department of Ecology water quality specialist Devan Rostorfer will provide an update on what has been done so far as well as what this years work will entail. The partnership is a result, in part, of a source assessment report published last year that analyzed types of degradation in the river. Rostorfer explained that water quality monitoring data was initially collected in 2005 and 2006, at which point it was determined that the watershed did not meet standards of temperature and certain bacteria levels. Not much was done following that determination until 2018 when the new source assessment report was published. Of the two issues determined in the report, Rostorfer said that bacteria specifically fecal coliform bacteria was a public health issue specifically for recreation on the waterways. The rivers temperature is important to track because fish species, salmonids specifically, need a particular range to flourish. The assessment identified the lower watershed of the East Fork, from Paradise Point State Park upstream five miles, as in need of the most work, including McCormick, Breezy and Jenny creeks, Rostorfer explained. Other priorities were in Lockwood, Riley and Rock creeks. Regarding the rivers issues, Rostorfer said there were multiple sources for the bacteria, be it wildlife, agriculture, stormwater systems or septic tanks. For temperature, hotter summers, less snowmelt, lower flows and a lack of tree cover contribute to warmer waters which can hurt fish populations. Rostorfer explained that using special photography the partnership was able to identify areas prime for tree planting to help get temperatures back in line with a healthy environment to fish. The ideal temperature range for salmonid spawning is about 54 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the report data collected during the 2005-2006 research showed that all tested points in the river had averages several degrees above that temperature at some time during the testing. The partnership kicked off in August 2018 with a meeting in La Center with about four dozen people representing 28 organizations in attendance. One of the partnerships goals is to implement a water cleanup plan which, apart from identifying causes and sources, would also figure out what technical and financial assistance was needed to improve the watershed. The partnership will also develop a public education and outreach plan as well as a long-term monitoring strategy. Rostorfer said the cleanup plan would be a less-regulatory step compared to a Total Maximum Daily Load project that Ecology can take. She added that the water cleanup plan would be complete by the end of the year, hoping for a sooner date of mid-summer. The plan would develop a suite of projects benefiting water quality though Rostorfer noted that implementation of the plan would take some time to have results on work such as tree planting it could be 10 years or more. Rostorfer noted that the Clark County Legacy Lands program and the Columbia Land Trust have their own partnership, through which roughly 2,000 acres have been acquired in the watershed to benefit habitat. Though having land come under public ownership allows for opportunities to plant more trees, Rostorfer said that getting private landowners on board would be important for the success of the recovery effort. Outside of the partnerships own efforts, Rostorfer said Ecology relies on reports of potential pollution issues from landowners or nearby residents, anonymous or otherwise, to help with their work. The partnerships current goal is reaching out to property owners in the lower watershed to offer resources to help improve the streams near or on their land. People live there because they love the river and they want to see it clean, Rostorfer remarked. {{tncms-inline content="

9:30 a.m. to noon Tuesday, February 26, 2019

La Center Community Center, 1000 E 4th St., La Center

" id="5f5ca572-d547-4dd2-b023-5cf8ab8c0d12" style-type="bio" title="East Fork Lewis River full partnership meeting" type="relcontent"}} Posted Monday, February 11, 2019 5:51 am Two additional suspects in the slaying of Kayla Chapman at a Kelso convenience store were apprehended on Feb. 5. The Kelso Police Department reported that Nenemeny W. Ekiek, 21, and Erkinson K. Bossy, 23 were caught in two separate arrests that day. Ekiek was arrested by Vancouver police around 3 p.m., while Bossy was apprehended later that day in Portland following a car chase by Vancouver officers and reports of shots fired. Ekiek was taken into Kelso police custody and was booked into the Cowlitz County Jail for first-degree murder, according to the department. Police were seeking to extradite Bossy for charges in Chapmans homicide. Previously, the suspected gunman in the murder, DAnthony Leslie Williams, 19, was arrested in Camas Jan 23, and charged with first-degree murder and robbery, a drug charge and possession of a stolen vehicle, according to a report from Kelso police the day of the arrest. All three are believed by authorities to have been involved with a robbery that left Chapman dead at Holts Quik Chek in Kelso where she worked. Elizabethtown, KY (42701) Today Sunshine and some clouds. High 86F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 69F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. With the development of new technologies in the area of AI, many companies are jumping into the field with both eyes wide open. It is very possible that artificial intelligent androids will work alongside their human companions in the future. They will not only work in the same office or building but also independently in their own home. Artificial intelligence has opened up many doors in the past and looks to continue that pace in the future. There are several reasons as to why companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Cisco, IBM and others are all jumping into the pool A University of Sheffield PHD student who sexually assaulted a woman will probably be deported to China, a judge has said Hang Zhang, 27, developed a habit of following women and pulled down the shorts of one female student hed followed out of a gym class, a court heard. Photo: Pixabay The Chinese national appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Monday 4 February where he admitted committing the sexual assault. He had previously been arrested in 2016 trying to get into Buckingham Palace with a folded knife but charges were dropped when Zhang was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. Judge Richardson described both incidents as bizarre and said the highly intelligent student was most likely suffering from a mental health disorder - possibly bipolar affective disorder. The judge said: It is important, given your history, and, in particular the episode at the Palace, that the Secretary of State is made aware of your case. I have every suspicion that, in due course, you will be removed from the country and returned to the People's Republic of China. Cover photo: Sheffield Students' Union CC BY-SA 2.0 Image by Tore Saetre via Flickr Tip of the Sphere is the ninth full-length studio effort from the California-born artist and its intricately-drawn geometric artwork is indicative of the detailed interlocking approach taken to many of the songs construction. Combss experience shows across the record, his signature restraint and subtlety setting the tone throughout the track listing almost without exception. Never swamped by other musicians or overblown production, this album leaves space for an individual to shine through. Sadly, Combs never seems to fully step into the light he has created for himself. inflection Beginning with picked guitar and shouty harmonies I Followed the River South to What then develops into a slightly psychedelic jam to open Tip of the Sphere. It establishes a connecting thread that continues across the albums duration of questioning predetermined paths. We start off from a position of complete disillusionment with the American Dream in lyrics such as If youre so hard up, why not try to steal asked by the tracks well-to-do antagonist, which is met with the reply, Right now Im sunbathing, maybe later I will.The Great Pixie Train Robbery follows on from this and is a bit more conventional by comparison with fuzzy guitar and slightly manic piano glissandos towards the tracks conclusion. The lyrics are eclectic with lines such as, before postal authorities can act/ I surrender myself unto the reward and there is no chorus. One of the albums most interesting pieces is Real Life, which features Indian tabla throughout and has an engaging amalgamation of sounds, easing us in with piano chords and sweet strings. Around the four-minute mark the tempo picks up and there is some pleasant fingerpicking guitar with goes through several chord modulations almost with anreminiscent of Paul Simon or perhaps more recently, Ben Howard. Sidewalk Bop After Suicide feels pretty much as throwaway as its nonsense title. It features tremolo guitar and rolls along at quite a leisurely, almost pedestrian pace. The lyrics are faintly evocative of a sense that the world will keep on turning in its careless way in spite of the personal tragedies that happen every day, but the suggestion is vague rather than vivid. Rather than invite us for a meandering stroll, Prayer For Another Day bids us sit down in contemplation during a track that exudes chill from its every pore. Theres a luscious delay effect on McCombss vocal that separates it from the trends of modern recording technique, and this is also applied to instrumentation, which is allowed to be much more dynamic than much of the rest of the album. Slide guitar warbles in blissfully over acoustic strumming in what is a stretched out, vintage moment. The second to last track, aptly named Tying Up Loose Ends, is really little more than inoffensive, shuffling along with its wah-wah guitar and breathy saxophone. Rounder concludes the record over 10 minutes, the first five of which are really a bit of a slog until it kicks in halfway through and takes on a bit of a groove. That said, it fails to rise much above dad rock in tone. Overall, Tip of the Sphere instrumentally has a vibe that sits somewhere between Steely Dan, Mac Demarco and Kurt Vile, but without the personality or quirkiness that comes with the latter two. It shines lyrically, particularly on the trip-hop inspired oddity American Canyon Sutra but fails to stand out much from the crowd otherwise. The World's First Climate Refugees from vladsokhin on Vimeo. According to'estimates that there are more environmental refugees than political refugees fleeing from wars and other conflicts'. Some stories make it into the news and even become case studies on exam syllabuses. For example,hit the Philippines in 2013 - and as a creeping catastrophe that causied thousands of deaths and the displacement of four million people, it is now studied in GCSE Geography. In 2017 countries across East Africa were in the grip of a crippling drought poor rains and harvests coupled with continued fighting left. The focus of these stories was rightly on human suffering but the cause, being climate change, was largely unreported. Climate Refugees Demonstrate for their Rehabilitation in Khulna, Bangladesh/ Image Credit: The World Wants a Real Deal on Flickr. According to the, 'since 2009, an estimated one person ehas been displaced by a disaster, with an average of 22.5 million people displaced by climate - or weather-related events since 2008'. The current refugee crisis faced by Europe has increased because of extreme droughts in regions of the Middle East and Africa, and yet the environmental driver is rarely mentioned.These people are often described as economic migrants, with all the associated stigma and stereotyping attached to people from affected countries. For many, if not most, of these people, the imperative to flee is just as much a matter of life and death as if they were escaping war. Part of the reason for keeping this quiet may be because environment or climate migrants do not have any legal status. There is afor people who flee their homes and regions due to environmental factors, as they are excluded from the terms of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. The convention is the basis of the current global asylum regime that obliges nations to provide asylum to anyone fleeing,". Image Credit: Oxfam East Africa from Flickr. Often, climate refugees are rural and coastal residents who are forced to migrate to urban areas. Many climate refugees are internal migrants, whose movement is within their own country and therefore not seen as of any international importance we dont speak their language and we dont face the same issues, so we dont care. For our government, like many things, they are out of sight out of mind. However, this will not always be the case - we cannot hide from the evils of our pollution forever. The science is clear. Climate change is real. Climate change is happening now and according to the World Wildlife Fund (), the problem is almost entirely man-made. According to The Guardian, historically,most responsible for the current climate crisis. With this in mind, perhaps this is why governments avoid the categorisation of some refugees as 'climate'. It is easier for them to separate themselves from the issue if they ignore it. Perhaps when London is drowning, and its residents are attempting to flee with their rescued possessions, shoulder-high in sea water, the debris of our capital floating by then maybe climate refugees will make it onto the front pages of every newspaper. Until then our politicians will continue to ensure us that the problems lie elsewhere.Lead Image: You can find your client key on your subscription renewal statement or call us at the Mountain Mail at 719-539-6691. Pantene Japan(NEW YORK) -- At just barely 13 months old, a baby in Japan has won over hearts around the nation and the world thanks to Instagram and her full head of luxurious locks. Baby Chanco is a pint-sized bundle of joy who was born in Kyoto, Japan, with a full head of hair. When she was just four months old, Chanco's mom Mami Kano posted a photo of her baby on Instagram in front of a bright yellow background with big brown eyes and thick dark hair standing on its ends. The post garnered thousands of likes and spiraled into a social media sensation. Now Baby Chanco has nearly 400,000 followers on Instagram and was recently named the new face of Pantene in Japan. "We hope that she is gonna be involved in fashion ... particularly like [a] model, where she will be able to deliver attraction or charm of Japan or Japanese culture throughout the world," her mom told ABC News' Nightline through a translator. Like any baby diva, Chanco has her fair share of fussy moments, but that didn't stop the multi-billion dollar adult hair care company from deciding to partner with an infant and disrupt Japanese beauty standards. Yoshiaki Okura, a brand director for Pantene, said it was Baby Chanco's "unique" tresses that stunned them. "When I saw Baby Chanco, I was really surprised. You know, Ive honestly never seen such kind of baby to have such unique, thick hair," he said. Her glorious mane has already made her the youngest person to ever model for a global hair care brand. "We thought Baby Chanco fits best to our brand campaign, which is '#HairWeGo,' because she is a great symbol of diversity, uniqueness," Okura said. "We felt it's [the] best fit for us." The baby is part of a lucrative, sometimes controversial, and highly competitive world of child modeling. Young children serve as brand ambassadors for household names like Ralph Lauren, Target and Macy's. Mothers who manage their kids, also known as "momagers," have turned child models into major stars -- including celebrities like Raven Symone, Cara Delevingne and Gigi Hadid. Denise Albert, a mother of two and co-founder of multi-platform brand The Moms, said she thinks baby modeling jobs "can be extremely lucrative." "I think we live in a world right now where there are so many opportunities, and so many parents are business people. And they want side jobs," she said. "And they want to make money in other ways for their family, and if they can do that using social media, why not?" Social media has quickly become the tool of choice for parents to garner attention for their children and get them out there. Albert said she believes "Instagram and other social media platforms are a great way for modeling agencies to find new talent." "It's a really easy way to see the personality of a child, to see the personality of a family and I think that it just makes searching a lot easier," she explained. Modeling agent Brandis Ohlsson agreed. "Instagram has changed things for the good and for the bad," she said. "I think there are a lot of really great aspects to it," she said of social media's explosive growth in recent years. "It does help us find new talent every once in a while it's really great marketing tool. I would say that my business was basically built off social media." Ohlsson and Elizabeth Petty are the force behind some of those child models and represent and photograph aspiring young talent. In her experience, Ohlsson said casting directors don't necessarily care about a child's Instagram following. Rather, they are more interested in what they look like in their natural state. Ohlsson said casting directors have only asked her about a child's Instagram "maybe three times," and only "once or twice" about follower count. "Other than that they just want to see the kids candidly, it has nothing to do with the follower count," she said. "It's about, 'what does the kiddo look like when they're just being a kiddo?'" Petty, who photographs child models, offered a piece of advice for parents trying to get a modeling gig through Instagram. "On Instagram, always be aware that there's somebody -- if they have access to your photos -- they might be taking it the wrong way," she cautioned. "There's creepers out there who are attracted to kids, and it's just like the sad reality of life. And you should just kind of like be aware of what you're posting." Kindergarten may be a day job for these children, but after school, a studio photo shoot is often their side hustle. Petty said that one thing that makes a good child model "is that they want to be there." "The best kid model is the one who's like 'Mommy, I want to be on TV'; 'Mommy how do how do I get in a magazine?' And then the mom is like 'OK, I'll look into it because they keep begging me,'" she said. "So they walk on set and they love being there. They light up in front of the camera. They're so happy to just be there and have fun with other kids." But while "momagers" try to build a following on Instagram, Brandis said finding the next Baby Chanco is like catching lightning in a bottle. "What you'll find now, I'm sure, in the next few months, there'll be babies popping up on Instagram with long hair thinking that, 'Well, my kid has got long hair too, that's the same thing that's going to happen.' And it just doesn't," Ohlsson said. She continued, "Don't think you're going to be paying your mortgage with what your child makes." "I would say take everything you hear and say with a grain of salt," she added. Children's wear is a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States, and mothers have been a driving force behind the talent. They handle their child's day-to-day schedules, balancing school and modeling gigs. Many parents have worries that a child could grow up and not like that their photos are out there for the world to see. Larissa, a mother of two child models -- Pax and Knox -- said she thinks about what her children may have to say about her decision in the future. "I think about it all the time because you dont know," Larissa, who preferred to use her first name only, said. "Maybe [modeling] wont even exist anymore ... Thats what I keep thinking, I feel like everything is just going to go away." Until then, the number of photos and amount of oversharing could leave them vulnerable to scams and dark corners of the internet. Ohlsson said "we're all aware" of the "creepy side" of child modeling, "but there's also just things that are a little bit more innocent." She cautioned that "pay-to-play" is a practice in the business where brands will say something like, "'We're doing a show for New York Fashion Week, [and] your kid has been chosen. We would love for them to participate. Can you pay me $3,000 for the dress that they'll wear?'" "I think that when you're on social media and you're looking to become a model that way and somebody approaches you and you've not gone through the proper channels, I think you're more apt to fall prey to that kind of thing," she explained. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Welcome back pirates! As you make your return to campus The East Carolinian has created a forum that centers around topics within the community where readers can express their experiences and concerns. With the new guidelines set in place by East Carolina University do you feel as these precautions will keep you safe? Survey SPECIAL REPORT: Travel retail business TFWA president Erik Juul-Mortensen opened this years TFWA conference in Cannes by presenting a number of new statistics about the performance of the industry. The data, from Generation Research, showed that while in 2015 the industry experienced the first year-on-year decline in global sales in six years, final results for 2016 show that there has been a modest recovery. Year-on-year sales at 63.5 billion US$ were plus 2.4 %, which is a significant improvement on the negative growth of 2015. With regard to category performance, once again it was fragrances and cosmetics that performed the best with year-on-year growth of 9.2 %, whereas watches and jewellery sales declined by 8.4%. The pressure on the luxury sector continues, said Juul-Mortensen. In terms of sales by channel, the strongest performer was other shops which grew by 7.3%. Sales here are mainly at downtown and border locations and, increasingly, on board cruise ships. The key driver of growth had been the sales of perfume and cosmetics in Asia Pacific downtown locations. Looking at performance of the regions, Asia Pacific was once again what Juul-Mortensen described as the engine room for the industry with a year-on-year growth of 8.2%. The first quarter of 2017 is showing some encouraging momentum building on the modest recovery of 2016, he said, and versus quarter one of 2016, global sales in quarter one of 2017 were up 4.2%. The two key drivers continue to be fragrance and cosmetics with sales up 11.6%, and the Asia Pacific region where sales were up by 7.8%. In terms of sales channels, airports are up 2.2% and other shops grew by 7.8%, again with the perfume and cosmetics category driving this growth. Juul-Mortensen went on to state that the duty free and travel retail industry desperately needs data that is as accurate and reliable as it can possibly be, and said that trade associations cannot expect to win the attention of government bodies around the world if we cannot accurately say what we as an industry are worth. The need for meaningful, accurate data is something we at TFWA take extremely seriously and we have been frustrated by the fact that this need is not always universally acknowledged. He did, however, recognise the fact that in a concession-driven industry such as duty free and travel retail, data is extremely sensitive, but a way around this must be found for the good of the industry. The progress of the industry is, of course, dependent on what is happening in the wider world, and the world has never been more unpredictable than this year. Elections in the US, France, the UK and South Korea among others have produced results that were unthinkable just a short time ago. A climate of uncertainty reigns and if there is one thing that economists and business leaders dislike, it is uncertainty. 7 October 2017 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, Editor in Chief Unlimited website access 24/7 Unlimited e-Edition access 24/7 The best local, regional and national news in sports, politics, business and more! With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime. Get complete access to all of the news and special sections included in the bi-weekly print editions, plus additional online-only features like breaking news, searchable archives of past editions and more! You will receive immediate access to our site after submitting your order. Rate Information The $39 and $20 rates reflect the cost of an online-only subscription. The $5 and $3 rates reflect the cost to add an online subscription to your active and current print subscription. Your print subscription must be (and remain) paid to current in order to qualify for the $5 and $3 discounted online subscription rates. If you pay for a discounted rate and do not qualify for it, the amount you paid will be assessed at the online-only rate and your online subscription will be terminated when your payment has been used in full. Important Additional Information Please provide your phone number in the Notes box in case we need to contact you about your order. Please note: An online subscription is valid for a single household/business use only. Any violation of this policy will result in cancelation of internet subscription and forfeiture of subscription money. **We accept Visa, MasterCard and Discover.** Blackshear, GA (31516) Today Thunderstorms likely in the morning. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. High 84F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Missouri State University will resume the administration of the Johnson & Johnson COVID- Read more Lime Pictures has hired Audibles Rebecca Fenton as Head of Development and Alison Loose as Scripted Production Executive. Prior to joining Lime Pictures, Rebecca Fenton established and grew a portfolio of scripted audio drama productions for Audible, an Amazon Company. She built up a portfolio of 40+ dramas across a wide range of genres and IP partnerships, including several pieces drawing upon non-fiction material. Fentons commissions have included The Jungle Book (Double Audie Award winning), Murder on the Orient Express (Cameo Award), Blood on Satans Claw (New York City Radio Award for Best Drama Special, 2018) and key commissioning partnerships included Agatha Christie Ltd and The Donmar Warehouse. Under her direction, the productions have brought in talent to Audibles Original Production slate including Dominic West, Rebecca Hall, David Tennant and Ruby Wax. Alison Loose returns to Lime Pictures as a Production Executive working across both the Drama and Kids departments. Most recently she has been working in house at BBC Childrens taking care of the development slate and managing co-producer relationships. Her credits as a Line Producer include prime time hits Last Tango in Halifax, Scott and Bailey and Home Fires. Lime recently announced Angelo Abela and Tim Compton as Head of Lime Kids alongside Louise Sutton as Head of Drama and YA (Young Adults). Bryan Kirkwood is Limes Head of Continuing Drama and Sarah Tyekiff is Head of Unscripted. Limes presence in the US in non-scripted is headed up by Ben Crompton (EVP, Development for Unscripted). Louise Sutton said; I am absolutely thrilled that Rebecca and Alison have joined the team. Rebeccas editorial expertise, strategic background and stuffed contact book make her the perfect fit for scripted Head of Development and Alison brings with her a wealth of production experience on some of the biggest shows on television. We have big ambitions for our slate both in the UK and internationally and together we will be a force to be reckoned with. Im excited for the future at Lime with Rebecca and Alison by my side. Rebecca Fenton said; Im delighted to join Louise and the team at this renaissance time for TV drama an era where viewers demand innovation, quality and diversity of voice in their programming and expect consistently high standards in production. The team is perfectly positioned to develop and deliver great programs, bringing their wide range of contacts and expertise to Limes constantly-evolving Primetime and Young Adult Drama development slate. Alison Loose said; Im hugely excited to join Lime, a truly successful regional production company with a global audience, during this period of growth, surrounded by a wealth of talent. I am looking forward to working with the creative communities in Liverpool, the north west and beyond. Sullivan Hall is located next to Lee Hall and has an occupancy of 713 residents. Thank you for Reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and Purchase a Subscription to continue reading. Letter to the Editor The efforts been renewed to bond for a new school. . Let me state the problem Everybody, including me, wants a new school, nobody wants to ... Malaga has once again topped the list of provinces in Andalucia for the creation of new companies. Based on 2017 data, there were 3.5 per cent more companies in the province compared to the regional average of 2.5 per cent. There were 73.5 companies for every thousand people in Malaga province, three points above the national average. Only 60.1 per cent of the registered companies made a profit however, the lowest in all Andalucia. Changes to the SunCommercial's back end processing means the e-edition is getting a facelift. The biggest change is the e-edition, by default, is now presented in Text view. WASHINGTON It does not yet have office space, staff or even Republican members, but Florida Rep. Kathy Castor is confident that a special House committee on climate change will play a leading role on one of the most daunting challenges facing the planet. Castor, who chairs the new panel, says those early obstacles can be overcome as lawmakers move to reduce carbon pollution and create clean-energy jobs. "The Democratic caucus is unified under the belief we have to take bold action on the climate crisis," Castor said in an interview. While that can take many forms, the transition to renewable energy such as wind and solar power is "job one," she said. Castor, who's in her seventh term representing the Tampa Bay area, said Congress has a "moral obligation" to protect future generations from the costly effects of climate change, including more severe hurricanes, a longer wildfire season and a dangerous sea-level rise. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi named Castor to lead the panel in December, saying she brings experience, energy and urgency to what Pelosi called "the existential threat of the climate crisis" facing the United States and the world. The climate panel is similar to one Pelosi created when Democrats last controlled the House from 2007 to 2010. The panel was eliminated when Republicans took the majority in 2011. While the previous panel played a key role in House approval of a landmark 2009 bill to address global warming, Castor said the new panel is likely to focus on a variety of actions rather than a single piece of legislation. She and the eight other Democrats named to the panel "are ready to stand up to corporate polluters and special interests" as they press for action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and move toward a clean-energy economy, Castor said. "Climate deniers, fossil fuel companies and other special interests have had an outsized influence" in Congress in recent years, she said, promising to "stand up" to those forces to protect the environment and create green jobs. The climate panel is separate from an effort by Democrats to launch a Green New Deal to transform the U.S. economy and create thousands of jobs in renewable energy. Castor dismissed the idea that the Green New Deal put forth by freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and veteran Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts will conflict with the climate panel. "My job and the committee's job is to take the general concepts (of the Green New Deal) and turn them into a real policy framework and legislative language and eventually law," she said. Pelosi agreed, saying in a statement that the climate panel will "spearhead Democrats' work to develop innovative, effective solutions to prevent and reverse the climate crisis." Pelosi invited Ocasio-Cortez, a social media star and the best-known member of the large class of freshman Democrats, to join the climate panel, but she declined, saying she wants to focus on the Green New Deal and other committee assignments. Three freshmen Sean Casten of Illinois, Mike Levin of California and Joe Neguse of Colorado serve on the panel, along with veteran lawmakers such as Rep. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, the fourth-ranking House Democrat, and Californians Julia Brownley and Jared Huffman, both close Pelosi allies. "We need their passion and energy, and we need support from all corners all across the country," Castor said of the freshmen members. "It's all hands on deck right now." Republicans have not named anyone to the climate committee, but six GOP members are expected to join the panel this month. While she would have preferred that the committee be given subpoena power and legislative authority to draft their own bills, the panel's more limited power "is not going to hamper us," Castor said. Most invited witnesses will be eager to testify, she said, and those who resist including members of the Trump administration can be compelled to appear by other committees such as Energy and Commerce or Natural Resources. While the earlier climate panel focused on establishing the threat posed by climate change, Castor said the time to debate climate science is long past. "People understand the problems," she said. "They see the effects of sea rise and more dangerous storms. They understand it. They look at Washington and kind of throw up their hands and say, 'Why don't you guys do something?' " The committee's challenge, she added, will be "to restore the faith of people and show them Washington can do some things." Members of the city council on Monday voted down a proposed measure that took an official stance on a bill recently passed by the Indiana House of Representatives to eliminate the mandatory publication of notices of sheriff's sales in newspapers. Council president Duane Chattin drafted the resolution upon hearing about House Bill 1212. Arguments made against it by both local and state leaders, he said, are valid and strong, so he wanted to offer public support. Taxpayers, he said, are better served by a high bid than by a low bid only a few people know about. So he drafted a resolution that respectfully requests the state Senate oppose HB 1212's adoption, thereby affirming its commitment to transparency and the public's right to know about the actions of government. Chattin's resolution cites state Rep. Bruce Borders, R-Jasonville, whose district includes Vincennes, in that he recently said many people he sees attending such tax sales are often carrying their local newspaper, its pages filled with highlighted properties they intend to bid on. It also makes note of an argument made by state Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson, in that often the only way a homeowner learns if he or she has been financially scammed by a relative or third party and their property is at risk is if they read it in their local newspaper. And she said it places the undue burden of maintaining a free online sale record onto already understaffed county offices. And city residents pay the same county taxes, Chattin said. I think a lot of people don't realize that. So something that affects the county affects our people just as much. I think it's a valid opinion and deserves the support of the council, he said. The local resolution also makes mention of a recent column in The Sun-Commercial in which editor and publisher Gayle Robbins said that publishing sheriff sale notices on obscure websites would make them less likely to be accessed by the public. Robbins observes that adoption of HB 1212 is 'a move away from transparency and toward the opaqueness of the notorious smoke-filled room,' the resolution reads. The Vincennes City Council is committed to transparency and the public's right to know about the actions of government at all levels, the resolution goes on to say. Other council members, however, had reservations about expressing such a public opinion. Councilman Tim Salters asked why it had to be in a legislative form at all. Why not, he said, express oppression to the bill in the form of a proclamation or some kind of public statement. Better yet, why don't the council members contact their state representatives to voice concern. And if we do this, is that now the threshold for a resolution? Salters asked. I'm just worried about opening Pandora's box here. Salters argued approving a resolution objecting to HB 1212 while he does, in fact, object to it opens the door for other council members to propose other resolutions anytime they don't like a new or change in state law. Take education for instance, Salters, an employee with the Vincennes Community School Corp., said. There's a lot of stuff I don't like. So if it affects a lot of families, we need a resolution for that? I'm not saying it's not good [HB 1212] is bad, and we want transparency, he said. I'm just not sure a resolution is the way to go. Councilman Brian Grove shared Salters' concerns. He couldn't understand tying up city business with House bills. I don't see how we'll get much else done, he said. I agree, added council member Shirley Rose. I want to know why we're doing this. Chattin, in defense of his legislation, said a resolution is merely a statement of opinion by the city council and nothing more. If you don't agree with the sentiment conveyed in the resolution, then as a member you can vote in the negative, he said. But why would we be reluctant to share with our representatives our opinion? Chattin even expressed a hope that other Indiana cities would follow suit. We could start a trend on expressing our opinions on what is obviously bad legislation, he said. In the end, the resolution was voted down 6-1, with Chattin casting the only supporting vote. Port Richey, FL (34668) Today Scattered thunderstorms in the morning, then mainly cloudy during the afternoon with thunderstorms likely. High 87F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight Thunderstorms in the evening will give way to cloudy skies overnight. Low around 70F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. I think a lot people may feel that time has passed, that people are no longer required to protect themselves from the possibility of a police state, emailed Rick Martin of Orlando. We do live in a very civilized time, but I think we all understand it's not time to rid ourselves of all federal protection between ourselves and other countries. So then how can one assert we are truly in civilized times? My point is the threat of violence against oneself is insurmountably reduced when the person or persons that wish to do you harm know that you are equally matched. This applies to all facets of life equality is the best policy. Omphroy, 40, a freshman representative from Lauderdale Lakes, wrote that Smith approached me in a threatening and aggressive manner as I sat at the table with others. I was uncomfortable as [he] kneeled directly in front of my legs, at which point I was forced to readjust myself due to my attire, which was a dress and leggings. Florida voters expressed strong support for making gun laws stricter, but the sentiment wasnt quite as strong as it was a year ago in the immediate aftermath of the shooting at the Parkland school where 17 people were killed and 17 injured, FAU polled about several gun-related issues. The federal-state partnership to restore the Everglades is critical to protecting Floridas unique environmental character, preserving our states full economic potential, and enhancing the resilience of every community south of Lake Okeechobee, the letter said. Unfortunately, federal funding has not kept pace with the states increasing contributions. The latest snapshot of how voters view the Trump presidency comes after another tumultuous period, including massive losses for his party in the midterm elections, the indictment of his longtime confidante Roger Stone, and the partial government shutdown over his demand for a border wall. A Gingrich aide says Gingrich regularly rents his Virginia-based company's email list to people or causes as long as they're not "totally off brand." The aide says Stone's email was approved after Gingrich's team determined the message was largely in line with Gingrich's criticism of Mueller's investigation. Key lawmakers said late Monday that they had reached a tentative agreement over immigration rules and funding for border barriers, a deal that if signed by President Donald Trump would avert another government shutdown set to start at week's end. White House officials did not have an immediate comment on the preliminary deal, which would fall far short of Trump's demands for funding to build more than 200 miles of wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. And while congressional negotiators said they were hopeful Trump would sign off on the deal, they said they had not been given assurances. The breakthrough in Congress came after a slog of meetings between top negotiators in the House and Senate. The deal is still being vetted with their colleagues, but top lawmakers expressed optimism that they had resolved major differences. "The fact that it looked like there was going to be another shutdown imminently" brought renewed efforts on Monday, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told reporters after announcing the deal. Asked if the White House would support the agreement, Shelby added, "we think so. We hope so." The framework would provide $1.375 billion for barriers along the border, including 55 miles of new fencing, with certain restrictions on the location, according to a congressional official familiar with the agreement. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the agreement had not been made public. Democrats backed away from their demand on tight limits on detention beds that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement could use to detain undocumented immigrants, pulling away from a push that that led to a breakdown in talks over the weekend. Negotiators felt the deal would prove sufficient to fund all government operations through the end of September, potentially removing shutdown threats for the remainder of the fiscal year. House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-Calif., who was in Monday's meetings, said she hoped the negotiators would have a finished product by Wednesday. She said that she ran the proposal by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and that the House speaker signed off on it. "Some may be happy, some may not be happy," said Lowey, assessing how Democrats would receive the deal and saying she hoped the agreement would have the votes needed to pass the House. "We did the best we could." Shelby, Lowey, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, participated in the Monday meetings. The lawmakers are on a bipartisan conference committee charged with striking a border security deal. Asked why she thought the dispute over the detention beds flared up over the weekend, Lowey paused before saying, "You'll have to ask those who were debating it and arguing it. It's one part of the bill. And the issue, in some communities across the country, has really become very volatile and personal to many of the members." The White House and congressional leaders have struggled for months to reach an agreement on a government funding bill because of major differences between Democrats and Republicans over immigration policy. Trump called for using $5.7 billion in taxpayer money to construct more than 200 miles of wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Democrats objected, and Trump forced a 35-day partial shutdown beginning Dec. 22 to pressure Congress to act. The White House and Republicans eventually backed down, agreeing last month to a short-term spending bill for a number of agencies that was meant to give congressional negotiators more time to reach a longer-term deal. The deadline for those talks is Friday. Negotiators had made steady progress but ran into trouble over the weekend. The White House had largely signaled to Republicans that it would soften its demand for $5.7 billion in wall money, convinced it could use other legal maneuvers to redirect existing funds. Instead, discussions bogged down over disagreements about how many undocumented immigrants could be detained at once. Republicans wanted flexibility in detention rules, arguing that they needed to be able to adjust to account for violent criminals and others. Democrats countered that the changes Republicans sought would give the White House almost limitless powers to detain as many people as they wanted. The unexpected dispute imperiled talks, spooking negotiators as they worried they were running out of time. Democrats signaled earlier in the day that they were more interested in cutting a deal than digging in as the Friday deadline neared, and they largely backed down by late Monday. The discussions are the first major political test for Democrats and Republicans after the last government shutdown froze the paychecks of 800,000 federal workers. Trump attempted Monday to put the onus on Democrats to broker a deal. Asked by reporters whether the government would shut down again Saturday, he responded, "That's up to the Democrats." Lawmakers had hoped to reach an agreement by midday Monday, a timeline they thought was sufficient to win House and Senate approval this week. Republicans went on the attack Monday over Democrats' demands, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called an "absurd last-minute poison pill" and "a get-out-of-jail-free card for criminals because the radical left doesn't like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement." "This provision would rightly be a total nonstarter for the White House," McConnell said on the Senate floor. But Democrats have said the Republican descriptions inaccurately characterize their position. They said the White House's insistence on excluding people charged or convicted of crimes, even nonviolent drug offenses, would give the White House almost limitless power to detain people and make existing rules irrelevant. "How the government deals with ICE is a very important issue," Lowey said. "And that's why the beds are so critical to this negotiation. Period." Trump has readied a plan to declare a national emergency on the southern border, which he believes will allow him to redirect taxpayer money from other projects to build parts of a wall - without approval from Congress. The Monday afternoon meeting came at a pivotal time. Trump traveled to El Paso, Texas, for a rally Monday evening, and he was expected to restate his case for tougher immigration rules. Republicans in Congress have tried to avoid Trump's hard-line rhetoric during negotiations, but his support is crucial for a final deal. The president on Monday attacked Democrats on Twitter, saying Democrats are trying to create new protections for undocumented immigrants with criminal records. "The Democrats do not want us to detain, or send back, criminal aliens! This is a brand new demand. Crazy!" he wrote. Unlike in the fight over billions in funding for a border wall, which a majority of Americans oppose, Republicans say they are on strong political ground if the debate becomes focused on whether ICE has free rein to detain convicted or suspected criminals. "The wall is unpopular. Enforcing the law is popular," said Michael Steel, a GOP strategist and former top House aide. "This is particularly difficult terrain for Democrats to fight on. I think that most people want the laws enforced, and they expect that if illegal immigrants break the law, that they will be detained." A partial shutdown could have a broad impact on the country. Funding lapses would go beyond the Department of Homeland Security to hit a number of other federal departments, including the Housing and Urban Development, Treasury, Agriculture and Interior departments, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Internal Revenue Service. During the last government shutdown, many federal employees were still ordered to work, without pay, for the duration to minimize the impact on the public. At the beginning of talks, lawmakers looked for ways to avoid conflict over Trump's demand that $5.7 billion in taxpayer money must be used to build parts of a wall along the Mexico border. Lawmakers were discussing sums between $1.3 billion and $2 billion, far short of Trump's initial demands. The White House recently signaled to Republicans that it could accept smaller sums, because it believed it could legally reappropriate money from other accounts to build the wall. Moving money from one account to another could be challenged in court, but top White House officials have said they are prepared for legal challenges. With lawmakers planning to continuing negotiating into the evening, they were cognizant that they didn't have much time left to broker a deal. "I wish we could have concluded it and I'd walk and say 'Hallelujah,' but we're still having discussions," Lowey said. The Washington Post's Seung Min Kim, Josh Dawsey and Robert Costa contributed to this report. This story was first published in the Washington Post. One way the organization has made a mark on Congress is through expense-paid travel junkets to Israel, which are paid for by an affiliated nonprofit that does not have to disclose its donors. The popular weeklong excursions for members of Congress, their families and some senior staff can cost upward of $12,000 per person and are intended to "educate political leaders and influencers about the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship through firsthand experiences." The proposals would ban that practice, known as chumming. They would require that sharks be left in the water with their gills submerged, rather than dragged ashore. They would require a free shore-based shark fishing permit. And they would mandate the use of circle hooks, which tend to catch on the side of the mouth, rather than J hooks, which can hook a shark in the gut. This matter could very well come before the county, including this board, for certain decisions, he said. It might involve land use, it might involve zoning, it may involve other permits. And for reasons we could discuss individually, its advantageous to the county to try to limit our comments on that at this point. Katz is currently the CEO of Lighthouse Global Solutions, which provides business security services for the marijuana industry. From 2011 to 2017, he worked as director of personal protective services at Google, according to his resume. During that time, he was head of leak investigations, tracing how company information made its way to the public. The statement added: Jussie has voluntarily provided his phone records from within an hour of the attack and given multiple statements to police. Chicago PD has repeatedly informed us that they find Jussies account of what happened that night consistent and credible. Superintendent Johnson has been clear from day one that Jussie is a victim. We are continuing to work closely with the Chicago PD and remain confident that they will find Jussies attackers and bring them to justice. Cobias attorney, Valerie Masters, requested a 10-year-sentence that would set him free rather than risk his safety in a prison. The defense argued that there is not one prison in Florida where Cobia could go without running into someone he helped to convict. The stores owner, Abdo Mazloum, told police that at the end of the work day, he saw the man and buzzed him into the store. Once inside, the man placed the box on a counter and then pulled out a gun, pointed it at the owner and demanded that he open the safe which had about $1 million in jewels, according to police. Nora Rupert was chairwoman at the time of the tragedy, but was noticeably less vocal in her criticisms of the district during that time period. She said that was based on advice from district lawyers and fellow board members. I was told not to speak up. You could open yourself up to lawsuits. Be careful what you say. The superintendent will do the talking. My belief is we needed to get it away from the School Board so that money wouldnt be used for something other than what we designated it for, which was security, Waldman said. I wont say it was a distrust, but there was always a concern that the School Board wouldnt do what we thought should be done with the money. But after several hours of searching, detectives were unable to confirm an abduction has occurred to this point, police said in an afternoon update on Twitter. Currently, we have no reports of missing students or children in the surrounding schools. The county is working to have a new, improved public safety radio system up and running by the end of the year. It is still trying to work out the details for a new Hollywood tower, which is needed for the system to be fully operational. The tower will also require federal approval before it can be constructed. Finally, while the assessment does not say so explicitly, it implies, especially when taken together with its 2018 assessment, that if Iran is more or less upholding the terms of the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action], then the Iran nuclear threat has been dealt with effectively. If a Yesh Atid-Israel Resilience Party list were to include former Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, it would scoop up 35 seats, an increase of three seats. In that scenario, the Likud would win 29 seats, a decrease of one seat. This could lead to a Knesset in which the right and the ultra-Orthodox parties no longer enjoy a majority, potentially paving the way for a center-left government. On his trip to the Middle East, Kushner is expected to discuss with Arab officials the economic parts of the peace plan, which will entail huge investment in the Palestinian economymainly in Gaza, reported Axios. U.S. officials say Kushner will ask the Gulf states to contribute to the economic plan, but that he is not planning to discuss details from the political components of the plan during his tour of the region. It needs to be put in the context of E.U.-Israeli relations over the years, Sandell said in a phone interview. Has the E.U. been supportive, or are there areas in which the E.U. is perhaps undermining Israel sovereignty? My answer to the second question is yes. Its clear that the E.U. in a rather subtle way for many, many years has been involved almost covertly in a campaign against Israel. Of course, this campaign does not put into question of the right for the State of Israel to exist, but to pressure Israel in a way that we feel is unfair. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus recent trip to Chad, during which the two countries re-established diplomatic ties, highlighted the enormous strides Israel has made in Africa. The trip also broke a record for the Jewish state. This is the first time in Israels history that, out of the 193 or so recognized countries in the world, Israel now has diplomatic relations with 160 of them. That is a solid diplomatic achievement, and it is one that Israel will continue to improve upon. If you want Heat tickets, Dolphins tickers, theyll take care of it if residents dont have time to take care of it themselves or its an annoyance for you to do it. ... This is the kind of living these people should be able to enjoy. 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. Alaska Airlines(NEW YORK) -- Marvel Studios first female-lead super hero is taking to the skies with Alaska Airlines. The airline recently unveiled a special-edition Captain Marvel-themed plane ahead of the movie release on March 8, which is also International Women's Day. Were excited to showcase a pilot whos risen to super hero status -- an image that embodies strength and confidence and inspires future aviators across our expansive network to go further," said Natalie Bowman, Alaska Airlines managing director of marketing and advertising. The film stars Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan, Rune Temte, Algenis Perez Soto, Mckenna Grace, Annette Bening, Clark Gregg and Jude Law. Captain Marvel is a female pilot who acquired special powers to fight for the greater good. An image of a cat named Goose from the film will surprise guests seated over the wings. The Captain Marvel-themed 737-800 will fly cross-country routes as well as travel to Hawaii. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. How do you feel about the new Major League Baseball rules? A runner on second in extra innings? 7-inning double headers? When does football start? The game has changed over the years.Hopefully these changes will speed it up. Is baseball the one where you hit touchdowns? View Results Published: 12 February 2019 Majority of young adults outside work and education had at least upper secondary qualifications According to Statistics Finland's employment statistics, around two-thirds of persons aged 18 to 24 outside work and education in 2017 had completed at least upper secondary level qualifications. In all, 37.6 per cent of the group had only comprehensive school education. The period of transition from upper secondary general school or vocational education to tertiary education is also visible in the variation of the number of persons outside work and education at around the age of 20. Number of persons aged 18 to 24 outside work and education by age and highest completed qualification in 2017 Statistics Finland's employment statistics describe the main type of activity of the population, or the quality of economic activity at the end of the year. In the 2017 population, there were around 448,000 persons aged 18 to 24, of whom 50.3 per cent were employed, 31.2 per cent students, and 1.7 per cent conscripts. In the age group in question, 75,515 persons (16.9%) were outside work and education 1) . Of them, 43,342 were men (57.4%) and 32,173 women. Good one third of young adults outside work and education rely on comprehensive school education The majority of young adults outside work and education were 20 years old (14,615) and 19 years old (13,264). The number of persons having only basic level education 2) is fairly even in all age groups: Their number was lowest among 18-year-olds (3,270) and highest among 24-year-olds (4,511). In contrast, the number of those with vocational qualifications and especially those having passed the matriculation examination varied more depending on age. The number of persons with vocational qualifications outside work and education was highest among 20-year-olds (6,368). In turn, the number of persons with matriculation examination was biggest among those aged 19 years (4,963). The number of those with tertiary level qualifications 3) was low in the age groups examined: Highest among those aged 24 years (794). The most typical educational background for those outside work and education varied by age. The share of persons with comprehensive school as the highest qualification was biggest among 18-year-olds (3,270 persons). In turn, among those aged 19, the most typical educational background was matriculation examination (4,963) and among those aged 20 to 24, vocational education qualifications (4,905 to 6,358). Share of those outside work and education has remained in the 2000s clearly below the top years of recession in the 1990s Share of men and women aged 18 to 24 outside work and education in the population of the corresponding age of the same gender in 1987 to 2017 Between 1987 and 2017, the number of persons outside work and education has varied from 441,800 to 505,800. The share of the group among all those aged 18 to 24 in the year concerned has been at its lowest in 1989 (11.2%) and at its highest in 1992 (29.7%). In 1992, the share of those outside work and education was at its highest in the regions of Lapland and Kainuu, where the share rose over 34.5 per cent. The share also rose to 33.9 per cent in Paijat-Hame in 1993. In the examined period, there is greater variation in the shares of men outside work and education compared to women. During 1987 to 2017, the shares of persons aged 18 to 24 outside work and education in the same-age population varied for men between 10.5 and 31.4 per cent and for women between 11.9 and 28.3 per cent. The shares of persons outside work and education were biggest among men and women during the economic downturn at the beginning of the 1990s and in the years after it (1991 to 1996). The differences between genders in the shares have also been greatest in the years after the economic downturn. From 1991 to 1996, the share of men outside work and education in all men of the same age was 1.7 to 4.6 percentage points higher than women's corresponding shares. In addition, the share of men outside work and education in all men of the corresponding age was 1.8 to 5.7 percentage points higher than women's corresponding shares between 2009 and 2015. 1) Persons performing military service are not included in persons outside work and education2) The group of those with comprehensive school education includes all persons without information about qualifications after comprehensive school. They include persons having passed and persons having discontinued the comprehensive school and those whose educational background is unknown or who have completed a post-compulsory qualification abroad.3) Tertiary level qualifications include all qualifications higher than upper secondary level qualifications, that is, lowest tertiary level, lower tertiary level and higher tertiary level degrees. Source: Employment Statistics, Statistics Finland Inquiries: Juhana Nordberg 029 551 3051, info@stat.fi Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma Publication in pdf-format (292.9 kB) Updated 12.2.2019 Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Employment [e-publication]. ISSN=2323-6825. profession and socio economic position 2017. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 24.6.2021]. Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tyokay/2017/01/tyokay_2017_01_2019-02-12_tie_001_en.html Ashtabula, OH (44004) Today Except for a few afternoon clouds, mainly sunny. High 84F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy. Low 67F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Is Persecution the Only Option Left for Catholics in China? Contact: Kevin Wandra, 404-788-1276, KWandra@CarmelCommunications.com SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 12, 2019 / Standard Newswire / -- Cardinal Joseph Zen minced no words when he denounced the deal signed by the Holy See and Beijing last fall: "They're [sending] the flock into the mouths of the wolves. It's an incredible betrayal." He believes the Holy See sold out to the communists.FOR LOVE OF MY PEOPLE I WILL NOT REMAIN SILENT details Zen's extensive knowledge about the oppression of the Catholic Church in China and why an important letter from Pope Benedict XVI to Catholics in China should be a guiding principle to today's relations between the Vatican and Beijing.Zen is a native of China and served as the sixth Bishop of Hong Kong. He has been outspoken on issues regarding human rights, political freedom and religious liberty, often attracting criticism from the Communist Party of China.There are two Catholic communities in China: the "underground," or unofficial, Church and the official, government-controlled Patriotic Church. Zen is one of the most knowledgeable and credible witnesses to what is happening in China, especially on the relationship between these two communities. FOR LOVE OF MY PEOPLE I WILL NOT REMAIN SILENT looks at what has already unfolded in China and the terrifying scenario that lays ahead for Catholics in the country."Cardinal Joseph Zen is one of the great witnesses of the twenty-first-century Church," said George Weigel, author of The Fragility of Order: Catholic Reflections on Turbulent Times. "His thoughts on the future of Catholicism in China should be taken with the utmost seriousness by anyone who cares about the New Evangelization in the spiritual desert of the world's largest country."For more information, to request a review copy or to schedule an interview with Cardinal Joseph Zen, please contact Kevin Wandra (404-788-1276 or KWandra@CarmelCommunications.com ) of Carmel Communications. by Anwar A Khan Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a federal state in the north part of South America. The country has built its economy on oil, as Venezuela owns the largest oil reserves in the world.This is the land of Simon Bolivar, this is the land that took its army and liberated Latin America some hundred years ago. It is land of pride, of patriotism. Simon Bolivar was a revolutionary who played a key role in liberating several Latin American countries - including Venezuela - from the rule of Spain in the early 19th century. He spearheaded a number of successful military campaigns against the Spanish. The demand on the sovereign, independent government of Venezuela headed by Nicholas Maduro to step down from a foreign power posed to be a world-village headman and his sidekicks is nothing but temerity. It is also irremissible! That the situation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is very dire goes without saying. Coercion, whether military or economic, must never be used to seek a change in government in a sovereign state. The use of sanctions by outside powers to overthrow an elected government is in violation of all norms of international law. It is very usurious! Think of the other way round. If any other country tries to meddle into the internal affairs of that state, would it endure such an audacity? The liege states like Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Canada of that rapscallion state have issued ultimatum for new elections in Venezulea which tantamounts to what an old proverb says, All thieves are cousins. Political experts also have warned, however, that picking sides in Venezuelas political conflict runs contrary to international law. UN human rights expert IdrissJazairy expressed concern in a statement about the sanctions being imposed by the US on Venezuelas national oil company in an attempt to oust Maduro. The country president Nicholas Maduro has disdained EU ultimatum including its boss Donald Trump and his lieutenants so-called postulation. The Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza has said that the Bolivarian Government has always been open to dialogue with the Venezuelan opposition and also denounced that the United States government has promoted a coup detat in the Caribbean nation. Nobody is going to give us deadlines or tell us if there are elections or not," Arreaza told a special session of the United Nations Security Council. "Europe, putting yourself at the tail of the United States? Not even the United States, but of the Donald Trump government? From where do you get the power to issue deadlines or ultimatums to a sovereign people? From where do you come up with such interventionist and, I would even say, childish action?," he has said. Like all other independent and sovereign nations, the people of Venezuela are able to freely and securely decide about their future. No one should dare to dictate them.Russia, China and Turkey have firmly taken the side of Maduros government. And that is a welcome move! Russia's UN ambassador, VassilyNebenzia, has opposed the UN meeting on Venezuela, saying it did not represent a threat to international peace and security. He has accused Washington of attempting "a coup d'etat", a chargeMaduro also has levelled at his opponents. Many people have died in protest-related violence in Caracas. Maduro said he has written to the Pope for help to facilitate and strengthen dialogue to resolve the impasse, with tension having been heightened since Trump has suggested the US military might intervene. Maduro and his government also have said they would resist any such move, as he repeated claims that the US president wanted to turn his country into "a new Vietnam". "Europe and the world need to know that the White House has been taken over by an extremist," he has further said. He also has mentioned, "It is like the KluKluk Klan arrived in the White House and Donald Trump is the head of the KKK. He's surrounded by a group of people they call the Venezuela team." Maduro has claimed that Mike Pence, the US vice president; John Bolton, national security adviser to Trump; and the secretary of state Mike Pompeo are all part of the "supremacist" group. He has said theydedicate themselves daily to conspire against Venezuela including the option of a military coup. In a warning to Trump over potential military intervention, he has said, "The Venezuelan people, and our armed forces, the Bolivarian National Army - we won't let them take an inch of our national territory. Russia is one of the few foreign powers to have spoken out in his favour, with the Kremlin having condemned European countries for recognisingGuaido as acting president. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Vladimir Putin, has said, The move was an attempt to legitimise usurped power and would not result in a peaceful, effective and lasting settlement of the crisis the Venezuelans are going through". On January 23 last, the Venezuelan opposition generated a series of expectations and tensions on the street. At the moment, the country is calm despite the coup that the United States has promoted from the vanguard, with all its spokesmen dedicated to this task. The coup detat is being defeated gradually. The breakdown of diplomatic relations with the United States is contemplated in the Vienna Convention, it is expected that in the coming times US diplomats and consular officials leave the Venezuela. In any case, if a different scenario is presented, Venezuela will demand that they leave, but do not expect hostility from Venezuela. Venezuelan Foreign Minister has said that the good offices of the brother countries of the region in mediating through the dialogue in Venezuela will be welcome. We will be willing to activate and preserve it to be more effective than the one of the Dominican Republic, he has said. Likewise, the Foreign Minister also pointed out that a few days ago Juan Guaido himself met with the president of the National Constituent Assembly, Diosdado Cabello. In December 2018 and in all these months there were proposals on both sides to reach political agreements, but then the opposition consulted with Trumps spokesmen and ended up rejecting, he added. The Venezuelan diplomat lamented that right-wing presidents in Latin America, including Macri, receive orders from Washington, this in relation to the recent pronouncements of those countries that recognise the unconstitutional act of self-proclamation of Guaido. But Venezuela is a country of dialogue and peace. It is calm and at peace, unlike what some media are trying to show. There is a coup detat that is led by the US government and in particular by the US administration headed by Donald Trump, but the National Government will face the coup attempts. One may consider as humorous the self-proclamation of the deputy to the National Assembly, Juan Guaido, and this disdainful act stresses that it lacks legality. Some countries have supported the US interventionist position in Venezuela due to pressure from Washington and Venezuelas response to those states will be proportional, although Venezuelas confrontation is mainly with the United States, the main sponsor of the coup. Maduro government is willing to dialogue without any conditions and within the framework of the Venezuelan Constitution, it is denouncing that the opposition supported by the United States does not want to talk. The government of President NicolasMaduro has repeatedly called the opposition to a dialogue. In that sense, he said that we have opened the doors to meet wherever they want because a dialogue will be the most logical and important political pulse to solve the crisis in the country. Similarly, both the President and FM have denied that there is a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, to denounce that the Venezuelan economy has been disrupted because of the sanctions and the US blockade. They have also asserted that the alleged humanitarian aid is an absurdity and a theater show on the part of the United States and the enemies of Venezuela. In that sense, they have recalled that in 1960 Washington announced that there was a humanitarian crisis in the Dominican Republic and took advantage of the situation to deploy 8,000 US soldiers and overthrow the democratically elected president, Juan Bosch. President NicolasMaduro has taken seriously the US threat to have all the options on the table, indicating that the National Government has prepared for any scenario. The Bolivarian National Armed Forces are preparing anti-imperialist military in the face of this threat. The Venezuelan Foreign Minister has pointed out that the government presided over by NicolasMaduro has as main task to defend the people of Venezuela, as well as the integrity and independence of the country and will not let foreign actors dictate orders to the people. In the same way, he has expressed the confidence of the Venezuelan Executive in the people and in the FANB of Venezuela. He has asserted that Venezuela will succeed and will not let the interventionist attempts and the coup detat to triumph. He also has considered Trump as the symbol of the capitalist system and said that Venezuelas resistance and its victory over imperialism will encourage other countries to confront Donald Trump and not let their governments to be subjugated by the US. The Venezuelan diplomat has considered the support of the allies of great importance and mentioned that in the Security Council of the United Nations, countries such as Russia, China, among others, supported the National Government against the United States and its allies. He has recalled that the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution, Hugo Chavez, established relations of brotherhood with several countries, including Iran and Russia, and assured that Venezuela values these strategic relations. Delivering a speech at the UN General Assembly earlier, Jorge Arreaza said Trump had used the UN platform to declare war. "As if he were the worlds emperor President Donald Trump used this rostrum built for peace to announce war, the total destruction of member states, the application of coercive unilateral and illegal measures," Arreaza said. "Today we must report to the world that our people have been directly threatened by the President of the United States." This quadruplet of terror of Whitehouse stretching from Washington, D.C. to Caracas and many other parts of the world is the cause of immense human suffering, the impetus of enormous regional instability, and the genesis of a sordid cradle of self-willed intervention in the internal affairs of other independent and sovereign countries. So, the greater international community should excoriate in the most abrasive language against the uncalled for and unwarranted meddlesome actions of Washington establishment into Venezuelan internal affairsand the internal affairs other nations of the world to defend the rule of law, liberty, and basic human decency in the world. -The End The writer is a senior citizen of Bangladesh, writes on politics, political and human-centred figures, current and international affairs. Sri Lanka is negotiating with Russia the purchase of a new batch of Russian Mi-17 helicopters, which the country will use in UN peacekeeping missions, Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia Dayan Jayatilleka told pro-Russian governments news portal, the Sputnik on Sunday. "There is a commission that discusses the purchase of Mi-17 helicopters," Jayatilleka said, specifying that the country was going to purchase the helicopters for taking part in UN peacekeeping missions. The ambassador recalled that Mi-17s were on the agenda of a Sri Lankan senior defence officials' visit to Moscow in early September 2018. While negotiations are underway, no specific document has been signed yet, and the number of helicopters that Sri Lanka is going to purchase has not been defined, Jayatilleka specified. Sri Lanka has been purchasing Mi-17 helicopters since the early 1990s. According to a pro-Russian governments mouthpiece, Sputnik News, The Mi-17 medium twin-turbine helicopter is manufactured in a variety of forms, including cargo, passenger, search and rescue, flying hospital and firefighting models. Over 100 countries worldwide have purchased Mi-17 helicopters. Brussels, February 11, 2019 (SPS) - About 98 Sahrawi associations called on the Euro-deputies to vote against the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement, extended to the occupied Sahrawi territories, pointing out that this text aims to plunder the natural resources of Western Sahara and contributed to the continuation of the Moroccan occupation. On the eve of the holding of a plenary session at the European Parliament, the Sahrawi associations called on European MPs to vote against the inclusion of occupied Western Sahara in the scope of EU-Morocco fisheries agreement. Stakeholders of the Sahrawi civil society, from active organizations in the occupied and liberated territories and refugee camps and the Diaspora, called on the European deputies to defend the legality and right of Sahrawi people and to save the image of the European Union as an institution defending democracy, human rights and the rule of law. We call you to take up your constitutional responsibilities and act as legislative power, defend your own court and not be attracted by the propaganda and unfounded claims, according to the Sahrawi associations. In this regard, the collective of the Sahrawi organizations underlined that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) gave twice a ruling (21 December 2016 and 27 February 2018) on the fact that Western Sahara is a distinct and separate territory from Morocco and that the Moroccan Kingdom has no sovereignty over Western Sahara. (SPS) 062/SPS/APS Acting Pentagon chief makes surprise Baghdad visit Baghdad, Feb 12 (AFP) Feb 12, 2019 Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan made an unannounced visit to the Iraqi capital on Tuesday for talks on the sensitive issue of a continued US troop presence after Washington withdraws from neighbouring Syria. Shanahan is keen to reassure Iraqi leaders after President Donald Trump angered many by saying he wanted to maintain some troops at the Al-Asad airbase, northwest of Baghdad, to keep an eye on Iran. The acting defence secretary, who flew in from Afghanistan on his first foreign tour since taking office last month, held talks with Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi and top military advisers, as well as Lieutenant General Paul LaCamera, the commander of anti-IS coalition forces. His meeting with Iraq's premier had "a very good energy", Shanahan told the press after arriving in Brussels where he is set to attend a NATO summit. "I made very clear that we recognise their sovereignty, their focus on independence and that we are there at the invitation of the government," he added. Asked whether they had touched on the possibility of US troops in Iraq deploying across the border into Syria for operations against the Islamic State group, Shanahan said: "It just did not come up." The two spoke about Iran "indirectly... in the context of Iraq's independence", he said, adding that Abdel Mehdi had stressed the need for Baghdad to maintain good relations with both its neighbours and the US. - Focus on IS - A senior Pentagon official had earlier told journalists travelling with Shanahan that Washington's "main partnership and military activity in Iraq is the de-ISIS (IS) mission". Washington was also pressing its allies to repatriate their nationals captured and taken prisoner during the fight against IS in Iraq and Syria, the official said. "We think coalition members need to take responsibility for their citizens who are fighters. It's been a message we've delivered time and time again. And we are seeing hopeful progress," he said. Trump's comments about Iran, in an interview with CBS television aired on February 3, drew a stern rebuff from President Barham Saleh, who said the use of Iraq as a base against a third country violated its constitution. They also sparked renewed calls for a US withdrawal both from pro-Iran factions within the government and from Iran-trained armed groups whose power has risen sharply during the fightback against IS jihadists that culminated in December 2017. Those calls are likely to intensify as Washington carries out the full troop withdrawal from Syria unveiled in a shock announcement by Trump in December. The plan, judged hasty by both US allies and senior figures within Trump's own administration, prompted the resignation of Shanahan's predecessor, Jim Mattis. But with US-backed Kurdish-led fighters poised to overrun IS's last sliver of territory in eastern Syria perhaps as early as this week, the withdrawal, which other administration figures had managed to slow, is now likely to gather pace. - 'Incredible base' - Trump's comments about the Al-Asad airbase came after the US president had already angered Iraqi leaders in December by paying a Christmas visit to US troops based there without travelling to Baghdad to speak with officials. "We spent a fortune on building this incredible base. We might as well keep it," Trump said in the CBS interview. "One of the reasons I want to keep it is because I want to be looking a little bit at Iran because Iran is a real problem," he added. A draft law that would set a timetable for a US troop withdrawal is now before the Iraqi parliament. It is backed by both of Iraq's most powerful political groupings -- the nationalist alliance led by firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, and the pro-Iran movement of former anti-IS fighters. At a rare joint news conference on Monday, the two groupings demanded at the very least a "new agreement" setting tight conditions on any future foreign troop presence. Following the US-led invasion that overthrew since-executed dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, US troop numbers peaked at some 170,000 before a full withdrawal was completed in 2011. Troops returned to Iraq in 2014 as part of an international coalition set up to fight IS after it swept through much of the north and west as well as swathes of neighbouring Syria that year. sl/sbh/dco/dv Tajikistan seeks repatriation of 75 children from Iraq Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Feb 12 (AFP) Feb 12, 2019 Tajikistan's foreign minister said on Tuesday he hoped Iraq will return at least 75 children after their mothers, jailed over links to the Islamic State group, agreed to their repatriation. Sirodjidin Mukhriddin said that of 92 children from Tajikistan stranded in Iraq, 75 should be eligible for repatriation, 31 of whom are aged under three. Mukhriddin said that in most cases, the children had lost their fathers, who died fighting for the IS and other militant groups. Iraqi legislation demands that parents consent to their children leaving the country, he said. Tajikistan will have to pay $400 to repatriate each child, he said, a fee determined after diplomatic negotiations with Iraq. But Mukhriddin said repatriating the 43 women serving time in Iraqi jails would be an uphill battle. "Iraqi judges sentenced a number of female citizens of Tajikistan to long sentences, some even to life sentences," he said. The repatriation process "will be long and hard." Tajik diplomats will be heading to Iraq's neighbour Syria "in the near future" to discuss the issue with government officials including prison authorities, he said. Russia said Sunday that it had repatriated 27 children whose mothers were held in Iraq for belonging to the Islamic State group. Thirty had already been repatriated in December. IS seized large swathes of Iraq in a lightning 2014 offensive, before the Iraqi government dislodged the jihadists from urban centres and eventually declared victory in December 2017. Tajik authorities have said over 1,000 citizens left the country to fight on the side of militant groups in Iraq and Syria after 2011, some after stints working abroad in Russia. The most famous IS recruit from Tajikistan was Gulmurod Halimov, who headed the interior ministry's special forces unit before sensationally announcing his defection to IS in a video attributed to the group in 2015. NATO chief warns Europe against going it alone Brussels, Feb 12 (AFP) Feb 12, 2019 NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday warned Europe against thinking it can manage without the transatlantic alliance, after France and Germany committed themselves to a future joint "European Army". German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed in a treaty last month to "contribute to the creation of a European army", drawing stinging criticism from US President Donald Trump. While NATO supports efforts to get European countries spending more effectively on defence, it is keen to stress that the EU's work must not duplicate or compete with the alliance. "We need to avoid any perception that Europe can manage without NATO," Stoltenberg said on the eve of a meeting of NATO defence ministers. "Because two World Wars and a Cold War taught us we need a strong transatlantic bond to preserve peace and stability in Europe." With Britain, the EU's main military power alongside France, set to leave the bloc on March 29, NATO will become even more important for European defence, Stoltenberg said. "Especially after Brexit it's obvious that EU efforts cannot replace NATO, because after Brexit 80 percent of NATO's defence expenditure will come from non-EU members." Trump has repeatedly demanded European NATO countries spend more on their defence but he has mocked the idea of a separate European army. Stoltenberg has said that done properly, recent EU initiatives to better coordinate and harmonise defence spending could help answer some of Trump's criticisms. When Merkel and Macron signed their treaty in the German city of Aachen last month, Stoltenberg welcomed it, particularly the emphasis given to international institutions like NATO. Taliban unveils negotiating team ahead of US peace talks Kabul, Feb 12 (AFP) Feb 12, 2019 The Taliban announced Tuesday a 14-member team to meet American negotiators this month in Doha, including five former Guantanamo Bay inmates and a high-profile militant behind bars in Afghanistan. United States special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has undertaken extensive recent peace talks with the Taliban about ending the 17-year war in Afghanistan, with another round expected in late February. The expanded negotiating team unveiled by the insurgents includes Anas Haqqani, who was captured in 2014 and whose older brother is deputy Taliban leader and head of the Haqqani network. A spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani, whose administration was not invited to the most recent round of Taliban talks in January, flatly denied Anas would be freed. "Anas Haqqani is in prison, and no decision has been taken for his release," the spokesman, Haroon Chakhansuri, said on Twitter. "The people of Afghanistan can rest assured that justice will be ensured." The Taliban has long demanded that Anas be released, saying he is a student. Afghan authorities accuse him of a being a high-level player in the Haqqani network. The Taliban affiliate is a designated terror group by Washington that has been blamed for some of the most shocking and brutal attacks across Afghanistan since the US invasion of 2001. "Anas Haqqani was captured by the Americans, and should be released to better help with the talks," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP via WhatsApp. The insurgents said the team announced Tuesday "would continue the current peace talks with the Americans". Khalilzad, who last met the militants in January, has said he hopes to strike a deal with the Taliban before the Afghan presidential elections in July. But he has urged caution, saying he did not trust America's long-time adversary and that major hurdles remain. The special envoy has stressed that any US troop withdrawal would be dependent on conditions on the ground, and that the Taliban must sit down with Kabul and come to an agreement. The Taliban refuse to talk to Ghani's government in Kabul, which they consider a US puppet. Khalilzad is leading a large delegation on a six-nation tour, including Afghanistan, to boost the peace process. He and other US negotiators are expected to meet the Taliban in Qatar, where the insurgents have their political office, later this month. The insurgents, who were toppled by US-led forces in 2001, last week held separate talks in Moscow with a senior delegation of Afghan politicians, including chief Ghani rivals. The two-day talks were the Taliban's most significant engagement with Afghan leaders in years, though without the involvement of the government it was unclear what impact they will have. NATO planning for more Russian missiles: Stoltenberg Brussels, Feb 12 (AFP) Feb 12, 2019 NATO is planning for "more Russian missiles" after the collapse of a landmark Cold War arms treaty, but will not deploy new nuclear warheads in Europe, the organisation's chief said Tuesday. Fears are growing of a new arms race in Europe after Washington started the process of exiting the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty claiming that Russia violated the pact with a new missile system. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would beef up its defences but insisted this did not mean "mirroring" any Russian build-up of missiles. The fate of the INF treaty, signed by the US and the Soviet Union in 1987 to ban ground-launched mid-range missiles, will be high on the agenda as NATO defence ministers meet in Brussels on Wednesday. Western capitals want Russia to return to compliance with the treaty by abandoning its new 9M729 missile system. "We are both urging Russia to come back in compliance but at the same time we are planning for a world without the INF treaty and with more Russian missiles," Stoltenberg said. "We don't have to mirror what Russia does but we need to make sure we have effective deterrence and defence." Stoltenberg repeated warnings that the new Russian missiles made nuclear conflict more likely because they are mobile, hard to detect, and give little warning time. The US Ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey Hutchison, said the Pentagon has already started looking at how best to defend against the new missiles. "America felt it was time for us to have a defence and not be left without a defence with Russia having missiles that were in violation," she said. "What is going to happen going forward? First of all, the defence we would be working on is conventional, not nuclear." The INF treaty banned ground-launched missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres (310 to 3,400 miles), ending a dangerous build-up of warheads on mainland Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the US pullout by saying Moscow would also leave the treaty, and his defence minister announced plans for new missiles -- prompting Trump to vow to outspend Moscow. While pointing the finger at each other, both Washington and the Kremlin have voiced concern that the bilateral INF treaty does nothing to constrain China, whose rapidly growing military relies on medium-range missiles as a core part of its defence strategy. Acting Pentagon chief makes surprise Baghdad visit Baghdad, Feb 12 (AFP) Feb 12, 2019 Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan made an unannounced visit to the Iraqi capital on Tuesday for talks on the sensitive issue of a continued US troop presence after Washington withdraws from neighbouring Syria. Shanahan is keen to reassure Iraqi leaders after President Donald Trump angered many by saying he wanted to maintain some troops at the Al-Asad airbase, northwest of Baghdad, to keep an eye on Iran. The acting defence secretary, who flew in from Afghanistan on his foreign tour since taking office last month, was due to hold talks with Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi and top military advisers, as well as Lieutenant General Paul LaCamera, the commander of anti-IS coalition forces. "Our main partnership and military activity in Iraq is the de-ISIS (IS) mission," a senior Pentagon official told journalists travelling with Shanahan, keeping the focus on the fight against Islamic State jihadists. Washington was also pressing its allies to repatriate their nationals captured and taken prisoner after fighting fought for IS in Iraq and Syria, the official said. "We think coalition members need to take responsibility for their citizens who are fighters. It's been a message we've delivered time and time again. And we are seeing hopeful progress," he said. Trump's comments about Iran, in an interview with CBS television aired on February 3, drew a stern rebuff from President Barham Saleh, who said the use of Iraq as a base against a third country violated its constitution. They also sparked renewed calls for a US withdrawal both from pro-Iran factions within the government and from Iran-trained armed groups whose power has risen sharply during the fightback against the Islamic State group that culminated in December 2017. Those calls are likely to intensify as Washington carries out the full troop withdrawal from Syria unveiled in a shock announcement by Trump in December. The plan, judged hasty by both US allies and senior figures within Trump's own administration, prompted the resignation of Shanahan's predecessor, Jim Mattis. But with US-backed Kurdish-led fighters poised to overrun the Islamic State group's last tiny enclave in eastern Syria, perhaps as early as this week, the withdrawal, which other administration figures had managed to slow, is now likely to gather pace. - 'Incredible base' - Trump's comments about the al-Asad airbase came after the US president had already angered Iraqi leaders in December by paying a Christmas visit to US troops based there without travelling to Baghdad to talk with them. "We spent a fortune on building this incredible base. We might as well keep it," Trump said in the CBS interview. "One of the reasons I want to keep it is because I want to be looking a little bit at Iran because Iran is a real problem," he added. A draft law that would set a timetable for a US troop withdrawal is now before the Iraqi parliament. It is backed by both of Iraq's most powerful political groupings, the nationalist alliance led by radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, and the pro-Iran movement of former anti-IS fighters. At a rare joint news conference on Monday, the two groupings demanded at the very least a "new agreement" setting tight conditions on any future foreign troop presence. Following the US-led invasion that overthrew since-executed dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, US troop numbers peaked at some 170,000 before a full withdrawal was completed in 2011. Troops returned to Iraq in 2014 as part of an international coalition set up to fight IS after it swept through much of the north and west as well as swathes of neighbouring Syria that year. sl/sbh/hc/jkb Harrison Ford attacks leaders who deny climate change Dubai, Feb 12 (AFP) Feb 12, 2019 Hollywood veteran Harrison Ford on Tuesday attacked US President Donald Trump and other world leaders who deny climate change saying they were "on the wrong side of history". Ford, who famously played the title role of Indiana Jones and also Han Solo in the Star Wars franchise, was in Dubai to address climate change at the World Government Summit. "Around the world, elements of leadership, including in my own country, to preserve their stake in the status quo, deny or denigrate science. They are on the wrong side of history," he said. "We are faced with what I believe is the greatest moral crisis of our time that those least responsible for nature's destruction will suffer the greatest consequences." Trump opted out of a Paris climate pact months after taking office in 2017, saying it would pose a "burden" on the US economy. The Paris deal saw nations agree to limit global temperature rises this century to at least below two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit). Failure to meet those goals, scientists have said, could result in irreversible sea level rises, disastrous droughts and higher temperatures. Earlier this month, the UN said the past four years were the hottest since global temperature records began, in a "clear sign of continuing long-term climate change". Ford urged people to "roll up" their sleeves and work together to "get this thing done". "If we are to survive on this planet, the only home any of us are ever going to know, for our security, for our future, for our climate, we need nature now more than ever," he said. "Nature doesn't need people. People need nature." Scott Cody, Pharm.D is a registered pharmacist with a passion for alternative or non-traditional pharmacy. He is also a computer consultant in pharmacy electronic medical records. He can be reached at 507-456-7843 or via email at scottcody@ToxicInAmerica.com. Follow him on Twitter at ToxicInAmerica or Facebook at scott.cody.12382. Rep. Brian Daniels, R-Faribault, is the state representative for District 24B, which includes Medford, Ellendale and much of rural Steele County. He can be reached by phone at 651-296-8237 or via email at rep.brian.daniels@house.mn. Lois M. Nelson is now beginning her 8th year as Medford Mayor. She can be reached through City Hall at (507)455-2866 or cell (507)390-4553 or email: dlnelson1167@q.com A day after Owatonna High School went into lockdown, all was quiet at the building Tuesday, but that was unrelated to Mondays events. All Steele County schools were closed Tuesday due to a one-two punch of heavy snow and high winds. (Ryan Anderson/Peoples Press) You are the owner of this article. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Bisharo Farah, HealthFinders community health worker, and Kristina Rauenhorst, womens health physician, are partnering to provide resources, communication and appointment follow-ups to improve the patient experience for Somali women. (Photo courtesy of Mayo Clinic Health System) Setting the Tone: Search for new Dean of Students nearing an end Enterprise, AL (36331) Today Scattered showers and thunderstorms. High 83F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Partly cloudy during the evening followed by cloudy skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Kids in grades 112 will compete with one another in a series of five skills contests. Provided Children from across the state will participate in the Ohio Regional Braille Challenge. Provided Recent advancements in technology have made life easier for all types of people with disabilities. New devices and apps have made it possible for those with visual impairments to access information and navigate the world in ways never imagined a hundred years ago. But regardless of the ease of use that audio books and the like provide, braille reading is still an essential skill for the blind and visually challenged. On March 1, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired will host the Ohio Regional Braille Challenge. Students from across Ohio in grades 112 will compete with one another in a series of five skills contests: braille reading and comprehension, speed and accuracy, spelling, proofreading, and tactile graphics. This is something that were looking to just build and grow and I think it has a lot of potential, says Clovernook Center president and CEO Chris Faust. In its 18th year nationally, the Braille Challenge encourages blind and visually impaired children to show off their braille skills in competition with others from across the country. Top-scoring students at the Ohio Regional Braille Challenge will earn cash prizes, along with the chance to compete in the Braille Institute of Americas Braille Challenge Finals, to be held in Los Angeles in June. Clovernook Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired has been providing various life-enriching programs and opportunities for those with visual impairments since 1903. As the worlds largest volume producer of braille materials in the world, it is fitting that the Ohio Regional Braille Challenge would take place here for the third year in a row. The kids come from all over the state. In the past weve had young people from Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus, says Kathy DeLaura, event chair for the Ohio Regional Braille Challenge. The theme for this year is Superheroes because all of these kids are superheroes, adds DeLaura. They have overcome amazing challenges in order to be there, which is a credit to their parents and their teachers as well as the kids. Im excited for the Braille Challenge to highlight the importance of Braille for the visually impaired, says Faust. A lot of people dont understand, but braille forms the foundation for people to create sentence structure. It helps with their thought process and it helps people to effectively communicate, he continues. With audio, the amount that is retained is significantly less than when they read braille. DeLaura concurs. Reading is fundamental, and if you cant see, braille is fundamental. It is really the only tool thats out there for people who are blind and visually impaired to pursue literacy, says DeLaura. Far more than just a contest, the Ohio Regional Braille Challenge takes on an air of celebration and kinship, complete with a procession led by bagpipers, a proclamation from the City of Cincinnati, a choral concert by Clovernooks choir, and various workshops for parents and teachers. It truly is a celebration, says Faust. Yeah, theyre going to work hard, and theyre also going to play hard and thats what we want them to do. We want them to enjoy it. Its all about encouraging them to continue their learning and growth in braille, which is really going to help them down the road. People that learn braille its been documented that they have higher levels of education, rates of employment, and also levels of pay, he continues. There is a 70% unemployment rate for people that are blind and visually impaired. So the more people we can get to learn braille, the more likely theyre going to be educated, the more likely theyre going to be employed and earn a sustainable living. And thats really our goal to empower all them to be full participants in their community, Faust says. This years workshops are set to include programs on legislative issues, 3-D printing, and use of smart phone apps, among other offerings. As for brailles place in this brave, new world of technology, Faust is optimistic and excited for the future. There are some really cool things coming out that are going to increase the amount of materials available, he says. Braille is not just a function of the embossed pages. The number of printed braille pages will decrease, but the amount of available materials via downloads is going to increase, he says. People would assume braille is going away. Braille is going to evolve. For more information about the Braille Institute of Americas Braille Challenge, visit www.braillechallenge.org. To learn more about Clovernook Center, visit their Facebook page. Those interested in registering a student for the Ohio Regional Braille Challenge may email [email protected]. 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Swine flu has affected 9,367 people in the country till Sunday with Rajasthan reporting 107 deaths and 2,941 cases of infects, followed by Gujarat at 55 deaths and 1,431 people being infected, showed the data. Punjab has reported 30 deaths and 335 cases followed by Madhya Pradesh, which has reported 22 deaths and 98 cases. Swine flu has claimed 17 lives in Maharashtra and affected 204 people. Delhi so far has witnessed seven deaths due to the H1N1 virus and 1,669 cases of infection, followed by Haryana recording seven deaths and 640 cases. Telangana has recorded five deaths and 424 cases of infection. With the number of swine flu cases going up, the Health Ministry has asked state governments to bolster their surveillance for early detection of the disease and also keep beds reserved in hospitals to deal with acute cases, which require ventilator facility. States have also been advised to involve district collectors in enhancing public awareness and outbreak response, a health ministry statement said. The guidelines for influenza vaccination and the details of manufacturers of vaccine provided by Drug Controller General of India have been shared with all states. Communication material for preventive measures has also been shared. Video conferences are also being held regularly to monitor the situation. Advisory for preparedness to seasonal influenza A (H1N1) was issued and the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) and its state units have enhanced surveillance for Influenza like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI). The Drug Controller General of India has been asked to coordinate with drug manufacturers and monitor the availability of Oseltamivir, the medicine recommended by WHO, in various states. The Health Ministry has recommended vaccination for healthcare workers and other priority groups. The health advisory states that seasonal influenza (H1N1) is a self-limiting viral, air borne disease spread from person to person, through large droplets generated due to coughing and sneezing, indirect contact by touching a contaminated object or surface and close contact, including handshaking, hugging and kissing. The dos and don'ts mention covering nose and mouth with disposable tissue or handkerchief while coughing or sneezing, washing hands with soap and water frequently, avoiding crowded places, maintaining isolation, drinking plenty of liquid and consulting a doctor. According to the advisory, one should not touch the eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands, or hug, kiss or shake hands while greeting, or spit in public places, and dispose of used napkin or tissue paper in open areas. An image of Vijay Sethupathi with News 7 news bulletin backdrop saying that Bhagavad Gita is a fictional work and its not a holy book as claimed by many, such works are the reason behind so many issues went viral on the social media. An image of Vijay Sethupathi with News 7 news bulletin backdrop saying that Bhagavad Gita is a fictional work and its not a holy book as claimed by many, such works are the reason behind so many issues went viral on the social media. Fans of the actor believed it to be Vijay Sethupathis speech and some of them even expressed their strong opposition against him on Facebook. Only later, Vijay Sethupathis speech at the Digicop application launch was tweaked by a miscreant to spread hatred against the actor and Bhagavad Gita. In the original pic published by News 7, Vijay Sethupathi was quoted saying Applications like Digicop will reduce the gap between people and cops. Gallbladder removal operation during pregnancy associated with adverse maternal outcomes CHICAGO (February 12, 2019): Pregnant women produce extra progesterone, which puts them at greater risk for gallstones. When the stones become problematic, causing painful attacks, a surgeon may recommend that the diseased gallbladder be taken out by performing an operation known as a cholecystectomy. However, new research findings suggest the timing of the operation may increase the risk of adverse outcomes for pregnant women. Women who have their gallbladder removed during pregnancy are more likely to experience longer hospital stays, increased 30-day readmissions, and higher rates of preterm delivery than those who delay the operation until after childbirth, according to the study results published online as an "article in press" on the Journal of the American College of Surgeons website in advance of print publication. "In light of these findings, whenever possible, women with symptomatic gallstones in pregnancy should wait as long as possible to let the baby mature before having the cholecystectomy," said study coauthor Henry A. Pitt, MD, FACS, professor of surgery at Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia. Dr. Pitt and colleagues studied a large database of women in California (the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development database) who underwent a laparoscopic or open cholecystectomy between 2005 and 2014 for gallstones or other benign biliary disease. They compared 403 pregnant women who underwent the operation within 90 days prior to childbirth with 17,490 women who had the procedure within three months after childbirth. Most patients who undergo a minimally invasive (laparoscopic) cholecystectomy can go home the same day. However, the analysis showed that when a cholecystectomy was performed during pregnancy, it was more likely to require hospitalization (85 percent versus 63 percent) and more likely to be an open operation, whereby the surgeon uses a scalpel and makes an incision (13 percent versus 2 percent). One important finding was that maternal delivery outcomes--including eclampsia and hemorrhage for the mother, and preterm delivery--were significantly worse when the cholecystectomy was done during pregnancy as opposed to postpartum, Dr. Pitt said. The eclampsia rate for pregnant women who underwent this operation in the third trimester was 1 percent higher than those who chose to wait until after childbirth. Additionally, the hemorrhage and preterm delivery rates for women who had the cholecystectomy during pregnancy was 3 percent and 12 percent higher, respectively. The researchers found that women who underwent the operation during the third trimester were twice as likely to deliver a preterm baby and almost twice as likely to have abnormal maternal outcomes. Women who postponed the cholecystectomy until after childbirth had better maternal outcomes. "The real significant finding is that babies were being born preterm when they weren't adequately developed. And we know that preterm delivery is associated with neonatal mortality and multiple adverse outcomes for the baby," Dr. Pitt said. "So that is the real reason to wait: to make sure the outcome for the baby is the best possible outcome." The initial analysis also found that women who underwent cholecystectomy in the third trimester had a longer length of hospital stay (three days versus one day), higher cost of hospitalization ($19,918 versus $17,461), and higher 30-day readmission rates (10 percent versus 4 percent) compared with the postpartum group. For now, operative guidelines from the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons recommend laparoscopic cholecystectomy for all pregnant women with symptomatic gallstones and state that the procedure is safe for both the mother and the fetus. However, Dr. Pitt believes that these study results support a change in practice because recommendations in the guidelines are based on older studies instead of current data. "These big databases like the one we used in California just didn't exist 15 years ago," Dr. Pitt explained. Surprisingly, the other big finding from the study is that 98 percent of the time cholecystectomies were being done after delivery, Dr. Pitt said. "So despite the recommendations in these guidelines, I think surgeons and obstetricians knew that the better approach for the patient was to wait as long as possible." ### Other study authors include Zhi Ven Fong, MD, MPH, Numa P. Perez, MD, Cassandra M. Kelleher, MD, FACS, Keith D. Lillemoe, MD, FACS, and senior author David C. Chang, PhD, MPH, MBA, from Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; Steven M. Strasberg, MD, FACS, from Washington University in Saint Louis; Rose L. Molina, MD, MPH, FACOG, from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston; Andrew P. Loehrer, MD, MPH, from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, N.H; Jason K. Sicklick, MD, FACS, from University of California at San Diego; and Mark A. Talamini, MD, MBA, FACS, from Stony Brook School of Medicine, N.Y. These results were presented at the Southern Surgical Association, 130th Annual Meeting, Palm Beach, FL, December 2018. Citation: Cholecystectomy During the Third Trimester of Pregnancy: Proceed or Delay? Journal of the American College of Surgeons. Available at: https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1016/ j. jamcollsurg. 2018. 12. 024 About the American College of Surgeons The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for all surgical patients. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 82,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. For more information, visit http://www. facs. org (.) This story has been published on: 2019-02-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Kolkata-based Emami Ltd has Indian MFs holding a huge Rs 2,000 crore promoters' debt exposure against security of listed Emami shares. Emami Group is seen having large LAS (loan against securities secured against collateral) borrowings from non-MF lenders too. Emami promoters hold 72 per cent stake, of which half is already disclosed as pledged. New Delhi: After the Zee stock collapse, with nerves already frayed amongst Mutual Funds (MFs) and NBFCs, a new name has emerged to cause fresh tremors. The problem is average daily traded volumes of Emami shares are barely Rs 10-12 crore. Emami stock price is already nearly 50 per cent down from its peak and could be the next big bust. In 2015, Emami raised Rs 950 crore to partially fund the Kesh King acquisition for Rs 1,684 crore. It bought Kesh King and allied brands from SBS Biotech, a deal which analysts categorised as expensive at the time. The stock dropped 11 per cent intra day on Monday to an over 4 year low of Rs 336, before making a partial recovery but still closing down 4 per cent at Rs 368, rocked as it was this negative news. As is the case of Zee, the MFs will struggle to enforce the security if there is a breach of margin requirements, given the lack of liquidity in the counter. This begs the question how MFs in the first place have granted such huge loans against such illiquid securities. Refinancing of all promoter loans is as it is severely challenged post IL&FS, DHFL, Zee situations and all MFs have sworn off providing any rollovers. After the NBFC scare with the IL&FS exposure, the run on Mutual Funds cannot be discounted. That is why SEBI stepped in recently clearly articulating the need for stability. Over time, MFs have turned into the single largest counterweight to FPIs in Indian equity markets, keeping the indices afloat even during the worst FPI pullouts. Last year, FPIS pulled out a record Rs 83,000 crore from Indian equity and debt instruments. Given all these tremors, market concern is mounting on repayment/unwinding of all such LAS borrowings. Yet, for all the heat and dust, there is still no policy action on this subject till now from SEBI and RBI. Further, a 13 per cent fall in Monday's trading in Apollo Hospitals stock price, the single largest day fall in seven years, spooked investors. The promoters own 34 per cent of the company and they have pledged nearly 75 per cent of their stake, scaring the investor community. On Monday, the context for the alarming fall may well have been the Madras High Court declining to pass interim orders on a plea by Apollo seeking to restrain the Commission of Inquiry from looking into the correctness and adequacy of the medical treatment given to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha before her death in 2016. Update: On Tuesday, the counters on Emami and Apollo Hospitals were trading marginally in the red on the Bombay Stock Exchange. At noon, shares of Emami Hospital were trading at Rs 359.40 per share (down by 1.87%). Shares of Apollo Hospital were quoting a price of Rs 1,121.45 (down by 0.31%). Also Read: Emami net-profit slumps by 6% in Q3 Net profit for Emami down by 16% in Q2 Jayalalitha Death probe panel going beyond brief, Apollo tells Madras HC Mumbai: The global wholesales of the Tata Motors Group including Jaguar Land Rover declined 12 per cent in January 2019, on a year-on-year basis, the company said on Tuesday. The group sold 1,00,572 units of vehicles last month, Tata Motors said in a statement. Global wholesales of all Tata Motors' commercial vehicles and Tata Daewoo range in January 2019 were at 40,886 numbers, lower 9 per cent over the corresponding month last year, it said. In a discussion paper on "Applicability of Individual Scrip wise Price Bands or Circuit Filters" on F&O scrips, Sebi said: "Concerns have been raised that investors' wealth is getting wiped out in a single day by recent falls in stocks on which derivative products are available, as no price bands or circuit filters are applicable on them." Mumbai: Capital markets regulator Sebi on Monday proposed to fix circuit filters or price bands on futures & options (F&O) scrips to curb excessive volatility. "In view of recent abnormal intra-day price movements, suggestions are being made to review the rules to prevent such extraordinary price movements." Derivatives markets reflect expectation of spot prices in the future, and as such price bands or circuit filters are generally not applied on them. New Delhi: At a time when there are a few or no takers for stalled residential projects, the public sector construction major NBCC is willing to take up such properties for completion, provided they are commercially viable and do not hurt the company's balance sheet. After agreeing to take up few incomplete projects of Amrapali Group, NBCC is now looking to take up the incomplete housing projects of Jaypee Infratech. In an interview with IANS, NBCC CMD Anoop Kumar Mittal said that the company is willing to take up any stalled realty project for completion if it seems profitable. He said that being a Board-governed company, it would take decisions based on commercial viability of the projects. "Wherever there will be some opportunity we can complete the stalled projects without compromising the balance sheet and profitability or whatever commercial interest we have... We are ready to take those projects," he said. Speaking of the Amrapali projects, he said that part of the work has started. The Supreme Court last month gave a go-ahead to NBCC for completing the construction of two projects of the Amrapali Group. Regarding upcoming redevelopment projects, he said that it is currently working on the design and Detailed Project Reports (DPR) of Air India's two land parcels at Baba Kharak Singh Marg and Vasant Vihar in the national capital. In September, the national carrier gave an in-principle approval to NBCC for monetising or redeveloping the non-core assets in the city. The projects assume significance as the property at Baba Kharak Singh Marg in Connaught Place is likely to be another major commercial hub in the heart of the national capital. The plot at Baba Kharak Singh Marg is spread across 3.54 acres while that in Vasant Vihar which houses Air India's staff colony spreads across 30 acres. He also said that its bid for the bankrupt Jaypee Infratech at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is a major target ahead and if approved, it would be a "big work". Talking of the financial growth of the company, Mittal said the company aims a minimum growth of 30 per cent in its profit and revenue for the financial year 2019-20. "In 2019-20, our plan is that minimum 30 per cent growth in top line and bottom line in all our business verticals." On the issues faced by the real estate sector, he noted that although the there has been an uptick in sales in the past few months, demand still remains a concern. He observed that realty players along with the government should come up with a mechanism to maintain stock of unsold inventory in the local or district level and gauge the demand-supply parity. "I feel that there should be some mechanisms before local bodies allow any developer to start the project. They should also see whether that demand is still available in that area There should be some mechanism," Mittal told IANS. "Before sanctioning the houses that kind of analysis should be done. There can be some variation in that, 5-20 per cent, but there should not be variation of 300-500 per cent," he said. Rituraj Baruah can be contacted at rituraj.b@ians.in Jayalalithaa was in Apollo Hospitals here for 75 days in 2016 before she died there due to cardiac arrest on December 5, 2016. Chennai: Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd has approached the Madras High Court to restrain the Justice A. Arumugaswamy Commission from probing into the adequacy or correctness of the treatment given to late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa at the hospital. The Apollo Hospitals have also filed a petition in the high court to appoint an independent medical board, if the Commission's terms of reference also cover an inquiry into the treatment given to Jayalalithaa. "We feel the Commission is going beyond its terms of reference. The terms of reference for the Commission does not intend to go into the adequacy of the treatment given to Jayalalithaa. The inquiry is now changing towards a case of medical negligence," a person close to Apollo Hospitals told IANS. The Apollo Hospitals had filed the petition on Tuesday and the matter is coming up for hearing on February 11. The Commission had earlier turned down the request of Apollo to set up a medical board. In an order issued detailing the terms of reference of the inquiry commission, the Tamil Nadu government had said it would "inquire into the circumstances and situation leading to the hospitalisation" of Jayalalithaa on September 22, 2016 and "subsequent treatment provided till her unfortunate demise" on December 5 that year. Ever since Jayalalithaa's death, there have been allegations of foul play. He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted an honest budget so the government raised the fiscal deficit target marginally to 3.4 per cent even though it could have mentioned it at 3.3 per cent. New Delhi: Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said the NDA government has done a lot to improve farmers' economic condition and refuted the criticism on the Rs 6,000 annual direct income support to them being meagre as the Lok Sabha approved the interim Budget. Replying to the discussion on the interim Budget, which was later passed by the house by a voice vote, Goyal said the amount allocated for farmers in the budget was not small and provided constant annual income support. "About 12 crore farmers getting Rs 6,000 each year, which translates into Rs 7.5 lakh crore in a span of 10 years, is not small by any means," he said, adding the government has earlier provided higher minimum support price (MSP) for 22 crops and that there has been marked improvements in the condition of farmers with steps like Ayushman Bharat. Goyal also refuted the criticism that the government has presented a full Budget in an election year, saying "we have not announced any new scheme for the next year's Budget. "Rather in 2014, the then UPA finance minister, without waiting for a regular Budget, had cut the duty on SUVs and big luxury cars for the rich while tinkering with the tax rates which is unusual in the interim Budget. Is an SUV car purchased by the middle class or farmers?" The Finance Minister took a dig at the UPA government, saying no benefits were given to the farmers in the Budget but loans to the farmers doubled in the NDA government's rule. He said Congress only brought one announcement in their 10 years from 2004-14 --farm loan waiver of Rs 60,000 crore. Even that was not provided in the budget and the actual number was brought down to Rs 52,000 crore a year later, he said. Goyal said the government has worked for all sections of the society and has taken care of them in this budget. "The poor, farmers and the middle-class are the government's priorities. Our government was the first to increase minimum support price for farmers," Goyal said in his speech. The Lok Sabha later passed the Interim Budget after the day-long discussion. The Appropriation Bill authorising appropriation of moneys for the first four months of financial year (vote on account) and the Finance Bill were passed by voice vote amid the din in the House created by Telugu Desam Party members shouting slogans continuously demanding special category status for Andhra Pradesh. Bengaluru: State-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) on Monday reported a standalone net profit of Rs 455 crore for the third quarter of 2018-19, a 17 per cent decline from Rs 549 crore in the same period a year ago. In a regulatory filing on the BSE after trading hours, the city-based defence major said standalone revenue from operations, however grew 3.4 per cent annually to Rs 4,425 crore for the quarter under review from Rs 4,278 crore in the like period a year ago. On the evening of Tuesday, June 15, the Newville Borough Police Department received a 911 call about a domestic dispute in the first block of Independent equity research firm Shareclarity today announced the launch of its industry-first augmented reality (AR) research app, which will enable users to access a wealth of investor related information in an instant via their mobile camera. Shareclarity is committed to improving how equity research is prepared and distributed, and the free app promises to deliver on that by giving investors faster and more transparent access to investment material including share price, key financials, relevant media articles, and analyst insights. The app covers the more than 270 different listed companies within the Shareclarity portfolio from throughout New Zealand, Australia and Hong Kong. Daniel Kieser, founder and managing director of Shareclarity, says the initiative is the culmination of several months of hard work by a large team of developers and analysts, and one hes confident will be well received on both sides of the Tasman. Our AR app, which we believe to be the first of its kind in our category, lets time-poor investors find what theyre after without even typing. All they have to do is point their phone at the name of one of the firms we cover - in an email, newspaper, website or street sign - and well instantaneously overlay our research-based analysis and insights. Technology is creating new ways for people to access and interact with information all the time. While were obviously excited about this development, theres even more to come from Shareclarity in the near future, including voice controls and modular research. Soon, instead of receiving a lengthy, staid broker report, youll be able to download, post, send and receive the parts you want via email, text, WhatsApp, Messenger and other channels, says Kieser. Shareclarity provides real-time research on the growing list of companies within its portfolio, as well as access to stock screens, newsletters, mobile alerts, company descriptions, chat forums and annual reports. With operations in both New Zealand and Australia, the launch of the Shareclarity app is designed for investors, wealth advisers, fund managers and financial institutions on both sides of the Tasman, and Asia. Since we launched five years ago, weve been on a mission to make relevant information accessible and useable, and we want to continue providing everyone an equal opportunity to learn and contribute to the understanding of shares, concludes Kieser. About Shareclarity: Founded in 2013, www.shareclarity.com is a first-of-a-kind information platform that provides collaborative company analyses and share price valuations for Australian, New Zealand and Hong Kong listed companies. It has offices in Auckland, New Zealand, and Sydney, Australia. Media enquiries: For more information please contact Kelly Bennett, One Plus One Communications on +64 21 380 035 or kelly.bennett@oneplusonegroup.co.nz 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: Farms, Nations & Buffett WOW, I AM SO PLEASED THAT HAPPENED!! General Finance Ltd. Change of ownership IT'S LABOUR'S WEEKEND IN EVERY WAY!!! - BY BRENT KING CLIENT SURVEY - BY BRENT KING THE SURPRISE ELECTION - BY BRENT KING TAKEOVER OFFERS CAN BE TRICKY !! - BY BRENT KING WHY I AM BACKING TONY FALKENSTEIN FOR THE NZX BOARD - BY BRENT KING Changes to NZX listing rules exempting managed investment structures (MIS) from many of the rules that apply to other listed entities is an example of well-intentioned changes that may have unintended or unforeseen consequences for investors, says New Zealand Shareholders Association chair John Hawkins. The new exemptions are particularly egregious when applied retrospectively to listed entities such as Vital Healthcare Property Trust, which has been listed on the NZX since 1999. The rule changes were sold as a simplification with no significant practical changes and, on that basis, NZSA supported the amendments, Hawkins writes in the latest issue of NZSAs Scrip newsletter. The exemptions appeared to make sense because such funds are largely governed by the Financial Markets Conduct Act rules overseen by the Financial Markets Authority. But one unintended consequence is that, unknown to us, the listed Vital Healthcare Property Trust is regarded as an MIS and adopted the new MIS rules in January, Hawkins says. Vitals switch to the new NZX rules results in some fundamental changes to the minimum standards, he says. These include: There are no independent director requirements There are no minimum number of director requirements The director appointment rules and process no longer apply The director rotation requirements no longer apply The right to remove a director by ordinary resolution no longer applies There is no requirement to have an audit committee Vital will not require unitholder approval for a major transaction and Vital will not be required to hold an annual unitholders meeting (AUM) unless requested by at least 5 percent of unitholders. NZSA is aware that Vital had waivers from NZX that covered some of these matters, but the reduced governance levels, from an investor perspective, are now entrenched in the rules, Hawkins says. Quite why the Vital independent directors were silent on this change when it could have been debated at the December AUM is unknown, he says. Many of the matters that so concerned investors then can no longer be challenged because of the rule changes. Although unitholders overwhelmingly supported five resolutions opposing actions of Vitals manager, which is owned by Canada-based NorthWest Healthcare Properties Real Estate Investment Trust, those votes were non-binding on NorthWest. While NZX has argued that the Financial Markets Conduct Act contains provisions that are meant to protect investors, the requirement to act honestly and in the best interests of the unitholders sounds great in theory but is pretty meaningless in practice as it is such a subjective thing, Hawkins says. No longer needing unitholder approval for a major transaction is particularly pertinent for Vitals unitholders because NorthWest has just struck a deal with another Canadian company, Brookfields Business Partners, to buy 11 freehold hospital properties from ASX-listed Healthscope for A1.258 billion. Brookfields is in the process of taking over Healthscope. In announcing the deal on Feb. 1, NorthWest told NZX: Vital is not currently a party to the property transaction. Vital views it as potentially an attractive opportunity and has had significant discussions about its participation in the portfolio with NorthWest. However, Vital has no officers, other than the officers of NorthWest, so this effectively means NorthWest has been having discussions with itself. NorthWest is already known to have borrowed A$81 million from Vital to further its interests in buying Healthscope properties, something unitholders clearly opposed at the annual meeting, accusing NorthWest of using Vital as if it was "a piggy bank." Hawkins says although the Companies Act allows unitholders to remove the manager with a 75 percent vote, NorthWest owns 24 percent of Vital, making such a vote virtually impossible to succeed so a law change is needed to prevent managers of such entities from holding such a blocking stake. Meanwhile supervisors Trustees Executors is Vitals supervisor should be looking at this, he says. Surely eliminating a unitholder right can hardly be considered as acting in the best interests of unitholders?" Other listed entities the new rules will be applied to include Goodman Property Trust, Fonterra Shareholders Fund, the Carbon Fund and Senior Trust Retirement Village, as well as NZXs own Smart Shares funds. Nowhere is there a clear warning note on their NZX listings to indicate whether normal listing rules or some lesser protocol applies, Hawkins says. This has caught people out in the past with offshore registered New Zealand listed companies having very different rules. He cites the case of Diligent which was taken over in 2016 over the protests of local investors using rules that apply in the United States but which dont apply in New Zealand. In my view, it does matter when an investment looks like a cat and lives in a cattery but is actually a dog, Hawkins says. The regulators and the exchange need to ensure that the unintended consequences of these changes to existing listings now being experienced by unitholders are addressed, he says. To not do so would be counterproductive to an informed market and do nothing for investor confidence. Vital units are trading at $2.08 and have gained 1.5 percent in the last 12 months, lagging the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 Index, of which it is part. The index has gained more than 14 percent in the last 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. 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: Westpac Banking Corporation (NZX: WBC) Confirms It Is Retaining Westpac New Zealand Ltd 24th June 2021 Morning Report 23rd June 2021 Morning Report 22nd June 2021 Morning Report 21st June 2021 Morning Report Infratil Limited (NZX: IFT) TPW Announces Conditional Sale of Its Retail Business Trustpower Limited (NZX: TPW) Announces Conditional Sale of Its Retail Business Mercury NZ Limited (NZX: MCY) Agrees to Acquire Trustpower's Retail Business Precinct Properties New Zealand Limited (NZX: PCT) $250m Equity Raise to Fund Wellington Acquisitions 17th June 2021 Morning Report The New Zealand dollar is little changed ahead of the Reserve Banks monetary policy statement tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon. The kiwi was trading at 67.29 US cents at 5pm, from 67.29 at 8am. The trade weighted index was at 73.21 points from 73.26. I think the market is poised to fall potentially on a more dovish statement than weve seen out of them recently, says Mitchell McIntyre, a dealer at XE. The market has already priced in a cut in the Reserve Banks official cash rate by the end of this year, but theres still room for more downside, McIntyre says. If they think they need to remain accommodative for a longer period of time, I think the market will read between the lines and sell off. Imre Speizer, head of New Zealand strategy at Westpac, also thinks the risks from the MPS are to the downside, estimating the currency could push into the 66-67 US cents area. The MPS will be released at 2pm tomorrow (Wednesday). The US dollar appears to have moved on from the dovish Fed surprise at the end of January, and has been boosted recently by data confirming US economic growth outperformance versus the rest of the developed world, Speizer says. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell did an about-face in January from predicting further rate hikes to saying the Fed will be "patient" and watch how data unfolds. The market took that as ruling out any US rate hikes this year. McIntryre says talk about a US delegation going for meetings with their Chinese counterparts has also turned sentiment into a more risk on mood, as traders pin their hopes on the two countries reaching a resolution of their trade dispute and avoiding another round of tariff increases. It also appears congress will be able to reach a deal to avoid shutting the government down again over President Donald Trumps wish to build a wall on the border with Mexico. The New Zealand dollar is trading at 95.03 Australian cents from 95.30, at 52.29 British pence from 52.31, at 59.63 euro cents from 59.70, 74.45 yen from 74.31 and 4.5675 Chinese yuan from 4.5688. The two-year swap rate fell to 1.7950 percent from 1.8097 late yesterday while the 10-year rate eased to 2.3727 percent from 2.4000. (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: Westpac Banking Corporation (NZX: WBC) Confirms It Is Retaining Westpac New Zealand Ltd 24th June 2021 Morning Report 23rd June 2021 Morning Report 22nd June 2021 Morning Report 21st June 2021 Morning Report Infratil Limited (NZX: IFT) TPW Announces Conditional Sale of Its Retail Business Trustpower Limited (NZX: TPW) Announces Conditional Sale of Its Retail Business Mercury NZ Limited (NZX: MCY) Agrees to Acquire Trustpower's Retail Business Precinct Properties New Zealand Limited (NZX: PCT) $250m Equity Raise to Fund Wellington Acquisitions 17th June 2021 Morning Report In 2014, with much media fanfare, Genesis Energy stopped door-to-door selling. The energy retailer, New Zealands largest, said its research suggested Kiwis didnt like salespeople turning up on their doorstep - so Genesis wouldnt. Weve found four out of five dont like door-knocking, find it intrusive," the company said at the time. "So weve made the decision to take the leadership and stop. Now almost five years later, and with no media fanfare at all, the company has caved to market forces and started door-to-door selling again. James Magill, the firm's executive general manager of customer and innovation, says door-to-door is a good channel for getting a message across to customers. Weve found that in a highly competitive market we need to be out there speaking with customers face-to-face and showing them our new energy management tools, introduced over the past 12 months. One big problem for Genesis is that although customers and consumer organisations applauded its do not knock stance, its competitors didnt follow its lead. Instead, they presumably rubbed their hands together with glee at having the largest player backing away from at least the door-knocking part of the fight. And as the market share of the major players - Genesis, Contact Energy, Mercury NZ, Meridian Energy and Trustpower - continues to be shaved by smaller new entrants, Genesis decided to go back to door-knocking. Genesis has seen its electricity market share fall from almost 27 percent in 2013 to 23.7 percent last year, according to Electricity Authority figures. Number two electricity retailer Contact has fallen from 22.3 percent to 19.3 percent over the same period, Mercury from 19 percent to 18 percent. Trustpower's share has gone up from 11 percent to 12.7 percent, and Meridian's has remained at 14 percent. Back in 2014, Meridian told 3 News it had no plans to stop door-to-door selling, which brought in half of its new signups. Magill says the way the company does its door-knocking now is very different" to how it was done in the past, "and we have processes in place to monitor it carefully. However, thats not the experience of one customer, who didnt want to be identified, but well call Jane. Janes house had been targeted by Genesis salespeople twice in two weeks when she contacted BusinessDesk, despite having rung the power company and asked to be left alone. Today another young man from Genesis knocked on the door. When I said we were on a 'do not visit' list with Genesis he said no such thing existed. He said Genesis outsources to MPD Marketing, and the system has no ability (that he knew of) to inform cold callers of people that had asked not to be visited. I think a lot of people might be pissed off this has started again. Consumer NZ chief executive Sue Chetwin is one of them. Chetwin remembers some clever Genesis anti-knocking social media campaigns back in 2014, when it made the decision to quit. And the power company teamed up with Consumer NZ to send out more than half a million 'Do Not Knock' stickers for people to put on their doors. Its incredibly disappointing, Chetwin says. We worked with them; we thought they were genuine. Theyve had a change of management and completely back-tracked. Its a disgrace. Six of the seven members of Genesis' senior executive team have changed since 2014. Consumer NZ is strongly against door-knocking and last year successfully lobbied the government for door-to-door sellers who ignore 'Do Not Knock' stickers to face prosecution under the Fair Trading Act. A Consumer survey showed 70 percent of its members dont like door-to-door salespeople and want them to stop calling. More than 60 percent dubbed them annoying and intrusive, Chetwin says. And power companies are some of the worst offenders, she says. The consumer.org.nz site lists several negative comments about their sales tactics, following the survey. For example: Door-to-door salesmen turned up right on dinner time. It was pitch black in the middle of winter and I happened to be home alone. They put heaps of pressure on to change power providers. And: Power company salesman simply would not take no for an answer and was very reluctant to leave until I made it clear in very simple terms. (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: Westpac Banking Corporation (NZX: WBC) Confirms It Is Retaining Westpac New Zealand Ltd 24th June 2021 Morning Report 23rd June 2021 Morning Report 22nd June 2021 Morning Report 21st June 2021 Morning Report Infratil Limited (NZX: IFT) TPW Announces Conditional Sale of Its Retail Business Trustpower Limited (NZX: TPW) Announces Conditional Sale of Its Retail Business Mercury NZ Limited (NZX: MCY) Agrees to Acquire Trustpower's Retail Business Precinct Properties New Zealand Limited (NZX: PCT) $250m Equity Raise to Fund Wellington Acquisitions 17th June 2021 Morning Report Press Release February 12, 2019 Sen. Ejercito seeks abolition of regional wages boards Sen. JV Ejercito has filed a bill seeking for the abolition of Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs). In his Senate Bill No. 2205, Ejercito said RTWPBs would be replaced by the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), which would "address regional wage distortions." Under SB 2205, or "An Act amending Presidential Decree No. 442, as Amended, Otherwise Known as the Labor Code of the Philippines, and Providing for the Rationalization of Wage Levels on a National of Industrial Basis," the commission will function primarily to determine and fix the national wage rates according to industries and to issue corresponding wage orders. The measure has been referred to the Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development chaired by Sen. Joel Villanueva. Citing a World Bank report in 2018, Ejercito said that the pace of poverty reduction in the country "has been slow" despite the "generally good economic performance." "This makes a review of the wage structure not only urgent but imperative," Ejercito said, noting that higher wages are "among the most fundamental dimensions for inclusive growth aside from job creation. He also said that the 1987 Constitution guarantees full protection to labor and warrants that workers shall be entitled to security of tenure, human working conditions and living wages. "However, reality reneges against the policy declaration in the Constitution," he said. RTWPBs, which were created under Republic Act 6727, or Wage Rationalization Act of 1989, were mandated to study, fix and raise wages on a regional level based on poverty threshold, employment rate and cost of living specific to the region, Ejercito stressed. "However, this has been seen as ineffective since wage distortions have emerged in different regions," he said. "The RTWPBs have failed to ensure decent standard of living for the Filipino workers in different regions of the country," the senator added. Press Release February 12, 2019 De Lima files bill to protect consumers vs unwarranted e-billing Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has filed a measure which seeks to allow consumers the preferential option to secure billing statements and other transaction documents either in printed or electronic form without additional cost to them. De Lima filed Senate Bill (SB) No. 2194 seeking to amend certain provisions of Republic Act No. 7394, or the "Consumer Act of the Philippines," to protect consumers from deceptive practices of service providers and promote their general welfare. "The consumers have the right to be properly informed of their full details of the transaction and for them to be charged a premium cost for this information is a violation of this right which can ultimately lead to fraudulent behavior on the part of the sellers," she said. Based on news reports, Filipino consumers who chose to be billed in the traditional way are required to pay for the release of their paper bill usually at PhP50 every month by service provider giants Globe and PLDT Inc. Using their stance on supposed support for environmental sustainability and preservation as among the reasons, telecom giants PLDT and Globe moved from the traditional to digital billing despite surveys revealing that consumers still opt to print their bills at home. De Lima pointed out that the mandatory e-billing imposed by the Energy Regulatory Commission and some local service providers masquerading as a pro-environment advocacy is only meant to pass the printing costs of billing statements to the consumers. "Requiring consumers to move from paper to electronic billing becomes merely a ploy of the service providers to shift the burden of paying the costs of printing and mailing the billing statements to the consumers and is not entirely about the preservation and conservation of the environment as they primarily claim," she said. "There is a need to improve existing legislation, especially R.A. No. 7394, to strengthen and reinforce its fundamental purposes of shielding the interests of the consumers, promoting their general welfare and establishing ethical standards of conduct for business and industry," she added. While going paperless is deemed as a method to solve environmental problems, the former justice secretary noted that certain scientific studies show that the paperless campaign contributes to increase in carbon emissions and global warming. Citing a report from British daily newspaper The Guardian, De Lima noted that "[u]ntil more research has been done on the life-cycle and environmental impact of electronics, pitting paper and e-media against each other is somewhat futile" and that "There is a place for both paper and e-media." Under SB No. 2194, De Lima, who chairs the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development, proposed that billing statements and other transaction documents may be sent in printed or electronic form at the option of, and without any additional cost to the consumers. "The consumers' right to select the mode in which they receive their billing statements and other transaction documents may not be conditioned on the value of the products or services provided in the transaction," she pointed out. In January 2018, De Lima filed Senate Resolution No. 588 urging the appropriate Senate committee to probe the said mandatory electronic billing imposed by ERC and several service providers which obviously takes advantage of Filipino consumers. Sen. Bam: Independent Senate to safeguard welfare of Filipino people Sen. Bam Aquino warned against a rubber-stamp Senate, stressing that an independent Upper Chamber will ensure that the welfare and interest of the Filipino people are protected. "Hindi ito kampihan sa administrasyon o oposisyon. Dapat kinakampihan natin ang mga Pilipino," said Sen. Bam, who is running for re-election under the Otso Diretso banner. "Kailangan po nating tiyakin independent ang susunod na Senado para sa kapakanan ng taumbayan," added Sen. Bam. Sen. Bam underscored the importance of an opposition in the Senate, saying the country and the Filipino people will suffer if the Upper Chamber will simply give in to every desire of the administration. "Hindi po makakabuti sa bansa kung ang lahat ng nasa Senado ay susunod na lang lagi sa gusto ng administrasyon. Kailangan na may titindig para sa interes ng taumbayan," Sen. Bam said. In the case of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law, Sen. Bam said he voted against its ratification despite the heavy pressure coming from the administration as he is convinced that it will burden the Filipino people with high prices of food and other goods. "Hindi po ako tumutol sa TRAIN Law dahil nasa oposisyon tayo. Tumutol po ako dahil responsibilidad ko na bantayan ang kapakanan ng taumbayan na siyang pahihirapan ng batas na ito," said Sen. Bam. However, Sen. Bam clarified that he's willing to work with the administration when the welfare of the Filipino people is at the forefront. Proof of this is the free college law, which Sen. Bam pushed as principal sponsor during his time as chairman of the Committee on Education in the 17th Congress. "Ganyan po ang ginawa natin kaya naisabatas ang Free College Law. Dahil sa pakikipagtulungan, kahit kapos makakatapos," said Sen. Bam, who has 35 laws to his name in almost six years as legislator. Press Release February 12, 2019 ANGARA TELLS PARENTS: IMMUNIZATION IS BEST PROTECTION VS MEASLES PAMPANGA--Senator Sonny Angara is urging parents to have their children immunized against measles at any government health center, saying immunization is the best protection against the highly contagious disease that has so far affected more than 130 people in the province, including three who have died due to complications. Pampanga has recorded the second highest number of measles cases in Central Luzon with 136, after Bulacan with 144 cases, according to the Department of Health (DOH). Other provinces hit by the outbreak are Tarlac, 89; Bataan, 27; Zambales, 23; and Nueva Ejica, 18. According to Angara, one of the authors of the Universal Health Care Bill that aims to give all-inclusive health coverage for Filipinos, measles vaccines are readily available for free in rural health clinics across the country. "We are calling on parents to avail of the free vaccination at any barangay health center as measles is a highly infectious viral illness that can sometimes lead to serious health complications, including infections of the lungs and brain, and even death," Angara said. The DOH recently declared a measles outbreak in Central Luzon, as data showed that a total of 437 cases and six deaths had been reported in the region from January 1 to February 7 this year, compared to only 32 cases with no death during the same period in 2018. Aside from the three fatalities in Pampanga, there was also one measles death each in Bulacan, Bataan and Zambales. Nationwide, over 4,000 people have contracted measles in just one month, and the health department attributed the surge to failure to get the crucial preliminary and booster vaccine shots. It added that those who died due to measles had no history of vaccination. The DOH said more children suffered from the disease because their parents refused to bring them to health centers to avail of free vaccines primarily due to the Dengvaxia scare that has undermined public confidence in the government's immunization program. "Pinaaalalahanan po natin ang ating mga magulang na bakuna pa rin ang pinakamabisang panlaban sa tigdas. Wala po tayong kailangang gawin kundi dalhin ang ating mga anak sa mga health center kung saan libre ang bakuna," Angara said. Measles can cause life-threatening pneumonia and brain inflammation, middle-ear infection, severe diarrhea, and sometimes death. However, it can be prevented with a safe and effective vaccine. The vaccine is given as part of a combination vaccine, called the MMR vaccine that protects against measles, mumps and rubella. Babies aged 6 to 11 months should be administered their first vaccine shot. At 12 to 18 months, they should get vaccination a second time. Press Release February 12, 2019 ANGARA KICKS OFF REELECTION BID; VOWS TO CONTINUE LEGACY OF 'ALAGANG ANGARA' Senator Sonny Angara on Tuesday formally began his campaign for another six-year term in the Senate, with the promise of continuing the family legacy of Alagang Angaraanchored on education, health, job generation, social pension for senior citizens, and stronger local government units and barangays. Angara joined the campaign kickoff in the vote-rich Pampanga organized by Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), the influential regional political party chaired by presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, which is endorsing his reelection bid. Angara chairs the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), the political party once led by his father, the late Senate President Edgardo Angara, who was behind landmark legislation that created the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the Free High School Act, the Senior Citizens Act, and the National Health Insurance Act that created the PhilHealth. Since becoming a legislator in 2004, first as representative of the lone district of Aurora and later as senator in 2013, the younger Angara has pushed for 173 national and local bills, and vowed to continue his legislative agenda of helping every member of the Filipino family if voters return him to the Senate. Among his notable legislation are the free kindergarten and college; VAT-exemption for senior citizens and persons with disabilities; free medical check-up, laboratory tests and some medicines under PhilHealth; year-round student fare discount; establishment of the Expanded Public Employment Service Office (PESO Act) in every local government unit to assist people seeking employment; tax exemption of "balikbayan" boxes of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs); and the scrapping of the 12-percent VAT on maintenance medicines for diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol. "Ngayon, hinihiling ko sa inyo ang isa pang pagkakataon para magkapagserbisyo sa lahat ng pamilyang Pilipino," Angara said. "Kung ang iba ay nangangako pa lang, ang inyong lingkod po ay maraming nang naipatupad dahil iyan ang tatak Angara, iyan ang alagang Angara." ?"Our track record speaks volumes of what I have accomplished as a lawmaker and a staunch advocate for giving every Filipino equal opportunity for a better life though quality and free education and decent jobs," he added. Angara's legislative priority if reelected includes the 5-percent student discount on food and books of the underprivileged, medical scholarship, salary hike for teachers, establishment of dialysis center in every government hospital, social protection for workers in the informal economy, higher social pension for the elderly, fixed salaries and benefits for barangay officials, and rural employment assistance for poor households. Firstly, DMCA held a Dubai Maritime Innovation Quattro Helix Partnerships workshop to reinforce its coordination with government, academics, the private sector and R&D institutions in Dubai. One of the results was a proposal to develop maritime education programmes in cooperation with the University of Dubai. UAE Maritime Innovation Day Then there was UAE Maritime Innovation day, held to demonstrate DMCAs efforts to attract more investment in research, technology and maritime innovation, also updating attendees on maritime developments in areas such as smart navigation, digitization and Big Data. The event was organised as part of a strategic partnership with DNV GL, one of the leading classification societies, which also includes establishment of the DNV GL DMCA Innovation Centre, designed to help foster maritime innovation programmes in Dubai. Innovation Quay Likewise, DMCA launched Innovation Quay (IQ) as a testbed for disruptive technologies and accelerator of innovative start-ups, thereby helping the country diversify economically in preparation for the post-oil era. An interactive Maritime Innovation and Digitization Day was also held, again as part of the partnership with DNV GL, in order to update the local maritime community on latest developments in maritime technology. DMCA also sees autonomous navigation and remote-controlled marine craft as a promising development for the future, and says its aims to cooperate with relevant partners and leading maritime digital system providers to develop Dubai as a leading hub for such activities. On the cargo front Dutech, the technology arm of the Ports, Customs & Free Zone Corporation (PCFC), has introduced Nau, described as a smart platform that helps in cargo activity reservation for traditional dhows on the busy Dubai creek. Compatible with different PCs, tablets and smartphones and available in many languages including English, Nau has been approved by the PCFC as one of the 10 X Initiative projects where Dubai aims to be 10 years ahead of all other cities. Dubai Maritime Virtual Cluster In addition, Dubai has launched the Dubai Maritime Virtual Cluster (DMVC), which is developed to provide easy, efficient, high quality, comprehensive, and integrated portfolio of maritime services to global investors. Through a virtual platform, (www.dmvc.ae) it aims to bridge gaps and encourage positive participation of maritime leaders. This new DMVC initiative includes an informative knowledge portal and a maritime virtual center for innovation, research and training to promote maritime development. In addition, it facilitates interaction among main regional and international industry players by giving them access to an integrated portfolio of smart maritime services and reliable and comprehensive information on key initiatives under the umbrella of the DMCA. Cargospeed Last but not least in the field of commercial cargo shipping, Cargospeed is a new global company created through a partnership between DP World and Virgin Hyperloop One, intended to provide hyperloop-enabled cargo systems to support the fast, sustainable and efficient delivery of palletised cargo. DP World chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem is now chairman of Virgin Hyperloop One with DP World its largest investor. A scaled-down model of DP World Cargospeed (pictured) was on display at the Seatrade Maritime Middle East exhibition in Dubai in late October 2018, held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, as part of UAE Maritime Week, where DMCA also organised the successful Dubai Maritime Summit and UAE Maritime Future Leaders seminar. . , . . 6.00 . : " " . ... Have a story idea or tip about something happening in the East Village? Or maybe a photo? Or several photos? Or video! We'd love to hear about it. Or see it. Or something. Please go here to submit a tip. By the way Here, you'll find things that you may or may not be interested in about the East Village and other parts of New York City. Appreciating what's here while it's still here. Remembering what's no longer here. Wishing some things weren't here that are here. A duo of researchers from South Africa has discovered a remarkable new species of tarantula living in central Angola. The newfound species belongs to the genus Ceratogyrus (horned baboon spiders). Named Ceratogyrus attonitifer, it possesses a horn a peculiar horn-like protuberance sticking out of its back. This spider was discovered as part of the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project by Dr. John Midgley from Rhodes University and KwaZulu-Natal Museum and Dr. Ian Engelbrecht of the South African National Biodiversity Institute and the University of Pretoria. Ceratogyrus attonitifer is remarkable, the scientists said. No other spider in the world possesses a similar foveal protuberance. Its function in Ceratogyrus is uncertain. The team collected several female specimens of Ceratogyrus attonitifer from the miombo forests of central Angola. To find them, the researchers would normally spend the day locating burrows, often hidden among grass tufts, but sometimes found in open sand, and excavate specimens during the night. The indigenous people in the region provided additional information about the biology and lifestyle of the baboon spider. This species is known as Chandachuly in the Luchazi language, the scientists said. It preys mainly on insects. The females enlarge existing burrows rather than digging their own burrows. The venom is not considered to be dangerous, though bites may result in infections which can be fatal due to poor medical access. The discovery is reported in the journal African Invertebrates. _____ J.M. Midgley & I. Engelbrecht. 2019. New collection records for Theraphosidae (Araneae, Mygalomorphae) in Angola, with the description of a remarkable new species of Ceratogyrus. African Invertebrates 60 (1): 1-13; doi: 10.3897/afrinvertebr.60.32141 Harrisburg, NC -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/12/2019 -- The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the WiFi Smart Lock market and contains qualitative and quantitative insights, historical and forecasted data, competitor and regional analysis from 2014 to 2025. The research report provides analysis and information according to categories such as market segments, geographies, types and applications. 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Browse Full Report: https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/02071084783/global-wifi-smart-lock-market-insights-forecast-to-2025?source=releasewire&Mode=11 The research includes historic data from 2014 to 2018 and forecasts until 2025 which makes the reports an invaluable resource for industry executives, marketing, sales and product managers, consultants, analysts, and other people looking for key industry data in readily accessible documents with clearly presented tables and graphs. The study comprises a mix of data pertaining to the key restraints, drivers, competitive landscape, regulatory forces, key strategies implemented by the key players, and opportunities, expected to have a profound impact on the scope of growth of the market. A detailed analysis of these factors allows the report to present a reliable forecast regarding the future growth dynamics of the WiFi Smart Lock market. About MarketInsightsReports MarketInsightsReports provides syndicated Market research reports to industries, organizations or even individuals with an aim of helping them in their decision making process. MarketInsightsReports 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. Contact US: Irfan Tamboli (Head of Sales) Market Insights Reports Phone: + 1704 266 3234 | Mob: +91-750-707-8687 sales@marketinsightsreports.com | irfan@marketinsightsreports.com Connect with us On: https://www.linkedin.com/company/13411016/ https://www.facebook.com/Marketinsightsreports/ https://twitter.com/MIRresearch/ Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/12/2019 -- Water Taxi Market is estimated to exhibit 4% CAGR with USD 500 billion by 2024. Sail boats are leading the product segment and will continue its dominance with approximately 78% volume share over the next seven years. Substantial production of these boats coupled with their high usage for covering short distances will primarily drive the industry growth. Cost effective nature of the product will further support the segment's dominance. Ferries will witness over 6% CAGR from 2018 to 2024 owing to their lesser travel rates as compared to the counterparts. They are used for the passenger transportation, majorly for the work purposes. Their proliferating production is another factor positively influencing the industry growth till 2024. Get Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2510 North America has been touted to emerge as one of the most remunerative grounds for water taxi market, primarily owing to the presence of a robust marine industry and leading companies that have their base in the region. With enthusiastic players striving to make marine transportation attractive to a wider commuter pool and the increasing inclination toward luxury outdoor recreation activities, the continent is expected to register substantial growth in the ensuing years. Indeed, as per estimates, North America will emerge as the dominant region in the overall water taxi market with a projected size of $287 billion by 2024. Along with North America, Asia Pacific will also register a significant growth in the water taxi market with cities like Hong Kong set to revive its water taxi facility to boost the tourism industry. The Commerce and Economic Development Bureau of Hong Kong passed the proposal of bringing water taxis to the city that will not only offer tourists a better experience of the island city but also put Hong Kong on the map alongside cities like Venice, Bangkok and Sydney that already have an established water taxi service. Additionally, the authorities are planning to introduce significant technological inputs and operate the water taxis in the same way as Uber, that is, passengers can hail their water rides with the use of their smartphones. Water taxis have been paving their way across Europe, especially in cities such as Paris where hydrofoil taxis have become an added attraction for tourists. Called Seabubbles, these taxis are being designed to run on electric power on the river Seine. Reportedly, if the Seabubbles are a success in Paris then a similar types of hydrofoil taxis may commence operations on the Thames in London. The use of hydrofoil technology will mean that the boats will be lifted off the surface of water, decreasing the drag factor and resulting in a smoother ride. Other technological additions such as sensors for detecting obstacles on the water and an auto-mooring system are also being planned to be added to the Seabubbles, making them truly futuristic water taxis. It is thus rather overt that the expansive tourism industry will add lucrative growth prospects to water taxi market. Make an Inquiry for purchasing this Report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2510 The increasing requirement for quick, emission-free transport has been a major driver for water taxi market growth. Water transportation has been gaining more and more popularity lately, pertaining to its cost-effective and fuel-efficient benefits over conventional transportation. Having recognized the same, regional governments have been majorly investing in the tourism industry, generating lucrative opportunities for water taxi industry players. The deployment of water taxis in numerous public and private water bodies has indeed helped reduce vehicular traffic congestion in the city a principal factor that has been extensively responsible for stimulating water taxi industry share. Diesel is expected to dominate the water taxi market with over 58% volume share by 2024. Strong prevalence of the fuel in the marine industry coupled with high presence of diesel-driven taxis across the globe will essentially contribute to the revenue generation. Hybrid taxis will exhibit over 5% CAGR over the next seven years owing to provision of various benefits including lesser noise and water pollution. Strengthening penetration of green movement will further promote their usage, further propelling the industry growth. Browse Full Report Summary @ https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/water-taxi-market Ferretti, Sunseeker, Brunswick, Beneteau Group, and Azimut-Benetti are among the prominent water taxi industry vendors. Other noticeable players include Catalina Yachts, Hunter, Mac Gregor, American Sail Inc., Bavaria Yachtbau, and Princess. The industry participants are continuously focusing towards continuous advancements to gain competitive edge. They are increasingly adopting emerging technologies such as autonomous water taxis and marine hybrid propulsion to enhance their visibility in the industry. About Global Market Insights: Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology. New Jersey, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- The latest release from AMA highlights the key market trends impacting the growth of the VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing market. The study highlights influencing factors that are impacting or reinforcing market environment such as Government Policy, technological changes etc along with key market drivers. The research study forecast Revenue Opportunities and Sales Volume Area taken into consideration the primaries from industry experts and includes relevant data such as (revenue, market Size, growth rate, and product price) by important players such as Verizon Communications Inc. (United States) , At&T Inc (United States) , Orange S.A. (France) , Deutsche Telekom AG (Germany) , KT (Korea Telecom) (South Korea) , Sprint Nextel (United States) , Telecom Italia S.p.A (Italy) , Telenor (Sweden) , Microsoft Corporation (United States) , Vonage Citrix (United States) and T-Mobile (United States). Unlock new opportunities in VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing Market; the latest release from AMA highlights the key market trends significant to the growth prospects, Let us know if any specific players or list of players needs to consider to gain better insights Get Access to PDF Sample of VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/sample-report/70289-global-voip-market-1 Briefing about some major insights that are included in the study are VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing Sales (K Units) and Revenue (Million USD), definitions, classifications, applications and industry overview; market policies and strategy; product specifications; manufacturing processes; cost structures and so on. Also it provides key players market position, including the product price, cost/profit, capacity, production, capacity utilization, supply, demand and industry growth rate etc. Additionally, the report also covers special sections such as new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis. Market Drivers Industry Participants Focusing Intensely On Pushing VoIP Solutions across Corporate & Individual Consumer Sectors Technological Advancements Adoption of Cloud-Based VoIP Services Cost Effectiveness and Increasing Demand Rapid Advancement in Network Infrastructure Market Trend Lower Fees for Basic Broadband Service and the Brisk Adoption of Even Faster Internet Offerings Faster Networks Will Improve Call Quality Artificial Intelligence Will Enhance Telecom Systems Voice Assistants Will Get Smarter Plain Old Telephone Systems Will Die Out Opportunities The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing and Growing Consumer Bases in Emerging Economies Browse for Full Report synopsis at: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/reports/70289-global-voip-market-1 The growth of the market has been attributed to demand in application/end-users such as : The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing & Growing Consumer Bases in Emerging Economies Professional Key players: Customization of the Report: Verizon Communications Inc. (United States) , At&T Inc (United States) , Orange S.A. (France) , Deutsche Telekom AG (Germany) , KT (Korea Telecom) (South Korea) , Sprint Nextel (United States) , Telecom Italia S.p.A (Italy) , Telenor (Sweden) , Microsoft Corporation (United States) , Vonage Citrix (United States) and T-Mobile (United States). Buy Single User License of VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/buy-now?format=1&report=70289 There are 19 Chapters to deeply display the VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing market. Introduction about VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2017 VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing Market by Application/End Users ? The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing & ? Growing Consumer Bases in Emerging Economies VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Applications (2013-2023) table defined for each application/end-users like ? The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing & ? Growing Consumer Bases in Emerging Economies VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2023) VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing Competition by Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing (Volume, Value and Sales Price) table defined for each geographic region defined. VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data ................. Additionally Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors list is being provided for each listed manufacturers Market Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018) table for each product type which VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing Manufacturing Cost Analysis VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing Key Raw Materials Analysis VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers, Industrial Chain Analysis Market Forecast (2018-2023) ........and more in complete table of Contents This brand new research report with title VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing provides 100+ in-depth tables, charts and graphs that will help you make better informed strategic decisions. Enquire for customization in Report @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/enquiry-before-buy/70289-global-voip-market-1 Key questions answered in this report - VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025 What will the market size be in 2023 and what will the growth rate be What are the key market trends. What is driving VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing Market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in Market space? What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing Market ? What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing Market? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the VoIP Market - Detailed Study Released - The Demand for the VoIP and Its Applications Is Increasing market? Get in-depth details about factors influencing the market shares of the Americas, APAC, and EMEA? Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia. Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/12/2019 -- According to the new market research report "Track Geometry Measurement System Market by Measurement Type (Gauge, Twist, and Vertical Profile), Operation Type (No Contact and Contact), Railway Type (High Speed, Mass Transit, Heavy Haul, and Light), Component, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2024", published by MarketsandMarkets, the TGMS market is expected to be worth USD 2.8 billion in 2019 and reach USD 3.7 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 6.00% from 2019 to 2024. The growth of this market can be attributed to the high demand for track geometry measurement systems from high-speed railways, especially from APAC and Europe. Ask for PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=31376329 Gauge segment to hold largest share of TGMS market in 2019 By measurement type, the gauge segment leads the TGMS market. Gauge is the spacing or distance between the inner sides of the heads of the 2 load bearing rails on a railway track. It is among the key parameters of track geometry measurement. The wheelsets of the rails should be compatible with the track gauge, else it could result in fatal accidents due to derailment. Market for high-speed railways to grow at highest CAGR during forecast period The TGMS market for high-speed railways is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period. The high-speed railway line network is witnessing significant growth, which can be attributed to its advantages such as time saving, energy saving, and low greenhouse gas emission compared with other modes of transportation. These factors also lead to generous funding from the government for the development of high-speed railway network. As track geometry measurement systems are required during the construction and maintenance of tracks for high-speed railway systems, this factor is also positively impacting the growth of TGMS market. Browse in-depth TOC on "Track Geometry Measurement System Market" 65 - Tables 44 - Figures 143 - Pages APAC expected to hold largest share of TGMS market in 2019 APAC is expected to hold the largest share of the TGMS market in 2019. China, India, and Australia are the key countries contributing to the growth of the TGMS market in APAC. Europe is expected to account for the second-largest share of the TGMS market throughout the forecast period. High-speed railways and mass transit railways are the key application areas of track geometry measurement systems in this region. Get 10% Free Customization on this Report: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestCustomizationNew.asp?id=31376329 A few key players operating in the TGMS market are ENSCO (US), Fugro (Netherlands), MER MEC (Italy), Balfour Beatty (UK), Plasser & Theurer (Austria), Siemens (Germany), R. Bance & Co. (UK), Bentley Systems (US), Goldschmidt Thermit Group (Germany), and Egis (France). About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Shelly Singh MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- Based on the Titanium Metal Powder industrial chain, this report mainly elaborate the definition, types, applications and major players of Titanium Metal Powder market in details. Deep analysis about market status (2018-2026), enterprise competition pattern, advantages and disadvantages of enterprise products, industry development trends (2018-2026), regional industrial layout characteristics and macroeconomic policies, industrial policy has also be included. From raw materials to downstream buyers of this industry will be analyzed scientifically, the feature of product circulation and sales channel will be presented as well. In a word, this report will help you to establish a panorama of industrial development and characteristics of the Titanium Metal Powder market. You can download free samples PDF copy of market at https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/30012 A quick look at the Titanium Metal Powder industry trends and opportunities The latest market intelligence study on the Titanium Metal Powder market brings in the best of both qualitative and quantitative assessment techniques to explore the market size, share, and status of the Titanium Metal Powder market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2026. The extensive examination of the global business environment provides a detailed analysis of the key driving forces and challenges with the aim to give the stakeholders, business owners, and filed marketing executives a competitive advantage over others. The study further probes into prominent challenges, technology advancements, current trends and lucrative avenues often considered as the boosting elements for the Titanium Metal Powder market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2026. Make an enquiry for a fast response of market click https://www.marketexpertz.com/make-enquiry-form/30012 The major manufacturers covered in this Titanium Metal Powder Market report - Metalysis - Adma products - Cristal - Ap&c - Reading alloys - Global titanium - Osaka titanium - Ati - Toho titanium - Fengxiang titanium material & powder - Quanxing titanium - Mtco - Zunyi titanium On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price Titanium Metal Powder Market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into - Metal injection molding curing - Hot isostatic pressing - Direct powder rolling curing - Laser engineering network molding to cure On the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales) Titanium Metal Powder Market share and growth rate for each application, including - Aerospace industry - Spraying industry - Metallurgical industry - Fireworks industry - Other Titanium Metal Powder market segment by region/country including: - North america (united states, canada and mexico) - Europe (germany, uk, france, italy, russia and spain etc.) - Asia-pacific (china, japan, korea, india, australia and southeast asia etc.) - South america brazil, argentina, colombia and chile etc.) - Middle east & africa (south africa, egypt, nigeria and saudi arabia etc.) Scope of the Titanium Metal Powder market The research takes a closer look at prominent factors driving the growth rate of the prominent product categories across major geography. Furthermore, the study covers a lot of the sales, gross margin, consumption capacity, spending power and customer preference across various countries. The report offers clear indications how the Titanium Metal Powder market is expected to witness numerous exciting opportunities in the years to come. Critical aspects including the growing requirement, demand and supply status, customer preference, distribution channels and others are presented through resources such as charts, tables, and infographics. Direct order market research report@ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/30012 The research provides answers to the following key questions: - What is the anticipated growth rate of the Titanium Metal Powder market? What will be the size and share of the industry for the forecast period, 2018 - 2026? - What are key market drivers expected to transform the competitive landscape of the Titanium Metal Powder industry? - Who are major vendors dominating the Titanium Metal Powder industry across different regions? What are their winning strategies to stay ahead in the competition? - What are the major trends expected to transform the complete trajectory of the Titanium Metal Powder market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2026? - What are the challenges business owners are likely to encounter during the estimated period? - What are the types of opportunities business owners can bank on during the estimated period? Browse complete report description and visit our website@ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/titanium-metal-powder-market The study objectives of this report are: To analyze and study the global Titanium Metal Powder capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2026); Focuses on the key Titanium Metal Powder manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future. Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis. To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region. To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks. To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth. To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments. To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies. In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Titanium Metal Powder are as follows: History Year: 2013-2017 Base Year: 2017 Estimated Year: 2018 Forecast Year 2018 to 2026 Continue... About MarketExpertz Planning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web? Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges. Contact Us: John Watson Head of Business Development Market Expertz | Web: www.marketexpertz.com Direct Line: +1-800-819-3052 E-mail: sales@marketexpertz.com News: www.marketexpertz.com/market-news Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/12/2019 -- Switchgear Market growth will be propelled by rising investment towards the infrastructure development across developing economies. Growing demand for control distribution systems and advanced monitoring units along with the replacement and modernization of aging electrical networks will further enhance the business outlook. The Government of Serbia targets the upgradation of its present grid infrastructure and entered into a strategic partnership with the Government of China. China has further proclaimed, investments over USD 6.14 Billion in 2017. Switchgear Market size will exceed USD 140 Billion by 2024, as reported in the latest study by Global Market Insights, Inc. China market size is set to reach over USD 20 Billion by 2024. Initiatives taken by the Government corresponding to substitution of conventional sources of energy with sustainable and clean energy resources will strengthen the industry outlook. In 2017, as broadcasted by National Energy Administration, amplification of renewable power generation technologies across China to involve an expenditure worth USD 326.38 Billion by 2020. Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/317 Switchgear Market, By Voltage - Low (LV) - Medium (MV) - High (HV) Paradigm shift towards conservation of energy and stringent environmental regulations will fuel the growth of the global market. Swift advancement in smart grid technologies and increasing focus towards energy efficient environment will further embark the product demand. In 2017, Western European countries including UK, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden together, declared a cumulative investment of USD 133.7 Billion for smart grid network expansion. Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/317 Rational measures toward the electrification of rural regions in Asia Pacific and Africa sustained by growing investments from financial institutions including Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank will uphold the global switchgear market share. Refurbishment of power grids in war affected regions of Sudan, Iraq and Syria will further energize the industry outlook. The World Bank, in 2017, announced to invest USD 4 million in accordance to Rural Electrification Project II in Vanuatu for the development of power grid infrastructure in the Pacific Island. Growing demand for restoration of existing infrastructure along with robust deployment of modern distribution networks will positively influence the U.S. switchgear market share. Rising investments in the projects pertaining to railroad infrastructure supported by government-assisted peninsula grid project will propel the industry dynamics. The U.S. Federal Administration, in 2017, announced to allocate USD 100 million toward the development of rail networks in San Carlos within the Peninsula Corridor Project. Browse Complete Report Summary @ https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/switchgears-market Eminent players in the switchgear market include ABB, Siemens, GE, EATON, Mitsubishi Electric Systems, Schneider Electric, Toshiba, BHEL, Hitachi, Crompton Greaves, Powell Industries, Hubbell power systems, Hyosung, Fuji Electric, Rittal, Larson & Toubro, Hyundai Ideal Electric, Iljin Electric and Ormazabal. About Global Market Insights: Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology. New Jersey, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- A new business intelligence report released by AMA with title "Global Student Information Systems (SIS) Market By 2024" has abilities to raise as the most significant market worldwide as it has remained playing a remarkable role in establishing progressive impacts on the universal economy. The Global Student Information Systems Market Report offers energetic visions to conclude and study market size, market hopes, and competitive surroundings. The research is derived through primary and secondary statistics sources and it comprises both qualitative and quantitative detailing. Some of the key players profiled in the study are Campus Management , Eduware (Lebanon) , Ellucian Company , PowerSchool , Open Solutions for Education, Inc , PCR Educator , Rediker Software , Focus School Software , Autodesk Inc. , Foradian Technologies Free Sample Report + All Related Graphs & Charts @ : https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/sample-report/64806-global-student-information-systems-market-1 AMA's Analyst on the Global Student Information Systems market identified that the demand is rising in many different parts of the world as "Growing Adoption of Education Technology Solutions in Emerging Economies ". Market Drivers Growth in Number of Schools and Universities Across the Globe Increasing Digitalization in Both Developed and Developing Economies Increase in Replacement Activities Market Trend Surging Adoption of Educational Hardware Including Projectors, Tablets, Interactive Whiteboards, etc. The Growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Student Information System Restraints Dearth of Trained Users Lack of Awareness in Underdeveloped Nations Opportunities Growing Adoption of Education Technology Solutions in Emerging Economies and The Growth of Cloud-Based Hosting of SIS Software Market Overview of Global Student Information Systems If you are involved in the Global Student Information Systems industry or aim to be, then this study will provide you inclusive point of view. It's vital you keep your market knowledge up to date segmented by Applications [Schools, Education Institutions & Others], Product Types [, Cloud Based Student Information Systems, Web-based Student Information Systems & On-Premises Student Information Systems] and major players. If you have a different set of players/manufacturers according to geography or needs regional or country segmented reports we can provide customization according to your requirement. This study mainly helps understand which market segments or Region or Country they should focus in coming years to channelize their efforts and investments to maximize growth and profitability. The report presents the market competitive landscape and a consistent in depth analysis of the major vendor/key players in the market. Furthermore, the years considered for the study are as follows: Historical year 2013-2017 Base year 2018 Forecast period** 2018 to 2023 [** unless otherwise stated] **Moreover, it will also include the opportunities available in micro markets for stakeholders to invest, detailed analysis of competitive landscape and product services of key players. The titled segments and sub-section of the market are illuminated below: The Study Explore the Product Types of Student Information Systems Market: , Cloud Based Student Information Systems, Web-based Student Information Systems & On-Premises Student Information Systems Key Applications/end-users of Global Student Information SystemsMarket: Schools, Education Institutions & Others Top Players in the Market are: Campus Management , Eduware (Lebanon) , Ellucian Company , PowerSchool , Open Solutions for Education, Inc , PCR Educator , Rediker Software , Focus School Software , Autodesk Inc. , Foradian Technologies Region Included are: United States, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India & Central & South America Enquire for customization in Report @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/enquiry-before-buy/64806-global-student-information-systems-market-1 Important Features that are under offering & key highlights of the report: Detailed overview of Student Information Systems market Changing market dynamics of the industry In-depth market segmentation by Type, Application etc Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value Recent industry trends and developments Competitive landscape of Student Information Systems market Strategies of key players and product offerings Potential and niche segments/regions exhibiting promising growth A neutral perspective towards Student Information Systems market performance Must-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprint Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/reports/64806-global-student-information-systems-market-1 Major Highlights of TOC: Chapter One: Global Student Information Systems Market Industry Overview 1.1 Student Information Systems Industry 1.1.1 Overview 1.1.2 Products of Major Companies 1.2 Student Information Systems Market Segment 1.2.1 Industry Chain 1.2.2 Consumer Distribution 1.3 Price & Cost Overview Chapter Two: Global Student Information Systems Market Demand 2.1 Segment Overview 2.1.1 APPLICATION 1 2.1.2 APPLICATION 2 2.1.3 Other 2.2 Global Student Information Systems Market Size by Demand 2.3 Global Student Information Systems Market Forecast by Demand Chapter Three: Global Student Information Systems Market by Type 3.1 By Type 3.1.1 TYPE 1 3.1.2 TYPE 2 3.2 Student Information Systems Market Size by Type 3.3 Student Information Systems Market Forecast by Type Chapter Four: Major Region of Student Information Systems Market 4.1 Global Student Information Systems Sales 4.2 Global Student Information Systems Revenue & market share Chapter Five: Major Companies List Chapter Six: Conclusion Buy the Latest Detailed Report @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/buy-now?format=1&report=64806 Key questions answered - Who are the Leading key players and what are their Key Business plans in the Global Student Information Systems market? - What are the key concerns of the five forces analysis of the Global Student Information Systems market? - What are different prospects and threats faced by the dealers in the Global Student Information Systems market? - What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors? Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia. New Jersey, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/12/2019 -- A new business intelligence report released by HTF MI with title "Global Social Media Management Tools Market Insights by Application, Product Type, Competitive Landscape & Regional Forecast 2025" has abilities to raise as the most significant market worldwide as it has remained playing a remarkable role in establishing progressive impacts on the universal economy. The Global Social Media Management Tools Market Report offers energetic visions to conclude and study market size, market hopes, and competitive surroundings. The research is derived through primary and secondary statistics sources and it comprises both qualitative and quantitative detailing. Some of the key players profiled in the study are Hootsuite [Canada] , Zoho [United States] , Sprout [South Africa] , AgoraPulse [United States] , Sendible [United Kingdom] , Falcon.io [Denmark] , Socialbakers [Czech Republic] , Buffer [United States] , Searchmetrics [United States] and Salesforce Free Sample Report + All Related Graphs & Charts @ : https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/sample-report/28569-global-social-media-management-tools-market With 2.77 billion social media users worldwide as of early 2019, companies look to exploit such a huge customer base. Social media management tools are subjected to data breach and stringent regulations are in place to protect the same regulatory bodies such as General Data Protection Regulation (EU) and the Privacy Shield (USA). As per GDPR, Controllers of personal data must put in place appropriate technical and organizational measures to implement the data protection principles. Business processes that handle personal data must be designed and built with consideration of the principles and provide safeguards to protect. According the report, Enterprise's Inclination Towards Automation is one of the primary growth factors for the market. Need for Brand Awareness Among Companies Amid Fierce Competition is also expected to contribute significantly to the Social Media Management Tools market. Overall, Large Enterprises applications of Social Media Management Tools, and the growing awareness of them, is what makes this segment of the industry important to its overall growth. Market Drivers Need for Brand Awareness Among Companies Amid Fierce Competition Availability of Large Number of Consumer Base on Social Media Market Trend Enterprise's Inclination Towards Automation Rising Analytics Adoption in Marketing Management of Customer Relationship Restraints Data Security and Privacy Concern Limitation in Use of Tools and Lack of Integration Among Social Media Platform Opportunities Growing Digitization in Emerging Countries , Rising Cloud Application in Social Media Management Tools and High Adoption Rate Among SMEs Enquire for customization in Report @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/enquiry-before-buy/28569-global-social-media-management-tools-market Market Overview of Global Social Media Management Tools If you are involved in the Global Social Media Management Tools industry or aim to be, then this study will provide you inclusive point of view. It's vital you keep your market knowledge up to date segmented by Applications [], Product Types [] and major players. If you have a different set of players/manufacturers according to geography or needs regional or country segmented reports we can provide customization according to your requirement. This study mainly helps understand which market segments or Region or Country they should focus in coming years to channelize their efforts and investments to maximize growth and profitability. The report presents the market competitive landscape and a consistent in depth analysis of the major vendor/key players in the market. Furthermore, the years considered for the study are as follows: Historical year 2013-2017 Base year 2018 Forecast period** 2018 to 2023 [** unless otherwise stated] **Moreover, it will also include the opportunities available in micro markets for stakeholders to invest, detailed analysis of competitive landscape and product services of key players. The titled segments and sub-section of the market are illuminated below: Top Players in the Market are: Hootsuite [Canada] , Zoho [United States] , Sprout [South Africa] , AgoraPulse [United States] , Sendible [United Kingdom] , Falcon.io [Denmark] , Socialbakers [Czech Republic] , Buffer [United States] , Searchmetrics [United States] and Salesforce Important Features that are under offering & key highlights of the report: Detailed overview of Social Media Management Tools market Changing market dynamics of the industry In-depth market segmentation by Type, Application etc Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value Recent industry trends and developments Competitive landscape of Social Media Management Tools market Strategies of key players and product offerings Potential and niche segments/regions exhibiting promising growth A neutral perspective towards Social Media Management Tools market performance Must-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprint Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/reports/28569-global-social-media-management-tools-market Major Highlights of TOC: Chapter One: Global Social Media Management Tools Market Industry Overview 1.1 Social Media Management Tools Industry 1.1.1 Overview 1.1.2 Products of Major Companies 1.2 Social Media Management Tools Market Segment 1.2.1 Industry Chain 1.2.2 Consumer Distribution 1.3 Price & Cost Overview Chapter Two: Global Social Media Management Tools Market Demand 2.1 Segment Overview 2.1.1 APPLICATION 1 2.1.2 APPLICATION 2 2.1.3 Other 2.2 Global Social Media Management Tools Market Size by Demand 2.3 Global Social Media Management Tools Market Forecast by Demand Chapter Three: Global Social Media Management Tools Market by Type 3.1 By Type 3.1.1 TYPE 1 3.1.2 TYPE 2 3.2 Social Media Management Tools Market Size by Type 3.3 Social Media Management Tools Market Forecast by Type Chapter Four: Major Region of Social Media Management Tools Market 4.1 Global Social Media Management Tools Sales 4.2 Global Social Media Management Tools Revenue & market share Chapter Five: Major Companies List Chapter Six: Conclusion Buy the Latest Detailed Report @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/buy-now?format=1&report=28569 Key questions answered - Who are the Leading key players and what are their Key Business plans in the Global Social Media Management Tools market? - What are the key concerns of the five forces analysis of the Global Social Media Management Tools market? - What are different prospects and threats faced by the dealers in the Global Social Media Management Tools market? - What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors? Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia. New Jersey, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- AMA recently introduced Retail Banking Comprehensive Study by Type Market study with in-depth overview, describing about the Product / Industry Scope and elaborates market outlook and status to 2023. The market Study is segmented by key regions which is accelerating the marketization. At present, the market is developing its presence and some of the key players from the complete study are BNP Paribas (France) , Citigroup (United States) , HSBC (United Kingdom) , ICBC (Canada) , JPMorgan Chase (United States) , Bank of America (United States) , Barclays (United Kingdom) , China Construction Bank (China) , Deutsche Bank (Germany) and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (Japan) etc. Click Here Request for Sample Report @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/sample-report/31168-global-retail-banking-market This report studies the Retail Banking Comprehensive Study by Type market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the Retail Banking Comprehensive Study by Type market by companies, region, type and end-use industry. Browse 100+ market data Tables and Figures spread through Pages and in-depth TOC on " Retail Banking Comprehensive Study by Type Market by Type (Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Private Sector Banks (OGPVSBs), Foreign Bank (FNB)), by End-Users/Application (Savings and Checking Accounts, Mortgages, Personal Loans, Debit/Credit Cards, Certificates Of Deposit), Organization Size, Industry, and Region - Forecast to 2023". Early buyers will receive 10% customization on comprehensive study. In order to get a deeper view of Market Size, competitive landscape is provided i.e. Revenue (Million USD) by Players (2013-2018), Revenue Market Share (%) by Players (2013-2018) and further a qualitative analysis is made towards market concentration rate, product/service differences, new entrants and the technological trends in future. Enquiry before Buy @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/enquiry-before-buy/31168-global-retail-banking-market Competitive Analysis: The key players are highly focusing innovation in production technologies to improve efficiency and shelf life. The best long-term growth opportunities for this sector can be captured by ensuring ongoing process improvements and financial flexibility to invest in the optimal strategies. Company profile section of players such as BNP Paribas (France) , Citigroup (United States) , HSBC (United Kingdom) , ICBC (Canada) , JPMorgan Chase (United States) , Bank of America (United States) , Barclays (United Kingdom) , China Construction Bank (China) , Deutsche Bank (Germany) and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (Japan) To track key developments such as product launches, expansions, agreements, partnerships, mergers & acquisitions, and R&D activities that are key factors in shaping the market includes its basic information like legal name, website, headquarters, its market position, historical background and top 5 closest competitors by Market capitalization / revenue along with contact information. Each player/ manufacturer revenue figures, growth rate and gross profit margin is provided in easy to understand tabular format for past 5 years and a separate section on recent development like mergers, acquisition or any new product/service launch etc. Market Segments: The Retail Banking Comprehensive Study by Type Market has been divided into type, application, and region. On The Basis Of Type: Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Private Sector Banks (OGPVSBs), Foreign Bank (FNB). On The Basis Of Application: Savings and Checking Accounts, Mortgages, Personal Loans, Debit/Credit Cards, Certificates Of Deposit On The Basis Of Region, this report is segmented into following key geographies, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share, growth rate of Retail Banking Comprehensive Study by Type in these regions, from 2013 to 2023 (forecast), covering - North America (U.S. & Canada) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Analysis (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Latin America (Brazil, Mexico & Rest of Latin America) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Europe (The U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden & RoE) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Rest of Asia) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Middle East & Africa (GCC, South Africa, North Africa, RoMEA) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Rest of World {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Analysis (%) and Opportunity Analysis} Request Discount @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/request-discount/31168-global-retail-banking-market Have a look at some extracts from Table of Content Introduction about Retail Banking Comprehensive Study by Type Retail Banking Comprehensive Study by Type Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2017 Retail Banking Comprehensive Study by Type Market by Application/End Users Retail Banking Comprehensive Study by Type Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Applications (2013-2023) table defined for each application/end-users like [Savings and Checking Accounts, Mortgages, Personal Loans, Debit/Credit Cards, Certificates Of Deposit] Retail Banking Comprehensive Study by Type Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2023) Retail Banking Comprehensive Study by Type Competition by Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application Retail Banking Comprehensive Study by Type (Volume, Value and Sales Price) table defined for each geographic region defined. Retail Banking Comprehensive Study by Type Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data Additionally Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors list is being provided for each listed manufacturers Market Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018) table for each product type which include Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Private Sector Banks (OGPVSBs), Foreign Bank (FNB) Retail Banking Comprehensive Study by Type Manufacturing Cost Analysis Retail Banking Comprehensive Study by Type Key Raw Materials Analysis Retail Banking Comprehensive Study by Type Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers, Industrial Chain Analysis Market Forecast (2018-2023) ........and more in complete table of Contents Buy now @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/buy-now?format=1&report=31168 Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia. Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- The need of alternate healthcare framework is the need of the hour. Countries US, Canada, Australia, China and India are ageing fast. Apart from this largely populated countries like India, China is struggling to find ways to meet the emerging challenges of healthcare domain. The alternate healthcare channels such as home care are extremely useful and it can easily shoulder the load thrust on the global healthcare industry. A massive pool of adult population and the emergence of several new diseases and balancing the healthcare facilities around the globe are some of the massive challenges which are hounding the entire healthcare climate of the world. Challenges are not only pushing the horizons of the healthcare industry it is also helping it to discover new avenues to reach the cusp. The pressure infusion bags market is directly related to the development and growth of the healthcare domain and also it is affected by the growth and development of the home care services worldwide. A recent report says, that a massive chunk Canadian population is dependent on home care and the numbers are increasing every day. This is not only developing a future ground for the Pressure infusion bags market it is also changing the scenes of the Pressure infusion bags market. Apart from Canada, the home care facilities are in great demand in the US. Market predicts that home services in the US will have to cater to almost 27 million seniors by 2050. China and India are also two of the most fertile markets of Pressure infusion bags as the homecare is growing steadily in these regions. The alternate healthcare framework apart from hospitals or other medical facilities is creating an excellent opportunity for pressure infusion bags market. A sample of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2243 Pressure infusion bags market: Drivers There are several pivotal factors which are influencing the growth trail of the Pressure infusion bags market. The upsurge of the Pressure infusion bags market depends on the consolidated growth of the healthcare industry worldwide. The healthcare industry is growing steadily and it is also complimenting the growth of the healthcare tools and equipment market which include pressure infusion bags. The boom of healthcare in the countries like India, Malaysia, China, and Japan has changed the entire canvas of the Pressure infusion bags market. The demands are high and the supply is limited with a certain periphery. The emergence of home care worldwide is also opening new avenues for the pressure infusion bags market. The swelling adult population of the world is creating new ways for the Pressure infusion bags market. Several stakeholders of the healthcare industry is rolling out special measures to enhance patient safety. The Pressure infusion bags are mostly used for minimising chances of cross contamination during fluid infusion. Which makes it an effective tool which ensures patient safety. This increase of the awareness levels about patient safety is also a boon for the entire Pressure infusion bags market. This will further promote and will expand the market worldwide. Pressure infusion bags market: Restraints The issue of patient safety and development of home care facilities are extremely fragmented. There is a large difference in market behaviours and also the markets of homecare are budding in countries like India and China and healthcare institutes are mulling over issues like patient safety mainly in the government healthcare system. Which is slumping the growth of the Pressure infusion bags in these specific zones. The market is mainly dominated by players from the west which is further corking the growth of the Pressure infusion bags market. Pressure infusion bags market: Key Regions Some of the market leaders are based in the US and they are expanding their business. They are mostly eyeing the emerging market like China, India, Brazil, Chile and many other emerging markets of Asia and Africa. Many of the US based makers are pumping in funds to reach out to the larger population of the world with their products and services. Several US-based healthcare facilitators are also shaking hands with local players in the south East Asian markets and Middle East markets and planning for massive mergers to mop up the profits. To view TOC of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2243 Pressure infusion bags market: Key Players Some of the leading stakeholders in this region are BD worldwide, Medline. Though the local markets of China, India and Malaysia, Singapore are stuffed with local manufacturers and traders. Phoenix, AZ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/12/2019 -- Most of our communications, and sharing of intimate secrets, are conducted electronically in one form or another. How many of those communications are being encrypted? How much is being tracked? Recent revelations about Facebook tracking their users beyond their site, and the reports of how Google, Uber, Amazon, Tinder, Apple, and dozens more organizations have used their services to turn our computers and phones into tech spies connected within a huge corporate- and government-controlled surveillance network, is of growing concern. What is going on, and how can people protect their data, and views into their life activities, and still participate in online activities? Rebecca Herold is thrilled to discuss these issues and more with Phil Zimmermann. Dr. Phil Zimmermann, who teaches crypto at Delft University of Technology's Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, in the Netherlands, is best-known for inventing Pretty Good Privacy (PGP). He is also known for improving internet telephony (VoIP) encryption protocols, creating the ZRTP encryption protocol, being the co-founder and chief scientist of Silent Circle, and numerous other notable achievements. Along with many other honors, in 2012 the Internet Society inducted Phil into the inaugural class of the Internet Hall of Fame. "The natural flow of technology tends to move in the direction of making surveillance easier," Phil states. "The natural flow of technology tends to move in the direction of making surveillance easier, and the ability of computers to track us doubles every eighteen months." Rebecca Herold, host of Data Security & Privacy with The Privacy Professor, will discuss PGP, encryption backdoors, government surveillance, and other related topics with Phil on her show airing Tuesday, February 12. Some questions that will be answered include: How does weakened security technology degrade the privacy of the population at large? Do terrorists and crooks actually use those weakened encryption tools? What are other, more effective, ways of accessing communications of targeted criminals and terrorists instead of through encryption backdoors? How does weak encryption support surveillance worldwide? "Governments and other entities with goals of creating backdoors in security technologies, with the well-meaning but fatally flawed attempt to improve safety, could ultimately compromise data security and privacy, and make systems more vulnerable. Government and business leaders need to understand that privacy protections are weakened when data security protections are weakened, and there is scant demonstrated increased safety in return. There are many other ways to ensure a nation's security without making data security tools, such as encryption, weak and vulnerable to exploitation," explains Rebecca. Rebecca Herold, aside from hosting Data Security & Privacy with The Privacy Professor, is CEO of The Privacy Professor consultancy, established in 2004, and President of SIMBUS, LLC, established in 2014. Ms. Herold has built a loyal and growing global listenership for her radio show over the past 12 months in part due to the wide variety of high-profile information security and privacy experts she has as guests. Data Security & Privacy with The Privacy Professor airs new shows every Tuesday at 5:00pm US Eastern Time. The episode discussing PGP, encryption, and surveillance with Phil Zimmermann will first air on February 12 at 5:00pm Eastern Time on Data Security & Privacy with The Privacy Professor on the VoiceAmerica Business Channel. The show will be available for listening on demand after this date. Ms. Herold can be reached at the following: Rebeccaherold@rebeccaherold.com http://www.privacyguidance.com http://www.SIMBUS360.com http://www.voiceamerica.com/show/2733/data-security-and-privacy-with-the-privacy-professor Dr. Zimmermann can be reached at the following: https://philzimmermann.com prz@mit.edu Media Relations Contact Rebecca Herold Email: Click to Email Rebecca Herold Web: https:// www.voiceamerica.com/show/2733 About VoiceAmerica/World Talk Radio LLC World Talk Radio, LLC is the world leader in online media broadcasting and the largest producer and distributor of live internet based talk radio and TV, delivering over 1,000 hours of programming weekly on its VoiceAmerica Network (http://www.voiceamerica.com)). Featuring more than 200 hosts broadcasting to eight niche community based channels: its flagship VoiceAmerica Variety Channel, VoiceAmerica , Empowerment, VoiceAmerica Health & Wellness Channel, VoiceAmerica Influencers and VoiceAmerica Business Channel. VoiceAmerica /World Talk Radio, LLC is one of the pioneers in internet broadcasting, producing and syndicating online audio and video, offering an innovative, effective and comprehensive digital broadcast platform. Digital Publishing through over 20 years of broadcast and media experience along with our seasoned staff of Executive Producers, Production and Host Services Group, VoiceAmerica /World Talk Radio, LLC provides an internet radio and video platform for new, emerging and veteran media personalities to expand and monetize their business and brand in an online digital medium. Listeners can download the current versions of the VoiceAmerica Talk Radio App at: Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.airkast.VA_MASTER&hl=en iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/voiceamerica-talk-radio-network/id412135954?mt=8# Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/12/2019 -- A nail clipper is a hand tool used to trim fingernails, toenails and hangnails. Sometimes, a nail nipper or scissors (the difference of them seen in Chap.1.3) is also called nail clipper, so the data of the nail clipper includes nail nipper, nail scissors in the report. Nail clipper, a necessary nail trimming tool, is included nail nipper, nail scissors, special nail clipper and so on in the report though there is some difference among them. The nail clippers are mainly used for nail care of human beings, and some of them also used for animals. Currently, RIMEI (Jinda), THREE SEVEN (777), KAI, Zwilling, Zhangxiaoquan, Stallen, Greenbell, Nghia, Nippers, Klhip, Wuesthof, Victorinox, Suwada, Bocas, Kowell and Boyou are the wellknown players in the global nail clipper market, and the 15 players took up about 60% of the global market in 2015. RIMEI, Zhangxiaoquan, and Stallen are three of the top brands in China; and THREE SEVEN, Bocas are Kowell are from Korea; Zwilling, Wuesthof from Germany, Klhip from USA, and Victorinox From Switzerland are the world top brand as we know. The global Nail Clippers market is valued at 2070 million US$ in 2018 is expected to reach 3250 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 5.8% during 2019-2025. This report focuses on Nail Clippers volume and value at global level, regional level and company level. From a global perspective, this report represents overall Nail Clippers market size by analyzing historical data and future prospect. Regionally, this report focuses on several key regions: North America, Europe, China and Japan. Get PDF report template @ https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/960849/global-nail-clippers-market At company level, this report focuses on the production capacity, ex-factory price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer covered in this report. The following manufacturers are covered: RIMEI THREE SEVEN KAI Zwilling Zhangxiaoquan Stallen Greenbell Nghia Nippers Klhip Wuesthof Victorinox Suwada Bocas Kowell Boyou Kooba ClipPro Gebrueder Nippes Kobos Segment by Regions North America Europe China Japan Segment by Type Nail Clipper Nail Nipper Nail Scissors Others Segment by Application Human beings Animals Get Complete Report in your Inbox within 24 hours @ https://www.qyresearch.com/settlement/pre/49f415e20080d1b5dba197bad63f97fd,0,1,Global%20Nail%20Clippers%20Market%20Share%20and%20Growth%202019 About QYResearch QYResearch always pursuits high product quality with the belief that quality is the soul of business. Through years of effort and supports from huge number of customer supports, QYResearch consulting group has accumulated creative design methods on many high-quality markets investigation and research team with rich experience. Today, QYResearch has become the brand of quality assurance in consulting industry. New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/12/2019 -- Most importantly, the study enables business owners to understand and make better business decisions by pinpointing the current demands and needs of the consumers. The collection of data with an aim to offer clarity on consumer behaviour in a particular region where the Minimally Invasive Surgery Equipments market players operate makes the report more valuable. Apart from this, the study evaluates the competitors in a specific country. Another critical aspect that is covered by this literature on Minimally Invasive Surgery Equipments market is the effective assessment of small marketing campaigns. "North America is the leading contributor to the global minimally invasive surgical systems market. In 2017, the contribution in terms of revenue of North America to the global minimally invasive surgical systems market was valued approximately $9.31 billion, which is anticipated to grow at a double-digit CAGR of 12.86% during the forecast period. This high growth rate in the region can be attributed to the rising patient demand for minimally invasive surgeries, technological developments, and perceived benefits of MIS surgeries (such as quick recovery, fewer scars and pain, and fewer post-operative complications), among others." To get Free Sample Report Copy click here @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/30028 The major manufacturers covered in this report: - GE Healthcare - Siemens Healthcare - Philips Healthcare - Medtronic - Stryker - Zimmer Biomet - Abbott - Johnson & Johnson - Smith & Nephew - Boston Scientific - Olympus Geographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, covering - North America - Europe - China - Japan - Southeast Asia - India The research further holds ample information to enable stakeholders in their decision-making process, especially associated with problem identification, finding the best solutions as well as opportunities in the Minimally Invasive Surgery Equipments market for the forecast period, 2018 to 2026. The study further document marketing benchmarks that a business owner is expected to complete in order to sustain in the highly saturated market. Besides, the marketing efforts and constant improvements introduced to the marketing strategy by major vendors' forms an important part of the study. On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into - Robotic MIS Instruments - Non-Robotic Hand Guided Assistance Systems On the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, including - Cardiothoracic Surgery - Vascular Surgery - Cosmetic/Bariatric Surgery - Gastrointestinal Surgery - Gynecological Surgery - Urological Surgery - Orthopedic Surgery - Others (ENT/Respiratory Surgery, Neurological Surgery, Dental Surgery, and Pediatric Surgery) To Purchase this Report click here @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/30028 The report not only empowers companies and individuals to understand the key characteristics of the target market but also the communication preferences. The audience can get the estimated size according to the number of sales in a specific region. By offering access to insights about the profit margin the study aims at improving the communication between the companies and potential customers. Armed with all required information on the recent development in the competitive landscape such as a joint venture, collaboration, acquisition and merger and product launch the study enables business owners to build a strong profile of their best buyers. Key Stakeholders Minimally Invasive Surgery Equipments Manufacturers Minimally Invasive Surgery Equipments Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers Minimally Invasive Surgery Equipments Subcomponent Manufacturers Industry Association Downstream Vendors Available Customizations In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Minimally Invasive Surgery Equipments are as follows: History Year: 2013-2017 Base Year: 2017 Estimated Year: 2018 Forecast Year 2018 to 2026 The study objectives of this report are: - To analyse and study the global Minimally Invasive Surgery Equipments capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2026); - Focuses on the key Minimally Invasive Surgery Equipments manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future. - Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyse the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis. - To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region. - To analyse the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks. - To analyse the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments. - To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyse their growth strategies. Research Highlights: - As of 2018, the global number of surgical procedures has grown by nearly 15% primarily due to the extensive usage of da Vinci assisted general surgical procedures and continued growth in urology in Europe and Asia region, followed by multi-specialty procedure growth in China. The growth in the general surgery procedures is further increased due to the rising demand for hernia repair and colon resection procedures. - Intuitive Medical is currently leading the surgical robotics market space, occupying approximately 70% of the market. The company's da Vinci surgical system has significantly propelled the number of procedures globally, thus expanding the addressable market. - In 2017, the revenue generated by the global conventional minimally invasive surgical equipment market was approximately $18.87 billion, which expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.90% during the forecast period. The growth in this field is majorly coming from the North America region which has an estimated addressable market of nearly $6.83 billion, contributing to nearly 34% of the overall market. Within the North America region, almost 92% of the market is dominated by the U.S. primarily due to the rising number of laparoscopic procedures performed in the nation. In 2017 alone, there were more than 3.4 million procedures performed across the U.S. with California, Texas, and Florida having the highest number of procedures. Olympus, Covidien, Ethicon, and Karl Storz are some of the significant players in the U.S market. - Endoscopy is the largest product category for the global conventional minimally invasive surgical systems market contributing to approximately $10.33 billion, which is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 3.60% during the forecast period. However, the major growth segment is capsule endoscopy which would grow at a double-digit CAGR of 10.00% during the forecast period. The high growth rate can be attributed to a large number of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening programs conducted across many developed regions such as North America and Europe. - A majority of conventional surgical instruments are incapable of providing high-quality image/video of the affected region, imposing difficulties in the case of complicated surgeries. On the contrary, robotic surgery makes it easier for the surgeons to carry out complex procedures with comparatively much smaller incisions (0.5-1 mm). Furthermore, robotic surgeries can significantly improve patient outcomes and reduce the number of inpatient stays for a patient. Read more @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/minimally-invasive-surgery-equipments-market About MarketExpertz Planning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web? Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges. Contact Us: John Watson Head of Business Development Market Expertz | Web: www.marketexpertz.com Direct Line: +1-800-819-3052 E-mail: sales@marketexpertz.com News: www.marketexpertz.com/market-news Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- HTF MI recently introduced Global Marble Market study with in-depth overview, describing about the Product / Industry Scope and elaborates market outlook and status to 2023. The market Study is segmented by key regions which is accelerating the marketization. At present, the market is developing its presence and some of the key players from the complete study are Levantina, Polycor, Indiana Limestone Company, Vetter Stone, Topalidis, Antolini, Temmer Marble, Tekmar, Pakistan Onyx Marble, Dimpomar, Mumal Marbles, Can Simsekler Construction, Marmoles Marin, Aurangzeb Marble Industry, Etgran, Amso International, Universal Marble & Granite, Best Cheer Stone Group, Fujian Fengshan Stone Group, Xiamen Wanlistone Stock, Kangli Stone Group, Hongfa, Xishi Group, Jin Long Run Yu, Xinpengfei Industry, Jinbo Construction Group, Fujian Dongsheng Stone & Guanghui etc. Request Sample of Global Marble Market Research Report 2019 @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/1623919-global-marble-market-17 Marble is a metamorphic rock that forms when limestone is subjected to the heat and pressure of metamorphism. It is composed primarily of the mineral calcite (CaCO3) and usually contains other minerals such as: clay minerals, micas, quartz, pyrite, iron oxides and graphite. The global marble market is worth over $50 Billion, according to our survey. The industry is highly fragmented in terms of products, end uses and suppliers, but its markets can broadly be categorized as construction and decoration, statuary and monuments, furniture and others. Until 2016, EU overall was the dominant producer and exporter of marble, but strong growth in emerging markets, especially in China, Pakistan and India, means that Asia is assuming dominance as a producing and exporting region. In 2016, the world production of marble reached 816 Million Sq.m. The world's top ten natural marble producers include China, India, Iran, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Egypt, Portugal and Greece.. Leading players in marble industry are Levantina, Polycor inc, Indiana Limestone Company, Vetter Stone, Topalidis S.A., Antolini, etc. Marble is a highly-fragmented industry with a variety of manufacturers ranging from large multinational corporations to small privately owned companies. The top ten producers account for just c 3.76% of the market. Marble can be classified based on the color. Yellow marble is assumed to be the most prevalent kind of marble, considering the large stock of beige marble in Europe. The production of black marble, white marble and green marble are also considerable. A key variable in the performance of marble producers is raw material costs, specifically the speed at which any increase can be passed through to customers. According to U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), stone resources of the world are sufficient to cater to foreseeable needs. Nevertheless, resources can be limited on a local level or occasionally on a regional level due to the lack of a particular type of stone. Marble resources are mainly located in Italy, China, Turkey, Philippines, France, Brazil, USA, India, Morocco, Austria, Russia, Japan, Portugal and Greece. Italy has abundant resources of high quality marble, positioning the nation as a key marble producer and exporter in the world. Turkey is located at the world's richest natural stone Alps area. There are a mass of marble resources from Anatolia to the Thrace region. The materials of marble include marble blocks, to some companies, marble block can be satisfied with own production, while to others, marble blocks have to be purchased from other suppliers. The price of marble tile follow the marble block price, with a lag, and movements can inject volatility into producer margins. In general, most producers structure the majority of their contracts to include a 'pass through' clause that smooth the impact. The largest consumption area of marble is Europe, which accounted for 29.05% of world marble consumption in 2016. The consumption of marble in USA, India and China are also considerable. The global marble production value will increase to 64 Billion USD in 2023, from 52 Billion USD in 2016. It is estimated that the global marble demand will develop with an average growth rate of around 3.01% in terms of revenue from 2106 to 2023. The global Marble market is valued at 52000 million US$ in 2018 is expected to reach 66400 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 3.1% during 2019-2025. This report focuses on Marble volume and value at global level, regional level and company level. From a global perspective, this report represents overall Marble market size by analyzing historical data and future prospect. Regionally, this report focuses on several key regions: North America, Europe, China and Japan. At company level, this report focuses on the production capacity, ex-factory price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer This report studies the Global Marble market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the Global Marble market by companies, region, type and end-use industry. Browse 100+ market data Tables and Figures spread through Pages and in-depth TOC on " Marble Market by Type (, White Marble, Black Marble, Yellow Marble, Red Marble & Green Marble and others), by End-Users/Application (Construction and Decoration, Statuary and Monuments, Furniture & Others), Organization Size, Industry, and Region - Forecast to 2023". Early buyers will receive 10% customization on comprehensive study. In order to get a deeper view of Market Size, competitive landscape is provided i.e. Revenue (Million USD) by Players (2013-2018), Revenue Market Share (%) by Players (2013-2018) and further a qualitative analysis is made towards market concentration rate, product/service differences, new entrants and the technological trends in future. Enquire for customization in Report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/1623919-global-marble-market-17 Competitive Analysis: The key players are highly focusing innovation in production technologies to improve efficiency and shelf life. The best long-term growth opportunities for this sector can be captured by ensuring ongoing process improvements and financial flexibility to invest in the optimal strategies. Company profile section of players such as Levantina, Polycor, Indiana Limestone Company, Vetter Stone, Topalidis, Antolini, Temmer Marble, Tekmar, Pakistan Onyx Marble, Dimpomar, Mumal Marbles, Can Simsekler Construction, Marmoles Marin, Aurangzeb Marble Industry, Etgran, Amso International, Universal Marble & Granite, Best Cheer Stone Group, Fujian Fengshan Stone Group, Xiamen Wanlistone Stock, Kangli Stone Group, Hongfa, Xishi Group, Jin Long Run Yu, Xinpengfei Industry, Jinbo Construction Group, Fujian Dongsheng Stone & Guanghui includes its basic information like legal name, website, headquarters, its market position, historical background and top 5 closest competitors by Market capitalization / revenue along with contact information. Each player/ manufacturer revenue figures, growth rate and gross profit margin is provided in easy to understand tabular format for past 5 years and a separate section on recent development like mergers, acquisition or any new product/service launch etc. Market Segments: The Global Marble Market has been divided into type, application, and region. On The Basis Of Type: , White Marble, Black Marble, Yellow Marble, Red Marble & Green Marble and others. On The Basis Of Application: Construction and Decoration, Statuary and Monuments, Furniture & Others On The Basis Of Region, this report is segmented into following key geographies, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share, growth rate of Marble in these regions, from 2013 to 2023 (forecast), covering - North America (U.S. & Canada) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Analysis (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Latin America (Brazil, Mexico & Rest of Latin America) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Europe (The U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden & RoE) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Rest of Asia) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Middle East & Africa (GCC, South Africa, North Africa, RoMEA) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Rest of World {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Analysis (%) and Opportunity Analysis} Buy Single User License of Global Marble Market Research Report 2019 @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=1623919 Have a look at some extracts from Table of Content Introduction about Global Marble Global Marble Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2017 Marble Market by Application/End Users Global Marble Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Applications (2013-2023) table defined for each application/end-users like [Construction and Decoration, Statuary and Monuments, Furniture & Others] Global Marble Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2023) Marble Competition by Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application Marble (Volume, Value and Sales Price) table defined for each geographic region defined. Global Marble Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data Additionally Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors list is being provided for each listed manufacturers Market Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018) table for each product type which include , White Marble, Black Marble, Yellow Marble, Red Marble & Green Marble and others Marble Manufacturing Cost Analysis Marble Key Raw Materials Analysis Marble Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers, Industrial Chain Analysis Market Forecast (2018-2023) ........and more in complete table of Contents Browse for Full Report at: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/1623919-global-marble-market-17 Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia. 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The subject matter experts behind the research have collected vital statistics on the market share, size and growth as a way to help stakeholders, business owners and field marketing personnel identify the areas to reduce costs, improve sales, explore new opportunities and streamline their processes. Unbiased perspective on intangible aspects such as key challenges, threats, new entrants as well as strengths and weaknesses of the prominent vendors too are discussed in this market intelligence report. A thorough diligence and probe into market segmentation, customer preference, production capability and gross margin are discussed with the aim to ensure business owners are positioned to successes. The study considers, in particular, the impact of technology innovation, recent collaborations and product launches for the forecast period of 2018 - 2026. Assessment of various factors on a target's ability to meet the forecast results forms the basis of evaluation of this market intelligence report on Long-Term Acute Care Products market. Download Sample Copy of Report @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/29996 Scope of the Report: To offer granularity, the study accurately screens through and validates various information pertaining to this business vertical including the important definitions, product types, and application. The research further looks into other critical factors such as investment feasibility, estimated return on investment, supply chain management, consumption power, product pricing and import and export status to enable business owners to reach the right conclusion for successful returns. Data on core competencies to the prominent market players and market opportunities are presented through self explanatory charts, tables and graphic images. Market segmentation by manufacturers, the report covers the following companies- Johnson & Johnson, GE, Medtronic, Siemens, Baxter, Fresenius Medical Care, Philips, Cardinal Health, Novartis, Stryker, BD, Boston Scientific, Abbott Laboratories, Terumo Market segmentation by geographical regions, the report has analysed the following regions- - North America - Europe - China - Japan - Middle East & Africa - India - South America - Others On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into - Blood Devices - Oxygen Delivery Devices - Aerosol Delivery Devices - Standard and Advanced Wound Dressings - Skin Substitutes - Peritoneal Dialysises - Heart Monitors - Others On the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, including - Respiratory Therapy - Wound Care - Dialysis - Other Therapy Buy Full Report@ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/29996 The study objectives of this report are: - To analyze and study the global Long-Term Acute Care Products capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2026); - Focuses on the key Long-Term Acute Care Products manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future. - Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis. - To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region. - To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks. - To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth. - To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments. - To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market - To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market - To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies. There are 13 Chapters to thoroughly display the Long-Term Acute Care Products market. This report included the analysis of market overview, market characteristics, industry chain, competition landscape, historical and future data by types, applications and regions. Chapter 1: Long-Term Acute Care Products Market Overview, Product Overview, Market Segmentation, Market Overview of Regions, Market Dynamics, Limitations, Opportunities and Industry News and Policies. Chapter 2: Long-Term Acute Care Products Industry Chain Analysis, Upstream Raw Material Suppliers, Major Players, Production Process Analysis, Cost Analysis, Market Channels and Major Downstream Buyers. Chapter 3: Value Analysis, Production, Growth Rate and Price Analysis by Type of Long-Term Acute Care Products. Chapter 4: Downstream Characteristics, Consumption and Market Share by Application of Long-Term Acute Care Products. Continue Read full report description @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/long-term-acute-care-products-market About MarketExpertz Planning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web? Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges. Contact Us: John Watson Head of Business Development Market Expertz | Web: www.marketexpertz.com Direct Line: +1-800-819-3052 E-mail: sales@marketexpertz.com News: www.marketexpertz.com/market-news Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- HTF MI recently Announced Global Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes study with 100+ market data Tables and Figures spread through Pages and easy to understand detailed TOC on "Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes. Global Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes research allows you to get different methods for maximizing your profit. The research study provides estimates for Global Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes Forecast till 2025*. Some of the Leading key Company's Covered for this Research are BMZ, BYD, Johnson Matthey Battery Systems, LG Chem, Panasonic, Phylion, SAFT Batteries, Samsung SDI, Tianjin Lishen Battery, Toshiba, AllCell Technology, Coslight & Sinopoly Battery. Click to get Global Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes Market Research Sample PDF Copy Here @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/1487239-global-lithium-ion-batteries-for-electric-bikes-market-5 This report presents the worldwide Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes market size (value, production and consumption), splits the breakdown (data status 2014-2019 and forecast to 2025), by manufacturers, region, type and application. This study also analyzes the market status, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors and Porter's Five Forces Analysis. Global Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes Research for a Leading company is an intelligent process of gathering and analyzing the numerical data related to services and products. This Research Give idea to aims at your targeted customer's understanding, needs and wants. Also, reveals how effectively a company can meet their requirements. The market research collects data about the customers, marketing strategy, competitors. The Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes Manufacturing industry is becoming increasingly dynamic and innovative, with more number of private players entering the industry. Important Features that are under offering & key highlights of the report: 1) Who are the Leading Key Company in Global Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes market space? Following are list of players that are currently profiled in the report "BMZ, BYD, Johnson Matthey Battery Systems, LG Chem, Panasonic, Phylion, SAFT Batteries, Samsung SDI, Tianjin Lishen Battery, Toshiba, AllCell Technology, Coslight & Sinopoly Battery" ** List of companies mentioned may vary in the final report subject to Name Change / Merger etc. 2) What will the market size be in 2025 and what will the growth rate be? In 2019, the Global Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes market size was xx million USD and it is expected to reach USD xx million by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during 2019-2025. 3) What are the Market Applications & Types: The study is segmented by following Product Type: , Lithium iron phosphate battery, Ternary Battery & Others Major applications/end-users industry are: Household, Public Transport & Others **The market is valued based on weighted average selling price (WASP) and includes any applicable taxes on manufacturers. All currency conversions used in the creation of this report have been calculated using constant annual average 2018 currency rates. To comprehend Global Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes market dynamics in the world mainly, the worldwide Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes market is analyzed across major regions. HTF MI also provides customized specific regional and country-level reports for the following areas. - North America: United States, Canada, and Mexico. - South & Central America: Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. - Middle East & Africa: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey, Egypt and South Africa. - Europe: UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Russia. - Asia-Pacific: India, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, and Australia. Enquire for customization in Report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/1487239-global-lithium-ion-batteries-for-electric-bikes-market-5 Competitive Analysis: The key players are highly focusing innovation in production technologies to improve efficiency and shelf life. The best long-term growth opportunities for this sector can be captured by ensuring ongoing process improvements and financial flexibility to invest in the optimal strategies. Company profile section of players such as BMZ, BYD, Johnson Matthey Battery Systems, LG Chem, Panasonic, Phylion, SAFT Batteries, Samsung SDI, Tianjin Lishen Battery, Toshiba, AllCell Technology, Coslight & Sinopoly Battery includes its basic information like legal name, website, headquarters, its market position, historical background and top 5 closest competitors by Market capitalization / revenue along with contact information. Each player/ manufacturer revenue figures, growth rate and gross profit margin is provided in easy to understand tabular format for past 5 years and a separate section on recent development like mergers, acquisition or any new product/service launch etc. Research Parameter/ Research Methodology Primary Research: The primary sources involves the industry experts from the Global Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes industry including the management organizations, processing organizations, analytics service providers of the industry's value chain. All primary sources were interviewed to gather and authenticate qualitative & quantitative information and determine the future prospects. In the extensive primary research process undertaken for this study, the primary sources industry experts such as CEOs, vice presidents, marketing director, technology & innovation directors, founders and related key executives from various key companies and organizations in the Global Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes in the industry have been interviewed to obtain and verify both qualitative and quantitative aspects of this research study. Secondary Research: In the Secondary research crucial information about the industries value chain, total pool of key players, and application areas. It also assisted in market segmentation according to industry trends to the bottom-most level, geographical markets and key developments from both market and technology oriented perspectives. Buy Full Copy Global Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes Report 2018 @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/1487239-global-lithium-ion-batteries-for-electric-bikes-market-5 In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Global Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes are as follows: History Year: 2013-2018 Base Year: 2018 Estimated Year: 2019 Forecast Year 2019 to 2025 Key Stakeholders in Global Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes Market: Global Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes Manufacturers Global Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers Global Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bikes Subcomponent Manufacturers Industry Association Downstream Vendors **Actual Numbers & In-Depth Analysis, Business opportunities, Market Size Estimation Available in Full Report. Buy this research @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=1487239 Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia. Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- HTF MI recently Announced Global Whole Grain Food study with 100+ market data Tables and Figures spread through Pages and easy to understand detailed TOC on "Whole Grain Food. Global Whole Grain Food research allows you to get different methods for maximizing your profit. The research study provides estimates for Global Whole Grain Food Forecast till 2025*. Some of the Leading key Company's Covered for this Research are Cargill, Kellogg Corporation, Cereal Ingredients, BENEO GmbH, Creafill Fibers Corporation, International Fiber Corporation, Hodgson Mill, Grain Millers, Flowers Foods & Ardent Mills Corporate. Click to get Global Whole Grain Food Market Research Sample PDF Copy Here @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/1354196-global-whole-grain-food-market-6 This report studies the global market size of Whole Grain Food in key regions like North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa, focuses on the consumption of Whole Grain Food in these regions. This research report categorizes the global Whole Grain Food market by top players/brands, region, type and end user. This report also studies the global Whole Grain Food market status, competition landscape, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, sales channels and distributors. Global Whole Grain Food Research for a Leading company is an intelligent process of gathering and analyzing the numerical data related to services and products. This Research Give idea to aims at your targeted customer's understanding, needs and wants. Also, reveals how effectively a company can meet their requirements. The market research collects data about the customers, marketing strategy, competitors. The Whole Grain Food Manufacturing industry is becoming increasingly dynamic and innovative, with more number of private players entering the industry. Important Features that are under offering & key highlights of the report: 1) Who are the Leading Key Company in Global Whole Grain Food market space? Following are list of players that are currently profiled in the report "Cargill, Kellogg Corporation, Cereal Ingredients, BENEO GmbH, Creafill Fibers Corporation, International Fiber Corporation, Hodgson Mill, Grain Millers, Flowers Foods & Ardent Mills Corporate" ** List of companies mentioned may vary in the final report subject to Name Change / Merger etc. 2) What will the market size be in 2025 and what will the growth rate be? In 2019, the Global Whole Grain Food market size was xx million USD and it is expected to reach USD xx million by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during 2019-2025. 3) What are the Market Applications & Types: The study is segmented by following Product Type: , Baked Food, Cereals & Others Major applications/end-users industry are: Supermarkets/hypermarkets, Online/e-Commerce, Independent Retail Outlets & Others **The market is valued based on weighted average selling price (WASP) and includes any applicable taxes on manufacturers. All currency conversions used in the creation of this report have been calculated using constant annual average 2018 currency rates. To comprehend Global Whole Grain Food market dynamics in the world mainly, the worldwide Whole Grain Food market is analyzed across major regions. HTF MI also provides customized specific regional and country-level reports for the following areas. - North America: United States, Canada, and Mexico. - South & Central America: Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. - Middle East & Africa: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey, Egypt and South Africa. - Europe: UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Russia. - Asia-Pacific: India, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, and Australia. Enquire for customization in Report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/1354196-global-whole-grain-food-market-6 Competitive Analysis: The key players are highly focusing innovation in production technologies to improve efficiency and shelf life. The best long-term growth opportunities for this sector can be captured by ensuring ongoing process improvements and financial flexibility to invest in the optimal strategies. Company profile section of players such as Cargill, Kellogg Corporation, Cereal Ingredients, BENEO GmbH, Creafill Fibers Corporation, International Fiber Corporation, Hodgson Mill, Grain Millers, Flowers Foods & Ardent Mills Corporate includes its basic information like legal name, website, headquarters, its market position, historical background and top 5 closest competitors by Market capitalization / revenue along with contact information. Each player/ manufacturer revenue figures, growth rate and gross profit margin is provided in easy to understand tabular format for past 5 years and a separate section on recent development like mergers, acquisition or any new product/service launch etc. Research Parameter/ Research Methodology Primary Research: The primary sources involves the industry experts from the Global Whole Grain Food industry including the management organizations, processing organizations, analytics service providers of the industry's value chain. All primary sources were interviewed to gather and authenticate qualitative & quantitative information and determine the future prospects. In the extensive primary research process undertaken for this study, the primary sources industry experts such as CEOs, vice presidents, marketing director, technology & innovation directors, founders and related key executives from various key companies and organizations in the Global Whole Grain Food in the industry have been interviewed to obtain and verify both qualitative and quantitative aspects of this research study. Secondary Research: In the Secondary research crucial information about the industries value chain, total pool of key players, and application areas. It also assisted in market segmentation according to industry trends to the bottom-most level, geographical markets and key developments from both market and technology oriented perspectives. Buy Full Copy Global Whole Grain Food Report 2018 @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/1354196-global-whole-grain-food-market-6 In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Global Whole Grain Food are as follows: History Year: 2013-2018 Base Year: 2018 Estimated Year: 2019 Forecast Year 2019 to 2025 Key Stakeholders in Global Whole Grain Food Market: Global Whole Grain Food Manufacturers Global Whole Grain Food Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers Global Whole Grain Food Subcomponent Manufacturers Industry Association Downstream Vendors **Actual Numbers & In-Depth Analysis, Business opportunities, Market Size Estimation Available in Full Report. Buy this research @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=1354196 Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia. Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- Cloud computing is one of the most commonly used applications in healthcare. Healthcare organizations are highly concerned about the privacy and security of patient information, and the pressure of managing the growing healthcare data has driven the implementation of cost effective solutions such as cloud computing. Therefore, healthcare companies are accepting cloud computing as an effective solution for data storage. This technology provides various benefits such as business agility, privacy & security, reduced cost and so on. Increasing utilization of information technology in the healthcare industry has led to rising adoption of cloud computing by the global healthcare cloud computing industry. Read Report Overview: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/healthcare-cloud-computing-market.html However, this market faces major challenges such as high initial investment and shortage of skilled work force. Adoption of cloud computing by healthcare providers is projected to significantly rise. Polycom, a U.S-based company that produces video conferencing equipment, provides cloud-based on-demand video conferencing solutions which helps to decrease on-premise infrastructure costs. Cloud solutions for strong and retrieving data are expected to reduce IT expenditure in healthcare institutions. The global healthcare cloud computing market is expected to expand substantially due to implementation of favorable regulatory acts, growing investment from healthcare players, proliferation of high speed internet, government organizations, public awareness, rising demand for stringent regulatory compliance, new payment models, and the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The restraining factors for the global healthcare cloud computing market are issues related to data privacy, rising number of cloud data breaches, and data portability complications. There are opportunities in global healthcare cloud computing market to development responsible care organizations to increase scope for healthcare cloud computing and Telecloud to create opportunities for healthcare cloud computing market. Increase of cloud computing solution for telemedicine is current trend for this market. Request Brochure of Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=25517 The global healthcare cloud computing market is segmented by service, cloud deployment model, application, end user, and by region. By service, the market is divided into platform as a service, infrastructure as a service, and software as a service. On the basis of cloud deployment model, the market is segregated into public, private, and virtual private cloud. By application, the market is further categorized into clinical information system and non-clinical information system. Clinical information system includes pharmacy information system, computerized physician order entry, radiology information system, electronic medical records and others. Non-clinical information system covers revenue cycle management, automatic patient billing, claim management and others. Based on end- user application, the market is classified into healthcare payers and healthcare providers. Non-clinical information system is the dominant segment in the global healthcare cloud computing market. In clinical information system, electronic medical record system is the dominant segment. Request For TOC : https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=25517 Geographically, the global healthcare cloud computing market is segmented into North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. Each geographic market is sub-divided into selected countries such as the U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, Brazil, India, China, Japan, and GCC countries. North America dominates the market because of increasing use of mobile devices for healthcare facilities. However, the market in Asia Pacific is expected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period due to huge scope for growth and the region can possibly dominate the market in the future. The key players operating in the healthcare cloud computing market include IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, CareCloud Corporation, Carestream Health, Inc., Athenahealth, Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc. ClearData Networks, Inc., EMC Corporation, Dell, Inc., Iron Mountain, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, IncMerge Healthcare, Inc., Oracle Corporation and VMware, Inc. In order to gain competitive advantage in the industry, key players are actively involved in providing variation to products and services, and also indulging in continuous new product launches. Collaborations, partnerships, and agreements are some of the important strategies followed by market players to stay ahead of the competition. About Transparency Market Research Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMR's global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations. Contact us: Transparency Market Research 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany NY - 12207 United States Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453 Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- The Liver Detox Market Report provide the complete analysis of Liver Detox of the Top 20 countries Market Size Data and development forecast from 2018-2023. This reports also include complete information of main Manufacturers/Suppliers of Liver Detox all around the world and market share by various regions, with the company and product introduction and their position in the Liver Detox Market status and development trend of Liver Detox by their types and Applications. This report also includes the Cost and profit status of Liver Detox Market, and marketing status, Market Growth Drivers and challenges in this Market. Request a Sample of Liver Detox research report from: https://www.360researchreports.com/enquiry/request-sample/11901855 Global Liver Detox Market: Manufacturers Segment Analysis (Companies and Product introduction, Liver Detox Sales Volume, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin): - Health Plus(UK), Swisse(AU), ReNew Life Formulas, Inc.(US), NATURE' S BOUNTY(US), Healthy Care(AU), Evolution Slimming Ltd(UK), PureFormulas Inc.(US), Swanson Vitamins(US), VITAMIN CO(US), Vimerson Health(US), Blackmores(AU), NOW Foods(US), Nutri Suppz(US), Caruso's Natural Health(AU) Global Liver Detox Market: Regional Segment Analysis (Regional Production Volume, Consumption Volume, Revenue and Growth Rate 2013-2023): - North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) - Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia, Spain and Benelux) - Asia Pacific (China, Japan, India, Southeast Asia and Australia) - Latin America (Brazil, Argentina and Colombia) - Middle East and Africa Have Any Query? Contact our Experts @ https://www.360researchreports.com/enquiry/pre-order-enquiry/11901855 Global Liver Detox Market: Type Segment Analysis (Consmption Volume, Average Price, Revenue, Market Share and Trend 2013-2023): - Tablets, Capsules, Liquid and Sprays, Others Global Liver Detox Market: Application Segment Analysis (Consumption Volume and Market Share 2013-2023; Downstream Customers and Market Analysis) - Hospitals, Individuals, Institutions, Others Price of Report: $ 3680 (Single User License) Purchase this Report @ https://www.360researchreports.com/purchase/11901855 Major Highlights of the Liver Detox report: Liver Detox Overview, Market shares and strategies of key players, Sales Market Forecast, Manufacturing Analysis of The Liver Detox Market, Market Driving Factor Analysis of The Liver Detox Market, Market Competition Status by Major Manufacturers, Upstream and Downstream Market Analysis The Liver Detox Market, and Cost and Gross Margin Analysis of The Liver Detox Market Why you should Purchase this Report? - To gain insightful analyses of the market and have a comprehensive understanding of the global Liver Detox market and its competitive landscape. - Assess the Liver Detox market production processes, major issues in this market, and solutions to mitigate the development risk. - To understand the most affecting driving and restraining forces in the Liver Detox market and its impact on the global market. - Learn about the market tactics that are being adopted by leading respective organizations. - To understand the outlook and prospects for Liver Detox Market. Following are the Total 14 chapters covered in Liver Detox Report: Chapter 1: This chapter of Liver Detox market includes Product Overview, Commercial Types, Downstream Application, Development History, Market Status and Trend. Chapter 2: This chapter of Liver Detox market includes Market Development by Regions, Sales Market by Regions, Production Market by Regions, Market Forecast by Regions. Chapter 3: This chapter of Liver Detox market includes Sales Volume by Types, Sales Value by Types, Market Forecast by Types. Chapter 4: This chapter of Liver Detox market includes Global Sales Volume by Downstream Industry, Global Market Forecast by Downstream Industry. Chapter 5: This chapter of Liver Detox market includes North America Market Status by Countries, Type, Manufacturers and Downstream Industry. (United States, Canada & Mexico) Chapter 6: This chapter of Liver Detox market includes Europe Market Status by Countries, Type, Manufacturers and Downstream Industry. (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, Benelux) Chapter 7: This chapter of Liver Detox market includes Asia Pacific Market Status by Countries, Type, Manufacturers and Downstream Industry (China, Japan, India, Southeast Asia, Australia) Chapter 8: This chapter of Liver Detox market includes Latin America Market Status by Countries, Type, Manufacturers and Downstream Industry (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia) Chapter 9: This chapter of Liver Detox market includes Middle East and Africa Market Status by Countries, Type, Manufacturers and Downstream Industry Chapter 10: This chapter of Liver Detox market includes Driving Factor Analysis, Global Economy Situation and Trend Overview & Downstream Industry Situation and Trend Overview. Chapter 11: This chapter of Liver Detox market tells about Market Competition Status by Major Manufacturers such as Production Volume, Production Value Investment, New Product Development and Launch. Also include basic information like Headquarters Location, Established Time, Employees and Revenue. Chapter 12: This chapter of Liver Detox market includes Health Plus(UK), Swisse(AU), ReNew Life Formulas, Inc.(US), NATURE' S BOUNTY(US), Healthy Care(AU), Evolution Slimming Ltd(UK), PureFormulas Inc.(US), Swanson Vitamins(US), VITAMIN CO(US), Vimerson Health(US), Blackmores(AU), NOW Foods(US), Nutri Suppz(US), Caruso's Natural Health(AU) profile, Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin of all companies mentioned above. Chapter 13: This chapter of Liver Detox market includes Industry Chain, Upstream Market, Downstream Market and Representative Companies Analysis. Chapter 14: This chapter of Liver Detox market includes Cost Structure Analysis, Raw Materials Cost Analysis, Labour Cost Analysis, and Manufacturing Expenses Analysis. This report provides detailed insights and analysis on the state of the Liver Detox and provide a valuable source of information and direction for companies and individuals interested in this market. Further in the report, the Liver Detox Market is examined for Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin. These points are analysed for companies, types, and regions. In continuation with this data, the sale price is for various types, applications and region is also included. The Liver Detox Market consumption for major regions is given. Additionally, type wise and application wise figures are also provided in this report. New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global EHS Management Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 2019-2025 to its huge collection of research reports. The major factors driving the growth of the EHS market are stringent guidelines and regulations by government and federal bodies, and rising awareness about EHS among employees and organizations. Furthermore, the increasing number of accidents, especially in mining, energy, construction, and chemical industries, and growing investments by end- users are some of the other factors supporting the overall growth of the market. The EHS market is segmented on the basis of components (solution and services), verticals, and regions. EHS services are segmented into analytics services; project deployment and implementation services; audit, assessment, and regulatory compliance services; business consulting and advisory services; certification services; and training and support services. Get A Free access TO Report Sample : https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=2040498&type=S This report focuses on the global EHS Management Software status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. The study objectives are to present the EHS Management Software development in United States, Europe and China. The key players covered in this study SAP Enablon ETQ Intelex Gensuite Enviance Cority Verisk 3E Velocityehs Optial Sphera Solutions Sitehawk Market segment by Type, the product can be split into Solution Service Market segment by Application, split into Analytics services Project deployment & implementation services Business consulting & advisory services Audit, assessment, and regulatory compliance services Certification services Training & support services Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report covers United States Europe China Japan Southeast Asia India Central & South America The study objectives of this report are: To analyze global EHS Management Software status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. To present the EHS Management Software development in United States, Europe and China. To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their development plan and strategies. To define, describe and forecast the market by product type, market and key regions. For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2018 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered. To Browse a Full Report Click Here: https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-ehs-management-software-market-size-status-and-forecast-2019-2025.htm Table of Contents 1 Report Overview 1.1 Study Scope 1.2 Key Market Segments 1.3 Players Covered 1.4 Market Analysis by Type 2 Global Growth Trends 2.1 EHS Management Software Market Size 2.2 EHS Management Software Growth Trends by Regions 2.2.1 EHS Management Software Market Size by Regions (2014-2025) 2.2.2 EHS Management Software Market Share by Regions (2014-2019) 2.3 Industry Trends 2.3.1 Market Top Trends 2.3.2 Market Drivers 2.3.3 Market Opportunities 3 Market Share by Key Players 3.1 EHS Management Software Market Size by Manufacturers 3.1.1 Global EHS Management Software Revenue by Manufacturers (2014-2018) 3.1.2 Global EHS Management Software Revenue Market Share by Manufacturers (2014-2018) 3.1.3 Global EHS Management Software Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI) 3.2 EHS Management Software Key Players Head office and Area Served 3.3 Key Players EHS Management Software Product/Solution/Service 3.4 Date of Enter into EHS Management Software Market 3.5 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion Plans About QYResearchReports.com QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market. Contact Us: Brooklyn, NY 11230 United States Toll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA) Tel: +1-518-621-2074 Follow Us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/qyresearchreports-com Web: https://www.qyresearchreports.com Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Blog: https://reportanalysis.blogspot.in New Jersey, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- AMA recently Announced Global Mobile Clinics study with 100+ market data Tables and Figures spread through Pages and easy to understand detailed TOC on "Mobile Clinics. Global Mobile Clinics research allows you to get different methods for maximizing your profit. The research study provides estimates for Global Mobile Clinics Forecast till 2025*. Some of the Leading key Company's Covered for this Research are Cardionet, Inc. (United States) , Ihealth Lab, Inc. (United States) , Medtronic, Inc. (Ireland) , Philips Healthcare (Netherlands) , Qualcomm Life (United States) , Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (South Korea) , Vodafone (United Kingdom) , Apple, Inc. (United States) , AirStrip Technologies, Inc. (United States) & Others. Click to get Global Mobile Clinics Market Research Sample PDF Copy Here @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/sample-report/51129-global-mobile-clinics-market Market Trend: Increasing focus on Patient-centric approach Global Mobile Clinics Research for a Leading company is an intelligent process of gathering and analyzing the numerical data related to services and products. This Research Give idea to aims at your targeted customer's understanding, needs and wants. Also, reveals how effectively a company can meet their requirements. The market research collects data about the customers, marketing strategy, competitors. The Mobile Clinics Manufacturing industry is becoming increasingly dynamic and innovative, with more number of private players entering the industry. Important Features that are under offering & key highlights of the report: 1) Who are the Leading Key Company in Global Mobile Clinics market space? Following are list of players that are currently profiled in the report " Cardionet, Inc. (United States) , Ihealth Lab, Inc. (United States) , Medtronic, Inc. (Ireland) , Philips Healthcare (Netherlands) , Qualcomm Life (United States) , Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (South Korea) , Vodafone (United Kingdom) , Apple, Inc. (United States) , AirStrip Technologies, Inc. (United States) , AliveCor, Inc. (United States) , LifeWatch AG (Switzerland) , OMRON Corporation (Japan) , BioTelemetry Inc (United States) , Cerner Corporation (United States) and Qualcomm (United States)" ** List of companies mentioned may vary in the final report subject to Name Change / Merger etc. 2) What will the market size be in 2025 and what will the growth rate be? In 2019, the Global Mobile Clinics market size was xx million USD and it is expected to reach USD xx million by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during 2019-2025. 3) What are the Market Applications & Types: The study is segmented by following Product Type: eye-wear , mobile health , connected medical devices and mhealth apps. Major applications/end-users industry are: Diabetes , Cardiovascular Disease , Respiratory Diseases and Neurological Diseases **The market is valued based on weighted average selling price (WASP) and includes any applicable taxes on manufacturers. All currency conversions used in the creation of this report have been calculated using constant annual average 2018 currency rates. To comprehend Global Mobile Clinics market dynamics in the world mainly, the worldwide Mobile Clinics market is analyzed across major regions. AMA also provides customized specific regional and country-level reports for the following areas. - North America: United States, Canada, and Mexico. - South & Central America: Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. - Middle East & Africa: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey, Egypt and South Africa. - Europe: UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Russia. - Asia-Pacific: India, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, and Australia. Enquire for customization in Report @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/enquiry-before-buy/51129-global-mobile-clinics-market Competitive Analysis: The key players are highly focusing innovation in production technologies to improve efficiency and shelf life. The best long-term growth opportunities for this sector can be captured by ensuring ongoing process improvements and financial flexibility to invest in the optimal strategies. Company profile section of players such as Cardionet, Inc. (United States) , Ihealth Lab, Inc. (United States) , Medtronic, Inc. (Ireland) , Philips Healthcare (Netherlands) , Qualcomm Life (United States) , Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (South Korea) , Vodafone (United Kingdom) , Apple, Inc. (United States) , AirStrip Technologies, Inc. (United States) , AliveCor, Inc. (United States) , LifeWatch AG (Switzerland) , OMRON Corporation (Japan) , BioTelemetry Inc (United States) , Cerner Corporation (United States) and Qualcomm (United States) includes its basic information like legal name, website, headquarters, its market position, historical background and top 5 closest competitors by Market capitalization / revenue along with contact information. Each player/ manufacturer revenue figures, growth rate and gross profit margin is provided in easy to understand tabular format for past 5 years and a separate section on recent development like mergers, acquisition or any new product/service launch etc. Research Parameter/ Research Methodology Primary Research: The primary sources involves the industry experts from the Global Mobile Clinics industry including the management organizations, processing organizations, analytics service providers of the industry's value chain. All primary sources were interviewed to gather and authenticate qualitative & quantitative information and determine the future prospects. In the extensive primary research process undertaken for this study, the primary sources industry experts such as CEOs, vice presidents, marketing director, technology & innovation directors, founders and related key executives from various key companies and organizations in the Global Mobile Clinics in the industry have been interviewed to obtain and verify both qualitative and quantitative aspects of this research study. Secondary Research: In the Secondary research crucial information about the industries value chain, total pool of key players, and application areas. It also assisted in market segmentation according to industry trends to the bottom-most level, geographical markets and key developments from both market and technology oriented perspectives. Buy Full Copy Global Mobile Clinics Report 2018 @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/reports/51129-global-mobile-clinics-market Major Highlights of TOC: 1. Market Overview 1.1. Introduction 1.2. Scope/Objective of the Study 1.2.1. Research Objective 2. Executive Summary 2.1. Introduction 3. Market Dynamics 3.1. Introduction 3.2. Market Drivers 3.3. Market Trends 3.3.1. Increasing focus on Patient-centric approach 4. Market Factor Analysis 5. Global Mobile Clinics, by Type, Application and Region (value) (2012-2017) 6. Mobile Clinics: Manufacturers/Players Analysis 7. Appendix 8. Methodology and Data Source **Actual Numbers & In-Depth Analysis, Business opportunities, Market Size Estimation Available in Full Report. Buy this research @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/buy-now?format=1&report=51129 Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia. About Advance Market Analytics: Advance Market Analytics is Global leaders of Market Research Industry provides the quantified B2B research to Fortune 500 companies on high growth emerging opportunities which will impact more than 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Our Analyst is tracking high growth study with detailed statistical and in-depth analysis of market trends & dynamics that provide a complete overview of the industry. We follow an extensive research methodology coupled with critical insights related industry factors and market forces to generate the best value for our clients. We Provides reliable primary and secondary data sources, our analysts and consultants derive informative and usable data suited for our clients business needs. The research study enable clients to meet varied market objectives a from global footprint expansion to supply chain optimization and from competitor profiling to M&As. New Jersey, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- AMA broadcasted a new title "Fishing Nets Market- Global Market Outlook to 2024" with 221 pages and in-depth assessment including key market trends, upcoming technologies, industry drivers, challenges, regulatory policies, with key company profiles and strategies of players such Miller Net Company Inc. (United States),Siang May (Singapore),Magnum polymers Pvt. ltd. (India),Brunsonnet and Supply Inc. (United States),Memphis Net and Twine (United States),Viet AU ltd. (Vietnam),Nitto Seimo (Japan),Naguara Net Co. Inc. (Japan),Jaya Nets (Malesia),Renco Nets (United Kingdom),Supreme fishnet industries (India). The research study provides forecasts for Fishing Nets Comprehensive Study by Type investments till 2022. Get Access to sample pages @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/sample-report/65761-global-fishing-nets-market-1 Market Trend High Adoption of Re-Usable Plastic for Manufacturing Fishing Nets and Growing Demand for Commercial Use Restraints Government Regulation of Preserve Sea- Animal Opportunities Technical Advantages over Other Materials Product Analysis: This Report provides a detailed study of given products. The report also provides comprehensive analysis of Key Trends & advance technologies. The Fishing Nets Comprehensive Study by Type (Thousands Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Market Split by Product Type such as , Gill Nets, Hoop Nets, Cast Nets, Others Application Analysis: This report provides an advance approach to the market growth with a detailed analysis of the overall competitive scenario of the Fishing Nets Comprehensive Study by Type market. The market is segmented by Application such as Commercial Use, Household Use with historical and projected market share and compounded annual growth rate. Industry Growth: An in-depth study about key trends and emerging drivers with market characteristics, size and growth, segmentation, regional breakdowns, competitive landscape, shares, trend and strategies for Fishing Nets Comprehensive Study by Type market. The market is expected to estimate at XX million by 2023 growing at a CAGR of XX%. Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/reports/65761-global-fishing-nets-market-1 Key Highlights of the Fishing Nets Comprehensive Study by Type Market : - Market Share of players that includes In order to reach an exhaustive list of functional and relevant players various industry classification standards are closely followed such as Miller Net Company Inc. (United States),Siang May (Singapore),Magnum polymers Pvt. ltd. (India),Brunsonnet and Supply Inc. (United States),Memphis Net and Twine (United States),Viet AU ltd. (Vietnam),Nitto Seimo (Japan),Naguara Net Co. Inc. (Japan),Jaya Nets (Malesia),Renco Nets (United Kingdom),Supreme fishnet industries (India). - Conceptual analysis of the Fishing Nets Comprehensive Study by Type Market products, application wise segmented study. - Clear study and pin-point analysis for changing competitive dynamics - Analysis of major regional segmentation on the basis of how the market is predicted to grow Key questions answered in this comprehensive study Fishing Nets - Global Market Outlook to 2024 What will the market size be in 2023 and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving Fishing Nets Comprehensive Study by Type Market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in Fishing Nets Comprehensive Study by Type Market space? What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the Fishing Nets Comprehensive Study by Type Market? What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the Fishing Nets Comprehensive Study by Type Market? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the Fishing Nets Comprehensive Study by Type market? Get in-depth details about factors influencing the market shares of the North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific etc? Enquire for customization in Report @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/enquiry-before-buy/65761-global-fishing-nets-market-1 There are 15 Chapters to display the Fishing Nets Comprehensive Study by Type market. Chapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Fishing Nets Comprehensive Study by Type, Applications of , Market Segment by Regions; Chapter 2, to analyze the Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure; Chapter 3, to display the Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of , Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, Export & Import, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis; Chapter 4, to show the Overall Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment); Chapter 5 and 6, to show the Regional Market Analysis that includes North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific etc, Segment Market Analysis (by Type) [,Gill Nets, Hoop Nets, Cast Nets, Others]; Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the Change Management Software Segment Market Analysis (by Application [Commercial Use, Household Use]) Major Manufacturers Analysis; Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [,Gill Nets, Hoop Nets, Cast Nets, Others], Market Trend by Application [Commercial Use, Household Use]; Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis; Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of Fishing Nets Comprehensive Study by Type by region, type and application; Chapter 12, to describe Fishing Nets Comprehensive Study by Type Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source; Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Fishing Nets Comprehensive Study by Type sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source. Buy this research report @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/buy-now?format=1&report=65761 Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia. New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- Based on the Epoxy Hardener industrial chain, this report mainly elaborate the definition, types, applications and major players of Epoxy Hardener market in details. Deep analysis about market status (2018-2026), enterprise competition pattern, advantages and disadvantages of enterprise Products, industry development trends (2018-2026), regional industrial layout characteristics and macroeconomic policies, industrial policy has also be included. From raw materials to downstream buyers of this industry will be analyzed scientifically, the feature of product circulation and sales channel will be presented as well. In a word, this report will help you to establish a panorama of industrial development and characteristics of the Epoxy Hardener market. You can download free samples PDF copy of market at https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/30075 Competitive landscape The study is a professional probe into the revenue generated and capacity estimates for the Epoxy Hardener market for the forecast period 2018 - 2026 empower the business owners to maintain a competitive edge over their rivals. The research further examines and provides data on the market by type, application and geography interspersed with illustrations and other graphical representations. The market analysis not only determines the attractiveness of the industry but also the evolving challenges and opportunities and their association with the weaknesses and strengths of prominent market leaders. Other factors taken into consideration when studying the industry include profitability, manufacturing capability, distribution channels and industry cost structure and major success factors. Make an enquiry for a fast response of market click https://www.marketexpertz.com/make-enquiry-form/30075 The major manufacturers covered in this report Dow, Momentive, Huntsman, KUKDO, Reichhold, Atul, Aditya Birla Group, BASF, Evonik, Air Products, Royce International, Cardolite, Gabriel Performance Products, Mitsubishi Chemical, Incorez, Hitachi Chemical, Polystar, Dasen Material, Rich Chemical, Shangdong Deyuan, Shanghai Yaoshan Industry, Aturex, Yun Teh Industrial, Tuoxing Composite Materials, Hubei Phoenix Chemical, Yijia Advanced Material, Deye Chemical, Zhenjiang Danbao Resin, Tianjin Chusheng Industrial Architectural , Decoration, Shanghai Resin Factory On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into - Amine-based Epoxy Hardener - Anhydride Epoxy Hardener - Others On the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, including - Coatings - Construction - Electrical & Electronics - Wind Energy - Composites - Adhesives - Others Scope of the Epoxy Hardener market The study segments the complete Epoxy Hardener market on the basis of different application, end-use, end-user, and production capability. From a business standpoint, the industry has been thoroughly examined across various countries located in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and others. The size of the industry for the forecast period 2018 - 2026 is evaluated on the basis of current sales figures and past financial report can be used to forecast the future sales. Direct order market research report@ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/30075 Epoxy Hardener Market segment by Region/Country including: - North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) - Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Spain etc.) - Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and Southeast Asia etc.) - South America Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Chile etc.) - Middle East & Africa (South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia etc.) Knowing the trends influencing the Epoxy Hardener industry performance The specialist consulting approach adopted to study the Epoxy Hardener market by size, share. And growth form an important part of this market intelligence report. Expertise research specialist not only weight upon the company profiles of the major vendors but also significant aspects such as import and export status, supply chain management, demand and supply and distribution channel. Vital statistics on product positioning, consumption volume, a dramatic shift in consumer preferences, spending power and other are explained through resources including charts, graphs, and info graphics. Browse complete report description and visit our website@ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/epoxy-hardener-market The research provides answers to the following key questions: - What will be the growth rate of the Epoxy Hardener market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2026? What will be the market size for the estimated period? - What are the prominent factors driving the Epoxy Hardener market across different regions? - Who are the major vendors dominating the Epoxy Hardener industry and what are their winning strategies? - What are the major trends shaping the development of the industry in the coming years? - What are challenges faced by the Epoxy Hardener market? - What are potential opportunities for the industry for the forecast period, 2018 - 2026? The study objectives of this report are: To analyze and study the global Epoxy Hardener capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2026); Focuses on the key Epoxy Hardener manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future. Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis. To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region. To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks. To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth. To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments. To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies. In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Epoxy Hardener are as follows: History Year: 2013-2017 Base Year: 2017 Estimated Year: 2018 Forecast Year 2018 to 2026 Continue... About MarketExpertz Planning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web? Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges. Contact Us: John Watson Head of Business Development Market Expertz | Web: www.marketexpertz.com Direct Line: +1-800-819-3052 E-mail: sales@marketexpertz.com News: www.marketexpertz.com/market-news Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/12/2019 -- The growth graph of distribution transformer market has been projected to be directly proportional to the exponential rise in electricity demand and supply across the globe. With growing urbanization, the emergence of new power infrastructures and the modernization of aging power infrastructures are indeed inevitable, which would directly impact the expansion of distribution transformer industry. In electronic power dissemination, distribution transformers provide the final voltage transformation and bring the voltage down to the level of customer requirement. With pervasive growth in the residential and commercial sectors, these products will witness growing demand, thus driving distribution transformer market, estimated to reach over 80,000 units of annual installation by 2024. With the rising awareness about the global energy crisis due to increasing CO2 emissions, numerous governments and regulatory bodies have been looking for means to decrease and control CO2 emissions. Industrial companies account for half of the electricity consumed in Europe. As a means to regulate CO2 emissions from these companies and cut down on power leakage, emphasis is being laid on upgrading industrial grids with distribution transformers. The implementation of distribution transformers in most of the industrial facilities of Europe will thus provide a massive surge to the regional distribution transformer market. Get a Sample Copy of Report@ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2121 European nations have also approved investments amounting to over USD 133.7 billion in 2017 in order to deploy smart grids in the continent. Investments such as the aforementioned and the launch of myriad schemes to install an increasing number of smart grids to increase power efficiency will create a favorable scenario for distribution transformer industry growth. Among the European countries, Germany and Norway have been pivotal contributors toward the regional distribution transformer market, driven by technological innovations and annual installations. Germany distribution transformer market for instance, has been forecast to witness an annual installation of 3,500 units by 2024, while Norway is working towards digitalizing its distribution grids, making them autonomous. In 2017, US regulators made a provision of USD 100 million to meet the increasing electricity demand across the rail networks of USA. Such government provisions and appreciable investments from other sectors toward the upgradation of the existing electricity infrastructure and replacement of the present grid network with advanced technology will spur U.S. distribution transformer market share. The U.S. is projected to witness an annual installation of over 7,000 units of distribution transformers by 2024, which would also invariably impact North America distribution transformer industry. Emerging economies of Asia Pacific have become the largest consumers of electricity due to rapid urbanization and increasing industrialization. The government of India has undertaken a number of schemes in an effort to supply its vast population with electricity. As the country is demanding more reliable power supply, distribution transformer market would witness massive growth in India, and by extension, across the APAC. Make an inquiry for purchasing report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2121 The Middle East and Africa have apparently received tremendous support from numerous other economies in meeting the demand for electric power supply. Contributions have been made by institutions like the World Band and African Development Bank to provide Africa with reliable electric supply. In 2017, ABD made a contribution of USD 12 billion towards the African electricity sector. As electricity deployment gains prominence across the African continent, the regional distribution transformer industry is sure to garner profits. North America and Europe have been pioneers as far as energy conservation is concerned, owing to which the growth of distribution transformer market in these regions has been rather prominent. Distribution transformers are usually 99% efficient at preventing energy loss. However, considering the sheer base of the distribution transformer installations, even a small loss becomes a significant one when the aggregate amount of loss is taken into account. Energy loss ultimately contributes to CO2 emissions and adds to the overall global warming crisis. In this regard, utility regulators and governments are owning up to their commitments and responsibilities towards the environment, in turn striving for the innovation of better technology, thus providing the much-needed impetus to distribution transformer market. Eminent participants in the distribution transformer market include - ABB - GE - Eaton - Siemens - Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited - Schneider Electric - Toshiba Corporation - Kirloskar Electric Co. Ltd. - Mitsubishi Electric - CELME Srl - SPX Transformer Solutions, Inc. - Ormazabal - DAIHEN CORPORATION - Raychem RPG (P) Ltd. New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- A new market assessment report on the Diagnostic Ultrasound Imaging Systems market provides a comprehensive overview of the Diagnostic Ultrasound Imaging Systems industry for the forecast period 2018 - 2026. The analytical study is proposed to provide immense clarity on the market size, share and growth rate across different regions. The profound knowledge and extensive examination of the trends from the yesteryear and future aims at offering the stakeholders, product owners, and marketing personnel a competitive edge over others operating in the Diagnostic Ultrasound Imaging Systems market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2026. Request for free sample report @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/29976 The major players covered in this report are Ge Healthcare, Siemens Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, Esaote, Analogic, Toshiba, Hitachi, Samsung Medison, Terason, Mindray, Carestream Health Most important types of Diagnostic Ultrasound Imaging Systems products covered in this report are: - Trolley/Cart-Based Ultrasound Imaging Devices - Compact/Portable Ultrasound Imaging Devices On the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate for each application, including: - General Imaging - Women'S Health - Cardiovascular - Point-Of-Care - Veterinary Understanding the market size The size of the Diagnostic Ultrasound Imaging Systems market is viewed in terms of the Share of Market, Total Available Market as well as Served Available Market. Not only does the study present the combined revenue for a particular market but also the market size for a specific geographic region. Analysis of percentage or the size of the Total Available Market based on the type of product, technology, regional constraints and others form an important part of the Diagnostic Ultrasound Imaging Systems report. Knowing the trends influencing the industry performance Stakeholders, marketing executives and business owners planning to refer a market research report can use this study to design their offerings and understand how competitors attract their potential customers and manage their supply and distribution channels. When tracking the trends researchers have made a conscious effort to analyze and interpret the consumer behavior Besides the research helps product owners to understand the changes in culture, target market as well as brands so they can draw the attention of the potential customers more effectively. Purchase Full report @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/29976 Geographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers in these key regions: - North America - Europe - China - Japan - Southeast Asia - India We can also provide the customized separate regional or country-level reports, for the following regions: North America, United States, Canada, Mexico, Asia-Pacific, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Rest of Asia-Pacific, Europe, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Russia, Rest of Europe, Central & South America, Brazil, Argentina, Rest of South America, Middle East & Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Rest of Middle East & Africa Ask for discount on this report for better value @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/discount-enquiry-form/29976 The study objectives of this report are: 1. To analyze and study the global Diagnostic Ultrasound Imaging Systems capacity, production, value, consumption, status and forecast (2018-2026); 2. Focuses on the key Diagnostic Ultrasound Imaging Systems manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future. 3. Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, analysis. 4. To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region. 5. To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks. 6. To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth. 7. To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments. 8. To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market. 9. To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market. 10. To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies. Key elements from table of content: 7 Global Diagnostic Ultrasound Imaging Systems Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis 7.1 Ge Healthcare 7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors 7.1.2 Diagnostic Ultrasound Imaging Systems Product Category, Application and Specification 7.1.2.1 Product A 7.1.2.2 Product B 7.1.3 Ge Healthcare Diagnostic Ultrasound Imaging Systems Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2018-2026) 7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview 7.2 Siemens Healthcare 7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors 7.2.2 Diagnostic Ultrasound Imaging Systems Product Category, Application and Specification Continue. Browse complete report description @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/diagnostic-ultrasound-imaging-systems-market About MarketExpertz Planning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web? Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges. Contact Us: John Watson Head of Business Development Market Expertz | Web: www.marketexpertz.com Direct Line: +1-800-819-3052 E-mail: sales@marketexpertz.com News: www.marketexpertz.com/market-news Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- The global dental imaging market has seen a paradigm shift from analog film to digital technologies. Periodontal diseases, dentofacial anomalies and dental caries are among the major global oral health problems. The 21st century has brought revolutionary changes in the quality of the life, including the oral healthcare. As the future of the dentistry depends largely on the ability to incorporate new, better diagnostic and treatment modalities into clinical practice demand for novel dental imaging techniques are growing at a rapid pace. 3D intraoral scanner, 3 D printing and CAD - CAM technology have proven to be an alternative to the conventional imaging methods such as film or analog based imaging modalities. In the United Kingdom approximately 21 million radiographs are taken in primary dental care centers each year. With the advent of dental implants demand for cross sectional imaging has become a necessity in dental clinics and dental hospitals pertaining to accurate measurement for implant placement and circumventing damages to fragile anatomical structures. Although the first line of dental disease diagnosis relies mostly on the X-ray imaging yet modalities such as Magnetic resonance Imaging (MRI) and computer tomography (CT) are also growing at a rapid pace owing to its accuracy, clarity and ease of handling. Devices such as intraoral periapical and occlusal radiography are mostly used during initial phase of patient evaluation to detect the presence of pathosis and approximate location of anatomic structures such as maxillary sinus. Direct digital intraoral imaging is emerging as an alternative to film based radiography pertaining to its advantages such as rapid acquisition of images, storage, and transmission to remote sites. Furthermore lateral and oblique cephalometric radiography have proven to be a preferable option among dentists for obtaining images of maxilla and mandibular sites in the mid sagittal plane. Request Brochure @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=4505 Three dimensional imaging techniques such as CT scan, tuned aperture CT (TACT), Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) and MRI provide additional benefits over conventional imaging techniques. These benefits encompasses low exposure to radiation, increased patient convenience, reduced operational cost and provides better control over implant diagnosis and treatment planning. 3D computed tomography is an advanced imaging technique wherein the images are digitally acquired and can be subsequently reformatted into any plane, such as axial, sagittal or coronal. Owing to such features demand for such novel devices is continuously growing across the globe especially in the developed economic regions such as the United States and Europe. Moreover tuned aperture CT (TACT) is mostly employed for dentoalveolar imaging. Benefits of TACT include ability to calculate projection geometry, use of low radiation dose and less damage to quality of image due to patient movement. Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) technology yields images with isotropic submillimeter spatial resolution as a result; its use is perfectly suited for dental and maxillofacial cases. CBCT not only reduces the size and cost of CT scanners but also improves the resolution of the image with lesser amount of radiation dose than that used in CT scans. Key end users to the aforementioned instruments include dental clinics, dental laboratories, academic institutes, and forensic laboratories. Request for TOC @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=4505 North America dominates the dental imaging market with the U.S. accounting for a major market share. The U.S. market is currently undergoing a rapid penetration of digital sensor technology which is cannibalizing market for intraoral X-ray analog film. Exclusive distribution agreement between digital sensor manufacturers and major distributors are also boosting the market for digital dental imaging instruments market in the United States. In contrast to the United States market, the European dental practices have much stricter regulations concerning X-ray radiation exposure to patients owing to which countries like the France, Britain and Germany already has an established installed base of digital scanners and imaging devices as compared to the United States. Asia Pacific and Rest of the World market is expected to have the fastest growth rate pertaining to rising awareness about oral health care, increasing disposable income and growing focus of prominent players on emerging market. Some of the prominent players in the Dental Imaging market include Danaher Corporation, Midmark Corporation, LED Medical Diagnostic, Inc., Flow Dental Corporation, Planmeca Oy, Carestream Health, Sirona Dental Systems and others. About Transparency Market Research Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge. Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMR's syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement. Contact 90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207 Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Website: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/12/2019 -- A new market assessment report on the Coenzyme Q10 Consumption market provides a comprehensive overview of the Coenzyme Q10 Consumption industry for the forecast period 2018 - 2026. The analytical study is proposed to provide immense clarity on the market size, share and growth rate across different regions. The profound knowledge and extensive examination of the trends from the yesteryear and future aims at offering the stakeholders, product owners, and marketing personnel a competitive edge over others operating in the Coenzyme Q10 Consumption market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2026. Request for free sample report @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/29991 The major players covered in this report are Kaneka, MGC, Pharma Essentia, Kingdomway, ZMC, NHU, Space Biology, Yuxijiankun, Haotian, NINO, Eisai, Jiankun Biology, HaoTian Bio-Engineering Technology, Allwell Industries, Kexing Biochem, Zhejiang Medicine, Zhejiang NHU, Space Biology, Kingdomway Group Most important types of Coenzyme Q10 Consumption products covered in this report are: - Powder Product - Water-Soluble Product - Emulsion Product On the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate for each application, including: - Hospital - Clinic - Pharmacy - Other Understanding the market size The size of the Coenzyme Q10 Consumption market is viewed in terms of the Share of Market, Total Available Market as well as Served Available Market. Not only does the study present the combined revenue for a particular market but also the market size for a specific geographic region. Analysis of percentage or the size of the Total Available Market based on the type of product, technology, regional constraints and others form an important part of the Coenzyme Q10 Consumption report. Knowing the trends influencing the industry performance Stakeholders, marketing executives and business owners planning to refer a market research report can use this study to design their offerings and understand how competitors attract their potential customers and manage their supply and distribution channels. When tracking the trends researchers have made a conscious effort to analyze and interpret the consumer behavior Besides the research helps product owners to understand the changes in culture, target market as well as brands so they can draw the attention of the potential customers more effectively. Purchase Full report @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/29991 Geographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers in these key regions: - North America - Europe - China - Japan - Southeast Asia - India We can also provide the customized separate regional or country-level reports, for the following regions: North America, United States, Canada, Mexico, Asia-Pacific, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Rest of Asia-Pacific, Europe, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Russia, Rest of Europe, Central & South America, Brazil, Argentina, Rest of South America, Middle East & Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Rest of Middle East & Africa Ask for discount on this report for better value @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/discount-enquiry-form/29991 The study objectives of this report are: 1. To analyze and study the global Coenzyme Q10 Consumption capacity, production, value, consumption, status and forecast (2018-2026); 2. Focuses on the key Coenzyme Q10 Consumption manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future. 3. Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, analysis. 4. To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region. 5. To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks. 6. To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth. 7. To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments. 8. To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market. 9. To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market. 10. To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies. Key elements from table of content: 7 Global Coenzyme Q10 Consumption Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis 7.1 Kaneka 7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors 7.1.2 Coenzyme Q10 Consumption Product Category, Application and Specification 7.1.2.1 Product A 7.1.2.2 Product B 7.1.3 Kaneka Coenzyme Q10 Consumption Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2018-2026) 7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview 7.2 MGC 7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors 7.2.2 Coenzyme Q10 Consumption Product Category, Application and Specification Continue. Browse complete report description @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/coenzyme-q10-consumption-market About MarketExpertz Planning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web? Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges. Contact Us: John Watson Head of Business Development Market Expertz | Web: www.marketexpertz.com Direct Line: +1-800-819-3052 E-mail: sales@marketexpertz.com News: www.marketexpertz.com/market-news New Jersey, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- AMA recently introduced Car Rental and Leasing Comprehensive Study by Platform Market study with in-depth overview, describing about the Product / Industry Scope and elaborates market outlook and status to 2023. The market Study is segmented by key regions which is accelerating the marketization. At present, the market is developing its presence and some of the key players from the complete study are BT Fleet [United Kingdom] , Free2Move Lease [France] , Daimler Fleet Management [United Kingdom] , Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions [United Kingdom] , Daimler Mobility Services [Germany] and Zoomcar [India] etc. Click Here Request for Sample Report @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/sample-report/36422-global-car-rental-and-leasing-market This report studies the Car Rental and Leasing Comprehensive Study by Platform market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the Car Rental and Leasing Comprehensive Study by Platform market by companies, region, type and end-use industry. Browse 100+ market data Tables and Figures spread through Pages and in-depth TOC on " Car Rental and Leasing Comprehensive Study by Platform Market by Type (Offline Access, Mobile Application), by End-Users/Application (Intercity, Intracity, On-Airport), Organization Size, Industry, and Region - Forecast to 2023". Early buyers will receive 10% customization on comprehensive study. In order to get a deeper view of Market Size, competitive landscape is provided i.e. Revenue (Million USD) by Players (2013-2018), Revenue Market Share (%) by Players (2013-2018) and further a qualitative analysis is made towards market concentration rate, product/service differences, new entrants and the technological trends in future. Enquiry before Buy @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/enquiry-before-buy/36422-global-car-rental-and-leasing-market Competitive Analysis: The key players are highly focusing innovation in production technologies to improve efficiency and shelf life. The best long-term growth opportunities for this sector can be captured by ensuring ongoing process improvements and financial flexibility to invest in the optimal strategies. Company profile section of players such as BT Fleet [United Kingdom] , Free2Move Lease [France] , Daimler Fleet Management [United Kingdom] , Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions [United Kingdom] , Daimler Mobility Services [Germany] and Zoomca [India] includes its basic information like legal name, website, headquarters, its market position, historical background and top 5 closest competitors by Market capitalization / revenue along with contact information. 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On The Basis Of Application: Intercity, Intracity, On-Airport On The Basis Of Region, this report is segmented into following key geographies, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share, growth rate of Car Rental and Leasing Comprehensive Study by Platform in these regions, from 2013 to 2023 (forecast), covering - North America (U.S. & Canada) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Analysis (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Latin America (Brazil, Mexico & Rest of Latin America) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Europe (The U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden & RoE) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Rest of Asia) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Middle East & Africa (GCC, South Africa, North Africa, RoMEA) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis} - Rest of World {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Analysis (%) and Opportunity Analysis} Request Discount @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/request-discount/36422-global-car-rental-and-leasing-market Have a look at some extracts from Table of Content Introduction about Car Rental and Leasing Comprehensive Study by Platform Car Rental and Leasing Comprehensive Study by Platform Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2017 Car Rental and Leasing Comprehensive Study by Platform Market by Application/End Users Car Rental and Leasing Comprehensive Study by Platform Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Applications (2013-2023) table defined for each application/end-users like [Intercity, Intracity, On-Airport] Car Rental and Leasing Comprehensive Study by Platform Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2023) Car Rental and Leasing Comprehensive Study by Platform Competition by Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application Car Rental and Leasing Comprehensive Study by Platform (Volume, Value and Sales Price) table defined for each geographic region defined. Car Rental and Leasing Comprehensive Study by Platform Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data Additionally Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors list is being provided for each listed manufacturers Market Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018) table for each product type which include & Competitive Landscape Car Rental and Leasing Comprehensive Study by Platform Manufacturing Cost Analysis Car Rental and Leasing Comprehensive Study by Platform Key Raw Materials Analysis Car Rental and Leasing Comprehensive Study by Platform Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers, Industrial Chain Analysis Market Forecast (2018-2023) ........and more in complete table of Contents Buy now @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/buy-now?format=1&report=36422 Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia. Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/12/2019 -- From a regional perspective, Europe is projected to lead the global Basalt Fibers Market both in terms of production and consumption. Russia holds a significant share in the European basalt fiber market. The region has witnessed growing demand for basalt fibers from the automotive industry as there are stringent regulations prevailing in the EU regarding vehicle emissions and greenhouse gas amongst others. Moreover, the rising concern over energy conservation has also led to the growth of renewable wind energy generation industry. Thus, creating traction in the global market. North America is also projected to hold a significant share in the global basalt fibers market expanding at a CAGR of 8.3% over the forecast period. China is projected to grow at a relatively higher CAGR over the forecast period. A number of new players have ventured into the market to cater to the growing demand for basalt fibers in China and across other regions. Latin America and MEA are projected to remain low-volume-high-growth regions over the forecast period. Request Here for Free Sample of Global Market Research Report Now - https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=1312 With the increasing use of light-weight composite material for the manufacture of automotive components and aircraft bodies, demand for basalt fibers continues to remain high. Basalt fibers are made by melting the crushed basalt rock in a furnace. This production process is an environment-friendly process without the production of any harmful infrared radiations. Basalt fibers have been widely used as an alternative for conventionally used steel and other fiber reinforcements owing to the superior mechanical, thermal and other properties. In the present scenario, there are only a few manufacturers for basalt fibers in Russia, China, Ukraine, and the U.S. amongst others. However, capacity additions and establishment of new production plants across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific region are expected to increase in the coming years, especially with the ongoing research and development and investments. Basalt fibers have exhibited better mechanical strength, chemical and thermal resistance, insulation and other properties. There has been an increase in the use of basalt fibers as an alternative to steel reinforcements owing to a number of properties such as corrosion resistance and light-weight, which allows mounting without the use of lifting or any other specialized equipment. Basalt fibers also outperform e-glass fiber in composites used for construction. In all the forms i.e. roving, chopped strands, fabrics, etc. basalt fibers have witnessed higher breaking load capacity and better durability and stiffness. Browse Market Report with TOC Here - https://www.factmr.com/report/1312/basalt-fibers-market In addition to these, basalt fibers are available at lower price and there has been a relative ease for raw material procurement. Owing to all the above mentioned benefits, there has been an expected upsurge in demand for basalt fibers over the forecast period. Another major factor significantly driving the growth of global basalt fibers market is the increase in the use of light-weight composite materials in automotive industry. The stringent regulations, especially, in North America and Europe region regarding vehicle emissions has led the manufacturers to focus on reduction of weight of vehicle. Basalt fibers are used as composites for the manufacture of vehicle and aircraft bodies as well as components such as exhaust mufflers and brake pads amongst others. The growing government spending for infrastructural and industrial development has led to a rise in the demand for basalt fibers as reinforcement material for the construction of roads, pavements and bridges amongst others. However, there are a few challenges with respect to the production of basalt fibers. For instance, the quality and exact chemical composition of the basalt rock required for the formation of basalt fibers is available at only specific locations in Eastern Europe. Therefore, though the raw material is available at cheap cost, it has to be imported. Moreover, the initial set up and equipment cost are quite high and require capital investment, thus posing a major challenge for the manufacturers. Buy Hassle Free Global Market Research Report Here - https://www.factmr.com/checkout/1312/S About FactMR FactMR 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 Us: FactMR 11140 Rockville Pike Suite 400, Rockville, MD 20852 United States Email: sales@factmr.com Web: https://www.factmr.com/ Blog: https://factmrblog.com/ Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/12/2019 -- The Farming or the culturing of aquatic animals like the fishes, algae, mollusks, crustaceans, aquatic plants and other aquatic organisms in different types of water is termed as Aquaculture. The cultivation process involves nurturing of these aquatic organism in the controlled condition either in fresh or in salt water. Later on these aquatic organisms are then harvested to be served as the source of nutrition or to be used for many other purposes. The aquatic animals are very sensitive and are prone to various epidemic diseases. Other factors affecting the aquatic cultured animals are Pathogens (e.g. bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites) exist in all natural water bodies. At the same time crowded culture environment makes the causes high risk for infection and makes the fishes nervous. Crowding also results in fish knocking eventually leading to surface wounds which is a cause for inaction. These can be cured using several FDA approved antibiotics and other medicines. Apart from diseases medicines are used to improve the wellbeing of the fishes in the aquaculture. The list of drugs includes chorionic gonadotropin, formalin solution, florfenicol, oxytetracycline, tricaine methane sulfonate, hydrogen peroxide, sulfadimethoxine/ormetoprim combination, acetic acid, calcium chloride, calcium oxide, carbon dioxide gas, fuller's earth, garlic (whole form), ice, magnesium sulfate, papain, potassium chloride, povidone iodine, sodium bicarbonate, sodium chloride, sodium sulfite, thiamine hydrochloride, urea and tannic acid. The above mentioned drugs take care of the aquatic animals fighting with several diseases which are not only harmful to the aquatic animals but are also harmful to the consumer. There are two different categories of diseases which affect the aquatic population viz. diseases due to pathogens which are indigenous to the local environment and exotic pathogens. Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2463 Aquaculture Therapeutics Market: Drivers and Restraints A lot of advances are taking place in the aquaculture therapeutics as there are several diseases which are affecting the animals cultured in the aquaculture. There are several diseases which are driving the aquaculture therapeutics market. Mostly the diseases are dependent on hygiene conditions which are to be maintained. Advances in aquaculture therapeutics, and growing demand for the more effective aquaculture therapeutic drugs are the factors expected to drive the growth of aquaculture therapeutics market. More over the demand for aquaculture is growing day by day due to the decreasing number of the oceanic fishes and increasing consumption of the fishes at a global level. Aquaculture Therapeutics Market: Segmentation The global Aquaculture therapeutics market has been classified on the basis of product type, end user and geography. Based on product type, the global Aquaculture therapeutics market is divided into following: Chorionic Gonadotropin Formalin Solution Florfenicol Oxytetracycline Tricaine Methane Sulfonate Hydrogen Peroxide Sulfadimethoxine/Ormetoprim combination Based on the end user type, the global aquaculture therapeutics market is divided into following: Veterinary Pharmacies E commerce Veterinary Clinics Veterinary Hospitals Aquaculture therapeutics market: Overview Despite the long tradition of practicing aquaculture in several countries it is still a growing and a business with great scope. The requirement of aquaculture therapeutics is increasing day by day as more and more countries have stared adopting aquaculture which is cheaper source of protein. As the fishes or the animals are consumed by the human FDA has set up certain regulatory guidelines for the drugs to be administered to the fishes in aquaculture. They are categorized as conditionally approved animal drugs and indexed animal drugs. Depending upon environmental and diseased conditions these drugs are used in the aquatic fishes. Aquaculture therapeutics market: Regional Overview Region wise, the global Aquaculture therapeutics market is classified into regions namely, North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan, Middle East and Africa.China is the leading in the aquaculture market which contributes around 61% of the global aquaculture market which is followed by Indonesia and India. Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2463 Aquaculture therapeutics market: Key Players Some of the key players in global Aquaculture therapeutics market are TunaTech GmbH, ViAqua Therapeutics Ltd, Alpharma, Inc. Pune, Maharashtra -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/12/2019 -- The Fact.MR report provides comprehensive information about competitive environment and company developments in the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market. The report provides key financials and information on winning strategies of amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market players including GKN plc. (Hoeganaes Corporation), Rio Tinto PLC, Hoganas AB, Voestalpine Stahl GmbH, Hitachi Metals Ltd, Toshiba Corp (Toshiba Materials Co., Ltd.), Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd., VACUUMSCHMELZE GmbH & Co. KG, PMG Holding GmbH, and Hengdian Group DMEGC Magnetics Co., Ltd. About the Report Fact.MR recently published a comprehensive forecast study on the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market to find its future prospects between 2018 and 2027. The foremost objective of the Fact.MR report on amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market is to provide valuable insights on market scenario, demand generators, market dynamics, and company developments in amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market. Also, the study on amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market addresses accurate and reliable estimates about the future prospects of the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market in terms of market value (US$ million) and volume (Tons). Market Structure The information on the growth of the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market during the forecast period 2018-2027 featured in the Fact.MR report is divided into two main segments for the understanding of readers. The amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market is segmented according to the applications of amorphous iron as a magnetic material and regions. Based on the applications of amorphous iron as a magnetic material, the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market is divided into transformers, motors, inductors, and generators. Transformers manufactured using amorphous iron are further categorized into three categories transmission transformers, portable transformers, and distribution transformers. Motors manufactured using amorphous iron are further divided into five categories 1 HP - 100 HP motors, 101 HP - 200 HP motors, 201 HP - 500 HP motors, 501 HP - 1000 HP motors, and Above 1000 HP motors. Based on the geographical regions, the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), and Middle East & Africa (MEA). Request Sample Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2472 Key Developments in the Amorphous Iron (Fe Amorphous) Market Hitachi Metals, Ltd., a Japanese player in the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market, has been successful at developing the latest technology that enables using amorphous metals, including amorphous iron, as a magnetic materials with a higher rate of efficiency. The company recently announced that its prototype of amorphous metal motor with the core structure manufacturing using the technology could achieve 92.7% efficiency, reaching the IE5 class level (International Efficiency standard). Hoganas AB, a Swedish multinational player in the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market, recently acquired 100% shares of Alvier PM-Technology, a Swiss company that develops and supplies tooling solutions for powder metallurgy (PM). With this acquisition, the company aims to develop innovative electromagnetic as well as mechanical automotive applications by leveraging Alvier's expertise in PM and Soft Magnetic Composite (SMC) tooling solutions. Rio Tinto Group, an Anglo-Australian metals and mining corporation, recently announced its plans to invest in iron ore mines and deliver premium iron ore product. The company announced that it is following a 'value over volume approach' and aims to utilize an increased level of automation and digitization. The company is planning to invest US$ 1.55 billion, with joint venture partners Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation and Mitsui & Co., to sustain Pilbara iron ore production capacity. Followed by this announcement, the company declared the approval of an investment of over US$ 2.6 billion in the Koodaideri iron ore mine in Western Australia. Request/View Toc@ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2472 Additional Questions Answered The information featured in the report provides readers with highly important growth parameters of the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market, which can help them to understand the most critical historical and future prospects of this market. The report also resolves business-related, important queries associated with growth of the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market for readers, which can enable emerging players in the market to make appropriate business decisions to gain an edge in the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market. Some of critical questions answered in the Fact.MR report are Which opportunities market players must capture while foraying into the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market in developing countries? Which factors influence growth of the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market during the historic period 2013-2017? Which region accounted for the largest revenue share in the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market during this period? How is the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market distributed among Tier I, Tier II, and Tier III market players? What are the latest updates on winning business strategies adopted by Tier I stakeholders in the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market? How is the apparent demand for amorphous iron and how its applications are influencing growth of the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market during the forecast period? Speak To Research Analyst for Detailed Insights @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=AE&rep_id=2472 Research Methodology The Fact.MR report on amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market is a result of extensive secondary research and the comprehensive primary research process for amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market. The research methodology followed by analysts at Fact.MR is a proven approach that provides a base for compelling intelligence on amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market. Comprehensive, industry-validated information has helped analysts to obtain this value-based and insightful research report on the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market. Intelligence obtained from opinion leading stakeholders in the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market and industry experts in the metal packaging industry as well as paints & coatings industry have been extrapolated. The insights on amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market obtained from the primary research for amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market have been utilized for authentication and validation of data obtained from secondary research process. The unique research methodology followed at Fact.MR to assess the growth parameters of the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market ensures the accuracy of the information to offer authentic information about the amorphous iron (Fe amorphous) market to readers. Access This Report @ https://www.factmr.com/checkout/2472/S About Fact.MR Fact.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 Us Rohit Bhisey Fact.MR 11140 Rockville Pike Suite 400 Rockville, MD 20852 United States Email: sales@factmr.com Web: https://www.factmr.com/ Read Industry News at - https://theswisstimes.com Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/12/2019 -- Aerospace tire market is categorized into bias and radial tire. The bias tire is set to witness exponential growth in forecast time owing to increase in tire installation of commercial aircrafts. In traditional tires, piles are wrapped into the tires to give strength. Bias tires offer more durability as compare to conventional radial tires. Manufacturing process leads to replacement of tread in worn out tires owing to more mechanical strength. These factors will strengthen the product penetration. North America is expected to exhibit maximum share during forecast period due to high flight frequencies. Moreover, rising number of air passengers will further boost demand for aircraft deliveries in the region. As per analysis, on an average every day more than 42,000 flights are operated in U.S., henceforth is expected to fuel aerospace market revenue across the region. Request For Table Of Content @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-toc/upcoming/2435 Asia Pacific is projected to be the fastest growing region for aerospace tire market owing to rise in density of air passenger traffic. Further, China, South Korea, and Taiwan are among the countries that are spending on purchase of new military aircraft, further fueling the region's growth. By aircraft, the industry is segmented into commercial, business, military and regional aircrafts. Currently, commercial aircraft dominates the industry owing to rise in disposable income which makes flights affordable for travelers, henceforth contributing to the aerospace tire market growth. According to International Air Transport Association (IATA), more than 3 trillion passengers make use of commercial aircraft as preferred mode of transportation. Narrow body aircraft are the most preferred as compared to other counterparts. The segment is expected to witness high growth owing to the benefits such as low-cost carrier (LCC), easy maintenance and short turnaround time for high frequency route. Industry is expected to witness high requirement of extensive engineering analysis of regular and emergency landing with respect to weather conditions. Substantial growth in aircraft movements coupled with extensive flight rate leads to their frequent wear and tear. Replacement of these tires leads to high maintenance and product cost, driving the industry demand over the forecast timeline. Request For Customization @ https://www.gminsights.com/roc/2435 Dunlop supplies tires to narrow body aircrafts such as Boeing 737, classic and next generation aircrafts including wide body Boeing 767 and 747. It also delivers to military jet aircrafts includes Spitfire, Vulcan, Tornado F-35 joint strike fighter, Hawk, and heavy military aircraft including A400M and C-130. Increase in demand for these aircrafts will pave opportunistic ways for the industry leaders. There are more than 90,000 military and jet aircrafts globally and is anticipated to increase due to rise in military budget coupled with emergence of military bases in emerging countries such as Egypt, Israel, and Malaysia. Shifting trend towards synthetic fibers that offers enhanced performance in upcoming aircrafts will gain prominence among the industry participants. Aircraft tires are sophisticated and are highly critical to bear heavy load while landing on ground, henceforth are manufactured cautiously. Regardless of brand, size or cost of tire, it should meet specified requirements of FAA for passenger safety & security purposes. Browse Report Summary @ https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/aerospace-tire-market Michelin Aircraft Tire, Bridgestone and Dunlop Aircraft Tires, and Polaris Industries are among the major aerospace tire manufacturing companies. About Global Market Insights: Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology. New Jersey, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- The latest release from AMA highlights the key market trends impacting the growth of the Aerospace 3D Printing market. The study highlights influencing factors that are impacting or reinforcing market environment such as Government Policy, technological changes etc along with key market drivers. The research study forecast Revenue Opportunities and Sales Volume Area taken into consideration the primaries from industry experts and includes relevant data such as (revenue, market Size, growth rate, and product price) by important players such as Stratasys Ltd. (United States) , 3D Systems Corporation (United States) , The ExOne Company (United States) , Arcam AB (Sweden) , EOS GmbH (Germany) , Ultimaker B.V. (The Netherlands) , Hoganas AB (Sweden) , Materialise NV (Belgium) , Envisiontec GmbH (Germany) and Norsk Titanium AS (Norway) are some of the key players profiled in the study. Additionally, the Manufacturers which are also part of the research are Materialise NV (Belgium) , Renishaw plc (United Kingdom) , Sciaky Inc. (United States) and Optomec, Inc. (United States).. Unlock new opportunities in Aerospace 3D Printing Market; the latest release from AMA highlights the key market trends significant to the growth prospects, Let us know if any specific players or list of players needs to consider to gain better insights Get Access to PDF Sample of Aerospace 3D Printing Market: Global Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, Trends, and Forecasts to 2024 @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/sample-report/65289-global-aerospace-3d-printing-market-1 Briefing about some major insights that are included in the study are Aerospace 3D Printing Sales (K Units) and Revenue (Million USD), definitions, classifications, applications and industry overview; market policies and strategy; product specifications; manufacturing processes; cost structures and so on. Also it provides key players market position, including the product price, cost/profit, capacity, production, capacity utilization, supply, demand and industry growth rate etc. Additionally, the report also covers special sections such as new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis. Market Drivers Growing Demand for Lightweight Parts & Components from Aerospace Industry High Demand from Aerospace Industry for Technologies with ability to easily Manufacture Complex Aerospace Parts Short Aerospace Components Supply Chain Need for Low Volume Production from Aerospace Industry Market Trend 3D Printing in Space Exploration Missions Restraints Restricted Raw Material Types for 3D Printing Opportunities Advanced 3D Printing Technology Developments Needing Less Production Time and 3D Printing as A Service According to AMA research team, the Global Aerospace 3D Printing market will experience important growth during the forecast period due to possible occasions lying in the market. Some of the important driving forces are "Growing Demand for Lightweight Parts & Components from Aerospace Industry , High Demand from Aerospace Industry for Technologies with ability to easily Manufacture Complex Aerospace Parts , Short Aerospace Components Supply Chain and Need for Low Volume Production from Aerospace Industry" Browse for Full Report synopsis at: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/reports/65289-global-aerospace-3d-printing-market-1 Further more the research is geographically segmented as : North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific etc Professional Key players: Stratasys Ltd. (United States) , 3D Systems Corporation (United States) , The ExOne Company (United States) , Arcam AB (Sweden) , EOS GmbH (Germany) , Ultimaker B.V. (The Netherlands) , Hoganas AB (Sweden) , Materialise NV (Belgium) , Envisiontec GmbH (Germany) and Norsk Titanium AS (Norway) are some of the key players profiled in the study. Additionally, the Manufacturers which are also part of the research are Materialise NV (Belgium) , Renishaw plc (United Kingdom) , Sciaky Inc. (United States) and Optomec, Inc. (United States). Buy Single User License of Aerospace 3D Printing Market: Global Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, Trends, and Forecasts to 2024 @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/buy-now?format=1&report=65289 There are 19 Chapters to deeply display the Aerospace 3D Printing market. Introduction about Aerospace 3D Printing Aerospace 3D Printing Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2017 Aerospace 3D Printing Market by Application/End Users Aerospace 3D Printing Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Applications (2013-2023) table defined for each application/end-users like Aerospace 3D Printing Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2023) Aerospace 3D Printing Competition by Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application Aerospace 3D Printing (Volume, Value and Sales Price) table defined for each geographic region defined. Aerospace 3D Printing Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data ................. Additionally Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors list is being provided for each listed manufacturers Market Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018) table for each product type which Aerospace 3D Printing Manufacturing Cost Analysis Aerospace 3D Printing Key Raw Materials Analysis Aerospace 3D Printing Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers, Industrial Chain Analysis Market Forecast (2018-2023) ........and more in complete table of Contents This brand new research report with title Aerospace 3D Printing Market: Global Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, Trends, and Forecasts to 2024 provides 100+ in-depth tables, charts and graphs that will help you make better informed strategic decisions. Enquire for customization in Report @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/enquiry-before-buy/65289-global-aerospace-3d-printing-market-1 Key questions answered in this report - Aerospace 3D Printing Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025 What will the market size be in 2023 and what will the growth rate be What are the key market trends. What is driving Aerospace 3D Printing Market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in Market space? What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the Aerospace 3D Printing Market ? What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the Aerospace 3D Printing Market? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the Aerospace 3D Printing market? Get in-depth details about factors influencing the market shares of the Americas, APAC, and EMEA? Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia. New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2019 -- Based on the Adult Vaccines industrial chain, this report mainly elaborate the definition, types, applications and major players of Adult Vaccines market in details. Deep analysis about market status (2018-2026), enterprise competition pattern, advantages and disadvantages of enterprise Products, industry development trends (2018-2026), regional industrial layout characteristics and macroeconomic policies, industrial policy has also be included. From raw materials to downstream buyers of this industry will be analyzed scientifically, the feature of product circulation and sales channel will be presented as well. In a word, this report will help you to establish a panorama of industrial development and characteristics of the Adult Vaccines market. You can download free samples PDF copy of market at https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/30011 Competitive landscape The latest industry intelligence research on the Adult Vaccines market offers a repository of valuable data on the size, share, and growth rate of the Adult Vaccines market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2026. Importantly, examination of various facets of the industry including but not limited to production volume, product sales, demand and supply assessment and forecast for the period, 2018 - 2026 aim at offering business owners a competitive edge over their rivals. The study further conducts a qualitative evaluation of various driving forces expected to shape the future of the industry during the estimated period. Make an enquiry for a fast response of market click https://www.marketexpertz.com/make-enquiry-form/30011 The major manufacturers covered in this report - GlaxoSmithKline - Sanofi Pasteur - Merck - Novartis - Pfizer - BioCSL (Seqirus) - Protein Sciences On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into - Influenza - Cervical Cancer - Zoster Shingles - Pneumococcal - Meningococcal - MMRV - Hepatitis - DTP - Travel and Miscellaneous On the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, including - Medical Care - Healthy - Hospita Scope of the Adult Vaccines market The study finds that how on certain account threats and challenges can act as a roadblock for the business. A thorough evaluation of the Adult Vaccines market in the light of macro-environment such as social, political, economical as well as technological environment add granularity to the overall research. In addition, the study produces real-time data on vital aspects including sales, profits, gross margin and growth prospects to show how going forward the business will witness a substantial upswing. Direct order market research report@ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/30011 Adult Vaccines Market segment by Region/Country including: - North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) - Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Spain etc.) - Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and Southeast Asia etc.) - South America Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Chile etc.) - Middle East & Africa (South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia etc.) Knowing the trends influencing the Adult Vaccines industry performance The specialist consulting approach adopted to study the Adult Vaccines market by size, share. And growth form an important part of this market intelligence report. Expertise research specialist not only weight upon the company profiles of the major vendors but also significant aspects such as import and export status, supply chain management, demand and supply and distribution channel. Vital statistics on product positioning, consumption volume, a dramatic shift in consumer preferences, spending power and other are explained through resources including charts, graphs, and info graphics. Browse complete report description and visit our website@ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/adult-vaccines-market The research provides answers to the following key questions: - What will be the growth rate of the Adult Vaccines market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2026? What will be the market size for the estimated period? - What are the prominent factors driving the Adult Vaccines market across different regions? - Who are the major vendors dominating the Adult Vaccines industry and what are their winning strategies? - What are the major trends shaping the development of the industry in the coming years? - What are challenges faced by the Adult Vaccines market? - What are potential opportunities for the industry for the forecast period, 2018 - 2026? The study objectives of this report are: To analyze and study the global Adult Vaccines capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2018-2026) and forecast (2018-2026); Focuses on the key Adult Vaccines manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future. Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis. To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region. To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks. To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth. To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments. To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies. In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Adult Vaccines are as follows: History Year: 2013-2017 Base Year: 2017 Estimated Year: 2018 Forecast Year 2018 to 2026 Continue... About MarketExpertz Planning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web? Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges. Contact Us: John Watson Head of Business Development Market Expertz | Web: www.marketexpertz.com Direct Line: +1-800-819-3052 E-mail: sales@marketexpertz.com News: www.marketexpertz.com/market-news Courage a double-edged sword for economic success Modern economies need courageous, bold and entrepreneurial individuals to thrive yet the same qualities can bring greater risks according to a world-first study from an international research team. QUT's Associate Professor Martin Obschonka, Director of the Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research, joined forces with researchers from Germany's University of Mannheim and the University of Cambridge in the UK to study data on courage from more than 390,000 Americans. Massive psychological test delivers first US map for courage Courage is key to 21st Century economic success El Paso, Texas is the most courageous among the major US metropolitan regions Courage helps people deal with a rapidly changing world and embrace new technology A higher rate of start-ups also brings a higher rate of failure There is such a thing as being too brave in business The project was a collaboration with Time Magazine which collected the data gathered from an online Harry Potter-style sorting hat quiz publicised on its website. The findings - Regional Variation in Courage and Entrepreneurship: The Contrasting Role of Courage for the Emergence and Survival of Start-Ups in the US - have now been published by Wiley's Journal of Personality and represent the first study ever to map out differences in the prevalence of the personality trait courage in regional populations across the USA. "Our modern society often requires some sort of courage/bravery/personal agency to cope with the uncertainty of our times, which present us with less clear career paths, extreme technological change, lots of societal challenges and other unsettling trends," said Professor Obschonka. "Those same personality traits are able to take advantage of the unprecedented opportunities that now exist to foster creativity, entrepreneurship, 'changing the world' via innovations, global exchange, use of new technologies, and the development of fascinating new products and services." However, as lead author Tobias Ebert from the University of Mannheim said, the study results indicated a double-edged sword. "Courage seems to contribute to more economic vitality in a region with more entrepreneurship rates and more start-ups. This finding supports the general assumption that it requires brave people to drive modern economic activity, compared to historical times when it required a workers culture to stimulate the economy with its large industries and factories, said Mr Ebert. "The dark side to courage is that we found evidence it is associated with risk-taking and higher start-up failure rates." Professor Obschonka said this tendency could be called 'blind' courage which may undermine a realistic evaluation of risks. "In other words, a too strong courage might increase uncertainty and risks. So educators, policy-makers, entrepreneurs etc. should keep in mind that while promoting courage can be a powerful tool in growing a local economy, it can have a down side," he said. A map produced for the study revealed pronounced regional differences in Courage across 283 US metropolitan areas. Areas with comparatively high levels of courage are found in the Eastern and Southern regions of the US (from California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico to Texas and Oklahoma) as well as the state of Florida. Areas with comparatively low levels of courage spanned eastwards from the Midwest, including the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, across the Rust Belt (Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey) up to Boston and down to the Carolinas. "Regions with elevated levels of courage show higher start-up rates so findings suggest a lack of courage within local populations might be an important driver of the consistently weak entrepreneurial dynamic in areas like the rust belt," said Professor Obschonka. "Yet companies founded in these courageous regions demonstrated a lower share of start-ups surviving the first five years after foundation. Findings suggest that excessive courage within local populations comes at a cost and might contribute to an overheated regional economic climate." Of the major metropolitan regions in the United States with a population of at least 500,000, the following recorded the highest and lowest levels of courage (scales reaches from zero to one): 5 Most Courageous Metropolitan Areas El Paso, TX McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX Colorado Springs, CO Albuquerque, NM Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA 5 Least Courageous Metropolitan Areas Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI Providence-Warwick, RI-MA Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Madison, WI Rochester, NY ### Read the full study online at: https:/ / onlinelibrary. wiley. com/ doi/ abs/ 10. 1111/ jopy. 12454 Media contact: Amanda Weaver, QUT Media, 07 3138 3151, amanda.weaver@qut.edu.au After hours: Rose Trapnell, 0407 585 901, media@qut.edu.au This story has been published on: 2019-02-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. 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. As his newest neighbor was being led into one of the spacious stallion runs at Ballena Vista Farm on a recent afternoon, 8-year-old Texas Ryano poked his head above the fence and watched intently. Ears pricked, the chestnut horse with a white blaze on his head expressed himself in loud snorts and stamped his front hooves into the dirt. He then took off in a gallop, running to the end of his pen and back. The challenge was down. Texas Ryano was begging the new stud in town for a match race. This is what thoroughbreds do when they retire. Its in their blood. Its also why theyre always kept in separate quarters, so they dont maul each other in some macho showdown. Advertisement In this case, Texas Ryano should be careful what he wishes for. The son of Curlin won the Grade II Hollywood Turf Cup in 2016 at Del Mar, but his successes come up a bit shy when compared to the newcomer. Ill Have Another, who turned 10 this year, won the 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes for Reddam Racing and trainer Doug ONeill, and was poised to make his run for Triple Crown immortality. Thirty hours before the Belmont Stakes, in a heartbreaker for his connections, he had to be scratched because of tendonitis. 1 / 18 Ballena Vista Farm is now the home of 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Ill Have Another, now a stallion. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 18 Manuel Piedra, assistant manager at Ballena Vista Farm walks with 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Ill Have Another, now a stallion at the farm. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 18 Manuel Piedra, assistant manager at Ballena Vista Farm with 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Ill Have Another, now a stallion at the farm. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 18 Ballena Vista Farm is now the home of 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Ill Have Another, now a stallion at the farm. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 18 Manuel Piedra, assistant manager at Ballena Vista Farm with 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Ill Have Another, now a stallion at the farm. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 18 Ballena Vista Farm is now the home of 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Ill Have Another, now a stallion. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 18 Ballena Vista Farm is now the home of 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Ill Have Another, now a stallion at the farm. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 18 Ballena Vista Farm is now the home of 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Ill Have Another, now a stallion at the farm. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 18 Ballena Vista Farm is now the home of 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Ill Have Another, now a stallion at the farm. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 18 Ballena Vista Farm is now the home of 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Ill Have Another, now a stallion. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 11 / 18 Mike Jimenez Ballena Vista Farm manager, among yearling colts. The farm is now the home of 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Ill Have Another, now a stallion. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 12 / 18 Eltoninadress, and her baby colt, born on January 4, at Ballena Vista Farm, now the home of 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Ill Have Another. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 13 / 18 Yearling colts at Ballena Vista Farm, now the home of 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Ill Have Another, now a stallion. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 14 / 18 Mike Jimenez Ballena Vista Farm manager, in the among yearling colts. The farm is now the home of 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Ill Have Another, now a stallion. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 15 / 18 Jesus Moran walks with Golden Victory, at Ballena Vista Farm. The farm is now the home of 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Ill Have Another, now a stallion. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 16 / 18 Ballena Vista Farm is now the home of 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Ill Have Another, now a stallion. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 17 / 18 Texas Ryano at Ballena Vista Farm, now the home of 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Ill Have Another, now a stallion. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 18 / 18 Mike Jimenez, Ballena Vista Farm manager checks on Kant Stop Dancing, a pregnant mare at the farm, now the home of 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Ill Have Another. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) The winner of the Eclipse Award for 3-year-old males after an undefeated season that included a victory in the Santa Anita Derby, Ill Have Another was immediately retired. Only weeks later, Big Red Farm in Japan paid Reddam $10 million for the horse to stand at stud. He was prolific in Japan for six breeding seasons until late last year, producing 118 winners, when the farm put out the word that Ill Have Another was for sale. Donald Cohn, the La Jolla businessman and philanthropist who is the founder of Ballena Vista Farm, seized the opportunity, paying an undisclosed amount, and after being quarantined at UC Davis, Ill Have Another arrived in Ramona in December. His presence is cause for celebration at Ballena Vista. Cohn said Ill Have Another is the only Kentucky Derby winner to stand at stud in California, and thus will hopefully create a new generation of promising Cal-bred runners in an era when the states horse farms are dwindling. Advertisement It also brings fresh recognition to a well-respected thoroughbred facility set in the hills between Ramona and Julian that has produced and cared for horses for more than three decades. Im very excited to have him. It does get my blood running, said Cohn, 87. Hes a marquee horse, and hes got a great record. One of the major parts of our business is breeding, and to have a new horse, with new breeding opportunities, hopefully it will have an impact on racing here. Ill Have Another is scheduled to begin breeding Friday, according to Ballena Vista manager Mike Jimenez. The stud fee for him is $6,000 per live foal (it was $31,000 when he started in Japan), and the hope is that he will cover at least 60 mares for this breeding season, which runs until June. The math: $360,000 total if all were to go perfectly, which, of course, it never does. Advertisement The gambling on horses doesnt just come at the betting windows. When you breed a mare, its almost a year (11 months) before she has the baby, Jimenez said. After that, its at least two years before you can get them to the track. Between that time period, anything can happen. Youre always investing money. Its tough. You have to be very patient and love what youre doing. So far, Jimenez said, Ill Have Another is settling in nicely to his new digs. On a hill above the running pens at Ballena Vista is the Ritz of the farm a row of immaculately kept barns and grounds for the stallions. They get the royal treatment, Jimenez said. Advertisement Ill Have Another shares the row with four others Texas Ryano, Eddington, Conquest Farenheit and Bluegrass Cat. The latter owned by Ballena Vista and Wellspring Stables was the 2018 leading sire in California by winners and repeat winners. Bluegrass Cats winners-to-runners ratio for the year was 53 percent, and his offspring have earned more than $44 million lifetime worldwide. Cat was the farms biggest celebrity before Ill Have Another arrived, because he finished second in the 2006 Kentucky Derby (to Barbaro), Belmont (to Jazil) and Travers (to Bernardini). Mike Jimenez, Ballena Vista Farm manager, among yearling colts. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) Advertisement Ballena Vista Farm sits prominently off Old Julian Highway, but most people on their way to Julian on Highway 67 would miss it unless they take the side roads to the many wineries cropping up in the area. The 200 acres of the property are dotted with oak trees, and seemingly every corner is finely manicured. At the top of the driveway are classic adobe buildings and the second home of Cohn and his wife, Karen,, who had to rebuild after their original house there burned down in the 2007 Witch Creek fire. The longest day of my life, said Cohn, who along with his employees was forced to evacuate with nearly 300 horses left defenseless on the property. Some of the fences melted in the heat, Cohn said, but the horses wouldnt cross the smoldering remains, and it likely saved them, as the wind eventually blew the fire away from the farm. Not a single horse was lost. Advertisement Luck of the draw, Cohn said. Cohn, who grew up around horses and racing in Northern California, bought the Ballena Vista land in 1982 from two different farming families whose pioneering forebearers arrived in the mid-1800s. Cohn made his living in more modern fashion as the founder of Dataquick, the nations first online real estate data website. Hes been a prominent developer of real estate in San Diego. I always wanted to get back into (the thoroughbred business), so thats why I bought the land, Cohn said. Im not damn sure how I got into it, but once youre in, youre stuck. We love it. Advertisement Cohn has an extensive and loyal crew that works for him. There are currently about 200 horses on the farm, divided between stallions and mares, colts and fillies, 2-year-olds and yearlings. The 13 farm workers who live on the property, along with 13 maintenance people, provide for the horses through most of the phases of their life. The quality here is first-rate, said Jeanne Davis, Ballena Vistas sales and marketing director. Theres definitely a difference in what is expected, whats required, and whats done for the horse. The animals always come first. If they need something, its done. The farm manager, Jimenez, has been connected to horses all of his life. His late father, Luis Jimenez, was a jockey who became an exercise rider for Hall of Fame trainer Charlie Whittingham at San Luis Rey Downs in Bonsall. Advertisement Mike Jimenez, 50, came to Ballena Vista 11 years ago, and last year was promoted to farm manager after the retirement of Manuel Ochoa. I love everything about it, Jimenez said. From watching the babies being born, to watching them to go auction, to going to the track and winning races youre part of the whole process. Jimenez does actually make it to the racetrack on occasion, though it doesnt happen at this time of year because mares are giving birth at all hours of the day. Summer is more open, and this past August at Del Mar, Jimenez went to cheer on two fillies owned by Ballena Vista and trained by Peter Miller. Tell Me More and Family Girl both ran in allowances races, and both made it to the winners circle. Advertisement Got my picture taken, Jimenez said with a big smile. For those who want photos of Ill Have Another, Jimenez is open to making appointments with visitors, though itd be better to wait until after the breeding season. He doesnt mind showing off his new celebrity. I think we have the responsibility, Jimenez said, to the racing fans who keep us in business to give them the opportunity to come out here. Advertisement Theyre likely to be touched by what they see. Advertisement Sports Videos tod.leonard@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @sdutleonard A fire damaged a Rancho Bernardo home and displaced two people and a dog on Sunday, a fire official said. The fire started just after 11 a.m. in the garage of a home on Avenida Nobleza in Bernardo Heights, according to information from the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. By the time firefighters got to the home, the garage was fully engulfed in flames and was also spreading to an attic area, according to Battalion Chief Rick Ballard. After an extended battle with the flames, crews were able to start clearing the scene around 1 p.m. No one was injured. The Red Cross was helping to find shelter for the two people who lived at the house, as well as their dog, Ballard said. Investigators were working to determine the cause of the fire. A damage estimate wasnt immediately available. Email: rbnews@pomeradonews.com Walter Munk, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography professor who died Friday in La Jolla at age 101, was one of the most remarkable scientists in the world not just San Diego. Munks work as both an oceanographer and geophysicist led to a 2015 tribute in The New York Times that labeled him the Einstein of the oceans. Thats proof of his impact. Academics often work in obscure fields that have little relation to the larger world around them. Not Munk. In the early 1940s, he and his Scripps colleagues did pioneering work in surf forecasting, directly helping Allied forces with the D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France in 1944. In the decade that followed, he did crucial research identifying the effects on the ocean of atomic and hydrogen bomb blasts. In 1991, Munk was responsible for breakthroughs in ocean acoustics with relevance for both submarine warfare and research on climate change (sound travels faster in warm water). When UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla called Munk the most brilliant scientist I have ever known, it was hardly hyperbole. It was cause and effect. R.I.P. San Diegos emergence as a worldwide hub of scientific research was the product of the hard work and brilliance of many men and women. But any Mount Rushmore of San Diegos most important would include Walter Munk. He didnt like being likened to Einstein. Sorry, Walter you earned it. Read more: La Jolla explorer-scientist Walter Munk, the Einstein of the Oceans, dies at 101 Advertisement Twitter: @sdutIdeas Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion Re Schultz is what Trump only pretends to be (Feb. 1): The letter writer asserts that Howard Schultz was born in the projects in Brooklyn, worked hard and grew a successful business. Raised in the projects? Public housing? Socialism! Educated from elementary school through high school and a public state university? Socialism! After being lifted out of poverty by the social safety net, Schultz now opposes tuition-free public education through college or the same kind of universal public health care enjoyed by people in virtually every other industrial nation. Shultz belittles proposals by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a 70 percent top marginal rate on just the portion of incomes over $10 million (in the U.S., our top marginal rate was never below 90 percent under Dwight Eisenhower nor ever below 70 pecent during the Kennedy-Johnson-Nixon years, among the most prosperous in our nations history) or the 2 percent wealth tax proposed by Elizabeth Warren on just the portion of wealth in excess of $50 billion. Advertisement Douglas Dunn Escondido Letters and commentary policy The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below. Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook. Encinitas right to shun state housing mandate Re Encinitas voters, you made the wrong call on housing (Feb. 8): There are good reasons why Encinitas is one of the few cities yet to comply with California housing mandates. Just as one size does not fit all, one housing mandate does not work equally well in all communities. Encinitas is a small city with many two-lane roads. Access to mass transit is limited. Proposition As purpose was to give residents a voice regarding future development. This was a legal, democratic ballot measure. Most residents who voted against the housing mandate are not defiant but are using their voice to protect the community they live in. The majority of the 1,141 units required in the mandate will not be affordable and will be sold at market value. Those who stand to benefit the most will be developers, who will be granted code exemptions, and legislators who can pat themselves on the back for solving the housing crisis. Advertisement Colleen Veneri Cardiff by the Sea Weve lived in Encinitas for 42 years, pursued our careers, raised our children and love living here. Weve seen the city grow from 13,000 to over 64,000. We voted for incorporation in 1987 because the county of San Diego approved projects at 29 DU/AC, far in excess of what the community thought was reasonable and appropriate. Following incorporation, the Planning Commission and the City Council adopted a General Plan and Zoning Ordinance calling for orderly growth and respecting both the physical and cultural environment. Now, public officials and the courts want to set all our efforts aside. This is a dictatorial push by politicians, a frontal assault on individual and corporate liberty. It is an imminent theft of local self-determinism. It is a direct threat to our community character. It violates the quiet enjoyment of our homes. We should fight it with every ounce of our strength. Bruce St. Gean Encinitas Advertisement California picks laws it is happy to ignore I enjoyed the ironic humor demonstrated by your editorial writer concerning the housing situation in Encinitas. I had to laugh when California Attorney General Xavier Becerra threatens to withhold state monies if Encinitas doesnt follow state requirements. But when the federal government threatens to withhold funds because California doesnt honor federal law, this same man sues the government. Yes, Virginia, liberals can and do have it both ways. By the way, since the state requires a housing plan for all economic levels, can we see the plan for multimillion-dollar homes for Barrio Logan or tenements in Bel Air? Can they at least be honest? The liberals in California dont need to lie. They have the votes to jam anything down our throats. Jerry Anderson Advertisement Escondido Letters and commentary policy The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below. Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook. Sensible and defensible. Thats how best to describe Gov. Gavin Newsoms decision to reassign all but 100 of the 360 California National Guard troops stationed on the southern border, which undercuts President Donald Trumps hyperbolic claim that there is a national emergency at the border. Here in San Diego easily the largest U.S. city along the border our proximity to Mexico is a gigantic economic plus, not the nightmare the president depicts. Beyond that crucial point, Newsoms characterization of Trumps deployment of border troops as political theater is borne out by news accounts from last April. Thats when the president surprised his aides with a series of tweets and statements declaring a need to militarize the border to protect against an influx of unauthorized immigrant criminals and drugs. If there was a border emergency, that was news to his national security team. Trump went on to make the purported border invasion a major theme in his fall campaigning for Republicans, capped with his October decision to deploy more than 5,200 active-duty military troops to the border after reports that a caravan of migrants was headed toward the U.S. While the GOP held on to the Senate, it lost 43 House seats, suggesting the presidents alarmism didnt play well. Nonetheless, Trump has stayed the course with his invasion theme, forcing a 35-day partial government shutdown when Congress refused to approve his request for $5.7 billion for more border walls. Another shutdown is possible on Friday when funding for many government agencies runs out. Given that the president couldnt get wall funds from Congress when it was controlled by Republicans, hes got to know the money wont be forthcoming with Democrats in charge of the House. Somethings got to give. But such calculations dont matter to a president who won the GOP nomination and the presidency in 2016 by railing against immigration and who chose to hold a related rally in El Paso tonight. Advertisement Newsom and other high-profile Democrats need to be making calculations of their own on the evolving immigration issue. While the total numbers are far lower than they used to be, January was the 12th straight month in which apprehensions at the Southwest border were up at least 50 percent over the same month of the previous year. And while those attempting to illegally enter the U.S. in the past were often single men in Mexico, they are increasingly families from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador seeking asylum in America. In December, Homeland Security officials said the number of asylum seekers was about 93,000 in fiscal 2018 a huge increase over the 55,584 reported in fiscal 2017. A Syracuse University project that tracks data on asylum seekers reports that fiscal 2018 was the sixth straight year that the percentage of asylum seekers rejected by immigration judges had increased. Given that this pattern began under the Obama administration, it is difficult to see it as a function of Trumps heated rhetoric. What it suggests is that more and more people want to use asylum to try to bypass a lengthy legal immigration process without sufficient cause. And the number of people who might seek to do so is staggering. According to a new Gallup survey of people in 33 Latin American and Caribbean nations, 42 million want to move to the United States, and 5 million plan to do so in the next 12 months. Thats right: 5 million in the next year. So while it is absurd to pretend the U.S. is facing a crisis at its southern border, it is not absurd to say immigration has begun to change in profound ways. That is why immediate funding for more border barriers, increased Border Patrol staffing and additional immigration judges makes sense. Newsom is right to call Trump sending troops to the border a manufactured crisis, but the swelling number of asylum seekers isnt make-believe. Republicans and Democrats need to address this complicated issue, hopefully while keeping the U.S. government open. Twitter: @sdutIdeas Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion President Donald Trump said Tuesday that freshman Rep. Ilhan Omars apology for suggesting that members of Congress support Israel because they are being paid to do so was lame and that she should resign. In a pair of tweets over the weekend, the Minnesota Democrat, who is one of the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress, criticized the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. Its all about the Benjamins baby, she wrote, using slang for $100 bills. Asked on Twitter who she thought was paying members of Congress to support Israel, Omar responded, AIPAC! Trump told reporters at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that anti-Semitism has no place in the United States Congress. Advertisement The president said it was terrible what Omar said. I think she should either resign from Congress or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. What she said is so deep-seated in her heart. He said her apology was lame and she didnt mean a word of it. Omar said she had no intention of offending anyone, including Jewish Americans, when she insinuated that lobbyists were paying lawmakers to support Israel. She unequivocally apologized. Michael Cohen will not testify as expected Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, his lawyer said marking yet another delay in lawmakers bid to question President Donald Trumps former personal lawyer about a range of potentially unflattering topics to the commander in chief. At various points, Cohen was to testify before three congressional committees about his work for Trump the Senate Intelligence Committee, the House Intelligence Committee and the House Oversight Committee. But in each instance, his scheduled appearance was canceled or postponed. Lanny Davis, one of Cohens lawyers, cited a recent shoulder surgery as the reason Cohen would have to cancel the Senate Intelligence Committee appearance. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has accepted Mr. Cohens request for postponement of tomorrows hearing due to post surgery medical needs, he said. A future date will be announced by the Committee. Advertisement Spokeswomen for the committees Republican and Democratic leadership did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Last week, the House Intelligence Committee cited the investigations interest in postponing its hearing, and Cohens lawyer had blamed alleged threats from Trump as the reason for canceling what would have been public testimony before the House Oversight Committee. Cohen pleaded guilty last year to various federal crimes, including lying to Congress about a possible Trump Tower project in Moscow and arranging payments to buy the silence of women who alleged affairs with Trump several years ago. He was sentenced in December to three years in prison and is scheduled to report on March 6. Each postponement seems to make his testifying less likely, though some lawmakers have suggested Cohen could be compelled to testify even after he is behind bars. His House Intelligence Committee appearance is now scheduled for Feb. 28. Cohen likely has no shortage of information that would be of interest to lawmakers; at his sentencing hearing, he talked of how it was once his job to cover up Trumps dirty deeds. While much of what he has to say already has been aired in court federal prosecutors have said, for example, that it was at Trumps direction that Cohen arranged the hush money payments, in violation of campaign finance laws there are many questions he has not answered. He could describe, for example, what role, if any, Trump played in shaping his false congressional testimony, and offer other behind-the-scenes details of his interactions with Trump about the hush money payments. This story was first posted by the Washington Post. A Florida bill that would prohibit government agencies from releasing photos, video or audio that record the killing of a mass violence victim is moving through the Senate. The Senate Criminal Justice Committee unanimously approved a bill Monday without debate that would create a public records exemption for such photos, video and audio. Sponsor Sen. Tom Lee said he proposed it because of concerns raised after last years school shooting in Parkland that left 17 people dead. It would expand a current law that prohibits the release of photos and recordings of police officers who are killed on duty. Advertisement The open government watchdog group First Amendment Foundation opposes the bill because it would be more difficult to hold law enforcement accountable for how they respond to a mass shooting. A team of UC San Diego engineering students has built a liquid-fueled rocket that it will attempt to launch roughly six miles into the atmosphere during a collegiate competition in the Mojave Desert. The 21-foot tall Vulcan II rocket is scheduled to lift off from a site near Edwards Air Force Base on March 2 as part of a contest sponsored by Friends of Amateur Rocketry and the Mars Society. Several other Southern California schools, including San Diego State University and UCLA, also are expected to compete. FARS-MARS says it will grant $50,000 to the team whose bi-propellant liquid-fueled rocket comes closest to reaching 45,000 feet. The University of California San Diego team has designed its slender aluminum rocket to soar about 32,000 feet or about six miles into the atmosphere. The rocket must travel at least 30,000 feet high to be included in the final tally. Advertisement Vulcan II is the successor to Vulcan I, a rocket built and launched in 2016. That vehicle reached an altitude of roughly 4,000 feet, powered by an engine created through 3-D printing. The newer rocket also has a 3-D printed engine, which will burn liquid oxygen and kerosene RP-1 during the upcoming flight. Developing the rocket hasnt been easy, said Andrew Wang, a mechanical engineering student who is part of the Vulcan II team. They say the last 10 percent of the work takes 90 percent of the time, said Wang. About 89 percent of this rocket was built by the end of last year. Were still finishing it. The setbacks included the need to redesign and re-manufacture Vulcan IIs engine due to a technical error. The contest isnt our primary motivation for doing this, said Jack Najarian, an electrical engineering student is also on the team. We want to make sure that people find a sense of fulfillment from taking this rocket from concept to reality. We want people to apply the skills we learn in class. Wang nodded in agreement, saying, Winning the competition would just be the cherry on top. Advertisement UCSD has a long history in aerospace, both among students and faculty. Sally Ride, the first American woman to travel in space, was a long-time faculty member. And the university has produced such NASA astronauts as Megan McArthur and Kathleen Rubins. ICYMI Huge surge in foreign students helping UC San Diego diversify and pay its bills Famed UC San Diego oceanographer-explorer Walter Munk dies at 101 Advertisement UC San Diego opens bridge over I-5, linking main campus, health sciences Crowded UCSD receives record number of applications for fall enrollment 3 San Diegans elected to the National Academy of Engineering Former San Diego police Chief Shelley Zimmerman announced Tuesday she would not be running for mayor of San Diego in 2020, but would be taking a new position with National University. Zimmerman, who retired as chief in March 2018, said many people in the community had approached her about seeking the citys top elected post but that in the end she decided she wanted to join the private, nonprofit university. My passion is public safety, not politics, she said during a news conference at National Universitys Torrey Pines headquarters. Zimmerman, 59, has been named a chancellor appointee with National. In that role, she will give guest lectures, assist with improving public safety curriculum and help promote the university to law enforcement agencies across the country. The university declined to reveal her salary. Advertisement Zimmerman said shes given presentations on leadership to public and private groups in the months since she retired and was approached by many, many individuals and groups who had encouraged her to consider running for mayor. It took all of us to achieve being the safest large city of America and that is why I believe that so many reached out to me, she said. Because we were able to bring people together, to achieve real results, checking your ego at the door. I know that Im disappointing a lot of people and probably at least a couple are thrilled that Im not running. Among those who have announced plans to run for mayor in 2020 is attorney Cory Briggs, Councilwoman Barbara Bry and Assemblyman Todd Gloria. Congressman Scott Peters said he wont run for the office because he thinks it makes more sense for him to stay in Congress. Mayor Kevin Faulconer must leave office in 2020 because of term limits. Zimmerman has a bachelors degree in criminal justice from The Ohio State University and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy. National University is seeking to attract law enforcement officers from around the country to its degree programs by providing discounts on tuition and credit for prior learning in state-approved training academies. The university also offers online classes that fit better with officer schedules. They can study any time, any place, any pace that they want so it fits their schedule versus having to be in class at 7 oclock at night every Thursday night, said Michael Cunningham, chancellor of the National University System. It really fits the schedule of the police officer. Cunningham said he had been talking to Zimmerman for several months about opportunities with the university. Advertisement Criminal justice, I think, is a wonderful fit for her but it is much more than that it is her leadership qualities, he said. Cunningham said he expects Zimmerman will go with other university officials on an upcoming road show to visit law enforcement agencies in Long Island, New York. He said the visit will kick off an effort to take the universitys programs on a grand national stage. National University, headquartered in La Jolla, offers more than 100 graduate and undergraduate degrees and 23 teacher credentials in more than 30 locations, according to its website. The National University System has affiliates including Northcentral University, John F. Kennedy University, City University of Seattle, National University Virtual High School and National University Academy. Advertisement Twitter: @karenkucher Advertisement (619) 293-1350 karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com UPDATES: 2:25 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details. Advertisement This article was originally published at 11:30 a.m. One resident was displaced Monday afternoon when flames spread through part of a National City duplex, fire officials said. The non-injury blaze was reported about 12:30 p.m. at the residence on East Fifth Street between M and Palm avenues, police and firefighters said. National City police shut down that stretch of residential street as fire crews battled the flames. The neighborhood is between Highland Avenue and Interstate 805. AVOID 1300 E. 05th due to a structure fire. https://t.co/zOjVFqMB3J NATIONAL CITY POLICE (@NATIONALCITYPD) February 11, 2019 Advertisement A neighbor rescued a dog from the otherwise unoccupied building prior to the arrival of firefighters, who were able to confine the flames to one of the two adjoining units, National City Fire Department Battalion Chief Mark Beveridge said. The cause of the fire which took crews about 25 minutes to subdue was under investigation, Beveridge said. City News Service contributed to this report. teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com (760) 529-4945 Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT Advertisement UPDATES: 3:05 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details. This article was originally published at 1:20 p.m. Two adults and a minor were rescued by the Coast Guard on Sunday after their 30-foot sailboat capsized about 10 miles west of Torrey Pines, Coast Guard officials said Monday. Those aboard the overturned sailing vessel, the Divided Soul, called mayday and triggered an emergency positioning beacon about 2:30 p.m. Sunday, alerting Coast Guard crews in San Diego of the emergency and the boats exact location. A Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey helicopter from Air Station Miramar happened to be operating nearby, flew toward the crippled boat and hovered overhead until Coast Guard rescuers arrived, officials said. The crew aboard the fast-response cutter Robert Ward one of two ships dispatched by the Coast Guard, along with an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter located all three people from the capsized boat, officials said. Advertisement Crew from the Coast Guard fast-response cutter Robert Ward rescue three people who had been aboard the sailing vessel Divided Soul when it capsized Sunday, 10 miles west of Torrey Pines. The survivors reported no medical concerns and were transferred to a nearby marina. (Courtesy of Coast Guard Sector San Diego) The crew launched a smaller rescue boat and pulled the three people out of the water with no reported medical concerns, Coast Guard officials said in a statement. Of those rescued, two were adults and one was a child, Coast Guard officials said, but their ages nor other identifying details were given. The survivors were taken to a nearby marina, and the owner of the Divided Soul was coordinating its salvage. Twitter: @Alex_Riggins (619) 293-1710 alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com An administrative review of the investigation into a fatal shooting by Chula Vista police in 2017 released Monday concluded the officer followed department policy and also highlighted two shortcomings in connection with the incident. On Sept. 19, 2017, Chula Vista Police Officer David Sachs fired the fatal shots that killed 27-year-old David Scott after Scott suddenly attacked the officer inside a home on Melrose Avenue and stabbed him in the face, head and arm. Police had been called to the residence by a neighbor who complained he had been hit by a chunk of concrete hurled over a fence from Scotts home. Scotts mother let them into the home, when Scott suddenly and without provocation attacked Sachs. District Attorney Summer Stephan determined last year that the shooting was a legal use of force. Advertisement The 24 pages of records were provided by the Chula Vista Police Department after a request by The San Diego Union-Tribune under SB 1421, a law that went into effect this year that made records of shootings, use of force, sexual assault and lying by officers accessible under the records law. Those types of records were previously confidential. A group of labor unions representing eight departments in San Diego County last week won a stay temporarily halting the release of records. Chula Vista is not part of that suit and is not covered by the stay. The records from Chula Vista include an Administrative Review of the shooting, an eight-page redacted document that summarizes the event and findings. The review is dated Jan. 28, just two weeks ago. Also included is a one-page opinion by a department expert on the use of force dated Jan. 10, and the April 2018 letter from Stephan absolving the officers of legal liability. The review concluded that Sachs acted within policy in using deadly force against Scott, who had an extensive history of confrontations with police, assault with a deadly weapon and a DUI injury crash. It noted other aspects of the incident aside from the use of deadly force. Communications from police radio to another channel were apparently not done as well as they should have been, though it is difficult to tell because the passage is redacted. Both officers were accompanied by a civilian ride-along. The records redact the name, but news reports said it was a police chaplain. The review said the person wore a Chula Vista police polo shirt and some other item identifying the Police Department hanging from a chain around his neck. The person on the ride-along entered the home right behind the officers. The review suggested changing department policy to expressly prohibit any attire which may misidentify the ride-along as an officer. It also said the department should consider prohibiting people on ride-alongs from entering homes until officers have deemed it safe. It also noted that neither officer was carrying tourniquets. After Sachs was attacked and injured, his partner had to run to the patrol car to retrieve one. The review suggested making tourniquets a required piece of issued equipment for all officers. Advertisement Twitter: @gregmoran Advertisement greg.moran@sduniontribune.com Expanding programs for the homeless, upgrading parks and making streets safer for bicyclists and pedestrians are among the San Diego City Councils top spending priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. Other priorities the council is submitting to Mayor Kevin Faulconer include funding for the arts, planting trees to fight climate change, hiring more lifeguards and encouraging more granny flats to help solve the housing crisis. Council members also said recently they plan to examine the mayors budget from the perspective of providing social equity across all council districts and communities, particularly low-income areas that lack infrastructure and amenities. The goal is to help Faulconer craft a city budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. He is scheduled to unveil on April 12 a proposed budget that must receive final approval from a majority of the nine-member council. Advertisement The council is expected to play a larger budgeting role this spring since Democrats, who increased their majority from 5-4 to 6-3 in November, now have the numbers to override line-item vetoes by Faulconer, a Republican. Faulconer, facing a deficit of nearly $46 million, has asked all city departments to propose 3 percent spending cuts that could be implemented immediately. This is the third winter in a row Faulconer has requested proposed spending reductions, but the situation is more severe this time because the city faces a steeper deficit. Though there will be cuts in some areas, council members also want some programs to be expanded. On homelessness, council members are requesting money for outreach, bridge shelters, safe parking lots, permanent housing for homeless people and increased access to showers and restrooms. They also want to revive a program that reduced unnecessary 911 calls by using a software filter to weed out the most frequent callers: the homeless, the mentally ill and drug addicts. The program saved the city money and drew national praise from 2010 through 2016, but city officials let it expire a year ago when the federal and state grants for it ran out. On parks, council members are requesting various infrastructure improvements and upgrades to city parks, recreation centers and senior centers. Requests related to pedestrian and bicycle safety include crosswalks, traffic calming measures, beacons, lane re-engineering, improved bicycle infrastructure, and stoplight improvements. Advertisement Those upgrades also aim to help the city meet the goals of its legally binding climate action plan, which requires more city residents to shift away from commuting by automobile. The council expressed support for spending more money to monitor how much progress the city is making toward the goal. The council also wants a greater focus on something they call climate resiliency, including an increase in the citys urban tree canopy. Council members are calling for more street trees, additional inspections of trees, analysis of the existing canopy and the hiring of an arborist. On funding for the arts, which has been controversial during the last few budgets, council members expressed support for maintaining the $14.5 million budgeted in the ongoing fiscal year. Faulconer has proposed funding cuts for the arts in recent years and a financial outlook from his staff this winter tentatively allocated $10.6 million in the upcoming fiscal year. Advertisement On lifeguards, council members are requesting additional staff for the boating safety unit, dive team and at key beach locations. On granny flats, council members are suggesting expanded subsidies and targeting construction of the units, officially called accessory dwellings, for homeless people. Other requests from the council include more sidewalks, more streetlights, more money for buying library books and other library materials, and expansion of the citys Get it Done app for reporting potholes and other problems. Advertisement david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick A fire engulfed a shoddily built budget hotel in central New Delhi early Tuesday, killing 17 people and injuring at least four others, including a woman from Myanmar who leaped from an upper floor to escape the flames, Indian authorities said. Three of those killed were members of a family who had traveled to Indias capital from Kerala in southern India to attend a wedding, family friend Arvind Vishwanathan said outside a hospital mortuary. Most of the deaths at the Arpit Palace Hotel in Karol Bagh, an area in Indias capital city popular with tourists because of its shops and budget hotels, were due to suffocation, said Satyendar Kumar Jain, the Delhi government minister of health and urban development, as he toured the site after the fire was extinguished. The hotel developer had a permit from the fire department to build up to four stories the standard height in central Delhi. But the building appeared to have six floors, including a basement and a kitchen built on top of the roof, Jain said. Advertisement Carelessness on the part of authorities is evident. We are going to investigate, and the wrongdoer will be punished, he said. Hotel guest Sivanand Chand, 43, said he was jolted awake around 4 a.m., struggling to breathe. When I got out of my room, I could hear help, help! from adjoining rooms, Chand said. The hallway was dark and thick with smoke, so Chand turned back into his room and opened a window. He saw flames rising fast. In 15 minutes, the whole room was black, he said. A video shot by a worker at a nearby hotel showed flames consuming the top of the building, which authorities said contained an unauthorized makeshift kitchen formed from sheets of fiberglass. Chand said rescue efforts were delayed because the first firetrucks arrived with ladders that werent long enough to reach his floor. He and some other guests were eventually evacuated through his window by a hydraulic lift. Advertisement Some 100 firefighters and 25 fire engines responded to the blaze, which engulfed all but the ground floor of the hotel, fire officer Vijay Paul said. About three dozen people were rescued, Paul said. It was not immediately clear how many guests and staff were inside the hotel, which had 43 guest rooms, according to its website. Rescuers had to break windows to evacuate people because wood paneling in the corridors and stairwells fed the flames, said fire official Atul Garg. Advertisement That is the escape route. People have to come out of the room and take the staircase but the staircase itself was on fire, so how they will go out? Garg said. In a video Garg shared with the Associated Press, firefighters can be seen carrying victims slumped over their shoulders through an unlighted, charred stairwell. Authorities were still investigating what sparked the blaze, Deputy Police Commissioner Mandeep Singh Randhawa said. Among those injured was a woman from Myanmar who sustained spinal injuries after jumping from an upper floor, according to Deputy Fire Chief Sunil Choudhary. She was being treated at a hospital, he said, declining to provide her name. Advertisement The other injured people were also taken to hospitals, but their conditions were not immediately known. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet that he was deeply saddened by the loss of lives. I convey my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives. May the injured recover soon. Islamic State group militants cornered in their last foothold in eastern Syria fought back with suicide car bombs, snipers and booby traps Monday, slowing Kurdish fighters advancing under the cover of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, Kurdish news agencies and a Syrian war monitor said. An Italian photographer was wounded in the clashes between the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and the militants holed up in the village of Baghouz, near the border with Iraq, an Italian news agency said. No one knows exactly how many Islamic State fighters are still holding out in the sliver of territory under attack, although they are estimated to be in the hundreds, most of them foreign fighters. It is also unclear if civilians are still inside, caught under heavy bombardment. The SDF on Saturday launched its final push to clear the area from IS, after months of fighting that saw 20,000 civilians fleeing just in the past few weeks. The numbers have overwhelmed Kurdish-run camps in northeastern Syria, where humanitarian conditions are already dire amid a cold winter and meager resources. Advertisement The capture of the IS-held village of Baghouz and nearby areas would mark the end of a devastating four-year global war to end the IS extremists territorial hold over large parts of Syria and Iraq, where the group established its self-proclaimed caliphate in 2014. That in turn, would open the way for U.S. President Donald Trump to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from northern Syria as he has promised to do once the Islamic State group has been defeated. The U.S. will soon control 100% of ISIS territory in Syria, Trump tweeted Sunday. He has said repeatedly that he doesnt want the U.S. to be the worlds policeman and that he intends to bring the 2,000 U.S. troops home. U.S. officials and Trumps own military advisers, however, have warned that losing its territorial hold does not mean that the Islamic State group is defeated, warning that IS could stage a comeback in Syria within six months to a year if the military and counterterrorism pressure on it is eased. Gen. Joseph Votel, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, estimated there are between 1,000 and 1,500 IS fighters in the small area they still control, but he said others have dispersed and gone to ground. In recent weeks, U.S. officials have said IS has lost 99.5 percent of its territory and is holding on to under 5 square kilometers (under 2 square miles), where most of the fighters are concentrated in Syria. But activists and residents say IS still has sleeper cells in Syria and Iraq and is laying the groundwork for an insurgency. Assad Bechara, a Lebanese political analyst, said the Islamic State group is an ideology, not just a military structure, and it cannot be defeated simply by reclaiming territory from the group. This (American) pullout will leave a huge vacuum despite the allegations of defeating the last pockets of ISIS. This vacuum will increase the international and regional struggle for power and influence in Syria, he said, which in turn may make it easier for the militant group to return. It is not clear how long the final push to free Baghouz from IS will take. Trump said last week he had been told that the full territorial conquest to defeat the Islamic State could be completed in the coming week. But progress appears to be slower than what SDF officials had initially estimated. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said SDF were moving very slowly due to land mines and sniper fire, as well as the extremists use of tunnels and suicide car bombs. IS also is using civilians as human shields, the Observatory said. Advertisement On Monday, the Observatory said 13 IS militants, including five suicide attackers, were killed as well as six SDF fighters. The Kurdish Hawar news agency also reported heavy fighting in Baghouz. IS said in a statement posted late Sunday that two of its martyrdom-seekers attacked SDF fighters in Baghouz with their explosive-laden car. Syrian state media claimed a U.S.-led coalition airstrike near Baghouz killed two women and two children. More than 20,000 civilians have left the IS-held area in recent weeks. The Italian news agency ANSA said Milan-born Gabriele Micalizzi, 34, was injured in the face by splinters of a rocket-propelled grenade, adding that his life was not in danger. It said he was being airlifted by the coalition to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. Advertisement Associated Press writer Bassam Hatoum in Beirut contributed. More than 70 people held at Otay Mesa Detention Center while they wait for immigration court hearings have signed a letter decrying conditions at the facility. The letter, written in December, alleges that detainees have experienced medical neglect, safety issues and racism and discrimination, according to Freedom For Immigrants, the group to whom the letter was addressed. The detainees also said that their complaints were not being heard at the facility. I was the object of indifference and medical negligence, one of the men wrote. Im experiencing very bad pain in my left ear and I dont feel ok because of the deficient attention. Another detainee reported being called a wetback by one of the guards at the facility owned and operated by private prison company CoreCivic. Advertisement This alarming pattern of neglect and abuse thrives in an environment where secrecy and isolation are the status quo, otherwise known as the U.S. immigration detention system, said Cynthia Galaz of Freedom For Immigrants. One of the detainees who signed the letter called Galaz recently to tell her that hes been forced to work extra shifts for the facilitys program that pays $1 per day. CoreCivic denied the allegations made about conditions in its facility. Otay Mesa opened in 2015 and is a state-of-the art, LEED Silver certified facility that provides a safe, appropriate environment for detainees, said Amanda Gilchrist, spokeswoman for the company. It is independently accredited by the American Correctional Association and is monitored on a daily basis by onsite ICE officials. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said that Otay Mesa Detention Center scored 100 percent for the third time in a row on its annual audit last month. Its not the first time that detainees and the organizations that advocate for them have made such claims about the San Diego facility. A report just last week based on letters sent to a Del Cerro-based group called Detainee Allies between July and November of last year makes similar allegations. Forty-nine letters received by Detainee Allies reported contaminated or insufficient food, 22 reported medical neglect, 12 reported unsafe working conditions, 16 reported forced labor and wage theft and 12 reported denial of access to mail and phone calls. Those letters were given to San Diego State University and published last week in an online archive. Advertisement The report calls on California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to review the facility. Hes required to release a report to the state legislature about immigration detention conditions in the state by March. Immigration Videos On Now New developments in family separation case 9:53 On Now A San Diego woman volunteered as a medic in Texas helping migrant families 2:35 On Now Immigration policy protests in Carlsbad nearly cancelled after permit issue 1:38 On Now When children are separated from their parents at the border, here is where they go next On Now Prospects of a deal for 'Dreamers' may hinge on separating Trump from hard-liners on his staff On Now What is DACA? On Now Border wall prototype contractors selected On Now Video: Ukrainian boxer wins asylum in U.S. On Now 30 apprehended after Border Patrol agents discover tunnel On Now Video: Kurdish diaspora prepare to vote on independence Advertisement Follow me on Facebook for live updates about immigration news kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate on Twitter San Diego city and county officials on Monday announced a pilot program that will provide an intensive outreach effort to connect homeless people in Hillcrest with services that could lead to self-sufficiency, better health and housing. Starting this week and running through mid-March, Connect Hillcrest will see representatives from various county departments working with service providers and others in escalated outreach efforts throughout the community on Wednesdays and Fridays, said Nick Macchione, director of the county Health and Human Services Agency. In another component similar in some ways to the citys planned homeless navigation center expected to open downtown this spring, Connect Hillcrest will include a temporary one-stop center where homeless people can drop by to receive health services and learn about shelter and housing opportunities, food programs and more, Macchione said. The Center in Hillcrest, located at 3909 Centre Street, will provide space for the program each Wednesday, he said. Advertisement Homeless outreach in Hillcrest isnt new crews from the Alpha Project have worked in the community for years but the new effort will include more than a dozen people on the street all focused on one geographic area. San Diego City Councilman Chris Ward, chair of the Regional Task Force on the Homeless, said the task force will examine results in about a month to possibly replicate the effort in other areas. Its our hope that with the success of this model we can expand to other impacted communities in the region so we can see a Connect El Cajon, we can see Connect Ocean Beach, a Connect Midway, Oceanside and so on, he said at a news conference Monday morning at The Hub in Hillcrest, a shopping center on University Avenue. Ward called the new effort a step away from traditional enforcement first practices and toward an approach that focuses on individuals and leverages existing community services. The program is coordinated by the city of San Diegos Housing Commission. Lisa Jones, senior vice president of homeless and housing innovations with the commission, said Connect Hillcrests coordinated outreach aims to fill a gap in the citys homeless response system. Connect Hillcrest recognizes that those who are most in need of care are often unable to advocate for themselves and face additional challenges trying to navigate the current homeless crisis response systems, she said. County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher quoted President Franklin Roosevelt at the news conference as he praised the new approach. FDR talked about the need for bold, persistent experimentation, Fletcher said. He said it is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it and try another, but above all try something. Advertisement Regional Task Force on the Homeless CEO Tamera Kohler said the program is similar to the hot-spotting approach in healthcare. Originally launched as a program in Camden, New Jersey, hot-spotting involves reallocating resources to a small subset of high-need, high-cost patients to have the greatest impact on the population. Macchione, from county Health and Human Services, said Monday that there was not a cost estimate for the pilot program, but the expense relatively low because it involves reallocating resources already in place. Were going to be working shoulder to shoulder in teams, he said. Were going to be committing and providing eligibility services, providing people needed public assistance. Things like food, things like water, things like health insurance, things like housing. Macchione said county workers will be trained in outreach by people from the Alpha Project, PATH Connections Housing and Father Joes Villages. The San Diego Police Departments Homeless Outreach Team also will be involved, and the countys Psychiatric Emergency Response Team also will be on call during the outreach effort. Advertisement Homeless Playlist On Now San Diego hepatitis outbreak continues to grow: 481 cases On Now Homeless entrenched in booming tent city along Santa Ana River On Now San Diego mayor agreed to homeless hub, then delayed, advocates say On Now Homeless outreach in San Diego On Now Video: Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #8 On Now In poverty himself, 'Water Man Dave,' is the fearless saint of San Diego's homeless 5:41 On Now Video: Homeless living in cars find safe havens 2:21 On Now Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #7 On Now Pitching a tent plan for San Diego's homeless On Now Homeless efforts get $80M boost for various services Advertisement gary.warth@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @GaryWarthUT 760-529-4939 Veterans will be the latest group of patients to have their health records in their pockets with a joint announcement from Apple Inc. and the U.S. Veterans Administration Monday. The government agency and the Silicon Valley tech giant jointly announced that the Health app included with every iPhone will soon be able to sync with certain types of medical records that, up to this point, have only been available through My HealtheVet, the VAs online web portal. Starting this summer, veterans will be able to direct their iPhones to automatically populate with information on allergies, health conditions, immunizations, lab results, medications, procedures and vital signs. Those are the same seven data types already available to a growing number of patients who get their care from certain health institutions that have already signed up with the program. In San Diego County, the two main participants are UC San Diego Health and Scripps Health. Kevin Lynch, Apples vice president of technology, said in a telephone interview Monday that the VA has adopted Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, the same communications protocol that Apple has used to enable encrypted health records synchronization with other private and public health systems and individual doctors offices. Advertisement Putting health records onto a patients iPhone, Lynch added, will allow aggregation of medical information across participating institutions. So, for example, if a veteran was referred outside the VA system for certain specialty care, they could see a more holistic view of care provided, prescriptions written and results received. For veterans, we think that its going to be very empowering, Lynch said. Data collected directly from a patient, say from a heart monitor on their Apple Watch, can also be integrated with health record information. In June, Apple released a special interface called an application program interface or API for health records, providing a way for iPhone owners to grant access to specific types of health care information without handing over every scrap of personal health data that resides on their smartphone. Already, Lynch noted, developers outside Apple have begun building useful apps. A new entry called One Drop, for example, helps patients manage diabetes, tailoring its approach to the specific information it finds in a patients health records. One Drop, Lynch said, is proof that much is possible when patients have their own health care data directly in their possession and are able to decide what gets shared and with whom. By combining data from things like your condition in your lab results with data we can see about you like your activity level and your heart rate you get a more-complete picture of how youre healths doing, and we think thats going to be super helpful for people to really understand the state of their health and take action on it, Lynch said. The VA is the largest health care organization in the nation with more than 1,200 facilities in total providing health care to more than 9 million Americans. It was unclear Monday exactly how the new iPhone health records system will be rolled out. Neither the San Diego VA nor the main headquarters in Washington, D.C. were able to provide additional information Monday afternoon. Given the steady drumbeat of health care privacy breaches that have occurred in recent years, many veterans may wonder whether or not they can trust Apples latest offering? Advertisement Georgia Weidman, a well-known security consultant and founder of Bulb Security, and author of the book Penetration Testing, said by email Monday that she has been quite impressed with Apples ability to encrypt and secure data on the phones it manufactures. Given Apples public and ongoing commitment to privacy and security and the holistic manner in which they go about providing a trusted platform in iOS, I would think Apples health records on iPhone is likely the most secure way in which veterans can access their VA health records, Weidman said. Bulb, she noted, is often hired to try and hack into mobile information systems. So far, she said, Apples encrypted system running on iPhones has not been an easy target. Apple is consistently difficult to compromise, she said. Advertisement Doctors progress notes, documentation of health care encounters that serve as the backbone of treatment, are not yet on Apples syncing list. Lynch said that these notes, which have become increasingly accessible to San Diego patients, are not yet transferred automatically because their format is not yet standardized. We dont have mature standards yet for getting that data from health care institutions. There is work in the industry happening on that but, right now, we are not bringing those notes in, Lynch said. Advertisement Health Playlist On Now Video: Why aren't Americans getting flu shots? 0:37 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now Video: Vaccine can prevent human papillomavirus, which can cause cancer 0:31 On Now 23 local doctors have already faced state discipline in 2017 0:48 On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1850 Twitter: @paulsisson Parents interested in enrolling their children in either Ramona Community Montessori School or Mountain Valley Academy are encouraged to attend Parent Information Night on the Ramona Community Campus at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 12. Ramona Community Campus at 1010 Ramona St. offers two schools on one campus: Ramona Community Montessori School and Mountain Valley Academy. Both are alternative educational programs offered by Ramona Unified School District. They are free public schools, not charter or private schools, and are aligned to the California Content Standards. The Montessori program for transitional kindergarten through sixth grade is a five-day-a-week program. Kindergarten through seventh-grade students in Mountain Valley Academys independent student program attend school one and a half days a week, and MVA eighth-graders attend school two and a half days a week. MVA high school operates on a schedule much like college, so attendance varies depending on the courses, allowing ninth- through 12-graders a great deal of flexibility to take college classes, work at a job or pursue a passion outside of school, said Principal Kathryn Gunderson, Ph.D. Advertisement Parent Information Night will start with a five-minute overview from each school. Parents then will follow teachers to classrooms where there will be a longer conversation about each program and the teachers will answer any questions the parents may have. It lets them see what a Montessori class looks like or they can talk with the independent study teacher to get a clear idea of what that program looks like at that independent study grade level, Gunderson said. We take them through the key elements so they are clear about what they are getting into. The culture of each school is different from a comprehensive school. The application period for both schools started Feb. 1 and enrollment is on a first-come, first-served basis. The school looks at the number of openings it has and accepts students as it can. In April, it reports projected numbers to the district to determine staffing for the coming year. In May, we start calling families and let them know we have room, said Gunderson. The school creates a waitlist for those it is unable to accommodate, and as families whose children are enrolled let the school know their children will not be attending, families on the waitlist are called. Parents who attend Parent Information Night will be able to waive the initial parent/teacher interview that is part of the application process for the Montessori program. Brochures and application forms about the schools will be available. More information is available at 760-787-3600. Michelle Carter is behind bars nearly five years after she pushed her boyfriend to suicide. The top court in Massachusetts rejected her bid to remain free on Monday, and a judge later in the day ordered her to start serving her 15-month jail sentence immediately in connection with Conrad Roys suicide. Lawyers for Carter had filed an emergency motion Monday to delay her sentence ahead of a court hearing in Massachusetts, and plan to take the case to the Supreme Court. Her lawyers argued that it is almost certain that Carter will have served her sentence before the U.S. Supreme Court issues its decision and provides further guidance. Advertisement An extended stay would avoid the possibility that Carter may prevail on appeal only after she has already lost her liberty. After the motion was denied, Carters lawyer reiterated during a brief hearing in Taunton that she should be allowed to remain free while her case is brought to the countrys highest court. The judge denied the request and ordered her taken into custody. Carter, now 22, was found to have caused Roys death when she told him to get back in his truck as it was filling with toxic gas in July of 2014. Roy was 18 at the time, and Carter was 17. Conrad Roy took his own life in 2014. (Facebook) She was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2017, and the top court in Massachusetts rejected Carters appeal last week. This case is a tragedy for all of the people impacted by this case, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III said. However, as the court found in two separate decisions, her conduct was wanton and reckless, and caused the death of Conrad Roy. Carter had sent dozens of text messages to Roy, including, you keep pushing it off and say youll do it but u never do. Its always gonna be that way if u dont take action. In another message Carter wrote, I think your parents know youre in a really bad place. Im not saying they want you to do it, but I honestly feel like they can except it. They know theres nothing they can do, theyve tried helping, everyones tried. Advertisement Carter had remained free following her conviction. Her lawyers stated in Mondays motion that she has complied with all the conditions of her release, and that she continues to undergo extensive mental health treatment. They noted that she lives at home with her parents and has no prior criminal record of any kind. A former San Diego Unified School District teacher was sentenced Monday to nearly six years in federal prison for a child pornography conviction. David Gordon Weaks, 60, was a fifth-grade teacher at Rosa Parks Elementary School in City Heights when he was arrested last April. He had worked for 21 years at the school district, including a previous teaching post at Bayview Terrace Elementary School, according to the district and online records. Weaks pleaded guilty in August to one count of receipt of images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Parents at Rosa Parks were notified at the time of his arrest with letters and phone calls from the school, and a spokesperson said the district had been cooperating with federal officials. Advertisement The investigation into Weaks began April 4 when a special agent with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations connected to Weaks computer using peer-to-peer, or P2P, file sharing software a common way to trade child porn, according to the complaint filed in San Diego federal court. The agent was able to obtain directly from Weaks computer two videos, including one that showed a toddler girl being sexually abused, and another whose title suggested that a 7-year-old and a 9-year-old were involved. The Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in San Diego searched Weaks home at the time of his arrest and found numerous child porn files during an initial review, according to a criminal complaint. Weaks remained in custody following his arrest April 19. He was sentenced Monday to five years and 10 months in federal prison, followed by eight years of supervised release that will include restriction on his internet use. Twitter: @Alex_Riggins (619) 293-1710 Advertisement alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com A San Diego-based genetics testing company has agreed to pay nearly $2 million to settle allegations that it submitted false claims to Medicare for unnecessary testing on prostate cancer patients, federal authorities said Monday. GenomeDx Biosciences Corp. submitted claims for the Decipher Prostate Cancer Test between September 2015 and June 2017, despite the affected patients not having risk factors necessitating the test, according to the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorneys Office. The false claims came to light via two whistle blowers, former GenomeDx employees who authorities say will receive more than $348,000 as part of the settlement proceeds stemming from a civil lawsuit brought against the company. As this settlement demonstrates, we are committed to protecting the integrity of the Medicare program and will hold healthcare providers accountable under the False Claims Act when they engage in improper billing, said Robert Brewer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California. Advertisement This settlement is also another example of our commitment to vigorously investigate cases brought to our attention by whistle blowers, Brewer said. We commend the two employees of GenomeDx who had the courage to come forward and work with investigators. Christian Schrank, special agent in charge at the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said lab tests and other medical services should only be conducted or provided when medically necessary. Whistleblowers play a critical role in keeping entities honest and accountable, and are encouraged to report suspected waste, fraud and abuse by those billing federal healthcare programs,' Schrank said. The International Day of Self-Love is right around the corner, and I cant wait to hear what you have planned. Dont everybody answer all at once. Yes, there is such a thing as the International Day of Self-Love. It happens on Feb. 13, when many of us are either in a Valentines Day panic (Valentines Day? Already?) or a Valentines Day funk. (Valentines Day! Why??) So while it sounds goofy and ridiculously indulgent on the surface, the International Day of Self-Love may actually be the right holiday at the perfect time. For one thing, its February. The holiday rush that started in November and hurtled us to the New Year on a wave of sugar, socializing and denial is officially over, leaving us with super-sized bills, expanded waistlines and maybe just a wee little case of the blues. Advertisement And its been raining in San Diego. So theres that. Also, modern life is stressful. We are always plugged in, always available to the people who need us and never fully at rest. We dont sleep as much as we need to or eat the things we should. We put other people first and then resent them for it. So on the day before Valentines Day, who really deserves a big dose of your tender loving care? That would be you, the very person who is least likely to get it. You know how on a flight they always instruct you to put your own oxygen mask on first before assisting others? Try to thinking of self-love that way, too, said Julie Potiker,a San Diego mindfulness expert and the author of Life Falls Apart, But You Dont Have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos. Its much harder for us to be the best we can be for all the other people and responsibilities in our lives if were not being the best we can be for ourselves first. As frivolous as it sounds, the International Day of Self-Love is rooted in the real issue of self-acceptance, and the real pain that can come from the lack of it. The idea came from Sanah Jivani of Humble, Texas, who was diagnosed with Alopecia Universalis when she was 3 years old and lost all of her hair when she was in middle school. Her classmates reacted as youd expect teenagers to react. People stuck gum in her wig. There was online bullying. Someone put a note on her locker that read, 50 Ways to Go Kill Yourself. But as hard as her classmates were on Jivani, she says she was even harder on herself. Advertisement Every day, I would come home, look in the mirror, and add to the bullying that was already going on, Jivani said in an online post. I realized that the first step in getting past my insecurity was learning to be kinder to myself. The International Day of Self-Love concept spread to schools, and Jivani went on to form an empowerment non-profit called the Love Your Natural Self Foundation, become a TEDx speaker and join multiple advisory boards. All before graduating from college. You dont have to be a tormented middle-school girl to be your own worst enemy. You can just be an over-booked, sleep-deprived adult who feels like you should be working harder, parenting more effectively, saving the world and pleasing your Fitbit, so paying attention to your own needs is a luxury you cant afford. Self-love? Seriously? Advertisement Yes. Seriously. When we feel negatively about ourselves, were more prone to insert that negativity into our daily activities, responsibilities and relationships, Potiker said via email from India, where she was expanding her spiritual education. On the other hand, the more compassion and love we cultivate for ourselves, the more available those positive emotions are to us when we encounter external sources of stress, sadness, anger and so on. So how should you plan on celebrating the International Day of Self-Love? Ask yourself what would make a difference to you right now, Potiker says. What small thing could you do for yourself or say to yourself that would bring a smile to your tired face or get your inner critic to take the day off? Potiker suggests repeating a Loving Kindness phrase to yourself. May I know that I am loved, for instance. Or, May I be at peace. Meditation is always good. You can start small, with a few quiet minutes in your car with a meditation app. (Insight Timer is a good one. So is Headspace.) Advertisement Or think about what you would do for a friend or loved one who needed a boost, then do it for yourself. Listen with a sympathetic ear. Cut some slack. Buy some flowers. Recognize that the healing powers of 20-minute walk and a latte cannot be overestimated. You cant save the world or cherish your friends or do your best work if you are always running on empty. Valentines Day is coming, rain is in the forecast and summer is four long months away. The time to be sweet to yourself is now. Advertisement Twitter: @karla_peterson karla.peterson@sduniontribune.com After the sun went down Sunday, the narrow, winding road up to Mt. Baldy froze, causing an hours-long backup that left dozens of people stranded overnight. People without chains or snow tires abandoned their vehicles on the snowy Mt. Baldy Road. Some presumably caught rides with others who could get down the mountain. But about 60 stayed at the nearby Snow Crest Lodge Resort, said general contractor Joe Cojean, 61. People just locked up their cars and walked down the hill, he said. Cojean, who has spent the past three years renovating the lodge, said six of its 16 cabins are in livable condition. Families with kids packed in, including eight people who stayed in the cabin he was sharing with his daughter. The pipes were frozen so there was no water, he said but at least they had heat. Advertisement California Highway Patrol Officer Jesus Garcia in Rancho Cucamonga said the same thing happens every year during heavy snow days. People often park illegally along the narrow road, making it difficult for emergency personnel to reach them. Its one way in, one way out no services, no gas stations, he said. People go up there, play in the snow, and snow and ice build up. By the time they want to get out of there, they cant. The issue started during the rain Saturday, Garcia said, with the CHP receiving calls about the backed-up road. By Sunday, Garcia said, there were no crashes reported but a lot of cars stuck and people freaking out toward the end of the night. Around 4 p.m., CHP shut down the road to try to get people out safely. People continued knocking on Cojeans cabin door until around 1 a.m. to use the phone because of poor cellphone reception in the area. It was a little wild, he said. On Monday morning, Cojean helped the families who had stayed dig out their cars and make their way back down the hill. A couple of people left cash. He said he hopes to have the lodge open by years end. Advertisement andrea.castillo@latimes.com | Twitter: @andreamcastillo Architect Frank Gehry, billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad and civic leaders held a ceremonial groundbreaking on Monday for the Grand, a long-delayed massive development on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. Broad told attendees that the project stems from a vision of Grand Avenue becoming the arts, cultural and civic district for the region. The mixed-use development will rise near the Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Music Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Broad museum and the Colburn School of Music. The $1-billion project will feature an open-air complex of apartments, condominiums, movie theaters, restaurants and shops that promises to enliven a city block that has been mostly dead for half a century. Advocates say it will generate 10,000 jobs. Advertisement The project is being developed by New York City-based Related Companies and CORE USA, a joint venture of China Harbour Engineering Co. and CCCG Overseas Real Estate. Times staff writer Roger Vincent contributed to this report. Mingma Dondu Sherpa left Ghunsa, a small village at an altitude of 3,400 metres in Taplejung district of fareastern Nepal in 1989 because his parents wanted him to go to a proper school. Now 30 years down the line, the place not only has a school, it also has become a home to the regions only school with a hostel facility. Interestingly, the school also has been an example of how a development initiative first launched by foreigners can inspire locals to replicate the model and make significant changes in day-to-day life of people at the grassroots. When a tragedy inspires development Life wasnt easy for the locals of Ghunsa, but it all changed when an American national Charie Bremer decided to help the village. She wanted to do so after she was rescued by the locals during her unsuccessful attempt to climb Mount Kanchenjunga in 1985. When asked what she could do for the village, the inhabitants requested her to build a school so that their children could get basic education. Shes treated like a mother in the village. Everyone calls her Charie Aama (mother) for what she did there. My father used to tell me that during his time the teachers used to write on mud because the school didnt have a blackboard. But Charie Aama changed all that. She gave the village a new life, shares Mingma. By 1990, Bremer with the help of her friends and various organisations built two buildings, which had nine rooms. Even though Bremer built the school, the place didnt get many students, nor did the government provide teachers at a regular basis. Even though the villagers had a school and wanted their children to study, the place didnt have a learning atmosphere required. Those who wanted to study left the village like Mingma. But, that didnt stop Bremer from helping the village and she kept on providing support for the school until 2010. She stopped after she got ill and the villagers started to look for other alternatives. The villagers suffered another setback when the 2011 earthquake completely damaged the school building. The change in the reins When Mingma and other locals, who had settled down in Kathmandu, heard about the damage the school had suffered, they decided to help the locals through their organisation Kanchenjunga Buddhist Social Service. Mingma, during his time as General Secretary of the organisation, got in contact with Himalayan Development Foundation Australia which was looking to continue the project initiated by Bremer. HDFA had talked to Charie Aama about taking care of the school and wanted our support to help them take the project further, Mingma adds. By 2014, HDFA along with KBSS had a proper plan of building a proper school in Ghunsa and also provided hostel facility for students who came from neighbouring villages. But Mingma knew that a building alone wouldnt be enough. He was told about the problems of the past, which is why he also wanted the school to be managed properly which would sustain it in the long run. The locals were quickly on board. They knew that they had missed the chance when Bremer built a school and they didnt want to repeat the same mistake. HDFA also understood the need to do more than just construct a building and agreed to help make the place better. Ghunsas school now has seven teachers provided by the government. HDFA and Butterfly Project has also added two more teachers one teaches the children English, the other teaches them local language and culture. We realised that as it is a tourist area, the need for English language is quite important. But that said we also wanted the children to know their language and culture, which is equally important, adds Mingma. Chummi Sherpa, a teacher who has been with the school for over two decades, says that the main reason the school got better was good management practices initiated by the locals. He adds that the locals are now motivated to make the school better further. No one wants to send their child miles away to study. They have understood that if we want to make it work it will work. They have also understood the importance of education which is why everyone helps us to operate the school properly, adds Chummi. Chummi shares that ever since HDFA and KBSS took over the responsibility of the school, a lot has changed. Weve been visiting other schools to see how they operate and we have also received training which we couldnt even think of before. Expanding impact He further shares that the school has also made a name for its quality around the neighbouring villages as well. The school has around 40 students from neighbouring villages Phale, Gyabla and Amjilesa and to make sure their study doesnt hamper, the school also has a hostel facility. That idea was initiated by former principal Leela Charka Gurung, who four years ago asked a few students from neighbouring villages to stay at Ghunsa. Its easy for the children of Ghunsa to attend the school, but those who come from neighbouring villages, its quite difficult for them, adds School Management Committee President Himali Chumda Sherpa. When HDFA started to help us, we knew that we could do much more if we could operate the hostel in a good manner, he continues. The hostel is being managed by a womens group, whose members look after the children on a rotation basis. They do everything, from feeding them to cleaning the younger kids. They have been of a lot of help, adds Mingma, who shares that HDFA gives the womens group Rs 15,000 a month for their services. However, the locals are concerned about the future. Most of them have the same question what will happen if the donations stop coming? But Mingma feels that the schools future is in safe hands. In the past decade, the area has seen a significant rise in tourism, which is why the locals who were previously farmers or goat herders now run hotels and lodges around the place. Ghunsa and its neighbouring villages are financially in a better state now. The management committee president is hopeful that the government will also provide needful support. A jury reached a verdict Monday in the trial for a Navy petty officer who crashed off the San Diego-Coronado Bridge, killing four people in 2016 but it will not be revealed until Wednesday. The delay is designed to give family members of the victims time to travel to San Diego. Some live outside the county and some live out of state. Defendant Richard Sepolio is charged with several felony counts, including gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence and reckless driving in the Oct. 15, 2016, crash in Chicano Park in the Logan Heights neighborhood of San Diego. Killed were Cruz Contreras, 52, and his wife, Annamarie Contreras, 50, of Chandler, Ariz., as well as Andre Banks, 49, and his wife, Francine Jimenez, 46, of Hacienda Heights. Advertisement According to authorities, Sepolio was starting to drive across the bridge and was going 81 mph just before he lost control of his pickup. It launched off the bridge and plunged 40 feet into a park below, crushing vendor booths at the La Raza motorcycle rally, which about 3,000 people were attending. Witnesses testified that several men rolled the truck off the victims, then hauled Sepolio out the back pickup window. He was clutching his cellphone, and, some witnesses said, smelled of alcohol. The jury has several options. Some of the counts involve alcohol or negligence; others do not. The panel began deliberations Jan. 31 and reached its verdict Monday morning. State law allows for victims and survivors to be present for the verdict if they choose. But because court is closed Tuesday for Lincolns birthday, the judge will take the verdict Wednesday morning. During the trial, which included more than two weeks of testimony, prosecution and defense lawyers presented varying blood-alcohol test results on Sepolio. The defendant testified that he had two alcoholic drinks a hard cider and a glass of wine during a 2.5-hour lunch with a colleague from North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado. He said they took an Uber ride back to her South Park apartment and hung out for an hour before he headed home. Advertisement Defense lawyer Paul Pfingst said Sepolio was not under the influence when he drove. The attorney said four blood and breath tests, taken later that evening, showed no higher than 0.05% to 0.06% blood-alcohol levels. San Diego Deputy Dist. Atty. Cally Bright said one of the test results showed a 0.07% to 0.08% blood-alcohol level. Even with a lower level, she argued, Sepolio was still considered impaired for driving. Drivers are presumed under California law to be under the influence with a 0.08% blood-alcohol level or higher. Figueroa and Repard write for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Advertisement teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com pauline.repard@sduniontribune.com The man authorities say was behind a series of attacks in which bleach was poured into California supermarket freezers in Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, West Los Angeles, West Hollywood and Sunnyvale has been arrested and charged with tampering with consumer products, the FBI and the U.S. attorneys office in Los Angeles said Monday. David Clare Lohr was taken into custody last week in Santa Clara by sheriffs deputies. He later was identified as the man seen on video entering South Bay supermarkets, taking bleach from store shelves and then pouring it into freezers, according to Paul Delacourt, the assistant director in charge of the FBIs Los Angeles field office. Lohr, 48, was charged in a federal criminal complaint in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles with tampering and attempting to tamper with consumer products. The FBI had been looking for Lohr until his arrest in Northern California, where officials say he was living as a transient. He is charged with similar attacks in Orange County and Arizona. Santa Clara County sheriffs deputies arrested Lohr in Sunnyvale after receiving a report about a man dumping a white powder and hydrogen peroxide on a public bus. That powder was later determined to be salt. Advertisement The deputies detained Lohr at a bus stop in Los Altos and then found the FBI warrant for him. They connected him to an earlier incident in which he is accused of pouring hydrogen peroxide on or near rotisserie chickens at a Sunnyvale supermarket. Lohr was seen on surveillance videos in December and January pouring bleach into supermarket refrigerators and freezers containing ice, alcoholic beverages and packaged frozen seafood in multiple cities in Southern California, the charges state. The attacks began in Manhattan Beach on Dec. 14, when Lohr reportedly grabbed a bottle of bleach off a supermarket shelf and poured it onto ice bags inside a freezer. According to an FBI special agents affidavit, customers on Dec. 16 in a Redondo Beach supermarket noticed an odor of bleach coming from ice bags in the freezer. One of the bags was being carried by a child when a store employee took the bag. The childs black shirt was discolored by the bleach. The staff member went to the freezer and immediately smelled the fumes, while another worker found a bottle of bleach in the aisle. A man resembling Lohr was captured on security video pouring the bleach at the Redondo Beach market owned by Kroger. A day later he allegedly struck again, targeting a Westwood supermarket with a similar bleach attack and damaging as many as 40 bags of ice. A month later, Lohr allegedly targeted a West Hollywood supermarket and poured bleach onto frozen shrimp packages. Prosecutors said Lohr carried out the attacks during regular supermarket hours. Lohr was arrested in October after a series of bleach attacks at six Target stores in the Phoenix area. No one was harmed in the incidents. After being released from custody, Lohr failed to show up to court and became a fugitive. To date, there have been no known reports of individuals sickened by Lohrs actions; however, further investigation has determined that Lohr has done this in a variety of stores, and the extent of his actions are currently under investigation, FBI officials said. Arrest records show Lohr has previously been arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor assault in Portland, Ore., in 2012 and had spent a month in a Florida jail three years earlier on suspicion of grand theft auto. Advertisement Lohr is being held in Santa Clara County. Anyone with additional information is asked to call the FBI at (800) 225-5324. richard.winton@latimes.com Twitter: @lacrimes German Chancellor Angela Merkels conservative party publicly distanced itself from her landmark decision in 2015 to open the nations borders to more than 1.5 million refugees, saying it had drafted plans to tighten immigration rules. The influx of largely unregistered refugees in 2015 and 2016, many of whom came from Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East and arrived by foot, was at first cheered by a number of Germans as an act of humanitarianism. It later caused deep rifts in Merkels Christian Democratic Union party and across the European Union as some people became upset by the large number of refugees who poured into the region. In a surprising move, Christian Democratic leader and Merkels handpicked successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said the country had learned from mistakes and would shut down its borders if faced by another wave of newcomers. The influx a few years ago was a humanitarian exception, she said. The year 2015 was an extraordinary situation and well make sure that doesnt happen again, Kramp-Karrenbauer said in an interview with ARD television late Monday. Weve learned our lessons. Advertisement Kramp-Karrenbauer said Germany would shut its borders as a last resort next time. The conservatives, during a two-day party workshop in Berlin, drafted plans to tighten immigration rules, increase border security and make it easier to quickly deport asylum seekers whose applications are denied or who break the law. Merkel, long a force for centrist stability in turbulent times, has steadfastly rebuffed calls since 2015 to reverse course on the refugees or apologize for the accompanying turmoil tensions that also helped pave the way for Britains vote in 2016 to leave the European Union, a move known as Brexit. She turned over the reins of her party to Kramp-Karrenbauer in December after announcing in October she would not seek a fifth term when her fourth four-year term expires in 2021. Merkel, who did not attend the party workshop, had warned late last year that the Christian Democratic Union, also known as the CDU, could lose a lot of voters after having dominated postwar German politics if it focused on 2015 and refugees. The conservatives have ruled the country for 30 of the last 37 years. The far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has capitalized on anger over refugees, winning seats in all 16 state parliaments and siphoning support from Merkels conservatives. The anti-Merkel drift in the Christian Democrats is most likely related to elections later this year, according to political analysts: first the European Union parliamentary elections in May, then three regional elections in the fall in three eastern German states. In eastern Germany, opposition to Merkels open-door policies toward refugees is especially intense, and the AfD could overtake the conservatives as the No. 1 party in at least one state, Saxony. Its the partys moment of reckoning against Merkel, said Thomas Jaeger, a political scientist at Cologne University. Theyve got to go down this route and concede mistakes were made because otherwise theyre not going to win back the right wing of the party. The conservatives are still terribly divided, and theyre scared to death theyre going to fall further in the elections coming up later this year. Kirschbaum is a special correspondent. A San Diego Superior Court judge has ruled that Lemon Grove City Councilman David Arambula was acting in his role as a city official when he had a fight at his home with a local businessman. Therefore, Judge Richard S. Whitney said, the city of Lemon Grove will remain a party to a lawsuit filed by prospective cannabis dispensary owner Christopher Williams after the brawl at Arambulas home in 2017. As a result of injuries suffered during the incident a fractured rib, a deep cut above his eye and bites to his forearm Williams filed a lawsuit last year against the city and Arambula, seeking unspecified damages for what Williams claims are substantial medical bills, as well as damages for pain and suffering and lost work. A trial is set for December. Advertisement The city had asked to be removed from the lawsuit. Lemon Grove had argued at a hearing last week that by the time the two men were involved in the altercation near midnight on July 14, they had been drinking and were several hours removed from any city business. Williams said he had gone to Arambulas home that night to discuss business. He has been trying to open several marijuana dispensaries in Lemon Grove since 2016 when voters in the city passed an ordinance allowing them. Also at Arambulas home that evening were Lemon Grove Mayor Racquel Vasquez, local Democratic Party leader Taisha Brown, who says she arranged the meeting, and a neighbor of Arambulas. Depositions from Arambula and Vasquez say that Williams pressured them to talk about the planned cannabis shops he was trying to open in Lemon Grove. Both elected officials say they warned him several times that they could not discuss the matter. Vasquez said that she left with Brown before the altercation started, somewhere between 11:30 p.m. and midnight, which was backed up by Browns court declaration. In her declaration, Brown said she had spoken to Arambula several weeks before July 14 to set up a meeting between the two about cannabis dispensaries in Lemon Grove. Arambula had agreed to meet at a local pizza restaurant, but on the day of the planned meeting, Arambula asked that it be moved to his home. She said she and Williams arrived between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. and soon thereafter, she heard Williams discussing his dispensary applications with Arambula. Brown said that Arambula showed a briefing booklet that he had received for the upcoming City Council meeting to Mr. Williams, that their conversation continued until after 8 p.m., and that Vasquez arrived afterward. Brown said that after they left, sometime between 11:30 p.m. and midnight, she called Williams more than once to see if he had been picked up via Uber, but that Williams didnt answer his cell phone. She said she then called Arambula, who told me that he had just beaten up Mr. Williams. Advertisement In his claim, Williams accuses Arambula of hitting him on the head with a beer bottle just after midnight and that Arambula allegedly bit, kicked, punched and choked him. Arambula said that soon after Vasquez and Brown left his home, a frustrated Williams said to him, Youre going to do what I need you to do. He said Williams then grabbed his shirt with both hands and would not release his grip. Arambula said the two traded punches and wrestled and that Williams tried to choke him. Arambula said he bit Williams to break his hold. Arambula said he grabbed the back of Williamss belt loop and dragged him outside to the sidewalk and locked his gate. Advertisement Williamss injuries were reported to authorities while he was being treated at the hospital, but he declined to press charges at that time, saying he feared retaliation from the city. Arambula said he did not contact authorities because he didnt feel he was in imminent danger and was trying to protect the mayor and the citys best interests. It is undisputed that Defendant David Arambula was an employee of Defendant City of Lemon Grove (City or Defendant) as an elected member of the City of Lemon Grove City Council at the time of the incident, Whitney wrote in his judgment. Whitney also ruled against Lemon Grove in its pleading that Williams had not properly complied with the citys claim statute and was negligent. Williams claim was found to fairly describe what the entity is alleged to have done. Advertisement We are gratified that the judge saw through the defendants conflicting stories and concluded that a jury of my peers should decide the case, Williams said. Lemon Grove will continue to fight for its belief that Arambula was not conducting city business at the time that the fight occurred and that it should not be held culpable. We are disappointed by the judges ruling; however, we are confident that we will prevail at trial, said Lemon Grove City Manager Lydia Romero. Advertisement karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.com WASHINGTON (AP) Scientists figured out how to hide a shot inside a pea-sized pill creating a swallowable gadget, inspired by a tortoise shell, that can inject medicines like insulin from inside the stomach. Patients usually prefer oral treatment, and comply with it better, but many compounds, including insulin for diabetes, can't survive the harsh trip through the digestive system. The new invention, reported Thursday by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-led research team, has been tested only in animals so far. But if it pans out, it might offer a work-around to make not just insulin but a variety of usually injected medicines a little easier to take. "It's like a miniaturized rocket launcher" for insulin, said Willem Mulder of Mount Sinai's Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute, who wasn't involved in the new research. Scientists have spent decades trying to develop oral insulin and replace at least some of the daily shots that many people with diabetes require. Attempts include ways to protect insulin from digestive breakdown and then help it be absorbed through the intestine into the bloodstream. So far none has reached the market, although some closely watched candidates are being tested. An ingestible injection could bypass the hazards of that journey letting insulin absorb through the wall of the stomach, said Dr. Giovanni Traverso, a gastroenterologist at Boston's Brigham & Women's Hospital and a senior author of the study. "The way this works is it travels down the esophagus in seconds, it's in the stomach within a few minutes, and then you get the drug," said Traverso, who worked with a team from the lab of MIT inventor Robert Langer and insulin maker Novo Nordisk. The first challenge: How to make sure the device lands where it can poke into the right spot, even if someone's moving around. Researchers looked to nature for ideas. A certain tortoise, the leopard tortoise from Africa, can right itself if flipped onto its back thanks to the steep curve of its shell. Researchers crafted a miniature capsule with a similar shape and a weighted bottom, so that once it reaches the stomach it automatically rolls in the right direction to latch on, Traverso explained. Next the team designed a micro-injector, like a needle only made of dried insulin compressed into a sharp point. To power it, researchers bound a tiny spring to a hardened sugar disk. Stomach acid gradually dissolves the sugar until the spring pops, shooting the insulin into the stomach wall. In pigs, the ingestible injection lowered blood sugar to levels comparable to standard shots, according to the study published Thursday in the journal Science. Once the insulin was absorbed, the capsule, made of stainless steel and a biodegradable material, floated free and was excreted. "It's a very clever idea, that is meant to solve a very long-standing problem," said University of Pittsburgh chemical engineering chairman Steven Little, who also wasn't part of the research. Because the gadget passes through, "the only thing administered to the body is this little injector." One hurdle: It works on an empty stomach, with nothing to get in the way of the device latching on. Traverso said that means it might one day replace morning insulin shots but not post-meal doses. If poking into the stomach wall sounds worrisome, Traverso said gastroenterologists have long used bigger needles to deliver medicines during certain gastric procedures and their patients fare well. The stomach muscle is thick enough not to worry about a micro-injection piercing all the way through, and the animal studies found no side effects. But Traverso said more research is needed to see how the stomach handles daily micro-injections over many months. Additional animal studies are under way, and Traverso hopes human testing can begin within three years. Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi has warned the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries to carefully seek the neediest families out to assist them, and to not misuse the help themselves. Speaking at the handover ceremony of 4000 boots and 500 pairs of work trousers from Australian policewoman Jo Mikarna and her year-long collection effort, Tuilaepa said he did not want anything to happen to the boots what may have happened to government distributed chainsaws. MAF is not allowed to receive any boots, they do not need them, and if they do, they can buy it because they get paid, Tuilaepa said. We do not want anything bad to happen to the assistance that was given by this kind lady, because we need another 100 of these in the future for the benefit of people. Tuilaepa also said that according to his prepared speech, he should mention families, who were given chainsaws by the Government to help curb the rhino beetle issue. But up until now I have not seen a report that these chainsaws have been used, he said. The chainsaws were given to village mayors but so many have not used it, they must still be sitting under their beds. He urged the Ministry to allocate the donated resources fairly and to avoid any complaints by the public. I have been tired of reading so many complaints against the Government, along with me getting all the blame, but I did not do anything, he said. Speaking before members of the Ministry as well as dozens of village mayors, who would be responsible for the distribution of boots to needy families, Tuilaepa said perhaps a list of recipients ought to be shown first to cabinet. The list of the recipients should be given to Cabinet to have a look at because it is better to have 13 eyes looking at it than only three eyes which includes the Minister, Associate Minister and C.E.O. of Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, he said. Assistant Chief Executive Officer of MAFs crops division Moafanua Tolo Iosefa said his division is responsible for the distribution of the boots, but he does intend for a higher office to confirm the list of recipients. You heard the Prime Minister this morning in his speech, he wants the list of all these villages given chainsaws so they can have a look at it, he said. He is very critical of the way he looks around and he sees most of these villages are not doing anything, maybe he has that impression. Moafanua said his field officers will help him prepare reports on the neediest families, especially those who previously received assistance with chainsaws, to give up the chain of command before Cabinet may approve the list. In the meantime, Moafanua and his team has the task of sorting the shoes into sizes, and preparing them for a streamlined distribution around the country. The proposed Alaoa flood-control multi-purpose dam will be able to mitigate the effects of climate change. The Electric Power Corporation project manager, Fonoti Perelini Perelini, said during consultations with Vaisigano residents that Samoa remains vulnerable to climate change and the proposed project will address some of those issues. Climate change has been an issue for Samoa and the world for years now and the effects of it have taken our beautiful environment. The seashore at the river-end in front of Sheraton Hotel is always very dirty and a bad view for our tourist whenever theres flood and with the dam to support the river we wont have to worry about that anymore, he said. Residue from the Vaisigano River ends up in the ocean next to Matautu wharf, which Fonoti says is a concern as it is raising the seabed, which over the long-term period could become hazardous for ships. Thats why we have to dig our wharf again for it to become deeper, so the ships can work and it will always be an additional work for us, if we dont do something about it, he added. According to the EPC Project Manager, the proposed dam will have the capacity to hold rubbish and dirt, and stop them from becoming part of the flood that dangerously washes down to the sea. The consultation between the EPC officials and the Vaisigano residents was convened recently at the Maluafou College Hall to get their views on the proposed project. Consultations were also done for residents in the villages of Maagao, Maluafou, Malifa and Leone. Some of the residents included matais from Apia, namely Vainalepa Tavita and Lima Soifua Puaaefu, who presented their views at the public gathering. I thank the Prime Minister and his Cabinet for considering Vaimaugas safety because we had been struggling with this flood for over the years, Vainalepa said. Lima said the consultation process should have been initiated long ago to capture the views of the people. Its what shouldve been done long time ago because we dont communicate with the times on were not aware of the next flood and the next, he said. The feedback from the various consultations will be processed by the EPC and a decision will be made on the viability of the project. Samoa AIDS Foundation President Leniu Dr. Asaua Faasino has appealed to the public to stop stigmatizing men, women and children living with HIV. In a recent interview with the Samoa Observer, Leniu confirmed that there are 11 people living with HIV in Samoa with two children who are currently in school. And so we offer services to those who are infected with HIV and also to the children who are affected, because of their parents have the virus." In the program that is now underway, we offer an educational starter package for nine children. Please I want to clarify that not all nine children have the HIV virus only two have it." The seven children under the care of this program that dont have the virus and because mother/father who are not infected cannot work, this is where we come in. Our role is to provide financial and social support for this family and these are the children that do not have the virus. And so we pay for their tuition fees these children, she said. Leniu said the same services are afforded to the two students who are living with HIV, who were infected through mother-to-child transmission. There are certain ways to transmit the virus such as sexual contact or blood contact, particularly through sharing injection drug needles or 'works' (cotton, cookers) and mother to baby (before or during birth) or while breastfeeding through breast milk. Leniu said the two children are currently in school and the major issue the families face is stigmatization. All of them have not come out for the fear of stigmatization and being discriminated by the public. They are always stigmatized by the public, and one of our roles with the Foundation is to protect their rights. When Leniu was asked if their teachers or principal were made aware of the students status, she said it wouldnt be fair for the two children. It is not fair for these children to be discriminated due to their illness yet there are other students who have infectious virus such as the hepatitis B and hepatitis C which is just as serious because their life long infections but they manage to live a normal life. We are trying to say do not single out HIV it is the same as hepatitis B and hepatitis C and chlamydia. It is the right of these to keep their identity hidden. When she was asked of the risks to the teacher and the students in the same class, Leniu said there is no need to be alarmed if they are healthy. That is a good question, but if they (infected child) are healthy there is no alarm and no concern, if they are sick they will be staying home and will be taken care of. And it is something that is being debatable for a long time and it comes down to protecting their identity and their rights. Leniu said more awareness on HIV and AIDS is critical to getting the community sensitized to the issues associated with the disease. She said self-stigma and fear of a negative community reaction can hinder efforts to address the HIV epidemic, and only through education and awareness programs can stigmatization and discrimination against people living with HIV be reduced. The Samoa Umbrella for Non-Governmental Organisations (SUNGO) has appealed to the Government to reconsider enacting laws that would enable 18-year-old youth to sell alcohol. Minister of Revenue, Tialavea Tionisio Hunt, revealed this in a recent interview with the Samoa Observer that the Government is considering a law to enable 18-year-olds to sell alcohol as a form of employment. But SUNGO Chief Executive Officer, Fuimaono Falefa Lima, told this newspaper that there are other forms of employment which the Government can consider for 18-year-olds but selling alcohol. There are other forms of employment that can be created by the business communities and Government, but not in liquor." I believe the drinking age here is 21 now you are starting to expose them by allowing 18-year-olds to be involved in the retail and the selling of alcohol." Its really exposing youths. Its interesting that they allow them to sell and be involved in the liquor business, but they dont allow them to drink, he said. The risk of the youth consuming their own alcohol are high, Fuimaono added, and there are risks that this proposed bill if passed into law will add to the alcohol-related problems currently being encountered in the villages. Under the Government-sponsored new Alcohol Control Bill 2019 which was tabled at the recent Parliament session 18-year-olds will be allowed to sell alcohol, provided that they are supervised by someone who is 21 years and older. Fuimaono said the Government should look at other sectors that are less risky and will not have long-term implications for the community. There are many youths unemployed, many completing schools. There will be a lot more people out there seeking for work, so Government needs to look at opportunities at other sectors." There are also a lot of road accidents that are caused by drinking, and exposing these youths to selling alcohol at the early age will add to those problems, he added. There is a need for communities and villages to be fully aware of the issue, he said, as many problems occurring in these areas are alcohol-related. Allowing youths up to that age to sell liquor is a concern, because it means it further increases the availability of liquor to the public when already they have that view that problems in terms of family violence, youth conflicts, and even the elders access and drinking alcohol in the villages are a big problem." From their perspective, they would like something to be done to minimise the availability of liquor in the village, and a lot of members of SUNGO in the village communities also sit in village councils where they discuss a lot of issues brought into the villages relating to alcohol availability and consumption by youth. Former Speaker of Parliament and Cabinet Minister, Laauli Leuatea Polataivao, has been removed from the ruling Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P.P.). The decision was confirmed by the H.R.P.P. Whip, Alaiasa Moefaauo Moananu, during an interview with the Samoa Observer yesterday. Alaiasa said the H.R.P.P. Executive unanimously reached the decision last month. That decision (to remove Laauli) was made three weeks ago, he said. Everything was spelled out in the letter (from Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi) and that letter detailed the reasons behind the decision. Alaiasa explained the decision to remove Laauli from the party was more than what was reported in the media. There were many things that he (Laauli) was involved in with his private businesses, he said. He should have done the right thing to protect the government and his name by resigning from his private business. If you have read the letter from the Prime Minister he had advised Laauli some 5 10 years ago not to be involved with those businesses and move away from it." The case between him and Peseta rolled over from the other Parliamentary term and he had to resign (as Minister of Agriculture) due to that. We accepted his decision (to vote against Constitutional amendment). Told that Laauli insists that his position to vote against the Constitution amendments was to voice his constituencys view on the law, Alaiasa said that is Laaulis interpretation. It is clear that what he did is enough to let us know that he is no longer in the party, he added. The Whip reiterated the decision to remove Laauli was to protect the H.R.P.P. party from any destruction from similar matters in the future from other M.Ps. Contacted for a comment, Laauli denied the claim from Alaiasa that the Prime Minister in his letter stated that he is removed from the political party. He (Tuilaepa) did not say that, assured Laauli. Asked to comment on claims that his involvement with his private businesses contributed to the decision, Laauli said: There is no one in Parliament that is not involved in (private) business. Laauli declined to comment on whether he accepts the decision from H.R.P.P. to remove him from the political party. I cannot say what the decision (on that matter) is you will have to wait until it comes out, he said. I will let you know once the people that appointed me in the position (as M.P. for H.R.P.P.) make a decision. I had met with my constituency and they will prepare a press release on the outcome of our meeting and decision (whether to remain with H.R.P.P. or leave). The people that Laauli is referring to is his constituency. He assured he will respond to the letter from the Prime Minister through writing as well, soon. Meanwhile, Alaiasa acknowledges the work and contribution of Laauli as a senior member in the political party. He maintains that his position as the Whip for H.R.P.P. is to maintain the unity of the political party and ensure harmony among members. Asked what will happen to Laauli if he is removed from H.R.P.P., Alaiasa said he will become an independent member. He explained from experience during 2006 2011 parliamentary sitting two M.P's that were registered under H.R.P.P. left the party and became Independent M.Ps. The two M.P's he is referring to is former Tautua Samoa Party Leader, Palusalue Faapo II and former Associate Minister for the Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration, Muagututia Siaosi Meredith of Aleipata Itupa-i-Lalo. H.R.P.P. lost the two M.P's at the time to a row over plans to change the side of the road vehicles drive. Both declared themselves independent M.P's. H.R.P.P. was understood to have held a caucus meeting before the debate of the Road Switch legislation where the members were told to quit if they chose to speak against the bill. Alaiasa maintained that H.R.P.P. exercised democracy and practiced its rights by removing Laauli. Asked how that is democratic, he said it was a unanimous vote and like democracy process the majority wins. When he was asked to comment on the consequences faced by Laauli for exercising his rights to vote based on his belief, the Whip said that is his right to exercise and the majority voted against the constitution amendments. Lastly, Alaiasa said there are ways to deal with such matters and where by-laws and decisions can be overturned. He used an example where in the Samoan tradition any wrongful act can be forgiven once an ifoga is made. Asked if he is implying that Laauli should apologise to the political party, Alaiasa said he is only saying that he only wishes Laauli can humble himself and consider this. Prime Minister Tuilaepa in previous interviews made it clear that the H.R.P.P. committee endorsed Laaulis vote against the Constitutional amendments by the Government in Parliament as his resignation. We have an agreement, a written agreement, Tuilaepa told Radio Samoa. Before you become a member, we have an agreement where you pledge your allegiance to the party. That agreement is your commitment that you will not do anything to harm the party. So once you do something to harm the party, you have made a decision on yourself. Tuilaepa insisted that every member of the H.R.P.P. is aware of this and when the H.R.P.P. Committee met the decision was quite simple. When matters pertaining to the Constitution are raised where amendments are needed, no one is allowed to (vote against the partys position). This is where this agreement comes into play, Tuilaepa explained. Its quite clear in the agreement that when you enter the party, you will support the party and do what the party wants and that you will not embarrass the political party. This is why the H.R.P.P. is strong because of its unity. If we dont do this now, this will be the beginning of the destruction of this party because others will say; well nothing has been done to him so I can try too. When Parliament voted for the Electoral Constituencies Bill 2018, Tuilaepa said members of the H.R.P.P. were aware it was a party vote. They also knew it was an issue involving the Constitution so no one was to oppose it. This (H.R.P.P.) law applies to when the Constitution is the subject of discussions and amendments. Glowing year for the solar power sector From:ChinaDaily | 2019-02-12 08:14 Photovoltaic firms make rapid strides in component exports as demand rises China saw its photovoltaic product exports reach a five-year high last year, thanks to rising demand of production capacity abroad and the end of the European Commission's anti-dumping measures. The total export of photovoltaic products reached $16.11 billion in 2018, the highest since the EU's decision to scrap minimum import price restrictions on Chinese products. Total capacity of all the exported components hit 41 gigawatts, a year-on-year increase of 30 percent, according to the China Photovoltaic Industry Association. Currently, more than 20 Chinese photovoltaic companies have production interests overseas, through joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, mostly in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, it said. The upsurge of photovoltaic product export volumes is in accordance with the country's growing installed capacity for renewable energy, which reached 728 GW, up 12 percent year-on-year by the end of 2018. The installed capacity of photovoltaic power stations in 2018 reached 174 GW, growing 34 percent year-on-year, while power generated by photovoltaic cells reached 177.5 billion kilowatthours, growing 50 percent over 2017, according to the National Energy Administration. Solar power wasted in 2018 reached 5.49 billion kWh, and the curtailment rate was 3 percent, down by 2.8 percentage points, it said. According to Li Chuangjun, deputy director of the new energy department of the NEA, China will continuously push forward the high-quality development of the photovoltaic sector at a reasonable scale and pace, while further improving photovoltaic generation management. The European Commission's antidumping and anti-subsidy measures on solar panels from China have been in place for five years since 2013. Chinese manufacturers were allowed to sell solar products in Europe free of duties only if they did so at or above a progressively declining minimum price, or else they were subjected to duties of up to 64.9 percent. The expiration, which started on Sep 3 last year, was in the best interests of the EU as a whole, considering the bloc's aim of increasing its supply of renewable energy. In addition to the end of the EU restrictions, China's new rules to reduce government feed-in tariffs for the photovoltaic industry have also encouraged upstream firms to seek more overseas opportunities, while stabilizing the rapidly growing and overheated sector. The government announced a cut in the national feed-in tariff by 0.05 yuan (0.7 US cents) per kWh on June 1, considering the subsidy gap of 45.5 billion yuan for the photovoltaic sector by the end of 2017. Qian Jing, vice-president of JinkoSolar Holding Co Ltd, the world's biggest solar panel producer by shipments, said the feed-in tariff is not sustainable in the long term, and the reduction will encourage China's solar power toward grid parity. The company signed a three-year agreement to supply 1.43 GW of high efficiency modules to sPower, a United States-based renewable energy independent power producer, on Tuesday. It has also been actively advancing its global layout in recent years while heavily investing in advanced solar technologies. Global component shipments for JinkoSolar in 2018 exceeded 11 GW, the highest worldwide, according to PVInfolink, a company that provides global photovoltaic market research. According to Risen Energy Co Ltd, another leading photovoltaic company in China, the company has been actively laying out strategic business plans in markets where the company is already seeing stable business, including Europe, the United States and Australia, as well as strategic business plans in Indonesia, India, Nepal, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria and Cambodia. Jinneng Clean Energy Technology Ltd, or Jinergy, also reported sales increases in overseas markets with components exports to South Asia, Mexico, Argentina, Australia and Japan. Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, said Chinese photovoltaic companies have been motivated to seek more overseas opportunities in recent years, especially in Africa, and now in countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. China has been taking bold steps to develop the photovoltaic industry and has been taking the lead in photovoltaic development globally, with an internationally competitive and complete value chain Workers at a silicon production base in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, install photovoltaic modules. [Photo by Geng Yuhe/For China Daily] According to the International Energy Agency, China has one-fourth of the world's solar capacity and six of the top 10 global solar-panel manufacturers. Many domestic energy behemoths have also been expanding their solar power business. CGN New Energy, a subsidiary of China General Nuclear Power Corp, saw its Delingha 50 MW thermal power plant enter operation in October, the country's first large commercial parabolic-trough concentrated solar power plant. China Three Gorges Corp, the world's biggest hydropower builder, has also been diversifying its business into solar and other forms of new energy beyond its core business, investing some 1 billion yuan to build the world's biggest floating solar power plant in China's eastern province of Anhui. China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute, a think tank linked to China's National Energy Administration, forecast that the domestic wind and solar sector will experience strong growth in the period between 2020 and 2030 due to declining costs. There will be a strong solar power boost in China between 2020 and 2030 due to declining costs, with new solar photovoltaic installed capacity to reach 80-160 GW annually, the institute said in its recently released China Renewable Energy Outlook 2018. According to China Photovoltaic Industry Association, China's capacity for photovoltaic energy grew by 34 percent year-on-year in 2018. Total installed photovoltaic capacity surpassed 170 GW at the end of 2018, thanks to 43 GW of capacity added over the year. The capacity amounted to over 9 percent of the country's power generation capacity in 2018, and curtailment of photovoltaic power generation declined to 5 percent from over 10 percent in 2015, it said. According to Wang Bohua, secretary-general of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, demand from the markets in the US, India and Japan has been stable, and demand in emerging markets has been accelerating. Expected new installed capacity for 2019 is around 35 to 49.4 GW, he said. The leader of the Samoa First Political Party and senior lawyer, Unasa Iuni Sapolu, has condemned a threat to shoot Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi made by her brother, Saute Sapolu. She has also expressed her disapproval of the foul language he used to verbally attack the Prime Minister. My advice for him is to refrain from using that kind of language as it is not representative of our parents, Unasa told the Samoa Observer, outside the Supreme Court. Our parents didnt teach us to swear and that does not represent a respectful family in Samoa. The threats were made in a video posted by Saute on his Facebook page during the weekend, which immediately went viral. Taken in the United States, the video features Saute swearing at Prime Minister Tuilaepa, using words that cannot be published. He then makes a threat to shoot Prime Minister Tuilaepa, after he criticizes the way the Government is being run. Unasa said the threat and the language used should be condemned. She said it reflects badly on their family because their parents did not raise them up to be that way. Our family is the opposite of Sautes misbehavior. We dont have that in our family so I dont know where this kind of behavior comes from, she said. Unasa added that she had blocked her brother on Facebook for the same behaviour. The video from Saute follows the arrest of King Faipopo during the weekend, charged under the Criminal Libel Law. In a statement issued by the Police, they cautioned members of the public against abuse of social media. The damage that defamatory statements on social media outlets and cyber bullying has done to several members of the community is a matter that these laws are designed to address, the statement said. Where complaints are laid with the police, we will do our best to assist those being victimised on social media platforms by any false statements. Attempts to confirm from the Police whether Saute would be charged were unsuccessful. This much is undeniable. The language used by Saute Sapolu to attack Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi in a video that has since been watched by thousands of Samoans here and around the world is low. Even worse, the threat he made to shoot him is not only criminal; it cannot be ignored. No one is above the law and regardless of whatever motive drives the person making the threat, the act is illegal and the person responsible should be held accountable. Its that simple. Its even sadder when the person fires off such a threat against the elected leader of an independent nation, knowing well he is not in Samoa to face the music. Which is why the threat made during the weekend is not only cowardly, the language used reflected very poorly on the person who made it. Its shameful. As a people, as a nation and as a family of Christians, we are better than that. Ironically, the threat was made during the same weekend where the man known as King Faipopo, who had been a strong critic of the Government, was arrested. On the same day, another character, Talalelei Pauga, the man who threw a pigs head and dog food at Prime Minister Tuilaepa in Australia last year, broke his silence and revealed why he did what he did. I wanted my voice to be heard loud and clear and I wanted his attention so he can wake up and hear the people who are voiceless, Mr. Pauga told this newspaper. Asked why the choice of a pigs head and dog food, Mr. Pauga responded: My approach was on the political level and the reason why I used the pigs head was because he called the people of my country stinking pigs. He also called our people dogs and all that. If you dont have respect for my people why should I have respect for him? Everyone is entitled to his or her views and Mr. Pauga is certainly entitled to his. Its a free world after all. But his choice of actions is not the way to go. The point is that there are better ways to deal with these issues: lawful and legal means that do not embarrass us as a country. Prime Minister Tuilaepa is not faultless. We all know that. And like Mr. Pauga, lot of people might be upset with what he has been saying, calling people many colourful names including stinking pigs, dogs, fools and the like. Today, we want to remind our people, in Samoa and abroad, of an old Samoan saying; O lalo e maua ai malo. In English, it translates: It is through humility where victory is achieved. Wanton acts of threats and violence are not the way to resolve our problems. Threatening people online in powerful mediums like Facebook is childish and must not be encouraged. We know its been tough, we know some people have certainly had enough of the way things have been done under the H.R.P.P. regime led by Prime Minister Tuilaepa. Thats okay, its expected. But we want to remind once more that this is Samoa where our response should be deeply rooted in our culture of ava fatafata and va tapuia. Our problems are not resolved through acts of violence, throwing pigs as weapons, confrontation and fists. We use dialogue, mutual respect, compassion, patience, love and the respect for the rule of law. Thats how peace and political stability have been preserved by our ancestors over the years. All of us are duty bound to do the same. We owe our forebears that much. Weve said this before and we will urge you again today Samoa. As a nation of Christians, we must exercise restraint. We believe in a God of truth and justice who sees and deals with each person in his own time. We also believe in a God who controls times and seasons, the one who removes kings and sets up new kings. We know there is coming a time when that will happen in Samoa. Folks, Prime Minister Tuilaepa, just like you and me, will face the music. No one is indispensible regardless of how powerful you think you are. Besides two wrongs dont make a right. Attempting to embarrass the Prime Minister of a sovereign country for the world to see is not only wrong, it is disrespectful and spineless. Today, wed like to think that we exist in a civilized world where we sort out our differences like grown ups. In a democracy, we remind that there are several ways where people can express their disapproval of their leaders. One of the avenues avails itself two years. It is called the General Election folks. If Samoans who are attacking the Prime Minister and the Government on social media and all other forms of media dont like him that much, we strongly suggest they start making plans to come to Samoa, spend some time here and vote them out. Screaming from afar, hurling insulting words and threatening remarks, only reveals a persons true character. We know what Prime Minister Tuilaepa would call them. Have a peaceful Wednesday Samoa, God bless! NEW YORK (AP) As people peer into DNA for clues to health and heritage, man's best friend is under the microscope, too. Genetic testing for dogs has surged in recent years, fueled by companies that echo popular at-home tests for humans, offering a deep dive into a pet's genes with the swab of a canine cheek. More than a million dogs have been tested in little over a decade. The tests' rise has stirred debate about standards, interpretation and limitations. But to many dog owners, DNA is a way to get to know their companions better. "It put some pieces of the puzzle together," says Lisa Topol, who recently tested her mixed-breed dogs Plop and Schmutzy. Plop was the top-scoring mixed-breed, and Schmutzy also competed, in Saturday's agility contest at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show . Judging toward the coveted best in show prize began Monday. A test by Embark which this fall became Westminster's first DNA-testing partner confirmed Topol's guess that her high-octane pets are more Australian cattle dog than anything else. But Schmutzy's genetic pie chart had surprise ingredients, including generous amounts of Labrador retriever and Doberman pinscher. Huh? Topol thought at first. And then: Maybe Schmutzy's love of water and fetching is her inner Lab coming out. And doesn't she walk a bit like a Doberman? "They are the dogs that they are ... They're unique, and they're special," said Topol, a New York advertising executive. But the testing "makes me understand them better." Canine DNA testing for certain conditions and purposes goes back over two decades, but the industry took off after scientists mapped a full set of dog genes and published the results in 2005. Wisdom Health, part of pet care and candy giant Mars Inc., launched a breed-identification test in 2007, added a health-screening option a few years later and says it has now tested over 1.1 million dogs worldwide. Numerous other brands are also available. Mass-market tests have fueled research and helped animal shelters attract adopters by providing more information about prospective pets. DNA can back up purebred dogs' parentage and help breeders try to eliminate certain diseases. The technology has been used to identify dogs whose owners don't pick up their droppings, to pursue accused biters and to free a Belgian Malinois from dog death row after he was accused of killing a Pomeranian in Michigan. And some veterinarians feel DNA testing enhances care. "I want to know as much about my patients as possible," says Dr. Ernie Ward, a veterinarian and TV personality in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. He recommends testing all puppies. But qualms about the dog DNA boom spilled into the prestigious science journal Nature last year. "Pet genetics must be reined in," a Boston veterinarian and two other scientists wrote. Their commentary opened with a troubling story: a pug being euthanized because her owners interpreted DNA results to mean she had a rare, degenerative neurological disorder, when in fact her ailment might have been something more treatable. "These (tests) should be used in a limited way until we get a lot more information," says co-author and vet Dr. Lisa Moses. One concern is that tests can show genetic mutations that are linked to disease in some breeds but have unknown effects in the breed being tested. It also may be unclear how often dogs with the mutation ultimately get sick. That means tests, in themselves, can't necessarily tell pet owners how much they should worry. Or tell breeders whether a dog shouldn't reproduce. Some in dogdom fear that DNA test results could keep animals from passing on otherwise good genes because of an ambiguous possibility of disease. "The risk for overinterpretation is great," but DNA testing can be useful along with other tools, says veterinarian Dr. Diane Brown, the CEO of the American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation. It has invested almost $20 million in genomic and molecular research and supports an international effort to promote standardization for dog DNA tests. The initiative, led by the nonprofit International Partnership for Dogs, provides searchable data on test labs' procedures and breed-specific health test information. Test companies say their work can help researchers address the unknowns and provides immediately useful information, such as whether a dog's genes suggest bad reactions to certain medications. Companies including Embark and Wisdom have veterinarians assigned to help people understand worrisome results. "We're here to help you care better for your dog," says Embark Veterinary Inc. CEO Ryan Boyko, whose company has breed-and-health-tested nearly 100,000 canines in its 3 years. The alliance with Westminster for which Embark is paying an amount neither would disclose stands to give the company exposure, particularly to breeders. Longtime Belgian sheepdog breeder Lorra Miller, who has had dogs compete at Westminster, was initially skeptical about consumer-oriented canine DNA tests. They struck her as a novelty for mixed-breed pets. Now she hopes they can help Belgian sheepdog fanciers build up a body of genetic data to spark more research on the protective herders. "Even if I don't get immediate benefit ... it's for the future of the breed," says Miller, who lives near Monroe, Washington. For Rennie Pasquinelli, the benefit is a new perspective on her dog, Murray. He was pegged as a border collie-Boston terrier mix when she adopted him. But an Embark test last month detected just a smidgen of border collie mixed with six other breeds, mainly American pit bull terrier. And no Boston terrier at all. "Obviously, I don't love him more, or less," said Pasquinelli, a graduate student in cognitive science at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. "It's like when you know something new about someone. That doesn't negatively or positively change your opinion on them, but you still look at them in a different way." The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) may consider planting coconut palms especially for the weaving of ato launiu (coconut leaf baskets) if they become a popular alternative to plastic bags. Since the advent of the ban on single use plastic bags came into effect on January 30, some shoppers and market retailers are turning to Samoas traditional shopping basket made from coconut leaves, as an environmentally friendly, compostable option. But the MAF Crops Division assistant chief executive Moafanua Tolo Iosefa said he would hesitate to support a commercial drive towards replacing plastics with organic baskets, because that could risk an already fragile coconut population. He said if within a year, if even half the population are using woven baskets for their shopping, which wear or dry out after two or three weeks, the coconut population could feel the impact. To me, in the long run, this is not sustainable, Moafanua said. There is no way I am going to support this idea of using the coconuts or encourage people to use coconut leaves as baskets for shopping. There is even a risk for individual farmers harvesting leaves for their own personal use, Moafanua believes. Unless you have a huge plantation of more than 100 plants that is not good, it will have an impact in the future, he said. Moafanua said the ministry has no plans to regulate the use of coconut leaves for baskets, but that could change if the basket business begins to boom. Samoas local tall variety of coconut trees are best left to flourish and supply the growing demand for the nut, both locally and internationally, Moafanua said. But the Malayan Dwarf variety, which is much shorter, could be a viable alternative as a dedicated crop for leaf harvesting, the ACEO suggested. They would still bear fruit, but it would not be the priority. There are some varieties that can produce lots of leaves, so I think it is best to target those varieties for this purpose, not the Samoan Tall, Moafanua said. Leave the Samoan Tall for the purpose of collecting fruit, and for generating income. If baskets as shopping bags can be a good source of income, and save plastics from coming off the shelves that is positive, said Moafanua. But it requires thinking and planning. With this new development, its about time to include the dwarf variety for that purpose only. Moafanua said while he does not wish to tell farmers how to handle their crops, he hopes they are aware of the risks of overcutting leaves from the trees. If I know that I can weave 100 baskets a day and sell them, even for a very low price, if I can make money out of it, why not? he said. But in the long run we need to be very careful about these kinds of things. Maybe [awareness of the risks] can be included in our training programmes for communities if coconut baskets are coming up as a big business in the future, to let farmers know it might affect the growth of the tree. Especially how many leaves to cut per tree per month, or even two to three months, to ensure the tree is growing healthily, and producing more nuts, he said. MAF is currently undergoing a nationwide coconut replanting programme, to replace the aging population of coconut trees. To help, MAF is opening eight new seedling nurseries (four in Upolu and four in Savaii) to distribute more seedlings across the country. Moafanua said he intends for the nurseries to be operational by the end of the month. The crops division also incentivises farmers to gather fallen coconuts going to see from their plantations, and cash in 50 sene per seed before planting them. We want to encourage farmers to collect all those seedlings because there are a lot! That is the best way. If we pay them to collect the nuts, and the ministry monitors the seedlings, maybe people will think why not, there is money there? said Moafanua. The ministrys focus is to improve food security and cash generation for farmers, Moafanua said. Coconuts are a high value crop with lots of potential, so they need to be protected. Supported by the World Bank, MAF has a bold target to replant two million coconut trees in the next ten years. Based on todays figures, Moafanua said hell consider even 50 or 60 percent of that target a success. The replanting scheme is a little slow at the moment.But that is why we are trying to work together with the village, and the pulenuu (village mayor) to engage the whole village in this programme. A child and 16 others, including a woman was killed while three others were injured in a major fire that engulfed several storeys of a central Delhi hotel early on Tuesday, a senior police officer said. Three people jumped off from the blazing structure even as 25 fire tenders rushed to the spot after receiving a call at 4.30 a.m. Some 35 people were rescued from the six-storeyed Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh, Deputy Commissioner of Police Mandeep Randhawa told. The death toll could further rise. Most victims died of suffocation, Fire Chief Officer G.C. Mishra said. The hotel comprises a basement, a ground floor and four other floors. At least 35 rooms were booked by members of one family, who were in the city for a special function. Fire was reported on third and fourth floor, but the blaze spiralled down as well. Only the basement and ground floors were not affected. Most damage was reported between the second and the fourth floor. The fire has already been controlled and the cooling process is underway. Fire fighters searched rooms and toilets to ensure that none was left trapped, Mishra said. "When the fire tenders reached the spot, flames were leaping out of the building. Many people were still fast asleep at that time," he said. Prima facie the blaze appears to have caused by a short circuit, the officer added. Qualcomm, the U.S. manufacturer of computer chips for communication devices, has lost a 10-year legal battle against a W273.2 billion fine from Korea's Fair Trade Commission. The Supreme Court here ruled Monday that a minimum W200 billion fine is reasonable (US$1=W1,125). Qualcomm was nabbed by the FTC for offering cut-price chips to Samsung and LG from 2000 to 2009 on condition that they used them exclusively, while charging other handset makers excessive royalties. The size of the fine was unprecedented at the time. Qualcomm countersued, and the Seoul High Court in 2013 sided with the FTC. The Supreme Court upheld most of the lower court's ruling. The chief administrator of the official Paekhwawon guesthouse in Pyongyang was executed publicly for corruption in December last year, according to a source on Monday. The guesthouse accommodated President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook in September last year. The chief administrator was found guilty of involvement in a corruption case during an inspection by the Workers Party's Organization and Guidance Department in October, the source added. The guesthouse is run by an elite troop in charge of security for the ruling Kim family and senior officials. The chief administrator had the rank of a colonel. "US$3 million was found in his home during a raid," the source said. "He was charged additionally with affairs with female workers at the guesthouse." The public execution was held in Pyongyang in the presence of military officers and senior officials from the Workers Party. It was apparently part of a wider crackdown on corruption to tighten leader Kim Jong-un's hold on power. As a missionary, my grandfather taught Greek and Hebrew at a seminary in Igbaja, Nigeria. He labored for years after on a cognate lexicon of New Testament Greek. Such interest in biblical languages may sound heady and high-brow, the sort of thing that wouldn't have much connection with vibrant faith. But nothing could be further from the truth. If you talked to my grandfather about Greek, you'd quickly learn that what he was most passionate about was what he referred to as the "identification truths"--the wide variety of Greek constructions that the New Testament uses to describe Christians' connection with their Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. Believers are "crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20, NIV), "raised with Christ" (Col. 3:1), "in Christ Jesus" (Php. 1:1), "baptized into Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6:3), "sanctified in Christ Jesus" (1 Cor. 1:2), "circumcised by Christ" (Col. 2:11), and reconciled to God "through Christ" (2 Cor. 5:18). Christ's disciples are related to Him as branches to the life-giving vine (Jn. 15:5). In Christ, believers receive "every spiritual blessing" (Eph. 1:3), including election (v.4), predestination (v.5), adoption (v.5), grace (v.6), redemption (v.7), and the sealing of the Holy Spirit (v.13). This is just a sampling of the Scripture's teaching on the significance of union with Christ for believers. Recent years have seen numerous books tracing and expounding this biblical theme, a renewed focus on what has always been at the heart of Christian faith: the saving relationship that Christians have with their Triune God and Savior, found in the Father's gracious gift of union with the Son by the Spirit. This is core Christianity, in all its warmth and wonder and power. Christian life is life in Christ. The wonderful truth about Christians' union with Christ, and all that it means, is at the heart of Christianity spirituality. We can probe it in reverent exegesis of the Greek New Testament and we can embrace it with the childlike faith of 'receiving Jesus into your heart.' One thing we cannot do is comprehend the totality of God's kindness to us in Christ. And one thing we must not do is downplay the significance of this majestic spiritual truth. But there are, tragically, some who call themselves Christians but seek to do just that. Some months ago, in a bout of tweets responding to The Statement on Social Justice & the Gospel, Union Theological Seminary expressed their rejection of Christ as the only way of salvation. They still claim to be Christians, but they deny that a relationship with Jesus is necessary in order to be saved. Instead, they say: "We deny that salvation is only found through Christianity, that God's salvific grace is exclusive to any single faith or religion. Moreover, in God's eyes there is no difference in spiritual value or worth between those who are 'in Christ' and those who aren't."[1] This is a denial of the gospel. Union has denied the union that makes a Christian Christian. The central proclamation of Christianity is that salvation is found in Jesus Christ, and in Him alone. Christians are those who declare that "Jesus is Lord" (Rom. 10:9). The Christian message declares that "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). With tragic logic, Union's denial of the exclusivity of Christ brings a denial of the glory of being included in Christ. Union avers, but for believers there is nothing more precious or significant than their union with Christ by faith through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. All the wonders of redemption are wrapped up in this notion of being in Christ. What "spiritual value" comes from union with Christ? It is our position in Him that makes His death count for us and His resurrection mean our life (Rom. 6). Inclusion in Christ is the logic of salvation; when you exclude it from your picture of redemption (even with the intent of being more inclusive), you sever salvation from its source. There is no life apart from Christ. In the oft-quoted words of John Calvin, "First, we must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value for us. Therefore, to share with us what he has received from the Father, he had to become ours and to dwell within us."[2] Christianity means we are in Christ, and Christ is in us by the indwelling Spirit. In God's eyes, those who are in Christ have a whole new identity: "if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (2 Cor. 5:17). What does the new identity of believers look like? Peter declares to believers--"all of you who are in Christ" (1 Pet. 5:14)--that "you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light" (2:9). In these images, picking up on the special status of ethnic Israel in the Old Covenant, Peter describes the privileged status given to believers in Christ in the New Covenant. They are chosen by God from the nations. They have the dignity of both the regal and priestly offices--doubly set apart. They are precious to God, uniquely His. They have a commission of worship and a destiny of glory. All of this is true of every Christian--all those who are united with Christ by faith. None of this is true of those who are not in Christ. The glory of redemption, the offer of the gospel, is radically inclusive: anyone who will come to Christ will be saved, and receive in Him every spiritual blessing. But the gospel is also utterly exclusive: only in Christ will anyone be saved. There is one way to God, one gate to the kingdom, one bridge from death to eternal life--and that is Christ. What difference does union with Christ make? All the difference in the world. All the difference in this world, and in the world to come. [1] Union Theological Seminary, via Twitter, @UnionSeminary, Sept. 5, 2018. [2] Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, III.I.1. Josh Steely is the Pastor of Pontoon Baptist Church in Pontoon Beach, IL. Articles Sorry, there are no recent results for popular articles. Images Sorry, there are no recent results for popular images. State Duma passes Runet security bill in first reading RIA Novosti 14:31 12/02/2019 MOSCOW, February 12 (RAPSI) The State Duma, the lower house of parliament, passed in the first reading on Tuesday a bill aimed to ensure security and availability of Russian Internet (Runet) in the event of its isolation from the global network. The bill has been drafted taking into account a violent nature of the U.S. National Cybersecurity Strategy adopted in September 2018, an explanatory note to the initiative reads. The Strategy accuses Russia of committing hacking attacks without evidence, according to the draft laws sponsors. Lawmakers believe that under such conditions there is a need for protective measures to ensure a long-term and robustness of Internet in Russia and to improve performance reliability of Russian websites. The bill envisages creation of infrastructure that would assure security and operability of Russian Internet resources in case of inaccessibility of national providers connection to foreign root servers. Russian businessman charged with $9 mln land plot fraud pleads not guilty flickr.com/ MaxiuB 15:43 12/02/2019 MOSCOW, February 12 (RAPSI) - Russian businessman Ilya Sherman charged with land plot fraud estimated at about 570 million rubles (about $9 million) has pleaded not guilty, the Investigative Committees press service reports Tuesday. He has also refused to testify during his interrogation, the statement reads. Investigators claim that between 2010 and 2012 Sherman and his accomplices illegally gained a right for acquisition of land plots in the Moscow Region. Under false pretences, they acquired the ownership of two land plots with a total area of 174.5 sq. m worth over 568 million rubles, the spokesperson of the Prosecutor Generals Office Alexander Kurennoy told journalists earlier. Sherman has fled Russia and has been put on the international wanted list, according to Kurennoy. In April 2018, the businessman was arrested in Italy, and Russia forwarded a request for his extradition. On January 24, Italian authorities approved Shermans extradition. On February 8, he was extradited to Russia. According to investigators, one of Shermans accomplices has been convicted and sentenced, while others are still wanted. Russian Supreme Court Chairman concedes jury competence expansion RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov 15:24 12/02/2019 MOSCOW, February 12 (RAPSI) Chairman of the Russian Supreme Court Vyacheslav Lebedev has admitted the possibility of the further competence expansion of jurors. Lebedev is seeing way clear to increase the list of crimes which could be considered by jury. Perhaps, time will come when jurors will be authorized to hear civil cases too, he told journalists on Tuesday. On February 12, the Supreme Court delivers a workshop for chairs of courts via videoconferencing. The meeting is dedicated to the finalizing of courts work results in 2018 and further priority task definition. Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae was indicted Monday for abuse of power and corruption in office. Prosecutors launched their investigation of Yang in June last year and concluded that he has a raft of cases to answer, mainly in regard to doing favors for the government of disgraced ex-President Park Geun-hye in return for support in establishing a higher appellate court. Most of the 47 charges are related to accusations that he rigged cases in favor of the Park administration and sidelined judges considered unfriendly to her. One accusation is that he deliberately held up a trial over compensation of Korean victims of forced labor in imperial Japan to spare Park a diplomatic embarrassment. He allegedly told Kim Yong-duk, the then chief justice in the case, in June of 2014 that he believed a 1965 bilateral treaty nullifies all personal claims for compensation from Tokyo. Prosecutors believe Yang was also involved in making a blacklist of judges who were opposed to his policies. He denies all charges. Rantoul, IL (61866) Today Cloudy in the morning with isolated thunderstorms developing later in the day. High 79F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Scattered thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low around 70F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected. If you are not redirected automatically, please follow this link Few, if any, issues in northeast Queens are more controversial than Mayor de Blasios plan to ax the Specialized High School Admissions Test. Per the citys Independent Budget Office, de Blasios proposal will slash the number of seats at the specialized schools for Asian kids by about half. Had the proposal been in effect, the IBO found, only 31 percent of offers to the institutions for the 2017-18 school year would have gone to Asians. In reality, 61 percent of them did. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Certainly, one race or sex is not superior to another. To ignore systemic oppression and its impact on the past and present policies, however, is to put ones head into the sand. I was struck by the fact that even recently, most white Americans were unaware of the Tulsa Race Massacre of June 1, 1921 when mobs of white residents attacked black residents and destroyed homes and businesses in the Greenwood district in Tulsa. Thirty-five plus square blocks of the neighborhood at the time the wealthiest black community in the United States, known as Black Wall Street was decimated, with up to 300 people dead. Ten thousand black people were left homeless and property damage of black businesses and homes was an estimated at $1.5 million in 1921 dollars. It is precisely the omission of this kind of event in local, state, and national histories that establishes the need to examine systemic problems. Arlene Violet on critical race theory. She is a Republican who served as RI Attorney General Prices of Korean exports declined by the biggest margin among major exporters over the last 13 years. The main reason is the vulnerability of Korea's main exports like semiconductors, petrochemical products, steel and cars to oil price fluctuations and other external factors. According to the World Trade Organization on Sunday, Koreas export price index stood at 73.6 in November of last year if prices in January 2005 are set at 100. The WTO compared shipments from nine major regions including the U.S., the EU and Japan that account for 85 percent of global manufactured goods exports. Export prices also fell from Japan (86), Singapore (90.3) and Taiwan (90.3). But the U.S.' export price index rose to 117.3, Canada's to 117.6, the EU's to 115 and Switzerland's to a whopping 164.2, though its volume is much smaller. If John Dingell said he was going to do something, hed look you eyeball to eyeball, give you a big firm handshake and get it done. Jim Perry, executive director of the Downriver Community Conference, said these words while remembering the longtime congressman, who died Feb. 7 at the age of 92. Perry, who first met Dingell as a junior at Allen Park High School in 1972, developed a friendship with him over the years. The two shared a belief in the people of southeast Michigan. He cared so much about this area, Perry said. He always said we were tough and we would bounce back from anything. He never dodged a question, and he never dodged a person. I dont care whether you were a millionaire or a pauper, he treated you like you were somebody. And he carried Downriver on his back to Washington. From collaborating with the Downriver Community Conference to help families keep their homes in the midst of the economic downturn to helping broker the deal to produce the Ford Mustang in Flat Rock, Perry said Dingells legacy in the community is undeniable. Jackie Lovejoy, president of the Dearborn Area Chamber of Commerce spoke about working with Dingell. He was the peoples Congressman, she said. This giant of a man knew presidents and royalty, yet always took the time to be among those of us of much lesser stature. Always one with a kind word, asking about my mothers well-being, thats the John Dingell I came to know, love, and respect. The gentleman who visited me my first week on the job to see how he could help me. I was awe-struck to say the least. Ron Hinrichs, president of the Southern Wayne County Regional Chamber, echoed the sentiment. Prior to serving the SWCRC, Hinrichs worked at the Dearborn Area Chamber of Commerce. Congressman John Dingell is one of the greatest friends and partners the Southern Wayne County Regional Chamber, and our entire Downriver business community, has ever known, he said. What he has done and accomplished on behalf of our region is remarkable, and our businesses and non-profit organizations will benefit from his hard work for generations to come. In summer 2007, Hinrichs interned in Dingells Dearborn district office, calling the experience one of my greatest honors. Taylor Mayor Rick Sollars recalled his first time meeting Dingell at the Taylor Democratic Club in 2013. As a new mayor, I was excited to meet the legendary John Dingell for our first official meeting, he said. We had a great meeting and at the end, I thanked Congressman Dingell and he quickly said to me: Mr Mayor, please call me John. The people of Taylor and Downriver are my people. Congressman John Dingell was Downriver. His fierce reputation of fighting for the working people of Downriver will live forever. John not only fought on behalf of the working people of Downriver, but he also fought to ensure that corporate America was held accountable through critical legislation such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act. Downriver is stronger and healthier because of John Dingell. When the workers and automakers needed help, John Dingell always answered their call. Several other members of the southeast Michigan business community paid their respects to Dingell after his death. Keeping (Debbie Dingell) and her family in our thoughts and prayers today as we pay tribute to John Dingell a man of honor and determination. His dedication to the auto industry and Michigan are undisputed and we will miss his unifying voice and wry sense of humor. Mary Barra, chairman and CEO of General Motors For my 20 years as chairman of Ford Motor Co., I considered John Dingell a friend and advisor. John was a larger-than-life legend whose presence will be deeply missed at Ford. Even on the most divisive issues at the most difficult of times, he was unwavering in his efforts to find common ground. He constantly reminded us as a company and as an industry that we either work together or we fail separately. John devoted his life to serving the people of Michigan, and his legacy continues today with his wife, Debbie. His passing is a reminder that we need more leaders who are willing to find compromise and bring people together for the greater good. Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Company We celebrate the life of a true friend to UAW members tonight. John Dingells voice filled the halls of Congress with a message of hope for working families in a career spanning nearly 60 years. He was a legend in the halls of Congress. But in Michigan he was that rare accessible hero that would fight for our paychecks, our health care, our labor rights and our civil and human rights. Let the words of history honor his integrity, wit and the impact he still has on our daily lives. And we give thanks to Debbie and his children for sharing such a life well lived in compassionate service to all of us. John Dingell will be missed by all working families. Gary Jones, president of the United Auto Workers Few days ago, we blogged about 120 People Stranded in KLIA After Getting Scammed by Online Travel Agency and you can read it here. Yesterday, Harian Metro reported that over 300 people had their European tour crushed when the travel agency cancelled their tour packages. From what we understand, this could be the same online travel agency that left 120 people stranded in KLIA a few days ago. According to the news report, the Kajang based travel agency was mobbed by affected travellers. The total loss for the 300 people could reach RM 2 million according to the news report. They received text messages from the tour company that their tour packages were cancelled. We were alerted by some of our friends on their packages last year as they asked for our advice. We told them it is too good to be true as the fares are too cheap. It doesnt make sense when the tour package is the same price as the flight ticket. How can a travel company make money by throwing price like that? One of the main reasons why people purchased their tour packages as they allow monthly instalments. Instead of paying one lumpsum, many people are attracted by the monthly instalments. Some of the victim purchased the Turkey tour packages for their family and lose up to RM 40,000. Their tour package is scheduled for March this year. The CEO of the tour company told the affected travellers that they will compensate the losses within six months. We hope that the affected travellers can received their money as promised by the travel agency at the end of the day. For those who plans to buy travel packages online from travel agency, remember to check the legitimacy of the travel agency if it is based in Malaysia. Make sure the travel agency has the proper travel license from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia. You can visit their official website and check at http://www.motac.gov.my/en/check/tobtab This is the second case in this week alone. We hope we all learn something from this and be more vigilant in purchasing travel packages online. For your information, we purchased travel packages from trusted travel websites like Agoda, Airbnb, Klook, Skyscanner and more. Wilson Ng A Father and traveler who enjoys to eat, shop, travel and taking pictures with Samsung S21 Ultra. Im a full time blogger, youtuber and father for two. I travel around 17 International trips per year. Remember to follow us at www.instagram.com/placesandfoods and www.youtube.com/placesandfoods. For ads or features, contact me at [email protected] See author's posts We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form U.S. and North Korean officials are set to hold more talks next week but hopes for concrete steps toward North Korea's denuclearization are fading. If they continue to focus more on security and protocol than the denuclearization issue, U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could end up meeting for another photo op, as they did last year in Singapore, but achieve little progress. The U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, said the two sides did not so much negotiate as state their positions in talks last week. The North Koreans apparently focused on how Kim will get around Hanoi as well as security and protocol issues. Vietnam's Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho invited him to visit the North from Tuesday until Thursday. Kim could also meet with Vietnam's President Nguyen Phu Trong before sitting down with Trump. Hong Kong: CE meets NPC HK deputies Chief Executive Carrie Lam today held an engagement session with about 30 Hong Kong deputies to the National Peoples Congress. They exchanged views on Hong Kongs integration with the nations overall development and its active participation in the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Mrs Lam said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government will actively participate in three major national initiatives this year. They are the celebration activities for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, the second Belt & Road Forum for International Cooperation to be held in Beijing in April, and the second China International Import Expo to be held in Shanghai in November. As the Outline Development Plan for the bay area will be promulgated by the Central Authorities within days, Mrs Lam said the deputies are invited to attend the related symposium to be jointly held by the governments of the HKSAR, Guangdong Province and the Macao Special Administrative Region on February 21. Mrs Lam added the HKSAR Government attaches great importance to the views of the Hong Kong deputies to the National Peoples Congress. This story has been published on: 2019-02-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Monday that he is ready to withdraw hundreds of the state's National Guard troops from the U.S.-Mexico border, a rebuke of President Donald Trump's stance that a national security crisis is unfolding there. In his State of the State address on Tuesday, the newly elected Democratic governor will say that border crossings had fallen to their lowest since 1971 and California's undocumented population had dropped to a more than 10-year low, spokesman Brian Ferguson said. "The border 'emergency' is nothing more than a manufactured crisis -- and CA's National Guard will not be part of this political theater," Newsom said on Twitter. As a result, the governor would reassign about 360 California National Guard troops at the border to address the "real threats" faced by the state, including drug trafficking and wildfires, the spokesman said in an e-mail. Newsom's office did not provide a timeline for the redeployments. Newsom's predecessor, Governor Jerry Brown, agreed to send the troops to the border last April after reaching agreement with the Trump administration that they would focus on fighting criminal gangs and smugglers, but not enforcing immigration laws. Thank you for reading the Philadelphia Tribune. You have exhausted your free article views for this month. Please press the "subscribe" button below and see our introductory price of $0.25 per week for 13 weeks. Otherwise, we look forward to seeing you next month. On February 9th, the Boeing 747 celebrated its 50th birthday. The revolutionary aircraft flew its debut flight fifty years ago in the skies above Washington State. It came at a time when spaciousness, luxury, and passenger experience were strongly held values in the airline industry. Copyright Photo: Lester Tangco/PPSG Fast forward fifty years with more than 1,500 aircraft produced and the aircraft once known as the "Queen of the Skies" is now enjoying a slow retirement. Only 536 Boeing 747 aircraft remain in active service with the vast majority serving as cargo aircraft. Of the 536 still in operation, only 187 are configured as passenger aircraft. The current variant of the aircraft, the Boeing 747-8, only has 46 aircraft in passenger service. The majority of passenger-configured Boeing 747 aircraft that remain in service are of the 400 series with 136 aircraft in active service. British Airways continues to be the largest operator of the Boeing 747-400 with 36 aircraft currently in service. Image Source: Getty Images In January 1970, when the Boeing 747 entered airline service, the industry was in a completely different state of affairs. Airlines valued the passenger experience and luxury was of the utmost importance. The upper deck on the Boeing 747 was initially used by many carriers as a lounge for first-class passengers. In those days, passengers still dressed up to travel in suits and dresses. When Philippine Airlines introduced its first Boeing 747 into active passenger service in December 1979, the carrier introduced the first ever lie-flat beds for first-class passengers aboard a Boeing 747. They were known as the "Skybed." From its initial debut, the Boeing 747 would spend the next half-century winging its way across the skies as a symbol of the industrial might and engineering prowess of the United States. With the ability to transport more than 400 passengers and a cockpit that sat 35 feet above the ground, the aircraft lived up to its name as the world's first "Jumbo Jet." Today, airlines are more focused on economics than ever, trying to cram more passengers into smaller, more fuel-efficient twin-engined wide-body aircraft to maximize profits. Many carriers including Philippine Airlines have since retired their Boeing 747 fleet. Philippine Airlines operated its last 747 flight from Manila to San Francisco on August 30, 2014. Airlines now seek out modern aircraft that can fly longer at less cost. While many Boeing 747 aircraft have now been scrapped, others have been re-purposed as hotels and unique attractions Although there is limited commercial demand for Boeing 747 aircraft in passenger use, there's still plenty of time to fly on board the Queen of the Skies. Here are some of the airlines that still operate the Boeing 747: Air China operates the Boeing 747-400 and Boeing 747-8 Air India operates the Boeing 747-400 Asiana Airlines operates the Boeing 747-400 British Airways operates the Boeing 747-400 (Retirement Deadline: 2024) KLM operates the Boeing 747-400 and 747-400M (Retirement Deadline: 2021) Qantas operates the Boeing 747-400ER (Retirement Deadline: 2020) Korean Air operates the Boeing 747-400 and Boeing 747-8 El-Al operates the Boeing 747-400 (Retirement Deadline: 2019) Lufthansa operates the Boeing 747-400 and Boeing 747-8 Rossiya Airlines operates the Boeing 747-400 Thai Airways operates the Boeing 747-400 Virgin Atlantic operates the Boeing 747-400 Saudia operates the Boeing 747-400 Asiana Airlines is one of the last carriers that still operates the Boeing 747 on a regularly scheduled basis to Manila. The Ninoy Aquino International Airport is now heavily dominated by Boeing 777 aircraft and next generation aircraft such as the Boeing 787 and A350. The good news is that with the Boeing 747-8 still being a relatively new aircraft, it is quite likely those aircraft will be flying for a relatively long time into the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, for those in the Philippines wanting to ride on the "Queen of the Skies," Asiana Airlines offers daily jumbo jet service from Manila to Seoul-Incheon. *Note: Korean Air operates daily 747 service from Manila to Seoul-Incheon until April 16,2019. Roth ready to take charge of Perryville football The excitement for Brent Roth is off the charts as he acclimates himself to his new position. Roth will enter into his dream job next fall when he takes over as the new head coach of Indians basketball continues improvement If a person were to ask St. Vincent boys basketball coach Bruce Valleroy how exactly his teams summer has been going, he couldnt have asked for a better start. St. Vincent participated Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer holds a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday, Feb. 8, 2019. Scheer is on a campaign-style swing through New Brunswick, as the party seeks to make gains in a province and region it was shut out of last time. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick President Akufo-Addo has named Damango as the capital of the newly created Savannah Region. The President made the announcement at a ceremony Tuesday at the Jubilee House to present the Constitutional Instrument backing the creation of the region. He said while the Savannah Region is blessed with an abundance of natural resources, it is ironically the least developed part of the Northern Region. Onus is now on the government to put into motion the processes for the rapid development of the Savannah Region, he added. Ninety-nine per cent of persons in the area voted YES in a referendum held on Thursday, December 27, 2018, for the creation of the region which was carved out of the Northern region. The districts making up the Savannah Region are the Bole District, North Gonja District, Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District, West Gonja District, East Gonja Municipality and the Central Gonja District. About Damongo Damongo is the capital of West Gonja district and hosts the Overlord of the Gonja Kingdom; the Yagbonwura. It is also the capital (biggest town) in the Damongo Constituency whose current MP is Adam Mutawakilu. Damongo boasts of key tourist attractions like the Mole National Park where visitors are assured of seeing a myriad of animals, chief among them being elephants. It also has the famous Larabanga Mosque and Mystic Stone in Larabanga. Prominent Ghanaians who were either born in or come from Damongo include John Dramani Mahama (ex-President of Ghana), Alban Bagbin (The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament), Benjamin Kumbuor (former Minister of Defence), and Michael Abu Sakara Foster (former Presidential candidate of CPP). 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 Minister of Energy, John Peter Amewu, says that a thorough review of the several power purchase agreements (PPAs) contracted by the previous government has saved Ghana $680 million. The Minister of Energy, John Peter Amewu, says that a thorough review of the several power purchase agreements (PPAs) contracted by the previous government has saved Ghana $680 million. This sum was supposed to be paid annually for 13 years in excess capacity charges contracted through controversial deals initiated under the John Mahama government. So, in effect, Ghana will be saving $8.84 billion over the 13-year period. Speaking at the Meet the Press series of engagements with the media on Tuesday, the Minister said the review had become necessary due to poor management of the energy sector by the previous NDC government, which appeared fixated on signing PPAs. Mr Amewu said these agreements created potential overcapacity payments, a lack of fuel security for power generation, corrupt and opaque procurement of new power plants, as well as inefficiencies and unsustainable inter-utility debts which threatened the long-term operation of the power sector. Assessment Mr Amewu said, having entered office in 2017, the Akufo-Addo government realised that Ghanas energy sector was in far worse condition than imagined. The government therefore carried out an appraisal of the sector to find a workable solution to its m any challenges. Together with the leading stakeholders, the Minister recalled, the government quickly put in place strategies to address the declining state of the energy sector and bring hope to power consumers. I am glad to announce that we have reviewed several power purchase agreements, saving the country over $680m every year for 13 years if those agreements were allowed to continue, Mr Amewu said. Impetus The government gained impetus in November 2017 after the successful issuing of the Energy Sector Bond, which realised GHC4.78 billion. It raised a significant proportion of the targeted GHC6bn for the first tranche of funding Ghana needed to support energy sector agencies to improve their operational efficiency and pay off their debts. This is how the government has managed to reduce the energy sector legacy debt by over 80 per cent and instituted a mechanism to address the debt in its entirety, Mr Amewu said. This is to enable sector players to have a strong balance sheet which will become more attractive for future PPAs, he explained. Achievements We have worked with stakeholders to drastically reduce electricity tariffs, modified the Private Sector Participation agreement to ensure 51 per cent equity participation for Ghanaians, and put measures in place to ensure that Ghana reaches its goal of universal access to electricity by 2020, Mr Amewu told journalists. In addition, he said, the government has introduced measures to step up operations of the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) to 40 per cent of the VALCO plants capacity, at an all-inclusive and globally competitive tariff of 3.5 cents per kilowatt hour (KWh). Mr Amewu also said a new National Energy Policy has been drafted to provide the framework to guide operations in the energy sector. This will ensure a fair balance between the governments aspirations and the interests of industry players, academia, local communities, civil society and other stakeholders. Local content The Minister disclosed that $453m worth of contracts had been awarded to Ghanaian companies, and $346m has also been awarded to joint-venture companies in accordance with the local content and local participation law. In addition, the Ghanaian subsidiary of Norways Aker Energy has awarded contracts valued at $40.3m to joint-venture companies, in accordance with its local content obligations. With this development, over 75 percent of people now working in the upstream petroleum industry are Ghanaians. Mr Amewu said with the governments aggressive implementation of the Petroleum Local Content and Local Participation Regulation 2013 (LI 2204), a significant number of Ghanaian companies have registered with the Petroleum Commission to participate in the upstream petroleum industry. He said rigorous promotion of joint ventures in accordance with Regulation 43 (1) of LI 2204 had also enhanced participation in the industry by indigenous companies. As at the end of September 2018, about 600 indigenous Ghanaian companies had registered with the Petroleum Commission to provide goods and services to companies in the oil and gas industry, he said. Revival The Energy Minister expressed his delight that the government has successfully revived the ailing energy sector. He is satisfied that Ghanaians are now enjoying affordable and reliable power supply because of the governments relentless efforts to fix the sector. On the subject of gas, the Minister said there had been a significant reduction in the gas price from US$10.5 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) to $7.89/mmbtu. The government has also successfully interconnected the gas export pipeline into Ghana's Atuabo-Takoradi (A-T), to make it possible for gas from the Sankofa field to be transported through the Natural Gas Transmission System to various customers across the country. He touched further on the safety of Ghanaians, saying cabinet had directed a number of actions, including the immediate commencement of the National Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) Promotion Policy, based on the cylinder recirculation model. Mr Amewu said this is to ensure that at least 50 per cent of Ghanaians have access to safe and environmentally friendly LPG for domestic, commercial and industrial use by 2030. Source: The Daily Statesman 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 U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Hungary that Russia is seeking to divide the West, saying the United States should not let Russian President Vladimir Putin "drive a wedge between friends and NATO." Speaking on Monday in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, Pompeo also said that the United States has not done enough to be engaged in central Europe and wants to do more going forward. Pompeo's Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjarto, said any criticism Washington has of Hungary's diplomacy with Russia is misguided as other European countries are also involved in energy deals with Russia. He also said that Budapest is fulfilling its obligations to Western nations as a member of the NATO military alliance. Hungary gets most of its gas from Russia and the Russian state corporation Rosatom is involved in a multi-billion dollar project to expand Hungary's Pak nuclear power plant which provides much of Hungary with electricity. Former Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and now Chief Executive Officer of the Atta Mills Institute, Mr. Koku Anyidoho, has described politicians as bullies. The NDC stalwart considered the attitude of most politicians as a drawback to the country's development. Speaking on Okay Fms "Ade Akye Abia" programme, he wondered why politicians will offer public servants a contract extension for their services when they reach their retirement age. To him, it is because they want to "use and bully them" around for their own interest. "As a firm believer in Charles Darwins Evolutionary Theory, I cannot hold back the fact that if we do not evolve as a nation, we shall surely pale into insignificance. "Indeed, it is in holding on firmly to the belief in the theory of evolution, which has sparked my thinking in the direction of the possible need as a nation, to take another look at a particular section of ACT 527 of our 1992 Constitution," he stated. The 527th ACT of the Parliament of Ghana, entitled, THE CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1996, which has 16th December, 1996, as the date of Assent, made certain amendments but of interest to this written piece of mine, is that which was made to Article 199. Act 527 reads in part thus; Article 199 of the Constitution is amended by the insertion after clause (3) of the following (4) Notwithstanding clause (1) of this article, a public officer who has retired from the public service after attaining the age of sixty years may, where the exigencies of the service require, be engaged for a limited period of not more than two years at a time but not exceeding five years in all and upon such other terms and conditions as the appointing authority shall determine. Mr Anyidoho explained that it is about time, the country gives a second look at contracts awarded to civil servants who have reach their retirement age just for them to be in office. "If we prevent this attitude as a country, what happened in Ayawaso West Wuogon, during the recent by-election, will not repeat itself because all these contracted civil servants feel they owe allegiance to their pay masters," he pontificated. He, however, appealed to MPs to build consensus on this pressing matter, adding that he has no doubt they will receive a lot of "praise" from the Ghanaian public for "doing what Napoleon could not do. Source: Isaac kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline.com/[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 Protocols, under a new police transformation agenda, bans Journalists from taking or airing close range pictures at accident or crime scenes, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Mr David Senanu Eklu, Director General, police public Affairs has said. Additionally, the police would not allow media coverage of police operations such as identification parades and swoops, he emphasized, while also cautioning the police to, on no account, release such pictures to the media. Mr Eklu, speaking at a Police-Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) media engagement in Kumasi last Thursday, said it was important media personnel adhered to ethical norms by ensuring that the gory faces or bodies of dead accident victims or even criminals, did not show in the public domain. This would be a way of respecting their rights to human dignity while being careful not to hurt the traditional cultures, sensibilities and emotions of the families that they belonged to. He told the gathering, made up of Senior Journalists from the print, radio and television, that under the new agenda, the police is using the protocol, to seek a stronger partnership with the media to tap its advantage as a channel which can aid the police in its function of providing security, crime detection and prevention. Source: The Insight 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 Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) Rt Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante, has said the violence that rocked the by-election at the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency in the Greater Accra Region should never happen again. I think somebody should come up and apologise to Ghanaian citizens because it is so sad and a disgrace to the nation, he stated. "This is not about anybody. I respect the government in power right now but as for this matter, I think that the government needs to step up its game by bringing the perpetrators to book and also apologise to Ghanaians," he stressed. Induction ceremony Rt Rev. Prof. Mante said this at the induction ceremony of the new chairperson for the Northern Presbytery of the church, Rev. Peter Atta Ziame, which was held at the Unity Congregation at Sakasaka, a suburb in the Tamale Metropolis, the capital of the Northern Region last Sunday. Rev. Ziame, who will serve for the next five years, is taking over from Rev. Dr Solomon Sule Saa, as the chairperson of the Northern Presbytery of the PCG. Among those who graced the induction ceremony were the Clerk of the General Assembly, Rev. Dr Samuel Ayete- Nyampong, presbyteries and the General Assembly Council members across the country. Peace On the violence at Ayawaso West Wuogon, Rt Rev. Prof. Mante said the country needed to move forward and not to be distracted by political parties. " We want our peace and if the political parties are the ones going to cause serious problems like war and violence in the country, they rather stop it because we want our country to be in peace," he stated. He also added that "the Ayawaso West Wuogon incident was unfortunate and must never be allowed to happen again". Rt Rev. Prof. Mante further urged politicians not to take the citizens of Ghana for granted and create violence that would disturb the peace of the country but rather help in creating jobs for the youth. New Yaa Naa He commended the people of the North, particularly the people of Dagbon and the country as a whole for the peaceful installation of a new Yaa Naa for Dagbon. " We want to thank God particularly for the installation of Yaa Naa peacefully and I pray that this hard-won peace stays here in the Northern Region ", he stated. He urged the people of the region not to take the relative peace being enjoyed in the region for granted following the peaceful installation of the new Yaa Naa saying it did cost the country a lot of money, time and energy which should not have happened this way. " We are grateful to the Committee of Eminent Chiefs who fashioned out the road map to peace in Dagbon and the roles played by successive Presidents, particularly the current President, for taking the initiative to make this happen. Religious tolerance Rt Rev. Prof. Mante admonished all religious groups in the Northern Region and the country as a whole to continue to peacefully co-exist. Congregation Turning to the congregation, he urged them to be disciples of Jesus Christ and emulate his lifestyle while on earth. He advised the church members to accord the new chairperson, the needed respect and cooperation to operate well for the growth of the church. Chairperson The new chairperson, Rev. Ziame thanked the leadership of the presbytery for the confidence they had reposed in him and pledged to discharge the duty to help win more souls for Christ. Source: Daily Graphic 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 NIGERIA: An Anambra-based makeup artiste was reportedly stabbed to death while out for an early morning jog in Awka, the state capital on Monday February 11th. According to a friend of the deceased, Chibuike Igwe, who shared the story online, Oluchi who is a popular makeup artist in the state, was stabbed to death by suspected armed robbers who carted away with her phone She died instantly. Her remains has been deposited at the mortuary. Taking to his Facebook page to mourn her, Chibuike wrote ''What a wicked world. Can you believe she is no more. The pictures attached to this post is my friend, a smart hard working lady with great sense of humor .. She was stabbed to death while doing early morning exercise. The persons/people that did this to you will know no peace forever. #Blackmonday . Am still shocked after confirming you are no more. RIP OLUCHI 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 Forum of Public Sector Registered Pension Schemes on Monday expressed concern over the computation of past credits and gave the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) up to February 28 to implement the agreed computation. The Forum said it was not happy about SSNIT's own method of computation of past credits, which members had complained about. This was in a statement signed by Mr Isaac Bampoe Addo, the Executive Secretary, Civil And Local Government Staff Association, and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Monday. It said the Forum was poised to taking subsequent steps to get the realistic past credits paid to all its retirees. The statement said after the Pension Law had determined the computation of past credits it was logical to hold a stakeholders meeting to address pertinent concerns. ''In ensuing discussions among stakeholders the National Pension Regulatory Authority (NPRA), SSNIT, FORUM and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) as well as Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR), SSNIT pleaded to keep the past credits for beneficiaries as immediate transfer of these funds could collapse the SSNIT Scheme,'' it said. It said upon these assertions, all stakeholders agreed on terms and conditions that should inform the computation and payment of past credits to beneficiaries on retirement. The statement said the Forum had patiently waited for the implementation of the agreement since October 2017 but the refusal by SSNIT to apply the agreed terms of calculating the past credits was very disturbing. ''SSNIT was expected to apply these terms and conditions in calculating and paying the past creditsthe FORUM is currently bombarded with complaints of very low past credits paid to our retiring members as a result of the continued use of SSNITs own method of computation of past credits.'' Other members forum who signed the statement were Mr Eric Angel Carbonu, National Association Of Graduate Teachers; Dr Kwaku Asante-Krobea, President, Ghana Registered Nurses And Midwives Association; Mr K. Ahenakwa-Quarshie, Ghana National Association Of Teachers; Mr Alex Nartey, President, Judicial Service Staff Association; and Mr Nathan Coompson, Government Hospital Pharmacists Association. The rest were Mr Franklin .O. Ansah, Health Services Workers Union; Mr Peter K. Lumor, Chairman, Teachers and Educational Workers Union; Mr Frederick Kporxah, National Vice Secretary, Ghana Association Of Certified Registered Anesthetists; Mr King Ali Awudu, Coalition Of Concerned Teachers, Ghana; and Mr Emmanuel Appiah, President, Ghana Physician Assistants Association. 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 The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Hon. Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has once again been honoured by AfricaSeeds, the largest seed producing organization in Africa, for his pioneering role in championing food security and improvement of technology in agriculture in Ghana and the rest of Africa. The award was conferred on him at an International Conference on 'Seed Knowledge Gateway Project' at Akosombo in the Eastern Region, "in recognition of his brave, exemplary and innovative stewardship in seed sector development in Ghana which has opened the way to an accelerated advancement in the emergence of seed industries across Africa". The Executive Director of AfricaSeeds, Dr. Kouame Miezan, in conferring honour, urged Hon. Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto "to continue to serve a bastion behind the African Seed and Biotechnology Program of the African Union and a source of inspiration for AfricaSeeds, coordinator of the AU's continental seed program" The Minister of Food and Agriculture of Ghana was specially selected for the award following his successful implementation of the flagship "Planting for Food and Jobs" (PFJ), which was introduced in 2017. The program, according to the organization, has not only increased the demand of quality seeds and other inputs for thousands of smallholder farmers in Ghana, but has also revitalized the once dormant agricultural sector of the country. Adoption of seed technology in Africa in general and Ghana in particular, is seen as very low, with only 11% of farmers in Ghana said to be patronizing improved seeds. The advent of the PFJ is therefore seen as a major breakthrough, with an estimated one million farmers expected to benefit from the government's subsidized program by the end of the 2019 crop season. The Citation, detailing the achievement of the Minister reads "Recognizing the immense benefits that quality seeds bring to crop production and convinced of the catalytic role that seed demand and farmer awareness can play in building a robust seed industry, Dr. Afriyie Akoto has faithfully and strenuously introduced and implemented his Government's flagship agricultural program "Planting for Food and Jobs" since 2017 in which large numbers of farmers have progressively received subsidized seeds, fertilizers and extension support" It further said through the PFJ initiative, Ghana was now on the path towards national seed self-suffiency and security while enhancing food security and youth employment. The Conference The three day conference, which is being attended by representatives across Africa, is aimed at harnessing the technology of various stakeholders in the transformation of agriculture on the African continent. It is being facilitated by organizations such as the Swiss Development Cooperation, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), African Development Bank (AfDB), African Union Commission, amongst others. Participants will address a number of issues confronting seed production in Africa and explore avenues aimed at tackling them. 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 The Government of Ghana has allocated GHC 20 million for each of the six new regions to aid its smooth take-off. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo disclosed this during a presentation ceremony to mark the creation of the new regions at the Jubilee House on Tuesday, February 12, 2019. According to the President, the money allotted for the Regions was contained in the 2019 budget. "Government will make sure that the desire for growth and progress, which was the underlining reason for the vote for the creation of the North East Region, is met". The President also added that a Government Committee has been constituted and tasked to ensure rapid development of the new regions. "In order to maintain the momentum of the success of the popular demand for the creation of the six (6) new regions, I constituted, within one week of the declaration of the results of the referendum, a Government Committee to plan and oversee the rapid development of the new regions," he said. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A Ghanaian based in New York in the USA, Nana Kwabena Adu, has commended the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, for his role in bringing about unity, peace and development to the country. Nana Adu said Otumfuos work in resolving conflicts and disputes even in communities that were beyond the Ashanti Region was laudable. He also commended the Asantehenes contribution to education in the country, particularly his scholarships for needy brilliant students in basic, secondary and tertiary institutions. Nana Adu, popularly called Nana Kwabena, who is currently in the country on holidays, made the assertion in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Kumasi last Friday. He called on Ghanaians to rally behind the Asantehene to embolden him to do more. He said the Asantehenes recent hosting of the Okyehene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin in Kumasi, his mediation in the Dagbon Chieftaincy case and his invitation to the Awomefia, Togbe Sri to the last Akwasidae for last year all testify to his desire to cement cordial relations and unity in the country. Unity in diversity According to Nana Adu, many countries, especially the developed nations, had risen to a high pedestal through the concept of unity in diversity and has, therefore, urged Ghanaians to love one another and live in unity and in peace with one another. He also commended the government for placing premium on agriculture, adding that agriculture was the backbone of the economies of almost all developed countries. The developed countries including the USA foresaw that agriculture can yield enormous income and, therefore, placed emphasis on that sector and this is what has made them great, he said. He said the governments Planting for Food and Jobs policy was yielding significant dividend to the extent that Ghana was recently reported to be exporting plantain to Burkina Faso and other neighbouring countries. Storage facility On a personal level, he said he had visited some farming communities in the Ashanti Region and had witnessed the partnership between the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) towards assisting farmers with improved seeds and required modern inputs for their work and he was in no doubt that the country was on the right path to food sufficiency and development. He further commended the MOFA for providing storage facilities to take care of farmers excess produce and ensure there was food all year round and for farmers to receive steady income in during lean seasons. Source: Daily Graphic Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the commencement of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade is a recognition of the fact that never again should Africans permit themselves to be subjected to such dehumanising conditions and be sold into slavery. Describing the slave trade as one of the most unfortunate and barbaric episodes of human history, the President said nearly 12.5 million Africans from Central and West Africa were sold into slavery, had their freedoms curtailed in order to build up forcibly countries other their own and created wealth for the peoples of unknown lands to which they were sent. President Akufo-Addo made the remarks at an event organised by the President of Kenya, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, on the sidelines of the ongoing 32nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, yesterday. A release issued from the Presidency to the Daily Graphic yesterday did not give further information on the event. Restoring African dignity It quoted President Akufo-Addo as saying: As though this was not enough, the continent had to endure centuries of being colonised by the same people who undertook the slave trade. The identity and the personality of the African were assaulted and the imprints of imperialism and colonialism woven deeply into the fabric of our lives. As the continent commemorated the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first West African slaves in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in what subsequently became the United States of America (USA), he said we have a sacred duty and an onerous responsibility to help restore the dignity and pride of the African. He pointed out that Africa was a continent of some 1.3 billion people, more than the population of either Europe or the Americas, that Africans were an enterprising, hardworking and innovative people and said: We must make it count. Bringing Africans together President Akufo-Addo said Ghana was using the symbolism of 2019, dubbed the Year of Return, to bring together Africans, persons of African descent and all well-wishers and lovers of freedom to strengthen the commitment to ensure that the blot on the history of Africa never recurred. Ghana launched the Year of Return in Washington, DC, in October 2018 and followed it up with the December 2018 Full Circle Festival, involving more than 70 African-American celebrities visiting Ghana to reconnect with their African heritage. They were able, in the words of the President, to view Ghana and, indeed, Africa, from their own lenses and were able to eat, feel, see and wear Ghana. The Back-2-Africa Festival, the Homecoming and Investment Summit, the African-American Investment Forum and the Pan-African and Emancipation Day celebrations are some of the activities that will be held to commemorate the year-long event. The commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the commencement of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, President Akufo-Addo said, should enable us, in the African Union (AU), to consolidate and strengthen our links with our sixth region, that is, the African Diaspora or the so-called New World, which has laid dormant, and make operational and extend the Free Movement Protocol to those in the Diaspora seeking to resettle in Africa. Welcome While looking forward to welcoming people from the continent and from the Diaspora to Ghana, the President said now was the time to engage one another more positively and inculcate in ourselves a deep consciousness and understanding of the history of the African peoples. He said Ghana would ensure that the focus of activities commemorating the arrival of the first African slaves in Virginia showcased the achievements, creativity, ingenuity and resilience of Africans through the ages. Africans must be proud of our rich heritage, a heritage which encompasses the ancient kingdoms of Benin, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kongo, Mali, Mutapa, Songhai and Zimbabwe and the world-renowned centres of learning of the University of Al Azhar in the 10th century and the University of Sankore in Timbuktu in the 13th century. I am proud to be an African, President Akufo-Addo added. Source: Daily Graphic 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 Audio Attachment: Listen to Dan Botwe in an interview on 'kokrokoo' programme Minister for Regional Reorganisation and Development, Mr Dan Kwaku Botwe has condemned a press statement issued by the people of Nkoranza accusing the President and the Ministry of sidelining them. According to him, government cannot be cajoled into doing what it is not ready to do. "You can't threaten or intimidate the ministry or the President . . . discussions have been held and the right thing will be done. The language (from everyone) is that they will accept the President's decision and so I don't know where this is coming from," he told Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' programme. A statement from the Chiefs and people of Nkoranza intercepted by Peacefmonline.com, accused Dan Botwe of sidelining them from most of the discussions that have been held on the selection of the regional capitals for the new regions. "The Hon. Minister for Regional Reorganization and Development, Hon. Dan Botwe and the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Hon. Evans Opoku-Bobie failed to invite Nananom from Nkoranza Traditional Area to the meeting that was organized on 7th February, 2019 at the Regional Administration, Sunyani, for the purpose of thanking Nananom and extending an invitation to them to attend the official inauguration of the Bono East Region in Accra . . . It is therefore not surprising that even though Nananom from Nkoranza Traditional Area have submitted a Petition to the President with a copy to the Hon. Minister for Regional Reorganization and Development, the Minister has claimed that he has not received any petition from Nkoranza. The Chiefs and people of Nkoranza Traditional Area consider the denial from the Minister as Elimination by Rough Tactics. "We wish to remind the President and the NPP Government that if the capital of Bono East Region is located at a place which does not meet the aspirations and wish of the Chiefs and people in the region, it will have serious consequences on the fortunes of the party in the next elections. We consider His Excellency, President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as a listening and transparent President who will take our concerns into account before naming the capital of Bono East Region," the statement added. However, Dan Botwe, who was not happy with sentiments raised in the statement, said government will not be threatened or intimidated. Discussions have been held . . . we are not singling out anybody. Their accusations are totally baseless and an insult on my integrity. We are focused on what we are doing . . . They should be embarrassed that they are making such accusations . . . pure tactics. You are insulting the intelligence of the president and that is what whoever wrote that petition is trying to do. If you claim it is the prerogative of the president then what are you talking about? Nobody will be intimidated by this . . . Some are not worried about the capital but are interested in development and they have already started lobbying and not fighting about where the capital will be . . . we are focused on what we are doing and we know majority of the people are happy with what we are doing, he added. President Nana Akufo-Addo on February 12, 2019 will publicly present the C.I. on the creation of the six new regions at separate meetings at the Jubilee House. Delegations comprising Chiefs and people of the new regions have been invited to the Jubilee House in Accra for the official ceremonies, a statement from the presidency said. Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com/[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 China's foreign ministry condemned Tuesday the new Pentagon report unfounded which warns of Chinese and Russian space threats to the U.S. national security. The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said in an assessment on Monday that China and Russia were enhancing counter-space capabilities that would challenge the U.S. military's dominance in that domain. The report also accused China and Russia of pushing proposals that limit the militarization of space but leave room for both countries to build counter-space weaponry. Space is the common property of all mankind, not the private property of the Americans, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a briefing. China advocates peaceful use of space and opposes weaponization and arms races, Hua stressed. On the other hand, the U.S. has defined space as a combat territory, announced the formation of independent space force, and continuously carried out space combat exercises. Despite all this, the U.S. continues to publicize the threat from other countries. If the U.S. really cares about the security of space, it should join China in arms control, Hua said. Cruelty-free calls to action have prompted fashion brands across the industry to reexamine the ethics behind their business practices. This renewed interest provoked Chanel, Gucci, Versace, Tom Ford, Jean Paul Gaultier, Burberry and others to ban the use of fur a move which was widely applauded by environmental activists and industry leaders alike. Victoria Beckham, which has maintained a firm anti-fur policy since the eponymous brand's inception, has now expanded their embrace of sustainability to include the elimination of exotic skins in their collections. Related | Fur Is Out At London Fashion Week In a statement to WWD, a Victoria Beckham spokesperson announced the decision and noted the concerted efforts to adopt more environmentally friendly practices. "As a business, we have been looking to action the use of more ethically sourced products that have less environmental impact for some time," they explained. "We are happy to confirm that we will cease using exotic skins in all future collections as of our main autumn/winter 2019 ready-to-wear presentation. This decision reflects the wishes of not only the brand, but also that of our customers." Victoria Beckham's announcement arrives just days before they debut their fall 2019 collection at London Fashion Week. In September, the British Fashion Council announced that for the first time, fur would not be used by the designers showcasing their collections on the official catwalk. While the material wasn't explicitly prohibited, the Council sent around a survey asking designers whether they would be using fur, to which a collective "no" was reported. Additionally, Los Angeles hosted the first ever Vegan Fashion Week in February, signaling a notable shift in one of the world's global fashion hubs. Although it will take some time for exotic skins previously used in Victoria Beckham's collections to exit the distribution network, the upcoming collection will be the first to firmly adopt the new policy. PETA, the animal rights organization, was quick to commend Victoria Beckham's announcement. "Behind every crocodile, alligator, snake, or lizard handbag or pair of shoes is a violent death," PETA Director Elisa Allen said. "Victoria Beckham's decision to ban exotic skins will spare countless remarkable animals immense suffering, and PETA calls on other luxury brands to follow her kind example." Photo via BFA On Saturday, celebrated artist and founder of P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), Nan Goldin, lead a pair of demonstrations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Guggenheim against the institutions continuing acceptance of donations from the Sackler Family. The Sacklers pharmaceutical company, Purdue Pharma, is the largest producer of Oxycontin which is a drug that lies squarely at the center of the country's ongoing opioid crisis. Goldin, who published a photo essay about her own struggles with opioid addiction, published a petition demanding the family to be a part of the solution to the problem they created and help fund treatment and education programs for those affected by the epidemic. Goldin and P.A.I.N. have also since called on institutions like the Met and the Guggenheim to divest from the Sacklers' contributions in order to send a clear message that they will not be complicit in supporting a company that has been responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths. Related | Artists Find Common Ground in the Opioid Crisis In a post inviting her followers to meet her on the step of the Met, Goldin took to Instagram to announce the protests last Friday. Protesters staged a die-in as other hung signs over the Guggenheim's balconies that read "Shame on Sackler" and "Take Down Their Name." Demonstrators also scattered fake prescriptions with quotes from Richard Sackler's recent deposition in a Massachusetts court like "We have to hammer on the abusers in every way possible. They are the culprit of the problem. They are reckless criminals." "We've been knocking on their doors for a year and not a single museum has denounced the Sacklers, taken down their name, or publicly refused their funding," Goldin said in a post. "Time's up." The Met released a statement last month that explained that the museum's relationship with the Sacklers predates the opioid crisis but saying that they will be "engaging in further review of our detailed gift acceptance policies, and we will have more to report in due course." Photo via Instagram Since launching his eponymous brand in 2013, LaQuan Smith has juxtaposed the seemingly contrasting concepts of sensuality and luxury. The fall 2019 collection was no different belted trench coats shielded animal-print chiffon, and sheer black hosiery accompanied plunging necklines. As a designer who has dressed the notable women that effortlessly command every room, from Beyonce to Cardi B, Smith's collections have garnered quite the fanbase. As each model transcended down the runway to the sound of Hillary Banks's voice of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the wardrobe of a powerful, fearless provocateur was reimagined. Matthew Mazur or simply Mazurbate, the New York-based DJ and celebrity stylist, provided the soundtrack for the runway show curating the musical embodiment of the power and sexuality that continue to inspire Smith's collections. During an interview with PAPER, Mazur noted that when he first met with the brand's team, they discussed who exactly the LaQuan Smith woman was. "She was grown up, a little more refined but still had her roots intact," he explained. "I drew inspiration from high/low, or rather sexual versus sensual, and being an all around unapologetically fabulous woman in charge-who is still fun (with a capital F)." Plaid textiles and wool fabrics were unconventionally paired with body-con tailoring, and midi-length evening dresses and pencil skirts were accompanied by suggestive slits and sky-high heels. The designer's use of fur also invoked a sense of affluence, styled with various animal prints to create the ultimate vixen. "I wanted everything to be sexy and expensive," Smith told WWD. "I wanted her to be super strong and super confident. I didn't want to shy away from it this season." In an industry saturated with visual content, promoting an upcoming campaign by tapping a celebrity spokesperson or famed photographer is effective, yet progressively fleeting risking the possibility of falling into the abyss of forgotten news stories. While promotional content maintains its marketing utility, pinpointing an image in the digital age that's capable of creating a lasting impression has become increasingly difficult. However, designer Simon Porte Jacquemus challenged this reality when he unveiled a commissioned painting of his upcoming spring campaign by fine artist Chloe Wise. Inspired by the distinct aesthetic of the French Riviera, Jacquemus told WWD that he collaborated with the New York-based painter after noticing that her artwork resembled the coastal collection he was designing. "This summer, we were on holiday in the same area. I was watching her Instagram stories and I realized that her paintings were very Riviera-inspired, just like the collection I was creating at the time," the designer explained. Jacquemus then promptly scheduled to meet with Wise in Paris, which is when the designer ideated the composition of the painting, using three models wearing his latest RTW collection. Following their rendezvous, Wise returned to New York to turn his vision into a reality. The painting, which is composed of the color palette often associated with the idyllic European destination, is of three women wearing Jacquemus spring 2019. The model in the center is leaning up against a structure while sipping a cocktail, wearing an orange bodysuit and a green leather belt bag around her waist. Beneath her is a woman's hand, clad in a "J" branded bracelet, holding a peeled lemon. In the background, a woman stands in a sheer yellow dress, staring off into the distance. The romantic frivolity depicted in the painting is a perfect portrayal of Jacquemus' spring collection, titled "LA RIVIERA." Following its debut in September, images of the oversized straw bag quickly circulated online as models strutted down the runway clad in luxurious beach attire. Jacquemus spoke to paintings' ability to inspire other mediums of art, noting that Picasso and Matisse have influenced his previous collections. "I find fascinating the transformation between reality, a photo and a painting," he explained. "Chloe really managed to bring life and beauty to the (painted) fabrics, which is no mean feat. The girls' curves also allowed to play with light and shadows, something I find magnificent." True Detective Recap: Lies are Crafted, Cover-ups Revealed, and Things Fall Apart in the Pink Room in Hunters in the Dark By Roxana Hadadi | TV | February 12, 2019 | One thing I learned, in the war? Life happens now. Then laters now, you know. Its never behind you. We know where Julie was: The pink room is in the basement of the mansion of the Hoyt Foods CEO, the man we still havent seen onscreen, the person in that hunting photo with police officer-turned-overpaid lackey Harris James. (Fun fact: Lovely Pajiba alumna Joanna Robinson confirmed over at Vanity Fair today that Guardians of the Galaxys Michael Rooker will play Hoyt.) The image of James lurking behind Toms crumbling face as he sees something on that pink wall that reminds him of his missing daughter is haunting, and Ive already had a nightmare about it, and maybe that means Ive moved on from Hereditary, so this is progress! There are only two episodes to go now in this third True Detective season, and Hunters in the Dark picks up the pace by filling in some key elements of this story, some of which weve suspected, some of which arrive out of nowhere. In 1980, Julie was being held by the Hoyts, and after she left themwe dont know whyshe started running with street kids around 1990, going by names like Mary Julie and Mary July. Maybe she had to turn to prostitution, maybe she was forced into doing things she didnt want to do, but whatever happened, it turned her against Tom Purcell. Her uncle Dan OBrien and her mother Lucy were involved, somehow, in whatever happened to her; father Tom seems totally in the dark. But Tom has his own secrets, from money problems and what seems like a gambling addiction to the issue of his sexuality, being forced to live in the closet, turning to pray the gay away programsnow we know why he seemed to cling so strongly to AA, to church, to a way to become normal. (Please be aware that Toms whole story is one of the primary tragedies of this season, and if you havent seen The Miseducation of Cameron Post, do that right now.) And in 2015, that affair we suspected between true-crime producer Elisa and Hayss son Henry? Yes, totally happening, and the revelation makes Hays turn introspective. Did he withhold love from his family? Did he set a bad example for his son? Why would Henry make these choices? What stuck with him from his childhood? Why does anyone do anything? Lots of lies crafted this week, lots of cover-ups revealed, and lots of realizations that sometimes things just fall apart, outside of your control, outside of anyones. Lets do the timelines thing. In 1980: We see now how quickly district attorney turned states attorney Gerald Kindt throws the whole case on Brett Woodard, how thoroughly he shakes the dead bodies off his conscience, how very little he cares about actually solving this case. It only goes one way, these white, powerful men say to Hays, and when its clear that he objects to their cover-up, that he finds it distasteful and lazy and weak, its not that hard to draw the lines between this interaction and Hayss failed career aspirations through 1990. And note also here that Kindt orders for Hays and West (still in the hospital for his shot leg) to turn over all their evidence, all their interview notes, every scrap of anything theyve collected while searching for Julies and Wills kidnapper/s and killer/s. (Funny how quickly Kindt changes his story in 1990 to accuse Hays and West of shirking their responsibilities and not thoroughly investigating Tom, when we clearly see that he decides to lay all the blame on Woodard. Kindt is that motherfucker.) In 1990: Speaking of Tom: That pink room in the Hoyt family mansion is horrifying, all different shades of pink on the trim and door and wall and light fixture, and it feels like a place stuck in time, very intentional, like a trap. And note its location in the Hoyt housein a basement, down a hallway, behind a heavy metal door. Whoever took Julie there, and whoever knew she was down there, knew they were doing something wrong. Given that Harris James joined Hoyt Foods as chief of security in May 1981, a short time after Julie disappeared, Im guessing hes known what goes on in the pink room for quite some time. Also speaking of Tom: Roland sure is convinced that Tom couldnt have hurt Julie and Will, and why is that? Is their close friendship based on a shared understandingmaybe a shared identity? Think of how Roland explains himself to Hays in 2015, how he says that Hays is mistaken when he thinks Roland got married, had a wife, had children, had a family. Why wouldnt Roland want those things, or make those choices? Maybe because hes hiding the same thing that Tom was? I thought last week that maybe it wasnt really Julie calling the tip line and launching into that tirade about Tom, but no, it wasthe finger prints on the truck stop pay phone match the ones from Walgreens. But, now for another question: In 2015, is Julie still alive? Or did she slip through everyones fingers back then? Far less relationship drama between Hays and Amelia this week, but still, theyre not on level ground, especially when she reveals she is working on an update to the book now that Julie is revealed to be alive. This would probably have required too much effort, but if HBO had paid for a ghostwriter to write a version of Life and Death and the Harvest Moon as a tie-in for marketing purposes, I would 100% buy and read that shit. Amelia has a good voice! A lost child is a story that is never allowed to end is a good line! Oh, and yeah: Looks like we found the guy with the filmy eye and the scar! He comes to Amelias book reading to harass her (with language that seems very similar to her husbands: making your money and milking their pain), and yup, he sure seems like someone who is after finding out where Julie is. Kind of like the men Dan OBrien warned Hays and West about Dan OBrien, you twitchy, sketchy scumbag. What did you and cousin Lucy do? (Aside from probably fool around, which, gross.) Im not surprised in the least that he tried to sell his information to Hays and West, and that he later folded when a fallen-off-the-wagon Tom threatened his life, but I am a little surprised he managed to stay off the grid for 10 years. But do we think now that his death, and the abandonment of his bones at the bottom of that Missouri quarry, are Hays and Wests doing? Im not so sure anymore. But I do think he gives us our clearest glimpse into Lucys motivations when he describes of her, She didnt know when to stop pushing Shed keep on pushing until she got what she didnt want. Was she complaining about her children at work? Did someone offer to take them away? Did she agree to something from which she couldnt then back out? The woman seems consumed by self-loathingthink of her continued nastiness toward Amelia in 1980and maybe its because of something she did. Something she thought would help her children (who we know now were passing notes through that hole in their bedroom wallsnot a peephole, but a communication bridge) laugh, but that didnt work out the way she anticipated. Finally, in 2015: The show has obviously focused a lot on how the Julie Purcell case has haunted Hays over the years, but I wonder what other detective work may come back to Hays in the middle of the night. His Its terrible what this work makes you ponder suggests a weariness that goes broader than this alone. Some of the writing felt a little too on the nose for me this episode, but I liked how Hays tells Elisa to reconsider her assumptions about the case. What you just did is speculation, that leads to projection, we call it. Twists what you see, obfuscates truth, he remarks, and I would imagine the concern of obfuscating truth would resonate deeply with a man who keeps struggling to remember who he is and what hes done. When Hays tells Roland that he realized Will and Julie were passing notes through what they thought was the peephole, West says to his former partner, Thats right. Thats correct. How much of what Hays is telling West does he already know? Are there truly even any mysteries left behind the two men, or does West already hold all the pieces? Also, my money now is on Hays and Roland having done something with Harris James, but Im not sure anymore about Dan. But if West doesnt see the car that Hays was convinced was spying on him does that mean West was driving that car? DUN DUN DUN (I dont actually believe this, this isnt a real theory, Im sorry). Finally, some odds and ends:: + My closed captioning called what Tom did in that interview room with Hays and West as roars and howling, and yup, that was a guttural, heart-wrenching mess. I am running out of words to describe Scoot McNairys performance here. If Mahershala Ali is a pillar of hardened exhaustion, Scoot is like a scarecrow come to life, a punching bag with his insides spilling out, a man barely holding himself together. I feel for him deeply. + I thought angry 1990s Stephen Dorff in this episode looked particularly like his vampire self in Blade, and lets revisit, youre welcome. via GIPHY EXCUSE ME LOOK AT THESE VISUAL EFFECTS. SO HI-TECH. via GIPHY + BRB, crying: Its 2015, isnt it? Thats right, pal. + That diner scene with Dan operated as a reminder of Hayss particular feelings about young white men: Wayne grabbing the forkful of eggs out of Dans mouth and reassuring him I speak crazy. Im fucking fluent was a bit of a flashback to how he scared the teens back in 1980. + Hays tells West while theyre driving that Devils Den back in 1980 was a homo cruising spot. Did we know that before? I just remember it being mentioned as a place where teens drank, did drugs, and partied. + You got a good body, Detective, was a weird thing for Harris to say to Hays, but not that weird given that Arkansas still seems pretty steeped in racism, and in white people treating black people like property. West makes this very clear when Hays gets out of the car after their fight: People see your black ass skulking around, youre gonna get yourself shot. + I appreciated Hayss advice to Henry to not tell his wife Heather about his affair with Elisa, because you know, I think I agree. What good does sharing that information do? Why cause pain to assuage his own guilt? But at the same time, does this speak to other things Hays might have hid from Amelia, or vice versa? + My favorite exchange of the episode: West: I thought it took God seven days to make the world. Hays: He rested on the seventh. I always thought he shoulda put the extra day in, instead of half-assing it. + Why in 1990, when Amelia was interviewing that young woman, did the camera cut to the landscaper outside? Red herring? Or something that might come up again? + You oughta write a book. Write about what happens to kids out here. What happens to girls, that young woman says to Amelia, but it makes me sad to even voice this: Who would have listened in 1990? We can barely get anyone to listen to womens pain now, nearly 30 years later. Donald Trump is Launching Skynet | Re-Reviewed or: How I Learned to Stop Snarking and Love 'Happy Death Day' Roxana Hadadi is a Senior Editor for Pajiba. You can follow her on Twitter. Image sources (in order of posting): HBO Media Relations, HBO Media Relations, HBO Media Relations, HBO Media Relations, HBO Media Relations, HBO Media Relations Recently, the Indian government held a grand military parade in New Delhi, capital of India, to celebrate its 70th Republic Day. In previous military parades, the public was often attracted by the "astonishing" motorcycle stunts. However, this year's parade was more eye-catching although it showed less weaponry and equipment than before. Particularly, it was the first time that some main battle equipment of the Indian Army was publicly displayed. For this reason, the parade offered an opportunity for the public to observe and analyze the development trends of the Indian Army's main military equipment in the years to come. Armored Forces The parade was led by the T-90 main battle tank (MBT) and the BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), which will remain the main weaponry of the armored forces of the Indian Army in the foreseeable future. At present, the Indian Army is equipped with 1,657 T-90 main battle tanks, including 310 early S/SK models and 1,347 upgraded MS models. In contrast, the number of T-90 MBTs in service in the Russian Army is only 550. Moreover, the Indian Army planned to buy another 354 T-90 MS tanks to equip its six tank regiments deployed near the China-India border area. By 2020, the number of T-90 MBTs in the Indian Army is expected to reach 2,011. In addition to its 124 Arjun Mk1 MBTs and 2,410 T-72M1 MBTs in service, the Indian Army owns more than 4,000 third-generation MBTs. T-90 main battle tanks (Photo by VCG) From the perspective of future development of Indian armored forces, various types of T-90 MBTs remain the "main force", but they are gradually becoming "outdated". To enhance its overall equipment level, the armored forces of the Indian Army still needs to rely on the upgrading of its domestically developed Arjun main battle tanks. After all, the upgrading potential of the T-90 MBT is limited and subject to the constraints of Russia. This isn't what India wants. Actually, India has stepped up independent development of military equipment in an attempt to abate its reliance on Russia as much as possible. A prominent evidence is its development of infantry fighting vehicles. The Russian-made BMP-2 is the only infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) in service in Indian armored forces, which is equipped with 2,691 such vehicles, the largest number across the world. However, India isnt supposed to take pride in this because the BMP-2 IFV adopted the second-generation technology. Currently, the more advanced fourth-generation infantry fighting vehicle represented by Germanys Puma has already prevailed in the world. The two generations of infantry fighting vehicles contrast sharply in performance. In fact, the Indian Army has long considered renewing and replacing its BMP-2 IFVs. Since 2001, it has begun to develop a third-generation infantry fighting vehicle named Abhay. This vehicle completely adopted Western standards in terms of overall design and vehicle-mounted weapons. Because India's major military-industrial research and development (R&D) institutionthe Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) lacked relevant experience, India had to seek assistance from Russia. However, Russia showed little interest in the project. Instead, it suggested India abandon the Abhay infantry fighting vehicle R&D project (due to the lesson it learned from the Arjun MBT), but directly purchase the exiting BMP-3 IFV from Russia. Nevertheless, the Indian side stuck to develop its own Abhay infantry fighting vehicle. In 2013, at the meeting for Indo-Russian military technology cooperation, India informed the Russian side in all seriousness that it would never give up the Abhay project and purchase Russias BMP-3 IFVs as substitutes. Thus, India and Russia officially broke up in the Abhay infantry fighting vehicle R&D project. As a result, after the initial prototype was completed in 2005, no substantial progress has since been made, leaving the project in a stage of nearly stagnation. As the Abhay IFV project faces difficulties and setbacks, the Indian Army has to upgrade its BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles to maintain its armored forces combat capacity. One upgraded version is the model equipped with minesweeping devices displayed at this years military parade. Without technical support from other countries such as the United States and European countries, it will be hard for India to resume its R&D project of the domestically developed Abhay IFV in the near future. K-9 "Thunder" 155 mm self-propelled howitzer systems Artillery troops Unlike its armored forces equipped with Russian weaponry, Indias artillery troops have always followed a path integrating Russian and Western-standard weapons. Apart from Russian artillery weapons such as M-46 130 mm towed field guns, D-30 122 mm towed howitzers, 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled 122 mm howitzers, India also has Western-standard artillery pieces such as FH77/B 155 mm self-propelled howitzers and FV433 105 mm self-propelled howitzers. Based on the US M777 light-weight 155 mm towed howitzer and the South Korean K9 Thunder 155 mm self-propelled howitzer displayed at the military parade, it is conjectured that the artillery troops of the Indian Army will totally adopt Western-standard 155 mm artillery pieces and gradually abandon Russian 130 mm and 122 mm artillery weapons. Meanwhile, Western-standard 105 mm artillery pieces will remain in Indias artillery troops. Due to its high prices, the Indian Army has only bought 145 M777 light-weight 155 mm towed howitzers from the US. However, the Indian Army has high expectations for this howitzer, and hopes it will become a prime high-attitude combat weapon due to its great mobility. Therefore, when it live broadcast the military parade, Indias national TV station particularly stressed that M777 light-weight 155 mm towed howitzer had been commissioned to Indian artillery troops near the China-India border while introducing the howitzers performance features. In addition, the Indian Air Force ordered 15 CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters from the US to transport M777 lightweight 155 mm towed howitzers to plateau areas. M777 light-weight 155 mm towed howitzers In addition to the American M777 light-weight 155 mm towed howitzer, the South Korean K9 Thunder 155 mm self-propelled howitzer, which was first unveiled to the public at the military parade, was also eye-catching. Prior to the military parade, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi particularly visited the L&T ordnance factory and test-drove the domestically produced K9 Thunder 155 mm self-propelled howitzer that just rolled off the assembly line. The K9 Thunder self-propelled 155 mm howitzer has become the worlds best-selling 52 times diameter self-propelled 155 mm howitzer. What attracts India the most is that South Korea is willing to transfer all technical and production patents and assembly lines of the howitzer. This enables the buyers to assemble the K9 Thunder self-propelled 155 mm howitzer domestically, rather than import finished howitzers afar from South Korea. For this reason, India ordered 100 K9 Thunder 155 mm self-propelled howitzers while reserving an additional order for another 50. For the first batch of 10 K9 Thunder 155 mm self-propelled howitzers ordered by India, the South Korean side provided all components which were then assembled in Indias L&T ordnance factory. For the following batches, India will gradually use some domestically produced components and parts to achieve partial localization. In the future, the Indian artillery troops will replace its current 2S1 Gvozdika 122 mm self-propelled howitzers and FV433 105 mm self-propelled howitzers with K9 Thunder 155 mm self-propelled howitzers. Air Defense Forces During the military parade, the air defense forces of the Indian Army displayed the domestically developed Akash medium-range mobile surface-to-air missile defense system and the Barak 8 medium and long-range surface-to-air missile defense system jointly developed by India and Israel. In terms of overall design and performance, the Indian Akash medium-range mobile surface-to-air missile defense system already lagged behind from the moment it was successfully developed. After all, it uses integral rocket/ramjet engine, an outdated propellant design that has been abandoned in the latest anti-aircraft missile systems developed by countries around the world. As a successor of the Russian SA-6 medium-range mobile surface-to-air missile system, the Akash medium-range mobile surface-to-air missile defense system still uses integral rocket/ramjet engine, evidencing an obvious weak link in Indias military-industrial technology. This also results in the bigger size and heavier fighting load of the Akash medium-range mobile surface-to-air missile defense system. However, it lags far behind its counterparts such as the Russian Buk medium-range surface-to-air missile system and the Chinese HQ-16 air-defense missiles in important performance indexes such as firing range. Moreover, each launcher truck can only carry three missiles, resulting in its weak multi-target and sustainable fighting capacity. The Barak 8 medium and long-range surface-to-air missile defense system. The Indian Army is clear about the shortcomings of its domestically developed Akash medium-range mobile surface-to-air missile defense system. Even so, it still purchased Akash systems enough to equip four regiments. In 2007, urged by the Indian Army, the DRDO launched the next-generation development plan named QRSAM. The designed firing range of the QRSAM system is equal to that of the Akash medium-range surface-to-air missile system, but its overall design is much more advanced. The QRSAM system remains in the stage of testing. In the future, it will gradually replace several less advanced medium-range surface-to-air missile systems that are currently in service in the Indian Army, including the Akash medium-range mobile surface-to-air missile defense system. Compared to India's homemade Akash medium-range mobile surface-to-air missile defense system, the Barak 8 medium and long-range surface-to-air missile defense system jointly developed by India and Israel is undoubtedly much more advanced. The ship-borne model of this medium and long-range surface-to-air missile defense system has been equipped in the Kolkata-class missile destroyer, the most advanced of its kind in the Indian Navy. Moreover, ground-based missile models have been commissioned to the Indian Air Force and the air defense troops of the Indian Army. The Barak 8 medium and long-range surface-to-air missile defense system has a maximal range of 100 kilometers and features a guidance system combining two-way data link and active RF/IIF seeker, with a searching and tracking system using advanced EL/M-2248 MF-STAR active phased array radar. Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) is developing a range-extended model of the Barak 8 medium and long-range surface-to-air missile defense system, with an aim to extend its range to 150 kilometers. Before the S-400 medium and long-range surface-to-air missile system ordered by India is delivered, the Barak 8 medium and long-range surface-to-air missile defense system will still play a key role in consolidating the air defense and anti-missile capacity of the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force. Disclaimer: The author is Huang Guoqiang, reporter with The Paper. The article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article are those of the author from The Paper and do not reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn. Chinamil.com.cn does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. Kingwood Christian Church hosts positive political conversations Its not easy to discuss hot political topics without getting, well, hot under the collar. Dr. John Theis may have the solution, a series of programs hes dubbed Community Conversations. Hes encouraging Lake Houston residents to participate in Community Conversations on March 12 and April 24 at Kingwood Christian Church, 3910 W. Lake Houston Pkwy. We dont talk to each other enough to understand why we disagree and what assumptions and values drive us to our opinions, he said. Theis is a professor of political science at Lone Star College-Kingwood and director of their Center for Engagement. Hes encouraging Lake Houston residents to participate in the series, joining with fellow Lake Houston neighbors in making tough choices and discussing difficult issues. On March 12, the difficult issue will be A House Divided, and on April 24, the issue is Keeping America Safe. There is no charge and sandwiches will be served. - Community Conversations to focus on security, divisiveness - These Community Conversations are based on a similar series Theis led for several years at Lone Stars Kingwood campus and, a year ago, at Kingwood Christian Church. I asked people I know to round up 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans. We used a guide called the Political Fix. It was a productive conversation, he said, and now I want to bring it into the community as a way to promote an alternative vision of democratic politics. Kingwood Christian Church Pastor Chad Mattingly enthusiastically joined Theis in supporting Conversations. Were a safe space, Mattingly said about his church. Our vision is to be more than a building but a space for open-minded dialogues. Hosting Community Conversations is another step for us to be recognized as a conversation center. Theis believes that most Americans are not able to talk through diverse perspectives. I hope participants will gain a better sense of what causes us to disagree with each other and where we have common ground, Theis said. Conversations will not have speakers or presenters. Participants will deliberate and make choices with each other about ways to approach difficult issues like security and divisiveness and to work toward creating reasoned public judgment, he said. Deliberative dialogues, he said, are an essential public skill, built on the theory that democracy requires us to engage in ongoing deliberation on public matters. This is the process through which differences are negotiated and group decisions are made, Theis said. Deliberation is not the practice of discussion for discussions sake but rather oriented toward reaching common ground and taking action. Each Conversation will be based on books from the National Issues Forum Institute that lay out a set of ground rules. Participants then will discuss each perspective so that they see all perspectives with an eye on where they agree and disagree. The National Issues Forum Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization promoting public deliberation about difficult public issues, encouraging communities to organize forums just like Lake Houstons Conversations. Professor John Theis has been conducting Community Conversations like this one on the Lone Star campus for more than six years. Conversations will be held in March and April at Kingwood Christian Church. At the end of the two hours, the small groups will each reflect on the themes theyve determined, look for the next step, and report their thoughts to the entire group, Theis said. At the conclusion of the programs, Theis will survey the participants and send a report to the Kettering Foundation. My goal, then, is to schedule more Conversations, one every two months, he said. We have a hollowed-out view of citizens as voters, said Theis. Weve always approached our civic duty to just vote and then let our elected officials fix our problems. Frankly, I dont think our elected officials have always done a very good job. He believes that those who participate in Community Conversations will find it to be an engaging and lively conversation on issues that seem to divide Americans and their politics. I expect participants will gain a better sense of what causes people to disagree with them and will discover common ground, Theis said. For those who would like more information about the idea of deliberation, Theis has developed a short video based on his campus work, youtube.com/watch?v=_DdjHCfgPjY&feature=youtube. To participate in Community Conversations on March 12 and April 24 and become part of the solution, register at the Eventbrite website, eventbrite.com/e/deliberation-a-house-divided-tickets-55349490817 and at eventbrite.com/e/deliberation-keeping-america-safe-tickets-55349663333. Will Texans have to fall back this fall? A San Antonio state legislator wants to celebrate the centennial of Daylight Saving Time (DST) by getting rid of it. There may be no need to fall back this fall if State Representative Lyle Larson (R) has his way. Hes filed HB 49, the Texas Loves Sunshine Act of 2019, to end DST in Texas. Traditionally, school kids and adults alike learn to spring forward one hour in the spring then fall back one hour in the fall. If successful, Larsons bill would exempt the State of Texas from federal law that established DST in 1918. One-hundred years later, Larson recently wrote in a newsletter to his constituents, we should acknowledge in todays world, with the benefit of so many modern technological advancements, Daylight Saving Time has long outlasted it purpose and, as a result, is wildly unpopular with folks across the country. The representative quotes a poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports discovering 33 percent of American adults think DST is not worth the effort. Congress enacted the law compelling Americans to switch clocks twice a year with the worthy goal of saving energy Larson wrote, Since coal was the exclusive energy source at that time, ensuring Americans had more daylight working hours made sense, and DST actually did save energy. Our own state representative agrees with Larson and the Rasmussen poll. I can support Rep. Larsons bill to end DST, said State Rep. Dan Huberty, who represents the Lake Houston area. Texas can continue Daylight Savings Time year-round or continue standard time year-round. My wife pointed out that shed prefer year-round DST, but whatever the legislature approves is fine with me. As Rep. Larson says, the jolting process of adjusting to a new time twice each year frankly is outdated. Its time to put an end to it. Lake Houston residents seem to agree with their state representative as well. Were for DST all year, said Connie and Darryal Chandler, owners of Minuteman Press in Humble. Yes, we have the same amount of daylight no matter what we call it, but its better to have the daylight at the end of the day rather than early in the morning. Most of the United States observes Daylight Savings Time, except Arizona and Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Dr. John Theis lived in Arizona for five years and in Korea as well, and neither place change their clocks. I liked not having saving time because it never really made sense, said Theis, a political science professor at Lone Star College-Kingwood. The downside in Arizona was that it often was confusing because states around us would change their clocks twice a year, but we didnt. On the other hand, I wish we didnt have it because I frankly dont see any modern-day reason for it. Sam Schrade, owner of DNA Studios in Humble, agreed. My understanding is that DST was to help farmers back in the day have more daylight when it was time to pick their crops, said Schrade. I dont see why we need to change our clocks based on that older business model, and, if youve ever had young kids, you know that time change is chaotic for the first couple of weeks. One well-known Lake Houston individual who asked to remain anonymous said what many Lake Houston residents believe. I dont have an opinion on this one, the individual said, but, if youd asked me 20 years ago when I had young kids and wanted them in bed early I definitely had an opinion then! The Texas Loves Sunshine Act isnt the only bill Larson has introduced this session. One would prevent future boating tragedies, another moves the date of the Texas primary election to make it the first in the country, and, like Huberty, Larson is working on the complicated issue of school finance and property tax reform. Federal law requires states exempting themselves to be on standard time year-round, so Larson wants the federal government to amend that law allowing Texans to observe DST year-round. Research has shown the risk of heart attack increases 10 percent in the days following springing forward, most likely caused by sleep deprivation and the interruption of biological rhythms studies also indicate we are less productive, most likely to get sick, and just simply exhausted in the days following the time change, he wrote. To share an opinion about DST, contact Larson at 512-463-0646 or house.texas.gov/members/member-page/?district=122. Do you appreciate the work we do as the only independent media outlet dedicated to serving OU students, faculty, staff and alumni on campus and around the world for more than 100 years? Then consider helping fund our endeavors. Around the world, communities are grappling with what journalism is worth and how to fund the civic good that robust news organizations can generate. We believe The OU Daily and Crimson Quarterly magazine provide real value to this community both now by covering OU, and tomorrow by helping launch the careers of media professionals. If youre able, please SUPPORT US TODAY FOR AS LITTLE AS $1. You can make a one-time donation or a recurring pledge. Source: DefenceWeb China, it was revealed last week, has been an exemplary partner to the African Union (AU) providing $180 million worth of funding to the continental bodys peace and security efforts. A statement issued on behalf of AU peace and security commissioner Ambassador Smail Chergui in Addis Ababa detailed this as being in two packages $100 million for the African Standby Force (ASF) and the African Capacity for immediate Response to Crisis (ACIRC) and a second of $80 million. The statement was issued at a function where the second tranche of funding was seen as an opportunity to begin discussions on how to use this generous package in a way that aligns with the priorities of the African continent. Some of the Chinese support will go to ongoing AU peace support operations. These include the MNJTF (Multi-National Joint Task Force against Boko Haram), the G5-Sahel as well as supporting the police deployment component of AMISOM. The AU would want to use some Chinese support to the benefit of the five regional standby forces. The Commission is planning to send an assessment mission to the five regional standby force headquarters to determine their exact needs and we will then respond to the Chinese side with a detailed assessment of the state of play and requirements, the statement said. Chinese support to the AUs peace and security agenda has, to date, been focused almost exclusively on military support in development of the African Standby Force. This has been based on two considerations firstly, Chinas deep-seated and longstanding refusal to become involved in internal affairs of other countries, which entails conflict prevention and issues of governance, etc., are not eligible and secondly, the priorities and needs of the AU, which identify the ASF as an initiative to be supported. While the AU respects and appreciates Chinas position on non-interference, we would like to explore ways in which China can increase its support to the conflict mediation effort in future, making use of the extensive leverage it brings to the table. Support over the years to the AUs mediation efforts between Sudan and South Sudan and in South Sudan itself and in particular the support given to the AUHIP (AU High Level Implementation Panel) is a case in point. China played a critical role in bringing the parties to the negotiating table to sign the peace agreements negotiated. The AU would like to see more support in this vein in other mediation efforts, since the ultimate objective is to reduce the need for the deployment of peace support operations. According to the statement part of the $100 million package has been disbursed to a continental logistic base in Yaounde, Cameroon. Disclaimer: This article was originally produced and published by DefenceWeb. View the original article at DefenceWeb. Oswego, NY (13126) Today Mainly sunny. High 81F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy. Low around 60F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Such a lawsuit would only add to a Florida legal climate that is becoming more hostile to our states economic well-being. Manufacturers today employ more than 367,000 Floridians and create economic output totaling more than $50 billion. More misguided lawsuits against energy manufacturers are not what Floridians need. They will only line the pockets of trial attorneys while distorting our legal system in the process, serving as the perfect example as to why we need for tort reform. Had I intended to make a statement to be understood by the readers, I would have done so in a more subtle, sophisticated manner, Wiley said in a statement. This coming Saturday will mark the 27th anniversary of Non Sequitur, and in all that time, I have never done anything like this, nor do I intend to do so in the future. Freshman state Rep. Anthony Sabatini, a Howey-in-the-Hills Republican, has introduced a bill that would allow people with permits to carry concealed firearms on Floridas college and university campuses. In an Orlando Sentinel article in January, he said safety warnings in other states that allow guns on campus have not come to pass. States are laboratories of democracy, Sabatini said. And in those 12 states, none of the things university presidents said would happen happened. On education, DeSantis budget surprises in a good way. Though he rarely has appeared at traditional public schools and has praised charter schools, DeSantis is proposing $21.7 billion for K-12 schools, a nearly $700 million increase over the current year. That comes out to about $7,653 per student, a $224 increase. He wants to spend another $423 million to recruit and retain top teachers and principals, a move that would replace the existing Best and Brightest Program. And he wants a $10 million boost to mental health funding for schools. Without the penalties, the bill may be more appealing to the Florida Senate, which is viewed as the more moderate chamber and has blocked similar proposals in the past. But the watered-down measure may not be as attractive to those who want to crack down on illegal immigration in the Florida House, where a tougher proposal is being pushed this year. It is irresponsible to ignore our duty to govern while a shutdown remains unresolved, Murphy said. When Congress fails to do its most basic responsibility of funding the government, it should be forced to keep working until both sides can agree to a sensible solution. This bipartisan legislation would simply ask Congress to do the bare minimum stay in town and work around the clock until the job is done. John Goodson, a veteran who said he has post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq, told the committee that concentrates or oral forms of medical marijuana are not as helpful as the smokable cannabis. I have PTSD from Iraq. It really shook my nerves to come up here, but its by far the most effective drug that Ive had. Demolishing the old facility and building a new one on the same site will require shutting down the McLeod Road hub for up to 18 months, inconveniencing some waste-haulers who will have to find another transfer station. By Wang Shoubao, Wang Xiaopeng African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security, Smail Chergui speaks at The 32nd African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on February 11, 2019. (Photo by Minasse Wondimu Hailu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 12 (ChinaMil) -- The African Union (AU) Commissioner for Peace and Security Smail Chergui hailed on Monday the durable peace and security cooperation between the AU and China. During the 32nd African Union Heads of State and Government Summit, Chergui said that China is an important partner to the AU and Africa. Chinese peacekeepers have played a vital role in safeguarding peace and security in South Sudan and Mali. Chergui said, in addition to Chinese peacekeepers deployed in conflict zones, China has also provided technical and logistical support for the AU's peacekeeping operations. Chergui said the AU and China have also achieved welcome results in the cooperation of health, energy and infrastructure, etc. He hoped that both sides will continue to strengthen high-level cooperation. (He) says that while he wasnt present at the Grammy Awards, he was there in spirit and is grateful for the support from around the world and is more than ever, ready to be with his loved ones and continue making music that brings people together, their statement reads. With the eyes of the entire country upon us, all of us together are going to make our stand. Here in one of the safest cities in the United States of America safe, not because of walls but in spite of walls, ORourke said, in the sort of rousing speech that brought nationwide attention to his Senate race last year, though he lost to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. One Sinaloa insider described Mexican workers getting contact highs while packing cocaine into thousands of jalapeno cans shipments that totaled 25 to 30 tons of cocaine worth $500 million each year. Another testified how Guzman sometimes acted as his own sicario, or hitman, punishing a Sinaloan who dared to work for another cartel by kidnapping him, beating and shooting him and having his men bury the victim while he was still alive, gasping for air. The bus filled with 37 students was transporting students to East Ridge Middle School in Clermont at 8:49 a.m. when the driver noticed the leak, apparently caused by a small hose that carried antifreeze malfunctioned, according to reports. The driver stopped the bus, the students were evacuated and then loaded into a new bus after complaining about an odor coming out of the air ducts. To employers, I would say dont put limits, and youre investing in what someone can do, and you need to look at what people can do as opposed to what they might not be able to do, Moss said. A disability generally is not all-encompassing, it is just part of who someone is, not everything they are. Everyone is unique, everyone has strengths and weaknesses and everyone has talent. Lambert and Smith told detectives they did not know what was in the packages they picked up, and it is unclear if the three men arrested were the ones that made the phone calls, based on police reports. "Orlando Sentinel Now" is a midday news show features the top news and quirky stories of the day. The show airs weekdays at noon on Facebook and OrlandoSentinel.com. You can join the conversation by commenting and taking polls. That includes a review completed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which was handed over to the State Attorneys Office in August 2016. The state agency examined law enforcement agents use of force during their response to the shooting. Investigators also found disturbing writings on papers that were from a notebook the student sometimes took to school, including the phrase they are gonna die, which had been scribbled over, and drawings of a rifle and what appeared to be a body. Grant Amato, 29, was located at an Orlando hotel the next day. He admitted getting into an argument with his parents centering on his communication with a Bulgarian woman he met on an adult website. Amatos surviving brother told deputies Amato had stolen more than $200,000 from their family to send to the woman. GUANGZHOU, Feb. 12 (ChinaMil) -- Senior Colonel Li Huamin, spokesman for the Southern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), urged last night the US to stop its provocative actions in the South China Sea and stressed that the Chinese military will closely monitor the relevant sea and air situations and take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard China's sovereignty and security. Li said that two US Navy warships, guided-missile destroyers USS Spruance and USS Preble, entered the waters adjacent to the Ren'ai Shoal and Meiji Jiao of China's Nansha Islands on the morning of February 11 without permission from the Chinese government. In response, the PLA Southern Theater Command organized its sea and air forces and reef-guarding troops to track and monitor the US warships all the way. They conducted verification and identification on the US destroyers, warned and drove them off China' territorial seas. Li pointed out that the action by the US side has violated China's laws and relevant international laws, infringed upon China's sovereignty, and endangered regional peace and stability. China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters including Ren'ai Shoal and Meiji Jiao. Li Huamin urged the US side to stop such provocative actions. He stressed that the troops of the PLA Southern Theater Command will closely monitor the relevant sea and air situations and take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard China's sovereignty and security. Vila, a Tampa physician, noted that a number of plastic-surgery organizations, including the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery and the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, issued an advisory to members last year asking them to, among other things, provide patients with additional information about the procedures. If John Williams had composed only the theme to Star Wars or Raiders of the Lost Ark, we would hail him as a legend. But the musical genius has created so much great music that the Boston Pops career retrospective doesnt even have room for the iconic themes from Superman or Jurassic Park. This lab will serve as the campus primary hub for students to develop and expand their information security skills, preparing them to enter this high demand field and take on the cybersecurity threats of the future, said Whittaker in a news release. But the restaurant shut down over the weekend. Co-owner Greg Pranzo said the restaurant was doing well and was frequently busy, but the restaurant is now looking for a new space. He said he was not permitted to give further details. What's Included With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 716-372-3121 or email nfinnerty@oleantimesherald.com. Glen Oaks Village: Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, during an interview with CBS anchor Gayle King, called former slaves indentured servants and was corrected. What could he have been thinking? First he (or someone else on his yearbook page) was pictured in blackface next to a person in a KKK robe and hood. Now he says former slaves were servants. I find both to be both appalling and racist. Our African-Americans brothers and sisters were taken from their homeland and suffer much by the hands of those who saw the Africans as being inferior to the white race. Slavery in my opinion is an abomination and is and was wrong. As such, I think Northam should resign for the good of Virginia and the nation. For racism has no place in the America I know and love. Remember this too: God made man but man made slaves. Frederick R. Bedell Jr. RTHK: Trial of Catalan separatists begins in Madrid Catalan separatist leaders accused of rebellion for trying to make their region independent from Spain launched their defence on Tuesday at the start of their long-awaited trial. Sitting on benches in the ornate chamber of Madrid's Supreme Court, the defendants faced a row of judges and a Spanish flag in proceedings broadcast live on television. Twelve defendants are in the dock over an independence referendum, held on October 1, 2017 in defiance a court ban, and a short-lived declaration of independence. Nine of them are charged with rebellion and three face lesser charges of disobedience and misuse of public funds. The independence bid sparked Spain's deepest political crisis since the transition to democracy in the 1970s after the death of dictator Francisco Franco. "This case targets political dissidence," said Andreu Van den Eynde, the lawyer of two defendants including Catalonia's former vice president Oriol Junqueras, who faces up to 25 years in jail. The lawyer accused authorities of violating the defendants' fundamental rights. In a politically-charged case, Spain has been forced to defend its judiciary against criticism of the proceedings against the Catalans. Supreme Court President Carlos Lesmes alleged "a big smear campaign." Many Spaniards support the proceedings, shocked by the actions of Catalonia's regional executive in October 2017. Before the start of the trial, separatist officials demonstrated near the courthouse, holding a banner that read: "Deciding is not an offence". More than 600 journalists are accredited to cover the trial. Separatists in Catalonia want to hold a referendum on the region's future and have dismissed the trial as a politically-motivated "farce". Pro-independence protesters in the region briefly blocked several roads before dawn, setting fire to tyres and holding up traffic. Protests have been called in Barcelona, the Catalan capital, at 7:00 pm (1800 GMT). Carles Puigdemont, Catalonia's former president who fled to Belgium days after the independence declaration on October 27, is not among the defendants. Spain does not try suspects in absentia for major offences. Speaking from Berlin, Puigdemont said the trial was a "stress test for Spanish democracy". He called on the international community for help, asking the European Union why it was more concerned with Venezuela than Madrid. In his absence, the trial's main protagonist is his former deputy Junqueras, who opted to remain in Spain. The 11 other defendants include members of Catalonia's former executive, the two leaders of powerful pro-independence associations, ANC and Omnium Cultural, and the former president of the Catalan parliament. They face jail terms of seven to 17 years. The nine defendants charged with rebellion have been in pre-trial detention for months, some of them for more than a year. Controversy has swirled over the charge of rebellion. Under Spanish law, rebellion is defined as "rising up in a violent and public manner". But opinion is divided over whether the independence bid was violent. Prosecutors say the defendants "called on citizens to participate in the October 1 referendum knowing it was illegal and that explosions of violence could therefore take place". But supporters of independence deny the accusation of violence. They accuse the police of brutality during the referendum. Pictures of officers seizing voters during raids on polling stations during the referendum were seen in media around the world. Hundreds of witnesses have been called to testify, including former conservative prime minister Mariano Rajoy who was in office at the time of the referendum. The trial is scheduled to last three months, with verdicts expected several months afterwards. The Catalonia question continues to fan political tension. Tens of thousands of people joined a rally on Sunday in Madrid called by right-wing and far-right parties against Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whom they accuse of "high treason" over his negotiations with Catalan separatists. Sanchez, who came to power in June with the support of Catalan nationalist parties, had tried to defuse tensions by resuming talks which were called off under Rajoy. But the talks broke down on Friday. Sanchez's minority government relies on the support of Catalan separatist parties to approve its 2019 budget. But the separatists have vowed to block it during a parliamentary vote on Wednesday, opening the door for Sanchez to call an early general election. (AFP) This story has been published on: 2019-02-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. And she is the one who said support for Israel among her colleagues is all about the Benjamins, baby, charging that Jewish money is controlling Congress. When urged to clarify what she meant, she answered that the problem is AIPAC! pointing the finger at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee but may as well have said the media and the banks. The birth of this little one is as a result of an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy, resulting in the mother deciding to throw her baby into a storm water drain. Its something that we need to do... to strengthen our family planning, he said Monday. Chapo, who sported a navy blue suit, striped blue tie, and a light blue shirt to his trial on Monday at federal court in Brooklyn, listened intently as an interpreter translated U.S. District Judge Brian Cogans reading of the latest round of questions presented by the jury. Tomorrow were going to see a rare moment in Albany and we hope that legislators will listen to victims and be able to victim-centered legislation." Leah Herbert, who was chief of staff for former Assemblyman Vito Lopez, said during a Manhattan press conference Tuesday. This is not just about the reverend. This is about those who have emboldened him. Because he didn't get here on his own. You have the Bronx County Party that embraces, that uplifted him, that pushed him forward. You have a speaker that made him a committee and gave him an assignment. This to me is unacceptable, Mark-Viverito said. Democratic and Republican negotiators announced a deal in principle Monday night that gives $1.375 billion for border security and 55 miles of fencing in Texas. It also gives Trump the flexibility to detain up to 52,000 undocumented migrants, according to Republicans. But it has no money for a concrete wall, and is far short of the funding Trump wanted. It was not immediately clear what version of the resolution McConnell would advance, but a spokesman said if could be the very one that has been backed in the Senate by five presidential candidates, including New Yorks Kirsten Gillibrand. McSally is a former Republican congresswoman who was appointed to McCain's seat after she narrowly lost to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema last November in the race for outgoing Republican Jeff Flake's seat. McSally leaned heavily on her record as the first woman to fly a combat mission, but she was hurt by her embrace of President Donald Trump. A lot of people seem to be indicating that they believe there would have to be multiple pieces, he said following his testimony. And the math shows it, I don't think it can be done with only one piece, and I think it's pretty clear in terms of dollars and cents. But Zaid, citing sources, charged the arbitration was filed on Trumps orders, thereby violating Simss First Amendment protections, since the U.S. government in this case, the President is prohibited by the Constitution from preventing federal employees from speaking about their time in office once they leave, unless it pertains to classified matters. The Queens Democrat, whose district includes the site, spent Saturday canvassing the surrounding neighborhoods drumming up opposition to the proposal. He and others have argued that the deal should be renegotiated and have questioned the companys opposition to unionization of its workers. "If I had been there longer, if I had had more in terms of bandwidth, I would have done more around creating initiatives, for example, in the juvenile justice system, she said, while touting her attempts to end the cash bail system. That was something that was always on my agenda to focus on, and I didn't get around to that." The cease-and-desist letter, obtained by The News, was sent by the schools director of student organizations to the president of Delta Chis Sacramento State chapter. It warned the frat against using harassment or intimidation to silence any members. Jurors at the second trial found Baca lied to authorities in 2013 when he claimed he had no idea his deputies planned to approach and threaten an FBI agent because she was probing allegations of civil rights violations inside his lockups. Most people in our state that are not left-leaning agree with my position on the LGBTQ, he said. Ive received a whole lot of calls from people that are grateful that Ive stood up to these people, and whenever [those in opposition] attack me, theyve either re-elected me to the House or a bigger office in 2020. We questioned them as to whether they were under the effects of the drugs or if they actually saw a tiger, Sgt. Jason Alderete told ABC 13. But the caller insisted they saw a tiger in this building, this vacant house thats obviously been abandoned for some time. His daughter, Ashanti, went to the emergency room on Jan. 29 after developing a high fever. She was given medicine and sent home. She returned on Jan. 31 when her symptoms continued, the dad said. She was then diagnosed with Stevens Johnson Syndrome a rare, serious disorder of skin and mucous membranes that begins with flu-like symptoms, followed by a painful red or purplish rash that spreads and blisters, according to the Mayo Clinic. The skin then sheds days after blisters form. Infections or reactions to medications usually cause Stevens Johnson Syndrome. The best possible outcome has now been realized for all stakeholders, including Sears many associates, Shop Your Way members, vendors and other partners. ESL looks forward to a new era at Sears and Kmart that builds on their proud histories, while finding new ways to innovate and grow to adapt to the forces transforming the retail industry, said Edward S. Lampert, CEO of ESL, in a statement. We are ready for this exciting opportunity to help return Sears to profitability and will apply ourselves every day in pursuit of that goal. The Idaho nurse who pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence in the case of missing Colorado mother Kelsey Berreth followed along because she feared for her life, her friend said. Some of this will be private land, such as ours, but some of it will be public land, like the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge and Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, the center said on its website. These are YOUR lands. "If you are a famous actor and you belong to an organization that hates a certain group of people, don't be surprised if someone simply wonders why it's not addressed," she tweeted. "Being anti LGBTQ is wrong, there aren't two sides. The damage it causes it severe. Full stop. Sending love to all." A package located in the stores shipping area did not have a CVS label, included Riveras return address, and came from a company with which CVS does not do business, the justice department statement said. A subsequent internal investigation by CVS determined that Rivera routinely purchased diabetic test strips in excessive amounts, well over the need for the Humboldt location. The audit could not account for 20,203 boxes purchased by Rivera, for a total financial loss of approximately $2,535,307.62. Video posted on the papers website showed dozens of students dancing in the halls while substitute teachers were helpless to stop them. Some of those kids reportedly went outside and joined their full-time instructors on the picket line. The suit against franchise owner QSR LLC, based in Texas, alleged that rather than being able to pump once every two or so hours, as is medically recommended, she was only able to do so once per 10-hour training shift. As the officers began to forcibly remove the prongs, Plaintiff Johnny Wheatcroft screamed in agony and Defendant Schneider placed his taser on Plaintiff Johnny Wheatcrofts penis and screamed, Keep fighting and youre going to get it again! You want it again? Shut your mouth! Im done f--king around with you! At this same time, one of the officers placed a handgun to Plaintiff Johnny Wheatcrofts head, the lawsuit claims. Blackface photographs are inappropriate and offensive, he said in a statement. They were inappropriate then and are inappropriate today. The Baton Rouge Police Department would like to apologize to our citizens and to anyone who may have been offended by the photographs. She has already had a wheelchair since the 1990s, but now the brand is getting even more inclusive, with plans to roll out a line of dolls with disabilities, as well as differing looks than the traditional big-busted, wasp-waisted original. A 16-year-old briefly took the controls of a Piper Cherokee Six Thursday, where he was one of four passengers on a 19-mile flight from the 367-person town of Napakiak to the 6,400-person city of Bethel. According to KYUK.org, which first reported the story, that flight takes about four minutes. The two were married for 10 years before she divorced him upon learning of his abuse to her daughter, the Herald reported. The daughter was two years old when he came into her life, but it was not immediately clear how long the abuse had been going on. Christian Stewart Oscar Nichols dressed up in a black and white husky dog costume and then recorded himself on video using his penis and multiple penis-shaped sex toys to have inappropriate sexual contact with his dog, according to the Pinellas County sheriffs office. Citing one specific instance in October 2018, officials claim that Plummer picked up a package left for him in Chesapeake and then used his position as a Chesapeake Sheriffs Deputy to deliver the contraband to an inmate the same day. Dejon was in the back seat of a parked car on Thursday evening when a car, described by cops as a sedan, pulled up next to them. The boys older brother and another boy who were also in the back seat were uninjured. The billions in drug money Chapo made and then used to pay off Mexican prison guards wont help him in ADX, where he can expect to spend 23 hours of his day alone in a cell made of thick concrete walls with small, angled windows that only offer a view of the sky built that way so prisoners cant see the Colorado landscape and know exactly where they are. Da Silva, 24, arrived in Federal Court after his arrest one day earlier in the slaying of Reyes. Her body, with her legs and hands bound by white twine and tape, was stuffed inside a red suitcase and dumped in a wooded area of Greenwich, Conn. Cops said her mouth was covered with packing tape. Were here in the largest public housing project not in New York City but in the entire country, she said. What the residents of this community are telling me is that they want jobs. They want training. They want opportunity. Delgrosso said that shortly after the 1978 fight at The Red Awning bar on Myrtle Ave. he told officers who had been called there that he had punched another bar patron after being hit himself. He said it was then that he learned the other guy, who had been badly beaten, was an off-duty cop. New York is arguably the least transparent in the nation when it comes to information about police misconduct, the letter reads. 50-a prevents public disclosure of personnel records. and is used statewide to shield abusive officers and hide the failure of police departments to hold officers accountable for egregious actions, including police brutality, sexual misconduct, lying in official capacities, and other abuse. "He wants to make sure ideas like Pre-K for All, paid personal time, and mental health are on the table as Democrats debate the party's vision for the future," Casca said. "She was here not even three weeks ago," added the woman, who declined to give her name. "She would never pass here and not knock on my door." Cops believe the new suspect, believed to be in his 20s, took part in the brawl on the Manhattan-bound No. 7 train as it pulled into the 90th St. station in Jackson Heights that led up to the shooting about 12:45 p.m. Feb. 3. Kamilah (Kam) Brock was detained in the psych ward in September 2014 after police officers and doctors determined she was having a manic episode. The Long Island woman had been trying to retrieve her car that had been impounded after she admitted to smoking weed. I believe that the Police Commissioner has retaliated against me for my litigation efforts over the administration of the exam and his claims that sergeants who cheated on the test were promoted to lieutenant, Blatt said in papers filed Friday in Manhattan Federal Court. He gets up one day and hes a NYCHA employee of a certain title and by the end of day he is suspended without any clear explanation, Florestal said. NYCHAs trying to save face, and these people are getting caught in the crossfire. These people are being made sacrificial lambs. The 31-year-old victim was blasted multiple times in the head and body outside a metal works shop on Fowler Ave. near 131st St. and next to the elevated Van Wyck Expressway in Flushing about 2:35 a.m., cops said. Eng is accused of slashing the neck of 65-year-old Paula Chin and hauling her corpse off to her second home in Morristown, N.J., with the help of his girlfriends Caitlyn ORourke, 21, and Jennifer Lopez, 18. Eng was enrolled at SUNY New Paltz last fall; ORourke is currently a student there. A 911 caller said they saw Meade walking down 12th Ave. away from his black Toyota 4Runner. He appeared to be drunk, his face was bleeding and he was holding glass bottles in his hands, according to court papers. Three teachers at a middle school in Long Island were placed on paid administrative leave after an image of two nooses identified as back to school necklaces were seen in a classroom, an official confirmed to the Daily News Tuesday. Americans will always stand with Israel and civilized man over radical Islam and the savages who wish to destroy us. And all your bull---t won't change that, Jeffrey Lichtman wrote in a tweet Monday many perceived to be xenophobic. "If I can even, just temporarily, bring immediate repairs and immediate attention to four different properties and four different families needs, then sadly that's a step in the right direction," Patton said. "The real change will come when I give my findings to both the monitor and the chairperson. Residents have wasted enough time. They need change and they need improvements now. I'm hoping that by being here, at the very least, it sends a sense of urgency." In fact, Trump is reportedly the first President in more than a century not to own a dog. He did share his home with one, apparently against his will, when he was with first wife, Ivana. But she called him out in her 2017 memoir, Raising Trump, for hating dogs. I am an underage teenager in Washington, whose mother is against vaccines, wrote another teen, also on Reddit. This has been a pretty hot debate in my family, as all of the children are strong believers in vaccines. I, as well as my siblings, hold the ideology that vaccines are a public health issue, and a personal responsibility to the benefit of the population, not a right you can revoke from your children. Testing kits like AncestryDNA can be purchased on Amazon.com for $69 and are simple to use. Customers simply rub a cotton swab inside their mouth, seal it in a package included in the kit, mail it to a lab, and wait up to a month to find out their ethnic makeup. Rome, GA (30161) Today Partly cloudy. High near 85F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight A few clouds from time to time. Low 64F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Two men, Paul Kahomen and Ettenne Hounsa, who allegedly set-up a clinic and pretended to be doctors appeared before an Ogudu Magistrates... Two men, Paul Kahomen and Ettenne Hounsa, who allegedly set-up a clinic and pretended to be doctors appeared before an Ogudu Magistrates Court in Lagos State on Tuesday. The defendants, Kahomen, 30, and Hounsa, 20, who both reside at Ferry Street, Oworonshoki, Lagos State, are facing a three-count of conspiracy, unlawful possession of medical instruments/drugs and impersonation. They, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges. The Police Prosecutor, Inspector Lucky Ihiehie, had told the court that the defendants committed the offences on February 4 at the Oworonshoki area of Lagos State. Ihiehie said the defendants were found with medical instruments and drugs. They operated an illegal clinic, where they admit patients, carry out abortions, administer dangerous pills and deliver pregnant women of their babies. This practice had resulted in the death of many innocent people, he said. Ihiehie said that intelligence reports revealed that the defendants, who had no qualifications or license, had been operating in the Oworonshoki area for a while. He said the defendants conducted themselves in a manner that was likely to cause a breach of the public peace when they impersonated as medical doctors. The prosecutor said the offences contravene Sections 329 (9), 380 (1) and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (Revised). In her ruling, the Magistrate, Mrs E. Kubeinje, admitted the defendants to bail in the sum of N100, 000 each, with two sureties each in like sum. Kubeinje said the sureties should show evidence of tax payments to the Lagos State Government. The case was adjourned until March 18, for trial. President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has said the insultive statements made against him in Ilorin by former Governor of... President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has said the insultive statements made against him in Ilorin by former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole and Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, were expression of their frustration over the imminent loss of their party in next Saturday election. Saraki in a statement signed by his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity),Yusuph Olaniyonu, stated that the APC leaders know that their party will definitely lose the presidential and National Assembly elections on February 16, and that was why in their desperate mood they were only hurling abuses instead of discussing issues and telling the people what they will do for them. They came to Kwara State to hurl insults at me and my people, instead of explaining to the people what they want to do differently and what contributions their flagbearers and other leaders in the State have made to our various communities to justify the people shifting their loyalty to their dying party. They promised nothing concrete that will improve the standard of living of the people and provide infrastructure. They have only come to Kwara to vindicate my position that they have no good plans for Kwara State and its people. It is obvious that the APC have nothing to offer Kwarans. They represent nothing good for our people. My problem with them has always been that after we worked with our people to support them to win in 2015, they refused to work on infrastructure and other policy issues that can bring direct benefit to our people. As for Tinubu, we have never expected any good words from him. All his life, he will continue to belly ache and nurse grudges over my opposition to the Muslim-Muslim ticket idea in 2015. As far as he is concerned, I stopped him from realizing his ambition then. However, I believe my action then and now is in pursuit of national interest. Again, I supported President Buhari in 2015 because I believe he could make a positive change. I left the party when I realized he lacked the capacity and the desire to make any change. Tinubu on his own part said though he agreed with me about my assessment of the man, he would continue to support Buhari even if the man had to govern from the hospital stretcher because that is the way he ( Tinubu) could become the President in 2023. So, while my position is premised on national interest, Tinubus is based on his personal interest and ambition. Now that Tinubus new speciality is to hurl insults at people like former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, focusing on me today is okay if it will help him feel good. It is surprising that a man like Tinubu will be talking about morality and corruption. This is a man whose disrepute is known both within and outside Nigeria. This is somebody who personifies everything that is wrong with the Nigerian system. Well, I am not ready to roll in the gutter with him. Unlike them, I will stay on the issues that are germaine to national development and the welfare of our people. Reno Omokri, the former aide to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan has reacted to the attacks on President Muhammadu Buhari, the APC na... Reno Omokri, the former aide to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan has reacted to the attacks on President Muhammadu Buhari, the APC national Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole and other party dignitaries at Ogun State Presidential Rally. The presidential campaign rally of the ruling party was on Monday marred with violence after the state governor, Ibikunle Amosun, attempted to campaign for another candidate. Frustrated by his action, National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu flung the APC flag and and used his left hand to support his jaw. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was also shouted down during the rally in his home state. Also, the crowd threw stones at Buhari and Adams Oshiomhole as the president presented the flag to the partys governorship candidate, Dapo Abiodun. Omokri, reacting to the incidents, blamed Tinubu for the attack on APC dignitaries. The former presidential spokesman said the attack was as a result of insults rained on ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo by Tinubu during APC rally on Saturday in Lagos. Omokri on his Twitter page wrote: If you know you watched the video of Ogun Governor, Amosuns face, when Bola Tinubu was insulting President Obasanjo, a son of Ogun two days ago in Lagos, you will not be surprised why Ogun people stoned Buhari and Tinubu today. But Olusegun Obasanjo has a strong head! It did not take up to 48 hours for those who were insulting him to receive the greatest insult of their lives. And just as their insults on Obj was caught on camera, their DISGRACE was caught on video. Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun, has given an account on what transpired at the rally for President Muhammadu Buhari, the presid... Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun, has given an account on what transpired at the rally for President Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Monday. Writing on his official Facebook page, Amosun narrated how party members booed the National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, former Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign, Rotimi Amaechi. The Governor also claimed that the APC National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had to sneak out through the back door. The crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State boiled over today (Monday) when protests by party members marred the presidential campaign rally as party members booed the National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, former Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Raufu Aregbesola and Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign, Rotimi Amaechi. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for the first time in the APC Presidential campaign, declined to make a speech at the event as he exited the venue through the backdoor as President Muhammadu Buhari made his speech. Many registered voters across the country could not collect the Permanent Voters Card (PVC) despite the three-day extension by the elec... Many registered voters across the country could not collect the Permanent Voters Card (PVC) despite the three-day extension by the electoral body which ended yesterday. This means many prospective voters will miss the chance to participate in the general elections slated to commence on Saturday, February 16, 2019. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which had fixed Friday, February 8 as last day for the collection of PVCs extended the issuance till 6pm yesterday. INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had in January disclosed that the final register for the 2019 general elections stands at 84,004,084 voters. It was gathered that INEC carried out Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) between April 27, 2017, and August 31, 2018, during which a total of 14, 281,734 new voters were registered. Residents wait to collect their permanent voters cards at INEC office in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State yesterday. Thereafter, the commission printed the PVCs of the new registrants and delivered them to the states. They were thereafter devolved to the 8,809 Registration Areas/Wards from January 16 to January 21 for collection throughout the week including Saturday and Sunday. Egyptian jazz musician Yehya Khalil will perform live at the Cairo Opera House this Friday 15 February. One of the pioneers of the jazz movement in Egypt, Khalil has been keen to perform at least once a month since he received the Opera House-bestowed Lifetime Achievement Award for his "outstanding contribution to enriching musical life in Egypt," with the award handed to him by Minister of Culture Ines Abdel-Dayem. The King of Jazz, as his many fans describe him, lived in Chicago in the 1960s and 70s, after joining the American Music Conservatory for two years. He has played with many of well-known international musicians, including Jimi Hendrix, Ginger Baker, Jeff Bush and Eric Clapton, before returning to Egypt. Programme: Friday 15 February, 8PM Small Hall, Cairo Opera House, Zamalek For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Short link: A Minna Magistrates Court on Tuesday remanded one Chidi Johnson, 21, for allegedly stealing a fan and plastic chairs at the New Covenan... A Minna Magistrates Court on Tuesday remanded one Chidi Johnson, 21, for allegedly stealing a fan and plastic chairs at the New Covenant Glory and Fire Ministry Church, Minna. The Magistrate, Mr Nasiru Muazu, ordered that Johnson be kept behind bars, pending the conclusion of the police investigation. The defendant is facing a two-count charge of criminal trespass and theft, contrary to Sections 287 and 348 of the Penal Code. The prosecutor, ASP Daniel Ikwoche, told the court that one Pastor Wale Johnson, father of the defendant, reported the case to the Chanchaga Police Station on Feb. 3. Ikwoche said the complainant alleged that the defendant entered into the Church and stole a standing fan, valued at N17,000 and 50 pieces of plastic chairs valued at N100,000 in September 2018. Johnson, however, pleaded not guilty. The prosecutor, thereafter, prayed the court for an adjournment to enable the police to complete its investigation. The case has been adjourned until Feb. 28. (NAN) Festus Keyamo, spokesman of President Muhamamdu Buharis reelection campaign, says the president never called for violence in Zamfara ... Festus Keyamo, spokesman of President Muhamamdu Buharis reelection campaign, says the president never called for violence in Zamfara state but was only weighing in on a joke. Keyamo said this while responding to the comment of Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), at a rally in Port Harcourt on Monday. Atiku had accused Buhari of preaching violence, saying it is not his first time of doing so. Keyamo said Atiku made the accusation out of frustration, having sensed a comprehensive defeat in the forthcoming presidential election. Typical of the PDP and Atikus Campaign team, they have continued in their favourite pastime of peddling falsehood, scaremongering and misinformation, the statement read. This time, the candidate of the main opposition himself, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, sensing a comprehensive defeat this Saturday and out of frustration, threw caution to the wind in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Monday, February 11, 2019, when he alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari called for violence when he campaigned in Zamfara State. Nothing can be farther from the truth. The Hausa word the President used in Zamfara, which has been taken out of context, is fitna. Incidentally all our Hausa language scholars have said the word means different things: it means distress, trial, affliction or temptation. It can also be used to describe rebellion or uprising. In this case, President Buhari was actually weighing in on the joke told very often of recent in the North that due to the rice boom, farmers have embarked on pilgrimage and the marrying of more wives. So, what the President meant was actually a joke deliberately taken out of context: he simply told the crowd to ensure they eat very well because of the rice boom before they can contemplate giving in to those temptations. Even in some private meetings with our campaign team, the President has always commented on this joke. Sadly, out of desperation, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has decided to peddle falsehood. We urge Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to realize that it is God Almighty that gives power and takes power. He should not use his palpable desperation to return to power (in order to sell Nigeria to his friends and to make them rich) to set this nation ablaze by outright falsehood. Bill Clinton, former US president, will no longer travel to Nigeria to attend the signing of a peace accord between President Muhammad... Bill Clinton, former US president, will no longer travel to Nigeria to attend the signing of a peace accord between President Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). According to the National Peace Committee (NPC) led by Abdulsalami Abubakar, former head of state, Clinton was expected to be in Abuja on Wednesday to deliver an address and witness the second national peace accord signing ahead of the forthcoming elections. Apart from giving a goodwill message, Clinton was expected to hold meetings with Buhari and Atiku. Baroness Patricia Scotland, secretary-general of the Commonwealth, was also billed to attend the event. But in a statement on Monday, Angel Urena, Clintons spokesperson, said the former presidents visit to the country might be politicised in a way that is not in line with the goals of the committee. President Clinton appreciates General Abdulsalami Abubakar and the Nigerian National Peace Committees invitation to travel to Nigeria, the statement read. He is incredibly supportive and respectful of the committees efforts, of the election process, and of the work being done to try to ensure a peaceful, free, fair, and transparent outcome. This is a crucial time in Nigeria, and President Clinton is hopeful that the elections outcome reflects the will of the Nigerian people. Over the course of the last several days, and after various conversations with the different stakeholders, its become apparent that President Clintons visit to Nigeria has the potential to be politicized in a way that is not in line with the goals of the committee. Therefore, he will not be traveling to Abuja. He looks forward to talking to both candidates and General Abubarkar this week. Clinton announced his decision hours after Festus Keyamo, spokesman of the Buhari campaign, accused the US of interfering in the elections. Keyamo also criticised Stuart Symington, US ambassador to Nigeria, for overstepping his ambassadorial brief. Keyamo said the US and some other countries were acting as if they were in support of the PDP. The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday said he would fulfil all his elector... The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday said he would fulfil all his electoral promises to Nigerians if elected. He gave the assurance in Lagos while speaking at the partys presidential rally. The Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki; Atikus running -mate, Mr Peter Obi; the PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, were some of the prominent personalities at the rally. Former governor of Ekiti, Mr Ayo Fayose; former Ogun governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel; Sen. Ben-Bruce, a former presidential spokesman, Chief Doyin Okupe; were also at the rally. Atiku and his entourage were welcome to the state by a former Deputy-National Chairman of PDP, Chief Olabode George and the partys governorship candidate, Mr Jimi Agbaje and a mammoth crowd of party faithful. Atiku emphasised that he would not renege on his promise to restructure the country to fast track development. The PDP candidate said he would fulfil his promise to revamp the economy and create jobs. He said the spate of killings and other security challenges in the country was disturbing, promising to tackle the problem head-on. Atiku urged Nigerians to reject the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying the party had failed the people in all its electoral promises. When I say I am going to do something, I am going to do it; I am not like APC that will promise something but will not fulfil them. I promised Nigerians that I am going to restructure the country, I am going to do it. I promised Nigerians I am going to create jobs, I have been creating jobs and I will create more jobs for you. The APC promised to create jobs, but we have been losing jobs, we have the largest unemployment case in our history. APC said they were going to improve security; we had security challenges only in the North East; today, we have insecurity in the North West, North Central, they have failed Nigerians. They said they were going to revamp the economy, today, we are the headquarters of poverty in the world. I promise you, I am going to reverse all these when I am elected, he said. Atiku said Lagos residents deserved a better deal than they were currently getting from the APC government. The PDP said the problem of traffic and other problems were surmountable with the ideal government in place. He said he could vouch for the credibility, passion and capacity of Agbaje to move the state forward . Atiku urged Nigerians and Lagos residents to vote PDP from top to bottom for good governance . In his speech, Obi said the PDP was the best bet for the progress of the country and the well-being of citizens. He urged all Nigerians to cast their votes for the party on Feb. 16 and March 2 for a better Nigeria . Speaking, Saraki said a vote for Atiku was a vote for a better and a prosperous Nigeria . He said the PDP candidate had the capacity to revamp the economy and hence, create massive jobs for citizens. Saraki claimed the APC government had brought sufferings to the country, urging Lagos residents to reject the ruling party at the polls. When you vote for Atiku Abubakar, you vote for a better economy, when you vote for a better economy, you vote for jobs, and when you vote for jobs for the youth,you vote for prosperity and a better Nigeria. I urge Nigerians, particularly Lagos residents, to end the sufferings in the country by rejecting the APC and voting for Atiku, he said. Agbaje, in his speech, said the PDP and Atiku had solutions to all the problems bedevilling the country. He said it was time Lagos freed itself from what he called the political hegemony of people with vested interests, and embrace a government that truly cares. Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has questioned the morality of former President Olusegun O... Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has questioned the morality of former President Olusegun Obasanjos alarm over alleged plans of the ruling party to rig the election. Speaking in Ilorin, Kwara State, during the APC rally on Monday, Oshiomhole said he had evidence of Obasanjos use of policemen to snatch ballot boxes. However, he didnt say if this happened during the election that made Obasanjo President in 1999 or the one that secured his re-election in 2003. He [Obasanjo] said he was warning that INEC, Police, Army, every government institution, should not be destroyed I have the pictures where Obasanjo used policemen to snatch ballot boxes, even here in Kwara State, Oshiomhole said. In Kwara, they used arm robbers to terrorise the people on election day. Those who have been arrested for killing 32 people have confessed who gave them the arms. So, who is using the produce or unarmed armed robbers to terrorise people other than PDP? I want to assure the international community our victory will be transparent; we do not need to steal what belongs to us. We have travelled round the country; we have seen the people; they want Buhari. He described the campaign rally as a celebration of the end of Senate President Bukola Saraki, whom Tinubu had also hurled abusive words. We have come to celebrate the end of Bukola Saraki. When I listen to what the people are saying, I know for Bukola, it is finished. Those who stole money Kwara funds, he embezzled them; Senate funds, he embezzled them; Societe Generale Banks funds, he embezzled them, Oshiomhole said. I cannot wait for Saturday, so that Kwara people can celebrate their newfound freedom. It will be a day for Kwara people and for Nigerians, particularly younger politicians, to realise that the evil that the political son has done to a political father, that evil must not be awakened. That will be the story of Bukola. For 26 years, Bukola has over-pushed your indebtedness. He has underdeveloped Kwara; he has controlled governors much more than a man shall control his cook, and he has reduced Kwarans to mere observers in their own political life and their own economic life. President Muhammadu Buhari has informed supporters of his party in Rivers State that he is unhappy with the nullification of the prima... President Muhammadu Buhari has informed supporters of his party in Rivers State that he is unhappy with the nullification of the primaries it conducted in the state. A High Court in Port Harcourt had barred the All Progress Congress (APC) from conducting primaries in the state and although it went ahead with the exercise, they were later nullified by the court, a decision the Supreme Court has now upheld. As a result, the Independent National Electoral Commission excluded the party from National Assembly, governorship and state assembly elections in the state. At his presidential campaign rally in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital on Monday, the President opened up about the development. I am very, very disturbed by the decision that we are not allowed to participate in some of the processes, he told supporters of the party in the state. The President praised the supporters for the restraint they have shown in the matter and urged them to be patient and resolute. Our objective is absolutely clear and I am very pleased you are responding to whatever the leadership of APC agrees to do within this political system, he said. President Buhari who has been accused of marginalising parts of the country, defended his administrations performance in terms of security, the economy and fairness. We are going to ensure that justice is done in this country. When we came in 2015, you know the condition we found this country. The people of the North East are witnesses of the improvement effected in the security of this country, he said. He added that over the past three years, the government encouraged farmers with fertiliser at half the price it used to be and the country has better food security. The fundamental thing is that Nigeria is one and will remain one and we will do justice to all and sundry. This is our duty, he added. I assure you that I will not preside over a government that will cheat and abuse the best of Nigerians. I will be accountable to God and to you for my performance as the President of this country. Stressing that, as President, he had one vote just like every other Nigerian, he promised to use the military and other security agencies to ensure that Nigerians are allowed to vote freely without intimidation or interference. Femi Fani-Kayode, the former Minister of Aviation has reacted to attack on President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congres... Femi Fani-Kayode, the former Minister of Aviation has reacted to attack on President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole on Monday at the partys rally held in Abeokuta. Recall that President Buhari, alongside Oshiomhole and other party members were stoned with materials suspected to be shoes and stones as he raised the hand of APC governorship candidate,Dapo Abiodun. As a result of the violence, activities at the MKO Abiola International Stadium, Kuto, Abeokuta, was paused for some minutes as bodyguards guarded the president to avoid being hit by the objects being thrown at him and other party members. The development angered the leaders of the party, including former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, who left the podium while the President was making his remarks. Reacting, Fani Kayode mocked Buhari, saying the attack is payback from the Lord for your cruelty to Nigerians over the last 3 years. On his Twitter page, he wrote: First you were booed and jeered and now you are being stoned at your own party rally! Shame on you Buhari! Babachir Lawal, sacked secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), has been remanded in custody of the Economic and Financial... Babachir Lawal, sacked secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), has been remanded in custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). A federal capital territory (FCT) high court ordered his detention after the commission arraigned him on Tuesday. The commission had filed a 10-count charge against him on January 30. Lawal was alleged to have conspired with some staff of Rolavision, his company, to fraudulently acquire a property, thereby committing an offence contrary to section 26(1)(c) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 and punishable under section 12 of the same Act. When the charges were read to him, he pleaded not guilty while his counsel applied for bail. The court ruled that he should be remanded while his bail application would be heard on Wednesday. More to follow The immediate-past Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal has arrived in court for his arraignment on alleg... The immediate-past Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal has arrived in court for his arraignment on alleged conspiracy and fraud. He arrived in the company of operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). It was gathered that the former SGF was arrested yesterday by the anti-graft agency. Two senior advocates have already been sighted inside the court. One of them, Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN), a former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, is expected to lead the defense team. Lawal will be docked before an FCT High Court in Maitama to be presided over by Justice Jude Okeke. The EFCC had filed a 10-count charge bothering on conspiracy and fraud against him and Hamidu David Lawal, Suleiman Abubakar and two companies, Rholavision Engineering Ltd and Josmon Technologies Ltd. In the charge filed on January 30 by Offem Uket for the commission, Lawal was alleged to have conspired with Hamidu, a director in Rholavision and Abubakar, a staff in the same company, to fraudulently acquire a property and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 26(1)(c) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 and punishable under Section 12 of the same Act. One of the charge accused Hamidu, Abubakar and Rholavision to have abet the award of contract to Rholavision Engineering Ltd for the removal of invasive plant species and simplified irrigation to the tune of N6.4million by the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) through the Presidential Initiative for North East (PINE). Count 9 of the charge accused Hamidu to have abet the holding indirectly of a private interest by Engineer Babachir Lawal in the award of a contract to Josmon Technologies Ltd for the removal of invasive plant species and simplified irrigation by OSGF through PINE to the tune of N272.5million. Lawal was also accused to have fraudulently acquired a private interest in the contract awarded to Josmon Technologies Ltd. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday arrested the immediate-past Secretary to the Government of the Federation ... The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday arrested the immediate-past Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal. The former SGF, who was picked up by operatives of the agency, is expected to be arraigned today following a charge of conspiracy and fraud levelled against him by the anti-graft agency. Lawal will be docked before an FCT High Court in Maitama to be presided over by Justice Jude Okeke. The EFCC had filed a 10-count charge bordering on conspiracy and fraud against him and Hamidu David Lawal, Suleiman Abubakar and two companies, Rholavision Engineering Ltd and Josmon Technologies Ltd. In the charge filed on January 30 by Offem Uket for the commission, Lawal was alleged to have conspired with Hamidu, a director in Rholavision and Abubakar, a staff in the same company, to fraudulently acquire a property and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 26(1)(c) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 and punishable under Section 12 of the same Act. One of the charges accused Hamidu, Abubakar and Rholavision to have abet the award of contract to Rholavision Engineering Ltd for the removal of invasive plant species and simplified irrigation to the tune of N6.4million by the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) through the Presidential Initiative for North East (PINE). Count 9 of the charge accused Hamidu to have abet the holding indirectly of a private interest by Engineer Babachir Lawal in the award of a contract to Josmon Technologies Ltd for the removal of invasive plant species and simplified irrigation by OSGF through PINE to the tune of N272.5million. Lawal was also accused to have fraudulently acquired a private interest in a contract awarded to Josmon Technologies Ltd. Petroleum Minister Tarek el Molla witnessed Tuesday the inking of an agreement between Egypt's Arab Petroleum Pipelines Co. (SUMED) and Saudi Aramcos trading arm, Aramco Trading Company (ATC) to provide 222,000 cubic meters of gas oil storage capacity in Sidi Kerir for re-export to Europe. The companies also signed a second deal to supply fuel oil storage capacity of 165,000 cubic meters in the Red Sea port of Ain Sokhna, a statement by the Petroleum Ministry said. That deal may include re-exporting and supplying fuel oil to power plants in Saudi Arabia, meeting the needs of the Egyptian market and providing fuel to ships in the region, according to the statement. The deals were signed on the sidelines of an energy forum in Cairo. Short link: A group known as the Egalitarian Mission for Africa has filed a suit before the federal high court in Abuja challenging the qualificat... A group known as the Egalitarian Mission for Africa has filed a suit before the federal high court in Abuja challenging the qualification of Atiku Abubakar to contest in the presidential election. The groups chairman is Olukayode Ajulo, former national secretary of Labour Party who recently declared his support for Atikus opponent, President Muhammadu Buhari, in the presidential election. In the suit, a copy of which was obtained by TheCable, the group said Atiku, who is presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is not a citizen of Nigeria by birth and as such not fit to contest in election. Ajulo is also the lead counsel in the application filed on Tuesday. Joined as second, third and fourth defendants are the PDP, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation respectively. The group argued that when Atiku was born November 25, 1946, Jada village and other parts of Chamba land in the then Northern Cameroon were still known as British Cameroons. They said none of the 1st defendants parents or grandparents was born in Nigeria and that Atikus father died a citizen of Northern Cameroon in 1957 prior the referendum of June 1, 1961 that made Northern Cameroon became part of Nigeria. They asked the court to determine whether section 25 of the 1999 constitution is the sole authority that spells out ways by which a person can become a Nigerian citizen by birth and whether by the provisions of section 131(a) of the constitution, only a Nigeria citizen by birth can contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Among the prayers sought before the court by the group include: A declaration that by the provisions of Section 131(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), only a Nigerian citizen by birth can contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. A declaration that by the combined interpretation of Sections 25(1) & (2) and 131(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and giving the circumstances surrounding the birth of the 1st Defendant, he cannot be cleared by the 2nd and 3rd Defendants to contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. No date has been fixed for hearing of the application filed just five days to the presidential election. There was a rash of law suits against Buhari before the 2015 elections, one alleging that he presented a forged secondary school certificate. But none was determined before the elections. President Muhammadu Buhari and other top party leaders like the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole were stoned with s... The crowd also booed Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Oshiomhole and the national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu.The rally, which started immediately after President Buhari arrived at the MKO Abiola International Stadium, Kuto, Abeokuta venue of the event at about 3.pm, was suspended for some minutes following the violence that broke out.Violence erupted when Oshiomhole was invited to the podium for his speech. As he began to speak, suspected hoodlums started throwing stones at him and one of the stones flew in the direction of the President.He was saved by one of the security operatives who was hit by one of the stones thrown in the direction of the APC chairman.The development angered the leaders of the party, including Tinubu, who left the podium while the President was making his remarks.WATCH VIDEOTinubu was so enraged that while he was leaving the podium, he flung the APCs flag which was placed beside him and went to sit in his car parked in the Presidents convoy.While he was going into the car, he was followed by some suspected thugs who were shouting ole, ole ,ole ole (thief, thief, thief ) after him.Oshiomhole further aggravated the crisis when he mentioned Dapo Abiodun as the partys governorship candidate in the state while addressing the crowd.Upon hearing Abioduns name, the crowd started booing Oshiomhole while some threw objects including stones and water sachet at him, prompting security agents to guard him.Amosun had lost out in his bid to secure the APC governorship ticket for his ally, Adekunle Akinlade (now APM)The governor had accused Oshiomhole and some APC leaders of working against his interest through Abioduns emergence.He also vowed not to hand over to Abiodun.Shortly after, Akinlade defected to the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and Amosun backed his action.He even took him to the presidential villa where they met with Buhari.This, the Ogun APC, claimed was responsible for the violent rally as it alleged that Amosun was behind the crisis on Monday.While speaking before he was attacked, Oshiomhole had said, The primary purpose for today is to solicit support for our candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari, and to also present the APC flag to our governorship candidate in the state, Prince Dapo Abiodun.As soon as Oshiomhole said this, shouts of Ole! Ole! Ole! (thief, thief, thief) rent the air as the suspected party thugs pelted him with stones.The atmosphere became charged to the extent that Amosun had to mount the podium again to beg the hoodlums to stop the attacks on Oshiomhole and others.Appealing to the angry crowd, he said, I beg you in the name of God. This is what they want to happen. Please dont disgrace me here, he said in Yoruba.Our father is here, please dont disgrace me. I beg you in the name of God, please dont disgrace me before our father We have laboured this hard. I am appealing to you. Please leave. I beg you in the name of God, please leave. I beg you. I am begging.Despite the breakdown of law and order at the rally, Oshiomhole hurriedly presented the party flag to Abiodun.Earlier in his welcome address, Amosun had eulogised Buharis virtues and highlighted the reasons Ogun people should vote for him.Amosun said, We have accepted President Muhammadu Buhari as our father. In the interest of love and the respect we have for Mr President, let us swallow our pride and subdue our anger. Dont let them go back with an erroneous impression that we are not for Buhari.We are not just supporting Buhari because he is our father, but, because of his performance. Look at what he has done for the entire nation, he is someone with integrity. He said he would fix all our roads and infrastructure. He has done a lot for us. He has kept all his promises. They are looters and that is why they are against Buhari. This is about all of us.Amosun, however, attacked Afenifere, urging the President not to lose sleep over the groups endorsement of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar.He said, We have seen the wonderful work Buhari is doing is for all of us. Yoruba are not two in the country. We are the Afenifere.We are the people that will use our PVCs to defeat those that call themselves Afenifere.. Who else is Afenifere if we are not Afenifere ?. Tinubu, Akande, and other Yoruba leaders are here.They are not your friends, they are our enemies. We are going to fight them with our votes. We will show the true opinion poll on Saturday.The governor, however, provoked Oshiomhole and other party leaders when he urged his supporters to vote Buhari on February 16 while he stylishly supported Adekunle Akinlade of the Allied Peoples Movement.He said, The other one ,we will resolve it on March 2nd. We are respecting President Muhammadu Buhari. Dont transfer your anger to the APC.I have told you that you will all be one by March 3rd and you will come back to the APC. You know what to do when it is March 2nd, but honour me on February 16 and vote for Buhari.This, it was observed, provoked the APC leaders at the rally as a former governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, took the microphone and described Amosun as a hypocrite.Aregbesola, who was not scheduled to speak at the rally considering the programme of event, spoke in Yoruba, saying, We are not happy with the hypocrites among us. We are the APC, but, many people are hypocrites here. We must ensure that in February and March, we vote the APC.While the situation was tense, Osinbajo was called to make his remarks but he initially rejected the offer.He was prevailed upon by Amosun to make his speech. In his speech, Osinbajo said he believed that the current administration deserved a second term.He reiterated the Presidents resolve to tackle corruption, affirming that it was possible to build a country free of corruption.Our countrys major problem is corruption. Our country is not short of money or ideas but it is short of men of character to use the resources judiciously, he said.When it got to his turn, Buhari maintained a neutral stand by telling the people to vote for him in the presidential election and vote for the candidate of their choice in the March 2 poll.He said, On the 2nd of March you can choose whoever you like across the parties. This is your right, so, there is no problem about it, I have no problem about it, and you shouldnt have problems about it.Buhari used the opportunity to highlight some of his feats, which he said, included improved economy, food security, winning the Boko Haram and recovering looted funds.The President thereafter raised Abioduns hands. This angered Akinlades supporters and they started hurling stones at the President and other leaders of the party .They shouted No! No! No! as the security agents attached to the President smuggled him into his car and zoomed off.Meanwhile, the Ogun State Caretaker Committee led by Chief Yemi Sanusi has apologised to the President over what it called gross misconduct, indiscipline, disrespect and disorder perpetrated by agents of Governor Amosun.The party, in a statement by its spokesman, Tunde Oladunjoye, alleged that Amosun used thugs to cause violence at the APC rally.It said that at some points, the thugs were personally led by Amosun, who was seen on a video that has since gone viral, removing billboards and other campaign materials of Dapo Abiodun from the venue.The party said members of the caretaker committee were stopped from mounting the podium by Amosuns thugs with obvious compromise of some security agents attached to the governor.It said that act, not only embarrassed the President and his entourage, but had actually embarrassed the whole people of the state.Ogun APC stated, While tendering this apology, we are happy that the Department of State Services and other agencies have details of the sad events, which we urge them to submit to the Presidency.When contacted, the embattled APC Publicity Secretary, Wole Elegbede, said the protest at the rally was to express the factions rejection of Abioduns candidacy.Elegbede said the party was not happy over the incident, though he said the national leadership should be blamed for the protests.He said, The APC, Ogun State chapter, under the leadership of Chief Derin Adebiyi, will not like to reply anyone. What happened was between the APC supporters in the state. Some supporters are aggrieved by Abioduns emergence as the governorship candidate, while some like it.But our supporters are happy with President Muhammadu Buhari and are ready to vote for him in the forthcoming election.As you can see, all the APC supporters agree to vote for Buhari, What really happened could be traced to the emergence of Dapo Abiodun as the governorship candidate.However, the violence spread to parts of Abeokuta, including Oke-Ilewo ,Iyana-Mortuary, Oke-Mosan, and Panseke on Monday evening.It was also gathered that in Ijebu-Ode, supporters of the APC and the APM clashed.Earlier at the MKO Abiola Stadium on Monday morning, security agents searched people that came for the rally.They arrested some thugs armed with dangerous weapons and charms.Some people believed to be Akinlades supporters were seen chasing away Abioduns sympathisers from the stadium.The victims jumped the fence to avoid being harmed by the attackers who threw some dangerous objects including stones and sticks at them .Many of the victims sustained injuries while running away from the attackers.After the programme, Abioduns supporters laid an ambush for members of Amosuns faction of the APC and attacked them.The former Commissioner for Forestry in the state, who is the APM candidate for the House of Representatives, Kola Lawal, from Yewa South / Ipokia federal constituency, was reportedly attacked by Abioduns supporters .However, the PDP on Monday said the assault on President Buhari, the Vice-President and the party chieftains was a direct message by Nigerians that they had rejected the party.The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement said, The people of Ogun State, and indeed, the South-West, have shown that they are in direct alignment with other states and geopolitical zones of our country in rejecting President Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, whose administration has foisted so much injustice and brought unprecedented pain and anguish to Nigerians. President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed sadness over the decision of the Supreme Court to bar the All Progressives Congress from par... President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed sadness over the decision of the Supreme Court to bar the All Progressives Congress from participating in all elections (except the Presidential poll). Buhari expressed his view during the APC mega rally in Rivers State on Tuesday. The President said, I am very disturbed by the decision that we are not allowed to participate in some of the processes. I have no doubt that I got elected but I have to respect the institutions that I inherited. I assure you and I recommend that you remain patient and resolute. We will ensure that justice is done in this country. The ruling of the Supreme Court implied that the APC has lost 32 House of Assembly seats, 13 House of Representatives positions, three senatorial positions and governorship and deputy governorship seats. The President also begged the electorate to bear with him as he continues to fix the country. The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal filed by the Rivers state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the 2019 elect... The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal filed by the Rivers state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the 2019 elections. A five-man panel headed by Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, struck out the appeal filed by the faction of the party headed by Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, on Tuesday. Amir Sanusi, a member of the panel, said the apex court will give reasons for striking out the suit, at a yet to be known date. However, the court is yet to rule on three pending appeals on the APC primaries in the state. Amaechi faction had challenged the judgment of a high court in Rivers which barred the party from conducting primaries to nominate candidates to represent the party in the forthcoming elections. The high court judgement was based on a suit filed by the Rivers APC faction led by Magnus Abe, a serving senator. Abe had asked the court to annul the congresses and primaries which the rival faction conducted. Relying on the judgment, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to enlist candidates of the party for the governorship, national and state assembly elections. By SKC Ogbonnia The perennial ambition of Atiku Abubakar to preside over Nigeria finally comes to a dead end this February 16, 201... By SKC Ogbonnia The perennial ambition of Atiku Abubakar to preside over Nigeria finally comes to a dead end this February 16, 2019. This failure is neither because of the extraordinary qualities nor the exceptional performance of President Muhammadu Buhari, Atikus main opponent. It has nothing to do with election rigging, as feared by the opposition camps. The imminent defeat should not be attributed to other needless underhand tactics of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), such as the heedless removal of the Chief Justice of the Federation or the artless death threats to foreign election observers by a sitting ruling party governor. The problem is simply that Atiku has dug his own grave, and the nail in the coffin came with super glue. Atiku Abubakar does not need introduction. The former Vice President shares a sanctuary with a coterie of powerful Nigerian leaders, including Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, and Bola Tinubu, who are widely alleged to have acquired immense wealth through corrupt means, even though no court of law has found them guilty of such offense. This thick corruption label never deterred Atiku from a presidential dream. His most realistic opportunity came in the 2019 polls through the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a party with a corruption baggage as heavy as Atikus or even more. However, the former ruling party revitalized itself after an open apology and a picture-perfect primary season that suggested true atonement. Though money had influence in the presidential primary, as usual, the PDP was energized behind its nominee. The momentum was further buoyed by the fact that Abubakar was set to face a vulnerable incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari, an impenitent personality, plagued by poor health, a pattern of partiality, acute nepotism, incessant killings, selective justice, and growing youth unemployment, as well as mass poverty. Moreover, the ruling APC was coming out of a disastrous primary season characterized by arbitrary exclusion of qualified aspirants, lack of transparency, crass impunity, and stark arrogance; anchored by a shambolic national chairman whose every presence provokes crisis as honey attracts bee. But the PDP balloon of buoyancy quickly crashed before any meaningful rise. The clouds began to gather when it became clear that Atiku lacks a captivating message. His manifesto does not evoke a sense of hope capable of negating Buharis measurable gains in the war against corruption, agriculture, and infrastructure. Abubakars three cardinal points of jobs opportunity, being united and security are desperately banal, and his plan to achieve them is inconceivably incoherent. If he is not crap-shooting an idea to restructure the country, Atiku is hawking the notion of selling off more national assets, including the NNPC, a state corporation that generates the bulk of the nations revenue. It did not help matters when Nigerians were reminded that the sale of the mega oil company falls into privatization exercise like the type Atiku superintended, as vice president, in which his friends and family were alleged as prime beneficiaries. The most embarrassing is Atikus gamble to make his contest against Buhari a referendum on integrity without anything to show for it. He started by deploying Karl Roves old trick of attacking the strengths of ones opponent. The aim this time was to turn Buharis storied anti-corruption profile from advantage to a liability. Atiku gained good currency by refreshing the sad reality that the current war against corruption is selective. The biggest bombshell was his allegation that Buhari diverted N1.032 trillion meant for arms to his relatives. Mr. Abubakar saw instant admiration when he followed the charge with an open promise to spare no thoughts in furnishing the public with details of the allegation. Unfortunately, however, despite pressure from Buharis camp and the civil society, Atiku reneged on the news-breaking promise. Nigeria has penchant for imitating Americas political pattern, quite alright, but the world is not ready for another commander-in-chief who draws his strength by parading fantasies and fallacies as facts. The nail in the coffin stuck when Abubakar muted a plan to grant full amnesty to politicians who looted our common wealth. That is, Fellow Nigerians, please steal, but if you are caught, return the money and go free. This patent appeal for corruption is a moral miasma. Critics will counter here, and understandably so, because President Buhari has not prosecuted corrupt politicians who have returned their loot since he assumed power. But not to be lost is the fact that the president has, at least, been able to sustain a level of credibility with a constant promise that none of such looters will escape prison, eventually. It is a bad policy to shutdown Nigerias shop to chase criminals, as Atikus vice-presidential candidate Peter Obi cautioned; but, as Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo reminded us, allowing criminals to loot Nigerias entire stock is definitively worse. Half bread is better than none Nothing illustrates the apparent lack of political sagacity more than the fact that Abubakar named, as running mate, a right man in a wrong party and wrong region. Mr. Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, is a very wealthy man, but his austere politics and virtues are in stark contrast to the ideals of the PDP and Atiku himself. Though this choice is popular with the Nigerian masses, the deviant political move dispirited the party leaders from Obis home region of the East. Since then, notable South-East and South-South PDP bigwigs have remained ambivalent. Some of them in the South-East are openly or clandestinely campaigning against their top ticketwith the hope of taking a shot at the presidency themselves, sooner in 2023, especially considering that Atiku has not been committal with his one-term pledge. On top of that, Obi took his chintzy style to the extreme by not dishing out money, the main language the Eastern electorate seems to understand. Overall, Atiku will carry the South-East and South-South zones, as expected, but an imminent low margin of victory in the partys strong hold signals a woeful outcome for his candidacy across the country. Adding to the conundrum is Atikus seemingly disregard for geopolitics. It is true that the PDP candidate adopted restructuring, an original agenda of the progressive Yoruba South-West, it is equally impolitic to have denied the people both the positions of national chairman and the vice presidency. With a Yoruba as a sitting Vice President, Atiku will fare worse than President Jonathans numbers in 2015, when the people retaliated for palpable marginalization of the zone in the upper echelon of the then PDP government. As for the North, Abubakar could not articulate a game-changing agenda for the peasant northern electorate that somehow holds Buhari as a folk hero. Moreover, Atikus vow to restructure the country is a vote-killer in the North where most are comfortable with the current structure which has handed them political advantage. Besides Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Taraba, Kwara, Kogi, and Adamawathe states Atiku has good chance of victory; the rest of the other 12 Northern states belong to the Buhari column. Generally, the president will garner majority backing in North-West and the North-East zones while Atiku takes the lion share of the votes in the North-Central zone. Do the remaining math The 2019 presidential contest is ending as a binary election, with two analog candidates who have no clear ideology or vision for the 21st Century Nigeria. But, all things considered, Buhari comes out better and deserves to win. As for Atiku, the affable former Vice President ought to be eulogized for his ambition. But he should forever blame his presidential quietus on the failure to demonstrate any lessons learned from the 16 years of gross misrule under the Peoples Democratic Party of Nigeria, eight of which he was a very powerful second-in-command. Adieu, Lamido Adamawa! Segun Sowunmi, spokesman of the Atiku Campaign Organisation, has accused the campaign team of President Muhammadu Buhari of blackmaili... Segun Sowunmi, spokesman of the Atiku Campaign Organisation, has accused the campaign team of President Muhammadu Buhari of blackmailing him. Sowunmi said this in reaction to the claim that he said unless Saturdays presidential poll is rigged, it may be practically impossible for Atiku to win. Some supporters of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) shared an audio where Sowunmi allegedly made the comment. Festus Keyamo, spokesman of the Buhari campaign organisation, also shared the audio on Twitter. The date of the audio was not yet verified as of the time of this report, but Keyamo claimed the conversation happened in earlier in February. Sowunmi was quoted to have said: Except for rigging, its practically impossible for Atiku to make the number again. Therefore, we are now back on campaign. We cannot abandon our campaign. pic.twitter.com/HSlf2Rm86b Its all over!!! Segun Sowunmi, Atikus spokesperson, in a leaked audio early February, throws in the towel. I expected this long ago, but its better late than never. #Sowunmitapes February 12, 2019 But responding after the audio went viral, Sowunmi said it had become obvious that APC and their agents have lost it completely by resulting into blackmail. But responding after the audio went viral, Sowunmi said it had become obvious that APC and their agents have lost it completely by resulting into blackmail. He clarified that the portion where he mentioned the name of President Muhammadu Buhari was replaced with Atiku in the version being circulated by APC supporters. My attention has been called to a manipulative video that our friends, the APC, are moving about. It was an interview conducted by the BBC when they wanted to know why we were resuming campaign upon the suspension for 72 hours on the Onnoghen matter. We have made a point; we have stood with the people; we have tried to demonstrate that leaders must act their words and that the independence of the judiciary, and indeed, of every arm of government was significant and important to our campaign. The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has promised to take punitive measures against sponsors of Ogun presidential rally violence a... The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has promised to take punitive measures against sponsors of Ogun presidential rally violence after the elections. The APC National Publicity Secretary, Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu said, in a statement today, that the party regretted Mondays alleged premeditated attacks purportedly sponsored by Governor Ibikunle Amosun on President Muhammadu Buhari and other senior party leaders at the venue of the presidential campaign rally in Ogun State. Issa-Onilu, who said the party would review what he called gross misconduct, added that party supremacy and discipline were not matters of choice but binding principles which must be adhered to by all party members. The APC spokesman, who urged party supporters and members not to be disturbed by Mondays condemnable incident, implored all to continue trooping out enmasse for the remaining campaigns and vote massively for only APC candidates in the forthcoming general elections. This is one act of indiscipline too many. The APC will not condone acts of indiscipline, indiscretion and anti-party activities from any party member no matter how highly placed. The All Progressives Congress (APC) says the attack on President Muhammadu Buhari, Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the party, and... The All Progressives Congress (APC) says the attack on President Muhammadu Buhari, Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the party, and other leaders at a rally in Ogun state were sponsored by Ibikunle Amosun, governor of the state. Aggrieved persons threw objects at the president after he raised the hand of Dapo Abiodun, the APC governorship candidate in the state, at the partys campaign rally. In a statement on Tuesday, Lanre Issa-Onilu, APC spokesman, said the party will review this gross misconduct of deliberately positioning thugs to attack and embarrass the President and the partys leadership. Issa-Onilu said any plan to destroy what this party stands for would be rejected. The APC regrets Mondays premeditated attacks sponsored by Governor Ibikunle Amosun on President Muhammadu Buhari and other senior party leaders at the venue of the presidential campaign rally in Ogun state, he said. This is one act of indiscipline too many. The APC will not condone acts of indiscipline, indiscretion and anti-party activities from any party member no matter how highly placed. The party will review this gross misconduct of deliberately positioning thugs to attack and embarrass the President and the partys leadership. No single person will be allowed to put his personal and selfish interests ahead of the wishes of the people of Ogun state and elsewhere. Post primaries, the decision of the National Working Committee to uphold the wishes of party members is unbendable. Therefore, whatever means being presently deployed by persons intending to undermine the wishes of the people for personal gains will not be tolerated. The spokesman said party members should not to be disturbed by Mondays condemnable incident. Yaro Makama, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna state, has been arrested. This comes 24 hours after Ben B... Yaro Makama, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna state, has been arrested. This comes 24 hours after Ben Bako, director of publicity of the PDP campaign in Kaduna, was arrested and flown to Abuja. Bako was arrested for making inciting comments in a video clip recorded during the PDP campaign rally in Kafanchan, Jamaa local government area of the state last week. Commenting on the latest arrest, Danjuma Sarki, deputy director-general of the campaign organisation, said it is part of the grand design by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state to clampdown on PDP members before the elections. This morning, Makama was invited by the state police command. He honoured the police invitation as a law abiding citizen, he said. They accused him of hate speech and he was asked to write a statement. We thought that after writing the statement, they will let him go, but surprisingly he was taken to Abuja after writing his statement. Yesterday (Sunday), when we addressed a press conference, we said there were plans by the state government to frame and arrest 150 prominent PDP members before the elections. This is a clear indication that they have started executing the plan. Yakubu Sabo, spokesman of the Kaduna police command, did not respond to calls and a text message sent. Meanwhile the Kaduna State Peace Commission has expressed concern over reports of hate speech by politicians in the state. In a statement on Monday, Priscilla Ankut, executive vice chairperson of the commission, said the commission notes with grave concern, reports of hate speeches in the form of statements by politicians and candidates with potentials of being interpreted as calls for violent actions. First Republic minister of Aviation and only surviving Nigerian nationalist, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi says President Muhammadu Buhari was... First Republic minister of Aviation and only surviving Nigerian nationalist, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi says President Muhammadu Buhari was not in the right mental state to govern Nigeria. Amaechi, who was one of the youngest ministers of the first republic, spoke to Journalists in his country home, Ukpor in Nnewi South local government area of Anambra state. He endorsed the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, calling on all to reject Buhari and his party as voting for him may mean supporting the collapse of Nigeria. The nationalist said he was speaking for other demised prominent nationalists of Nigeria, including; Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ahmadu Bello, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Obafemi Awolowo, Dennis Osadebay, Aminu Kanu, Herbert Macaulay, Nwafor Orizu and a host of others. He (Buhari) has neither the health nor mental capacity to rule Nigeria. As the very last surviving nationalist, freedom fighter and minister of the first republic still alive, I feel compelled to warn those who may be plotting to plunge the country into a major crisis that may threaten the very foundation of our federation. To the rest of fellow Nigerians, I say brace up and defend democracy and the federation itself. There is grave danger ahead. Those who destroyed democracy in 1983 are up again to deprive you of your fundamental rights. They dont understand the language of democracy. From what they are doing to judiciary and legislature, other two arms of government, you can imagine what will happen if for any error they returned to Aso Rock. I call on the international community to help and expose the evil plans of a cabal who want to perpetuate themselves in power even if they lose the election as they are bound. Speaking on the light opposition that previously heralded the picking of Mr Peter Obi by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as running mate, Amaechi said the opposition were borne out of jealousy, citing that all those opposed to Obi as the vice presidential candidate were merely doing so because they had hoped and positioned themselves as the running mate of the PDP candidate. He also berated governors, especially that of Anambra, who are opposed to the emergence of PDP in the presidential election. Those are the people who will secretly take money to Buhari to support his reelection. They are saboteurs, he said. On claims by APC stalwarts in the Southeast that Nnamdi Azikiwe would have joined the APC to be able to play in the centre if he was alive, Amaechi said such postulation was blatant falsehood. I was very close to Nnamdi Azikiwe during his days in politics and remained close to him until death, and I can tell you that those people saying so are lying. Zik was a democrat and cannot support a feudal dictator like Buhari, and so we wont support him. If you are talking about the commissioning if a mausoleum by Buhari in honour of Late Zik, I can tell you that is not honour at all to Zik. Even Ndigbo have been marked for the crudest manner of injustice and annihilation, their youths have been killed for no just cause. One of such is the IPOB. I call on the government to deposcribe them. It is primitive injustice to leave gun bearing Fulani Herdsmen and turn to kill IPOB because they are Igbos. On why he choose the PDP candidate for endorsement, the nationalist said Atiku has repeatedly given a clear assurance that he would restructure Nigeria and address the imbalance in the country against the Igbo. Amaechi said, He has also taken our brother Peter Obi as a running mate. I call on Ndigbo at home and everywhere in Nigeria to turn out in totality and vote for Atiku/Obi for president. The British Broadcasting Corporation asked the White House for a review of security arrangements on Tuesday after a BBC cameraman was assaulted at a Donald Trump rally. BBC cameraman Ron Skeans was attacked by a Trump supporter yelling anti-media slogans during the US president's rally in El Paso, Texas, Monday night. Skeans was unhurt and the man wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat was restrained and removed from the riser where the media had assembled. Paul Danahar, the BBC's Americas Bureau Editor, said in a tweet that he had asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders for a "full review of security arrangements after last night's attack." "Access into the media area was unsupervised," Danahar said. "No one in law enforcement intervened before, during or after the attack." BBC Washington correspondent Gary O'Donoghue, who was covering the El Paso event, said his cameraman was pushed and shoved by the unidentified assailant "after the president repeatedly goaded the crowd over supposed media bias." He said the man attempted to smash the BBC camera. "Happily Ron is fine," O'Donoghue said. Trump paused his remarks following the commotion in the crowd and -- pointing at the media -- asked "You alright? Everything OK?" Trump repeatedly denounces the media as the "enemy of the people" and frequently condemns critical reports about his administration as "fake news." New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger urged Trump during an interview last month to tone down what he called his "potentially dangerous" rhetoric towards the press. Short link: The National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, has said the campaign team of President Muhamma... The National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, has said the campaign team of President Muhammadu Buhari resorted to accusing the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and others of supporting Alhaji Atiku Abubakar because the President is already afraid of the imminent defeat on Saturday at the poll. Ologbondiyan said this while briefing journalists in Lagos on Tuesday. He said the accusation against the foreign election observers had shown that the President and his campaigners had become confused because of the popularity of the presidential candidate of the PDP and the accusation against the superpowers was an evidence of their frustration. Ologbondiyan said that if Atiku, who the All Progressives Congress said could not enter into the US had suddenly become the darling of everybody, then it was evidence that Buhari had been rejected. He said, The allegation of Buharis campaign team that the US, United Kingdom and the European Union are supporting Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is evidence that they are jittery already. They are jittery because of Atikus popularity. This is somebody they said could not enter into the US some few weeks back. If the allegation against the superpowers is true, then even the ECOWAS is supporting Atiku. They know that Buhari cannot offer leadership in the sub-region because he lacks the capacity to do so. The APC has been campaigning for our candidate with their claims that the superpowers are supporting Atiku and it is good. Ologbondiyan accused the ruling party of dictating to the Independent National Electoral Commission, saying the opposition had raised many issues but the APC told the electoral commission to ignore their concerns, adding that the INEC obeyed the ruling party rather than addressing the issues the PDP had raised. The Nigerian government has again warned the United States not to cross the line as far as the forthcoming elections are concerned. ... The Nigerian government has again warned the United States not to cross the line as far as the forthcoming elections are concerned. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, stated this after his meeting with the representatives of Africa on the US National Security Council on Monday. It was a closed-door meeting with the Senior Director for Africa and Special Assistant to the United States President, Cyril Sartor. The meeting was on the sidelines of the 32nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Buhari government had accused the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union of interference in national affairs. This was following the declared stand of the US on the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen. Speaking after the meeting, Onyeama said told reporters I met a representative for Africa on the US National Security Council and we discussed elections in Nigeria and I pointed out that the government was absolutely determined to have free, fair, credible and transparent elections, that Mr. President has invested in that. And also, that I had summoned the US Ambassador to discuss some of the utterances that have been made and some of which we felt were not helpful and that while we welcome very much the role they had played in 2015, and the role that they are continuing to play, that they should be careful not to cross the line between observing and supporting the process and appearing to be partisan and interfering in the process. The Minister reassured the world that President Muhammadu Buhari is determined that Nigeria had good, free and fair elections. Leaders of the apex pan-Yoruba organisation, Afenifere have finally taken a unified stand on the 2019 presidential election. Presi... Leaders of the apex pan-Yoruba organisation, Afenifere have finally taken a unified stand on the 2019 presidential election. President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will slug it out with Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate on Saturday. Their position was contained in a communique issued Monday night. It was signed by Chief R. F Fasoranti OFR, Leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Olu Falae GCON and Senator (Dr) Femi Okurounmi CON. The meeting was held at Akure in Ondo State, at the residence Pa Fasoranti. The communique read: That we affirm the Resolution of the Leaders of Nigeria, consisting of the leadership of Afenifere, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Middle Belt Forum, Northern Elders Forum endorsing the candidacy of the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar GCON, Former Vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and his Running Mate, Mr Peter Obi and recommending them to Nigerians in the Presidential election on 16th February 2019. The above endorsement is based on the following reasons: i. Shared commitment to restructuring Nigeria to guaranty true federalism. ii Need to promote the feelings of inclusiveness and sense of belonging amongst Nigerians and promote much desired national patriotism and unity. iii. The need to promote economic growth and prosperity. iv. Need to address the present insecurity in the nation and engender genuine security of lives and property. 3. We are not unmindful of some impostors parading themselves as AFENIFERE holding meetings and endorsing General Muhammad Buhari to continue in office as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in spite of his incompetence, cluelessness, nepotism, tribalism, religious bigotry, ill-health and glaring mental incapacity. These pretenders are doubtlessly not AFENIFERE members but, as usual, only dubiously seeking to exploit the goodwill and reputation of AFENIFERE to market their bad political product. Their desperation in this regard is exemplified in the fraudulent printing of campaign posters in the name and picturing Ambassador Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu as endorsing Buhari and Osinbajo, which she has since disclaimed. The Acting Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has urged Nigerians to look out for fake police or military officers on Election... The Acting Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has urged Nigerians to look out for fake police or military officers on Election Day, saying fake security uniforms are being imported. The police chief stated this on Tuesday in Abuja at the presentation of a partnership between Transition Monitoring Group, HEDA Resource Centre, Police Service Commission and ICPC on monitoring and prosecuting vote trading. Every police or security officers you see on Election Day must carry tag for ease of identification so that we dont have fake security personnel because we have heard that a lot of fake uniforms are being bought into the country, Adamu said. He said the police have set up election monitoring investigation team to arrest and prosecute electoral offenders. He said the police will operate and observe human rights but warned that no Nigerian is allowed to do anything that contravenes electoral laws. The police chief reiterated that any police officers seen with politicians or any important personality on Election Day will be arrested. On the election day, nobody will move with police personnel. I have told our personnel that if we see you moving with any VIPs, whether in uniform or mufti, you will be arrested, the acting IGP said. He said the police have put a lot of security measures in place to secure the election process but sought for Nigerians support in implementing the strategies. Have an opinion on a recent story or event around the University of Cincinnati? Let us know what you think! If you're interested in submitting a Letter to the Editor, click the button below to email Anne Simendinger, editor-in-chief. For news tips or story ideas, contact one of our editors. Email the editor The world's most infamous cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who rose from poverty in rural Mexico to run a global drug empire and amass billions of dollars, was found guilty in a U.S. court on Tuesday of drug trafficking. Jurors in federal court in Brooklyn found Guzman, 61, guilty on all 10 counts. He faces a possible sentence of life in prison. One of the major figures in Mexican drug wars that have roiled the country since 2006, Guzman was extradited to the United States for trial in 2017 after he was arrested in Mexico the year before. Guzman sat and showed no emotion while the verdict was read. Once the jury left the room, he and his wife put their hands to their hearts and gave each other the thumbs up sign. Though other high-ranking cartel figures had been extradited previously, Guzman was the first to go to trial instead of pleading guilty. The trial, which featured testimony from more than 50 witnesses, offered the public an unprecedented look at the inner workings of the Sinaloa Cartel, named for the state in northwestern Mexico where Guzman was born in a poor mountain village. The legend of Guzman was burnished by two dramatic escapes he made from Mexican prisons and by a "Robin Hood" image he cultivated among Sinaloa's poor. U.S. prosecutors said he trafficked tons of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine into the United States over more than two decades, consolidating his power in Mexico through murders and wars with rival cartels. Small in stature, Guzman's nickname means "Shorty." His smuggling exploits, the violence he used and the sheer size of his illicit business made Guzman the world's most notorious drug baron since Colombia's Pablo Escobar, who was shot dead by police in 1993. Guzman's lawyers say he was set up as a fall guy by Ismael El Mayo Zambada, a powerful drug lord from Sinaloa who remains at large. In a statement after the verdict, lawyers for El Chapo said they were "obviously disappointed" but respectful of the jury's decision. "We were faced with extraordinary and unprecedented obstacles in defending Joaquin, including his detention in solitary confinement," the statement said. DRUG WARS Mexico has been mired for 12 years in a deadly military-led war against drug gangs. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was elected last year after promising a change, suggesting a negotiated peace and amnesty for non-violent drug dealers, traffickers and farmers. The most detailed evidence against Guzman came from more than a dozen former associates who struck deals to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors. Through them, jurors heard how the Sinaloa Cartel gained power amid the shifting allegiances of the Mexican drug trade in the 1990s, eventually coming to control almost the entire Pacific coast of Mexico. They heard how Guzman made a name for himself in the 1980s as "El Rapido," the speedy one, by building cross-border tunnels that allowed him to move cocaine from Mexico into the United States faster than anyone else. The witnesses, who included some of Guzman's top lieutenants, a communications engineer and a onetime mistress, described how he built a sophisticated organization reminiscent of a multinational corporation, with fleets of planes and boats, detailed accounting ledgers and an encrypted electronic communication system run through secret computer servers in Canada. A former bodyguard testified that he watched Guzman kill three rival drug cartel members, including one victim who he shot and then ordered to be buried even as he was still gasping for air. Estimates of how much money Guzman made from drugs vary. In 2009, Forbes Magazine put him on its list of the worlds richest people, with an estimated $1 billion. It later dropped him from the list, saying it was too difficult to quantify his assets. The U.S. Justice Department said in 2017 it sought forfeiture of more than $14 billion in drug proceeds and illicit profits from Guzman. The trial also featured extensive testimony about corruption in Mexico, most of it involving bribes to law enforcement, military and local government officials so the cartel could carry out its day-to-day drug shipping operations undisturbed. The most shocking allegation came from Guzman's former top aide Alex Cifuentes, who accused former Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto of taking a $100 million bribe from Guzman. A spokesman for the ex-president has denied the claim. In one of the trial's final days, Guzman told the judge he would not testify in his own defense. The same day, he grinned broadly at audience member Alejandro Edda, the Mexican actor who plays Guzman in the Netflix drama "Narcos." Despite his ties to government officials, Guzman often lived on the run. Imprisoned in Mexico in 1993, he escaped in 2001 hidden in a laundry cart and spent the following years moving from one hideout to another in the mountains of Sinaloa, guarded by a private army. He was seized and imprisoned again in 2014, but pulled off his best known escape the following year when he disappeared into a tunnel dug into his cell in a maximum security prison. But the Mexican government says he blew his cover through a series of slip ups, including an attempt to make a movie about his life. He was finally recaptured in January 2016 following a shootout in Sinaloa. Short link: Researchers identify brain protein crucial to recovery from stroke PITTSBURGH, Feb. 11, 2019 - Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States suffers a stroke and available therapies, such as clot busting drugs or clot removal devices, are focused on limiting the extent of brain damage. Now, research from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System shows that a brain protein called UCHL1 may be critical to how nerve cells repair themselves after stroke damage. The research, conducted in animal models, could aid in the development of therapies that enhance stroke recovery by improving the underlying biological repair process. "Even though traditional stroke therapies are very effective when available, the treatment must be started in the first hours after a stroke and most patients are not able to get these treatments. So there is a clear need for new approaches that can improve recovery days after a patient experiences a stroke," said co-senior author Steven Graham, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurology at Pitt's School of Medicine, and associate chief of staff for research at VA Pittsburgh. "We think we have identified a protein that is at the root of how the brain recovers from stroke, making it an attractive target for developing drugs that help improve recovery." UCHL1 is an enzyme that is highly active in the brain and plays a role in clearing away abnormal proteins. Mutations in the gene coding for UCHL1 have been thought to cause motor function deficits in humans. Previous research from Graham's lab had provided some hints as to UCHL1's function, showing that cyclopentenone prostaglandins (CyPgs) - fatty acid molecules - released in nerve cells after a stroke bind to UCHL1 and impair its function. Graham teamed up with Feng Zhang, Ph.D., an assistant professor of neurology at Pitt's School of Medicine and a co-senior author on the current study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, to tease out the exact role of UCHL1 in stroke and to determine if it could be a viable drug target. The researchers created a mouse model in which they inserted an altered version of the UCHL1 gene that was resistant to the effects of the CyPgs. They then surgically modelled the effect of a stroke in both genetically engineered and normal mice to compare how the nerve cells recovered. Preventing CyPgs from inhibiting UCHL1 decreased the amount of injury to the axons after stroke when compared to normal mice. Axons - the long cables projecting outward from the center of the nerve cell - are needed to carry electrical signals and connect to other neurons and make up the bulk of the 'white matter' in the brain. Further experiments showed that keeping UCHL1 active after a stroke helped preserve the function of neurons and brain tissue by activating cellular repair mechanisms that quickly cleaned up damaged proteins, preventing further nerve cell loss. The mice with the resistant form of UCHL1 also had improved recovery of waking, balance and other motor functions. "While most stroke therapies focus on preventing neuronal death, preserving axonal integrity and decreasing white matter injury could be equally important for improved recovery," said Graham, who also is a neurologist at the UPMC Stroke Institute. "UCHL1 is a central player in that process." Graham and his colleagues are now engaged in efforts to identify new drugs that could prevent CyPgs from binding to UCHL1 or to replace damaged UCHL1 proteins with a derivative that can be given intravenously. ### First authors on the study were Hao Liu, M.D., Ph.D., and Nadya Povysheva, Ph.D., both from Pitt's School of Medicine. Additional authors on the study included Marie E. Rose, Zhiping Mi Ph.D., Joseph S. Banton, Wenjin Li Ph.D., Fenghua Chen Ph.D., Daniel P. Reay, and German Barrionuevo M.D., all of Pitt. The study was funded by National Institutes of Health grant 2R01NS037459-14A1. About the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine As one of the nation's leading academic centers for biomedical research, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine integrates advanced technology with basic science across a broad range of disciplines in a continuous quest to harness the power of new knowledge and improve the human condition. Driven mainly by the School of Medicine and its affiliates, Pitt has ranked among the top 10 recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health since 1998. In rankings recently released by the National Science Foundation, Pitt ranked fifth among all American universities in total federal science and engineering research and development support. Likewise, the School of Medicine is equally committed to advancing the quality and strength of its medical and graduate education programs, for which it is recognized as an innovative leader, and to training highly skilled, compassionate clinicians and creative scientists well-equipped to engage in world-class research. The School of Medicine is the academic partner of UPMC, which has collaborated with the University to raise the standard of medical excellence in Pittsburgh and to position health care as a driving force behind the region's economy. For more information about the School of Medicine, see http://www. medschool. pitt. edu . About VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System operates four U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Research & Development (VA OR&D) Centers of Research including the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, Human Engineering Research Laboratories, and the Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center. VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System and UPMC clinicians, and University of Pittsburgh faculty are often primary study investigators. Our researchers develop cutting-edge therapies that benefit the whole of American medicine; they pioneered organ transplantation surgery, harnessed brain waves to move robotic arms, and developed lightweight aluminum wheelchairs. In 2018, 110 investigators advanced 330 projects, and received $30 million in funding. VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System is among VA's largest, most complex and progressive health care systems with 3,700 health care professionals providing routine and life-saving care to 77,000 Veterans annually. Comprised of seven sites of care covering a 13-county service area, the health care system is a specialty and tertiary referral center for VA medical centers and systems across Pennsylvania, and parts of Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and West Virginia. VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System operates a regional mental health telemedicine hub, and is a national leader in telemedicine advancements and offerings, serving Veterans in 22 states at 104 individual sites. The health care system is a teaching and learning hospital, rotating nearly 600 residents and trainees each academic year. http://www. upmc. com/ media Contact: Arvind Suresh Office: 412-647-9966 Mobile: 412-509-8207 E-mail: SureshA2@upmc.edu Contact: Allison Hydzik Office: 412-647-9975 Mobile: 412-559-2431 E-mail: HydzikAM@upmc.edu This story has been published on: 2019-02-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. A man in custody in connection with the death of a female university student whose body was found buried in a field in Kamisu City last month has also been accused in her murder, police said over the weekend, reports the Asahi Shimbun On February 10, police announced that Koichi Hirose, 35, of no known occupation, has been accused of murdering Natsumi Kikuchi, a 19-year-old resident of Tokyo's Katsushika Ward who went missing last year. During questioning, Hirose said that the murder came about after the pair got into a money-related dispute inside his vehicle while it was parked on a farming road on the night of November 20. "Since she threatened to spread information [about me on the internet], I killed her," the suspect told police. According to police, the suspect allegedly blocked the victim's mouth and nose in fatally suffocating her. Police first arrested Hirose on January 31 after he admitted to burying her body in a field near the coast - about 13 kilometers from his residence in Kamisu - during questioning. The results of a DNA analysis confirmed that the body was that of Kikuchi. - tokyoreporter.com Convenience store operator Family Mart Co. on Monday announced the dismissal of a male employee after the emergence of a video showing him licking items, the latest of several similar incidents involving a food-related company in the last week, reports TV Asahi (Feb. 12). In the clip, which was uploaded to a social-networking service, the employee was shown licking several items, including a packaged food product and the cap of a plastic bottle, before placing them in a bag at an outlet in Kariya City, Aichi Prefecture. During the filming, the person operating the camera, who is an acquaintance of the employee, can be heard laughing. Over the last week, two other companies have been forced to deal with similar incidents. On February 7, Seven Eleven Japan Co. announced the dismissal of two male employees after an online video showed one of them using chopsticks to eat noodles direct from an oden hot pot in an outlet of chain 7-Eleven. Two days later, the company said that it was considering legal action against the employees. Last week, two employees of large sushi chain Kura Sushi resigned after the emergence of a video online that showed them tossing a sliced fish into the trash and pulling it back onto a cutting board in the kitchen of an outlet in Osaka Prefecture. "We will work to prevent a recurrence of the same incident," the operator of the chain said. - tokyoreporter.com A record investment package being prepared by Saudi Arabia for Pakistan will likely provide welcome relief for its cash-strapped ally, while also addressing regional challenges, analysts say. At the heart of the investment is a reported $10 billion refinery and oil complex in the strategic Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea, the ultimate destination for the massive multi-billion dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor, which lies not far from the Indo-Iranian port of Chabahar. Two Saudi sources have confirmed that heir apparent to the Gulf kingdoms throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, will visit Islamabad shortly, without giving a date. And a number of major investment deals are expected to be signed during a visit, officials from both countries have said. Riyadh and Islamabad, decades-old allies, have been involved for months in talks to hammer out details of the deals in time for the high-profile visit. The outcome of the talks so far has been very positive and this is going to be one of the biggest-ever Saudi investments in Pakistan, a Pakistani senior finance ministry official said. We hope that an agreement to this effect will be signed during the upcoming visit of the Saudi crown prince to Pakistan, said the official, requesting anonymity. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Islamabads biggest trading partner in the Middle East, have offered Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan some $30 billion in investment and loans. Saudi lifeline Riyadh investments are expected to provide a lifeline for Pakistans slumping economy which was downgraded in early February by S&P ratings agency from a B to a B-, Saudi economist Fadhl al-Bouenain said. Saudi investment to Pakistan comes within an economic aid package aimed at relieving the stress of external debt and a shortage of foreign currency, besides boosting the sluggish economy, Bouenain said. The OPEC heavyweight also aims to achieve strategic and commercial goals with investments in infrastructure and refinery projects, he said. Saudi Arabia and its Gulf partner, the UAE, have already deposited $3 billion each in Pakistans central bank to help resolve a balance of payments crisis and shore up its declining rupee. They have also reportedly deferred some $6 billion in oil imports payments as Islamabad has so far failed to secure fresh loans from the International Monetary Fund. Khan has already visited Riyadh twice since taking office in July and in October attended a prestigious investment conference. Khan also visited Qatar and Turkey, as well as China seeking investments. One of the goals for Saudi Arabia expanding investments in refining worldwide is to secure market share and sustainable exports in the face of international competition, Bouenain said. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih visited Gwadar in January and inspected the site for the proposed oil refinery at the deep sea port, just 70 kilometres (45 miles) away from its Iranian competitor, Chabahar. He was quoted by local media as saying the kingdom was studying plans to construct a $10 billion refinery and petrochemicals complex in Gwadar. Cutting supply times Like most oil suppliers, the worlds top crude exporter has been investing heavily in refinery and petrochemicals projects across the globe to secure long-term buyers of its oil. A pipeline from Gwadar to China would cut the supply time from the current 40 days to just seven, experts say. Developed as part of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative with investments worth some $60 billion, Gwadar is being billed as a regional industrial hub of the future, easily accessible for Central Asia, Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa. Pakistan needs a rich partner to enter as a third party besides China, capable of injecting needed cash, Bouenain said. But so far China has rejected other partners for the corridor that seeks to connect its western province Xinjiang with Gwadar, including Saudi Arabia and UAE, said James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Singapores S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. This is despite calls by Khan for the Chinese investments to be restructured to include agriculture and job-creation sectors and not only in infrastructure, Dorsey told AFP. Any Saudi investment in Gwadar will also have geopolitical dimensions, Dorsey said. Iran late last year inaugurated Chabahar which provides a key supply route to landlocked Afghanistan and allows India to bypass Pakistan. India has seen Chabahar as a key way both to send supplies to Afghanistan and to step up trade with Central Asia as well as Africa. But Riyadh is not expected to get involved in any Indo-Pakistani rivalry and the kingdom also has major strategic energy deals with New Delhi, where demand for oil is growing fast. Indeed in April, the Saudis signed a $44 billion deal to build a huge refinery and petrochemicals complex in western India. Syrian fighters backed by artillery fire from a US-led coalition battled a fierce jihadist fightback yesterday as they pushed to retake a last morsel of territory from the Islamic State group. Mushrooming black clouds rose over the embattled jihadist holdout in eastern Syria, as missiles and a warplane streaked through the sky. More than four years after the extremists declared a caliphate across large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq, several offensives have whittled that proto-state down to a tiny holdout. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Saturday announced the final push to expel hundreds of diehard jihadists from that patch on the Iraq border. IS launched a counterattack on our forces and we are now responding with rockets, air strikes and direct clashes, SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali told AFP Monday. He said there were dozens of SDF hostages held by IS inside their last foothold, but denied reports of executions. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters had pressed on yesterday morning in the face of tough obstacles. The SDF are advancing slowly in what remains of the IS pocket on the edges of the village of Baghouz, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. But landmines, IS snipers, and tunnels the extremists have dug out for their defence are hindering the advance, he said. Backed by coalition air strikes, the SDF alliance has been battling to oust the jihadists from the eastern province of Deir Ezzor since September. Screening for jihadists Since December, tens of thousands of people, most women and children related to IS fighters, have fled to SDF territory. US- ba cked forces have screened the new arrivals, weeding out potential jihadists for questioning. On Monday, dozens of coalition and SDF fighters were stationed at a screening point for new arrivals from IS areas. Coalition forces stood over about 20 men who were crouching on the ground. Some 600 people were able to reach SDF territory on Sunday after fleeing the fighting, the Observatory said. The SDF -- which has said it expects the final offensive to be over in days -- announced Sunday that it had taken some 40 positions from the jihadists following direct combat involving light weapons. Key decision makers, including CFOs, heads of finance, chief accountants and lawyers, gathered at the Downtown Rotana in Manama yesterday to discuss how they and their businesses should react to VAT, described by one seasoned observer as the single most significant change to have impacted Bahraini businesses in living memory. Mubeen Khadir, who heads Keypoints tax practice, said that, while Bahrains largest businesses are now largely registered for VAT, it was clear that the government, businesses and advisers were all going to have to work together if implementation was to be a success. We saw in the UAE and Saudi that learning curves are steep and the consequences of mistakes can be sizeable. Businesses large and small as well as the National Bureau for Revenue and tax advisers like us can all learn from what went well, and not so well, with their peers in other GCC countries and also from the experiences of Bahrains largest businesses over the last six weeks. Presenters including Khadir and Chris Park, Raman Ohri and Tariq Haq, managers with Keypoint, discussed VAT fundamentals. At the seminar, Keypoint announced that its next seminar, aimed at larger businesses which had already registered for VAT, would be held towards the end of March, with submitting the first VAT return a key talking point. For the 14th consecutive year, the Spring of Culture Festival returns in a new cultural season full of activities that cater to various tastes, interests and age groups and underscore the Kingdoms position as a leading regional and global cultural hub. As is in every year, the Spring of Cultural programme of activities that will be hosted by a broad range of local cultural, historical and architectural landmarks will commence on February 25 in conjunction with Arab Tourism Day, an occasion which was adopted when Manama was the Capital of Arab Tourism in 2013 to mark the birthday of the great Arab traveller Ibn Battuta. Details of this seasons agenda were announced at a joint press conference organised yesterday at Al Hidaya Al Khalifiya School in Muharraq by the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (BACA), Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Shaikh Ebrahim bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Centre for Culture and Research (SECCR), in collaboration with Albareh Art Gallery and La Fontaine Centre for Contemporary Art. The latest season of the festival comes as part of BACAs year-long celebrations of Bahrains achievements under the slogan From Jubilee to Another- A Year of Celebrations. Attending the press conference were BACA President Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa and EDB CEO Khalid Al Rumaihi, as well as several diplomats and ambassadors, festival sponsors, cultural personalities and media members. Speaking on the occasion, Shaikha Mai said, We announce the 14th edition of the Spring of Culture from Al Hidaya Al Khalifiya School, a beacon which reflects Bahrains social, economic and cultural advancements. The school is one of the landmarks of this years celebrations of our national achievements under the slogan From One Jubilee to Another- A Year of Celebrations, as this year marks its 100th anniversary, she added. She went on to note that the festival, which runs for more than two months, is a continuation of the nations journey of cultural achievements and meeting of civilisations, with a full-fledged and diverse schedule of literary, musical, artistic, and theatrical activities. Gold Sponsors of the 2019 Spring of Culture include GFH Financial Group, National Bank of Bahrain and Tamkeen and Batelco, while Silver Sponsors include ALBA, Bahrain Airport Company, Bahrain Duty Free, Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, and Huawei, and supported by Gulf Air. Bahrains central role in the rapidly developing world of FinTech will be celebrated later this month as the annual Fintastic Week will be held in the Kingdom between February 24 and 29. Over a thousand delegates from the worlds of business, government and academia will be in Bahrain to learn more about the latest trends in the reinvention of financial services and enjoy keynote speeches from world-renowned speakers, it is learnt. Events will also include best practice workshops for startups and fireside conversations with respected FinTech pioneers and leaders. Global tech innovator and Apple Computers co-founder Steve Wozniak will take centre stage and share his thoughts and predictions on the current and future state of the global financial technology industry. Other notable speakers at event include Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Finance and National Economy; and Louise Beaumont, cochair of the Open Banking and Payments Working group, at Tech UK. Commenting on the Forum, Victoria Behn, Director of Middle East and Africa at Euromoney Conferences, co-organisers of the GCC Financial Forum noted: We are honoured to host the GCC Financial Forum in partnership with the Economic Development Board of Bahrain for the eighth consecutive year. With international financiers, senior regional policymakers and leading FinTech firms attending from across the Middle East, the GCC Financial Forum will once again be an unmissable event. The disruptive power of FinTech is being increasingly felt across the Middle East as Governments look to diversify their economies and improve productivity through increased uptake of innovation and technology. S u c h t ra n s f o r m a t i o n i s showing through in the numbers already, with GCC startups expected to raise $2 billion of private funding in the next decade, in comparison to only 150 million in the previous ten years. The potential for even greater change is illustrated by the fact that 86 per cent of the MENA population remained unbanked in 2017. This is despite a very high mobile phone penetration rate and more than half the regions population being under 30. In a release issued to media, Khalid Al Rumaihi, Chief Executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board, a co-host of Fintastic Week noted: The FinTech space in the Middle East is growing and its opportunities and potential are being recognised by the global FinTech community. In Bahrain, we are building on our heritage of excellence in financial services by developing innovative new products and services that will transform how consumers and businesses right across the region approach this sector, and events such as Fintastic Week bring these fresh and new ideas to the table. The Cabinet yesterday, chaired by His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier, endorsed a draft-law on Rehabilitation Justice for Children and their Protection from Ill-Treatment that will replace the existing law. The draft-law included non-conventional measures to prevent children from being taken away from their family environment and to protect them from ill-treatment and criminal accountability. Under the new law, rehabilitation justice courts will be established to hear cases related to crimes committed by children over 15 years old at the time of the crime, and a Judicial Child Committee, to be responsible for examining cases on childrens ill-treatment or exposure to risks, will be set up. The Cabinet, after being informed about the opinion of the Ministerial Committee for Legal and Legislative Affairs, decided to refer a draft-law on the issuance of a Law on the Rehabilitation Justice for Children and their Protection from Ill-Treatment to the Council of Representatives. Among other things, the Cabinet approved the amendment of certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedures to fast-track investigation, trial and prosecution procedures, allowing the Public Prosecution and the courts to adopt modern audiovisual techniques and transport in all proceedings and in assessing the statements of the witnesses. The amendments also ensure the protection of witnesses and develop easier solutions for precautionary measures, without prejudice to rights and freedoms. The session referred a draftlaw on amending some provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedures, issued as per Decree 46/ 2002, to the Council of Representatives. Among other things, the Cabinet reviewed the results of a study conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) experts to verify the risks of electromagnetic emissions from telecommunications towers. The experts concluded in their study that the manner in which telecommunications masts are managed in Bahrain complies with the international secure emission protocols, and that the existing masts have no impact on human health because their rate of radiation emission is very low, and is at safety levels. France's military struck rebels in Chad to prevent a coup d'etat against President Idriss Deby, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Tuesday. On Deby's request, French warplanes bombed a heavily-armed rebel convoy that crossed last week from Libya deep into Chadian territory. "There was an attack by a rebel group that came from southern Libya ... to take power by force in N'djamena. President Deby asked us in writing to intervene to prevent a coup d'etat and protect his country," Le Drian told lawmakers. The French jets destroyed dozens of pick-up trucks and the Chadian army subsequently said it had captured more than 250 rebels from the Union of Forces of Resistance (UFR), a Libya-based rebel coalition. Deby has faced several rebellions since seizing power in 1990 in a military coup. International observers have questioned the fairness of elections that have kept him in office, and last year Deby oversaw a reform of the constitution that would allow him to stay in power until 2033. France intervened in 2008 to stop the UFR toppling Deby. President Emmanuel Macron has said he wants a new relationship with France's former colonies and that the era of propping up leaders in return for lucrative contracts for French companies -- a policy known as La Francafrique -- is over. France, however, considers Chad's battle-hardened troops as vital in the fight against Islamist militants in West Africa and bases its 4,500-strong counter-terrorism Operation Barkhane force in the capital N'djamena "This (intervention) was totally in line with international law," Le Drian said. The incursion, which Chadian troops tried to halt, underscores how Deby's fight against Islamist militants in the region has stretched his military. The military effort has diverted finances away from public services and the economy, fuelling popular discontent in one of the world's poorest nations. Short link: The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574. Community Perspective Send Community Perspective submissions by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Submissions must be 500 to 750 words. Columns are welcome on a wide range of issues and should be well-written and well-researched with attribution of sources. Include a full name, email address, daytime telephone number and headshot photograph suitable for publication (email jpg or tiff files at 150 dpi.) You may also schedule a photo to be taken at the News-Miner office. The News-Miner reserves the right to edit submissions or to reject those of poor quality or taste without consulting the writer. Letters to the editor Send letters to the editor by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707), by fax (907-452-7917) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Writers are limited to one letter every two weeks (14 days.) All letters must contain no more than 350 words and include a full name (no abbreviation), daytime and evening phone numbers and physical address. (If no phone, then provide a mailing address or email address.) The Daily News-Miner reserves the right to edit or reject letters without consulting the writer. Fairbanks, AK (99707) Today Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 59F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 59F. Winds light and variable. Fairbanks, AK (99707) Today Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 59F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 59F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. (Newser) President Trump is once again proposing a parade. This time, it's an Independence Day parade at the Lincoln Memorial. According to USA Today, Trump told Cabinet members Tuesday that a July 4 parade at the memorial "could be an exciting day" and might "become a tradition." Trump made headlines pushing for a military parade last year that was projected to cost up to $92 million; the idea was ultimately axed. His new idea might not actually be for a parade, per se, he continued, per the Hill: "It'll be a, really a gathering as opposed to a parade I guess you'd have to say," the president said, calling it a "Salute to America." Washington DC does have already-established Fourth of July events including a parade down Constitution Ave., a concert, and a fireworks show. (Trump said his military parade was scuttled due to local politicians' greed.) (Newser) What adjective do you think Bill Cosby uses to describe his prison experience? If you picked "amazing," you'd apparently be correct. In an interview with NBC10, Cosby rep Andrew Wyatt was explicit: "Yeah, he used the term amazing experience." And Wyatt had some updates on what that experience is like for the 81-year-old, who is four months into a 3- to 10-year sentence for sexual assault. The latest on Cosby and his time behind bars: Per the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, Cosby was in late January moved from a cell near the infirmary into the general population at the Philadelphia-area SCI Phoenix. The two-story unit features cells surrounding a central "day room." In comments to CNN last week, Wyatt disputed the "gen pop" characterization: "He does not eat in the area with other residents, he does not have a cellmate, and he does not exercise with other residents." The DOC countered that he is in gen pop but hasn't yet been "integrated." story continues below The corrections department said that Cosby, who is legally blind, is assigned an inmate worker who will "help him get around as other elderly and/or infirm inmates have as well," per the New York Times. Cosby is able to speak to wife Camille three times a day for three minutes each. She has not visited him, per his request. "Right now I'm his only visitor outside of his attorneys, and that's the way he wants it," Wyatt says. The AP quotes Wyatt as saying Cosby doesn't want his wife or daughters "in that environment." He says Cosby has dropped to 195 pounds thanks to a healthy prison routine: He wakes at 3:30am to exercise in his cell, has given up coffee (something Camille has apparently pressed him to do for 55 years), and doesn't eat bread or dessert. Wyatt describes another health-minded habit: Cosby apparently rinses off all his food to strip the excess sodium from it. "He puts it in a little cup, he walks over to the sink, he runs water in the cup over the food, shakes the food up, and drains it. He does that three times, and he eats the food." "He hasn't stopped thinking about the things that he's going to do when he gets out," Wyatt adds, per CNN. (A drone recently targeted Cosby in the prison yard .) (Newser) Valerie Reyes broke up with Javier de Silva just days before she went missing in late January. Days after that, the New York 24-year-old's body was found in a suitcase in Connecticutand now de Silva has been arrested in connection with the homicide, reports the New York Daily News. Police initially said a suspect in New York who "had fraudulently used" Reyes' ATM card and is "believed to be involved" in her death had been arrested, and later confirmed de Silva's identity, per News 12. They say Reyes was killed at her New Rochelle home, then placed into the suitcase and thrown down an embankment. story continues below De Silva, a 24-year-old Venezuelan citizen, was arrested in Queens Monday night, according to ABC 7. Sources who spoke to the station said he has "made admissions" about Reyes' death. Her cause of death has not yet been released. De Silva is expected to be charged with federal crimes and prosecuted in New York. A private investigator hired by Reyes' family says she was last seen alive on a Manhattan ATM surveillance video. (Her mother said Reyes was in fear for her life before she disappeared.) (Newser) Retired astronaut Mark Kelly has announced his "next mission"and it's an ambitious, albeit earthbound, one. "I care about people. I care about the state of Arizona. I care about this nation. So because of that, I've decided I'm launching a campaign for the United States Senate," Kelly says in a four-minute video posted to his website Tuesday morning. Per the AP, Kelly will be running as a Democrat for the Arizona seat once held by the late Sen. John McCain, now held by Republican Martha McSally, who was appointed in December after losing the other Arizona Senate seat in November to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. The Arizona race is set to be one of the most closely contested Senate races of 2020. story continues below The AP adds that, if Kelly, 54, gets the Dems' nomination, the race "would pit a Navy veteran and astronaut against a trailblazing Air Force pilot in the contest to replace McCain, a legendary Navy flyer." In addition to his time in the Navy, Kelly has spent nearly 60 days in space for NASA across three missions, per the Hill; his twin, Scott, is also a retired NASA astronaut. "My parents taught my brother and I the value of hard work," Kelly notes in his launch video, which also touches on the 2011 shooting of his wife, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. "I always knew that I was gonna serve this country in some way." Kelly has been a strong advocate for gun control since the attack on his wife. Kelly's hashtag on Twitter to accompany his announcement: "#FullSpeedAhead." (Read more Mark Kelly stories.) (Newser) Congressional negotiators announced an agreement late Monday to prevent a government shutdown and finance construction of new barriers along the US-Mexico border, the AP reports. Negotiators tentatively agreed to far less money for President Trump's border wall than the White House's $5.7 billion wish list, settling for a figure of about $1.4 billion, according to a senior congressional aide. (The Washington Post uses the term "fences" to describe what would go up.) "We reached an agreement in principle," said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, appearing with a bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers who concurred. Details won't be released until Tuesday, but the pact appears to arrive in time to alleviate any threat of a second government shutdown this weekend. story continues below "With the government being shut down, the specter of another shutdown this close, what brought us back together I thought tonight was we didn't want that to happen" again, said Shelby. The pact also includes increases for new technologies such as advanced screening at border entry points, humanitarian aid sought by Democrats, and additional customs officers. Shelby had earlier pulled the plug on the talks over Democratic demands to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities, but Democrats yielded ground on that issue. Asked if Trump would back the deal, Shelby said, "We believe from our dealings with them and the latitude they've given us, they will support it. We certainly hope so." (Read more government shutdown stories.) (Newser) President Trump and Beto O'Rourke held dueling rallies across the street from each otherand across the Rio Grande from Mexicoin El Paso on Monday night. Both men addressed the border wall issue, with Trump, at his first rally of the year, speaking under signs that read "Finish the wall," the El Paso Times reports. The president appeared unaware that lawmakers in DC had reached a deal that included border wall funding well below what he had asked for, reports the AP. "I had a choice. I could've stayed out there and listened, or I could have come out to the people of El Paso, and Texas, I chose you," Trump said. "So we probably have some good news. But who knows?" He added: "We're building the wall anyway." O'Rourke, meanwhile, spoke at a protest rally that followed a march with dozens of local groups, the Guardian reports. story continues below "Walls do not make us safer," the Democrat told the crowd. "With the eyes of the country upon us, all of us together are going to make our stand here in one of the safest cities in America," O'Rourke said. His crowd was estimated to be in the thousands, though Trump, speaking at an arena that holds 10,000 people, estimated his own crowd at 35,000 and O'Rourke's at 200 or 300. Not too good," said Trump of O'Rourke. "I say that may be the end of his presidential bid." He mocked the Democrat as having "very little going for himself except he's got a great first name." Trump also slammed those who disputed his claim that the El Paso border fence had drastically reduced crime, including the city's Republican mayor, as "full of crap," the New York Times reports. (This Arizona city wants the government to remove razor wire from a border wall.) Myanmar police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon on Tuesday to disperse a protest over a statue of independence hero General Aung San that is opposed by members of the Karenni ethnic minority, police and a protest leader said. Organisers said at least 3,000 people had gathered on the Union Day holiday in Loikaw, the capital of the mountainous eastern state of Kayah, also known as Karenni, despite being denied permission for the demonstration. "We are not objecting to the general's statue itself - we are demanding to implement his promises first," Khun Thomas, a leader of the Karenni State Youth Force, said at the protest, broadcast live on Facebook using smartphones. "We are going to continue our protest." The father of Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Aung San was the architect of a Feb. 12, 1947 pact among some ethnic groups which is marked by the annual holiday, but which, minorities say, was never realised after his assassination that year. On taking power in 2016, after decades of military-led governments, Suu Kyi set her top priority as securing peace with ethnic armed groups, but slow progress and rising dissatisfaction with her party in minority areas poses a challenge for elections set for next year. Participants in Tuesday's protest, the largest in a series that began in the state in mid-2018 after officials announced plans to install the statue, demanded that its top official and finance minister resign for failing to negotiate with them. More than 10 people suffered minor injuries in the police effort to scatter the protest, Khun Thomas told Reuters by telephone. Images posted on social media showed circular wounds on the faces and torsos of young men wearing traditional tunics. The police tactics were meant only to intimidate protesters with noise, police chief Win Htay said. "The situation is stable now," he added. "The kids are just showing their opinion." This month's unveiling of the Loikaw statue, depicting the general in gold atop a horse, has revived the trend of protests, in which a total of 54 people have been charged since last year with unlawful assembly, incitement and defamation. About two dozen people also demonstrated in the commercial capital, Yangon, to support the Loikaw protests and oppose the building of statues of General Aung San. "No more statues - give us food," read the slogans on signs they held up near the city's independence monument, amid a heavy police presence. Short link: (Newser) Thailand's Election Commission on Monday disqualified the sister of the country's king from becoming a candidate for prime minister in next month's general election, saying all royals have to be above politics and the monarchy must remain politically neutral. The commission's decision came after her brother issued an order describing Princess Ubolratana Mahidol's political bid as inappropriate and unconstitutional, the AP reports. The Thai Raksa Chart Party last Friday registered Ubolratana as its candidate, defying precedent against royal involvement in politics. Her choice of party was notable because the party is associated with the political machine of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup after being accused of abuse of power and disrespect for the monarchy. story continues below A royal order late Friday night from King Maha Vajiralongkorn said tradition and law barred the princess from politics. Ubolratana's involvement was seen as a challenge to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who led a 2014 military coup and is favored to win the March 24 election, which 55 parties are contesting. The military, a bitter foe of the exiled Thaksin, is closely allied to the palace. Thai Raksa Chart on Saturday hastily issued a statement declaring its loyalty to the king and acceptance of his order, though it was technically too late to withdraw Ubolratana's candidacy. (Read more Thailand stories.) (Newser) In a strangely positive twist to climate change, a new study finds that Greenland could become a major exporter of sand as its glaciers disappear into the sea. As global temperatures rise, the island's vast ice sheet is rapidly melting away, and large amounts of sediments are being washed into the oceans, reports Reuters. Greenland's population of 56,000 could see significant economic boosts from mining the sand and gravel and exporting it to the rest of the world. "Greenland could benefit from the challenges brought by climate change," the team of scientists says. One described the melting ice sheet as a giant "tap that pours out sediment to the coast." The amount of sand delivered to the country's coast annually is estimated to be worth more than half Greenland's GDP, which is about $2.22 billion, and that worth is expected to double within the next quarter-century. story continues below The global sand market was worth $99.5 billion in 2017, and that pie is likely to grow due to future shortages and rising demand. By 2100, it is projected to reach $481 billion. Sand is used in everything from concrete to computers, per Inverse, and a global black market has grown out of a surprising shortage of the stuff. Of course, mining and exporting sand can be bad for the environment, while dredging up the sediment could cause further damage to marine ecosystems. Exploiting the sand reserves could be controversial because of the impacts on the "pristine Arctic landscape," reports ScienceDaily. "When we started our research, we had no idea that our results would foster the idea of establishing a sand mining industry in Greenland," said one researcher. "It just shows how unpredictable science can be." (Read more sand stories.) (Newser) More than three decades after police fruitlessly searched a Las Vegas swap meet for a missing 3-year-old, his mother has been charged with murder. Amy Fleming, 60, was arrested in Florida on Jan. 29 and is being extradited to Nevada to face a charge that she killed her son before setting out for the swap meet with the boy's stepfather, Lee Luster, on Aug. 2, 1986. "We believe they were at the swap meet as a diversion and [Francillon Pierre] was already deceased," an investigator said at a Monday news conference, noting neighbors hadn't seen the boy for weeks prior to that event, per the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Eight months earlier, a babysitter had found 30 to 40 welts on Francillon's neck and back, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Fleming and Luster, who moved to Florida in 1987, were found guilty of felony child abuse and sentenced to probation. story continues below "We definitely believe that child abuse could have played a factor in this homicide," the investigator said. "At this point, evidence points to [Fleming], but the investigation is ongoing," an officer added, per the Sun Sentinel. Fleming initially claimed Francillon vanished while the family was shopping for a bicycle. She later implicated his father, who was cleared as a suspect; he then lived in Haiti. Police say new witnesses and evidence have emerged since 2017, when officers learned someone tried to apply for a fraudulent birth certificate in Francillon's name. KTNV describes an "attempt at identity theft from overseas." Officers also reference torn-up letters sent between Fleming and Luster while they were jailed. In one, Fleming allegedly wrote, "What happened was totally unintentional, I'm sorry." Police haven't said how they believe Francillon died; no body was ever found. (Read more murder stories.) 'Height Is Power,' and So Statue of Roosevelt Will Go The choice of Vietnam as host of this month's summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shows the Southeast Asian nation is headed in the right direction, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said on Tuesday. Last week, Trump said he would hold his second meeting with Kim in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on Feb. 27 and 28. That follows an unprecedented June 11 summit of the two leaders in the wealthy city state of Singapore. "This important event has shown that Vietnam's investment environment is good, that Vietnam's development model is going in a right direction and especially that the security and safety in Vietnam is wonderful," Phuc told government officials at the Hanoi Stock Exchange. "Vietnam will demonstrate its international role and do its best to let the word 'Vietnam' ring out." Vietnam's foreign minister, Pham Binh Minh, will visit North Korea from Feb. 12 to 14 ahead of the summit. In a statement on Tuesday, North Korean state news agency KCNA confirmed the Vietnamese delegation had arrived, but did not provide any details of their itinerary or agenda. As Vietnam prepares for the summit, its reform model is being widely touted as the economic path for impoverished and isolated North Korea to follow. Last year, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said North Korea could follow the example of Vietnam, adding that Trump believed Pyongyang could replicate Hanoi's path to normal relations with Washington and to prosperity. Short link: What's Included With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 574-583-5121 or email cgrace@thehj.com. Hundreds of demonstrators are gathering in different Sudanese cities, protesting against autocratic President Omar al-Bashir. Tuesday's demonstrations were called by the Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella of independent professional unions. Video footage shows demonstrators gathering at intersections chanting "just fall,'' and calling for a "people's revolution.'' The current wave of protests began Dec. 19, initially over surging prices and a failing economy, but quickly shifted to calls for an end to al-Bashir's three-decade rule. Al-Bashir, who seized power in a military coup, insists that only elections, which he intends to run in, could bring change. Activists say at least 57 people have been killed in the protests. The government's latest tally stands at 30 killed, but figures have not been updated in days. Short link: The Government will continue to monitor influenza activity as students return to school following the Lunar New Year holiday, Secretary for Food & Health Prof Sophia Chan said today. Speaking to the media, Prof Chan said most students are back in school but influenza activity remains high. While the influenza situation continues to be at a high level, the trend is actually going down in terms of the number of samples tested positive." Prof Chan said the Government will continue to monitor the situation to see whether there will be outbreaks. She appealed to high-risk groups such as the elderly and young kids to be vigilant about hygiene. If they still haven't got their vaccination, please go ahead to have flu vaccines, she added. Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury James Lau will leave for Dublin on February 12 to attend the 4th European Financial Forum. Mr Lau will promote Hong Kong's strengths as an international financial centre and forge closer financial collaboration with Ireland at the forum. He will attend the forums opening session and deliver a closing keynote speech on Hong Kongs strengths as well as how it can help global enterprises capture opportunities in the city and the Mainland amid the changing financial landscape. During his visit, Mr Lau will meet senior government officials, key personnel of the Irish Central Bank and Stock Exchange, and representatives of the countrys fintech industry. He will also visit global aircraft leasing companies headquartered in Dublin and meet leading figures in the sector. During Mr Laus absence, Under Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Joseph Chan will be Acting Secretary. The United States is seeking this week in Warsaw to rally the world behind a vision of the Middle East that includes maximum pressure on Iran and strong backing of Israel, but it is winning little fresh support. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month announced the two-day conference starting Wednesday, saying that foreign ministers from around the world would come to Poland to take up the "destabilising influence" of Iran in the Middle East. A show of unity would serve as a powerful rejoinder to Iran's clerical regime, which just this week is celebrating 40 years since Islamic zealots toppled the Western-oriented shah. But with few RSVPs coming, the United States and Poland have toned down the agenda, stating that the conference is not focused on Iran or on building a coalition against it, but rather looking more broadly at the Middle East. US Vice President Mike Pence will address the conference, whose co-host is Pompeo. Even though the meeting takes place in the European Union, major European powers are sending low-level representation with the exception of British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who signalled that he primarily wants to address the humanitarian crisis triggered by the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said she had previous commitments and Pompeo instead will have breakfast with her in Brussels on his way home. Even host Poland -- which is eager for strong relations with the United States in the face of a resurgent Russia -- has stressed that it still joins the European Union in backing a 2015 deal negotiated by former US president Barack Obama to ease sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear programme. President Donald Trump stormed out of the deal last year, calling it "terrible", and has reimposed sweeping US sanctions aimed at strangling Iran's economy and curbing its regional power. Hints of US Middle East plan The countries that are sending top officials to Warsaw are pushing for a tough line on Iran including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Arab allies of the United States such as the United Arab Emirates. Netanyahu said that Iran remained the foremost item on the agenda -- "how to continue preventing it from entrenchment in Syria, how to thwart its aggression in the region and, above all, how to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons." Yet the United States is also expected in Warsaw to offer hints of its proposals for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, who has been putting final touches on a "deal of the century" for the Middle East, will make a rare speaking appearance on Thursday. Kushner, whose family is close to Netanyahu, is not expected to unveil the proposal until after the April 9 election in Israel. The Trump administration faces an uphill climb in selling any deal to the Palestinian Authority, which remains livid over Trump's landmark 2017 decision to recognise Jerusalem -- claimed by both peoples -- as Israel's capital. The Palestinian government -- which has labelled the Warsaw conference an "American conspiracy" -- has refused talks with the United States until it starts what it calls a more balanced policy. Iran, Russia counter event Iran was not invited to Warsaw and summoned the Polish ambassador to protest. But in a show of diplomatic clout, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will travel during the US-led conference to Russia, which declined to attend in Warsaw. In the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Rouhani will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Syria, where Trump is pulling out US troops. Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said the Warsaw conference should "initiate a process" on finding stability in the Middle East, with a US official saying that countries will hold follow-up meetings. Ali Vaez, director of the Iran project at the International Crisis Group think tank, said the United States appeared determined to use Warsaw to expand beyond its anti-Iran coalition of Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. "I doubt Washington will succeed in achieving this objective, because while many in Europe share US concerns with regards to Iran's regional activities and ballistic missiles programme, they don't agree with Washington's one-sided and maximalist view that Iran is the source of all evil in the region," he said. Short link: Champaign, IL (61820) Today Scattered thunderstorms, especially in the afternoon. High around 80F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Variably cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low near 70F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Rainfall near an inch. Pikeville, KY (41501) Today Except for a few afternoon clouds, mainly sunny. High near 85F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight A few clouds from time to time. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Support local journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. By ANI BALOCHISTAN: A chilling video, shared by a political activist from the Free Balochistan Movement, shows the Pakistani army brutally killing an unarmed Baloch man, after dragging him out of his house at an undisclosed location here in Balochistan. Shared by political activist Beebagr Baloch on Twitter, the video shows the man being dragged out of his house by the Pakistani army before bullets are relentlessly fired at him by a group of uniformed personnel for unknown reasons. Heart wrenching video . Have a look how Pakistani army killing a innocent Baloch in Balochistan . Dow with Pakistan #LeakVideo pic.twitter.com/RVNt1a4lbg Beebagr Baloch (@Beebagr_Baluch) 12 February 2019 The graphic video is being deemed as a window into the brutalities borne by Baloch people everyday, which are strengthened by regular pleas by Baloch activists regarding the unnecessary killings undertaken by Pakistani law enforcement. Groups like the Baloch Republican Party (BRP), Baloch National Movement (BNM) Free Balochistan Movement (FBM) and others have held regular protests in the West to bring attention to the enforced disappearances and the regular recovery of mutilated bodies of disappeared Baloch persons. Thousands of Baloch political activists and intellectuals from resource-rich Balochistan have gone missing, allegedly kidnapped and killed by Pakistan's security forces. Despite hue and cry by victim family members and human rights organisations, Islamabad has failed to free them from detention centres. (ANI) By PTI WASHINGTON: The Trump administration wants to ensure that Afghanistan is never used as a safe haven for terrorists, Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has told President Ashraf Ghani during his surprise visit to the war-torn country to lead a push for peace talks with the Taliban. Shanahan held talks with Ghani at the Presidential Palace on Monday to reaffirm his commitment to Afghanistan through implementation of President Trump's South Asia strategy. "The leaders discussed a broad range of defence issues, including the importance of the US-Afghanistan security relationship and of achieving a political settlement to the war that ensures Afghanistan is never again used as a safe haven from which terrorists can plan and launch terrorist attacks against the United States, our interests, and our allies," said Pentagon Spokesperson Cmdr Sean Robertson. During the meeting, Shanahan praised the sacrifices made by Afghan and Coalition troops, and reaffirmed America's continued support to Afghan forces as they lead the fight to defend their country. Shanahan made a surprise trip to Afghanistan on Monday, his first-ever visit to the country where US troops have been stationed for 17 years. President Donald Trump reportedly wants to cut in half the 14,000 American troops in Afghanistan, and the Taliban leaders have made a US withdrawal a key condition in peace negotiations. Shanahan told reporters on Monday that he had no orders to reduce the American troop presence. He said that while the US had a key role to play, it is ultimately up to Afghans to find peace. "The Afghans have to decide what Afghanistan looks like. It's not about the US, it's about Afghanistan," he said. The Acting Defense chief's visit comes after the US held major talks with the Taliban officials in Qatar last month in an attempt to end the 17-year conflict. US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who is leading the talks, has expressed hope of finding a deal before Afghan presidential elections scheduled for July. In a series of tweets after six days of talks with the Taliban representatives in Doha last month, Khalilzad said the US has made "significant progress" in its peace talks with the Taliban. "We have a draft of the framework that has to be fleshed out before it becomes an agreement. The Taliban have committed, to our satisfaction, to do what is necessary that would prevent Afghanistan from ever becoming a platform for international terrorist groups or individuals," Khalilzad said at the time. Since being appointed in September, Khalilzad has met with all sides in an attempt to end America's longest war in which the US has lost over 2,400 soldiers. The US is expected to start a second round of talks with Taliban officials on February 25 in Qatar, where they have their political office. The Afghan Taliban, however, has said that despite the ongoing talks with the US and other regional powers, it had "not yet reached" any conclusion that would entail an immediate end to hostilities against America and its allies. The Taliban are holding talks with the United States "on their own initiative", Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid was recently quoted as saying by a TV channel. The Taliban control nearly half of Afghanistan, and are more powerful than at any time since the 2001 US-led invasion after the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001. Meanwhile, Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna said that the US should continue supporting the Afghan government financially and diplomatically after leaving and include them in the peace process. "We should continue supporting the Afghan government financially and diplomatically after leaving and include them in the peace process. The Afghans must eventually earn domestic legitimacy themselves, though," he said in an op-ed in USA Today. Khanna said the biggest threat to democracy was not the Taliban, but staying economically competitive with authoritarian superpowers like China. Responding to critics who argue that after the US withdrawal the Taliban might steamroll the Afghan government and then harbour terrorists, Khanna said preventing that outcome did not require a permanent US troop presence. "Deterrence works. The Taliban should understand that the United States will use overwhelming force again if they harbour terrorists who directly threaten our homeland. Moreover, other 'ungoverned territories' exist where terrorists can operate.There, we conduct counterterrorism from the air without troop deployment," Khanna said. By UNI MOSCOW: The Taliban militant movement controls at least 50 percent of the total territory of Afghanistan, Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Alexander Mantytskiy said. The ambassador said that those regions that are not easily accessible for the government were being seized the most often. "Generally speaking, at least 50 percent of the Afghan territory is controlled by the Taliban movement," Mantytskiy said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily newspaper. He added that, according to various estimates, from 3,500 to 10,000 militants from the Islamic State terrorist organization (IS, banned in Russia) were currently staying in Afghanistan and regularly carrying out attacks there. Afghanistan has long been suffering from an unstable security situation, with the government engaged in fight against the Taliban, which has been waging a war against Kabul for almost two decades, and the IS, which has been operating in Afghanistan since 2015. The United States has denied accusations it is pressuring banks to stop dealing with the Palestinian government, whose relations with Washington have been plummeting. Several Palestinian officials have accused the US of trying to force banks not to deal with transactions linked to the Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in the occupied West Bank. "The United States has not requested that foreign donors restrict assistance to the Palestinians, nor has it requested that financial institutions cease transfers to Palestinian Authority (PA) bank accounts," a US official told AFP late Monday. "We are aware of media reports suggesting this has occurred. Those reports are incorrect." On Sunday, senior Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh charged that Washington was launching a "financial siege" on the PA. "Major international financial institutions and parties have begun to accede to an American request to impose a tight financial siege on the Palestinian Authority," he told AFP. "Washington has asked for financial aid given to the authority to be stopped, and it has also issued a circular to banks not to receive transfers for the authority's accounts." Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki has said on local radio that the US was using "all means to press Arab countries to stop financial support for our people". Relations between the US and the Palestinians have broken down since President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital in late 2017. The Palestinians consider the eastern part of the city their capital and have boycotted the Trump administration since. In response the US has cut more than $500 million in annual aid to the Palestinians, mostly to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. The cuts have worsened longterm financial shortfalls for the PA, which is heavily reliant on international aid. Short link: By PTI WASHINGTON: US lawmaker Illhan Abdullahi Omar, one of the first two Muslim women in the US Congress, has "unequivocally" apologised for her remarks which sparked an anti-Semitism row and drew widespread condemnation including from President Donald Trump who termed it a "terrible statement". Omar, who was elected to the House of Representatives last November, on Sunday in a tweet questioned the financial relationship between the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and members of the Congress. While reacting to a Republican critic, Omar, 37, said "It's all about the Benjamins baby," referring to American USD 100 bills featuring the likeness of Benjamin Franklin. "Anti-Semitism is real, and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes," Omar, the first Somalian American lawmaker, said Monday. "My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole. We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me for my identity.This is why I unequivocally apologise," she said, after top Democratic leaders sought an apology from her on her tweets. On Monday, Trump told reporters abroad Air Force One that the apology was not enough. "I think she should be ashamed of herself.I think it was a terrible statement and I don't think her apology was adequate," he said. Asked what she should say, Trump replied, "she knows what to say". Democratic leaders led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described her tweets as highly offensive. "We are and will always be strong supporters of Israel in Congress because we understand that our support is based on shared values and strategic interests. Legitimate criticism of Israel's policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate that the United States and Israel share," they said. "But Congresswoman Omar's use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel's supporters is deeply offensive. We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologise for these hurtful comments," Democratic leaders said. Congressman Dean Phillips had an impassioned, face to face conversation with Omar during which he expressed offense to her recent anti-Semitic tropes and extended an invitation for future discussions aimed at fostering a better understanding between Jewish and Muslim members of Congress. "I strongly condemn anti-Semitism in all its forms, including comments made by my colleague that - purposefully or not - have propagated dangerous and destructive stereotypes of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. "As elected leaders, it is our collective responsibility to set standards of respect and elevate understanding between the communities we represent," he said. Omar and her Democratic colleague from Minnesota were the first two Muslim women elected to the House of Representatives during the last November mid-term polls. "As Americans and Jews, we expect our politicians to condemn bigotry, not to fuel it. Words matter. At a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise in the US and abroad, Rep Omar is promoting the ugly, anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that Jews have an outsized influence over politics," said Jonathan A Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League. Omar was elected to the House of Representatives from Minnesota on a Democratic party ticket last November. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Citizens and activists from the city once again slammed the Telangana government for sticking to its stand on acquiring Bison Polo and Gymkhana grounds to build a new Secretariat. They said that they would protest against the government no matter what the High Court decides on the matter. The Court will hear the case on February 12. Citizens groups have held multiple protests over the past year against the TRS governments plan to build a new Secretariat on Bison Polo and Gymkhana grounds. They had even approached the Prime Ministers Office to intervene. However, they say the PMO has not yet responded to them. They have now decided to approach the National Green Tribunal. On Monday, members of the Bison Polo and Gymkhana Ground Protection Forum Secunderabad met at Somajiguda. They urged the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to not handover the grounds to the State government. They claimed that the new Secretariat would only benefit private stakeholders and not the citizens of Telangana. Lubna Sarwath, a social activist and economist, said that people from different sections of the society, including historians, professionals, retired army persons and residents of Secunderabad, have been fighting the State government on this issue for a long time. She said that half the present Secretariat was empty, as the Andhra Pradesh government has shifted from it. These offices just need to be renovated, she added. Sarwath said, The deals between the State government are starting to look more like business deals than simple exchange of lands. We will not rest till the government withdraws its decision. The citizens stand against the takeover of Bison Polo and Gymkhana grounds.G Shankar Narayan, a senior architect based in the city, reiterated Sarwaths statement that the existing Secretariat and Assembly buildings were sufficient. By PTI CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday ordered the concerned authorities to immediately close all illegal bars across Tamil Nadu and file a report by February 20. Expressing surprise over a submission made on behalf of the state government, which stated that 3,326 FIRs had been against illegal bars, the court directed the home, prohibition and excise department secretary to shut them all forthwith. The division bench comprising Justice S Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad passed the order after a petition from a Coimbatore resident, D Prabakaran, sought a direction against fraudulent acts in Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) with regard to issuing and collection of license fees from bars. It was submitted before the bench that during April-December 2018 surprise checks were conducted by senior divisional manager and district managers of TASMAC and they found that 2,505 illegal bars were being run. The head office squad detected 20 illegal bars and the deputy collectors and the flying squad detected 801 bars. The petitioner alleged fraud in issuing purchase bills, rendering periodical accounts to the government, collection of license fees from the TASMAC bars, charging of excess rate, all of which cause loss to the exchequer. He submitted that TASMAC allows illegal bars to run without maintaining hygiene and alleged that these bars do not display the price list of the eatables, which are sold at exorbitant rates. Besides, the bars don't have basic amenities like water and toilet facilities. The petitioner said he moved court after his representations to authorities did not receive any response. By Express News Service CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Information Technology Minister M Manikandan said on Tuesday that the state would urge the central government to ban the TikTok app, a highly popular social media platform. The minister was responding to a query from M Thamimun Ansari in the state assembly. In his query, Ansari said, "The Tik-Tok mobile app has become disastrous to the culture of the state as the youth and women post vulgar videos in the app and it is spread all over the world. Various political leaders have demanded a ban on the mobile app. Hence, the state government should take steps to ban the app in order to protect the youth and women of the state. Responding to Ansaris request, Manikandan said, "The state government will take steps to ban the app. Earlier, we had taken steps against the Blue Whale app after putting enough pressure on the union government despite the servers being in Russia." "Similarly, the state government would take steps to ban the app by taking it up with the union government, he assured. Tik Tok (formerly musical.ly) lets users post 15-second videos of themselves where they often enact scenes from popular movies or songs. The app recorded over 100 million downloads in the Google Play Store. In December alone, a counsellor attached to the 104 helpline had received 36 calls from children and adults in Tamil Nadu dealing with TikTok-related bullying, harassment and for displaying symptoms of the onset of addiction, Express had reported in January. In October, a 23-year-old jumped in front of a train in Vyasarpadi, allegedly because he was trolled online for dressing up as a woman for one of his TikTok videos. The Chennai Police had last week arrested a 19-year-old painter after he made TikTok videos outside the Ashok Nagar police station. By Express News Service CHENNAI: There is no proposal to provide satellite phones to fishermen, the Centre told a division bench of the Madras High Court on Monday. The counsel for the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) told this to the bench of Justices S Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad, when a PIL petition from Fishermen Care, praying for a direction to the Centre to refer all cases of violation of human rights of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy to the International Court of Justice, came up on Monday. The bench also opined that the State government should extend the maximum subsidy to fishermen for providing transponders to their boats. Considering the safety and security of the fishermen, who land in problems day in, day out, it is the desire of the court that the State government should extend its maximum subsidy to fishermen, the judges added. The matter stands adjourned to February 20. Earlier, the MEA counsel told the judges that based on the directives of the national committee for strengthening maritime and coastal security, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has undertaken a proof of concept (POC) pilot study to evaluate the transponders technology developed by ISRO. In this regard, ISRO had informed that 1,050 MSS-based transponder terminals are being installed in 20 metre-long fishing vessels in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat and 50 in Puducherry. The transponders are wireless satellite-based communication devices considered for fitment on board the fishing vessels by the MHA/ISRO. By PTI PUDUCHERRY: Legislators belonging to the opposition AIADMK here Tuesday broke helmets on the premises of the Assembly to protest against the rule making wearing of the headgear mandatory without creating awareness on its use. The MLAs staged the protest to also condemn Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi's action to implement the rule and flayed her style of functioning which, they said, was arbitrary. The Leader of the legislature wing of the AIADMK A Anbalagan and his colleagues in the Assembly A Baskar and Vayyapuri Manikandan brought a helmet each and smashed them on the floor. The party has a strength of four members in the House. The other legislator K A U Asana was away in his native place of Karaikal, and hence could not be present during the agitation. On Sunday, Bedi said the territorial law secretary had requested the Madras High Court to deploy a mobile magistrate traffic court here to ensure motorcyclists wear helmets. A day after DGP Sundari Nanda said the rule regarding helmet use would be enforced from February 11 in the Union Territory, Bedi in her WhatsApp message to mediapersons had said, "It is now time and opportunity for relentless adoption of the rule by law enforcement agencies to bring down fatalities on roads." "There shall be no relaxation, exceptions and interference regarding enforcement of the helmet rule," she had said. Chief Minister V Narayanasamy at a press conference had said, "Awareness on the importance of helmet use may be created through a month-long drive. The directive of the Supreme Court on compulsory wearing of helmets should be honoured by all without exception." By Express News Service VELLORE: Tragedy struck this young woman who was nurturing dreams of settling down in life after her husband flew abroad for a better job. V Kalaiselvi received the news from a travel agency that her husband Venkatesan was killed in a tiff at his workplace in Warsaw, Poland, where he was employed, on December 23 last year. Venkatesan lost his life just 48 days after joining work at a cold drinks manufacturing firm. The couple has a four-year-old child. After knocking on the doors of concerned authorities for several days, the woman finally got to see her husband lying motionless in a coffin on January 2, when the body had been flown down to his native village Sambasivapuram. Following this, she was shown the door by her in-laws, forcing to stay with her parents who are already battling to eke out a livelihood. To run the family and take care of the well being of her child, Kalaiselvi is running from pillar to post to get financial aid and job in a government department. I don't know how to move forward with the child. I have no support from my in-laws. So, I have approached the district collector with a petition requesting some help, possibly a government job so that I can lead a good life and take care of my child, she said. The couple had a love marriage. After completing SSLC, she (Kalaiselvi) wanted to marry him. So, we arranged the marriage, said K Sundaresan, Kalaiselvi's father. He recalled that his daughter had scored more than 400 marks in her Class X public examination. The beautician course she trained in has left her with some hope of employment. Officials of the district administration said they might be able to take up the cause of the helpless widow with the authorities of the private firm where her husband was employed in Warsaw through the Indian Embassy for financial assistance, including insurance claims. Arun M By Express News Service KOCHI: A pall of gloom descended on Panelil house at Cheranalloor on Tuesday morning as news spread that a raging blaze at a New Delhi hotel had claimed the lives of three members of the family. Relatives and family friends rushed to the house in the morning, only to see the three houses locked as all the family members had gone to Delhi to take part in a wedding there. As per information from the Delhi Police, Nalini Amma, 85, of Panelil, Cheranalloor, her son Vidyasagar, 60, and daughter Jayasree, 53, of Pazhanganattu, Chottanikkara, were among the 17 people who died in the hotel fire. We heard about the tragedy through television channels. We contacted our family members over phone and they confirmed the incident, said Manish, a relative of Nalini Amma. The family members had left for Delhi on February 7 to take part in the wedding function of Nalini Ammas sisters granddaughter. There were 13 members in the group. Jayasrees son Harigovind, who works in Mumbai, also joined them in Delhi. All the 14 members stayed at Hotel Arpit Palace at Karol Bagh, said Anu Das, a family friend. Victims were asleep when fire broke out As per the information we got, fire broke out on the top floor of the hotel, around 4.30 am, on Tuesday. As all of them were sleeping, they were caught unawares and did not get enough time to escape. All the 10 others in the group are safe, said Anu Das, a family friend.Though the function was over on February 8, the family decided to stay back to visit some tourist spots in and around Delhi and had booked return tickets for next Sunday. They were planning to vacate the hotel and proceed to Amritsar on Tuesday morning. Nalini Amma had gone to Delhi along with her two sons - Vidyasagar and Somasekharan. Vidyasagars wife Madhuri, his son Vishnu, Somasekharans wife Beena, daughter Sudha and her husband Surendran were also in the group. Her another daughter Jayasree and her sons Harigovind and Gowrisankar, Nalini Ammas sisters daughter Saraswathi, her son Vijayakumar and his son Sreelesh had also joined the group. One of Nalini Ammas sons, Sasidharan, had predeceased her. Vidyasagar, who was an NRI, had returned from Kuwait and built a house near his ancestral home at Cheranalloor, where he was staying. Nair Service Society (NSS) Chottanikkara Karayogam president Surendran Nair said Jayasree was an active member of the organisation and she was keen on taking part in social service activities in the locality. Chetana Belagere By Express News Service BENGALURU: The growing demand for sperm from intelligent donors is leaving cryobank officials baffled, as they struggle to fulfil the demands of recipient couples, who insist that their offspring carry the finest gene pool available. Among the qualities sought after by these couples are fair complexion, good looks and intelligence. Sperm banks are thus not keen to accept samples unless the donor has a post-graduate degree. Donors with a medical or engineering degree are in high demand, and many sperm banks make money by promising recipients of donors with IIM and IIT qualifications. If we are given an option, we would definitely look for a healthy sperm with high IQ. I dont mind paying more money for this, said a couple. Bengalurus S-Daac, which is the only registered cryobank in the state, requires around 6,000 semen vials every month, but sperm donation is nowhere near the requirement. About 10 donors walk into our centre in a month, and not all of them return for subsequent tests. Half of those who do come back test positive for genetic disorders or have unhealthy lifestyle, said COO Ambar A Rao. Sperm donation, Rao says, is not easy. The freezability of the semen is checked. The donor needs to undergo tests for HIV and other kinds of infection. It is difficult to get a perfect donor and 70% of those who approach us for semen donation are rejected after the testing, he says. Nearly 50,000 vials are destroyed every now and then, he adds. We give the potential donors an IQ test, and take proof of their graduation certificate. They are then subjected to other genetic tests, explained Dr Pallavi, lab director, S-Daac.Though rules do not allow sperm banks to reveal the donors background to the recipient couple, many of them sell the semen of highly-qualified donors at higher prices.Samples from donors with a medical or engineering degree go for a higher price, said a doctor from a IVF centre Series of tests a major deterrent for donors IVF specialists say couples are willing to pay more for samples that have been thoroughly tested, and for specifics such as an IIT education or height of six feet or more.Though cryobanks try to spread awareness about sperm donation across postgraduate colleges, many donors do not come forward due to the attached taboo, added Pallavi. Some colleges also shy away from discussing the topic among students, said Ambar, adding that he received lukewarm response when he tried to contact a few post graduate colleges. A major deterrent even for those willing to donate is the fact that they have to undergo a series of tests. Though movies like Vicky Donor promoted the subject, many thought they would be able to afford a luxurious lifestyle with the amount. As per cryobank standardisation we pay 250-500 to donors, said Ambar. However, some other banks in the city claim to pay Rs2,000-3,000 to donors from science and commerce streams. However, the recipients end up spending far more than what the sperm bank pays the donor because the prices get pushed up due to the mandatory tests required. Under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines, sperm banks need to test samples for HIV, hepatitis B and C, hypertension, diabetes, sexually transmitted diseases, and identifiable and common genetic disorders such as thalassemia. The tests go on for six months as many diseases have a quarantine period and the samples need to be tested again after a gap of a few months. Fertility clinics in the state have their own prices for the semen. While the cryobanks sell them for Rs10,000 to Rs 15,000, fertility clinics charge more from the couples. We dont want to get into legal or other complications, hence its always a better option to buy from registered sperm banks and store them, said Dr Devika of Gunasheela IVF Centre. By ANI NEW DELHI: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday condemned BJP president Amit Shah's open letter and said," They (BJP) are hitting me below the belt. PM and Shah have to maintain the decorum. Speaking to the media here, Naidu said, I condemn all this. He has written a letter to the people of Andhra Pradesh. They are hitting me below the belt. PM and Shah have to maintain the decorum. "Tomorrow we are gathering here at 10:15 am. From here, we will rally and go to the President. We are 11 members only, we will give the representation to him," he added. Naidu made the remarks after Shah in an open letter slammed the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and said that the TDP chief has destroyed the trust of the people. The BJP president said, "Andhra Pradesh chief minister knows that his political fortunes are declining rapidly and so he was back to theatrics in his desperation for grabbing headlines. Naidus delusional politics is about to end." ALSO READ: PM Modi has rock-solid support for Lok Sabha polls 2019, but who is Opposition alliance leader? asks Amit Shah Chandrababu Naidu has broken the trust of the people of Andhra Pradesh. His delusional politics is about to end. He is going too far by personally attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he added. In his letter posted on social media, Shah said people will teach Naidu a befitting lesson in the coming elections for joining hands with the Congress, which bifurcated the state in a unilateral, hasty and unscientific manner, ignoring its interests. Naidu held a daylong protest at the Andhra Bhavan in New Delhi on Monday demanding special status for the state. Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met on Tuesday with head of the African Development Bank (ADB) Akinwumi Adesina in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa to discuss cooperation, praising the bank's role in supporting intra-African trade and the current level of cooperation between Egypt and the bank. The president expressed Egypt's desire to explore more areas of cooperation between Egypt and the bank during the upcoming period in light of the country's ongoing sustainable and comprehensive development efforts, especially in small and medium enterprises and supporting the country's exports in Africa. El-Sisi also expressed Egypt's desire to encourage the bank's exposure to support national mega-projects in the country, topped by the New Administrative Capital and the Suez Canal Economic Zone. El-Sisi also praised the bank's efforts in organising the first edition of the African Intra Trade Fair in Cairo last December in cooperation with the Egyptian government and the African Union's Commission. The head of the ADB hailed Egypt's success in implementing its economic reform programme, which has largely contributed to the gradual improvement of the Egyptian economy and the rising economic growth rate, as well as direct foreign investments in the country. Adesina also presented ADB plan for the upcoming period, reaffirming the bank's keenness on expanding its activities and supporting trade between Egypt and African countries. Short link: By PTI NEW DELHI: Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad Tuesday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as he remembered Atal Bihari Vajpayee saying the BJP patriarch neither had anger against the opposition nor did he undermine the progress made by the country since Independence. Speaking at a function held at the Central Hall of Parliament to unveil a life-size portrait of Vajpayee, the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha said the former prime minister will always be remembered for his speeches. "He always opposed his rival parties, but never had anger against them," Azad said at the event where, besides Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narendra Singh Tomar were present on the dias. ALSO READ: J-K Congress miffed, worried over sidelining of Ghulam Nabi Azad Members of both Houses attended the event where President Kovind unveiled the life-size portrait of the former prime minister. The BJP, especially Modi, has been attacking the Congress and questioning the performance of its governments over the last 70 years. Azad recollected some of the speeches delivered by Vajpayee in Lok Sabha, including one on the occasion of 50th anniversary of India's Independence. "He said (Vajpayee) maintained that the country made progress in the last 50 years and no one can deny that. I had enough material to attack previous governments during elections and canvassing for votes, making fervent attacks on their policies. But I have said everywhere that I am not one of those who undermines the country's achievements in the last 50 years." "Doing this would be undermining the country's administration. Doing this would mean doing injustice against country's farmers, labourers and this would not be right against the common man'," the Congress leader said. Azad also recollected Vajpayee's speech in 1999 during a vote of confidence motion. He noted that the former prime minister had said there should not no polarisation in the country in the name of caste and religion and politics should not be divided into two camps where there cannot be any conversation. Recalling Vajpayee's speech in Goa in 2002, Azad said the former prime minister had said India won't be so if it was not secular. By PTI NEW DELHI: An IndiGo flight that was heading from Bengaluru to Bangkok on Tuesday was diverted to Yangoon in Myanmar after it "experienced oil pressure warning in one of its engines". The flight carrying 129 passengers and 6 crew members landed safely in Yangoon, the airline said in a statement. "An IndiGo flight 6E075, operating Bangalore-Bangkok route experienced an oil pressure warning on one of its engines. The aircraft is a A320 aircraft powered by V2500 engine. Our pilot followed the laid down procedure and landed the aircraft safely in Yangoon," it said. The aircraft had not reported or observed any snag on the earlier flight, the airline added. "IndiGo has already rebooked all 129 passengers to Bangkok on other airlines and initiated rebooking of all the passengers on the flight from Bangkok back to Bangalore. IndiGo will provide accommodation to passengers as required," the airline said. "The affected engine is currently being investigated and the further course of action will be determined accordingly," IndiGo added. Meanwhile, shortage of pilots continued to hamper operations of IndiGo with the budget carrier Tuesday cancelling as many as 30 flights from across major airports and passengers allegedly being forced to buy last minute tickets at high fares. By ANI NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Tuesday permitted Christian Michel, the 'middleman' in the AgustaWestland case, to meet his lawyer Rosemary Patrizi. In line with the rules of Tihar Jail where Michel is currently lodged, Patrizi will meet her client as a general visitor and not as a lawyer from Monday to Friday between 9 am and12 noon. Last week, Michel had approached the Patiala House Court for bail in the case filed against him. Following this, Special Judge Arvind Kumar issued a notice to CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the bail plea and sought reply by February 12. ALSO READ: Delhi court sends Rajeev Saxena to judicial custody till February 18, orders his medical check-up Michel, the alleged middleman in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland chopper deal case, was extradited from the UAE on December 4 last year. It was stated before the Delhi court that since the charge sheet was not filed against Michel within the stipulated 60-day period under Section 167(2), there is no basis keeping him in judicial custody. Arguments on Michel's bail plea are slated to be heard later today. Sana Shakil By Express News Service NEW DELHI: Despite the massive backlash in the Northeast, the Centre is set to table the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Rajya Sabha. A revised business list of the Rajya Sabha issued late on Monday night said Home Minister Rajnath Singh would table the Bill in the upper house. Earlier, Singh met with chief ministers of two Northeastern states in which both expressed their discontent over the Bill. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu and his Manipur counterpart N Biren Singh voiced their opposition to the Bill and urged Singh to ensure it was not passed in the RS. READ| Bhupen Hazarika's son upset over Citizenship bill but doesn't decline Bharat Ratna The Bill, which seeks to provide Indian nationality to non-Muslims who migrated from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, was passed by the Lok Sabha during the winter session on January 8. During the 30-minute meeting, also attended by Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju and senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs the two CMs apprised the minister about the prevailing situation in the Northeast, which has been witnessing relentless protests against the Bill. READ| BJP ally Shiv Sena to vote against Citizenship Bill in Rajya Sabha This was governments last full-fledged attempt to get the Northeastern states on board. But a consensus was not built. The Centre will not table the Bill unless all stakeholders are on board, said a senior government official. According to sources, the two CMs requested the Home Minister not to pass the Bill before convincing the people of the Northeast, an MHA official said. Singh asked them not to worry and assured that the rights of the indigenous people of the Northeast would not be diluted. By Express News Service WASHINGTON: It may not be clear as yet how Priyanka Gandhi Vadra joining Congress would impact its electoral fortunes, but it would help the party reduce its funding and resource gaps with the ruling BJP, an influential American foreign policy magazine has said. "The Congress Party's newest campaigner may not actually contest elections, but she will likely narrow a funding gap in a country where winning votes costs serious money," Milan Vaishnav from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace wrote in his latest article for the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine. Congress president Rahul Gandhi last month made his sister party's general secretary in-charge of crucial eastern Uttar Pradesh having 40 seats in the Lok Sabha. She made her maiden road show Monday in Lucknow along with her brother. Her formal entry into politics, Vaishnav said, has imparted the much-needed enthusiasm to the party, which lost power in 2014 amid a historic victory of the BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Headed into the 2019 general election, the Congress starts from a position of weakness, he said, adding "reports suggest that Congress state units have been starved of funds from the party high command due to the fiscal crunch." "Priyanka Gandhi's entry into active politics comes at a time when the Congress needs all the help it can get. The party has seen few victories since a disastrous 2014 general election performance, and Gandhi provides a much-needed morale boost to the Congress rank-and-file," wrote Vaishnav, co-author of a recent book 'Costs of Democracy: Political Finance in India'. "Just last month, the Congress was unceremoniously excluded from a pivotal opposition alliance in Uttar Pradesh, India's most electorally consequential state. With Priyanka Gandhi heading the Congress party's campaign in eastern Uttar Pradesh -- home to the parliamentary seats of her mother, brother, and Prime Minister Modi of the ruling BJP -- the party may gain new leverage with fellow opposition forces," he said in his write-up. "But the Priyanka Gandhi play is not only about winning allies and lifting spirits; it's also about cash. The party is short of it, and Gandhi substitutes for the political finance that the Congress desperately needs," he said. Stating that "Vadra, unlike Modi, is just a campaigner; there is no indication that she will contest elections herself", he said, "In 2014, the Congress faced three insurmountable deficits - of leadership, ideology, and resources." "There is no short-term fix for the first two, but the third problem just got a little easier," he said, arguing that she would help her party meet the resource crunch and would "partially offset her party's lackluster coffers." "Lacking a sizable advertising budget, the Congress can ensure wall-to-wall television coverage of any event in which Gandhi even remotely figures. In a country where dynastic politicians are often revered as deities," said Viashnav. Vaishnav notes that the Priyanka Gandhi buzz will also challenge the BJP's dominance on social media. In less than 24 hours after joining Twitter, she had more than 13,000 followers. Elaborating upon the role of social media in modern electoral arena, he said Modi had already mastered the social media game, using Twitter and Facebook to circumvent traditional media gatekeepers and communicate directly with his online followers even before 2014. "Five years ago, Rahul Gandhi did not even have a Twitter account to his name," he said. While the Congress has invested heavily in upping its social media presence, it still lags far behind. (Modi currently has 45.4 million Twitter followers to Rahul Gandhi's 8.45 million.) But the same fascination with Gandhi that will suck in traditional media outlets is also likely to catch eyeballs online," Vaishnav said. "Will the Priyanka-Gandhi-as-political-finance strategy tip the scales? The arrival of a new Gandhi family member on the political scene will not fix the organisational infirmities that ail the party overnight. But those things that money (or, in this case, Gandhi) can buy have never guaranteed victory: They earn you a seat at the table," concluded the Foreign Policy columnist. By PTI AHMEDABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah Tuesday pooh-poohed attempts by the opposition parties to cobble a grand alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, asserting it will not hurt the prospects of the BJP to return to power. The comments by Modi and Shah come a day after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu's daylong fast in Delhi became a rallying point for opposition unity for the second time in less than a month to take on the BJP at the hustings. On January 19, 22 opposition parties came together at a rally in Kolkata convened by West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee. Delhi's ruling AAP is also planning a mega rally of non-BJP leaders Wednesday against the Modi government in the national capital. ALSO READ: PM Modi has rock-solid support for Lok Sabha polls 2019, but who is Opposition alliance leader? asks Amit Shah While Modi mocked the planned 'mahagathbandhan' as "maha-milawat"(highly adulterated), saying all the faces in this grouping are only indulging in competition in threatening and abusing him, Shah dubbed the alliance as coming together of state-level leaders "not standing a chance" in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Shah also claimed that Modi has rock-solid support of people. Modi said his government will speed up the campaign to rid the country of the corrupt, claiming that only such people had a problem with him while the honest trusted the 'chowkidar'. Modi sought people's support in the campaign in his address at the "Swachh Shakti 2019", an event to recognise the leadership role played by rural women in the Swachh Bharat Mission towards achieving a clean and open defecation free country by October 2 this year. ALSO READ: Chandrababu Naidu's fast becomes centre-stage for show of opposition unity "In 2014, you gave your votes for an honest and transparent government. Middlemen and those who snatched the rights of the poor have been thrown out of all the systems," he said. "Every honest person in the country trusts this 'chowkidar' (watchman) but those who are corrupt, have a problem with Modi," he said. Modi said some people in Haryana are worried over the ongoing investigations by probe agencies against them. "Even in Haryana, you are witnessing how some people are worried because of probe by investigating agencies," he said without naming anyone. There are investigations against former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Congress president Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra for alleged irregularities in land deals in the state. "All the faces of this 'maha-milawat' are indulging in competition of threatening and abusing investigating agencies, court and Modi," the prime minister said. ALSO READ: Narendra Modi behaves like Pakistan PM with Opposition-ruled states, says Kejriwal "But you rest assured, this 'chowkidar' will neither be threatened or browbeaten with their threats and abuses, will neither stop nor bow down. Our 'safai' campaign to rid this country of the corrupt and the dirt is going to be further accelerated. For this campaign, your blessings should continue,"he added. Shah sought to know from the opposition parties their prime ministerial 'face' and leader of their proposed grand alliance. Addressing BJP leaders and workers from Gujarat after launching the 'Mera Parivar-Bhajapa Parivar' voter outreach campaign in Ahmedabad, Shah said a full majority government was required to enable Modi to continue serving the needy. "The 2019 Lok Sabha election is an important step for India to become a superpower in the world. I have travelled across the country and I can see that people are standing like a rock with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I have seen love for Modi in people's eyes," he said. Shah said BJP workers ask him about the 'mahagathbandhan'. "I want to tell them that it will not have any impact," he said. ALSO READ: No women aspirants for BJP ticket in Lok Sabha polls "What will happen if (former prime minister and JD-S supremo) Deve Gowda gives a speech in Gujarat or (West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee in Maharashtra or (former UP chief minister) Akhilesh Yadav in Kerala? It will not have any impact whatsoever because they are only state-level leaders," the BJP president said. Asking party workers to reach out to people, Shah said they need not worry as the opposition parties "do not stand a chance" in the coming election. "I want people of this gathbandhan to declare their candidate for PM's post. Who is your leader? Who will run this country? We are very clear about it. Modiji will be the NDA candidate and only he will lead us," he said. On BJP's prospects in Uttar Pradesh, which accounts for the highest number of 80 Lok Sabha seats, Shah said his party will win "nothing less than 74 seats" there. The Modi government has worked to end corruption and to support 22 crore people through various programmes in its maiden term in office. "I would like to tell all party workers that the Modi government has not done anything to make BJP workers hang their heads in shame. Meet people with pride, they are ready to welcome Modiji," he said. Harpreet Bajwa By Express News Service CHANDIGARH: With an eye on the forthcoming Lok Sabha election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today labelled Mahagathbandhan as a "Mahamilawat and lashing out at the opposition he said "Jo Bhrasht hai Usko Modi Se Kasht Hai, ChowkidarDhamkiyon Se Nahin Rukne Wala Hai, Na Jhukne Wala Hai." (One who is corrupt is scared of Modi, threat will not stop the chowkidar not make him bow before the corrupt). Hitting out at the grand alliance, while speaking at the Swachh Shakti-2019 program at Kurukshetra, Modi said that the government under his leadership has eradicated the scourge of middlemen. "Middlemen and those who loot rights of poor have been eradicated from the system. Today, all honest people have faith in chowkidar.The faces of `mahamilavat are in a competition among themselves to threaten court, CBI and abuse Modi, he said. Linking women to every sector and explaining how they contributed to all government schemes in health, skill development, swachh bharat, agriculture sector, Modi without naming anyone took a jibe at the previous governments for ignoring the pain and miserable condition of women. Watch: Hilarious conversation between PM Modi and kids as he serves Akshaya Patra meal "They criticised me and called me names. I was mocked for talking about toilets from the Red Fort. These were the people who didnt care about the dignity of women. This is why the comments of people who have been brought up with a golden spoon dont bother me." "When I became the Pradhan Sewak, thirty crore sisters and daughters in this country had to wait for the sun to set to go to the toilet. Girls used to dropout from schools owing to shortage of toilets. I had grown up with this reality. This is the reason why I worked to get the women rid of this malaise, he said. Modi said," A day might come when tourists would be attracted to look at howtoilets in India are painted, cleaned and beautified. There is a place in Europe where a lot of tourists visit since the front walls of the houses are painted beautifully." "All houses constructed and being constructed under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana will be registered in womens names, he said and added," "We are the first government to impose death penalty for rapes. ALSO READ | Karnataka speaker Ramesh Kumar makes crass rape reference in assembly Using the recently inaugurated ultra-tech Panipat War Museum, for which he laid the foundation stone, Modi, in a veiled attack to Gandhi family said," "Some people thought that history begins from 1947 and that too with a single family and its history was only recorded, however, they are the one who tried to cut the nation from its past I amhappy that we are reviving history with the help of latest technology and are educating our forthcoming generations. He laid the foundation stones of the National Institute of Ayurveda, Panchkula; Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya University of Health Sciences, Karnal, Shri Krishna Ayush University, Kurukshetra and Battles of Panipat Museum, Panipat. Modi also inaugurated the National Cancer Institute in Jhajjar district and the ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad. NATION DISCARDED MONARCHY, NOT CONG Ahmedabad: Targeting the Gandhi family, BJP chief Amit Shah on Tuesday said India had embraced democracy and discarded monarchy but some people continue to practice it. Addressing BJP workers at Godhra town of Panchmahal district in Gujarat, Shah also claimed that the prime ministers seat is reserved by birth in the Congress, wondering if a worker from that party could ever think of occupying the top post. In a monarchy, the son or daughter of a king gets the throne. Even his son-in-law could become a king. Though our country has adopted democracy and discarded monarchy, some continued to practice it. They have made a mockery of democracy, Shah said. By PTI NEW DELHI: Youth of the two countries could play a role in transforming the quality of the Indo-Pak relations, Pakistan's envoy said here Tuesday, and urged them to be the "ambassadors of peace". High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood made the remarks during an interaction at the embassy, with a delegation of over 30 students, pursuing post-graduate degree programme in political leadership and government at Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT), Pune. Mahmood particularly stressed the role that the youth in India and Pakistan could play in "transforming the quality of bilateral relations". "He urged them to be the 'ambassadors of Pakistan-India peace' as they go forth in life and pursue their professional careers in diverse fields," the embassy said in a statement. Commenting on the historical evolution of Indo-Pak relations, Mahmood stressed on the importance of "changing the conflictual pattern of the past to a cooperative pattern in the future," the statement said. He also stressed on the imperatives of "sustained engagement, a result-oriented dialogue process, resolution of outstanding disputes, enhanced regional cooperation, and collective endeavours for shared prosperity". "The need for more exchange between intellectuals, academics, artists and sportsmen of the two countries was underscored," the embassy said. The envoy expressed hope that the historic Kartarpur Initiative, would be "instrumental in further facilitating and fortifying people-to-people bonds". Besides highlighting Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah's vision of Pakistan as a modern, progressive, democratic, Islamic welfare state, the envoy also outlined the national priorities of the new government including economic turnaround, improved governance, and accelerated socio-economic development. "The High Commissioner added that free media, independent judiciary, and vibrant civil society were distinct features of contemporary Pakistan," the statement said. The delegation was presented books containing pictorial overview of the Hindu, Sikh and Christian heritage in Pakistan. Their visit was hosted as part of the High Commission's outreach efforts and engagement with the youth, the statement said. Anand ST Das By Express News Service PATNA: Education and the rural sector got top priority in Bihars Rs 2,00,501 crore revenue-surplus budget for 2019-20 presented by deputy chief minister-cum-finance minister Sushil Kumar Modi in the state legislature on Tuesday amid chanting of anti-government slogans by the Opposition legislators. Modi, who refrained from making any big-bang announcement of schemes, pointed out that the size of the budget, his tenth so far, is nine times higher than in 2004-05, the last year of the 15-year RJD rule in the state. The budget expenditure estimated for 2019-20 is Rs 23,510 crore more than the Rs 1,76,990 crore budget for 2018-19. The education sector was allocated the largest amount of funds Rs 20,309 crore (20.31 per cent of total outlay) followed by Rs 15,814 crore (15.81 per cent) for rural development, Rs 9,896 crore (9.9 per cent) for rural works and Rs 5,936 crore (5.94 per cent) for road construction. The flagship education schemes of the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government such as bicycles for schoolgirls and financial incentives for girls who pass intermediate and graduation examinations got major funding push. Rs 14,352 crore was allocated for Sarv Sikhsa Abhiyan and Rs 2,374 crore for mid-day meals. Other departments that got major allocation of funds are social welfare (Rs 6,997 crore), health (Rs 5,149 crore) and energy (Rs 4,583 crore). The states revenue surplus for 2019-20 is Rs 21,516 crore, which the government plans to use for investment in creating physical infrastructure to give further push to the economy. Establishment and commitment expenditure for 2019-20 is estimated ar Rs 99,110 crore, which is Rs 14,437 crore more than in 2018-19. The budget estimates the total revenue receipt in 2019-20 at Rs 1.76 lakh crore, which is composed of Rs 1.38 lakh crore of revenue received from the central government, Rs 38,606 crore of the states own tax and non-tax revenue. The total revenue receipt estimated is Rs 18,696 crore more than that in the previous fiscal. Modi punctuated his budget speech with lines of Hindi poetry in an effort to persuade the Opposition RJD, Congress and Left legislators to acknowledge the rapid progress taking place in Bihar under the NDA government. This budget is development oriented and aims at the best possible welfare of citizens, he said later. The government is making tall claims of development and good governance, but rising crime and unemployment are making a mockery of the budget, said former chief minister Rabri Devi of RJD. State Congress president Madan Mohan Jha dubbed the budget as a maze of numerical figures and attacked the government for not taking solid steps towards industrialization and employment generation. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday held the ex-interim chief of the CBI M Nageswara Rao and CBIs Additional Legal Advisor S Bhasu Ram, in-charge director of prosecution, guilty of contempt of court over the transfer of an officer probing the Muzaffarpur shelter home abuse cases. The apex court slapped a fine of Rs 1 lakh on each and sentenced them to sit in a corner till the rising of the court. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi refused to accept Rao's unconditional apology and said he shifted out A K Sharma from the Muzaffarpur shelter home probe in violation of two orders by the apex court. Attorney General K K Venugopal appearing for Rao and CBI made several attempts to show that it was not wilful disobedience and that both Rao and legal advisor tendered an unconditional apology, saying, To err is human and to forgive is divine. But the bench refused to accept AG's submission and stated, "File notings showed that Rao had knowledge of the courts earlier orders restraining transfer of officer associated with the case, so why he did not seek courts leave before approving relieving of the officer concerned?" "I have not invoked contempt powers and punished anyone in the last 20 years. But this is brazen," CJI observed. ALSO READ: Delhi HC rejects PIL seeking status of transfer orders issued by CBI's Nageswara Rao AG then submitted that action against him will destroy his career record. On this, CJI said, "Even if we accept his apology, his career record will remain blemished as he has admitted committing contempt." Rao submitted his affidavit in pursuant to a show cause notice by the top court and said he realises that he should not have issued the order of relieving investigating officer AK Sharma without the courts permission. I sincerely realise my mistake, and while tendering my unqualified and unconditional apology specifically, I state that I have willfully not violated the orders of this Honble court, as I cannot even dream of violating or circumventing the orders of this Honble court, stated Raos affidavit, filed after the court order last week. On February 7, the court had come down heavily on Rao as well as the in-charge of the Director of Prosecution in transferring Sharma despite there being two categorical orders by the apex court, prohibiting the transfer of Sharma without the courts permission. But on January 17, CBI joint director Sharma was appointed as the additional director general in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and the records adduced before the bench showed that both Rao, who was then discharging duties as the CBI chief, and in-charge of the director of prosecution Bhasuran S, had opined in favour of relieving Sharma from the Muzaffarpur case. Sharma was shifted out as part of the overnight mass transfer that followed the public feud between the agency's former chief Alok Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana. The US embassy in Cairo said on Tuesday that it will host its annual job fair 'Sha3lna' on 23 February from 10am to 6pm at the Pyramisa Hotel in Giza. "This fair will provide Egyptian job-seekers with access to thousands of verified job vacancies in over a dozen different industries, offered by over 75 American, Egyptian, and multi-national companies," the embassy said in a statement. A Facebook page under the name 'Sha3lna' has been created to help those interested in registering or learning more about the fair. The embassy highlighted that for the first time, this years fair will feature 10 start-up businesses, each looking for qualified candidates to fill vacancies ranging from accounting to graphic design and more. According to Charge dAffaires Thomas Goldberger, This is our fifth job fair in Cairo and we keep doing this because we keep hearing a demand from so many companies for the great talent that Egypt has to offer." "We will continue to support increased job opportunities in Egypt just as we will continue to partner with the Egyptian government and private sector to offer the training needed to prepare Egypts workforce for the jobs of the future. Short link: Sana Shakil By Express News Service NEW DELHI: Facing a backlash in the Northeast, the Centre may not table the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Rajya Sabha, sources in the government said. The government reportedly made up its mind on Monday after an unproductive meeting with the chief ministers of two Northeastern states, sources told this newspaper. At the meeting called by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, both Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu and his Manipur counterpart N Biren Singh voiced their opposition to the Bill and urged the Home Minister to ensure it was not passed in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill, which seeks to provide Indian nationality to non-Muslims who migrated from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, was passed by the Lok Sabha during the winter session on January 8. During the 30-minute meeting, also attended by Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs the two chief ministers apprised the minister about the prevailing situation in the Northeast, which has been witnessing relentless protests against the Bill. This was governments last full-fledged attempt to get the Northeastern states on board for the Bill before the Parliament session expires. But a consensus was not built on the issue. The Centre will not table the Bill (in the Rajya Sabha) unless all stakeholders are on board, said a senior government official. According to sources, the two CMs requested the Home Minister not to pass the Bill before convincing the people of the Northeast and sought protection of their cultural and linguistic identity, a MHA official said. Singh asked them not to worry and assured that the rights of the indigenous people of the Northeast would not be diluted. Assam and other Northeastern states have been witnessing fierce protests since the Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha. By PTI NEW DELHI: Launching a scathing attack on Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Union minister Arun Jaitley Tuesday accused the party of peddling "lies" on the Rafale deal to save a "sinking dynasty" and manufacturing a new falsehood every day. Jaitley, in a Facebook post, rejected allegations of conflict of interest of CAG Rajiv Mehrishi saying he never dealt with any file or paper relating to the fighter jet deal during his tenure in the Finance Ministry in 2014-15. "How many more lies will be peddled to sustain a sinking dynast? India, certainly deserves better," Jaitley said in a Facebook post titled 'How Many Lies Need to be Peddled to Sustain a Sinking Dynasty?'. Stating that the contagion effect of falsehood is fairly large, Jaitley said the lies spread by the Congress have spread to other colleagues in the "Mahajhootbandhan". "In relation to the Rafale deal where thousands of crores of public money has been saved, a new falsehood is manufactured on a daily basis. The latest is in relation to the present CAG and his participation in the decision making process of Rafale," Jaitley said. In 2014-15, present CAG Mehrishi was Economic Affairs Secretary in the Finance Ministry, and being the senior most bureaucrat was also designated as the Finance Secretary. "I say this without fear of contradiction that no file or paper relating to the Rafale transaction ever reached him nor was he in any way, directly or indirectly, associated with the decision making on defence purchases. Expenditure to be incurred on purchases by various departments of the Government needs the approval of Secretary (Expenditure)," he said. Asking as to why then a lie in relation to the CAG having a non-existent conflict of interest is being raised, Jaitley said "the dynast knows that his 500 crore vs 1600 crore kindergarten argument was a fictional story. No one would ever buy it because facts don't support it. Even before the contents of CAG report are known, a Peshbandi' attack on the institution of the CAG is launched," Jaitley said. Without naming Gandhi, Jaitley said "the dynast" and his friends have in the past even attacked the Supreme Court when it rejected the writ petition on Rafale. He said the entire pricing argument of the Congress was factually wrong and the procedure argument that there was no Defence Acquisition Council, no CCS, no Contract Negotiation Committee was a blatant lie. "The Rs 30,000 crore favour to a private company is non-existent. The use of sliced document by a newspaper is unprecedented in the history. The use of an incomplete document is certainly not in consonance with the spirit of free speech." "The no integrity pact' argument is belied by the fact that even in earlier purchases through inter-governmental agreement with Russia and the United States, such pacts were not there. Now without a shred of evidence, a fictional conflict of interest of the CAG is invented," he said. Jaitley said truth is both precious and sacrosanct and in mature democracies those who deliberately rely on falsehood are banished from public life. "In modern world dynasties inherently have their limitations. Aspirational societies abhor kingdoms. They insist on accountability and performance. But the grand old party of Indian politics has sadly become a captive of a dynasty. Many of its senior leaders lack the courage and moral authority to advise the dynasts to change course." "This trend started in early 1970s; climaxed during the Emergency and has continued ever since. The 'slave' mentality of senior leaders convinces them that they must only sing the song scripted by the dynast. A contrarian opinion will cost them their political career. When the dynast speaks lies, they all join the chorus," Jaitley said. Prasanta Mazumdar By Express News Service GUWAHATI: In restive Manipur, the authorities suspended mobile internet services for an indefinite period and clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC in Imphal East and Imphal West districts since Monday night. According to reports reaching here, security has been tightened at the residences of MLAs, Ministers and also Chief Minister N Biren Singh. The CM had met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Monday and apprised him of the situation in the state. Imphal has remained on the boil for the past few weeks in the wake of protests against Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (CAB) which the Centre wants to pass in Parliament to grant Indian citizenship to immigrants belonging to six persecuted non-Muslim communities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who migrated to India till December 31, 2014. The controversial bill, which was earlier passed in Lok Sabha, is likely to be tabled in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Assam is the epicentre of the anti-CAB protests which are also being staged in neighbouring Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh besides Manipur. On Sunday, several organisations had jointly called a two-day strike in Imphal demanding Bills withdrawal. At least eight people, including six women vendors, were injured when the police used force to disperse irate protestors on that day. As the protests continued, the streets in state capital Imphal, which is made up of Imphal East and Imphal West districts, wore a deserted look on Tuesday. Shops and commercial establishments, educational institutes and government offices continued to remain closed. Security forces set up barricades on major roads while the police used loudspeakers informing residents of the imposition of prohibitory orders and asked them to stay indoors. The indigenous communities of Northeast fear that if the bill is passed, it will endanger their lives and identity. Aishik Chanda By Express News Service KOLKATA: Two days after the murder of Trinamool Congress MLA Satyajit Biswas, another party leader in West Bengal, who was allegedly involved in the ruckus during BJP president Amit Shahs rally at Kanthi last month, was found dead at Dadpur in Hooghly district on Monday morning. Ritesh Roy was TMC president of three gram panchayat samitis in Kanthi in the Purba Medinipur district. Said to be close to transport minister and party strongman Suvendu Adhikari, Ritesh had been missing since February 7. A deep black mark was found around his neck, making the police suspect that he might have been strangled to death using a rope. The body has been sent for autopsy. His wife Mahua Roy said Ritesh left his house at Chandberia village in Purba Medinipur on February 7 saying he was going to Kolaghat in the same district, but called up at 9 pm to say that he was off to Malda with a friend. The family filed a missing complaint at Marishda police station on February 9.The TMC has pointed a finger at the BJP for the suspicious death. The BJP has conspired to kill him, said Purba Medinipur TMC secretary Kanishka Panda. Refuting his allegations, BJPs Kanthi mandal chief Mahesh Sur said: The BJP will never do such a thing. This might be a conspiracy of TMC leaders in Kanthi or a case of infighting. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees nephew Abhishek Banerjee visited the family of slain Krishnaganj MLA Satyajit Biswas and promised to drag BJP leader Mukul Roy, who was booked in the case a day ago, and others to jail, if proven guilty. Without naming Roy, who was one of the founders of Trinamool Congress before switching to the BJP last year, Banerjee, the president of TMC youth wing and Daimond Harbour MP, said: If someone is thinking he will conspire the murder of Satyajit Biswas and get saved by hanging on to the pyjamas of Delhi leaders, I assure that if and when proven guilty, we will hold him by his collar and drag him to jail. Ruling out TMC infighting behind the murder, Banerjee alleged that Sujit Mondal and Kartik Mondal, also booked in the case, were BJP workers. Food Minister Jyotipriya Mullick and Bangaon MP and Matua leader Mamata Thakur also blamed the BJP. By ANI LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav's visit to the swearing-in ceremony of a student leader in Allahabad University would have sparked a row in Prayagraj, where Kumbh Mela is going on. The Chief Minister also said that the Samajwadi Party (SP) is known for creating a ruckus. "The Samajwadi Party should do away with its unsocial activities. There is Kumbh going on in Prayagraj and even Yadav himself went there 10 days ago and took a dip at Sangam and had offered prayers. The party is known for creating a ruckus," Yogi Adityanath told reporters. ALSO READ | Akhilesh 'stopped' at airport, matter figures in Uttar Pradesh legislature Allahabad University Students Union (AUSU), dominated by SPs student wing, had invited Yadav for the unions anniversary celebrations. But the Allahabad University authorities denied him permission, saying that political leaders are not to be invited for the event. Following the denial, the AUSU leaders announced that they will invite Akhilesh to another venue outside the campus. But on Tuesday, when the SP chief reached Lucknows Amausi Airport, he was stopped from taking a flight to Allahabad. Taking to Twitter, Akhilesh said the incident clearly shows how "frightened" the government is by his presence at the oath-taking ceremony of a student leader. "I was prevented from boarding the airplane without any written orders. Currently detained at Lucknow airport. It is clear how frightened the government is by the oath ceremony of a student leader. The BJP knows that the youth of our great country will not tolerate this injustice anymore!" Yadav tweeted. Adityanath, however, said that the decision to not allow Yadav to attend the event was taken by the university authorities. "It was the Allahabad University administration which asked the government to stop Yadav from coming to Prayagraj as it was suspected that his visit may have sparked violence on the campus between students groups. That is why he has been stopped from going to Prayagraj," the chief minister added. Reacting on the incident, Samajwadi Party MP Ramgopal Yadav said: "I directly blame the chief minister (Yogi Adityanath). Akhilesh had the permission. It was at the directions of the CM that he was stopped. They didnt even let him reach Allahabad." Samajwadi Party workers raised slogans against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the state government after their leader was stopped at the airport. Akhilesh Yadav claimed that authorities failed to cite reasons for stopping him from boarding the flight. "The sole purpose of preventing me from attending the student union's program is to suppress socialist ideas and voices among the youth," Yadav added. Princy Alexander By Express News Service KOCHI: Karthikeya Ladha began his journey to self-discovery on a chance trip to Peru. In the land of an ancient civilisation, Karthikeya spent days with the shamanic tribes, participating in their ceremonies, in the Amazon jungle. It was there I realised how much we were out of touch with Mother Nature. We have become materialistic in our pursuit for something bigger and better, says Karthikeya, who has left his life in the United States and come down to India. The Noida-born author of the book, Dream Beyond Shadows, was in Kochi recently to attend a talk at the Krithi International Book Fair. What makes his journey inspiring is he is travelling from Kanyakumari to Goa on foot for his next book, The Nameless Walk. He plans to chronicle the experiences of people he meets and document their outlook on life. I began my walk from Kanyakumari a few days ago. Yes, it has its ups and downs, because, in the beginning, your feet are not used to the tremendous strain. I needed a couple of days to get used to it. Everywhere I go, people have been very hospitable and welcoming, which is helpful. I hope to continue till Goa, he said. Karthikeya says he wants to collaborate with people and participate in small gatherings, events, workshops and meet artists and influential thinkers. He wants to break the stereotypes and barriers of language and state that determines India. Whenever a tourist, even an Indian from another state, visits a state, people treat you well, but there is always a boundary. You are still a stranger. These differences highlight the various strands of Indias identity but many are yet to embrace them, says the author. He says people need to wake up and become wiser. In New York, everyone is running away from something and towards something else. It is a city where your work defines you and not your fundamental values in life. Karthikeya worked as a door-to-door salesman for a firm focusing on renewable energy. He did pretty well and felt he was able to contribute immensely to the company. However, he was not content, though life was quite good. I had an uncle and many family members living in the US so life was comfortable, he says. But, after a few years, I realised I didnt want to live my life according to the plan framed by my family. I wanted to find life on my own terms, which is why I decided to move to Peru, he said. In 2017, Karthikeya came down to India where he worked for some time with a firm focusing on water management, storing and harvesting. Then he travelled to the Himalayas and spent a couple of days with local families. It is there I began writing for Dream Beyond Shadows, he said. By Express News Service KOCHI: The Tripunithura Municipality health squad has issued notice to three major hotels at Tirupunithura after stale food was seized in a surprise raid here on Tuesday. The stale food included chicken, porotta, chappathis, rice and other food items from Aquaria hotel near Petta bridge, Hotel Gold Souq and Hotel Thalassery Palace near Irumpanam. Most of the food seized from the hotels were nearly two to three days old. They had kept the chicken and other food items in the refrigerators. We raided the hotels based on a tip-off regarding the sale of stale food, Deepthi Sumesh, Health Standing Committee chairperson said. Since the fine amount for such cases is very less, the municipality is planning to revoke the license of the hotels. A meeting will be held with the municipality chairperson and secretary to take a final decision. We will never allow such hotels to flourish in the city, Deepthi added. The municipality exhibited the seized food along with the names of the hotel in front of the Municipality building. This will help the public to get an idea about the hotels and also act as a deterrent for other hotels, she said adding more surprise inspections will be held in the coming days as well. The hotel owners were unavailable for comments. A few months ago the municipality had seized stale food from Friends Nadan Uchabakshanam, Hotel Zion, Hotel N M Food World and Nadan Fast Food. By Express News Service KOCHI: Pepper farmers in the state are likely to face another sharp fall in prices with 1,800-2,000 tonnes of pepper reported to have left Sri Lanka for India, according to the Indian Pepper and Spice Traders, Growers, Planters Consortium-Kerala chapter. In a letter to Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, the Consortium pointed out that a senior Sri Lankan minister himself confirmed that 156 containers left the island nation before he could intervene. It is actually 180 containers, about which we had cautioned the Indian government since last week of January. These have now been cleared and left the Sri Lankan coast, said Kishore Shamji, coordinator of the Consortium, in the letter. He said such large quantities of Vietnam pepper, which is being cleared from Sri Lanka port with the Certificate of Origin as Lankan pepper, will be arriving at various Indian ports like Mundra in Gujarat, Nhava Sheva in Mumabi, Chennai and Thoothukudi ports in Tamil Nadu and Krishna Pattanam in Andhra, before being distributed across India. Such a huge quantity of pepper will arrive the Indian market evading duty to the tune of 43 per cent. This is over and above the illegal pepper bring smuggled in through porous boarders of Myanmar, Bangladesh and Nepal. Its total illegal import, Shamji explained. The Consortium said it was high time that the Centre alerted Director General of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) as well as Indian Customs Preventive departments and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) authorities since the Indian importer would be paying duty at 8 per cent per kg on a declared minimum import price of `500 per kg, which works out to be `40 per kg. Vietnam pepper attracts a duty tariff of 51 per cent. But by claiming the pepper to of Sri Lanka origin, the importer pays only 8 per cent. Its widely alleged the importers in many cases remit only the actual contracted price of $3,000 per tonne and balance $4,100 per tonne is not paid in violation of FEMA rules. While those importers who remit at the rate of $7,100 (or `500 per kg on MIP basis) transfer valuable foreign currency to the Sri Lankan importer and getting back the excess money paid to overcome MIP regulation through hawala transactions. Hence, both cases of remitting as well as non-remitting full amount are in total violation of FEMA regulations. They also violate the money laundering norms by receiving cash through hawala route. Therefore, it is high time that the Indian government wakes up and take care of the entire situation which is against the Indian Pepper farmers interest, said Shamji. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Trafficked to Oman on the pretext of a well-paying job, two Hyderabadi sisters are now stuck in the Gulf country with no money or support to come back home. Their employers have allegedly been demanding payment of Rs 3 lakh to let them return to India. Asra Begum (28) and Tabassum Begum (34) was sent to Oman by a travel agent from Kalapathar named Syed Haji. They were offered a job with a handsome salary of Rs 35,000 per month and was taken to Oman on January 1, the complaint forwarded by the General Administration department of the State Government to the Embassy of India in Oman read. From Oman, they were taken to Salala by another agent. However, they were employed as housemaids upon arrival, the letter read. They were allegedly not being given proper food and were made to work for four to five houses on irregular work hours. Subsequently, when the sisters wanted to return to India, their employer demanded `3 lakh from them. Meanwhile, another Hyderabadi woman Nasreen Begum, who had gone for Umra to Mecca Masjid was arrested by the Saudi Arabian police for allegedly using fake documents to procure a job in the country during her previous stay. Mohammed Mujaheddin, a relative of Nasreen Begum, wrote a letter to Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, wherein he stated that Begum was arrested by the Saudi Arabian police on landing at the Jeddah Airport on December 29, 2018. The Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia stated that they were following up on the issue. One of our volunteers in Dammam had met her. She is fine, the Embassy added. Begum had worked as a lab technician for 13 years in a hospital under the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health. Neelam Krishnamurthy By Express News Service Bringing back tragic memories of the Uphaar Cinema fire which happened 22 years ago in the national capital, the fire incident on Tuesday at Hotel Arpit Palace in the heart of the city, Karol Bagh, throws light on the lax attitude of government and the apathy of agencies. The government agencies are just indulging in a blame game, but the horrific incident once again proves the necessity of stricter norms. The tragedy is similar to the Uphaar cinema where the NOC (No Objection Certificate) for fire was with the owners just the same way like this hotel in Karol Bagh has, but the problem just does not finishes there. Accountability has to be fixed. Multiplicity of agencies is not helping. I believe there should be just this one single centre, which gives all the necessary certificates (required for such establishments). This will be helpful - if a fire incident takes place in the future, then the person (in-charge of the centre) can be held accountable and punished accordingly. In this incident, the Delhi government announced Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the families of the victims. Is this a joke? Is a person's life worth 5 lakhs? In the Uphaar judgment of the Supreme Court, the Delhi government was given `30 crore as a part of the compensation to construct a trauma centre. On November 9th 2016, the government was given the funds. Where is the trauma centre? Arvind Kejriwal should answer that where is the trauma centre for which the funds have been given to the government three years ago. The centre is supposed to come up in Dwarka. Except for Uphaar, one can see that there are almost no convictions in fire incidents in our country. This should change. A foolproof policy and vision is required on the part of the government regarding fire safety. A One Stop Centre is the answer to some of the problems. At least, it is something to start with. The writer is the President of the Association of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT). Egypt has warned its nationals against possessing banned narcotics or controlled drugs in Saudi Arabia amid a series of hefty sentences issued against a number of Egyptians for drug-related convictions recently. Egypt's "foreign ministry warns against the consequences of obtaining or possessing narcotic substances or drugs prohibited under Saudi laws while traveling or residing in the kingdom," the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. The ministry has published a list of controlled substances in both Egypt and Saudi Arabia, including a number of pharmaceutical drugs. Drug-related crimes are punishable by up to death under Saudi laws. Last month, Saudi Arabia executed at least three Egyptians convicted of smuggling banned narcotics including amphetamine pills, according to statements by the Saudi interior ministry. The Egyptian ministry has called on all travellers to the Gulf kingdom to exercise "utmost caution" in this regard. It urged travel agencies, recruitment firms and import and export companies to advise travellers about the seriousness of the matter. Saudi Arabia has carried out around 600 executions since the beginning of 2014, over 200 of them in drug cases, Human Rights Watch said in April 2018. Short link: By PTI NEW DELHI: The AAP government has informed the Delhi High Court that of the 400 ventilator beds in hospitals under its control, 52 are not functional and efforts are being made to repair them. The Delhi government has said that the hospitals have been asked to repair the ventilators or procure new ones at the earliest. The submission came in a report filed through additional standing counsel Satyakam in response to the court's query regarding the status of ventilators available in Delhi government hospitals. A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao on January 30 had sought to know the status of ventilators in government hospitals after it was told that a three-year-old, admitted in the LNJP Hospital since January 24 and suffering from a critical neurological condition, was in dire need of the breathing apparatus but was making do with a manual resuscitator. The critical medical condition of the boy and his need for a ventilator was brought to the court's attention by advocate Ashok Agarwal. The child died on February 10, the Delhi government's status report has said. The court while seeking to know about the status of ventilators had also expressed its dissatisfaction with the manner in which the Delhi government had responded to the issue of putting online the details of medical facilities available at its hospitals. The bench had, subsequently, directed the Delhi government to file a status report indicating the steps taken to make people aware about the facilities. In its report, the government has also said that "a control room is presently functional in the Directorate General Health Services which collects data regarding availability of ventilator beds, H1N1/dengue beds from all public hospitals and provides the information to the public at large". Apart from that, the state programme officer of the Delhi State Health Mission has been requested, by a letter of January 31, to prepare a web portal to display online the information regarding the availability of beds/ventilators in public hospitals under the Delhi government, the report has said. "It is further submitted that efforts are being made to make the web portal functional within two months," it has added. Regarding availability of real time information about vacant beds in Delhi government hospitals, the report said "it may not be feasible to implement it" in the initial phase wherein hospitals would each morning upload on the portal the availability of beds on that day. The issue of providing online the information about medical facilities, including ventilators and beds, available in government hospitals was taken up by the high court on its own in 2017 after it came to know that a newborn had died as the family got no ventilator-fitted bed in four government hospitals in the national capital. The court had observed that if information regarding availability of ventilators was readily accessible online, the life of the baby might have been saved. A newborn girl had died at the Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital in northeast Delhi because it had no ventilator support, while the three other government hospitals where the desperate family had gone had refused admission, saying no critical care beds were available. According to a news report, the baby, after a normal birth on September 20, 2017, was diagnosed with birth asphyxia that caused less oxygen to go to the brain and necessitated immediate ventilator support. "In the absence of a ventilator, the hospital asked the family to ventilate the baby with an ambu-bag. The newborn died around 4 am on September 21," the news report had said. An ambu-bag is a manual, hand-held resuscitation device, which attendants are asked to keep pressing 16-18 times per minute to move air in and out of the lungs of a patient who cannot breathe on her own. Medical experts had termed this practice as "primitive" and "condemnable", the report had said. By PTI NEW DELHI: A massive fire swept through a four-floor hotel in central Delhi's Karol Bagh in the early hours of Tuesday, killing at least 17 guests, including a child and two people who jumped off the building in a desperate bid to save themselves, officials said. The blaze, in which 35 people were injured, started in the second floor of the Arpit Palace Hotel in the heart of the national capital around 3.30 am, trapping many guests who were deep in sleep. There were 53 people in the 45-room hotel, which had a canopy on the terrace housing what appeared to be a restaurant, officials said. A call about the fire was received at 4.35 am and 24 fire tenders were rushed to the spot, a senior Delhi Fire Service official said. At least 35 people were injured in the blaze, said Madhur Verma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi), adding that one person was still missing. ALSO READ | Delhi hotel fire: Emergency exit of hotel locked, says Union minister K J Alphons "A 43-year-old woman suffered 45 per cent burn injuries," he told reporters, adding that 13 of the bodies had been taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, two to Lady Hardinge Hospital and one to BLK hospital. Nine of the deceased have been identified as Vidyasagar (60), Naliniamma (84), Nandakumar (34), Arvind (38), Pranav K Bhaskar (32), EVS Chalpathi Rao (32), Dawmla May (67), Tun Hla Sein (32), Jayashree (53). ALSO READ | Two Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited employees, one from Vizag, die in hotel fire in Delhi A senior civic official said a suspected short circuit could have sparked the fire. While the Delhi government ordered a magisterial probe, Home Minister Satyendar Jain said he has also directed the fire department to inspect buildings which are five floors or more and submit a report on their fire safety compliance within a week. "Seventeen people have died, most of them of suffocation. Apparently, there were lapses (from the hotel administration's side). Action will taken against those found guilty," he said. ALSO READ | Short-circuit suspected to be the reason behind Delhi hotel fire: NDMC Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the loss of lives. "Deeply saddened by the loss of lives due to a fire at Karol Bagh in Delhi. I convey my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives," he tweeted. The hotel had a canopy on its terrace with chairs and tables laid out, indicating that there was an open restaurant operating there, fire officials said, adding that there was wooden panelling in the rooms inside that could have helped the fire spread. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was among the many politicians and officials who visited the spot, announced Rs 5 lakh compensation for the next of kin of those killed. The Delhi government also cancelled its fourth anniversary celebrations in view of the tragedy. It was a nightmare without end, said Somshekhar, who had come to Delhi from Kerala with his family to attend a wedding Ghaziabad and was staying in the hotel. They were residents of Ernakulam district in Kerala and were getting ready to go to Haridwar when the fire started. "Ten of us were rescued by police and fire teams. We had booked four rooms in the hotel. We were all ready early morning to go to Haridwar when suddenly there was a power cut. They switched on the generator and there was heavy smoke and smell," he said. His sister, who is missing, alerted them to the smoke and rushed out to check what was happening, he said. "The entire pathway was full of smoke. My mother and brother were along with my sister at the time. I immediately came to the room and opened the room for fresh air and we managed to escape. We were at the second floor of the hotel," he said. The fire broke out in the second floor of the building, a North Delhi Municipal Corporation official said. The hotel was first granted a licence in October 2005 and was renewed every year. The last renewal was done on May 25, 2018 and was valid till March 31. "As per information gathered from the site, it reveals that the incidence of fire accrued at second floor at around 3.30 AM on February 12 due to short-circuit," the official said A fire department official said some used fire extinguishers were found, suggesting people trapped inside tried to douse the flames in a bid to escape. Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit expressed her grief over the incident. "I express my sorrow at the tragic death of several innocent people in a fire at #ArpitHotel in #KarolBagh. Our brave firefighters are working amidst extremely difficult circumstances to rescue those who are stranded in the building," she tweeted. By Express News Service CHENNAI: The High Commissioner of the Republic of Fiji to India, Yogesh Punja, along with his wife, Adi Melika Punja, called on the Prince of Arcot Mohammed Abdul Ali, at his ancestral official residence here on Tuesday, according to a release from Amir Mahal. The Fiji envoy had allegedly appreciated the ruling period of the Nawabs for maintaining perfect harmony and unity among people of all faiths in South India. The envoy also commended the Prince for his active services in the promotion of peace and unity. HM Chaithanya Swamy By Express News Service BENGALURU: In a strange case, a youth ended his life over alleged harassment by two women friends whom he had befriended through social media, and used to chat with regularly. His parents claimed that their son had told them he was being harassed by two women, who had demanded money during their last visit to the city. They said this was why he took the extreme step. The deceased, Atish S Nayak, a native of Jewargi in Kalaburagi district, was studying BE (Civil) first year in New Horizon College, and was staying in Sri Ram paying guest accommodation in Kariyammana Agrahara in Kadubeesanahalli. Nayak was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his room around 3.30pm on February 9. His two roommates returned from college and knocked on the door, and after no response for a long time, alerted the PG accommodation owner. They broke open the rear door of the room to find Nayak hanging from a rope. According to the complaint filed with Marathahalli police by Nayaks father Subhash, a head constable in Jewargi, Nayak ended his life because he was harassed by the women. Subhash told TNIE that he had received a call from the PG owner, about his son. Nayak had left a suicide note, saying, Inform my parents, Sonia and Prakruthi, with no other explanation. The police have taken up a case of abetment to suicide and criminal intimidation against the two suspects. They are trying to ascertain who the two women are, from the mobile numbers Nayak had written in the note. On Saturday, Nayak did not go to college, and when his friends called him, told them that he was waiting for a mobile phone delivery. Nayak received the phone, used it for some time and chatted with six women. We dont know what happened later, but he ended his life. He exchanged his old mobile for the new one. We could have got some crucial leads from his old mobile, the officer said. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: After cancelling scores of flights over the weekend, Indias biggest air-carrier IndiGo cancelled at least 32 flights from Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad on Monday. The airline cited network disruption caused by hailstorm that took place on February 7 as the reason for cancellation of flights. Due to a severe hailstorm in North India on Friday, 11 IndiGo flights were diverted. Consequently, this disrupted operations across our network the following day. As part of recovering our schedule, positioning of the crew and aircraft had to be readjusted. As a result, a number of flights were cancelled, it said. However, sources in the aviation industry as well as two IndiGo pilots said that acute shortage of pilots has led to several flights being cancelled by the airline.The airline is facing shortage of commanders and pilots, and this is forcing the airline to cancel flights from across stations, PTI reported, quoting sources. IndiGo, which is expanding rapidly and has over 200 aircraft in its fleet, is facing difficulty to manage the required number of pilots to operate its flights. An IndiGo pilot, requesting anonymity, told this newspaper that a few pilots have left the organisation and a few are on the verge of leaving, owing to long working hours. The number of pilots reporting sick leaves have increased as most of us are flying way over 100 hours a month. Instead of hiring more captains, we are asked to work extra hours, the pilot said.Another pilot with the airline said that they are not given adequate rest during flight intervals and pilots who are on standby duty are pulled out almost every time.In the third quarter of FY19, IndiGo said that it added 19 aircraft to its fleet, taking its fleet tally to 208 planes. It hasnt specified the number of pilots they have. By Alison May Did You Know? NCSL staff can work with legislators and legislative staff to plan and convene a policy-oriented meeting in your state. NCSLs Early Care and Education staff traveled to Olympia, Wash. to support an Early Learning Forum during new member orientations in January. The forum, which was supported through a grant from the Alliance for Early Success, was organized for the 49 members of the Senate, six of whom are newly elected, and the 98 members of the House, with 23 newly elected representatives. More than 40 participants, including advocates and experts, attended. NCSL worked with members of the legislature and local stakeholders to plan the days agenda. The forum was an opportunity to focus attention on early learning policy options, discuss legislative accomplishments and consider potential goals for 2019 and beyond. Governor Jay Inslee hosted a special breakfast for newly elected legislators at the governors residence to kick off the day and to share his administrations early learning plan. Following breakfast, the meeting moved to the Hands on Childrens Museum where first lady Trudi Inslee opened the forum, and former House member, and longtime early learning and child welfare champion, Ruth Kagi outlined the agenda and kept the day on course. Patricia Kuhl, co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, discussed early brain development, explaining that in the first years of life 1 million new neural connections form each second, and how language acquisition becomes increasingly more difficult as we age. Once the participants were all grounded in the science, attention shifted to the economic case for investing in early childhood. Delivering the business rationale for high-quality early learning programs, Robert Dugger described The Heckman Curve, which shows the economic benefits of investing early and building skill upon skill to provide greater success to more children and greater productivity and reduce social spending for society. Many economists, including Nobel Laureate James Heckman and Dugger himself, argue that financing in the early years is a sound investment and a topic to be discussed Gail Joseph who oversees Washingtons Early Achievers quality rating and improvement system for licensed child care and prekindergarten programs, explained that having high standards costs money but settling for less does not allow our youngest children to thrive and gain the skills to blossom into successful and productive adults. In Washington, the Early Start Act became law in 2015 with some specific goals of improving access to high-quality early learning programs so all children arrive to school ready to learn. She continued by underscoring the importance of teacher-child interactions and the connection to improved child outcomes. The Early Learning Forum concluded with a panel discussion featuring legislators and alumni from NCSLs Early Learning Fellows program, the director of government affairs and community engagement at the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families, and the deputy director from the Childrens Alliance, a local childrens advocacy organization. Panelists discussed the history of early learning in Washington and challenges and opportunities for the upcoming session. With bills already being introduced, it might be worth keeping an eye on Washington state this year. Contact Alison May to discuss how NCSL could support a similar meeting in your state. Alison May is a research analyst with NCSLs Children and Families Program. She covers early care and education issues. Email Alison Sports Wozniacki pulls out of Qatar Open By Nagaland Post | Publish Date: 2/12/2019 11:42:16 AM IST Former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki has opted to skip the Qatar Open due to injury, tournament organisers announced, in Doha on Tuesday. Two others too pulled out from the tournament during the day citing viral illness. Wozniacki, currently ranked 10th in the world, was joined on the sidelines by world No. 14 Ashleigh Barty of Australia with a hip injury and No. 19 Caroline Garcia of France, giving no reason. Unfortunately, I have withdrawn from Doha and Dubai with a minor hip injury, Barty said, adding she would also miss the Dubai Tennis Championships later this month. After consulting with the WTA doctors, I have decided to have a few weeks rest, Barty said. The Doha event also lost Naomi Osaka just days before the start of the tournament. She decided to opt out because of a back injury. NORTH HAVEN Police say a high school student was charged last week after making a threat to shoot up school on social media. The threat was posted on a social media platform 30 days ago, but police said it was found recently by the North Haven High School resource officer working in collaboration with the school districts IT manager as part of a harassment investigation. The student was found to have no access to firearms and there is no threat to the school, according to police. Bailey Wright A Cairo criminal court has ordered the conditional release of satirist and video blogger Shady Abu Zeid after nine months in pre-trial detention, his lawyer said on Sunday. Abu Zeid was arrested at his Cairo home in May 2018 and questioned over charges of "spearing false news" and "joining an outlawed group." "The court has decided to replace his pre-trial detention with probationary measures under police supervision," defence lawyer Mokhtar Mounir told Ahram Online on Sunday. The conditions will require Abu Zeid to report to a police station on certain days for a specified number of hours, Mounir said. The lawyer added that the prosecution will appeal the court's decision in a hearing on Monday and that the court will either accept the prosecution's appeal and order Abu Zeid's detention or uphold Sunday's conditional release. "Everything will depend on the court's ruling tomorrow," he said. Abu Zeid is a video blogger who produces a satirical news show "The Rich Content", which he had published on YouTube and Facebook since mid-2015 until his arrest. In 2016, he sparked public outrage after releasing a video showing him and young actor Ahmed Malek handing balloons made of inflated condoms to police officers in Tahrir Square during the fifth anniversary of the uprising against longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The comedian was also a correspondent for popular satirical television programme Abla Fahita before he was suspended following the condom video. Last month, prosecutors allowed Abu Zeid to attend his father's funeral after numerous requests made by his family to allow him to briefly see his father before his death were rejected by authorities. His family had said he does not have any political affiliation or belong to any political group, describing the charges against him as "not real." Short link: Gory, freaky, cool: Marine snail venom could improve insulin for diabetic patients Although moderately mobile, marine cone snails have perfected several strategies to capture prey. Some fish-hunting species release venom into the surrounding water. Within the plume of toxic venom, the fish succumbs to fast-acting insulin that renders it immobile. As the fish flounders, the snail emerges from its shell to swallow the pacified victim whole. Researchers at University of Utah Health detailed the function of cone snail insulins, bringing them one step closer to developing a faster-acting insulin to treat diabetes. The results of the study are available in the February 12 issue of the journal eLife. "These snails have developed a strategy to hit and subdue their prey with up to 200 different compounds, one of which is insulin," said Helena Safavi-Hemami, Ph.D., assistant professor of Biochemistry at U of U Health and senior author on the paper. "Every now and then, we learn something unique from nature and millions of years of evolution." Insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas to regulate blood sugar, consists of two segments called A and B chains. The B cluster forms dimers and hexamers that allow the pancreas to store the hormone for later use. This segment is also necessary to activate the insulin receptors that signal the body to take up sugar from the blood. Insulin must undergo several conversions to decluster before it can lower blood sugar. A person with type 1 diabetes is unable to produce insulin and requires daily injections to manage their blood sugar. Despite decades of research, the manufactured insulin continues to contain the B chain in order to activate the receptor to lower blood sugar, delaying the drug's effect by 3090 minutes. Safavi-Hemami and her team examined the function of seven insulin sequences found in the venom from three species of cone snailConus geographus, C. tulipa and C. kinoshitai. Unexpectedly, each species produces insulin with slightly different structures. Despite these differences, each insulin is fast-acting because it lacks the sticky part of the B chain found in human insulin. "Evolution may be the driving force to increase the molecular diversity of the toxin molecules that the cone snail species use for hunting prey," said Danny Hung-Chieh Chou, Ph.D., assistant professor of Biochemistry at U of U Health and a co-author on the paper. The team tested how each of the insulin sequences lowered blood sugar in zebrafish and mice. The model animals were treated with streptozotocin to induce symptoms of type 1 diabetes before the animals were dosed with the different synthesized insulins. Safavi-Hemami found three of the venom-generated insulin sequences (Con-Ins T1A from C. tulipa, Con-Ins G1 from C. geographus and Con-Ins K1 from C. kinoshitai) lowered blood sugar effectively. Using cell lines, they found the cone snail insulin sequences were able to bind to and activate the human insulin receptor, despite missing the part of the B chain found in human insulin. These sequences, however, are 10 to 20 times less potent than human insulin. According to Safavi-Hemami, each unique configuration provides the research team a slightly different template to consider when designing new drugs that act quickly and effectively. "We are beginning to uncover the secrets of cone snails," said Safavi-Hemami. "We hope to use what we learn to find new approaches to treat diabetes." ### Safavi-Hemami and Chou were joined on this project by Peter Ahorukomeye, Maria Disotuar, Joanna Gajewiak, Santhosh Karanth, Maren Watkins, Samuel Robinson, Paula Florez Salcedo, Amnon Schlegel, Baldomero Olivera and Danny Hung-Chieh Chou at the U and U of U Health; Nicholas Smith and Brian Smith at La Trobe University, Melbourne; and Briony Forbes at Flinders University, South Australia. The work, titled Fish-hunting cone snail venoms are a rich source of minimized ligands of the vertebrate insulin receptor, was supported by a Margolis Foundation, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the National Institutes of Health (R01GM122869) and the Utah Science and Technology Initiative. University of Utah Health is the state's only academic health care system, providing leading-edge and compassionate medicine for a referral area that encompasses 10% of the U.S., including Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and much of Nevada. A hub for health sciences research and education in the region, U of U Health touts a $291 million research enterprise and trains the majority of Utah's health care professionals at its Schools of Medicine and Dentistry and Colleges of Nursing, Pharmacy and Health. Staffed by more than 20,000 employees, the system includes 12 community clinics and four hospitals -- University Hospital; University Neuropsychiatric Institute; Huntsman Cancer Hospital; and the University Orthopaedic Center. For eight straight years, U of U Health has ranked among the top 10 U.S. academic medical centers in the rigorous Vizient Quality and Accountability Study, including reaching No. 1 in 2010 and 2016. This story has been published on: 2019-02-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Wangfujing Pedestrian Street in Beijing (Photo/Chinanews.com) Though e-commerce has placed huge pressure on off-line retailing, Chinas pedestrian zones are still playing an important part by offering unique consumption experiences. Pedestrian zones are the headstream of urban business, and a cluster district of various commercial resources, said Zheng Wen, director-general of the Department of Circulation Industry Development under China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). They not only serve local citizens but also attract foreign visitors, playing an important role in satisfying peoples needs and enriching cities functions, he added. Thanks to such features, pedestrian zones would not be very much impacted by the emerging online shopping trends, and would probably become new growth points, Zheng said. This area gathers many shops and food, and it is a famous tourist attraction in Beijing, said Fan Yangnan, a student who has studied in Beijing for five years, when describing Nanluoguxiang, a well-known pedestrian zone in Beijing. He takes the place as a must-see spot. MOFCOM data indicated that China was home to more than 2,100 pedestrian zones that occupy an area of over 20,000 square meters each. 600 of them are located in 36 major cities. At the beginning of 2019, 11 pedestrian zones across the country were selected for a pilot upgrading program. Many of them have already become celebrated places for visitors. The program is expected to build these pedestrian zones into high-quality development platforms, signboards for urban development, as well as strong support to satisfy peoples growing demand for a better life. However, pedestrian zones are also facing challenges. The lack of differentiation and high prices are prevalent issues faced by Chinese pedestrian zones, said Yang Song, director of economic studies department of Beijing Academy of Social Sciences. He believes theres more for Chinese pedestrian zones to do to showcase local history and commercial features better. Studies suggest tthat after upgrading and renovation, the 11 pilot pedestrian zones are expected to receive over 1 billion people annually, and their total revenue might go up to 100 billion yuan. ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- China has joined the international community to provide material aid and technical support to tackle Africa's growing refugee problem and forced internal displacements, winning accolades from the continent's leaders and people. Recently, China has stepped up assistance to support the growing number of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) affected by conflicts, poverty and climatic shocks in several African countries, providing a new lease of life for many on the continent. GRIM PICTURE The world today is witnessing the highest level of displacement on record. Globally, about 68.5 million people have been forced to leave home, among whom nearly 25.4 million are refugees and over half are children, according to statistics from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Africa hosts nearly a third of the world's refugees and IDPs, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said when addressing the 32nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) on Sunday. The AU summit was rallied to primarily deliberate on pressing issues of the continent such as forced displacement as well as peace and security. Under the theme of "The Year of Refugees, Returnees and IDPs: Towards Durable Solutions to Forced displacement in Africa," the two-day session of the AU heads of state is also deliberating the establishment of a continental free trade area. The issue of forced displacements in Africa remains sadly remarkable, Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the AU Commission, said at the opening of the 32nd AU summit. "It is important to tackle more deeply the root causes of the phenomenon," he said. Countries like Kenya and Uganda are hosting refugees who have fled during the turmoil in neighboring countries such as Somalia, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Africa's refugee burden has yet to ease despite the international community's concerted efforts to restore normalcy in some hotspots. Meanwhile, terrorism has affected a large swathe of the Sahel region including Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad, creating a new refugee crisis. Countries like Cameroon and Central African Republic (CAR), which are experiencing sectarian and tribal conflicts, have also seen a growing population of IDPs, who are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Recurrent droughts in the Horn of Africa is likely to fuel further displacement of civilians given the weak capacity of host countries to cater to emergency needs. Nevertheless, there is a consensus that African countries must reach out to both traditional and new allies when seeking a durable solution to the growing burden of refugees. The mental and physical health of the refugees and IDPs are another concern. Under enormous stress, refugees and IDPs are vulnerable to infectious diseases with limited access to health services, said Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which is active in helping refugees and IDPs in Africa. CHINA ACTION Together with international organizations including the UNHCR, the World Food Programme (WFP), and some leading developed countries, developing countries like China are also scaling up their efforts to eliminate the hardships faced by refugees and IDPs on the continent. China has pumped large amounts of material and financial resources to Somalia, Kenya and other African countries, which are hosting some of the largest refugee camps in the world today, said Gerishon Ikiara, an economics lecturer at the University of Nairobi and a former government official. In the last couple of years, China has helped ease the refugee burden in Africa through donations of food, vocational training and other means to help vulnerable populations become self-reliant. In June 2017, the Chinese government donated 5 million U.S. dollars to the WFP to purchase 9,000 tons of cereals for about 420,000 refugees living in the Dadaab and Kakuma camps in Kenya. After more than a year of ration cuts caused by funding shortages, new donor contributions from China and other countries have allowed the WFP to resume full food rations for four months. WFP Country Director and Representative for Kenya Annalisa Conte lauded the critical contribution from China, saying the WFP has struggled to provide adequate food to refugees living in camps in food-insecure northern Kenya due to insufficient funds. "I thank China for its generous donation, which will allow the WFP to give us more food and make our hard life a bit easier," said Ceaser Okulo Unu, a refugee from Uganda lining up for the food aid. China has actively participated in humanitarian interventions in Somalia, where decades of conflict and recurrent drought have pushed civilians to the margins. In April 2017, China donated 10 million dollars through the WFP to provide emergency food aid for more than 200,000 people in Somalia, fulfilling its long-term commitment to assisting the Horn of African region in the displacement of civilians. China has also provided food aid and financial support to facilitate the resettlement of refugees in Uganda, many of whom came from neighboring South Sudan and the DRC. In May 2018, the Chinese government donated 5 million dollars in emergency food aid to the drought-affected communities in the Karamoja region of northeastern Uganda. And a month later, China provided 500,000 dollars to support the resettlement of refugees. Ugandan Minister of Finance Matia Kasaija said the Chinese donation came at a critical time as the over 1.4 million refugees in the country are in desperate need of humanitarian relief. In addition to the donations, China has also contributed to improving living standards for refugees. In April 2018, the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA), a Chinese non-governmental organization, and Mercy Corps, an international humanitarian organization, jointly launched a 1-million-dollar program to help refugees in Uganda become more self-reliant. The "Bright Future Program" involves giving the beneficiaries small grants and training them in better farming practices in a bid to boost agricultural production and increase household incomes. The program also seeks to train young refugees in business entrepreneurship. About 19,000 refugees and Ugandans are expected to benefit from the 15-month project. "Though there are challenges in communication due to cultural differences, I am happy to contribute to Chinese humanitarian aid overseas," said Liu Liangchuan, manager of the program. The organization came to Uganda to share its experience of poverty alleviation and help refugees maintain their dignity, said Wang Xingzui, executive vice president of the CFPA. According to the CFPA, the program is expected to be long-term, focusing on the social and economic development of the refugee camps. Eric Mangunyi, a senior fellow at Nairobi-based Em-Pioneer Consultants, said China's timing is crucial. "By China coming in, this is a big relief to many African countries that are facing crises or are burdened due to crisis in neighboring nations like Kenya and Uganda," said Mangunyi. Sayre, PA (18840) Today A mainly sunny sky. High near 80F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight A few clouds from time to time. Low 53F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. PHILADELPHIA The numbers keep piling up when it comes to the coronavirus toll in the city. SUPPORT THIS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM The article youre about to read is from our reporters doing their important work investigating, researching, and writing their stories. We want to provide informative and inspirational stories that connect you to the people, issues and opportunities within our community. Journalism takes a lot of resources. Today, our business model has been interrupted by the pandemic; the vast majority of our advertisers businesses have been impacted. Thats why the Weekly is now turning to you for financial support. Learn more about our new Insiders program here. Thank you. JOIN NOW Gary Tebedo, 63, stands next to a bus stop on W. Broadway Street. He rides the bus four days a week. The stop's bench was recently changed to a leaning bench to prevent people from using it to sleep. However, it also prevents people from sitting to wait for the bus. When the world shut down just over a year ago, I had no idea what my photo team would work on in the future. I was just over two months into my new job as multimedia editor, and though the future was uncertain, we still had a job to do. KIEV, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Next month's presidential election in Ukraine will be held amid heightened security measures, the country's Interior Ministry said on Monday. According to preliminary estimates, between 60,000 and 62,000 law enforcement officers will be deployed across the Eastern European country to ensure the smooth run of the voting process, the ministry said in a statement. In particular, officers of the National Police, the National Guard and the State Border Guard Service will patrol the polling stations, the statement said. Special attention will be paid to security in the conflict-hit area in eastern Ukraine, it said. Ukraine is set to hold the presidential election on March 31 with a record number of 44 candidates. This article is part of State of Health, a series examining health disparities, how they affect Michigan's children and seniors, and the innovative solutions being developed to address them. It is made possible with funding from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund. Understanding a doctor's diagnosis or an insurance company's explanation of benefits can be difficult for many who grew up in the United States speaking English. But for immigrants, challenges to receiving and understanding good care are exponentially greater. Anna Hill, attorney for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, says immigrant parents are often questioned aggressively about their immigration status while applying for Medicaid for their American-born children. Anna Hill "Parents are being asked about where they're from and other questions meant to intimidate or harass them or frighten them away from seeking benefits for their children who are eligible and need basic support," Hill says. That's just one of many barriers to health equity that immigrants in Michigan face every day. Immigration status, stigma, language and cultural differences, and uncertainty and stress about changing laws and regulations all play a role in immigrants' ability to achieve good health. Accessing healthcare for new Americans Ruth Kraut, program administrator for the Washtenaw Health Plan (WHP), says immigrants' access to healthcare and health insurance depends on a number of factors. "There is a set of issues around access depending on immigration status, since they may be eligible for some benefits and not others, and, in fact, the benefits they're eligible for might be different state by state," Kraut says. "Michigan covers fewer benefits than Illinois or New York for certain populations, so if you're coming to Michigan from one of those states, you might have experienced different rules." Ruth Kraut On top of that, different members of the same family may qualify for different benefits based on immigration status and age. Kraut notes that healthcare in the United States tends to be "family-based," but many families include immigrant adults who are not yet naturalized, while their children were born in the U.S. Or perhaps one child was born in the U.S. and one wasn't. In general, refugees, asylum-seekers, and most people who have had a permanent resident card for over five years are eligible for everything a citizen would be eligible for, including full Medicaid. Kraut says most immigrants who have documents like a work permit or some other kind of visa, or who have had their green cards for less than five years, can get healthcare through healthcare.gov. In Michigan, however, the only Medicaid coverage they're eligible for is emergency coverage. Employer coverage is a possibility for almost any immigration status, but "if they don't have their own social security number, there are challenges getting private insurance," Hill says. Uncertainty about changing rules can add another layer of difficulty in achieving good health. For instance, the Trump administration recently proposed an expansion of the previously narrowly defined "public charge" policy, requiring that immigrants "not depend on public resources to meet their needs." As a result, Kraut says an immigrant woman she was working with misunderstood the changes and dropped her marketplace health insurance. "A few weeks later, she hit her head and went to the emergency room," Kraut says. "She needed an MRI and received a $5,000 bill." Health equity isn't just about access to healthcare, but to many "upstream" factors that affect health outcomes, including socioeconomic status, education, and social support network. Immigrants are often disadvantaged in those areas as well. "Refugees are facing a whole range of mental health challenges from anxiety and depression to post-traumatic stress syndrome to psychosis as a result of experience (in their home countries)," says Farah Erzouki, public health manager with ACCESS Community Health and Research Center, a Dearborn-based nonprofit that provides advocacy and resources to Arab-Americans. "It goes so much deeper than a language barrier." Farah Erzouki She notes that cultural differences mean that some immigrants will see less value in preventive care, thus ending up at an emergency room or health clinic only after a health situation becomes dire. People from certain cultural backgrounds might be nervous about looking into mental health services as well. "For Arab-Americans in general, mental health has a stigma attached to it, and they don't talk about it," Erzouki says. "People in our community are just starting to see the importance of making sure mental health is as prioritized as physical health." Nonprofits lend a hand While barriers to good health abound for immigrants in Michigan, nonprofits work to fill some of the gaps. The Hamtramck School Based Health Center (HSBHC) has been serving immigrant children from more than 40 countries since 1990. A collaborative effort between DMC Childrens Hospital of Michigan and Hamtramck Public Schools, the center provides free health care to Hamtramck Public Schools students. The Hamtramck School Based Health Center The program receives a small percentage of its funding from the school system, but the rest comes from grants and other private sources. About 35 states currently offer immigrant children full Medicaid coverage, but Michigan provides them emergency services only, according to Sarah Peslar, social worker with HSBHC. However, Peslar says HSBHC provides much more than emergency care. "We can see kids and get them immunizations and physical exams," she says. "They can't even register for school unless they've had immunizations." Sarah Peslar Collaborations with other healthcare providers and universities allow HSBHC to provide specialty services like mental health consultations, dental cleanings, and eyeglasses as well. ACCESS also provides a full spectrum of health and human services, including mental and physical health care, social work, workforce development, and advocacy. ACCESS' healthcare division runs a medical clinic that covers the full spectrum of care, from primary care and pharmacy to a partnership with Henry Ford Health System that provides OB/GYN services. The healthcare division also runs a breastfeeding and nutrition support program for pregnant women and new mothers. Inside ACCESS "We pride ourselves on serving regardless of the ability to pay," Erzouki says. "We'll work with you if you have insurance, and if someone is uninsured, we'll work on a repayment schedule that's feasible for them." On the legislative front, Hill says the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center in 2019 will advocate waiving the five-year waiting period for immigrant children to receive full Medicaid coverage. Expanding that coverage will be an improvement for a small but especially vulnerable group of children. "If a state court makes a finding that (an immigrant child) has experienced abuse, abandonment, or neglect, they can apply for that special immigrant juvenile status, and that can lead to a green card if approved," Hill says. Under current law, "those kids would face that five-year waiting period before they'd be eligible for full Medicaid coverage." Kraut says most advocacy groups see healthcare as a right, not a privilege. But when trying to convince legislators and other officials of the benefits of expanding coverage for immigrants, there's both a humanitarian and a fiscal argument to be made. If someone has an untreated health condition, that can affect their ability to work and make money. "There are great studies on the benefits of Medicaid expansion," Kraut says. "When people are enrolled, it allows them to work more hours and be healthier. It can make a real difference." Photos of Hamtramck School Based Health Center patients courtesy of Children's Hospital of Michigan Foundation. All other photos by Nick Hagen. North Carolina Rep. Walter Jones, a longtime advocate for servicemembers in Congress and a onetime Army National Guard soldier, died Sunday. He was 76. A cause of death was not announced. Jones entered hospice care last month as his health declined after he suffered a broken hip. Jones' district covered a portion of Eastern North Carolina that includes an estimated 70,000 veterans. He served in the North Carolina state legislature and in Congress for more than 30 years. His steadfast efforts to fight disproportionate health care fee increases on military retirees were recognized by MOAA in 2007, when he was presented the Col. Arthur T. Marix Congressional Achievement Award. Walter Jones wrote, sponsored, and supported countless pieces of legislation designed to strengthen our military and ensure the earned benefits of its members, past and present, and their families, said MOAA President and CEO Lt. Gen. Dana T. Atkins, USAF (Ret). His advocacy on their behalf - from those serving in his district to a nation of military retirees - will be missed. All of us at MOAA offer our support and our prayers to his family. Sad news out of N.C., as Rep. Walter B. Jones has passed. On behalf of the entire Marine Corps, I offer our deepest condolences. The Honorable Rep. Jones was a dedicated public servant for 34 years and a tireless advocate for Marines and their families. God bless him & his family - Robert B. Neller (@GenRobertNeller) February 11, 2019 In April, MOAA's North Carolina Council of Chapters recognized Jones with a certificate of appreciation for his efforts representing thousands of currently serving troops, retirees, and veterans. Jones said he was honored that his efforts were acknowledged. Col. Jeri Graham, USA (Ret), who serves on MOAA's board of directors, worked with Jones in her previous role as president of the North Carolina Council of Chapters during MOAA's annual Storming the Hill event. She described Jones as a force to be reckoned with, one who had a genuine respect for military members and their families. He always had the most sincere, heartfelt support for our servicemembers, our veterans, and their families, Graham said. He was one person who just always fought for what was right. He tried to make sure that not just servicemembers, but their families, were looked out for. I think everyone knew that. During his 14 years in federal office, Jones signed more than 11,000 condolence letters to families of fallen troops, according to reports. His first letter was sent to the family of a fallen Marine in 2003. I had the honor of working with my fellow North Carolinian and friend Walter Jones for 30 years," VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said in a statement. "His love for the men and women who wore the uniform knew no bounds. He was a public servant of uncommon humility and decency. A man of his stamp will be missed. Jones also was known as a fierce protector of the numerous military installations in his district, including Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and Marine Corps Air Station New River. Jones will be sorely missed, according to a statement on the congressman's website. With a kind heart and the courage of his convictions, he dedicated his life to serving his Savior and to standing up for Americans who needed a voice, according to the statement. He was the champion for our men and women in uniform and their families, always mindful of their service and sacrifice. Staff writer Amanda Dolasinski can be reached at amandad@moaa.org. Follow her on Twitter @AmandaMOAA. As a current print subscriber, you receive 24/7 access to our website and online e-edition at no additional charge. All you have to do is activate your access. To activate digital access, you will need your account number. You can find your account number on any recent subscription notice or bill. PARIS, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Paris-based UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Monday unveiled the list of five laureates of the 2019 L'Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science Awards, an initiative that "honors outstanding women scientists." The five laureates are Najat Aoun Saliba from Lebanon, Japanese Professor Maki Kawai, Argentina's Karen Hallberg, Claire Voisin from France and the American Ingrid Daubechies. The 2019 edition of the awards extends to two more research areas, mathematics and computer science. "These exceptional women are recognized for the excellence of their research in the fields of material science, mathematics and computer science," UNESCO said in a statement. "Each laureate receive 100,000 euros (112,730 U.S. dollars) and their achievements will be celebrated alongside those of 15 promising young women scientists from around the world at an awards ceremony on March 14 at UNESCO's Headquarters in Paris," it said. Since 1998, the L'Oreal Foundation, in partnership with UNESCO, has honored five exceptional female researchers every year, each from the following regions: Africa & the Arab States, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America. (1 euro = 1.127 U.S. dollar) 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. The proposed Marsys Law constitutional amendment runs afoul of the protections granted to those subject to the power of the state. The new guarantees in this proposal include a victims right to refuse an interview, deposition or other discovery request sought by counsel for a defendant. Think about that: A persons freedom is on the line in a trial, and Marsys Law would prohibit them from having the necessary information that could prove their innocence or mitigate the severity of their sentence. That persons right to a fair trial would be lost, and with it, the chances for grave miscarriages of justice to occur increase. Artists from Troupe One of China National Peking Opera Company and Hubei Chime Bells National Chinese Orchestra presented a dazzling combination of vocal artistry, costumes, traditional Chinese instruments and acrobatics at the Chicago Symphony Center to celebrate the Spring Festival on Feb.10, 2019. (Photo/Xinhua) This might seem like an innocuous comic scene if Travers's novels didn't associate chimney sweeps' blackened faces with racial caricature. Don't touch me, you black heathen,' a housemaid screams in Mary Poppins Opens the Door' (1943), as a sweep reaches out his darkened hand. When he tries to approach the cook, she threatens to quit: If that Hottentot goes into the chimney, I shall go out the door,' she says, using an archaic slur for black South Africans that recurs on page and screen. Vallee said the Lehigh Valley isnt getting wind off the Atlantic to help raise temperatures. That means the door has remained open for colder air funneling from the Hudson Valley, down through the Poconos and into our area, and its keeping temperatures well below freezing. The establishment of the Survivor Compensation Program is another step forward in our dioceses efforts to show our support to survivors of clergy child sexual abuse, said Bishop Ronald W. Gainer, a former Allentown Diocese official. While we understand that financial compensation will not repair or erase the heartache and damage done by the abuse these survivors have suffered, we hope and pray this support can help to improve their lives. Those who contacted Verizon to report the issue were told the company knew about the problem and worked to fix it, but the problem lasted more than a month, the lawsuit said. It took us nearly five decades to understand the damaging effects of cigarette smoke and we don't yet know the long-term impact of using e-cigarettes, said Pawan Sharma, lead researcher at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. These devices that heat solid tobacco are relatively new and it will be decades before we will fully understand their effects on human health. The deal still must be translated from a list of agreed-to items into a piece of legislation, but negotiators said it would include $1.375 billion for 55 miles of new fencing along the countrys southern border. It would make changes to how many people can be held in detention Immigration and Customs Enforcement, though it doesnt go as far as Democrats had wanted. The Commodore would transform the former Kaplans awning business at 100 Northampton St., which until recently had been a longtime custom awning, banner and flag making business in the downtown. This month, the owners of Kaplans are moving their business to the former Ealer Electric building at 1298 Spruce St. in the citys West Ward. The move is part of the citys effort to transfer its operations to the county by the end of June. Thats the deadline the state gave Bethlehem and Allentown before it pulls funding for local 911 operations in a switch to regional centers. The state subsidizes 911 centers with surcharges on telephone bills. Jeffrey Ott, president of Ott Consulting, said Tuesday that market conditions prevented each of the previous plans from coming to fruition. Only one of the original partners in the development, Jeff Trainer, the co-owner of the Sands Bethlehem Event Center, is still involved with the project, he said. According to the presentation, to bring full-day kindergarten to all students, nine classes would have to be added with average class sizes in the first year of 22. It would mean bringing five more classes to Hopewell and four to Liberty Bell. WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House and Senate negotiators said Monday night that they have reached "an agreement in principle" in a bid to avoid another government shutdown. "We've had a good evening. We've reached an agreement in principle," Republican Senator Richard Shelby told reporters. Democratic Representative Nita Lowey said she hopes for legislation to be released on Wednesday. The emerging deal, whose details are still being finalized, would fund a number of federal departments and agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security in charge of border security. It was not immediately clear if and how much Democratic lawmakers would agree to fund the border wall, a signature campaign promise of President Donald Trump. A temporary funding bill runs out Friday. Both the House and Senate will have to approve the legislation and Trump must sign it so as to avoid another government shutdown. Trump has requested 5.7 billion U.S. dollars for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, arguing it is essential to beefing up border security and curbing crime. Democrats have rejected the idea of a border wall, slamming it as expensive, ineffective and "immoral," and called the proposal Trump's "political theater" to fire up his base, while they prefer the use of technology like drones and sensors in strengthening border security. The confrontation over border wall funds caused a record-breaking 35-day partial government shutdown, which ended in late January when Trump agreed to fund the government for three weeks to allow for negotiations. As has been the case in recent years for school districts, charter schools and employee pension payments are top cost drivers. Bethlehem Area is looking at an almost $1 million increase in charter school tuition that would bring the district to paying almost $31 million. Wonda L. Haberstumpf, 42, and Dean L. Haberstumpf, 18, both of Kutztown, and an unnamed juvenile are all facing charges of arson, reckless burning, risking catastrophe, reckless endangerment, possession of explosive or incendiary material, possession of an instrument of crime and conspiracy for their role in the Oct. 27 firebombing. WATCH: An asphalt tank fire was reported Monday evening at the Lehigh Valley Industrial Park II, which is owned by Crafco Inc. of Arizona. The fire prompted the evacuation of the commercial building in Lehigh County. African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, held several high-level bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the 32nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union. Adesina met with His Excellency Andrei Rajoelina, President of Madagascar and His Majesty Letsie III, King of Lesotho. With President Andrei Rajoelina of Madagascar, discussions focused on issues relating to energy, infrastructure, job creation, agriculture and the Banks support to the countrys drive to accelerate development. Adesina commended President Rajoelina for his recent election and vision for his country. There is renewed hope from the people of Madagascar and the international community in general and for this reason we would like the African Development Bank to be the countrys first development partner, President Rajoelina said in response to Adesina. Evoking challenges in Madagascars energy sector President Rajoelina pressed for continued Banks support, saying: Our objective is to double the energy production capacity in five years. The country has great potential, he added. Adesina gave assurances that the Bank will continue to support Madagascar and extended an invitation to Rajoelina to attend the 2019 Africa Investment Forum scheduled for November in Johannesburg. He further encouraged the country to develop a solid pipeline of bankable projects to create investors appetite during the forum. Shortly after that, Adesina met with his Majesty Letsie III, King of Lesotho, ahead of the launch of the first continental nutrition accountability scorecard which will take place on 11 February on the sidelines of the African Union Summit. Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to push for increased investment in gray matter infrastructure which is critical to overcoming Africas nutrition challenges. The bilateral meetings are part of President Adesinas agenda during the 32nd ordinary session of the 2019 AU summit. Speaking at the high-level agriculture transformation scorecard side event chaired by Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, Adesina called for greater funding for agriculture and stressed the Banks commitment to work with countries to improve agriculture as business through its various projects and initiatives. The meeting was attended by African Heads of states, New Partnership for Africas Development (NEPAD), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and African Ministers of agriculture. President Adesina wrapped up day one of his participation in the AU Summit with a dinner hosted by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Adesina is expected to meet with the newly elected chairman of the African Union, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Partager et informez vous aussi...... 1 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Sheffield B17 US Bomber Crash 75th Anniversary Fly-past on 22nd February 2019 Full Details 2019 marks the 75th anniversary of the crash of a US B17 Flying Fortress bomber in Endcliffe Park, Sheffield on the 22nd of February 1944 costing the lives of the 10 member crew of the "Mi Amigo". In commemoration of which a fly past will take place on the 22nd of February 2019 at 8.45am at Endcliffe Park that will include an F15 fighter jet from RAF Lakenheath, other aircraft to include Ospreys, Typhoons and a Dakota. The BBC will be covering the event from 6am to 9.15am with a big screen at the Cafe, the public are advised to arrive after 7.15am. A memorial service will take place at 8am. which will be followed by the fly past at 8.45am. Here is earlier BBC's coverage of the announcement of the flypast to Tony Foulds who has tended the crash site memorial for decades. By Anika Walayat http://www.walayatfamily.com Copyright 2005-2019 Marketoracle.co.uk (Market Oracle Ltd). All rights reserved. 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday, launching an initiative to ensure the country's leadership in Artificial Intelligence (AI). This technology-promoting initiative at national level calls for protecting the advantage of the United States in AI "against strategic competitors and foreign adversaries," but without specifying its competitors or adversaries. "Continued American leadership in Artificial Intelligence is of paramount importance to maintaining the economic and national security of the United States," Trump said. The initiative proposes a multi-pronged approach to accelerating its leadership in AI, including investment, data-sharing, standard-setting and personnel training. However, it stresses an "international engagement" instead of the international cooperation most AI researchers and industrialists call on. It urges other countries to open markets for American AI industries while ensuring the technology developed in a manner consistent with American values and interests. The initiative also allows federal agencies to offer more data, models, and computing resources to the country's AI researchers and industries. "We cannot sit idly by and presume that our leadership is guaranteed," according to a statement released by White House on Monday. Phillip Henry Bachman passed away on March 17, 2020. We will "fulPhil" Phil's desire of a music filled funeral and celebration of his life on July 1, 2021 at Zion Lutheran Church in Lake Crystal, MN. Visitation at 10:00 a.m., funeral at 11:00 a.m. and a celebration luncheon after at the church. Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has pushed for the enactment of a bill establishing an intergovernmental task force for the protection and assistance of tourists during their travel around the Philippines. House Bill 8961 or the proposed Tourist Protection and Assistance Act recognizes that the State shall endeavor to enact measures for the protection and assistance of tourists, both domestic and foreign. It also recognizes that tourism is a major contributor to the countrys economic growth. The tourism industry has been branded as an engine of economic growth given its capacity to boost and jumpstart any economy especially countries like the Philippines. It is a consistent source of foreign exchange earnings and employment opportunities and also promotes international goodwill. At the same time, it highlights and makes known to the international community of the rich and colorful socio-cultural life of Filipinos, Arroyo said. With this, Arroyo cited a need for the government to adopt and implement an integrated approach in tourism development to be able to realize its full potential as an important economic tool necessary for national development. The bill was approved on second reading before Congress adjourns last week. It is expected to hurdle the final reading approval when Congress resumes session in May.The bill intends to make the country a premier travel and tourism destination in the world. To this end, the secretary of the Department of Tourism shall establish an intergovernmental task force, to be known as the Tourist Protection and Assistant Task Force. The bill mandates the Tourist Protection and Assistant Task Force to undertake the following functions, through the concerned national government agencies and local government units (LGUs): (a) adoption of uniform standards on signage for use throughout the Philippines, (b) provision of directional signages in tourism facilities and destinations, (c) preparation and dissemination of multilingual travel and tourism information and promotional materials, (d) establishment of a toll-free telephone assistance system run by multilingual operators to provide assistance to tourists, (e) coordination with LGUs on the establishment of tourist help desks, and (f) institution of measures to prevent unlawful acts or harassment committed on tourists. The task force shall be chaired by the Tourism secretary, while the Vice Chairperson shall be the Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government. Other members of the group are the secretary of the Department of Transportation, secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways, secretary of the Department of Justice, director-general of the Philippine National Police, a representative from the Road Board of the Philippines, as well as representatives of other government agencies and private sector entities appropriate to the mission of the Task Force, as determined by the chairperson. The Agriculture Department and a major Israeli agro-industrial company will soon start formal negotiations to construct 6,200 units of solar-powered irrigation systems worth P44 billion. Agriculture Secretary Manuel Pinol said the proposed project had the approval of President Rodrigo Duterte, following recent talks with Israeli Ambassador Rafael Harpaz who relayed the intention of several Israel agricultural companies to support Philippine farming. The proposal of the LR Group, one of Israels biggest agro-industrial companies, is to fund and build solar-powered Irrigation projects which would irrigate 500,000 hectares of rice and high-value crops farms over the next three years, he said. The Israel company visited Davao City, Tagum City, and Llanera, Nueva Ecija and offered to establish the SPIS projects of the Agriculture Department in partnership with local construction companies. The proposal includes a 10-year loan to cover the entire project cost of P44 billion. The fund would be guaranteed by both the Philippine and Israeli governments The offer will be submitted to the National Economic Development Authority for an assessment and to endorse the project to the President.The proposed project is a major breakthrough in the productivity program of the department especially in rice, where only 1.2 million hectares out of 3.9-million are irrigated, said Pinol. The system with the capacity to irrigate 500,000 hectares could increase Philippine rice production by 4 million metric tons of paddy rice or 2.6 million MT of milled rice. Th additional production would be enough to cover for the national shortfall which is supplied by imported rice from Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, and other countries, said Pinol. The president endorsed the project in March 2017 but less than 200 units were built due to lack of funding. 1. What are the main laws regulating IP in Korea? The laws regulating IP in Korea include Patent Act, Utility Model Act, Design Act, Trademark Act, Copyright Act and Unfair-Competition Prevention Act. 2. Which international IP agreements is Korea a party to? Are there any notable omissions? The international IP agreements or treaties that Korea is a party to include: Paris Convention, Patent Cooperation Convention, WTO, Madrid Protocol, Budapest Treaty, Berne Convention, Hague Agreement, Strasbourg Agreement, Trade Mark Treaty and UPOV. Korea is not a member of Patent Law Treaty, Madrid Agreement: Indications of Source and Madrid Agreement: Marks. 3. What is the body responsible for granting IP rights and how is it structured? It is Korean Intellectual Property Office ("KIPO") that administers the examination, registration and maintenance of patents, utility models, trademarks, and designs. The KIPO has several bureaus for conducting or supporting the examination of such IP applications, and the total number of examiners in the KIPO is around 1,000. Appeals against final rejection of patent applications issued by the Examiner may be brought only before the Board of Trials ("BOT") established within the KIPO. Each case is heard by a panel of 3 or 5 trial examiners. There are 11 divisions in the BOT, and each division has 7 to 12 trial examiners. 4. Are there inter partes or ex parte proceedings either pre- or post-grant for patents? If so, how do these work? Since March 1, 2017, the KPA provides both post-grant patent revocation (ex parte proceeding) and invalidation trial (inter partes proceeding) to challenge a patent. Patent revocation For a patent registered on or after March 1, 2017, anyone may file a petition seeking for cancellation of a patent claim(s) within 6 months from the issuance of the patent. The grounds for such petition are limited to (i) lack of novelty/inventiveness only, based on printed publications that have not been cited by the Examiner during the prosecution of the patent; and (ii) violation of the first-to-file rule. The ex parte procedure for patent cancellation is conducted through written arguments only. Before the BOT renders a decision to revoke the challenged claim(s), the patentee shall be notified of the reason(s) for revocation and given an opportunity to submit a response thereto (possibly together with a correction or amendment to the specification, claims and/or drawings) within a designated period. The final decision rendered by the BOT to cancel any of the challenged claims may be appealed to the Patent Court, and, then, to the Supreme Court, while an appeal against the final decision to maintain the challenged claims is not allowed. Patent invalidation trial Effective as of March 1, 2017, only an interested party may initiate a patent invalidation trial anytime during or even after the life term of a patent, while the old KPA allowed any person, even anonymously, to request a trial to invalidate a patent as long as the request is made within 3 months from the issuance of the patent. The grounds for nullification are broader than those for patent revocation, including most of the reasons for rejecting a patent application except for violation of the unity of invention requirement. In response to an invalidation petition, the patentee may file a request for correction of the specification/claims within the designated time period for submitting an answer to the petition. 5. Are there inter partes or ex parte proceedings either pre- or post-grant for trademarks? If so, how do they work? Trademark opposition (pre-grant inter partes proceeding) When a trademark application is published, anyone can file an opposition seeking for rejection of the application within 2 months from the date of publication. The grounds for such opposition are same as those for rejecting a trademark application in examination. The opposer cannot appeal against the decision to dismiss the opposition but may later file an invalidation action with the BOT after the opposed trademark has finally matured to registration. Trademark invalidation trial (post-grant inter partes proceeding) Only interested party may lodge a trademark invalidation trial with the BOT. The grounds for invalidation are broader than those for rejecting a trademark application. When invalidation is sought on the basis of similarity to a prior filed or registered mark, the invalidation trial should be filed within 5 years from the registration date of the mark against which invalidation is sought. Trademark cancellation trial (post-grant inter partes proceeding) Anybody can file a non-use cancellation trial against a registered trademark which has not been used for 3 consecutive years. The effect of a decision to cancel is retroactive to the date when the cancellation action was instituted. 6. Are there any other IP rights that are available in Korea? And what do international rights owners need to know about these? In addition to patents and trademarks, utility models, designs, plant varieties, computer programs, copyrights, trade secrets, semiconductor integrated circuit layout designs can be protected under each relevant law in Korea. Salient features of the utility models and designs, inter alia, are as follows. Utility model An invention relating to a shape or structure of an article or a combination of articles may be protected as a registered utility model. The protection term is 10 years from the filing date. Under the old utility model system, a utility model was registered without any substantive examination to alleviate the burden of patent examination and to encourage the development and working of the so-called petty inventions. However, since the average waiting period of substantive examination of a patent application was reduced to less than 1 year, allowing the registration of a utility model without substantive examination became less advantageous. In addition, the lack of substantive examination was likely to produce unstable rights as well as wasteful disputes to nullify such rights. Accordingly, the Korean Utility Model Act (KUMA) has abolished the registration with no substantive examination, and revived the substantive examination system. Design Design right is protected in Korea as an independent IP regime rather than as a type of patent. With respect to certain pre-designated articles such as clothing, fashion accessories, textiles or stationary goods, design protection is allowed after conducting a partial examination only. In conducting a partial examination, novelty and creativity on the basis of prior art is not reviewed. Upon filing, applicants are entitled to enjoy a six-month grace period of being exempted from loss of novelty. The term of protection is 20 years from the filing date. GUI can be registered as a design in Korea, provided that GUI is depicted in an article and the title is not identified as GUI per se. Other notable systems of design protection in Korea include, among others, protection of partial design and related design system. It is possible to claim only a certain part of an article by depicting the claimed portion in solid lines and leaving the unclaimed portion in broken lines. A design that is similar only to the same applicant's prior design ("basic design") can be registered only as a "related design" of the basic design. A related design has to be filed within 1 year from the filing date of its basic design and the term of protection is limited to the life of the basic design. However, a related design is recognized of its own independent scope of right and, therefore, is not affected by the invalidation or abandonment of the basic design. 7. Which courts have jurisdiction in IP cases in Korea, at first instance and appeal? How are they structured? Among the 18 District Courts in Korea, first instance infringement cases involving IP rights (patents, utility models, trademarks, designs, and plant variety rights) can be brought to only one of the 5 designated District Courts that has personal jurisdiction over the defendant. Regardless of the personal jurisdiction, theplaintiff may also choose to bring their cases before Seoul Central District Court which has been the most frequently used court for litigating IP matters than any other district courts in Korea. All the District Courts should follow the same substantive and procedural laws. The number of judges of a court varies: in case of Seoul Central District Court, the court's Civil Division includes 105 divisions each comprising a single judge, 36 panels each comprising 3 judges, 9 appellate boards each comprising three judges. The court also has Criminal Division and Bankruptcy Division. For the district court decisions on IP rendered after January 1, 2016, all appeals are exclusively heard by the Patent Court. An appeal before the Patent Court will be reviewed by a panel of 3 appellate court judges. The Patent Court has 17 appellate court judges and 22 technical advisors for assisting the patent court judges. 8. How common is IP litigation? How many patent/trademark cases in a typical year? According to the statistics published by the Ministry of Court Administration, during the period of 5 years from 2013 to 2017, 796 patent infringement injunctive actions (inclusive of permanent and preliminary injunction) were newly brought, and 489 trademark infringement injunctive actions were filed. Meanwhile, 1,755 main actions for damages were filed in 2017, for infringement of intellectual property rights including patents, trademarks, design rights and copyrights, etc. The material on this site is for law firms, companies and other IP specialists. It is for information only. Please read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Notice before using the site. All material subject to strictly enforced copyright laws. 2021 Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. For help please see our FAQs. Share this article Motoring / Yachts Astondoa Sales Director Jaime Cortecero says the century-old builder is confident of bringing Spains finest yachts to this region with Yachtside Asia. Feb 12, 2019 | By John Higginson After 35 years with Volvo, you joined Astondoa as Sales Director in 2016 when the yard was celebrating its 100th anniversary. How familiar were you with Astondoa? I was very familiar with Astondoa. I had been doing business with the company for 25 years as it was one of the most important customers for Volvo Penta in the Spanish market. What are Astondoas primary markets and what areas have you focused on? The Americas has been the main market during the last five years. In the Americas, the United States is one of the strategic markets for the brand because we have an important presence in Florida, while Mexico is another key market in that region. My strategy during these first couple of years has been focused on consolidating the expansion of the shipyard in the European markets where it already has a presence through our dealers, such as in France, Monaco, Poland, Italy, the Adriatic area such as Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro, as well as Germany, Benelux and Russia. In Asia, Astondoa is present in Dubai, Lebanon and also in Singapore and Thailand, through Yachtside Asia. Astondoa builds from 11-60m (37-197ft). Which of your yacht ranges do you think will appeal most to Asia buyers? We think our Flybridge motor yachts from 44-80ft and the Century range of luxury yachts from 100-120ft are attractive for the Asian market. What are your thoughts on the superyacht market in Asia? Is there potential for your Steel range and if so, where? Of course. There has been a rapid increase in living standards in Asia and a new, growing middle class that can increasingly enjoy leisure and therefore recreational cruising. As ICOMIA states: For the past 30 years, most Asian economies have been growing and in the past 10 years the GDP in most countries has increased at an average rate of 5-10 per cent per annum, far higher than those of Europe and the USA. Which markets in Asia do you believe offer the greatest potential for Astondoa? Right now, Astondoa is kicking off our presence with Yachtside in Singapore and Thailand. We believe those markets and China are the countries with the biggest potential. However, our strategy is to consolidate our new presence in the market in Thailand at this moment and the expansion to other markets will depend on the results we achieve there. Yachtside Asia opened its new Thailand headquarters in Bangkok in October 2018 and has since relocated its Phuket office to Boat Lagoon Marina. How important is it for Astondoa and Yachtside to have such a strong office presence in these two key markets in Thailand? It is essential to have the presence of professionals in the key markets, both where potential clients work and also where they holiday and can use their yachts. From the beginning, Yachtside has directed a lot of their efforts to consolidating their presence with strong offices in both Bangkok and Phuket. What led to Yachtsides appointment as Astondoas dealer just over a year ago? Yachtside is a part of the Be In Yachts group and Astondoa has already been working with them as a dealer for France and Monaco. We value the strong international focus of this company and also their experience in the management of yacht charters. Yacht owners in Asia are very familiar with the leading brands from Italy, France, UK, Germany and Holland. Is there a challenge in promoting Astondoa, a Spanish brand? Astondoa has been engaged in a process of internationalisation and renovation since 2016, when it celebrated its centenary. It was the right time for the company to change and evolve. The Century range represents this evolution, maintaining Astondoas distinctive features while daring to include more modern lines, state-of-the-art technology and functional elements. This evolution is supported by the promotion of our social media strategy, a greater presence in international boat shows, and much more. Astondoa is Spains leading luxury yacht builder, but why are there not more global brands from Spain, considering the countrys rich sailing history and amazing coastline and scenery? The last crisis affected several shipyards in Spain that were forced to close. Also, the nautical market in Spain is made up mostly by boats of small length. About 90 per cent of the yachts are boats of up to 8m (26ft). Why do you think Astondoa yachts will be successful in Asia and what features should owners in Asia look out for? Heritage, quality, bespoke design and more than 100 years of building luxury yachts. www.astondoa.com www.yachtsidegroup.com Motoring / Yachts Dunia Baru owner Mark Robba is developing an Eco Learning Center on Mansuar island in Raja Ampat with the strong support of the Sauwandarek village chief Feb 12, 2019 | By John Higginson Dunia Baru owner Marc Robba has slated a March opening for an Eco Learning Center in the village of Sauwandarek on Mansuar island in Raja Ampat. Robba and other key members of the projects team met with Sauwandareks chief, known as Baba, and the village elders late last year to finalise the last aspects of the Learning Center. Measuring 20m by 12m, the building will be positioned directly in front of the villages picturesque pier, looking out over the ocean. We were thrilled to formally map out the site, said Robba, whose 51m Phinisi charter yacht has chartered extensively in the region since it was launched in 2014 after eight years of construction. It was important that we took the time to agree with the chief and village elders on the perfect location for the Learning Center. This is going to be a space where people can come together in learning and community. It needed to feel natural. Robba and his team also made a trip to Batanta island, 15 miles from Mansuar, to inspect the source of the buildings 25 cubic metres of wood being used for the project, a local hardwood called merbau, a robust timber that deepens in colour with age. We made a tough one-kilometre trek into the forest to find the first tree that had been carefully selected for the centre, said Robba, who estimated that about 12 trees will be needed. An entire village about 22 families on Batanta specifically work to responsibly select and harvest the islands timber. Once the wood is prepared, its brought by small boat across the Dampier Straits back to Sauwandarek. The Dunia Baru Learning Center will sit lightly on the land and has been designed by renowned architect Popo Danes to blend in with the traditional architecture and natural surroundings. Three of the original master shipwrights who worked on Dunia Barus build will assist local builders in the project and teach them advanced woodworking techniques. Once built, the centre will feature a well-stocked library and multi-use meeting and teaching space, where conservation, the environment and the importance of preserving the unique local habitats will be taught, along with skills such as cooking, tourism and homestay operation. The Learning Center will really help my community, said Baba, who has been the village chief for eight years, having lived there since 1991 with his wife of 39 years. I want Sauwandarek to be known as a village at the forefront of tourism in Indonesia, helping to make a positive impact, so travellers share their stories of Raja Ampat and Indonesia with the world. Raja Ampat is famous for what lies under the water, but there is also so much more. From rare birds, to natural scenery, friendly people and unique culture, we have it all. Robba also plans to open a regional office for Dunia Baru on Waisai island in March 2020. The office will act as an operational hub for the superyacht in one of its most popular cruising grounds. We are so passionate about the Learning Center project and excited that it is moving forward as it is. For anyone who knows Raja Ampat, this is a really special part of the world, Robba said. Dunia Baru is lucky to be able to spend time in these beautiful waters and build relationships with the people here. By opening a dedicated Raja Ampat office and by building the Learning Center, which hopefully will be the first of many, we are investing in the future of the region. It is exciting. www.duniabaru.com Motoring / Jets Collaborative effort between Boeing and Aerion aims to return the glamour and luxury of supersonic jet travel to the 21st century. Feb 12, 2019 | By Jonathan Ho Then known as the premier British-French turbojet-powered passenger airliner, the Aerospatiale British Airways Concorde ended the age of supersonic jet travel in 2003. Now, thanks to a collaborative effort between Boeing and Aerion, the glamour and luxury of supersonic jet travel is about to make a return to the 21st century. Its ironic that weve had faster-than-sound turbo-jet travel since the 70s but have had trouble maintaining that level of technological development at the turn of the century. Now, designed to fly at Mach 1.4, the AS2 aircraft supersonic passenger aircraft by Boeing and Aerion aims to return civilian supersonic flight to the market by 2023. New York to London in 3 Hours: Boeing and Aerion Supersonic AS2 jet to launch 2023 Flying at 1610 kilometres per hour, the Boeing Aerion AS2 aircraft will become emblematic of luxury business-travel, able to take passengers from New York to London in slightly over 3 hours. Lockheed Martin was previously a partner on the AS2 supersonic jet in 2017 and according to Forbes, Aerion spokesman Jeff Miller declined to elaborate why the collaboration fell through in 3rd quarter 2018. It is worth noting that since the late 70s, Lockheed Martin is better recognised for military aviation than civilian air travel. That said, Lockheed has not given up supersonic aspirations; the same year, NASA awarded the defence contractor close to $250 million to develop a faster-than-sound jet which could achieve supersonic speeds without the accompanying sonic boom; the result was the X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology aircraft designed to reach 1510 kmh. A supersonic jet like Lockheeds X-59 is able to operate over-land air routes without contravening current air travel regulations which ban supersonic travel over land due to noise and environmental concerns. Through this partnership that combines Aerions supersonic expertise with Boeings global industrial scale and commercial aviation experience, we have the right team to build the future of sustainable supersonic flight. Steve Nordlund, the head of Boeing NeXT A passion project of Texas billionaire Robert Bass, Boeings undisclosed investment in Basss Aerion supersonic jet will go towards development costs for the project including General Electrics trijet engine based on, the best-selling CFM56. In October 2018, Aerion announced it expected to sell 300 aircraft over the next 10 years and its among one of three companies hoping to return supersonic flight to the civilian market after a gap of 15 years. The Boeing Aerion AS2 is slated for its first flight in 2023. NANJING, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in east China's Jiangsu Province saw a record number of visitors during this year's Spring Festival holiday. On the first six days of China's Lunar New Year, the memorial hall received 299,961 visitors, up 51 percent year on year. "When I was young, I saw my fellow compatriots being bullied," said 84-year-old Yang Ruifu, a visitor to the memorial hall, "Now we are living at a time of peace and prosperity, we must cherish it." Japanese troops occupied Nanjing, then China's capital, on Dec. 13, 1937, and began a six-week massacre. Chinese records show that more than 300,000 people -- both unarmed soldiers and civilians -- were brutally murdered and over 20,000 women raped. In February 2014, China designated Dec. 13 as "National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims" to mourn the victims as well as all those killed during the war against Japanese aggression. "Since the memorial day was set up, the number of visitors to the memorial hall during holidays has been increasing each year," said Zhang Jianjun, curator of the memorial hall. Today Partly cloudy early with thunderstorms becoming likely during the afternoon. High near 90F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Tonight A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 74F. Winds light and variable. Tomorrow Partly cloudy in the morning followed by scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. High around 90F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan made his first visit to Iraq on Tuesday to discuss the U.S. militarys future in the country in the wake of comments from President Trump that jeopardized plans for an ongoing counter-terrorism presence. Shanahan, a longtime Boeing executive who was tapped to lead the Pentagon in December following predecessor James N. Mattis sudden resignation, was expected to meet with Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and other Iraqi and U.S. officials. His visit occurs as the Trump administration seeks to wind down the operation against Islamic State, the extremist group that took over large swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014. Pentagon officials have been considering shifting some American troops from Syria into Iraq after Trumps unexpected December announcement that he would withdraw all 2,000 U.S. service members there. There are about 5,000 U.S. troops next door in Iraq, supporting local forces as they seek to ensure that remaining Islamic State cells cannot stage another full-fledged insurgency. Advertisement Militants have continued to conduct isolated attacks since a lengthy 2017 siege to retake Mosul, the Iraqi city that served as their base for three years. Shanahans brief stop in Iraq follows a one-night visit to Afghanistan and takes place as the White House considers nominating him to become Trumps second Defense secretary. The selection of Shanahan, who has served as deputy Pentagon chief since mid-2017, would be a shift, given that he is an industry veteran and relative newcomer to military policy. He is the first person since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks who had not visited either Iraq or Afghanistan, the countries whose counterinsurgency wars have consumed the militarys attention for nearly two decades, before taking over at the Pentagon. His talks in Baghdad follow a political outcry generated by Trumps recent suggestion that he might keep a military presence in Iraq to watch Iran, his administrations chief adversary in the Middle East. We might as well keep it. And one of the reasons I want to keep it is because I want to be looking a little bit at Iran, because Iran is a real problem, Trump said in an interview with CBS. The characterization, which differed from what had previously been described as a plan to keep U.S. troops there to guard against Islamic States resurgence, intensified controversy about the American military presence and prompted some Iraqi politicians to seek passage of legislation that would limit Washingtons role. The question over the future of U.S. forces in Iraq was first raised early last year after Baghdad declared military victory over Islamic State, but the issue grew into a frequent talking point before Iraqi elections in May. Several candidates aligned with tickets that have a historically combative relationship with an American presence in Iraq argued the troops were no longer needed and that the United States should at most keep a small number of advisors in the country to continue to train Iraqi security forces. In December, Trumps unannounced visit to American forces in western Iraq turned the issue into a national obsession. Iraqis from both side of the political aisle were aghast that Trump had gone to Iraq and not met with the countrys leadership, saying it was an affront to Iraqs sovereignty. Trumps more recent comments drew fresh calls for the expulsion of American forces and condemnation from Iraqs top Shiite cleric along with Iraqi President Barham Salih and former prime minister Haider Abadi. Both men are considered close allies by Washington. Advertisement Several political factions that are usually at odds, including those backed by Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr and a coalition representing several Iran-aligned militias, have called for fast-tracking a bill that would recommend severely limiting the number and activity of U.S. forces in Iraq when parliament reconvenes next month. Speaking to reporters before his arrival, Shanahan said the primary goal of his talks in Baghdad was to hear directly from Iraqi leaders. We are in Iraq at the invitation of the government. And our interests are to build Iraqi security capability, he said. A portion of Iraqs army, built from the ground up following the George W. Bush administrations 2003 invasion, collapsed in 2014 in the face of an Islamic State onslaught. Shanahan, who will meet in Germany later this week with other Western countries battling Islamic State, will be among the U.S. leaders responsible for ensuring that militants cannot make a comeback once American troops depart Syria. Military leaders have said the Kurdish-dominated Syrian force that has been the main U.S. partner there needs significant outside support before it can do so alone. Advertisement Risk can be high and risk can be low. So I think peoples concerns is just over the course of history theyve seen how difficult it is to eradicate terrorism, Shanahan said. The follow-on, the support and security ... that will be an important part of the discussions [in Europe]. An announcement is expected within weeks that U.S.-backed Syrian forces have recaptured final areas of eastern Syria controlled by the Islamic State. In Baghdad, Shanahan will also meet with Lt. Gen. Paul LaCamera, who commands U.S. and foreign forces in Iraq and Syria. Ryan and El-Ghobashy write for the Washington Post. A politically charged trial of a dozen Catalan separatist leaders got underway Tuesday in Spains Supreme Court amid protests and the possibility of an early general election being called in the country. The defendants are being tried on rebellion and other charges stemming from their roles in pushing ahead with a unilateral independence declaration in October 2017. The declaration was based on the results of a divisive secession referendum that ignored a constitutional ban. The trial, arguably Spains most important in four decades of democracy, began as the future of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchezs minority government hinges on last-minute negotiations with Catalan pro-independence parties to back his 2019 budget. Sanchez could be forced to call an early election if the Catalan separatists, whose support brought the Socialists to power last year, dont change their current position of voting against his spending plan on Wednesday. Advertisement The separatists want Sanchez to agree to talks on self-determination for their region, but the government argues that Spains constitution doesnt allow it. Opening the parliamentary debate on Tuesday, Spanish Budget Minister Maria Jesus Montero told Catalan lawmakers that the government would not give in to any blackmail by anybody. Under no circumstance will we agree to include the right to self-determination in Catalonia in any talking points, she said. Meanwhile, Sanchez appeared to put more pressure on his opponents by tweeting that the right-wing and the separatists will vote against a budget that helps social causes. They both want the same thing: a Catalonia that is divided and a Spain that is divided, he wrote. Tensions between regional and central authorities peaked with the 2017 breakaway attempt but the conflict has been festering ever since. The 7.5 million residents of Catalonia remain divided by the secession question. On Tuesday, pro-independence protesters briefly blocked highways in the northeastern region and roads in its capital. A sit-down demonstration outside the Barcelona office of the state prosecutor was cleared by the regional police without incident. In Madrid, right-wing protesters carrying national flags shouted as lawyers and three defendants who were free on bail entered the 18th century convent that houses Spains Supreme Court. Advertisement Former Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras; the regional parliaments former speaker, Carme Forcadell, and the other 10 defendants werent expected to testify Tuesday, but they sat on four benches in the middle of the courtroom. Holding papers in their hands and smiling to each other at times, the defendants sat facing a seven-judge panel headed by Supreme Court magistrate Manuel Marchena, who moderates the proceedings. Junqueras lawyer, Andreu Van Den Eynde, was the first to speak, arguing that the cause goes against political dissidence. We are before an exceptional trial, he told the judges, adding that self-determination is the formula to avoid conflicts in the world. Advertisement Catalan President Quim Torra, a fervent separatist who has had to apologize for anti-Spanish comments, followed the proceedings from the back of the courtroom, where 100 seats were reserved for the defendants relatives, journalists and members of the public who lined up for hours to get one of the limited spots. Catalan regional President Quim Torra, right, and the president of the Catalonian Parliament, Roger Torrent, left, arrive at the Spanish Supreme Court in Madrid on Feb. 12 for the trial of a dozen Catalan separatist leaders. (Andrea Comas / Associated Press) Among those not on trial is Carles Puigdemont, Torras predecessor who fled Spain. He called for the 12 separatists to be absolved for their alleged crimes and called the trial a stress test for the Spanish democracy. Addressing reporters at a news conference in Berlin, the former Catalan leader added: I trust, however, that the Spanish state will take advantage of this chance to issue the correct sentence, which is absolution. Advertisement Puigdemont successfully avoided extradition to Spain when a German court refused to send him back on charges of rebellion last year. Those who stayed behind and showed up in court are the ones facing trial. Junqueras, Puigdemonts No. 2 at the time, faces up to 25 in prison if found guilty of rebellion, while others charged with sedition or misuse of public funds could get shorter sentences if convicted. The proceedings were broadcast live on television in a display of transparency that aims to fight the separatists attack on the courts credibility. Authorities in Spain have dismissed the notion that the trial is political and say it follows the European Unions highest standards. Proceedings were likely to last for at least three months. The verdicts, and any sentences, will be delivered months later. A strike by pilots of Taiwans flagship international airline has left some 20,000 passengers without flights toward the end of a major holiday week as bargaining has produced no results. About 600 of the 900 unionized China Airlines pilots have refused to work since Friday, grounding scores of scheduled flights. The pilots went on strike because their bargaining unit, Pilots Union Taoyuan, could not persuade the airline to ease workloads and raise pay, union board director Chen Pei-pei said. The strike had forced cancellation of 80 flights as of Monday and cost China Airlines $34 million in business, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Some of the money has gone to compensating the passengers on cancelled flights, including on the Taipei-Los Angeles and Taipei-Vancouver routes. Labor strikes are rare in Taiwan compared to in Western countries because companies normally discourage unions, said John Brebeck, senior advisor at the Quantum International Corp. investment consultancy in Taiwan. My sense is that all the power lies with the corporates, Brebeck said. Advertisement But pilots can make more demands on employers in Taiwan because good ones are scarce, he said. The striking China Airlines pilots are demanding full rather than basic salaries for the equivalent of a 13th month each year, a threefold increase, Chen said. They have further asked the airline to ease on-the-job fatigue by allowing crews of four people on all flights of more than 12 hours and three people for all eight-hour journeys, Chen said. Safety was an issue for China Airlines after 18 crashes and other mishaps between 1969 and 2007, and airline spokesman Jason Liu said Tuesday the company was open to making adjustments to crew sizes. But the pilots keep adding demands, lengthening the negotiation process, Liu said. Their demands keep shifting, so we have to go back and see whether we have resources and ability to meet them, he said. The union and the airline suspended negotiations Monday. Were not optimistic, Chen said. Weve been talking to the company since 2017 when we first applied for adjustments. The company never made a deal with us. Some pilots have opted to keep working, allowing the airline to operate 90% of its normal number of flights, Liu said. But the union board director suspects China Airlines is using contract pilots or nonunionized foreign nationals. The strikes first three days hit the end of a nine-day Lunar New Year vacation, but the airline says it put a lot of bumped passengers onto flights of other carriers. Most China Airlines counters were deserted on an otherwise busy Tuesday morning at a departure hall in Taiwans chief airport in Taoyuan City. Advertisement China Airlines, founded in 1959, normally runs about 1,400 flights weekly to more than 100 cities. Taiwans last memorable mass work stoppage took place in July 2017 when 500 flight attendants from Taiwans other major carrier, Eva Airways, asserted their right to take a day off due to a typhoon threat. Their action forced the cancellation of 50 flights, adding to those already spiked or delayed because of the weather. Jennings is a special correspondent. Take a voyage of discovery on the Yangtze River, the longest river in Asia, then visit Beijing and Shanghai on a cruise-land tour that includes international airfare. Ritz Tours and Victoria Cruises are offering an 11-night program called Yangtze Essence that includes a five-day Yangtze cruise and stays and touring in Beijing, Xian and Shanghai. During the cruise, passengers will tour the Three Gorges Dam site, travel by small boat on one of the Yangtzes tranquil tributaries and visit Chinese monuments and landmarks. Dates: March 7 and 21, Nov. 3 and Nov.17 for discounted rates; higher fares on other departure dates. Advertisement Price: From $2,799 per person, double occupancy, with online booking using promo code RITZ2019. Includes cruise, accommodations, meals, activities, guides, airfare from LAX and intra-China tours. Book by Feb. 28 for additional discounts. Info: Ritz Tours, (888) 345-7489 travel@latimes.com @latimestravel Students in grades K-12 who attend school located within the service area of Foothill Municipal Water District primarily in La Canada Flintridge, Montrose, La Crescenta and Altadena are invited to enter the eighth annual Water is Life art contest. The future requires that we all use water wisely. This theme of conservation and stewardship should be reflected in the artwork, according to a news release issued Monday by FMWD General Manager Nina Jazmadarian. Her agency co-sponsors the contest with Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Judges will consider artworks in three age groups: K-3, 4-6 and 7-12. The grand prize winner in each category will capture a $100 prize and their teacher will be given a $50 gift card. Local winning entries will be submitted to MWD for consideration for use in the 2019 Water is Life Student Artwork Calendar. The deadline for contest submissions is Monday, April 15. To learn more, visit fmwd.com. carol.cormaci@latimes.com Twitter: @CarolCormaci photo: Weibo Chinese musician Lay Zhang has attended the 2019 Grammy Awards as an ambassador for radio station FM Dongguan 101. While Zhang has not been nominated for a Grammy, he says his attendance at Staples Center in Los Angeles is only fueling his ambition to one day perform at the North American music industry's main awards show. Zhang's latest album "Namanana," recorded in both Chinese and English, quickly soared to No. 21 on the Billboard 200 after its release last year, making him the highest-charting Mando-pop artist of all time. Scientists have just revealed the climate forecast for the year 2080 in hundreds of cities across North America, and surprise! it looks like its going to get a whole lot warmer in all of them. If humanity continues to emit greenhouse gases at the same rate it does today, in 60 years L.A.s climate will most closely resemble the current climate of Cabo San Lucas, at the southern tip of Baja California in Mexico. Portland, which currently averages 155 rainy days per year, will feel like Sacramento, where only 59 days of the year have rain in them. And the New York City of the future will be like the Jonesboro, Ark., of today, according to a new study in Nature Communications. (Kyle Kim / Los Angeles Times) If youre a warm-weather lover, perhaps some of these changes dont sound so bad. After all, would you rather endure a winter in Boston or in Rosedale, Md.? Advertisement But this warming comes with serious environmental consequences, experts said. From a beach-day perspective, warmer might be better, but it is not better for our food production and in some areas it could lead to more pests, invasive species and disease, said study leader Matthew Fitzpatrick, a biogeographer at the University of Marylands Center for Environmental Science. Aedes mosquitoes, which transmit Zika, dengue and other deadly viruses, prefer warmer weather and may be able to spread into new areas of the U.S. as temperatures climb, scientists said. On the West Coast, warmer temperatures are associated with more smog, which can be dangerous to people with asthma and allergies, and a decline in water quality. Scientists have been warning about rising temperatures for years. In the new work, Fitzpatrick and his colleague Robert Dunn of North Carolina State University set out to make these projections more tangible thanks to a technique called climate analog mapping. It involves matching the expected future climate of one city with the current climate of another. To do this, they started with climate model projections for 540 cities throughout North America, looking specifically at average maximum temperature, average minimum temperature and total precipitation in all four seasons in the year 2080. Then they used a computer program to find the city whose current climate most closely matched each projection. The results show that in the eastern half of the U.S. and Canada, urban areas will most closely resemble cities that are 500 miles to the south. For example, the climate in Montreal in 2080 will most resemble the climate in Philadelphia today. (Kyle Kim / Los Angeles Times) Advertisement The story is more complicated in the west because the topography is more extreme, and because factors like proximity to the ocean influence the climate. For example, the authors report that the closest present-day equivalent to the climate of 2080 San Diego is Westmont, which lies about 120 miles north of San Diego between Inglewood and Watts in Los Angeles County. Many cities did not have good analogs for their expected 2080 climate, including Los Angeles. By the year 2080, temperatures in L.A. are expected to resemble those now occurring in Cabo San Lucas, but it wont have Cabos pattern of precipitation. Cabo is much dryer in the winter and spring and much wetter in the summer and fall than L.A., Fitzpatrick said. Other regions without good matches include the Gulf Coast of the United States, he said. This suggests that by 2080, large parts of the country will experience a climate that has never been seen before in the United States. Advertisement Fitzpatrick added that some of the North American cities might have better analogs elsewhere in the world, but he and Dunn chose to limit their search to the Western Hemisphere. We dont think most Americans will know what the climate is like in a city in China or India, Fitzpatrick said. The goal is to make climate change less abstract and something people can relate to based on their own experiences. Indeed, all of the climate data in the new report have been published before, the authors said. What makes this work different from previous studies is how it is presented. What we wanted to do was translate these climate forecasts that we hear all the time into something that is more digestible, Fitzpatrick said. Advertisement A recent NASA report found that last years average global surface temperature was 1.49 degrees Fahrenheit above a baseline period between 1951 and 1980. But what does that actually mean for local climate? Many people might think, Its 70 degrees now, it will be 71.5 degrees tomorrow, what is the big deal? Our desire is to address that problem, Fitzpatrick said. To make their findings even more accessible to the general public, Fitzpatrick and Dunn created a website that allows users to type in the name of a city and see what current climate it will most resemble in 2080. Alex Hall, who directs the Center for Climate Science at UCLA, said the work represents an effective way to present changes in average climate, and he applauded the authors for including so many cities in their analysis. Advertisement However, he noted that there is more to climate change than shifts in average temperature and precipitation. Changes in extremes, which we also expect, matter a lot, especially here in California, he said. Still, I think this communication technique conveys the dramatic scale of climate change quite well. deborah.netburn@latimes.com Do you love science? I do! Follow me @DeborahNetburn and like Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook. Advertisement MORE IN SCIENCE Gavin Newsoms decision to reassign National Guard troops from the Mexico border is likely just the beginning of a more aggressive stance by California and its new activist governor against President Trumps policies. In his first month in office, Newsom has taken a more antagonistic approach to the Trump administration than former Gov. Jerry Brown, who was more reserved in discussing the president and left the Legislature to take the lead in denouncing Trump, who is highly unpopular in this deep blue state. Jerry Brown relished being seen as the adult in the room and finding opportunities to show that California really wasnt this lefty bastion, said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at UC San Diego. I dont think Gavin Newsom has that first instinct. The governor held little back Monday, dismissing Trumps border policies. Advertisement Its comedy, folks, he said. You know it. I dont know what the right adjective is without coming off as hyperbolic. The whole thing is ridiculous. Newsom is likely to find a partner in state Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra, who has filed more than four dozen lawsuits against the federal government, challenging attempts to limit access to birth control, curb immigration and roll back environmental protections. Somewhere between volleys of caustic tweets and court fights, there is a growing belief in Sacramento and beyond that Newsom and Becerra together could take the Democratic resistance to a new level. And in doing so, they could elevate Californias standing in the national debate while also raising their own profiles. They are going to be extremely effective working together, said Darry Sragow, a longtime Democratic strategist who publishes the California Target Book, which tracks legislative and congressional races. I would expect they would not be holding their punches in taking on the administration when they think that is the right thing to do. Newsom held a news conference at the state Capitol on Monday and blasted what Trump has described as a crisis at the border as a political stunt. He signed an executive order in front of reporters to withdraw and reassign roughly 360 National Guard troops Brown sent to the border at Trumps request last year. Under Browns terms, the troops were not allowed to enforce immigration law. The governor, who said he disagreed with Browns decision, has frequently cited an overall reduction in illegal border crossings compared with previous decades as evidence that Trump is manufacturing a crisis to score points with conservative voters. In another rebuke of Trumps policies, the governors budget calls for the expansion of Medi-Cal to immigrants without legal status under age 26, and $25 million for nonprofits to provide shelter to migrant families at the border. California has gone to court against the Trump administration 45 times, bringing the state close to the number of lawsuits filed by Republican attorneys general in Texas against the Obama administration. Becerras lawsuits have targeted federal actions on immigration, healthcare, the environment, the U.S. census, education and the internet. Advertisement Last week, Becerra warned in a national televised address that he is prepared to sue the Trump administration again if the president declares a national emergency to fund a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border while cutting federal funds to fire-damaged communities in California. We are ready to reject this foolish proposal in court the moment it touches the ground, Becerra said. He delivered the message as part of the Democratic Partys Spanish-language response to Trumps State of the Union speech. The idea of declaring a nonexistent state of emergency on the border, in order to justify robbing funds that belong to the victims of fires, floods, hurricanes and droughts, to pay for the wall is not only immoral, it is illegal, Becerra said. Advertisement Becerras address was seen by some as another sign that California is leading the discussion among Democrats at the national level. The attorney generals selection by party leaders to respond to the president is a testament to the fact that for national Democrats, California is not merely the heart of the resistance, but the vanguard of the offensive, said Chris Lehane, a Democratic political strategist who worked in the Clinton White House. The attorney general said Monday that his office will continue to assert itself in challenging Trump administration policies. Becerra filed an amicus brief last week in support of a lawsuit to prevent the potential deportation of hundreds of thousands of people who hold temporary protected status. And last month, he led a group of attorneys general in securing a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administrations attempt to deny women access to cost-free birth control guaranteed under the Affordable Care Act. Advertisement A spokeswoman for Becerra said the attorney generals office has been in touch with Newsoms team on a daily basis. Newsom has proposed increasing the state Department of Justices budget by $38 million in the next fiscal year and adding more than 200 positions. Though Becerra was initially appointed attorney general by Brown, some say his aggressive legal posture against Trump has been closer to the hard line adopted by Newsom. Sragow said he expects Becerra and Newsom to be in lockstep on immigration, wildfires and other critical issues. California didnt get to be the fifth-largest economy in the world by standing idly by, Becerra said in a statement. We will work with Gov. Newsom to use every tool at our disposal, including the courts, to protect our people and keep our state forward-leaning. Advertisement Newsoms decision to reassign the California National Guard troops was criticized by Republicans, including former gubernatorial candidate and Assemblyman Travis Allen, now making a bid for Republican State Party chairman, who said in a social media post that the governor is abandoning Border Patrol and leaving California borders undefended. Some in California have also warned that the states efforts to poke the administration in the eye could backfire, affecting residents. Two days after Newsoms Jan. 7 inaugural address, in which he took a swipe at the federal government for separating children from their parents at the border, Trump threatened to cut federal disaster funding for California fire victims. The day after Becerras speech, Trump indicated that talks with state officials were going well. Robin Swanson, a Democratic political strategist, said Newsom is effectively using the bully pulpit to attack the president. Advertisement Thats where Donald Trump keeps score in news hits and quotes and tweets, Swanson said. Playing starring roles as Trump antagonists only offers a political benefit to Newsom and Becerra, both on the national level and in a state that favored Democrat Hillary Clinton by more than 4 million votes in the 2016 presidential election, she said. I think its a smart move by both of them if they do have aspirations because they need to be known beyond the border of California, Swanson said. Frankly, any time Donald Trump utters their names, it raises their profiles. More stories from Taryn Luna Advertisement taryn.luna@latimes.com Follow @tarynluna on Twitter and sign up for our daily Essential Politics newsletter. When Alex Padilla was elected Californias secretary of state in 2014, his goal was to boost the states sagging voter turnout. But Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign changed the job, making cybersecurity a high priority for Padilla and his counterparts in other states. He visited the Los Angeles Times bureau in Washington on Tuesday, a day before he was scheduled to testify to Congress about safeguarding elections. Are you surprised how important election security has become? Advertisement It was a little bit on our mind. But its clearly become much more than even I anticipated. [In 2014,] 99% of the questions I was asked by voters would be, What are you going to do to get more people registered to vote, and how can you increase turnout, participation in California? And then 2016 happens. From August 2016 to January 2017, when [then-Homeland Security] Secretary [Jeh] Johnson made the official critical infrastructure designation [which increased federal support for safeguarding election systems alongside dams, power plants and other significant facilities], it was a crash course. Are elections more secure now than in 2016? I like to think were at least a little better than we were in 2016, for no other reason than awareness is significantly elevated. Marginally, $380 million was appropriated by Congress last year for cybersecurity grants to states. Californias share was $34 million that weve been able to utilize. We still need more and consistent investment in elections infrastructure and security. What would you spend it on? Upgrading or replacing systems. In California and throughout the country, the vast majority of whats out there now was purchased with the last round of [Help America Vote Act] dollars. Youre talking about investments 15, 17 years ago, so youre looking at 20-plus-year-old technology. You wouldnt settle for that in your smartphone. But thats what we have in the election world. ... You cannot underestimate cyber training, training, training. You can have the best encryption, firewalls, all the tools you want. But if one member of our staff clicks on a link from a long-lost uncle who just won the lottery and wants to transfer money, its all compromised. Is California getting what it needs from the federal government? Advertisement We definitely need more federal investment. Theres a moment of awareness right now, and general public opinion, that this is critical. It is literally a matter of national security. For one-tenth of one percent of the last Defense appropriation, we could have done a lot of good in the area of election security. But the prior Congress saw otherwise. California moved its presidential primary to March 3, 2020, three months earlier than in previous cycles, so the state can play a bigger role in picking nominees. Whats your view? Look, Im excited. Heres the bottom line. We made it a lot easier if youre eligible to be a registered voter in California. Our automatic registration has shown big success and big numbers. Were making it easier for registered voters to cast their ballots with more counties now adopting the Voters Choice Act. More vote by mail, real in-person early voting, same-day registration, all of those tools. And with California now early in the primary calendar, its forcing candidates to come and earn votes in California. Im excited about what that will mean for engagement and turnout. Advertisement California is notorious for counting ballots slowly. How long until we know who wins the primary? It could take as long as 30 days. Thats what the canvass period is. But it will be up to voters to determine how close the election is going to be. Why cant you do it faster? Its not just a matter of what my office can do at the state level. But its much more about what counties would need to process those ballots more quickly. It comes back to the resource question. Not only are we working with some outdated technology ... [we need] better staffing at elections offices in counties up and down the state. Advertisement How much would it cost? At least tens of millions if youre looking at staffing and probably equipment too. The larger jurisdictions, like Los Angeles County, Orange, San Diego, Alameda, etc., are not counting the ballots by hand. Theres equipment being utilized. So how quick and reliable is that? And you dont want to just take the machines word for it. We have postelection audits. Were never going to reduce the canvass period to two, three days. It will always take at least a few weeks because of the sheer volume of California. Theres a lot of ballots to be processed. California recently legalized so-called ballot harvesting, which allows any person to collect a mail-in ballot from voters and submit the vote to a polling place or the registrars office. How did it go last November? Advertisement As far as I can tell, weve gotten no complaints from voters. And frankly, thats the proper lens to look at this. The change in the law empowers voters to decide who they feel most comfortable with returning their ballots. For a lot of people it is maybe their husband, their wife, their son, their daughter. But I trust my neighbor. If I wasnt going to the polls on election day, Id trust my neighbor to turn it in. Why not? Lawmakers late Monday reached an agreement in principle on border security that would allow them to fund the government beyond Friday, according to congressional officials from both parties. Major parts of the government would shut down as of this weekend without a deal. The agreement to avert the shutdown will still have to be approved by both chambers of Congress and signed by President Trump. The deal, which congressional aides warned was only tentative, would provide $1.375 billion for border barriers, according to a senior congressional aide who confirmed details but was not authorized to be quoted by name. The plan would fund not only the Department of Homeland Security the center of the political dispute over border funding but also several other agencies that were forced to shut down in December and January. Advertisement The money the deal would provide for fencing would be far less than the $5.7 billion Trump had demanded. In return, Democrats dropped their demand for a reduction in the number of people that immigration enforcement officials could hold in detention. At a rally in El Paso on Monday night, Trump said he had not yet seen the details of the proposed deal because it was reached as he was preparing to go onstage. I said, wait a minute, Ive got to take care of my people from Texas. I got to go. I dont even want to hear about it, he said. I dont know what they mean progress is being made. Later, however, he said the reports could represent good news. Just so you know, were building the wall anyway, he added. Whether the bill can be approved by the full Congress remains unclear. Some liberal Democrats are unlikely to welcome new funding for a border fence. Conservative Republicans may balk at funding only a portion of Trumps original $5.7-billion demand. Over the weekend, top members of Congress and an administration official said the talks had broken down. But coming off a record 35-day shutdown, there has been little appetite in either party in Congress for another halt in federal operations. The money in the compromise proposal could be used for building about 55 new miles of border barriers. The construction would be in the Rio Grande Valley, according to the congressional official, and any currently used design such as steel slats would be allowed. Advertisement Trump based much of his 2016 campaign on his promise to build a wall along the southern U.S. border. He said Mexico would pay for it. The $1.375 billion the deal includes for border fencing would be less than the amount Senate Democrats had approved last fall, before the shutdown. The agreement, however, would not place a cap on the number of immigration arrests U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, could make in the interior of the country. Democrats had proposed placing a limit of 16,500 on the number of detention beds that could be used for people taken from the interior of the U.S. That cap had become a primary cause of the impasse over the weekend. Democrats argued the limit would force ICE to focus its efforts on immigrants with serious or violent criminal records rather than long-term residents without any other criminal history. Republicans argued a cap on the number of people held in detention would force the agency to release violent criminals into American communities. Advertisement In fiscal 2018, Congress funded the overall number of detention beds at 40,520 beds a quota that ICE has treated as a minimum rather than a ceiling, regularly holding more than 48,000 in custody. Democrats initially proposed dropping the funding to a total to 35,520 detention beds, but ultimately have settled on funding for roughly 45,500, according to the senior congressional aides, with flexibility for more beds, if needed. Border showdown: Trump and Beto ORourke hold dueling rallies on immigration in El Paso Barely three weeks after parts of the federal government were shut for 35 days in a battle over border security spending, another partial shutdown is possible on Friday. With negotiations at an impasse, the latest dispute is over beds for detained migrants. Democrats say limiting the number of detention beds will force the Trump administration to stay within its budget and to stop detaining and deporting undocumented migrants who have broken no other laws. Administration officials argue Democrats want to release violent criminals into the United States. Advertisement The Democrats do not want us to detain, or send back, criminal aliens! Trump tweeted Monday. This is a brand new demand. Crazy! Late Monday night, Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Senate and House negotiators had reached an agreement in principle but offered no other details. Heres what you need to know. The Border Committee Democrats are behaving, all of a sudden, irrationally. Not only are they unwilling to give dollars for the obviously needed Wall (they overrode recommendations of Border Patrol experts), but they dont even want to take muderers into custody! Whats going on? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 10, 2019 What are detention beds? When undocumented migrants are arrested, whether far inland or just inside the border, the space the government has to hold them is generally defined by the number of authorized detention beds. The current quota, set by Congress, is 40,520 beds. But under President Trump, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, has exceeded that number. ICE is holding more than 48,000 people, with about 22,000 detained in the interior, Matt Albence, deputy director of ICE, said Monday. Democratic lawmakers are trying to undermine our ability to do interior enforcement and enforce immigration law, Albence said. He added, Congress has every right to change the law if they dont like the ones they passed. Advertisement What do Democrats want? Democrats have proposed reducing the total number of beds to 35,520, according to Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Downey), one of the Democratic negotiators. Democrats want to designate 16,500 of those beds for migrants picked up inside the U.S., she said, a cap derived from enforcement levels in the final years of the Obama administration. Democrats argue this will force the Trump administration to detain and arrest only migrants with violent or other serious criminal records, rather than longtime residents who may have committed misdemeanors or overstayed visas. What do Republicans want? Albence, the ICE deputy director, said the administration wants a total of 52,000 detention beds, reiterating the White House request to Congress for $4.2 billion to support that total. Advertisement Thats really what we need to get the job done, Albence said. Republicans say there should be no set limit on the number of immigrants ICE can hold, arguing that it would force the administration to release violent criminals. The consequence of such an arbitrary limit is obvious, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Monday, Thousands of criminal aliens would simply be released. Are those in ICE custody mostly murderers and violent criminals? No. According to ICE data for 2018, detained immigrants had 54,630 criminal convictions, including 1,641 convicted for homicides. Advertisement The majority of convictions were for driving under the influence, drug abuse, traffic violations and immigration offenses, such as illegal reentry. Multiple studies, including from the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, have concluded that immigration does not lead to increased crime. Statistics show undocumented migrants are less likely to commit crime than U.S. citizens, and legal immigrants even less likely to do so. States with large immigrant populations tend to have lower crime rates, and major American cities along the border, including El Paso, are some of the safest in the country, according to FBI data. Will Congress and the White House avoid another shutdown on Friday Top lawmakers on a conference committee with key appropriators from the Senate and House, including Roybal-Allard, met Monday. They hope to settle on a spending deal, get the House and Senate to pass it, and convince the president to sign it, before the midnight deadline. Advertisement Lawmakers may seek only to fund the affected departments through September, but they have begun discussing even shorter-term measures. Asked if the detention bed issue is worth shutting down the government again, Roybal-Allard said, No, we are doing everything in our power not to have another shutdown. She emphasized that the Democrats proposed bill would give the Homeland Security secretary flexibility to ask Congress for more money for beds if they are needed. Whats the fight really about? There is a fundamental disagreement between Trump and his opponents over how finite resources for immigration enforcement should be used. Advertisement Trump came to office promising to build a border wall and crack down on illegal immigration even though apprehensions at the border, the most commonly used measure for illegal immigration, are at historic lows. Administration officials say a border security system designed to capture and hold adult males has been overwhelmed in recent years by mostly Central American families and unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in the United States. Trumps demand for $5.7 billion for his border wall caused the first shutdown. When he reopened the government on Jan. 25 without getting the money, Democrats felt empowered to use the renewed negotiations to limit immigration policies they oppose. Roybal-Allard blamed the presidents latest comments for worsening the detention-bed standoff. Advertisement I think its really regrettable that the president is once again poisoning the well with misinformation and mischaracterization, she said. We were moving along at a good pace until he started to interject. molly.otoole@latimes.com Twitter: @mollymotoole Jerry Brown must be stomping around his Colusa County ranch at the moment. His successor, Gov. Gavin Newsom, just threw two of Browns big, visionary projects the high-speed rail line from San Diego to Sacramento and the twin water tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta under the political bus during his first State of the State speech Tuesday. After professing respect for the vision for a bullet train that would whisk people from San Francisco to Los Angeles in a few hours, Newsom said: Lets be real, the current project as planned would cost too much and take too long. Instead, Newsom said he will cut back the project to the Merced-to-Bakersfield leg that is already underway, then use it as the economic engine to unlock the economic potential of the Central Valley. What that means exactly is not clear, but it would probably involve more housing development and increased pressure on existing agriculture. Newsom also said that he will not support two delta tunnels. Instead, he supports a single tunnel approach such as the proposal floated a year ago. (The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board endorsed the two-tunnel solution but is open to a single tunnel.) Advertisement Does this make Newsom more practical than Brown? No, just a leader with different priorities. Brown believed in making large investments in infrastructure that may pay dividends for generations to come, but not so much in expanding social programs that might pay off immediately. Newsom has made clear during the campaign and now, in his first State of the State speech, that he is of the opposite opinion. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute True to form, top congressional appropriators found a way to cut a deal on border security issues Monday night, opening a path to a fully funded, functioning federal government for the remaining seven months of the fiscal year. Now, if only President Trump will take it. He may be tempted to say no, but he has better reasons to say yes. By including no money for a new border wall, and even less money for border fencing than the Senate had proposed in December, the negotiators sent an obvious but still somehow necessary message to Trump: Elections matter. The president had made the midterm elections a referendum on border security, and the GOP lost the House. So Republicans dont have nearly as much leverage over the issue as they used to. Trump told reporters Tuesday morning that he was not happy about the deal, adding that he would meet with other administration officials later in the day to decide how to respond. He could obviously reject it, which would almost certainly force another partial government shutdown. Advertisement The last shutdown clearly damaged Trumps standing with most Americans, driving down his already weak approval ratings. But Trump may be tempted to take another run at forcing Democrats to cough up some money for his wall because he may finally have found a message on border security that works, at least in the context of his bid for reelection next year, and another shutdown would give him the opportunity to keep beating that drum. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute A Trump theme for 2020 is that the Democratic Party has been taken over by extremists who want to open the border, disband Immigration and Customs Enforcement and unleash dangerous criminals on unsuspecting Americans. And yes, there are some on the left who have called for disbanding ICE and who oppose almost all deportations. But thats cherry-picking, not unlike calling the GOP the party of zero reproductive rights because there are some Republican lawmakers who oppose abortion in any and all circumstances. Unfortunately for Democrats, their negotiators from the House Appropriations Committee made a demand that was easy for Trump to caricature as an attack on border security. The House conferees proposed a tough cap on ICE detentions in the interior of the United States that is, away from the border. The point, as Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Downey) explained in an interview, is to force ICE to shift its focus back to violent criminals in the country illegally. Right now, ICE is just indiscriminately going out and rounding up not just criminals, but mom and dads heading to church, taking their kids to school, she said. The detainees Roybal-Allard characterizes as moms and dads, however, the administration paints as MS-13 gang-bangers. In a briefing Monday, ICE Deputy Director Matt Albence said, If we are forced to live within a cap based on interior arrests, we will immediately be forced to release criminal aliens that are currently sitting in our custody. Well be releasing gang members. Well be releasing individuals convicted of ... domestic violence and drug crimes. Thats a powerful image, even though it seems to be anchored in a mischaracterization of who detainees are. ICEs statistics show that the agency removed 256,000 people in fiscal 2018 who had been ordered deported, 57% of whom were convicted criminals. But it did not break down what those convictions represented. Customs and Border Patrol did offer a breakdown of the convictions obtained for the nearly 6,300 people it arrested in the first 11 months of fiscal 2018, and more than half of them were convicted simply of entering or reentering the country illegally. Less than one-sixth of the arrests were for violent crimes or weapons-related charges. Only ICE knows for sure the sort of folks who would be released if detentions were capped, and ICE is insisting that the results would be a horror show. That assertion fits into Trumps Democrats-as-extremists meme. Advertisement On the other hand, here are two reasons Trump would be better off taking the deal. For starters, he simply doesnt have the votes to get more money for his wall. Since Democrats won the House, the offers from Congress have been getting worse, not better; a bipartisan proposal in December would have provided $1.6 billion for 65 miles of new fencing, compared with less than $1.4 billion for 55 miles of fencing in the current proposal. Second, given that most Americans oppose Trumps border wall, the president is mainly interested in scoring points with his base the group that may be hard-pressed to accept anything less. The surest way to deliver that prize is for Trump to circumvent Congress by declaring a national emergency and shifting funds to the wall from some other project that was previously funded. That may very well prove to be illegal, and even if it isnt, it would set a horrible precedent. But its a safer bet for Trump than forcing another shutdown that would hurt his standing even more, with little or no likelihood of congressional Democrats caving on the wall. Nearly a year ago, President Trump asked several states to deploy National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexican border. It was a crisis, the president blustered at the time, and the Border Patrol needed help. Central American migrants were moving north in caravans, intent, he seemed to say, on overrunning the border in a thundering horde. He insisted then, as he does now, that these immigrants were dangerous, criminal, undesirable, inadmissible; they had to be stopped. Trumps request for National Guard help was rooted in fear-mongering and prejudice, not in fact. But Gov. Jerry Brown acquiesced anyway and sent 400 troops, limiting them to supporting federal border agents, and focusing on drug-smuggling interdiction. They were expressly forbidden to play an active role in stopping or detaining migrants. Brown made the right call then. When the commander in chief requests help from state National Guard units, it is generally in the nations best interest that governors not defy the requests simply because they disagree with the mission. It seemed likely even then that the deployments were a political stunt by a president worried about the midterm elections, but it was also important for Brown to respect the chain of command National Guard units are under the control of state governors but can in certain circumstances be called to action by a president as well. Brown avoided a showdown, didnt cede too much, put some limitations on the mission and fulfilled his obligation to respond to a lawful, if stupid, request from Trump. It became increasingly clear that the National Guard deployment is utterly unnecessary pure kabuki theater. Advertisement But in the ensuing months, as the president escalated his lies about the supposed national security crisis at the border, it became increasingly clear that the National Guard deployment is utterly unnecessary pure kabuki theater. Now Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced that enough is enough, and says he will, when the current agreement ends March 31, redeploy most of those California National Guard members elsewhere. He said he would send 110 troops to augment wildfire prevention efforts and others to counter what he said is a growing problem with illegal marijuana farms in northern California. About 100 will remain at the border to counter narcotics smuggling at California ports of entry. Newsom is right to do so, even though the decision invites a showdown with the president. And Newsom isnt alone. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham like Newsom, a recently installed chief executive last week ordered most of her states Guard troops to stand down, describing Trumps deployment as a charade. And governors from at least eight other states denied Trumps request back when he originally made it. It should give us all pause whenever a state governor rejects a legitimate presidential request for National Guard assistance based on political differences. But in this instance, it has become incontrovertibly clear that the nation is not facing a border crisis, that there is no imminent threat to national security from several thousand migrants seeking asylum or better lives here, and that continuing to provide National Guard support to the president in this context reduces the soldiers to bit players in Trumps little melodrama. More broadly, Trump beginning with his announcement that he would run for president has portrayed illegal immigrants derogatorily, repeatedly referring to the criminals and rapists among them. Playing on economic and racial fears, he has sought to turn a nation of immigrants into hostile territory for newcomers. He has victimized the vulnerable. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute This fear-mongering recently helped cause the record-setting 35-day federal government shutdown, and it could trigger another. Democrats want the new government-funding bill to limit the number of detention beds for migrants, hoping to roll back the administrations aggressive detention of asylum seekers and immigrants who are in the country illegally but are otherwise law-abiding. Trump says he wont accept such a cap, and insists that lawmakers give him $5.7 billion for his wasteful border wall. Of course, by redeploying the National Guard, Newsom could invite a counter-strike from Trump, who has the authority to federalize the National Guard and directly order them back to the border. That would be unwelcome its still a manufactured crisis but it would shift the blame for the bad decision purely to the presidents shoulders, where it belongs. Advertisement Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook The victim wears a mournful expression. Her head is slightly cocked, her bright red lips dipped in a frown, her eyes staring into the middle distance. Samuel Little drew the portrait from memory nearly two decades after he says he killed the woman in 1996 in Los Angeles. It is one of 16 haunting pictures that police say the serial killer made in prison of his victims and who remain unidentified. The FBI released the portraits Tuesday in hope of generating tips that might help authorities identify the women Little killed, and finally close out the long-cold cases. After Little began confessing in May to killing 93 people over 35 years, starting in 1970, police and federal law enforcement have scoured old files and crime scene photographs in an effort to link unsolved murders to the details he recalled. Advertisement Police have confirmed more than 36 cases so far, a tally that puts Little among the deadliest serial killers, according to the FBI. He claims to have killed 20 people in Los Angeles. Linking Littles confessions to victims has been difficult for several reasons. Confessed serial killer Samuel Little has painted portraits of 16 of his victims who remain unidentified. (FBI) Most lived on the margins of society: prostitutes, drug addicts or transgender women who drew little notice when they disappeared. Littles memory for individual faces and the slayings is vivid, but his recall of dates can be off by a decade. He strangled all his victims and dumped their bodies, often in wooded areas. He did not keep track of jurisdictional boundaries. Without a gunshot or knife wound, police mistakenly blamed overdoses, accidents or natural causes for some of the slayings and never opened a murder investigation. Some bodies have never been found, and some departments have lost old case files. Little has told investigators he considers himself an accomplished artist and promised last year that he could render portraits of his victims from memory. Investigators encouraged him to do so, and using a mix of chalk, pastel pencils and watercolors he has drawn 16 in their final frightened moments, the last known images of the victims until police found their remains. Advertisement Each image has bright red lips and large oval eyes. Most stare straight at the killer or just over his shoulder. He gave each a unique feature or two: A Miami teenagers blue headband holds back long black hair; a victim in Atlanta has sharp features and appears caught in mid-laugh; and a woman slain in Texas has purple hair. Police have yet to link 13 of the portraits to victims or crimes. In the other three cases one from Prince Georges County, Md., another from West Memphis, Ark., and the third from Pascagoula, Miss. police have matched one of Littles confessions to skeletal remains and corresponding case files. But they have been unable to put a name to the bones. Advertisement Little had confessed to killing 90 people by November, the FBI said. But the grim tally rose after he recalled, while being driven in December from one Texas jail to another, killing three more victims, including two in Los Angeles, the FBI disclosed. The FBI urged anyone with information about the victims to call or email analysts at the bureaus Violent Criminal Apprehension Program at (800) 634-4097. Joaquin Guzman, the Mexican drug lord known as El Chapo, was found guilty Tuesday in an international narcotics smuggling trial that marked a triumph for the U.S. Justice Department and a steep fall for a brutal narco legend who ruled with a diamond-encrusted pistol on his hip. The eight-woman, four-man jury took six days to find Guzman guilty of all 10 criminal counts. The 61-year-old, who has escaped from two Mexican prisons, now will almost certainly spend the rest of his life behind bars in the United States. Prosecutors will ask that Guzman be given life with no possibility of parole when he is sentenced June 25. It is a sentence from which there is no escape and no return, U.S. Atty. Richard Donoghue said outside federal court in Brooklyn, as snow fell. Joaquin El Chapo Guzman stands for a prison photo on Jan. 8, 2016, after being recaptured. (Associated Press) Advertisement Guzman was convicted of selling hundreds of tons of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana; conspiring to murder a slew of rivals; and running one of the worlds largest drug networks. He watched the jury with a somewhat blank expression as the guilty verdict for each count was relayed to him by an interpreter. He shook the hands of his lawyers and smiled at his wife, giving her a thumbs-up before being led out of the courtroom. The case detailed the inner workings of the multibillion-dollar Sinaloa cartel and brought to light stories of drug-land warfare and sweeping accusations of Mexican corruption, from street-level police to the presidency. Prosecutors spent 11 weeks presenting an avalanche of evidence that included more than 50 witnesses, 200 hours of testimony, ledgers of drug deals, a grenade launcher and videos of Guzmans escape tunnels. A jury finds Mexican drug lord and escape artist Joaquin El Chapo Guzman guilty on all 10 counts in his federal trial on charges of international narcotics smuggling. The defense, on the other hand, took about half an hour to present its case one witness and one document before resting late last month. Guzmans lawyers argued that the case against their client was a vast multi-state conspiracy. Of course were going to appeal, Guzmans lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman told reporters outside court. He said an appeal may cite restrictive cross-examination questioning or issues with Guzmans extradition from Mexico. Lichtman said Guzman was a trophy for the government and that his conviction would make no difference in the larger war on drugs. Advertisement The cocaine doesnt stop flowing with the takedown of El Chapo. Joaquin El Chapo Guzman was convicted of 10 counts. Heres how they break down The jurors who weighed the case against Guzman spent weeks being ferried by U.S. marshals to and from court, and their identities remain anonymous. They sat through testimony about drug world mayhem, the ingenious ways Guzman had smuggled cocaine into the U.S., and the kingpins lavish spending on yachts, beach homes and even a private zoo with lions, panthers and a tiger. They heard allegations that Guzman bribed a Mexican president-elect and learned that before Guzman was known by the nickname that means Shorty, he was dubbed El Rapido, or Speedy, because he masterminded the quick transport of cocaine through cross-border tunnels in the 1990s. Advertisement And in case there was any doubt about how violent the drug lord could be, a final prosecution witness testified about Guzman beating two rival gang members with a stick for hours before shooting each in the head and throwing them into a raging bonfire. After U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan read the verdicts on Tuesday, he told jurors that their attention to detail was the best hes seen in his nearly 30 years on the bench. The way you went about it was quite remarkable, he told them. Quite frankly, it made me proud to be an American. U.S. authorities had worked nearly a decade on the case against Guzman, a man whose legend grew after he escaped two maximum-security prisons in Mexico (once allegedly in a laundry cart, once through a tunnel under his cell shower). After his capture in Mexico in 2016, he was extradited to the U.S. Advertisement Authorities escort Joaquin El Chapo Guzman from a plane to a waiting caravan of SUVs at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip, N.Y., on Jan. 19, 2017. (Associated Press) In a courthouse under unprecedented security, the U.S. government took every opportunity to show what all the years of information-gathering on Guzman had produced. Aided by testimony from a whos who of former cartel higher-ups, prosecutors painted an epic picture of Guzman: a poor boy from the mountains of northwest Mexico who used his brutal cunning to rise to power, taking the helm of one of the worlds largest drug networks. An evidence photo shows a diamond-encrusted pistol decorated with the intials of Joaquin Guzman Loera. (U.S. attorneys office) Advertisement Jurors heard how the cartel smuggled cocaine on boats disguised as fishing vessels, between frozen pallets of meat, in submarines and small airplanes, through cross-border tunnels, even in cans of pickled jalapenos. They listened to scores of intercepted phone messages, with Guzmans blaring voice arranging drug deals and bribing police commanders; they watched videos of the drug lord interrogating a man whose hands were tied to a pole; they were read dozens of text messages between Guzman and his inner circle; they saw footage of the networks of escape tunnels underneath his homes each starting under a bathtub lifted by hydraulics to reveal a secret entrance and ladder. Law enforcement officials told of massive drug busts and of hunting Guzman. But the heart of the prosecution was the litany of cooperating witnesses, members of Guzmans inner sanctum and now mostly convicted felons testifying against their former boss in hopes of a reduced prison sentence. Guzmans defense team tried at every turn to tear down the cooperating witnesses, portraying them as turncoats and liars. The lawyers argued that their client was a scapegoat built into a myth by a corrupt system. The U.S. Justice Department, they charged, would do whatever it could to take down Guzman, including letting a dozen drug bosses go free in exchange for prized testimony. Advertisement Did you even know they give these deals for such bad people? Is that the country you thought you were living in? Lichtman asked jurors during closing arguments. Emma Coronel arrives at court in Brooklyn on Jan. 30 for her husbands trial. (Justin Lane / EPA/Shutterstock) All the while, Guzman, a billionaire drug lord who went from lavish Mexican villas to a tiny prison cell, sat in apparent repose in his well-fitted suits. He exchanged waves and smiles with his 29-year-old wife, Emma Coronel, a former Mexican beauty queen. She offered little emotion during the hours of testimony, aside from smirking when Guzmans distraught former mistress took the stand. The next day, while the mistress continued testifying, Coronel wore a burgundy velvet suit blazer that matched her husbands jacket exactly. Advertisement And when Coronel became the center of testimony a former cartel lieutenant testified she helped coordinate Guzmans 2015 prison escape she sat stone-faced. The laying bare of Guzmans fantastical and brutal life may seem like a triumph for prosecutors, the trial he deserved. But this is a man who, even in hiding, sought out movie producers to write his own biopic. It is probably the trial he thinks he deserved too. And so, in a case that has often seemed less about innocence or guilt than the nature of power and the price of justice, the states criminal witnesses lined up to betray the emperor. Like Shakespeares Roman senators, they became the dramas stars. There was the tragic Miguel Angel El Gordo Martinez, a former pilot and longtime cartel lieutenant, who, even after a decade of informing on his former boss, still referred to him as Mr. Guzman. Advertisement He told of the times before he turned on Guzman, when he said the drug lord sent assassins after him four times. The killers came after him in prison, first with knives, then with grenades. Martinez told the jury he feared hed traded his life for his freedom by continuing to testify. The judge ordered courtroom artists not to sketch his face. I never failed him, never stole from him, never betrayed him; I watched over his family, he testified in November. The only thing I received from him was four attempted attacks against me, without saying anything. Next on the stand was a silicone wraith in a black parka and gloves, whose face alone was so frightening that one juror turned his chair away. The longtime head of Colombias brutal North Valley cartel had undergone numerous surgeries to disguise his identity while he was on the run. Advertisement Former Colombian drug lord Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia is shown before and after the plastic surgeries he underwent to try to hide his identity. (U.S. attorneys affice) Juan Carlos Chupeta Ramirez Abadia, whose nickname means lollipop, had ledgers tracking the more than 150 murders he ordered and sales of tons of cocaine, including to Guzmans cartel. The friend who kept the ledgers was later poisoned in prison, a fact that seemed to pain the witness less than the drugs he lost to the U.S. Coast Guard. Thats a tragedy for me as a drug trafficker, he said. December brought the truculent Colombian narco family scion Jorge Cifuentes and the Chicago drug boss Pedro Flores, who each introduced tapes in which Guzman could be heard personally negotiating drug deals. If the first month of the trial set the stage for Guzmans downfall, the final weeks of testimony were the real showstoppers. The keys to the prosecution case were on full display: traitors, technology and Guzmans own paranoia. Advertisement There was the surreal tale of Christian Rodriguez, the cartels 20-something tech guru, who created a communications system the FBI could not crack. Instead, the government found Rodriguez and made him an informant. The government learned that Guzman had set up his own vast spying system, monitoring the phones and computers of his cartel leaders, his wife and his mistresses. Rodriguez gave them the key to the treasure trove of information. Jurors heard text messages between the married couple, including Guzman saying of their 6-month-old daughter, one of their twins: Our Kiki is fearless. Im going to give her an AK-47 so she can hang with me. The texts also laid out details of the drug leaders cartel life as a wanted man, from the banal to the bizarre. In one he asked Coronel to buy him pants (size 32/30), shoes (Mexican size 7) and black mustache dye. In another he told her about barely escaping a police raid on his Los Cabos, Mexico, home in 2012. Advertisement I saw them pounding on the door next door, but I was able to jump out, he wrote to his wife, who married Guzman when she was 18. Oh, love. Thats horrible, she responded. Ill be watching the news to see what they say, love. Then came a star for the prosecution and a punching bag for the defense Vicente Zambada, the most senior cartel member to testify at trial. Tall and with a square jaw, the 43-year-old, even in his navy blue prison jumpsuit, still resembled the billionaire cartel prince he once was. When he took the stand, Zambada nodded at Guzman, his sons godfather. The defendant returned the gesture with a grin. Zambada, in jail for drug trafficking since his 2009 arrest, is the son of Ismael El Mayo Zambada, the man defense lawyers say was the real leader of the cartel. Advertisement Vicente Zambada coolly detailed how he helped Guzman and his father traffic drugs and guns, order the torture and killings of rivals and pay off scores of Mexican officials with a monthly bribe budget of about $1 million. The cartel was planning to discuss with representatives of Mexicos state oil company a scheme to transport 100 tons of cocaine in an oil tanker to the U.S. With Guzman intently listening, Zambadas testimony seemed more like a trip down memory lane for the men than a rebuke of his former boss or his former lifestyle. He told jurors that his father and the defendant met high in the mountains of Mexicos Sinaloa state soon after Guzman made his first prison escape, in 2001. Guzman was struggling financially then, Zambada said, but his father told Guzman, Im 100% with you and agreed to share their kilos of cocaine equally. For the defense, the testimony was ammunition for one of its central arguments: Zambadas father, not Guzman, was the true power behind the Sinaloa cartel, and Guzman was set up to take the fall for him. Advertisement Was your Papa Mayo a social worker? defense attorney Eduardo Balarezo asked sarcastically. I know that in the past he was a worker, Zambada replied flatly through his interpreter, drawing laughs from the courtroom. What I meant was, your father wasnt in the business of helping struggling drug traffickers, Balarezo said. Prosecutors went after Guzman because he was famous, while the elder Zambada remained in the shadows and helped them pin Guzman, Balarezo said. Advertisement If he hasnt been arrested, its not my fault, Vicente Zambada said. Perhaps the most headline-grabbing testimony came from Alex Cifuentes, the brother of Jorge Cifuentes and Guzmans self-professed left-hand man and right-hand man. Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, left, poses in an undated photo with Alex Cifuentes and an unidentified woman. (U.S. attorneys office) Jurors learned during defense questioning that Cifuentes had told authorities that Guzman paid $100 million to Mexicos president-elect in 2012, Enrique Pena Nieto. Cifuentes said Pena Nieto asked for $200 million, but Guzman bargained him down. (The former president has denied the claims.) Cifuentes also told authorities, however, that Guzman was $20 million in debt between 2007 and 2013. Advertisement Lichtman, Guzmans lawyer, offered up another take on the bribe allegation during his closing argument: It was Ismael Zambada who paid out those millions and thats why he was still free. Cifuentes, like all the other cooperating witnesses, was a violent liar, an utter animal whod say whatever it took to get out of jail, Lichtman said. It made more sense, he argued, that Zambada, the real Sinaloa cartel leader, would pay that bribe. Why would Guzman, who was in hiding and in debt, he asked, pay money he didnt have to a president who would end up having him arrested and sent to the U.S. to face trial? He didnt, Lichtman said. That bribe, he insisted, is why Zambada remains free. Cifuentes testimony also offered fodder for another defense argument: Guzman wasnt a murderous cartel mastermind; he was a showman, a braggart in love with fame. Cifuentes testified that for six years, he worked with his boss on a script and book about his life. Guzman even flew in a producer from Colombia to his mountain hideouts to discuss the film project which he planned to direct. Advertisement El Chapo is likely going to prison for the rest of his life. That probably wont make Mexico safer Cifuentes said Guzman told the producer a story about the army hanging him up by his feet from a helicopter to scare him, but he never gave up the drugs. Those tales, Lichtman insisted, were clearly fantastical. And to hype the cartel even more? One of Guzmans lieutenants, Cifuentes testified, made hats and T-shirts imprinted with Cartel Sinaloa. Guzman, Lichtman told jurors in his closing, is a human being and he has feelings too. His voice breaking, the attorney asked them not to give into the myth of El Chapo. Advertisement But in the prosecutions closing, Assistant U.S. Atty. Andrea Goldbarg reminded jurors of Guzmans many flights from justice: Hes sitting right there. Do not let him escape responsibility. Hold him accountable for his crimes. Find him guilty on all counts. Plagianos and Sharp are special correspondents. Plagianos reported from New York and Sharp from Los Angeles. Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, will travel to Germany to attend the 55th Munich Security Conference (MSC) from Friday to Sunday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying announced Monday. Yang, also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, will attend the conference at the invitation of the MSC Chairman Wolfgang Ischinger, Hua said in the announcement. Workshop: Getting women due credit -- on the paper Publish or perish is an adage with particular sting for women and other underrepresented scholars prone to not getting deserved credit on scientific papers. Scientists experienced both in this problem's psychology and ethics, as well as in navigating the oft-choppy waters of authorship, will provide perspective and pointers at the upcoming American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. The career workshop Authorship Decisions: Advocating for Representation will be held from 10-11:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 16. It is being organized by a group of Michigan professors - a research ethicist, a historian of science, and two environmental scientists from Michigan State University (MSU), as well as a psychologist at the University of Michigan. Recent studies indicate that women, and likely scholars from other underrepresented groups, don't always receive appropriate authorship credit for their contributions to scientific papers. This may happen because they are less likely to be the leaders of scientific teams, who hold disproportionate power when creating authorship lists. Biases may also cause other scientists to underestimate the contributions made by authors who come from underrepresented groups. For example, a recent study found that women in the field of economics who published single-authored papers were just as likely to receive tenure as their male colleagues, but if they published collaborative papers they were less likely to receive tenure than male economists who were similarly collaborative. Other studies have found that women working in some scientific fields are less likely to appear in prestigious lead-author positions, and papers by women are less likely to be cited than those by men. Because authorship is so central to career advancement, this problem represents a significant barrier to promoting a more diverse workforce. "The bad news is that early-career scholars, especially those from underrepresented groups, are disadvantaged when they don't receive appropriate credit for their work," said MSU historian of science Georgina Montgomery, "but the good news is that science teams can take steps to improve the situation." This session will provide practical guidance to both early-career and senior scientists about navigating power dynamics and promoting responsible authorship decisions. "We are excited about the opportunity to talk with other researchers about how to improve the climate on science teams, making it easier to have difficult conversations about authorship," said MSU environmental scientist Kendra Cheruvelil. "Teams can also develop authorship policies that promote fair practices, and early-career scholars can take steps to clarify their contributions on collaborative papers." This session emerged from a grant, "Ethical Standards and Practices of Environmental Science Teams: Does Team Diversity Matter?," provided by the National Science Foundation's Cultivating Cultures for Ethical STEM program to the workshop organizers: Kendra Spence Cheruvelil, Kevin Elliott, Georgina Montgomery, and Patricia Soranno from Michigan State University, and Isis Settles from the University of Michigan. ### This story has been published on: 2019-02-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. San Diego police are searching for a man who fired gunshots into a downtown nightclub last month and multiple law enforcement sources said the shooter is alleged to have ties to the Arellano Felix cartel, a Mexican drug cartel based in Tijuana. The shooting occurred at about 2 a.m. Jan. 28 at Sidebar on Market Street, and police have identified the suspect as 29-year-old Abel Gomez, who they said fired five to six gunshots before fleeing. He is wanted for assault with a deadly weapon, said San Diego police Capt. Mike Holden. We have been unable to locate him. A police bulletin said the preliminary investigation revealed Gomez is connected to organized crime organizations in Mexico, according to a police source. Advertisement The man fired at the ground of the nightclub after a scuffle involving a woman, witnesses said. Surveillance video captured almost the entire incident, according to police and a representative of the club. Police said Gomez fled, but shell casings were left from the gunfire. A representative of Sidebar, located near Market and Sixth Avenue, said the nightclub was already closing for the night when the shooting occurred. A few people were still at the business, the lights were on and the music had been turned off, she said. A witness said Gomez slapped a woman on the behind, and another man stepped in to stop Gomez from touching the woman or grabbing her again. Then Gomez pulled out a firearm and fired off the rounds, the person said. Holden declined to release the suspects picture. We dont think hes a threat to the public, he said. Several people said it did not appear that Gomez was trying to shoot anyone but rather scare away the few remaining club patrons. Security guards stepped in to restrain Gomez, but when they called police, he got away, the bars representative said. One person said Gomez pointed the firearm at the crotch of a security guard. Several people were running outside and several people were outside the club when the call came into us, Holden said. Advertisement One of Tijuanas leading experts on narco-traffic, Victor Clark Alfaro, said he wasnt surprised by the incident. Members of the drug cartels move between the two borders, including families of drug traffickers who occupy an important place in the structure of their organizations, live in the best residential areas of San Diego. said Alfaro, who teaches Latin American studies at San Diego State. However, Alfaro said he did not expect to see more such episodes. The incident is an isolated incident. I doubt that those events will repeat more frequently, which would put at risk their own criminal activities, attracting the attention of the authorities or the media, he said. Advertisement The Arellano Felix cartel has been severely crippled since 2006 when it essentially lost a war with the Sinaloa cartel of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, now on trial in New York. Federal law enforcement officers on both sides of the border have been giving news conferences declaring the Arellano Felix cartel has been finished since 2002, but some believe it remains active. Fry writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune. In another blow to USCs student health clinic, six male graduates filed a lawsuit this week accusing a mens health doctor of sexual battery and harassment during appointments. The suit in Los Angeles Superior Court alleges that Dr. Dennis Kelly made demeaning remarks to defendants, all recent graduates who identify as gay or bisexual, about their sexual practices and performed unnecessary rectal exams designed to embarrass them or to satisfy his own prurient sexual desires. Kelly, 72, retired last year after two decades at the campus clinic. He denied any inappropriate behavior toward patients and called allegations terribly hurtful. I cant second-guess or question anything Ive done, Kelly said in a phone interview. I know I did it all professionally and without any other motive. Advertisement The men, who filed the suit anonymously, are seeking compensation from USC for negligent hiring and supervision, among other claims. A university spokeswoman said USC was aware of the lawsuit and concerned by its allegations. Were working to understand the facts of this matter. We care deeply about our entire Trojan family, including our LGBTQ-plus community, and take this matter very seriously, the spokeswoman, Brenda Maceo, said. Attorneys representing the men said that revelations last year about another student health center physician, Dr. George Tyndall, prompted the litigation. COMPLETE COVERAGE: Former USC gynecologist Dr. George Tyndall accused of inappropriate behavior Hundreds of female alumnae and students have accused Tyndall, the clinics longtime gynecologist, of sexual abuse, and the university agreed this fall to a $215-million settlement. Detectives have also presented 99 cases to the Los Angeles County district attorneys office for potential charges against Tyndall, although prosecutors have not filed any criminal charges. Kelly Van Aken, one of the attorneys representing Kellys former patients, said her firm was contacted by one of the plaintiffs, who in turn reached out to fellow alumni. They are all friends of friends who we spoke to. Thats how it all started, Van Aken said. The plaintiffs did not formally report Kellys alleged behavior to USC, nor did they contact police. One plaintiff said in court papers that he complained about Kelly to another doctor at the clinic, who responded that the rectal exam shouldnt have happened. Advertisement Before filing the suit, the lawyers reviewed the plaintiffs medical records and contacted experts in mens health. The experts opined that the totality of the circumstances in the examination room was not within the standard of care, said Mikayla Kellogg, another attorney representing Kellys former patients. The suit describes a pattern of conduct by Kelly during appointments. After learning the patients had sex with other men, the suit charges, Kelly asked a series of intrusive questions, such as how much pornography they consumed and whether they hooked up with sexual partners online. The suit alleges that Kelly demanded they disrobe in front of him and ordered them to get on their hands and knees while he performed rectal exams. In the phone interview, Kelly said that when patients undressed, he either turned away or left the room. The doctor said the standard of practice was for a clinician to perform a rectal swab while also inspecting for anal warts. Advertisement One plaintiff, a 26-year-old man, said in an interview that he felt Kellys graphic questions were judgmental and that he was unnerved having to undress while the physician just sat there staring. He said the doctor told him to get on the exam table, on hands and knees, without explaining why. All of a sudden I felt him insert something for about 30 seconds, recalled the patient, who said he suspects Kelly was swabbing him for a sexually transmitted disease, but he is unsure. There was no warning that anything was going to happen. The plaintiff said that he stopped seeing Kelly and began using an LGBTQ resource center in Hollywood for his sexual health appointments. Advertisement In an interview, Kelly said he was an openly gay physician and that he had devoted much of his career to counseling LGBTQ patients about ways to reduce the risks of their sexual behavior. He said he never used the graphic terms described in the lawsuit or performed unnecessary genital exams. He said he suspected his stern warnings about behavior that put patients at risk for sexually transmitted diseases were misinterpreted as condemnation or deviance. It was something I was aware of as likely to happen, so I tried to take extra precautions that I didnt come across as judgmental or shaming, Kelly said. matt.hamilton@latimes.com Advertisement @matthjourno harriet.ryan@latimes.com @latimesharriet Police are searching for the driver of a vehicle involved in a crash that killed a bicyclist in South Los Angeles late Monday, authorities said. James Findley, 54, was riding his bike about 10:25 p.m. when he was struck by a car, officials said. Before the fatal crash, two vehicles were speeding on South Broadway near West 82nd Street, said Officer Rosario Cervantez, an LAPD spokeswoman. One of the cars slammed into Findley, who was declared dead at the scene. Video footage after the crash shows several parked cars that were damaged. A crumpled bicycle can be seen lying in the middle of the road. Advertisement The driver who struck Findley stopped and was detained by officers, but the other motorist sped on, Cervantez said. Police dont have information about the second suspect. Investigators have not determined whether the collision involved street racing. alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com Twitter: @r_valejandra A Napa family is facing criticism after shooting and killing a young mountain lion that was preying on their sheep. The juvenile cat had already killed several animals in the familys herd, and when it returned to the Sonoma Valley residence for another meal over the weekend, the family shot it, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Investigators with the state agency determined the killing was justified, spokesman Peter Tira said Tuesday. The mountain lion was about 13 months old and had recently left its mother, said Quinton Martins, director of the Audubon Canyon Ranchs Living With Lions study, which aims to understand how humans can co-exist with the big cats. Advertisement Scientists had captured the cougar, known as P-15, and fitted it with a tracking collar five days before it was killed. The young mountain lion was the third being tracked since late 2016 to be killed by Sonoma Valley residents. Tira said P-15 had a history of killing. On Feb. 3, Martins was contacted after the animal had preyed on some livestock. A herds owner agreed to have the big cat captured and collared instead of killed. The resident named P-15 Jupiter, according to a Facebook post by Audubon Canyon Ranch. Mountain lion that attacked Yucca Valley homeowners livestock is killed by deputies Unlike the lions in the Santa Monica Mountains, which face the obstacle of deadly freeways and forced inbreeding, those in the Sonoma Valley are being killed by residents with unsecured livestock. And it has been a challenge for scientists who are working to understand the animals, Martins said. If they had secured their livestock, the mountain lion would not have been able to kill, he said. By killing them, theyre not able to contribute to the health of the mountain lion population. Tira said state law requires residents who wish to kill problem cats to apply for a state permit. Its a long process that requires proof that an animal is threatening homeowners, their property or their livestock. In the first two killings, residents had permits to kill the big cats, but the landowners had only a small number of livestock that were unprotected, not a commercial farm with large flocks, Martins said. State law also allows residents to defend themselves if they are immediately threatened by the predators, he said. Advertisement Tira said the family who killed P-15 acted responsibly. They had reached out to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife after the first sheep killings, and they were considering building lion-proof enclosures. They were actively looking for a peaceful solution, he said. These folks did everything right. The wife of the man who killed P-15, Alejandra Calderon, told the Press Democrat that she feared for the safety of their three young children. She said she and her family are animal lovers. Of course, I totally understand people being upset, whoever was tracking these animals. But that was not our intention to just do it for the heck, she said in the interview. We would never do anything like that. We did it for safety. Advertisement The state Department of Fish and Wildlife encourages people to protect their livestock and pets and offers resources on how to do so, Tira said. We dont want to see lions dying unnecessarily, he said. alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com Twitter: @r_valejandra Los Angeles will become the biggest city in the United States to ban the sale of animal fur, under a new law backed Tuesday by the City Council. The new ordinance, which will go into effect in 2021, makes it illegal to sell, manufacture or trade furs or fur clothing and accessories such as coats, handbags and key chains in L.A. city limits. The ban includes a number of exemptions: Used furs can still be sold at secondhand shops. People can still sell or trade the pelts of dead animals preserved through taxidermy. And the city will not prohibit fur produced from animals taken lawfully under a trapping license. Animal rights activists hailed the decision, denouncing the fur business as barbaric and unnecessary. Animals are not fabric they are sentient beings who suffer terribly, said Patty Shenker, a member of Animal Defenders International. And we must include them in our moral compass. Advertisement Fur sellers and manufacturers, in turn, said their industry was being unfairly singled out and smeared, and warned that legal action could be next. Because the Tuesday vote was not unanimous, the proposed law will come back to the council for a second, procedural vote before going to Mayor Eric Garcetti for his signature. The sole councilman to oppose the new law was Greig Smith, who was recently appointed to fill the seat vacated by Councilman Mitchell Englander. At a committee meeting last week, Smith said he was deeply concerned about abruptly shutting down legitimate businesses, calling it not American, and noted that the city had not estimated the economic impact. His spokesman, Colin Sweeney, later said that Smith thinks controlling the industry with regulations to minimize harm is preferable to a ban. Prohibition inevitably leads to black markets where abuses are often worse than they were in the first place, Sweeney said in a statement. Councilman Bob Blumenfield, who championed the ban, called the fur industry egregious in its cruelty and said that although he believes the ban will not hurt the L.A. fashion industry, no economic analysis would have changed their decision on a philosophical issue. End this outdated and deplorable practice, Blumenfield urged the rest of the council before the vote. The time is long overdue. Another backer of the ban, Councilman Paul Koretz, declared at a meeting last year that animal cruelty is animal cruelty, and if we lose a few jobs, thats life. L.A. is following West Hollywood, Berkeley and San Francisco, which have passed similar bans. When it was adopted in West Hollywood, the move was seen as largely symbolic because shoppers could easily head to neighboring Los Angeles or Beverly Hills for fur. Advertisement Activists say the L.A. ban is important not only for its geographic reach, but to encourage more cities and possibly the whole state to follow. Los Angeles has the opportunity to make a clear statement to the rest of the world that the confinement, torture and brutal killing for fur will not be tolerated, Chatsworth resident Katie James and other supporters wrote in letters urging council members to pass the ban. Opponents argued that the city was kowtowing to animal rights extremists and depriving consumers of the freedom to decide for themselves. Last year, a Gallup poll found that 60% of respondents deemed it morally acceptable to buy and wear clothing made of animal fur. We do not bully people or coerce them or force them to buy fur, said Donna Pappas, owner of Somper Furs. Its our opponents who bully people. Advertisement Pappas grew teary at one meeting at City Hall after pleading with officials to grandfather in existing businesses or give them more time before the law goes into effect. Fur industry groups had also pushed unsuccessfully for L.A. to hold off on the ban in favor of a certification program that they said would provide assurance that animals were treated humanely. The sad part is theres been no effort by the city council to educate themselves as to what the reality is, said Ryan Holt, chairman of the trade group Fur Industries of North America. Much of the uproar has revolved around gruesome videos circulated by animal rights activists, some of which has been replayed at City Hall. Lesley McCave, communications director for Animal Defenders International, said that undercover videos and investigations had exposed nightmarish cruelty, including anal electrocution of animals, as well as cramped and filthy conditions. Fur industry groups have disputed the accuracy of such videos. In one of those cases, the International Fur Federation obtained testimony from men in China saying that they had been paid to skin an animal alive on video and that it was not common practice, according to affidavits provided by industry representatives. Advertisement Blumenfield said that such videos were not crucial to the Tuesday decision. Theres so much evidence of the cruelty ... that we didnt need a few videos to make that point, he told reporters. emily.alpert@latimes.com Twitter: @AlpertReyes The bruises on his face soon may heal, but the broken heart of Victor Vasquez the Birdman of San Diegos East Village may take a while longer. Sydney, the day before he died, I told him, Youre the reason I wake up in the morning, Vasquez said recently of his 31-year-old medium sulphur-crested cockatoo from Papua New Guinea, one of his three feathered companions. He was just an amazing soul. The bird was killed during an attack on Vasquez, which he said occurred Wednesday in front of the San Diego Central Library. Vasquez said he was punched, kicked and knocked to the ground by two unknown assailants. Advertisement While Vasquez was being beaten, two of his birds got loose from their cages. One of them, Sydney, flew into the path of a passing trolley and was killed. Vasquez, 54, had become known as the Birdman of East Village for his daily walks around downtown and Balboa Park with a tower of three birdcages strapped to his back. He and his three-tiered backpacks and squawking birds had become a fun and quirky sight in the year and a half hes lived downtown, and he was featured in a San Diego Reader article in March. On Wednesday morning, he said, he slipped on his birdcage backpack and headed out of his small apartment on Market Street to the library to return a rented DVD. He dropped off the DVD in a slot without entering the library, and said a security guard told him to move along. Vasquez said he was leaving when a young man sitting on a nearby wall said something like, Yeah, get out of here with your dirty clothes. Words were exchanged, but Vasquez said he walked away. When he saw the young man heading toward him, he called 911. The San Diego Police Department reported receiving the call at 9:47 a.m. Vasquez said the man struck him, knocked him down and was joined by a female companion who also hit and kicked him. He said both assailants appeared young, around 18 years old. The cages popped open. Ginger, a Goffins cockatoo from Australia, flew into a nearby tree. Between blows, Vasquez said he could see Sydney flying toward the trolley. He remembers a woman saying Sydney had been run over. Vasquez managed to get to his feet and walk to the tracks. He scooped up Sydneys mangled body. Advertisement I cant get the image out of my mind, he said through tears. Vasquez said police arrived but he felt they did not believe his story until they saw security camera video. (The Union-Tribune was unable to confirm Friday whether police had obtained or reviewed any surveillance video, and the newspaper was not able to locate the video independently.) He said he hopes witnesses will come forward to help identify the assailants. He was able to retrieve Ginger and also still has Coocooberry, a red-lored green Amazon parrot about 20 years old. Advertisement Theyre my life, he said about his birds, which have helped him deal with some tough times. Vasquez was homeless off and on for about 10 years and said he is HIV positive and has PTSD from injuries sustained in an encounter with police during a demonstration in San Francisco in 1989. Sydney was his favorite of the three birds, and even through his grief, Vasquez is able to smile at the birds memory. He gave me so much, he said. Thats what I have to hold on to. He was so intelligent. He loved to be held and praised. Sydney was my best friend. Advertisement The case has been assigned to a San Diego police detective and is under investigation, but no other information about any possible suspects was available Friday. Anyone with information about the incident can call Crime Stoppers at (619) 235-8477 and refer to case number 19004063. When James Cordero crossed back into the United States from Tijuana on Christmas Eve, he thought he would be making a quick run to his car to get the rest of the donated toys he planned to bring back across to a migrant shelter. Instead, Cordero, a U.S. citizen, spent more than two hours in an interrogation room in secondary inspection at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, where Customs and Border Protection officials questioned him about the caravan that arrived in Tijuana in November. They asked about leaders and the overall mood at the shelter. I dont know, James recalled telling the officials. My Spanish sucks. Im just bringing donations. Then they showed him photos, asking him if he saw anyone he could identify. He didnt know anyone on the first two pages. Advertisement Then the officers showed him a third page. Cordero, who volunteers with Border Angels, saw several people he recognized, including members of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, a volunteer group that helped escort the caravan once it crossed into Mexico. Cordero soon learned from other advocates and volunteers that he was not the only one who had been stopped and interrogated about his interactions with migrants in Tijuana. At least a couple dozen others freelance photojournalists, advocates and volunteers had all spent time in secondary inspection, many on multiple occasions. Most, but not all, had been present when some members of the caravan were trying to cross the border illegally, many during an incident on New Years Eve that resulted in U.S. officials firing tear gas south. Many who know they are flagged now think twice before crossing the border, recognizing they will have to give up time and information each time they head to the U.S. They wonder whether CBPs intelligence gathering might be meant to intimidate them or prevent them from doing the work they had been doing south of the border. CBP declined to comment on the record. Exactly how much authority border officials have to search and interrogate versus how much civil rights protect individuals passing through is still being litigated in court, particularly when it comes to cellphone and laptop searches. Its a very tricky area of law because its developing, and were seeing a highly aggressive series of behaviors, said Mitra Ebadolahi, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego. The way journalists and humanitarian activists described being targeted by CBP could be infringing on their constitutional rights under the First Amendment, she said. Advertisement Rodrigo, a volunteer and photographer who didnt want his last name used because he worried about retaliation from CBP, said he hasnt gone back to Tijuana since he was stopped at the border. Im very intimidated at the moment, said Rodrigo, who is also a U.S. citizen. I dont feel safe going across the border. I really dont. Like many of the other volunteers who have been targeted, he was present at the border in the early hours of New Years Day when U.S. border officials fired tear gas at a group of about 150 migrants who were trying to cross illegally. He heard about the incident after the first round of tear gas was launched and headed to the stretch of highway to document. He made it in time to see another round of tear gas, he said. Advertisement CBP said shortly after the incident that some migrants threw rocks at them before they launched the tear gas canisters. A journalist who witnessed the event reported that he only saw rocks thrown after the first rounds of tear gas. When Rodrigo was questioned, officials asked him about what happened that night, he said. Jake Harris, another U.S. citizen who headed to Tijuana in November to help the arriving migrants, has also been questioned about his involvement with the caravan and what happened on New Years. He said he saw the group at the border as he was passing on the highway that night and decided to stop and film it as part of his work with Indigenous Life Movement, an independent media group. Advertisement Hes been sent to secondary inspection seven times, every time hes crossed the border since the beginning of January. It hasnt stopped Harris from crossing the border, but he doesnt go nearly as often as he used to. Its always the same questions, Harris said. They ask about people who mightve encouraged or aided migrants crossing illegally. They ask about what hes doing in Tijuana and why he wants to help asylum seekers. They ask who hes working with and whether he thinks what hes doing will really make a difference. Doug McLean, who, along with Harris, documents and witnesses events for Indigenous Life Movement as a volunteer citizen journalist, was also sent to secondary inspection twice in January and interrogated about the New Years incident. Advertisement The first time, my heart was racing, recalled McLean, a U.S. and Australia dual citizen. McLean wasnt even in Tijuana during the holiday, he said. He was with his parents in New Jersey. As part of his volunteer film work, he had live-streamed a video of a woman climbing over the border barrier before the holidays, he said. A number of photojournalists, mostly freelancers, who captured footage of migrants crossing over the border barrier have also been flagged for questioning. Advertisement Among them is Kitra Cahana, who was also denied entry to Mexico when she tried to return to cover the new caravan that was crossing from Guatemala. Cahana, a U.S. and Canada dual citizen whose work from Tijuana has appeared in the New York Times, the German newspaper Zeit and LObs magazine, photographed the group at the border on New Years and was hit by some kind of pellet fired by CBP, she said. She documented people trying to cross illegally to request asylum on several other occasions, and she believes that CBP photographed her from across the border at least twice while she was doing her work. After Mexico sent her back to Detroit, one of the officials in the airports secondary inspection asked her if shed had a run-in with Mexican authorities on the border around Christmas. Cahana recalled Mexican police stopping her and several other photographers to see their IDs. The police ended up taking pictures of their passports. Advertisement Two U.S. citizen attorneys working with Tijuana-based Al Otro Lado to provide legal support to migrants, including caravan members, were also recently denied entry to Mexico. Alexandra Ellerbeck, North America program coordinator with the Committee to Protect Journalists, said shes aware of about a dozen journalists who have been questioned in secondary inspection about the caravan. Its a huge problem because youre in such a coercive setting when youre being pulled into secondary, Ellerbeck said. Its not the first time shes heard about CBP trying to mine journalists particularly those who cover the Middle East for information when they enter the country. But the trend at San Ysidro stands out because of how many have been questioned at the same port of entry in the same time frame. Advertisement They should not be asking journalists to act as informants, Ellerbeck said. The whole enterprise of journalism is based on a journalists ability to protect information or protect sources. Six members of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, the group that Cordero saw pictures of when he was interrogated, have also been sent to secondary inspection, according to Alex Mensing, who volunteers with the group. All six are U.S. citizens. For some of them, the screenings began when a different migrant caravan that the group helped arrived back in the spring of 2018, Mensing said. Pueblos Sin Fronteras noticed that visits to secondary inspection became more intense in recent months, Mensing said. One member, Jeff Valenzuela, was handcuffed to a bench twice when crossing the border, Mensing said. Advertisement Mensing has chosen to stay in Mexico rather than deal with more interrogations. Im not going to cross until I absolutely have to, Mensing said. Cordero was not in Tijuana for New Years, nor has he photographed migrants at the border barrier. He says that hes been targeted for secondary screenings in part because of an Instagram post he made criticizing CBPs decision to fire tear gas on caravan members the Sunday after Thanksgiving when they marched to the border. Advertisement Cordero was on the north side of the border by the Las Americas Premium Outlets when the caravan marched from its camp in Tijuanas Zona Norte. From the parking lot behind the shopping mall, he witnessed the exchange between the migrants and U.S. officials. He described what he saw, migrants at the fence asking for water and someone from the north-side crowd tossing them a bottle. He snapped a photo of a CBP official who turned his weapon away from the border and pointed it at the crowd watching from the parking lot. This was just an overreach and scare tactic by a group of government employees trying to feel tough, Cordero wrote. Theyre a joke, and deserve the respect they give the people. Someone who appeared to be the officer in the photo, as well as people who said they were the officers family members, argued with Cordero over Instagram about the days events and asked him to take down the photo or block out the mans name on his uniform. Advertisement Cordero refused. Though Cordero had been going to Tijuana as a volunteer about three times a month, he didnt go for all of January because he worried about how long it would take to come back. When he crossed for the first time in more than a month on Sunday, he was able to return to the U.S. without incident. Getting through without issue one time doesnt make him think it wont happen again, he said. Hes still going to plan extra time when he crosses in case he gets interrogated. Im not going to treat it like Ive got a hall pass now, he said. I will probably come down real soon and test it out again. Advertisement Kate Morrissey writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune. The Milky Way The Milky Way, a kosher restaurant opened in 1977 by the parents of Steven Spielberg, will reopen Feb. 18. The restaurant closed in 2017 after the death of the directors mother, Leah Adler. Grill on the Alley veteran Phil Kastel is consulting on new menus, including updates to the restaurants cheese blintzes, salmon puffs and latkes. 9108 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 859-0004, milkywayla.com My Little Dumpling Advertisement Shrimp har gow in sweet pea broth from My Little Dumpling. (Erica Allen Photography) My Little Dumpling is now open on West 3rd Street. The menu takes dim sum and dumplings in an unconventional direction, with options such as cream cheese won tons with lox, har gow in sweet pea broth and Reuben egg rolls with pastrami, Swiss cheese and a Thousand Island dip. 8432 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles, (310) 450-9393, mylittledumplingla.com PhoLaoSouphy New Laotian pop-up PhoLaoSouphy With Tharathip will take place the next two weekends on the patio of Hey Hey in Echo Park. The menu features Laotian dishes such as the rice noodle soup khao piak sen and beef noodle soup Lao pho. Fridays-Sundays, 1555 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, (424) 527-3545, facebook.com/phakhaothip/ California Sun Detroit-style pizza from California Sun. (Artisanal Brewers Collective) Advertisement California Sun opened in Silver Lake on Monday. The Sunset Boulevard pizza-and-beer restaurant offers Detroit deep-dish, New York-style slices and large shareable pies with names such as Meat Sweats and Kale Caesar, along with 14 beers on tap and 140 by can. Happy hour runs three hours a day on weekdays, along with regular events including Wu-sday Tuesdays featuring hip-hop and kung-fu movies throughout the day. 3903 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 800-2456, calsun.la Los Originales Tacos Arabes de Puebla Los Originales Tacos Arabes de Puebla, which for seven years operated out of a silver trailer, now has its own taco truck in Boyle Heights. The pan Arabe specialists also have new street food dishes representing Puebla, including molotes and huitlacoche-and-squash blossom quesadillas. Advertisement Corner of Olympic Boulevard and Esperanza Street, Boyle Heights, (213) 453-0193, facebook.com/pages/Los-Originales-Tacos-Arabes-De-Puebla/522713084434408 La Pergoletta La Pergoletta, a neighborhood Italian restaurant with handmade fresh pastas in Los Feliz, just opened a second location on Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake. 2827 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 318-5505, lapergoletta.com Advertisement Closings Venice Terrace closed on Feb. 6 on Washington Boulevard. The owners of the Whaler, a nearby bar, plan to open a restaurant in the space called the Pier House. 7 Washington Blvd., Venice, (310) 578-1530, pierhousevenice.com Extras Advertisement Koreatown Pizza Co. moved last week, taking over a bigger space across the street to serve its bulgogi calzones and chicken cordon bleu pies. 3900 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 738-0077, koreatownpizzaco.com The downtown Italian restaurant formerly known as Officine Brera has changed its name to Brera Ristorante. Everything else is just as you left it. For his fall and winter 2019 mens and womens runway collection presented here Sunday night, Prabal Gurung explored hippie chic by way of Kathmandu. The resulting clothes were a madcap mash-up of colors, patterns and fabrications that wasnt for the faint of heart and might be too much for all but the most outsize personality to pull off. The specific inspiration, Gurung explained in his run-of-show program, was Jhochhen Street in Kathmandu, known to some as Freak Street, [it was] the birthplace of the hippie movement, where westerners uprooted themselves to embark on a journey. Gurung went on to paint a picture of globe-trotting nomads who engage in a cultural exchange of ideas picking up something new at each stop along the way, the confluence of these splendid cultures weav[ing] together harmoniously speaking with color and texture to forge unity and friendship. Looks from Prabal Gurungs hippie chic by way of Kathmandu fall and winter 2019 runway collection. (Mike Coppola / Getty Images for NYFW: The Shows (left and right), Johannes Eisele /AFP / Getty Images (center)) It was a conceit that gave Gurung free rein to throw all kinds of things in the fashion blender a bright pink diamond-pattern-quilted duvet coat with exaggerated ruby red notch lapels opened the show, for example, and things seemed to get only more incongruent from there: a turquoise nylon down-filled puffer stole accessorized a saffron and turquoise tie-dye cashmere knit turtleneck paired with a turquoise silk bias-cut skirt; dresses and mens silk tunics and (on trend) wide-leg pants were served up in a riot of patchwork prints and an ostrich-feather jacket quivered and quaked like a box of crayons come to life. Advertisement It wasnt just color either; houndstooth checks and lace came together in a single shirt, and a hand-tailored wool flannel pinstripe jacket (with the pinstripes on the right side of the jacket oriented vertically, the left side horizontally) was paired with pink and gold hand-loomed fleur-de-lis-patterned brocade cargo pants. On the whole, the fabrics looked sumptuous, the exquisite workmanship was obvious even from afar and the collections relaxed-leg silhouettes and puffed-up, insulated outerwear pieces keyed into the weeks prevailing runway trends. But the enthusiastic embrace of color, a strategy that usually pays dividends for the designer, felt like overkill this time around. One dress, though, deserves to be singled out: an inky velvet drop-waist, V-neck gown whose only embellishment was a two-tone, hand-draped shoulder ruffle. Elegant and restrained, it was breathtakingly beautiful and almost certainly destined not for Kathmandus Freak Street but one of Hollywoods red carpets. adam.tschorn@latimes.com For more musings on all things fashion and style, follow me at @ARTschorn In an effort to streamline the often-bloated Oscars ceremony to three hours, the motion picture academy declared last August that it would present a handful of unspecified categories during commercial breaks at this years show. In a letter to the groups members Tuesday, academy President John Bailey revealed the four awards that will not be presented as part of the live broadcast on Feb. 24: cinematography, film editing, live action short, and makeup and hairstyling. FULL COVERAGE: Get the latest on awards season from The Envelope Though the move marks a break from decades of tradition, Bailey insisted that the academy is still honoring the achievements of all 24 awards on the Oscars, noting that the winners speeches would be edited into a later point in the telecast and that the four awards will be live-streamed in their entirety on Oscar.com, a first for the ceremony. Advertisement When the academys board of governors approved the plan, many inside and outside the organization complained that it would inevitably diminish the stature of whichever awards were omitted from the broadcast. Indeed, as the news of which categories would be cut hit social media Tuesday, some immediately blasted the idea. This is a failure of stewardship, a failure of nerve, a failure of producing, a failure to understand television, a failure of network custody of the Oscars, and a failure of Academy governance, film journalist Mark Harris wrote on Twitter. But in his email, Bailey, a cinematographer, argued that the decision made by the academys leadership in conjunction with its various branches was necessary as the group tries to reverse steadily declining ratings for its all-important Oscar telecast, which hit an all-time low last year. Viewing patterns for the Academy Awards are changing quickly in our current multi-media world, and our show must also evolve to successfully continue promoting motion pictures to a worldwide audience, he wrote. This has been our core mission since we were established 91 years ago and it is the same today. In future years, Bailey said, four to six other categories will be selected on a rotating basis to be presented during commercial breaks. The four awards omitted from the live televised broadcast this year will be guaranteed slots in 2020. While plans for this years show the first presented without a host since 1989 have been kept tightly under wraps, Bailey confirmed in his letter that the show will include performances of all five nominees for the original song Oscar. The In Memoriam segment will feature a performance by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Buckle up, Bailey wrote. We are committed to presenting a show which we all will be proud of. Advertisement The full text of Baileys letter follows: Dear Fellow Academy Members, After months of anticipation and much talk, Id like to address a topic thats close to me. Viewing patterns for the Academy Awards are changing quickly in our current multi-media world, and our show must also evolve to successfully continue promoting motion pictures to a worldwide audience. This has been our core mission since we were established 91 years agoand it is the same today. Advertisement As you may remember, last summer the Academys Board of Governors committed to airing a three-hour show. I want to reiterate however, that all 24 Academy Award-winning presentations will be included in the broadcast. We believe we have come up with a great way to do this, and keep the show to three hours. While still honoring the achievements of all 24 awards on the Oscars, four categoriesCinematography, Film Editing, Live Action Short, and Makeup and Hairstyling will be presented during commercial breaks, with their winning speeches aired later in the broadcast. And, with the help of our partners at ABC, we also will stream these four award presentations online for our global fans to enjoy, live, along with our audience. Fans will be able to watch on Oscar.com and on the Academys social channels. The live stream is a first for our show, and will help further awareness and promotion of these award categories. The executive committees of six branches generously opted-in to have their awards presented in this slightly edited timeframe for this years show, and we selected four. In future years, four to six different categories may be selected for rotation, in collaboration with the show producers. (This years categories will be exempted in 2020.) Advertisement The Academy Awards honors the years best films and filmmakers. It is an international show, filled with great emotion, and (we hope) stirring acceptance speeches. This year, in addition to performances of all five nominated songs, the show will feature Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic playing during In Memoriam, as part of their own centennial celebration. So, buckle up! We are committed to presenting a show which we all will be proud of. John josh.rottenberg@latimes.com Advertisement Twitter: @joshrottenberg BEIJING, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, chairman of the Central Military Commission, has signed an order to release a trial regulation on the supervision of military training, the first of its kind in the country. The regulation, which will take effect on March 1, 2019, focuses on improving the combat readiness of the People's Liberation Army. The regulation formulates measures to rectify practices that are inconsistent with the requirements of actual combats. It also details the criteria for identifying malpractices and discipline violations during military training. The regulation also clearly states the responsibilities, power and priorities of military training supervision and regularizes the methods and procedures for carrying out such work. The regulation is expected to consolidate the strategic role of military training under the new circumstances, strengthen the management of military training, and deepen military training under combat conditions. If youre in the mood for a movie like Alita, Alita is the movie youre in the mood for. Brought to the screen by close friends and popular filmmaking success stories Robert Rodriguez (who directed) and James Cameron (who co-wrote and produced), Alita: Battle Angel (to give it its full title) inevitably goes where other big-budget tales of science-fiction adventure and derring-do have gone before. But it does so with enough energy, verve and belief in itself not to mention generous dollops of sentiment and technical innovation that were happy to retrace familiar steps. Based on Yukito Kishiros popular multi-volume Japanese manga about a waif named Alita, whose amnesia just might hide the most advanced weapon system ever known, this big-budget B picture with dystopia on its mind has been in Camerons sights for close to 20 years. Advertisement But at a certain point, after writing the script with Laeta Kalogridis, Cameron decided that the multiple Avatar sequels he was consumed with left no time for this project, and Rodriguez, whose own credits range from Sin City to the family-friendly Spy Kids films, agreed to take it on. What results is an action-heavy saga of self-discovery, filled with numerous violent tussles between Alita and all manner of evildoers, that shares screen time with a sweet, sentimental love story that could have leapt from the pages of All True Romance comics. In fact, it cant be an accident that Alita, which foregrounds an intrepid and fearless heroine of the type Cameron is partial to, will land in U.S. theaters on Valentines Day. Women and men alike are equal targets to play their part in the box-office gross. Key to this hoped for success is both the performance of Rosa Salazar, the actress chosen to play Alita, and the remarkable work done by Weta Digital in using performance-capture technology to make her character look convincing as a cyborg, which the press notes conveniently explains are not robots. Theyre humans enhanced by biotechnological components. Salazar, last seen in Susanne Biers Bird Box, brings a keenly expressive face and a gift for both wonder and ferocity to her performance, and the folks at Weta, including effects veterans Joe Letteri and Eric Saindon, have impressively made the most of her ability. Meet Rosa Salazar, the Bird Box star who lends heart and soul to Alita: Battle Angel Alita: Battle Angel, directed by Robert Rodriguez and starring Rosa Salazar, Eiza Gonzalez, Christophe Waltz, Mahershala Ali and Jennifer Connelly. The Weta team has not only amplified Alitas enormous saucer eyes, theyve done wonders with her cyborg face and skin, making her look closer to real but still not quite 100% human. In doing so Alita neatly sidesteps the uncanny valley feelings that doomed so many previous sci-fi efforts and ensures this creation fits convincingly in a live-action film. Advertisement Amusingly opening with a 26th Century Fox logo, Alita takes place in the year 2563, some 300 years after The Fall. That was when the civilized world fell to pieces, leaving humanity split between the earthbound proletarian Iron City and the more upscale, aspirational Zalem, the last of the great Sky cities, where everyone who is anyone lives large. Almost all of the action in Alita takes place in Iron City, a magnificent ruin filled with vast junkyards and crumbling buildings, a setting so immense and involving it took four folks to imagine it: concept design supervisors Ben Procter and Dylan Cole and production designers Steve Joyner and Caylah Eddleblute. Though supersized robotic Centurions patrol its streets, Iron City is, dare we say it, a dark and dangerous place where the strong prey on the weak and cyborgs are killed and dismantled so their body parts can be sold and reused. Really. One of this metropolis few good guys is Doc Ido, a kindly cyberphysician played with unexpected compassion by Christoph Waltz, who did not win his two Oscars by being warm and cuddly. It is the good doctor who discovers a young womans still breathing head and torso in one of Iron Citys larger junk heaps. He surgically inserts her into a cyberbody he happens to have handy (dont ask) and calls her Alita. Advertisement Alita is in need of a name because she can remember nothing of her pre-junk heap life, not even what anyone called her. Who am I? Why am I here? she not surprisingly wonders. The questions will be answered in time. Meanwhile, blessed with a genial personality, Alita makes friends quickly, especially with a handsome young street ruffian named Hugo (newcomer Keean Johnson), who swears by earnest bromides of the you have to stay focused on your dream variety. Hugo (Keean Johnson) and Alita (Rosa Salazar) in Alita: Battle Angel. (Twentieth Century Fox) Alita is also inexplicably drawn to Iron Citys sport of the moment, the gladiatorial Motorball, a strain of ultra-violent roller derby that enables her to show flashes of her unexpected killer combat skills. Advertisement For though she is so Audrey Hepburn slight that bad guys inevitably underestimate her as an insignificant girl, Alita knows things about combat larger men have forgotten. That includes an intimate knowledge of the wonderfully named Panzer Kunst fighting technique, of which the least said the better. As Alita makes her way through Iron City and learns who she is, she has to confront quite the collection of venal individuals who do not necessarily have her best interests in mind. These include the sinister Vector (Mahershala Ali), the mysterious Chiren (Jennifer Connelly), the bigger than a breadbox Grewishka (Jackie Earle Haley) and the self-involved Zapan (Ed Skrein), who calls Alita cupcake and comes to wish he hadnt. Though the action involved is pretty much nonstop, it is more acrobatic than bloody (Salazar was assisted by a whopping nine stunt doubles). Rodriguez keeps everything moving at an involving clip. While nothing here is unexpected, including a climax that clearly points to a sequel, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Alita does not break the mold, but it does burnish it nicely and that can have pleasures of its own. If that sequel ever does get made, I will be waiting. Advertisement ----------- Alita: Battle Angel Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi violence, and for some language Running time: 2 hours, 22 minutes Playing: In general release Advertisement kenneth.turan@latimes.com @KennethTuran The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently announced the four awards that will not be presented live during the Oscars on Feb. 24, and several Hollywood heavyweights arent having it. Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron, whose Roma garnered 10 Oscar nominations including for cinematography, expressed support for all of filmmakings elements, noting on Twitter on Tuesday that, No single film has ever existed without CINEMAtography and without editing. In the history of CINEMA, masterpieces have existed without sound, without color, without a story, without actors and without music. No one single film has ever existed without CINEMAtography and without editing. Alfonso Cuaron (@alfonsocuaron) February 12, 2019 Fellow Mexican director Guillermo del Toro also criticized the announcement, tweeting that Cinematography and Editing are at the very heart of our craft. They are not inherited from a theatrical tradition or a literary tradition: they are cinema itself. Advertisement Del Toros 2017 film The Shape of Water won the awards for best director and best picture and was nominated for sound mixing and cinematography, among others. The L Word actress Jennifer Beals called the academys decision outrageous. We are a community. Each part needs the other. Editors, DPs, hair and makeup artists are cinematic magicians. I want to see them being honored, she wrote on Twitter on Tuesday morning. This is OUTRAGEOUS. We are a community. Each part needs the other. Editors, DPs, hair and makeup artists are cinematic magicians. I want to see them being honored. #Oscars @TheAcademy https://t.co/BiCOpHvgUN Jennifer Beals (@jenniferbeals) February 12, 2019 On Instagram, cinematographer Reed Morano, whose work includes Frozen River and Kill Your Darlings, denounced the academys priority for ratings over the value of art. The backlash comes after academy President John Bailey revealed on Monday four awards that would be omitted from the Academy Awards live broadcast and instead be presented during commercial breaks. The awards are cinematography, film editing, live-action short, and makeup and styling. Despite the exclusion from live TV, Bailey asserted the academy is still honoring the achievements of all 24 awards on the Oscars. Advertisement Its a decision Bailey argued was necessary to improve ratings, which hit an all-time low last year. Everyone, it would seem, loves Regina King. In line at a Hollywood coffee bar, the barista offers the 48-year-old actress heartfelt congratulations on her Oscar nomination for If Beale Street Could Talk. While drinking her latte, King, wearing sweats so she can get in a quick gym workout before flying to Atlanta, where shes shooting HBOs top-secret Watchmen adaptation, is recognized by a woman at the next table. She leans in and offers well wishes. Im nominated too, she whispers, as if sharing membership in a secret society. Its sound editor Mildred Iatrou, feted this year for First Man. I loved your movie, she tells King. I wish it had been nominated. So it goes. At the Oscar luncheon last week, King received a thunderous ovation when her name was called, the rapturous response rivaled only by the applause greeting Spike Lee. Lady Gaga catcalled her. Mahershala Ali embraced her and then almost fell to the floor laughing at something she said. And King, dressed in a pink satin Prada gown, posed for picture after picture inside the Beverly Hilton hotel, taking it all in with an appreciation that has not diminished since Beale Street premiered in September at the Toronto International Film Festival. Advertisement This thing called awards season, its something else, man, she says, smiling. Its like running for office. Not complaining, just stating. And I had no idea. Mahershala Ali and Regina King at the Oscar luncheon. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) King owns three Emmys two for her work on John Ridleys raw anthology series American Crime and one last year for her portrait of a grieving mother on Netlfixs limited series Seven Seconds. She likes to say shes a trailblazer in bringing movie actors back to the small screen. After beginning her career with a five-year stint on the NBC sitcom 227, King made her mark in movies, ranging from her debut in John Singletons Boyz n the Hood to prominent roles in Friday, A Thin Line Between Love and Hate and Jerry Maguire. She returned to television in 2007, first playing the presidents attorney sister in the sixth season of 24 and then seguing into the acclaimed crime drama Southland for a five-year run as LAPD Det. Lydia Adams. King says she made the career switch for primarily one reason: Her son, Ian, was 11 and she no longer wanted to be away from home or take him out of school. She told her agent she needed to stay in Los Angeles. My reps were, like, Are you sure about that? King remembers. I was sure. And it ended up being a blessing in every way. Southland was life-changing. They became my family. Ian would come to work with me at 5, 6 in the morning, maybe take a nap, eat breakfast, and the Teamsters would take him to school for me. And after school, theyd pick him up. Thats what I mean when I say family. And I got to play a role that was not remotely close to anything Id played before. Flash forward 11 years from that initial decision, and Ian, now 22, is seated between his mom and actor Brian Tyree Henry at the Toronto Film Festival world premiere of If Beale Street Could Talk. An adaptation of the 1974 James Baldwin novel, the movie focuses on Tish (KiKi Layne) and Fonny (Stephan James), lovers whose bond is ruptured when Fonny is falsely accused of raping a woman. King plays Sharon, Tishs strong, loving mother. Beale Street, written and directed by Barry Jenkins, shifts between moods of anger, despair and optimism. Its a story of love between a man and a woman, between friends, between family, between community members. And watching it, King says, her son saw himself in Fonny, a young, sensitive black man, an artist devoted to his woman and his craft. And in identifying with Fonny, Ian told King that night in Toronto that he saw himself on screen for the first time. Advertisement Movies, television a lot of times puts young black men in the same box hard upbringing and from the hood and getting into the psychology of why they put on that front, that armor to protect themselves, King says. But there are young men and I know, because my son is one of them that are strong men but are also sensitive and know how to love with delicacy. And he hasnt gotten to see that. He hasnt gotten to see that young man whos an artist that just loves strongly. So I thank Barry and Stephan for that. Regina King and her son Ian are GIFTS #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/QugzYI9DuS MTV (@MTV) January 7, 2019 Playing Sharon, King thought of her grandmother and, particularly, her mother, a teacher who told King and her sister to dream big and that they were only as small as their thoughts. To this day, my mother is always telling me shes proud of me, King says. As a kid, a lot of things I didnt do was because I didnt want my mother to be disappointed with me. Thats the most devastating thing, the times Ive disappointed my mom. I dont smoke cigarettes to this day dont get me wrong, if everyone else is smoking, I might have one but as far as being a cigarette smoker, I remember getting caught by my mother and how disappointed she was. And being a teacher, she comes up with creative ways to express her disappointment. Advertisement Jenkins calls King an empath, saying he needed her in the role because she could play a younger mother whos not a superwoman but when she has to be, she is. They first talked about Beale Street on a Skype call, mainly for Jenkins to make sure the vibe was right. King had put off the call because she first wanted to read Baldwins book and be prepared. When they finally spoke, she had a lot of thoughts and expressed them to Jenkins in what he calls a soft but oh-so-persuasive way. I am a bit of a control enthusiast, King says, smiling. She says this by way of explaining her passion for directing, which she began in Southlands final season. Since then, King has directed regularly, helming episodes of Scandal, Shameless, This Is Us and The Good Doctor, among other shows. She also has ambitions as a producer, recently selling a TV pilot episode for a series about the Holmes sisters, five black women, all officers in the NYPD. (ABC did not pick it up.) After she finishes Watchmen in June (showrunner Damon Lindelof has sworn her to secrecy; she cant even say what character shes playing), King hopes to move immediately into one of several other projects shes developing. And in doing so, she plans to make good on the vow she made while accepting the Golden Globe for Beale Street that women will make up 50% of anything she produces. King had not planned on the specifics of that promise before making that speech on that big stage. Advertisement I finished, and Im, like, Oh, wow. Now its on, she remembers. But everyones response was so positive and energized, the concern for what I said was fleeting. It probably lasted seconds. And, you know, I like a good challenge. It motivated and inspired a lot of people and, at the end of the day, the best gift a human can give is inspiration. glenn.whipp@latimes.com Twitter: @glennwhipp Whether its gaining (or losing) weight, taking vocal and guitar lessons, or going deep into a quirky historical personality, actors put hundreds, if not thousands, of hours into their roles. And now that 10 of them are up for lead actor/actress Academy Awards, its worth going back to find the jewel in their crowns: that singular instance when all that planning, practice and talent came together in a critical, key scene. Glenn Close, The Wife FULL COVERAGE: Get the latest on awards season from The Envelope Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce in a key scene from The Wife. (Warning: This clip contains adult language) Key Scene: After her husband is awarded the Nobel Prize for a literary work she has secretly written, Joan (Close) cant keep up the charade any longer, and she demands a divorce. Advertisement What Makes It Great: That scene is five or six minutes long, and its one of the most emotional scenes Ive ever been involved with, says director Bjorn Runge. It collects all the emotions in the film: Its about death and love and creativity and how we treat each other as man and wife. Glenn walked on that extremely sharp knife edge and on the right side all the time. Olivia Colman, The Favourite Emma Stone and Olivia Coleman in a key scene from The Favourite." READ MORE: The Favourite blazes a new trail for period films with a little help from Shakespeare and the Marx brothers Key Scene: As shes being wheeled down a corridor, Queen Anne (Colman) overhears children playing music in the courtyard and yells at them to quit it. What Makes It Great: Says director Yorgos Lanthimos, The queen is having a very frail, sensitive moment her mood is really mercurial, so when she hears this music it reminds her of the many children shes lost, and it makes her lose it. Olivia can turn it up in a second she looks frail in the wheelchair, and when she starts screaming, its like this energy has built up. It looks normal, in a way. Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born Key Scene: Having not seen Jackson (Bradley Cooper) since the Grammy Awards debacle, Ally (Gaga) hopes to have a tender reunion at his rehab facility. What Makes It Great: She starts the scene with light and love, but also walking on eggshells because she doesnt want to upset him, says producer Lynette Howell Taylor. Shes vulnerable and playing all these levels. After they inadvertently clash, she registers hurt and shock, yet holds it in and ultimately is able to turn the scene into these two people connecting. Shes playing so beautifully and subtly and is so present in the scene the scene shows her range as an actress. Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me? Key Scene: Convicted of forging letters from literary luminaries, Lee (McCarthy) is about to be sentenced. But she seems anything but remorseful as she addresses the judge, largely seeing the experience as a betrayal of herself as a writer. Advertisement What Makes It Great: What Melissa delivers is one of the most vulnerable, bare performances you will see, says director Marielle Heller. Its a testament to her acting; shes so present in that moment, and I was crying through the takes as we filmed it. Every actor who watches that scene will know that its a testament to her dramatic chops. Yalitza Aparicio, Roma Yalitza Aparicio, left, as Cleo in Roma. (Carlos Somonte / Netflix) Key Scene: Cleo (Aparicio) gives birth to her first child in a hospital, but it does not survive, and she is left bereft. What Makes It Great: Director Alfonso Cuaron kept Aparicio in the dark about the babys death. She starts bawling and crying and saying, You didnt tell me I was going to lose the baby, says producer Gabriela Rodriguez. What made it more amazing is that for the next takes, her performance was also incredible. The fact that she could do this again and again and still convey that sadness and emotion and pain, it really blew me away. Advertisement Christian Bale, Vice (Warning: The following clip contains adult language) READ MORE: How Christian Bale became Dick Cheney with the help of Vices prosthetics designer Key Scene: Dick Cheney (Bale) is called in to meet with then-Gov. George W. Bush, who needs a running mate on his presidential ticket. What Makes It Great: Cheney is a fully formed master either a Jedi or Sith lord of the moment, and Bush [Sam Rockwell] has no idea, says director Adam McKay. Bales performance is so subtle. Every look and choice is his psychological interpretation of Cheney. Theres this back and forth between them, and you can feel his patience, his thoughts. We all know hes holding the governor in his hand. Advertisement Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born Key Scene: When Ally (Lady Gaga) wins an award, Jackson (Cooper) joins her on stage and makes a spectacle of himself. What Makes It Great: To get into that emotional and physical state takes a lot of preparation for an actor, says producer Lynette Howell Taylor. Its a crucial moment in the story. To stay in that mind-set takes a lot of focus and discipline all while hes doing other things, like directing. Theres bravery in saying, Yes, this is the moment for the character. Its all culminating here, and he nails the performance. Willem Dafoe, At Eternitys Gate Key Scene: Van Gogh (Dafoe) emerges from a blackout after cutting off his ear and speaks with a psychiatrist. Van Gogh says that without painting, he cant live, and is told, I believe you. What Makes It Great: Thats their bond, says director Julian Schnabel. Hes not just one character who acts the same with everyone he meets; he behaves differently with different people. Willem is like a leaf blowing in the wind whatever was demanded in that moment to be in the presence of the film, he did. We all did that. Advertisement Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody Key Scene: Freddie Mercury (Malek) rivets the audience at Live Aid in 1985. What Makes It Great: One reason to pick that scene is it was done in the first week of shooting, which you can imagine the actors were not happy about, says producer Graham King. We threw Rami into the deep end and it was such an undertaking. But he gets every movement, every single look right; its all Freddie. That performance was the key to the success of the film. Viggo Mortensen, Green Book Key Scene: After pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) learns Tony (Mortensen) has been offered a new job, he counteroffers more pay and a better title to stick around, but Tony turns him down and agrees to keep their partnership as-is. What Makes It Great: Dr. Shirley is shocked that Tony has such character he thought Tony would go with his best offer, says director Peter Farrelly. Thats the moment when Dr. Shirley realizes hes underestimated Tony Lip. He sees Tony as having more dimensions than he gave him credit for, and its the beginning of their relationship improving. After that, they had a mutual respect. Bill Gates has spent the last five years working alongside his wife Melinda at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, pouring the ocean of cash he made cornering the market on desktop computer software into projects that improve the health of the worlds poorest people. Alongside Warren Buffett, Gates has persuaded 186 of his fellow billionaires to sign the Giving Pledge, affirming their intent to give during their lives, or at least in their wills half of their amassed wealth to charitable causes. But hes still outstripped them all when it comes to charitable giving, disbursing more than $45 billion through his foundation on the distribution of vaccines and initiatives to fight tuberculosis, HIV, and malaria. Each year, the Gateses publish a letter to reflect on their foundations work and focus attention on issues they care about. Last year, the billionaires asked themselves tough questions, such as why they dont give more in the U.S. (answer: because a dollar spent in poor countries has a bigger impact than in the developed world) and whether its fair that they have so much power (no). Since then, the world has seen globalist ideals of open borders and free trade crumble in the face of trade wars and reactionary anti-immigrant policies. So maybe its not surprising that this years letter focuses on what surprised the couple in 2018. Advertisement Some surprises stay in their global health lane at-home DNA tests can help stop premature births, mobile phones empower poor women. Others reach farther. Theres a nationalist case for globalism, they write, arguing that Americas foreign aid helps ensure stability and reduce health crises that lead to mass migration. Data can be sexist is another surprise, based on Melindas discovery that good data on most aspects of womens lives around the world are hard to find. The Times spoke with the charitable couple in late January. Your comment on globalism being good for nations feels pretty pointed. Are you disappointed with the American government these days? Melinda: Certainly the proposal that came out from the administration on the first round of the budget was disappointing to us, incredibly disappointing. But the good news is that Congress actually disposes the money, and Congress knows the importance of foreign aid. Its less than 1% of the U.S. government budget, but if you invest in people around the world you will get peace and prosperity and you wont get ebola and disease crossing the borders. A lot of other wealthy people interact with the government by funding politicians who support their vision or choosing to run for office themselves Howard Schultz and Michael Bloomberg come to mind. Do you see that as a good use of your money? Is there no return on investment in pushing the huge governmental machine toward what you believe in? Bill: Our expertise across all government issues is pretty specific we make visits, meet with scientists, meet with heroes in the field in global health and in the U.S. education work we do. Advertisement So in those two areas we do have opinions about, you know making Pell Grants more effective for education, and spending the NIH research dollars, where the U.S. is very generous on the diseases of the poor. A lot of that is meeting with the congressional committees that work on those issues. So we speak out, and to really make our money effective weve had to focus in on what we chose as priorities. The makeup and disposition of congressional committees can potentially be influenced by a relatively small amount of money, when it comes to campaign finance contributions. Have you considered throwing your weight behind changing the balance of power to make your work easier? Bill: If you saw that education was fantastic in the states run by one party and terrible in the states run by the other party, then you might say to yourself: Wow, somebody seems to have the answer, lets make sure that the other party hears about it, the voters ought to know that. Advertisement But these are complex issues about how to invent new vaccines, or in education, where does a better curriculum come in. Theres a lot to be learned which doesnt boil down to, hey, one party has the solution and the other party doesnt. You write in the letter about funding research into a new type of toilet, and have talked in the past about philanthropy stepping into gaps left by market and government forces. What is it about something like toilets that requires philanthropic intervention? Bill: The tricky problem is that in upper-income countries and middle-income countries, there was a huge investment put into sewer systems. If you do that early, the economics can be reasonable. But in many cities, particularly the poor parts of them, the sewer solution just is never going to happen the cost would be too high So were trying to bootstrap a product, which is a non-sewered sanitation toilet. Weve already spent a few hundred million, and think that by spending a few hundred million more on R&D, we can make it very cheap. Its sort of a new category that wouldnt emerge without risk capital showing that its possible. Advertisement Melinda: What the foundation focuses on are the inequalities, the gaps that exist in society, and a lot of times because these problems as Warren Buffet reminds us are hard, and so societies left them behind. Capitalistic structure isnt necessarily going after some of these problems, and so we look at where can philanthropy be a catalytic edge. Both of you are in the middle of a successful and seemingly happy second career outside the tech world. The past year has seen tech companies and their leaders come under fire for issues of data privacy, monopoly, labor and their influence on society at large. Would you recommend a shift to philanthropy for these high-profile CEOs? Bill: Well, each of those people will decide what works for them and their company. And I wouldnt go so far as to say this is the first time that CEOs of tech companies have been criticized. But I agree that its at a broader and stronger level than before. Thats partly because tech is so successful in terms of how people communicate and get news and organize things and so its societally more important to make sure all of thats working well. Melinda: All we say to other people who have great means or wealth is: Were really enjoying doing this, and when youre ready we think you would too. Its not just about your money, its about your time, your energy, your intellect you put against it, that you can use to change the problems of the world. sam.dean@latimes.com Advertisement Follow me on Twitter: @samaugustdean Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker said hes worried about rhetoric coming out of the U.S. White House to the point that he sometimes finds Chinese President Xi Jinpings statements more sympathetic. I sometimes -- it sounds terrible -- but I respond more favorably to what the president of China is saying than the president of the United States, Volcker said, speaking with Bridgewater Associates Ray Dalio in a video posted to YouTube. The president of China at least says that hes looking forward to harmonious relationship over time. When it comes to President Trump, that desire for compromise is less apparent, according to Volcker. Were all threats and demands, Volcker said. Advertisement The Trump administration has been pressuring China to buy more American goods and change its intellectual-property practices. The White House has slapped tariffs on imports from the country, and many of those are slated to more than double on March 1 if U.S. and Chinese negotiators fail to reach a trade agreement first. Theres some justice, of course, in what Trump is doing, Volcker said. It is true during our period of leadership we tended to overlook in our own country some of the problems that world leadership implied in terms of willingness to accept a lot of imports, in particular. U.S. factories outsourced large portions of their production to China and other nations where labor costs were much lower, and the result was a sharp decline in manufacturing employment. Thats contributed to widening U.S. economic divides between former factory towns and successful big cities, many of them coastal. Theres no doubt weve had some unevenness and repercussions in the United States, Volcker said. How can we develop an economy thats more balanced between the great middle part of the country and the two coastal areas? Apples new campus in Cupertino, Calif., is a symbol of how the company views itself as an employer: simultaneously inspiring its workers with its magnificent scale while coddling them with its four-story cafe and 100,000-square-foot fitness center. But one group of Apple contractors finds another building, six miles away on Hammerwood Avenue in Sunnyvale, to be a more apt symbol. This building is as bland as the main Apple campus is striking. From the outside, there appears to be a reception area, but its unstaffed, which makes sense given that people working in this satellite office mostly employees of Apple contractors working on Apple Maps use the back door. Several people who worked here say its widely referred to within Apple as a black site, as in a covert ops facility. Inside the building, say former workers, they came to expect the vending machines to be understocked, and to have to wait in line to use the mens bathrooms. Architectural surprise and delight wasnt a priority here; after all, the contract workers at Hammerwood almost all leave after their assignments of 12 to 15 months are up. Its not uncommon for workers not to make it that long. According to 14 current and former contractors employed by Apex Systems, a firm that staffs the building as well as other Apple mapping offices, they operated under the constant threat of termination. Advertisement It was made pretty plain to us that we were at-will employees and they would fire us at any time, says one former Hammerwood contractor, who, like most of the workers interviewed for this story, spoke on condition of anonymity because he signed a nondisclosure agreement with Apex. There was a culture of fear among the contractors which I got infected by and probably spread. Apex, not Apple, manages the workers it hires. Apple says it requires contracting firms to treat workers with dignity and respect. Following an inquiry from Bloomberg News, the company says, it conducted a surprise audit of the Hammerwood facility and found a work environment consistent with other Apple locations. Like we do with other suppliers, we will work with Apex to review their management systems, including recruiting and termination protocols, to ensure the terms and conditions of employment are transparent and clearly communicated to workers in advance, an Apple spokesperson says in a statement. Buddy Omohundro, Apexs chief services officer and general counsel, says in an email that his company strives to ensure its creating the best possible work experience. Apex provides multiple avenues for employees to raise concerns, both directly and anonymously, and to have those concerns addressed, he wrote. Places like Hammerwood undermine the mythology of Silicon Valley as a kind of industrial utopia where talented people work themselves to the bone in exchange for outsize salaries and stock options. A common perception in the Bay Area is that its only serious tech-labor issue is the high cost of living driven by the industrys obscene salaries. But many of those poorer residents work in tech, too. For decades, contractors and other contingent workers have served meals, driven buses and cleaned toilets at tech campuses. Theyve also built circuit boards and written and tested software, all in exchange for hourly wages and little or no job security. The treatment of these workers is emerging alongside sexual harassment and military contracting as a principal target of the wave of tech worker activism thats been building over the past two years. When Google employees staged a walkout in November, many contingent workers didnt learn about it in advance because they dont have access to internal mailing lists. A month later, Googlers sent an open letter to the companys management demanding better working conditions for temporary workers, vendors and contractors.The mood at Hammerwood dimmed late last year, after the changes in benefits and after Apex suddenly fired about two dozen people, according to two current Apex employees. One described the workplace as depressing and quiet, with everyone on edge. Im afraid of being too social because they might see that as not working hard enough, he says. Apples new headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., which features a four-story cafe and 100,000-square-foot fitness center. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images) Advertisement In different forms, temporary labor as an alternative to full-time employment has grown across the U.S. economy. Companies in many industries now use staffing firms to handle work once done by full-time workers. The technology industry offers one of the starkest examples of how the groups fortunes have diverged. While companies arent required to disclose the sizes of their contingent workforces, theres ample evidence that tech companies use large numbers of contractors and temps. Last year, Bloomberg News reported that direct employees at Alphabet Inc.s Google accounted for less than half its workforce. The Apple Maps operations staffed by Apex provide a dim view of contract work, according to current and former Apex workers. Some took jobs there with the hope of landing full-time work at Apple a possibility they said Apex played up only to find the chances were small. As Apple has faced headwinds in recent months, it has further reduced the practice of converting any contract workers to full-time positions, according to a person familiar with Apples operations. Other Apex workers took the job just to put Apple on their resume. Even that benefit was tenuous. Apex managers initially distributed specific wording they could include on their LinkedIn profiles referring to their employer as Apple, via Apex Systems. Last summer, Apex said they had to remove the word Apple, describing their employer only as A Major Tech Company Via Apex Systems, according to two former employees. Advertisement The restrictions were just one of many reminders of the contractors inferior status, right down to the apple design on their ID badges. For direct employees, the apples were multi-colored; contractors got what one described as sad grey. Its common for companies to distribute different badges to contractors, a practice that discontented workers across the industry have seized on as evidence of a caste system. Amber Lutsko, who worked for Apple through Apex in 2017 and 2018, described an opening-day pep talk that aimed to make her feel both honored and excluded. You work at Apple now! You have made it! she recalls being told. Youre not allowed to use the gym. The companies of Silicon Valley have created vast fortunes with far fewer employees than the corporate behemoths that came before them. In part, this is because you can replicate software infinitely in a way you cant with, say, a Model T. But the tech industry was also an early adopter of offloading core functions to contract workers. Tech was quick to embrace contractors because of rapid advancements requiring constant adjustments in the composition of the workforce, according to Louis Hyman, author of the 2018 book Temp. All those changes helped nurture Silicon Valleys ideology of flexibility and speed, first in hardware, then in software and business operations. Hyman quotes a 1993 issue of Apples internal magazine that describes the transition away from direct employees to contractors and outsourcing firms as both a predictable evolution and the future. Advertisement Conflict is inevitable in a two-tiered workforce. As far back as the 1990s, Microsoft Corp. contractors challenged their employment status in court and attempted to unionize. In 2014 a group of Microsoft bug-testers won the right to bargain with their employer, a staffing agency called Lionbridge Technologies Inc. Within a few years, Lionbridge had eliminated all their jobs. Apple, which has about 130,000 full-time employees, accepts workers from about three dozen staffing firms, according to OnContracting, a website providing market information to staffing companies. Contracting firms work on iTunes and server infrastructure, handle customer support and select articles for Apple News. Apex, the largest division of ASGN, a staffing company based in Calabasas, has provided Apple with a steady stream of mapping technicians, whose jobs consist of checking to make sure that Apples software is drawing roads in the right places, or responding to reports of inaccuracies in existing maps. Apple Maps, shown on an Apple Watch. Contract workers at the companys Hammerwood Avenue facility check to make sure the software is drawing roads in the right places, or responding to reports of inaccuracies in existing maps. (Gary Reyes / TNS) Theyre largely in their early- to mid-20s, and have often just graduated from college. Wages are generally about $25 an hour, which some workers consider generous and others see as stingy. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 2017 median hourly wage for mapping technicians nationwide was $20.84, while the median per-hour rate for the same jobs in California was $30.61. Advertisement Apex employees have access to health insurance, although the premiums are high enough that some people opt not to take it. Because the workforce is young, Apex workers often stay on their parents health insurance rather than figure things out on their own. Apex has also changed aspects of employment suddenly. In November, it cut the maximum amount of paid sick time employees could take annually from 48 hours to 24 hours, saying the policy would go into effect in two days, according to two current employees and an internal email viewed by Bloomberg. The email, which Apex workers received on a Thursday afternoon, inspired a rare moment of collective action. A group of over a dozen workers said they had suddenly fallen ill, and left, according to one current Apex employee who participated in the protest. At all times, Apex has provided as much paid sick leave as required by applicable law, says Omohundro, adding that the company worked to find exceptions in individual cases. Many Apex employees first heard about the company through LinkedIn. The company trawls the website for people with proficiency in skills for mapmaking like geographic information systems or geography, then messages them repeatedly. Lutsko had worked as an archaeologist and was in between jobs in 2017 when, as she describes it, she basically gave in. Theyre pretty aggressive, so it was easy to take the job, she says. Advertisement At the beginning of the interview process, Apex doesnt mention the company where people will work. But the revelation can tip wavering candidates over the edge. They said it was with Apple they were super hush-hush originally and I was like, Oh my God! says a former Apex worker who started in 2017. That will be on my resume? Bang! The secrecy just made the job seem sexier. Many Apex workers assumed discretion was required because Hammerwood had some connection to self-driving cars. Their own work turned out to be drudgery. Apex managers sometimes broke up unauthorized water-cooler socializing. Several workers say their managers would get notifications if their workstations were idle for too long. Being monitored like that is super dehumanizing and terrifying, says one former Apex mapping technician. If Apex seemed not to trust its workers, the feeling was mutual. They described a hiring process that was misleading in several ways. For one, Apex failed to explain the one-year assignments started with several weeks of training followed by a test, many say. Anyone who didnt pass was terminated immediately. The company recruited nationwide, so some workers showed up in California, signed leases in one of the most expensive housing markets in the country, and lost their only source of income within a matter of weeks. There are no reliable numbers on how common such firings were; Omohundro says the vast majority of employees complete their assignments. But they loomed large even for those who passed the test. Lutsko says watching colleagues suddenly lose their jobs soured her on her new employer. Advertisement I couldnt handle the arbitrariness of everything, she says. The starry-eyed kids straight off the bus from Iowa thinking theyd made it in Silicon Valley straight out of college. The bait-and-switch. The, Oh you didnt make it through training, please give us your badge now. Lutsko quit before her contract was up. Apex handles all terminations in a sensitive and confidential manner, says Omohundro. The company does not share the details of employee terminations, regardless of whether they are for cause or not for cause. Los Angeles is abandoning a plan to spend billions of dollars rebuilding three natural gas power plants along the coast, Mayor Eric Garcetti said Monday, in a move to get the city closer to its goal of 100% renewable energy and improve air quality in highly polluted communities. The mayors decision marks an abrupt change of course for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, where top staffers have argued in recent months that the gas plants are critical to keeping the lights on in the city. Environmental groups have urged DWP to replace the aging facilities with cleaner alternatives, saying the gas-fired plants need to go because they contribute to climate change and local air pollution. Los Angeles has steadily moved away from coal for electricity, divesting from the Navajo plant in Arizona three years ago and announcing plans to stop buying power from Utahs Intermountain plant by 2025. But with coal, the most polluting fossil fuel, now nearly removed from the citys energy mix, its time to start planning for a future with zero planet-warming energy sources, Garcetti said Monday and that means no natural gas. Its the right thing to do for our health. Its the right thing to do for our Earth. Its the right thing to do for our economy, Garcetti said. And now is the time to start the beginning of the end of natural gas. Advertisement This is the Green New Deal, he added, referring to the sweeping climate change policies championed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y) and endorsed by several contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination. Not in concept, not in the future, but now. The mayors decision comes several months after state lawmakers passed a bill requiring California to get 100% of its electricity from climate-friendly sources by 2045, up from a previous target of 50% renewable by 2030. A slate of environmental groups had argued that investing in the Los Angeles gas plants would be inconsistent with that goal, and had urged Garcetti and DWP not to rebuild the Scattergood, Harbor and Haynes power plants along the coast. The city is under state orders to shutter 10 gas-fired generating units at those facilities in the coming years because they use ocean water for cooling, which can harm marine life. The Scattergood and Harbor gas plants sit in communities with some of the worst pollution in California, state data show. Scattergood is in El Segundo, just south of Los Angeles International Airport, and Harbor is in Wilmington by the ports of L.A. and Long Beach. As recently as December, DWP management signaled support for replacing some of the gas-fired generators with newer, more efficient machines equipped with dry-cooling technology that doesnt use ocean water. Utility officials had said that batteries charged with solar or wind power arent yet cheap or reliable enough to replace the gas plants, without increasing the risk of power outages among the 4 million people served by DWP. A team of consultants hired by the city-run utility had recommended rebuilding seven of the 10 ocean-cooled units, and replacing the other three with a combination of energy storage, solar power and energy efficiency. The consultants estimated the cost of those projects, plus the gas turbine replacements, at $3.4 billion more than a billion dollars higher than the estimated $2.2-billion cost of rebuilding all three gas plants. That plan faced pushback from environmental activists and also from one of Garcettis appointees to DWPs board of commissioners, Aura Vasquez. At a board meeting last month, Vasquez pressed utility staff to look beyond gas plants and embrace batteries and other new technologies as a means of providing reliable power. We are in uncharted territories. I get it. We are in a new era. We are headed to renewables that some might view as unreliable, Vasquez said. Im trying to figure out how to reinvent the way that we do business. Advertisement Garcetti said his office concluded that Los Angeles wouldnt have trouble keeping the lights on if Scattergood is retired by 2024 and Haynes and Harbor by 2029, as long as DWP keeps investing in batteries and other clean energy technologies. He said he asked DWPs top managers to shift their thinking. Instead of saying all the reasons why not, get to a reason as to why, Garcetti said. Alexandra Nagy, an organizer with Food and Water Watch, which has urged DWP not to keep investing in gas, said Garcetti is showing the rest of the country what a Green New Deal can mean for our communities. We are hopeful that this is a first step to swiftly transition L.A. off fossil fuels and move the city to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, Nagy said in a statement. Its time to clean up our air, prioritize healthy communities and green jobs, and usher in a clean energy revolution. Advertisement Some of the sharpest criticism of DWPs original plan came from S. David Freeman, a former DWP general manager who has led public power agencies across the country and advised presidents Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter on energy. At the same board meeting last month, the 93-year-old, cowboy-hat-wearing industry veteran accused DWP officials of ignoring the real and growing costs of climate change. This is public power. Youre the voice of the people, said Freeman, who now works with environmental groups to advocate for renewable energy. And I think that any poll of the people of Los Angeles reveals that they want you to pay real, real good attention to the climate issue, and not be what I would call an intelligent denier, which is what you are if you dont take the actions that the climatologists say we must take. Its not a question of wanting to or it being convenient, he added. Its just as important as keeping the lights on and keeping the rates down. sammy.roth@latimes.com Advertisement @Sammy_Roth Private investigators working for Jeff Bezos have concluded that the brother of the Amazon chief executives paramour leaked the couples intimate text messages to the National Enquirer, a person familiar with the matter said Monday. The person wasnt authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The findings add to the intrigue surrounding the clash between the pro-Trump tabloid and the worlds richest man. Bezos investigators have suggested that the Enquirers coverage of his affair was driven by dirty politics. Trump has been highly critical of Bezos over his ownership of the Washington Post and Amazon Inc., and the Posts coverage of the White House. The brother, Michael Sanchez, is a supporter of President Trump and an acquaintance of Trump allies Roger Stone and Carter Page. He is also the manager of his sister, Lauren Sanchez, a former Los Angeles TV anchor. The investigators have not said how they believe Michael Sanchez came into possession of his sisters intimate messages. Advertisement Michael Sanchez did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Monday. In a Jan. 31 tweet, he said, without providing evidence, that Bezos longtime security consultant, Gavin de Becker, who is leading the private investigation, spreads fake, unhinged conservative conspiracy theories. An attorney for the tabloids parent company, American Media Inc., did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. On Sunday, an attorney for the head of AMI said that the information for the story had been provided by a reliable source well known to Bezos and Lauren Sanchez. The source had provided information to the company for at least seven years, Elkan Abramowitz, an attorney for AMI Chief Executive David Pecker, said on ABCs This Week. He was asked if Michael Sanchez was the source and he said: Im not permitted to tell you or confirm or deny who the source is. But the Daily Beast, citing people inside American Media, reported that Michael Sanchez was the Enquirers source. Bezos ordered the investigation after the Enquirer published an article about the affair last month. The investigators have since turned over the results of their probe to attorney Richard Ben-Veniste for review and possible referral to law enforcement. Ben-Veniste had served as special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal. Bezos has said AMI threatened to publish explicit photos of him unless he stopped investigating how the Enquirer obtained his private exchanges and publicly declared that the Enquirers coverage of him was not politically motivated. Federal prosecutors are also looking into whether the Enquirer violated a cooperation and non-prosecution agreement that recently spared the tabloid and top executives from charges for payment of hush money to a Playboy model who said she had had an affair with Trump, two people familiar with the matter told the Associated Press. The people werent authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Advertisement Asked whether he was aware that AMI was investigating Bezos, Trump said Tuesday: No. No, I wasnt. Times staff writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report. * US media reported on February 10 that a top commander has said that the United States would likely start to withdraw its troops from Syria in weeks. * The 32nd African Union (AU) summit of heads of state and government opened on February 10 at the AU headquarters in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa. * The Australian government has signed a key contract with French shipbuilder Naval Group for the nation's Future Submarine program. The AUD50-billion (US$35.5 billion) contract will see Naval Group design and build 12 new attack class submarines for the Australian Navy, with the first to be battle-ready as early as 2034. * Prime Minister of Iraq Adel Abdul Mahdi on February 10 said that solving river water pollution issue is a priority for the new government, calling on exploiting rainfall water to increase reserves. * US Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad will lead an interagency delegation to Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Qatar, Afghanistan and Pakistan from Feb. 10 to 28, US State Department said on February 10. * Iran is ready to boost the capacity of its uranium enrichment, Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said on February 10. * The New Zealand government said on February 10 it will prohibit smoking in cars with children for protecting children's health. * Afghan security forces have stepped up pressure on Taliban outfit in the northern provinces as 10 militants have been killed and 12 others captured in a single day on February 10, officials said. * At least 10 people were killed and 11 others injured in road accidents in Mongolia during the Lunar New Year holiday, known locally as the "White Moon," local media reported Monday. Apple Inc. assigned a longtime iPhone executive as its first head of marketing for augmented reality, demonstrating the importance of the technology to the companys future. Frank Casanova moved from leading iPhone marketing for wireless carriers into the new role this month. On his LinkedIn profile, Casanova said hes now responsible for all aspects of Product Marketing for Apples Augmented Reality initiative. Casanova has worked at Apple for about 30 years and was key in launching the original iPhone, striking deals with carriers to promote the handset and developing older Apple products like the QuickTime video player. The decision by Apple to name its first head of product marketing for AR underscores the technologys importance to the companys quest for major new products. An Apple spokesman declined to comment. Advertisement Theres now a name and face on Apple AR efforts and a person with a track record of working on advanced technology projects at Apple, said Michael Gartenberg, former senior director of marketing at Apple. Frank is the ideal person to lead Apples efforts in AR. Augmented reality superimposes virtual content over a view of the real world and has been praised by Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company first demonstrated interest in the field with ARKit software on iPhones and iPads, which allows apps to integrate the technology. Apple is planning a 3D-based AR camera for iPhones in 2020 and has a team of hundreds of engineers working on an AR headset and operating system, Bloomberg News has reported. Gurman writes for Bloomberg. The oil industry has been depicting itself lately as the target of a conspiracy by scientists, local government officials and climate change activists to make it look bad. It would be odd to think that a conspiracy is necessary to punch holes in the fossil fuel companies public reputation, but heres the argument presented by the Independent Petroleum Assn. of America, one of the industrys leading lobby organizations. In a highly-coordinated move, the IPAA declares on its website, nearly 30 scientists, government officials and third-party organizations recently joined the fledgling climate litigation campaign. The IPAA labeled this a free-for-all and quoted an industry newsletter calling the campaign a carefully orchestrated effort by local governments in California and elsewhere to use state law to collect damages from companies producing and marketing fossil fuels. False and deceptive marketing, ... campaigns to deceive the public those are traditional state police power matters. Victor Sher, plaintiffs attorney in climate change lawsuits Advertisement If you think this sounds like a Goliath pretending to be a David, you are right. The litigation campaign IPAA refers to is a cluster of lawsuits pioneered in 2017 by the California counties of San Mateo, Imperial Beach, Marin and Santa Cruz, and the cities of Richmond, Oakland and San Francisco, among other jurisdictions, against more than 20 oil and gas companies. The plaintiffs assert that the companies freely promoted the use of their products even though they were aware of the products effect on global warming information the industry allegedly suppressed for years. The municipalities are asking that the companies be forced to help pay for the damage wreaked by climate change, including drought, wildfires, sea level rise and extremes of heat and precipitation. Since the filing of the California cases, similar lawsuits have been filed by Rhode Island, Washingtons King County (that is, Seattle), Baltimore and New York City. The oil companies succeeded in transferring the state lawsuits to federal court, where they expect to face less liability under the law. The plaintiffs argument that the cases belong back in state court is being heard by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. What has the industry vibrating at the moment is a sheaf of eight friend-of-the-court, or amicus, briefs all filed on Jan. 29 with the appellate court supporting the transfer back to state court. Among other parties, the briefs were filed by the California Assn. of Counties, the Natural Resources Defense Council, a group of six prominent oil company critics, and the National League of Cities. To the industry, this looks like a cabal. In a blog post, the IPAA found something sinister in the fact that all eight of the briefs were filed within hours of one another on a random January afternoon (i.e. there wasnt a court-designated deadline). Not only was that reason enough to suspect some level of coordination took place, the blog post observes, but signing onto the amicus briefs were many of the activists and politicians who have played key roles in the broader campaign to take down the oil and natural gas industry for years. A couple of points are pertinent here. First of all, there was indeed a court-designated deadline for filing the briefs Jan. 29, the day they were filed. The courts procedural calendar specifies that amicus briefs must be filed no later than seven days after the main brief of the party theyre supporting. The California plaintiffs filed their brief on Jan. 22, seven days earlier. So much for the coordination. Second, why should it be so odd that the supporters of the cities and counties are drawn from the community of fossil fuel critics? Who else? Lets examine some of the industrys other points. Among the chief targets of its pushback are Naomi Oreskes and Geoffrey Supran of the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University, who filed one of the amicus briefs in conjunction with four other scholars with interest in climate change science. Advertisement Oreskes and Supran were the authors of a 2017 study detailing the industrys determined, decades-long effort to suppress scientific evidence of global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels, despite warnings by its own scientific researchers that the phenomenon was genuine, dangerous and accelerating. We reported here on their study, which focused on Exxon Mobil. They compared hundreds of Exxon Mobils internal reports and peer-reviewed research papers with its advertising especially paid advertorials the company placed in the op-ed section of the New York Times from 1972 through 2001. The authors concluded that Exxon Mobil had systematically misled non-scientific audiences about climate science. The IPAA blog post claims that the Oreskes-Supran study has been debunked, but thats not so. Their statistical method was questioned by another researcher, who was paid by Exxon Mobil. But the core of their findings wasnt statistical but empirical. They compared internal company documents with the ad campaign, and found them wildly divergent. Oreskes, in an email, labeled the so-called debunking the sort of expert-for-hire doubt-mongering engaged in by the tobacco industry when it was fighting medical science over the dangers of smoking. Thats a topic shes familiar with, having covered it in the 2010 book Merchants of Doubt, co-written with Erik M. Conway. Advertisement Its hardly surprising that the oil industry would be uneasy about the fledgling climate litigation campaign. The plaintiffs aim to use state laws to fix blame on the fossil fuel companies in ways that cant be accomplished under federal environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act. Indeed, federal law vests the states with primary responsibility for addressing air pollution, according to Victor Sher, the San Francisco attorney representing the counties and cities. Cases involving false and deceptive marketing, overpromotion of products, campaigns to deceive the public those are traditional state police power matters that the Clean Air Act doesnt address at all. Federal Judge Vince Chhabria of San Francisco largely agreed last March, when he ordered the lawsuits returned to state court. The oil companies appealed his order, which is why its now before the 9th Circuit bench. The municipalities also are hoping to take advantage of Californias public nuisance doctrine, which holds that business can be held responsible for damage done by its products even if their usage was standard practice at the time. Advertisement The public nuisance argument was central to a lawsuit brought by California municipalities against lead paint manufacturers that concluded in 2017 with an order that the companies pay to clean up residual lead in dwellings that could pose a health hazard to children in those homes. Theres no question that the cities and counties face a long and arduous road to saddling the oil industry with the responsibility for climate change and the expense of addressing its impacts. The lead paint lawsuit lasted 17 years before the verdict was made final. But theres also no question that the industry did its best to hide what it knew about the prospects of global warming and its products role in it. The latest misleading attack on its critics shows, if nothing else, that it still hasnt learned to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com. Advertisement Return to Michael Hiltziks blog. As part of the rebuilding of the Los Angeles Times, Executive Editor Norman Pearlstine and Managing Editor Scott Kraft made the following announcement. Over the eight months since The Times was returned to private ownership under Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, weve been on a mission. Weve moved quickly to strengthen our daily newsgathering operation and restore many of the signature pieces of journalism that distinguish The Times from other great publications. Weve promoted, recruited and hired as we rebuild and expand areas of coverage that are of value to our community and for which The Times can and should be seen as the authoritative source. Advertisement During this process, weve had many occasions to celebrate the elevation of dedicated colleagues, the return of respected alumni, and the arrival of sought-after talent. Today stands out, as we welcome industry-leading editors, a Pulitzer winning writer, and investigative reporters who have won awards for their work nationwide, from Sacramento and Portland to Tampa Bay and Baltimore. Please join us as we begin by congratulating these valued editors on their new roles. Jack Leonard, who recently took on new responsibilities as metros investigative editor, will take on an expanded role, coordinating metros investigative efforts as well as accountability work across the paper. As senior editor/investigations, Jack will continue to work with metro investigative reporters but also will coordinate investigative work in other departments as well as investigative partnerships with other organizations. Jacks role will be to coordinate the award-winning investigative work that has been a hallmark of our staff for decades, and is done in every department at the paper. He has been both an investigative reporter and editor. He was part of the reporting team that exposed fraud and abuse in Californias conservatorship system and another that revealed how early releases from L.A.s jail system perverted justice and fostered more crime. As an editor, he has guided, among other major investigations, a sweeping expose of corruption in the L.A. County Sheriffs Department that helped lead to the conviction of the sheriff. Mary Ann Meek, a deputy metro editor, will become one of our senior editors responsible for A1 and top stories. As many of you know, Mary Ann has been doing a good part of this job for more than a year, overseeing A1 three days a week, and working with top stories both for online and print. She will continue to have A1 and top story responsibilities, working alongside Ashley Dunn, senior editor/weekends. Her expanded duties will include a larger role in the A1 process, and she will have more time to devote to helping guide our best work online as well as in print. Mary Ann has been an editor at The Times for 25 years, showing a steady hand in some of the biggest stories. On her first day flying solo as an assignment editor in National, federal agents in Texas stormed the Branch Davidian compound. She has been an essential part of helping guide our coverage of four presidential elections, the Oklahoma City bombing, the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina. After leaving national to become executive news editor, she was in the A1 chair the night U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden. She is an L.A. native and graduated with a journalism degree from USC, beginning her career at PBS and the (departed) Herald Examiner. Steve Marble, an assistant editor on the Foreign/National desk, will take on a new assignment that will be familiar to him obits editor. Steve will manage, freshen and add to our store of prepared obituaries. He also will work across the paper, assigning editing and occasionally writing obits, and be the assigning editor for obits written off the news. Steve is a native Californian (from Pasadena) who began his career at the Daily Pilot and Long Beach Press Telegram. He joined The Times in 1999 as an assistant city editor and spent time at the Orange County edition as well as the city desk in L.A. He was one of the primary editors on the series of stories about corruption in Bell that won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2011. Since 2017, hes been an assistant editor on the foreign/national desk. And please join us in welcoming this group of talented journalists to The Times Emily Baumgaertner Health and Science reporter Advertisement Emily, who currently works in the New York Times Washington Bureau, is coming onto our health and science team. Her reporting experience includes stories on disease outbreaks, breaking news and health policy. For three years, she was a correspondent and project coordinator for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, where she reported for the Atlantic, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post and Scientific American from Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has a masters degree in public health and a bachelor of science in public health from George Washington University and is the author of two publications for scientific journals on cancer genes and traditional medicine in Madagascar. Anita Chabria Sacramento reporter Anita, assistant managing editor at the Sacramento Bee, is joining us as an enterprise reporter in the Sacramento bureau. As a reporter for the Bee, she covered race, immigration, criminal justice and social justice, focusing on accountability journalism as well as breaking news and analaysis. She broke and covered the shooting of a mentally ill black man by police in 2016 stories that led to a new police chief and major reforms in Sacramento. Her previous work has appeared in the Guardian U.S., USA Today, the L.A. Times and Voice of San Diego, among other publications. She has an undergraduate degree from UC Santa Cruz and a graduate degree in journalism from UC Berkeley. Paul Feldman Assistant Editor, Foreign/National Advertisement Paul, long a mainstay of our Spring Street newsroom, is returning to The Times as an editor in Foreign/National. His familiar bearded face reappeared in the El Segundo newsroom a few months ago when he returned on a contract to help us out, displaying his wit, incisive editing touch and a very small slice of his famous book collection. We quickly realized how much we had missed him. Paul started at the paper in 1983 as a reporter in the South Bay edition, later moving downtown to cover various beats and amass more than 1,500 bylines, including some on the coverage of the L.A. Riots and the Northridge earthquake, both of which won spot news Pulitzer Prizes. He went on to become an assistant Metro editor, deputy Metro editor and assistant Foreign editor before leaving in late 2015. His career also included stops at the Lawrence (Mass.) Eagle-Tribune, the (Madison) Wisconsin State Journal and the Bergen (N.J.) Record. After leaving The Times, he worked as a staff writer for Fair Warning, a consumer journalism website. Stuart Leavenworth Assistant Metro Editor Stuart joins the metro assignment desk from the McClatchy Washington, D.C., bureau, where he was a national correspondent covering environment, science, energy, climate change and Asian affairs. He was previously Beijing Bureau Chief for McClatchy, and his work has appeared in the New York Times, National Geographic, the Guardian and the Christian Science Monitor. Earlier in his career, he worked at the Sacramento Bee, as a reporter and, for four years, editor of its editorial page. This background makes Stuart an ideal editor to help us chronicle California and keep The Times at the center of the conversation about its future. He has a bachelors degree from UC Santa Cruz and a masters in journalism from Columbia University. His reporting has won several awards, including the National Press Foundations Thomas Stokes award for energy writing in 2003. Richard Martin Assistant Metro Editor Advertisement Richard joins our metro assignment desk from the Baltimore Sun, where he has been senior editor for criminal justice and education since 2014 and guided the papers coverage of the death of Freddie Gray and its aftermath. Richard has deep experience guiding accountability journalism, fighting for access to public documents and bringing nuance and context to the many issues facing the criminal justice system today. His previous experience includes stints as an assistant metro editor at the Tampa Bay Times and Seattle Times. Previously, he was city editor at the Californian in Salinas and an editor at Florida Today in Melbourne, Fla., and at the Pacific Daily News in Guam. He has a bachelors degree from the University of Guam and is a member of the Asian American Journalists Assn. Michael Ordona The Envelope, reporter Michael, a longtime Times freelancer, is joining us as a reporter on The Envelope, where hell work with Elena Howe on our coverage of film, television and music awards and award contenders. Michael has written for our Calendar and Envelope sections for 12 years, and has extensively covered film, television and music with special interests in awards season, the Marvel Comics Universe and animation. He has also been a regular contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle, and his movie reviews can be found on Common Sense Media. A versatile writer, Michaels most notable stories include a joint interview with Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Thomas Anderson, plus deep dives into the Hurt Locker sniper scene and the climactic transformation in Black Swan. More recent standout features include Envelope cover stories on Rami Malek and Alfonso Cuaron, and a Chronicle column on whitewashing in the MCU. Michael earned his degree from USCs Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism but still roots for Bay Area teams even though hes lived in L.A. twice as long as in Berkeley. He is also the proud father of twin 10-year-olds (a boy and a girl), who, he notes, now write film reviews as well. Mark Puente LAPD reporter Advertisement Mark joins Metro to cover the Los Angeles Police Department. Mark is a longtime investigative reporter who produced a string of big scoops at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Baltimore Sun and most recently the Tampa Bay Times. He specializes in law enforcement accountability, and his stories have exposed wrongdoing and corruption. His digging into brutality in the Baltimore Police Department led to widespread outrage, a federal investigation and served as a bellwether for the Freddie Gray scandal that would later grip the nation. In Florida, Mark exposed weak regulators who allowed job placement services to rip off the public. Mark is a shoe-leather reporter known for his relentlessness and drive. He became a journalist after working as a truck driver for 14 years an experience, he says, that has helped me connect with sources from all walks of life. He has a bachelors degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Richard Read Seattle correspondent Rich joins us as our Northwest correspondent based in Seattle. Rich spent more than two decades at the Oregonian in Portland, where he won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting for a series that illustrated the domestic impact of the Asian economic crisis by profiling the local industry that exports frozen French fries. He was part of a four-person team (including our own Kim Christensen) that won the Pulitzer for public service for a series detailing INS abuses in 2001, and was a 2008 finalist, with a team, for stories on the semiconductor industry expanding in China. Since 2016, he was one of three members of an investigative team at NerdWallet, uncovering student-loan debt-relief scams and exposing conflicts of interest in the USDAs enforcement and regulation of the organic food industry. While at the Oregonian, he was Asia bureau chief, based in Tokyo, for five years and, upon returning to Portland, covered international business as well as education. Hes a graduate of Amherst College, with a degree in English, and did graduate study in economics and law at Harvard. Alice Short Senior Editor/Column One Advertisement Alice, one of the papers finest editors, is rejoining us as a senior editor. She will work with Steve Padilla on Column One as well as other major enterprise. Throughout her career, as a reporter and editor, Alice has shown an exceptional flair for narrative writing and editing, showcasing her expertise on an extraordinarily broad range of subjects. She spent seven years as assistant managing editor for features, overseeing travel, books, fashion, food, home and health, before her departure in January 2016 to work as a freelance writer. During her time away, she continued to guide special projects for the paper, including the popular and successful Year End section. She also wrote delightful pieces for Travel, including stories from Malta, Sicily, San Antonio, New Orleans and Mexico. Earlier at The Times, she assisted in the birth of the daily feature section that was then called Life & Style and was editor of the Los Angeles Times Magazine for five years. She also has been daily Calendar editor and was an editor in metro working with some of our finest writers. Her stint as the assignment editor for our late food critic Jonathan Gold earned her screen time, as well, in the heralded documentary City of Gold. Alice, who is a past president of the Society of Features Journalism, has a bachelors degree in history from UCLA. She and her husband, Steve, live in Mar Vista. These latest additions fill positions that have long been vacant. Our editorial staff, though still significantly smaller than we were three years ago, has grown by more than 25% since Patrick acquired The Times in June. Meanwhile, we continue to develop new areas of coverage for new audiences on new platforms. We recognize that our legacy print business remains in secular decline, and the recent round of layoffs announced by some of the most prominent digital media companies, suggests that many of the new businesses they and we are developing, while promising, arent yet profitable. We shall continue to add to the staff in coming months even as we review all our operations to see where we can be more efficient all with an eye toward rebuilding while investing in new opportunities for growth. Advertisement We are incredibly optimistic about our future because we see so many opportunities for talented journalists to pursue great ideas and great stories. Maty Drame, an employee at odd-jobs platform Task Rabbit, assembles IKEA furniture at the apartment of customer Jessica Reznik in Washington Heights in the New York City borough of Manhattan, New York, U.S., October 21, 2018. Reuters This photo provided by Hyundai Heavy Industries shows the firm's "Goliath Cranes" in Ulsan. Yonhap Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world's largest shipyard by sales, is set to buy its smaller local rival Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) said Tuesday. KDB said Samsung Heavy Industries, a major South Korean shipyard, has stated its intention not to join the race to take over Daewoo Shipbuilding. Hyundai Heavy and KDB will sign a formal deal in early March, according to the state-run lender. Last month, the two signed a temporary deal. KDB is Daewoo Shipbuilding's main creditor, with a 55.7 percent stake in the company. Under the deal estimated at over 2 trillion won ($1.78 billion), KDB will hand over its Daewoo Shipbuilding stock to Hyundai Heavy and buy 1.5 trillion won of Hyundai Heavy stock to be issued later. The policy lender will also consider extending 1 trillion won in financial help to Daewoo Shipbuilding. In return, Hyundai Heavy will be split into two entities, with one to be listed on the market. Hyundai Heavy will also sell its stock to KDB. Should the deal proceed as planned, Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings, the parent of Hyundai Heavy, will hold a 26 percent stake in the new entity, with KDB owning 18 percent. KDB chairman Lee Dong-gull said earlier that the deal is expected to be completed in five to six months. If the takeover goes ahead, the South Korean shipbuilding industry is expected to be dominated by two major shipbuilders Hyundai Heavy and Samsung Heavy. South Korean shipbuilders, once a cornerstone of the country's economic growth and job creation, had been reeling from mounting losses in the past few years, caused by an industry-wide slump and a glut of vessels amid tough competition with Chinese rivals. The government has been hoping that the local shipbuilding industry could be overhauled in a way that two major players would dominate to better compete against Chinese rivals and tackle industry ups and downs. Daewoo Shipbuilding ended a debt rescheduling program in August 2001 after being told to streamline operations in August 1999. Its parent Daewoo Group collapsed under heavy debt in the wake of the 1997 financial crisis. In 2009, KDB put Daewoo Shipbuilding back on the block after scrapping a deal to sell a controlling stake in the shipyard to Hanwha Group. So far, up to 10 trillion won has been spent to salvage Daewoo Shipbuilding. The combination of the two shipbuilders would create an unrivaled player in the sector. As of last year, Hyundai Heavy had an order backlog totaling 11.14 million compensated gross tons (CGTs), the largest among others in the sector. The comparable figure for Daewoo Shipbuilding was 5.84 million CGTs. Their combined order backlog accounts for 21.2 percent of the total around the globe. (Yonhap) Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, has met with United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to discuss ways to cooperate in the technology sector, official reports said Tuesday. Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi posted a photo of his meeting with Lee in Dubai, where the World Government Summit 2019 is underway, on his Twitter account early Tuesday (Seoul time). More than 4,000 global leaders, including heads of state, ministers and business leaders, gathered for the annual summit in Dubai to discuss future trends and issues. Samsung confirmed their meeting in Dubai, but said Lee didn't attend the summit held from Feb. 10-12. UAE media reported that Lee and the crown prince shared opinions on how to expand cooperation in IT and 5G technology. Lee's visit to UAE came while Samsung is seeking ways to expand its foothold in the Middle Eastern market to woo deep-pocketed customers amid flagging demand for premium smartphones. Last month, Samsung opened a new multi-experience store at the Dubai Mall, displaying the full suite of its connected devices and other gadgets in the showroom. During his visit to Abu Dhabi in early 2018, President Moon Jae-in met with Crown Prince to discuss ways to upgrade bilateral relations in such areas as energy, technology and culture. (Yonhap) By Jun Ji-hye LG Uplus launched new internet protocol television (IPTV) service to offer tailored information such as health and tourism information to users over 50 years old, the telecom firm said Tuesday. The service, "U+tv Bravo Life," offers health programs jointly created by the mobile carrier and Seoul National University Hospital. The user-friendly interface also offers various categories including tourism and hobbies. "We launched the new IPTV service for active senior citizens who want to learn and enjoy things after retirement," said Lee Geon-yeong, a vice president who heads the home and media product unit at LG Uplus, during a media briefing held in Seoul. "We will continue to work hard to offer new IPTV services, useful information and a variety of fun activities to users in different age groups." Before launching the new service, the mobile carrier surveyed users in their 50s and 60s to better reflect their needs. The survey showed that users over 50 expressed an active attitude toward life after retirement, the firm said. Some respondents said there were no reliable health programs, while others said most variety shows these days are oriented towards the younger generation. U+tv Bravo Life offers 158 self-production programs that are tailored to tastes of users over 50, the company said, noting that medical staff at Seoul National University Hospital participated in producing 90 programs focused on health information. Through the programs, users can listen at home to in-depth explanations about health from medical specialists. Nine programs show successful cases of others who found second jobs after retirement. These jobs include baristas and calligraphers. The programs also offer topics such as initial investment to establish a business. Other programs offer useful information on how to use high-tech smartphones, how to utilize Google Map and how to book flight tickets through Skyscanner. As part of the drill, Venezuelan air force troops at Guicaipuro Fort, in northern state of Miranda, deployed Russian-made 9M317 and Igla-S surface-to-air missiles. The 9M317 is a medium-range missile that can hit targets up to 50 km away, while the Igla-S is a man-portable missile with a 6 km reach. Maduro said he will make "the sufficient investment for Venezuela" to strengthen its anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense system, and equip the militia with "even the most modern missiles in the world." "These Igla-S and the thousands and thousands coming will be in the hands of the people, armed for anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense, to make our cities and towns impenetrable," he added. The militia is a civilian force founded in 2008 to supplement the armed forces. The military exercises, which mark the 200th anniversary of the historic Battle of Angostura, will continue until February 15. Former chief justice faces trial for interfering in rulings Yang Sung-tae, who served as Supreme Court chief justice from 2011 to 2017, was indicted Monday for allegedly manipulating politically sensitive rulings to help the former ousted President Park Geun-hye in exchange for support in establishing a separate supreme court of appeals. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office indicted the former chief justice on 47 charges related to his involvement in the judiciary abuse scandal after a probe that began in June 2018. The prosecution also indicted, without physical detention, two other former top court justices, Park Byong-dae and Ko Young-han, for their alleged involvement in the scandal. Many Koreans have to feel disappointed by Yang's indictment. It is a huge shame for the nation that a former chief justice has been indicted on criminal charges for the first time in the judiciary's 71-year history. The prosecution's investigation showed there are about 100 judges involved in the charges against Yang. The scandal has triggered grave public concerns about the health of the nation's justice system. In light of the loss of public trust, the judiciary has been initiating self-reform measures. In November 2018, judges from courts nationwide participated in a rare vote to impeach the sitting judges implicated in the scandal. Yang, who is at the center of the trial manipulation scandal, was arrested last month for abusing his power and meddling in politically sensitive trials in favor of the Park administration. According to the prosecution, Yang abused his power during his tenure as Supreme Court chief, by, among others, attempting to delay a court ruling on a compensation suit filed by wartime forced laborers against Japanese companies. Prosecutors accused him of purposely delaying the deliberation of the lawsuit in exchange for favors from President Park, who sought to improve relations with Japan. After Moon took office in 2017, the Supreme Court ordered the Japanese firms to compensate the Korean victims of forced labor during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation. The former chief justice is also accused of meddling in the trial of Won Sei-hoon, the former head of the National Intelligence Service accused of conducting an online opinion campaign to support Park during the 2012 presidential election. These are only some of the irregularities that reportedly took place at the Supreme Court while Yang was in office. He has also been accused of leaking state secrets and dereliction of duty. Many Koreans are annoyed by Yang as he does not seem to realize the gravity of his actions. During the investigation, he continued to deny any wrongdoing and blamed the people who worked under him. During future hearings, he should deliver only a truthful account of his actions, if he has any respect for the people. The court should do all it can to proceed with Yang's trial in a fair manner. First cases of 'regulatory sandbox' will be basis for innovative growth The Moon Jae-in administration gave the go-ahead to regulatory exemption applications from four businesses Monday. The companies are the first to be allowed into the government's "regulatory sandbox" an initiative to induce more firms to innovate their businesses free from administrative red tape. Under the new policy, Hyundai Motor will install hydrogen charging stations in four locations in Seoul, including one at the National Assembly complex. The other three companies are Macrogen's expanded gene testing service to predict diseases, JG Industry's installation of LCD and LED advertising panels on buses, and Charzin's electric charging stations using ordinary 220-volt outlets. What the four businesses have in common is they would be unimaginable under the current laws and regulations because of environmental, safety and other concerns. Therefore, the authorities concerned will have to change their way of thinking in screening future applications. There are of course systems and values that require protection. The officials should be careful not to violate them. At the same time, however, businesses will no longer have to bury their hard-developed products and services without having any opportunity to put them on the market. The introduction of the regulatory sandbox is significant in this regard. Local industrialists, who have looked for investment opportunities in the country, are also reportedly expressing high expectations for the new system. On Monday alone, the first day of implementing the sandbox rule, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy received 19 applications for exemptions from regulations. To boost economic growth in a downward business cycle, there is no other way but to create new opportunities through regulatory reform. "I hope you will manage the system in ways to approve in principle all applications, as long as they do no harm to life, safety and health," President Moon said. We can hardly agree more. Moon's economic team ought to keep this in mind when screening the applications. Only then will innovation start in industrial fields and new businesses be launched. It is also where the creation of more jobs, the most significant economic issue in Korea, can begin. By Choi Sung-jin Dear Chairman Kim Jong-un, Two weeks from now, you will meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Vietnam, having your second date in about eight months. Your first meeting in Singapore last June proved terrific, at least for you and your people. The U.S. leader, who had long mocked and threatened you, confessed that he and you "fell in love" after just hours of seeing each other, making some of Trump's close friends, especially Shinzo Abe, mortally jealous of you. Trump is, of course, an old and shrewd ex-realty dealer very good at hiding his inner feelings. Nor can one predict what this whimsical and megalomaniacal politician's next move will be. Anyway, so far, so good, it seems. It would help if you thought of what you've "actually" got in the following months, however. You have refrained from conducting nuclear tests and missile launches for nearly 15 months, destroyed some testing facilities and launch pads, and repatriated the remains of fallen U.S. soldiers during the Korea War seven decades ago. Your critics say these are all cosmetic moves that did not weaken your nuclear ability in any significant way. Still, these were better than what you got in return suspension of annual war games jointly held by the U.S. and South Korea probably because realistic Trump thought of them as a waste of money. To sum up, you have given not much in substance and received even less. If your second meeting with Trump ends up in a similar way, both you and your U.S. counterpart will face a significant backlash at home, to the point of losing momentum to go on. That may explain why representatives of you and Trump had an unusually long working-level meeting in Pyongyang recently, and plan to do so again in the lead-up to your Feb. 27-28 reunion. Guessing games are now rampant in the capitals of involved countries over what you and Trump are ready to give and take a couple of weeks from now. Pessimists say there will be another "small deal," but optimists bet on a "big deal" while realists opt for a "midsize deal" in between. Even the so-called experts have different definitions and standards as to what is big or small. The consensus here, however, seems to regard it a small deal if you stop at promising to destroy nuclear facilities in Yongbyon and/or suspend developing ICBMs, and Trump eases part of economic sanctions by, for instance, agreeing to the resumption of inter-Korean industrial projects or give security guarantees in abstract terms. If you present a comprehensive roadmap on denuclearization, complete with a specific schedule, and Trump reciprocates it with the assurance of diplomatic normalization and drastic lifting of sanctions, it will be a big deal. The midsize deal will be somewhere in between, content with declaratory accord but without specific action plans or a timetable. For your South Korean counterpart, President Moon Jae-in, a small deal could be worse than no deal at all by guaranteeing the security of only Americans and giving you some economic breathing room while continuing to expose the South to your nuclear weapons. You'd better avoid alienating the South like this not least because much of real economic aid will come from Seoul, not Washington, particularly in the early stages of your economic reform. Nor will you be able to remain in the gray zone by seeking an abstract midsize deal. That leaves you with only one final option seeking a big deal. I, of course, understand your anxiety. It is not certain your U.S. counterpart will remain at his post for another two years. Your late father saw the hard-won deal in 1994 go up in smoke with the change of political power in America. The situation may not be very different in South Korea in this regard if Moon keeps losing his approval rating like now because of poor economic performances. Ironically, however, the political uncertainty in these democratic countries is why you should step up building trust with Washington and Seoul. Trump's Democratic successor will be a far stricter negotiator, maybe a woman. Moon's conservative successor will undo most of what the liberal leader did, as Lee Myung-bak did with Roh Moo-hyun. Many experts on both sides of the Pacific are skeptical you will give up nuclear weapons entirely. You must prove these wet blankets wrong by presenting clearly what you would do and expect to get from America in return. You may be afraid you would follow the paths of Moammar Gadhafi or Saddam Hussein. However, you don't have to if you judge well. As I know, you adhered to Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, instead of holiday resort Da Nang, as the venue for rendezvous. That must be because you want to learn from the Southeast Asian country's successful transformation from the archenemy of America and impoverished country to one of the U.S. best friends and prospering "socialist market" economy. It would be best if you persuaded Trump and other U.S. officials your weapons program was not for nuclear armament but disarmament. To win the heart of a half-hearted lover, one needs to be bolder and more candid. Time has not been on your side and will never be, either. Choi Sung-jin is a Korea Times columnist. Contact him at choisj1955@naver.com. At a time when Imran Khan is facing an uphill task in trying to revive Pakistan's crumbling economy, the PM has said that he would have sent people for Haj free of cost had the country not been under the burden of debts. Khan has been at the receiving end of severe backlash - most of it from opposition parties - after his government withdrew the subsidy given on Haj for this year, on January 31. Many have questioned the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government for getting rid of the subsidy in an Islamic state. It a bid to shield his government from the onslaught, Khan pointed the accusatory finger at previous governments. "If you hadn't left the country in this condition (and) if we didn't have so many debts, then we would certainly send pilgrims (to Haj) for free," he was quoted as saying by Dawn. He also blamed the previous governments for being oblivious to the country's debt which, he claimed, had gone up from Pakistani Rs 6,000 billion to Pakistani Rs 30,000 billion in 10 years. Khan further said that while his government is sensitive to the needs of people, it is also committed to taking Pakistan out of its current economic state. Khan won the elections in August of last year on the back of the promise of fighting corruption and poverty. To many, it seemed like an arduous task but supporters maintain that expecting an overnight miracle is unfair. Pakistan has been in talks with the International Monetary Fund for yet another bailout package while it has also been looking at China and Saudi Arabia for financial assistance. Officials have signed a short-term agreement to boost South Korea's contribution toward the upkeep of U.S. troops on the peninsula, after a previous deal lapsed amid U.S. President Donald Trump's call for the South to pay more. Having U.S. troops on the ground just became more expensive for South Korea. On Sunday (February 10), it signed a new short-term agreement with Washington which boosts Seoul's contribution towards the upkeep of American troops. SOUTH KOREAN FOREIGN MINISTER, KANG KYUNG-WHA, SAYING: "I think at this point, we will be able to close the gap on the total amount of the number." Since his Singapore meeting with Kim Jong Un in June, U.S. President Donald Trump has been pressuring Seoul to pay more for American soldiers. In the aftermath of the summit, he even announced he'd stop joint military exercises with South Korea, saying they're much too expensive. U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING: "We will be saving a tremendous amount of money, plus I think it's very provocative." That sparked tension between Seoul and Washington. Since their previous deal lapsed, the two have struggled to reach a breakthrough over how much the South should pay and it's taken 10 rounds of talks since March. Last month, a senior South Korean official said negotiations were deadlocked after the U.S. made a sudden and "unacceptable" demand that Seoul pay more than a billion dollars per year. That sparked fears among analysts and lawmakers that Trump could potentially pull some of his troops from the South, something he's done in other countries like Syria. The new deal still needs to be approved by the country's parliament but the South will end up paying tens of millions of dollars more than 2018. ACTING DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECURITY AND SENIOR ADVISOR FOR SECURITY NEGOTIATIONS AND AGREEMENTS IN THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE'S, TIMOTHY BETTS, SAYING: "We realize, the United States' government realizes that Korea does a lot for our alliance and for peace and stability in this region." But unlike past deals, which would hold for five years, the new one is due to expire in 2020. That may force both sides back to the bargaining table within months. (Reuters) U.S. Marines from 3rd Marine Expeditionary force deployed from Okinawa, Japan, cover themselves in snow with South Korean marines during a winter military training on January 8, 2015 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk U.S. Marines from 3rd Marine Expeditionary force deployed from Okinawa, Japan, cover themselves in snow with South Korean marines during a winter military training on January 8, 2015 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk BEIRUT: Kurdish-led fighters battling to capture Islamic State`s last major stronghold in Syria are making "slow and methodical" progress, the U.S.-led coalition backing them said on Tuesday. "The enemy is fully entrenched and ISIS fighters continue to conduct counter attacks," coalition spokesman Colonel Sean Ryan said in an email, adding it was "too early for a timetable" on when the operation might end. Baghouz, a village on the east bank of the Euphrates at Syria`s border with Iraq, is Islamic State`s last territorial foothold in the U.S.-led coalition`s area of operations. However, the jihadists still hold land in central Syria in a remote desert area otherwise controlled by the government. In places it lost in Syria and Iraq, Islamic State was able to go to ground and has carried out deadly guerrilla attacks. Even after Baghouz is captured, there will have to be clearing operations to rid the village of explosive booby traps left by Islamic State to kill civilians, Ryan said. The battle is being waged by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia, which has seized about a quarter of the country, mostly through the U.S.-backed offensive against Islamic State. On Monday, columns of white smoke from coalition air strikes were visible and trucks crammed with fleeing civilians drove along a dusty track out of the enclave, a Reuters witness said. Coalition air power, crucial to the SDF`s advances, has levelled entire districts of towns and cities in the fight against Islamic State, though it says it takes care to avoid hitting civilians. On Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 70 civilians had been killed and wounded by air strikes that it said struck a camp for civilians in Baghouz, and that 16 civilians were killed in strikes overnight. In letters to the United Nations, Syria`s Foreign Ministry condemned U.S.-led strikes that it said killed 16 civilians in a camp in Baghouz including women and children. "Syria calls on the (U.N.) Security Council again to stop these crimes...and end the aggressive, illegitimate presence of American and other foreign forces," the ministry said. Ryan said the coalition was aware of the report and was looking into it. "The coalition continues to strike at ISIS targets whenever available," he said. SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said on Monday many civilians remained in Baghouz, compelling the fighters to proceed cautiously. The SDF believes 400-600 jihadists may still be dug in there. ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's former army chief General Raheel Sharif, who is heading a Saudi Arabia-led Islamic military coalition, on Tuesday called on Prime Minister Imran Khan and exchanged views on regional peace and stability besides discussing matters of mutual interest. Saudi Arabia acquired the services of General Raheel, who retired in November 2016, as head of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) in 2017. The IMCTC was cobbled together in December 2015 to combat terrorism . Sharif, who is considered to be close to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, is leading a delegation of IMCTC - the 41-nation military coalition - to Pakistan. During the meeting, Khan and Sharif "exchanged views on regional peace and stability besides discussing matters of mutual interest", state-run Radio Pakistan reported. Sharif, who arrived in Islamabad Sunday ahead of the Saudi crown prince's maiden two-day trip starting February 16, has been busy meeting political and military bigwigs since then. He has met Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa. Sharif apprised Qureshi of the measures that are being taken by the coalition in order to combat terrorism, said a statement by the Foreign Office. The foreign minister "lauded the efforts of the coalition force to establish peace and stability in the region". The two also talked about the importance of regional peace and stability and other matters of mutual interest. A press release issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media arm of the army, said "matters of mutual interest including regional peace and stability" were discussed during Gen Sharif's meeting with Gen Bajwa. The former army chief has said the basic objective of IMCTC was to fight against the menace of terrorism until its eradication. The Saudi government had surprised many countries by announcing that it had forged a coalition for coordinating and supporting military operations against terrorism in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan. Iran, Saudi Arabia's arch rival for influence in the Arab world, was absent from the states named as participants, as proxy conflicts between the two regional powers rage from Syria to Yemen. In December last year, General Raheel dismissed the notion that the military coalition was aimed against any particular country, nation or sect without any mentions. NEW YORK: The world`s most infamous cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who rose from poverty in rural Mexico to run a global drug empire and amass billions of dollars, was found guilty in a U.S. court on Tuesday of drug trafficking. Jurors in federal court in Brooklyn found Guzman, 61, guilty on all 10 counts. He now faces a possible sentence of life in prison. Guzman, one of the major figures in Mexican drug wars that have roiled the country since 2006, was extradited to the United States for trial in 2017 after he was arrested in Mexico the year before. Though other high-ranking cartel figures had been extradited previously, Guzman was the first to go to trial instead of pleading guilty. The trial, which featured testimony from more than 50 witnesses, offered the public an unprecedented look at the inner workings of the Sinaloa Cartel, named for the state in northwestern Mexico where Guzman was born in a poor mountain village. The legend of Guzman was burnished by two dramatic escapes he made from Mexican prisons and by a "Robin Hood" image he cultivated among Sinaloa`s poor. U.S. prosecutors said he trafficked tons of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine into the United States over more than two decades, consolidating his power in Mexico through murders and wars with rival cartels. Small in stature, Guzman`s nickname means "Shorty." His smuggling exploits, the violence he used and the sheer size of his illicit business made Guzman the world`s most notorious drug baron since Colombia`s Pablo Escobar, who was shot dead by police in 1993. Guzman`s lawyers say he was set up as a fall guy by Ismael El Mayo Zambada, a powerful drug lord from Sinaloa who remains at large. DRUG WARS Mexico has been mired for 12 years in a deadly military-led war against drug gangs. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was elected last year after promising a change, suggesting a negotiated peace and amnesty for non-violent drug dealers, traffickers and farmers. The most detailed evidence against Guzman came from more than a dozen former associates who struck deals to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors. Through them, jurors heard how the Sinaloa Cartel gained power amid the shifting allegiances of the Mexican drug trade in the 1990s, eventually coming to control almost the entire Pacific coast of Mexico. They heard how Guzman made a name for himself in the 1980s as "El Rapido," the speedy one, by building cross-border tunnels that allowed him to move cocaine from Mexico into the United States faster than anyone else. The witnesses, who included some of Guzman`s top lieutenants, a communications engineer and a onetime mistress, described how he built a sophisticated organization reminiscent of a multinational corporation, with fleets of planes and boats, detailed accounting ledgers and an encrypted electronic communication system run through secret computer servers in Canada. A former bodyguard testified that he watched Guzman kill three rival drug cartel members, including one victim who he shot and then ordered to be buried even as he was still gasping for air. Estimates of how much money Guzman made from drugs vary. In 2009, Forbes Magazine put him on its list of the worlds richest people, with an estimated $1 billion. It later dropped him from the list, saying it was too difficult to quantify his assets. The U.S. Justice Department said in 2017 it sought forfeiture of more than $14 billion in drug proceeds and illicit profits from Guzman. The trial also featured extensive testimony about corruption in Mexico, most of it involving bribes to law enforcement, military and local government officials so the cartel could carry out its day-to-day drug shipping operations undisturbed. The most shocking allegation came from Guzman`s former top aide Alex Cifuentes, who accused former Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto of taking a $100 million bribe from Guzman. A spokesman for the ex-president has denied the claim. In one of the trial`s final days, Guzman told the judge he would not testify in his own defense. The same day, he grinned broadly at audience member Alejandro Edda, the Mexican actor who plays Guzman in the Netflix drama "Narcos." Despite his ties to government officials, Guzman often lived on the run. Imprisoned in Mexico in 1993, he escaped in 2001 hidden in a laundry cart and spent the following years moving from one hideout to another in the mountains of Sinaloa, guarded by a private army. He was seized and imprisoned again in 2014, but pulled off his best known escape the following year when he disappeared into a tunnel dug into his cell in a maximum security prison. But the Mexican government says he blew his cover through a series of slip ups, including an attempt to make a movie about his life. He was finally recaptured in January 2016 following a shootout in Sinaloa. France: After four decades on the production line at French trainmaker Alstom, Claude Gemino had little sympathy for Emmanuel Macron when Brussels scotched the French president`s hopes of creating a European rail champion. For Gemino and many co-workers at Alstom`s Belfort factory, Macron`s support for the blocked merger with Germany`s Siemens signalled a readiness to put shareholders ahead of jobs and protecting France`s fragile manufacturing sector. But the European Commission`s veto last week has raised doubts about the president`s industrial strategy as he battles to quell unrest over inequality and a perception he is indifferent to the struggles of France`s working class. The workers disdain for Macron`s industrial plan reflects a broader lower-class anger at the former investment banker`s reforms designed to liberalise and invigorate France`s heavily regulated economy. Violent "yellow vest" anti-government protests have convulsed France for the past three months and raised questions over whether the man dubbed the "president of the rich" by left-wingers can make France more competitive. "The order books are apparently pretty full. Management tells us we`re covered for the next four or five years," Gemino, who joined Alstom as a teenage apprentice, said as he passed through the plant`s turnstile. "The future isn`t so bleak." Alstom and Siemens wanted to merge their train manufacturing businesses to compete more effectively against China`s state-owned CRRC, the world`s biggest trainmaker, at a time rail companies globally are looking to consolidate and reduce costs through economies of scale. Alstom`s unions say the company, with booked orders of 40 billion euros ($45 billion), is strong enough to survive alone and they would prefer to take on China without German help. "There will always be a risk, but Alstom and Siemens are capable of looking after themselves, on their own, and of pushing back against China," said Olivier Kohler, an Alstom employee and member of the moderate CFDT union, France`s largest. "Even if there was a merger, their prices would still be lower." Asked if Alstom could compete globally alone, an official in Macron`s office said: "In the short term, yes. It`s making money. The problem is the long term," they said. SHORT-TERM WIN At the foot of Belfort`s imposing citadel stands a giant statue of a lion carved out of red sandstone, symbolising the town`s resistance against German forces during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. Nowadays, it`s Alstom`s fate in the face of foreign competition that weighs heavily on the collective psyche of Belfort, a town of 50,000 near Germany and Switzerland where the iconic high-speed TGV (Train a Grande Vitesse) is made. "Alstom is part of the town`s identity," said retired SNCF railworker Georges Pagnoncelle. "But French industrial groups keep on being bought by foreign firms, and jobs keep disappearing from France." Alstom`s unions were worried that a merger with Siemens would lead to the bleeding of jobs in France, but acknowledged the European Commission`s veto was only a short-term reprieve. The threat from China and trainmakers in other emerging economies such as South Korea will persist and future alliances cannot be ruled out. Frustrated by the rejection of the Siemens-Alstom deal, Paris and Berlin now want to loosen European competition rules to take a more global view. Unionised managers at Belfort said they understood why the French government might want to merge Alstom with Siemens, but maintained that any such move must be on a 50-50 footing, protect jobs and fit into a clearer long-term strategy. Under the terms of the proposal, the German conglomerate would have taken a stake of 50 percent plus a few shares in Alstom with an undertaking not to boost its holding above 50.5 percent in the first four years. Alstom workers said Siemens would have been left in the driving seat. "We need a political vision for French industry," said Andre Fages of the CFE-CGC union that represents management, stressing the need for investment in research and development. "Our politicians say France needs a strong rail industry. But when they want to buy trains, they want them at Chinese prices." MACRON CONUNDRUM Alstom was Belfort`s biggest employer until 2014 when it sold its turbine manufacturing business to US company General Electric. Two years later, the then-Socialist government threw a lifeline 630-million-euro order for TGVs it did not yet need to stop Alstom shutting down the Belfort production line. In a reflection of France`s industrial decline, Alstom`s TGV plant is now surrounded by towering structures bearing General Electric`s logo. Across a rail track stand rows of violet-shuttered terraced dwellings that once housed Alstom workers. The town`s mayor, Damien Meslot, said the trainmaker now employed just 480 workers in Belfort, one of a dozen Alstom sites across France. General Electric, which France fined last week for reneging on a commitment to create 1,000 jobs, has some 4,000 staff in Belfort. High labour costs, a lack of automation and insufficient investment in innovation have eroded French industrial competitiveness since the late 1990s, according to economists. France produces the same quality of products as Spain but at a labour cost that is 20 percent higher, said Patrick Artus, chief economist at French bank Natixis. He said French workers were only fractionally cheaper than German employees in terms of unit cost, but produced an inferior product. "I keep telling French politicians that we sell Renault cars with the wages of BMW workers," Artus said. France`s weak competitiveness underscores the conundrum Macron faces as he searches for a way to take the sting out of the "yellow vest" rebellion. The anti-Macron protesters, many of whom are low-income blue-collar workers, have railed since November against Macron`s reforms to liberalise the economy and create a better trained, more highly skilled and flexible labour force. There are signs the reforms are bearing fruit. The protesters, though, want more protection from foreign corporations, a higher minimum salary and more money in household coffers. Macron has already bolstered pay for the lowest earners this year. More increases would only weaken French competitiveness, and productivity still needs to rise, economists say. "I don`t see how Macron will get out of this crisis," Artus said. In Belfort`s town hall, framed photographs of Alstom`s factory adorn the office of the mayor, who is a member of the conservative opposition party Les Republicains. Meslot said Macron and the president`s socialist predecessor, Francois Hollande, had abandoned French industry, putting shareholder dividends over long-term strategy. "No one knows what will become of the Alstom Belfort plant. For the town`s mayor, that`s a worry," Meslot said. He is one of the world's richest man visiting a country that is currently battling rampant poverty and a crumbling economy. Much is pinned on Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman's upcoming visit to Pakistan and while the host country is leaving no stone unturned to woo the royal guest, his own team is leaving nothing to chance. Pakistani media has reported that while bin Salman will arrive sometime this week, his personal belongings have already begun arriving in the country. From his exercise equipment to furniture and personal belongings, bin Salman can reportedly expect a home away from home in Islamabad. In fact, five fully-loaded trucks with bin Salman's belongings have already reached the Pakistani capital. According to Dawn, while the prince will stay at the Prime Minister House in Islamabad, two luxury hotels in the city have been completely booked for his entourage. Another two luxury hotels here have been partially booked for the guests. It is reported that the security team of bin Salman reached Pakistan on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday while a contingent of Saudi media have also arrived to cover the visit. While luxury is something the heir to the oil-rich kingdom is accustomed to, Pakistan still hopes to make an impression on bin Salman with an eye on financial aid packages from Saudi Arabia. It is being reported that Riyadh has already worked out a record investment package for the country which includes a $10 billion refinery and oil complex at Gwadar Port. Pakistan also hopes that its long-standing ties with Saudi Arabia can - in addition to financial assistance from China - help it tide over the current economic crisis. Washington: China and Russia have developed robust and capable space services and the two countries pose a challenge and threat to the space capabilities of the US, the Pentagon has said. Chinese and Russian military doctrines indicate they view space as important to modern warfare and counterspace capabilities as a means to reduce US and allied military effectiveness, the Pentagon said in a report released by the Defense Intelligence Agency. The report "Challenges to Security in Space" examines the space and counterspace programmes that could challenge the US or partner interests in the space domain. Noting that both countries have developed robust and capable space services, including space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, the report said China and Russia were making improvements to existing systems including space launch vehicles and satellite navigation constellations. "These capabilities provide their militaries with the ability to command and control their forces worldwide with enhanced situational awareness, enabling them to monitor, track and target US and allied forces," it said. Running into more than 40 pages, the report mentions India a few times and describes China and Russia as a major challenger to the US, Iran and North Korea as other space challenges. The Pentagon lists India as one of the nine countries and one international organisation which can independently launch spacecraft: China, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Russia, North Korea, South Korea, the United States, and the European Space Agency (from French Guiana). While the European Union, Russia and the US satellite navigation constellations offer global coverage, Japan and India operate regional systems, it said. China operates both a regional and worldwide satellite navigation system. In its report, the Pentagon said Chinese and Russian space surveillance networks were capable of searching, tracking and characterising satellites in all orbits. This capability supports both space operations and counterspace systems, it said. "Both states are developing jamming and cyberspace capabilities, directed energy weapons, on-orbit capabilities and ground-based antisatellite missiles that can achieve a range of reversible to non-reversible effects," said the report. The report is intended to support a deeper public understanding of key space and counterspace issues and inform open dialogue and partner engagement on these challenges. "Beijing and Moscow will continue to see space as integral to winning modern wars. They are developing systems that pose a threat to freedom of action in space. Both will continue their efforts to enhance their space and counterspace capabilities, and better integrate them into their respective militaries," the report said. The report notes that some actors will seek counterspace capabilities that target the perceived United States and allied reliance on space, including the ability to use secure satellite communications, precision strike capabilities, and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance or ISR assets. Globally, the space industry will continue to expand as technological and cost barriers fall and international partnerships for joint production grow. State, non-state and commercial actors increasingly will have access to information from space. "The number of satellites and debris on orbit will grow concurrently, making tracking satellites, discriminating threats from non-threats, and predicting and preventing collisions a greater challenge," it said. DHAKA: Bangladesh on Tuesday summoned Pakistan's acting high commissioner here to lodge a strong protest against insulting remarks posted on a Pakistani government website against Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. A note verbale was issued by the foreign ministry to acting high commissioner Shah Faisal Kakar. "We summoned him (envoy) and handed him a strongly worded protest note, expressing our discontent over the issue," director general of the foreign ministry's South Asia wing Tareque Muhammad told newsmen. He said the foreign ministry found some derogatory remarks about Bangabandhu at the comments sections of a government website which "could have been barred by the concerned Pakistan authority". He did not elaborate on the content published but another official familiar with the development said the derogatory comments appeared on the website of defence.Pk, which is run by the Pakistani government. Pakistan's envoy evaded questions over the issue while coming out of the Foreign Office and said he was there to discuss several matters. Diplomatic relations between Dhaka and Islamabad have soured since the beginning of the trial and execution of war criminals in Bangladesh. Despite Dhaka's repeated calls to Pakistan not to interfere in the internal matters of Bangladesh, Pakistan opposed Bangladesh's initiatives to bring to justice war criminals. NEW DELHI: The ongoing battle between PewDiePie and Indian music brand T-Series for the YouTube crown is getting quite intense as PewDiePie, which has been most subscribed YouTube channel for the last six years, was just 27,500 subscribers ahead of T-Series at 9:30pm IST on Tuesday. Few hours ago, Irish gamer JackSepticEye had expressed concerned about the possibility of PewDiePie losing the battle with T-Series. JackSepticEye, who is one of the biggest supporters of PewDiePie, had urged his followers to back the Swedish YouTuber. "This is just sad.... you can end this madness by subscribing to PewDiePie! TIME IS RUNNING OUT," he tweeted with a link to Pewds livestream. This is just sad.... you can end this madness by subscribing to PewDiePie! TIME IS RUNNING OUT pic.twitter.com/tH94KqImcz Jacksepticeye (@Jack_Septic_Eye) February 10, 2019 It may be recalled that on February 10, PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, had tweeted 'plan z in 10 min' showing his growing desperation to maintain his top spot. A day earlier, he had tweeted showing his confidence of being at the top and said: "no video today, just to give tseries a feeling of hope." no video today, just to give tseries a feeling of hope (@pewdiepie) February 9, 2019 Meanwhile, PewDiePie supporters are working hard to ensure it does not lose the top spot to T-Series. They have been using several tactics like putting a million dollar billboard in Times Square and circulating a supportive tweet by a right-wing political party in the United Kingdom. T-Series is a household name in India since the 1980s. The music label is led by Bhushan Kumar, the son of T Series founder Gulshan Kumar who was assassinated by the underworld mafia D Company in 1997. T-Series has 29 TV channels in several Indian languages. It hosts some of the biggest Indian artists, drawing millions of views. At the beginning of 2018, T-Series had about 30 million subscribers on its YouTube channel. The introduction of new changes in Indian mobile and data service, the subscriber list sky-rocketed to over 70 million in just six months. Irish gamer JackSepticEye is beginning to get concerned about the possibility of PewDiePie losing the battle with Indian music brand T-Series in the race for the YouTube crown. PewDiePie, which has been the most subscribed YouTube channel for the last six years, was nearly 64,700 subscribers ahead of T-Series at 10 am on Tuesday. One of the biggest supporters of PewDiePie, JackSepticEye said time is running out and urged his followers to back the Swedish YouTuber. "This is just sad.... you can end this madness by subscribing to PewDiePie! TIME IS RUNNING OUT," he tweeted with a link to Pewds livestream. This is just sad.... you can end this madness by subscribing to PewDiePie! TIME IS RUNNING OUT pic.twitter.com/tH94KqImcz Jacksepticeye (@Jack_Septic_Eye) February 10, 2019 PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, had on February 10 tweeted 'plan z in 10 min' showing his growing desperation to maintain his top spot. He had a day earlier tweeted showing his confidence of being at the top and said: "no video today, just to give tseries a feeling of hope." no video today, just to give tseries a feeling of hope (@pewdiepie) February 9, 2019 Meanwhile, PewDiePie and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Elon Musk renewed speculation of the billionaire engineer hosting Meme Review. After keeping fans waiting for several days, Musk replied to the Swedish YouTuber's tweet with a cryptic post. "Slightly suspicious But granted," PewDiePie had tweeted to which Musk replied with "Sorry Had a vital mission in Norway Now I am back." Does this mean the Meme Review will be up soon? With the war drawing in closer between the two rivals, the supporters of PewDiePie are working hard to ensure it does not lose the top spot to T-Series. They have been using several tactics like putting a million dollar billboard in Times Square and circulating a supportive tweet by a right-wing political party in the United Kingdom. His supporters even hacked the Wall Street Journal with a fake post in PewDiePie's favour. T Series, a household name in India since the 1980s, is led by Bhushan Kumar, the son of T Series founder Gulshan Kumar who was assassinated by the underworld mafia D Company in 1997, the company has 29 TV channels in several Indian languages. It hosts some of the biggest Indian artists, drawing millions of views. At the beginning of 2018, T Series had about 30 million subscribers on its YouTube channel. With the introduction of landmark changes in Indian mobile and data service, the subscriber list sky-rocketed to over 70 million in just six months. PewDiePie took the number spot as the most subscribed YouTube channel in 2013 with his comedy acts and video game commentary. He became an instant hit with his videos touching the nerves of young boys. For a brief moment, they must have thought they are already high. But then, the two Houston men had not lit up their joint when they first spotted a mammoth Tiger inside the abandoned property they had chosen to light up in. What followed though was nothing short surreal. Local media reported that the two men called animal rescue officials soon after spotting a Tiger in an abandoned house in southeast Houston. When officials arrived at the scene, they carefully approached the animal which was visibly fat. It is reported that the animal was calm but was still tranquillized as a precaution. Putting it to induced sleep, however, was only half the battle. Then came the question of how to transport it to safety because this was no common Tiger. Some estimates have said that the animal could weigh as much as 300 kilos. Tigers usually weigh 180 to 200 kilos. A cage, nonetheless, was brought in and the animal moved in it. Soon after it regained consciousness, it was transported to a facility used mostly for dogs, cats and farm animals initially. This is WILD! 1000lb tiger found inside abandoned SE Houston home. Some pot smokers went in to home to light up and came face to face with him! Called 311. Hes healthy and onto greener pastures soon. The place is TBD. #khou11 #tiger #houston #htx pic.twitter.com/n4JC5MraYn Lauren Talarico (@KHOULauren) February 11, 2019 Local animal rescue authorities have since said that the animal would now be moved to a wildlife sanctuary elsewhere in Texas even as police officials have launched an investigation into who owned the animal and how it came to be inside the abandoned home. Taxi drivers stage a protest against ridesharing service apps in front of the National Assembly on Yeouido in Seoul, Tuesday, a day after a third protesting taxi driver attempted suicide. / Yonhap By Lee Suh-yoon Following yet another suicide attempt by a cab driver on Monday in protest of ridesharing services, the gap between the taxi industry and the service providers is widening despite government efforts to reach a compromise. More than 100 taxi drivers rallied, Tuesday, to demand a firm government crackdown on app-based ridesharing services. "How many more taxi drivers must die before ridesharing services are halted?" Park Kwon-soo, head of the private taxi union, said at the rally in front of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) headquarters on Yeouido in Seoul. The group also said it was time for President Moon Jae-in to step in and use his executive powers to halt ongoing ridesharing services. "Despite these sacrifices (of taxi drivers who committed or attempted suicide), the government is turning a blind eye to the continuance of unlicensed taxi-like services such as Tada and PoolUs," Park said. "President Moon Jae-in must immediately comply with our request for a face-to-face meeting and solve this problem." On Monday, Kim Guk-sik, 62, became the third taxi driver to set himself on fire in protest of Kakao Mobility's ridesharing service app. His smoking taxi rammed into another vehicle as it tried to make its way inside the gates of the National Assembly, where the third round of negotiations among the government, the DPK, the taxi industry and ridesharing app providers most notably Kakao T were taking place. Security guards pulled Kim from the car and he is now being treated for second-degree burns at a nearby hospital. Leaflets asking people to delete the Kakao ride-hailing app and a memo detailing his discontent with ridesharing services were found inside the car. Earlier that day, Kim attended a taxi drivers' rally against Kakao's app in front of the Assembly. Firefighters inspect the taxi where a driver tried to commit suicide in front of the National Assembly on Yeouido in Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who was stopped by the Uttar Pradesh Police at Lucknow airport on Tuesday, had already been informed by the Allahabad University earlier that no politicians were allowed in any of their programmes. Yadav was heading to Prayagraj to attend a student union function at the university. On Monday, the Registrar of the Allahabad University had written to Yadav's personal secretary, saying that politicians were not allowed in the university events. Allahabad University Registrar had yesterday written to Personal Secretary of Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, informing him that politicians are not allowed in university programmes. pic.twitter.com/q0dawWB8kp ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 12, 2019 Hitting out at Yadav, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the Samajwadi Party should refrain from its anarchist activities. "Allahabad University requested that Akhilesh Yadav's visit may create law and order problem because of the dispute between student organisations. Hence the government took this step," Adityanath said. BSP supremo Mayawati said that the incident was extremely condemnable and asked whether the ruling BJP was afraid of their alliance because of which it is "resorting to anti-democratic methods". She described the episode as "an example of total dictatorship of BJP government". The SP and the BSP recently forged an alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Akhilesh claimed he was stopped at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad University. "The government is afraid of oath ceremony of a student leader and is stopping me at the airport to prevent me from visiting Allahabad," Yadav claimed. He also posted photographs on his official Twitter handle in which he was seen talking to police officers inside the airport. (With inputs from PTI and ANI) New Delhi: Search engine giant Google has announced that it is making a new API available for Google Docs that will allow developers to automate certain tasks in the online office suite. For documents that require consistency, collaboration, and accuracy like invoices, proposals, contracts, and reports the API will help automate common word processing tasks with the real-time editing and collaboration of Docs, Google wrote in a G Suite blog post. Google said that developers can use the Docs API to automate document creation, like creating all of the blank invoices you need for a particular quarter with a single click. Documents that require a template, like legal documents or contracts, can be automated based on user input and monitored with the API as well. Use the Docs API to add user or system-provided data to a document at various stages of a process. Programmatic edits to the same document over time, or to multiple documents at once, can simplify your workflows, the blogpost said. The API is available and accessible by default to all G Suite users and to all G Suite editions. Chandigarh: All accused in the gang rape of a 20-year-old woman in Punjab's Ludhiana district continued to be at large on Monday, two days after the horrific incident. Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Ranbir Singh Khatra admitted that there were lapses by the local police in dealing with the matter due to which such a gruesome crime took place on Saturday night. "Our main priority at this stage is to arrest the accused. There have been other incidents in the area by some gangs," Khatra said. Khatra said that Assistant Sub-Inspector Vijay Rattan had been suspended for dereliction of duty as he had failed to investigate the matter seriously and did not inform his seniors about it after the victim complained about the incident. The Punjab Police on Monday conducted raids at various places in Ludhiana district after a young woman alleged she was gangraped by around 10 men at a farmhouse near Jagraon town after she and her male friend were attacked and abducted. No arrests have been made so far. The victim, aged around 20 years, told the police that she and her friend were going in a car from South City area of Ludhiana city towards Issewal village on Saturday night when their car was attacked with bricks by two men on a motorcycle and she was dragged out. "The car was moving along a canal when the couple were attacked. We have registered a case of rape and under other sections (of Indian Penal Code) against 9-10 persons. They have not been identified yet and their sketches are being prepared," Khatra told the media. The attackers, who were joined by three others, then got into the car and beat up the man (male friend) and took the car to a farmhouse near Jagraon town, around 170 km from here. They also called up a friend of the man from his mobile phone and demanded a ransom of Rs 2 lakh. The friend approached the police following the call but the police did not take immediate action. The couple, who were abducted, were allegedly beaten up at the farmhouse and the woman was gangraped by around 10 men. The couple were set free on Sunday following which they complained to the police regarding the gangrape and the abduction. Los Angeles: Chris Pratt has hit back at actor Ellen Page, who had called out "Guardians of the Galaxy" series star for attending an "infamously anti-LGBTQ" church. Pratt, who identifies as a non-denominational Christian, had advocated about his church Hillsong during an appearance on Stephen Colbert's "The Late Show". After Page's criticism on Twitter, Pratt posted a long message on Instagram Stories, saying that "nothing could be further from the truth". "It has recently been suggested that I belong to a church which 'hates a certain group of people' and is 'infamously anti-LGBTQ.' Nothing could be further from the truth. I go to a church that opens their doors to absolutely everyone," he wrote. Pointing to his split from ex-wife Anna Faris, Pratt said his case is an example of the church opening its doors to "absolutely everyone" "Despite what the Bible says about divorce my church community was there for me every step of the way, never judging, just gracefully accompanying me on my walk,? Pratt said. "They helped me tremendously offering love and support. It is what I have seen them do for others on countless occasions regardless of sexual orientation, race or gender," he added. The actor, however, made it clear that though "faith is important" to him, he is not a "spokesman for any church or any group of people". "My values define who I am. We need less hate in this world, not more. I am a man who believes that everyone is entitled to love who they want free from the judgment of their fellow man," Pratt said. "Jesus said, 'I give you a new command, love one another.' This is what guides me in my life. He is a God of Love, Acceptance and Forgiveness. Hate has no place in my or this world," he added. In her criticism, Page had reacted to Pratt's advocacy of Hillsong, which had infamously made headlines in 2015 after it said that it does not support the LGBTQ lifestyle. The church's global pastor Brian Houston had said that he "holds to traditional Christian thought on gay lifestyles and gay marriage" and "God's word is clear that marriage is between a man and a woman". A day later, Page, who came out as gay in 2014 and is married to choreographer Emma Portner, had tweeted, "If you are a famous actor and you belong to an organization that hates a certain group of people, don't be surprised if someone simply wonders why it's not addressed." "Being anti LGBTQ is wrong, there aren't two sides. The damage it causes is severe. Full stop. Sending love to all," she added. A number of other Christian celebrities like Justin and Hailey Bieber, Kylie and Kendall Jenner and Selena Gomez, are also closely associated with Hillsong. The church was founded in Australia but now has locations in New York City and Los Angeles. New Delhi: Television czarina Ekta Kapoor, who became a mother to a baby boy, hosted the 'naamkaran' ceremony of her son Ravie in Mumbai on Monday. The event was attended by the who's who of the film and television industry along with cabinet minister Smriti Irani. Ekta, who shares a great bond with Irani, took to Instagram to share a picture of her baby boy with Smriti. She captioned it, "Maaasi special!!!!" To which, Smriti replied, "Maasi ka bahut bahut pyar Aur ashirwad To see you sit in pooja with the little one in your arms, showered with blessings, an outpouring of love, laughter and pure joy around you was a sight to behold. God bless much love." Ekta Kapoor welcomed her baby boy Ravie Kapoor via surrogacy on January 27, 2019. Earlier, her brother Tusshar had welcomed his son Lakshay via surrogacy. He had earlier opened up about his decision to be a single parent during an interview with The Indian Express, saying, "I was thinking about it for some time before I finally had the baby because I was running out of time. I am not married yet. I may or may not in the future. I felt the time was running out fast and I couldnt wait to have a family, have a child. Thats something I wont be able to do as I grow older. I can always get married. Thats why I decided to become a single parent." Ekta has produced a number of television daily soaps and films, including Kareena Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor Ahuja starrer 'Veere Di Wedding'. Her latest television show 'Kasautii Zindagii Kay' has also become one of the most loved shows on the Indian television. New Delhi: Markets regulator Sebi Monday granted relaxation to non-residents such as NRI, PIOs, and foreign nationals from furnishing a copy of PAN card and allowed them to transfer equity shares held by them to their immediate relatives. However, the relaxations are subject to certain conditions, Sebi said in a circular. Under Sebi's LODR (Listing Obligation and Disclosure Requirements) provisions, transferee as well as transferor is required to furnish a copy of their PAN (Permanent Account Number) card to the listed entity for registration of transfer of the securities. Many of the non-residents like Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs), Non Resident Indians (NRIs), Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and foreign nationals were facing difficulties in transferring the shares, as many of them do not posses the required PAN card. To address such difficulties, it has been decided to grant relaxation to the non-residents from furnishing PAN card details and allowing them to transfer equity shares held by them in the listed entities to their immediate relatives, Sebi said. However, the relaxation will only be available for transfers executed after January 1st, 2016 and, only for non-commercial transactions i.E transfer by way of gift among immediate relatives. Besides, the non-resident will be required to provide copy of an alternate valid document to ascertain identity as well as the non-resident status, the circular said. Immediate relative means a spouse of a person, and includes parent, brother, sister or child of such person. In the run-up to the Lok Sabha election, YSR chief Jagan Mohan Reddy has begun the Jagan Anna Pilupu campaign to build a connect with people across the state. In January, he sent over 60,000 letters to neutral village-level influencers across Andhra Pradesh recognising them for their contributions to society. He also shared his email id and phone number with them on which they can share their suggestions. In the coming days, Reddy will involve in more such interactions and hold meetings in several districts. The first meeting was held on 31 January in Hyderabad in which people joined from Guntur, West Godavari, Krishna, Prakasam, Kurnool, and other districts for this meeting. In the meeting, he shared his vision for Andhra Pradesh and engaged in an open discussion with the attendees. Hitting out at Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, he said that whichever alliance needs their support to form the government at the centre, has to fulfil our demands. We (YSRCP) have to work hard towards winning all 25 parliamentary seats. Once we have those seats in our hand, we can leverage it to ensure that whichever alliance needs our support to form the government at the centre, has to fulfil our demands. Unlike Chandrababu Naidu, Ill first get the commitments (for the state of AP) in writing and only then support any alliance, he said. Sharing how he would deal with agrarian distress, he said: Naidu promised he would waive off the farmers loans. But he hardly spent Rs 4000 crore, which isnt enough to pay off the interests on those loans. We are saying that we will give Rs 12,500 to Rs 85 lakh distressed farmers' families which will solve their problems. We only promise what we can deliver, else we will be lost in the annals of history. I will ensure I will deliver on each and every promise so that every family will have a photograph of mine alongside my fathers in their household, he said. Similar meetings will be held in each of the 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh, over the next few weeks. The Jagan Anna Pilupu campaign has been conceptualised by Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC). The programme aims to create a network of village-level influencers who can function as the link between Reddy and the people of the state. These influencers were identified over a period of three months between September-December 2018. Through the campaign Reddy will try to establish a regular personal connect with influencers. Bengaluru: The BJP`s Karnataka unit on Tuesday sought a judicial inquiry into the audio tape in which state Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar`s name figured in an alleged conversation between party leader B.S. Yeddyurappa and JD-S legislator Naganagouda Kandakur`s son Sharanagouda. "The Speaker should order a House committee probe or judicial inquiry into the audio tape as we do not trust the (state) government to hold a fair probe by its police monitored SIT," Bharatiya Janata Party MLA J.C. Madhuswamy said in the Assembly amid a ruckus between the ruling and opposition members. Echoing Madhuswamy, another BJP MLA Suresh Kumar said his party feared a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe would lead to a witch hunt against its members. "Hence, we urge a judicial probe into the audio tape," Kumar told the Speaker. On the Speaker`s directive, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Monday ordered the SIT probe into the audio tape he released on February 8 to expose Yeddyurappa`s alleged attempt to lure Kandakur to join the BJP. The Speaker has asked for the inquiry report in the next 15 days. Rejecting the BJP`s demand, Kumar said an SIT probe was desirable as a judicial inquiry would be delayed. Kumar adjourned the House proceedings when the ruling and opposition members levelled charges and counter-charges during the debate on the issue. New Delhi: Tejas MK-1, India indigenous Ligh Combat Aircraft, received the Final Operational Clearance (FOC) in December 2018 and the Indian Air Force will soon start receiving an upgraded and a more lethal version of the fighter jet. Tejas MK-1 is being manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and is equipped with mid-air refuelling system, active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, an electronic warfare array along with the capability to carry smart bombs to ensure pinpoint accuracy. Defence Minister (State) Dr. Subhash Bhamre gave the information in a written reply to Dr R Lakshmanan in the Rajya Sabha on Monday while adding that out of total 16 Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) fighter aircraft, 12 jets have joined the IAF till date while the remaining four planes will join the force by March 2019. "Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) has handed over Drawing Applicability List (DAL) and Equipment Standard of Preparation (SOP) documents, for FOC configuration to HAL on 31st December 2018 duly cleared by Centre of Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) to go ahead with the production of FOC fighter aircraft. Accordingly, HAL has taken up the production of LCA, FOC fighter aircraft," replied Bhamre. He added that the production of eight trainer aircraft (four each in IOC and FOC contracts) would be taken up only after design clearance from ADA. The government has already sanctioned Rs 1381.04 crore in March 2017 to ramp up the production capacity from the existing eight aircraft to 16 planes per annum. A second line for structural and equipping activities at the Aircraft Division of HAL. HAL has already increased the number of jigs for Front Fuselage, Centre Fuselage, Rear Fuselage, Wings and various sub-assemblies and established contracts for outsourcing to private partners while also reducing the manufacturing cycle time through improved supply chain management, learning and augmentation of manpower. The LCA Tejas comes equipped with state-of-art technologies such as relaxed static stability, fly-by-wire flight control system, advanced avionics, multi-mode radar and a plethora of modern weapons. The aircraft is the smallest and lightest multirole supersonic fighter aircraft of its class in the world. The IAF is well below the mandated strength of 42 squadrons which senior officials say is required to fight a two-front war involving Pakistan and China, and is looking at augmenting its strength by rapidly inducting a large number of Tejas fighters. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected former CBI interim chief M Nageswara Rao's apology and held him guilty of contempt of court in the Muzaffarpur shelter home case. The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India Rajan Gogoi also slapped a fine of Rs 1 lakh on him and directed him to sit in one corner of the court till the court rises for the day. The Supreme Court added that Rao was aware of the court's direction that a CBI officer cannot be transferred without its consent. "If this is not contempt of court then what is," the SC said while hearing the contempt notice against the ex-CBI interim chief. Attorney General KK Venugopal said that Rao has put himself at mercy of the court and has had an unblemished career as a police officer. The apex observed, "His attitude has been, I have done what I had to do." On Monday, Rao admitted that as interim chief of the CBI he committed a 'mistake' in transferring joint director AK Sharma, the CBI officer who was probing the Muzaffarpur shelter home cases. The former CBI interim director also apologised to the Supreme Court, saying he had no intention to circumvent its orders. Rao, who filed an affidavit in response to the contempt notice issued to him on February 7, said he was praying for an unconditional and unqualified apology by the court. (With inputs from PTI) In this combination of file photos, U.S. President Donald Trump, left, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 16, 2018, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a meeting with South Korean leader Moon Jae-in at the South Korean side of the Joint Security Area, on April 27, 2018. AP-Yonhap By Kim Yoo-chul North Korea has agreed "in principle" to accept verification by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors of its denuclearization, in line with repeated demands from the U.S. to take concrete steps toward nuclear disarmament. "Nuclear negotiators from the United States and North Korea reached a tentative agreement under which IAEA inspectors will have access to nuclear and missile testing sites in the North for verification of their dismantlement in due time," an official familiar with the matter told The Korea Times, Tuesday. The official said how and when the inspections will take place will be addressed in follow-up working-level talks. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said specific dates and places, as well as programs for IAEA visits to North Korea, and other details will be dealt with in the discussions. "North Korea will guarantee the safety of IAEA inspectors and their activities until the verification process is complete. Pyongyang will comply with its obligations under the U.N Security Council (UNSC) resolutions to cooperate with the IAEA and properly address outstanding issues," according to the official. IAEA inspectors were asked to leave the North in 2009. North Korea signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1968, then violated and withdrew from it in 2003. The official said it was too early to talk about the North returning to the NPT. A Cheong Wa Dae official said the presidential office had no official comment. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula including the permanent dismantlement of all facilities at the regime's Yongbyon facility, in the presence of U.S. and IAEA inspectors at his first summit with President Donald Trump last June. Chief U.S. nuclear negotiator Stephen Biegun said recently the United States policy toward North Korea remains on final, fully verified denuclearization. Biegun said this means the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction, their means of delivery and the means to produce them. A man watches a TV news program in Seoul Station, Saturday, Feb. 9, showing a Twitter post by U.S. President Donald Trump. AP-Yonhap Jaipur: Robert Vadra, Congress president Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law, was interrogated for nine hours Tuesday by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an alleged land scam in Rajasthan's Bikaner district. The questioning will resume at 10.30 am Wednesday, his lawyers said. His mother Maureen was also questioned for some time, but Vadra remained at the ED's zonal office till about 8.30 pm, except for a lunch break during which he was allowed to leave the premises for an hour. AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra dropped Vadra and his mother off at the ED office, taking time off from her four-day Uttar Pradesh trip in a show of solidarity with her husband. Congress workers shouted slogans when Vadra arrived for the questioning and when he left for his hotel at night. "The interrogation lasted for nearly nine hours. He has given answers to the questions from the ED officers. He will once again appear before the ED zonal office in Jaipur at 10.30 am," Vadra's lawyer Suman Jyoti Khaitan told reporters. Vadra's lawyers said his mother has not been called for questioning as she is not keeping well. She has, however, assured full cooperation in the probe, they said. On Facebook, Vadra accused the Narendra Modi government of being vindictive ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, and putting his mother through harassment. This was Vadra's first appearance before the ED in Jaipur in connection with charges of money laundering through land deals made by a company linked to him. Vadra was asked by the Rajasthan High Court to cooperate with the agency. His Jaipur appearance follows soon after he faced ED questioning for three days in Delhi on a different set of charges relating to property allegedly purchased in London. Vadra is also facing accusations of irregular land deals in Haryana's Gurugram district. Vadra and his mother reached the ED's zonal office at Bhawani Singh Road, amid tight security. In the Bikaner case, the agency had summoned Vadra thrice but he failed to appear before it. The Rajasthan High Court asked him and his mother to cooperate with the agency after they approached it, seeking directions that no coercive action is taken against them by the ED. The ED had registered a case in connection with the deal in 2015, taking cognisance of a clutch of FIRs and chargesheets filed by the Rajasthan police after the Bikaner tehsildar complained about alleged forgery in land allotment. It is understood that the agency wanted to question him on the operations of Skylight Hospitality Private Limited, allegedly linked to him, which purchased land in the area. It also wanted to confront Vadra with the statements of those said to be linked to him. Delhi: A life-size portrait of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was installed on Tuesday at the Central Hall of Parliament. The portrait was unveiled by President Ram Nath Kovind. Speaking at the portrait-inauguration event, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "Atal Ji had a long political career, a large part of that career was spent in opposition. Yet, he continued raising issues of public interest and never ever deviated from his ideology." "Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji will be remembered because there was criticism in his words for the opposition but in his heart, there was no anger against the opposition," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said. Vajpayee, a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was the 10th prime minister of India. He breathed his last on August 16, 2018. Born on December 25, 1924, in Gwalior, the veteran BJP leader served three terms as the prime minister. First, for a period of 13 days in 1996, the second time for 13 months from 1998 to 1999 and the third and final time for a full term from 1999 to 2004. He was conferred on India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, by then President Pranab Mukherjee in 2015. New Delhi: In yet another broadside against the BJP in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, opposition leaders are all set to meet at a mega rally at Jantar Mantar here on Wednesday and seek to corner the Modi government on various issues. The rally is being organised by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is critical of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its chief, Amit Shah. AAP Delhi convenor Gopal Rai told PTI that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, National Conference (NC) leader Farooq Abdullah and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar would attend the rally. Leaders from the Samajwadi Party (SP), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and other parties would address the mega rally, he said. Asked if Congress president Rahul Gandhi would also attend the rally, Rai said an invite was sent to him, adding that the AAP had invited all the opposition leaders who had gathered at a mega anti-BJP rally convened by Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Banerjee in Kolkata last month. Sources said with months to go for the general election, the rally would serve to bring the opposition leaders together in firming up a "Mahagathbandhan" (Grand Alliance) to challenge the BJP and its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners. There were talks of an alliance between the AAP and the Congress for the Lok Sabha polls in the national capital, but the local leadership of the latter is believed to be against it. The AAP and the Congress have been bitter rivals in Delhi and Punjab. In yet another accident involving an Indian Air Force fighter jet, a MiG-27 on a training mission from Jaisalmer crashed near Pokhran Range on Tuesday evening. News agency ANI reported that the fighter jet crashed around 1810 hours while on a training mission. The pilot reportedly managed to eject safely. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered the investigate the cause of the accident. This is the third such accident involving an IAF jet in the past one month. On January 28, a Jaguar plane had crashed into a farm and burst into flames in UP's Kushinagar. The pilot of the jet, which had taken off from the Gorakhpur air base, had managed to eject safely. On February 1, a Mirage 2000 trainer fighter aircraft crashed at Yemlur Airport in Bengaluru. Both test pilots died in the incident. In September last year, a MiG-27 fighter jet had crashed near Jodhpur after the pilots had managed to eject safely. The MiG-27 was originally built by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union but is now produced in India by Hindustan Aeronautics as the Bahadur ("Valiant"). Though this aircraft is based on the MiG-23 fighter aircraft, it is optimized for air-to-ground attack. The MiG-27 is currently used by Indian, Kazakh and Sri Lankan Air Forces in the ground attack role. PALGHAR: Maharashtra Police on Tuesday arrested a man from Boisar in Palghar district of the state for allegedly keeping her former girlfriend in captivity at a lodge and raping her. Talking to PTI, a police officer said that the incident occurred on the intervening night of February 10 and 11. The accused, identified as 23-year-old Faisal Saifi, and the 21-year-old victim had been in a relationship since 2017 but the woman recently decided to end the relationship. According to police, the accused had secretly filmed their intimate moments and was using the videos to blackmail the woman. He was also putting pressure on the woman to maintain physical relations with him. Police said that Faisal called the woman to the lodge on Sunday night after promising her that he will delete all video clippings, but he held her captive and raped her repeatedly. The accused allowed the victim to go on Tuesday morning. The woman then went to a police stattion lodged an FIR against Saifi. Saifi was immediately arrested by police. He has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for rape and criminal intimidation. (with PTI inputs) Indian Army personnel will soon get more firepower with Defence Ministry signing a contract on Tuesday to procure 72,400 7.6mm Sig Sauer assault rifles under fast-track procedures. The cost of the deal, according to news agency PTI, is approximately Rs 700 crore. Aiming to modernise the infantry, India has signed the contract with the US for the assault rifles which are already being used by armed forces in the US and several European countries. According to PTI sources, the US firm will have to now deliver the rifles within a year. The Indian Army, therefore, will receive a bulk - 66,400 - of the assault rifles. The Indian Air Force will get 4,000 while the remaining 2,000 would be given to the Indian Navy. The assault rifles could be a game changer for the Indian Army in particular and may be given to troops deployed in areas on the border with China. The need for such rifles was repeatedly pitched in view of evolving security threats from both China and Pakistan. The Indian armed forces are presently equipped with 5.56*45 mm INSAS Rifle. These INSAS rifles will be replaced with 7.62*51 mm assault rifle which according to defence ministry is compact, robust, modern in technology and simple to maintain in field conditions. The Sig Sauer assault rifles are renowned for their firepower as well as reliability in extreme weather conditions. The company which manufactures them claims that the assault rifles can be invaluable for troops using them for tactical operations. The Indian Army had previously rejected rifles from the Rifle Factory in Ishapore after they failed firing tests. Meanwhile, the Defence Ministry on Tuesday also approved the proposal to acquire 54 HAROP drones from Israel. (With inputs from Siddhant Sibbal) Despite being the two most populated countries in the world, India and China have led the way in increasing Earth's green cover. According to a Boston University report prepared from data received from NASA satellites, the two countries are ahead of others in increasing the green cover. The study, published in NASA's Earth Observatory, has said that the Earth's green cover is more at present than what it was 20 years back. A bulk of the credit goes to India and China where tree-planting exercises, as well as intensive agriculture, has helped the cause. The study also found that the global green leaf area had increased by five per cent - or roughly the size of the Amazon forest - since the early 2000s. It was found that 25% of the gains were from China. "China and India account for one-third of the greening, but contain only 9 per cent of the planets land area covered in vegetation," said lead author Chi Chen of Boston University. "That is a surprising finding, considering the general notion of land degradation in populous countries from overexploitation." Rama Nemani, a research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and a co-author of the study, said that human contribution has played a key role. "When the greening of the Earth was first observed, we thought it was due to a warmer, wetter climate and fertilization from the added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Now with the MODIS data, we see that humans are also contributing," she said. The study finds that apart from dedicated forest cover projects, both China and India have managed to use existing land area available to increase total green leaf area and food production. The two Asian countries are followed by European Union, Canada, Russia, Australia, the United States and Mexico which are above the global average of in changes in lead areas between 2000 and 2017. NEW DELHI: In a move which is set to enhance unmanned warfare capability of Indian Air Force (IAF), the Defence Ministry on Tuesday approved the proposal to acquire 54 Israeli HAROP attack drones which can destroy the high-value enemy military targets completely by directly crashing into them. It is to be noted that the IAF already has an inventory of around 110 of these drones, which are equipped with electro-optical sensors. These sensors allow the drones to move over high-value military targets such as surveillance bases and radar stations before destroying them. "A proposal to acquire these 54 attack drones was approved by the Defence Ministry at a high-level meeting last week," defence sources told ANI. IAF officials said that the approval would certainly add to the strength of the Air Force which is set to showcase the capabilities of the missile during the forthcoming Exercise Vayushakti where the drones would be shown destroying a simulated enemy radar target. Indian and Israeli defence officials are also holding discussions over Project Cheetah under which almost all the drones of the three services would be turned into high-quality attack drones. Israel will also help in enhacing the surveillance capabilities of all drones. Meanwhile, Indian security agencies are also developing indigenous combat drones which would be deployed on both the China and Pakistan border in the near future. Combat drones are used by the American forces to target terrorist leaders in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. (with ANI inputs) NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday slammed the Congress for misleading the nation by by raking up the issue of Rafale fighter jet deal repeatedly. Rajnath made the remarks while addressing the Lok Sabha during Zero Hour. The Congress MPs protested against Rajnath's statement and staged a walkout from the House. "The issue has been discussed in detail in the House and the Supreme Court has also put the matter to rest. The Congress has been raking up the issue every now and then. But the truth will remain true," said the Home Minister. He added that the Congress must understand that politics is not done by by misleading the people. He stressed that politicians should have the courage to speak the truth, IANS reported. Responding to Rajnath's comments, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that the government must accept his party`s demand to constitute a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the Rafale deal. "The Prime Minister does not have the courage to constitute a JPC. You constitute a JPC, we will prove the misdeeds," he said. It may be recalled that the Congress had repeatedly said that if Prime Minister Narendra Modi has nothing to hide, then he should not hesitate from constituting a JPC to probe this matter. NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday lashed out at former interim director of the Central Bureau of Investigation M Nageswara Rao for not following orders and held him guilty of contempt of court. Calling it a brazen act, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi asked the ex-CBI chief to shit in one corner of the court till it rises. "Please go and sit in one corner of the court," the bench headed by the CJI said. The CJI said that in the last 20 years of his career as a judge, he had never invoked contempt powers but this is 'brazen'. The apex court issued the contempt notice for transferring CBI joint Director AK Sharma who was probing the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual assault cases. Along with Rao, the punishment to spend the day in court has also been given to Director of Prosecution (DoP) of the agency S Bhasu Ram. The bench led by the CJI and also comprising of Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice Sanjiv Khanna also fined them Rs 1 lakh each. The judges noted that on 18 January 2019 when Sharma was relieved, Rao was aware of the court's direction that a CBI officer cannot be transferred without its consent. However, on the same day, he signed a draft order sent by DoPT relieving Sharma from the CBI without satisfying whether the top court had been taken into confidence. "If this is not contempt of court then what is," the SC said while hearing the contempt notice against the ex-CBI interim chief. Sharma, who was heading the investigating team probing the Muzaffarpur shelter home horror, had said that he could not be shunted out as the CBI needed to take the court`s permission. Rao had earlier apologised in court for his action and accepted that he had committed a 'mistake' in transferring the joint director. He also added that he had no intention to circumvent its orders and prayed for an unconditional and unqualified apology by the court. Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers holdings and Beeland Interests / Yonhap By Kim Bo-eun Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers holdings and Beeland Interests, is set to visit to North Korea next month, according to a local report. The legendary U.S. investor earlier expressed interest in investing in the country. He was invited by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and the U.S. government approved the visit, according to a source cited by the Kyunghyang Shinmun. Rogers did not respond to an email query on the matter. The invitation by the North Korean leader is seen to reflect Kim Jong-un's eagerness to open up the country's economy, at a time it is engaging in a process to trade its nuclear program for economic incentives. Last April, Kim stated economic development would be the regime's utmost priority. Economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council currently bar any investments from taking place. New Delhi: The contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is likely to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The Bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8, led to widespread protests across the north-eastern states. Section 144 has been imposed in Manipur's Imphal West District due to 'situation arising out of intense agitation launched by various Civil Society Organisations against the passing of Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha', said an official release. The security arrangements have been beefed up in Mizoram ahead of the 'Black Day' protests scheduled to be observed by the civil societies against the Citizenship Bill. Meanwhile, the chief ministers of two northeast states - Arunachal Pradesh's Pema Khandu and Manipur's N Biren Singh - voiced their opposition to the bill and urged Home Minister Rajnath Singh to ensure it was not passed in Rajya Sabha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has, however, assured the people of the northeast that the citizenship bill will in no way cause harm to their interest. He made the remarks while addressing a public rally in the Assembly constituency of Assam Health Minister Himata Biswa Sarma. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12 years, which is the current norm, even if they do not possess any document. The bill has been opposed by several organisations in the northeast, who are claiming that the introduction of this bill would nullify the provisions of the Assam Accord of 1985, according to which March 24, 1971, is fixed as the cut-off date for deportation of illegal immigrants irrespective of religion. (With inputs from PTI and ANI) NEW DELHI: Opposing the bail plea of AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case middlemen Christian Micgel, the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday told a Delhi court that Michel may abscond from India if released on bail. The CBI and the ED, in their separate replies, told special judge Arvind Kumar that there are serious economic offences accusations against Michel and they have evidence to nail him. CBI said since Michel is a British national athere is "every likelihood that if he is granted bail, he may abscond from India, evading the process of law and may not return to face the trial." "The apprehensions of CBI about his absconding from the process of law gets support from his past conduct. Keeping in mind the facts and circumstances, there also exists a security threat for the applicant accused, if enlarged on bail," CBI said while seeking dismissal of Michel's bail plea. According to CBO, Michel was the middleman in a defence deal of government of India and such "shady and nefarious defence deals sometime create hurdles even in implementing the fair and transparent decisions taken by the governments for procurement of defence equipments in order to strengthen the defence line of the country". "There is ample evidence on record to link the applicant accused to the commission of such offences, and his release on bail would adversely affect further investigation to unearth the deep-rooted multi-layered conspiracy in the instant case. The conduct of the applicant-accused till date has been evasive," said the country's premier investigating agency. Michel's lawyer had filed a bail application saying the CBI and ED had not filed charge sheet against him within the stipulated time frame of 60 days. "Since, the charge sheet was not filed against him within the stipulated 60-day period under section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). Probe is complete. I'm in custody since December 22, 2018," Michel had said in the petition. Michel was extradited from Dubai to India on December 22 last year and was arrested by the ED. He was sent to judicial custody on January 5 in the ED case. (with PTI inputs) Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Monday changed his stance on the Citizenship Bill, asking Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh not to table the bill in the Rajya Sabha. He made the appeal as he and his Manipur counterpart N. Biren Singh met Rajnath Singh in New Delhi to apprise him about the prevailing situation in their respective states in particular and in the northeast following the passing of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha on January 8. "We have requested the Home Minister not to table the Bill in the Rajya Sabha as there is a lot of hue and cry in the northeastern states," Khandu said. Khandu, who is heading a BJP government in the border state, had been so far defending the bill which is facing strong opposition from civil society groups and the opposition Congress in his state and across the northeast. NEW DELHI: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday met President Ram Nath Kovind and submitted a memorandum to him seeking special status for his state. Before arriving at the Rashtrapati Bhavan with a delegation, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, along with MPs, MLAs and MLCs of his Telugu Desam Party took out a protest march in Delhi demanding special status for the state, ANI reported. "Yesterday, we held a protest in Delhi. When government ignores the implementation of dharma, then responsible stake holders have to fight and expose that is what we have done yesterday. In the Bifurcation Act, there are some provisions, it is given as a right to us. It is very unfortunate for Andhra Pradesh since Independence we are seeing four capitals. During elections, he promised all this things. He said he will implement everything," Naidu told ANI. Several Opposition leaders, including Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, National Conference Chief Farroq Abdullah and Loktantrik Janata Dal Chief Sharad Yadav participated in the dharna staged by Naidu at Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in Delhi on Monday. It is to be noted TDP split from the NDA last year over the issue of special status for Andhra Pradesh. Lashing out at the Centre, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister said that the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre is discriminating against Andhra Pradesh and PM is inefficient and unfit to rule the country. "The NDA government did not fulfill the assurances given in Parliament. Not even a single assurance given at the time of bifurcation is fulfilled," he said. "Even the Centre is showing discrimination, we have no option other than protesting. The funds given for backward states are taken back in the fourth year," Naidu said. (with ANI inputs) JAIPUR: Late on Monday night after a long roadshow in Lucknow, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra landed in Jaipur to meet her husband Robert Vadra. Vadra is scheduled to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Jaipur in connection with a probe into an alleged land scam in Rajasthan's Bikaner. Vadra had reached Jaipur earlier in the day on Monday along with his mother Maureen Vadra. As per reports, he is likely to be posed 55 questions which have been drafted by the Directorate. The alleged scam relates to 275 acres of land in the Kolayat sub-division of Bikaner district. According to airport authorities, Priyanka left the airport under tight security for the hotel where her husband had reached earlier in the day. Ahead of the questioning in Jaipur, Vadra, in a Facebook post, attacked the Centre for 'harassing a senior citizen'. "So here we are my 75 year old mother n me in Jaipur to depose in front of the Enforcement Directorate. Not understanding the lows of this vindictive government to be harassing a senior citizen, who the world knows has lost her daughter in a car crash, her ailing son to diabetes, and her husband as well. Three deaths n all I did was to ask her to spend time with me in my office, so I can look after her and we both could grieve on our losses, while spending time together. Now she is being accused, maligned and called to be interrogated, for spending time in my office," he wrote. He questioned why the government did not act in the past 4 years and 8 months and when the campaigning began for the Lok Sabha election. "Since I have already been interrogated for 3 days in Delhi headquarters, of the Enforcement Directorate. If there was any issue or any illegality, which was found by government, why did it take them 4 years n 8 months, to call me a month before campaigning begins for the General elections. Do they think people in India do not view it as an election gimmick ?! As I always have adhere to rules and overall being a disciplined person," he wrote on Facebook. LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday hit back at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over latter's comments that his Allahabad visit could have triggered violence, saying the statement is nothing but "a cover to hide nervousness". Akhilesh stressed that stopping him from attending a students' union programme in Prayagraj shows how "scared" the government is. "I was stopped from boarding a flight to Allahabad to attend a students' union programme. I haven't been given a reason why but it seems the general impression was that I would create a law and order problem. Chief minister has given a statement to this effect but they are using this as a cover to hide their nervousness because our youth have had enough," Akhilesh was quoted as saying by PTI. "If there was a genuine problem, the police there would have objected, or asked for a change in my schedule. I understand the need to ensure the safety of people and property and would never do something to endanger either knowingly," he added. The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said the BJP has lost Uttar Pradesh, "but more than an election, they have lost the faith that the youth of this country reposed in them". "Their attack on institutions by filling them with people whose loyalties lie with an organisation that harbours people who celebrate the Mahatmas murderer, is an attack on our democracy. These are people who have taken two oaths (of government and RSS) but are only loyal to one. These are people who have never accepted or celebrated our Constitution," he said. Earlier, Yogi Adityanath had said that Akhilesh's visit could have led to fighting between rival student groups at the Allahabad University. It is interesting to note that Allahabad University had already informed the SP supremo that no politicians were allowed in any of their programmes. On Monday, the Registrar of the Allahabad University had written to Yadav's personal secretary, saying that politicians were not allowed in the university events. Akhilesh was stopped by the Uttar Pradesh Police at Lucknow airport on Tuesday morning while he was heading to Prayagraj to attend a student union function at the university. The India Gold Policy Centre (IGPC) at IIM-Ahmedabad, an independent research think-tank on gold and a research arm of the World Gold Council (WGC), recently held a conference on Gold and Gold Markets 2019. IGPC Chairperson Prof. Arvind Sahay spoke to Reema Sharma of Zee Media regarding few pressing issues on the Gold Monetisation Scheme on the sidelines of the conference. Excerpts... Q. Recently there were some reports that banks may open metal account deposit under Gold Monetisation Scheme. Your views on banks opening metal account. If there is a gold account which is available to individuals then what you are essentially telling them is that gold is kind of fungible with cash. Rather than holding gold in their lockers or in other private space, they can deposit it in a formal account. So just like a saving account or fixed deposit account, one can have a gold metal account. That one can deposit into and withdraw from. Therefore, gold becomes a part of financial system. So any formation of a gold metal account which the banking system may be allowed to have can increase that much liquidity into the system - liquidity that is locked up. Q.Why would banks want to open a metal account? Banks might want to open such an account perhaps because it adds to the deposit base. Or it can be used as CRR. Or it offers opportunities to increase revenues and profits directly. It has to be fungible with rupees which also means there has to be some valuation, some hedging for the stability of the bank and of the banking system. Consequently, the RBI may also have to make some changes in the RBI Act and in the Banking Act. The legal and regulatory framework must take into account the incentives that each player needs - the customer to want to deposit gold with the bank; the bank to want to open fold metal accounts; the RBI to be comfortable with banks opening fold metal accounts. If there is a gold metal account, it is one way to achieve the government`s aim of having gold as a financial asset. Q. Your views on RBI allowing temples, government entities and charitable trusts in Gold Monetization Scheme You have to first ask the question as to how much gold is lying with temples and how much is in possession of individuals. As per the latest estimate (that I am aware of) there are 24,000 tonnes of private gold which are lying with individual households. Temple gold is roughly 500-600 tonnes. Now if you compare both, gold in possession of temples is very small in amount. So the scale is in private gold which should be the main focus. If you want to get more gold back into the system, retail gold holders are the ones that should be focused upon. New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the deceased who lost their lives in the Karol Bagh hotel fire. Saddened by the deaths of at least 17 people in the blaze, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia cancelled the celebrations, scheduled for today evening, for completion of four years of the AAP government. The Delhi government has also ordered for a magisterial probe into the Karol Bagh fire incident, said Minister Satyendra Jain. "Most of the people died due to suffocation. Strict action will be taken against those found guilty of negligence. District Magistrate has ordered inquiry," Jain said. At least 17 people died after a fire broke out in Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh. The blaze broke out in the wee hours on Tuesday. As many as 30 fire tenders were pressed to carry out the rescue operation. According to the fire department, seven men, a woman and child died in the blaze. New York: Indian jewels sparkled at popular designer Bibhu Mohapatra's show at the New York Fashion Week (NYFW) ramp. Narayan Jewellers by Ketan and Jatin Chokshi unveiled their new jewelry line at the fashion extravaganza in a show organized in association with Forevermark. Over 40 jewelry pieces in 18 karat white and rose gold were curated specifically for creations by Mohapatra, who celebrated his tenth-anniversary collection by getting his clients to bring his gowns to life. Mohaptra's Fall Winter 2019 collection was inspired by his trip to Mount Stewart, UK. New Delhi: Actress Shraddha Kapoor, who is teaming up with Remo D'Souza for the second time for 'Street Dancer 3D', has kickstarted the film second shooting schedule in London. And elated to reunite with Remo, Shraddha shared an adorable snap featuring the two on her Instagram and captioned it, "Leaning on the right shoulder @remodsouza Paving the way #StreetDancer3D #Day1Done." In the picture, Shraddha can be seen resting her head on Remo's shoulder while the choreographer-filmmaker is seen holding the clapperboard. After wrapping up the first schedule of the film in Punjab recently, Varun and Shraddha left for London together on Sunday. The London schedule is expected to wrap-up around March 20. 'Street Dancer 3D' will be directed by Remo D'Souza, who has helmed the two installments of 'ABCD' franchise and also directed critically-lambasted 'Race 3' starring Salman Khan. Apart from Varun and Shraddha, 'Street Dancer 3D' will also feature Nora Fatehi, Sonam Bajwa, Shakti Mohan, Vartika Jha, Dharmesh Yelande, Punit Pathak and Raghav Juyal in key roles. The film will also feature Prabhu Deva. It is co-produced by T-Series honcho Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar and Lizelle DSouza and will be shot in 3D and converted to 4DX later. Actress Katrina Kaif was initially roped in for the film. However, she walked out of the project last minute citing date issues. 'Street Dancer' hits the screens on November 8, 2019. Officials of four political parties hold petitions against three Liberty Korea Party (LKP) lawmakers over their defamatory remarks against victims of the May 18 Gwangju Uprising in 1980 before submitting them to the National Assembly's Ethics Committee, Tuesday. From left are ruling Democratic Party of Korea spokesman Rep. Kang Byung-won, minor Party for Democracy and Peace spokesman Kim Jung-hyun, Rep. Chae Yi-bai of the Bareunmirae Party and Justice Party spokesman Kim Jong-chul. / Yonhap By Park Ji-won Four political parties, including the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), filed a petition with the National Assembly, Tuesday, demanding punitive measures against three lawmakers from the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) over their recent defamatory remarks against citizens participating in the May 18 Gwangju Uprising in 1980. The three lawmakers Kim Jin-tae, Lee Jong-myeong and Kim Soon-rye could be deprived of their Assembly seats. The four parties the DPK, the Bareunmirae Party, the Party for Democracy and Peace (PDP) and the Justice Party claimed in the petition that the lawmakers violated the National Assembly law by disparaging the pro-democracy movement and thus tarnishing the reputation of the legislature. The parties joined hands Monday to take action against the three LKP lawmakers. They also agreed to push for submitting a bill to revise a special law aimed at punishing those who distort and fabricate facts about the May 18 movement. The DPK and the other parties continued to criticize the LKP over allegedly defending their embattled lawmakers, calling on the party to expel them. New Delhi: Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol are often regarded as the golden pair of the industry. Their onscreen chemistry has always managed to leave an impression on their fans. The duo worked together in a number of blockbusters, such as 'Baazigar', 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai', 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham', 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge' among others and made sure that the audience remembers the 'hit Jodi' for long after watching their film. In 2010, Shah Rukh and Kajol teamed up almost nine years later for Karan Johar's 'My Name Is Khan' (MNIK), which was woven around SRK's character Rizwan Khan, who suffers from autism and how his life changes after 9/11 attack. The film also embarked his journey of meeting the president of America. Upon its release, MNIK broke many box-office records and became the highest-grossing Indian film overseas at that time. On Tuesday, as 'My Name Is Khan' clocked nine years, director Karan Johar celebrated the film's anniversary by sharing a heartfelt post on social media. The filmmaker thanked both Shah Rukh and Kajol in his post and wrote, "#9YearsOfMyNameIsKhan ...I feel so blessed to have been able to tell this story....thank you for creating it @ShibaniWrites ....and thank you @iamsrk for living the role of Rizwan so beautifully and brilliantly... thank you @KajolAtUN for your eyes...your silences and more...." #9YearsOfMyNameIsKhan ...I feel so blessed to have been able to tell this story....thank you for creating it @ShibaniWrites ....and thank you @iamsrk for living the role of Rizwan so beautifully and brilliantly... thank you @KajolAtUN for your eyes...your silences and more...._ pic.twitter.com/t1w7TdxF07 Karan Johar (@karanjohar) February 11, 2019 Actor Varun Dhawan, who had worked as an assistant director for the film, also shared a BTS shot from the sets, and wrote, "#9YearsOfMNIK a film I learnt soo much on. It practically changed my life. Also this is the only picture I have where @abhivarman is smiling. Thank u @karanjohar". #9YearsOfMNIK a film I learnt soo much on. It practically changed my life. Also this is the only picture I have where @abhivarman is smiling. Thank u @karanjohar pic.twitter.com/axg0n7GJxu Varun Dhawan (@Varun_dvn) February 11, 2019 Interestingly, the picture shared by Varun also featured his 'Student Of The Year' co-star Sidharth Malhotra and 'Kalank' director Abhishek Varman. Varun made his Bollywood debut with Karan Johar's 'Student Of The Year' in 2012. - Some NABCo recruits have revealed plans of embarking on a demonstration - According to their spokesperson, Ellen Acheampong, they have not been paid for four months - She added that all efforts to discuss the matter with the relevant authorities have proven futile Some recruits of the Nation Builders Corps (NABCo) programme , have vowed to hit the streets to demand their salaries, which is in arrears. Per a Classfmonline.com report, Ellen Acheampong, who is a spokesperson for the group, stated that they have been working in various fields for four months, but have not been paid. Speaking on Accra FM, she explained that all efforts to get the government to settle their arrears have proven futile, hence their decision to embark on a demonstration. READ ALSO: Yvonne Nelson claims Ghanaian companies are stingy The only language the government will understand now is a demonstration. And so, we are demonstrating tomorrow to send a message to the government in respect of our issues, she said. Acheampong further noted that most of the affected recruits were previously under the Youth in Afforestation programme, and they received prompt payments from the Forestry Commission. They have however been worse off ever since they resigned from their positions and joined NABCo. She went on to appeal to the commission to come to their aid and ensure that they are paid, since they were once employees. The public relations officer of the commission, Joyce Ofori Kwafo, however responded by saying that there is nothing the commission can do, since those affected resigned. On Tuesday, May 1, 2018, President Akufo-Addo launched NABCo, which has reportedly employed 100,000 young graduates to assist in public sector service delivery. At the launch, he said 100,000 jobs would be delivered via NABCo, in seven priority modules. The modules are Educate Ghana, Heal Ghana, Feed Ghana, Revenue Ghana, Digitize Ghana, Enterprise Ghana and Civic Ghana. READ ALSO: I need your support to build the national cathedral - Akufo-Addo appeals to Ghanaians I Don't Consider Myself A Star: Kidi - Star Gist | #Yencomgh Click here to get the latest exciting English Premier League news. Get match highlights, reports, photos & videos all in one place. Source: Yen.com.gh Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business. News Miami, Florida - A Key Biscayne, Florida resident was found guilty by a federal jury for his role in a $100 million scheme to defraud Westernbank of Puerto Rico (Westernbank); the losses triggered a series of events leading to Westernbanks insolvency and ultimate collapse. The defendant was also convicted of a $3 million scheme to defraud Mellon United National Bank of Miami (Mellon Bank). Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan of the Southern District of Florida, Inspector General Jay N. Lerner of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General (FDIC-OIG), Special Agent in Charge Michael De Palma of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) for Miami and Puerto Rico, Special Agent in Charge Ivan J. Arvelo of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in San Juan and Special Agent in Charge Douglas A. Leff of the FBIs San Juan, Puerto Rico Field Office made the announcement. Jack Kachkar, 55, was convicted of eight counts of wire fraud affecting a financial institution after a three-week trial before U.S. District Judge Donald L. Graham of the Southern District of Florida. Kachkar is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Graham on April 30, 2019. Jack Kachkar engineered a massive fraud scheme that led directly to the failure of a major Puerto Rican bank with more than 1,500 employees, said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski. I want to commend the prosecutors and our law enforcement partners for their tireless work investigating this complex case and holding the defendant to account for these crimes. Jack Kachkars fraud caused substantial harm to the 1,500 employees of Westernbank and the people of Puerto Rico, said U.S. Attorney Fajardo Orshan. The U.S. Attorneys Office remains committed to the prosecution of those individuals and corporations that use Miami and other South Florida communities as their base to operate multinational fraud schemes. Todays verdict holds the defendant accountable for orchestrating fraudulent schemes that resulted in more than $100 million in losses to insured institutions and the FDIC as receiver, said Inspector General Lerner. The FDIC Office of Inspector General remains committed to investigate cases of deception and swindles that undermine the integrity of financial institutions, and we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to bring to justice those who commit such offenses. IRS Criminal Investigation will always pursue investigations like this where Mr. Kachkar, for his own personal benefit, orchestrated such a large scheme at the expense of one of Puerto Ricos largest banks and its 1,500 employees, said IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Palma. This investigation shows that the appearance of success can be a mask for a tangled financial web of lies, and we are proud to be part of the prosecution team that is bringing Mr. Kachkar to justice. HSI San Juan will continue working with our local, state and federal partners to investigate and prosecute these types of cases as well as those involving violations to the more than 400 federal statutes that we investigate, said HSI Special Agent in Charge Arvelo. This man was responsible for one of the largest fraud schemes ever recorded in the banking business in Puerto Rico and he will pay the consequences. This defendants greed was powerful enough to destroy a bank, taking with it the jobs of approximately 1,500 hard working citizens of Puerto Rico, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Leff. The FBI thanks the US Attorneys Office for sending an equally strong message that most fraud schemes will eventually lead to a prison cell. According to evidence presented at trial, from 2005 to 2007, Kachkar served as chairman and CEO of Inyx Inc., a publicly traded multinational pharmaceutical manufacturing company. Beginning in early 2005, Kachkar caused Westernbank to enter into a series of loan agreements in exchange for a security interest in the assets of Inyx and its subsidiaries. Under the loan agreements, Westernbank agreed to advance money based on Inyxs customer invoices from actual and bona fide sales to Inyx customers, the evidence showed. The trial evidence showed that Kachkar orchestrated a scheme to defraud Westernbank by causing numerous Inyx employees to make tens of millions of dollars worth of fake customer invoices purportedly payable by customers in the United Kingdom, Sweden and elsewhere. Kachkar caused these invoices to be presented to Westernbank as valid invoices. Kachkar made false and fraudulent representations to Westernbank executives about purported and imminent repayments from lenders in the United Kingdom, Norway, Libya and elsewhere in order to lull Westernbank into continuing to lend money to Inyx, the evidence showed. In fact, these lenders had not agreed to repay Westernbanks loan. Kachkar made false and fraudulent representations to Westernbank executives that he had additional collateral, including purported mines in Mexico and Canada worth hundreds of millions of dollars, to induce Westernbank to lend additional funds, the evidence showed. In fact, this additional collateral was worth barely a fraction of that represented by Kachkar. During the course of the scheme, Kachkar caused Westernbank to lend approximately $142 million, primarily based on false and fraudulent customer invoices. The evidence showed that the defendant diverted tens of millions of dollars for his own personal benefit, including for the purchase of, among other things, a private jet, luxury homes in Key Biscayne and Brickell, Miami, luxury cars, luxury hotel stays, and extravagant jewelry and clothing expenditures. In or around June 2007, Westernbank declared the loan in default and ultimately suffered losses exceeding $100 million on the Inyx loans. According to trial evidence, these losses later triggered a series of events leading to Westernbanks insolvency and ultimate collapse. At the time of its collapse, Westernbank had approximately 1,500 employees and was one of the largest banks in Puerto Rico. In addition, the evidence showed, Kachkar knowingly deposited a $3 million check at Mellon Bank from the purported sale of his private jet. At the time of its deposit, based on the evidence presented, Kachkar knew that the check was worthless. In fact, the defendant agreed to sell his plane to a different buyer. After receiving a provisional credit for the check from Mellon Bank, the defendant wired out all of the provisional credit, including a $1 million wire to Kachkars personal account in Canada. Upon Mellon Banks request to reverse this $1 million wire, Kachkar refused to do so, resulting in at least a $1 million loss to Mellon Bank, the evidence showed. This matter was investigated by the FDIC-OIG, IRS-CI, HSI and FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Michael ONeill of the Criminal Divisions Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael N. Berger of the Southern District of Florida. News Akron, Ohio - Erick Jamal Hendricks, 38, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). A jury in Akron, Ohio, convicted Hendricks last year of attempting and conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. The sentence was announced by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney Justin E. Herdman of the Northern District of Ohio and Special Agent in Charge Eric Smith of the FBIs Cleveland Office. According to court documents and trial testimony, Hendricks tried to recruit people to train together and conduct terrorist attacks in the United States on behalf of ISIS. Hendricks used social media to recruit others to plan and carry out attacks on our homeland in the name of ISIS, with the goal of creating a sleeper cell on our soil, said Assistant Attorney General Demers. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of law enforcement, Hendricks plan was thwarted, and with todays sentence, he is being held accountable for his terrorist activities. This defendant sought to create a cell of ISIS supporters, train those people and then launch attacks from inside the United States, U.S. Attorney Herdman said. This defendant posed a very real threat to the safety of our community and nation. Erick Jamal Hendricks represents the significant online ISIS threat that we face daily a US citizen that became radicalized online and attempted to recruit and train individuals to commit jihad, all while living in the United States, said Special Agent in Charge Smith. The FBI urges the public to report information regarding individuals pledging their allegiance to ISIS or other identified terrorist groups. The FBI is pleased that Hendricks was stopped before he was successful and now will spend a significant amount of time behind bars. According to court documents and trial testimony, Hendricks tried to recruit people to train together and conduct terrorist attacks in the United States on behalf of ISIS. Amir Al-Ghazi was arrested in the Northern District of Ohio in June 2015 after attempting to purchase an AK-47 assault rifle and ammunition from an undercover law enforcement officer. Al-Ghazi had pledged allegiance to ISIS in social media and made statements expressing interest in conducting attacks in the U.S. Hendricks had contacted Al-Ghazi over social media to recruit him in the spring of 2015. Hendricks allegedly told Al-Ghazi that he needed people and wanted to meet in person; that there were several brothers located in Texas and Mexico; that he was attempting to get brothers to meet face to face; and that he wanted to get brothers to train together, according to court documents and trial testimony Al-Ghazi said Hendricks tested his religious knowledge and commitment, inquiring about his willingness to commit jihad, to die as a martyr and his desire to enter jannah (paradise). Al-Ghazi understood these statements to mean that Hendricks was recruiting people to train together for the purpose of conducting a terrorist attack in the U.S. and to see if Al-Ghazi was suitable for recruitment, according to the allegations. Al-Ghazi believed that Hendricks and the brothers in Texas and Mexico may have been responsible for a thwarted terrorist attack in Garland, Texas, on May 3, 2015, and therefore he decided to stay away from social media for a period following the attack to minimize detection by law enforcement. Hendricks also communicated over social media with several other people, including an undercover FBI employee (UCE-1). Hendricks on April 16, 2015 instructed UCE-1 to download the document GPS for the Ghuraba in the U.S., which included a section entitled Final Advice which advocated that brothers and sisters should not allow themselves to go to jail. This section also allegedly encouraged Muslims to die as a Shaheed (martyr), to Boobie trap your homes, to lay in wait for them and to never leave your home without your AK-47 or M16. Hendricks also directed UCE-1 to communicate online with other people and stated Its hard to sift through brothers; Allah chooses only the few; and Everyday I do this day in and day out, according to court documents and trial testimony. Hendricks told another person that his goal was to create a sleeper cell to be trained and housed at a secure compound that would conduct attacks in the U.S. He mentioned that potential targets included military members whose information had been released by ISIS and the woman who organized the Draw Prophet Mohammad contest, and he claimed to have 10 members signed up for his group, according court documents and trial testimony. On April 23, 2015, Hendricks used social media to contact Elton Simpson, who, along with Nadir Hamid Soofi, was inspired by ISIS and launched the attack on the First Annual Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest in Garland. Simpson and Soofi opened fire, wounding a security guard, before Garland police returned fire and killed both Simpson and Soofi. Hendricks also connected UCE-1 with Simpson via social media, communicated with UCE-1 about the contest in Garland, and directed UCE-1 to go to the contest. Hendricks said: If you see that pig (meaning the organizer of the contest) make your voice heard against her. He also asked UCE-1 a series of questions related to security at the event, including: How big is the gathering? How many ppl? How many police/agents? Do you see feds there? Do you see snipers? and How many media? Shortly thereafter, Simpson and Soofi committed the attack on the cartoon drawing contest. Al-Ghazi is serving a 16-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization and being a felon in possession of firearms. This case was investigated by the FBIs offices in Cleveland; Columbia, South Carolina; Baltimore; and Charlotte, with assistance from the U.S. Attorneys Offices in the District of Maryland, District of South Carolina and the Western District of North Carolina. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew W. Shepherd and Mark S. Bennett and Trial Attorney Rebecca Magnone of the National Security Divisions Counterterrorism Section. Members of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) call for the resignation of three lawmakers from the main opposition party over their controversial remarks on a 1980 pro-democracy uprising that allegedly disparage the democratic movement. Yonhap The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and three smaller parties asked a parliamentary panel Tuesday to punish three lawmakers from the main opposition party over their controversial remarks on a 1980 pro-democracy uprising. The four parties filed a petition against the lawmakers of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) with the parliamentary special committee on ethics over their comments that allegedly disparaged the democracy movement in the southwestern city of Gwangju. The LKP faces a political storm after the lawmakers came under fire for holding a public forum last week, inviting a far-right figure who has long claimed that North Korean troops were involved in the pro-democracy uprising. Two of them also made controversial remarks allegedly disparaging the democracy movement, with one claiming that a riot was turned into a pro-democracy movement by people with political purposes. Venice, FL (34285) Today Partly cloudy this morning with thunderstorms becoming likely this afternoon. High 87F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight Overcast with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly this evening. Low 74F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%. * Username This is the name that will be displayed next to your photo for comments, blog posts, and more. Choose wisely! BEIRUT - A Jordanian lawmaker praised for her role in abolishing a law that let rapists off the hook if they married their victims has set tackling child marriage as her next challenge. Nearly 10,500 girls in Jordan were married before reaching their 18th birthdays in 2017, according to the most up to date figures from the U.N. children's agency UNICEF. Girls in Jordan can be married from age 15 with a judge's approval, even though the legal marriageable age is 18. Lawmaker Wafa Bani Mustafa said that even raising it to 16 would reduce the numbers. "This is not an exception. This is something that is happening every day, and too many young girls are getting married," the 39-year-old told the Thomson Reuters Foundation during a recent visit to Beirut. "I am very optimistic child marriage will decrease if we change the age to 16. It doesn't matter if they are Jordanian or Syrian - we need to protect all girls." Israeli special forces reportedly are using a United States military base in Afghanistan to monitor and collect information on Iranian activities throughout the Persian Gulf. So says an Iranian news agency. The troops allegedly are operating with the approval of Kabul out of a US Air Force installation in western Afghanistan located approximately 45 miles from the Iranian border. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter An Israeli defense expert quoted by Russia's Sputnik news agency claims Jerusalem also is cooperating with central Asian countries such as Kazajistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to thwart Iran's expansionism. The revelation came a day after British media reported that the spy agencies of Israel, the US and Britain cooperated in the extraction of an Iranian nuclear scientist from Tehran that subsequently was granted asylum in America in exchange for details on Irans atomic program. Benjamin Netanyahu reveals Israel has Iranian nuclear documents The unidentified man purportedly was initially smuggled to Turkey by Israels Mossad and then traveled by sea to London on a dingy alongside Iranian migrants earlier this year. Once there, the scientist provided information regarding the mullahs' nuclear progress since the 2015 atomic deal was forged with world powers and was then flown to the US. While it is well-known the Israel Defense Forces has conducted thousands of strikes against Iranian assets in Syria, the army also is active in other nations to prevent the Iranian regime from creating a land corridor stretching from Tehran to Beirut through which to smuggle arms and create forward-operating outposts. One of the primary reasons for training abroad is to simulate the rugged conditions that exist in southern Lebanon, for example, where Israeli soldiers likely are to deploy in the event of a future war with Hezbollah. Illustrative: Israeli soldiers from the Givati Brigade on a training exercise (Photo: GPO) "It is difficult to believe all the details in the reports about the Iranian scientist given that he was apparently taken to Britain by boat with other refugees when the CIA has more airplanes than many national carriers. Regarding Afghanistan, the story also seems embellished," says former Mossad agent Gad Shimron. "That said, all things are possible but the benefit of being a journalist is that you can publish anything about Israeli spies and nobody will deny it." Indeed, some hold the reports are part of a disinformation campaign meant to harm or deter Israel, which, in Shimron's estimation, is compounded by disproportionate media coverage on Jerusalem because it is "sexy" to attribute responsibility to the Jewish state. Israel strikes Iranian targets in Syria (: EPA) "The whole civilized world is engaged in this underground war as there is widespread fear about the prospect of the ayatollah having his finger on the 'red (nuclear) button.' But compared to the CIA and MI6, Israel is doing little in Iran. Nevertheless," he adds, "the Mossad often undertakes missions such as the one last year that recovered the treasure trove of Iranian atomic documents." Still others postulate that the latest reports contain valid elements, with some maintaining the stories may even have been leaked by Israel and its allies as a warning to the Islamic Republic. "Usually the accounts have a factual basis but then diverge as each correspondent has only limited details and makes what they determine of them," says Mishka Ben-David, another former Mossad agent. "There are pros and cons to this; on the one hand, there is the positive impact of demonstrating Israel's abilities, however, at the same time putting this out in the open makes Israel's enemies aware of them. Mossad chief Yossi Cohen (Photo: Motti Kimchi) "According to most assessments," he says, "the Mossad has been quite involved in sabotaging Iran and managed to postpone its nuclear project by up to ten years, although not to forestall it indefinitely." If the reports contain a modicum of truth, they provide a small window into the war between wars pitting the Islamic Republic against the Jewish state, the latter of which has been implicated in the assassinations of at least four Iranian nuclear scientists and, in conjunction with Washington, is believed to have developed the Stuxnet computer virus that significantly impeded Tehrans atomic program at the beginning of the decade. For its part, Irans proxies in the Gaza Strip (Hamas and Islamic Jihad) and Lebanon (Hezbollah) continue to pose a significant threat to Israel, as the Iranians attempt to establish a permanent military presence in Syria from which to open a third front in the next conflict. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza (: AFP) All of this, meanwhile, comes on the backdrop of Jerusalem's abandonment of its longstanding policy to neither confirm nor deny military operations abroad, in particular those directed at Iran in Syria. It may be, then, that Israel's political and defense establishments are taking incremental steps to come out of the closet, so to speak, in order to make crystal clear to Tehran the lengths to which the Jewish state will go to ensure its arch-nemesis can never threaten its existence. A Negev start-up company is using canines to determine if an individual has cancer. Prognose 220 Mil is inviting the public to send a saliva sample to their laboratory, via messenger, where specially trained dogs use their strong sense of smell to sniff for cancer. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The main significance of the test is life saving early detection (of cancer). Since dogs are able to identify the characteristic scent of the disease, says lab manager and dog trainer Uri Bekman. If the dog sits still after sniffing the sample, that is an indication of the disease being present. The test costs NIS 400. Dog with samples Yael Dror Alon, a businesswoman from Caesarea, took the test and tested positive, despite doctors giving her a clean bill of health. She is now undergoing treatment at Tel Hashomer Medical Center and has decided to embark on a fundraising venture to provide access to the test for anyone in need. A study by Prof. Pesach Shvartzman, of Ben Gurion University recently found that various forms of cancer have a common smell that can be detected by dogs. Dog detects colon cancer Researchers in the United States discovered a decade ago that dogs can accurately detect advanced stages of colon cancer using breath and stool samples of patients. In the study, 74 samples were gathered from 48 patients diagnosed with various stages of colon cancer along with samples from a control group of 258 healthy people. The samples included containers into which the participants breathed and stool samples. Using the samples, colon polyps were discovered in half of them. Polyps often become malignant and are generally discovered only after a patient undergoes a colonoscopy. The study showed that the dogs were able to successfully identify even early stages of cancer in 33 out of 36 (92%) breath samples and in 37 out of 38 (98%) stool samples. Sierra Lifesaving canine In 2013, Stephanie Herfel of Milwaukee Wisconsin noticed that her Siberian husky Sierra smelled her stomach multiple times before running off to hide leading her to believe something was wrong as she had been experiencing pain. She scheduled an appointment with her gynecologist who discovered an ovarian cyst and she was sent home with a pain killer. At home she noticed that the dog was still acting strange and she decided to seek a second opinion. After a few weeks her doctor told her that she had an advanced stage of ovarian cancer. Herfel underwent a hysterectomy and chemotherapy. In subsequent years her dog again acted strange prompting her to return to her doctor and indeed she discovered that the cancer returned, first in her liver then her pelvis. She feels that Sierra saved her life on multiple occasions. As early as 2011, researchers found that dogs can detect cancer with high accuracy using their sense of smell. Israel's president on Tuesday hailed his country's flourishing ties with Cyprus, saying that cooperation between the two neighbors on intelligence, security and terror prevention has made the eastern Mediterranean "much, much safer." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter "Security ties between our two countries have never been better," President Reuven Rivlin said after talks with Cypriot counterpart Nicos Anastasiades during a visit to the island nation. "Our navies and commando units share space, knowledge and experience," he added, without elaborating. Reuven Rivlin with Cypriot counterpart Nicos Anastasiades Rivlin said the prime focus of the strategic partnership that includes Greece is developing the East Med gas pipeline that "could be one of the greatest underwater projects in the world." The envisioned pipeline would carry natural gas from deposits in the eastern Mediterranean to Europe via Greece and Italy. Anastasiades said Cyprus and Israel share a joint commitment to the East Med project that would diversify Europe's hydrocarbons supply and bolster its energy security. "Our synergies are beacons of hope," Anastasiades said. Israeli-Cypriot relations have blossomed in the last decade following gas discoveries in waters off both countries. Israeli company Delek has a stake in Cyprus' Aphrodite gas field, which lies close to Israel's massive Leviathan deposit. Rivlin in Cyprus Currently, energy companies including Italy's Eni, France's Total and ExxonMobil are involved in a hydrocarbons search in the waters of Cyprus' southern coastline. Turkey, however, insists the exploration infringes on its rights and the rights of breakaway Turkish Cypriots to east Mediterranean hydrocarbon reserves. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said last month that Turkey planned to send a ship to search for gas around Cyprus. Rivlin said energy cooperation in the eastern Mediterranean could also benefit Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians. He said he discussed with Anastasiades the possibility of expanding the Israel-Cyprus-Greece partnership to include other countries. President Reuven Rivlin said cooperation between Israel and Cyprus on intelligence, security and terror prevention has made the Mediterranean "much, much safer." Rivlin said after talks Tuesday with his Cypriot counterpart Nicos Anastasiades that Israeli-Cypriot security ties "have never been better" with the two countries' navies and commando units sharing "space, knowledge and experience." Rivlin said the focus of the neighbors' strategic partnership that includes Greece is developing the East Med gas pipeline that "could be one of the greatest underwater projects in the world." The envisioned pipeline would carry natural gas from deposits in the east Mediterranean to Europe via Greece and Italy. Rivlin said energy cooperation in the eastern Mediterranean could also benefit Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians, adding the Israel-Cyprus-Greece partnership could be expanded. Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to install safety shields in all taxis by 2024 to protect drivers from passengers. / Yonhap By Kim Hyun-bin Seoul City will install safety shields in all taxis by 2024, to better protect drivers from passengers, as there has been an increase in assault cases in recent years. The shields are made of transparent materials, such as plastic, which separate the driver's seat from rear passenger seats and prevent physical contact. Many developed countries including the U.S., Japan and European nations have already enforced the driver shield policy. The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) plans to allocate a little over 5 billion won by 2022 to install the protective shields in 50,290 taxis, covering half of the cost for each shield, 200,000 won, with taxi companies paying the remaining half. The city will conduct a test run of the shields in 250 taxis this year and plans to expand it. It also plans to request the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to amend the passenger law that will allow the use of government budget in installing the shields. "We will install the shields in late-night taxis first and conduct a survey to find a favorable type that will be used," a city official said. According to the Korean National Police Agency, 16,089 people were charged with assaulting taxi or bus drivers between 2013 and 2017, about nine cases a day. On Sunday, a drunken passenger beat up a female taxi driver and ran away in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province. He turned himself in to the police the next day, acknowledging the incident but claiming he did not remember the details as he was drunk. Addressing a meeting of the Governments standing board on the situation during the nine-day Tet holiday on February 11, the first working day after Tet, PM Phuc also pointed to existing problems such as the still high number of traffic accidents and the unlawful use of firecrackers, urging relevant agencies to do their jobs better. Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung delivered a report, which said many enterprises, organizations and philanthropists had joined hands to help the needy and those in disadvantaged circumstances have a happy Tet. The holiday period saw high numbers of domestic and international tourists during the period, the report said, adding that Vietnam was among the 13 great places to celebrate the Lunar New Year as selected by the CNN. It is noted that no food poisoning case was reported during Tet. The number of traffic accidents in the period dropped by 1.6 percent from the same period last year to 276, claiming the lives of 183, down 27.5 percent. However, traffic rule violations were still rampant, and the setting off of firecrackers, which has been banned, was reported in 13 localities nationwide. The minister also reported that farmers started working in the fields as early as the second day of the lunar year. As a result, winter-spring rice has been planted in around 420,000 ha of land in the northern region, and the planting of rice is slated to be completed by February 28. Meanwhile, southern localities have completed the planting of rice, with 32,000 ha more put under rice compared to the same period in 2018. Mentioning tasks to be carried out after Tet, the government leader required all ministries, localities and sectors to promptly resume work. He urged tightening working rules and discipline, stressing that administrative agencies must not organize trips to attend festivals or visits to pagodas during working hours. Ministries, sectors and local administrations should continue to reform working style to fulfil the tasks set for this year with the best results, PM Phuc said. The traditional brightly embroidered dress of Palestinian women known as the "thobe" was not the type of garment one would expect to become a pop political symbol. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Now it's gaining prominence as a softer expression of Palestinian nationalism, competing even with the classic keffiyehthe headscarf donned by young stone-throwing Palestinian men protesting Israel's occupation. The robe, adorned with elaborate hand-stitched embroidery, requires months of grueling labor. Some thobes fetch thousands of dollars. The traditional textiles call to mind a bygone era of Palestinian peasant women sewing on a break from the fields. Designer Natalie Tahhan works on a modern version of the traditional Palestinian thobe in her studio in East Jerusalem Last month, Rashida Tlaib proudly wore her mother's thobe to her historic swearing-in as the first female Palestinian American member of Congress, inspiring masses of women around the world, especially in the Palestinian territories, to tweet photos of themselves in their ancestral robes. "The historic thobe conjures an ideal of pure and untouched Palestine, before the occupation," said Rachel Dedman, curator of a recent exhibit at the Palestinian Museum focused on the evolution of Palestinian embroidery. "It's more explicitly tied to history and heritage than politics. That's what makes it a brilliant symbol." Rep. Rashida Tlaib wears a Palestinian thobe as she is takes her oath on the opening day of the 116th Congress The Palestinian thobe traces its history to the early 19th century, when embroidery was confined to the villages. Richly decorated dresses marked milestones in women's lives: onset of puberty, marriage, motherhood. The designs varied from village to villagespecial three-dimensional stitching for the upper class of Bethlehem, big pockets for the nomadic Bedouin women, orange branch motifs for the orchard-famous city of Jaffa, said Maha Saca, director of the Palestinian Heritage Center in Bethlehem. Thobe patterns also expressed women's different social positions: red for brides, blue for widows, blue with multi-colored stitches for widows considering remarriage. Samiha Jeheshat, displays a handmade embroidered Palestinian thobe at her showroom in the West Bank village of Idna, north of Hebron While Arab women across the region have worn hand-made dresses for centuries, the thobe has taken on a distinctly Palestinian character, particularly since the establishment of Israel in 1948. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians either fled or were expelled from their homes during the war surrounding Israel's creation. Many took only their dresses with them into the diaspora, Saca added. The war, which Palestinians call their "nakba," or catastrophe, transformed the thobe. "Suddenly, in the face of dispossession and cultural appropriation by Israelis, embroidery became an urgent task," Dedman said. "The dress was taken up and politicized." Over decades of conflict that has claimed thousands of lives on both sides, Palestinian nationalism has taken on many forms. Palestinian thobes at "Women in Orient" exhibition at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, France In the early days of Israel's establishment, it was associated with calls for Israel's destruction and deadly attacks. Armed struggle later gave way to calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Peace talks have been interrupted by spasms of violence, and for the past decade, a deep freeze in negotiations. Today, the internationally recognized autonomy government of the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, continues to seek a two-state solution with Israel. The Hamas militant group, which seized the Gaza Strip in 2007, still seeks Israel's destruction, while many Palestinians, particularly the younger generation, now talk of a single binational state with Israel in which they would enjoy full equal rights. Along the way, the thobe has grown in popularity and evolved, with dress designs reflecting history's many dramas. During the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in the 1980s, the thobe bloomed with guns, doves and flowers. When Israeli soldiers confiscated Palestinian flags at protests, women wove forbidden national maps and colors into their dresses, according to the Palestinian museum exhibit. Designer Natalie Tahhan works on a modern version of the traditional Palestinian thobe in her studio in East Jerusalem Now, Palestinian women of all social classes wear thobes to assert national pride at weddings and special occasions. "It's a way of defending our national identity," Saca said. The care, toil, and skill that go into making a thobe prevent the garment from becoming everyday streetwearor protest-wear. But cheaper, mass-produced versions of the dress have sprouted up. "A woman typically has one thobe to wear on occasions throughout her lifeit's very expensive and impractical," said Maysoun Abed, director of a thobe exhibit in the West Bank town al-Bireh, near Ramallah. "But demand for the thobe still runs high as a way of expressing patriotism." Although the robe shares potent patriotic subtext and roots in peasant life with the black-and-white checkered kaffiyehmade famous by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafatthe thobe is infused with nostalgic, almost mythical associations. "Embroidery evokes the timeless connection of Palestinians to the land," Dedman said. "It's a soft image, referencing a deep past with which people have positive associations." Young Palestinian women, especially those in the diaspora, are adapting the ancestral dresses to modern tastes and trends. Girls are asking for shorter and less embroidered versions, said Rajaa Ghazawneh, a thobe designer in the town of al-Bireh. Natalie Tahhan, a designer based in East Jerusalem, produces capes from digital prints that replicate traditional embroidery stitches, "connecting tradition with what is new and stylish." Palestinian woman wearing a Palestinian dress with traditional embroidery performs a folk dance known as Debka, during a folk festival in the West Bank city of Ramallah Tlaib's now-viral Palestinian thobe, which the Michigan Democrat called "an unapologetic display of the fabric of the people in this country" and said it evoked memories of her mother's West Bank village, rekindled enthusiasm worldwide about the dress. "Rashida has become a model for Palestinian women everywherea strong woman proud of her national identity who can reach high," said Saca. Tahhan agreed, saying that "Tlaib's thobe spread a beautiful picture of Palestine, when usually the media only show the wars." For Palestinian women born abroad, and refugees barred from visiting their ancestral homes in what is now Israel, thobes are a tangible connection to the land and a way of keeping their culture alive. "These dresses are our link between the past and future," Saca said. Venezuela's self-declared leader Juan Guaido he was working to restore ties with Israel that Caracas cut off a decade ago in solidarity with the Palestinians. Israel is among US-aligned powers that rallied to Guaido after he declared himself Venezuela's leader last month in a power struggle with socialist President Nicolas Maduro, under whom the country has sunk into poverty. "I am very happy to report that the process of stabilising relations with Israel is at its height," Guaido told the mass-circulation Israel Hayom daily in an interview. A number of prominent Israeli and international companies among them Coca Cola and Teva have been threatened with inclusion on a United Nations blacklist over their operations in Israeli settlements. One of the Israeli companies warned of its potential inclusion has appealed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for government intervention. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The UN Human Rights Council says it intends to release an updated blacklist of corporations operating directly or indirectly in West Bank settlements, East Jerusalem and on the Golan Heights. Major corporations including Africa Israel, Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Bezeq and Bezeq International, Coca Cola, Africa Israel, Teva, Egged, Mekorot and Elbit Systems have been informed they could be on the new list. Despite Israeli and American efforts to prevent it, the list is apparently set to be published at the 40th UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva in March. In 2016, the council approved a resolution to gather a blacklist of Israeli and international companies operating in the settlements. The list is updated annually. In January, senior officials from the Hot Telecommunication Systems Ltd. received letters from the Council stating that the cable company would be included in the blacklist since it provides its services beyond the Green Line. United Nations Human Rights Council (Photo: AFP) Hot CEO Tal Granot-Goldstein sent an urgent letter appealing to Netanyahu and Foreign Ministry Director-General Yuval Rotem in an effort to prevent Hot's inclusion on the list. "We believe the inclusion of Israeli companies in the UN Human Rights Council's blacklist might expose those companies to legal procedures, prompting international corporations to pull out of their investments in Israel. Therefore, we request that the Israeli government and the Foreign Ministry intervene to prevent the publication of this list. Handling this matter is a national interest of the utmost importance," Granot-Goldstein wrote. "To the best of our knowledge, additional Israeli companies have received similar warning letters. It is clear to us that by publishing its blacklist, the UN Human Rights Council aims to apply economic pressure on Israeli companies, while attempting to hurt their image and profits by shaming and threatening to expose them to legal procedures," she wrote. Since former Chilean president Veronica Michelle Bachelet Jeria was appointed as the UN Human Rights Commissioner in 2018, efforts to produce the list have been intensified. The UNHRC has long been accused of an anti-Israel bias, and the US ended its membership last year over this issue. Israel is the only country in the world whose rights record comes up for discussion at every council session, under "Item 7" on the agenda. Item 7 on "Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories" has been part of the council's regular business almost as long as it has existed. The United States has opted to stay out of the Human Rights Council before: The George W. Bush administration opted against seeking membership when the council was created in 2006. The US only rejoined the body in 2009 under President Barack Obama. A branch of the Palestinian Authority on Monday released surveillance footage from a Ramallah-area mosque, apparently showing Israeli security forces arresting the suspected Palestinian killer of a young Israeli woman brutally murdered last week. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The video, posted on Facebook by the PAs Waqf (Islamic trust) office, shows footage from a camera inside the Jamal Abdel Nasser mosque, in which the suspected killer is caught in an abandoned building nearby, and an additional suspect is arrested inside the house of worship itself. Footage of Arafat Irfaiya (: ) X Arafat Irfaiya is suspected of murdering 19-year-old Ori Ansbacher in Jerusalem last week. Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Sunday extended Irfaiyas remand for an additional 10 days. Ansbacher's naked body was found last Thursday, with multiple stab wounds, in the woods at Ein Yael on the outskirts of Jerusalem, police said. The Shin Bet domestic security service said Irfaiya left his home in Hebron carrying a knife, saw the victim in the forest, attacked and killed her. The 29-year-old Palestinian later admitted to the murder anbbd said it was nationalistically motivated. Irfaiya was identified through a DNA sample found at the scene of the horrific attack, and was arrested as part of a surgical operation carried out by Israeli security forces. After it became clear to the investigators that the terrorist was hiding in the mosque some 15 kilometers north of Jerusalem, a SWAT unit was sent to the location late Friday night. The force that arrived at the scene encountered violent disturbances, which included Palestinians hurling pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails, burning tires and throwing stones. Security footage from Jamal Abdel Nasser Mosque (Photo: Security footage) The soldiers initially searched the mosque but couldnt locate the suspect and left the area in order to reorganize. The investigators from the Shin Bet domestic security service then examined CCTV footage from various buildings in the neighborhood, including the mosque, and decided to send a force from the Border Police's counter-terrorism unit Yamam to inspect the abandoned building that aroused their suspicions. A military dog named Zili was the first to reach the terrorist and trap him, and he was eventually arrested unarmed and without resistance. Maor Zemach, chairman of the pro-Zionist Lach Jerusalem organization, lashed out at the Palestinian Authority for releasing the video, calling it an attempt to criticize Israel for desecrating holy places" and deflect from the act of murder itself. "This clearly explains the distorted priorities of the Palestinian Authority: the cruel murder of Jews is acceptable, while fighting terror is not, Zemach said. Ori Ansbacher (Photo: Courtesy of family) In the meantime, the residents of various Palestinian villages adjacent to the settlement of Tekoa, where Ansbacher lived, are expected to pay a condolence visit to her family. The Palestinian delegation, which will consist of around 10 people, was an initiative of the Israeli Tag Meir umbrella organization that combats hate speech and incitement by Jewish extremists. "We are against murder and violence on both sides of the conflict, people have to respect the other. There is nothing more precious than human life, its the most sacred thing," said Ziad Sabatin, a member of the Palestinian delegation from the village of Husan near Bethlehem. No Palestinian officials have condemned the murder, and not one of the Palestinian terror groups has claimed responsibility including Hamas, to which Irfaiya was reportedly affiliated. US President Donald Trump said Monday that freshman Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar "should be ashamed of herself" over tweets suggesting that a powerful pro-Israel interest group paid members of Congress to support Israel. The Minnesota congresswoman "unequivocally" apologized earlier Monday after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats rebuked her. She said she had no intention of offending anyone and thanked her colleagues for educating her on anti-Semitic tropes. On Air Force One flying to a campaign rally in El Paso, Texas, Trump said that Omar had made "a terrible statement" and that he didn't find her apology to be adequate. Asked what she should have said, Trump replied, "She knows what to say." An Israeli Air Force drone fired four missiles near a demolished hospital and an army observation post in Syria's southern Quneitra province near the border with Israel, but there had been only material damage, the Syrian army said on Monday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter An army source was quoted by state news agency SANA as saying that the "Israeli enemy" also hit several sites along border villages close to a 1974 demilitarized zone on the Golan frontier, which with Russian support, the Syrian army regained control from rebels last year. File photo: IDF strike near Damascus in January (: EPA) Asked about the reported Quneitra strikes, an Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman declined comment. State media earlier said the sites in Quneitra that were hit by Israel came from several tank artillery rounds. Residents familiar with the area said that the sites targeted fall within the strategic area known as the "Triangle of Death" connecting the southern Damascus countryside with Deraa and Quneitra provinces. The area is a bastion of Iranian-backed militias led by Lebanon's Hezbollah terror group. The Israeli missile strike coincides with Tehran celebrating the 40th anniversary of the fall of the Shah and the Islamic revolution. In many cases the deployment of the militias in the area relies heavily on recruitment of local youths, according to two Western intelligence sources. They say Shiite Hezbollah group has consolidated its new front in southern Syria and entrenched Iran's influence since the defeat of Sunni rebels who were once backed by Washington, Jordan and Gulf states. Israel has mounted attacks in Syria as part of its effort to counter the influence carved out there by Iran, which has supported Syrian President Bashar Assad in the war that erupted in 2011. Iranian and Iran-backed groups including Lebanon's Hezbollah that have deployed in Syria and now maintain a large presence in former rebel-held areas and territory regained from Islamic State militants in eastern Syria, according to regional military experts. In January, Israeli warplanes carried out a strike on what they called an Iranian arms cache in Syria. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel would ramp up its fight against Iranian-aligned forces in Syria following the withdrawal of US troops from Syria. A senior Israeli official said in September Israel had carried out more than 200 attacks against Iranian targets in Syria in the last two years. US congresswoman Ilhan Omar tweeted out an apology on Monday, after posts she had written a day earlier were condemned as anti-Semitic. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The tweets implied that members of Congress are being paid by a powerful interest group to support Israel. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) (Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Ilhan Omar (D-MN)) Listening and learning, but standing strong, Omar wrote on a post. "Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful to Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the powerful history of anti-Semitic tropes. My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole," Omar wrote. We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expected people to hear me when others attack me for my identity. This is why I unequivocally apologize. Listening and learning, but standing strong pic.twitter.com/7TSroSf8h1 Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 11, 2019 However, Omar added that she remains critical about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and believes it unduly influences US politics. I reaffirm the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the fossil fuel industry. Its gone on too long and we must be willing to address it, Omar said. Omar's mea culpa followed House Speaker Nancy Pelosis call that the freshman Democrat immediately apologize for the tweets. "Congresswoman Omar's use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel's supporters is deeply offensive," Pelosi said in a statement issued by her office and signed by other Democratic leaders after a bipartisan backlash against the Minnesota Democrat. "We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments." Many politicians seeking to attract voters have recently cited the dismal state of public transportation in Israel in their campaign speeches. They readily promise to make changes that will extract Israel from its traffic congestion, but fail to elaborate on how they will actually achieve this miracle. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter There is no doubt that under the term of current Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, the country is undergoing a paradigm shift as the demand for more highways transforms into a deeper understanding that we can only get the kind of quality of life we want with an extensive and efficient public transit system. Crowds at Haifa rail station (Photo: Shaked Lahis) That said, it is a pity that Katz, who has access to a substantial budget and enjoys plenty of political power, has not succeeded in providing a remedy and putting the country on the fast roads roads plural, because there is no other solution, and diverse efforts must be made to provide all citizens with the ability to travel swiftly and reliably, in comfort and at an affordable price. All citizens, not just those in the central region; not just for those commuting to work in the morning; not only for ostentatious projects that end in a celebratory ribbon cutting. The economy loses NIS 35 billion a year because of congestion, not only when we are on the way to work, but also when we are heading to schools, shops, leisure activities and more. Today, 87% of public transportation passengers travel by bus. The world has long learnt that buses are the most flexible, cheapest (and often fastest) means of transportation provided that they are enjoy the necessary infrastructure: designated lanes, bus stops at reasonable proximity to popular destinations (200 meters), and park and ride systems. Barring these conditions, passengers wont use the bus. Traffic jam on the Ayalon freeway in Tel Aviv (Photo: Motti Kimchi) Public transit is different than private vehicle travel in that it is part of a network, a system. A network must be created to provide various travel options. Therefore, it is not merely sufficient to add train lines there must be viable secondary stations and transfer points with multiple transit lines. The biggest change necessary is the shift to combined planning for public transit. In such a small state with short distances between destinations it is possible to develop an efficient and flexible public transit system to serve the public. An efficient public transit system has a profound effect on the structure of society and it can change the status of whole sectors of the population: women who suffer from unequal employment opportunities, children and youth who depend on shuttles, and in fact all of us who suffer from the time wasted in traffic on the way to work or play. Nevertheless, the right to public transit is not viewed as equal to other basic rights such as education and housing and the government fails to designate goals for public transit and plan accordingly; rather, only the needs of private vehicles are taken into consideration. Therefore, in the coming elections, we ought to vote only for parties that commit to fundamentally change public transit policy in Israel; a change that integrates public transit throughout our lives and recognizes it as the cornerstone of a civilized society that pays heed to the needs of its population and plans accordingly, even for the 15 or 20 million people who will live here by the year 2048. In the upcoming elections, vote for those who promise to fundamentally change the Transportation Ministry, increase its budget and utilize it for the benefit of us all. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. By Jung Min-ho The Seoul Metropolitan Government will start correcting hundreds of errors on street signs this month. The city government said Monday it will fix more than 400 errors on nearly 200 foreign-language signs across the capital between Feb. 11 and March 15. The move comes after media reports that there are many some critical mistakes on signs written in English, Chinese and Japanese. Errors include an English sign calling a post office a hospital and another one spelling gallery as "gallerly." Seoul is not the only Korean city that needs to make many corrections. According to Pukyong National University, its students recently found 366 mistakes on foreign-language signs across Busan. The latest: Interstate 90 over Snoqualmie Pass to stay closed all day, snow tapering off in Yakima Valley Senator Elizabeth Warren suggested President Trump may be imprisoned within two years during her inaugural presidential campaign address in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Sunday. One of the things were gonna have to decide about how campaigns go forward is about what Donald Trump does every day, Warren told the crowd. Every day, there is a racist tweet, a hateful tweet, something really dark and ugly. And what are we as candidates, as activists, as the press, going to do about that? Are we going to chase after those every day? Are we going to let him use those to divide us? You know, heres what bothers me, she said. By the time we get to 2020, Donald Trump may not even be president. In fact, he may not even be a free person. Heres how I see it. Donald Trump is not the only problem weve got. Yeah. Donald Trump is the symptom of a badly broken system. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Asked by reporters to expand upon her comments after the speech, Warren cited the multiple ongoing investigations into the Trump campaigns dealings with Russian officials. Come on, how many investigations are there now, into him? Its no longer just the Mueller investigation These are serious investigations, she told reporters. The Trump campaign responded to Warrens claims in a Sunday statement, mocking her over the release of her DNA test results, which she recently apologized for amid backlash from the Cherokee Nation and liberal activists. Elizabeth Warren has already been exposed as a fraud by the Native Americans she impersonated and disrespected to advance her professional career, and the people of Massachusetts she deceived to get elected, campaign manager Brad Parscale said.The American people will reject her dishonest campaign and socialist ideas like the Green New Deal, that will raise taxes, kill jobs and crush Americas middle-class. More from National Review JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Venezuela's self-declared leader Juan Guaido he was working to restore ties with Israel that Caracas cut off a decade ago in solidarity with the Palestinians. Israel is among U.S.-aligned powers that rallied to Guaido after he declared himself Venezuela's leader last month in a power struggle with socialist President Nicolas Maduro, under whom the country has sunk into poverty. "I am very happy to report that the process of stabilizing relations with Israel is at its height," Guaido told the mass-circulation Israel Hayom daily in an interview. A formal announcement on reestablishing ties and opening a new Venezuelan embassy in Israel would come "at the proper time". Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chavez, shunned Israel over its 2008-2009 war in Gaza, and fostered ties with the Palestinians as well as with Israel's arch-foe Iran. Israeli leaders said Caracas' posture was prompting a flight of Venezuelan Jews. "This (Jewish) community is very active and prosperous, one which has contributed greatly to our society," Guaido said in the interview. Maduro, who retains the backing of Russia and China as well as control of state institutions including the military, casts Guaido's rise as a U.S.-orchestrated plot. Guaido says Maduro's reelection last year was a sham. (Writing by Dan Williams; editing by John Stonestreet) By William James LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May has rejected the idea of targeting a customs union with the European Union, pouring cold water on hopes from some that she could shift her Brexit policy to win over the opposition Labour Party. Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29 but has yet to find a deal which is acceptable to both Brussels and lawmakers at home, raising the prospect of a disorderly exit that could damage the world's fifth largest economy. Brexit has divided Britain at every level from voters to cabinet, and raised fears internationally that it will weaken the West. Brexit supporters hail it as casting off a failing German-led project. Last week, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn set out the conditions under which he would instruct his party to support an exit deal in parliament. Foremost was a demand that May seek a "permanent and comprehensive UK-wide customs union". The EU has urged May to grasp Labour's compromise offer rather than press ahead with her preferred option of getting her own divided party onside by renegotiating a clause in the exit agreement relating to the Northern Irish border. But May's office published her reply to Corbyn late on Sunday, showing little appetite for a U-turn which would risk splitting her fractious party by ruling out the scope for Britain to strike its own trade deals around the world. "I am not clear why you believe it would be preferable to seek a say in future EU trade deals rather than the ability to strike our own deal?" May wrote in a three-page letter. May and her government have repeatedly said membership of a customs union would prevent it having an independent trade policy - something they have promoted as one of the main economic benefits of leaving the EU. Although May welcomed the prospect of future talks with Corbyn to try and find a compromise, the letter gave no ground on their central point of disagreement. That leaves May battling to persuade a reluctant EU to look again at the Irish backstop - a fallback policy designed to prevent the resurrection of a hard border in Ireland if talks to find a long-term trade arrangement fail. Brexit minister Stephen Barclay will meet EU negotiator Michel Barnier on Monday ahead of a crunch moment in parliament on Thursday, when lawmakers will try to force May to change course or give up control of the exit process. May will promise lawmakers a second opportunity to influence the Brexit talks later in the month in a bid to stave off any rebellion from within her own party by those who fear Britain could end up leaving without a deal. (Reporting by William James; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne/Guy Faulconbridge) CCTV footage shows a woman throwing a puppy at a pet shop in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, Saturday. / Yonhap By Kang Seung-woo, Dong Sun-hwa Police have launched an investigation into an animal abuse case in which a woman threw her three-month-old pet at a store owner, causing its death. According to the Gangneung Police Station in Gangwon Province, Tuesday, investigators finished questioning the woman, surnamed Lee, as well as the owner of a pet shop in the country's eastern coastal city, surnamed Oh. CCTV footage of the shop went viral, Monday, showing Lee, in her 20s, taking her her newly bought Maltese puppy from a portable pet carrier and throwing it at the pet shop owner. According to Oh, the woman bought the puppy for 500,000 won ($445) from the shop on Saturday, but demanded a refund just seven hours later, saying the dog ate its own feces. The shop owner turned this down, and told her a dog could start eating feces due to a sudden change of surroundings. He asked Lee to keep an eye on the puppy for a few more days. Following an argument, the women threw the puppy at Oh's chest, and it fell to the floor. Oh said Sunday he did not think she would throw the puppy, saying this happened in an instant, so he could not catch it. He fed the puppy, but it began vomiting after 10 p.m. He took the animal to a veterinary clinic but it died at 2:30 a.m. the next day, from a brain hemorrhage due to trauma to its head, according to the vet. After the death, Oh sent a message to Lee, which read, "I will file a complaint against you for animal abuse and defamation." She replied, saying, "You killed the dog why are you asking me to take responsibility? I will also bet everything I can." The woman reportedly had adopted two dogs from the same shop, and two other dogs a Welsh corgi and Pomeranian from another shop. According to the animal protection law, those who kill or abuse animals in cruel ways can face up to two years in prison or fines of up to 20 million won. The police said they can investigate animal abuse suspicions regardless of whether the shop owner made a complaint. Amid growing criticism of her act, Lee apologized, adding that she will volunteer at shelters for abandoned dogs. "I never thought it would die," she said in an interview with local media. "First of all, I was embarrassed to see a puppy eat its feces and also afraid my other dogs may follow suit. I bought it for emotional stability, but upon witnessing the dog eat poop, I was stressed and tried to get a refund." However, her apology was not enough to ease public anger. Dozens of petitions were posted on Cheong Wa Dae's website calling for strong punishment, garnering hundreds of signatures. David Axe Security, Four Fords are in service, under construction or under contract. It's unrealistic for the Navy to halt the program. But in light of the problems the lead ship in the class has experienced, it's possible program-wide costs further could grow and schedules could continue to slip. The U.S. Navy's New Ford-Class Aircraft Carriers Have Lots of Problems The U.S. Navy is doubling down on its new Ford-class supercarriers. In February 2019 the Navy paid Virginia shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls $15 billion to begin work on the third and fourth Fords. Buying two carriers at once could help the Navy finally to achieve its goal of having 12 carriers in service at all times, although under the worst-case scenario it might take the fleet until the 2060s to do so. But the Navy's hurry to acquire the ships belies lingering problems with the class's design. Not only is the whole program several years behind schedule--the cost of the Fords has ballooned--the Congressional Research Service explained in a February 2019 report . Several key ship's systems have proved unreliable, the CRS pointed out. The lead ship USS Ford, CVN-78, commissioned in 2017 and could deploy as early as 2022. CVN-79, the future USS Enterprise, is on schedule to commission in 2024. CVN-78 cost U.S. taxpayers $13 billion. CVN-80 cost $11 billion. Under the terms of the two-ship contract, CVN-80, the future USS Enterprise, should commission in 2027. The yet-unnamed CVN-81 should commission in 2030. Owing to efficiences of scale, the dual-buy could save billions of dollars compared to one-ship contracts. Still, overall program costs have grown. "The estimated procurement costs of CVN-78, CVN-79 and CVN-80 have grown 23.6 percent, 23.4 percent and 17.6 percent, respectively, since the submission of the FY2008 budget," the CRS reported. "Sources of risk of cost growth on CVN-78 included, among other things, certain new systems to be installed on CVN-78 whose development, if delayed, could delay the completion of the ship. These systems included a new type of aircraft catapult called the Electromagnetic Launch System (EMALS), a new aircraft arresting system called the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG), and the ships primary radar, called the Dual Band Radar (DBR)." Story continues Digging into a December 2018 report from the Pentagon's Director of Operational Test & Evaluation, the CRS detailed the problems with Ford's systems. EMALS is supposed to replace older, less-reliable steam-powered catapults, allowing the new flattops efficiently to launch a wide array of manned and unmanned aircraft. But EMALS doesn't work as advertised. "Testing to date involved 747 shipboard launches and demonstrated EMALS capability to launch aircraft planned for the CVN 78 air wing," the CRS pointed out. "Through the first 747 shipboard launches, EMALS suffered 10 critical failures. This is well below the requirement of 4,166 mean cycles between operational mission failures, where a cycle represents the launch of one aircraft." Equally troubling, since EMALS is plugged into the shipwide electrical grid, maintenance crews cannot isolate the system during operations in order quickly to fix it. If EMALS failed during combat operations, the ship effectively would have to shut down for repairs. "The process for electrically isolating equipment is time-consuming," the CRS explained. "Spinning down the EMALS motor/generators takes 1.5 hours by itself. The inability to readily electrically isolate equipment precludes EMALS maintenance during flight operations." AAG -- the system of wires and brakes that allow planes to land on the Fords -- also is unreliable, the CRS reported, citing DOT&E data. "Testing to date included 763 attempted shipboard landings and demonstrated AAG capability to recover aircraft planned for the CVN 78 air wing," the CRS stated. "Through the first 763 attempted shipboard landings, AAG suffered 10 operational mission failures (which includes one failure of the barricade system). This reliability estimate falls well below the re-baselined reliability growth curve and well below the requirement of 16,500 mean cycles between operational mission failures, where a cycle represents the recovery of one aircraft." Like EMALS, AAG also plugs into the shipwide electrical grid, "limiting corrective maintenance on below-deck equipment during flight operations," according to the CRS. Meanwhile, Ford's Dual Band Radar has been "plagued by extraneous false and close-in dual tracks adversely affecting its performance," the CRS stated. "Integration of the DBR electronic protection capabilities remains incomplete and unfunded. With modern threats, a lack of electronic protection places the ship in a high-risk scenario if deployed to combat. The Navy analysis noted that DBR performance needs to be improved to support carrier air traffic control center certification." The problems vexing CVN-79 have compelled the Navy to downgrade certain capabilities of CVN-80, the CRS explained. "Navy officials have stated that they are working to control the cost of CVN-79 by equipping the ship with a less expensive primary radar, by turning down opportunities to add features to the ship that would have made the ship more capable than CVN-78 but would also have increased CVN-79s cost, and by using a build strategy for the ship that incorporates improvements over the build strategy that was used for CVN-78." Four Fords are in service, under construction or under contract. It's unrealistic for the Navy to halt the program. But in light of the problems the lead ship in the class has experienced, it's possible program-wide costs further could grow and schedules could continue to slip. Reeling from the high cost and immense complexity of supercarriers such as Ford, in 2015 the Navy commissioned RAND, a California think tank, to study possible smaller carrier designs. In 2017 RAND concluded that smaller flattops, while cheaper, would be less survivable in combat than a Ford-class vessel would be. But the Navy could acquire a slightly less sophisticated version of the Ford class in order to ease acquisition, RAND advised. "There might be opportunities to reduce costs by eliminating costly features that only marginally improve capability." David Axe serves as Defense Editor of the National Interest. He is the author of the graphic novels War Fix, War Is Boring and Machete Squad. Read full article Washington (AFP) - The United States is ready to help countries repatriate Islamic State jihadists detained in Syria but time is of the essence and Washington insists that ultimately it is up to their home governments to come up with solutions. The window to organize the fighters' return with US support "is quickly closing," a US State Department official told AFP, on condition of anonymity. "We call on all countries to step up and take responsibility for their citizens that went to Syria to fight for the Islamic State." US President Donald Trump's sudden announcement in December that US troops would be withdrawing from Syria set off a countdown for governments whose citizens, having joined IS, were captured by the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Those forces, backed by artillery fire from a US-led coalition, are in a final push this week to retake a last morsel of IS-held territory in Syria. Once the coalition declares it has taken all IS territories, the White House is expected to withdraw US troops. When that happens, the risk is high that "foreign terrorist fighters", or so-called FTFs, will escape SDF control, posing a new threat. Several countries that have chosen to leave the jihadists in SDF detention -- including France -- now confront a diplomatic, legal, political and logistical puzzle. For governments whose own publics have been shaken by terrorist attacks in recent years, it's thorny problem: how to repatriate suspects held in a war zone by forces that do not belong to a recognized state. Despite the tough questions -- and under pressure from Washington -- some governments seem to be figuring it out. - US planes - For nearly two weeks, the Trump administration has been pushing its allies to bring their citizens home. "Repatriating foreign terrorist fighters to their countries of origin and prosecuting them is the best way to prevent them from returning to the battlefield," the State Department's counterterrorism coordinator, Nathan Sales, told AFP. Story continues In total, several hundred foreign jihadists -- likely some 800 -- are in SDF hands, in addition to non-combattant women and children, who also are awaiting repatriation. Their home countries include Tunisia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Russia -- as well as France, Britain, Germany and Belgium. US diplomats have seen signs the French government is willing to hold behind-the-scenes talks on how to bring their nationals home. In Paris, a source close to the issue told AFP that a hypothesis under "strong consideration" is repatriation of the more than 100 French citizens, most of them minors, aboard US planes. The commander of US forces in the Middle East acknowledged in early February that the United States has the responsibility to facilitate this delicate task. "We can make arrangements," said General Joseph Votel. The US has already organized some flights to take jihadists held in Syria home to face justice in their countries. It has been willing to consider logistical solutions tailored to the legal and political constraints that governments are facing, even making stopovers in third countries if necessary. But as some countries consider shuttles or operations coordinated under the US umbrella, the Trump administration might be less than conciliatory if talks bog down. "It is not the responsibility of the SDF, or the United States, to find solutions for the hundreds of FTFs in SDF custody," warned Sales. "Countries must take responsibility for their own citizens and not look to others to solve the problem for them," he added. The State Department official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, cautioned that "repatriation operations are not as simple as sending an aircraft to a terminal in northeast Syria, loading it up with FTFs, and flying them to their country of origin." For every repatriation operation, he said, there are technical and logistical issues that must be addressed: the nationality of each jihadist must be verified, they must be gathered in a single location, overflight clearance must be received, and resources must be secured from all parties involved to execute the operation. And there is an overriding US condition: "Under no circumstances during these operations does the United States ever take custody of the FTFs," the official said. Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Shoveling your sidewalks and driveway after a snowstorm is more than just another annoying household choreit can lead to aches, pains, and in some cases, serious health problems, including heart attacks. A 2017 study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that in Quebec, the risk of men being hospitalized foror dying froma heart attack rose significantly the day after a snowfall of about 8 inches. The researchers found the elevated risk even in people without known cardiovascular disease risk factors. That study didnt prove that snow shoveling caused the heart attacks, but the researchers say they suspect the arduous task was to blame. The process of shoveling snow puts heavy stress on the heart, increasing blood pressure and forcing the heart to work harder, says Willie E. Lawrence Jr., M.D., chief of cardiology at Research Medical Center in Kansas City, Mo., and a spokesperson for the American Heart Association. (He was not involved in the Canadian study.) And the cold temperatures youre working in can cause blood vessels to constrict, which boosts blood pressure as well, Lawrence explains. Then there are the injuries. Shoveling can put strain on the lower back and also on the upper back, shoulders, and elbow muscles, says Taizoon Baxamusa, M.D., clinical assistant professor of orthopedics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, especially when snow is wet. In the U.S., in 2016, more than 110,000 people went to doctors offices or clinics for snow-removal injuries, and as many as 28,000 went to the emergency room in 2016, according to Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates. Finally, being out in the cold can put you at risk of frostbite and hypothermia. Frostbite, when body parts such as fingers, toes, and noses freeze, can be painful and cause permanent damage, even the need for amputation. Hypothermia, which occurs when the bodys core temperature drops below 95 F, is a medical emergency that can lead to death. Story continues Here, how to stay safe while removing snowplus, how to spot important health warning signs. Shoveling Snow the Healthy Way If you have cardiovascular diseaseor have other problems that might interfere with safe shovelingget your doctors okay before taking on the task. For others, these steps can help minimize the health risks of snow shoveling. Prepare properly. The AHA recommends not eating a big mealwhich may put further stress on your heartbefore shoveling. Skip the alcohol, too. It can dull your perception of the cold and the amount of strain your body is under. And before you head outside, warm up with 10 minutes of light exercise, such as walking. Baxamusa advises that you do some gentle stretches as well, to limber up muscles and joints. Dress warmly. Opt for several loose layers, and a water-resistant coat and boots, along with a hat, scarf, and mittens or gloves to protect your extremities from the cold. Try to keep your gloves dry as you shovel, Baxamusa says, because dampness limits their ability to insulate your hands. Take it slow. Pace yourself while you work. When you can, push snow along the ground to get it out of the way, rather than lifting it. Instead of a large shovel, use a smaller one, whose lighter load will be easier to lift. If youre using a larger shovel, fill it only partially with snow before lifting. And take frequent breaks to rest, warm yourself up inside, and rehydrate. Use good form. When you lift snow, use the power in your legs instead of your back to avoid injury. Squat with your knees wide and your back straight; dont bend at the waist. Rather than tossing snow off to the side or behind your shoulder, walk it over to where you want to dump the snow. Fall-proof yourself. Wear shoes or boots with slip-resistant soles or add traction with slip-on ice cleats, available at sporting goods stores. Once your walkway is clear, consider putting down salt or sand or both. Spotting Signs of Trouble As you shovel, stay alert for chest pain or pressure; pain or discomfort in other parts of your upper body, such as your jaw, arms, or back; shortness of breath; or nausea or lightheadedness. These are all possible signs of a heart attack, and if you notice any of them, stop shoveling and call 911 immediatelykeep your cell phone in your pocket so that you can summon help as quickly as possible. If you start to feel muscle pain in your back, shoulders, or arms, its smart to stop shoveling as well and give your muscles a chance to rest, Baxamusa says. And know the signs of cold-related illness. For frostbite, that means skin thats red, has a white or grayish-yellow skin area, feels unusually firm or waxy, or you feel pain or numbness in the area. If you notice any of these, go inside and start slowly rewarming the affected body parts using warm (not hot) water, without rubbing. Warning signs of hypothermia include confusion, slurred speech, shivering, arm and leg stiffness, and slow reaction times. If you suspect it, call 911 right away. Are Snow Blowers Safer? A snow blower may help make the physical act of removing snow easier on your body. Even so, it doesnt remove risk entirely, and using one could still strain your heart or other muscles. Doctors have documented cases of heart attacks induced by snow blower use, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that in 2016 there were almost 18,000 doctors office, clinic, and emergency room visits because of injuries specifically related to snow blowers. So take the same precautions noted above when you use a snowblowerpace yourself, take breaks, and be alert for signs of a heart attack, muscle pain, injury, or frostbite or hypothermia. And resist the temptation to clear a snow clog from your blowers chute by reaching your hand inside. If the blades havent completely stopped turning, you could severely cut or even break your fingers. Unfortunately, thats an extremely common occurrence, says Baxamusa, who notes that he sees a couple such injuries after every major snowfall. A better bet: If your snowblower gets clogged, turn it off, wait a few seconds for the blades to stop turning, then use a stick or other implement to clear the blockage. Most models come with a tool specially designed to help clear clogged chutes, according to Dave Trezza, who leads Consumer Reports testing of snow blowers. Finally, be aware that even after you finish using a snow blower, youll probably still need to do a little bit of shoveling on stairs and other areas a blower cant reach. Even the best snow blowers can leave a thin layer of snow behind, which youll need to remove by hand. And even with shoveling, you might still need to use a little salt to completely remove this thin layer, Trezza says. Below, check out a few of our top-rated snow blowers. More from Consumer Reports: Top pick tires for 2016 Best used cars for $25,000 and less 7 best mattresses for couples Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright 2019, Consumer Reports, Inc. President Trump: Rep. Ilhan Omar 'should resign from Congress' lawmakers decry 'anti-Semitic comments' on Twitter originally appeared on abcnews.go.com President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the first Muslim women in Congress, should resign over Twitter comments that leaders in both parties have called "anti-Semitic." "I think she should resign from Congress frankly, but at a minimum, she shouldn't be on committees, certainly that committee," President Trump said. Omar has since apologized for her Twitter reply to journalist Glenn Greenwald in which she suggested that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, and other members of Congress, support Israel because they get campaign donations from pro-Israel groups and individuals, evoking historical stereotypes linking Jews to money and influence. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. PHOTO: U.S. House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (L) speaks as Speaker of the House Rep. Paul Ryan listens during a news conference on June 20, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) In the tweet, Omar appeared to be using a common way of referring to $100 bills which feature Benjamin Franklin or even playing off a line from Its All About the Benjamins, a 1997 song from rapper Puff Daddy featuring the Notorious B.I.G., Lil Kim and the Lox. She also tweeted AIPAC!" a clear reference to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the prominent advocacy organization that has spent millions lobbying for pro-Israel legislation and sponsor trips to Israel for members of Congress.In 2018, AIPAC spent a total of $3.5 million on lobbying, including more than $883,000 spent just in the last three months of 2018. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Omar had previously appeared to defend her comments on Twitter later Sunday night in a response to a message from Chelsea Clinton, former President Bill Clinton's daughter. The president called Omar's apology "lame" and accused her of being insincere. The Anti-Defamation League, which condemned Omar's comments as "promoting the ugly, anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that Jews have an outsized influence over politics." Story continues On Monday, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, called Omars comments deeply hurtful and offensive, while Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Elaine Luria, D-Va., who are Jewish, began circulating a letter calling on Democratic leaders to take swift action to condemn the comments. Rep. Eliot Engel, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on which Omar serves, also criticized her comments in a statement Monday but made no mention of removing her assignment. "I fully expect that when we disagree on the Foreign Affairs Committee, we will debate policy on the merits and never question members motives or resort to personal attacks," he wrote. "Criticism of American policy toward any country is fair game, but this must be done on policy grounds." In an extraordinary rebuke, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House Democratic leaders on Monday called on the Democratic freshman to apologize for the comments. Anti-Semitism must be called out, confronted and condemned whenever it is encountered, without exception," Pelosi said in a statement, joined by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Lujan, Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries and Caucus Vice Chair Katherine Clark. We are and will always be strong supporters of Israel in Congress because we understand that our support is based on shared values and strategic interests. Legitimate criticism of Israels policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate that the United States and Israel share," the statement continued. PHOTO: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi talks to reporters during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 31, 2019. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) "But Congresswoman Omars use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israels supporters is deeply offensive. We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments," they said. "As Democrats and as Americans, the entire Congress must be fully engaged in denouncing and rejecting all forms of hatred, racism, prejudice and discrimination wherever they are encountered, the statement read. Pelosi also tweeted that she had spoken with Omar, saying "Congresswoman Omar and I agreed that we must use this moment to move forward as we reject anti-Semitism in all forms." This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Shortly afterward, Omar tweeted, in part, that "My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole. We have to always be willing to step back and think about criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me for my identity. That is why I unequivocally apologize." This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Omar, of Minnesota, has previously been accused by Republicans of anti-Semitism for her comments about Israel, and her weekend comments caused a growing number of Democrats to join in criticizing her social media posts. PHOTO: Rep. Ilhan Omar is seen in the audience ahead of President Donald Trump's State of the Union address at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 5, 2019. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images) Omar, along with Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., another Muslim woman and freshman Democrat, have been outspoken critics of Israel and the countrys treatment of Palestinians, articulating a growing sentiment among progressives that has put them at odds with longstanding American foreign policy consensus on Israel and deep bipartisan support for Israel in Washington and on Capitol Hill. House Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise, House GOP Conference Chair Rep. Liz Cheney, among others, have called for Omar to be taken off the Foreign Affairs Committee. Republicans, who have been quick to criticize the two Democratic women, have also grappled with charges of anti-Semitism. And ahead of the midterm elections, McCarthy, then the majority leader of the House, posted and subsequently deleted a tweet that said Republicans cannot allow George Soros, Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer three Jewish Democratic billionaire donors to buy the election. President Trump was accused of anti-Semitism during the 2016 presidential campaign after he retweeted an image of Hillary Clinton and a six-pointed star similar to a Jewish star that read Most Corrupt Candidate Ever! superimposed on a graphic of money. The president eventually deleted the image and replaced it with a similar graphic without the star. Fellow freshman Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, highlighted Omar's apology and contrasted her contrition with Trump's responses when criticized for culturally offensive remarks. "Unlike this President, Rep. @IlhanMN demonstrated a capacity to acknowledge pain & apologize, use the opportunity to learn abt history of antisemitism,+grow from it while clarifying her stance," she tweeted. "Im also inspired by Jewish leadership who brought her in, not push her out, to heal." ABC News' Soo Rin Kim contributed to this report. TOKYO (Reuters) - Renault's chairman will meet Nissan Motor's <7201.T> CEO this week in Japan as they look at ways to cement their partnership after the ouster of former alliance leader Carlos Ghosn, the Japanese automaker said on Tuesday. Jean-Dominique Senard, named chairman of the French automaker last month, will visit Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama to meet the company's executives and become better acquainted with its Japanese partner. "Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa is eager to familiarize Senard with Nissan and Alliance operations to optimize their work together," the automaker said in a statement. Earlier in the day, Saikawa told Japanese media that he was keen to smooth Nissan-Renault relations that have been strained in the past few months following Ghosn's arrest in Tokyo and his immediate dismissal as Nissan chairman. "First of all, we have to restore trust and stabilize the relationship," the Nikkei quoted Saikawa as saying. "We want him to know more about Nissan's (management) team." Kyodo news reported that Senard would visit for two days from Feb. 14. Senard, formerly CEO of tire maker Michelin, joined Renault as chairman in late January after Ghosn was forced to resign from the French automaker in the wake of his arrest on allegations of financial misconduct. Ghosn has been indicted in Japan for under-reporting his Nissan salary for eight years and temporarily transferring personal losses on to the automaker's books around during the global financial crisis. The once-feted executive, credited for turning around both Renault and Nissan, remains in detention as he awaits trial that could be several months away. He denies any wrongdoing. Speculation about the future capital structure of the Renault-Nissan partnership has been rife since the arrest of Ghosn, who had been exploring ways to make the alliance "irreversible" before his arrest. But Saikawa has argued it is not time to discuss the ideal structure of the alliance, although he has said he wants to work closely with Senard who will likely sit on Nissan's board. The automaking alliance has been underpinned by Renault's 43.4 percent stake in Nissan, which in turn owns a 15 percent non-voting stake in Renault. The French government owns a 15 percent stake in Renault. The head of Japan's industry ministry on Tuesday denied media reports that the government had been told by France that it could lower its stake in Nissan, Jiji news reported, echoing a similar denial by France's finance ministry last week. (Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu and Maki Shiraki; Editing by Himani Sarkar) By Lesley Wroughton and Gergely Szakacs BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cautioned U.S. allies on Monday against deploying equipment from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei on their soil, saying it would make it more difficult for Washington to "partner alongside them". The United States and its Western allies believe Huawei Technologies' apparatus could be used for espionage, and see its expansion into central Europe as a way to gain a foothold in the EU market. Washington is concerned in particular about the expansion of Huawei, the world's biggest maker of telecoms equipment, in Hungary and Poland. "We want to make sure we identify (to) them the opportunities and the risks of using that equipment," Pompeo told reporters during a visit to the Hungarian capital, Budapest. Hungary is the first stop in a trip by Pompeo to central Europe that also includes Slovakia and Poland and is part of what administration officials say is an effort to make up for a lack of U.S. engagement in the region that opened the door to more Chinese and Russian influence. Huawei denies engaging in intelligence work for any government. It says its technologies serve 70 percent of Hungarians and that it cooperates with most telecoms providers in Hungary, including state-owned enterprises. "We have seen this all around the world, it also makes it more difficult for America to be present," Pompeo told reporters during a stop at the U.S. embassy," referring to Huawei equipment. "If that equipment is co-located where we have important American systems, it makes it more difficult for us to partner alongside them." Pompeo announced plans for a defence cooperation agreement with Hungary, one of the European governments that is most enthusiastic about Chinese investment. But he said he had discussed "the dangers of allowing China to gain a bridgehead in Hungary" in talks with Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. Story continues Budapest's nationalist government, like Poland's largely isolated politically in the European Union, hopes to buy mid-range air defence capabilities from the United States. U.S. INTERESTS In Poland, where Pompeo is travelling to on Tuesday, the government is considering banning Huawei from participating in the development of 5G capabilities after arresting a Chinese employee of Huawei and a former Polish security official on spying allegations last month. Both men have denied wrongdoing. It is also lobbying Washington for an increased military presence on its soil. Slovakia, which Pompeo visits before Poland, is looking to buy F-16 fighter jets. Pompeo's tour includes a conference on the Middle East, hosted by Poland, where Washington hopes to build a coalition against Iran. He is also expected to voice concerns about energy ties with Moscow, and urge Hungary not to support the TurkStream pipeline, part of the Kremlin's plans to bypass Ukraine, the main transit route for Russian gas to Europe. Hungary gets most of its gas from Russia and its main domestic source of electricity is the Paks nuclear power plant where Russia's Rosatom is involved in a 12.5 billion-euro ($14 billion) expansion. Hungary's Szijjarto brushed off U.S. concerns over Russia and China, saying Budapest was fulfilling its obligations to western allies as a member of the NATO military alliance. "When it comes to cooperation with Russia or cooperation with the People's Republic of China that does not harm us being reliable as a NATO ally," he told a joint news conference with his U.S. counterpart. A EUROPEAN TRUMP Pompeo also discussed concerns over the rule of law in Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban is pressuring courts, media and non-governmental groups. Earlier in the day Pompeo met with civil society leaders at the U.S. embassy and said he would discuss their treatment directly with Orban. "So many of the concerns that are voiced are things that have happened in the absence of America being engaged," he told reporters. Szijjarto drew parallels between the Trump administration and Orban government on curbing immigration, protecting Christians around the world and support for Israel. "Hungary's government and President Donald Trump's administration represent an identical, or very similar, approaches in both general political and numerous international political issues," he said. (Editing by Justyna Pawlak, Robin Pomeroy, Peter Graff and Frances Kerry) Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - A Palestinian teenager died Tuesday four days after he was hit by an Israeli tear gas canister during clashes along the Gaza border, the Hamas-run enclave's health ministry said. Hassan Nofel, 17, was hit in the face with a tear gas canister on Friday during a protest east of Al-Bureij in central Gaza, the ministry said. Two Palestinian teenagers were killed and 17 others wounded by Israeli gunfire that day during protests and clashes along the heavily fortified frontier. At the time, the Israeli army said some 8,200 "rioters and demonstrators" had gathered along the border to throw stones and a number of explosive devices towards its troops. The Israeli forces "responded with riot dispersal means and fired according to standard operating procedures", a spokesman said. Palestinians in Gaza have for nearly a year gathered at least weekly along the border for often-violent protests, calling on Israel to end its decade-long blockade of the enclave. At least 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since then, the majority shot during clashes, though others have been hit by tank fire or air strikes. Two Israeli soldiers have been killed over the same period. Israel says its actions are necessary to defend the border and stop infiltrations and attacks, which it accuses Hamas of seeking to orchestrate. Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza have fought three wars since 2008. Beirut (AFP) - A Lebanese prosecutor requested a death sentence Tuesday against two Syrian men accused of the November murder of a British radio host, the national news agency reported. The pair, both in their twenties, were charged with the premeditated murder of Gavin Ford, a British national who had been a popular radio host in Lebanon for years. According to the Lebanese security forces, the two men have confessed to killing him. Ford, who was 53, was buried in Lebanon. Paris (AFP) - A spate of anti-Semitic vandalism and graffiti in and around Paris at the weekend sparked widespread condemnation on Tuesday, stoking fresh concerns about an increase in hate crime against Jews. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe told lawmakers that he shared their anger at the "loathsome" acts, urging people "to express their absolute rejection" of anti-Semitism. "That is not enough, of course, but the day when we no longer do so, when fatigue wins the day, then all will be lost," he said. Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux suggested the vandalism could be blamed in part on the far-left and far-right activists who have infiltrated the weekly "yellow vest" protests. Demonstrators have gathered in Paris every Saturday since mid-November to denounce the government of President Emmanuel Macron, often leading to violent skirmishes with police. "We're not talking about the protesters who are struggling to make ends meet," Griveaux told France 2 television. "But those who are committing violent acts, openly anti-Semitic or racist acts, they must be charged and severely punished." The rise in anti-Semitic acts in France, however, predates the yellow vest movement and there was no evidence linking the latest incidents to the protests. - 'Old, hideous hatred' - Interior Minister Christophe Castaner had on Monday said anti-Semitism was "spreading like poison" as he visited a memorial site outside Paris for Ilan Halimi, a young Jewish man who was tortured to death in 2006. There, a tree planted at the site where 23-year-old's body was found had been chopped down, and a second tree was partly sawed through. Also in recent days, the word "Juden" (German for Jew) was scrawled on the window of a Paris bagel bakery and swastikas were plastered over several post boxes bearing the image of former government minister and Holocaust survivor Simone Veil. Story continues Other graffiti found on Monday at the headquarters of French daily Le Monde targeted President Emmanuel Macron, using anti-Semitic tropes to refer to his former job as a Rothschild investment banker. In another incident, the words "Macron Jews' Bitch" was written in English across a garage door in the city centre, and the phrase "Jewish pig" was sprayed onto a wall in the northern 18th district. "The social crisis France has seen since the emergence of the yellow vests has only encouraged such acts," an editorial in Le Monde newspaper said on Tuesday. "To imagine that this old, hideous hate will abate once the social tensions ease is just wishful thinking." - 'Wake-up call' - Castaner had on Monday said the number of anti-Jewish offences reported to the police surged 74 percent last year, to 541 up from 311 in 2017, after two years of declines. Of that figure, 183 involved assaults and at least one murder -- that of an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor who was killed in a savage attack at her home last March, believed to be motivated at least partly by anti-Semitism. The other 358 offences involved anti-Semitic threats or insults. Francis Kalifat, head of the Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF), told AFP the increasing threats required a "national wake-up call" to counter "the normalisation of anti-Jewish hate." The increase came as other racist and xenophobic acts fell 4.2 percent, and just 100 anti-Muslim cases were reported, the lowest number since 2010. Junior foreign minister Sebastien Lecornu also pointed the finger at the yellow vest protesters for the latest anti-Semitic offences. "Conspiracy theorists are very present among their ranks," he said, before referring to a survey released on Monday. The Ifop poll said nearly half the yellow vests believed in a worldwide "Zionist plot" as well as the "Great Replacement" theory, which suggests immigration is being deliberately organised "to replace Europe's native populations". France is home to the largest Jewish population in Europe and the community has been targeted by jihadists in recent years. In 2011, an Islamist gunman shot dead a rabbi and three children at a Jewish school in Toulouse and in 2015 an extremist claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group killed four people at a kosher supermarket in Paris. Writing on Twitter on Tuesday, far-right leader Marine Le Pen denounced "a surge in anti-Semitic acts and the desecration of Christian places of worship". Last week, five churches were desecrated around the country, police sources told AFP. By Park Si-soo Park Duk-won, a soldier who died during the 1950-53 Korean War, received a posthumous high school diploma on Tuesday. Kyungnam High School said it had awarded the honorary diploma to Park's younger sister during its 73th graduation ceremony, formally recognizing Park as its graduate. It happened 69 years after Park perished in a bloody battle between South Korean and North Korean troops near Jangjin reservoir in December 1950 and two months after the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs recognized him as a person of national merit. Park voluntarily joined the armed forces on Aug. 6, 1950, after quitting the school, according to the ministry. His belated recognition was due to a lack of documents verifying the identity of his body that had been buried in the National Cemetery's section for unknown soldiers for years. "We are honored to award the diploma to our proud graduate who sacrificed himself for the country," Jung Dae-ho, principal of Kyungnam, said. In the ceremony, Park's family donated 5 million won ($4,500) to the school. MEXICO CITY (AP) Coahuila state authorities say about 70 of the 1,676 Central American migrants confined to an improvised shelter in the Mexican border city of Piedras Negras have applied for jobs in Mexico. Most migrants are only allowed to leave the shelter under police escort to visit a store. About a dozen per day are allowed out to file asylum claims at the U.S. border town of Eagle Pass. The migrants can't leave because they didn't have Mexican humanitarian transit visas. About 1,000 of the migrants have applied for the visas. Only about 400 have been approved so far. Authorities said Monday 22 minors have been taken to other shelters, and 58 migrants have asked to return to their home countries. A police force guards the shelter at an unused factory complex. New York (AFP) - Mexican mobster Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was convicted Tuesday of crimes spanning a quarter-century in a trial that laid bare his lavish lifestyle and penchant for extreme violence as the head of one of the world's most powerful gangs. The 61-year-old former boss of the notorious Sinaloa cartel -- famed for his brazen escapes from Mexican prisons -- faces life in prison for smuggling tons of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States. He was also found guilty on money laundering and weapons possession charges during a three-month trial in which witnesses described the mob boss beating, shooting and even burying alive those who got in his way. "The verdict was a tremendous victory for the rule of law, for Mexico, the United States and other countries that have been victims of the Sinaloa cartel," Mike Vigil, former head of international operations for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, told AFP. "Chapo Guzman was the world's greatest drug lord of all time," Vigil added. "He surpassed other drug lords, including Pablo Escobar." In a statement, acting US Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said the case "demonstrated the extraordinary reach of the U.S. government, our tenacity and commitment to pursuing kingpins like Guzman." In a three-month trial that unfolded like a real-life telenovela, Guzman's ex-henchmen and a former mistress took the stand under the gaze of the stocky gangster, whose nickname is Spanish slang for "shorty." His young wife, onetime beauty queen Emma Coronel, showed up almost every day in court to be with her husband. After sentencing on June 25, Guzman is likely to be transferred to a so-called "supermax" prison in Colorado, sometimes called the "Alcatraz of the Rockies" and considered one of the most secure in the US. His conviction is seen as a big win for the US, which failed to obtain the extradition of Escobar, the Colombian drug lord who was killed in a police operation in 1993. Story continues Guzman's lawyer Bill Purpura said his client had expected the verdict but was a "guy who never gives up" and had vowed to appeal. Another attorney for Guzman, Eduardo Balarezo, tweeted his client's conviction "will change nothing." "El Chapo was arrested in 2014. The war on drugs is a complete failure," he said. - Ultra violence - During the trial, the government presented 56 witnesses and troves of incriminating material, including intercepted calls between Guzman and his associates, and conversations taped secretly by informants. Some of the most eye-watering testimony came from a former hitman who offered gruesome details about acts of torture and killings of rivals personally carried out by his then boss. Isaias Valdez Rios told the court he saw Guzman leave one captive -- a rival from the Arellano Felix cartel -- in a chicken coop for two days. After two interrogations, Guzman shot the man, before ordering him buried alive. On another occasion, the court heard, Guzman beat two members of the Zetas cartel with a thick tree branch until their bones were broken before shooting them dead. Guzman was not on trial for murder, but federal prosecutors attempted to depict him as a violent and ruthless man, ready to do anything to protect his business. Former employees testified that the cartel paid bribes of millions of dollars at the highest levels of government, including to former President Enrique Pena Nieto, who denies the allegation. The trial also offered a glimpse at the opulent lifestyle led by Guzman, who grew up in poverty. His ex-pilot and former cartel manager for Mexico City testified that Guzman had four airplanes, numerous houses including a mansion in Acapulco, a yacht named "Chapito" and a ranch that included a zoo and a small railway. - 'Garbage' testimony - In his closing arguments late last month, another of Guzman's lawyers, Jeffrey Lichtman, asked the jury not to convict on the basis of the "garbage" testimony of government witnesses. Lichtman contended that Guzman was merely a "scapegoat," and that the real culprit in the drug trafficking operations was Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, the co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel. "Mayo has been the largest narcotrafficker for decades in Mexico. He has never been arrested. He has paid hundreds of millions of dollars to stay free," Lichtman said. The government, meanwhile, appealed to the jury not to let Guzman "escape" -- an allusion to his two spectacular jail breaks in Mexico, the last in 2015 through a tunnel from a shower area in his cell. The defense called just one witness, an FBI agent put on the stand in an attempt to undermine the credibility of one of Guzman's cocaine suppliers who had testified against him. The defense's strategy centered on attacking the credibility of the cooperating witnesses -- former secretaries, pilots, cocaine suppliers, Guzman's top trafficker in the United States, a manager, an accountant, a former communications chief and a former lover. Most are serving prison sentences and hoped to have their penalties reduced in return for their cooperation with prosecutors. London (AFP) - Prime Minister Theresa May asked MPs Tuesday for more time to try and revive her Brexit deal with the EU in what the opposition said was a ploy to "run down the clock". May updated parliament following a series of last-gasp meetings held in Belfast, Brussels, and Dublin despite EU leaders' insistence that they will not renegotiate the deal they had already struck with her. Deal or no deal, Britain is due to leave the European Union on March 29, and a disorderly exit could cause chaos. "The talks are at a crucial stage. We now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this house requires and deliver Brexit on time," May told lawmakers. "Having secured an agreement with the EU for further talks, we now need some time to complete that process," she said. May's statement was seen by political commentators as an attempt to defuse any parliamentary rebellion in a series of votes on May's Brexit strategy to be held on Thursday. May has promised MPs another chance to vote, on February 27, on what to do if no deal is reached. - 'Play chicken' - MPs last month overwhelmingly rejected the deal struck between May and Brussels for Britain's exit from the EU. Ever since, the premier has been trying to secure changes to the accord that would satisfy parliament's lower House of Commons. Pro-Brexit MPs in May's Conservative Party are unhappy particularly with a so-called backstop provision intended to keep the border with Ireland free-flowing. Some fear it could leave Britain trapped in EU trade rules indefinitely with no withdrawal mechanism. Main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said May had come to parliament Tuesday with "excuses and delays" and accused her of trying to "play chicken with people's livelihoods". "It appears the prime minister has just one real tactic: to run down the clock hoping members of this house are blackmailed into supporting a deeply flawed deal," he said. Story continues - Plea for time - For his part, Bank of England chief Mark Carney warned that leaving the EU without a transition deal "would be an economic shock for this country", and said Brexit was an "acid test" of the globalised economy. Added the City of London's policy chief, Catherine McGuinness: "The last grains of sand are slipping through the hour glass as another day is lost in Brexit limbo". Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and David Lidington, May's de facto deputy, met members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg Tuesday while British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt was in Paris as part of a diplomatic offensive. Hunt said he had "open and thoughtful discussions" with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. "Both sides want a Brexit deal that supports ongoing friendship between UK/EU/France so patience and goodwill on backstop now the critical ingredient," he tweeted. Le Drian had a different message, tweeting that "rapid progress" was needed to ensure an orderly divorce. A senior member of the European parliament later ramped up the rhetoric, comparing pro-Brexit MPs to French revolutionaries. "We must remember that the efforts of these men were not appreciated by the common man... because they all ended under the guillotine," Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the assembly's Liberal group, told reporters. - 'Lack of opposition' - Meanwhile, students supporting a second referendum urged Corbyn to "get off the fence" on Brexit, in a stunt in his north London constituency. Many of Labour's younger, newer supporters who propelled the veteran socialist to the party leadership want to stay in the EU -- but many of the seats Labour holds in parliament are in pro-Brexit hotbeds. "A lot of people have noticed the complete lack of opposition on this," said Kira Millana Lewis, an 18-year-old student and Labour member. "We believed in him because we believed he would offer us a brighter future. That isn't possible outside of the European Union." PHOENIX (AP) Retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who became a prominent gun-control advocate after his wife and former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in a failed assassination attempt, announced Tuesday he will run to finish John McCain's last term in the U.S. Senate. If he wins the Democratic nomination, Kelly would take on Republican Martha McSally in what is expected to be one of the most closely contested Senate races of the 2020 election. Kelly described himself as an independent-minded centrist who will take a scientist's data-driven approach to solving problems such as climate change, wage stagnation and health care affordability. "You see a lot of partisanship in Washington and a lot of polarization, and to some extent we've created that," Kelly told The Associated Press. "It's going to take people who are more independent to fix it. Arizonans value independence." If Kelly is nominated the race would pit the Navy veteran and astronaut against McSally, a trailblazing Air Force pilot, in the contest to replace McCain, a legendary Navy flyer who was famously shot down and held captive in North Vietnam. McSally is a former Republican congresswoman who was appointed to McCain's seat after she narrowly lost to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema last November in the race for outgoing Republican Jeff Flake's seat. McSally leaned heavily on her record as the first woman to fly a combat mission, but she was hurt by her embrace of President Donald Trump. Kelly decried politicians who "ignore data and facts and in some cases don't even believe in science," but did not take on Trump directly, saying he's "not going to focus on the presidency or the White House." The 2020 election will decide who finishes the last two years of McCain's term. The winner would have to run again for a full six-year term in 2022. Democrats are eagerly watching the Arizona contest, having already defeated McSally. The party is also gauging whether Arizona could be competitive at the presidential level in 2020 after Trump won by 4 percentage points in 2016. Story continues Kelly has never held elected office. He flew combat missions during the first Gulf War and was a Navy test pilot before becoming an astronaut along with his twin brother, Scott Kelly. He flew four space missions over 10 years and commanded the Space Shuttle Endeavor in 2011. Kelly and Giffords have pushed Congress to enact gun control measures with little success. They shifted their focus to state legislatures in recent years, helping to strengthen background checks and domestic violence protections. Giffords was severely wounded in a mass shooting on Jan. 8, 2011. The shooting at a Giffords meet-and-greet event in Tucson left six dead and 13 injured. Giffords played a prominent role in the four-minute video Tuesday launching Kelly's campaign. "I thought then that I had the risky job," Kelly says to Giffords. "Turned out, you were the one that had the risky job." Kelly told the AP Giffords, who has been a rising Democratic star before the shooting, will join him frequently during campaign appearances. Republican Gov. Doug Ducey appointed McSally to the vacant Senate seat after his temporary appointee, former Sen. Jon Kyl, resigned after a few months in office. Arizona has been a longstanding Republican stronghold, but a growing Latino population and frustration among women with Trump have helped Democrats make inroads. U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego of Phoenix is also considering a Senate run that would likely position him to Kelly's left politically. "I've made no secret of the fact that I'm looking seriously at running for the U.S. Senate in 2020, and that hasn't changed," Gallego said on Twitter following Kelly's announcement. "I'll be making a final decision and announcement soon." Former Attorney General Grant Woods, a lifelong Republican who became a Democrat and a fierce critic of Trump, said last week he will not run for the seat. McCain, a legendary and beloved Arizona politician, died last year from an aggressive form of brain cancer after more than three decades in the Senate. Vilnius (AFP) - Worried over Brexit uncertainty, dozens of fintech companies have applied for licences in Lithuania to secure access to the EU market, the Baltic state's central bank said Tuesday. Fintech refers to IT companies developing new software, applications or business models for the financial sector. "We expect to receive around 100 applications from fintech companies this year," Marius Jurgilas, a member of the board at the central bank, told AFP. The Lithuanian fintech cluster already includes over 110 licensed companies, second only to Britain in the European Union, while another 61 applications are under review, according to central bank figures. The surge is driven by speedy processing and fears that British licences may lose rights to provide payment or e-money services to EU customers after Britain leaves the bloc as expected on March 29. "Brexit is certainly encouraging those firms who need the EU market to seek locations and licences in EU states," Jurgilas said. The recent newcomers in Lithuania, a eurozone nation of 2.8 million people, include Google's payment arm and Revolut, a British digital-only bank. Jurgilas admitted the drive received attention from the "shadow economy" but said the central bank has stepped up efforts to prevent money laundering, including a new department for e-money supervision and closer ties with security agencies. "The Lithuanian central bank is extremely cautious with persons who have links to tax havens," Jurgilas said. Brussels (AFP) - Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Tuesday urged European lawmakers to show a united front on migration, with the issue set to dominate the run-up to European elections in May. Conte's speech mixed pro-bloc rhetoric with some criticism as he faced an often hostile audience at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. "The European project seems to have lost some of its momentum," said Conte, who heads a populist coalition government, regretting what he perceived as passivity in the face of economic crisis. "Politics, if it is only at the service of the economy, misses its mark," the Italian head of government said in charging that the EU had "lost contact with the people" and was "incapable of understanding (their) true needs." With Italy as a first point of entry to Europe for tens of thousands of migrants in recent years, Conte noted immigration was a bone of contention for voters on a continent seized by rising populism. "We cannot go on" dealing with migrant flows via a series of emergency measures, Conte insisted. He said the bloc required instead "a structural approach for a stable and efficient solution," including a mechanism forcing EU states to share out the burden. Manfred Weber, leader of the European People's Party centre right grouping, responded by stating the assembly backed a fairer and more effective asylum policy that would provide greater solidarity and end the requirement to apply for asylum only in the first EU country reached. However, fellow German Udo Bullmann, leader of the Socialists and Democrats grouping, blasted what he termed Italian "cynicism" in refusing to take in NGO migrant rescue boats at its ports. That policy has earned Rome trenchant criticism and Conte drew more of the same over his country's spending plans and high public deficit, which led to a standoff with Brussels last year prior to the policy being watered down. "Italy suffered badly from austerity," said Belgian Green lawmaker Philippe Lamberts, but "rather than seek to form alliances your government chose confrontations which were theatrical and sterile," he chided Conte. Conte meanwhile defended a recent meeting in France between deputy prime minister Luigi di Maio and French anti-government "yellow vest" protestors which caused a rumpus between Rome and Paris, saying the visit was made merely as a "party leader." Haifa (Israel) (AFP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran Tuesday that Israeli missiles can travel "very far", on the eve of a conference in Poland about peace and security in the Middle East. Speaking during a visit to a naval base in the northern port of Haifa, Netanyahu said: "The missiles you see behind me can go very far, against any enemy, including Iran's proxies in our region" -- an apparent reference to Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement. "We are constantly working according to our understanding and the need to prevent Iran and its proxies from entrenching on our northern boder and in our region in general," Netanyahu added. "We are doing everything necessary," said Netanyahu, as he inspected Israel's Iron Dome aerial defence system. Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel would not allow Iran and its ally Hezbollah to entrench themselves in neighbouring Syria where they are backing the Damascus regime against rebels and jihadists. Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria in the past few years against Iranian and Hezbollah targets. On Wednesday the Israeli prime minister is set to take part in an international conference in Warsaw co-organised by the United States and Poland. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month announced the two-day conference saying it would focus on the "destabilising influence" of Iran in the Middle East. But with few RSVPs coming, Poland and the US have towned down the agenda to focus on ways of promoting peace and security in the Middle East. During the conference US President Donald Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, who has been putting final touches on a "deal of the century" for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, will make a rare speaking appearance. Kushner may offer hints of the US peace proposal but is not expected to unveil the full deal until after the April 9 election in Israel. Photo credit: Alex Wong - Getty Images From Esquire By the end of business Monday, Rep. Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, had apologized for sending out Tweets that were thought to be anti-Semitic both by sincerely offended people, and by opportunistic ratfcking hypocrites who realize the power of performative outrage. Omar's tweets earlier had been condemned by the entire Democratic leadership team in the House. By the end of business Monday, an out-and-out racist was still president*, and an out-and-out racist was still representing the Fourth Congressional District in Iowa, and more than a few people were doing the same thing that Omar did with AIPAC, except in relation to George Soros. Which reminds me, in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing to meet again with his good friend, Viktor Orban, the authoritarian PM of Hungary. Orban is a true delight, as this analysis in The Atlantic explained. From using anti-Semitic tropes to demonize George Soros to praising Miklos Horthy-the regent who presided over the murder of Jews during World War II-to seeking to honor the notorious World War IIera anti-Semite Balint Homan, Orban, the self-styled defender of Christian Europe, has shown himself willing to tap into this hatred to score political points. The Figyelo cover, an attack on a prominent figure in the Hungarian Jewish community, appears to be a bold escalation by the leader whose Fidesz Party won a landslide victory earlier this year. Far from paying a political price for exploiting anti-Semitism, Orban is thriving... The cover controversy comes at a time when the Jewish community is at loggerheads with the government over the building of a new Holocaust Museum, known as the House of Fates. Its designer, Maria Schmidt, is both an associate of Orbans and a Holocaust distorter. Schmidt has been accused of defending current and historical Hungarian anti-Semites, minimizing the importance of the Holocaust, and vigorously asserting that the World War IIera government of Hungary had little or nothing to do with the mass murder of the majority of the countrys Jewish population. Until very recently, she owned Figyelo . Story continues But Bibi is an honorable man. Photo credit: GALI TIBBON - Getty Images I wish Omar had not tweeted what she did. There is a discussion to be had about the relationship between the United States and Israel, but it appears to be almost impossible to start one without the sky falling on you from all sides. The Democratic Party once again is getting Pundit Points for disciplining one of its own, and someone, someday, is going to have to show me how that's ever translated into success at the polls. And if they boot her off the Foreign Affairs committee, as is being demanded by (among others) Louie Gohmert, Padishah Emperor of the Crazy People, then they've truly been scared off the trolley again. (And, not for nothing, but the flying monkeys also are after Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Gee, two Muslim women have attracted their attention. What were the odds?) To be sure, Omar blundered into a controversy neither she nor her party needed, and she apparently hasn't been around long enough to know that the leadership of her party is as likely to bail on her as not. Right now, on this issue, there is a serious bipartisan effort going on to choke off a specific form of perfectly constitutional political protest. You have to read the room. Respond to this post on the Esquire Politics Facebook page here. ('You Might Also Like',) By Kylie MacLellan and William James LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May told lawmakers on Tuesday to hold their nerve over Brexit and give her more time to negotiate a deal acceptable to both the European Union and the British parliament. The United Kingdom is on course to leave the European Union on March 29 without a deal unless May can persuade the bloc to amend the divorce deal she agreed last year and get it approved by British lawmakers. "The talks are at a crucial stage", May told parliament. "We now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this House requires and deliver Brexit on time". The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, accused her of running down the clock with sham negotiations to pressure parliament into backing her deal. After talks in Strasbourg at the European Parliament, UK Brexit minister Stephen Barclay said there was "a lot of goodwill on both sides" to achieve a deal. However, Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's Brexit pointman, said he has yet to hear of a proposal to break the deadlock. "What are these negotiations at a 'crucial state' raised in the House of Commons? The way forward is cross-party, not kicking the can towards a disastrous no deal", he said on Twitter. May's hopes of delivering an on-time Brexit were also undermined by an ITV news report which cited Britain's lead negotiator Olly Robbins as being overheard in a Brussels bar saying: "In the end, they (the EU) will probably just give us an extension". British lawmakers rejected May's withdrawal deal last month, with the major sticking point being the Irish "backstop" - an insurance policy to prevent the return of a hard border between British province Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland. Critics of the backstop say it could leave Britain subject to EU rules for years after leaving the bloc or even indefinitely. The EU says the backstop is vital to avoiding the return of border controls in Ireland and has refused to reopen the Brexit divorce deal, though May insists she can get legally binding changes to replace the most contentious parts of the backstop. "By getting the changes we need to the backstop; by protecting and enhancing workers' rights and environmental protections; and by enhancing the role of parliament in the next phase of negotiations I believe we can reach a deal that this House can support", May said. The EU's Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said on Monday the bloc would agree to tweak the political declaration on post-Brexit EU-UK ties that forms part of the exit package, to reflect a plan for a closer future relationship that could remove the need for the backstop. May is pursuing three options in talks with Brussels: negotiating a way for Britain to leave the backstop without needing EU agreement, agreeing a time limit to the backstop, or finding an alternative arrangement that replaces it altogether. RUNNING DOWN THE CLOCK? Parliament is to hold a debate on Brexit on Feb. 14 but with just 45 days until Britain leaves the bloc it is not expected to change the course of the exit process, and no date has been set for another vote to approve or reject May's deal. May said that if she had not yet reached a deal in Brussels, she would deliver another progress report on Feb. 26 and provide another chance for parliament to express its opinion on her approach the following day. She said she was prepared to speed up other parts of the ratification process of the Brexit deal if time gets too tight to pass legislation before exit day - a move some interpreted as a sign she was willing to keep negotiating until the last moment. Opponents of Brexit argue May is deliberately delaying so lawmakers will be faced with the option of backing her agreement or leaving without a deal, a disorderly exit that businesses fear will cause widespread damage to the economy and jobs. Labour lawmaker Yvette Cooper, one of the leading campaigners against Brexit without a deal, unveiled a new plan to ensure parliament has a chance to vote on ruling out a no-deal scenario. Corbyn told parliament the prime minister has just one real tactic: "to run down the clock hoping Members of this House are blackmailed into supporting a deeply flawed deal". "This is an irresponsible act. She is playing for time and playing with people's jobs, our economic security and the future of our industry" May later told business leaders in a phone call that extending the Article 50 Brexit process would serve no purpose. (Additional reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Elizabeth Piper and James Davey in London and Alastair Macdonald in Strasbourg; editing by Janet Lawrence, Frances Kerry and G Crosse) The Yemeni restaurant "Wardah" is in Jeju City on Jeju Island. Courtesy of the UNHCR Korea By Ko Dong-hwan Yemeni asylum seekers on Korea's Jeju Island recently began cooking their home-style dishes and serving diners at a new restaurant in the tourism hotspot's Jeju City. "Wardah" is a joint venture between the Yemenis and a local restaurateur-musician, according to UNHCR Korea. The eatery, named after Yemeni for "flower," has attracted a diverse range of visitors, including Koreans, tourists, foreign residents of the island and, of course, Yemeni migrants. Kebabs, falafel, agdah chicken, hummus and other Middle Eastern foods made and served by chefs and waiters from the war-torn Arabic nation are on the menu. "Eating the food cooked and served by the people makes me feel that I know Yemen better," says Kim Hee-yeol, who visited Friday evening. "I was moved by the waiter who tried to take the order in Korean using a translation app. They are really trying hard to adapt to the country." Wardah is less than four kilometers from Jeju International Airport and was opened by Ha Min-kyung, who has befriended Yemeni refugees on the island. Her first sympathetic outreach was using her music studio to house some of the people whose financial hardship made them desperate to find a place to sleep. She told the UNHCR the Yemenis thanked her "so earnestly for something that was so easy to do" that she felt almost ashamed. "The studio was empty most of the time and all I had to do was to unlock it. How difficult is that?" said Ha, 38. Seeing they weren't eating properly because of their religious obligation to eat halal foods that were rare on the resort island, she decided to open its first Yemeni restaurant. Her Yemeni and Korean friends supported setting up the establishment, which was named after the nickname given to her by the Yemenis. "This is a taste of home," said Mohammed Ali, 37, a Yemeni asylum seeker and Wardah regular. Yemenis get a 50 percent discount at the restaurant. "Outside, I only ate vegetables because I wasn't sure if the chicken sold in the Korean shops was proper halal. I don't worry about that here." American Nathan Dewan who has lived on the island for four years frequently dines at Wardah. He said the restaurant's food is "a great medium for sharing personalities and stories." "It is wonderful to have this place for the bridging of cultural gaps," said Dewan, who teaches English at a local public school. Wardah's Yemeni staff come from the 484 Yemenis who fled the civil war in their country and arrived on the island in June 2018 on a direct flight from Kuala Lumpur. By the end of that year, the island's immigration authority had granted two of them refugee status, gave temporary humanitarian status to 412 and rejected 56. The so-called Yemeni crisis has displaced about 2.3 million within the country and put more than 20 million in need of humanitarian aid. Some 70,000 nationals have fled abroad in search of safety. Sami Al-Baadni, a waiter at Wardah, said he and other refugees didn't come to Korea for money or for better jobs which was claimed by anti-refugee protesters who clashed with opposing movements last year. "We came because Korea is a safe country and because Korea was our only option," said the 23-year-old worker. "We cannot return now or even in the near future. If we return, we will die." Mohammed Ameen Almaamari, a chef at the venue, said he wants peace in Yemen and a chance to go home in safety. He hoped Koreans see Yemenis as human beings "beneath the different race, culture and religion." Sebastien Roblin Security, We took a deep dive to find out. Here Comes China's "Heavy" J-20 Stealth Fighter: An F-22 or F-35 Killer? The J-20s short-range capabilities naturally lead to the questionwhat exactly happens when two stealth fighters clash? If their stealth qualities are robust, both aircraft may only be able to detect each other within 50 miles or lessat which point air combat maneuvers could prove important. As U.S. stealth aircraft are one of the chief military threats to China, it seems reasonable to assume the J-20 would be designed to have a fighting chance against them. In January 2011, the maiden flight of a large, dagger-like grey jet announced that China had developed its first stealth aircraftthe Chengdu J-20 Mighty Dragon. Six years later, after several substantial revisions, J-20s entered operational service with the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force. (This first appeared several months ago.) As radar-guided missiles from fighters and ground-based launchers threaten aircraft from dozens, or even hundreds of miles away, stealth capabilities are increasingly perceived as necessary for keeping fighter pilots alive on the modern battlefield. But just how good is the J-20? And what is its intended role? After all, Americas first stealth fighter, the F-117 Nighthawk, was not even really a fighter and lacked any air-to-air capability whatsoever. The PLA has, true to custom, kept its cards close to the chest, and has not shared performance specifications to the public. Thus, there are broad estimates of the J-20s top speed (around Mach 2), and considerable-seeming range (1,200 to 2,000 miles), but those remain just thatestimates. For years, analysts even over-estimated the aircrafts length by two meters. Its broad but relatively shallow weapons bay can accommodate four to six long-range missiles or bombs, though not munitions with especially heavy warheads. International observers generally concluded the large twin-engine jet possessed high speed and long operational range, but that the Mighty Dragon lacked the maneuverability necessary to prevail in close engagements with enemy fighters. Relatively modest aerobatic displays in the Zhuhai 2016 and 2018 airshows (you can see some of the latter here) reinforced the narrative in certain quarters that the J-20 isnt optimized for gut-wrenching air combat maneuvers. Story continues Given the above premises, observers mostly speculate the J-20 would either serve as long-range supersonic strike plane, or a hit-and-run interceptor used to slip past fighter screens and take out vulnerable supporting tanker and AWACS planes. However, Rick Joe of The Diplomat argues these theories of the J-20s supposedly specialized role might be a case of group-think, ignoring both design features and statements by Chinese sources suggesting the J-20 was intended as a multi-role fighter with competitive dogfighting capability. For example, a brochure distributed at Zhuhai 2018 explicitly stated the J-20 was capable of seizing & maintain air superiority, medium & long range interception, escort and deep strike. In other words, a multi-role fighter. A commonly insinuated premise is that the Chinese aerospace industry was not capable of producing a fifth generation air superiority fighter, and would have to settle for a less technically challenging interceptor or striker instead, Joe argues. He points out that the lengthy J-20 is still shorter than the Russian Su-35 Flanker-E, one of the most maneuverable jet fighters ever designed. He further cites a 2001 study by Song Wecong, mentor of the J-20 designer Yang Wei, which you can read translated here. Wecong wrote that stealth aircraft must have the capability to supercruise and perform unconventional maneuvers such as post-stall maneuvers. Song concluded the ideal stealth fighter would incorporate canards (a second, small set of wings close to the nose of the plane), leading-edge root extensions (or strakes, a thin surface extending where the wing emerges from the fuselages), and S-shaped belly intakes, in order to balance stealth, speed and maneuverability. These are all design characteristics evident in the J-20. While details on the J-20s radar remains elusive (presumably a low-probability of intercept AESA radar), it also mounts arrays of electro-optical and infrared sensors with 360-degree coverage, reportedly designed to fuse sensor data to form a common picture and even share it with friendly forces via a datalinktechnology seemingly modeled on the advanced sensors found on the American F-35. Such sensors could be particularly useful for detecting radar-eluding stealth aircraft. J-20 pilots also are equipped with helmet-mounted sights that allow them to target high-off-boresight PL-10E heat-seeking missiles within a 90-degree angle of the planes nose simply by looking at the target. The short-range missiles are stored in small side-bays but can be cunningly rotated outside prior to launch, as depicted here. These by no means unprecedented capabilities nonetheless suggest that the J-20 may be designed to hold its own in a close-range encounter, not just sling long-range hypersonic PL-15 missiles from its fuselage bay from dozens of miles away. Particularly when engaging agile fighters, short-range missiles (which might still threaten targets over a dozen miles away) have a much higher probability of a killby some estimates, up to 80 percent. Chinese designers have also expressed interest in incorporating vector-thrust engines in the J-20. These have moving exhaust nozzles to assist in pulling off tight maneuvers. The PLAAF recently acquired Su-35 fighters from Russia with vector-thrust engines, and also reportedly tested domestic vector-thrust turbofans on a J-10B two-seat fighter. Despite the awesome maneuvers enabled by vector-thrust engines, they are far from being automatically included in modern fighters. This is because they significantly add to weight, cost, and difficulty in minimizing radar cross section (RCS). Moreover, when vector-thrust engines are over-used in combat, they can bleed off energy rapidly, leaving the aircraft sluggish and vulnerable to enemy fighters (as occurred in one exercise in Nevada pitting U.S. F-15s against Indian Air Force Flankers). For this reason, few Western fighters incorporate vector-thrust technology, the F-22 being a notable exception. Chinas interest in thrust-vectoring again suggests it sees relevance in agility. The J-20s short-range capabilities naturally lead to the questionwhat exactly happens when two stealth fighters clash? If their stealth qualities are robust, both aircraft may only be able to detect each other within 50 miles or lessat which point air combat maneuvers could prove important. As U.S. stealth aircraft are one of the chief military threats to China, it seems reasonable to assume the J-20 would be designed to have a fighting chance against them. While the J-20 would likely remain outclassed by the F-22, it could potentially prove a dangerous adversary to the F-35, which is not as optimized for within-visual-range engagements. However, both the F-22 and F-35 are believed to have a significantly lower all-around RCS than the J-20, though the Chinese fighter still appears to be significantly stealthier than the Russian Su-57. A 2011 analysis by Australian aviation expert Carlo Kopp concluded that J-20 probably had strong stealth from a frontal aspect, but a larger radar cross section (RCS) when scanned from the side or reara limitation also found in the Russian Su-57 stealth fighter. But as the extent and type of the radar-absorbent materials used affect RCS, visual analysis alone cannot determine how stealthy an aircraft is. This has not dissuaded the U.S. Marine Corps from a building a full-scale mock-up of a J-20 in Georgia for study and training purposes. The Indian Air Force has boasted its Su-30 Flankers have tracked J-20s on radar, but as stealth fighters often employ emitters called Luneburg Lens to enlarge their RCS on routine flights, and thus conceal their true capabilities, its difficult to infer much from this either. Another issue confusing analysis of the J-20 is that it doesnt yet have the high-thrust WS-15 turbofans the PLAAF envisioned for them, and are making do with Russian AL-31F engines instead. Even Chinas fourth-generation jets have been frustrated by deficient jet engines. The WS-15 generates 23 percent more thrust than the AL-31FN, and would enable the J-20 to super-cruise, or sustain supersonic speeds without resorting to fuel-gulping afterburners. Thus, certain more aggressive projections of J-20 performance, such as a top speed of Mach 2.5, may be premised on engines that have yet to be fully developed. As long as the PLAAF has only a few dozen J-20s in service, it may make sense to reserve them for hit-and-run tactics and special deep strikes. But as the article in the Diplomat points out, theres ample evidence the J-20 may be intended to grow into a capable all-rounder that can hold its own in a dogfight. Sebastien Roblin holds a masters degree in conflict resolution from Georgetown University and served as a university instructor for the Peace Corps in China. He has also worked in education, editing, and refugee resettlement in France and the United States. He currently writes on security and military history for War Is Boring. Read full article Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said his government maintained "low-level" contact through its spy agency with the Syrian regime despite being one of its most fervent critics. Ankara fell out with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad following the 2011 crackdown on popular dissent, with Erdogan denouncing him as "killer Assad". The Turkish leader has ruled out any direct talks with Assad and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in December Ankara was only in contact with Damascus through third parties, namely Russia and Iran. Erdogan's comments Sunday are the first time he has confirmed direct low-level talks with Damascus. "Foreign policy is being conducted with Syria at low-level," Erdogan told the state-run TRT television in an interview, adding that spy agencies could maintain links even if their leaders did not. "Even if it's your enemy, you will not entirely break ties in case you might need them," he said. Turkey, home to nearly four million Syrian refugees, is backing rebels seeking Assad's ouster. - 'Whatever is needed'- Asked about the US withdrawal plan, Erdogan said he hoped Washington would pull out its troops out of Syria soon. If not, he warned, Ankara would take action to avert the possible terror threat posed by US-backed Syrian Kurdish militia. "I hope (the US) will complete (the pullout) in a short period of time because we do not want to live under threat," Erdogan said. "Whenever we see any sign of a threat, we will do whatever is needed," he said. Erdogan's government welcomed a surprise announcement in December by US President Donald Trump that he was pulling around 2,000 American troops from the war-torn country. That has prompted Turkey to put on hold its plans to launch a military operation in Syria to drive out Syrian Kurdish militia deemed as "terrorists" by Ankara. Turkey is pushing for a 32 kilometre (20 mile) "security zone" in Syria after receiving the US backing. Story continues The "safe zone" or "security zone" would be on the Syrian side of the 900-kilometre Syria-Turkey border. Erdogan showed the negotiated "security zone" on the map, during the live broadcast, which he said would stretch from Jarabulus in northern Syria to the Iraqi border. And he urged the US, a NATO ally, to hand over the zone's security to Turkish troops. Turkey is ready to run the "security zone" together with the US, he said but "we cannot leave it to coalition forces because we need to feel safe." He said: "We cannot trust coalition forces... they have neither troops to ensure security there nor logistical means," Erdogan said. The Turkish army has launched two major operations in Syria in 2016 and in 2018 to combat Syrian Kurdish fighters as well as Islamic State group jihadists. The deployment of Turkish troops and their proxy forces in areas of northwest Syria has drawn accusations by some critics of a Turkish military occupation. Erdogan, who visited Russia for talks over the "security zone" last month, also said he would meet President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on February 14. - US 'silence'- Wading into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed by a Saudi hit team in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate, last year, Erdogan accused the United States of "silence". "I cannot understand America's silence.... We want everything to be clarified because there is an atrocity, there is a murder," he said. "The Khashoggi murder is not an ordinary one." Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor and Saudi regime critic, was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 soon after he entered the compound to obtain paperwork for his upcoming marriage to a Turkish woman. Riyadh described it as a "rogue" operation but denied any involvement by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The case has caused strains in the kingdom's ties with Washington. Washington (AFP) - US lawmakers have reached an agreement in principle to avoid a new government shutdown at the end of the week, senators announced Monday, including $1.375 billion for a wall on the southern US border. "We've reached an agreement in principle between us on the Homeland Security and the other six bills," Senator Richard Shelby, a key Republican negotiator, told reporters. Senior congressional aides told AFP the agreement included $1.375 billion in funding for a wall on the US-Mexico border -- a key campaign promise of President Donald Trump, who had demanded $5.7 billion for his pet project. The agreed figure would fund approximately 55 miles (89 kilometers), all to be located in the Rio Grande Valley area of south Texas, the aides said. The deal still faces White House approval. The Democrats and Trump have been clashing for weeks over funding a barrier on the border. The gridlock prompted the longest government shutdown in US history -- lasting over a month -- that ended January 25 when Trump signed into law a deal giving lawmakers three weeks to come up with an agreement, or face further paralysis. As Monday's tentative deal was announced, the president was holding a campaign-style rally in the frontier city of El Paso, Texas -- a place where he claims walls have eradicated an out-of-control influx of criminals from Mexico. Berlin (AFP) - Catalonia's former leader Carles Puigdemont said Tuesday the high-profile trial in Madrid of 12 ex-colleagues involved in a secession bid was a "stress test for Spanish democracy." It was also "a test for Spain's judiciary," he said in Berlin a day after attending a film gala along with Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei. Puigdemont, who fled Spain in 2017 after leading a failed bid for Catalan independence, described his former colleagues on trial as "honourable, innocent, democratic people," and insisted there were "no criminal violations of the Spanish criminal law." In October 2017, separatist leaders held a banned independence referendum that was marred by police violence, followed by a short-lived declaration of secession. Madrid moved in immediately, sacking the Catalan executive, dissolving the regional parliament, calling snap local elections, and taking direct control of the semi-autonomous territory. Puigdemont fled Spain for Belgium with several colleagues days later. On Tuesday, the 56-year-old questioned why the European Union was "more concerned by what is going on for example in Venezuela than what is going on in Madrid," referring to the bloc's decision to call for new presidential elections in that country. There is an arrest warrant out for Puigdemont in Spain but authorities twice dropped a European warrant against him. In July 2018, a German court declined to extradite him to Spain on a charge of rebellion, the same charge levelled at nine of those on trial in Spain. Los Angeles (AFP) - California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Tuesday that he was abandoning plans to build a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco, citing the high cost and the time it would take. "Let's be real," the newly elected Newsom said in his first State of the State address. "The project, as currently planned, would cost too much and take too long. "Theres been too little oversight and not enough transparency." Newsom said he planned to concentrate instead on completing a high-speed rail link between the central and more rural towns of Merced and Bakersfield to reinvigorate the region's economy. "I know that some critics will say this is a 'train to nowhere'," he said. "But that's wrong and offensive. "The people of the Central Valley endure the worst air pollution in America as well as some of the longest commutes," he added. "And they have suffered too many years of neglect from policymakers here in Sacramento. They deserve better." Plans for an LA-San Francisco bullet train had been backed by Newsom's predecessors Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger and the line was expected to be completed in 2033, years behind schedule. The rail service was intended to decongest key airports and highways that have reached saturation points in the most populous and richest state in the nation. The 520-mile journey would take less than three hours. The project, however, has run into repeated delays and legal challenges. An initial estimated cost of about $40 billion when voters first approved the project in 2008 has ballooned to $77 billion. Construction on the rail line began in 2015 in Fresno under Phase One, and since then crews have been working on 119-mile (191-kilometer) stretch in the Central Valley. SAO PAULO, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Brazil's Retiro Baixo hydroelectric plant has suspended operations to preserve its equipment but the dam is safe, state-owned Eletrobras said, after last week's deadly disaster at a mining dam owned by Vale. Vale's Brumadinho tailings dam, used to store the muddy detritus from mining, collapsed on Friday, killing at least 84 in one of Brazil's largest industrial accidents on record. The Retiro Baixo plant in Minas Gerais, which has 82 megawatts (MW) capacity, is owned Eletrobras subsidiary Furnas and by state mining company Cemig. "The operation of the plant has been interrupted, spillway tests have been carried out and the water intakes have been closed to preserve the equipment," Furnas said in s statement issued late on Tuesday. "It is in contact with the competent authorities to evaluate the effects of mud displacement and to take new measures," it said, adding that Retiro Baixo dam was safe and had been inspected by the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel) in 2018. Vale's Brumadinho disaster, coming just over three years after a similar incident at another mine partially controlled by Vale, has fueled calls for a management overhaul and erased more than 70 billion reais ($19 billion) in Vale's market value. (Reporting by Luciano Costa Writing by Gabriel Stargardter and Edmund Blair) WASHINGTON It was a political rally on Cory Bookers home turf, meant to showcase support for the Affordable Care Act. But the chilly afternoon in January 2017 ended in a way the New Jersey senator did not anticipate: with him being heckled by constituents as a pawn of Big Pharma. Rather than ignore their jeers, Bookers staff invited roughly 10 protesters to join the senator in a hotel conference room across the street from the Newark rally. He sat for an hour, as the progressive activists berated him for accepting more campaign funds from the drug industry than any other lawmaker and for, just days earlier, voting against a symbolic measure to allow American patients to import prescription drugs from Canada. Finally, Booker asked the question his constituents had been waiting for: if giving back those campaign funds would make them happy. The response was a full-throated yes, capping off a day that was by many accounts an awakening for Booker and a harbinger of what was to come as he launched his bid for the presidency. We cant solely look at what is in the best interest for pharmaceutical companies and be blind to people dying from the cost of pharmaceuticals in New Jersey, said Diane Moxley, a local activist who attended the meeting with Booker. For the past two years, Booker has been repeatedly reminded of that kind of anger over high drug prices and hounded by criticism that he has an overly cozy relationship with the pharma industry. Last week, the hosts of Pod Save America, a progressive political podcast, said he had taken a bad vote on pharmaceuticals. A viral Facebook video viewed nearly a quarter-million times questions whether Booker is a Big Pharma candidate. And on the left-leaning Breakfast Club radio show last week, Booker was pointedly asked whether he could be trusted to hold large pharmaceutical companies accountable. That reputation, deserved or not, could become a major political liability for Booker, particularly at a time of concern over drug prices and in a race with other progressive lawmakers like Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders whose disdain for large drug companies is palpable. Story continues Booker knows his ability to win over Democrats appears to rest, in part, on whether he can convince voters hes in the same league. But he is also wary of painting the industry with too broad a brush. I live in Newark, a low-income community where people work for pharmaceutical companies, Booker told STAT in a recent interview. They might be the lab assistant, they might be the secretary, and they value those jobs. And even they know that we can have fair pricing and still have thriving companies. This is not an either-or. And right now we have practices going on that are abusing this nation and constituents of mine. The past two years have left little doubt that Booker has fully embraced a pivot with regard to pharma. In a major shift a year before announcing his White House run, Booker publicly swore off corporate campaign money, singling out cash from drug industry executives in particular. For a senator from pharma-centric New Jersey, it was no small decision. In his most recent election cycle, in 2014, Booker received $223,350 in contributions from the pharmaceutical industry and its employees. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the haul was the largest of any lawmaker, and among Democrats, almost twice the total of the lawmaker with the next-highest funding. (Bookers office contends the figure is misleading, as it includes donations from a special election in 2013 and the regularly scheduled election the following year.) The pivot has extended to legislation, too. Over the summer, Booker excitedly texted an aide after reading a NPR investigation into how drug companies impact Medicaids drug coverage decisions. His office introduced legislation to more aggressively police that process in December. Last month, Booker was an unexpected guest at a press conference headlined by Sanders, at which Democratic politicians lamented corporate greed and unveiled bills to lower drug prices. And in a radio interview last week, Booker went so far as to threaten the intellectual property rights of drug companies that raise prices in a manner he deems excessive. If I become president of the United States, were going to push to be able to punish them if they raise prices [without justification], Booker said, citing as an example recent price hikes for a cancer drug that has been on the market for over a decade. Its unconscionable how people are profiteering off the pain of others, and were going to make sure we hold them accountable. The radio show remarks were a direct swipe at the New Jersey company Celgene, which manufactures the cancer drug in question, Revlimid. While the drug has been sold in largely the same form since its approval in 2005, its price has spiked from under $250 per dose in 2007 to nearly $720 in 2019. In addition to Celgene, New Jersey is home to some of the nations largest drug makers, including Merck and Johnson and Johnson. All three of those companies are currently under investigation by at least one congressional committee, making Bookers political act all the more high-wire. But Booker has never suggested that it is his duty to support New Jersey interests by dint of his office. Last year, he released a report that skewered drug companies for using their savings from a Republican tax bill for stock buybacks instead of increasing pay for low-level employees. When Celgene announced it would be absorbed by Bristol Myers-Squibb in a $74 billion merger, Booker singled out the New Jersey company specifically. Im very cognizant that there are thousands and thousands and thousands of people in my state that are employed by this industry. And as an American, I want us to be on the cutting edge of biological research, Booker told STAT last month. I want us to be on the cutting edge of solving and curing diseases. But what you see happening right now is ill-gotten profits that are being used not for more research and not to raise pay but to manipulate stock. Read more: 9 big takeaways from the $74 billion Bristol-Celgene deal Deciding whether legislation amounts to a handout or helps to develop tomorrows medicines, however, is sometimes in the eye of the beholder. In 2016, some progressives voted against the 21st Century Cures Act, which bolstered funding for the National Institutes of Health and for addiction treatment. While supportive of those aims, several Democratic senators, including Warren, Sanders, and Jeff Merkley (Ore.) who is also considering a 2020 run objected to provisions that reduced requirements for clinical trials in the spirit of speeding treatments to market. Sanders cited the provisions as evidence of the greed of the pharmaceutical industry. Booker along with declared 2020 candidates Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), as well as prospective candidate Sen. Sherrod Brown voted yes. With voters perception of drug companies far underwater and with their desire to pay less for pharmaceuticals at the top of Capitol Hills priority list, early 2020 prognosticators have taken as a given that any Democrat who runs will have to speak both to high drug prices and to the pharmaceutical industrys broader unpopularity. And already, those Democrats have made bashing drug companies a feature of their campaigns. Kamala Harris, the California senator, said in her campaign launch speech that big pharmaceutical companies have unleashed an opioid crisis from the California coast to the mountains of West Virginia. Read more: An ambassador to the Vatican. A GOP megadonor. And now, a rare Republican joining Democrats to take on pharma Others use similar language in singling out drug companies for price hikes. Sanders makes regular reference to the greed of Big Pharma. Warren, weeks before she announced her White House bid, tweeted that giant drug companies only care about one thing: raking in profits on the backs of patients. Klobuchar, while announcing her campaign on Sunday, told supporters that the big pharma companies think they own Washington. If Booker plays the same game, his increasingly aggressive stances will be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism both by progressive activists and by drug industry lobbyists who, in interviews with STAT, shrugged off his tough talk as a necessary element of a presidential campaign in the current political climate. [Booker] has already positioned himself in anticipation of the attack that someone from New Jersey is too close to the drug companies, said Earl Pomeroy, a former congressman who now works on health policy issues at the lobbying firm Alston & Bird. It would be a mistake, Pomeroy said, if Democrats, in their zeal, have a litmus test that anyone who drives by a drug company building is suddenly disqualified from the race for president. Bookers run-in with protesters in Newark was, in a way, the start of his journey toward the ranks of staunchly anti-corporate Democrats. Although he spent an hour in the hotel conference room attempting to defend his voting record and his fundraising, his explanations did not sit well. It didnt resonate with anyone, said activist Moxley, who left the Democratic Party in part due to concerns over corporate influence. (In 2018, she ran for Congress in New Jersey as a Green Party candidate.) Despite that outcome, the senator did pledge to decline corporate PAC money and contributions from drug industry executives, and has challenged other Democratic candidates to do the same. Booker would later also support legislation allowing drug importation from Canada, saying the updated versions included the safety provisions it had lacked when Booker initially voted no. Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of a book about the presidential primary process, said Booker will have to make the case to voters that he is on their side instead of drug companies. Drug companies are almost up there with Donald Trump in terms of being one of the devils for Democrats, she said. In politics, people have to make these adjustments all the time it depends on whether he can be convincing. An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Sen. Sherrod Brown is a declared presidential candidate. A Chinese billionaire barred from Australia on suspicions he is part of a Communist Party influence campaign has lashed out at Canberra, calling it a "giant baby" that hasn't found its place in international politics. Huang Xiangmo, a long-term Sydney resident, had been a prominent donor to Australia's two major parties before he was blocked from re-entering the country last week -- with his permanent residency visa revoked and a citizenship bid rejected. "The growth of a giant baby takes time, and Australia still has a long way to go. I understand this," Huang told China's state-run Global Times in an interview published Tuesday. The property tycoon led one of a series of "reunification councils" that advocate support of Chinese Communist Party policies. Australian intelligence agencies believe the groups are fronts for influence campaigns designed to skew Australian politics. China experts and former Australian intelligence officials say the groups take direction from the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department. Huang said Australian authorities have not sufficiently explained his alleged wrongdoings. "The wording in the documents sent to me has been vague. I don't understand what they mean and neither does my lawyer and we have had no opportunity to directly challenge them," he said. Huang said Australian politicians from both the Liberal and Labor parties had accepted his cheques because "they have enough confidence in the legitimacy of these donations". Relations between Beijing and Canberra have soured after the Australian government introduced a slew of laws to guard against foreign interference in late 2017, amid concerns over China's growing influence in the country's politics, academia and media. Huang said relations between Canberra and Beijing have "stumbled over the years" because "in a new era of international relations, Australia has not found a position that best meets Australia's national interest". Story continues He also suggested that Australia suffered from an underlying bigotry, saying that "racism and populism have shown signs of rising". "If you can treat Chinese like this today, you can do the same to Jews and Arabs tomorrow. That's the most dangerous thing," he said. Huang added that the sudden ban has had a "huge impact" on his family. "Three generations of my family have lived in Australia for seven years," he said. "Apart from me, all those in the family are Australian citizens ... Australia is their home." Anti-Trump protesters marched in the border town of El Paso, Texas, to rally against the presidents controversial plan to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. The protesters marched the streets of El Paso and staged a rally near Bowie High School, just metres from the presidents own event at the El Paso County Coliseum. In these videos, filmed by Greg Reese, protesters can be seen gathering, marching the streets, chanting and brandishing signs that read Together we rise, Stop the wall, Stop the lies, and Onward together. Later that evening, former democratic congressmen Beto ORourke led a rally at Chalio Acosta Park where he slammed Trumps border wall and spoke of immigration and cultural diversity. With the eye of the country upon us, all of us together are going to make our stand, ORourke said in his speech. Here in one of the safest cities in the United States of America. Safe not because of walls, but in spite of walls. Secure because we treat one another with dignity and respect. That is how we make our communities and our country safe. Prior to his own rally, Trump mocked ORourkes counter protest: We have a line that is very long already, I mean you see whats going on and I understand our competitors got a line too but its a tiny little line, Trump said in a interview with media covered by CNN. Credit: Greg Reese via Storyful Reuters Trita Parsi Security, Middle East John Bolton and Mike Pompeo are pushing Trump down a proven path of failure. America's Effort to Isolate Iran Will Backfire As the celebrations of the fortieth anniversary of the Iranian revolution comes to an end in Tehran, Secretary Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton are busy gathering an anti-Iran coalition in Warsaw to crush Irans clerical rulers once and for all. But there is nothing innovative about the Pompeo-Bolton plan. In fact, Washington has been down this path numerous times before and it has invariably led to failureeven when much of the world was on Americas side. The question is not whether Bolton and Pompeo will succeed or not, but what they will push Donald Trump to do once their failure is clear for all to see. America was on top of the world in 1991. The Soviet Union had collapsed, and America had become the sole superpower of the world. It had an unparalleled ability to shape both global and regional orders. After it defeated Saddam Hussein in the Persian Gulf War, it moved to establish a new-security architecture for the Middle East through the Madrid conference. Though the gathering is most known for its efforts to resolve Arab-Israeli tensions, the second track of the conference focused on region-wide security issues. All major regional states were invited except one: Iran. Though Madrid wasnt aimed at creating an anti-Iran coalition, it nevertheless set the foundation for a policy of uniting the region to contain Iran. As Israel turned in favor of making peace with the Palestinians under the new Rabin-Peres Labor government, it demanded that Washington sanction and weaken Iran in order to give Israel the space to risk making peace with the Arabs. Israel played a critical role in convincing the Clinton administration to adopt the policy of Dual Containment in 1993the idea that the new order in the region would be based on the dual containment of Iran and Iraq, while centered on Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. According to Kenneth Pollack, who served as an Iran analyst with the CIA at the time, the policy was designed to reassure Israel that the U.S. would keep Iran in check while Jerusalem embarked on the risky process of peacemaking. Story continues Iran was infuriated. It came out of the Iraq-Iran war weak, isolated and exhausted. The eight-year war with Saddam Hussein had devastated the country and the promises of the revolution were as distant then as they are today. Rather than becoming the leader of the Muslim world, Iran was shunned and marginalized. Determined to save the revolution, President Hashemi Rafsanjani shifted strategy. Instead of violently exporting the revolution, he was going to turn Iran into a stunning economic success whose model other countries in the Islamic world would seek to emulate. This necessitated, however, improved relations with the West as Iran was in desperate need of investments and technology. Rafsanjani made several attempts to lower tensions with the United States, including granting the American oil company Conoco a contract to develop one of Irans largest oil fields, but Washington was not interested. We werent interested in creating a new opening towards Iran, Clinton envoy Dennis Ross told me in 2004. We were interested in containing what we saw as a threat. Rebuffed by Washington, Tehran shifted its focus towards sabotaging the American-Israeli plan to contain and isolate Iran. The weakest link in the American strategy, Tehran assessed, was the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. If it was blocked, Washingtons goal of marginalizing Iran would also fail. It was at this point that Tehran began to heavily support Palestinian rejectionist groups that used violence and terror against Israel in the hope of collapsing the Oslo process. Despite Washingtons long-standing accusations of Iranian support for terror, it was still taken by surprise. What the Iranians did was to outsmart us by taking on the peace process. And they became very aggressive supporters of Palestinian terrorism, Martin Indyk, the brainchild behind dual containment told me. Washington eventually began to understand the critical strategic flaw in its policy of dual containmentby rejecting Iranian overtures and aiming to create a broad coalition to contain Tehran, the United States was giving Iran strong incentives to sabotage all of Americas policies in the Middle East. According to Indyk, the Iranians had every incentive to oppose the peace process. Our strategy was to, on one hand, use the engine of peacemaking to transform the region and on the other hand contain the [Iranians] through sanctions and isolation, he said. The two were symbiotic. The more we succeeded in making peace, the more isolated they would become. The more we succeeded in containing them, the more possible it would be to make peace. So they had an incentive to do us in on the peace process in order to defeat our policy of containment and isolation. And therefore, they took aim at the peace process. Though Irans actions strengthened Washingtons case for isolating the country, the end result was nevertheless one that deeply frustrated the United States: The peace process was leading nowhere, and Iran had strengthened its hand in the region by positioning itself as the leader of the rejectionist camp. By the time George W. Bush entered office, dual containment had already run its course. The Bush team was no longer interested in containing Iraq and Iran; they wanted to overthrow their regimes and turn them into pliant pro-American states. Iran was, together with Iraq and North Korea, put in Bushs Axis of Evil. Realizing they were next on Bush invasion list, Tehran once again acted to sabotage Americas plans in the Middle East. By 2005, it was increasingly clear that the Iraq invasion was an abysmal failure and that America couldnt take on Iran until it first had extracted itself from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush had no choice but to shift towards a containment policy once again. But it was too late. With the Saddam and Taliban regimes removed, Iran was unleashed. Its influence in the region was fast growing and despite the efforts to isolate it over its nuclear program, Tehrans nuclear advances continued unabated. Iran had less than 150 centrifuges and no stockpile of enriched uranium in 2003. By the time Bush left office, Iran had more than 8,000 centrifuges and 1,500 kilograms of low enriched uraniumenough to produce one nuclear bomb. Once again, Washingtons efforts to build an international coalition to contain Iran had failed spectacularly. Washington only (temporarily) abandoned the goal of excluding Iran from the regional order through the Iran nuclear deal. Through the deal, Washington was now encouraging trade with Iran and actively seeking to include Iran in regional security dialogues. It was a massive shift that ended almost four decades of American efforts at containing Iran. Obama only opted for this path after recognizing that Irans prolonged isolation was neither possible nor necessarily helpful. Even at the apex of its power, the United States had failed to contain Iraneven when it had much of the international community on its side. European governments had been seeking to convince Washington of this for decades. No one believes Iran can perpetually be put in a straightjacket, Germanys U.S. Ambassador Peter Wittig told me in 2015. More importantly, Obama realized that continuing on the failed path of isolating Iran eventually would bring the United States into open confrontation with Iran. Perhaps this is why Bolton and Pompeo are pushing Trump down this proven path of failure. If isolating Iran failed at the unipolar moment, it simply cannot succeed today when the United States is much weaker, Iran is much stronger, and most of the world worry more about Trumps impulsiveness and unpredictability than about what remains of Irans revolutionary fervor. But the failure of the anti-Iran coalition can still pave the way for the war with Iran Bolton has long been dreaming of. Trita Parsi is the author of three books on Iran. His latest book is Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran and the Triumph of Diplomacy. Image: Reuters Read full article Korea-U.S. alliance spotlighted at war memorial The War Memorial of Korea has been holding a special exhibition, "The Journey of the Greater Alliance towards Peace," since last November. Just as negotiations on defense cost sharing have ended, the exhibition is coming to an end this Sunday. On Saturday at 3 p.m., the exhibition curator Chang Hyun-seok will give a guided tour of the exhibition. It is organized by Yongsan Legacy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the memories created by the U.S. presence in the rapidly disappearing Yongsan Garrison in central Seoul. The tour is free. Visit fb.com/yongsanlegacy for more information. Seminar analyzes climate change, trends in global response Retired U.S. Department of State diplomat Daniel Garrett will speak at an Asia Institute seminar on climate change, titled "Wildfire: Two Roads Diverging in a Woods on Fire: The spread of climate chaos and trends in global response today." The seminar will address three questions: How can we preserve a livable environment? What new forms of governance and approaches to living will be demanded in such difficult times? And what can we do now and during the climate chaos to improve the chances that eco-civilizational and climate justice models emerge victorious rather than the "vultures" of disaster capitalism? The event starts at 7 p.m. on Feb. 18 at Commons Ground in Itaewon. Visit circlesandsquares.asia for more information. Getting the flu is no walk in the (dog) park, especially for pups who probably dont understand whats happening to them. Canine Influenza Virus (CIV) is a relatively new discovery in the disease world, but its gaining momentum and hitching rides overseas as eagerly as college kids ready to study abroad. Heres everything you need to know about CIV to protect the dog in your life. What is CIV, where did it come from and where is it going? According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, CIV is a respiratory disease caused by two separate Type A viruses. (Type A means the virus can infect animals, and its strains are always changing.) The first virus, CIV H3N8, showed up in Florida in 2004. The other, CIV H3N2, was discovered in Asia in 2006. According to Merck Animal Hospital, in 2007 in the U.S., only Florida and Tennessee reported cases of H3N8 in dogs. By 2014, 36 states confirmed infection from H3N8. The next year, Chicago experienced a huge outbreak of H3N2, the first time this strain was reported in the U.S. Since last year, 46 states have claimed cases of one or both strains. Basically, CIV is on the move. What are the signs and symptoms? Dr. Karen Stasiak, a veterinarian at the animal health care company Zoetis, says appetite loss, cough, lethargy and a runny nose can all indicate a CIV infection. These symptoms can last for a few weeks and change depending on the strain. As with flu in humans, symptoms and severity of infection may vary from dog to dog, she adds. Its also worth noting symptoms of CIV H3N8 are less intense than those of CIV H3N2. Keep an eye on your pup and visit the vet even if a cough seems mild or a runny nose isnt super detrimental to your dogs energy levels. Does it spread? How? Yes and quickly. First of all, CIV is not seasonal (aka, your dog can contract it at any time, not just during a polar vortex). All it takes is a sneeze, cough or lick to share germs and transfer CIV. Romps in the dog park, stays at a kennel and sharing toys can all lead to spreading dog flu. Story continues While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports there are no known cases of humans contracting either strain of CIV, in 2016 UW-Madison's School of Veterinary Medicine reported a group of cats in an Indiana shelter contracted H3N2 after contact with infected dogs. This means dog flu can spread to other pets in the house, which could be a pretty miserable situation. How severe is CIV? Lets cut to the chase: Can CIV kill my dog? This is a tough question because it depends on the dog. After two to three weeks, most pups are back to their usual selves. Just like when you get the flu, your body fights it off as best it can and eventually you get better. However, Dr. Stasiak says canines who are very young, very old or have compromised immune systems are at risk of developing pneumonia as a result of CIV, which can be fatal if left untreated. Is there treatment? Unfortunately, there is no medication that cures CIV H3N2 or CIV H3N8. Like something out of Outbreak, the virus is always adapting. Not to fear! There are other actions you can take to make your dogs life easier. Visit the vet! Especially in the early stages when you may not be certain your dog has CIV, its important to make an appointment with your vet to get tested. This will confirm which strain, if any, your pup has. Antibiotics or other medicines can be prescribed to ease symptoms and guard against additional infections (like pneumonia if your dogs immunity is low). TLC also goes a long way. Make sure your sick pup rests, eats and drinks plenty of water. Dont forget to be a responsible dog owner, too. If your dog is diagnosed with CIV, keep her away from other pets and animals. The AVMA recommends isolating dogs infected with H3N2 for at least 21 days and dogs infected with H3N8 for at least 7 days to avoid spreading the disease. What about prevention? The best treatment is steering clear of CIV in the first place. Since its so easy to catch and tricky to treat, one of the best ways to do this is through vaccination (basically a flu shot for dogs). Zoetis offers the Vanguard CIV H3N2/H3N8 vaccine, which targets both strainsobviously, talk to your vet about your options. If theres a confirmed outbreak in your area (or honestly, even if theres not), washing toys, bowls, beds and leashes frequently is smart. Kill those germs ASAP! If you run into the neighbors dog on your way inside, wash your hands before handling your own pup. Even if another dog doesnt display symptoms, he could be carrying the virus. If you are concerned at all that your pet may be showing signs of dog flu, contact your veterinarian and keep your dog at home. You dont want to be the source of an outbreak! And you certainly dont want your dog to feel ill. RELATED: Yes, Your Dog Has a Love Language and Heres How to Tell Which One It Is Photo credit: Pinterest From CR Fashion Book Photo credit: Pinterest This is CR Muse, a series dedicated to the remembrance of important artists and idea-makers from our past who have shaped culture as we know it today. From traditional creators to those of conceptual thought, we celebrate these women known not only for their work but their confident, eccentric style as well. In March of 1950, abstract Surrealist painter Judit Reigl made a daring escape from her native Hungary, which had fallen under the Iron Curtain. Her plan was to head to France. She had no passport-her original one was confiscated two years prior, and applications for a new one were turned down. It took her nine illegal attempts, but she finally succeeded in leaving. I crossed Europe mostly on foot, or I took my chances by hitchhiking, she later explained. At times, I relied on newfound friends who offered me train tickets. I always had fortune in my misfortune! She finally arrived in Paris in June of that year. Photo credit: Pinterest It was not the first time Reigl had left the country. In 1946, as a student of the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, she and three friends studied art in Italy on a scholarship. But by the time they returned, a new government regime had stifled creative expression. They started to commission works from us in the Socialist Realist style, she said. Anyone familiar with Reigls oeuvre of abstracted works can see how far her creative sensibilities were from what the Hungarian government wanted. Photo credit: Pinterest Reigl spent her early years in Paris running in Surrealist circles, her work heavily involving the practice of automatic writing and photo collages. Simon Hantai, a fellow Hungarian artist who met her in Paris when she arrived, eventually introduced her to French writer Andre Breton, who penned the first Surrealist Manifesto in 1924. Breton was immediately impressed with Reigl-especially her seminal work They Have an Insatiable Thirst for Infinityfrom 1950-and gave her her first solo show in 1954. But pure Surrealism didnt fully suit her interests. Soon after the show, she moved toward abstraction and began producing works that injected aspects of physicality. Story continues Photo credit: Pintrest In the late 1950s, her brushstrokes became more gestural and aggressive. She began using objects-in some cases, even her own body-to paint. Meanwhile, her interests continued to change. In the late '60s and early '70s, she shifted her subject matter to the human form, abstracting it by isolating the torso. Throughout the next decade, she explored blocks of color and patterns. In the '90s, she reverted back to the human form, this time rendering her figures as ghostly outlines devoid of identifying features. Photo credit: Artsy Over the course of her prolific career, Reigl's work has been featured in some of the worlds most prestigious museums, including the Tate in London and the Guggenheim and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Reigl's legacy is defined by her refusal to creatively pigeonhole herself: She has never needed anyone else to define her, instead producing work based on her interests and her curiosity. No fascist government nor influential art movement could stifle Reigl's evolution as a painter. "The fact that, contrarily to my intentions, that turtle-neck jumper evoked a racist imagery causes me the greatest grief." Alessandro Michele at the Gucci Cruise 2018 show. Photo: Pietro D'Aprano/Getty Images Last week, Gucci pulled an $890 black, high balaclava turtleneck which featured cartoonish thick, red lips around the mouth cut-out from its shelves after widespread outrage that it resembled blackface. Following the brand's official apology statement, the Italian house's creative collaborator Dapper Dan then spoke out about the ill-advised sweater, saying that he vowed to hold company leaders accountable for the offensive mistake. "I am a Black man before I am brand," Dap said of his affiliation with the luxury label. "Another fashion house has gotten it outrageously wrong. There is no excuse nor apology that can erase this kind of insult. The CEO of Gucci has agreed to come from Italy to Harlem this week to meet with me, along with members of the community and other industry leaders." The day after Dap blasted the statement on social media, Fashionista acquired a memo circulated internally within the company from Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri that indicates that he is deeply sorry for the mistake and is planning on implementing a global cultural awareness program and a scholarship program to "facilitate an increase of different communities within the creative office." On Tuesday, Gucci's Creative Director Alessandro Michele followed suit, breaking his silence in a personal letter to the company, later obtained by Fashionista."The fact that, contrarily to my intentions, that turtle-neck jumper evoked a racist imagery causes me the greatest grief," Michele wrote after stating that Leigh Bowery and his camouflage art were his inspirations behind the design of the sweater. "But I am aware that sometimes our actions can end up with causing unintentional effects. It is therefore necessary taking full accountability for these effects." Story continues You can read Michele's letter in full below. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. "Dear Colleagues, I feel the need to write you all these few words to give a name to the pain of these days: my own and that of the people who saw in one of my creative projects an intolerable insult. It's important for me to let you know that the jumper actually had very specific references, completely different from what was ascribed instead. It was a tribute to Leigh Bowery, to his camouflage art, to his ability to challenge the bourgeois conventions and conformism, to his eccentricity as a performer, to his extraordinary vocation to masquerade meant as a hymn to freedom. The fact that, contrarily to my intentions, that turtle-neck jumper evoked a racist imagery causes me the greatest grief. But I am aware that sometimes our actions can end up with causing unintentional effects. It is therefore necessary taking full accountability for these effects. For this reason our company immediately apologized and withdraw the garment that produced such controversies. As you may have read from Marco in his letter, we are putting in place a series of immediate actions across the world that will increase inclusivity, diversity, participation and cultural awareness at any level and in any workplace. We are truly committed in facing what happened as a crucial learning moment for everybody. I've always fought to grant myself and any other the possibility to be different. I've hardly been through this fight all over my personal life and I later brought it into my work. Here I always tried to give citizenship's right to the traditionally marginalized, to those who felt unrepresented, to those that history silenced or made believe they were worthless. My aim, in which personal and political are intimately interwoven, has always been to turn the pain into a chant. Therefore I've always worked to let alternative imageries loaded with joyful inclusion emerge. Imageries able to celebrate diversity in every form. Imageries able to favour empowerment and self-determination processes. This is who I am and these are the things I believe in. I really shelter the suffer of all I have offended. And I am heartfully sorry for this hurt. I hope I can rely on the understanding of those who know me and can acknowledge the constant tension towards the celebration of diversity that has always shaped my work. This is the only celebration I'm willing to stand for." Want the latest fashion industry news first? Sign up for our daily newsletter. Michigan man dies on the job after falling into a vat of sulfuric acid Michigan man dies on the job after falling into a vat of sulfuric acid originally appeared on abcnews.go.com A Michigan man died on the job after he fell into a vat containing sulfuric acid. The man, a 54-year-old resident of South Lyon, was an employee at the manufacturing company, Michigan Seamless Tube, the South Lyon Fire Department confirmed to ABC News. The man was checking to see if a solution in the vat was 10 to 12 percent sulfuric acid when he fell in, South Lyon Fire Department Chief Robert Vogel told ABC News. The fire department was called to the scene at around 12:20 p.m. on Feb. 9, Vogel said. The man was pulled out of the vat by two coworkers and was transported to the hospital where he died approximately 11 hours later at 11:30 p.m., officials said. (MORE: Contaminated water still plagues lakeside community in Michigan) He lived in some of the worst pain imaginable, Vogel told ABC News. Michigan Seamless Tube released a statement expressing their condolences. "A valued Michigan Seamless Tube employee was involved in a serious industrial accident on Saturday afternoon. The employee was taken to The University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor. He did not survive his injuries and passed way at the hospital," the statement read. "The employee was 54 years of age. The Company is conducting a comprehensive investigation of the accident and is cooperating with the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration." Vogel tells ABC News that the Michigan Occupational safety and Health Administration is also investigating the incident. House Judiciary Committee Democrats add legal firepower for Trump oversight originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are adding two high-profile lawyers to their team as consultants, public corruption and ethics experts who have studied obstruction of justice and will help Democrats ramp up efforts to explore possible legal and ethical issues involving President Donald Trump and his administration. Ambassador Norm Eisen, a former Obama administration ethics czar and U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic who now serves as a fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Barry Berke, a prominent defense attorney and co-chairman of the litigation department at New York law firm Kramer Levin, are set to join the key committee as special oversight counsels to help organize Democrats investigative plans related to the Justice Department and special counsel Robert Muellers investigation, the committee announced Tuesday. The two have been vocal critics of the Trump White House on television and in opinion columns, and have written extensively about the potential obstruction of justice case against the president. While Democrats have tamped down discussion of impeaching Trump, the results of Eisen and Berke's investigative work with the committee could eventually inform any potential impeachment inquiry, should Democrats decide to open one. (MORE: 'I have not interfered in any way' with Mueller investigation: Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker) Congress has a constitutional duty to be a check and balance against abuses of power when necessary, Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-New York, said in a statement. Before anything else, however, we have to follow the facts and conduct the sort of oversight that has been completely absent over the last two years. The House Judiciary Committee is determined to ask critical questions, gather all the information, judiciously assess the evidence, and make sure that the facts are not hidden from the American people. Story continues Among the specific areas of interest for Nadler are probing President Trumps frequent criticism of the department and Muellers team, and whether the president has tried to obstruct the special counsels efforts to probe Russian meddling in the 2016 election. PHOTO: Norm Eisen celebrates Jeff Goldblum with a Star on the Walk of Fame Ceremony in Los Angeles, June 14, 2018. (Alex J. Berliner/AP, FILE) Democrats on the panel, working with Eisen and Berke, will roll out its oversight agenda in the coming weeks, according to a committee source. (MORE: William Barr's attorney general nomination advances on party-line vote) We will provide a check and a balance, we will hold the president accountable, Nadler told ABCs George Stephanopolous in November when asked if he believed President Trump has obstructed justice. He will learn that he is accountable, that hes not above the law and thats part of what well have to look at. Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the panel, criticized Democrats' move to retain both lawyers as consultants. "Looks like Democrats are staffing up for impeachment before Muellers report is even out," he said in a statement. "Is this the gig Berke and Eisen were auditioning for when they predicted last December the president was unlikely to have 'a calm 2019'?" The committee began its oversight work last week with public testimony from Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, who testified that he had not briefed the White House on the Mueller probe, but refused to answer questions about his public comments on the investigation or his conversations with Trump. Nadler and Democrats plan to bring Whitaker back to Capitol Hill for a private deposition to answer those questions. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and leaders of the Judiciary Committee that would take up any impeachment proceedings against the president have been cautious, saying that any effort needs to wait for the results of the Mueller probe, and would potentially need the support of at least some Republicans. We will have to see from the Mueller investigation, from whatever we find, because Congress should be active in our own investigations and our own upholding of our duty to hold the administration accountable and to provide a check and a balance, Nadler told ABC News in November. Both Eisen and Berke plan to set aside their professional portfolios as they prepare to work with the committee, according to a committee source. Eisen is a senior fellow at Brookings and a CNN political commentator. He also is a founder of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, a liberal watchdog group that filed the emoluments lawsuit against Trump, claiming he has violated the Constitution by profiting from his business empire while serving in office. The New York City-based Berke, who has served as pro bono counsel to CREW, will similarly scale back his portfolio while working from Washington with the committee, according to a committee source. PHOTO: Barry Berke attends the 2017 ARTWALK NY Benefiting Coalition for the Homeless at Spring Studios, Nov. 29, 2017, in New York City. (Patrick McMullan via Getty Images, FILE) Eisen and Berke, who will help Democrats craft their public-facing investigative and oversight strategy on the Judiciary Committee, have significant experience collaborating and contextualizing the Trump-Russia investigation. They two have worked together on op-eds for the New York Times and Washington Post responding to developments in Muellers investigation, and have penned a series of reports of legal analysis on the potential obstruction of justice case against Trump. After defying anti-vaxx mom, Ohio teen explains why he got vaccinated originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com For Ethan Lindenberger, turning 18 was was a celebration of freedom, but the emancipation he sought mostly was about his newfound right to get vaccinated. The Ohio teenager said he never received vaccines for diseases like hepatitis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella or chickenpox, but he's planning to change that now that he's an adult. "I had grown up just hearing that I wasn't vaccinated because it was best for me, and that it was healthy and that vaccines were bad and that they have these bad side effects," Lindenberger told "Good Morning America" on Tuesday. "I saw that there were a lot of people with different opinions, and as I explored those opinions, I came to the conclusion that they were good and beneficial." PHOTO: Jill Wheeler says her son defied her wishes when he choose to get vaccinated after his 18th birthday. (ABC News) After his mother, Jill Wheeler, learned that she could opt out, she chose to not to give Lindenberger, or any of his siblings, any vaccines, which is why he went to the online forum Reddit for advice in November. (MORE: Former anti-vaxxers now seek out measles vaccine after outbreak) "My parents think vaccines are some kind of government scheme," he wrote. "I've had countless arguments over the topic. But, because of their beliefs I've never been vaccinated for anything, God knows how I'm still alive." As measles and mumps outbreaks grow across the U.S., more internet-savvy minors are questioning whether they can provide their own consent to get vaccines. "I definitely have received messages and had people contact me that are in a similar situation where they want to pursue vaccinations and their parent or guardian doesn't believe it's right and that's not a good decision. And how they approach that situation," Lindenberger said. "There is a distinguishing difference between disagreeing with a parent and trying to disobey them out of spite." Story continues PHOTO: Ethan Lindenberger, of Ohio, said he planned to get vaccinated for the first time this year. (ABC News) PHOTO: Ethan Lindenberger, 18, explained whey he vaccinated for the first time year. (ABC News) Wheeler, his mom, said the decision sparked a lot of discussion within the family. (MORE: 'Patient zero' in measles outbreak is a foreigner, which is a common way outbreaks start) "My oldest daughter is absolutely against the vaccinations. My 14-year-old is also against it and my 16-year-old says, 'I want to do more research,'" she said. "The hardest thing for me was the shock of him choosing to immunize." While most states do require permission from parents for any medical procedures, in at least seven states a relatively new legal concept called the mature minor doctrine allows teens to petition to make their own medical decisions. Clark County Public Health Director Dr. Alan Melnick said vaccinations are key. (MORE: New measles cases discovered in Houston amid outbreaks elsewhere) "It's incredibly effective," Melnick said. "Ninety-seven effectiveness with two doses of the vaccine, which is what's recommended for children, and it's inexpensive." Lindenberger said he recently received his first round of vaccinations for diseases including HPV, hepatitis A, hepatitis B and influenza, but he hasn't been able to change his mom's mind. "I am against immunizations." Wheeler, a mother of seven, told "GMA." "I have seen through people that I have met, people that are close to me, who have had bad reactions to the vaccines. It scared me." President Trump is his most unvarnished self before a large crowd, unencumbered by the need to pay respect to reality or behave as an elder statesman. On Monday night, Trump spoke to 6,500 supporters in El Paso, Texas, in what was the first of what will be many such rallies leading up to the 2020 election. It was a frightening performance, filled with fear-mongering, willful ignorance, misleading statements and outright lies about the border, about immigrants and especially about the Democrats who oppose his amoral policy objectives. Trump attacked the opposition party from every angle, falsely accusing them of wanting to impose a tax rate as high as 95 percent, falsely accusing the Green New Deal of banning air travel and falsely accusing embattled Virginia Governor Ralph Northam of endorsing the murder of newborn babies. The governor stated that he would even allow a newborn baby to come out into the world and wrap the baby, and make the baby comfortable, and then talk to the mother, and then talk to the father and then execute the baby, Trump said, to loud boos. Execute the baby. Incredible. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. When he wasnt slamming Democrats, Trump trained his sights on the media. Look at all the press back there, he said shortly after he took the stage. This is like the Academy Awards used to be. Theyve gone down a long way since they started hitting us a little bit, right? That was a long fall, but there they are. Trumps incessant demonization of the press has already inspired threats on the lives of journalists, as well as an assassination attempt. During the rally on Monday, an attendee wearing a Make America Great Again hat jumped into the press pen and attacked a camera man while yelling, Fuck the media! When the man was restrained, the crowed began chanting, Let him go! This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Trump chose El Paso for his first 2020 campaign rally because of its location on the U.S.-Mexico border, and it goes without saying that the speech was rife with the same kind of misleading rhetoric he has been peddling since he shut down the government over border wall funding in December. He instructed people to disregard the medias statistic-based reports about border security. At one point, he chanted murders, murders, murders, killings, murders as a way to pummel home a point about illegal immigrants. Story continues It isnt just the media questioning the presidents claims about border safety. Following last Tuesdays State of the Union address, during which Trump claimed El Paso had one of the highest rates of violent crime in America before a barrier was put in place, after which it became one of the nations safest cities, El Pasos Republican mayor, Dee Margo, corrected the president. El Paso was NEVER one of the MOST dangerous cities in the US, he tweeted. Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX), chimed in, as well. He lies, she tweeted. @POTUS is once again lying and using the #SOTU address to spread falsehoods about our beloved city of El Paso. Fact is that El Paso has been one of the safest cities in the nation long before the wall was built in 2008. #WallsDontWork. El Paso Sheriff Richard Wiles weighed in a day later. It is sad to hear President Trump state falsehoods about El Paso, Texas, in an attempt to justify building a 2,000-mile wall, he wrote in a statement. The facts are clear. While it is true that El Paso is one of the safest cities in the nation, it has never been considered one of our nations most dangerous cities and El Paso was a safe city long before any wall was built. El Paso native Beto ORourke, who last week told Oprah that he will make a decision about whether he is going to run for president by the end of the month, hosted a competing event on Monday aimed at promoting the reality of the situation at the border. While some try to stoke fear and paranoia, to spread lies and a false narrative about the U.S.-Mexico border and to demand a 2,000 mile wall along it at a time of record safety and security, El Paso will come together for a march and celebration that highlights the truth, a press release for ORourkes event read. ORourke delivered. El Paso is one of the safest cities in the United States of America, he proclaimed. Safe not because of walls, but in spite of walls. Secure because we treat one another with dignity and respect. That is the way that we make our communities and our country safe. ORourke then repeated the sentiment in Spanish. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. While Trump told residents of El Paso to be afraid, ORourke told them to take a stand. If theres any doubt about whether together we can make a stand that the generations that follow us will be grateful for, have no doubt, he said. We have done it before. We are made of great stuff and this community produces great people. We are the example that the United States of America needs right now. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. In a striking image, he greeted supporters through a fence. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. During his rally at the El Paso County Coliseum, Trump mocked ORourke, saying that hes young man whos got very little going for himself except hes got a great first name. Trump also falsely claimed that while 35,000 people came to his event (the arena holds 6,500), ORourke only drew a few hundred people. In reality, the former congressman may have drawn a crowd over twice the size of Trumps, with El Paso police confirming that between 10,000 and 15,000 people showed up to hear ORourke speak, compared to the 6,500 who were inside the arena to hear the president. His message also outsized that of the president. There is no bargain in which we can sacrifice some of our humanity to gain a little more security, he proclaimed with passion. We know that we deserve and will lose both of them if we do. We stand for the best traditions and values of this country. Sean Hannity issued a veto on Monday after news that federal negotiators had reached a deal to avoid a second government shutdown at the end of the week. On his Fox News program, Hannity called the deal garbage and warned Republicans that he would be keeping a close eye on who ultimately supported it.On this new, so-called compromise, Im getting details, 1.3 billion and not even a wall or barrier, Hannity said. I am going to tell this tonight and we will get back into this tomorrow. Any Republican that supports this garbage compromise, you will have to explain.The deal was first announced late Monday by Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby.Also Read: Sean Hannity Unfollows All But 3 Twitter Accounts in Mass PurgeWeve had a good evening. We reached an agreement in principle between us, he said, according to multiple media reports Monday, though details of the deal were scant.Its unclear how Hannity managed to get the information he reported on air. A rep for him at Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TheWrap.Also Read: Ann Coulter Calls Trump the 'Biggest Wimp' in Presidential History After Shutdown EndsPresident Trump is a regular viewer of the program and the two are known to have private conversations. Criticism from Hannity and other conservative critics like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh were widely credited with pushing Trump into launching the first government shutdown, which went on to become the longest in history.As it was then, the sticking point continues to be funding for Trumps long promised wall along the Mexican border. The president has demanded more than five billion in funds to begin construction. The House of Representatives, now led by Democrats, has refused, with Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi calling the wall an immorality.Though there is little appetite for another shutdown in either party, Hannitys objection could be a sign that the latest deal may not fly at the White House.Read original story Sean Hannity Trashes Garbage Compromise to Avoid 2nd Government Shutdown (Video) At TheWrap Sean Hannity issued a veto on Monday after news that federal negotiators had reached a deal to avoid a second government shutdown at the end of the week. On his Fox News program, Hannity called the deal garbage and warned Republicans that he would be keeping a close eye on who ultimately supported it. On this new, so-called compromise, Im getting details, 1.3 billion and not even a wall or barrier, Hannity said. I am going to tell this tonight and we will get back into this tomorrow. Any Republican that supports this garbage compromise, you will have to explain. The deal was first announced late Monday by Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby. Also Read: Sean Hannity Unfollows All But 3 Twitter Accounts in Mass Purge Weve had a good evening. We reached an agreement in principle between us, he said, according to multiple media reports Monday, though details of the deal were scant. Its unclear how Hannity managed to get the information he reported on air. A rep for him at Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TheWrap. Also Read: Ann Coulter Calls Trump the 'Biggest Wimp' in Presidential History After Shutdown Ends President Trump is a regular viewer of the program and the two are known to have private conversations. Criticism from Hannity and other conservative critics like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh were widely credited with pushing Trump into launching the first government shutdown, which went on to become the longest in history. As it was then, the sticking point continues to be funding for Trumps long promised wall along the Mexican border. The president has demanded more than five billion in funds to begin construction. The House of Representatives, now led by Democrats, has refused, with Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi calling the wall an immorality. Though there is little appetite for another shutdown in either party, Hannitys objection could be a sign that the latest deal may not fly at the White House. Read original story Sean Hannity Trashes Garbage Compromise to Avoid 2nd Government Shutdown (Video) At TheWrap CNNs Don Lemon, right, with Empire actor Jussie Smollett at the 2018 Ailey Spirit Gala Benefit on June 14, 2018. (Photo: Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images) While the investigation into the alleged hate crime against Jussie Smollett continues, Jada Pinkett Smith focused this weeks Red Table Talk on being black and gay in the United States and welcomed Don Lemon as a guest. The CNN Tonight journalist, who came out publicly in 2011, appeared on Mondays show with Smith, explaining at the top of the program that the list of out, gay black men for potential guests was limited. Lemon offered an explanation why historically, black men have stayed in the closet. We were slaves. We were beaten and branded. So as black, gay men, we carry the racism part and we carry the gay part. Were already a class of people who have been discriminated against, so why do I want to have another mark against me? So black, gay men have to decide your identity, Lemon said. Do I want to be black? Or do I want to be gay? Sometimes some of us say were too black to be gay. Or are we too gay to be black? This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Lemon said he wasnt shocked by what happened to Smollett although he was certainly disturbed by it. He said he spoke with Smollett, whom he knows though a mutual friend, while he was waiting to be examined by the doctor. As for the rumors about the attack, Lemon said that he knew everyone would be picking Smolletts storyapart and that the details are not really his concern. Instead, he said, he was interested in Smolletts well-being. He texts him daily to check in, because he believes he can relate very well to his situation, as a gay, black man in the spotlight. Sometimes he responds, sometimes he doesnt, he said of Smollett, adding that he seems to appreciate the concern. Asked whether he has fears for his own safety after Smolletts attack, Lemon said hes received his share of death threats, but says its over politics as a face of CNN the network often targeted by President Trumps claims of fake news. Lemon said he has security protecting him. Lemon, 52, talked about coming out in the press eight years ago, but said he came out to his mom after going through a terrible breakup with a boyfriend when he was 30. While she was quiet at first, her reply was, Im your mom. Im always going to love you. He put his hand to his chest as he retold the story. That meant the world to me. Once she said that, he was free, he said. Nothing else mattered after that. Story continues Lemon with his partner Tim Malone and his mother: This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. There was an adjustment he said they backslid a little as she processed the news (he said she expressed sadness because she wanted to have grandkids, she wanted me to get married) but at the end of the long journey, they are in a good place. Now shes at my house, shes cooking with my boyfriend, he said, referring to his partner, real estate agent Tim Malone, and his family. Were at Christmas together exchanging presents. And she loves it. Lemon said he was scared that coming out would make him lose my career because CNN was his dream job and he worried how the audience would react. But he had to be true to himself. I said enough is enough. Whatever happens from here, this is who I am. We talk about emancipation, I am completely emancipated. I have no secrets. I wish every black, gay man could have that experience. Every gay man could have that that experience, especially my black brothers and sisters, because so many get shunned. Lemon also talked about having a white partner and the challenges of an interracial relationship. When youre in love with someone, its never easy, he said, but if youre truly committed to someone who is a good person, then you want to work on those things. I dont expect him to know what it is to be a black man. Sometimes I just have to say: You dont understand. Take my word for it.' Lemon said his relationships with black men in the past were different, because they had more shared similar experiences in the world. That said, Most of them werent out. Most of them didnt want people to know [they were gay]. Im not about that life anymore. While discussing why black people seem more fearful of homosexuality, Lemon reminded everyone that being gay is not contagious. He added, jokingly, Sometimes I wonder if if people think: Oh, my god. That guy is gay. Am I going to catch gay?' As for his future with Malone, whom he met in the Hamptons, he says theyll probably tie the knot eventually. I like that we have the ability as gay people to get married now, but I feel the pressure to be so heteronormative, Lemon said. Do I really need to do what straight people do to in order to feel my relationship is validated? So Im struggling with that. However, he allowed, So eventually, yes, we probably will get married. Lemon added that they already have two kids, to the surprise of the co-hosts and he explained that he meant their two rescue dogs. And, yes, he said, one is black and one is white. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. The investigation continues into what happened to Empire star Smollett, who reported to Chicago police last month that he was hit in the face, doused with a liquid and had a rope tied around his neck while his attackers subjected him to racial and political slurs. During his first public appearance after the attack, at a concert in Los Angeles, Smollett told the crowd, I had to be here tonight, yall. I couldnt let those motherf*****s win. I will always stand for love. I will only stand for love. Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: South Korea's foreign ministry said Tuesday that National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang's recent remarks on the issue of Japan's wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women were intended to underscore the need for the neighboring country's "sincere attitude" in addressing the long-simmering issue. In an interview with Bloomberg last week, Moon urged Japanese Emperor Akihito to make a personal apology to Korean victims forced into sexual servitude during World War II, calling him the "the son of the main culprit of war crimes." During a parliamentary session Tuesday, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called Moon's remarks "extremely inappropriate." The Tokyo government has also asked him to retract his words and apologize. "We have interpreted (Moon's) remarks as meant to highlight the need for Japan to show a sincere attitude based on a victim-oriented approach to restore the honor and respect of the victims and heal their scars," Noh Kyu-duk, the spokesman for the ministry, told a regular press briefing. But he added that South Korea will continue efforts to nurture a "future-oriented" relationship with Japan while seeking a wise solution to the issue. Historians say as many as 200,000 Asian women, mostly Korean, were forcibly sent to front-line brothels from 1939-1945 to provide sexual services for Japanese soldiers. Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula from 1910-45. Tensions between the two neighbors have intensified in recent months due to military spats and a set of long-standing historical issues stemming from Japan's occupation of the peninsula. (Yonhap) The deputy mayor of Keszthely, on the northwest shore of Lake Balaton, has suggested the city as a possible venue for the Hungarian leg of this years Red Bull Air Race, regional daily Zalai Hirlap reported. Budapest mayor Istvan Tarlos recently said the capital would not issue a permit for the Red Bull Air Race, planned for July of this year, because of inadequate conditions, prompting a search by local organiser Hungaroring Sport for an alternative venue. Keszthely deputy mayor Balint Nagy told Zalai Hirlap that he had spoken to Hungaroring Sports head on the telephone about the possibility of hosting the race. The city is close to an airport, and the nearby spa town of Heviz has lots of hotel capacity, he added. Heviz mayor Gabor Papp told MTI that the spa town and the Heviz-Balaton Airport it operates could serve as the backdrop for the Red Bull Air Race if it comes to the region. The infrastructure and preparedness of the region make it well-suited to host the event, he added. MTI Photo: Szigetvary Zsolt Hungary and the United States have started to rebuild their political ties, the Hungarian foreign minister said after meeting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Budapest Peter Szijjarto told a joint press conference that ties had revolved around the pillars of the economy and defence, but ever since the Republican administration assumed power, political relations had started to improve rapidly. The secretary of states visit to Hungary is a testament to this trend, he said. Szijjarto said the Hungarian government and the Trump administration shared an identical or very similar approach to various political and international issues. Both governments pursue patriotic policies with priority given to national interests, he added. They both believe that one of the basic tasks of the state is to guarantee the security of its citizens, the minister said. This is why the US and Hungary have cooperated in fighting against the United Nations Global Migration Compact, he added. Both countries are determined to protect Christian heritage and Christian communities worldwide, and they are both active in international organisations that promote the fair treatment of Israel, he noted. Hungary's Foreign Policy 'Based On Mutual Respect' Our foreign policy enables us to be honest, he said at the joint press conference held with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. It has enabled the discussion of such issues as relations with Russia, the growing economic influence of China and Hungarian-Ukrainian relations, he added. The lives of 150,000 ethnic Hungarians in western Ukraine are important to Hungary and therefore Hungary cannot consider the situation in Ukraine purely as a geopolitical matter, he said. Szijjarto noted that Hungarys share in EU-China trade amounted to 1.2%. He added that it would be hypocritical to criticise Hungary for maintaining close links to Russia while deals are being brokered between western Europe and Russia. Szijjarto said a new bilateral defence cooperation agreement that updated the one signed between the US and Hungary in 1997 was a response to novel security challenges. Relevant talks have been concluded, he said, adding that the draft agreement will be submitted to the defence committee of Hungarys parliament next week. He said Hungary was a reliable defence and military ally. Important talks have been held on acquisitions, and the defence committee will be contacted in the near future in connection with talks about the intermediate-range air defence system, he added. Szijjarto said he had asked Pompeos help to urge ExxonMobil to come to a decision as soon as possible on extracting gas in Romania, allowing Hungary to move forward in diversifying its gas purchases. Szijjarto said Hungarys cooperation with China and Russia did not have a bearing on its credibility as a NATO ally. He said criticism of Hungary due to its ties with Russia was enormous hypocrisy, adding that it was not Hungarian or central European energy companies that were cooperating with Gazprom to build a gas pipeline. Central Europe, he noted, is dependent on Russia for its energy supplies. We have done everything we can to buy gas from other sources, he added. Szijjarto said diversification hinged on our allies. But it is not in western Europes interests today for central Europe to succeed, otherwise it would not be building its new gas route between Russia and Germany, he said. Western Europes energy security will improve as a result, he said, adding that: We are waiting for our allies to make decisions so we, too, can [buy gas] via another route. Pompeo Meets NGO Leaders In Budapest US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met representatives of NGOs in Budapest, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) said in a joint statement. Concerns regarding the rule of law and the situation of NGOs were highlighted at the meeting, the statement said. The statement said that co-head of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Marta Pardavi, raised issues such as impairments to the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers. It added that she had also raised government measures that weaken constitutionality and legislation approved in recent years that impairs Hungarian democracy. TASZ managing director Stefania Kapronczay highlighted the importance of an independent and diverse press, while K-Monitor director Sandor Lederer presented a report on the situation in Hungary in respect of corruption. The NGOs said the fact that Pompeo had met them and had expressed an interest in their opinions demonstrated that top US officials were dedicated to protecting the values of constitutionality and the role of civil society, even when it came to relations with allies. MTI Photo: Szecsodi Balazs Pro-government columnists praise the Prime Ministers cash and loan package incentives to generate what he hopes will be a baby boom as an unprecedented effort to overcome demographic decline. Business sites suggest that many details of the plan still have to be worked out. In his annual State of the Nation address on Sunday, Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced new tax and loan benefits for families, to spearhead his governments efforts to increase the birth rate. This is Hungarys answer to the demographic crisis, instead of mass immigration, he said. Magyar Nemzets Zsolt Bayer describes the PMs plan as a breakthrough. There has never been such a sweeping project to encourage higher birth rates in Hungary, he writes. He agrees with the Prime Ministers warning that those countries which try to use immigration to fill the demographic gap are moving into a blind alley from which there is no return. Hungary hasnt yet accepted the idea that it is incapable of reproducing itself, he continues. The hope that our lives can continue in those of our children deserves a special effort and that is what the Prime Ministers plan is about, he asserts. In Magyar Hirlap, Sandor Faggyas recalls that two years ago the Prime Minister said he would like the fertility rate to reach 2,1 by 2030, from 1.5 today (the rate is defined as the average number of babies born to women during their lifetime). That is an ambition of historic importance, he writes, and the measures announced by the Prime Minister on Sunday are meant to bring Hungary nearer to that target. Demographic trends are extremely difficult to alter, he adds, but hopes that the extraordinary effort announced by the Prime Minister on Sunday will give them the necessary boost. Hvg.hu and Portfolio have both tried to calculate what the cost of the newly announced scheme will be, but both believe many details are still missing. HVG writes that the additional expenditure will amount to several hundred billion Forints yearly. Portfolio calculates that families with several children may draw a 25 million Forint benefit from the measures announced by the Prime Minister. (The Secretary of State for Families, Katalin Novak, told reporters on Monday that while it was impossible to know how many young couples would take advantage of the 7-point plan, her rough estimate was that it would cost 150 billion forints a year). This opinion does not necessarily represent the views of XpatLoop.com or the publisher. Your opinions are welcome too - for editorial review before possible publication online. Click here to Share Your Story Photo: Botar Gergely / kormany.hu 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. CHEYENNE In the wake of mounting criticism, state Sen. Lynn Hutchings released a statement Tuesday afternoon defending comments she made to a group of Cheyenne students lobbying for a bill to protect workers from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. But while saying it was unfortunate her remarks didnt come across as intended, Hutchings, R-Cheyenne, offered no apology and instead said the story was fabricated and untruthful. A request for clarification on her statement, made through a Republican spokesperson, was not responded to as of press time. In her Tuesday statement, Hutchings said her Feb. 1 comments to the local high school students were only meant to be rhetorical questions to help illustrate what she described as the vagueness and uncertainty of sexual orientation. It is unfortunate, but I now recognize that my attempts at meaningful dialogue on this specific issue did not come across as I intended. I believe I treated these students kindly, Hutchings said in her statement. I want to make it clear that my conversation was not intended to demean these students. I at no time compared homosexuality with bestiality or pedophilia. That never happened. According to officials with Wyoming Equality, a Cheyenne-based civil rights group, Hutchings told 10 students from the Gay-Straight Alliance at Cheyennes Central High, If my sexual orientation was to have sex with all of the men in there and I had sex with all of the women in there and then they brought their children and I had sex with all of them and then brought their dogs in and I had sex with them, should I be protected for my sexual orientation? In response to Hutchings statement, which characterized the conversation with students as cordial and ending with fist bumps all around, Wyoming Equality board member Shayna Lonoaea-Alexander said the students did feel attacked by Hutchings comparisons of LGBTQ protections to protections for pedophilia and bestiality. Some of the students told Hutchings when the conversation started that they were LGBTQ. And when the conversation ended, Lonoaea-Alexander said Hutchings hugged and fist-bumped one of the students, which was inappropriate, especially given the content of Hutchings remarks. It is entirely inappropriate to make those comments, especially to a group of high school students, Lonoaea-Alexander said. The conversation with Hutchings wasnt the only one the group of students had Feb. 1 with lawmakers who were on the other side of the issue, Lonoaea-Alexander said. But those conversations were conducted by lawmakers in a cordial and respectful manner, and at no time did students feel attacked for who they are and how they identified. This is, honestly, about fairness, respect and dignity and what can we expect from each other, and what we can expect from our elected officials, Lonoaea-Alexander said. Wyoming Equality sent a letter dated Feb. 4 to Senate President Drew Perkins, R-Casper, objecting to the comments. Senate leaders said Monday they take the complaint seriously and will conduct an investigation, which will not be public. In Wyoming, we believe in respect, civility and compassion, the GOP legislative leaders statement read. Here in the Wyoming Legislature, it is no different. We take the concerns raised on behalf of these students very seriously. Absolutely no one should be made to feel dismissed, disrespected or degraded. Hutchings went on to say in her statement that the story has been one-sided and fabricated, but didnt specify what was made up. She also issued a call to arms for the states business community to be outraged at the negative attention as another untruth is spread across the country about Wyoming. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle tried to interview Hutchings on Monday, but was told she wouldnt comment on the issue. Hutchings also said in the Tuesday statement that she has been subjected to racial slurs, profanity and threats since her comments became public. I will always guard a persons ability to freely make choices regarding their lives. I respect the rights of everyone to make choices freely. However, with this freedom comes the responsibility to tolerate those with different views and opinions, Hutchings said in the statement. That is especially true in the Legislature, which must be a place where we come together to debate real-life ideas, some we agree with, some we do not. For all of us, including myself, this situation provides a learning opportunity for us to find better ways to discuss these issues in a respectful manner, while also extending grace to one another when we say things inartfully. Wyoming Democratic Party spokeswoman Nina Hebert said a letter sent to party members asking them to call Hutchings about her comments explicitly directed them to use respectful language and not engage in any hateful speech. Hebert said as far as Hutchings statement about the untruthfulness of reporting on her comments to students, the senator didnt deny the account of the four questions she asked the students. Lonoaea-Alexander said Wyoming Equality unequivocally condemned any threats or racially motivated comments Hutchings may have received since this story broke. Out of context, or a pattern? Hutchings statement Tuesday comes in the wake of both statewide and now national news coverage. The New York Daily News ran a story on the issue over the weekend, and on Tuesday, NBC carried a story on its national website. Hutchings faced a call for her resignation Monday from the Wyoming Democratic Party. And the party isnt letting up on the issue, working to focus attention on previous statements Hutchings has made on issues related to Wyomings LGBTQ population. The Wyoming Democratic Party released a batch of emails and statements made by Hutchings during a debate in 2015 by the Cheyenne City Council on a proposed anti-discrimination ordinance to protect LGBTQ residents. Former Councilwoman Annette Williams had proposed the ordinance in 2015, and in a statement Tuesday, she said Hutchings had first asked for her recusal from voting on her ordinance, then asked City Council to prevent Williams from voting on the issue. Williams shared a series of emails Hutchings sent her at the time of the City Council vote saying it was Gods wish that those with same-sex desires keep from hurting themselves by pursuing the lifestyle. While Im saddened to hear Sen. Hutchings made these comments, I cant say Im surprised, Williams said. She has a long history of lobbying against the LGBTQ community and against equality for LGBTQ people, going so far as to try to force the Cheyenne City Council to not let me vote on a non-discrimination ordinance I introduced. These vile comments are in line with comments shes made to adult members of that community, but saying these things to children crosses a line no one ever imagined wed need to draw. In 2013, Hutchings made comments similar to those she made to the students on Feb. 1. During the debate that year on a bill that would have extended domestic partnerships to same-sex couples, Hutchings said she was offended when LGBTQ residents compared their struggles to the battle for civil rights in the 1960s. She also said at the time that homosexuality can be dangerous and referred to AIDS as gay-related immune deficiency, or GRID, a term more commonly used to describe the disease in the 1980s, as an example of those dangers. Being black is innocuous, very harmless, she said in 2013. Homosexual behavior has been shown to be harmful to body, mind and spirit. This photo taken on Monday shows a neighborhood of Istanbul, where a South Korean businessman was assaulted in the middle of January. Yonhap A South Korean businessman was recently assaulted by a group of unidentified people in Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey, and sustained serious injuries, informed sources said Tuesday. The unidentified businessman works for the Istanbul branch office of a South Korean conglomerate, the sources said, noting his injuries were not life-threatening. The incident, in which the Korean man was assaulted by unknown local people, occurred near his Istanbul office in the middle of January, they said. The perpetrators, who appeared to have waited in advance for the victim, fled immediately after the assault without touching his personal belongings, they added. The victim was treated for injuries, such as a broken nose, and was said to suffer from psychological shock. The perpetrators are still at large. Many South Korean residents in Turkey suspect that the assault may have been orchestrated by locals who were dissatisfied with transactions with the South Korean conglomerate. Last year, another resident employee of the same conglomerate left Turkey before the end of his term after feeling a threat to his own safety. The South Korean Consulate General in Istanbul declined to comment on the incident, except saying it is sensitive in many respects and can affect bilateral relations. The consulate general also refused to speak on whether the Turkish authorities' investigation is focused on the possibility of business disputes. A ranking official at South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told reporters in Seoul that the government has asked the Turkish police to conduct a "swift and thorough" investigation into the assault case. The official made the remarks while saying the Istanbul incident occurred around 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 10. "The South Korean consulate general in Istanbul immediately visited the scene of the incident and visited a hospital where the victim was treated to offer consular service. In addition, the consul general strongly asked the Turkish police to try to arrest the perpetrators as soon as possible," the official said. Meanwhile, the South Korean conglomerate said it has taken measures to enhance the safety of its employees in Turkey after the assault last month. The company said it has strengthened security around its Istanbul office and encouraged its employees to travel in groups and leave the office earlier in the evening. (Yonhap) Jake Jarvis can be reached by phone at 304-935-0144, on Twitter at @JakeJarvisWV or by email at jjarvis@statejournal.com. By Jon Dunbar The South Korea-U.S. alliance, while mostly friendly, has been a tug-of-war for decades. But the two countries often find themselves stuck together, incapable of separating. The 1970s were a time of change, as the U.S. reduced its forces on the Korean Peninsula and looked at ways to reduce more. In June 1971 Richard Nixon withdrew 20,000 troops stationed there, out of a total 61,000, aiming to make South Korea less dependent on U.S. military protection. Later that decade, the 1977-81 Jimmy Carter administration sought to withdraw even more of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), but this time it didn't go so well. Ph.D. candidate Clint Work will give a on Feb. 19 on Korea-U.S. relations during Carter's administration. "Many within the U.S. foreign policy and national security bureaucracy viewed U.S. combat forces in South Korea as so deeply embedded within a wider hegemonic structure in East Asia that they could not be withdrawn without undoing that very structure," Work wrote on the RASKB website. "Carter aimed to make more flexible the U.S. military presence in South Korea and pass a greater share of the defense burden onto Seoul, without at the same time undermining U.S. credibility and control. As it happened, Carter faced enormous opposition and ultimately failed to execute his policy." Work will reveal his research, done through examination of previously unavailable documents from the U.S. and Korea, as well as oral history and field interviews. Carter's policy was a failure, but it resulted in a "more mature if still hierarchical alliance relationship." He points to three key changes resulting from the failed policy: changing from a patron-client relationship to a more equal and integrated one, enhancement of Korean defense capabilities and operational decision-making, and emergence of Korean nationalism and even anti-Americanism. "These outcomes represented a key turning point in the alliance and remain salient today," he wrote. Work received his Master's degree in 2013 from the University of Chicago's Committee on International Relations (CIR), where he studied modern U.S.-East Asia relations and South Korean political economy. Following this, he worked as a research assistant in the Seoul office of the International Crisis Group's (ICG). He is now completing his Ph.D. through the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington, and working as lecturer at the University of Utah's Asia Campus in Incheon. The lecture, titled "Shifting Hierarchy: Carter's Korean Troop Withdrawal and the Recasting of U.S. Hegemony and Korean Agency within the U.S.-ROK Alliance," starts at 7:30 p.m. in the second-floor lounge of Somerset Palace in downtown Seoul. All are welcome. Non-members pay 10,000 won and students pay 5,000 won. Visit raskb.com for more information. Please purchase a subscription to continue reading. If you have a subscription, please Log In . Your current subscription does not provide access to this content. If you believe you've gotten this message in error, please Log In. U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun and his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok-chol. Yonhap The U.S. envoy for North Korea was quoted as saying Monday (local time) that the two sides are yet to narrow their differences on denuclearization before this month's second bilateral summit. U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun made the remark during a meeting with a visiting South Korean parliamentary delegation to Washington, D.C., according to the group. Biegun and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Hyok-chol, held talks in Pyongyang last week to hammer out the agenda and logistics for the Feb. 27-28 summit to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam, between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. According to the delegation members, the U.S. envoy said the two sides laid out what each side seeks from the summit but will start narrowing their differences in the next round of talks. South Korea's presidential office said earlier that the United States and North Korean officials plan to meet again in an Asian country next week. Biegun said last week's meetings were only the first round of preparatory talks and that while there was agreement on the summit's agenda they would need more time to understand each other. "With only two weeks until the summit, it will be difficult to resolve all the tricky issues, but there's a chance if we can agree on a timeline (for denuclearization)," a South Korean delegation member quoted Biegun as saying. The second summit will seek to flesh out Trump and Kim's agreement at their first summit in June, which included a commitment to work toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees for Pyongyang. The U.S. has demanded concrete steps toward denuclearization, including an inventory of North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, while the North has sought sanctions relief and a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War. Biegun expressed hope that the Koreas and the U.S. will someday be able to hold a trilateral summit, and called for close coordination between Seoul and Washington, the delegation said. In particular, he reiterated Washington's position that development of inter-Korean ties should not outpace North Korea's denuclearization and remain within the framework of international sanctions on the regime. "It's a long road to normalizing ties with North Korea, signing a peace treaty and establishing the foundation for economic prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, but (the U.S. government) has chosen to (work toward that)," Biegun was quoted as saying. "I hope North Korea makes the right choice, and I believe it can." The meeting also involved U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, and the delegation was led by South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang. (Yonhap) COLUMBUS, Miss. (WTVA) - A Lowndes County man has lost an attempt to have his life sentence for sexual battery thrown out on appeal. John Knight, 46, was convicted of the case involving a child under the age of 12. Knight was arrested in 2007 but didn't go to trial until 2015. He acted as his own attorney during the trial although the court did have an attorney sitting with him. Knight was sentenced as a habitual offender following his conviction meaning he is not eligible for parole. On appeal, his attorney challenged whether the judge was wrong to let Knight act as his own attorney. The Mississippi Court of Appeals reviewed the case and upheld the conviction Tuesday. Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman Loera, the Mexican drug lord who pocketed nearly $14 billion as the decadeslong head of the murderous Sinaloa cartel, was found guilty Tuesday of all 10 federal criminal counts against him, including the top charge of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. The vast Brooklyn courtroom fell silent as the verdict was read. There was no visible reaction from Guzman, who faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison. He's due to be sentenced June 25. US District Judge Brian Cogan confirmed the verdicts with each of the eight women and four men on the jury, telling them later their conduct on the panel 'made me very proud to be an American.' After the jury left the room, Guzman waved and smiled at his wife, Emma Coronel, a former beauty queen and courtroom regular who smiled back and touched her hand to her heart. 'Good, thank you,' she said when asked how she felt after the verdict. The partially sequestered and anonymous jury deliberated roughly 34 hours over six days. 'We are obviously disappointed with the jury's verdict in the trial of Joaquin Guzman Loera but are respectful of the process and the jury's decision,' defense attorney Eduardo Balarezo said. 'We were faced with extraordinary and unprecedented obstacles in defending Joaquin ...' Another member of the defense team, Jeffrey Lichtman, said they waged a vigorous defense against an 'avalanche' of evidence and cooperating witnesses. They plan to file an appeal on a number of issues. He said Guzman was in good spirits after the verdict. 'He's a very upbeat guy. He was bringing our spirits up, which was surprising. Usually it's the other way around,' Lichtman said. 'He's always been a gentleman, always been supportive, always been happy and appreciative of all our efforts.' US Attorney for Eastern District of New York Richard Donoghue said the case represented a victory for the American people, for Mexican people who had lost loved ones in drug wars, and for every family who has lost someone to drug addiction. 'There are those who say the war on drugs is not worth fighting. Those people are wrong,' he said. The case, Donoghue said, pulled back the curtain on international drug trafficking in a way no trial ever has, revealing the endemic corruption that allowed the Sinaloa cartel to operate. 'This is a day of reckoning, but there are more days of reckoning to come,' he said. Gold-plated AK-47s and diamond-encrusted pistols Guzman, 61, was convicted of 10 counts, including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to launder narcotics proceeds, international distribution of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and other drugs, and use of firearms. He faces a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole for leading a continuing criminal enterprise, and a sentence of up to life imprisonment on the remaining drug counts. Federal prosecutors said they will seek a forfeiture judgment for billions of dollars constituting the cartel's illegal drug-trafficking proceeds. Over two and a half months, the jury heard testimony about unspeakable torture and ghastly murders, epic corruption at nearly every level of Mexico's government, narco-mistresses and naked subterranean escapes, gold-plated AK-47s and monogrammed, diamond-encrusted pistols. The prosecution's case featured 200 hours of testimony from 56 witnesses. Fourteen of those witnesses -- mostly admitted drug traffickers and cartel associates -- cooperated with prosecutors in hopes of reducing their own prison sentences. There were also surveillance photos, intercepted phone calls and text messages involving Guzman, as well as exhibits of blingy firepower and bricks of cocaine that dropped with the force of potato sacks. In contrast, defense attorneys called just one witness and focused on undermining the credibility of cooperating witnesses. Defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said these witnesses had 'lied every day of their lives -- their miserable, selfish lives.' Guzman, once listed on Forbes' Billionaires List, has long been a slippery and near-mythical figure. He escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001 in a laundry cart and again in 2015 through a tunnel. After he was recaptured in 2016, he was extradited to the US to face American federal charges. The high-profile trial centered on the struggles and actions of El Chapo, who came from humble origins in the heart of Mexico's rugged three-state Golden Triangle to become its most infamous native son. The 12-week proceedings were conducted in part during the partial government shutdown over funding for a border wall. It showed that such fortification would have failed to stop tons of drugs the cartel moved from Mexico to the United States via fishing boats, trains, tractor-trailers, radar-evading airplanes, passenger cars at legal ports of entry, submarines, oil tankers, cocaine-laden cans of jalapenos and cross-border tunnels. It included stunning testimony of corruption at nearly every echelon of Mexico's government, from police and military commanders to local and state officials to former presidents who vehemently denied the allegations. Under El Chapo, the Sinaloa cartel smuggled narcotics to wholesale distributors in Arizona, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York. , Experts have said that Guzman's capture in 2016, extradition one year later and conviction this week has not -- and will not -- diminish the power and reach of the Sinaloa cartel. U.S. and North Korean flags for sale at a shop in Hanoi, Vietnam, late last month. Hanoi is the venue for the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un scheduled for Feb. 27-28. AP-Yonhap North Korean media outlets intensified calls for "corresponding" measures, including sanctions removal, from the United States on Tuesday as their leaders are set to hold a second summit later this month. "The U.S. should respect our leading and preemptive efforts and respond to them with corresponding practical action," Uriminzokkiri, a North Korean propaganda outlet, said in an article. "Our stance to usher in a new future for global peace and security and open an era of cooperation between North Korea and the U.S. remains unchanged." Tongil Sinbo, a North Korean propaganda weekly, also urged the U.S. to retract "unfair" sanctions on North Korea, saying that the nuclear issue will not be resolved if Washington continues to make "unilateral" demands. "Many countries in the world are saying that it is appropriate that the unfair sanctions should be taken back as our republic has stopped nuclear and ballistic rocket launches for more than a year," it said. "If the U.S., which is the very country that created the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula, continues to cling to its unilateral demands, the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula will not be resolved, ever." North Korea's media outlets have made almost daily calls for Washington to ease or remove sanctions before the Feb. 27-28 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Vietnam. Since their first summit last June in Singapore, Pyongyang has demanded sanctions relief and other concessions in return for what it claims to be substantive denuclearization steps, but Washington has called for more concrete measures. (Yonhap) The event, held jointly by the Overseas Vietnamese Association in France, the Vietnamese Cultural Centre and ten organisations in France, was attended by Vietnamese Ambassador to France Nguyen Thiep as well as Ambassadors from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, alongside the OVs in the host country. Visitors at the festival had a chance to join an ancient Tet market, enjoy art performances and delicious traditional food, and participate in folk games. The event offered an opportunity for Vietnamese people in France to gather and share their joint love towards their homeland and introduce the unique cultural identities of Vietnam to French and international friends. The event was also part of the activities to mark the 100th anniversary of the OVs movement in France (1919). Following the patriotic movement, of which President Ho Chi Minh laid the foundations, the OVs community in France has always contributed to their homelands independence and development over the past 100 years. Generations of the OVs in France have also joined hands to build a prosperous and developed community to integrate into the host countrys society. Vietnamese children in France are performing songs about Tet. Just 15 minutes before Donald Trump was scheduled to address a rally in the Texas border town of El Paso, Senate leaders announced that the Democrats and Republicans had reached a deal to avert another government shutdown, set to begin on at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. The agreement is a complete capitulation by the Democratic Party to Trumps fascistic agenda. According to initial news reports, it includes $1.4 billion in funding for a steel wall and no lowering of the cap on the total number of immigrants who can be detained on any given night. Senior congressional aides claim the deal would allow Trump to expand Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention by over 20 percent. The Hill noted that the agreement provides enough flexibility to reach the presidents requested level of 52,000 beds. According to CNN, the deal also includes an additional $1.7 billion in increased spending for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which includes ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Between chants of USA! USA! and Build the wall! at his El Paso rally, Trump denounced socialism and the radical left and claimed he was not yet aware of the details of the agreement. We probably have some good news, he said, referencing the fact that the Democrats were likely to cave on calls for a cap on immigrant detentions. Were setting the stage, he added, indicating that he would be able to move billions of dollars to build his wall regardless of the total amount officially appropriated by Congress. Were building the wall, anyway. The wall is going to be built. White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told Fox News Sunday over the weekend that any deal would provide Trump with political cover and administrative flexibility to allocate billions of dollars as he sees fit: Well take as much money as you can give us and then we will go off and find the money someplace else legally in order to secure that southern barrier. But this is going to get built with or without Congress, he said. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has agreed to the deal and the Democratic Party is wheeling out its pathetic excuses for its inevitable capitulation. Democratic House Appropriations Committee Chairman Nita Lowey, who is one of the leaders of the bipartisan joint House-Senate conference committee that worked out the agreement, meekly said, We did the best we could. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy added, Theres not a single one of us whos going to get every single thing we want, but nobody does. But we are going to get what is best for the United States. The capitulation means that thousands more will die in the desert after being forced to cross in more inhospitable terrain, and tens of thousands more will be detained in the US as they await immigration hearings. Also Monday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Trump administrations wall construction plans, issuing a decision finding that the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA) gives the Department of Homeland Security the legal power to construct wall fencing regardless of environmental regulations. The 2-1 ruling by the most liberal federal appellate court was issued by Judge M. Margaret McKeown, a Clinton appointee, and Jacqueline Nguyen, an Obama appointee. IIRAIRA, the legislation that grants the president the power to build border walls, was passed by unanimous voice vote in the Senate and by almost the entire current Democratic Party leadership, who then served in the House, including James Clyburn, Charles Schumer, John Lewis, Steny Hoyer, Nancy Pelosi and former congressman Luis Gutierrez. Bernie Sanders also voted for the legislation. In his speech yesterday, Trump touted the construction of a border wall in El Paso, claiming it had reduced crime in the city. Construction of the wall in El Paso was completed by Barack Obama in 2009. As Trump was speaking, thousands of soldiers and federal agents swarmed Eagle Pass, Texas in an operation that CBP is calling a show of force aimed at deterring Central American refugees from crossing the Rio Grande. More than 100 federal police vehicles lined a one-mile stretch of the border at Eagle Pass over the weekend. Maverick County, Texas Sheriff Tom Schmerber told the Washington Examiner: To me, its like showing force. It would give a message to the immigrants that want to come illegally through Texas that Texas is always prepared and has a lot of manpower at the border--that they would go to another state. This show of force has dangerous symbolic significance. Under the Clinton administration in 1993, El Paso Sector Border Patrol Chief Sylvestre Reyes (who later became a Democratic congressman and co-chairman of Hillary Clintons 2008 presidential campaign) deployed hundreds of agents in their vehicles in a similar show of force along a section of the border between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. This was the opening salvo of what became known as Operation Hold-the-Line--the first major military border operation on the US-Mexico border. As a result of the Clinton administrations militarization of the border cities, immigrants now cross through the desert. Up to 20,000 immigrants have died attempting to cross the border since Operation Hold-the-Line was enacted in El Paso. In 1994, Clinton Attorney General Janet Reno announced the initiation of a similar program to construct a border wall to separate San Diego from Tijuana. On the other side of Eagle Pass, where the newest show of force is taking place, 1,800 refugees are being detained in Piedras Negras under subhuman conditions by the Mexican government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (known as AMLO). Hundreds of Mexican police in riot gear and soldiers armed with assault weapons are guarding the detention center, prohibiting the immigrants from leaving. AMLO has agreed, on behalf of the Trump administration, to detain the Central American asylum seekers whom the US refuses to let stay in the US pending the adjudication of their asylum applications, in clear violation of international law. The Mexican paper Reforma descried the conditions in the Piedras Negras detention center. It wrote: Since their arrival in this border city, the close to 1,850 immigrants of the caravan are held inside the former Macesa maquiladora [factory] and its exits are guarded. The immigrants have to stay within a perimeter delineated by a wire mesh fence with barbed wire on top. The immigrants are watched by soldiers and federal police, who stay on their feet by the fence with anti-riot gear. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of workers in the maquiladoras of Ciudad Juarez are discussing taking strike action, as strikes spread in Matamoros, located across the border from Brownsville, Texas. It is this emerging movement of the working class that embodies the fight to unite workers in the US and Mexico against the militarization of the border by both the US and Mexican ruling class and all of the bourgeois political parties in both countries. Amid the latest round of trade talks between the US and China in Beijing this week, there are ever clearer indications that the clash between the worlds two major economic powers is part of an accelerating drive towards global economic war, with direct military implications. Unless an agreement is reached by a deadline of March 1, the US has threatened to increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent. This is to back its demands that China pull back on plans to increase its technological and industrial development. Prospects for an agreement took a blow last Thursday when US President Donald Trump replied No when asked whether he had plans to meet Chinas President Xi Jinping before the expiration of the deadline. A meeting of the two leaders would be needed before any final deal. White House National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow said there was a pretty sizeable distance to go before any agreement could be reached. Whatever the immediate outcome of the talksa complete breakdown of negotiations, a partial agreement such as Chinese commitment to purchase more US products while discussion proceeds on more contentious issues, or an extension of the deadlinethe wider significance of the conflict is attracting attention. Writing in the Financial Times on Monday, columnist Rana Foroohar likened the US-China clash to the conflict between Britain and Germany that led to World War I. She noted that the last great wave of globalisation, which brought about significant technological and economic expansion, ended with the outbreak of war and the Great Depression. Markets did not see it coming. And at the risk of being a Cassandra, I wonder if they arent just as oblivious to what is happening today with the US and China. The conflict between these great powers has obvious similarities to the earlier story, not just in terms of opposing economic models and rising nationalism, but also in the boom-bust timeline. Two recent events, Foroohar wrote, have, for me moved the market dial from yellow to red. The first was the US decision to request that Canada arrest Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of the Chinese telecom giant Huawei, pending extradition. The second was its decision to charge the company with espionage and sanctions violations, together with the US pressure on its allies to constrict Huaweis ability to do business in their markets. Foroohar highlighted the significance of the bringing of criminal charges against Huaweia move which has elsewhere been described as the weaponisation of the American criminal justice system. She cited the comment by investor Luke Gromen in a recent newsletter that the FBI had effectively declared the official time of death of globalisation. Foroohar noted that the impetus for the moves against China was not confined to the Trump administration. It extended across the political spectrum with all the Democratic presidential hopefuls declaring that the relationship between the US and China had to change. There were also a number of bipartisan legislative efforts against Chinas alleged threat of intellectual property and the spread of Chinese influence in the US. Curbing economic ties between the US and the Middle Kingdom is no longer considered China bashing, but has become a mainstream view, she wrote. The anti-China hawks within the Trump administration, together with the military and intelligence apparatuses, whose views are expressed most directly by the Democratic Party, above all among its so-called left elements, regard Chinas economic and technological development as an existential threat to US economic and military dominance that must be halted. However, the rise of economic nationalism is not confined to the US. Last week, the National Industrial Strategy presented by German Economics Minister Peter Altmaier laid out a plan to put the country on an economic war footing. It noted that there was hardly a successful country that relied solely on market forces to secure its objectives as they pursued strategies for rapid expansion with the clear aim of conquering markets for ones economy and, wherever possible, monopolizing them. Key areas, such as the construction of large commercial aircraft, modernization of railways, major internet platforms and finance and banking, required large and strong players who stand as equals with competitors from the US and China. It was a cause for concern that hardly any companies of this size had been created in Germany for years. As the World Socialist Web Site noted, the significance of the Altmaier paper was that: Just two years after Donald Trump entered the White House to cries of America First! the German government now shouts out, Germany (and Europe) first!and will only accept a Europe that is dominated by Berlin. The new industrial strategy is not intended as a hazy plan for the indefinite future. It acquired immediate political significance as a row broke out over the decision announced last week by the European Unions competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, to block a proposed merger between the German and French train manufacturers Siemens and Alstom. The deal had been heavily backed by both governments on the basis that it was necessary to compete with state-backed rivals from China. French Finance Minister Bruno le Maire said Vestagers decision, made on the basis that the two merger partners did not address serious competition concerns, was a political mistake that would serve Chinas economic and industrial interests. This view was echoed by Altmaier and in a statement issued by Siemens chief executive, Joe Kaiser, who said: Protecting customer interests locally must not mean that Europe cannot be on a level playing field with leading nations like China, the US and others. Anti-China rhetoric in Europe was ratcheted up on Sunday with a report on the website of the German television company Welt, which said EU officials had been warned that about 250 Chinese spies and 200 Russian spies were operating in the Belgian city of Brussels, the headquarters of the EU. The Welt report cited information from the European External Action Service, the EUs diplomatic arm, as the basis for its report. Clearly stung by the report, the Chinese mission to the EU dismissed it as groundless and said all parties should treat China and China-EU relations in an objective and fair manner, and not make irresponsible remarks. The Welt report followed a claim by the Lithuanian intelligence agency last week that Chinese intelligence services had become increasingly aggressive. They were allegedly recruiting citizens to engage in espionage activities and to influence public opinion on issues such as Tibetan and Taiwanese independence. Lithuania has also announced that it is analysing the potential threat posed by Huawei, which is developing the countrys new 5G phone network. In historical analyses of the build-up to the outbreak of World War I, the words drift and sleepwalking are often employed. Those terms do not accurately depict the real course of historical events and they are even less appropriate in the present situation as economic warfare intensifies and threat of a consequent military conflict looms ever larger. The following statement calling for a workers conference was issued by the Workers Action Committee of the Abbotsleigh Estate. The Abbotsleigh action committee was established in December after the trade unions betrayed a powerful nine-day strike by plantation workers for a 1,000-rupee daily wage. Workers from several other estates have expressed their solidarity with the Abbotsleigh committee and pledged to fight to establish similar committees. Although the two main plantation unionsthe Ceylon Workers Congress and the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Unionhave a signed a new collective agreement, which includes a meagre pay rise tied to increased productivity, the government has yet to gazette it in the face ongoing workers opposition. *** The Workers Action Committee of Abbotsleigh Estate, with the support of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in Sri Lanka, will hold a workers conference at the Hatton Town Hall on March 17 to discuss "The lessons of the plantation workers struggle and the way forward to win wages and social rights." We invite workers, youth and progressive intellectuals to attend and take part in this important meeting. Our recent pay strike involving around 200,000 plantation workers is part of a resurgence of working class struggles internationally against the escalating attacks on social and democratic rights by the capitalist class in every country. This struggle was conducted in defiance of the trade unions and their political sabotage, and despite threats by employers and the government. We were able to win enthusiastic backing from youth, teachers and small shopkeepers, and from other sections of the Sri Lankan working class. While plantation workers called for a 100 percent increase in the basic daily wage, the companies and the government completely rejected the demand. The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) and the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union (LJEWU) betrayed the struggle and on January 28 signed a sellout collective agreement with the companies. Under the agreement, our basic daily wage has increased, on paper only, by 200 rupeesfrom 500 to 700 rupees ($US3.92)and the price-share supplement allowance was lifted from 30 to 50 rupees. The companies, however, scrapped previously existing daily attendance and productivity allowances of 60 and 140 rupees respectively. This means that overall workers will only receive a daily wage of 750 rupees, a mere 20-rupee increase compared to the previous level. In addition, under Clause 3 of the new collective agreement, the unions have undertaken to support a productivity-linked wage regime based on revenue share out-grower models. In estates where this revenue share out-grower model has been implemented, workers cannot earn enough for the barest minimum to live. The system requires the whole family to toil on the land allocated and transforms us into sharecroppers. We will lose our pension funds and other limited social benefits. The unions have also agreed, without our consent, to cooperate and commit themselves in improving the efficiency and productivity of estates and to work for the settlement of operational issues at estate level in harmony. This means unions will collaborate with the companies to intensify exploitation of workers. The Joint Plantation Trade Union Centre, National Union of Workers (NUW), Democratic Peoples Front (DPF) and Up-country Peoples Front (UPF), as well as the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-controlled All Ceylon Estate Workers Union have aided and abetted in this agreement. All these unions were engaged in secret discussions, completely ignoring our democratic rights. The workers should reject their bogus protests against the new agreement and register their strong opposition to their treachery through organising strikes and protest actions independently. Now, amid widespread opposition by workers to this agreement, the leaders of NUW, DPF and UPFP. Digambaram, Mono Ganeshan and V. Radhakrishnan respectively, who are also government ministersissued another bogus promise to seek some redress in talks with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The companies, however, have again stated that they will not increase pay by a single cent beyond what is in the collective agreement. Deeply concerned about the opposition of workers, the government has postponed formally gazetting the new collective agreement. However, no one should hope that the government or the companies will better the lot of workers. A new group has emerged called the 1,000 [rupee] Movement appealing to workers to pressure the government, the plantations authorities and the trade unions to grant the wage demand. Why should we waste our time on such futile exercises when the companies and the government have repeatedly rejected our demands? The only purpose is to prevent us from conducting a real fight for our rights. The attack on plantation workers is a part of an agenda of austerity being imposed by capitalist governments in every country. The capitalist class is determined to unload the burden of the worsening global economic crisis onto the backs of workers. The plantation companies and the government say that our wage and social benefits cannot be increased because the industry cannot afford to pay. We say, the workers are not responsible for the crisis of profit system. We, the workers are the producers of wealth, not the plantation owners. Estate workers are deprived of adequate basic facilities like housing, health and education. Like our fellow estate workers in other countries, such as Kenya, India and China, we are being exploited by a chain of international plantation and financial corporations. We must reject the paltry pay increase and demands for speed-up. We have the right to a decent monthly wage with fully paid leave, medical benefits and a proper pension scheme. It is time to end the slave-labour conditions to which estate workers have been subjected for more than 150 years. In order to wage a successful fight, we must draw necessary lessons from our own past and present struggles, as well as those of our international class brothers and sisters. About 70,000 workers at auto parts factories in Matamoros in Mexico, across the border from the US, have been fighting for weeks and are demanding 20 percent wage hike. General Motors workers in US and Canada are waging a struggle against the elimination of thousands of jobs. In France, workers, youth and sympathising small-business people are engaged in the yellow vest movement to demand social equality, wage increases, the elimination of the privileges of the super-rich and the ouster of the countrys president. Last month tens of millions of public sector workers in India and 700,000 teachers and public workers in Tamil Nadu took strike action to demand better wages and conditions. These struggles demonstrate the enormous strength of the international working class and the potential for a unified fight against the common enemy, the capitalist system. We established the Workers Action Committee of the Abbotsleigh Estate after our own bitter experiences with the plantation unions. They have sided not with the workers, but with the companies, the government and police. In our current wage struggle, the treachery of the unions has been very obvious. We had the guidance of Socialist Equality Party (SEP), which is the Sri Lankan section of the International Committee of the Fourth International. Its sister parties in other countries are also fighting to mobilise workers independently of all capitalist parties and the trade unions on the basis of a program of socialist policies. The SEP is campaigning among all sections of workers in Sri Lanka to build action committees, democratically elected by the workers. The planned conference will democratically discuss how to coordinate these committees through a political perspective to achieve our urgent democratic and social demands. We believe that the socialist program proposed by the SEP is essential for all workers. The large estates, banks and big companies must be brought under the democratic control of the working class so as to organise production and distribution, not for the benefit of a profit-hungry few, but to meet the pressing needs of the vast majority of working people. To implement such a perspective, the working class must fight to establish a workers and peasants government as part of the broader fight for socialism in South Asia and internationally. Details: Conference date: Sunday, March 17, 10am Venue: Hatton Town Hall When Steve McDowell, a medically retired paramedic with New South Wales Ambulance (NSWA), decided to establish an online support network to assist paramedics with mental health conditions, he was unprepared for the response. Diagnosed with work-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition afflicting growing numbers of paramedics and emergency workers, he had been met with an indifferent and dismissive management, forcing him to deal with his mental health crisis alone. What he discovered in November 2015 when he established the support page, No More Neglect (NMN), was just how many of his colleagues were experiencing the same. Steve explained to the World Socialist Web Site: In 48 hours we had 2,500 members. In three weeks, there were 3,200 members. Keep in mind that NSWA has 4,000 staffthree quarters of them were now on my page. The response highlighted what is well known by NSWA, governments both Liberal and Labor, the Health Services Union (HSU) and Australian Paramedics Association (APA): ambulance management presides over a toxic environment of bullying, harassment and intimidation of its staff. Numerous government inquiries and medical reports have revealed that the inevitable trauma associated with an unrelenting work load of treating the consequences of social crises and tragediesconducted over rotating 12-hour day, afternoon and night shifts, which regularly blow outhas resulted in a growing crisis of mental health among paramedics. The reports have also exposed that it is the lack of management acknowledgement and support mechanisms that causes the most distress to staff. Paramedics suicide at a rate four times the general public, yet there are no formal debriefing or qualified support structures in place to ensure the well-being of the frontline and call centre staff. Steve explained that in the absence of any support network in NSWA, he was inundated with phone calls and online messages from paramedics relaying their experiences and requesting his support. These included, far too regularly, that he helped to prevent suicides. His initiative was independent of management and not supported by either union. He recounted the comments of a first-year female paramedic, who sought support from a senior manager after attending a particularly traumatic event. She reported to the Sydney Morning Herald: His response to me was, When you get home, drink a bottle of bourbon, watch some porn and youll be right. She said: I felt from there on in, Ive got to look after myself. Steve explained: I was touching a nerve with NSW Ambulance because they couldnt control NMN. Social media connected people across the state for the first time instantly. We started doing media (interviews) and the Commissioner at the time would write back to the [Sydney newspapers] Telegraph or the Herald and denounce what I said. Ironically, in his apology [issued by NSWA CEO Dominic Morgan on June 25, 2018 to all NSW paramedics for management failure to support its staff], he admitted everything I was saying for three years. Steve noted: It was very clear from the outset that both unions would not tolerate No More Neglect. To this day, not a mention of us, no posts on their website. I couldnt understand that. Look what weve done in three years with no structure, no unionism, no financial support? Significantly, he reported that there was international support for NMN. We had global people on the No More Neglect page. At its peak, we had people from the US, Canada, New Zealand, South East Asia as well, all paramedics with identical problems. I made a speech that was posted live online by Paramedics Australasia in 2016 that was seen in 40 different countries. Its global. Steve also spoke about the tragic suicide of Hunter region paramedic Tony Jenkins on April 9, 2018, and the campaign waged by his family for the truth about his final hours spent in a meeting with two NSWA regional managers. The meeting, to which Jenkins was summoned off-road, without notice or with a support person present, was held to accuse him of fentanyl addiction and theft. No minutes, recordings or contemporaneous notes were taken of the discussion, despite the 28-year veteran paramedic being accused of criminal acts. To date, despite repeated demands by Sharon, Tonys widow, and his family, no evidence has been presented to substantiate these allegations. In fact, NSWA has recently had to retract assertions made in the internal Root Cause Analysis (RCA) report that Tony had brought two syringes of morphine into the meeting. This, they now admit, did not happen. Steve McDowell said: I say Tonys (suicide) is a turning point. Sharon and the girls have been so vocal. I have been vocal, but I havent lost my loved one to suicide. When Kim Jenkins (Tonys daughter) was on the ABCs QandA [a weekly live panel discussion program] and when Sharon and the girls were on 7.30 [a nightly current affairs program], I think they started to rally people around. There is a term, crazy Steve follower. It is used because I had mental health issues. As much as it is offensive, it is their only defence. They cant call Sharon crazy. She has lost her husband and she wont give up. I think it is a turning point and unfortunately, through tragedy, it was going to take something like this to really make a big dent in this organisation. WSWS asked Steve about his video posted on his Facebook page, No More Neglect - Justice for Tony, in which he calls for a Royal Commission into the culture in NSW Ambulance. In the video, he made a connection between the fight for answers regarding Tony Jenkins suicide and the persecution of Australian journalist, Julian Assange, for exposing the war crimes of US imperialism. Steve explained: The reason I put him in the video was because we are exposing things that people dont want to talk about, the truth. You cant lie about the truth. I can prove the things were talking about, and Assange can prove it, obviously. I put him there because the quote underneath his picture was If I am lying why are they trying so hard to silence me. Im telling the truth. Why are you trying to silence me? Because I am telling the truth. If I wasnt, you wouldnt worry about me. Thats why I got all the bullies and trolls going after me, because they knew it was true. Id hit a nerve. The video also reported on the People Matters 2018 NSW Public Sector Employee Survey. In the NSW Ambulance section of the survey, it reported that less than a quarter of the employees questioned felt NSWA management would listen or act on the results of the survey and only 30 percent agreed that the organisation is committed to developing its employees. In the light of such a damning survey result, Steve was asked if, under these conditions, paramedics have turned to the unions. He answered: No, they dont trust the unions. I joined the HSU [Health Services Union] when I started my job. Twelve months later, I quit and saved myself $500 a year, because they did nothing for me and I witnessed them doing nothing for anyone else. APA [Australian Paramedics Association] came along in 2009, and I met with them recently. Were trying to get their support and join forces. Theyre run by paramedics for paramedics. But Ill be honest. Even with them, I can see signs of what happened and has historically been the case with HSU, where it is undeniable there are some things that you cant explain. For example, I feel, they have not in any way, shape or form supported Sharon Jenkins and her family. Not a word. I play that in my mind, logically, why wouldnt they support her? What have they got to hide or are they backing Ambulance? The well known rule is that the PSCU (Professional Standards and Conduct Unit) is there for the management, and the unions are there for the staff. But when the unions arent there for the staff, who is there for them? With the burnout rate for paramedics now estimated at just five years, Steve explained that the lack of support for NSWA staff will mean that longer-serving paramedics will increasingly be forced out of the service. NSWA are waiting for them to move on, to bring in the university grads and cycle them through five years at a time and eventually these [older] guys will be sunsetted and they will shut up. I dont think you will see 30-year veterans any more. Firstly, because of the awareness of mental health. The number of jobs paramedics have to attend is now ridiculous, causing burnout. The service doesnt want you to be there anyway because you start to realise their system and you start talking about it. The cost of long service and finances will stop them wanting those people. Thirty-year veterans like Tony wont exist in a decade, I dont think. And the sad part about it for the public is that all that knowledge and experience is lost and NSWA dont seem to care. Steve concluded: The thing is, if NSWA treated their staff the way their staff treat the public, there would be no issue. No More Neglect: Justice for Tony The authors also recommend: NSW Ambulance makes stunning reversal of allegation against Australian paramedic Tony Jenkins [27 December 2018] Family speaks to World Socialist Web Site: Unanswered questions surround the suicide of Australian paramedic Tony Jenkins [6 September 2018] Paramedics suicide points to crisis in Australian ambulance services [9 July 2018] In its second provocative Freedom of Navigation operation in the South China Sea this year, the US Navy sent two guided missile destroyers yesterdaythe USS Spruance and USS Preblewithin the 12 nautical mile territorial limit claimed by China around Mischief Reef in the Spratly island group. The naval operation coincided with the beginning of trade talks between the US and China this week ahead of a March 1 deadline by US President Trump for a deal to avert even more aggressive US trade war measures against China. The intervention of the two destroyers is designed to send a menacing message to Beijing that the US intends to step up its confrontation on all fronts unless China bows to its demands. Naval spokesman Commander Clay Doss told CNN that the navy carried out the operation to challenge excessive [Chinese] maritime claims and preserve access to the waterways as governed by international law. China has never threatened access by international shipping to the South China Sea. Admiral John Richardson, chief of naval operations, told reporters earlier this month that China was placing military hardware on the islets under its control in the South China Sea. Theres been sort of a steady increase, he said. The weapons systems have been getting increasingly sophisticated so its something were watching very closely. In reality, Chinas expansion of facilities in the South China Sea is in response to Washingtons increasingly aggressive challenges to Chinas territorial claims and to the US military build-up in Asia, firstly under President Obama and now Trump. The South China Sea is adjacent to major Chinese military bases, including its nuclear submarine pens on Hainan Island. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying yesterday condemned the latest US naval intrusion. She expressed Chinas strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition and called on the US to immediately stop its provocative actions. Hua said: The relevant actions of the US warships violated Chinese sovereignty, and undermined peace, security and order in the relevant sea areas. She declared that China had indisputable sovereignty over islands in the South China Sea, including the Second Thomas Shoal, Mischief Reef, and the adjacent waters. The repeated US military provocations in waters near the Chinese mainland are fuelling calls for tougher counter-measures. If the US warships break into Chinese waters again, I suggest that two warships should be sent: one to stop it, and another one to ram it, Senior Colonel Dai Xu told a forum in December organised by the hawkish Global Times newspaper. In our territorial waters, we wont allow US warships to create disturbance. Last September, the USS Decatur sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Gaven and Johnson reefs controlled by China in the Spratly Islands. In a bid to ward off the US warship, a Chinese destroyer came within 45 metres of the USS Decatur in a manoeuvre denounced by the US navy as unsafe and unprofessional. The incident was another indication as to how tense the situation in the South China Sea has become. Last months naval provocation by the US also took place at the start of trade talks with China. On January 7, the destroyer USS McCampbell intruded within the 12 nautical mile limit around the Paracel Islands in South China Sea. On the same day, US and Chinese negotiators began three days of talks in Beijing to defuse the mounting trade war. US-China tensions in the South China Sea have escalated dramatically since the Obama administration directly intervened in territorial disputes between China and neighbouring South East Asian countries that had previously been regarded as low-key regional matters. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton provocatively told a regional forum of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2010 that the US was back in Asia to stay, had a national interest in ensuring freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and offered to become involved in the territorial disputes. The Obama administration launched the first freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea and gave strong backing to the decision by the Philippines to challenged Chinas maritime claims at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in the Hague. The US itself was in no position to challenge Chinese claims firstly because it was not a party to the territorial disputes, and secondly, because it has not ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The court ruling in 2016 ruled against the existence of territorial waters in the South China Sea, but did not adjudicate on the sovereignty of the disputed islands. Obamas aggressive challenge to China in the South China Sea was part of a far broader confrontationdiplomatically, economically and militarilyknown as the pivot to Asia. The US exploited issues such as the South China Sea to drive a wedge between China and its neighbours, strengthened diplomatic and military ties throughout the region, sought to isolate China economically and expanded US military forces throughout the Indo-Pacific. Trump has taken up where Obama left off, threatening a full-blown trade war and making further preparations for military conflict. The political establishment in Washington has fallen into line with these threats and provocations in a bid to ensure that China, now the worlds second largest economy, never challenges US global domination. The US is also pushing for its allies to become actively involved in naval provocations in the South China Sea. Last August the British navy sent the HMS Albion close to the Paracel group in its first freedom of navigation operation. In January, the frigate HMS Argyll carried out the first joint US-British exercise in the South China Sea with the USS McCampbell to address common security priorities. Yesterday, British Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson announced that the aircraft-carrier Queen Elizabeth, with two squadrons of F-35 stealth fighters, will be sent into disputed waters in the Pacific. In his speech, Williamson declared that Western allies must be prepared to use hard power to support our interests, and failing to intervene against aggressive foreign powers risks our nation being seen as little more than a paper tiger. Such reckless actions by the US and its allies risk an incident, whether accidental or deliberate, that triggers a devastating war between nuclear armed powers. Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar issued a public apology Monday afternoon, backing away from her criticism of the inordinate influence of the Israel lobby over the US Congress. This political retreatunder immense pressure from the Democratic Party leadershipdoes not erase the truth of what she said. On the contrary, it verifies it. The congresswoman from Minneapolis was elected last November as one of the first two Muslim-American women in the House of Representatives, along with Rashida Tlaib of Detroit. Representative Tlaib is also a target of a right-wing smear campaign claiming that the Palestinian-American is anti-Semitic because of her public criticism of Israeli crimes against the Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza. Omar, a Somali-American immigrant whose family fled war-torn Somalia when she was a child, has been the target of right-wing and Zionist groups because of her support for the Boycott, Divestiture and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which advocates cutting off academic and business ties with the state of Israel to force a change in Israeli policy towards the Palestinians. In a Twitter exchange over the weekend with Glenn Greenwald of the Intercept, in which Greenwald voiced his support for Omar against criticism from the top Republican in the House, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Omar tweeted that there were financial reasons for the support of Washington politicians for Israeli repression of the Palestinians. Its all about the Benjamins baby, she wrote, using a slang term for $100 bills, popularized in rap music. When a pro-Israel critic asked what she meant by this, Omar responded with a single word: AIPAC. The America Israel Public Affairs Committee is the most powerful Zionist lobby in Washington, spending millions to promote US support for Israeli settlement activities on the West Bank and, more generally, whatever actions the Israeli government takes, both domestically and in foreign policy. The annual AIPAC conference is usually a huge affair, with thousands in attendance. It is frequently addressed by presidents, presidential candidates and congressional leaders of both parties, as well as top representatives of the US national security establishment. While AIPAC does not give money directly to candidates, its stamp of approval serves to direct an immense flood of cash from the super-rich to its favored candidates. This exchange sent the equivalent of an electric shock through the Washington political establishment, and particularly its Democratic Party wing. The congresswoman was immediately and publicly denounced for the worst possible crime: telling the truth! On Monday morning, the House Democratic Party leadership issued a joint statement, declaring, Anti-Semitism must be called out, confronted and condemned whenever it is encountered, without exception. It went on to condemn Representative Omar by name and declare that her use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israels supporters is deeply offensive. The most significant and revealing sentence in the statement went as follows: We are and will always be strong supporters of Israel in Congress because we understand that our support is based on shared values and strategic interests. What are the values shared by the Democrats with the state of Israel? Apartheid-style racism and colonial oppression of the Palestinian people? The gunning down of defenseless people engaged in passive resistance, the fate of hundreds at the border wall between Gaza and Israel last year? The elevation of one religion above all others, as laid out in the declaration, last year, that Israel is a state of the Jewish people? Even more important are the shared strategic interests, the defense of the interests of American capitalism throughout the Middle East, its domination of the most important oil resources on the planet and the strategic locations required for control of that oil, such as the Persian Gulf, the straits of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, and the Suez Canal. In all these areas Israel acts as a junior partner, or direct instrument, of US imperialism, the most reactionary force on the planet. Ilhan Omar, as a Democratic politician, defends those same strategic interests of American imperialism. But as the offspring of Somali immigrantswhose country is still being devastated by American bombs and dronesand as a Muslim, she has felt compelled to state some inconvenient truths about Americas most important ally in the Middle East. Omar issued the required apology, essentially conceding the slanders by her critics, who claimed that her reference to the money and power of the Zionist lobby was an anti-Semitic trope. But she tried to soften her capitulation by adding, I reaffirm the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the fossil fuel industry. Its gone on too long and we must be willing to address it. This is unlikely to be the last word on the subject. Republican congressional leaders are pressing for formal censure of Omar and Tlaib, as part of an effort to effectively criminalize the entire BDS protest movement. Several Democratic representatives are circulating a letter that would go much further than the statement issued by Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and four other leading Democrats. This would directly tie the statements of Omar and Tlaib, and any other criticism of Israeli policy, to anti-Semitic documents such as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the 2017 fascist demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the massacre of 11 elderly Jews at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh last fall. The purpose of such foul amalgams is to smear anyone who defends the rights of the Palestinian people against Israeli oppression as hostile to Jews as a people. The letter explicitly states that to delegitimize Israel and deny its right to exist as a Jewish state is to support positions that are, at their core, anti-Semitic. The same type of smear campaign has been raging for several years in Great Britain, targeting the leader of the British Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, and other Labourites who have expressed sympathy for the Palestinians and reservations about Israeli atrocities on the West Bank and in Gaza. The purpose is to create the fictional bogey-man of left-wing anti-Semitism so as to disguise the very realand historically ominousresurgence of ultra-right and fascist forces, many of them anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi in character, which operate as allies of both the Trump administration and the ultra-right Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu. Among the far-right leaders Netanyahu has embraced in recent months are Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Matteo Salvini of Italy, Hungarys Viktor Orban, Austrias Sebastian Kurz and the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte. The impact of such campaigns against critics of Israel is magnified by the refusal of those under attackCorbyn and his backers in the Labour Party, those left Democrats in the US who are mildly critical of Israeli settlements and brutalityto fight back against it. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who appeared at a joint press conference with Omar and Tlaib only a few days ago, has been resolutely silent on the campaign against Omar. This spinelessness is in sharp contrast to the popular reaction to Omars comments, which is far from uniformly stampeded by the pro-Zionist campaign in the corporate media. A look at the reader responses to the latest New York Times article on Omar demonstrates this. The article itself, posted Monday afternoon, is viciously hostile, although it contains one truththe observation that what distinguished the events of Sunday and Monday from earlier controversies around Ms. Omar was the willingness of Democrats to join in. There are certainly some readers who pile on the hate-Omar bandwagon. But there are many other more thoughtful and serious comments. Here are a few: Jonah, from Chicago: As a Jewish manI support Ilhan Omar. Thank you for your courage, Congresswoman. I dont like it when I hear people repeat Jewish stereotypes. Among the more common comments I hear usually have to do with money or Jewish peoples supposed control of the financial system. These comments are just dumb; I grew up in the Chicago area and knew affluent Jewish families, but many more in the working and middle class. However, I dont think these dumb stereotypes have anything in common with Congresswoman Omars statement. Omar is right that Israel, under the far-right government of Netanyahu, should not have the unchecked influence that it does on US Congress. Israel does not deserve a blank check, or freedom from scrutiny, especially while being controlled so totally by the right-wing forces currently in power I thank Ilhan Omar for her bravery, and in tandem want to express my disappointment and distrust in the House Democratic leadership. Matt, Seattle: As someone who is both a Democrat and Jewish, I am very disappointed in the actions of Pelosi and the Democratic leadership. Its a well-known fact that AIPAC has an iron grip on Congress, which is why the US Government supports the government of Israel no matter what it does. All Congresswoman Omar did was point out that very uncomfortable truth. Lets not forget, many American Jews do NOT support the current government of Israel or its policies, and that AIPAC does not represent the views of many American Jews. G Leapman, Colorado: Rep. Omar is being far too kind to AIPAC and its influence. Im guessing its the benjamins and rhetorical support from evangelicals who are all in on our fornicator president that are the primary force behind our disastrous policies that allows Israels current government to oppress Palestinians in the name of God. And, of course, evangelicals support Israel in order to fulfill a biblical prophecy that will lead to the rapture that will take all Christians to heaven and destroy all Jews, Muslims and other non-Christians. So lets not give my people in the Jewish lobby all the credit. It should be shared with their Christian friends who want to see them all destroyed. Both sides call it Gods Plan. Ironically funny. Such comments demonstrate a healthier response to this controversy, as part of the ongoing political radicalization and shift to the left among working people in the United States. A second wave of wildcat strikes continues to expand in Matamoros, Mexico, and is beginning to spread across the country. Sparked by the tens of thousands of workers at 45 maquiladora plants who rebelled last month against the pro-corporate trade unions, tens of thousands more are launching their own struggles after workers in Matamoros won a 20 percent wage increase and a $1,700 bonus. Inspired by the initial wave, 20 additional maquiladora plants in Matamoros that were not initially on strike began their own wildcat strike last Tuesday and were joined by workers at the Coca-Cola bottling plant, three supermarkets, trash collectors and workers from other sectors. The wildcat wave is spreading throughout the country. Last Thursday, 680 workers at a General-Mills plant in the city of Irapuato of the central Mexican state of Guanajuato launched a four-day wildcat strike against two unjustified firings and called for the establishment of a new contract with paid vacations and improved conditions. Negotiations are ongoing. Hundreds of teachers in the southern state of Michoacan continue to strike and block crucial railways to demand a total of $311 million in owed bonuses. As unsuccessful negotiations extend with the government, the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) union has publicly dissociated itself from workers that continue the blockades, which threaten critical auto exports to Asia. Meanwhile, workers at the five national campuses of the Autonomous University of Mexico (UAM) are entering their tenth day of a strike to demand a 20 percent wage increase, while opposition is reportedly growing against the union leadership. As the strike wave grows in Mexico, the ruling class is warning of a contagion and carrying out a brutal counter-attack in Matamoros. The local maquiladora association, Index, announced last week that companies have fired more than 1,500 workers who participated in the strikes and that they plan to layoff 25,000 more within three years. Among Matamoros workers, the most common subject on workers social media groupsaside from getting rid of the unionsis fighting to defend those fired and to protect against the threats of mass layoffs. At Trico Componentes, which already agreed to the demand of a raise and bonus, workers are discussing new strikes against the non-payment of the bonus. Matamoros workers support SEP demonstration against auto layoffs At the same time, the government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) and the ruling Movement for National Regeneration party (Morena) have dedicated themselves to supporting the trade union apparatus in order to prevent the strikes and contain the growing wave of struggles. The actions taken by the AMLO administration leave no room for doubt about its pro-corporate role. On January 25, the day the initial wildcat strikes were set to become legal, the federal sub-secretary of labor and the federal representative in Tamaulipas, openly speaking in the name of the president, requested a 10-day deferral of the strike while threatening workers with unintended consequences. On January 27, Morena Senate leader Ricardo Monreal made calls to the local union and its backers to end the strike. This was complemented by the deployment of the state and federal police and navy and army soldiers to harass striking workers. Moreover, the Associated Press reported on February 1 that the AMLO administration actively discouraged the Matamoros union from seeking the pay increase. The trade union apparatus has in turn responded to the growing upsurge of the class struggle by mobilizing across the country seeking to prevent strikes and to rapidly negotiate sellout deals. For instance, inspired by the Matamoros strikes, about 6,000 auto-parts workers in the city of Ciudad Victoria, near Matamoros, threatened to strike for several weeks demanding a 30 percent raise. Last weekend, however, the trade union canceled the strike and imposed a mere 16 percent increase. Last night, Proceso reported that the trade union confederation CROC in the nearby city of Monterrey was using pamphlets to lure non-unionized workers at Walmart demanding raises like those in Matamoros to become affiliated with the union instead of launching wildcat strikes. Reforma also reported yesterday that maquiladora employers in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, are expressing growing concerns that the strike wave will spread there. As a result, the same forces dispatched to Matamoros to quell the rebellion are being sent to Juarez. Omnia reported last weekend that publications have appeared on social media aimed at workers in Ciudad Juarez calling for those interested in joining the strike wave to communicate with labor lawyer and Morena activist Susana Prieto and the pseudo-left outfit Political Organization of the People and the Workers (OPT). Prieto and the OPT have worked together during the last week in Matamoros, visiting each plant and promoting the creation of a new, independent trade union. The OPT activist accompanying Prieto, Luis Carlos Haro, has presented himself as a representative of an independent and democratic trade union from San Quintin, Baja California, that forms part of the National Union of Workers (UNT). A warning must be made to workers. These forces seek to provide a new facade to the same trade union bureaucracy to subordinate workers independent initiatives to the dictates of the corrupt union structures, the government, and, ultimately, the ruling class and imperialism. The UNT leader, Francisco Hernandez Juarez, told El Economista in an article published November 8 that the position of the 200 unions he leads is that there are no conditions for a new trade-union organization, but there are conditions for a common trade-union agenda with the established trade-union confederations CT, CROC, among others, which would entail respecting the purpose of each union. A former national deputy of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), Hernandez recently claimed the presidency of AMLO is one of the best things that has happened to the country in recent years, and backed the candidacy of fellow trade-union leader Napoleon Gomez Urrutia as a Morena senator. While in the senate, Gomez Urrutia continues to lead the Miners Union, affiliated formally with the main Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), the United Steelworkers (USW) in the US, IndustriALL, Unite Here and others. The strike wave in Mexico is part of a resurgence of militancy among workers internationally, after decades of suppression of the class struggle by the trade unions. Everywhere, the ruling class is seeking to buttress the anti-worker and nationalist trade union organizations to prevent workers from joining their struggles as part of an international movement against capitalism and for social equality. Yesterday, 5,600 Denver teachers started their first strike in 25 years, continuing a wave of strikes by tens of thousands of teachers across several US states against decades of austerity and privatization. Similar to the struggle in Matamoros, Mexico, this strike was triggered by wildcat strikes in West Virginia, Arizona and Oklahoma organized through social media and in rebellion against the trade unions. The only way forward for workers across Mexico, North America and internationally is to fight to build their own rank-and-file organizations and to link their struggles across sectors and borders to build a political movement independently and against all trade unions and other organizations and parties of the ruling class, for socialism. Jitender Dhankar, a member of the provisional committee of the Maruti Suzuki Workers Union (MSWU) in India, sent a message of solidarity to the workers and young people who participated in the February 9 demonstration against the factory closures and mass layoffs by General Motors. Workers at Maruti Suzukis car assembly plant in Manesar, Haryana, outside of the national capital of Delhi, established the MSWU in 2011-12 in a militant struggle, punctuated by walkouts and sit-down strikes, against the Japanese-owned transnational and a government-recognized, pro-company union. The corporation and local authorities responded by launching a violent provocation in July 2012, which led to the arrest of hundreds and the sacking of thousands of workers at the plant. In March 2017, 13 workers, including all 12 members of the MSWU executive committee, were convicted on trumped-up murder charges and sentenced to life imprisonment. The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) launched a worldwide campaign to free the Maruti Suzuki workers whose only crime was to resist poverty wages and sweatshop conditions. Below we post the statement to the February 9 demonstration in Detroit. *** On behalf of the Maruti Suzuki Workers Union, I extend to all General Motors workers our revolutionary greetings. We support your agitation against plant closings and mass layoffs. Friends, nowadays the capitalists drive for ever greater profits is breaking the back of the working class. No matter which corner of the world it might be, everywhere the oppression and repression against workers is only increasing. The capitalists do not fear any laws or constraints and arbitrarily hire and fire workers whenever they please. This is the situation across the entire world. However, workers have started to take the initiative by uniting to oppose the continuous attacks on them. The workers in India are also facing the same situation and since the Modi government came to power, the exploitation of the working class and the burdens on them have dramatically increased. The corporations are using temporary workers to do away with permanent employment while older permanent workers are let go. This is also happening to GM India workers in Gurgaon, India. It is necessary that we build our unity and base our struggle not on one company or on one nation, but by mobilizing the workers of the world. With these words, we express the Maruti Suzuki workers sincere solidarity with all the workers of General Motors and our support for your demonstration and struggle. Jitender Dhankar, on behalf of the provisional committee of the Maruti Suzuki Workers Union (MSWU) Workers and young people who participated in the February 9 demonstration against GM plant closings and mass layoffs spoke to the World Socialist Web Site about why they joined the march and their reaction to the political issues discussed at the meeting afterwards. The protest, which was called by the Steering Committee of the Coalition of Rank-and-File Committees and the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter, advanced an international strategy to mobilize autoworkers and the broadest layers of the working class against the corporate onslaught on jobs and living standards. Conroy, worked at GMs Detroit-Hamtramck plant for a year before losing his job when GM eliminated the second shift, wiping out 1,300 jobs. He now works at Wayne State University. I was a hi-lo driver for different divisions inside the plant and was there from 2016 to 2017. Whats going on affects everybody, he said. I made a bunch of friends there. A close friend of mine, her sister was a white-collar GM worker who got fired. They tapped everybody on the shoulder and just told them, Come with me. Theyre ushering in this new corporate way of doing things. I see a pattern. It is the start of a slippery slope. So, I came down to the rally to see what I could do to help. Conroy continued, Working at that plant, I saw up close what the unions were doing. Theyre in bed with the corporations. I really appreciate the talk about rank-and-file committees. Even people that dont even listen to the news can see the truth about the unions. Its everywhere on social media. GM had two different contracts with the union. The one I was under was a contract where we didnt have hardly any benefits compared to what you would expect from GM. The pay was very minimal. It was like there were two different classes in the same plant. So being in that lesser class, we had complaints, but nothing changed. The guys that are still there who couldnt find other work, they had to deal with it. There were school districts in West Virginia and other states where the union advised them not to strike but the teachers continued to do it anyway. They joined with the bus drivers and the cafeteria servers. That was an inspirational story, when they went against the union. Im in the union, but I dont want to be. I give them dues, but Im not impressed with them anymore than I was with the UAW at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant. Sending a message to the courageous workers who walked out of the maquiladora sweatshops and other work locations in Matamoros, Mexico, Conroy said, We understand you. I personally hope we can come together to change the conditions that exist right now. Just keep pushing. Were looking for a change too. Were all part of the working class, whether we work for auto companies, or a corporation or for the state. Kathy, a contract worker for GM and a member of the Steering Committee of the Coalition of Rank-and-File Committees, said, We all came to this demonstration and meeting because we are uniting in opposition to the layoffs by GM. We want to unite workers and broaden the reach of the WSWS and the Autoworker Newsletter so we can build up a bigger and more powerful movement. We support the Matamoros workers and are very proud of them. I hope that a lot of us here in the States will have as much courage as they do. I know we will. The autoworkers are just now hearing that theres people out here that care about them and want to see them fight for their jobs and their economic security. I see workers walked out of the GM office buildings every day. Weve had hundreds that have been let go over the last couple months, without a word. Were union up there. Im sick of the union and just wish theyd fall off the face of the earth. When youre looking at the devastation that is going to be wreaked on our economy from these layoffs, its not going to be pretty. We have to stand up and learn how to be strong on our own. I grew up in Pontiac, Michigan. As a young person, I saw the devastation of that community by GM and the impact it had on wrecking businesses and the kids I went to school with. Families were destroyed. GM shut down all their production in Pontiac. There was nothing worth living there for anymore. All the business is gone. Theyre squeezing the working class. They want every penny and every drop to suffocate working class people. I dont understand how people can continue on working, working, working, struggling and not have anything to show for it. There are young people today who cant have a family because they cant afford to raise one. If they went to school, they have student loans to pay for. So, they dont have anything left. I see it all over the place. You listen to these idiots up in Congress, Republicans and Democrats. They dont care. Theyre not listening to the people out here. As far as Im concerned, theyre way out of touch. The workers need to take control. Weve got to. Were not used to anything other than capitalism, but if we have to, we have to. And it looks like were going to have to. We need to unite internationally and come together as the working class. Thats what its going to take. George, a former UPS worker, said, The march was excellent, well-organized and loud. As soon as I came from the People Mover [public train], I could hear everything. But the speakers were the best part. It was a great step forward. I never would have heard of the struggle of the Mexican autoworkers in Matamoros if it wasnt for the World Socialist Web Site. Its a rank-and-file movement. The unions are corrupt. Look what they did to the Los Angeles teachers. The unions are just going to betray. I worked for UPS and the union wouldnt protect me from being victimized. I never heard from them and lost my job. Noah is a young worker at a French-owned, multinational, automotive electronics manufacturer in the northern suburbs of Detroit. The parts at his plant, he said, are designed in Ireland or Germany, built in Mexico, tested and installed in vehicles in the United States, all by a company that is based in France. He agreed that there is no such thing as an American-made car, and that the effort to unite all workers against the attacks on jobs is of vital importance. Nick, a Fiat Chrysler worker in Detroit and a member of the Steering Committee of the Coalition of Rank-and-File Committees, said, The demonstration successfully communicated that American, Canadian and Mexican workers are all part of the same international class struggle. I am grateful for the hard work of the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter and the Socialist Equality Party in building for this event. GMs bloodbath has already begun with Ford soon to follow. This is a shareholder-investor money grab by the wealthiest 1 percent. They want to further engorge themselves on the carcasses of the bottom 90 percent of societythe working class. Workers can no longer rely on the UAW or other trade union organizations that serve as a controlled opposition and collaborators with the corporations. The only solution to the crisis is for the working class to form rank-and-file committees independent of the unions to communicate, coordinate and plan a fight back. Committees in every workplace and neighborhood should coalesce into a congress of workers to take over the means of production and run society for human need. We have to unite with our international working-class brothers and sisters so we can work together for the benefit of everyone on the planet. Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, right, shakes hands with his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong Ho at the government guesthouse in Hanoi, Vietnam in this November 2018 file photo. AP-Yonhap Vietnam's top diplomat was on his way to North Korea Tuesday amid reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to be set for a state visit to the Southeast Asian country late this month. Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, who doubles as Vietnam's deputy prime minister, boarded an Air Koryo flight bound for Pyongyang at an international airport in Beijing, after arriving in the Chinese capital on an Air China flight earlier in the day. He was accompanied by five government officials, including the ministry's protocol chief, according to an informed source. Also in his entourage were Vietnamese journalists. Kim Chang-son, a close aide to the North Korean ruler and director of the State Affairs Commission, was expected to visit Hanoi for consultations with Vietnamese authorities over protocol and other issues related to the leader's possible trip. But Pyongyang has been selected as the venue for the discussions apparently due to easier security control. "After the Vietnamese foreign minister finishes prior coordination with North Korean officials during his visit to the North, the North and the U.S. may have discussions over protocol issues in Hanoi," the source said. Earlier this week, the ministry's spokeswoman, Le Thi Thu Hang, wrote Monday on Twitter that he will travel to the North through Thursday at the invitation of his counterpart, Ri Yong-ho. The North's leader is scheduled to meet again with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi on Feb. 27-28. Many observers bet that Kim will pay a state visit to Vietnam just before or after his meeting with Trump, which expected to focus on fleshing out Pyongyang's additional denuclearization steps and Washington's corresponding measures. If Kim does so, he will be the first North Korean leader to visit the country in 54 years. Kim Il-sung, the country's late founder and grandfather of the current leader, visited Hanoi in October 1964. (Yonhap) Teachers in the Denver, Colorado, public school system entered their second day of striking on Tuesday morning, after a day of picketing in frigid temperatures and a rally at the Colorado Capitol building on Monday afternoon that drew hundreds of teachers and supporters. Thousands of high school students also walked out of classes in solidarity with their teachers Monday. Officials for the Denver Public Schools (DPS) reported that 2,631 of 4,725 teachers, or 56 percent, did not report to work at the districts 207 schools, which provide education for some 92,000 students. The Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA), which covers about 60 percent of DPS teachers, said that 3,700 teachers are striking. The district is attempting to carry on instruction with hundreds of unqualified administrative staff and a much smaller number of substitute teachers. Its pre-kindergarten program has been forced to close down, affecting 5,000 small children and their families. The DCTA only authorized the strike after 15 months of negotiations in which administrators stonewalled demands for modest pay and funding increasesand after a vote in which 93 percent of teachers balloted voted in favor of striking. Negotiations are set to resume Tuesday morning. Colorado ranks dead last, 50th out of the 50 states, in teacher pay, though the cost of living in Denver, a metropolitan area of nearly 3 million, is among the highest in the country. Teachers are also subject to a draconian incentive systemco-designed by their own unionthat ties pay to student performance, under conditions in which per-pupil funding in the state is 39th in the US. Teachers have already won broad support from students, parents and workers in Denver. When we found out teachers were going to strike Monday, we knew we wanted to show that we stand in solidarity, Denjaune Ellerbee told USA Today. Without our teachers, this world wouldnt work. Ellerbee and hundreds of students walked out of their classes at South High School and joined teachers on the picket lines Monday. South High School was not alone. The district admitted in an e-mail letter to parents that hundreds of students at East High School launched their own walkout at 8:30 a.m. in solidarity with teachers. The school retaliated by refusing the students readmittance. There is evidence that DPS is losing control of its high schools and middle schools. A video shared widely on social media showed students occupying hallways later in the day at East High School, defying orders that they attend classes taught by substitutes. Clips show students yelling and dancing. Administrators in at least one district school, Discovery Middle School, preempted such information sharing by confiscating students cell phones, and forbidding backpacks and binders. Several hundred more students left East High School later in the day. Outraged students revealed that they were gathered in the auditorium in the morning and given bogus assignments to keep them busy. The person in our classroom admitted she wasnt a certified sub, Caitlin Kenney, a senior, told local media. Meanwhile, some parents have decided to hold their children out of school during the strike. In a clear attempt at intimidation, the DPS has warned that such absences will be marked as unexcused and therefore jeopardize student grades. The DCTA, like the national unions that falsely claim to represent teachersthe American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Associationhas focused its efforts on appealing to the Democratic Party. During the rally at the state capitol building on Monday, Democratic politicians made photo op appearances, and NEA head Lily Eskelsen Garcia (salary $414,824) addressed the crowd with the usual appeals about voting for Democrats in the next elections. The Democrats, however, are just as much the enemies of teachers and public education as the Republicans. As in many other states and cities, the miserable pay and conditions in Denver schools are largely a result of the Democratic Party, which has dominated both Denver and Colorado politics for years. In fact, the DCTA finally authorized a strike only after teacher opposition, inspired by similar struggles in Los Angeles, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona and elsewhere, was no longer possible to contain. Rob Gould, lead negotiator for the DCTA, told reporters that the strike was the last tool in our tool chest. In fact, the union has done everything to prevent strikes and to isolate and defeat them if they erupt. The last time the DCTA authorized a strike was in the second year of the Clinton administrationa quarter century during which Denver teachers have been impoverished and the public schools starved. Teachers throughout the US and internationally, however, have been compelled to take up a fight for improved wages and funding, which has pitted them both against the unions and the bipartisan assault on public education. Teachers in Oakland have voted by 95 percent to strike as early as next week. West Virginia teachers, after being betrayed by the unions last year, have voted overwhelmingly to strike against the first ever introduction of charter schools in the state and other privatization schemes. Chicago charter school teachers remain on strike. Teachers are striking or joining broader movements against austerity and social inequality in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Kenya, South Africa, Tunisia, New Zealand and other countries. If the Denver teachers are not to be isolated and sold out, then they must take the conduct of the struggle out of the hands of the unions by forming rank-and-file strike committees to fan out to mobilize teachers, parents, students and broader sections of workers throughout Colorado and beyond. A call should be made to all workers in Denver to set up mass pickets to stop the districts strikebreaking efforts. The broadening of the strike must be combined with the fight for the development of a political movement of the working class. The right to living wages and fully funded public education is only possible if workers carry out a frontal assault on the entrenched wealth and power of the corporate and financial plutocracy and the two capitalist parties that do its bidding. This article is the first in a three-part series. Part two will be published tomorrow. Several seriously injured Delta Airlines flight attendants recently spoke to the World Socialist Web Site about the hellish ordeal confronting workers who seek assistance through the companys workers compensation system. The flight attendants reached out after the WSWS published a story about Michelle Quinones. Michelle is an injured Amazon worker in Texas who for a year was denied surgery to correct wrist injuries sustained on the job, and who was subjected to surveillance and harassment by private investigators hired by Sedgwick, Amazons third-party workers compensation administrator. Sedgwick is also the administrator for Delta. Even by the standards of the misnamed workers compensation system in the US, where third-party firms are contracted by employers to provide as little payout as possible to injured workers, Sedgwick has gained a reputation for its ruthlessness. One flight attendant, whose case is not handled by Sedgwick because her injury occurred before Sedgwick was contracted by Delta, said, The doctors whom Ive spoken with tell me that Sedgwick is even worse than [the firm handling my case]. They dont even have licensed doctors reviewing cases sometimes. That really struck me, with the standard of care in this country being as low as it is and me being permanently disabled, and to be told it could be even worse under Sedgwick. As is common in workers compensation, Delta, through its claims administrators, subjects injured flight attendants to surveillance and harassment. One flight attendant described run-ins with strangers asking detailed questions about herself, parked cars of investigators at the end of her block for days at a time, and neighbors receiving requests to set up surveillance cameras pointed at her apartment. Auto mechanics even found a GPS tracker attached to the underside of her car during a routine inspection. Deltas mistreatment of injured flight attendants is the product of many decades of cost-cutting, including massive layoffs and cuts to wages, pensions and health care in recent years. The airline industrys assault on its workforce became particularly severe during the industrys slump after the September 11 attacks and subsequent bankruptcies by Delta and other major carriers. The US airline industry cut over 167,000 full-time equivalents or FTEs between 2001 and 2010, according to the federal Bureau of Transportation. While total employment has seen modest increases since 2013, job levels remain 106,000 below 2001 levels. Before 9/11 there were already financial problems and the company was in massive cost-cutting mode, a flight attendant, who asked not to be identified, said. They started charging us for insurance. We all took pay cuts. Then 9/11 hit. You had reorganizations on top of reorganizations, and they started subcontracting things out instead of handling it in-house. Employees took a 40, 50 percent pay cut. I was out injured, so I was getting only 70 percent on top of that 50 percent wage cut. With all the chaos and confusion, I had my health insurance canceled three times, and found out only when I tried to pay with my insurance to the pharmacy or doctor. As the major airlines exited bankruptcy, the industry went through a series of mergers and acquisitions. The aim was to improve profitability and control costs by setting prices on the basis of a reduced number of larger airlines and by eliminating unprofitable or overlapping routes. In 2010, Delta merged with Northwest Airlines. In contrast to the nonunion flight attendants at Delta, Northwest flight attendants were organized by the Association of Flight AttendantsCWA. The AFA narrowly lost an all-or-nothing vote to unionize all of Deltas flight attendants in 2010, resulting in the end of the union across the entire combined company. While the AFA alleged vote tampering by Delta, the substantial no vote was an indictment of the unions own record. It had crossed the picket line alongside the pilots union during the 2005 airline mechanics strike at Northwest, allowing the company to continue operations. The International Association of Machinists (IAM), which has launched several unsuccessful drives to unionize Delta, also scabbed on the mechanics strike, taking over some of the jobs of the strikers. However, the loss of their former health care plan worsened conditions for flight attendants who came over from Northwest. The Northwest flight attendants assumed their premiums would be waived when they were injured on the job because thats how it was with their old health care plan, but no, a longtime Delta flight attendant said. A former Northwest flight attendant explained that Delta takes money from their workers compensation settlement out of their Northwest pensions. Flight attendants who spoke to the WSWS described a regime of speedup and intimidation by management that increases the risk of injury. Attendants are not even allowed time to grab a sandwich in the terminal in between flights and are grilled by management for minor infractions. They already work in the eighth most dangerous profession in the United States, according to a Business Insider report based on Department of Labor statistics, with the most common workplace hazards being exposure to contaminants, exposure to disease and infections and exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites or stings. Increasingly cramped cabins and turbulence, together with the physical strain of moving luggage and pushing heavy drink carts, have combined to produce serious and even life-threatening injuries. Serious physical injuries, including broken bones, spinal injuries and nerve damage, are becoming more common, flight attendants told the WSWS. There have never been more shoulder injuries in the history of the company, one woman said. There are more shoulder injuries than anything today that I read about on Facebook. Another flight attendant described to the WSWS how she was injured and ultimately permanently disabled during turbulence as her flight flew over a tropical storm, after the company refused to delay or cancel the flight. God forbid you ever be late, one flight attendant said. I had heard on social media that one woman got in a car accident and the front of her car was hanging over the edge of an overpass, and the company told her to take an Uber. I never knew how much stress I was under until I stopped flying. There is always this fear of being late due to traffic. There was one morning, I was leaving my house in a blizzard and I just couldnt believe I got to work. I hadnt changed out of my winter boots and I didnt have to sign in for another 3 hours, and they were all over me for my shoes. They told me to buy a new pair of shoes. Now technically that was on my own time, and that was an honest mistake, but they said were going to put it on file that you showed up out of uniform. I said, Fine, write me up, see if I care. Once flight attendants are injured (referred to by Delta as an OJI, or On the Job Injury), they are forced to jump through a series of Byzantine hoops in order to receive treatment. Delta provides only a summary of its OJI procedures on its online employee portal, meaning injured workers are forced to navigate the process at the mercy of the company. Before Facebook and social media, we were completely on our own, one flight attendant said. Every time I called HR they told me to look at the summary. I was able to finally get a full copy, and then I could see all of the fine print for the first time. Deltas definition of disabled changes once you go on long-term disability to being unable to work any kind of job anywhere. So if you could work part-time as a greeter at Wal-Mart, they dont consider you disabled. But they dont tell the employees this. The quality of the health care flight attendants receive through workers comp, even when it is approved, is substandard, often performed by unqualified individuals. One woman said that her original surgeon had botched her back surgery, requiring several additional surgeries to fix. From my own experience, Delta blames Sedgwick, and vice versa, she said. But Sedgwick is hired to save money, get you to return to work while injured. And the denial of claims is insane. When I go to a doctor next this spring, I will have waited one year for the appointment. Multiple flight attendants said that Sedgwick attempted to blame their injuries on pre-existing genetics. I have to go to a judge to make Sedgwick send me to a doctor, the attendant said. I have to go back to court over and over. I still need the hardware to come out of my back from the spinal fusion I had, and that was supposed to come out two years ago. This causes me a lot of physical pain, and worse, it could end up herniating the discs above and below where the brace was installed. But I wont know if I suffered that kind of damage until I am finally able to go back to a doctor. She added that she moved across the country after her initial injury, but because Delta/Sedgwick wont transfer her case, she has to fly over a thousand miles on standby to receive treatment out of state. Sedgwick sent another woman to a sleep study center, rather than a neurologist, for a nerve conduction study, a procedure that involves sending electrical currents through needles inserted into various parts of the body. The technician who performed the study had been working for only a few weeks and had no college degree. That person botched the procedure. When the flight attendants primary physician found out about the incident, he erupted in anger, saying that she could have been permanently injured. Delta flight attendants have set up two private Facebook groups to help each other navigate the workers comp process. Between the two groups there are thousands of members, an indication of the number of injuries flight attendants suffer at the company. Page administrators work to keep members of management and company spies out of the groups, because they know from experience that they could easily be victimized for speaking out. Flight attendants know that Delta has people on staff whose full-time responsibility is trolling the social media pages of its employees, searching for any negative statements about the company. Because of this, many of the flight attendants who spoke to the WSWS requested anonymity, out of fear that Delta could punish them by firing them and eliminating their benefits. Delta is an outlaw company, one flight attendant said. To be continued The strike by 175 teachers at four Civitas campuses, part of Chicago International Charter School (CICS), has entered its second week with teachers and staff seeking raises, smaller class sizes, a reduction in healthcare costs and more support staff. The strike began February 5 after talks broke down over teachers demand for an eight percent raise in the first year. CICS says it would accept the proposal only by eliminating crucial support staff, like social workers and counselors. According to the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), negotiations continued throughout the week last week. The schools have been kept open by administrators with students doing online activities. In ongoing negotiations, the CTU is calling on CICS to use some portion of its $36 million set aside to support instruction to meet teacher demands, but no figure nor any number of counselors or support staff has been publicly advertised. A spokesperson for CICS told the Chicago Tribune last Friday that the length of the teachers workday and year, and whether the maximum class size of 28 or 29 students, are also at issue. Earlier this week, CTU reported a subject matter hearing on charter management where CTU officers and staff gathered to testify to city officials about allegations that CICS is siphoning off millions of dollars a year from school communities. The four schoolsChicagoQuest, Northtown, Wrightwood and Ralph Ellison schoolsare managed by Civitas Education Partners and have an enrollment of about 2,200 students. This walkout is the third strike of charter teachers in the US; the first took place at Acero Charter Schools, also in Chicago, last December. The second was largely a stunt by the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union as it was preparing to sell out last months strike by 33,000 public school teachers. Charter schools are publicly-funded by taxpayers but privately managed. Striking CICS teachers said police had been called to the picket at CICS Wrightwood twice Thursday and Friday by Civitas management, though there was no reason for any police presence. Teachers are also charging that they are being intimidated on the picket lines by Chicago police. Teachers have also spoken out on social media to demand CTU not accept any class size loopholes. Last December, the CTU shut down the four-day strike at 15 Acero Charter Schools, presenting as a victory an agreement that included paltry raises and a reduction on class size limits by just one student or 31 students per room. Teachers have complained that these sizes are still unmanageable and sometimes dangerous. The CTU, its parent union, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and its rival, the National Education Association (NEA), have abandoned anything but rhetorical opposition to the expansion of charter schools, which drain students, space and resources from traditional public schools. Having colluded with the Democratic Party and Republicans in the shutdown of public schools and mass layoffs of hundreds of thousands of teachers over the last decades, the unions see miserably paid charter school teachers as a new source of dues income. After the 2008 financial crash, the AFT and NEA colluded with the Obama administration, which used the Race to the Top federal funding scheme to give cash strapped school districts a financial incentive to lift caps on charter schools. The number of students enrolled in charters nearly doubled under Obama. In 2012, 24,000 Chicago teachers struck against the corporate-driven school reform agenda and the demand of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obamas former chief of staff, for the shutdown of scores of public schools. The CTU shut down and betrayed the strike, paving the way for the closure of 50 schools. In return, the teacher unions were given a green light to unionize the UNO Charter School Network, the states largest charter business, with the blessing UNO CEO Juan Rangel, a key political and financial backer of Emanuel. After Rangel was forced to resign over a corruption scandal over the misuse of state grant money, the UNO schools were rebranded as Acero. The CTU president is Jesse Sharkey, a leading member of the International Socialist Organization (ISO), which has increasingly been integrated into the leadership of teacher unions in Los Angeles, Seattle and other cities. The ISO has played a chief role in trying to prop up the discredited teacher unions, providing union bureaucrats with left-sounding rhetoric about social justice and the schools students deserve, while they collaborate with the very same Democrats that are spearheading the attack on public education. The CTU openly used the Acero strike as a backdrop for their endorsement of Cook County Democratic Party Chair and Cook County Board Chair Toni Preckwinkle, who is running for mayor. The union is carrying out the same cynical ploy in the CICS strike, using picketing teachers as extras in their campaign for Preckwinkle. Speaking from a CICS picket line last week, CTU vice president Stacy Davis Gates praised a recent Preckwinkle campaign ad, telling the Chicago Tribune, You saw the commercial. She basically said shes our tribe. If teachers are to fight the escalating attack on public education, including fighting for a 40 percent raise, a sharp reduction in class sizes and the conversion of all charters back to public schools, they will have to take the conduct of the struggle into their own hands. This means organizing rank-and-file committees across Chicago and suburban districts, which are independent of the unions and the Democratic Party, to unite with teachers in Denver, California and around the country, and other sections of workers, including autoworkers, UPS workers and Amazon workers. The vast improvement of public education and the eradication of poverty is inextricably linked with the development of a political movement of the working class to seize the fortunes of the super-rich, radically redistribute wealth, and carry out a socialist reorganization of economic and political life. The author also recommends: Chicago teacher union shuts down charter strike, holds rally for Democratic candidates [11 December 2018] An agreement came into effect at the beginning of 2019 between the German army and Deutsche Bahn (DB, German Rail) that has largely been ignored by the media. The so-called freight framework agreement is part of a massive military build-up aimed at transporting military equipment to the Russian border and preparing for war with Russia. The agreement will initially run for two years, until December 31, 2020, but can be extended by a year indefinitely. Germany assumed the leadership this year of NATOs spearhead, the very high readiness joint task force (VJTF). The spearhead includes approximately 5,000 soldiers who should be capable of deploying to wherever they are required within 48 to 72 hours. The VJTF is part of the NATO Response Force (NRF). The NRF is an operational force made up of land, air, sea and special forces components with a total of 40,000 soldiers. More than 1,000 transports of military equipment and soldiers to the Russian border will take place annually. Each transport refers to an entire train and not just individual carriages. With the coming into force of the agreement between German Rail and the army, military transportations take priority over passenger travel. The contract is worth 100 million. This total is comprised of 79 million of fixed costs (personnel, materiel and rail lines), a 6 million surcharge for express transport, and 21 million in costs tied to utilisation. In addition to the 1,000 transportations per year, plans will be drawn up to dispatch a further 300 trains to transport additional equipment by rail if necessary. For 2019, there are plans to transport 9,700 soldiers, 150 military vehicles, 3,300 bikes, 1,500 trailers and 1,370 containers to the east. In 2020, the military supplies are to be transported to the Baltic states within five days. The trains will be loaded in Bergen in Lower Saxony and Deuten in North Rhine-Westphalia, with one train departing daily for the Lithuanian location of Sestokai on the Polish border. The route will cross the German border at Frankfurt-Oder and also pass through Kunovice in the Czech Republic. In the German armys new doctrine, published by the Defence Ministry in April 2018, Germany is described due to its geographic position as a strategic hub at the heart of Europe, as well as a key element in European collective defence. The capacity of the NATO alliance and the EU to act depends on Germany fulfilling its tasks as a host nation, as a transit country for the dispatching of forces to the borders of alliance territory and the interior operational area. Host nation support comprises all civilian and military efforts to support an ally or partners armed forces in the country. These challenges are being dealt with by the NATO Joint Support Enabling Command (JSEC) established in Ulm last June, which effectively amounts to the creation of blitzkrieg-like structures in Europe. In case of war, the JSEC is responsible for coordinating the deployment of troops and materials throughout Europe, and the centralisation of planning ahead of and during the deployment to the area of operation. The command centre employs up to 100 people in peacetime and can employ 500 during times of war. Full readiness at the command centre will be reached in 2021. Another major topic in the military sector within the European Union is military mobility. Six and a half billion euros have been made available in EU budgets in the coming years for this. This is not only to improve transport infrastructure, such as by expanding roads and bridges and purchasing new rail carriages, but also to overcome and adapt the bureaucratic structures within the EU states. The framework agreement imposed no territorial restrictions on rail transport. Additionally, other armed forces (such as NATO, the EU, or the United Nations) could use the infrastructure. The German armys intervention in the Baltic states, which served as the pretext for the freight framework agreement, is increasingly assuming the form of a preparation for war with Russia, a nuclear-armed power. The NATO exercise Trident Juncture, held last autumn in Norway, was the largest of its kind since the end of the Cold War. The German army participated with 10,000 soldiers and 4,000 vehicles. The German army doctrine makes clear that Germany is preparing for major military conflicts. It states, among other things, Rapid strike and follow-up capabilities for a very large operation have to be planned. They must be effectual in a hybrid conflict as it develops and escalates across the full spectrum of is effects, in all its dimensions, in a joint, multinational armed force, and in all types of operations. At the beginning of a very large, high-intensity operation, a huge deployment of readily available forces and equipment is necessary. Provisions to regenerate the personnel and materiel will be undertaken. The framework freight agreement, which recalls a dark period from the past, must be seen in this context. The wheels have to turn for victory! was one of the German Reichsbahns propaganda slogans during the offensive against the Soviet Union in 1942. Without the Reichsbahn, its rail network and special train programme, the war of annihilation against the Soviet Union and the millions of industrial killings carried out after the victims were transported to concentration camps could never have taken place. At that time, the Reichsbahn was directly under the Transport Ministrys control. Today, the federal state retains 100 percent control of German Rail, which is increasingly being subordinated to the needs of German militarism and imperialism. The horrific death of a 54-year-old steelworker at Michigan Seamless Tube in South Lyon, Michigan, northwest of Detroit, has shaken family and coworkers. According to South Lyon police, the worker, Daniel Hill, fell into a vat of 160-degree sulfuric acid. The company uses the acid to increase the strength of tubing. The worker was walking and able to speak when the police arrived. He was put in a shower and washed off before being rushed to the University of Michigan Hospital emergency room in Ann Arbor with burns over 100 percent of his body. He died 11 hours later. A spokesman for the South Lyon Fire Department told the World Socialist Web Site that the victim was fully submerged in the tank of acid when they arrived. A neighbor quoted by the Detroit News said of Hill and his wife Pamela, They are just very, very nice people. It was really a shock when I heard about it. Hill had been employed with Seamless Tube since April 2017. In addition to his wife, Hill is survived by two children and two grandchildren. According to his obituary, he was nicknamed Moose. He was reported to be very generous to everyone he met and a very dedicated, hard worker. He served in the Army in the motor pool and was proud of his service. He loved fishing and boating during his free time and had a passion for animals, especially dogs. A community memorial is scheduled for Hill on Saturday and a family gathering will be held Friday. Initial reports indicated that the company displayed a sign outside the plant reading, Fooling around on the job is a job for fools. Later, the sign seemed to have disappeared. A coworker who pulled Hill out of the vat received burns on his hands. There was no word on the extent of his injuries. The United Steelworkers, the union at the facility, has not issued a statement on the tragedy. According to a preliminary report issued by the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA), Hill was receiving training at the time of the accident. A full investigation is reportedly underway but may take several weeks or months. Michigan Seamless Tube makes a wide variety of tubing products for power generation, aircraft, heavy equipment, agriculture and other applications. Its largest market is the oil and gas industry. It employs over 200 and is the largest employer in South Lyon. The company is a subsidiary of Miami-based Optima Specialty Steel, formerly Specialty Steel Works Inc., that filed for bankruptcy in December 2016 due largely to lower revenue related to falling gas prices. Optima also owns Niagara LaSalle in Hammond, Indiana and Corey Steel in Cicero, Illinois. At the time of this writing, there was no further information available as to the circumstances of the death or why an inexperienced trainee was working near an open vat of highly dangerous sulfuric acid. Guidelines published by the Centers for Disease Control call for enclosure of areas where sulfuric acid is in use and for the wearing of protective equipment. The CDC rates sulfuric acid as one of the five most hazardous chemicals resulting in workplace injuries in a survey published in 2015. A safety website consulted by this reporter called sulfuric acid one of the most dangerous and destructive materials you will experience in the workplace (safetypartnersltd.com). It noted, Simply put, if sulfuric acid somehow comes in contact with ANY part of your body, you will experience an accelerated and swift destruction of bodily tissues. This rapid destruction could very well cause severe burns that would leave you scarred for life, both physically and emotionally. Not only are burns a problem in themselves, but they can later lead to extended issues such as infections and prolonged recovery. According to a search of federal OSHA data, there were 14 incidents of serious workplace injuries due to contact with sulfuric acid in 2017, but no fatalities. Several posts on Facebook in response to the death of Hill related to safety issues at the company. One person wrote, My husband used to work there and that place isnt safe at all. I feel bad for him but when a business ignores safety what can you expect ... This latest tragedy is not the first safety-related incident at Michigan Seamless Tube. In June 2017, a fire broke out in the hot mill area of the facility caused by the failure of a hydraulic hose. According to firefighters, the initial fire ignited several spot fires in the building and set the roof on fire. About 50 workers present at the time were evacuated from the premises. In September 2007, Michael Wilson, 26, a worker at Michigan Seamless Tube, died while attempting to repair a machine that had malfunctioned. While he was inside, the machine started up. Wilson suffered fatal head injuries. A coworker managed to escape. In June 2013, Michigan Seamless Tube was issued total penalties of $151,000 for MIOSHA safety violations. The citations consisted of two Willful/Serious, two Serious, and one Other-than-Serious violations. The most serious violations included machine guarding and lockout/tagout. The fines were all appealed. The company received a $35,000 MIOSHA citation in October 2018 for lack of adequate guarding around machinery. MIOSHA recorded 38 workplace deaths in Michigan in 2018 and 39 in 2017. Jurors have reached a verdict in the case of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the Mexican druglord accused of carrying out a sprawling criminal enterprise as chief of the Sinaloa cartel. This photo provided by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy shows a three-dimensional picture of the hydrogen charging station for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) to be set up at the National Assembly complex in Yeouido, Seoul. Yonhap South Korea on Monday said it will allow Hyundai Motor to set up a hydrogen charging station for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) in parliament in a symbolic gesture that underscores Seoul's commitment to boosting the hydrogen economy. Hyundai Motor, the world's first mass-producer of hydrogen FCEVs, has also been given the green light to install two other hydrogen charging stations in southern Seoul. The decision "will serve as an occasion to open the floodgates of regulatory innovation," Sung Yun-mo, minister of trade, industry and energy, said in a news conference at a government building in central Seoul after holding the first review of new business models that are eligible to take advantage of the "regulatory sandbox" system. "We will create a testing ground for innovation to make sure that regulations do not hold back the market launch of innovative products and new technologies." A regulatory sandbox is a concept that allows small-scale, real-world testing of innovations by private firms in a controlled environment under the regulator's provision. The decision came three days after President Moon Jae-in called for efforts to successfully introduce a regulatory sandbox system for the country. National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang hailed the decision, saying the parliament will be at the forefront of cutting unnecessary red tape and securing a new growth driver. Moon also called the hydrogen charging station in parliament "a symbol of cooperation" among the government, parliament and private sector to advance the era of FCEVs, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. A hydrogen FCEV emits only water vapor as it converts stored hydrogen into electricity to turn the drive motor. Global carmakers have been racing to go eco-friendly amid tightened regulations on emissions of greenhouse gases, which scientists say are to blame for global warming. The ministry said hydrogen charging stations in Seoul could boost convenience for hydrogen FCEV drivers and help the spread of the zero-emission vehicles while allaying "vague" public safety concerns about the use of such stations. In January, South Korea said it will increase the number of hydrogen FCEVs to about 80,000 units by 2022 as part of a broader effort to give a boost to the hydrogen economy. The hydrogen charging station is set to be built in the National Assembly by July and will be capable of providing hydrogen for more than 50 FCEVs a day, according to Hyundai Motor and the ministry. Currently, there are only 16 charging stations for hydrogen FCEVs across South Korea. South Korea plans to set up to 70 additional charging stations this year before boosting the number to 310 by 2022, the ministry said. Related to the move, the government is moving to make changes to existing enforcement ordinances around June to allow hydrogen refueling stations to be built in commercial and semi residential areas. (Yonhap) By Jhoo Dong-chan The bidding for Lotte Capital is highly likely to be a two-way duel between KB Financial and MBK Partners, as Shinhan Financial withdrew at the last moment, Tuesday. According to sources, around 10 parties, including KB, MBK and Orix PE, submitted their letters of intent (LOI) for the preliminary bidding for the loan service arm of Lotte Group, one of the nation's major conglomerates, which was closed, Tuesday. KB Financial, which has yielded its status as the top financial group in terms of net profits to Shinhan, is eager to take over Lotte Capital, while MBK, the nation's largest private equity firm, has shown strong interest with ample cash. Shinhan Financial Group was also expected to turn in an LOI to acquire the firm, but decided not to join the preliminary bid at the last minute. A KB Financial Group official declined to comment about whether it submitted an LOI due to the nondisclosure agreement regarding the preliminary bidding. MBK Partners and Japanese Orix Mezzanine & Private Equity, were believed to have also participated in the preliminary bid for Lotte Capital on the day. MBK Partners has reportedly demonstrated its interest in acquiring all three Lotte Group units as a package deal, an attractive option to the group. A Lotte Capital employee enters her office at the firm's headquarters in Seoul, Monday. In October, Lotte Group put its loan service unit up for sale to turn itself into a holding company structure. / Yonhap The state of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is on the northeastern part and the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The state ranks as the 33rd largest in the country by area and 6th largest by population according to the census of 2010. The state of Pennsylvania is also the 9th most densely populated of all the 50 states in the country, and its most densely populated cities are Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Pennsylvania is among the original 13 colonies, and it is the only one out of the 13 that does not touch the Atlantic Ocean. The state of Pennsylvania is bordered by six states: West Virginia, Delaware, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. Pennsylvania is also bordered by Lake Erie and the Canadian province of Ontario. Pennsylvania-Ohio Boundary The state of Ohio lies on the western side of the state of Pennsylvania. The first marker which was put up in 1785 is currently lying permanently under water because of the rivers raised navigational pool, and the East Liverpool historical society owns it. Because the marker point lies under water a monument commemorating the point is found on the state line between Liverpool in Ohio and Ohioville in Pennsylvania. In 1965, the area surrounding the marker was designated as a national historic landmark. The border between the two states also is on the point where the Ohio state route 39 and the Pennsylvanian route 68 starts. The boundary between the state of Ohio and Pennsylvania is the most significant because it marked the beginning of the formal survey of the region of what was known at the time as Northwest Territory and corresponds to the area occupied now by Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The survey was one of the very first and major cadastral surveys undertaken by any country. The border was commonly known as the Ellicott line, derived from the original surveyor Andrew Ellicott who initially surveyed and marked in 1786. Between 1878 and 1882 the two states established a joint boundary commission to generally re-survey the border and make additional monuments which were to be placed approximately 1 mile apart to cover a whole 92 miles borderline. Pennsylvania-Maryland border Maryland borders the state of Pennsylvania on the southern part and the forms part of the Mason Dixon line, which was mapped by Jeremiah Dixon and Charles Mason between the years 1763 and 1767. The demarcation resolved the border dispute that involved Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. The line is still the demarcation line outlining the part of the borderline on Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Delaware (before 1863 West Virginia was part of Virginia). The line later defined the boundary between the southern US and the northern US. Previous to the Missouri Compromise, the Mason Dixon line, especially to the west of the state of Delaware, demarcated the northern frontier of slavery regions in the US. The border between Maryland and Pennsylvania was surveyed again in 1849 and similarly in 1900. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 made the political connotation which gave the Mason-Dixon Line a significant term to the history of slavery. It was at the congressional debates that finally resulted in the compromise when the term Mason-Dixon Line was first used to refer the entire boundary between the Free States and the slave states in the US. Pennsylvania-New York Border The state of New York and the state in Pennsylvania share a common border in the northern side of the state of Pennsylvania, and the borderline has three sections. The first section is along the centerline of the Delaware River starting at the tripoint border of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania border. It is located at the confluence of Delaware and the Neversink Rivers at the port of Jervis in New York and stretches to the 42nd parallel north which is located between Hancock and Deposit in New York which is about 1.7 miles down the stream. The second section is across the 42nd, parallel north and stretches to the corner of the Erie triangle, while the third section is the north along the east border of the Erie triangle to the Lake Erie. Between 1785 and 1786 the survey for the 42nd parallel north was carried out and it was accepted by both states of Pennsylvania and New York in 1787. The technique used at the time to survey was not particularly accurate, and therefore the boundary did wander between the two sides of the true parallel. Pennsylvania-West Virginia Border The region which is now West Virginia was initially part of Virginia; however, the two regions deferred on several issues. The pioneering mountaineers had settled on the western part, while the aristocrats who owned slaves settled and developed the eastern portion. The westerners wanted to separate from Virginia and the first attempt in 1769 was not successful. After the breakout of the civil war in 1863 Virginia seceded from the union in 1861. However, the westerners decided to remain with the union, and therefore West Virginia was born. Currently, there are no markings on the border between Pennsylvania and Virginia. The western boundary of Pennsylvania in what is shared with West Virginia was established in 1681 and was mapped by William Penn, and he based it on the longitude of the eastern boundary. According to the charter of William Penn the edge to the west of Pennsylvania was expected to reflect the curving boundaries on the east, and therefore the width of the colony was supposed to be a constant 5 degrees in longitude. The Economy of Pennsylvania The state of Pennsylvania has a vibrant economy and has a Gross State Product of approximately $408.4 billion in 2001 and personal per capita income of about that $31,998 in 2003. Some of the key sectors in the economy include manufacturing, agribusiness, tourism, healthcare, biotechnology, research and consulting, printing and publishing, legal services, transport, warehousing, engineering, management, trucking, and education among others. Some of the manufactured goods from the state of Pennsylvania include fabricated metal products, transportation equipment, industrial machinery and equipment, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, glass products, clay, stone, and wood products. Lake Albert is an African Great Lake located in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and is part of the upper Nile system. The lake has a length of about 100 miles, a width of 19 miles, and a maximum depth of 168 feet. Lake Albert is referred to by the local population, who are primarily Banyoro and Batooro people, as Mwitanzige. British explorers Samuel Baker and Sass Flora were the first Europeans to discover the lake in 1864, and named it after the recently deceased Prince Albert, who was the husband of Britain's Queen Victoria. The colonialists used the lake for shipping purposes, especially for lake and river steamers to access other regions in Africa. During the twentieth century, the lake was also temporarily named Lake Mobutu Sese Seko by Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko. Lake Albert receives its waters from the Victoria Nile, while the Albert Nile drains its waters as its primary outflow. Primary Inflow: Victoria Nile The Victoria Nile is the primary inflow of Lake Albert. The river forms the upper section of the greater Nile River and has a length of about 300 miles. Beginning at its mouth, which is located north of Lake Victoria, the river runs west of the town of Jinja, flows downstream, away from the Nalubaale Power Station, and passes over the Bujagali Falls, where the Bujagali Power Station is located. The Victoria Nile is referred to as the White Nile in Uganda, as it comes from Lake Victoria through Lake Kyoga before it enters Lake Albert. As the Victoria Nile approaches Lake Albert, its width is reduced to 23 feet at Murchison Falls, which marks the inlet to the East African Rift. The river then empties into Lake Albert in the DRC. Primary Outflow: Albert Nile The Albert Nile is the primary outflow of Lake Albert and is sometimes known as the Mobutu Nile. It drains from Lake Albert at the north and separates the region known as the West Nile sub-region from the rest of Uganda. At its inlet in Nebbi District, a sole bridge passes over the river, and the river is mostly navigated using a canoe or small boat. It flows north of the mouth of the Victoria Nile for around 130 miles, to Nimule at the South Sudan border, where it becomes referred to as the Mountain Nile or the Bahr-al-Jabal. As the Albert Nile joins Lake No in South Sudan, it becomes the White Nile, and then flows north into Sudan, where it eventually meets the Blue Nile. Oil Discovery at Lake Albert Large oil reserves have been discovered in Lake Albert. Major oil expeditions in the Lake Albert region have estimated a substantial amount of oil within the lakes basin, which according to Heritage Oil and Tullow Oil, could be the largest onshore reserve anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa for the next two decades. The oil reserves are estimated at 6.5 billion barrels, which could potentially transform Uganda's economy. The United Kingdom (UK) is an island nation found off the northwest coast of continental Europe, and it is bordered only by the Republic of Ireland, while other parts of the country are bordered by the English Channel, Atlantic Ocean, the Celtic Sea, and the North Sea. The country is the 12th nation with the longest coastline in the world, and the country covers a land area of 93,600 square miles. The UK is, therefore, the worlds 78th largest country by area and ranks as the 22nd with the highest population in the world having a population of about 66 million people as of 2017. The country has numerous natural resources such as arable land, petroleum, coal, and other minerals such as zinc, lead, iron ore, salt, limestone, potash gypsum, clay, silica, and chalk among others. Natural Resources Arable Land In the UK about 69% of the total land area is utilized for agriculture, and about 1.5% of the country's labor force or 476,000 people are engaged in agriculture and its related activities. The country produces not more than 60% of the food consumed in the country and is mostly in rural parts of the East Anglia where most crops are cultivated while the southwest part of the country produces mainly livestock. There are about 212,000 farms in the UK which vary in size from less than 20 hectares to more than 100 hectares. Farm earnings in the UK are relatively low as a result of low prices at the farm gate despite the country having skill farmers, fertile soils, subsidies from the government, and sophisticated technology. As a result of the low earnings and exorbitantly high prices of land, coupled with a shortage of farms to lease, has discouraged young people from joining the farming industry, and the average age of a farmer in the UK is currently about 59 years. Some of the principal crops cultivated in the UK include wheat, potatoes, oats, barley, sugar beets, fruits, and vegetables. Wheat in the UK is by far the largest agricultural crop cultivated, and it is grown on approximately 1.9 million hectares of land. Wheat production in the UK is centered on the eastern region of England, which accounts for about 58% of the wheat produced in the UK. The total annual production of wheat in the UK varies significantly depending primarily on climate, but typically it varies from 11 million to 18 million tones yearly. Wheat used primarily in animal feeds yields approximately 8.5 tons per hectare while wheat used to make bread produce slightly lower yield standing at about 7.8 tons per hectare. In 2018, wheat production in the UK dropped 5.1% compared with the previous year while barley production dropped by about 7.9%. The drop in the two crops is attributed to the high rainfall during spring time which was followed again by long, drier summer which led to a huge drop in crop production across the country. Minerals Mining in the UK has a long history particularly of non-ferrous minerals like tin and copper which has been mined from the era of the Bronze Age. Copper mining in the UK was carried out in Wales in about 2200-850 BCE. Some of the minerals that later attracted the Romans to Britain include gold, copper, and lead and it was the Romans who first introduced the use of iron tools. They used slave labor to extract galena, which is the main lead ore mineral. The Galena mineral was later processed and refined to get silver, tin, and lead. These refined metals were transported the different parts of the Roman Empire, and some were used locally. Most of the mines where they got the galena were in deep pits, particularly in Wales and Scotland. Iron ore and coal were the most important minerals particularly during the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. However, less iron ore and coal are mined in the UK today. To this day the UK has numerous minerals, but few are currently mined in the country because of factors such as globalization which has made it cheaper to import minerals from other countries. For instance, the country has deposits of copper and iron ore, but they are imported from other countries like the United States, Chile, China, Brazil, and Australia. Oil and Natural Gas In 2014, the UK produced about 1.42 million Barrels of Oil Equivalents (BOE) every day, which is the unit of energy derived from the average energy released from 1 barrel of crude oil, and out of this 59% were oil or liquids. The United Kingdom consumed about 1.508 million barrels of oil per day in 2013 and about 2.735 trillion cubic feet of gas. Currently, the country is importing hydrocarbons, although it has been exporting the commodity from the 1980s to 1990s. For a long time, gas was produced in the Southern North Sea in the Morecambe Bay, but presently there has been a decline. In the recent past, there have been discoveries in regions with the most challenge especially in the west of Shetland. By 2012, there were approximately 9,774 miles of pipeline that connected about 113 oil installations and about 189 different gas installations. Most of the oil produced is onshore, and the major offshore field is located in Dorset in Wytch Farm. There has been the significant potential of shale in Bowland shale and Wealand, but only a few have been drilled so far. The Economy of the UK The UK is a highly developed country. The famous industrial revolution began in the UK, and the initial industry was textile followed by other industries like shipbuilding, mining of coal, and steel making among others. Presently, the UK has the worlds 5th largest economy and Europes second-largest economy. The service sector accounts for about 29% of the GDP, and the capital city, London is among the three leading centers of the global economy, the others being Tokyo and New York. Tourism plays a critical part in the economy of the UK, and more than 27 million visitors arrived in the country in 2004. The UK was ranked as the major tourist destination in the world and London had the highest international visitor arrivals in the whole world. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the economy of the UK growth rate was modest in 2018 at around 1.3%, and they projected that the economy in 2019 would grow by about 1.6%. This outlook reflects the slow on investments and the continuing political indecision as it relates to the resulting outcome of the Brexit consultation. However, the announced increase in government spending and tax cuts in the short- run in the budget would provide a major boost to the economic expansion in 2019. The strengthening world economy coupled with the countrys competitive currency has encouraged the UK's export and boosted tourism particularly in the last two years. The service sector is expected to be modest in 2019 while the manufacturing sector is expected to slow down. Kim Divan, 66 years old, of Woodward, OK passed away at his home on Saturday, June 12. He was born in Nebraska but spent his childhood and most of his adult life in Palmdale, CA until moving to Oklahoma in 2005. Kim liked to have a good time and enjoyed his motorcycles and fishing. He will b This photo provided by Samsung Electronics shows the firm's semiconductor manufacturing center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. Korea Times file The South Korean economy showed a slowdown in production and demand amid declining exports, a state-run think-tank said Tuesday. South Korea's exports slipped 5.8 percent in January from a year earlier due mainly to weaker performances by chips and petrochemical goods. In January, South Korea shipped $7.42 billion worth of semiconductors, down 23.3 percent from a year earlier, while outbound shipments of petrochemical goods fell 5.3 percent on-year. The Korea Development Institute said a slowing global economy weighed on South Korea's exports in January. A family is trying to get their heirlooms back after they were stolen right out of their driveway. Now theyre asking people across the state to help them track down a trailer full of irreplaceable items. This file photo shows Yuri Trutnev, Russia's deputy prime minister and presidential envoy to Russia's Far East. Yonhap Russia's deputy prime minister on Tuesday pledged to take more steps to support South Korean firms doing business in Russia's Far East, as the two nations seek to bolster economic ties. Yuri Trutnev, Deputy Prime Minister and presidential envoy to Russia's Far East, made the remarks at a meeting with executives of Korean firms in Seoul earlier in the day. The gathering was arranged by the Korea International Trade Association. Trutnev said the Russian government plans to build a special zone for international hospitals in the Far East, expressing hope that Korean hospitals will make inroads into the region. Russia also will give tax benefits and ease some regulations for Korean firms in the Far East, Trutnev told the meeting. Executives from about 30 Korean firms, including Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. and Pusan National University Hospital, attended the meeting. Last June, President Moon Jae-in said Seoul and Moscow will soon launch negotiations for their first free trade agreement, calling for efforts to boost the countries' bilateral trade to over $30 billion by 2020. Trade volume between Korea and Russia stood at $20 billion in the January-October period last year, making Korea Russia's eighth-largest trading partner. (Yonhap) 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. Isabella Danks is a recent BSc (Hons) Midwifery graduate from the University of Wolverhampton. She recently travelled to Iloilo in the Philippines on a two-week midwifery placement where some practises are entirely different to what we might consider best practise in the UK due to culture, different education systems, and a lack of resources. As a third-year student midwife at the end of my training, I wanted to finish my course on a high. I took time choosing somewhere I knew would help my confidence grow. In fact, I wanted to focus on developing confidence in both my practice and in myself. After seeking advice from the team at Work the World, I chose Iloilo in the Philippines. I was aware that many hospitals in the Philippines didnt have access to the same resources or equipment that UK hospitals do. I wanted to help the hospital buy supplies they were lacking in. I was advised to buy these supplies once in the Philippines rather than before travelling. Doing so would support the local pharmacy, and it meant I could buy items that hospital staff said were low in stock at that moment in time. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Purdue's College of Liberal Arts kicked off "Love Liberal Arts" week Monday. The week celebrates liberal arts through free events across campus. Students were able to get custom t-shirts Monday afternoon, and volunteers will be giving out hot chocolate across campus during the week. Professional development activities will also be offered throughout the week. Students will be able to attend resume review sessions and get head shots taken. For marketing and communication director Kati Pratt, the week helps showcase other majors outside of STEM. "They wanted to have their day and highlight the different ways that liberal arts helps STEM work. Through the intersection between Liberal Arts and STEM, said Pratt. The college will also host New York Times best-selling author Harlan Cohen this Wednesday. He will be speaking in the Lawson Building at 6 pm about "getting comfortable with the uncomfortable". The event will be open to the public. Artist Il Lee's ballpoint pen drawing "BL-07835" was acquired by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, along with his other drawing "Untitled 978W." / Courtesy of the artist and Art Projects International By Kwon Mee-yoo Korean-American artist Il Lee's artworks have made their way into the permanent collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art in the U.S. According to Art Projects International, the internationally renowned art institution acquired Lee's two paintings "Untitled 978W" (1997-98) and "BL-07835" (2007-08). The 68-year-old artist, born in Seoul, is known for his iconic ballpoint pen drawings. Now living and working in New York, he has pioneered the unique style using the mundane writing instrument for over four decades. "Untitled 978W" is one of Lee's large-scale works in black, while "BL-07835" is a more recent work in blue and a smaller scale. He uses ballpoint pens to create irregular forms on canvas. Lee said he does not plan out the shape or composition of his drawings but overlays countless ballpoint pen lines to create depth and movement in an intuitive way. Art editor Trent Morse described Lee as a "godfather of ballpoint art." "Along with Alighiero Boetti and Jan Fabre, he was one of the first artists to dedicate years of his life to the intense study of ballpoint as an art-making device... And even though Lee has been working with ballpoint for well over three decades, he is nowhere near finished experimenting with the medium," Morse wrote in his book "Ballpoint Art." He held two major exhibitions in the U.S. in 2007 "Il Lee: Ballpoint Abstraction" at the San Jose Museum of Art in California and "Il Lee: Ballpoint Drawings" at the Queens Museum of Art in New York. Curator JoAnne Northrup of the San Jose museum said, "Lee's mid-1990s drawings revealed a more complex interaction between figure and ground In the mid-1990s, Lee was in an experimental frame of mind. He began drawing hard-edge, amoeba-like shapes a short-lived investigation. He also began to use much larger paper, a decision that would have far-reaching consequences for the future development of his work." Lee's artworks were featured in the "Abstraction in Korean Art" exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2010 and four of his etchings and a ballpoint pen drawing became part of the museum's permanent collection. We have had icing on parking lots, secondary roads, sidewalks for a while here at the television station at West Lafayette, even with the 2-meter temperature hovering at 33-34. This is due to the temperature not rising enough to combat the freezing on ice-cold parking lots & the ground. Interestingly, despite the ice-over of the ground, the trees & powerlines are largely ice-free as they have warmed to the actual air temperature. Mary Anne informs me that they are completely iced over with 32 right in Remington. Now................. Temperature has actually dropped from 33 to 32 in the past 30 minutes at the television station & we are now down to 32 at the Purdue Airport. Why have we dropped? Why is Rensselaer & Rochester warmer than the Fowler, Monticello & Logansport? These strong east winds are bleeding in molasses-like cold from the east. The coldest air over snow pack is bleeding in from central Ohio & Pennsylvania, not the Lakes farther north & northeastward. This air is bleeding down the Wabash & Tippecanoe Valleys & over the Bluffton Till Plain into the heart of the area like oozing pancake syrup. This reminds me so much of an episode we had in January 2010 when the ground was frozen with some snow & it was 32-36 during the day, then that east wind cranked up around a cold surface high over Ontario & over Ohio snow pack. The rain/freezing rain looked to change to all rain in a pretty short period of time with the east wind going to the southeast. Instead, it took forever to change to completely take over as the cold east wind dominated. Models are not handling this cold east wind bleeding in the cold very well. So, that said, we may change over to freezing rain for much of the area in the next hour, then remain in freezing rain for part of the night. Areas north of 24 may stay in freezing rain until 5-7 a.m. Icing is likely on secondary roads, parking lots & overpasses. Be careful! The ice is very misleading! It looks like just a wet road! The latest short-range, high-resolution HRRR model seems to have the freezing rain line about 29 miles to far to the north this evening. So, thinking that we should push the freezing rain line in the model about 30 miles south for the night. That would give us a time frame to work with in the changeover from freezing rain to rain. For it to be all rain, however, it really needs to warm to 34-36 as the pavement is so ice cold. After rain early tomorrow morning with gusty southeast winds to 30 mph, winds should suddenly relax & dense fog will develop. I really am thinking now that widespread 0.25 mile or less may rapidly develop from southwest to northeast & be over the viewing area 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. The fog will quickly get whisked away as rain comes back in & cold front approaches. Then strong cold front will pass 1-4 p.m. with rainfall developing ahead of & just behind it. Rapid changeover to snow should occur & the winds really crank back up. Gusts should easily reach 35 mph from the west northwest, but I think there will be corridors of 40-50 mph gusts, perhaps even an isolated +50 mph gust. With the wind & snow, conditions will worsen late afternoon to evening & into tomorrow night as temperatures quickly drop into the 20s. 1-2" of snow is likely & it will blow around a lot! North-south roads will be impacted the most by blowing & drifting snow (even at only 1-2"). A few places (mainly in the southwest) may fall just short of 1" of snow (0.7, 0.8"). Wind chills will drop to around 0 by Wednesday morning with temperatures near 21. The main snow will have exited, but flurries & snow showers may linger to mid-morning Wednesday. Mostly cloudy & gradually-decreasing winds should follow Wednesday afternoon with highs 28-32. LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) The Lafayette Urban Ministry staff is always working on ways to improve their services. LUM staff members take a retreat once a year to be educated on various social topics. This year was all about race, diversity, and inclusion. Staff members are heading back to work with a new perspective. We can not escape the forces and influences of racism, we are affected whether we are white or black or any person of color, said LUMs Good Samaritan Program Director, Linda Hicks. LUM Executive Director, Joe Micon said this isnt a topic unique to the people LUM serves. It's appropriate that not only Lafayette Urban Ministry talk about race, said Micon. It's something that every small business, every large company, every university department, and college ought to be doing. LUM serves a community from all walks of life, the retreat focused on understanding why there's discomfort when talking about racial inequality. Our whiteness, what are the things that we say, what are the things that perhaps we do that contribute to ongoing racism in our lives and in our community, said Micon. Micon said being aware of internal biases will improve communication with the people they serve. It's a topic that always has to be on the forefront, said Micon. Hicks said shes developed a new awareness as she interacts with clients. How am I bringing racism forward even when I dont know it, said Hicks. When somebody comes in the door and I see that that's a person of color or that's a white person, what do I bring forward that I have internalized, that maybe I don't know I'm presenting." Hicks, like LUMs Youth Program Director Kristi Hogue believe this retreat was beneficial for LUM's staff. Maybe being part of those conversations is maybe even more uncomfortable for white people but it makes it even more important when you're working with such a diverse population, said Hogue. LUM reports that more than half its staff members are white, while more than half the people they serve belong to minority groups. Micon used Dr. Robin DiAngelos video on White Fragility: Why Its So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, as a teaching tool. Filmmaker Kim Ki-duk has been in hot water for allegedly sexually harassing and assaulting actresses. Korea Times file By Dong Sun-hwa Womenlink, a women's organization in Korea, has asked a Japanese film festival not to screen a movie by Kim Ki-duk, who allegedly sexually harassed and assaulted several actresses. The organization released a statement on Friday targeting the Yubari International Film Festival, saying: "The festival's catchphrase is 'the funniest film festival in the world,' but it is not funny at all to disregard the sexual violence problems posed in the movie industry please cancel your plan to screen Kim Ki-duk's movie." The festival has announced that Kim's "Human, Space, Time and Human" (2017) will be one of the three opening films for the event scheduled for Mar. 7 in Hokkaido. The festival centers on fantasy and science fiction movies, and is one of two such festivals in Japan. The organization said the festival's decision could even be seen as an act that "shows its willingness to side with the assailant." The organization has also started a campaign on social media calling for the screening to be canceled. Kim, an award-winning filmmaker with dozens of masterpieces including "Pieta," has been in the hot seat for allegedly sexually harassing and assaulting actresses. He accused three actresses who made allegations, as well as journalists, of defaming him. But the actresses and journalists have been cleared. "Human, Space, Time and Human" is Kim's 23rd full-length film that stars Ahn Sung-ki and Jang Keun-suk. It revolves around people of different ages and careers traveling on a retired battleship and is known to contain an "arousing" scene, in which several men sexually assault a woman. UTICA, N.Y. -- The state Department of Transportation has been out since early Tuesday morning covering the roads with salt and plowing the snow. Crews treated the roadways with brine, to help when the temperatures are below freezing, and are repeating the treatment every two to three hours. The DOT brought in extra crews to help with this storm. The rain is freezing roadways and sidewalks, making it difficult to drive. This time worse we received additional crews. Last storm, we received five large platters from Long Island, so we have people who drove yesterday. They arrived yesterday, got some rest and now they're plowing our highways in the Mohawk Valley, said state DOT Regional Director Nicolas Choubah. Governor Andrew Cuomo is urging caution as a significant winter storm is set to impact our region. And as quick safety tips, when winter storms strike, don't drive unless completely necessary. Use caution on bridges, because ice can form quicker on them than on roadways. One Utica resident says she's taking public transportation to get around so that she doesn't have to walk around in this weather. There's a snow emergency in effect for Utica starting at 11 p.m., which means people cannot park on the street. The city urges no unnecessary travel on city streets. The city also urges caution as there may be damage to tree limbs and potential power outages due to the anticipated heavy snow. Cars left on city roads after 11 p.m. are subject to ticketing and towing at the owner's expense. Mohawk, N.Y. - The Mohawk Homestead needs your help for a great cause! They're collecting pennies for The Alzheimer's Association from now through June 1st. Pennies can just be dropped off, there's no need to roll them and they will all go toward the Association. There's much more meaning to it than just the pennies themselves. "We at the Mohawk Homestead see the elderly and work with them each day. There are currently 5.7 million Americans living with Alzheimers and we thought that it was a great fundraiser for us to give back to the Alzheimer's Association for research and development and everything for our chapter in our community," said Lisa Gollegly, the Community Outreach Specialist. You can drop pennies off to Mohawk Homestead weekdays during business hours. If you are unable to drop off your pennies during the week please contact Lisa Gollegly at (315-)219-6633 or email her at Lisa@mohawkhomestead.com ROME, N.Y. -- Congressman Anthony Brinsidi has announced he will hold a town hall event this month in Oneida County. The event will be held on Thursday, February 21 at the Mohawk Valley Community College Rome campus. The town hall is free and open to all members of the community. The congressman held his first open town hall last month in the Binghamton area, and pledges to hold one every month, visiting each county in the district this year. Brindisi will speak at the Dining and Community Hall, Plumley Complex 150, 1101 Floyd Avenue at 6 p.m. Service Corporation International provides deathcare products and services in the United States and Canada. The company operates through Funeral and Cemetery segments. Its funeral service and cemetery operations comprise funeral service locations, cemeteries, funeral service/cemetery combination locations, crematoria, and other businesses. The company also provides professional services related to funerals and cremations, including the use of funeral facilities and motor vehicles; arranging and directing services; and removal, preparation, embalming, cremation, memorialization, and travel protection, as well as catering services. In addition, it offers funeral merchandise, including burial caskets and related accessories, urns and other cremation receptacles, outer burial containers, flowers, online and video tributes, stationery products, casket and cremation memorialization products, and other ancillary merchandise. Further, the company's cemeteries provide cemetery property interment rights, such as developed lots, lawn crypts, mausoleum spaces, niches, and other cremation memorialization and interment options; and sells cemetery merchandise and services, including memorial markers and bases, outer burial containers, flowers and floral placements, graveside services, merchandise installations, and interments, as well as offers preneed cemetery merchandise and services. Service Corporation International offers its products and services under the Dignity Memorial, Dignity Planning, National Cremation Society, Advantage Funeral and Cremation Services, Funeraria del Angel, Making Everlasting Memories, Neptune Society, and Trident Society brands. As of December 31, 2020, it owned and operated 1,470 funeral service locations; and 483 cemeteries, including 297 funeral service/cemetery combination locations covering 44 states, eight Canadian provinces, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The company was incorporated in 1962 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Read More West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. designs and produces containment and delivery systems for injectable drugs and healthcare products in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Proprietary Products and Contract-Manufactured Products. The Proprietary Products segment offers stoppers and seals for injectable packaging systems; syringe and cartridge components, including custom solutions for the needs of injectable drug applications, as well as administration systems that enhance the safe delivery of drugs through advanced reconstitution, mixing, and transfer technologies; and films, coatings, washing, and vision inspection and sterilization processes and services to enhance the quality of packaging components. It also provides drug containment solutions, including Crystal Zenith, a cyclic olefin polymer in the form of vials, syringes, and cartridges; and self-injection devices, as well as a range of integrated solutions, including analytical lab services, pre-approval primary packaging support and engineering development, regulatory expertise, and after-sales technical support. This segment serves biologic, generic, and pharmaceutical drug companies. The Contract-Manufactured Products segment is involved in the design, manufacture, and automated assembly of devices used in surgical, diagnostic, ophthalmic, injectable, and other drug delivery systems, as well as consumer products. It serves pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and medical device companies. The company distributes its products through its sales force and distribution network, as well as contract sales agents and regional distributors. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. was incorporated in 1923 and is headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania. Read More By Dong Sun-hwa Ten people were booked for allegedly insulting actress Jung Yu-mi and director Na Young-seok and for spreading infidelity rumors about them in October, police said Tuesday. Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency booked three of them for creating the rumor and six for posting it on their blogs or internet communities. The remaining person was caught leaving a malicious comment on the article about Jung and Na. They were found to be writers, a nurse, an IT worker and the unemployed. Police sent the case to the prosecution, seeking to indict only nine of them. One person was excluded for not being among those who started the rumor. The adultery rumor began circulating on KaKao Talk, a popular Korean messenger app, on Oct. 17. The alleged rumormongers spread the gossip to their acquaintances after hearing about it from some TV writers, police said. It was later disseminated to the "Open Chat Room" of KaKao Talk, in which random groups of people chat together. Jung and Na denied the rumor and filed a complaint against the disseminators two days later for alleged defamation and insult. One of the alleged rumor starters told police she merely delivered the gossip to her friends without anticipating that the issue would blow up. "Despite not being rumor starters, disseminators can still be punished if they forward the contents that defame or insult other people via networks," a police official said. Valero Energy Corporation manufactures, markets, and sells transportation fuels and petrochemical products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Refining, Renewable Diesel, and Ethanol. The company is involved in oil and gas refining, marketing, and bulk selling activities. It produces conventional, premium, and reformulated gasolines; gasoline meeting the specifications of the California Air Resources Board (CARB); diesel fuels, low-sulfur and ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuels; CARB diesel; other distillates; jet fuels; blendstocks; lube oils and natural gas liquids; and asphalts, petrochemicals, lubricants, and other refined petroleum products. As of December 31, 2020, the company owned 15 petroleum refineries with a combined throughput capacity of approximately 3.2 million barrels per day. It sells its refined products through wholesale rack and bulk markets; and through approximately 7,000 outlets under the Valero, Beacon, Diamond Shamrock, Shamrock, Ultramar, and Texaco brands. The company also produces and sells ethanol, dry distiller grains, syrup, and inedible corn oil primarily to refiners and gasoline blenders, as well as to animal feed customers. It owns and operates 13 ethanol plants with a combined ethanol production capacity of approximately 1.69 billion gallons per year. In addition, the company owns and operates crude oil and refined petroleum products pipelines, terminals, tanks, marine docks, truck rack bays, and other logistics assets. Further, it owns and operates a plant that processes animal fats, used cooking oils, and other vegetable oils into renewable diesel. The company was formerly known as Valero Refining and Marketing Company and changed its name to Valero Energy Corporation in August 1997. Valero Energy Corporation was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. Read More TransUnion provides risk and information solutions. The company operates in three segments: U.S. Markets, International, and Consumer Interactive. The U.S. Markets segment provides consumer reports, actionable insights, and analytics, such as credit and other scores, as well as technology solutions for businesses. These businesses use its services to acquire new customers; assess consumer ability to pay for services; identify cross-selling opportunities; measure and manage debt portfolio risk; collect debt; verify consumer identities; and investigate potential fraud. This segment serves various industry vertical markets, including financial services, healthcare, insurance, tenant and employment, collections, public sector, media, and other markets. The International segment offers credit reports, analytics, technology solutions, and other value-added risk management services; consumer services, which help consumers to manage their personal finances; and consumer credit reporting, insurance and auto information solutions, and commercial credit information services. This segment serves customers in financial services, retail credit, insurance, automotive, collections, public sector, and communications industries through direct and indirect channels. The Consumer Interactive segment provides credit reports and scores, credit monitoring, fraud protection and resolution, and financial management solutions that enable consumers to manage their personal finances and take precautions against identity theft. This segment offers its products through online and mobile interfaces, as well as through direct and indirect channels. The company serves customers in approximately 30 countries and territories, including North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, India, and the Asia Pacific. The company was formerly known as TransUnion Holding Company, Inc. and changed its name to TransUnion in March 2015. TransUnion was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of TransDigm Group: ARA Deutschland GmbH, ARA Holding GmbH, Abbott Electronics Ltd., Acme Aerospace, Acme Aerospace Inc., Adams Rite Aerospace GmbH, Adams Rite Aerospace Inc., Advanced Inflatable Products Limited, Aero-Instruments, AeroControlex Group Inc., Aerosonic, Aerosonic LLC, Air-Sea Survival Equipment Trustee Limited, Airborne Acquisition Inc., Airborne Global Inc., Airborne Holdings Inc., Airborne Systems, Airborne Systems Canada Ltd., Airborne Systems Group Limited, Airborne Systems Holdings Limited, Airborne Systems Limited, Airborne Systems NA Inc., Airborne Systems North America Inc., Airborne Systems North America of CA Inc., Airborne Systems North America of NJ Inc., Airborne Systems Pension Trust Limited, Airborne UK Acquisition Limited, Airborne UK Parent Limited, Aircraft Materials Limited, AmSafe, AmSafe Aviation (Chongqing) Ltd., AmSafe Bridport (Kunshan) Co. Ltd., AmSafe Bridport (Private) Ltd., AmSafe Bridport Ltd., AmSafe Global Holdings Inc., AmSafe Global Services (Private) Limited, AmSafe Inc., Arkwin Industries, Arkwin Industries Inc., Aviation Technologies, Aviation Technologies Inc., Avionic Instruments, Avionics Instruments, Avionics Specialties Inc., AvtechTyee Inc., Beta Transformer Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Beta Transformer Technology Corporation, Beta Transformer Technology LLC, Breeze-Eastern Corporation, Breeze-Eastern LLC, Bridport Erie Aviation Inc., Bridport Holdings Inc., Bridport Ltd., Bridport-Air Carrier Inc., Bruce Aerospace Inc., Bruce Industries, CDA InterCorp, CEF Industries LLC, Champion Aerospace, DDC Electronics K.K., DDC Electronics Ltd., DDC Electronics Private Limited, DDC Electronique S.A.R.L., DDC Elektronik GmbH, DDL195 Limited, Data Device Corp., Data Device Corporation, Dukes Aerospace Inc., Edlaw Limited, Electromech Technologies LLC, Elektro-Metall Export GmbH, Elektro-Metall Paks KFT, Esterline, Extant Components Group Holdings Inc., Extant Components Group Intermediate Inc., GQ Parachutes Limited, HARCO LLC, Harco, Hartwell Corporation, ILC Holdings Inc., Irvin Aerospace Limited, IrvinGQ France SAA, IrvinGQ Limited, Johnson Liverpool LLC, Kirkhill Elastomers, Kirkhill Inc., Kunshan Shield Restraint Systems Ltd., MarathonNorco Aerospace Inc., McKechnie Aerospace, McKechnie Aerospace (Europe) Ltd., McKechnie Aerospace DE Inc., McKechnie Aerospace DE LP, McKechnie Aerospace Holdings Inc., McKechnie Aerospace US LLC, Mecanismos de Matamoros S.A. de C.V., Militair Aviation Ltd., Norco, Nordisk Asia Pacific Limited, Nordisk Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, Nordisk Aviation Products (Kunshan) Ltd., Nordisk Aviation Products AS, North Hills Signal Processing Corp., North Hills Signal Processing Overseas Corp., Pascall Electronics Limited, Pemberton 123 Ltd., Pexco Aerospace, Pexco Aerospace Inc., PneuDraulics, PneuDraulics Inc., Rancho TransTechnology Corporation, Retainers Inc., SSP Industries, Schneller, Schneller Asia Pte. Ltd., Schneller S.A.R.L., Schroth Safety Products, Semco Instruments, Semco Instruments Inc., Shield Restraint Systems Inc., Shield Restraint Systems Ltd., Signal Processing Matamoros S.A. de C.V., Skandia, Skandia Inc., Skurka Aerospace, Skurka Aerospace Inc., Symetrics, Symetrics Industries LLC, Symetrics Technology Group LLC, TDG Germany GmbH, TEAC Aerospace Holdings Inc., TEAC Aerospace Technologies Inc., TTERUSA Inc., Tactair Fluid Controls Inc., Takata Protection Systems, Technical Airborne Components Industries SPRL, Telair International, Telair International AB, Telair International GmbH, Telair International LLC, Telair International Services PTE Ltd (JV 70.5%), Telair US LLC, Texas Rotronics Inc., TransDigm (Barbados) SRL, TransDigm European Holdings Limited, TransDigm Ireland Ltd., TransDigm Receivables LLC, TransDigm UK Holdings plc, Transicoil (Malaysia) Sendirian Berhad, Transicoil LLC, Whippany Actuation Systems, Whippany Actuation Systems LLC, XCEL Power Systems Ltd., Young & Franklin, and Young & Franklin Inc.. The following companies are subsidiares of Textron: AAI Corporation, AAI Services Corporation, ALSTOM Gears, Able Aerospace Services Inc., Able Engineering & Component Services, Aeronautical Accessories LLC, Airborne Tactical Advantage Company, Airborne Tactical Advantage Company LLC, Arctic Cat, Arctic Cat ACE Holding GmbH, Arctic Cat Deutschland GmbH, Arctic Cat Espana SL, Arctic Cat France SARL, Arctic Cat GmbH, Arctic Cat Inc., Arctic Cat Italia srl, Arctic Cat Production LLC, Arctic Cat Production Support LLC, Arctic Cat Sales Inc., Arctic Cat Shared Services LLC, Arctic Cat UK Ltd., Arkansas Aerospace, Arkansas Aerospace Inc., Avco Corporation, Avco Rhode Island (2002) Inc., Aviation Service servis letal, Aviation Service servis letal doo Ljubljana, Aylesbury Automation, B/K Navigational Equipment sro, Beech Aircraft Corporation, Beech Enterprises, Beech Enterprises Holding, Beech Holdings, Beechcraft, Beechcraft Australia Pty Limited, Beechcraft Corporation, Beechcraft Defense Company, Beechcraft Defense Support Holding, Beechcraft Defense Support Holding LLC, Beechcraft Domestic Service Company, Beechcraft Germany GmbH, Beechcraft Holdings, Beechcraft India Private Limited, Beechcraft International Holding LLC, Beechcraft International Service Company, Beechcraft New Zealand, Beechcraft Service Company UK Limited, Beechcraft Singapore Pte. Ltd., Bell Helicopter Asia (Pte) Ltd., Bell Helicopter Canada International Inc., Bell Helicopter GK, Bell Helicopter India Inc., Bell Helicopter KK, Bell Helicopter Korea Inc., Bell Helicopter Miami Inc., Bell Helicopter Prague, Bell Helicopter Prague a.s., Bell Helicopter Rhode Island Inc., Bell Helicopter Services Inc., Bell Helicopter Supply Center B.V., Bell Helicopter Supply Center BV, Bell Helicopter Textron Canada Limited/Limitee, Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., Bell Technical Services Inc., Benzlers, Brazaco Mapri Industrias, Burkland, CCP Holdings (ATAC), Cadillac Gage Textron Inc., Cam Tool LLC, Cessna Aircraft Company, Cessna Aircraft Rhode Island Inc., Cessna Citation European Service Center S.A.S., Cessna Citation European Service Center SAS, Cessna Consulting (Shenyang) Co, Cessna Consulting (Shenyang) Co. Ltd., Cessna Dusseldorf Citation Service Center GmbH, Cessna Finance Corporation, Cessna Finance Export Corporation, Cessna Mexico S de RL de CV, Cessna ServiceDirect, Cessna Spanish Citation Service Center SL, Cessna Zurich Citation Service Center GmbH, Citation Parts Distribution International, Citation Parts Distribution International Inc., Cushman, Cushman Inc., Datacom Technologies, David Brown Group, Doncaster Citation Service Centre Limited, E-Z-GO (Jiangsu) Electronic and Technology Co., E-Z-GO Canada Limited, EM Systems, ETOPS (AS) UK Limited, ETOPS Aviation Services Malaysia SDN BHD, ETOPS SAS, Endura-Greenlee Tools (Shanghai) Co., Energy Manufacturing, Flexalloy, Greenlee Communications Limited, Greenlee Textron Inc., Gustav Klauke GmbH, HBC LLC, HD Electric Company, Hawker Beech International Services de Mexico S de RL de CV, Hawker Beech de Mexico, Hawker Beech de Mexico S de RL de CV, Hawker Beechcraft Argentina SA, Hawker Beechcraft Global Customer Support, Hawker Beechcraft do Brasil Assessoria e Intermediacao de Negocios Ltda., Howe & Howe Technologies Inc., Howe and Howe Technologies, Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), Industrial Technology Inc., InteSys Technologies, International Product Support Inc., Jacobsen Professional Lawn Care Inc., KSB Annecy SAS, Kautex, Kautex (Changchun) Plastics Technology Co, Kautex (Changchun) Plastics Technology Co. Ltd., Kautex (Chongqing) Plastic Technology Co., Kautex (Chongqing) Plastic Technology Co. Ltd., Kautex (Guangzhou) Plastic Technology Co., Kautex (Guangzhou) Plastic Technology Co. Ltd., Kautex (Pinghu) Plastic Technology Co. Ltd., Kautex (Shanghai) Plastic Technology Co., Kautex (Shanghai) Plastic Technology Co. Ltd., Kautex (Wuhan) Plastic Technology Co., Kautex (Wuhan) Plastic Technology Co. Ltd., Kautex Corporation, Kautex Craiova srl, Kautex Inc., Kautex Japan KK, Kautex Plastic Technology Gujarat Private Limited, Kautex Poland Sp. z.o.o, Kautex Shanghai GmbH, Kautex Textron (UK) Limited, Kautex Textron Benelux B.V.B.A., Kautex Textron Benelux BVBA, Kautex Textron Bohemia spol sro, Kautex Textron Bohemia spol. s.r.o., Kautex Textron CVS Limited, Kautex Textron GmbH & Co. KG, Kautex Textron Iberica, Kautex Textron Iberica SL, Kautex Textron Management Services Company de Puebla, Kautex Textron Management Services Company de Puebla S. de RL de CV, Kautex Textron Portugal Produtos Plasticos, Kautex Textron Portugal Produtos Plasticos Ldas., Kautex Textron de Mexico S de RL de CV, Kautex Textron de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Kautex Textron do Brasil Ltda., Kautex of Georgia Inc., Kaywood Products Corp., King Atmosphere General & Industrial Services and Project Management, King Atmosphere General & Industrial Services and Project Management LLC, Klauke, Klauke France SARL, Klauke Handelsgesellschaft m.b.H., Klauke Polska Sp. z o.o., Klauke Slovakia sro, Klauke Textron (Jiangsu) Electrical Connection Technology Co., Klauke UK Limited, LLC Hawker Beechcraft International RSA, LLC Textron RUS, Maag, McCord Corporation, McTurbine Inc., Mechtronix Systems, Medical Numerics, Medical Numerics Inc., Midland Industrial Plastics, MillenWorks, MillenWorks Themed Technologies, MotorFist LLC, OPINICUS Simulation and Training Services, OPINICUS Simulation and Training Services LLC, OmniQuip International, Opinicus Corp., Optical Boring Co., Opto-Electronics, Opto-Electronics Inc., Overwatch Systems, Overwatch Systems Ltd., PEINER Umformtechnik, Pirelli Tyres - General Rubber Goods (GRG) division, Progressive Electronics, Ransomes, Ransomes America Corporation, Ransomes Inc., Ransomes Investment LLC, Ransomes Jacobsen France S.A.S., Ransomes Jacobsen France SAS, Ransomes Jacobsen Limited, Ransomes Limited, Ransomes Pensions Trustee Company Limited, Ransomes Property Developments Limited, Replacement Part Solutions, Replacement Part Solutions LLC, Ring Screw Works, Rotor Blades Limited, STE Holding Inc., Sherman + Reilly, SkyBOOKS Inc., Suekosim Verbindungselemente, TRAK International, TRAK International Inc., TRU Simulation & Training Spain, TRU Simulation & Training Spain SL, TRU Simulation + Training Canada Inc., TRU Simulation + Training Inc., TRU Simulation + Training LLC, TUG Technologies Corporation, TekGPS Engineering Srl, Textron Acquisition Limited, Textron Airborne Solutions Inc., Textron Airland, Textron Airland LLC, Textron Atlantic Inc., Textron Atlantic LLC, Textron Aviation Australia Pty. Ltd., Textron Aviation Canada Ltd., Textron Aviation Defense LLC, Textron Aviation Finance Corporation, Textron Aviation Inc, Textron Aviation Inc., Textron Aviation Rhode Island Inc., Textron Capital BV, Textron China Holdings S.R.L., Textron China Inc., Textron Communications Inc., Textron Far East Pte, Textron Far East Pte. Ltd., Textron Fastening Systems Inc., Textron Finance Holding Company, Textron Financial Corporation, Textron Financial Corporation Receivables Trust 2002-CP-2, Textron Fluid and Power Inc., Textron France E.U.R.L., Textron France EURL, Textron France Holding S.A.R.L., Textron France Holding SARL, Textron Germany Holding GmbH, Textron Global Services Inc., Textron Ground Support Equipment Inc., Textron Ground Support Equipment UK Limited, Textron IPMP Inc., Textron Iberia, Textron India Private Limited, Textron Innovations Inc., Textron International Holding, Textron International Holding BV, Textron International Inc., Textron International Mexico, Textron International Mexico S de RL de CV, Textron Limited, Textron Management Services Inc., Textron Motors GmbH, Textron Motors North America Inc., Textron Outdoor Power Equipment Inc., Textron Realty Corporation, Textron Rhode Island Inc., Textron Shared Service Centre (Canada) Inc., Textron Specialized Vehicles Inc., Textron Sweden AB, Textron Systems Australia Holding Pty Ltd, Textron Systems Australia Pty Ltd, Textron Systems Canada Inc., Textron Systems Corporation, Textron Systems Electronic Systems UK (Holdings) Limited, Textron Systems Electronic Systems UK Limited, Textron Systems Rhode Island (2001) Inc., Textron Trading (Shanghai) Co., Textron Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Textron UK Pension Trustee Limited, Textron Ulasm Alet ve Parcalar Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Textron Verwaltungs-GmbH, Travel Air Insurance Company, Turbine Engine Components Textron (Newington Operations) Inc., United Industrial Corporation, United Industrial Corporation Limited, Westminster Insurance Company, Williams Machine & Tool, and Wuxi Textron Specialized Vehicles Co. Ltd.. Southern Copper Corporation engages in mining, exploring, smelting, and refining copper and other minerals in Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, and Chile. The company is involved in the mining, milling, and flotation of copper ore to produce copper and molybdenum concentrates; smelting of copper concentrates to produce blister and anode copper; refining of anode copper to produce copper cathodes; production of molybdenum concentrate and sulfuric acid; production of refined silver, gold, and other materials; and mining and processing of zinc and lead. It operates the Toquepala and Cuajone open-pit mines, and a smelter and refinery in Peru; and La Caridad, an open-pit copper mine, as well as a copper ore concentrator, a SX-EW plant, a smelter, refinery, and a rod plant in Mexico. The company also operates Buenavista, an open-pit copper mine, as well as two copper concentrators and two operating SX-EW plants in Mexico. In addition, it operates five underground mines that produce zinc, lead, copper, silver, and gold; a coal mine that produces coal and coke; and a zinc refinery. The company has interests in 59,252 hectares of exploration concessions in Peru; 503,104 hectares of exploration concessions in Mexico; 229,312 hectares of exploration concessions in Argentina; 27,353 hectares of exploration concessions in Chile; and 7,299 hectares of exploration concessions in Ecuador. Southern Copper Corporation was incorporated in 1952 and is based in Phoenix, Arizona. Southern Copper Corporation is a subsidiary of Americas Mining Corporation. Read More Actor Ju Ji-hoon, second from left, speaks during a press conference for MBC's new sci-fi fantasy drama "Item" at the network's headquarters in Seoul, Monday. / Courtesy of MBC By Park Jin-hai What if ordinary people discover special items like a bracelet that gives them psychokinetic powers or a future-seeing Polaroid camera? What would they try to do with them? MBC's sci-fi blockbuster "Item" starring Ju Ji-hoon starts with these questions. The webcomic-based fantasy drama tells the story of a prosecutor and criminal profiler duo who track down a conspiracy revolving around items that enable ordinary people to gain "superpowers." The much-anticipated Monday-Tuesday drama premiered Feb. 11 with a good start, debuting with 4.9 percent viewership. The first episode started with a strange dream of Kang Gon, played by Ju, of panicked passengers trapped in a runaway train. Kang wearing a mysterious bracelet with a blue aura jumps down onto the train tracks, wields enormous power and stops the disaster. Also in his dream, he sees a woman jumping from a building. Later, Kang, a prosecutor, confronts a criminal wearing a bracelet similar to the one from his dream. The criminal breaks a wall with his fist and brags that he is a "special being." As they grapple, the bracelet falls off and falls into the sea. Actor Kim Kang-woo takes on the role of a villain, a sociopathic heir of a conglomerate who collects the items giving supernatural powers using his power and wealth. He shows his madness after finding out his bracelet was stolen. As the future-showing Polaroid kept in a safe produces a photo of Kang's niece with the bracelet, the drama signals a tragedy in the next episode. Although the drama takes those superpower items as the subject of storytelling and makes ravish use of computer graphics, its producer Kim Seong-wook says the main focus is not about demonstrating extraordinary powers only applied to certain superheroes such as the Avengers or X-Men. "Special items appear in films like Doctor Strange and The Lord of the Rings. What I wanted to show in the drama is what would happen when ordinary Koreans who live today come into contact with such enchanted objects," the producer said. With well-made computer graphics and quality acting, the drama also boasts great film-like cinematography. Actor Ju, who had one of the most prolific years last year with hit films such as the "Along with the Gods" series, "The Spy Gone North" and "Dark Figure of Crime," says he decided to join this project out of curiosity as to how the story could be featured in a drama format. "This drama uses blockbuster-like visual effects as a side dish, but its main dish is about people's lives. It is eye-pleasing but at the same time has a strong story that anyone living today can symphonize with," Ju said. Actress Jin Se-yeon plays criminal profiler Shin So-young, who decided to "read" criminals' minds after her mother is murdered. Veteran actor Kim Kang-woo plays sociopath Cho Se-hwang who murders anyone who gets in his way. "In the past, a sociopath was a rare character. But now so many dramas and films feature such characters and they serve as stereotypical characters," Kim said telling of the difficulty in acting his character. "As anyone can have an evil side in them, I try to pick up on those elements and focus on them." Kokomo, IN (46901) Today Partly to mostly cloudy. High around 85F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Overcast with showers at times. Thunder possible. Low 69F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Speaking on the occasion, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Le Minh Hung praised Vietcombank as one of the best banks in Vietnam. The NA Chairwoman expressed joy at the assessment, which she said was proved by statistics that showed the banks pre-tax profit reached a record of nearly 18.4 trillion VND in 2018, the highest in the banking system in the country. The ratio of Vietcombanks bad debt has also dropped to 0.97 percent. She urged the bank to build on its achievements and strive for sustainable growth, thus contributing resources to national development. The same day, the NA leader also paid a visit to the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC). Recognising the customs sectors efforts in deploying the national single window mechanism, Chairwoman Ngan said as the Standing Office of the National Steering Committee on ASEAN Single Window (ASW), National Single Window (NSW) and trade facilitation, the GDVC has actively advised the Finance Ministry in enhancing the effectiveness of inspections in the field, and assisted the Prime Minister in issuing a plan of actions to promote the NSW and ASW, reform the specialised inspections of imports-exports and trade facilitation for 2018-2020, creating a turning point in Vietnams administrative reform towards an e-government. She also hailed the customs sector in the fight against smuggling and trade frauds. Ngan urged the sector to continue expanding the NSW and ASW while performing well the functions of the Standing Office of the National Steering Committee on ASW, NSW and trade facilitation, along with its other tasks. 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. MEDNAX, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides newborn, maternal-fetal, pediatric cardiology, and other pediatric subspecialty care services in the United States and Puerto Rico. It offers neonatal care services, such as clinical care to babies born prematurely or with complications within specific units at hospitals through neonatal physician subspecialists, neonatal nurse practitioners, and other pediatric clinicians. The company also provides maternal-fetal care services, including inpatient and office-based clinical care to expectant mothers and unborn babies through affiliated maternal-fetal medicine subspecialists, as well as obstetricians and other clinicians, including maternal-fetal nurse practitioners, certified nurse mid-wives, ultrasonographers, and genetic counselors. In addition, it offers pediatric cardiology care services comprising inpatient and office-based pediatric cardiology care of the fetus, infant, child, and adolescent patient with congenital heart defects and acquired heart disease, as well as adults with congenital heart defects through affiliated pediatric cardiologist subspecialists and other related clinical professionals; and specialized cardiac care to the fetus, neonatal and pediatric patients. Further, the company provides other pediatric subspecialty care services through pediatric subspecialists, such as pediatric intensivists, pediatric hospitalists, pediatric surgeons, and pediatric ophthalmologists, as well as pediatric ear, nose, and throat physicians; and support services in the areas of hospitals, primarily in the pediatric emergency rooms, labor and delivery areas, and nursery and pediatric departments. As of March 16, 2021, it operated a network of approximately 2,300 physicians. The company was founded in 1979 and is based in Sunrise, Florida. Read More KeyCorp operates as the holding company for KeyBank National Association that provides various retail and commercial banking products and services in the United States. It operates in two segments, Consumer Bank and Commercial Bank. The company offers various deposits, investment products and services; and personal finance and financial wellness, student loan refinancing, mortgage and home equity, lending, credit card, treasury, business advisory, wealth management, asset management, cash management, portfolio management, and trust and related services to individuals and small and medium-sized businesses. It also provides a suite of banking and capital market products, such as syndicated finance, debt and equity capital market products, commercial payments, equipment finance, commercial mortgage banking, derivatives, foreign exchange, financial advisory, and public finance, as well as commercial mortgage loans comprising consumer, energy, healthcare, industrial, public sector, real estate, and technology loans for middle market clients. In addition, the company offers community development financing, securities underwriting, brokerage, and investment banking services. As of February 25, 2021, it operated through a network of approximately 1,000 branches and 1,400 ATMs in 15 states, as well as additional offices, online and mobile banking capabilities, and a telephone banking call center. KeyCorp, through its subsidiary, KeyBank National Association, has a strategic alliance with XUP, Inc. to provide digital and physical merchant services. The company was founded in 1849 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Read More Wall Street analysts have given iShares Micro-Cap ETF a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but iShares Micro-Cap ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys. View MarketBeat's top stock picks here. The following companies are subsidiares of HCA Healthcare: 2490 Church LLC, 360 Community Alliance LLC, 4600 Waters Avenue Professional Building Condominium Association Inc., 52 Alderley Road LLP, AC Med LLC, ACH Inc., ADC Surgicenter LLC, AOGN LLC, AOSC Sports Medicine Inc., AR Holding 1 LLC, AR Holding 10 LLC, AR Holding 11 LLC, AR Holding 12 LLC, AR Holding 13 LLC, AR Holding 14 LLC, AR Holding 15 LLC, AR Holding 16 LLC, AR Holding 17 LLC, AR Holding 18 LLC, AR Holding 19 LLC, AR Holding 2 LLC, AR Holding 20 LLC, AR Holding 21 LLC, AR Holding 22 LLC, AR Holding 23 LLC, AR Holding 24 LLC, AR Holding 25 LLC, AR Holding 26 LLC, AR Holding 27 LLC, AR Holding 28 LLC, AR Holding 29 LLC, AR Holding 30 LLC, AR Holding 31 LLC, AR Holding 4 LLC, AR Holding 5 LLC, AR Holding 6 LLC, AR Holding 7 LLC, AR Holding 8 LLC, AR Holding 9 LLC, ASD Shared Services LLC, Acadiana Care Center Inc., Acadiana Practice Management Inc., Acadiana Regional Pharmacy Inc., Access 2 Health Care Physicians LLC, Access Health Care Physicians LLC, Access Management Co. LLC, Ace Leasing II LLC, Acute Kids Urgent Care of Medical City Childrens Hospital PLLC, Acworth Immediate Care LLC, Administrative Physicians of North Texas PLLC, Advanced Bundle Convener LLC, Advanced Plastic Surgery Center of Terre Haute LLC, Advanced Practice Providers of Gulf Coast PLLC, Alaska Regional Medical Group LLC, Albany Family Practice LLC, Aligned Business Consortium Group L.P., All About Staffing (India) Ltd., All About Staffing Inc., All About Staffing Philippines Inc., Alleghany General and Bariatric Services LLC, Alleghany Hospitalists LLC, Alleghany Primary Care Inc., Alleghany Specialists LLC, Alliance Surgicare LLC, Alpine Surgicenter LLC, Alta Internal Medicine LLC, Alternaco LLC, Altitude Mid Level Providers LLC, Ambulatory Endoscopy Clinic of Dallas Ltd., Ambulatory Endoscopy Holdco LLC, Ambulatory Laser Associates GP, Ambulatory Services Management Corporation of Chesterfield County Inc., Ambulatory Surgery Center Group Ltd., American Medicorp Development Co., Anchorage Surgicenter LLC, AppleCare/Memorial Immediate Care Joint Venture LLC, Appledore Medical Group II Inc., Appledore Medical Group Inc., Appomattox Imaging LLC, Arapahoe Surgicenter LLC, Arlington Diagnostic South Inc., Arlington Neurosurgeons PLLC, Arlington Primary Care PLLC, Arlington Primary Medicine PLLC, Arlington Surgery Center L.P., Arlington Surgicare LLC, Arthritis Specialists of Nashville Inc., Ashburn ASC LLC, Ashburn Imaging LLC, Athens Community Hospital Inc., Atlanta Healthcare Management L.P., Atlanta Home Care L.P., Atlanta Market GP Inc., Atlanta Outpatient Surgery Center Inc., Atlanta Surgery Center Ltd., Atlantis Surgicare LLC, Atrium Surgery Center L.P., Atrium Surgicare LLC, Augusta CyberKnife LLC, Augusta Inpatient Services LLC, Augusta Management Services LLC, Augusta Multispecialty Services LLC, Augusta Primary Care Services LLC, Augusta Specialty Hospitalists LLC, Augusta Urgent Care Services LLC, Aurora Endoscopy Surgicenter LLC, Austin GI Surgicenter LLC, Austin Heart Cardiology MSO LLC, Austin Medical Center Inc., Austin Physicians Management LLC, Austin Urogynecology PLLC, Aventura Cancer Center Manager LLC, Aventura Comprehensive Cancer Research Group of Florida Inc., Aventura Healthcare Specialists LLC, Aventura Neurosurgery LLC, BAMI Property LLC, Backlogs Limited, Bailey Square Ambulatory Surgical Center Ltd., Bailey Square Outpatient Surgical Center Inc., Bannerman Family Care LLC, Barrow Medical Center CT Services Ltd., Basic American Medical Inc., Basil Street Practice Limited, Bay Area Healthcare Group Ltd., Bay Area Surgical Center Investors Ltd., Bay Area Surgicare Center Inc., Bay Area Surgicenter LLC, Bay Hospital Inc., Bayonet Point Surgery Center Ltd., Bayshore Family Practitioners PLLC, Bayshore Multi-Specialty Group PLLC, Bayshore Occupational and Family Medicine PLLC, Bayshore Partner LLC, Bayshore Radiation Oncology Services PLLC, Bayshore Surgery Center Ltd., Bayside Ambulatory Center LLC, Bedford-Northeast Community Hospital Inc., Behavioral Health Sciences of West Florida LLC, Behavioral Health Wellness Center LLC, Bellaire Imaging Inc., Belleair Surgery Center Ltd., Belton Family Practice Clinic LLC, Big Cypress Medical Center Inc., Blacksburg Family Care LLC, Blossoms Healthcare LLP, Blue Ridge-TKC LLC, Bone & Joint Specialists Physician Group LLC, Bonita Bay Surgery Center Inc., Bonita Bay Surgery Center Ltd., Bountiful Surgery Center LLC, Boynton Beach EFL Imaging Center LLC, Bradenton Cardiology Physician Network LLC, Bradenton Outpatient Services LLC, Brandon Imaging Manager LLC, Brandon Regional Cancer Center LLC, Brentwood ASC LLC, Brigham City Community Hospital Inc., Brigham City Community Hospital Physician Services LLC, Brigham City Health Plan Inc., Brighton Surgicenter LLC, Brookwood Medical Center of Gulfport Inc., Broward Cardiovascular Surgeons LLC, Broward Healthcare System Inc., Broward Neurosurgeons LLC, Brownsville Specialists of Texas PLLC, Brownsville Surgery PLLC, Brownsville Surgical Specialists PLLC, Brownsville Surgicenter LLC, Brownsville-Valley Regional Medical Center Inc., Buford Road Imaging L.L.C., Byron Family Practice LLC, C. Medrano M.D. PLLC, C/HCA Capital Inc., C/HCA Development Inc., C/HCA Inc., CAREOS Surgicenter LLC, CC Clinic PLLC, CCBH Psychiatric Hospitalists LLC, CCH-GP Inc., CFC Investments Inc., CH Systems, CHC Finance Co., CHC Holdings Inc., CHC Management Ltd., CHC Payroll Agent Inc., CHC Payroll Company, CHC Realty Company, CHC Venture Co., CHC-El Paso Corp., CHC-Miami Corp., CHCA Bayshore L.P., CHCA Clear Lake L.P., CHCA Conroe L.P., CHCA Mainland L.P., CHCA Pearland L.P., CHCA West Houston L.P., CHCA Womans Hospital L.P., CHCK Inc., CJW Infectious Disease LLC, CJW Wound Healing Center LLC, CLASC Manager LLC, COL-NAMC Holdings Inc., COSCORP LLC, CP Surgery Center LLC, CPS TN Processor 1 Inc., CRMC-M LLC, CUC PLLC, CVMC Property LLC, Calder Immediate Care PLLC, California Imaging Center Manager LLC, California Urgent Care LLC, Calloway Creek Surgery Center L.P., Calloway Creek Surgicare LLC, Cancer Centers of North Florida LLC, Cancer Services of Aventura LLC, Capital Anesthesia Services LLC, Capital Area Cardiology, Capital Area CareNow Physician Associates, Capital Area Multispecialty Providers, Capital Area Neurosurgeons, Capital Area Occupational Medicine PLLC, Capital Area Primary Care PLLC, Capital Area Primary Care Providers, Capital Area Providers, Capital Area Specialists PLLC, Capital Area Specialty Providers, Capital Area Surgeons PLLC, Capital Division - CCA Inc., Capital Division Inc., Capital Network Services Inc., Capital Professional Billing LLC, Capital Regional Healthcare LLC, Capital Regional Heart Associates LLC, Capital Regional Psychiatry Associates LLC, Cardiac Surgical Associates LLC, Cardio Vascular Surgeons of North Texas PLLC, Cardiology Associates Medical Group LLC, Cardiology Clinic of San Antonio PLLC, Cardiology Specialists of North Texas PLLC, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons of Texas PLLC, Care for Women LLC, CareNow, CareOne Home Health Services Inc., CarePartners HHA Holdings LLLP, CarePartners HHA LLLP, CarePartners Rehabilitation Hospital LLLP, CareSpot Professional Services of Middle Tennessee LLC, CareSpot of Brentwood (210 Franklin Road) LLC, CareSpot of Cool Springs (100 International Drive) LLC, CareSpot of Donelson (2372 Lebanon Road) LLC, CareSpot of Hendersonville (280 Indian Lake Boulevard) LLC, CareSpot of Hermitage (5225 Old Hickory Boulevard) LLC, CareSpot of Lebanon (1705 West Main Street) LLC, CareSpot of Mt. Juliet (S. Mt. Juliet Road) LLC, CareSpot of Murfreesboro (1340 Broad Street) LLC, CareSpot of Nashville (2001 Glen Echo Road) LLC, CareSpot of Nashville (West End Avenue) LLC, Career Staffing USA Inc., Carlin Springs Urgent Care LLC, Carolina Forest Imaging Manager LLC, Carolina Regional Surgery Center Inc., Carolina Regional Surgery Center Ltd., Cartersville Medical Center LLC, Cartersville Occupational Medicine Center LLC, Cartersville Physician Practice I LLC, Catalog360 Limited, Cedar Creek Medical Group LLC, Cedars International Cardiology Consultants LLC, Cedars Medical Center Hospitalists LLC, Centennial Cardiovascular Consultants LLC, Centennial CyberKnife Center LLC, Centennial CyberKnife Manager LLC, Centennial Heart LLC, Centennial Hospitalists LLC, Centennial Neuroscience LLC, Centennial Psychiatric Associates LLC, Centennial Surgery Center L.P., Centennial Surgical Associates LLC, Centennial Surgical Clinic LLC, Centennial Womens Group LLC, Center for Advanced Diagnostics LLC, Center for Advanced Imaging LLC, Center for Digestive Diseases LLC, Center for Occupational Medicine LLC, Centerpoint Cardiology Services LLC, Centerpoint Clinic of Blue Springs LLC, Centerpoint Hospital Based Physicians LLC, Centerpoint Medical Center of Independence LLC, Centerpoint Medical Specialists LLC, Centerpoint Orthopedics LLC, Centerpoint Physicians Group LLC, Centerpoint Womens Services LLC, Central Florida Cardiology Interpretations LLC, Central Florida Division Practice Inc., Central Florida Health Services LLC, Central Florida Imaging Services LLC, Central Florida Management Services LLC, Central Florida Obstetrics & Gynecology Associates LLC, Central Florida Physician Network LLC, Central Florida Regional Hospital Inc., Central Health Holding Company Inc., Central Pasco LLC, Central San Antonio Surgical Center Investors Ltd., Central Shared Services LLC, Central Tennessee Hospital Corporation, Central Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Physicians PLLC, Centrum Surgery Center Ltd., Charleston CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Chatsworth Hospital Corp., Chattanooga ASC Acquisition Inc., Chattanooga Diagnostic Associates LLC, Chattanooga Healthcare Network L.P., Chattanooga Healthcare Network Partner Inc., Chelsea Outpatient Centre LLP, Chesterfield Imaging LLC, Chicago Grant Hospital Inc., Childrens Multi-Specialty Group LLC, Chino Community Hospital Corporation Inc., Chippenham & Johnston-Willis Hospitals Inc., Chippenham & Johnston-Willis Sports Medicine LLC, Chippenham Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Chippenham Pediatric Specialists LLC, Chiswick Outpatient Centre LLP, Christiansburg Family Medicine LLC, Christiansburg Internal Medicine LLC, Christina Cano-Gonzalez M.D. PLLC, Chugach PT Inc., Church Street Partners, Citrus Memorial Hospital Inc., Citrus Memorial Property Management Inc., Citrus Primary Care Inc., Citrus Specialty Group Inc., Citrus Surgicenter LLC, City of San Antonio H2U Employee Health and Wellness Center PLLC, Clarksville Surgicenter LLC, Clear Creek Surgery Center LLC, Clear Lake Cardiac Catheterization Center L.P., Clear Lake Cardiac GP LLC, Clear Lake Family Physicians PLLC, Clear Lake Medical Tower Owners Association Inc., Clear Lake Merger LLC, Clear Lake Multi-Specialty Group PLLC, Clear Lake Regional Medical Center Inc., Clear Lake Regional Partner LLC, Clear Lake Surgicare Ltd., ClinicServ LLC, Clinical Education Shared Services LLC, Clinishare Inc., Coastal Bend Hospital CT Services Ltd., Coastal Bend Hospital Inc., Coastal Carolina Home Care Inc., Coastal Carolina Multispecialty Associates LLC, Coastal Carolina Primary Care LLC, Coastal Healthcare Services Inc., Coastal Imaging Center L.P., Coastal Imaging Center of Gulfport Inc., Coastal Inpatient Physicians LLC, Coliseum Health Group Inc., Coliseum Health Group LLC, Coliseum Medical Center LLC, Coliseum Park Hospital Inc., Coliseum Primary Care Services LLC, Coliseum Primary Healthcare - Macon LLC, Coliseum Primary Healthcare - Riverside LLC, Coliseum Professional Associates LLC, Coliseum Same Day Surgery Center L.P., Coliseum Surgery Center L.L.C., College Park Ancillary LLC, College Park Endoscopy Center LLC, College Park Radiology LLC, Colleton Ambulatory Care LLC, Colleton Diagnostic Center LLC, Colleton Medical Anesthesia LLC, Colleton Medical Hospitalists LLC, Colleton Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery LLC, Collier County Home Health Agency Inc., Collin County Diagnostic Associates PLLC, Colorado Health Systems Inc., Columbia ASC Management L.P., Columbia Ambulatory Surgery Division Inc., Columbia Arlington Healthcare System L.L.C., Columbia Bay Area Realty Ltd., Columbia Behavioral Health Ltd., Columbia Behavioral Healthcare Inc., Columbia Behavioral Healthcare of South Florida Inc., Columbia Call Center Inc., Columbia Central Florida Division Inc., Columbia Central Group Inc., Columbia Champions Treatment Center Inc., Columbia Chicago Division Inc., Columbia Coliseum Same Day Surgery Center Inc., Columbia Development of Florida Inc., Columbia Doctors Hospital of Tulsa Inc., Columbia Eye and Specialty Surgery Center Ltd., Columbia Florida Group Inc., Columbia GP of Mesquite Inc., Columbia Good Samaritan Health System Limited Partnership, Columbia Greater Houston Division Healthcare Network Inc., Columbia Health System of Arkansas Inc., Columbia Healthcare System of Louisiana Inc., Columbia Healthcare of Central Virginia Inc., Columbia Hospital Corporation at the Medical Center, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Arlington, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Bay Area, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Central Miami, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Corpus Christi, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Fort Worth, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Houston, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Kendall, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Massachusetts Inc., Columbia Hospital Corporation of Miami, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Miami Beach, Columbia Hospital Corporation of North Miami Beach, Columbia Hospital Corporation of South Broward, Columbia Hospital Corporation of South Dade, Columbia Hospital Corporation of South Florida, Columbia Hospital Corporation of South Miami, Columbia Hospital Corporation of Tamarac, Columbia Hospital Corporation of West Houston, Columbia Hospital Corporation-Delaware, Columbia Hospital Corporation-SMM, Columbia Hospital at Medical City Dallas Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Hospital-El Paso Ltd., Columbia Integrated Health Systems Inc., Columbia Jacksonville Healthcare System Inc., Columbia LaGrange Hospital LLC, Columbia Lake Worth Surgical Center Limited Partnership, Columbia Medical Arts Hospital Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Medical Center Dallas Southwest Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Medical Center at Lancaster Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Medical Center of Arlington Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Medical Center of Denton Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Medical Center of Las Colinas Inc., Columbia Medical Center of Lewisville Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Medical Center of McKinney Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Medical Center of Plano Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Medical Group - Centennial Inc., Columbia Medical Group - Daystar Inc., Columbia Medical Group - Parkridge Inc., Columbia Medical Group - Southern Hills Inc., Columbia Medical Group - Southwest Virginia Inc., Columbia Medical Group - The Frist Clinic Inc., Columbia Midtown Joint Venture, Columbia North Alaska Healthcare Inc., Columbia North Central Florida Health System Limited Partnership, Columbia North Florida Regional Medical Center Limited Partnership, Columbia North Hills Hospital Subsidiary L.P., Columbia North Texas Healthcare System L.P., Columbia North Texas Subsidiary GP LLC, Columbia North Texas Surgery Center Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Northwest Medical Center Inc., Columbia Northwest Medical Center Partners Ltd., Columbia Ocala Regional Medical Center Physician Group Inc., Columbia Ogden Medical Center Inc., Columbia Oklahoma Division Inc., Columbia Palm Beach GP LLC, Columbia Palm Beach Healthcare System Limited Partnership, Columbia Park Healthcare System Inc., Columbia Park Medical Center Inc., Columbia Parkersburg Healthcare System LLC, Columbia Pentagon City Hospital L.L.C., Columbia Physician Services - Florida Group Inc., Columbia Plaza Medical Center of Fort Worth Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Primary Care LLC, Columbia Psychiatric Management Co., Columbia Resource Network Inc., Columbia Rio Grande Healthcare L.P., Columbia Riverside Inc., Columbia South Texas Division Inc., Columbia Specialty Hospital of Dallas Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Specialty Hospitals Inc., Columbia Surgery Group Inc., Columbia Surgicare of Augusta Ltd., Columbia Tampa Bay Division Inc., Columbia Valley Healthcare System L.P., Columbia West Bank Hospital Inc., Columbia Westbank Healthcare L.P., Columbia-CSA/HS Greater Canton Area Healthcare System L.P., Columbia-CSA/HS Greater Cleveland Area Healthcare System L.P., Columbia-Georgia PT Inc., Columbia-Osceola Imaging Center Inc., Columbia-Quantum Inc., Columbia-SDH Holdings Inc., Columbia/Alleghany Regional Hospital Incorporated, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation of Central Texas, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation of Northern Ohio, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation of South Carolina, Columbia/HCA Heartcare of Corpus Christi Inc., Columbia/HCA International Group Inc., Columbia/HCA John Randolph Inc., Columbia/HCA Middle East Management Company, Columbia/HCA Physician Hospital Organization Medical Center Hospital, Columbia/HCA San Clemente Inc., Columbia/HCA of Baton Rouge Inc., Columbia/HCA of Houston Inc., Columbia/HCA of New Orleans Inc., Columbia/HCA of North Texas Inc., Columbine Psychiatric Center Inc., Columbus Cardiology Inc., Columbus Cath Lab Inc., Columbus Cath Lab LLC, Columbus Doctors Hospital Inc., Commonwealth Perinatal Services LLC, Commonwealth Specialists of Kentucky LLC, Community Hospital Family Practice LLC, Comprehensive Radiation Oncology LLC, Comprehensive Radiology Management Services Ltd., Concept EFL Imaging Center LLC, Concept West EFL Imaging Center LLC, Congenital Heart Surgery Center PLLC, Conroe Hospital Corporation, Conroe Montgomery Physicians Group PLLC, Conroe Orthopedic Specialists PLLC, Conroe Partner LLC, Conroe Specialists of Texas PLLC, Continental Division I Inc., Coral Springs Surgi-Center Ltd., CoralStone Management Inc., Corpus Christi Healthcare Group Ltd., Corpus Christi Heart Clinic PLLC, Corpus Christi Primary Care Associates PLLC, Corpus Christi Psychiatric Specialists PLLC, Corpus Christi Radiation Oncology PLLC, Corpus Christi Surgery Center L.P., Corpus Christi Surgery Ltd., Corpus Christi Surgicenter LLC, Corpus Surgicare Inc., Countryside Surgery Center Ltd., Crewe Outpatient Imaging LLC, Cumberland Medical Center Inc., Cy-Fair Medical Center Hospital LLC, DFW Physicians Group PLLC, DOMC Property LLC, DS Real Estate Holdings LLC, Daleville Imaging L.P., Daleville Imaging Manager LLC, Dallas CardioThoracic Surgery Consultants PLLC, Dallas Cardiology Specialists PLLC, Dallas Hand Surgery Center PLLC, Dallas Medical Specialists PLLC, Dallas Neuro-Stroke Affiliates PLLC, Dallas Pediatric Neurosurgery Specialists PLLC, Dallas/Ft. Worth Physician LLC, Davie Medical Center LLC, Daytona Medical Center Inc., Dean 4641 LLC, Deep Purple Investments LLC, Del Sol Bariatric Clinic PLLC, Delray EFL Imaging Center LLC, Denton Cancer Center PLLC, Denton County Hospitalist Program PLLC, Denton Pediatric Physicians PLLC, Denton Regional Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Denver Clinic Surgicenter LLC, Denver Mid-Town Surgery Center Ltd., Denver Surgicenter LLC, Derry ASC Inc., Diagnostic Breast Center Inc., Diagnostic Mammography Services G.P., Diagnostic Services G.P., Dickson Surgery Center L.P., Doctors Bay Area Physician Hospital Organization, Doctors Hospital (Conroe) Inc., Doctors Hospital Columbus GA-Joint Venture, Doctors Hospital Surgery Center L.P., Doctors Hospital of Augusta LLC, Doctors Hospital of Augusta Neurology LLC, Doctors Osteopathic Medical Center Inc., Doctors Same Day Surgery Center Inc., Doctors Same Day Surgery Center Ltd., Doctors-I Inc., Doctors-II Inc., Doctors-III Inc., Doctors-IV Inc., Doctors-IX Inc., Doctors-V Inc., Doctors-VI Inc., Doctors-VII Inc., Doctors-VIII Inc., Doctors-X Inc., Doctors Memorial Hospital of Spartanburg Limited Partnership, Dominion Hospital Physicians Group LLC, Dublin Community Hospital LLC, Dublin Heart Specialists LLC, Dublin Multispecialty LLC, Dura Medical Inc., E.P. Physical Therapy Centers Inc., EASTSIDE URGENT CARE LLC, EHCA Diagnostics LLC, EHCA Eastside Occupational Medicine Center LLC, EHCA LLC, EHCA Metropolitan LLC, EHCA Parkway LLC, EHCA Peachtree LLC, EHCA West Paces LLC, EIRMC Hospitalist Services LLC, EMMC LLC, EP Health LLC, EP Holdco LLC, EPIC Development Inc., EPIC Diagnostic Centers Inc., EPIC Healthcare Management Company, EPIC Properties Inc., EPIC Surgery Centers Inc., EPSC L.P., East Falls Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery LLC, East Falls Family Medicine LLC, East Falls Plastic Surgery LLC, East Florida - DMC Inc., East Florida Behavioral Health Network LLC, East Florida Cardiology Network LLC, East Florida CareNow Urgent Care LLC, East Florida Division Inc., East Florida Emergency Physician Group LLC, East Florida Healthcare LLC, East Florida Hospitalists LLC, East Florida Imaging Holdings LLC, East Florida Primary Care LLC, East Houston Primary Care PLLC, East Houston Specialists PLLC, East Layton Internal Medicine LLC, East Orthopedics PLLC, East Pointe Hospital Inc., Eastern Idaho Brachytherapy Equipment LLC, Eastern Idaho Brachytherapy Equipment Manager LLC, Eastern Idaho Care Partners ACO LLC, Eastern Idaho Care Partners Holdings LLC, Eastern Idaho Care Partners LLC, Eastern Idaho Health Services Inc., Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center Inpatient Services LLC, Eastside Behavioral Health Associates LLC, Eastside General Surgery LLC, Eastside Heart and Vascular LLC, Eastside Medical Center LLC, Eastside Surgery Center LLC, Edmond General Surgery LLC, Edmond Hospitalists LLC, Edmond Physician Hospital Organization Inc., Edward White Hospital Inc., El Paso CareNow Urgent Care PLLC, El Paso Healthcare Provider Network, El Paso Healthcare System Ltd., El Paso Healthcare System Physician Services LLC, El Paso Nurses Unlimited Inc., El Paso Primary Care PLLC, El Paso Surgery Centers L.P., El Paso Surgicenter Inc., Eldridge Family Practitioners PLLC, Elite Family Health of Plano PLLC, Elite OB-GYN Services of El Paso PLLC, Elite Orthopaedics of El Paso PLLC, Elite Orthopaedics of Irving PLLC, Elite Orthopaedics of Plano PLLC, Elstree Outpatient Centre LLP, Emergency Physicians at Wesley Medical Center LLC, Emergency Providers Group LLC, Emergency Psychiatric Medicine PLLC, Encino Hospital Corporation Inc., Endocrinology Associates of Lees Summit LLC, Endoscopy Surgicare of Plano LLC, Endoscopy of Plano L.P., Englewood Community Hospital Auxiliary Inc., Englewood Community Hospital Inc., Envision Stakes LLC, Eye Care Surgicare Ltd. a Missouri limited partnership, FHAL LLC, FMH Health Services LLC, Fairfax Surgical Center L.P., Fairview Medical Services LLC, Fairview Park GP LLC, Fairview Park Limited Partnership, Fairview Partner LLC, Family Care Partners LLC, Family Care of E. Jackson County LLC, Family First Medicine in Brownsville PLLC, Family Health Medical Group of Overland Park LLC, Family Health Specialists of Lees Summit LLC, Family Medicine of Blacksburg LLC, Family Practice at Forest Hill LLC, Family Practice at Retreat LLC, Family Practitioners of Montgomery PLLC, Family Practitioners of Pearland PLLC, Fannin MOB LLC, Fannin MOB Property Management LLC, Far West Division Inc., Fawcett Memorial Hospital Inc., Florida Care Partners LLC, Florida Care Partners Orlando LLC, Florida Home Health Services-Private Care Inc., Florida Outpatient Surgery Center Ltd., Flower Mound Surgery Center Ltd., Focus Hand Surgicenter LLC, Foot & Ankle Specialty Services LLC, Forest Park Surgery Pavilion Inc., Forest Park Surgery Pavilion L.P., Fort Bend Hospital Inc., Fort Chiswell Family Practice LLC, Fort Myers Market Inc., Fort Pierce Immediate Care Center Inc., Fort Pierce Orthopaedics LLC, Fort Pierce Surgery Center Ltd., Fort Walton Beach Medical Center Inc., Fort Worth Investments Inc., Forward Pathology Solutions LLC, Four Rivers Medical Center PHO Inc., Frankfort Hospital Inc., Frankfort Wound Care LLC, Freeport Family Medicine LLC, Fremont Womens Health LLC, Frisco Surgicare LLC, Frisco Warren Parkway 91 Inc., Frist Clinic Express LLC, Ft. Pierce Surgicare LLC, Ft. Walton Beach Anesthesia Services LLC, G. Rowe M.D. PLLC, G. Schnider M.D. PLLC, G. Voorhees M.D. PLLC, G.P. Martin Fletcher & Associates LLC, GA PHYSICIAN SERVICES LLC, GA Urgentcare Holding LLC, GHC-Galen Health Care LLC, GI Associates of Denton PLLC, GI Associates of Lewisville PLLC, GME Services of Osceola LLC, GPCH-GP Inc., GYN-Oncology of Southwest Virginia LLC, Gainesville GYN Oncology of North Florida Regional Medical Center LLC, Gainesville Physicians LLC, GalTex LLC, Galen (Kansas) Merger LLC, Galen BH Inc., Galen Center for Professional Development Inc., Galen College of Nursing, Galen Diagnostic Multicenter Ltd., Galen GOK LLC, Galen Global Finance Inc., Galen Health Institutes Inc., Galen Health Partners Limited, Galen Holdco LLC, Galen Hospital Alaska Inc., Galen Hospital of Baytown Inc., Galen Hospital-Pembroke Pines Inc., Galen International Holdings Inc., Galen KY LLC, Galen MCS LLC, Galen MRMC LLC, Galen Medical Corporation, Galen NMC LLC, Galen NSH LLC, Galen Property LLC, Galen SOM LLC, Galen SSH LLC, Galen Virginia Hospital Corporation, Galen of Aurora Inc., Galen of Florida Inc., Galen of Illinois Inc., Galen of Kentucky Inc., Galen of Mississippi Inc., Galen of Virginia Inc., Galen of West Virginia Inc., Galen-Soch Inc., Galencare Inc., Galendeco Inc., Galichia Anesthesia Services LLC, Galichia Emergency Physicians LLC, Garden Park Community Hospital Limited Partnership, Garden Park Hospitalist Program LLC, Garden Park Investments L.P., Garden Park Physician Group - Specialty Care LLC, Garden Park Physician Group Inc., Gardens EFL Imaging Center LLC, Gastroenterology Specialists of Middle Tennessee LLC, General Hospitals of Galen Inc., General Medical Clinics Limited, General Surgeons of Houston PLLC, General Surgeons of North Richland Hills PLLC, General Surgeons of Pasadena PLLC, General and Cardiovascular Surgeons of Conroe PLLC, Generations Family Practice Inc., GenoSpace LLC, Georgia Health Holdings Inc., Georgia L.P., Georgia Psychiatric Company Inc., Glemm SA, Good Samaritan Hospital L.P., Good Samaritan Hospital LLC, Good Samaritan Surgery Center L.P., Goppert-Trinity Family Care LLC, Grace Family Practice LLC, Gramercy Eye Surgicenter LLC, Gramercy Surgery Center Ltd., Grand Strand Regional Medical Center LLC, Grand Strand Senior Health Center LLC, Grand Strand Specialty Associates LLC, Grand Strand Surgical Specialists LLC, Grandview Health Care Clinic LLC, Grant Center Hospital of Ocala Inc., Grayson Primary Care LLC, Greater Gwinnett Internal Medicine Associates LLC, Greater Gwinnett Physician Corporation, Greater Houston Preferred Provider Option Inc., Greater Tampa Bay Physician Network LLC, Greater Tampa Bay Physician Specialists LLC, Greater Tampa Bay Physicians - Pinellas LLC, Green Oaks Hospital Subsidiary L.P., Greenview Hospital Inc., Greenview PrimeCare LLC, Greenview Specialty Associates LLC, Gulf Coast Division Inc., Gulf Coast Electrophysiology Associates PLLC, Gulf Coast Inpatient Specialists LLC, Gulf Coast Medical Center Primary Care LLC, Gulf Coast Medical Ventures Inc., Gulf Coast Multispecialty Services LLC, Gulf Coast Physician Administrators Inc., Gulf Coast Provider Network Inc., Gwinnett Community Hospital Inc., Gynecology Specialists of Utah LLC, H2U Wellness Centers - Del Sol Medical Center PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers - Las Palmas Medical Center PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers - Medical City Dallas PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers - St. Davids Medical Center PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers LLC, H2U Wellness Centers Clear Lake Regional Medical Center PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers Conroe ISD PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers Conroe Regional Medical Center PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers Corpus Christi PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers El Paso PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers PISD PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers San Benito CISD PLLC, HBP Lone Star Inc., HCA - IT&S Field Operations Inc., HCA - IT&S Inventory Management Inc., HCA - IT&S PBS Field Operations Inc., HCA - IT&S TN Field Operations Inc., HCA - Information Technology & Services Inc., HCA - Raleigh Community Hospital Inc., HCA - Viera ALF LLC, HCA - WHS Progressive LLC, HCA - WHS Services LLC, HCA ASD Financial Operations LLC, HCA ASD Sales Services LLC, HCA American Finance LLC, HCA Carenow Limited, HCA Central Group Inc., HCA Central/West Texas Physicians Management LLC, HCA Chattanooga Market Inc., HCA Development Company Inc., HCA Eastern Group Inc., HCA Global Capital LLP, HCA Gulf Coast GME PLLC, HCA Health Services of California Inc., HCA Health Services of Florida Inc., HCA Health Services of Georgia Inc., HCA Health Services of Louisiana Inc., HCA Health Services of Miami Inc., HCA Health Services of Midwest Inc., HCA Health Services of New Hampshire Inc., HCA Health Services of Tennessee Inc., HCA Health Services of Texas Inc., HCA Health Services of Virginia Inc., HCA Health Services of West Virginia Inc., HCA Healthcare Mission Fund LLC, HCA Healthcare UK Limited, HCA Holdco LLC, HCA Human Resources LLC, HCA Imaging Services of North Florida Inc., HCA Inc., HCA International Holdings Limited, HCA International Limited, HCA LewisGale Regional Cancer Centers Clinical Co-Management Company LLC, HCA Long Term Health Services of Miami Inc., HCA Luxembourg 1 Sarl, HCA Luxembourg 2 Sarl, HCA Luxembourg Equities Sarl, HCA Luxembourg Finance Limited, HCA Luxembourg Investments Sarl, HCA Management Services L.P., HCA Medical City Limited, HCA Medical Services Inc., HCA Midwest Comprehensive Care Inc., HCA Outpatient Clinic Services of Miami Inc., HCA Outpatient Imaging Services Group Inc., HCA Patient Safety Organization LLC, HCA Pearland GP Inc., HCA Physician Services Inc., HCA Plano Imaging Inc., HCA Property GP LLC, HCA Psychiatric Company, HCA Purchasing Limited, HCA Realty Inc., HCA Richmond Cardiac Clinical Co-Management Company LLC, HCA SF LLC, HCA SFB 1 LLC, HCA Sarasota Orthopedic and Spine Clinical Co-Management Company LLC, HCA Squared LLC, HCA Staffing Limited, HCA Swiss Capital 1 LLP, HCA Swiss Capital 2 LLP, HCA Switzerland Finance GmbH, HCA Switzerland Holding GmbH, HCA Switzerland Limited, HCA UK Capital Limited, HCA UK Holdings Limited, HCA UK Investments Limited, HCA UK Limited, HCA UK Services Limited, HCA Wesley Rehabilitation Hospital Inc., HCA Western Group Inc., HCA-Access Healthcare Holdings LLC, HCA-Access Healthcare Partner Inc., HCA-California Urgent Care Holdings LLC, HCA-EMS Holdings LLC, HCA-EmCare Holdings LLC, HCA-Georgia Urgent Care Holdings LLC, HCA-HBPS Holdings LLC, HCA-HealthONE LLC, HCA-Solis Holdings Inc., HCA-Solis Mammography Service Holdings of Continental LLC, HCA-Solis Mammography Service Holdings of Gulf Coast LLC, HCA-Solis Mammography Service Holdings of North Texas LLC, HCA-Solis Mammography Service Holdings of TriStar LLC, HCA-Solis Mammography Services LLC, HCA-Solis Master LLC, HCA-Urgent Care Holdings LLC, HCAPS Anesthesia Manager LLC, HCAPS Conroe Affiliation Inc., HCOL Inc., HD&S Corp. Successor Inc., HDH Thoracic Surgeons LLC, HHBY Holdings LLC, HHNC LLC, HICCH-SCL LLC, HM Acquisition LLC, HM OMCOS LLC, HMMG 1226 LLC, HPG Energy L.P., HPG Enterprises LLC, HPG GP LLC, HPG Solutions LLC, HSS Holdco LLC, HSS Systems LLC, HSS Virginia L.P., HTI Gulf Coast Inc., HTI Health Services of North Carolina Inc., HTI Hospital Holdings Inc., HTI MOB LLC, HTI MSO LLC, HTI Memorial Hospital Corporation, HTI Physician Services of Utah Inc., HWCA PLLC, Hamilton Memorial Hospital Inc., Hamsard 3160 Limited, Harley Street Clinic @ The Groves LLP, Hathor Chelsea Ltd., Healdsburg General Hospital Inc., Health Care Indemnity Inc., Health Insight Capital LLC, Health International Billing Partners Limited, Health Midwest Medical Group Inc., Health Midwest Office Facilities Corporation, Health Midwest Ventures Group Inc., Health Partners of Kansas Inc., Health Service Partners Inc., Health Services (Delaware) Inc., Health Services Merger Inc., Health to You LLC, HealthCoast Physician Group LLC, HealthONE Aurora Investment LLC, HealthONE Care Partners LLC, HealthONE CareNow Urgent Care LLC, HealthONE Clear Creek LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Bariatric Medicine LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Behavioral Health LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Cancer Care LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Cancer Specialties LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Cardiovascular LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Medical Specialties LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Neurosciences LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Obstetrics and Gynecology LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Occupational Medicine LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Oncology Hematology LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Orthopedic Specialists LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Otolaryngology Specialists LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Pediatric Specialties LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Primary Care LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Spine Specialists LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Spine Surgeons LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Surgery Neurological LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Surgical Specialties LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Transplant Services LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Womens Services LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Youth Rehabilitation LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services LLC, HealthONE High Street Primary Care Center LLC, HealthONE IRL Pathology Services LLC, HealthONE Institutes for Clinical Research LLC, HealthONE Lowry LLC, HealthONE Radiation Therapy at Red Rocks LLC, HealthONE Radiation Therapy at Thornton LLC, HealthONE Ridge View Endoscopy Center LLC, HealthONE Surgicare of Ridge View LLC, HealthONE Urologic LLC, HealthONE at Breckenridge LLC, HealthONE of Denver Inc., HealthOne Heart Care LLC, HealthOne Lincoln Investment LLC, HealthOne Westside Investment LLC, HealthTrust Europe Company Limited, HealthTrust Europe LLP, HealthTrust Locums Inc., HealthTrust Workforce Solutions LLC, Healthcare Oklahoma Inc., Healthcare Purchasing Alliance LLC, Healthcare Sales National Management Services Group LLC, Healthcare Technology Assessment Corporation, Healthco LLC, Healthnet of Kentucky LLC, Healthserv Acquisition LLC, Healthtrust Inc. - The Hospital Company, Healthtrust MOB Tennessee LLC, Healthtrust Purchasing Group L.P., Healthtrust Utah Management Services Inc., Healthy State Inc., Heart Specialist of North Texas PLLC, Heart of America ASC LLC, Heart of America Surgicenter LLC, Heartcare of Texas Ltd., Hearthstone Home Health Inc., Heartland Womens Group at Wesley LLC, Heathrow Imaging LLC, Heathrow Internal Medicine LLC, Hendersonville Hospital Corporation, Hendersonville Hospitalist Services Inc., Hendersonville OB/GYN LLC, Hendersonville ODC LLC, Hendersonville Primary Care LLC, Henrico Doctors Hospital - Forest Campus Property LLC, Henrico Doctors Neurology Associates LLC, Henrico Doctors OB GYN Specialists LLC, Henrico Surgical Specialists LLC, Heritage Family Care LLC, Heritage Hospital Inc., Heritage Medical Care LLC, Hermitage Primary Care LLC, Hidalgo County Family Practitioners PLLC, Hidden Lakes Health Center PLLC, Highlands Regional Medical Center, Hip & Joint Specialists of North Texas PLLC, Homecare North Inc., Hometrust Management Services Inc., Horizon Orthopedics LLC, Horizon Surgical LLC, Hospital Corp. LLC, Hospital Corporation of America, Hospital Corporation of Lake Worth, Hospital Corporation of Tennessee, Hospital Corporation of Utah, Hospital Development Properties Inc., Hospital Partners Merger LLC, Hospital Realty Corporation, Hospital-Based CRNA Services Inc., Hospitalists at Centennial Medical Center LLC, Hospitalists at Fairview Park LLC, Hospitalists at Greenview Regional Hospital LLC, Hospitalists at Horizon Medical Center LLC, Hospitalists at Parkridge LLC, Hospitalists at StoneCrest LLC, Hospitalists at Wesley Medical Center LLC, Hospitalists of the Wabash Valley LLC, Houston - PPH LLC, Houston CareNow Urgent Care PLLC, Houston Healthcare Holdings Inc., Houston NW Manager LLC, Houston Northwest Concessions L.L.C., Houston Northwest Operating Company L.L.C., Houston Northwest Surgical Partners Inc., Houston Obstetrics and Gynecology for Women PLLC, Houston Pediatric Specialty Group PLLC, Houston Urologic Surgicenter LLC, Houston Womans Hospital Partner LLC, ICU Associates of West Houston PLLC, IMX Holdings LLC, IRL Pathology Services MidAmerica LLC, Idaho Behavioral Health Services LLC, Idaho Physician Services Inc., Illinois Psychiatric Hospital Company Inc., Imaging Realty LLC, Imaging Services of Appomattox LLC, Imaging Services of Jacksonville LLC, Imaging Services of Louisiana LLC, Imaging Services of Louisiana Manager LLC, Imaging Services of Orlando LLC, Imaging Services of Richmond LLC, Imaging Services of Roanoke LLC, Imaging Services of West Boynton LLC, InVivoLink Inc., Independence Neurosurgery Services LLC, Independence Regional Medical Group LLC, Independence Surgicare Inc., Indian Path Hospital Inc., Indianapolis Hospital Partner LLC, Institute for Womens Health and Body LLC, Institute of Advanced ENT Surgery LLC, Integrated Regional Lab LLC, Integrated Regional Laboratories LLP, Integrated Regional Laboratories Pathology Services LLC, Intensive Care Consortium Inc., Internal Medicine Associates of Huntsville PLLC, Internal Medicine Associates of Southern Hills LLC, Internal Medicine of Blacksburg LLC, Internal Medicine of Pasadena PLLC, Internist Associates of Houston PLLC, Isleworth Partners Inc., J. M. Garcia M.D. PLLC, JCSH LLC, JDGC Management LLC, JFK Internal Medicine Faculty Practice LLC, JFK Medical Center Limited Partnership, JPM AA Housing LLC, Jackson County Medical Group LLC, Jackson County Pulmonary Medical Group LLC, Jacksonville CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Jacksonville Multispecialty Services LLC, Jacksonville Surgery Center Ltd., James River Internists LLC, John Randolph Family Practice LLC, John Randolph OB/GYN LLC, John Randolph Surgeons LLC, Johnson County Neurology LLC, Johnson County Surgery Center L.P., Johnson County Surgicenter L.L.C., Jordan Family Health L.L.C., Jupiter EFL Imaging Center LLC, KC Pain ASC LLC, KC Surgicare LLC, KPH-Consolidation Inc., Kansas CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Kansas City Cardiac Arrhythmia Research LLC, Kansas City Gastroenterology & Hepatology Physicians Group LLC, Kansas City Neurology Associates LLC, Kansas City Pulmonology Practice LLC, Kansas City Surgery Center Properties LLC, Kansas City Vascular & General Surgery Group LLC, Kansas City Womens Clinic Group LLC, Kansas Healthserv LLC, Kansas Pulmonary and Sleep Specialists LLC, Kansas Trauma and Critical Care Specialists LLC, Kathy L. Summers M.D. PLLC, Kendall Healthcare Group Ltd., Kendall Regional Medical Center LLC, Kendall Regional Urgent Care LLC, Kennedale Primary Care PLLC, Kingwood Multi-Specialty Group PLLC, Kingwood Surgery Center LLC, Kingwood Surgicenter LLC, Kissimmee Surgicare Ltd., Kyle Primary Care PLLC, L E Corporation, LAD Imaging LLC, LGMC Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, LOC @ The Christie LLP, LOC @ The London Bridge Hospital LLP, LOC Partnership LLP, LPN TeleBehavioral Health PLLC, Lafayette OB Hospitalists LLC, Lafayette Urogynecology & Urology Center LLC, Lake City Imaging LLC, Lake City Regional Medical Group LLC, Lake Forest Family Health PLLC, Lakeside Radiology LLC, Lakeside Womens Services LLC, Lakeview Cardiology Specialists LLC, Lakeview Hospital Physician Services LLC, Lakeview Internal Medicine LLC, Lakeview Medical Center LLC, Lakeview Regional Medical Center Inpatient Services LLC, Lakeview Regional Physician Group LLC, Lakeview Urology & General Surgery LLC, Lakewood Surgicare Inc., Laredo Medco LLC, Largo Medical Center Inc., Largo Physician Group LLC, Las Colinas Primary Care PLLC, Las Colinas Surgery Center Ltd., Las Encinas Hospital, Las Palmas Del Sol Cardiology PLLC, Las Palmas Del Sol Internal Medicine PLLC, Las Palmas Del Sol Urgent Care PLLC, Las Vegas ASC LLC, Las Vegas Surgicare Inc., Las Vegas Surgicare Ltd. a Nevada Limited Partnership, Lawnwood Cardiovascular Surgery LLC, Lawnwood Healthcare Specialists LLC, Lawnwood Medical Center Inc., Layton Family Practice LLC, Leaders in Oncology Care Limited, Leadership Healthcare Holdings II L.P. L.L.P., Leadership Healthcare Holdings L.P. L.L.P., Lees Summit Family Care LLC, Leslie Cohan M.D. PLLC, Lewis-Gale Hospital Incorporated, Lewis-Gale Medical Center LLC, Lewis-Gale Physicians LLC, Lewisville Primary Care PLLC, Lewisville Surgicare LLC, Lincoln Surgery Center LLC, Live Oak Immediate Care Center LLC, London Oncology Clinic LLP, London Pathology Limited, London Radiography & Radiotherapy Services Limited, Lone Peak Hospital Inc., Lone Star Intensivists at Gulf Coast PLLC, Lonestar Provider Network, Longview Regional Physician Hospital Organization Inc., Lorain County Surgery Center Ltd., Los Gatos Surgical Center a California Limited Partnership, Los Robles Regional Medical Center, Los Robles Regional Medical Center MOB LLC, Los Robles SurgiCenter LLC, Loudoun Surgery Center LLC, Louisiana Psychiatric Company Inc., Loveland Surgicenter LLC, Low Country Health Services Inc. of the Southeast, Lowry Surgicenter LLC, M. Jamshidi D.O. PLLC, MCA Investment Company, MCA-CTMC Holdings LLC, MEC Endoscopy LLC, MFA G.P. LLC, MFM Fact PLLC, MGH Medical Inc., MH Anesthesiology Physicians LLC, MH Angel Medical Center LLLP, MH Asheville Specialty Hospital LLC, MH Blue Ridge Medical Center LLLP, MH Eckerd Living Center LLLP, MH Highlands-Cashiers Medical Center LLLP, MH Hospital Holdings Inc., MH Hospital Manager LLC, MH Master Holdings LLLP, MH Master LLC, MH McDowell Imaging LLLP, MH Mission Hospital LLLP, MH Mission Hospital McDowell LLLP, MH Mission Imaging LLLP, MH Physician Services LLC, MH Transylvania Imaging LLLP, MH Transylvania Regional Hospital LLLP, MHS Partnership Holdings JSC Inc., MHS Partnership Holdings SDS Inc., MHS SC Partner L.L.C., MHS Surgery Centers L.P., MMC Sleep Lab Management LLC, MOSC Sports Medicine Inc., MOVCO Inc., MP Management LLC, MRT&C Inc., MSL Acquisition LLC, MVH Professional Services LLC, Macon Healthcare LLC, Macon Northside Health Group LLC, Macon Northside Hospital LLC, Macon Psychiatric Hospitalists LLC, Madison Behavioral Health LLC, Mainland Family Medicine PLLC, Mainland Multi-Specialty Group PLLC, Mainland Primary Care Physicians PLLC, Management Services Holdings Inc., Manatee Surgicare Ltd., Marietta Outpatient Medical Building Inc., Marietta Outpatient Surgery Ltd., Marietta Surgical Center Inc., Marion Community Hospital Inc., Mark Gottesman M.D. PLLC, Martin Fletcher & Associates L.P., Martin Fletcher Associates Holdings Inc., Mary Alice Cowan M.D. PLLC, Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialists of Corpus Christi PLLC, Maternal Fetal Services of Utah LLC, Maury County Behavioral Health LLC, Mayhill Cancer Center LLC, McAllen Comprehensive Upper Extremity Center PLLC, McKinney Surgeons PLLC, Mechanicsville Imaging LLC, Mecklenburg Surgical Land Development Ltd., Med City Dallas Outpatient Surgery Center L.P., Med Corp. Inc., Med Group - Southern Hills Hospitalists LLC, Med-Center Hosp./Houston Inc., Med-Point of New Hampshire Inc., Medi Flight of Oklahoma LLC, MediCredit Inc., MediPurchase Inc., MediStone Healthcare Ventures Inc., MediVision Inc., MediVision of Mecklenburg County Inc., MediVision of Tampa Inc., Medical Arts Hospital of Texarkana Inc., Medical Associates of Ocala LLC, Medical Care America Colorado LLC, Medical Care America LLC, Medical Care Financial Services Corp., Medical Care Real Estate Finance Inc., Medical Care Surgery Center Inc., Medical Center - West Inc., Medical Center Imaging Inc., Medical Center Surgery Associates L.P., Medical Center of Baton Rouge Inc., Medical Center of Plano Partner LLC, Medical Center of Port St. Lucie Inc., Medical Center of Santa Rosa Inc., Medical Center of Southwest Florida LLC, Medical Centers of Oklahoma LLC, Medical City Dallas Hospital Inc., Medical City Dallas Partner LLC, Medical City Dallas Primary Care PLLC, Medical City Frisco, Medical City OB-GYN PLLC, Medical City Pediatrics PLLC, Medical City Specialty Surgicenter of Dallas LLC, Medical City Surgery Center of Alliance LLC, Medical City Surgery Center of Frisco LLC, Medical City Surgery Center of Lewisville LLC, Medical City Transplant PLLC, Medical Corporation of America, Medical Group - Dickson Inc., Medical Group - Southern Hills of Brentwood LLC, Medical Group - Southern Hills of Nolensville LLC, Medical Group - StoneCrest FP Inc., Medical Group - StoneCrest Inc., Medical Group - Stonecrest Pulmonology LLC, Medical Group - Summit Inc., Medical Imaging Inc., Medical Imaging of Colorado LLC, Medical Office Buildings of Kansas LLC, Medical Oncology Associates LLC, Medical Partners of North Florida LLC, Medical Plaza Ambulatory Surgery Center Associates L.P., Medical Specialties Inc., Memorial Family Practice Associates LLC, Memorial Health Primary Care at St. Johns Bluff LLC, Memorial Healthcare Group Inc., Memorial Neurosurgery Group LLC, Memorial Satilla Specialists LLC, Memorial University Medical Center, Menorah Medical Group LLC, Menorah Urgent Care LLC, Mercy ASC LLC, Metairie Primary Care Associates LLC, Methodist Ambulatory Surgery Center of Boerne LLC, Methodist Ambulatory Surgery Center of Landmark LLC, Methodist Cardiology Physicians, Methodist CareNow Physician Associates, Methodist CareNow Urgent Care PLLC, Methodist Healthcare System of San Antonio Ltd. L.L.P., Methodist Inpatient Management Group, Methodist Medical Center ASC L.P., Methodist Physician Alliance, Methodist Physician Practice Services LLC, Methodist Physician Practices PLLC, Metroplex Surgicenters Inc., Metropolitan Multispecialty Physicians Group Inc., Miami Beach EFL Imaging Center LLC, Miami Beach Healthcare Group Ltd., Miami Dade Surgical Specialists LLC, Miami Lakes Surgery Center Ltd., Miami-Dade Cardiology Consultants LLC, Michael Mann M.D. PLLC, Mid-America Surgery Center LLC, Mid-America Surgery Institute LLC, Mid-Cities Surgi-Center Inc., Mid-Continent Health Services Inc., MidAmerica Division Inc., MidAmerica Oncology LLC, Middle Georgia Hospital LLC, Middle Georgia Urgent Care Services LLC, Middle Tennessee Neurology LLC, Midtown Diagnostics LLC, Midwest Cardiology Specialists LLC, Midwest Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery LLC, Midwest Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons of Kansas LLC, Midwest Division - ACH LLC, Midwest Division - CMC LLC, Midwest Division - LRHC LLC, Midwest Division - LSH LLC, Midwest Division - MCI LLC, Midwest Division - MMC LLC, Midwest Division - OPRMC LLC, Midwest Division - RBH LLC, Midwest Division - RMC LLC, Midwest Division Spine Care LLC, Midwest Doctors Group LLC, Midwest Heart & Vascular Specialists LLC, Midwest Holdings Inc., Midwest Infectious Disease Specialists LLC, Midwest Medicine Associates LLC, Midwest Metropolitan Physicians Group LLC, Midwest Oncology Associates LLC, Midwest Trauma Services LLC, Midwest Womens Healthcare Specialists LLC, Mikrod Services Inc., Mill Creek Outpatient Services LLC, Millenium Health Care of Oklahoma Inc., Mission Bay Memorial Hospital Inc., Mission Community Anesthesiology Specialists LLC, Mission Employer Solutions LLC, Mission Health, Mission Health Partners Inc., Missouri Healthcare System L.P., Mobile Corps. Inc., Mobile Heartbeat, Mobile Heartbeat LLC, Montgomery Cancer Center LLC, Montgomery Hospitalists LLC, Montgomery Regional Hospital Inc., Montgomery Surgery Associates LLC, Mountain Division - CVH LLC, Mountain Division Inc., Mountain View Hospital Inc., Mountain View MRI Associates Ltd., Mountain West Surgery Center LLC, MountainStar Behavioral Health LLC, MountainStar Brigham General Surgery LLC, MountainStar Canyon Surgical Clinic LLC, MountainStar Cardiology Ogden Regional LLC, MountainStar Cardiology St. Marks LLC, MountainStar Intensivist Services LLC, MountainStar Medical Group - Cache Valley LLC, MountainStar Medical Group - Ogden Regional Medical Center LLC, MountainStar Medical Group - St. Marks Hospital LLC, MountainStar Medical Group Neurosurgery-St. Marks LLC, MountainStar Medical Group Timpanogos Primary Care LLC, MountainStar Medical Group Timpanogos Specialty Care LLC, MountainStar Specialty Services LLC, MountainStar Urgent Care LLC, MountainView GME Primary Care LLC, Mountainstar Brigham OBGYN LLC, Mountainstar Cardiovascular Services LLC, Mountainstar Ogden Pediatrics LLC, Movement Disorders of North Texas PLLC, Mt. Ogden Utah Surgical Center LLC, NPAS Inc., NPAS Solutions LLC, NT Urgent Care PLLC, NTGP LLC, NTMC Management Company, NTMC Venture Inc., NTX Pathology Program PLLC, Nashville Psychiatric Company Inc., Nashville Shared Services General Partnership, Nashville Surgicenter LLC, Natchez Medical Associates LLC, Natchez Surgery Center LLC, National Association of Senior Friends, National Contact Center Management Group LLC, National Patient Account Services Inc., National Transfer Center Management Services LLC, Navarro Memorial Hospital Inc., NeighborMD Management LLC, Network MS of Florida Inc., Network Management Services Inc., Neuro Affiliates Company, Neuro-Hospitalist of Clear Lake PLLC, NeuroHospitalist of McAllen PLLC, Neurological Eye Specialists of North Texas PLLC, Neurological Specialists PLLC, Neurological Specialists of McKinney PLLC, Neurology Associates of Hendersonville LLC, Neurology Associates of Kansas LLC, Neurosurgery Atlanta LLC, Neurosurgery of Kingwood PLLC, Neurosurgical Associates of North Texas PLLC, Neurosurgical Specialists of El Paso PLLC, Neurosurgical Specialists of North Texas PLLC, Nevada Surgery Center of Southern Hills L.P., Nevada Surgicare of Southern Hills LLC, Nevada Urgent Care Holdings Inc., New Iberia Healthcare LLC, New Iberia Holdings Inc., New Port Richey Hospital Inc., New Port Richey Surgery Center Ltd., New Rose Holding Company Inc., Niceville Family Practice LLC, North Augusta Imaging Management LLC, North Augusta Imaging Services LLC, North Augusta Rehab Health Center LLC, North Austin Plastic Surgery Associates PLLC, North Austin Surgery Center L.P., North Brandon Imaging LLC, North Central Florida Health System Inc., North Central Methodist ASC L.P., North Charleston Diagnostic Imaging Center LLC, North Florida Cancer Center Lake City LLC, North Florida Cancer Center Live Oak LLC, North Florida Cancer Center Tallahassee LLC, North Florida Division I Inc., North Florida Division Practice Inc., North Florida GI Center GP Inc., North Florida GI Center Ltd., North Florida Immediate Care Center Inc., North Florida Neurosurgery LLC, North Florida Outpatient Imaging Center Ltd., North Florida Physician Services Inc., North Florida Physicians LLC, North Florida Radiation Oncology LLC, North Florida Regional Company Care LLC, North Florida Regional Freestanding Surgery Center L.P., North Florida Regional Investments Inc., North Florida Regional Medical Center Inc., North Florida Regional Psychiatry LLC, North Florida Regional Trauma LLC, North Florida Rehab Investments LLC, North Florida Surgical Associates LLC, North Georgia Primary Care Group LLC, North Hills Cardiac Catheterization Center L.P., North Hills Catheterization Lab LLC, North Hills Orthopaedic Surgeons PLLC, North Hills Surgicare L.P., North Houston - TRMC LLC, North Miami Beach Surgery Center Limited Partnership, North Miami Beach Surgical Center LLC, North Palm Beach County Surgery Center LLC, North River Physician Network LLC, North Shore Specialists of Texas PLLC, North Suburban Spine Center L.P., North Tampa Imaging LLC, North Texas - MCA LLC, North Texas Cardiology PLLC, North Texas Craniofacial Fellowship Program PLLC, North Texas Division Inc., North Texas General L.P., North Texas Geriatrics PLLC, North Texas Heart Surgery Center PLLC, North Texas Internal Medicine Specialists PLLC, North Texas Medical Center Inc., North Texas Neuro Stroke OP PLLC, North Texas Pulmonary Critical Care PLLC, North Texas Sports and Orthopedics Center PLLC, North Texas Stroke Center PLLC, North Texas of Hope PLLC, North Transfer Center LLC, Northeast Florida Cancer Services LLC, Northeast Methodist Surgicare Ltd., Northeast PHO Inc., Northern Utah Healthcare Corporation, Northern Utah Healthcare Imaging Holdco LLC, Northern Utah Imaging LLC, Northern Virginia CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Northern Virginia Community Hospital LLC, Northern Virginia Hospital Corporation, Northern Virginia Surgicenter LLC, Northlake Medical Center LLC, Northlake Physician Practice Network Inc., Northlake Surgical Center L.P., Northlake Surgicare Inc., Northside MRI Inc., Northwest Fla. Home Health Agency Inc., Northwest Florida Healthcare Systems Inc., Northwest Florida Multispecialty Physicians LLC, Northwest Florida Primary Care LLC, Northwest Medical Center Inc., Notami (Opelousas) Inc., Notami Hospitals LLC, Notami Hospitals of Florida Inc., Notami Hospitals of Louisiana Inc., Notami Hospitals of Missouri Inc., Notami LLC, Notco LLC, Nuclear Diagnosis Inc., OB Hospitalists of Womans Hospital PLLC, OB/GYN of Brownsville PLLC, OB/Gyn Associates of Denton PLLC, OBS Diagnostic and Treatment Centre LLP, ODP Holdings LLC, ODP Manager LLC, ODP Properties LLC, OHH Imaging Services LLC, OPRMC-HBP LLC, Oak Hill Acquisition Inc., Oak Hill Family Care LLC, Oak Hill Hospitalists LLC, Oakwood Surgery Center Ltd. LLP, Ocala Health Company Care LLC, Ocala Health Imaging Services LLC, Ocala Health Primary Care LLC, Ocala Health Surgical Group LLC, Ocala Health Trauma LLC, Ocala Regional Outpatient Services Inc., Ocala Stereotactic Radiosurgery LLC, Ocala Stereotactic Radiosurgery Partner LLC, Occupational Health Services of PRH LLC, Occupational and Family Medicine of South Texas, Ogden Imaging LLC, Ogden Internal Medicine & Urology LLC, Ogden Regional Health Plan Inc., Ogden Regional Medical Center Professional Billing LLC, Ogden Senior Center LLC, Ogden Tomotherapy LLC, Ogden Tomotherapy Manager LLC, Okaloosa Hospital Inc., Okeechobee Hospital Inc., Oklahoma Holding Company LLC, Oklahoma Outpatient Surgery Limited Partnership, Oklahoma Physicians - Medical Specialties LLC, Oklahoma Physicians - Obstetrics and Gynecology LLC, Oklahoma Physicians - Primary Care LLC, Oklahoma Physicians - Surgical Specialties LLC, Oklahoma Surgicare Inc., Old Fort Village LLC, On-Site Primary Care PLLC, Oncology Services of Corpus Christi LLC, Oncology Services of Corpus Christi Manager LLC, OneSourceMed Inc., Online Pathology Services Limited, Orange County Healthcare LLC, Orange Park Hospitalists LLC, Orange Park Medical Center Inc., Orlando CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Orlando Outpatient Surgical Center Inc., Orlando Outpatient Surgical Center Ltd., Orlando Surgicare Ltd., Orthopaedic Specialty Associates L.P., Orthopaedic Sports Specialty Associates Inc., Orthopedic Hospital Ltd., Orthopedics Specialists LLC, Osceola Neurological Associates LLC, Osceola Physician Network LLC, Osceola Regional Hospital Inc., Osceola Regional Hospitalists LLC, Osceola Surgical Associates LLC, Outpatient Cardiovascular Center of Central Florida LLC, Outpatient GP LLC, Outpatient Services - LAD LLC, Outpatient Services Holdings Inc., Outpatient Surgical Services Ltd., Outpatient Womens and Childrens Surgery Center Ltd., Overland Park Cardiovascular Inc., Overland Park Medical Specialists LLC, Overland Park Orthopedics LLC, Overland Park Surgical Specialties LLC, Oviedo Medical Center LLC, Ozarks Medical Services Inc., P&L Associates, P/SL Hyperbaric Partnership, PET CT LLP, PMM Inc., POH Holdings LLC, PSG Delegated Services LLC, PTS Solutions LLC, Pacific Partners Management Services Inc., Palm Beach EFL Imaging Center LLC, Palm Beach General Surgery LLC, Palm Beach Healthcare System Inc., Palm Beach Hospitalists Program LLC, Palmer Medical Center LLC, Palms West Gastroenterology LLC, Palms West Hospital Limited Partnership, Palms West Surgery Center Ltd., Paragon Physicians Hospital Organization of South Texas Inc., Paragon SDS Inc., Paragon Surgery Centers of Texas Inc., Paragon WSC Inc., Paragon of Texas Health Properties Inc., Parallon Business Solutions LLC, Parallon Enterprises LLC, Parallon Health Information Solutions LLC, Parallon Holdings LLC, Parallon Payroll Solutions LLC, Parallon Physician Services LLC, Parallon Revenue Cycle Services Inc., Park Central Surgical Center Ltd., Park Ridge Surgery Center LLC, Park South Imaging Center Ltd., Park View Insurance Company, Parkersburg SJ Holdings Inc., Parkland Hospitalists Program LLC, Parkland Oncology LLC, Parkland Physician Services Inc., Parkridge East Specialty Associates LLC, Parkridge Hospitalists Inc., Parkridge Medical Associates LLC, Parkridge Medical Center Inc., Parkridge Professionals Inc., Parkside Surgery Center Inc., Parkway Cardiac Center Ltd., Parkway Hospital Inc., Parkway Surgery Services Ltd., Parthenon Insurance Company Limited, Pasadena Bayshore Hospital Inc., PatientKeeper, PatientKeeper Inc., Patients First Neurology LLC, Pavilion 2 Condominium Property LLC, Pavilion 2 Medical Office Building Condominium Association Inc., Pavilion Surgicenter LLC, Peach State Anesthesia Partners LLC, Pearland Institute for Womens Health PLLC, Pearland Partner LLC, Pediatric Anesthesia Consultants of San Antonio PLLC, Pediatric Cardiac Intensivists of North Texas PLLC, Pediatric Critical Care of Clear Lake PLLC, Pediatric Hospitalists of Conroe PLLC, Pediatric Intensivist Group LLC, Pediatric Intensivists of El Paso PLLC, Pediatric Intensivists of North Texas PLLC, Pediatric Specialists of Clear Lake PLLC, Pediatric Specialty Clinic LLC, Pediatric Surgicare Inc., Pediatrics of Greater Houston PLLC, Pensacola Primary Care Inc., Physician Associates of Corporate Woods LLC, Physicians Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Physicians West Surgicenter LLC, Pinellas Medical LLC, Pinnacle Physician Network LLC, Pioneer Medical LLC, Plains Healthcare System Inc., Plano Ambulatory Surgery Associates L.P., Plano Heart Institute L.P., Plano Heart Management LLC, Plano Surgery Center - GP LLC, Plano Surgery Center Real Estate LLC, Plano Surgicenter Real Estate Manager LLC, Plano Urology PLLC, Plantation General Hospital L.P., Plaza Medical Specialists PLLC, Plaza Primary Care PLLC, Plaza Transplant Center PLLC, Podiatry of Clear Lake PLLC, Poinciana Medical Center Inc., Port St. Lucie Surgery Center Ltd., Portland Primary Care LLC, Portsmouth Regional Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Portsmouth Surgicenter LLC, Preferred Hospitals Inc., Preferred Works WC LLC, Premier ASC LLC, Premier Medical Management Ltd., Primary Care Medical Associates Inc., Primary Care Plano PLLC, Primary Care Services of Orlando LLC, Primary Care South PLLC, Primary Care West PLLC, Primary Care of West End LLC, Primary Health Asset Holdings Ltd., Primary Health Group Inc., Primary Health Inc., Primary Health Network of South Texas, Primary Health Physicians PLLC, Primary Medical Management Inc., Proaxis Therapy HealthOne LLC, Provident Professional Building Condominium Association Inc., Psychiatry Services of Osceola LLC, Pulaski Community Hospital Inc., Pulaski Urology LLC, Pulmonary Renal Intensivist Group LLC, Putnam Community Medical Center of North Florida LLC, Putnam Hospital Inc., Putnam Radiation Oncology LLC, Putnam Radiation Oncology Manager LLC, Putnam Surgical Group LLC, Quantum/Bellaire Imaging Ltd., Quick Care Centers LLC, Quivira Internal Medicine Inc., RCH LLC, RMC - Pulmonary LLC, RMC Transplant Physicians LLC, RMCA Professionals Mgmt LLC, ROi CPS LLC, Radford Family Medicine LLC, Radiation Oncology Center of Thornton LLC, Radiation Oncology Manager LLC, Raleigh Community Medical Office Building Ltd., Rapides After Hours Clinic L.L.C., Rapides Healthcare System L.L.C., Rapides Regional Physician Group LLC, Rapides Regional Physician Group Primary Care LLC, Rapides Regional Physician Group Specialty Care LLC, Rapides Surgery Center LLC, Raulerson GYN LLC, Raulerson Gastroenterology LLC, Raulerson Primary Care LLC, Raymore Medical Group LLC, Red Rock Holdco LLC, Red Rock at Smoke Ranch LLC, Red Rocks Surgery Center LLC, Redmond Anesthesia Services LLC, Redmond Hospital Services LLC, Redmond Neurosurgery LLC, Redmond Park Health Services Inc., Redmond Park Hospital LLC, Redmond Physician Practice Company, Redmond Specialty Services LLC, Regional Hospital Healthcare Partners LLC, Research Cardiology Associates LLC, Research Family Physicians LLC, Research Internal Medicine LLC, Research Neurology Associates LLC, Research Neuroscience Institute LLC, Resource Optimization & Innovation L.L.C., Reston Hospital Center LLC, Reston Hospitalists LLC, Reston Surgery Center L.P., Retreat Cardiology LLC, Retreat Hospital LLC, Retreat Internal Medicine LLC, Retreat Surgical Associates LLC, Rhodes Limited-Liability Company, Richmond Imaging Employer Corp., Richmond Multi-Specialty LLC, Richmond Pediatric Surgeons LLC, Ridgeline Surgicenter LLC, Rim Building Partners L.P., Rio Grande Healthcare MSO Inc., Rio Grande NP Inc., Rio Grande Regional Hospital Inc., Rio Grande Valley Cardiology PLLC, Rio Grande Valley CareNow Urgent Care PLLC, Rio Grande Valley Urology PLLC, Riverside CyberKnife Manager LLC, Riverside Healthcare System L.P., Riverside Holdings Inc., Riverside Hospital Inc., Riverside Imaging LLC, Riverwalk ASC LLC, Roanoke Imaging LLC, Roanoke Neurosurgery LLC, Roanoke Surgery Center L.P., Roanoke Valley Gynecology LLC, Robotic Radiosurgery LLP, Rocky Mountain Pediatric Hematology Oncology LLC, Rocky Mountain Surgery Center LLC, Rome Imaging Center Limited Partnership, Roodlane Medical Limited, Rose Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Rose Health Partners LLC, Rose Medical Plaza Ltd., Rose POB Inc., Rosewood Medical Center Inc., Rosewood Professional Building Ltd., Round Rock Hospital Inc., Round Rock Trauma Surgeons PLLC, Royal Oaks Surgery Center L.P., S.A. Medical Center Inc., SAPN LLC, SCRI Global Services Limited, SCRI Holdings LLC, SCRI Scientifics LLC, SJMC LLC, SSHR Holdco LLC, SSJ St. Petersburg Holdings Inc., STPN Manager LLC, SWMC Inc., Sahara Outpatient Surgery Center Ltd., Salem Hospitalists LLC, Salem Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Salt Lake City Surgicare Inc., Samaritan LLC, San Antonio Division Inc., San Antonio Regional Hospital Inc., San Antonio Surgicenter LLC, San Bernardino Imaging LLC, San Joaquin Surgical Center Inc., San Jose Healthcare System LP, San Jose Hospital L.P., San Jose LLC, San Jose Medical Center LLC, San Jose Pathology Outreach LLC, San Marcos ASC LLC, San Marcos Surgicenter LLC, Sante Fe Family Practitioners PLLC, Sarah Cannon Development Innovations LLC, Sarah Cannon Research Institute LLC, Sarah Cannon Research Institute UK Limited, Sarasota Doctors Hospital Inc., Savannah Behavioral Health Associates LLC, Savannah Health Network LLC, Savannah Health Services LLC, Savannah Inpatient Services LLC, Savannah Multispecialty Associates LLC, Savannah Pediatric Care LLC, Savannah Primary Care Associates LLC, Sebring Health Services LLC, Selma Medical Center Hospital Inc., Senior Health Associates LLC, Short Pump Imaging LLC, Silicon Valley Health Holdings LLC, Silicon Valley Surgery Center L.P., Silicon Valley Surgicenter LLC, Sky Ridge Spine Manager LLC, Sky Ridge Surgery Center L.P., Skyline Medical Group LLC, Skyline Neuroscience Associates LLC, Skyline Rehab Associates LLC, Skyline Specialty Associates LLC, Smith Laboratories Inc., Solis Mammography at Bayshore Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Conroe Regional Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Denton Regional Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at HCA Houston Tomball LLC, Solis Mammography at Kingwood Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Las Colinas Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Medical Center Alliance LLC, Solis Mammography at Medical Center Arlington LLC, Solis Mammography at Medical Center of Lewisville LLC, Solis Mammography at Medical Center of McKinney LLC, Solis Mammography at Medical Center of Plano LLC, Solis Mammography at Medical City Dallas LLC, Solis Mammography at Pearland Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Rose Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Skyline Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at StoneCrest Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at West Houston Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Womans Hospital of Texas LLC, Solis Mammography of Cedar Hill LLC, Solis Mammography of CyFair LLC, Solis Mammography of Dallas LLC, Solis Mammography of Flower Mound LLC, Solis Mammography of Frisco LLC, Solis Mammography of Garland LLC, Solis Mammography of Grand Prairie LLC, Solis Mammography of Houston NW LLC, Solis Mammography of Katy LLC, Solis Mammography of Louetta/249 LLC, Solis Mammography of Mainland LLC, Solis Mammography of Mansfield LLC, Solis Mammography of Mesquite LLC, Solis Mammography of Montgomery LLC, Solis Mammography of North Cypress LLC, Solis Mammography of North Loop LLC, Solis Mammography of Sugar Land LLC, Solis Mammography of West Plano LLC, Solis Mammography of Womans Place LLC, South Atlantic Division Inc., South Austin Surgery Center Ltd., South Austin Surgical Management LLC, South Austin Surgicenter LLC, South Brandon Imaging LLC, South Florida Division Practice Inc., South Texas Surgicare Inc., South Transfer Center LLC, South Valley Hospital L.P., Southeast Georgia Health Services LLC, Southern Hills Medical Center LLC, Southern Hills Neurology Consultants LLC, Southern Kentucky Medicine Associates LLC, Southern Kentucky Surgicenter LLC, Southern Texas Physicians Network, Southpoint LLC, Southtown Womens Clinic LLC, Southwest Florida Health System Inc., Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center Inc., Southwest Medical Center Family Practice LLC, Southwest Medical Center Multi-Specialty Group LLC, Southwest Medical Center Surgical Group LLC, Southwest Medpro Ltd., Southwest Surgical Clinic Inc., Southwest Virginia Orthopedics and Spine LLC, Spalding Rehabilitation L.L.C., Specialists in Obstetrics and Gynecology PLLC, Specialty Associates of West Houston PLLC, Specialty Physicians of Northern Virginia LLC, Specialty Surgicare of Las Vegas LP, Spotsylvania Condominium Property LLC, Spotsylvania Medical Center Inc., Spotsylvania Multi-Specialty Group LLC, Spotsylvania Regional Surgery Center LLC, Spring Branch Family Practitioners PLLC, Spring Branch Medical Center Inc., Spring Hill Hospital Inc., Spring Hill Imaging LLC, Spring Hill Physicians LLC, Springview KY LLC, Spruce Pine Healthcare LLC, St. Davids Austin Area ASC LLC, St. Davids Cardiology PLLC, St. Davids CareNow Urgent Care PLLC, St. Davids Healthcare Partnership L.P. LLP, St. Davids Heart & Vascular PLLC, St. Davids Neurology PLLC, St. Davids OB Hospitalist PLLC, St. Davids Ortho Neuro and Rehab PLLC, St. Davids Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation PLLC, St. Davids Quality Alliance LLC, St. Davids Specialized Womens Services PLLC, St. Davids Trauma Surgeons PLLC, St. Lucie Hospitalists LLC, St. Lucie Medical Center Hyperbarics LLC, St. Lucie Medical Center Walk-In Clinic LLC, St. Lucie Medical Specialists LLC, St. Lucie West Primary Care LLC, St. Marks Ambulatory Surgery Associates L.P., St. Marks Gynecology Oncology Care LLC, St. Marks Investments Inc., St. Marks Physician Billing LLC, St. Marks Professional Services LLC, St. Marks South Jordan Family Practice LLC, St. Martins Healthcare Limited, St. Martins Ltd., St. Martins Medical Services Limited, St. Petersburg General Surgery LLC, Stafford Imaging LLC, Statland Medical Group LLC, Steamboat Springs Surgicenter LLC, Sterling Primary Care Associates LLC, Stiles Road Imaging LLC, StoneCrest Surgery Center LLC, StoneSprings Medical Office Building Property LLC, StoneSprings Surgicenter LLC, Stonecrest Medical Group - Family Practice of Murfreesboro LLC, Stonecrest Medical Group - SC Murfreesboro Family Practice LLC, Stones River Hospital LLC, Suburban Medical Center at Hoffman Estates Inc., Sugar Land Surgery Center Anesthesia LLC, Sugar Land Surgery Center Ltd., Sullins Surgical Center Inc., Summit Convenient Care at Lebanon LLC, Summit General Partner Inc., Summit Heart LLC, Summit Outpatient Diagnostic Center LLC, Summit Research Solutions LLC, Summit Surgery Center L.P., Summit Surgical Associates LLC, Summit Walk-in Clinic LLC, Sun Bay Medical Office Building Inc., Sun City Hospital Inc., Sun City Imaging LLC, Sun Towers/Vista Hills Holding Co., Sun-Med LLC, Sunrise Flamingo Holdings LLC, Sunrise Flamingo Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center LLC, Sunrise Mountainview Hospital Inc., Sunrise Mountainview Multi-Specialty Clinics LLC, Sunrise Outpatient Services Inc., Sunrise Physician Services LLC, Sunrise Trauma Services LLC, Surgery Associates of NTX PLLC, Surgery Center of Atlantis LLC, Surgery Center of Aventura Ltd., Surgery Center of Bay Area Houston LLC, Surgery Center of Greenview L.P., Surgery Center of Independence L.P., Surgery Center of Overland Park L.P., Surgery Center of Port Charlotte Ltd., Surgery Center of Rome L.P., Surgery Center of the Rockies LLC, Surgical Associates of Southwest Virginia LLC, Surgical Care Medical Group LLC, Surgical Center of Irving Inc., Surgical Facility of West Houston L.P., Surgical Park Center Ltd., Surgical Specialists of Clear Lake PLLC, Surgical Specialists of Conroe PLLC, Surgical Specialists of Corpus Christi PLLC, Surgicare America - Winter Park Inc., Surgicare Merger Company of Louisiana, Surgicare Outpatient Center of Baton Rouge Inc., Surgicare Outpatient Center of Jackson Inc., Surgicare of ADC LLC, Surgicare of AGI LLC, Surgicare of Alpine LLC, Surgicare of Altamonte Springs Inc., Surgicare of Anchorage LLC, Surgicare of Arapahoe LLC, Surgicare of Arlington LLC, Surgicare of Ashburn LLC, Surgicare of Augusta Inc., Surgicare of Aurora Endoscopy LLC, Surgicare of Aventura LLC, Surgicare of Bay Area Endoscopy LLC, Surgicare of Bay Area LLC, Surgicare of Bayonet Point Inc., Surgicare of Bayside LLC, Surgicare of Bountiful LLC, Surgicare of Brandon Inc., Surgicare of Brentwood LLC, Surgicare of Brighton LLC, Surgicare of Brooksville LLC, Surgicare of Brownsville LLC, Surgicare of Buckhead LLC, Surgicare of CAREOS LLC, Surgicare of Central Florida Inc., Surgicare of Central Park Surgery Center LLC, Surgicare of Central San Antonio Inc., Surgicare of Chattanooga LLC, Surgicare of Chippenham LLC, Surgicare of Citrus LLC, Surgicare of Clarksville LLC, Surgicare of Corpus Christi LLC, Surgicare of Countryside Inc., Surgicare of Dallas Specialty LLC, Surgicare of Denton Inc., Surgicare of Denver Clinic LLC, Surgicare of Denver LLC, Surgicare of Denver Mid-Town Inc., Surgicare of Dickson LLC, Surgicare of Eastside LLC, Surgicare of Evans Inc., Surgicare of Fairfax Inc., Surgicare of Florida Inc., Surgicare of Flower Mound Inc., Surgicare of Focus Hand LLC, Surgicare of Fort Worth Co-GP LLC, Surgicare of Fort Worth Inc., Surgicare of Ft. Pierce Inc., Surgicare of Good Samaritan LLC, Surgicare of Gramercy Inc., Surgicare of Greenview Inc., Surgicare of Hanover Inc., Surgicare of Houston Kingwood LLC, Surgicare of Houston LLC, Surgicare of Houston Womens Inc., Surgicare of Indianapolis Inc., Surgicare of Kansas City LLC, Surgicare of Kingwood LLC, Surgicare of Kissimmee Inc., Surgicare of Lakeview Inc., Surgicare of Las Vegas Inc., Surgicare of Laurel Grove LLC, Surgicare of Lorain County Inc., Surgicare of Los Gatos Inc., Surgicare of Los Robles LLC, Surgicare of Loveland LLC, Surgicare of Madison Inc., Surgicare of Manatee Inc., Surgicare of McKinney Inc., Surgicare of Medical City Dallas LLC, Surgicare of Memorial Endoscopy LLC, Surgicare of Merritt Island Inc., Surgicare of Miami Lakes LLC, Surgicare of Mountain West LLC, Surgicare of Mt. Ogden LLC, Surgicare of Nashville LLC, Surgicare of Natchez LLC, Surgicare of Newport Richey Inc., Surgicare of North Austin LLC, Surgicare of North San Antonio Inc., Surgicare of Northeast San Antonio Inc., Surgicare of Orange Park II LLC, Surgicare of Orange Park Inc., Surgicare of Orange Park Ltd., Surgicare of Orlando Inc., Surgicare of Overland Park LLC, Surgicare of Palms West LLC, Surgicare of Park Ridge LLC, Surgicare of Pasadena Inc., Surgicare of Pavilion LLC, Surgicare of Physicians West El Paso LLC, Surgicare of Pinellas Inc., Surgicare of Plano Inc., Surgicare of Plantation Inc., Surgicare of Port Charlotte LLC, Surgicare of Port St. Lucie Inc., Surgicare of Portsmouth LLC, Surgicare of Premier Orthopaedic LLC, Surgicare of Reston Inc., Surgicare of Ridgeline LLC, Surgicare of Riverside LLC, Surgicare of Riverwalk LLC, Surgicare of Roanoke LLC, Surgicare of Rome Inc., Surgicare of Rose LLC, Surgicare of Round Rock Inc., Surgicare of Royal Oaks LLC, Surgicare of Silicon Valley LLC, Surgicare of Sky Ridge LLC, Surgicare of Sky Ridge Womens Center LLC, Surgicare of South Austin Inc., Surgicare of Southeast Denver Inc., Surgicare of Southern Hills Inc., Surgicare of Southern Kentucky LLC, Surgicare of Southwest Houston LLC, Surgicare of Spotsylvania LLC, Surgicare of St. Andrews Inc., Surgicare of St. Andrews Ltd., Surgicare of St. Davids Austin LLC, Surgicare of Steamboat Springs LLC, Surgicare of StoneCrest LLC, Surgicare of StoneSprings LLC, Surgicare of Stuart Inc., Surgicare of Sugar Land Inc., Surgicare of Swedish LLC, Surgicare of Tallahassee Inc., Surgicare of Terre Haute LLC, Surgicare of Thornton LLC, Surgicare of Travis Center Inc., Surgicare of Tulsa Inc., Surgicare of Utah LLC, Surgicare of Wasatch Front LLC, Surgicare of West Hills Inc., Surgicare of Westlake Inc., Surgicare of Wichita Inc., Surgicare of Wichita LLC, Surgicare of Willis LLC, Surgicare of Wilson County LLC, Surgicare of Winchester LLC, Surgicenter of East Jefferson Inc., Surgicenter of Johnson County Ltd. a Kansas limited partnership, Surgicenter of Kansas City L.L.C., Surgico LLC, Swedish MOB Acquisition Inc., Swedish MOB I Ltd., Swedish MOB II Inc., Swedish MOB III Inc., Swedish MOB IV Inc., Swedish MOB LLC, Swedish Medpro Inc., TBHI Outpatient Services LLC, TCMC Madison-Portland Inc., THN Physicians Association Inc., TUHC Anesthesiology Group LLC, TUHC Hospitalist Group LLC, TUHC Physician Group LLC, TUHC Primary Care and Pediatrics Group LLC, TUHC Radiology Group LLC, Tallahassee Community Network Inc., Tallahassee Medical Center Inc., Tallahassee Orthopaedic Surgery Partners Ltd., Tampa Bay Health System Inc., Tampa Surgi-Centre Inc., Tarrant County Surgery Center L.P., Tchefuncte Cardiology Associates - Lakeview LLC, Teays Valley Health Services LLC, Telehealth Physician Services LLC, Tennessee Healthcare Management Inc., Tennessee Valley Outpatient Diagnostic Center LLC, Terre Haute Hospital GP Inc., Terre Haute Hospital Holdings Inc., Terre Haute MOB L.P., Terre Haute Obstetrics and Gynecology LLC, Terre Haute Regional Hospital L.P., Texas CareNow Physician Associates, Texas HSS LLC, Texas Institute of Medicine and Surgery, Texas Psychiatric Company Inc., The Austin Diagnostic Clinic PLLC, The Cancer Care Center of North Florida LLC, The Cardiovascular Partnership for Quality LLC, The Charter Cypress Behavioral Health System L.L.C., The Christie Clinic LLP, The Glynne Medical Practice Limited, The Harley Street Cancer Clinic Limited, The London Breast Institute UK Ltd, The Medical Group of Kansas City LLC, The Neurohealth Sciences Center LLC, The Physicians Clinic Limited, The Prostate Centre Limited, The Rankin Foundation, The Regional Health System of Acadiana LLC, The Wasatch Endoscopy Center Ltd., The West Texas Division of Columbia Inc., Timpanogos Pain Specialists LLC, Timpanogos Regional Medical Services Inc., Total Imaging - Hudson LLC, Total Imaging - North St. Petersburg LLC, Total Imaging - Parsons LLC, Town Plaza Family Practice LLC, Travel Medicine and Infections LLC, Travis Surgery Center L.P., Tri Cities Health Services Corp., Tri-City Multi-Specialty LLC, Tri-County Community Hospital Inc., Tri-County Surgical Specialists LLC, TriStar Bone Marrow Transplant LLC, TriStar Cardiovascular Surgery LLC, TriStar Family Care LLC, TriStar Gynecology Oncology LLC, TriStar Health System Inc., TriStar Joint Replacement Institute LLC, TriStar Maury Behavioral Healthcare LLC, TriStar Medical Group - Centennial Primary Care LLC, TriStar Medical Group - Legacy Health LLC, TriStar Medical Network LLC, TriStar OB/GYN LLC, TriStar Orthopedics LLC, TriStar Physicians LLC, TriStar Radiation Oncology LLC, Trident Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Trident Behavioral Health Services LLC, Trident Eye Surgery Center L.P., Trident Medical Center LLC, Trident Medical Services Inc., Trident Neonatology Services LLC, Tulane Clinic LLC, Tulane Professionals Management L.L.C., Tuscan Imaging Center at Las Colinas LLC, U.S. Collections Inc., Ultra Imaging Management Services LLC, Ultra Imaging of Tampa LLC, University Healthcare Specialists LLC, University Healthcare System L.C., University Hospital Ltd., Uptown Primary Care Associates LLC, Urgent Care Enterprise LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Ann & Simmons LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Cactus & Southern Highlands LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Charleston & Decatur LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Charleston/Sloan LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Craig & Clayton LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Craig & Decatur LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Durango & Cheyenne LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Durango & Flamingo LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Eastern & Horizon Ridge LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Rainbow/Mardon LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Warm Springs & Green Valley LLC, Urgent Care Extra Silverado & Maryland LLC, Urgent Care Extra-Tropicana & Jones LLC, Urgent Care Nevada LLC, Urological Specialists of Arlington PLLC, Urology Associates (London) Limited, Urology Center of North Georgia LLC, Urology Services of El Paso PLLC, Urology Specialists Devonshire LLP, Urology Specialists London LLP, Urology Specialists of Kingwood PLLC, Urology Specialists of Richmond LLC, Urology Surgery Center of Colorado LLC, Utah CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Utah Imaging GP LLC, Utah Medco LLC, Utah Surgery Center L.P., VH Holdco Inc., VH Holdings Inc., VHSC Plantation LLC, VIP Inc., Valify, Valify Inc., Value Health Holdings Inc., Value Health Management Inc., Vascular and Endovascular Specialists LLC, Venture Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Venture Medical Management LLC, Village Oaks Medical Center Inc., Virginia Care Partners ACO LLC, Virginia Gynecologic Oncology LLC, Virginia Hematology & Oncology Associates Inc., Virginia Hospitalists Inc., Virginia Psychiatric Company Inc., Virginia Quality Care Partners LLC, Vision Consulting Group LLC, Vision Holdings LLC, W & C Hospital Inc., WCP Properties LLC, WHG Medical LLC, WHMC Inc., WJHC LLC, Walterboro Community Hospital Inc., Warren County Ambulance Service LLC, Wasatch Front Surgery Center LLC, Washington Holdco LLC, Waterway Primary Care LLC, Weatherford Health Services LLC, Weatherford Mammography JV LLC, Weatherford Regional Medical Center, Welbeck Street Diagnostic Centre LLP, Wellington Diagnostic Services LLP, Wesley Cath Lab LLC, Wesley Manager LLC, Wesley Medical Center LLC, Wesley Physician Services LLC, Wesley Physicians - Anesthesiologist LLC, Wesley Physicians - Cardiovascular LLC, Wesley Physicians - Medical Specialties LLC, Wesley Physicians - Obstetrics and Gynecology LLC, Wesley Physicians - Primary Care LLC, Wesley Select Network LLC, Wesley Urgent Care LLC, West Boynton Beach Open Imaging Center LLC, West Creek Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, West Creek Medical Center Inc., West Florida - MHT LLC, West Florida - PPH LLC, West Florida Behavioral Health Inc., West Florida Cardiology Network LLC, West Florida Cardiology Physicians LLC, West Florida CareNow Urgent Care LLC, West Florida Division Inc., West Florida Gulf Coast Primary Care LLC, West Florida HealthWorks LLC, West Florida Imaging Services LLC, West Florida Internal Medicine LLC, West Florida PET Services LLC, West Florida Physician Network LLC, West Florida Professional Billing LLC, West Florida Regional Medical Center Inc., West Florida Specialty Physicians LLC, West Florida Trauma Network LLC, West Florida Urgent Care Network LLC, West Hills Hospital, West Hills Surgical Center Ltd., West Houston ASC Inc., West Houston Healthcare Group Ltd., West Houston Internal Specialists PLLC, West Houston LLC, West Houston Medical PLLC, West Houston Outpatient Medical Facility Inc., West Houston Surgicare Inc., West Jacksonville Medical Center Inc., West Jordan Hospital Corporation, West LPN Fort Worth Oncology PLLC, West LPN Inc., West Los Angeles Physicians Hospital Inc., West McKinney Imaging Services LLC, West Paces Services Inc., West Park Surgery Center L.P., West Valley Imaging LLC, West Valley Medical Center Inc., West Valley Medical Group LLC, West Valley Medical Group Specialty Services LLC, West Valley Therapy Services LLC, Westbury Hospital Inc., Western Plains Capital Inc., Westlake Surgicare L.P., Westminster Community Hospital, Westside Surgery Center Ltd., Wichita CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Wildwood Medical Center Inc., Willis Surgicenter LLC, Wilson County Outpatient Surgery Center L.P., Womans Health Group PLLC, Womans Hospital Merger LLC, Womans Hospital of Texas Incorporated, Women Practitioners of Houston PLLC, Women Specialists of Bayshore PLLC, Women Specialists of Clear Lake PLLC, Women Specialists of Mainland PLLC, Womens & Childrens Center LLC, Womens & Childrens Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Center LLC, Womens & Childrens Pulmonology Clinic LLC, Womens Center at Brookside LLC, Womens Health Center of Central Florida LLC, Womens Health Center of SWVA LLC, Womens Hospital Indianapolis GP Inc., Womens Hospital Indianapolis L.P., Womens Link Specialty Obstetrical Referral Clinic PLLC, Womens Multi-Specialty Group LLC, Womens Surgical Specialists of Texas PLLC, Womens and Childrens Professional Management L.L.C., Womens and Childrens Specialists LLC, hInsight-Airstrip Holdings LLC, hInsight-BMA Holdings LLC, hInsight-Customer Care Holdings LLC, hInsight-Digital Reasoning Holdings LLC, hInsight-Healthbox Holdings LLC, hInsight-I2 Holdings LLC, hInsight-InVivoLink Holdings LLC, hInsight-LS Holdings LLC, hInsight-Loyale Healthcare Holdings LLC, hInsight-Mobile Heartbeat Holdings LLC, hInsight-NX LLC, hInsight-PWS I Holdings LLC, hInsight-Procured Holdings LLC, and hInsight-VAI Holdings LLC. The following companies are subsidiares of Fluor: 202 Maintenance Services LLC, 3Angle B.V., 3Angle EPCM V.O.F., 684033 N.B. Ltd., AAR 2007 Limited, ADP Marshall Contractors Inc., ADP/FD of Nevada Inc., AG&P Fluor Joint Venture Company Inc., AJS V.O.F., AMECO COLOMBIA S.A.S., AMECO Caribbean Inc., AMECO Holdings Inc., AMECO PANAMA S.A., AMECO Peru S.R. L., AMECO Project Services Inc., AMECO Services Inc., ATCO Fluor Support Solutions Ltd., Acqyre B.V., Agensi Pekerjaan TRS Malaysia SDN. BHD., Ameco Chile S.A., Ameco Equipment Services Inc., Ameco Inc., Ameco Mexico Administracion y Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Ameco Pty. Ltd., Ameco Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Ameco Services S. de R.L. de C.V., American Bridge/Fluor Enterprises Inc. A Joint Venture, American Construction Equipment Company Inc., American Equipment Company Inc., Arbeitsgemeinschaft BAB A S Ausbau Augsburg - Munchen, Asset Management Solutions S.A.S., B.C. Mining Joint Venture, Bellefonte Construction Services LLC, Bouwcombinatie Sluizen 4-5-6 V.O.F., Brady-Fluor LLC, CEJV Ingenieria y Construccion Limitada, CGF Projects Ghana Limited, COOEC-Fluor Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., CSP EG S.L., Canadian National Energy Alliance Ltd., Cascadia Monorail Company LLC, Cavendish Fluor Partnership Limited, Cibolo Creek Infrastructure Joint Venture, Colorado River Constructors JV, Compania Minera San Jose Del Peru S.A., ConOps Construction Ltd., Connect 202 Partners LLC, Consorcio Generation P135 MASA-VEPICA, Consorcio Grupo Stork, Consorcio KGM JV, Consorcio MASARTEC POWER JV, Consorcio Stork Y Masa JV, Consorcio Turnaround Alliance JV, Consorsio MSC JV, Consorsio Stork-TMI, Contingent Mission Sustainment Inc., Cooperheat Franchising B.V., Cooperheat GmbH, Cooperheat Saudi Arabia Company Limited, Corrosion Inspection & Integrity Services Sdn. 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Ltd., Fluor Daniel Pacific Inc., Fluor Daniel Pulp & Paper Inc., Fluor Daniel Services Corporation, Fluor Daniel South America Limited, Fluor Daniel Technical Services Inc., Fluor Daniel Venture Group Inc., Fluor Daniel a Professional Architectural Corporation, Fluor Daniel-AMEC Philippines Inc., Fluor Daniels Holdings (Botswana) (Pty) Limited, Fluor Driver Inc., Fluor Energy Technology Services LLC, Fluor Engenharia e Projetos S.A., Fluor Engineering Corporation, Fluor Engineering N.V., Fluor Engineering Solutions Ltd., Fluor Enterprises Group Inc., Fluor Enterprises Inc., Fluor Europe B.V.IIIIIX, Fluor Facility & Plant Services Inc., Fluor Federal Global Projects Inc., Fluor Federal Inc., Fluor Federal Petroleum Operations LLC, Fluor Federal Services Inc., Fluor Federal Services LLC, Fluor Federal Services NWS Inc., Fluor Fernald Inc., Fluor Finance International B.V./S.a.r.l., Fluor Finance U.S. Inc., Fluor Flatiron Balfour Beatty Dragados DBJV, Fluor Global Plant Services (Proprietary) Ltd., Fluor Global Services Australia Pty Ltd., Fluor GmbH, Fluor Government Group International Inc., Fluor Government Group Canada Inc., Fluor Guinea Inc., Fluor HDR Global Design Consultants LLC, Fluor Hanford Inc., Fluor Heavy Civil LLC, Fluor Holding Company LLC, Fluor Idaho LLC, Fluor Industrial Construction Corp., Fluor Industrial Services Canada Inc., Fluor Industrial Services Inc., Fluor Industrial Services Limited, Fluor Infrastructure B.V., Fluor Intercontinental Arabian Peninsula LLC, Fluor Intercontinental Germany GmbH, Fluor Intercontinental Inc., Fluor Intercontinental Solutions LLC, Fluor International C.V., Fluor International Holdings B.V., Fluor International Inc., Fluor International Limited, Fluor International Nigeria Limited, Fluor Investments LLC, Fluor Ireland Limited, Fluor Island ehf., Fluor Kazakhstan Inc., Fluor Kazakhstan LLC, Fluor Kuwait KSC, Fluor Limited, Fluor Maintenance Services Inc., Fluor Management Company L.P., Fluor Management and Technical Services Inc., Fluor Marine Propulsion LLC, Fluor Mediterranean Inc., Fluor Middle East LLC, Fluor Mideast Limited, Fluor Mining and Metals France Inc., Fluor Mocambique Limitada, Fluor NE Inc., Fluor Ocean Services Limited, Fluor Pension Trustee Limited, Fluor Plant Engineering S.A., Fluor Power Services Pty Ltd., Fluor Project Services B.V., Fluor Projects Limited, Fluor Rail Services Pty Ltd., Fluor S.A., Fluor S.A. (Pty) Limited, Fluor SPN Inc., Fluor Services B.V., Fluor Services LLC, Fluor South Africa (Pty) Limited, Fluor Spain Holding S.L., Fluor Supply Chain Solutions B.V., Fluor Supply Chain Solutions LLC, Fluor Supply Chain Solutions Singapore Pte. Ltd., Fluor Techint SRL Construccion y Servicios Limitada, Fluor Technologies Corporation, Fluor Texas Inc., Fluor Transworld Services Inc., Fluor US Services Inc., Fluor Uganda Engineering and Construction Limited, Fluor Virginia Inc., Fluor WEP Holdings Inc., Fluor WorleyParsons Arctic Solutions, Fluor environmental Resources Management Services Inc., Fluor-B&W Oak Ridge LLC, Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth LLC, Fluor-Brady LLC, Fluor-CDM Space Services LLC, Fluor-Habboush International Limited, Fluor-Igoda Projects (Proprietary) Limited, Fluor-Lane 95 LLC, Fluor-Lane LLC, Fluor-Lane South Carolina LLC, Fluor-SKM Iron Ore Joint Venture, Fluor/Technip Integrated JV, Fluor/Westinghouse Liquid Waste Services LLC, FluorAMEC LLC, Fru-Con/Fluor Daniel Joint Venture, GLT-Plus V.O.F., GLX Constructors an unincorporated joint venture, Genesys Telecommunications Holdings Limited, Genesys Telecommunications Limited, Giovenco Industrial Services Pty Ltd., Giovenco Industries (AUST) Pty Limited, Giovenco Industries (AUST) Trust, Giovenco/Insulations International JV Pty Ltd., Giovenco/Insulations International JV Unit Trust, Gladstone Pressure Welders Pty Ltd., Global Project Execution Inc., Goar Allison & Associates, Goar Allison & Associates LLCndo-Mauritian Affiliates Limitednfrastructure Civil Equipment LLC, Greenville Technical Services Inc., Grupo Alvica SCS, Grupo Empresarial Alvica S.A., ICA Fluor Daniel S. de R.L. de C.V., ICA Fluor Operaciones S.A. de C.V., ICA Fluor Operaciones S.A. de C.V., ICA Fluor Petroquimica S.A. de C.V., ICA Fluor Servicios Gerenciales S.A. de C.V., ICA Fluor Servicios Gerenciales S.A. de C.V., ICA Fluor Servicios Operativos S.A. de C.V., ICA Stork S. de C.V., ICA Stork S. de R.L. de C.V., IF Proyectos S.A., IFD Servicios de Ingenieria S.A. de C.V., IT Development Centre B.V., IXAS Gaasperdammerweg B.V., IXAS Zuid-Oost B.V., Industrial Del Hierro S.A. de C.V., Industrial Services France SAS, Industrial Services SF Peru S.A.C., Industrial Services SR Peru S.A.C., Infra Combinatie Zuid-West, Infraspeed Holdings B.V., Ingenieria y Construccion Fluor Daniel Chile Limitada, Iraq Construction Ltd., Iraq Water General Contracting Company L.L.C., Istimewa Electrotechniek B.V., J Crowder Corporation, J. Crowder Corp., J.A. Jones International, JGC Fluor BC Joint Venture, JGC Fluor Kitimat LNG Project JV, JGC Fluor Mocambique Lda, JGC/FEI Joint Venture, JGC/Fluor JV, KDPC Limited, KMK-DJI JV, KPJV Limited, Karratha Engineering Services Pty Ltd., Kazakh Projects Joint Venture Limited, KazakhNefteGasServis LLP, Koninklijke Machinefabriek Stork B.V., Lone Star Infrastructure Joint Venture, Lone Star Infrastructure LLC, Louisiana Operations and Maintenance Services LLC, M&W/Marshall a Joint Venture, MGJV Pty Ltd., Maquinaria Ameco Guatemala Limitada, Mecanicos Asociados S.A.S., Mid-America Conversion Services LLC, Middle East Fluor, Mineral Resource Development Corporation, Mongolian National Facility Services (MNFS) LLC, Mourik Istimewa Combinatie V.O.F., NWKC LLC, Najmat Al-Sabah for General Services Limited Liability Company, NuScale Holdings Corp., NuScale Power LLC, Oregon Bridge Delivery Partners Joint Venture, P.T. Fluor Daniel Indonesia, P.T. MITRA BERSAMA ENGINEERING, P.T. Nusantara Power Services, PFD (UK) Limited, PFD International LLC, PRI/DJI A Reconstruction JV, PT Signet Indonesia, PT Singgar Mulia, PT. MITRA BERSAMA ENGINEERING, Pacific Defense Constructors LLC, Palmetto Seed Capital Ltd. Partnership, Parkway Infrastructure Constructors, Pegasus Link Constructors, Pegasus Link Constructors LLC, Phoenix Constructors Joint Venture, Pipeline Maintenance Alliance JV, Plant Engineering Services LLC, Plant Performance Services, Plant Performance Services Caribbean Limited, Plant Performance Services International LLC, Plant Performance Services International Ltd., Poort van Den Bosch B.V., Poort van Den Bosch V.O.F., Prairie Link Constructors JV, Prairie Link Constructors LLC, Pro-V/ConOps JV, Provo River Constructors, Purple Line Transit Constructors LLC, Purple Line Transit Operations LLC, Purple Line Transit Partners LLC, Qatar National Facility Services, RBG Kazakhstan LLP, Rash Inversiones 2007 S.L., Rock Island Integrated Services, S-M V.O.F., SDT Maintenance Management Group Limited, SFS 007.298.633 Pty Limited, SSLP/FCCL JV, Sacyr Fluor Bolivia S.R.L., Sacyr Fluor Colombia S.A.S., Sacyr Fluor Participaciones S.L., Sacyr Fluor S.A., Saddleback Constructors, Sakhalin Neftegas Technology, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions LLC, Servicios Cuyuni E.T.T. C.A., Servicios Mineria Inc., Servicios de Construccion del Pacifico Inc., Servitrade Servicos Investimento y Trading Limitada, Servitrade Servicos Investimentos y Trading Limitada, Signet Engineering Pty Ltd., Signet Holdings Pty Ltd., Soli-Flo Inc., Soli-Flo LLC, Soli-Flo Material Transfer L.P., Soli-Flo Partners L.P., Soli0Flo Partners L.P., Springfield Resource Recovery Inc., Springfield Resource Recovery Limited Partnership, St. Joe Participacoes, St. Joe Participacoes Ltda, Stork Asset Management Consultancy B.V., Stork B.V., Stork Caspian LLC, Stork Colombia S.A.S., Stork Elecon Ltd, Stork Gear & Services Asia Pte. Ltd., Stork Gear & Services B.V., Stork German Holding GmbH, Stork Getriebe & Services GmbH, Stork H&E Turbo Blading Inc., Stork Holding, Stork Holding B.V., Stork Integrated Solutions B.V., Stork Intellectual Property B.V., Stork International B.V., Stork International Limited, Stork Mechanical Works and Maintenance Co. K.S.C.C., Stork Nederland B.V., Stork Oryx Turbo Machinery Services LLC, Stork Peru S.A.C., Stork Peru S.A.S., Stork Plastic Machinery B.V., Stork Power Services & Technology Beijing Limited, Stork Power Services B.V., Stork Power Services OOO, Stork Power Services USA Holding Inc., Stork TS Holdings Limited, Stork TS UK Limited, Stork Technical Services (Holdings) Limited, Stork Technical Services (RBG) Limited, Stork Technical Services (STS) Ltd., Stork Technical Services Australia Pty Ltd., Stork Technical Services Beheer B.V., Stork Technical Services Belgium N.V., Stork Technical Services GmbH, Stork Technical Services Group B.V., Stork Technical Services HOLDCO B.V., Stork Technical Services Holding Australia Pty Ltd., Stork Technical Services Holding B.V., Stork Technical Services International Limited, Stork Technical Services International South Africa, Stork Technical Services Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Stork Technical Services New Zealand Limited, Stork Technical Services Norway AS, Stork Technical Services Sadaf LLC, Stork Technical Services Saudi Arabia Co., Stork Technical Services Trinidad and Tobago Ltd, Stork Technical Services UK Limited, Stork Technical Services USA Inc., Stork Thermeq B.V., Stork Turbo Blading B.V., Stork Turbo Service B.V., Strategic Organizational Systems Enterprises Inc., Strategic Organizational Systems Environmental Engineering Division Inc., Support Services International LLC, Supreme Modular Fabrication Inc., TDF Inc., TRS Consultants JLT, TRS Craft Services Inc., TRS Far East Sdn. Bhd., TRS International Group S. de R.L. de C.V., TRS International Payroll Co., TRS Labour Hire Solutions Pty. Ltd., TRS SA Holdings Company (Pty) Ltd., TRS Search and Selection (Pty) Ltd., TRS Staffing Solutions (Australia) Pty Ltd., TRS Staffing Solutions (Canada) Inc., TRS Staffing Solutions (Pty) Ltd., TRS Staffing Solutions B.V., TRS Staffing Solutions Inc., TRS Staffing Solutions India Private Limited, TRS Staffing Solutions Limited, TRS Staffing Solutions Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., TRS Staffing Solutions Mozambique Limitada, TRS Staffing Solutions S. de R.L. de C.V., TRS Staffing Solutions SA (Pty) Ltd., Tappan Zee Constructors LLC, Technical Resource Solutions S.L., Technip-Fluor JV, Thermoprozess Cooperheat GmbH, Trans Florida Express LLCenezco Inc., Trans-Africa Projects (Pty) Ltd., Trans-Africa Projects Ltd., UNEC Engineering, United Rentals Industrial Services LLC, WODECO Nigeria Limited, Walsh-Fluor Design-Build Team, Wescon (B) Sdn. Bhd., Wescon International B.V., Williams Brothers Engineering Company, Williams Brothers Engineering Limited, Williams Brothers Process Services Inc., Wilmore/Fluor Modesto LLC, Windsor Essex Mobility Group GP, WorleyParsons Arabia Limited Fluor Arabia Limited Joint Venture, Wright Engineers (Chile) Limitada, Wright Engineers Limitada Peru, and ZuidPlus V.O.F.. The following companies are subsidiares of Fidelity National Information Services: 11601 Roosevelt Boulevard Realty LLC, AGES Participacoes Ltda., Advanced Portfolio Technologies Inc., Advanced Portfolio Technologies Ltd., Aircrown Limited, Aquarius Particpacoes S.A., Armed Forces Financial Network LLC (50%), Automated Securities Clearance LLC, Birza Limited, C&E Holdings Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Card Brazil Holdings Inc., Card Brazil LLC, Central Credit Services Limited, Certegy Canada Company, Certegy Card Services B.V., Certegy Card Services Limited, Certegy Check Services Inc., Certegy Dutch Holdings B.V., Certegy EziPay Ltd., Certegy France Limited, Certegy SNC, Certegy UK Holdings B.V., Chex Systems Inc., Clear2Pay, Clear2Pay (Shenzhen) Co., Clear2Pay APAC Pte. Ltd., Clear2Pay APAC Pty Ltd., Clear2Pay Americas Inc., Clear2Pay Beijing Co., Clear2Pay Belgium NV, Clear2Pay China Limited, Clear2Pay France SAS, Clear2Pay Germany GmbH, Clear2Pay Integri NV, Clear2Pay Limited, Clear2Pay NV, Clear2Pay Nanjing Co., Clear2Pay Nederland BV, Clear2Pay Polska s.p.z.o.o, Clear2Pay Scotland Holdings Limited, Clear2Pay Scotland Limited, Clear2Pay Spain S.l., ClearPark N.V., ClearTwoPay Chile SpA, Complete Payment Recovery Services Inc., Compliance Coach, Credit Management Solutions, Decalog (1991) Ltd., Decalog (UK) Limited, Decalog N.V., F.I.S. Systems (Middle East) Limited, FAME Information Services (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd, FIRM I LLC, FIRM II LLC, FIS (Benelux) N.V., FIS (Switzerland) SA, FIS (Tunisia) I SARL, FIS (Tunisia) II SARL, FIS Apex (International) Limited, FIS Apex (UK) Limited, FIS Asia Pacific Inc., FIS AsiaPacRim Holdings Ltd., FIS Australasia Pty Ltd., FIS AvantGard LLC, FIS Bilgisayar Hizmetleri Ticaret Limited Sirketi, FIS Brokerage & Securities Services LLC, FIS Business Integration (UK) Limited, FIS Business Integration AG, FIS Business Integration GmbH, FIS Business Systems LLC, FIS Card Processing Services (Chile) S.A., FIS Card Services (Thailand) Co. Ltd., FIS Card Services Caribbean Ltd., FIS Computer Services LLC, FIS Consulting Services (Ireland) Limited, FIS Consulting Services (UK) Limited, FIS DIS Inc., FIS Data Systems Inc., FIS Derivatives Utility Services (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., FIS Derivatives Utility Services (UK) Limited, FIS Derivatives Utility Services LLC, FIS Energy Solutions (Italia) S.r.l., FIS Energy Solutions Limited, FIS Energy Systems Inc., FIS Financial Solutions Canada Inc., FIS Financial Strategies LLC, FIS Financial Systems (France) SAS, FIS Financial Systems LLC, FIS Foundation Inc., FIS GCS LLC, FIS Global Business Solutions India Private Ltd. (99%), FIS Global Execution Services Limited, FIS Global Holdings S.a.r.l, FIS Global Recovery Services India Private Limited, FIS Global Solutions Philippines Inc., FIS Global Trading (Belgium) N.V., FIS Global Trading (Deutschland) GmbH, FIS Global Trading (Hong Kong) Limited, FIS Global Trading (Iberica) S.L. Unipersonal, FIS Global Trading (Nederland) B.V., FIS Global Trading (Portugal) Unipessoal Lda, FIS Global Trading (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., FIS Global Trading (Suisse) SA, FIS Global Trading (UK) Limited, FIS Healthcare Trustee Limited, FIS Holdings (Cayman Islands) Ltd., FIS Holdings (Germany) GmbH i.L., FIS Holdings Limited, FIS Holdings Mauritius, FIS Insurance Services Limited, FIS International Subsidiaries Holdings Inc., FIS Investment Systems (UK) Limited, FIS Investment Systems LLC, FIS Investment Ventures LLC, FIS Investor Services LLC, FIS Italy S.r.l., FIS Japan KK, FIS Kingstar Cayman Islands Limited, FIS Kiodex LLC, FIS Korea Ltd., FIS Management Services LLC, FIS Management Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., FIS Pakistan (Private) Limited, FIS Payment Solutions & Services India Private Limited, FIS Payments (Ireland) Limited, FIS Payments (UK) Limited, FIS Public Sector AG Limited, FIS Reference Data Solutions LLC, FIS Risk and Security Services Inc., FIS Romania SRL, FIS SG (Italia) S.r.l., FIS SG International Holdings LLC, FIS SG Systems Philippines Inc., FIS Securities Finance LLC, FIS Shareholder Systems LLC, FIS Sherwood Systems (Netherlands) B.V., FIS Sherwood Systems Group Limited, FIS Sherwood Systems Limited, FIS Solutions (India) Private Limited, FIS Solutions LLC, FIS Solutions Software (India) Private Limited, FIS Systeme GmbH, FIS Systems (Hong Kong) Limited, FIS Systems (Luxembourg) S.A., FIS Systems (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., FIS Systems (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., FIS Systems Canada Inc., FIS Systems International LLC, FIS Systems Kenya Limited, FIS Systems Limited, FIS Systems NZ Limited, FIS Systems Pty Limited, FIS Systems South Africa (Pty) Limited, FIS Systems de Colombia S.A.S., FIS Technology (Beijing) Co. Limited, FIS Technology Services (New Zealand) Limited, FIS Technology Services (Poland) Sp. z.o.o., FIS Technology Services (Tunisia) SARL, FIS Technology Services Singapore Pte. Ltd., FIS Treasury Systems (Europe) Limited, FIS Treasury Systems (UK) Limited, FIS UK Holdings Limited, FIS Vietnam LLC, FIS Wealth Management Services Inc., FIS Workflow Solutions LLC, FIS eProcess Intelligence LLC, FIS iWORKS LLC, FIS iWORKS P&C (US) Inc., FIS-SG Holding Corp., FNIS Holding Brasil Ltda., FNIS Istanbul Danismanlik Limited Sirketi, FNX India Software Private Limited, Fidelity Holding Ltda., Fidelity Information Services (France) SARL, Fidelity Information Services (Hong Kong) Limited, Fidelity Information Services (Iberia) S.L.U., Fidelity Information Services (Israel) Ltd., Fidelity Information Services (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd., Fidelity Information Services (Thailand) Limited (99.9%), Fidelity Information Services Front Arena AB, Fidelity Information Services GmbH, Fidelity Information Services Holdings B.V., Fidelity Information Services India Private Limited, Fidelity Information Services International Holdings Inc., Fidelity Information Services LLC, Fidelity Information Services Limited, Fidelity Information Services Operations GmbH, Fidelity Information Services Slovakia s.r.o., Fidelity Information Services de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Fidelity International Resource Management Inc., Fidelity National Card Services Inc., Fidelity National Global Card Services Inc., Fidelity National Information Services (Netherlands) B.V., Fidelity National Information Services C.V., Fidelity National Information Services Inc., Fidelity National Participacoes e Servicos de Informatica Ltda., Fidelity National Servicos de Tratamento de Documentos e Informacoes Ltda., Fidelity Participacoes e Servicos Ltda., Fidelity Processadora S.A., Fidelity Servicos e Contact Center S.A., Financial Insurance Marketing Group Inc., GL Settle Limited, GL Trade (South Africa) (Proprietary) Limited, GL Trade Americas Inc., GL Trade CMS (Thailand) Limited, GL Trade Software DOO, GL Trade Solutions CMS (Thailand) Limited, Glesia S.r.l., Information Services Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Integrity Treasury Solutions Europe Limited, Integrity Treasury Solutions Inc., Integrity Treasury Solutions Limited, Integrity Treasury Solutions Pty Limited, Level Four Americas LLC, Link2Gov Corp., Memento, Metavante Corporation, Metavante Leasing LLC, Metavante Payment Services LLC, Metavante Technologies Inc, Metavante Technologies Limited, Minorca Corporation NV, Monis Management Limited, Monis Software Inc., Monis Software Limited, NYCE Payments Network LLC, Oshap Software Industries Ltd., Oshap Technologies Ltd., PREFCO VI LLC, PT Fidelity Information Services Indonesia, PT. FIS Systems Indonesia, Panther GP 1, Panther GP 2, Panther Holdco 2 Inc., Panther Holdco Inc., Panther Sub LLC, PayNet Payments Network LLC, Payment Brasil Holdings Ltda., Payment Chile S.A. (99.99%), Payment South America Holdings Inc., Penley Inc., Platform Securities Holdings Limited, Platform Securities International Limited, Platform Securities International Nominees Limited, Platform Securities LLP, Platform Securities Nominees Limited, Platform Securities Services Limited, Reech Capital Limited, Reliance Financial Corporation, Reliance Integrated Solutions LLC, Reliance Trust Company, Reliance Trust Company of Delaware, Sanchez Computer Associates Pty Limited, Secondco Limited, Sherwood US Holdings Limited, Solutions Plus Consulting Services Limited, Stratix Technologies Inc., SunGard, SunGard Ambit (Australia) Pty Ltd, SunGard Ambit Holdings Pty Ltd, SunGard Data Systems Beijing Co. Ltd., SunGard Global Services (Tunisia) III, SunGard Global Trading (Australia) Pty. Ltd., SunGard India Sales Private Limited, SunGard Kingstar Data System (China) Co. Ltd., SunGard Pensions Limited, TP Technologies N.V., Transax Limited, Trax N.V., Valuelink Information Services Limited, Valutec Card Solutions LLC, WildCard Systems Inc., Worldpay, eFunds Corporation, eFunds Holdings Limited, eFunds IT Solutions Group Inc., eFunds International Limited, i DLX International B.V., and mFoundry Inc.. DIC Asset AG is one of Germany's leading listed property companies, and specialises in commercial real estate. With around 20 years of experience on the German real estate market, the company maintains a regional footprint on all major German markets through six branch offices, and has 169 assets with a combined market value of c. EUR 5.6 billion under management. DIC uses a hybrid business model to manage its business divisions Commercial Portfolio, Funds and Other Investments. Taking an active asset management approach, DIC employs its proprietary, integrated real estate management platform to raise capital appreciation potential in its business divisions and to boost its revenues. In its Commercial Portfolio division (EUR 1.7 billion in assets under management), DIC acts as proprietor and property asset holder, and thus generates revenues both from the management of the assets and through the value optimisation of its own real estate portfolio. The Funds division (EUR 1.6 billion in assets under management) generates its revenues by acting as issuer and manager of special real estate funds for institutional investors. Gathered in the business unit Other Investments (EUR 2.3 billion in assets under management) are strategic financial investments, the management of properties in which the company holds no equity stakes, equity investments in property developments and joint venture investments. DIC Asset AG has been included in the SDAX(R) segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since June 2006. The Company's shares are also included in the EPRA index, which tracks the performance of the most important European real estate companies. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Lithia Motors: 797 Valley Street LLC, Albany CJD Fiat, Baierl Auto Group, Baierl Auto Parts LLC, Baierl Automotive Corporation, Baierl Chevrolet Inc., Baierl Holding LLC, Broadway Ford, Buhler Ford Inc, Cadillac of Portland Lloyd Center LLC, Camp Automotive Inc., Carbone Auto Body LLC, Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Fiat of Morgantown, Cranberry Automotive Inc., Crater Lake Ford Lincoln, Crater Lake Mazda, DCH (Oxnard) Inc., DCH Auto Group, DCH Bloomfield LLC, DCH CA LLC, DCH Calabasas-A LLC, DCH California Investments LLC, DCH California Motors Inc., DCH DMS NJ LLC, DCH Del Norte Inc., DCH Essex Inc., DCH Financial NJ LLC, DCH Freehold - V LLC, DCH Freehold LLC, DCH Holdings LLC, DCH Investments Inc. (New Jersey), DCH Investments Inc. (New York), DCH Korean Imports LLC, DCH Mamaroneck LLC, DCH Mission Valley LLC, DCH Monmouth LLC, DCH Montclair LLC, DCH Motors LLC, DCH NY Motors LLC, DCH Nanuet LLC, DCH North America Inc., DCH Oxnard 1521 Imports Inc., DCH Riverside-S Inc., DCH Simi Valley Inc., DCH Support Services LLC, DCH TL Holdings LLC, DCH TL NY Holdings LLC, DCH Temecula Imports LLC, DCH Temecula Motors LLC, DCH Thousand Oaks-F Inc., DCH Torrance Imports Inc., Dah Chong Hong CA Trading LLC, Dah Chong Hong Trading Corporation, Daron Motors LLC, Day Auto Group, Downtown LA, Driveway Motors LLC, Elizabeth Collision LLC, Florida SS LLC, Ford Lincoln of Morgantown, Freehold Nissan LLC, Fuse Auto Sales LLC, Hamilton Honda, Hazleton Honda, Hutchins Eugene Nissan Inc., Hutchins Imported Motors Inc., Jaguar Landrover Mission Viejo, LA Motors Holding LLC, LAD Advertising Inc., LAD Carson-N LLC, LAD Mission Viejo-JLR Inc., LAD Mobu Inc., LAD-AU LLC, LAD-MB LLC, LAD-N LLC, LAD-P LLC, LAD-T LLC, LAD-V LLC, LBMP LLC, LFKF LLC, LGPAC Inc., LLL Sales Co LLC, LMBB LLC, LMBP LLC, LMOP LLC, LSTAR LLC, Lithia AcDM Inc., Lithia Aircraft Inc., Lithia Anchorage-C LLC, Lithia Anchorage-H LLC, Lithia Armory Garage LLC, Lithia Auction & Recon LLC, Lithia Auto Services Inc., Lithia Automotive Inc., Lithia BA Holding Inc., Lithia BNM Inc. (nonoperating), Lithia Baierl-S LLC, Lithia Bryan Texas Inc., Lithia Buffalo-A LLC, Lithia CCTF Inc., Lithia CDH Inc., Lithia CIMR Inc., Lithia CJDO Inc., Lithia CJDSA Inc., Lithia CJDSF Inc., Lithia CM Inc., Lithia CO Inc., Lithia CSA Inc., Lithia Community Development Company Inc., Lithia Crater Lake-F Inc., Lithia Crater Lake-M Inc., Lithia DE Inc., Lithia DM Inc., Lithia DMID Inc., Lithia Des Moines-VW LLC, Lithia Dodge of Tri-Cities Inc., Lithia Eatontown-F LLC, Lithia FLCC LLC, Lithia FMF Inc., Lithia Financial Corporation (previously Lithia Leasing Inc. and Lithia Credit Inc.), Lithia Florida Holding Inc., Lithia Ford of Boise Inc., Lithia Fresno Inc., Lithia HDM Inc., Lithia HGF Inc., Lithia HMID Inc., Lithia HPI Inc. (nonoperating), Lithia Hamilton-H LLC, Lithia Hazleton-H LLC, Lithia Idaho Falls-F Inc., Lithia Imports of Anchorage Inc., Lithia JEF Inc., Lithia Klamath Inc., Lithia Klamath-T Inc., Lithia LBGGF Inc., Lithia LHGF Inc., Lithia LSGF Inc., Lithia MBDM Inc., Lithia MMF Inc., Lithia MTLM Inc., Lithia McMurray-C LLC, Lithia Medford HON Inc., Lithia Middletown-L LLC, Lithia Monroeville-A LLC, Lithia Monroeville-C LLC, Lithia Monroeville-F LLC, Lithia Monroeville-V LLC, Lithia Moon-S LLC, Lithia Moon-V LLC, Lithia Morgantown-CJD LLC, Lithia Morgantown-F LLC, Lithia Morgantown-S LLC, Lithia Motors Support Services Inc., Lithia NA Inc., Lithia NC Inc., Lithia ND Acquisition Corp. #1, Lithia ND Acquisition Corp. #3, Lithia ND Acquisition Corp. #4, Lithia NDM Inc., Lithia NF Inc., Lithia NSA Inc., Lithia Northeast Real Estate LLC, Lithia Orchard Park-H LLC, Lithia Paramus-M LLC, Lithia Pittsburgh-S LLC, Lithia Ramsey-B LLC, Lithia Ramsey-L LLC, Lithia Ramsey-M LLC, Lithia Ramsey-T LLC, Lithia Real Estate Inc., Lithia Reno Sub-HYUN Inc., Lithia Reno-CJ LLC, Lithia Reno-VW LLC, Lithia Rose-FT Inc., Lithia SOC Inc., Lithia SSP LLC, Lithia Salmir Inc., Lithia Sea P Inc., Lithia Seaside Inc., Lithia Spokane-B LLC, Lithia Spokane-S LLC, Lithia TA Inc., Lithia TO Inc., Lithia TR Inc., Lithia Uniontown-C LLC, Lithia VAuDM Inc., Lithia VF Inc., Lithia Wexford-H LLC, Lithia of Abilene Inc., Lithia of Anchorage Inc., Lithia of Bend #1 LLC, Lithia of Bend #2 LLC, Lithia of Bennington - 1 LLC, Lithia of Bennington - 2 LLC, Lithia of Bennington - 3 LLC, Lithia of Bennington - 4 LLC, Lithia of Billings II LLC, Lithia of Billings Inc., Lithia of Casper LLC, Lithia of Clear Lake LLC, Lithia of Concord I Inc., Lithia of Concord II Inc., Lithia of Corpus Christi Inc., Lithia of Des Moines Inc., Lithia of Eureka Inc., Lithia of Fairbanks Inc., Lithia of Great Falls Inc., Lithia of Helena Inc., Lithia of Honolulu-A Inc., Lithia of Honolulu-BGMCC LLC, Lithia of Honolulu-F LLC, Lithia of Honolulu-V LLC, Lithia of Killeen LLC, Lithia of Lodi Inc., Lithia of Maui-H LLC, Lithia of Missoula II LLC, Lithia of Missoula III Inc., Lithia of Missoula Inc., Lithia of Pocatello Inc., Lithia of Portland I LLC, Lithia of Portland LLC, Lithia of Robstown LLC, Lithia of Roseburg Inc., Lithia of Santa Rosa Inc., Lithia of Seattle Inc., Lithia of South Central AK Inc., Lithia of Spokane II Inc., Lithia of Spokane Inc., Lithia of Stockton Inc., Lithia of Stockton-V Inc., Lithia of TF Inc., Lithia of Troy LLC, Lithia of Utica - 1 LLC, Lithia of Utica - 2 LLC, Lithia of Utica - 3 LLC, Lithia of Utica - 4 LLC, Lithia of Walnut Creek Inc., Lithia of Wasilla LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 1 LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 2 LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 3 LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 4 LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 5 LLC, Medford Insurance LLC, Milford DCH Inc., Northland Ford Inc., PA Real Estate LLC, PA Support Services LLC, Paramus Collision LLC, Paramus World Motors LLC, Personalized Marketing LLC, Prestige Auto Group, RFA Holdings LLC, Ray Laks Acura, Ray Laks Honda, Sacramento-L Inc., Salem-B LLC, Salem-H LLC, Salem-V LLC, Sharlene Realty LLC, Shift Portland LLC, Southern Cascades Finance Corporation, Subaru of Morgantown, Tampa-H LLC, Tustin Motors Inc., Wesley Chapel-H LLC, Wesley Chapel-T LLC, Zelienople Real Estate I L.P., and Zelienople Real Estate L.L.C.. Chegg, Inc. operates direct-to-student learning platform that supports students on their journey from high school to college and into their career with tools designed to help them to learn their course materials, succeed in their classes, and save money on required materials. The company offers Chegg Services, which include subscription services; and required materials that comprise its print textbooks and eTextbooks. Its subscription services include Chegg Study, which helps students master challenging concepts on their own; Chegg Writing that provides students with a suite of tools, such as plagiarism detection scans, grammar and writing fluency checking, expert personalized writing feedback, and premium citation generation; Chegg Math solver, a step-by-step math problem solver and calculator that helps students to solve problems; Chegg Study Pack, a bundle of various Chegg Services product offerings, including Chegg Study, Chegg Writing, Chegg Math Solver, video content, and practice quizzes, which creates an integrated platform of connected academic support services; and Thinkful, a skills-based learning platform that offers professional courses in the areas of software engineering, UX/UI design, digital marketing, data science, product management, data analytics, product design, and technical project management directly to students. The company also provides other services, such as Chegg Prep and internships; and rents and sells print textbooks and eTextbooks. Chegg, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Read More Wall Street analysts have given iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys. View MarketBeat's top stock picks here. Boston Scientific Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets medical devices for use in various interventional medical specialties worldwide. It operates through three segments: MedSurg, Rhythm and Neuro, and Cardiovascular. The company offers devices to diagnose and treat gastrointestinal and pulmonary conditions; devices to treat various urological and pelvic conditions; implantable cardioverter and implantable cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators; pacemakers and implantable cardiac resynchronization therapy pacemakers; and remote patient management systems. It also provides medical technologies to diagnose and treat rate and rhythm disorders of the heart comprising 3-D cardiac mapping and navigation solutions, ablation catheters, diagnostic catheters, mapping catheters, intracardiac ultrasound catheters, delivery sheaths, and other accessories; spinal cord stimulator systems for the management of chronic pain; indirect decompression systems; and deep brain stimulation systems. In addition, the company offers interventional cardiology products, including drug-eluting coronary stent systems used in the treatment of coronary artery disease; percutaneous coronary interventions products to treat atherosclerosis; intravascular catheter-directed ultrasound imaging catheters, fractional flow reserve devices, and systems for use in coronary arteries and heart chambers, as well as various peripheral vessels; and structural heart therapies. Further, it provides stents, balloon catheters, wires, atherectomy systems to treat arterial diseases; thrombectomy and acoustic pulse thrombolysis systems, wires, and stents to treat venous diseases; and peripheral embolization devices, radioactive microspheres, ablation systems, and micro and drainage catheters to treat cancer. The company was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Becton, Dickinson and: (Bard Istanbul Healthcare Limited Company), Accuri Cytometers, Accuri Cytometers Inc., Adaptec, Alverix, Alverix Inc., Atto Bioscience, BD Holding S. de R.L. de C.V., BD Infection Prevention BV, BD Kiestra BV, BD Kiestra Total Lab Automation, BD Rapid Diagnostic (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., BD San Luis Potosi S.A. de C.V., BD Switzerland Sarl, BD Ventures LLC, BD West Africa Limited, BDX INO LLC, Bard (Thailand) Limited, Bard ASDI Inc., Bard Access Systems Inc., Bard Acquisition Sub Inc., Bard Australia Pty. Limited, Bard Benelux N.V., Bard Brachytherapy Inc., Bard Brasil Industria e Comercio de Produtos Para a Saude Ltda., Bard Canada Inc., Bard Chile S.p.A., Bard Colombia S.A.S., Bard Czech Republic s.r.o., Bard Devices Inc., Bard Dublin ITC Limited, Bard EMEA Finance Center Sp.z o.o., Bard European Distribution Center N.V., Bard Finance B.V. & Co. KG., Bard Financial Services Ltd., Bard Finland OY, Bard France S.A.S., Bard Global Holdings I LLC, Bard Global Holdings II LLC, Bard Global Holdings III LLC, Bard Healthcare Inc., Bard Healthcare Science (Shanghai) Limited, Bard Hellas S.A., Bard Holding SAS, Bard Holdings Limited, Bard Holdings Netherlands B.V., Bard Hong Kong Limited, Bard IP Holdings Inc., Bard India Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., Bard International Holdings B.V., Bard International Inc., Bard Korea Ltd., Bard Limited, Bard MRL Acquisition Corp., Bard Malaysia Healthcare Sdn. Bhd., Bard Medica SA, Bard Medical Devices (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Bard Medical R&D (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Bard Medical SA (Proprietary) Limited, Bard Mexico Realty S. de R.L. de C.V., Bard Norden AB, Bard Norway AS, Bard Pacific Health Care Company Ltd., Bard Peripheral Vascular Inc., Bard Poland Sp. z.o.o., Bard Productos Plasticos e Medicos Ltda., Bard Reynosa S.A. de C.V., Bard S.r.l., Bard Sdn. Bhd., Bard Shannon Limited, Bard Singapore Private Limited, Bard Sourcing Office Singapore Pte. Ltd., Bard Sweden AB, Bard UK Newco Limited, Bard de Espana S.A., Becton Dickinson (Gibraltar) Holdings Ltd., Becton Dickinson (Gibraltar) Limited, Becton Dickinson (Gibraltar) Management Limited, Becton Dickinson (Mauritius) Limited, Becton Dickinson (Pty) Ltd., Becton Dickinson (Thailand) Limited, Becton Dickinson A.G., Becton Dickinson A/S, Becton Dickinson Argentina S.R.L., Becton Dickinson Asia Holdings Ltd., Becton Dickinson Asia Limited, Becton Dickinson Austria GmbH, Becton Dickinson Austria Holdings GmbH, Becton Dickinson B.V., Becton Dickinson B.V. Saudi Limited Company, Becton Dickinson Benelux N.V., Becton Dickinson Biosciences Systems and Reagents Inc., Becton Dickinson Canada Inc., Becton Dickinson Caribe Ltd., Becton Dickinson Croatia d.o.o., Becton Dickinson Czechia s.r.o., Becton Dickinson Dispensing Belgium BVBA, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Denmark A/S, Becton Dickinson Dispensing France SAS, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Ireland Limited, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Norway, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Spain S.L.U., Becton Dickinson Dispensing UK Ltd., Becton Dickinson Distribution Center N.V., Becton Dickinson East Africa Ltd., Becton Dickinson Euro Finance Sarl, Becton Dickinson Europe Holdings S.A.S., Becton Dickinson France S.A.S., Becton Dickinson GSA Beteilgungs GmbH, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings I Inc., Becton Dickinson Global Holdings II LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings IV LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings V LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings VI LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings VII LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Services Centre Sdn. Bdn., Becton Dickinson GmbH, Becton Dickinson Guatemala S.A., Becton Dickinson Hellas S.A., Becton Dickinson Holdings Limited, Becton Dickinson Holdings Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson Hungary Kft., Becton Dickinson India Private Limited, Becton Dickinson Industrias Cirurgicas Ltda., Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy AB, Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy Holdings UK Limited, Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy Systems Inc., Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy Systems Inc. S.A. de C.V., Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy UK, Becton Dickinson Insulin Syringe Ltd., Becton Dickinson International Holdings II Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson International Holdings III Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson International Holdings Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson Israel Ltd., Becton Dickinson Italia S.p.A., Becton Dickinson Ithalat Ihracat Limited Sirketi, Becton Dickinson Korea Holding Inc., Becton Dickinson Korea Ltd., Becton Dickinson Ltd., Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Finance S.a.r.L., Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Global Holdings Sarl, Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Holdings II S.a.r.L, Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Holdings III S.a.r.L, Becton Dickinson Malaysia Inc., Becton Dickinson Management GmbH & Co. KG, Becton Dickinson Matrex Holdings Inc., Becton Dickinson Medical (S) Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Devices (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Devices (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Products Pte. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Technology (Jiangsu) Co. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Netherlands Global Holdings II C.V., Becton Dickinson Netherlands Holdings B.V., Becton Dickinson Netherlands Holdings II B.V., Becton Dickinson Norway AS, Becton Dickinson O.Y., Becton Dickinson Overseas Services Ltd., Becton Dickinson Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd., Becton Dickinson Penel Limited, Becton Dickinson Philippines Inc., Becton Dickinson Polska Sp.z.o.o., Becton Dickinson Portugal Unipessoal Lda., Becton Dickinson Pty. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Research Centre Ireland Limited, Becton Dickinson Rowa Germany GmbH, Becton Dickinson Rowa Italy Srl, Becton Dickinson S.A., Becton Dickinson Sample Collection GmbH, Becton Dickinson Scot Financing L.L.P., Becton Dickinson Scot Financing L.P., Becton Dickinson Sdn. Bhd., Becton Dickinson Slovakia s.r.o., Becton Dickinson Sweden AB, Becton Dickinson Sweden Holdings AB, Becton Dickinson Switzerland Global Holdings SarL, Becton Dickinson Technology Campus India, Becton Dickinson U.K. Limited, Becton Dickinson UK Financing I Ltd., Becton Dickinson UK Financing II Ltd., Becton Dickinson Venezuela C.A., Becton Dickinson Venture LLC, Becton Dickinson Verwaltungs GmbH, Becton Dickinson Vostok LLC, Becton Dickinson Worldwide Investments Sa.r.L., Becton Dickinson Zambia Limited, Becton Dickinson and Company Ltd., Becton Dickinson de Colombia Ltda., Becton Dickinson de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Becton Dickinson del Uruguay S.A., Benex Ltd., Biometric Imaging, Bridger Biomed Inc., C. R. Bard, C. R. Bard (Portugal)-Produtos e Artigos Medicos e Farmaceuticos, C. R. Bard Do Brazil Productos Medicos Ltds., C. R. Bard GmbH, C. R. Bard Inc., C. R. Bard Netherlands Sales B.V., CME America LLC, CME Ltd., CME Medical (UK) Limited, CME UK (Holdings) Limited, CRISI Medical Systems, CRISI Medical Systems Inc., Caesarea Medical Electronics, Cardal II LLC, Care Fusion Development Private Limited, CareFusion, CareFusion (Barbados) SrL, CareFusion (Shanghai) Commercial and Trading Co. Limited, CareFusion 213 LLC, CareFusion 2200 Inc., CareFusion 2201 Inc., CareFusion 302 LLC, CareFusion 303 Inc., CareFusion Asia (HK) Limited, CareFusion BH 335 d.o.o. Cazin, CareFusion Corporation, CareFusion D.R. 203 Ltd., CareFusion France 309 S.A.S., CareFusion Germany 318 GmbH, CareFusion Iberia 308 S.L., CareFusion Israel 330 Ltd., CareFusion Italy 312 S.p.A., CareFusion Manufacturing LLC, CareFusion Mexico 215 S.A. de C.V., CareFusion Netherlands 328 B.V., CareFusion Netherlands 503 B.V., CareFusion Netherlands 504 B.V., CareFusion Netherlands Financing 283 C.V., CareFusion Resources LLC, CareFusion S.A. 319 (Proprietary) Limited, CareFusion Solutions LLC, CareFusion U.K. 244 Limited, CareFusion U.K. 305 Limited, CareFusion U.K. 306 Limited, Carmel Pharma AB, Carmel Pharma Inc, Cato Software Solutions, Cell Analysis Systems Inc, Cellular Research, Cellular Research Inc., Clearstream Technologies Group Limited, Clearstream Technologies Limited, Clontech Laboratories Inc, Corporativo BD de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Cubex, Cytopeia, DLD (Bermuda) Ltd., DVL Acquisition Sub Inc., Davol Inc., Davol International Limited, Davol Surgical Innovations S.A. de C.V., Difco Laboratories Incorporated, Distribuidora BD Mexico S.A. de C.V., Dutch American Manufacturers (D.A.M.) B.V., Dymax Corporation, Embo Medical Limited, Enturia de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Enturican Inc., FJ International Inc., FlowCardia Inc., FlowCardia LLC, FlowJo LLC, Franklin Lakes Enterprises L.L.C., GSL Solutions, Gamer Lasertechnik GmbH, GenCell Biosystems, GenCell Biosystems Ltd., GeneOhm Sciences, GeneOhm Sciences Canada Inc., Gentest Corporation, Gesco International Inc., Gesco International LLC, HandyLab Inc, HandyLab Inc., IBD Holdings LLC, Ionotophoretics Corporation, JoHome LLC, Kabushiki Kaisha Medicon (Medicon Inc.), Liberator Health and Education Services Inc., Liberator Health and Wellness Inc., Liberator Medical Holdings Inc., Liberator Medical Supply Inc., LifeBond, Limited Liability Company Bard Rus, Loma Vista Medical Inc., Loma Vista Medical LLC, Lutonix Inc., Med-Design Corporation, Med-Design Investment Holdings Inc., Med-Safe Systems Inc., MedChem Products Inc., Medafor Inc., Medegen LLC, Medinservice.com Inc., Medivance Inc., NAT Diagnostics, NAT Diagnostics Inc., NOW Medical Distribution Inc., NOW Medical Distribution LLC, Navarre Biomedical LLC, Navarre Biomedical Ltd., Neomend Inc., Nippon Becton Dickinson Company Ltd., Omega Biosystems Incorporated, P.R.C.(Isialys)Societe a responsabilitie limitee(Societe a associe unique), PT Becton Dickinson Indonesia, PharMingen, PreAnalytiX GmbH, Pristine Access Technologies Inc., ProSeed Inc., Procesos para Esterilizacion S.A. de C.V., Productos Bard de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Productos Para el Cuidado de la Salud S.A. de C.V., Puls Medical Devices AS LC, PureWick Corporation, Roberts Laboratories Inc., Rochester Medical Corporation, Rochester Medical Ltd., Saf-T-Med, Safety Syringes, Safety Syringes Inc., Sendal S.L.U., SenoRx Inc., SenoRx LLC, Shield Healthcare Centers Inc., Sirigen, Sirigen II Limited, Sirigen Inc., Sistemas Medicos ALARIS S.A. de C.V., Specialized Cooperative Corporation, Specialized Health Products Inc., Specialized Health Products International Inc., Specialized Health Products International LLC, Staged Diabetes Management LLC, Straub Medical, Straub Medical, Straub Medical (US) LLC, Straub Medical (United Kingdom) Ltd., Straub Medical France, Surgical Site Solutions Inc., TVA Medical, TVA Medical GmbH, TVA Medical Inc., Touchstone Medical Limited, Tri-County Medical & Ostomy Supplies Inc., TriPath Imaging, TriPath Imaging Inc., Vas-Cath Incorporated, Vascular Pathways Inc., Venetec International Inc., Venetec International LLC, Y-Med Inc., and Y-Med LLC. Informa plc operates as a business-to-business exhibitions and events, learning, and information services company worldwide. It operates through five divisions: Informa Connect, Informa Intelligence, Informa Markets, Informa Tech, and Taylor & Francis. The Informa Connect division provides content-driven events and digital platforms that allow professionals to meet, connect, learn, and share knowledge. This division operates events in finance and investment, biotech and pharma, and other specialist markets. The Informa Intelligence division offers digital intelligence and data-based products, consultancy, and research services in the areas of pharma, financial, maritime, and asset intelligence, as well as Barbour ABI, a provider of construction market intelligence and building project leads for built environment specialists. The Informa Markets division creates platforms for international markets, which provide businesses to research trends, find and showcase products, generate leads, and complete sales through exhibitions, virtual events, specialist digital content, and data solutions to customers operating in specialist markets to meet and trade. The Informa Tech division offers research, media, training, and events that inform, educate, and connect businesses and professionals working in technology. The Taylor & Francis division publishes books for upper level university students, researchers, and academic institutions in a range of specialist subjects; and journals under imprints such as Routledge, Taylor & Francis, and Cogent OA. This segment has a portfolio of approximately 160,000 book titles and 2,700 journals. The company was formerly known as T&F Informa plc and changed its name to Informa plc in August 2005. Informa plc was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Read More 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. This Shocking Industry Set to Become a Massive $400 Billion Market (Ad) It's worth next to nothing today But soon, this burgeoning industry could blossom into a massive $400 billion market. That's the kind of ground floor opportunity that only comes along once in a generation. Discover the company well positioned to capitalize RingCentral, Inc. provides software-as-a-service solutions that enable businesses to communicate, collaborate, and connect in North America. Its products include RingCentral Office that provides communication and collaboration across various modes, including high-definition voice, video, SMS, messaging and collaboration, conferencing, online meetings, and fax; RingCentral Contact Center, a collaborative contact center solution that delivers omni-channel; and RingCentral Engage Digital, a digital customer engagement platform that allows enterprises to interact with their customers. The company's products also comprise RingCentral Engage Voice, a cloud-based outbound/blended customer engagement platform for midsize and enterprise companies; RingCentral Glip, a team messaging and collaboration solution that allows a range of teams to stay connected through various modes of communication through an integration with RingCentral Office; and RingCentral Live Reports, an add-on for RingCentral Office customers to gather real-time information. In addition, it offers RingCentral Professional, a cloud based virtual telephone service that provides inbound call answering and management services for professionals; and RingCentral Fax that provides online fax capabilities. The company serves a range of industries, including financial services, education, healthcare, legal services, real estate, retail, technology, insurance, construction, hospitality, and state and local government, as well as others. It sells its products through a network of direct sales representatives, as well as sales agents, resellers, and channel partners. RingCentral, Inc. has strategic partnerships with Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise; and Vodafone Business. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Belmont, California. Read More Seattle companys cannabis candies could fuel boom in stock shares (Ad) A popular Seattle cannabis manufacturer recently announced the roll-out of an all-new line of premium infused edibles, marketed under the brand name Goodies. Hand-crafted, gluten-free, and using all-natural ingredients, the candies and caramels contain micro-dose servings of just 5-mg THC for a controlled, measured experience. Get a FREE report on new pot stock blockbuster Benson said the school district talked to the state about the possibility of receiving a waiver for cancellations due to the flood and the extreme cold weather but he was told the possibility of one being granted is highly unlikely. We simply made an informal inquiry about the likelihood of getting approval and the answer was no, Benson said. They told us if we did submit one it would not be approved. Benson said the district would welcome the opportunity for a similar waiver request like in Minnesota. However, based on conversations hes had with the state he realizes the power of authority is different in Wisconsin than in Minnesota. Benson said he didnt believe the district would submit an official request for a waiver. He said no decisions have been made on how the calendar could be adjusted but the board would possibly address making up for the lost time soon. He said before any drastic decisions are made the board needs to consider the possibility of additional lost time that could happen, especially with the winter months not over yet. We have to anticipate what additional time we might lose in the future, Benson said. Follow Erica Dynes on Twitter @EDynes_CapNews or contact her at 608-393-5346. Amish children driving horse buggies to school every day are at risk of getting hit by passing vehicles along a narrow stretch of highway, so traffic safety leaders have decided to take action. Columbia County Traffic Safety Commission members agreed Friday to expand the paved shoulder along Highway 22 from Highway CM to as far south as Highway 33. That stretch of road covers about 5 miles. Department of Transportation Southwestern Wisconsin and Madison-area project manager Mahesh Shrestha said the project could cost about $5 million. The estimate is subject to change because the project still is in the design phase. Ryan Mayer, traffic safety engineer from the DOT, proposed Friday to expand the shoulders to 3-5 feet wide and build additional center rumble strips. He said the project, if approved, could begin in 2020. Tom Borgkvist, a county supervisor from the town of Marcellon, where the stretch of highway in question is located, advocated for even wider shoulders to keep buggy drivers safe. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Ive heard a lot from my neighbors, he said. Im surrounded by Amish. Borgkvist said he believes there should be at least a 6-foot shoulder. The investigation concerns management, not any particular employees, he said. Phillips is no stranger to Columbia County. According to his law firms website, Phillips is outside general counsel for the Wisconsin Counties Association. He is involved, on behalf of the association, in an ongoing lawsuit in which several Wisconsin counties, including Columbia County, are suing manufacturers of opium-based drugs in the hope of recovering some costs the counties incur for dealing with people addicted to opioids. Ruf said Phillips will conduct the inquiry, and is expected to report on his findings to the Executive Committee on March 11. The veterans service officer and the director of health and human services are two of the four department-head positions for which a vote of the full county board is required for hiring or dismissal. The others are corporation counsel and highway commissioner. In January 2012, three top employees of the Highway Department were fired, and Commissioner Kurt Dey was allowed to resign, after about three months of investigations into the departments operations. The Wisconsin Department of Justice did not file criminal charges against anyone but county board leaders at the time concluded, based on an 800-page report from the Columbia County Sheriffs Office, that the four had violated county policies. Follow Lyn Jerde on Twitter @LynJerde or contact her at 608-745-3587. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A Portage soup kitchen chef who formerly served in Pennsylvania law enforcement and claims to be a distant relative of a legendary gangster has been accused of threatening the life of a woman he planned to marry. Philip P. Capone, 64, of Portage, contacted police Feb. 1 as he sought to file a burglary complaint at his East Burns Street home. The burglar he sought to report is a woman whom Capone is accused of abusing. The burglary accusation was determined to be unfounded. The domestic abuse and strangulation charges are related to incidents on Jan. 13 and 14 in which Capone allegedly punched, slapped and yelled at a woman, according to the criminal complaint. At one point, the complaint states Capone woke her up by holding a knife at her throat and then took her phone so she couldnt call for help. If you dont do what I want, I will kill you, he told the woman, according to the complaint. According to a criminal complaint in a separate case, Capone told police Feb. 1 that the woman had violated a no-contact order and spoken to him about collecting some belongings from his house. The belongings were never removed from the residence. Information is taken from the records of the Portage Police Department and does not represent a comprehensive list of police activity. Each individual named in this report is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Between 8:51 a.m. on Thursday and 12:20 a.m. on Monday, police responded to 124 calls, including the following: Jackson Street: Police at 8:51 a.m. on Thursday responded to a fire at a residence and discovered the fire was out prior to arrival. Police arrested Carnel D. Johnson, 32, of Portage, for obstructing/resisting an officer after he displayed ID and Social Security cards with different information. Police reports indicate Johnson had previously offered information without backup records on Jan. 12. Schultz Street: Police at 1:06 p.m. on Thursday responded to a report of fraudulent charges for excess online computer repair services dating back to 2016. Police advised a female resident to contact local computer technical support experts and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Village Road: Police at 3:37 p.m. on Thursday cited Christopher D. Svehlek, 40, of Grand Marsh, for a second offense of operating after suspension. From what I hear, at least part of it is gas-tax increases, Evers said. A spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation, Kristin McHugh, did not immediately answer questions about the task force deliberations, except to say it does not plan to meet again before Evers releases his budget. The group has met twice in recent weeks. Possible ways to increase the gas tax include a one-time increase of the gas tax rate, changing the gas tax from a fixed amount per-gallon to a percentage of fuel sales, or returning to the states former practice of indexing the gas tax rate based on inflation. Evers repeatedly said during the campaign that he believes roads, bridges and transit need a revenue infusion, and that hes open to increasing the gas tax to provide one. But a gas-tax increase is likely to be politically unpopular and to face resistance from some Republican lawmakers who oppose virtually all tax or fee increases and say the state doesnt need more transportation funding. Some other Republican legislators are open to finding additional revenue for transportation but dont see a gas-tax increase as the way to do it. FFA Activities this week: Award Applications: The FFA members have been working on their proficiency awards, which are based on their Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE) projects. The applications are due Friday, Feb. 16 to Mrs. Crook. The State FFA Band applications are due on Feb. 19. Katy Witzel is currently completing her audition tapes and application forms to submit for an opportunity to perform with other FFA band members from around the state at the Wisconsin State FFA Convention this summer. The American Degree applications are due March 5. FFA members that have graduated less than four years ago are eligible to apply for their American Degree. This is the highest degree an FFA member can earn and is a prestigious honor. Strawberry Sale: The strawberry forms are in the FFA members hands. Please help promote this sale! The funds raised will help provide more opportunities for FFA members. The chapter can help cover registration fees, travel costs, and dues for FFA members to be more involved at the chapter, state and national level. Forms need to be returned by Friday, Feb. 15 to Mrs. Crook. Please have checks made out to Columbus High School. If you would like to purchase strawberries feel free to email gcrook@columbus.k12.wi.us or call 623-5956, ext. 2112. Our goal is to sell a whole pallet! Upcoming events LA GRANGE, Ky. -- Kentucky authorities are reportedly investigating a link between the alleged abduction of an Ohio State University Mansfield student and the shooting deaths of two people near La Grange on Monday afternoon. The Louisville Courier Journal reported Tuesday afternoon that Kentucky State Police are investigating the alleged kidnapping of Skyler Williams, 20, from the OSU-M campus just before noon on Monday. Nearly four hours later and 290 miles southwest, two people were shot and killed following a car chase that encompassed multiple Kentucky counties, included the use of stop-sticks, and resulted in a crash. The Ohio State University website identified Ty'rell D. Pounds, 23, of Mansfield as a suspect in the alleged abduction. "That case in Ohio has been brought to our attention, and we are investigating to see if they are linked," Sgt. Josh Lawson, of the Kentucky State Police, told the Louisville Courier-Journal. Kentucky State Police told Wave 3 News (an NBC television affiliate in Louisville) it was responding to a call for a woman in distress when officers attempted to stop a 2019 dark-colored Dodge Caravan that Pounds allegedly stole before the abduction took place in an OSU-Mansfield parking lot. KSP said its officers tried to use stop sticks to end the chase twice, but it didnt work. The dark-colored vehicle reportedly crashed while attempting to pull back onto I-71. Shortly after, police officers reportedly opened fire, shooting a man and a woman in the car. It's unclear if police officers hit either of the people inside the car. Wave 3 News reported the man was killed at the scene. The woman was taken to University Hospital in Louisville where she later died. Authorities said the driver tried to pull away, igniting a chase that began in Gallatin County, lasted 20 minutes and ended in Oldham County. La Grange, Kentucky is approximately 80 miles southwest of Cincinnati, along Interstate 71. On Monday afternoon, The Ohio State University Mansfield website posted a notice that Williams was forced into a car at gunpoint while standing at a parking lot on campus at approximately 11:45 a.m. The school identified Pounds as her alleged abductor. According to a Mansfield Police report filed on Monday at 1:56 p.m., Pounds' roommate reported Pounds and Wiliams were at his Wood Street apartment. The roommate stated Williams wasn't hurt, but she was crying. The roommate noted Pounds had a gun and was very serious. He took his keys and his phone and allegedly stole his vehicle. The roommate said he knew Pounds was going through custody issues with Williams and the two left before the roommate could get dressed. The roommate went to a friend's house to call police but they were already there when he arrived. Kentucky State Police Trooper Steven Dykes told Wave 3 News a 911 call in Gallatin County started the chase. "Female attempted to escape from the vehicle -- black male pulled her back into the car, an Oldham County dispatcher said. He is possibly armed. According to Pounds' Facebook page, he graduated from North Central State College in April 2018. He was a Mansfield Senior alumnus. Williams' Facebook page said she attended Mansfield Senior and Madison. She was studying physical therapy at OSU-Mansfield. Burglary At 2:39 p.m. Thursday, a woman reported a burglary in progress in the 100 block of Prospect Avenue. The report was unfounded and no one was located in or out of the apartment. While on the call, officers noticed the smell of marijuana. A man there said he had just smoked. Police did not locate anything. The man was counseled. Disorderly conduct At 3:09 p.m. Thursday, a loss prevention employee at Shopko, 822 Park Ave., reported that two men were making threats before leaving. Police made contact with one of them, who was uncooperative, and he was advised that he was no longer welcome at Shopko. Theft At 5:55 p.m. Thursday, a man reported that he left his phone in the bathroom in a store in the 100 block of Frances Lane and, when he went back, the phone was gone. Disorderly conduct At 2:43 p.m. Friday, a woman reported another woman threw car keys at her in the 400 block of South University Avenue. Drugs At 5:23 p.m. Friday, police received a report of marijuana in a locker at BD Logistics, 1201 Green Valley Drive. A man was taken into custody and cited for marijuana possession. Police say a North Freedom man facing his 10th drunken driving offense drove off after causing a disturbance at a Baraboo bar. Authorities say 62-year-old Shane E. Krayer, who has nine prior drunken driving convictions dating back to 1997, later admitted while speaking with an officer that he consumed four to six drinks while driving down I-90. According to police, a Baraboo bar employee called police at 12:05 a.m. Monday after a man began causing problems and trying to fight people. After the employee told the man she was going to call the police, he allegedly left in what the employee described as a red Escort. A criminal complaint says police found a red Ford parked outside another Baraboo bar and a man inside who matched a description provided by the employee of the prior bar. They also verified that the vehicle belonged to the man, who was identified as Krayer. An officer who spoke with Krayer reported that he was unsteady on his feet, smelled like alcohol, and had dilated pupils and bloodshot, watery eyes. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Krayer allegedly told the officer that he didnt drink at the first bar, and only had one drink at the second one. A lot of our exhibits were a little bit dated, you know, and theyre original, and so well be able to update all of that infrastructure but also give great new spaces for the birds, Smith said. So the birds will have more room, more natural landscaping. Visitors will be able to view more birds without fencing behind them or netting above them disrupting the scene, said Visitor Program Manager Cully Shelton. Some exhibits were already fence-free, but more will be enclosed by a see-through mesh after the renovation. Smith said ICF clips the birds feathers its painless and the feathers grow back to prevent them from flying off, which is why they dont need netting above them. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} CLR Design, an architecture firm based in Philadelphia, focuses largely on zoo design. The International Crane Foundation chose the firm partly for that experience and its ability to maintain prairies. CLR knows what birds needs are, Shelton said. Smith noted the architects and contractors have communicated well with ICF staff, making for a smooth planning process. Foundation leaders meet weekly with CLR and Vogel to make sure everything is on track, Smith said. Soon Shelton and his team will start working on plans for the educational and interpretive aspects of the project, such as how the trails will look. I was surprised people were out and about, she said. The snowbanks are pretty high down here. Items such as diamond earrings and heart pendants are popular at Valentines Day, with most shoppers -- mostly men -- spending $50 to $100. Fay expects to stay busy right through closing time Thursday. Its a guy thing, she said. They just kind of wait to stop until they have to. Those looking to enjoy a night out have plenty of choices this weekend. On Thursday, CAB Theatre will continue its two-weekend run of Sleeping Indoors, a comedy performed at the Ringling House Bed and Breakfast. The 20-seat living room setup creates an intimate experience. The bar will be open, and Neat-Os Bake Shoppe donated cupcakes that will be for sale at intermission. I think weve created the perfect night out, director Molly Arbogast said. Down the road at Baraboo Arts Banquet Hall, another community theater troupe -- the Baraboo Theatre Guild -- will open its production of the dinner theater comedy Nanas Naughty Knickers on Friday. The play is very funny and just a tad bit naughty, producer Autumn Elliott said, and the cast is a great mix of new and familiar faces. Winona Police Department Friday 2:11 p.m. An employee at Gordies Towing and Repair reported his cellphone valued at $1,000 stolen. 7:41 p.m. A Winona man living on the 700 block of East Fourth Street reported his 20-gallon propane tank valued at $90 stolen. 11:58 p.m. Benjamin Michael Moffitt, 18, Stillwater, Minn., was cited for underage consumption and possession of a fake ID after officers observed him attempt to head butt someone. Officers stopped him about a block away. Saturday 8:18 p.m. A Winona man living on the 1000 block of East Sanborn Street reported that someone had entered his home and stole three televisions and a sword valued at approximately $1,100. 10:39 p.m. Thomas Lee Talle, Mondovi, Wis., was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving near the intersection of Broadway and Johnson streets after he was stopped for crossing the centerline. His blood-alcohol content was 0.17 percent. Sunday ST. PAUL Visit Winona and Cynthya Porter, a contract marketer for the organization, received high accolades last week at the Explore Minnesota Tourism Conference for work they do to promote Winona as a destination for visitors. Porter received Explore Minnesota Tourisms inaugural Tourism Trailblazer Award for her work on marketing campaigns that modernized and repositioned Visit Winonas messaging to appeal to a broader marketplace of travelers searching for their next favorite destination. According to Explore Minnesota, the award was designed to recognize a community, business, or individual that demonstrated superior creative and innovative marketing tactics to benefit a tourism destination, product, or experience. Porter designed advertising plans, marketing copy, and social media programs for the organization that judges called visionary for the way they cut through a cluttered landscape of tourism messaging. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Judges also named Visit Winonas Facebook Live campaign the states outstanding social media effort for its ingenuity in appealing to and energizing people from around the world who love Winona. Each week, Porter does a Facebook Live segment from wherever Facebook followers decide using an online voting system to give followers a voice on where the next Facebook Live segment will be. NEW YORK - Mexico's most notorious drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, was convicted Tuesday of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation after a three-month trial packed with Hollywood-style tales of grisly killings, political payoffs, cocaine hidden in jalapeno cans, jewel-encrusted guns and a naked escape with his mistress through a tunnel. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. In this courtroom drawing, Emma Coronel Aispuro, right, wife of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, confers with Eduardo Balarezo, Guzman's lead defense attorney during jury deliberations, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, in New York. Jurors finished a fifth day of deliberations without a verdict on Monday at the U.S. trial of Guzman. (Elizabeth Williams via AP) NEW YORK - Mexico's most notorious drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, was convicted Tuesday of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation after a three-month trial packed with Hollywood-style tales of grisly killings, political payoffs, cocaine hidden in jalapeno cans, jewel-encrusted guns and a naked escape with his mistress through a tunnel. Guzman listened to a drumbeat of guilty verdicts on drug and conspiracy charges that could put the 61-year-old escape artist behind bars for decades in a maximum-security U.S. prison selected to thwart another one of the breakouts that made him a folk hero in his native country. FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2016 file photo, drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is made to face the media in Mexico City as he is escorted by Mexican soldiers following his recapture six months after escaping from a maximum security prison. The notorious Mexican drug lord was convicted of drug-trafficking charges, Tuesday, Feb. 12 2019, in federal court in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File) A jury whose members' identities were kept secret as a security measure reached a verdict after deliberating six days in the expansive case. They sorted through what authorities called an "avalanche" of evidence gathered since the late 1980s that Guzman and his murderous Sinaloa drug cartel made billions in profits by smuggling tons of cocaine, heroin, meth and marijuana into the U.S. As the judge read the verdict, Guzman stared at the jury, and his wife watched the scene, both with resignation in their faces. When the jurors were discharged and Guzman stood to leave the courtroom, the couple traded thumbs-ups. U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan lauded the jury's meticulous attention to detail and the "remarkable" approach it took toward deliberations. Cogan said it made him "very proud to be an American." Evidence showed drugs poured into the U.S. through secret tunnels or hidden in tanker trucks, concealed in the undercarriage of passenger cars and packed in rail cars passing through legitimate points of entry suggesting that a border wall wouldn't be much of a worry. The prosecution's case against Guzman, a roughly 5 1/2-foot figure whose nickname translates to "Shorty," included the testimony of several turncoats and other witnesses. Among them were Guzman's former Sinaloa lieutenants, a computer encryption expert and a Colombian cocaine supplier who underwent extreme plastic surgery to disguise his appearance. Eduardo Balarezo, a defense attorney for Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, arrives to federal court in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. A jury is deliberating at the U.S. trial of the infamous Mexican drug lord. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) One Sinaloa insider described Mexican workers getting contact highs while packing cocaine into thousands of jalapeno cans shipments that totalled 25 to 30 tons of cocaine worth $500 million each year. Another testified how Guzman sometimes acted as his own sicario, or hitman, punishing a Sinaloan who dared to work for another cartel by kidnapping him, beating and shooting him and having his men bury the victim while he was still alive, gasping for air. The defence case lasted just half an hour. Guzman's lawyers did not deny his crimes as much as argue he was a fall guy for government witnesses who were more evil than he was. In closing arguments, defence attorney Jeffrey Lichtman urged the jury not to believe government witnesses who "lie, steal, cheat, deal drugs and kill people." U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue called the conviction "a victory for the American people who suffered so much" while the defendant poured poison over the borders. He expected Guzman to get life without parole. In this Jan. 19, 2017 photo provided by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, authorities escort Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, center, from a plane to a waiting caravan of SUVs at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, N.Y. The notorious Mexican drug lord was convicted of drug-trafficking charges, Tuesday, Feb. 12 2019, in federal court in New York. (United States Drug Enforcement Administration via AP, File) "It is a sentence from which there is no escape and no return," Donoghue told a news conference outside the courthouse, through snow and sleet. He added: "There are those who say the war on drugs is not worth fighting. Those people are wrong." Ray Donovan, head the of the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York office said the case underscored Guzman's true colours, showing that "the real Chapo is a ruthless killer and manipulator." Lichtman said the defence "fought like complete savages" and will appeal the case. "No matter who the defendant is, you still have to fight to the death." In this Jan. 19, 2017 photo provided by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, authorities escort Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, center, from a plane to a waiting caravan of SUVs at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, N.Y. The notorious Mexican drug lord was convicted of drug-trafficking charges, Tuesday, Feb. 12 2019, in federal court in New York. (United States Drug Enforcement Administration via AP, File) He said his client was a positive thinker who "doesn't give up." Upon hearing the verdict, Guzman was "as cool as a cucumber," Lichtman added. "Honest to god, we were more upset than he was." Deliberations were complicated by the trial's vast scope. Jurors were tasked with making 53 decisions about whether prosecutors have proven different elements of the case. The trial cast a harsh glare on the corruption that allowed the cartel to flourish. Colombian trafficker Alex Cifuentes caused a stir by testifying that former Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto took a $100 million bribe from Guzman. Pena Nieto denied it, but the allegation fit a theme: politicians, army commanders, police and prosecutors, all on the take. The tension at times was cut by some of the trial's sideshows, such as the sight of Guzman and his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, showing up in matching burgundy velvet blazers in a gesture of solidarity. Another day, a Chapo-size actor who played the kingpin in the TV series "Narcos: Mexico" came to watch, telling reporters that seeing the defendant flash him a smile was "surreal." While the trial was dominated by Guzman's persona as a near-mythical outlaw who carried a diamond-encrusted handgun and stayed one step ahead of the law, the jury never heard from Guzman himself, except when he told the judge he wouldn't testify. But his sing-songy voice filled the courtroom, thanks to recordings of intercepted phone calls. "Amigo!" he said to a cartel distributor in Chicago. "Here at your service." One of the trial's most memorable tales came from girlfriend Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, who testified she was in bed in a safe house with an on-the-run Guzman in 2014 when Mexican marines started breaking down his door. She said Guzman led her to a trap door beneath a bathtub that opened up to a tunnel that allowed them to escape. Asked what he was wearing, she replied: "He was naked. He took off running. He left us behind." The defendant had previously escaped from jail by hiding in a laundry bin in 2001. He then got an escort from crooked police officers into Mexico City before retreating to one of his many mountainside hideaways. In 2014, he pulled off another jail break, escaping through a mile-long lighted tunnel on a motorcycle on rails. Even when Guzman was recaptured in 2016 before his extradition to the United States, he was plotting another escape, prosecutor Andrea Goldbarg said in closing arguments. "Why? Because he is guilty and he never wanted to be in a position where he would have to answer for his crimes," she told the jury. "He wanted to avoid sitting right there. In front of you." Associated Press writers Jim Mustian and Claudia Torrens contributed to this report. TAUNTON, Mass. - A Massachusetts woman who sent her suicidal boyfriend a barrage of text messages urging him to kill himself was jailed Monday on an involuntary manslaughter conviction nearly five years after he died in a truck filled with toxic gas. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/2/2019 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. FILE - In a Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017 file photo, Michelle Carter awaits her sentencing in a courtroom in Taunton, Mass., for involuntary manslaughter for encouraging Conrad Roy III to kill himself in July 2014. Prosecutors are asking a judge to order Michelle Carter to begin serving her 15-month jail sentence for encouraging her suicidal boyfriend to kill himself. Michelle Carter will appear in court Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 for a hearing to consider prosecutorsAo request.(Matt West/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool, File) TAUNTON, Mass. - A Massachusetts woman who sent her suicidal boyfriend a barrage of text messages urging him to kill himself was jailed Monday on an involuntary manslaughter conviction nearly five years after he died in a truck filled with toxic gas. Michelle Carter was sentenced to 15 months in jail in 2017 for her role in the death of Conrad Roy III, but the judge allowed her to remain free while she appealed in state court. Massachusetts' highest court upheld her conviction last week, saying her actions caused Roy's death. A lawyer for Carter had argued the 22-year-old should stay out of jail while her defence team takes her case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Her attorneys said in court documents that she has no prior criminal record, hasn't tried to flee, and has been receiving mental health treatment. But a judge ruled Monday that she should start her sentence. Earlier in the day, Massachusetts' highest court denied an emergency motion filed by her lawyers to keep her out of jail. Carter showed no discernible emotion as she was taken into custody, though her shoulders sagged as she stood and prepared to be led away. Roy's aunt expressed relief Monday, saying his family believes justice had been served even though the case had been a long and difficult ordeal for them. "We hope that no one else ever has to feel this pain," Becky Maki said. "His life mattered." An attorney for Carter vowed to continue to appeal. "Make no mistake, this legal fight is not over," Joe Cataldo said. Carter was 17 when Roy, 18, took his own life in Fairhaven, a town on Massachusetts' south coast in July 2014. Her case garnered international attention and provided a disturbing look at teenage depression and suicide. Carter and Roy both struggled with depression, and Roy had previously tried to kill himself. Their relationship consisted mostly of texting and other electronic communications. In dozens of text messages revealed during her sensational trial, Carter pushed Roy to end his life and chastised him when he hesitated. As Roy made excuses to put off his plans, her texts became more insistent. "You keep pushing it off and say you'll do it but u never do. It's always gonna be that way if u don't take action," Carter texted him he on the day he died. But the juvenile court judge focused his guilty verdict on the fact that Carter told Roy over the phone to get back in his truck when it was filling with carbon monoxide. The judge said Carter had a duty to call the police or Roy's family, but instead listened on the phone as he died. "After she convinced him to get back into the carbon monoxide filled truck, she did absolutely nothing to help him: she did not call for help or tell him to get out of the truck as she listened to him choke and die," Supreme Judicial Court Justice Scott Kafker wrote in the court's opinion affirming her conviction. At trial, Carter's lawyer argued Carter had initially tried to talk Roy out of suicide and encouraged him to get help. Her attorney said Roy was determined to kill himself and nothing Carter did could change that. Her appellate attorneys said there was no evidence that Roy would have lived if Carter had called for help. They also argued there wasn't enough evidence to prove that Carter told Roy to get back in his truck. Her phone call with Roy wasn't recorded, but prosecutors pointed to a rambling text that Carter sent to a friend two months later in which she said called Roy's death her fault and said she told Roy to "get back in" the truck. Daniel Marx, who argued the case before the Supreme Judicial Court, said last week that the court's ruling "stretches the law to assign blame for a tragedy that was not a crime." "It has very troubling implications, for free speech, due process, and the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, that should concern us all," he said. That was thoughtful of Premier Brian Pallister to send out Twitter and Instagram messages drawing attention to the severe weather Manitobans were experiencing in the recent prolonged cold snap. It was nice to know he was thinking of us or that he had at least hired someone to think of us on his behalf during his hard-earned winter vacation in Costa Rica. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/2/2019 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. That was thoughtful of Premier Brian Pallister to send out Twitter and Instagram messages drawing attention to the severe weather Manitobans were experiencing in the recent prolonged cold snap. It was nice to know he was thinking of us or that he had at least hired someone to think of us on his behalf during his hard-earned winter vacation in Costa Rica. Costa Rica was the right place for him to be. The poor man was exhausted after several successive weeks on the job, showing up at the office every day, finding efficiencies. A snowy-day photo posted on Premier Brian Pallister's Instagram account. (Instagram) People often dont appreciate how difficult it is, finding efficiencies. It can leave you emotionally drained. Those efficiencies conceal themselves cunningly. It takes extraordinary effort to locate them and monetize them. Why, for instance, is Winnipeg Transit running one bus every hour on some routes when most of the buses run with vacant standing room in the aisles? One bus every two hours would cut the expense in half. Right there, you could cut a couple hundred dollars off the provincial grant to the city. Theres another blow struck on behalf of the much-abused taxpayer. But if you never ride a bus, you only find these things through hours and hours of study and research. It wears you down. The people waiting for the bus, of course, deserve a Costa Rican sojourn, too. They were the ones out in the blowing snow and gusting winds Mr. Pallister drew attention to in his social-media posts. "Stay warm, my fellow Manitobans," he wished them, in his brotherly, neighbourly way. The advice came from an excellent source, because Mr. Pallister had found a wonderful way to stay warm. He was at his vacation home in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, where the temperature recently rose above 30 C. When he urged Manitobans to "stay warm," he knew what he was talking about! To the average transit user at the bus stop, that could sound like an invitation. Perhaps Mr. Pallister and his family should not be surprised to find large crowds of Manitobans turning up at the gates of their tropical vacation home with their swimsuits, bottles of sunscreen and pyjamas, ready to accept a weeks hospitality. Invoices for their airfares will be turning up in his account a little later. "What brings you here?" the astonished host might ask. "Were staying warm," the Manitobans would likely answer, "just like you said." Premier Brian Pallister wasn't in Manitoba when this was posted to one of his social-media accounts on Feb. 6. (Twitter) The danger in this is that Manitobans inclined to visit Mr. Pallister in Tamarindo might find he looks completely at home in the Costa Rican environment he has prepared for himself. They might start whispering to each other that he should spend more time there. Why should they not release him from his burdensome duties as premier and free him to pursue his Costa Rican dream? For security reasons, the premiers office must not announce when he is going to Costa Rica and when he is coming back. Public griping about his absences doesnt matter, but you must not let people with bad intentions know when a precious public resource such as Mr. Pallister is available as a target. Someone on the premiers staff, however, should find a way to get a fresh message to the boss: its safe for him to come home now the cold snap is over. MOUNT VERNON In December, city council members passed the first wave of infrastructure projects the city plans to complete this year. On Monday night, they moved on to the second. Projects include engineering services for a rehab of the underground water reservoir on New Gambier Road and installation of water lines on Yellow Jacket Drive and Venture Drive. City Engineer Brian Ball said that the condition of the 2-million-gallon water reservoir is not at a level of catastrophe, but it is at a level of required maintenance. This is something we've been tracking for several years, he said, adding that the Environmental Protection Agency has stepped up the urgency of its letters regarding safety requirements for the reservoir. Built in 1952, the reservoir has cracks in its lid where water can seep into the tank, the concrete needs restored, and cracks and hatches need sealed. Ball said the valve system has exceeded its life expectancy, and the concrete is nearing that point. The valves are currently frozen. Ball said that he and Mathias Orndorf, utilities director, chose Civil and Environmental Consultants to do the engineering services. They have not determined a project cost. Orndorf said the money previously targeted for the bond payment on the Old Delaware Road water treatment plant will fund the reservoir rehab. The engineering firm's reservoir inspection will determine how the city proceeds logistically. The tank has a concrete wall down the middle. Ball said that if the valves can be fixed so that they can be closed, the city will shut down and rehab first one half of the tank, and then the other. If the valves cannot be repaired, the city will have to rent temporary tanks for water storage while the rehab takes place. Ball said the city will notify neighbors before starting any work. The Yellow Jacket Drive project carries a $125,000 price tag and involves installing a new water line from Yellow Jacket Drive to Cougar Drive. Ball said the area is a grass corridor now; if the city waits to install the line, the bus garage and field house the school plans to build will complicate construction. The Venture Drive water line is part of the city's master plan to connect lines on Upper Gilchrist Road and New Gambier Road. On the drawing board since 2003, the loop line lies entirely within the Coshocton Avenue TIF District. So as we were going through our budget appropriations, there's the opportunity to use TIF money for the project, said Ball of the under-$100,000 cost estimate. Ball said that most of the work on Yellow Jacket Drive and Venture Drive will be out of the road right-of-way and should cause little disruption to traffic. In other business, council: Renewed the participation plan for Community Development Block Grants Appointed William D. Smith as alternate member to the Board of Zoning Appeals In accordance with the Ohio Revised Code, adopted legislation raising the fine for parking in a handicapped space to a minimum of $250 and maximum of $500. Mayor Richard Mavis said the parking enforcement officer does not want to write a $250 fine. She will call for a Mount Vernon police officer to come and write the ticket. Gave a first reading to a resolution appointing representatives to the Regional Planning Commission. Councilwoman Nancy Vail withdrew her motion to suspend the required three readings after Councilman Chris Menapace objected. Menapace objected because the legislation lists all six representatives, which provides no opportunity to vote no on one recommendation without voting no on the other five. Gave a second reading to an ordinance creating a vacant property registry for commercial property Annexed the 98.543 acres of Ariel-Foudation Park into the city Amended the property maintenance code to reflect the fine for a third violation will be $250. If not paid, subsequent fines for that same instance will rise in $100 increments up to a maximum of $1,000. Heard the results of a cut-through traffic study conducted by high school students Megan Campbell and Leslie Bell It's one of the single biggest days of change for health care in Manitoba, although nobody using the system will likely notice a difference. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/2/2019 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. It's one of the single biggest days of change for health care in Manitoba, although nobody using the system will likely notice a difference. Starting Tuesday, more than 12,000 people who work within Manitoba's health care system will begin a six-week process that will result in them changing employers. Employees of dozens of disparate offices, agencies and facilities now work for Shared Health, the province's new, central agency for the planning and delivery of health services. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Shared Health has been busy assuming administrative responsibility for a number of key health services, including Winnipeg ambulance. Announced in 2018 with much fanfare, Shared Health has been busy assuming administrative responsibility for a number of key health services, including Winnipeg ambulance and diagnostic imaging. However, until this week, employees responsible for these services continued to work for the same entities. That changes with the launch of the first phase of a three-phase consolidation plan. Once complete in early April, all 12,000 employees will toil for Shared Health. For the time being, there will be no job losses, no elimination of positions and nobody will be asked to move communities. Many will, however, move offices over the next six weeks as the consolidation plan unfolds. Dr. Brock Wright, president and CEO of Shared Health, said the consolidation will affect five distinct groups or facilities within the health care system: the Health Sciences Centre; EMS and patient transport; diagnostic imaging; digital health services; and corporate support including capital planning and legal services. The employee relocation will involve moving between three locations the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority Headquarters on Main Street, Shared Health's main offices at 155 Carlton Street and the Health Sciences Centre, which will become the first-ever provincial hospital under the consolidation plan. 'When you look at what we're trying to do... it opens up so many opportunities to improve the system. If we can improve efficiency... we can redirect dollars to areas of greatest need' Dr. Brock Wright, president and CEO of Shared Health Some of the affected employees reside in communities outside Winnipeg but Wright said none is being asked to relocate to the city as part of this phase of the consolidation. Given that this is just the first of a three-phase consolidation of health service administration and clinical standards, few people using the system will notice any change. However, Wright said Shared Health expects to achieve significant efficiencies through this process that could, over the long haul, allow the system to do more in a more financially sustainable fashion. Ultimately, that may involve finding ways of doing more with the same or fewer people, although those decisions are not going to be made in this phase of the reorganization, Wright said. "When you look at what we're trying to do ... it opens up so many opportunities to improve the system," he said. "If we can improve efficiency ... we can redirect dollars to areas of greatest need." The Shared Health model, already in place in other provinces, is based on solid reasoning. In effect, the theory is that applying the same standards for everything from procurement to administration and actual clinical treatment will ultimately produce a more efficient system. WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Dr. Brock Wright. And it is true that currently, the health system is anything but standardized. Different hospitals in different regional health authorities have different approaches to buying supplies and equipment, staffing, and even clinical guidelines for care. In theory, there are financial savings to be had by ensuring that everyone is operating under the same guidelines, both in administration and actual health care delivery. However, any significant change within the health care system -- even one like this -- can present significant political challenges. Most people fear change, and in particular any changes to something as important as health care. The Progressive Conservative government has already learned how skittish the public can be through outcries that followed the announced reorganization of Winnipeg hospitals. There is solid reasoning behind the decision to concentrate emergency medicine in just three facilities, down from five prior to the announced changes. Three well-provisioned and staffed ERs can be, theoretically, much more effective than five emergency departments that do not have all of the equipment or medical specialists to respond to all situations. In fact, the study that set the table for the hospital reorganization was actually commissioned by the former NDP government. It was not completed until after the NDP were driven from office in the 2016 election, and there is no way of knowing if they would have followed through on any of the recommendations. However, logic isn't always enough in a public relations battle involving a bitter, sceptical opposition and a worried public. The Tory government has been hammered over some of the announced changes, particularly the decision to close the ER at Concordia Hospital. Those protests have been led in large part by the now-opposition NDP, which sees political gains in attacking the Tories on an issue which has long been recognized as their Achilles Heel. Former Tory Premier Gary Filmon attempted several waves of change in the health care system, not all of which were meaningful and few of which were successful. That legacy continues to serve as a millstone around the neck of Premier Brian Pallister, who served as a minister in the Filmon government. It's not surprising, then, that certain traditional foes like the Manitoba Nurses Union continue to push back over the hospital plan. In essence, nurses are either unwilling or unable to make some of the moves necessary to facilitate the reorganization of hospital service delivery. This has led to nursing shortages in specific units in specific hospitals affected by the changes. It is against this backdrop that Shared Health unleashes its first wave of consolidation which, for the most part, will be the least disruptive of the three phases of change. dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca Is the world losing its taste for freedom as we move further into 2019? Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion Is the world losing its taste for freedom as we move further into 2019? Two recent reports confirm the perception that freedom is under attack globally. The Human Freedom Index, a joint project of Canadas Fraser Institute, the U.S.-based Cato Institute and Germanys Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, measures freedom on a zero to 10 scale, where 10 is most free. The index is the first to include all dimensions of freedom: of expression, religion, movement, association and economic, and whether these freedoms are equally extended to women and the LGBTTQ* community. It also incorporates the rule of law and personal safety, necessary conditions for freedom. New Zealand, at 8.89, achieves the highest score and Syria (3.77) the lowest. Canada scores 8.57 and ranks fifth, compared to 8.39 for the United States, ranked 17th, little changed over the past decade. But the global picture is worrisome. Over the indexs effective range, the difference between New Zealand and Syria, freedom has declined by 15 per cent between 2008 (the earliest available comprehensive data) and 2016 (the most recent). Of the 142 jurisdictions with data in 2008 and 2016, 81 declined in freedom, 58 increased and three were unchanged. This finding of declining freedom dovetails with new research in the Fraser Institutes Economic Freedom Report. The research by Pal Czegledi of University of Debrecen, Hungarys oldest university, and Carlos Newland of Instituto Universitario ESEADE and Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Argentina examines international support for economic freedom, the ability of individuals to make their own economic decisions, unfettered by overly powerful government or greedy cronies. They mine World Values Survey responses on attitudes that underpin economic freedom and thus free markets. Those include: whether competition is good or bad, whether private property should be increased or government nationalization expanded, whether wealth is gained at the expense of others or increases prosperity for all, and whether individuals should take responsibility for their decisions and the consequences. From this, they analyze attitudes to economic freedom and compare surveys taken in two periods, the first between 1989 and 1994 and the second between 2010 and 2014. In the first period, 29.4 per cent strongly supported free markets compared to just 11.2 in the second period almost a two-thirds decline. Of the 51 countries that have data in both periods, support for free markets declined in 50, with support growing only in the United Kingdom by a smidgen. This could signal bad news for overall freedom and democracy because economic freedom is the cornerstone of both. As Leon Trotsky famously put it, "In a country where the sole employer is the state, opposition means death by slow starvation. The old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced with a new one: who does not obey shall not eat." To be a bit more subtle, where governments or crony elites control peoples ability to get a job or promotion, put a roof over their head, travel and, yes, eat, the powers that be have immense tools to suppress freedom. You speak out, you lose your job or worse. Economic freedom, on the other hand, liberates people from dependence on the powerful so they can make their voices heard and build better lives without fear. Virtually all countries that restrict economic freedom and crush free markets create miserable, unfree, undemocratic lives for their citizens, with Venezuela, once the darling of the left, now the poster country for disaster. The opposite holds for countries with greater economic freedom, which almost universally have high levels of civil freedom within a stable, tolerant democracy, even when they began poor and undemocratic, such as Taiwan (compare its success to Chinas suppression), South Korea or Botswana, among many others. The free market zone includes Nordic countries, which are often falsely called socialist. While Nordic countries have unusually large governments, free-market principles provide the foundation for their economies. They are great free traders, boast business- and entrepreneur-friendly regulations and law, and vigorously protect property rights. Support for free markets is highest in Nordic countries and the Anglosphere (New Zealand, Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Australia). Is a retreat from freedom inevitable? History provides hope. A wave of democracy and freedom began building globally in the 19th century, only to recede after the First World War. A second wave began after the Second World War, but retreated as communism expanded. The fall of communism launched a third grand wave. Freedom is now in retreat, but the crest of each new wave was higher than the proceeding wave as the failures and violence of dictatorships of left and right became evident to all but brainwashed believers. The hope now is that history will repeat itself. Fred McMahon is an analyst at the Fraser Institute. Troy Media Over the past few months, the U.S. government has launched an assault against Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei for three publicly acknowledged reasons: Huawei, as the U.S. Justice Department alleges, was involved in sanctions-busting with Iran. The company also allegedly stole U.S. technology and even awarded its employees bonuses to do so. And third, because Huawei is a Chinese company and Chinese law mandates that it follow the orders of its security services, anything Huawei installs in equipment used by a U.S. ally could pose a security risk to the United States. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion Over the past few months, the U.S. government has launched an assault against Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei for three publicly acknowledged reasons: Huawei, as the U.S. Justice Department alleges, was involved in sanctions-busting with Iran. The company also allegedly stole U.S. technology and even awarded its employees bonuses to do so. And third, because Huawei is a Chinese company and Chinese law mandates that it follow the orders of its security services, anything Huawei installs in equipment used by a U.S. ally could pose a security risk to the United States. But, in the three-dimensional chess game that is U.S.-China relations, underlying this battle is another conflict with China over technology and U.S. concerns that it is losing the fight. This battle centres on the rollout of 5G telecommunications technology that is expected to reshape not only modern economies but modern warfare, too. And so far, China appears to be ahead very far ahead. This matters because 5G will produce enormously faster broadband speeds upward of 10 gigabits per second with no lags. This web of connectivity could facilitate the introduction of highways with driverless cars, advanced automation on factory floors and a brave new world where machines effortlessly exchange oceans of data. It could also transform warfare with integrated military operations that would make todays joint operations look like children playing in a kindergarten sandbox. Tragically for the United States, Chinas efforts to roll out its 5G network have lacked any of the catalyzing drama associated with the Soviet Unions launch of Sputnik, the worlds first artificial satellite, in 1957. According to a report last year by Deloitte, since 2015, China has outspent the United States by an estimated US$24 billion in wireless communications infrastructure. Density is key to 5G. A successful network needs more cell towers than 4G. That means more small cells on telephone poles and street lamps. According to the Deloitte report, China Tower, the worlds leader in building these relay stations, has invested US$17.7 billion since 2015, beating all its U.S. rivals combined. Countrywide, China today has 1.9 million wireless sites compared to 200,000 in the United States. For every 26 square kilometres, China has 5.3 sites, while the United States has a paltry 0.4. Chinese telecommunications firms are on track to begin stand-alone 5G service in 2020, five years ahead of their U.S. counterparts. Faced with this disparity, the Deloitte reports warn that "China and other countries may be creating a 5G tsunami, making it near impossible to catch up." To get ahead, China has leveraged its systemic differences with the United States. A few decades ago, American analysts scoffed at Chinas continued use of communist-era "Five-Year Plans" to manage its economy. Not anymore. According to Deloitte, Chinas most recent plan earmarks US$400 billion for 5G-related investments, dwarfing anything similar in the United States. Chinas government has forced its three big telecommunications providers to work together to build 5G, something the U.S. government could not do. China also has strong-armed leading Chinese internet platform companies such as Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, JD.com and ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing into taking a nearly US$12-billion stake in one telecom provider, China Unicom, to subsidize its 5G rollout. In a report released in November, the Eurasia Group consulting firm estimated that, while China was on the sidelines of the standards setting for 3G and 4G, Chinese firms could end up holding upward of 40 per cent of the standard essential patents for stand-alone 5G. At root, the issue here is trust. U.S. moves against Huawei are driven by a fear that the Chinese Communist party not only rejects the values of a western liberal economic system, but also is at war with those values across the globe. Whats more, U.S. officials worry that the Communist party has conscripted Huawei in this battle, both as a weapon to dominate cutting-edge technology and as an agent that can conduct espionage on the West. Despite Huaweis protestations that American worries about espionage are unwarranted, its executives routinely cross the line between state and private actors. Take Meng Wanzhou, Huaweis chief financial officer, who was detained in Vancouver in December and has now been charged with bank fraud in connection with Huaweis alleged sanctions busting in Iran. She reportedly had eight passports, one a Chinese government official passport. Seen in this light, the American actions against Huawei mix both an independent law enforcement action and a high-stakes worldwide contest with a government whose core ideology is increasingly inimical to U.S. values. Just a few years ago, pundits heralded the victory of globalization and the onset of a borderless world. Now, the Huawei case raises the prospect of a newly bifurcated globe, split into technological spheres of influence. The United States and its closest allies Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and Japan are coalescing into one. China leads another. In the developed world, Germany and France are sitting on the fence. In the global south, Malaysia and Indonesia are up for grabs. And Huawei is at the centre. John Pomfret, a former Washington Post bureau chief in Beijing, is the author of The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present. Washington Post Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Mayor Brian Bowman feels snubbed by Premier Brian Pallister. Bowman told reporters Tuesday that his request for an emergency meeting with Pallister last week to discuss the funding dispute between the two levels of government was flatly rejected, with no offer of when a meeting could take place. WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Premier Brian Pallister and Mayor Brian Bowman, in less acrimonious times in 2017. "I think taxpayers and constituents should expect prime ministers, premiers and mayors to meet, especially when matters require their direct attention," Bowman said. "We werent advised why, we were just told he was unavailable, his schedule could not accommodate. The meeting was declined. There was no alternate date, there was no lets see what we can do in the coming weeks. Im not aware of his schedule and that wasnt discussed." What few outside the premiers office knew last week was Pallister was at his vacation home in Costa Rica even though his postings on social media suggested he was shivering through the deep freeze like everyone else. Bowman had called for the meeting after an exchange of accusations between city hall and the Pallister government over infrastructure funding to the city. Bowman and civic officials have accused the Pallister government of reneging on written financial commitments that will create a $74-million shortfall in the 2018 city budget, while the Pallister government denies breaching any agreement with the city, and accuses the mayor and civic officials of releasing incorrect and misleading public statements. 'We encourage the mayor to focus on working constructively behind the scenes in proper diplomatic form, instead of pursuing negotiations through the media.' Statement by Pallisters press secretary David von Meyenfeldt While Bowman told reporters hell continue to press for a meeting with the premier, Pallisters press secretary issued a statement saying Bowman and city officials should stop negotiating through the media. "We encourage the mayor to focus on working constructively behind the scenes in proper diplomatic form, instead of pursuing negotiations through the media," said the statement released by David von Meyenfeldt. Von Meyenfeldt was asked by the Free Press if efforts were being made to arrange a meeting with Pallister and Bowman but he replied that Pallister met with Bowman for two and a half hours in December, adding he will let cabinet ministers Scott Fielding (finance) and Jeff Wharton (municipal relations) deal with the mayor and city hall. Bowman contrasted Pallisters stance with Bowman's good relationship with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, adding his meeting with Trudeau on Tuesday will be the second between the two leaders in the past two weeks. "The accessibility (with the PM) is appreciated and it does help us deliver results for Winnipeggers, and I think, for Canadians." Bowman said Pallisters refusal to make an effort to meet with him over an important issue is surprising because similar meetings in the past have been productive. "I really mean this when Ive met with him, theyve been productive meetings and weve been able to move some files forward," Bowman said. "Ive never declined a meeting with the premier or prime minister, let me put it that way," Bowman said. "If the premier or prime minister wants to meet, Im going to move mountains. Ill move Garbage Hill if I have to. I think people expect that were going to work together... Unfortunately, we havent been afforded that more recently." aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca Two people have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in a River-Osborne drive-by shooting that raised alarm about gun violence in Winnipeg more than two years ago. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/2/2019 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Two people have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in a River-Osborne drive-by shooting that raised alarm about gun violence in Winnipeg more than two years ago. Julian Donally Telfer and Paige Eveline Crossman began their trial Monday for the November 2016 shooting death of 32-year-old Edmonton resident Theodoros (Teddy) Belayneh. They also pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of a second man, who was also shot around 3 a.m., Nov. 26, 2016, near the intersection of Stradbrook Avenue and Donald Street. 1FA5M632LMAHXD8KAM7TFMECUH+YDUS7 Theodoros (Teddy) Belayneh, 32, of Edmonton was killed in a drive-by shooting in Winnipeg, November 2016. The Winnipeg Police Service wiretapped the two accused's phones and set up intercepts in their homes to record their voices during the homicide investigation. Court of Queen's Bench Justice Chris Martin is expected to hear more about the wiretap evidence as the trial continues over the next two weeks. On Monday, court heard about a nightclub fist-fight that preceded the shooting. Telfer's former acquaintances testified he was attacked by two other men who confronted him on the dance floor during a planned performance by rapper Ace Hood at the Reset Interactive Ultralounge. The Pembina Highway nightclub has since closed its doors, but on Nov. 25, 2016, around 11:30 p.m., Telfer was there with three acquaintances, including Tanner Dueck and Jamie MacFadden. They'd been there less than a half-hour, Dueck testified, when he saw another man approach MacFadden, who was their designated driver. MacFadden testified the man offered twice to buy her a drink, and she declined. Soon afterward, she saw a fight break out, and said she didn't realize who was involved until after security broke it up. The same man who'd been talking to MacFadden approached Telfer with two other men, Dueck testified. They had a brief exchange one Dueck didn't hear, but he thought the other man was questioning why Telfer wouldn't let "his girl" accept a drink. "He said, like, 'She's not my girl, like, I don't know what you want me to say,'" Dueck testified about Telfer's response. Three men "ganged up" on Telfer, kicking and punching him, Dueck said. Telfer was thrown to the ground and was punched in the eye. "No, he wasn't ready for it. He didn't know it was coming," Dueck said in response to questions from Crown prosecutor Chris Vanderhooft. "It just seemed weird, that these guys came back up to him and started a fight over nothing, really." Security guards kicked Telfer out of the club, and his friends left with him. Dueck said they dropped him off at his parked car along Corydon Avenue. In a text message conversation the next morning, Telfer asked Dueck not to tell anyone what had happened, saying he was embarrassed. The text messages were displayed on courtroom monitors and filed as a trial exhibit. Belayneh died of multiple bullet wounds after he was shot in the passenger seat of a 2013 Acura ILX at Donald and Stradbrook. Police mapped the trajectory of bullet holes through the car and examined a second vehicle at the scene: a rented Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk SUV. In the glove compartment, a rental agreement bore Crossman's signature, WPS Const. Jan de Vries testified. Crossman was arrested in January 2017, and is currently on bail. Telfer is in custody and was arrested in May 2017. Before they were arrested, police put out a public call for cellphone photos and videos taken at the club on the night in question, released a video re-enactment of the victim's car journey and held a news conference in which homicide unit Sgt. John O'Donovan decried gun violence in the city. "Its not something that were used to seeing in Winnipeg. We do have a lot of murders in Winnipeg this is different," O'Donovan said at the time. "This is Winnipeg, its not Chicago, so we cant allow that to continue." katie.may@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @thatkatiemay OTTAWA Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will touch down Tuesday in Winnipeg to unveil funding for the city's transit system, the Free Press has learned. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/2/2019 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will touch down Tuesday in Winnipeg to unveil funding for the city's transit system, the Free Press has learned. Ottawa and city hall have partnered to uncork more than $5 million in upgrades to Winnipeg Transit infrastructure. Unlike most federal cost-share projects, Tuesday's announcement will not include provincial money. Trudeau and Mayor Brian Bowman will gather at the Fort Rouge-area Transit garage at 3:30 p.m. to make the announcement. Sources not authorized to speak with media say Ottawa will earmark $2.5 million for Winnipeg Transit, while Bowmans office has confirmed the city is advancing $2.8 million. The cash will largely go to bricks-and-mortar upgrades, such as the buildings that house buses and staff. Trudeau is also expected to spend Tuesday morning at some local events with MPs. While not unheard of, its rare for Ottawa to pledge money for projects directly with cities, instead of also partnering with the citys province. The Manitoba government led by Premier Brian Pallister has rejected calls by Liberal MPs to put up funds for some projects the city has requested, citing the provinces debt load. The federal Liberals campaigned on a pledge to upgrade crumbling and outdated infrastructure across the country, but have seen projects theyve sponsored become delayed by construction issues and funding disputes over cost-sharing. Other projects that have been approved span years-long timelines, with initial construction and planning almost invisible to the average citizen. Eight months before the federal vote, the Trudeau government is pushing to show tangible progress on the file and shore up the support in urban centres such as Winnipeg that helped it land a majority in 2015. The Conservatives have honed in on Winnipeg as one of their targets for the October 2019 vote, in particular the outer suburbs. In recent visits, to the city Trudeau has spent time in those ridings. City staff sent a memo Monday afternoon to all Transit employees inviting them to attend the funding announcement, with their supervisors permission. dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca The new cross atop St. Boniface Hospital a familiar landmark on Winnipeg's skyline received the blessing from Archbishop Albert LeGatt on the windy rooftop Monday morning. The blessing of the cross, also livestreamed to a small crowd inside the hospital's chapel, completed the installation of the illuminated beacon. The replacement process began in November when the old cross, in place since 1954, was taken down after it was determined its time had come to an end. The cross harkens back to the roots and identity of the Catholic hospital, founded in 1871 by the Grey Nuns. The new cross is expected to last 50 years. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Archbishop Albert LeGatt blessed the new LED rooftop cross at St. Boniface Hospital on Monday morning. The hospital's president and CEO Martine Bouchard was in attendance. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The cross replaced the old one which was installed in 1953. "I'm very happy that they put up a cross, because when they took it down, it just hurt me. When they said they were going to get a new one because the other one wasn't working, I said it was necessary because it's a sign of love, it's a sign of health, for the people that are sick," Sister Juliette Thevenot said. "I've heard so many people say, every evening they look up and they see the cross and it gives them peace. It fills them with energy to want to keep on. "I think it shows also the compassion, the care that is given in the hospital. This is what is really behind the mission, is to give compassionate care to everyone who comes through the door." The cross, back-lit in LED lighting, stands 5.2-metres high and 2.7-m wide. "That cross is seen both day and night, and I hope it gives people the opportunity to stop and pause and think about all the men and women who get up every day and come through the (hospital) doors to offer some support," said Daniel Lussier, chief executive officer of the Catholic Health Corporation of Manitoba, which helped pay for the new cross. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS As Archbishop LeGatt blesses the cross, St. Boniface chaplain Father Richard Machura (left) looks on with President and CEO Martine Bouchard (back). "It's a symbol of hope for those who are marginalized, disenfranchised and in need of support in some way, and St. Boniface and other organizations are going to be there for them." St. Boniface president and CEO Martine Bouchard said the cross is also a symbol for the hospital, which uses it in its logo. "We are transmitting our symbol and we are making it shine for the whole population. It embodies who we are and how we want to be projected. To have a new cross is an absolute must, because our cross before wasn't shining on one side," Bouchard said, noting the old cross could not be fixed as it was welded in place. "My wish, the executive, the board and hopefully all the personnel at St. Boniface can proclaim and continue to share the Catholic faith-based values of humanity and how we heal patients as compassionately as possible." On the rooftop just below the cross, LeGatt held a large blue Bible and sprinkled holy water during the ceremony, with the sun on his right shoulder and the wind whipping up snowflakes around him. "We ask that all who come here, beneath its shadow, receive love and compassion," he said during the blessing. LeGatt later said mass, to honour the World Day of the Sick. ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca Theres been a huge increase in the proposed cost of a new North District police station. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/2/2019 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Theres been a huge increase in the proposed cost of a new North District police station. Members of the finance committee were told Monday that the preliminary estimate has increased almost 60 per cent -- from the council-approved $23.4 million to $37.3 million. City staff told councillors that most of the increase ($8.6 million) is the result of the need to possibly construct a second building on the complex to house police evidence and archival material. Plans to locate evidence and archival storage in the new downtown headquarters had to be scrapped, WPS Chief Danny Smyth told the committee, when it was discovered there were load-bearing concerns at the Smith Street facility. "Its obviously frustrating to everybody that the facilities they moved into cannot accommodate their needs and this necessitates looking at another location," Coun. Scott Gillingham, chairman of the finance committee, told reporters following the meeting. City hall and the WPS had originally planned to locate the new district police station on a portion of the Old Exhibition Grounds, east of McPhillips Street, but that site was strongly opposed by area residents, who were concerned about the loss of recreational space. The city issued a formal Request For Proposals Nov. 2, seeking out possible new locations in the North End. The RFP closed Jan. 31. Councillors were told several bids were received and they are now being reviewed to determine the preferred proposal or proposals. According to the terms of the RFP, the city wanted a property 4.5- 8 acres in size, with a minimum of 275-foot frontage on a regional street. Brad Erickson, the city manager of municipal accommodations, told the committee the ideal location for a new police station is just north of Logan Avenue and Salter Street, but he added the city is open to any suitable site within the North End. The new station was expected to be operational by the Fall of this year but the revised schedule puts that date sometime in the first quarter of 2022. Plans for the new North District police station will be patterned after two recently-built facilities, the East and West district stations. Gillingham said it makes sense to combine the two projects onto the single site, if the purchase price and land is acceptable, but officials said its still possible the evidence and archival storage facility could be built elsewhere. aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca THE Winnipeg Police Service says an investigation of unidentified proselytizers targeting lone young women on university campuses found that the recruiters are actually members of a religious group. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/2/2019 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. THE Winnipeg Police Service says an investigation of unidentified proselytizers targeting lone young women on university campuses found that the recruiters are actually members of a religious group. "The counter-exploitation unit has investigated the reports and it has been confirmed that this was, in fact, simply a religious group looking to spread some information and gain new members," Winnipeg police Const. Tammy Skrabek said Monday. Winnipeg police declined to identify the religious denomination of the group. Dozens of young women in Winnipeg mainly students at universities expressed alarm on social media about the tactics of the two women who didnt identify themselves, their religion or offer any pamphlets or printed material. The students were approached when they were alone, and all seemed to be Indigenous in appearance. They said they were asked to talk about God and, if they lingered long enough, they were invited on a retreat and asked for their contact information. The young women said they wondered whether the recruiters worked for a cult or human traffickers, and whether vulnerable young women alone in the city were at risk for exploitation. Winnipeg police received a report last week and a counter-exploitation unit investigated. "No criminal activity was noted and no charges were laid," Skrabek said in an email. One of the students approached by the proselytizers said its good to know police checked them out and that they werent trying to exploit anyone. "Thats a relief," Teren Hupalo said Monday. The University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg reported a total seven complaints from female students in the last two weeks. A photo of two of the female proselytizers being asked to leave the U of W campus was posted on Facebook by a student who said she had encountered them more than once and was alarmed at their persistence. The post of the proselytizers at the U of W was seen last week by Hupalo, a U of M student, who was surprised when the pair approached her the next day at the school on the other side of the city. In an earlier interview, she questioned why they didnt identify themselves and why they singled out women who are alone. "Even if they had good intentions, its an eerie feeling," said the third-year student, who easily brushed them off. Her concern was for those who are new to Winnipeg and on their own. "Its good to be aware of your surroundings," she said Monday. Similar encounters on U.S. university campuses were reported on last year by university newspapers and publications including the Daily Beast and People. They involved religious recruiters associated with the World Mission Society Church of God. It was founded in 1964 in South Korea by Ahn Sahng-hong, and its members consider him to be second coming of Christ. The group, which claims to have more than two million members worldwide, has been publicly criticized. Since last week, the U of W has received no further complaints, spokesman Kevin Rosen said Monday. carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca A man was bored through the cheek with a power drill in a "gruesome and horrific" attack Sunday, city police say. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/2/2019 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A man was bored through the cheek with a power drill in a "gruesome and horrific" attack Sunday, city police say. Patrol cruisers, along with a tactical support unit and a K-9 unit, were dispatched to an apartment building on the 200 block of Dufferin Avenue just after 1 a.m. When officers arrived, they found an injured man in his 20s. The victim told police he knew the people who attacked him, police spokesman Const. Jay Murray said Monday. "It was a pretty gruesome and horrific crime," Murray said. The motive for the attack was not released, but police said it could have been drug-related. Police could not confirm the man had suffered injuries to his face, but one source said a drill bit had been forced into the victim's cheek, shattering the orbital bone, which is part of the eye socket. Police believe the victim was asleep at the time four suspects allegedly forced their way into the man's suite and began attacking him. When the cordless drill was used on him, he was able to block the first attack but not a second one, police said. The suite was ransacked and several items were stolen before the assailants left. Officers arrested two people inside the building a short time later, and are looking for two more. "We don't know who they are so, we're asking the public assistance with them," Murray said. Winnipeggers Richard Thomas Poynting, 32, and Connie Miscel Williams, 31, were charged with robbery, break and enter and aggravated assault. Both were previously known to police and both remained in custody Monday. alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca Winnipeg firefighters battled five blazes in bitter weather over the weekend and into Monday morning, including the destruction of a fast food restaurant and the partial evacuation of a 10-storey apartment building. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/2/2019 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Winnipeg firefighters battled five blazes in bitter weather over the weekend and into Monday morning, including the destruction of a fast food restaurant and the partial evacuation of a 10-storey apartment building. The first was a house fire called in Sunday, just after 3 p.m., on the 100 block of Hamilton Meadows Drive that took three hours to bring under control. Images of plumes of smoke slicing melted ice crystals in the air were captured on social media before darkness fell. Fire and smoke also drove Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service crews out of the home initially, forcing them to fight the fire from outside. In total, 11 fire crews were called in; they kept fire from spreading to neighbouring homes and were able to move back inside the house with an offensive assault that knocked the fire down three hours later. No one was injured, and occupants got themselves out safely before fire crews arrived on the scene, the City of Winnipeg said Monday. On Sunday, 18 crews were called in to fight a blaze at the A&W chain restaurant on Main Street at the corner of Inkster Boulevard. The first call to the 1400 block of Main came in at 5:17 p.m. The fire quickly spread to send flames shooting from the roof. No one was injured, and traffic in the area was restricted for hours. Crews extinguished the final hot spots and remained on the scene until 2:30 a.m. Monday. Heavy machinery was called in to demolish the gutted structure. A spokesman for the fast food chain said the franchise owner planned to rebuild on the same location. "I've seen the pictures and it virtually burnt to the ground. The franchise owner really wants to rebuild and there are a number of steps he'll have to go through, but he wants to get it... open this year," Tom Newitt said Monday from A&W Canada head office in Vancouver. About the same time crews were converging on the A&W, a car fire on the 600 block of Maryland Street spread to the surrounding garage. Crews had both contained minutes later, at about 5:35 p.m. The same general area of the city has been the site of at least two other fires in recent. On Jan. 13, a fire broke out in an apartment block at Ellice Avenue and Maryland Street. Firefighters found one person inside who was rushed to hospital in critical condition and later upgraded to stable. On Jan. 14, a blaze in a three-story building on the 400 block of Maryland forced more than 40 people to flee. On Sunday, WFPS crews were called a strip mall fire on the 900 block of Portage Avenue. The malls sprinkler system help keep the fire from spreading until crews arrived and doused it, 15 minutes after the first alarm. The fifth fire of the weekend came early Monday, at a 10-storey apartment block in south River Heights. Fire crews evacuated two of the 10 floors of the structure on the 1300 block of Taylor Avenue, across from the Pan Am Medical Clinic. Residents took shelter in Winnipeg Transit buses, brought to the scene shortly after the alarm went out at 7:08 a.m. The first crews on the scene reported flames shooting out from a ninth-storey balcony and called in a second alarm for more help. They were able to contain the fire to a single suite, but some others also experienced smoke and water damage. The WFPS said Monday it was still investigating four of the fires. It issued a statement saying a malfunctioning fan caused the strip mall fire. No damage estimates were released Monday. alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca OTTAWA Churchills Nunavut neighbours want a say in the federal governments plans to ramp up shipments at the Manitoba port, telling researchers increased boat traffic is already changing their lives. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA Churchills Nunavut neighbours want a say in the federal governments plans to ramp up shipments at the Manitoba port, telling researchers increased boat traffic is already changing their lives. "Inuit and northerners really wish to be, and should be, included," Natalie Carter, a community lead with the Arctic Corridors Research Project at the University of Ottawa, said. Her team has visited more than a dozen Inuit communities across the North to hear about the impacts of increasing ship traffic, including in Arviat, 250 kilometres north of Churchill. Shipping is already ramping up across the Arctic, in part because of mining projects, yet theres a major information gap in how thats impacting locals, said project lead Jackie Dawson, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Environment, Society and Policy. For example, environmentalists worldwide are concerned about rising sea levels, but its increasingly shallow water that has Arviat locals worried. Thats possibly because of oceanic uplift, when sandbars and the ocean floor slowly push upwards as tectonic plates move. In any case, beluga whales seem to be moving closer to the shore which has been rising almost a centimetre a year while some fish migrate further into the bay where the water is colder. "Its very dynamic. People think it's straightforward, but it's not," Dawson said. "Its creating new hazards for vessels to navigate in the waters around Arviat. The concerns were the risk of groundings or spills." Icebreaking is particularly a concern, she said.. Some in Arviat believe it could bring seals closer to the shore, thus saving on snowmobile fuel costs, while others worry about disrupting wildlife patterns. Already, researchers heard, the taste and quality of meat and fish takes a hit when those animals have been stressed by marine traffic. Meanwhile, a community farther north reported hunters being trapped when icebreakers cut them off from the mainland, leaving them stranded on an ice floe. "That's why they're super-worried about shipping in the winter," Dawson said. The taste and quality of meat and fish takes a hit when animals have been stressed by marine traffic, researchers heard. (John Woods / The Canadian Press files) Last summer, Ottawa helped transfer the Hudson Bay Railway and Port of Churchill from Denver-based Omnitrax to a local consortium that includes Indigenous governments, a Toronto financier and a Saskatchewan grain giant. All of them see the port become a major export hub for a variety of goods. Dawson said the shipping industry is a massive, growing market, and people in Churchill and beyond need to help shape it. Shes requested funding to survey how people in Churchill where she once lived are coping. "Churchill is the only Arctic deep-water port in Canada. It's going to be one of our most important maritime communities in the Arctic, and they should be a leading voice in the future development of shipping corridors," she said. Her research project surrounds low-impact shipping corridors, the terms for shipping routes that Ottawa and regional governments have agreed are likely to cause less disruption to locals and offer safe passage to ships. But those routes were only selected in recent years and havent been thoroughly studied. "There's lots of opportunities, but lots of concerns. It just warrants us paying attention to it, really," Dawson said. Inuit have been eager to help with search-and-rescue and clean-up efforts as needed, using the traditional navigation and knowledge passed down for centuries, Carter said. "Inuit and northerners really wish to be, and should be, included. That came through loud and clear," she said. Her team conducted most of their interviews through Inuktitut interpreters, gathering perspectives across the region through open houses, radio phone-ins, interview tables set up in grocery stores and on Facebook pages. They visited Arviat in November 2016, and followed up in March 2017 to confirm their findings aligned with locals perspectives. Churchill has had ties with western Nunavut for decades, serving as the areas main hospital and logistics base. But the towns success has also caused tension with communities farther north. Last July, a polar bear mauled an Arviat father to death, and elders blamed Churchill's tourism operators for making the bears less afraid of humans. Dawson hopes Ottawa will use the research to craft its Arctic policy, a fledgling attempt to co-ordinate Canadas economic goals and military security with Indigenous rights and environmental conservation. "We have a moral responsibility to make sure everybody's included in the path forward," she said. dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca The province did not consult with representatives from the federal government nor Manitoba First Nations before issuing its request for proposal to privatize air ambulance services. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The province did not consult with representatives from the federal government nor Manitoba First Nations before issuing its request for proposal to privatize air ambulance services. Both groups have major stakes in the possible privatization project and say they are disappointed by the lack of discussion. "From the federal governments point of view, this is not how we approach things. This is just not the approach that we take with our First Nations communities," Terry Duguid, member of Parliament for Winnipeg South, said of the consultation process. In an interview Monday, the Liberal MP said some of his constituents, including medical doctors and nurses, have approached him with safety concerns about air ambulance services in Manitoba. Duguid said he's also heard First Nations leaders, including Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee, are "not happy with the way things are proceeding." "I have great respect for (Manitoba Infrastructure) Minister Ron Schuler, and if I was to offer a piece of advice, it would be to take a step back and make sure that theres proper consultation done," he said. Settee was not available for interviews on the topic Monday and Tuesday, but the Free Press obtained a copy of a letter Settee sent Tuesday to Premier Brian Pallister, which outlined his concerns. "The critical care that is provided by Lifeflight to our northern First Nations is unmatched, and we strongly encourage the provincial government to review its plans to privatize all ambulance services in Manitoba," he wrote. Settee suggested Lifeflight be "excluded from the RFP process," which also included general transport and wildfire-suppression services. He also called for a meeting between MKO, provincial and federal officials to discuss the air ambulance programs. While the province provides Lifeflight services to critically injured patients outside a 200-kilometre radius of Winnipeg, Ottawa covers the costs to support First Nations people living on reserves for medical trips. Through the Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) program, the federal government spent $35.2 million on air ambulance services in Manitoba last fiscal year, said William Olscamp, a spokesperson from Indigenous Services Canada. The province issued its RFP for privatization of government air services in July 2018, but did not engage with Indigenous Services until November to request the formation of a "small collaborative group" to work on "a technical and detailed basis to expedite the proposal process," Olscamp said by email. In a statement Tuesday, a provincial spokesperson speaking on Schuler's behalf said the government plans to award the RFP for air ambulance services in the spring. "We continue to have discussions with the federal government about the provision of air ambulance services, and are aware of the MKOs concerns," the spokesperson said by email. "It should be noted however that the province acts as an agent on behalf of the federal government in the delivery of air ambulance services to First Nations and remote communities. "This part of the provincial air ambulance service (which does not include Lifeflight) is already delivered by private carriers, and the previous NDP government did not tender the service under an RFP process." It's unclear what is stalling the provincial government's final decisions on the RFP, which closed in September. It already awarded part of the air services contract (for wildfire suppression) to Babcock Canada in December. Lifeflight physicians have pushed back on the province's proposal to privatize the service, voicing safety concerns and threatening to resign en masse last October. jessica.botelho@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @_jessbu OTTAWA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was "surprised and disappointed" by Jody Wilson-Raybould's resignation Tuesday from his cabinet one day after he'd touted her continuing presence there as proof she hadn't been improperly pressured to help SNC-Lavalin avoid criminal prosecution. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was "surprised and disappointed" by Jody Wilson-Raybould's resignation Tuesday from his cabinet one day after he'd touted her continuing presence there as proof she hadn't been improperly pressured to help SNC-Lavalin avoid criminal prosecution. If she had been pressured, Trudeau said, she had an obligation to raise her concerns with him; she never did. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Veterans Affairs Minister Jodie Wilson-Raybould attend a swearing in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Monday, Jan. 14, 2019. Veterans Affairs Minister Wilson-Raybould is quitting the federal cabinet. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick "In regards to the matter of SNC-Lavalin, let me be direct. The government of Canada did its job and to the clear public standards expected of it," he said following an event in Winnipeg. Trudeau said Wilson-Raybould, who was attorney general at the time, had a particular obligation to raise any concerns about improper pressure but, "of course, she said nothing of that to me last fall." In a letter to Trudeau published on her website Tuesday morning, Wilson-Raybould said she was resigning "with a heavy heart" but did not explain why. However, she said she's aware that "many Canadians wish for me speak (sic) on matters that have been in the media over the last week" referring to the furor that erupted after a news report last Thursday alleged she was demoted to veterans-affairs minister in January from the prestigious justice portfolio because she had refused to give in to pressure last fall from the Prime Minister's Office on the SNC-Lavalin case. The Montreal construction giant is charged with corruption related to its dealings in Libya. It has actively and publicly sought a "remediation agreement," akin to a plea-bargain, that would let the company as a whole avoid the risk of a conviction and ban from government contracts. "I am aware that many Canadians wish for me to speak on matters that have been in the media over the last week. I am in the process of obtaining advice on the topics that I am legally permitted to discuss in this matter." Jody WilsonRaybould As the former attorney general, Wilson-Raybould has refused to comment on the allegation, citing solicitor-client privilege. In her letter Tuesday, she said she has hired former Supreme Court justice Thomas Cromwell to advise her on "the topics that I am legally permitted to discuss in this matter." Wilson-Raybould said she intends to continue serving as the MP for the riding of Vancouver-Granville. She remains a member of the Liberal caucus, where she apparently still has some friends. Just after Trudeau's news conference, Treasury Board President Jane Philpott tweeted about all the bills they'd worked on together and included a photograph of them on a boat with their arms around each other's shoulders. Liberal MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes shared Wilson-Raybould's resignation statement with an image of a clenched fist. Wilson-Raybould's departure added fuel to opposition accusations of political interference in the justice system. Her exit came less than 24 hours after Trudeau said he had "full confidence" in her and suggested she would have resigned from cabinet on principle if she had felt anyone had tried to improperly pressure her. On Tuesday, Trudeau said Wilson-Raybould's resignation was "not consistent" with conversations he had with her at the time of the cabinet shuffle in early January or over the past few days. His office issued a terse statement that made no attempt to put any gloss on her departure from cabinet or to thank her for her service. Wilson-Raybould informed the prime minister on Monday night of her intention to resign, the statement said. Trudeau informed the rest of his cabinet Tuesday morning about her decision and named Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan to take over responsibility for the veterans-affairs portfolio. In Fredericton, N.B., Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said Wilson-Raybould's resignation proves there's more to the SNC-Lavalin story than Trudeau has been letting on. "Yesterday, he said that her presence (in cabinet) speaks for itself. Well, today, her resignation speaks for itself," Scheer said. "Clearly, there is something more than he has been forthcoming with." Trudeau has repeatedly denied Wilson-Raybould was pressured to instruct the director of public prosecutions to negotiate a remediation agreement with SNC-Lavalin. The Trudeau government passed a law last year which allows for remediation agreements in cases of corporate corruption, wherein a company pays reparations but does not wind up with a criminal conviction. Government insiders have said Wilson-Raybould was involved in internal discussions last fall about whether to instruct the director of public prosecutions to pursue remediation, as is allowed by law, but they've insisted those discussions were not tantamount to pressure. Scheer called on Trudeau to waive solicitor-client privilege to allow Wilson-Raybould to speak freely on the matter. "The longer he refuses to do this, the more guilty he appears to Canadians." Trudeau said he's asked David Lametti, who replaced Wilson-Raybould as justice minister and attorney general, to advise him about waiving solicitor-client privilege. However, he said: "There's a real danger and it's been flagged for me of unintended consequences, particularly because there are two court cases ongoing directly related to this matter that could be impacted by such a decision we might make." Trudeau noted that solicitor-client privilege would not have prevented Wilson-Raybould from coming to him last fall if she felt she was being improperly pressured. Scheer also wrote to Trudeau, calling on him to ensure that all documents including "memos, letters, emails, PINs, SMS messages and handwritten notes" pertaining to the case are preserved. Both Scheer and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh called on the Liberals to support an opposition motion to have the House of Commons justice committee investigate the allegation that Wilson-Raybould was pressured. The committee is scheduled to consider the motion on Wednesday. "Now more than ever, it is imperative that the Liberal government support the work of the justice committee that will be looking into whether there was illegal interference with the independent exercise of the former attorney general's responsibilities," Singh said in a statement. "If Justin Trudeau and the Liberal government shut the justice committee's work down, it would send a dangerous signal to Canadians about the state of our democracy." Liberals, who hold the majority on the committee, appear to be open to conducting an investigation. And on Monday, Trudeau said he welcomed news that federal ethics commissioner Mario Dion has initiated his own investigation into the matter, specifically whether there's been a violation of a Conflict of Interest Act provision that prohibits a public office holder from seeking to influence a decision so as to improperly further another person's private interests. Wilson-Raybould had been Canada's first Indigenous justice minister and the face of Trudeau's commitment to make reconciliation his top priority. Some Indigenous leaders have been highly critical of Trudeau's decision to demote Wilson-Raybould and those criticisms escalated Tuesday. Shortly before her resignation announcement, the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs issued an open letter to Trudeau demanding that he publicly condemn "the racist and sexist innuendo" that's circulated about Wilson-Raybould since her demotion, suggesting that she's difficult to work with and not a team player. Garrison Settee, grand chief of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Inc., a group representing 30 First Nations in northern Manitoba, echoed that sentiment. And he called Wilson-Raybould's resignation "a significant step backwards in our long-standing efforts to advance reconciliation." Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said in a statement that he was "saddened" by Wilson-Raybould's departure "concerned about the many unanswered questions" surrounding it, adding that this is "echoed by many First Nations across the country." Trudeau said he understands that all Canadians "rightfully" have questions about Wilson-Raybould's resignation and he's doing his best to answer them, "highlighting that for folks who are puzzled by Ms. Wilson-Raybould's decision to step down, they can add me to the list." OTTAWA - An organization of small-business owners that helped spearhead a public campaign against the Trudeau government's tax-change proposals for private corporations is sharpening its criticism of the Liberals' forthcoming carbon-tax program. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The steel mills in the Hamilton waterfront harbour are shown in Hamilton, Ont., on Tuesday, October 23, 2018. A large proportion of small- and medium-sized businesses soon to be subjected to Ottawa's carbon tax worry they'll be unable to pass along the bulk of the extra costs to their customers, suggests a new survey being released Tuesday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette OTTAWA - An organization of small-business owners that helped spearhead a public campaign against the Trudeau government's tax-change proposals for private corporations is sharpening its criticism of the Liberals' forthcoming carbon-tax program. The carbon tax has generated intense political debate across the country and it's destined to be a key campaign issue in October's federal election. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business released a poll Tuesday that says the majority of its members believe the carbon tax is "deeply unfair." Most of its members, the report also said, worry they'll be unable to pass along the bulk of the extra carbon-tax costs to their customers, leaving smaller businesses in a position where they'll have to subsidize household rebates under the program. The survey, however, could be self-reinforcing. More than two-thirds of CFIB members polled didn't support any kind of carbon pricing to fight climate change. The online survey was completed by 3,527 CFIB members in the four provinces Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick that will have to follow the Trudeau government's carbon-pricing system as of April 1 because they don't have their own regimes. The lobby group, made up of more than 110,000 small- and medium-sized businesses, represents a small segment just under 11 per cent of Canada's small- and medium-sized businesses. Still, the organization has found success in the past as a critic of government proposals. In late 2017, CFIB helped lead a vocal campaign against Finance Minister Bill Morneau's package of tax-reform proposals for private corporations. The campaign spent months criticizing his plan, warning it would hurt the very middle class the Trudeau government claimed it was trying to help. Morneau defended the proposals by insisting they were designed to stop wealthy owners of private corporations from unfairly taking advantage of the tax system. In the end, the uproar forced him to back away from some elements of his plan. CFIB has strongly opposed the federal carbon-tax plan out of concern it will pile on too many costs for smaller companies. The Liberal government believes carbon pricing, which has been in place for years in provinces like British Columbia, Quebec and Alberta, is one of the best ways to lower emissions. The Liberals argue pollution is already getting expensive for Canadians as costs from climate-change-related weather events have climbed to more than $1 billion a year. The federal climate-change plan also includes efforts to develop clean-fuel standards, create new energy-efficiency building codes and phase out electricity generation from coal. "Our plan puts a price on what we don't want pollution so that we can get to what we do want: a better future for our kids and our grandkids tomorrow, and money back in the pockets of hard-working Canadians today," Finance Minister Bill Morneau tweeted Tuesday. The opposition Conservatives have repeatedly called the Liberal system a "tax grab" that will hurt the bottom lines of small businesses and families, kill jobs and make the country less competitive. Moving forward, the Tories warn carbon-tax bills will only get bigger. Several provincial leaders have also become vocal opponents of the federal program. Under the program, Ottawa says 90 per cent of the revenues it collects will be returned via rebates to households in each of the four provinces. Consumers will get by far the largest share because the government expects them to ultimately pay most of the new costs, passed down from businesses. The CFIB poll, conducted in November, says about 80 per cent of respondents didn't think it would be easy for them to forward costs on to their customers. It found 55 per cent of those surveyed didn't expect to pass on any of the additional costs, while 25 per cent said they will be able to pass on less than 25 per cent of the extra costs. "These findings should be deeply worrisome to public policy makers," said the report, which also repeats CFIB's concerns the carbon tax will arrive the same year that businesses' Canada Pension Plan premiums start to rise. "It means small firms will be forced to find the resources to pay the tax from the business itself, which means it may come at the expense of wages, jobs or future business growth." CFIB is calling on Ottawa to limit the impact on smaller businesses, including reassurance the same proportion of revenue collected from these firms is returned to them. Ottawa has said 10 per cent of the revenue from the carbon tax will be dedicated to a program to help organizations, such as schools, that are unable to pass on the costs via higher prices. Part of this portion worth about $1.5 billion will also be used to help small- and medium-sized businesses adapt to carbon pricing over the next five years, the government has said. "We are still working with small businesses on how revenue from carbon pollution pricing will be returned to support Canadian businesses to reduce their emissions and their costs, and become more energy efficient and competitive," Sabrina Kim, a spokeswoman for Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, wrote in an email. Follow @AndyBlatchford on Twitter LONDON - A British judge ruled Tuesday that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw legal stones, rejecting a claim that a viewing platform at London's Tate Modern art gallery invaded the privacy of residents in luxury apartments next door. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. FILE - This Tuesday, June 14, 2016 file photo, shows an exterior view of a new building called Switch House which has been added on to the Tate Modern gallery in London. On Tuesday Feb. 12, 2019, neighbors of London's Tate Modern have lost a legal fight to force the art gallery to close a viewing platform that gives visitors a view into their homes. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File) LONDON - A British judge ruled Tuesday that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw legal stones, rejecting a claim that a viewing platform at London's Tate Modern art gallery invaded the privacy of residents in luxury apartments next door. Owners of four glass-walled apartments in the Neo Bankside complex sought to force the gallery to block off part of a terrace that offers visitors views over London and into their homes. A lawyer for the homeowners argued the 10th-floor platform, used by up to 1 million gallery visitors a year, constitutes a "relentless" invasion of residents' privacy. Their lawyer said gallery visitors subjected the apartments to "intense visual scrutiny," with some using binoculars and zoom lenses to get a better look. The gallery's board said residents could solve the problem by drawing their blinds or putting up curtains. High Court judge Anthony Mann dismissed the residents' claim, noting that the claimants had chosen to live in apartments with floor-to-ceiling windows. "These properties are impressive, and no doubt there are great advantages to be enjoyed in such extensive glassed views, but that in effect comes at a price in terms of privacy," he said. The judge denied the homeowners permission to appeal, although they can seek to challenge that ruling. A lawyer for the claimants, Natasha Rees, said they were considering taking the case to the Court of Appeal. Rees said she was "extremely disappointed with today's result." "My clients and their families will have to continue to live with this daily intrusion into their privacy," she said. Tate Modern said it was pleased the viewing platform "will remain available to our visitors." "We continue to be mindful of the amenity of our neighbours and the role Tate Modern has to play in the local community," the gallery said. Tate Modern opened in 2000 in a former power station on the south bank of the River Thames. It has helped transform the surrounding Bankside neighbourhood from a riverside backwater into an arts and nightlife hub dotted with luxury apartment towers. The viewing terrace is part of a pyramid-shaped extension that opened in 2016 at the gallery, which sees more than 5 million visitors a year. Neo Bankside was completed a few years earlier. A new federal program to help rural areas recruit immigrant workers is getting rave reviews across Manitoba but is proving a letdown for places that have been excluded. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A new federal program to help rural areas recruit immigrant workers is getting rave reviews across Manitoba but is proving a letdown for places that have been excluded. Ottawa announced the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot Project last month to help rural places and businesses recruit newcomers from abroad. Rural communities across Manitoba are already queueing up to access the program. THE CARILLON Josie Fast of Eastman Immigration Service in Steinbach, Manitoba. The problem is a number of communities that regard themselves as rural have been left out. "I think its such an amazing program. I only wish we could be part of it," said Josie Fast, program director for Eastman Immigrant Services based in Steinbach. The federal program stipulates communities must be at least 75 kilometres outside a major urban centre. Steinbach is 62 kilometres away from Winnipeg. "I think the project would do so many great things not only for Steinbach, but there are a lot of smaller communities around our area that are looking for newcomers. I think it would be such a great opportunity and build the immigrant populations in their communities," Fast said. Ste. Anne, which has been undergoing a growth spurt in the past few years, is also excluded, as is Beausejour, another community that has shown interest in attracting newcomers. There are also apparent anomalies in the new program. For example, Brandon is included because its population is below (just barely) 50,000. The population in Steinbach is around 16,000, according to the 2016 census. Fast didnt know Ottawas reasons for the 75-kilometre rule. "Perhaps they think immigrants can easily access the city. Thats not the case. For people who are newcomers, driving is a huge hindrance and its not like you can hop on a bus to get to Winnipeg," she said. Another key city that falls just under the 75-kilometre threshold is Portage la Prairie. "We were a little disappointed, but were going ahead with some of our own immigration initiatives," Mayor Irvine Ferris said. Portage has been active on the immigration front in recent years and last year set up an initiative called Local Immigration Partnership, or LIP. It involves partnerships to assist with newcomer needs and integration. "In the past, weve been somewhat successful in attracting new immigrants, but retention is what were focusing on now because we werent all that good at that," he said. Portage is going to be needing workers as Simplot is in the process of doubling its french fry capacity this year, and French company Roquette is building a pea plant for making protein in 2020. The federal pilot project has been described as a return to how the Provincial Nominee Program originally worked in Manitoba before 2010 when the provincial government passed the Worker Recruitment and Protection Act. The legislation was designed to protect workers from unscrupulous immigration brokers, but made it too difficult for smaller businesses to recruit immigrants and ended up slowing immigration to a trickle in many parts of rural Manitoba. Adele Dyck, of immigration broker firm Star 7 International, also praised the new pilot project. She said its what businesses in the Winkler area lobbied for when they met Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen last July. "I guess the federal government listened. They must have heard the same story from other communities," she said. "Winkler can basically choose their own applicants again like we did when we started the program." Dyck spearheaded the first pilot project to match immigrants with jobs in rural Manitoba that was the forerunner to the Provincial Nominee Program. The pilot project will divide up about 2,700 workers among rural communities from northwestern Ontario to British Columbia, with applicants receiving up to 100 workers each. Applications must be in by March 1. In the new program, businesses can apply if they have the backing of municipal leaders or a local immigration-service group, such as Eastman Immigration Services. EIS is run by the Steinbach Chamber of Commerce and serves much of southeastern Manitoba. bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/2/2019 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Barneys wants in on cannabis. Barneys New York, the closely held chain of upscale specialty stores, is partnering with the Los Angeles pot brand Beboe to open what it calls a "luxury cannabis and wellness concept shop" on the fifth floor of its Beverly Hills store. Dubbed the High End, the shop will sell ultra-expensive marijuana accessories. Since Barneys isnt a licensed dispensary, it cant legally sell weed. But there will be information about Beboes vape pens and edibles, which can be ordered online for delivery. The new shop is scheduled to open next month, according to a statement. According to the New York Times, the High End will offer all manner of luxe smokers paraphernalia: Devambez rolling papers made from organically grown French hemp; handblown water pipes by Siemon and Salazar, a glassware studio in California; stash boxes by the jewelry designer Martine Ali; and joint holders (otherwise known as roach clips) by Good Art Hlywd. Prices will tend toward the premium. A sterling silver pot grinder, for example, will sell for US$1,475. The partnership between a cannabis brand and a luxury retailer comes as access to legal marijuana continues to spread across the U.S. California is the worlds largest legal marijuana market, with Los Angeles the de facto capital of a weed culture that is pushing into the mainstream. "This will appeal to our core customer," said Matthew Mazzucca, creative director of Barneys. "Our brand really looks at creating dialogue and focusing on cultural shifts." Barneys is a fashion hub in many major cities, selling runway-worthy looks from high-end labels such as Balenciaga, Givenchy and Saint Laurent. The racks at Barneys are a playground for shoppers who can afford US$3,000 Prada dresses and US$1,000 money clips. The push into cannabis comes as department and specialty stores have struggled to draw customers as shopping shifts online. Cannabis is one of the fastest-growing consumer products in the U.S., with increased access to marijuana and CBD pulling billions of dollars from the black market into the legal economy. "Many of our customers have made cannabis part of their lifestyle," Barneys chief executive officer Daniella Vitale said in a statement. "The High End caters to their needs." Bloomberg News Dozens of young women in Winnipeg expressed alarm about the tactics of two women who didn't identify themselves, their religion or offer any pamphlets or printed material. Arafat Irfayia (L) appears at a courtroom in Jerusalem, on Feb. 11, 2019. Israel's Shin Bet security service said on Sunday that the killing of a young Israeli woman last week was a "terrorist attack" carried out by Arafat Irfayia. The Shin Bet said that the interrogation of Arafat Irfayia, arrested on Friday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, showed the killing was nationalistically-motivated. (Xinhua/JINI) JERUSALEM, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Shin Bet security service said on Sunday that the killing of a young Israeli woman last week was a "terrorist attack" carried out by a Palestinian man. The Shin Bet said that the interrogation of Arafat Irfayia, arrested on Friday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, showed the killing was nationalistically-motivated. The Shin Bet also said Irfayia, a 29-year-old resident of the flashpoint city of Hebron, south of Jerusalem, clearly implicated himself in the killing. Irfayia allegedly stabbed to death Ori Ansbaher, a 19-year-old resident of the settlement of Tekoa, in a Jerusalem forest on Thursday. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara arrived on Sunday evening to condole Ansbaher's family. He updated the family on the results of the Shin Bet investigation, telling them that the murder was a nationalistic terror attack. The investigation is still ongoing and the rest of the details of the attacks are under gag order. Earlier on Sunday, the army said it had started preparations to demolish Irfayia's family home in Hebron. "Troops surveyed the suspect's house in order to examine the possibility of its demolition," the army said in a statement. Israel frequently demolishes homes of Palestinian assailants, charging the move aims to deter more attacks. However, Palestinians and human rights groups denounce the demolition as collective punishment. Ansbaher's killing shocked Israelis and triggered calls by right-wing political leaders to enact the death penalty for Palestinian killers of Israelis. 4 1 [ Editor: Zhang Zhou ] Viewed of Take Five - This is your final free article during this 30 day period.Stay in touch with all of the news from Winchester, Frederick and Clarke. Sign up today for complete digital access to The Winchester Star. Willmar, MN (56201) Today Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 88F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight A few clouds. Low around 60F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Have any questions? Please give us a call at 701-572-2165 Shenandoah, IA (51601) Today Scattered thunderstorms in the morning, then strong thunderstorms likely during the afternoon. Damaging winds and large hail with some storms. High 88F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight Variable clouds with thunderstorms. A few may be severe. Damaging winds and large hail with some storms. Low 69F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Sophie Vaughan / Hearst Connecticut Media WESTPORT Superintendent Colleen Palmer proposed a cut of 18 school employees and a budget increase of 2.22 percent for the 2019-20 school year in a document made available to the public at Mondays Board of Education meeting. Teachers will bear the greatest burden of the employee cuts in Palmers recommended $118,755,980 budget, which suggest eliminating six regular teachers next school year. From the liner notes: "Captain Paul Harding moved with his family to the Bahamas when he was just twelve. He fell in love with his exotic new home immediately and this epic memoir pays tribute to his passion for island life, his ecclectic friends and family, and the extraordinary career he has forged from the sea and the skies. "Paul became a qualified Charter Boat Captain and Open Water Scuba Instructor, founding the award winning day-trip diving company Diving Safaris, Ltd in 1976. In 1989 he followed this success by ordering a seaplane and learning how to fly; Safari Seaplanes has since become the stuff of Bahamian legend, flying people from all walks of life to sundrenched locations, including politicians and even superstars like Johnny Depp, who Paul counts as a close friend. "A diver, pilot, captain, husband, father and friend; Paul Harding is a superb storyteller whose tales of island adventures are sure to capture the imagination." Pick up a copy at Logos. KJACK Radio is a production of students broadcasting from the Media Innovation Center at Northern Arizona Universitys School of Communication. In November 2015, the station received a license from the FCC and now broadcasts on 107.1 FM with the call sign KLJX-LP. School of Communication Senate to vote on bill that would allow Kentuckians to ship home wine from out-of-state wineries Young Ohio mother and man who abducted her died in shooting involving KSP says Judge upholds court ruling denying Sherry Ballard the right to see her grandson until custody case resolved CarePortMD is offering a new service that could mean significant lifestyle improvement for thousands of Delawares diabetics. 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. Three-month-old Addilyn is showing signs of improvement after being neglected and abused to the "brink of death," CBS affiliate WTVF reported. Both her parents are charged in the case. The father, 30-year-old Michael Fisher, is charged with attempted first-degree murder. The mother, 27-year-old Brooklyn Tidwell, is charged with aggravated child neglect. The Tennessee couple is accused of abusing the baby to the "brink of death." WTVF reports that, as of Feb. 11, she remained hospitalized. According to WTVF, Tidwell has a history with the Department of Children's Services. The station reported that she had two of her other children removed from her home before Addilyn was born. You can read more about why she may not have been removed from the home as well, here. Police said they were called to investigate Addilyn's case after the couple sought medical attention at Southern TN Regional Medical Center. The affidavit claims Fisher abused the child to the "brink of death" and that the child sustained broken bones and suffers from internal organ and brain damage. Family members told WTVF that Addilyn sustained chest fractures and there are concerns about seizures; she may have swelling on the brain. She was placed in a drug-induced coma in hopes of reducing the swelling. Tidwell was charged with neglect because she allegedly did not seek medical attention for the child. The District Attorney says the prosecution will move forward against both parents. Fisher's bond was set at $500,000, while Tidwell's was set for $50,000. February 12, 2019 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang is putting his money where his mouth is: He's giving families $1,000 a month to promote his proposal for a universal basic income -- a recurring, government-funded stipend for all American adults with no strings attached. The 44-year-old New York City entrepreneur turned presidential hopeful will distribute $1,000 of his personal fortune to one family in Iowa and one in New Hampshire -- the first two states on the presidential caucus and primary calendar -- every month this year to prove the efficacy of his so-called Freedom Dividend. "This would enable all Americans to pay their bills, educate themselves, start businesses, be more creative, stay healthy, relocate for work, spend time with their children, take care of loved ones, and have a real stake in the future," Yang says on his campaign website. A handful of countries including India, Canada, and most recently, Finland, have experimented with versions of a universal basic income (UBI), which some studies show help boost an economy and allow workers to find better jobs. Preliminary results from Finland's nationwide test show that it did not lead to gains in employment, but did improve beneficiaries' health and well being. "On the basis of an analysis of register data on an annual level, we can say that during the first year of the experiment the recipients of a basic income were no better or worse than the control group at finding employment in the open labour market," said Ohto Kanninen, Research Coordinator at the Labour Institute for Economic Research. But the handout reduced recipients' stress levels. "The recipients of a basic income had less stress symptoms as well as less difficulties to concentrate and less health problems than the control group. They were also more confident in their future and in their ability to influence societal issues," said Minna Ylikanno, Lead Researcher at social services agency Kela. In the U.S., the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration, or SEED, this month will begin testing a program in Stockton, California, that distributes $500 a month to approximately 100 residents -- making it the first American city to experiment with free money. A UBI at the level Yang proposes would expand the U.S. economy by 12.6 percent to 13.2 percent -- or $2.5 trillion by 2025 -- and would increase the labor force by 4.5 million to 4.7 million people, according to the Roosevelt Institute. "The most direct and concrete way for the government to improve your life is to send you a check for $1,000 every month and let you spend it in whatever manner will benefit you the most. The government is not capable of a lot of things, but it is capable of sending large numbers of checks to large numbers of people promptly and reliably," Yang says on his website. Yang cites advances in technology -- automation is expected to displace one-third of American workers by 2030 -- as the main force behind the idea. He also said putting money directly into the pockets of American consumers will "turbo-charge" the consumer economy. The Fassi family in Goffstown, New Hampshire, was selected from a pool of applicants to receive the first handout, Fox News reported. They're two months into the experiment, while an Iowa family has yet to be selected, according to the report. Yang said his UBI would be funded by a 10 percent value-added tax, or VAT, on the production of goods and services that would generate $800 billion in revenue. But critics of the funding mechanism argue that it would disproportionately burden low-income families. Marshall Steinbaum, one of the authors of the Roosevelt Institute report, said a regressive VAT would work in direct opposition to a UBI's goal. "If the point of the universal basic income is to rectify wage stagnation, poverty, or to have some sort of response to rising inequality, that's great. But if we pay for it with a VAT, you undo all of those gains because you're causing poor people to pay for this, which undermines the argument for why we need a UBI to begin with," he told CBS MoneyWatch. Instead, he thinks taking on government debt would be a better way to fund the program. "It's much more expansionary if you have the government take on debt to pay for it," he said, "because then you have transferred household debt to the government." Among the top concerns, according to opponents, is a variance to dump higher levels of arsenic and mercury into the wastewater it discharges into Lake Michigan. If approved, the sought-after variance would give We Energies the authority to discharge arsenic and mercury at higher than currently permissible limits at least on a temporary basis. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} We Energies officials have been seeking the amendment so it can continue operating the Oak Creek plant as normal while finding the source of already-reported elevated levels of arsenic and mercury and remedying the matter long term. But the latest permit surrounding the plant has given fuel to Barker and other opponents who simply want the utility provider to allocate the funds necessary to switch out coal for renewable energy. There was a standing-room-only crowd of people attending the DNR hearing Monday afternoon. Jason Knutson, wastewater section chief with the DNR, told attendees his department is carefully reviewing the application and will be taking a variety of criteria including public testimony into account before a final decision is rendered. These are not just permits to discharge as much arsenic and mercury as youd like, Knutson said. Crown Brands LLC , a restaurant and hotel supplier, has begun hiring to fill 50 warehouse positions at its new facility in Somers. The Lincolnshire, Ill., company is relocating its Savannah, Ga., warehouse to the Somers First Park 94 industrial park, located at Highway H and Highway S, in a distribution expansion move to reduce shipping costs and maintain a Midwestern presence near its headquarters. Greg Brennecke, the companys executive vice president of operations and supply, said the company already has trucks bringing merchandise and equipment to its new location. Crown Brands is expected to have its new 300,000-square-foot warehouse open for business on March 4. Though some Illinois employees will work in the new warehouse, the company still wants to fill about 50 positions, including pickers, forklift operators, inventory control personnel and people to work in the packaging and shipping department. Brennecke said the relocation comes just a few weeks after Crown Brands acquired a food service unit of Oneida Limited, a manufacturer of tableware and cutlery. London: The British government has agreed to allow citizens of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein already living in Britain to remain after Brexit even if the country leaves the European Union without a deal. British Union flags fly in front of The Houses of Parliament in London. Credit:AP The agreement should remove the uncertainty a "hard" Brexit scenario posed for some 15,000 citizens of the three non-EU nations who live in Britain. The deal's reciprocal arrangement also clarifies plans for some 17,000 British citizens who reside in Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Twice in the frenzied events of Tuesday afternoon, the Morrison government turned to its highly capable Speaker in the House of Representatives, Tony Smith, to rescue it from an historic defeat. Twice, he failed to oblige. Speaker Tony Smith during a division in the House of Representatives on Tuesday. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Attorney-General Christian Porter had asked the Solicitor-General, Stephen Donaghue, to produce a legal opinion on the constitutionality of the so-called medivac bill. Specifically, Porter wanted to know whether it contravened section 53 of the constitution, which dictates that laws prescribing spending or taxation must not originate in the Senate. Donaghue said the better legal view was that indeed the bill was, indeed, unconstitutional. Scott Morrison was the immigration minister who restored control of Australias borders. He is now the prime minister who has lost control of Australias Parliament. He has not lost the constitutional mandate to lead the government and he remains Prime Minister, but he is a diminished figure in a weakened government with a conditional mandate. Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Morrisons great loss was, paradoxically, on his greatest policy achievement, the handling of asylum seekers. This seems to affirm the adage that your greatest strength can also be your greatest weakness. Labor and the crossbench MPs who voted with it are claiming a moral victory because the parliamentary vote was designed to improve medical treatment of asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island. A write-down of the national broadband network would help telcos boost profit margins, competition regulator Rod Sims says, but warned it remains unclear how much would flow through to consumers in the form of retail price savings. With Labor suggesting a NBN write-down is increasingly likely, the chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said telcos agitating for a cut to wholesale prices were doing so because they wanted to ease pressure on margins. Competition regulator chair Rod Sims. Credit:Nic Walker "You have no idea whether it will flow to consumers. Listening to telcos, they want to keep a decent chunk of that ... I suspect some would flow through to consumers but it would be a mix of the two," he said. "But I cant tell you what that mix would be. The telcos, they want to make more money. And thats perfectly legitimate. Im not criticising them for that." This is where we are going to leave our live coverage for today. You can read David Wroe's analysis of the ugly, but workable compromise, Tony Wright's take on how the first day of the political year threatened to end the Morrison government, and David Crowe's wrap up of the Coalition's historic defeat here. If you are more pressed for time our reporter, Max Koslowski, has drawn together today's events below. As the first sitting day of the year was winding down, Attorney-General Christian Porter tabled legal advice from the Solicitor-General which questioned whether the crossbenchs much-anticipated medical evacuation bill was constitutional. The advice focussed on a single, crucial issue: any piece of legislation that uses government funds must originate in the House of Representatives. The Solicitor-General said that the Senate, where the crucial amendments were first inserted, did not have the authority to distribute government funds - they can only approve bills on government money sent to them by the House. Labor and the crossbench hurriedly amended the legislation to avoid the threatened High Court challenge: they added a line saying the bill would rely on volunteer doctors (the only way it had planned to use government money was by remunerating the independent medical panel), meaning the crucial amendments could originate from the Senate without controversy. The bill passed the House, in what is set to be first non-appropriations, non-procedural vote loss since 1941. The bill will have to go back to the Senate this week to be properly passed - if one chamber tacks in any amendments, the other one has to agree to them too - but it is set to become law after the PM guaranteed it would go to the Governor-General despite the government's protests. The government says this bill will weaken border security, and revealed that they had been preparing a contingency plan for the countrys borders if the bill were to pass. Labor and the crossbench say it will bring asylum seekers needing medical treatment to Australia. Prime Minister Scott Morrison dismissed questions on whether the vote loss was cause for an early election, saying we were still set to go to the polls sometime in May. That was the first sitting day of the year. Thanks for joining us. WA multi-millionaire Zhenya Tsvetnenko is again attempting to secure bail ahead of his possible extradition to the United States over an alleged text messaging scam. The 39-year-old Russian-born entrepreneur, once the wealthiest person under 40 in WA, fronted the Federal Court in Perth on Tuesday in an attempt to get an earlier bail refusal overturned. Tech Mpire founder Zhenya Tsvetnenko. Credit:Aaron Bunch Mr Tsvetnenko, who appeared in person for the hearing, has been in custody for several months because it is alleged he and 10 co-offenders charged hundreds of thousands of mobile phone customers $AU13.90 a month for unsolicited, recurring text messages about horoscopes, celebrity gossip and trivia between 2011 and 2013. Charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering were filed by New York authorities in 2016. Trauma informed care is a young term; its only been around since about 2011, Christensen said. What it recognizes is that all of us have experienced trauma in our lives. It can be normal things in life, like someone putting you down, or experiences as a very young child or big things like PTSD or sexual abuse. By this definition, trauma extends to those who care for others in crisis situations, in what is known as vicarious trauma. He added, I view trauma informed care to be one of the most important intervention and adaptation concepts available today. Working through the trauma will also be covered at the event. Its about resiliency, how you recuperate or recover from traumatic situations, Cox said. In her presentation, The Art of Bouncing Back, Lisa Kurman, of Recovery Matters Counseling, will highlight resiliency. Resilience isnt something people are aware of on the (trauma) spectrum. Its something we could all learn to do better, Kurman said. At first it seemed like a regular Sunday barbecue catching up with friends, a few glasses of Sauvignon in the sun, maybe a cheese plate. I arrived, and it was about ten or 12 women sitting in a circle talking about essential oils, explains Caitlin Barrett, 30. Yana Starr sells essential oils and has a network of 200 people. Ms Barrett had walked into a "network marketing party", although the word "party" isnt used as much anymore: "event" is the go-to term. It was an essential oil event, hosted by my friend, who had invited her friends, to convince them to sign up and start selling, she says. Luckily, there was wine. June Osborne is returning to our television screens in, well, June. On Tuesday, SBS confirmed season three of Hulu's critically-acclaimed drama The Handmaid's Tale will be fast-tracked to Australia, meaning viewers will receive new episodes on the same day as they air in the US. Season three will consist of 13 episodes and is due to pick up where season two left off, with SBS saying the story will centre around June (played by Elisabeth Moss) struggling to fight back against the authoritarian, theocratic regime of Gilead against all odds. The latest instalment will see Australian actress Yvonne Strahovski return to her role, along with the likes of Joseph Fiennes, Alexis Bledel and Madeline Brewer. American actress Ann Dowd will also make a comeback, suggesting the terrifying Aunt Lydia isn't dead - or that she will, at the very least, appear in flashbacks. Students aspiring to become Ramsay Scholars at the University of Wollongong must be under 21, have an ATAR above 95 and exhibit "Ramsay Attributes". If selected, they will be given $27,000 a year to cover living expenses, an overseas study trip, and have access to a full-time "student success officer" to help the scholars navigate an academically-intense course. The University of Wollongong will be home to the Ramsay Centre's Western civilisation course. Credit:Lisa Wachsmuth Their first assignment will be on the controversy over their own course, and later in their degree they will role play rituals from other cultures and study the debate over "de-colonising" university curricula. The university's administration on Tuesday released details of its partnership with the Ramsay Centre to set up Australia's first Western civilisation degree, including the curriculum and memorandum of understanding. The government has been put under pressure to clarify its proposed changes to the research and development tax incentive scheme, with a Senate committee led by a Liberal senator deciding more investigations are needed before the legislation can be revisited. The startup community has been cynical about the impacts of changes to the scheme, which would cap the refundable offset for research at $4 million and tighten requirements to prevent overuse of the policy. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the government agrees a technical review of the changes is needed. Credit:AAP. In the bill tabled on Monday containing the policy changes, the economics legislation committee lead chair, Liberal party senator Jane Hume, recommended the Senate "defer consideration" of the policy until key technical elements are reviewed. The committee took on board feedback from the startup community that tightening the policy could make it more difficult for companies with very high research spends to get value out of the scheme. Even a month ago it would have seemed fanciful for anyone to suggest iron ore prices would be heading towards $US100 per tonne ($A141.33). But the market dynamics have changed. Welcome to the accidental mining boom. There is a lot at stake in this latest boom for the profits of BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue not to mention the potential swell to the federal governments coffers. Just how meaningful the uplift will be for all involved depends on how long the current boomtime prices are sustained. With futures now hitting more than $US96 commodities experts are scrambling to assess how this will play out. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission spent more than $100,000 on a re-brand consisting largely of a new font in the midst of a royal commission that sharply criticised its performance in regulating the finance and banking industry. More than $40,000 went to creative development and almost $60,000 went to the creation of collateral ranging from website updates to new Microsoft Office templates. Contrast: the old ASIC logo, left, has a serif font while the new logo, right, comes with a sans serif font. Credit:ASIC Banking royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne criticised ASIC in his final report, saying "Too often, financial services entities that broke the law were not properly held to account". Federal Labor MP Matt Keogh, who asked ASIC to disclose the cost of its branding work in October last year, said the public would not stand for what he described as wasteful spending. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Up for debate: Live legislation tracker Check out the latest developments on bills pending before state lawmakers in four key topics. Trusted local news has never been more important, but providing the information you need, information that can change sometimes minute-by-minute, requires a partnership with you, our readers. Please consider making a contribution today to support this vital resource that you and countless others depend on. Washington, IN (47501) Today Clouds and some sun this morning with more clouds for this afternoon. High 87F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy. Low 73F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. But for Mexicans, it was a sad reminder of the violence and corruption that affects their daily lives. Many were Guzmans victims, his investigators and the journalists who revealed his collusion with the Mexican government. While he was being prosecuted thousands of miles away in Brooklyn, they watched the trial on television and read about it online and in WhatsApp messages. For the opposition, the protests are key to maintaining domestic pressure on an autocratic government that has led the nation into a humanitarian crisis, characterized by severe food and medical shortages. Yet taken alone, they appear unlikely to force Maduro out. Instead, the protests are one part of a strategy that is also centered on a U.S.-backed effort to cut off Maduros international revenue streams and turn the military against him. U.S. officials want the order finalized before they travel this month to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where they are expected to renew calls to secure the international telecom supply chain. On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is traveling in Europe, said the United States has a duty to alert other countries to the risk of using Huawei equipment. Speaking in Hungary, he warned that doing so makes it more difficult for us to partner alongside them. In December, Trumps unannounced visit to American forces in western Iraq turned the issue into a national obsession. Many Iraqis were aghast that the U.S. president had not met with the countrys leadership when he was in the country, saying it was an affront to Iraqs sovereignty. Trumps more recent comments drew fresh calls for the expulsion of U.S. forces and condemnation from Iraqi President Barham Salih and former prime minister Haider al-Abadi, both considered close allies by Washington, as well as Iraqs top Shiite cleric. Family groups consisting of at least one parent and one child now account for the majority of those taken into custody by U.S. authorities along the border, a trend driven by large groups of Guatemalan migrants who have been showing up at remote border crossings to seek out the nearest U.S. agents. Depending on what Mueller finds, the public seems to view the stakes as high, according to the poll, conducted last week by The Post and the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. More than 6 in 10 say that if Mueller concludes Trump obstructed justice or authorized his campaign to coordinate with Russians in an effort to win the 2016 election, Congress should begin impeachment hearings to remove him from office. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has taken a cautious approach to addressing questions on the topic, saying in a recent NBC interview, We shouldnt be impeaching for a political reason, and we shouldnt avoid impeachment for a political reason. Although I am not an independence supporter, nor do I share many of the decisions of the previous Catalan government, I believe that this trial is a political fiasco, placing the space for dialogue and negotiation in danger, Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau wrote in a letter to E.U. leadership. If the trial ends in guilty verdicts and sentences, it will not help to reassess Catalonias position within Spain, but it will instead serve to exacerbate division. In Pakistans public zoos, neglect and disease have periodically led to the deaths of exotic animals. In the past four years, the main zoo in Islamabad has lost several zebras, lion cubs, an ostrich and deer. In the past month, four antelopes called nilgais have died of cold or infections. There are numerous private zoos in Pakistan, where wealthy people keep wild cats and other animals without supervision. When we couldnt pass the repeal of Obamacare the first way through, an amendment came because the Freedom Caucus wouldnt vote for the original House bill, McCarthy said. That amendment put [the] preexisting condition campaign against us, and so even people who are running for the very first time got attacked on that. And that was the defining issue and the most important issue in the race. Trump has often played the role of spoiler after lawmakers reach bipartisan agreements, and he has been dismissive of the negotiations. On Monday, Trump said he had not yet heard the details of the tentative agreement, but he said it would not matter because he would build the wall one way or another. None made it out of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee during the last Congress, after partisan objections led to a tie vote on one of the Republicans. Trump renominated the same group in January. It is unclear whether anyone has enough votes to get out of committee. Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said he would continue to work with his colleagues and the White House to ensure the Merit Systems Protection Board has the three confirmed members needed to function properly. I would say, just sitting down with her one-on-one and just her expressing herself, the way she did and her thoughts, I feel a lot better about where I am now, Ernst said. I havent made that firm commitment yet [on her nomination], but Im just glad to know where she stands, and it allayed a lot of fears. Dignity was how John walked. Dignity was how John talked. Dignity was how John carried himself. And more than that, it was how he treated everyone and I mean everyone, Biden said at the service at the Church of the Divine Child. We know were in the primary with a lot of really great candidates, and I think a lot of voters love multiple candidates at once, said Emmy Bengtson, who oversees the Gillibrand campaigns digital outreach. Soon, we will be in a place to persuade folks: Why Kirsten. But right now, were laying a really long-game groundwork, not just to lock in donors but to recruit core supporters who can help our campaign in the long term. Ive seen him work in different countries, and he really just does, you know, takes very seriously his polling and, you know, he can stand, you know, two weeks going through the data, and hell come with the best strategy you can ever have, and hell put it on the table of the candidate, Kilimnik said. In December, I spent some of the days leading up to Christmas in Kabul, Kandahar and Mazar-e Sharif , visiting with the men and women of the U.S. military. Many have returned to Afghanistan multiple times, even when they could have retired, because they believe so strongly in the mission. If we cut and run, we will tell the U.S. service members who have fought for peace that their blood and sacrifice do not matter. They do matter. What these men and women have accomplished is nothing short of remarkable. In the years since U.S. military operations began in Afghanistan operations supported by both Republican and Democratic administrations and Congresses not a single terrorist attack with roots in Afghanistan has been launched on U.S. soil. But telomeres are known to be involved in several diseases, and they may play an important role in extending the quality of the human life span. Many environmental factors, from pollutants to stressful living conditions (including a lack of access to healthy food or experiencing discrimination), affect telomeres. These factors are themselves profoundly determined by large social and economic forces that do not respect national boundaries. So, as fulfilling as it has been to explore these intriguing subcellular structures at the lab bench, I have come to see that the view from my window is as important to my work as the view through my microscope. The juxtaposition offers hope for those who believe the United States will reject Trumps politics of racial, religious and gender grievances. Those who believe in a tolerant, multicultural America need to speak with one voice against the scapegoating of minorities by the likes of Trump and Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) not quarrel among themselves. The speech managed something difficult but important. Landrieu was morally unambiguous about his position, without dehumanizing his opponents. I must have passed by those monuments a million times without giving them a second thought, he admitted. But then Landrieu urged people like him to see the monuments through other eyes. He imagined an African American father or mother trying to explain the meaning of the monuments to their fifth-grade daughter. Can you look into that young girls eyes and convince her that Robert E. Lee is there to encourage her? he asked. Do you think she will feel inspired and hopeful by that story? We, in turn, would not deploy land-based intermediate-range nuclear systems on NATO territory, and we would allow Russia reciprocal inspection of our deployments to deter China. This kind of aggressive verification would be difficult to negotiate and technically challenging. It would, however, offer Moscow the opportunity to prove its new systems are not a threat to Europe and join us in deterring common threats elsewhere. If Moscow failed to meet that test, we would be no worse off than we are today. Like Reagan, we would also have bought some time to strengthen our own deterrence, including persuading our allies to host new offensive and defensive systems, if necessary. That, in turn, could force the Kremlin, and perhaps Beijing, to the negotiating table. These are just a few of the many issues that remain, from providing more resources for public defenders to cracking down on the insidious use of private prisons that put profit above all else. (Indeed, Trump may want to be seen as a reformer, but the private prison industry donated heavily to his campaign and has prospered greatly from his presidency.) Much of this work has to occur at the state and local level and many states are already pursuing important reforms but there is significant work to do at the federal level as well. The exit of former attorney general Jeff Sessions, who was committed to an extremely regressive vision of our criminal justice system, has presented some new opportunities. Yet there are obvious reasons to question how much progress is feasible under Trump. In short, even when faced with a clear and present military threat during World War II, even in a good cause led by a popular president, many Americans did not go along with all aspects of the mobilization at all times. Here and there they actively refused. Where patriotic inspiration did not suffice to secure public cooperation, the Roosevelt administration resorted to stronger measures, and didnt waste too much time apologizing for them. In the meantime, though, simply blocking the Amazon deal is going to do no one any good. Those 25,000 promised jobs are not minimum-wage ones were talking an average of $150,000 a year. In addition, Amazon is going to need more than geeks and nerds custodial and security come to mind. Maybe most valuable of all is the effect such a move would have on the community and the city. Rents would rise, probably, and housing would become more expensive, probably, but the area would be enriched not just with affluence but with intellectual and cultural vigor. As Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque knew, being in the same city (Paris) afforded them the opportunity to learn from each other. SYRIA ISIS militants battle to hold their last redoubt Islamic State militants cornered in their last foothold in eastern Syria fought back with suicide car bombs, snipers and booby traps Monday, slowing Kurdish fighters advancing under the cover of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, Kurdish news agencies and a Syrian war monitor said. An Italian photographer was wounded in the clashes between the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the militants holed up in the village of Baghouz, near the border with Iraq, an Italian news agency said. It is not known exactly how many Islamic State fighters are still holding out in the sliver of territory under attack, although they are estimated to be in the hundreds, most of them foreign fighters. It is also unclear whether civilians are still inside, caught under heavy bombardment. The SDF on Saturday launched its final push to clear the area of the Islamic State, after months of fighting that saw 20,000 civilians fleeing just in the past few weeks. The numbers have overwhelmed Kurdish-run camps in northeast Syria, where humanitarian conditions are already dire given the cold winter and meager resources. The capture of the Islamic State-held village of Baghouz and nearby areas would mark the end of a four-year global war to end the extremists territorial hold on large parts of Syria and Iraq, where they established their self-proclaimed caliphate in 2014. Associated Press MEXICO 152 abusive priests removed, church says The head of the Mexican bishops conference says that 152 Catholic priests have been removed from the ministry over the past nine years for sex abuse offenses against youths or vulnerable adults. Archbishop Rogelio Cabrera said some of the priests have been prosecuted and sent to prison but did not specify how many. The church often uses the term vulnerable adults to refer to those with mental or physical disabilities. Pope Francis has convened presidents of all the bishops conferences worldwide for a three-day summit this month to address the abuse of minors. Associated Press U.N. condemns racial discrimination in Belgium: U.N. experts said that racial discrimination "is endemic" in Belgium's institutions and that the nation needs to apologize for crimes committed during its colonization of Congo. The U.N. Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent said in an interim report on Belgium that "the root causes of present day human rights violations lie in the lack of recognition of the true scope of violence and injustice of colonization." King Leopold's reign over Congo from 1885 to 1908 was notorious for its brutality. Congo gained its independence in 1960. Russia brings home 27 children of ISIS members from Iraq: Russia's Emergencies Ministry said it has repatriated 27 children who are family members of Islamic State militants jailed in Iraq. The children, ages 4 to 13, were flown to Moscow aboard the ministry's plane. Russian children's rights ombudswoman Anna Kuznetsova said about 50 Russian children who still remain in Baghdad's prison will be flown to Russia soon. Her office has said previously that it had information that nearly 700 Russian children were taken by their parents to combat zones in the Middle East. Mexican 'slaves' rescued in Canada: Canadian police said they have freed 43 "modern day slaves" from Mexico who were allegedly forced to work as cleaners at vacation properties in Ontario. The victims were lured to Canada believing they would be offered legitimate employment opportunities, police said. Since being rescued, the workers have been offered work and accommodation at an Ontario resort. Brazilian TV anchor dies in helicopter crash: An award-winning Brazilian television news anchor died when a helicopter carrying him crashed on a Sao Paulo highway. Ricardo Boechat, 66, anchored TV Band's main nightly news, as well as hosting a radio program. He had won three of Brazil's highest journalism awards for his reports on corruption. From news services Though the congressional deal struck late Monday omits a strict new cap Democrats had sought for immigrants detained within the United States as opposed to at the border it returns funding levels for detention beds maintained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to 2018 levels. Lawmakers backing the proposal, amid calls by some Democrats to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said they hoped a bed limit would force the agency to refocus its attention on violent criminals while backing off immigrants who lack legal status but have not committed serious offenses. ILLINOIS Prosecutors ask court to review sentence Prosecutors on Monday asked Illinois highest court to review the prison sentence for the white Chicago police officer who fatally shot black teenager Laquan McDonald an unusual move in what was already a rare case. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and the special prosecutor who won a murder conviction against former officer Jason Van Dyke, Kane County States Attorney Joseph McMahon, said they believe Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan improperly applied the law last month when he sentenced Van Dyke to six years and nine months in prison. Raoul and McMahon filed a request with the Illinois Supreme Court seeking an order that could ultimately result in the court forcing Gaughan to impose a longer sentence. Mondays court filing was the latest chapter in an ongoing saga that has included massive demonstrations, the firing of the police superintendent by the mayor and the ouster of the countys top prosecutors by voters a few months later. Police video of the shooting that the city released in 2015 under court order showed Van Dyke firing 16 bullets into McDonald, some of them after the 17-year-old fell to the ground. A jury in October convicted Van Dyke of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm. The central issue in prosecutors petition is an Illinois law that allows a judge to sentence a person for only the most serious crime when he is convicted of multiple crimes for what amounts to a single act. Gaughan determined that second-degree murder was the more serious crime, although it carries a lighter sentence than aggravated battery. The murder charge calls for a sentence of between four and 20 years in prison, compared with six to 30 years in prison for aggravated battery. McMahon had argued in court documents ahead of the January hearing that Gaughan should impose a sentence of at least 18 years in prison. Defense attorneys had sought probation. One of Van Dykes attorneys, Darren OBrien, said Monday that prosecutors contention doesnt make sense. Its common sense that the lesser harm of getting shot would merge into the greater harm of getting killed, OBrien said. Associated Press GEORGIA Ruling to unseal transcripts upheld A historian who has spent years looking into the unsolved lynching of two black couples in rural Georgia more than 70 years ago hopes some answers may finally be within his grasp. A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a lower-court ruling to unseal the transcripts of the grand jury proceedings that followed a months-long investigation into the killings. Roger and Dorothy Malcom and George and Mae Murray Dorsey were riding in a car that was stopped by a white mob at Moores Ford Bridge, overlooking the Apalachee River, in July 1946. They were pulled from the car and shot multiple times along the banks of the river. Amid a national outcry over the slayings, President Harry S. Truman sent the FBI to rural Walton County, just over 50 miles east of Atlanta. Agents investigated for months and identified dozens of possible suspects, but a grand jury convened in December 1946 failed to indict anyone. Anthony Pitch, who wrote a 2016 book on the lynching The Last Lynching: How a Gruesome Mass Murder Rocked a Small Georgia Town has sought access to the grand jury proceedings, hoping they may shed some light on what happened. A federal judge in 2017 granted Pitchs request to unseal the records, but lawyers with the Justice Department appealed, arguing grand jury proceedings are secret and should remain sealed. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Monday ruled 2 to 1 in favor of the lower courts order. Associated Press MISSOURI Planned Parenthood clinic fire investigated Authorities say theyre investigating a suspicious fire at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Missouri that is seeking to regain its ability to offer abortions. Columbia police said officers responded to an alarm at the clinic on Sunday about 4 a.m. A small fire had started inside the structure, and the buildings sprinkler system extinguished it. Firefighters told police that the blaze was suspicious in nature, according to a statement from the police department. Police spokesman Jeff Pitts said Monday that he couldnt discuss the cause of the blaze or whether it might be related to the abortion issue. The police department on Monday asked the FBI to help with the investigation. No clinic staff or patients were present when the fire started, and there were no injuries, Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Emily Miller said. The clinic was closed Monday amid the investigation, but the organization said the facility would reopen as soon as possible. Planned Parenthood was required to stop providing abortions at the clinic last year after new regulations went into effect requiring abortion doctors to have certain privileges with a nearby hospital. Associated Press In a class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California, lawyers for roughly 100,000 Nepali and Honduran immigrants with temporary protected status argued that plans to end the protections were motivated by racial animus, citing a comment President Trump made last year that referred to Haiti and African nations as shithole countries. Those who have the protection are allowed to live and work in the United States but must seek to renew their status every 18 months. Guzman Loeras bloody reign atop the Sinaloa Cartel has come to an end, and the myth that he could not be brought to justice has been laid to rest, said Richard P. Donoghue, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, in a statement. Today, Guzman Loera has been held accountable for the tons of illegal narcotics he trafficked for more than two decades, the murders he ordered and committed, and the billions of dollars he reaped while causing incalculable pain and suffering to those devastated by his drugs. The No. 1 reason that landlords remained in the program, the study said, was its sense of stability. The government simply seemed like a better bet than a random tenant. This was especially true in Baltimore, home to many mom-and-pop landlords who depend on timely payments to tend to their own bills and mortgages. For them, a few missed payments can be the difference between profit and insolvency. Mr. Mujadidi stepped down as he said he would, according to the agreement; his successor, Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was to serve for four months, instead hung on to power for four years. The agreement broke down and a brutal war between rival mujahideen groups engulfed the Afghan capital, killing tens of thousands of mostly civilians until the Taliban took power in 1996. At one point I just decided: Well, Im putting this color down, and Im really not that interested in the color that Im putting down, he said in a 1972 interview for the Smithsonians Archives of American Art. Im only doing it because somehow being a painter I should use color. But here I am painting it out, so why not get this down a little stronger and not put the color on in the first place? I came to this country as an immigrant, said Jose Aleman, a Spanish teacher from Massachusetts who was born in El Salvador and has legally lived in the United States since 1996. Now, I am so much more than that. I am a public school teacher. I am a father, a husband. . . . We cannot live our lives hoping that in 18 months we will be allowed to stay in our homes, with our children, working at our jobs. Tourism advocates have long backed post-Labor Day starts, arguing the extra time would give families more opportunities to vacation and bolster the industry. The issue has been hotly debated for years in the states General Assembly, but the Kings Dominion law survived as efforts to repeal it failed to generate enough support from lawmakers. Is it inappropriate to send a photo announcement to family members and friends in another state after the baby is born? I don't really post on social media, but I don't want his family to feel left out. I also don't want them to feel like we don't want to come visit and so are just "phoning it in." The last person who asked me that is still missing. If you need me, I'll be underwater. It's a dry heat. You call this hot? Bring it on. Vote View Results Dear Readers: Be aware: If you are using your vehicle in a ride-share program to earn extra money, you will need to make adjustments to your auto insurance. It may be called gap coverage or extended coverage call your insurance provider for more information. To find the verses for her greeting cards, Potell scours poetry books and searches online. She needs poems on the short to medium side, so people will be more inclined to read them. Sometimes theyll be classics, though many of the poems that most moved her during transcription have been by living poets, such as Louise Erdrich, Yusef Komunyakaa and Rupi Kaur. She uses digital address directories to randomly choose recipients. I know how good I feel when I get words out of me and on paper you can breathe a little easier, she says. I thought, if I feel that way about writing poetry, maybe someone else will feel that way about writing it, or reading it, or feeling inspired to do something creative. Im hoping that sending out these poems, people will think, I havent thought about writing for a while. Within two years the city reduced police shootings to 121, with 41 fatal. By 2015, after a period when crime dropped enormously, the number had fallen to 23 people shot by police with eight killed. No New York City police officers have been seriously hurt by someone in a car in the 46 years since the ban in shooting into vehicles took effect, he said. So why would some of these outlets seemingly be undermining the very chain that provides them with sauces, seasonings and recipes? A chain thats still trying to establish an identity in the American market? One theory is money: You can burn through a lot of charcoal in a short amount of time, and thats not cheap. But as I learned from an owner of a Choong Man location in Northern Virginia who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk on behalf of the chain the Washington outlets are not technically franchisees. Theyre independent restaurants that merely buy ingredients from Choong Man. The chain has apparently not yet established a U.S. subsidiary, which means there is no official oversight for the at least six locations in the Washington-Balitmore region. Todays Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Gregg, who left the Washington area in 1946 for London, Ontario, where her father worked in the scrap-metal business, says she remembers reading the book hundreds of times, often with her mother, who took her to the library weekly. In Canada, Gregg was allowed to check out only four books at a time, and shes pretty sure she returned them all promptly. (If she finds one behind another shelf, Im sure well hear about it.) Gregg says she read The Postman to her daughter, who also became a librarian. (Thats not the only thing that runs in her family. After her mother died, Gregg found an overdue copy of a Colette book in her house and returned it. Hidden behind the family mantle, Gregg later discovered an overdue library notice sent to her older brother.) Past and present merge in The Current, Tim Johnstons atmospheric, exquisitely suspenseful novel of two murders separated by 10 years. Audreys friend, Caroline, is driving her from their Southern college up to Minnesota, where Audreys father, a former sheriff, is dying. On the way, the young women narrowly escape violent molestation by two louts in an Iowan gas station only to have their car maliciously bumped onto the fragile ice of the Black Root River, under which runs a powerful current. Tragedy ensues. Ten years earlier, up in Audreys hometown, a young woman was drowned in the same river. The two episodes develop into an increasingly interwoven mesh of victims, suspects, motives, revenge and grief. Audrey, a determined sleuth, is intent on getting to the bottom of both incidents. Sarah Mollo-Christensen delivers the general narration in a low, gentle voice, modulating her tones unobtrusively to capture the dialogue among the characters. This is a masterly performance of a first-rate thriller, one that completely dissolves the barrier between story and listener. (HighBridge, Unabridged, 14 hours) President Donald Trump recently signed a bill that stopped the implementation of internet privacy rules that was passed during the Obama administration. Once the new rules are implemented, companies will be free to gather and use data as they please. The defense budget, Im sure they very likely already have in mind what theyd like to do with that $881 million, but if the president was looking for $881 million that he controls, he can look at what they wanted to do with it and decide if barriers would be a more important use, Blunt said. Its certainly a specifically approved use in drug trafficking areas, and these areas would all fit that definition. In 2017, about two weeks after the East Bay Times won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the deadly Ghost Ship fire in Oakland, the paper announced one round in a series of layoffs that left Digital Firsts three Bay Area newspapers with less than half the employees they had in 2011. Last year, after the Denver Post laid off nearly a third of its staff, its editorial board published blistering criticism of the papers owners and reporters traveled across the country to protest outside Aldens Manhattan offices. One degree Celsius: It may not sound like much, but its damage is more far-reaching than we could have ever expected. This past fall, the United Nations and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change reported the devastating effects of the globes current rates of climate change. To reduce global warming by 1.5 degrees Celsius, as the report found to be necessary, human-caused carbon dioxide emissions would need to decrease by a staggering 45 percent by 2030, which is impossible with our current environmental legislation and regulation. Methane gas is also a major component of greenhouse gas emissions entering the atmosphere. Methane, unlike carbon dioxide, is more easily controlled by aggregates of American industry but far more destructive than its counterpart, due to its more efficient absorption of heat. D'Souza: More research is needed in fight against climate change Columnist Nicole D'Souza explains the pressing issue of climate change and argues that research for solutions to decrease warming, such as that being conducted at KU, is essential to the future of humanity. While the EPA and other federal agencies have researched and implemented some industrial limits, this governmental action will not be enough to limit methane emissions by 2035, the year some climate scientists refer to as the point of no return. With numbers like this, methane emission may seem like an issue too large for one individual to control. One simple way everyone can limit industrial methane emissions without drastically changing their lifestyle is eating less beef. If all the cattle in the world joined together to start their own country, they would be the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, Bill Gates recently said in his blog efforts to further the fight against climate change. Cateforis: Only voting can help save us from climate change Kansan columnist Alex Cateforis urges students to vote against Kris Kobach in an election that is crucial to the future of addressing climate change. The specialization and industrial methods used to produce beef leads to this immense amount of methane. Increased global cattle breeding has led to generations of cows with a far greater food intake than decades-past cows. Additionally, more farmers are storing cow manure in pits, rather than spreading it to fertilize, which compounds this issues even further. These changes in cow farming account for a near 37 percent increase in global methane emissions. However, if the demand for beef and pork products reduced due to a simple lack of consumer demand, there could be a significant reduction in this harmful greenhouse gas. This task may seem daunting to the average meat eater. Nevertheless, simply reducing yourself to one hamburger a week could substantially aid in reducing these harmful emissions. Chicken and turkey production is far more environmentally friendly and sustainable. Keep in mind no one is asking you to become vegetarian, nor is anyone questioning your given right to consume as much steak and beef as your heart desires. But I am asking you this: is that extra hamburger per week worth the depletion of our ozone layer? Is it worth the destruction of our environment? Fellow Jayhawks, we are not bystanders in this fight against an oncoming storm of decades-worth of environmental repercussions. We are this country's future, and we have to fight for it, because unfortunately, no time travelers have come back to 2019 to lobby for the future generations. That burden is on us. Rather than blame the previous generations for ruining the environment or complain that the United States is doomed either way, lets come together and help solve this issue. Next time you visit Mrs. Es, Southside Dining Commons, or even the grocery store, try grabbing chicken instead of beef. Diaz: Climate change is not a political tool, but an undeniable truth From twisting terms to colluding with oil executives, the Trump administration and other government entities are harming the planet with every new denial of climate change, columnist Savannah Diaz argues. Dont be a freeloader who doesnt contribute to the fight against climate change. Be a Jayhawk who is unselfish enough to limit their beef consumption for the common good and for the future of our global community. And if were lucky, the generation after ours will not be rightfully blaming us for ruining their environment but hailing us as the ones who finally broke the cycle of irreversible global repercussions. Lets be the generation that says no to global warming and damaging methane emissions, one burger at a time. Sarah Grindstaff is a freshman from Columbia, Illinois, studying political science. Toto celebrate 40 years with Rome concert for Roma Summer Fest 4 July. American rock band Toto celebrates 40 years with a concert at the Auditorium Parco della Musica on 4 July, as part of the 2019 line-up of the Roma Summer Fest. Formed in 1977 in Los Angeles, Toto achieved massive success with hits such as Hold the Line, Rosanna, and Africa. Over the last four decades, the group has released 17 studio albums, and has sold over 40 million records worldwide. For concert details see Auditorium Parco della Musica website. Rome mayor says government funds available to continue Metro C line. The opening of the Amba Aradam and Colosseum-Roman Forum stations on Rome's third underground line will likely slip to 2023, according to the CEO of Metro C Fabrizio Di Paola. However the city's transport councillor Linda Meleo disagrees, saying that "with the exception of unforseen events" the two new Metro C stations would open according to plan in December 2022. Di Paola gave his estimated opening date during the visit of Rome mayor Virginia Raggi to the Amba Aradam-Ipponio construction site in the S. Giovanni district on 11 February. The expected delay relates mainly to last year's discovery of a second-century residence of a Roman military commander during works on the Amba Aradam station. Di Paola said the Metro C engineers are "excited" because the tunnel boring machines, known as moles, will "enter the UNESCO area and we do it with all the reverence that this requires." During the site visit Raggi stated that government funds "will be there" to continue the metro line beyound the Roman Forum towards its proposed terminus at Clodio/Mazzini in the Prati district. Raggi also said that "the excavation speed is over 10 metres a day", tweeting afterwards that the moles are excavating "24 hours a day, seven days a week, with about 210 workers." The driverless 19-km line currently comprises 22 stations and runs from Pantono in east Rome to S. Giovanni, where it connects with Metro A and the central Termini train station. With the opening of the Colosseo station, Metro C will connect with Metro B. Photo Radio Colonna Decatur, IL (62521) Today Thunderstorms likely, especially this morning. High 82F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%.. Tonight Variable clouds with scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly late. A few storms may be severe. Low 72F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. The Kansas ACLU is working to make sure provisional ballots get counted in elections and that voters know when their provisional ballots are counted. Having a daycare is nestled right next to needing grocery store 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. Presidents & war As a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and Unity Spiritual Center of Waco, I am opposed to all war. I am very concerned about expanding U.S. military actions around the world. But even those who are not opposed to all war can agree that the U.S. Constitution states Congress has the authority to decide when our country goes to war. However, the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force have been used by three presidents to justify at least 41 military engagements in no fewer than 18 countries, according to the Congressional Research Service. According to the Feb. 4 New York Times article, End the War in Afghanistan, more than 17 years after President Bush was given Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists, the U.S. military is engaged in missions in 80 nations on six continents. The price tag, which includes Afghanistan and Iraq and increased spending on veterans care back home, will reach $5.9 trillion by the end of fiscal year 2019. As a first step toward reasserting Congresss constitutional authority over decisions of war and peace, I urge Republican Congressman Bill Flores to co-sponsor Rep. Barbara Lees 2001 AUMF Repeal Bill and that Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of Texas support a bill being introduced in the Senate that mirrors Lees bill. Miles said he is wholly supportive of newly hired City Manager Bo Thomas. Simply put, I believe Hewitt voters deserve better than what they have had, Miles said. And, yes. I am critical of some sitting members of the Hewitt City Council, but I also believe this applies to me. I have always been truthful with the Council about my personal relationship with a city employee and I have always taken responsibility for my actions. Now, I believe others need to take responsibility for their own actions so that Hewitt can heal and move forward. Miles said there would be no issue with him serving as a council member while his girlfriend, Belinda Kay Katie Allgood, continued to work as the citys managing director of administration. Council members do not have authority over employees except for the city manager position, Miles said. Miles said Mayor Ed Passalugo violated that rule while in office, and that is part of the complaint filed against him by Allgood, Miles said. In both robberies, authorities stated a suspect wearing a skull mask entered the bank, fired at least one shot into the ceiling and left with cash, totaling about $7,200 from both banks. In each robbery, the suspect fled in a light tan, older-model pickup truck without license plates. In the Hewitt case, the complaint states that the backpack traced to the robbery contained about $3,000 in cash. Bohanan initially stated he had only robbed one bank, the complaint states. However, after being presented with the recovery of the skeleton mask, Bohanan quickly admitting to robbing the Chase Bank in Waco and TSFCCU in Temple. Bohanan admitted to firing a weapon during the commission and/or escape of each of the three robberies. Bohanan allegedly used an AK-47 rifle used in the Temple bank robbery, the complaint states. Based on information from Bohanan, investigators found the firearm at his mothers house, along with shell casing matching those discovered at the credit union robbery. Devlin, the Hewitt chief, said the allegations share a pattern of behavior. A steel shipping container being converted into a housing unit at the intersection of North 11th Street and Colcord Avenue is the first project of its kind in Waco, but not without discussion among neighbors. As society continues to embrace shipping containers for residential and commercial uses and local officials craft regulations for them, project manager David Hochhaus said the container will be available as a rental property for about $700 a month. Up to two people could live in the 300-square-foot box, with a 160-square-foot deck and a yard, in about a month. Hochhaus has obtained a building permit and is awaiting city inspection on electricity and roofing before proceeding to install insulation. Sammy Smith, a leader of the Brooks Oaks Neighborhood Association, was skeptical of the project at 1410 N. 11th St. He said the container doesnt fit into the area and he called for more stabilized housing in the area, not transitional. What were trying to do is home ownership, Smith said. Mike Stone, executive director of the housing nonprofit Grassroots Community Development, said he shared Smiths concerns but wants to learn more about the property, including what it will look like from the outside. Sophomore Aaliyah Lowe takes a number of medications throughout the day to help with epilepsy, a disorder which causes her to have seizures. The medications include folic acid, melatonin and magnesium. Waco Auto Glass has been repairing windshields at 1100 Franklin Ave. for more than 40 years, but a local whiskey-maker has sent it packing. Award-winning Balcones Distilling, located next door at 225 S. 11th St., reportedly has bought the building, though it has not yet announced plans for the site. Waco Auto Glass, meanwhile, has relocated to 921 Enterprise Blvd., south of the new Walmart superstore at I-35 and Sun Valley Boulevard, reachable via I-35 exit 325, office manager Tina Roberts said in a phone interview. Balcones, which offers tours, tastings, whiskey and novelty items in its gift shop, is celebrating 10 years of turning heads with its product, having relocated from humble beginnings under the 17th Street overpass to a remodeled Texas Fireproof Storage building it filled with distilling hardware from abroad. The company now turns out 350,000 liters of product annually, according to a feature in Forbes magazine celebrating Balcones achievements. Columnist Scott Johnston, who argues that the sensationalization of serial killers promotes copycat murders and dishonors victims and heroes, urges people to more thoughtfully consume media that touches on these subjects. Tuesday, Russellville High School hosted the largest high school blood drive in three states. Their goal is to raise 350 pints of blood. The American Red Cross said that equates to saving about 1,000 lives. Russellville High School's gym was turned into a massive blood drive as hundreds of people rolled up their sleeve to donate to the red cross. "It alone supplies almost all the need for the state of Alabama just in one day," said Mario Sedlock, who is with the Red Cross. Sedlock said blood only has a shelf life of about 42 days and with tornado season around the corner, Alabama needs a boosted supply. "When something happens like a bad storm or a hurricane it shuts down operations and it could impact us immediately on the blood supply," said Sedlock. Students with the National Honor Society at Russellville High School volunteered and hosted the event. Student Morgan Seay said the event hits close to home for her. "As someone who has grandparents that have been in the hospital and had to have blood from other people it's really special to know that people in our own community are willing to give that to our family members," said Seay. A little before noon the agency had already collected 158 pints of blood and were well on its way to the goal of 350. "It's really exciting because we always have a bigger goal every year. last year our goal was 315 and we went way past that and this year hopefully we will go way further," said Seay. Volunteers are still working to determine how many pints of blood were donated. Once we get those totals we will let you know if they reached their goal. A law proposed by a Georgia state senator would protect people who break a window to rescue a dog from a hot or cold car, Autoblog reported. Under the proposal by republican Kay Kirkpatrick, owners of the car would not be allowed to sue the person who broke the window to rescue the animal. This would be an amendment to an existing law that protects people from legal action if they break a window to rescue a child from a hot car. There is a major stipulation to the bill; any person who breaks out a car window must also call 911 to report what he or she is doing. This is designed to prevent people from breaking into a vehicle to steal from inside it. The bill now goes before a special judiciary committee. On Tuesday, Governor Kay Ivey released a statement regarding the Alabama Corrections System and the state's need for more prisons. "First, we must increase our correctional staffing levels by improving the pay scale for correctional officers and expanding our recruiting efforts. Second, we must construct prison facilities that meet the needs of a criminal justice system in the 21st century," Ivey said. The Department of Corrections is preparing a request for proposals asking for bids to build new prisons, Ivey said. ---- Below is the full statement: An Alabama Solution to an Alabama Problem: Rebuilding the Alabama Corrections System By: Alabama Governor Kay Ivey In order to correct a problem, you must first admit there is a problem. In Alabama, we have a problem. Our problem is our states corrections system. Like many other states, issues of violence, poor living conditions and mental illness persist within our system. These issues, and others, are exacerbated by a crowded inmate population, correctional and health care staffing challenges, and aging prison infrastructure each piece compounding the others. We have a problem in Alabama, and we have waited far too long to address it. The path forward to resolve these problems is clear and obvious. However, this path is neither quick nor simple. First, we must increase our correctional staffing levels by improving the pay scale for correctional officers and expanding our recruiting efforts. Second, we must construct prison facilities that meet the needs of a criminal justice system in the 21st century. We have already started making strides toward reducing our prison population and increasing staffing levels. In 2015, the Alabama Legislature passed historic criminal justice reform legislation that greatly reduced the number of inmates in Alabama prisons. Thanks to members of the Legislature, the states prison population has decreased from nearly 200 percent of capacity to approximately 160 percent, still too large but an important step in the right direction. Also in 2018, the Legislature helped improve our system by increasing funding for correctional and health services staffing. An additional $86 million was appropriated for the states 2018 and 2019 fiscal years to retain new staffing for medical and mental health services and to reduce the turnover rate of correctional staffing. For the upcoming Regular Session, my budget proposal will include an additional $31 million to hire 500 new correctional officers and increase the pay scale for all security personnel to make their salary competitive given current market conditions in Alabama. Alabama currently sits under a federal court order requiring the state to roughly double the number of correctional officers in the next two years. Although I disagree with many aspects of the lawsuit that led to this order, the fact of the matter is that it compels us to make staffing levels a necessary and vital part of the solution to our problem. In December, we saw our first increase in the number of correctional officers in years. With a rising retention rate, we can begin adding to our officer ranks, rather than simply maintaining our current staffing levels. This is a difficult task, but because of the commitment from members of the Legislature, we are now well on our way to addressing our staffing challenges. Next, we must improve the conditions in which we house inmates. Deplorable, horrendous, and inadequate are words which have been used to describe them. Our existing facilities need $750 million in maintenance alone. Last year, we closed the Draper Correctional Facility, a 79-year-old prison, because it was simply too costly to repair. Without costly maintenance, many other facilities may require closing as well. Repairing these facilities that do not meet the needs of todays criminal justice system would be wasteful and ineffective. We must put aside politics of the past and fix this problem for the betterment of our state. Alabama must have new prison facilities because we must have better conditions, we must have better safety, and we must have better programs. The Department of Corrections hired a project management team that recommended we build three new regional mens prisons. Of the three new facilities, one will have additional space centralizing services for special needs populations: the aged, the infirmed and those with mental health conditions. Additionally, there will be space in each new facility for educational and vocational training programs. These facilities will be a valuable and lasting investment in the future of our state. On average, 95 percent of our inmates, once they have completed their sentence and are eligible for release, will be returning to the cities, towns, communities and neighborhoods within Alabama. This investment will secure our opportunity to release these individuals back into society as more educated and more productive, law-abiding citizens. The investment in these new facilities will also ensure that we retain control of our correctional system. Across this nation, federal courts are intervening in unprecedented ways into the operations of correctional systems. In 2009, three federal judges ordered the release of thousands of inmates in the California prison system. Some estimate this order resulted in the release of more than 40,000 inmates. Following the release of these inmates, one study into the impact of this mass release called the increases in crime rates alarming. So, our public safety also demands this investment. Today, the Department of Corrections is preparing a request for proposals for distribution to contractors in Alabama and across the nation, asking for bids to build these new prisons. By taking this step, we will for the first time receive the most accurate view of the real cost of building these new facilities. Some opponents of this plan say that it is too costly. Here in Alabama and across our country, we have a set of laws to which every person must adhere. However, no matter what crime was committed, every human being deserves a certain level of care. I say to you that it is and will continue to be costly to provide adequate living conditions and health care for the more than 20,000 adults in our corrections system, to maintain aging facilities, and to sustain public safety. Others say special interests have a hand in this plan; that could not be further from the truth. In fact, I make a promise to you that part of this next step is to publicly provide the real costs we receive from contractors and to work closely with the Legislature to determine the most cost-effective way of moving forward. Whatever we do will be the best and most fiscally responsible decision for the state of Alabama. A tough decision will have to be made in the very near future. With the continued support from the Alabama Legislature and with the added support from the people of Alabama, I am putting forth this plan to make Trouble in Alabama Prisons a headline of the past. As we work together, we will solve this problem and make the situation better for those incarcerated, the employees who care for them, and the entire state of Alabama. Athens police have arrested a Muscle Shoals man and charged him with indecent exposure. Robert Gene Hill, 30, of Muscle Shoals was arrested Tuesday. Capt. Trevor Harris, Athens Police Department spokesman, said a motorist said the driver of a red Impala exposed his genitals to her when she stopped at a red light at Hwy. 72 and Interstate 65 on Feb. 6. Harris said the woman was able to get the tag number of the vehicle, which led the department to locate and interview Hill. Hill was released on bond. An Alabama bill would allow public school districts to teach the Bible as a literary or historical elective course for students in the sixth to 12th grades. Senator Tim Melson (R-Florence) said Senate Bill 14 will allow public schools to study the Bible and would allow school districts to display artifacts, monuments, and symbols related to the study of the Bible for educational purposes. "It's not like were trying to force any denomination or belief or anything like that on an individual," said Melson "We're just trying to give them the option that taking the course as a history or literary course." Melson said his bill is modeled after a Kentucky law that allows the study of the Bible. Melson also said he was approached by two people last year who wanted to teach the Bible locally for students, but they didn't feel protected enough under current laws to do so. "They were asked to teach a class but they didn't feel like the statute was strong enough to support them. So there was an idea that getting a bill that just allows them and strengthens it in case they get challenged in court to teach the Bible as a literary course," said Melson. The bill would allow teachers to offer an elective course on the study of the Bible. If the bill passes, the State Board of Education would have to sign off on the courses and policies surrounding it. Even then individual school districts can choose to teach the study of the Bible or not. "The superintendent and the board do not have to offer it, so it doesn't make anything mandatory," said Melson. "It simply just says if you want to teach a literary course on the Bible and how it affected the history of the world and the U.S. in general then you would be allowed to teach it." The American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama said this kind of legislation is totally unnecessary and counter-productive. They said it will lure school districts into a false sense of security and opens them up to potential lawsuits. "I don't think it's an attempt to skirt around the constitution," said Craig Bullion. Bullion has three kids in the Alabama public school system and he says he supports Melson's bill to give students the option to study the Bible. "It's history just like you open up a history book tell about the Civil War. There is still a history to it," said Bullion. Melson expects the bill to be voted on sometime in March when lawmakers meet in Montgomery. President Donald Trump also took to Twitter to show his support for bills like Melson's. A Zimbabwean parliamentarian, who claims that he has been defamed by another legislator inside and outside parliamentary business, is suing Norton Member of Parliament Temba Mliswa for character assassination, claiming $10 million in damages for being labelled a thief. Chegutu West MP, Dexter Tawona Nduna, has hired Harare lawyers Chambati, Mataka and Makonese to seek redress, saying Mliswas utterances that he stole millions of dollars belonging to the Zimbabwe National Roads Authority have damaged his reputation. In a harsh exchange of words Monday during a parliamentary mines committee meeting in Zimbabwes capital, Mliswa claimed that Nduna stole public funds while he was chairperson of the transport parliamentary committee. An irate Nduna hit back telling Mliswa that he was no push over as he had killed some people. He did not elaborate. Mliswa, who has been temporarily relieved of his chairmanship of the mines committee, allegedly solicited for a $400,000 from a potential mine investor. Nduna allegedly wants to chair the parliamentary mines committee. In papers filed at the High Court Tuesday, Ndunas lawyers said Mliswa addressed some media organizations soon after their clash in parliament and told journalists that the Chegutu West legislator during his tenure of office of the 8th parliament as chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport went around the country soliciting for money in the name of the Speaker of Parliament. He also alleged that the Minister of Transport actually complained that plaintiff (Nduna) was usurping his powers by going around looking for contracts. The utterances by the defendant (Mliswa) are false and malicious and meant to damage the reputation of the plaintiff in the eyes of the current government ministers, fellow National House of Assembly members, the public at large and the constituency that he represents. The plaintiff is presented as a corrupt person not fit for the public office he occupies and the consequential effect is that he may not be appointed to those positions on the basis of merit but through improper means. More details to follow A social venture in Myanmar is boosting farm outputs with customized technologies and giving loans for seasonal migration to raise incomes in one of the world's poorest countries. Proximity Designs, which was set up in 2004 in the country's commercial hub Yangon, focuses on farming, on which more than two-thirds of the population relies to make a living. The ethical business gives farming advice, custom-designed irrigation products, and loans for crops, livestock and migration to about 200,000 clients in the Southeast Asian nation. "It's about improving access of smallholder farmers to knowledge, technology and capital," said Ben Warren, head of strategy and finance at Proximity. "Myanmar was closed for so long, it was hard for farmers to access these. While access is better now, not many products are made for farmers or reach them." Myanmar began emerging from nearly half a decade of military rule in 2011. Helping its smallholder farmers requires a deep understanding of context, as well as empathy and creativity, Warren told Reuters. A farmer works in a rice field in Naypyitaw, Myanm FILE - A farmer works in a rice field in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 2, 2018. FILE - A farmer works in a rice field in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 2, 2018. Across Southeast Asia, businesses with a social purpose are improving the lives of vulnerable communities and helping narrow inequality. In Myanmar, farmers rely heavily on the monsoon rain, and the country has one of the lowest percentages of irrigated farmland in Asia, according to Proximity. The company designed a range of products including drip and sprinkler irrigation systems, and solar-powered pumps which can help increase yield by about a third, Warren said. As a social venture, Proximity is better placed to help farmers than businesses with a purely profit motive, he said. "Some areas are not viable or are hard to get to. Since we are supported by some funding, it allows us to subsidize our products and go the extra mile to reach farmers," he said. Proximity started giving micro loans to farmers in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in 2008, Myanmar's worst natural disaster which killed nearly 140,000 people and affected some 2.4 million people. About two years back, based on feedback from its clients, Proximity began "on-the-go" loans to help families during the dry season from November to April, when many men move to cities in search of factory or construction jobs. A loan of about 200,000 kyat ($130) helps the family in the village until they receive remittances from the city, and also pays for the initial trip to the city, Warren said. While on-the-go loans are a small part of Proximity's portfolio now, they could grow because of demand, Warren said. "Seasonal migration is an annual occurrence in nearly every rural family. With a loan from a reliable source, they can do it without worry," he said. CUCUTA, COLOMBIA - Nearly three weeks after the Trump administration backed an all-out effort to force out President Nicolas Maduro, the embattled socialist leader is holding strong and defying predictions of an imminent demise. Dozens of nations have recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido's claim to the presidency and the U.S. has tightened sanctions aimed at cutting off billions of dollars in oil revenue. But anti-Maduro street protests have come and gone, and large-scale military defections have failed to materialize. With the U.S. seen as considering military action only as a last resort, Guaido is trying to regain momentum with an effort this week to move U.S. emergency food and medicine into Venezuela despite Maduro's pledge to block it. Such an operation could provoke a dangerous confrontation at the border - or fizzle out and leave Maduro even stronger. With so much at stake, Guaido is under increasing pressure to soon unseat Maduro, analysts say. "He is running against the clock,'' said Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez, a Venezuela expert at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. "Expectations are running very high - not just among Venezuelans but international allies - that this is a crisis that can be resolved quickly.'' Despite having the world's largest oil reserves, Venezuela is suffering soaring levels of malnutrition, disease and violence after 20 years of socialist rule launched by the late President Hugo Chavez. Critics accuse Maduro, a former bus driver and Chavez's hand-picked successor, of unfairly winning an election last year for a second six-year term by banning his popular rivals from running and jailing others. The 35-year-old Guaido was a virtually unknown lawmaker until last month, when he took the helm of the opposition-controlled National Assembly. He has rallied masses of Venezuelans into street demonstrations that have left at least 40 dead since he declared himself interim president on Jan. 23. Guaido has so far avoided arrest, but the general comptroller announced Monday it was opening an investigation into Guaido's assets in a new escalation of the confrontation between the government and the National Assembly. Guaido has won backing from nearly 50 countries worldwide, including the United States, which has pledged an initial $20 million in support and has already shipped emergency food and medicine to the Colombian border city of Cucuta, where it sits in a warehouse. Maduro has refused all economic assistance, denying there is an economic crisis in Venezuela - and contending the aid is part of a coup being orchestrated by the White House to topple him. A supporter of Venezuela's President Nicolas Madur A supporter of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro holds a poster of him during a rally in Urena, Venezuela, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. A supporter of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro holds a poster of him during a rally in Urena, Venezuela, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. ?Maduro has made a show of overseeing military operations played on state TV almost daily. He's jogged with troops in formation, mounted an amphibious tank and railed against what he says is an impending U.S. invasion that he has likened to a Latin American Vietnam. On Monday, Venezuela socialist party chief, Diosdado Cabello, spoke at a rally in Venezuela's border city of Urena, across from Cucuta, crowding the streets with Maduro loyalists wearing the red shirts of the socialist party and waving flags. Addressing the crowd, Cabello asserted Venezuelans tell him not to give in to pressure from the United States, saying they are willing to endure whatever they must to maintain freedom from imperialist rule. He said the U.S. supplies were sent in a showy display aimed at justifying a coup. "It's not help and it's not humanitarian,'' he said to cheers from roughly 1,000 Maduro supporters, including civilians and soldiers. Romulo Jaimes, a 62-year-old resident of Urena, said the socialist gathering wasn't what it appeared to be. He said more than 30 buses were parked outside the event, used to haul in Cabello's cheering crowd. "In reality it was a flop,'' he said. "Most of the people from this city didn't attend the rally.'' The U.S. humanitarian aid is being stored in a warehouse across a river from the socialist rally, a situation that also puts Maduro in a tight situation, said Eric Farnsworth of the Council of the Americas and Americas Society, a Washington-based think tank. "If you let it in, you're bowing to Guaido and the international community,'' he said. "If you don't you're seen as a tyrant.'' President Donald Trump has said all options are on the table regarding Maduro's ouster, but Farnsworth called any U.S. military deployment highly unlikely as such a move would make the U.S. responsible for supplying food long term and rebuilding the gutted country. U.S. sanctions imposed on the state oil company PDVSA in late January and meant to pressure Maduro from office have yet to bite. In the capital, Caracas, residents pulling up to gas stations can still fill up their cars, despite fears that sanctions would create shortages. Opposition leaders have been vague about how they plan to get the aid in. Priest Richard Garcia hands out free lunches to V Priest Richard Garcia hands out free lunches to Venezuelan migrants at the "Divina Providencia" migrant shelter in La Parada, near Cucuta, on the border with Venezuela, Colombia, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Priest Richard Garcia hands out free lunches to Venezuelan migrants at the "Divina Providencia" migrant shelter in La Parada, near Cucuta, on the border with Venezuela, Colombia, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Last week, Lester Toledo, Guaido's representative in the aid mission, suggested it could be moved by masses of people converging on the border to carry the food and medical supplies across. On Monday, Guaido posted a video on Twitter showing himself and his wife making phone calls urging people to join a volunteer force by registering on a website and calling on them to return to the streets in protest Tuesday. "We're working hard,'' he said in one call. "Not only to bring in the aid, but also to end the tyranny'' of Maduro. Gaby Arellano, an opposition leader who is among those leading the aid mission, said the strategy was to conduct "defiance'' politics, which she said consists of setting an agenda that forces Maduro's hand, though she provided no details. "We are politically defining the steps and they are responding to what we put forth,'' Arellano said. "We want and are working for this to be as peaceful, least traumatizing and as quick as possible.'' Amaliexiz Mendoza, who lives in Cucuta with her 3-year-old daughter among the city's large Venezuelan exile community, said she would walk a thousand times to carry humanitarian aid to her countrymen. Her grandmother, an aunt and young cousins still live in Venezuela and often go hungry, and her grandmother can't get the blood pressure medication she needs. "It's not right for a child to go to bed hungry,'' Mendoza said, tearing up as she spoke of Maduro's denial that a crisis exists. "He doesn't lack anything but our families do.'' WASHINGTON - Russia and China are racing to advance their space-based military capabilities and could soon prevent the United States and its allies from using outer space freely. The warning, in a new report Monday from the Defense Intelligence Agency, builds on a series of warnings issued by the defense and intelligence communities over the past several years. But unlike many previous assessments, which focused on Russian and Chinese efforts to match or counter U.S. capabilities, the new DIA report suggests both countries are pursuing a far more aggressive agenda. "They are developing systems that pose a threat to freedom of action in space," the report warned, citing current Russian and Chinese military doctrine that sees the ability to control outer space as "integral to winning modern wars." U.S. defense intelligence officials believe Russia and China have spent the past four years increasingly aligning their militaries around the importance of space operations. FILE - Visitors look at a model of China's Tiangon FILE - Visitors look at a model of China's Tiangong-1 space station at the China Beijing International High-Tech Expo in Beijing, June 10, 2017. China was excluded from the International Space Station largely due to concerns over its space program's connections to the military and U.S. legislation barring such cooperation. That didn't stop the country from launching its own space laboratory in 2011, named Tiangong ("Heavenly Palace"), which orbited Earth until last April. FILE - Visitors look at a model of China's Tiangong-1 space station at the China Beijing International High-Tech Expo in Beijing, June 10, 2017. China was excluded from the International Space Station largely due to concerns over its space program's connections to the military and U.S. legislation barring such cooperation. That didn't stop the country from launching its own space laboratory in 2011, named Tiangong ("Heavenly Palace"), which orbited Earth until last April. Already, those efforts have resulted in what officials describe as "robust and capable" space services for both countries, with improvements constantly in the works. Additionally, Russia and China now have "enhanced situational awareness, enabling them to monitor, track and target U.S. and allied forces," the report said. Both countries have also made gains in tracking U.S. space assets. "Chinese and Russian space surveillance networks are capable of searching, tracking, and characterizing satellites in all Earth orbits," the report added. Such capabilities are critical in order for Russia and China to successfully use a variety of systems that could eliminate or incapacitate U.S. satellites, from directed energy weapons to anti-satellite missiles. While the DIA report warns Russia and China pose the greatest threats to the U.S. in space, other countries are also taking aim at U.S. dominance in space, including Iran and North Korea. Both Tehran and Pyongyang have shown the ability to jam space-based communications and "maintain independent space launch capabilities." In January, the U.S. issued a new National Intelligence Strategy, which warned of growing competition in space. The strategy, by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said both Russia and China are pursuing "a full range of anti-satellite weapons, which could degrade U.S. intelligence gathering abilities." New US Intel Strategy Warns of More 'Turbulent' Times Ahead U.S. intelligence agencies trying to plot their course for the next four years are facing an ever more chaotic world, complicated by a weakening of the Western-led international order, rapidly changing technology, and persistent worries over uncertain funding.The plan, outlined Tuesday in the new National Intelligence Strategy, offers what top intelligence officials describe as "fundamental improvements over the previous strategy, and is designed to reassure Americans in uncertain times.We face U.S. intelligence agencies trying to plot their course for the next four years are facing an ever more chaotic world, complicated by a weakening of the Western-led international order, rapidly changing technology, and persistent worries over uncertain funding.The plan, outlined Tuesday in the new National Intelligence Strategy, offers what top intelligence officials describe as "fundamental improvements over the previous strategy, and is designed to reassure Americans in uncertain times.We face The U.S. Worldwide Threat Assessment issued late last month also said China already has an anti-satellite missile capable of hitting satellites in low-Earth orbits, while Russia has been field testing ground-based laser weapons. BAGHDAD - Acting U.S. defense chief Patrick Shanahan told Iraqi leaders that Washington understood its forces were in Iraq at Baghdad's invitation, aiming to steady relations after President Donald Trump said U.S. troops were needed to keep an eye on Iran. Shanahan met Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi during an unannounced trip to Baghdad on Tuesday. "I made very clear that we recognize their sovereignty, their focus on independence and that we are there at the invitation of the government," Shanahan told reporters. WATCH: Shanahan overseas trip Trump infuriated Iraqi politicians this month by saying that a U.S. presence was needed in Iraq to observe Iran. Washington, which occupied Iraq from 2003-2011, now has around 5,200 troops in Iraq at the request of the Baghdad government to help fight against Islamic State. Iraq is an ally of both the United States and Iran, and its politics are often dominated by efforts to balance relations with two powerful countries that are bitter enemies. Trump's suggestion that Iran was the target of the U.S. presence in Iraq was denounced across the political spectrum in Baghdad last week, including by Abdul Mahdi. President Barham Salih said the U.S. troops must stick to their anti-Islamic State mission; Iran-aligned politicians in Iraq's parliament pressed demands that the U.S. mission be scaled back. The uproar came just months after Trump angered Iraqi leaders on his only visit to the country so far. On the day after Christmas Trump stopped only at a U.S. air base in the remote desert. Unlike predecessors Barack Obama and George W. Bush, he skipped the capital Baghdad and met no Iraqi officials. Shanahan said the topic of U.S. troops in Iraq and Trump's Iran comments did not come up during his talks with Abdul Mahdi, but the prime minister told him that Iraq needed to maintain strong relations with both Washington and Tehran. "There is activity in their legislature... the discussions have been should they restrict the number of U.S. forces in Iraq and I wanted to make clear to (Abdul Mahdi) that we recognize our role, we understand that we are there by invitation," Shanahan said. Speaking after meeting with Shanahan, Abdul Mahdi said he respected the decisions of the parliament. "The government has its view and the political blocs have theirs," he said. Syria Withdrawal U.S. officials have criss-crossed the Middle East in recent months to reassure allies that Washington remains committed to the region, after Trump announced in December that he would abruptly withdraw the 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria. That decision was opposed by top aides, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who quit, leaving his deputy Shanahan in charge of the Pentagon. Shanahan met with U.S. military commanders while in Iraq to get an update on the fight against Islamic State. U.S.-backed fighters have mounted an attack against Islamic State's last bastion in eastern Syria. U.S. officials have long estimated that the Syria pullout could take until sometime in March or April to execute fully, but have been reluctant to set an exact timeline given hard-to-predict battlefield conditions. Islamic State was declared defeated in Iraq in 2017, but continues to wage small-scale insurgent attacks in some areas. The U.S.-led coalition in Syria says it carried out an airstrike against a former mosque in the last Syrian stronghold held by Islamic State fighters. A coalition statement said the strike in Baghuz took place Monday, and was done in support of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led anti-Islamic State coalition that is fighting the militants on the ground. "This mosque lost its protected status when ISIS deliberately chose to use it as a command and control center," said Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika, a British officer who serves as the coalition's deputy commander. The U.S.-backed SDF is closing in on Islamic State fighters in Baghuz, located in the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour. Baghuz, Syria "We have captured a radius of about 500 meters, and our fighters are advancing into the city," an SDF commander told VOA from the battlefield. "All civilians have already left this part of Baghuz. There are only IS fighters inside the town," he added. U.S. officials say IS fighters in the town have been surrounded from all sides. "The enemy is putting up a tough fight with a lot of foreign fighters with nowhere to go," coalition spokesman Col. Sean Ryan said. "The weather has not been great, which slows progress, and the SDF has to back clear the areas, as well. So, hopefully this month." WATCH: US-backed forces close in on Islamic State The anti-IS campaign has cleared nearly all territory once held by Islamic State in Syria since 2014. The U.S.-led coalition is providing air and artillery support as SDF fighters continue to advance. "The U.S. air support is very helpful in this offensive. It will also help us take over the remaining territory within days," said an SDF fighter, who is participating in the battle and did not want to be identified for security reasons. The remaining IS fighters have no intention to surrender, local sources said. "I don't think the battle will be over in a few days as many are predicting," said Ivan Hasib, a Syrian reporter who is embedded with the SDF in Baghuz. "It will take at least two weeks before ISIS fighters are cleared," he said using an acronym for Islamic State. Hasib added that "last week, [IS] refused an offer to surrender, which means that they have chosen to fight to the death. This has become more obvious in the past two days, as they are intensifying suicide attacks against SDF." Surprise attacks Local military officials say Islamic State relies on surprise attacks in a bid to slow the SDF offensive. "This morning, [IS] terrorists attempted to wage surprise attacks in order to prolong the battle. But our forces and the U.S.-led coalition are present everywhere in the vicinity," Mustafa Bali, an SDF spokesman, told VOA on Monday. There are also concerns that IS militants are using civilians as human shields to hamper the progress of U.S.-backed forces into the city. WATCH: SDF operation in Syria "The only thing that slows our advance is the presence of civilians. So far, 35,000 people have fled Baghuz. Just today, 1,500 civilians left the city. There are still large numbers of civilians stranded inside Baghuz. This is a real challenge for us," Bali said. U.S.-backed forces are closing in on Islamic State fighters in their last stronghold in eastern Syria. Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led anti-IS coalition, said Monday they have recaptured more territory around the town of Baghuz in the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour. "We have captured a radius of about 500 meters, and our fighters are advancing into the city," an SDF commander told VOA from the battlefield. "All civilians have already left this part of Baghuz. There are only IS fighters inside the town," he added. U.S. officials say IS fighters in the town have been surrounded from all sides. "The enemy is putting up a tough fight with a lot of foreign fighters with nowhere to go," coalition spokesman Col. Sean Ryan said. "The weather has not been great, which slows progress, and the SDF has to back clear the areas, as well. So, hopefully this month." WATCH: Closing In on Last IS Stronghold Baghuz is the last stronghold for the terror group in eastern Syria. The anti-IS campaign has cleared nearly all territory once held by IS in Syria since 2014. The U.S.-led coalition is providing air and artillery support as SDF fighters continue to advance for the second consecutive day. "The U.S. air support is very helpful in this offensive. It will also help us take over the remaining territory within days," said an SDF fighter, who is participating in the battle and did not want to be identified for security reasons. The remaining IS fighters have no intention of surrendering, local sources said. "I don't think the battle will be over in a few days as many are predicting," said Ivan Hasib, a Syrian reporter who is embedded with the SDF in Baghuz. "It will take at least two weeks before ISIS fighters are cleared," he said using an acronym for Islamic State. Baghuz, Syria Hasib added that "last week, [IS] refused an offer to surrender, which means that they have chosen to fight to the death. This has become more obvious in the past two days, as they are intensifying suicide attacks against SDF." Surprise attacks Local military officials say IS relies on surprise attacks in a bid to slow the SDF offensive. "This morning, [IS] terrorists attempted to wage surprise attacks in order to prolong the battle. But our forces and the U.S.-led coalition are present everywhere in the vicinity," Mustafa Bali, an SDF spokesman, told VOA on Monday. There are also concerns that IS militants are using civilians as human shields to hamper the progress of U.S.-backed forces into the city. WATCH: Civilians Fleeing IS Areas "The only thing that slows our advance is the presence of civilians. So far, 35,000 people have fled Baghuz. Just today, 1,500 civilians left the city. There are still large numbers of civilians stranded inside Baghuz. This is a real challenge for us," Bali said. ISTANBUL - Russia is hosting a three-way summit this week on Syria even as growing diplomatic differences between two participants threaten to undermine the event. Thursday's talks on the Black Sea resort of Sochi involve Russia, Turkey and Iran; however, Moscow and Ankara are at odds over border security and other concerns. Moscow is demanding decisive action from Ankara over Idlib, the last remaining rebel-controlled Syrian enclave, while Ankara is pressing for support for its demand to create a safe zone in Syria to protect the Turkish frontier. FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2018 photo, motor cycles FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2018 photo, motor cycles ride past buildings destroyed during the fighting in the northern town of Ariha, in Idlib province, Syria. FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2018 photo, motor cycles ride past buildings destroyed during the fighting in the northern town of Ariha, in Idlib province, Syria. While Russia and Iran back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Turkey supports Syrian rebels, the countries have found common ground in efforts to end the civil war under the auspices of the so-called Astana Process. Strained cooperation Analysts, however, say the conflicting agendas of the countries could put increasing strain on cooperation. Moscow is voicing frustration with Ankara over Idlib. "Turkey must do more to uphold its agreement and clear hard core jihadist fighters from Idlib, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova last week. Turkey and Russia hammered out a deal in September in which Ankara guaranteed that radical jihadist groups would disarm and leave the enclave. The agreement saw Moscow prevail on Damascus to step back from launching an imminent military offensive to seize the enclave. In December, however, radical Islamic groups seized large parts of Idlib, ousting moderate Syrian opposition groups backed by Turkey. Russia, Turkey Mull Next Steps in War-Torn Syria Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Wednesday to coordinate their moves in Syria as their governments bargain over zones of influence in the war-torn country.The leaders share strong opposition to the U.S. military presence in Syria, seeing it as an obstacle to their clout in the country. The Kremlin meeting marked their first encounter since U.S. President Donald Trump announced the pullout of American troops in a Dec. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Wednesday to coordinate their moves in Syria as their governments bargain over zones of influence in the war-torn country.The leaders share strong opposition to the U.S. military presence in Syria, seeing it as an obstacle to their clout in the country. The Kremlin meeting marked their first encounter since U.S. President Donald Trump announced the pullout of American troops in a Dec. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met with his Turkish counterpart, Hulusi Akar, Monday in Ankara in a bid to resolve differences over Idlib ahead of the Sochi summit. I hope that today, we will be able to come to an agreement on the key issues, Shoigu said ahead of the discussions. A joint statement following the defense ministers' Monday talks indicated no breakthrough, with both sides only committing themselves to continue to work together. Ankara does not have much space to maneuver, said political scientist Cengiz Aktar. It will be very difficult to escape the duty of cleaning the Idlib pocket, which is packed with radical jihadists of all sorts. Analysts say Ankara is aware that a collapse of its Idlib deal with Moscow would open the door to Syrian government forces attacking the enclave. There's the fear that there would be a flow of one million refugees into Turkey if there was an operation; so far this has not happened, thanks to the deal with Moscow, said international relations professor Huseyin Bagci of Ankaras Middle East Technical University. Refugees walk at the Oncupinar refugee camp for Sy FILE - Refugees walk at the Oncupinar refugee camp for Syrian refugees next to the border crossing with Syria, near the town of Kilis in southeastern Turkey, Thursday, March 17, 2016. FILE - Refugees walk at the Oncupinar refugee camp for Syrian refugees next to the border crossing with Syria, near the town of Kilis in southeastern Turkey, Thursday, March 17, 2016. Refugee issue Turkey already hosts more than 3 million Syrian refugees, at a cost Ankara claims of over $30 billion. According to Turkish opinion polls, frustration over the refugees is regularly cited by respondents as one of the main problems facing the country. With Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AKP facing possible significant losses in crucial local elections in March, analysts suggest his priority could be to delay any offensive against Idlib. They are playing for time, and sooner or later this pocket will be emptied, said Aktar, adding, For Erdogan, he will be eager to avoid this at least until after next months local elections. So far there are no reports of Syrian government forces starting to mobilize against Idlib. Such an operation against so many battle-hardened jihadists estimated to number in the tens of thousands would likely need the support of Russian air power. Careful approach Analysts suggest Moscow may not be ready to risk a rupture of its recent deepening relationship with Ankara over Idlib. Putin is aware of the alarm in NATO of his warm relationship with Erdogan. FILE - Russian S-400 air defense missile systems a FILE - Russian S-400 air defense missile systems are on display during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Red Square in Moscow, Russia, May 7, 2017. FILE - Russian S-400 air defense missile systems are on display during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Red Square in Moscow, Russia, May 7, 2017. Turkey is set to buy Russias S-400 missile system, which is due to be delivered later this year despite warnings from Washington of possible sanctions against its NATO ally Turkey. The U.S. says the missile system could compromise NATO weapons systems. Turkey-U.S. relations remain deeply strained over Washington's backing of a Syrian YPG Kurdish militia deemed by Ankara as terrorists in its war against the Islamic State. U.S. President Donald Trumps proposal to create a safe zone in Syria to protect Turkeys Syrian frontier initially defused bilateral tensions. The lack of progress on the zones creation, however, has resulted in Ankara threatening to create the region unilaterally. Analysts say such a move would need Moscows backing. Erdogan is expected to press the issue at the Sochi summit. Ahead of the Sochi summit, Turkish Defense Minister Akar is scheduled to meet acting U.S. Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan, on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels on Wednesday. Turkey must talk to the Americans and Russians, as both support the Kurds, this is the dilemma facing Ankara, said Bagci. The Americans are against a Turkish intervention in Syria and Putin in not supporting Turkey on this. Bagci was referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who served widely in the region, suggests Ankara may yet be able to find a compromise. It's give and take for Putin, said Selcen. Ankara will need to seriously do its homework for Idlib and take steps against the radical groups, and on the other hand, there will be a yellow light for operations against the YPG militia. Not a full-scale operation but rather more limited operations or some airstrikes, unless Damascus and Moscow pull those YPG elements away from the Turkish frontier. U.S. President Donald Trump has called for the resignation of Democratic freshman Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who apologize Monday after drawing widespread condemnation from both Republicans and her fellow Democrats for comments deemed anti-Semitic. The president told reporters Tuesday that Omar's apology was "lame" and added, "She didn't mean a word of it." Trump called on Omar to resign Congress or at least resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee on which she serves. Omar, a Somali Muslim refugee who took office five weeks ago as a representative for the midwestern state of Minnesota, apologized Monday after drawing widespread condemnation from both Republicans and her fellow Democrats for comments deemed anti-Semitic. Congresswoman Omar contended in a string of Twitter comments Sunday that a pro-Israel lobbying group in the United States, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, is buying off lawmakers to support the Jewish state. She claimed the lawmakers' support for Israel was being driven because of financial support from AIPAC, even though the nonprofit organization does not directly make campaign donations to U.S. politicians. While the organization does not make campaign donations to U.S. politicians, AIPAC members can make individual contributions. "It's all about the Benjamins, baby," Omar tweeted during an interview with a journalist, using slang jargon for $100 bills with the picture of a U.S. founding father, Benjamin Franklin, on the currency. Omar then tweeted "AIPAC!" when another user asked who she thinks is paying U.S. politicians to be pro-Israel. People leave post-it notes of support outside the People leave post-it notes of support outside the office of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Capitol Hill, Feb. 11, 2019, in Washington. People leave post-it notes of support outside the office of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Capitol Hill, Feb. 11, 2019, in Washington. After extensive criticism of her remarks, Omar said Monday, "Anti-Semitism is real, and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes. My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole. We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me for my identity. This is why I unequivocally apologize." She added that "at the same time, I reaffirm the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics," whether it is AIPAC, the National Rifle Association or the fossil fuel industry. "It's gone on too long and we must be willing to address it." Omar is a proponent of the BDS movement Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions to pressure Israel over its treatment of Palestinians, and has drawn attacks for her comments about Israel. The American Jewish Committee called her tweets about AIPAC "demonstrably false and stunningly anti-Semitic." Before Omar apologized, the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said her "use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel's supporters is deeply offensive. We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments." Pelosi tweeted that she spoke with Omar and that the two "agreed that we must use this moment to move forward as we reject anti-Semitism in all forms." In our conversation today, Congresswoman Omar and I agreed that we must use this moment to move forward as we reject anti-Semitism in all forms. https://t.co/UpZA3DNgQs pic.twitter.com/1Z6rH65e3M Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) February 11, 2019 House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other Republican lawmakers called on Democratic leaders to "take action" against Omar and a second Muslim congresswoman, Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, for their criticism of Israel. Congressman Peter King, a New York Republican, described Omar's claims alleging AIPAC funding of U.S. lawmakers as "absolutely shameful. It's immoral to be suggesting that somehow members of Congress are being paid off by Jews, by AIPAC. That goes right into the anti-Semitic bias, which has plagued the world for too long." Several Democratic lawmakers also swiftly rebuked Omar. Congressman Sean Patrick Mahoney of New York said, "My support for Israel is based on shared values and U.S. nat'l security, not money." He said he was "disappointed" that Omar "is again tweeting dangerous and hurtful tropes." Another Democrat, Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut, said, "It's perfectly legitimate to criticize Israel or the pro-Israeli lobby. Just please be careful to do it in a way that can't be interpreted as being anti-Semitic." WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order asking federal government agencies to dedicate more resources and investment into research, promotion and training on artificial intelligence, known as AI. Under the American AI Initiative, the administration is directing agencies to prioritize AI investments in research and development, increase access to federal data and models for that research and prepare workers to adapt to the era of AI. There was no specific funding announced for the initiative, but the White House wants better reporting and tracking of spending on AI-related research and development. The White House said investment in AI is "critical to creating the industries of the future, like autonomous cars, industrial robots, algorithms for disease diagnosis, and more." The initiative aims to make sure the United States maintains its advantage in AI development and related areas, such as advanced manufacturing and quantum computing. Trump, in his State of the Union speech last week, said he was willing to work with lawmakers to deliver new and important infrastructure investment, including investments in the cutting-edge industries of the future, calling it a "necessity." President Donald Trump delivered the State of the President Donald Trump delivered the State of the Union address, with Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 5, 2019. President Donald Trump delivered the State of the Union address, with Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 5, 2019. Michael Kratsios, a White House science adviser, said in an essay in Wired magazine on Monday that "with proper leadership, AI can empower American workers by liberating them from mundane tasks." "AI is something that touches every aspect of people's lives," a senior administration official told reporters on Sunday. "What this initiative attempts to do is to bring all those together under one umbrella and show the promise of this technology for the American people," the official said. AI and deep machine learning raise ethical concerns about control, privacy, cybersecurity, and is set to trigger job displacements across industries, companies and experts say. A 2018 study from PwC said 30 percent of jobs are at potential risk of automation by the mid-2030s, including 44 percent of workers with low education. At the same time, the study found automation could boost global gross domestic product by $15 trillion by 2030. Most of 2030's Jobs Haven't Been Invented Yet Up to 85 percent of the jobs that today's college students will have in 11 years haven't been invented yet.That's according to a panel of experts assembled by the Institute for the Future, although an exact percentage is impossible to predict.The IFTF, a nonprofit that seeks to identify emerging trends and their impacts on global society, forecasts that many of the tasks and duties of the jobs that today's young people will hold in 2030 don't exist right now.Those who plan to work for the next 50 Up to 85 percent of the jobs that today's college students will have in 11 years haven't been invented yet.That's according to a panel of experts assembled by the Institute for the Future, although an exact percentage is impossible to predict.The IFTF, a nonprofit that seeks to identify emerging trends and their impacts on global society, forecasts that many of the tasks and duties of the jobs that today's young people will hold in 2030 don't exist right now.Those who plan to work for the next 50 The White House held a meeting on AI in May with more than 30 major companies from a variety of industries, including Ford, Boeing, Amazon.com and Microsoft, vowing not to stand in the way of its development. Trial began Tuesday in Spain for 12 Catalan separatist politicians and activists charged with rebellion and other crimes stemming from Catalonia's illegal declaration of independence. The declaration was based on the results of an independence referendum vote held on October 1, 2017. The regional Catalan government held the referendum in defiance of Spain's constitutional court judges, who ruled the vote was illegal. The trial, in Spain's Supreme Court in Madrid, billed by many as the "trial of the century," is arguably Spain's most significant in four decades of democracy. Catalan Leaders Go on Trial in Madrid Over Independence Bid Twelve Catalan politicians go on trial on Tuesday for their role in Catalonia's failed 2017 independence bid, putting the spotlight back on Spain's biggest political crisis in decades which could make it flare once again.To the dismay of much of the rest of Spain, Catalonia defied a judicial ban by carrying out a referendum and subsequently unilaterally declaring independence in October 2017.There was shock at home and abroad when police used batons and rubber bullets on protesters on the day of the Twelve Catalan politicians go on trial on Tuesday for their role in Catalonia's failed 2017 independence bid, putting the spotlight back on Spain's biggest political crisis in decades which could make it flare once again.To the dismay of much of the rest of Spain, Catalonia defied a judicial ban by carrying out a referendum and subsequently unilaterally declaring independence in October 2017.There was shock at home and abroad when police used batons and rubber bullets on protesters on the day of the Court proceedings began as the fate of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's minority government rests with last-minute negotiations with Catalan separatist parties to support his proposed 2019 budget. Sanchez could be forced to call early elections if separatists vote against his budget plan. The separatist parties have sought negotiations with Sanchez on self-determination for Catalonia, located in northeastern Spain, but the Spanish government maintains the constitution prohibits it. Talks Between Spanish Government, Catalan Separatists Break Down The Spanish government says it is breaking off talks with Catalan secessionists about the region's future after failing to break a prolonged stalemate. Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo said Friday the Catalan separatists wouldn't budge from their demand for an independence referendum, which the government says is not possible. The Spanish government says it is breaking off talks with Catalan secessionists about the region's future after failing to break a prolonged stalemate. Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo said Friday the Catalan separatists wouldn't budge from their demand for an independence referendum, which the government says is not possible. The trial got underway in a highly charged political environment amid demonstrations by supporters of the defendants. Pro-independence demonstrators briefly blocked roadways before the trial, which is expected to last three months. Some observers believe the trial's outcome could establish the course of the secession movement and the tone of national politics for years to come. Catalonia's former leader, Carles Puigdemont, who is living in self-imposed exile in Belgium, said Tuesday in Berlin the trial is a stress test for Spain's judicial system and its democracy. WASHINGTON - Rival political rallies in Texas just 200 meters apart pitted the president of the United States against a possible election rival as they took opposite sides on the merits of a border wall with Mexico. Today we started a big, beautiful wall right on the Rio Grande, declared President Donald Trump, apparently a reference to fencing being erected along the river that divides Mexico from the United States. This comes just days before a deadline for Congress to agree on a border security plan to avert another partial shutdown of the federal government. Large red banners with white lettering spelling out FINISH THE WALL loomed over Trumps event. As Trump spoke at the El Paso County Coliseum, a former local congressman now prominent in the Democratic Party addressed an anti-border wall rally, so close to the president's event that the loudspeakers from the Trump function could be heard. Beto O'Rourke, Democratic former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke, Democratic former Texas congressman, participates in an anti-Trump march in El Paso, Texas, Feb. 11, 2019. Beto O'Rourke, Democratic former Texas congressman, participates in an anti-Trump march in El Paso, Texas, Feb. 11, 2019. Walls do not save lives. Walls end lives, said Beto ORourke. In the last 10 years, more than 4,000 children, women and men have died trying to come to this country. ORourke added that Trump describes immigrants as rapists and criminals. The president said 69,000 people had signed up to his rally, but that only 10,000 had been allowed inside while thousands more outside viewed the event on large video screens. El Paso Fire Department Public Information Officer Enrique Aguilar told the El Paso Times newspaper that no special permission had been given and the venue had a capacity crowd of 6,500 people in it during the president's rally. Trump mocked ORourkes rival rally at a baseball field, saying, He has 200 people, 300 people. Not too good. That may be the end of his presidential bid. ORourke has made no formal announcement on entering the increasingly crowded field of Democrats hoping to directly challenge Trump next year. The opposition rally, which followed a march from a high school, attracted about 7,000 people, according to an event organizer, citing an estimate from local law enforcement officials. Trump returned to the Texas border city across from the city of Juarez in Mexico following a conversation with the states attorney general, Ken Paxton, who told the president that the wall there had drastically reduced crime. El Pasos Republican mayor, Dee Margo, ahead of Trumps visit, said the wall was not the sole deterrent for reducing illegal immigration and curbing criminals. That diverted from the narrative Trump intended to deliver here and the president said any mayor, Republican or Democrat who does not believe a wall makes a difference is full of crap. In this Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, photo, a new barri FILE - A new barrier is built along the Texas-Mexico border near downtown El Paso, Jan. 22, 2019. Such barriers have been a part of El Paso for decades and are currently being expanded. FILE - A new barrier is built along the Texas-Mexico border near downtown El Paso, Jan. 22, 2019. Such barriers have been a part of El Paso for decades and are currently being expanded. An analysis published by a local newspaper detailed how the crime rate in El Paso peaked in the early 1990s and has risen and fallen in a fairly narrow band since construction of a border wall there which began in 2008 during the presidency of George W. Bush and was completed the following year when Barack Obama was president. The city has been one of the safest in the United State of America for 20 years and counting, according to ORourke. Just before Trump began speaking in the border city, lawmakers from both parties announced they had the outline of an agreement that includes border barrier funding, after reviving negotiations that had halted over the weekend amid a disagreement on immigration enforcement rules. The deal would provide $1.375 billion for fixing 88 kilometers of border fencing, according to congressional aides. As Trump spoke, Fox News program host Sean Hannity a strong supporter of the president broke into the conservative networks coverage of the rally to report the amount and warned Republican lawmakers against supporting this garbage compromise. A sign hangs on the Senate Appropriations Committe A sign hangs on the Senate Appropriations Committee room at the Capitol as bipartisan House and Senate bargainers trying to negotiate a border security compromise in hope of avoiding another government shutdown, in in Washington, Feb. 11, 2019. A sign hangs on the Senate Appropriations Committee room at the Capitol as bipartisan House and Senate bargainers trying to negotiate a border security compromise in hope of avoiding another government shutdown, in in Washington, Feb. 11, 2019. A group of lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Richard Shelby and Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey, said staff members would work out the details later in the week. The major sticking point, according to aides on Capitol Hill, had been a Democrat-proposed new limit on the number of immigrants detained within the United States, not at the border. Republicans wanted no cap on apprehension of immigrants charged with or convicted of certain crimes. The prospective agreement reached Monday evening includes no such caps, according to congressional staff members. Trump told the El Paso rally he got word of the agreement just as he was taking the stage and had been told progress has been made. So, we probably have some good news. Who knows, added Trump. WATCH: Trump border rally The lack of an agreement on money for border security imperils passing an overall spending bill before a deadline Friday, when short-term funding approval expires. Without such an agreement, part of the federal government again faces a shutdown. Lawmakers have expressed concern there might not be enough time for legislation to move through both house of Congress and reach Trumps desk for a signature by Friday when funding expires for the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and some other government agencies. The acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, said Sunday on the NBC program Meet the Press that you absolutely cannot rule out another government shutdown, when he was asked about negotiations over funding for Trumps proposed border wall. A record-long 35-day shutdown this past December and into early January of this year froze the paychecks of 800,000 federal government employees. White House officials confirm Trump has readied a plan to declare a national emergency on the southern border that would allow him to redirect money from other federal projects to build a portion of wall. Opponents of that potential action including some prominent members of the presidents own party -- predict any declaration by Trump of such a national emergency will be immediately subject to a court challenge. WASHINGTON - U.S. congressional negotiators have reached a deal, in principle, to fund the government and avoid another government shutdown at the end of the week. The bipartisan group has not made the details public, but congressional aides said the agreement includes about $1.4 billion to build 88 kilometers of new fencing at the U.S.-Mexico border. It would also add technology upgrades for screening at border entry points, as well as more customs officers and humanitarian aid. For several months, President Donald Trump demanded $5.7 billion for his desired border wall, while Democrats labeled the proposal as wasteful and ineffective and said they would only approve border security measures without any money for a wall. The tentative deal represents a degree of compromise. WATCH: Trump border rally ?Not a single one of us is going to get every single thing we want. But nobody does," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat who is part of the negotiating committee. "We're going to get what is best for the United States." It is not clear if Trump would sign a deal that does not have all of his wall funding, but Sen. Richard Shelby, a Republican who leads the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he believes from discussions with the Trump administration that the tentative deal will have the president's support. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, another Republican on the negotiating committee, said she remains "cautiously optimistic" and looks forward to finalizing the details. But there remains some opposition from fellow Republicans. Rep. Mark Meadows called the agreement "hardly a serious attempt to secure our border" and said "Congress is not doing its job." A woman walks on the beach, Jan. 9, 2019, next to FILE - A woman walks on the beach, Jan. 9, 2019, next to the border wall topped with razor wire in Tijuana, Mexico. FILE - A woman walks on the beach, Jan. 9, 2019, next to the border wall topped with razor wire in Tijuana, Mexico. The White House and lawmakers are facing a Friday deadline, when funding runs out again for about a quarter of government operations, to avert a new closure three weeks after a record 35-day shutdown was ended Jan. 25. Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told NBC News on Sunday that if Trump did not get as much border wall money as he wants, he could shift tactics and draw from other government funding, a move that would be sure to draw a legal challenge from Democrats. ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - Afghanistan's Taliban have named a 14-member negotiating team for upcoming peace talks with U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. The Taliban's team includes the jailed brother of the head of the powerful Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network. Anas Haqqani was arrested in Bahrain in 2014 and reportedly handed over to Kabul by the United States. He is the younger brother of Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is second-in-command in the Afghan Taliban hierarchy and leads the Haqqani network, considered the deadliest faction of the Afghan Taliban. The office of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said it had not made a decision to free Anas Haqqani, who was sentenced to death in 2016. Suhail Shaheen, the spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Qatar, said Anas Haqqani was a "student and had no military role," adding that he should be released to help find a "peaceful solution to the conflict." Afghan intelligence agencies, however, believed the younger brother played a crucial role in fundraising in the Gulf countries, through sources the group had developed since the 1980s during its fight against the Soviet Union. In a statement soon after his arrest, the Afghan intelligence agency, the National Directorate for Security or NDS, said Anas Haqqani had "special skills in computers and was considered one of the masterminds of this network in making propaganda through social networks." A few years ago, the Afghan government came under pressure to carry out Anas Haqqani's sentence after deadly blasts hit Kabul. The Taliban at the time issued a strongly worded statement warning of "dire consequences." Taliban strategy Adding his name to the 14-member negotiating team may be a way to pressure the Afghan government to release him even as the insurgent group refuses to directly engage with Kabul. At a recent conference on Afghanistan in Moscow, the Taliban met around 50 Afghan politicians and activists. No government representative was invited to the event. The Taliban have refused to meet with government officials. The Taliban negotiating team will meet the U.S. team led by Khalilzad, the special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, in Doha on February 25. U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan, Zalma U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, (C) speaks during a roundtable discussion with Afghan media at the U.S Embassy in Kabul, Jan. 28, 2019. (U.S Embassy/ Handout) U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, (C) speaks during a roundtable discussion with Afghan media at the U.S Embassy in Kabul, Jan. 28, 2019. (U.S Embassy/ Handout) The last meeting between the two sides took place in January and lasted six days. At a recent event at the Washington-based United States Institute of Peace, Khalilzad said the two sides had agreed in principle on two issues: Afghan soil would not be used for terrorism by any individual or group, and international forces would withdraw from Afghanistan. Khalilzad reiterated, however, that the agreement was dependent on a comprehensive agreement on other issues, including a cease-fire and inclusion of the Afghan government in peace talks. "Nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to," he said. The U.S. special envoy also said that while the timing of a peace deal was uncertain, from his point of view, "we would prefer to see an agreement before July," which is when Afghanistan is scheduled to have a presidential election. Khalilzad is already on a six-nation trip, with a stopover in Belgium to brief the European Union and NATO on negotiations, before arriving in the region. WASHINGTON - In 1986, when William Brown, a onetime U.S. intelligence official and government economist, was stationed in Seoul, he ran into a Vietnamese delegation at the Plaza Hotel. They were in town for the Asian Games. Once the delegation learned Brown was an American official, they immediately became formal and, as if they had approved diplomatic instructions told Brown they were very impressed with how the U.S. had built up Seoul and said their government wanted to bury the hatchet with Washington so the U.S. could do the same for Vietnam. They wanted Hanoi to look like Seoul, recalled Brown, now an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. They had it all wrong, Brown told VOA Korean, adding that he told the Vietnamese that while the U.S. had helped, the hotel and everything that they could see in Seoul skyline was South Koreas effort and productivity, not American. The exchange took place during the year that Hanoi undertook its doi moi liberalization policy to reform Vietnams economy. Doi moi means renovation in Vietnamese. Since then, Vietnam has improved relations with the U.S. and opened its economy to the international community, and now enjoys economic prosperity. Vietnam Pushes for More Trade and Regional Engagement 35 Years After US Departure It has been 35 years since North Vietnamese forces took over the capital of what was then South Vietnam, ending a long and bloody war with the United States. Today, a unified Vietnam is focused on free market economic reforms, while maintaining its communist political system. That presents roadblocks to closer ties and more trade with its onetime enemy - the United States. It has been 35 years since North Vietnamese forces took over the capital of what was then South Vietnam, ending a long and bloody war with the United States. Today, a unified Vietnam is focused on free market economic reforms, while maintaining its communist political system. That presents roadblocks to closer ties and more trade with its onetime enemy - the United States. Vietnams changed economy will be part of the backdrop for President Donald Trumps second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un which is set to take place in Hanoi, Vietnam on Feb. 27 and 28. The leaders first met in June in Singapore, a meeting widely criticized for vague results. Road Map to Denuclearization Key to Second Trump-Kim Summit U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un must agree on a road map to denuclearization at their second summit to avoid the vague agreement that came out of their initial meeting, experts said.After months of stalled negotiations that began when North Korea abruptly canceled a planned meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in November, the White House announced earlier in January that a second summit between Trump and Kim will take place by the end of February. U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un must agree on a road map to denuclearization at their second summit to avoid the vague agreement that came out of their initial meeting, experts said.After months of stalled negotiations that began when North Korea abruptly canceled a planned meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in November, the White House announced earlier in January that a second summit between Trump and Kim will take place by the end of February. ?A model miracle The economic path that Vietnam took has been widely touted as a model that North Korea should follow even before Trump announced it as the summit venue. But the announcement has rekindled questions about how Hanois lessons could be relevant to the reclusive country built on Juche, the ideology of self-sufficiency rooted in socialism. When U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was visiting Hanoi last July, he suggested North Korea should follow Vietnams economic path. In light of the once-unimaginable prosperity and partnership we have with Vietnam today, I have a message for Chairman Kim Jong Un, said Pompeo. President Trump believes your country can replicate this path. Its yours if youll seize the moment. The miracle could be yours; it can be your miracle in North Korea as well, he said. The choice of Vietnam as the location of the second summit carries political and economic symbolism for both Washington and Pyongyang, according to experts. Vietnam embodies the future the United States hopes that North Korea embraces, said Troy Stangarone, senior director of the Korea Economic Institute, because it was a former adversary who has transitioned to a friend of the United States and undertaken economic reform. For North Korea, Brown said Vietnam is a model that Kim would like to promote because it is a country that defeated the U.S., unified North and South under a Communist government if not a Communist economy, and is now a friend of its former enemy. Michael OHanlon, a senior fellow and director of research at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, suggested it may just be logical convenience that explains the choice of venue for the summit. OHanlon, however, believes that the general model [of the Vietnamese economy] is of huge relevance to North Korea. Andray Abrahamian, a Korea expert at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University, agrees. There is much that Vietnam has done that could be applied to North Korea, said Abrahamian, who is an advisor to Choson Exchange, a non-profit with offices in Singapore and Vietnam that trains North Koreans in economic policy and entrepreneurship. Changed Vietnam Vietnam was one of the poorest countries in the world before its reform, but now the country reported a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 6.88 in 2018 which is double the 3.40 GDP growth rate of the U.S. in the same year. A countrys GDP indicates its monetary value of final goods and services produced and its economic well-being. By comparison, North Koreas economy in recent years is similar to Vietnams economy in 1985, a year before it embarked on the doi moi route to reform. According to U.N. figures, Vietnams GDP per person was 1 percent of Americas in 1985, and North Korea was in an identical position relative to America in 2015. Brown, who now heads the Northeast Asia Economics and Intelligence Advisory said, North Korea is exceedingly poor, one of the poorest [countries] in the world. He continued, But that hides an important aspect of their economy. Relatively speaking, they have high levels of physical and human capital, excellent geography, and natural resources. North Korean poverty is thus the result of extraordinary weak productivity in the use of those assets. Much of Hanois economic development is attributed to the end of the countrys strongman era which ended with the death of Le Duan, the successor to Vietnams founding president Ho Chi Minh, in 1986 which led the country to undertake doi moi reform. Can Kim change? By contrast, the Kim dynasty has ruled North Korea since 1948. The countrys founding leader Kim Il Sung died in 1994, but his son Kim Jong Il took control of the government and its people until his death in 2011. The current leader, Kim Jong Un, continues to maintain a tight grip over North Korea. Kim expressed in his New Years speech that he will focus on developing North Koreas economy and improving the lives of its people. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho visited Vietnam last December to study its economy, and Vietnams foreign minister Pham Binh Minh is expected to visit North Korea from Feb. 12 to 14, days before the planned second summit between Trump and Kim. North Korea Studies Vietnam for Development Ideas Vietnam, a fast-growing country thats liberal on trade and has friends in multiple countries, is offering to help advance North Korea, a fellow communist state thats impoverished as well as distrusted by the West. Vietnamese deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh said his country was "ready to share" with North Korea its socio-economic development and nation-building experience, Viet Nam News reported Friday. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho visited the Southeast Asian country from Thursday Vietnam, a fast-growing country thats liberal on trade and has friends in multiple countries, is offering to help advance North Korea, a fellow communist state thats impoverished as well as distrusted by the West. Vietnamese deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh said his country was "ready to share" with North Korea its socio-economic development and nation-building experience, Viet Nam News reported Friday. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho visited the Southeast Asian country from Thursday Abrahamian said when he led a group of North Koreans to Vietnam in 2014 to study land use and public-private partnerships with Chosen Exchange, the North Koreans showed intense interest in how Vietnam uses market forces to aid development. Experts said if Kim envisions embracing a Vietnam-styled economy for North Korea, he will need to take significant reforms that will require him to loosen the control over the economy. Korea Economic Institutes Stangarone said, If Kim Jong Un does want to see economic development and fulfill his promise to ensure that no North Koreans belly goes hungry, he needs to undertake reforms to boost economic growth. He continued, The most significant steps that North Korea could take to reform its economy would be to end the public distribution system, fully legalizing the market economy, allow state-owned enterprises to function in a market-based system. Begin optional trim: Abrahamian said changing rules around property rights and land use will have to happen in North Korea adding that both issues are ones that Hanoi has tackled and been successful at. Brown cautioned, however, unlike Vietnam, North Korea needs to rely less on foreign investment and reform first domestically before opening its economy. Vietnam and China have relied on lots of foreign investment, ironically much of it, South Korean, and less on domestic reform on their own capital markets, said Brown. This is much better than their old socialism but is not quite as sharp and runs into trouble as China is currently experiencing. End optional trim When looking for an economic model, Brown said Pyongyang needs to look no farther than its southern neighbor Seoul which focused on building a modern banking system with indigenous savings and investments, and strong property rights before foreign investments played a big role. The key aspects of economic development and growth are domestic, not external, said Brown. It takes hard work, risk-taking, and many decentralizing reforms. Kim needs to understand that. GENEVA - A senior U.N. official reports the distribution of life-saving aid is nearly complete for 40,000 Syrians stranded in the remote Rukban camp near the Jordanian border. The U.N.s largest humanitarian convoy in Syrias eight-year conflict arrived at Rukban six days ago. This is the second U.N. convoy to reach this harsh desert outpost since November. Corinne Fleischer, the World Food Program representative in Syria and Rukban Convoy team leader, said the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and U.N. agencies are in the process of delivering a one-month supply of food, basic medical items, clothes, sanitation, hygiene and other essential relief to the last 7,000 beneficiaries. She said the vast majority of people are women and children who have been living in the desolate region for up to four years under increasingly desperate conditions. She said winter in the desert is extremely cold, noting that at least eight young children have died at the site as of January. Speaking on a poor phone line from Rukban, Fleischer said the camp is situated in the middle of nowhere and that this affects every aspect of life for the thousands of people trapped there. FILE - Syrian refugees are seen at Rukban camp, lo FILE - Syrian refugee women holding children are seen at Rukban camp, located in a no-man's-land on the border between Syria and Jordan, March 1, 2017. FILE - Syrian refugee women holding children are seen at Rukban camp, located in a no-man's-land on the border between Syria and Jordan, March 1, 2017. There is not a single doctor in the entire Rukban settlement. Health care is provided by nurses. Many of them without any formal training. When we talked to a nurse who has 16 years of experience, who is displaced from Palmyra and she said that the conditions in the health clinic she works in are so basic as if she was operating in the stone age, Fleischer said. Rukban is located close to the al-Tanf U.S. military base near where the borders of Syria, Jordan and Iraq meet. The residents include tens of thousands of people who have fled from Islamic State-held parts of Syria, which have been under attack by Russian and U.S.-led coalition airstrikes. Besides the distribution of humanitarian assistance, Fleischer said aid workers have immunized some 7,000 children against measles, polio and other diseases. She is calling on all parties to allow the U.N. to continue critical assistance for people in the camp. For example, she said, establishing well-equipped health clinics in the camp would save many lives. "Sexist" data is making it harder to improve women's and girls' lives, the world's leading philanthropic couple Bill and Melinda Gates said Tuesday in an open letter. The couple warned that a lack of focus by researchers on gender and a disdain for what were perceived as "women's issues" were resulting in "missing data" that could lead to better decisions and policies, enable advocacy and measure progress. "The data we do have data that policymakers depend on is bad. You might even call it sexist," Melinda Gates wrote in their annual letter discussing the work of their foundation, one of the largest private charities in the world. Gender inequality is one of the greatest barriers to human progress, the United Nations said last year, with studies showing that when girls stay in education, they have more opportunities and healthier children, which boosts development. But data often does not take gender into account and is flawed by biased questions, said the husband and wife team behind the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Because women in developing countries are primarily seen as wives and mothers, most of the data about them focuses on their reproductive health, not their earnings and assets, they said. "You can't improve things if you don't know what's going on with half the population," wrote Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Corp. The couple said mobile phones offered a powerful tool to allow women to build new connections, gain economic freedom and challenge restrictive social norms, for example by buying contraceptives online. "If you're a woman who has never stepped into a bank, mobile banking offers you a foothold in the formal economy and a chance at financial independence," said Melissa Gates. "You gain opportunities to connect with customers, trainings, and professional organizations all from your home." Safe toilets Toilets also emerged as a feminist issue, with the couple hailing a next generation of facilities which can kill pathogens and produce useable by-products such as fertilizer. Safe toilets worldwide would especially benefit women and girls, they said, who risk assault while using public facilities or may be forced to skip school when on their periods. International aid groups agreed more of a focus on women and girls was needed. "We can't improve what we fail to measure," Richard Morgan, international advocacy director at the child rights charity Plan International, told Reuters. "Bringing visibility to girls and women is the first critical step in improving their lives." DAKAR - Police in eastern Senegal have made two dozen arrests and seized knives and clubs after clashes in the run-up to presidential elections left at least two dead, officials said Tuesday. The violence erupted Monday in Tambacounda, 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Dakar, pitching supporters of President Macky Sall against those of opposition candidate Issa Sall. One supporter of the president was fatally stabbed by a suspected member of the opposition Unity and Assembly Party (PUR), the sources said. A second fatality was part of a group of young pro-government motorcyclists that tried to prevent Issa Sall's motorcade from leaving the town. He was hit by a vehicle and died, they said. Local media reported that a third supporter of the president died of injuries, but the officials did not confirm this. FILE - Security agents stand guard during the camp FILE - Security agents stand guard during the campaign meeting of Issa Sall, presidential candidate and deputy president of the Senegalese "Parti de l'Unite et du Rassemblement" (PUR), at the municipal stadium of Thiaroye, a suburb of Dakar, Feb. 3, 2019. FILE - Security agents stand guard during the campaign meeting of Issa Sall, presidential candidate and deputy president of the Senegalese "Parti de l'Unite et du Rassemblement" (PUR), at the municipal stadium of Thiaroye, a suburb of Dakar, Feb. 3, 2019. "The gendarmerie have arrested 24 people," a security source in Tambacounda told AFP on Tuesday. Moustapha Sarr, a senior official with PUR, said 20 of the arrests were supporters of Issa Sall. Macky Sall and Issa Sall share the same surname but are not related. Tambacounda public prosecutor Demba Traore said the arrests were mainly members of Issa Sall's security guard, and police had seized knives and clubs on PUR members. Interior Minister Aly Ngouille Ndiaye said the police would find those responsible for the violence and "bring them to justice." He said national police would be available to work with the security teams of all presidential candidates until the end of elections. Other incidents Eight journalists who were covering Issa Sall's campaign were hurt when their minibus was attacked by suspected supporters of the ruling coalition, organizations representing media workers said. Senegal, a former French colony, has been buffeted by violence ahead of the Feb. 24 vote, which Macky Sall hopes to win outright in the first round. FILE - Opponents of Senegal's president Macky Sall FILE - Opponents of Senegal's president Macky Sall vandalize a poster for the upcoming presidential elections in Thies, Senegal, Feb. 3, 2019. FILE - Opponents of Senegal's president Macky Sall vandalize a poster for the upcoming presidential elections in Thies, Senegal, Feb. 3, 2019. On Sunday at least two people were "seriously injured" in Fatick, a presidential stronghold in Senegal's center-west, in clashes with supporters of rising opposition candidate Ousmane Sonko, local media reported. Four people, all Sonko supporters, were badly hurt Feb. 4 in the northern city of Saint-Louis, Sonko's campaign said. Issa Sall said Tuesday on Twitter that after the "tragic events" in Tambacounda, he would be "suspending" his campaign and heading back to the capital. President's reaction On Monday, the president called for calm but took aim at his predecessor and political rival, Abdoulaye Wade, who last week called for his supporters to burn their electoral registration cards and ballot sheets. The clashes "are the result of the call for violence by certain political leaders ... who will be brought before the courts to account for their acts," President Sall said. Senegal's election campaigns are often marred by accusations of corruption, influence-peddling and dirty tricks, and misinformation, although the country is also often held up as a beacon of democracy and relative prosperity in West Africa. PHOENIX - Retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who rocketed to the national spotlight when his Congresswoman wife Gabrielle Giffords was shot in a failed assassination attempt, announced Tuesday he's running to finish John McCain's last term in the U.S. Senate. Kelly is a top Democratic recruit to take on Republican Martha McSally in one of the most closely contested Senate races of the 2020 election. McSally is a former Republican congresswoman who was appointed to McCain's seat last year after she narrowly lost to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. McSally leaned heavily on her record as the first woman to fly a combat mission as a fighter pilot, but she was hurt by her embrace of President Donald Trump. FILE - Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Marth FILE - Then-Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Martha McSally, center, talks with people waiting in line at the ASU Palo Verde West polling station during the U.S. midterm elections in Tempe, Arizona, U.S. Nov. 6, 2018. FILE - Then-Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Martha McSally, center, talks with people waiting in line at the ASU Palo Verde West polling station during the U.S. midterm elections in Tempe, Arizona, U.S. Nov. 6, 2018. If Kelly is nominated, the race would pit a Navy veteran and astronaut against a trailblazing Air Force pilot in the contest to replace McCain, a legendary Navy flyer who was famously shot down and held captive. Democrats are eagerly watching the Arizona contest, having already defeated McSally in a Senate race just a few months ago. FILE - Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who su FILE - Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a gunshot to the head in 2011 during a mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., sits with her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, at a Senate panel hearing on gun violence, on Capitol Hill in Washington. FILE - Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a gunshot to the head in 2011 during a mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., sits with her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, at a Senate panel hearing on gun violence, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Kelly and Giffords have for years pushed Congress to enact gun control measures with little success. They shifted their focus to state legislatures in recent years, helping to strengthen background checks and domestic violence protections, among other modest protections. Gov. Doug Ducey appointed McSally to the vacant Senate seat after his first appointee, former Sen. Jon Kyl, resigned after only a few months in office. The seat is a top target for Democrats because McSally just lost a Senate race in November and Democrats posted a strong showing in the November election, winning three statewide contests and picking up legislative and congressional seats. The 2020 election will decide who finishes the last two years of McCain's term. The winner would have to run again for a full six-year term in 2022. U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego of Phoenix is also considering a Senate run, which would likely set up a tough fight for the Democratic nomination. Former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods, a lifelong Republican who became a Democrat and a fierce critic of Trump, announced last week that he won't run, saying he didn't want to fight in a contested Democratic primary. New York is out. (Way out.) So are Los Angeles and Chicago. Houston, Denver, Dallas and Sea-Tac (Seattle and Tacoma) even Columbus (Ohio) and Riverside (California) are the new magnets for millennials. People between the ages of 25 and 34 are eschewing larger, expensive metropolises for smaller cities that offer more affordable housing and a lower other cost of living, according to a recent Brookings Institution evaluation of the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey Five-Year Estimates. This internal migration is changing the map as the United States grows, settles and prospers, Brookings said. "Millennials, a highly educated and diverse generation now squarely in their late 20s and 30s, are forming the backbone of various regions' emerging labor forces and consumer bases," wrote Brookings' demography expert William Frey. Brookings measured the movements of millennials and baby boomers Americans 55 and older from 2004 to 2017, with special attention paid to the Great Recession in 2007-2008, when the economy sank after a national banking and credit crisis. Jobs were hard to come by, especially for millennials entering the market with little experience. Carrying a large amount of student debt and few work options strangled their ability to marry, have children and buy homes. "Young adults are still far from reaching their earlier mobility levels, despite occasional upticks in recent years," wrote Frey. "For them, the impact of the recession in terms of delayed marriage, home buying and childbearing appears to continue even as the economy has heated up." Top choices Which cities took on a new appeal for millennials? Houston, Dallas, Seattle-Tacoma, Austin, Charlotte, Portland (Oregon), Riverside, Phoenix, Nashville, Atlanta, Columbus, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Sacramento and Raleigh, in descending order. San Francisco came in 17th, while Sunnyvale (in California's Silicon Valley region) ranked 29th in increased millennial population. The biggest losers were New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Diego, Miami, Boston, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Milwaukee, Washington (D.C.), Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Tucson, Rochester (New York), Cleveland, Hartford, Baltimore, St. Louis and Louisville. Among states, Texas gained an average 32,318 millennials a year between 2012 and 2017. Washington state gained 18,174; Colorado, 16,156; Oregon 7,542; and Arizona, 5,742. New York lost 37,217 young people per year during the same period, with Illinois seeing 17,884 millennials move out. New Jersey lost 7,100; Massachusetts, 6,353; Alaska, 6,038; Pennsylvania, 5,210; and Washington, 4,092. California lost 2,325 millennials. Living expenses The cost of rent another measure of migration movement increased from January 2018 to January 2019 in destination cities, and stalled in some cities that lost millennial population. Las Vegas showed the largest average rent increase of $80 per month; but, at an average rent of $1,048, Sin City remains affordable for millennials, according to RentCafe, a nationwide apartment search website. Phoenix, another southwest growth city attracting people from more expensive West Coast states, saw a $72 per month rent increase. Again, the average rent is a manageable $1,018, RentCafe reports. San Diego (up 6.4 percent), Nashville (up 6.2 percent), and Los Angeles (up 6 percent) were among the largest cities with the fastest increases in average rents, RentCafe reported. Nashville's average rent of $1,347, however, came in far lower than the average of $2,460 in Los Angeles and $2,184 in San Diego. Queens, New York, was the only large city where rent fell since last January, by 0.2 percent to $2,196. Houston grew only 0.8 percent, and the East Coast cities of Boston and Baltimore both saw meager 1.1 percent increases in average rent since January 2018. So, how much income does a millennial need to afford rent in some of these cities? According to SmartAsset, a financial technology company, renters need about $123,000 a year to live in some of California's larger cities; $163,000 in New York City; $108,000 in Washington, $50,400 in Charlotte, and $39,300 in Columbus, Ohio. Please share your thoughts in the Comments here, and visit us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Freshman Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar has "unequivocally" apologized for tweets suggesting that members of Congress support Israel because they are being paid to do so, which drew bipartisan criticism and a rebuke from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Minnesota Democrat said she had no intention of offending anyone, including Jewish Americans. "We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me about my identity," Omar tweeted. "This is why I unequivocally apologize." Listening and learning, but standing strong pic.twitter.com/7TSroSf8h1 Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 11, 2019 The statement on Monday was the latest reckoning among Democrats of intense differences in their ranks over the U.S.-Israeli relationship, highlighted by criticism from Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. They are the first Muslim women to serve in Congress. Pelosi and other Democrats, including leaders and chairmen, laid down a marker making clear that Omar had overstepped. In a pair of tweets over the weekend, Omar criticized the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. "It's all about the Benjamins baby," she wrote, invoking slang about $100 bills. Asked on Twitter who she thought was paying members of Congress to support Israel, Omar responded, "AIPAC!" That sparked Pelosi's first public rebuke of a freshman lawmaker who had helped flip the House from Republican control and is part of a record number of women in Congress. "Congresswoman Omar's use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel's supporters is deeply offensive," Pelosi said in a statement issued by her office and signed by other Democratic leaders after a bipartisan backlash against the Minnesota Democrat. "We condemn these remarks, and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments." Muslim Lawmakers Criticism of Israel Pressures US Democrats The support for a boycott of Israel by the first two Muslim women in the U.S. Congress has opened a breach in the Democratic Party and threatens to create a fissure in the ironclad U.S.-Israeli alliance.Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib made their debut in the House of Representatives in January openly declaring their support for the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, or BDS. The support for a boycott of Israel by the first two Muslim women in the U.S. Congress has opened a breach in the Democratic Party and threatens to create a fissure in the ironclad U.S.-Israeli alliance.Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib made their debut in the House of Representatives in January openly declaring their support for the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, or BDS. It also was a stark exposure of an increasingly tense split among Democrats over U.S.-Israeli policy ahead of the 2020 elections. None of the Democratic presidential hopefuls weighed in publicly as their party's House leaders chastised Omar. Omar's fellow freshmen felt the strain. Some, such as Jewish Reps. Elaine Luria of Virginia and Max Rose of New York, explicitly denounced her remarks. Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., said: "Anti-Semitism or xenophobia is never acceptable. I'm glad Rep. Omar has apologized." Senior Democrats dealt the new lawmaker a swift schooling. "There is an expectation of leaders particularly those with a demonstrated commitment to the cause of justice and equality that they would be extremely careful not to tread into the waters of anti-Semitism or any other form of prejudice or hate,'' House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York said in a statement. "Rep. Omar failed that test of leadership with these comments." Republicans called on Democrats to strip Omar of her seat on the House Foreign Relations Committee, but Chairman Eliot Engel stopped just short of that. He said in a statement that he expects his committee members to discuss policies on merits. And though he did not name Omar, he left little doubt that his statement was a response to her tweets. "It's shocking to hear a Member of Congress invoke the anti-Semitic trope of 'Jewish money,'" Engel said. Asked on Air Force One en route to El Paso, Texas, about the controversy, President Donald Trump said the freshman congresswoman "should be ashamed of herself'' for the tweets. "I think it was a terrible statement, and I don't think her apology was adequate," he said. Asked what she should have said, Trump replied: "She knows what to say." AIPAC is a nonprofit organization that works to influence U.S. policy toward Israel. While it is barred from directly donating to candidates, it encourages its more than 100,000 members to do so and to be politically active. One way the organization has made a mark on Congress is through expense-paid junkets to Israel, which are paid for by an affiliated nonprofit that does not have to disclose its donors. The popular weeklong excursions for members of Congress, their families and some senior staff can cost upward of $12,000 per person and are intended to "educate political leaders and influencers about the importance of the U.S. - Israel relationship through firsthand experiences." The nonprofit responded Sunday night: "We are proud that we are engaged in the democratic process to strengthen the US-Israel relationship. Our bipartisan efforts are reflective of American values and interests. We will not be deterred in any way by ill-informed and illegitimate attacks on this important work." Omar supports a movement known as BDS, for "boycott, divestment and sanctions" aimed at Israel. And it's not the first time she's fought accusations of anti-Semitism. She insists her rejection of the Israeli government refers to its stance toward Palestinians and is not directed at Jewish people. Omar has expressed regret for tweeting in 2012: "Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel." She said the statement came in the context of Israel's treatment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. "It's now apparent to me that I spent lots of energy putting my 2012 tweet in context and little energy in disavowing the anti-Semitic trope I unknowingly used, which is unfortunate and offensive," she tweeted last month. The controversy over Omar's remarks stretched beyond Capitol Hill to the crowded Democratic presidential race. Less than a week earlier, all but one high-profile Democratic senator eyeing the White House in 2020 voted against a Middle East policy measure that included a provision cracking down on BDS activism against the Israeli government. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar supported the Middle East bill, while her potential presidential rivals Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sherrod Brown of Ohio all opposed it. Several of those Democrats had raised concerns that the bill's bid to rein in anti-Israel boycott efforts risked violating the constitutional rights of activists, although all the senators are opposed to the Palestinian-led push itself. People leave post-it notes of support outside the People leave post-it notes of support outside the office of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Capitol Hill, Feb. 11, 2019, in Washington. People leave post-it notes of support outside the office of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Capitol Hill, Feb. 11, 2019, in Washington. Among the yellow notes of support posted on Omar's office nameplate on Capitol Hill on Monday was one that read, "Mazel Tov." WASHINGTON - Parts of a Texas military base that the Trump administration had proposed for a temporary detention facility for migrant children contain toxins that could pose a health risk, according to a report released by an environmental group on Tuesday. Last June, then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the U.S. military was preparing to house immigrant families at Fort Bliss, an Army base in El Paso, Texas, and unaccompanied minors at Goodfellow Air Base in San Angelo. Earthjustice said it identified four Superfund sites near the proposed housing site at Goodfellow, including a former landfill, artillery range, fuel depot and fire training areas. While some areas have been cleaned up, Earthjustice said more extensive testing is needed to ensure the site is safe. "If allowed to happen, approximately 7,500 migrant children will be detained in an area contaminated with lead, arsenic, benzene, PFAS, and myriad other harmful chemicals associated with increased risk of cancer and permanent neurodevelopmental damage," the Earthjustice report said. Earthjustice said its report was based on publicly available Air Force documents detailing Super fund site investigations, inspections and feasibility studies. It said it wrote the report after the Air Force declined to provide documents it had requested about the shelter plan. A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services said it had conducted preliminary visits to Goodfellow, Fort Bliss and other sites in Arkansas and Texas to determine their suitability for detention facilities, but that "none of these properties are under active consideration at this time." Raul Garcia, an attorney for Earthjustice, said he is concerned that President Donald Trump may declare a "national emergency" at the U.S.-Mexico border that could expedite construction of the facilities, if he cannot agree on a deal with Congress for border security funding. A draft environmental assessment of the base conducted by the Air Force in July found there would be no significant environmental impact or harm caused by the project. That finding would allow construction to begin without more extensive environmental scrutiny. Nearly 12,000 "unaccompanied minor children" were in custody at about 100 shelters last year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, as the Trump administration implemented a "zero tolerance" policy of detaining undocumented migrants crossing the border. LONDON - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned during a trip to NATO allies Slovakia and Hungary that Russia and China are trying to fill a political vacuum in central Europe caused by what he described as the United States absence in the region over recent years. Arriving Tuesday in Bratislava, Pompeo said the United States had been a friend through three decades of post-Soviet independence. The warm sentiments echoed those given to Hungary during a visit Monday to Budapest, where he urged his Hungarian counterpart to offer more support to Kyiv following Russias forced annexation of Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine. I spoke with the foreign minister about the urgent importance of supporting Ukraine in its quest for sovereignty and territorial integrity. We must not let [Russian President Vladimir] Putin drive wedges between friends and NATO. Hungarians know all too well from their history that an authoritarian Russia will never be a friend to the freedom and sovereignty of smaller nations," said the top U.S. diplomat. Budapest is often accused by allies of being too close to Russia. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has regularly visited Putin in Moscow, while Russia is set to build two nuclear reactors in Hungary. Pompeo also criticized Hungarys contracts with Chinese telecom firm Huawei, which the U.S. says could be involved in Chinese state espionage. U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, left, and Hu U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, left, and Hungary's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Szijjarto, chat during talks in Budapest, Hungary, Feb. 11, 2019. U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, left, and Hungary's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Szijjarto, chat during talks in Budapest, Hungary, Feb. 11, 2019. If that equipment is co-located in places where we have important American systems, it makes it more difficult for us to partner alongside them. We want to make sure we identify them, the opportunities and the risks associated with using that equipment. And then they'll get to make their decisions, Pompeo told reporters in Budapest. A spokesperson for Chinas foreign ministry said Tuesday "the U.S. has spared no effort to churn out all kinds of unwarranted charges and fabricate various kinds of theories over a threat from China." The Trump administration is trying to reassert its influence in the region, but it also sees common ground with central and eastern European states, according to analyst Jonathan Eyal of the Royal United Services Institute. Countries that were seen by other European nations to be moving away from the political consensus, to be espousing a much more right-wing agenda on questions such as immigrants, said Eyal. But below the surface, analysts say there are simmering tensions. The U.S. has pledged support for anti-corruption initiatives and independent media in Hungary. Campaign groups have warned of a stifling government crackdown on the opposition. The warming ties are about more than common ideology, noted Eyal. Theres two messages that the administration is putting forward. On the one hand, that these countries must pull their weight in defense questions. But at the same time, also an understanding that one size doesnt fit all, that not all European countries have to follow exactly the same position, provided they remain loyal to NATO, Eyal told VOA. Pompeo next travels to Poland for a two-day summit on the Middle East starting Wednesday, which will focus on Iran. As congressional negotiators reconvened Monday on Capitol Hill to craft a bipartisan budget deal in hopes of avoiding a second government shutdown this year, officials from both parties scrambled to handle the latest immigration obstacle in Washington. The focus in recent days shifted away from billions of dollars in wall funding sought by President Donald Trump and toward the number of detention beds Congress is willing to fund, a request by Democratic lawmakers looking to rein in the administration's immigrant detention rate and overspending by immigration officials. As of Sunday, the agency had 48,747 immigrants in custody on a variety of charges, from those who were charged or convicted in criminal courts to those whose offenses are civil immigration issues. However, the agency is only funded for a daily average of 40,520 detainees. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is tasked with so-called "interior enforcement" the apprehension and removal of immigrants, undocumented or otherwise, who are subject to deportation. That group accounts for part of the average number of detention beds needed every day. However, some of that population comes from transfers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). FILE - Detainees are seen at the Otay Mesa immigra FILE - Detainees are seen at the Otay Mesa immigration detention center in San Diego, Calif., May 18, 2018. FILE - Detainees are seen at the Otay Mesa immigration detention center in San Diego, Calif., May 18, 2018. The current impasse on Capitol Hill is over the former, which Democrats propose to fund at a rate of 16,500 adults per day until the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. A senior ICE official said Monday that somewhere from 20,000 to 22,000 detainees in ICE custody right now are being held as a result of an ICE arrest and are subject to mandatory detention. Overall, including the ICE arrestees and transfers from CBP, Democrats are seeking an average daily population in ICE detention of 35,520 for the remainder of FY19 34,000 adult beds and 1,250 family beds. The party's budget proposal issued at the end of January indicated this was on par with the daily average during the last three months of the Obama administration. Detention alternatives ICE has options for immigrants facing deportation who don't require "mandatory detention." For the last several years, the agency has asked for an increasing amount of money to boost its Alternatives to Detention program from 53,000 participants to 82,000. These alternatives apply for people who "may pose a flight risk, but who are not considered a threat to our communities," in ICE's description. Options for "intensive supervision" include "home visits, office visits, alert response, court tracking, and electronic monitoring" (such as ankle bracelets), according to the agency. Matt Albence, the deputy director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, spoke about the president's request for 52,000 detention beds. "Ankle monitors and alternatives to detention are woefully ineffective at effectuating removals from the United States," Albence said Monday on a call with reporters. "Detention is the only proven effective method to ensure that the individual ordered removed is actually removed." Albence accused lawmakers of "trying to abolish ICE ... through the fiduciary process" with the proposed cap. File - The entrance to the Immigration and Customs FILE - Two officers are seen outside the entrance to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in San Francisco, Feb. 28, 2018. FILE - Two officers are seen outside the entrance to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in San Francisco, Feb. 28, 2018. Speaking in Congress on Monday, shortly before the conference committee reconvened to discuss the budget disagreements, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell similarly decried the Democrats' cap, calling it a "get-out-of-jail-free card for criminals because the radical left doesn't like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement." ICE opposition But Democrats aren't the only ones trying to limit ICE spending. Under a Republican-led Senate last June, the Appropriations committee which included McConnell issued a report noting that it discouraged shifting funds from other areas to cover the agency's overspending, "in light of the Committee's persistent and growing concerns about ICE's lack of fiscal discipline, whether real or manufactured, and its inability to manage detention resources within the appropriations." On a call with reporters Monday, Mary Small, policy director for Detention Watch Network, which aims to end immigration detention, said ICE's "massive detention expansion spree" in recent years from roughly 34,000 people a day in custody to nearly 50,000 last week is at the root of a problem that comes down to a "violation of basic good governance standards." "The reason that negotiators are pushing for a limitation on detention is precisely because of this three-year history of bad behavior," Small said. "[E]ven after being repeatedly warned by appropriators they've continued to overspend." Also on the call was Angel Padilla, a policy director for Indivisible, who said the detention issue under the Trump administration is about more than funding. According to its website, Indivisible is a group formed to "resist the Trump agenda." "What we've seen over the last two years is that Trump and his administration have basically just targeted and been at war with immigrants and people of color," said Padilla, listing the travel bans, cuts to immigrant programs, and the administration's family separation policy as examples of policies targeting minority groups. "It is clear that what this administration wants is to jail and deport as many brown people as possible, and as many immigrants [as possible]," he added. Federal lawmakers have until the end of Friday to reach an agreement one that stands a chance of being approved by the president or the country will witness a partial government shutdown again. The most recent one lasted 35 days, during which hundreds of thousands of federal employees went without pay. It ended with a stopgap budget measure Jan. 25, but that deal expires at 12:01 a.m. Feb. 16. Totalitarian regimes and their mark on the human psyche, nostalgic depictions of life in Mexico City riddled with socio-economic and racial divisions, and the toll of poverty and war on children and families are themes of this year's Oscar nominees in the category of Best Foreign Language Film. 'Never Look Away' The epic drama Never Look Away focuses on the personal journey of Kurt, a young artist from East Germany who tries to find meaning through art after experiencing the murder of family members and the destruction of his country during the Nazi regime and political oppression under Communism. Academy award-winning filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck says dictatorships first try to control art. "Because it can truly change minds, it can change hearts. But the problem is, as soon as the dictatorship gets its hands on the art, it's no longer art." Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, right, FILE - Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, right, and actor Tom Schilling are pictured during the red carpet arrivals for the screening of "Werk Ohne Autor" ("Never Look Away") at the Venice Film Festival, Sept. 4, 2018. FILE - Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, right, and actor Tom Schilling are pictured during the red carpet arrivals for the screening of "Werk Ohne Autor" ("Never Look Away") at the Venice Film Festival, Sept. 4, 2018. The filmmaker says he also wanted to show how the Communist regime in East Germany harbored Nazis. "Unfortunately, the very characteristics that allow you to rise to the top in a dictatorship like the Nazis will allow you to, in a way, hide your crimes in the next system and rise to the top again," Donnersmarck said. "The sad truth is that a lot of the people who commit the terrible crimes throughout history will go unpunished." That's why, he says, many survivors of war and political oppression find redemption through artistic expression. In his film, Donnersmarck says, Kurt is the hero who never looks away, who stares crimes in the face and struggles to find a way to express them on canvas. The filmmaker, who tapped into his personal experiences and his family history for the story, shows how the main character's self-exile to the capitalist West also shaped him. "The sudden freedom is something very scary. It's very messy. You feel like at least there was a certain solidarity or someone who was supposed to look after you. But I'll take the chaos and the despair of freedom any day over just the death that is slavery," Donnersmarck said. 'Cold War' Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War echoes Donnersmarck's message about how totalitarianism imprisons the human psyche. It takes place in Communist Poland, and like Kurt in Never Look Away, the main characters in the Cold War musicians Zula and Wiktor are stifled by the communist regime. They, too, flee to Western Europe in the 1960s. Cold War also shows the alienation and identity crisis Eastern European exiles often felt in the West. 'Roma' Critics consider Roma the front-runner of the group, with 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Roma also won the Bafta award for Best Picture. Bafta, the British film awards and the equivalent of the American Oscars, often forecasts the Oscar winners. Alfonso Cuaron FILE - Alfonso Cuaron, director of "Roma," poses with his medallion after winning the Feature Film category at the Directors Guild Awards in Los Angeles, California, Feb. 2, 2019. FILE - Alfonso Cuaron, director of "Roma," poses with his medallion after winning the Feature Film category at the Directors Guild Awards in Los Angeles, California, Feb. 2, 2019. Director Alfonso Cuaron's film is a nostalgic depiction of 1970s life in Mexico City, inspired by personal memories of middle-class life and racial and class divisions. In order to make the story as authentic as possible, Cuaron used people who had never acted before, including Yalitza Aparicio, who plays the lead character, Cleo, a tireless and caring domestic worker. Aparicio, an indigenous woman, has received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. In an interview with VOA, she credited Cuaron for throwing a light on the indigenous domestic workers in Mexico. "Domestic workers play a very important role at households and are not being recognized," she said. "He showed the world that they are human beings, that they have rights. They need to be respected." 'Capernaum', 'Shoplifters' The other Oscar contenders in this category are Capernaum and Shoplifters. Set in Lebanon, the main character in Nadine Labaki's Capernaum is a child suing his parents for bringing him into a chaotic war-torn world. In Shoplifters, director Hirokazu Kore-eda shows the heartbreak of a Japanese family in extreme poverty. Regardless of which film wins the coveted award, all of them depict love, freedom and personal honesty as the antidote to political brutality and injustice. Donnersmarck told VOA that film, like other forms of art, can help wide audiences learn history in a visceral way. "You are telling the story through the plot," he said. "You are telling the story through the dialogue. You are telling it through the costumes, the production design. It's such a multilayered simultaneous experience. I love movies." GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - The United Nations refugee agency says a surge of violence in South Sudan's Yei State has displaced some 8,000 civilians and sent an estimated 5,000 people fleeing to the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. Clashes between the South Sudanese army and a rebel group, the National Salvation Front or NAS, broke out on January 19. This was barely four months after the latest peace deal aimed at ending the country's five-year civil war was signed by President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar. U.N. refugee agency spokesman Babar Baloch told VOA violence has been going down since then. And, he said, the two major parties that signed the accord appear to be sticking to it. "Let us not forget South Sudan has over 70 factions in terms of small groups and rebel groupsand NAS, as far as I understand, is led by Thomas Cirillo. And, we also understand that his group refused to sign the peace agreement," said the spokesman. The fighting reportedly is taking place outside the town of Yei, close to the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Baloch said most of those fleeing by foot to Congo are women, children and the elderly. He said they arrive exhausted, hungry, thirsty and in some cases, sick. "Among them are people suffering from malaria or other illnesses. Many have suffered from trauma after witnessing violent incidents, including armed men reportedly murdering and raping civilians and looting villages," said Baloch. The refugees are arriving in remote border villages in Congo's Ituri Province, an area close to Ebola-affected North Kivu Province. A World Health Organization spokesman said there is no indication the disease has spread to this region. But he said the risk is there, so border crossings are being monitored carefully. Police in eastern Myanmar fired rubber bullets into a crowd of several thousand people protesting a statue of the father of leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The statue depicting General Aung San on horseback was unveiled earlier this month in the city of Loikaw, the capital of Kayah state, over the objections of members of the Karenni ethnic minority. Dozens of Karenni protesters have been arrested since plans to install the statue were first announced last year. Loikaw General Aung San is revered as a hero in Myanmars fight against British colonial rule when the country was known as Burma. He was the architect of a 1947 peace accord among Burmese ethnic groups, but was assassinated that same year, months before the country formally gained independence. Since taking power in 2016 from the decades-long military junta, General Aung San's daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, has attempted to secure peace agreements with the various ethnic armed groups who have been fighting the military for decades, but the talks have yielded few results. YANGON - The landmark trial of three men accused of plotting the assassination of a prominent Muslim lawyer will draw to a close Friday, more than two years since the killing sent shock waves through the country. Ko Ni, a constitutional expert and close advisor to leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was holding his young grandson as he waited outside Yangons airport in January 2017 when a man walked up behind him and shot him in the back of the head. Before his death, Ko Ni had been working on plans to loosen the militarys grip on power. A Yangon court will rule on how to punish the gunman, Kyi Lin, who was caught on camera in broad daylight pulling the trigger, and will decide the fate of his alleged co-conspirators. The prosecution has called for the death sentence for all three men, though they would likely never be executed. Defense lawyers have argued for leniency for Kyi Lin and acquittal for the other two men, who are both former military officers, as well as a fourth defendant accused of harboring one of them. The suspected mastermind of the plot, retired Lieutenant-Colonel Aung Win Khine, has so far evaded arrest. Ko Nis eldest daughter, Yin Nwe Khine, said it is important for the country that her father gets justice, but the outcome of the trial will make little difference to her family. I want justice for my father, for everybody who faces such things. For everybody in our country who lost a loved one, she told VOA. It has to be, for the image of the country, for rule of law, for our countrys dignity. She does not plan to attend the hearing, she added. Kyi Lin, one of the accused of plotting muslim lay Kyi Lin, one of the accused of plotting muslim laywer Ko Ni's murder, arrives at Insein court as his lawyers deliver their final argument in Yangon, Myanmar, February 1, 2019. Kyi Lin, one of the accused of plotting muslim laywer Ko Ni's murder, arrives at Insein court as his lawyers deliver their final argument in Yangon, Myanmar, February 1, 2019. ?Ko Ni used his legal expertise to try to help Aung San Suu Kyi find ways around the countrys military-drafted constitution, which has allowed the generals to maintain a stranglehold on power even after taking a back seat and allowing civilians into politics. He had openly mulled amending or replacing the 2008 charter, which guarantees soldiers a quarter of seats in parliament, and therefore an effective veto over any constitutional changes. It also allows the military to appoint active servicemen to key ministerial positions in border affairs, home affairs and defense. Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from becoming president under the charter, but since her party took power in 2016 she has ruled the country from above the president as State Counsellor, a position that Ko Ni is credited with helping to create. The assassination also underscored the precarious situation of Muslims in the majority Buddhist country, which is plagued by ethnic tensions. Ko Nis status as a prominent Muslim who was also outspoken meant he was viewed as an enemy by ultra-nationalist Buddhists. Shortly after his death, infamous anti-Muslim monk Wirathu publicly thanked the killers on Facebook. Yin Nwe Khine said her family is looking forward to the trial being over. We just want our personal life back, thats all, she said. We are publicly known, it makes us very stressed. People stare at me. It makes me feel very uncomfortable. Observers have criticized the two-year legal proceedings, which involved dozens of pre-trial hearings, as sluggish and flawed. The International Commission of Jurists last month pointed to multiple cases of testimony that appears to be irrelevant and key witnesses failing to appear. Despite these criticisms, prosecution lawyer Nay La told VOA he believes it has been a fair trial. Government spokesperson Zaw Htay declined to comment when contacted by phone on Tuesday. David Mathieson, an independent analyst based in Myanmar, told VOA the proceedings have been farcical. I think after over 100 hearings and with some strange and irrelevant antics deployed by the defense, playing politics with the whole case while judges were swapped like playing cards, there can be no confidence in the verdict regardless of the results, he said. Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been convicted of drug-trafficking and related charges at a trial in New York. The jury convicted Guzman Tuesday after six days of deliberations on all ten counts against him and now faces the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison. The end of the three-month trial marks the end of Guzman's rule of the Sinaloa Cartel, which prosecutors described as "the world's largest and most prolific drug trafficking organization." Jury Enters Second Day of Deliberations in 'El Chapo' Trial Jurors in the U.S. trial of accused Mexican drug cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman began their second day of deliberations in a federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday. Guzman, 61, is accused of leading Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, which became one of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world. He twice escaped from prison in Mexico, and will face the possibility of life in a U.S. Jurors in the U.S. trial of accused Mexican drug cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman began their second day of deliberations in a federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday. Guzman, 61, is accused of leading Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, which became one of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world. He twice escaped from prison in Mexico, and will face the possibility of life in a U.S. Federal prosecutors said Guzman's rise to power began in the 1980's, when his expertise at smuggling cocaine into the U.S. produced hefty proceeds for Colombian cartels. The 61-year-old will likely be sent to a U.S. maximum security prison to prevent another escape. Guzman broke out of Mexican prisons twice before he was recaptured and extradited to the U.S. in 2017. Prosecutors put more than 50 witnesses on the stand to explain how the cartel made billions of dollars importing tons of cocaine, heroin, methamphetemine and marijuana into the U.S. Witnesses described killings and bribes and detailed how drugs were transported using tanker trucks, trains, and even shipments of canned peppers. Deliberations by the jurors, whose identities were kept secret, were complicated by the complexity of the trial. They were tasked with making 53 decisions about whether prosecutors had proven various elements of the case. Prosecutors portrayed Guzman as an overseer of brutality across national borders. Guzman's defense argued he was targeted as a fall guy by another Sinaloan drug kingpin, Ismael El Mayo Zambada, who remains at large. Prosecutors maintained Guzman and Zambada were partners. MEXICO CITY - A union declared total victory in a mass strike by about 25,000 workers at 48 assembly plants in a Mexican border city, but the movement spawned a storm of wildcat walkouts Monday at other businesses. The Industrial Workers and Laborers' Union won 20 percent wage increases at all 48 "maquiladora" factories in Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas. It also won a one-time bonus of about 32,000 pesos, about $1,685 at current exchange rates. Now workers at about a dozen non-union businesses as well as factories organized by other unions have started wildcat walkouts to demand the same increases, known colloquially as "20/32." The Tridonex auto parts company said in posts on its Facebook page Monday that pickets had prevented employees from entering its Matamoros plant and it cancelled some shifts. Video showed workers outside the plant chanting "20/32!" State police armoured vehicles patrol at an indust State police armoured vehicles patrol at an industrial park where employees from some plants are on strike in Matamoros, state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, Jan. 29, 2019. State police armoured vehicles patrol at an industrial park where employees from some plants are on strike in Matamoros, state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, Jan. 29, 2019. The local maquiladora association, known as Index, said that all the plants in the association had signed labor contracts as of last week and that none of the businesses affected by the wildcat strikes are members. Javier Guerrero, a Matamoros public relations specialist who has been active in strike support work, said the example set by the first round of strikes has spread to local businesses, many of which are not maquiladoras, which assemble products for export to the United States. Supermarkets, bottlers and a milk company in Matamoros were reportedly hit by walkouts. "In the past week, the strike wave has spread beyond the factories to supermarkets and other employers, with all the workers demanding '20/32,'" said the AFL-CIO, which has sent a delegation to support the striking workers. The mass strike erupted after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador decreed a doubling of the minimum wage in Mexico's border zones, apparently unaware that some union contracts at the maquiladora plants are indexed to minimum wage increases. While other Mexican cities don't have the same contract clauses, for workers often making less than $1 an hour, the appeal of a pay raise and bonus has proved irresistible. "Just as happened in Matamoros, it (the walkouts) spread to other companies and unions. It is very probable that it will spread to other cities, at least within the border area," Guerrero said. There has been a generalized upsurge in Mexico's long-dormant labor movement since Lopez Obrador took office Dec. 1, something the president doesn't appear to have planned on or encouraged. Lopez Obrador has simply promised to keep the government out of unions' internal affairs and allow for free and fair union elections. For a union movement kept in check for decades by pro-company union bosses allied with the former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, the promise of union democracy has been enough to spark a revival. But there has already been a backlash. "In the past week, as many as 2,000 strike leaders have been fired and blacklisted, despite legal prohibitions and non-reprisal agreements signed by the employers," said the U.S. union delegation, which included representatives from the AFL-CIO, United Auto Workers and United Steelworkers. "The Mexican and U.S. governments must both demand that these U.S. companies honor their agreements and stop firing and blacklisting these courageous workers," said Texas AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Montserrat Garibay. Meanwhile, Lopez Obrador has been struggling with the most radical and intractable union in Mexico, the CNTE teachers' union, which has blocked railroad lines in the western state of Michoacan on and off for the last month. The teachers lifted most blockades last week but on Monday they briefly re-established a protest camp on a line operated by Kansas City Southern de Mexico. KCSM reported that by late Monday, the camp had been removed and the line re-opened. But the company said that during 28 days of blockages, 414 trains were prevented from running and 3.5 million tons of freight was stalled. The teachers initially started the blockages to demand back pay, but they kept blocking rail lines even after they were paid. Armed men burned down a hospital in the Cameroonian town of Kumba this week, forcing patients and medical staff to flee for their lives. Cameroon's government blamed the attack on separatists demanding independence for Cameroon's English-speaking regions. The country's national order of doctors has condemned the attack as barbaric. It was quiet Tuesday at the Kumba district hospital in the southwest region of Cameroon. On a normal day, the hospital cares for hundreds of patients and pregnant women. But none were here today, Feb. 12, 2019, one day after the attack that reduced most of the buildings to ashes. Kumba Nurse Rose Mary Kimbie said the hospital complied with government orders to discharge 90 percent of the patients. The patients that were a little bit better, we sent them home, Kimbie said. Women who delivered, we sent them back home. We took the instructions that the government gave that serious cases should be dispatched to different hospitals around. I just pray that my colleagues who are out, that ran away from the incident, should come back, since government said they are assuring them of their security. About 80 percent of the staff did not report for work Tuesday. Interior of damaged building that was part of the Interior of damaged building that was part of the torched district hospital in Kumba, Cameroon, Feb. 12, 2019. (M E Kindzeka/VOA) Interior of damaged building that was part of the torched district hospital in Kumba, Cameroon, Feb. 12, 2019. (M E Kindzeka/VOA) Fourteen-year-old Marvelous Manka, whose mother is being treated for cancer, said her mother may die because their doctor is absent, and there is no one to attend to them. She said they have been asked to go to another specialist hospital in the neighboring town of Buea. All the roads are blocked, and there is no one moving in town, Manka said. I just pray to God that the situation should change and everything to come back (to normal). God should just help for this strike to stop. The government of Cameroon said at least 20 armed separatists attacked and set fire to the hospital in the early hours of Monday. It says four people, including two patients, were killed. Local newspapers report that the separatists may have been angry that the hospital was treating government troops wounded in the separatist war and disclosing the identities of armed fighters to the military. Damaged building that was part of the torched dist Damaged building that was part of the torched district hospital in Kumba, Cameroon, Feb.12, 2019. (M E Kindzeka/VOA) Damaged building that was part of the torched district hospital in Kumba, Cameroon, Feb.12, 2019. (M E Kindzeka/VOA) Tetani Ekwe, president of the Cameroon Medical Council, denied the accusations. He said the national order of Cameroon doctors and all medical staff in Cameroon are speechless because they have always respected neutrality in the conflict between the Cameroon military and armed groups. He said when a priceless service to humanity like health care delivery and a hospital are attacked and torched for whatever reason, the medical staff can only be shocked and expect justice to take its course. On social media, the separatists insisted that the hospital was torched by Cameroon's military to discredit them and tarnish their image. Renewed fighting erupted in Cameroon's two English-speaking regions this month after armed separatists began what they call a 10-day lockdown, banning many activities in the war-torn Anglophone regions through Feb. 14. Cameroon's unrest began in November 2016 when English-speaking teachers and lawyers demonstrated against the growing dominance of French in the officially bilingual country. MAIDUGURI, NIGERIA - Baba Inuwa was pleased to move back to his vegetable farm in Nigeria's northeast, encouraged by the military's offensive against Boko Haram, the country's homegrown Islamic extremist rebels and by President Muhammadu Buhari's claim that the insurgency had been crushed. "We thought all was over and Boko Haram can never return," Inuwa said. He joined thousands of others in leaving displacement camps to return to their homes. But then last month the extremists rolled into Inuwa's hometown, Baga, firing into the air, hoisting flags and claiming it as their own. Suddenly residents were on the move again, fleeing with little more than the clothes on their backs. On a punishing two-day march through the arid Sahel, some pregnant women miscarried and other elderly people died. Nigeria's government now acknowledges an extremist resurgence, this time by a Boko Haram offshoot, the Islamic State West Africa Province, the IS group's largest presence outside the Middle East, estimated to have more than 3,000 fighters. Their near-daily attacks have many traumatized Nigerians questioning whether they can vote for Buhari as he seeks a second term. Others question how the elections can be held in the troubled northeast region. The National Assembly has approved a record $147 million for election security but some polling workers in remote areas have rejected their posts in fear of being attacked. The opposition objects that voting will be held in government-controlled camps, which in "liberated" communities are the safest locations. Buhari, a former military dictator, returned to power in 2015 with an election victory in which he promised to tackle insecurity, corruption and the economy in Africa's most populous country with 190 million people. While he still has support in most states of his native north, enthusiasm has dimmed as it becomes clear that the decade-old extremist insurgency - killing more than 27,000, abducting hundreds of schoolgirls, displacing millions - is far from over. Up against Atiku Abubakar, a fellow northern Muslim and former vice president, Buhari could end up like former President Goodluck Jonathan, who lost in 2015 after his failure to stop extremism. At first, Nigeria's military appeared to deliver on Buhari's inaugural vow to eliminate Boko Haram, pushing fighters out of many communities. Residents were urged to return home. But late last year the Islamic State-linked extremists roared back, attacking military bases, resupplying and causing a rare government admission of dozens of soldier deaths. Shaken, officials said the extremists had begun using drones, indicating links with ISIS fighters fleeing collapsing strongholds in Syria and Iraq. "ISIS now has a strong foothold in West Africa, with Nigeria in the forefront of the battle," Information Minister Lai Mohammed declared last week. The fighters are more worrying than Boko Haram and at least triple its size, the U.S. Africa Command chief has said. Some 59,000 people have fled attacks since November, the U.N. migration agency says. The now-deserted border town of Rann was hit twice last month, with humanitarian centers vandalized or burned. Aid workers fled. Five hid in a septic tank and survived. As many as 39 attacks were recorded in Borno and Yobe states last month, the U.N. refugee agency says. In early January the extremists captured Baga, near shrinking Lake Chad. They overran the nearby military camp and announced that people who wished to stay in peace could do so. Many residents, remembering past attacks, didn't buy it. "We felt all was not well," Inuwa, the farmer, told The Associated Press. He now shelters again in Maiduguri, Borno state's capital, which already hosts more than 1 million displaced people. The extremists still hold Baga, he said, citing residents who went back to retrieve their valuables. Fighters searched them at the edge of town before allowing them to enter. Inuwa said he was not impressed with the president's performance on security but might support him anyway: "I'd rather vote for him so that he can build upon the foundation he has already laid." Another Baga resident, Abba Mustapha, said the extremists' arrival met little resistance, reflecting concerns about government support for troops. "We were running for our dear lives and the soldiers who were armed to protect us were even ahead of us fleeing," he told AP. Now Mustapha is back in Maiduguri, seeking aid and finding little. Frustration is high. The spike in arrivals was so sudden that some people last month slept on the streets, finding no space in camps. Falmata Modu said she was happy she grabbed her voter card when she fled Baga. She voted for Buhari in 2015. Not this time. "I still cannot overcome the pain of running with some of my grandchildren who were crying for water and asking why we were in the bush," she said. "It is sad that I could not answer." Minoo Sharifan came to the United States from Iran in the 1970s for graduate school, and like many others, wound up settling in America, starting a career and raising her family while a revolution upended her homeland and fractured relations with the U.S. The two countries remain bitter adversaries. In his State of the Union address last week, President Donald Trump said Iran does "bad, bad things" and "threatens genocide against the Jewish people"; Iran's foreign minister countered that the U.S. has backed "dictators, butchers and extremists." It's against that tense backdrop that Sharifan and others from her generation seek to build a connection to their Iranian heritage and culture among their American children and grandchildren. Now 67, Sharifan oversees the Persian collection and programming for a library in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, that hosts a weekly story time for Iranian-American children that she began six years ago. At a recent gathering, a dozen young children sat cross-legged on the floor, listening to a parent volunteer read the Farsi-language version of the storybook about "Elmer" the patchwork elephant. One girl performed a Persian dance for the group, and the children twirled scarves and sang in Farsi. "For younger kids to see kids their age coming to the library and speak Farsi, it's a good feeling for them and it makes me happy," Sharifan said. "For us coming from another country, [a] sense of belonging to the group is very important." Militant Iran Taunts US on Revolution's 40th Birthday Hundreds of thousands of Iranians marched and some burned U.S. flags to mark the revolution's 40th anniversary on Monday as Tehran showed off ballistic missiles in defiance of U.S. efforts to curb its military power.Soldiers, students, clerics and black-clad women holding small children thronged streets across Iran, many with portraits of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Shi'ite cleric who toppled the Shah in an Islamic uprising that still haunts the West.On Feb. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians marched and some burned U.S. flags to mark the revolution's 40th anniversary on Monday as Tehran showed off ballistic missiles in defiance of U.S. efforts to curb its military power.Soldiers, students, clerics and black-clad women holding small children thronged streets across Iran, many with portraits of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Shi'ite cleric who toppled the Shah in an Islamic uprising that still haunts the West.On Feb. The 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran overthrew the shah, a close U.S. ally, and installed Shi'ite clerics in power and a government headed by the anti-American Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Tens of thousands of Iranians fled to the United States. FILE - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, center, is gre FILE - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, center, is greeted by supporters in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 2, 1979. FILE - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, center, is greeted by supporters in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 2, 1979. Today, there are nearly a half-million people in the U.S. with Iranian ancestry. More than 40 percent live in California, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The biggest community is in Los Angeles, which has led some to adopt the nickname "Tehrangeles." Beyond Southern California, other significant populations live in the New York and Washington metropolitan areas, and in Florida and Texas. Many who came to the United States after the revolution thought they would someday return to Iran but decided to stay amid icy relations between the countries. Many were upper-class and highly educated in Iran and pursued careers as doctors, entrepreneurs and professionals in America. In recent years, Iranian-Americans also have taken on a more visible role in politics, winning seats for state office in California, Florida and elsewhere. In Beverly Hills, which has a sizable Iranian-American community, Iran-born engineer and entrepreneur Jimmy Delshad served as mayor. That doesn't mean the road has been easy. Many Iranian immigrants recall being taunted as children after Americans at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran were taken hostage and held for 444 days. Today, many are separated from their relatives overseas by the Trump administration's travel ban, which has made some Americans of Iranian heritage feel their standing is in question despite their citizenship status and longstanding ties to the U.S. "In economic terms, it has been a pretty successful community, however, we have been dogged by 40 years of bad relations between the United States and Iran," said Persis Karim, chair of San Francisco State University's Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies. "People feel like their place in the U.S. has kind of continuously been under question, or not completely at ease, because of this bigger relationship between these two countries." After the revolution, many Iranian immigrants sought to distance themselves from the upheaval in their homeland by calling themselves Persian. The second generation, Karim said, has identified more often as Iranian-American to show pride in their heritage and their U.S. citizenship. But these newer generations have grappled with the sense that no matter how American they become, they are perceived as different by American society, said Neda Magbouleh, a sociology professor at University of Toronto, Mississauga, who was born and raised in the United States and wrote a book about Iranian-Americans' experiences. "The kind of exilic identity that first generation Iranian-Americans have had has been something that has not necessarily translated to second generation use," she said. "They're products of an environment that has been incredibly hostile to the Middle East more broadly, to Iran more specifically." "The second generation has in many ways seen itself as a racial minority," she said. The Iranian-American community is itself diverse and includes Jews, Muslims, Zoroastrians and others with diverse views and a shared tie to Iranian culture. Many are quick to distinguish between the governments of Tehran and Washington and the people of both countries, who they see as mutually friendly. And many see a common need to expose the new generation to Iranian culture. In the Southern California city of Irvine, an Iranian community organization offers weekend language and dance classes. At the library, families bring their children to mark key moments throughout the year, such as the springtime Persian New Year celebration Nowruz. In Berkeley, just outside San Francisco, a preschool has grown to include a private elementary school program that immerses children in Farsi, Arabic and Hebrew. Yalda Modabber, executive director of Golestan Education, said she started the preschool more than a decade ago when she wanted to teach Farsi to her first child. She recently expanded to elementary school grades at the urging of parents who wanted their children to continue the instruction. Aliah Najmabadi, 40, has sent her two older sons to the Berkeley preschool. Born in the U.S., Najmabadi said her Iranian father came to the country to study in the early 1970s and met her mother, a South Dakotan of Norwegian descent. While she grew up speaking English, Najmabadi said she was surrounded by the Persian culture and language when her father's family came over from Iran in the years after the revolution, and she wanted to learn more. She went on to study Farsi, but said she still struggles to understand everything her Iranian grandmother says. Now, her 8-year-old son helps translate, she said, and her father who sometimes questioned her desire to learn the language has been moved emotionally. "Once my son started speaking fluently, he was floored. His heart melted," Najmabadi said of her father. "As people get older in the community, I think it is really important for my kids to know the language." The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) released its 9-month economic performance report on February 10, which shows an unprecedented budget deficit. The statistics are based on Irans fiscal year, which started March 21, 2018. CBI says the Iranian government had projected 244 trillion rials ($5.8 billion, based on official USD rate: $1/42,000 rials) budget deficit for the first nine months of year (March 21-December 22), but the actual deficit value is 451 trillion rials ($10.73 billion). Every year, the budget law predicts a certain amount of income from bonds and privatization to compensate for the budget deficit, but in the current year, the actual deficit level is twice that of the budget forecast. At first glance, it may seem that U.S. sanctions on Irans oil exports led to this deficit, which is unprecedented historically, but the details of CBI report show that the countrys oil income was even above budget forecast during the period, thanks to rising oil prices during 2018. CBI report says budgets oil and petroleum products revenues (domestic sale and exports) was 17% higher than the forecast for nine months. The United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 and imposed sanctions on Irans oil exports in November. Various figures released by non-Iranian sources indicate that Irans oil export halved since November. The details of CBI report also indicate that oil income more than halved in the ninth budget month (November 22-December 22), however, the total income average in nine months is more than budget laws forecast due to oil price hike. Irans budget was based on oil prices at $55/barrel, which actually averaged at about $70 in the nine months of the current Iranian fiscal year (March-December 2018), or 27% above budget prediction. But the windfall income lasted until U.S. sanctions kicked in. In the last three months of 2018 oil income dropped. The central banks figures show that less than half of oil and petroleum income (domestic sale and exports) was realized in the ninth month as the full impact of U.S. sanctions became apparent. The reason of budget deficit If Irans oil income from March to December 2018 was actually higher than expected, why did Iran have a big budget deficit. The reason is that other income sources, especially taxation decreased. CBIs statistics indicate that only 71% of expected income from taxes was realized during these nine months and almost in every single month, the actual tax income was below what the budget plan had predicted. The decrease in tax income reflect the countrys GDP shrinkage, decline in imports as the national currency nosedived and economic stagnation. Each of these in turn also contributed to budget vows. According to the International Monetary Fund, Irans GDP declined 1.5% in 2018 and is expected to decrease further by 3.6% in 2019. The countrys imports which provides taxes and tariffs for the budget-- also declined 16% year on year to $32.62 billion for nine months. Economic stagnation is also wreaking havoc. Recently, the head of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Masoud Khansari announced that every week about 10 to 50 big companies stop activities in Iran. The traditional brightly embroidered dress of Palestinian women known as the "thobe" was not the type of garment one would expect to become a pop political symbol. Now it's gaining prominence as a softer expression of Palestinian nationalism, competing even with the classic keffiyeh the headscarf donned by young stone-throwing Palestinian men protesting Israel's occupation. The robe, adorned with elaborate hand-stitched embroidery, requires months of grueling labor. Some thobes fetch thousands of dollars. The traditional textiles call to mind a bygone era of Palestinian peasant women sewing on a break from the fields. Last month, Rashida Tlaib proudly wore her mother's thobe to her historic swearing-in as the first female Palestinian American member of Congress, inspiring masses of women around the world, especially in the Palestinian territories, to tweet photos of themselves in their ancestral robes. "The historic thobe conjures an ideal of pure and untouched Palestine, before the occupation," said Rachel Dedman, curator of a recent exhibit at the Palestinian Museum focused on the evolution of Palestinian embroidery. "It's more explicitly tied to history and heritage than politics. That's what makes it a brilliant symbol." The Palestinian thobe traces its history to the early 19th century, when embroidery was confined to the villages. Palestinians Sewing Nationalism FILE - Designer Natalie Tahhan works on a modern version of the traditional Palestinian thobe in her studio in east Jerusalem, Jan. 29, 2019 photo. FILE - Designer Natalie Tahhan works on a modern version of the traditional Palestinian thobe in her studio in east Jerusalem, Jan. 29, 2019 photo. Richly decorated dresses marked milestones in women's lives: onset of puberty, marriage, motherhood. The designs varied from village to village special three-dimensional stitching for the upper class of Bethlehem, big pockets for the nomadic Bedouin women, orange branch motifs for the orchard-famous city of Jaffa, said Maha Saca, director of the Palestinian Heritage Center in Bethlehem. Thobe patterns also expressed women's different social positions: red for brides, blue for widows, blue with multi-colored stitches for widows considering remarriage. Palestinians Sewing Nationalism FILE - Samiha Jeheshat, displays a handmade embroidered Palestinian thobe at her showroom in the West Bank village of Idna, north of Hebron, Jan. 28, 2019. FILE - Samiha Jeheshat, displays a handmade embroidered Palestinian thobe at her showroom in the West Bank village of Idna, north of Hebron, Jan. 28, 2019. While Arab women across the region have worn hand-made dresses for centuries, the thobe has taken on a distinctly Palestinian character, particularly since the establishment of Israel in 1948. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians either fled or were expelled from their homes during the war surrounding Israel's creation. Many took only their dresses with them into the diaspora, Saca added. The war, which Palestinians call their "nakba," or catastrophe, transformed the thobe. "Suddenly, in the face of dispossession and cultural appropriation by Israelis, embroidery became an urgent task," Dedman said. "The dress was taken up and politicized." Over decades of conflict that has claimed thousands of lives on both sides, Palestinian nationalism has taken on many forms. In the early days of Israel's establishment, it was associated with calls for Israel's destruction and deadly attacks. Armed struggle later gave way to calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem lands captured by Israel in 1967. Peace talks have been interrupted by spasms of violence, and for the past decade, a deep freeze in negotiations. Today, the internationally recognized autonomy government of the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, continues to seek a two-state solution with Israel. The Hamas militant group, which seized the Gaza Strip in 2007, still seeks Israel's destruction, while many Palestinians, particularly the younger generation, now talk of a single binational state with Israel in which they would enjoy full equal rights. Along the way, the thobe has grown in popularity and evolved, with dress designs reflecting history's many dramas. During the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in the 1980s, the thobe bloomed with guns, doves and flowers. When Israeli soldiers confiscated Palestinian flags at protests, women wove forbidden national maps and colors into their dresses, according to the Palestinian museum exhibit. Now, Palestinian women of all social classes wear thobes to assert national pride at weddings and special occasions. "It's a way of defending our national identity," Saca said. The care, toil, and skill that go into making a thobe prevent the garment from becoming everyday streetwear or protest-wear. But cheaper, mass-produced versions of the dress have sprouted up. "A woman typically has one thobe to wear on occasions throughout her life it's very expensive and impractical," said Maysoun Abed, director of a thobe exhibit in the West Bank city of Al-Bireh, near Ramallah. "But demand for the thobe still runs high as a way of expressing patriotism." Although the robe shares potent patriotic subtext and roots in peasant life with the black-and-white checkered kaffiyeh made famous by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat the thobe is infused with nostalgic, almost mythical associations. "Embroidery evokes the timeless connection of Palestinians to the land," Dedman said. "It's a soft image, referencing a deep past with which people have positive associations." Young Palestinian women, especially those in the diaspora, are adapting the ancestral dresses to modern tastes and trends. Girls are asking for shorter and less embroidered versions, said Rajaa Ghazawneh, a thobe designer in the West Bank town of al-Bireh. Natalie Tahhan, a designer based in east Jerusalem, produces capes from digital prints that replicate traditional embroidery stitches, "connecting tradition with what is new and stylish." Tlaib's now-viral Palestinian thobe, which the Michigan Democrat called "an unapologetic display of the fabric of the people in this country'' and said it evoked memories of her mother's West Bank village, rekindled enthusiasm worldwide about the dress. "Rashida has become a model for Palestinian women everywhere a strong woman proud of her national identity who can reach high," said Saca. Tahhan agreed, saying that "Tlaib's thobe spread a beautiful picture of Palestine, when usually the media only show the wars." For Palestinian women born abroad, and refugees barred from visiting their ancestral homes in what is now Israel, thobes are a tangible connection to the land and a way of keeping their culture alive. "These dresses are our link between the past and future," Saca said. STATE DEPARTMENT - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is warning Hungary the presence of Chinese telecommunication manufacturer Huawei in the European country is complicating Budapest's partnership with Washington. The chief American diplomat Monday arrived in Budapest on Monday, the first leg of his European trip. Huawei has established Hungary as a European hub, where it can develop its fifth-generation mobile networks. "If that equipment is co-located in places where we have important American systems, it makes it more difficult for us to partner alongside them. We want to make sure we identify [to] them the opportunities and the risks associated with using that equipment," said Pompeo. FILE - Attendees pass by a Huawei booth during the FILE - Attendees pass by a Huawei booth during the 2019 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. Jan. 9, 2019. FILE - Attendees pass by a Huawei booth during the 2019 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. Jan. 9, 2019. While noting sovereign nations such as Hungary will "make their own decisions," Pompeo said it's imperative the United States shares potential risks from Huawei with its NATO allies. American officials are increasingly troubled by Huawei's expansion in Europe, especially in NATO member states where Washington believes the Chinese telecom manufacturer poses significant information security threats. Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Pe Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto, right, shakes hands with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the ministry in Budapest, Hungary, Feb. 11, 2019. Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto, right, shakes hands with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the ministry in Budapest, Hungary, Feb. 11, 2019. At a joint press conference with Hungarian Foreign minister Peter Szijjarto, Pompeo said he has raised with Szijjarto "the dangers of allowing China to gain a bridgehead in Hungary." But the U.S. pressure campaign against Huawei faces challenges. Hungary has said it has no plans to reconsider the decision to award the 5G networks contract to Huawei. Many in China believe that the U.S. government concerns over Huawei's security are at least in part aimed at helping American companies better compete against foreign rivals. But U.S. officials reject that notion. "That sounds like a lot of mirror imaging to me," said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Christopher Ford in an interview with VOA, noting "the Chinese government has actually been extraordinarily grand in its ambitions to do just that sort of thing with Chinese companies." Ford pointed to numerous public reports in recent years that have blamed Chinese government-backed hackers with cyber campaigns stealing corporate secrets and financial data. "Cyber-facilitated theft of intellectual property, for example, has become notorious around the world. But the Chinese government has been doing that very systematically in order to advantage its own national champion industries in particular sectors," Ford added. In this March 1, 2017, file photo, Fitbit's new Al FILE - Fitbit's new Alta HR device is displayed in New York, March 1, 2017. The Pentagon is doing a broad review of how military forces use exercise trackers and other wearable electronic devices. FILE - Fitbit's new Alta HR device is displayed in New York, March 1, 2017. The Pentagon is doing a broad review of how military forces use exercise trackers and other wearable electronic devices. Social media threats? Weary of data collection and Chinese technology transfer for military purposes, the U.S. government is considering tighter restrictions on the use of social media apps that have geolocation features within diplomatic and military facilities. While the State Department does not expressly prohibit the use of commercial geolocation applications on smartphones and other personal electronic devices by employees serving internationally, measures are taken to address the potential security risks. The State Department has issued guidance requiring each post to develop a policy regarding the restrictions placed on using personal electronic devices. "We obviously need to continue to be mindful of that, and to update and improve our understanding of best practices," said Assistant Secretary of State Ford. Last year, the Pentagon started prohibiting personnel from using geolocation features on electronic devices while in locations designated as operational areas. Those restrictions could impact popular social media applications like TikTok, a Chinese-made app for sharing short videos that is popular among young adults. AP Explains: The Promise and Hype of 5G Wireless A much-hyped network upgrade called "5G" means different things to different people. To industry proponents, it's the next huge innovation in wireless internet. To the U.S. government, it's the backbone technology of a future that America will wrestle with China to control. To many average people, it's simply a mystery. The technology is one of the issues expected to take center stage at the MWC mobile conference in Barcelona, Spain, this month. A much-hyped network upgrade called "5G" means different things to different people. To industry proponents, it's the next huge innovation in wireless internet. To the U.S. government, it's the backbone technology of a future that America will wrestle with China to control. To many average people, it's simply a mystery. The technology is one of the issues expected to take center stage at the MWC mobile conference in Barcelona, Spain, this month. All social media companies gather data on their users, but experts warn that Chinese companies in particular pose unique challenges because the Beijing government has absolute authority to request private user data. "The user in Western countries might not be aware that in China, the government has a far broader reach compared to over here, so they can request data out from a private company on national security grounds," Claudia Biancotti, visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), told VOA in a recent interview. Biancotti added in China, "they don't really have independent courts to oversee the process." "If this information is sent to China, it can be easily accessed by the government and leveraged, say, to make Beijing's surveillance software better at recognizing Western faces, or at extracting intelligence on Western military activities," warned Biancotti in a recent report. TikTok, launched as Douyin in China in 2016, is owned by Chinese internet technology company ByteDance who later acquired Musical.ly, a popular lip-sync app among American teenagers. ByteDance merged Musical.ly with TikTok in 2018 as a means of entering the U.S. market. Last October, TikTok surpassed Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat in monthly installations. TikTok recently updated its privacy policy for U.S. residents, removing all references about storing data in China. Last August, TikTok stated in the privacy policy: "We will also share your information with any member or affiliate of our group, in China," but the latest update in January of 2019 deleted the word "China." TikTok screen shot The company wrote an email to VOA's Mandarin service that they regularly update their privacy policies while noting that TikTok does not operate in China. TikTok's current privacy policy stated it automatically collects technically and behavioral information from users, including IP address, location-related data or other unique device identifiers. "We may also collect Global Positioning System (GPS) data and mobile device location information." But users can switch off location information functionality on their mobile device if they do not wish to share such data. "We will share your information with law enforcement agencies, public authorities or other organizations if legally required to do so," TikTok stated. VOA's Mandarin Service, Jeff Seldin and Mo Yu contributed to this report. John Dingell served in Congress longer than any other person in American history, yet he made the common man feel uncommon, a minister told dignitaries and hundreds of other mourners Tuesday during a funeral for the longtime Michigan congressman. Dingell, who represented southeast Michigan for 59 years in the House, died Thursday at age 92. Vice President Joe Biden was among his former colleagues attending the service, though a military plane carrying members of Congress was turned back because of bad weather but not before an impromptu service at 30,000 feet. Missouri Rep. Billy Long tweeted that the service aboard the plane was led by Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan. FILE - Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., on Capitol Hill FILE - Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 7, 2014. FILE - Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 7, 2014. On the ground, the Rev. Terrence Kerner spoke to about 750 people gathered inside a church in suburban Detroit. He said Dingell instructed his staff to be responsive to the needs of his constituents and to help people who were no longer in his district after his district's lines had been redrawn. Kerner said Dingell told his staff: "Even though they are not in my district any more, take care of them. ... They need me. They need you." Biden was expected to speak during the funeral. Snow and icy weather briefly delayed the start of the service at the Church of the Divine Child in Dearborn, where police were shoveling snow and helping people inside. On Monday, hundreds of people passed Dingell's coffin and were personally greeted by members of his family. Former constituents and admirers lined up at a performing arts center in Dearborn to pay their respects. Dingell's casket was in a ballroom while oversized photos of his life were displayed in the lobby. His wife, Rep. Debbie Dingell, who was elected to her husband's seat in 2014, stayed to greet everyone throughout the day, after some private moments near the casket. The visitation was the first of many public events this week. There will be a second funeral Mass on Thursday in Washington. A motorcade with Dingell's casket will pass the U.S. Capitol, where he held power for years as a House committee chairman. He will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery. Former President Bill Clinton and former House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio will speak at the Washington service. ISLAMABAD - China plans to fund and install modern reception centers, drinking water and cold storage facilities at main entry points on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Chinese project aims to better serve the daily movement of tens of thousands of people as well as trade convoys, and will help ease tensions between the two countries, officials said. Beijing, which is on good terms with both countries, continues to undertake diplomatic and economic initiatives to help improve Islamabads troubled ties with Kabul and encourage them to jointly work for a political settlement with the Taliban to end the Afghan war. The deputy chief of mission at the Chinese embassy in Islamabad, Zhao Lijian, told VOA in a wide-ranging interview the border development program is an outcome of recent high-level talks held in Kabul between foreign ministers of the three countries. We are trying to promote these projects so that it can help with the improvement of relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan and also finally it would be helpful with peace and development in Afghanistan, Lijian noted. The trilateral dialogue, he said, was initiated by Beijing in late 2017 with a mission to promote counterterrorism, strategic dialogue and pragmatic cooperation among the three nations. Lijian explained that the cold storage facilities will be established at the busy northwestern Torkham and southwestern Chaman crossings while the water schemes will be installed at the Ghulam Khan Khel terminal in North Waziristan district. Small businessmen they are entering Torkham and Chaman everyday so if there is some cold storage facilities they could use those facilities to store their fruits. If there is a proper reception center and a drinking water scheme, those kind of facilities may serve the people in a better way, Lijian said. Pakistan consumes 90 percent of Afghan fresh fruits and vegetables, according to official estimates. Islamabad recently waived off regulatory duties on fresh fruit imports from Afghanistan, leading to an estimated 30 percent increase in Afghan exports to Pakistan in 2018. Officials say some 60,000 people commute across the border between the two countries. FILE - Afghan nationals prepare to cross the Torkh FILE - Afghan nationals prepare to cross the Torkham border post in Pakistan en route to Afghanistan, March 7, 2017. FILE - Afghan nationals prepare to cross the Torkham border post in Pakistan en route to Afghanistan, March 7, 2017. Overall bilateral trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan has significantly declined in recent years due to political tensions. Moreover, Pakistani authorities are unilaterally constructing a robust fence to secure the nearly 2,600 kilometer porous Afghan border and tighten monitoring of cross-border movement to deter militant infiltration. China and the Afghan conflict The Taliban, championed by China as a political force in Afghanistan, allegedly uses Pakistan as a sanctuary for directing insurgent activities. Islamabad in turn accuses Afghan intelligence agencies of sheltering fugitive anti-state militants and supporting terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Beijing has invested billions of dollars to help build infrastructure projects, power plants, ports and industrial zones in Pakistan as part of President Xi Jinpings global Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The bilateral project, known as China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), was implemented five years ago, creating tens of thousands of jobs for Pakistanis, and effectively resolving the countrys electricity crisis. Lijian said extending CPEC to Afghanistan, which is part of BRI, is under consideration to develop and improve trade routes through the war-ravaged country to Central Asia markets. For China, we have been having this 40 years of economic development, reforms and opening up, and in Afghanistan for these last 40 years they have been suffering from chaos, from civil war, from foreign occupation. So, we are very much sympathetic with Afghan people and we would like to extend a helping hand to them, he said. FILE - Families wait to cross the Afghanistan-Paki FILE - Families wait to cross the Afghanistan-Pakistan border point, in Spin Boldak, Kandahar province, Afghanistan, March 7, 2017. FILE - Families wait to cross the Afghanistan-Pakistan border point, in Spin Boldak, Kandahar province, Afghanistan, March 7, 2017. China hails Pakistans role Lijian defended Beijings close contacts with the Taliban, saying they are used to encourage the insurgents to seek an inclusive political understanding with incumbents in Kabul to help manage if not end Afghan hostilities in the near future. Pakistan has been helping the United States and the Taliban to have direct talks and it is playing a very critical role. We hope that the peace process can take some root in the heart of the people, not only in Afghanistan but also in Pakistan, the deputy Chinese ambassador noted. A spokesman for the Talibans political office in Qatar told VOA his group maintains close contacts with China and believes the Chinese are well placed to assist in resolving the Afghan crisis. We really appreciate their latest public stance of declaring the Taliban as a political force in Afghanistan. They understand the ground realities in our country. Their stance could be really helpful for Afghan peace building, Suhail Shaheen noted. US peace talks with Taliban U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad has held several direct meetings with the Taliban in recent months, triggering hopes the dialogue could help jumpstart long-sought intra-Afghan peace negations. Pakistan takes credit for arranging the U.S.-Taliban peace talks to help bring an end to years of bloodshed in Afghanistan, saying peace in the neighboring country is key to promoting regional development. Beijing has noted U.S. plans to draw down troops in Afghanistan if progress is achieved in talks Washington is holding with the Taliban. But Lijian cautioned against staging a hasty withdrawal. They should have a plan to withdraw from Afghanistan in a gradual way and during this process they should also try to promote the intra-Afghanistan dialogue so that when the American troops leave Afghanistan, Afghanistan will not be condemned into a chaotic situation like before, the Chinese official noted. Chinas security concerns are also behind its stepped-up Afghan diplomacy. Officials in Beijing worry that continued instability in Afghanistan could encourage terrorist groups, including the anti-China militant group the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), to foment problems in the western border region of Xinjiang. International human rights groups have expressed concerns that authorities in Xinjiang are allegedly forcing Uighur and other Muslim minorities to renounce their religious beliefs in internment camps set up under the guise of vocational education centers. China rejects the charges as Western media propaganda. WASHINGTON - The British Broadcasting Corporation is asking the White House for a security review after a BBC cameraman was attacked at a Trump rally Monday night in El Paso, Texas. Camera Ron Skeans was unhurt after a Trump supporter wearing a trademark "Make America Great Again" hat jumped onto the media platform and started shoving him. BBC reporter Gary O'Donoghue said the man tried to smash the camera before he was restrained. He could be heard yelling profanities at TV reporters and crews as another Trump supporter pulled him away. President Trump paused, asked if everything was "OK," and continued his speech about building a border wall, and talking more about the "totally dishonest media." O'Donoghue says the attack came after Trump "repeatedly goaded the crowd over supposed media bias." White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Tuesday "President Trump condemns all acts of violence against any individual or group of people, including members of the press. We ask that anyone attending an event to do so in a peaceful and respectful manner." British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said journalists should never be assaulted for just doing their jobs. "There is a broader issue here, which is that last year, 80 journalists were killed across the world. ... We are very worried about this," he said. A BBC bureau chief said there was no security around the media platform, and no policemen intervened during or after the cameraman was assaulted. The media has been one of Trump's chief targets for insults since he started his presidential campaign. He has berated reporters during news conferences, accused television networks of lying, and constantly refers to The New York Times the country's premier newspaper as "failing" and "gutless." Enter North Macedonia. The small Balkan country of Macedonia officially changed its name Tuesday by adding a geographic designation that ends a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece and secures its entry into NATO. A government press release said the young country now is formally called the Republic of North Macedonia. A series of practical adjustments -- ranging from new road signs to updated passports and currency -- will be made gradually, and started with the government website late Tuesday. Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said his country would press ahead with all the changes needed to fulfill its end of the historic deal he reached with the prime minister of Greece last year. "At the end of the day we must show that we are implementing our part of the obligations," he said. "I believe that all institutions are ready to act." Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov said the move followed a final exchange of diplomatic notes with Greece. "May today be the beginning of a long friendship between Greece and North Macedonia," he said in a tweet. "We can't change our past, but we can and we will shape our future of friendship, partnership and cooperation." The name change resolves a dispute with Greece dating back to Macedonia's declaration of independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. Athens had long argued that its small, landlocked neighbor's name implied claims on the northern Greek province of Macedonia, and on ancient Greek cultural heritage. Although more than 130 countries formally had recognized the country as Macedonia, the United Nations and other international bodies used the "Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia," the cumbersome moniker Greece and Macedonia settled on for an interim accord in 1995. FILE - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Mac FILE - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev gesture before the signing of an accord to settle a long dispute over the former Yugoslav republic's name in the village of Psarades, in Prespes, Greece, June 17, 2018. FILE - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev gesture before the signing of an accord to settle a long dispute over the former Yugoslav republic's name in the village of Psarades, in Prespes, Greece, June 17, 2018. A breakthrough in their name dispute came last summer when Zaev and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras agreed to a compromise under which Greece also lifted its objections to Macedonia joining NATO and the European Union. Despite opposition on either side of the border, the deal was ratified by both parliaments. North Macedonia's deputy foreign minister, Andrej Zernovski, told local Telma TV that authorities would change, within three days, road signs at border crossings, airports and customs checkpoints. Within four months, the Interior Ministry will start issuing new car license plates with the abbreviation NMK, while new passports will be issued at the end of this year, Zernovski said. The country plans to give the U.N. and its member states formal notice of the name change within days, he said. A government press release said that changes will also be made to notice boards at airports, while the country's central bank will draft plans for replacing the circulating currency with the old one-word name. Macedonian soldiers salute as the NATO flag raisin Macedonian soldiers salute as the NATO flag raising in front of the government building during a ceremony in Skopje, Feb. 12, 2019. Macedonian soldiers salute as the NATO flag raising in front of the government building during a ceremony in Skopje, Feb. 12, 2019. Earlier Tuesday, Macedonia raised a NATO flag at its main government building, as more member nations approved making it the alliance's 30th member. Speaking at a ceremony in the capital of Skopje, Zaev said the country had achieved a "historic goal" in being accepted into NATO. All of NATO's 29 current members must ratify the accession agreement. Slovenia on Tuesday became the second country to do so after Greece, which made the move last week. CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA - Former Vice President Joe Biden will headline his first public event in about three weeks on Saturday in Munich, Germany, nearly 5,000 miles from Iowa, site of the 2020 presidential campaign's first contest. As he weighs whether to jump into the race, Biden has been conspicuously absent from early voting states, making him an outlier among Democrats eyeing the White House. Nine Democrats have announced full-fledged campaigns, two have launched exploratory committees and several others are blanketing Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina as they decide whether to launch a campaign. A half-dozen made the rounds this past weekend alone. In a wide-open race, Biden's take-it-slow approach has given other candidates a head-start in fundraising, scooping up top-tier staff and perfecting their pitch to voters. It's also given them a chance to chip away at what would be a central argument of a Biden campaign: that he is the only candidate who can defeat President Donald Trump in 2020. Biden has said he'll only run if he doesn't believe Democrats have other viable options, and he's privately raised doubts about the electability of some of his potential rivals, according to a person with knowledge of those conversations who spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about private discussions. But some voters who have seen those candidates up close in recent weeks disagree. "I like Joe. He's a good man, and I like his character," said Audrey Wolf, a 72-year-old retired teacher and devout Democratic caucus-goer from Mason City. "But I will say, I'm just really open to the new faces out there." Nick Maybanks, a 42-year-old Democratic voter from Cedar Rapids, said Biden's wavering on whether to launch a campaign "puts him a couple of paces back." "While these others are here, I'm wondering if he would be committed to it," Maybanks, a county prosecutor, said of Biden as he and his family gathered to hear New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker address Iowa voters. FILE - Conor Lamb, left center, the Democratic can FILE - Conor Lamb, left center, the Democratic candidate for the March 13 special election in Pennsylvania's 18th Congress and former Vice President Joe Biden, center, work a crowd of supporters during a rally at the Carpenter's Training Center in Collier, Pennsylvania. FILE - Conor Lamb, left center, the Democratic candidate for the March 13 special election in Pennsylvania's 18th Congress and former Vice President Joe Biden, center, work a crowd of supporters during a rally at the Carpenter's Training Center in Collier, Pennsylvania. The former vice president initially expected to make his decision by now. But he blew through a self-imposed January deadline without a campaign announcement, and some longtime allies say they simply don't know when, or if, he'll enter the race. "He's prepared, but he's also doing his due diligence," said Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond, the former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus who has spoken to Biden in the past two weeks. But for now, he doesn't have plans to visit any of the early states. He heads to Michigan on Tuesday to deliver a eulogy at a funeral for Democratic Rep. John Dingell, the longest-serving member of Congress. On Saturday, he'll speak at a high-profile national security summit in Germany. Biden advisers say he can afford to get a later start. After eight years as vice president, he's well-known to most voters and has deep ties to Democratic activists in the early primary states. His tight-knit group of senior advisers is ready to swiftly stand up a campaign operation if Biden gives them the go-ahead. The former vice president would also bring a more moderate track record to a campaign that is so far being defined by liberal candidates pushing big government programs, like a Green New Deal to tackle climate change and "Medicare-for-all." Biden hasn't endorsed either concept. Biden may also be the closest thing Democrats have to a front-runner in 2020, given his long history in politics. A recent CNN poll found about 6 in 10 Democrats said Biden should run, and 44 percent said they would be very likely to support him if he did more than said this for any other potential Democratic candidate. But the prospect of a Biden candidacy has not scared off other candidates. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks to students a Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks to students at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 28, 2019. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks to students at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 28, 2019. California Sen. Kamala Harris has set the pace for the field, drawing an eye-popping 20,000 people to her campaign launch last month. Her early start has also helped her campaign bank crucial information on voters, including boosting its email list by 20 percent on Harris' first day as a candidate, according to a campaign aide. Lesser-known candidates are using the winter to start making introductions to voters. New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's team sought to maximize media attention by announcing an exploratory committee during a week in mid-January when no other major campaign announcements were planned. She followed that up with quick trips to each of the early voting states, including a three-day swing through South Carolina that wrapped up Sunday. Although she's only formed an exploratory committee at this point, Gillibrand has already hired 40 staffers. FILE - Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. greets patr Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. greets patrons at Stomping Grounds Cafe in Ames, Iowa, Jan. 19, 2019. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. greets patrons at Stomping Grounds Cafe in Ames, Iowa, Jan. 19, 2019. Some Democratic strategists say the former vice president is letting valuable time slip away. "You can't get time back," said Dan Pfeiffer, who advised Barack Obama's two successful presidential campaigns. "The Iowa caucus, which is the most complicated election in the country, is a year away, and the candidates that wait very well may regret it." Obama is said to have made similar points to the many prospective candidates he's met with so far, according to people with knowledge of the conversations. While the former president hasn't recommended a specific timetable to candidates, he has emphasized the importance of investing early in the kind of ground operations in Iowa and elsewhere that helped catapult him to the nomination in 2008. While most Democratic White House hopefuls have made their intentions clear by now, a handful of others share Biden's slower strategy. FILE - Former Democratic Texas congressman Beto O' FILE - Former Democratic Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke during an interview with Oprah Winfrey live on a Times Square stage at "SuperSoul Conversations," Feb. 5, 2019, in New York. FILE - Former Democratic Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke during an interview with Oprah Winfrey live on a Times Square stage at "SuperSoul Conversations," Feb. 5, 2019, in New York. Beto O'Rourke, who shot to Democratic stardom with his narrow defeat in last year's Texas Senate race, says he'll make a decision before the end of the month. O'Rourke will headline a march in his hometown of El Paso on Monday night, about a mile away from where Trump will be holding a re-election campaign rally. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg also plans to make a decision in February. The billionaire made a campaign-style stop in New Hampshire last month and headlined a climate change event last week in Florida, another crucial primary state. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders hasn't said when he'll decide whether to launch a second presidential campaign. But he's kept making high-profile appearances, including delivering a rebuttal to Trump's State of the Union address last week. ROME, ITALY - When France last recalled its ambassador from Italy it was 1940 and Benito Mussolini had just used the opportunity of the Germans marching into Paris to declare war on his northern neighbor. The backdrop to the withdrawal last week by the Elysee Palace of its ambassador to Rome following months of slurs traded between the countrys leaders, amid disputes over migration policy and Libya, was not accompanied by the thump of artillery shells. France Recalls Ambassador to Italy Amid Spat France is recalling its ambassador to Italy over so-called outrageous attacks on the French government by Italy's leaders, further weakening a European Union struggling with Brexit and other divisions. France's Foreign Ministry said its ambassador to Rome is being brought back for consultations, after what it said were repeated and baseless attacks and outrageous statements by the Italian government, which it suggested were aimed at winning win votes in May's European parliament elections. France is recalling its ambassador to Italy over so-called outrageous attacks on the French government by Italy's leaders, further weakening a European Union struggling with Brexit and other divisions. France's Foreign Ministry said its ambassador to Rome is being brought back for consultations, after what it said were repeated and baseless attacks and outrageous statements by the Italian government, which it suggested were aimed at winning win votes in May's European parliament elections. Nonetheless, it has prompted rising fears that the recent public bickering between two of the European Unions founding members is only just getting started and could spark even more serious retaliatory action. Some Italian commentators and industrialists have warned the feuding, driven by internal political dynamics on both sides of the Alps, risks boiling over into the economic sphere. Given the intricate geopolitical, economic and commercial ties between the two countries, there is no shortage of areas in which the French could make us pay, Lucio Caracciolo, director of the Limes geopolitical review, wrote recently in an article for Italys La Repubblica newspaper. France Keeps Pressure on Italy in Historic EU Dispute France's pro-EU government and Italy's populist leaders sparred anew Friday, as business giants from both countries appealed for calm amid the neighbors' biggest diplomatic spat since World War II.France said the stunning recall of its ambassador to Italy was a temporary move but an important signal to its historical ally not to meddle in internal French affairs.In Italy, the deputy prime minister who's the focus of French anger stood his ground, renewing criticism of France's foreign policy.France France's pro-EU government and Italy's populist leaders sparred anew Friday, as business giants from both countries appealed for calm amid the neighbors' biggest diplomatic spat since World War II.France said the stunning recall of its ambassador to Italy was a temporary move but an important signal to its historical ally not to meddle in internal French affairs.In Italy, the deputy prime minister who's the focus of French anger stood his ground, renewing criticism of France's foreign policy.France He added, Frances retaliatory strikes will be visible only to those who need to see them, fired with a silencer. Certainly, the quarrel is unlikely to abate anytime soon, until at least after European parliament elections in May, say analysts. Diverging views on future of Europe Neither side has much reason to stop the feuding before then. Frances centrist, cosmopolitan president, Emmanuel Macron, who sees himself as the champion of Europes embattled open, liberal order, and a new breed of iconoclastic populist Italians eager to block greater European integration, are locked in a contest to re-shape not only their own countries but also to determine the future trajectory of the European Union. The immediate cause for the French envoys recall by an infuriated Macron was a meeting in Paris between deputy Italian Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio, head of Italys anti-establishment Five Star Movement, and luminaries of Frances Yellow Vests (gilets jaunes) movement, the sometimes-violent mass protest which aims to oust Macron. Di Maio offered the Yellow Vests support in organizing their protests - an extraordinary departure from traditional diplomatic norms. But the barrage of attacks involving Italys populist leaders and Macron has been pushing Franco-Italian relations close to the brink for months. Feud escalates In June, there was an ugly spat over the closing by Matteo Salvini, Italys interior minister and head of the nationalist Lega party, of Italian ports to humanitarian rescue ships carrying migrants from Africa. Macron scolded the Italian government for cynicism and irresponsibility, triggering a tit-for-tat exchange of insults with Salvini, with other ministers on both sides piling on. A spokesman for Macrons party La Republique en Marche declared, The position, the line of the Italian government, makes you want to vomit. And it has been downhill ever since with flaming disputes over Europes budgetary rules. In a Facebook video last month, Salvini said, I hope the French will be able to free themselves of a terrible president. The opportunity will come on May 26 (the European elections) when finally the French people will be able to take back control of their future, destiny, (and) pride, which are poorly represented by a character like Macron. Until recently, the cross-border arguments over European migration and economic policies and disagreements over what strategies to pursue to stabilize an anarchic Libya featured mainly Salvini and Lega ministers, but with Italys M5S sagging badly in opinion polls, Di Maio has now entered the fray, pouring oil on the cross-border political fire. Italian Deputy PM Luigi Di Maio speaks at the 5-St FILE - Italian Deputy PM Luigi Di Maio. FILE - Italian Deputy PM Luigi Di Maio. On Sunday, Di Maios party, which is in an unstable coalition government with the Lega, fared poorly in a bellwether regional election in the mountainous Abruzzo. M5S saw its support in Abruzzo halved, taking only a 20 percent share of the vote. Salvinis surged past its coalition partner, capturing 28 percent. The Abruzzo vote confirmed that the Lega is now electorally the stronger party in a coalition it entered as the junior partner and is fast eclipsing Di Maios party. Even before Sunday, M5S was worried that Salvini might try to implode the coalition government and engineer an early national election in Italy, enabling him possibly to dump Di Maio altogether. Hence, Di Maio wading into the battle with Macron and trying to out-shout Salvini to become the French presidents fiercest Italian critic. The revival of nationalism As the European elections loom and Italian political dynamics play out, the sparring between Paris and Rome is likely to worsen, risking inflaming long-held nationalist resentments going back centuries that Italians and French harbor about each other. Neighbors they may be with much in common, including a love of food, fashion and style, but the two countries have rubbed awkwardly against each during times of peace and have had a history of warfare that French and Italian nationalists are trawling now to sharpen their verbal insults. On both sides of the Alps, tabloid newspapers and enraged commentators have piled on launching barbs of their own, with the French pouring scorn on the disorganization of the Italians and their stalled economy and the Italians retaliating with denunciations of French arrogance. An undated handout photo of a self-portrait of Leo FILE - An undated handout photo of a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci (circa 1516) drawn in red chalk. FILE - An undated handout photo of a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci (circa 1516) drawn in red chalk. The feuding has even impacted the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Italian artist Leonardo da Vincis death with the Italians accusing the French of showing disrespect in high-handed demands made by Paris Louvre museum for paintings held in Italy it wants for a Leonardo exhibition later this year. In a slight, Lucia Borgonzoni, Italys undersecretary for culture and a Lega member, offered the Louvre reproductions and accused France of trying to take center stage in the Leonardo commemorations by putting Italy on the margins of a major cultural event. If the spat starts leeching into the economic realm, France has the greater ability to harm its neighbor than the other way around. Carlo Alberto Carnevale Maffe, a professor of business strategy at Milans Bocconi University, told Bloomberg, The French can harm us by reducing credit and investment, in sectors from luxury to pharmaceuticals, and food and beverage. France is Italys second-most important trading partner, after Germany, and Italy exports more to France than vice versa. There is already speculation that Air France may pull out of a deal to buy Alitalia, Italys ailing national airline. Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore has reported that Air France is considering stepping away from rescuing the Italian airline not on commercial reasons, but because of political motives. African nations, which host more than 20 million people forced to flee their homes, must enforce international agreements to better protect and provide opportunities for those escaping conflict and disaster, aid groups said Tuesday. Refugees and internally displaced people topped the agenda at the African Union's (AU) annual heads of state summit, which ended Monday a move welcomed by humanitarians as growing numbers are forcibly uprooted around the world. African nations have been lauded for adopting a more liberal "open door" policy toward refugees than Western nations, despite being low-income economies. But refugees are then usually confined to camps in Africa. FILE - A Somali woman carries wood to make a shelt FILE - A Somali woman carries wood to make a shelter in an internally displaced people (IDP) camp, Dec. 18, 2018. FILE - A Somali woman carries wood to make a shelter in an internally displaced people (IDP) camp, Dec. 18, 2018. They cannot access basic public services like health and education and are not allowed to work. Those fleeing within their own country are vulnerable to attacks by armed factions. "Some African countries are doing a tremendous job in providing safety for neighbors fleeing wars and persecution," said Yemisrach Kebede, the Norwegian Refugee Council's (NRC) representative to the AU. "[But] currently, many displaced people are left without necessary protection and support, both in their home country and in the countries where they seek protection as refugees." Over a third of the world's forcibly displaced people are found in Africa, including some 6.3 million refugees and 14.5 million internally displaced persons, says the AU. Many have been uprooted due to armed conflict in countries such as the Central African Republic, Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan. Others have had their lives disrupted due to disasters linked to climate change such as floods or droughts. Compared to other regions, Africa has a well-developed legal framework, with treaties protecting and providing rights to displaced people and refugees, said the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' (IFRC) Jagan Chapagain. Children wait for food distribution at an internal FILE - Children wait for food distribution at an internally displaced persons camp in Bunia, Ituri province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, April 12, 2018. FILE - Children wait for food distribution at an internally displaced persons camp in Bunia, Ituri province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, April 12, 2018. "Yet states often face difficulties to implement and apply such frameworks," said Chapagain, the IFRC's under secretary-general for Programs and Operations. "All of those on the move should have access not only to basic services to meet needs like water, food, [and] medical care, but also to protection and to measures that seek to restore their hope and safeguard their dignity." The Global Compact on Refugees, for example, was approved by United Nations member states in December and seeks to ease pressures on host countries and provide refugees with access to education and work to help them become self-reliant. Under the pact, African nations hosting refugees would be able to access funds from Western nations, the private sector and international financial institutions to support those who have been forcibly displaced, aid agencies said. With aid agencies struggling to raise funds, countries such as Uganda which hosts over 1 million refugees and allows them freedom of movement and the right to work have been praised for progressive policies aimed at integration and empowerment. Last month, Ethiopia passed legislation allowing for similar provisions for the over 900,000 refugees it hosts. Pakistan Council For Science & Technology Jobs in Islamabad Latest Pakistan Council for Science & Technology Management Posts Islamabad 2021 Pakistan Council For Science & Technology Ministry of Science & Technology requires qualified and technical personnel for the posts of Project Coordinator, Research Officer, Assistant Technical, Data Entry Operator in Islamabad. How to Apply on Pakistan Council for Science & Technology Job Advertisement Apply as per details in job advertisement. In some cases, you may apply online at vacancies after registering at https://www.jobz.pk online. Telephone: 051-9201988 Official Website: www.pcst.org.pk Note: Beware of Fraudulent Recruiting Activities. If the employer asks you to pay money for any purpose including processing to shortlisting, do not pay at all and report us using our contact us form. Apply as per instuctions & dates mentioned in official job ad. Govt jobs cannot be applied online here. Error & omissions excepted. More is better when coordinating with others, according to new study Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Imperial College London and the University of Tokyo have demonstrated that physical coordination is more beneficial in larger groups. The researchers used robotic interfaces to test coordination in groups of two, three and four partners, and found that performance was improving with every additional group member. The researchers believe the findings can clarify how a group of people can work together, for example to move and maneuver a large table together. This may also lead to improving the outcomes of physical rehabilitation by training patients in groups. Scientists from Imperial College London, CNRS in France and ATR in Japan previously revealed the haptic communication in pairs in a task similar to partner dancing, and showed how performance at a physical task is improved and learned better when practicing with a partner, see https:/ / www. imperial. ac. uk/ news/ 177982/ robots-help-people-improve-physical-tasks/ . The new study, published today in eLife, extends this finding to trios and quartets by clarifying haptic communication in groups critical to society. Dr Atsushi Takagi, lead author of the study who resides at the Institute of Innovative Research at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), said: "We were shocked by how well and fast partners learned to coordinate as a group through touch. Imagine trying to move a banquet table at a crowded wedding venue. With verbal communication, it's immensely challenging to coordinate with others to ensure the table doesn't bump against something, and the more people there are, the longer it takes to reach verbal consensus. With touch, coordination emerges in a matter of seconds, and the time taken to reach consensus is the same, irrespective of group size." Professor Etienne Burdet of Imperial College, the senior author of this study, added: "We expected that the performance would deteriorate with the noisy force of each additional group member. However the performance improved with each group member, as each individual connects to a virtual collective hand which is the average of all partners' hands, so that the noise decreases with the number of partners". The researchers found that the key to physical coordination was the ability to infer the group's goal through touch. The same coordination mechanism was used in a previous study by Takagi and colleagues to design a "human-like" robot partner that coordinated with a human partner. In the new study, the researchers conducted computer simulations of the task to test what information was shared within the group through touch. Takagi believes that a deeper understanding of the coordination mechanism will yield an algorithm for a group of robots to carry out physical tasks together. The research was carried out in partnership with Imperial College London in the UK, and the University of Tokyo in Japan. ### This story has been published on: 2019-02-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. RTHK: Trump approves AI initiative to take on China US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing federal agencies to prioritise research and development in artificial intelligence. The plan, called the American AI Initiative, follows big investment pledges from China and other countries intended to advance and apply AI technology in fields ranging from defence to health. The White House plan that Trump signed on Monday doesn't include any funding details. The administration says it's up to Congress to appropriate money. That lack of specifics is troubling to AI experts such as Erik Brynjolfsson, a management professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "The good news is America's research infrastructure in artificial intelligence is leading the world," Brynjolfsson said. "But other countries are making much more aggressive investments and rapidly closing the gap, especially China." Trump's order directs federal agencies to make government data and computing resources more available to artificial intelligence experts while maintaining security and confidentiality. Creating such standards for capturing and sharing huge troves of data, such as medical records, could lead to breakthroughs in medical diagnosis and treatment, said Tom Mitchell, interim dean of Carnegie Mellon University's computer science school. The order also calls on agencies to "protect civil liberties, privacy and American values" in applying AI technologies, and to help workers gain relevant skills through fellowships, apprenticeships, training programs and computer science education.(AP) This story has been published on: 2019-02-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.